Editor’s Introduction
The circumstances which led to this statement were briefly as follows. For some time past the writer’s mind was much drawn towards foreign missionary work. The knowledge of this circumstance led the Committee of the General Assembly on Missions to inquire into his willingness to enter upon their missionary service in India. This communication from the representative body of the Church, as a Presbyter he laid before his brethren for counsel: and after full procedure, in the course of which his Congregation presented a Memorial expressive of their interests and feelings, and the Presbytery delivered their mind both on the Call and the Memorial, he was led to the decision recorded in the following document. In a day when, on the one hand a carnal fanaticism would counterfeit, and on the other an earthly intellectualism would supplant, the self-evidencing and personal operations of the Holy Spirit, Christian men, however timid, ought not to shrink from avowing their grounds of spiritual judgment.
Selected from: “Statement of Reasons For Accepting a Call to Go to India as a Missionary, submitted to the Scotch Presbytery in London, on the 24th January 1837,” A Pastor’s Memorial to His Former Flock (London, 1842).
Moderator, I feel thankful that I am now addressing those who agree with me in the following scriptural and practical principles:
That the Lord Jesus Christ is the only, living, true, personal and sovereign Head of the church, having all power both in heaven and earth, and a right to do whatever seems good to him in his church:
That in the Christian ministry there is a real transaction of personal dedication unto him as Lord of all; in virtue of which he has a moral and spiritual property in us, which he may ever exercise, at any time, or for any end, and which it is our ministerial principle ever to obey in its fullest extent:
That over our ministerial relations and fields of labour we have in reality no personal control—all is dependent on the will of him whom we as truly serve as any earthly servant his master; and that with his will alone, as intimated in the appointed way, have we to do, in all matters of ministerial service:
That as the Lord Jesus Christ hath the right, so does he exercise the right of calling his servants, as seems good to him, in the exercise of his wisdom, to any form of service, or to any part of his vineyard; and this is the foundation for that provision made for even calls of transference in the several branches of his church:
That although our Lord be removed from our sight, and do not vouchsafe those extraordinary and miraculous manifestations of his will, which he granted of old, still that he hath the power most truly and certainly to intimate his call to his servants, so that they shall “know his voice, and follow him”; else what foundation for faith and duty could we have in one of the weightiest matters of his church? And although there have been discoverable in his professed ministers, at times, much delusion, much hypocrisy, as to his call, yet can this never do away with a plain truth; neither can Christ be deprived of his prerogative, nor we be stripped of our privilege by any such abuse.
Further, we agree in holding that the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, dwells in the church, during Christ’s personal absence from it; that his office is “to guide into all truth” in doctrine, and duty in practice; that he has the power to reveal to us the mind and will of Christ, so that we shall know it to be his will, and be convinced of it in its own Divine evidence; and he does this not by any new revelation of truth, but by so applying to us that which we may already know, that we shall individually feel its authority, and perceive its design; and so, under that clear, intelligent, conscientious, and spiritual influence, be led on to the end in view, that is, our duty. That in such a course, we may be exposed to the danger of deception and temptation, especially from Satan the “evil spirit,” is no reason why we should distrust the Holy Spirit, but is only an additional reason for submitting more purely unto him; and we may not doubt, that if we rightly wait on him, he will, in his appointed way, make manifest our several calls of duty.
Now, if we are agreed in these several points, leading up from the headship of Christ over us, to the Spirit’s manifestation of his will to us as his servants, is it not right also to inquire, How may we expect the Spirit to declare our call? By what elements of truth does he convey that knowledge to us?
It has seemed to me, in these different ways—yet all concurring in one result, when overruled by him:
1. By the Holy Scriptures, authoritatively and individually applied; so that the soul is filled with life, light, desires, motives, ends, and all converging and tending to Christ’s holy will, in all matters, as their centre of attraction.
2. By the personal overruling and adaptation of the system of Providence, in all its parts and relations, so as to give us a certain more specific bent or tendency of soul; and making us so to feel therein, that we may not and cannot but yield ourselves up to this Divine current of events, whereby we feel sweetly and conscientiously propelled towards the end, and to be arrived at in due course. It is said in our charter of grace, that he “makes all things work together for our good,” and surely a sense of duty, or a conveyance to it, is one of the highest goods that can be sought or bestowed.
3. Is not the Holy Spirit of God also found imparting to us a certain inward experience, in correspondence with his outward will? engaging us, by the various workings of joy, peace, love, hope, fear, delight, nearness to God, and foretaste of his glory, towards certain objects and duties; so, that all his gracious actings within us are converging towards certain ends; and so, that these ends seem incorporated with the very life of God, that is within us—and so that to reject them were to “quench the Spirit” within us?—Does not such experience lead to a knowledge of Christ’s will? and yet how difficult to impart to others a knowledge of it?—and even when we can in some measure convey to them the substance of that experience, we are unable to transfer to them a sense of that Divine authority with which it is accompanied to us, and by which we ourselves recognize it.
4. The conference of those who love and fear the Lord, and who seek his will supremely, seems another ordinance whereby he leads to a knowledge of his will. He who “dwells in them” and “works in them,” is pleased often to lead forth their minds, and to speak by them so that what they say shall approve itself as good and true. He may in such conference give authority to that which he intends for practice, even contrary to the wishes of the hearer; or he may leave weak and powerless, that which is good and true in itself, but which is not his mind in relation to the point of duty involved and agitated. How often in such spiritual conference is a seemingly involuntary testimony given, when the Spirit of God is triumphing over personal feelings, and leading forth a man unconsciously and painfully to speak his mind? Such conference has been, and ought to be, sought in the church of Christ: to shrink from it for fear of consequences is undutiful; for a call already clear may be made still clearer by the weakness, the confusion, or by the very humility and submissiveness of the opposition that is made to it by the saints and servants of Christ.
5. And, lastly, is not prayer another of those ordinances whereby the Spirit does specially help us to a knowledge of Christ’s will? Does he not “help our infirmities,” and “teach us what things we should pray for as we ought”? Does be not often draw us out, with fulness of soul, towards things accordant to his will and the mind of Christ? Does he not often break us down, after strongly contending with our fellow-men for some object, to utter prostration of spirit, so that the utmost we can say is, “Thy will be done”? Does not an appeal to a throne of grace often dispel in an instant our former argumentative and fond confidence, and we are left to the stronger leadings of the Spirit, even the “mind of Christ”? There may be, and there is, much danger of deception in so spiritual a matter as this; but nothing on our part can deprive the Holy Spirit of his Divine prerogative of manifesting himself to his people, and that by a self-evidence, neither may any delusion of Satan, as an angel of light, induce us to yield up this our privilege of adoption.
Now, through these several channels, have I waited for a knowledge of the Divine will as to my missionary call. The word of God, his providence, spiritual experience, Christian conference, and continued prayer, have all concurred, in different degrees, in leading to this night’s decision. These, however, are all so interwoven together in actual life, and it is so difficult to trace to each its particular effect, in a general result, that I shall not attempt to show in detail what I feel in whole. But as there are certain considerations which have been impressed upon me, with an individuality and authority which I feel it were sin in me to resist; and as these considerations have been poured in upon me as the grounds of a call, or else have confirmed such as already existed, I shall endeavour to recount these to my brethren, or so far as I can master them; for that may often work powerfully and rightly, which is scarcely transferable to others:—and in making this attempt, I trust my brethren will not overlook the novelty of the present case; nor forget that I need greater latitude and indulgence, as I have devolved on me to plead for parties not at your bar, who have no deputation, no advocacy here, though they be deeply concerned; and that you will regard these considerations as present in my mind, whilst only recited to yours.
I. The consideration has been pressed upon me from the word of God, that the church of Christ is essentially and constitutionally evangelistic or missionary—having been called, formed, and sanctified “to shew forth the praises of the Lord,” and to “hold forth the word of life”:—that she is not intended to sit down, or rest in ease and self-enjoyment, but is to arise and shake herself from the dust, and maintain an aspect of salvation towards the world:—that her unceasing duty is evangelical aggression, and perpetual extension:—that the design of all internal edification as a church, is thus externally to multiply and replenish the earth:—that the evangelization of the world, being the will of her Head, is the law of her being:—that this law descends to every member of the body; so that the chief end for which I ought to live towards the world, under God, is the salvation of my perishing fellow-men:—and that this bears more strongly upon those of my fellow-men who have sinned and are ignorant of a Saviour, than upon those who have both sinned and rejected that Saviour. Therefore of two claims before me, I have been made to feel that the stronger which goes more to fulfil the original constitution and design of the church, in preaching the Gospel where it is not, than where it is. Yet in this I judge not others.
II. I have been impressed with the consideration also, that the world is the church’s trust for the express end of being evangelized—as Canaan was given to the Jews, so is the world of “all nations” to Christians, to be by them possessed:—that, for 1800 years, we have been accepting and holding this immense and awful trust at the hands of our Lord:—that at this moment there are some hundred millions, to “every creature” of whom it is His clear and express command that the Gospel be preached, and yet to not one of whom has it been conveyed by the church:—that every individual Christian, whether he own it or not, is most certainly, by his own act and deed of communion with the church, a full partaker in this tremendous trust:—that the blood of the world will be required at his hand, according to the nature of his calling, and the extent of his ability to do good:—that if there are places where this trust has been either wholly or comparatively unfulfilled, and where the Lord of all is at the same time opening a wide door for the fulfilment, as in India, at this time—then I am made in my own self to feel, that, of two claims or calls, I must, according to this conviction, prefer that which goes more fully to the discharge of the great and solemn trust of the whole world’s evangelization.
III. This third consideration has been pressed upon me, that the gospel ministry is originally and primarily evangelistic or missionary—and that nothing can destroy or annul this its first element and characteristic:—so that this, the grand organ of the church, is of one constitution with the church itself. Our commission, as it came from the lips of our Lord, is universal; in his church, and by his providence, he may subdivide this universality for special ends, or he may call us to the full exercise of it: he may fix us as pastors of churches, or send us as evangelists to the world, as seems good to him:—in the former case, we must devote our whole energies to our present work; in the latter we must be ready to gird up our loins, and leave all to fulfil the original ministry which we have accepted. This evangelistic and universal element ever remains in our Divine commission; and as it may subject us to pastoral transferences, so may it also subject us to missionary calls, at home or abroad. If then such be my commission, and if the missionary call sent me be not only within its scope, but originally contemplated as the highest fulfilment of it; then surely, if the pastoral claim from the church, and an evangelistic call to the world, be both before me; if I look to the unalterable character of that commission, I cannot but yield to the conviction, that the latter I must prefer to the former; and rather preach to those who comparatively have not the Gospel, than to those who have it—to those who may have but, a hundred preachers to a hundred millions, than to those who have more than a preacher to every five thousand, if every pastor were as he ought to be, an evangelist too.
IV. I feel also individually laid prostrate under the conviction, that the internal and spiritual prosperity of the church herself, demands a more full discharge of her evangelistic work. Like a human body, the church is constructed for certain activity and functions: in the fulfilling of these, God will bless her; in the neglect of them, she is blighted. If the neglect of half a million of souls in London be chargeable against the churches of Christ in it, how can they prosper? Will the Lord smile on the blood-guilty!—And if over the world there be six hundred millions of souls, far, far more neglected than even that half million here, can those churches ever expect a blessing that will not arise and do their Lord’s will, by a total consecration of themselves to his work? Will he reward those who are standing idle all the day in the market-place, as he will those who are toiling in his vineyard? May he not say to our churches in this matter, as of old, “When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Oh, surely, if our churches did but respond to that parting charge of their common Lord, to preach his Gospel of grace “to all nations and every creature,” and did but devote themselves to this his supreme work on earth, we should not have such a mournful deadness in other respects amongst us! In proportion as we pour out a blessing to others, will he pour into us: the most devoted and zealous, are the most happy and joyous. And by what can the church give more largely, than by yielding up her own tried Gospel ministry? or By what act can the ministers more largely bless the church, than by going forth personally, as Paul and Barnabas of old? And if God hath, by many dealings and considerations, made it manifest to me that is more for the good of his church, in its spiritual relation to him, although not in its temporal aspect, that I should go forth, who am I, that anything of mine should stand in the way? And if my own congregation and presbytery do in faith render me up to this work, I am persuaded that they will eventually discover a new benefit springing up, in another form, and better far than any connected with the presence of a poor fellow-worm—they will have more of the presence of Christ himself in the midst of the churches.
V. The apathy too generally prevalent amongst us, on the subject of the world’s evangelization, has been laid upon me also by the hand of God, as an argument for personal surrender in this solemn and important work. The standard of that interest which we ought to take in the matter of publishing the Gospel of salvation, is surely to be found in the interest which the Son of God took in working out that salvation. We are called by His name; we profess, as Christians, unity of mind and aim with Him; we say in baptism, and at his table, and in the worship of the sanctuary, that we are His—that our heart is with His—else we mean nothing. But where is the semblance of the heart that was pierced with the spear? Where is the head that was crowned with thorns? Where the hands and feet that were transfixed with nails? Where his groaning spirit, where his travailing soul? Oh, where are those tears that bedewed Jerusalem’s highway? Where the bloody sweat that stained Gethsemane? Where, O where, is the evidence of unity and conformity amongst the great mass of us, to the Son of God and of man, to the crucified One? True, there is a remnant, however small, that are living, feeling, acting, praying, and even suffering somewhat, that they may fulfil the mind that was in Christ; and who may be known by a brokenness and contrition of heart over their own imperfections. But, oh! as to the mass of Christian professors, they are sunk in carnal sloth, and selfish ease! they shrink from the very hearing of the claims of Christ and the world; or they compound, by the substitution of a coin of gold for a heart of love, or of a printed name for a burning soul! To me there seems something fearfully wrong in our present state; all missionary or evangelistic effort is accounted as something extra, over and above just claims; a favour conferred on man, if not on God, instead of being that for which chiefly we should live as Christians in a perishing world!
Now this state of things in our own branch of the Church of Christ, has been brought home to me with individual power, and I have been made to consider what will break up this apathy? The ministry of Christ must do it. But how? by preaching the word, and awaking man by blowing the trumpet, either of Sinai or Zion, as may be needed? True.—But will it be enough that they preach? nay, they must act too; and if action lead to suffering, then must they suffer too, which is their highest privilege and glory here. Was it preaching, without actions and suffering, that established the primitive church? Was it preaching, without actions and suffering, that established the Reformation? Shall it be preaching, without actions and sufferings in some sort, that will establish the missionary cause, the universal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ? Nay, the apathy of the people must be broken up by the readiness of the ministers. Let the priests that might plead exemption, go into the river first, and the people will follow, and, the river will dry up, and Canaan be possessed.—But is it needful that all should do the same? No—but let all be willing and ready: and, if God so please, let one go for many or few. Now, then, if the Lord hath said in my hearing, even in my heart, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” was I, or am I, wrong in saying, “Here am I, send me”? If death were to seize me tomorrow, or the ocean to close over me, ere I reached a heathen shore, still would I die in the conviction that I had done my Lord’s will in accepting this call; and that he could cause that which was dead to bring to nought that which was living: by the death of one man he could break up the apathy of ten; and by the last crash of life, accomplish more than by a warfare of years threescore and ten!
VI. Or shall I farther he ashamed to own, that in this matter of acceptance, I feel “constrained by the love” of the Lord Jesus Christ—which, as my brethren know, is the mainspring of the ministry, even as of Christian life? We well know that there is an actual fellowship between the Lord of glory and his servants still; that still there is a reciprocation of love between the Son of God and us, the poor children of men; so that when we are rendering up our poor selves to him, he is pleased to shed abroad in us his marvellous and constraining love by his Holy Spirit; and so that when we are engaged in those duties, or pursuing those objects that are nearest to his heart, he does especially manifest himself to us. Is it not this “love to the Lord Jesus Christ,” which we declared at ordination led us to the gospel ministry? Is it not this love which has sustained us in our many difficulties? Is it not the leadings of this love that prompts us in our evangelistic exertions at home, when we cross our pastoral limit it may be, in the judgment of some? And if he who said, “other sheep I have who are not of this fold,” and who said also to Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?—feed my sheep, feed my lambs”; if he, by his providence and inward dealings, do point now, not to those dear sheep and dear lambs around me, whom I have endeavoured joyfully to tend, whilst he would have it so, (as you have their own affectionate testimony in that Memorial now on your table); but if he point to “others, not of this fold,” who, in a land to which few, save for the love of gold, will go, are dying for want of shepherds to lead them to the pastures of salvation, shall I, can I, demur under the pressure of that love “which passeth knowledge,” to do what I feel to be his will? Nay, perish my right hand, and let my tongue cleave to my mouth, if I yield not to His love, who died for me! I cannot indeed expect my brethren or others to see that the love of Christ requires this special thing of me? but I give them the workings and convictions of my soul, as they desired that I would. I feel and admit, that were I placed amidst a gainsaying and disobedient people, (as I have not been), that to persevere unto death in declaring the truth to them, would be, if such were the will of Christ, the highest fruit of love to him that perhaps could be given: but he leads as seems good to him; and if a sense of his love shut me up to accept this invitation, as His call, I cannot but go on to obey it.
VII. But I am led by this further to advert to the personal dealings of God with my own self, in regard to the matter now before us, in that he hath given me a heart to this missionary work. My brethren are aware that the call now on their table, has, in course of Providence, arisen out of information received by the Committee in Edinburgh, that my mind was disposed towards personal engagement in the foreign missionary cause; and the existence of such a bias I have both publicly and privately been ready to avow, when required. Its history is briefly as follows; and I now give that, which, but for this special providence of God, would have remained buried where it ought, in the secrecy of mine own heart; if so be, that the recital may lead to more satisfaction in the minds of my brethren, as to the course which I feel led to adopt.
Soon after it pleased God, of his great grace, to “reveal his Son in me,” as in most, if not in all such cases, I was filled with a vehement desire to make known the salvation of Christ to all men; and having a door thrown open to me just then in my immediate neighbourhood for the doing of good, I was enabled to embrace the opening. In pursuing one department, the formation of a Sabbath School Library, I was most unexpectedly led to the perusal of certain missionary biographies, and, among the rest, of Martyn and Brainerd. I was immediately smitten like Saul to the ground; and under the oppression of what was mightier than any human hand, I was led for many weeks to cry day and night, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” At length, unwilling even then, to do what might be rash or undutiful, I took counsel of a venerated and devoted servant of our Master. His wise counsel was, in substance, “Keep this matter before the throne of grace; and go on with present duty until light be given.” This I followed, though not without a struggle, and went on in the different spheres opened from that day to this. It may be said, could such a bias, that seemed so to pass away, have been from God? I believe it was; “the time was not yet come”: discipline, very sore and needful discipline, must first be undergone. Moses, when a youth, had the bias of his future work, and “slew the Egyptian”; but he was not then called of God, and therefore he must flee, and forty years in Midian must pass over his head as a shepherd, ere the year of his ultimate calling arrived. May not a right bias then exist, and be trained in its very suspension?
My people well know, that from the time I came amongst them, in November 1830, until the month of April 1835, I took no active interest in foreign missionary matters. I seemed almost estranged beyond others from them. I had, indeed, occasional thoughts and stirrings within me us to personal call; but I must say, that I was so distrustful of their origin, and fearful of their tendency, that I was induced to check them. I have since been led to see and mourn over that, as a period of special guilt, wherein, on account of my apathy, I am chargeable with my brother’s blood.
The spring of 1835, as it was thus the most insensible portion of my spiritual life as to all missionary exertion, was, at the same time, externally, the most bright and promising of my ministry in London. After a long struggle, my flock and myself had entered this new and desirable place of worship. A larger number of hearers were added to us within a few weeks, than in any one year of my ministry, either before or after; and I will frankly own, that I felt as if settling down to my rest, and saying, “Here will I dwell, for I do like it.” At this very time it was proposed that the Rev. Dr. Duff should visit our Presbytery, and that we should enter into closer missionary co-operation in our several churches. I now confess, to my shame, and perhaps my brethren will remember it, that I was the only member of the Presbytery that was at first inclined to oppose the proposition, or to hinder the good work; although afterwards I concurred in making a trial. There existed in my mind a degree of prejudice against that very scheme with which I am now called to co-operate. Thus was there no excitement, no prepossession in my mind. It was at this most unlikely time, that it pleased the Lord a second time to transfix me with that shaft of his authority, which no hand as yet has been able to extract; and although, as to man, it was as from “a bow drawn at a venture,” yet not so as to Him who presides in heaven. In the public ministrations of certain of his honoured servants to whom I was personally unknown, was I thus smitten, and driven out of my selfish apathy and my settled formality, to the fresh inquiry, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” From that time till now, I have had no continued rest of soul in this matter, save in yielding to it; and from one stage to another has this renewed bias advanced, until it has, by a providential necessity which I dared not arrest, reached that solemn crisis which places me here this night.
But, have I done right, it has been asked, in entertaining or cherishing such a bias? Was it not undutiful in my present sphere? was it not yielding to temptation? in reply to this, I might simply refer to principles formerly laid down, that the Lord undoubtedly has the power of manifesting his own mind to his own servants: to think otherwise were to suppose him inferior to an earthly master, who can declare his mind to his servants—or it were to insinuate that the Lord of light is at the mercy of the Prince of darkness, so that we can have no certainty in regard to any impulse or bias, whether it be from the former or the latter? But the question may be one of evidence in some degree, even to others—and if I can satisfy on this point, I would rejoice to do so. Take first the negative view. Was there anything undutiful in these steps, which include substantially all that I have done?
Was it undutiful, or does it savour of temptation, to have carried this matter, in the very first conscious working of it, to the throne of grace; and there to pour it forth—there to plead for direction, and against all delusion—for many months?
Was it wrong to renew my personal dedication, with this enlargement of it, “send me whither thou wilt”—and with this accompaniment, even an endeavour to have my “loins girt, and lamp burning,” if I should be called away?
Was it wrong to withhold from my flock and brethren here, for a time, the disclosure of that which was still vague and unformed within my own breast, and the publicity of which might have the effect, at that stage, of weakening my hands, or of prejudicing my future judgment?
Was it contrary to my duty as a Christian brother, when in such circumstances I most unexpectedly met with two or three missionary brethren, to confer with them about this state of mind, and seek the benefit of their prayers and experience; more especially as they were no personal friends of mine, and used no personal influence with me?
And, finally, when I received the first communication from the Committee in Edinburgh, inquiring confidentially into my reported willingness to enter into the foreign missionary work, was it undutiful simply to relate my feelings in their conditional form to a representative body of the church, and to say, in substance, that I was ready to receive and consider a call from them, although I still must hold myself free and unpledged as to any result, until I had, as a presbyter and a pastor, laid the matter before my brethren and my flock?
But I may go further than that which is merely negative, and declare positively my conviction, that this bias of soul to which I am now ultimately yielding, was, and is “of God,” on such grounds as these; although there be others also, which my own heart alone can know:—
There is nothing in my own natural constitution or temperament, that I am aware of, which would lead to such a bias as this—nay, rather, with mere nature I have had throughout to contend.
No personal influence has been at all brought to bear on me, in promoting this state of mind. I have had no missionary friend or correspondent; although such might have been a most legitimate and a Divine channel of influence, had it existed.
I have felt uniformly satisfied, and glad to labour in my present sphere: and so far from feeling that this has led to any discontent, I have felt constrained by it to devote myself more to my immediate calling, and to increase, during the last year or more, my public exertions in the field around me.
There has been present to my mind a sense of self-distrust and jealousy, lest I should err. I have, I trust, sought only the evidence of duty; and this has led to the use of those means formerly described, wherein I might expect guidance. I hope I can say, that I have loved and sought the light of God, and that only; and I can have no doubt that the bias which distrusts the flesh, and demands for its sustenance a clear conscience, and requires for its element the light of God in his word and at his throne, must be of him “who is light, and in whom is no darkness at all.”
That increase of blessing too, which my people have referred to, as connected with my latter ministrations amongst them, has, in my experience, after close examination, been found uniformly connected with this missionary bias. At first, I was doubtful what this fact, of which I am conscious, might indicate—whether it was not an arrest laid on me to retain me—or whether it was a messenger to encourage me in dedication of heart to the missionary cause; but I found, as by a process of continued and experimental induction, that this special blessing of which I was so conscious, was sent for the latter purpose. I was made in the end clearly to see that this bias was like the “Nazarite’s lock” of separation—when it was cut I became weak, but when it was suffered to grow I became strong. David says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, my God will not hear me: but verily the Lord hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.” If such, of old, was a test of duty, or of “sin in the heart,” may I not hope, that if God has blessed this bias of my soul, that it is itself from him; and that if he so bountifully answered the prayers offered up under its dominion, it was surely because he found it not to be “iniquity”?
Nor may I deny or withhold that this calling forth of my heart towards the arduous work of foreign mission, has been accompanied with more full discoveries of my own meanness, and nothingness, and unworthiness before God than I am aware of having ever before attained to; neither know I how I could have endured such discoveries, so as to go on with present duty, far less to have contemplated the work to which I now seem called, were it not for such increased manifestations on the other side of our “completeness in Christ the Head,” and the omnipotence of the “indwelling Spirit” of Grace, as more than counterbalanced the former. Such self-emptying and Divine replenishing, I have been led to consider as evidences of the work of God, according to the Scriptures; whereas a mere natural bias is generally accompanied with a personal confidence and selfish preference which have no affinity to that experience which led Paul to say, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ!” God alone knoweth the depths or the heights into which he has led me in this solemn matter.
I might also endeavour to show, how, for a long time past, the external Providence of God towards me has, in most striking manner, corresponded with this the inward work of my heart. But on this I deem it inexpedient here to enter, for various reasons; but especially because the multitude of consecutive incidents referred to, could not be realized in their legitimate power by others, unless seen linked together in their mutual relations, and in their joint bearing on the individual concerned, and for whom they were intended. Often have Christians to encounter this ground of initiation—that those special providences in their lot, with which there is connected to them inwardly a special Divine authority, are to others unmeaning; and that the practice resulting from them is arraigned as baseless. This, however, will lead us only to a closer investigation, and to a deeper persuasion, that our Ruler is our Teacher, and that he counsels in governing. Such has been my own experience up to the present stage of this matter; and I have the more satisfaction in saying this, because I can safely assert, that all the more striking acts of Divine Providence occurred when unsought and unexpected—when there was no activity of bias in pursuit of them, and when, therefore, there would be least danger of prejudice in their reception.
If, then, I have a heart towards this missionary work, and if I have evidence that this heart is “of God,” then truly am I responsible for such a gift. I am not better than other men because of it: but I am more accountable than they in this one point, and must take heed how I hinder or arrest. True, indeed, such a heart is needed by me here; but then it gets no rest here. True also, God may, as of old, accept the “purpose of the heart” for the deed of the hand: but with me he has not so interposed; and how then can I stop? So far from an arrest, I have to contemplate,
VIII. Lastly, a door opened, in the course of his Providence, whereby I may, in a clear, orderly, and satisfactory manner, go out from my present much-loved charge, and enter dutifully on that other work to which I have been so long drawn in mind.
With the immediate origin of the application or call now on your table, I have nothing to do, for I have had no share in it. If asked again that ordination question, “Have you used any undue methods, either by yourself or others, in procuring this call?” my reply is now, as heretofore, “No—none.” If ultimately, however, this call may be traced up to that general disclosure of my mind made to certain brethren, under a pressure of heart which none but they who have felt it can comprehend, does it therefore follow that this is no call of God? Do we find, on surveying his word, that his methods of calling his servants are so limited, as to restrict (especially in works not generally desired), all knowledge or disclosure of their own minds as elements in the matter? We read in the case of the godly Nehemiah, that even whilst he held what in those days was a most important trust in the court of Persia, whereby he might have much benefited his people in the way of direct personal influence, that he entered into correspondence with certain brethren about the far distant and ruined Jerusalem—that when he heard the tidings they brought, he sat down and wept and mourned certain days, yea, and fasted and prayed to the God of heaven for favour in this matter. Still he remained at his post. Months after this, the door was thus opened: “Now the wine was before the king Artaxerxes, and I took up the wine and gave it unto the king. Now I had not before been sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then was I very sore afraid, and said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire. Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed unto the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it. And the king said, For how long shall thy journey be? when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time.”
Thus did the burden of Nehemiah’s heart, a burden which was of the Lord, reveal itself; and that disclosure, long suppressed and prayed over, at length led to his commission to go forward to the work to which the Lord called him, and in which, amidst many trials, he finally was prospered. May not this call now before my brethren be also of God; although, if traced up in its human relations, it may have arisen from the disclosure of a mind long burdened, but at length constrained, from a regard to truth and duty, to speak?
I feel that I cannot but regard this invitation from the representative body of the church, as a call, simple, clear, and direct in my circumstances, and as the consummating link in that long chain of personal providence with which I have been tried. I will not say, that had this visitation come to me unprepared in heart for any such work, or unexercised previously about it, that I could have regarded it as of the special weight that I now do; although even then I dared not have put it lightly aside. But when I look back on the whole train from the beginning until now, and consider how I have been impelled, contrary to my own nature and to creature relations; now, after waiting on him, although most imperfectly, in the reading of his word, in the watching of his providence, in the examination of experience, in the exercise of conference, and above all in continued prayer for guidance and against delusion, I have still been uniformly impelled in the same course; how, when I would again and again, through impatience it may be, have ventured to seek a door of outlet for myself, before any door of inlet to another sphere was opened to me, I was most mercifully hindered, and kept joyfully engaged in my present work; and how, when I had long left the matter entirely with the Lord, he was pleased, by conveying the knowledge of my mind to those in his church who were at that time engaged in looking out for one of that mind, to stir them up to propose to me that which is as the very opening of the door of the church to me, in a scriptural and orderly manner; when I retrace all this, I feel that there is in it, as manifested to my conscience, a complete and finished call of the Lord Jesus—of him “who hath the keys of David; who openeth and no man shutteth, and who shutteth and no man openeth.” I see much sin in what I have done, for which I come to my Redeemer’s blood, for the same one is our Lord and our Saviour too; but I do not see that what I have done is sin, therefore can I commit the result to him who is our Judge, as well as our Master.
Throughout this statement I have waived anything like discussion or debate, as to the considerations which have been urged against my removal; but I believe that virtually and substantially the results of my mind regarding them, will be found embodied and inter-woven in what I have this evening declared. My object is, to show simply the conviction to which I am led, as to the will of our Head; and let it speak for itself in the minds of my brethren.
Yet I feel that I cannot conclude without regarding one question, “How can you part with your present flock?” If the question be asked of my heart, I can only reply by repeating the question, “How can I? Lord God, thou only knowest how I am to do this thing! From thee alone can come my strength for such a separation.” This I can say, that nothing but a love to my Saviour, greater I trust than my love to my flock, could lead to such a step as that to which I am now brought; and they will not blame me for yielding to that love which I ever sought to lead them to as best.
But if the question be asked of my conscience, then must I reply, “He that called me hither six years ago, now calls me hence again, and I must go, for He wills it”; and my people have prayed with me that “his will may be done.” That which they have deemed and felt to be as the beginning of a blessing on my ministry, I have been made to feel as the winding up of it, by the hand of Mercy, until the judgment day. And that memorial, in which I see most clearly the Spirit of God restraining and subduing the hearts of praying men who composed it, so that they should not, even unconsciously, go beyond the limits of his holy but then unknown will, I found to be as a testimony of acceptance, sweeter to my taste than the last but richly mellowed fruits of autumn. It declares, that with me there is no discontent, and with them no disaffection; that I have endeavoured to labour to the last, and that to the last they have rejoiced in my poor borrowed labours. If any chain forged on earth could bind me, that memorial might: but I feel that, contrary to my own weak nature, all ties are made as flax to me. I feel bound in spirit, and I cannot but go. I feel that I have this night come to the brink of waters deep, dark, and strong; and never has my flesh trembled as now. But there is a voice from the Unseen, which says, “It is I; be not afraid.” That voice I know; it is “the Beloved” who speaks. I must not shrink—I may not fear—but will follow whithersoever he call. I am not yours, my beloved brethren and flock; neither am I my own. If I follow not him, the sentence is already pronounced that I am not his. But his I am and must be; therefore I go—Lord lead me! what I have done evil, forgive; what is thine own, accept; and “Thine be the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. Amen.”
Moderator, once more, in conclusion, must I declare my clear acceptance of this call, to go forth to labour as a minister in foreign parts; and in due time, although not now (for the sake of my flock), shall be tendered to you my resignation of the present charge, if the Lord further permit: and I trust that the statement made this night will satisfy the minds of my brethren, that I am now acting according to truth and conscience.
