Romans 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of: (Missionary Sermon): — Our good is evil spoken of — I. IF WE PROPAGATE AMONG OTHERS THAT WHICH WE DO NOT RECEIVE FOR OURSELVES. Create any great system of efforts, and there will be many blindly carried away with it. Many are, therefore, induced to enrol themselves in our missionary associations. "Come, see my zeal," said the ancient king, "for the Lord of Hosts." Was not his zeal selfishness rather? But "Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord," etc. II. WHEN WE VIOLATE THAT SOLEMNITY WHICH IS APPROPRIATE TO ALL SUCH TRANSACTIONS. May it not be feared that, in some cases, too great a temper of flippancy has pervaded our assemblies, and characterised our institutions? Could a traveller, in exploring the vestiges of an ancient city, pass along its fallen theatres, its broken aqueducts, its prostrate temples, with levity? Could a philanthropist proceed through the walls of the lazaretto, or the cells of a prison, in a careless and unfeeling mood? Could a negotiator address the revolted and the insurgent with a sportive look and in a jocular tone? Let us copy His faithfulness who upbraided Capernaum, and imitate His compassion who wept over Jerusalem; remembering that we are now labouring in the same course, and should know the fellowship of the same sufferings. III. WHEN WE FORGET THAT DUE ESTIMATE WHICH WE SHOULD TAKE OF WHAT IS DISTANT AND OF WHAT IS NEAR IN THE CONDITION OF MANKIND. Cast your eyes on your native land. Tens of thousands are before you, most imbruted, most immoral. And these are your kinsmen; a thousand ties of brotherhood make them one with yourselves. Cast your thoughts upon the distant realms of idolatry. You cannot tell how great is that darkness, for there is no contrasting light; you cannot tell the dimensions of that misery, for there is no measure by which you can gauge them. And in some districts of our favoured kingdom there are more Christian pastors than these societies have scattered around the circumference of the globe. Now, our good may be evil spoken of if we adopt any invidious partiality in our judgments. There are no souls more precious than those which throng the margins of the Indus, the Ganges, and the Nile; but the souls are alike precious which throng the majestic strands of the Severn, the Humber, and the Thames. IV. IF WE FORGET THE PROPORTION WHICH SHOULD EXIST BETWEEN EFFORT AND PRAYER. There is a devotion which becomes selfishness. It wraps itself in a contemplative dream; it will make no sacrifice, engage in no exertion. There is an exertion which becomes impious. It is full of noise and ostentation. Now, it is necessary that devotion and activity be blended. Our labour must be habitual, not accidental — our devotion must be habitual, and not fitful. Look at the apostles — what were their prayers? Pentecost fully come — what were their deeds? Think of angels — they do always behold the face of their God; but they are winds — they are flames of fire. Think of the Son of God, how He spent whole nights in prayer! you see Him going about doing good. Let our prayers sanctify our efforts — let our efforts authenticate our prayers; let us take heaven by violence through the means of the one, and earth by violence through the means of the other. V. WHEN WE CALL IN THE AID OF WORLDLY EXCITEMENT. Have all our institutions to say that they are unspotted from the world? Has there been no strange fire which we have offered before the Lord? Has there been no suppression of truth, no evasion of facts, no adornment of narrative? Surely, if our purpose be to captivate the world to the Saviour, we must be on our guard, lest, in attempting it, we ourselves be led captive by the world. VI. IF WE ENTERTAIN A LIGHT VIEW OF THE ETERNAL DANGER OF THE HEATHEN. Make Christianity a question of comparative advantage, of ameliorated state, a measure to give an increase of light already sufficient, a confirmation to hopes already well founded, and the missionary apparatus will soon come to neglect; men will necessarily decry it, as an unmeaning toy and a gaudy superfluity. VII. IF WE OBTRUDE PARTY OPINIONS AND SINGULARITIES. How pleasing is it that ours is a common cause, and that now, more than ever, ours is a common spirit. When the infidel and the scorner see we are moving in our different tracts, and yet are moving under a common influence and for a common purpose, we shall thus vindicate our good, and, in the absence of all that is little in sectarianism, we shall have our good compelled to be spoken well of. VIII. WHEN THERE IS ANY DISPOSITION TO DISPARAGE THE MISSIONARY CHARACTER. We have formed a heroism of principle and a dint of courage which were unknown; we can bring forth, confidently, men who have died unshrinkingly as martyrs. Can we ever use one term of detraction towards these men? Can we ever yield to them a supercilious patronage and a grudging support? We are honoured that they will go — we are honoured that we may sustain them. Let us remember that the very life — credit — character of our missionary institutions, must depend on the men whom we entrust with this work; and when they have been thus faithful in their work, let us give to them all that cordiality of confidence which they so well deserve, and which it would be unjust to refuse. IX. WHEN WE APPLY A HARSHER RULE TO OUR CONVERTS THAN WE APPLY TO OURSELVES. The former may occasionally be carried away by error; but let us think of our own deviations at home. We should, indeed, be disheartened if ever we had to report of any of our native Churches abroad what the apostles had to report of Corinth and of Galatia. X. IF WE AT ALL ENCOURAGE THE HOPE OF AN UNSCRIPTURAL CONSUMMATION. Remember that the present dispensation is a spiritual one; that it is complete, and nothing can be added to it; that it is an unearthly one, and therefore cannot admit of secular aggrandisement; and it is a final one — it therefore allows of no ulterior revelation. What know you other than this — than that all the world should be Christians? — other than this, that the gospel shall be universally preached? This is your consummation: you desire here no other paradise but to see the earth filled with the trees of righteousness. XI. IF WE DO NOT FOLLOW UP OUR EXERTIONS AND IMPROVE OUR SUCCESS. We have made a lodgment, and God's salvation has been openly showed in the sight of the heathen; and there have been those who have gone up to occupy the breach. Shall we leave them to perish? We have sown the seed; the harvest is come — it invites the sickle. Who would not enter with ecstasy into such a field, and crowd as labourers into such a harvest? (R. W. Hamilton, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let not then your good be evil spoken of: |
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