Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace… The words, "How beautiful are the feet!" are plainly a figurative expression. This expression signifies the delight with which the messenger of peace is hailed, or, in other words, how welcome is the message which he brings. In Isaiah (Isaiah 52:7) it reads, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, as if the reference was to the inhabitants of some beleaguered city looking out for the messengers of peace, and as they behold them appearing, fleet of foot, upon the mountain-top, they exclaim, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!" Such a description the apostle here applies to the messengers of the gospel I. THE GOSPEL IS BEAUTIFUL IN THE TRUTHS IT TEACHES. The truths of the gospel are here called "glad tidings of good things." This, in fact, is the very meaning of the word "gospel" - glad tidings or good news. 1. Think what the gospel teaches us about the one true God. What a contrast to the helpless idols of heathenism! How beautiful to think that God is a Spirit who is everywhere present, who knows all our circumstances, and to whom we can always draw near in the assurance that he hears us, and is able and willing to help us! What a contrast to the unknown god of even the best forms of heathenism, to the unconscious and unsympathetic Brahm, the god of Hinduism! I heard a missionary to the Red Indians, speaking in Dr. Storrs' church in Brooklyn, mention how the chief of an old Indian tribe, seven thousand in number, had come seven times in fifteen months a distance of a hundred and fifty miles to a mission station, to ask that a missionary might be sent to tell them of "the white man's God." How beautiful to them that sit in darkness is the glad tidings of the true God, the loving and merciful Father in heaven! 2. Think what the gospel teaches us about the human soul. The gospel does not permit us to regard man as one of the beasts that perish, as he is under so many of the heathen religions. Some of these have no idea of the existence of a soul at all; but in the best of them the soul is either annihilated at death, or transferred to some other creature, or absorbed into the universal being as a drop into the ocean. The gospel, on the other hand, teaches that man was made in the image of God; that he has an immortal destiny; and that, when he had destroyed his own present happiness and future prospects by his own sin, so great value did God place upon him, so great love did his heavenly Father cherish for him, that he sent his own beloved Son to live and die for man's salvation. The gospel which proclaims the greatness, the majesty, the holiness, the glory of God, proclaims also the dignity and the immortality of man II. THE GOSPEL IS BEAUTIFUL IN THE INFLUENCE IT EXERCISES. This we might expect from the beauty and grandeur of the truths it teaches. There is nothing very elevating about the worship of an idol of wood or stone. There is nothing very inspiring. in the thought that life must end at the grave, or that I shall be absorbed into the universe. It may be very poetic to sing, as Shelley did of his departed friend Keats - "He is made one with Nature. There is heard His voice in all her music, from the moan Of thunder to the song of night's sweet bird. He is a presence to be felt and known In darkness and in light in herb and stone; Spreading itself where'er that Power may move Which has withdrawn his being to its own." But such a thought would bring little comfort to the bereaved parent or sorrowing widow; and how very slight would be its influence upon character and life, compared with the thought that I am a responsible being, that I must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, and that my life as an immortal being hereafter will be determined largely by my life as an individual now! As a matter of fact, the gospel of Jesus Christ has exercised an elevating, purifying, beautifying influence wherever its power has been felt. Take, for instance, the treatment of woman. Mohammedanism and heathenism have both kept woman in humiliation and degradation. By keeping her in seclusion, they have at once injured her own moral and spiritual being, and deprived the community of the healthful influence which good women can exercise. Christianity has raised woman to respect and honour; it has promoted her own personal happiness; and it has enabled her to exercise a mighty power for good in the family, and in society at large. Mohammedanism and heathenism are the props of slavery. It was Christian missions that first aroused the Christian conscience on this subject. Sir William Hunter, one of the most distinguished scholars and statesmen of our day, speaking at the great Missionary Conference in London, June, 1888, said, "I recognize in missionary work a great expiation for the wrong which the white man has done to the dark man in the past; and I recognize also a pledge of national fight-doing in future. During the past century missionaries have marched in the van of all our noblest national movements. When the time came for the great wrong of slavery to be redressed, it was the missionary voice which first stirred up the nation against the slave trade. That voice is now awakening the national conscience against the terrible evil which is being done by our liquor traffic among the darker and less civilized races." How long shall the Christian public of mighty England stand meekly by, while slavery's chain is still clanking, and slavery's lash still falls? How beautiful is that gospel which has lifted woman out of her degradation; which has emancipated already so many millions of slaves; which has abolished cannibalism in so many islands of the sea; which has put an end to the suttee and other cruel ceremonies in India; and which is drawing the nations of the earth together in a universal brotherhood of good will and peace! III. IT IS A BEAUTIFUL THING TO BE A BEARER OF THIS MESSAGE. "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace!" What share are we taking in this glorious work? "Consecrated capital," says Dr. A. T. Pierson, "is not only potent; it is well-nigh omnipotent. To have and to use money well is to multiply personal power a thousandfold, nay, to multiply one's self a thousandfold.. The giver is potentially wherever his gift is. Sarah Hosmer's frugal savings educated six young men to preach the gospel in Oriental lands, and where they were, she had her representatives and preached through them. A man recently died in New York whose noble benefactions had spread so far, that in not less than two hundred and fifty different places he was represented by a mission Sunday school, a church, an asylum, a hospital, a college or seminary, or some other form of beneficence: his money made him virtually omnipresent as a benefactor." Oh that individual Christians would awake to their opportunities! Oh! that they would realize the moral grandeur and glory of being a bearer of the gospel message, and a helper in the gospel cause! - C.H.I. Parallel Verses KJV: And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! |
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