John 4:35-38 Say not you, There are yet four months, and then comes harvest? behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields… I. TRACE THE STREAM OF PROVIDENTIAL EVENTS FROM THE BEGINNING SO FAR AS THEY BEAR ON THE SPIRITUAL CULTURE OF THE WORLD. The fall, the first promise, animal sacrifice, Enoch, the deluge, the colonization of the world through the confusion of tongues, the call of Abraham, and the preparation of the Jews in Egypt for their inheritance, idolatry exposed and punished by the plagues, the establishment and mission of the Jewish nation, the captivity, restoration and dispersion, the function of Persia, Greece, and Rome, the fulness of time, the papal apostacy, Luther, the Puritans, Methodism, missions, Sunday Schools, Bible Society, education. II. NOTICE SOME OF THOSE EXISTING EVENTS WHICH HARMONIZE WITH THOSE OF PAST TIMES, AND ARE CONNECTED WITH THE HAPPINESS OF MANKIND. 1. Consider what is doing within the Church. It has awakened out of sleep. All denominations have their missionary society. All are talking about the coming of Christ. 2. Consider what is doing without the boundaries of the Church. Many, without thinking or meaning it, are contributing to the spread of the knowledge of Christ. (1) Think on the increase of knowledge — Bacon, Newton, and their successors. (2) The rapid progress of colonization. (3) The extension of the British empire. Why has God given us India? Not to add a new gem to the crown of our monarch, nor to give us an increase of power, not to augment our luxuries, but to extend the gospel. III. STATE THE DUTIES WHICH THE YOUNG OWE TO THIS GREAT CAUSE, AND THE WAY IN WHICH THEY MAY FURTHER IT. 1. You may do this by your own personal religion. Give yourselves first to the Lord, then to His Church. 2. Maintain a deep conviction of the importance of man's spiritual interests, and of the necessity of religion to promote them. Knowledge will not save the world, only Christ can do that. 3. Maintain right views of the importance of truth in the conversion of the world, The divinity of Christ, His atonement, regeneration by the Holy Ghost. 4. Let all your efforts be carried on in the spirit of religion. (1) Beware of the secular spirit in religion. (2) Do everything in a spirit of prayer. Resolutions, sermons, speeches are vain without this. IV. PRESENT SOME MOTIVES TO URGE THE YOUNG TO DEVOTE THEMSELVES FULLY TO THIS CAUSE. 1. Think of the nature of the cause itself. (1) Its first attribute is religion. It is to proclaim salvation to the sinner, and immortality to those who have no prospect beyond the grave. (2) It is intellectual. The heathen world is a vast wilderness of mind. (3) It is characterized by compassion. (4) By comprehension. The missionary society is a Bible society, a school society, a home missionary society, a mechanic's institute, a peace society, an anti-slavery society, a civilization society. 2. Think of the advantages you possess. 3. Remember that it remains with you whether the missionary cause shall be transmitted to posterity. (J. A. James.) Parallel Verses KJV: Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. |
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