Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society | Page 5

contemptuous terms in which their labours have been described. Looking away from all that is temporary and special, and contemplating that which springs from their ordinary duties, the Directors would never forget what a noble position missionaries occupy, and how truly great, from its very nature, their work is. They have gone forth from home and country as ambassadors of God, to preach His message of forgiveness; to bring the Saviour in His human life to those who have never understood Him; to save the perishing, and bind them as with golden chains to the feet of God. They are battling with error, and breaking up the iron systems of priestcraft, inhumanity, and wrong, which have enslaved men for ages, and have shut off from them the light and love of their Heavenly Father. They are staying the progress of crime; they lay the hand of law on the slaveholder; they appeal to the drunkard; they clear out the dens of vice; and to the hopeless and despairing they open up long vistas of light and gladness, which terminate only in Heaven. Everywhere they are preaching with power. Their Divine message is quickening the dead conscience of nations: it is converting the wicked, and saving souls from death; it is lifting women from the dust; it is purifying family life; it is putting trade under rules of honesty, and teaching humanity where cruelty was the universal rule. Its principles are going down to the very roots of national life; it is substituting law for force; and is moulding young communities for a higher life in all their people, a closer union to their fellow-men, because they are gaining a holier and truer union with God.
[Illustration: MR. VIVIAN'S HOUSE, RAIATEA.]
They are doing this among great varieties of place and people; amid many forms of outer life; amid many grades of human comfort and human resources. Some labour among the most glorious manifestations of creative might; others upon scorched and barren plains; others in the busy life of cities; others in lonely isles. In labours abundant, in perils oft, by example, by preaching, by prayers, everywhere they seek to approve themselves unto God, and serve their generation according to His will. Politicians may lecture them: men of science may undervalue them. Time-serving editors may pour on them their scorn; they may be called enthusiasts, or be socially despised; but steadfast in duty, unmoved by reproach or praise, they will reply: "Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause." Our "meat is to do the will of Him that sent us, and to finish His work."
[Illustration: BENGALI GIRLS' SCHOOL, CALCUTTA.]
[Illustration: CAPTAIN COOK'S TREE, TAHITI.]
It is impossible for any Report to describe in detail, and with full justice, the varied labours in which these brethren are engaged. Like ministers at home, our Missionaries preach the Gospel; instruct, govern, and build up churches; watch over the young, and stir up their people's zeal. But they do a great deal more. Placed in many cases in simple states of society, on a low level of education and social connection, as well as of religion; in states of society saturated with heathen vices and heathen beliefs, our missionaries have not only to Christianize individual souls, but to Christianize literature, to Christianize public law, to form a healthy public opinion, to sanctify public taste. Forms of agency, therefore, unneeded at home, are required on every hand; varied in character, at times expensive, all carefully adapted to the case with which they deal. And it is in the employment, the adaptation of these means to their appointed ends, that missionaries specially prove themselves "wise to win souls."
[Illustration: INSTITUTION AT MALUA, SAMOA.]
Thus it is that not only on the Sabbath but through the week, not only in the pulpit but in the school, the market, the private house, in a boat, under a spreading tree, our brethren expound and enforce that Gospel which shall sanctify and govern the hearts of many nations. Thus it is in the cities of China and India, in the villages of Africa, among the swamps of Guiana, beneath the palm groves of Samoa, they seek to be instant in season and out of season. Some are pastors of churches, others preach almost entirely to the heathen. Some are training students in seminaries. Some superintend a range of simple schools; others, in Indian cities, give large time and effort to the important Institutions taught in the English and Native languages. A few are revising translations of the Bible; others are preparing commentaries, school-books, and other Christian literature. All have to share in building; and, besides the Medical missionaries, a great number constantly give medicine to the sick. Here we see Dr. TURNER, in the admirable