Missions
“And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?” — Acts n. 12.
WHEN the noise was heard, the multitude came together, and were confounded: they were poured together, and lost all distinct thought and judgment. In this state of confusion and amazement, some mocked the speakers, attributing their language to drunkenness; others, grave and solemnised, but uncertain, uttered to each other the question, What meaneth this?”
We have already endeavoured to reach the meaning of the fact for that generation; but it will be profitable also to inquire what it means for our own. After the first ages, there came a period of feebleness and decay. The Church was extinguished in some countries, and corrupted in others. The vine that grew on the mountains of Judah, and threw its branches westward to the Mediterranean, and eastward to the Euphrates, was on all sides assailed and cut down.
In the East it was destroyed; and in the West, although the branches remained in their place, they lost their life-sap, and withered.
After a long period of midnight, the Keformation dawned. God granted a revival to the slumbering nations of Europe. Jesus seemed to stand, as once he stood at the grave of Lazarus, and call the dead to life. The dry bones of the valley started up, an exceeding great army of living men.
It would have been well if the men of the Reformation, when they shook off the yoke of Rome, had betaken themselves to this text, and considered the question, * What meaneth I this?” They missed one half of its meaning. They caught the Pentecost revival in as far as it meant the getting of spiritual life for themselves; but they missed it in great measure in as far as it meant the publishing of the glad L tidings in all lands. They received the Spirit, descending as L fire to kindle love to Christ, in their own hearts; but they r did not, in any large measure, receive the Spirit as tongues: of fire, to spread the light through the dark places of the I earth. They gladly accepted the privileges of sons; but they I did not with sufficient energy exert themselves as servants. L They became Christians, but not missionaries. Their circum- C stances, indeed, as compared to ours, were adverse. They were involved in controversies, and crushed by persecuting wars.
In our times a great reviving has again visited the Church of Christ. Disciples have in the present century again learned to know the meaning of the sign from heaven. We have enjoyed comparative peace, and we. have at command much greater resources. More in the way of talent has been given to us, and, therefore, from us more in the way of work will be required. The Church of this century has accepted this sign both as a baptism of fire for spiritual life in itself, and as a tongue of fire to tell in burning words the Redeemer’s love in heathen lands.
“What meaneth this for the present generation of believers? It meaneth pre-eminently Missions. The best paraphrase of the passage was given in the words of the Lord Jesus, when he said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel unto every creature.”
One of the chief external hindrances to the spread of the gospel is the confusion of tongues. A strange language, which the missionary meets when he crosses a sea or a mountain-range, is like a wall that stops his progress, saying, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.” The men of Galilee, at the Pentecost, were enabled to surmount that difficulty by a miracle of Divine power. They might have sung with David, “By my God assisting me, I overleap a i wall.” The unlearned Jews opened their lips to speak of I Christ, and the strangers from various countries instantly 5 heard, each in his own language, the wonderful works of e God. A missionary of our day might pine for such a priviyi lege. If a Christian starting from Britain or America, and 3. j arriving in China, had nothing more to do than open his hps )- and preach the Word as if he were at home, the work would be easy. Yes, it would be easy; and, also, it would be easy to live, if, by a word of blessing uttered over it, a little bread should grow into rations for five thousand men. But this is not, in either sphere, the way of the Lord. It would not be difficult to prove that the miracle, which occurring once, served a great and good purpose, would, if it became the ordinary rule, destroy all. Enough, that the will of the Lord is, that we should till and sow in order to obtain bread; that we should patiently learn strange tongues, in order that we may make known through them the redemption of Christ.
We have greater things than these men of the Pentecost enjoyed. We are better off than they. Greater numbers are converted every year by ordinary natural speech than ever were converted by the extraordinary gift of tongues. In the Great Exhibition at London, as far back as 1851, the Bible was shown in one hundred and fifty languages. Behold, a greater privilege than the gift of tongues, a greater than the Pentecost miracle, is here! This acquisition is permanent. The way once opened to one hundred and fifty different tribes remains open. These canals once, by much labour, excavated, remain to convey the living water to a thirsty land from generation to generation. The miracle of Pentecost did not last long: the flickering light of those fiery tongues was soon extinguished. The extraordinary gift was not itself a permanent substance, but a shadow that pointed to something better, and then passed away. These polyglot Bibles of the London Exhibition were the fulfilment of the Pentecostal prophecy. The sign from heaven only pointed out the direction in which our efforts should be made, and then withdrew.
This sign then, for us, manifestly meaneth, that we should break forth on every side, and burst through or overleap the barrier of strange tongues, and all other barriers that stand in the way, and never rest until the kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
Our own tongue has, in the sovereign providence of God, been more highly favoured than any other; and from them to whom much is given much shall be required. This language is nowhere now desecrated by a state law to prohibit any human being from reading the Word of God. In this language there are more Bibles than in any other; and this is the language that is spreading faster and farther than any other over the world. The two nations that speak it, Great Britain and the United States, are the greatest maritime powers; and together they hold sway over a fourth part of the earth, and a sixth part of men. Not only are these two nations already so far advanced, but they are advancing at a much greater ratio than other nations. God is giving the earth to those people who give his Word to mankind without restraint and without limit. That tongue which most freely circulates the Bible bids fair to become the paramount language of the human race. “Them that honour me, I will honour.” Let the two nations which use in common this mother tongue be faithful to the Head and loving to each other, and their destiny, even in the near future, may be grander than any prophet has yet been able to, conceive.
This in regard to the tongue; but what of the fire? i Would that it were already kindled by the Holy Spirit i in the secret of believing hearts, wrapping first the Church i and then the world in its flame!