Israel failed. Pharisaism was the end of it--a hugging itself in the
possession of the gift which it did not appreciate, and a bitter
contempt of the nations, and so destruction came, and the fire on the
hearth was scattered and died out, and the vineyard was taken from them
and 'given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.' Change the
name, as the Latin poet says, and the story is told about us. England
largely fails in this function; as witness in India godless civilians;
as witness on every palm-shaded coral beach in the South Seas,
profligate beach-combers, drunken sailors, unscrupulous traders; as
witness the dying out of races by diseases imported with profligacy and
gin from this land. 'A dew from the Lord!'; say rather a malaria from
the devil! 'By you,' said the Prophet, 'is the name of God blasphemed
among the Gentiles.' By Englishmen the missionary's efforts are, in a
hundred cases, neutralised, or hampered if not neutralised.
We have failed because, as Christian people, we have not been adequately
in earnest. No man can say with truth that the churches of England are
awake to the imperative obligation of this missionary enterprise. 'If
God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He spare not thee.'
Israel's religion was not diffusive, therefore it corrupted; Israel's
religion did not reach out a hand to the nations, therefore its heart
was paralysed and stricken. They who bring the Gospel to others increase
their own hold upon it. There is a joy of activity, there is a firmer
faith, as new evidences of its power are presented before them. There is
the blessing that comes down upon all faithful discharge of duty; 'If
the house be not worthy, your peace shall return to you.' After all, our
Empire rests on moral foundations, and if it is administered by us--and
we each have part of the responsibility for all that is done--on the
selfish ground of only seeking the advantage of 'the predominant
partner,' then our hold will be loosened. There is no such cement of
empire as a common religion. If we desire to make these subject peoples
loyal fellow-subjects, we must make them true fellow-worshippers. The
missionary holds India for England far more strongly than the soldier
does. If we apply Christian principles to our administration of our
Empire, then instead of its being knit together by iron bands, it will
be laced together by the intertwining tendrils of the hearts of those
who are possessors of 'like precious faith.' Brethren, there is another
saying in the Old Testament, about the dew. 'I will be as the dew unto
Israel,' says God through the Prophet. We must have Him as the dew for
our own souls first. Then only shall we be able to discharge the office
laid upon us, to be in the midst of many peoples as 'dew from the Lord.'
If our fleece is wet and we leave the ground dry, our fleece will soon
be dry, though the ground may be bedewed.