(_Extract from a Sermon._)
"COME OVER INTO MACEDONIA AND HELP US."
Acts xvi. 9.
"Glorious displays of heavenly mercy to lost and perishing mankind,
and a missionary spirit, warm and pure as the altar from which it
descended, and circumscribed in its holy purposes only by the broad
limits of creation, are the great and delightful landmarks of the
present age. The apocalyptic angel that was seen flying through the
midst of heaven, having the Everlasting Gospel to preach to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, is still spreading his
golden wings, and proclaiming with a loud voice, "Fear God and give
glory to Him, and worship Him who made heaven and earth." The sacred
era of the apostles has again dawned upon the earth, and the servants
of Christ are beginning to feel the broad import of their commission
to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."
Impelled by its sacred influence, they have gone out by hundreds--they
are wafted by every wind of heaven; they are borne on the waves of
every sea, ocean, and river; and their foot-prints are visible in the
dust and snow drifts of every clime. A light that gladdens the earth
and shines to heaven, denotes the windings of their pilgrimage, and
the freshness and beauty of Paradise in the midst of the desert, point
out the places of their abode. Every where is verified to them the
promise of their ascended Lord, "Lo I am with you always even unto the
end of the world;" and even "devils are subject to them through his
name." O! in what felicitous times are we permitted to live! Surely an
undevout reader of missionary annals must be mad indeed. How truly
may what Nicodemus said to Christ be applied to the whole noiseless
army of missionary champions; "No man can do these" wonders, "which"
they do, "except God be with him." And by what an irresistible
inference does the success of modern missionaries associate both their
_cause_ and their _labours_ with the approbation of heaven. From the
midst of that golden cloud which embosoms the sacred throne, and
softens the brightness of the Eternal to created vision, I hear a
voice to these faithful friends of the Almighty, saying--"Servants of
God! well done!" What a strong inducement is this to the friends of
missions, to persevere in this celestial enterprise with redoubled
efforts and increasing expectations: and how certain is it, that in
due season they will reap, if they faint not.
The field of missionary labour is the world, and every part of it must
be cultivated. In many places, harvests, broad and rich, are seen by
those myriads of seraphs, who, in ministering to the heirs of
salvation, are constantly passing and repassing from heaven to earth.
But by far the greater part of this field is still barren and
untouched by any culturing hand, and its famishing and dying
inhabitants are constantly sending out to christian communities the
Macedonian cry of--"Come and help us;" and this cry, like an angel's
voice, has sunken deep into many hearts, and inspired them with a
sympathetic interest which cannot die till its object is accomplished.
I congratulate the world that such an interest has been excited. It
promises much; it awakens the most delightful hopes; and it is not to
_divide_, but to _enlarge_ it, that I appear before this respected
assembly, as a messenger from the most dark and hopeless part of this
field of blight and desolation, to say to you, in behalf of my
brethren; "Come and help us also." The place from which I have come is
a _prison_, and _prisoners_ are my brethren, whose cause I am going to
plead.
In calling your attention to these all-gloomy places, and to these
neglected sinners, may I not be permitted to say, that _prisons_ and
_prisoners_ are inseparably interwoven with the history and doctrines
of the gospel. The Captain of our salvation, though Lord of all, was
once a _prisoner_ at Pilate's bar; and though all-innocent, was
condemned by Herod as a _criminal_, and expired on a _cross_. Of this
same Being it is declared that he despiseth none of his _prisoners_,
but looseth them, and by the blood of the covenant, sendeth them out
of the pit wherein is no water. By his spirit he preached through
Zechariah to those _captives_, who hung their harps on the willows and
wept at the recollection of Zion, this affecting but cheering
sermon--"Turn ye, turn ye to the strong hold, ye _prisoners_ of hope."
In the same spirit he also went and "preached to the spirits in
_prison_, which sometime were disobedient." In fine, benevolence to
the lost is the spirit of Jesus, and good-will to mankind
irrespectively, is the genius of his gospel. Moved then by the
inspiration of Christ and his doctrines, I cheerfully and confidently
anticipate the interested attention of all christians, while I paint
the moral and spiritual dearth of our State Prisons, and plead with
you to send thither the fertilizing streams of eternal life; nor will
I fear, for a moment, that there is in this congregation, either a
_Sanballat_ or a _Tobiah_, to be exceedingly grieved that a man is
come, to seek the _welfare of captives_.
I bring this subject, my Christian Friends, before _you_, and I urge
it upon your attention, because it is by a community of which you form
a valuable part, that the work must be done, if done at all. I bring
it before christians, _exclusively_, before the _church of Christ_
which he purchased with his own blood; it is before _you_ that I roll
the claims of your perishing fellow mortals; and, identifying myself
with them, I say to you on their behalf, "Come and help us." Where
else under heaven can we look but to _you_? Who will pity us, if
_you_ will not? Who will bring us the messages of salvation, if _you_
refuse? We ask not for _liberty_ nor _earthly comforts_; we are
contented with our _homely meals_ and our _beds of straw_; with these
_glooms_, these _dungeons_, and these _fetters_; but we want that
freedom with which _Christ_ makes free; we want to feel the warming
beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and eat the bread and drink the
water of eternal life. Such is the voice which is this moment falling
on your ears from the deep and gloomy recesses of the prison-house,
and permit me to urge your immediate attention to it from the
following considerations:
1. Should your pious labors be blessed to the reformation of any part
of these offenders, _not only will they become happy in the enjoyment
of virtue and religion, but a very great service will also be rendered
to society_.
Let it never be forgotten a moment, that though community is in no
_immediate_ danger from them _now_, however vicious, the time is
coming when it _may_ be. They are not always to remain within those
walls which prevent their annoying mankind by their crimes; their
sentences are to expire, and then, virtuous or vicious, society must
admit them again within its circle. Does not, then, the future peace
and safety of society require their reformation?--Should they be sent
abroad with hearts unsubdued and rankling with iniquity, what society,
family, or individual would be secure? Like fiery serpents, they would
scatter dismay where they fly and death where they repose. And from
the very nature of vice, whose grasp is to accumulation, if they are
not brought to reform by the means and principles of the gospel, they
will be more hardened and desperate than ever. I say "unless brought
to reform by the _means_ and _principles_ of the _gospel_." A mere
_moral_ reform in such subjects is not to be hoped for. They have
already demonstrated the insufficiency of mere _moral restraints_ to
keep them from the commission of crime.--Nothing but the solemn
motives which enforce the duties of _religion_, can restrain them now.
Their consciences have "swung from their moorings;" and they must be
brought back and chained to the throne of God, before they who have
been so long accustomed to do evil, will learn to do well. _Religion_,
the holy religion of _Jesus Christ_, then, with the _tremendous
sanctions_ which it draws from the _world to come_, is the only means
left by which these prodigals may be reclaimed. And should you be the
means of planting this religion in their hearts, you will not only
save _their_ souls from death, but you will cause a wave of joy to
roll more extensively wide than you have conceived. O! how many
weeping parents and brothers, and wives and children, would feel the
happy effect of your pious labors, and rise up and call you blessed.
And these sons of crime themselves, renovated in their moral natures,
by those redeeming principles which you will have instrumentally
brought home to their breasts, will, when released from their
dungeons, go out among christians and unbelievers, rejoicing the
former by declaring what God has done for their souls, and inspiring
with solemn and heavenly contemplations the latter, by testifying to
the faithfulness of the saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save the chief of sinners. Instead of scattering dread and
poisoning the healthful streams of society, they will move along in
the pleasing round of christian duties, living witnesses of the power
of divine grace, and examples of the excellency and loveliness of the
Christian Religion. Their houses will be houses of prayer; their
evenings will be spent in reading and meditation, and their days in
honest industry; and their places in the Temple of God will never be
vacant. O! what a combination of powerful motives are here presented
before you, to draw out the pious efforts of christians in behalf of
prisoners; the motives of humanity, patriotism, and religion--a
threefold cord; and may God forbid that it should ever be broken, or
unfastened from your minds, until you follow the example of Howard,
and bless with all the ordinances of the gospel, the neglected and
perishing inhabitants of our State Prisons.
2. I would also urge you to listen to the cry of the captives from the
consideration, that _they are human beings, and equally susceptible
with others of all the improvements and pleasures of virtue and piety,
on the one hand, and of all the degradation and misery of vice, on the
other_.
No matter how far they may have wandered in the mazes of crime; no
matter how deep they may have sunken into the horrible pit and miry
clay of moral pollution; no matter how closely round them they may
have drawn the sable pall of spiritual death; they are still within
the compass of that holy and saving influence, which can _reclaim_,
_elevate_, and _quicken_, the most hopeless of the human race. It is a
blasphemous libel upon the grace of God to exclude, either
_speculatively_ or _practically_, from its redeeming power, _any part
of mankind_ on account of their _superior sinfulness_; for the
faithful saying, which is worthy of all acceptation, is, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save the very _chief_ of sinners. Did he
not confer the boon of pardon and salvation on a dying _thief_? Was
not one of his most faithful friends, while he abode on earth, she out
of whom he had cast _seven devils_? And among the bright stars of
heaven which rose from earthly climes, does not the eye of faith dwell
with inexpressible delight on _Menasseh_, _Bunyan_, _Gardener_, and
_Rochester_? Who then dares to point to any individuals, or to any
class of fallen man and say--_There is no hope in their case_?
Remember that he who came to seek and to save that which was lost, was
also commissioned to say to the _prisoners_, "_Go forth_," and to them
that _sit in darkness, "Show yourselves_"; to preach "_deliverance_
to the _captives_," and the "_opening_ of the _prison_ to them that
are _bound_;" to lead "_captivity captive_," and receive gifts _even
for_ "_the rebellious_."
In the broad commission which every minister of Jesus Christ receives,
there is no limitation, no part of mankind are excluded; within the
whole world and the whole creation, there is not a rational being to
whom the Lord Jesus has not, with sovereign authority, and in the most
plain and energetic terms commanded his gospel to be preached. And are
not _State Prisons_ within the whole world? and are not their
_neglected_ and _despised inmates_ included in the whole creation?
From the burning equator to the frozen poles, and from the rising to
the going down of the sun, the heralds of salvation are moving in
every direction. Burning Africa and icy Greenland, the east and the
west, "the void waste and the city full," have all heard the
proclamation of mercy, and the isles of the sea have received the law.
The blinded Jew and the bigoted Mahommedan, have alike, through the
instrumentality of missionaries, seen the light of truth, and upon
them the glory of the Lord has risen. And this same light which has
shone through and dispelled the gloom of heathenism, which has played
around the islands of the ocean, and thrown a ray of promise across
the Mahommedan and Papal apostasies, has also found its way through
prisons, and left a cheering brightness on the grates of a cell.
Unchecked in its progress, and unbounded in its ample range, selecting
no particular field as more hopeful, nor avoiding any as more
forbidding than another, the grace of God, like a mighty angel, flies
across the chaos of this world in the means appointed by heaven, and
finds mankind every where, and under every variety of circumstance and
condition, equally and perfectly under its control. Differing indeed
in their mental and moral habits and associations, some possessing
more lovely traits of character than others, and some distancing the
rest in the race of crime; some deep read in all the mysteries of
human science, and some so near the level of the brute as to render
their humanity a question; mankind are, notwithstanding these
complexional varieties, alike susceptible of the degrading and painful
influences of vice, on the one hand, and, on the other, of the
ennobling and heaven-imparting power of virtue and truth. I care not
whether the individual treads the scorching sands of Arabia, or
shivers amid the drifting snow and icebound streams of Lapland;
whether he sends up the Indian cry to the Great Spirit from the
solitude of our western wilds, or kneels an enthusiastic worshipper at
the car of Juggernaut; whether his mind is as rude as the uncultivated
desert, or so enlarged by education that all the luminaries of
literature and philosophy are revolving there, like the sun, moon and
stars, in the firmament of heaven; whether his garments are rags, or
purple and fine linen; whether his companions are dogs, or princes;
whether his home is a dungeon, or a palace; he is still _a man_,
possessing the _same sensibilities_, the _same instinctive dread of
misery_ and _desires for happiness_, the _same longings after
immortality_ and _delight in truth_, which belong _alike_ to the
_degenerate family of fallen Adam_.
This proposition is abundantly proved by the results of that sublime
and stupendous enterprise, which the spirit of missions has so
gloriously struck out, and is so successfully carrying forward, and
which looks with such a firmly founded and well built confidence to
the conversion of the whole world. I rejoice in all that has been done
under the influence of this benevolent spirit, and I sympathize with
the friends of missions in those brighter hopes and more inspiring
anticipations, which contemplate a redeemed universe around the throne
of heaven. My soul dwells, with expanding joy, on the lovely Edens,
which the servants of the Most High have caused to bloom and smile
amidst the blight and barrenness of heathen lands. I hear the songs of
salvation sounding in the desert, and I bless the equal Lord of all
his creatures for the means by which such praises have been called
forth. I am glad that I see so much accomplished, and it is _this
pleasure_ that inspires me with such impatient anxiety to see the
glorious work advancing. It is because I have seen the effect of the
word of God on heathen minds, that I want to have it preached in our
prisons. It is because I have seen streams gush out in the desert,
that I desire to see the waters of life carried into the cells of
captives. It is because these wonders of mercy have been accomplished
by appointed means, that I wish to see these means operating in our
prisons. It is because these means have never been used in vain, that
I confidently associate with them the salvation of these servants of
sin. And may I not add, that as God works _only_ by means, and in this
department of His operation, only by such means as are specified in
his word, I despair of seeing any great or lasting good effected in
our prisons, till I see these means in employment.
3. Another consideration by which I would urge you to attend to the
call of the captives, is, _that they are as perfectly alive to the
influence of religious motives as any other part of unregenerate
mankind, and to one class of these motives, much more so_.
I am well aware that to the eye of unsanctified calculation, these
giants of crime, these startling monuments of pre-eminent depravity
and divine forbearance, present obstacles to the universal conquest
of truth, and sometimes even faith itself becomes infidel. But
remember that the work is God's, and is any thing too hard for an
almighty arm to accomplish? With equal ease He guides the zephyr,
and the lightning's furious bolt; sustains a sparrow and upholds the
sun. If He wills, who or what can hinder? He sends forth His
Spirit, and the boldest and most determined opposition prostrates
like the reed before the tempest, or a bramble before an avalanche,
and the tiger becomes a lamb in the converted apostle of the
gentiles. If my chief dependence for the reformation of these
far-gone offenders was turning on the pivot of mere human agency, my
brightest hopes would darken midnight, and the combined force of
every possible motive to action, would relax before the hopelessness
of the enterprise; but when an omnipotent hand is at work, would not
fear or doubt be equally blasphemous and absurd? There must, indeed,
be Pauls to plant, and Apolloses to water, but God alone can give
the increase; and as under his gracious providence, the rock becomes
a pool, and barrenness is turned into fertility, I most confidently
anticipate the perfect and glorious accomplishment of His revealed
purpose, to give to the Son 'the heathen for his inheritance, and
the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession;' to 'deliver
the lawful captives and take the prey from the mighty.' The
assertion, therefore, which has been so frequently made, that 'the
minds of prisoners are hardened beyond the power of religious
susceptibilities,' I am fully prepared to deny; and not merely from
the force of this reasoning, but from my own personal knowledge and
experience. This wide world presents no where more solemn and
attentive listeners to the preaching of the gospel, than are always
found in our State Prisons. For the truth of this assertion, I
appeal to every servant of God who has had the pleasure of
addressing that libelled and neglected part of erring mankind.
Indeed it would be very strange were it otherwise, for the very
circumstances under which they are addressed, irresistibly dispose
their minds to attend, with serious and affecting interest, to the
enunciations of religious truth. Their souls are bleeding with the
painfulness of a separation from their _nearest_ and _dearest
friends_--their parents, their brothers and sisters, their wives
and children--and from the sunshine and all the concomitant
blessings of liberty. Their own sad experience teaches them, better
than a thousand arguments, the truth of that Book which declares,
that the wicked shall not go unpunished, and that the way of
transgressors is hard. Having witnessed _one_ judgment day, and
feeling the awful and death-like consequences of being condemned
_there_, they think, with trembling, of _the great Judgment day of
all mankind_, and of the _more awful consequences_ of condemnation
_then_. And where in the universe can they behold a more true and
dreadful representation of the 'house of wo and pain,' than is
constantly before their eyes? To _one_ class of religious motives,
then, they must be peculiarly sensitive--_the terrors of the Lord
must make them afraid_. They _cannot resist them_. Feeling as they
_must_, and surrounded as they _are_, the truths of God come home to
their consciences, _emphasized by their own experience_, and they
might as well change their dungeon into a palace, and exchange their
misery for the bliss of cherubs, as to resist these _sacred
thunders_ of the Eternal, _thus awfully sounded in their ears_. With
me this is neither idle declamation nor uncertain theory, for I
speak from observation and experience, declaring only what I have
seen and felt; and could you associate my observation and experience
with your own, you would believe my testimony. But you need not
depend either on my declarations or reasonings on this subject; I am
willing to throw the question into the scale of acknowledged facts.
Facts cannot lie, and we will view our subject in the light of those
connected with the ministry of Christ and his apostles. As he went
about doing good, who followed most cheerfully in his train?
_Publicans and sinners._ Who were the most remarkable subjects of
his saving power? _Mary Magdalene_, whom he had dispossessed of
_seven devils_, and a _hardened criminal expiring on a gibbet_. Why
was he styled the friend of sinners? why did he declare the object
of his mission to be to call sinners to repentance? and why did he
rebuke the grumblers at his associating with those who were reputed
the lowest and vilest of the human race, by saying, 'The whole need
not a physician but they that are sick?' Because _sinners_, as they
_most need_, so they most _feel their need_ of, and most _cordially
embrace the salvation of the gospel_. And who were the first to
espouse the cause of Christ, after his resurrection? They whose
hearts had festered with _malice_, whose hands were red with
_innocent blood_--those very men who had been the _betrayers_ and
_murderers_ of the Just and Holy One. One fact more and I shall have
done with this topic. Who is that furious and determined individual,
commissioned by the chief priests, and, Jehu like, speeding his way
to Damascus? The same _dark and wicked spirit_ who had _assisted in
the murder of Stephen_, who had _thirsted for the blood of the
saints_, and had _dragged many of them to prison_. The _same
spirit_, too, who became a _chosen vessel of the Lord_ to bear his
name to the gentiles, and _build up the faith_ which he had labored
to demolish, and who, in the most affecting and solemn terms
declared himself to have been the _chief of sinners_.
But after all my reasoning and all my appeals on this subject, there
is one cold and sullen fact, which rises like a winter-cloud over my
mind, and blasts all my hopes of success while it remains. It is this.
THE HAPLESS AND WRETCHED COMMUNITY FOR WHICH I AM PLEADING, IS
COMPLETELY EXILED FROM THE SYMPATHIES OF MANKIND.--They are _thought_
of indeed, but it is only to be _despised_, and they are _spoken_ of
only to be _cursed_. How truly may they say; 'No one cares for our
souls.' This is a fact which cannot be successfully contradicted; but
whether it is right or not, judge ye. How much of christianity it
evinces let every one's conscience determine. One thing is certain,
it is not the spirit of _God_, for He commended His love towards
sinners by giving His Son to be our Saviour. Neither is it the spirit
of _Christ_, for when we were without strength, in due time he died
for the ungodly. Equally distinct is it from the spirit of _angels_,
for they rejoice in the presence of God when one sinner repents. Nor
has it any fellowship with the spirit of _christians_, for they are
glad when they see the grace of God magnified in the reformation of
even the most abandoned. It is also spurned away by the spirit of
_philanthropy_, for the prince of philanthropists identified his
glorious fame with the _prisons_ of Europe. Hearken then ye whose
sympathies pass by the cells of merited suffering, like the priest and
the Levite, on the other side, the misery which you _disdain to heed_
and the sufferers whom you associate only with _infamy_, draw around
them the _liveliest sympathies_, and the _deepest interest_ of _the
whole universe of sanctified spirits_, from the mere _lover of his
species_, up through _christians_ and _angels_, to the _merciful
Redeemer_ and _compassionate Father of all_. O! then be entreated to
bring your cold and limited sympathies to the fountain of Jesus'
blood, and learn to pity the sinner while you hate his sins. Let the
sighing of the prisoners come into the secret abode of your hearts,
and compassionate those whose hope is despair. If you continue to
resist that voice which might pierce the _tomb_, and rouse the _dead_
into benevolent actions for the recovery of the lost, you will evince
that you have wandered as far from the sympathies of unperverted
humanity, as have the objects of your contempt from righteousness; and
my only hope of _their reformation_ will depend on _your previous
return to that holy sanctuary of purified feeling, from which you have
so wofully departed_. Then, warmed with the pure and sacred glow of
heaven's own altar, you will be moved by the groaning of the captives,
and either _carry_ or _send_ them the balm which is in _Gilead_, and
direct them to the Physician who is there."