WAITING FOE GOD: 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IN GEEAT QUEEN STREET CHAPEL, APRIL 20TH, 186?, 
 
 IN BEHALF OF THE 
 
 WESLEYAN-METIIODIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 EEV. JAMES M'COSH, LL.D., 
 
 AUTHOK OF THE METHOD OF DIVINE GOVERNMENT, THE INTUITIONS OF THE MIND, 
 EXAMINATION OF MR. 0. S. MILL'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 LONDON : 
 WESLEYAN MISSION HOUSE : 
 
 SOLD AT 66, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 1867. 
 
LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM NICHOLS, 
 46, I10XTON SQUARE. 
 
Ran 
 *8?6a 
 
 WAITING FOR GOD. 
 
 " The Lord is good unto them that wait for Hhn." (Lara. iii. 25.) 
 
 Man is required by his very nature as a creature, and 
 from the dependent position in which he is placed, to take 
 the attitude of waiting. For his encouragement he is 
 assured that God " is good unto them that wait for Him." 
 Let us inquire what is involved in this duty, and consider 
 how the Lord encourages them that perform it. If he 
 who speaks, and they who hear, be this day waiting for 
 Him, they will assuredly find that " the Lord is good to 
 them." 
 
 I. Let us inquire what is implied in waiting for 
 God. 
 
 1. God has work for us, and we should be ready to do it. 
 " Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in 
 the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto 
 the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden 
 unto the hand of her mistress ; so our eyes wait upon 
 the Lord our God." Such should be our habitual posi- 
 tion, — that of servants waiting on the will and commands 
 
 a 2 
 
4 
 
 of their master, — that of soldiers ready to obey the orders 
 of their Captain : not proffering excuses, or seeking to 
 devolve the task on another ; but with a willing mind 
 saying, " Here am I, send me ; " and this, whatever be 
 the nature of the service, whether honourable or dis- 
 honourable in the world's estimation. It was thus that 
 the apostles received the order, " Go and make disciples 
 of all nations." It was thus that, fifty years ago, the 
 founders and the early Missionaries of this now great 
 Society heard the voice addressed to them : " Preach the 
 Gospel to every creature." They did not wait, as some 
 advised them, till they saw the nations prepared ; till they 
 found them enlightened and civilized by some other 
 means ; but they went forth in obedience to the command, 
 to arouse a people who had as yet no desire for improve- 
 ment ; and to proclaim truth fitted to call forth their 
 dormant energies, and bring enterprise, commerce, wealth, 
 refinement, and science in its train, as one of the rewards 
 which God gives to those who receive His Son. 
 
 2. There are blessings to bestow, and we sliould be wait- 
 ing to receive them. Gifts have been promised, and we 
 should believe the promise. God is offended with us 
 when we doubt His word, His love, His willingness to 
 bless us. Nothing grieves the kind Father so much as 
 to find His children ever suspecting His goodness towards 
 them, after He has given such proofs of it, and prefer- 
 ing the society of strangers, and the pleasures of the 
 wicked. Rest assured that we cannot grieve the Holy 
 Spirit more readily or deeply, than by doubting whether 
 our Heavenly Father loves us, when He has given such 
 evidence of His compassion. We cannot please Him 
 
5 
 
 more certainly than by going to Him with such faith as 
 we have, in the assurance that He will receive us, and 
 give us what we need. 
 
 " If a flower 
 Were thrown out of heaven at intervals, 
 You'd soon attain to a trick of looking np." 
 
 But there are better things than flowers being thrown out 
 of heaven, and let us be " looking up " for them. Let us 
 not complain that the heavens are shut ; the heavens 
 were opened by Him who came down from heaven ; a 
 door has been opened, and no man can shut it. Blessings 
 are being rained down, but our hearts are not open to re- 
 ceive them. The fountain is flowing, let us go out and 
 drink of it. The manna is falling around us, let us go 
 out and gather it. The sun is shining, let us not in sulky 
 pride retire into the dark and damp cave of unbelief ; let 
 us go out into its light and heat, as the grass, and grain, 
 and flowers, and trees rejoice in it at this season, and as 
 they do so spring, and grow, and take their hue of health 
 and proper colours, and rise to their full height, and 
 hasten to bear fruit. " Be it according to your faith." 
 God blesses His people not according to their worth, but 
 according to their wants ; and in proportion as you feel 
 your parchedness, and look that it may be allayed, so will 
 be the shower that descends from these clouds, which are 
 big with mercies. God blesses not according to the merits 
 of His people, but according to the merits of Christ; and in 
 the measure of your view of these merits so will be the 
 grace imparted. Our supply from that running fountain 
 will be in proportion to the vessel we take with us, — 
 
6 
 
 " Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." Thus have 
 the Missionaries of the Cross gone forth, both in early 
 and in later times. They first heard the command : it was 
 enough, and they set out ; but as they did so, they were 
 encouraged by the promise, " Lo, I am with you alway, 
 even unto the end of the world." Being so bidden, they 
 rose, and walked, and stretched forth their hands ; and as 
 they did so, they felt life and hope in every member, and 
 in the encouragement of them they went forward. They 
 did not stop till they saw fruit before they sowed ; but 
 they scattered the precious seed of the Word, looking to 
 God's faithfulness as " an evidence of things not seen," 
 as a bow in the clouds ; or rather as the rainbow round 
 about the throne, assuring them that in the spiritual, as 
 in the natural, world, there should, while sun and moon 
 endure, be seed-time, and also harvest. 
 
 3. In waiting for God, we should wait His time. For as 
 to certain services which He requires, and rewards which 
 He bestows, there is need that we exercise patience. 
 There are some who allow in themselves a different 
 temper. They are willing to work, so they think ; but it 
 is not in the way God prescribes, but in their own way. 
 They would work, they say, and would take the credit of 
 it ; and so God requires them, in the mean time, to wait, 
 — to wait and see God Himself working. They would 
 be busy in His employment ; but God would rather have 
 them, for the present, suffer for His name. They would 
 do ; good to others ; but God hinders them in His provi- 
 dence, that they may 1 see that what they need is, to get 
 good to themselves ; that, being reproved, and, as it were, 
 converted a second time, like Peter, (Luke xxii. 82,) they 
 
7 
 
 may then " strengthen their brethren." Or, they would 
 be very much disposed to work in some public and con- 
 spicuous field ; and God allots them an obscure and un- 
 honoured sphere. Or, they would be ready to labour in 
 the shade; but God calls them forth, to their annoyance, 
 to toil in the heat and the glare of sunshine. Or, they 
 wonld be diligent in the quiet valley ; and God compels 
 them to go up to the mountain top, where they are ex- 
 posed to the storms of life, and to the gaze and reproach 
 of men. Now, in all this, be it observed, there is self-will, 
 when there should be submission to the Divine will. 
 " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might," is the command and rule to the Christian. Again, 
 there are, who insist that God should give them every 
 blessing at the moment. And when the prayed-for and 
 expected gift is withheld, they begin to doubt and com- 
 plain, possibly to abandon themselves to despair or scof- 
 fing, saying, with the unbelieving king of Israel, " What 
 should I wait for the Lord any longer ? " Surely we need 
 only a moment's calm reflection to see how unreasonable, 
 as well as unbecoming, this temper is. The wonder is, 
 that we should get blessings on any terms, and not tha t 
 we should be obliged to wait for them. How long will men 
 wait for earthly blessings, still expecting them to come ! 
 How long will the ambitious man run after earthly 
 honours, which ever vanish as he approaches them, — as 
 the painted cloud before the boy who pursues it, in the 
 idea that he would get riches, could he only clutch it ! 
 " Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit 
 of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he re- 
 ceive the early and the latter rain. Be ye also patient." 
 
8 
 
 He who is conscious that he deserves nothing, and that he 
 needs much, will feel as if God were not exacting any- 
 thing unreasonable in making him wait. He who know» 
 how much is promised, and how certainly it will be 
 granted in proper season, will be delighted to wait. 
 
 The Missionaries, at not a few of our Stations, have 
 thus had to wait. It has not been uncommon for them to 
 labour for long years without being encouraged by any 
 conversions. But it has been quite as common, after 
 fishing all night and catching nothing, that the sun has 
 burst upon them without a dawn, and shown them Jesus 
 standing upon the shore, asking them if they have had 
 any encouragement, and bidding them " cast the net on 
 the right side." (John xxi. 3-6.) And though they have 
 " toiled all the night, and taken nothing, nevertheless " at 
 His word thev " let down the net," and find their heart's 
 desire and expectation fulfilled to the utmost. (Luke v. 4- 
 7.) Some, it is true, have been taken away ere they real- 
 ized the results they were praying for. But the labour 
 of such has not been lost, — not lost to the church, not lost 
 to Christ ; and others have entered on their labours, and 
 found " houses full of all good things, which they filled 
 not, and wells digged, which they digged not, vineyards 
 and olive-trees, which they planted not." (Deut. vi. 11.) 
 And though they themselves have died in the battle, yet, 
 as the victory was gained by their help, they will not lose 
 their share of the spoil ; for they who were taken away, 
 and they who are spared for a time, will meet once more, 
 and " both he that soweth and he that reapeth shall re- 
 joice together." (John iv. 36.) 
 
 4. Once mca*e, waiting for God implies desire and expecta- 
 
9 
 
 tion. We wait because we desire ; we wait because we 
 expect. We are anxious to glorify God by being employed 
 in His service ; and hence we are waiting for orders, — we 
 are seeking opportunities of serving Him. We are long- 
 ing for the blessings, as you see the husbandman looking 
 over the whole sky for the coming shower to refresh his 
 crops, or for the signs of dry weather to enable him to 
 gather in his grain; as you have seen the mother in her 
 eagerness, or the father, saying less, but not less earnest, 
 looking out for a son or daughter who has been for years 
 in a foreign clime, but who has promised to be at home at 
 such a time. How is every object in the dim distance 
 examined ! how is every sound listened to ! and " why is 
 he so long in coming ? why tarry the wheels of his 
 chariot ? " Ah, if we were longing for spiritual blessings 
 in this spirit, they would come, assuredly come ; and our 
 faith would insure them, and our eagerness would hasten 
 them : for " He that shall come will come, and will not 
 tarry." 
 
 Let us lay the blame on the proper parties, and not 
 charge Grod with unfaithfulness. Let us rebuke our 
 " evil heart of unbelief." "Ye ask, and receive not, be- 
 cause ye ask amiss." Ye ask slothfully, not caring whe* 
 ther ye receive or not : ye ask hypocritically, not willing 
 to receive. Suppose I had this day a commission from 
 heaven to proclaim that the millennium is now come, — that 
 I saw in the clouds the brightness of His rising to estab- 
 lish on our earth the reign of peace, and love, and 
 holiness, so long promised. Think ye that this would be 
 glad tidings of great joy to all men? " What," says the 
 worldly man, " am I to let go my grasp of these earthly 
 
10 
 
 objects, and henceforth seek for my satisfaction in things 
 that are spiritual and Divine?" "What," says the man 
 of pleasure, " am I to abandon these enjoyments, without 
 which I would feel life to be a dulness and a burden ; and 
 now and for ever set my heart on the beauty of Christ, and 
 the beauty of holiness ? " " What," says the ambitious 
 man, " am I to stop short in my ascent of the hill of 
 honour, when I am about to reach its summit, and enjoy 
 the rest and the prospect for which I have been toiling all 
 my life ? " Ah, there are persons praying, " Thy kingdom 
 come," who do not wish Christ's kingdom to come. I 
 have no special authority from heaven to fix the day and 
 the hour of that glorious evening in the world's history, 
 when the light is to shine with a greater glow than ever 
 it has done in the dark and troubled day. But I have a 
 commission to proclaim — God's reign in your hearts is 
 pressed upon you. " The righteousness which is of faith 
 speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall 
 ascend into heaven ? (that is, to bring Christ down from 
 above ;) or, Who shall descend into the deep ? (that is, to 
 bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith 
 it ? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in 
 thy heart : that is, the word of faith, which we preach ; 
 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 
 and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him 
 from the dead, thou shalt be saved." But you say you 
 can do nothing without grace ; you are waiting for it. 
 Ah, there is reason to fear that, to all thy other sins, thou 
 art adding the sin of hypocrisy. Thou art not waiting 
 for grace, but, in thy secret heart, for something very 
 different. Determined to cherish thy self-righteousness, 
 
11 
 
 thou art waiting for self-indulgence, waiting for earthly 
 goods and pleasures. God does offer thee grace, but thou 
 wishest to remain graceless. Thou mightest be made 
 humble, but thou art determined to continue proud. 
 Thou mightest have thy self-righteous spirit subdued, 
 and thou art resolved to lean on thine own deeds. Thou 
 mightest have thy selfishness eradicated, but thou art 
 resolute in pursuing thine own immediate worldly inter- 
 ests. Thou mightest become holy, but thou art bent on 
 abiding unholy. Friend, I would strip thee of these false 
 pretexts by which thou art deceiving thyself, but by 
 which thou canst not deceive God. Away with this delu- 
 sion that thou hast been "waiting for God," when thou 
 hast been waiting for self-seeking ends. Let there be a 
 surrender at once of this thy self-will. Commit thyself 
 at once and implicitly into God's hands. If thou " knew- 
 est the gift of God," and how good He is to them that 
 " wait for Him," thou wouldest even now submit thyself 
 to Him, to do with thee as seemeth Him good ; to bend 
 thee as thou requirest to be bent, to change thee as thou 
 requirest to be changed, and to fashion thee anew after 
 His own pleasure. And say not that thou art waiting for 
 the movement of the Spirit, as the impotent man waited 
 at the pool for the troubling of the waters. For the spi- 
 ritually impotent are cured, not by any wished-for move- 
 ment of their spirits, but by Christ Himself as He 
 passes by ; and He is now passing by, and is ready to 
 heal. 
 
 The best and most successful Missionaries are those who 
 have faith in God's promises, and are eager in their 
 expectations. They have caught the spirit of the "Apostle 
 
12 
 
 and High Priest of our profession," who wept over Jeru- 
 salem as He looked down upon it. " O Jerusalem, Jeru- 
 salem, how often would I have gathered thy children 
 
 together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her 
 wings ! " It was thus that Paul, the earliest Missionary 
 to the heathen, feeling himself to be a debtor, first of all 
 to Christ for peace and his soul's salvation, and then both 
 to Greeks and barbarians, pressed on in his work — as 
 never warrior pressed forward in his schemes of conquest. 
 Twenty years he had been labouring in the extensive 
 regions of Syria, of Cilicia, of Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lyca- 
 onia, Crete, and Cyprus, at Ephesus, in Macedonia, and 
 the principal cities of Greece ; and this " in perils of 
 robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by 
 the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilder- 
 ness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; 
 in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in 
 hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and naked- 
 ness ; " and yet he is as eager and confiding as ever. "As 
 much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you 
 that are at Borne also :" "Brethren, my heart's desire and 
 prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved : " 
 " My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until 
 Christ be formed within you." There has been a like fire 
 kindled and burning within the breasts of our later Mis- 
 sionaries. They have not wrought and fought as if they 
 were hirelings, not caring whether they succeed or not ; 
 they labour as adopted " sons and heirs " of God, identi- 
 fying themselves with His cause, and never satisfied till 
 the end is gained. They wait, but they long as they wait, 
 and are looking upward for light, and onward towards the 
 
13 
 
 path before them. " I wait for the Lord, my soul doth 
 wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waiteth for 
 the Lord more than they that watch for the morning : I 
 say, more than they that watch for the morning." 
 
 II. Let us consider how the Lord encourages them 
 
 THAT WAIT FOR HlM. 
 
 1. It is a good thing in itself thus to wait ivhen God so 
 requires it. But why is the blessing so long in coming ? 
 " Doth His promise fail for evermore ? " These are ques- 
 tions which, in our " infirmity," (Psalm lxxvii. 10,) we 
 are ever tempted to put. As we put them, the answer 
 may very possibly be, It is so long in coming just because 
 you are so impatient about it. God cannot send it so long 
 as you are in so unfit a state to receive it. Christ cannot 
 do mighty works in you. or by you, " because of your 
 unbelief." Not till these winds of temper and passion 
 have subsided, will the softening showers descend. When 
 you have learned to " rest in the Lord, and wait patiently 
 for Him," the blessing may come sooner than your hopes, 
 and it may be larger than your expectations. Meanwhile, 
 this impatience is fretting and chafing, is irritating and 
 distracting, the soul ; is rendering the time you have to 
 wait, long in itself, and much longer in your feeling of it ; 
 and possibly incapacitating you for taking the steps ne- 
 cessary to secure the desired end. How much more 
 becoming and satisfying the opposite temper, — the spirit 
 of meekness and of patience ; which shortens the time by 
 the faith and confidence cherished j which anticipates and 
 hastens the blessing, and is thus gratified, first by the 
 prospect, and then by the reality, — thus securing both the 
 
14 
 
 pleasures of hope and the pleasures of enjoyment ; while 
 it braces and invigorates the soul, and enables it to use 
 the means to procure the expected benefit ! " Even the 
 youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall 
 utterly fall : but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; 
 they shall run, and not be weary ; they shall walk, and not 
 faint." 
 
 2. It is good to wait, inasmuch as in waiting we receive 
 many valuable lessons. A pupil or apprentice puts him- 
 self under a master, who promises to teach him a certain 
 branch of knowledge. Now it is possible that, in fulfil- 
 ment of his engagement, the master may just set the 
 learner to work, and point out service after service for 
 him. Would the scholar be thereby justified in charging 
 his master with a breach of promise, and say to him, 
 " You promised to give me instruction and skill, and you 
 set me instead to work and toil ? " We see, at once, that 
 if such a spirit were cherished by the pupil, it would indi- 
 cate not only that he is ignorant of the branch of know- 
 ledge, he wishes to learn, but that he is labouring under a 
 more deplorable ignorance, — that he is ignorant of his 
 own ignorance ; for it is in the very act of waiting on. 
 that master, and doing the work which he prescribes, that 
 he is to attain the skill he is seeking. It is the same in 
 the school of Christ. It is in the very act of waiting on 
 the Great Teacher that disciples attain those holy senti- 
 ments and habits which constitute the spiritual good they 
 are in search of. It is in the very work that they are 
 strengthened and acquire spiritual health, and a meetness 
 for .enjoying the wages, which thus come to be as 
 
IS 
 
 pleasant as a reward after exertion, as rest is after 
 labour. 
 
 No doubt the children of Israel, as they sang praises to 
 God by the shores of the Red Sea, when they saw their 
 oppressors sink like lead in the waters, were expecting to 
 be forthwith carried into the promised land in triumph. 
 But they were not then fit for immediate entrance into 
 their " rest ; " and so God kept them there for a time in 
 the desert, and showed them wonders which they would 
 never otherwise have witnessed : the manna lying every 
 morning on the bare face of the wilderness ; the water 
 which the dry rock had yielded flowing on, unexhaled by 
 the scorching beams of the sun, and undrunk by the 
 thirsty sands ; and the pillar of cloud shading them by 
 day, and ever kindled into a pillar of fire by night. It 
 was in beholding these miracles, and in the pure heaven- 
 sent air of the desert, that they were purified from the 
 ignorance and defilement of Egypt : and by the very time 
 they had to wait, they were the better fitted for the sphere 
 they were to occupy. Again, when the disciples attached 
 themselves to the cause of Christ, they had a vague idea 
 that there was to be the sudden appearance of a kingdom 
 of glory. " Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the 
 kingdom to Israel ? " was the question which, under 
 various forms, they were ever putting. " The kingdom of 
 God is within you," was the answer given. It was in the 
 very work of waiting on Christ's person, and engaging in 
 His service, that they were to be ripened for the higher 
 work before them, on earth and in heaven. What blessed 
 privileges did they then enjoy ! — privileges, it may be, not 
 sufficiently valued at the time, but on which they afterwards 
 
16 
 
 looked back with gratitude, saying, " Did not our heart 
 burn within us, while He talked with us by the way ? " 
 Were they not blessed in hearing His discourses ? Y/ere 
 they not honoured in seeing the wonders which He per- 
 formed ? Were they not trained to good, as they obeyed 
 His commandments? These gracious communings with 
 them, these faithful reproofs, were the April sunshine and 
 showers, which watered the seed of the Word within 
 them. Now, such, brethren, is the blessedness of all who 
 wait upon the Lord. In conducting them into the pro- 
 mised inheritance, He takes them out into the wilderness, 
 and speaks comfortably unto them, and shows them His 
 love, and the miracles of His grace, in supporting the 
 spiritual life within, while all around is so waste and 
 desert. In this their training and discipleship they are 
 made to wait upon Him, and receive instruction from day 
 to day, — " line upon line, precept upon precept." 
 
 It thus appears that God is good to all who wait upon 
 Him, while they wait upon Him. We serve a liberal 
 Master, who not only gives us wages at the close of our 
 work, but food and raiment and many comforts while we 
 work. We are not required to spend our days as those of 
 the hireling, who is ever inquiring, " When will my task 
 be over, that I may receive my hire ? " Like the ox 
 treading out the corn in ancient Israel, which his master 
 was not allowed to muzzle, we eat ourselves, while we 
 labour in G-od's service, of the " corn " which maketh 
 " men cheerful." They who are in Christ's vineyard do 
 all sing while they work, and their shouting is like the 
 shouting of the vintage. Being: " filled with the Spirit," 
 they " speak to themselves in psalms, and hymns, and 
 
17 
 
 spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts 
 to the Lord ; giving thanks always for all things unto 
 God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 Perhaps there is none of us who has not felt at times 
 the irksomeness of waiting. We would like to reap the 
 harvest without the labour of the seedtime. But it is 
 otherwise ruled in God's house, where it is ordained that 
 " if any would not work, neither should he eat ; " and it 
 is for our good that it should be so ; for the labour is as 
 essential to our health as the food we earn by it. Man 
 had to work even in his unfallen state ; and since the fall 
 he must eat bread in " the sweat of his face : " and this 
 appointment, which is a curse through the first man, is 
 turned into a blessing by the Second. We would like to 
 have the prize without the competition : and the prize 
 of our " high calling " will not be withheld ; but the 
 training we have to undergo in order to attain it, may be 
 as valuable as the crown that is awarded. 
 
 There are times when we wonder that God does not 
 convert the world at once. We are disappointed when 
 Missionaries have to wait for years before they see con- 
 versions ; and because, after fifty years of missionary 
 ploughing, we are made to feel that we have only touched 
 here and there the surface of the wide field. And it is 
 not for us to profess to be able to souod all the depths of 
 the Divine counsels. But it is ours to gather the lessons 
 which are thus read to the church. Why is not the whole 
 world already converted by the exertions which the 
 church has made ? The answer to us is, That the church 
 may have a field to labour in that it may do more than 
 
 B 
 
IS 
 
 it has ever yet done ; that it may train the young and its 
 members generally to more thorough habits of giving 
 and self-sacrifice ; that it may send out its noblest and 
 bravest youths into the mission-field ; and that it may be 
 made to feel its need of the blessing, and be led to depend 
 upon it. You wonder that so little has been accomplished 
 when so much work has been done. But the proper 
 wonder is, that so little work has been done ; that for 
 nearly a thousand years there was scarcely any missionary 
 exertion in the church ; that even the Protestant Church, 
 for two centuries and a half, did little or nothing for the 
 heathen ; and that it is only a little more than half a 
 century since the Church awoke to a sense of its duty, and 
 that even now it has not realized anything like its full re- 
 sponsibility. The true wonder is, that God has encou- 
 raged us so much ; that He has raised up so many faith- 
 ful Missionaries ; that He has opened a way for us in 
 countries which seemed to be closed ; that He has re- 
 moved prejudices and shaken old superstitions ; that 
 around Stations and Circuits He has enabled us to gather 
 tens of thousands of converts, not to speak of many who 
 are now rejoicing before the throne on high. 
 
 3. Once more, the Messing is larger because vie Jiave 
 waited for it. Why is it that man, when he has an 
 arduous work to do, must do it when he can, and hasten 
 to perform it ? How is it that, when he makes a pro- 
 mise, he must be ready to execute it when he can, and 
 not wait till, as he supposes, some more favourable op- 
 portunity may present itself ? Plainly because his power 
 is limited, because his time on the earth is uncertain, and 
 if he let one opportunity slip, another may never present 
 
19 
 
 itself. But no such weakness is laid on the High and 
 Holy One who " inhabiteth eternity," and with whom 
 " one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
 one day." The time can never come when it is impossible 
 for Him to complete His designs. He needs no assistance 
 from other beings for the accomplishment of His pur- 
 poses, that He should act when others concur with Him. 
 Nothing can fall out unexpected by Him, to whom all 
 things are known from the beginning, that He should 
 change His plans and suit them to circumstances. No 
 coming opposition can 'thwart or stay for one instant the 
 progress of those plans which have been designed in 
 eternity, that He should fulfil them before the time. He 
 can allow opportunity after opportunity to pass away, 
 till at last the " fit time," " the set time," " the fulness of 
 times," comes. 
 
 Why is it that the sailor, when he sees the coming 
 storm, must be all bustle and activity ? Why, for in- 
 stance, in that vessel which carried the Apostle of the 
 Gentiles to Rome, had they to resort to so many expe- 
 dients, — to undergird the ship, and cast out the anchor, 
 and strike the sail, and cast out the wheat, and lighten 
 the ship ; and why at length had they to escape, " some 
 on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship ? " why 
 all this anxiety and dismay ? Plainly because they felt 
 themselves driven on Adria by elements over which they 
 had no control ; by winds which would not cease their 
 ravings at their command ; by waves which rolled in spite 
 of their entreaties : because they feared those yawning 
 gulfs which were ready to swallow them up, and those 
 rocks which would have stood unmoved while they dashed 
 
 b 2 
 
20 
 
 their frail bark into a thousand pieces. Contrast thia 
 fear, this conscious weakness, with the calm and serene 
 power of Jesus when on the Lake of Galilee, and you will 
 at once see the superiority of Omnipotence. The tempest 
 was loud, as in the other case, and the ship was covered 
 with the waves, and the disciples were in great alarm : 
 and Jesus was asleep ; but He arose as a Master, and 
 " rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great 
 calm." Such is the might, such the wisdom, such the 
 tranquillity of the operations of God. He can allow the 
 floods to rise, and exert their force, and spend their 
 strength ; but the instant He says, " Hitherto shalt thou 
 come, but no further ; and here shall thy proud waves be 
 stayed," the waters must begin to recede. Amid all the 
 storms which agitate our sky, He who flies " upon the 
 wings of the wind," and rides " upon a cherub," is still 
 at the head of all the powers of the universe, leading 
 them to fulfil His wise purposes. And this is the reason 
 why His plans move along in such magnificent order, 
 with such dignity and majestic ease. In His works 
 there is none of the imperfection which arises from haste, 
 none of the confusion which arises from anxiety. All is 
 order and beneficence amidst so much complexity and 
 seeming irregularity. Everything is happening at its 
 most appropriate time, amid so much apparent delay and 
 procrastination. While nothing lingers beyond its time, 
 nothing hastens to a premature conclusion. And this is 
 the reason why His plans are marked by infinite wisdom, 
 — why they are at last so beneficial. While man must 
 act when he can, the Almighty waits till it is most ad- 
 vantageous. God delays the blessing only that it may be 
 
21 
 
 larger when it comes. His counsels ripen slowly, that 
 the ear may be fuller, that the fruit may be richer and 
 mellower. How is it that the river, which rose in so 
 small a fountain among the rugged hills, now sweeps 
 along so magnificently among fertile plains ? It is be- 
 cause, in its lengthened and circuitous course, it has ga- 
 thered contributions on either side, receiving a new stream 
 from every valley which it passed. Thus it is that the 
 stream of God's bounty is made to turn and wind, only 
 that it may receive contributions from every quarter as it 
 sweeps along, and flow at length more largely into the 
 bosom. Hence it is that the royal munificence of His 
 bounty knows no limits at last. Thus it is that He is good 
 to them that wait for Him. His blessings come not in 
 scanty proportions, and according to the mere letter of the 
 promise, but in flowing streams, which far exceed the 
 most ardent expectations of His creatures. He does 
 " exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 
 think." 
 
 These truths are illustrated in the history of Methodism. 
 The system was born of God, working in the bosoms of 
 the men who founded it. They went forth like Abram, 
 " not knowing whither they went ; " but they went in 
 sincerity and faith, and God encouraged them. They 
 commenced their labours courageously in the most 
 secular age of the history of our country, and were met 
 everywhere, like their Master, with mockings and revil- 
 ings ; but surely the results gained have been larger than 
 their widest expectations. They meant to put life into 
 the Church of England, and to an extent succeeded ; for 
 
22 
 
 Methodism is a great fire kindled, and is radiating heat 
 all round it, and is felt in its influence by those who de- 
 cline to be absorbed within it. And now, when the 
 Church of England, which we love and venerate for all 
 that is good in it in the past and present, is threatening, 
 — we grieve to say it, — is threatening, unless arrested by 
 her own members, to bring this country to the state of 
 the Continent, where there prevails an imposing Ritual- 
 ism, with a keen-eyed infidelity lurking like a serpent in 
 the midst of it ; her little sister has grown up, has taken a 
 place of her own, and in her wide and widening sphere is 
 exhibiting everywhere the doctrine of pardon by the blood, 
 and regeneration by the Spirit, of Christ. Apparently 
 so weak when she first set out, the Wesleyan community 
 has become two powerful bands. I saw in the United 
 States last summer a daughter with a more extended in- 
 fluence than the mother : a church with a million of mem- 
 bers celebrating its Centenary with enthusiasm ; pressing 
 the Gospel everywhere upon the poor of the great cities : 
 spreading away to the outskirts of civilization hundreds 
 of miles beyond the Father of Waters ; and labouring 
 with extraordinary zeal among those who were so long 
 slaves, but who are now free. It was with intense feeling 
 that I listened to a Methodist bishop, black as ebony, 
 preaching a fervent, and in every way an excellent, sermon 
 to his race, listening with eager eyes, and drinking in the 
 words of truth proclaimed by him. 
 
 And here you will allow me, on my own responsibility, 
 to say a word about the country in which I have resided 
 the last fifteen years. The signs of the times seem to me 
 to show pretty clearly, in regard to Ireland, that, at no very 
 
23 
 
 distant date, the alternative will be put to Great Britain, 
 Are you to endow all sects, or endow none ? I say nothing 
 here as to whether it is, or whether it is not, desirable that 
 such a crisis should come ; but I feel myself called on, in 
 this place and every place, to say that, should it be sent, 
 we shall have a very solemn duty laid upon us ; and, in 
 the view of it, we have now a very important duty to dis- 
 charge. In the apprehension of it, the Protestant 
 churches have to see that their strongholds, and the spi- 
 ritual weapons which alone God has put into their hands, 
 are in order ; and, should it come, there will not be two 
 minds among those I address as to which of the alterna- 
 tives to take. The Wesleyan body has never sought en- 
 dowments for itself, (though I believe it has promoted 
 order, and peace, and loyalty in the country with as much 
 zeal as any endowed church,) and, therefore, it cannot be 
 charged with inconsistency or illiberality when it insists 
 that this country shall not sanction what it believes to be 
 an unscriptural system ; and that, on the wretched pre- 
 text of bribing the priesthood into quietness, it shall not 
 expose our government to the temptation of entering into, 
 and continuously carrying on, crooked negotiations with 
 a body, which, wherever established, on the Continent of 
 Europe, or in South America, has been a source of dis- 
 quietude to every statesman. Should the day arrive when 
 all sects are put on a like footing in Ireland, with a " fair 
 field and no favour," I am not afraid of Protestantism. 
 As if in preparation for it, the Established Church — I 
 willingly bear my testimony — is in a healthier state than 
 ever it has been in any previous age ; and the Presby- 
 terian Church, on the part of many of its zealous minis- 
 
24 
 
 ters, is bracing itself manfully for the emergency, and 
 seeking to call forth the liberality of one of the most in- 
 dustrious and loyal communities in Her Majesty's domi- 
 nions. In the shock these two churches will be aroused, 
 and will speedily rise to the same standard of giving as 
 the Wesleyans (and, I may add, the Catholics). As 
 crutches are withdrawn on which persons at present un- 
 duly lean ; as Ritualism dies out for want of popular sup- 
 port, which it will certainly not find among Protestants in 
 that country ; I do expect (I may at least pray) that the 
 Protestant churches, at present jealous of each other, will 
 come to a better understanding, and unite their efforts 
 for good ; that there will be openings where the door is at 
 present shut ; and that altogether there will be a brighter 
 day in the religious history of Ireland. Meanwhile the 
 Wesleyan body is quietly doing a good work, — an instance 
 of which I see under my own eye. Knowing how import- 
 ant it is that its ministers, in these critical times, should 
 be highly educated, it is erecting a very beautiful college, 
 in the city, Belfast, in which my own field of labour lies. 
 I ask that some of its ablest men be sent there as pro- 
 fessors ; and I confidently expect, that, with the Divine 
 blessing, it will send from its walls a band of gifted and 
 ardent youths, bent on evangelizing Ireland, and evange- 
 lizing the world. 
 
 From our favoured island position, looking across an- 
 other channel, we see that on the Continent the time is a 
 critical one, the emergency great. My visits have left on 
 me the deep impression that the cause for fear there does 
 not lie so much in the strength of Eomanism, as in the 
 weakness of Protestantism. The Eomish system is no 
 
25 
 
 doubt still strong, and capable of a fearful death -struggle ; 
 but after the defeats it has suffered, and the humiliations 
 to which it has been exposed, its security of life lies mainly 
 in this, that there is no strong living power to oppose it. 
 Superstition will never be put down by infidelity, which 
 only disgusts our nobler and finer minds, and alarms the 
 timid to drive them back to their old faith ; and the Pro- 
 testant churches are in most places seriously trammelled 
 by state restraints, and by being so much bound up with 
 an unbelieving world, and even an avowed rationalism. 
 No one can look on the Continent without seeing that it 
 has days of trouble before it, in Eastern questions and in 
 Western questions, which our wisest statesmen try to put 
 off, but find that they cannot settle : — in Turkey, decayed 
 to rottenness, and wasting the finest lands on the earth ; 
 in nations further west, given up to luxury and sensuality, 
 with no power to restrain them ; and in the old supersti- 
 tion dying out, without men being ready to receive the 
 pure and purifying religion of Christ. Blessed be God, 
 even in the midst of current rumours of war there is still 
 a door open. It was by such a door that Robert Haldane 
 entered, and from his short visit has sprung much of the 
 best evangelical life of Switzerland and France for the 
 last fifty years. There is such an opportunity at present. 
 Let us hasten to embrace it ; for we know not how soon 
 the door may be shut. While many are rushing to that 
 Grand Exposition, which is exhibiting such treasures of 
 high art, and which is expected to bind communities in 
 closer temporal amity, let Christians see that yet better 
 treasures be exposed to the view of the people, and that 
 there be a wide proclamation of that truth of God which 
 
26 
 
 alone can effect a universal brotherhood among the dis- 
 tracted nations. 
 
 The foreign labours of this Society present a special 
 illustration of the truths I have been proclaiming. The 
 association was founded, more than half a century ago, in 
 the faith of God's word. The early Missionaries went 
 forth in obedience to the command, sure that, in some 
 way or other, God would bless them ; prepared to wait, 
 and yet bent to go forward — like the reined horse, tho- 
 roughly obeying the bit, but curvetting as it does so, and 
 eager for the race. And have not they all been ready to 
 testify that God has been faithful and good to them ? 
 The difficulties which they met with at times, and the 
 deliverances that ensued, are symbolized in an incident of 
 your former " John Wesley " missionary ship. The vessel 
 struck upon a reef, and was in danger of severing, and 
 leaving her crew in the cruel waters ; when, by a sudden 
 convulsion from beneath, the waves rose to an unwonted 
 height, and floated them into safety. It is a type of God's 
 manner of dealing with you ; first, for your training and 
 instruction, placing you in helpless perplexities, and then 
 floating you over them, and making you ride gallantly 
 upon the waves. You have not done so much as you 
 could wish, — God forbid that you should ever be satisfied 
 with what you have done ! — but surely much has been 
 done ; the praise be to Him, who hath done it. At home 
 you have created a missionary spirit, such as did not exist 
 for ages in the Protestant churches, and you are training 
 children to give to the cause from their earliest years. A 
 public sentiment has been created, and your contributions 
 come in steadily as the seasons ; and if there be a fear, as 
 
27 
 
 there was this year, that there might be some deficiency, 
 the prolonged winter is followed by a more exuberant 
 spring. Prayers are rising daily from millions of Chris- 
 tians, and weekly from tens of thousands of congregations, 
 who are giving themselves no rest, and giving God no 
 rest, till the promise be fulfilled, and the Spirit of the 
 Lord be poured on all flesh. From the families of your 
 people there come forth annually, as regular as the buds 
 of spring, and more beautiful far, a band of young men 
 ready to go where you may send them — to the rudest 
 lands, and among the wildest savages. Looking abroad, 
 you have hundreds of agents toiling and praying as only 
 heaven-called and heaven-sent men can pray and toil. 
 You are elevating industrially, intellectually, and morally, 
 as well as religiously, the rude tribes of Africa in Stations 
 scattered along a coast of hundreds of miles. The West 
 India group of islands, which used to tempt our country- 
 men to them by their temporal riches, have tempted you 
 to them by their spiritual poverty, and you have sought 
 to unite blacks and whites in the bonds of a holy love. 
 There is your new missionary ship, an emblem of the 
 Gospel, as it glides along among the waters which give 
 way before it, and carries Bibles and Missionaries from 
 isle to isle in Polynesia. You have planted fortresses 
 from which to go forth in the work of conquest amidst 
 the idolatries of India and Ceylon. You are girdling the 
 coasts of China as a preparation for penetrating inland 
 into that vast territory. You have assisted to translate 
 the Holy Scriptures into tongues in which there had not 
 been before a word expressive of spiritual truth. There 
 are in your ranks, as I understand, a goodly number of 
 
28 
 
 native Cateehists in training for evangelistic work. Hav- 
 ing prosecuted this labour in the strength of God, He has 
 encouraged you by showing you those who not long since 
 were naked savages now sitting at the feet of Jesus, 
 "clothed, and in their right mind." He has blessed, and is 
 at this present time, in South Africa and elsewhere, blessing 
 you with times of gracious revival, in which numbers have 
 been and are being converted. We rejoice here over these 
 repenting sinners, but there is still greater joy in heaven. 
 While you are praising Him here at your great anniver- 
 saries, a larger assembly, saved by the agency of your 
 Missionaries, is praising Him in the temple above. 
 
 Some of my hearers may have gone up from Riffelberg 
 to Gorner Grat, in the High Alps, to behold the sun rise. 
 Every mountain catches the light, according to the height 
 which the upheaving forces that God set in motion has 
 given it. First the point of Monte Eosa is kissed by the 
 morning beams, blushes for a moment, and forthwith 
 stands clear in the light. Then the Breithorn and the 
 Dome of Muschabel, and the Matterhorn, and twenty 
 other giant mountains, embracing the distant Jung-Frau, 
 receive each in its turn the gladdening rays, and blush 
 each for a brief space, and then remain bathed in sunlight. 
 Meanwhile, the valleys between lie deep down, dark and 
 dismal as death. But the light which has risen is the 
 light of the morning, and these shadows are even now 
 lessening, and we are sure they will soon altogether vanish. 
 Such is the hopeful view I take of our world. " Darkness 
 covered the earth, and gross darkness the people ; " but 
 God's light hath broken forth as the morning, and to 
 them who " 6at in darkness a great light " has arisen. 
 
29 
 
 Already I see favoured spots illuminated by it : — Great 
 Britain and her spreading colonies, with certain continental 
 countries, and the United States with her broad territory, 
 already stand in the light ; and I see, not twenty, but a 
 hundred points of light, striking up in our scattered mis- 
 sion stations, — in old continents and secluded isles and 
 barren deserts, according as God's grace and man's heaven- 
 kindled love have favoured them. And much as I was 
 enraptured with that grand Alpine scene, and shouted 
 irrepressibly as I surveyed it, I am still more elevated, 
 and I feel as if I could cry aloud for joy, when I come up 
 to these anniversary meetings, to see the light advancing 
 from point to point, and penetrating deeper and deeper 
 into the darkness, which, we are sure, is at last to be dis- 
 pelled, to allow our earth to stand clear in the light of the 
 Sun of Righteousness. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM NICHOLS, 
 46, HOXTON SQUARE.