THE HOME MISSION WORK OF

CHRISTIANS.

BEING THE SECOND PART OF THE "GADARENE DEMONIAC."

"And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes," &c. &c.-ST. MARK V. 1-20.

HE subject of my last address to you was the

THE

portion of the history of the Gadarene Demoniac, illustrating the effects of evil in the human spirit, with the power of Christ as a Deliverer. We saw how the Demoniac was restored to his "right mind," and sat clothed at the feet of Jesus; how he prayed to be allowed to follow Him; and how Jesus, while refusing to grant this request, yet gave him something far better, by commanding him to go to his own home, and there show what great things the Lord had done for him, and how He had compassion upon him.

This commission which our Lord assigned to his young disciple, suggests the subject of my address to you this evening, which is the Home Mission Work of Christians.

I may notice in passing, that there is incidentally mentioned in this narrative an apparently unimportant fact. We read that by the command of their Master, a boat was prepared by his disciples for his reception, and it was in it He was pleased to cross the lake and reach the miserable sufferers. Now this is a symbol of those means which we are commanded to adopt in order to bring Christ into contact with sinners. Jesus could have crossed the lake without the boat; he had already trodden its waters, and on this very occasion had displayed his power over its stormy waves. But these were exceptions to his method of crossing the inland sea; while his rule was to use the ordinary means adopted by other men for accomplishing this purpose. And so with reference to our duties towards those who are ignorant of Jesus Christ, the question is not whether our Lord can directly communicate truth to sinners, or through the ministration of angels convert them, or whether he can save

them without any plans being organised by the Church, or any personal sacrifices or exertions made by its members. "He does not require our aid," it might be argued, if what is a revealed duty were a mere matter of speculation. It is quite true that without material churches, and printed Bibles, educated missionaries, and all the prosaic matter-of-fact details of subscriptions, collections, and accounts, Jesus Christ can reach and convert a soul. But the fact is, that he has committed the doing of this work to men of flesh and blood, with all their infirmities and short-comings; and, to accomplish it, they are necessarily obliged to build churches, and equip and support missionaries. Now to do all this, material money, like the boat, is required. Hence what we call a worldly thing is thus sanctified by its being consecrated to the Master's use; and the natural becomes the medium by which the supernatural is brought into operation; and the giving of our worldly substance in Christ's cause with all its apparatus which might seem to be a mere dead mechanical machinery, is changed into a privilege which Christ bestows on his Church, and which he authoritatively commands as a duty, as imperative and as essential to the

Christian life as what is supposed to be more exclusively spiritual, such as prayer or the partaking of the sacraments.

But what I wish, as I have said, to direct your attention to, is that other kind of mission work which is expressed in the command, "Go to thy brethren and to thine own house, and show what great things the Lord hath done for thee." This may be called the home mission of Christians, or that which is given every man to do for the good of others, who has truly experienced himself "what great things the Lord hath done for him."

Now every man who is entitled to the name of Christian, knows in some degree what great things the Lord has done for him, and how He has had compassion upon him. He knows that He came to seek and save him; that He loved him and gave Himself for him; that He rose for his justification, and ever liveth to make intercession for him. He knows that he has given him his Holy Spirit to be with him, and in him, as the Spirit of adoption, whereby he can with filial, confiding heart say Father; and as the

Spirit of power by which he can overcome sin and strive after new obedience; and as the Spirit of wisdom to direct his steps; and as the Spirit of comfort to sustain his heart; and as the Spirit of hope to look forward to a blessed immortality. He knows that the Lord hath done these great things for him as truly as the wretched Gadarene knew that he was set free and restored by Christ's Divine love and power to himself, his family, and his God.

To every man, therefore, who knows this to be true in his own history, however inadequately or imperfectly the blessing may be realised, the Lord says, "Go to thine own house, and show what great things the Lord hath done for thee."

Let us look at this sphere of missionary labour, in which every Christian is to be the missionary agent. It is our own house. By this is meant that circle made up of our relations, friends, companions, and those with whom we come most into contact. The house of the sailor may be his ship-of the soldier, his camp--of the working man, his fellow-workmen. But many have a more fixed and abiding home-the home of do