He says to them, "I live, if ye stand fast in the
Lord."

And had not the apostles great influence in the churches in which they
labored? Had not Paul and Barnabas great influence in the church at
Antioch? Did not the church love and respect them, and hang in
breathless silence upon their lips, and look upon their departure as an
irreparable loss? Yet, though entwined into the hearts of the people,
and possessing every advantage to instruct them which intimate
acquaintance and unbounded influence could give, the Holy Ghost,
notwithstanding, said, "Separate me BARNABAS and SAUL."

Attachment is your plea; but the spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of
self-denial, and requires us not only to forsake church and people, but
also father and mother, brother and sister, son and daughter, and to
hold our own lives loosely. Those persons to whom attachment is
strongest, and who _can't be spared_ on that account, are the best
fitted for missions.

You plead the _influence_ which you possess with your church and people.
This, instead of being a reason for remaining at home, is a powerful
argument for going abroad. In that very influence you possess an
advantage and qualification for the missionary work, which very few
missionaries enjoy. It is greatly to be lamented that the church has but
little acquaintance with her missionaries. It was not so in primitive
times. On this account there is room for the question to arise, Whether
there ought not to be less of the home minister for life, and the exile
for life; a narrower gulf between the two, and more passing and
repassing, as the apostles were wont to do; a breaking up of caste,
grade and condition among ministers, as regards various fields--a more
literal compliance with the precept of "going into all the world, and
preaching the Gospel to every creature." Be this however as it may--for
there is much that can be said on either side of the question--it is
most certainly true, that the pastor possesses one very great advantage:
that by going to the heathen he can wake up, in one church at least,
the spirit of doing good--the enterprising and benevolent spirit of
Christ and his apostles. He may take with him, as helpers, some of its
most intelligent and active members, and call forth the contributions
and enlist the prayers of those who may remain.

It seems, that nothing less than such means as the separation of pastors
for the work of missions, can avail to awake the slumbering