1 Thessalonians 1:7-10 So that you were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.… Never was there a land blessed with such peculiar facilities as Britain for acting as a witness for Christ to the world. Why is it that the gospel is at this time in trust with a people whose ships cover the sea, who are the merchants of the world? Has He who drew the boundaries of Judea with His own finger, who selected the precise spot for the temple, who did everything for the Jewish Church from design, abandoned the Christian Church to accident? And, if not, if He has placed the gospel here with design, what can the nature of that design be, but that it should he borne to the world on the wings of every wind that blows? Say, why is it that Britain, and her religious ally America, should divide the seas, should hold the keys of the world? Oh, were we but awake to the designs of God, and to our own responsibility, we should hear Him say, "I have put you in possession of the seas; put the world in possession of My gospel." And every ship we sent out would be a Missionary Church, like the ark of the deluge, a floating testimony for God, and bearing in its bosom the seeds of a new creation. Christians, ours is, indeed, a post of responsibility and of honour! On us have accumulated all the advantages of the past; and on us lies the great stress of the present. The world is waiting breathless on our movements; the voice of all heaven is urging us on. Oh, for celestial wisdom, to act in harmony with the high appointments of Providence — to seize the crisis which has come for blessing the world. (John Harris.) Parallel Verses KJV: So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.WEB: so that you became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. |
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