preach the
word in Bythinia. Acts xvi. 6. 7. or if, in any case, there be a
_natural impossibility_ of putting it in execution. It was not the
duty of Paul to preach Christ to the inhabitants of Otaheite, because
no such place was then discovered, nor had he any means of coming at
them. But none of these things can be alledged by us in behalf of the
neglect of the commission given by Christ. We cannot say that it is
repealed, like the commands of the ceremonial law; nor can we plead
that there are no objects for the command to be exercised upon. Alas!
the far greater part of the world, as we shall see presently,
are still covered with heathen darkness! Nor can we produce a
counter-revelation, concerning any particular nation, like that to
Paul and Silas, concerning Bythinia; and, if we could, it would not
warrant our sitting still and neglecting all the other parts of the
world; for Paul and Silas, when forbidden to preach to those heathens,
went elsewhere, and preached to others. Neither can we alledge a
natural impossibility in the case. It has been said that we ought not
to force our way, but to wait for the openings, and leadings of
Providence; but it might with equal propriety be answered in this case,
neither ought we to neglect embracing those openings in providence which
daily present themselves to us. What openings of providence do we wait
for? We can neither expect to be transported into the heathen world
without ordinary means, nor to be endowed with the gift of tongues,
&c. when we arrive there. These would not be providential interpositions,
but miraculous ones. Where a command exists nothing can be necessary to
render it binding but a removal of those obstacles which render
obedience impossible, and these are removed already. Natural
impossibility can never be pleaded so long as facts exist to prove the
contrary. Have not the popish missionaries surmounted all those
difficulties which we have generally thought to be insuperable? Have
not the missionaries of the _Unitas Fratrum_, or Moravian Brethren,
encountered the scorching heat of Abyssinia, and the frozen climes of
Greenland, and Labrador, their difficult languages, and savage
manners? Or have not English traders, for the sake of gain, surmounted
all those things which have generally been counted insurmountable
obstacles in the way of preaching the gospel? Witness the trade to
Persia, the East-Indies, China, and Greenland, yea even the accursed
Slave-