Bishop Hill's last words in London, before going out to the Niger, where he laid down his life in the service of Christ.
I have three words to leave with you, an inspiration, a fellowship, a sacrifice. I knew one most powerful preacher, one who has been much used of God in the salvation of souls; and whenever you heard that man preach you would often discover that just as he looked down at what you would think to be notes, he seemed to get some fresh inspiration, and if you were to go and look at those notes, you would see just one word-Jesus.
I want you, beloved gleaners, to get a fresh inspiration to-night from that loving One, Jesus. Look upon Him, that you may get a fresh inspiration for the year's service. And then a fellowship. I do not know if you have ever read the remarkable passage in the life of Henry Martyn, in which he gives an account of how he spent a night in agonizing sorrow, which was the result of a thought coming to his mind of the value of a soul to God. He began to think of the various outcasts in India as being quite as dear to God as the kings of Britain; and that night he spent in prayer, in tears, in sorrow over souls. Beloved gleaners, I pray God that this year you may know something of the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ in His sorrow for souls.
And now that other word, sacrifice. A noble youth of Rome, who discovered the riches of God's grace in Christ, and became a follower of the Lord, went to Hermas with a desire, " What," said he, " can I do in return for such love as this? " Hermas took out the noble young fellow and showed him something of the sin of Rome, and as he pointed out here and there something of the need of its souls, he said, " Here you will find an altar, and there become the sacrifice." Look upon the fields white unto harvest. Look upon the millions that are without Christ in the world to-night, in their awful sin, and you will find an altar; and may God help you, beloved gleaners, to be a sacrifice.