A forgotten people.
"That the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations." We have the name of this little nation preserved, but even that only reaches us through its connection with Israel; or if archaeologists can point it out to us on ancient inscriptions, no history of value, nothing to identify the race, remains. It is, indeed, a forgotten people. Let us consider how a nation may bring upon itself this fate of oblivion.
I. IT MAY CEASE TO EXIST. Though the Jewish nation was broken up eighteen centuries ago, the Jewish people remain among us to this day as a numerous, marvelously energetic, and quite distinct section of mankind. But where are the Ammonites? We do not hear of Ammonite bankers, Ammonite newspaper editors, or the admission of the Ammonites to Parliament. Neither in Europe nor in their ancient Syrian plains and uplands are those long-lost people ever mentioned except as a race of antiquity. Now, how comes it that a people thus ceases to exist? A nation can only withstand the shock of invasion, conquest, and deportation to foreign parts without the loss of separate existence if its members are inspired and bound together by the possession of one common great idea. It is the Hebrew idea that retains the Jewish name and race as a separate entity independent of geographical boundaries and political revolutions. If the English are not to become an extinct people, they must depend on more than a strong navy and a well-equipped army; for no one can predict the chances of war. If we continue distinguished in our mission as a civilizing, Christianizing people, we can never cease to have our part in the great world's history. The Church will ultimately cease to exist if she eliminates all that is distinctive in Christian truth, and thinks to prosper simply on account of the strength of her organization and the wealth of her vested interests. But if she retains her sacred tradition of truth, she can outlive all revolutionary attacks on her worldly status.
II. IT MAY FAIL TO EXERT INFLUENCE. Each nation has its own peculiar privileges and vocation. However small a people may be, if it truly appreciates its privileges and honestly fulfils its vocation, it cannot well be forgotten. Achaia was a small state, yet as long as civilization endures it can never be forgotten. The Greeks contributed permanent elements to the world's civilization; and since Greek thought has passed into universal culture, it is impossible for Hellas to fall out of the memory of man, unless man degenerates to barbarism. The memory of Israel is greater than her present appearance and immediate influence. The Jews gave us the Bible, and with the Bible the eternal foundation of our faith. Therefore the Jews can never be forgotten. But what have the Ammonites given to the world? Contributing nothing, they deservedly sink into oblivion. If England is to live in history and in the world's continuous course, she must do her part and contribute her elements towards the progress of the race. The Church of the apostolic era was too fruitful ever to be forgotten. The Church of the nineteenth century will live or be forgotten according as it contributes to the spread of the kingdom of heaven and the help of man in his higher thought and life, or fails in this mission and sinks back into ignominious inactivity, frivolous formalism, and unspiritual self-complacency.