peter ee eat acre : » perstenesae : ascii sory rreristataistctrnenentng teeaae sete e rater iv ameneketek, sabotgnests - ¥ Gear m Ao «| ot theg, pereae o seem wire menu ssete 4 svirbesencern gertsnaly if Prickotsnener ay? DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY DURHAM, N. C. ye ue es: ‘ & ‘ a and PERPETUITY of the Abrahamic covenaift a motive to ny exertion. SERMON PREACHED BEFORE MASSACHUSETTS MISSIONARY SOCIETY, AT THEIR ANNUAL MEETING, MAY 30, 1815: BY PETER SANBORN, A. M. PASTOR OF THE SOUTH CHURCH IN READING, BOSTON: PRINTED BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, . THEOLOGICAL PRINTER AND BOOKSELLER, No, 50, CORNHILE.. eeeeeeeeoeseess es heat ve ‘hm mules ~ 4 j ty Z a . " i set Ee ey # ee a e ‘4 * . OS, AE CORRENTE | EOVOR ays wy Ser as ow SERMON. GeNEsIS xxii, 16—18. =—BY MYSELF HAVE I SWORN, SAITH THE LORD, FOR BECAUSE THOU HAST DONE THIS THING, AND HAST NOT WITHHELD THY SON, ee SON: THAT IN BLESSING 1 WILL BLESS THEE; AND IN MULTIPLYING I WILL MULTIPLY THY SEED, AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN, AND AS THE SAND WHICH IS UPON THE SEA SHORE, AND THY SEED SHALL POSSESS THE GATE OF HIS ENEMIES, AND IN THY SEED SHALL ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED. THE jnind of man is soon weary of conjecture, faints and relaxes in view of uncertainty of obtaining the desired object. To this principle of the human mind, all the promises and prophecies in the sacred volume are addressed.—The moré certain the husbandman of a plentiful harvest, the more cheerfully he sows the precious seed.—So of the fisherman, the merchant and the navigator. The more certain the soldier of victory, the more it nerves his arm and fires his heart. Jehovah had repeatedly said to Abraham, «I will bless thee and make thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the sea shore for multitude.” But the promise of a son had been so long delayed, the accomplishment seemed uncertain, and his faith began to stagger, and his mind to despond. The antediluvian world had been swept away for their athe- ism, and those pernicious crimes which are the certain har- vest of infidelity. The descendants of Noah had made to themselves lords many and gods many. Polytheism was 301500 : 4 spreading with amazing rapidity. Nimrod had begun the walls of Babylon, and most of the families of the earth, un- willing to retain God in their knowledge, were bewildering . themselves in the endless labyrinths of idolatry, == At this time God called Abraharh to leave alll that was dear ~ in his native country, and sojourn ina strange land; that the faithful patriarch and family might be insulated from the rising tide of idolatry; and that among his chosen posterity Jehovah might deposit his word; to whom ‘were to pertain the adoption; and the glory, and the covenant, ahd the ‘giving of the ‘law, and the service of God an, promises, ‘and’of whom, ‘as Conceriiing tlie flesli, the fessiat a aiid that the knowledge of the true G& img) the world. The covenant fransaction noted in my text had Been ii a train of completion for about fifty years; but on this menio- rable occasion it was completed by the most solemn oath of Jehovah, which put .an end to all doubt. As the final lest of Abr: alam”: s obedience and condition of the establishinent of the covenant of grace with him, God commanded the p patr rial arc 198 go. and § sacrifice lus son, his only son Isaac, whom he lo ell, on a mountain, which Jehovah would designate. Abra na cheerfully obeyed; on the third day he reached the aw ful spot on ‘Thount “nth ‘erected the altar, laid the wood i orde bound. 1 his” son, stretched out his hand to take the knife —At this interesting moment, «the angel of the Lord call di Abraham out of heaven and said, Lay not thy hand upon | lad, neither do thoua any thing unto him, for now I know ‘ thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, ‘thine only son, from me.”—On this affecting occasion, God gave Abraham the complete : and x Ran 3 confirmation of that gracious covenant, so long ; proposed, so often renewed, and so long a ago sealed by circumcision, but now was confirmed by an® oath.—«For when God made. promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself, saying, Sur ely, blessing I will bless thee; and multiplying I will mul- 5 tiply thee. And so, After he Wad patiently endured, he'db- tained the promise. For men, verily, swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation, is to them an end of all strife.— Wliereiit, God Willing move abundantly to shew unto thé heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. That by two immutable things, in which it was im- possible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, Who lave fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.??—In the above connexion, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham, the second time, as in my text, and said, «By my- Self have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thine; and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that ih bléssing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will méilti- ply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand whick is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” From this fruitful portion of scripture, we shall select the following DOCTRINE The eatent and perpetuity of the Abrahamic cov enant fur- nishes abundant cause for MISSIONARY exertions. The truth and certainty of this covenant is settled in the text, beyond all doubt, strife or controversy, by the oath of God. «Because God could swear by no greater, he swear by himself.” All the promises previously given to Abraham had been formed into a covenant; that covenant had been sealed and repeatedly confirmed: The oath of God, therefore, on this occasion, pledged the honor of his whole name, as surety for the fulfilment of its promises, to Abraham and all concerned, to its utmost extent. The way therefore is open to proceed— I. To point out the extent and perpetuity of this covenant. And, 301500 6 IJ. That it furnishes abundant cause for missionary exer-. tions. Ssh I. I am to point out the extent. and perpetuity of the Abra- 14 hamic covenant. pte This covenant is that Gospel net which is ultimately to encom- pass all the nations and famulies of the earth; and its be gees will be commensurate with ie tais ; “When Jehovah first appeared to Abraham to propose this covenant, he opened to him its eatent. «And I will make of thee a great nation; and I will bless thee and make thy name great. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. xii.) After Abraham had separated from Lot, (xili,) the extent of the covenant is again presented to Abraham. «And the Lord said to Abram—Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward, and eastward and westward. For all the land which thou scest, to thee will I give it; and to thy seed forever.—And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that ifa man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.” But after the memorable defeat of the four eastern kings, and driving them beyond the bounds of the promised land: - after giving tythes fo, and receiving blessings from Melchise- dec, king of Saicm, priest of the most high God. Here I would observe, his scene appears to be typical of the final defeat the spiritual seed of Abraham will give the four great monarchies, ov *beasts;” an® of the glory they will ascribe to, and of the final blessing the saints will receive from Him, of whom Melchisedec. was but a type.* After this memorable scene, (Genesis xv,) “Behold the werd of the Lord came unjo him, (Abrahaim,) and he brought him forth abroad, and * Sec Note at the end. ~ é : said, look now toward heaven, and #eil the stars, if thou be able to number them; and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be.” But the perpetuity of the covenant is more fully exhibited in Genesis xvii. «When Abraham was ninety years old and nine,—*“The Lord appeared and said unto him, I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multi- ply thee exceedingly. Abraham,”’ overwhelmed with this majestic appearance of God all-sufficient, «fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt bea father of many, (a multi- tude of) nations.”—< candle neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth hem light and they shall reign PEPE and ever.” “feat tee lie dees These, my. brethren, are faithful and true sayin scan the Lord God of the holy prophets hath ‘showed to his servant these things which must shortly be -done. 2 These things show the eactent and perpetuity of the Abrahamic ¢ covenant, — it is that gospel net, which is ultimately to encompass all the na- tions and families of the earth; and its perpetuity 2 will be com- mensurate with eternity. ee % ae, S&S =, SE thse mn “nasa The way ist now prepared to show, _ IL That this. covenant furnishes abundant ca sionary exertion. The human mind, ache er mt relaxes, begins to despond, and oar sinks sin de. rouses from stupor, awakes to exertion, all it are set in motion. When «Daniel ne ood by b number of years, whereof the word of the Lord cam 7 miah the prophet, for the restoration of his captive le from Babylon,” his powers were rye te low tion for mount Zion. Ancient story sept us, that, whil Alexander the great was at Jerusalem, the high pries est show- ed him, that, i in the prophecy of Daniel, the andoain 11 was to be overturned, by a certain Grecian king. This inflamed his martial zeal; and with the rapidity of “a he- goat,” he overran Europe and Asia, and in less than ten years were eer subdued by his arms. The covenant with Abraham presents motives, catcaatell above all others, to animate those engaged in the missionary cause. They have certainty of success; that they shall not labor in vain, nor spend their strength for naught. Here is the promise of Jehovah, the seal of heaven; and this confirmed by the oath of God; that this covenant shall ultimately draw. all nations to the cross; gather them into one vast assembly, on the mount Zion, the city of the living God,—where the Lamb himself shall feed them and lead them to living foun- tains of water. «The scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” You see, then, brethren, there remaineth very much land te to be possessed. The certainty, the extent, and the duration, of the covenant are before you. And need I address you, as God addressed Abraham, «Arise and walk through the land in the length of it, and in the breadth of it.” «And begin to possess it.” Shall I ask you to examine the history of men; to notice the character and conduct of our fallen race; to accompany the traveller to all nations, and the isles of the sea; to examine the temples, the customs and rites of the pagan world,—see the fire or a stone worshipped by the poor Indians of Amer- ica—the sun or moon by the wandering Tartar of Asia—a river or a beast by the Gentoo of India—a toad or a serpent by the Hottentot of Africa—Behold the crowds of bewildered pilgrims travelling to the temples of Rome, of Mecca, of the Lamas, of Juggernaut, or to the banks of the Ganges—visit their pagodas and their funeral piles—look around the courts of papal inquisitors—observe the condition ef the Jews, and i8 the fiercer passions exhibited throigh. fleets and arnti¢s in their dreadful conflicts—see the field or ocean where they fought, when thebattle ends—mark what is done in secret.— Then open the book of God, and learn that all men are bound. to lové Him supremely, and love as brethren;—that God calls on men to repent, and believe in the Lamb that dieds that this faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God; that the command of Christ is binding on all his-disciples,« Christ, in their mysterious connection, we wonder, admire, and rejoice. Ye know, saith the apostle to Christians, the grace of ~ Rs our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. If it had not been for his riches, there would have been nothing very wonderful in his poverty. While some can see nothing in the Saviour, but a mere creature, sufs. fering the vengeance of a holy God for the guilty ; others see the glory of the Deity, and exclaim with Thomas, “ My Lord, and my God !” 5 Ap He who had infinite treasures, became poor. Let us fora mo-— ment, contemplate the poverty of Christ, as exhibited in his birth, life and death. Though he was ushered into the world by the song of angels, yet he was born in a stable, and laid in a manger. His followers were few in number, and they had neither honor, wealth, nor power. So far from having any claim to worldly distinction and greatness, they were considered as the filth and offscouring of all things. Though our divine Lord went — about doing good, “ preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among — the people,” yet he himself was exposed to almost every species of } want and distress; to hunger, thirst and nakedness. _ How true. was his own pathetic declaration, “ The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests: but’ the Son of man hath not where — to lay his head.” The sufferings of Christ increased, as the time | drew nigh when he must be immolated on the altar of divine ie justice. Go with me, my dear hearers, in imagination, ta gS the garden of Gethsemane. Witness the conflict which her x ¢ MISSIONARY SERMON. 7. there endured. In an agony, which caused him to sweat, as it were, drops of blood, he said, “ My soul is exceeding sorrowful, _ eyenunto death. O my Father! if it be possible, let this cup pass from me : nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” From the garden, go to mount Calvary. Behold the Son of God in the hands of his executioners! He is brought as a lamb to the ‘slaughter ; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Benold him stripped of his raiment, wear- ing a crown of thorns, and suspended on the cross between two thieves! Hear the insults and mockery of the soldiers, boaying the knee before him, and saying, Hail king of the Jews! This is he who was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor! Who is not comforted to hear him say at length, in the extremity of his suf- ferings, It is finished! This voluntary poverty and humiliation of our Lord Jesus Christ was— For our sakes. ‘his is the third proposition. Here. is expressed the benevolent design of the sufferings and death of the Son of God. He becaine poor, that we through his poverty might be rich. That mercy might be extended to sin- ners, he left the bosom of his Father, came into the world in the form of a servant, endured the contradiction of sinners, and became obedient unto the death of the cross. The sacrifice which he offered to God for us, was himself. He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification. His poy- erty laid the foundation for the believer's riches : ; not the riches which perish in using, but those which will abide when this world and its glory shall have passed away. Christ hath redeemed us, saith the apostle, from the curse of the law, by being made a curse for us. ‘The prophet Isaiah had this in view when he said of the Redeemer, “He hath berne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and by his stripes we are héaled. All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath Jaid on him the iniquity of us all.” This is agreeable to the lan< guage of the apostle: “He who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of Godin him.” Jesus Shret drank the bitter cup of God’s wrath, that his people might 3B MISSIONARY SERMON. drink the cup of salvation. He wore a crown of thorns that they might wear a crown of glory. In consequence of his sufferings, and obedience, we, my hearers, have a great high priest, in whose name we may come boldly to the throne of God, to obtain mercy ; and find grace to help in'time of need. Through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the redeemed receive not only the riches of grace, but the riches of glory. _Thisleadsus . II. To show the obligation on Christians, dérived from the ex- ‘ample of Christ’s benevolence to them, to gps we fie end ‘to those who do not enjoy it. —- The apostle introduced the passage from which we have been discoursing, (as has already been observed,) with the express de- sign, to influence the Corinthians to contribute freely of their worldly treasure, for the relief and support of the poor saints at - Jerusalem. And by what more affecting and weighty considera- tion, could he urge them to this duty, than that which is con- tained in the text ? If they were capable of feeling the force of their moral obligation to do good to others, resulting from the example of Christ’s bounty and goodness to them; if they would be constrained by the love of Christ, to charitable deeds, the text furnishes a motive which they could not resist nor evade. They were called upon to prove the sincerity of their love to Christ, by supplying the wants of his poor, afilic- ted members. This duty is pressed upon them by the wonder- ful grace and love of the Redeemer, who, though he was rich, for their sakes became poor, that they through his poy- erty might be rich. Giving alms from right motives, and to those who are proper objects of charity, and especially to the poor brethren, is considered by Christ as an expression of love to himself. “Inasmuch, saith he, as ye have done ‘it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it ‘unto me. Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these lit- tle ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, ve- rily Isay unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” If itis our duty, in imitation of the example of Christ, to re- ‘lieve the temporal wants of our fellow men, it is also our duty by a like imitation, to do all in our power, to supply their spiritual wants. That charity which has in view the salvation of immortal souls, is more glorious, and will receive a richer reward, than MISSIONARY SERMON. 9 that which regards simply the bodily sufferings, or even the lives of men. The former has a greater object in view, inasmuch as the soul is of more worth than the body. He whospeuds his life, like the benevolent Howard, in visiting the Lazaretto and _ the prison, to instruct, comfort, and relieve the afflicted and the miserable, does well. But he, who, like Paul, devotes himself entirely to the spiritual interests of his fellow men, and is willing ‘to spend and be spent for their salvation, does better. The be- nevolence of Paul was greater than that of Howard, and the benevolence of Jesus Christ was greater than that of Paul. The Jews had very contracted notions of the gospel kingdom 3; they ignorantly imagined that it was to be confined to their na- tion. Toconvince them of their mistake, Christ said, “ Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice: and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” He has declared it to be his will; that the gos- pel should be preached to every creature ; that the glad tidings of salvation should go into all the earth, and his words unto the end of the world. His ministers may now address Christians as Paul did his Corinthian brethren : “ For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” And now, brethren, beloved of the Lord, they may add, in re- membrance of the unparalleled love of the dear Redeemer, we call upon you to contribute of your worldly substance in promo- ting the interests of his kingdom, in spreading the knowledge of his grace, and the savor of his name tothe ends of the earth. Can we resist so reasonable a claim upon our charity? This is a demand which Jesus Christ has upon us ; can we be so ungrateful as to disregard it ? In what way can we better express our love to him, and the souls which he came to redeem, than by promoting the spread of the gospel among the poor heathen ? Can you, my hearers, think of any object more worthy of your regard? To whom can you become greater benefactors than to the heathen ? To what use, so benevolent and honorable, can you appropriate your treasures, as to their conversion ? In what work can you en- gage with a better prospect of success, since God has given to his Son, the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost re of the earth for 2 possession ? a 10 MISSIONARY SERMON. © Those who enjoy the gospel, and have the means tof extemd-: ing the knowledge of it, lo those who are sitting in the :fogtom and shadow of death, are under indispensable obligations, to im. prove these means to the best advantage. Thisis a plain duty, and one which may be urged upon Christians, by a. consideration, of all others the miost affecting, even the death of the Saviour, Can the belicver seriously doubt, whether it is his duty, to give alms for the promotion of an object for which the blessed Redeem- er agonized and died ? If he wants arguments to convince him that this is a duty, or if he wants motives to perform it, the cross. of Christ furnishes them. Here he may learn what the Son of God has done for his salvation, and what he ought todo for ‘the salvation of those who know not the worth of the soul, or the price of itsredemption. The subject of evangelizing the heathen has- been criminally neglected. While the Christian world has slum- bered, millions of precious souls have gone into eternity, ignorant of the Saviour, whom to know is eternal life. Christians begin to consider that it is important, that the heathen should be taught that there is salvation in Jesus Christ. Let them not imagine that they may abandon them, after they have breathed out a few. desires, and made a few efforts for theirconyersion. This is not a work which can be accomplished at once, or by small means ; and what are years of labor, and millions of property, when com- ’ pared with the magnitude of the object upon which they : are.ex- pended ? What are all the sacrifices which are made to promote this benevolent object, compared with those which Jesus Christ made for our sakes ? In soliciting alms to be appropriated to the spiritual benefit of the heathen, we cannot say, it is enough, un- _til they have the scriptures in their own language ; until all temples of idolaters shall be consecrated to the true God, and 2 the incense of pure worship ascend to the divine Redeaeee from every pagan altar. nae What an extensive field, my brethren, deo heathen Yands open for the exercise of Christian benevolence, for the exertion a Missionary labors? Millions, and millions of our guilty race, are sitting in the solitary darkness of heathenism. The Sun of righteousness has never shone upon them. They have 3 ver heard of Him who was rich, yet for our sakes became poor. Tguorant of the atoning sacrifice which was 8 offered to God for MISSIONARY SERMON. 11 our sins, they are now presenting beasts and human victims to appease the anger of their gods. From the Researches of Doctor Buchanan in Asia, we learn to an extent before unknown, the enormities of paganism; enormities which surpass description, aud which cannot be fully known, but by those who have seen them. What an affecting account has he given of the obscene and idolatrous worship of the countless hosts of pilgrims who re- sort to the temple of Juggernaut! At the celebration of the * srand Hindoo festival” “indecent emblems” are exhibited ; austerities, the most severe, imposed; and various modes of self- torture practised, by the ignorant multitude,+who think they are rendering an acceptable service to their idol. The immolation of females, on the funeral pile of their husbands, is a superstitious and barbarous practice that prevails extensively in India. So _ frequent is this “ female sacrifice,” that in the short space of six months, one hundred and fifteen women were burned alive, w ith- in thirty miles of Calcutta. The Romish Christians, in some parts of India, are not at all superior in point of humanity to the wretched pagans. We cannotread, without horror, the account of the Inquisition at Goa; of its cruel priests; of its savage policy ; of its horrid dungeons ; of itsracks, and flames. Mul- titudes are here “ condemned by a tribynal of their fellow-sinners, their bodies devoted to the flames, and their souls to perdition.” In no other way can we so effectually divert the heathen from their superstitious and unavailing ceremonies, as by giving them the gospel, and teaching them its doctrines and precepts. This blessed volume contains for them, as well as for us, glad tidings of great joy. It has power to pull down the idols of the heathen, and to destroy their strong holds. Let the word of God have free course among them, and their idolatrous temples would disappear. The disconsolate widow, instead of sacrificing herself on the fu- neral pile, would cheerfully acquiesce in the government of God, and in the midst of her grief, she would triumphantly sing, “ Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Let the light of the gospel shine within the walls of the Inquisition, and the keep- ers thereof would tremble. The gospel has liberty to proclaim to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are pound. Consider the deplorable situation of the poor heathens 12 MISSIONARY SERMON. who are in a state of spiritual exile, strangers from the covenant, of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. The | salvation of some of these out-casts from the knowledge and mercy of God, may be accomplished by your charity. . Put them in possession of the Bible; this will direct them to him who appeared on the cross with dyed garments, but is now glori- ous in his apparel—Migthy to save. It will point them to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. We al- ready hear of the triumphs of the cross among them. Oh! Let their miseries still excite your compassion. Go forth by your messengers before tle face of the Lord, to prepare his way among the heathen ; and may the word of the Lord have free course among them, and be glorified. That this benevolent object may be accomplished, we can, without a blush, solicit the charity of all who enjoy the gospel; for the accomplishment of this object, we are not ashamed to beg. The cause which we advocate, is the cause of humanity ; it is the cause for which the blessed Saviour died. We plead for millions of souls who are perishing for lack of vision : let us not plead in vain. Tf ¢ our impor tunity be great, the cause which excites it is also great. How immense were the charities of the first converts to Christianity! They sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need! What great sacrifices did they make to extend the knowledge of the Redeemer ? How cheerfully did they take upon them the spoiling of their goods ? How unwearied were they -in their labors ? How patient in their sufferings ? How importu- nate in their prayers ? No one can doubt, that they possessed the spirit of their Master, who became poor for their sakes. But how dwelleth the love of God in those who are so engaged to heap up treasures to themselves, that they have nothing to bestow upon the needy ; who shut up the bowels of their compassion against the heathen ! a Let us remember that the heathen are not the only geeider who ought to excite our compassion, and to whom we are bound to send the gospel. Many of our new settlements cannot enjoy Christian ordinances without our aid. ‘These are not only objects of our charity in common with the heathen, but they - have pe- culiar claims upon our benevolence. Here are our bréthren’; our Kinsmen, according to the flesh. What blessing can we send. MISSIONARY SERMON. 1s them so valuable as the word and ordinances of God. Much has peen done by the Missionary Society of this State, to supply the spiritual wants of these destitute people. And may the blessing of God which has attended their exertions, be their encourage- ment to proceed in this work of love. Missionary Societies are the “ stewards of our charity.” And they cannot, my brethren, send the gospel to the destitute unless the people furnish them with the necessary means. Their ability to spread the knowledge of the Saviour, will be in proportion to the liberality of our contributions. Let no one say, I have noth- ing to bestow ; I can spare no portion of my interest to convey the words of eternal life to the perishing. If what is expended in luxury, rioting, and guilty pleasures, were appropriated to mis- sionary purposes, what an immense revenue would it provide ? In a short time it would be sufficient to furnish every family on earth with the holy scriptures, and every language and people un- der the whole heavens with gospel Missionaries. The words of the celebrated Saurin, when enforcing on his hearers the duty of. charity, may with propriety be addressed to us: “ Let each there- fore tax himself. Let no one continue in arrears. Leta noble emulation be seen amongst us. Let the man in power give a part of the salary of his office. Let military men give a part of their pay. Let the merchant give a part of the profits of his trade. Let the mechanic give a part of the labor of his hands. Let the minister consecrate a part of what his ministry preduces. Let the young man give a part of his pleasures. Let the lady bestow a part of her ornaments. Let the dissipated give that box of ointment, which was intended for profane uses.” Such a be- nevolent plan carried into execution, would enable those who are intrusted with our charities, to extend the knowledge of our Re- deemer to the ends of the earth. In this age of the world we cannot want for encouragement, to engage with undivided affection and zeal in the benevolent work of spreading the gospel. The year of recompenses for the con- troversy of Zion draweth nigh. Christians of every name and nation are rallying round the standard of the cross, they are com- ing to the help of the Lord against the mighty. He who is won- derful in counsel, and excellent in working, is shaking the heav- ens, and ihe earth, and the sea, and the dry land, that the desire ” oy Te 14 MISSIONARY SERMON. of all nations may come. Peace will soon be exténded to Jeru- ; salem like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. The righteousness of Zion shall go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. The seed of the faithful shall be known among the Gentiles, and their off- sprtag among-every people. As the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that aye sown in it to spring forth ; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations. While we view in prospect the millennial reign of Christ on earth: let Christians remember that they may be the honored instruments of introducing it. Every Bible and every Missionary sent to the heathen, are preparing the way for his second coming ; for the reign of peace and right- eousness. If the ministry of John, Christ’s precursor, was hon- erable, so also is the ministry of those Missionaries who go to prepare the way of the Lord among the heathen. They shall be had in everlasting remembrance, and in the day when Ged shall make up his jewels, they will have the reward bestowed upon Martyrs and Apostles. Let us with gratitude acknowledge the goodness of God in raising up Missionaries among us, whose hearts burn with zeal for the salvation of the heathen ; who are willing to forsake houses, and brethren and sisters, and father and mother, to preach the gospel to those who know not the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. How is the min- istry of such persons “ applauded by the holy angels ; and how far does it transcend the work of a warrior or statesman, in charity, utility, and lasting fame!” The dear youths, who lately sailed from our shores as Missionaries, have gone to carry light and gladness ito dark and solitary places, and to erect the standard of the €ross in the enemies’ land, even where Satan’s seat is. May the angel of the Lord who apptared to Moses in the burning bush, go before them, and keep them in all their way ; may he give them power to tread on serpents and scorpions ; may they find favor in the sight of the heathen, and be enabled by the grace of God to finish their course with joy, and the ministry which they ave received of the Lord Jesus. Do the parents of these youths who have voluntarily exiled themselves from their country and friends need consolation ? If out of love to Christ they have sacrificed in his service their son, their beloyed Isaac, we say to them MISSIONARY SERMON. 15 as the angel said to Abraham, “ Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing theu hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, froma me.” In these times of trouble, and of rebuke, and bla sphemy, when we hear of wars and rumors of wars, and earthquakes, in diverse places ; when we see upon the earth distress of nations, with per- plexity ; the sea and the waves roaring ; men’s hearts failing them for fear, let us be assured from these signs, that the redemption of the church draweth nigh. The sword of the Lord, which has been long drunk with blood, will be sheathed. The destroying angel who has gone forth among the nations, is followed by anoth- er angel, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. The great Head of the church is raising up Mission- aries for the heathen, and inspiring them with a spirit suited to their work. And as the silver and the gold are his, we believe he will dispose those who have freely received, freely to give. The most affectionate and commanding motive which can be set before a Christian audience, to influence them to engage heartily an the benevolent work df sending the gospel to the destitute, is that derived from the example of Christ’s bounty and goodness to them. That I may leave this motive impressed upon the minds of my hearers, I conclude with the words of our text: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his pov- erty might be rich.” AMEN. TWO SERMONS ON INFIDELITY, DELIVERED OCTOBER 24, 1843. SSeS See BY WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, Minister of the Church in Federal Street, Boston. Sr Se — © =: 8 ea BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY CUMMINGS AND HILLIARD, NO. 4, CORNHILL. —_=— Cambridge....Hilliard gs Metcalf. Steccesecccssses Teevecsescsssseses + Soa tat 2 2 ye (SR Apee tice are ¥ q a a 7 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Tue author has yielded the following discourses to the wish- es of those who heard them, and he hopes that they will not whol- ly fail of the end for which they were composed. It is not from tenderness to his own reputation, but from regard to an infinitely more important interest, that he begs leave to state, that they were written without a thought of their being offered to the pub- lie, and that they do not pretend to give complete views of any of the subjects of which they treat. They are designed not so much to unfold the evidences of Christianity, as to procure for them aserious and respectful attention. He has merely glanced on the most important proofs, and has omitted some which have great weight on his own mind. [If he shall be so happy as to awaken eandid and patient inquiry, his principal object will be accom- plished. He wishes that Christianity should be thoroughly ex- amined. He indeed owes to this religion much of his present happiness, and his best and most consoling hopes. But he does not on this account wish to screen it from inquiry. It would cease to be his support, were he not persuaded, that it is able to sustain the most deliberate investigation. To those who wish to read on the subject, and who want time for elaborate works, he would recommend the following books : Dr. John Clarke’s answer to the question, Why are you a Chris- tian? Bishop Porteus’ summary; Doddridge’s three sermons; Leslie’s short and easy method; Bogue’s essay; Priestley’s ser- mon on the resurrection of Jesus; and Watson’s answer to Paine. v To those whose circumstances permit more extended inquiry, he would recommend Le Land’s necessity of revelation, Paley’s ev- idences, Campbell on miracles, Douglas’ criterion, Bonnet’s philo- sophieal researches, Newton on the prophecies, and Lardner’s sermons on the internal marks of credibility in the New Testament. To those who are disposed to pursue the subject, he would re- 4 commend Butler’s analogy, Paley’s Hore Pauline, Berkely’s mi- . nute philosopher, Lardner’s credibility, Duchal’s presumptive evidences, Maltby’s illustrations, Jor‘in’s discourses on the Chris- tian religion, Priestley’s letters to a philosophical unbeliever, Newecome’s observations on the character of our Lord, and the valuable treatises on the evidences of Christianity in Watson’s tracts. This catalogue might be extended to an indefinite length. The author has great satisfaction in informing his readers, that they are soon to be favoured with a volume of sermons from the pen of the late Rev. Mr. Buckminster of this town, in which some important evidences of Christianity are discussed with a clearness, and force, and eloquence, which have hardly been surpassed. ‘Those, to whom this excellent young man was known, well remember how deep, and serious, and operative was his con- viction of the truth of Christianity, and how earnestly and per- suasively he was accustomed to dwell on the marks which it bears of a divine original. ‘This ripe and accomplished scholar, this ardent lover of truth, this patient and candid inquirer, es- teemed it an unspeakable honour and happiness, that he was per- mitted to devote his splendid powers to the illustration and diffu- sion of Christian truth. His sermons on the characters of Jesus Christ, and of the apostles Peter and Paul, on the fitness of time when Jesus appeared, on the epistle to Philemon, and on the na- ture and importance of faith, will delight the reader of taste and cultivated intellect, whilst they will edify and confirm the serious Christian. ‘ TWO SERMONS.. JOHN xii. 37. BUT THOUGH HE HAD DONE SO MANY MIRACLES BEFORE THEM, YET THEY BELIEVED NOT ON HIM. In these words we are informed, that the preaching’ of Jesus, although accompanied with numerous and un- exceptionable miracles, was far from producing univer- sal belief. The leaders of the Jewish people were of- fended by his humble appearance, and stung by his re- proofs; and were unwearied and successful in infusing their own bad passions into the obedient multitude. When we consider the character and expectations of the Jewish rulers and people, nothing is more easy than to account for their rejection of Jesus Christ ; and certainly no blame or suspicion should be attached to Jesus, be- cause such men rejected him. Unbelief has not been confined to the age when Christ appeared. Christianity has in no age been uni- versally believed. We cannot deny, that our religion does not carry irresistible conviction to those, to whom it is offered. It is not accompanied with evidences, which compel the understanding to embrace it, which leave no room, no possibility for doubt or incredulity. This has sometimes been urged as a proof, that Christianity is not from God; but in this respect Christianity agrees with all other moral or practical truth. It has pleased God, 6 that in relation to such truth our assent should not. be ex« torted ; that we should be left to seek it, instead of hav- ing it forced on our reception; and that we should be left at liberty to reject it, if, from any corrupt propensi- ty, we are disinclined to its belief. It would be foolish in the extreme to say, that christianity cannot be true, be- cause in that case it would be made so plain, and would be attended with proof so strong, that no one could resist it. Let me ask, where is the truth, which comes to us with this overpowering evidence? Where is the truth, which some minds have not doubted and denied? If we are to believe no religion but that which compels belief, and from which we cannot escape, then all religion must - be resigned; then we must give up that fundamental truth—the being of a God; for some minds have been so perverted, as to reject even this most clear and im- portant principle. Yes, some have iaboured to shake the throne of the Eternal, to banish him from his creation, to darken and blot out every trace of intelligent agency in his works, and to give his empire to undesigning chance, or to cruel and fatal necessity. How absurd then is the lan- guage of the infidel, who denies Jesus to be the Son of God, because he does not offer himself with credentials . which none can doubt or disbelieve! How natural is it to expect from God a religion (if he shall be pleased to reveal one) which will furnish room for objections, which will require fairness of mind in order to its reception, and which will meet opposition as well as respect. Since the first age, Christianity has had opposers. The hatred which it awakened at its birth is not yet laid to rest. There are still those who despise its guidance, and consolations, and hopes ; and who, not content with rejecting it themselves, wish to pluck it from the hearts of 7 others ; who, not satisfied with closing their own eyes on this cheering light, are eager to extinguish it, and wish to bury the world in the same cheerless gloom, which broods over their own understandings. By these re- marks, I am far from saying that this is an age of infidel- ity, or that contempt of Christianity is the prevalent char- acter of the times. ‘There is reason to hope, that the tremendous example, which has lately been given, of the influence of infidelity, has struck a horror into the minds of men, which will not soon pass away. ‘To those who are fond of exaggerating the wars and persecutions, which Christianity has kindled, we would say, go and witness the blessings of infidel philosophy, where it has been permitted to triumph! Behold the heart hardened into stone, and all the tender feelings of our nature giv- ing place to the ferocity of beasts of prey. Behold mur- der, and perfidy, and rapine let loose, and scattering ruin and dismay. Behold the best blood flowing in torrents, and observe the secret tears of the widow and fatherless, who dare not utter the anguish which consumes them! God has given to all nations an awful monument of the na- ture and influence of infidel principles, and I trust he has not admonished in vain. But whilst our age is not an infidel age, there are still those, and perhaps not a few, who doubt or reject Christianity. This ought not to ex- cite our wonder, because the causes of infidelity always exist. They are seeds sown in every soil, and seeds which are peculiarly quickened by a eaalnaasat and lux- urious state of society. I propose to dwell for a time on some of the princi- pal causes of infidelity, and then to show you that Chris- tianity, however opposed or despised, has yet the strong- est claims to the serious and respectful attention of all, to whom it is proposed, N 8 I. One great cause of infidelity is vice. That those, who indulge in any vicious habits, should look with an unfriendly eye ona religion, which reproyes them, which condems them, which arms conscience with new stings, which mingles fear with their guilty pleasures, cannot in- deed excite surprise. Such men have an interest in reject- ing Christianity. It is their enemy, their persecutor, a fet- ter, an incumbrance, from which they wish to escape, What single reason have they for wishing Christianity to be true? Itis indeed a religion of hope and promise; but to chem it utters not a word of promise; to them it wears a countenance of severity, reproof, and menace. Now to such men itis a very easy thing to resist and escape the evi-. dences of Christianity. This religion claims belief very much on the ground of its purity and excellence, and on the ground of the unparalleled greatness and loveliness of the character of its Author. But on minds seared and polluted by vice, these arguments are lost. The New ‘Testament is read by such persons without exciting one moral feeling. They hear of Jesus, but see nothing of the heavenly lustre which surrounds him ; nothing of el- evated sentiment in his doctrine and precepts ; nothing of sincerity and disinterestedness in his humiliation and voluntary death. A mind, narrowed by selfishness or de- based by sensuality, is incapable of discerning and relish- ing purity and excellence, just as to the diseased eye there is no beauty in creation, and even the sun itself sheds a sickly or oppressive light. There are indeed other proofs of Christianity, besides those we have mens tioned; proofs from its miracles, from its progress, from the character and sufferings of its teachers, &e, &C. But these require attention, and a man immersed in the world and in pleasure has no attention to give them. He has 9 almost a disgust for serious reflection. Nothing relating to religion is voluntarily and deliberately weighed by him. He is happy to escape as much as possible from the sub- ject; and as christian evidences do not force themselves on his notice, he easily succeeds in overlooking them. On the contrary, he welcomes every profane jest, every superficial objection, every ludicrous misrepresentation, which may be employed to bring Christianity into con- tempt. For these arguments he hasa taste. "The more corrupt his mind, the more he relishes them. These fall in with his evil life, and relieve him from the fears of retribution. Do you wonder then, that they convince him; do you wonder that infidelity still finds friends and advocates ? | I]. Another cause, which operates to the production of infidelity, is pride or vanity ; and this is as operative now as inany past age. The great object of pride is distinc- tion. The object of the proud man is to stand alone; nothing is so mortifying as to be confounded with the vulgar. Is he vain of his understanding? He naturally desires to prove its superiority by looking farther than all around him, by detecting and exposing what he is pleased to call vulgar prejudices, by marking out for him- selfa new path. To conform to general opinions is, in his view, to be servile. He chooses to be a leader rather than a follower of others. He wishes to prove the vigour of his mind, by unsettling the minds of those around him, by shaking their firmest convictions,and imposing his own peculiar views. To such a mind, the general prevalence ofa system or opinion affords no presumption in its favor, but isan argument and a motive for doubting and as- sailing it. ‘The stronger and deeper its foundation, and the more venerable its age, the greater will be the honour 2 10 of leveling it with the dust. Now can you wonder that. such men reject and oppose Christianity ? This system: is the religion of the multitude, and has bee established for ages. To embrace it, is to think just as thousands before us, and thousands around us think. In receiving the gospel, we receive a religion which the poor and un- learned profess, a religion which is suited to their limited capacities, which of course requires no profoundness or originality of mind in order to its reception, and sheds no _ reputation for talents on those who adhere toit. “To em- brace such a religion is not the road to distinction; but to overthrow it, to bring it into suspicion or contempt, this is to triumph over the prejudices of nations and of ages, to be superior to innumerable multitudes. This principle has been a very fruitful source of infidelity. The leaders in this bad cause have generally been men of unbounded intellectual ambition, supremely devoted to literary fame, who have hoped to signalize themselves by effecting a revolution in the minds and characters of mankind. To such persons, it is not difficult to find or to invent specious objections to Christianity. There is no truth, which men of powerful minds cannot place in unfavourable lights, cannot overspread and obseure with a web of sophistry. It deserves remark, that the very circumstance, which makes Christianity so offensive to the aspiring and vain, furnishes them with weapons for assailing it—I mean the circumstance of its general re- ception by all classes of the community. Every religion, of necessity, takes a shape and colour from the minds, by which it is embraced. The purest and sublimest truth will have the appearance of weakness, and sometimes of ludicrousness, when professed by persons of inferior un- derstanding. Ask a child to speak of God, and how lit- 11 tle that is venerable, will enter into the description of this infinite Being? What then ought we to expect, when a religion is embraced by all classes of society ; and by different nations, which are in different stages of civ- ilization, and have different manners, passions, and preju- dices? Why, this religion, however pure and simple, will be exceedingly disfigured, and will take a great va- riety of forms. We must expect, that a thousand ab- surd additions will be made to it. We must expect, that every nation and every class of society will endea- vour to make it speak a language, suited to their various peculiarities. All this is natural, is unavoidable, if the religion be generally received; and who does not see, that men of disingenuous minds may easily derive from this source plausible arguments against the religion, al- ' though it is in no respect answerable for the mistakes of its professors? From this quarter, Christianity has been most frequently and most successfully assailed. Spread as it is over the world, and descending as it does to the lowest ranks of society, this religion has been exceedingly corrupted and deformed. The superstitious have made it a system of absurdity and terror. The formalist has decked it out in trifling ceremonies. The enthusiast has discovered in it hidden meanings, which support his wild- est dreams. The enemies of Christianity have pretend- ed to beligye, that the religion thus disfigured is the very religion which Jesus taught, and laboured to crush it by loading it with the weaknesses and even crimes of its professors. Because its followers are divided into sects, we are told, that it is a system of darkness and in- consistency ; although the authors of this charge must know, that any religion, however pure, which should be offered to the understandings of infinite numbers, in dif- 12 ferent ages and nations, would be viewed in a gteat vari- ety of lights, and would give rise to many sects and par: ' ties. ‘Thus we see, that those, who are unwilling to re- ceive Christianity because the multitude receive it, find, in the very circumstance which offends them, arguments _ to fortify their own minds in unbelief, and heii with which to shake the faith of others. a ae III. Let me mention one more source of infidelity, and this is ignorance. ‘This, perhaps, is of all the most fruit- ful. We may wonder, that men, brought up in a Chris« tian country, favoured with all the means of knowledge, should yet know little of the gospel, and still less of the evidences on which it rests. But I fear this is not un- frequent; and perhaps this ignorance arises from the very commonness of religious truth. |The mind attach- es little value to what is easily acquired, and every where diffused. Persons brought up in the frequent hearing of religious truths, in sight of the Bible, and in attendance on the house of God, become too familiar with these to — give to them the value and attention they deserve; reli- gion never strikes them as a new subject. In early life, they are not disposed to that calm and serious reflection which Christianity requires ; and as they advance in life, new interests acquire the control of their thoughts and passions. Hence it is, that many know less of Christian- ity than of any other subject within thei ch; and knowing so little, they are easily sthoreaeileanalale ties. ‘They have no means of separating the true doc- trine of Jesus from human additions, and yield to objec- tions, which are wholly founded on misapprehension, They have no shield to oppose to infidel arguments, for they have never dwelt on the proofs of their religion. Perhaps they have been brought up to believe, that Chris- a 15 tianity isso sure, that nothing can be urged against it, When such persons are assailed with specious objections, they are astonished, overwhelmed, and pass from the most unsuspecting faith to universal distrust of religion. I have thus suggested some of the principal causes of infidelity. Others, I am sensible, less criminal, may and do operate—such as an unhappy education; an ac- quaintance with persons of strong minds, who reject Christianity ; or an acquaintance with those Christians who hold very erroneous and debasing views of their re- ligion. In some persons, there seems to be an unfavour- able constitution of intellect, a singular want of judg- ment, an undue ascendency of imagination, in conse- quence of which religious truth can never be fixed and settled in their minds. For these-and other. reasons, I am unwilling to believe, that. infidelity has no source but depravity of heart, and that it can never be traced to causes which may absolve it from guilt. _ But be the causes what they may, infidelity still ex- ists, and sometimes is as anxious to propagate its princi- ples, as if it were conscious of having acquired the most important truth. Its exertions have too often been suc- cessful. The writings of infidels have done much to unsettle the minds of the unreflecting ; and as they offer no substitute for the principles they take away, they have ' precipitated many into vice, by depriving them of the only restraint to which their passions have been accus- tomed. : These writings have been injurious, not so much by the strength of their arguments, as by the positive and contemptuous manner in which they speak of revelation. They abound in sarcasm, abuse, and sneer; and supply 14 the place of reasoning by ridicule and satire. Christi- anity is represented asa delusion of an age of darkness, propagated by fraud, and continued by folly. The in- tention is, to hold up the religion to contempt; and to produce the impression, that its claims are unworthy se- rious investigation, that it ought*to be numbered with the false religions, which have overspread the world, and to be dismissed with as little ceremony as the system of Mahomet or Brama. Now that this treatment of Chris- tianity is most unwarrantable, and unjust, and wicked, that this religion deserves at least respectful and serious attention, must be evident to every man, who has any honesty of mind. This religion, even if its truth be doubtful, has yet many marks of truth, of which no oth- er religion can boast. It ought not to be rejected with- out deliberate inquiry. It deserves to be heard with pa- tience, and to be heard with respect. I wish now to of- fer some remarks in support of the claims of Christianity to this respectful attention. I am particularly desirous to guard the young against that contemptuous neglect of the truths and evidences of our religion, into which many have been seduced by the language of infidelity. In the remarks which are to follow, I shall notice several of the most important objections, which are employed to destroy our reverence for the gospel of Christ. ' 1. Christianity deserves a respectful attention, if we consider the character of its Founder. With respect to the excellence of Jesus Christ, but one opinion scems to exist. With few exceptions, infidelity, bold as it is, yet shrinks before the purity of Jesus, and has not courage to lay its unhallowed hands on his spot- less character. It is remarkable, that the most unprin- cipled writers against Christianity, have stopped the tor- 15 rent of abuse, to pay a tribute of respect to its Founder $ and in this, they act prudently. ‘The man who can read the history of Jesus and yet revile him, would prove him- self destitute of human feeling, of all sensibility to what is great and good in character, and would forfeit all claim to confidence and attention. Jesus is accordingly pro- nounced a good man; we are told, that he was pure in purposes, but was seduced by heated fancy, and mis- guided enthusiasm, into the belief of his mission from God. Now areligion, coming from a teacher so immacu- late, that even enmity cannot reproach him, and bearing so strongly the impressions of his purity, is certainly enti- tled to respectful attention. It isnot to be confounded with the systems of men, who were selfish and base, and who pretended to divine communications only for the purpose of establishing their power over the multitude. Besides; the marks of this enthusiasm, which is charged on Jesus, are not so very striking, that the charge ought to be re- ceived without careful inquiry. Jesus Christ an enthusi- ast, misled by a wild and heated fancy ! What! Could en- thusiasm form a character of such singular and inimitable excellence? Is enthusiasm so mild, so judicious, so consistent, so full of dignity, so sublime, as was Jesus ? If we follow him through his life, we see him always the same ; always superior to the age in which he lived; al- ways acting on the noblest principles, and for the most generous ends; uniting all the great and commanding, with all the tender and gentle virtues, in a degree unex- ampled in the history of mankind. We see him always collected, never disturbed by passion, ready to answer the most subtle and sudden questions, and habitually borrowing from the objects and events around him oc- casions for conveying the most weighty truth. Are 16 these the marks of a disordered mind? In that mild, composed, and benevolent countenance, do you sce the traces of derangement? What wonderful enthusiasm ! Y. Who would not wish to catch a portion of this ; wildness. of fancy ? My friends, the charge is too weak. If this is its only refuge, desperate indeed is the cause of ‘infidel- ity. : chic 2. Another consideration which entitles Christianity to respectful attention, is this—That Jesus Christ appear- ed at a time, when there prevailed in the East a universal expectation of a distinguished personage, who was to produce a great and happy change i in the world. _ This expectation was built on writings, which claimed to be prophetic, which existed long before Jesus was born, and which describe a deliverer of the human race very similar, to say the least, to the character in which Jesus appeared. Now this is a very remarkable circumstance, which distinguishes Jesus from the founders of all other religions, and entitles him to serious and respectful atten- _ tion. / I know it is objected, that the Jewish nation sii. ed a different kind of deliverer from Jesus. This is true. But it appears to me a strong presumption in favour of Jesus, that he did mot conform to the expectations of his — nation. We have here a proof, that he could not have been a selfish deceiver ; for in that case, he would have flattered, not opposed, the strongest prejudices of all. around him. ‘The general expectation of a great deliy- erer induced many deceivers to offer themselves in this character to the Jews; but these were careful to adapt themselves to the wishes of the people. Why is it, that Jesus offered a deliverance, which, he must have known, was undesired, and would be ejected with contempt ? 2 17 There is no ground for the assertion, that the inter- pretation, given by the Jews to their own prophecies, must have been true, and that therefore Jesus, who did not conform to this, must have been a deceiver or de- ceived. When we read the prophecies relating to the great deliverer who was to come, we find them expressed in the language of the boldest metaphors. They were evidently designed to excite general expectations, rather than to convey any very precise views of the important events to which they refer. Such language might easily be misinterpreted, especially before its fulfilment; and we cannot wonder, that Jews beheld in these predictions their own nation raised to universal empire, and enjoying ease and plenty under their victorious leader. Jesus taught them, that the deliverer, who had been announc- ed, was to bless both Jews and Gentiles, not in the manner of earthly sovereigns, not by violence, not by leading armies, and founding a new throne on the ruins of aneient governments ; but by introducing, supporting, and extending through the world a pure and peaceful re- ligion, which should sway the minds, and refine the hearts of men, and thus communicate true happiness on earth, as well as prepare for immortality in heaven. This interpretation of the prophecies is evidently more gene- rous and sublime, more worthy of God, and more desir- able to mankind, than that to which the Jews adhered; and when we consider that this liberal interpretation was given by Jesus among a narrow and bigoted people, who were panting for universal dominion, what a view does it afford of the eleyation and benevolence of his character! This generous interpretation ‘of the prophecies, al- though different from that received by his nation, yet ac- eords in a striking manner with the scriptures. There 3 18 the Messiah is again and again represented to us as @ teacher, a light to the Gentiles; who should communi- cate to all nations the knowledge of God; who should introduce universal peace, not by violence, but by mstruc-. tion ; and who should encounter opposition and suffering in accomplishing this sublime and benevolent work. These are very remarkable circumstances, such as never met before in any human being, but such as have been remarkably accomplished in Jesus Christ. It is a fact, that one of the great works predicted of the Messiah has been effected by him, ina degree which ought to astonish us; I refer to the extension of the knowledge of the true God among heathen nations.—It is true, that some effects ascribed to the Messiah, such as the genenal dif- fusion of peace, and the restoration of the Jewish people, are not yet fulfilled. But this ought not to surprise us.. The prophecies are not limited to the commencement of the Messiah’s reign; they relate to its whole duration. They unfoid the blessings which are to flow from him in the most distant ages. The prophets delighted to dwell on the last and concluding periods of the Messiah’s administration, when the full effects of his religion will - be felt and enjoyed. We cannot then wonder, that much _ is predicted which is not yet fulfilled. The works of God are gradual. ‘The seed does not spring up in amo- ment into the towering tree ; and.neither does the religion of Jesus, which he compared to a seed, produce at once its richest fruits——There are indeed passages in the prophets, which may seem to intimate, that at the appear- ance of the Messiah’ universal peace and happiness would at once prevail. But when we consider, with what rapid- ity these writers are accustomed to pass from near to re- mote events, and with what confidence they speak of the 19 most distant futurity as already present, we ought not to wonder, that they connect with the advent of the Messiah all the splendid triumphs which were to follow. In other passages, they have taught us toexpect a gradual accom- plishment of his purposes, by declaring, that he was to change and bless the world by instruction, and that he was to encounter opposition as well as enjoy success.— The religion of Jesus has already done much, which was predicted of the Messiah, and it may be expected to do more. It is particularly adapted to produce that peace, which the prophets so uniformly ascribe to the Messiah. Was ever character more pacific than Jesus? Can any religion breathe a milder temper than his? Into how ma- ny ferocious breasts has it already infused the kindest and gentlest spirit! -And after all these considerations, is Je- sus to be rejected, because some prophecies which relate to his future triumphs, are not yet accomplished ? 3. Another consideration, which entitles Christianity to serious and respectful attention, is this—that the wit- nesses to the miracles and resurrection of Jesus had every possible advantage for knowing the truth of the facts they relate, and every motive to dissuade them from asserting these facts unless persuaded of their truth. The Gospels are something more than loose and idle rumors of events, which happened in a distant age and a distant nation. We have the testimony of men, who were associates of Jesus Christ; who received his instruction from his own lips, and saw his works with their own eyes ; who began their ministry and testimony, in the very country where he lived; and who, without any imaginable interest in his religion, distinct from that which a conviction of its truth inspired, devoted their lives to its diffusion through the world, encountered persecution, and exposed themselves Hey 20 to violent and ignominious death, Here certainly istes- timony the most unexceptionable. which can be desired, or even conceived, and the existence of which can ney- er be accounted for, but by admitting its truth. If you” read the writings of these men, you see im every page a love of virtue, a love of mankind, a sincere desire of en- lightening and reforming the world, an artless simplicity of style, and the most unaffected expressions of confi- dence in God and of the hope of a blessed immortality. Why shall not the testimony of such men be received? I know it is said, that sincerity is no proof of truth, that men have been-very upright in propagating falsehood, ‘and that some have been willing to seal with their blood extravagant opinions received from tradition or generat, ed by enthusiasm and heated fancy, To this objection two answers may be offered: first, that the opinions, which the apostles so zealously espoused, are not to be traced to tradition or enthusiasm. They were such as contradicted all the prejudices of education, and all the hopes on which fancy had delighted to dwell. ‘They were the last sentiments to be embraced by Jews, Whence then did the apostles acquire the strange and invincible persuasion, that these opinions were true, and that it was their duty to propagate them at every NOEs and in the face of death. But another, and still more satisfactory answer to the objection, is this: It was not to opinions merely that the apostles bore their resolute and unwavering testimony. Their great object was to bear witness to facts, and to facts which fell under their immediate notice, and which were presented to all their senses. They state to us not their judgments, and inferences, and opinions, but what they saw, and felt, and heard. They relate events, which 21 passed before their eyes, and the circumstances of which excluded the possibility of deception. They must have been absolutely deranged, or they could not have erred in relation to such facts as they report. But do they write like madmen? Did they act like madmen? Could insanity have persuaded so many persons, that they all saw the same objects, and heard the same words, in such variety of situations, when all was delusion ? Could Bed- lamites have assailed with success the prejudices, and Passions, and established religions of the world, and have planted on the ruins a system so simple and noble as Christianity ? But there is another objection to the apostles, which has been urged as of great importance, and which cer- tainly deserves attention. It is this—that the apostles could not have been inspired, because they have fallen into many errors, We are told, that they have quoted and applied incorrectly passages from the Old Testa- ment, that they disagree with one another in the state. ment of facts, and that they have adopted many false opinions which prevailed in their age. This is an old objection, and perhaps the most plausible, with which Christianity has been assailed: but it has very little _ Weight, especially when balanced against the strong and unanswerable arguments which support our religion. The objection is not true, at least in the extent to which it is urged; and even if true, it ought not to affect our belief of the gospel. The apostles, we are told, have quoted erroneously. Before you admit this assertion, you ought to be satisfi- ed, that you understand the passages which they have quoted, and that you know precisely the objects of their quotations. There is reason to believe, that the Jews, 22 who had few books besides the scriptures, were in the habit of accommodating these to passing events with a” freedom which is unknown at the present time. Sup- pose that the apostles conformed to this innocent usage,- and that, for the sake of illustration or ornament, they sometimes applied passages from the Old Testament to- events or circumstances, for which they were not origin- ally intended. Would this prove that they mistook the - scriptures ? But “the apostles have stated facts inivenneutby 7 Before you admit this assertion, you ought to inquire, whether the appearance of incorrectness is not to be ex- pected in books so circumstanced as the gospels. You will not forget that the gospels are far from being com- plete and regular histories of the life of Jesus; that, on the contrary, “ditepent facts and different circumstances of the same facts are selected and reported by the different writers, according to the diversity of their tastes and ob- jects. Can you be surprised, that narratives so incom- plete, and arranged with so little care, should sometimes appear to seth when a full and methodieal history, by supplying the omissions of each writer, might show that each has been accurate, in the particular province to which his attention has been confined. Besides, who does not know that statements, apparently incorrect and absurd, have often been relieved from difficulty, by a dis- covery of some trifling circumstance, belonging to the times, to which the statements refer. Recollect now, that the gospels were written at a distant period, and are crowded with references to the habits, feelings, and con-. dition of the age when they were composed. Recollect too, what cannot be denied, that almost every addition to our knowledge of that age has shed new light on passag- . appearance of incorrectness to the most consistent 23 es, which before perplexed us. Have we then no ground for the conclusion, that it is to our own ignorance, and not to the apostles’, that many of the difficulties which re- main ought to be ascribed, and that these will vanish in amore illuminated age. To all this let it be added, that the apostles wrote in a very peculiar dialect of the Greek language, and that the precise import of their words frequently eludes even the most learned. Now every one knows, that a very slight misapprehension of the language of an author ‘is often sufficient to sive the Narra- tive. _ But, “the apostles adopted popular errors.” Before you admit this charge, you ought to satisfy yourselves, that the popular opinions referred to are really erroneous ; and then you should prove, that the apostles enforced these as truths, which they were divinely commissioned to preach to the world. This last remark is very import- ant. If the sacred writers merely acquiesce in prevailing errors, it does not follow that they adopted them. They _ might innocently conform to the popular language on i : | subjects which constituted no part of the Christian doc- trine; and might even wink at some injurious opinions, if they foresaw that these would vanish of themselves, in proportion as the gospel should be extended and under- stood. Had they undertaken to assail every established error, they would have excited needless and endless pre- judice against the religion which it was their great and only business to communicate. Suppose that I should be sent to preach Christianity to heathens: and suppose, that I should refuse to speak as they do of the rising and the. setting of the sun; that I should rebuke every word which might fall from their lips, implying 24 that this luminary exerts an influence on vegetation, which belongs only to God ; and, in fine, that I should re- monstrate against every expression and senti ent, which, if followed to its consequences, might involve something inconsistent with Christian truth. To what unnecessa- ry irritation should I expose myself and my cause ! Ought I to wonder or complain, if the most important instructions, connected with such ungracious severity, should be heard with indifference, or rejected with con- es ; : From these remarks it appears, that we ought not lightly to charge the apostles with error. But suppose that it should be proved, what indeed some sincere Chris- tians have allowed, that the apostles have erred in some quotations, some statements, and some opinions ? What follows? That they did not receive from God the reli- gion they taught? By nomeans. This religion is some- thing quite distinct from these quotations, statements, and opinions. Give up all these, and not one truth of Chris- tianity will be impaired; and what is more, not one fact on which it rests will be shaken. ‘The apostles, indeed, will in this case appear to have been men, whose memo- ries and reasoning powers sometimes failed them; but ‘does this destroy their credibility? Shall we reject their testimony to facts, about which they could not have been deceived, because in some minute and unimportant circumstances, their recollections might have been indistinct? Who, that has ever attended a court of justice, or has read different narra- tives of the same events, does not know, that the most credible and faithful witnesses sometimes fail of perfect correctness ? Reject all testimony which labours under this defect, and you put an end immediately to the admin- 25 istration of the laws, and to the delightful confidence of social lifex—Let me further ask, are we authorized to deny, that the apostles received their religion from God, because they may have sometimes employed insufficient arguments or illustrations? By no means. It is one thing to state facts and doctrines with fidelity and clear- ness, and another to reason about them with profoundness and accuracy. The best witnesses may be unskilful logi- cians, and may frequently mistake on subjects which do not belong to their testimony. For instance, the apostles to il- lustrate and confirm the resurrection, have compared it to the developement of the seed, which they tell us dies in the earth. Now later discoveries in philosophy have taught us, that the seed does not die in the strictest sense of the word ; and infidels have triumphed in this igno- rance of the sacred writers. But will any one be so ab- surd as to argue, that because these men may have adopt- ed a popular error about vegetation, and applied it to the resurrection, they are therefore unworthy of confi- dence, when they relate to us what they repeatedly heard, and felt, and saw? Wesee then, that even if we should be compelled to admit the objection, that the apostles some- times erred, our religion would remain uninjured. Mis- take is very consistent with soundness and uprightness of mind. Grant to the apostles this character (and they un- doubtedly possessed it) and we need nothing more. Such mien were as worthy of confidence, when they related what had been offered to their senses, and were as fitted to re- ceive the simple doctrines of Christianity, as if they had lived in an age of greater light, and had cultivated their reasoning powers in the schools of philosophy. I even think that this objection recoils on the head of its authors, ~ and may be made to give support to the cause it was in- a 26 tended to destroy. Did the first preachers of the gos-" pel fall into so many popular errors, and.-call to their aid so many feeble arguments? Whence is it then that, on sub- jects most interesting to human nature, they adopted and every where preached sentiments, which directly opposed the current of popular opinion, and which transcended in purity and sublimity whatever was taught around them ? How is it that these men, livingas they did among a selfish and narrow people, a nation of formalists, whose religion was little more than a show and ceremony, yet imbibed and promulgated a new system, which en- joins a pure, simple, and spiritual worship of God, and +h breathes a universal charity ? 4. Christianity deserves serious and respectful atten- tion, if we consider the wonderful rapidity with which it was spread through the world, and the unexampled tri- umphs it obtained over error and superstition. It cer- tainly is not easy to account for these facts, without beliey- ing that this new religion came from God, and was prop- agated by men whom he aided and endowed with mirac- ulous powers. I know the answer which is made to this—that success is no proof of the truth of a religion, because false religions have succeeded. Mahometanism, we are told, triumphed as rapidly as Christianity. This is indeed true; mere success is no proof of God’s aid. But success under such circumstances as those under which Christianity was first preached ; success without a- ny human means; success in opposition to all human pow- er; this does seem to demand and to prove divine inter« position. We indeed believe Mahometanism false, not- withstanding its progress; and why? Because we sce the causes of its progress. We sce the deceiver joining arms to artifice, brandishing in one hand the sword, and 27 extending the Koran in the other; and we see in the state of the world many aids and facilities to the propagation of such a religion as he taught. But in the case of Christianity, we see no warrior, no hosts, no conflicts, and no adaptation to the civil or religious condition of mankind. The only blood which flows, is that of its min- isters. They go forth poor, friendless, without eloquence, without power, preaching a doctrine which offended alike the Jew and the Gentile, which was accommodated to no human interest, and no human passions. We see them every where opposed, and see their followers per- secuted and scorned—and yet they succeed ; they change the form of society ; they change the religion of nations ; they shake the ancient and venerated temples of heathen- ism. Never was such a change wrought. We ask, whence their success? We see no human power at all proportioned to this effect. All history presents nothing parallel with the diffusion of Christianity, and all the attempts to explain it by merely human causes are, to my mind, utterly insufficient. Now such a religion, to say ‘the least, has claims to very serious attention. It is not to be discarded with contempt. 5. This religion deserves attention if we consider its spirit, the virtues it inculcates, the character it is suited to form. Almost all the enemies of Christianity have acknowledged the excellence of its precepts ; aud indeed, who can read the New Testament without admiring the sublime piety, the divine charity, the elevated sentiments, which it every where enjoins 2. ‘This religion is most ob- viously intended and suited to refine and ennoble human nature, to soften its asperities, to allay its anger, to hum- ble its pride, to eradicate its selfishness, to break its un- governed lusts, to clothe and adorn it at once with the 28 mildest and the most heroic virtue. Does not such a religion deserve respect ? Does it bear no stamp of divin- ity ? SNe | ' An objection has sometimes been made to the — morality of the gopel—that it is extravagant, or requires - virtues better fitted for angels than for men. It calls us to love our enemies ; to turn our cheek to the smiter; to lay up treasures not on earth, but in heaven. To this objection it may be answered, that the morality of the gospel is to be gathered, not from a few passages taken separately, but from the general strain of our Saviour’s discourses ; and we should also remember, that the fig- ures and metaphors, which Jesus employed, are not to be received in their literal sense, but with that latitude, which figurative language always requires. The sober. est writer may be made to appear extravagant, if every expression is to be interpreted with the utmost rigor, Let us follow these obvious rules of common sense; and the precepts of Jesus will indeed appear to enjoin a sub-— lime virtue, but still such a virtue, as suits our nature, | and can alone make us truly happy. 10 It has sometimes been objected to the Christian pre- cepts, that they enjoin a morose, retired, and solitary pie- ty. A grosser misrepresentation cannot be uttered, What? Shall Jesus be charged with an unsocial piety, when he expressly taught men, that God prefers mercy to sacrifice, and so continually enjoined an active philan- thropy ? I could much more easily prove, that he exalt. ed benevolence above piety, than the reverse. Who, that reads his gospel, can imagine himself called to fly from the world, and to worship God in perpetual retires ment? Whocan read it, and not feel himself bound by new ties to his fellow creatures? Let then the excels 29 lent spirit of Christianity teach us to regard it with re- spect. 6. The effects, which Christianity has actually produc- ed in the world, entitle it to respectful attention. I know that infidels have collected with care the persecu- tions, wars, and pious frauds, in which Christians have been engaged, and have charged all these on their reli- gion. This mode of attack is most disingenuous and dishonourable. Christianity is made to answer for the persecutions of its professors, when it is known to enjoin kindness and forbearance towards the erring and sin- ful. It is made to answer for the wars of Christians, when it is known to breathe nothing but peace. It is made to answer for the usurpation of its ministers, when it is distinguished from other religions, by investing its ministers with no power over their brethren, and by rebuk- ing with indignant severity the desire of spiritual dom- ination. Christianity, it is true, has been employed as an instrument by the turbulent and aspiring: butisthere - any blessing which has not been abused? What reli- gion can be given, which hypocrites may not pervert ? Let me ask those, who speak of the unhappy influence of Christianity, whether persecution, and war, and priest- craft had no existence before this religion was heard of ? Did Christianity bring into a peaceful and happy world tumult and bloodshed? No: it found the earth filled with violence and guilt; and all that can be objected to it is, that it did not immediately extirpate the bad passions from the human heart, that many of its professors con- tinued as wicked as before, and even employed their re- ligion as a cloak for their vices. But is it God’s method to work immediate changes in society ? Is it not more reasonable to expect from him a religion, which will grad- 30 ually renew the face of the world? and precisely such a religion is Christianity. It has silently and gradually been operating for good among the nations. What im- mense and incalculable benefit has it conferred, in deliy- ering so many countries from the worship of false and impure deities! Wherever it has prevailed, it has breath- eda mild and charitable spirit, before unknown; given refinement and courtesy to manners; founded many be- nevolent institutions; banished many gross and cruel habits; exalted the female character, and thus changed the face of domestic life. It is an undoubted fact, that the nations professing this religion have attained a degree of civilization, and of moral and intellectual improvement, never reached before. ‘That Christianity has contribut- ed largely to this effect, no one who understands its spir- itcan doubt. ‘The only hope, which we are permitted to cherish, of the further progress of society, of a happier and more improved condition of the human race, is founded on this religion. No forms of government, no institutions of policy, can avail’ much, whilst the char- acter and tempers of men. are unchanged; and Chris- tianity is beyond all dispute the most powerful cause which has ever yet operated on human character, and tends to form the very virtues which adorn and bless so- ciety. uri 7. Another consideration, which entitles Christianity to serious and respectful attention is, that it has been em- braced, and honoured, and defended by the best and greatest men who ever lived. Christianity is not the re- ligion merely of the vulgar, of the weak and ignorant, on which the wise and refined have ever looked with dis- dain. For centuries it has been the only religion of the most enlightened nations, and its warmest patrons have 31 been found in the most enlightened classes of society. The profoundest philosophers, to whose penetrating eye nature has revealed her mysteries, and to whose laborious investigations we owe the extension of human knowledge, have bowed with reverence before the Saviour, and have confessed the inferiority of their discoveries to the bright- ness of the light which he brought from heaven; and not only the wisest and greatest, but the best and purest of men, have repaired with delight to Jesus, and have acknowledged, that from him their virtues have derived a strength, incitement, and support, which no other sys- tem could afford. The pages of Christian history are crowded with names, on which we delight to dwellas the ornaments and boast of our nature. You, who turn with contempt from Jesus, remember, that such men as New- ton and Milton were happy to sit at his feet, and to con- secrate their sublime faculties to the promotion -of his cause. I do not mean to urge this as a conclusive argument for the truth of Christianity. You are not required to believe this system, merely because great and good men before you have believed it ;—the great and good may err. Examine for yourselves. Do not borrow your faith implicitly from others. But the fact on which I have dwelt, the respect which has been paid by the most excellent men to Christianity, should teach you to exam- ine it with respect, and should teach you to frown on those who would hold it up to contempt. A religion which enlists such men among its friends, must carry some marks of truth; it must breathe an excellent spirit. If indeed Christianity had been received by the great and good, without examination, if it had been forced on 32 their unreflecting minds in childhood, and if inquiry in- to its truth had ever afterwards been forbidden them, then this argument would lose much of its force. But Christianity has not been thus sheltered from inquiry. | It has long been open to discussion, and has had subtle and ingenious opposers. Every objection has been ex- posed to public view ;—and still the religion has main- tained its power over the greatest and purest minds. This may be considered an advantage of the age in which we live. Christianity is not now called, for the first time, to contend for its existence. Had its truth never been questioned before, we might fear for the result of inqui- ry. We should not know the weapons with which our faith might be assailed. But this uncertainty is remov- ed. Christianity has passed the trial. Its enemies have spent their strength upon it, and it remains unhurt. Conscious guilt, ever anxious to overthrow religion, that it may bury its fears of retribution under the ruins; and pretended philosophy, ever anxious to raise a name by demolishing what has been revered for ages, have long fix- ed their unhallowed eyes on the sacred fabric of Christian- ity. They have explored its foundations, penetrated its recesses, and surveyed its massy columns, in the hope of discovering some vestige of decay, some trembling and | defenceless part, against which to direct their assaults: ~ But the venerable edifice remains, as in past ages, the admiration of the wise and virtuous, the refuge of the humble and distressed. It still rises in simple majesty, founded on adamant, perfect in its proportions, impress- ed with the skill and power of its heavenly Builder. The storms have beaten on it, and passed by, and left not a trace of their fury. We may now dismiss our fears for our religion, New assaults are not to be anticipated. 35 After the scrutiny which Christianity has sustained, new objections cannot easily be invented. New books in- deed appear, but they are only new editions of the old. We have arguments retailed to us as novel, which have been again and again confuted. We have old contro- versies revived, which have already been settled. Infidel- ity can only gather up and hurl anew the weapons, which have fallen blunted from the shield of Christianity. Is not a religion which has been so assailed, so proved, and ‘still so honoured by the wise and good, deserving of seri- ous and respectful attention ? 8. I might add much to what has now been said, but I have only time to offer one more consideration, which should induce a serious attention to the claims and evi- dences of Christianity. Itis this; Christianity is the on- ly religion which is left us. If we give up this, we have no other system to which we can repair. No other has claims to be compared with this. If God did not speak by Jesus Christ, then he has never spoken to our race. We have no instructer but nature, a light not to be de- spised, but which casts only a faint and trembling ray on subjects most interesting to humanity. In giving up Christianity how much shall we lose! This religion, you will remember, rescued your ances- tors, and thus it has rescued you from heathenism. To this religion you owe whatever pure and generous con- ceptions you have formed of God. It has placed before you this great and venerable Being, in the mild and ten- der character of your father in heaven, and taught you to approach him with sentiments of confidence and love. Does this religion deserve no gratitude? Let its light be extinguished, and who will assure us that the darkness 5 i 34: will not overspread the world ? It is Christianity, which has elevated our + $e respecting our nature and destination, which has t us to hope for the mercy of our Creator, and to anticipa _ a happier and purer life. To Jesus, the conqu or of death, we owe the sure hope of immortality. Let * gospel be torn from us, and what new sadness and gloom would gather over the countenance of death, and over the future prospects of our race. How little consolation does nature give us, when we commit to the cold and silent tomb the mouldering dust of a fellow-bemg! Is that teacher to be scorned, who in the language of con- scious greatness says to us, “I am the resurrection and the life !”’ The loss, which we should endure in losing Chie tianity, cannot be expressed. How many minds would be deprived of the only foundation, on which their vir- tues and their hopes are reared! How many passions, which this religion has softened and restrained, would break forth with new power! How many wounds, which it has bound up, would bleed afresh! Remove the influence of Christianity from society, and with it, how much tenderness of heart, and purity of manners, ‘and active charity, and domestic love and happiness would disappear! ‘Surely we should wish such a reli- gion to be true, and should give to its evidences a can- did, and serious, and respectful attention. Surely such a religion should not be treated with contumely, and held up asa mark for ridicule and scorn! Is it possi- ble that any can assail it with dztterness, and feel an ea- gerness for its destruction! What have infidels to give us in its place? When they have blotted out the 35 delightful promise of immortality from the page of the gospel, whither will they direct us to learn this consol- ing and ennobling truth? Whom have they to offer us in the room of the pure and benevolent Jesus? Alas! they have no guide and no comforter to give us. They send us to nature; and some of their number have dis- covered from nature, that there is no God, no futurity, that we are creatures of chance, creatures of a day, with- out hope and without resource. This is the tremen- dous abyss to which infidelity invites our steps. My friends, these remarks have been designed to confirm the faith of Christians, and to persuade those who doubt of Christianity (if to such I speak) to give a seri- ous, patient, and respectful attention to its claims and ev- idences. That such inquiry will result in a sincere faith I cannot doubt. I hope that these discourses will help to impress you, my hearers, with the value of Christianity. It is a religion which you cannot prize too much; a reli- _ gion most mercifully adapted to this world of sin, error, affliction, and death; a religion which offers you forgive- ness, and brings life and,immortality to light ; which re- commends universal goodness to your love and pursuit, and offers aid from heaven to your prayers and holy ef- forts; a religion which prophecy announced, and mir- acles confirmed; which fell from the lips, shone in the life, and was sealed with the blood of the spotless Son of God; a religion which brings peace to the troubled con- science, implants and cherishes the best dispositions to- wards God and his creatures, gives cheerfulness and reso- lution to the practice of duty, exalts and purifies the pleasures of prosperous life, and imparts unfailing con- solation in sorrow, and in the anticipation of death. No man, in his last hours, ever mourned that he had believed, and felt, and practised as a Christian. ley, and aie the external and internal evidence for the book of A Act oo % the epistles of Paul, and he will consider the genuineness of these books 3 placed beyond dispute. But if he receive these books, he will, of co course admit the genuineness of Luke’s gospel, because the Acts is a contin tion of this gospel, and implies its prior existence. But if these books, ¥ viz. Luke’s gospel, the Acts, and Paul’s epistles, are acknowledged to be the productions of their reputed authors, the controversy with the infidel on this point is atan end. These books contain all the doctrines and all the facts, which constitute and support the Christian religion. | The other writing : of the New Testament may all be resigned, and our religion and its eviden- ces will be unimpaired. But let not the inquirer stop here. Let him read the 9th chapter of Paley’s evidences, or almost any of the beoks referred to in the preface, and he will find a body of proofin support of the genuine- ness of the other gospels, which would be thought sufficient to establish the genuineness of any other writings. The best critics tell us, that the great- est part of the Greek and Roman classics are received without a doubt on testimony much inferior to that which is urged in favour of the sacred wri- ters. It deserves remark, “that Celsus in the second century, Porphyry in the third, and the emperor Julian, all of them men of learning, and bitter enemies to the Christian religion, allow the genuineness of the books of the New Testament.” Porphyry, it should be remembered, was not defi. cient in critical acuteness. We find him examining with minuteness the book of Daniel, and endeavouring to prove, that it was written after the time of the prophet, and after the events which it predicts, that he might thus invalidate its claims to inspiration. Would not such an adversary have laboured to evade the proof, which is deriyed to ‘Christianity fro Saviour’s prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, if he could’ have ad- duced any plausible reasons for the opinion, that the books, which contain it, wert written, as is pretended, after that catastrophe? How much more easily could he have collected arguments against these books, than against. the more ancient book of Daniel; and how much stronger ‘motives had he for fixing, if sana the charge of forgery on the writings of the pall Testament ? f hitoSee ¢ - DR. WOODS'S FOREIGN MISSIONARY SERMON. THE PROFITS OF THIS SERMON WILL BE DEVOTED TO THE SUPPORT OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. H : yee ie SERMON en ee AT THE TABERNACLE IN SALEM, ORDINATION OF THE REV. MESSRS. x SAMUEL NEWELL, A.M. ADONIRAM JUDSON, A, M. SAMUEL NOTT, A.M. GORDON HALL, A. M. AND LUTHER RICE, A.B. MISSIONARIES TO THE HEATHEN IN ASIA. UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE _ BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. BY LEONARD WOODS, D.D. | ABBOT PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY IN THE THEOLOGICAL | | SEMINARY IN ANDOVER. BOSTON: PRINTED AND SOLD BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, CORNHILi. P1812; INTRODUCTION. Ir seems proper that, in this place, some account should be given of the origin, and progress of that Missionary zeal, which has issued in sending messengers of peace to publish the gospel in the eastern hemisphere. It has*been often said, within a few years past, that Christians in America ought to support missions among the heathen in Africa or Asia; but the writer of these paragraphs is not able to state, whether any young man of suitable education seriously thought of engag- ing personally in such a mission, earlier than about four years ago. About that time some of the young men mentioned just below, while pursuing their studies in different places, and unacquainted with each other, made missions among the heathen a subject of delib- €rate and prayerful contemplation, and resolved to devote themselves to this service, should Providence prepare the way. They considered it doubtful, how- ever, whether they should have an opportunity of en- gaging in this employment; and, in the mean time, they sedulously examined, and re-examined the sub- ject, and used every advantage in their power to gain information respecting the state of the heathen, and the encouragement to preach the gospel among them. In the spring of 1810, these young gentlemen, with others who joined them, disclosed their views to the Professors in the Theological Seminary at Andover, where they were then prosecuting their studies. In June following, they applied for advice and direction to the General Association of Massachusetts Proper, then sitting at Bradford. The application was made in writing, and signed by Messrs. Adoniram Judson, Samuel Nott, Samuel J. Mills, and Samuel Newell. They state the history of their views and feelings on the subject, and make several inquiries, with respect to 6° which they solicit the advice of th tchatchare nor ait The Association appointed a Co port on the application; and, in ¢ report, proceeded to institute a Bo ers for Foreign Missions, “for the p ways and means, and adopting and pre ures for promoting the spread of th lands.” The Board was compose well known to the Christian public. advised the young gentlemen “‘to wa Providence in respect to their great sign.” Ne The Board of Commissioners h ing at Farmington, (Con.) Sept. 5, 1810. ing a Constitution, and appointing offic measures to obtain the best information er, respecting the state of unevangelizec ly approved the readiness of the young Andover to enter upon a foreign mission; them to pursue their studies “till further info relative to the missionary field be obtained, | finances of the institution will justify the appoin They also prepared and published an addres subject of missions. + The Board metagain, at Worcester, Sept. During the year which had elapsed, the ’ ‘Committee of the Board examined and a young gentlemen, as future missionaries t viz. Messrs. Judson, Nott, and Newell, and Mr. Gordon Hall, also a student at Ai Mills, had not finished his theological edu for that and other reasons was not examin brethren. ‘The Committee also sent Mr. England to confer with the Board of Direct London Missionary Society and to procure i information on the subject of missions, which be so well procured in any other way. Fh comed with great cordiality by the Diree paged to take him and his three brethren care, and to allow them salaries, and em 7 u mission, if the funds of the American Board should not be competent for their support. The Board appointed the four brethren, above named, missionaries “to labor in Asia either in the Birman empire, in Surat, or in the Prince of Wales’s Island, or elsewhere, as, inthe view of the Prudential Committee, Providence shall open the most favorable door,” and advised them ‘‘to wait the further intimation of Provi- dence as to support from this country in the proposed Foreign Mission.” ee At this meeting Messrs. James Richards, and Edward Warren, students at Andover, offered themselves to the Board for the missionary service, and were approved and taken under the patronage of the Board. The missionary brethren were, in the mean time, fitting themselves for their future arduous employment. Messrs. Newell and Hall attended courses of medical lectures, both at Boston and Philadelphia, in order to be more extensively useful among the heathen. About the middle of last month it was found that a ship was soon to sail from Philadelphia to Calcutta. No time was to be lost. Robert Ralston, Esq. of Phil- adelphia, with that zeal for missions and for Christian- ity which he has long manifested, took an active and very friendly part in facilitating the embarkation of the young men, both by procuring passages for them on very favorable terms, and by making a generous donation. Messrs. Newell and Hall hastened to meet their breth- ren at Salem, where it was determined, by the Pruden- tial Committee, to have them ordained, and to send them immediately to the field of Missionary labor. Mr. Luther Rice, who had been a student in the same Theological Seminary, and was then employed asa candi- date for the ministry, offered himself to the Prudential, _ Committee to join the mission, and was approved and accepted. t | The Prudential Committee sent to several neighbor. ing churches, and convened a Council* at Salem, on “The Council was composed of pastors and delegates from the North | Congregational church in Newburyport, the Congregational church in | Charlestown, and the Tabernacle church in Salem; also of the Rey. Dr. | | 8 ‘agmeaiadt a the 6th. instant, at which time and place theyfive young gentlemen were solemnly consécrated to the service of God in the gospel Ministry among the heathen. On this occasion the following Sermon, Chabge, and Right Hand of Fellowship, were delivered before a crowded and deeply affected auditory. It is confidently believ- ed, that such impressions were made by the solemni-— ties of the day, as will be lasting and salutary. Three » of the persons ordained, viz. Messrs. Nott, Hall, and Rice, set out the same evening to go with all practica- ble haste to Philadelphia.* The other two sailed with — their wives from Salem, on the morning of Wednes-— day the 19th. instant, commended by the prayers of multitudes to the gracious protection of God.f The issue of this mission must be cheerfully left to the disposal of Him, who is the Lord of the universe, - and who will ultimately establish his kingdom through the whole earth. mt Griffin, pastor of Park Street church in Boston, and the Rev. Dr. Woods, Professor at Andover. The Rev. Professor Stuart was invited to attend, but was necessarily prevented. ' a *Mr. Nott was married on his way to Philadelphia and took his wife with him; the other two went single. on eet mek? They went on board the ship Harmony, (in which they had taken their — passage,) on the evening of the 18th. instant, and probably sailed from rate Newcastle the next morning. ) + They sailed in the brig Caravan. — ; FEBRUARY 29, 1812. vere ‘Sela B ee 25 i Sind 255 That? i RY GR fee a. enemas ey » Aokgeiteareiel? fuss * jae ie Bboy 3 We . caters Vee A AO i ee bette: cath Ra? «: Pea) cite ght > Marten ns Atel ophy Hane: soniisiegite > I : , OWA MALDSRRO fe vp ee j os come. See mt PEAR gee cia ta 2a P . P| aa & Mk a SR. cos sae or tail! La . Le. iene ink * - ‘ . an } ™ Vee SORE RC SU RT, tae oad alesstriltvas: va ol soi ena 2s bauer ee Be ; SERMON. i wee D010 eS AN Be. 1 FI Vea i? God be merciful unto t us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. THAT THY WAY MAY BE KNOWN UPON EARTH, THY SAVING HEALTH AMONG ALI. MaMRGNS:: » Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. God shall bless tis; and ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH SHALL FEAR HIM. Can any real Christian be a stranger to the enlarged views, the benevolent desires, and pleasing anticipa- tions of the pious author of this Psalm? It cannot surely be necessary to inform my audience that every _ true worshipper of God resembles him in love, and can be satisfied with nothing short of all that infinite love designs. The Christian has a heart to feel for his fellow creatures. He takes into account their tem- . poral comfort, and endeavors to promote it;—their | temporal wants and sufferings, and does what in him lies to relieve them. But, ‘when their spiritual inter- est is before him; when he contemplates the value of ~~ | | 10 their souls, and the prospect which the gospel opens of immortal happiness in_ the world to bowels of compassion are moved; his tenderest “affe tions kindled; pure and heavenly love pervades warms his soul. He longs for the : en oo his kindred and friends, of his country @ the world. His hearts desire and prayer to God is, that all men may be saved,—that all human beings may” forsake their evil ways, and turn to the Lord; that his king- dom may come, and his will be done on eart as done in heaven. With this holy affection reignin his heart, the fervent, devoted Christian ‘presents hi self a living sacrifice unto God; and counts L & privi lege to do and to suffer any thing “for thé advan ment of his cause. He is ready to “endure all things — for the elect’s sake, that they also thay obtaat! th $a He is as steady to his purpose, as resolute, a¢ ive, patient in pursuit, as the restless miser, or the ambi tious conqueror. And as their desire of wealth ‘ind : of conquest is insatiable and unbounded; s0%8 hisde- sire for the diffusion of Christian knowle 1d ha piness. Every degree ‘of sticcess atteriding the “dispen- sion among the weakest and meanest’ of “mankind, : sation of the gospel, even a single instance of ¢onver- | yields him the purest pleasure, But this pleasun increases desire. His enjoyment of the s00d 4 attained urges him on to the pursuit’ of 4s progressive enlargement of the kingdomi'6f Christ will constantly enlarge the benevolence of his heart.” | there is a nation or tribe under heaven “not! Sub- : -— 4 | il a to Christ; the i htened, | fervent Christian can- able object is, chat the knowl- of the Lord. may fill the earth. His heart beats high for the conversion of the seorld. .. This, my dear brethren, is the true spirit of our holy religion... This is the. the affection which glows in every new born soul. This is t he principle which governs and _animates the church of Christ. _ Lshall not.make it my business to prove. the exis- tence of an affection so diffusive and generous, in the hearts of Christians. Nor shall I endeavor to enter- tain you -with ingenious speculations on the theory of bene semen: with florid declamations on its beau- | ty ould be : as sounding brass and a tink- 1,—On_ this new and very interesting oc- casion, my object is to rouse you to BENEVOLENT EX- srgion. . I would persuade you to act, decidedly and zealously to act under the influence of Christian love. _ excite you by motives which no follower. of Christ can resist, ° TO MAKE THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL, AND, THE, CONVERSION OF THE WORLD, THE OBJECT OF MOUR EARNEST AND INCESSANT PURSUIT. coMy first. motive is THE WORTH OF SOULS. Man, a sterday, frail.as the tender grass, is made for 1mMorraxiry.. The lamp which the Lord hath lighted up in his breast, will burn forever. The mind will. be. ever vigorous and. active. No Jabor can exhaust it... No length of ages can waste its Vigor. No pressure of guilt or suffering can destroy its actiy- ity. Such a mind, destined to exist and act forever. destined to the bliss of heaven, or the pains of hell, lives in every human being, i in the savage as well as inthe citizen; in the heathen, as well as in the Chris- tian; in the Hindoo, the Chinese, and the Hottentot, aswell as the. polished European or American.—In 12 the name of him who. died ae you, O Christians, to labor for the ae that will never die. Of what cotididherabiebetl tion, climate, color, language, sorimalarselidiinid manners? Here all distinctions vanish, ‘Learned and ignorant, refined and rude, honorable and on a level in point of accountableness to God and im- mortality of soul. Rise then, above/all) the distine- tions which misguide our judgments: and our hearts, and seek the salvation’ of this great family of im- mortals. nite aie’ este pale? In some favored hours of divine illu ination. you not seen, have you not felt the ineffable preciousness of your own souls? Have you not cast a’ ery th dross for eternal salvation? And has not the grace of God taught you to love your neighbor as yourselves? See the poor, degraded Africans. See the children sacrificed in the Ganges: S06 the’ throngs of miserable pilgrims pressing forward todevotethem- selves to the impure and . sanguinary worship of Mo- loch. The souls of all these are as precious a8 your own. The wisdom of God,—the blood of the dying Savior has so declared. .Do you love your own souls, then? and will you not love, theirs?—Change places with them, Put yourselves in their. condition, | aind them in yours.—You are,then spending your lifétin’a Jand of darkness, ignorant.of God, slaves to the basest superstition and most hateful vices. _ Moved by: pity and love, they send a herald of the cross toypreachisal- vation in your ears. He comes and)speaks'to!youjof Jehovah and his law; discloses your guilt,and points — you to the judgment day.. He preaches.to, you Jesus, the Savior of sinners. With trembling, bleeding hearts, you go to the Savior, and he gives you reste» (How great the salvation! How happy. your. statehe Would i ne hé Rec slau daaanibiediie forever ex ‘you not love and waste nevarersctat ‘of his grace, and those who sent him? Now, if salvation would salvation, why riobosidarstte: ppeideanlin ata’ love -and gratitude from heathens saved by your labors? — Imagine the souls of your kindred in pagan dark- ‘eseecyshualohap never heard the name of’ Immanuel. Imagine your children, parents, brothers, sisters this ‘moment in the midst of India, sworshippers of the hor- iridhidebGupwernadt:: "(Would ‘not your hearts leap for earsyoung ministers going to teach joy to’see these d _ ‘themr'the way of life?’ Would any thing be too pre- i part with in order to animate their zeal, and ‘help them to rescue from ignorance and ruin the ob- | ye med But have not the Indians souls as ecious as the souls of your’ kindred?_—Nay- rather, sale pranetsernccles your kindred; allied to you by the ‘ties of a’¢ommon nature; offspring of the same heav- Father; children of the same family.’ In every eing you seé’a brother or a sister. O for- “get not the partners of your blood! Send some of your hers to your dear kindred in Asta.’ a CAP HS eed wiative by which I urge you to seek “the conversion of all mankind is tHE PLENTEOUSNESS "OF THE PROVISION “WHICH CHRIST HAS MADE FOR THEIR “SALVATION. Were there any thing scanty in this pro- vision any’ deficiency’ in divine grace,—any’ thing “circumscribed in the evangelic offer; our zeal for prop- vagating the gospel would be dappresed the tongue -and hand of Christian charity would be paralized. But “may brethren, the word of eternal trath has taught us ‘that Jesus tasted death for every man; that he is the pro- 14 pitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, butalso for the sins of the whole world; that:a:rich feast) jis»pre- pared, and all things ready; that whosoever wilh may come and take of the water of life freely.) This, great atonement is as sufficient for Asiaties and Africans,as for us. This abundant provisions made for them as well as for us. The door of Christ’skingdomisequally open to them and to us. .Unnumbered;millions,of our race have entered in; and yet there.is rooms"The mercy of God is an ocean absolutely exhaustless;, and so far as his benevolence is a pattern.for our imitation; and arule to govern our exertions: and. prayers, he wills that all men should be saved: »-Christians,you have, then, full scope for your pious benevolence: and zeal. In your labors and prayers for the.salvation,of — men, you cannot go beyond:the bounds fixed:for you by the Savior himself. You \are, note straitened) in God. You have no occasion to fear your zeal and activity will exceed the: grace. You have a warrant, from God to strive: for the salvation of the whole world. . And:wheneverthe preaching of the cross shall stir up. them»thatareslost to seek salvation, there salvationwillbe found. Per suade the whole empirevof, Birmah, and»-Chinay and all the East to come to the gospel, supper,and»they will all be supplied;—to, enter into the kingdom; and they will all be admitted. Every perishing, sinner.on earth would find the same: welcome -withyyourselves. In any country or corner of the world, “When ithe poor and needy seek water, and there is»noneand their tongue faileth for thirst; 1 the Lord willyhear them; I the God of Israel-will not forsake them,” ,Re- member then, Christians, you. cannotexhaust,the mer- cy of God. Exert yourselves to the utmostiforithe sal- vation of mankind; your exertions will, toihian hela , 15 the height abidenmiin love. Its length and uA breadth will infinitely transcend. your largest benevolence... \ The third motive, I shall present, is THE COMMAND OF OUR LORD;—“GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE.” This command is an exact expression of the heart .of Jesus; a display of the vastness of his love. It would be very easy to show that the obligation of this command is not to be confined to the twelve apostles. It is limited to no age or nation. The comniand is binding upon Chris- tians “always even to the end of the world.” The reasons which moved the apostles to preach the gos- pel tovevery creature, remain in full force. Nations without’ the gospel are as wretched now as they were _— ’ Their salvation is as necessary, as enbotents and as easily accomplished. » Wilhany say this command is clajiiting upon the ambassadors of Christ, and not wpon .private Chris- fians? It is indeed the duty of ambassadors of Christ to-go and preach’ the gospel to all the world. The | Messiah is given to be a light to the Gentiles. The ‘Gentiles must be enlightened in the doctrine of salva- tion. They must hear the glad tidings. “But how ean they hear without-a preagker? And how can they preachyexcept they be sent?” If ministers, must ga forth, thechristian world must send them. . If, ‘they: must devote their life to the business of evangelizing the heathen, the Christian world must support them. ' Does the thought arise; that the apostles went forth without such support? They did;—for there. was no Christian nation’ or church, overflowing with, wealth, to support'them. But whatever their peculiar circum- stances obliged them to do, the general maxim which they laid down was, “that. inp moan goeth a aneaens at his own charges.” 16 “ Bat'l cannot stop to reason. I hake! m to your generosity. ‘Those who" go to’ teac brethren in pagan Jands, must be maintained.” But at present they cannot receive ri ntl" The heathen must be converted, and formed into christian societies, before adequate provision for ‘the of Christ can be expected from them. see your missionaries, who have left all to y gospel of peace among the poor heathen, reduced to the necessity of abandoning their sacred office, and en- gaging in servile labor for their daily bread? ‘Will you see your apostles, the ambassadors ‘of peace’ from America, clothed in rags, and compelled to beg’ or starve? And must they tell the heathen ‘that thus forsaken of their christian brethren, who have enough and to spare? oe Pe It is too obvious to need any farther ‘illustration, that the christian community at large has a deepens cern in the command of Christ, “to go intoall and preach the gospel to every creature” ‘urge this command of our risen Savior, as absolutely obliging you to seek the conversion of the world.” "The'uni* versal spread of the gospel, and thé salvation” of the ends of the earth is a business in which every christian ought to take a part. This gracious injunction given by our Lord just before he ascended ‘into heaven. It was a most memorable dceasion.” He had finished his work on earth, and was’ about'to return to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God. He knew the superabounding gracé which flowed from Calvary; the ruined state”of man, and. the saving power of his cross. All nations and ages were before him. Then, with the love and authori of the King of Zion, he gave the command, A val eign And cen any,.gne who Pia) the of a christian, or of a man, refu e obedience? ‘ y fe rth motive 2 is derived. from. ‘THE CONDUCT OF THOSE WHO, RECEIVED SHE, COMMAND, AND OF TIAN MISSIONARIES IN SUGCEEDING TIMss, ‘The s “went, forth, and preached, every where.” et travel into, various, parts, jof the. idolatrous world, preaching the gospel. to the, poor;—planting and watering churches; and, encountering fierce and cr uel. persecutions, In all their journeyings, labors, ad sufierings, their invariable object was, that. God’s way, might be known. Upon. earth, and his eel yntoon ° ations... debra dye, 84 une, spirit appear edi in the primitive chorehen Under the first. sermon which was preached. after, the hea oe of Christ, three thousand were conyerted, ihabanas fhe fruit of their conversion? We are im- told that “they who, believed were together, egniink things common; and sold their possessions gods, and parted them to all as every one had ’,From.time to time the churches and. individ- wal christians. asaisted _ the apostles in their journies, and .contributed in. various ways to the prapaaaiie er religion, | sellent the spirit A apostles, and of those ane converts to the christian faith! Can you help feeling the attraction of such examples? Will you not imitatethose who beheld the glory of the only be- gotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and _re- ceived of his fulness? Shall the first apostles and mar- __ tyrs of christianity be forgotten? Read the) history of their self-denying labors, their deprivations and sac- - rifices, thein patience under reproach and torture, ‘and their snextaguiahebls zeal for ihe salvation ef sinners. 18 Readtoo ithe history. of what +has indater doneby the missionaries of Chee ea) and “América. And consider bc ametpa Jabors, that your dista ta vered’ from their idols, and cam Sacred: oracles which they have. - nsx . While - you revolve these things, burn within you? Do you not upon the Shia messengers of 2 their success, waid their erowns of ¢ ere: My fifth motive.is HR a e F SIGN OF CHRISTIANITY IN, CONTRADIS' JUDAISM, AND. ITS | -ADAPTEDNESS) rO BE A UNIVER- SAL RELIGION, Brethren, we are fot disciples of Ju- daism: But have we not had Pie oe and exclusive spirit? Have we not thoug! nt it eno’ to enjoy the ‘scriptures and the mini among ourselves, without any care them t other nations? But why should we indulge feeling so. adverse to the Christian dispensation, and limit. th: which its divine author has. left. unlimited? Vj should we engross.a religion to. whic h all nations an equal right, and whieh i is adapted to.universal As well might we) think. of engrossing. the common light and ap.) Lidia win). on 1 fd BS ai The doctrines ‘of Chuistianity are. applicable to all men; because all have the same nature, and stand in the same relation to God and to one another.” The laws of Christianity are suited to govern mankind of every nation and climate. . Thesé laws rest, on genetsil principles, and extend. equally to. the whole race. The corruptions which they. require us, to sub- due, ii ilaae in. every child, oF Adenia: SE Ser o a Ig dnee, faith, and holiness, which they demaid, are equally; the duties of all nations, - All the: promises, ordinan- ces, and blessings ‘of the gospel, would. be as precious tarenovated pagans) as they are to us. —Why. ‘should we withhold such a religion’ from the unnumbered millions’ who people the eastern world? -Wewill not, brethren. We, who profess to believe and love ¢chris- tianity, will not adopt principles and méasures so con+ trees to its celestial por atl its png hg pes i fe PA ah is My sizth motive is sestieeed fc PROPHECY. My brethren, has not the notion often insinuated itself mto our minds, that all has been done which can be done’ for the conversion of the world; and that’ things are’ likely to remain much as they are? Or if we have not admitted this in theory, has it not been our practi- cab sentiment?» When we have looked upon the mil- lions of men who are uncivilized, degraded, without: Godand without hope, are we not prone to give up their conversion as hopeless? And if it is not the lan- guage of our lips, is it not of our feelings, that the king- dom of Christ will stop where it is; that the obstacles inthe way of christianizing the nations of the earth até too'great to be siitmounieds and that the most we can expect is to maintain the ground already secured.» To raise you aboye this sinking discouragement and indolence, I will open to you THE PROPHETIC PAGE. “He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied.” “Gt is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the pre- served of Isracl;—IJ will also give thee for 4 Licur 1d THE GENTILES, that thou mayest be my salvation to _. THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. ASK OF ME, AND I WILL GIVE THEE THE HEATHEN FOR THINE INHERITANCE, | AND THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH FOR THY ard to the people. Aun THE: wdireainiilledt: ‘SHALL SEE THE SALVATION pits acteteso tee glorious predictions fail of aecomplisk these unchangeable decrees. of ‘he lplegtepbe Sli \ trated?_-Heaven and earth shall ‘pass away, (but not one jot or tittle of these promises shall fail. ~The: mouth of the Lord hath spoken Ryan eli onggiaen ? When we survey the idolatrous,. blind, barbarous nations of the world, our BaP Peeroeny em oooh nom with desponding hearts, can these dry bonesilive?--W - forget the everlasting» God, the ‘Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, who- weary. ' We forget that all. nations are in his hands; that he fashioneth them as he pk conversion of the world is cya ehipeatannti think it beyond the power of Gop. Well say to us, “Oh ye of litile faith!” —Did such despondency when he conferred in and blood; but with the ardor oa ang cor, and. the fearless fidelity of an apostle, word of God in Greece, in Asia, a Wickliffe indulge such ‘orlines ae Swartz, Eliott, Brainerd?—Away with every»hesitat-, ing, unbelieving thought! Is.the a ened that it cannot save? Is his grace. The great design of God is not yet accomplished, “He who died and lives again, is not yet satisfied» Righteen: hundred years ago he said;—“And I, if T bevlifted up! from the earth, will draw all men unto me” “Andhe * said, more than two thousand years ago; Look unto: me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; fort am God, and there is none else.”Thisword has not; — returned unto him void. The wholeChristianworld — } nant ent “The wert of mag doesnot grow old and ‘decay; ' but is'ever new and powerful. Its accomplishment is»gradual, sometimes Slow, but always sure!) To him, with whom ‘a thou- sand years'are as one day, and dnd ea “alv tlsurteind years; the things which he has foretold: lordetermitied, are as certain as though actually accomplished. Do you then begin to cast your eye over the ose and’ ask; How can those benighted places be illumin- ated? How can those depraved wretches be converted? How can the deaf hear, and the dumb sing?—My friends, this is the-very design” of ‘the gospel. These are the very effects which it is fitted to produce. * Do'you still hesitate, and yield to fear, thinking; with gloom and discouragement, that although eigh- teen centuries'of the Christian Era have passed away, pr part of the world is yet in Mahometan or jan'darkness; thinking, too, how few ministers we wastbatery for ourselves; how difficult-it is to instruct eveii @°small number of heathens, and to guard them from//apostasy; when! they become proselytes; how bidicult tor civilize savages; how little all past exertions have effected; and that we are not to look for mirac- ons. Is this the state of your minds? And when you hear God, by the mouth of a prophet, declaring; “From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of thé same, my name shall be ‘great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering; for my. name shallbe great among the heathen;” do you again despondingly inquire; “how can this great work be done?—Such’ unbelief is a dishonor to Gop.—Do" _ you say, we must keep the ground, which our ‘relig= won nay gained?.—The best’ way to do this i: is; a 92 h io gam moréi—Do you say; reese aoe ters for our own country?— giving partito the tet shall be watered also himself.?5 oe Brie lledpes «) Why should ‘you: ask: ‘Nowstsisdigetiaaltdbaptanatd einicetint the nations can be done® dvanight ‘ask you; how could the earth pipe eetaceiie enor . be created? How could the heaver ed out as a curtain over your heads? -What power is it that sustains the world, ae tions and changes? Do you talk of ® Gop who forms a blade. of grass, and Bes . of dew, can as easily convert ~onev amen converts one soul, can as easily convert’ a nation Every day, in the midst of a a power sufficient to save the universe. rg to the pagans life and breath, reason andco: Who causes their sun to nea yield its fruits?—Say no more, then; howe work of converting the nations bende naainebaablans FOR GOD TO SPEAK THE call to bow to his grace, as easily as heean shake theleaves of the forest. sand as to’ miraculous’ operations;/wé will only ask of God to repeat among the heathen the same miracle that was wrought in christianizing your ancestors; the same that was wrought in bringing t the foot of the cross’ a of heaven. (yaoi suoahent) My hearers, I must not detain york dthatteieasiok forbear to hint at THE OPERATIONS OF DIVINE PROVE DENCE AT THE PRESENT ‘TIME. ‘The evénts Of these last days are highly animating to the hopes of Chris- tians.. ‘The Lord has given the word,/andigteathas — been the company of the publishers. Avlarge number _ of ministers of different denominations, moved by the 23 love of souls, have labored in the gospel where Christ had not beemnamed: The multiplication of Bible Sock eties in’ Great Britain and America, the liberality and zeal they have displayed, and the success which has. crowned their unconfined operations, have exceeded the most. sanguine-hopes; and we are now reaching forward to the blessed time when the Various nations of the Eastern world, and’ the Islands of the sea, will read in their own tongues the words of eternal life mention, as another favorable sign ofthe present times, that facilities for the pious education of youth and for the general diffusion of Christian knowledge are great- Jy increased:—Another most delightful omen ‘is the effusion of the Holy Spirit, and the consequent revival of réligion in’ several of our Colleges, and ina great number of our churches and Societies in different parts. At thé same time. the attention of christians is roused, in an unparalleled degree, to the interests of the Re: ’ unpa: 1 deemer’s kingdom. 4 at My feelings also constrain me to speak of it as a'cir- : cumstance highly encouraging, that among the friends of evangelical religion greater love and harmony have begun to appear. Christians of different denomina- ions, piscopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Bapti ts, Moravians, new divinity men, and old divin- ty m in, have all been more or less disposed to attach _ too much importance to the points in which they dif _ fer from each other. They have had party spirit. They have had narrow prejudices. They have often _ been more forward to proselyte to their own sect, than to Christ;—to set up themselves, than to do jus- tice to others. They have had contention, and strife, and evil speaking among them. They have injured the truth by discussing the important subjects of disa- greemient without due meekness and candor, and by 24 laying out,too much strength,on: taasepaniiols, ae 1a important... These .thingsI say, honestly,..2 the fear, of God. . Christians have, wantedsome,grand,ob-, ject to. seize their hearts and an some great and common, cause, inthe, PLOMOtLOn «A! which they.,might be effectually, pe rifieduf and find.a grave for all, thein,jealousiesame ties; and_in which the,eternal truths, « J might be,,maintained., with, unyielding irmn propagated with augmented and uncog The sPREAD, OF THE, GOSPEL THE WORLD. constitute the very object wanke mon, cause, which ought to, unite, a naa gun to unite.the, affections, prayers)ame great family, of christians, ‘This..harme nizi aber i among, the followers.of “Christ, forebodes goc ite Zac O. may. it increase, and. diffuse)1 a christians of every name shall be,so mpletely, occ pied with the Redeemer’s cause, aS, bQs for, ot dine Even. the civil revolutions.and. conv desolating wars of the. present icles For. they, are not. only, suited, to .wathare tions from. the perishable.things,of this. them. .on, the. immoyeable,ki themselves, presages, of the ch rosperity... Lord shook all. nations just aman Desixeiof tions came. . He has arisen now,to,shake termbly fhe — earth; and, we expect the spiritual, comin | and the millennial glory, of the ‘sh low. All the passing events of the civil, anc in connexion with prophecy, indicate the appro } better days. In many, instances, this. 7 dency of. things is obvious; and wheres cee, ol should be equally strong in faith. God loves thane: | 25 and will make all things contribute to its welfare. At all times he keeps a steady eye upon the kingdom of grace. “In all his works, this is the object most dear'to him. ‘Compared to this, the interests of earthly kingdoms are nothing. He will build up nations or cast them down, cause convulsions and wars, or give tranquillity, as he sees will be most conducive’ to the extension and final glory ofthe church. = ‘Dear brethren, can you pursue a more excellent ob- ject than the spread of the Gospel and the conver- sion of the world? 1 have endeavored to excite you to this pursuit by a variety of motives, derived from the worth of immortal souls, and the plenteousness of the provision which Christ has madefor their salva- tion; from the express command of our Lord; from the example’ of those who first received it, and of others who followed them; from the peculiar design of christianity, and its adaptedness to be a universal religion; from the spirit of prophecy; and from the operations of divine Providence at the present day. Are’ younot persuaded by these motives, and others which: will readily occur to you, to give yourselves tothis great work? Are you not resolved to do every pe cei with every thing, to submit to every thing, toforward this glorious design of filling the earth with the knowledge of the Lord? Yes, I trust many of you saytweidre “persuaded; we are resolved. We feel that we'are not ‘our own. Lord, what wilt thou have us todo? *Wewill no longer live to ourselves, but to him who died\for us, and rose again. Lord, make use of our talents, our substance, our labors, our suf: |. ferings for the welfare of thy church; for the salva- tion of those who are perishing in sin.If we for- get thee Oh Jerusalem, let our right hand forget her 1 cunning. rE Mage Saat ft peo ae Pd ‘ A 26 DEAR YOUNG MISSIONARIES,” lige RE. I trust these feelings are yours. — 3 your lives to the work of making know Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. We know you do not leave your native land, ee vot the fairest prospect of PR | comfort here. You go,we believe, because the love of God is shed abroad in» your’ hearts bythe: Hely» Ghost. We fondly look upon you, as chosen vessels unto Christ, to bear his name before» the Gentiles. Blessed be the Lord God of the Gentiles, that/he hath: put this design into your hearts. The cause:in which you have enlisted, is’ the cause of divine love.. You have chosen the. noblest and most honorable work on. earth; more honorable than the laurels of conquerors, or the diadems of kings. But itis also arduous and,per- ‘lous. Who is sufficient to do the work of ‘anapostleto, the heathen? When you have seriously contemplated the, greatness of this work, you have often-cried out ifthy presence go not with us, carry/us- be I hope you will never forget, that wethow as Y can do nothing. Without the help of: ist, you can no more advance his kingdom amongel i you can scatter midnight darkness:bya word. He that planteth is nothing, and he that wate i ; ing. The increase is wholly of God, pana g sistancer you will not only fail of success, but-of 1 , delity and perseverance.» If you should be: forsaken of God, what would your conduct be? and what would become of your:mission?—The precious) \ of Jesus would’ be blasphemed among the pagans.» Your light would go: out in darknessy* ' ‘plushing would cover ‘the: faces -of your :] friends; and their hearts would die within them. |The . bright and celestial flame; which has beeriikindlingup> — “7 . 2 among us,—how would it be extinguished!—My dear friends, I would, not distress you;—but you know this would be the dreadful result of your mission, if the special help of God should not be granted you. .., But if orth in the strength of Christ, you will beburn- ing and shining lights in regions, of darkness and ‘death.—We hope to hear good tidings of great joy from the East.—Your personal exertions can indeed go but a little way. But be not discouraged on this account. Think how it will be in Asia a century or ‘two hence. The kingdom of Christ, which you are ‘sent to promote toward the rising of the. sun, will. be aks nase leayen, which a woman took and. hid. i in eé measures of meal till the whole was. leavened. ‘twill be like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is ‘sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that. be aoeinetie ‘But when it is sown it, groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, , a -shooteth Soul int ernches, so that the fowls. of the. air may ~ lodge*under :the rshadow. of. it... In.some. chosen, re- gions, the Lord enable you to plant. this precious, seed. pes young men, who have been my beloved pupils, faithfully preaching Christ among the. heathen, shail = mi E oy 20 mye aap Oh aOR the first fruits. of ‘¢ 10 ] ran or f divi ine grace. 4 Dear iiebadl men, I eal wns ie tn ‘hasimaed my own by dwelling on the affecting circumstances of this parting scene... If you must go, I will animate and comfort you... Remember, then, though we must leave you, He,whom your soul loveth, will not. The God, you will worship on. the plains. of Hindostan, ‘ewill be the same God, whom you have here, worship- ped. in. our Seminary, in the Sanctuary,.and in the ‘closet... The Savior, whom you will.adore and trust ‘28 in there, will be the very Savior, whose ‘glory have seen, and of whose fulness se ve recéi here. —Go then, dear mnisetolaviti with he and may Gs Aumicuty be your PRresri and remember you are not' your own. Go, and “de- clare the glory of the Lord among’ the hee then, his wonders among all people.” Esteem: the reproach — of Curist greater riches, than all the wealth of INpial The parents and friends you ‘leave behind will never,» never forget you, till their hearts are cold"in “deat Our earnest affections and prayers will” einai pa vi tend you. We shall share with yous in every peril » you will encounter by sea and by land.” All’'the sue» cess you obtain, and all the joy you partake, will be ” ours. Every sorrow that melts you, and every” pang that distresses you, will also be ours. We Shall ofte mM meet you at the mercy seat, where you i 08 dle find grace to help in time of need. ‘You will be as dear to our hearts, and as near to God and to‘heaven in Asia, as in America.—If we are friends of God; our separation will not be forever, Atthe glorious appear- ing of the Son of God, we hope to: see you, dearly be- — loved, and those whiom your labors: may’ rescue from pagan darkness, at his right hand. \'The"God of | mercy grant, that we may then join ‘with’ you,’and with a great multitude which noman camnumber) of all. nations, and kindreds, and people, and’ tongues, who . will stand before the throne and before the Lat cry with a loud voice, saying, salvation to’ plo who sitteth on the throne, and unto the tapings this joyful anticipation, I do, my dear: friends, eheer- fully, and most affectionately, bid you, farewell. Brethren and friends, these ‘dear “young” men ‘ate going to preach to the heathen that'religic on, whichis "29 your comfort in life, your hope in death, your guide to heaven. Consider yourselves now looking upon them for the last time, before you shall meet them at the tribunal of Christ. Assist them in their arduous office by your substance, and by your prayers. Bear them on your hearts when you draw near to God. The decisions of the judgment day will show, how cold has been our warmest zeal, how trifling our best exertions, how languid our most fervent prayers, com- pared to the greatness of the object now before us.— The Lord of the universe, in these last days, is about | to do a marvellous work; a work of astonishing pow- er and grace. The time of his glory is come. He will oon destroy all idol worship. ‘The thrones of - wickedness he will level with the dust. He will dissi- pate the gross darkness, which covers the nations. He will send out his light and truth, shed down his quickening Spirit, and renovate the world. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the wa- ters cover the sea. My hearers, God offers you the privilege of aiding in this great work of converting the nations;—a work, which he has reserved to these last, | best days;—a work, which the holy apostles would Nost'wish to live again to promote; and in which hosts of heaven exceedingly rejoice. The God of love offers you the honor and happiness of taking a part in this blessed work. Nothing else is worth living for. But who would not live, labor, and die for this?” “Arise, Shine, Oh Zon, for thy lightis come, and the” glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.—And the Gentiles’ shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of , "Y } 7 : thy rising” Amen) d nding 28 | Wa hsh | ney gett fy oly te “eigen a . aa im + zi ‘tie AOL a paren Bi HOR ia ot wal Gort droit iS Keng 7 are Pie Hay fs isha 2 Sige | eve hi 4 NAG taal ‘pal wD Hob acti : eat» SRN ag ride” " Meese ell est Mriay | 9:1} a opb ae “gel uiay phate he 3 ; el ek rf le shiowe ph: rib. ey 3 es ‘eu may te fla. yp omg Me: Nay fig tHe thouive,, tal, Hic guia ro ae oo a": Map oa iy heey gh r ee ey Ate # G vila “aw swt eat hiss. eB esa re ails 54) By aca nid Diag ; ae Hos saetire Bhi Pei Ratt +} Whee aa od er awl wis ga wurde waite et she Nw obi > o° Viney, Fy. d, Ty "i ive” nek. ea hee ¥ IT OE CHARGE. DELIVERED BY SAMUEL SPRING, D.D. | Pastor of the North Congregational Church in Newburyport. : DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN, | . Wur1e we recollect this memorable’ direction’ of Christ to his chosen Missionaries, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature: while we also _ survey the perishing state of five hundred ‘millions of souls in Asia, who are destitute of the appointed means of salvation, we are alarmed at the neglect with which they have long been treated. For we hear our merci-' ~ ful God emphatically say, Whom shall I send, and who _, will go for us, to enlighten and rejoice them with the | glad tidings of salvation? But blessed be his glorious name, who has the hearts of all men in his hand, and directs their destinations, you, my Brethren, in the view of these Divine interrogations, have promptly answered, Here: we are, Lord, send us; we are ‘willing to accept’ important mission. We will, by the aid of thy gra- 8 providence, take the parting hand of our parents, ° brothers and sisters, and other dear friends; we will bid’ | farewell to our native land, and cross the wide ocean to Asia, for the sake of preaching Christ to thousands and millions of our fellow mortals, who never heard of the’ _ Savior. While we are willing to ascend to’heaven from that distant clime, we hope, by the grace of God, to be _ happily successful in pointing the way to’ some, if not to many of the Pagans, who will, without seasonable instruction, perish for ever.—For how shall they hear’ _ without a preacher? . ‘ 32 This, if you know your owm hearts, is your dae, and we charitably hope you are not deceived, though “the heart is deceitful above all Chines, and des “sat wicked.” a With our readiness to, embrace : a ee to the TSititen. the Board of Commiss fae devout Christians are, deeply,. and, it. is. hoped, 1 thank fully impressed: and to qualify you for the r ex- ecution of it, the Counéil appointed by the Pradential Committee ‘have/invested you with the, office of Christ’s ministers, by, prayer,and the bag ai: the hands of the Presbytery....... ot, lodenk) aah ‘apenas » Bemg then, the she a at of Christ, i it i pected, agreeably to the established. order of the { a tian church, on these .solemn occasions, that you now receive the, word of, exhortation, or, the usual, charge, which I.am.appointed to administer in the name. and behalf of the Council. |, prepate the way f his glory i in that extensive region ‘SE ea gan dar kn and ignorance, the ‘mission will pro e Cro} with success. But you know, my fiend from intimate acquaintance with the history of mis exertions, that much depends upon the. wisdom and — fidelity ‘of the missionaries. Though the Sion, heathens is the special work of God, yet we must member that he expects the concurrence of faithfuland able ministers of the Gospel’ Géd does. not oleae alone: and as no miracles are expécted, ‘the ‘poor i rant héathen will be'lost, unless seasonably instructed with line upon line, precept upon precept, here ; ali and there a little, by faithful and discreet’ missionar How vast, then, your obligations to help the Lord with all your might? The object you have embraced is un- speakably great: you feel the pressure of it When you lie down and when you rise up: but the motives to en- courage and support your trembling hearts ar ably great. God has already begun. his: adie in the East. The morning star has, red, and ins dicates the near approach of the-rising sun.” | Codd till, his praying children delieve, succeed and prosper mission. You will go under the guidance of the Almighty Savior, and will be supported ‘by his right hand, -God will not forsake you, unless en sake him. ratte But here pause a moment, and count the oll BE y enterprise. . Are you to expect unremitting p prospelity Are you to expect no hardships, no perils, no rind agements, no disappointments, and no adversity? ‘Alas! > you know better. | - You are to expect much adver much opposition, man dark days, when’ your heai will i ei grief. Yor ‘have doubtless made ce calculations to meet with 1 many adverse seasons of very different descriptions. The days of sorrow ‘You must ‘jence. ‘These are ‘the lot of useful: men. * The ca connexions yeu have. formed as a band of missionary brothers; and the connubiat comexions you have uprightly made, must soon be dissolved. You expect to meet the bitter cup of sorrow, as well/as the cheerful cup of joy and consolation: for God has so decreed. But will you faint in the day of adversity? Will you, after solemnly putting your hand to the plough, look back? Will you also go away? No: no my brothers: You will rather say with the faithful dis- ciples, Lord, to whom shall we go, but unto thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life. We also say, no: look not back but forward with vigorous faith. Trust in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is ever- lasting strength. In the hours of affliction remember Christ and his afflicted Apostles, while executing your arduous mission. Remember the martyrs enrolled on the Divine page. Remember particularly those bless- ‘ed men arrayed in white robes, and let the recording angel attach your names to the register. For these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have wash- ed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb—and God shall wipe away all tears from ion eyes. i" In a word; let the Lord be your portion, and Christ your leader and confidence; let grace be your speech, and humility your dress; let secret and social prayer be your breath; the glory of God in the salvation of souls your object, and heaven your’ final’ rest. Go, bois of ran may be: ing in the ag of the cue : a | ¥ Wea ry P , eee ale y BAY HO tt ras! f t} Piet e ‘ \ Fue t i, ; is | " iy ae '4 pond Rae foo Pee pee et * * 7r? LRM EAE! (sy * uly ¥ . A =4 a « 4 : rh OR (et ;? P- . 4 @ 5 ’ ; : ry ‘ ' : 4 ak } " ‘hi fee ‘ E ' + ; 4 Zz > ; Ba ‘ « ‘5 ve . ‘ , ¢ ; LA - ee . t s - f + , 5 \ - . 4 Vy As MAT h ; as ’ 4 - ? * { si i j iia) if 4 By A a ah AY eri or bgrie mf teats RIGHT HAND FELLOWSHIP. BY SAMUEL WORCESTER, D.D. Pastor of the Tabernacle Church in Salem. GOD 1s tove. The Divine Persons of the adorable Trinity inhabit eternity in affection and fellow- ship infinitely high and blessed. Holy angels, in their different orders, all dwell in love, and dwell in God. _ Man was originally formed for the same exalted hap- piness; but he fell by transgression into enmity and misery. The fall was complete; the enmity was fixed; the misery must have been hopeless:—but Divine mer. cy interposed. The Son, who was “‘in the bosom of the Fatuer,” assumed the office of Mediator, and died on the cross to make reconciliation; that as many of eur revolted race as should believe in him might re- ceive forgiveness, and be restored to the fellowship of : aven. Rising from the dead, he ascended up on , leading captivity captive, and received gifts for men, even for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them: “and he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pas- tors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the - work of the ministry, for the building of the body of © Christ: till” the redeemed, of every tongue, and kindred, and nation, “all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, un- to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ!” 40 Here “there is neither Greek nor Jew, Barbarian, Scy- thian, bond nor free;’’ but ‘‘there is one body and one Spirit; one Lord, one faith, one baptist: OReeamaale Father of all.” 43 7 hie quanta Such is the purport of the Game and glorious dispensation came to be rightly understood and felt, James, Cephias, and John, _the distinguished apostles of the circumcision, perceiving the grace con- ferred on Paul and Bartiabas,, affectionately and sol- emnly gave to them THE RIGHT HANDS OB FELLOW- SHIP, THAT THEY SHOULD GOUNTO THE HEATHEN. This memorable example is sein applicable to the present occasion. co cyte spalaensle By the solemnities of this ps you, Messrs: Jupson, Nortz, Neweut, Haru, and Rice, are publi apart for the service of God in the Gospel of his, ‘Son, among the Heatuen. Withyreference, therefore, to this momentous service, we, who ate still to labor in the same Gospel here at home,,in the. ) God, angels, and men, now give to, you, dear Bretl THE RIGHT HANDS OF FELLOWSHIP, It is. not an empty ceremony; it is the act of our hearts, and its import is high and sacred. |, It expresses our acknowl- edgement of you as duly authorised ministers of C. our approbation of the service to which you are ‘sepa- rated; the obligation upon us to, render you.every assist- ance in our power; and our readiness, to, welcome, as fellow citizens with the saints, those. who by your min- istry may be turned from, their vanities to embrace the common salvation, “oremad: es Bind We trust, dear Brethren, that you, are sincerely and. devotedly the servants of the most High God, whom we also serve; and we thank Jesus, Christ our Lord that unto you is this grace given, that you, should preach among the Gentiles his unsearchable riches. .. Al _ We hesitate not, in this public and solemn manner, to testify our full approbation of the particular service to which you are appointed. We are not of the number of those, who hold the religion of Brahma to be as good for the people of India, as the religion of Jesus; nor can we believe the polluted and bloody rites of a pagan pagoda to be as acceptable to the Horny One of Israel, as the pure and spiritual worship of a christian temple. No, dear Brethren, we have not so learned Christ. We know-upon the word of God, that ‘‘the things which the gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to de- mons and not to God;”’ that righteousness. has no fel- lowship with unrighteousness, light no communion with darkness, Christ no fellowship with Belial: that ‘all the world lieth in wickedness,” and under just con- demnation; and that “there is none other ‘name under heaven, given among men,” by which to be saved, than the name of Jesus. We believe, in a word, that the blood of the Son of God was not unnecessarily shed; that the ministry of reconciliation through him _ Was not unnecessarily instituted. We are, therefore, not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, nor do, we esteem it of little importance to mankind; but we glory in it, as the power of God unto salvation to every one that be- Tieveth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”? We so hold the unrevoked edict of the risen Savior to be not only a sufficient warrant, but a solemn, authoritative direction to Go INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. We,.therefore, hail the day——the auspicious day, which we jhave long desired to see:—-tTu1s pay, dear Brethren, on which we solemnly present you to God, as a ‘“‘kind of first fruits” of his American churches.. We bow the knee, with de- vout thanksgivings to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that he has inclined your 6 42 hearts and is favoring you with aty opporturiit “them who are far off,” with the words by wh and their children may be saved. - Go then, beloved Brethren, as’ ‘thi these “churches, and the glory of to the poor Heathen, the coop NEWs pa ont life. Tell them a G fsdetiniey for which we hoped WHOSE STAR WAS SEEN IN THEE them to that BLOOD, with hich he wl sence MANY WA FROM hire Hh eee «aie attri We participate with you in this great’ und our hearts are joined with yours, aids Bipods righthand which we give you we shall hold ourselvés inva pledged, as God shall enable us, for your help. We are not insensible to the sacrifices: vihidh cpctomndliel to the dangers and sufferings towhich youare devoted: — You stand this day ‘a spectacle to poet on to méti i You are in _— act ape aving sake.”” “oy land of pene nen of is before you; and you are to erect the'stz lard of th cross where Satan has long held’ ib ebb vd ted empire. Your eyes will be aa h sight volting impurity and horror; your hearts will be wrung — With avec for immortal: souls ons iguana bondage: “and while you strive’ for their rescue, you will have to contend, not with flesh” a principalities and powers, with the rulers ofthe ness of this world, with’ ‘spiritual’ wicked ae places. "But you go; we trust, in’ paren arcone Lord; arid the weapons of your warfare’ “aresioticar- nal, but’mighty through God to the pulling déwm of — strong holds, casting down ee 43: high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.” This is our confidence, this is our cofsolatiof respecting you. his 189 1 a But, dear Brethren, we shall have you in the tender- est remembrance, and shall not ceasé to make méiition of you iti our prayers. We shall riot cease fo ‘beseech the Allsufficient God to be your shield, and’ your €x- ceeding great reward; evermore to cheer you with his pfesence, and gird you with his strength? to stablislt your hearts with ‘grace, and give you a mouth and wis. dom which fione shall be able to gaitisay or resist; and to open to you a great door and effectual, and Gatisé you to hear extensively around you thé shouts of sal- vation. . 'O? - Our hearts desire and prayer to God for the people to whom you are going is, that they may gladly receive the Gospel, and be saved. We shall wait with ardent hope to be assured, that you have not run in vain, nei- ther labored in vain.. It will give us unspeakable} joy - to know, that on the banks of the Indus, the Ganges, or the Ava, by means of the pious liberalities and efforts of this western world, the Gospel is preached with suc- cess, churches are planted, and the praises of the Re- - deemer are sung. Trusting in God, we anticipate the ' glorious scene. Already do we seem to hear from the _ farthest East, the grateful, swelling song, ‘(How beav- . - tiful upon the mountains are the feet of them who _ bring good tidings, who publish peace, who bring _ good tidings of good, who publish salvation.” Bles- sed day, when, from the throne of Heaven, Zion shall hear the word, ‘Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: anp | THE GENTILES SHALL COME TO HER LIGHT, AND KINGS TO THE BRIGHTNESS OF HER RISING. The ' day will come; it is rapidly approaching: the word and providence of God declare it to of the dawn are even now to be s ing Prospect, dear Brethren, < stimulate your exertionssiy 1 of many, who- this dus enterprise: for the Gospel shall oationaben! all people sh it . Beloved Brethren, be. od courage; § md may the Lord God of the holy a apostle: ets go with you. We ane the word of his. = of : SARMON, PREACHED AT BOSTON, ’ BEFORE THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS \ For PORSIGN WISSTO DENTS: AT THEIR FENTH ANNUAL MEETING, SEPT. 16, 1819, BY JOSEPH LYMAN, PASTOR OF THE CHURCH IN HATFIELD. x BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, No. 50, Cornarrt. rere etree rer iy UT, Ciegbioes Printer. 1819, ADVERTISEMENT. JusrIcE requires, that the public be informed, that the Board of Commissionexs were unhappily disappointed through the inability of the Preacher and of the Substitute, they had designated to the service of delivering the annual discourse, to be present at their meeting; and that the Preacher, to whom they, conse- quently, assigned the service, had no opportunity to prepare a sermon suitably adapted to the occasion. The custom and wish of the Board, to have the annual sermons printed, must be the apology of the Preacher for consenting that this discourse, under such circumstances, should be made public. He hopes, however, that through the divine blessing, his labor will not be in vain; that it may be of some benefit in aiding those measures now in operation for extending the boundaries of the Redeemer’s kingdom. SERMON. | ISAIAH Iviii, 12. AND THEY THAT SHALL BE OF THEE SHALL BUILD THE OLD WASTE PLACES: THOU SHALT RAISE UP THE FOUNDATIONS OF MANY GENERATIONS; AND THOU SHALT BE CALLED, Toe REPAIRER OF THE BREACH, THE ReSTOREB OF PATHS TO DWELL IN. Tis is a cheering prediction of happy and glorious eyents to take place under the Christian dispensa- tion. When the legal dispensation, instituted by Moses, should be abolished, a new system of religious worship and ordinances would be introduced in its stead and extend its saving benefits to other nations, besides the children of Abraham. The Ch of God would be wonderfully enlarged and include im its limits those Gentile nations, who, for so many centuries, _ had been excluded from the family of the enlightened and the redeemed. For thousands of years, gross spiritual darkness had covered the earth with all its countless tribes of men, excepting only that small remnant of the sons of Jacob, whom God had chosen to himself as an heritage, to the exclusion of the great mass of mankind, who were left to perish in ignorance, pollution, and idolatry. 4 But in prophetic vision, the evangelical Isaiah fore- » saw and predicted, that, after the coming of the — Messiah the world should see far better days. The boundaries of God’s visible kingdom by a gradual increase should be extended. One nation and another’ should, m succession, arise out of that gloomy dark- ness of idolatry, vice and profligacy, which had so long shrouded their minds in an ignorance of the true God and his holy religion; had left them the victims of the most degrading errors and crimes; and robbed them of every hope of a blessed immortality m a better life. | Christianity, as the prophet anticipated, should scatter the clouds of error, of idolatry and_polythe- ism; should deliver the minds of men from the fetters of ignorance, delusion, sensual lust and impiety; and bring light and immortality to light by the publi- cation, preaching, and sanctifying influence of the everlasting Gospel. Nations, long groaning under the horrors of paganism, would be emancipated from their slavery, and be brought into the light and liberty of the children of God. His truth would make them free and they would be free indeed, being rescued fromthe bondage of corruption. : These auspicious events would be produced by _ the mstrumentality of those, who had previously - enjoyed the light of Divine truth. The friends of Christ would be excited and quickened to impart those blessings of grace, of which they had been tnade partakers, to others, their brethren of the human race, who had long lived outcasts from the Church, without God and without Christ in the world. The privilege, the blessedness, of enlargmg the Re- 5 deemer’s kingdom and of recovering sinners to the knowledge and enjoyment of God, belongs, principally, — to those, who have tasted the benefits of the true religion and have been partakers of its sanctifying ordinances. These, the Head of the Church employs as his favored instruments of gatherig subjects into — his kingdom. By their prayers, and labors, and liberal- ities, the benefits of saving truth are imparted to those, who dwell without the limits of the visible Church. As the prophet predicts, “they that be of thee,” that is, they who now belong to the kingdom of the blessed Redeemer, “shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called, Tue _ Reparer of the breach, Tue Restorer of paths to dwell in.” _ Here we are taught, What is the duty and work of those, who live under the light of revealed truth, and are partakers of the institutions and ordinances of the true religion:—and also what a dignified reputation they shall obtain, as the sure reward of their faithful performance of this work of the Lord. We will then consider and explain, _ 1. What is a main and indispensable duty and employment of those favored subjects of Divine goodness, who live under the light of revealed truth, _and are partakers of the doctrines, ordinances, and _ worship of the Christian religion. They are required to build the old waste places; and to raise up the Joundations of many generations. ‘As our text is a prediction of Gospel times,. of what is to take place under the Christian dispensation, ‘so the duty and employment here allotted is, in an | 6 appropriate and emphatic sense, the duty and work of | Christians, of the professed disciples of the Lord Jesus. To understand the duty here enjoimed, we — should first know what the prophet mtends by waste places. To represent spiritual objects he em- ploys a figure taken from the common agricultural | pursuits of mankind. ‘In husbandry, waste places are those portions of © ground, which, thr ough native barrenness, cannot be enttiganet and made fruitful, such as deserts of sand, or marshes covered with water and given over to briers and brambles. These, and other lands under similar obstructions, reject husbandry; they cannot by cultiya- — tion be made prolific. Other parcels are waste and unfruitful through neglect of proper labor and cultiva- tion. A slovenly and mdolent improvement leaves — many parcels of ground waste and barren which, nat- urally and by skilful management, are fitted to produce profitable and excellent crops. These waste places are a figure of that portion of our world which lieth — in sin and wickedness, destitute of a knowledge of the truth and of the love of God and man, because they are not instructed in the will of God, are not taught the doctrines and duties of the Gospel: and are hence given over to all manner of spiritual folly and delusion; g and addict themselves to every excess of impiety and crime. They neither know nor fear God, are unjust | and unnatural to their fellow men, and debase them. ' selves with every kind of impurity and pollution. In husbandry, waste places stand in contrast with well dressed + fields, vineyards and gardens, safely fenced and highly cultivated; so im the spiritual sense _ of our text, waste places stand in contrast with those — 7 Churches and Christian communities, where the word and ordinances of the Gospel are fully enjoyed, faith- fully administered, and wisely and diligently improved by the people, who are blessed with those heavenly privileges. But, alas! even ina country nominally Christian, many, so far from appearing like a well watered and eultivated garden, and a vineyard skilfully pruned and dressed, appear like the field of the slothful and the vineyard of the man void of understanding; their hedges are destroyed and their stone walls are broken down; thorns and thistles grow instead of pleasant _ plants; all runs to waste from the inroads of devour- "ing beasts and hungry swine. _ How many, through want of sound and faithful preaching, or through want of an obedient attention to the word and ordinances of God, possess nothing more than the name of Christian; they exhibit none of the precious fruits of holy obedience. Through | want of discipline, of brotherly love, faithful reproof, and counsel, those doctrines of Christ, which are of / main importance, are denied; the duties of religion ‘are violated, and the vices and follies of the world ‘are countenanced and fostered by those who falsely Jeall themselves after the name of Jesus. In the }nomina! Christian Church are to be found many unwor- |thy professors, yea even some whole communities, ‘}who have backslidden from the faith and sunk into an almost total apostasy. These are the waste places of ‘Jour Zion, which call for the commiseration of all who seek her peace and love her Lord. Such degenerate | hurches lie waste, and demand the hand of some & faithful master-builder to resettle their foundations, © and repair their awful and lamentable’ breaches and desolations. SOeaRY ty But iv addition to these waste places of Zion, there are still more extensive wastes and desolations without her walls. The greater part of the world lies in a deplorably “waste condition; without God, without Christ, without a blessed Gospel, without moral virtue, social happiness or intellectual dignity; sunk in vice, in filthy lust; harassed with violences and frauds, the, abject victims of the basest crimes and deplorable misery; enjoying nothing here, and without hope for the future. These are what the prophet intends by waste places. They are places which, if they have the Goal yet they have it not in its purity and simplicity; they have it corrupted, mutilated, and porn m its most essential doctrines and precepts. They are ‘not taught Christian morality. Their system of morals accords with pagan virtue, and not with the holy’ obedience of the Gospel of the Son of God. - Other places are waste, because while’ wish — their Master’s will, they will not do it. But the great and extensive wastes and Miialdtiond of the earth are those regions where Paganism, Mahommedanism, Popery and Heresy, obtain and. triumph. ‘These regions contain more than pine ipentls parts of this habitable globe. ~ “ Having learned what are the wastes to be builded, and the foundations which are to be raised — up, let us now inquire, How this work is to be accomplished? and who are to take an active and unwearied part in the doing of it. Our text says, “Those that be 4 9 thee” i. e. the disciples and children of Christ, are to be the main instruments of building the wastes of Zion, and raising up the foundations which for so many long ages, have been laid in ruins. Those who are taught, and realize the blessed advantages of Gospel grace, are the proper persons to feel the worth of souls, perishing in idolatry, impenitence and unbelief. Those, only, who have tasted the grace of God, can estimate its value, and, with a benevolence disinterested, enter upon vigorous and effectual means to impart to others the blessings of salvation. This work, then, belongs to Christians, to those who believe in the doctrines of a Divine Savior. This service do they owe to their Lord in return for his dying love, and his sanctifying grace upon their own guilty souls. That affection to man, which the Gospel inculcates and inspires, can alone give activity and energy to their prayers and labors, for the redemption of their brethren perishing in sin and rebellion against God. This work, then, belongs, peculiarly, to the ministering servants and professed followers of the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. And how shall they effect their godlike design, of repairing the wastes of Zion, and raising up the foun- dations, which for so many ages have lain in ruins? They must, first, set an example of that faith and obedience which their Master requires, and, by a living copy of Christian virtues, recommend their religion to those who live ina contempt and rejection of the Gospel of God their Savior. _ To their example, they must add their daily and fervent supplications, that the Great Master Builder will, by bi power and grace, effectually interpose and, a 10 give.a wise direction, and complete success, to the - Means employed for extending the blessings of redemp- tion to a world perishing in sin. Nor ‘must they be content with prayer alone; they must have a firm faith and trust in Christ, that he will hear their prayer and confer the blessings for which they seek him. — . It their prayer be sincere, and their faith unfeigned, they will be uniformly attended by diligent, persever- ing labors for the accomplishment of their desired object, the progress of truth, and the enlargement of the Redeemer’s kingdom. Good men, who love the souls of their brethren, and love the Redeemer of simers, will grudge no labors, no expenses, for the success of the Gospel and the conversion of sinners. They will account every expense light and trifling, if they cansccure the great end, to repair the desolations - of their beloved Zion; if they can bring rebel sinners to Jesus, if they can call home the nations to the obe- dience of the faith, and to the enjoyment of sanctifi- cation and eternal life. acon a This leads me to show briefly, ili : II. That they, who perform faithfully this’ good : work of the Lord, shall be honored with a most dig- nified retribution, both in this life and in that which is to come. J) DME ithe Among blinded savage nations, they who éxercise lordship over them, are called benefactors—they who — murder and slaughter their fellow men, are called” | glorious conquerors; their brows are entwined with the wreaths of victory and triumph. But, alas! they are commonly the meanest and basest of men, who ° ought to be detested on earth, and will receive an” awful retributien in eternity. But they who, like the — 11 blessed Jesus, save men’s lives and their souls, are the only benefactors of men, ‘They shall be blessed in their deed; shall have peace with God and man, rest in their own souls, and consolation in the day of Christ. Blessed followers of the Lamb! You may not be called the Conquerors, the Wastcrs, and the Desolators, of the earth: but you shall be crowned and triumph with the Captaim of your salvation. You shall be called, Tae Repamer of the breach, Tae Restorer of paths to dwell tm IMPROVEMENT. 1, I would observe, that there is now opened to Christians an extensive field of employment and use- fulness, in domg good to Zion, and in extending the_ boundaries of the Church of God. The adorable Immanuel, who hath appeared in our world, to save our fallenrace by the labors and sorrows of his afflicted life, the ignominy of his accursed death, and the triumphs of his glorious resurrection, has laid the foundation of human recovery, and the restoration of our lost world to the image and favor of God. He has scattered much of the darkness which covered the earth previously to his advent in the flesh. He has broken down the partition wall which separated Jews and Gentiles; and has brought into his holy family ‘and kingdom multitudes, who were shut out under the legal dispensation. Weighing the obstructions which lie in the way of bringing the Gentiles into his kingdom, and uniting them with the sanctified remnant of the seed of Jacob, and it is wonderful, that the Gospel has made such progress in the world. | 12 Since our Lord’s ascension, millions and millions of- the sinners of the Gentiles have, by the preaching of the Gospel, set home by the agency of the Divine Spirit, been brought to bow to the Cross; to receive and obey Him, who was crucified without the gates of Jerusalem. Still, however, a large proportion of the world of mankind have continued phos the light of the Gospel: or if this light has arisen uy they have refused to come to the light. deeds should be reproved and | made. manife they are not wrought in God. Of those numerous churches cudenl in ie early ages of Christianity how many, alas! have backslidden and apostatized from the faith which they had receiy- ed? After a melarcholy declension into every spe- cies of gross heresy, profound spiritual ignorance, and sordid vice, the eastern churches fell under the power of Mohammedan imposture and apostasy. So that half the nominal churches of Christ became yic- tims of the conquering sword and debasing : peductions of that mystery of iniquity. At the same time, the western churches were se- duced and degraded by the equally corrupt errors and profligate vices of the Church of Rome. Thus the whole Christian world, with a few exceptions of the faithful followers of Christ, became the victims of damnable heresies; and were enticed from their stead- fastness, by the deceiyableness of unrighteousness and: the artifices of that wicked one-—From these snares and errors of popish domination and idolatry, a large portion of Europe were recovered by the power and) grace of God, in exciting and succeeding the zeal and labors of the Reformers 3 in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. _ alarming, we have a world lying in all the ignorance, and darkness, and profligacy, of open idolatry and poly- theism. For the greater portion of the world, the _ countries most populous, pleasant and prolific, are given 13 Under a new form, and by new wiles and stratagems, have the Devil and his agents and emissaries among men, tarnished the glory, and, in a measure, destroyed the purity and peace of the Reformed churches. There has been a grievous departure from the faith of the Reformers, by a denial of the doctrines of grace, and the introduction of gross infidelity under the specious garb of philosophy and rational Christianity. Thus, my hearers, have the hedges against error been taken away, the fences have been broken down and the wild boar out of the wood has wasted the Lord’s vineyard, and the foxes have spoiled the vines. This wide waste of Zion we must labor to repair, and strive to restore the desolations of the Church, and raise up the foundations which have been broken down. Besides these mischiefs of heresy and apostasy in the nominal church of God, which are so pressing and _ over to the most impure and debasing idolatries, wor- shipping stocks and stones and devils. This is the wide : field opened to our Christian sympathy, labor, prayer, and faith. But alas! the misery of spiritual darkness and ignorance comes nearer home to our very doors. The nation of which we are a part, through many extensive sections of our country, is in a sad state of religious ignorance, of degrading impiety and vice. They have no Christian ordinances, no Gospel instruc- tions, no Sabbath, no sanctuary.” They live and die and perish by thousands, year after year, in unbelief, in 14 error, in profligate crimes. They live without God and the Redeemer, and die in their sins. Half our nation is in this sad predicament. Their distresses, with all the energy of grief and despondency, call upon us, who have more light and privileges to come to their help, and to lend our Christian aid m rescuing them from the pollutions of vice, and from the present and future punishment of their spiritual ignorance and unbelief. While the sufferings of distant nations so loudly call upon our Christian sympathy to afford them relief, ought we not to be moved by a consideration of the suffer- ings of our own countrymen, to afford them relief, that they do not perish for lack of vision, ‘They too should be in our hearts, in our prayers, and in our exertions, to impart unto them the means of grace and the bread of eternal life. 2. Let us reflect on the means which we are to employ in accomplishing the good work of the Lord, in promoting the sanctification and salvation of our . fellow men. Our duty is plain beet) obvious, how to cannsibiiea acs pel light and ordinances, those of our own countrymen, and those of countries more remote, who are now groping in darkness and perishing in impenitence and unbelief. Our incumbent duty is to send them the holy Scriptures, of which the greater part are wholly destitute. Many thousands of our countrymen, and | many millions of other nations, have never seen, have rarely heard of those sacred oracles which reveal to | men the way of life. ‘This evil may be, progressively, remedied by the liberalities and labors of Christians for a few years. To this important object we are 15 required to give a particular and constant attention, as we would evince our love to men and our fidelity to Christ. Without the Bible, the people must perish in their sins. But to send the Bible, to those who have it not, is only a small part of our duty. To this charity we must add another, of equal importance. We must provide, and send among them teachers and ministers, who can instruct them in the doctrines and duties com- prised in the sacred Scriptures. For, in general, men will never hear the word, without a preacher to inter- pret and enforce it upon their attention and hearts. To procure and support these ministers of the word, will require a larger portion of our property, and more diligent care and watchfulness, even than sending to _them the inspired oracles. In order to their conver- sion, sinners must have the Bible, and they must also _have teachers to call their attention to it, and to hel them to a right understanding of it. Bibles and mis- sionaries must go in company, if we would hope to ring home souls to Christ and to enlarge the borders of his redeemed church. ; These missionaries must be qualified by learning and ‘by grace for a faithful and successful discharge of their | work. My hearers, ycu know that the harvest is immense and the laborers are few. It is a great and arduous work to furnish laborers sufficient for the lharvest. Duty, therefore, requires that we take measures for a supply of good men, to perform the missionary work, and to carry the Gospel into all the lark regions of our country and our world. We must therefore furnish means adequate for the education jnd preparation of pious young men for the Christian 16 ministry. We must diligently look out from among our youth, promising characters for this good work.— | Where piety and grace have laid a foundation, we must build upon it, by furnishing means for their instruction and preparation for the holy ministry. Many pious youth, who would willingly devote themselves to this service of preaching Christ, have not the means of educating and preparing themselves. Those who honor Christ, and. love Zion and their coun- try, must lend their substance to the Lord. This is a duty so plain, that I need only mention it to convince you how important and indispensable it is. ‘We can never be better employed, than we are in furnishing means, to obtain and prepare sufficient laborers for that large vineyard of our Lord, which now lies waste and desolate, for want of cultivation. It is true this must be a work of time, but our zeal and activity and charity will much shorten the time, when Christ’s harvest shall be copiously gathered in. Another thought I must suggest: that is, that parents who have promising children and have property, should give them a learned education, to prepare them for the Christian ministry. Let pious parents devote their children to God in this way; and by prayer and. faith wait upon Him, that, through his blessing, their sons may be fitted by grace as well as by learning, to earry the news of salvation to a world perishing in sin, What duty is more urgent upon Christian parents than to give their children to the Lord, and to prepare them by a suitable education for the service of the sanctuary. + saligae at 4 Let me add, that another essential part of our duty in this matter is, fo trust in God, to succeed our labor) A7 and gifts, to be constant in our prayers and wrestlings, that God would prosper our endeavors, and for this end grant the rich effusions of his grace and spirit, and make his Gospel effectual for its benign and saving purposes. 3. We will consider, the encouragement we have to enter with zeal and perseverance upon this beney- olent and salutary work of our Redeemer. We live in an age of wonders. Strange and mar- yellous events have been multiplied before our eyes m the course of God’s holy and mysterious providence. On one hand, the adversary of our race has been let loose in a peculiar manner, to produce among men the miseries of error, vice and impiety, to turn with malice and rage the hand of man against his brother man. What jealousies, contests and wars, have, in these last days, been raised in this tumultuous world? What countless millions of lives have been sacrificed by the destroying angel? How many millions of prop- erty have been worse than lost, to waste men’s lives? On the other hand, He, who came to destroy the | works of the devil, is manifestly at work to counteract this guilt and misery of human folly and wickedness. He hath awaked the attention and concern of his children, to contemplate and to abate the miseries of our afflicted world, to repair the desolations of many generations, and to build up the walls of our J erusalem, which have been broken down. While the children of this world have exerted all their powers, and expended their substance in destroying men’s lives, the friends of Jesus have bent their minds, and freely contributed of their property to save men’s lives;— to save men’s lives not only for time, but for eternity. 3 18 Look, ye friends of man, look, ye friends of the Re- deemer, and see how much anxious solicitude hath been manifested, and how much property hath been wil- lingly consecrated in establishing Bible Societies, Missionary Societies, Theological Seminaries, and Societies for the education and preparation of young men for the ministry of peace and reconciliation. Is not Christ evidently building up Zion in these troublous times? How much hath Christ already done? and what preparations is he now making to do vastly more for repatring the old waste places, and raising up the foundations of many generations. - Look on these events of providence now passing; reflect on the ob- ligations you are under to your perishing fellow sinners; only look on him, who gave his life for your ransom;— and then determine in the fear and presence of God, determine what you have to do as his instruments to advance the glory of Zion, and to promote the salva- tion of those millions of immortals, whe now lie perish- ing in sin, in delusion, in impiety and unbelief. Iwill not weaken an argument, so plain and conclu- sive, by extending it. You see, you feel, you cannot doubt your duty, in these respects; you cannot ques- tion, whether this be the Lord’s work, the cause of God—of Zion—of your country; whether it be your duty and your animating encouragement to put a vig- orous, unwearied, and persevermg hand to this good work of building up and enlarging the walls of our Jerusalem. For, my hearers, 4. From your faithful, pious, and persevering labors in this cause of our blessed Redeemer, you may expeet a happy success, anda rich and ample reward, both in this life and in that which is to come. } 19 You will have the joyous consolation thai, under Ba you have been the blessed instruments of arrest- ing the desolating sword of God’s enemies; of abating the sufferings and miseries of this®afilicted world. You shall be the instruments of instilling sound and correct sentiments into the hearts of your fellow men: of curing in them those lusts, whence come wars and . fightings. You shall forward, by your labors, your property and your prayers, the progress of righteous- ness in the earth, and the approaching reign of the Prince of peace. You shall see the house of David daily increasing, and the house of Saul daily decreas- ing. You shall see your sons made prophets, and your young men Nazarites unto the Lord. You shall see them go forth n their Redeemer’s strength to proclaim the tidings of salvation to those who sit in darkness. You shall see nations come to Zion, and kings to the brightness of her rising. You shall hear the joyful Behout of salvation echo through distant regions of your country and the world. You shall have peace within and peace with God. You may not be called con- querors on earth, but you shall be called the friends of -man, the humble followers of Him, who went about doing good. You shall be called, Tne Repamers oF THE BREACH, THE Restorers oF PATHS TO DWELE PY. Amen. ; ‘ » aay and sie * Owe Ji vbneeeeial rei 5 cis i ey a es ' ; ae OUR TRUE ENCOURAGEMENT. 5S E fk eee. PREACHED AT BUFFALO, NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 8, 1847, BEFORE THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOREIGN MISSIONS, AT THEIR THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING. BY REY. DAVID MAGIE, D.D., ELIZABETHTOWN, N. J. BOSTON: PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN, 24 CONGRESS STREET. 1847. AVA EELAGLBM oh Soh Ol YOR aACE aS Belay oo ANWR . SERMON. Isaran, xxxu. 15. Unvit THE SPIRIT BE POURED UPON US FROM ON HIGH. As regards the final and universal triumphs of the gospel, no believer in the Bible can entertain a doubt. Glorious things are spoken of Zion, the city of our God, and we are assured, explicitly, that the kingdoms of this world shall one day become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ. That light which now shines on our path, is yet to lighten all the Gentiles, and be the glory of the people of Israel. Thus it is written, and thus it will be. But what is to secure the ultimate coming of this happy pe- riod? Our hope all hangs on one single thing—the promise of the Spirit—and occupying the position we do inthe annals of time, we can look neither backward nor forward, without being convinced how dependent we are on such aid. What has been done, teaches us this; and what is still to be done teaches it with even greater emphasis. Every past conquest has been the effect of union and commu- nion with the divine Comforter ; and our ability to 4 carry on the enterprise in a way at all commensur- ate with the grandeur of the object before us, must be derived from the same source. Even more than former assistance will be needed. Instead of occa- sional drops of mercy, water must be poured upon the thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. The text refers to this; and it is too well under- stood to require any particular explanation. Suffice it simply to say, that the chapter begins with a cheering account of the approach of a brighter day ; but it goes on to tell us that, in the meantime, a season of gloom and depression would ensue, to be terminated only by the pouring out of the Spirit from on high. This would work a delightful change. Then the wilderness would become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. No language could be more appropriate to us, in the relation which we, as a Missionary Society, sustain to the conversion of the world. Large as are our resources, numerous as are the laborers we have sent forth, and strong as is the hold which this blessed cause has taken on the affections of the people, we were never more dependent on help from heaven, than at this very moment. Without special divine aid we can do nothing. God must plentifully imbue our hearts with the influences of the Spirit, that we may use the right means for effecting our object, that we may prosecute the work with proper energy, and that we may see our efforts attended with success. These are the points which I wish to illustrate and enforce. 5 I. The Spirit of God must be with us, or we shall not use the right means for converting the world. Our undertaking is a vast one, and we are not deft in uncertainty as to the way in which it is to be accomplished. That gospel, which God has given _ Us to spread, as well as to enjoy, was made for man; and though there is in it no independent efficacy, it does possess an adaptedness to the renovation of his moral nature. No matter where you meet him, or whatever be the depth of his depravity, this is the remedy for his ruin. There is here an ordained channel through which the Spirit of God operates to change the heart, make the poor pagan a new crea- ture, turn the desert into a goodly land, and fill a world of crime and sorrow with righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Sending the knowledge of Christ abroad through the nations, is the appointed method of saving men. We know of no other means—having thus the seal of heaven upon them—for subverting the kingdom of Satan, rooting idolatry out of the earth, and restoring our race to fellowship with their Maker. The commission under which we act runs thus— to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified. To bring about this result, we are confined to a single instrumentality—the pure, un- adulterated gospel—that gospel which we ourselves have received, and wherein we stand. This we are 6 pledged, as far as in us lies, to send abroad to all them that dwell on the face of the earth, assured that nothing is wanting to cause the truth to triumph everywhere, but the accompanying power of the Holy Spirit. Our great business is to teach men that they have ruined themselves by ‘sin, to lead them to disclaim all righteousness of their own, and to bring them to a cordial trust in the blood of the cross. We must give the heathen that very gospel which was preached on the day of Pentecost, which the Reformation carried into the heart of Germany, which was found in the caves and mountains of Scotland when she was faithful to her covenant, which our Puritan Fathers brought with them from the old world, and which glowed with divine life in the bosom of an Edwards, a Brainerd, and a Davies. This is the panoply in which we are to wage war with the powers of darkness. We have no other armor. This gospel we are to send, in simplicity and godly sincerity, to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. It must be our determination, at every stage of progress, not to know anything save Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and so long as we pursue the work in this way, we may be cheered with the conviction that an instrumentality on which God has a thousand times made his im- press, will not be employed in vain. This can save a soul from death, and it can save a world from death. If we ever forget that there is a principle of vitality in the genuine gospel—the plan of salva- 7 tion, the story of the crucifixion—when thus applied, we shall find the very sinews of missionary effort all ‘cut at once. The words that I speak unto you, said the Great Teacher, they are spirit, and they are life. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth, upon the top of the mountains, the fruit whereof ‘shall shake like Lebanon. - It is more faith in God’s instrumentality that we need. We look at the gospel, and what is it, if left _ to itself, but the declaration of a fact—the narration of an event—the revelation of a doctrine? How can it change the heart of a heathen, and create new sensations, and lead to new solicitudes, and awaken new joys there, to tell him that in Christ we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace? The cause seems unequal to the effect. But when there goes, along with the statement of such facts, an unseen agency, more powerful than that which makes the mountains tremble, all difficulty is removed. The gospel is not the breath of man—it is the power of God. It is not a feeble weapon, it is the sword of the Spirit. It is not a mere tale of wonder, it is a message of life. Nothing that the world has ever seen descends so deeply into the seat of human sympathies, or works such revolutions in the charac- ter of man. The kind of duty we have to perform is obvious. We but go forth, in the persons of our missionaries, to declare, in the school, along the way-side, and at the temple of idolatry, that which we ourselves have 8 seen, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. There is no ne- cessity for our being told, that this is God’s method for working salvation in the midst of the earth. Never can it be matter of surprise to us, that the bare reading of the story of the crucifixion, in the lonely tent of a man of God in Greenland, should be attended with such power as to strike the mind of a half-sleeping heathen at the door, and prompt him to exclaim, ‘* Those are precious words, let me hear them again.”” We must forget our own con- version, before these things can appear strange. It is no part of our business to make experiments for the relief of human wo, or the removal of human guilt. We have a Saviour to speak of; whose blood we know cleanseth from all sin; we have the invitation to give: whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely ; and then, to complete our resources, we have the promise, Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. This is our reliance. ‘Thus equipped, we go out to fight God’s battle among men. And sad will be the day when our compassion for sinners begins to dig for itself a channel different from that in which the Saviour’s flowed, or our impatience to get the work done leads us to the use of means such as he has not authorized. All we can do—all we are allowed to do—is to take our stand at the foot of the cross, and, point’ the heathen to its bleeding victim, Our sole expedient for saving men from hell, is the atonement of Cal- vary, the expiatory sacrifice of the Son of God ; that 9 righteousness which is unto all, and upon all them that believe. These constitute the glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. When our sons and our daughters leave us to cross oceans, and climb mountains, and journey over valleys, we must charge them to repeat everywhere the story of the apostasy, and of the death of Christ to remove the curse. We must exhort them to say, God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life. These are the means by which we are to accom- plish our object, and we need to be kept to them without deviation or faltering. But this can be done only by such a measure of divine influence, daily exerted upon our hearts, as shall cause the gospel to loom up largely and gloriously before us, and inspire us with a perfect confidence in its divinely appointed efficacy. As a missionary organization, the presence with us of the Good Spirit, is indis- pensable. No resolutions, however stringent, to require an orthodox creed in those who enter the foreign field—no well adjusted frame work of eccle- siastical supervision—no votes of councils or synods to commission only good men and true, will secure the giving of real, vital Christianity to the nations. These things may be useful and important, but they are not sufficient. ‘The moment we ourselves be- come indifferent to the doctrines of total depravity, justification by faith, and regeneration by the Spirit, the trumpet we blow on the other side of the 2 10 globe, will give an uncertain sound. We. shall plant no better religion than we possess. There is a downward tendency in man—in the best of men—and in the best of men engaged in the holiest work,—which nothing can_ effectually counteract, but a constantly exerted divine influ- ence. Charters, subscriptions, pledges, will not do it. ‘These, when the heart gets wrong, are weak as a thread of tow. God, the Holy Ghost, must be with us at every step, or we shall even lose those things which we have already wrought, and never receive a full reward. Let me add: this view of the gospel, as the wisdom of God, and the power of God, will impart such an aspect of simplicity to our aims, and give such a type of homogeneousness to our efforts, as will help us to move forward with harmony in our great work. We shall not then lay out our strength on extraneous matters, or matters which, though valuable in themselves, do not properly belong to us as a missionary society. Our object, be it never forgotten, is not to make any direct attack upon forms of civil government, however cruel and despotic, or to carry a crusade into the arrangements of social life, however. inconsistent they may seem with the highest degree of human happiness. ‘These may be great evils here, and they may lie very much in our way, but the first assault is not to be made on these out-works. If we feel as Paul felt, or as Martyn felt, or as Christ felt, our chief desire will be to secure, for the real 1] gospel, a lodgment in the heart, assured that this is the divine method of reforming the life. We need not fear. Truth is like chain-shot—give one link its direction, and it will draw after it the entire charge. Make the heathen Christians, and they will not fail to become men. _ Such is our work, and such are the appliances with which we are furnished for carrying it on. The gospel, preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, is all we need to recover men from their sins, and make this world of ours vocal with the high praises of God. This comprises the length and breadth of our duty. Our service is performed when, in reliance on divine aid, we have testified in the face of all nations repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. But, . II. Unless the Holy Spirit be with us, we shall never prosecute our work with proper energy. No missionary enterprise can be expected to flourish, which does not take fast hold on the hearts, and deeply move the sympathies of its friends. This is a cause of too much import to be carried on lukewarmly. Some years ago, a number of young men, candidates for service in foreign lands, in the papal church, pledged themselves to God and to each other to be faithful, by each opening a vein in his arm and writing his name in his own blood. I plead not for this. It may have been superstition. But if covenanting in blood can bind man to his duty, then we are bound with lig- atures which can never be broken. 12 It is easy to see that one of the main purposes of the Church on earth, is her own self-extension. We learn, on every page of the history of the early propagation of the gospel, that the apostles did not ordain elders in every city, chiefly, much less exclu- sively, to keep ground already gained, or to rejoice in conquests already made. With them the field was the world. ‘Their plan was an out-going, an aggressive one. But this is a kind of work which we shall never follow up with a full heart, except as our desire to spread the gospel, as well as our indi- vidual appreciation of it, is quickened by the Spirit of God. Neither of these things is natural to us, and unless supplied, as was the oil in the prophet’s vision, they will grow weak and vanish away. We know, by sad experience, that our persuasion of a personal welcome to trust in Christ, becomes indis- ‘tinct, whenever we are left to ourselves; and we also know that when thus left, we forget the claims of a dying world. | The church, every one admits, ought to place the sending of the gospel to the heathen among the most solemn and clearly ascertained of all her duties. It belongs to her to see that her members are kept apprised of the aspects and wants of this vast undertaking, cheerfully providing the means for every newly projected occupation of the enemy’s country, and carefully watching over young Chris- tians of promise, to mark the developments of their character, as to any special fitness for such service. These are points in relation to which there can be 13 no doubt. Who can hesitate to believe that the bringing forward of candidates for this high employ- ment, should be an object of the deepest interest to every minister of the gospel, every professor of theology, and every ecclesiastical judicatory? Pa- rents ought to prize such a post fora beloved son or daughter, above one in the retinue of an ambassa- dor to the mightiest potentate on earth. Daily should prayer be made that the Holy Ghost would separate our Barnabases and our Sauls to the work of Christian Missions. But how are we to get up to this state of feeling, and this standard of action? We shall but practice an imposition upon ourselves if we merely compare what is now doing with what was done a few years ago, instead of summoning courage to ask what the opening providences of God require at our hands, or what our own good hope through grace should prompt us to undertake. All seems bright and animated enough, when mingling in an im- mense congregation like this to exchange Christian salutations, and to sharpen each the countenance of his friend, by the rehearsal of some striking inci- dent. We might almost suppose that the tribes of the Lord had assembled to decide which should have the honor of going up first to possess the land. There are ministers enough, and friends of the Redeemer enough to move the world. But let us beware how we take this as the actual guage of missionary zeal among us. We can attend anniver- saries, and make speeches, and indulge in the 14 luxury of pleasant feeling, better than we can go into our closets and pray, ‘ Thy kingdom come,” and better than we can write, ‘* Holiness to the Lord,” on all our possessions and enjoyments. Alas! we have very little of the mind that was in him who cried out in relation to this work, “How am I straitened till it be accomplished!” . Never shall we act with energy until we have more of the Spirit of God. This is no time for self-felicitation. If we are in advance of some by-gone ages, we fall most re- proachfully behind the feeling and effort of primi- tive times. The records of the struggles of the early disciples of the Saviour with the paganism of the world, brief as these records are, furnish proof of the most conclusive kind, against us. How they toiled and suffered, we well know, for the statement is, that to their power, yea, and beyond their power, they gave of their substance, praying the Apostles with much entreaty, to take upon them the ministering to the Saints. No wonder that the word of the Lord grew mightily and pre- vailed. Calamitous as the times were, we find the religion of the crucified one triumphing, in a few centuries, over ten violent persecutions, and then, instead of being shorn of her strength, putting on the purple, and sitting down on the throne of the Cesars. . But now, alas, half our strength has to be expended in trying to keep our enterprise up to lines already reached. Instead of onward moye- es i EP 15 ments, enlarging year by year, to correspond with the calls, which an open world, and fields every- where white to the harvest, are addressing to us, we seem, so far as men and money, and new stations are concerned, to be almost stationary ; and this too, at a time when every branch of secular business is borne forward on such a tide of prosperity, as the land has never known before. Why this falling off from the zeal and self-denial of the first disciples? Only give us the same implicit faith in the realities of the world to come, the same abiding conviction of the value of the soul, the same unshaken reliance on the blood of the cross, and above all, the same accompanying influence of the Spirit of God, and we can work as well as primitive believers. As for external means and resources, we are better off than they ever were. Not only have we wealth on our side, which they had not, and science, which they had not, and the countenance of civil governments, which they had not, but we have the Bible trans- lated, and the means of translating it, into almost every language under heaven. We can do what they did—carry the gospel to every city—and then we can do what they did not, and could not do— leave copies of the word of God in every city. So far as resources are concerned, and acquaint- ance with the condition of the world, and rapidity of communication with lands afar off, we have advantages over all the friends of the Redeemer, of past ages, inspired and uninspired. But in one 16 thing, many of them excelled us. They felt, as I fear we do not, their need of power from on high, and go where they might, they seem to have carried with them a never failing assurance that, when they planted and watered, God would give the increase. This was their grand distinction over modern times. It was not simply that they could speak with tongues, having never learned them—it was not that it was given them in the same hour what they should say—nor was it that they could confirm their testimony by signs and wonders following. These things did not change the hearts of honorable men and women not a few. It was not thus that a great company of the priests became obedient to the faith. ‘There must be along with all this, and in addition to it all, the working of that same power, which wrought in Christ, when he was raised from the dead, to give the truth any saving effect. This they sought, and this they enjoyed. Oh, had we the same confidence in divine aid, we should go forward with energy, and a voice would soon be heard, say- ing to the North, give up; and to the South, keep not back. Bring thy sons from far, and thy daughters from the ends of the earth. For my part I despair of ever seeing the church come up to any suitable standard of praying, and giving, and doing, until the Spirit is more copiously poured upon us from on high. Nothing else can reach the secret place of feeling in these cold bosoms of ours, or indite those effectual, fervent sup- plications which avail much, or open the purse of 17 this money-loving generation. We are shut up to this single resource. It only remains to say, If]. That the Spirit must be given us, or we shall never see our efforts crowned with success. In no other way can one chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight. There is something in a simple dependence on divine help, which will not fail to impart to our labors a character so earnest and decided as to betoken a favorable result ; while, at the same time, it will be sure to invest them with a becoming air of sobriety and self-distrust. We always work best ourselves, when we feel that God is working in us both to will and to do. This is an infallible cure for despondency. How can diffi- culties, be they what they may, depress the man who really believes that the heart of the imperious Brahmin, the fiery Druze, or the degraded Zulu, is in the hand of the Lord, as the clay in the hand of the potter? ‘This is encouragement enough. The floods may lift up—the floods may lift up their voice —yea, the floods may lift up their waves, but thou, O Lord, on high, art mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. If we only use the right means, in the right way, failure is impossible. Long ago was the matter settled that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head ; and how can we entertain a doubt, as we trace this promise on, and find it amplified and rendered more distinct by successive prophets of the Most High, until at length God is 3 18 manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. It is no more an open question whether nations shall come bending to him, and kings bow down before him. This point is fixed, and all misgiving is sinful. Once it was sublimely said, Fear not, you carry Cesar and his fortunes; but now it is said, in language of far higher and nobler sublimity, Fear not, for God is with you, and sooner or later your work shall be rewarded. Confidence in an invisible arm is, of itself, an element of prosperity. Read the history of men who have been strong, and done exploits in the world, and you will find that they were carried steadily forward by a confidence, which scarcely ever forsook them, in supernatural aid. It was so with that remorseless tyrant who styled himself the Scourge of God—it was so with Cortes, as he trampled unoffending nations under his bloody feet—it was so with Cromwell, when he bound kings with chains and princes with fetters of iron—it was so with Washington, as he lifted up his head serenely above the clouds and storms of the Revolution—it was so, in a better, higher, nobler sense, with Luther, and Whitfield, and Paul. Nothing so nerves the arm and strengthens the heart, as confidence in God. Who art thou, O great mountain! Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. This is a point which we ought to ponder again and again. I grant that the gospel which we are 19 laboring to send out over the world, is so little after man, as well in the doctrines it inculcates, as in the duties it enjoins, that we can have no hope of its ultimate and universal triumph, but in the belief of an accompanying divine operation. This is true everywhere. Even here, among ourselves, where a general Christian sentiment exists, where the laws and usages of society favor a profession of godli- ness, and where the labors of the preacher are enforced by living epistles for Christ, known and read of all men——we have nothing else to depend upon. What, then, shall we do without the Spirit of God in a work which carries us out far beyond the range of all evangelical influence? Those who go forth to convert men in lands where every train of thought, and every prejudice of education, and every habit of life, are cast in a pagan mould, must find themselves weak as babes, except as they are girded with strength from on high. But here light breaks in upon us. No antece- dent preparation is necessary to encourage our hopes, when we carry the gospel to the dark places of the earth. The footsteps of Revelation do not require to be preceded by the march of science, nor does the efficacy of the story of the Cross need to be prepared for by any previous cul- ture of mind or manners. So far as respects such auxiliaries, the gospel is competent to go alone. We may safely give it as a first lesson. The sim- ple recital of God’s plan of saving men, attended by that almighty influence which we are fully justi- 20 fied in expecting, meets the savage and tames him, the barbarian and civilizes him, the Hottentot and elevates him, the Dyak and subdues him. An omnipotent energy goes along with the oft-repeated tale. We may liken it to the silent and noiseless influence of the sun, visiting us with his morning beams, and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race —or to the quiet and serene efficacy of the dew, as it descends with the shades of the evening, to spread fertility abroad over the earth. These ener- gies are so mild in their movements, as not to awaken infancy in its cradle, or disturb old age on its weary bed. But quiet and potent as are such operations of nature, they are only emblems of an equally quiet, though infinitely more potent opera- tion of grace which, in the manifold wisdom of God, is made to attend the simple annunciation of the gospel. We rest with confidence here. It is the purpose of the Father thus to give the Son a seed to serve him. On the strength of a prediction so encour- aging, we may press forward, assured that God will take out of the nations a people for himself, and that in no tribe or city, where the gospel is faith- fully preached, will there fail to be a remnant, according to the election of grace. What if our efforts are powerless in themselves? We have only, in obedience to the divine command, to fill the valley of Edom with ditches, and the water to supply them will, in due time, come, either from the clouds, or the bowels of the earth. Moses hesi- 21 tated about attempting to deliver his brethren. But he, at length, went on, and the Nile was turned into blood, and hail stones and coals of fire descend- ed, and darkness covered the land—and the first born died—and Pharaoh let the people go. Noth- ing is too hard for the Lord. Jesus is to see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied, and the Spirit, in the hearts of believers, is to secure to him this reward. We anticipate the time, when France, with her little remnant of true faith revived, shall build again her long since dilapi- dated Huguenot temples—when the active pene- trating mind of Germany shall work out a second Reformation, more glorious than the first—and when all Europe shall inquire after the old paths, and re- cover the precious doctrine of justification by faith. India too, with her idolatrous sons, including the kingdoms which have gone after the false Prophet, with his crescent, his battle field, and his sensual Paradise—and China, at whose walls we were so long and so anxiously waiting, with all her uncount- ed millions shall welcome the gospel of the blessed God. Yes, and even Africa, poor Africa, steeped in crime and sorrow at home, and everywhere abroad goaded and peeled by the bloody whip of the task- master, shall come forward and lift up her head among the ransomed nations, and rejoice in the liberty wherewith Christ sets his people free. These lands are all to join our own, with her noble_ rivers, her extensive lakes, her beautiful prairies, and her lofty mountains, in placing the crown upon 22 the head of Immanuel. Blessed prospect! May God hasten it in his time! Nay more—reality already begins to mingle with prediction, and accomplishment follows upon the heels of anticipation. When we reflect upon the steady and long continued blessings which have descended upon our labors at Ceylon—the wonders of mercy wrought in the Sandwich Islands—almost renewing the days of old—the solemn movement among the Armenians, bringing forth in such lovely forms all the fruits of the Spirit—and the convictions and conversions now occurring in the midst of the Nestorians, it seems to me, if we should altogether hold our peace, the very stones would ery out. With all that has thus been predicted, and all that has thus been achieved spread out together before our eyes, can it be deemed premature to say: O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid—say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. : Such, fathers and brethren, are some of the views which it seemed to me important to present, on this occasion. Called to the discharge of a duty, which no one can expect to perform a second time, it has been my heart’s desire and prayer to God, to be led to suggest such trains of thought, as might benefit myself and my fellow laborers in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. This object I have sought to gain, by fixing our minds on the Holy Spirit of 23 promise, as our good hope in seeking to convert the world. Now, as we sit here, and contemplate all this, what is the first feeling that springs up im every pious bosom? I speak for you, disciples of the Saviour! It is one of gratitude to God—gratitude that we ourselves have heard the joyful sound, and been brought to bow to the sceptre of King Jesus; gratitude that to us is given the privilege of being almoners of salvation to a lost world—a privilege which Gabriel before the throne might covet—and gratitude that we have the pledge of an influence to accompany our efforts, which shall eventually cause the truth everywhere to triumph. It is for this, among other reasons, that we are kept a little while out of heaven. Christ will have us suffer with him, and labor with him, that we may, at length, be more fully glorified together. Our business then is, not to sit down content with the fact that we have been begotten again unto a lively hope, by the resurrec- tion of Jesus Christ from the dead; or to rejoice in trophies already won ; or successes already gained among the heathen, but to gird up our loins anew for a further onset upon the kingdom of darkness. For this we have special encouragement in the times in which our lot is cast. Never is it to be forgotten, that we are not only living under what the apostle calls the ministration of the Spirit, but we are now approaching that period of it, when developments of mercy are to be expected, more numerous and striking than have distinguished any 24, pastage. The great promise of the Old Testament was fulfilled eighteen hundred years ago. Then it was that wisdom built her house, and hewed out her pillars, and killed her beasts, and mingled her wine, and furnished her table, and ever since she has been sending out her maidens, and crying in the high places of the cities. But we want one blessing more; the promise of the New Testament, the pouring out of the Spirit. An atonement has been made, commensurate with the exigencies of the world, and all that we can need additional is, the coming of that blessed Comforter, whose presence in the church is more than a compensation for the departure of the Saviour. This is the gift in which are wrapped up the destinies of the race. Nothing else can keep alive the missionary zeal of the church. It will not do to rely upon such highly wrought descriptions of the sorrows of those who hasten after another god, as the talents and eloquence of the friends of this good cause may now and then give. Emotion may, in this way, be ex- cited in our breasts, and tears drawn from our eyes. But we cannot calculate upon feeling thus awaken- ed; the fountain is not full enough. The impres- sion is not abiding enough. Besides, the oft-re- peated looking upon the miseries of heathenism, apart from all divine influence, like familiarity with any other miseries, must tend to harden rather than soften the heart. We need to be impelled by a higher motive. To hold out in such a work as this, we must have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. 25 Hence, too, arises all our encouragement. Faith in the efficacy of the gospel, when preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, is the mainspring of every effort to save the heathen. Man’s utter ruin is a fact, written so clearly upon every page of the Bible, and portrayed so vividly in the whole history of the race, that it cannot be gainsaved. That the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin is also a fact, which no believer in revelation can hesitate for a moment to admit. Now, all that is necessary is for the remedy to be applied to the disease, and that is done, done effectually and gloriously, when the Spirit takes of the things of Christ, and shows them unto men. This is the agency, which can render our dead and dark world instinct with the presence, and radiant with the beauties of holiness. But alas, we have very little of the special pre- sence of the blessed Spirit. The discouragements, which press upon us, and weaken our strength in the work, come not, I am sorry to say, from the other side of the globe, but arise from the state of the churches in our own land. There is nothing disheartening in the intelligence which reaches us from abroad, but we are grieved with the lukewarm- ness at home. We are not straitened in the pro- mise, or providence, or grace of God, but we are straitened, most sadly straitened, by the apathy, and worldliness, and declension of the church. Oh, fora general and powerful revival of religion! We must have it. The work cannot advance in any other J 26 way. Itis impossible for the stream to rise above the fountain. A permanently flourishing state of personal reli- gion furnishes the only soil, in which such a plant as this can strike its roots so deeply, as to live and grow. Secure for us more vital piety here at home, more communion with God, more sympathy with the Saviour in his great work, and a more cordial reliance on the aids of the good Spirit—month by month, and year by year—and there need be no further fear that the cause of Christian missions will be forgotten. We cannot labor, with any heart, for those in foreign lands, while we feel no concern for our next-door neighbors. We cannot offer earnest prayer, and give cheerfully of our substance, to save the heathen, while we are careless about the pros- pects of our own children and friends. Only let the Spirit be shed upon us, in copious measure, and from those very churches among us, which now seem like a wilderness, shall waters break out, and where all looks now like a desert, streams of salva- tion shall go forth. Our duty, Christian friends, all converges toa single point. It is prayer, prayer—prayer for the Spirit that we need. Such prayer as was offered by that little band that waited at Jerusalem for the promise of the Father. Such prayer as Brainerd offered on the banks of the Susquehanna, and Mar- tyn on the plains of India. Such prayer as was offered by the dying Backus, when he asked for the privilege of getting out of his bed, to lift up his soul 27 once more to God. This isa blessing which we cannot do without. I would call, then, upon every blood-bought disciple of the Saviour here this eve- ning; | would lift up my voice in notes loud enough to reach every Christian in the land; 1 would send out an affectionate exhortation to our brethren and sisters abroad, and say, Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Go ask your Father in heaven, that the coming twelve months may be signalized everywhere, among the churches here and at all our missionary stations in nominal Christendom, and in lands of pagan darkness, by the pouring down upon us of the Spirit of God. I feel emboldened to press this point, because I know that if that voice could reach us again, to which we loved to listen on these hallowed occa- sions, and which was heard in tones of such sublime serenity, amidst the ocean’s roar and the work of death, it would be lifted up with more than all its former pathos and power, to charge us to pray for the Spirit of God. Two things, that beloved brother never forgot—the atonement of Christ, and the work of the Spirit. I knew him well from the time when his face was first irradiated with the smiles of a newly cherished hope, until the Master came, in the midst of storm and waves, and dark- ness, to call him to himself; and I can testify, that never, at home or abroad, in the repose of his own 28 ~ te, fireside, or the fatigues of journeys, did he forget his indebtedness to Christ and the Spirit.) ) > Blest saint! His voice is hushed, but his exam- ple shall not be lost upon us. His presence is no more seen here, but we will remember the cheerful and confiding features of his face. We miss’ him from our assemblies, but we know that he still — the heathens); svi. svie $e) ve That good man is gone, and we shall never all meet again. Whatever acquaintance most of us can hope to have in this world, we are forming now in this holy convocation, while deliberating on the " great interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom among men, and renewing our pledges of fidelity to him over the symbols of his broken body, and shed blood. Oh, may our intercourse be such that we’shall review it with pleasure, when we come to cast our crowns at the feet of Immanuel. MR. NORTON’S SERMON BEFORE THE Missionary Society. PAITH ON THE SON OF GOD NECESSARY TO EVERLASTING LIFE. SERMON Massachusetts Missionary Soctety, AT THEIR Eleventh Annual Meeting, IN BOSTON, May 29, 1810. BY JACOB NORTON, A. M. PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN WEYMOUTH. BOSTON : PRINTED BY LINCOLN & EDMANDS, NO. 53, CORNHILL. 1810, AT A MEETING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS MISSIONARY SOCIETY, MAY 30, 1810,— Vorep, That the Rev. Dr. Hopkins and the Rev. Dr. Austin be a Committee to wait on the Secretary, and, in the name of the Society, to thank him for his Sermon, preached before them last evening, and re- quest a copy for the Press. Jacop Norron, Sec. - ac A few sentences in the subsequent Discourse were, for want of time, omitted in its delivery. - SERMON. Joun 1. 36. HE THAT BELIEVETH ON THE SON HATH EVERLASTING LIFE. ALL men, by nature, are the children of wrath. Not only, while in this situation, are they exposed to the future and ever- lasting wrath of Almighty God ; but they are the objects of his immediate wrath. How wretched is their condition! But, blessed be God, it is not hopeless. Deliverance from their de- plorable wretchedness is an obtainable mercy. Faith in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the condition, or method, spe- cified in the gospel, by which this mercy is to be obtained. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. To him “there is no condemnation.” The believer only is the subject of this unspeakably great and precious favour ; for, ‘* he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” : In further attending to the text, I shall distinctly consider, I. The object of faith. Tl. |The nature of faith. III. The consequence of faith. The object of faith is first to be considered. The object of faith, as specified in the text, is ‘ the Son ;” who, in the context, is styled “* the Son of Man,” and * the only begotten Son of God ;” and who, by different names, and ina variety of views, is frequently exhibited in the gospel, as the ob- ject of faith: * Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” <“* We believe, and are sure that thou art that Christ,” the Messiah, whose advent had been the subject of pro- 6 ‘ phietic declaration. ‘Whom God hath set forth to bea propi- tiation, ‘through faith in his blood.” « If thou shalt believe in him, that God hath raised from the dead, thou shalt bé'saved.” In these passages the object of faith is the same, although diver- sified by name and circumstance. "To believe in Jesus as the Son ofGod ; as the Christ ; as that illustrious personage of whom Moses and the prophets wrote ; as the propitiatory sacrifice, and as the ascended Redeemer and Intercessor, implies essentially the same thing. And it is obvious to observe that much more is implied in thus believing, than is literally expressed. Faith in the Son of God, according to its true meaning and just ex- tent, is nothing less than the chef of ‘the truth,” as exhibited in the gospel by Jesus Christ and his apostles. J Tu the same comprehensive sense, God the Father is some- times the specified object of faith. “¢ Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” With pecu- liar emphasis our Saviour observed, * Verily, verily, he that be- lieveth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.” When the object of faith is not distinctly specified, the report, or general truth of the gospel, is intended. ‘* He that believeth shall be saved.” WKLY ¥ The truth, as contained in the gospel, however summarily ex- pressed, is the object of faith. Il. fam to consider the nature of faith. This consists in the assent of the mind to the revealed truth, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; or, that the contents of his gospel are true. The simple assent of the mind to gospel truth does not, indeed, con- stitute the whole of that faith, which stands connected with, or involves everlasting life ; nor does it necessarily imply the exis« tence of faith of this description. Of “many of the rulers” of the Jewish nation, in the time of our Saviour’s ministry, itis said they “¢ believed on him ;”” yet, as they ‘loved the praise of men, more than the praise of God,” it is not to-be supposed that their faith was of the saving kind, or, that they were the subjects of everlasting life. Their belief of the truth not working by love, was essentially defective. It was but a dead faith; and there- fore unavailable to salvation. And such, itis tobe apprehended, is the faith of many at the present day. Destitute of a living and powerful spring of action, it fails to ensure to the subjects of it ev- erlasting life, The faith, which is available to this end, is, in its 7 nature, discriminative and special.. It implies not only the assent of the mind to its proper object, but the consent of the heart. Dhere is nothing, indeed, in faith of a moral or saving nature, aside from this pear or the exercise of the ‘inner man.” The receiving of Christ, and believing on the name of Chnst, are expressions, which, in the gospel, import the same thing. “ To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believeon his name.” Does the receiving of Christ imply that the heart spontaneously, and with affectionate regard, unbars and unfolds its doors to admit and welcome in “this King of glory?” Such, then, are the ideas conveyed by ‘¢ believing on his name.” 1 The eating of the flesh, and the drinking of the blood of Christ, are expressions descriptive of suving faith. ‘* Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” ‘This is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” These are the declarations of * the faithful and true Witness,” who holds *¢ the keys of hell and of death.” The res- urrection to life is, exclusively, the promised reward of faith ; for ‘* he that believeth not shall not see life.” But as the same reward is promised to the eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of Christ, it is obvious that the exercise of thus eating and drinking, is essentially the same, as the exercise of faith, Now as the exercise of eating and drinking with reference to the flesh and blood of Christ, implies hungering and thirsting of soul af- ter him, and the gratification of these appetites by him, as the all-sufficient Saviour, it is evident that these ideas are implied in saving faith. Charity or love is implied in saving faith, and is inseparable from it. Independent of love, no faith, however correct in its kind, is either acceptable to God, or profitable to man. Sensi- ble of this, the apostle to the Gentiles observes, “* Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” “ In Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love; by love, as its main spring, or vital principle. Iv is not less true that ‘the body without the spirit is dead,” than 8 that “faith,” without this vital, working prineiple, «is dead also.” Love is that animating and operative quality of faith, which forms its moral character, and by which its graces, forti- tude, hope, and patience, are exercised and supported ; and by which all its visible fruits are produced and nourished. The expression coming to Christ, is illustrative of the nature of saving faith, and conveys, indeed, essentially the same idea. Accordingly Christ himself observes, «« He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” As hungering and thirsting are sensations and desires of soul, which involve each other and import essentially the same thing, so, itis evident that coming to Christ is but another expression for believing on him, But does not this imply the Slowing forth of the affections of the heart towards Christ, as the object of its love, and the source of its supreme delight and joy? From the view which has already been exhibited of saving faith, and from subsequent observations, it must appear, that it involves genuine or evangelical repentance. Both by Christ himself, and his herald, John the baptist, repentance was incul- cated, not only as an important duty, but as necessary to the re- mission of sin. ‘John did preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins ;”? and Jesus Christ taught, that «re. pentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.” Agreeably, we find the first heralds of the gospel enjoining, ‘¢ repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” Andit was the declaration of Christ to sinners in common, ‘except ye repent, ye shall all perish.’ These passages clearly shew that repentance is an indispensable requisite to the remission of sin; and of course, to everlasting life. But do not the scriptures as unequivocally teach, that faith is avail- able, through Christ, to the obtainment of these great and un- speakably precious blessings? “¢ To him,” to Jesus Christ, “gave all the prophets witness, that through his name, whoso- ever believeth in him, shall receive remission of sins.” «« These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”’ As faith in Jesus Christ will effectually secure to the subject of it, on the plan of the gospel, the remission of sins and eternal life, and yet, as these blessings cannot be secured, 9 but by the exercise of repentance, does it not appear that faith and repentance not radically and essentially the same ? Saying faith, from scripture representation, appears to com- prise the whole of Christian exercise, or evangelical obedience. ‘« This,” said our Saviour to the Jews, ‘‘is the work of God, that ye believe on him, whom he hath sent.” The sum of duty, the work which God requires of you, is comprehended in faith. Believing on the Messiah is that exercise of heart and life, in which obedience to the gospel consists. Agreeably with this idea is the observation of the apostle to the Gentiles. ‘* The life which I now live in the flesh, I dive by the faith of the Son of God.” Faith in Jesus Christ constitutes my christian charac- ter. In this consists my christian course, or obedience to the gospel. That saving faith is essentially the same as evangelical obedience, is further evident from the consideration, that Christ is the “ Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him,” and yet that he is the Author of this salvation to those on- ly, who believe on him. The truth is, that * faith without works is dead.” Works, or evangelical obedience, are as essential to the existence of saying faith, as is the spirit, ‘to the existence of the living man. ‘In Christ Jesus neither circumcision avail- eth any thing, nor uncireumcision, but faith which worketh by love ;” ‘a new creature ;” ‘the keeping of the commandments of God.” This variety of expression does not convey variety in meaning, but one andthe same idea. The faith which work- eth by love is but another expression for a new creature, and the keeping of the commandments of God. Saving faith, then, is essentially the same as good works, or evangelical obedience. The subject of this faith isa new man in Christ; created in Christ Jesus unto good works; the gospel penitent ; the chris- tian convert. Ina word, he is, and does, whatever is necessary to, and stands connected with everlasting life. Ill. The consequence of faith is now to be considered. This, in the text, is summarily expressed by everlasting life. This life, in embryo, commences indeed simultaneously with saving faith, and is, in some respects, essentially the same thing. Such is the connection between them, that each is essential to the ex- istence of the other. Although faith, in the future world, will not be the same, as in the present state of existence, with rela- B 10 , tion to circumstance, in a variety of views, - ‘its’ nature will never become extinct, nor be subject to ess@mts ‘cha nge. Its existence wili be commensurate with the existence of its subject, lasting as eternity. These remarks, if correct, evince that eve lasting life cannot, in some respects’ at least, be distinguish- ed from saving faith, as an effect is distinguishable from its cause. In every true believer on earth, Tera tans life has commenced its existence. He hath eternal life abiding in him, which is a foretaste and sure pledge to him, of life eternal in the heavenly world, the glorious consequence and gest) mation of faith as exercised in the present life. “f At death, believers, in consequence of their faith, will be- come the subjects of everlasting life in a perfected state, to the exclusion of every thing avenea" in the idea of death. Into heaven, the region of life and light, neither sickness, pain, disap- pointment, sorrow, darkness, perplexity, nor death of any kind,’ will find admittance, to disturb the blest inhabitants. The un- interrupted and complete fruition of every thing implied in ife, will be their everlasting portion, their exetodane great reward. Complete in holiness, their joy will be unspeakable and fall of glory. Beholding the transcendent beauties and unclou ided glories of Him who sitteth upon the throne, and of the Lamb, their affections will glow with the most pure and holy ardor._ Towards each other they will exercise the most refined benevolence; and love, the most unfeigned, fervent, unmixed. Seeing eye to eye, and conscious to ee other’s views and feel- ings, the countless myriads of the heavenly inhabitants will par- ticipate in each other’s joys; and mingling their purified and strong affections, they will become united with the most sacred, blissful and indissoluble bond. The amazing, the boundless extent and infinite variety of creation ; the wisdom, the harmo- ny and wonders of providence, and the surpassing ‘wonders and. ineffable grace and glories of redemption, will, clearly, and with the most impressive energ’y, strike upon head admiring view, and overwhelm their enraptured souls. The vast capaci- ties of their minds, continually enlarging, will unceasingly be filled with love and joy unspeakable. On the never cloying fruits of the tree of life, will they feast to the prevention of pain~ ful hunger ; and of the river of the water of life, pure without mixture, and clear as chrystal, will they forever drink, to the pre- ll yention of irksome thirst, In the view of all that is great; and glorious, — and excellent, and with supreme love to uncreated beauty and infinite loveliness, they will attuneanthems of rap- turous praise *‘ to him who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” How pure the joys above! how refined, how exalted the happmess of heaven! This happiness to endless ages will endure ; to endless ages will increase. But how feeble, O, how feeble is language to express, how inadequate is the most capa- cious mind fully to conceive, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the beatitude of saints in glory! But all, all is the reward, or consequence of faith. This is that everlasting life of which every true believer has a foretaste in this wore, and which he will completely enjoy in the world to come. IMPROVEMENT. 1. In the view of this discourse, is it not obvious to remark, that between saving faith and error in religious sentiment, ex- ists a direct repugnance? Whatever may be the apologies for error of this kind, or however trivial it may appear in the view of modern catholicism, we are constrained to believe that it may, and not unfrequently does furnish unequivocal evidence, that the subject of it is destitute of the faith, or temper of the gos- pel. The report of the gospel is faithful and true. It is sig- nificant; and its meaning is clear and definite. This report, or the object of faith, is to be believed according to its real meaning or design. It were indeed a palpable solecism, to say that the object of faith is truly believed, when that object is neither seen, nor rightly conceived by the understanding, Can it reasonably be admitted that the man, who thinketh that <¢ God is altogether such an one as himself,’’ that Jesus Christ << the true God,” who created all things, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,” was himself a creature, and a descendant of Joseph and Mary by ordinary generation ! that «there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit,” and that unbelievers, so dying, will not be “punished with everlasting destruction,” nor be subject even to temporary punishment? Can it, my brethren, reasonably be admitted, that the man, who thus believes, is the subject of saving faith? Although with ‘ fiery zeal’’ he may claim the christian name, his cannot @ 12 be “the faith which was once deliveréd unto the saints.” T6 believe “ another gospel,’’ although it © is not another,” but in construction only, is incompatible with the « faith of the Son of God ;” nor can any one become the dispenser or advocate of this other gospel, without i ineurring the curse of Him, by white ins spiration the true gospel was given. 1 By these remarks it is not intended to ‘adiieelades that every de- gree of error in sentiment, respecting the report of the gospel, is inconsistent with saving faith. The faith of the true believer is not unmixed with error. But from this circumstance it is not to be inferred, that there is no repugnance between erroneous sentiment and the faith of the gospel, which ensures everlasting life. Religious error, even in the lowest degree, is unfriendly to this faith. Ina high degree, it is inconsistent with its existence. Distinctly to mark this degree will not be attempted. We will only say that essentially wrong notions, respecting the prominent and. fundamental articles of our holy religion, are incompatible with the “faith of God’s elect.” To believe that falsehood is’ truth, will surely never make a truth of that falsehood. 'To sub- stitute darkness for light, as the object of our affections, is sure- ly inconsistent with the love of light. Nor will supreme attach- ment to moral error, qualify the soul, either for the present or fu- ture enjoyment of moral truth. Indeed, the capital errorist, with respect to the doctrines of the gospel, is, by just construc- tion, the infidel, . 2. Unbelief, in the sense of the gospel, is but another name. for sinful depravity, Saving faith, we have seen, comprises the whole of the christian character, or evangelical obedience. But is not this faith in direct opposition to unbelief? Is if not evi- dent, therefore, that unbelief implies depravity of heart, and is not distinguishable from it? Did it consistin merely erroneous sentiment or speculation, this would not, indeed, be its charac~ ter ; for no exercise of the understanding is, strictly speaking, of amoral nature. Neither the assent, nor the dissent of this faculty with respect to any proposition, can be of a moral na- ture, as such assent or dissent is not dependent on the will, but is the necessary result of real or apparent evidence, or the want of such evidence in relation to the truth of the supposed rig ne sition, No speculative opinions, considered as simply the exer- cisesof the understanding, which is not a moral faculty, can 13 possess a moral quality. They may indeed be, and not un- frequently are, a just index to the state of the heart; but pos- sess no quality which belongs to the heart. But-unbelief, ac- cording to the scripture sense of the word, is seated in the heart, and comprises all its unholy exercises, and is as truly a forbidden sin, as faith is a commanded duty. ‘Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in depart- ing from the living God.” Not only is unbelief a sin, a great sin; but it is virtually the sum or aggregate of every sin. It “makes God a liar,” rejects the Son of God as the Saviour, and does despite to the Holy Spirit. It disobeys all the divine commands, and disregards all the divine ordinances’ and insti- tutions. Its true character, in one word, is disobedience. 3. Does it not appear, in the light of this discourse, that it is incorrect, and tends to confusion of thought, to represent evan- gelical obedience, or good works, as resulting from faith, in like manner as an effect results from its cause? Not unfrequently writers on the subject of faith, distinguish it from evangelical obedience, as pre-existing that obedience, and a8, in its nature, essentially distinct from it. As the altar sanctifieth the gift, so, according to this representation, obedience or good works, which otherwise would be unacceptable to God, are, through the medium of faith, rendered grateful to the pure eyes of his holiness. But is not this distinction a departure from the sim- plicity of the gospel ? Is it not an invention of human wis- | dom, bewilderimg to the mind, and dangerous in its tendency ? | Since “ faith worketh by love,” as its spring of operation, and “love is the fulfilling of the law,” or ‘the keeping of the com= _ mandments of God,” it obviously appears that it is essentially _ the same thing, as evangelical obedience ; and cannot, either in theory or practice, be separated from it. And when it is con-= _ sidered, that to make a distinction where there is no difference, is ‘to darken counsel by words without knowledge,” to ‘ cor- rupt the mind from the simplicity that is im Christ,” and to ob- scure the light of truth, we cannot but censure this distinction, as “* savouring, not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” 4. Assaving faith includes the whole of evangelical obedience, it is apparent that its various denominatiots arise from circum-~ stantial considerations, With respect te occasion, circumstance, 14 and object, much variety exists in the operation of faith, This instamps upon it, not variety of nature, but variety only i in form and in name. According to the different views and cireum- stances, in which saving faith is exercised, it is called faith, love, repentance, hope, meekness, goodness, trust in God ; aud by a variety of other appropriate names, But diversity in name and variety in form does not destroy or affect identity of nature. This remark will, with much pertinency, apply to the case be- fore us. When saving faith is exercised immediately towards God, as a being “ glorious in holiness,” it is denominated Jove. When it is exercised towards him as an offended being, in ap- probation of his character and conduct with respect to: sin and the sinner, and in suitably ‘‘ condemning sin in the flesh,” it is denominated repentance. When it is exercised im relation to the glorious realities of the heavenly world, the ‘life and im- mortality which are brought to light, in the ers and which are promised to all the faithful, it is denominated hope; vand when it terminates on Christ, in the exercise of trust in him, as the only and all-sufficient Saviour, it is called by its compre- hensive name, faith. These examples are sufficient to evince the propriety and importance of diversifying faith, as to name, while its nature is one and indivisible. : 5. The doctrine of justification by faith rhe it appears, from what has been advanced in this discourse, is a doctrine strictly <‘ according to godliness.” It furnishes no encourage- ment to spiritual sloth, or licentious pursuits. As saving faith imcludes the whole of evangelical obedience, it is evident that none can be ina justified state, who neglect to obey the gospel of Christ. To advocate the doctrine of justification by faith alone, is but to advocate the doctrine of justification by gospel obedience ; for this obedience is ‘‘ the obedience of faith,” The preaching of this doctrine, so far from having a dangerous ten- dency, either with respect to the cause of religious and moral truth, or the salvation of the souls of men, is the only method to be pursued, ‘which is favourable to their security and promo- tion. This doctrine is indeed liable to abuse. “* They that are unlearned and unstable” may, and it is to be feared not unfre- quently do, * wrest” it, ‘¢ as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” But the doctrine is not surely the less scriptural or important, because it is perverted to evil and — destructive purposes, we 13 ‘Faith, indeed, is not to be considered as the meritorious ground or reason of justification. This is the “ redemption which isin Christ Jesus.” Faith is only the condition, or ne- cessary pre-requisite to a justified state ; therefore, although indispensably necessary to justification, it is wholly excluded as the meritorious ground, or reason of its bestowment. The grant of this blessing is made, solely with a view to, or on ac- count of the mediatorial work of Christ; the most important part of which, was his making “his soul an offering for sin.” 6. It is to be inferred from this discourse that the unbeliever will, so dying, be excluded from everlasting life, and doomed to all the evil or suffering, implied in his exclusion. This in- ference is expressed by the words immediately succeeding the text. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Destitute of that life, which is the commencement and pledge of life everlasting, he shall never see, never enjoy this life. In the present state of existence, eligible as his situation in other respects may be, he is a stranger to the happiness, which results from believing in Je- sus; and which only is capable of satisfying the vast desires of the immortal mind. “Like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest,” he is far from peace. Whatever of pleasure he may enjoy in sin, it is but “as the crackling of thorns under a pot,” which make a transient and tumultuary blaze, to be succeeded by cheerless and gloomy darkness. Nor will he ever see the light of life, but be forever excluded from that world, whose light is the glory of God and the Lamb. | Not only is the unbeliever a stranger to all permanent and sat- | ~ isfying happiness in this world, and is to be forever excluded from happiness in the world to come; but the wrath of God abideth on him; now abideth on him; and, dying in this situ- ation, its pressure will sink him down deeper and deeper in the bottomless gulf of hopeless misery and black despair, forever andever. The wrath of God! Not merely displeasure and re- sentment are expressed by this word; but indignation, ven- geance, fury; the highest degree of holy anger. The wrath of God! Not the wrath of an equal, nor the wrath of a man cloth- ed with the power of life and death; but the wrath of the Al- mighty, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, the rocks are rent, the foundations of the everlasting mountains are shaken, the sun 16 is tumed into darkness, and the moon into blood ; and whose frown adds horror to the dark regions of hell. It is the wrath of this great and terrible God, of which the anbeligs ris the wretched subject. The wrath of God abideth. Drea and tremendous as it is, this wrath does not burn with aie flashes, with intermittent corruscations ; “but it abideth, per nently abideth. Like the sun it burns’ and glows with the great- est intensity, and without intermission. The wrath of God a- bideth upon him; upon the unbelieyer, upon . his whole “person, ay and soul united. O, how unspeakably, how indescriba- ly wretched is the condition of the unbelieving sinner ! Under the immediate wrath of Almighty God, and forever to endure that wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture of mer- cy ! Horror of horrors! How dreadful in prospect ! But O, how much more dreadful the endurance to interminable ages | ! Such, such is the consequence of unbelief. 7. Must we not infer from this discourse, that Jews, Mahom- etans and Pagans are subject to the wrath of God, and, that dying in adherence to their respective religions, they will nev- er see life? From this inference, I am not insensible, the benev-~ olent mind is apt to revolt; nor is the inference perhaps ad- missible, but in a qualified construction. It is made with re- ference neither to infants nor ideots; nor indeed, to any but those, who, strictly speaking, are moral and intelligent agents. But with respect to these, whether they be Jews, Mahometans, or Pagans, are we not constrained to believe that this inference is an awful truth! As this is a subject in relation to which no decision is to be made, but in the light of revelation, to this light, and not to the opinions of uninspired men, at Becomes us diligently to take heed. During his ministry among them, our Saviour frequently taught the Jews the necessity of faith im the gospel, in order to justification and life. On a certain occasion, he assured them, in the most unequivocal manner, that they could not obtain remission of sin, but by believing m him, asthe Messiah, “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die m your sins.” This declaration cannot, it should seem, be of doubtful inter- pretation, with respect to those, to whom it was immediately addressed. But can it be less true that: faith i in Christ > was to the Jews an indispensable requisite-to remission of sin, and ey- 17 erlasting life, eighteen centuries past, than it has been in every succeeding period down to the present moment? Is the evi- dence less striking or forcible now, that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, than it was while he dwelt among men, and exhibited his glory ? Rather, has not the evidence of this great and inter- esting truth been accumulating from the reign of Augustus Ceasar, to the present eventful era? And does not this evi= dence. present itself. to the view, and lie on a level with the understanding of every Jew, in every clime? Can it then rea~ sonably be admitted that Jews will obtain remission of sin, and everlasting life, while they reject Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the true Messiah? In doing this, they cannot, surely, be less excusable than were their ancestors, during his. per- sonal ministry among them. Nor will their infidelity, per- sisted in, bring upon them a less awful condemnation. If they believe not that Christ is He, the Son of God, like their infidel ancestors they will assuredly die in their sins. Although the disciples of the Arabian impostor may not ‘om in a situation so criminal as that of the Jews, yet is it not equal- ly dangerous? Mahometan superstition and imposture are surely not less repugnant to faith in Christ, or inconsistent with remission of sin and the bestowment of everlasting life, than Jewish infidelity. The Koran contains a system of religion composed of mis-shapen and heterogeneous materials, which generally are inconsistent with the doctrines _— In the founder of the Mahometan religion™were united all those traits of character, which form a striking contrast to the amiable and divine virtues, which adorned the character of Him, who is the Author and Finisher of our most holy faith. And the religion which that vile impostor propagated, and, which now casts its dark and destructive shade over a great por= tion of the Eastern world, is strikingly characteristic of its au< thor. Destitute of the features, how impious is its claim toa divine original! Denying that Christ is the Son of God, it re- jects as well the Father as. the Son. Although the Koran ac~, knowledges Jesus as a prophet, yet it exalts far above him, its shameless author, ‘ by making him the last great restorer of truth and virtue to the world ;” and by superadding the obliga tion and necessity of believing in him in this character. L 18 What must be the inspiration of that religion which cherishs es the most sensual appetites, is accommodated to the» worst passions, inspires the most erroneous opinions, and nourishés the most inveterate prejudices of the humaw heart!'. A religion - hostile to every noble achievement, ‘and friendly to ignorance, superstition, and all the evils of despotism! Avreligion which represents the God of infinite purity rather as*preseribing laws favourable to heentiousness, than restrictive to thesallies of un- hallowed appetites and sinful propensities; and which, indeed, represents him as an impure and capricious being! A religion which justifies rapine and bloodshed, when exercised against those who do not blindly embrace it, -not-only as in ; but as eminently qualifying its votaries for a paradise of the most sensual and voluptuous enjoyment oy 6) Is not this a religion, my brethren, whose birth is to be traced up to the most selfish and impure designs, and whose tendency and influence are, in every view, the most baleful and perni= cious? Who can doubt the origin frem whieh: it flowed, as its most prominent features are ae “ earthly, sen< sual, devilish ?” ‘ Peael Tobb ed This is the religion sah biotic by the disciples of Mahomet ; and to this religion their attachment is *¢ stronger than death,” But is not the character, the spirit of this religion in direct:con~ trast to “the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ ?? Camit then, in any degree, aay the soul for admittance into “ the kingdom of God, which is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost?” Into this kingdom '*‘nothing shail in any wise enter, that defileth, neither whatsoever work- eth abomination, or maketh a lie.” Is it net, then, a rational aid necessary conclusion, that the Mahometan, who lives under the influence, and dies possessed of that temper, which the re- ligion of the Koran inspires, cannot see life 3) but must be sub- ject to the everlasting wrath of the all holy and jealous God Uncongenial as the Mahometan religion isto the pure spirit of Chieidideitl and inconsistent as it appears with the remission of sin and the bestowment of everlasting life, Paganism is, if pos- sible, less congenial with the spirit of that holy religion ; and jis not less: incompatible with the bestowment of those great and unspeakable blessings. teae some views the Pagan religion’ is AeA aaa 19 more absurd in principle, and more. pone in, practice than the religion. of the Koran, The Mahometan religion is not ca with val impiety of polytheism and grossidolatry, But Paganism furnishes an enor- mous catalogue of deities, to whom it ascribes the ntost disgrace- ful follies and shocking vices; and the worship which it pays to these imaginary beings, is, in many respects, perfectly consistent with the disgraceful and impious attributes, with which it clothes _ them. What, my brethren, can be found in the whole system of Pagan idolatry, calculated to sanctify the sinful affections of the heart, or to raise the soul to the pure and refined joys of im- mortality > Do the scriptures ever timate that there is any connexion between polytheism and everlasting life ? or that pa- gan idolaters will inherit the kingdom of God? ‘* Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord,” the Lord of heaven and earth, shall be saved.” But ‘how shall they (the heathen) callon him, in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not-heard?”’ Ancient Israel having ‘‘ forgotten the law of God, were destroyed for lack of knowledge.’ How then can they be saved, who, “¢ sitting in the region and shadow of death,” are, in a much higher degree, destitute of the knowledge of the truth? How could the Jew- ish expounders of the law hinder those who were entering into the kingdom of God by “taking away the key of knowledge,” if that key were not necessary to their entrance ? Aside from believers or Christians, “‘ the whole world’, in the apostolic age, ‘lay in wickedness.” This is now-the deplorable situation of the Pagan world. But how can they, who are im- mersed in wickedness, and‘die in that state, rise to everlasting life? ** Except aman be born again, he cannot see the king- dom of God.” . This birth is effected, not by the mstrumental- ity of **corruptible seed,” impure and corrupt doctrines; but by ‘“‘incorruptible;” ‘* by the word of God;’ ‘through the gospel’’ of Christ. This is that <¢ good seed,” which, falling on “< good ground, springeth up and beareth fruit an hundred fold.” Bat is fruit to be expected where no seed is sown? ¢ Idolaters shall not inherit the kmgdom of God.’’ But is it to be expect- ed that they-will be brought to renounce idolatry, and be made wise unto salvation, except by the scriptures of truth? To idol- aters the ‘‘ gospel is hid ;’’ but it is hid to them that are lost.” And to those only it seems to be sent, who were ordained ¢g eter- 20 nal life. When it was published. anon iA pts tles of our Lord, we find that ‘as many as were ordained to~ eternal life, believed.” Because there was ** much people” of this description in the idolatrous city of ‘Corinth,’ Paul was ex=- pressly required to preach the gospel in that city. This*gospel | is called “the word of salvation.’ How’ then cam idolaters be | saved but through the instrumentality of its saving light upon ' their minds, and power upon their hearts?" s)he Although we would not peremptorily decide that none will’ be » . saved, who do not enjoy the gospel, and in a direct manner be-~ lieve on the Son of God; yet we donot hesitate to avow the - belief, that if any among the Jews, Mahometans and’ Pagans, * are saved, the number is comparatively very small; and, indeed, | that none among them will be saved, unless they be possessed of » the temper of heart which is pesinnee ‘the faith of God’s” elect.”” oD po ahs Prarae anil erly 8. In the view of this Fiend does it rehash estlye bhp that the sentiment advocated by not a few, at the present day, that it is of but little importance what scheme of religion a man ~ embraces, originates from gross blindness of the heart? How ~ can that religion be “ just to God, or safe for man,” which’ op=~ poses the character exhibited by Christ, during his public min~ + istry on earth, and which rejects the doctrines he taughtand im=~ culcated ? How can the religion, which venerates a vile and © shameless impostor, as the true prophet of God, and which cherishes the desire and expectation of a future reward, coiisist- ‘ing in voluptuousness the most selfish and alluring to the unho- | ly mind, conduct to the pure regions of endless life ? How can — a religion which nourishes ‘¢ vile affections,” which changes the truth of God into a lie,” and which “ worships and serves » the creature more than the Creator,” procure admittancé into that holy city, where nothing in any wise can enter, * that de fileth or maketh a lie?”» And to what source is that latitudi- narian doctrine to be traced, which removes these obstacles to . salvation, but to an evil heart of unbelief, which darkens and . perverts the understanding ? 1 ee RY Mele iene ey We are sometimes told, indeed, that God delights no less in © variety, with respect to religion, than with respect to his works ;_ that variety in religious opinion, like the collision of flmt and steel, elicits the sparks of truth; that it is conducive to much good, and therefore, that this variety, in none of its parts, can 21 beidestructive to the souls of'men. “However specious this rea~ soning, itis, we are persuaded, radically unsound, and danger- ously delusive. No moral or religious error can be pleasing or acceptable in the eyes of infinite purity. Nor is such error the less hateful in the sight of God or good men, nor the less bale- ful and destructive to the subject of it, because, under the direc- tion of divine providence, it is made subservient to good and ex- cellent purposes. The unspeakable and boundless good which resulted from the crucifixion of Christ, cannot surely be urged as an extenuation of the crime of his betrayer, or of his murderers. The truth is, that erroneous doctrines in religion, whether they exist among Jews, Mahometans, Pagans, or Christians, areas really opposed to the revealed will, or command of God, as overt acts of wickedness. Both equally arise from sinful de- pravity, or an evil heart of unbelief; equally contemn the di- vine law, and defame the divine character and administration. Agreeably, the Bible speaks the language of severity and con- demnation with equal plainness against erroneous sentiments, as evil practices. Among these sentiments are to be found ‘¢ damnable heresies,’’ “‘ doctrines of devils,”’ and “the believing a lie,” which terminates in destruction. - And they who preach them are pronounced “‘accursed.””’ Whence, then, but from gross blindness of heart, originates the sentiment, that it is of little importance what system of religion a man adopts, and that no errors in opinion are incompatible with everlasting life ? 9. Does it not appear from what has been advanced in this discourse, that the subjects of saving faith must be engaged in deeds of active and diffusive benevolence? Not only do they wish peace on earth, and exercise good will towards men; but to promote their best interest, is the object of their actual pur- suit. Wain and dead is that faith, which worketh not by love; and vain and useless is that love, which delighteth not to “do good and communicate.’ The faith of the gospel will not fail to manifest itself by visible acts, in doing good to all within the reach of its benign influence. If the subjects of this faith, must we not, my brethren, cheerfully exert ourselves to mel- iorate the condition of our suffering fellow beings, with respect, to this world, and especially, to secure their everlasting happi< ness in the world to come? , 92 . . ' ‘l tft pot! 4 Geta, 00 -) ee Would we be instrumental of effecting in the best manner, this great and benevolent object ? Let us then studiously tal heed to ourselves, in regulating our hearts and our by th faith of the gospel ; by shunning the very “appearance of evi by “adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things 7” by making our light shine with pure, equable and lustre ; thus giving evidence to all around us, that we have co- piously imbibed the spirit of the gospel, and that ‘we ‘feel its holy and | animating influence on our hearts. Of littleavail will be the best precepts, and all other means we may use, to fecting of “ the obedience of faith” in our fellow men, if wnae- companied by soundness of faith and purity of example, To example, we should, with much assiduity, add doctrine, reproof and instruction, when, and wherever there ratueasah for it. This will give weight to example. Exai aple will’ give weight to this. Their joimt infl uence will be likely to produce the most desirable effects, in promoting the fear and love of God in our families, and sobermindedness in the rising genera- tion; in seriously impressing the thoughtless ; in alarming the secure ; in carrying salutary conviction to the minds of the wa- vering and incredulous; and in turning the licentious in senti- ment and practice from their errors, to the love and practice of the truth as it is in Jesus. To these things let us subjoin pra er. A three fold cord possesses strength not easy to be broken. God has the hearts of wicked men in his hands, and it is his tc turn them as the rivers of water are turned. Yet for this 1 he be inquired of by his people to do it for them. “ The effec- tual fervent prayers of the righteous avail much.” Seldom, if ever, does a revival of religion occur in any place or society, but . in answer to fervent prayer. And to this source is not ¢ pase dividual conversion, in some measure at least, t » be’ traced ? With what importunity then, with what fervour, and with what faith unfeigned does it become us to address ourse ves in) yrayer to God, that he would be pleased in merey to succes e ae n- deavours for the salvation of precious, dying souls around us! «« He hath never said to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in va n.” Animating consideration! O that it might quicken us to pour out our souls in strong desires, and to cry mightily unto Him, who heareth and answereth prayer, that those around us who are. . 23 ready to perish, might, by the intervention of saving mercy, be snatched as brands from the burning... _ Aside from these things let us with wisdom and discretion de- vise, and with resolution and energy carry into effect, measures for rendering our civil laws efficaciously a terror to evil doers, a restraint te evil and licentious practices, and an encouragement to whatever is praise worthy and of good report. By suitable exertion in this way, how much might be effected in prevent- ing the profanation of the holy Sabbath, in the suppression of gambling, profane cursing and swearing, intemperance, and a host of other alarming and baleful vices. Nor let uS*View with the languor of indifference, the rage for luxury and extrava- gance, amusements and dissipation, which has risen among us toa height not to paralleled in the past annals of our country. Is nothing to be done to check this rank and growing evil? An- imated with an holy ardor, and influenced by ‘the meekness of wisdom,” may we not do much in this important enterprise ? You will permit me further to suggest, whether, under the influence of that ‘‘ faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is with- out respect of persons,” which <‘seeketh not her own,” and which ‘is without partiality,” it will not be with us an impor- tant object to diminish the violence of political collision; to quench the angry sparks and enkindling flame, which are thence P produced, and to persuade contending parties to substitute, in the room of acrimonious crimination and re-crimination, that ** soft answer which turneth away wrath?” Let us beseech them “ by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” to abandon the madness of ‘casting firebrands, arrows and death,” and gently to place upon each other’s heads those inoffensive, but glowing coals, which shall communicate light to the under- standing, and a genial and melting warmth to the heart. Such, it is believed, must be our conduct, and such the refor- mation which must take place among ourselves, and in the more immediate limits of our influence and exertion, before our energies will reach, to the best advantage, toa more extended circuit. Isit our heart’s desire and prayer to Ged for our breth- ren in the remote settlements of our country, who are famished «< for lack of knowledge,” that they might be saved through the instrumentality of missionary labours? Do we wish with the fairest prospect of success to send the saving truths of the gospel 24 to the tawny and savage tribes of the western wilderness,owho are ready to perish ? Then let us be upand “doing” whatsoever “our , hands find to do, to revive “pure and undefi ”” . ourselves. Let those of us who are vested with the sacre char= acter of ambassadors for Christ, follow with greater assiduity and circumspection, the heavenly steps of our divine Master: Abstracting ourselves as far as practicable from worldly cares and pursuits, let us be more diligent and engaged in-our re= searches after the great and invaluable treasure of gospel truth. Let us exercise and cherish that solicitude,and»loye for the precious souls committed to our charge which are stronger than death. Let us preach the unsearchable riches of Christ with greater plainness, affection and energy, ‘* im season and out of season ;”’ not forgetting, from house to house, to ‘ reprove, re- buke, and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.’ Let us live more like Christians, more like Christian. ministers, hereby exhibiting ‘lucid proof” that we are honest, | zealous, ardent in the sacred cause of God our Saviour, and that for the love we bear to immortal souls, we count not our ease, ‘our enjoymeuts, or even life dear to ourselves. eee Be | Let those of:us who are clothed with civil authority discharge the duties of our office with that fidelity and noble contempt of popular applause which will strike terror into evil doers, and minister encouragement unto those who do well. And let-us all, who have named the name of Jesus, whatever may be. our situation in life, be careful to depart from all iniquity, and to do every thing in our power to recommend to all around us that holy religion which we profess. — neuen loeeanae, Lush Under these circumstances, my brethren, with what fayoura- ble prospect of success should we send forth labourers into the missionary harvest! The purity, the brightness of our faith, our charity and our zeal, would strike a lightsome vista to our frontiers, and into the regions and shadow of \death inhabited by our wretched and perishing fellow beings. Example is ir~ resistably impressive. Its light will dissipate the grossest dark~ ness. Its influence, the most benign, will, like the ¢ leaves of the tree of life, be for the healing of the nations.” 4. Let our brethren, who are destitute, or scantily supplied with religious instruction, but be fully convinced that in sup- plying their wants, we are influenced’by the most pure and dis- 7 25 interested motives; let the impression be deeply made upon their minds that the heralds of the gospel, who visit and labour among them, are sent by those who feel the most tender solici- tude for their everlasting interest, and whose great and leading object is the glory of God, in diffusing as far as possible the savour of the Redeemer’s name and the triumphs of his cross— and what are the desirable and great effects which we might not hope would be produced on their minds, their hearts, their con- duct! With what a glow of holy zeal and heavenly enthusiasm would missionaries, under such circumstances, go forth from among us into the unculiivated vineyard! and with what fideli- ty, energy and success would they discharge the benevolent, though arduous duties of their mission ! Besides, were we but instrumental of effecting so desirable a state of things among ourselves, how great the abundance, which would soon be cast into the treasury, for the building up of Zion! The hearts, the hands of all would be opened. Who would not cheerfully contribute of his worldly substance, “‘ as God had prospered him,” to the aid of this important object ? Ample, we might hope, would soon be our means for sending missionaries in every direction, and “to every nation, and kin- dred, and tongue, and people, that dwell on the earth.” And like our means, great would be the company of those, who, “strong in faith,” would, “by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love un- feigned, by the power of God,” cheerfully go forth ‘‘ triumph- ing in Christ, and making manifest the savour of his knowledge im every place.” Is the expectation, my brethren, visionary and unfounded, that the time is not far distant, when, from the United States, missionaries will ‘ go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature?” Yes, my brethren, when men in the be- nevolent spirit and with the holy ardour of an Eliot, a Bramerd, a Tennent, will, under the patronage of the Massachusetts Missionary Society, go forth into every region of the habitabie globe, with the everlasting gospel in their hands, in their hearts and upon their tongues; accompanied with the fer- vent prayers of thousands for their success? Will they not visit the « outcasts of Israel,’ who, although they have long been a “by-word, a scorn and a hissing among all the nations, whither they have been driven,” are yet ‘ beloved for the fa- D 26 thers’ sake.’’ Will they not, with the most urgent and lumi- nous arguments, and with the most persuasive accents, be in- strumental to the conversion of this despised and wretched peo- ple from their obstinate infidelity to the faith of the gospel— to their flocking to the standard of the cross ? Will they not es- tablish the pure, the simple, yet sublime system of Christianity on the ruins of the Mahometan imposture, and raise the minds and desires of its deluded yotaries from debasing sensuality to the purity of heavenly enjoyment ? Will they not dissipate the thick darkness of Paganism, by the “shining light” of divine truth ? and persuade the besotted idolater ‘to cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold to the moles and to the bats 2” Through their instrumentality will not ‘* Ethiopia soon stretch out her hands unto God,” in humble prayer and exalted praise ? Will not <“* the isles which are afar off be glad” and shout halle- lujahs to the Lamb! Will not “ the wilderness be glad for them, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose,” and unnum- bered millions hail them blessed! Animating, delightful an- ticipation! We pray God it may not prove “ like the baseless _ fabric of a vision,” but a substantial and glorious reality. Do ‘shadows, clouds and darkness,’’ political and moral, now rest on the face of creation? Do ye behold ‘upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and waves roaring ?”? Are ‘*men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for Inakibg after those things which are coming upon the earth er Yet “let not your tisasiail be troubled ;” for ** when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption,” the redemption of Zion, ‘ draweth nigh ;’” «the kingdom of God,” the glorious millennium, ‘is nigh at hand.” Gloomy and portentous as is the present aspect of” things, m a variety of views, a bright and animating scene lies beyond it. And can we not, with the clear, strong and steady eye of faith, pierce the intervening gloom, and discover light, and peace, and joy returning to that creation, which, darkened, sorrowful and wretched, had long ‘* groaned and _trayailed,”’ and, ‘‘ with earnest expectation had. waited for the manifesta- tion” of that glorious scene! Do we not witness the oceurrence of events in almost every portion of our world, which, with much confidence we may believe, are preparatory to that ex- pected, and earnestly wished for manifestation ? Amid the revolutions and the conyulsed state of thing J in Europe, how many are our Christian brethren, who, animated 27 by a philanthropic and holy ardour not to be repressed by any discouragement, are making the most vigorous exertions to meliorate the condition of the wretched, and to send salvation to the ends of the earth. Behold their numerous missionaries, men full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, regardless of dangers, patient of suffermgs, nobly superior to sordid considerations and the allurements of ease! Behold them labouring with in- defatigable industry and zeal in almost every clime from be- youd the southern extreme of the burning zone to the freezing regions of the North, to bring those who are perishing in igno- rance to the saving knowledge of the truth. Into how many different languages, Pagan and Mahometan, are the wondrous things of God’s law, and the glorious things of the gospel of Jesus Christ translated and published, or preparing for publi- cation ! Behold the way prepared, or im a state of preparation for millions of souls, enveloped by the shades of darkness, to read and to hear, in their respective languages, the wonderful words and the wonderful works of God ! They have now the sure word of prophecy, to which, we believe with confidence they will soon “take diligent heed as unto a light that shineth4n a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in their hearts.” Already, indeed, has this star begun, with feeble and obstructed Tays, to shine in the East; a glorious harbinger to the dawning of intellectual and spiritual day, and to the rising of the re- splendent Sun of righteousness upon that benighted world, with healing m his beams. Glorious prospect! How should our hearts bound with joy in its contemplation ! In the view of the great things which our transatlantic breth- ren have done, and with increased zeal are still doing for the enlargement of the Redeemer’s kingdom, can our minds, Chris- tian brethren, be subject to the torpor of indifference ? can our hearts feel the benumbing chill of insensibility? Laudable, generous, noble emulation, forbid it! Must not every energy, both of our inner and outer man, be roused to devise, and con- strained to execute liberal means of co-operation with those who have taken the lead in the most excellent and noble achievements? Something indeed has already been done among us by pecuniary contributions to encourage their hearts and strengthen their hands in the furtherance of their designs and exertions. But does not much more remain to be done? And were we, my brethren, duly to estimate the worth of souls, and to feel suitable concern for their everlasting salvation, 28 ” should we not devise, and avail ourselves of means to send her- alds of reconciliation to the Jews, Mahometans and Pagans, to — persuade them to embrace the Saviour, and in his name to be- seech them to be reconciled unto God? Have we not the abili- ty to engage in this great and excellent enterprise? But this ability want excitements to exertion ? Can we contemplate, in a contrasted view, the great and. precious privileges civil and religious which we enjoy, and the wretched and perishing situa~ tion of these our fellow beings, and not feel a desire, too ardent to be restrained, for their emancipation? And to execute this great and generous purpose, should not our most vigorous ener~ gies be engaged? In this heavenly employment how greatly might we diminish the load of human misery, and increase the ageregate of human happiness! «In the mean time how much should we enlarge the sphere of our own religious powers ; cher~_ ish the best feelings of our hearts, and add to the fund of our most rational and ‘dates enjoyments ! Deeply impressed with the belief that the gospel is of dining original ; that it contains the words of everlasting life, and that it «is the power of God unto salvation to them that believe,” con- templating the unspeakable worth of the soul, and the infinite wrath of God, to which the many millions of our fellow men are exposed ; and reflecting on the joy undeseribable and full of elory, of which, by the foolishness of preaching, they might be= come the recipients, must we not be up and doing in their bes half, with all our might, whatsoever our hands may find to do? Gratitude, commiseration, christian benevolence, charity and holy zeal! forbid that we should view this great and inter- esting subject with cold indifference and unfeeling neglect, All these noble and divine principles call upon us, m language too loud not to be heard, and in strains of eloquent persuasion too powerful to be disregarded, to communicate, as far as may be to others, the great and precious blessings which we enjoy, But should these suggestions with respect to extending’ the sphere of missionary labours be judged premature and imprac- ticable, it is most deyoutly to be wished that they may stimu- late to greater diligence and exertion to promote the culture of a less extended field. ‘ Respectfully soliciting the attention of the Waka chine Missionary Society to the wretched situation of the natives of she western forests, we would with deep solicitude ask, whether gzuch more than has hitherto been successfully attempted, may ' 29 not be done in reducing them to a state of civilization, and to sober and industrious habits; in encouraging their improve- ment in useful arts; in illuminating their minds with the beams of science, and in bringing them to the knowledge, the love and practice of the saving truths of our holy religion? How great, Christian brethren, beyond the power of calculation, would be the service, should we be instrumental, although butin a few instances, of blending their interests for futurity, with those of the present life ? To make vigorous effort to effect this object, weare strongly solicited ; for we are fallen upon those times and seasons, which are peculiarly favourable for planning with wis- dom, and executing with success, what, in past times and seasons, has been attempted in vain, or with but inconsiderable effect. Does not the situation of our brethren on our frontier settle- ments, and in such places, as ina great measure are destitute of the preaching and ordinances of the gospel, invite increased sympathy, renewed, and greater exertion for their relief? When we consider the scantiness of their pecuniary resourses to pro~ cure religious instruction; the ignorance which is inseparable from their situation ; the erroneous and dangerous sentiments with which their minds are assailed, by men unstable, unlearn- ed and artful; and the facility with which they may be « carri- ed aboyt with every wind of doctrine ;” when we consider the clashing of sectarianism among them, the prevalence of error, and-the numerous evils thence resulting, shall we not be excit- ed by holy zeal to diffuse in those regions, with greater care and assiduity, the pure ard unadulterated doctrines of the cross ? Must we not feel an increased obligation to confront these evils with missionaries of a truly apostolic spirit; men of prudence, zeal, and sound in the faith; men of experience, of a ready mitid, apt to teach, men who are well acquainted with the artifiees of those, who lie in wait to deceive; men, who are eminently qualified for the defence of the great and distinguish- ing truths of the gospel, and for the subversion of the specious and subtle systems of error? Of how deep concern to the im- portant object of our institution is it, that we avail outselves, as far as possible, of the abilities and labours of such men! And how much does it become us fervently to pray the Lord of the harvest, that he would raisé up, and, through our instru- mentality, send forth many such labourers into the missionary harvest! May we not indulge the pleasing expectation, that, in due time, will issue from the sehool of the prophets in this 30 MP oi vicinity, men of this description ? Skilful and eminent artifi- cers for the building of Zion are indeed expected from that flourishing institution. May the expectation be fully realized. My fathers and brethren of this Missionary Society will per- mit me, with the mingled emotions of affection and gratitude, to congratulate them on the auspicious return of the eleventh anniversary of our institution. May the holy incense of praise to God our Saviour, with animating warmth, rise gratefully from our hearts to his mercy seat, that «* hitherto he hath help- ed us ;” that he has been pleased to inspire us with that broth- erly affection which has prevented our “ falling out by the way ;”” and so harmoniously to join us together in the same mind and in the same judgment ;”’ that he has been pleased so far to crown with success, our united efforts, for the advance- ment of the interests of his kingdom among men, as, in no small degree, to encourage our hearts and strengthen our hands ; that he has been biddded to preserve our lives another year; to assemble us together on this interesting occasion, in the “ city of our solemnities,’’ and to enable us ‘to bring an offering” and come into his courts. How great, how important, christian brethren, is the object of our institution, and of the present meeting! It is to” restore, in the most important and glorious sense, sight to’ the, blind, hearing to the deaf, health to the diseased, RN to the sorrowful, liberty to captives, life to the dead. It is, without a figure, to save sinners from everlasting wrath, and bring them into the possession of everlasting life. Compared with this, what is the object, great and important as it may be, in the es- timation of the world, which does not sink into insignificance and disappear! With this object in view, can our zeal be too great, our prayers too importunate, or our exertions too dili- gent and energetic! To carry it into effect, can too much be done, or too great a sacrifice be made? To be instrumental of saving a single soul from hell, were a glory, a gain inconceiva- bly greater than the acquisition of mountains of gold, and rocks of diamond. Blessed be God, that by his good hand upon us, we have so much reason to believe, we have been in- strumental of this great salvation, not merely to an individual, but to many souls. To God belongs, to ~ name be ae the glory. ’ In the divine favour, for future and inereased success, we place the most unshaken confidence, The cause in which we ’ 31 are engaged, is great and good. It isthe cause of God. For its promotion, Emanuel’s blood was shed—infinite love and power are engaged. The most glorious success, in connexion with human co-operation, is certain. Let the Sanballats and Tobiahs of this age of reason, point the finger of scorn at our enterprize ; let the scoffing skeptic say, ‘‘ where is the promise of his coming ?” where are the glorious things ‘‘ spoken of the city of God ?” Let the wise and prudent of this world labour to damp the ardour of our zeal, with their chilling doubts, or with the sneers of incredulity—In God we trust. None of these things should move us, or shake our confidence, or slacken our pursuit. If God be for us, who can be against us, to frustrate our designs? The counsel of Jehovah shall stand. He will assuredly do all his pleasure. The promise is made, nor can it fail of being fulfilled, that ‘the kingdom, and the greatness of the kingdom, and the dominion under the whole heaven, shall be given to the saints of the Most High;”’ and that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” How transporting the consideration! how glorious the prospect! But while we con- template it with emotions of devout joy and rejoicing, let us not be forgetful, that the fulfilment of divine promise re- specting “‘ the latter day glory,” is inseparably connected with the exertions and importunate prayers of the friends of Zion. May this consideration suitably impress our minds, excite our zeal, and influence our conduct. «¢ And now I beseech you brethren,” and friends of this re- spected audience, “suffer the word of exhortation.” In the possession and full enjoyment of the great and precious privi- leges and blessings of the gospel of Christ, must not your bo- soms feel a lively and painful sympathy, for your unhappy fel- low men, for your brethren according to the flesh, who are either wholly destitute, or who enjoy but a scanty pittance of these privileges and blessings ? Must not your hearts burn within you with ardent desire, that “their understandings might be opened to understand the scriptures,” and that they might become rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom of glory! Must not your hearts expand with that noble charity, which ‘‘ seeketh not her own ;” which spurns at mercenary views and selfish solicitations, and which opens wide the hand to minister to the necessities of those, who lack the bread and water of life? Can any objects of charity, like these, excite your commiseration, interest your benevolent feelings, 32 | end claim your generous aid? Can you, christian friends, con- ‘ tempiate the situation of these your brethren and sisters, as d spiritually destitute, and with unfeeling indifference say, ‘‘be — ye warmed and filled,” forbearing to contribute those things, which are needful to this benevolent purpose ! Gratitude, com-— passion, religion! O sacred names, forbid it. $< What can be the object, so worthy of your zealous and un- interrupted pursuit, as that of raising those, who. are dead in trespasses and sins, to life and immortality, through the faith of the gospel ? What is the sacrifice you can make, so accepta~ ble and pleasing to the God of mercy, as “‘to do good and communicate,” for this merciful purpose? In what way, as in this, caa you so effectually secure to yourselves ‘durable rich- es,” incorruptible and unfading? In what way ean you with so much advantage, and to so good effect, shew yourselves men, _ patriots, Christians? In what way can you so effectually secure the approbation of your own minds, and the plaudit of God a your Saviour, as ‘by contributing, with readiness of mind and true benevolence of heart, to the furtherance of the gospel, and to the extension of the savour of the Redeemer’s name, and the victories of his cross ? Shall remind those of you, who are rich in this world’s goods, that, of the abundance with which Ged has entrusted you, as stewards for him, he requires not alittle? Shall 1 ad- monish those of you, who, possessing a ready mind, have it not im your power to cast much into the treasury, not to be forget- ful to communicate, as God has-prospered you? Sbali I sug- gest to the poor, if any of this description be present, that their contribution of two mites, will not be less acceptable, than the most liberal contributions of the affluent? Dear brethren! ac- cording to your “several ability,” will, we trust, be your of- ferings to the Lord. —— «‘The liberal soul deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand.” ‘ There is that scattereth, and yet in- creaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty.” ‘‘ He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully.” «It is more blessed to give than to receive,” «« Every man,” then, ** according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loy- eth a cheerful giver.” i oa THE MISSIONARY ARGUMENT; A SERMON PREACHED, BY APPOINTMENT, BEFORE THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE Bowestic ard Foreign Missionary Society OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, IN THE U. S. OF AMERICA ; IN ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, ON TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 11, 1830. BY GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, A.M. ASSISTANT MINISTER OF TRINITY CHURCH, BOSTON. BOSTON: SAMUEL H. PARKER, 164 WASHINGTON-STREE’. MDCCCXxXx. t a "| ma Tre fii ws tS PRESS OF ' x iY any coe’ > Pe rearay if meen i PUTNAM & HUNT, QQ ————— |]; Tue present Sermon is no¢ printed by request. "The Board of Directors, at their Annual Meeting in 1829, resolved, that they would not, after that time, vote thanks for Sermons preached be- fore them, nor cause them to be printed. In the opinion of those, whose taste and judgment it would be arrogance to dis- trust, the following Discourse has seemed fit, by its publication, to serve the Society by whose appointment it was preached. It is, therefore, without hesitation, given, as the Author’s free-will offering—(would to God it were worth more!)—to the best and ” noblest of all causes, the cause of God and man, the cause of Curist1aN Missions. eRe pCa Tie yah ty shes Kis cy dgheole (eae CA eat oe ede é Woy 2h Ome } Boe li Gereerns ig how. coulanaitgee Rees psa: ee. S suai EO, eeteaorg Fer SE Of sh Geo eee Re Pumaeee weecii:. oul} Am sori f cola gage ba Mee Ge alee (boric: apyely Reise i Doe Tht ganas) atin! Bow, BO Hee eemae atid ad My és rs Z " aK \ ‘ , ty ‘ yf \ . 2 rm + 2 ‘ « ‘ ; ‘ : " ~ 2 wt ‘ 3 : SERMON. ST. MARK, XVI,—15. GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. Tuis was the parting precept of the Saviour of mankind. He came into the world that all, even as many as should be- lieve in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. During all his painful sojourning on earth he proclaimed himself, in word and in deed, the light of the world. And he died, that he might be the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. In perfect and entire con- sistency, then, with the original purpose of his incarnation, with the teaching and practice of his life, with the motive and ob- ject of his death, was the parting precept of the Saviour—Go YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE! It was addressed originally to the Apostles ; and the same page which records it, records also their prompt, im- plicit, and persevering obedience—they went forth, and preach- ed every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Did they fulfil the Saviour’s precept? Was the Gospel preached by them fo every creature 2 Alas, no! They were but mortal men. And though they gave themselves, body and spirit, to the work, they did but sow the 6 precious seed, before they were compelled, by cruel persecu- tion, to enrich it with their blood. The work which they be- gan, they entrusted to faithful men, with power to send others after them ; so that from their time until now the sacred line has never once been broken, nor the divine husbandry been in- terrupted, nor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts ceased to ex- tend to all valleys its gracious roots, and to spread over all hills its comfortable shadow, and to extend to nation after nation, and to kingdom after kingdom, its life-sustaining, life-restoring cup. Still, is the Saviour’s purpose yet accomplished? Has it yet gone into all the world? Is the Gospel yet preached to every crea- ture? Alas, no! There are myriads of human hearts that are fainting for the protection of its comfortable shadow. There are millions of immortal souls that are perishing for the refresh- ment of its cup of life. Way is IT so? OvucHT IT TO BE so? SHALL IT CONTINUE TO BE SO? Wuy 1s 1r so? Are the means which God has appointed for the extension of his kingdom inadequate to the result? Is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear ? Or his hand shortened, that wt cannot save? The supposition is alike injurious to his power and wisdom, his holiness and goodness. He has proclaimed the everlasting Gospel. He has founded the universal Church. The leaves of the one are given for the healing of the nations. The gates of the other are open to kingdoms, and tongues, and kin- dreds, and people. In her divinely instituted, and perpetuated ministry, the glorious vision of the Seer of the Apocalypse is realized—and I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God, and give glory to him ; for the hour of his judgment has come! In her divinely instituted and perpetuated sacraments, the gracious voice, that, on the Isle of Patmos, won his favoured ear, addresses all man- kind—the Spirit and the Bride say, come! and let hom that of | heareth, say to his neighbour, come! and let him that is athirst come! and whosoever will, let him take the water of life free- | ly! Why then, the question returns—why, since God has made provision so ample for the spiritual wants of all, his holy Church freely opened, his holy word freely offered, why is it that all are not participants of its precious privileges, subjects of its constraining love, heirs of its immortal hopes? The noble argument of the great first Missionary to the Gentiles will supply our answer. ‘True, he says, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For the same Lord over all, is rich unto all that call upon him, and there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. But how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent 2 Alas! brethren, that it should be so—but so it is—the lapse of nearly two thousand years has abated scarce a single jot from this unanswerable apostolic reasoning for the claims of Missions. There are yet whole nations, and I had almost said whole con- tinents, of them who call not upon God because they do not be- lieve on him, who believe not on him because they never heard of him, who camnot hear of him without a preacher, and who can have no preacher unless he shall be sent. And there are others, countless others, of our flesh and of our bone, who, though, in the pleasant land of their fathers they may have heard of God, and, even among the heathen who know him not, or the wicked who disregard him, do still believe in him and fear him, are losing, as the rainbow fades, the impressions which even we, with all our means of grace, so faintly and so feebly hold, and, far from home, and all its holy and delightful sympa- thies, are longing till their very heart is sick within them, for those sacred ministrations of comfort and of hope, which, with- out a preacher they cannot have, and-io whom no preacher can go unless he shall be sent. The subject, then, you see, my Christian brethren, is brought home to us—to you, and to me— and, when we ask, why it is that souls are perishing for lack of | 8 saving knowledge, it becomes us also to ask,—and that solemn- ly, and anxiously, as in the presence of Him who has declared, all souls are mine—are we doing what we can for their relief? Have we given according to the ability with which God has blessed us? Have we exerted, in the furtherance of his own cause, the ability and influence with which God has endowed us? Have we poured out upon it—this at least all of us can do, and God forbid that any of us should not !—have we poured out upon it, warm from the heart, our fondest and most fervent prayers? If it be not so, if for Christ’s own cause, the cause in which he shed his precious blood, the Christian’s wealth, the Christian’s efforts, the Christian’s prayers are stinted, there needs, assuredly, no further question why it does not triumph, to God’s glory, and the good of men. But we ask, secondly, oveut 1r ro BE so? Is there any thing that can excuse the believer for being a laggard in his Mas- ter’s service? Let us speak plainly out !—the occasion calls for plainness—is it possible that he can be sincere in his profession of the Christian faith, who hesitates to promote, to the utmost of his ability, remembering that to God the heart is as open as the hand, the extension of its privileges and blessings to all who have them not at all, or who have them in inferior measure to himself? We answer boldly, no! And we rest our answer on the warrant of God’s word—he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And, again, whoso hath this world’s goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ?—For consider, I beseech you, breth- ren, the worth, as God himself has rated it, even of a single soul ; —what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul 2—Consider, next, the state of all souls by aature ;—we have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God. When we have done all, we are unprofitable servants. There rs none that doeth good, no, not one !— Consider, then, the sure punishment of sin ;—the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Indigna- tion and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man 9 that doeth evil !—Take then into consideration the price at which all souls were ransomed ;—God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life—who bare our sins in his own body on the tree—and, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man !—Consider, lastly, the conditions of the law of Gospel love ;—thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others—for no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to him- self. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another! Consider well, my brethren, this affecting exhibition of true Christian fellowship, as a relation so intimate that the vitality of its union can only be expressed by representing Jesus as the head, the Church as his body, and in- dividual Christians as members in particular, one in feeling and interest, one in joy and grief, one in fears and hopes ; and then say, if the love of Christ should not—nay, if, where it exists in purity and power, it certainly will not—constrain all who breathe and feel it, to the same anxiety, the same exertions, the same intense, unsparing, and agonizing devotion for the salvation of other souls as of their own! Say, finally, if that man who has neglected any effort, spared of his perishable treasure, or remit- ted in his effectual, fervent intercession for the souls of all man- kind, and much more of those who fall within the sphere of his immediate influence, can justly entertain the slightest hope of acceptance with Him, who has declared that he will judge all men according as they have judged, and by that strict, yet equita- ble, rule, of doing unto others as they would have others do to them !* Having seen clearly why it is that the extension of the Sa- viour’s kingdom upon earth has been, and is, so slow ; and that, by every principle of Christian duty and of Christian charity, it ought not so to be, we are prepared for our third question— SHALL IT CONTINUE TOBE so? That the march of our religion *See notel. » eo 10 shall go on, that the triumphs of Christianity shall continue and increase in glory, that the kingdom of the Saviour shall not be stayed, as it were, in mid-air, but shall come down to earth, and spread its peaceful sway from the one end of it to the other, filling it all with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea, enabling all to know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, and pouring into all hearts the blessing of peace, quietness and assur- ance forever, is among the clearest convictions to which the word of God gives warrant. God’s work, then, will go on. His cause will prosper. Christianity will triumph. And our question is thus narrowed down to this—shall his work be done by us? Shall his cause prosper in our hands? Shall we share in the triumphs and partake the glories of the cross ? Or, lag- gards in our exertions, and niggards of our bounty, in the day of trial and of toil, shall we be rejected in that day when the spoils of victory shall be divided, and its glorious golden crowns bestowed ? For, brethren, understand me well. I come not here to summon you to duties, which, with unwilling hand, you may, upon compulsion, do. I come not here to call on you for sacrifices, which, with reluctant heart, you may surrender by constraint. But, no! I come to lead your free and fervent spirits to the most glorious and inviting enterprize of which mor tals ever were allowed to hear; to give you the offer of privi- leges which no price can estimate, and of rewards which will endure forever ; to ask you but to turn the light of that blessed Gospel, which cheers and guides your way, towards the groping multitudes that wander on in darkness, and the shadow of the grave, and to tell you that God has declared, that they who thus turn sinners to righteousness, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars forever and forever. And, though I repeat it, that Jesus Christ will have nothing of you in this be- half as matter of mere necessity and duty, nothing which is not won from you by the soft persuasion of your constraining love of him, nothing that is not done by you for his sake and for the love of souls ; and that all that is so given and done will be ac- knowledged and rewarded as given and done to him, inasmuch 11 as ye did it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye did it unto me ;—I am also bound to add, that he will frown in his indig- nant anger, and repel from him forever, all those, who, disre- garding the cry of the poor, darkened, souls for whom he died, shall in effect despise his cross, and disregard the offering of his blood—verily Isay unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the right- eous into life eternal. My Christian brethren, in coming before you to-night as the advocate of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Church, I am well aware that with some—of you we are persuaded better things—the office is unhonoured, and the er- rand thankless ;—that, to the infidel, the whole Missionary scheme is odious ;—and that there are even Christians who will abate somewhat from their estimate of his discretion and intelli- gence, who bears and owns a love and zeal for Missions. But I remember, and am not discouraged, that the cross of Jesus was to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolish- ness. remember, and am not discouraged, that Paul, for his Christian earnestness and boldness, was accounted mad. And that with the heathen of the first ages of the Church, it was a current taunt, “a very good man that, only he is a Christian !”’* Now, from the infidel, these things are reasonably to be expect- ed. He has declared war against Christianity, and he is, of course, opposed to all that is part and parcel of it; and with a degree of violence exactly in proportion to its intrinsic excel- lence, and its importance to the cause. But, when the reproach is heard from Christian lips, is it from ignorance—an ignor- ance, how needless and unpardonable !—or is it from entire and utter selfishness, hardening the heart, till it can seek to save of the perishable dross of earth, even at the price of other souls, *Stillingfleet, in his Origines Sacre, Book ii. Chap. 9, speaking of the early converts, says : “‘ Their greatest enemies were often forced to say, that their only fault was, that they were Christians.—Bonus vir Cajus Sejus, tantum quod Christianus.”” 12 and of its own? For, brethren, what is the meaning of this mystic and misrepresented term ? What is a Mission? What is a Missionary ? . What is the Missionary enterprize ?—Was not the Son of God the great first Missionary, from the bosom of © his Father, to our fallen race ? Is not the world one great, dark, devious Missionary field? Were not the holy eity, the hill of Calvary, the mountain Olivet, the earliest Missionary stations ? Are not the ministers of Jesus Missionaries all? And is not our religion all a Mission—a message, so denominated by the angels, of glad tidings to all people—a mission sent from heaven, the endearing proof of God’s paternal love—a mission sent to men, his erring children, to guide their feet here in the way of peace, and lead them through the darkness of the grave to happiness in heaven ?>—And is the Missionary enterprize, then, an idle undertaking? Is the name of Missionary a dis- honourable name? Is it a reproach to be the friend, the advo- cate, the humblest of the servants of Missions >—Then welcome dishonour, if it be incurred in Jesus’ cause ! Welcome reproach, if it be shared with Luke and Barnabas and Paul! God forbid that we should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ! God forbid that we should count labour unwelcome, or reproach opprobrious, or our life itself dear unto us, so we may but pro- claim to sinners, poor and needy, the unsearchable riches of the Gospel of Christ! It ought not to be withheld that eke is, by those who dis- countenance the cause of Missions—strange indeed that in a Christian land there should be any such !—some show of seem- ing argument. For, say they, if the heathen have not the Gos- pel, or if some Christians live less in the light of it than oth- ers, then they have less to answer for; since a God of justice and of mercy will never judge them by a rule of which they could not know. We account as highly as they can of the justice and of the goodness of God. We believe, and we tremble to believe it, that the rule of His judgment will strictly be, of him to whom much is given much will be required. We 13 doubt not that in every nation he who feareth God and worketh righteousness will be accepted with Him. But we repeat with emphasis the searching and decisive question which has been often asked before, where, in a heathen nation, is he found who feareth God and worketh righteousness? We ask, if, in our high, meridian, Gospel-day, there is too much light upon the path of duty, or the bed of death? And we ask, if, with all the advantages and consolations which he enjoys, the Chris- tian scarcely be saved, how shall the poor heathen, or the half enlightened convert, or the forest exile from his father’s home and house of prayer, prepare to meet his God? But the ar- gument proves too much, and so proves nothing. It might with as much reason be contended that the whole world needed not the Gospel—that God has sent his Son to die for men who might have been saved as well without the sacrifice—and that the Holy Spirit poured out from heaven to sanctify the faith- ful is poured out all to waste. My brethren, itis notso. The heathen, bowing down to wood and stone, are perishing: for lack of knowledge. Our brethren, pioneers of civilization and of the Church, are languishing in sorrow. for the want of spiritual light and spiritual consolation. Even in the midst of us, the poor are famishing for the bread, and thirsting for the ~ water, of life. Now surely, brethren, if these things are so, and if they are of concern to us, they are of urgent concern, they press for our immediate attention, there is no time to be lost. While we are thinking, or, perhaps, not thinking, of the matter, thou- sands of heathens are going down to the grave, without a ray of hope to light its passage ; while others, who, in better days have known and valued the consolations of religion, are falling from their hold upon its precious truths, and fainting and dying, alone and unconsoled. And besides, brethren, let it not be forgotten, our own time is short. While we have opportunity, then, let us do good. What we do we must do quickly, for 14 there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, to which we hasten. In the plea which I have thus sought to urge before you in be- half of Missions, I have not recognized any distinction of for~ eign or domestic operations. Why should I? Is not the field, THE worLD? Let every man choose his portion of it to reap for the Lord’s garner. Only let all choose some. Whatever is done, is done for God’s glory, and the good of souls. Done with a single eye to. those great ends, God will accept it and bless it with increase. The Society which claims our prayers wisely and happily combines in one the foreign and the domes- tic interest.* God forbid that they should ever be divided! God forbid that where his blessed Son made no distinction, we should think it needful! He died alike for all the souls of men. God forbid that our bounty, our labours, our intercessions should not also comprehend them all! Individual designation, “and the force of circumstances, may give to the one object or to the other occasional predominance. But the constraining love of Jesus is the motive which prompts alike to both, and both look but to a common end, the salvation of sinners for whom Jesus died. With “ ample room, and verge enough ” in each direction, to engage us all, let us give to each its full pro- portion of our best and most disinterested zeal. Ages must pass, even were the whole strength of Christendom brought out, before the fulness of the Gentiles can come in. Genera- tions must be numbered before the Church, in her best human enterprize, can overtake, with her Master’s holy word and ordi- nances, the rapid march of civilization towards the ocean of the west. Meanwhile, what are we, Protestant Episcopalians, doing in this great cause of God and man? What regions of the dark Pagan world have we undertaken to enlighten? What portion of our own vast wilderness have we pledged ourselves to re- claim? On what part of the dreary African coast are our Mis- sionary stations set as light-bearers to the degraded Ethiopian ? * See note 11. + See note 111. 15 Where, in the barren wastes of Asia, or in our own magnificent and verdant woods,* is the voice of our Missionary heard speak- ing peace to the sorrowing, and pardon to the sinful soul? What is the number of societies to spread the Gospel to all who have it not, that, like a constellation, gladden with their concen- trated glory all our land? And by what sums, in thousands and in tens of thousands, is their income told ?—Had these ques- tions been asked twelve months ago, I must have hung my head to answer them. I must have told you that im all the world, Christian or heathen, there was not an effort making that deserved the name, which had its origin with us ; and must have been compelled to the confession, full of sorrow and of shame, that the average annual income of the only institution in the whole American church for general Missionary purposes, had been, in the last nine years, but fifteen hundred dollars! But, blessed be the name of God, a day of better things has dawn- ed! The favour of the Holy One has crowned with signal mer- cy the exertions which his own gracious Spirit has put it into the hearts of the faithful servants of his Church to make. The adoption of a plan, not more to be admired for its beautiful simplicity, than for its comprehensiveness and power, has breath- ed into the seat of central life a new vitality, and sent to every limb, and member, and organ of the whole frame a more in- tense, concentrated and vigorous action.¢ There is the begin- ning of an organization made, which soon, we fondly trust, will be commensurate with our whole communion ; and like the circumambient air, while, by its moderate and equal pressure, it is nowhere felt, shall stimulate to healthful.and enduring ener- gy the universal system, even in its minutest portions. The re- proach is wiped away—thank God! the reproach is wiped away—that Protestant Episcopalians are indifferent to the ex- tension of the blessings of the Gospel ;—I do not say to their brethren and immediate neighbours alone,—but to any, to all, who have them not. The spirit of Missions has gone abroad. * See note ty. t See note v. 16 We mark its first, we frankly own its faintest symptom in the replenishing treasury of the Lord. I say its faintest symptom. For needful as the gold is and the silver to the preaching of the priceless Gospel, these are not the ends to which we look, nor the results for which we labour, nor the blessings for which we pray. No!—there are treasures far more rare, far more pre- cious, far more desirable. The heart, filled with the love of God and man, prompting the gift, the act, the prayer, of char- ity—this is the choicest jewel, out of the mediatorial diadem of Jesus. The spirit of Missions, the spirit of celestial, of evan- gelical love, the flame enkindled by the Holy Ghost, the Sanc- tifier—this is the ray by which, as gold is ripened in the mine, such hearts are formed. Give it free course, then, brethren, that it may be fully glorified! Prompt it by wish, and word, and act. Seekits promotion by the kindling breath of fervent pray- er, till it fill all hearts, and burn in every soul. It will pour you out treasures freely as the water is poured out from heaven. It will do more than this. It will pour you out HEARTS —hearts like the martyr Stephen’s, filled full with faith and with the Holy Ghost, to labour in the work of saving souls, to bear every where the word and bread of life, to live and die, true Christian soldiers, beneath the banner of the Cross. My Christian brethren, the spirit of Missions is the spirit of our religion—emphatically it is the spirit of our Church. It fired the Apostles’ hearts at first to plant it. It ever since has fired the hearts of their successors to tend and water it. It has been kept like a pure vestal flame upon the altars of the Church of England. It sent her Middleton and Heber to India. It has carried her evangelists and teachers wherever the foot of man has trod. It brought to the land which we inherit, and inhabit, the faith and worship in which our souls rejoice. Friends, brethren, and fathers, shall we not acknowledge, shall we not repay the pious debt? Shall we not transmit to others, and still to others, even to generations unnumbered and unborn, the rich inheritance which we enjoy? Let us arise, then, in the strength and name of God, and gird ourselves, like men, for Bah the performance of this most glorious, this most charitable work! The experience of the year just closed demonstrates that there is not wanting the ability, nor yet the inclination to discharge it. Itis knowledge that we need—it is system—it is union, and purpose, and untiring perseverance in action. The plan before us offersthem. Its success, thus far, gives pledge and promise of its future efficacy. Let us accept, let us pursue, the glorious, the auspicious omen. For Zion’s sake Ict us not hold our peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake let us not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof asa lamp that burneth! Above all, brethren and fa- - thers, let us pour out before the Giver of increase our fervent and untiring prayers, that he would be pleased to make his ways known unto all men, his saving health to all nations ;* —that the light of his glorious Gospel may shine unto all lands, and that, “all who receive it may live as becomes it ;’*—that He would “ have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infi- dels, and heretics,* and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of his word, and so fetch them home to his flock, that they,” and we, “‘ may be saved with the rem- nant of the true Israelites, and made one fold under” the “one” great “Shepherd, Jesus Curist our Lorp!” * See note vi. co NOTES. It is chiefly in reference to this paragraph, that the Discourse has been entitled “The Missionary Argument.” Not from any arrogant presumption that other and abler arguments may not be offered—but because the chain of reasoning here drawn out, wholly from Scriptural premises, appears to the Author’s mind inevitable in its conclusions. To him it seems, that the Mission- ary spirit—the love of God and of man, brought to its highest and holiest exertion in the saving of the souls for which his Son was crucified, is either the unerring test, the experimentum crucis, of the true Christian character, or isan empty nothing. The mode in which this spirit shall exert itself he undertakes not to prescribe. Excellent Christians he believes there are to whom modern abuses have rendered Missions, and especially foreign Missions, absolutely odious—who have liberally promoted the cause itself, even while they proscribed thename. From all such, he only asks a candid and dispassionate consideration of the Scriptural Missionary argument ; not doubting that their inference will be with his ;—if the love of man be the best evidence of the power of religion, then the love—earnest, ardent, active in its salvation—of man’s noblest, his immortal, part, must be the highest and surest exhibition of that best evidence. II. In the dark days of the Society—thank God, we can now begin to speak of them as past !—there were some, and they among the most excellent of its friends, who were earnest that it should be divided into two separate institutions, acting respectively for foreign and domestic purposes. In the author’s judgment, then, and time has confirmed it, such an arrangement would have been most disastrous for the Church. To the wisdom and moderation which animated and pervaded the proceedings of the Board in the revision of the Constitution, are due, under God, the hopes that now inspire us of the Society’s prosperity and usefulness. 20 III. For details most convincing and interesting as to the growing wants of the West, the Report of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Brownell’s Tour through the valley of the Mississippi, and his very luminous and eloquent sermon, preached in Trinity Church, and in St. Paul’s Church, Boston, may confidently be referred to. Both of them should be in the hands of every Churchman, and of every Christian. Let it be in all our prayers, that the Bishop’s truly Apostolic visitation may be, to the spiritual darkness of the Church- men of the West, as THE DAy-sTAR arising in their hearts! IV. Within the period here alluded to, the Society’s Mission among the western Indians, at Green Bay, and parts adjacent, has as- sumed a most interesting aspect. ‘To this benevolent work the Rev. Richard Cadle, after laying strongly and well the foundations of the Church at Detroit, has, with the true evangelical spirit, generously devoted himself. Long years have passed since the Author took sweet counsel with him, and we walked together in the house of God as friends—and now, almost a continent of woods and waves rises and rolls between us! Wherever he may be, there will be found no purer patriot, no more generous philanthro- pist, no humbler Christian, no sounder Churchman, no more de- voted minister of Christ. Vivat, valeatque ! V. The plan alluded to was recommended last winter in a circu- lar, signed by the Secretary of the Society, then the Rev. Edward Rutledge. It proposes, as its leading features, that there be formed, by voluntary agencies, in each one of all the parishes of our Church in the United States, an association for procuring funds for the Society—that every member of every parish be called on to unite himself to it by the contribution of such sum, however small, ashe may choose—that the associations in each di- ocese be united, for purposes of local convenience, into an Aux- inary Sociery—that thus, by channels as numerous as there are parishes, the bounty of the whole Church may be turned steadily and permanently into the Missionary treasury. By leaving in- definite the sum constituting membership, it invites all to give, according to their ability. By its encouragement of small contri- butions, it gives promise of permanent efficiency. By allowing to every contributor the privilege of designating to what purpose — his contribution shall be applied, it obviates all prejudice against Qi the foreign or the domestic operation. By the comprehensiveness of its extent, it ensures, from the aggregation of atoms, a mass of great and glorious results. The voluntary agencies, too, by which the Associations are to be established, not only relieve the Society of the expense, but separate from the cause the prejudice resulting from the appointment and maintenance of a General Agent. Parochial Clergymen, acting in their own parishes, and in the sphere of their immediate neighbourhoods, will ever be found the Society’s best agents. Considerable progress has already been made in the application of this system. There will be es- tablished, it is hoped, in every parish in Massachusetts, (the great- er portion having been already visited with success,) an active institution, before this Discourse is published— and a State Auxil- lary will be organized, it is presumed, at the Convention, to be held in Boston, in the month of June. VI. See, for these quotations, the Anthem “ Deus Misereatur,” appointed to be sung or said after the second lesson in the daily evening service—the form of Evening Prayer appointed to be used in Families—and the third Collect for Good Friday. Who that observes, in her stated and daily services, these solemn re- cognitions of Christian duty, will deny that the Protestant Episco- pal Church well retains her Apostolic character, as a Missionary Cuurcn? Which among her members will be slow in following the spirit of these prayers, which, for century after century, she has never ceased to use? And yet, there are those that call themselves Churchmen, and speak of Missions as ‘‘an innova- tion.” There are those that profess themselves Christians, and yet sneer at them who would but imitate their Saviour, in seeking that whichis lost !—But on this subject, as, indeed, on every other, a single practical argument is worth a thousand of mere theory. In the self-devoted life of Heber—clarum et venerabile nomen—such an argument is afforded. That such a man—as ascholar, the de- light and pride of his country’s literature ; in family, fortune, and manners “ the observed of all observers ;” and, as a Christian min- ister, filling up the measure of human happiness in the pastoral shades of his “ dear, dear Hodnet,’’—should have left all for the la- bour, responsibility, disease, and early death, so certainly the ac- companiments of the Indian episcopate, were, to all who knew not the deep Christian love that possessed and pervaded all his heart, marvels not to be accounted for. ‘T'hat within eight days of his ever to be lamented death, he should deliberately declare, in the midst of his most anxious and laborious duties, his more than satisfaction with his lot, is testimony of inestimable value to the cause in which he died. Apology cannot be needed for the insertion of the passa- ges which follow, from an English publication just received, entitled ie: 22 f the ‘‘ Last Days of Bishop Heber ;” and possessing intrinsic in- terest and merits far surpassing the expectation which even that charmed name is fitted to awaken. “In the evening (of Easter day, March 26—he had preached in English, and administered the communion, at the Mission Church in the Fort, at Tanjore, in the morning—) the Bishop at- tended a Tamul service in the same Church, which was literally crowded with the native Christians of Tanjore, and the surround- ing villages, many of whom had come from a considerable dis- tance to be present on this occasion. Mr. Barenbruck, assisted by anative Priest, read the prayers, Dr. Cammerer from Tranque- bar preached, and the Bishop delivered the blessing in Tamul from the altar. I desired one of the native Priests to ascer- tain how many were present, and I found they exceeded thirteen hundred. J have seen no congregation in Europe by whom the responses of the liturgy are more generally and correctly made, or where thie Psalmody is more devotional and correct. The effect was more than electric: it was a deep and thrilling interest, in which memory, and hope, and joy, mingled with the devo- tion of the hour, to hear so many voices but lately rescued from the polluting services of the Pagoda, joining in the pure and heavenly music of the Easter Hymn, and the 100th Psalm, and uttering the loud Amen at the close of every prayer. For the last ten years I have longed to witness a scene like this, but the reality exceeds my expectations. I wished that some of those (if any of that small number still remain,) who deem all Mission- ary exertion, under any circumstances, a senseless chimera, and confound the humble and silent labours of these devoted men with the dreams of fanaticism, or the frauds of imposture, could have witnessed this sensible refutation of their cold and heart- less theories. The Bishop’s heart was full; and never shall I forget the energy of his manner, and the heavenly expression of his countenance, when he exclaimed, as I assisted him to take off his robes,—‘ Gladly would I exchange years of common life for one such day as this !’ Three days after this, March 29, after a day of laborious duty, the evening was spent with company at the house of Captain Fyfe, the Resident at Tanjore. ‘In the evening,” says the in- teresting Journalist, the Rev. Thomas Robinson, the Bishop’s Chaplain, and the companion of his last journey, “ we had some excellent music at the Residency, and the relaxation was as ne- cessary to him as it was delightful; he enjoyed it exceedingly, and was particularly struck with the performance of two Bramins, who accompanied Mrs. Fyfe in several difficult pieces, and after- wards played the overture in Sampson, at sight. But, in the midst of his evident enjoyment of this intellectual luxury, his thoughts were fixed on higher and nobler objects of culture ; and while all around him thought his ear only was employed, his heart was de- vising plans for the benefit of these neglected Missions, and 23 dwelling on the prospect of their success. He called me to an inner drawing room to communicate a suggestion that had just occurred to him, and which he desired me to carry into effect. We were standing by an open window, looking out upon the garden, over which the moon had just risen. I know not why I should tell you these trifling circumstances, but the scene with all its features will never be effaced from my recollection. It is fix- ed forever in my remembrance by the powerful spell of his noble and heavenly spirit, and the memorable sentiment with which our conversation closed. I expressed my fears that his strength would be exhausted by this unwearied attention to all the varieties of his great charge ; adding that I now understood the force of St. Paul’s climax—‘“ that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” ‘‘ Yes,” he exclaimed with an energy worthy of the Apostle himself—‘ but that which overwhelmed him was his crown and glory!” On the first of April the Bishop went to Trichinopoly—on the second preached at St. John’s Church, and confirmed forty-two of the English Congregation there—at 6 o’clock on the morning of the third confirmed eleven of the native congregation in the Mission Church at the Fort, and pronounced the blessing in Ta- mul. “After divine service he visited the English and Tamul schools, and the Mission house, and seeing a greater part of the native Christians collected round him while he stood on the steps leading to the house, he addressed them, with his characteristic “energy and kindness—exhorting them to be Christians, not in name only, but in truth, and to have their conversation honest among the heathen that surrounded them.” Before the mor- ning was past, his pure Christian spirit had gone to its native skies !—One beautiful and most befitting circumstance more, and we shall tear ourselves from this touching memorial. “ Our conversation is afternoon,” says Mr. -R., speaking of the day before the Bishop’s decease, “‘ turned chiefly on the blessedness of heaven, and the best means of preparing for its enjoyment. He repeated several lines of an old hymn, which he said, in spite of one or two expressions which familiar and injudicious use had tended to vulgarize, he admired as one of the most beautiful in our language, for a rich and elevated tone of devotional feeling. ‘ Head of the Church, triumphant ! ‘We joyfully adore thee,’ &c. In the family prayers this evening, after we returned from Church, he particularly mentioned our friend, Dr. Hyne, (whom he had left sick at Tanjore) to whom he had promised at parting, that he would then always remember him.” The Author cannot but account it a favourable circumstance that he is enabled to give illustrations so happy of the nature and influences of that spirit of Missions which he has sought to de- scribe and to inculcate. In the sainted Heber it had become a concentrating and absorbing spirit—the flame divine with which 24 his soul was all on fire, and on whose fervent breath it was exhaled to heaven. : “‘ He delighted to consider himself as THE CHIEF MIS- stonary oF INnp1A, a character implied, in his judgment, in the Episcopal office itself ;—and while he felt it to be his bounden du- ty to confine his pecuniary aid and direct influence to the estab- lishments of that Church, whose orders and ministry he received as apostolical, yet most sincerely did he rejoice in the success- fal labours of all Christian societies, of whatever denomination, in the field of India; for he felt that while marshalled against a com- mon enemy, there should be none other than a generous rivalry and a brotherly emulation between our separated hosts—and that even then the fortune of the field is best secured, if each army keeps its own ranks unbroken, and its discipline inviolate.” «Tur LAsT pAys or BisHoP Huser,” p. 234. <*PrRAIsSE! FOR YET ONE MORE NAME WITH POWER’ ENDOWED, ‘© To CHEER AND GUIDE US, ONWARD AS WE PRESS 5 «‘© Yer oNE MORE IMAGE, ON THE HEART BESTOWED «¢To DWELL THERE, BEAUTIFUL IN HOLINESS ! ‘* Tuine, HEBER, rHINE! WHOSE MEMORY FROM fHE DEAD; « BOSTON: PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN, 24 CONGRESS STREET. 1850. : SERMON. No apology, I am sure, will be required, for the selection of the words which closed so appropriately and eloquently, the able discourse delivered at your last annual convocation, as the theme of our present meditations ; they are recorded in 1 CORINTHIANS, xv. 58. THEREFORE, MY BELOVED BRETHREN, BE YE STEADFAST, UNMOVEABLE, ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD, FORASMtcH AS YE KNOW THAT YOUR LABOR IS NOT IN VAIN IN THE LORD. Tue eye of the Apostle is directed to the future resurrection of the righteous. Rapt in wonder and joy im contemplation of the grace that gives victory to the believer over death and hell, and filled with grateful emotion in view of so signal a triumph, he is unable to repress the awakened sensibilities, which burst forth in this strong language, at once admonishing to faithfulness in duty, and supplying encouragement the most animating and ample. We indeed look not onward, at this hour, to the fmal resurrection of the dead, at the sounding of the archangel’s trump, so much as to the interven- A, ‘ ing moral resurrection of the nations to new. life and activity in the service of God—a resurrection to be effected by humbler instrumentalities, and with far less observation, than those by which the great designs of mercy and of wrath toward this fallen race shall be consummated; both of these resurrections, however, are inseparably connected in the mighty chain of divine purposes circling earth and heaven, binding God to man and man to God, for the brightest display of the Ineffable Glory. We take no part in the recovery of the world to Christ, that bears not directly on the manifestations of eternal wisdom, holiness and love, in ‘that great day for which all other days are made ;” not a sav- age of our Western wilds, nor a Hottentot or Hin- doo of distant lands, shall be brought to the knowl- edge of the truth, without adding to the joyfulness of the hour when death shall be swallowed up in victory. ? The words before us "suggest three distinct but closely connected topics, deserving our considera- tion. I. The duty of the church to be “ always abound- ing in the work of the Lord.” II. The difficulties to be met, and only overcome by perseverance in this work—“ be ye steadfast and unmoveable.” III. The promised reward—“ your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord.” I. The duty of the church—to be prise abounding in the work of the Lord.” 5 1. The nature of the work demands it. To reconcile man to God, through the enlighten- ment of his mind and the renovation of his heart, though more than can be accomplished “ by might or by power,” is the work committed to human hands, moved and guided by the Holy One. No audible voice from heaven calls forth the man dead in trespasses and sins to spiritual life and action, nor does the lone arm of Omnipotence raise him from the depths into which he has fallen, and “ put him among the children;” but the voice of his fellow man arrests and instructs him, and the hand of his brother gently leads him from the precipice overhanging the world of death, and conducts him to Jesus’ feet. Feeble instrumentality this, it is admitted ;—but, ordained of heaven, it is no less necessary to the soul’s salvation, than the energy of the wonder-working Spirit himself. And, the field of labor is broad. Man’s enmity to God is at once entire and universal. Its develop- ments indeed, are affected by circumstances of time, place, education and social condition; but whether it assume the robes of an angel of light, or the blood-dyed garments of the veteran warrior — whether it slay indiscriminately the children of Bethlehem, or repeat prayers on the house-top— whether it offer superstitious devotions at Jerusalem or Mecca, at Rome or Benares, or exonerate itself of every religious obligation, its vital character is still the same; it is determined and proud rebel- lion against the authority of the Most High— claiming that 6 “« All is not lost; the unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield And what is else not to be overcome; That glory, never shall his wrath or might Extort from me.” The world is cursed by Satan’s rule, and lieth in wickedness. As is the master, so is the servant. The whole creation groaneth, and travaileth in pain together until now; nor will it be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, till the church shall more and more abound in the work of the Lord. 2. God’s purpose in the establishment of the church evinces it. The church has a name and constitution, ordi- nances and modes of worship, that determine by their simplicity and variety the great end of her existence. God has formed her to reflect his image, vindicate his honor, extend his authority, and en- force his claims; and for this, he has clothed her with his own beauty, breathing into her a measure of his Spirit, and requiring of her an homage involving the cheerful sacrifice of all earthly good on the altars of truth and holiness. She is the pillar and ground of the truth, the salt of the earth, the light of the world.. She has one master, even Christ ; and to her are given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that the souls of men may be loosed or bound, as her faithfulness or negligence shall decide. Not for the edification and comfort of members gathered into her bosom without efforts of her own, 7 and still less, for the accumulation of worthless honors and emoluments upon herself, has she been called ito being ; but that she may proclaim in every land Jehovah’s name, and summon all nations to the obedi- ence of the faith. By opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, and causing the tongue of the dumb to sing, she is to become “ an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.” Such was God’s beneficent purpose in her estab- lishment;—not that she might conceal the lively Oracles, and substitute for them ‘the traditions of men; not that she might fill the world with lying wonders, plant the gold-garnished cross upon the hill-top and surmount it with a crown of thorns; not that she might parade her armed battalions and pour forth vollies of thunder in honor of an idol ; not that she might invent new terms of salvation, and grant indulgences and remission of sins for the vain repetition of prayers and the payment of money; nor that she might decree arbitrary modes of worship, and compel men by menace and torture, or allure them by flattery and falsehood to adopt a humanly contrived system of faith and practice, vio- lative both of reason and revelation—but, that she might maintain “the law and testimony” in their integrity, explain and enforce their teachings, exem- plify their spirit and diffuse their life-giving influ- ence, instructing all men in the first principles and subordinate details of duty, by the energetic minis- tration of God’s word and ordinances, the mainte- nance of seminaries of science, the operations of the press, and whatever other instrumentalities bear 8 on them the imprimatur of Heaven. For these ends, and for these alone, was the church established by him who made the world and marshaled the hosts of heaven ; and for the same ends she is still sustained in her conflict with the powers of earth and hell. 3. The commission given by Christ to the first disciples contemplates it. ““Go ye therefore and teach all nations — all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” Paramount is the authority that issues this command, plain the duty it enjoins, and full of grace the promise that attends it. ‘ Beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things; ” and while they bear witness to the truth—“ a mouth and wis- dom are given them, which all their adversaries are neither able to gainsay nor to resist.” But the work of the Apostles and their successors in office, turning men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, belongs equally to the entire body of the church in all generations. Christ’s ministers are but the heaven-appointed leaders of «The sacramental host of God’s elect ? — ordained heralds of the great salvation embodied in the visible church; nor are the labors and self- denials involved in the execution of this high com- mission more exclusively theirs, than are the honor and happiness of the promised results. The com- Se oe 9 . mission is thrown into the hands and bound upon the conscience of every Christian, clothing him with authority, either personally or by substitution, to evangelize all nations, instructing him to be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, making his light to shine widely as the world, that through his works of faith and labors of love, he may glorify his Father in heaven, and save his fellow men from everlasting death. The humblest believer, faithful to this high trust, will share the glories, as he shares the faith and sacrifices of the most eminent among God’s servants. 4. The spirit of piety prompts it. Religion in its nature is communicative. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” The peace and joy brought home to the individual, are only perfected when imparted to others. The new born child of grace cannot rest, till the full tide of his sanctified emotions has broken over every embank- ment and flowed freely into other bosoms; awaked to the long neglected glories of the spiritual world, he pants to make them known to as many as are still enveloped in darkness; and the first aspiration of his renovated spirit is, “ Lord! what wilt thou have me to do?” As the great revival of 1740 gave birth to the concert of prayer for the conver- sion of the world, so that concert of prayer called up the question whether the active labors of the church could not be successfully combined for the same end; and the earnest consideration of this question led to the conviction, that duty demanded immediate and united effort; and this conviction 2 10 resulted in the resolution on which we act to-day— to “ publish salvation to the ends of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. » Whoever has first learned ‘ the exceeding sinful- ness of sin,” and the bitterness of its fruits, and then has participated in the spirit that would have all men to be saved, is constrained by every princi- ple of his regenerated nature, to abound more and more in labors of love for those. destined to an im- mortality of weal or wo, and now lying under con- demnation. A Christian, indifferent to the actual or prospective miseries of his fellow men, is a sole- cism in terms. ‘The eye that has been turned from earth to heaven, the heart that has leaped for joy at emancipation from sin’s thraldom, and has bathed itself in the light of heaven, can never regard in- differently the darkness and wo that hang over un- regenerated man in his various earthly conditions, but loving his neighbor as himself, and knowing the grace of the Lord Jesus, that ‘‘ though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor, that we, through his poverty might be rich,” he will be ready to every sacrifice for the salvation of his “‘ neighbor,” though dwelling at the ends of the earth. “ Lord, save!” is the spontaneous cry of the renovated spirit, op- pressed like Paul with great heaviness, in view of the world’s woes; and then is the injunction cheerfully obeyed, ‘‘ Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” 5. The providence of God encourages it. Faith recognizes the movements of the wonder- working God in the progressive discoveries of the 11 past three hundred years, throwing open to the eye new continents, and isles of the sea before unknown, all thickly tenanted by undying man. The bold daring of Columbus and the Duke of Visco, the intrepidity of Vasco de Gama, Cooke, Drake, and others, who first made Christendom acquainted with America, and Africa, and the Eastern Archi- pelago, sprang from the counsels of the only wise God, as directly as the kingly spirit of the son of Kish, and the dauntless courage of Chaldea’s mon- arch. ‘Through long ages had darkness covered the earth, streaked only here and there with a ray of lurid light, struck up by the collision of religious fanaticism with the spirit of conquest and blood- thirstiness; and then, science had well nigh closed its eyes on the phenomena of nature; philosophy dozily dreamed within the precints of the monastery, of the arcana to be brought to light from the fields of intellect; and contentedly followed the beaten track of by-gone ages; and zeal for God and hu- man improvement slept quietly in the bosom of superstition—till suddenly, fire fell from heaven upon the castellated folly and ignorance of man’s heart, and the winds of heaven drove him forth “ From the castle height of indolence, and its false luxury,” into the broad area of a then unknown world, in pursuit of wealth and fame, under the banners of him, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, but still under the invisible guid- ance of another, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” 12 And the same Providence now opens the ears of men, in nearly every quarter of the globe, to the message of salvation—whether through the extend- ing sway of Christian governments, or the widely diffused conviction of the intellectual and moral su- periority of evangelized nations, or the influence of prospective commercial gain, or the manifest useless- ness, and foreshadowed extinguishment of Pagan and Mohammedan religious systems, it matters not ; the fact is undeniable, and replete with encourage- ment. To the same Providence must be ascribed the spirit now abroad, which aims at the translation of the Scriptures into all languages, and their universal distribution ; the raising up of preachers of right- eousness from among the heathen, and that educa- tion of the masses of idolaters, which shakes their confidence in the false religions of their fathers, and constrains them to seek a better way for themselves and their little ones. Gratefully should we recog- nize the hand that has brought into action these fitting instrumentalities for effecting the purposes of God’s mercy toward the Pagan world. Nor can we overlook the same Providence that to some extent has already supplanted idolatry,—that has thrown to the winds wild and inveterate delu- sions,—that has annihilated cruel and disgusting cus- toms of long continuance,—that has here and there enlightened the dark mind, subdued the stubborn will, and caused the pouring of the heart’s best treas- ures into the bosom of Infinite Love. The Greek and the Armenian, the Papist and the Jew, the shivering 13 Greenlander, and the glowing West-Indian, the red man of America, and the Sandwich Islander, the servile Karen, and the fierce Malay, the ebon child of Africa, and the boasting denizen of the “ Celes- tial Empire,” have alike, in numbers few indeed, found their way to the feet of Jesus, giving us fair promise of the triumphs of grace in future but not far distant years. Hitherto, great things have been rarely expected, and still more rarely attempted ; but, even now, the evidence is clear, that before men call, God answers, and while they are yet speaking he hears, and is ready to follow with the demonstration of his Spirit, each hallowed effort that shall be put forth for the world’s conversion. I might add 6. The promises of God assure it. These promises, however, will claim our attention more particularly hereafter, when we consider the reward of ‘abounding in the work of the Lord.” I proceed, therefore, to the second topic suggested by the text for our consideration, viz. Il. The difficulties to be met, and only overcome by perseverance in this work. That formidable difficulties lie in the way of duty is clearly implied in the injunction, “be steadfast, and unmoveable.”. This language is too simple to need exposition, and nothing can add to its force- fulness. Yet its purport will best be understood, and its earnestness justified to the mind that sympa- thizes with God, if we particularize some of these difficulties. 14 1. An obvious difficulty arises from the confessed obliquities of believers themselves. History and experience prove an unceasing con- flict between the law of the mind, and the law in the members. Sin stamps its gloomy features in various depth of shade on the Christian, impairing his strength, diminishing his courage, creating dis- trust of God, and cherishing a quiet apathy to hu- man wants and woes. Through its mighty force, earth’s fascinations blind the eye to the attractive- ness of God’s service ; the cares of life oppress, the deceitfulness of riches betrays, the pomps of the world beguile, and the misanthropy of the multitude disheartens him,—till he exclaims, ‘‘Q wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death.” If his heart sometimes awakes, yet through physical infirmity his affections soon lan- guish; if holy resolutions are formed in his happier moments, yet the anxieties attendant on earthly re- lationships drive them back into forgetfulness; if sentiments of fraternal confidence are religiously cherished toward the faithful in Christ Jesus, yet they are often nullified by the suspicions and jeal- ousies engendered in the womb of denominational distinction ; if purposes of self-consecration to Christ and the church are solemnly formed, yet they do not preclude prejudice and contention or insig- nificant questions of policy, as strong as that which arose between Paul and Barnabas. And surely, when the friends of Christ cease to pray and labor together, through the influence of discordant views on the subject of rites and ceremonies,—when they 15 tithe the mint, the annise, and the cummin, and neglect the cultivation of faith, hope and charity, the weightier matters of the law, they betray an obliquity of heart or judgment, which creates a for- midable difficulty to the progress of truth to its final triumph. And yet, the difficulty is of wide extent throughout the Christian world, prevailing propor- tionably as the elements of corruption within re- main unsubdued, and the love of ease, or thirst for accumulation, or aspirations for distinction, or pride of opinion, or obstinacy of prejudice, or narrowness of vision, triumph over the meek and self-denying spirit of Christ. 2. Another difficulty presents itself, in the deep debasement of those, whose spiritual benefit is con- templated. Ignorant of God and his law, as well as of their own, and the moral character of the world,—content with mental inactivity, and indifferent to moral ele- vation,—untaught in the principles of science, and fast bound in errors venerated for their antiquity,— vicious in their habits, and absorbed in sensual in- dulgences,—accustomed to the profane rites of re- ligions glittering yet grovelling, and’ degrading yet commanding and terrible,—they are unprepared to listen to the annunciation of Glory to God in the highest, and to appreciate the Gospel, as proclaim- ing deliverance from the dominion of sin and death. They are strange things which are thus brought to « their ears by men of other lands and a purer faith, claiming the authority of that unknown God,— “From whom departing, they are lost, and rove At random, without honor, hope or peace ;” 16 and often their thoughts are not to be turned by any amount of testimony or argument from their deep- worn channels, nor their affections diverted from objects of their earliest and devoutest worship. The stupidity of the Hottentot, the sensuality of the Hindoo, the prejudice of the Mohammedan, the ancestral pride of the self-styled “‘ Son of heaven,” and the sottishness of the South-Sea Islander, alike interpose a wall high as heaven between the Chris- tian teacher and the child of ignorance—a wall that shall one day sink like the battlements of Jericho at God’s presence, but can never be overthrown by combinations of human skill and power alone. « It is too late in the day to indulge the fancies of some good men even—that by the sound of the hammer and the saw, pagans may be allured to sit patiently under the shade of their bread-fruit trees, and listen to the tidings of salvation ;—that their religious prejudices so much run in the current of divine revelation, as to predispose them to receive the humbling doctrines of the Gospel ;—that from the king on the throne to the infant of a year old, they are ready to throng Christian schools, and attend the worship of Jehovah ;—and that their generosity to each other, their bounty and liberality to stran- gers, their care of their children, their filial rever- ence, their honesty and fidelity, their truthfulness and tender mercies, are unequalled. Such dreams have been indulged, with a confidence due only to holy verities, in regard to some heathen tribes if not all,—I hardly need say, to the mortification of the dreamers, and the disappointment of Zion’s too san- 17 guine friends. But Paul has described the heathen every-where, not more graphically than truthfully. He deals not in fiction, when he portrays them as vain in their imaginations, given up to uncleanness, worshiping the creature more than the Creator, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, and malignity. Long and sad experience declares that infernal pas- sions dwell in Pagan bosoms, triumphing over even the great law of self-preservation, dealing out death and destruction to parents and children, driving on wars and fightings for purposes of rapine and plun- der, shedding the blood of acknowledged benefac- tors for gain, and devouring enemies with the re- morseless fierceness of the tiger or anaconda ;—and all this, in the presence of their gods, and in avowed obedience to their behests. Essentially true is this of the entire pagan world. Alienation from God, leading to deliberate revolt from every shadow of his authority, forms the all-pervading feature of its character, and renders its aspects toward man as well as God, “ evil, only evil, and that continually.” “«There is none that- doeth good, no, not one.” Estimate then, if you can, the magnitude of this difficulty ! 3. Another difficulty arises from the local cireum- stances of large portions of the heathen world. Climes inhospitable as those of Greenland and Labrador, or of Western Africa, Malaysia, and other equinoctial lands, where either the rigors of perpet- ual winter or the rays of a vertical sun combine with ice-clad rocks or miasmatic marshes to annihilate the ever-decaying energies of man, present fearfully 3 18 appalling obstacles to missionary enterprise. Large sacrifices of life must be heroically made, and still larger sacrifices of the conveniences and comforts of civilized society ; health, ease and abundance must be freely exchanged for sickness, toil and penury; association with refined and congenial minds, must be relinquished for companionship with the vulgar and the rude, the indolent and the filthy; the dwarfish Esquimaux and the treacherous Caffre, the bronzed savage of the American wilds, and the dark-hued child of African deserts, must be taken affectionately by the hand and led to the cross, as equally the heirs of immortality, and equally suscep- tible of cleansing by the blood of Atonement, as the most favored of the sons of earth. And whether it be Hans Egede or Vanderkemp, Brainerd or Mills, Hall or Newell, Lyman or Lowrie, they must brave dangers and plunge into deaths oft, with none but the eye of the Invisible to see, and none but the arm of the Eternal to sustain them, in those fields of labor where biting frosts, or deadly malaria, or the passions of fiends in human form, maintain unquestioned dominion. And when to all this is added, the common work of the missionary in every land—the labor of accommodating habits of thought to the cireum- stances of the narrow-minded and sensual, without diminishing the mind’s energy—of acquirmg new and unwritten languages, transferrmg them to the printed page, and instructing the undisciplined in the simplest rudiments of useful knowledge, and in the abstruse elements of science ;—thus subduing 19 at once ignorance, indolence, pride and self-conceit, inciting a thirst for intellectual progress; and above all, inspiring the high resolve to abandon each vile superstition, and arise and go to Jesus, crying, ** Lord! save, or I perish ”—and_ then reflect, that every land under heaven, however inhospitable and forbidding, is embraced in the great commission— we cannot evade the conviction, that difficulties thickly crowd the path of the self-devoted mis- sionary. 4. Still another difficulty springs from the too prevalent scepticism of Christendom on the question of duty to the heathen. Avowed infidelity on this subject is unpopular ; and high encomiums are often lavished on the disin- terested and adventurous spirit, that breaks away from the endearments of home, and the attractions of civilized life, to carry the tidings of salvation to the ends of the earth. Still, in many quarters, there is felt an ill-disguised contempt for the reputed fanaticism that-prompts to self-sacrifice for such an object ; for the controlling motives of the mission- ary are not comprehended, the moral condition of the world is not justly understood, nor is the author- ity of the King of Zion cordially acknowledged. And hence, the stale objections of other years, though thoroughly disproved in the providence of God, still exert a wide and deadly though unac- knowledged influence; and whether declared or not, it is surmised that the missionary enterprise is | impracticable, without the miraculous interposition _ of Heaventhat little has been accomplished, even. t ' } om at the cost of large expenditures—that civilization must precede the introduction of a heaven-born sys- tem of faith and morals—that the heathen world is more virtuous and happy in its ignorance and _ bar- barism than is commonly believed—that we have heathen enough at home, to call into action all our sympathies and charities—that we have not at command sufficient means to give the Gospel to all nations—that the church must cease her own con- tentions, throw aside her superstitions, and cultivate a more fraternal spirit among her sons and daugh- ters, ere she assume to bear the olive branch over a contending world—and, that “the time has not come” to rear the temple of the Lord amid the hill- tops of idolatry. These are either facts or fictions. But, that they are not facts, is susceptible of the clearest proof from history, experience and prophecy. And if they are fictions, they indicate only a godless scepticism, pro- portioned to their prevalence. But that this scepti- cism is broadly diffused among “ the children of this world,” and over Christendom,—that it operates powerfully to paralyze the energies of the church, —that it leads to the withholding of co-operation in well-concerted plans of benevolent effort, and even arouses a stern resistance to the claims of oppressed humanity,—and, that it involves regardlessness of the soul’s worth, of the value of Jesus’ blood, and the regenerating influences of the Holy Spirit, will not be questioned by the true-hearted observer ; nor will the moral atmosphere thus surrounding the liv-- ing Christian, depressing his holiest affections, en- 21 feebling his highest resolves, and tempting him to the neglect of his plainest duties, be less dreaded when perceived, nor less anxiously shunned, than the sirocco of the desert, or the miasma of Acheron, by the health-seeking traveler. 5. Another difficulty arises from the character of the intercourse maintained between nominal Chris- tendom and the heathen nations. The larger portions of the unevangelized world make their first acquaintance with Christianity through men as far removed from its spirit, as those who have never heard of Christ. The cupidity and fraud, the licentiousness and violence of many com- mercial men and their agents, released from the re- straints of Christian association, and tempted by example and opportunity to the indulgence of their ruling passions, are as familiarly known, as they are deserving of abhorrence. The brandy of France, and the rum of New England, the opium of British India, and the cannon of European navies, combined with the intemperance and debauchery, profaneness and falsehood of foreigners thrown into the ports, and resident in the cities of the dark-minded idolater, foster the vicious propensities of his untutored na- ture; plunge him deeper in pollution, than if left to” the unmixed influences of his own debased religion, and increase his repugnance toa Faith that promises no improvement either to his social or moral con- dition. But the most subtle and pernicious intercourse with heathen communities is maintained by men who claim to act under Heaven’s commission, but 22. ‘“¢ whose coming is after the working of Satan—with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness ;” men, who, like the priests of Jeroboam and the disciples of Loyola, blend in unholy union the rites of Pagan and Christian worship, transferring the honors of Jeho- vah to Baal or Brama, and exchanging the sim- plicity of Christ, for the imposing magnificence of an idol temple. Schwartz and Gerricke in India, Hocker and Rueffer in Persia and Abyssinia, and others of like spirit in South America and the Islands of the sea, encounter an opposition more fierce and obstinate from these “false Apostles,” than from the priests and devotees of the most bloody and obscene superstitions. ‘The thousands of bap- tized Pagans gathered into churches, whether by the minions of the Romish See, for the glorification of Mary and the aggrandizement of the Papaey—or, by the armed missionaries of Protestant govern- ments, for the consolidation of their power and in- crease of their revenues,—whether persuaded to repeat their Avé Marias and Pater Nosters m con+ nection with their prostrations and lascivious dances before the shrines of idols, or compelled by force of arms to repeat the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Com- mandments within a Christian temple, are not only heathens still, but are more thoroughly fortified against the legitimate influences of the Gospel, than their former brethren in ignorance; pure Paganism, corrupt and destructive as it is to the soul, yields more readily to the claims of evangelical Christian- ity, than Paganism baptized into the name of presen Son, and Holy Ghost. tM 23 Such are some of the difficulties that impede the onward movement of the missionary enterprise ; diffi- culties to be overcome by the church, only when she shall be found “ steadfast, unmoveable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord.” And, it is due to truth to say, that they are rather imposing in their aspects, than substantial in their character ; for were they accumulated an hundred fold and mag- nified into impossibilities in our eye, we might still say to them, either severally or collectively, ‘« What art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel ! ” At the touch of God’s finger they vanish, and before the breath of his nostrils, they are as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor before the whirlwind; with God, all things are equally possible, as the deliver- ance of Noah from the deluge, of Daniel from the lion’s den, and of Paul from the prison of Philippi. ** Prayer, pains, and perseverance,” with his blessing, ** accomplish all things.” And if the soldier braves the dangers of the land and the sea, of the battle-field and the prison-house in defence of his country, or for the glory of his rul- ers,—if the mariner dares the fury of the elements and the fierce passions of savage men, for the fame of discovery, or the gains of commerce,—and if the merchant encounters the perils of unknown seas, insalubrious climes and hostile governments, for the increase of wealth and of luxury,—shall the follower of Christ succumb to the pressure of no more than equal dangers, and forego the rapturous “ Euge ” from the lips of Christ, “Well done ! good and faithful servant,” when assured that the everlasting 2A, arms are underneath him, and that the gates of hell shall never prevail against him ! This leads us to the third topic suggested for con- sideration, viz. III. The promised reward, ‘ Your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord.” The work of missions is the Lord’s work, con- ducted on the broadest scale. If he that converteth one sinner from the error of his way hideth a multi- tude of sins, and creates joy among the angels— who shall calculate the blessings conferred on earth and heaven, by the man who throws himself with all his affections and energies, into the work of the world’s conversion! And, if every man shall receive at the hand of the Lord according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad, then the individual and the church thus self-devoted, and aboundimg in the work of missions, shall receive abundant grace and glory. Labor for God ever brings its own reward. Such is the divine constitution, to be recognized on earth as in heaven. God’s blessedness consists in Love, ever outflowing in beneficent action. Angelic hap- piness springs from ceaseless activity in minis- tering to them who are the heirs of salvation. And obedience to the same law of love ensures to man the consciousness of acceptance with God, and fel- lowship with the spirits about the throne. But, the Apostle addresses the church collectively, — and assures her that her labor for the conversion of men to the faith of Jesus, shall not be in vain, and — ap. | 29 that in her embodiment, as the visible representative of Christ, she shall receive a reward proportioned to her fidelity. Thus warranted to apply the promise to the church in all her generations, | say, 1. That Christendom reaps the reward, in the reflex influence of the missionary enterprise on her- self. She glories justly in the superiority of her lit- erature and science ; but never since the world be- gan have they advanced so rapidly and shone so splendidly, as since the commencement of modern missions. The researches of Buchanan in India, and of Jowett in Turkey,—the labors of Fisk and Parsons in Palestine and Syria, of Martyn in Hin- doostan and Persia, of Morrison, Milne, and Gutzlaff in China, and the explorations of an hundred others of the same spirit among the spice-bearing isles of the Southern ocean, or the snow-clad forests of the North, the wilds of our own continent, or the burn- ing sands of Africa,—have poured floods of light on the natural history of the world, the physical and intellectual resources of man, the geographical limits of nations and their relative strength, their customs and habits, their languages and modes of thought, their comforts and privations—matters of high prac- tical utility, with all who would judge correctly of the capabilities of the race, and of the best means for its improvement. ’ Her commercial relations have extended propor- | tionably to her advanced literature and science, and _ the productions of nations widely separated from her 4 26 by intervening oceans, are easily and profitably pro- cured. If the manufactures of our country find their way to Africa and China, to the Sandwich Islands and India, in increasing abundance, and pro- duce correspondingly remunerative returns, it is because the herald of salvation has gone thither, seeking the welfare of the people, changing their habits of life, breaking down their prejudices, and creating a demand for comforts and wealth before unknown. . So, wherever these men of God have gone, they have inspired respect for the lives and property of strangers ;—disarmed the barbarian of his spear and poisoned arrows—warmed his bosom with compas- sion for the sick and ship-wrecked mariner—and constrained him to divide his last morsel with the famished traveler, and speed him on his way. Thousands in Christian lands have thus been saved the sorrows of widowhood and orphanage, penury, and living death, by the direct influence of mission- ary establishments: they are so many strong towers into which the distressed run and are safe—so many asylums where the wretched find consolation, the sick obtain healing, and the dying, angelic support. Hence, the earnest inquiry of the sailor, thrown by the violence of the waves on an unknown land— ‘Ts the Christian missionary here ?””—mno sooner meets an affirmative response, than his fears vanish, —he “thanks God and takes courage.” These, however, and others like them, are but the smaller rewards following the discharge of duty, 27 and unworthy to be comparéd with those that per- tain to “life and immortality.” Of these, however, it must suffice to say—that individual and social piety, depending for its vitality and power on the comprehensive views taken of God and the principles of his government, in con- nection with man’s duty to a revolted world, cannot be vigorously sustained, except by diffusion; and that the indispensable condition on which rests growth in grace and a harvest of future glory, is ac- tive devotedness to the work of universal regen- eration. The mind is enlivened, the affections are elevated and refined, and the comforts of the Holy Ghost are multiplied, in proportion as the demands on beneficent action are promptly and generously - met. And, looking for the origin of Bible Associations, Tract and Education Societies, Sabbath Schools, Temperance movements, and a thousand other appliances for the elevation of the intellectual and moral character of Christendom, we shall find it in those enlarged views of religious obligation inspired of Heaven, and giving birth to the foreign mission- ary enterprise more than a hundred years ago, and then stimulating and strengthening those home mis- sionary operations that give no equivocal promise of making our own, the glory of all lands. Or, if revivals of religion multiply, and long standing churches renew their youth, and infant churches rise to early manhood, and healthful disci- pline vindicates their purity, and zeal for the pro- gress of truth and love imparts to them the splendor 28 of the sun, the beauty of the moon, and the terri- bleness of an army with banners,—if denomina- tional divisions and strifes vanish, and Christians of differing names rush into the embraces of a holier fellowship, to the confusion of gainsayers,—it is because the paramount claims of the Lord’s work of missions are admitted, and the carnal, self-aggran- dizing policy of darker times discarded. So the Bible derives new confirmations of its divine authority, from the severe tests applied to it in the progress of its translation into the various languages of men, and from corroborative facts, gathered up from all portions of the earth, illustra- tive of its history, its doctrines, and its prophecies, and thus opposes an invincible antagonism to ram- pant infidelity ; while at the same time, the strength of error in all its Protean forms is weakened, and its hopes extinguished, through the rapid aecumula- tion of such proof of ‘Truth’s divinity, as missionary investigation is ever bringing to the light. And then, the noblest specimens of humanity that have ever met the eyes of men or angels, are found on the field of Foreign Missions. Devotion to the world’s welfare and moral heroism have never shone in men elevated to thrones of power, or leading on armies to conquest and renown, as in the Eliots and Brainerds, the Careys and Marshmans, the Med- hursts and Abeels of missionary fame. And if the mind that conceives and the hand that executes the noblest purposes, be the main constituents of moral — greatness, then does greatness belong not less really — to Fuller and Bogue, Worcester and Evarts, than to— 29 Luther and Calvin, or Peter and Paul. These are the men, who, with their compeers in labor, and under the direction of the Holy One, bring light out of darkness and order out of confusion,—who supplant barbarism by civilization, superstition by simple faith, servitude by rational liberty, and ex- tinguish the fires of licentiousness by the waters of the river of life, and silence the shrill clarion of war, by the deep-toned harp of heaven ! 2. Christendom reaps a still greater reward, in the success of her labors abroad. Of this success we have the strongest assurance in the promises of God. These promises are not only ‘‘ Yea and Amen, in Christ Jesus,” but intelli- gible in their announcement, and unmistakable in their appropriation. ‘In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the moun- tains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.” * All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the na- tions shall worship before him.” “They shall teach no more every man his neigh- bor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know him, from the least of them to the greatest.” “« Every valley shall be exalted, and every moun- tam and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.’’ 30 ‘*‘ According to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right- eousness ;” ‘the Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all na- tions ;”? and “in that day, there shall be one Lord, and his name one.” Such are the assurances of “ the Lord of heaven and earth.” Idolatry, the abominable thing that he hates, shall perish from under these heavens, and the temples of Jehovah shall rise on the ruins of effete superstitions; the divinely estab- lished relationships of life shall be every where recognized, and the face of society changed; every yoke shall be broken, and whatsoever men would that others should do to them, that they shall do to others ; ‘“ All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail ;” the trial of bonds and imprisonments, of cruel mock- ings and scourgings, shall be known no more ; the spear and the rack, the dungeons of the inquisition and the flames of the auto-da-fe, the morais of the Pagan, and the scimetar of the Mohammedan, shall be remembered but as the fitful dreams of a mad- dened world, slumbering through a long and dismal night. Pride and envy, with their kindred passions, shall die out of human hearts, and devotion to the interests of humanity and the glory of God shall succeed them. The rulers of the world shall fear God and work righteousness ; the kings of ‘Tarshish and of the isles, the kings of Sheba and Seba shall — offer gifts ; yea, all kings shall fall down before him, 31 and sacrifice their wisdom and power, their wealth and honors on his altars; and then the blood-thirsty Dyak and the wary Siamese, the haughty Turk and deceitful Greek, the polished European and the groveling African, the diminutive child of the Arc- tic, and the stalwart Patagonian, shall assimilate and love as brethren, “Nor sigh nor murmur, the wide world shall hear.” Such are the results certain to flow in upon the church when “ abounding in the work of the Lord.” Other demonstration of “ the exceeding greatness of power” is not demanded for the completion of the great work in progress, than that which shall turn the undivided attention of the Christian world, to the single object for which the material universe stands. Let the church emulate the fortitude and zeal of Christ and his Apostles, and pour her prayers and tears, her alms and labors into the treasury of the Lord, with the freeness and fullness of primitive ages, and her confidence in the promises of God will gather fresh strength with each revolving year ; _ but she needs more than the resolution of the mon- arch who said, “ J’ll have it known that my flag can protect a paroquet;”’ even the nobler heroism of the man who in view of bonds and afflictions, exclaimed, ** None of these things move me ; I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecu- tions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; when I am weak, then am I strong.” Though the world shall be converted to God, as certainly as ‘he is not a man that he should lie, nor 32 the son of man that he should repent,” yet it is a progressive work, requiring not. only firmness and heroism, but practical wisdom for its completion. The most promising fields of labor are to be first selected, as well as the fittest means for their culti- vation. The soul of man, if every where equally precious, is not every where equally accessible. Though we honor the spirit that lavished sixty years of unavailing toil on the wandering Calmucs of Tartary, and sought to penetrate the interior of Persia in quest of a few doubtful descendants of the Magi, and hazarded life to recover the Mohammedan- oppressed Copts and Abyssinians from their degrad- ing superstitions, and dared the frozen regions of Labrador, and defied the arrows of death, flying thickly among the Sunderbunds of Hindoostan ; yet the policy is more than questionable, that overlooks at the same time, the equally urgent claims of more salubrious portions of the earth, less burdened with ignorance and superstition. If some fields are more white to the harvest than others, they demand the first attention of the husbandman ; nor are they the fields where cockle and darnel most luxuriantly grow, nor where the fiercest beasts of prey make their haunts; but a wise economy of compassion and toil forbid the waste of energy and life where unpropitious cir- cumstances crowd out the hope of early success, when localities are open which promise quick and large returns for every expenditure of pious labor. Missionary enterprises are liable to temporary failure, too, not only through deficiency of wisdom in their conductors, but through the inadequacy of 33 support derived from the sympathies, prayers, and pecuniary contributions of the churches. So the health of the missionary may fail, and his heart be overborne by discouragement ; or the calamities of war, pestilence, and famine may overflow his field of labor ; and after years of alternating hope and fear, he may retire from his post with the lamenta- tion of the Prophet on his lips,—‘I have labored in vain, | have spent my strength for naught and in vain.” Still, “Though seed lie buried long in dust, It sha’nt deceive our hope.” Egede may mourn over the disappointed hopes of fif- teen years’ arduous toil, though seven years of super- added labor, by other men, brings to light the germi- nating principle of the seed sown, and results in a glorious harvest. Schmidt may abandon Africa after seven years of apostolic effort, believing that he has accomplished nothing ; but fifty years afterwards, he is remembered there, by one, whom he led to Jesus in her childhood, and who loves the shade of the pear-tree planted by her teacher’s hand, and whose faith and love stay up the hands of a new and more successful missionary band. No! the Gospel cannot be preached in its simplicity in vain, whether among the hills of Palestine, the ruins of N ineveh, the fast- nesses of Koordistan, the jungles of Burmah, the mosques of Arabia, or the temples of China. As certamly as the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, they will hear it, and sooner or later exult in hope, and glorify God. Busy as earth’s millions are to-day, in their pursuits of gain and self-indul- 5) 34 gence,—vainly sanguine as they are in their expect- ations, and reckless of responsibility to God, and of the retributions of eternity, yet when the voice of Love shall reach them from the throne, through the abounding labors of the church, they shall be ar- rested in their wild career, nations shall be born in a day, the deathless interests of myriads shall be secured, the joys of the church triumphant shall be multiplied, and new glories shall gather around the head of Emanuel. God’s word and providence, the power of his truth and the omnipotence of his Spirit, together declare it. You will permit me, in conclusion, to suggest three REFLECTIONS. 1. The elements of success in the missionary en- terprise are few and simple. Among these, are the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, especially as he ap- pears in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. When Christ and his cross fill the eye of the church, and he becomes to her ‘as a bundle of myrrh, or a cluster of camphor in the vineyards of Engedi,” — she is constrained to declare his loveliness to the — world, and conjure all nations to fall down and wor- ship him. Then, there enters into the spirit of missions, a just appreciation of the worth of the soul,—of the dangers that crowd its pathway to another world,— of its possible salvation through the blood of the God-man, and of its inevitable destiny to weal or wo, agreeably to the image here impressed on it. 35 Then, the actual condition of the heathen world —its spiritual wants and miseries—its cherished reasonings on man’s relations to God’ and eternity— its idolatries and vices, with the social and moral habits fostered by its false religions,—will be investi- gated and deplored by every man who has the mind that was in Christ. Then, are the heathen to be met with all those appliances of wisdom and kindness, that are appro- propriate to the conversion of the ungodly in en- lightened lands—by the rudimental and more ad- vanced processes of education—by instruction in science and intellectual discipline, in agriculture and the mechanic arts, in connection with the clear announcements of evangelical truth, whether in the school-room or on the highway, in the house of God or at the gate of the idol’s temple. Knowledge is the mother of devotion, and kindness is the hand- maid of knowledge. Ignorant zeal may multiply gilded crosses, forced baptisms and imaginary con- versions ; but the barbarities of men like Magellan and Balboa, can never be converted into instru- ments of good, nor can oceans wash away the guilt of leaving immortal mind under the oppression of darkness, when “godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” And, when the pagan is brought to the knowl- edge of the truth, by this various and patient labor, his faith is to be strengthened by watchfulness and forbearance. As the unfledged dovelet has not the sweet note and comely plumage of the parent bird, nor the infant child the vigor and fortitude of the 36 : full-grown man, so the new convert from paganism is deficient in the intelligence and meek firmness of the well-instructed and mature disciple. The same consistency of character and elevation of purpose cannot be anticipated in the recently enlightened heathen, as in the man taught from infancy in the oracles of God. The moral atmosphere in which the one has ever had his being, as little resembles - the moral atmosphere of the other, as the pesti- lential breathings of the moss-green swamp resem- ble the pure breezes that fan the mountain top. Kairnak and Africaner, Duaterra and Romatone, though signal trophies of grace, are not imvul- nerable to shafts hurled by the mighty Prince of Evil; for neither Prophet nor Apostle, with their broader and thicker shields, were safe from such assaults; and, if converts from heathenism back- slide even by hundreds, it is but a repetition of the fact that made the tears of the Apostles flow, and excited their increased diligence and watchfulness ; for beside the deceitfulness of the heart and the carnality common to all men, the deep ignorance of the heathen, the abjectness of their social condi- tion, their vain but venerated traditions, their time- honored customs of profligacy, impelling to infanti- cide, parricide, Thuggish murders, and cannibalism —all conflict steadily with the holiest efforts to transform them into symmetrical Christians. But in proportion as light increases, through the multi- plication of schools and colleges, the elevation of the female mind, the establishment of churches and exercise of salutary discipline, the instructions of — 37 native preachers, the translation and distribution of the Scriptures, and the diffusion of all useful knowledge,—the standard of Christian character will rise, and the attainments of true disciples will become more commensurate with the requisitions of the Bible. The love of God and joy in the great salvation, a due estimate of the soul’s value and the actual con- dition of the heathen world, wisdom in counsel, and affectionate desires, combined with various and pa- tient labor, form then the main elements of success in the missionary enterprise. 2. Personal consecration to this work is demand- ed of every believer. The duty of each member is identical in its nature and claims, with the duty of the entire body of Christ. If prayer, labor, and sacrifice are neces- sary to the world’s conversion, they are equally de- manded of one and all who acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Master. When the spirit that prompted the whole body of Moravian brethren to resolve, individually as well as collectively, to fulfil the Savior’s commission, in face of poverty and contempt, and impelled sixty-six of their number within thirty years to lay down their lives for the spiritual redemption of slaves, and other scores to press toward the same sacrificial altar, and sustained Zeisberger and Heinrich in the endurance of jeal- ousy and suspicion, violence and death, for the recovery of wandering savages to the love of God— shall pervade the church at large, and illustrate be- 38 fore the world the union of confidence in God and personal consecration, then shall be seen “New heavens, new earth, ages of endless date Founded in righteousnsss, and peace and love To bring forth fruits, joy and eternal bliss.” This personal consecration, beyond all things else, is needed now ; and whether it appear in the form of fervent and effectual prayer, flowing from the heart of the “unknowing and unknown” believer ; or, of the self-denial that prompts the rich man to bestow his thousands, and the poor widow her two mites, and the talented youth to devote his entire life and influence to the world’s regeneration—it is all the same ; humanity claims it, God demands it, glory, honor and immortality reward it. A few recognize the duty, others halt between two opinions, but an immense majority say, ‘I pray thee have me ex- cused.” I once knew—and all of you have often heard of—the little band of college youth, whose prayers and deliberations among the hills of Berkshire, and in the sweet seclusion of Andover, gave birth to the most splendid enterprise that gilds the heaven- written pages of our country’s history—and whose was the spirit of entire consecration to the sole ob- ject of making known the Savior’s name, through- out the world. The bold and energetic piety of Hall, the meek and quiet devotion of Richards, the far-reaching eye and deep-feeling heart of Mills, and the mingling confidence and tears of their few companions, were but living characteristics of the spirit that animates every disciple of Jesus, entering are 39 successfully into the work of the Lord ; and it is a spirit that can never die, while the promises of God stand firmer than the everlasting hills, though even now it confessedly languishes, and leaves to weak faith a large inheritance of doubts and fears ; but, it shall revive again, and urge onward thousands among successive generations to deeds of noble daring on the broad field of conflict between Michael the Prince, and the Devil and his angels. The young men of our colleges and higher semina- ries shall again catch the fire that burned so brightly on their altars a few years since ; and other young men and maidens, old men and children, shall en- courage their aspirations, praise the name of the Lord, and partake of the rewards of the wise, who turn many to righteousness ; and when it is said of the fathers still living, as of those now dead, ‘¢ Where are they ? ”—their mantles will have fallen upon their children, who shall arise to perfect “ the work of the Lord,’ and exult in the world’s re- demption from sin’s dominion. 3. “The time has come” for the house of the Lord to be enlarged into a dwelling place of all nations. So the signs of the times declare. The world is thrown open to the eye of Christendom as never before. The facilities of intercommunication be- tween evangelized and unevangelized lands are not only increased, but well-nigh perfected; so that, indirectly, the influence of Christianity already per- meates the earth, through the extending sway of 40 Christian governments, which, by whatever motives actuated, guarantee protection to men of every lan- guage who shall either declare or receive the words of eternal life. Then, the commercial spirit of the age, combined with governmental enterprise, and - ‘‘ bringing to light the hidden things of darkness,” is multiplying and strengthening the ligaments that bind in harmony the interests of the antipodes, and at the same time extends, wherever it goes, a por- tion of the moral influence pervading Christian lands. Science, too, extends her boundaries, and not only, like her Author, “weighs the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance,” and compre- hends the adjustments of creative wisdom through- out the broad expanse of the solar system,—but condescends to the humbler task of exploding the absurd theories that have long cramped the intellect of India; dispelling the ignorance that with incubus effect has settled down upon the bosom of Africa; dissipating the airy fancies of “the Celestials” ; extinguishing the bloody orgies of demons incar- nate, and turning into shame “ the wisdom of the Wise, and the understanding of the prudent.” Beyond and better than all this—the church her- self goes forth in the strength of the Lord, to ‘‘ preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God;” her voice is already heard, though faintly, in the most distant lands, and among the most barbarous nations ; at her approach darkness recedes, and the “ True 4] Light” shines with increasing splendor; behind her, the desert has already become a fruitful field, and the dry land, springs of Water; at her touch the synagogues of Satan are transformed into tem- ples of the living God, and worshipers of devils prostrate themselves in her presence before “ the King eternal.” Indeed, the church combines in her constitution the elements of indestructible vitality and irre- pressible energy. She outlives the most flourishing kingdoms of the world, and triumphs over their downfall. Egypt, famed for skill in science, arts and arms—Tyre, pre-eminent for commerce, opu- lence and strength—Assyrian Nineveh, the home of elegance, luxury and pride—Babylon, the Chaldees? excellency, mistress and arbiter of nations—all, like the Carthaginians and Romans, the Greeks and Saracens of later days, though they “caused their error in the land of the living, have gone down to heir graves, set in the sides of the pit, and there rest ipon their swords,” beneath the outstretched arm f Zion. And still she lives, to witness the over- hrow of every antagonistic power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, Pagan or Mohammedan. Meek in er spirit, firm in her purpose, simple in her confi- ence and ever onward in her movements, neither varshaled armies, persecution?s fires, philosophy’s retensions, nor Satan’s stratagems, are aught but riars and thorns before the devouring flame ; from nquering she goes on to conquer, till all the owns of earth are laid at Jesus? feet, when heaven urs forth the triumphal song—* The kingdoms of 6 42. the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” srshs «Fixed in the rolling flood of endless years The pillar of the eternal plan appears, The raving storm and dashing wave defies, Built by that Architect who built the skies.” Scarce a single generation has passed away, since Zion’s ‘duty to the sin-enslaved nations began to be seriously discussed under the shade of the haystack, and within the walls of a seminary ; nor was it then the dream of the most sanguine, that at this hour, twelve hundred stations, wide apart as the East from the West, on heathen ground, would be oceupied by three thousand missionaries and their assistants,— — that native schools and colleges would be sending forth hundreds of educated heathen to spread the illumination of human and divine science over ilim- | itable tracts of darkness,—that the press would be scattering its myriads of healing leaves along the > pathway of every herald of salvation,—that thirty millions of Bibles would be revealing the counsels” of heaven to men in two hundred different lan- guages,—that heathen children by hundreds of thousands would be found on their way to Jesus for his blessing,—and that willing converts to Christ. would be numbered by fifties of thousands. Less was this moral revolution contemplated, < lying in the purpose of Providence then, than wondrous increase of our country’s population amt territory since, or, than the speed with which steam ships traverse oceans, locomotives measure distances and lightnings convey intelligence from land to lane AB But God is accomplishing great things in his provi- dence among the kingdoms of the earth, in their domestic institutions and civil relations, scattering the proud in their imaginations, putting down kings from their thrones, making ‘darkness his secret place, and his pavilion round about him dark waters and thick clouds of the sky,’ drying up rivers, span- ning oceans, opening to the light the long-hid treas- ures of the earth, and preparing the way for the return of his ransomed ones to their rest by quickly successive revolutions in the political world, and by new and rapid developments of the laws and en- ergies of universal nature. Full of grandeur now, is the object before us,— to bring the world into subjection to Christ, diffusing peace and joy through all its habitations,—to defeat hell’s dark designs, and restore a fallen race to Emanuel’s arms, and then to fill heaven with rap- turous hosannas, by the union of all human voices with the multitudes about the throne, till as the voice of many waters, and the voice of mighty thunderings, they shall echo through the universe the joyous anthem, “ Alleluia! for the Lord God omnip- otent reigneth,—and the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, are given to the people of the saints of the Most High.” Thus, dear brethren, may we ever sacrifice self- indulgence to duty, surmount difficulty by steadfast- ness, make sure the promised reward by fidelity unto the death ; and then, weak and unworthy as we are, shall we rise to the holy city, the Jerusalem that is nations brought into it,” and u of ‘Blessing, and honor, and unto Him that sitteth upon the th Lamb, forever and ever.” on aval ony a 0 —————————————————————————————————— EE AN APPEAL IN BEHALF oF MISSIONS > ADDRESSED TO EPISCOPALIANS. SERMON | PREACHED BEFORE THE Board of Directors OF THE ‘ ~ } | DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY Be SOCIETY te ar ; ae OF THE " PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH : IN THE . UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IX’ st. JAMES’ CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, | ON TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1829. ie BY_ALONZO POTTER, ne RECTOR OF ST. PAUL’S CHURCH, BOSTON. - . a SA ST ih on _ = - i BOSTON : R. P. & C. WILLIAMS: . i : 1829 _» Press of Putnam § Hunt. ou aS, x im wy ph i wy ¥ ¢ 5 2% - 4 iad Py Sites nee wk ean onde obs grant wha ar Pe eae (e : ‘ fo: rit = Fe anh emp. 4 tem 4N APPEAL IN BEHALF OF MISSIONS: ADDRESSED TO EPISCOPALIANS. A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE « Board of Directors DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE __ PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH = 5 IN THE : UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2 IN ST. JAMES’ CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, SS ON TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1829. Se BY ALONZO POTTER, RECTOR OF ST. PAUL’S CHURCH, BOSTON. PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE BOARD > e —==— BOSTON : R. P. & C. WILLIAMS. Ir is due to the subject, as well as to the author, to state that this Discourse was undertaken at a very short notice, and was writ- ten on the eve and during the intervals of a journey prosecuted for the benefit of health. Under such circumstances, it had certainly been withheld from the public, were it not that at present the cause for which it pleads, seems to have claims paramount to any of a — personal or private character. PRESS OF PUTNAM & HUNT. 41, Washington Street. SERMON. ROMANS, 1. 15. 1 AM A DEBTOR BOTH TO THE GREEKS AND TO THE BARBARIANS—BOTH To THE WISE AND TO THE UNWISE. To preach the gospel then, is, in the ethics of Paul, but to pay a debt. It is not in his view a gra- tuity—the bestowment of which, implies merit, while the withholding of it would be scarcely, if at all, asin.* Itisadebt. Its obligation is not less imperative than that of the ordinary duties of jus- tice. Nohuman law, ’tis true, can exactly define or enforce this obligation. Its discharge may and must be left to the dictates of individual discretion. _ When its claims conflict with those of common _ equity, they may, and of course should give way. | But still its authority is not on these accounts the _ less perfect or the less binding. With thé Apostle to love one’s neighbor as himself—to do him good as he has opportunity—to impart to him therefore, if he have it not, the richest of all blessings—the bles- *See Appendix A. 4 sing of the gospel—this we say, is, inthe estima- tion of St. Paul, a duty, for the omission of which, there can be at the bar of God no conceivable ex- cuse. But who is this neighbour? To whom was this debt of the Apostle due? The text answers, To the Greeks and to the Barbarians. In the vo- cabulary of the Greeks, Barbarian, you know, was the name of all foreigners—so that to be a debtor to the Greeks and Barbarians, was to be a debtor to the whole world—or rather, since the Apostle speaks here as a Jew, to the whole Pagan world. Having committed unto him the Apostleship of the uncircumcision, sent forth by his once persecut- ed but now adored Master on the first mission to the Gentiles, he beholds in each of these Gentiles a creditor. ‘They are sitting in darkness, and in the shadow of death. To his keeping is con- fided the instrument which is to open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light from the power of satan unto God. Were he to prove un- — faithful to a charge so momentous, wo must be- 1 tide him. A necessity is laid upon him; he must - preach the gospel. And under the vince of this conviction, how does he go forth! With what he-— roism—with what self devotion! Though bonds and afflictions await him in every city; though his” course is one of weariness, and painfulness—of " watchings and hunger—of great and manifold perils, yet nowise daunted, he presses onward with a perseverance which nothing but the chains: SE pe 5 of the imperial Cesar can-arrest,—with an in- tensity of ardour which nothing but the hand of death can extinguish. But who is this Paul ? In what capacity does he here speak? Asa private man? nay, but as an apos- tle of the Lord Jesus Christ ! As acting under a spe- cial commission ? nay, but as acting under that com- mission—the warrant of all ministerial authority— to preach the gospel to every creature! As engaged ina work which is since complete? nay, but as en- gaged in one which shall be complete only when the kingdoms of this world shall have become the king- doms of our Lord and of his Christ! This Paul, this Apostle to the Gentiles, this servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, my friends, he speaks in the name—as the representative of the Christian church! 'The obligation which he here owns is her obligation. 'To preach repentance and the remis- sion of sins among all nations—to labour for the extension of his faith, ‘* as muchas in him is,”? to the full extent of his ability—to do this now while | he has time, while he has strength, while he has | opportunity, this is the duty which in behalf of | the church of God—in behalf of its every individual , member he admits, and for our instruction perma- | nently records. _ Brethren, are we Christians? Are we ministers? | Are we successors of the Apostle; or partakers | with him of the same grace? Have we this gospel |in our hands? Are there round us millions who have \it not? ‘l'o them we are debtors! This precious | 1 6 treasure must not be left to corrode with rust—to canker under the curse of inactivity! It must not be hoarded up as means merely of personal improve- ment, or personal gratification! It is not our own! It is God’s! we are but its almoners. The gospel is a trust confided to us not for our edification only, but for the conversion of the world. ‘The Pagan is entitled to it no less than we. This Pagan—look down upon him as we may, has rights. His adyo- vates need not appear here as humble suppliants. They need not intreat as a boon what he may de- mand as a debt. As a child of God, as one for whom Christ died, as a being for whose instruction and salvation the gospel was published, he has to this gospel an equitable title—a title authenticated by God himself—a title recognised this moment at his bar—a title therefore to which we do well to give heed. Has it been hitherto grievously disregarded? For centuries have we slumbered over this enter- prise of evangelising the world? Are there now grov- elling in dark and ruinous superstition three fourths — of our race ; and in the efforts just commencing for their recovery, are not Episcopalians bearing their | proper, their proportional part. Let them arise— as men of taste—as men of feeling—above all as Christian men let them arise and give to those ef- forts their prayers, their counsel, and their sub- stance. I. We say, as men of taste. As such men the owe their admiration—and if need be thei patronage to whatever is splendid in intelle 7 or lofty in morals. To no object which can fill the mind with great and glorious conceptions— should they be indifferent. But where shall they find an object which in these respects can com- pare with the one before us. Let them collect the most illustrious examples of the moral sublime. Let them tell of the Grecian hero and his three hundreds, rearing themselves as the last barrier of their country’s liberty. Let them tell of our own honoured Patriot, girding himself up to a great and holy enterprise, forgetting all considerations of self, and offering on the altar of the public weal, his fortune and his life! Let them tell of that con- stellation of British Philanthropists, of a Clarkson and a Howard, of a Sharpe and a Wilberforce, set- ting themselves apart to the service of injured hu- manity, and laboring even unto death for the repara- tion of its wrongs—and then beside all these, let them place the holy and harmless Jesus—let them place the Son of God disrobing himself of the splendours of divinity, and submitting unto death - even the death of the cross. Let them think of : Paul putting from him all the honours and immu- | nities of the Jewish Sanhedrim, counting not his | life dear unto himself, but becoming the willing | victim of persecution and scorn. Let them think of the modern missionary bidding adieu to kinsfolk | and friends, turning with the heart-rending assu- |rance that they shall see his face no more, and | going out, not knowing whither, for the instruction and renovation of degraded man. Is it disinterested | | \ } | 8 magnanimity for which you look? it is here! Is it an enterprise to task the best and noblest energies of the soul? it is here! Is it an object of transcend- ent dignity and importance? it is here! The soul is the object for which Christ, and Paul, and their heroic successors through all time are willing to la- bour and if need be to die. The soul which must live forever—the soul which has faculties that can fit it for the society of cherubim, or the fellowship of devils—this is the subject of their toils And whose soul—that of one man? Those of one fami- — ly—of one tribe—of one nation—No! but of the © whole world. 'To dissipate from the face of the earth those endless diversities—to hush those eter- nal discords which separate man from his fellow- — man—to extend from heart to heart, and from clime | to clime, a golden chain of concord and love—to | fasten this chain to the very throne of God, and make it the medium of praises from beneath, and of blessings from above—to roll away from the mountains and the vallies those clouds of spiritual night, and lay over all the earth the brightness of millenial day—Yes! to convert the wide world in- | to one great altar—and have ‘¢ One song employ all nations and all ery, Worthy the lamb, for he was slain for us— The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks, Shout to each other, and the mountain tops From distant mountains catch the flying joy; Till nation after nation taught the strain, Earth rolls the rapturous hozanna round,”’ 9 to bring on this day we say foretold by Prophets, and certified by God himself, is the aim of the mis- sionary enterprise; and who, what man of taste shall say, that to this cause he is no debtor; that he does not owe it his respect; if need be, his liberal support ! II. But on the man of feeling, this cause has higher claims. If he canlook without himself; if he can think of something nobler than the indul- gence of mere taste; if in one word he has a heart that can feel for others’ woe; then let him look at the Pagan. We may talk, my friends, as we will of the untutored simplicity of savage life; we may weave graceful pictures of innocent children of na- - ture, free from guile, exempted from sordid pas- sions, and leading lives of reckless enjoyment. But we err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the facts. Paul looked at the Gentiles of his age, as well at the uncivilized hordes of the north, as at the culti- vated and enlightened cities of the south; and of all alike he avers that they lie in wickedness, and therefore in wo. He affirms of them collectively, that they are “ without natural affection,’’ ‘‘mali- cious, implacable, unmerciful,”’? ‘full of covetous- ness, deceit, and fraud;’’ “ given up to vile affec- tions.’? And whoever now looks closely at their mor- al condition, knows that to it may be literally and cir- cumstantially applied the description of the inspired penman.* Abominations, of which it is a shame even to speak; vices and crimes, of which in chris- *See Appendix P. (i) 10 tian lands, the bare thought occasions a thrill of hor- ror—these are interwoven in the individual habits, and incorporated with the most sacred rites of all idolaters. Whatever among us is regarded as con- stituting especially the ornament and happiness of life; whatever we cling to as most dear among the charities of the domestic circle, or whatever we prize as most valuable among the sympathies, and reciprocities of christian neighbourhood—with them these are unknown. Now, is it the gospel alone that can purge away these abominations? — Is it the gospel alone that can tame the passions, and purify the practice of poor degraded human nature? Wherever it is planted, will it do as it has ever done; abolish cruelty and licentiousness; establish integrity, industry, and beneficence; diffuse the charities of social life, and introduce those unnam- ed and unnumbered delights which make so dear the thoughts of family and home? And have we this gospel in our keeping? Are we able to bear our part, and that a prominent part, in spreading it through the world? Who then shall say that it is not our duty?—Yes, we are debtors. 'To the Greeks, and to the Barbarians ; to the wise and to the un- wise; as much as in us is, we owe, we should be ready to send the gospel. Yonder is a Pagan village! Forget that some hundred, or thousand miles separate it from your door. Imagine it near you, and willing to be in- structed, go and explore its condition. ‘There are - mothers who seem bereft of fraternal tenderness; NS Carle ne ean teats, 11 there are fathers who seem to care not for the off- spring who are bone of their bone. Infants are bu- ried alive, or cast to crocodiles, by her who bare them; while the sick and the aged are deserted and left to languish and die unpitied and alone. Feuds and animosities, jealousies and strife, are perpetuat- ed from generation to generation; and even onhis dy- ing bed, the old man is heard charging his children never to rest till they have shed the blood of his unrequited foe. Men are armed, each against his neighbor, and his neighbor against him; while fraud and deceit, falsehood and calumny, treachery and revenge, embitter all the relations of social life! Draw near to that helpless parent. He has reach- ed his last hour. Weary of the charge, his own offspring have left him by the road side, like a use- less thing. Hungry and thirsty his soul fainteth in him. He cries for succor; but no ear will listen, no hand will relieve. The traveller passes by on the other side. The stripling, as he goes along, mocks at his groans. The crowd of ruffian children gath- er round to cover him with dust, or pelt him with stones. He calls on death! It comes! But alas! some dark foreboding, some fearful looking for of—_ he knows not what—bids him shrink back. He trembles; he hesitates; and then plunging into the dark, unfathomed abyss of eternity, is seen no more— Now would you give nothing? I ask the most cold hearted man in this assembly—would you give nothing to rescue this being—this village from their degradation? Would you give nothing to infuse in- 12 to the hearts of these cruel parents, the tender, the self-denying affections of a Christian mother ? Would you give nothing to warm the bosoms of these unnatural youth with the prompt humanity, the generous piety of a Christian child? Would you give nothing to enfranchise these intellects, so de- based and enslaved, and shed upon them the light and power of Christian truth? Where is the man— let him appear and answer—where is the man who dare confess that such objects have no claim? who dare admit that he is ready to fold his hands and look on, while immortal beings sink down to the level of the stye, and wipe from their dishonored brows all traces of manhood: and with faculties which might make them useful, and happy, and great, live lives more brutal, and die deaths more wretched than the beasts of the field ? Ili. But, my friends, claims yet more sacred have these Pagans upon us. We are Christians. We look on the heathen, not only as men, but as immortal men. We remember that life is a scene of probation; that here are formed characters with which we enter and spend eternity: and that as these characters shall be holy or unholy, so must our ultimate condition be happy or wretched. And with this fact before us, we cannot but tremble, when we think of the ultimate condition of the Hea- then. God forbid that we should shut them out from all access to his mercy. | We doubt not, that in every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, willbe accepted of him. But where, 13 we ask, are Pagans who fear God and work righteousness? Yes; estimating them only by the dim and imperfect light under which they live; com- paring their conduct with what they know, or might know of moral duty; comparing their daily actions with the dictates of that inward monitor, whose thoughts meanwhile excuse or else accuse; where, we say, are pious Pagans? Observation, experi- ence, the concurring voice, not of missionaries merely, but of unprejudiced travellers, and of tra- vellers inveterately hostile to missions,—these pro- claim that there are almost none!* These proclaim that of almost all idolaters, it may be said in the _ language of St. Paul, that while they know Ged, they glorify him not as God; that they like not to retain God in their knowledge; that though know- ing the divine judgment, that they who commit such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them! And if such be their moral state; if such are the af- fections and habitudes with which they enter the eternal world; and if in that world we have reason to believe that the predominant passions of the heart are left to operate without restraint, then what, I ask, must be their prospects? Paul hesitates not to pronounce of the Heathen of his time, that they vere children of wrath, without hope in the world !} And who that sees his anxiety to give them the gos- * See Appendix C. | |+ Eph. ii. 3, 12—vewve esyxs—“—But how shall this lesson be _ taught? How shall the understandings of our people 24 be roused to a perception of the greatness of this emergency? How shall their hearts be touched with an adequate sense of its claims, and their hands opened to supply them? My friends, had you a selfish child; a child, whose sensibilities seemed extinct or locked in torpid and death-like slumber, you would be at no loss for an expedi- ent to awaken them! You would take that child to some spot where there was the most affecting exhibition of suffering; suffering in which was combined all that is best fitted to move a young and thoughtless heart. The spectacle which you would select would be one in which the nature of the suffering was evident 3; its causes most intelligi- ble and the means of its relief most palpable. You would bid him look on the heart-rending detail, and you would feel that if one spark of humanity, of be- nevolence, slumbered in his bosom, it must be kin- dled there. Do the same in the case before you. Take these minds, so heedless of the spiritual wants of their own countrymen, and open before them the wants of the Pagan! Show them man’s condition when forsaken of all pure religion and left to grovel in absolute polytheism. Show them his intellect degraded ; his heart embruted ; his life the prey of fierce and tormenting passions, and his death a seene of unbroken darkness and dismay ! Think younot that they will feel?—Then show them the gospel entering this den of darkness and pollution! Show them how beneath its influence the intellect is ennobled; the heart purified; woman reinstated in her rightful rank; 25 and the domestic circle made to bud and bloom rith all the charities of life; and think you not that then estimate of this gospel will rise? Think you not that an irresistible impulse to dispense to these be- nighted and distant lands, blessings so glorious, will seize their hearts? And when it has seized them ; when this impulse has taken full possession of the soul, think you that it will be directed only to distant lands? While brooding over the sufferings of the Idol- ator, shall these hearts look with cold—with re- luctant eye on the necessities of kinsmen and friends? Believe it who can! In calling then, upon my friends, my fellow-church- men, to come forth and enlist in this enterprise, I ap- peal not merely to their love of Christ; I appeal not merely to their love of those for whom Christ died. I appeal to their love of self; to their love of their own church. Do they venerate that Zion, within whose pale their lines have fallen? Do they daily pray to Heaven that prosperity may be within her palaces? Would they labour and toil to make her the joy and praise of the whole earth? Let them supplicate—let them excite—let them foster the spi- rit of missions! Duty apart ; if they look not with pe- culiar sympathy upon its objects; if they doubt wheth- er the gospel enjoins it ; if they regard as more im- portant, the extension of their religion at home ; still, Isay, let them cherish the spirit of missions! It is the power which shall give impulse and momentum to this domestic religion. The bread which they cast upon the waters shall not go forth simply to bless other lands. ji 7 26 long it shall return, infusing life and energy into the very vitals of their church. Never was there a greater error, than to suppose that this spirit is hos- tile to the domestic interests of our Zion. Hostile, my friends? is not charity twice blessed? Does it not bless them who give, as well as them who take? Is it not said, that to them who lend to the Lord, it shall be repaid even in this life, an hundred fold? And sup- pose we, that this promise extends not to this great charity? No; send forth our missionaries ; levy con- tributions on every, the feeblest of our churches; ex- cite them to feel; let their prayers and alms ascend in one cloud before the throne ; andif there be truth, I say not in the Bible ; but if there be truth in the nature of man, there shall come back a shower of blessings to fertilize and make glad this city of our God. When—fathers, brethren ; when shall we awake to this momentous truth? Denominations around us re cognise it, and the effect is seen in their rapid exten- sion; their consolidating strength. The effect is seen in their fraternal zeal; their concentrated ac- tion ; their noble and generous benefactions. When then, shall we emulate their example? When shall this chureh of our affections; this church with her primitive institutions ; her sublime and pathetie Lit- urgy ; her simple, but majestic ceremonies, rise and gird herself with strength, and go forth conquering and to conquer? When shall she feel in all its em- phasis that the vows of God are upon her ; that it be- hooves her to come behind in no enterprise of love; 27 and that in those movements now making, for the re- novation of the world, her place is in the very van. Yes, the day—Lord, let it come quickly; the day when she shall shake herself from the dust, and re- new her strength as eagles, and run and not be wea- ry ; when her sons with hearts knit together as the heart of one man, shall gather round the standard of the cross, and going forth to the ends of the earth, shall convey thither peace as a river, and the glory of redemption as a flowing stream ; when, [ ask, shall that day arrive? Let it but come ; let us but once see its light ;-and if we mistake not, there are signs of its approach—let us but once behold its glory : and we do believe that this glory is not distant,—Let us but once gaze upon its brightness ; and if we mis- interpret not the events of this day,* it is just bursting upon us—and then—Lord, let thy servants depart in peace ; for their eyes will have seen thy salvation ! ~ * The board had just closed an annual meeting, distinguished by uncommon zeal and unanimity. APPENDIX. To those who have not maturely considered the claims of For- eign Missions, the author would respectfully submit the following facts and observations. They are not new, but as they illustrate certain positions taken in the Discourse, he would ask for them a candid and deyout examination. A. An unfortunate distinction is often made between doing justice and doing good, as if the obligation of the one were peremptory, and that of the other optional ; as if it were necessary to be honest, but a matter of free choice whether we should be charitable. It is true, that “‘a man should be just before he is generous,” for the obvious reason, that he has no right to be generous with what is not his own. But if by this adage it is meant that to be just is sufficient, and that to be generous is a matter of supererogation, nothing can be more unfounded. These two classes of duty have ultimately the same basis, the will of God. If he commands us to “render to all their due,” so does he command us to be “ kind one to another ;”’ and no one, therefore, who admits that God has a right to dictate, can doubt that according to his ability he is bound to “do good to all men as he has opportunity.” B. The social and moral condition of Pagans. A gentleman, resident for several years in India, informs me that within halfa mile of his own dwelling, he could, at almost any moment, have found living exemplifications of all the crimes 29 enumerated, Rom. i. 21—32, ii. 10—20. And to the same effect is the testimony of all impartial observers. _ Says Governor Holwell, for some time Governor General of In- dia, and no friend of christianizing its population, “‘ the Gentoos, in general, are as dangerous and wicked a people as any race of peo- ple in the known world, if not eminently more so, especially the common run of Brahmins. We can truly aver, that during almost five years that we presided in the judicial cutcherry Court of Cal- cutta, never any murder or other atrocious crime was committed, but it was proved in the end that a Brahmin was at the bottom of it.” Says Lord Clive, also at one time Governor of India; “‘ The inhabitants of this country, we know by long experience, have no attachment to any obligation.— See Chr. Observer, Vol, XI. p. 263. Says Lord Teignmouth, speaking of the same people, “‘ Individ- uals have little sense of honour, and the nation is wholly void of public virtue. To lie, steal, plunder, ravish or murder, are not deemed sufficient crimes to merit expulsion from society.””—WSee Parliamentary Proceedings against Mr. Hastings, Appendix to Vol. IT. . Says Sir James Mackintosh, in a charge which he made to the Grand Jury of Bombay, in 1803, ‘If I had not come to India, I could not have credited the depravity which I find to be prevalent among the natives’—and in the report of a case tried before him at the same place, where it appeared that a female witness had been detected in committing perjury, it is stated, that being asked whether she did not deem such an offence to be extremely enor- mous, she answered, that “‘she understood that the English so regarded it, but that it was thought nothing of in her country.””— See Asiatic Register for 1805. Says the Abbe Dubois, an enemy to Missions, “ sincere mutual friendship is rarely to be found in Hindoo families,”—‘‘ Women are regarded as slaves, and treated on all occasions with severity and contempt.” Parental authority is but little respected,’”—“* Hindoo children fear their father while they are young, from dread of be- ing beaten—but from their tenderest years they use bad lan- guage to their mother, and strike her, even without any apprehen- sion, and when they are grown up, the father himself is no longer respected. As they grow up, incontinence and its attendant vices increase with them; indeed the greater part of their institutions, religious and civil, appear to be contrived for the very purpose of nourishing and stimulating the lowest passions of our nature. The stories of the dissolute life of their gods, the abominable allu- sions which many of their daily practices always recall, their pub- lic and private monuments, on which nothing is ever represented but the most wanton obscenity ; their religious rites, in which pros- 30 titutes act the principal parts; all these causes, and others that might be named, necessarily introduce among the Hindoos the ut- most dissoluteness of manners.—See Dubois “ Description, &c.” Vol. I. p. 209, 265—6, 206—7. “It is nothing uncommon,” says the same author, “ to see a man taking vengeance for an offence offered many years before to his father, or his grandfather.” ‘The feelings of pity, as far as respects the sufferings of others, never enter into his heart, (a Brahmin’s)—He will see an unhappy being perish on the road, or even at his own gate, if he belong to another caste, and will not stir to give him a drop of water, though it were to save his life.— See Dubois, Vol. I. p. 264—274. For the estimation in which woman is held, even by their sa cred books, read the following, as laid down in The Institutions of Menu. ‘‘ Women,” he says, “ possess six qualities—first, an inordi- nate desire for finery—second, immoderate lust—third, violent anger—fourth, deep resentment—fifth, malignant envy—sixth, ir- regular, vicious conduct.’”’ Bernier, one of the earlier travellers in India,affirms, (and his accounts are corroborated by modern writers, ) that at the suétees or immolations of women on the funeral pile of their husbands, of which there are now not less than ten thousand eases annually, the widow, instead of devoting herself voluntarily, as is often said, is goaded to it by the dread of scorn and misery; that if on approaching the pile, she wishes to withdraw the consent she has given, she is not allowed to do so; that she is often actually bound down upon the pile, and that in other cases, Brahmins may be seen forcing her to ascend it, and pushing her into the mass of flame with long poles, while her agonizing shrieks are drowned by the noise of drums, and the savage shouts of the surrounding multitude. He adds too, that these sacrifices are made with none of the so- lemnity which we might expect to accompany a religious rite. indecent mirth and levity, are its constant accompaniments, and the nearest relations of the sufferer—the very son, who with his own hand kindles the pile, are seen talking with gaiety and unconcern. —Scee Voyages de Bernier, also Chris. Obs. Vol. XT. p. 422, 491. We may be allowed to—quote one or two remarks from Bishop Hieber. “The religion of the Hindoos,”’ says he, ‘is indeed a horrible one, far more so than I had conceived; it gives them no moral precepts ; it encourages them in vice by the style of its cere- monies, and the character given of its deities ; and by the institu- tions of caste, it hardens their hearts against each other toa de- gree which is often most revolting. A traveller falls down sick in the streets of a village, (I am mentioning a fact which happened ten days ago,) nobody knows what caste he is of, therefore, no- body goes near him lest they should become polluted; he wastes to death before the eyes of a whole community, unless the jackals 31 take courage from his helpless state to finish him a little sooner ; and perhaps, as happened in the case to which I allude, the chil- dren are allowed to pelt him with stones and mud. The man of whom I am speaking, was found in this state, and taken care of by a passing European ; but if he had died, his skeleton would have lain in the streets till the vultures carried it away, or the magis- trates ordered it to be thrown into the river. A friend of mine, some months ago, found a miserable wretch, a groom, out of em- ploy, who had crept, sick of a dysentery, into his court yard. He had there remained in a corner on the pavement, two days and nights ; perhaps twenty servants had been eating their meals daily, within six yards of him, yet none had relieved him, none had so much as carried him into the shelter of one of the outhouses, nor had any taken the trouble to tell their master. When reproved for this, their answer was, ‘‘ He was not our kinsman ;” ‘‘ Whose business was it?”? ‘‘ How did we know that the sahib would like to be troubled 1”? Again he says, “‘ The magistrates and lawyers all agree, that in no country are lying and perjury so common and so little regarded. Notwithstanding the apparent mildness of their manners, the criminal calendar is generally filled with gang- robberies, &c. &c. and the number of children who are decoyed aside and murdered for the sake of their ornaments, Lord Amherst assures me is dreadful. Besides this, in one province, ‘‘ pride, poverty, and avarice, are in league to destroy the greater part of the female infants. It is a disgrace for a noble family to have a daughter unmarried, and still worse to marry her to a person of inferior birth, while they have neither the means nor the inclina- tion to pay such portions as a person of their own rank would ex- pect to receive from them! On the other hand, the sacrifice of a child, is believed, surely, with truth, to be acceptable to the “ evil powers ;” and the fact is certain, that though the highborn Raj- poots have many sons, very few daughters are ever found in their palaces.” “Through the influence of Major Walker, many in- fants were spared, but since his time, things have gone on very much in the old train; and the answer made by the chiefs to any remonstrances of the British officers is, ‘‘ Pay our daughters’ mar- riage portion and they shall live.” Yet these very men, rather than strike a cow, would submit to the cruellest martyrdom. Never may my dear wife and daughters forget how much their sex is indebted to Christianity |’? “ Still,’’ he says, in another place, “of the natural disposition of the Hindoo, I see abundant reason to think highly. All that is bad about them appears to arise either from the defective motives which their religion supplies, or the wicked actions which it records of their gods, or encourages in their own practice. Yet zt is strange to see, though this is gener- ally allowed, how slow men are to admit the advantage or necessity 32 ef propagating Christianity among them.—See Heber’s Travels, Vol. I. p. 236— Vol. I. p. 69, 235, 240. a heie 2. Of the Sandwich Islands, (and to the Society Islands the . same remarks would have applied,) Mr. Stewart, the intelligent and accomplished Missionary writes, ‘‘Scarce.a day passes in which we are not most painfully reminded that we dwell among the habitations of cruelty. We have been much grieved this eve- ning by seeing the attendants of the young prince stoning a Juna- tic on the beach. It is the customary way of treating such objects throughout the Islands, and the manner in which they here, usu- ally, terminate a wretched existence. Kaikioeva sent a messen- ger to reprove them, and bid them desist from their inhuman sport, not, however, till by the barbarous practice, the poor crea- ture was much bruised and lamed. The afflicted and the deformed _ of every class are objects of ridicule and contempt, if not, as in this case, of persecution. The helpless and dependent, whether from age or sickness, are often cast from the habitations of their rela- tives and friends, to languish and to die unattended and unpitied. An instance recently came to our knowledge, in which a poor wretch thus perished within sight of our dwelling, after having lain uncovered for days and nights in the open air, most of the time pleading in vain to his family, still within the hearing of his voice, for a drink of water. And when he was dead, his body, in- stead of being buried, was merely drawn so far into the rushes, as to prevent the offence that would have arisen from the corpse, and left a prey to the dogs who prowl through the district im the night ! . But the truth of the Apostle’s description of the heathen, that they are without natural affection, implacable, and unmerciful, is found most fully here in the prevalence of the abhorrent and tre- mendous crime of infanticide. We have the clearest proof, that in those parts of the Islands where the influence of the Mission has not yet extended, two thirds of the infants born, perish by the hands of their own parents before attaining the first or second year of their age. ‘The very period, when the infant of a christian mother is to her the object of intense solicitude, and of the deep- est anxiety—in times of sickness, suffering, and distress, times at which the affections of the parental bosom are brought into the most painful exercise, are those when the mother here, feels that in her child she has a care and a trouble which she will not endure ; and instead of searching into the causes of its sorrow or attempt- ing to alleviate its pains, she stifles its cries a moment with her hand—hurries it into a grave already prepared for it, and tramples to a level the earth, under which the offspring of her bosom is struggling in the agonies of death! As I see, and hear, and learn all the abominations and cruelties of a heathen land, my soul often 33 melts within me, and I cannot but think how little a majority of the inhabitants of Christian countries are ‘aware of the extent of their obligations to the gospel, for many of the domestic and social blessings they prize most dearly. Happy indeed is the people whose God is the Lord! And again, “ The whole race are subject, from ignorance and superstition, to a bondage of terror. Not only do the eclipse and the earthquake, the bursting of a thunderbolt, and the eruptions of a volcano, fill them with apprehension and dismay; but to them, the darkness of the night is the covert of demons going about “seeking what they may devour;’? and the least unusual sound that breaks upon its silence, is interpreted into the prowl- ings of spirits ready to destroy. As the wind has sighed through the tops of the cocoa-nut tree in the silence of the night, or the sounds of the surf breaking on the reef have bellowed along the shore, I have seen fears gathering on the faces of the natives of our household, while with troubled and inquisitive look and half suppressed breath, they have exclaimed, ‘a god—an evil god”— and the simple and plaintive notes of an Eolian harp, fixed in the window of the Mission house at Oahu, had such an effect on the mind of an Islander belonging to the establishment, although the cause of the sounds had been explained to him, that it was neces- sary to remove the instrument, because he could not sleep ! “Jan. 16, 1824.—Last night there was a beautiful and almost total eclipse of the moon. We had just retired to rest, when an alarm was given by the natives. Loud and lamentable wailings were heard in various directions, while the half suppressed and plaintive murmurings of those who with hurried footsteps passed to and fro, gave indications of something new and melancholy. Hearing a voice in our yard, I inquired the cause of the agitation, and was answered, that “ the people thought the king was dead, be- cause the moon was dark.” Considerable numbers had gathered round our fence; we heard nothing but the exclamations, ‘‘ the moon is sick, very sick,”—‘‘ an evil moon—evil indeed,” —“ the gods are eating the moon,’’—uttered in tones of deep anxiety and distress. All agreed in considering it an omen of great calamity to the nation. The king had died at sea, or would soon die—or the prince, princess, one of the queens,” (polygamy was universal) “or some member of the royal family would soon die—for the moon had formerly appeared just so before the death of several great chiefs! The whole circumstance forcibly brought to mind the appropriate and prophetic lines, “<< They dread thy glittering tokens Lord, When signs in heaven appear ; But they shall learn thy holy word, And love as well as fear.”’ [See Stewari’s Journal, p. 184, 197—Also Turnbull’s “ Voyage round the World in the years 1800, 1, 2,3 & 4.”*] i= 5 34 3. Of the Aborigines of our own continent, Dr. Rush declares on the authority of such travellers as Charlevoix, Henneper, Carv- er, &c. that uncleanness, treachery, cruelty, and drunkenness, are almost universal among them.—Sce Rush’s Essays, p. 257. To the same effect are the following testimonies of a late writer, who enjoyed the most ample opportunities of learning their cus- toms. As traits common to the Western Indians, he mentions among others, that,—‘‘ As persons of either sex approach the state of superannuation, the respect of their family and acquaint- ance is withdrawn from them, and they are finally regarded as useless burdens upon the community, and subjected to the uncen- sured pranks and ridicule of the young. When the aged become helpless on a march, and the transporting of them is attended with difficulty, they are abandoned to their fate.” Again, ‘ Falsehood and fraud are extremely common among them; and as to stealing, they even pray that they may be made expert in it; boast of their success in it when recounting their exploits, and expect to be re- warded for it in a future world. The general idea among them is, that he who is brave and who provides for his family and friends, though he steal, and murder to effect it, isa good man. Giving the name of enemies to those they wish to injure, justifies them in every act, even of the most enormous kind. They are generally friends or enemies as they view it for their interest. For instance, if to-day you give them presents, they are your friends; but if they think they can procure more, and discover any prospect of escaping with impunity, they will to-morrow plunder and murder you.”” And again, “ Their reluctance to forgive an injury, is proverbial. Injuries are revenged by the injured, and blood for blood is always demanded if the deceased has friends who dare to retaliate upon the destroyer. Their desire of revenge is not al- ways extinguished with the life of the offended individual, but sometime descends as an inheritance to his posterity, and quarrels are settled long after the parties immediately concerned have be- come extinct.—Sce James’ Account of Major Long’s Expedition, Vol. I. pp. 257, 238, 240, 155, 288, 317— Vol. I. p. 371. C. (See p. 13.) Spiritual condition of Pagans. The evidence here alluded to is incidental rather than direct. In addition to what is detailed in the preceding note, the following facts may be mentioned :—Travellers give us mo account of indi- vidual Pagans who are pious, while their pictures of the mass are pictures of frightful depravity!—Gentlemen with whom I have conversed, and who have resided in some cases for years in 35 heathen countries, concur with a single exception, in asserting that they have known no idolater who could be considered strictly conscientious. In the case which is referred to as an exception, the gentleman had known one such individual, and but one.— Mr. Ward, so many years a missionary in India, declares, (Letters, p. 37) “‘ Amidst a pretty large acquaintance with the heathen in India, I have never seen one man who appeared to fear God and work righteousness.”’ And the researches of modern missiona- ries throughout the world are said to have discovered not more than five or six! We conclude then, that while every nation may have its Nathaniel or Cornelius, these are but exceptions ; and that of Pagans generally, it may be said, that they are wilfully de- praved, and obstinately impenitent. We say wilfully depraved—for we deem it idle to suppose that the heathea have no sense of moral obligation, and therefore incur no guilt by disregarding it. How is it, if they have no sense of moral obligation, that they have established rules of duty, and that when these rules are violated to their personal detriment, they are SO quick to perceive and resent the injury ? How is it, that Paul can say of the Gentiles, that ‘‘ having not the law they are a law unto themselves,””—and that “ the invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, so that they are without excuse! Yes, the Pagan’s guilt, is wilful, and hence, his prospects, unless enlightened by the gospel, are “without hope.”’ And can it be, that for men im such a con- dition we have no bowels of compassion—that we will make no effort for their relief—And yet do we profess and call ourselves Christians! ‘ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirtt was stirred within him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry !”” it. ‘ D. Aggressions committed by Christian nations on the rights and happiness of Pagans. This subject is too familiar to need illustration—A single case may be given as a specimen :—“ When Capt. Cook visited the (Sandwich) Islands,” says an able writer, “he found them unus- sually productive. Every description of food which they yielded was brought to the ships, by order of the chiefs, with a profusion which excited his continued surprise. During a period of three months, the crews of both ships ate and wasted as much food as they wished, they salted great quantities for their subsequent voyage, and it was not all consumed when they arrived in Europe. “The whole group also seemed exceedingly well peopled. Tauai, that which was first discovered, is only thirty-three miles long, 36 and twenty-eight broad, containing about five hundred and twenty square miles, and yet he computes its inhabitants at thirty thou- sand. From the data which he assumed, this would not seem to have been above the truth. ‘The dispositions of the natives towards strangers, were in gene- ral peaceful and inoffensive. The affray in which Captain Cook was killed, deserves scarcely to be mentioned as an exception to this remark. It was the result of a momentary excitement, under very considerable provocations, and might have happened in any harbour of Christendom. ‘* With regard to their moral character, not so much can be said. Infanticide was not considered as a crime. Human sacrifices were very common. Before the commencement of a war, at the sickness or death of a chief, and we know not on how many other occasions, from one to ten victims were sacrificed. ‘ Every ap- pearance induced the Commodore to believe that this inhuman practice was very general here.* ‘¢Tn all that respects the domestic relations, their moral charac- ter was as deplorable as can well be imagined. The connubial tie was dissolved at pleasure, if indeed any thing deserving of that name existed. Marriages between persons of the nearest blood relation are still common. ‘© Taumu-arii or king Tamoru, as he is commonly called, and his son, were both, and at the same time, husbands to one of the wi- dows of Tameha-meha. Captain Cook remarks of the females, that ‘they could scarcely be prevented from coming on board, and they were less reserved than any women we had ever seen. ‘‘ Such was the moral condition of these savages, when they were first visited by about one hundred and eighty individuals, of a Christian nation. It surely is not impertinent or unreasonable to inquire what was the result of this visit, and what benefits were conferred upon these unenlightened but hospitable heathen, by the representatives of the most intelligent and virtuous people in Christendom. What efforts were made to do away the horrid rites of human sacrifices ? What was done to check the licentiow’- ness which every where prevailed ? What was said to teach them that their religious notions were absurd and abominable ? In what arts of civilization were they instructed? In a word, in what sin- gle respect were they made wiser, or happier, or better, by the residence, during three or four months, of so many men, so much, at least in intellectual cultivation, their acknowledged supe- riors 2 * Cook’s Voyages, 8 vo. vol. 2d, p. 142. 37 “The present age will not wonder, but we hope that an age is coming which will not only wonder, but weep to hear, that to all these questions the answer is nothing, absolutely nothing. So far from attempting to do away human sacrifices, Captain Cook himself was present, once at least, during this ceremony, quietly looking on. Instead of teaching them a better religion, he suffered them to offer him solemn, and as far as they knew, divine homage, thus giving his highest sanction to their abominable rites. In the place of inculeating purity, there is no reason to doubt, that the whole crews were surrendered up to a license as debasing and shameless as that of the savages themselves. In fine, we look in vain throughout the whole of captain Cook’s narrative, for the remotest indication that, either by officer or by crew, a single mechanical art was taught to the healthy, or a single medicine exhibited to the sick. Nay, not only was this not done ; we have no man- ner of evidence that it was ever thought of. All that these Chris- tians did, was to go and look on. “‘ We have seen what the first Europeans did not do for the Sand- wich Islands. If it be asked, what they actually did for them, truth compels us to answer, that, setting aside the efforts which missionaries have made for their benefit, it has rarely, in the his- tory of our species, occurred, that one man has been the means of entailing upon a numerous and unoffending people, so grievous and aggravated a curse, as was entailed by Captain Cook, upon these very Islanders. A part of this mischief was the direct consequence of his visit; the rest, the indirect result of his discovery. “We have mentioned the universal licentiousness of the crews of the discovery ships. The consequence of this licentiousness, was the introduction of a disease among the natives, the peculiar shame of civilization, which, with its train of horrid concomitants, has ever since been sending them by hundreds to the grave, and with which thousands are at this moment languishing in almost every island in the group. “This was the effect of a single visit. But Captain Cook pointed out their location to the world, and they soon became to ships traversing the North Pacific, a place of general resort for under- going repair, for obtaining water and other refreshments. As many as one hundred vessels, in a single year, have entered the harbour of Honoruru. The effects of this intercourse we will now briefly consider. “To go into particulars, will not however be necessary. We have already alluded to the licentious manners of the natives. We have only to consider that these islands are separated by a voyage of twelve thousand and eighty miles from the civilized world; that there the restraints of society had not the shadow of 38 existence ; that every one who went there, was bound by a sort of professional obligation to keep the secrets of his associates; and also let us remember what are the habits of our seamen in our own ports, under all the restraints of society, and every one may form for himself a tolerably accurate estimate of what was, for many years the standard of their morality. ‘They were a public brothel for every vessel that floated on the bosom of the Pacific. They were the resort of men, whose vice was too flagrant to be endured by respectable connexions in a civilized land. They had become a nuisance to the world. Virtue, which had successfully resisted the allurements of vice in Great Britain and America, here generally yielded to the torrent of overwhelming debauchery. The taste for ardent spirits was early introduced, and both se- dulously and successfully cherished. The chiefs became univer- sally intemperate, and when intoxicated, were in the habit of giving away to the most shocking excesses. The reason of this was twofold. In the first place, when once a love for intoxicating liquor has been created, it may be sold for almost any price; and secondly, it has been found by the experience of many an Indian treaty, that when savages engage in traffic with civilized men, al- cohol is an all-prevalent promoter of those bargains, in which the “reciprocity is all on one side.’’ But the Islanders were not left to the uncertainty of supply from abroad. A few of the patriots from Botany Bay, having learnt that there was one country on the face of the earth where law need not be dreaded, found the means of escaping thither, and taught these savages the art of distillation. “ The effects of all this may be very easily conceived. Poverty and infanticide and incurable and infectious disease, made fearful havoc among the people. The Island of Tau-ai was computed by Captain Cook to contain thirty thousand inhabitants; now it does not number more than ten thousand. It is probably that a diminution in something like the same proportion, has taken place in the other Islands. Kaahumanu, the present regent, de- clared it as her opinion, that the population of the Island#had diminished three fourths since Captain Cook’s visit. The people were affirmed by Captain Cook to be neat and cleanly in their habitations; now they are, by the acknowledgement of all, most deplorably filthy. When first visited their food of every kind was in amazing abundance; now, articles of provision are sold at a price so high as to be a cause of general complaint; so high, in- deed, that the missionaries themselves, have frequently been obli- ged to subsist for a considerable time together, on salt beef and pork, brought from America, and sea biscuit two or three years old, because they did not feel themselves at liberty to purchase fresh provisions and vegetables at the price demanded by the chiefs.”’-— See Amer. Quar. Rev. No. VI. Art. 3. 39 E, F. G. The present an era peculiarly propitious to Missions. Peculiarly propitious, because— 1. The facilities for extending them, were at no former period so great :—‘‘ Should any be disposed,” says a distinguished writer, to insist that our advantages for evangelizing the world, are not to be compared with those of the apostolic age, let them reverse the scene, and roll back the wheels of time, and obliterate the im- provements in science and commerce and arts, which now facili- tate the spread of the Gospel. Let them throw into darkness all the known portions of the earth, which was then unknown. Let them throw into distance the propinquity of nations ; and exchange their rapid intercourse for cheerless, insulated existence. Let the magnetic power be forgotten, and the timid navigator creep along the coasts of the Mediterranean, and tremble and cling to the shore when he looks out upon the loud waves of the Atlantic. In- spire idolatry with the vigor of meridian manhood, and arm in its defence, and against Christianity, all the civilization, and scicnce, and mental power of the world. Give back to the implacable Jew his inveterate unbelief, and his vantage ground, and disposition to oppose Christianity in every place of his dispersion, from Jerusa- lem to every extremity of the Roman Empire. Blot out the means of extending knowledge, and exerting influence upon the human mind. Destroy the Lancasterian system of instruction, and throw back the mass of men into a state of unreading, unreflecting ig- norance. Blot out libraries, and tracts; abolish Bible and Edu- cation and Tract and Missionary Societies ; and send the nations for knowledge to parchment, and the slow and limited productions of the pen. Let all the improvements in civil government be ob- literated, and the world be driven from the happy arts of self government to the guardianship of dungeons and chains. Let liberty of conscience expire, and the church, now emancipated and walking forth in her unsullied loveliness, return to the gui- dance of secular policy, and the perversions and corruptions of an unholy priesthood. And now reduce the 200,000,000 of nominal, and the 10,000,000 of real Christians, spread over the earth, to 500 disciples, and to twelve Apostles, assembled, for fear of the Jews, in an upper chamber, to enjoy the blessings of a secret prayer-meeting ; and give them the power of miracles, and the gift of tongues, and send them out into all the earth to preach the Gospel to every creature !” 2. Because idolatry was never more feeble :—The religion of the Romans, with which the Apostles had to contend, was strong- ly imbedded in the passions, prospects, and general influence of 40 the government and nobility. The noble might be at once a Priest, © and an incumbent of the highest civil offices. This circumstance, together with the numbers, the accurate subordination, and the immense political influence of the Hierarchy, gave it a considera- tion in the eyes of the state altogether unparralleled, and arrayed, in its support, an amount of secular power, unknown in any other instance. ; i Now compare with this, the idolatry at present existing ; an idolatry to which the votaries seem attached by few, if any ties of interest, and which in many instances, they are found willing to re- linquish the moment that fashion or caprice suggests. Witness, for example, the Society and Sandwich Islands. Witness Africa, where entire tribes are requesting Christian missionaries to be sent among them; (see Afric. Repos.) Witness even the south of India, where, notwithstanding all that has been said of the impossibility of converting Hindoos, whole villages are seen renouncing idola- try, and assembling on the Lord’s day for Christian worship ; wit- ness, indeed, the whole history of Hindostan. ‘* Its Mahomme- dan Conquerors,” says Mr. Douglass, “ have left behind them abun- dant traces of the possibility of changing the faith of Hindoos.” And farther, “‘ Their religion has frequently changed, without any foreign impulsion. The early worship of the elements, has yield- ed to the complexity of the Brahminical Polytheism. Polytheism, for a time, seemed to bend under the pantheism of the Budhists, and then by a new revolution, regained its former ascendancy ; even within that Polytheism itself rival sectsare ever rising and decay- ing ; and the slightest acquaintance either with the present or past state of the Hindoos, may show that the human mind with them has not changed its character, or lost its desire of change, and that if it is prone to error, it is also prone to novelty. See “ the Advance of Society in Knowledge and Religion,” pp. 257—260. 3. Because experiment has indicated the means, and given pledge of the certainty of success :—It issometimes said, and with an air of triumph, that modern missions have failed—that nothing has been done. To this we might reply, that even had no converts to Christianity been made, it would not follow that nothing has been done. In every enterprise, time must be consumed M& acquiring knowledge and experience, in ascertaining the difficulties to be encountered, and the best means of operation; and it will not be denied that in this respect at least, the missionary efforts of the last forty years have been useful. But have they been useful in no other respects ? Has nothing as yet been done for the tempo- ral, or spiritual welfare of Pagans? Have no converts been made? Let the reader consider the following facts; and then let him an- swer whether the enterprise of modern missions is a failure. Al Missionaries have made valuable accessions to geography, and natural science. Says the Geographical Society of Paris, (See American Quarterly Review, No. 6, p. 357.) “The minute ac- count which the missionaries to the Sandwich Islands have publish- ed, respecting this grand phenomena, (the crater) the streams of Java, and the changes which have taken place, and also respecting the customs and traditions of the people, are equally new and in- teresting, and demand the acknowledgement of all who desire the advancement of geographical science,” They have reduced to system and provided with alphabets and written characters, the languages of several barbarous tribes. They have translated, andare now translating the scriptures into about one hundred different Heathen languages. They have collected into schools, “and are now instructing in Literature and Religion, at least 190,000 Pagan children. They have been the means of circulating in Heathen lands, more than two millions of Bibles, and several millions of tracts. They have abolished human sacrifices, infanticide, polygamy, and their attendant vices and crimes, in numerous and extensive districts. They have been the means of inducing, at least 300,000 per- sons to renounce idolatry, and adopt the usages of Christian, and civilized society. They have admitted to Christian communion, at least 25,000 who profess to be sincere disciples of the Saviour. They have been permitted to witness during the last moments of many of their converts, the most consoling evidence of piety. H. Condition and prospects of Christianity in the United States. In comparing the state of Religion at different periods, it will be understood, that we advert mainly to the provisions made for maintaining its public ministrations. In the confidence that there is no collision between the interests of domestic and foreign missions, and that what aids the one, will ultimately tend to aid the other, we submit the following particulars in confirmation of the state- ments made, p. 21 In 1768, the population of Massachusetts, was 200,000 ; that of all the United Colonies, about 2,225,000. In Massachusetts, (having one eighth of the whole population) there were 340 minis- ters of the gospel of different denominations, making—if we sup- pose other colonies as well supplied —2,720 for the whole, i, e. one minister to about every 800 souls; but as this supposition is evidently erroneous, we will suppose the number of the clergy else- where, in proportion to the population, to be to that in Massachu- 6 42 setts, as 3 to 4; and then we have 2,040 for the whole, or one to something like 1,100 persons. en, Now compare this state of things with what obtains at present. We have at this moment a population of about 12,800,000,; and according to the latest returns, less than 8000 labouring ministers, or one minister to more than 1600 souls; so that the provisions for Christian instruction, are now to what they were in 1768, in the ratio of 11 to 16, or 2 to 3; indicating an actual decrease of one third Farther, it is commonly reckoned that in the aggre- gate“one minister is equal to the care of not more than 1000 souls. At this rate, there are 4,800,000 people in the United States, to- tally destitute of ministers; and when we consider that im some places the clergy are more numerous than the above ratio would require, we shall see ample reason to conclude that the destitute a- mount to at least 5,000,000. : What would be the state of things half a century hence, were this decline to continue, we need not say! We are awarethat for the few last years, the efforts of American Christians have been more proportioned to the wants of their country. But even now what are they? Onreferring to the latest returns, we find that in 1828, not more than 260 persons were admitted to the sacred office— of whom 112 were required to supply vacancies which had been oc- casioned during the same year, by death and otherwise,—leaving only 148 to supply the demand created by the increase of popula- tion. But this increase was at the rate of 1000 per day, or 365, 000 for the whole year; so that 217,000, or three fifths of the whole have been left without any provisions for their moral and reli- gious instruction ! What a fact for the contemplation of the Chris- tian and the Patriot! (see Mein and Fleeming’s Ann. Reg. for 1768. Also, the very elaborate and valuable statistical Tables in Quar. Jour. of the Amer. Ed. Soc, Nos. 3, 4, 7, 8.) JB Reflex action of Foreign upon Domestic Missions. Among Episcopalians, there is at present no objection to foreign missions so common as that which may have been suggested by the preceding note. ‘“‘ Ifthe wants of your own country are so great, why go abroad?” “ Is it right to give to foreign lands what is so much needed by your own?” “ Have not your fellow citizens, stronger claims than Pagans ?’’"—Now if these objections have force it must be upon the supposition that what is given to foreign mis- sions, is so much abstracted from domestic missions. But we de- ny this. We venture to affirm, that instead of decreasing, such contributions actually tend to increase the fund for domestic purposes 43 Would not reason intimate that sympathies which are alive to spi- ritual distress afar off, cannot be indifferent to that which is near? Would it not intimate still further, that in these distant distresses, there are means of arousing Christian sympathy, stronger than in any that exists at home? And should we not therefore conclude that with zeal for foreign missions will always be coupled zeal for domestic, and that without such zeal the cause in all its branch - es will be likely to languish 7————But what says experience ! She presents us in the first place with the broad fact that those re- ligious denominations most engaged in foreign missions, are the very denominations who give most liberally to objects of a domes- tic nature! She presents us with a second fact, not less decisive, viz. that these denominations never began to make such benefac- tions to objects at home, tillafter they had embarked in missions abroad! And again of individuals, she declares that there is no in- stance on record of one who has given munificently to these mis- sions, who has not given with equal or greater munificence to the support and extension of Christianity in his own country! Instead then of assuming that these enterprises are at variance, why not rather assume that the one is the efficient auxiliary, if not in some cases the moving spring of the other ! But even were the fact otherwise ; were it true that what is giv- en to one object is at the expense of the other ; it is plain that it need not be so. There is wealth enough among American Chris- tians for both! To elicit contributions sufficient for all the purpos- es of domestic, as well as foreign missions, nothing is needed, but that we should feel more strongly that all the gold and silver are the Lord’s; and then of course the question recurs whether to awaken such feelings, the prosecution of foreign missions is not a powerful—nay z¢he most powerful auxiliary ! However we go farther, and maintain that whatever be the re- sult, though it were inevitable that by supporting missionaries a- mong the Heathen, less would be given for supporting them at home, we should not esteem it on that account wrong! We do not now insist upon the absolute tenor of that commission “ to preach the gospel to every creature’””—we rest the question upon general considerations. In our private charities we practice upon the principle of distribution; we do not bestow all our alms on one object ; we deem it greater mercy to relieve the urgent necessities of many than to supply the less pressing, though more numerous wants of a few. We deem this course best calculated too, to strengthen the benevolent principle in our own breast——Now why not apply the same rule to the charities of the church? Why ez- haust her beneficence on a few, when so many are perishing for lack of knowledge ? Why not to a certain extent, admit all to a share in her bounty ? In our own land, there are surely none so 44: necessitous as the Heathen, and none therefore who will reap so material benefit from a given act of benevolence. While doing good then, especially to those of the household of faith, because they are especially dependent upon us; let us not forget that if we would relieve the greatest amount of misery, and kindle in our own hearts the most fervid benevolence, we must also do good ‘to all men ;” imitating Him who came and preached peace to them that were afar off, as well as to them that were nigh! . ~ 25 naar, Te ar * i Niatiah -areal ee * é R. P. & C. WILLIAMS, Booksellers & Stationers, “— _—No. 79 Washington Street. ... BOSTON— = PUBLISH AND KEEP FOR SALE, ’ » ” CANDID EXAMINATION OF THE. PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, in two letters to a Friend, to which is added, a consideration of some popular objections. {> About 18,000 copies of the first part of this popular work has been disposed of. For distribution, by the quantity, it is sold very low, as it will be found done up in a more ta 2 man- 4, ner than Tracts usually are. st if BIDDULPH’S ESSAYS ON THE LITURGY, q Vo. }| 12mo.—bound strong—a practical work. WHEATLY ON THE COMMON PRAYER, "Gro fine |f paper,—the First American Edition, adapted to the present : state of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. This work has been so many times reprinted in England during the last 100 years, that the number of editions or copies printed are not known. This work will show where the Church” of England Prayer Book differs from ours. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. HERBERT MARSHALL, a Presbyter of the Protestant Episcopal Church, formerly a Bap- tist Minister. Published in aid of the Missionary cause in | Mas- sachusetts. 1 Vol. 18mo. £ SOUTHEY’S BOOK (HISTORY) OF THE CHURCH, 2 Vols. 8vo.° LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE CONGREGATION. AL \;CLERGY . OF MASSACHUSETTS oF EPISCO- PACY, by a Congregational Clergyman. ! Xs This Letter was published at the patentee fogheet of the writer thereof, whom the Publishers know to be a regular Clergy- man among the Congregationalists. $1 a doz. '$6,50 per hund. —for distribution. ** R. P. & C. keep constantly on asl COMMON | PRAYER BOOKS, of all sizes, and every description of | ‘| binding. ai za | : oa SERMON, PREACHED AT NEW HAVEN, COM | AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOREIGN MISSIONS, NINTH ANNUAL MEETING, SEPT. 10, 1318- BY SAMUEL SPRING, D. D. Pastor of the North Congregational Church in Newburyport. = BOSTON : PRINTED BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, No, 50, CORNHILL, 1818. a ome He OFAN TAR TEELOD! it sj SR FONE a to Pala ER Re Shiai ee RYE el alae 4 Wi BbNs Rg ES zea Rima SR EN fa ’ Set Ba SSE Lg ERA ae ud he CRUE A ef x SEARS Lupin n \ J to ace aad ' Spinto vn od Giiw. de bos; Soeogne) gill bejiech samen vie 2 Boot hand mio v ihnorgl PA) bis ‘ ry ihiiing J SERMON... >. Acts’ viii, 30,31. pays Onder standest thou what thow readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? THUS spake the man, who had the Bible in’ his hand, and felt the need of instraction, in order tounderstand it: and In- spiration, has given us. this account! because millions of men since his day, and in our own times, possess the Sacred Vol- ume, butido, not understand its contents, and need able teach- ers toexplainit, . re oe Oe The story of Philip and the Eunuch is memorable, and in- structive, At the time of the martyrdom of Stephen,’ «there unto the way that goeth down from, Jerusalem to-Gaza,y which is desert, And he arose, and went;’ and he there beheld “a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Can- dace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,” and was on his’ return, sit ing, in his-chariot, and reading Esaias: the Prophet. “Then the Spirit said; unto,Philip, Go near, and: join ‘thyself to this chariot. And Philip ram thither, and: heard him read the Prophet. Esaias;and said unto him,/Un- Hope ee eBeopens fd) -ee@iDitvet 7 dérstandest tow what, thou readest?.And he,said, how dan I, exCept some man should guide me?” And he then in an im- g pressive manner desired Philip to aseend and i th him.- Philip readily complied and took a seat with is char- iot; and preached unto him Jesus. The happy consequence was, that the Treasurer believed in Christ with all his heart, and was baptised in Christ’s name: and when the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, the instructed, the ised, and the happy eunuch went on his way rejoicing, Thus God fur- nished the Ethiopian Treasurer with the word of life, and with an able teacher to-explain it; and graciously prepared his heart to embrace the inestimable contents and to.enjoy the divine blessing. ‘i us no Qe Im the view, therefore, of this ovine of sacred history, ‘Tet us, on this missionary occasion, attend to the necessity. and advantage of instructing the destitute and the ignorant. For man, as Inspiration and fact inform us, is born’ ‘as ignorant of divine things as the colt of the wilderness; and ‘will ‘remain in this ignorant state, unless favored with needful imstruction, ihe human mind needs much cule eine Se Ph Ww 1. We shall attend to the wecdeniigt of instructing the ignorant, in order that they may iain the ae) of the truth. ; itil il The field, which opens belore us, is wide. “For the wd nc W contains many millions of inhabitants, who. are eaniads of the knowledge of the Scriptures; and we have no evidence, that any of the human race have been the subjects y holiness, onetet those who have gave” the sg ft astre een operations. And the itn course of ‘ieee oti, tions continued till God had completed the system of Ins gn “f tion. When God had revéaled ‘the contents of he tau la: which we have now in our’: hands, his ‘miraculous. ope : ceased, The day of miracles is past, God has’ given U5 all NOGs 5 > thé means of instruction, which he intends to furnish, until he shall descend in the great day of. decision to consummate his design in creation. More miracles we have no reason to ex- pects and it is now the duty of Christians and especially of Christ’s ministers to instruct the ignorant, both by supplying them with the Scriptures, and by explaining their precious contents. Except we adopt and faithfully pursue these meas- ures, we have no more reason to expect to see the destitute, the ignorant, and the heathen, enlightened, than we have to expect to see the earth loaded with rich crops of grain while we wholly neglect to plow and sow and plant our fields. Means and ends are connected; and we have no reason to ex- pect the possession of any valuable object, unless we use ees means to secure it. Tt is obit of grateful record, that thousands and thou- sands of persons have fatily: contributed largely to supply the destitute with the Scriptures upon the condition, that they pass.into their hands without note or comment; and we have reason to believe, that they would have withholden their contributions upon any other principle. It surely is de- sirable to see the indigent and the destitute supplied with the Bible. But, how small is the prospect of advantage to the most ignorant class of men, if we supply them with the Word of Life, but do not furnish them with Missionaries to explain it. Destitute of religious teachers, men naturally feel little interest in the written Word, and sink down into stupidity and neglect of divine things. The Sacred Volume expounds itself to those, who are in a measure qualified to explain it; but to the ignorant, it is far otherwise, and is full of mys- terious and dark sayings. It was pleasant to Philip to hear the Treasurer ‘reading the Prophet;’ and it was more pleasant to be properly requested to take a seat in his chariot, that he might have opportunity to explain the Prophet to one, who would not otherwise comprehend him. For he felt qualified to unfold the contents of the Inspired Volume, and to instruct the inquisitive Ethiopian. Philip administering instruction and the: Eunuch receiving instruction, resembled apples of 6 : gol in pictures of silver. If the attentivea is transacted here on earth, it was a oes The Eunuch, who was ravished with the Gos og, which Philip unfolded, would gratefully” retained hig company in the chariot. But having» emb: hr received the beter of his faith in savage faith had seen the Savior “ina received his éo token. Blessed by the Lord, who has the h his hand, he was qualified for a useful missionary ignorant brethren; to whom he A comme gave mu instruction. Sa By this signal instance of the necessity and ‘ati pel instructions we are led into a imiosk: extensi @ fre J. which he adopts with individuals, he stelle with tribes and nations, and the ignorant world. he enlightens, he convinces, and converts sinners from falatslat holiness; and | iinkgee or Missionaries are his. pr’ aries of the cross: «How beautiful upon the mou the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, th L peace, that publisheth salvation; that saith, unto God reigneth.” Christ himself, the Great Minister of G grace, and the fountain of light, while with divine comp surveying the wide field of the world already, white 1 harvest, directs his disciples to pray. the Lord of the oe to send forth faithful laborers into his harvest, - when he sent forth his disciples, as sheep among. wo teach all nations, the necessity of Missionaries, ii effect the pevation of sinners. ‘This God is: the cause of regener aii; yet he prepares the way fol ‘the salvas tion of sinners, by his nuliriatray his missionaries, or agents) 7 God does nof operate alone. Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the. prophets and the apostles have been his agents; and he still em- _ ploys his ministers. and missionaries in the wide field of the world, anan instance be named by any of the best inform- ed children of God, of the salvation of sinners, or even of an individual sinner, previously to his possessing a share of men- tal information? Suppose a family, er tribe of ignorant pagans, who dwell in the habitations of cruelty, to be now supplied with the Scriptures, in their own vernacular tongue, but to be left destitute of teachers to explain the Scriptures to them; and what would be the consequence, but their contin- ued ignorance of their precious contents? They would remain pagans still; and their descendants would imitate their igno- rant and barbarous course of life. To them the Bible is a sealed book, and comparatively useless. And this is but the lamentable picture of the whole human race, upon the prin- ciple of their being left by God destitute of teachers. Alas, how dismal the consideration. The present ignorant state of five or six hundred millions of our fellow-creatures, is but an example of the whole human race, except upon the princi- ple of their possessing the means of instruction, with which God has favored the world by the patriarchs, prophets and apostles, and missionaries, who have been appointed to teach their ignorant brethren. And hence the language of the inspired apostle, who was raised up in a special manner to exhibit the established connexion between the preaching of the Gospel and the salvation of sinners: “For whosoever shalt call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” ‘Then he in- terrogates, and introduces the doctrine under consideration. ‘“‘How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things?” This instruction, which we have both from the mouth of the inspired prophet and the apostle, is peculiar. Men must pray: they must consequently believe; they must of course. hear, and must also have apreacher. Thus Got a uniform manner; and he is under no ou igation cious sovereign to step aside from his usual, esta ali she of proceeding, to save sinners. For instance, if there are any of his elect amid the dark tribes of Ethiopia, he can ¢ | them hither in slave ships to embrace the Gospel, though in j rt ment to slave-traders, who buy and sell the souls of men; but _ in infinite mercy to the poor, oppressed slaves whom | he makes Christ’s free men. And with facility, as he is now graciously conducting, he can send missionaries to Africa, and convert Ethiopians upon their own native ground. The Lord is won- derful in counsel, and excellent in working. Many of the black tribes of Africa, we cannot but believe God will clothe _ with salvation. And when heshall make up his jewels in the Ms glorious day of consummation, we expect to see them shine 1M brightly in the crown of the Prince of Peace. For God, wha — has graciously promised the blessing, is faithful and able to fulfil his promise. His word will not return unto him voi but will accomplish the gracious intention of his heart. Buty II. Having attended to the necessity of supplying the ignorant part of our race with able teachers to instruct them to understand the Scriptures, which are able to make them wise unto salvation; let us now attend to the advantage, to the utility, of this course of proceeding. We can i no doubt, that the course, which God has established for the benefit of man, is full of motives to induce us to practise accordingly with the greatest diligence and confidence. But we wish to take a review of the success with which this course of Providence has been crowned during the past poriada wi the — world. a , Py ‘ #34 & We then ask, in the view of the desperate depravity, which has seized the hearts of men, and has blinded their minds, what would have been the fact relative to the ignorance of the early ages of men, if they had not been favored with the instructions of the pious patriarchs? The human race, pre- viously to the deluge, were exceedingly wicked and ignorant 9 of God; but what would have been their increased ignorance - of God, if the world had been destitute of those holy patri- archs, Abel, Seth, and Enoch and others, who then had their residence in the midst of it? For they certainly shone as stars of the first magnitude, and could not but impress their cotemporaries with a degree of knowledge respecting the Author of the universe. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and other able instructors, who lived after the flood, were the faiths ful agents in the hand of God, who taught their fellow men, with whom they dwelt, the character of the Great Jehovah. And if the world had been destitute of such pious teachers, we have reason to conclude, that nothing but Atheism would have prevailed. We can be at no loss, when we review the conduct of Israel, into what increased ignorance of God and divine things, they would have fallen, if Moses and Aaron and Caleb and Joshua had not vindicated the character of God so fully before them. It is said of Israel, that they served the Lord during the days of Jushua and the Elders, who outlived. Joshua, who had seen the wonderful operations of the Lord. But, that they soon, upon the death of those eminent teachers and exemplars, plunged intothe depth of the mostshameful idol- atry. We all remember the pious influence of Gideon, Samuel, Elijah and Elisha, and the religious influence of David, and the good kings amid that nation, which the Lord blessed with special advantages. We have still in memory the influence of the major and minor prophets, who faithfully taught the Jews to walk in the way which God had pointed out by the Spirit of Inspiration. In a word, when we impartially review - the gracious administration of God toward the Jews, we can- not but confess, that the peculiar blessings, which he confer- red upon them were communicated by those, who were ap- pointed to teach them. God taught his agents the prophets, and they taught the people to walk ia his ways. 2 Tf we now descend with the current of time to the period of John the Baptist, and to Christ himself, the Prime Teacher of ‘men, we shall be constrained to confess, that it was the adopt- 2 e 1d ’ He he ores, 4 ed course of Providence to bless the world b | aries or teachers. Christ was a Teac bi best, the most able of all teachers; and he chose hi and Leap them to instruct the i ol He ae were crowned in the course of afew jensen Christ? ascension, is astonishing. They went forth like lambs among wolves, tigers, and lions, with theip lives i in ) their. ha nds, and of afew years the temples of idolatry were inden prostrated. Proud idolaters were compelled by the 3 grace of God to bow before the preaching of i Christ. The change was great in Greece and Rome. € himself reigned and swayed the peaceful sceptre of his ki dom, where the adversary had long held his seat: of t rranny ever the hearts and minds of men. For ample eo this statement of facts, L refer you to the Scriptures, styled The Acts of the Apostles, and to the most instructive Epistles to the several churches which they had formed. These parts of the Sacred Volume are full of ample motives to boat us to spare no pais or expense in furnishing mi aie to the ignorant and to teach them the bes of eternal | ss Fi oY If we now descend from the inspired ‘og i ers, who have had no claim to inspiration, motives will present themselves, which will induce Christ’s ministers to be faithful still. What was the influence which effected ‘the reformation from popery? Surely God effected it. . But not cae concurrence of human agents. Wickliffe, Zui and Calvin were God’s agents; they were his fait aries. hey in the midst of danger taught their i gm orar and ibe ace the simplicity of Gospel practice. fi were successful. ‘They, under the guidance of grace, caused a reformation. They extricated not only themselves, but thousands of others from the imposition _ oppression of Li papal yoke. The adversary was angry and gnashed his teeth them and attempted to destroy them, but in vain, They vere kept safe in the hollow of their heavenly Father’s hhand- Since the blessed seasen of the reformation from popery, rey has been impressive evidence of the utility of mission- ary exertions. 1 refer tothe Elots, the Mayhews and the Brawerds of our own land, and to Swartz, Vanderkemp, and Buchanan and others, who kate made such inroads upon Sa-. tan ’s territory in Asia and Afri ica. Ln those benighted quar- ters of the globe great things. have been effected within, the course of a few years. And it appears, that a foundation is Jaid for the accomplishment. of more glorious:events. We are induced to believe, that by the agency of his. ‘missionaries, God has planted his standard in the, midst, of these . dark regions, over which Satan has long swayed, in an undisturbed manner, his oppressive and most destructive sceptre. O Lord, how long before these extensive regions shall, be occupied by the church of Christ! For thou hast promised thatthe meek shall inherit the earth. Is not the period at.hand?., , ; Further, have we not encouraging ote es, relative to the labors of missionaries, from our brethren, whovare now placed among the savages of America? For they are received by these ignorant. tribes with, much approbation. They, have committed their children to the school which has been estab- lished by our missionaries, This is a token of much good. For young trees are manageable, and can be bent; though old ones are inflexible. ‘To induce us to supply the ignor ant with missionaries for their instraction, I ask what children possess the most and the best information? 'The answer is, The chil- tren of those parents who are not only capable of teaching them what they ought to know; but who are faithful in giving them line upon line and precept upon precept continually. A algo ask, what schools are the best informed? The answer is, those which have the best informed and the most faith(ul masters. I ask further, what congr egations, what churches, are the most acquainted with the contents of the Scriptures and the great doctrines of rey elation? Undoubtedly those; 12 svhich have the most able and the most faithful foes And though some ministers are reproved by the 1 js it not a fact, that revivals of religion are eo es a most instructive and faithful labors of the most devout ministers? 4 am sensible a ‘ul tree by the fruit which it produces. | By their fruits ye s shall know them. 1 ask further, whether the neglect, with which the heathen have been treated by Christians in general, dur- ing past centuries, ought not to be a:motive to our present exertion to supply them with teachers? We shall all answer in the affirmative. ' O how dismal this consideration, if there were when Christ left the world only one hundred millions of heathen upon the stage; and if no more than this has been the average number, from year to year; and if the world changes its inhabitants every thirty years; that the vast number who — ‘have gone out of time, in the course of two thousand years, have gone to the pit of destruction!” Alas! if but one hundred millions have gone every thirty years to ruin, during two thousand years, the regions of despair must be thronged with inhabitants. For many descended into the pit of ruin before Christ came into the world, and many have undoubtedly gone since that time, from the and of Gospel light.” Surely the past loss of souls must excite us to seek the salvation of sin- ners now by every means within our reach. This is the day of salvation. This is the acceptable time. It must be im- poured. 3 ONG had? iy ah ee the we kil é: +) sahedy We ahaa eae" _ Another motive to induce us to co-operate widen the heavenly ‘Missionary, is derived from the vast excitement, which God'‘has within afew years given to emperors, 2 nd kings and their influential subjects; to queens and their ens, and a ‘numerous host of people of all ranks, ob ollie generously for the purpose ‘of supplying the means necessary for the information ‘of the indigent, who are destitute of the Bible, and the ignorant who know nothing relative to the method of salvation, The enlightened part of the human race = 18 jare now awake to the importance of the salvation of the hea- then. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. We have ample evidence, that the time to build up Zion is athand. For her friends in every quarter of the enlight- ened world favor the stones, and the dust thereof; and even the earth is compelled to help the woman. Let’ us then co- operate with this host, who are generously contributing for the prosperity of Zion in the salvation of sinners. Let the ‘example of the Russian emperor and his nobles excite us to do our part. While they, and many others in different parts of the world, are supplying the ignorant with the Bible, let us supply them with missionaries to explain it, For destitute of teachers, they, even with the Bible in their hands, will remain ignorant. They will not, they cannot, understand the Scrip- tures, except they have teachers to guide them. ‘Teachers are as necessary as the Scriptures. Missionaries and their families must go and live among them, and teach them both by precept and example. They must be acquainted with the devout and godly lives of missionaries, as well as with the doctrines which they inculcate, They must behold the exam- Pre of real Christians, _ Now, I ask my worthy associates and this assembly, whether all the accounts we receive from missionaries in Asia, Africa and America, and from the Isles of the sea, do not har- monize to convince us, that we must supply the ignorant, and the heathen with Gospel preachers, as well as with the Gospel itself, in order to do them good in the latter end? The answer is in the affirmative. Let us then close the discourse by afew reflections. IMPROVEMENT. rt bd 1. From the interesting subject, we have contemplated, we infer the immense obligation laid upon us, to be thankful for God’s causing the Sun of Righteousness to shine upon the world enveloped in midnight darkness. Christ is the light of the world, and, if we follow him, be will conduct us into the _ regions of heavenly light and eternal blessedness. While id God, as a righteous sovereign, has. setalig ars finedy the apos- tate angels in chains of darkness int the pi nity, to he'd the heirs of God, and the iva sate 0 r the heavenly inheritance. Without money Sp witho pee in the exercise of his mercy toward sinful | me be humble at Hiad feet. ay 2. Weare invited by the subject to Ries which distinguishes us and others from the. hu large, by granting us the shining light and ady I Gospel, while the major part of the human race in the depths of ignorance, and destitute of the light of Gospel. About two thousand years since all our ancestors were in» a pagan state, and destitute of the light of the Gospel. _ And but about three centuries past, and our ancestors were inv ed in the thick darkness and saperstition of popery. But by. the pious exertions of the celebrated reformers, whose names ha been mentioned in this discourse, they not only ext themselves, but thousands of others from the superstitions and abominations of the Romish church; and prepared. the way for thousands and millions to enjoy the liberty of the Gospel. Hence, instead of being under the tyranny of the pope, and his deceitful cardinals, we have Moses, the Prophets, Christ, and his Apostles, for our spiritual guides. Let us then be thankful for the inestimable blessings we enjoy; and Jet us as Christians lament the gloomy condition of the millions of our race, who are ina heathenish state, without God and with- out Gospel hope in the world. We are thus favored, not be- cause we deserve more than others; for as face answers to face in the glass, so the heart of man to man: but because God is a sovereign, who dispenses. his favors as he pleases to our sinful race. Let us then adore his sovereign grace. | Let us bow gratefully and submissively before him; and let hina have no rival in our hearts. ety ae ™~ ~ Inthe view of our subject, which Heleriivty calls our ntion to the importance of supplying the destitute and the heathen with proper guides and teachers, let us be thankful for the rich advantages we pussess in regard to the means of education. The religious schools, academies, colleges, and the theological seminaries, where our children and young men are educated for public teachers, are inestimable blessings to the church. By these advantages we have opportunity to raise up a host of missionaries to teach the ignorant. What we have done in these seminaries, and what we are now effecting in order to supply Gospel teachers, is not sufficient for the call. We must do more. For the harvest is greater than can be reaped and gathered by those who are now in the field, and by those who are preparing to enter it. We need many niore than we are able to supply. . The pressingcall, andthe high demand made for able mis- a eciteety teach the members of the Board of Foreign Missionsthat we are under great obligations to pursue our ob ject With unremitting diligence. Great, great, indeed, my Brethren, is our responsibility. The eyes of God, angels and men are upon us. For this is the impressive call of Christians, whose lot is cast among the indigent and the destitute. «Come over and help us.” This is also the call of all those missionaries, who have lately visited the aboriginals of the wilderness. “a if eit 43 ‘WH , hive & t P44) Gad ad atl vA sCBIB opogt Asi ye 1 - Veeoaey wii! «id f ¢ se * ° ey rey Pee sen , sae SOUT ei Cea 5 One en ied «Poh oft el eMule tuge a0 at Fiala ed opt a Ha ie ‘Umiyls x6) whiniem iio Say ; re Vie twiiavion of) to} Vapedboda et Samuel T. Armstrong, Printer, Boston. pe: \ 0 ” ae ° > A)? .° 1 Mornl Discipline of Giving. | The Moral Diseiy je ANNUAL SERMON BEFORE THE | FOR | | FOREIGN MISSIONS, MEETING IN DETROLT, SEPTEMBER, 1858. | | | | } BY GEORGE SHEPARD, D.D. wan ; AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS | | THE MORAL DISCIPLINE OF GIVING. SERMON, BEFORE THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOREIGN MISSIONS, AT THE MEETING IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN ? SEPTEMBER 7, 1858. BY GEORGE SHEPARD, D. D. Professor in Theol. Seminary, Bangor, Mc. BOSTON: PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN & SON, 42 CONGRESS STREET. 1858. ‘Derro: Resolved, That the thanks of the Board be SHEPARD for his Sermon, and that he be reques publication. Attest, SERMON. LUKE xt. 41. BUT RATHER GIVE ALMS OF SUCH THINGS AS YE HAVE; AND BEHOLD, ALL THINGS ARE CLEAN UNTO YOU. Curist, being invited, went in to dine with a Pharisee. His host marveled that he sat down to meat without first washing; whereupon the Lord addressed him and other Pharisees gathered with him: “ Now do ye Pharisees make clean the out- side of the cup and platter, but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.” Did not he that made that which is without, make that which is within also? Did not he who created the body, create the soul also? And is it not at least equally proper and important that the inner part, the soul, partake of the cleansing and the purity? Assuming that it is important, our Lord proceeds to prescribe a mode by which the moral cleansing, the purity, may be obtained: “But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and behold, all things are clean unto you.” These words present somewhat of difficulty, when we consider that they were addressed to a company of Pharisees, inas- much as the Pharisees were notoriously given to _ 4 the performance of these outward acts of charity. They did these outward things, and remained all vile within. An outward injunction, in their case, could hardly touch the infected spot. Some suppose that the Savior spake in an ironi- cal strain. As it regards your inward parts, all you have to do is to go on with your tithing system of mint and rue, anise and cummin, and all is clean to you—yours a perfect purity down to the bottom of your hearts. This view we cannot admit. The Lord, we think, spoke seriously; uttered before them a great truth, not a stinging sarcasm. If we suppose that the company of Pharisees gathered on that occasion were, as many were, exceedingly avaricious, given to the getting of gains by the closest and hardest means, and were also given so to hold on upon their possessions that they could not, by any means, be brought to devote them in charity, in any worthy measure, then the Savior’s words, which struck at their pockets, would have also a deeper aim, and strike and enter their hearts. The difficulty abiding in these words comes from the fact that so much efficacy is assigned to an outward performance. A great commentator, how- ever, remarks, in mitigation of this, that it was the manner of the Savior to command an outward act as a sign of the disposition, instead of enjoining the disposition itself. But here the giving act is put in a somewhat different relation. It seems to be put as an antecedent, a means to an end—cause to an effect. Giving according to the right stand- 5 ard and mode, is promotive of the soul’s disci- pline—its growth in moral purity, holiness. I come to this, then, as the main topic of my discourse: Giving of what God may have given us as the means of disciplining, purifying, eleva- ting the character. And I might speak of this discipline as both retrospective and prospective. In regard to the retrospective action, a few words will suffice; and these are suggested by the con- text. It is clearly implied that those addressed by the Savior were given to injustice. They had sought extortions and wrongful gains. In the strong phrase of Christ, “ Your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness;” all there greedy, rapacious, grasping. What now follows as duty in such a case? This, first, and without delay: ' ¢Repent and return from such ways. From being injurious, rapacious men, become generous men; do justly, deal kindly.’ ‘Then, farther, the gospel enjoins this: ‘ Redress past wrongs; make repara- tion, restitution, as far as it can be done. But there are cases where it cannot be done. Those who were the subjects of the wrong, and all their representatives, have passed away, and can no more be found. Or the wrong is so complex, so woven into the web of other things, that it cannot be separated and acted upon, so as to be set right directly and specifically. Where this is the condi- tion of things, what then? Here let charity apply her corrective: “Give alms of such things as ye have, and all things are clean unto you.” This disposition and distribution of the estate got by hard means, indicate a softening of the character, 6 even the genuineness of the repentance. At once the conscience is relieved, and the heart is made better by the course taken. The possessions which the individual feels are not his and cannot be put back whence they were wrongfully taken, he chooses to make over to the Great Proprietor of all, by devoting them to his service in the welfare of his creatures. This is the most natural dictate of the heart, once base and wrong, into which the spirit of religion and reform has entered. So was it in the case of Zaccheus. Half of his goods he gave to the poor; then the most generous resti- tution to all whom he had defrauded. Who can doubt the integrity, the moral purity of that heart henceforth? Who doubt that all the residue of his estate was clean unto him? Who doubt that from that time he began truly to possess and enjoy his own ? This is what we may call the backward correc- tion, the retrospective discipline of benevolence. It is not the giving of a portion of ill-gotten wealth to sanctify the rest, also and equally ill-gotten. The principle does not touch such a case. Such a case is only and intensely atrocious and abomin- able. This is simply a case both of generousness and justice where the opposites of these had been. We suggest whether this backward correction, this retrospective discipline, should not be matter of thought and consideration now: whether the Lord’s cause and the welfare of men would not receive means for their promotion, if there were more inquiring and acting in this direction ;—the Lord’s treasury receiving numberless fragments, 7 and some huge masses, which are now in hands that would be better off without them. Let each take the candle of the Lord and pass through his own premises—its rays penetrating all the tortuous intricacies of the past, and then let him do what this revealing light shall teach him to do; and he will be likely to do both generously and well; cer- tainly, be likely to improve his standing for this world and the world to come. But I pass now to what is more generally appli- cable and practical—the present and prospective discipline of the spirit and habit of giving—giving as a means of spiritual advance, of growth in moral purity ; all within, and all pertaining to one be- coming clean, pure. The word used here is the same used by Christ in that other place: “ Blessed are the pure in heart.” In order to make a man clean, pure, particularly a character like that contemplated by Christ in the text, certain evil and corrupting things are to be removed out of him. ‘There is to be an ejectment of the corrupt and corrupting, in the process of attaining to the clean, the pure. And one in the category of the corrupt and the corrupting—and this a main one, abiding at the fountain—a grand promoter and feeder in the wrong direction—is the love of money. So Paul names it, and then at- taches to it this primal and terrible potency, root of all evil—pronouncing the love of money the root of all evil. He means that love of it, which leads the individual harboring this passion, to ad- dress himself to the work of getting it—accumu- lating, heaping it together; this his end, his great 8 object in living. The Apostle shows this to be his meaning, in the verse immediately preceding, where he uses another phraseology, “They that will be rich;” this is the working and the end of the pas- sion. It resolves itself into the will to be rich. Christ’s word chosen to describe it, yields the same idea on being subjected to an analysis; his word is covetousness, which means, etymologically—haye more—the desire to have more. This, as a very common desire or passion in the human soul, is quite obvious, showing itself on every hand in the schemes and the toils to get more. ‘This, as being an evil desire, most fruitful of mischief, Paul portrays in that flaming sketch: « They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” This passion, how sure to grow! If the person dare indulge it, it will grow and get stronger than he; increasing still in capacity, in greediness, in clamor, ever ringing the repetitious ery: ‘Give! give!’ The already vast quantity of possession only adds vehemence to the cry: ‘More! yet more!’ And under its influence, what wrongs, oppres- sions, crimes, are enacted! And what follies, too! This rage for more, in its height and intensity, seems not only to blind the eyes, but strangely to abate the brains. The Savior, in addressing one of the sort,—a representative man, doubtless, to resort to the modem parlance,—used upon him the rather curt term, ‘Thou fool.’ Sometimes it is one by himself, ‘Thou fool. Sometimes—and have we not seen something of the kind !—large masses are 9 frenzied together. ‘There stands forth pretty much a whole generation of fools, inciting and inflaming one another—expanding and spreading out, till there comes a crash and a conclusion; and the whole surface is seen strewn with wrecks of char- acter and fortune. There follows a wholesome pause ; and one would suppose that some abiding wisdom would be derived from the meditations and amazements of the compulsory silence; certainly, suppose that such a course and result never could be repeated by the same individuals, or their imme- diate successors. But it is repeated. ‘The same ones, with the smart of the old chastisement in their skins, and the indented bruise of it in their _ bones, will spring forth, eager to reénact the same old fury. So it is that this desire grows when allowed, and maddens men, and ruins characters, fortunes, and souls. It is plain, as I have already intimated, that in the course or process of becoming clean and pure, this evil desire must be repressed, and even put out. We come now to hint the way of doing it. One way, a most legitimate and summary way— may I not say the way, no other being wanted !—s this, namely, by giving. Let a person give alms of such things as he has, and he will be cleansed of this foul and ever-defiling desire or passion. But in order to the achievement of so great an end, there must be conditions to the giving. It must be principled, the result and flow of principles—prin- ciples in this Holy Book laid down, and by the heart cordially embraced ;—not impulsive, giving as the fit takes, as the sympathies happen to be 2 10 stirred. Based on principle, uniform and habitual, it bears a just relation to the means God has put into our hands. This is one of the principles or laws in this matter, that the giving bear a fixed and just relation or proportion to the means placed at our disposal. And what is the propor- tion ? or what the principle, the rule to be made? This principle, that every one at stated times lay by him in store for this purpose, according as God has prospered him, would be sufficient, if we may suppose in him the thoroughly Christian heart. To add this, namely, Let him lay by for charity a gen-° erous proportion, is leaving it still quite too indefi- nite. To say a tenth of all that comes im, is greatly unequal. ‘There is neither justice nor benevolence in this as the universal law of giving. For the object I have in view, this statement may be an approximate ; at least, may stand preparatory to one more definite, namely, that a person give in measure and continuity sufficient to feel it. How little, probably, is given in the Church of God where this is the effect! How very few, probably, from the measure they give, have any, even the least, sen- sation of inconvenience. Of self-denial, and real sacrifice from giving, I suppose the great majority of Christian givers know nothing. In all such cases, of course, the entire personal benefit and discipline from giving, is lost. According to the statement now in hand, the sensation-prineiple, the tithe system, or the law of tenth, can be no general rule; for, in very many cases, the amount dictated by this rule would hardly be enough to throw any, even the smallest twinges, into the soul’s cleaving 11 selfishness. A tenth can be given, and the man never know, by any appreciable diminution, that he has given any thing; of course, he can give all that, and vastly more, without beginning to feel it. What is done, is but shelling off some of the loose outer scales of one of these Leviathans of wealth. The giving, to be effectual as a discipline, must be on a principle that shall reach and restrict the desire for getting—the intent to have more ; for all the mischief, and meanness, and smallness, lie in that—emanate from that. On that it is, all Scrip- ture pours its intense and concentrated exproba- tion. What principle and measure of giving, then, will administer to this the repressive, yea the annihila- ting blow?! ‘That principle which says, “ By the grace of God, I will no more lay up treasure for myself,” the person at once and forever renouncing the purpose, even crucifying the desire to be rich. Then, that measure or amount of giving, which accrues from giving the whole beyond a certain prescribed boundary. No accumulation of prop- erty, does this mean? No, not that. Accumula- tion there may be, and should be: and the amount, the extent of it, is to be settled in the best moments of Christian experience—under the most decisive action of the Christian spirit, and principle—a definite amount fixed under the felt meaning of that great vow of an entire consecration to Him. It may be thousands, or tens of thousands, or hun- dreds of thousands. More or less, this is its sol- emn condition and quality ; it is a Christian amount —teligioufsly retained as the means to still larger 12 deeds of giving and blessing. Here we have the man, all he has, and all his power of getting, pos- sessing, diffusing, devoted to God. With him accumulation has this purpose—it is for God. It has this limitation—nothing for self—nothing be- yond a solemnly prescribed amount ; no indefinite laying up. It is a great step for a person to come to this point—costing a mighty wrestle, and the bloody sweat of the soul, probably, to renounce the purpose of personal and selfish getting—the intent of property, wealth. It is something every one will profoundly feel in the conflict—the actual doing it. Some have succeeded in the doing, and have stood forth noble examples of character, and prodigies in the line of giving. We are sure that, in this repression and restric- tion just indicated, the course, the action, is right. There can be no mistake at this point. If this thirst for money, this purpose and practice of indefi- nite getting—all one can, to the end—if this is wrong—has on its face the indignant brand of Almighty God, then is it right for the disciple— made his duty by the law and spirit of his religion, to fix a limit, to build a Christian boundary some where to this fiery and rampant lust of humanity— desire of possession, to have more. This terrible lust—you can’t pet it, play with it, and say, you will keep it under. No man can. No man can serve two masters. It will be one—a single alle- giance ; one up, and the other under. Hence the right, the necessity absolute, that there be ordained the broad line of demarkation—that there be dug 13 .in the soul a deep and saphbeable trench between God and mammon. Let us see now what is accomplished in the way of discipline—moral cleansing and keeping clean, by the action thus far. This first at the fountain— that great, generic, base, cloven-footed, all-defiling thing, the selfish, self-seeking—love of money, will to get it—this in the case supposed, is pretty much wiped from the heart by the one broad, introduc- tory stroke, by that soul’s counter and higher pur- pose, in that soul’s true consecration. This higher and Christian purpose becomes the purge, which carries off the filth and slime of the old fever. This purpose, once enthroned in the soul, summa- rily subordinates and drives out the whole litter of mean and craven lusts. I knew one for years, and loved him, and learned of him, though officially his teacher, and deemed him the model giver of the State of Maine. This was his principle—his pur- pose. Early and with a true Christian heart, he marked off the sum to be retained, and fixed the boundary ; and he made over all the rest, freely and broadly scattering it as it came. The love of money, the desire of holding, he often said, and more often showed, that he knew nothing of it. The faintest breath or motion from this source never, so far as he was conscious, stirred the outer surface of his soul. In the eight years of my con- nection with him, he gave away probably twice the sum which he reserved as the capital of his busi- ness and his beneficence. He is now in heaven, and can we suppose that he there regrets that measure of consecration and sacrifice ? 14 Another thing: the central and despotic lust. extinct, at least brought under, then the wrong deeds so apt to be perpetrated in the eagerness for gain, in the rage for yet more—no such deeds will ever be done. All business, all labors for the world, are sanctified by the soul’s good purpose, are a part of the man’s Christianity, the dictate of rectitude and benevolence. Never does such an one overreach and craftily haul in huge gains upon an already overgrown stock ; never take advantage when he can, and grind the necessitous; never throw blight upon others’ fortunes, that he may add brightness to his own. Not a dollar comes into his coffer dimmed and stained by his manner of obtaining it. It is all clean money. From all the temptations of business his comes forth an un- sullied and honorable name. ‘The great and kingly affection of religion, the love of the heart, abides unquestioned in the supremacy. The other graces take their proportion and place; all the impulses of a pure and genial nature blend to produce a character whose descriptive is goodness ; its form, a winning, admirable symmetry. Of such a character we find that generousness is a prominent, practical attribute. Let us, then, pass on and see how naturally and infallibly the principle I have indicated produces it; how surely it grows and benignly spreads under the soul’s high purpose of restriction upon the world, and the purpose to be “rich toward God.” We have already noted the fact, that it abolishes, at once crushes out, the leading cause of closeness, stingi- ness in a man—this cause, the desire of getting, 15 the fascination of accumulating—I want here the Greek’s terser tongue, and the privilege to cry, pleonexia—have more. Henry Rogers, in a late work, speaks of a man who always gave a guinea to each of certain good objects. ‘This person at length received a bequest which, he says, ‘‘ might be made the basis of a fine estate.” He caught the idea of increasing—rather, that “caught him. When asked the next time for his donation to an object approved, though more was justly expected, nothing was received ; not a penny would he give: but a reason he gave; and the sum of it was, that now he had something considerable in hand, and there was a satisfaction in making it more. Before, there was no such object in keeping, so he freely gave ; now there was an object, and every little he kept told on the result. So he kept it, and so he would not give. Just here we have the secret why men, prospered in the world, perpetually swelling their gains, are proportionally slender givers, often the most grudging and stinted in their giving; while those who eat up their income, and not enough at that, those who have made up their mind to do good in the land, and trust God to be fed, are among the foremost in generous deeds. On the one side it is the purpose, the desire to get and to add, that dwarfs the soul so ignominiously ; ' on the other, it is the purpose, all for God, which fashions the soul to that largeness and generous doing. And in the latter case, not only is the measure made over admirable; the manner of it, the freeness and heartiness, make it still more so. Such an one has not, on every presentation of 16 charity, to wage a bitter warfare with the base and servile part of himself; has not to debate and contend with and wring at length a few reluctant driblets out of a dry, hard, tyrant passion, who is allowed the keys; has not to go and pound and importune, as it were, at the tight door of a gloomy iron box, constructed for a smooth passage in, but a most rubbing passage out. Behold! see how pitiably poor the little creature is! How dreadful hard it comes! Taking from him his money, is very much asif you tore off the flakes of his flesh; and we can seem to see the wry face he twists into, under the agony of the parting. To the man of the other sort, with the heat and lust for more sum- marily quelled—the great purpose, all for God and human welfare, kept dominant; to him, it is the sweetest and best of all privileges to give. He welcomes every authentic application; even searches for the opportunity, and blesses the man who furnishes him with one. He finds the words of the Lord Jesus true, when he said, “ It is more blessed to give than to receive.” All is turned to a pure heart—comfort—a fresh fountain of happi- ness. We see how important it is, that one have at the bottom and the beginning, right principle. It is a grand regulator. One right principle at the head and fountain of conduct, puts and keeps every thing in the region of it and resulting therefrom, right also. And a principle like the one we have now stated, thus generic and summary in the pre- vention of evil and the production of good, has herein a proof that it is right, and is of God. Just 17 see what it does. This one word, giving, carried through on this principle, succeeds to blot out those other traitorous and engulfing words—will to be rich—among the most tainting and deadly in all the human vocabulary. Planted here, doing this, no taint shall ever touch you; no ill-gotten gain shall ever sear your conscience or burn your palm. The clustering graces of holiness, the rather, will gather around and adorn your char- acter. All that is given will go with freeness and joy; and the result, the amount imparted, shall stand in the end as a noble monument, not of merit but of grace—the soul’s treasure passed over, laid up on the other side, its own inalienable posses- sion, the glory and wealth of its immortality. Not only shall you be blest in your character and deed, but those connected with and dependent upon you, shall be blest through you, as your intent and prosperous hoarding never could have blessed them. Hence, in another sense, all things are clean unto you. By this standard and course of beneficence, by this example of piety, by the prayers which go up from a heart thus pervaded and consecrated, by such large outgoes of charity as shall keep down the hope of inherited wealth in those coming after, you help form an atmosphere _ of purity for children to breathe and grow up in. The property which,—fast held and to the last skillfully rolled up, would have been a snare to them, an omnipresent temptation, as it commonly is, and would have taken away their manly strength, and salient aspiration, and achieving enterprise, as it commonly does, dooming them, and passing them, 3 18 with rare exceptions, to the shades of insignificance and blank nothingness in creation, as is most obtrusively and painfully the case—this property, dealt with and disbursed on the other principle, is charged with no such perils, is changed wholly to another, a vital element and issue. The carnal and corrupting given, the spiritual is received, and so the treasures of your home become vastly greater and richer. The crowning good is, that all is clean ; your hands clean; your reputation clean ; your soul, through grace, clean; your children, through the same grace, clean; all these clean to you. We should love to commend, could we do it, this principle of repressed selfishness and of enthroned benevolence to that great company of disciples, who have recently been brought into the kingdom of Christ. How remarkable have been God’s deal- ings with the people since this Board held its last Annual Meeting: the business of the world, by a sudden stroke and shock, thrown into confusion, ° into complex and prostrating disaster; men’s hearts failing them, distress and ruin settling down upon all ranks and conditions ; then, directly upon this, almost simultaneous with it, the heavens opened and poured down righteousness, and myr- iads have been made rich in the inalienable posses- . sion. How fitting, that those who have come in, and are still coming, we trust, amid circumstances so significant, and outpourings of the Spirit so indicative of the grandeur of prophecy, should join to inaugurate a new order of piety ; rather to bring back again the primitive order and type! We 19 would beg of this company of new disciples, could we speak to them, to take their stand for Christ ; resolved to live a life of singleness and generous- ness to the Master and the race he is redeeming. Only let it be so; this elect company coming along to be such givers and workers, and still rising higher in this divine scale, then shall they imspire even veteran breasts with fresh assurances of success, bring light and cheer amid worldly depression and gloom. Then will they be an honor to Christianity, a new argument of its verity, and an added force to send it to the remote, and apply it to those near. We have reason to take courage from this living accession God is making to us. We may not repine at the great ela catastrophe and revul- sion, but accept it as a just discipline, and be thankful even for those quick-working breaks in the invisible enginery of God’s providence, which bring men to a stop in season not to leap the precipice. We welcome these fresh co-workers, because, coming in as they do, we calculate that they come to be whole men—altogether on one side—that they come by that singular sort of consecration which gives up all to the Lord—body and soul, the man and the money—not trying to stand some- where between, as if adjusting and connecting those great antagonisms, God and mammon; just where any quantity of professing Christians seem to be standing; I mean, are standing; and what they are doing; doing nothing as they ought to do, nothing largely and worthily forthe Master; 20 cankered, eaten all through with the rust of self- ishness ; spoiled for any noble, Christian work. To any persons remotely meditating the hopes or the profession of Christianity, we say, neither the Church nor the world wants any more such Christians. These anomalies of discipleship, these abnormals of the kingdom, who lay down a part of the price—give their carcasses and keep back their coffers; they bring neither power, nor credit, nor a blessing. Is it not an astounding fact, when there is so much created in order to be given, and when there are so many professed servants, new created of God, who hold it and are bound to give it; the oath of consecration most solemnly upon them ; a world needing it; the world all thrown open to receive it, or the gospel it might send ; its millions upon millions brought into vicinage; and when we may come directly to them, and impress them, and mould them, and put them in the way to heaven; and yet that the Church fails most frequently and decisively in meeting the cost, as though she could not afford to set her dollars against the redemption of these souls. I fear she hardly puts down annu- ally a dime against a soul. The men to go are oftener on hand—it is the money that lags. It does seem often as though the worst, the most cruel form of selfishness, is this which links itself with religion and religious people. Oh! this self- ishness of the new man, this Christian world- liness, this baptized carnality, this holy greed of gain; what a demoniac heart thou hast. Accursed - =«C- hape! hellish thme! away from our temples and our hearts! Let the Master come. if he must. with ples and our hearts; and himself possess us, and fill us with his own good Spirit. Bat the blessed Master has another and a better way to purge out the evil, and take the possession, namely, by his trath and grace. This is the doc- trine of the text, and of all his Gospel. The Chnis- tian character is benevolence—+the sparit of sacrifice and of work for a lost world. A missionary spinit is the measure of it; a giving spirit. at once the measure and the promoter of it. Giving, then, is one of the means of grace—one of the best means of spiritual growth. If no good extermally is done by the gifts. the charities. still a Vital and immeasurable good is done to the giving soul; enough. and vastly more than enough, to justify the deed. The sordid taunt so often thrown, © “Why all this waste!” it comes of the sordidness that is equal to the sale of the Lord himself—the thirty pieces in the pocket better than He. [I re- peat, if no other good is done, there is no waste ; no matter what the amount given, be it only enough, if done with the Christian motive, then the character is set forward, and the Church is brought up higher and nearer to the millennial state. The Church must pass through the work and the sacrifice of establishing the millenium abroad, in order to make one im her own pale. Those final words of her Lord, then, which lay upon her this amazing responsibility, «Go preach the Gospel—evangelize all nations;* are to her 22 an untold heritage of blessings and of blessedness. They embody the corrective and expulsion of her deadliest foes ; they are to her the necessary means of the victory, and the kingdom and the crown; I mean on this ground of attainment—personal, sep- arate fitness, reached by the culture and through the conflict of beneficent giving and doing. The question before us is, Will we meet these con- ditions, and have the millenium at home; the kingdom within us—not forgetting the one con- dition our Lord so significantly marks—giving alms of such things as we have? To very many, this, as a means of grace—of spir- itual advance—stands in the first place, and is in- dispensable; stands in a sense even before prayer— they being ahead in prayer, behind in giving. To all those, then, who have given leanly and grudg- ingly, we say, Arise and give—give bountifully— give heartily—give willfully—just because some- thing within resists and says, I won’t. Give the more and still more, from the very teeth and grip of the old retaining passion. Give with the meas- ure and intent to crucify it ;—that hundred the nail, that thousand the spike, that ten thousand the spear, and so proceed and persist till the base and slimy thing is wholly dead. ~ And in our dealings with others—the minister, in his appeals to his people, must come to them with some authority, with a worthy object, and with a sizable claim. A small matter will not do the business with men, taking them as they rise. The heart of the majority is so snugly shut up—the orifice not unfrequently all tight and 23 twisted and gnarled—if you would come upon it with any likelihood, it must be, not merely with a sharp tool, but with some bulk and weight. Pry at it with a massive lever; some little local appeal will not make a passage. The field is the world— the instrument also. Then make the big world into a wedge, and drive that in, and so you shall succeed, and they and the world shall be the better for it. Giving—doing—-sacrificing, on the right scale, is not the only means of grace to ourselves; it is the secret of power in what we do for the needy or perishing. Money so given that it does us good in the giving, does, we believe, vastly more good in its going forth. It takes,so to speak, an embalming and vitalizing from the heart it leaves, which gives it, or the truth it commissions, an imbedding in the hearts it goes to. A thorough victory over selfish- ness, achieved and shown on the part of Christians and the Church, becomes the miracle of the Gos- pel—its moral sign, which opens a path for it to the souls of skeptical or idolatrous men. What economy appears in the arrangement of means and what responsibility it imposes, that our condition of power toward the world is simply that the Gos- pel, by our whole reception of it, has become a power upon us—first, a power upon us, then a power within, and a power emanant. The Gospel living in us, and working out, is its own witness. In this condition, we need spend no time in prelim- inaries, none in philosophizing or proving. Filled full of it ourselves, that is the argument; and over- flowing, that the argument; and giving bounti- 24 fully, and intently working for the good of others, that the argument. So was it with the Apostle Paul. Mighty as he was in the tread of his logic when he chose, in the main he was his own argu- ment—moved over lands and seas, himself a colossal demonstration. The same with the Chris- tians then—their character, the reign of love throughout, their total conquest of selfishness, no man calling anything he possessed his own; that their argument. What they did, history tells us, and we shall repeat the achievement when we repeat the character, and not till then. Our first responsibility is to be what we ought to be, and what we may be. The path is all open to the attainment, the Divine Helper open to our access ; to him let us come, with hearts open and longing to receive the replenishments of good which shall eject the evil—those enrichments of grace, those treasured gifts of salvation, that repletion of the love divine, which shall make us ready, eager even, for any work or sacrifice fitted to advance the king- dom and the glory of the Master. = y . ‘PAUL ON MARS HILL: " a CHRISTIAN SURVEY OF THE PAGAN WORLD. . OR, ine Bik: 7! >. a 3 A SERMON, ‘e PREACHED AT NEWBURYPORT, JUNE 21, 1815, AT THE ORDINATION OF THE REVEREND MESSRS. SAMUEL J. MILLS, JAMES RICHARDS, ED- WARD WARREN, HORATIO BARDWELL, BEN- _ JAMIN C. MEIGS, AND DANIEL POOR, TO THE OFFICE OF Christian Missionaries, By SAMUEL WORCESTER, v.v. PASTOR OF THE TABERNACLE CHURCH IN SALEM. . ~ wi PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE-PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. ve ANDOVER: : w PRINFED BY FLAGG AND GOULD. tee : i ie Fen | ACTS xvii. 46. ; NOW, WHILE PAUL WAITED FOR THEM AT ATHENS, HIS SPIRIT WAS STIRRED IN HIM, WHEN HE SAW THE CITY WHOLLY GIVEN TO IDOLATRY. Tux history of the first propagation of christianity eminently deserves the attention of all men. Singularly interesting im its subject, it is replete with various and . momentous instruction. It furnishes ample and most de- cisive evidence, that the gospel is from God ; it affords opportunity for bringing many different and discordant opinions to the test of fact ; and it shews in a strong light the fallen condition of mankind, the necessity of a special interposition of Heaven for their recovery, the wisdom and the benignity of the divine dispensations, and the sovereignty and the plenitude of divine grace. The Apostle of the Gentiles, after planting the gospel in many provinces of Asia, passed over into Europe, and preached with success in Macedonia, particularly at Phi- lippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. In each of these places flourishing churches were planted; but in each, he met with determined opposition, and violent persecution. Driv- en from Macedonia, he directed his course southerly into the province of Achaia, and came to Athens ; whence he : 4 sent back an order to his two assistants, Silas and ‘Timo- thy, to come without delay, and join him there. Athens was the light of Greece, and the glory of the gentile world. Her heroes, statesmen, and sages—her > poets, orators, and artists were renowned in all nations ; and their renown has descended to our day, and will de- scend to latest time. Though, when visited by the apos- tle, she had passed her meridian; yet even then she was — the mistress of science, the model of taste and refinement, the acknowledged and venerated preceptress of the Roman | empire. ‘To a literary, philosophic, or curious mind, no place on earth could have been more interesting. Monu- ments of other times, and works of late production; tem- ples, statues, and paintings ; schools, books, and musea 5. scholars, artists, and connoisseurs, come from different countries for improvement or amusement, and enjoying the. luxuries of learned or of polite leisure :—all these would solicit attention, and offer rare and diversified entertain-. ment. Paul is universally allowed to have been a schol- ar, and a man of taste; and from the vigour of his facul-: ties, the warmth and epihtiers of his mind, he must have: been eminently susceptible of the impressions of the objects. and scenes around him at Athens. .He knew well where. he was, and his mind was awake; but his observations and his feelings were widely different from those of the mere. philosopher, neitioies or man of the world. He knew that. he was at the very centre of earthly glory, amid depends | est monuments of the human faculties : but: in the.Jight of that glory, and by the aid of those monuments, he saw_ human nature in most deplorable degradation and wretch-. edness: without God, without holiness, svishaspillinppi- ness ;—following after vanities, feeding on wind, and per-. : ° . 5 . . -* - ’ ishing in its own deceptions and corruptions.. He observ-: — ed that, with all its dazzling splendours, that far famed: city was wholly given to idolatry; and his spirit was ee 5 stirred in him. His emotions. were such as not to be re- pressed ; his holy zeal was raised fo a atime not to be restrained. It cannot, my brethren, be arial to the present occasion, to consider more particularly the cause of the strong emotions, which the apostle when at Athens felt ; and then to contemplate what he was impelled to do, and the effects which ensued. I. His spirit was stirred in ns because he saw the city wholly given to idolatry ; or, as some would choose to read, filled with idols. Either of these renderings is good, and neither of them disagrees with well established, fact. Greece at large was famous for the immense multi- plicity of its gods, and its excessive devotedness to idola- trous superstitions ; and in both the one and the other, | Athens was scarcely less preeminent, than in arms and arts. By one classic author,* she is said to have “ had _ more images than all the rest of Greece,” and to have « exceeded all other people in her assiduities towards the gods :” by another, to have “ had twice as many sacred: festivals as any other city ;” and by a third { she is call- ed “ the Altar of Greece.”? With these testimonies the voice of all antiquity agrees. Athens, in addition to the gods peculiarly her own, adopted those.of Egypt, Phenicia, Syria—of the pagan nations indeed, generally, in Asia, Africa and Europe.. These deities were the luminaries of heaven,—the elements of nature, —dead heroes, and other men and women, distin- guished in their days,—animals of various kinds,—human faculties, virtues and vices,—and imaginary beings of mon-. strous form and character. For these gods, images were made, temples were built, aliars were erected, and rites of worship were instituted. To some of them the worst of passions, and the worst of vices were attributed ; and cor- * Pansanius. + Xenophon. + #lian. 6 respondent to the attributes, with which they were invest-. ed, were the rites with which they were worshipped. Their images were symbols of enormity ; their temples were high places of abomination; their festivals were scenes of licentious revelry. Such were the andreas, such was the religion of renowned Athens, The city was wholly given to idolatry: all dates of the people were idolaters. For ages, indeed, this city had been the seat of philosophy, and the residence of sages; and for several hundred years some correct and sublime ideas of the One Supreme God. were to be found in her schools. Many of her philosophers saw great defects in) _ the established religion, great absurdities in the customary — superstitions, great corruptions in the general manners; __ but those defects their wisdom did not remedy, those ab- — surdities their philosophy did not correct, preteens | ; tions their virtue did not withstand: with all their fine sentiments, their vaunted reasonings, their imposing pre- tensions, they themselves worshipped lords many and gods’ | many, communicated in the abominations of the mysteries and of the temples, were influenced by the reigning delu-. — sions, and contaminated with the prevalent enormities.. All this, and more, St. Paul, who had the best opportuni- © ties for knowing the facts, and wrote as he was moved by - the Holy Ghost, most forcibly declares. He does not de-: ny that those celebrated wise men, had some correct know- ledge of the Supreme Being; but he affirms that “when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, neither: were thankful ; but became vain in their ima » their foolish heart was darkened.”? Though they bad. at-. tained to some just notions of the one True God,and eould — discourse sublimely concerning his existence, his attributes, — his providence, and the homage and service, due to him — from his creatures ; yet they did not supremely love and” reverence him: did not pay even their external homage, — 7 exclusively, nor principally, if indeed at all, to him—did ‘not openly avow and endeavour to propagate what they mew of him ; but, alienated from him in their minds, they contented themselves with curious speculations upon his nature and character, gloried in their fancied preeminence in wisdom, and made a merit of joining themselves, and ineuleating upon their disciples to join, in the established worship of the innumerable idols of their city and nation. Thus, “while they professed to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God in- to an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” This is true even of Socrates and Plato, as the most authentick records of antiquity attest. Socrates, when arraigned be- fore the high court of Athens, and accused of innovating in religion, expressly pleaded in his defence, that he had always, both in private and in publick, worshipped, and taught his disciples to worship, the many gods of his coun- try ; and for the truth of his plea he confidently appealed to those who had best known the course of his practice, and the tenour of his instructions. If sueh was the prac: tice of the best of the philosophers, we should rationally conelude, and the conclusion is supported by abundant evidence, that the practice of the rest was certainly no better. : Of this enormous inconsistency and impiety, the conse- quences were most deplorable and fatal. As with all their _ knowledge, “ they changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature, more than the Crea- tor ; God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts ;” “ to vile affections,” the very vilest, indeed, which have ever polluted and disgraced our fallen nature ; “ to a reprobate mind, to do those things _ which were not convenient : being filled with all unrigh- teousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, mali- 8 ciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; whis- perers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boast- ers, inventors of evil things, disobedient to Ss, cove- nant breakers, without natural —Devoid of the purifying and elevating principles and hopes, which point toa future inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth — not away,—and given up to vile affections, to do those things which are not convenient, and to perish fn their deceivings and corruptions! Is not this the deplorable © state, in which the first heralds of the gospel found the whole pagan world in their day? Is it not the state, in which all the pagan nations are to be found ‘in our own aze Ps Jat 2. We are led, in the second place, to consider imbecility, and the perversity of human wisdom, The temptation offered to our first mother was, “ Ye — shall be as gods.” And she took of the fruit and did eat,” because, especially, she supposed it to be a fruit ‘ “‘ to make one wise,” 'This, my brethren, has been the fatal delusion of her posterity in all ages. “ Vain man would be wise.” 'To this delusion, in the sovereign wis- dom of God, the nations of men, for a long succession of ages, were givenup. ‘They were left to “ walk in the way of their own hearts, and in the sight of their own eyes 5” to give scope te their imaginations, and to seek out their inventions,—that their vaunted wisdom might be fully dis- played in its real character. What was the consequence? — —‘‘ Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people.” The nations made to themselves “ lords many — , and gods many :” deified every part of the creation, and af | the world with idols. They wandered further, and , and further from God; the darkness in which they groped continually thickened ; they lost themselves in endless mazes, and plunged into the deepest corrup- tions. It was thus with the Greeks, as well as the bar- barians,—with those that were esteemed the wisest, as well as the most ignorant. So decisive was the result, and so humiliating, that Socrates of Athens himself, ex- claimed, “ You may even give over all hope of amending men’s manners, for the future ; unless God be pleased to send some one to instruct you.” Plato also said, «« What- _ ever is fit, right, and as it should be, in this evil state of the world, can be so only by the particular interposition of God.” The men who gloried in their wisdom, could neither reform the multitude, nor even recover themselves from theWelusions and corruptions of a “ world lying in wick- edness.” Much indeed has their wisdom been celebrated in all ages; much is it blazoned and extolled in the pres- ent age, in lands called christian,—and—lamentable to tell !—in pulpits professedly consecrated to Him who is the light of the world. We do not deny, that the wise men of Greece had some correct ideas relating to religion and morals ; some sublime conceptions of a God: some lofty notions of virtue, and of the supreme good. So had the wise men of Judea, who crucified the Holy One, and the Just: so too have the wise men of christian lands, “ who deny the Lord that bought them!” But what says the Apostle ?—Let his words be repeated, and never be forgotten. “ When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful: became vain in their im- aginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Pro- fessing themselves to be wise, they became fools ;—chang- ed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped, and served the creature, more than the Creator. And for this cause, 22 God gave them up to vile affections, an mind.” This solemn testimony of an af who had the best means of knowing the trut and wrote under the guidance of the Hein dom and pagan virtue. Allow to eee ancien 38 much as you please ;—allow, if it be thought right, that. they were as wise, as learned, as virtuous, as alee brated scribes and Rabbins of the Jews; or as the phi- losophical deists, and rational christians of the present day :* but remember that, with all their viaomsind | learning, and virtue, they were in God’s account “ fools,” —men of “ reprobate minds,””—* proud, boasters, invent- | ors of evil things,””—* filled with all unrighteousness, — wickedness, deceit, and malignity.”” Remember, too, that of them the oracle of Jehovah said, “ I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to diet aitieal | standing of the prudent.” | Theirs, my brethren, was not “ the wisdom which scendeth from above.” It was not the wisdom which “ bows down the loftiness of man, and makes low the ‘haughtiness of man.” We censure it not. for failing to discover truths, beyond the power of unassisted reason to discover ; but for corrupting such as were known, and barring the mind against others. Instead of preparing the minds of men for a ready reception of theydoctrine o Christ, it 5 ugh them for the most t degpernbonasish : Be 4, * As much as this, many of the philosophical and rational seem eager to claim for them. The more fully, however, this claim is ad-— mitted, the more clearly it will appear, of how little avail at is called virtue—all that is called religion—is, to bring men | to! od, so long as in the temper of their hearts, they are unprepared truly to Saoni the sentiment of him, who had been a pharisee of the strictest sort: “ God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” wa 4 23 yom doctrine. Instead of being forward to bow efore the cross of “ God manifest in the flesh,” it proudly exalted itself against the “ great mystery of godliness.” | Never probably did the Apostle of the gentiles find. an | audience less open to the sanctifying and saving word of the gospel,—less prepared to receive Him whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, than the assembly of Mars Hill. To the wise men of Greece, “ Christ crucified was foolishness.” Has not the wisdom of the world preserved the same character tothe present day? Is it not the same in pagan lands, and in christian; when exerting itself to pervert the truths made known by the light of nature,—and those exhibited in the volume of revelation; when employed in changing the glory of the incorruptible God into worth- less images,—and in bringing down the supreme dignity of Emmanuel to a level with fallible and peccable men! We have heard much of the Bramins and sages of In- dia. But what have those wise men done? Have they turned the people from their vanities unto the living God, —from the ways of sin to the ways of holiness? Are they themselves prepared by their wisdom, their learning and virtue, humbly and thankfully te bow to the adi of God, and receive the word of divine truth and grace? Do not the very men, who so loudly extol their wisdom and their religion, exultingly tell us at the same time, that those eastern wise men will never embrace the gospel,— and even deride the very attempt to convert them to the religion of Christ! Do the men, who thus exult, and de- ride, stili call themselves christians! It does not belong to us to make out-their consistency, or their godly sincer- ity ; nor will we stop here to ask them, whether they have forgotten that the gospel is the power of God, and has often bowed the loftiest pride of man. It is sufficient for our present purpose, that they so readily admit, and so confi- ak dently insist upon the fact, that the wis Brahma is utterly adverse to the w Jehovah : and from this notorious fact | the wisdom of India, 1 no less. than, the v is foolishness with God, and such as. destroy. We conclude further, that, if such mission respecting the wisdom of pie oe I tended, that the e wisdom of any Sage an coun knew not God, it pleased God, a yee ishn s: preaching, to save them that beligge th aed nfini it seemed fit to give ample opportunity or he human wisdom ie make good its Preeeaeny f forded the most decisive evidence. of the d ness, naturally in the hearts of the children an ;,0f the complete moral ruin into which sin has broug hem 5, and, of the absolute inefficacy of their utmost inventions and | expedients, to recover them to true virtue, dignii happiness : and thus prepared. the way for th the fullest man- ifestation, that “the foolishness of God is wis and the weakness of God stronger. than man,” fo = brightest illustration of all the divine ees of : sony ate in the kingdom of patie: ee an But when the fulness of the time was pei ber sent forth his Son :”” and the Son, having made atonement for for the sins of the world, and spoiled prineipalities and p ers with his cross,” sent forth his ministers, with ‘he tg 25 commission to preach the gospel to all the nations; “to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness unto light and from the power of satan unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified through faith in him.” The effect was trium- phant and glorious. The preaching of Christ crueified, foolishness as it was then, and has always been, in the es- teem of the wise men of this world, was “ mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations, and eyery high thing which exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivi- | ty every thought to the obedience of Christ.” The prince of darkness was baffled,—his oracles were silenced,—his | temples were deserted. ‘The wisdom of the wise was | destroyed ; the understanding of the prudent was brought | to nothing; the mighty were confounded, by the things | which they proudly accounted weak, The darkness of _‘Inany ages was dissipated. Myriads in different lands, turned from their idols unto the living God, obtained the forgiveness of sins through faith in the Redeemer’s blood ; were sanctified through the truth and by the grace of God, _ and were “raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’’ “This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.” _ 4. We are led very seriously to consider our duty in regard to the propagation of the gospel. . The stupendous dispensation of divine grace, which opened upon the world, eighteen hundred years ago, with such transcendent light and glory, still continues ; and, thanks to Sovereign Goodness, it is destined to continue, until “the gods that made not the heavens and the earth shall have perished from the earth, and from under these heavens,” “and all people shall know Jehovah, and see his salvation together.” If we, my brethren, are not bow- ing down to idols, wood and stone; if we have “ the true 4 Ream God and eternal life 3” if we have a lit ht sh: path to heaven, and the hope of an i among them that are sanctified throug sus: it is because we have been favor ous gospel of the blessed God. © Him who hath loved us! O when—how the infinite debt? Ph - Can we, then, think of the many millions of yet destitute of this supreme blessing, and be stirred in us? Do they not need the any other remedy for them 2?—They hi they are without God in the world; they re p for lack of knowledge. Their gods ¢: ynnot sav their wise men will not, cannot direct their feet into way of peace; their religion does not sanctify the heart or the life; does not bring them to the blood which'cleans- eth from sin,—does not shew them a redeeming God,— — does not fit them for the mansions of immortal light and purity,—does not dissipate the darkness which heavily broods over them, thickening into the blackness of eternal night!—The wisdom of this world has never saved any of mankind. It did not save the Greeks:—did not bring i them to the true knowledge of God ; did not lead them to — seek for heavenly glory, and honour, and immortality ; ; did not preserve or recover them from the deepest ‘moral — corruptions. It will never save the people of India. The | Bramins of India are not wiser, or better, than were the sages of Greece. They too change the truth of God into a lie; and worship and serve the creature, more than’ Creator, who is God over all blessed forevermore. Be- - wildered in endless mazes themselves, they will never bring the people home to God and to sie. Where then — shall we look for the wise men who will. lo it? Shall we look to the rationalists of christian lands ? Ah, how vain! how preposterous! “They shut up the kingdom of — + 27 ee. men: forthey neither go in themselves, nor em that are entering to go in.” . Sedulously in- tent on “taking away the key of knowledge” from to-whom it has teres given, little will they exert themselves . for the salvation of the poor heathen ; and as little would all, their vaunted wisdom avail to this. momentous object, were it exerted to the utmost. My brethren, the heathen do need the gospel. There is no other remedy for them. » It is an impious dream of infidelity, which ought to be chased from the earth, down to the place whence it sprung, that the great Parent of the universe has designed differ- ent religions for different nations : and though some reli- gions may be better in his sight than others, yet he looks with allowance, and even with complacency upon all. What mean the denunciations of his word, so numerous, so tremendous, against all idolatry, and all idolaters? What means the great commission of the Saviour, ‘ Go ‘ye, and disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name ‘of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ?” What means the solemn declaration, “ There is none oth- er name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved,” but that. of, « Jesus “Christ of Nazareth >’ “What means the whole gospel of Rail ghe entire word of God ? Since it has been cael decisively manifest, that the world by. wisdom will never know God, it is the gracious pleasure of God, by that preaching which the world calls foolishness, to saye them that believe. More was done for the salvation.of men, by the single discourse of the apostle of Jesus, on Mars Hill, than all the wisdom of the world could ever effect. "The same gospel was preach- ed at Corinth; and much people of that city—that sink of ‘corruption—were << washed, and sanctified, and justifi- ed, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.’ Its triumphs were not less illustrious at Ephe- 28 sus, the glory of the lesser Asia—the se Goddess Diana. Nor was its success lin ished Greeks. Among the rude Galatians, was glorified.” Among Jews and Greek: Scythians, bond and free, the sanctify’ cacy of the doctrine of Christ crucified, o gloriously evinced. So shall he sprin The gospel, accompanied with the Holy from heaven, is still «the power of God a of God ;” still as efficacious as ever for the and salvation of mankind. cdgo aS PR tigige ae Phas, . Let it be emphatically repeated : The heathen need the | Sospel. 'They need the scriptures in their own languages. They need also ministers of Christ to explain the serip- tures, and to inculcate these words of eternal lifes “Un. derstandest thou,” said Philip, «, what thou readest 2” “‘ How can I,” said the eunuch, “except. some man guide — me?” 'The divine Redeemer had a perfect knowledge of what is needful for mankind; and. hence he appointed “‘some, apostles ; and some, prophets; and some, evan- gelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” »'The same in- finite goodness, which gave the written word, appointed also that this word should ‘be preached unto ‘all people ; and to say, or think, that the dispersion of the scriptures is sufficient, without the ministry of the gospel, is:to exalt the wisdom of man against the wisdom of God, even to. the setting aside of his capital institution... How little at- tention is paid to the scriptures, where there is no preach- ing, even in christian lands? But if the ministry of the gospel is necessary, or useful, in christian lands; how much more in pagan ? How are the seriptures to be dis- persed among the heathen, if there be no missionaries to translate and disperse them? How is the attention of the people to be called to them? How are they to be instruet- ed in them? How are churches to be formed, and the or- 29 | dinances of the gospel to be administered ?—We do’ not ead, that the nations aré to be converted, by the written word merely ; but we do read, that it “hath pleased God, _ by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe.” We also read, “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? and how shall they preach except they be sent 2” » Like Paul, then, we, my brethren, we to whom this gos- pel of the grace of God has been committed, should feel that we are “debtors: debtors to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise,” to do what _ We ean to impart the inestimable blessing to them all.— _ How shall we discharge this debt? Shall we all disperse ourselves abroad, and actually engage in preaching to the heathen ?, No: but some of us must go 3 others of us must support and encourage them in the arduous enterprize, with our substance and our prayers: all of us must do something for the furtherance of this great work. The deplorable circumstances of six hundred millions of our race urgently demand it; the supreme authority and grace of Him, who died for us and for them impressively enjoin it : the signal events of this new age of wonders powerful- ly encourage and impel to the noble attempt. . Can any of us hesitate? Are any of us still listening to the deceitful voice of self complacent wisdom? There is no end to its reasonings and objections. Where is the wise ? where is the scribe ? where is the disputer of this world? ‘They have been dreaming, for ages, of enlighten- ing the world: but what have they done? When were they ever seen to stand forward in the cause of God—to advance, with the banner of the cross, upon the powers of darkness ?—to display a holy heroism in taking the prey from the mighty and the captive from the terrible ? Had the apostles listened to the wise men of Jerusalem, and of Athens, the nations might all have remained in darkness 30 to this day. If we wait for the help, or like minded with them, we must wait present generation, but all the gener: world, are gone to the final abode of the’ get God. It is time that the disciples of Je . een should cease to inquire of the associates of Mars | and give their ears and their bens a feloond sels and sentiments of the holy. assembly on the’ hill. of | Zion. It is more than time, that the soldiers of the cross should cease to parley with the enemies of ‘hein, King ; and, ardently rallying to his standard, Domest) ‘itl one heart and hand in the glorious: ial bde preading his truth, establishing his sep canny and bringing home his redeemed. Sahahe ‘wor honged! Blessed be God, the christian: world i is vvalkiin, pl fl | the slumbers of many centuries. . Already many thou- ‘sands in different lands are moved, as with one‘common ! impulse, to impart the word of life to the destitute. We hail this wonderful movement as the finger of God! We ‘hail it as a sure and most animating prelude 'to that long ‘expected—long prayed for day—when “ every” valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low ; the crooked shall be made ‘straight, and: the rough lates plain; the glory of Jehovah shall be reveal- ed, and all flesh shall see it together.” The word is sure ; | for the eae of J eleva hath ~— eine Sadhien s ae a? aed er ely, Be.Lovep MissronaRigs, pharm dad Rete * You have not yet visited the abodes of pligan darkinges 5 you have not yet actually seen the corruptions and the | miseries of the heathen: but you have heard of — you have reflected upon them,—and your spirits | been stirred in you. They have been ‘stirred to at purpose. You have called to mind “the commandment of the everlastipg God, that the gospel should be made — 341 || known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” You | have meditated on what was done, in obedience to this — commandment, by the first Missionaries of the cross, and | by others of like spirit after them; on what is doing in the present age of missions,—and cn what yet remains to be done. While you have mused the fire has burned,— | the hallowed fire of love to the Redeemer and to the souls for whom he died; you have spoken with your mouths ; _ the momentous vow is recorded in heaven, and now to be sealed before the ary 6 by the alone transactions of | tits day. _* You are going, dear Brethren, oo betes to the pisnlilins, to preach among them the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to do silent. you can to turn them from their vanities _ unto the living God. We rejoice in your noble resolve, and in your high destination; and we bow the knee in devout thankfulness to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the distinguished grace, bestowed upon you. In the multitude of your thoughts within you, may his comforts delight your souls. We are not unmindful of the sacrifices you tismake, i in leaving your country, and your kindred, and your fathers’ houses,—the scenes and connexions endeared to your hearts by a thousand tender ties,—and all the flattering promises and alluring prospects of the world. Nor are we thoughtless of the hardships and the perils which await you:—hardships in voyages, “in journeyings, in labours, in watchings, in fastings, in weariness and pain- fulness ;”—<“ perils of waters, perils of robbers, perils by your own countrymen, perils by the heathen, perils in the city, and in perils in the wilderness.”—Dear Brethren, shall we pity you ?—The world indeed, while it censures, may affect also to pity you; for“ the world knoweth you not, nor the things of the Spirit of God.” Our hearts, be assured, are tenderly touched : with sentiments however, 32 not of mere pity, but of what we migcht a envy. We remember the words o Lord “There is no man that hath left house, or pa nts, brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom ofGod’s_ sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this time, and in the world to come life everlasting,” © We: ber Paul, and other apostles and martyrs of the cross:— how they forsook all things,—suffered the loss of all thi ngs, ‘ “ endured afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, im- “| prisonments, persecutions” unto death :—é counting not. even their lives dear unto themselves, so that they might — finish their course with joy, and the ministry which had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God :””—though “ sorrowful, yet always re- _ joicing; though poor, yet making many rich ; though : having nothing, yet possessing all things.” We glory in | their memory ; we admire their spirit; we exult in their — triumphs ; we adore the grace which was: sufficient for them ; we are transported with their glorious and immor- tal rewards. oh oteiens ait We look upon you, dear Brethren, as servants of the — same Master,——partakers of the same spirit,—deyoted to the same cause,—destined to run for the same prize.— We are only concerned, that you so run as surely to ob- tain. Amid, then, the thousand tender thoughts, andthe: thousand obtruding anxieties of this day, give yourselves” up for this holy; arduous, glorious service, without reserve, _ without regret, without fear; firmly resolving in the strength of divine grace to be followers of them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. Take | particularly for your example, the distinguished Apostle - of the gentiles, and be followers of him even ashe was of Christ. Imitate him in love to God, in devotedness to _ Christ, in benevolence to men; in faith, in self-denial, in patience, in fortitude, in courage; in zeal, in wisdom, in 33 labours, in prayerfulness, in perseverance. Do this, and you will not run in yain. Do this, and the Lord God of } the holy apostles and prophets will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you; and to him you may safely commit your persons, your interests, your hopes, your work, and your reward. _ Your dear and honoured brethren, who have gone be fore you, though they have been painfully tried, have not repented of their enterprise: though they have met with many discouragements, they do not faint, or waver in their purpose. Who does not admire the noble, the apos- tolick spirit which they have displayed 2? Who does not daily give thanks to God for the abundant grace bestowed on them? They call for you; they encourage you to follow them. They have seen—they haye seen !—and their eyes have affected their hearts. Go forth, then, beloved brethren, in the name of Him who is to have the heathen for his inheritance. Go, with the dear partners of your hearts,—destined to be partners - also of your sorrows and your joys, your fears and your hopes, your conflicts and your triumphs, your labours and. your rewards :—destined, we devoutly trust, to an enrol- ment with HER, whose memory is so dear to all our hearts, and whose spirit now rests from her labours, in the bosom of her Saviour God !—Go—preach to the poor heathen the Saviour who loved them also, and died for them, though they have known him not.—Go—communicate to them the words by which they and their houses may be saved, and kindly guide their feet into the way of glory, and honour, and immortality. Go—and may the God of all grace go with you, and open to you a great door and effectual; make you successful in turning many from dark- ness unto light ; enable you to prepare an abundant bless- ing for the generations to come : Suide you evermore with = 2? ot his counsel,—give you grace to be faithful un and, in the final day, award to each one of you: glory which shall never fade away. aan oat BRETHREN AND FRIENDS, you see ‘ae, dear M ries, and your hearts are touched for them. _ While, th this holy sympathy is warm, let us with one heart recom. mend them to the grace of God, for the ‘momentous work — to which they are appointed. Here, too, in this hallowed — temple, let us solemnly record the inviolable vow, that we ; will never cease to remember them, or to pray for them: — and particularly, that on the first Monday of each month, the season appointed in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and. in this country, for special missionary prayer, we. will j meet them at the throne of grace, and unite with them and — the many thousands of Israel, in fervent supplication for them, for all engaged in the same great work, for the con- version of the nations, and for the prosperity of Zion in all lands. “ Jehovah hath not said unto the seed of Ja- cob, Seek ye me in vain.” In answer to the prayers of | his people, he has already done great things, and he will do still greater. At this very day, he is sending down © showers of heavenly influence upon our land, and partic- ularly upon our public seminaries ; raising up many of our — sons for pastors, and of our young men for missionaries ; | and. preparing the hearts of multitudes, for more and more | abundant freewill offerings, for his holy service in the spread of his great salvation. The work will prosper :— it will proceed until to an extent and conspicuousness, at which the world will be amazed, persons and property will be HOLINESS TO THE LoRD. ge from the Kast unto the West, and from the North unto the South, the song | shall be heard, sweet as the song of angels, “ How beau- tiful upon the mountains are the feet.of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace ; that. bringeth good | 35 tidings of good, that publisheth salvation 5—that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth !—Break forth into joy,—sing together, ye waste places: for the Lord hath comforted | his people ;—hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Hatuetusan. AMEN. CHARGE ©) BY DANIEL DANA, D.D. PASTOR OF A PRESBYTERIAN, CHURCH IN ih ‘ NEWBURYPORT. yo Dear Breturen, Tue great Head of the Church has given you the desire of your hearts. By solemn prayer, and imposition of hands, you have now been constituted Ministers of Jesus Christ, and Missionaries to the heathen. Yes, my breth- ren, to you, humbly esteeming yourselves among the least of saints, “is this grace given, that you should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.’ No sublimer honor can mortals impart, or receive. With . the honor, are connected responsibilities and duties, whose magnitude the mind can but faintly conceive, and eternity alone can fully unfold. In this tender, awful moment, suffer me to stand up as your monitor. Suffer me, as the humble organ of this Council, and in His aporABLE NAME to whom you and we are equally accountable, to charge you to be “ faithful unto death.” As you would take heed to your ministry, take heed, _ first of all, to yourselves. See that your hearts be right with God; that your bosoms burn with love to the Re- deemer, love to his gospel, and love to the souls of men. See that you esteem even the reproach of Christ, with the self-denials, the toils, and the sufferings of your office, sreater gain than all worldly treasures or distinctions. . Wretched is that minister, though in comparative ease and affluence, who is a stranger to these principles of action, and these sources of comfort. But you, who are so soon to part with friends, with country, with earthly delights ; and whose future lives must be one series of exertions and 37 sacrifices———where ean you find a refuge, but in simple, ent devotion to your Master, and your work ? _ We trust, indeed, that you have anticipated us in these _ reflections. We trust that that omniscient Berne whose eye is this moment on your hearts, knows their sincerity. | Nor could we give a stronger pledge of our confidence, | than you have received this day. But in you, my breth- | ren, ordinary piety would be insufficient. To be faithful | and successful Missionaries, you must be EMINENT CHRIS- _ Trans. In purity of heart, in simplicity and elevation of purpose, in faith, in zeal, in self-denial, in courage, in fortitude, in humility, in discretion, you must far exceed the common standard. To this sublime object be your efforts and prayers incessantly directed ; and here let a holy ambition have all its scope. chs When, under the guardian care of Providence, you shall arrive at your allotted stations in the distant East and West, you will witness seenes the most painful. You will see rational creatures immersed in ignorance, in su- perstition and idolatry. You will see immorial beings living without God, and dying without hope. But let not your hearts despond. You will carry with yon the sove- reign balm, the universal remedy, for human guilt and wretchedness. You will go clothed with a divine coni- mission to “ open the eyes” of these unhappy beings ; “ to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God.” Think of Him who, from age to age, has raised up from the dry bones of human nature, armies of living Christians. And remember that though the power which has accomplished these stupendous changes has been all of God, the instrument has been his holy word. Go then, and preach this blessed gospel. Preach it in its power. Preach it in its native simplicity and purity. It is the wispom or Gon; and surely needs no human. admixtures, or ornaments. In erecting the temple of es 38 Christianity among the heathen, see that i s foundation 4 and superstructure, its materials ny propo ior correspondent with the divine model. Rt | Your preaching, to accomplish its end, ‘must be plain. It must present the elementary truths of Christianity, in — their simplest form. Be content to lay aside the stateli- ness of learning, and to lisp awhile with those uninstruct- ed immortals whom you may address. Feed them with milk. Conduct them, by the gentlest gradations, up the © heights of Christian knowledge. Having taught them the character and _perfections of God, with the truth and in- spiration of the scriptures, be principally emphatical upon those doctrines which constitute the basis of the Christian — system, and the grand support of vital piety. Frequently — and faithfully inculcate the utter depravity of man, the — divinity and atonement of Christ, the influence of the Holy Spirit in conversion and sanctification, together with the distinguishing nature and evidences of saving re- ligion. - While you conceal no important truth, however morti- fying or humbling, be especially solicitous to exhibit the grace and kindness of the gospel. Let the love of Jesus be often on your lips, and let it deeply imbue your spirits. Convince, if possible, those unhappy pagans of your wil- — lingness “to impart to them not the gospel of God only, — _but your own souls.” Be assured, that sermon is essen- — tially defective, which does not leave on the mind of the — hearer the distinct impression, that the Boneh and the — preacher too, is his friend. r Inaword: preach by your practice. Let the doctri and duties you inculcate, be embodied in your antec. portment. O how eloquent, how persuasive, isa uniform, — pious, Christian example! Here you will be understood — without an interpreter. 'The beauty of holiness, like the — sun, is seen by its own light. If you are the living epis- — tles of Christ, you will be known and read of all men. 39 Happy indeed will you be, if, in the close of your mis- sionary career, you may make to those around you, the apostolic appeal: “ Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblamably we have behaved our- selyes among you.” Your first wish, we trust, is to approve yourselves to your GREAT Masrer’s eye. Next to this, your hearts will pant for success in converting the heathen. But this suecess no fidelity or efforts of yours can secure. Should you go forth with the abilities and zeal of a Paul, and the fervid eloquence of an Apollos, you would but plant and water. ‘The increase must come from God. 'To God, then, pour out your ceaseless prayers for his blessing on your labors. Nor be discouraged, though you should per- ceive no immediate fruit of your pious exertions. It may be the purpose of God more signally to try the faith of the friends of missions in America, before he will grant suc- cess to their designs. It may be his will to train you, his ministers, by the discipline of adversity and disappoint- ment, to superior degrees of humility, of faith, and of ul- timate usefulness. Should you, after months, and even years, of anxious, indefatigable, and apparently fruitless exertion, perceive some symptoms of success ; should the Lord make bare his arm for the conviction and conversion of the heathen ; this will be like life from the dead. You will then be employed in gathering Churches, and admin- istering the sacraments of the New Testament, Baptism and the Lerd’s Supper. In determining on the subjects of these Christian privileges, you will need much know- ledge of the scriptures, much attention to the human heart, much accuracy of discrimination, and impartiality of juds- ment. May the Spirit of truth be your Guide! May you neither reject those whom Christ has received ; nor by a vague, or precipitate application of the seals of the cove- nant, wound the Redeemer’s cause. and injure the souls of men ! ae 40 Surveying the magnitude and complexity of your work, — with its everlasting consequences, not to yo ves alone; — but perhaps to millions yet unborn, you tremble; and — sometimes you are even ready to despond. But let not a sense of your insufficiency dishearten you. The cause is — less yours, than the Lord’s. Without his gracious sence, angels might shrink from so arduous a work. But blest with his almighty succor, you, feeble in yourselves — as worms, shall be made strong and prosperous. Often — ponder the Redeemer’s promise, made to all his faithful ministers, and emphatically to his faithful missionaries : Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world. Let this promise be your anchor of hope, and shield of defence. Let it impart comfort in despondency, and un- shaken courage in danger. | Go forth, then, our dearly beloved brethren, in the name and strength of the living God; and carry with you the prayers, the solicitudes, and the sympathies of all who love our common Lord. Go, cross the Atlantic wave, or penetrate the Western wild, fraught with the riches of the glorious gospel. Unfurl the standard of the eross on the mioriiiteiia of idolatry. Bear the flaming torch of inspira- tion into the gloomy recesses of ignorance and supersti- tion ; and pour the light of heaven on the benighted, des- olate minds of pagans and savages. May the wilderness and the solitary place be glad for you, and the desert re- joice and blossom as the rose! May the God of the sea and of the dry land go with you, and with the friends of your souls! May his kindest angels guard you! May his richest consolations evermore refresh you! May you be faithful unto death! And in the great rewarding day, may you, in the midst of thousands rescued from the jaws of destruction, address your Redeemer and your Judge; ‘‘ Lord, here are we, and the spiritual children thou hast given us!” AMEN. Pi THE RIGHT HAND OF FELLOWSHIP - REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, PASTOR OF THE ‘SOUTH CHURCH IN ANDOVER. A principle runs through the Kingdom of Christ, | which binds the hearts of its members to one another, and to God. This lays a foundation for intimate fellowship : - for the members of Christ’s Kingdom are one. However divided by seas, or continents ; climes, or ages ; the montent they become citizens of Zion, they are all ons. Patriarchs, kings, and prophets; apostles, and martyrs ;—Europeans, Asiatics, Africans, and Ameti- cans; Jews, and Greeks ; Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free, all one in Christ Jesus. They have one God, one Redeemer, one Sanctifier ; are pursuing the same object, and inspired by the same spirit ; contend with the same enemies, and meet the same trials; march the same way, under the same Leader ; will arrive at the same place, and join forever in the same employment. ; . This lays a foundation for endearing communion, not only with one another, but with God. United by a prin- ciple, which, like attraction in the system of nature, binds all to the centre ; and pressed forward by the force of in- finite love, they will revolve, till drawn closer and closer, 6 42 —they are swallowed up in the effulgence of that lumina ry, whose glory fills the universe, and God is axa, 1 ALL. On this ground, Dear Brethren, viewing you as mem- bers of the Kingdom of Christ, and commissioned by him to preach the gospel to the gentiles, we, now in the pre- sence of God, angels, and men, give you this RIGHT HAND : a token that we receive you as ministers of Christ, and that his ministers are onn: that we acknowledge your equality with us; and with all ministers of Christ, through- out his kingdom : and your right to all the authority, and | privileges of the sacred office. We also express our cor-— dial approbation of the service to which you are appoint- ed; our readiness to assist you by all the means in our power ; and to embrace, in bonds of christian affection, all, of every nation, kindred, people, and tongue, who by your instrumentality shall be turned to righteousness. Go then, in the name and strength of Christ, and may the Lord God Omnipotent, make you the means of turn- ing many from darkness to light, and prepare you, to shine as the stars forever. ' But, Brethren, your work is great, difficult, and dan- §erous: and requires no ordinary share of self-denial ; faith, and patience ; wisdom, prudence, humility, bold- ness, perseverance, and prayer. . You must forsake all: give up houses and lands ; par- ents and country : commit yourselves, and your compan- ions to the mercy of the winds, and the waves ; go into a land of darkness, and the shadow of death ; penetrate the very heart of satan’s empire ; and that too for the purpose of disenthroning him, and turning his subjects to God. Your object is, not to lead the heathen to adopt a few new geds, but to abandon all their old ones; to declare eternal war against gods whom they have worshipped from their infancy ; against all the gods of their fathers ; and fathers’ fathers ; condemn themselves, and. all others 43 for embracing them ; and embrace one, who was crucified, by a band of soldiers, on Calvary, and who, you say, has Tisen again. In doing this, you must contend, not only with flesh and blood, but with principalities, and powers ; with the rulers of the darkness of this world; and with spiritual wickedness in high places. But, Brethren, fear not. Behold the fishermen of Gal- ilee : commissioned, like you, to enter satan’s dominions, and bring out his captives into the liberty of the sons of God. Helpless, they raised their eye, and surveyed un- numbered millions, bound in the chains of sin, and guard. ed by all the powers of darkness,—yet, rising in the strength of God, and putting on the shield of faith, the breast-plate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation, they drew the sword of the Spirit, and went forward, CONQUERING AND TO CONQUER. Satan, and all his le- gions, driven out from strong holds which they had forti- fied for ages, retired in dismay before this band of mar- tyrs,—and they waved in holy triumph the ensigns of the cross : rejoicing that the excellence of the power was of God, and notofthem. Detiverance.ro CAPTIVES, bfoke from their tongues—and millions, bursting the chains of death, came out from their prisons—tears of repentance dropped from their gazing eyes,—and they melted before the eross of Jesus. If the Lord has assigned you a work among the heath- en, you will live to perform it. He will, give his angels charge concerning you: will bear you in his arms ; and carry you to the desired haven. Already we see your vessel, wafted, by the breezes of heaven, across the At- lantic : see perishing heathen, touched by the spirit which _ goes before you, burdened with sin, rising on their hil- locks, and looking round for a Saviour they catch a view of the ark, press down to the beach, and stretch out their arms to receive you : ate, as you go up tlie hills “ , Ps na - India, peek eeu mo Be that a i a ood $ that ‘pu lis God reigneth. ” And, lo, the house rises on the tops of the mo dy love kindles on every pliant eense goes: up from the: whole e art rth. | . 4 va ae ay Re. =, 4 ‘ “ “a é 7 , ¢ > s - i {oy ' ‘ i% ns UB OS ss ae ae y Ty cent . ied ce tO | 4 * Stee = 4 oe { Ge. - é cae - Aa ; » ; eer. “A | ine Ne PG | A : ‘~ | Bad ‘ j ae | Be th « 1 ere | LO wt } 5 Er aes } ‘’ ry 5 La ge 4 Be. i } ss ae tu ape 5 eBay a r \ ; . \ ‘ hag ; SOCIALISM AND THE Christian Church: ~ A SERMON _ PreacHep on THE Firry-Nivra ANNIVERSARY OF THE | AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, AT SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y.. JuNE 2, 1885. BY REV. EDWIN B. WEBB DD. | OF BOSTON, MASS. AMERICANJHOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, BIBLE House, NEw York. 1885. SOCLA LISM AND THE Christian Church: A,SERMON PREACHED ON THE Fuirty-Ninro ANNIVERSARY OF THE - AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, AT SARATOGA Se ReeN Gise Ne aye: JuNE 2, 1885. Eee REV. EDWIN B. WEBB DD. OF BOSTON, MASS. AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, BIBLE House, NEW YORK. 1885. Suoa URO BNE: SOCIALISM AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH THY KINGDOM COME.— MATTHEW vi, i0. Or the early triumphs of Christianity we read with delight. Its divine power excites our admiration. Its steady progress inspires our hope; our hope that it will be found adequate to cope with and conquer all the evils of our fallen humanity. My theme now is, Socialism and the Christian Church. Socialism has its origin a good way back in the history of the world. Whenever and wherever men feel the pressure of social evils, and at the same time see, or dream of, a better condition, then and there Socialism begins. Sometimes it makes itself known in low, plaintive moans, as of one in helpless distress, and at other times in frenzied action, as of a dumb creature impelled by rage and pain. Plato’s Republic is a protest and a plea—a protest against existing evils, and a plea for a better future—a revolt against the actual, and a reaching out after the ideal. In the Republic of the United States, the Declaration of Independ- ence proclaims every man free and equal—the equal of a sovereign—and proceeds to put a sovereign’s scepter, the ballot, into his hand. And equality thus recognized, equality in political standing, leads directly and surely to a demand for equality in everything—in material well-be- ing, social life and luxury. But this equality he does not enjoy. The pledge of the letter is broken to the life. The Socialist complains that neither in position nor property is he the equal of his equals. He declares himself, theoreti- cally, a freeman, but practically a slave—the slave of the rich, of a cor- poration, of competition. He labors, and the idle eat the fruit of hig in- ~ dustry. He waters the soil from his brow with beaded sweat, and the landlord coolly feasts and fattens on the harvest. Or he offers his ten- fingered hands in the market for hire, and nobody hires him. The re- sult is unhappiness; bitter thoughts and feelings; hunger, madness. He feels, or thinks he feels, the sting of injustice, wrong. He feels, or | thinks he feels, the iron heel of the oppressor. He has learned, of os PO Fa ek 4 thinks he has learned, from political philosophy—crude and hasty teach- ing—that all values and all property are the product of labor; and hence everything belongs to the laborer. The honey belongs to the bees that make it. And hence, when we come to inquire for the characteristics and claims of Socialism, we hear complaint; long, loud, bitter complaint, and de- mands, excessive, exhaustive. ° In other countries we might expect something of the kind—in coun- tries ruled despotically, impoverished by taxes to support a great stand- ing army, where the population is dense, and a law of inheritance keeps the bulk of the land forever out of the market—and we are not sur- prised at a discontent and defiance which marches processions, armed and riotous, along the streets, past government houses and rich bankers’ vaults; which mines palaces, and deposits, with deadliest intent, the murderous dynamite. But is Socialism here, in our rich and happy land? Where a farm can be had for the asking; where the facilities for improvement are within reach of the lowest ; where opportunities to rise from the shoe- maker’s last to the lawmaker’s chair, and from the log-cabin of the fron- tiersman to the Capitol and White House of the nation, is there anything to justify the presence and demands of the Socialist? Many haye been unwilling to acknowledge it. But itis here. The seeing ones discern it. The active ones meet it in almost every relation of life. The death of Karl Marx gave, not life, but ominous disclosure of a vast organiza- tion in this country—an organization, present and powerful, in all our great cities, and along the lines of all our great railroads. At Pittsburgh, Pa., only eight years ago, a gigantic conspiracy, startling unbelievers into a consciousness of what really exists in this country, broke out with the wild energy and fury of a blazing cyclone. Locomotives were seized, trains arrested, rails torn up, station houses fired, and vast accumulations of freight damaged or destroyed. Here was the spirit that saturated the Government buildings in Paris with petroleum, and then applied the torch; here the spirit that attempted to assassinate the Emperor of Germany, in 1876; here the spirit that took the life of the Emperor of Russia, in 1881. Other and more recent developments in this country, if marked by less of violence, indicate more of discipline and consciousness of strength. Organization, oath, obligation there must be, when the beck of a silent finger stops every train along a thousand miles of railroad, and calls every engineer from his cab. But the presence of Socialism in this country I need not take time to prove. The deaf have heard its voice. The blind have seen its works. And all will concede, I think, on a moment’s reflection, that a free Republic, like our own, affords the amplest opportunities and facilities for extending and strengthening and using a great Socialistic organiza- - >< \acnden ne eebtieannagret pe 5 tion. We guarantee the right of assembly. Men may come together any day, anywhere, and speak their thoughts, and inflame one another's feelings. The newspapers will report and repeat all that is said and done. Men may print and publish what they please, and the Govern- ment will transport it, and deliver it at their dictation. By the help of the telegraph, free to all who will pay its toll, vast bodies of men and multitudes of individuals may be touched at any moment, in any place, and moved and massed for action. So that in this country every Social- ist becomes conscious of the whole power of the vast organization to which he belongs. He knows the extent of resources at command; he Imows the immediate purpose; he is swept forward on the tide ofa mighty, common impulse. The facilities which we offer for organization and action cannot be surpassed. And, as we afford the, amplest opportunities and facilities for wide extension and concerted action, so we afford the readiest field. Liberty degenerating into license; speech that betrays the traitor, and lights the fagot and sheds blood—we stand and smile at this spectacle. Banished from the Old World, the most revolutionary agitators are welcomed to the freedom of the New. John Most, expelled from the Social Demo- cratic Party in Germany, is made a welcome and honored guest in the United States, and greeted by large audiences with vociferous acclama- tion, as he counsels them to adopt the most radical and revolutionary resolutions, and actually provide themselves each with a rifle, that they may be ready when “ clangs the fateful hour.” And against a voice inciting to such murderous movements we have no protection ; no police, no army, as in other countries. De Tocque- ville, long ago, pointed out to us that we have no power, in a time of strong excitement, to protect our cities, or preserve our liberties. Against an outburst of lawless violence we are helpless. Our stores, our markets, our banks, our courts, our jails, our dwellings, are at the mercy of the mob. And Macaulay has warned us—warned us in a letter which seems prophetic of things appalling when we hear our brethren from the West say: “Twenty years more, and the best land in this coun- try is all taken up.” The General Secretary of the “American Inter- - national” writes: “The day when the blind, ignorant wageworkers, en- during a starvation forced by the culmination of the competitive system, shall rise in riot for bread is fast approaching.” Experiences already endured show us how open is our field for any’Socialistic adventure. But what are the demands of Socialism? Temporarily, a change of some law, in this country; the right to vote, in another country; the exclusion of certain workmen here, the increase of wages there. But, at bottom, the leaders and champions of Socialism agree in three ex- actions: the nationalization of the land; the storing of all products in a common treasury, from which equal distribution is to be made; anda universal, common brotherhood. Great and marvelous changes these; but great and marvelous cures the result. 6 Let us consider these demands, fundamental, revolutionary, one at a time. Grant the existence of all the sorrows and evils and inequalities com- plained of; grant that the idle are rich, and the industrious poor; that the upper classes are cold and hard and arrogant; that the helpless are oppressed, and the landless wronged; grant that these wide-spread, sullen mutterings of mutinous discontent spring, not from providential or inherent causes, but from culpable and curable causes; is relief, or re- moval, or cure to be obtained by the adoption of the principles indicated, or by the prosecution of the schemes advocated and entered upon by the Socialist? Let us see. 1. First of all, the nationalizing of the land. Suppose all the land to be taken possession of by the State. This, of course, is the primary, essential condition of equality. Henry George, who, of all our country- men, writes most brilliantly, if not most convincingly, on this point, says: ““We cannot stop short of this. All land must become the common property of the State. Equality in its deep, full sense—equality as to position, as to possession, as to the means of production—when we get -back to the root of the matter, means this; means the abolition of in- heritance ; means the abolition of all private and personal property. Land is the common gift of the common Creator, and no man has a warranty deed from the original proprietor to any particular portion of it; no more right than he has to any particular portion of the sea or the air.” Well, this takes us into deep water. And “timorous mortals” hesitate, ‘*¢ And linger, shivering, on the brink, And fear to launch away.” Doubtless, there is bottom here somewhere, and footing for mortal men. But just where? Certainly God made this land of ours, and his it was and is. Temporarily, his creatures, cattle, creeping thing, beast and bird, have possession. But possession, we grant, does not settle proprietorship. The creeping thing must give place, in swamp and forest, to other creature less prone. But the wolf may not hold possession against his superior. The buffalo drives off the wolf; and, if the buffalo can hold his ground against all comers, has he not the right? But the Indian wants the prairie for a hunting ground, and the beast must move on, or make one unconscious at the feast in the wigwam. But may the Indian hold possession against all comers? Not if they come who can “dress and keep” the ground better than he. To “dress and keep,” this is the one primary condition of the grant to possess. Now, without wading in where many are floundering, let us stop and see is the land best “dressed and kept” when held as a common posses- sion, or as private and personal allotments? This may leave the ques- tion of rights as to pareel, place and time, unsettled; but it fairly fronts 7 the Socialist’s demand. The Indians held the land in common; held it as a tribe, a nation; but their “dressing and keeping” did not justify their holding. For forty years, the American Board has been telling Congress, and teaching the Indian, that the tribal possession should cease, and they should hold the land in severalty. And experience proves the wisdom of the change. The colonies, Jamestown and Plymouth, began by holding the land in common. But this way was idleness and waste. The historian, speaking of the Jamestown Colony, says: “But the greatest change in the condition of the colonists resulted from the incipient establishment of private property. . . . So long as industry had been without its special reward, reluctant labor, wasteful of time, had been followed by want. Henceforward, the sanctity of private property was recognized as the surest guaranty of order and abundance.” Speaking of the Plymouth Colony, the historian says: “The system of common property had occasioned grievous discontents. The influ- ence of the law could not compel regular labor like the uniform impulse of personal interest, and even the threat of keeping back their bread could not change the character of the idle.” Weighty example this, and words instructive, if human nature be the same now asthen. In the spring of 1623 “a parcel of land was assigned to each family, and this arrangement produced contented labor and universal industry. Even women and children now went into the field to work.” And this was the beginning—this individual private ownership of land—this was the be- ginning of industry, of plenty, of commerce, of advancement, of eleva- tion, of empire. Mr. Webster, with his profound insight, discoursing of the first settlement of New England, says: “In the absence of military power, the nature of the government must essentially depend on the manner in which property is holden and distributed. There is a natural influence belonging to property, whether it exists in many hands or few; and it is on the rights of property that both despotism and unrestrained popular violence ordinarily commence their attacks. Their situation demanded a parceling out and division of the lands; and it may be fairly said that this necessary act fixed the future frame and form of the government.” In the face of such examples, and contrary to the very instincts of the mind, and, so far as can be shown to this hour, contrary to the in- terests, the industry, the elevation of society, why should we make the land common property? Why should we repeat the failures and the follies of the past? Why should we overturn the foundations of the Government, and revolutionize the Republic? Why should we paralyze the indispensable incentive to labor, forethought, economy and success ? But, it is said, the New Testament is authority, and the first triumph of Christianity an example, for having all our possessions in common. A poor precedent this—neither authority nor example in support of 8 nationalizing the land. Peter's reply to Ananias reveals clearly enough that the distribution which followed Pentecost was voluntary, not com-— pulsory. “While it remained was it not thine own? And after it was sold was it not thine own?” The man’s sin was in lying about the — price, not in possessing the land. The land the apostle recognizes as private property, and the product of the land as private property. A bad precedent, surely, for the Socialist; bad, also, as revealing a pauper tendency even in the temporary distribution of goods. There followed soon, altogether too soon, the necessity of taking contributions for the poor saints at Jerusalem. A common treasury graduates its pupils into common beggary. And yet our logic goes not to the other extreme, that one man, as Pharaoh in Egypt, should own all the land. Was not that selling of all the land to the king a nationalizing from which Egypt has not re- covered, even to this day? Nor should a few men, as in England, hold all the land. It is not right that millions of acres should be kept as a deer park, or shooting grounds, while millions of men hunger for the bread that these same acres would produce. Good men are recognizing this fact, and already taking steps to correct it. At a meeting of influ- ential land-owners in England, recently held, the Duke of Argyll and the Marquis of Ripon, with other dukes and marquises, resolved to take steps for the formation of a large corporation, to be called “The National League Company,” to be organized for the purpose of securing a gradual breaking-up of the large parcel system of land-ownership now injuriously prevalent in Great Britain.” But this is not to nationalize land, for which no warrant can be found, either in the constitutional instinets of the mind, or in the history of peoples. At this point, common experi- ence, great precedents, the wisdom of the world, and the teaching of the New Testament, are against the Socialist. And yet the Christian idea is that man is not the owner of anything. God is the owner, man his steward; a steward, having a life interest in his home, and responsible to God for the use of it. The parable of the rich fool ends thus: “This night thy soul shall be required of thee ; then whose shall all these things be?” To possess as though one pos- sessed not, to be rich and give to the poor, to be the greatest and yet the servant of all, this seems to be the Christian idea. 2. The second point to be considered is this: The storing of all prod- ucts in a common treasury, from which equal distribution is to be made to all producers. The common interest is to supplant and absorb the individual interest. All things common. Competition closed. Oo- operation forever, and in all things. Well, suppose the fruits of the land and the sea, the products of the flocks and the herds, the yield of the farm and the factory, all gathered into one common treasury. Are you sure it is all in? No Ananias nor wife to swear that a part is the whole? Allin? Produce every one must according to his full abilities. 205 wpb ORR sh <> tee ae 9 This is a vital part of the theory. No idler, no drone, in the com munity. Every one has given the full measure of time, and the willing strength and skill of ready hands. Who-knows? But now for the distribution to the individual, to the family. On what condition? On condition that every one has contributed his full share. On what principle? On the principle that every one produce according to his abilities, and consume according to his wants. But here practical impossibilities confront the theory. Who, save the omniscient One, can determine what any man’s real abilities are, or whether he has exerted them to their full extent? Who, save the omniscient One, can determine what any man’s real wants are? Producers and consumers stand together about the same crib—the infirm, the sick, the helpless, left behind—and each one asserts his rights, and insists on the supply of his wants! Not now does the omniscient One appear to judge and rule among them. Men must pronounce sentence between the contending parties; men interested like the contestants; men of the earth, and not men imported from some other planet ; men subject to the same infirmi- ties, actuated by the same motives, and liable to the same passions as other men. At best, the judgment is human, partial, imperfect. And yet this judgment must be final, supreme, satisfactory, else the contest and the deep discontent out of which Socialism grows must go on. No Socialistic scheme can be operated without men; and there is no pro- vision for renewing and perfecting the character of men. So that to make a future judge supreme is only to put one man in the place of an- other; a future good man in the place of a present good man; a future corrupt man in the place ofa present corrupt man; a future despot in the place of a present despot. Everything depends on the character of the man; and, human nature being such as it is, imperfect, selfish, and human abilities and wants being such as they are, unequal, variable, and the supreme power being vested in some man, or set of men, to decide among selfish, clamorous claimants and contestants, the new order proposed can be nothing but the old renounced order, under another name. It is the same family, in a new house; the same family, with all their old passions, prejudices, peculiarities, jealousies and strifes. It is the same vicious, balky horse, in a new harness. Socialism must be operated by men; and so long as the character of man remains the same, any change of system is “to change the place, and keep the pain.” And in this conclusion we are confirmed by the condemnation of the earlier Socialists by the later. The present Socialistic writers have the history of the pioneers to consider and criticise. And nothing can ex- ceed the fierceness with which the earlier schemes and schemers are de- nounced. Leaders quarrel and separate, and the factions are mutually condemned as worthless. New parties are formed to propose and propa- gate new schemes, and still the causes of bitterness remain; and to the sullen moan of deep discontent is added the sharp curse of crimination and recrimination. 10 Meantime, is it not worth while just to glance at an item or two in the working of the present organization of society? The best wheat in the world, perhaps, is grown on the virgin soils of Minnesota and Da- kota. It is ground in the flour-mills of Minneapolis, surpassing, I be- lieve, in volume of power and production, all others, and put into the commerce of the world. It costs from fifty cents to one dollar to lay a barrel down on the Atlantic coast. That is to say (if my figuring is cor- rect) that beautiful white loaf upon the breakfast table in Boston or New York, is brought all the way from the harvest-fields of Dakota for one-half acent. And is it co-operation or competition that gives us this cheap transportation? Competition is the monster, which, in the imagi- nation of many a Socialist, seems to be devouring all his profits and prospects. But how is the distribution of bread to be made cheaper? Corporations and competition, railroads and rivals! Too many Socialists forget that the ordinary workingman derives an immense advantage from these. The community is often benefited ten times as much as the corporation. This marvelous distribution of the product of the great wheat-fields is a fair specimen of all distribution. One cent a bushel, one mill a pound, is what the people pay for the distribution of the great staples of the country. One-quarter of a cent a yard on the cost of production deter- mines the market of the largest manufactory, and lays the superb text- ure of the costliest loom at your door. By what method is it likely to be done for less? Co-operation—on the other hand, how many of us could stand our share in the disastrous shrinkage and loss of the strongest corporations of the country for the last three years? And when times are good, and stockholders receive dividends, who gets the great bulk of a year’s product? The rich land-owner cannot work his thousands of acres with his own hands. Much less can he wave a wizard’s potent wand over hill and valley, and change the prairie grass into corn and wheat. The result of much study goes to show that it costs ninety per cent. of the annual product of farm and fac- tory to produce it. That is to say, the workingmen, so-called, get nine- tenths of all products or profits, to start with. This leaves one-tenth still to be distributed. Towhom? A part of this one-tenth must go to keep up, repair and renew the farm and the factory. And then a part of this one-tenth must go to feed the proprietor, and furnish men and women to carry on the work of his home. The plant must be kept in the best condition, and the proprietor must live. So, after the nine- tenths, which have been distributed before the owner gets a dollar, a good part of the other tenth,goes in the same way—into the hands of those who do the manual labor. And hence the small annual inere- ment of capital—one per cent. That is, the wealthy land-owner, or manufacturer, can expect for the use of his capital, and the labor of his brain, year by year, an increase of one per cent. Nine-tenths of the 11 whole of the annual product goes into the pockets of the workingmen, and nine-tenths of the other tenth. The richest man in all this country is obliged to give most of the profit of his yearly business to those who work for him. The “railroad magnate,” whose prosperity excites the envy of the multitude, takes a barrel of flour from the canal, and lands it in the market of the great city for one dollar instead of four dollars. Of the three dollars thus saved, the consumers get the whole. For him- self and his associates, he got, perhaps, ten cents. The theory, therefore, with which the Socialist fills his imagination, and on which he proceeds, which is often summed up in such phrase as, “ the rich are growing richer, and the poor are growing poorer,” is not true, is not possible in this country. More people are rich, and more people are poor to-day than ever before in this country, because there are more people to be rich and poor. Here and there is an exceptionally rich man. But the people, as a whole, have increased in wealth, especially through the last fifty years. Labor is better paid by forty, fifty, and even sixty per cent.; and a day’s wages buys more to-day—from twenty-five to forty- five per cent. more—than it did fifty years ago. The masses of the peo- ple never possessed so many of the comforts and conveniences of life as to-day ; never were so well fed and clothed, and housed and educated as to-day. The mountains are not rising and the meadows sinking; the whole land, (mountains, hills, plains, meadows, and valleys) is rising; the people possess more, enjoy more, and havea better prospect. Doubtless cases of oppression, of extreme poverty, of pitiful suffering, on which false theories may be built, are still found; but the products of the world are becoming yearly more justly and more generally distributed. Out of no common treasury could the wants or the contentment of the work- ing-men be so well provided for. By no communistic theory could the present rate of progress be sustained. 3. Another great aim of Socialism is to establish among all men fra- ternity, brotherhood. Pleasant words, these; and a good desire that from which they spring. ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” But the question here is this: Does Socialism offer a foundation for fraternity? Is Socialism a parent whose offspring is brotherhood? And from every point of the compass comes back one uniform, unequivocal no. At the very best, Socialism is working for a class, an association, an organization. Its spirit seems to be to pull down those who are high- est, rather than lift up those who are lowest. It talks of “ encouraging the spirit of brotherhood,” of “the maintenance of fraternity.” But these, evidently and only for its own. For, in the same breath, it talks of their organized and arduous effort to “classify and study our ene- mies,” “to arouse and maintain a spirit of hostility,” “to prepare for the coming social revolution.” Doubtless there is something in almost every community to move the feelings which these phrases indicate. And some . 12 writers see only the sick, the infirm, the aged, the impotent, of which there: are always many to be tenderly cared for. And some crities find little to profit in any discussion of this subject that does not overflow with — sympathy and gush. But the voice of Socialism is not the cooing of a dove. The spirit of every representative association is war on the pres- ent structure and methods of society. Its acts are supremely selfish. Its attitude is provokingly defiant. The orator of the sand-lots of the Pacific Coast cries, in his shirt sleeves, to the throngs that greet him in the capital of New England: “Let Fall River remember that Moscow was burned toashes.” “ Labor must be crowned king even if it wades: knee deep in blood.” Burnette G. Haskell says, speaking of the aims and demands of Socialism: ‘These questions can be decided finally and forever by no other means than by the sword of war.” Then, look- ing forward to some great upheaval, he says: ‘“ When the rising—which will be one of blind, wrathful, ignorant producers—comes, then must the Socialists of America be prepared to unfurl the scarlet flag, and, with it in hand, head the assault as the leaders of the people, pointing out to them not only their wrongs, but their only salvation—free land, free tools, and free money!” This is their attitude toward the present con- stitution and customs of society. Brotherhood here? The most pow- erful microscope cannot discover any germs of it. And the history of Socialistic organizations shows that something of the same antagonism exists among themselves. They oppose, and con- demn, and denounce each other’s organizations. They areready to break the head of one of their own number, who, tired of the emptiness of the strike, seeks work in another organization. Schwab sits up late to sell more beer than Swarts; and Feld carries swill-milk from the same cow, at nine cents a quart, to both their babies. Those that would be Chris- tian, like St. Simon, and Kingsley and Maurice, are hustled to one side, or left behind; while the atheistic, like Proudhon, who ery, “God is evil,” and “the church is ever in conflict with justice,” are placed at the front. Small foundation of brotherhood hens Nothing resembling it, in sight. And then the way in which the present order and methods of society — are to berevolutionized, and property change hands. Is there brotherhood ~ in violence, robbery, revolt, and anarchy? A beautiful structure is the — vision that rises before them; but evidently there is no foundation on which to rear it. A happy result is aimed at; but Socialism shows no cause to produce it. As well grow wheat from thistles, as well hatch — the oriole from the viper’s egg. Common land means common idleness and beggary; equal distritaas tion from a. common treasury paralyzes the strongest incentive to indus- — try, energy, and invention which is known to man; and brotherhood, without a common father and filial piety, is a name and a mockery. One foundation and condition of brotherhood in all this wide world; only one, — . 13 e and that the Fatherhood of God gratefully and obediently acknowledged, and the brotherhood of Jesus Christ—brother and yet redeemer—joy- fully accepted and honored. The brotherhood of Socialism begins in selfishness, and, however in- tricate the way, comes back to the center from which it started. It is selfishness, pure and simple, exclusive and intense, no matter by what _hhame it is called. And since the world began selfishness has never been a foundation on which brotherhood could stand. No self-interest can create it, no social aspirations can beget it, no prospect of an easier life, no promise of the spoils of revolution, can es- tablish it. The essence of brotherhood is found only in a regen- erate heart; in a heart touched anew by the divine power, radically changed, and vitally united to Christ, who is the essential light and life of all who come into the kingdom of heaven; the light and the life after which humanity, diseased and distracted, blindly gropes. Ex- cept as men partake of his qualities, and enter into his designs, there is no brotherhood. And here shines out the divine wisdom and grace. A remedy for all human ills, inequalities, burdens and trials, is found in the religion which recognizes the sinfulness and selfishness of the human heart and applies the healing there. Christianity that is to transform the world, begins its mighty career by transforming the individual human heart, and through the heart sends a flow of fraternal sympathy and love into all the arteries of society and government. The Christian religion makes the fountain pure and sweet, and thus cures all the streams. And not a few of these Socialistic reformers, like the loftier spirits of heathen ages, have felt the need of help from above. Struggling with difficulties that they could not master, or rising to some lofty eminence of spiritual vision, and catching sight of the divine method and the divine man, they have ac- knowledged the necessity of regeneration. Blotches and boilsmay cover the skin and the heart remain sound. But when the heartis diseased the whole body is sick. No outward change of condition can repair the life. There must be a renewing, an individual, spiritual renewing of the heart, and that introduces the man into a Socialism where “one is your mas- ter, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” Under the mastership of Christ alone is there a life of brotherhood. And here we have come, almost unconsciously, to the other part of our theme, the Christian church. Christianity is the cure for the evils of which Socialism complains, and of Socialism itself. And the Christian church is entrusted with the divine remedy, and held responsible for its use. The gospel of Christ is instinct with a vital energy, adapted and adequate, to establish the kingdom of heaven for which we pray— adapted and adequate to cure Socialism itself, as well as the evils out of which it grows. The kingdom of Satan is here; but Christ came to de- stroy the works of the devil. Christ came—it cannot be too often in- ‘e 14 sisted on—Christ came to establish his kingdom on earth—his kingdom ~ of love and good will and brotherhood among men. He is the perfect model, the ideal man, and his kingdom the perfect society. “Thy kingdom come.” This is our prayer. Not the semblance of it, not the reflection of it, but the kingdom itself, in truth and right. Not for a — mechanical union forced upon the inhabitants of earth, do we pray, but for a spontaneous, vital union; a union filled with all the pure leaven of charity and affection. “Thy kingdom come.” We are to pray this — prayer evermore, everywhere. And for the coming of this kingdom labor—labor as men called of God and commissioned. And, notwith- standing the antagonism which exists between Socialism and the Chris- tian church, there is much to encourage us. 1. In the first place, Christianity and Socialism have much in com- mon, and soa ground of sympathy. Both recognize wrongs to be re- moved. Both aim at a better future. It is a thought variously ex- pressed, and often met with in writings upon this subject, this: “Every active Christian who makes conscience of his faith has a Socialistic vem in him; and every Socialist, however hostile he may be to the Christian religion, has an unconscious Christianity in his heart.” And there is truth in the statement. Could Socialism recognize the true cause of earth’s woes, and appreciate the divine remedy, there would be still more incommon. But, as it is, the recognition of wrongs and suffer- ings, everywhere and unspeakable, and a resolute purpose to better the human condition, is a ground of contact and affinity. And, turther, Christianity has quickened, if not awakened, in us all, certain feelings and dispositions which respond to the just claims of a ¢rwe Socialism. Indeed, we may go further, and question, if mdeed it be a question, whether anything in all the world has done so much to foster and justify a true Socialism as the Christian religion. In wisdom, and power, and justice, and truth it is still far ahead, as it always has been, of Socialism. It commands with a matchless authority. It speaks from hights above — the clouds. It thunders at the cold, hard, haughty indifference of the — rich, and utters a condemnation that makes the stoutest quail. “Your riches are corrupted, and the rust of your gold and silver shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Behold, the hire of the laborers, who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, erieth ; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of ~ Sabaoth.” With an eye dimmed by no cloud of selfishness, thus search-_ ingly Christianity looks into the relations of men, and with a pure jus~ tice thus appeals to the throne and help of the Almighty. Socialism, — instructed in the sanctuary, taught to read the New Testament and the history of the Christian church, must appreciate such anally; and, seeing — with what a clear vision it looks down into the darkest depths, and — scans the remoter causes, and yet with a radiant finger points upward — and onward, must fall into the ranks, and march with the disciples. 15 ® 2. Another encouragement is found in what Christianity has already accomplished. Jesus Christ came laden with blessings for the poor and the meek. The church showed itself at the first the benefactor of the oppressed, the friend of the friendless, and the helper of the helpless. Breathing the spirit of the Master, the church has already, in a thousand ways, through social, civil, and ecclesiastical relations, befriended and blessed every class of the community. Wonderfully has it alleviated the condition of the masses, improving and elevating them materially, intel- lectually, and morally. The religion of the Christian church helps men to better houses, and better food, and better education, and better laws,. and to an altogether better life. The church is arraying her celestial forces more and more against war—against war, that scourge and de- stroyer of poor men. Christianity, with a most sensitive and sympa- thetic ear, hears the moan of the distant epidemic, and with a true be- nevolence sends her devoted physicians and trained nurses into the very breath of the pestilence, to bestow the precious fruits of medical skill and ripe experience upon the desponding and the dying, without money and. without price. She hears, also, the dull cry of famine in foreign lands, and loads the swift ship, and spreads her white sails, and turns her benef- icent prow to the shores of the starving poor. Much already is accom- plished. The chasm between the poor and the rich is not so wide, nor so deep, nor so impassable as once it was. That dark gulf has not only been bridged so that here and there a fortunate traveler may cross ; that deep, dark gulf, so far as this country is concerned, has been filled up with pure, healthful, Christian material, so that to-day, as across a well- watered field, sloping away from the rich domain of the hills to the tawny sands of the desert, a thousand paths, well-worn, prove the pass- ing of thousands from the side of the rich across to the side of the poor, and other thousands and more from the side of the poor to the side of therich. The millionaire of to-day is found struggling for bread to- morrow. The working man of yesterday is the millionaire of to-day. And the religion of the Christian church has a word of instruction and - blessing for them both. She teaches them that the Lord bringeth down and lifteth up. She bils them recognize an over-ruling Providence, and be humble and be patient. Man, however prescient and strong, cannot guide Arcturus with his sons; cannot direct the cyclone, nor stay the plague; cannot give fruitful seasons, nor fill the empty sails; cannot give blood to the heart, nor thought to the brain. “'There’s a divinity that shapes our ends.” There is a God above, who rules in heaven, and orders the affairs of earth. Christianity helps us to recognize his hand and bow submissively to his will, both when he maketh rich and when he maketh poor. It is a stupendous mistake to think, or speak, or write of the Chris- tian church as the enemy of the poor man. The Jews and the mob thought that Jesus was their enemy, and cried: “Away with him! Cru- » 16 cify him! Crucify him!” But the slowly revolving ages have reversed that mad sentence; and now the inspiring call is: Adore him! Adore him! Enthrone him, all ye nations, with his scepter supreme on your affections. Crown him, ye people, as your king! And, in the light of coming ages, more and more is it yet to be seen that his life of self-denial is the true ideal life, and the Christian church, organized not to be ministered unto, but to minister unto others, is the true ideal society. It takes time to work out great principles, and accomplish great, upward social revolutions. But there is not a poor man to-day, with anything like a just discrimination, and a fair degree of intelligence, who does not know that the Christian church is his best friend on earth. The church — must go on in the line of the past, true to her origin, adding to her his- tory. The hope of the world is in the Christian church. 3. Another encouragement is found in the fact thatthe religion of the Christian church is changing the character and currents of political economy. Man is no longer regarded as an animal to be housed and fed, but as a moral agent, with intellectual, sociai and spiritual wants. And political economy is no longer an abstract science, with conclu- sions deduced from certain assumed axiomatic views of man and nature, but the results and embodiment of a particular, practical observation, and the reasoning from certain facts, evils, principles, and tendencies of common experience. And, without undertaking to settle the points still in dispute between the different schools, Christianity says, if man is to be freeto choose his place and employment, that freedom must be restrained by the principles - of the gospel. And if man is to be restrained by the State in his choice of an occupation, a career, and a competition, that restraint must be ac- cording to the freeness of the gospel. Henceforth, equity, right, religion, shall bind his liberty and loose his bondage. And those who are for introducing and applying the principles of the New Testament to the life and progress of political economy, if less demonstrative, are certainly more devoted in the pursuit and establish- ment of fundamental principles. Great scientific movements are not led by a brass band. Great revolutions are not the offspring of street parades. Great changes, violent or peaceful, are born of convictions— deep, established, living convictions in men’s souls; convictions whose rumbling is sometimes heard like the smothered forces ‘of the earth- quake, and sometimes seen in fearful action, like the lurid flashes of the yoleano. The convictions that are to rule the political economy of the future are now being thought out among the leaves of an open Bible and the teachings of Jesus. More and more of an ethical, moral character the problems of social economy are taking on, and more and more evi- dent is it that they must be solved, not by @ priori reasoning, but by the touch of Christ’s living hand. Plato dreamed a dream which was not alla dream. The prophets of the Hebrew nation announced truths 17 e in the midst of their fiery rebukes which are yet to supplant the princi- ples of evil, and give us a social science in harmony with, and helping on, the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ came to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth; and many a disciple to-day, withdrawn from public gaze, in sympathy with the Master, is pondering the questions of politi- cal economy, applying the dictates of conscience and the teachings of the gospel. And thus, by the influence of Christian thought, and the power ot Christian convictions, society is to be influenced and transformed, and the problems of life solved in the spirit of the New Testament. How rich and varied the blessing! The Christian religion, brought home to men’s daily life, soothes the hunger of the body by the provisions for the soul ; infuses a father’s love into the sternest dispensations of life; sheds a tender, divine light upon the rigors of the hardest economy. It links the material with the moral, the present with the future, the human with the divine, and diffuses a spirit of mutual love, charity, and helpfulness among all classes, and into all relations. 4. And, once more, we are encouraged to preach the gospei for the correction and cure of social evils and of Socialism itself, because it sus- tains the institutions aid laws of the legitimate government, and at the same time supplies the strongest motives to an abundant charity. There is a manifest tendency, as secret organizations grow strong, to oppose the civil government, and trifle with its laws. Christianity tol- erates noth ng of the kind. “The powers that be are ordained of God. Therefore, he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the orainance of God; and they that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment.” Obedience is the first duty of every good citizen ; obedience not only in view of the sword, but for conscience sake ; obedience out of regard toa just and holy God and with reference to eternal consequences. No in- struction for the citizen is so plain and so positive as the teachings of the New Testament. No motives so high and so powerful can be named as those which it constantly presses upon the conscience. Resistance to the government, conspiracy against laws—these have no place in Chris- tian thought—none, until government and law are corruptly set against the government and laws of God. Let every soul be in subjection to the government as an ordinance divine. But as we have Calvary over against Sinai, not quenching its flames, but rather hel; ing us to meet its demands, so, in the gospel of this same book, we have the strongest motives to the exercise of charity, along with the sternest exactious of law. The soul that sinneth shall die; and yet the dead in sin are offered eternal life in Christ crucitied. The idle shall not eat; and yet a blessing is pronounced upon those who give to the poor. A claim to be ministered unto is not sustained either in the example or teachings of Jesus; and yet on the rich and prosperous is imposed this perpetual obligation: ‘“ We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” Man is a sub 18 ject, is under law; and yet, since the promise made at the gate of Eden, man has not been under law alone, but under grace as well. Grace has — kept the bow in the cloud. Grace has not repealed the penalty, but it has changed it into chastening. Grace has not lowered the law, but ) grace has lifted up the transgressor and inspired him to keep the com- mandments. Ah, this spirit of the gospel, uttered in paradoxes and an- tagonisms, how it softens the hard heart, and ministers to the depend- ent; how it levels the mountains, and elevates the valleys: how it makes the distribution of wealth a heavenly grace and crown: how it takes the sting out of poverty, and bitterness out of loss, and envy out of inferior- ity. The laws of the land are not perfect. The government humanshould be organized more in accordance with the government divine. But when we have attained unto this wisdom, and when we are able to do all that justice and love can do through the State, there will remain great deserts and alkali plains, and cold mountains and frozen seas. And there will also remain disease in our bodies, and sorrow in our homes, and — trials and disappointments all along the earthly pilgrimage, and selfish- ness in human hearts, and strife and envy and hate in every community. The innocent will continue to suffer, and the wicked to flourish. Beyond all the provisions, beyond all the power of Socialism, we shall have wants unsatisfied, and afflictions unhealed. "We must have what Socialism does not offer ; we must have the anticipation of another life shedding its softening, healing, transforming influences down upon this. We must have a recognition of the powers of the world-to-come to regulate the’ conduct of the present. We must have just that pardon and peace and promise which the gospel brings to transform human character and re- deem human life. This is our childhood, our probation, our school — time. And what if restraint, and denial, and discipline are required in these earthly relations ; and what if the lessons are sometimes long and hard; and what if some of us have to stay and study after the more fortunate have gone to play? Are not restraint and discipline among the conditions of the noblest manhood, here and now? And, lifting up his eyes and looking to the higher plane, who, that with spiritual vision, an- ticipates immortality, can complain? Inequalities, reverses, trials, sor- rows, sufferings; have we not in these the conditions for the development of the perfect man? Even the blessed Master had not where to lay his head ; was resisted, repulsed, reviled, rejected ; even he was made perfect through suffering. But his exaltation is proportioned to his humility. And sympathy with him makes the hungry man content with his gritty crust, because he is soon to partake of the finest of the wheat. Union with him makes the ardent man patient; for he has the promise of triumph. Loyalty to him makes the poor man heir to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. The strongest, sub- limest motives to the truest, highest end, the Christian church is called eS —— LL rll ee i9 and commissioned to preach and press home continually for the benefit _ of the life that now is, as well as for that which is tocome. Thy king- dom come. And now, dear brethren, for the conclusion—the conclusion to be borne away in all our hearts. Necessity is laid upon the American Home Missionary Society. So- cialism is increasing, is developing in forms and scenes that imperil all our industries and institutions. And the rapid increase of Socialism is intimately associated with the loss of religious faith and life: so inti- timately associated with religious decline and unbelief that many con- clude that the loss or faith is the cause of Socialism. Then our first necessity is a revival; a radical, powerful revival of true religion in all our hearts, and inallour churches. Spiritual things, present, seen, felt ; an unfaltering conviction of the truth of God’s holy Word; a sense of immediate responsibility in view of what is before us and about us; sympathy with the apostle who cries, « Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel !”—here is our need. Necessity further. We see how rapidly the land is filling up, and with what classes. Some are good; but with the good come the wicked, the ignorant, the prejudiced, the anarchist, the atheist: and they come in apalling numbers, throbbing with intensest vitality, end enjoying freest opportunity. The drift is away from the churches, to the gardens, to the field, to the theaters. The fashion is helped on, I grieve to say, by some of our own pecple, to question and despise the authority of Revelation ; to undermine the Christian Sabbath, and leave it without di- vine support, and every man at liberty to keep it as he likes. Upon the church of Christ rests the responsibility—upon the churches associated in the American Home Missionary Society rests the heavy responsibility— of resisting the drift and fashion of the times, and of maintaining heroical- ly the divine Word and the divine authority. True, we have our free schools, but less and less of Revelation and religion in them: and this less, nay the character of the school itself, in peril of overthrow. And, education without religion, the full development of all the intellectual powers without moral convictions to restrain or guide—what is this but a sharpened ax in the hands of an unprincipled and impious agent ? True, we have our numerous ‘reeholds ; but what if some form of So- cialism combine the rural population as producers against the corpora- tions and the cities and the churches? This is not an achievement to be anticipated, we are told. We hope it may never be. But with what is inherently conservative and hopeful, we must re- member history, and consider what is possible. All over the land, like the frogs in Egypt, and no wand to wave them back, have come up lec- turers and preachers and periodicals and papers. In every State, in every city, in every little village, the seeds of aninfidel philosophy and of religious disbelief are plentifully sown. And the harvest, who knows— 20 if the church rise not up and put forth all her might—who knows what the harvest shall be? Was not the French Revolution, the principle and — power of which many a Socialist commends—the revolution which brought down the brightest lights in that brilliant firmament and gorged the gutters of Paris with human blood—was not that revolution first in the preaching and pamphlets of Voltaire? First on the lip of the popular — speaker; then in the talk of the clubs; then in the mind and will of the frenzied masses? Murder of government officials; the parks of Ireland crimsoned with innocent blood; dynamite in Parliament Houses; mines under the palaces of emperors—these dastardly deeds come of thoughts uttered in speech, printed in tracts, published in papers; thoughts that have got possession of the minds of many. The burning of that magnifi- cent hall in Cincinnati, with all its priceless treasure of records and books, and the bloody scenes which followed at the jail, and in the streets, till the day dawned—these things are the outcome of the teaching to which the multitude have listened. Let the church remain inactive and indif- ferent, and how long before the most impious teaching and the wildest schemes shall prevail? And, the masses poisoned with the virus of a socialistic, and an infidel press, what then? The pyramids showus what many hands can do. The great stones in the temple at Baalbec show us how unlimited is the strength of the many. But let the purposeto build be reversed in some frenzied hour, let the purpose of the many com- bined be to destroy, and what power have we in all this broad land to re- sist? Ah, brethren! look and see what goes forth into the hands of the people from the press, weekly and daily. Do you know? We must match thought with thought. We must make the future life the com pletion of the present. We must put the Word of God against and above the word of man. We must enthrone Jesus Christ King in the individual heart, and in the institutions and life of the nation—Jesus Christ once dead, but now alive, and coming again with his sword upon his thigh to execute judgment for all—we must enthrone him upon the affections of the masses. We must have missionaries, not girls in their teens parading with a banner and a bass drum; missionaries thoroughly trained in the school of Christ and his apostles, and consecrated; mis- sionaries understanding the thoughts and the prejudices and the wicked- ness of the masses, as well as the power of Christ’s life and death; mis- sionaries in the full strength of an educated and ripened manhood, to go forth into those districts of the great cities from which the churches have withdrawn in a spirit of rebellion against the Master, and into the vil- lages that dot the prairies, and up the mountain slope with the emigrant colony, and preach Christ crucified till Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and strangers of Rome, hear, every man in his own tongue, the wonderful works of God. We must haye missionaries from our theological seminaries filled and | sf 4 21 fired with the grand old truths of a vicarious redemption; and, why not men drawn from other professions; from the law, from medicine, from commercial life; men educated for their special work, going as pio- neers, at their own charges, into the iron mines, and the gold mimes, and the coal mines, into the beer gardens, and down upon the sea beach, campaigning for the election of the Son of God? The power in this country is with the masses ; this Republic of ours is at the mercy of the masses. We must evangelize the masses to save the inheritance of the Pilgrims. We must win them to our churches to preserve Our govern- ment, and perpetuate our religious institutions. The necessity is upon us. Save America we must by saving the masses. And, brethren, we have the opportunity—all things considered, an opportunity without a parallel in the history of the world—a momentous opportunity to print right across this land in institutions and churches brighter than the stars, “Saved by the church of Christ.” We can give way to religious indifference. We can slide into the ways of the world. We can tolerate a gospel of doubt, uncertainty and evasion. Or we can stand firm by the doctrines of sin and redemption. We can proclaim the glorious gospel of the blessed God, and promote the kingdom of heaven The prophet Daniel refused the portion of the king’s meat and wine; refused all complicity with idolatry, though it was the religion of the king and court. He deliberately continued his prayers to Jehovah, morning, noon and night, though the consequence he knew to be the lion’s den. That was his opportunity; and he met it unwaveringly. And the result of his fidelity was a royal decree in all languages, unto all peoples and nations that dwell upon the face of the earth, that in every dominion men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. He is the living God, steadfast forever, and his kingdom shall be unto the end. Is not this our opportunity? We can slink away, cowardly, and leave things to take their course; or we can stand fearlessly by the truth, and bravely do the work of disciples. The eyes of the nations are upon the land of the Pilgrims. True to our history, true to our profession, trusting implicitly the protection and promises of Jehovah, let us go forward to the experience of like precious results, and compel the nations to confess and adore the name of our Redeemer. But more; now is our opportunity to save our land. The Fathers have gone, and with them much of their reverence and faith. Socialism knows neither.. A new way of dealing with Christ and his works is abroad. The Book Divine is not pronounced a forgery or a fraud; but, nevertheless, the writers were men subject to illusion and error. The difference between the regenerate and the unregenerate is a vanishing lime. Eternal awards for the life that now is are not forall. Multitudes from other lands crowd to our shores, throng the cities, and scatter through the Territories. Ignorance is here, indifterence is here, prejudice is here, and passion, envy, hate and heathenism. lrreligion is in con- 99, 7h Se en clothed in sackcloth and ashes, and calls imperatively 1 Lamb’s wife: “And who knoweth whether thou art co for such a time as this?” Now, now, let the church her royal garments, and stand before the king, and “ How can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto how can I endure to see the destruction of my kin people of this great nation shall live, and the kingdom | tablished. Amen. ; oat isd “ e, < - (o% gt / Pes rey Se a BN — Ji ei F Py, 2 Py = 2 — Ex aa << eo win ~ . } aR - J ~~ ee ay : ti 2 ‘ * " q , / ‘ ‘ . ° f ' \ ' NEGLECT OF PNFANT BAPTISM. BY THE Rev. JAMES H. BAIRD. FROM THE PRINCETON REVIEW FOR JANUARY 1857. PHILADELPHIA: WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN, No. 144 Cuestnut Street. 1857. ‘ 4 bis 7 ‘ . ‘ | f - ’ i if { , to. NEGLECT OF INFANT BAPTISM. ——— Frou THE Princeton REVIEW oF JANUARY 1857. oe Win great pleasure do we hail the appearance of “The Doctrine of Baptisms,”’ from the pen of Dr. Armstrong, of Norfolk, Va. In our opinion, this subject of Baptism is one of the most important that can occupy the attention of our divines and scholars. And, indeed, if we understand the signs of the times, it will yet occupy more attention than it hag done hitherto. This work of Dr. Armstrong seems to be well calcu- lated to do good in and out of our Church; and with pleasure do we commend it to those who have a desire to examine this subject carefully and thoroughly, as well calculated to aid them in their researches. We are pleased with his mode of discuss- ing the subject, and the general arrangement of the work; the mechanical execution of which is also such as to make it an attractive volume. We hope it will be widely circulated. But our present object is not to review, or give an outline of, this work of Dr. Armstrong. We take the present as a favour- able opportunity for expressing our surprise that, whilst so many writers have, with ability, discussed the mode and sub- jects of baptism, and the Baptist arguments, comparatively little attention is drawn to the neglect of household baptism, in. our own Church, and to the mode of remedying that evil. We are constantly erecting barriers to prevent the inroads of enemies outside of our fortress, and at the same time we give 1 2 ‘ comparatively little attention to the work of destruction that is going on within. An able practical treatise on the neglect of infant baptism, its causes and cure, would be timely, and would, we are per- suaded, do great good in our Church. We will take this oppor- tunity of presenting a few of our own thoughts on this subject, simply designed to awaken the attention of brethren to its importance. Baptism is one of the only two sacraments of the New Testa- ment dispensation. It is a holy ordinance, and was instituted by the King and Head of the Church himself. In his word, not only does he give us to understand the nature and object of this ordinance, but he has also designated the persons for whom baptism was designed. Since, then, he has instructed his Church as to those who are subjects of this ordinance, it most certainly is incumbent on the Church to execute his commands, and baptize all included in the commission. If this duty be neglected, then indeed will a very heavy responsibility rest on the Church itself. The Presbyterian Church has always held not only to be- lievers’ baptism, but also to the baptism of their offspring. And hence, it has not been without interest, that we have read lamentations over neglect of infant baptism, and exhortations to the churches thereon, year after year, in the Narrative issued by our Assembly. It has been painful also to know the charge to be made by Baptist ministers and members, again and again, that infant baptism is rapidly losing ground; that Pedobaptist churches are much more anxious to have this doctrine in their Confessions of Faith, than practically conformed to by their members; and that the members are gradually, but most certainly, becoming Anti-pedobaptist, both in sentiment ‘and practice. This charge has been made privately and publicly, both in the pulpit and through the press. And not only so— the attempt has more than once been made to prove what they have affirmed; and that too, sometimes, with an appearance at least of plausibility in their statements. We have been pointed to associations of Congregationalists, within whose bounds the baptism of an infant has become un- known, or of rare occurrence. We have also been told, that 3 other Pedobaptist churches (as shown by their statistics) are ~ fast moving in the same direction, fast deserting the doctrines of their fathers and forefathers. And, what most concerns us, we have often known it to be said, that in the Presbyterian Church there has been, for some time, a growing disregard for the baptism of children. Indeed, we have heard it boldly and publicly asserted, that this doctrine is fast becoming “a dead letter’’ in many parts of our Church. If, then, this be true; if there be neglect, and neglect rapidly increasing in sister Churhes, with regard to this holy ordinance, most assuredly, as we apprehend, it becomes the Presbyterian Church to be the more solicitous lest the same failure in the discharge of duty exist in her bounds. And should it prove true, as asserted by adversaries and feared by friends, that already a breach is made in our walls, already this doctrine is dying out; truly, then, ought the alarm to be sounded, that the friends of Bible truth, and the lovers of Christ’s ordinances be awakened to the importance of immediate and earnest effort, before it be too late. Let us, then, arouse ourselves and con- tend, for in very deed Christ’s crown and the covenants are endangered. And let us be thankful if even the rejoicings of our enemies have made us sensible of our own condition, if danger there be. We have been much gratified by repeated efforts made to draw attention to an acknowledged neglect of infant baptism, on the part of many, very many parents. These efforts, whether in church judicatories or in our religious journals, have been timely, and, we doubt not, have answered a good purpose; for this subject should be second in importance to none to the sincere Presbyterian. We have feared that there has been neglect of this sacrament in the bounds of our Church. We have feared that the assertions of opposers were too true; that they were much more correct in their surmises than most of our brethren seemed to suppose; and hence we have attempted to gain all possible light on this subject. And we must confess, that the more we have considered the subject, and the more facts we have been able to obtain, we have been so much the more satisfied, not only that there is increasing disregard for the baptism of children, in sister churches, but also, that throughout 4 the whole of our own Church there is an increasing neglect of this blessed ordinance; neglect, such as demands, at once, much serious attention from members and ministers in our Church; much more, indeed, than it has yet received from them. Far would we be from giving too much attention to the mere assertions of the enemies of our Church, or to the declarations of alarmists; but let us not err on the other extreme. Weak- minded and doubting ones have been drawn away from our ranks by statements such as are referred to above. Silence, or mere disclaimer, will not answer our purpose. We must have facts; and when we obtain them, if we discover weakness or error in our borders, before unknown; if our worst fears should be realized, we ought then to rejoice at a timely discovery, and be stimulated thereby to the more faithful discharge of those duties we owe to the seed of the Church. Let us know the, whole truth on this point. Let us understand our position and practice on this subject, as a Church, and act wisely in the premises. We will then briefly examine this subject, considering, I. The position of the Standards of our Church, with refer- ence to her infant seed. II. The extent to which there is neglect of infant baptism. III. The causes of this neglect. IV. How parents may best be induced to honour God, in attending upon his ordinances. I. What, then, is the position of our standards regarding the children of professing Christians? 1. The Chureh regards children—one or both of whose parents are professing Christians—as members of the visible church. (a) “The visible church . . . consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion with their children.” — Confession of Faith, ch. 25, sec. 2. Also, Larger Catechism, Quest. 62. (6) “The universal church consists of all those per- sons, in every nation, together with their children, who make profession,” &¢.—Form of Government, ch. 2, see. 2. (¢) “A particular church consists of a number of professing Christians, with their offspring.”—Form of Government, ch. 2, see. 4. (d) “Else were your children unclean, but now are they holy.” — 1Cor. vii.14. “Of such is the kingdom of God.” —Luke xviii. 16. 5 2. She considers that children, being members of the Church, are within the covenant, and therefore ought to be baptized, in order that all the blessings of that covenant be sealed to them in that ordinance; and that infants are not made members of the visible church by baptism, but are to be baptized because of their relation to the Church. (a) “Infants descending from parents, either both or but one of them professing faith in Christ, and obedience to him, are in that respect, within the covenant, and are to be baptized.””—(Larger Catechism, Quest. 166.) And also, “Bap- tism is... to be unto them a sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace.”’—Confession of Faith, ch. 26, sec. 1; and same ch., sec. 4. (6) “They are federally holy, and therefore ought to be baptized.” —Direct. for Worship, ch. 7, sec. 4. (c) “I will . establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”—Gen. xvii. 7. “The promise is to you and to your children.” —Acts ii. 39. 3. She teaches that children, being in the Church, and having by divine appointment, both the privilege and right of enjoying this sealing ordinance, there is very great sin com- mitted against God, and serious injustice done to their children, by those who neglect this ordinance. (a) The Bible and Confession of Faith everywhere teach that “there be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord,” (Confession of Faith, ch. 27, sec. 4,) that the ordinance of baptism is alone intended for children, and “that the seed of the faithful have no less aright to this ordinance, than the seed of Abraham to circumcision.”’—Direct. for Worship, ch. 7, sec. 4. (6) “And the uncircumcised man-child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people.” —Gen. xvii. 14. Read also the case of Moses, Exod. iv. 24. (c) “Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance,” &c.—Confession of Faith, ch. 28, sec. 5. “Baptism is not to be unnecessarily delayed.”—Direct. for Worship, ch. 7, sec. 1. (d) It must be evident to any one that baptism being an holy ordinance, appointed by Christ to seal the benefits of the covenant of grace to the infant seed of the Church; 6 it is not only rebellion against the authority of Christ, but it is very great injustice done to the children whose baptism 1s neglected. How would that church be regarded, whose members should neglect the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper constantly ? and is the sin less, where they neglect the only other sacrament? “Feed my lambs,” said the risen Saviour; look well to my little ones. Let them not be deprived of the seal of the cove- nant. With the above agrees Calvin, who declares that, “‘ While it is sufficiently clear that the force, and so to speak, the sub- stance of baptism are common to children, to deny these the sign, which is inferior to the substance, were manifest injus- tice.” —(Calvin’s Tracts, vol. 2, p. 89.) And again, “‘How unjust shall we be, if we drive away from Christ those whom he invites to him; if we deprive them of the gifts with which he adorns them; if we exclude those whom he freely admits ?”’— Calvin’s Institutes, b. 4, ch. 2, sec. 7. (e) Neglect of infant baptism is a breach of covenant, and a rejection of the grace presented in the ordinance: ‘He hath broken my covenant.”’— Gen. xvii. 14. And, indeed, not only is this taught in all parts of the Confession, but from the foregoing positions, it is self- evident, and, as Calvin expresses himself, therefore ‘we ought to be alarmed by the vengeance which God threatens to inflict, if any one disdains to mark his son with the symbol of the covenant; for the contempt of that symbol involves the rejec- tion and abjuration of the grace which it presents.”’—Institutes, b. 4, ch. 16, sec. 9. So, also, Gen. xvii. 13: ‘My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” Also, Gen. xvii. 9-14. 4. Children are not to be baptized until the minister is pre- viously satisfied that the parent or parents understand their duties and obligations to their children and the Church, and that they intend to discharge them. (a) “Previously to the administration of baptism, the minis- ter shall inquire into the parents’ knowledge; ... and being satisfied so as to admit them, shall in public point out,’ &.— Digest, p. 80, § 19. (6) Ministers are exhorted “to take due care in the examination of all that offer to dedicate their children to God in the sacred ordinance of baptism,’’ &¢.— Digest, p. 80, § 19. (c) The Rev. Mr. Cumming was “com- 7 mended for insisting on persons praying in their families, who present their children to baptism.”’—Digest, p. 81, § 20. (d) “After previous notice is given to the minister,” &.— Direct. for Worship, ch. 7, sec. 3. The previous notice most certainly cannot be the parents’ bringing of the child to the front of the pulpit, which is very frequently the first intimation that the minister expects to have regarding those to be baptized. This section, especially in connection with the foregoing action of the General Assembly, explanatory of the Directory for Worship, evidently presumes a meeting, before the administra- tion of the ordinance, between the pastor and those having children to be baptized. ; 5. Parents who neglect this ordinance are amenable to the discipline of the Church, at least as much so as if they neglected the Supper of the Lord. (a) Known, acknowledged neglect of any of the ordinances has always been considered as involving such breach of Church covenant as to require Church discipline. And the General Assembly so decided in a case of appeal of one neglecting public worship, (See Digest, p. 83.)' Of course, neglect of the Sacra- ments is a more aggravated offence. To avoid this conclusion shall we consider the Sacrament of baptism inferior to the Supper of the Lord? (6) The Book of Discipline says that an “Offence is anything in the principles or practice of a Church member, which is contrary to the word of God; or, which, if it be not in its own nature sinful, may tempt others to sin, or mar their spiritual edification.” —Discipline, ch. 1, sec. 3. If neglect of infant baptism is not an offence, according to the above defi- nition, we must own our want of perception, and that we cannot understand the Confession of Faith when it declares as above, that “it is a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance.” (c) “There be only two Sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.”—(Confession of Faith, ch. 27, sec. 4.) “Baptism is a Sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, &c.”"—(Confession of Faith, ch. 28, sec. 1.) Very clearly are we required to honour and observe the ordinance of baptism, in terms as strong as are applied to the Lord’s Supper; both in the Bible and Confession of Faith. (d) “The 8 exercise of discipline is highly important and necessary. ’— (Discipline, ch. 1, sec. 2.) “‘Qhildren born within the pale of the visible church, and dedicated to God in baptism, are under the inspection and government of the Church,”’ &¢.— (Direct. for Worship, ch. 9, sec. 1.) This presumes all born “within the pale of the visible church” to be baptized as a matter of course. It supposes no neglect. If, however, we allow neglect, are the children then still ‘“‘under the govern- ment of the Church?” The exercise of discipline and govern- ment is declared to be “necessary,” and yet shall we allow many, very many to evade it, and “cut off” their children from the advantages of church oversight and care? In regard to children of Church members, whose baptism is neglected, we would like to be informed what is their true relation to the Church. Will we calmly hand them over to the “uncovenanted mercies” of God, so often spoken of in certain quarters ? 6. The Church has no right to receive into full membership those who intend committing “the great sin of contemning or neglecting” this holy sacrament. (a) Very manifestly it would be most inconsistent for a Church to receive those who expect, at once, to violate the laws of God and the constitution of the Church, especially in regard to one of the only two sacraments of the New Testament; and most certainly no session has a right to receive persons into full communion without “examining them as to their know- ledge” of the sacraments. To receive such, and then discipline them would be wrong. (6) The above position is sustained by the course pursued by our church judicatories. The Session of the Church of Cambridge would not receive Bethuel Church, even to “occasional communion,” until they had first consulted the General Assembly. That body then declared that he might thus be received, 2. e. to “occasional communion,” notwithstand- ing his scruples.—Digest, p. TO. Il. Is Infant Baptism on the decline in the Presbyterian Church? The question thus stated is one of fact, not of opinion. To answer the query is no doubt difficult; but it is not impossible. For all practical purposes, the question can, we feel assured, be satisfactorily answered. 9 By comparison, and by comparison alone, can we at all obtain the information desired. Were we informed in regard to the exact number of the children of the Church, we would not be long in determining the query before us. But since that is impossible, we must make the best use of such data as are within our reach. If we cannot give an exact answer to the question, may we not make a close approximation thereto? Whilst considering this subject, some years since, it occurred to us, that the annual Statistical Reports made to our General Assembly do afford correct data for a very hear approximate solution of this very interesting problem. The General Assembly has, from time immemorial, received a return, not only of the number of members, but also a report of the number of children baptized. It will then at once occur to the thought- ful observer, that there would in all probability be, taking the Church throughout, and from year to year, a fixed or nearly fixed ratio between the number of children baptized and the number of members in the Church. That is to say, take the Church throughout, and there would probably be, from year to year, to any given number of communicants, the same number of children introduced into the Church by birth, or else by the baptism of their parents. And could that ratio be ascertained, we would then be able to tell, with a very considerable degree of accuracy, the exact state of the case. We have therefore spent not a little time and labour, in seeking for the annual Statistical Reports regarding members and baptisms; and we have been gratified by unexpected success, having obtained them for the last fifty years, excepting only the Reports for 1813, 1822, 1823, and 1835. A large portion of these we extracted from the unpublished documents of the General Assembly, in charge of Dr. Leyburn, the Assembly’s Perma- nent Clerk, by whose kindness we obtained access to them. We herewith present the reader with two tables, containing the Statistical Reports referred to, so arranged as to enable him to form a very satisfactory estimate of the number of unbap- tized children in our Church, according to almost any theory he adopts, regarding the absolute number of children in the Church. We add to them some other small tables regarding 2 10 other Churches, assured that the labour of an examination will be fully repaid. TaBLE No. 1.* The proportion existing between the number of members and the children baptized in the Presbyterian Church, for the last fifty years, excepting 1813, 1822, 1828, and 1835: Adult Members to Baptisms per Infants Year. baptisms. Members. each baptism. 1000 members. baptized. 1807, 170 17,871 6.3 158 2,834 1808, 330 21,270 5.1 195 4,142 1809, 711 25,298 53 189 4,782 1810, 503 28,901 5.9 167 4,835 1811, 461 23,639 5.1 198 4,677 1812, 507 37,699 6.4 151 5,909 1814, 617 37,767 6.6 151 5,693 1815, 745 39,685 rip 142 5,621 1816, 667 37,208 7.1 141 5,263 1817, i: ye ley 47,568 7.8 129 6,128 1818, 1,295 52,822 72 136 7,189 1819, 1,489 63,997 7.7 131 8,352 1820, 1,611 72,096 8.2 122 8,792 1821, 2,101 71,364 8.8 114 8,105 1824, 2217 104,024 11.5 87 9,016 1825, 1,709 108,581 10.7 94 9,730 1826, 3,453 99,674 10.6 94 9,397 1827, 2,965 135,285 13.2 76 10,229 1828, 3,389 146,308 13.6 74 10,790 1829, 3,982 162,816 13.4 75 12,171 1830, 3,255 178,829 14.2 70 12,202 1881, 4,390 182,017 15.0 67 12,198 1832, _9,650 217,348 16.4 61 13,246 1833, 6,950 283,580 16.6 60 14,035 1834, 5,738 247,964 19.1 53 13,004 1836, 2,729 219,126 198 51 11,089 1837, 3,031 220,557 18.9 53 11,697 1838, 2,692 177,665 17.5 57 10,164 1839, 1,644 128,043 16.6 60 7712 1840, 1,741 126,583 16.1 60 7,844 1841, 1,842 184,448 16.1 62 8,365 1842, 2,748 140,433 14.7 68 9,567 1843, 4,363 159,137 14.9 67 10,625 1844, 38,287, 166,487 15.1 66 10,996 * This table contains, as will be observed, the infant baptisms; the num- ber of members; a column showing the number of members each year, for each infant baptized; a column showing the number of children baptized for each one thousand communicants, for each year; and, as a mere matter of interest, the adult baptisms are also introduced. —— 11 Adult Members to Baptisms per Infants Year. baptisms. Members. each baptism. 1000 members. baptized. 1845, 1,929 171,879 17.8 06 9,608 1846, 2,036 174.714 18.1 55 9,677 1847, 1,794 179,453 19.2 52 9,342 1848, 2,338 192,022 19.5 51 9,837 1849, 2,412 200,830 20.3 49 9,895 1850, 2,772 207,254 20.0 50 10,372 1851, 2,918 210,306 19.1 52 10,994 1852, 2,549 210,414 19.1 52 11,006 1853, 2,942 219,263 18.8 53 11,644 1854, 3,597 225,404 18.7 53 12,041 1855, 3,433 931,404 19.7 50 11,734 1856, 3,189 233,755 19.6 51 11,921 —__ 116,211 6,312,283 Av.148 Ay.68 424,470 TABLE No. 2. A Synopsis of Table No. 1, for periods of five years: Adult Members for Baptisms per Infant Years. baptisms. Members. each baptism. 1000 members. baptisms. 1807-1811, 2,178 116,979 5.5 182 21,270 1812-1816, 2,536 152,359 6.7 149 22,486 1817-1821, 7,813 307,847 7.9 125 38,566 1824-1826, 7,379 307,229 10.9 92 28,143 1827-1831, 17,981 799,755 13.9 72 57,590 1832-1836, 25,067 918,018 17.9 7 51,374 1837-1841, 10,950 787,291 17.2 58 45,782 1842-1846, 14,363 812,650 16.1 62 90,473 1847-1851, 12,234 989.865 196 51 50,440 1852-1856, 15,710 1,120,240 19.7 51 58,346 1807-1856, 116,211 6,312,233 14.8 68 424 470 1807-1831, 37,787 1,684,169 10.0 99 168,055 1832-1856, 78,324 4,628,064 17.9 56. 256,415 TABLE No. 3. Number of members for each child baptized in four different Pres- byteries, for six different decennial periods: 1807. 1817. 1827. 1837. 1847. 1856. | | | New York, 56 102 142 WA 151 103 New Brunswick, 7.4 66 118 252 304 314 Philadelphia, ee tts i eG ig at Baltimore, 3.8 GT OP rT gy ee ea 50 TEP MRT Be ME” “gg 12 In the Reformed Dutch Church, in the year 1855, there were reported 38,927 members and 2,448 children baptized—being one child for every 15.9 members, or 63 to the thousand. In 1856, there were 40,413 members and 2,754 children baptized— being one for every 14.7 members, or 68 to the thousand. For the two years, there was one infant baptism to every 15.1 members, or 66 to the thousand. Let the reader, then, carefully examine these statistics, and his attention will at once be arrested by the fact, that in No. 1, - the two columns of figures, showing the ratio of baptisms to church members are, the one an ascending, and the other a descending series. Fifty years ago, there were about 200 children baptized for every thousand communicants; now but 50—only one-fourth as many.- Fifty years ago, there was one child baptized for every five members; now but one for 20! In 1811 there were only 23,639 communicants, and yet there were 4,677 baptisms. And yet, in 1856, with ten tumes as many members, we have only twee as many baptisms of children; or, to be perfectly accurate, had the baptisms borne the same pro- portion to the communicants in our Church, last year, that they did in 1811, 46,249 would have been the number reported, instead of 11,921: showing (with the proportion of 1811) 34,328 children excluded from this holy ordinance within the past year, being almost three-fourths of the infant members of the Church! This, too, is on the supposition that the propor- tion for 1811 was exactly correct, that no child was then left unbaptized. At this rate, too, there should have been, for the 46 years of this table, 1,249,776 children baptized, whereas there were but 424,470, only one-third of that number, leaving 825,306 children thus—if this proportion be right—“ cut off from their Church” by their parents’ act, in that brief period of time; a number nearly equal to three times the whole num- ber of members at present in the Church! But some one may object that this rate is too high; that there have not been that many children born in the Church. We do not assert that there has been that number of subjects of baptism; but we certainly have a right to require the objector to give substantial reasons for believing that there were more 13 children in the Church fifty years since, in proportion to the membership, than there are at the present time. Such reasons may be found, but they do not present themselves to us. We can think of no sufficient cause for such a change. We cannot understand why the proportion of infant baptisms to the number of members should now materially vary from what it was from 1807 to 1811. The accuracy and care used by churches, in the preparation of the statistics of baptisms and members, seem always to have been about the same; and, after a very careful examination of this point, we are satisfied that for all purposes of comparison, these statistics may safely be relied upon. We think, too, that the accuracy of all parts of these tables is about the same, and that there is no material error in any of them. And as to the proper ratio of baptisms to church members, we might remark, that our own experience and observation induce us to believe, that in 1811 it was not higher than we ought to expect it always to be, in a healthy state of the Church. There should be, from year to year, in the whole Church, about 200 children baptized for every thousand members of the Church in full communion. Tt will be observed, too, that it was not in 1811 alone that there were reported nearly 200 to the thousand members. The average rate for the first five years of the last half century, (see table No. 2,) was 182 to the thousand, and for the first ten years 164, or one baptism for every 6.15 members; and even on this supposition there should have been, since 1806, 1,025,470 baptisms, instead of 424,470, the number reported, leaving 601,000 children neglected during that time, 7. e. during 46 of the last 50 years. If then there should be one baptism for every six members, there was no neglect until 1812, but since that time we have 629,338 neglected. If one for every seven members, since 1815, 482,651; none before. If one for eight, 375,763 since 1820; none before. If one for nine, 295,074 since 1824; none before. If one for ten, 231,352 since 1824; none before. And if one for twelve-and-a-half, 120,217 since 1827; and none before. Thus, according to the opinion we hold, whether we expect one child for every 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 123 members, (and 14 if to make the comparison better, we take the last 20 years alone,) we have respectively 618,339; 530,005; 463,753; 412,224; 371,000; or 296,801 as the number of children that should have been baptized; and as the number that was bap- tized in that period of time was only 205,041, there would be left 413,298; 324,964; 258,712; 207,183; 165,959; or 91,760 respectively, as unbaptized, and under twenty-one years of age. If then there are in the Church more children than one for every ten members, it follows, that more than half of the off- spring of the Church are deprived of this ordinance. A writer in the Wew York Observer has supposed that there ought to be 12.5 communicants for each child per year. To us this seems too many; and the Editor of the Presbyterian Banner very justly objects to it. And with our present light we cannot adopt it; nor can we substitute 10. For, it will be observed in the tables that the whole Church averaged that for 25 years. And the rate too was all the time decreasing; showing one of two things, either that Presbyterians have not as large families as formerly; or else, (and that is our opinion,) that adverse influences were more and more operating on the minds of parents, and gradually destroying their regard for this seal of the covenant; thus producing increasing neglect of the ordinance from year to year. It is our opinion that the decrease of infant baptism has really been caused by increased neglect. And, after carefully considering the subject—after conversing with brethren im all parts of the Church, and observing the proportion of baptisms to members in many Churches; and after not only examining our own General Assembly’s early and later statistics, but also the statistics of baptisms in Churches in old and new settlements, 30, 40, and 50 years ago; we are with pain inevitably driven to the conclusion, that there cannot be less than one infant subject of baptism for every six members in the whole Church. And consequently we must conclude that whilst there were but 205,041 children reported as baptized, during the last 20 years, the reports should have amounted to 618,339, leaving not less than 413,298 unbaptized. Thus have more than two-thirds of 15 the children of the Church been “cut off” from the people of God by their parents’ sinful neglect, and by the Church’s silent acquiescence therein! Is this indeed true? Is the one- half of it true? ‘Then, indeed, is there not “ great sin” resting on the Church?—Oonfession of Faith, ch. 28, sec. 5. And ought we not to fear lest great wrath is gone out against us, and lest the fire of God’s anger soon consume us, unless we speedily humble ourselves, and roll away this reproach from us? 'wo-thirds of the children of our Church unbap- tized! The very statement startles us. Indeed, we hesitate in making it, and would fain hope we are mistaken. But we fear it is sober, solemn truth. And we blush in view of the consequent shame and guilt that now rests on us as a Church. To this conclusion, however, some may object. It may be said, that formerly more care was used in reporting bap- tisms than at present. But this we think is not the case. Reasoning a priori, we would expect to find greater care now used in making reports than formerly, since our Churches are now constantly and more earnestly urged to make correct returns than formerly, and Presbyteries generally show an increased and increasing interest in their Statistical Reports. And after referring to the Presbyterial reports, during this whole period, we can see no reason for believing that Churches were formerly more careful on these points than at the present time. About the same care in reporting on these two points seems always to have been used. It may again be objected,that now there are more young people in the Church than formerly; and that consequently there is a smaller proportion of families with young children. But this objection, very manifestly, is not a valid one. It might be received as an explanation of a proportionate falling off for two, three, or five years. But the diminution has been gradual. For years, and tens of years, has there been a con- stantly decreasing ratio, and there has been no sudden change of the proportion; and that most manifestly would have been the case, if the objection were valid. 16 It may be objected that it cannot be true, that two-thirds, one-half, or even any large proportion of our children are unbaptized. So, no doubt, will very many reason, and there- fore suppose that there may still be some explanation offered for the deductions we make from these figures. Thus, as it were, the question becomes one of experience and observa- tion. And if you ask any pastor if the half of the children of his charge are unbaptized, he will, most probably, unhesi- tatingly answer, no; he will tell you that few, very few, are unbaptized. But our experience leads us to believe, that very many pastors and sessions know nothing about this matter, never having given it very special attention. We have been told, in more than one instance, that the children, in a given congregation, were generally baptized, and yet, when an exami- nation was instituted, in every instance, more than half were found unbaptized. As a matter of observation, we would also add, that we have frequently known ministers to neglect the baptism of their own children, without any apparent reason, for months and months, even until one or two years had elapsed; and we know of more than one, two, or three elders and deacons, in a State in which we have resided for years, who refuse altogether to have their children baptized; and yet Sessions and Presbyteries permit their continuance in office, in the very face of the Constitution, and the decision of the General Assembly: yea, and a minister who insists on the duty of attending to this sacrament, is in great danger of making himself odious. We have known a minister to be strongly urged to, decline administering infant baptism at public worship on the Sabbath day; this, too, by his own members, who feared offence would be taken at its adminis- tration by some of the congregation connected with Baptist families; and when that pastor (his congregation being an old and large one) has been about to administer the sacrament, previous to the sermon, more than one have arisen and left the house, to show their contempt for the ordinance. And, in fine, we have heard, on the floor of one of our Synods, the very idea scouted at by one of our ministers, that it is “a great 17 sin to neglect” this ordinance, although the Confession of Faith declares that it is, in those very words. (See ch. 28, sec. 5.) The opinions we have expressed above, as to the number of unbaptized youth in our Church, are further strengthened by the statistics of the Episcopal Church. In 1855, having 107,560 communicants, they baptized 19,012 children, being 177 to every thousand members, or 5.6 mem- bers for every child baptized. In 1856, having 116,735 mem- bers, they baptized 20.048, being 172 to the thousand, or 5.8 members to every child baptized. Thus, then, we learn that in the Episcopal Church, during the past two years, there has been one baptism for every 5.7 members. They have only half as many members as the Pres- byterian Church, and yet report twice as many children bap- tized. To this, we know, it may be said, that they regard this ordinance in a different light from Presbyterians, thinking it to be a saving ordinance, and hence are over anxious to have their children baptized. Now, then, even admitting this to be true— and it would only show that Episcopalians are more careful to have their own children baptized—it does not go to prove that they have larger families, more children than Presbyterians. It very much confirms us in the opinion above expressed, that at least one child should be baptized for every six communicants, if parents were faithful. But there is another important fact that cannot escape obser- vation. By table No. 1, we learn that there has been a con- stant, though varying decrease of the number of baptisms to each thousand communicants, descending from 198 to the thou- sand in 1811, until it reached as low as 51 in 1836, when the New-school and Congregational element in our Church was strongest. After the division, the number slightly increased, until in 1842 there were 68 to the thousand. And again there was a constant diminution until in 1849, there were but 49 to the thousand. And from that time there has been a very slight variation. That our reference above to the New-school and Congrega- tional element is worthy of consideration, will be seen by a 3 18 reference to the preceding tables, in connection with the statistics of those bodies, viz. TABLE No. 4. Members and infant baptisms in the New-school Presbyterian Church compared. Infant Members for each Per 1000 Year. Members. baptisms. infant baptized. members. 1839, 100,850 4,426 44 23 1840, 102,060 4,378 48 23 | 1841, 120,645 2,843 43 24 1842, 120,645 2,843 43 24 . 1843, 120,645 2,843 43 24 1844, 145,416 3,226 45 22 | 1845, 145,416 3,226 45 22 1846, 145,416 3,226 45 22 1847, 139,047 2,621 53 19 1848, 139,047 2,621 53 19 1849, 139,047 2,621 53 19 1850, 139,797 4,096 34 29 1851, 140,076 4,126 34 29 1852, 140,652 3,931 36 28 1853, 140,452 4,032 35 29 1854, 141,477 3,873 37 27 1855, 143,029 3,924 36 27 1856, 188,760 3,394 41 24 2,402,477 62,250 37 26 TaBLE No. 5. Members and infant baptisms in New England Congregational Churches for the last year, compared. Names of Members for each Per 1000 Associations. Members. Infant Baptisms. infant baptized. members. Maine, 16,937 268 63.2 16 New Hampshire, 20,022 285 70.3 14 Vermont, 27,705 193 143.6 7 Massachusetts, | 67,195 1,254 53.6 19 Connecticut, 38,038 738 51.5 . Rhode Island, 2,717 53 51.3 19 ——— — 172,614 2,791 61.8 16 19 By examining table No. 4, it will be seen that the New-school Church, immediately after their secession, show, by their reports, increasing neglect of infant baptism; whereas, our own body reported more baptisms for each thousand members than the united Church had done for some time. This increasing difference continued until in 1847 the New-school reported only 19 for each thousand members, the Old-school, at the same time, reporting 52, being nearly three times as many to the thousand amongst the Old-school as amongst the New. Since then the New-school have reported, from year to year, a very slightly increased proportion. If, then, there ought to be one baptism a year for every six members, within the last 18 years there should have been amongst the New-school 400,413 baptisms, instead of 62,250, the number reported; that is, six children out of seven, or six- sevenths of their children, being 338,163, are unbaptized! All of them of 18 years old and under! Turn now to table No. 5, and we readily see that in the Congregational Churches in New England, infant baptism is, beyond a doubt, dying out. In Vermont we have but 7 bap- tisms to every thousand communicants; in New Hampshire but 14; in Maine, 16; and in all the other Associations but 19; the average being only 16 to the thousand! One remark more on this point. It would seem invidious to name Churches, but there are many, as can be seen by examin- ing the Minutes of the General Assembly, who number 300, 400, and 500 communicants, and yet, from year to year, there are only 2, 3, 5 or 10 baptisms reported. Have such congregations no children, or almost none, or is this sacrament forgotten by them? Can it be their intention to place it amongst the five rejected sacraments of Rome? Let us hope better things. Let Churches honour God, and then alone will he truly honour them. III. What causes have been at work to produce such exten- sive neglect of infant baptism? 1. We may mention the greatly increased and very extraor- dinary efforts of the various anti-Pedobaptist bodies, to dissemi- nate their sentiments within the past thirty-five years. The careful student of history cannot fail noticing a connec- 20 tion between the history of those efforts and the variations of the tables given above. The movement of Alexander Campbell has been felt in our Church, beyond a doubt. He has very plainly left his mark on the statistics above presented. Most insidiously, and yet boldly, was his heresy disseminated even within our borders, and that, too, with no little success. How- ever, since Campbell himself had his debate with Dr. Rice, and since the world thus learned what Campbellism was, learned its dangerous tendency, it has ceased gaining further ground from us. So, also, the influence of the Congregational, Arminian, and Semi-Pelagian elements, have all told with power, have tended to laxity of practical religion. Look over the statistical tables given above, and examine the history of our Church during that time, and this will be noticed. Indeed, we are satisfied that independency in church government will, sooner or later, lead to errors both in doctrine and practice! And in so far as that element becomes mixed with the Presbyterian, Presbyterianism will lose its power. 2. Neglect of baptism results from neglect of pastors in giving proper and full instructions to their people in regard to this sacrament. This, we think, would follow, as an inference from the mere fact of neglect of the duty. Almost invariably do failures, in regard to the practical duties of Christianity, arise from a pre- vious neglect of doctrinal instruction; and, we think, this is eminently true in the present case. Seldom does a sacramental season roll around that we are not privileged to hear a discourse, yea, many discourses, intended to enforce the duty of all to regard and attend upon the Lord’s Supper as an ordinance of God. ‘The great sin of neglect is also dwelt upon with much earnestness; and great pains are taken to explain the nature, design, and use of that ordinance. And yet, although we have passed several years in the ministry, and have generally had a favourable opportunity of hearing preaching, we cannot recall one instance in which we were privileged to hear a sermon on the sacrament of baptism. Such sermons are, no doubt, often preached, but we are very greatly mistaken, if there is not a crying sin in this regard, on the part of very many pastors. Like priest, like people. If pastors disregard this ordinance in 21 their public teachings, the people may be expected to neglect the discharge of the duties incumbent on them. If the doctrine of the Trinity is not taught, Unitarianism invariably gains ground. If the duty of observing the sacraments is not insisted upon, their neglect will become more and more common, as a matter of course. In regard to baptism, we are disposed to think that such instruction as is generally given in our pulpits and lecture- rooms, is very limited and partial. Our own limited experience and observation lead us to believe this is lamentably true. There are comparatively few of our youths, who understand the relation they bear to the Church. We have asked scores of them, and in a very few instances only have we received an intel- ligent reply. Our Shorter and Larger Catechisms, and such works as Willison and Fisher, are not in vogue, as they were thirty or forty years since. Pastors now seldom assemble the children of their congregations for instruction regarding the doctrines and sacraments, such meetings as were recom- mended years ago by our Assembly, (see above,) as are pre- sumed in the Constitution, and as are still common in Scot land. ‘Examination’ meetings have generally passed by. Many pastors too, are fearful of being accounted contentious if they preach on baptism, since some member has a husband, or wife, or some connection, of Baptist views; and it is very remarkable that, whilst this subject is constantly harped upon in Baptist periodicals and pulpits, and whilst tracts are con- stantly thrust in our people’s hands, where this can at all be done—tracts intended to convince them that Presbyterianism is Popery, &.—this may all be done, and give offence to very few of our members, but the moment their own pastor speaks with decision on the subject, and exposes the errors of these opposers, these same persons think it unnecessary, ill-timed, or ill-advised. Thus are they charitable and liberal in their own estimation, whereas, in reality, they are enemies of the truth. Thankful are we for our hundreds of faithful, earnest, and godly pastors. And we feel assured that even where there is failure in the discharge of duty, the failure arises, in very few instances, from a want of love for the truth. Let us then urge them to insist more particularly, in their instructions, on the 22 truth, that baptism is a sacrament, one of only two; that it was ordained by Christ himself; and that, therefore, the same obli- gations rest upon Christians to present their children for bap- tism, as to attend upon the Lord’s Supper; and that the same sin is committed when they neglect either duty. Indeed, we think that the great failure in many works on baptism, and in much of the instruction given in the pulpit, con- sists in neglect, pointedly and earnestly, to press on the con- sciences of parents their great guilt and sin against God im neglecting this ordinance. Learned and very excellent discus- sions we have, and they have been called for; controversial works and sermons have been demanded, and read, and have tended to prevent the progress of error. But it is compara~ tively seldom that parents are pressed as to the sin of their neglect—the sin committed against the Church, against their children, against their own souls, against God; the sin of reject- ing the blessings promised to their children in the covenant; the sin of despising their children’s “ birthright.” How very often is it the case that an ordinance, which should be regarded as a delightful privilege to the parent, is regarded rather as an ordinance of the Church! Perhaps it is considered a respectable way of naming the child, or of making display of its habiliments to the congregation. Oh, how much reason is there to fear that its administration is not often preceded, on the part of the parents, by that meditation, self-examination and prayer, which should accompany an attendance upon such a holy and delightful sacrament ! 3. Improper administration of this ordinance. This we ~ imagine is one of the principal causes of the existing neglect of | the ordinance itself. 1st. The minister very often does not even know who intend presenting their children, until the time for the service itself has arrived; contrary to the “Directory,” ch. vii. § 8. Conse- quently, he has not, “ previous to the administration of that ordinance, inquired into the parents’ knowledge,” &c., and can- not do, as required by the Gen. Assem. Digest, b. ili., p. 1, § 19. 2d. Thus proceeding without any previous acquaintance with the parents, or knowledge of their intentions, and very hastily 23 attending to its administration, the moral influence upon them, and others, is in a great measure destroyed. 3d. Although the minister expects to require of parents some solemn promises, those parents are often left in utter ignorance of their nature, or of the fact that. they are expected to come under such solemn obligations, until the moment they are—in a hurried manner before the congregation—asked to give their assent to them. Unless previously familiar with the requisitions of our Constitution, (and our experience has taught us that com- paratively few are,) the full import of those questions cannot be gathered, as they are proposed. And if the questions are not affirmatively answered, it is no difference; we never heard of one instance of baptism being, at that stage, arrested by either the minister, or parent. It is very wrong, thus to trifle with matters of such moment. The Constitution is violated, when this course is pursued; and common sense indignantly chides those who thus negligently and improperly deal with these sacred rites of our most holy religion. “While in all the ordinances, holy fear and devout reverence should characterize religious worshippers, those which may be regarded as the highest and most sacred institutions of Chris- tianity—the seals of the covenant—should be approached with peculiar solemnity, and with a frame of mind corresponding to the nature and importance of the service, to the spiritual bene- fits expected from its performance, and to the weighty obliga- tions which it involves. It is generally admitted to be a gross profanation, to partake of the Lord’s Supper in a rash and hasty ‘manner, without due preparation. ‘Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat,’ &c. And not only the practice of our Lord ‘and his apostles, but the profession also, of almost all sections of the Church, declares an unprepared approach to this sacra- ment to be presumptuous sinning; not only unproductive of any real benefit to the participant, but fraught with fearful dan- ger. Although there is reason to fear that, from low views of the nature and design of the other sacrament, and from the unfaithfulness of those who dispense it, numbers come to it des- titute of due solemnity, ignorant of the necessary preparation, and unconcerned about making it; yet is such preparation 24 equally important and beneficial in partaking of baptism, as in coming to the Lord’s Supper.” —Houston on Baptism. 4th. Another cause of neglect is, the Church’s failure to recognize baptized children as members after baptism. Feed my lambs, said our Saviour. Instruct my children, says the Church, in her Constitution; and yet, who can.see any difference between the baptized children and other youths? We have often been seriously asked to point out the way in which the Church recognizes the difference. The recommendation of the General Assembly, and the spirit of the Constitution, require “‘the pastors and sessions of the different churches under their care, to assemble as often as they may deem necessary during the year, the baptized children with their parents, to recommend said children to God in prayer, and explain to them the nature and obligations of baptism, and the relation which they sustain to the Church.” —(Minutes of the General Assembly for 1818, p. 691.) And again, “We do recommend unanimously, to all our Presbyteries, and particularly that each Presbytery do, at least once a year, examine into the manner of each minister’s preaching, and whether he do, and how he doth discharge his duty, toward the young people and children of his congregation, in a way of catechizing and familiar instruction. And, in case ~ any minister within our bounds shall be defective in any of the above mentioned cases, he shall be subject to the censure of the Presbytery.” —(Minutes, 1734, p. 111.) Andin 1785, arrange- ments were made to have the youthin vacant congregations cate- chized, ‘‘at least once a year, in the same manner as is required by the order of our Church, in congregations supplied with regu- lar pastors.””. Were “the order of our Church” regarded by all pastors ; were children so taught, that they would feel them- selves to be really under the Church’s inspection, they would see the advantages of baptism, and irreligious and ungodly parents would not need to inquire in what the difference does consist. We do not wonder at such persons concluding that there is no advantage to be derived by children, from their bap- tism, whilst in infancy; and hence they do not consider the guilt resting on themselves when they deprive their children of the seal of the covenant. The infant members of the Church are declared, in the Discipline, to be under the “inspection and gov- 25 ernment’ of the officers of the Church. And henee, it belongs to them to see that parents discharge their duties; that they instruct their children in the Scriptures, and Catechisms, and train them in the fear of God. And when they have arrived at years of discretion, and possess sufficient knowledge to dis- cern the Lord’s body, “they ought to be informed it is their duty and their privilege to come to the Lord’s Supper.” Let sessions and pastors universally discharge these duties thus made incumbent on them by God and the Church, and we doubt not the result will soon be seen in an increase of piety among parents. This would also, we doubt not, manifest itself in an increase of infant baptisms, and in an increase of the number of youths making profession of faith in Christ, from year to year. In the path of duty, children, parents, pastors, sessions, churches, all will be blessed. Sth. Neglect of family worship results in neglect of this sacrument. When the fire ceases to burn on the altar, it is not surprising if there be found no heat in the bosom. When the cry is made that family altars are torn down, that family worship is greatly neglected by professing Christians; we need not wonder if the sacraments and other ordinances are neg- lected, or carelessly attended upon, especially if baptism, the household sacrament, is laid aside. If children are not taught to love prayer and the reading of God’s word at home, we need not be surprised that their parents neglect baptism, in which ordinance they would be reminded of the duties they thus owe to their offspring. After all, the great means, under God, for the perpetuation of piety in the family, is the family Bible and the family altar. Let family worship be laid aside, and soon will it show itself in want of regard for public worship. ‘A Christian family living without family religion is a contradic- tion.” —Minutes of General Assembly, 1808. 6th. The time and circumstances attending the administra- tion of baptism, are often such as wholly to destroy the moral effect of the ordinance itself. Week-day services or private prayer-meetings, when even few professing Christians are pre- sent, are, on that account not seldom selected, in preference to the Sabbath-day. Thus it would seem that this is regarded as 4 26 an inferior sacrament; at all events, that is the natural effect of such a course on the minds of lookers on. More especially is this the case where that ordinance is seldom administered, and consequently regular attenders on the house of God on Sabbath-day, seldom, perhaps never, have seen baptism adminis- tered on that day, and therefore are shocked at the impro- priety of it! If these services were really held in private houses because of a desire to have children early dedicated to God, it would then be an exaltation of the ordinance—be a manifestation of high regard for it; since mothers cannot be expected, until their children are several weeks old, to be able to go up to the house of God. “It is proper that baptism be administered in the presence of the congregation,” (Direct. for Worship, ch. 7, sec. 5,) but in such cases it may “be expe- dient to administer this ordinance in private houses.” How many family records would show the great regard for this ordi- nance which was had by the parents of the late Dr. Chalmers, as evinced in the following extract from his father’s record: “ John Chalmers and Lucy Hall were married on the 20th August, 1771. Children by said marriage—1. James, born June 11, 1772; baptized June 14th. 2. Lucy, born Nov. 9, 1773; baptized Nov. 14th. 38. Barbara, born June 21, 1775; baptized June 25th. 4. George, born April 1, 1777; baptized April 6th. 5. William, born Aug. 381, 1778; baptized Sept. 6th. 6. Thomas, born March 17, 1780; baptized March 19th. 7. Isabel, born Dec. 18,1781; baptized Dec. 16th. 8. David, born May 31, 1783; baptized June Ist. 9. John, born May 19, 1785; baptized May 22d. 10. Helen, born August, 1786; baptized Sept. 8d. 11. Jean, born June 29, 1788; baptized same day. 12. Patrick, born June 16, 1790; bap- tized June 20th. 13. Charles, born January 16, 1792; bap- tized January 22d. 14. Alexander, born April 9, 1794; baptized April 13th.” Not one of all the fourteen children of this record was over seven days old at the time of its baptism. Would there not be more such men as Thomas Chalmers, if we had more such parents as he had? Specific times seem to be set apart for the administration of infant baptism, generally about the communion season. Thus naturally, but unintentionally, the idea is instilled into the minds 27 of very many parents, that there is a fixed opportunity for their children’s baptism, and that it cannot be attended to at other times. We know this impression is common in the Church, and very general in some districts. And thus parents not being able to present their children at the specified time, Suppose it cannot be done till the next communion season; and should anything be in the way at that time it is again post- poned. Thus carelessness and neglect of the ordinance is engendered, and years roll around, when one, two, three, or six little ones added to the family, are without the seal of God’s favour. 7th. We also think that another fact, not yet mentioned, is deserving our notice. About the year 1830, there were, annually, some 3,000 adults and 12,000 infants baptized, and about 9,000 members were received on profession of faith. Tt was usually the case, about that time, that the whole number of persons received on examination was nearly equal to the number of infants baptized. But in the year 1832, the number of members received on examination was trebled, as was also the number of adults baptized; but the increase in the number of infants baptized, was only one-twelfth—d, é., instead of having reported some 36,000 infants baptized, to 34,160 persons received on profession of faith, there were only 13,246 children thus admitted to this sealing ordinance. And so we find this state of things continued during the excitements in our churches from 1831 to 1836, which were of New England and Congregational origin. “New measures” were popular, and the old doctrine of infant baptism shamefully neglected. So that in three years, under the “new system,” there must have been received at least 40,000 or 50,000 members, besides the usual proportion of 40,000 more, who, from the beginning, entirely disregarded and ignored household baptism. This would indicate both indifference to this sacrament by church officers in receiving members, and a disregard of it on the part of the members received. We regard these facts as well deserving consideration, much more than we have time or space at present to devote thereto. The remarks already made in reference to the Congregational and New-school statistics thus receive additional confirmation. . 28 IV. What may be done to awaken the Church to a proper regard for the sacrament of baptism, the seal of God’s favour towards his little ones? On this point we will not now speak largely. Let brethren ponder well this whole subject. Let our Church judicatories, our pastors and our ruling elders consider well the solemn responsibilities now respectively resting on them. We will now, however, very briefly suggest some things which, it seems to us, may and ought to be done. 1. Let pastors and sessions give more attention to the requirements of the Constitution as presented, particularly in the former part of this article. If this were done, much, if not all, of the neglect would thus be removed. 2. Let pastors more frequently preach in regard to - the sacrament of baptism, and particularly point out the guilt of those who contemn or neglect it, since it is an ordinance of Christ himself. And let them also give proper attention to catechetical exercises amongst the youth. 3. Let Presbyte- ries and Synods inquire into the faithfulness with which pastors and sessions discharge their duties in this respect. Let an interest, a real interest, be manifested in regard to those admitted to the benefits of this sacrament, as well as those received to the Lord’s Supper; and let this interest also manifest itself in the giving and receiving their annual reports. 4. Let Sessions, Presbyteries, and Synods insist more on family religion among their members, and they will learn highly to prize this seal of promise to the children of believers. 5. It may be well for the General Assembly to consider the | propriety of overturing Presbyteries with reference to adding to the Constitution some of its own enjoinments, above quoted; and of adding one or two sections, regarding the time when baptism is to be administered, the time and manner of the pastor’s interview with parents previous to the baptism of their children, the qualifications of parents, &. And we would sug- gest that sessions be required to keep a register of all the children in their congregation, adding from time to time those born to their members, and the children of members received on certifi- cate, and report the same annually; and that Presbyteries report the same to the Assembly. 6. Let the Assembly insist that the Presbyteries under her care do require all members within 29 their respective jurisdictions to conform to the requisitions of our Confession of Faith and the teachings of the word of God. And, in particular, that they see to it that all their ministers, elders, and deacons, neither contemn nor neglect this holy ordinance. 7. Let the Assembly direct that baptized members be dismissed, and received as such on certificate, and that thus their being under the Church’s care and inspection be regarded as a matter of fact; every church having a list of baptized members, and annually reporting the same to the higher judicatories. ERRATA. On page 18, immediately under the heading, “Members for each infant baptized,” read, 23 instead of 44 a3 a AS Also. immediately under the heading, “ Per 1000 members,” read, 44 instead of 23 Aye EPs es - - * e- #) t es Py ¥ ; \ t ' BY D. M. MITCHELL, PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. < A PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. PRINTED BY G. W. & E W. NICHOLS, _WALDOBORO’. 1839. Za Oe Ne oer “hee to DISCOURSE. ACTS xvi: 23. AND HE TOOK THEM THE SAME HOUR OF THE NIGHT, AND WASHED THEIR STRIPES; AND WAS BAPTIZED, HE, AND ALL HIS, STRAIGHTWAY. I make no apology for attempting to defend, what I deem Scriptural truth. I ask for no privilege, which I am not willing to grant to those who differ from me in opinion. I approach the field of controversy with great reluctance, especially as the subject of dispute is one, on which Christians differ. Your prayers are re- quested, my friends, that I may be guided by that spi- rit, which ‘“‘seeketh not her own, is not easily provok- ed, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but re- joiceth in the truth.” My aim shall be to give a can- did view of the subject, in such language, as shall be intelligible to all, and as shall give no just occasion of offence to any sincere enquirer after truth. The subject for discussion is Caristran Baptism ;— concerning which, I propose to answer two enquiries: First.— What is the Scriptural mode of administering the ordinance of Baptism? Secondly.— Who are the proper subjects ? Before we begin the discussion, respecting the mode of administering the rite of Baptism, let me premise two things. We have not, on either side, a command, exhibiting, in explicit terms, the mode, nor arguments amounting to mathematical demonstration. The evi- dence is circumstantial. Probabilities must be weigh- ed, and your assent must be yielded to the preponder- ance of evidence. | My second remark’,is,—We do not, on either side, profess to consider the belief of our peculiar sentiments essential to salvation. ‘There are friends of Christ, in 4 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. ‘both denominations, who expect to co family in heaven.* I might add here, w pute with those, who practicé immei the validity of their mode. We sup tity of water employed is not essenti: tity fully answers the design of the ordinane ing plunged in an ocean does not destroy this ¢ If, however, I can show that pouring or il is also éalid baptism, and moré pfobably the aposto mode, it will not be difficult to detefmime, whi be preferred. Let it, then, be distinctly 1 that the only question between us is,— Wheil plication of water by pouring or sprinkling is Se baptisni? | age o* fee: I. Let us attend to the meaning of the word ; tism. Says a distinguishéd Baptist writér,—* Had the Greek word baptizo been translated, in the Englis version of the New Testament, there would have heen no dispute among English readers concerning its im- ~ port.”; And why was it not translated? Evidently because the translators, who were men of great learn- ing and piety, found that the word. had not one uniform) 7 meaning. Like almost every other important word, it” had several different meanings, and they could not hon- estiy give it one, to the exclusion of others. They did not render it immerse, because they knew it did not ~ unifornily signify immerse. They simply transeribed ~ it, and left each one to determine its meaning, by ex- © amininy its use in the Scriptures. cae Baptizo is a derivative from dapto, its root, which, as is admitted by distinguished Baptist writers, does not ahvays mean immerse. Hts primary meaning is wash, without regard to the mode of washing. It also means to immerse, dip, dye, tinge, cleanse by washing, sprin- kle, &c.t Baptizo is a derivative from bapto, and, aS ie we contend, ‘a diminutive also, of a more general sigmi- ication and importing less strongly the idea of immer—— sion.” But we need not insist upon this distinction. ~ It is sufficient to our purpose, that both words are of © te * We regret to say.so much stress is often laid upon the mode, by our” Baptist brethren, we are not surprised to find, that seme ignorant Christians ' infer that they must be immersed, or lost. ier ‘a +Judson’s Sermon, page 3. oe tMy limits do not permit me to refer to authorities; but they may be — sj found in almost every Treatise on the subject of Baptism. caer fon “st CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. == si the same import, as we depend chiefly upon the Scrip- tural use of the term to explain its meaning. As the word is used in the Old Testament, it cannot signify immerse. Daniel v: 21.—It is said of Nebu- _chadnezzar,—‘‘ his body was wet (baptized) with the dew of heaven.” Was he immersed in the dew? In the New Testament it reads—‘‘ And when they come from the market, except they wash (baptize) they eat not. And many other things there be which they have received to hold, as the washing (baptizing) cf cups, and pots, and brasen vessels, and tables.”—Mark vii: 4. Did they immerse their tables? The washing before meat, was washing the hands, which evidently might be done by pouring or otherwise, according to circum- stances.* In Hebrews ix: 10, the apostle, speaking of the Jewish economy, says,—‘‘ Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, (or baptisms,)” &e. By referring to the ceremonial law, we find that these baptisms were performed, by washing either the whole or a part of the body and by sprin/.'ing the water of separation. See Exodus xxix: 4; xxx: 19-—21; particularly Numbers xix: 7—21, and compare it with Hebrews ix: 19—21, and you will see unanswerable proofs that most, if not all, of these divers baptisms, were performed by sprinkling or pourmg. In 1 Corinthians x: 2, the apostle speaks of those, who passed through the Red sea.—‘ And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” How were they baptized? Not by plunging into the sea; for the history informs us, that “they went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground.” Was there nota shower of rain during their passage through the sea? ° Turn to the 77th Psalm and read from the 16th verse to the close, and you will see, that the scene was ren- dered doubly awful and grand by thunderings and lightnings, that ‘“‘the clouds poured out water.” Was not this a baptism by sprinkling? They surely were not immersed either in the cloud, or in the rain. You . see, therefore, that the word baptize, as used in the Scriptures, does not, uniformly or generally, signify immersion, and consequently that immersion is not es- sential to Christian baptism. fe =. “See Luke xi: 38. And ceinpare it with Matthew xv: &. 6 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM.” II. Let us now consider some figurative all this subject. The Christian is said to be“ born and of the Spirit.” Baptism with water is an em of spiritual baptism. If in applying the external Si there is an emblematical exhibition of the purifying in. fluences of the Spirit, evidently, pouring or sprinkling — is the most expressive mode. ‘The descent of the Holy ~ Spirit is uniformly represented by pouring or sprink- — ling.—‘‘ I will pour out my Spirit unto you.” “Twill pour my Spirit on thy seed.” “TI will pour out my Spirit — upon all flesh.” “ He shall come down, like rain upon the mown grass.” ‘I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean.” ‘So shall he sprinkle ~ many nations.”* i oe John said of Christ, ‘‘ he shall baptize with the Holy Ghost.” He promised his disciples that they should be “baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.” ‘This was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, and the apostle speaks of it as the accomplishment of the prediction of Joel,—‘I will pour out my Spirit.” —Actsi: 5,8; and ii: 17. St. Paul speaks of the baptism of the Spirit, as ‘‘ the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly.”—Titus ili: 5, 6.t What can be more evident than that the pouring and shedding forth of the Spirit and the baptism of the Spi- rit are the same? If so, then baptism, being the insti- tuted sign, to be emblematical of the thing signified, ~ should be administered by pouring or sprinkling. Baptism, being the emblem of purification, there is — also a natural and obvious allusion to the blood of atone- ' ment, ‘‘ which cleanseth from all sin.” ‘This is repeat- edly denominated the blood of sprinkling. Hebrews xii: 24.—‘+ Ye are come to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling.” &e, — ‘¢ And sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 1 Pe- ter 12-2. a But there is a figurative allusion in Rom, vi: 4, and Col. ii: 12, which the advocates for immersion consider as speaking volumes for their mode. ‘Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death.” If this 7 Sat 4 s, , a aaa a pen Bodie’ See SE ee ee a ute: ae nis ae * Proverbs i: 23. Ysaiabexliv: 3. Joel ii: 28. Psalms Ixxii: 6. .Ezeke iel xxxvi: 25. Isaiah lii: 15. des + Acts xi: 15. 1 Corinthians xii: 13. CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. _ it ae st ~ 2 3 ’ . “has an allusion to the mode of baptism, it has an impor- | tant bearing on the subject; if not, it has no force at all. Let us enquire. Dr. Judson, a late Baptist writer, whom the denom- ination consider one of their most able advocates, says, that the apostle here refers ‘‘to spiritual baptism and Spiritual circumcision.” This is the general sentiment _ of the most learned critics. Indeed, it requires an im- agination of more than ordinary powers to see the re- semblance between plunging one in water and the burial of Christ in the tomb of Joseph. Says a distin- - guished writer,—‘‘the image or figure of immersion, baptism, is, so far as I know, no where else in Scripture employed as a symbol of burial in the grave. Nor can I think, that it is a very natural symbol of burial. The obvious import of washing with water, or immersing in water, is, that it is symbolical of purity, cleansing, pu- rification. But, how will this aptly signify burying in the grave, the place of corruption, loathsomeness, and destruction.”—Dr. Stuart. In the passage in Romans, the apostle speaks of a death and a resurrection. Now according to all just interpre- tation, if the death referred to is natural death, the life is natural life. But it will be seen in a moment, that the resurrection to newness of life is a spiritual and not a natural resurrection. Of course, then, the death, set in opposition to it, is spiritual. As Christ died for sin, we die to sin; as he rose from the dead, we rise from spiritual death to newness of life. We profess to have experienced this great spiritual change, when we are baptized into Christ. Hence there is no allusion to the mode, but, as Dr. Judson says, ‘‘to the spiritual mean- ing of baptism.” If this interpretation needs confirmation, examine the figurative expressions in the two following verses. They are plainly intended to illustrate and enforce the same sentiment. ‘ For if we have been planted togeth- er in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Here the figure is chang- ed from burying to planting, and in the next verse, to crucifixion. ‘ Knowing this, that our old man is cru- _ ecified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” These sey- eral illustrations are employed to enforce the truth, Go a CHRISTIAN BAPTISM previously asserted, that he who is dead t0" ry believer professes to be, when he ist live any longer therein. Bia dg But, if the allusion in this passage is ne of baptism, then that appeal so often mac sions of the unthinking multitude,—** Who is willing to obey his Saviour, and follow him into his watery grave,” is an imposition. Christ was not buried in th water; but ina tomb of stone. He was not let dow into a grave, according to our customary manner of bu rying, but deposited in the side ofa temb, probably — above ground. Where is the resemblance between immersion and this act ? ge pe A. : Ill. I will now direct your attention to the practice © of the apostles. ‘The mode of baptism, practised by — John, is generally believed by those who consider im- mersion the only Scriptural mode, to be settled be-_ yond a question. It seems to them so perfectly clear that the Saviour was immersed, and that his example — must be imitated by all his followers, that they feel” justified in denying those, who differ from them in opin-~ ion, a standing in the Christian church. But is it set- tled beyond question, that John baptized by immer- sion? We must not be deceived by the sound of” words, as though his mode of baptizing can be deter-" mined from the fact, that he is called “‘ John the Bap- tist.” This only denotes that he was a baptizer, and ~ determines nothing in regard to the mode in whieh he © administered the ordinance. John resorted to a place ~ of ‘much water” or many waters, for other purposes, — than simply for the convenience of performing his bap- — tisms. Think of the multitudes, who resorted to him — for instruction. They could not be sustained a single — day in that sultry climate without much water for their refreshment. When our Methodist brethren select a place to hold a Camp-Meeting, do they not pitch their — tents where there is abundance of water? For what — purpose? For the convenience of baptizing, or for purposes of refreshment? How much more necessary was it in that country, where “much water’ was a thing of rare occurrence. Travellers assure us, that in the region, where John preached and baptized, are t be found only springs and small streams, affording n convenience for baptizing by immersion. Many cir CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 9 sumstances of his baptism seem inconsistent with im- ) mersion, and render it probable, that he practised, or- " dinarily, some other mode. He baptized “‘in the des- ert,’ as well as at Jordan: he baptized with water as well as in it. He baptized in the open fields, where “there were no accommodations for a change of apparel. * And more than all, he baptized vast multitudes in a little time. His ministry could not have continued » more than a year and a haif; in which time he baptized ~ * Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan.”— Matthew iii: 5. Some Baptists have thought it probable that he baptized at least 500,000 persons. But to immerse these in a year and a half, allowing only a minute for the immersion of each, he must have been constantly in the water, every day, for more than fifteen hours. Is it credible that he should do this, especially since we are assured that he “did no miracle?” Is it credible, then, that in erdinary cases John baptized by immersion.”—_Dr. Pond’s Trea- lise on Christian Baptism, page 38. But does not Matthew say. (iii: 6,) they were bap- tized of him in Jordan. So it reads in our translation, » and it affords an illustration of the fact, that the prepo- p sitions have different meanings. It reads baptized of » him, meaning evidently by him. So “in Jordan” may with propriety be rendered af Jordan. In Luke xiii: » 4, our Saviour speaks of the tower “in Siloam.” Sj- loam was a pool and the tower was not in but near it.— © Heb. x:12. Christ sat down not in, but on the right ' hand of God. The same preposition is used in these _ passages. But do we not read that Jesus, “when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water?’ _ The Jordan had banks and it would be necessary 10 go up, if he only went down {fo the water, or stepped his feet into the water. That the word, rendered out of, might have been translated from, you may see by ex- _ amining passages where the same Greek word is used. _ Acts xii: 10,—The angel “forthwith departed from him,” not out of him. I might refer you to others; but my limits will not permit. Agreeably to this construc- tion of John’s mode of baptizing, it is said, that he bap- _ tized with water. But those, who favor immersion, say this is an error in translation. Let us see. “I indeed baptize you with water; but he shall baptize you with te ——— a! ‘Se ha” oi _- yerses the preposition en is omitted hefore udatt. ve 10 ss CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. we the Holy Ghost.”—Mark i: 8. John baptized with water, the most natural supposition is, — that he did not immerse. re But admitting that this was the mode, practised by him, and that Christ was immersed ; it will not follow that we must imitate his example in this rite. Christ ~ himself was ‘‘a minister of the circumcision,” born un- — der the law, and doubtless his forerunner was. The old ~ dispensation was not abolished; ‘the hand writing of ~ ordinances was not blotted out, till Christ nailed itto © his cross.’—Col. ii: 14. _ John was more distinguished, © than any one who preceded him; but says Christ, “he — that is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than ~ he.”—Matt. xi: 11. The connection shows that the ~ Gospel dispensation is here referred to. Jt became the © High Priest of our profession “to fulfil all righteous- ness,” all that was required of him by the ceremonial ~ law. Hence he was circumcised and observed other ~ ceremonies, offered the customary sacrifices and par- took of the passover. For the same reason he was in- ~ ducted into his priestly office by washing with water, ~ (see Leviticus viii: 6, 12,) receiving immediately after his baptism the anointing of the Holy Ghost. As, ~ therefore, Christ’s baptism was a mere legal ceremony of the Jewish dispensation, we may, with as much pro- priety, be called upon to practise circumcision, to keep — the passover or to comply with any other ceremonial ~ washing, as to follow his example in baptism. Accord- — ingly Mr. Robert Hall, a distinguished Baptist writer, and many others make no account of John’s baptism in the argument with those who advocate sprinkling. — They agree with us, that the Gospel dispensation com- menced after the Saviour’s resurrection, when he di- rected his apostles,—‘‘ Go ye and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in, or into, the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” If any — * Matthew xxvi: 52. 1f any wish to consult the original Greek to ascer- tain the propriety of this rendering, compare with Matthew ii: 11; Mark ; i: 8; John i: 26; Lukeiii: 16; Actsi: 5; and xi: 16. Inthe last three & CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. aK Il doubt remains, turn to Acts xix: 2—5, where it ap- pears, that “‘ certain disciples,” who had received John’s _ baptism, were baptized again in the name of the Lord Jesus. J)id the apostle Paul believe, that John’s bap- tism was Gospel baptism ? J But it is time to enquire-—What was the apostolic mode. ‘The history commences with that, which oc- curred on the day of Pentecost: Acts ii: 41,—“‘ Then they that gladly received his word were baptized ; and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Here nothing is said of the mode, on- ly that they were baptized. But will not the circum- stances throw light on the subject? They were in Jerusalem, where we find neither river nor creek; in the summer season of Judea, when they had scarcely any rains, the brook Kedron was dry, and nothing re- | mained but the pool of Siloam.* “Where could the apostles have found places to immerse so many? Would the rulers, in all their opposition, suffer them to use the public baths? Or if they did, could the twelve apos- tles, after expending at least half the day in preaching and making the necessary preparations, baptize 250 each by immersion? Some have conjectured that the seventy disciples were present and assisted in baptizing, but the history gives no intimation of the fact, and the” assumption is altogether gratuitous. The unprejudiced reader will see evidence sufficient that the apostles only performed the services of that occasion and that they must have done it in a more expeditious way than by immersion. And as the converts had just been bap- tized by pouring out the Spirit upon them, what more natural than that the emblematic sign should be admin- istered in the same mannér?—Acts ii: 17 , 18, 33, The next in order, where any circumstances are re- lated, is that of the Eunuch, baptized by Philip: Acts Vili: 38,—“ And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they went down, both into the water, both Philip and the Eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water,” &c. Now I shall not deny, that this passage taken as it reads, without-reflection, seems to favor immersion. I wonder not, that our Baptist brethren claim it as a strong proof * Travellers say that this Pool flows only at intervals, and is not deep ¢30ugh for immersion, 12 CHRISTIAN BAPTIS} text. ‘This only shows the importance of tigation, a careful weighing of circumstances. — [t is said,—‘‘ They came unio a certain wa whether a river, stream, brook or spr informed. Going down into and coming ov fore remarked, and as every one, acquainted original language, well knows, might, with eq priety, have been rendered to and from. ar sition eis translated into, is translated to fi re times this same chapter. And this translation seems the more important in this passage ; as it reads, that “ they both went down into the water.” We presume, the the most strenuous advocate for immersion will not co1 tend that Philip immersed himself as well as the Hu- nuch. But if the expression ‘into the water,” proves immersion, as is contended, then it proves that both were immersed, and the Eunuch twice; because it is said Philip baptized him after he went into the water. But, it may be asked, why did he go into the water, if not to be immersed? He went fo, or if you imsist upon the present translation, into the water for convenience, whatever the mode in which the rite was administered. © Another circumstance is worthy of notice. The Hu- 7% nuch was reading a passage in Isriah 52d and 53d chap-~ ters, (for the book was not then divided into chapters.) " _ that passage in which these words occur: “So shall he — sprinkle many nations.” How came the Eunuch to know any thing concerning the iniatory ordinance of baptism? Was it not because this passage alluded to it,and constituted one subject of conversation between him and Philip? And would the Evangelist teach him that the Messiah shall sprinkle many nations, and then” go and plunge him into a rivef, or pond? oe a Let it be remembered, that this is the only instance of Gospel baptism, in which the slightest intimation is _ given, that it was done ina river, brook, or pond, or that the parties moved from the place where they were, | when the conversion occurred, for the purpose of ad- ministering baptism, and this was evidently a case of necessity. Here is the foundation, on which the rite of — immersion rests. Is it not a slender foundation?: The texts which speak of being ‘‘ buried with Christ,” on which some confidently rely, are given up as untena- ble, by some of their ablest writers, as I have alread remarked, * ee ’ The next example of Christian baptism is that of "Paul. Of this nothing is recorded, but, having his ~ ' sight restored, he ‘arose and was baptized.”—Acts” ix: 18. He was in the house, debilitated by long fast- _ ing, and no intimation is given that he left the place _ for baptism. Ifthe passage teaches any thing respect-_ “ing the mode, it is that he was baptized in a private room and standing. Nothing in this case looks like immersion. The next chapter contains the history of Cornelius’ baptism. Peter preached to him and others, _ assembled on the occasion. The Holy Ghost fell on _ them. he apostle, satisfied in regard to their faith, says,—* Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as wellas we? And he commanded them to be bap- tized in the name of the Lord.”—Acts x: 47,48. Here is nothing decisive respecting the mode, but the ques- tion, “Can any mau forbid water,” seems naturally to suggest, that water was to be procured and brought and not that they were to go in search of a place for immer- Sion. And as the baptism of the Holy Ghost had just been performed in the usual way of pouring out, or shedding down, the rite of water baptism was adminis- tered in a form, which would aptly represent the spirit- ual baptism. The next example is that of Lydia and her house- ' hold. She had resorted to the vicinity of a river for prayer. She heard the apostles preach, and the Lord opened her heart to receive the word spoken by Paul. ‘* And when she was baptized, and her household,” the history does not say where or how, “‘ she besought us,” &c. Her being by the river-side for prayer had noth- ing to do with her baptism, this being a place of resort for prayer, and there is not a hint, that she went into the water, or even to the river, to be baptized. In the same chapter is the case of the Jailor, alluded to in the text.—‘‘ And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.” Though this passage gives no ex- press description of the mode, look at the circum- stances. They were all within the bounds of the pris- _ on, the prisoners and all the city had been roused by an earthquake. Would the apostles, bruised and svounded as they were, leave the prison at midnight a PSCHRISTIAN. DAPTISM eh eee | Que ro he _-_ and go in search of a bathing establishme ee - law, the terror of which had just before drive _ Fathers, from Cyprian down, uniformly admit, that Jon immerse the Jailor and his family 7 ably, any such convenience within t erable Roman jail? All the circumsta supposition. ‘They must have been ba { spot, ‘‘ the same hour of the night” in wh lieved. In confirmation of this opinion, careful the apostle was not to leave the prisor day until the magistrates came and took him o ly. Did he then go out in the night, while city was awake, and carry the Jailor and his search of a place for baptism? Would he thu the keeper of the prison to the severe penalt desperation and excited him to self murder? All circumstances of the case are opposed to the suppo: tion, that he and his family were baptized by immersio These are the only examples of apostolic baptism, which any incidents are given, which would lead to probable conjecture respecting the mode. I am not disposed to make more of them, than an obvious con struction will admit. But, with the exception of the Kunuch, is there a remote intimation that immersion — was practised? Do not the circumstances decidedly favor the opinion, that pouring or sprinkling was the mode? Do not the reasons which have been suggest ed, make it probable that the Eunuch went down the water for convenience, because in his situation, no other method was practicable or could so easily be adopted? But, allowing all that can be said by the most strenuous advocate for immersion on this solitary ‘ease, would it be candid to build our faith on this single passage of history, disregarding all the circumstantial — evidence attending the other examples? a) IV. We may now consider the practice of the early Christians. On this argument great stress is laid by — the advocates for immersion. How much it strengthens — their cause we shall see. This general remark can be - fully substantiated by an examination of the writings — of the Fathers, that immersion was never considered essential to baptism, from the apostolic age to the 16th — century. I say esggntial, for this is what the Baptists — must prove to make their cause good. Now the + Je mt, ee : "3 ges “ae pouring or spriv ne sick, or when the case required haste, &c.* tized by immersion, it would not prove that the apos- _ the professed followers of Christ had begun to depart _ widely from the apostolic rule, and to add to the simple rites of the Gospel. It is natural to men to overdo in forms and ceremonies. ‘Some must be immersed three » times. Some must receive the cross, and others be ~ anointed with oil after baptism, et cetera. The same state of mind, which would induce them to ascribe vir- tue to these unscriptural rites, would lead them to in- crease the quantity of water and repeat the baptism, to give it special efficacy. And,as in those warm Climates it would not be attended with particular inconvenience, they might casily slide into the practice of immersion. Y. But let us consider the import of the ordinance. _ Though allusion has already been made to it, I give it | a distinct and the last place, because, as I conceive, it has more weight than any other argument. 'The exter- nal application of water is an emblem of spiritual puri- “fication. When God says,—Ezek. xxxvi: 25—27,— * A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit _ will I put within you,” he means that he will regene- “rate them. And when he says in the next verse,—‘ I _ will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean,” _ he must mean one of two things; either regeneration or water baptism. If he means baptism, then sprink- ling is evidently the mode. If he speaks figuratively _ of their regeneration, he represents, by the emblem of ' sprinkling clean water, an expressive sign of this in- ward change. The design of it is to impress our minds, _ by an expressive figure, with the nature and necessity of purity of heart. And this is the figure, which the _ Holy Ghost has employed. It is not the quantity of water, but the application of water, which constitutes the sign. The design is answered as fully by the use of a few drops, as by the waters of the ocean; and if Scriptural use is to be regarded, much more signifi- from page 43 to page 52. kling was practised and allowable, for ae i tiles used this mode.- For we have abundant. evidence ss * in the writings of the early fathers, that in many things, as ; TAN BAPTISM feeeeste are 1 Ge |. But couid it be ascertained to a certainty that Chris- ' tiaiis, in the secend and third centuries, generally bap- — 7 ___ * For authorities I must refer to Treatises on Baptism. See Dr. Pond’s, er 16. a cantly. Hence the quantity of water lial. : & Had the quantity been essential, woul Scriptures have been more explicit? Had the lar mode of washing been indispensable, woul cred writers have used a term, of various signi Especially, had they believed immersion to be the only mode, would they have used the word baptize, “which means to immerse, wash by pouring and otherwise, and to sprinkle, in connection with a history of circum ‘ stances, which make it morally impossible that the sub- jects of baptism could have been immersed? Let it be © observed that the inspired writers are always precise, ~ when precision is required. ah We have asimilar case in the ordinance of the Lord’s_ Supper. The elements, bread and wine, are speci-~ fied, but not the quantity to be used. ‘The design of ~ this ordinance is clearly revealed, the transactions of” the first celebration by Christ and his apostles are ac- curately related; but who thinks of imitating all the _ circumstances of that interesting ceccasion? ‘The de- | sign is all-important to be regarded, put the manner of — receiving the elements, the place where, or the precise © quantity, no one considers essential. And why can We = not put as liberal a construction on the mode of admin- istering the other ordinance? Both are very similar — in their nature and they are designed to be as simple as possible. We may, with more propriety, be re- | quired to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in an upper chamber, in the evening, with unleavened bread and in a reclining posture, as indispensable accompani- ments, than to be baptized by immersion. es What, then, is essential to Christian baptism? Water, applied to the proper subjects, by an officer qualified to administer the ordinance, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The particular mode in which it is applied and the precise quantity of water employed are not essential. But, if the quantity is not essential, it may be asked,—Why will you not baptize by immersion? Because, sprinkling is more Scriptu- ral, whether we regard its signification, or the circum- stances in which it was administered. ‘This I have at- tempted to prove and this is my own decided conviction: Immersion has too much the appearance of a burden- CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 17 ‘some rite to correspond with the simplicity of the Gos- > pel dispensation. Those, who are easily affected by | imposing forms, are in danger of making it a substitute | for the righteousness of Christ ; thaking too much ac- count of the self-denial required in going into the wa- ter. They mistake the nature of the cross, which - Christians are required to bear. As this ordinance is - generally administered in the country, it usually ope- "rates as a diversion to the spectators and it is totally unsuited to that calm, serious and devout state of mind, Which the subject ought to have, when consecrating © himself to God. With females, especially, the terrors » of the scene usually expel all better feelings from the mind. In many cases, it is extremely hazardous, and in others impessible, to baptize by immersion. It is an umnecessary exposure of health. The sick cannot be immersed. In the frozen regions of Siberia, immer- sion is impracticable and in the deserts of Africa you may travel hundreds of miles and not find water suffi- ' cient for an immersion. But the Gospel is to be "preached to every creature, all nations shall be made disciples and I prefer a mode of baptism, which can be administered to all people and in all climes. In conclusion, I would make only a single remark. If baptism by sprinkling or pouring has the support, which I have exhibited from the Scriptures, where is the propriety of excluding those, who practise accord- ing to this mode, from the Christian church, and from the table, which Christ has spread for his disciples? Is the system of close communion Scriptural? No, my friends, not a syllable can be brought from the Bible to justify it. It is directly opposed to the spirit of Christianity and to the practice of the apostles and early Christians. Admitting that those, who practise sprink- ling, are in error; is it an error, which involves the sal- vation of the soul?’ This is not pretended. The prim- itive Christians, as you will see by reading the Epistles of Paul, adopted different sentiments and different practices, as important as this; but they did not ex- clude each other from the church and from the Lord’s ~ Supper. But it will be said,—You have not been baptized. Who has a right to determine infallibly what the true sense of Scripture is? It certainly is not very indica~_ 3 18. ~———sC CRISTIAN BAPTISM. | > ae tive of Christian humility to maintain, that all is on one side of the question under discussio ) not our Baptist brethren to receive our sentiments, un=_ less they find them in the Bible; and yet we are will- ing tocommune with them. They receive us as Chris-— tians ; and we only ask to be permitted to answer a ~ _ good conscience in interpreting the Bible for ourselves Is this an offence for which we must be excluded the Christian church, especially when the point of differ ence has not an inseparable connection with salvation Have we not reasons for an honest belief, that we have been baptized? Does not the Great Head of th Church own us as his ministers, his churches? Does’ he not shed down his Spirit upon us? Does he not commune with us in prayer and at his table? Unless” we are greatly deceived he does. We have had bless- ed seasons of communion with Him in celebrating this” solemn ordinance, according to our convictions of duty. Need we, then, be troubled about our baptism? Need — our Baptist friends be troubled about it? If Christ re- ceives us as a part of his church and fulfils the promises made to his church, can they not safely receive us tome their fellowship and give us a seat at his table? i It is high time that this stumbling-block, were re- — moved. It has too long grieved the hearts of God’s — perpre and separated those on both sides, who would ~ ave rejoiced to be united by closer ties. It has done much to strengthen the hands of the wicked and in- crease the unbelief and hardness of those, who live on the divisions of the church. ree eae Our second inquiry is,— Who are the proper subjects of baptism ? We believe, that the ordinance should be adminis- tered to unbaptized adults, when they profess their faith in Christ and enter into covenant with God. We also believe, that it should be administered “to children who are under the care of believing, covenanting parents.” The sentiment, contained in the latter of these proposi- tions, is the only subject for examination, in this part” of the controversy. To my mind, it is altogether the _ most interesting and important part of the whole sub- — ject in debate. And has not the Holy Spirit so decid- ed? The particular mode of administering the ordi- - ss ChRISTIAN BAPTISM. _ _—% 19 mance, as wé have seen, is not explicitly revealed. Terms of indefinite meaning are used and circumstances _ are related, which sincere Christians, honestly in search — of truth, interpret, some, as favoring one mode, and "ny, that baptism may be administered, in either form, without destroying its validity. __ But, is the evidence in favor of infant baptism thus _ indefinite? Have we nothing but circumstantial proof, _ no direct arguments, no command, to show, that the child- _ fen of covenant believers are entitled to baptism? Are _ these two subjects so intimately connected, so depen- dent on each other, that we must necessarily,—as we might infer from what obtains at the present day ,—de- ny infant baptism, because we believe in immersion? or receive the doctrine, because we believe in sprink- _ ling? We shall see, I trust, in the course of this inves- : tigation, that these two subjects have no necessary con- nexion; that the evidence, by which they are sup- pone is entirely independent, that, in favor of house- ) old baptism, being altogether more direct and posi- : tive. We shall see, that, for many centuries, whether » baptizing by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling, Chris- _ tians universally, believed in the covenant relation of s children, and consecrated them to God in baptism. . That children, who are under the care of believing, _ covenanting parents, should be baptized, I shall endea- vor to prove,— 1. Krom the nature of the Abrahamic covenant. I scarcely need remind you, that a subject to which the apostle has devoted a large proportion of the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, and on which volumes have been written by distinguished theelogi- _ ans, must be very imperfectly exhibited, within the _ limits allowed to this discourse. All, that I can possi- _ bly do, is to refer you to a part of the evidence from ' Seripture, that the covenant made with Abraham under the old dispensation, shorn of some local appendages, and the covenaut made with believers, under the new dis- pensation, are one and the same covenant; and the ap- pointed seals of the covenant, though differing in form, are of the same import. If this can be proved, it will clearly follow, that the seal should be applied to the Same subjects, under both dispensations, unless an e2- ‘some, another mode. The Holy Spirit bears testimo- a press provision to. the contrary ¢ the Bible. 7 That the Abrahamic covenant an believers is the same, will appear evide that they promise and secure the same bles ee commenced the ancient church with Abrah family, making an everlasting covenant with him. Genesis xvii: we have this covenant described and the ~ manner in which the seal must be appli . Having _ promised to make him the father of many ations, God "says, verses 7 and 8,—‘ And I will establish my cove- nant between me and thee, and thy seed after t in their generations, for an everlasting covenant; to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” Before the” formal establishment of this covenant, he received the © promise,—“ And in thee shall all the families ‘of the earth be blessed.”—Gen. xii: 3. Andat a subsequent eriod, when his faith and obedience had been severe- y tested by the command to offer his son in sacrifice Jehovah solemnly renewed the covenant pledge. Gen xxii: 16.—‘‘ By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not with held thy son, thine only son; ‘That in blessing I wil bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy see as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upo the sea shore. And in thy seed shall all the nations © the earth be blessed.” In these examples you may dis tinctly see, that, though temporal blessings are prom- ised to Abraham and his children, as temporal blessings are promised to believers now ; spiritual blessings an a spiritual seed are specially promised. This we coul ‘distinctly read on the face of the covenant, had not the apostle given us the true import. To his anxious en- quirers on the day of Pentecost, he says,— Repen and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesu Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive th gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, — and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as — many as the Lord our God shall call.”— Acts ii: 38, 38 Did not the promise of the covenant have special refe1 ence to spiritual blessings? And again:—* Yeare the’ children of the prophets, and of the covenant which G made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham,—And 1 . thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be bless i beta > you from his iniquities.”— Acts iii: 25, 26. ee. Tae is, he, eo CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 21 i. ) Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son Jesus, a sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of Hear the apostle Paul, also; Gal. iii: 16—18: “ Now »to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He "saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is of Christ. And this I say, That the coyenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ,” meaning the Abrahamic covenant, “‘ the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after,” that is, the Sinaic covenant with Moses and the Israelites, “cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none | effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” Of what promised inheritance does the apostle speak? Not of the earthly Canaan, for Abra- ham did not inherit that land, and a reference to it would not have been appropriate to the design of his argument, which was to prove the doctrine of justifica- tion by faith. He must refer to that heavenly country, which all the spiritual seed of Abraham will inherit through faith in Jesus Christ. In his Epistle to the Hebrews, viii: 8 and onward, he has given us the covenant, which belongs to the Gospel dispensation. He calls it a new covenant, not as some represent, to distinguish it from that made with Abraham; but to distinguish it from that made with Is- rael. ‘‘ Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,’ &c. ‘For this is the cove- nant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people.” Heb. viii: 10. Does this covenant imply more or less, than the promise to Abraham,—‘‘I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee?” Does the former in- clude greater or more spiritual blessings than the lat- ter? Can there be a more extensive promise made to the church, under the present dispensation ? With what semblance of truth, then, can it be said, that the Abrahamic covenant was temporary and secur- _ed only temporal blessings? Is not the promise, ‘‘ And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” CHRISTIAN BAP confessedly ‘‘the ever memorable chai blessings which Jewish and Gentile heliey through Christ.” * ‘This promise, as we have seen, was given at the call of Abraham ; and, to show that it was aR a promise of the covenant, it was repeated when Jeho-~ vah so solemnly renewed his covenant with Abraham. — - Gen. ii: 16; and when he renewed it with Isaac and 4 Jacob.—Gen. xxvi: 2—4; xxviii: 13—15. It was so © understood, by the apostle Peter.—Acts ii: 25. This” is truly ‘‘the ever memorable charter of all the bless-~ ings.” conveyed to the church in every age, and must ~ be so considered, by every enlightened Christian. ~ Again,—is there nothing spiritual in the promise,— will be thy God and ye shall be my people” Wh better promise had the Patriarchs, referred to by Paul in the 11th of Hebrews, who unmindful of their earth ly home, desired a better country, eyen an heavenly ? ‘‘ Wherefore,” says he, ‘‘ God was not ashamed to be called their God.” What more extensive promise has the believer now, than that in the Revelation xxi: 7,— ‘‘ He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and J ill : be his God and he shall be my son.” Most evidently, — therefore, apart from those temporal blessings, which — are shadows of good things to come, the same spiritual blessings were included in the covenant made with ~ Abraham, which are promised in the covenant made ~ with believers under the present dispensation, andihey, must be one and the same covenant. ie e, i 2. The condition of the covenant, under both dispen- ~ sations, is the same. This condition is faith. The apostle, quoting from Genesis, says,— ‘Abraham be- — lieved God and it was counted unto him for righteous- ~ ness.” ‘‘ And he received the sign of circumcision, @ — seal of thewighteousnes of the faith, which he had, yet — being uncircumcised ; that he might be the father of — all them that believe, though they be not circumcised,” re- ferring evidently to believing Gentiles. “For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed, through the law, but ~ through the righteousness of faith.—Rom. tv : 2—25. Here the proof is abundant, that real religion, or a liv- ing principle of faith, was required of those, who en-— pe 4 Dr. Judson’s Sermon, page 24. ¢ a ie —é CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 23 sred into covenant with God, and that the original seal > had a spiritual meaning. The same apostle is explicit ‘on this subject. “He is not a Jew, which is one out- _Wardly ; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew. which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter.”—Rom. ii: 28, 29. He, therefore, _ commands his people to circumcise their hearts. See also his promise to circumcise their hearts and the hearts of their seed, recorded in Deut. Xxx: 6. But as a living principle of faith was the condition, in the Abrahamic covenant, it will not be denied that » the covenant of grace has the same condition ; or that the promises of the Gospel are made only to believers. Those, certainly, who deny the right of infants to bap- tism, because they are unable to exercise faith in the promises of the covenant, will admit that this ordinance is “‘a seal of the righteousness of faith.” : From the Abrahamic covenant and from that now made with believers, men are liable to be cut off, and for the same reason ;—viz: for unbelief. This is dis- tinctly asserted by Paul, in his admirable illustration of the identity of the church under both dispensations, by a reference to the good olive tree, which we shall examine in another place. Hence it appears, that un- der the coyenant of Abraham and the covenant of be-. _ lievers now, faith secures the promised blessings and they are lost by unbelief. The condition, being the same in both, they are, in this respect, but one coye- nant. 3. The covenant promises in both, are all of grace through Jesus Christ. The apostle, in Rom. iv: 16, to which I have referred you, speaking of the promise to Abraham, says,—‘ Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace ; to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is the Jaith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.” The force of the apostle’s rea- soning we shall see, when we understand the design of is argument. The Jews were unwilling to relinquish their hold on the ceremonial law, as a means of justifi- cation; and they even required, that the Gentiles should observe these ceremonies. He labors to con- _ Yince them, that Abraham did not depend for justifica- hk Be: ose OURISTIAN BAPTISM. tion on his circumcision, ef cetera; but he was just a were not made to him on the ground of by faith, before he was circumcised ; and the the blessing of braha through Jesus Christ.” ing, which Christ has pure levers: under the new dispensation ? benefits, which God promised to this faithful Patriarch and his natural descendants, an inheritance in the lan of Canaan, &c.? The absurdity of sucha conclusion i apparent. It would be entirely foreign to the argu- ment, which was designed to convince his readers, that justification is secured, not by obedience to the law, but by faith. It shows that Abraham was justified b fith and that all, who have like precious faith with ~ him, inherit the same blessing. Hence justification by - faith is that “ blessing of Abraham,” whi on the Gentile believers, through the redem} Christ. ius ‘« Know ye therefore, that they which are of fait the same are the children of Abraham. And the Ser ture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abra- ham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith, (all believers, Jews and — Gentiles,) are blessed with faithful Abraham.”—Gal. iii: 7—9. ‘The language of the Abrahamic covenant, not less than that, which the apostles preached, incul- 4 cates the doctrine,—* By grace are ye saved through ~ faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. 4 Not of works lest any man should boast.” 5. dai coast 4. The Scriptures clearly assert, that these cov nants are the same. Several of these passages have already been introduced. “Know ye, that they which are of faith,” that. is, Me CRN ee ES FEM a ers. mig ie oo ie) —% > \ = —z ~ + - ee Rcwgar ae ye a y See h pests. ot ee amare ois aera | Cnet , pS SCHRISTIAN BAPTISM = 7, _ the same are the children of Abraham.” Here it is | ~ asserted, that Gentile converts are a part of that spirit- | ual seed, promised to Abraham in the coyenant. “Jf _ ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs ac- _ cording to the promise.” —Gal. iii: 29. What stronger =” proof can we need, than this declaration, that the cov- ee oe enant promise, made to Abraham, extends to all the _ disciples of Christ? In the same chapter, itis express- ly asserted that the covenant was not abolished with the Levitical law, verse 14; but is now in force. On the ground of their covenant relation to him, he is : _ denominated “the heir of the world,” “the father of _ all them that believe,’ circumcised or uncircumcised ey “ the father of us all,” referring directly to the covenant promise—‘‘I have made thee a father of many nations.— Rom. iv: 11, 16,17. But the New Testament abounds — rhe with allusions of the same import to “the ever memo- __ rable charter of all the blessings which Jewish and Gentile believers enjoy through Christ.—See Luke i: 67—75; Acts iii: 25; Heb. vi: 13—18. How could _ the apostle apply this latter passage for the consolation q of Christians, in his day and in all subsequent time, unless the oath, which ratified the covenant, extend to them, and the covenant itself embrace them? _ But, as my limits forbid me to enlarge, I will refer _ you to only one other passage, which I consider deci- » sive. Rom. xi: The apostle enquires,—“ Hath God _ Castaway his people?” By no means; “for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham,” &c. “Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant, according to the election of grace.” He represents that the great body of the Jews had forfeited their place in the church of God by unbelief, and that the Gentiles were receiv- _ ed in their stead. And he most happily illustrates his 3 subject by the figure of the olive tree. The Jewish _ church, which, before the introduction of the Gospel dispensation, was the only church, is represented by the good olive tree, and the idolatrous Gentile world, by the wild olive tree. “If,” says he, verse 17, ‘‘ some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and wiTH THEM _ partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast _ hot against the branches: but, if thou boast, thou bearest Rs ch _ not the root, but the root thee.’ Here, laying aside ; 4 ste the figure, we are explicitly taught, that the” converts are united to the same chureh, wl for nearly two thousand years, had existed among the nat- ural seed of Abraham. Many of its natural members had been cut off for their unbelief, and those, who had ~ no natural title by descent, were, in consequence of their faith, united ; not to form a new church, but to re-— _ plenish the old church. United to the remnant of the © Jewish members, before alluded to, they constituted but one church, enjoying all the privileges and imherit- ing the blessings, secured, by the everlasting covenant, to the spiritual seed of Abraham. ‘Thou bearest not ~ the root, but the root thee.” ‘These Gentile believers — were neither the root, nor the trunk; but only Mons “i taken from the wild olive and grafted into the good” olive tree. Hence the apostle adds, verse 24,—“ For, if thou wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild b nature, and wert grafted, contrary to nature, intoa good olive tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be gathered into their own olive — tree.” Does he not here teach us, that the Jews, when ~ the veil of prejudice shall be rent and the heart of un- belief removed, and they shall be gathered from their dispersions into the kingdom of Christ, will be restored to the same church from which their fathers were cut ~ off? But, no one believes, that any other church will ~ exist, under the present dispensation, except the ~ Christian church. Who then, will ask for additional evidence, that the Jewish and Christian church are one. Somewhat differently modified they may be; but or- ganized under the same ‘“‘ grand charter,” and essen- tially one. If it is not so, the apostle’s argument falls 23 to the ground, and his beautiful illustration has no ~ meaning. . se I am not ignorant, that those who wish to avoid the ~ unanswerable argument, which the identity of the ~ church under the two dispensations, if proved, affords — in support. of infant baptism, and the perfect conclu- siveness of the apostle’s illustration, if the above inter- ~ pretration is correct ; endeavor to free themselves from — the difficulty, by asserting that the good olive tree does ~ not represent the church, but Christ. The reply to © this suggestion is short and easily understood. in Do those, who suggest this subterfuge, believe in the Pea we Cet, eo ime ) And will they tell us, at the same time, as they must, | to carry out their interpretation; that true believers, eee after being united to Christ, are broken off by unbe- © Nief? If Christ is the good olive tree, what is the wild oe CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. Sere om a. | perseverance of the saints, in the unchangeable love of Christ to his disciples? They profess thus to believe. ~ olive tree? These questions may be evaded; but they never haye been answered. ca We have now examined the covenant made with Abraham and that made with believers under the Gos- pel dispensation ; and what is the result? They prom-_ ise the same spiritual blessings; the condition of the promises and of the forfeiture is the same; they are both covenants of mere grace: And the Scriptures clearly teach, that they are one covenant, and the church under the old dispensation and the new, one and the same church. The latter is only a continua- tion of the former. Hence it was predicted, that Christ, at his coming, shall ‘“ purge his floor,” not de- stroy it. See the whole subject illustrated in the transactions of that memorable night, when Christ, with his little band of disciples, sat down, as members of the old church, to celebrate the passover. Was there a new church organized on that occasion, or a mere change of the external ordinance? The same church evidently partook of the passover and of the Lord’s _ Supper; and we never hear of a subsequent organiza- tion. We read, that on the day of Pentecost three thousand were added to the church. What church? Trace back and you will find the church, to which Christ and his apostles, John the Baptist, Zacharias and Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna belonged. It remains now to-be shown, that the seals of the covenant, though different in form, are of the same im- cumcision, the seal of the covenant, made with believ- ; port. The seal of the Abrahamic covenant was cir- _ unable to perceive the correctness of this conclusion, —__ _ ers under the new dispensation, is baptism. The ar- f gument, to prove that they have the same meaning is short but decisive. ‘The covenant under each dispen- 7 sation being the same, the promised blessings the same, and the conditions the same, as we have seen, the seal, _ whatever the form or the manner of the application, __ must have the same significancy. Should any one be ~ i CHRISTIAN BAPTISM: the baptism of infants is rather alluded t as an existing and approved practice, tha culcated.” eS Me , Justin Martyn, who wrote about forty years after the apostolic age, says—“ There are many amone us of both sexes, some sixty and some seven r who were made disciples of Christ from hood.” They must have been made d before the death of John. The same ter in the apostolic commission. ‘ Go ye a ples of all nations, baptizing,” &c¢.—Matt. xy ‘This ancient father, also, speaks decidedly of the that baptism was received as a substitute for cir cision. mee Ireneus was born before the death of Jok educated by Polycarp, the friend of that ven apostle. He says,—‘ Christ came to save all p who by him are baptized unto God, infants and Th tl ones and cnildren and youth, and elder persons.” 4 Origen, of the second century, says,—* The church received a tradition from the apostles to give baptism even to infants.” ‘Tertullian and Ambrose confirm this tes- timony. It is true, that Tertullian advised the delay — of infant baptism ; while he admits, that the practice of _ baptizing them was derived from the apostles; and was a sanctioned by Christ, when he took little children into his arms and blessed them, &c. He carried his yiews _ to such an extent, as to advise that baptism should be delayed to the last hours of life ; so that the soul, being» once cleansed by the water of regeneration, might never after contract pollution. He ‘‘is the only writer for more than three hundred years, next after the apos- tolic age, who went so far as to advise parents to delay — the baptism of their children, for any reason whatever.” | How much his advice was regarded by the primitive — church we shall see in the sequel. ee” Cyprian was born of Pagan parents about A. D. 200; — and died a martyr A. D. 258. He was a member of a ~ council, held in Carthage, of sixty-six bishops, to whom — the question was submitted, Whether it was proper to baptize infants before they were eight days old. This council decided unanimously, that it was not necessary to delay even eight days. Here we see that no ques- tion was made, respecting the propriety of baptizing LAG fact, "ers, was born in 354, and died in 430. In reply to the on are infants; this being admitted, by Fidus, who asked ad- __ vice, and by the council. advising: and, that baptism _ was understood to take the place of circumcision. Ter- tullian’s opinion, though it must have been known, was not considered worthy of consideration. Augustine, one of the most distinguished of the fath- question—W hat authority have we for infant baptism? he says,—“ that which the whole church holds, which was not instituted by councils, but was always maintained, — is with the best reason believed to have been transmit- ted to us by apostolic authority ; besides from the cir-— cumcision, which was practised in the ancient church, we may truly learn the importance of the baptism of infants.” He also states,—“‘ that he never heard of any person, either in the church or among the heretics, who oe denied the propriety of baptizing infants.” : ae Pelagius, who was contemporary with Augustine, had a controversy with him on the doctrine of original sin; and, though the denial of infant baptism would have favored his argument, he declares, “that he had — never heard even any impious heretic, who asserted that infants are not to be baptized.” Again, he asks, “Who can be so impious as to hinder the baptism of infants?’ Pelagius is an important witness in this case. Augustine pressed him constantly with the ques- tion,—“‘Why are infants baptized for the remission of sins, if they have none?” How easy to silence this ar- gument by denying the fact of infant baptism, if he could do it. Instead of this he admits and asserts very positively, that the practice was universal. He had travelled in England, france, Italy, Africa, and Pales- tine, and he must have been well acquainted with the Opinions and practices of the churches. ) Many other witnesses might be introduced; but these must suffice. You will observe, that this testi- sen mony relates to the first four centuries of the Christian __ era, the period when infant baptism must have been introduced, if it was an innovation upon apostolic prac- tice. For it is now confessed by the ablest writers _ among the Baptists, that we have no evidence from au- thentic history, of any society of Christians, who did not _ practise infant baptism from the fourth century to thee twelfth. The argument from history is this. During ae _ authenticated history. : ae te vear | 120. ‘: T hey reje bys... Nhe Met ieal facts lend their whole influen e household baptism is apostolic. make it. If, as we have shown, baptism ta ‘whether Jews or Gentiles. We need not the renewal — demand? Do they found all their usages OF fament command? Do we not establish the propriety — the first four hundred years, neither nor any individual denied the lawt infants. ‘Tertullian only urged som not in every case. During the n years, there was not a society nor either advised to delay, or denied the ri baptism. In all this period, if it did not the apostles, no trace of its origin can be The first information we have of — generally as heretical, and soon cam that time, infant baptism found no 0 when the sect arose again, in Germa But it is said, we have no express tize infants. We reply, that if the Bible whole, we have the command, explicit as lan \. the | place of circumcision, the command given to Abraham, — requiring him to place the seal of the covenant on his household, is binding upon all the children of Abraham, of the command, and it is not the usage of im to repeat precepts in the New Testament, w to positive institutions previously establishe ly does not belong to us, but to those, wh the good old way, to produce a ‘thus sai in justification of their practice. The give us a command, or what is equivaler priving infants of their covenant privileg feel ourselves bound to receive the coven to its original design, and place the seal on o But are our Baptist friends consistent in m ae ¥ command, and especially: a command from Christ or apostles, as they require in this case? Why, then, they observe the Sabbath? Why the first seventh day of the week? Why do they ad to the Lord’s Supper? &c. Is not the prece member the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” an Old Tes * "of changing the day, and of admitting females to the communion, by tracing back the history of the church to the apostolie age? and is the history on these sub- jects more complete, more uniform, than on that of in- fant baptism? If our witnesses are competent on one subject, why not on another? _ Again it is said, children cannot comply with the terms, and, therefore, they are not fit subjects for eg: tism. ‘The directions are,—‘‘ Repent and be baptized.” ‘* He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved.” But children are net capable of repentance and faith, and therefore they must not be baptized. . Does not this prove too much? Repentance and faith are indispensable terms of salvation. Must all in- fants be lost, because they cannot repent and believe? This, we trust, will not be admitted by those who hear the kind Saviour saying,—‘‘ Of such is the kingdom of heaven.” We need not stop to inquire, what is intended by the kingdom of heaven. If Christ refers to the state of glory and infants are heirs to that heavenly inheri- tance, they surely may have their names enrolled among the citizens of Zion on earth; or if they belong to the fold of Christ on earth, either as his sheep or as lambs of the flock, who has a right to forbid them the distinctive mark? He calls them his and they should be sealed with his seal. It is often asked, with strong emphasis, of what ben- efit can this ordinance be te children? The language of contempt, even by Christian ministers, is sometimes used in reference to sprinkling the face of the uncon- scious infant with water. May we not answer, in the language of an apostle ?—“ Nay, but O man, who art thou that repliest against God!” Do not our Christian friends see, that if their question has any force, they charge God with foolishness, in requiring Abraham to apply the bloody seal of the covenant to his children ? ‘Has not the question just as much force in one case as the other? Admit that we, creatures of yesterday, can see no advantage to result from it; shall we doubt the wisdom of Him, who made the appointment? The first question, with us, should not be,—‘ What profit is there in circumcision,’ or baptism; but what saith the Lord? It is enough with the Christian, to silence ev ery objection, that ‘‘ thus it is written.” The impartial enquirer, however, will be at no loss ‘ff ee _ae a, — cumsnias BAPTISM. e 35 he to bring up their children in the nurture an of the Lord, no meaning, no important b spiritual welfare of the children? Is it in the mind of a pious parent, to bring k a covenant relation to God, and int the church as to secure for them her « feel that, in placing the seal of the cove children, we are performing a duty ri Good Shepherd. Is there not as much ing the will of Christ, in this case as in have neither time nor space to enlarge ; only observe, that a faithful history of God dealings with the church, would answer these to the entire satisfaction of every friend fo would show, that Jehovah has special regard to his cov- ‘enant ; and that parents, who embrace the promise of © the covenant and in faith dedicate their children to him, — do not embrace a shadow, but blessings of infinite value. _ It would show, that a vast majority of the subjects of q God’s renewing grace, have been those, who were ded- icated to him and impressed with the seal of his coye- nant in childhood.* Probably I might add that, could © the facts be ascertained, it would appear that every pa- — rent, who uprightly entered into covenant with God for © himself and his children, has found this covenant as rich © with spiritual blessings for them, as for his own soul. Let no Christian parent, then, who can enjoy this” privilege, neglect it. Whatever may be the fact in re- | gard to children, whose parents have no covenant right, if through mere negligence, or a more blameable cause, we give not up our children to God in the way of his appointment, we have no reason to expect his blessing. He isa faithful, covenant-keeping God. He claims the children of believers as his own. He offers to seal them with his own seal, and baptize them with that Ho. Spirit of promise, which will constitute them heirs of salvation. What Christian parent can forbid them to come, or neglect to bring them, without forfeiting t blessings of the everlasting covenant. : ia ay bel = “Let our Baptist brethren make enquiry on this subject in their own churches, and they will be surprised at the result. an BY J. P, STIREWALT, A. M., » EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN PASTOR, - AUTHOR oF SERMON ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY, AND PUBLISHER le ; OF GRADES IN THE MINISTRY. NE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM.—Eph. 4, 5. rat “ae HENKEL & CO.’S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE, _ OFFICE OF OUR CHURCH PAPER, SHENANDOAH VALLEY, &C, NEW MARKET, SHENANDOAH CO., VIRGINIA. —a “WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM.” BY J. P. STIREWALT, A. M., EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN PASTOR, AUTHOR OF SERMON ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY, AND PUBLISHER OF GRADES IN THE MINISTRY. “ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM.’—Eph. 4, 5. HENKEL & CO.’S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE, OFFICE OF OUR CHURCH PAPER, SHENANDOAH VALLEY, &C. NEW MARKET, SHENANDOAH CO., VIRGINIA. 1897. i —— tt r 2764. PREFACE. The articles composing this pamphlet have been prepared at the urgent request of brethren in the faith who desire to know the truth in love. The first, second, and third articles were published in Our Church Paper, July to, July 24, and August 7, 1895, respectively, whilst the fourth article has beem prepared especially for this pam- phlet. In the preparation and publication of these articles, the au- thor entertains very kind feelings toward all men. He is decidedly of the opinion that all these statements are reasonable, right, and scriptural. So far as he knows, his arguments to this day remain unanswered. It is the author’s earnest desire and sincere prayer that many per- sons will read this pamphlet, and that all who read it will be instruct- ed and edified and that God’s name may be glorified. J. P. STIREWALT. NEw MarKgs&T, VA., JUNE 21, 1897. 76 ‘i arhay “WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDI- NANCE OF BAPTISM.” ARTICLE I. This is the head of an article in The Gospel Messenger, a paper published by the Tunkers, at Mt. Morris, Ills. The article referred to is in its issue of June rr, 1895. Whatever may be the intention of the authors of such articles, the arti- cles in themselves are deceptive and misleading. They de- ceive the very persons for whom they are written, because they set forth a custom that Luther never practiced, and they are misleading, because all can not have access to Luther’s own writings, and therefore can not determine for themselves on the subject under consideration. The article referred to makes Luther an immersionist, and professes to quote from the ‘“‘Smalcald Articles drawn up by himself,’’ as given in ‘‘Ingham’s Hand-book of Baptism, p. 89.’’ We are not familiar with ‘‘Ingham, nor his Hand-book,’’ nor would we be willing to accept it as evidence on this subject if the quotations from it as given by the Messenger are fair specimens of its contents. Here along beside of the correct translation of the fifth article of Smalcald, comes the incorrect translation of the same article as given by the Messenger. Book of Concord, p. 299, First Edition. “Baptism is nothing else but the Word of God connected with water.’ We like to see quotations from Luther and the Lutheran church in print when they are correctly made. When this is done the Lutheran doctrine on any subject will always stand the test. Lutheranism, “Tf with heavenly truth attired, Needs only to be seen to be admired.”’ The difference between the correct and the incorrect trans- lation of the Fifth Article as here referred to is too plain to admit of any explanation or illustration. Let us therefore pass on to the next quotation as given by the Messenger. It reads as follows: “What Luther said about Scriptural subjects forbaptism: ‘It can- not be proved by sacred Scriptures that infant baptism was instituted by Christ.’ (A. R.’s Vanity of Infant Baptism, part 2, p. 8. Ing- ham’s Subject of Baptism, p. 402.)’’ Messenger. ‘Baptism is nothing else than the Word of God with immersion in water.’’ 4 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. ee — In answer to this quotation we state first the author of the article in the Messenger fails to tell us when or where Luther made this statement. We will not accept it as true until we are informed where it stands written in Luther’s own writings, not Ingham’s writings. We prefer to quote correctly from the Smalcald Articles, and these the WZessen- ger acknowledges were drawn up by Luther himself. In the latter part of the Fifth Article, Luther says: ‘‘Concern- ing infant baptism we hold that children should be baptized ; for they also belong to the promised redemption effected through Christ; and the church shall administer it to them.” (Book of Concord, page 299.) Can anything be more plain or explicit? The like abounds in Luther’s writings. Hear what Luther himself says in “‘A Letter on Anabaptism, to two clergymen, writ- ten A. D. 1528,’’ and comprised in ‘‘Luther on the Sacra- ments,’’ pp. 99, 100: ‘‘Baptism is a work of God, which no man has devised, but God has commanded and _ testified it in the Gospel. . . . . . andail the world knows and sees that we baptize every one while yet a child.’ But, the Messenger says that Luther said : “It cannot be proved by sacred Scripture that infant baptism was instituted by Christ.’’ We reply by asking several questions. Can it be proven by sacred Scripture that the baptism of men and women was instituted by Christ? If it can, where is the Scripture proof in so many words that men and women must be bap- tized? Luther taught uniformly, that when Christ insti- tuted baptism, he designed it to be a baptism for ‘‘all na- tions.’’ ‘‘Children,’’ said he, ‘constitute a large portion of any zation.’’ (Luther on Sacraments, p. 109.) We, there- fore, affirm that Christ instituted baptism for infants as well as for adults. The words of the institution we find in Matt. 28,-19, where Christ says, ‘‘Go ye therefore, and teach’’ (make disciples of) ‘‘all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’’ That idea, or doctrine, or practice is as really in harmony with sacred Scripture, which is by sound principle, just reasoning, and necessary consequence deduced from the Word of God, as that which is explicitly stated in so many words. For example, the New Testament says: ‘“There is but one God.’’ 1 Cor. 8, 6. This language ‘‘means just as much that the gods of the heathen are false, as if it were said in so many words.’’ So in regard to baptism. When WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 5 Christ instituted baptism and commanded his disciples to make disciples of-‘‘all nations’’ by baptizing them he insti- tuted and commanded it with just as much if not more ref- erence to infants as to men and women. ‘The contrary doc- trine never has been established. It never will be. All this is Lutheran. But again, ‘‘When Jesus says, ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh,’ and ‘Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,’”’ he teaches that infants, inasmuch as-they are flesh, must be born again of water and of the Spirit, that is, must be baptized and become regenerate. (Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, p. 576.) This too is Lutheran. It is according to the ‘‘sacred Scriptures.”’ Let the reader of this article consider one other argument. In Acts 2, 38, 39: Peter, full of the Holy Ghost, said: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of _Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to ali that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.’’ I. St. Peter speaks these words to the Jews and evidently includes the Gentiles. The command is imperative. It is in its plural form: Repent ye—the promise is to you—your children, and all that are afar off evenas many as God shall call. 2. He enjoins upon his hearers the command that is di- vine. It isthe Lord’s. ‘‘Be baptized every one of you.’’ Having expressed clearly the duty of the adults, he declares further the will and purpose of God, that ‘‘every one’’ pres- ent on that occasion, in addition to the adults, should be baptized. 3. This argument of the Apostle is from God. It is there- fore beyond successful contradiction ; ‘‘For the promise is to you and your children.’’ Now see the conclusion of the Apostle’s argument. When God’s command and God’s promise are connected with God’s institution, such for ex- ample, as Holy Baptism, it is surely safe to conclude that ‘‘all those included in the command, and expressed in the promise, have a positive right to that institution.’’ The divine command here is, ‘‘Be baptized every one of you.”’ The promise here recorded is ‘‘unto you and your children.’’ Therefore we again conclude that Christ instituted baptism for infants as well as for adults, and that both ‘‘have an in- alienable right to Christian Baptism.’’ a 6 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 4. The command here given, the promise here recorded, and the privilege here extended was not confined to the men, women, and children composing the Jewish nation. It is, in God’s own arrangement, intended and extended to the Gentile world, to us, therefore, and ‘‘even to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”’ In the Lutheran system we argue the institution of bap- tism by Christ for infants as well as for adults from ‘‘the practice of the Apostles for the first thirty years of the Christian church.’’ We have explicit information that the Apostles baptized ‘‘households”’; i. e., entire families.— Acts 10, 2, &c.; Acts 16, 14, 15; Acts 16, 31, 33; 1 Cor. 1, 16. Is it reasonable to conclude that there were no chil- dren in the four families referred to in these Scriptures? When the ‘‘sacred Scriptures’’ teach us that the Apostles baptized ‘‘ households’’ what is meant, if they did not bap- tize the children of those families as well as the adults of those families? The conclusion is both irresistible and irrefutable. And if the Apostles baptized the children in those ‘‘ households” did they receive that authority from Christ or not? And did Christ institute the baptism that the Apostles used in baptizing those children or not? or did they have one baptism for infants and another for adults? And now, in the Lutheran church, according to the teach- ing of Luther, we gladly, in harmony with the institution of baptism by Christ, administer Christian baptism to ‘‘ households,’’ after the teaching and practice of the Apos- tles of our Lord. The Tunkers never do practice “‘house- hold’’ baptism? Which now of the two are the orthodox followers of our divine Lord and Master in heaven? Reader, pause, ponder, and then decide and act accordingly. Now let Luther speak for himself again. He says: “‘So far, in my estimation, we have proved forcibly enough, that the Anabaptists do, wrong by invalidating infant baptism, were they even certain that children are baptized without — faith,—a proposition, however, which they can not prove. Bersie ecegrecety . Yet we are persuaded by many strong reasons, that infant baptism is right, and that they believe. First, because infant baptism has descended from the Apostles, and the practice has continued ever since the Apostolic age, we should not abolish it, but allow it thus to be observed, since no one has yet been able to prove that children do not believe when they are baptized, or that this kind of baptism ts wrong.” (Luther on the Sacraments, pp. 122 and 123.) WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 7 Again Luther says: ‘‘ Now, if infant baptism were wrong, God undoubtedly would not have suffered it to continue so long, or to be so universally observed throughout the whole Christian community; nor could it have escaped from being at last brought into disrepute beforeall men. For although the Anabaptists now defame it, yet their attempts are in- effectual, and it is not yet brought into disgrace.’’ (On the Sacraments, pp. 124, 125.) Again Luther wrote in 1528: ‘‘ Fourthly, if the first or infant baptism were wrong, it would follow that for more than a thousand years there was no baptism, no Christian church ; which is not possible. For, if so, the following article of the creed would be false: ‘‘I believe in a holy Christian church.’’ For during more than a thousand years, infant-baptism was almost exclusively practiced. Now, if this baptisni is wrong, the Christian church was without baptism for that length of time. If she was destitute of baptism, she was not the Christian church; for the Christian church zs the bride of Christ, subject and obedient to him, possessing his spirit, his word, his baptism, his eucharist, and all that he possesses.’’ (On the Sacraments, p. 127.) Luther here speaks of infant baptism. He says it is Christ’s. What then becomes of the statement in the ‘‘Mes- senger”’ of June 11? © Hear Luther once more. He says: ‘‘ Again, the facts, that Christ commands little children to come and be brought unto him, Matt. 19, 14, saying, ‘Of such is the kingdom of God ;’ that the Apostles baptized whole households, Acts 16, 15; 1 Cor. 1, 16; that John writes to little children, 1 John 2, 18; that St. John in his mother’s womb believed, Luke 1, 41, as we have stated above, all go to establish our position.’’ (On the Sacraments, pp. 127, 128.) Let the reader of this article consider Luther’s opinion of Anabaptists. His own language on this point is clear. He says: ‘‘ Now, such are our infamous factions of Anabaptists, servants of the devil, who are perpetually running about the country and preaching against us, with exalted intellect representing us and all Christians as wicked, contending that we are grossly ignorant, and that we intend by means of water to be saved. And they are indeed very learned masters, and exceedingly eminent spirits, who teach us this original, this lofty science, that water is water. Who could have known or thought of such a thing, if those most lumi- nous doctors had not come, unless he had inquired from a 8 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. child seven years old, or gone to school a session with oxen or cows, or to swimming with the swine? Yet they are such blockheads and dolts, as to allege nothing? else against us but, ‘water is water,’ and then they advance their dreamy, visionary fancies. And is it not surprising, since they pursue this matter so high, and so shamefully reject water baptism, that they do not observe their own doctrine, and abolish baptism entirely? For indeed they still bap- tize themselves and others over again, and contradict them- selves with every act. For if they suffer our baptism, for which we have the Word and command of God, to pass as nothing, their own baptism, which they themselves regard as mere water, must effect very little indeed.’» (Luther on the Sacraments, page 11.) But Luther continues on this point. He says: ‘Thus you perceive that the Anabaptists are blind, ignorant se- ducers, who understand nothing about the word and works of God, and doubly offend against holy baptism. In the first place, because they abuse and condemn true baptism by their doctrine; and in the second place, because they give no one any certain baptism, and therefore in reality have no baptism, but their baptism is indeed rather a deceptive affair. Now so heinous and inveterate are their sins, that they deny the true baptism, and thereby draw upon themselves a terri- ble condemnation, for they are willfully striving against the ordinance and work of God; and thus they rob themselves and others of this very baptism, and all the grace which is communicated by it.’’ (Luther on the Sacraments, p. 75.) ARTICLE II. WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. In the Messenger of June 11th we have this language : ““What Luther said about the meaning of the word éaptizo, speak- ing of the etymology of the word he said: ‘The Germans call bap- tism ¢auff, from a depth, which in their language they call ‘zeff, be- cause it is proper that those who are baptized be deeply immersed.” Sermon on Baptism, pp. 145,146. (Ingham’s Hand-book of Baptism, p. 89.) The reader of this pamphlet will note the fact that the J/es- senger quotes from Ingham’s Hand-book, and not from Lu- | ther’s writings direct. A hand-book is ‘‘a book of reference for the hand.’’ It is supposed to contain, not the originals of documents, but only extracts of them. All perhaps will WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 9 admit that the original documents, and not extracts or translations thereof, are the proper source of appeal. Let us then see how this matter stands. But let the following quotation be considered. It clearly shows the correct use of the words éaftizo and faufe as used by Luther. ‘“‘ Bapio Luther translates by ‘‘auchen and eintauchen,’ to dip, dip in; but healso translates by ‘ besprengen’ (Rev. 19, 13,) to sprinkle: but according to this mode of reason- ing, éauchen and faufen both being equivalents, taufen is sprinkling, and baptism is sprinkling, and dipping is sprink- ling. By the way in which it is proved that /aw/e is immer- sion, may be proved that both /awfe and immersion are sprinkling: apiizo Luther never translated by tauchen, nor by any word which would be understood by the readers of his version to mean immersion. Whatever may be the etymology of Taufe, its actual use in the German language did not make it equivalent to immersion. Sprinkling (besprengen) or pouring (begiessen) were called taufe. If Luther believed that the acwa/ (not the primary or etymo- logical) force of the word made immersion necessary, he was bound before God_and the Church to use an unambiguous term. It is not true that ‘tauchen’ or ‘eintauchen’ had, either then or now, that very trifling and vulgar sense which, it is alleged, unfitted them over against ‘/aufen,’ to be used to designate immersion. Luther uses them in his Bible, and when in his Liturgies he means to designate immersion, these words are the very words he employs.’’ But again: “Luther used the ancient word fau/fen, because, in the fixed usage of the German, fawfen meant to baptize. Whatever may have been the etymology of it, we find its ecclesiastical use fixed before the ninth century. Otfried so uses it, A. D. 868. Eberhard and Maass, in their great Synonymik of the German, say: ‘After /aufen was limited to this eccle- siastical signification, it was no longer used for Tauchen,’ and can still less be used for it now that saufen (baptism) is no longer performed by ezzéauchen (immersion.)’’ (Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, p. 533 and 534.) Read another quotation that is purely Lutheran, and of course it is also Scriptural, otherwise it would not be Lu- theran ; for whatever is strictly Lutheran is in harmony with the Word of God.. Luther had no intention of convey- ing the idea of immersion as implied in bapfizo. The quo- tation is as follows: “The prepositions which Luther used in connection with . Io WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. ‘Taufen,’ show that he did not consider it in its actual use as a synonym of immerse: to baptize with water (mit,) with the Holy Ghost (mz¢.) John baptized with water (mit) ; baptized under Moses (under) with the cloud (mit.) It is not English to talk of immersing wth water; nor would it be German to follow ‘tauchen’ or ‘eintauchen’ by ‘mit’; nor any more so to use ‘sz?’ after ‘taufen,’ if taufen meant to immerse.’’ (Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, p. 534.) ‘“But Luther has not left us to conjecture what he con- sidered the proper German equivalent for baptizo and bap- tismos, in their actual use—how much their actual use settled as to the mode of baptism. Five times only he departs from the rendering by ‘faufe, or taufen, but not once to use ‘tauchen,’ but invariably to use waschen, to wash.”’ But the Messenger professes to quote from Luther’s Ser- mon on Baptism. It is true ‘‘An attempt has been made to show that Luther was an immersionist, by citing his views of the etymology both of the Greek and German words in- volved. The citation relied on for this purpose is from the sermon: Von Sacrament der Taufe, (Leipzig Edition, 22, 139,) which has been thus given: ‘Die Taufe (baptism) is called in Greek, baptismos ; in Latin, immersion, that is, when anything is wholly dipped (ganz ims wasser taucht) in water which covers it.’ Further, according to the import of the word /au/, the child, or any one who is baptized (getauft wird,) is wholly sunk and immersed (sonk und tauft) in water and taken out again; since without doubt, in the German language, the word /auf, is derived from the word /ief, because what is baptized (¢aufet) is sunk deep in water. ‘This, also, the import of 4aufdemands.” (Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, p. 536.) Thus we have the quotation as translated by some who wish to make the impression that Luther was an immer- sionist. ‘‘The translation is not characterized by accuracy intel ot amas for it mutilates and mistranslates the words, — which, literally rendered, are; ‘Yet it should then be, and WOULD BE RIGHT (und war recht) that one sink and baptize entirely in the water, and draw out again, the child, etc.’ How different the air of Luther’s German from that of in- accurate English.’’ ‘‘There is another yet more significant fact. It omits, out of the very heart of the quotation, certain words, which must have shown that the idea that ‘degiessen’ includes im- mersion is entirely false. The two sentences which are a ve vy WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. II quoted are connected by these words, which are Nor - QUOTED: ‘And although in many places it is no longer the custom to plunge and dip (stossen und tauchen) the children in the font (die Tau/,) but they are poured upon (degezss?) with the hand, out of the font (ows der Tauf.) Here over against immersion, as the very word to mark the opposite mode, is used that ‘degzessen,’ which, it is pretended, refers toimmersion. It seems to us inconceivable that any one could read the passage in the original, without having the falsity of the former position staring him in the face.’’ (Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, pp. 536 and 537.) It is safe to conclude, therefore, ‘‘from Luther’s opinion on the etymology of the words baptism and taufe, the infer- ence is false that he held that baptism, in the acTrUAL USE of the word, meant immersion, and that the German word taufe, in ACTUAL USE, had the same meaning. To state the proposition is to show its fallacy to any one familiar with the first principles of language.’’ (Krauth’s Conserv- ative Reformation, p. 538.) ARTICLE III. WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. Baptizo, in the sense in which it is used in the New Tes- tament, does not mean to immerse, and there is no legiti- mate way to make it mean immerse. If I mistake not, some years ago, immersionists tried this by substituting im- merse for baptize, and immersion for baptism. But perhaps they found that this would not do; and hence, it seems, that version was not extensively used. At any rate I am informed they use, in their meeting houses, the commonly accepted version. How much better it would be for all to accept the doctrines of pure and undefiled religion as they are revealed to us in the Word of God. There is no clearly revealed or well defined precept, instance or example of baptism by immersion in the Bible. And there is no lawful way of puttingit there. Even the idea of immersion does not stand written upon any page of the Word of God. This will appear plain, if the Scriptures are properly interpreted. It is not the water, whether it be much or little, that produces such glorious effects as are realized when one is baptized ac- cording to the command and institution of Christ, but it is the word of God that is with the water, and our faith trust- I2 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. ee ing such word of God in connection with the water. Lu- ther says of baptism, ‘‘God has commanded that we useour hand and tongue in the administering of it, dy sprinkling . : water upon the subject tn connection with the words which he has prescribed.” \ Again he says, ‘All that is essential to bap- tism ts the use of natural water in connection with the words of the tnstitution.’’ (S. Bap. S. Ex., pp 91 and 161). Now with all the quotations that I have made from Luther, what _ honest man can say truthfully that Luther favored immer- sion? If he believed in immersion why is it that he never immersed any one? Why is it that he himself was never imimersed ? The evidence that he favored immersion as be- _ ing the only Scriptural mode of baptism has never been fur- nished. It never will be produced. ‘‘The word immerse is not in the Bible,’’ and it cannot be put there by fair means: __ The Messenger of June 11 gives its readers this language: ‘‘What Luther said about his desire for immersion, speaking of baptism as signifying death and life; he (Luther) said : ‘being moved by this reason I would have those that are to be baptized, to be en- tirely immersed, as the word imparts and the mystery signifies.’ (Dr. Du,Veil on ’Acts 8, 38. Vide Lutheri Catichis, Minor, Ingham's Hand-book of Baptism, page 272.)’’ In the first place let me remark that this quotation claims to give Luther’s meaning of the word baptize. It claims that Luther’s import of bapéized, is ‘‘ to be entirely immersed.” --I trust much that I have already quoted from Luther is suf- ficient to show to every reflecting individual who is willing . to receive and regard the truth, that Luther dzd not believe, teach or confess that baptized, imports to be entirely immers- — ed. But more of this further on. Let the following be carefully considered. Webster’s definition is this: ‘‘Im- — merse, immersed; buried; hid; sunk.’’ ‘This signification of immerse suggests to the mind the language of another in regard to immersion, i. e., ‘‘ Its leading import is destruc- tion. The sinking of a man always signifies degrada- tion.’” (S. Bap. S. Ex.,-p. 202:) But the quotation in the Messenger as given by Ingham — claims to be from Luther’s Smaller Catechism. The follow-— ing paragraph will be sufficient to show the incorrectness of the Messenger's quotation, ‘‘In the orignal of the Smaller — Catechism there is not a word about immersion in a passage sometimes referred to. It is simply, ‘What signifies is water-baptism?’ (Wasser-Taufen.) ‘Immersion is but translation of a translation. The same is the case with th Smalcald Articles. The original reads: ‘Baptism is m WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF: BAPTISM, 13 other thing than God’s word zm the water, (im wasser). There is not a word about immersion.” (Krauth’s Con- servative Reformation, p. 525.) - We are to determine the true and genuine meaning of any book, or instrument of writing by the original language,’ and not from translations thereof no matter by whom they are made. ee, paany ‘ a : _ But the Messenger next undertakes to tell its readers : _ “What Luther said about putting away sprinkling as an abuse.”’ It quotes him as saying : “ That this sprinkling was an abuse which they ought to remove.” Dr. Du Veil, on Acts 8, 38; Ingham’s Hand-book on Baptism, p. 129. mete The Messenger seems to delight in quoting Ingham to es- tablish Lutheranism which is so eminently Scriptural in every form and feature. . _Let the following language be considered as a refutation of the absurd idea that Luther wanted to put away sprink- ling as an abuse which ought to be removed. Luther held no stich doctrine. ‘Mark these two sentences from the Larger Catechism: ‘Baptism is not our work, but God’s. For thou must distinguish between the baptism which God gives, and that which the keeper of a bath-house gives. But God’s work, to be saving, does not exclude faith, but demands it, for without faith.it cannot be grasped. For in the mere fact that thou hast had water poured on thee, thou hast not received baptism as to be useful to thee; but it profits thee when thou art baptized with the design of obey- ing God’s command. and institution, and in God’s name of receiving in the water the salvation promised. This neither the hand nor the body can effect, but the heart must believe. (das wasser uber dich giessen.) (The Latin is, aqua perfundi. ) In these words there is an express recognition of pouring or sprinkling (for the word tised by Luther covers both, but excludes immersion) as modes of baptism.’”’ (Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, p. 524.) “But there is another passage yet more decisive, if possi- ble: ‘We must look upon our baptism, and so use it as to strengthen and comfort us whenever we are grieved by sins and conscience. We should say: I am baptized, therefore the promise of salvation is given me for soul and body. For to this end ¢hese two things are done in baptism, that the body which can only receive the water, 7s wef by pouring, and that, in addition, the word isspoken that the soul may re- 14 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. ceive it. (Der Leib begossen wird.) (Latin, Corpus agua perfundatur.) ere not only is thé recognition of pouring or sprinkling explicit,’’ but it is placed far beyond success- ful contradiction. Luther clearly repudiates the Tunker ‘doctrine of the zecess¢ty of immersion.’’ (Krauth’s Conserv- ative Reformation, p. 524.) Lastly, the Messenger claims to give its readers : ‘“What Luther said about Trine Immersion; when advising the minister, as to the baptism of a Jewess convert, he said, ‘as to the public act of baptism, let her be dressed in the garments usually worn by females in baths, and be placed in a bathing tub up to the neck in water, then let the baptist dip her head three times in the water, with the usual words, ‘I baptize you in the name of the Father,’ etc. (Luther’s Works ed. Walch, part Io, p. 2637, translated by C. L. Loos, for the Disciples. )’’ This is the only quotation in the-MJessenger that claims to be direct from_Luther’s works. It refers directly to what Luther said when asked for information and advice in re- gard to the baptizing of a certain Jewess. I do not know the translator of the Messengers quotation ‘‘for the Disci- ples,’’ but the following are the facts relative to the case of the famous Jewess. Let them be well considered, and the Messenger’s statement will vanish like a cloud of smoke be- fore a hurricane. ‘“ Attempts have, indeed, been made to show that Luther at least, held the necessity of immersion, and that the Lu- theran church either held it with him, or was inconsistent in rejecting it. We shall show how groundless these state- ments are. One of the passages most frequently appealed to, in the attempt to implicate Luther, is found in Walch’s Edition of his Works, X., 2637. In regard to this, the fol- lowing are the facts. 1. The passage referred to is from a letter of Luther, written from Coburg, July 9th, 1530, in reply to an Evan- gelical pastor, Henry Genesius, who had consulted him in regard to the baptism of a Jewish girl. It will be noted from the date that the letter was written a few months after the issue of the Catechisms, in which it has been pretended, as we shall see, that he taught the necessity of immersion. — 2. The letter, given in Walch, is also in the Leipzig edi- tion of Luther X XII., 371,) and is not in either edition in the original language, but is a translation, and that froma defective copy of the original. The original Latin is given in De Wette’s edition of Luther’s Briefe (IV., 8), and con- — tains a most important part of a sentence which is not found WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ‘ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 15 in the German translation. The letter in Walch cannot, therefore, be cited in evidence, for it is neither in the origi- nal, nor a reliable translation of it. 3. The whole letter shows that the main point of inquiry was not as to whether the girl should be baptized in this or that mode, but what precaution, decency demanded during the baptism, provided it were done by immersion. 4. Luther says: ‘“‘Ir wouLD PLEASE ME, therefore, that she should . . . modestly have the water POURED UPON HER. (Mihi placeret, ut, . . verecunde perfunderetur,) or, if she sit in the water up to her neck, that her head should be im- mersed with a trine immersion.’’ (Caput ejus trina immer- stone immergeretur. ) 5. An immersionist is one who contends that baptism must be administered by immersion. The passage quoted is decisive that Luther did not think baptism mst be so ad- ministered. He represents it as pleasing to him, best of all, that the girl should have the water applied to her by pour- ing; or that, if she were immersed, greater precautions, for the sake of decency, should be observed, than were usual in the church of Rome. It is demonstrated by this very letter, that LUTHER WAS NOT AN IMMERSIONIST. If Luther could be proved by this letter, to be an immer- sionist, it would be demonstrated that he derived his view from the Romish church, and held it in common with her. In like manner, the church of England, the Episcopal churches of Scotland and of the United States, and the Methodist churches, would be carried over to the ranks of immersionists, for they all allow the different modes. But these churches are confessedly not immersionist : therefore, Luther was no zmmersionist. 7. Whatever Luther’s personal preferences may have been as to mode, he never even doubted the validity of baptism by pouring. But immersionists do not merely doubt it, they absolutely deny it ; therefore, Luther was no immersionist. 8. An immersionist is one who makes his particular mode of baptism a term of church communion, and an article of faith. Luther was in a church which did not prescribe im- mersion as necessary—never made it an article of faith : therefore, Luther was no immersionist. — g. Finally, the letter of Luther shows that he preferred pourimg. He says expressly that it would please him that the water should be poured upon her head, and gives this the first place ; and his directions in regard to immersion, 16 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM, are given only in the supposition that that mode might - be decided upon 7 she sit, etc., her head shall be immersed, ’ etc., sz sedens. Whatever, therefore, may be the difference beeen the doctrine of the necessity of immersion, and the ‘doctrine of. immersion,’ we feel safe in affirming that Luther held neither.’’ (Krauth’s Conservative Reformation, PPs. 520- 524.) The Messenger then asserts, that i in the quotabion®: used in its article— Cire “taught baptism aoeadine to the commission, Matth. 28, 19.’’ ae then gives the admonition— “‘you should so believe.’’ But the Messenger. fails, totally faiis ‘ti to prove Luther’ s true position on baptism, because it does not quote direct from Luther s writings, but from Ingham’s Hand-book, and credits its entire article ‘“Philadelphia Tract, Lock Box 758.’’ Ob- serve the quotations are second handed. Its admonition is groundless. Luther taught no such doctrine as the W/essen- ger tries to tell its readers he taught. You should not so believe ; for I have given you quotations direct from Lu- ther’s own writings. You should believe them. For in them he taught baptism according to the commission, Matt. 28, 19. ; ARTICLE IV. REBAPTIZING. We are induced to consider this subject briefly, though plainly, not because we find it mentioned, or even referred’ to in the Word of God, but because immersionists not only doubt, but positively deny every other mode except that,of immersion, and hence they plunge beneath the water any who have been baptized by sprinkling or pouring, and who are silly enough to yield to their human notions. They do this without any scriptural authority whatever, and then they call it a proper baptism. The evidence has never been furnished that immersion is a scriptural baptism at all. Such evidence can not be furnished. There is no “‘thus saith the Lord” for immersion. It is then, to say the least, a ques- tionable matter as to whether immersion is a valid baptism at all or not. ‘‘Therefore; these rebaptizers act danger~, ously indeed,’’ because there is no degree of certainty re- specting their position. (Luther on the Sacraments, p. 110.) WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. IZ Here is also another quotation from Luther. — It is in his Larger Catechism,* as contained in the Book of Concord, beginning on page 445): ‘‘But no one is permitted to sprinkle us with water again; for if a person should even permit himself to be sunk into water a hundred times, it would still be no more than one baptism ; this work,” (of baptizing by sprinkling) ‘‘however, continues, and the signification is permanent.’ Hear Luther again: ‘‘For he who suffers. himself to be rebaptized, recalls by that act his former faith and righteousness, and brings them into sin and condemna- tion—a thing which is shocking to hear.’’ (Luther on the Sacraments, page 116). Baptism is an institution of Christ—Matt. 28, 19. He designs and intends that it shall be received and used by all whose eyes see the light of this world. Christian baptism is to be administered to and received by the same individual only one time. It is not susceptible of any alteration, modi- fication, or improvement by any authority except that by which it was instituted, ordained, and enjoined. It is to be administered by Christ’s authority, ‘‘in the name of the Father, and of thg Son, and of the Holy Ghost,’’ and ac- cording to his command.—Matt. 28, 19. ‘. When baptism is administered according to the command of Christ, it must not be repeated or reiterated: 1. ‘‘Be- cause it is the sacrament of initiation,’’ and ‘‘through which we are first taken into the community of Christians.’’— (Schmid’s Dogmatics, p. 569, and Book of Concord, p. 435.) It is the means by or through which God ordinarily effects our regeneration. There is no revealed way by which we can so much as see the kingdom of God without being born again, John 3, 3; and without being born of water and the Spirit, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God—John 3, 5. ““As we are born but once, so also we are but once born again.’’ (Schmid’s Dogmatics, p. 569). But suppose some one does act badly, and commits sin even openly and grossly, what is to be done in his case? Is he to be born again? Must he be rebaptized? Will the reader let Luther answer? Luther in reply says: ‘‘If, however, those who are baptized act contrary to their conscience, permitting sin to rule over them, and thus aggrieve and lose the Holy Spirit in them ; they need not indeed be rebaptized, but they must be reconverted. *In April, 1529, the Larger Catechism was completed in the Ger- man language. 18 WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. — For it is certain that in true conversion there must be a change, new inclinations and new emotions take place in the understanding, will, and heart.’’ (Bk. of Conc., p-.537:) Again, suppose a person who has been baptized neglects his faith, and even for a time relinquishes it entirely, and after awhile, sees the error of his way, desiring to return to his first love, will it be necessary for him to be tebaptized again? or suppose some one would decide, as some have. erroneously done, to leave the Lutheran church, e. g., go to the anabaptist denomination ought he to be rebaptized ? Immersionists would doubtless answer these questions affir- matively. Lutherans would say no—not under any circum- stance. Why? Because they attach more importance to the Word than they do to the water, whether it be much or little. On this point Luther himself says : ‘‘ Even if they,”’ z. €., anabaptists, ‘‘wished to do justice to their own pre- sumption, they should institute, not a practice of rebaptizing, but of vebelieving ; for baptism is the word and ordinance of God, and needs no repetition or renewal ; but faith, if it has ceased to exist, requires renovation. ‘Therefore with con- sistency they might be reproducers of faith, (Wiederglaub- ler), but not rebaptizers, even if they were in the right, which however is not the fact.’’ (Luther on the Sacraments, p. 1 38:) There is no circumstance or condition whatever that will justify rebaptizing. We therefore say again with Luther : “If we baptize every one according to the comthand of Christ, we leave Christ to provide the manner in which the subjects of baptism shall believe.’’? (Luther on the Sacra- ments, page 128.) 2. Baptism correctly administered should not be repeated : ‘‘Because there is no precept, no promise, no example in the Holy Scriptures for such repetition.’’ (Schm. Dog., p. 569.) The idea of rebaptizing is no where to be found from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelations. Acts 19 : 1-6 has been referred to in justification of rebaptizing. The reader is advised to examine that Scripture The men mentioned by the Apostle had been baptized “unto John’s baptism,’’ verse 3. For the reason, stated in this Scripture, verse 2, ‘‘Paul said, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should be- lieve on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus’’—verses 4, 5. It is‘reasonable to conclude that Paul administered Christian baptism to these WHAT LUTHER SAID ABOUT THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. 19 disciples ; ‘‘for to be a Christian a man must be baptized in the Christian faith ; these persons had not been baptized in- to that faith, and therefore were not Christians : they felt this, and were immediately baptized zx/o the name of the Lord Jesus.”’ There is no example in the Bible of any one being rebap- tized who had been previously baptized in the name of the Sacred Three. Itis an awful, awful thing to be rebaptized, to make the attempt or even to presume to be rebaptized ; for it is entirely contrary to the unanimous decision of the best of theologians; it is open opposition to the universal practice of the purest age of the Christian church ; it is con- trary to the plain teachings of the Word of God, its natural tendency being to bring this holy sacrament into disrepute. 3. Baptism must not be repeated : ‘‘Because the fruit of baptism is perpetual, and the unbelief of man does not make the faith of God of no effect.”” (Schmid’s Dogmatics, p. 569.) Again Luther speaks : ‘“‘Whatever God makes and does are works which are steadfast, determinate, unchangeable, and eternal as himself. Consequently they stand and en- dure firm and immovable, and will not change, although we may probably misuse them in every respect. But whatever we do, is infirm and uncertain, as we ourselves are, so that we can ground or establish nothing upon it. In order, therefore, that baptism may be permanent and certain to us, he has not established it upon our faith, because that itself is uncertain, and can very readily be false; but he has es- tablished it upon his own word and ordinance, in order that it might be correct and might endure, and not become en- feebled and contemptible, even if faith do not attend it.’’ (Luther on the Sacraments, page 69). The mode of Christian baptism has been the subject of animated debate for years. "Thesame is true of the subjects of baptism. ‘This has been indulged even to the extent, on the part of some at least, to the neglect of the Word of God in baptism and the exercise of faith in that Word. It is God’s Word that makes the sacrament. Man’s faith there- fore can not make it. My faith finds the sacrament already made, and receives, applies, and appropriates the benefits and blessings connected with baptism. Hence, the import- ance of faith in the Word, and the unparalleled value and power of the divine Word. ‘‘He that believeth and is bap- tized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.’’ MY OWN PUBLICATI ‘‘What Luther Said About the Ordinance Price, 10 cts. per copy; three copies for 24 per dozen, postpaid. A Sermon on the Doctrine of the Holy “1 Rev. J. Paul Stirewalt, A. M. — This Sermon is printed in pamphlet form, pee x in proper style, and from clear type. It is well g be read by the old and the young. It is a faithful explanation of this impos sul a Scriptural standpoint. — The Lutheran Standard, (published at Columbus, Ohi ‘We read this sermon, and were edified, and believe who understands the English language will be benefited ing and carefully reading it.”’ Rev. S. Henkel, D. D., (in Our Church Paper) ame ; have read it with interest. This important subject is ably a nd | treated, in a simple but elegant, Scriptural style, which the r can understand. It is a decided acquisition to our literature and should receive a wide circulation.”’ : Price, 10 cts. per copy, cash, POSEPAESS $1.00 per - postpaid. ¢ Grades in the Ministry, with Remarks on the terial Office and Ordination, by Rev. Jac walt. = This book contains 2 a ner sketch of- the Auth Chief Symbols of the Church, the Origin of the A Confession and its Defense-- — An able critic says of it: “The author’s arguments are reasoning logical, and style perspicuous.”” _ Price, 75 cts. cash, postpaid. The three books sent to one address for go othe will be received. Address all orders to Rev. J. PAUL STIREWALT, Publis NEw MARKET, SHENANDOAH Co. INFANT CHURCH WEMBERSHIP-BAPTISM. COMPRISING I. NATIVE DEPRAVITY. II. RELIGIOUS RELATICNSHIP WITH ABRAHAM. III. THE MEANING OF THE TERM COVENANT. IV. THAT ONLY ONE COVENANT WAS MADE WITH ABRAHAM,—ITS CON- FIRMATION—OANAAN AS A TYPE OF HEAVEN. VY. PRAOTIOAL AND DESULTORY INFER- ENCES, IN WHIOH THE BAPTIST SYSTEM AND ARGUMENTS, IN REGARD TO INFANT CHUROH MEMBERSHIP, ARE REVIEWED AND MORE FULLY REFUTED. BY REV. P.C. HENKEL, D. D., CONOVER, N. CG. HENKEL & CO., PRINTERS, NEW MARKET, VA.: OrFiceE OF Our CuurcH PAPER, SHENANDOAH VALLEY, ETc., ETc, PREFACE. The author of the arguments, contained in the following pages, in defence of I Church Membership and also of the Bible Mode of Christian Baptism, has, by | the solicitation of numerous friends, consented to publish them in book or pamphlet fe In view of the divine injunction, ‘‘Earnestly contend for the faith which was” delivered unto the saints,’’ the author has endeavored to make a plain defence, s furnish sincere, unsuspecting, and Es, people the means of protection again chievous, sophistical arguments. i He has no ill-will towards his Baptist friends, but wishes them to see the truth, < knows from experience, that there are some honest persons among them, 3 ake vinced of their error, will defend the truth with great zeal. Bec His views on Infant Church Membership were, to some ext published i in wie i an Standard many years ago, and afterwards, to some extent, in the Evangelical published in Charlotte, North Carolina, by Rev. N. Aldrich, and at that time many solicitations were made to have them put in book form. Now, in view of the 2 end of the author’s ministry, on account of age, &c., the solicitations to have lished in book form, have become more urgent. The author, in a very early period of his life in the ministry, was compelled td m many bold challenges, which were made, or suffer the souls under his care, as well z a of many other ministers, to be misled. In the many and extensive discussions which the author had, he found op; often used the severest language in their power, which had a tendency to cause the in reply to them, to hurl back the most pungent repartees in their faces, Me : prudently make, with no other design, than, if possible, to lead them and their t their errors and to forsake them. With the experience, which the author was led so to obtain, and so long too, he was led more fully to see the necessity of using plain wo! If, therefore, in his written defence, a tone of severity is seen, the reply is, that facts < fidelity, not only excuse, but demand it. Truth will not admit of a compromise with « The truth must be spoken; and to speak without feeling its weight, is to treat it v difference. - His object, in this treatise, is to set forth, defend, and perpetuate the pure Divine Revelation, in regard to these important matters, in a plain, simple manner, Be th the common reader may form correct views relative to them. , He had intended to prepare an article, for this work, on the subject of * but the want of time, and an urgent desire for the appearance of the work in book fi prevented its preparation for this issue. thee May this little work lead many to the truth, as well as to embrace it, is the si nce! of the reader’s friend. ex Ent = INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP---BAPTISM. By Rev. P. C. HENKEL, D. D., CONOVER, N. C. CHAPTER ‘I. ORIGINAL DEPRAVITY. To see the necessity of infant bap- tism, and the responsibility of parents in reference to God’s commands, it is of vital importance to have correct views in reference to native,depravi- ty. The whole human family have a direct personal concern in this matter. It lies at the foundation of all sound theology; and he who fails to under- stand the depravity of our race, will fail to understand the remedy that has been provided for it. Original sin is not properly the na- ture, substance, or essence of man, that is, the body or soul of man; for God is the creator of both soul and body. I do not wish, therefore, to be understood, that depravity is a mate- rial substance infused into the soul; it is moral, not physical depravity, of which I speak. Man, since the fall, possesses no moral ability. The soul has lost its original righteousness and holiness, hence, cannot love, serve, and honor God. Man’s character in view of God’s moral law is known as an object of wrath and condemnation only. The same death in sin and cor- rupt nature whigh attached to our first parents, se fruit of their transgression, are “ gnveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation; hence, the whole human family is defiled and corrupt from the womb, which defile- ment manifests itself with the earliest dawn of reason. With these remarks, I shall proceed to prove the doctrine. Let us appeal to the Scriptures. Job 3, 6—* That which is born of the flesh, is flesh ;” &c. Our Savior is speaking in this )} text of that which excludes men from the kingdom of heaven: “Except a man (Greek—rc, any one) be born of water and of the spirit he cannot en- ter into the kingdom of God,” v. 5d. Why not? Answer. Because “that which is born of the flesh, is flesh.” Hence, so soon as we are born into this world, we are unprepared for heaven; because we are naturally corrupt, like our source. Again, Job 14,4: “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” And chap. 15,14: “What is man that he should be clean? and he whieh is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?” The word righteous shows, that Job and his friend are not speaking here merely of man’s natural frailty, but of his want of moral purity. He springs from a cor- rupt source, and is “born” “unclean,” i. e.. unrighteous. He ‘is depraved from his birth. : a ane Again, Gen. 6,5: “And God saw|the defilement of that the wickedness of man was great | humbles himself under the ai in the earth, and that every imagina- consciousness, that he has’ a tion of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Chap. 8, 21: “For the imagination, (dta,ua, the ex- ercise or act of the mind,) of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” It ap- pears from these texts, that not only some, but every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, is only evil, (not occasionally) but continually, and too, from his youth. Now, since man by nature is carnal, (fleshly,) be is from his infancy an object of divine wrath: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not sub- - ject to the law of God, neither indeed can be”—Rom. 8,7: “That which is born of the flesh, is flesh.” “Flesh ” denotes the opposite of “spirit; ” hence, death. “For to be carnally minded is death””—Rom. 8, 6. There- fore all who are born into this world by natural generation are spiritually dead; hence, “children of wrath by nature’—Eph. 2,3: And if “children of wrath by NATURE,” we are under the wrath of God from our birth,— _we belong to a condemned race,—a race upon which the sentence of con- demnation has been passed on ac- count of the sin of the first man, Adam. “Wherefore, as by one man Sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”—Rom. 5,12. Again, Ps. 51,5: “Behold [ was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Lan- guage cannot more distinctly express the native depravity of man, than this. The humble penitent does not stop with a confession of his outward sins, but in exercise of true contrition goes back to the depraved source from which they sprung. He bemoans very Commencement of his e “Behold, I was shapen in ini and in sin did my mother concei me.” He feels as the Apostle ex- — presses it: “And were by nature the | children of wrath, even as others.”— Eph. 2,3. Let me ask my Baptist friends, Are infants holy by nature ? If so, will you prove it? If they are innocent, did Christ die for them? If he did not die for them, can they be saved? If Christ did not die for in- fants, none but the person of our first parents can be saved; for all men be- ~ sides had their existence in infaney. But will you answer, that he died for infants, then tell me, did he die for the godly, or for the ungodly?—Rom. __ 5, 6, says: “For when we were yet _ without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” If Christ died for infants, did he not die forsinners? Paul says, Rom. 5,8: “Whilewewere _ yet sinners Christ died for us.” Are infants in a state of nature, in an innocent state? Then they need no Savior. But, Christ “came to seek ‘ and to save that which was lost.”— Luke 19, 10. Who ever perished be- # ing innocent? But if Christ has died for all infants; and, if in consequence _ of their redemption, they are in a state of grace and salvation; at what period — in life do they fall and lose that grace? And, if they can fall from grace, what becomes of the seven- J headed doctrine: “Once in grace, al ~ ways in grace”? If it is possible that God will permit an infant to fall from ~ a state of grace and innocence, is it not probable and possible, that an — adult may fall? Or is God’s presery- ing grace and care greater towards “ INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. the adult, than the infant? If so, I} count for the sufferings and death of wish to see the proof. Nowif you will admit, that all infants are redeemed, you must admit, that the whole human family are redeemed, for all (except the parents of our race) had their ex- istence in infancy. Again, if all are redeemed, and in consequence thereof, all infants are in a state of grace, it must necessarily follow, that the whole human family will be saved, or that it is possible to fall from grace ; or, that by nature, after all your presumption, they are children of wrath, and not of grace. But if Christ has not redeem- ed all Adam/’s race, I wish to see the proof; and also how you can be con- sistent when you labor to convert those whom God, in his decree has de- termined to save: and why you pray and labor to save the non-elect. I conclude that, if you look about a lit- tle, you must see, that you are like the war-like hero fighting his own shadow with the cudgel of the wind. The truth is, Christ has redeemed all: 1 Tim. 2, 5,6; 1 John 2,2; 2 Pet. 2,1; Heb. 2,9; 14,15. Notwithstanding, there is no proof in the sacred Script- ures, that any will be saved without a proper use of the means of grace. But it is agreed, that infants are not eapable of this; and therefore have no right to Gospel means. This shall be faithfully examined before we close this subject. We have already proved the de- pravity of Adam’s race. God is a merciful and a just being. A just and merciful God will not inflict pun- ishments upon the perfectly innocent, nor suffer it to be done: but he chas- tises his children for their defects, short comings, and sins, that they ‘may be made partakers of his holiness; see Heb. 12,6,11; 1 Cor. 11, 30, 32; Ps. 32, 4,5,6. But how can we ac-' infants, if they be perfectly holy ? Willa just and holy God chastise and punish the innocent? God for- bid! Well, does he cause, or permit them, to suffer, because he delights in seeing his creatures suffer? God for- bid! This cannot be proved. Again, does he cause or permit them to suffer, that they may be “exercised thereby;” yield “the peaceable fruits of right- eousness?” The possibility of this you will not admit; for your motto is, little children are not capable of this. Well, if God does not permit them to suffer for innocence, for nought, or to be exercised thereby, why do they have to suffer, and even die? There can be no correct answer given, unless we admit their deep depravity and sin. “By NATURE” we are “children of wrath.”—Eph. 2,3. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”—Psalm 51,5. All Adam’s posterity are equal- ly depraved.—Rom. 3. They are liars as soon as they are born. The Psalmist says: “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” —Ps. 58,3. It is said, that “little children are holy,” that is, when they first come into this world! But I would ask, is a liar holy? Then they are holy liars! For “they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” “AJI liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.”—Rey. 21, 8. Infants are liars from the time they are born; hence, subject to God’s wrath. They are by nomeans holy by nature: If they were, they could by no means fall, according to the doctrine of our opponents. I mean the doctrine of those who contend for the doctrine of final perseverance. ' Again, if they are holy by nature, the Scriptures are not true. And, again, if they are made holy by the redemption of Jesus, then they - must be capable of being made holy, for they are not holy by nature; and if capable of holiness, they are capa- ble of regeneration. But if they can- not be made holy, or cannot be regen- erated, they cannot be saved. From what has already been shown, it is evident, that if infants are innocent and holy by nature, or as they are born into this world, provided the doctrine of final perseverance be true, that the whole human family will be saved, whether Baptist, Pedo-baptist or anything else; for all besides the persons of Adam and Eve had their existence in helpless infancy, hence in holiness and innocence, and, of course, God will save all who are ina state of grace, for they cannot fall accord- ing to such doctrine; or it will follow, provided you should conclude to admit their deep depravity, and yet deny their capability of regeneration, that all who die in infancy will be damned, or that they will go to heaven in their corrupt unregenerated state. Ifyou desire, take any horn of the dilemma; you must see that the first leads you to universalism ; the second to the damnation of all who die in intancy ; and the third to a denial of the lan- guage of Jesus Christ, when he says: _ © Except a man (ttc, any one) be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot | that their inelingeea to sin is enter into the kingdom of God ;” and | not only to this text, but a host of ‘others, which might be given. If their depravity be admitted, and the assumption made that they are holy by redemption, in some myste- rious, inexplicable manner ; I answer, that it is altogether bee gging the question ; and I respond, that “The wind bloweth thou hearest the canst not tell wh whither it goeth; Ty is born of the Spirit.”—J “Then marvel not that Je —“Except a man (zc, any born of water, and of ai God.” This is tantamount toa sidecki that no descendant of Adam ( nary generation) can enter except he be regenerated. If its import, is ples in mee to be regenerated, "they a ie Ute for nothing but de] ei are not holy previous to being holy, unless the holy can be ae ! But should it be bir. neither a nor sinful it will be cult to show how they can be bei by the atonement, which, exelus was made for sinners: § atonement was made only fo by bad example. Answer. Cai no example of murder, yet he m Ww ed; and therefore must have ha inclination without any such exai and this is the case with all posterity. Furthermore, if race are not depraved, and moral character anteceden commission of actual sin, tl INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. ¢ must be unjust when inflicting a pen- | ence, death with all its gloom and alty upon Adam/’s posterity before | misery. they arrive at years of accountability.|_ hat Adam transgressed, we need A creature that is not accountable | yo¢ stop to prove. But it will be cannot sin, and if infants are not ac- necessary to notice, that the same countable, of course they cannot sin,! penalty, and condemnation to which and if they cannot sin, it seems that | he was subject, passed upon his pos- a righteous and merciful God would terity; and that they are regarded not permit them to suffer the penalty due to sin. Indeed, God is most mer- ciful and just? Do infantsdie? We know they do. What is death? An- swer. “The wages of sin.”—Rom. 6, 23. Whatis sin? Answer. “The trans-| corrupt in heart and mind as he was gression of the law.”—1 John 3, 4.| immediately after the fall, possessing Now, every sinner is a transgressor, | the likeness and inage of fallen Adam, and deserves the penalty due to sin, (Gen. 5, 3,) which consists in all un- which is death; and as infants die, | righteousness ; in a word, we “are the they receive the wages of sin ;—but! children of wrath by NATURE.” > as th r at a : ‘ he who h Bee . a acter at all, that That the whole human family were is, is neither guilty nor innocent, can : represented in the person of Adam, Pe on tetnicel Tae kre aan : and condemned on account of his first ; Wise ¢ Howe : : God does inflict the penalty of death i eeshSaRm im NM eg upon infants as well as upon adults, they must have a character in refer- ence to the moral law as well as the adults. of his offence, and, consequently, his posterity sinned in him, and fell with him in that first transgression; so that since the fall, his posterity are as “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it;—Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yield- That infants have a character in view of the moral law, and that their character is sinful, has been proved; this, however, is not the principal reason why they are under the sen- tence of condemnation. Notwith- A child must perceive, that these dec- larations were intended for the pos- tion and want of moral purity would | self. be sufficient to condemn them eter- That Adam represented his poster- nally. ity too, in a moral, or legal point of view, is evident from the fact, that all his posterity are condemned for his one offence; not, however, that they have only thereby incurred a debt, a re- sponsibility by the offence of another, without any corruption of their own nature; for every individual of his posterity is personally as corrupt as Adam was created in the image of God, and in his person, as the federal head and representative of his pos- terity, God promised him and his seed, upon condition of his (not their) obe- dience, the reward of eternal life and the glory and happiness peculiar to it: And upon condition of his disobedi- and treated as sinners, on the ground following Scriptural declarations :— . ing seed; to you it shall be for meat.” . standing, their own personal corrup-| terity of Adam, as well as for him- ~ 8 INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTIE§ Adam. St. Paul says, Rom. 5, 12: “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so DEATH passed upon ALL men, for that ALL have sinned.” From this we learn, that death is the punish- nent of sin, and that all die because all have sinned. Notwithstanding, Adam/’s children did not become sin- ners by their own immediate individ- ual acts, nevertheless, they are sinnérs personally, and individually, so soon as they have a personal existence, and that too, as deeply corrupted as the source from which they obtain their existence, or trom which they spring; and the very first thought that they are possibly capable of, is sinful from that time to the last breath; unless changed by the atoning merits of Jesus Christ. See Gen. 6, 5, chap. 8, 21; Eph. 2, 1, vs. 8, 9. Furthermore, that Adam represent- ed his posterity in divine government, is evident from the fact, that by his act of disobedience, they are judicially “ condemned.” Adam were tried in him, they have been condemned without atrial. But as the primitive state of man was probationaty, so, that when Adam/’s probation ended, it ended for all his race; for, “Judgment was by one to condemnation”—Rom. 5, 16. “All the world” is “guilty before God.” Ch: 3, 19. In Rom. 5, 14, Adam is called “the figure of him that was to come.” 1 Cor. 15, 45:. “The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickning spirit.” And verse 47: “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.” From these texts it appears there was a resemblance between Adam and the Saviour. This resemblance could not have consisted in their pos- Unless the race ants would equally be a figure Christ; neither can it consist mer in this, viz.: that as Adam was the natural root of his offspring, so Christ — is also the root or source of life-to his spiritual seed; this, however, is a truth, notwithstanding, it is not com- prehensive enough to embrace the full import of the words quoted; for the Apostle does not hold forth the view that Adam merely conveys a corrupt nature to his posterity, and therefore is a figure of Christ, for all parents convey a corrupt nature to their offspring, and would therefore be a figure of Christ too. It must be - borne in mind, that, in the 5th echap- ter of Romans, the apostle affirms that Adam involved his race in ruin on account of his first sin. It is said, “through the offence of one many be dead.” “By one man’s offence death reigned by one.” “As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation.” ' . Ifis the apostle’s design merely to show, that Adam conveys a corrupt nature to his posterity, it will be diffi- cult to perceive, why he should have restricted the damage we suffer from — father Adam to his first offence. In Rom. 5, 12-19, it is the apostle’s object to illustrate the mode in whieh men are delivered from sin and death, by the mode in which they were brought into that state. According to the text they are justified through Christ, as they were condemned in Adam.— Verse 18 says, “Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” That all men are condemned on the account of Adam’s transgres- INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 9 sion, is undoubtedly the import of the | yet in eternal death; even so, all for apostle’s argument, and he uses this} whom Christ died are not in posses- familiar fact to illustrate man’s recov-| sion of, nor realizing eternal life, in ery by Christ. Many conclude from| regard even to the soul, antecedent this contrast, that, unless the word all, to faith in his name; notwithstand- can be restricted, as it is applied to| ing all are redeemed. If we limit the the justification of life, so as to em-| word all so as to embrace the (sup- brace the elect only, that all men! posed) elect, then, the non-elect would would be saved, regardless of faith, | be in a state of safety, or be in no re- as the condition upon which God jus- vealed condition whatever; for all tifies. They arrive at this conclusion | men upon whom judgment came to from an improper view of faith. The} condemnation, the free gift came unto word ail, as applied to the justification | justification of life ; and consequently of life, most assuredly includes all| the non-elect would neither be con- Adam’s posterity ; because, it occurs | demned nor justified. in such a connection as to admit ofno|” It is admitted, that the righteous- other meaning; for the text obvious-| ness of Christ came upon all men in ly shows, that the same all, upon| the same sense, that condemnation whom judgment came untocondemna-) came upon all by the disobedience of tion, came also the justification oflife.| Adam. But how does condemnation They are all condemned, but not all| come upon all men by the disobedi- punished :—they are all redeemed, | ence of Adam? They are most assur- but not all eternally saved. But the | edly under the sentence of condemna- text shows that the righteousness of | tion, but they are net all eternally Christ, came upon all men in the same | punished. In consequence of the fall sense, that condemnation came upon | they are sinners, and under the sen- all by the disobedience of Adam. | tence of condemnation, which, certain- This is admitted. It does not, how-| ly would be executed upon all, if some ever, prove a general restoration, no| of them did not take their refuge in more than it proves ageneral damna-| Christ. In the same manner the jus- tion. For Adam immediately after | titication of life came upon all men the fall was not ina state of eternal | through Christ; viz.: if through un- damnation ; although by his offence | belief they would not reject his righte- judgment came upon him to condem- ousness, they would be saved. If, nation, and also upon his posterity. } without any condition, it be true, that For had he then been already in eter- all, for whom Christ died, must be nal death, with soul and body, both| saved; then it must be equally true, himself and posterity would have been | that all who fell in Adam must also be eternally lost. So, if all for whom | eternally punished. Again; those who Christ died were personally in posses- | believe not, will as little be saved, sion of eternal life in regard to both | although Christ died for them, as soul and body, all would be saved.| those will be sentenced to eternal But this is not the case. Again, punishment, in the great day of judg- Adam immediately after his disobe-| ment, who believe in Christ, though dience, nor through his disobedience, | they had fallen in Adam, and were as it regards even the soul alone, or| under the sentence of condemnation. that of his posterity, was not then'It must be observed, that Adam, 10 through his disobedience, did not im- mediately enter into eternal punish- ment: (nor have we reason to think he ever did.) He must die a bodily death first, and that in unbelief, be- fore he can enter into eternal punish- ment; even so, it must be observed, that Christ, through his obedience, did not bring Adam and posterity immediately into possession of eternal life; although, “the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” But in order to the enjoyment or individu- - - . “4 | al realization of life, the redeemed, through faith, by which they are jus- tified, must die to sin, or, notwith- standing the universal atonement, no one will ever be able to say, in truth, and without ostentation: “Iam eru- cified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, hp loyed me and gave him- self for me.”—Gal. And only those who remain faithful until death have the promise of a glorious resur- rection and endless enjoyment in heaven. Now, if all infants are elected and saved, merely because Christ died for all, then the whole race of Adam will _be saved, provided none of the elect can fall, for all had their existence in helpless infancy, except the parents of our race. But if he died only for a part of Adam’s race, that is, for the elect, this part must e elected in in- fancy, or a part of the elect, that is, those who die in infaney would be lost, and in this way all infants would be lost, both elect and non-elect. Again, if, because, “as by the of- fence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of 2, 20. cteaaes dei dinsheal a sav ed. that is, (the non- elect) Wenanien Ad sin or disobedience. Will they be , saved, if they are not under the sen- % tence of condemnation ? ee eS CHAPTER IL. INFANT BAPTISM. —_ Religious Relationship with the Patri- arch Abraham. Our relationship to father Abraham is of vital importance, and should be faithfully examined, and properly un- derstood. It is no very great bless- ing merely to be a literal descendant of Abraham, for this may be the case, and at the same time such may be the children of hell: Therefore, even if you are natural descendants,— “think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up ecluldren unto Abraham.” Matt. 3, 9; For: “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, — are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Rom. 9: 7, 8; “What shall we say then? that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to right- eousness, over the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which follow- ed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of right- eousness :” verses, 30,31. We may ask, why? Answer. “Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law: for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone; | As it is written, “ Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of | offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Verses, 32,33. It mast be observed that Abraham was not to be the father of | a certain particular nation of people; but, “of many nations ;” and that in @ very peculiar sense. thy name any more be called Abram; but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations haye I made thee.” Gen. 17,5. Whether, or not, our Baptist friends will acknowledge Abraham as their father in this pecn- liar sense shall be left to their own choice. great reluctance that the “ Wander- | ing Pilgrim,” a great Baptist cham- pion, acknowledged it: yes, so much so, that I felt that I had almost com- mitted extortion in making the point- ed exaction of him: but to the sub- ject. “Know ye therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children ot Abraham. And the Seript- ure, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, say- ing, In thee shall all nations be bless- ed. Sothen they which be of faith | are blessed with faithful Abraham. Gal. 3: 7,9. For, Christ hath re- deemed us from the curse of the law, | being made a curse for us: for it is | written, cursed is every one that | hangeth ona tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gen- tiles through Jesus Christ; that we | might receive the promise of the | Spirit through faith,” verses 13, 14. ; “Do we then make void the law! INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. “Neither shall I know that it was with very | through faith? God forbid: we es- tablish the law.” Rom.3, 31. “What | shall we say then that Abraham, our ' father as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Forif Abraham were justi- fied by works, he hath whereof to glo- ry; but not before God. For what saith the Seripture? Abraham be- lieved God. and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Ch. 4: 1,3.— “And he received the sign of cireum- cision: a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being un- circumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised ; that right _eousness might be imputed unto them also: And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumeis- ion only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abra- ham, which he had, being yet uneir- eumeised. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they __ which are of the law be heirs, faith is | made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh | wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore if is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure fo all — the seed; not to that only which-is of the law, but to that also which Is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us ail, (As it is written, I have made thee father of many na- tions) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations,” &e., verses, 11, 18. For: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neith- er bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, ; t /12 _ all true believers are his children :— then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs | according to the promise,” ver. 28, 29. Nothing can be plainer revealed than the religious relationship of all true believers, under both dispensa- tions, with the patriarch’ A braham,— bond, tree, male or female; and that children, “as Isaac was.”—Gal. 4, 28. “Know ye theretore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham,” ch. 3,7. “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the chil- dren of promise,” ch. 4, 28. Now, my Baptist triends, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.” John 8,39. I mean, ye would do that which, “God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my coye- nant therefore, thou, and thy seed af- ter thee, in their generations.” Gen. 17,9. But you exclude your children from God’s covenant :—“this did not Abraham,” nor any of his children. But are youof Abraham’s generation ? Then keep the charge given to Abra- ham and his seed. But if you are | none of Abraham’s children, then do not dispute the privilege, nor deny those of his generation, the right of dedicating their infants to God, by that rite which seals the Abrahamic covenant under the New Testament dispensation. Now, my Baptist friends, I ask, I emphatically ask, do you claim to be _Christ’s by faith ?! This you cannot be, unless you are “ Abraham/’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” Are you “children of promise,”—“ as Isaac was?” Then keep the covenant made with your father Abraham, as Isaac did, or dis- claim all relationship with them in every sense: For, unless you are chil- dren of Abraham by faith} and breth- ren with Isaae, of the : and promises, and Christ’s way, there is no Seriptural, n tional ground to conclude, relative to you, and to say with the Apostle: “And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”_—“ Know ye there- fore, that they which are of faith, the - SAME are the children of Abraham.” - “Now we, brethren, aS ISAao wAs, are the CHILDREN of PROMISE.” — For as certain as you are Christ’s (otherwise than merely by creation and redemption; and you haye your redemption through the Abrahamic covenant promises,) I mean by adop- tion,—“then are ye Abraham’s seed. and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3, 29. “For it is written, That Abraham had two sons; the one by a bond-maid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond- woman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman eas by promise. Which things are an allegory: for — these are two covenants; the one from mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her chil- dren. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Gal. 4, 22, 26. Now, are you Abra- ham’s children by the free woman, or by the bond-woman? you must be one or the other, or so far as the church and means of grace, or the covenants and promises of God are concerned; or even the moral law itself may be concerned, you must be perfectly anomalous. Be ee In conclusion of this chapter, I shall only yet remark, that neither our Baptist friends, nor any one else, can claim to be “the children of God by INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 5 | faith in Christ J esus,” without involv- ing themselves in the Apostle’s con- clusion; viz.: “And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” <--> CHAPTER ITI. INFANT BAPTISM. In this chapter we design to show the nature or meaning of the term, Covenant. A covenant is any order or plan laid down, according to which parties are bound to act. Common contracts between parties are covenants in which contractors are bound. Every coutract is a covenant in a certain sense, because in every one there is an order laid down according to which parties are bound to act. Contracts are called covenants in the Holy Scriptures for this reason: and this we might presume would not be denied by our Baptist friends. They, however, object upon this very ground to infants entering into covenant. They say they are too young, and hence unqualified to enter into covenant, inasmuch as they can not consent to it; for, say they, it requires the consent of both parties to make a covenant. This is true to some extent in the common affairs of lite; but it is not universally so even concerning earthly things, much less with God’s covenants, or plans of dealing with his creatures. We say it is not sufficiently founded in eove- nants of men to sustain the Baptist objection. Instance, a will. If aman of sound mind makes a will, it is an order or plan laid down according to which executors and heirs are bound to act, and is a covenant regardless | of the consent of parties; and hence, an infant even one day old, is both | 13 as much bound and blessed in such a covenant asa child who may, at the time of making the will, be twenty- . one years of age. It is therefore not the consent of parties that constitutes it a covenant, hence, any law or rule of action imposed by authority is a covenant in this respect, and partieu- larly in the Scriptural sense of the term: And the obligation of God’s covenant arises not from the consent of his creatures ; but from his author- ity. He has therefore the right to |lay down his own plan of dealing with his creatures and to enforce it according to His holy will and sover- eign pleasure; and consequently may deal with His creatures either in mercy, or in judgment, as cireum- stances may require; a covenant may therefore contain promises or threat- enings, or both. That any law or rule of action im- posed by authority is a covenant in the Scriptural sense of the term, is evident from the following specimens, viz.: The ten commandments are a covenant. Hxod. 34, 28. “And he ; wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten command- ments.” Now we may ask, who sat |in legislation with the Almighty and consented to the making of this cove- nant; if the consent of both parties is required to make it a covenant? 'The most superficial mind ean per- ceive that the ten commandments are a law or rule of action imposed by divine authority, regardless of the consent of parties. God made a coy- enant with Noah and his seed, and with the beasts of the earth. Gen. 9, 9,10, 11,12: “And I, behold, I es- tablish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you: and with every living creature that is with you, of fowl, of cattle, and of every beast 14 of the earth with you.” We say the consent of parties is not required to constitute God’s covenant, a cove- nant; but it is a covenant regardless of the consent of parties,—a rule of ac- tion imposed by divine authority,—it is God’s plan of dealing with his creat- ures. Our Baptist friends oppose us, and say: “It requires the consent of parties to make a covenant: uneon- scious babes cannot consent; there- fore they cannot enter to covenant with God consistently ; wherefore let them wait till they arrive at years of maturity, then let them enter, when they are capable of consenting.” An- swer. Suppose it were raining, and all the low portions of the country were inundated, and the waters were rapidly approaching the summit of the highest hills and mountains ;— and then suppose I were so situated as to preach to all the Baptists in the world; saying, God will “bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to de- stroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven ; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.” Reader! do you suppose that the Baptists would believe me, when even seeing the seeming fulfillment, (though not completed) of what I was saying, taking place before their eyes? No, indeed. You would be likely to see. them smile politely, and look wondrously wise out of their eyes; saying, “we know that this man is preaching falsehoods to us, for we know that God established his covenant with father “ Noah and his SEED AFTER HIM,” &c. We would soon see them turn pedo-Baptist in point of argument; (just like they do to maintain female communion), and I do think it would be a difficult matter for me to get shut of them, * though preaching as consistently as | dear reader, do you not think that I — ing beet it requires — a: con. b parties to constitute a covenant. Bi might yet prevail if I would act wise- — ly and say, I cannot see how the un- born posterity of Noah, the fowl, the cattle, and beasts of the earth, could give consent; and therefore they could | not enter atta covenant, for an infant already born, is too unconscious to do this; you see, dear reader, that if I (acting the part of a skillful Baptist) would place my blinded reason in op- position to,divine revelation, and pre- varicate somewhat gravely, how I could succeed. But to lay all tantal- ism aside, I must confess, that I would have to quit my Baptist cue, and turn pedo-baptist with them, lest all sincere Bible readers might see the cheat and forsake me. Having been restored to our wits by this Bap- tist (I should have said pedo-baptist) opposition, I will proceed: and again aftirm that a covenant, in the Serip- tural sense of the term, is God’s plan of dealing with his creatures regard- less of their consent. Then, the obli- gation of God’s covenant does not arise from the consent of his crea- tures; but from his authority. The covenant of God, made with Noah, was, “for per pannel generations,” Gen. 9, 12. So, too, the covenant made with Abraham is properly a constitution of perpetual obligation. It is imposed by divyme authority upon Abraham and his seed to a thousand generations, (I Chron. 16; 15-18;) even for ever, without respect — to their consent. Nodoubt Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all their beliey- ing posterity, most cheerfully consent- ed to it; although their consent was no part of the covenant; consequent- - ly their consenting to it was but the INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 15 taking hold of God's covenant, which previously existed. Then, let it be undersood that the covenant made with Abraham is a constitution of perpetual obligation, binding upon his posterity, as well as upon himself, and | that noone can excuse himself for disobedience to its requisitions, upon the ground that he never gave to it | In conclusion of this | his consent. chapter, I shall yet remark, that as allmen by ordinary generation have descended from Noah, and are equal- ly concerned and blessed, touching the coyenanted promises of God in regard to preservation from a general deluge, as Noah was, although we had no personal existence at that time, and consequently never gave any personal consent to the making of the covenant: may we not safely | conclude that, whereas Abraham is the father of all true believers in Christ to whom the covenant prom- ises of divine grace were made, that we, who are in this covenant, (analog- ically speaking) although we are in helpless infancy, are equally secure under the divine covenanted promises of God made to father Abraham and his seed, since the covenanted prom- ises concerned all his seed ? << CHAPTER IV. INFANT BAPTISM. It has been shown that there was but one covenant made with Abra- ham, and to some extent shown that | this was the covenant of grace, that it yet exists, and must therefore in- clude infants, since they were included when it was made with Abraham, and never, in all the revelations of God, excluded. The opinion is, however, somewhat | prevalent, that God made two dis- tinct covenants with Abraham; and as this is caleulated to mislead many, I deem it necessary to show that it is not founded in truth. In the 15th chapter of Genesis it is said that “the Lord made a covenant with Abram,” (Abraham,) and in the 17th chapter we read, “I will make my covenant between me and thee.” From these statements, it is thought God made two distinct covenants with Abra- ham. But it must be observed that the language in the latter case only implies the extending and confirming of a covenant already in existence. It is not said, “I will make another covenant between me and thee ;” but “T will make my covenant,” &c.; and “as for me, my covenant is with thee,” which very plainly shows the exist- ence of a previous covenant. This must be true trom the fact, that the same things are promised in both places, to the same individual, upon the same terms. That the same thing is promised in both places is quite obvious. In the fifteenth chapter it is said: “He that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. Look now toward the heavens, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them—so shall thy seed be. | Lam the Lord, that brought thee out |of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee ' this land to inherit it. In that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, unto-thy seed have I given this land.” In chapter 17 it is said: “Sarah thy wife shall bear a son indeed—she shall be the mother of natiovs. I will make thee exceed- ing fruitful, and I will make nations of thee. Thou shalt be a father of many nations. And I will give unto thee, and unto thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, y 16 all the land of Canaan, for an ever- lasting possession.” This distinctly establishes our position, and hence the 17th chapter only repeats and confirms the covenant made in the 15th; for it would be absurd to sup- pose that two distinct covenants, alike in all particulars, should be made with one and the same person. God recognizes but one covenant made with Abraham ; and confirmed but one with Isaac and Jacob, and this is the same one that was made with Abraham: “Be ye mindful al- ways of his covenant, the word which he commanded to a thousand genera- tions.” 1 Chr. 16,15. What cove- nant is this? Answer. “Even ofthe covenant which he made with Abra- ham, and of his oath unto Isaac,” v.16. Was this covenant which he made to Abraham, and confirmed by an oath to Isaac, the same that was confirmed to Jacob and Israel? An- swer. “And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.” Did the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel, promise the same thing? Yes; “saying, unto thee will I give the land of Ca- naan, the lot of your inheritance ; when ye were but few, (that is, when | it was first promised to Abraham, then to Isaac, then to Jacob; before Abraham’s seed were far multiplied,) and strangers in it. And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people, He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, He reproved kings for flew Bakes. ” 8th chapter, v.18, 21. “And | enemies, Ex. 6, mye nant made with Abrnhae 3 very clear he confirmed the same Isaac and to Jacob. See Ps. 105, 8, 12. _ Furthermore, both the Old and New Testaments mention butone covenant with Abraham. Dent. 8,18. “But thou shalt remember ‘wee Lord thy God, that He may establish His coye- nant that He swore unto thy fathers, as it is thisday.” Neh. 9,7,8. “Thou art the Lord, the God who didst choose Abram, and gayest Him the name of Abraham, and madest a coyenant with him.” Ps. 105, 8,10. “He hath remembered His covenant forever, which covenant He made with Abra- ham, and His oath to Isaac, and eon- firmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting cove- nant.” The Psalmist speaks with direct reference to the birth of Christ. Had Christ never been born, the Abrahamic covenant would not haye- been perpetuated and “remembered forever.” The birth of Christ gives rise to a repetition of the grace and mercies promised in this “holy cove- nant.” «Eis holy covenant” was made with Abraham ; it included in- fants, and must yet include them; for at the coming of Christinto the een it was not revoked, nor changed, but “remembered.” Take says: “To per- form the mercy promised to our fa- thers; and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He sware -to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us; that we, being delivered out of the handy of our might serve him without I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac j fear, in holiness and righteousness and unto Jacob:—And I have also | before Him, all the days of our life.” — established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan; and I have remembered my covenant.” Chap. 1; 72, 75. From this we per-— ceive, that not only is the eovenant — identical, but that no other ever ten-— i INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. ’ 17 dered to men blessings so great, or privileges so noble. Through it Chris-. tian freedom and boundless happiness are conferred. It is the charter of privilege, the treasure of promise, great and precious; God's wisest, best, and only plan of saving man, and has, in all ages, been the promi- nent means of promoting the true knowledge of God, and the salvation of Adam’srace. It unlocks the sacred volume, and opens to us the richest fountains of wisdom and happiness, and is the spring of everlasting grat- itude in us towards the father of our spirits. The Abrahamic covenant is so far | from conferring temporal blessings merely, that it confers the very re- _yerse. Canaan, the seeming temporal inheritance, was so far from being the only inheritance and_ blessing promised to Abraham and his seed, in God’s covenant with him, that it was purely typical of heaven. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out in a place which he should receive for an inberitance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither | he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Heb. 11; 8, 10. that which God in his covenant prom- ised him and his seed, “the heirs with him of the same promise.” True, Canaan was promised; that is, as a! type of heaven, not merely as a tem- poral inheritance, “for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” The covenanted promises of God to Abraham and his seed, were typical- ’ Abraham looked for | | ly received through the promise of Canaan; not “temporal inheritance merely,” or “national distinction with temporal inheritance ;” for temporal inheritance, or national distinetion with temporal inheritance, might have been realized without faith in the Savior to come, and no violence liave been done thereby to the prom- | ise of heaven through Canaan as a type; but, into Canaan, as a type of heaven, no one could enter without faith; (though it was promised in the Sinaitic covenant upon terms of per- fect legal obedience, which is quite a different covenant to that of the Abrahamic, as shall be shown.) “And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see | that they could not enter in because of unbelief’ Heb. 3; 18,19. The Abrahamic covenant promised heay- en, by grace through faith :—under | the old dispensation, through Canaan as a type:—under the new, “ with open face ;” 2 Cor. 3,18; “by grace through faith.” Eph. 2,8. The Abra- hamic covenant promises, led to the inheritance of Canaan, as a type of heaven, not by works, but by faith. “For if the inheritance be of the law, it | isno more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” - Gal. 3, 18. The Abrahamic and Christian, or new dispensation, (if such distinction be required) covenant is identically the /ed under both, upon the same terms ; viz.: by faith. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive as an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he _went. By faith (Paul does not say, | through prospects of tem poral inheri- tance; but, by faith) he sojourned in ‘ | Same covenant, for heaven is promis- i ey i the land of promise, as ina rags | more i it can sie sho’ Isaac asd Jacob, the oe with him | that it is the covenant of grace of the same promise: for he looked | | petually so, the more clearly wil (not for “national distinction with | be seen that infants must be - included temporal inheritance;” but,) for a | in this covenant, and forever, (in the city which hath faudatrony: whose | church militant and triumphant, if builder and maker is God.” Heb.| you please) unless it can be shown 11; 8,10. God, in the covenant made | that God has exeluded them, which with ibe tian: promised him to be} we know all the Baptists in the world his God and the God of his seed after | ; cannot do. In order to show that the him. The language is, “to be a God | Abrahamie covenant did not include unto thee, anal to thy seed after thee, | Scriptural blessings, Mr. Noel, a Bap- and I will be their God.” Gen. 17; / tist writer, says: “It has been thought 7, 8. God’s special object in apleaie that the A brahamie covenant included ing covenant with Abraham was not | scriptural blessings, because the terms merely to bless him with temporal | of the promise to Abraham respecting blessings, as contended by our Bap- tist friends——They very well know, that, if heaven (as typified by Ca- naan) was the object which God had in view as the inheritance that he would bestow upon Abraham and his seed through his covenant promises, that Abraham’s infant seed must have had the promise of heaven too, in this covenant, and that the Abra- | hamic covenant must be of duration to all futurity. They therefore say, that the covenant which God made with Abraham was only of a temporal nature, and therefore did not include the blessings that should be manifest- ed under the new dispensation. But for their view, there is no proof. They well know if there was but one covenant made with Abraham; and, that, if it promised grace, that grace | was offered to his infant seed, as they in infaney entered into covenant with God. If Baptists could show that there| were two distinct covenants made with Abraham (which they cannot do), it would devolve on them to show that the one into which infants entered was not the Covenant of Grace. The 6 his descendants were, ‘I will be their God;’ Gen. 17: 8; and God said to them, ‘I will take you to me for a peo- ple, and I will be to youa God ;? Exod. 5:7. ‘I am the Lordthy God,’ Exod. 20:1. Now this is the promise made to the glorified saints of Christ, ‘God himself shall be with them and be their God; Rev. 20: 3. But it is obvious that words may have a lower or a loftier sense in different connec- tions.” Page 152. Answer: Mr. Noel almits that the phrase, “I will be their God,” &c., is the promise made to the glorified saints of Christ. I admit “that words may have a lower or a loftier sense in different connec- tions.” But, because thisis the case, does it necessarily follow that it is a low sense in which God promised Abraham in the covenant, to be his God, and the God of his seed? (!! !) By no means. Mr. N. quotes Acts 17: 28-29, to prove that God is the God of allmen. I admit that it proves it, but I deny that it is in the same sense, in which God promised to be Abraham's God, and the God of his seed; and defy the Baptist church with all its predestinarian and anti- e INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. “19 _ predestinarian preachers to prove it.| Israel’s God, upon condition that they Mr. N. gives the phrase, “I will be | would render perfect obedience to the their God,” three degrees in import; | laz’s demands, he, nevertheless, shall yiz.:—the God of the Heathen, the | never be able to prove that God God of Israel, and the God of saints.| promised to be Abraham’s God under He says: page 152—*As, then, we ; may not say that the heathen are the . children of Godin the same sense that | adopted believers are, so neither may | we say that God was the God of Israel ! in the same sense in which he is the | God of saints.” Answer: I do not | only admit, but contend that God is | not the God of Abraham and his seed | in the same sense that he is the God of the heathen; and furthermore con- tend that God, in the covenant made with Abraham, promised to be Abra-| ham’s God and the God of his seed. | in the very same sense that God is the God of saints. And still further— | _ that if he is the God of Israel in a} sense differing from that, that he is | God of “the glorified saints of Christ,” (using Mr. N’s phrase) the promise | that he would be the God of Israel in | this distinct sense from the other two | (God of saints, and God of heathens) | must be founded upon the condition | of perfect legal obedience as required | similar considerations, or apon similar terms. In the covenant made with Abra- ham, and sealed by circumcision, heaven was promised. Heaven was- therefore promised to Abraham and his infant seed in this covenant; for heaven was typically promised in the promise of Canaan. Temporal inheri- tance, or merely national distinction, is wholly foreign to God’s design in ealling Abraham, and entering into covenant with him and his seed. But Abraham is called to save the world frum universal idolatry, and in four centuries his posterity were erected into a nation for this primary purpose; namely, to teach the unity, spirituality and providence of God, and to intro- duce a new vocabulary by asymbolice worship, to prepare the world for un- derstanding the Divine character and government preparatory to the mis- sion of His Son. At the time when Abraham was in the Sinaiticcovenant. If not, what | called, idolatry began to appear in is the ground upon which God promis- | Chaldea, and at this time families be- ed to be their God, that is, Israel’s | gan to have each a family god. Now God, in opposition to—God of saints, | when the descendants of Abraham be- and God of heathens. If this three-| came numerous and large enough to fold distinction be admitted, it must | become a nation and each nation had be distinguished too. That God isthe | its own god, it seems to have pleased God of the heathen in the lowest sense | the Ruler of the Universe to exhibit of the term, I shall not controvert.— ) himself as the God of anation: hence But that God promised to be the God | originated the theocracy. God’s de- of Abraham and his seed, in_an in- sign in this, seems to have been to ferior sense (though all inferior senses | manifest his character, perfections, and blessings be included) to that of | purposes, and will, not only to Abra- adoption into the family of God by | ham and his literal descendants, but faith in Christ Jesus, deny. Though | to all surrounding nations; that all Mr. N. be able to prove that God, in| nations might be blessed through the Sinaitic covenant promised to be! faithfal Abraham, “to whom the 20 promises were made.” And in order to manifest His almighty power,—that He is the only Lord God omnipotent, infinitely exalted-above all gods, and to adapt this to the apprehension of all nations he chose to speak of Him- self in a manner best suited to their understanding; hence, He spake of himself after the relations, customs, and usages then existing among men. This will, in a measure, account for the appropriate applications of the several titles under which God spake of Himself; such as, King, Prince, Master, Husband, Father, Man of War, Lord of Battles, &e., &e. At the time when He chose one na- tion and manifested Himself to all the earth as its King or God, no. other hame or type wa8 so well adapted to the divine and benevolent purpose as the selectionmade. When Israel was brought out of Egypt, all the nations had their gods; and these gods were admired and esteemed according to the strength, bravery, dexterity, and | prosperity of the nation over which they were supposed .to preside; and that god was the most adorable in human view whose people were most conspicuous. Wars and battles were the offspring of the spirit of those ages contemporaneous with the first five hundred years of the Jewish history, and with the ages immediately pre- ceding. The idea existed, therefore, that that nation which was most powerful in war had the greatest and most adorable god. The Most High (a name borrowed from this very age) | chose to appear as the Lord of Hosts, or God of armies, in order to develop Himself and purposes anew to the world; and to make His name known through all the earth, He took one na- tion under His auspices, and appear- ed as their Sovereign and Commander | in the kingdom of God. fae: Israghiegs ul¢ as hundred, and ten put a f' yasan flight. By the time the Jews wer settled in Canaan, the world taught to fear the God of Israel, Lord of hosts; and so it came to pass that all the tree and consistent knowl- edge of God upon earth, among all nations, was derived directly or in- directly from the Jewish people. But we must not conclude that one pur- pose was only gained, or that one ob- ject was exclusively> in any of those great movements of the Goyernor of the World. This is contrary to the general analogy of the material and spiritual systems. For, as in the vegetable kingdom we haye a sueces- sion of stages in the growth of plants; as in the animal kingdom we have a succession of stages in the growth of animals; so in the kingdom of God there is a similar progression of light, knowledge, life, and-bliss. We have in the vegetable kingdom the period of germinating, the period of blossom- ing, and the period of ripening the fruit. So we have infancy, childhood, youth, and manhood, in our species.— A peculiar treatment in each period calls for special influences. ‘So it is. It had ‘itsin- fancy, its childhood, and its man hood. It was diversely exhibited in “each stage. The Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian ages were adapted to “ae Again, the special temporal favors bestowed upon the Jews, are not to be considered as indicative that the di- vine benevolence was exclusively con- fined to one nation to the exclusion of all the earth besides. Other consid- erations and circumstances require these special arrangements. The gen- eral good of the human race, and the INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 21 blessings of all nations in a son of Abraham, were the ultimate and gra- cious ends in view in all these pecu- liar arrangements; so that the calling of the Jews and their erection into a nation under God’s special govern- ment, were but means necessary to that reign of divine favor under which we now live. In the covenant of cir- cumeision infants were included and heayen promised. The promise of heaven was given typically in the promise of Canaan. It was the resi- denee of God’s chosen people—a land consecrated to the service of God; and withont faith it could not be en- tered and enjoyed: Whether infants could then believe, and enjoy Canaan, and can also now believe, and enjoy the kingdom of heaven, shall, in our future reflections, be more fully evinced. I affirm then, that as Canaan was promised to Abraham and his seed for an everlasting possession, it must have been given asa typeof heaven. Nat- ural descent from Abraham gave no title to it. Ishmael and Esau were excluded; also the descendants by Keturah. The unbelieving offspring of Jacob perished in the wilderness. They could not enter into Canaan, be- cause of unbelief. Heb. 3,19. It was, then, a holy land, to be inherited by faith. The temple of God was in it;—the holy place where He display- ed His glory on earth; and there His saints worshiped Him, and celebra- ted his praises in hymns and spiritu- al songs. In all these respects the land of Canaan was a typeofheaven; hence, the promise of Canaan was typically the promise of heaven. Again, David’s throne was in Ca- naan; and God promised to establish his throne forever, and that he should “NEVER want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.” 2 Sam. 1,16; Jer. 33, 17-20 This promise has received its fulfillment in the Messiah who sits upon David’s throne. Isaiah 9,7; Acts 2,30. But we perceive that the Messiah’s throne is in heaven; this shows that Canaan was the type of heaven, and conse- quently, that the promise of Canaan was the promise heaven. Hence, Abraham, in the covenant of cireum- cision, which included infants, looked for entrance into heaven, both for himself and infants, through Canaan as a type of heaven. There is, there- fore, abundant reason to conelude that the covenant of circumcision, which included infants, is the eove- nant of grace, and that they are yet included in the covenant of erace. In addition, it may be remarked that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob un- derstood the promise of Canaan as comprising in it the promise of heay- en. Through it as a type they sought a better. country than their native Chaldea, even the heavenly Canaan, in which God has prepared for them an eternal city, and is not ashamed to be called their God. Hence we see that the promise of Canaan was to Abraham and his seed, the prom- ise of heaven. In this sense it was pees “an everlasting possession.” | There is, therefore, the clearest evi- dence that the covenant of circumcis- ion is the covenant of grace. Gen. | 15,1; Matt. 22, 32; Heb. 11, 8-16. ———— CHAPTER V. PRACTICAL AND DESULTORY INFERENCES. It is supposed that infants cannot ‘be benefited by the means of grace, “ because they are too young.” It is asked: “How can an unconscious bo babe be benefited by baptism, or by the means of grace as offered in the New Testament?” “They are too young,” &c. But it may be asked, how can they be benefited by the atonement of Christ? Would they not be too young also to be benefited by the atonement, if they are too young to be benefited by baptism? But, why do you talk about the bene- fit of baptism at all? since the great- er portion of you do not regard it as a means of grace in any sense. It is a means of regeneration, or it is not. If it is not, we can be regenerated and saved without it. And if we can be saved without it, it is useless to talk about it. Contend about a useless baptism!! Rey. Webb has almost an endless variety of technicalities. You call baptism “an outward sign of an inward grace,’—‘an emblem,”?— “@ representation,” —“ a sign,”—* a token,”—“a symbol,”—“a burial,’ —“an immersion,”—‘an overwhelming,” — “aq dipping.” And Mr. Noel, another Baptist writer, calls baptism, ‘an act of faith,”—*a consecration to the Triune God,”’—“a seeking after God with a good conscience,”—* the sign, manifestation, and completion of regen- eration,’”—‘a death unto sin and a new life of holiness.” See Noel on Baptism, p. 118. If we except afew of Mr. N.’s technicalities, we have enough left to meet the demands of the idolatrous notions of all popedom. Mr. N. says, page 97, “The moral change is not effected by baptism, but before it.” Notwithstanding on page 94, he says: “To be born from above (verse 3,) to be born of God (John 1, 13; 1 John 3, 9,) to become sons of God (John 1, 12; Rom. 8, 14,) to be born of the Spirit (John 3, 6, 8,) to be born of water and of the Spirit (5,) to be born again (1 Pet. 1, 23,) 2 INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. ~ and to be regenerated (Tit. 3, 5,) are all phrases which express the same thing.” Mr. N. admits that, “to be born of water and of the Spirit,” and “to be born of the Spirit,” &c., “are all phrases which express the same thing.” And furthermore, says: “For to be born from above must be to be born of God, who is above; to be born of God is to be a son of God; to be born of -God is to be born of the Spirit, who is God; to be born of the Spirit must be the same thing as to be born of water and of the Spirit, since the Spirit does not accomplish two births from above; and this birth of water and of the Spirit must be the new birth, or regeneration, because this spiritual birth is a new birth, and there is no other new birth which men experience,” See pages 94 and 95. This I admit. But Mr. N. after establishing this fact, immediately labors to prove that “to be born of water and of the Spirit,” and “to be born of the Spirit,” do not express the same thing; in which he flatly contradicts himself.) He says: “But if our Lord here referred to baptism, then he declared that a man is born from above by the Spirit and by bap- tism.” “How is this to be under- stood? Does the Spirit effect the regeneration of a person by the water of baptism? Many think so.” “In baptism,” says a respectable writer of our day, “two very different causes are combined—the one, God himself; the other, a creature which he has thought fit to hallow for this end. This regeneration is the being born of water and of the Spirit, or by God’s Spirit again moving on the face of the waters, and sanetify- ing them for our cleansing, and cleansing us thereby.” Tract 67, p. 13,19. But the idea_is wholly con- INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 23 trary to Scripture, which declares | more in effect than Mr. N. admits, that men are regenerated by the} when he says,—“to be born of the Word of God (James 1,18; 1 Pet. 1,23; John 1,12,13; Gal. 3, 26; Eph. 5, 26;) and as distinctly refuted by facts, since their ungodly lives prove numbers of baptized persons to remain unregenerate. See page 96. Upon Mr. N.’s hypothesis, his own interpretation must be wholly contra- ry to Scripture; otherwise, it cannot be true, when he says above,—‘“to be born of the Spirit must be the same thing as to be born of water and of the Spirit, since the Spirit does not accomplish two births from above; and this birth of water and of the Spirit must be the new birth, or regen- eration, because this spiritual birth is a new birth, and there is no other new birth which men experience.” That not only this portion of Seript- ure has reference to baptism with water (or as he has it “in water”), but also Rom. 6,3; Gal. 3,27; Col. Y,125 Mph: 4,5; 1 Pet. 3,21; is clearly stated by Mr. N., pages 16, 19, 22, 23, 281; and various places be- sides. In reference to the above quotation: “Does the spirit effect the regeneration of a person by the water of baptism?” Instead of affirming, as Mr. N. does, “ Many think so:” I answer many think not so. Neither does the quotation which he makes from the “Tract” say any such thing. There is a manifest difference in say- ing: “In baptism two very different causes are combined—the one, God himself; the other, a creature which he has thonght fit to hallow for this end:” and saying, “that the Spirit effects the regeneration of a person by the water of baptism;” as though the water possesses the regenerating influence, in and of itself. I cannot perceive that the “Tract” says any Spirit (John 3,6, 8;) to be born of water and of the Spirit (5),” &e., “are all phrases which express the same thing.” Can Mr. N. prove that the “SPIRIT” does not effect regeneration by water in baptism? Is the “Spirit” less powerful and energetic, discon-. nected with water, than when connect- ed? Will Mr. N. prove this? It appears that Mr. N. holds forth the idea of a two-told new birth, al- though he seems to try to convey a different idea. He says, p.97: “The moral change is not effected by bap- tism, but before it} as we know from Seripture and from indubitable facts; but why then is baptism so necessary that Jesus could say, ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God?’ “The answer is obvious. Baptism is the profession of faith, the public confession of Christ, without which confession there is no true faith and no salvation.” Answer. From what part of divine revelation does Mr. N. make it appear that,’ “Baptism is the profession of faith 2” If Baptism is the profession of faith, the profession of faith must be Bap- tism; otherwise baptism is not the profession of faith; and if both are identically the samé, and every one is required to make a profession of faith before you baptize him, then he must be baptized before you baptize him, and if he is baptized already in that he professes faith in Christ, you baptize such as are already baptized, then every individual must make two professions of faith in order to salva- tion, and if two professions, he must be baptized twice, and consequently there must be two baptisms, and thus St. Paul would be contradicted. who 24 ; INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. says,—‘‘one baptism.” Eph. 4,5. Or does Mr. N. baptize without a profes- sion of faith previous? He says not. Se Pp. 49 and 50. The truth is, an indi- regenerate of the ial is exclusiy ve- vidual may make a profession of faith | ly the work of God. Men may be. before baptism, and in baptism, but employed to preach, but the work of baptism is not a profession of faith. | regenerating a spirit, of giving life to When Mr. N. affirms, that “Baptism | a dead soul, the work of the new ere- is the profession of faith, the public | ation, is always aseribed to God and confession of Christ. without which | to Christ—never to ministers. See confession there is no true faith and | Acts 2, 33,47; John 1,13; Tit. 3,5; no salvation,” he affirms that which | James 1,18; 1 Pet. 1,3; 1 John 3, 9; is in part true, and in part false.| 1 Cor. 3, 5,9; 2 Cor. 5,17; Eph. 2, 1- False, in that he says, “baptism is| 5,11, &e.,&c. The ministers of Christ, the protession of faith;” and true in| therefore, are here not called to do that he affirms that “there is no true | What is exclusively the work of God, faith and no salvation,” without See to baptize in the Spirit, but, as their tism, at least ordinarily. Now, if} @ppropriate work, to lead those whom there can be no true faith ea God has baptized in his Spirit to this public confession of Christ, | profess their change of mind by bap- (which confession he calls baptism) | tism in water.” how can any one be a true believer! Answer. That ministers of Christ before, or without baptism? If one | are sent forth to turn many to God, can? how is it that he cannot be! and that they are unable to baptize without it? Now he either can be, or] with the baptism mentioned, Matt. cannot. If he cannot, how can it be ; 3, 11;—regenerate the soul, &c., is reguired of him? But it he can, how | admitted; but, that the baptism men- is it that he cannot have true ‘taith | tioned, Matt. 3, 11, is the baptism by without this profession? which Mr.) which God effects the work of regen- N. denominates, baptism. Again, if| eration, is denied. And I also defy @ person cannot have true faith with- | Baptists to prove, that under the now out baptism, then baptism must be aj Completed dispensation of the New means of regeneration, for whosoever | Testament, that regeneration is ef- has true faith is regenerated. 1 Joh.| fected ordinarily, through other 5,1; Gal. 3, 26. means, than the revealed Gospel con- Mr. N. calls baptism “an act of} tained in the written Word, and the faith.” P.118. If baptism is an act | sacrament of holy baptism. When of faith, an act of faith must be bap-| I speak of holy baptism, I mean that tism (!!) otherwise baptism cannot be | baptism which was instituted by our an act of faith, and if this be true, | Savior shortly after his resurrection, there can be no act of faith without | and recorded Matt. 28. From Mr. baptism, and if not, baptism is neces-| N.’s language just quoted, it seems sary to the existence of faith. that there are two baptisms, one Again, Mr. N. says, pp. 19 and 20:| through which the regeneration of “Hike John, the ministers of Christ | the soul is effected, and the other, in to the end of time are sent forth to| water, by which regeneration is com- turn many to God (Luke 1, 16;) but, ' pleted : see also pp. 118 and 113, where ee Oe INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. ' 25 -he says: “The Spirit imparts new j life, and baptism manifests it; and both complete the new birth. As a child first lives and then comes into the world, and thus is born, his en-, trance into the world not giving lite, but manifesting it, so the child of God receives life and then is baptized and thus is new born, his baptism not giving spiritual life, but manifesting it; and therefore baptism is the washing of regeneration, or the wash- ing which is the manifestation and completion of regeneration. By these two things, the washing and the re- newing, the Spiritual renovation and the baptism which manifests it, God saves his people—John 3, 5, declares, that no one can enter the kingdom of heaven, that is, be saved, unless he is new born by the Holy Spirit and by baptism.” Answer. Every discerning mind must perceive that there is a great deal of human invention prac- ticed in the above. There is not the least propriety in comparing the spir- itual birth with the natural. It is unbecoming the dignity of the divine subject. Most ridiculous and unfor- tunate comparison!! Mr. Webb, in his “BAPTIST APOLOGY,” pp. 20 and 21, in hisexplanation of John 3, 5, is, if any difference, a little more gross, at least in phraseology, than Mr. N., although the two BROTHERS explain the same text differently. Mr. W., the water as having reference to the natural birth (!!!), and Mr. N., to water baptism, making our Savior teach the doctrine of two distinct baptisms in the same text. Mr. W. says, p. 21: “Then it has nothing to do with bap- tism at all: but if any ask what is meant by being born of water, I an- swer, natural birth. Let obstetrics explain the rest.” Most abominable : stuff. Indeed, there are two things men- tioned in John 3,5; but there are no two baptisms mentioned there, one separately, of the Spirit, and the other, of water; the first to correspond with Matt. 3,11, and the other with Matt. 28. The plain truth is, the wa- ter and the Spirit are connected, so as only to constitute one baptism, for water alone is no baptism. The Christian baptism is a unit. I chal- lenge Christendom to produce one text to prove that regeneration is ef- fected by the Holy Ghost, and fire. Where in all divine revelation is it said, “Kxcept a man be born of the Holy Ghost, and fire, that he cannot ~ enter into the kingdom of God?” There is nothing of this in all the Bi- ble.. Our blessed Savior says, “Ex- cept a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Jobn 3, 5. In this text we perceive that regenera- tion is mentioned as the result of the baptism performed with water. The question is not whether there ever was a baptism of the Holy Ghost, and fire; but whether regeneration is ef- fected by it. It appears, that because there was such an extraordinary bap- tism predicted, Mr. N. (as well as ma- ny others) concludes that it must be the only baptism by which regenera- tion is eftected ; notwithstanding, it is not so much as once mentioned as. effecting regeneration; and goes to work, and invents a work for this baptism to perform, contrary to the Word of God: and in his fruitful im- agination, to debar infants from bap- tism, invents a two-fold regeneration, a two fold baptisin, a two-fold profes- sion of faith; one before baptism, which itself is baptism, according to his view, that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and _of fire, (Matt. 3, 11;) that is, the watery part of the text, | tion of faith,” and if an pei John 3,5; and Matt. 28,19; 1 Pet. 3,'is not manifested without it, and if. 21, &e., ino last quoted toxin ac- there can be no true faith a cigar bonis to Mr. N., set forth the water | this manifestation, how can you know baptism which is necessary to “com- plete” regeneration (!!); for, he says, “The Spirit effects a moral change,” _ that is, the Holy Ghost baptism, - Matt. 3,11, does this; “and baptism is the sign of it,” that is, the water baptism mentioned, Matt. 28,19; 1 Pet. 3, 21, &c., and the watery part of John 3,5; for Mr. N. understands this text as revealing two baptisms, one of the Spirit, and the other of water. of St. Paul, Eph. 4,5: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” But sup- pose Paul was mistaken, and that there are two baptisms, in the Chris- tian Church, the one, of the Holy Ghost, and fire, which “imparts new life” and makes them disciples, though not yet born,(!!) yet at the same time “born from above,” (!!) yet not “completed,” without water bap- tism, as it is called, “which is the manifestation and completion of re- generation; which water “baptism is the profession of faith, the public confession of Christ, without which confession there is no true faith and no salvation,’—p. 97; if this bap- tism with water is the true profession of faith, and if there cannot be a true faith without water baptism, you ought not to baptize any one till he has true faith, (for, you say, “baptism is an act of faith,’”) and that he can- not have true faith without it, you should by no means baptize any one till he manifests faith, and as water baptism How unlike to the language | | | whom to baptize before they manifest faith, that is, before they are baptized with water, and thus receive the “sign of regeneration,” and if so, why not baptize infants, although they have no sign of regeneration; and not only so, they are just as capable of this sign of regeneration as the adult, since the adult can have, and has as little authority and power to baptize himself as the infant, it mat- ters not whether you please to speak ot “the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and of fire,” or of “water baptism.” For, although, it be admitted, that “This baptism in the Spirit, which is the regeneration of the soul, is exclu- sively the work of God,” as you say, (p. 19) it, however, only more clearly follows that the infant is just as eapa- ble of the regeneration of the soul as the adult, for both the Adult and In- fant are passive in obtaining spiritual life. The blind notion, as cntewcien not only by Mr. N. but by others also, who suppose that infants are too young, and unconscious thus to ob- tain divine life, or regeneration, or if you please, say faith, leads many to think, that age, or years of maturity, is necessary to aid God in bestowing divine grace which accomplishes this radical change. It is just as reasonable to believe the doctrine of infant regeneration, or faith, as to believe the doctrine of infant resurrection. It might be ask- ° -¢ . o . ors “is the manifestation of | ed, how can an unconscious dead in- faith;” you ought to baptize no one ; ‘fant rise from the grave ? with Gatos until he is baptized ead water, and thus “manifests faith.” We might with the same propriety say, it is not possible for them to rises INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. as to say they cannot pass from spir- itual death to spiritual life. I have already proven that infants are de- praved,—that they are spiritually dead. Is not the adult precisely in the same condition? Yes, verily, this has already been proven. Now upon the very same principle that you prove the impossibility of infant re- generation, upon the same principle will [ prove the impossibility of their resurrection. The soul of the infant, is nO more unconscious in regenera- tion, than that of the adult, for they are both dead in sin by nature: Rom. 5,12; Hph. 2,1. But Baptists, as well as many others, say, infants are not capable of faith, although, some who practice infant baptism, baptize them notwithstanding. : Relative to the household baptisms as recorded in the Scriptures, Bap- tists conclude that there were no in- fants in those households, because, it is recorded: “ He rejoiced, believing in God with all his house,”—Acts 16, 34; “A> devout man, and one that feared God with all his house,” —Acts 10, 2; “So the father knew that if was at the same hour in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth, and himself believed and his whole house,’”—John 4,53; “Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house, ”— Acts 18,8. From the fact that it is said, they “ believed,”—“ rejoiced,” it is supposed that there were no in- fants baptized in these households, as though infants could neither re- joice, nor believe. Is it not said, Luke 1, 44: “For lo! as soon as the voice of thy salvation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.” But the spirit of infanticide and infi- delity will bawl out, and say, this is an extraordinary occasion. Suppose | he be an adult or an infant. 27 we admit it to be an extraordinary occasion, it, nevertheless, is proof sufficient to refute your objection, ‘when you say, “they cannot,’”— it is impossible for them to REJOICE, BE- LIEVE,” &c. The text declares that — the babe leaped for joy. Now, if an embryo could rejoice, why conclude, that an infant, when it is born, ean- not rejoice. Upon the very same principle, that you prove it impossible, for infants already born to rejoice, I will prove that John, whilst an emt bryo, could not leap for joy; and thus outwit the word of God, and limit him in his power. Sie Furthermore, an unregenerated person or an unbeliever cannot ren- der perfected praise to God, whether “God is a spirit: and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth,”—John 4, 24; “for the Fa- ther seeketh such to worship him,” V. 23.. But the. natural man receiv- eth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, be- cause they are spiritually discerned,” —1 Cor. 2, 14; see Rom. 8, 6, 7, 8; John 3, 6. Now, as all persons in a state of nature, whether infant or adult, are destitute of the spirit, it is evident, that neither adult nor infant can wor- ship God in Spirit and in truth pre- vious to regeneration; for, with. out faith it is impossible to please him.” Heb. 11,6. If, without faith, it is impossible to please God, it is evident that no one, whether adult or infant, can render acceptable praises to God in his natural or un- believing state. But Jesus Christ claims to have received “perfected praise out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.” “Yea: have ye never 28 read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise.” | appeal to these texts to j Matt. 21,16. Nyzwy, translated babes, | loud meetings must be in yain. as) will you prove that there were no in- {fants included in those household from +7 not and exw to speak) (an infant, child, babe) signifies such as were too young to articulate words or phrases ; (the German, “unmundigen”) yet by the approach of the sacred person of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem, the divine influeace of the immaculate Son of God enabled these (“‘unmundigen’’) non-aged ones to ery with Seraphic strains: “Hosanna to the Son David.” The word, %97alovrwy, sucklings, fem. pl. par. pres. of %Aafw, (from jy the nipple) (to milk, give, or yield milk; to suckle, nurse on the breast; to suck, draw milk,) evidently implies that they were very young. But the spirit of opposition will ery out: “This was an extraordinary oc- casion.” Suppose it was. Does it therefore prove that it is impossible for infants to render perfected praise ? Does it prove that they could render perfected praise in a state of nature? By no means. Is not this an extra- ordinary occasion too, when yon ap- peal to the Jerusalem approach of Christ, as recorded in this same chap- ter, and its parallels, to establish the propriety of your noisy meetings? But do the little babes at their moth- er’s breast, (which are »j not and exw to speak) which cannot, in conse- quence of their extreme infancy, ar- ticulate words or phrases, also ery, “Hosanna to the Son of David’? Until we see your infants, on your great revival meetings, cry out, “Ho- sanna to the Son of David,” notwith- standing all your pretensions to devo- tion divine, and claims to have been compelled through the influence of the Spirit to cry out, we shall be bound to conclude that you are not of | similarly affected, and th é | baptisms, from the facets declared,— |feared God with all his house,”— “He rejoiced, believing in God with all his house,” &e. greater divine power to regenerate if you can, that either adult or infant dent to regeneration : infants above mentioned must have been regenera and as no one is as 10 ibelueea whether infant or adult, can render “perfected praise,” it must follow that these infants were — regenerated, hence believers. Upon the very same principle that our Bap- | tist friends prove the absurdity and impossibility of infant faith and re- generation, hence of their ‘ rejoicing,’ and even rendering “ perfected praise,” which is more than we read of in Holy Writ concerning adults, I will prove the absurdity and impossibility of adult faith and regeneration. An unbelieving, unregenerated child ren- - | dering perfected praise!!! When the disciples rejoiced (Matt. . 21; Luke 19) “saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Ho- sanna in the highest!” the babes and sucklings also eried “ Hosanna to the Son of David.” Isit therefore absurd to conelude, or is it impossible to: ar- rive at a safe conclusion touching the household baptisms, that there were infants composing apart of the house- holds, even which ‘rejoiced,’ ‘believed,’ &c? Please prove, if you can, that it is impossible for infants to believe, to an infant, than-to grant it the powers — of rendering “perfected praise.” Prove, It requires no can render “ perfected praise” antece- — The babes or — aia teat. tal INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 29 be regenerated, to rejoice, to render perfected praise. Yet I deny that either adults or infants possess any such powers in a state of nature. You may ask a thousand times, how can an infant believe? I will reply, how can an adult believe? After you have asked the thousand times, ask again, how can these things be, I will answer in the language of Christ: “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it-.cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” “At the same time came the disci- ples unto Jesus, saying, Whois the greatest in the kingdom of heaven ? And Jesus called a little (xadw:) child unto him, and sat him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Hxcept ye be converted, ; and become as little (za:dca) children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little (zazdwy) child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little (za:dtov) child in my name, receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these (pzpwv) little ones which be- lieve in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned inthe depth of the sea.” Matt. 18, 1-6. Pa:dioy (a neuter diminutive of zai-) | means, an infant, a babe: zadcwv can- not, therefore, mean a child, even as far advanced in life, as the word za:0. This zacdw» must have been an infant, in age and stature, emphatically. Pad, achild, though never used to signify a person at years of maturity, (except in some sense to express those in an inferior relation, as ser- vant, attendant, slave, &c.,) may, not- withstanding, signify a very young child. But, zacdcov, which is a dimi- nutive in w or wy, signifies, most em- phatically, an infant, or babe, both in age and stature ; as emphatically so, as Tovioy (a neuter diminutive of yovy, a woman,) signifies a little woman, and by no means a large one; except it may be in some inferior sense; as, silly woman, &e. Mr. N. throughout his book, (as well as Baptists in general) denies the possibility of infant faith, regen- eration, rejoicing, &e. But, dear reader, which will you believe, the Baptists, or Jesus Christ, who de- clares that they do believe ? The general reply of the Baptist friends is, that the Savior has refer- ence to weak believers and not to lit- tle children. To this I reply, that it is not only obvious that the language will not admit of such a construction, but it must be observed, that this false construction will prove ruinous to the whole tenor of the text. as well as to the progression in the work of sanctification. Where is the author- ity for saying that our Savior had reference to “weak believers?” I suppose that if we were to ransack the deluded brain of some of the hos- tile Baptist ministers, we might find it there. To carry out the position of the Baptists, it will be necessary to make our Savior say, he called a little weak Weliever unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little weak believers, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little weak believer, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive 30 one such little weak believer in my | will be counted for it. name, receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little weak believers which believe in me, it were better, &c. Such nonsense must be attributed to the language of Christ to satisfy the mad infidelity of those infant baptism despising spirits. “In- fants are not capable of faith,’ says the Baptist. But Christ teaches the reverse. He afiirms that they be- lieve in him. There is no more impropriety in saying that infants are incapable of salvation than that they are incapable of faith or regeneration: and as Bap- tists deny the possibility of infant faith and regeneration, they must de- ny the possibility of infant salvation, or teach the absurd doctrine, that they enter heaven in their unregen- erated state. Upon the principle that Baptists exclude infants from baptism they shut them up in the prison of hell forever. The Baptists (as well as many others) say infants cannot be- lieve. The Scriptures say, “he that believeth not shall be damned.” How will you prove their salva- tion ? Or will you make an exception to the Seriptural rule of admittance into heaven? and say faith is only required of adults; then the rule has exceptions. How many exceptions then has the rule? Upon the very same ground that you.make excep- tions to the rule, to bring infants to heaven; may we not make exceptions to the rule to bring them to baptism ? Say you, infants are not fit sub- jects for baptism, for the want of | faith and repentance; may we not reply, infants are not fit subjects for heaven, for the want of the very same ? Some of you say the want of faith INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. — ue How will you | prove this? How can infants be saved? You say they cannot have faith. Will they be saved without faith ? I defy you to prove it. Do not come with your thoughts and opinions. Produce Seripture for it: “A thus saith the Lord, infants shall be saved without faith.”—“The want of faith is counted for faith:” pro- duce some testimony of this kind if you can. Please show that it is more Seriptural to conelude that infants shall attain to salvation without faith — than through faith. Produce a text that says, “infants cannot believe.” Please show a text that says if is im- possible for infants to “rejoice’—ren-- (ler “perfected praise.” Please prove their capability of an interest in the atonement of Christ without faith. The Baptists may ridieule the idea of infant faith as much as they please, — they can never upset the language of Christ, which is against them. These vain Baptist ministers, who are puffed up with pride, ready to burst, claim their superiority to infants, and con- tradict the obvious intention of Christ. Matt. 18. { come now to ask my Baptist friends, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Mr. Noel, pp. 216 and 219, excludes infants entirely. Who then is the greatest in the king- dom of heaven? It might be sup- posed, Mr. N. and Baptists in gener- al, they being judges. For Mr. N., a famous and much beloved Baptist, hath excluded infants entirely. He says, page 214: “The expres- sion ‘of such is the kingdom’—rwy» — Bacdztca—means, not that the kingdom is composed of such, but that it belongs to such, it is theirs.” He acknowledges the following passages exactly parallel : Towwutwy zoTy 7 INFANT CHURCH MEMBER SHIP—BAPTISM. Matt. 5, 3-10; Again, he says: “The persons indi- eated by the word ‘such,’ are those who, through grace, are childlike per- sons, such as little children are, and not the children themselves. This is shown by the word ‘such,’ tocutoc, in the following passages: ‘With many such parables, i. e., parables like these, spake he the word unto them,’ Mark 4,33. ‘Many other such like things ye do,’” Mark 7, 8, 13, &e. According to Mr. N., “such” does not designate little children, but adults who resemble them in spirit. In this event, why did Christ wish little children to be brought to him? Could he not have taught without their presence, that adults of a child- like disposition were the subjects of his kingdom? Our Lord’s language, paraphrased, according to this expo- sition, would read: Suffer little chil- dren to come unto me, for my king- dom does not belong to them, but only to adult persons who resemble them in spirit!! It would not have been more absurd for him to have said: Suffer doves and lambs to come unto me, for my kingdom consists not of them, but of adults of dove-like and lamb-like dispositions. * Such” stuff (i. e. stuff like this, but not the stuff itself!!!) needs no refutation. “Such” a book (i. e., a book like Mr. N.’s, but not the book itself!!!) ought to be burned. Verily, it ought to be burned to ashes, the very book itself. Adults “receive the kingdom of God as little children.” Luke 18, 17; Mark 10,15. “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom. of God as a lit- tle child, he shall not enter therein.” Now if the little child does not re- ceive the kingdom of heaven, the adult does not; but if the adult does i Matt. 6, 14, &c. | ® ol not receive it as the little child, he “shall in no wise enter therein.” But if the child’s receiving, only consists in resemblance, and not in reality a real receiving of the kingdom, the adult’s is not real, for the adult. must receive’it as the little child, or not enter at all. The language of the Seriptures is too conclusive to be drowned by your criticism on the word “such.” He who receives any thing as I do, must receive it as I do, and if he cannot receive it in a way different from me (and in case he at- tempts it he shall fail) and in case I only receive it in resemblance, so ;must he, otherwise he does not re- ceive it as I do. When ever you shall have proven that the infant on- ly receives the kingdom in resem- blance and notin reality, and that the adult receives it in reality, and yet as the child, although the child does not receive it at all; (for accord- ing to your interpretation, the king- dom does not belong to children, and, Se course, they cannot receive that which does not belong to them, un-_ less they would steal it, and then it would not belong to them) you will have an argument formidable, indeed, to infants. In reference to the above texts, with others, which Mr. N. has quoted, he says: “In all these cases the word ‘such,’ with or without the article, does not mean the persons or things previously spoken of, but persons or things like them, including them or not as the case may be. _ Hence in this text, the word ‘such’ must mean per- sons like children, not the children themselves.” Observe, he says, “in- cluding them or not, as the case may be.” Then they may be included ; and if they may be included, then they may not be excluded, otherwise they 7 32 may be included or excluded, just as a Baptist wills. Again, as a speci- men of exclusion, Mr. N. quotes: “With many such parables, i. e., par- ables like these, spake he the word unto them,” Mark 4,33. But, accord- ing to Mr. N., this parable should be excluded from the Word ot God, for Christ did not speak the word in this parable, for in “all these cases the word ‘such, with or without the article, does not mean the persons or things wreviously spoken of, but persons or | I ny: ; things like them.” Of course, accord- ing to Mr. N.’s criticism, we can ex- clude this parable from the Word of God with the same propriety that he excludes infants from the kingdom of heaven! Again: “ Many other such like things ye do,” Mark 7, 8, 138. But, according to Mr. N., the Pharisees and Seribes were not guilty of,—“lay- ing aside the commandments of God,” and holding the traditions of men— Making the Word of God of none ef- fect, &e. Oh!, No! For: “In all these cases the word ‘such’ with or without the article does not mean the persons or things previously spoken of, but persons or things like them.” Of course the Pharisees and Scribes were not guilty of doing the things themselves (!!!) of which they were accused, but only “such” things, i. e., things like them!!! I wonder what things they were! Again, “Moses in the law command- ed us that such, (Mr. N. adds) zac Totavtac, persons of this character, should be stoned,” John 8,5. ? I think they do. I presume though, that the word wlpwxos In 1 Cor. 5 EL 28, is somewhat generic in import, though not enough So, as to include infants, although by a careful Pedobaptist arrangement, it can be made to appear that it in- cludes females, notwithstanding it cannot be done from the word itself. But a Baptist can spread a Greek word over the eyes of a common hear- er and reader, and pretend to deal in nothing but explicit warrants,—a thus saith the Lord, &c., and after all, have nothing but inference or analogy out of which to manufacture his warrants. We might almost con- < That no one could break God's cov- enant by not being circumcised, with- out involving the idea of being pre- viously a member of the church by virtue of a birth from believing par- ents, has already been shown to be incorrect, and in opposition to plainly rWVvealed facts ; for the children of be- lieying parents were born unclean— unholy, and for this very reason could not be dedicated to God before the Sth day, for that which was ceremo- nially unclean could not be dedicated _toGod; and still the author of the sermon would try to justify his com- ment on 1 Cor. 7,14, by an appeal (for “abundance of proof”) to the membership of infants by birth (as he 51 holy, but unclean—hence not. mem- bers of the church from any such econ- siderations, Surely, the author of the sermon will not contend that they were morally holy, since he admits that “children born within the com- monwealth of Israel, and therefore holy, were none the less conceived in sin and born in iniquity.” We admit the correctness of this statement. But, then we ask, in what remaining sense could they be holy ?. It was not ceremonially, nor morally. How then? We think the holiness of the children mentioned, 1 Cor. 7,14, must be in the sense already, at least, intimated in our remarks above, yiz.: the chil- dren being holy alone from the legal hymeneal relation of the parents, of which the Apostle was speaking, and hence fit subjects to be dedicated to God, and trained up for Him, being reckoned to the believing par@ht: for all that a believer has is “pure,” (hence holy) whether it be children, or an unbelieving companion in the marriage relation, or meat, or drink, or any sach thing; for, “unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure; even their mind and conscience is defiled.” ‘Then let it be distinctly understood that God’s coy- enant with Abraham is the covenant of grace, and that it is a covenant re- gardless of the consent of parties, as we have shown in eur “3d SECTION.” We will now without any figure of speech state, that it can be broken by the circumcised or the uncircumcised thinks) in Abraham’s day. “Born of | —by the baptized or the unbaptized. believing parents”—hence holy — | Yes, the circumcised by their ungodly hence members of the church, other- j wise they could not break God’s cov- enant by not being circumcised !!! But facts prove that children born of be- _lieving parents at that time were not conduct have been guilty of causing “Strangers, Uncireumcised in Heart and Uncirewmeised in Flesh,” to break God’s covenant. “In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, 52 INFANT CHURCH MEMBER SHIP—BAPTISM. uncircumcised in heart, and uneireum- | cised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary to pollute it, even my house, when ye | offer my bread, the fat and the blood, | and they have broken my covenant | because of all your abominations.” | Hze. 44, 7. Thus we see that the un- godly stranger, as well as the uncir- | cumcised child, broke God’s covenant. Ah! the stranger must have been | holy—a member of the church—of , Christ’s Kingdom—his Gospel church —being born of beheving parents! | Astonishing! indeed. Let every minister, and every mem- | ber of the church of Christ, be careful | not to encourage negligent professing Christians by such echaffy considera- tions, as church membership by vir- tue of a birth from believing parents —it is arope of sand: For Jesus, who cannot lie, has affirmed that no one | can efter into the kingdom of God, without being born of water and of the Spirit. True he does not use the expression, no one; but his term is, equally as strong. The word is, tis, (any one,) and should have been so trans- lated: as Dr. Luther has justly done in his German translation :—Es sey denn, dasz Iemand geboren werde aus dam Wasser und Geiste,” &e. “Ex- cept any one be born of water and of the Spirit,” &c. Now, we by no means preach the damnation of unbaptized children, nor have we a right to preach their salva- tion, unless we can prove it by the revelation of God. We admit that very plausible inferences may be drawn of their salvation, at least, where God in his providence inter- feres (with those children of believing parents, or those brought under their care,) by death, or otherwise. Wedo not believe that they will be saved merely from the fact that they are re. | der, or to be instrumental in breaking ; fed. deemed, though their rede the blood of Christ underlies tl sibility of their salvation apart every other consideration ; they eat not be saved without it. Neither do we believe that the faith of the parent — will save it. Nor do we believe that — the design or the desire of the believ- 4 ing parent will save it. Though the — faith, design or desire may have this — bearing in the case, viz.: not to hin-— the covenant. For, where the coye-— nant is not broken, we would plead — safety. But the covenant is broken on the part of all the unbaptized, — where it has been neglected or reject- — lievers. But, where believers are proy- identially hindered in the dedication of their children, there is no revealed sense in which the covenant could be accounted as broken; as the parent — did not break it; and the child, other- wise, than through the parent, could — not. It is reasonable, at least plausi- ble, to conclude, that the child dying under such circumstances has gone happily. Not that >the faith, desien, : | or desire of the parent has sayed it: In this case, unbelief, rejection and neglect have not stood m the way. | For if it is saved, God saves it through his grace, offered to all in the cove- nant, the covenant not being broken on the part of the parent, hence, not of the child; and God will not, nor can he break it. But if the neglect, rejection and unbelief of the parent have no bearing at all in the case : we may draw favorable conclusions for all unbaptized infants dying in infan- cy. Those maintaining this last po- sition, let them, if they be able, prove that negléct and rejection haye no bearing in the case. : This no doubt is true in regard — | to all the unbaptized children of wnbe-— ———T ey. i my a a ; INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. 53 a = * Again, under the old dispensation | not to hinder them from coming, or the child could not be circumcised be- fore the Sth day after its birth; be- cause if was ceremoniously unclean seven days. Ofcourse we do not just now recollect an instance, (and we do not say there ever was one,) of the death of a child in the commonwealth of Israel, before the 8th day. But let “US suppose such a case. Now, we would not presume, that, in this case, the infant or parent could be said to -have broken God’s covenant in that it was not circumcised: tor God's law forbid it till the 8th day. Now sup- pose it was safe seven days, not hay- ing broken His covenant, will this warrant its safety any farther? Cer- | tainly not; for the uncircumcised mau-child after the Sth day is said to _ have broken God’s covenant. it died before the 8th day, it is plaus- ible to conclude it was saved: not on account of its birth trom believing parents, hor on account of their faith, design or desire as the ground of sal- vation, for if it was saved, it was done through the blood of Christ being ap- plied by the Holy Spirit, through the uncovenanted mercies of God, the eov- enant being not yet broken. here is the “Tug.” But we have not through and positively prove their salvation a truism; our object being to present it in the most plausible light. The best, however, that we eau possibly make of it, is speculation. We should therefore be careful not to make certainties out of the things which can only be regarded as plausi- | ble. Although we deny that the faith of parents, their design, or desire, or even the circumstance of children be- ing born of believing parents, makes them subjects of God’s kingdom, it can only have the favorable bearing But if Right , ; entering ; whereas unbelieving par- ) ents, having no desire for heaven, for , themselves, nor their children, reject the saving knowledge of God, and are therefore rejected; hence “Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Hosea 4,6. Again, the children of believing parents, or children which may have been bought by, or bound | to a believer, or brought under his | guardianship in any way whatever, | brings about such a relation for such children, that others who are afar off | in this respect cannot ordinarily enjoy |it. Andif they remain afar off dur- 'ing their natural lifetime, and ever | ave saved, it will be done aside trom any revealed order whatever. Again, the believing parent or guar- dian of children might in some degree serve as the “minister.”—“ Steward of , the mysteries of God,” (1 Cor. 4, 1,)— _as well as an ordained minister; and _ Still no one is in a saved state merely | because he may be under the care or in reach of an ordained minister of Christ: it may prove a “savor of , death unto death.” still we wouid pre- fer being under his care, to that of being out of his reach: though his. even intimated that we can pull: | faith, design, or desire would not save | Such individual, in itself considered, )and might possibly have nothing at all to do in it: At least, if we admit the possibility of a minister preaching the Gospel of Christ, and administer- ing the sacraments according to their , divine institution, whilst he himself | may be in state of unbelief, and des- | titute of any proper design or desire. _And it is possible too, for an unbe- | lieving parent to do for the child what 'God has commanded to be done, and | the child be in a safe relation regard- less of the unbelief of such parents: ‘For God does the saving through his own appointed means, the Word and the Sacraments; and if any one is saved aside from these appointed means, such person is not saved in the ordinary way, but in some extra- ordinary way, not revealed in the coy- enant of grace. We know God is not tied to means, bat we are. But says one, if God does the saving, why talk about ministers, believing parents, or unbelieving, as having anything to do any way in the salvation of a person. - Weanswer, in the language of St. Paul, 2 Cor. 5, 18-20. “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconcilia- tion; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the Word of Reconciliation. Now then we are Ambassadors For Christ, As Though God Did Beseech You By Us: We pray You In Christ’s Stead, Be Ye Reconciled To God.” Now God saves (ordinarily) by means, and with- out means we cannot positively say how it is. The being born of beliey- ing parents is not a means of grace. But such children have a great ad- vantage over those of unbelieving parents, because they are within the reach of the means of grace as they belong to the people of God. But, the objector will say, little children cannot be benefited by the means of grace. This shall be examined more fully ir another place. Now, let those who reject baptism | owl appointed institutions in attempt- as ameans of regeneration, prove if| ing to hold out hopes to any, except — they can, that God saves without | they be similarly situated. No insti- means. We do not affirm that he does not, but what we affirm, is that] and after it is instituted, no one can if he anne the fact is not revealed. Some seem to think, because God | comfort: himself. by saying ovhans were | saves us by grace, thats therefore he > saves without means, hence they are | prepared to comfort negligent parents, - and even the heathen who are de- prived of the means of grace ; and by 4 such a course, lead many away from | Gods divinels appointed order of. communicating his grace to us and— our children, The speculative preach- ing, which undertakes to bring us | and our children into the chureh of God aside from his own appointed — order, lies at the foundation of all the | negligence of professing Christians, and is calculated to establish the prin- . ciples of the Baptists, and finally heathenism itself. True enough, tes- timony has been produced that Abra-_ ham “received the sign of cireumcis- ion, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uneir- cumcised.” Rom. 4,11. And to in- crease the weight of such argument, we might add other facts, such as the - salvation realized by the thief on the cross. Luke 23, 42,43. What shall we then say to it? Why! that under similar circumstances, we may draw — similar conclusions. But, to say that — because the thief was saved without being baptiged, therefore we shall, who are differently situated, is a fal- lacious argument. Or to say, because Abraham was a_ believer before he was circumcised, and therefore cir- cumcision was not necessary to his salvation, is equally fallacious. Such cases alone have their application under similar circumstances. And we have no right to trifle with God’s & tution is binding until it isinstituted ; | possibly neglect or reject it, and then g nach INFANT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP—BAPTISM. t t 5 blessed and saved before its institu- tion, therefore I may. Step aside from this order, and then you are found dealing with extraordinary cases; and no sound reasoner will blend ordinary with extraordinary cases. Again, it is said, (LZ. V. p. 126, 2d col.) “The people of Israel who went up out of Egypt perished in the wil- derness, yet their children, wncircwm- cised, were of Israel, and were Israel. So now, if God would destroy in one day all Christian parents, and all the adult members of his church, yet the infants of these Christian parents would be the church, and would con- stitute the Christian church in the world.” We reply, in the case of the Israel- ites, all the adult members were not destroyed. All the men of war were destroyed. Joshua and Caleb were not destroyed: they were adult mem- bers, and no doubt the only circum- cised in the Israelitish host that pass- ed oyer Jordan; and the prominent relation that they sustained to the ‘host of Israel was the only remaining discoverable condition to preclude the necessity of an entirely new constitu- tion of the church of God on the earth, so far at least, as this people was con- cerned. Now, let the author of the sermon suppose a fair specimen, from which to draw his conclusion, and it will not appear to be quite so plausible. Suppose, then, in reality, that God would in a single day destroy all be- lieving parents, and all believing adults, leaving no Caleb, no Joshua, no baptized adult, youth or infant, and then let him say that the unbap- tized children of believing parents now constitute the Christian church of God on earth, and he will have the church on earth under very extraordi- | | | nary circumstances, indeed—so much so, that it might be necessary for the “Tirshatha” to say “unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.” Ezra 2, 63. No doubt, God could and would provide for them. But still, (if such a state of things would take place, which we know will not, till time be no more,) God might say, with cause sufficient: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge ; be- cause thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Hosea 4, 6. It must be remembered that the omission of the circumcision of the children of Israel, was by no means an indication that they were ina very favorable relation with God, at this time, as we could abundantly show, if it may be required ;'but having al- ready written at greater iength than we desired, we shall close our remarks on this part of the subject. It is dif ficult to discuss a subject of this ehar- acter in a few words. The reader’s humble servant, P. C. HENKEL. ( Conclusion.) ERRATA.—The author living at a distance from the offic having seen proof, a few errors have crept into this pamphlet, wh ‘to correct as follows: Page 3, 2d column, goth line from top, for ‘“Job,’’ read jam Page 5, Ist column, 16th line from bottom, for ‘‘But it is agr Page 8, 2d column, 20th line from bottom, for ‘If is,” read Page Io, ed column, 7th line from De ohio for ‘‘Over,’’ read | father, ane } Ao Page 27, Ist column, 5th line from bottom, for ‘“‘salvation,”’ om Page 29, Ist column, 2oth line from top, for “‘sat,’’ read se/. Same page and column, 7th line from bottom, for ‘‘za:d,’’ read bottom make the same change. Page 44, 1st column, 5th line from bottom, for ‘“‘the children, » There are some other inaccuracies, which do not materially c to be conveyed, which the judicious reader will please cara ere ON ERLX: Le se Bap \[ODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. SS fee Ee. ELEN REE Doe CONOVER, Ni €. 1888. THE MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. By Rev. P. C. HENKEL, D. D., CONOVER, N. C. — CHAPTER I. , would be quite different to the fallen eT tree. Now to make the fallen tree ans: the mode by which the tree was brought down, would seem to be so nonsensical, that a Solomon, at least. That Baptism isa divine institution (Matt. 28) needs no further proof, and that it is perpetually binding on the children of men to the end of time, is equally evident. In order that Baptism may exist in form, or be individually received, the essentials in view of it as a sacra- ment, must be at hand, viz.: Water, and the words of the institution,—an administrator, aud a subject or sub- jects for its reception, otherwise, the Christian baptism could have no form of existence. would see that there is a difference between the mode of doing things, and the result of such action. My object is, to aid the simplest in- tellect to ascertain the facts as they really are. Baptists say, the mode of baptism is immersion, and that im- mersion is baptism. The ax, the saw, the chisel, the auger. and the teeth are the fallen tree, and the fallen tree is the ax, the saw, the chisel, the auger, and the teeth!!! There is a In view also of its administration, | proper mode or manner of doing a there must be a mode by which it is thing, but the thing done, is not the administered, or no one could receive | mode, nor the manner of doing it. it; and it is also manifest that there | Neither does the thing done, nor the is adifference between the result of | thing completed, necessarily show the an action, and the action itself, as| mode by which it was done. As an the same result may take place by | example, if we were to see an object different modes of performance. entirely under the water, this would In felling a tree the common mode| not prove that the mode of getting of doing it, is to take an ax and chop | under was dipping; or diving under. it down; or we might use other modes | The mode by which this resalt gb- to get it down; we might take a saw,| tained. could have taken place by and saw it down; or a chisel, or an pourimg, sprinkling, falling upon, or auger, or, if we had teeth suiticiently rising over. The action of dipping, Strong and durable, we might bite it | OF immersing, or overwhelming, is not down. But the biting, boring, chisel- | immersion, but would only result in ing, sawing, or chopping, as to mode, | immersion, when the act oracts would MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. overwheiming could take place. We have already administrator, and a subject to be baptized, as well as the sacramental elements, the earthly (water) and the heavenly (the words of the institution) are necessary in order that a baptism | may take form, or be administered, -and received. But the question nee- essarily arises, who is to perform the act of heme ? Doubtless all would answer,—the minister or administra- tor. We might auswer, yes; this is cousistent enough. Very well. But we will ask whether the subject to be baptized is to perform any part of'| the act of baptizing, either in apply- ing @ part of the words, or a part only ofthe water? (!!!) Oh! says one, the minister is to dv the work of adminis- tering. Then the question arises, do Baptist ministers totaily immerse or | dip their subjects under ? We answer most emphatically, no. TI once saw as many as 20 persons wade into the wa- ter with their minister who was lead- ing oue into the place where he ex- pected to perform the work; but wading was not dipping the subject under the water, nor could we say | ; | or sprinkling the baptizing element that he did the wading of the subject stated that an} be continuel till immersion or a total | under and then lift it out agi ! \ which he was leading, and he had no. hand at all in wading the crowd that. followed him to the place where he took his stand to put the upper part of his subject, or subjects, under the | water, which had not gotten under by wading. Now, not .go in up to his chin, and then have the minister to use the words, whilst the subject dives or ducks his head under himself ? If the mivister is to do the work of baptizing he must take up his subject, and take it into the water, and put it if one can wade in | waist deep, or something like it, why | | | | | | | | i} put it back on the land again, o wise, he should never pretend t claim that he ever totally immersed any one. If the word #azz:fo means — dipping or putting under, and means nothing else as Baptists pretend, and this is its only Seriptural meaning, then they should not construe it by their act to mean leading, or wading into, and dipping the balanee, which is not as yet waded under, that is, to. put the upper part of the body under. But one will say, Philip and the Eunuch went in, and beth must have waded in. Very well, when we get along as far as that with our lesson, you shall have more than you are 4 willing to receive, unless you shall become willing to receive the truth. Now, I have no hesitaney in saying that there is not the most distant — shadow of evidence within the lids of the Bible favoring the idea of total immersion, so far as it relates to Chris- tian baptism unless some one in mod- — ern days has written itonsomeof the — blank leaves in his or her Bible. Neither would I affirm that baptism could not result by a mode different from sprinkling; although applying, to the subject 1s the only wae ; mode of baptism. A We wish to extend our preliminary remarks some farther. When positions are taken by men who have had some literary culture, the populace are often carried away by the simple appearanee of things, such as, “he is a very fine speaker,” or he is a polished graduate, &c., and the — thought is not takenas to whether such men might not be mistaken, or possibly may not care whether their position is correct or not, if it will only meet with a popular reception.— MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. dD With some, an idea is prevailing that all denominations are right, and hence, one is as near holding the truth as an- other, and therefore controversy should end; and all denominations unite in one general body. Accord- img to this unionistic spirit of indiffer- entisin, there is not one false teacher in the world, and no danger, that any one will ever be deceived. Now, ae- cording to such a Satanic position, the Seriptures must be false, which aftirm the opposite. See Matt. 24.4,5; 2 John; Eph. 5,6; Col. 2,8, 18; 2 Thess. 2,3. I feel assured that we cannot set forth the truth too plainly in op- position to error. I do not approve of offending any one unnecessarily; but, to permit God’s Word to be so twisted, as to Support an absurdity, and sustain a falsehood, with a view of sparing the feelings of an errorist, or false teach- er, [regard as damnable. “Let God be true, but every man a liar. ”— Rom. 3, 4. Then let us direct our attention to the sacred Scriptures, and see wheth- er we can learn from them the Bible mode of baptism. There are various positions taken by the Baptist family, if possible, to Sustain the position, that nothing short of an overwhelming in, water can be a proper baptism. Amongst the different positions taken to prove immersion, some resort to the circum. Stances where it is said:—“and they went down both into the water.”— Acts 8, 38; also, Matt. 3, 6: “© And | were baptized of him in Jordan ; and | v.16: “Went up straightway out of the water,” &e., and other places of similar import. On such portions of Scripture, 1 have heard Baptist min- isters plead long and loud, most posi- tively aftirming that the mode of overwhelming in water is sustained by such sentences. I must contend, in all candor, that there is not the most distant hint given in such places in regard to any mode of baptism whatever. If baptizing in Jordan means under Jordan’s water, what does it mean when itis said: “John did baptize in the wilderness.” Mark 1,4. The wilderness does not mean water, ariver, a creek, a branch, a pond, or spring. Again, John 1, 28: “These things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan.” See John 10, 40: Jesus “went away again beyond Jor- dan, into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.” John 3,23: “And John also was baptizing in Enon, near Salim, be- cause there was much water there.” Now there is not one word in all this, about any mode of baptism whatever. If in Jordan, means dipped in what it took to constitute the stream of Jor- dan, then also, in the wilderness, must mean dipped into what it takes to constitute the wilderness, and so too we could affirm of Enon, Bethabara, and Salim. Now, that persons were dipped in these towns, so as to be im- mersed in the houses, or covered over with wilderness as it is supposed that they were covered over with water in the Jordan, is so extremely nonsensi- cal, that no one of a sound mind could so conclude : John 10, 40: Jesus “went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.” Bethabara was a town beyond Jor- | dan nearly opposite Jericho, from Je- | rusalem, in which John baptized; and this no doubt is the place to. which Jesus went and abode; as itis not likely that he went and abode in a water course, as a Baptist would be 6 likely to conclude; as a water course is about the first thing that a Baptist would be likely to think of as being the place iu which John at first dip- ped, or immersed his subjects!! But one will enquire whether Philip and the Eunuch did not go down tnto the water, and come up out of it, and therefore, must have been under? I answer: It is strange, very strange, how some people will jump at conelu- sions, without haying any premises to sustain them in their conclusions. We will simply ask the reader to turn to Acts 8, 38,39. Now bear in mind the Baptist argument. They say to go down into means to be un- der, and to come up out of, implies to have been under. Well, if this is true, then we ask, which of the two was the deepest under, Philip or the Eunuch, as they both went down into, and both came up ont of ? When they were both totally under the water how could Philip dip bim under? If so, we would suggest the propriety of an improvement in dipping, toour modern Baptist friends! Well, some one may ask: what sort of an improvement ? We reply, that when there is another subject to be dipped, try the experi- ment; let the preacher with his sub- ject go-down into (which means to be totally under it according to their view) the water, and when they are thus under, (that is, into it,) let the preacher'then dip his subject under, and then, if they are not drowned by this time, they can Joth come up out of it; for, down into, and up out of, implies to have been under!!! You see, this is a masterly way to prove immersion, by the prepositions into and out ef! But if you will say, it proves too much, in this instance, much more than we wish!! Wellthen, we wouid advise you in future not to “MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. depend on the prepe out of, as. proof ef i will always make your powerful, and will therefore nothing at allin regard to | of baptism. But you will say: in this instance we do not r on it, as elsewhere. 1st we rely on the word PRES 9 -W we will see to it further on, that you shall meet with no better success in making your cue by the word BaxecLa, than by the words into and out of.—_ But it is insinuated in the above, that n into and out of, do establish the idea — of dip under elsewhere. Well, if these — little words prove too much in Acts 8, — is it not likely that they will prove too much elsewhere? Suppose we © think for a few moments about the work of Join the Baptist. Well, he ' baptized ia the river Jordan, and im as well as into, means to be under, ac- — cording to the Baptist idea. Now, if he was under all the time he was IN, ~ and engaged in dipping, as you will have it, he must rather have been some kind of an amphibious sort of a man, or he would also have been drowned, before he could have dipped even the second subject. Is it poss ble that an intelligent Baptist preach- er cannot see the absurdity of attempt- — | ing to prove immersion by the use of — the words in and into. There is no evidence whatey a Jon immersed any one, whether ¥ we select Enon, Bethabara, the wilder-_ ness, or the river Jordan, as instances — of proof. They simply specify no mode wliat ever, but only give us informa- — tion that he baptized in these places, leaving us to learn, from other por- tions of the Scripture, what the mode of baptism is. : The prepositions, én, into, and out of, were never intended, by the writers MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. = i of the Testament, nor by the transia- tors of the same, to prove or show any part ofthe mode or manner baptizing.” The prepositions ev, stands by itself as an inde- pendent word, and is rightly transla- ted, to; “yet went not in,” v. 5; Greek, ov pevtur evanddev, Here, ec 1S a part of the word can properly be transposed 80 as to make it read to in, instead of into, for in our hard old English language the rest transpires before the motion takes place, and theretore we might more properly conclude, that it continues to rest on the bank of the water course, or pond, or spring, until Philip sprinkled the Kunuch, as the proper Bible mode of baptism was so clearly presented to his view, in the prophecy which he must have had under consideration while preaching to the Kunuch, as they were riding along. See Isa. 52, 15, which says: ‘So shall he sprinkle many nations.” As to the other little words over he sprinkled with blood 1] tabernacle, and all the vessels ministry. And almost all things are : by the law purged with blood; and . without shedding of blood is ie re- | inission. Jt was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” Heb. 9, 19-23. It is very strange that the diver baptisms (d:agoporc, Baxteopots) or Wash- ings, in the Temple service of the Old Testament, should be so extensively performed by the mode of sprinkling or wasliing, and now under the New Testament dispensation, washing or sprinkling will not do; although the Apostles speak of sprinkling and washing as being the mode in view of the application of the most important of all that is precious, viz., the blood of Christ. Very strange! indeed, that the ordinances in the Old or Typical dispensation should be administered by sprinkling and washing; and under the New or Anti-typical, it must be immersion, and that too, in direct op- position to the mode plainly revealed in the New Testament. See Heb. 9, 19-21, compared with ch. 10, 21, 22; P. also 1 Pet. 1; 2 Eph. 5,26. But the modern apostles in their emblematic system have changed it from “wash- ing of water by the word” to immers- ing in water by the word, whilst in — reality, the “word” (if used at all) is invariably used before the immersing ~ takes place, or after it is half done; hence, the one transpires before the other begins, unless we do consider the subject already half immersed by wading into the water waist deep or <1 “ : MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. ee OOS Ss at VS RR ee te SE AR Se something like it, when the words of | say, that I also condemn the careless the institution are uttered by the | manner of administration by sprink- minister, the subject having waded | ling or pouring, when the water is not 19 himself or herself generally about ) half way under the water; and thus | by this division of labor in coming in contact with the water by the subject ) wading in, and at this point being half (or about half) under the water, | the minister uses the words, and then | plunges the upper part of the subject | under the water, and by this joint co- | operation, in the administration of the water, the tio administrators suc- - ceed in getting the words used, in, or | about the middle of the use of the | water; but then the words are not) used while the subject is wading in, ; for when there is, or even when | there is not, a considerable number who haye waded in, as I have seen, | the last one before being carried | through the full operation has to wait ) a considerable length of time before | the words are used in his behalf; and when his turn comes, the ‘administra- tor uses the words before using the} water to the upper part of the body ;| which HE puts under, and in this state of the case the water and the word are not used simultaneously at -all. Iwill, however, not affirm that baptism “cannot be the result of such action, unless it can be shown that the word and the water cannot be con- sidered as being connected under such circumstances. I insist on using the water and the word simultaneously, according to the definition given of baptism by Dr. Martin Luther in his Small Catechism, which I most heartily endorse, believing it to be strictly in harmony with the Word of God. Let us, for a moment, briefly, look after the mode of baptism in another respect. In reference to this, I will applied until after the words of the institution have been fully used, and then dash or sprinkle water on the subject separately. I would just as soon call in question the validity of such administration, as that of the Baptist; and a little seoner, as he could do otherwise, while the Baptist could not, as he could not use the words while he is dipping. We deny that immersing in water, or sprinkling water on an individual, without the words of the institution, can be Christian baptism. Now, if the design to baptize on the part of the administrator, and the desire, on the part of the subject to be baptized in obedience to the com- mand of Christ, contribute nothing towards making it a baptism, at least by imputation, we bave only one al- ternative left from which to establish the fact, if it can be done from what remains to be considered. I confess that it has given me very great anxiety, firstly, in view of my otiice, and secondly, in view of the safety of my friends who had been immersed, and were led to see their error, and desired to be baptized prop- erly with the Bible mode. U have already shown that there may be more than one mode of doing a thing; this is without any doubt a fact, but if it can be shown that to usé the words of the institution while the water is not being used amounts to uo connection of the two elements, however quickly the water be used after the words are uttered, then it is certainly no Christian baptism. As Ihave been requested to give my views on this difficult subject, I will continue the examination of it a little further ; I, however, do not ex- pect to See a positive conclusion as to whether either of the above is really baptism. I would, however, greatly prefer the chances of those for salva- tion who had been imposed upon, but afterward saw their error, and em- braeed the truth, heartily desiring to render obedience to the Word of God, than to have the chances of such ad- ministrators. 5 The late Dr. Greenwald, as also some other ministers, denies that the immersions performed by Baptists, or the immersions of others, are baptism at all. If I had all the treasures in the world I would freely give them to know of an absolute certainty how thisis. I have some very dear friends, who un- -der my ministerial labors came over from the Baptists, and greatly desired to be baptized with the proper Bible mode. Now, if thereisany man living, who may see what I stated above, who can furnish evidence that it is abso- lutely a proper baptism, I do most sin- cerely pray that the facts be furnish- ed me as soon as possible, as I would be glad to meet my friends who have been immersed, &c., to speak to them with assurance and divine authority. Now, I do not request any one to tell me that the Deitrich Catechism or the Pontopendon Catechism, gives im- mersion as a proper mode, or that Ger- hard, or that any ether Dogmaticians say so. These statements I have often seen, but I do not regard uninspired men as authority in such matters. I must have astatement from Scripture, or at least an argument fairly drawn from Scripture before I can regard it as real authority. I have been dis- posed to think that a person applying for baptism under such circumstances, such it would be accent im tism, leaving the Baptist ministers to render an account for choosing a mode which puts it out of the ques- tion for them to use the words and the water simultaneonsly, and also” leaving the minister who utters the words firstly and afterwards dashes or sprinkles some water on the sub- ject which he was intending to bap- tize, to render an account for his in- difference, neglect, or ignorance as the case may be. Indeed, I would prefer being in the water waist deep or something like it, to that of the after dasher or sprinkler, even if I did this part of the dipping myself, as L would be connected with the water when the Baptist minister would com- mence the dipping of his part of the subject, at least he would use the words (if he would use them at all) while my body would be partly in con- nection with the water, and I do be- lieve, I, as the subject, would be more consistent than the Baptist minister, the upper dipper. But some one will say, why are you so foolish and particular about a non- essential ordinance? I am not as- tonished to hear such a rebuke from any of the sects, but for ministers calling themselves Lutherans to speak so lightly of baptism as some have done and are still doing, as can be seen from what is called “AN INTEREST- ING COoLLoguy,” published in the Lutheran Visitor. That is one of the most ridiculous and shameful Luther- an colloquies that I have ever seen.— It may be though, that it took its form from their inability to read Ger- man with “Rev. Crouse.” In reading who afterwards saw his error, and!the “Colloquy,” I thonght it would _— es > 21 me MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. ‘, ; ; ' 2, ‘a have been a good thing if the Collo-| faith or Confession. If she will set quists could only have been able to| herself right on the Four Points, and, _ Colloquists ever got as far as the II. _ read Dutch, so as then not to have | shown the shameful ignorance, that, “Most of the old theologians of last century never got further than the X. Artiele of the Confession,” &c., espec- ially if they were called Lutherans, | {sit likely that “Old Fogy” and his Article? I am sure they have not | reached the IX. with any degree of | honesty or sincerity. It Inay be though, that “Old Fogy” and his Col- loquists cannot read German with Rey. Crouse. If they can, or even ave able toread Dutch, I would refer them to their old “Plan-entwurf” and its day, when the soundest of those belonging to the General Synod only regarded the Augsburg Confession as | being sound in the main, or to some | extent, which seems to be the position of “Old Fogy” and his Colloquists yet. Now, if they can read German or Dutch, they can find their kindred sentiment, in the “Plan-entwarf,” pub- lished within the first twenty-five years of this enlightened nineteenth centary, which reads “Getanfet oder nicht getanfet, der glaube macht uns selich.” Baptized or not baptized, faith saves us. Now, is it likely, that “Old Fogy and his Colloquists ever got as far as the J. Article, we ask again; if so, it seems they would not _ have been astonished to find Rev. C. looking after things in the XXV. Ar- ticle, nor would he have slurred “the “immacalate United Synod, with its twenty-five Articles,” &c. I will Say _ for the United Synod, that it has done well to reach even the XXVIII. Arti cle and would to God that she soon reach the Four Points, which, in fail- ing to do, leaves room to undermine the contents of the entire Lutheran | | then in all honesty, teach the doc- trines and usages as set forth m the XXVIII. Articles, then, and only then, can I co-operate in her work. ; In this digression I will yet say, that the “Old Fogy” and his Collo- quists would do well to “scan with unfaltering certainty the horribleness, &c., dreadful sinfulness of anionistic tendencies as lies in between the lines of the New Market edition of the. Book of Concord,” &c. I will also. add, that no set of scoffers could have drawn a more wicked and degrading picture of conduct, and ascribe it to St. Paul, than ‘Old Fogy’ and his Colloquists have done. Oh! shame !! Are you not capable of blushing ? But you may say, “Paul was-a Jew and lived in the first century and could not read German.” How do you know ? { will say yet, that I do not wish to see or hear the statements of such so-called Lutherans, nor any sect be- sides them, to come to my relief in the difficult problem before us, as I ain satisfied that they are in fault of all such troubles having existence at all. If, however, it be true, that the hair of the dog will cure his bite, I might agree to accept the remedy.— Opinions of unmspired men should never be taken as absolute facts, and opinions even of inspired men, as merely opinions, do not amount to absolute facts, still F would prefer their opiniens to those of such Luther- ans and sects, as think they can con- secrate bread and wine, and adminis- ter the Lord’s Supper to themselves. Such no doubt could soon supply the defect of the after dasher or the after sprinkler, even if he would fail to dash or sprinkle the water after using the 22 words. himself? In regard to the above mode or manner of baptizing (if it really be baptizing, viz.: to use the words while the water is not being used, except it may be in the case of the Baptist where the subject has put himself or herself in connection with the water by wading into it, when the “ wpper dipper” uses the words and then dips the upper part of the subject under the water, or sometimes only nearly $0, aS 1 have seen, and sometimes when failing, leaves it so, and at others, the Baptist minister becomes an after dasher, by quickly throwing | a little water with-his hand on the part which did not quite get under) I | am not as yet able to decide with ab- solute certainty. I give it as my opinion though, however little my opinion may be worth, that the upper dipper would have somewhat the ad- vantage, as he, in his error, as to the mode, would be doing all he could, have used the water simultaneously. “ MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. Why not let the individual | baptizing element or dash or sprinkle the water on himself} subject seems to accord | with the same propriety, that a man | teaching. can administer the Hely Supper to Baptist, as you deny that he has the. Bible mode at all. pressly understood that I do not pat so much stress on the mode, as to make it the only, and the all-import- ant, thing, unless it could be shown that it is absolutely required that the | In this event I should be a positive stick- | water be sprinkled on the subject. ler for sprinkling, and would not allow | the least variation. Sprinkle, falling upon, shedding forth, pouring out, Well, I wish it ex- i | \ | | washing, &c., are given as the Bible | mode; in a few words, applying the ~The earthl baptism is water, the heavenly e ment is the name of the Triun Now, the Baptist has two mod 1 is right and the other wrong, — as he applies the words to the subject, and- then applies, as his part of the labor, in using the water, the upper part ot — the body to the water. Now, as ‘the ‘ Baptist contends so stringently for only one mode, and that must be im- mersing, he cannot well be excused for his duplicity in using two modes, — unless he can show that the words of the institution are no part of baptism at all. Now, the sprinkler, or after dasher, may claim that he has some- what the advantage of the upper dip- per in that he firstly applies the words to the subject and some short time after this he goes through another process in sprinkling or dashing some water on the subject. Now, provided ' these two distinct acts can both be regarded as one act, I will admit that it may be counted tor baptism. But then the upper dipper may claim a while the other would not, as he could | and the words | But some one will. say, you yield a little too much to the - preference, as he uses the proper mode too in applying the heavenly element to the subject, whilst the subject stands connected with the water, and then by a different mode he puts the upper part of the body under the water. Now, if this will be taken as one ministerial act of administration, I, in my poor limited powers of dis- cernment, will have to let if pass as readily as that of the after dasher.— And probably it should have some preference, as the subject was in con- nection with the water when the words _ were applied in his case. The reader certainly sees that we have reached | nothing positive yet as to whether either of the above errorists has cer- counted valid to those who have been imposed upon by the erring ministers or sects, especially when they have turned away from them, and have embraced the teachings of God’s Word, and can have no minister to venture to baptize them in proper order. | Right here, I believe that the true minister will become accountable if he fails to do everything in his power to relieve such persons in distress. But what can either the minister or the subject converted from his error do, ifit could not be decided positively whether he had been baptized or not ? If the minister would venture, he would lead the subject to make the same venture. What shall we say, then? Well, I believe that 1 would not be held accountable as a minister, neither do I believe that the subject, converted to the trath, who might be trembling at God’s Word, would be lost, but would most assuredly be saved, as under such circumstances there would be no possibility for either the minister, or the convert, positively to know what todo. Both, in my judgment, had better stand still and see the salvation of God, as I do not believe that God would hold me ac- countable for not baptizing the indi- vidual whileI had no revelation to direct me, and thesame conclusion would I make for the convert who had seen his error and now trembled at God’s Word and. contends for it as it is revealed in the Bible. But some venturesome, wise, charitable, but after all foolish simpleton, who re- gards baptism as a “trivial ordinance,” doubtless would make sport of us and say, it matters not whether the words and water are nsed simultaneously or ee ee tainly administered a valid baptism | not, it is baptism any way. Well ornot. Still I do think it will be ac-} prove this, and all difficulty is re- MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 23 y) moved. Now. Ido not want-your opin- ion as proof, I have opinions too. I[ think too, that, to the sincere convert to the true mode or manner of bap- tism’s Bible form, that it will be im- puted to him, or her, as baptism. Well the above venturesome, wise, foolish administrator would say, why are yon not satisfied then, to take it as baptism in due form. I reply, simply, because I would have to con- sider myself as big a fool, as the above described administrator, who puts his | opinions on an eqnality with Divine Revelation. I have already given my opinion as to how I think it will be counted to the sincere convert to the truth, &e., and I confess that it is the best I can give, and I comfort myself for failing to baptize such persons as already indicated. Now, if any one can give me something more substan- tial than as stated above, I will thank- fully receive it. I think I have already proven to an absolute certainty that immersing is not the Bible mode of baptism, but will, notwithstanding, yet briefly ap- peal to the prophetic declarations found in the Word of God; and lastly, consider the figurative language, as it is called, Rom., ch. 6, upon whieh some rely as evidenee for immersion, and thus close. It will not be neces- sary to have a different chapter. We have already established the fact that an application of the bap- tizing element to the subject is in ac- cord with Holy Writ; our object, therefore, in appealing toa few pro- phetic statements yet, is not so much to prove our position, as being a fact, but rather, if possible, to make as- surance doubly sure. Our blessed Redeemer says, Luke 24 24, 44,—“that all things mast be ful- filled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me.” Now, it is absolutely certain that it stands written concerning him, in Isa. 52, 15, —“so shail hesprinkle many nations.” It is certain that this receives its fal- fillment in the grand commission re- corded in tae 28th chapter of St. Mat- thew; if not, it never has been, and never will be, fulfilled while time con- tinuwes. Christ, the great Shepherd of souls, has been fulfilling this propheey ever since the Commission was given, “to teach all nations, baptizing them,” &e. his divinely appointed ministers — Now, asthe Baptists are trying to dip, instead of sprinkle, which is con- trary to said prophecy, is it not mani- fest that they are in confliet with the prophecy; and, hence, are none of Christ’s ministers, unless he intends to contradict his own prophetic state- ments. “The Lord hath made bare | his holy arm in the eyes of ail the na- tions; and all the ends of the earth Shall see the salvation of our God,” —v.10. We see that all the ends of the earth were led to see the salvation of our God, by the grand cemmission of our Savior ; and it was through this Same commission that the fifteenth verse took, and is still taking, its ful- fillment, by teaching “all nations, baptizing” — for it stands written: “So Shall he spriukle many nations.” Let us then keep this in mind, that where baptism is administered properly by sprinkling, that this prophecy is being fulfilled; but where dipping is prac- ticed, the prophecy is contradicted, and even the claim of total immersion by the minister is found to be untrue, as the minister only gets the upper part of the subject under the water ! He does this, however, through | :] a ee ten: “So shall he many nations,” we to "eos oene tae ie or en, is | proper mode of baptism; such, how | er, as are determined not Sion se common sense to omen to | duce stronger testimony, to establish — | the fact. I wish it understood, fore, that we do not appeal to « | texts to prove this fact, as that which | is as clear as it can be, cannot made clearer. ete I will, however, appeal to another nanehena statement to show that. “e i ee e many plain evidences to: alae? | lish the same facet, without relying up- on presumptive evidence, although we admit, that good presumptive evi- dence goes far in establishing a fact. — a We feel assured that we haye the best — presumptive evidence, as also the plainest direct ‘eve to wipe | aes to the enna whilst the not even a shadow of evidence to tablish immersing or Hee mode of Christian baa to be found in the Bible. - In Ezekiel, chapter 36, v. 25, it stands written: “Then will lSPRINK- — |LE clean WATER upon you, and ye — Shall be clean,” &c. Now, if it were © written, “Then will I dip, or immerse you in clean water,” &¢., we who — practice the mode of sprinkling would — wa MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 25 be so severely lightning struck, that we | comes that they will not “abide in un- would not have life enough left to belief,” God will graft them into the hear the Baptist thunder-clap, which good Olive Tree again, from which would follow; as it would give the|they were broken in consequence of misty clouds, which were sprinkling | unbelief. This Olive Tree, or church, down the water, such a jolt, that they | is nothing else than the Kingdom of would be turned into rivers, creeks, | God spoken of by Jobn 3, 5, and else- ponds, lakes, &c., in which we would where, and in order to enter the king- be so immersed, as never to be able | dom of God they must be born of wa- to see them sprinkle any more! The | ter and of the Spirit, or they cannot words in the above text, namely, | get in. So says the blessed Savior, “Then will | sprinkle clean water up-|and soit must be. This water and on you,” &c., has reference to New | spirit mentioned, John 3, 5, is holy bap- Testament times, as clearly so, as the | tism, as aside from baptism there is one in Isa. 52,15. It refers to that per- / no ordinance mentioned in the New iod, when the Jews shall be grafted | Testament where water is used’ in into the church, the Olive Tree from | which such ends are accomplished. which they were broken on account of and such blessed promises and assur- unbelief. See Rom.,11thch. Wealso | ances are given. Ezekiel’s prophecy, learn from this Scripture, that the | ch. 36, 25, takes its fulfillment in re- period in which the Jews will be graft- | gard to the house of Israel, when they ed into the church, hence, sprinkled | are led to embrace the Savior, Jesus with clean water, and cleansed from | Christ, as revealed in the New, Testa- their filthiness, isa period far down in /ment. Then, and only then, will they the Christian dispensation, even after | be led to regard the language of the the fullness of the Gentiles shall have blessed Savior recorded in Jobn 3, 5, come in, or as St. Paul words it, Viz.: | which is to submit to, and gladly re- —“that blindness in part is happened | ceive, Holy Baptism, as commanded, — to Israel, until the fullness of the Gen- Matth. ch. 28, which, in view of salva- tiles be come in.” We learn from Ez. tion, concerns all nations, Jew as well 36, 24, that they were to be taken from | as Gentile. And, as the Jews, in their among the heathen, and gathered out | return, have the promise set forth in of all countries, and brought into their | Ezekiel: “Then will I sprinkle clean own land. Now, they could not be | Water upon you and ye shall be clean,” gatbered out of all countries before | &e., it is evident that they will be _ they were scattered, and their disper- | cleansed with the means spoken of sion only fully took place when the | under the New Testament, as St. Paul city of Jerusalem was demolished, as | teaches us, Eph. 5, 25, 26,—“Christ predicted by our Savior; and never _also loved the church, and gave him- before that time, nor since that time, | self for it; That he might sanctify and has the house of Israel realized the | cleanse it with the washing of water precious promise predicted of them in | by the word.” The mode of applying the twenty-fifth verse. And they will | the water in this washing, is positive- not realize it, nor see it, until they are ' ly foretold as taking place by sprink- brought to acknowledge the Savior, ling, as the texts in Ezekiel and Isaiah as revealed to the world in the New | plainly state. Testament. Then, when the time' Iam fully satisfied (and I think every Bible reader must be), that no intelligent Israelite can for one mo- ment entertain the idea of being dipped, or immersed, when the proph- ecy of Ezekiel is fulfilled upon the house of Israel, as dipping would be a positive contradiction of the prophecy. As we are fully assured that there is no evidence in Divine Revelation whatever, by which it can be proved that immersing or dipping is @ mode} of Holy Baptism, hence by no means the mode nor the only mode, we would add no more. But, as some of the Baptist ministers and members seem to rely almost altogether on Rom. 6, 3-5, and Col. 2, 12, we are requested by some friends to show whether these texts do, or do not, prove that dipping or immersing is, after all, the proper mode; and also to | examine the justice of their position in regard to close communion. In regard to these texts, which speak of being buried with Christ in baptism, much has been said by Bap- tist ministers to ridicule those who follow the Bible mode, and sprinkle the subject, In a discussion I had with the! “Wandering Pilgrim,” in the town of Lincoln, N. C., Dee., 1851, this Pil- grim, as he styled himself, told a tale, as follows; whether it realiy occurred or not, I do not know. He said ther& was a certain man who had a number | of geese, and one of them died, and he told bis son to go and bury if. His son took the dead goose and went out in his father’s field, near a hedge- row, and laid it down and throwed a few handfulls of earth on it. His father, in a short time after, saw what his son did, and rebuked him for his disobedience. The son replied that he had buried the goose after the mode tiat some ministers bury their subjects when baptiz sprinkling a little wa say that the goose is buried? — there was some laughter. In we raised the question, saying, ‘sup- pose the son, as above ordered, had dug a grave for the dead goose 99 feet deep, and then put the goose to the bottom of it, and then filled it with earth to the very top, and also had made a high mound on the top of | the grave, and thenif he had taken the goose out of the grave, and laid her on top of the ground by the side ot the grave; we then raised the question, can any sensible person say that the goose is buried? This caused many cheers and laughter, too. Well, we thought we had the better side of the arguinent; we thought too, that we had answered (a wise man, nay) a fool according to his folly. We have often met with similar ridicule from the Baptists, and have seen, too, — that such sport, with many, often goes farther than solid argument. Such stories as the above goose story have, no doubt, led many individuals into the clutches of the Baptist sys- tem, where a suitable repartee did not interfere. Now I wish it understood that I do not regard Rom. 6, 3-5, and Col. 2, 12, as proving any shine of baptism — whatever. It is a misconstruction of St. Paul’s language, so to interpret it. Neither is the language figura- tive. It is a plain statement of a divine reality. A statement as easy of apprehension as any other state- — ment requiring to be accepted and — fact well known by — every intelligent baptized Christian. The plain wording of St. Paul clearly — believed,—a indicates this—“know ye not,? &e. MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 27 The mode of administering baptism was, in no respect, the view that St. Paul intended to convey to the Romans and Colossians, in the above chapters and verses. It positively was never intended Christ’s crucifixion, death, and res- urrection, as is pretended to be done by leading a person into the water waist deep, and then throwing the upper part of the body backwards into the water. To pretend that such a mode of dipping an individual isan emblem, or a picture, or a rep- resentation of the crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ from the dead, is so ridiculous, impertinent, shamefully defective, and inapplicable, that I am astonished that ever any sensible person coul: have been moved to have such a con- ception fastened on his or her mind, or that any sane mind could have Lhe face to offer it for consideration to any Bible reader. Indeed, a burial is spoken vf as the | result of baptism, but to make bap- tism the burial, and burial baptism, baptism is immersion and immersion is baptism, is so absurd, that no in- telligent idea can be drawn from it. What similitude is there between the crucifixion and death of the Savior, and the leading of a man or woman into the water waist deep? Does such an act portray the erucifix- ion and death of Christ? (!!) But, says the Baptist, at that period we dip the person under, and thus we ‘have an emblem of Christ’s burial. I wonder!!! Was Christ thrown down backwards ‘from the cross into | the sepulchre!! And then was he raised the next moment to keep him from being (drowned) dead, and then buried? Or was he buried alive? to picture off Jesus | | ithe effects of, as Baptists do when affirming that | We will ask immersionists, why they do not leave their subject buried till the morning of the third day, and thus make their similitude a little more similitudy? Shall I ask pardon for rather coining the word “similitu- dy 9») Is it possible to fix any similitude between the lifting or raising of a person out of the water (at least to his feet) by the muscular powers of a man, and the resurrection of Christ ? I suppose they look pretty much alike in the eyes of the dipper!!! If the text is viewed as figurative, it by no means supports the theory of immersing, but rather that of pouring or Deasion ; for, as the death of Christ and the forgiveness of sins are imput- ed to, applied to, or upon the sinner 5 if baptism bea sie or an emblem thereof, the baptizing element must be applied, put upon the subject. But when we view the text in the light of its natural construction, as the whole connection shows, it proves neither mode of baptism, but presents us with and the obligations — from, baptism. Col. 2, 12— “buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the done” The text is certainly a parallel pas- Sage to Rom. 6, 3-5; and, hence, what is trae in regard to Rowians is also true in regard to Colossians. St. Paul does not teach us that baptism is a burial, but only the instrument of a burial. Baptists make no dis- tinction between a burial and an in- strument ofa burial; otherwi ise, they would not affirm that immersion is baptism, and baptism i is Immersion ; thus, making baptism immersion ; ener making mode baptism, and Bajptisth mode. Baptism, in this arising event, would be all mode, and there- fore no baptism, or it would be all baptism and no mode, and thus bap- tism would have no mode at all; for it would be as much mode as baptism, and as much baptism as mode, for the one is precisely what the other is, as there is no distinction made between the mode and baptism itself; he, therefore. that is baptized is moded, and he that is moded is baptized. On this principle, then, burial and mode are one and the same thing; hence, when reading Colossians 2, 12, according to this Baptist position, instead of reading—“buried with him in baptism,” &c., read: Moded with him in mode, &c., or immersed with him in immersion, &c., or buried with him in a burial, &c. Now Baptists must admit that there is a difference between the mode of baptism, and baptism itself, or such nonsense must cleave to their position. Baptism must certainly have a mode, as the mode of doing a thing must be distinct from the thing done, as we have already shown that a thing may be done by different modes. Baptism must be the result of a Bible mode of administering it; hence, the mode of baptism is not baptism at all, but only a manner ora mode of ad- ministering baptism. There must therefore be a mode by which it is administered, and this administered ordinance is the means of grace by which we are baptized ito Christ’s death, as it is written,—“that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his DEATH.” Not baptized into baptism, but “into his death.” The conclusion is: “Therefore we ARE buried with him by baptism into death;” (baptism being the burial instrument; then, if there be a figure, it is found in what ‘MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 4 = may. be regarded as asi lows in the 4th verse)—“that Christ was raised up from the by the glory of the? Father, ev we also should walk in newness life.” i “ts aed A simile may run from the lower to the higher, aud then, again, a simile may be carried from the higher to the lower; that is, there may be an as- cending scale and a descending one. The ascending simile begins with a well known fact to the finite mind, as in Rom. 7, in regard to the law of marriage among men, and carries the similitude up to the mystie union be- tween Christ, the bridegroom, and the Church, his bride. In such simil- itudes even the unregenerated or un- inlightened mind may be led to see some rays of light, but, in the descend- ing similitude, it requires a different cast of discernment. In the descend- ing scale, the unregenerate, uninlight- ened mind is not capable of appre- hending the character of the illustra- tion or similitude. In Rom. 7, the similitude begins with a well known fact to those who know the law, and ascends to a grand, mystical fact, which is revealed in the Gospel. The simile in Rom. 6, begins with the mysterious, inscrutable death of Christ, and descends to illustrate to the baptized Christian the fact that — he must die in the direction that Christ died. Christ died to put an end tosin, he did not die in sin: “For, in that he died, he died UNTO sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God,” Rom. 6,10. The similitude in Rom, 6,5, begins with the likeness of his death (Christ’s death, most assuredly); hence, those who “are buried with him by bap- tism into death” are designed to die a death after the similitude, or MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 29 “the likeness of his death,” which is | @ death UNTO SIN, not in sin,. for Christ never died in sin, and never was dead in sin, and as a divine, eternal personality, incarnated, it was an absolute impossibility for him to die in sin, neither can it be said in truth, that his death was a sinful death. His suffering and death were holy and innocent. 1 Pet. AALS £19! 5 ch. 3, 18. Nevertheless, he died unto sin. Who can comprehend tie nature and character of Christ’s death? Did Christ die a “spiritual death on the cross” as Rey. Leroy McWherter, A. M., affirms in his work, entitled the “King of Glory’—page 81. To die Spiritually is to become alive to that which is evil. Did Christ, in dying, become alive to that which is evil? I answer, most emphatically, no. I deny, in the face of all opposition, that Ohrist died a spiritual death, In view of the importance of Christ’s great sacrifice we may truly say:| “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, sepa- rate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;” &c. Heb. 7, 2, 27. Christ did not die in sin, like Adam and fallen spirits died ; indeed, they died a spiritual death, which resulted in their helpless ruin. If Ohrist had died in sin which is the same as dying @ spiritual death, the result would have been most awful. He was a holy, harmless sufferer. The similitude, or likeness of the baptized Roman Christians (as also | all baptized Christians) takes its like- ness from the death, burial, and res- urrection of Christ; so St. Paul puts it in the 4th and 5th verses of Rom. 6. It is not drawn from being waded into the water waist deep, and then thrown backward into the water. Such im- mersing is in no respect a likeness of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. To fix such a simile on St. Paul’s lan- guage is nothing but bosh, though it has been so viewed by men of great abilities. I most positively deny that such is the import of St. Paul’s lan- guage. The “LIKE As,” and “the LIKENESS OF,” are not found in the “wade and dip in the water.” Nota word or phrase is to be found in Paul’s language, which will bear the con- struction of, “like as dipped in the water,” or, “the likeness of being dipped under the water, as a Baptist dips,” or anybody else dips, is a “like- ness of Christ’s death, burial, and res- urrection ”!! No, not one bit of such stuff can with any propriety be at- tached to St. Paul’s language, Rom. — 6, nor any other place in his writings. The plunging mode is as ancient as Roman Catholicism and has passed down through it to the present day, and doubtless it may have existed at a very early day after the Apostles, for the mystery of iniquity was at work already during St, Paul’s lite time, 2 Thess. 2, 7. Roman Catholies at this day sanction “plunging,” al- though Baptists say that the mode of sprinkling was hatched in Romanism. If the Baptists will tarn to the Roman Catechism, p. 181, entitled “The Poor Man’s Catechism, or The Christian | Doctrine Explained,” they can see the statement as follows; they Say : “There are three ways of baptizing, all of them valid; as by sprinkling so as to wash; by pouring or effusion; and by plunging.” Their ceremonies at baptism are quite numerous, see the same catechism, pages 183 to 186. Their emblems are too numerous tu be given in detail here. We will re- | mark firstly, that the party to be bap- tized is brought to the church door, and that hapalee gives entrance into it. 2d. The priest asks the name of the subject, &e. 3d. He breathes in the subjects face three times. 4th. He makes the sign of the cross on the forehead, &c. 5th. He blesses salt | and puts some of it into the mouth of the subject to signify, &c. 6th. The priest proceeds to read the exorcism | commanding the wicked spirit to de- part, &c. Tth. He lays the stole upon the person and leads it into the church to receive baptism, &c. 8th. The | priest repeats the exorcism as before. 9th. He touches the ears and nostrils of the party to be baptized with spit- tle, &c. There are eight other signs | connected with the administration of baptism which we have not the time | even briefly to designate. Doubtless many of these signs or representations existed ata very early day after the Apostles, and were re- | garded as being necessary to a valid administration of baptism; all of which are about as necessary repre- sentations as immersion. The act, | however, of leading the subject into | the water, and, then, throwing what | remains out of the water, backwards | ‘into the water, so as to get it under | for probably half a minute, has as lit- | tle foundation in Scripture, as breath- ing in the subject’s face three times, or blessing salt and putting some of it in the subject’s mouth—touching the ears and nostrils of the party to be, baptized, with spittle, &c., &c. In the earlier formularies of the Roman Catholic Church, immersion as a rep- resentation of Christ’s burial, &c., was advocated. Luther, too, at a/ very early period of the reformation also, so regarded it, while still using conceived. tee wipe en i long so regard it; for we see that in 1523, when using the formula | drew up, exclusively maintained the idea of applying the baptizing ele- ment to the subject. Immersing as a mode of Christian Baptism, is an an- cient departure from the Bible mode of baptism, (as there is not a shadow of testimony in the Bible to sustain the plea of immersing), and has, doubt- less, had its existence with false teach- ers, ever since the mystery of iniquity began to work; and this same em- blematic representation of immers- ing, has come down through Rome, and still exists there, as one of the valid modes. ee Let us now, if possible, take into — consideration the 6th chapter of Ro- mans more minutely. In every gen- eration men have existed who were — disposed to put imagination to its ut- most stretch, taking, as we would style it, motto texts and foreing ideas into them, which had no place there; and sometimes trying to foree something — out of them which never was in the ‘text. Others there have been, who have taken texts, containing doctrines — so sublime and full of saered facts, which they wished to explain, simply through their own imaginary powers, who resorted to illustrations and com- parisons which were in antagonism with the facts contained in the texts. A person having selected a text, con- - taining the most mysterious truths, let him not undertake to furnish a key out of his own imagination to unlock the divine treasure. the text itself ang its connection, with other parallel ones, and he will be — Let him look to — likely, by prayerful search, to find the divine key to unlock the sacred treas- ure house, and he will, at least, be en- abled to see in a proper and truthful way, some of the grand things there- in contained, although he may never be able to comprehend them. But when we are put or placed in the right way of looking at the facts, we may then continue to advance and learn more, without contradicting what we were first enabled to apprehend.— Where this is not the case, individu- als may ever be learning and never come toa knowledge of thetruth. God will give to those who seek to find the truth as he has revealed it. Butsuch as pile wood, hay, and stubble on His Word, to say the least, will suffer loss. Romans 6th is a divine treasure | house of sacred truth, needing no bu- man imagination to cover it over with fanciful emblems and representations : Especially sach awkward, nonsensical, inappropriate representations and em- | ; blems, as to make the leading ofa person into the water waist deep, and then to plunge the upper part of the : ' person backwards into the water, and then in less than @ half minute, lift the person on foot again, and all this to amount to a likeness of the death, | burial, and resurrection of Jesus — Christ!!! !!! Is it possible that it is St. Paul’s design to have persons to figure out by their immersing a sub- ject as has often been stated, to form a picture of the death, burial, and res. | urrection of Christ? Such a picture could be more intelligibly made on pa- per or canvas, and hung up in some conspicuous place where our eyes could often be cast upon it. Or even if a sepulchre could be cut in a body of water, and a water CROSS could be fixed up, on which to hang your subject till it expires, and then MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 31 | take it down and put it in your sepul- chre, which was dug out in the water, and then rolla great water a gainst the door of this sepulchre, sealing it too, leaving it (the subject) also in this Sepulchre tilt the morning of the third day, and then raise this subject up alive; I say, that if you could do all | this, it would not harmonize with the ideas set forth by St. Paul; as it would invert his statement altogether. To | be in the likeness of Christ’s death as St. Paul puts it, does not imply that the baptized subject has pictared off a likeness, so that Christ’s death must conform to the likeness of the emblem | of the water crucifix, the water burial, and the resurrection out of the water on the third day, by the resurrecting powers of the Baptist preacher. If such was St. Paul’s design, then I must con- fess that I am not able to discern any- thing at all. St. Paul would be caused | to say that Christ’s death must be in the likeness of the figure formed by dipping a subject, as a Baptist preach- | er has shaped it by dipping his sub- | ject. Then St. Paul should have said : Know ye not that so many of us as | were dipped in the water, were dipped to form a likeness of Christ’s death 2 “Therefore”’—ete., ete. According to St. Paul, the baptized subject is regarded as being in the | likeness of Christ’s death, and the | death which Christ died was a death unto sin, Rom. 6, 10, not in sin, and the baptized subject is baptized into the death of Christ, vy. 3., that like as | Christ died unto Sin, so the subject is - to be in the likeness of Christ's death, | hence, must also die after the likeness ; of Christ’s death, and whilst the per- son is in the likeness of Christ’s death, he is dying as Christ died, which is a / death unto sin, not in sin 3; and he who ‘ dies unto sin, with sueh individual, 32 the body of sin is being destroyed, for if we have been planted in the like- ness of His death we shall alsé& be in the likeness of His resurrection. This is not an emblem of death, and an em- blem of a resurrection, but the death and resurrection are both realities, a real dying unto sin, and areal resur- rection to divine life. To invert St. Paul’s statement is no trivial error. Christ took on human nature,— | “that through DEATH he might de- stroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Christ’s death is unlike any other death that ever took place; His death is meritorious, which is not the case MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. — Father, even so we al: in newness of life.” The is also indicated in the 5th — shall be also in the likeness « resurrection.” Paul then gives ad tional statements of the results a Se benefits arising from the relation | ; brought to view for those “baptized into Jesus Christ,” beginning at the 6th verse to 14th, which the reader is requested carefully and prayerfully to — read. In all this there is no indiea- tion, nor the most distant hint of dip-— ping an individual under the water in order to furnish a likeness of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrec- — tion! How in the name of common Fae sense can an individual draw a pic- ture of a “death-destroying death,” “a with the baptized believer's death. ; death-abolishing death”—a “death un- It is true, however, that in one partic- ular, the baptized Christian, by virtue of being baptized into Christ’s death, dies after the (or in the) likeness of Christ’s death, His death being a death “unto sin,” not in sin, and as a result also of being baptized into Christ’s death, which was a death unto sin, the believer, who is baptized into Christ, is also in the likeness of His resurrection; as a death unto sin results in a new life. To be baptized into Christ’s death, and to be buried with Him by baptism into death—and to be planted together in the likeness of His death, are. expressions which signify the very same thing. ‘The result then of this, (“baptized into Jesus Christ,” and the,—“were baptiz- ed into His death,” v. 3,and also the,— “are buried with Him by baptism into death,” v. 4, and also the: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death”), is set forth, be- ginning in the 4th verse, at the words: “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the to sin,” by putting the upper part of, a person’s body backwards under the water? (!!!) Surely an individual must be hard ran, when trying to shape an image of Christ’s death, — burial, and resurrection, by such a dip, or plunge under the water. There is no more likeness between such a plunge, and Christ’s death, &e., than there is between a goose and a horse. To entertain the idea that St. Paul's language was penned down in order to lead anyone to try to imitate, or to bring about a likeness of Christ’s death, by dipping a person under the water, as Baptists do, is so silly, and so contrary to the facts which St. Paul gives us in that chapter, that Iam astonished, when thinking of it, that any one would offer such a represen- tation as a likeness; if it could at all be construed as a likeness of His death. St. Paul, in this chapter, does not allude to baptism with any design whatever of teaching the Romans anything in regard to the mode of baptism. This was not at all His Z ject. His object was to admonish them to steadfastness in their baptis- mal vow. He had already, before this Epistle, tanght them the gn of baptism, and also the rela- tion they were in to Christ, by virtue of their baptism ; otherwise he would not haye said, “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ, were baptized into his death,” &e., which clearly shows that they had, before writing his Epistle to them, a knowledge of the nature and design of baptism. In the preceding part of this Epis- tle, St. Paul was laboring to confirm central doctrine of justification by faith, over against the false teachers, who lived then and in every age since. We say there were Christians in Rome before this Epistle was writ- ten, to whom this Epistle was address- ed, as any one can see by reading the Ist chapter, 7th verse, who had a knowledge of the doctrine of justifica- tion, as also of the import of huly bap- __tism; for St. Paul did not teach justi- fication ora plan of salvation inde- pendent of, or aside from, holy bap- tism. As a specimen, as to how St. _ Paul associates baptism with justifi- ation, any one can readily see by reading Titus 3, 5, 6, 7. We are assured that __ Romans, to admonish the Christians to whom he addressed this Epistle, to | lead a Christian life, presenting to | them the most inscrutable death—the only death through which a death unto sin could PossIBLy take place ; mark what we say; do not regard Christ’s death as an ordinary death, | —it is INSCRUTABLE, no finite per- sonality, whether angelic, or merely human, could ever have died a death MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. the Roman Christians in the great | it was St, | Paul’s object in the 6th chapter of | like Christ’s death, a death unto sin. Who ever can, let him criticise me on this subject. Now, a death in the likeness of Christ’s death, every son and daughter of Adam must die,. if ever they are saved. I also affirm that no son or daughter of Adam can | Possibly die a- death unto sin, with- | out being put or inducted into Christ’s death, through which death alone | the redeemed is gifted with grace, so /as to die unto sin; and there is no |revealed means by which we are ‘brought into Christ’s death aside ‘from holy baptism. “Know ye not | that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried | with him by baptism into death: that | like as Christ was raised up from the | dead by the glory of the Father, even | SO we also should walk in newness of \life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of ‘his death, | We shail be also in the likeness of his | resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is erucified with him, that | the body of sin might be destroyed, | that henceforti. we should not serve sin.”—Rom. 6, 3-6. The period of time that Christ was engaged in dying sin unto death, be- | gan with bis ecracifixion, and ended _when he expired on the ecross—He could die no farther, nor any longer. The period through which the bap- | tized Christian dies unto sin, begins with his baptism into Christ’s death, and ends when he draws Iris last breath. Sinless perfection is not fully reached by the Christian while ‘he is yet living in this tenement of | clay, but dies daily unto sin till he expires, and in death realizes uninter- rupted happiness, where sin and death can distress him no more. There is positively nothing in Romans 6, j } I | I f a nor in Colossians 2, which at all fa- vors, even in the least, the idea that the mode of baptism is immersing, neither is there anything to show that baptism is immersion. asa burial instrument, may be proven, | for the reason that St. Panl teaches | us that we are buried -into Christ’s death by baptism; baptism being the burial instrument, but how the sub- ject ever can be buried into the burial instrument is amazingly strange, and so contrary to fact, that it would re- quire nothing but bewildered minds so to see it. But, one will say, in Col. 2, it is said, we “are buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the op- eration of God,” &c. But tlie object- or will say, in Romans, St. Paul uses, “by baptism, and in Col. he uses, in baptism, and this implies to be under.” Well, indeed, in Col. <, “in,” is used in the original, and in Rom. 6, es, “by,” is used. But a Baptist will contend that e- (eis) in other places, means in, hence under. But when do these two prepositions differ in meaning, and when are ‘they of the same import? We would presume that this difference, and also the sameness of import, areregulated by the will and pleasure of the Baptist. Let us briefly examine this Baptist sham. Suppose we admit for argu- | ment sake, that in is the only correct translation of «y (en) in Col., will it then prove that baptism is immersion ? Baptism, as mentioned in the 12th verse is,—“the circumcision,” men- tioned in the 11th verse—“not made with hands.” This circumcision, which is not made with hands, brings the subjects so circumcised precisely in the same relation to Christ as bap- tism does, spoken of in Rom. 6, hence it is nothing more nor less than bap- Baptism “fn is too ‘bine to = ee { ait Spas as pee il eee led ae see that he must erber reading of Romans too, or bis sham of a fancy is lost, whieh he Laon | Rom. 6. correct rode “a admit that ‘ae translation, both in Colossians and— Romans, is not objectionable tome) does it necessarily follow, that if a person is in, or is brought into, a thing, that the mode of operation was _ applied to every part of the body, while the person was being brought into, just liikea Baptist conjectures, — that the subject, in order to be baried — in baptism, must have the waterto go all over the body of the sabjeet, or — he could not be in it! As a paradigm, we will refer to the language of this — same Apostle Paul, Rom. 4, 10, where | a he is inquiring after the blessing | - given to Abraham, viz.: “How was — it then received? when he was in cir- _ cumcision or in uncireumeision? Not in circumcision, but in uncireumcis- ion.” It is evident that Abraham — was once in uncireumeision, and itis — also evident that he was afterwards — circumcised, hence, he was also in — circumcision. The mode of cireum-— cising, and circumcision itself, were — jhot identically the same. Neither — _ MODE OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. of a knife, or sharp stones; if this, however, bad been the mode, then i the body would have been Berally wounded all over; just as in the case of immersing, cae the body is _ covered all over, for it is claimed that the mode is immersion, and immer- water brought in contact with every part of the body, for it must be total, or the individual is not baptized, nor IN BAPTISM!! Now, on the same principle, I cau prove that no one is circumcised, and cannot therefore be “in circumcision,” (for to be in a thing implies to te totally covered over in it) unless the mode of operation is brought in its action to cut all over the subject, and then the subject would be in cireum- cision; heuce totally cirenmecised!!! Circumcision was, however, plied to a part of the body, and Abra- ham, as to his entire person, was then fully or totally in circumcision, not- | withstanding, he was not operated | upon with the cireumcising ment all over the body. instru- Our conclusion is, that baptism is | By it we are | the burial instrument. buried into Christ's death, we are therefore buried with him in baptism ; we must, hence, by baptism, be plant- | ed in the likeness of’ his death, and to | be in the likeness of his death, is to die unto sin, and to die unto sin is to | rise from spiritual death, and to be brought into spiritual life, which, in a very brief way St. Paul sets forth in Col. 2,12, but describes it at length, esataiiis at the 10th and ending with the 14th verses. the reality of things,as God has re- only ap-. Let us hold fast to! | as the action of its performance a | vealed them to us in his Word, and ‘cutting, or a scaritying of the body all over, whether it was dove by the use | not conjure up emblems and represen- tations with a view of seeing these sacred things, as we may see “straw in a bag,” or as we can see a person thrown backwards under the water! The making of Tepresentations, or emblems of God himself, is of very ancient date, and prevails to an alarm- ing extent to this day; and we see sion is the mode, and that no one can | be in baptism, without having the | the result of persons following their vain imaginations,—“their foolish heart was darkened ”—Rom. Live _ So too, the holy sacraments of Baptinas _ and the Lord’s Supper were” represent- ed as emblems, &c., and still are so represented, and held as shadows of things not at all connected with them. The mode of baptism is regarded by some aS a necessary emblem of the crucifixion, death, burial, and resur- rection of Jesus Christ!!! How the leading of a person into the water, can represent Christ's death; and then the plunging under the water, can represent his burial; and then the lifting of the person up again froin under the water, by the museular powers of a man, can amount to a likeness of Christ’s death, burial, and | resurrection, is passing strange. We, however, have allowed more in this last emblem than is due the “like- ness-maker;” tor he only resurrects his subject about half way; he only gets it on its feet, leaving it to complete the emblem of the resurrection of Christ by wading the lower part out of the water. But if wading into the water would be a complete emblem or likeness of His death, then wading out of the water, it seems, should also be a complete emblem or likeness of His resurrection.. The inquiry would then arise, what part of the emblem or like- ness ee the act of the minister play in lifting the subject on foot in the 5 zs water? Doubtless fhis is regarded as forming the likeness of His resurrec- tion. But the wading out, is the op- posite of wading in, and if ee in out Teh repeeuas oeaseeet ake — Well, how is it? It seems there are! two likenesses arising out of the last | operation, and after putting the best | polish on all of them as a likeness of} Christ’s death, burial, and resurree- tion, if will not amount to as complete and omeble a likeness of these things, as could be drawn from the cireum- stance of seeing little boys riding astride of sticks, imagining that they have as real horses as men and boys have when riding real horses. Once more, in conclusion of our re- marks on the mode of baptism, let us advert to the language in Romans, so much relied upon by Baptists, to sus- tain the idea of immersion. Doubtless such as may feel themselves criticised, and have no disposition to be con- vineed of their error, would as soon see no more. I, however, am sorry that 1 will have to close after giving only a bird’s-eye view; though some may think I have been quite prolix, and lengthy, also. Our object has been to keep the subject constantly before the mind, So as, by a variety of plain illustrations, to lead the untrained person to think, for whose benefit we have been mainly laboring, I would, however, invite | the more fully trained in thought, once more with me to look at Romans 6, and its parallel in Colossians. The cause of the failure to obtain St. Paul’s idea, lies in this, namely, that the character of Christ’s death is | not understood in the proper light. When men affirm, as Rev. L. Me- Wherter and others do, in regard to Christ’s death, viz.: that he died a if Coe hence, pie spiritual acatun it the subject, that no thing to be admired : as there could be no battle would result in a curse. — If Christ’s death was a spi i death, he must have died in si would certainly be am ay and fora person to be bap Christ's death, and thus be found the likeness ae Christ’s death, would also be a death in sin, a that would make one shudder; ek, death in sin, or @ spiritual ceatineltes the one so dsm into the very ee ed he life, and the devil’s life is apintiiel = death. A creature, living in moral evil, is one of the most iti crea-— tures. aes With such a conception of Ohrist’s death, and the death the baptized: | would be in, would be so awful, thatI am assured, that if I knew that that . kind of a likeness was the one I was’ going into by being baptized, I would shun baptism, as the very gates of hell, whether it would be administered by sprinkling or immersing. May the | good Lord ever deliver us from spirit- ual death, and also from a baptism — that would bring the subject into the likeness of a spiritual death. On the other hand, may the good Lord keep us in our baptismal covenant. May the Lord Jesus enable us to “know”?— _ “that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were bapa into his death.”—Rom. 6, 3. Baptized into the death of Him whose death was a “death unto sin.” —Rom. 6, 10. The desired likeness, to be obtained — by being baptized into Christ’s death, is a likeness of His death, which is a death unto sin, for Christ’s death was — _ 4 = *< OP tes - : . : : | MODE._OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. ‘dea h unto sin.”—Romans 6, 10. | spiritnal death is a devil-like-death, ie am sure that the devil does not! and also a devil-like-life, a ea want to See, nor to hear so much repe- But, one will ask, were not the sins ition about Christ’s death, for he well | and iniquities of the whole world laid - knows that it was through Christ’s}on Christ? Was he not “made sin ‘death that he was destroyed, and de-} for us, who knew nosin ?"—2 Corz5, 21. _ liveranece of the captives from under To these questions, I answer most em- his dominion was procured, as it is | phatically, yes. Many.more texts to written: “Foras mucii as the children | the Same purpose can be quoted. are partakers of flesh and blood, he Still, all such texts will not prove that also himself likewise took part of the! He died a “spiritual death.” No such Same; that through DEATH he might thing. He was personally and intrin- destroy him that had the power of sically holy and just.—1 Pet, 3, 18. death, that is, the devil; And deliver| In order to obtain my views more them who through fear of death were ; fully—whether in regard to bodily, all their lifetime subject to bondage.” | spiritual, or eternal death; and also Ee. 2, 14, 15. my views in regard to Christ's death, The death of Christ! Who can) and the effects thereof, I refer the comprehend it? For shame sake, and | reader to my two sermons, the one on to avoid simulation, (which is the very “Immortality,” and the other, on least we could make of it,) do not “Christ’s Descent Into Hell,” think of it as a spiritual death, tor | { ; ee hess , ERRATA.—Page 4, Ist columm, Ist line at top, for “continue Page 9, 1st column near the bottom, after the reference to A 3, 16, continue by reading—nothing can be gained by further Page 11, 1st column, gth line from bottom, read fade, inst page, 2d column, 14th line from bottom, for S=#appevov, read Bsfay Page 12, 1st column, 18th line from bottom, make the same cor Page 35, 1st column, 2d line from bottom, for ‘‘14th verses,” rez There are also a few inaccuracies in punctuation on different pages reader will correct. They, however, are not of such importance as mat sense intended. i c 4 PAVALAS SS “yj oe rm May 21°67 / APR O@ UAPR Sf BWC 24 06, Form 335—35M—9-34_¢, PCO! . . 252 S456Z nos. 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