FOREIGN iNIISSIONS. 
 
 SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED MAY 9, 1819, AT THE ASNIVER^RY OF THE 
 
 UNITED FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
 
 IN THE GARDEN-STREET CHURCH, 
 
 NEW-YORK^ 
 
 BY EDWARD D. GRIFFIN, D. D, 
 
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 NEWYORK: 
 
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SERMON. 
 
 MARK xvi. 15. 
 
 60 TE INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERT 
 CREATURE. 
 
 I HAVE appeared before you to present the cries of 
 five hundred and fifty millions who are perishing in 
 pagan or Mahometan darkness, and one hundred and 
 sixty millions sunk in fatal ignorance under the Chris- 
 tian name. For many ages the Church had been 
 praying for the heathen, and saying, “ Be ye warmed 
 and filled,” without making any attempt to send the 
 Gospel to them. Of late years they have awoke to 
 more consistent and charitable views ; and now, in- 
 stead of saying. Let us have mercy on the heathen, 
 the general cry is. How could we suppress our com- 
 passions so long ? If there are any who still refuse to 
 put their hands to the work, on one thing we must 
 insist, that they never again pray for the heathen. It 
 is too much, with all the light now shed upon the 
 subject, to offer these inconsistent petitions any 
 longer. 
 
 Our three denominations have done something in 
 a way of domestic missions, but to our grief and 
 shame we must acknowledge, we have long slum- 
 bered over the interests of the pagan world. To 
 this great concern we have just awoke : and if no 
 
4 
 
 other effect should follow but that increase of bro- 
 therly love which this union has produced, we have 
 not lost our pains. This is almost the only ground, 
 besides that of Bible societies, on which different de- 
 nominations can affectionately co-operate. In do- 
 mestic missions they cannot act together; for the 
 question would constantly arise, whose ecclesiastical 
 order shall prevail in the churches to be established. 
 But here w'e can meet on common ground. I hail the 
 era of foreign missions and Bible societies, as the 
 set time to join in closer concord the different parts 
 of the body of Christ. On these noble institutions i 
 seem to see inscribed in letters of light, brotherly 
 LOVE, and under their base 1 see dug deep the grave 
 of bigotry. There let the fiend sleep, and rot, and 
 rise no more to distract and disfigure the Church of 
 God. 
 
 Our text contains the command of the ascending 
 Saviour, directed through the apostles tO'Christians 
 in every age, and plainly binding the churches of the 
 19th century, to the utmost limit of their power, to 
 send the Gospel through tlie world. It needs no 
 comment: as intelligible and positive as the com- 
 mand Thou shalt not kill,” it carries on its face the 
 obligations of those now assembled, to engage with 
 all their heart in the groat work of evangelizing the 
 heathen. And it plainly lays out for me the duty of 
 advocating the cause of foreign missions. 
 
 Perhaps some are yet to he persuaded. After nil 
 the wonders which seven and twenty years have 
 disclosed, j)erhapshere and there an individual may 
 be found who is still hanging to the old objections 
 against foreign missions. Let me find the man w ho 
 
has thus thrown himselt’between the pagan world and 
 salvation. You object to missions among the hea- 
 then: how then are five hundred millions of your 
 brethren to be christianized without the Gospel? It 
 is inscribed on the foundations of Zion, that “ faith 
 cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of 
 God.” “ For the Scripture saith, — Whosoever shall 
 call upou the name of the Lord shall be saved. 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 w ith- 
 out a preacher? and how shall they preach except 
 they be sent ?” Dream not that the heathen are to 
 be converted in some unknown way w ithout the Gos- 
 pel. Missionaries must go forth, bearing the word 
 and ordinances of God. In this way alone the Gos- 
 pel was extended in the apostolic age. It has never 
 advanced a single step without these means; it ne- 
 ver will. After all the care which God has taken to 
 give to the world a w ritten revelation and a Gospel 
 ministry, and to honour these as his own appointed 
 means, he will not work miracles to discredit what 
 he himself has instituted. He w ill not bring on the 
 millennium in a way to cast contempt upon his w ord 
 and ordinances, and to" darken that period with the 
 errour that these institutions are of no importance. 
 Hfe w ill slay the enmity of the heathen by no other 
 weapon than “ the sword of the Spirit which is the 
 word of God.” 
 
 Do you magnify the difficulties of the attempt, and 
 say, “ If the Lord would make windows in heaven,” 
 success might be possible ? 1 know' the difficulties 
 
 are great, much too great for human strength to over- 
 
6 
 
 come. The sottish ignorance, the inveterate preju- 
 dices, the long established habits of sin, the power 
 of superstition, the paramount influence of false 
 guides, and above all the dominion of the carnal 
 heart, create obstacles which no intrinsic power of 
 men or means can surmount. The unaided ministry 
 of an angel could not avail. If we have nothing to rely 
 on but our own strength, we must indeed resign the 
 heathen to absolutedespair. But is thecase altogether 
 different from what we find at home ? What pious 
 minister assails the carnal heart of the most amiable 
 and best instructed youth in his own strength ? Who 
 has power to raise the baptised dead ? But when 
 we look to the arm of God, success even among the 
 heathen is possible. Has it not already been attain- 
 ed.^ By what means was the Church extended in 
 the apostolic age ? By what means M as one field of 
 divine wonders laid down from India to Spain, from 
 Scythia to Ethiopia.^ Was it not by the blessmgofGod 
 upon missions among the heathen ? And what have 
 we seen in modern times ? Have you never read of the 
 labours of the Moravians ? Have you never heard 
 of the success of the Danish mission on the Coroman- 
 del coast ? or of the Baptist mission in northern In- 
 dia.^ or of the mission of the London society among 
 the Hottentots of Africa ? or of the wonders in the 
 southern islands, where a nation has been born in a 
 day ? By ancient charter the heathen are given to 
 Christ for an inheritance, and as eternal truth abides 
 they shall be his, and his through the instrumentali- 
 ty of faithful missionaries. The times are hastening 
 on. 1 already seem to catch the songs of new-born 
 thousands in the eastern breeze, and hear them 
 
7 
 
 pchoeil from the western hills and the southern An- 
 des. This earth shall present one vast altar» and all 
 the space between it and heaven shall be filled with 
 the incense ol praise. 
 
 But you say, “ Tlie time is not come, the time that 
 the Lord's house should be built;” the time has not 
 come to send the Gospel to the heathen. The time 
 has come, the very time fixed upon by the determi- 
 nate counsel of heaven, and marked out by the Spirit 
 of prophecy. Listen to this : “ I saw another angel 
 tly 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 is 
 come. — And there followed another angel, saying, 
 Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” When the angel with 
 the everlasting Gospel proclaimed, “ The hour of his 
 judgment is come,” (the judgment which was to pros- 
 trate spiritual Babylon,) he had not yet reached the 
 field of his mission. His first sermon was not yet be- 
 gun. Nor had the judgment commenced ; this was 
 its first annunciation. The storm was suspended in 
 mid-air, ready to burst, and the angel was hastening 
 with winged speed to the congregations scattered 
 through the various nations, kindreds, tongues, and 
 people. The judgment was manifestly to burst just 
 at the time that the preaching to the ditTerent nations 
 commenced. And w^hat have we seen? Have we 
 not seen for more than twenty summers the fields of 
 those nations drenched in blood which had sfiven 
 “ their power and strengtii unto the hcast”? Have 
 we not seen a moral flood, with a still more impetu- 
 
8 
 
 ous torrent, sweeping away the fables of the man of 
 sin, and breaking an enchantment which can never 
 be restored ? And notwithstanding the present ar- 
 mistice, who can doubt that the judgment then com- 
 menced which was to prostrate spiritual Babylon ? 
 And what else have w e seen ? Have we not seen mis- 
 sionary, and Bible, and various other charitable so- 
 cieties, rise like an exhalation and cover the whole 
 face of Christendom ? Have w'e not seen missiona- 
 ries established through Asia, and Africa, and the 
 islands of the sea ? Have w e not seen the Scriptures 
 in a course of rapid translation into more than thirty 
 pagan laiiguages, including by far the most exten- 
 sive languages on earth ? Have we not seen legis- 
 lators and statesmen rising in the majesty of their 
 strength to burst the bars which denied access to 
 heathen lands? Have w^e not seen kings and em- 
 perors planting in their crown the brightest gem 
 that ever adorned it, by arraying themselves on the 
 side of the Bible, and on the side of diffusing its sa- 
 cred light? Have we not seen the inspired word, 
 like an angel flying through the midst of heaven, tra- 
 velling to every quarter of the globe, and scattering 
 from its wings the fragrance of the skies? And now 
 to complete the evidence that this is the day intend- 
 ed in the prediction, these two series of events be- 
 gan the same year. In 7792 the war broke out in 
 Europe; in 1792 the first missionary society in the 
 series w as established in England, and in the year 
 following originated the far-famed Indian mission. 
 Since that time, with the exception of the present 
 and a former truce, the two series have been swell- 
 ing into greater and still greater magnitude every 
 
9 
 
 }ear, and need only to continue, to accomplish all 
 the dreadful and all the glorious predictions respect- 
 ing the latter day. Surely that uas the time in 
 which the angel began his flight, and said with a 
 voice loud enough to be heard through the earth, 
 “ The hour of his judgment is come.” Surely this 
 is the day in which the Gospel was to be preached 
 “ to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and 
 people.” The great scene has commenced, and 
 neither earth nor hell can stop its progress. 
 
 But you say, the time has not come for us to send 
 the Gospel to the heathen, because there are so many 
 destitute among ourselves. In meeting you on this 
 ground, I declare myself the friend of domestic mis- 
 sions. Let these noble charities proceed. Let them 
 be carried forward with redoubled and ten-fold 
 vigour. But let us not under this pretence stop our 
 ” ears at the cry” of the heathen. Against this con- 
 clusion I enter my solemn protest, and support it by 
 the follow ing arguments. 
 
 First, do you in your heart believe that it is the 
 Avill of God that every neighbourhood in Christian 
 countries should be supplied before a single messen- 
 ger is sent to the heathen ? Will you thus condemn 
 the zeal of an Elliot, a Carey, and a Vanderkemp, 
 which the God of heaven has owned, and w’hich the 
 universal Church have applauded ? But such is not 
 ilie w ill of God. It is his settled purpose, as plainly 
 expressed in his predictions, that an entrance should 
 be made on preaching the Gospel “ to every nation, 
 and kindred, and tongue, and people,” before the 
 fall of Babylon, and therefore before the degenerated 
 half of the Christian world is purged of its great 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 ilpositacy. As was said in respect to the destructiefs 
 of Jerusalem, “ This Gospefof the kingdom shall be 
 preached in all the world, for a witness unto all na- 
 tions, and then shall the end come* so before the 
 destruction of the Romish church, the angel must 
 carry the Gospel “ to every nation, and kindred, 
 and tongue, and people.” And to this agrees the 
 prediction, that “ many shall run to and fro and 
 knowledge shall be increased” just before the close 
 of the 1260 years, as also the notice taken of those 
 who in such a day shall “ turn many to righteous- 
 nesst.” 
 
 Secondly, if you wish to see the Gospel spread 
 through the world, is it wise to confine your labours 
 to a few favoured spots until those spots can receive 
 no more ? How would you do in other matters ? If 
 you wished to burn over an extensive plain, would 
 you place all your fire in a single spot, or would you 
 kindle it in different places and leave it to run from 
 many centres ? If you wished to propagate some 
 rare seed through a country, would you cast it all 
 into a single field, or would you scatter it in small 
 parcels through the land ? Let the Gospel as soon 
 as possible be planted at proper distances through 
 the earth, and spread from a thousand centres until 
 the circles meet. 
 
 Thirdly, it is a maxim founded on the nature of 
 man, on the principles of divine government, and on 
 actual experience, that the more you do for the hea- 
 then the more will be done at home. When the 
 ))ublic arc roused by these noble examples, or warm- 
 
 * Matt. 24. 14. 
 
 t Dan. 12. 
 
11 
 
 ed in these animating efforts, they will more naturally 
 ihink of the destitute among themselves. When 
 once their seltish stupor is broken, every object 
 within their reach will feel the benign eflect. You 
 may calculate the same from the blessing of God. 
 While you obediently care for other nations, he will 
 care for yours and you. While you thus seem to 
 pass by your own people for the Redeemer’s sake, 
 your own people shall be saved. “ Whosoever will 
 save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his 
 life for my sake shall find it.” “ He that watereth 
 shall be watered also himself.” All this is fully sup- 
 ported by experience. When the Indian mission 
 and that to the south seas were attempted in England 
 more than twenty years ago, a loud cry was made 
 that the charity of the country was exhausted upon 
 strangers, w hile the pagans at home were neglected. 
 But what has been the result.^ The friends of mis- 
 sions have had an opportunity to make the triumphant 
 appeal, that since they entered on that generous 
 course, more has been done for the destitute at home 
 than had been^ attempted for centuries before. By 
 domestic missions, by Bible and tract societies, and 
 Smiday schools, an amount of instruction has been 
 carried to the poor, altogether w ithout a parallel in 
 that country. If therefore my principal object was 
 to promote domestic missions and the holiness of the 
 churches, I w'ould urge you to send the Gospel to the 
 heathen. ' 
 
 But there is another view to be taken of this sub- 
 ject. I wish to see a spirit of foreign missions prevail 
 because this will indicate a higher pulse of religion 
 in the countrv. W'ith very little sanctification we 
 
12 
 
 may pursue the ordinary round of duties at home. 
 A thousand considerations of a private and personal 
 nature may impel us to build up the Church among 
 our own people. Every head of a sect may wish to 
 see his own kingdom extended by domestic missions. 
 Leading men of every denomination may be zealous 
 to enlarge their own Church. But to go beyond all 
 these considerations, and labour for an interest 
 which can bring nothing to ourselves ; to feel enough 
 / for ma«, stript of every extrinsic circumstance, to find 
 him out in distant regions, and to extend to him the 
 most exalted of all charities ; this requires something 
 more. O for that spirit of holy love and self-denial 
 which will bring us to feel and act efficiently for more 
 than two thirds of the human race never baptised by 
 the Christian name. Where churches as rich and 
 numerous as ours, and with such animating examples 
 before them, cannot rise up in earnest to this sublime 
 charity, it shows that we possess but Httle of the 
 spirit of our Master. Wc may display an imposing 
 form, we may be loud and ardent in words, we may 
 be stubborn wranglers for orthodoxy; but the flame 
 of that charity which “ seeketh not her own,” burns 
 dimly in our breasts. God Almighty give our church- 
 es more religion, more holiness, more of the temper 
 of heaven; and the cries oJ the heathen will not be 
 heard in vain. O for an effusion to baptise us and 
 drench us in the spirit that wept and bled for poor 
 pagan wanderers from God. This, and nothing but 
 this is religion, if Christ is our example. Away w ith 
 your smooth and frigid forms without a heart: those 
 garnished corpses pollute the air. Away with the 
 hand stretched out in prayer, and still grasping the 
 
13 
 
 ^old with the convulsive spasm of death. The 
 earth has groaned long enough under a religion, 
 which, with long creeds and many devotions, has 
 said, “ Be ye warmed and filled.” Pure religion 
 and undefiled before God and the Father is this^ to 
 visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, 
 and to keep himself unspotted from the w orld.” 
 
 We want also a holier race of men raised up to 
 bear the vessels of the Lord : men w ho, no longer 
 intent on splendid or easy livings at home, shall burn 
 with desire to lay down their lives for Christ in hea- 
 then lands. For this purpose we need a more 
 powerful action of the Holy Ghost upon our youth. 
 To devote themselves to the ministry at home, re- 
 quires but little self-denial, and often none at all, 
 yea is the highest gratification of their natural feel- 
 ings. Nor is it much more to spend a few months in 
 itinerating in the new settlements. But to tear 
 themselves from the friends and scenes of their youth, 
 to consume their lives in a foreign w ilderness, bereft 
 of every comfort but the pleasure of doing good, with 
 no motive but the love of Christ, with no reward in 
 view but the smiles of his favour; this requires the 
 spirit of a Brainard and a Swartz. Where is that 
 generation of young men who will show this exalted 
 love to their Redeemer ? How long shall that divine 
 effusion be delayed which is necessary to produce 
 them ? Every Christian ought to be on his knees for 
 a blessing so much needed. While this spirit of 
 heroic fortitude and heavenly charity is extending 
 among the youth of other denominations in Europe 
 •and America, where are the sons of these three 
 Churches ? Are they to be the last in the godlike 
 
u 
 
 career ? O for an influence from the' highest hea- 
 vens to reach our theological seminaries, our fields 
 and our workshops, to form a generation to deeds of 
 glory which shall be written in the annals of heaven, 
 and rehearsed in ages now sunk in a distant eterni- 
 ty. Where are the serious youth wdio tremble at the 
 treachery of their own hearts? Would they escape 
 with the greatest certainty the perdition of seeking 
 “their own” and “not the things which are Jesus 
 Christ’s”? Would they place the sincerity of their 
 lovc^at the furthest remove from doubt? Let them 
 forego the ease which nature covets, and prove that 
 the spirit of a Paul still exists in the Church. 
 
 But you say, so many are employed that there is 
 no need of us. Would to God that this was true ; 
 but the reverse is the heart-breaking reality. After 
 all that has been done, there are perhaps about mis- 
 sionaries enough in the world, reckoning all of eve- 
 ry name who need their aid, to furnish one dr two, or 
 at most three, to a population equal to that of the 
 United States. There is work enough to exhaust all 
 the disposable energies and resources of Christen- 
 dom. Immense will be the labour and expense of 
 civilizing and christianizing, (for they must go toge- 
 ther,) only the savages on our borders ; to teach eve- 
 ry man, woman, and child the alphabet; to bring 
 them forw ard to read the Scriptures ; to initiate them 
 in the arts; to lay open to their understanding the 
 whole system of revealed truth ; to impress it on 
 their conscience and heart; to repeat this process 
 with every person in the tribe, with every Indian in 
 tlie United States. How immense the task. What 
 
15 
 
 lui army of missionaries must go forth. How ample 
 a treasury will be necessary to support them. How 
 far beyond calculation then the labour and expense 
 of diffusing the light of religion and science among 
 all the pagans of North and South America, through 
 the islands of the sea, through the numerous tribes of 
 Africa, through the great world of Asia, and among 
 the dispersed of Israel. By whom shall this be done 
 but by the Christian world ? But three quarters of 
 the Christian world, instead of helping, really need 
 our aid. This makes the disproportion still greater 
 between the work to be done and the hands to be 
 employed. Let us see how the account stands. 
 
 475 millions of pagans, 
 
 73 millions of Mahometans, 
 
 3 millions, at least, of Jews, 
 
 100 millions of Roman Catholics ; 
 and if we reckon 64 mil. of other benighted Christians, 
 
 it will make 715 millions who need missionary aid; 
 leaving but 50 millions 
 
 to complete the 765 millions supposed to be on the 
 earth. 
 
 Of those fifty millions, w e cannot count on more 
 than ten who are likely to be engaged in this work. 
 Ten millions to act, and above seven hundred mil- 
 lions to be acted upon ! More than seventy to a 
 man ! 
 
 It may fairly be calculated that one third of the 
 efficiency of the Church is found in the United States. 
 This would cast upon the United States near tw'^o 
 
16 
 
 hundred and forty millions of supplicants lor the 
 most interesting of all charities. If then, one third of 
 the real Church in the United States belongs to our 
 three denominations, it would lay upon our hands 
 about eighty millions. It was no exaggeration there- 
 fore when the board in their circular Address de- 
 clared : “ If the thirty millions on our own continent 
 who are sunk in pagan or papal darkness, were as- 
 signed to our three denominations, it would not be 
 one half, probably not one quarter, of what w^ould fall 
 to our lot in a fair 'division of the world among the 
 sound and active parts of the Protestant Church.” 
 
 Nothing like precision is pretended in an estima- 
 tion of this sort; but we can get near enough the 
 truth to show' you at once the immense field w hich 
 lies before you, and which you are imperiously called 
 upon to occupy as fast as you can. As fast as you 
 can, in mercy stop that discharge of souls into the 
 burning pit. If it will not break your heart, I w ill 
 present another calculation. Of those seven hun- 
 dred and fifteen millions who need missionary aid, 
 suppose that one half die in infancy, and the other 
 half attain on an average to the age of thirty-five. 
 Then there die of those who have reached the year? 
 of discretion, more than ten millions a year, about 
 twenty-eight thousand a day, little less than twelve 
 hundred an hour, and near twenty a minute. While 
 I am pleading their cause they are launching forth. 
 How' many arc this moment on their way. In the 
 name of mercy, ought any more time to be lost ? 
 
 With such a call for instantaneous and mighty ex- 
 ertion, shall the numerous and wealthy churches in 
 
17 
 
 our connexion think that they have notlnngto do for 
 the lieatlien? Retiring into themselves, and now 
 and then sending a messenger to the new settlements, 
 shall they leave the vast pagan w orld to others ? 
 No, my brethren, we have a mighty debt to discharge 
 which is not thus to be put off' God has laid out a 
 w’ork for us of far greater extent. His w ord, Iiis pro- 
 vidence, the voice of heaven and earth, summon us 
 to go forth, with others who have started before us, 
 to that w’ide spread pagan w aste which none but the 
 true Church can occupy. This is an obligation 
 which we cannot put off upon others. It presses up- 
 on us collectively and individually. Every man in 
 Christendom ought to hold himself under bonds to 
 God and the souls of men to do his lull proportion. 
 And if others will not do their part, we must do more 
 than our proportion. Our property, our time, our in- 
 fluence, stand bound to discharge this debt. And 
 with all hese claims upon us, shall we stand still and 
 content ourselves with the thought that in some 
 other time and way God w ill employ w orthier hands 
 to do his work Worthier hands he may employ, 
 but who shall discharge our debt who shall an- 
 swer for our neglects.^ Can others be substituted 
 here ? 
 
 A part of this honour is fairly tendered to us by 
 the present dispensations of divine providence, and 
 if w e decline the glory it will certainly be seized by 
 others. If we refuse to put our hands to the work, it 
 will be done by contemporaries before our eyes. 
 The heathen shall be evangelized, and the angel has 
 already begun his flight. Rise earth, rise hell, they 
 cannot stop his progress. Even now' the work is 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 going on by a thousand hands, and while we are dis- 
 puting whether to attempt it, it will be done. Shall 
 we take a part in the glorious enterprise, or stand 
 by and see it accomplished by others ? This is now 
 the only question. 
 
 We will not stand by. We will claim the honour 
 of aiding to recover the wandering nations to God. 
 We will help to bring the heathen to Christ for an 
 inheritance, and then will follow in his triumphant 
 train and shout the praises of his victory. After all 
 the sacrifices which he has made in our world, we 
 wall not think it much to help him to his reward. We 
 w ill remember the Sutfererof Gethsemane whenever 
 we think of the heathen. And since wc cannot re- 
 munerate him, wc will remember to have heard him 
 say, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least 
 of these, — ye have done it unto me.” No sacrifice 
 which w'e can make shall be deemed too great for 
 him w ho died for the poor pagans and for us. It 
 shall be the highest joy of our heart to gather the 
 nations (o him and crow n him Lord of all. 
 
 But our first attention, we all agree, ought to be di- 
 rected to our own continent. Upon every principle 
 of rc.ason and religion, the thirty millions w'ho are 
 perishing in darkness here, ought to be considered 
 as specially committed to the compassions of the 
 American Church. 
 
 As soon as a door is opened for operations in South 
 America, that w ill be afield which we shall be bound 
 to occupy, and it w ill richly reward our toil. To the 
 Christian and philanthropist, that is at present one of 
 the most interesting spots beneath the sun; where 
 mighty nations are strugglingiutocxistence,where man 
 
19 
 
 is rlsinor in his miglit to burst the chains of tlie most 
 unrighteous and degrading oppression, and stretching 
 after the majesty and happiness of freedom. In the 
 name of humanity and religion, let them succeed. 
 They will succeed, and in their course the fetters will 
 drop from their mind. They will soon see that there 
 is no freedom witliout liberty of conscience. And 
 when toleration and free inquiry are introduced, you 
 may pour in your instructions until the capacity is 
 full. That will be a most inviting field for missions ; 
 richer in its soil than in the mines which sleep be- 
 neath it, possessing all the climates from Brazil to 
 Hudsbn’s Bay, intersected by the largest rivers on 
 the globe, laved by two oceans, lying on the great 
 highway of nations, connected w ith all the world, 
 and destined to support powerful and prosperous 
 empires. Let us stand ready to enter as soon as a 
 door is opened. 
 
 One door is already opened on our own continent. 
 There never was so favourable a time to attempt the 
 conversion of the Indians. The day of their deliver- 
 ance really seems to have come. The government 
 of the United States, directed by an enlightened po- 
 licy, no less than by the most obvious principles of 
 justice and humanity, stand ready to erect houses 
 for the missions, to furnish the necessary implements 
 of husbandry, and to support the attempt with the 
 whole weight of their influence. The Indians them- 
 selves are at last convinced that thev must be brought 
 
 w O 
 
 to till the soil or be exterminated, and have become 
 willing to receive the learning and arts of white men. 
 A new system, of far greater promise, has recently 
 been introduced, beginning with the children, and 
 
20 
 
 combining in their education, instruction In letters 
 and the useful arts, with anjnitiation into the princi- 
 ples of religion. This system has already been 
 visibly owned by the Holy Gliost, and some of the 
 children of the dcsdrt have been hopefully turned to 
 the Lord. There is every encouragement to go 
 forward. 
 
 A simultaneous conviction seems to have taken 
 possession of the government of the United States, 
 some of the state governments, and many of the 
 churches, that the time has come to make one great 
 effort to bring the Indians to a participation of all 
 the blessings which we enjoy. One fact has broken 
 upon them all, that this work must be done soon or it 
 \vhn be for ever too late. We have got away their 
 lands and spoiled their hunting grounds, and they 
 must be speedily brought to till the soil or perish. 
 This however is not the fault of the white people. 
 
 It was never the intention of Him who gave the earth 
 to the children of men, that a whole continent should 
 be perpetually held by a few scattered hunters, but 
 that a denser population should draw support from 
 its soil. We had a right therefore to enter upon 
 this uncultivated wilderness, with due respect to the 
 previous claims of its inhabitants. We had a right 
 • to enter it by purchase, and to bring it into a state “ 
 to support hundreds of millions of the worshippers 
 of God. Hut in mercy to the poor hunter, whose 
 deer have fled or fallen, we ought to take him to 
 our fields and tench him to cultivate the ground. 
 
 I’his, I say, must be done soon or it will be forever 
 too late. Tlie poor hunter w ill have sunk into the 
 grave of his fathers, and left the chacc and the field 
 
21 
 
 to you. The tide of population is setting so rapidly 
 to the west, (wave after wave sweeping further and 
 further upon the sliore,) that in a few short years 
 there will not he a hunting ground left this side of 
 the Pacific. Calculation on this subject will sur- 
 prise you, while it discloses the sublime prospects 
 of this rising empire. For GO years before the last 
 census, the population of the United States, (exclu- 
 sive of purchased territories,) doubled once in twenty- 
 two years and a half. Let it continue to increase in 
 the same ratio for 118 years longer, and it will 
 amount to 926 millions, ICO millions more than are 
 now supposed to be on the globe. This result is 
 obtained, as any one may see, by only doubling the 
 amount of the last census seven times. I well know 
 that the ratio of increase must be diminished w hen- 
 ever the population becomes so crowded as to ren- 
 der the air less pure or the means of support less 
 easy. But what aliould lessen if while an extensive wil- 
 derness remains to receive the surplus of our popula- 
 tion, does not appear. What therefore should lessen 
 it until all the hunting grounds of the Indian are de- 
 stroyed, we are unable to see. ' And if the same ratio 
 of increase is to continue until the wilderness is 
 generally reduced, the hunting grounds will all be 
 taken up before our children leave the stage. Sixty 
 years, in this proportion, would add 50 millions to 
 our present population, and swell our numbers to 
 60 millions. And with the spirit of emigration and 
 enterprise which characterizes our people, 60 mil- 
 lions would probably extend the border of cultiva- 
 tion to the Pacific. Six times our present number 
 could scarcely fail to do this. Should nothing un- 
 
22 
 
 foreseen check our progress, our grand children \?lll 
 make grave yards on the shores of the western ocean. 
 The very generation therefore seems to have come 
 in which the Indians must be brought to cultivate the 
 soil or be exterminated. 
 
 Had we nothing in view but the temporal relief of 
 the heathen, this would be a mighty object. Accus- 
 tomed as we arc to the enjoyments of civilized life, 
 and surrounded with scenes of prosperity as far as 
 the eye can reach, we cannot realize the wretched 
 state of the savage, — destitute of the useful arts, even 
 of that which relieves the tortures of disease, desti- 
 tute of every thing w hicli bears tlie name of conve- 
 nience, destitute of the social oyder and security 
 which are bottomed on w holesome laws, of the hal- 
 lowed delights of domestic life, of the enjoyments of 
 refined intercourse and friendship, of the lights of 
 science ; depending for subsistence on the uncertain 
 issues of the chace, often half famished, exposed to 
 wintry storms, to lawless violence, to ferocious as- 
 saults, to pilfering cupidity ; stowed in a wretched 
 hovel, immured in smoke, unsheltered from the rain, 
 bedded in filth; the slave of the most polluting and 
 furious passions, agitated by the phantoms of a 
 gloomy superstition, ignorant of God, of all the solace 
 of the Christian hope, and perhaps besmearing the 
 altars of devils with human blood. What a vast 
 amount of human happiness would be produced, 
 even in the present life, by only introducing into a 
 single tribe the benign influence of Christianity and 
 civilization, for the benefit of them, and their chil- 
 dren, and their children’s children to the latest pos- 
 terity. 
 
But when wo conteniplate those heathen as im- 
 mortal, the subject swells into a magnitude beyond 
 the ranges ol imagination. Every one ol them will 
 be an angel or a devil millions of ages alter the fune- 
 ral of this world. Each of them will experience 
 happiness more than all heaven have yet enjoyed, 
 or misery more than all hell have yet endured. To 
 think of the perdition of one pagan soul, is enough to 
 awaken the deepest sympathy of the whole human 
 race. But to contemplate the ruin of the hundreds 
 of millions now on the earth, whose numbers are to 
 be renewed once in twenty or thirty years, what heart 
 can fail to dissolve in grief and vehemently to cry 
 out for help to God and inan.*^ The f:\shion of this 
 world is passing away, the sign of the J^on of man 
 will appear in heaven, and you and all the heathen 
 nations will be before his bar. Then, I ask you 
 whether it will not appear of more importance to 
 have converted a single pagan, than to have amassed 
 the treasures of the Indies. I behold one of those 
 heathen brought along in chains to receive his doom, 
 and looking down to an eternal lake of fire, “ Ah me !” 
 says he, “ aixl am I born to this.^” lie casts an eye 
 of anguish on those who once composed the Ameri- 
 can Church, and raises his piercing lamentations : 
 “ How could you see me perish ? Why did you not 
 sell your estates to send the Gospel to me.^ Ah! 
 you never felt the pains of damnation.” Indeed, my 
 brethren, w'hen w e contemplate that scene, we know 
 not where to stop. When w e have given a few hun- 
 dred dollars, w e look again over the immense pagan 
 waste, and then to the'judgment, and ask. Why should 
 I not give as many more ? 
 
24 
 
 Whatever we do in this business will multiply it- 
 self. If we can prevail to convert a single pagan, he 
 may be the means of converting many more, and they 
 a still greater number : and thus the wave, set in 
 motion by a single impulse, and w idening on every 
 side, may extend to the distant shore. In this view, 
 a small donation of a few dollars, may ultimately 
 produce an amount of happiness which outstrips the 
 calculation of numbers. To what more important 
 purpose then could the wealth of the rich be ap- 
 plied.^ Might not the treasures of kings find here a 
 more benevolent appropriation, than in supporting 
 w^ars to fill the world with widow's and orphans.^ If 
 an angel from heaven were to judge, would he not 
 decide that the whole wealth of Christendom ought 
 \ to be given, to the last mite that is needed ? But all 
 is not needed. The superfluous wealth of this single 
 city, is enough to send the Gospel through a very 
 considerable part of the pagan W'orld. 
 
 We have slept too long over this immensely im- 
 portant subject. The millions w'ho are gone cannot 
 be redeemed : those who are now on their w ay can- 
 not be stopt: the many who must die before we can 
 reach the fields of the missions, must die as they are, 
 because w'e delayed so long. But by the bow els of 
 Christ let no more time be lost. 
 
 Under the impression of these awful and affecting 
 thoughts, the board of the United Foreign Missionary 
 Society have entered in earnest on this long neglect- 
 ed work, and by all the tones which mercy can fur- 
 nish, they call upon the churches to join them. They 
 would fain extend an arm as far as human misery is 
 found. In their ultimate operations they hope to 
 
26 
 
 penetrate the darkness of the eastern world. But 
 their first cares centre at home. * They have their 
 eye anxiously fixed on South America, w aiting lor the 
 moment when God shall open the door. In the mean 
 time they have resolved to make a solemn and vigo- 
 rous attempt upon the Indians within our own bor- 
 ders. As a preparatory step they have lately sent 
 out two young men to explore the country west ol’the 
 Mississippi, to examine the state and dispositions ol 
 the dillerent tribes, and to select the most suitable 
 spot lor the commencejiient ol'our operations. Upon 
 their return it is expected that a number more will 
 join them and enter immediately on their work. 
 These devoted youth are looking to God to raise up 
 pious farmers and mechanics, to form with them a 
 little church and colony, and to go out with them 
 tbilow ed by the blessing and prayers of all our Israel. 
 Those little colonies and churches they expect to 
 see multiplied. They have nothing less in their 
 hopes than to march from tribe to tribe, as fast as 
 they can gain a footing in each, until they unfurl the 
 banner of the cross on the top of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, and descend like the dew' of Hermon upon the 
 valleys w hich slope to the w estern shore. 
 
 This is an enterprise which solicits your most ear- 
 nest prayers. We may project, but w e know^ who it 
 is that must succeed our endeavours. We hope you 
 will bear our dear youth and the poor w anderer of 
 the desert upon your hearts whenever you carry 
 your ow n children to a mercy seat. We stand here 
 also to ask for alms. We come and kneel at your 
 door for the poor Indian, who has no lands, no home, 
 no Bible, and no God. If his miseries could end at 
 
 r\ 
 
26 
 
 death, we should pity him less ; but then they must 
 begin. You never felt his sorrows, and may you 
 never feel them. May you long nourish and enjoy 
 your children on lands which once were his. May 
 your babes nevcfr cry for bread and you have none 
 to give them. But while you teach them the name of 
 Christ, and bring them to a covenant God, and from 
 the uplifted eye of prayer drop upon their cheek the 
 parental tear ; remember that Indian children have 
 none to teach them the name of Christ, none to bring 
 them to a covenant God, none to distil upon them 
 the dews of prayer. If mercy bids missionaries go 
 among them, they must be supported. They cannot 
 support themselves, and Indians are too poor. We 
 come and lay the affecting case before you. We 
 have heard of the wealth and liberality of this me- 
 tropolis. We have heard that pity dwells in York. 
 We doubt not then that we shall find it in the house 
 of God. W e shall surely meet it so near the mercy 
 seat. We can do nothing without you. But with 
 you and God’s blessing we can do all things. We 
 can spread the throb of joy through the wilderness. 
 We can carry consolation to the heart that has long 
 been desolate and sad. We can light the Indian’s 
 eye with the dawn of heaven. We can snatch him 
 from eternal burnings and lift him to the throne of 
 God. I think I see you at this suggestion bringing 
 your possessions and laying them at the apostles’ 
 feet. No, keep them for other uses ; we only ask a 
 part. A part we will accept, and bless God that he 
 made you rich, and pray him to give you a hundred 
 fold into your bosom. We wish that hands like these 
 might grasp the mines of Potosi. We believe they 
 
27 
 
 will do more : they will embrace a God : they will 
 take hold of the inheritance of heaven. “ He that 
 hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and 
 that which he hath given will he pay him again.” 
 When nothing shall remain to you on earth but your 
 charity and your prayers, the bread which you scat- 
 tered on many waters shall return to you again. 
 When all the drugs which wealth can purchase have 
 lost their power, this shall refresh your departing 
 spirit. When all that you laboured for on earth 
 forsakes you, this * shall become treasures laid up 
 in heaven. There may you meet some Indian soul 
 whom your charity saved. And when he shall lead 
 forward his wife and children, and say. These also 
 by your means have reached this happy home, I 
 think you will value it more than all the wealth you 
 left to rot on earth. And when you shall look around 
 and see ten thousand hands which once held the 
 tomahawk, now clasping the golden harp, — but I 
 have done. May God eternally reward you for what 
 you have conceived in your heart to do for poor 
 Indians. Amen. 
 
 

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