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 AN APPEAL 
 
 TO 
 
 THE BRITISH AND AMERICAN CHURCHES, 
 
 ON THE QUESTION, 
 
 IS CHINA OPEN TO THE 
 
 BY TWO FRIEND 
 
 “ The people of that vast Empire are most desirous of a more extended^ 
 and they possess nearly all those characteristics calculated to render that 
 cally beneficial.” — Majoribank's Letter to the President of the Board of Controul. 
 
 “ According to a tradition universally received amongst the Chinese, Confucius was often heard 
 to say that in the West. (Judea is the most western country of Asia, to China,) the Holy One will 
 appear. We must await for the coming of this perfectly holy man." — Auber. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 WARD AND CO., 56, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1834. 
 
 Price 4 d. ; or 3s. per Dozen. 
 
WILLIAM TYLER, 
 
 PRINTER, 
 
 4, IVV LANE, ST. PAUL’S. 
 
OPEN CHINA TO THE GOSPEL! 
 
 Yes ; “open China.” This is, indeed, more easily said than 
 done. It has not, however, been so often said, as it is easily 
 uttered. Had it been as often repeated as the tame question, 
 “ Is China open?” far more would have been done and felt for 
 that perishing empire, by the British churches. The question 
 has paralyzed them, whereas the command would have roused 
 their energies, or kept their consciences on the rack, until 
 obedience was attempted. We both equivocate with Divine 
 authority, and place ourselves afar off from Divine influence, 
 when we substitute the unscriptural question for the scriptural 
 command. “ If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of 
 God,” on this subject. “ Go ye into all nations, and preach 
 the gospel,” if it mean any thing, means, go into China. This 
 commission varies not with the varieties of nations ; but is as 
 imperative in the case of the most powerful and hostile, as in the 
 case of the weakest or the most accessible. 
 
 There is only one way of evading this fact, with any semblance 
 of conscience or reason : — namely, by saying, “ That as we 
 cannot embrace all nations effectually, we ought to confine our- 
 selves to those which are most open to us.” Now we certainly 
 have full scope in both Indies, for more than all our present 
 energies, even if Africa and the South Seas required no farther 
 aid. It is perfectly true that Hindooism has reached a crisis, 
 when its idolatry must subside into infidelity, unless the native 
 mind be more generally and powerfully plied with Christianity. 
 It is as self-evident as it is melancholy, that there are not 
 labourers sufficient to gather in a large harvest, even if God 
 were to give a large increase of success in the East. Can it, 
 then, be our immediate duty, to embark in new enterprises, 
 whilst our old Missions are thus unequal to the claims of their 
 spheres ? 
 
 This is plausible, but hollow. How hollow, let the effect of 
 these solemn facts expose to us ! They have been proclaimed 
 and chronicled over all the land, with almost super-human 
 eloquence, for years; and they have produced, — What? Tell 
 it not in Gath ! — very little more than the maintenance of the 
 
 a 2 
 
4 
 
 old scale of operations which produced them. The reason is 
 obvious. These facts, however awful, are but a part of the 
 solemn fact, that the field of the gospel “ is the world." It is, 
 therefore, to the wants of the whole world, that the Church 
 must adjust her prayers and sacrifices, before she can or will do 
 all her duty to any part of it. Whilst she is left to deal with 
 its separate parts in succession, she will dole out her help 
 without much regard to her real ability or obligation. Even 
 India, after thrilling her alternately with horror and hope, has 
 not won nor frightened her into the question of her real ability. 
 How much she can do, or how little she may do, for the cause 
 of God, she herself does not know : for, upon the former 
 question, she has never been fully thrown ; and the latter she 
 throws upon circumstances. It was not thus the apostolic 
 churches acted : — 
 
 “ The world was all before them,” 
 
 when they examined and decided what they could do for it. 
 They placed the whole extent of their obligation in the ba- 
 lance of eternal judgment, before they dared to fix the exact 
 amount of their ability. They evidently tried how near they 
 could bring their ability to the mark of their obligation : not 
 how far oft’ it might be kept from that mark, without incurring 
 a curse. If they did not see clearly that hoarded money, like 
 hoarded manna, was sure to breed worms even in time, they saw, 
 as by intuition, that neither riches nor rank would bear to be 
 thought of, at the judgment-seat, or through eternity, any fur- 
 ther than the world was blessed by the consecration of them 
 to the glory of God. 
 
 Thus it was by admitting the claims of the whole world, that 
 the Church was led to calculate and consecrate her whole 
 strength ; and then to take that hold upon the power and 
 promises of God, which her weakness required. But now, the 
 Church knows neither her strength nor her weakness, fully. 
 She neither works at the rate of her actual power, nor prays to 
 the extent of her dependence. “ Thy kingdom come,” which 
 should be her first prayer, is still her last ; and from any thing, 
 rather than from the coming of that kingdom, she looks for 
 the temporal prosperity, upon which she makes her liberality 
 depend. Her general rule is, “ to give according to the times 
 instead of giving upon a scale which would make the times 
 better, and keep them more uniform. This, she could do. By 
 giving according “as God hath pi’ospered her,” she could 
 secure national prosperity. She is able to create and sustain 
 Missions which would make her country the market of the 
 world, and thus make herself the light of the world. “ Awake, 
 awake ; put on thy strength, O Zion ; put on thy beautiful 
 garments, O Jerusalem. Shake thyself from the dust : loose 
 
thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Jeru- 
 salem thou hast been too long ignorant of both thy strength 
 and beauty. Thou canst perpetuate the peace of the nations, 
 and extend their intercourse. Thou canst bring round times, 
 in which international law would be justice, and intei'national 
 trade equally universal and advantageous. Regulate the times, 
 therefore, instead of being passively regulated by them. Leave 
 it no longer to the caprice of politics, or to the cupidity of rival 
 commerce, to shape the course of things. All things must 
 follow thy course, whenever thou goest forth to the conquest of 
 the world ! 
 
 Ministers of the gospel ! rouse, recall the Church to a full 
 sense of her high destinies and responsibilities, by confronting 
 her with the whole world. Bring nothing less before her, if you 
 would have her to do more than she is doing. Allure or alarm 
 her unto the moral wilderness of “ all nations,” if you would 
 make her an effectual blessing to any nation. She will be 
 unfaithful to her stewardship, wherever she is at work, until she 
 is set to work every where. At least, whilst you devolve no 
 more upon her than you think she can do easily, she will do but 
 little. Accordingly, in prayer, she bows only one knee as yet ; 
 for half her members never attend prayer-meetings for the 
 spread of the gospel : and in giving, except amongst the poor, 
 she opens only one hand, and that not widely. It has hardly 
 touched her wealth yet. And she will never touch it with 
 both hands, nor bow both knees in wrestling supplication for 
 the outpouring of the Spirit, until the weight of a world’s 
 claims and perils bring her to her senses. God has destined her 
 to move all the world ; and, therefore, by nothing less than all 
 the world does he attempt to move her. “ Are we wiser than 
 God ?” If not, why is the Church left at ease, whilst China is 
 left to perish ? Why is she allowed to stand asking coolly, “ Is 
 China open to the gospel ?” What if it be not ? Heaven is 
 shut — Hell is open — to China, whilst it remains shut to the gospel! 
 
 This consideration is so overwhelming and intolerable, that it 
 leaves to a Christian no alternative, but to brace up his spirit to 
 action, or drug it into stupor by speculation. He must refine 
 away this doom, before he can refuse to act. He must forget 
 his Bible, before he can remember China without horror or 
 shame. He can only keep his spirit off the rack of self-con- 
 demnation, by softening their doom at the expense of truth, or 
 by trying to avert it at the expense of labour. He is sure to 
 disbelieve, so long as he disobeys, God; because he cannot 
 believe without “ trembling.” 
 
 Christians ! “ open China,” if you would not shut your 
 Bibles whenever their oracles utter the doom of the heathen. 
 You cannot keep your Bible open, and your conscience calm 
 
G 
 
 at the same time, whilst you allow China to remain shut : 
 and it can only he opened to the gospel, by the gospel. “ Great 
 and effectual doors of entrance” into the nations, are not opened 
 by Providence, until churches knock, and champions are willing 
 to enter at all hazards. Then God sets before them “an open 
 door, which no man can shut” again. 
 
 “ I write unto you, young men,” in British, and American, 
 and Continental Israel, “ because ye are strong, and the word of 
 God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” Ye 
 overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Surely, then, that can 
 enable you to overcome both the language and the perils of 
 China. Both have been overcome again and again by the love of 
 the world, and the love of fame ; and, shall “ the love of Christ” 
 not dare the risks and endure the labour ? Shall it call forth hut 
 one Morrison from England ; but one Milne from Scotland ; but 
 one Gutzlaff from Germany ; but one Abeel from America ? 
 
 Germany, land of Luther and Swartz ! America, land of the 
 Pilgrim Fathers ! Britain, land of my fathers, and the Pilgrims’ 
 fathers too ! this must not be the case longer. Where is the 
 constraining influence of the love of Christ in our father-lands, 
 whilst they furnish only units of missionaries to the myriads of 
 China? Young Men ! this sin lies at your door chiefly. You, 
 only, can come with effect, and in sufficient numbers, “ to the 
 help of the Lord against the mighty” idolatry of this empire. Its 
 moral fate is, for the present, in your hands. Nothing great can 
 be done for the existing population of China, unless you do it. 
 Nothing at all can be done by preaching the gospel, until your 
 ranks furnish preachers. Your fathers cannot go. Even if they 
 could, you durst not send them. Shame would compel you 
 to say, “ Here am I, send me ! if the dread of blood- 
 guiltiness compelled your fathers to cry out, “ Who will go 
 for us? ” Well; the God of your fathers — your own God, 
 makes this appeal to you; and will you give Him a differ- 
 ent answer? Some of you have both the talents and oppor- 
 tunities requisite for this work. Not a few of you have been 
 born to wealth and education, and have now the whole circle of 
 professions at your choice. The Senate, with its fame ; the Bar, 
 with its honours ; Science, with its fascinations ; and the home 
 pulpit, with its moral influence, are all before you, and beckon- 
 ing to you. But, look at China first ! You can take no place in 
 your father-land, which would enable you to tell so powerfully on 
 the eternal destinies of the world. The attempt to evangelize 
 China would, even if it failed in your hands, immortalize you in 
 the annals of the Church, and fill your own immortality with 
 cheering recollections. It would bear thinking of through all 
 eternity, that “ it was in your heart” to win that nation. Time 
 itself would do you more than justice, when it rears its millennial 
 
7 
 
 columns, as the Romans did their triumphal arches, to the me- 
 mory of the generals who did not despair of saving the empire. 
 Should you even die in the attempt, your name would live for 
 ever. Thousands would be “baptized for the dead” by the inspir- 
 ation of your heroism, and from sympathy with your fate. 
 
 Human distinction, however honourable, is, I am aware, not a 
 legitimate motive (as it is now understood) to ply Christians with. 
 And, certainly, he who will not work without it, is not worthy of 
 it. You are not “called of God” to China, if your pulse beats 
 high, only when the prospect of distinction flashes upon you. All 
 such emotion is “ of the earth, earthy.” Fame is, however, an 
 inseparable adjunct of philanthropic enterprise in the present state 
 of the world. No man, who deserves distinction, can escape it, 
 now that the Church must grapple with imperial idolatry, or be 
 disgraced in the eyes of idolaters and deists. For it is not now, 
 as when the first ambassadors of the cross challenged the whole 
 Olympus and Empyrean of heathenism. Then Christianity was 
 taken up by the world, only as a question of facts and of men ; 
 not as a question of principles. Neither sciolists nor sages were 
 afraid of its principles. They recognised, in Christians, “ men 
 that would turn the world upside down but they saw not in 
 Christianity a vital “ leaven, that would leaven the whole lump” 
 of society. Accordingly, they turned all their energy against 
 Christians ; and, for ages, never thought of calculating the moral 
 power of Christianity itself. It is not so now. The philosophy 
 of the world is watching principles more than men ; and, creed- 
 less and godless as most of that philosophy is, it will do some jus- 
 tice to the principles which improve the world. Thus it will fol- 
 low with all its eyes, and proclaim with all its tongues, the prac- 
 tical results of experiments upon China. Philosophy itself will 
 be transformed into faith, when the Church places the crown of 
 China upon the head of Christ. In such an enterprise, before 
 such spectators, distinction is inevitable. No real champion on 
 this field can die unmissed or unmourned. The martyrdom of 
 one Protestant missionary in China, would touch a chord of sen- 
 sation throughout the old and the new world, that would not cease 
 to vibrate, until a thousand missionaries were sworn upon his 
 tomb, to conquer or die. The bell that tolled his requiem, would 
 ring the knell of her idolatry. 
 
 “ I write unto you, young men, because ye are strong,” whe- 
 ther rich or poor. From your ranks men have arisen to dare the 
 cannibalism of the islands, and to endure the solitude of the wil- 
 derness. They have not shrunk from the effeminacy of the east, 
 nor from the ferocity of the south. And will you fear the craft 
 or the cruelty of the Chinese ? Merchants will find plenty of 
 clerks and supercargoes amongst your ungodly contemporaries ; 
 and shall not the Church find standard-bearers amongst her sons? 
 
8 
 
 Amongst all her sons, are there “ none to comfort her,” now that 
 she begins to “weep sore in the night,” for the dark places of the 
 earth ? 
 
 Fathers and Mothers in Israel! “ I write unto you, because 
 ye have known Him that is from the beginning,” and thus can 
 neither question his right to possess China, nor deny his claims 
 upon your Isaacs, now that he calls for them ! From the begin- 
 ning, the Captain of Salvation has always said to parents, “ He 
 that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.” 
 He will apply this rule to you, when he gives the word of com- 
 mand for a great multitude of preachers. For, where can he find 
 them, but in your families? You yourselves cannot obey his 
 summons ; and, therefore, “ instead of the fathers,” he must take 
 the children, and make them the “ princes in all the earth,” now 
 that he is about to take unto himself his great power, to reign 
 over all the earth 
 
 Jesses of Bethlehem-Judah ! the Lord will soon say to his Sa- 
 muels, “ Fill thine horn with oil, and go ; I will send thee to Jesse, 
 the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king amongst his sons.” 
 Are you prepared to bring out all your sons, when, like Jesse, you 
 are “ called to the sacrifice ?” Will you allow Samuel to anoint 
 “ him whom the Lord shall name?” Be tli q first to anoint your 
 own David, “ in the midst of his brethren.” “ From that day 
 forward, the Spirit of the Lord” will come upon your David, as a 
 Spirit of wisdom and might. 
 
 Mothers in Israel ! much depends upon you, when this 
 anointing begins. You will then need both the mantle and the 
 spirit of the holy women of old, who were the last at the cross, 
 and the first at the sepulchre. You will require some of the 
 fortitude of the mother of the Maccabees, in order to give up 
 even one son for China. She gave up her seven sons, in the 
 space of one day, to martyrdom ; and that “ with a good cou- 
 rage, because of the hope she had in the Lord.” And nothing 
 but a hope full of immortality can reconcile you to consecrate a 
 son to Missions. Maternal nature is too strong to be overcome 
 by any thing but grace, when a son is to be given up to foreign 
 service. But when grace triumphs in the maternal bosom, it 
 triumphs gloriously ! The looks of Knill’s mother, when she 
 said, “ Go, my son,” spoke volumes more than her lips. He 
 saw as well as heard that she had given him to the Lord : and 
 see how he has given himself to the Lord, and been honoured 
 by the Lord, ever since ! O, stand not between your son and 
 the seraph that touches willing lips with “ a live coal ” from off 
 the high altar of the temple ! You welcomed that seraph, when 
 he touched the heart of your son with the coal which kindled 
 the love of Christ in it ; and will you not allow that love to be 
 inflamed into zeal for the glory of Christ ? True ; there are 
 
9 
 
 perils abroad: but are there none at home? You can keep your 
 child from foreign Missions, but you cannot keep him alive at 
 home. You can throw yourself between him and China, but not 
 between him and the grave. God can take to the sepulchre 
 what you refuse to give to his service. 
 
 This is not hard nor harsh ; for, were all mothers to refuse, 
 the heathen must be left to perish. Nor should the sacrifice be 
 thrown upon poor mothers. It is a sacrifice, and, therefore, 
 should be made oftenest by the parents who cannot be impover- 
 ished nor perilled by it. Whenever pious sons have “ great 
 expectations,” pious parents cannot have great fears for their 
 own comfortable subsistence ; and, if the family be large as well 
 as opulent, nothing would be such a security against the snares 
 of the world, as to have one son keeping “ the world under his 
 feet.” His example, in counting all things but loss to win 
 Christ, and to win souls to Christ, would be a perpetual balance- 
 wheel upon all the movements of his brothers and sisters. The 
 brother of a missionary, like the brother of a Whitefield, could 
 not forget himself amidst the cares or the snares of life. 
 
 Parents! weigh these facts. You tremble for some of your 
 children. Their veiy prospects of success in the world make 
 you jealous for their souls. Give, then, the most pious to China; 
 and thus you will have taken the best step in your power to save 
 the rest. The wealthier you are, the more wise and necessary 
 tliis step is. Thus, “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye 
 have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written 
 unto you, young men, because ye are strong:” — and this is the 
 writing, and the interpretation of the thing ! “ Love not the 
 
 world, neither the things which are in the world : if any man 
 love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all 
 that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the 
 eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the 
 world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof : 
 but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” Now, 
 one part of that Supreme will is, “ Open China :” and this 
 cannot be done, until young men win over their parents to 
 make sacrifices, and parents encourage their ministers to 
 anoint their sons, and ministers lead on the churches to attempt 
 all that God has commanded, and the churches make Missionary 
 Societies in reality, what they are in name, “ the light of the 
 world.” 
 
 Christian Merchants ! These appeals are very much 
 founded upon what you can and will do, in this mighty enter- 
 prise. This is not the place to discuss the policy of continuing 
 trade with Missions. That question will, however, soon come 
 before you, in all its bearings. Two Friends. 
 
 London, 1834. 
 
10 
 
 “ IS CHINA OPEN TO THE GOSPEL?” 
 
 AN APPEAL TO THE FRIENDS OF MISSIONS. 
 
 “ Is China open to the gospel ?” If it be not, then more 
 than three hundred millions, or one-third of the human race, 
 are placed beyond the reach of the wide and warm sympathies 
 of the living Church of the living God ! Is this likely ? 
 His spiritual life must be at a very low ebb, who can take for 
 granted, that China is “hermetically sealed!” Father, forgive 
 all who have repeated this insult against the gospel com- 
 mission : they knew not what they said. They durst not 
 have said in plain terms, — -That the girdling and guarded wall of 
 China is as impassable as “ the great gulf, fixed” between hell 
 and heaven. Any tongue, which would try to say that, would 
 cleave to the roof of its mouth. No Christian audience would 
 allow any man to translate the chemical phrase into scriptural 
 English : for it implies, that China is as much impaled from 
 hope as hell itself. Where is the difference — if we “ cannot 
 pass to them ?” This is just the position of all in heaven 
 towards all in hell ; and as that is the final position of the 
 Church, it cannot be her present position to the world. 
 
 “ Is then China open to the gospel?” What do you mean 
 by “open?” It is certainly not open in the same sense as the 
 presidencies of India, the tribes of Africa, and the islands of the 
 Pacific. It is not open, as the three continents were to the first 
 missionaries of the cross. But it is not shut. It never was 
 shut entirely. It never can be “ hermetically sealed.” “ He 
 who hath the keys of David,” set before his Church “ an open 
 door, which no man can shut,” into all nations, when he com- 
 manded her to preach the gospel unto all nations. The Em- 
 perors of China have, indeed, tried to shut it, and declared it 
 shut ; and we, alas ! have believed it to be so. They never be- 
 lieved their own pretences ! They never could have believed 
 them, except during the pauses of Asiatic enterprise and ambi- 
 tion. Protestants alone have been weak enough to believe 
 Chinese pretences ! The Bhuddists of the first century found the 
 door open enough for their idolatry; and the Nestorians of the 
 seventh century, for their heresy ; and the Mahometans of the 
 eighth century for their Koran ; and the Papists of the thir- 
 teenth century, for their Mass. Thus, whenever “ Inveniam 
 viam aut faciam ,” has been the maxim of any sect or system, 
 they have scaled the imperial wall, and penetrated far enough 
 into the celestial empire, to prove that neither were impassable. 
 It was not, indeed, for such missions that Christ opened or kept 
 open the door of China : but he permitted them to enter in 
 succession, in order to prove to his own Church, that no man 
 
11 
 
 could shut any door, which “ the keys of the House of David ’’ 
 had once opened. 
 
 Look at this historical fact, and he ashamed, and mourn, 
 and weep for the Church. She has believed the devil rather 
 than God, in regard to China. Alas, she does so still ! She 
 does not intend this, nor is she exactly aware of it ; but both 
 her speech and her actions “ bewray” her unbelief. Even her 
 champions continue yet, to speak as men hoping against hope ; 
 and, as might be expected, when standard-bearers thus hesitate 
 and falter, she is heartless. They hint at the remote hope of 
 finding an open door ; and the Church, in the true spirit of their 
 unbelief, gives 826/. 9s. 6d., to evangelize the three hundred 
 millions of China ! 
 
 An open door — for this paltry annuity ! Is there not upon 
 the very face of the sum, the image and superscription of a 
 mere apology? Is not such trifling with the claims of one- 
 third of the human race, enough to provoke God to drive us 
 from China, and to shut all her doors against us? Open, indeed! 
 — they are not so much shut as our hearts and hands have been. 
 
 Ignorance has been one great cause of our apathy hitherto. 
 Accordingly, at the times of this ignorance God has winked. 
 But now the darkness is past ! Gutzlaff has proclaimed to 
 Europe and America, that “ no country in Asia, ruled by native 
 princes, is so easy of access” as China. “ The people fairly 
 robbed me of my books.” “ I intend to make a voyage through 
 the whole of central China, up to Thibet and Bengal ; a matter 
 as practicable as a voyage from Rliio to Batavia.” Well might 
 one of the missionaries (Medhurst) say, “ If we had known this 
 twenty years ago, how many fruitless experiments and useless 
 expenditures might have been spared : for, instead of spending 
 strength and resources in small contracted spheres in the Ma- 
 layan Archipelago, amongst a few thousand emigrants, we might 
 have gone directly to China, and travelled through the length 
 and breadth of the land, distributing the Word of Life, and 
 proclaiming spiritual freedom to millions. But even now, it is 
 not too late to retrieve what has been lost, if labourers abroad, 
 and the Churches at home, awake to a sense of their duty.” 
 
 Why are not these facts pealed from pulpit to pulpit, until, 
 like thunder in an amphitheatre of mountains, all the Churches 
 reverberate the cry, — China is open : let us go in and possess the 
 land ! The London Missionary Society has already chronicled 
 the report of Gutzlaff, and the appeal of Medhurst : it must, 
 therefore, have much faith in them, and is, of course, prepared to 
 act upon them, the moment we respond to the appeal. Well; 
 let this be our response — and let it sound from every Auxiliary 
 and Association , — “ Parent ! pledge yourself at once, and beyond 
 all retreat or delay, to devote 10,000/. to the formation of a real 
 
12 
 
 Chinese Mission ; and we will enable you to redeem your pledge. 
 Tell the world and the Church, that you will attempt the work at 
 all hazards. Let “ China” be the motto of your loftiest and fore- 
 most banner, from this time forth ; or blot its name from the list 
 of your Missions for ever, that others may do their duty.” 
 
 America has begun the work. She remembers that the Jesuits 
 sent the very flower of their army to conquer China for the Pope ; 
 and she is pledging the flower of her “ noble army” of mission- 
 aries to attempt its conquest for Christ. Two of them are already 
 in the field. And, what is their opinion of the enterprise ? They 
 frankly confess it is perilous ; that they have no security from 
 the government for safety or continuance ; that they may even 
 peril the lives of the natives by trying to convert them, and thus 
 be themselves “ stigmatized as murderers.” Thus they weigh 
 consequences : but they add, “ The experiment will be made.” 
 This view of the case is not at variance with Gutzlaff ’s. They 
 write, be it remembered, under the meridian of Canton — where 
 the laws are most rigid, and the police strong ; whereas Gutzlaff 
 speaks of central China and the principal northern parts ; and 
 there, the empire is as open to missionaries as to merchants. 
 Will, then, the former be less enterprising than the latter ? “ God 
 forbid ; and let all the people say, Amen.” 
 
 TO THE COMMITTEE AND MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH MISSION- 
 ARY SOCIETY. 
 
 Esteemed Coadjutors, — Years have passed away since I first 
 had the pleasure of being enrolled in the lists of your members ; 
 but from the platform and the press, in public and in private, in 
 the social and in the domestic circle, I have spoken of your 
 triumphs, and partaken of your grateful thanksgivings, in our 
 anniversary reviews of the past, and in the delightful anticipations 
 for the future. The Society has, indeed, been the harbinger of 
 light to them that sat in the shades of overspreading death, the 
 peaceful destroyer of the idols and the temples of heathenism, and 
 the healer of the breaches which sin had made. Australia and 
 its once cannibal inhabitants, Tinnevelly and its once subject 
 idol population, with numerous other portions of our strayed 
 world, have become tributary to that kingdom which is righteous- 
 ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Languages conquered, printing presses established, Bibles cir- 
 culated, flourishing schools, have each pioneered our progress. 
 Obstructions are yielding in our onward march ; the Brahmin 
 stands trembling as he views the decays of his temple, the decline 
 of popular esteem, and the gradual extinction of his hold on the 
 
13 
 
 rising - population — the Mahometan delusions are passing away ; 
 Henry Martyn is remembered in the Persian empire— continents 
 are awakening from their slumbers, and we are living in the midst 
 of a world whose plaintive cries echo in our ears, “ O that one 
 would give us to drink of the water of Bethlehem !” 
 
 The watchmen on the walls of our Zion have been reiterating 
 the prayer, “ Let thy way be known upon the earth, thy saving 
 health among all nations and He has heard our prayers, he has 
 blessed our efforts, and those of kindred institutions; he has 
 poured out blessings, and we have now not room enough to re- 
 ceive them. He is speaking to us in his providential dispensa- 
 tions among nations — the politicians of England, of France, of 
 Spain, of Portugal, have each been subject to his control ; they 
 have contemplated changes and executed plans which in their re- 
 sults are opening to the Christian Church doors for the subjuga- 
 tion of the world to the Prince of Peace. Foremost among these 
 stands China ; commerce and evangelization will aid each other — 
 Majoribanks, Gutzlaff, Abeel, and Medhurst reverberate the cry, 
 “ China, China, China is open to the ambassadors of the cross !” 
 Let the joyful intelligence spread through the universal Church — 
 let our contentions cease for ever — let us no more hear the boast 
 of “ apostolical succession” on the one hand, nor of mistaken and 
 exaggerated calculations on the power of the “ Voluntary Princi- 
 ple” on the other — let us each gird on our armour against the com- 
 mon enemy of our species, and in the prosecution of honourable 
 labours for our adorable Master, let us pursue them in the spirit 
 of his apostles, and in obedience to his commands — let us again 
 love each other for his sake ; and, taking our stand, remembering 
 his tears, and groans, and agonies — let us try to calculate what 
 was included in the “ travail of his soul,” and in the promise, “ He 
 shall be satisfied.” 
 
 Ye pious clergy — the Noels, Cunninghams, Wilsons, Pratts, 
 and Bickersteths of the nineteenth century — tell your congrega- 
 tions throughout the land, that China is open for the messages of 
 mercy ; tell them that the Chinese fairly robbed Gutzlaff of his 
 books and tracts — that they were read and discussed — and that 
 one-third of the human race are thus thirsting for supplies. Re- 
 member, ye presidents of our Sabbath assemblies, that from you 
 the tone of a nation’s advance to succour the enslaved must pro- 
 ceed — from you the invitation must be issued, that large and 
 crowded meetings be promptly held to contemplate the mighty 
 work ! 
 
 All energies must be concentrated here ; — all the combined 
 influence, talent, and wealth of the Church must be rendered 
 subservient to the cause of truth and of righteousness. The 
 gains of the merchant must also be consecrated to the service 
 of the Lord of the whole earth. 
 
14 
 
 Heads of families! China looks up unto you. Consistency, 
 gratitude, and love, alike demand that you give your children a 
 truly missionary education ; — tell them of the honours which 
 Elliott, Schwartz, Milne, Carey, Martyn, and Morrison have 
 earned; — tell them that in the ages of eternity your joys will 
 be increased by the recollection, that you surrendered your early 
 energies to the work — that in their morning and evening suppli- 
 cations the woes and wants of the Chinese were remembered — 
 and that your first solicitude for their welfare was awakened and 
 deepened at the family altar. 
 
 Members of the U niversal Catholic Church ! be grateful that 
 you live in a day when such opportunities for the restoration of 
 an unrenewed world are presented to your embrace. The Ame- 
 rican Episcopal Missionary Society, and the churches of the 
 descendants of our Pilgrim Fathers, beat high in this noble cause. 
 Consider the example they are exhibiting to the Parent land ; 
 regard delay as a personal calamity, involving responsibilities 
 which eternity alone can explain. Let the deplorable condition 
 of abandoned millions rouse all your zeal, and love, and holy 
 fire. Let not the world lose any longer either by your avarice, 
 apathy, or neglect; but retire each one to your closets, and 
 with tears of regret for the past, let the whole Church, as the 
 heart of one man, exclaim, “ Come, then, and added to thy 
 many crowns, receive yet one — the crown of all the earth, Thou 
 who alone art worthy.” 
 
 Oct. 3i, 1834. 
 
 “IS CHINA OPEN TO THE GOSPEL?” 
 
 A SECOND APPEAL TO THE FRIENDS OF MISSIONS. 
 
 It is well known that the Chinese Empire contains a full 
 third of the human race; and yet it does not engage a hundredth 
 part of the sympathy, prayer, or attention that the island of 
 Jamaica obtains from the British Churches. Jamaica, indeed, 
 does not engross too much of our attention ; but China, cer- 
 tainly, gains too little of it. This has been so long the habit 
 of Christians, that it is not easy to bring home to their con- 
 science or heart the guilt of such neglect. Both heart and con- 
 science are so seared to this subject, that nine-tenths of the 
 Church can sleep over it, and the other tenth can speak of it 
 without tears or terror. This is really horrible ! Well might 
 the poet exclaim, 
 
 “ See nations slowly wise, 
 
 And meanly just.” 
 
15 
 
 Were a third of our own countrymen as destitute of the means 
 of grace as the Chinese, we durst not take the matter so coolly. 
 Ministers ! were a third part of each of your neighbourhoods 
 held back by any human hand from becoming Christians, you 
 would make the heavens ring with prayer, and the earth with 
 remonstrances. Parents ! were a third part of each of your 
 families forbidden to hear the gospel, or debarred from kneeling 
 with you at the family altar, you would move heaven and earth, 
 in order to abolish the interdict. Ministers and Parents ! — a 
 third part of your species are in this condition ; and yet you 
 move neither heaven nor earth in their behalf! In general ye 
 talk seldom, and almost always coolly, on this subject. Even 
 when ye speak of it in tones and terms of pity, ye spread de- 
 spair, rather than zeal or hope, around you ; or divert your 
 flocks and families from their immediate duty, by pointing them 
 to remote millennial prospects. This, though said in blame, is 
 not said in bitterness. The authors of this appeal, although 
 now absorbed even to self-annihilation in the cause of China, 
 were long as inactive and as insensible as you can be. Like 
 yourself, they were betrayed into apathy by the spirit of the 
 age. They, too, took for granted that China was “ hermetically 
 scaled ; ” and relieved themselves, as you have done, by vague 
 references to future prospects. Indeed, the only difference that 
 now subsists between you and themselves, is, that they cannot 
 wait in silence until the opening of China is gazetted. They 
 see that the gospel commission is still as open as when Christ 
 said, “ Go ye into all nations ; ” and they dare no longer weigh 
 the edicts of the Emperor or the genius of the empire against 
 the authoritative command of “ the King of kings.” For, what 
 has the Church of Christ to do with human kings or laws, ex- 
 cept to honour and obey them, so far as they can be submitted 
 to without disobeying God ? The heart of the emperor of China, 
 however hardened or hostile to Christianity, is not worth a 
 single thought, except so far as we harden it, by succumbing to 
 its enmity. How could he be otherwise than hostile, whilst the 
 Church is afraid of him ? What is there to prevent him or his 
 court from despising Christianity, as long as Christians allow 
 his laws to outweigh “ the law of their God?” This the Church 
 has done for ages; and now she is afraid of the “potsherd” 
 which her own cowardice has hardened! It was not thus that 
 the primitive Church viewed the Roman emperors. She cared 
 nothing for their opinions or their power, when these stood be- 
 tween her and her duty to Christ. She took Domitian into 
 account, just as she did the devil ; only that she might take 
 effectual measures to defeat both his strength and stratagem. 
 She kept her protests and prophecies against idolatry ringing 
 throughout the empire, just in proportion to Caesar’s wrath 
 
1G 
 
 against Christianity. She could not tame him, but she made 
 him feel that he could not silence nor intimidate her. He could 
 not so entrench himself in power or pleasure, as to shut out the 
 sound of that challenge which she gave to the gods of Rome. 
 It kept both the camp and the cabinet of Caesar sleepless. He 
 was not allowed to imagine for a moment that his eagles or his 
 edicts had frightened the Church. She had more mercy on the 
 soul of Caesar himself, as well as on the world, than to act any 
 part which could lead him to flatter himself with the hopes of 
 her extinction. 
 
 Not thus has the Emperor of China been treated ! He is 
 left, if not led, to suppose that Christ is afraid of Confucius, 
 and that Christendom has no object but commerce or conquest. 
 Church of the living God! undeceive him at once. You have 
 made him a dreamer by }'our cowardice ; break his dreams by 
 your courage. The weapons of your warfare can soon do this; 
 for they “ are not carnal, but spiritual.” He does not under- 
 stand moral power, and therefore he knows not how to resist it. 
 Thunder without artillery, and attack without arms, would con- 
 found his policy. He has nothing but brute force to bring for- 
 ward against Christian zeal. His philosophers have no genius, 
 and his priests no fascination, and his creed no charms. No 
 emperor with whom Christianity ever grappled, had so little 
 moral power. He wields his empire by custom, not by motives; 
 by system, not by sympathy or sentiment. He has thus no hold 
 upon the hopes or fears which 
 
 “Wander through eternity.” 
 
 And through it, they do wander. Even the dream of a terres- 
 trial immortality haunts the people, notwithstanding all their 
 fruitless experiments to discover the elixir of life. Shall such 
 a people be left without “ the water of life ? ” God forbid ! 
 
 Nov. 7 , 1834. 
 
 This Appeal will be followed by “ Commerce and Christianity 
 working together for good, in China ; or, Mercantile Estimates 
 of Missionary Influence.” 
 
 W. Tyler, Printer, Ivy-Lane, St, rani's.