/ 
 
 PAIL 
 
 SEIM. 
 
 tiii: 
 
 
 CLAIMS OF MISSIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LIBERALITY OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 A 
 
 SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED IN' BEHALF OF THE FEMALE MISSIONARY SOCIETY 
 OF THE METHODIST EPISCOFAL CHURCH IN ITHACA, 
 
 August 4th, 1839. 
 
 BY REV. J. CROSS. 
 
 PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE 
 
 SOCIETY'. 
 
 ITHACA, N. Y., 
 
 PRINTED BY A. E. BARNABY AND CO. 
 
 1839 . 
 
■t 
 
 S E R >1 O N 
 
 K Tj»kb ye from among you an offering unto ilie Lord ; he that is of a willing 
 
 heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord.”— Ex. xxxv, v. 
 
 God commonly effects his purposes through some visible agen- 
 cy. This method of operation is selected, not from any necessity 
 on His part ; for the true notion of omnipotence is, that it can ac- 
 complish its own pleasure, either with means, or without : but 
 Jehovah “ has still wrought by means, since first lie made the 
 world and doubtless for wise and benevolent ends, which can 
 never be fully known to mortals, till they have witnessed the in- 
 cipient developements of eternity. 
 
 Thus in building the tabernacle. He who had changed the 
 waters of the Nile to blood, and divided the Red Sea before His 
 people, manifestly might have reared for Himself a habitation, in- 
 dependently of human instrumentality : but He chose, in His sov- 
 ereign pleasure, that all Israel — priest and people — male and fe- 
 male — should be “workers together with Him” in this sublime 
 service. And mark the liberality, the promptness, and the zeal, with 
 which they engaged in the undertaking. The men wrought with 
 their hands; the skilful women spun goat's hair ; the elders and 
 officers gave up their precious jewels ; all who were wise-hearted 
 in Israsl labored to erect the building ; and every individual felt it 
 a privilege and an honor, to be able to present something toward 
 the holy place. No one was coerced ; “their hearts stirred them 
 up. their spirits made them willing each gladly contributed his 
 portion, and “brought a free-will offering unto the Lord and so 
 great was their zeal, that Moses was under the necessity of making 
 a proclamation, to check the super-abundance of their munificenee. 
 
 Christians, here is your example. The Jewish dispensation has 
 passed away, and the shadow has given place to the substance. 
 The Christian church is pre-eminently “God’s building” — the hab- 
 itation of the “Holy One of Israel,” pre-figured by that which 
 
4 
 
 Moses erected — the tabernacle of the “ belter covenant,” vocal 
 with the anthems of the living cherubim, tilled with the glory of 
 the incarnate Shekinah, and open alike to gentile and to jew — not, 
 like the former, to be taken down and carried about in the wilder- 
 ness, but to remain stationary and permanent through all time — 
 into which the nations shall press, through the blood of one suffi- 
 cient sacrifice ; every man a priest, entering the “most holy place” 
 with the incense of prayer and song. The building was long 
 since begun. Eighteen centuries ago, the “ prophet like unto Mo- 
 ses” came down from heaven, to lay its foundations, deep and broad 
 and strong, and of surpassing glory. Then He ascended up on 
 high, leaving twelve apostles — “ wise master builders” — to super- 
 intend the work, and a vast number of disciples to assist in its 
 execution. They wrought, like the re-builders of desolated Jeru- 
 salem, every man with his weapon by his side. They stood upon 
 the “chief corner stone” laid by Jehovah, and “built thereon gold, 
 silver, precious stones and their work was tried by fire and 
 flood, but “it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.” The gates 
 of hell could not prevail against it ; and the storm that howled 
 around it, only brought materials for the edifice ; and the ocean 
 that rushed upon it, cast up a thousand gems for its decoration ; 
 and the apostles had scarcely fallen asleep, when “the mountain of 
 the Lord’s house was exalted above the tops of the hills, and the 
 kings of the earth brought their treasures into it.” And now, “the 
 habitation of God is with men,” and He is calling upon Christians 
 to come, in the strength of their united piety and concentrated be- 
 nevolence, to increase the glory of His tabernacle — to enlarge its 
 dimensions, and spread out its curtains, till its canopy shall cover 
 tho world. “Ye men of Israel, help!” Here is work for all. 
 None are uninterested, and none should be idle. Ministers of the 
 gospel, and private members of the church, and woman with all 
 her sympathies, and childhood with all its tenderness, may here 
 find enough to employ their hands and their hearts — enough suited 
 to their respective capacities, and congenial with their peculiar 
 affections : and if Christians would unitedly put forth their efforts to 
 extend and beautify the place of Jehovah’s glory, they would soon 
 see “ the ransomed of the Lord, coming to Zion with songs, and 
 everlasting joy upon their heads" — the brawny slave, the red man 
 
of the forest, the savage tribes of Africa, the frozen children ol 
 the pole, flocking to •• the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, 
 and not men.” 
 
 It is not the duty of every Christian, personally to •carry the 
 gospel to the heathen. Many could not go, if they would ; and 
 many would not succeed in the effort, should they embark in the 
 enterprise. Hut all are obligated to do something in the cause of 
 missions : and the most direct method of rendering any efficient 
 aid, is by consecrating to this object a portion of your earthly sub- 
 stance. We shall therefore attempt to advocate the claims of 
 God and a perishing world upon the liberality of Christians ; and 
 bv exhibiting these claims as the claims of justice, and the claims 
 of gratitude, and the claims of religion, and the claims of interest, 
 and the claims of benevolence, we shall urge the exhortation — 
 “ Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord ; he that is 
 of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord.” 
 
 The c/aijns of the cause of missions are the claims of Justice. 
 There is but one independent being, the source of existence and 
 of blessing to the universe. All creatures, terrestial and celestial, 
 hang upon Deity ; worm and man and angel receiving perpetual 
 supplies from the same inexhaustible fountain, and every tenant of 
 every system appealing continually to the common Parent to pre- 
 serve it from extinction. There is not the order of creatures, ma- 
 terial or immaterial, that stands not every instant indebted for 
 everv thing to God. There is not the order of creatures — how- 
 ever rare its endowments — however majestic its possessions — that 
 could dispense for one moment with communications from the 
 fullness of the Almighty, or be thrown for one moment upon its 
 own resources without immediate destruction. And if unfhllen 
 spirits, moving in their power and their purity, owe every thing 
 to Jehovah ; what are the obligations of a creature who cannot 
 expect a single breath of air, nor a single ray of light, nor a sin- 
 gle particle of food, only on the ground of a new and special ar- 
 rangement which Heaven has made for the the fallen — a creature 
 whose every possession is stamped with the sign of the cross, and 
 sprinkled with the blood to which Divinity gave preciousness ! 
 
6 ‘ 
 
 Lft me appeal to every hearer. “ What hast thou, tliut thou 
 didst not receive ?” “ The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness 
 thereof." “The gold and the silver are His,” and the “cattle up- 
 on a thousand hills.” He created them at first, and therefore has 
 a prior and supreme property in them. He continues them in ex- 
 istence, and is thus constantly asserting His original right, and es- 
 tablishing a new claim to dominion over them. “ It is the Lord, 
 that giveth thee power to get wealth.” Whatever you have is 
 loaned by Him, not alienated from Him — deposited with 'you as 
 its steward, not vested in you as its master. Jehovah holds you 
 accountable for its improvement ; and requires you, by its use, to 
 glorify God, and benefit mankind, as far as is compatible with the 
 measure of your trust, and the period for which you may retain 
 it. The steward may fancy that his lord is absent, and unbelief 
 may whisper that he will never return, and the unfaithful servant 
 may burn the writings and forget the terms of the commission ; 
 but the master is constantly keeping a strict account, and the dread 
 day of reckoning must inevitably come, and it shall soon be said 
 to every one of us, — “give an account of thy stewardship, for 
 thou mayest be no longer steward.” 
 
 If, then, our wealth belongs to another, shall we withhold from 
 Him His own ? Shall we “ rob God,” by appropriating solely to 
 our own gratification what ought to be devoted to the Divine glo- 
 ry ? Yet many refuse even a small portion of the intci'est to Him 
 who has loaned them the principal. Will Jehovah suffer this 
 with impunity 1 Will they not be found guilty of sacrilege, when 
 He comes to “ require His own with usury ?” Then hasten to ac- 
 knowledge His right ! Place all you possess at His feet ; dedi- 
 cate it to His service, and inscribe it with His name ! “ Take ye 
 from among you an offering unto the Lord ; he that is of a willing 
 heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord.” 
 
 The claims of Lite cause of jnissions are the claims of Grati- 
 tude. Is a child indebted to an affectionate parent ? Think of 
 the kindness and condescension of your Heavenly Father. He 
 has placed you in a world that is full of His goodness — the trea- 
 sury of the material universe. The fulness of the ocean, the am- 
 plitude of the atmosphere, the plenitude of the solar light, com- 
 
bine to attest the infinite exuberance of' his bounty, and rebuke the 
 guilty covetousness of his creatures. What shall you rentier to a 
 benefactor who “daily loadeth you with his benefits,” and “ crown* 
 rth you with loving kindnesses and tender mercies ?” 
 
 But why tarry we to admire the wonders of God’s creative 
 goodness and providential care ? The universe is crowded with 
 proofs of His beneficence ; but there is one proof which infinitely 
 transcends them all. “God so loved the world, that lie gave His 
 son” for its redemption. “ Herein is love” — love into whose mys- 
 tery the adoring angels cannot penetrate! “God so loved the 
 world” — we cannot tell how much ; it is an ocean which we have 
 no line to fathom, a sum which we have no arithmetic to com- 
 pute : but He “ so loved the world that He gave His only begot- 
 ten son ;” and with His son, He has “freely given us all things 
 and with His son, he offers us Himself. “ Unspeakable gift !” — 
 Enumerate His perfections ; recollect His ineffable attributes ; 
 think of the splendors of His throne, the vastness of His dominion, 
 the angelic orders of His Kingdom, the eternal ocean of felicity 
 reserved for His people. Meditate on this amazing goodness, till 
 your hearts grow too large for earth : reach after these proffered 
 riches, till the world shall full forgotten from your grasp. “ How 
 much owest thou unto my Lord ?” He who for your sake gave 
 His son, asks you for His sake to give your money ; lie who 
 poured forth His fulness into the impoverished treasury of hu- 
 manity, requires you to pour forth the streams of your gratitude 
 into the broad channel of benevolence. Is thare any proportion 
 between a Deity possessed, and all the treasures of time ? yet 
 He condescends to regard the smallest fraction of your earthly 
 substance as an expression of gratitude for the gift. 
 
 Gratitude to Christ, as well as gratitude to the Father, should 
 produce in us a spirit of liberality. Christ is man’s best friend, — 
 “ He loved us, and gave Himself for us.” He redeemed us by 
 His precious blood — 
 
 “ A price all price beyond !” 
 
 All your blessings are purchased blessings. Will you refuse to 
 glorify Him in their use ? Can you behold such a friend hunger- 
 ing and thirsting at your gate, and not put forth a hand to his re- 
 
8 
 
 lief? If you are disposed to inquire, — “ Lord, when saw we thee 
 in want, and neglected to minister to thy comfort?” behold Him 
 suffering in His slighted cause — behold Him languishing in the 
 privations and afflictions of His ministers among the heathen — 
 behold him perishing in the purchase of His blood, who, in Africa 
 and India and Oregon, are living without God. and dying without 
 hope ! and hear Him say, — “Inasmuch as ye have done it not to 
 these, ye have done it not to me !” Should one of the veterans of 
 the American revolution visit your door for a cup of water and a 
 morsel of bread, and exhibit the wounds he won in fighting for 
 your freedom from the yoke of a foreign power, who of you would 
 suffer him to plead in vain ? who of you would not be more 
 than the good Samaritan to the venerable stranger ? And shall 
 the great “captain of your salvation,” who met the combined le- 
 gions of “ the power of darkness,” and fell weltering in His gore 
 in the fierce struggle for your salvation — shall He stand at your 
 threshhold, a weeping wounded beggar, unpittied and unsupplied, 
 “ till His head is wet with the dew, and His locks with the drops 
 of the night ?” “ Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 that, though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that 
 you through His poverty might be rich.” Ye know the elevation 
 from which He stooped — the depth to which He descended. Ye 
 know for whom He came into the world, and wept His way from 
 Bethlehem to Calvary. Ye know the grand design of His sacri- 
 ees and His sufferings — to rescue the perishing — to raise the 
 dwellers on earth to habitations in heaven. “Ye know the grace 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ” — it is the wonder of three worlds — it 
 is the theme of the universe. Shall it produce no emotions in 
 your hearts ? Will you withhold from Him any thing that you 
 possess ? He sacrificed all for you — can you sacrifice nothing 
 for Him ? He gave Himself for your redemption — can you 
 not give your property for His glory l Go, stand by the “ man 
 of sorrow” in the garden — go, listen to His death shriek from the 
 cross ! and say, will you requite such grace with parsimony ? will 
 you set a price upon his blood ? Had you all the world in your 
 possession — did you combine in your person all the excellencies 
 of a million of angels, His love would deserve the eternal devotion 
 of the whole ! and will you refuse to contribute a small portion 
 
0 
 
 of your earthly substance, to diffuse His gospel, and glorify llis 
 grace ? Oh, man, is this thy kindness to thy friend ? He is now- 
 saving to everv one of you — “ Lovest thou me more than thy gold 
 and thy silver? then consecrate thv gold to my cause, and thy 
 silver to the salvation of the world!” Let your gratitude yield a 
 liberal response. “ Take ye from among you an offering unto the 
 Lord ; he that is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering 
 of the Lord.” 
 
 The claims of the cause of missions are the claims of Reli- 
 gion. The spirit of liberality is the legitimate offspring of the 
 Gospel. Christianity, wherever it is received, has a natural ten- 
 dency to open and expand the heart. The real Christian is like 
 the Nile, overflowing its banks, and leaving a rich deposite on the 
 neighboring lands. When the religion of Jesus existed in its great- 
 est simplicity and purity, “ the multitude of them that believed were 
 of one heart, and one soul : neither said any of them that aught of 
 the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things 
 common.” They “ looked not every man on his own things, but 
 every man also on the things of others;” and “sought not their 
 own profit, but the profit of many, that they might be saved.” — 
 They imitated to the utmost, their Master’s diffusive goodness. 
 They not only despised their worldly interests, and relinquished 
 their individual rights to property, but even “ took joyfully the 
 spoiling of their goods,” and “ counted not their own lives dear to 
 them.” They toiled through tears and tribulation, night and da\ r , 
 to gather the wanderers into the fold of the Great Shepherd; and 
 reckoned no sacrifice too painful — no sufferings too severe — no 
 efforts too arduous — that could aid them in the accomplishment of 
 this beloved object. You could not have convinced them that they 
 were in danger of being too liberal, while a single individual of 
 the human race remained unsaved. You could not have convin- 
 ced them that they had any interest distinct from the interest of 
 Christianity, or that any other cause had claims equal to those of 
 religion upon their beneficence and zeal. “ The love of Christ 
 constrained them .;” glowing and circulating in their souls, like 
 the life blood in their veins. They brought forth their wealth, and 
 presented it to their Lord with the ardent devotion of an offering ; 
 
10 
 
 and if they labored, working with their hands the things that arc 
 good it was only that they might have the more to lay at His 
 feet. The most enlarged designs were too small — the most cost- 
 ly sacrifices too cheap. They felt as if they must go forth into 
 some boundless field of beneficence — as if they could move only 
 in a sphere which knows no circumference. They knew that the 
 gospel provision was co-extensivc with the world’s population; 
 and could not rest till all should be sitting with them at the ban- 
 quet of salvation. Though every accession to their number in- 
 creased their joy, they felt that while any remained unblest their 
 happiness must be incomplete. As if the benevolent command of 
 Jesus was still sounding in their ears, they burned to “ preach the 
 gospel to every creature.” Each individual was a flaming sacri- 
 fice, offering hitnself up in the fires of a self-consuming zeal for 
 the salvation of the race. Hence the secret of their success, 
 which has in all ages been a paradox to an unbelieving world : 
 multitudes of Jews and Gentiles were soon taken in the toils of 
 the gospel net, the Roman empire bowed her neck to the yoke of 
 the Gullilean peasant, and the church exalted her glory over the 
 dynasty of kings. 
 
 Here then is the first fundamental law of Christianity, leading 
 to the purest and noblest acts of beneficence and self-denial. — 
 Search the records of antiquity — call up to mind the greatest phi- 
 lanthropists and patriots that ever lived ; and see if you can find 
 a disinterestedness and generosity equal to that which glowed in 
 the apostles and their associates, influenced by the unsearchable 
 riches of Christ. This principle is not confined to any particular 
 period of the world, nor any particular exigency of the church ; 
 but is common to Christians in all ages, and under all circumstan- 
 ces. How far do we possess the same spirit, and pursue the same 
 practice ? Do you claim a relationship to the first disciples ? do 
 you profess to have descended from them ? Then be consistent : 
 cast off your worldly spirit, and take up their fallen mantle, and no 
 longer disgrace their excellent name, and the infinitely dearer name 
 of Jesus ! 
 
 “ If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” 
 What is the spirit of Christ ? Pure unbounded benevolence. He 
 belonged to the triumvirate of heaven ; but to gratify the ineffa- 
 
il 
 
 ble yearnings of His infinite compassion. He abdicated His place 
 in the government of the universe, “took upon Himself the form 
 of a servant,” and gave His whole existence to the unhappy crea- 
 tures lie came down to redeem: and for their sakes He welcom- 
 ed each indignity, and invited each pang ; moved bv a self-consu- 
 ming ardor to reacli the cross — a holy impatience to be baptized 
 with that baptism of blood. Who admires not such disinterested 
 philanthropy? “We ought to walk as he also walked.” The 
 disposition which regards exclusively our own happiness and sal- 
 vation, is diametrically opposed to the religion of the gospel. Mr. 
 Summerficld once remarked, that the real Christian would be wil- 
 ling to travel round the globe, if necessary, for the salvation of 
 one single soul. What then shall we say of those, who “live in 
 pleasure, and are wanton” — who “ nourish their hearts as in a day 
 of slaughter,” and make no efforts for the conversion of the hea- 
 then — who sit like Dives in their mansion, “clothed in purple, and 
 faring sumptuously ;” while the cause of Christ lies like Lazarus 
 at their gate, fed only with the “crumbs that fill from their table” 
 — who consider their own ease, or pleasure, or emolument, as ob- 
 jects of primary importance ; and after they have gratified all 
 their vain desires, and pampered all their foolish appetites, are 
 willing to give merely a very small portion of the surplus to the 
 cause of missions ; and then seem to feel as much self-compla- 
 cency in having bestowed their mite, as if they had performed an 
 act of piety for which nothing less than heaven would be an ade- 
 quate reward ! Look at their costly apparel — their expensive fur- 
 niture — their general conformity to the world ; and say, can these 
 be the disciples of Him, whose whole life was one unbroken series 
 of benevolent acts — one constant scene of suffering and self-de- 
 nial, till it terminated upon the cross? 
 
 Alas ! thousands profess the sacred name of Christian, whose 
 hearts never expanded to the warmth of charity — who shrink in- 
 stinctively from the most distant prospect of sacrifice. They 
 seem to consider the example of Christ as intended only for ad- 
 miration, and not for imitation. They are like the Dead Sea — al- 
 ways receiving, and never imparting. They manifestly act on 
 the principle of parting with as little as possible, and acquiring all 
 they can. What care they for the souls of the heathen ? In the 
 
12 
 
 midst of a famishing race, they would establish a’monopoly of the 
 bread of life. Instead of communicating to others the revelation 
 of “ life and immortality,” they would press the precious boon to 
 their bosoms in their selfishness and their solitude, and steal to hea- 
 ven alone. If “ by their fruits ye may know them,” they would have 
 the Great Shepherd neglect the “ ninety and nine” scattered and 
 perilled upon the mountains, to attend to the one folded sheep — 
 they would arrest the “ mighty angel, flying through the midst of 
 heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell 
 on the earth and confine him within the circle of their own con- 
 tracted horizon. And thus they perpetually defraud God of His 
 proper glory, the church of her promised prosperity, and the world 
 of its purchased redemption. 
 
 And if these are guilty, alas for those who, rather than part 
 with a little of their money, would have you call home your mis- 
 sionaries, and break up the institutions of chrristian benevolence, 
 and stop the whole machinery set in motion for the conversion of 
 the world! And are there none of this description ? Verily, we 
 have known men, who would at any time betray Christianity for 
 “ thirty pieces of silver.” We have known men, constantly at 
 war with the missionary enterprise ; whose presence in a charita- 
 ble association is like an iceberg, freezing the very atmosphere, and 
 repressing the warm current of benevolence. They “ seek their own, 
 and not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” It is scarcely an 
 hyperbole, — “ Their life is one long sigh for wealth; they would 
 coin their heart’s blood into gold ; they would sell their souls for 
 gain !” To secure a little shining dust, they neglect every thing 
 else ; — 
 
 Throw up their interest in both worlds, 
 
 First starved in this, then damned in that to come.'" 
 
 Could they possibly share the future residence of the just, even 
 before the throne of God, they would resemble Milton’s descrip- 
 tion of Mammon in the celestial Jerusalem ; — 
 
 “ With looks and thoughts 
 Forever downward bent, admiring more 
 The riches of heaven’s pavement — trodden gold— 
 
 Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed 
 In vision beatific!" 
 
13 
 
 These never felt the mighty promptings of the Christian spirit. — 
 They “ have no part in David, nor inheritance in the Son of Jesse.” 
 “ Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.” 
 Distinguish yourselves as the followers of the primitive Christians. 
 “ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” “ Take 
 ye from among you an offering unto the Lord ; he that is of a 
 willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord.” 
 
 The claims of the cause of missions are the claims of Inter- 
 est. It is a common error, resulting from the natural selfishness 
 of the human heart, — that what we devote to charitable purposes 
 is enjoyed solely by others — that the giver participates not in the 
 benefits of the gift. The men of this world look upon every thing 
 bestowed upon the missionary enterprise, as lost — thrown away, 
 for which there will never be any adequate return. But the first 
 Christians considered their own welfare as inseperable from the 
 prosperity of religion ; and every genuine disciple of Jesus feels 
 himself no less personally interested in his offering than those who 
 are the immediate objects of his charity. 
 
 It is said that “The good man is satisfied from himself and, cer- 
 tainly. never do we rise above ourselves so much as when we are 
 conscious of having contributed to the happiness of others. The act 
 of beneficence is rewarded by the pleasure which it imparts — a 
 pleasure of an elevated order, and too pure — too subtle — too re- 
 fined — to be enjoyed by vulgar and unregenerate souls. What 
 were the feelings of the great German astronomer, when he made 
 his celebrated discovery \ “ Eighteen months ago, I saw the first 
 
 ray of light — three months ago, I saw the day — a few days since, 
 I saw the sun himself, of most admirable beuuty ! Nothing can 
 restrain me ! I yield to the sacred frenzy ! I dare ingenuously 
 confess that 1 have stolen the golden vessels of the Egyptians, and 
 I will build of them a tabernacle to my God ! If you pardon me, 
 I rejoice — if you reproach me I can endure it ! The die is thrown ! 
 I write a book to be read — whether by the present or by future 
 generations — it matters not ! It can wait for a reader a century, 
 if God Himself could wait six thousand years for an observer of 
 His works !” This is a most remarkable instance of pleasure in 
 intellectual pursuits ; but what, compared with the pleasures of 
 
1 ? 
 
 which we are speaking? Oh, the spirit of beneficence lias in 
 it a source of joy, which, if they but knew its preciousness, the 
 rich would buy with all their substance, and kings would lay 
 aside their sceptres to participate ! Do you reply, that you were 
 nevei' conscious of any such satisfaction from the performance of 
 a beneficent act ? I answer, probably you never performed a 
 beneficent act from proper motives. You may have given, but it 
 has been either when your sensibility was "taken by surprise, 
 or when a powerful appeal urged you to the duty, or when the 
 example of others left you no alternative', or when your van- 
 ity was tempted by the prospect of being published as a donor. 
 True benevolence is the spontaneous product of the love of God 
 in the heart — of a clear discovery and a lively apprehension 
 of the unspeakable condescension of Christ ; and despises, alike, 
 the tax which is reluctantly paid by fear, the bribe which is given 
 to silence importunity, the sacrifice which is offered to a vain os- 
 tentation, and the price which is intended to purchase a place in 
 the kingdom of heaven. What ! is there no pleasure in the reflec- 
 tion that we are properly improving the gifts of Providence ? no 
 pleasure in the testimony of a good conscience that we please 
 God ? no pleasure in the idea of sharing the joys and dividing the 
 sorrows of our fellow mortals? no pleasure in the thought of dif- 
 fusing happiness around us, lighting with smiles “the human face di- 
 vine,” and causing many a desolate heart to leap and many a plain- 
 tvie tongue to singfor joy. Can the philanthropist look upon theflow- 
 ers with which he has decked this moral desert, and feel no satis- 
 faction from the view ? Oh, “ it is more blessed” — far more bles- 
 sed — “to give than to receive !” It is like the blessedness of Deity, 
 who is always giving, and never receives. Taste the luxury of 
 doing good, and you will regret that you began so late. Follow 
 the example of the primitive Christians, 'and you will experience 
 a delight which angels might rejoice to participate — you will open 
 to yourself a source of joy which shall continue to flow when the 
 heavens shall be no more ! 
 
 Nor is this all. “ Liberality is the surest way to prosperity.” 
 *• Theie is that scattereth, and yet increaseth wealth.” The munifi- 
 cence of Abraham and Jacob and Job was rewarded with an en- 
 largement of their riches; and the Jews, who as a nation gave 
 
more to charitable am! religious purposes than any other people, 
 were far superior to all others in the amount of their possessions. 
 “ Honor the Lord with thv substance, so shall thy barns be filled 
 with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” By de- 
 voting to the diffusion of the gospel a portion of the gifts of Pro- 
 vidence, we “lend our money to the Lord, and that which we give 
 will lie pay us again.” Thus we learn to trust in Him who feeds 
 the ravens, and clothes the lillies of the field ; and as the principle ot 
 benevolence is fostered by the practice, every other moral virtue is 
 proportionally increased. The charitable man, therefore, while he 
 is doing good to others, improves his own character, lie rises above 
 the contagion of selfishness, that disease which is spreading around 
 him in those who regard not the glory of God ; and spurning what 
 is low and mean and sordid, he mingles with the purest and lovli- 
 cst part of the creation. There is no school in which the practice 
 of virtue may be learned with greater facility than in the exerci- 
 ses of charity. Those who are the most benevolent are making 
 the most rapid improvement in that “holiness without which no 
 man can see the Lord.” They arc separating themselves from 
 the world. They are exercising the best of their regenerate fac- 
 ulties, and nerving themselves for still greater activity in the service 
 of Christ. They are enlarging their spirits, and ennobling their 
 nature, and identifying themselves with all that is great and good 
 and happy in the Universe. They are a living example of the char- 
 acter of God, who is always opening to His creatures the fountains 
 of blessedness which are perpetually springing up in His own inef- 
 fable nature. They imitate Jesus, that immaculate impersonation of 
 benevolence, who came to bless mankind by turning them from 
 their iniquities — who constantly “went about doing good,” 
 
 “ Nor paused but for some pitying miracle,” 
 
 and found no resting place between the manger and the cross. 
 And by following such a pattern, they gnadually receive the im- 
 press of His celestial attributes, prepare themselves for the employ- 
 ments and the pleasures of angels, and secure an inheritance in that 
 world where every vessel shall be filled with the glories of im- 
 mortality. 
 
16 
 
 He who knows best whom to bless, and how to bless, hath said, 
 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Our char- 
 ities, as well as our prayers, “come up for a memorial before God.” 
 Their influence on our happiness is not bounded by time ; and un- 
 der the dispensation of grace, they are connected with an eternal 
 reward. Hence the remark of Mr. Wesley: — “ Though deeds 
 of charity cannot, of themselves, secure our salvation; yet they 
 afford us much peace of mind, and sweeten every earthly enjoy- 
 ment ; and the lack even of these may be the reason of God’s 
 withholding from us His saving grace and eternal life.” Benefi- 
 cence is the “ art of embalming our property, and making it immor- 
 tal.” It is sending it before us into eternity — “ laying up in store 
 for ourselves a good foundation against the time to come.” If we 
 leave our treasure in Sodom, with Sodom it must be consumed ; 
 but bv consecrating it to charitable purposes, we acquire an ever- 
 lasting interest in it, and shall never cease to enjoy the benefits of 
 its divine employment — we place it in the hands of Infinite Faith- 
 fulness for preservation and improvement; and not only have we 
 the assurance that “He is able to keep that which we have com- 
 mitted to His trust,” but His word is our unfailing security that 
 He will repay us v\ ith interest in the great day of settlement. — 
 We should not, therefore, regard it as a meritorious act in us to 
 give, but we should consider it a vast condescension in Christ to 
 receive our scanty offerings. Whatever we bestow, He employs 
 not merely for His own glory, but also for our profit. It is the 
 means by which He carries on a successful war with our infernal 
 foes ; and every farthing will go to the enhancement of our eter- 
 nal leward. It is so much treasure laid up in heaven — so much 
 seed destined to grow into a harvest of immortal blessedness. — 
 Christ shall triumph over all his enemies, and obtain the empire of 
 the universe; and those who have from proper motives aided in 
 the glorious contest — whether by personal effort, or by liberal 
 contribution — shall become joint heirs with Him in the possession 
 trf the kingdom, and share in the wealth and the honor and the 
 felicity of the throne. The cause of Jesus is the only safe repos- 
 itory of your earthly substance — the great interest, wherein the 
 rich may invest their abundance, and the poor deposite their mite, 
 with the assurance that it shall be secure unto the judgment, and 
 
17 
 
 consianaly augmenting to a vast an J imperishable possession. 
 What you consecrate here you save — what you withhold you 
 lose. The Christian philanthropist shall “ receive an hundred fold 
 in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” He 
 is wedding liimself to infinite excellence and beauty and wealth. 
 He is giving himself to God, and receiving God in return; so 
 that all the diving resources become his — emphatically and forev- 
 er his — his to the utmost possible degree in which he can enjoy 
 them. Wc invite you to partake of these benefits. Come and 
 share the purest pleasure in the universe ! Come and secure the 
 largest blessings of providence and of grace ! Come and turn 
 your gold and silver into never fading crowns upon your heads! 
 “ Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord ; he that is 
 of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord.” 
 
 The claims of the cause of missions arc the claims o/* Benevo- 
 lence. — Among Christians, “no man liveth to himself.” One 
 primary object of our existence is the benefit of others — an object 
 which accords with the design of universal nature. For the be- 
 nefit of others, the sun dispenses his beams ; for the benefit of oth- 
 ers, the clouds distil their showers; for the benefit of others, the 
 fields put forth their verdure ; for the benefit of others, the flowers 
 diffuse their fragrance ; for the benefit of others, the earth unlocks 
 her treasures. “ For the benefit of others,” — is the grand law in- 
 scribed by the hand of Jehovah on every part of the creation. It 
 is read in the silvery stars — it is heard in the whispering winds — 
 it is published by the voice of ocean. And shall we alone, of all 
 the creatures of Omnipotence — shall we who are endued with 
 reason, and “ made but little lower than the angels” — shall we re- 
 fuse to recognize this principle ? Shall we, by living only to our- 
 selves, and consuming the blessings of heaven upon our lusts, or 
 consecrating them to the demon of avarice, make ourselves an 
 anomaly in the universe — a barren rock in a fertile plain — a thor- 
 ny bramble in a fruitful field — the very grave of God’s mercies — 
 the very arabia deserta of the moral world ? Let us act from a 
 nobler impulse ! Let us assert our proper dignity among the 
 creatures of God ! Let charity “have her perfect work,” and 
 prompt you to deeds of liberality in behalf of the heathen ! 
 
18 
 
 Notwithstanding eighteen centuries have rolled away since the 
 prelude of the gospel saluted the shepherds of Judea, there now 
 remains more than two-thirds of the entire population of our 
 globe who have never heard of the world’s Restorer, and on- 
 ly two nations are efficiently putting forth their efforts for the 
 salvation of the rest. “ Darkness hath covered the earth, and 
 gross darkness” is deepening and accumulating on “ the people 
 yet we who have long been walking in the light of the Divine 
 countenance, have refused to enlighten them. The greater part 
 of our own continent “lieth in wickedness.” More than half of 
 Europe is slumbering beneath the blighting influence of the Ro- 
 mish superstition. The vast Asiatic world, with the exception of 
 a nominal Christianity in the north, and a few Syrian churches 
 and missionary stations twinkling amid the gloom in the south, is 
 emphatically the “ region of the shadow of death.” Only a small 
 part of Africa has been redeemed from idolatry, which is a “land 
 of Goshen,” where they have “light in their dwellings;” while 
 over the rest of that immense continent, broods a moral darkness, 
 impervious as that which once veiled her own Egypt, on that 
 prolonged and fearful night when no man knew his brother. 
 
 Such is the condition of our world. The command of Christ 
 remains unrepealed. Christians, you know what it is, and you 
 have the means for carrying it extensively into effect. God has 
 given you wealth, that you may give others the gospel ; and if 
 the gospel is the bread of life that is to feed a famishing race — the 
 sovereign balm that is to heal the moral maladies which infect our 
 nature — the only light that is to conduct man through the dark- 
 ness of time to a clime of immortal blessedness and peace — can 
 you have it, and the power of imparting it, and imparting to oth- 
 ers w'ill by no means impoverish yourselves, and still leave my- 
 riads of your fellow creatures in all the degradation of paganism 
 — weltering in its pollutions, and agonized by its tortures ? Where 
 is your love for your brethren, if you can withhold your hand, and 
 suffer them to perish ? Where is your claim to a spark of human 
 feeling, if, after having yourselves imbibed refreshing draughts 
 from the cup of salvation, you refuse to hand it around among 
 the dying within your reach? O, if you are men — if you arc 
 Christians — look abroad upon vast neglected multitudes of your 
 
 
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19 
 
 
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 species, whom it is Godlike to love, and benevolence to bless; und 
 say, will you still conceal your talent in a napkin ? will you still 
 suffer your own temporal affairs — nay, will you still suffer your 
 own soul’s salvation to engross the whole of your attention, while 
 the sins and the sorrows of a ruined' race are thus appealing to 
 your sympathies? If this is innocence, what is guilt? If this is 
 venial negligence, what is aggravated criminality ? 
 
 It is estimated that, of the six hundred millions who are desti- 
 titute of the gospel, at least fifteen millions expire every year. — 
 Thus, since the commencement of the Christian era, million after 
 million has plunged into eternity, in all the corruption and degra- 
 dation of idolatry. How rapidly they pass away ! 
 
 “ And on [he verge of lhat unknown abyss,” 
 
 how dark and dismal arc their prospects ! You may meet the 
 “ king of terrors” without dismay — you have a hope that triumphs 
 over the grave; and sometimes he who has deferred the work of 
 preparation till the very hour of his departure, even then casts his 
 sinfid soul on the bosom of immortal love, and becomes imparadi- 
 sed in the very jaws of death. But O, how different with the 
 dying pagan ! How sad and lonely is the death-couch over which 
 no star-like brightness gleams — no cherub wings are hovering! — 
 Behold the wasted sufferer, uncheercd by the dawnings of immor- 
 tality ! He sees no Saviour lifted up for him ; he hears no whis- 
 per in his soul — “to-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise !” No 
 vivifying influence passes over his feverish brain; no holy gust of 
 extatic joy fills and entrances his departing spirit ; and he launch- 
 es forth, without a helm to guide or a star to light him, on his re- 
 turnless voyage 1 
 
 The Hindoos believe in the transmigration of souls. They say 
 that, after death, the spirit passes into the body of some other ani- 
 mal — a beast or a bird — a reptile or an insect ; and thus from one 
 to another, till, after thousands of changes, it may chance to be- 
 come again the tenant of a human frame. A son of this cheerless 
 doctrine was wrestling with the angel of death. As he saw him- 
 self about to plunge into that boundless unknown, he cried out — 
 “ What will become of me?” A Brahmin who stood by answer- 
 
20 
 
 ed — “ You will go into another body.’’ “And where,” said the 
 dying man, “ shall I go then?” “ Into another,” replied the Brah- 
 min. “ And where next ?” “ Why, into another, and after that 
 
 another, and so on through thousands of millions.” Darting across 
 the whole period, as if it were but a moment — “ But where,” he 
 exclaimed, “ where shall I go last of all ?” Paganism could not 
 answer; and he expired agonizing under the awful inquiry. 
 
 This is but one example of a pagan death-bed. Thus helpless 
 and hopeless, million after million, they are passing to the world of 
 spirits. Their exit is emphatically “ a leap in the dark.” Not a 
 ray gleams over the midnight of their opening graves, nor a whis- 
 per of consolation steals upon their spirits from out the fearful a- 
 byss. While we are discoursing so coolly' of their wretched con- 
 dition, hundreds are languishing in the last stages of mortality, with 
 no correct ideas of a future life; and hundreds more are daily sa- 
 crificed in cruel sports, and cannibal feasts, and sanguinary w-ars ; 
 and hundreds more are bleeding at the shrines of idols, or writhing 
 on the funeral pile of relatives, or struggling for life in the sacred 
 waters of the Ganges. Scores have yielded up their trembling 
 souls into the hand; of an “ Unknown God,” since we came into 
 this house. Several are dropping into eternity with every sen- 
 tence that your speaker utters. Behold them shivering on the 
 brink of two worlds ! 0, for heaven’s sake, fly to their rescue ! 
 
 You have the power to pluck them from perdition ; God hath be- 
 stowed on you the gospel, that you may impart it to them ; and 
 if you neglect to fulfil your trust, dare you meet them in the great 
 assembly, when Jehovah “ maketh inquisition for blood!” 
 
 You possess the bible. You value it more than all the wealth 
 of the world. You will cling to it as. your last refuge in 'the 
 darkest peril of life; and press it to your bosom as your only 
 hope in the utmost agony of death. For my own part, I find it 
 difficult to select terms by' which to express my estimation of its 
 value. 
 
 “ Though mine were the treasures of earth and sea, 
 
 And the stars themselves had flowers for me;” 
 
 I should esteem them all as dross in the comparison. And will 
 you not contribute a few dollars to furnish others with a blessing 
 
21 
 
 which you “ prize above all price ?” \V ill vou make rio efforts 
 no sacrifices — for your unfortunate brethren ? Their souls are as 
 precious as vonrs, and they are “ perishing for lack of knowledge” 
 
 will you still debar them from the only fountain whence they 
 
 can derive the waters of salvation ? O remember. — 
 
 “ Who hath the Bible need not stray ; 
 
 But he who hath, and will not give, 
 
 That heavenly guide to all that live, 
 
 Himself shall lose the way!” 
 
 What would induce you to forego all the blessings of Christianity, 
 to become the wandering Arab, or the degraded Hottentot 1 What 
 would induce you to forsake the “fountain opened in the house of 
 David for sin and uncleanness to wash away your guilt in the 
 waters of the Ganges ? What would induce you to exchange 
 your entire condition for that of the heathen — your houses of re- 
 ligious worship, for their temples of abominable idols — your hope 
 in Christ, your home in heaven ; for the shadowy clysium of the 
 indian, or the sensual paradise of the Mahomedan ? Then, as 
 you prize your privileges — as you profess to love your neighbor 
 as yourself- — as you would obey the sublime injunction, “ do unto 
 others as vc would they should do unto you” — contribute of your 
 substance, “ as God hath given ability,” to send the gospel to the 
 perishing ! Send them the gospel ; and they shall be “ turned 
 from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God.” 
 Send them the gospel ; and the foul and fiendish heart, where in- 
 fernal passions riot in cannibal vengeance, shall be transformed in- 
 to a glowing orb of love. Send them the gospel ; and the deba- 
 sed and groveling mind, that gropes in a tenfold midnight of igno- 
 rance and superstition, shall rise to its appropriate sphere in the 
 great scale of intelligence — its original altitude in the communion 
 of its Maker. Send them the gospel ; and the savage, who shel- 
 ters himself from the angry tempest by burrowing like a brute in 
 the earth, shall rear for his residence a palace like that of kings, 
 whose scenes of social joy and domestic love shall form a little 
 paradise ; and where accursed shrines stream with human gore, 
 and blaze with human unction, the heart’s pure incense shall go 
 freshly up in the morning sacrifice ; “ and the wilderness and the 
 
22 
 
 solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blos- 
 som as the rose.” Have you no offering for a work of such bound- 
 less sublimity ? Will you give less to Christ, than the worldling 
 to his pleasure, or the pagan to his idol, or the papist to his priest ? 
 Are you unwilling to reduce your expenditure — to retrench some 
 of your superfluities — for the benefit of a cause that outweighs 
 the interests of a material universe ? “ Take ye from among you 
 
 an offering unto the Lord ; he that is of a whiling heart, let him 
 bring it, an offering of the Lord.” 
 
 These are the claims of missions. Let none imagine the cause 
 unworthy of their notice. It is the cause of God ; and w r oe to the 
 worm of earth that spurns it with contempt, and refuscth to co- 
 operate with his Maker! “ Curse ye Meroz — curse ye bitterly 
 the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the 
 Lord — to the help of the Lord against the mighty 1” 
 
 And let not the wealthy man, and the professional man, and the 
 man of business, think the cause of missions beneath the dignity 
 of their rank ; nor excuse themselves from a participation in its 
 interests, and a liberal contribution to its support, on account of 
 the numerous and pressing duties of their respective stations. — 
 Who furnished the most costly articles for building the tabernacle ? 
 “ And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set for the 
 ephod, and for the breast plate ; and spices and oils, for the light, 
 and for the annointing oil, and for the sweet incense.” Here is an 
 enterprise of far greater importance ; and justice, and gratitude, 
 and religion, and interest, and benevolence, are calling loudly for 
 your offering. Will you press your earthly treasures to your 
 hearts, and leave the world to perish? By withholding, you abuse 
 the gifts of God, and expose yourselves to the charge of embez- 
 zlement and fraud. “ He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied 
 with silver ; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase.” “ Trust 
 not in uncertain riches they are shadowy and unsubstantial — 
 the mere mirage of the world’s desert, and always winged for 
 flight. “ Trust not in uncertain riches;” the pursuit of them is of- 
 ten attended with disappointment, the possession of them with 
 mortification, and the separation from them with anguish. “ Trust 
 not in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth you 
 
23 
 
 richly all things to enjoy.” “Bo rich in good works — ready to 
 distribute — willing to communicate.” “ With such sacrifices God 
 is well pleased.” The wealth of a Caesar, or a Croesus, can ne- 
 ver secure for you the Divine favor ; and “ if you have not chari- 
 ty, it shall profit you nothing.” The miser of time must be the 
 beggar of eternity. Oh, Mammon, what ruin hast thou wrought 
 anion" the children of men! thou hast seared a thousand conscien- 
 
 O 
 
 ces, and kindled a thousand hells on earth, and sent a thousand souls 
 to the unquenchable fire ! 
 
 Nor let the other sex, whom our modern refinement has doomed 
 to comparative silence and inaction in the church of Christ, sup- 
 pose that they “ have no part nor lot in the matter.” Was the tab- 
 ernacle completed without theaid of the Israelitish women ? or did 
 Moses and his Master refuse their co-operation ? If they could 
 not work in wood, and stone, and iron, and brass; they could spin, 
 and weave, and knit, and sew. If they could not hew the pillars, 
 they could prepare the curtains; and their offering was accepted 
 with commendation, for it was presented with cheerfulness. “And 
 all the women who were wise-hearted did spin with their hands ; 
 and brought that which they had spun, of blue, and purple, and 
 scarlet, and fine linen.” Is it said that the work of sustaining the 
 missionary enterprise does not properly belong to ladies — that 
 they are inadequate to its importance? We answer: — Woman’s 
 weakness is her strength ; the peculiar sympathies of her nature 
 fit her for achievements to which the other sex might aspire in vain ; 
 and prompted by piety or compassion, no work is too vast for her 
 to accomplish — no obstacle or enemy too formidable for her to en- 
 counter and overcome. The missionary cause, moreover, is Christian 
 woman’s appropriate sphere of action, where she appears in all her 
 majesty of benevolence. Is she amiable, when she divides her 
 last morsel with “ those who are ready to perish” — when she seeks 
 the children of affliction, and binds up bleeding hearts — when she 
 bends like a blessing over the couch of sickness, and softens the 
 death-pillow with her tears ? how much more, when she flies to 
 the relief of the sin-burdened soul, and points the anguish-stricken 
 penitent to the “ Lamb of God,” and pours the glory of the gos- 
 pel upon them that “ dwell in the shadow of death !” “ I cannot 
 speak for Christ,” said a martyr on his way to the stake, “but I 
 
can die for Him;’’ and you, Christian ladies, may not be able to 
 follow your sisters to the “dark places of the earth,” but you can 
 give your influence and your money to aid them in the enterprise. 
 Perhaps you say — “ I am poor, and have but little to bestow.” — 
 But “ the Lord loveth a cheerful giver,” though the gift be small ; 
 and if presented with suitable feelings, regards the mite with as 
 much complacency as the million. Jesus once “ sat over against 
 the treasury, and beheld how the rich cast in of their abundance 
 unto the offerings of God;” — 
 
 “ And In, amid the pompous crowd 
 Of rich admirets, came an humble form — 
 
 A widow — meek as poverty doth make 
 Her children : with a look of sad content, 
 
 Her mile within the treasure-heap she threw ; 
 
 Then, timidly as bashful twilight, stole 
 From out the temple; but her lowly gift 
 Was witnessed by an eye, whose mercy views 
 In motives all that consecrates a deed 
 To goodness; so He blessed the widow’s mite, 
 
 Beyond the gifts abounding wealth bestowed !” 
 
 And now, at length, let us have an exhibition of zeal worthy the 
 church of Christ ! Let Christians bestir themselves like angels, 
 and ministers of the gospel like archangels strong ! “ Awake, 
 awake ! put on thy strength, O Zion ! put on thy beautiful gar- 
 ments, O Jerusalem!” What ! shall we slumber while the world 
 is sinking? Jehovah has delegated to the church His moral om- 
 nipotence! It is in her power to carry a golden chain around the 
 globe, and bind it fast to the throne of God ! Awake to your work 
 of love ! An “ eternal weight of glory” is before you — “a crown 
 that fadeth not away;” and the testimony of the past, and the au- 
 spicious signs of the present, and the promises and predictions re- 
 lative to the future, rise to stimulate you to action; and Jesus is 
 still saying, — “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
 every creature and the voices of all heaven are urging you on ; 
 and myriads of perishing heathen are calling for your help; and 
 the deep wailings of eternity are cursing your delay !