"TouVY* ■ v 
 
 Ik/ 
 
 THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT: 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 TO THE COURSE OF MONTHLY LECTURES 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY 
 
 THE BISHOP 
 
 AND THE 
 
 CLERGY OF BOSTON AND THE VICINITY, 
 
 TO BE DENOMINATED 
 
 Efje Episcopal iHtsstouavg Erctuve; 
 
 DELIVERED IS CHRIST CHURCH, BOSTOX, 
 
 ON THE EVENING OF ADVENT SUNDAY, NOV. 27, 1831. 
 
 GEORGE W. DOANE , A.M. 
 
 RECTOR OF TRIKIT Y CHURCH. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 STIMPSON & CLAPP. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE BANNER OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 M DCCC XXXI. 
 
Clapp & Hull, Pcintera, 184 Washington Street, Boaton. 
 
The publicity desired for the establishment and purposes 
 of the Episcopal Missionary Lecture requires, — in the 
 opinion of those whose zeal and devotion to the cause, and 
 whose sound and enlightened judgment, on other subjects at 
 least, cannot he called in question, — the publication of the 
 Introductory Discourse. To decline, under these circum- 
 stances, would be inconsistent wdth the Author’s sense of 
 obligation, on that occasion and on others declared, as a 
 minister of the Church of Christ, and, what should be regarded 
 as very nearly synonimous, the servant of Christian Missions. 
 The entire proceeds of the sale will be devoted to the general 
 purposes of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
 

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INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
 
 The present is designed to be a “ Missionary 
 Lecture.” It is the first of a course founded and 
 to be sustained, by the Bishop, and the Clergy 
 of Boston and its vicinity. Its establishment is the 
 joint act of all the Clergy who could be consulted on 
 the subject, with the Bishop at their head. The 
 agreement to support it, refused by none to whom 
 it has been offered, already bears fourteen names. 
 Others have given their approbation, and at the first 
 opportunity will add their signatures. It had its 
 origin in a strong desire to promote what is com- 
 monly called a “ Missionary Spirit and in a firm 
 belief that, in addition to the appointed means of 
 grace, with God’s attendant blessing, there is only 
 needed, for that end, a free circulation of Missionary 
 intelligence, under a just sense of the nature and 
 sacred obligation of Christian Missions. Con- 
 templating the Domestic and Foreign Missionary 
 
6 
 
 Society , as emphatically the institution of the Church, 
 and feeling that, while the several diocesan and local 
 Missionary Societies were certain of finding support 
 in the immediate personal interests to which they 
 directly appeal, a general Society could only be 
 sustained by simultaneous and vigorous exertions in 
 every quarter of the Church, the whole of which it 
 comprehends, and on all of which it relies, the Clergy 
 have resolved that to the support of that Society 
 especially, the influence of the Lecture shall be 
 directed, and the funds which may result from it be 
 exclusively appropriated. Such w r as the origin, such 
 are the objects of the Missionary Lecture. Founded 
 in Christian love, having for its motive the love of 
 souls and of Christ who died for them, having for its 
 object the extension to all lands, and to every living 
 man, of the Gospel which he came to preach, and the 
 Church which he so loved that he purchased it with 
 his own blood, — may its duration be correspondent 
 with that true charity which never faileth ! May the 
 assembling of ourselves together for this benevolent 
 and blessed purpose, and of those who shall come 
 after us, long years and ages hence, never be for- 
 saken ! So long as a nation shall remain in darkness, 
 a feeble parish faint for lack of aid, a soul for whom 
 Christ died remain unconscious of the cleansing unc- 
 tion of his blood, may the voice of this Lecture still 
 
7 
 
 be heard, nor cease, but amid the choral hallelujahs 
 of a world reclaimed to righteousness ! 
 
 It only remains that I premise the reasons of my 
 standing, upon this occasion, in this place ; and then 
 proceed to offer such considerations in behalf of the 
 work now undertaken as may commend it, Christian 
 brethren, to your attention, your confidence, your 
 affection, and, by God’s blessing, render it useful to 
 you, profitable to his Church, and promotive of his 
 praise. As an Episcopal Missionary Lecture, it was 
 desired and designed that he who is over us in the 
 Lord, without whose sanction, as it is our principle 
 to do nothing, so it is our wish that all good works 
 should begin with him, should have stood here before 
 you to-night ; and none of you can lament one half 
 so deeply as I do the official duty, in another place, 
 which prevents his being here. It is gratifying to 
 be re-assured, by a recent letter, that he is deeply 
 interested in our present assembling, and in its ob- 
 jects ; and that, on the earliest return of it, consistent 
 with his official avocations, he will instruct and 
 animate us by his words of wisdom and of piety. 
 Others of my brethren of the Clergy, who should 
 more worthily have filled this place, being prevented 
 from discharging its relations by previous engage- 
 ments of duty, or by peculiar circumstances, it has 
 fallen to my lot, upon the principle adopted for the 
 
8 
 
 “ Lecture,” to break the first ground in this most 
 hallowed field which Christian hands can cultivate, 
 the field of Missionary labour. Nor do I now, thank 
 God, for the first time, so put my hand upon the 
 plough. It was the pledge of my baptismal conse- 
 cration, that I should “ not be ashamed to confess the 
 faith of Christ crucified.” It was the admonition of 
 his lips who, with an Apostle’s warrant, called me to 
 the ministry of Jesus Christ — lips, that on earth 
 were ever kindled with the burning eloquence of 
 truth, and which in heaven, I doubt not, will swell 
 eternally before the throne, with angels and with 
 saints, the song of praise and adoration to the Lamb — 
 “ We exhort you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 that you have in remembrance ” “ unto how weighty 
 an office you are called ; ” to seek for Christ’s sheep 
 that are dispersed abroad, and for his children who 
 are in the midst of this naughty 'world, that they may 
 be saved through Christ forever.”* And it was my 
 solemn vow and promise, registered in heaven, and, 
 at the last day, to be the sentence to my soul of joy 
 or wo ineffable and everlasting, “ I will endeavour to 
 do so, the Lord being my helper.” To the Mission- 
 ary enterprise then I am a debtor, by the very faith 
 which makes me Christian. For the Missionary en- 
 terprise I am engaged, with all my faculties and pow- 
 
 * Exhortation in the office for ordaining Priests. 
 
9 
 
 ers, by the very vows which bind me to the altar of my 
 God. In the assertion, the promotion, the extension 
 of the Missionary enterprise, let me live, let me la- 
 bour, let me die! And let my last act be an effort, 
 my last breath be a prayer, for Christian Missions ! 
 
 I have said that the present is the commencement 
 of a “Missionary Lecture.” It is Missionary , as to 
 the object — the promotion of Missions. It is to be a 
 Lecture , in its character — inasmuch as, departing from 
 the requisitions of proper pulpit discourses, liberty is 
 reserved to offer, as the occasion may require, or the 
 inclination of the lecturer may suggest, either a regu- 
 lar sermon, details of Missionary intelligence, views 
 of the history, or what may properly be called the 
 philosophy of Missions, the biography of Missionaries, 
 or whatever may tend to illustrate the past or to pro- 
 mote the future results of the Missionary enterprise — 
 the object being to present, in a series of lectures, 
 whatever can illustrate the nature, exhibit the import- 
 ance, or enforce the obligation upon all who profess 
 and call themselves Christians, of Christian Missions. 
 Is there not something in the character of the present 
 times, my brethren of the Clergy, which loudly calls 
 for such an undertaking at our hands ? On all sides, 
 lectureships are established, upon every branch of 
 human knowledge. Philosophy seems resolved to go 
 hand in hand with philanthropy in the extension of 
 2 
 
10 
 
 universal education. There is, I believe, no single 
 night in all the week, in which the thirst for secular 
 science may not be gratified. And it is all well. 
 Nay, it is a generous, a noble, a most spirit-stirring 
 spectacle. It is the assertion of the proper dignity of 
 the nobler, the immortal part of man. It is the tri- 
 umph of the intellectual and refined over the material, 
 the animal, the grosser elements of human nature. 
 It is the true and proper preparation of the mind for 
 that cultivation of its celestial tendencies, that de- 
 velopment of its eternal capabilities, which shall best 
 fit it for the contemplation of its Maker here, and his 
 enjoyment hereafter. There is, I know, nothing in 
 physical or in moral or in intellectual science that can 
 save the soul. The voice of history bears testimony 
 that a nation may “ seek after wisdom,” and yet 
 reject the cross of Christ as “ foolishness.” We know 
 that men may be wise in this world, and yet not wise 
 unto salvation. There is much more than speculation 
 for the conjecture, that not even the temporal free- 
 dom, greatness, or prosperity of a nation can long 
 be preserved without the sanctifying and protecting 
 influence of religion. What is the inference then-? 
 That we should check the advance of useful know- 
 ledge? That we should shut up and seal the foun- 
 tains of science from the people’s use? That we 
 should put out the light of common, nay, of univer- 
 
11 
 
 sal education ? As well might we attempt to roll the 
 ocean-tide back, ere it reaches its appointed hound. 
 As much ought we to wish to quench the glories of 
 the orb of day. No. Let the one roll on, the other 
 still shine out, and spread, and blaze, from the one 
 end of the whole heaven to the other ! But let us, 
 to whom the Lord has given in charge the souls of 
 those who hear us, see that our post is taken at the 
 fountain head of knowledge, to cleanse its streams, 
 even as the waters were made sweet at Marah, with 
 the pure word of God. Let us, the Clergy, the ser- 
 vants of the Lord, the ministers and stewards of the 
 Gospel of reconciliation, see to it that on all who 
 fall within our influence, there rise, even on the noon 
 of science, the brighter, more enduring splendours of 
 the Sun of Righteousness. Let us not be behind- 
 hand in the race of improvement. Let us, who are 
 of the day, be of the day ; be vigilant, be faithful, be 
 untiring. The Gospel of our risen Saviour is the 
 perfect wisdom of the all-wise God. Let us not 
 keep back its beauty, nor repress its splendour. Let 
 us bring them out to the intelligence, the admiration, 
 the acceptance of the world. God’s word, if it have 
 free course, will be glorified. The truth of God is 
 great ; and, if we are not unfaithful, will prevail. 
 Even if we are, it will. It will prevail in other 
 hands. A kingdom will be given to it, and power ; 
 
12 
 
 and we — let us regard in time the dread alternative — 
 we must either be of those who reign with him in 
 glory, or of those who are destroyed before the bright- 
 ness of his coming. Let us not deceive ourselves, 
 nor be unfaithful in the choice. Let us remember 
 our great advantages. Let us live ever in the sense 
 of our infinite responsibilities. The Gospel, which 
 He who was in the beginning with God, and was 
 God, humbled himself to dwell on earth that he might 
 reveal, let us grudge no labor, no exertion, to extend 
 to those who have it not. The Church, which he 
 purchased with his blood, let us be ever ready, by 
 any self-denial or sacrifice of ours, to serve, to enlarge, 
 to establish in the earth. It is enough, let us allow, 
 for the servant that he be as his Master. Devoted 
 as our Master and only Saviour was to the work 
 which his Father gave him to do, let us count it all 
 joy to walk in his benevolent and holy steps ; and as 
 he came, the Missionary of heaven, to preach on earth 
 the Gospel of salvation, so, whether in going our- 
 selves, or in enabling others to go out into all the 
 world, let us each, according to the ability which 
 God has given, fulfil, in the promotion of his own 
 peculiar enterprise, the proper work of Christian 
 evangelists. 
 
 The Clergy, who united to support this Lecture, 
 declare, in the agreement which they have signed, 
 
13 
 
 that its purpose is “ to excite, extend, and continue 
 among the members of the Church, a Missionary 
 Spirit.” In what remains of the present Lecture, 
 I shall chiefly address myself to these three questions. 
 
 What is the Missionary Spirit? 
 
 Why should it be cherished by us ? 
 
 What fitness has the plan proposed to promote 
 that object ? 
 
 Am 1 asked what the Missionary Spirit is, I must 
 reply, the spirit of the Gospel, the spirit of Christ- 
 ianity, the spirit of Christ himself. In a single word, 
 my brethren, it is love, true Christian love ; the love, 
 which prizing that most which God prizes most, may 
 lie emphatically distinguished, as the love of souls. 
 So described, you will assent at once to my assertion, 
 that the Missionary Spirit is the spirit of Christ, — for 
 he himself has given this very account of his own 
 glorious Mission from heaven to our poor world ; 
 “ God so loved the world,” so loved the souls of lost 
 and sinful men, “ that he gave his only begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
 but have everlasting life.” So described, you must 
 allow the Missionary Spirit to be the spirit of Christ- 
 ianity, — for “ the love of Christ,” the love which was 
 in Christ, “constraineth us,” was their excuse who, at 
 the risk of being thought by the wise in this world 
 “ beside themselves,” defended that magnanimous 
 
14 
 
 and self-denying course, in which, defying danger, 
 and despising shame, they “ hazarded their lives,” — 
 first called Apostles, then as martyrs crowned, — “ for 
 the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” both theirs and 
 ours. So described, you must admit that the Mis- 
 sionary Spirit is pre-eminently the spirit of the 
 Gospel, — for “ all the law ” of Christ, so Paul inter- 
 prets it, “ is fulfilled in this one saying, thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself ; ” and since to gain 
 the whole world, and lose the soul, is infinite, eternal 
 loss, the love of other souls, of all souls even as of 
 his own, becomes the Christian’s rule ; and the Mis- 
 sionary Spirit — the spirit which prompts men, as it 
 did the Saviour of men, “ to seek and to save that 
 which is lost ” — appears to be, and is, the essence of 
 the Gospel. And if, to hasten to our next division, 
 at that great day, when all the secrets of all hearts 
 shall be made known, a cup of water, given to a 
 disciple, in the name of Christ, shall be allowed as 
 given to him, what glory shall be theirs, what bless- 
 ing, and what joy,* who, before all worlds, shall be 
 acknowledged as teachers of eternal righteousness — 
 who, having poured upon dark souls that groped in 
 misery and sin the light of everlasting life, shall be 
 exalted, — fit reward ! — to “ shine, as the brightness of 
 the firmament,” and “ as the stars forever and ever ! 
 
 * See Note I. 
 
15 
 
 Is it now asked, why should suck a spirit be culti- 
 vated and cherished, the answer prompts itsell ; 
 that we may save, through Christ, our own immortal 
 souls. That we may save them, not by caring for 
 them only — that can never be ! — but by doing to the 
 utmost, even as God’s all-seeing eye shall judge, 
 what in us lies, to save the souls of others.* In a 
 word, by kindling all hearts with that pure flame of 
 love which shall refine and turn them all to God ; — 
 win from the rich man the free offering of his gold 
 and silver to be the ransom of imprisoned heathen, 
 or the light of ignorant and erring Christians, or the 
 life of dying sinners, — constrain the poor and desolate 
 widow, that has nothing else to give, to give her 
 mite, and add, what God esteems above the jewels of 
 imperial crowns, her pious prayers, — inflame the 
 young man to devote himself, a living sacrifice, upon 
 the altar of his God, to preach, if he be found wor- 
 thy, the Gospel of salvation, and if not, to labour in 
 his sphere, and aid with both hands, and with his 
 whole heart, in rolling onward, through the darkling, 
 dying world, the tide of light and life, 
 
 “ Till, like a sea of glory, 
 
 “ It spreads from pole to pole.” 
 
 In vain, without this spirit in our hearts, and in the 
 hearts of those who hear us, shall we call for Mission- 
 
 * Sec Note II. 
 
16 
 
 ary funds, or, what is far more needed, Missionary 
 men. In vain, while men know not their duty in the 
 case, appeal to them for its discharge. In vain, while 
 men feel not in their own souls the value of the sal- 
 vation w r hich we preach, expect them to give what 
 they do value for its promotion in others. In vain, 
 expect that the sacrifices of a Missionary will be 
 made, his labours undertaken, or his privations borne, 
 by him who does not know, that, at the last da}, the 
 soul of every man will be held answerable for the 
 soul of every brother, for whose instruction in the 
 truth, whose redemption from sin, whose eternal sal- 
 vation, he has not done whatever in him lay. In a 
 word, to imbue men thoroughly with the Missionary 
 Spirit, we must acquaint them intimately with the 
 Missionary enterprise. We must fill their hearts with 
 the conviction of its immense importance, and its un- 
 deniable obligation. We must trace it back before 
 them to the divine and blessed Mission of the Son of 
 God. We must follow it down the path-way, stained 
 with blood and tears, of the noble, self-devoted apos- 
 tolic band. We must go, with the Vaudois, to their 
 mountain fastnesses, and hear the cliffs and caverns 
 of their rugged sanctuary resound the praises of the 
 Lamb. We must, with the simple brethren of the 
 Moravian Church, forget, with hearts inflamed with 
 love, the rigours of a polar winter, and see the gloomy 
 
17 
 
 Greenland snow-cave lighted with the lamp of life. 
 We must encounter, with Ziegenbalg and Grundlerus 
 and Swartz, the pestilential atmosphere and burning 
 sky of Hindostan ; or, in our own day, go with Mar- 
 tyn, Middleton, and Heber, of our siste" Church, — 
 nay, with Robertson, and Hill, and Cadle, of our own, 
 forsaking country, home, and friends, to bear the 
 pure and peaceful Gospel, and the one holy, Apostolic 
 Church, to sluggish, bigoted Indians, or to degraded, 
 and yet proud and captious, Greeks, or to the miser- 
 able remnant of our wasting native tribes ; — and, 
 turning to the Gospel, turning to our own still and 
 secret hearts, fathom and scan the depth and “ height 
 of that great argument,” from which those faithful, 
 fearless men, rose up, and went, convinced, resolved, 
 devoted, bound in spirit, to perform their Master’s 
 work. To act at all, our nature must be moved. 
 To act strongly, we must move it strongly. There 
 is no enterprise of secular interest given up for want 
 of means or want of men. No military plan so des- 
 perate that strong hearts do not dare and strong hands 
 do it. No sickly spot between the tropics that com- 
 merce does not visit. No wall of thick-ribbed ice 
 about the pole that can abate the ardent spirit of 
 discovery. And is there nothing that can compete 
 with these strong motives in the love of souls, the 
 call of God, the rewards of heaven 1 And if there is, 
 3 
 
18 
 
 why is its force not felt, why is its influence not 
 shown? Only because the one is like ourselves, of 
 the earth, earthly ; the other like what we ought to 
 be, spiritual, intent on heavenly things. Only because 
 the one is .before us, and about us, and within us, 
 while we repel the other and estrange our spirits from 
 it. Only because the one is present, pressing, must 
 be attended to at once, while the other we regard as 
 future, distant, to be attended to at any other time. 
 Do you ask the remedy 1 Bring both alike home to 
 the eyes and ears of men. Make the concerns of 
 both present, immediate, urgent. Induce Christian 
 men to attend, and to investigate. Present the sub- 
 ject to them often, and in interesting lights. Let 
 them have it “ line upon line, and precept upon pre- 
 cept, here a little, and there a little.” Win them to 
 examination and to inquiry, as though it were, what 
 indeed it is, a matter of momentous history, or of 
 curious and pregnant philosophy. They have minds, 
 and they will think. They have hearts, and they 
 will feel. There is no subject that presents to the 
 human mind such rich materials for thought, aud 
 study, and reflection. Once engaged, they will pur- 
 sue it. There is no subject that so commends itself 
 to the feelings, and wins its way into the heart, and 
 entwines itself with all the gentle, generous, and ele- 
 vated affections. Interested in it, they will love it. 
 
19 
 
 It needs, I believe, with God’s blessing, nothing but 
 investigation. They who best know its nature, will 
 best feel its sacred obligation. By none who feel 
 that obligation, will its duties be neglected. 
 
 Upon considerations like these, my Christian 
 brethren, the Missionary Lecture, — 1 am to speak 
 now of its fitness to promote the object which it con- 
 templates , — has been established. Not to supersede — 
 God forbid ! — the constant exhibition of these solemn, 
 saving truths, in the instructions of the sanctuary 
 upon the holy day ; but to be additional to, to come 
 in aid of, to confirm them. Not to tempt any one of 
 us — God forbid ! — in reliance on what may be done 
 here, to suspend or to diminish other efforts every 
 where, and at all times ; but to encourage one an- 
 other’s hearts and strengthen one another’s hands, 
 to provoke one another, as an Apostle has enjoined, 
 to love and good works, and send each on his way 
 rejoicing in his Master’s service. A Monthly Lec- 
 ture, delivered by the Clergy in rotation, while, from 
 the number engaged, it will add little to our present 
 labours, will lead us all to the patient and prayerful 
 investigation of the means, as taught by Scripture, 
 experience, and reason, best calculated to promote 
 the work in which we are engaged, extend the bless- 
 ings of religion, and establish the Redeemer’s king- 
 dom ; — and will thus throw on the most important 
 
20 
 
 subjects that can engage us, the blended light of 
 many minds, while it engages for them, — surely we 
 may hope it, — the blended love of many hearts. And 
 while to those who hear, instruction may, we trust, be 
 given, impressions created, resolutions formed, which 
 God, approving, will confirm and bless with the pre- 
 cious gift of his own love shed abroad in their hearts ; 
 our union together, ministers and people, in a work 
 so intimately concerning our common salvation, will 
 bring down upon us, — surely we are encoura'ged to 
 believe it, — the blessing of His presence, who has 
 promised, that wherever two or three are gathered 
 together in his name, He w ill be in the midst of them. 
 
 Of the subjects w r hich will from time to time be 
 offered for your attention, I cannot of course minutely 
 speak. One thing I can say, the mine which is to 
 supply them is inexhaustible. The history of the 
 Church of Christ, from its first chapter, the book of 
 “ the Acts of the Apostles,” to that which is now 
 making its record of our day ; the wonderful and 
 interesting researches and adventures of the servants 
 of the Most High God, in every age ; — Barnabas 
 and Paul of the primitive Church ; their immediate 
 followers in its persecuted periods ; the Jesuit Mis- 
 sionaries, redeeming by their self-devoted and death- 
 daring course, if aught human could redeem, the 
 corruptions of the Papacy ; the mountain Christians, 
 
21 
 
 who, among the Alpine snows, preserved a pure, or 
 kindled the first fires of a reformed Church ; the 
 Apostles, Martyrs, and Confessors of the Reforma- 
 tion ; the worthies of that blessed communion, the 
 good old Church of England, to which, under God, 
 we are so much indebted ; the labours of her two 
 venerable Societies, gaining for her the deserved 
 praise of being the Mission Church of the whole 
 world ; the unostentatious, but almost unequalled 
 efforts of the United Brethren ; the rich and happy 
 results of modern Missionary enterprise, throwing 
 new light upon the history of man, and new' lustre on 
 the Christian name ; and, though last, most interest- 
 ing of all, the current intelligence of our own Mis- 
 sionaries, labouring now to sustain the truths of the 
 Gospel, and the offices of the Church, among our own 
 brethren, who have gone westw ard in pursuit of for- 
 tune, and for the extension of our empire, — or to 
 reclaim to civilization and Christianity the wild sons 
 of the forest, — or to purge from spiritual gloom the 
 “ eye of Greece,” — or, we hope soon to add, to rend 
 the veil of death which now enshrouds degraded 
 Africa : — who fears, in view of such a mine, so rich, 
 so various, the w r ant of subjects for discussion ; or who 
 distrusts the intense, eternal interest, which, with 
 Christian men, such subjects must possess ! — But I 
 must check myself. With the few topics which I 
 
22 
 
 had proposed for your regard to-night, full half un- 
 touched, I find the reasonable limits of the lecture 
 are well nigh exhausted. A single specimen, I can- 
 not refrain from giving, of the nature of Missionary 
 * discoveries ; — an evidence too of the important bear- 
 ing of such investigations, not upon Missions only, but 
 on the whole subject of Gospel ministrations. \\ e 
 all know the great success which has attended the 
 Moravian Missions. Do we all know the secret of 
 their success ? Would we all learn, from their exam- 
 ple, the first lesson of Christianity? The lesson is 
 soon stated. Let it never be forgotten ! 
 
 “The scene of the experiment” — I quote the 
 Memoirs of John Urquhart, by William Orme — 
 “ was the inhospitable region of Greenland ; and the 
 moral and intellectual condition of the inhabitants 
 was even more barren and dreary than the scenery 
 with which they were surrounded. Here the only 
 plausible system of instruction seemed to be, to at- 
 tempt to teach the savages those truths which are of 
 a preliminary nature. Accordingly, the Missionaries 
 set to work most assiduously, in telling the Green- 
 landers of the being and character of a God, and of 
 the requirements of his law. However plausible 
 this mode of instruction may appear, it was patiently 
 continued in for seven years , without producing even 
 the smallest effect on those hearts which ignorance 
 
23 
 
 and stupidity had rendered almost inaccessible. The 
 first conversion, (as far as man was concerned,) may 
 be said to have been accidental. Some Southlanders 
 happened to visit the brethren, as one of them was 
 writing a translation of the gospels. They were 
 curious to know what was in the book ; and on hear- 
 ing read the history of Christ’s agony in the garden, 
 one of the savages earnestly exclaimed, ‘ How was 
 that? Tell me it once more; for I would fain be 
 saved.’ Sometime after this remarkable conversion, 
 the brethren entirely changed their method of in- 
 struction. ‘ They now directed the attention of the 
 savages, in the first instance, to Christ Jesus, to his 
 incarnation, to his life, and especially to his suffer- 
 ings.’ This was the beginning of a new era in the 
 history of the evangelization of Greenland. Con- 
 version followed conversion, till the Missionaries 
 could number hundreds to whom the message of 
 God had come, not in word only, but also in 
 power.” 
 
 My brethren of the Clergy, that the preaching of 
 “ Christ crucified ” is the first duty of the Christian 
 minister, we have not been accustomed to doubt. That 
 it is also his best interest, and surest means of suc- 
 cess, every where and at all times, if any of us could 
 doubt, with God's holy word before him, this little 
 anecdote of the Moravian Mission, and a thousand 
 
24 
 
 others,* which might be gathered from the records of 
 those labourers, who, like them, have gone out, in the 
 spirit of the first Apostles, to convert the world, most 
 undeniably demonstrate. There is no other name, — 
 thank God that that is given to us ! — by which men 
 may be saved, than that of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. 
 Jesus, the Christ, is in no other way the Saviour of 
 mankind, than as he is set forth before us, crucified 
 for sin. “ God forbid that we should glory, save in 
 the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the 
 world is crucified unto us, and we unto the world ! ” — 
 My Christian brethren, there is no glory in the cross 
 which God acceptably regards, but that which in- 
 volves implicit reliance on its merits, and implicit 
 obedience to its commands. And he, who has not 
 sought to bear it in his life, in humility, in penitence, 
 in patience, in holiness, in self-devotion, in charity, 
 will in vain rely, in the day of judgment, on its saving 
 intervention. You then, who bear its holy sign upon 
 your brow, you who embrace its blessed hopes within 
 your heart, give proof this night how much you love, 
 how much you glory in the cross ! 
 
 In bringing to your notice, my Christian brethren, 
 the claims of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary So- 
 ciety of the Church, we have every satisfaction which 
 can be inspired by the most efficient and inviting plan 
 
 * See Note III. 
 
25 
 
 of Christian benevolence prosecuted under the most 
 favorable auspices. For, while it offers, or waits but 
 for the means to offer, for your patronage, every form 
 of Christian Missions which your hearts can desire, 
 it presents them under the immediate auspices of the 
 venerable Bishops, and thus justly commands your 
 most entire and perfect confidence. Of the ten 
 years, during which the Society has been in being, 
 the first six or seven were passed in establishing 
 itself in your favour, and preparing its plans of use- 
 fulness. That it has succeeded in both these points, 
 the last three or four years clearly show, both in the 
 extended operations which they record, and in the 
 increased income which they exhibit. To enlarge 
 these noble plans, — nay, to continue them even as 
 they now are, your constant interest and your liberal 
 patronage are needed. Do not withhold it. Do not 
 give it grudgingly. To do good, is, of necessity, 
 expensive. If it were not, how could it satisfy your- 
 selves, how could it please the Lord of heaven and 
 earth, to serve him, with that which cost you nothing ? 
 My beloved brethren, you have to-day united, with 
 the w r hole Church on earth, in celebrating the Advent 
 in the flesh of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, — 
 and in supplicating the graces of the Holy Spirit, 
 that you may be prepared for his second Advent in 
 4 
 
26 
 
 glory. Let there be no divorce between the practice 
 of the night and the devotions of the day. Remem- 
 bering that the joy with which you hail the rising of 
 the Sun of Righteousness, is but a feeble and imper- 
 fect measure of their desolate sorrow, who sit in dark- 
 ness and the shadow of death, do what becomes you 
 to assist in throwing upon their darkling souls the 
 light and consolation of the day-spring from on high. 
 Do you ask what? How? How much? Let me again 
 answer from the history of the Moravian Missions. 
 Two of their young men, on hearing of the desperate 
 ignorance of the West Indian slaves, offered them- 
 selves as Missionaries, to go and live among them, 
 and teach them Christianity. And so bent were 
 they upon their purpose, notwithstanding all opposi- 
 tion and discouragement, that they actually proposed 
 to sell themselves as slaves, that they might be 
 sure of opportunities of teaching the Gospel to the 
 negroes. To freemen, Christian freemen, prizing 
 liberty more than life, and the hope of salvation 
 infinitely more than both, need any more be said ? 
 Go then and do, — I do not say likewise , — but what 
 your hand, what your heart, findeth to do. As you 
 would obtain, show mercy. By deeds of charity and 
 love, declare your joy in his first Advent, whose birth 
 proclaimed, “ on earth peace, good will to men.” 
 
27 
 
 By deeds of charity and love, aspire, through the 
 atoning merits of the divine and only Saviour of 
 mankind, to that “ crown of righteousness,” which is 
 reserved for those who “ love,” and look for, “ his 
 appearing ! ” 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
APPENDIX AND NOTES. 
 
 The Episcopal Missionary Lecture is the result of much and very 
 serious deliberation on the part of several of the Clergy. With some of 
 them, it has been for more than two years* the subject of conversation. In 
 the month of September last, a meeting was called in reference to that and 
 some kindred objects ; but a sufficient number of the Clergy, to warrant the 
 engagement in an enterprise of so much moment to the Church, not being 
 present, its adoption, after much discussion, was deferred. On the 14th of 
 November, the Author having invited to his house as many of the Clergy as 
 could be conveniently assembled, to meet the Right Reverend the Bishop, 
 on some matters of interest and importance, so large a number was found to 
 be present, that the plan of an Episcopal Missionary Lecture, to be establish- 
 ed and supported by the Bishop and the Clergy of Boston and vicinity, was 
 laid before them. It was in substance as follows : — The undersigned, deeply 
 interested in the Missionary enterprise, and especially in the Domestic and 
 Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and believ- 
 ing that intelligence on the subject of Missions, and a just understanding of 
 their sacred obligation, are alone necessary, under the Divine blessing, to 
 excite, extend, and continue among Episcopalians a Missionary spirit, hereby 
 associate ourselves, for the purpose of establishing and supporting a Monthly 
 EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY LECTURE, 
 in the City of Boston ; to be conducted by us severally, in such order, and 
 under such regulations, as mav hereafter be established. After suitable dis- 
 cussion, it was adopted, and subscribed by all — a collection, for the general 
 
 * In the Episcopal Watchman for April, 1823, will be found some of the 
 Author s views on this subject. 
 
 r 
 
 o 
 
30 
 
 purposes* of the Society, it was agreed, should follow each Lecture — a Secre- 
 tary was appointed to obtain the names of such of the Clergy as were not 
 present — the Festival of the Epiphany was appointed for the general meeting 
 of all who might unite — and arrangements made for conducting the Lectures 
 for the two intervening months. It was desired by all, that the Bishop 
 should make the beginning; but his engagements for the last Sunday in No- 
 vember, and for the first and second in December, did not permit it. The 
 second Lecture, it is some amends to know, he will, with Divine permission, 
 deliver. The following are the Clergymen who have, at the present date, 
 subscribed the agreement : — 
 
 The Right Reverend the Bishop or the Diocese. 
 
 The Rev. Alfred L. Baury, Rector of St. Mary’s Church, Newton. 
 
 The Rev. John L. Blake, Rector of St. Matthew's Church, Boston. 
 
 The Rev. Isaac Boyle, Rector of St. Paul’s Church, Dedham. 
 
 The Rev. Thomas W. Coit, Rector of Christ Church, Cambridge. 
 
 The Rev. William Croswell, Rector of Christ Church, Boston. 
 
 The Rev. George W. Doane, Rector of Trinity Church, Boston. 
 
 The Rev. Asa Eaton, D.D., Domestic Missionary, Boston. 
 
 The Rev. Theodore Edson, Rector of St. Anne’s Church, Lowell. 
 
 The Rev. John P. Fenner, Chaplain in the U. S. Navy, Charlestown. 
 
 The Rev. Geo. F. Haskins, officiating in Grace Church, Providence, R. I. 
 The Rev. John H. Hopkins, Assistant Minister of Trinity Church, Boston. 
 The Rev. James Morse, D.D., Rector of St. Paul’s Church, Newburyport. 
 The Rev. William T. Potter, Rector of Christ Church, Quincy. 
 
 The Rev. Joseph II. Price, officiating in St. Michael’s Church, Marblehead. 
 The Rev. E. M. P. Wells, Chaplain and Superintendent of the House of 
 Reformation, South Boston. 
 
 NOTE I. 
 
 “ Would I frame to myself,” says Coleridge, “ the most inspiriting repre- 
 sentation of future bliss which my mind is capable of comprehending, it 
 would be embodied to me in the idea of Bell, receiving, at some distant 
 
 * Contributions to the general purposes of the Society are submitted to the 
 discretion of the Directors, to be used either for Foreign or Domestic pur- 
 poses. As they are best informed as to the wants of the Society, it was 
 thought best to commit the whole to them. 
 
31 
 
 period, the appropriate reward of his earthly labours, when thousands and 
 ten thousands of glorified spirits, whose reason and conscience had, through 
 his efforts, been unfolded, shall sing the song of their own redemption, and 
 pouring forth praises to God and their Saviour, shall repeat his “ new name 
 in heaven, give thanks for his earthly virtues, as the chosen instruments of 
 divine mercy to themselves, and not seldom, perhaps, turn their eyes towards 
 Aim, as from the sun to its image in the fountain, with secondary gratitude 
 and permitted love." — The Friend, Essay XIV. London edition of 1816, 
 page 170. 
 
 NOTE II. 
 
 “ That man’s soul is not dear to himself" — I quote the same strange and 
 powerful production of the same author, the most eloquent, I venture to say, 
 of living writers, in English prose — “ to whom the souls of his brethren are not 
 dear. As far as they can be influenced by him, they are parts and properties 
 of his own soul ; their faith his faith, their errors his burthen, their right- 
 eousness and bliss his righteousness and reward — and of their guilt and mise- 
 ry his own will be the echo.” — The Friend, Essay XIII. London edition of 
 1818, page 1G2. 
 
 A kindred sentiment, I am reminded by a friend, to whom all that is most 
 exquisite and touching in English poetry is “ familiar as household words,” 
 is finely, though with quaint simplicity, expressed in that “ singularly wild 
 and beautiful poem,” “ The Rime of the Auncient Mariner.” 
 
 “ He prayeth well, who loveth well 
 Both man and bird and beast. 
 
 He prayeth best, who loveth best 
 All things both great and small ; 
 
 For the dear God who loveth us, 
 
 He made and loveth all.” 
 
 Coleridge's Poetical Works, Pickering's edition, Vol. II. p. 37. 
 
 NOTE III. 
 
 One more illustration, and that in the highest degree affecting and instruc- 
 tive, I must give, for which I am indebted to the Rev. J. W. Cunningham, 
 Vicar of Harrow. See his sermon on “ Christ Crucified,” in the second 
 volume of two lately published. It is the testimony of a North American 
 Indian, who had himself been rescued from the miseries and crimes of idolatry. 
 
/ 
 
 32 
 
 “ When delivering his sentiments as to the best means of converting the 
 heathen, he said, Brethren, I have been a heathen myself, and have grown 
 old amongst them ; I therefore know their modes of thinking. A preacher 
 once came to us, desiring to instruct us ; and began by proving to us that 
 there was a God. On which we said to him, ‘ Well, and dost thou think we 
 are ignorant of that ? Go back to the place whence thou earnest.’ Then 
 again another preacher came, and began to instruct us, saying, ‘You must 
 not steal, or become inebriated, or tell falsehoods, or lead abandoned lives.’ 
 We answered him, ‘ Thinkest thou that we know not that? Go, and prac- 
 tically learn these things thyself, and then teach them to thine own people ; 
 for who are more addicted to such vices than they ? ’ Thus we sent him 
 away also. At length a Missionary came to my hut, and sat down by me. 
 The contents of his discourse were nearly these : ‘ I come to thee in the name 
 of the Lord of heaven and earth. He sends me to acquaint thee that he 
 would gladly save thee, and make thee happy, and deliver thee from the 
 miserable condition in which thou at present liest. To this end he became 
 man, gave his life a ransom for man, and shed his blood for man. All that 
 believe in the name of this Jesus, obtain the forgiveness of sins. To all that 
 receive him by faith, he giveth power to become the sons of God. The 
 Holy Spirit dwelleth in their hearts ; and they are made free, through the 
 blood of Christ, from the slavery and dominion of sin. And though thou art 
 the chief of sinners, yet, if thou prayest the Father in his name, and believest 
 in him as the sacrifice for thy sins, thou shall be heard and saved, and he will 
 give thee a crown of life, and thou slialt live with him forever in heaven.’ 
 I could not, added the converted native, I could not forget his words. 
 They constantly recurred to my mind. Even in sleep I dreamed of the 
 blood which Christ shed for us. If, then, continued he, you would have 
 your words gain an entrance among the heathen, preach to them Christ 
 Jesus, his blood, his sufferings, and his death.— Such was the judgment of 
 this converted heathen, and it may be illustrated and confirmed by the exa- 
 mination of almost any page in the history of idolatry." 
 
POSTSCRIPT* 
 
 “ The mountain Christians, who, among the Alpine snoics, preserved a 
 pure, or kindled the first fires of a reformed Church." 
 
 The mountains have ever been the strong-holds of liberty and truth. 
 “ Thanks be to God for mountains ! ” the Christian, no less fervently than 
 the patriot, may exclaim with William Howitt, in his delightful “ Book of 
 the Seasons.” — Were this the place, I could easily show that I have not 
 spoken too strongly of the “ mountain Christians ” of Piedmont. “ As for 
 the Waldenses,” says Beza, “ give me leave to call them the very seed of 
 the primitive and pure Christian Church.” “ With the dawn of history ,” says 
 Sir James Mackintosh, “ we discover some simple Christians in the vallies 
 of the Alps, where they still exist under the ancient name of Vaudois.” 
 The lofty muse of Wordsworth, in the very spirit of their appropriate 
 motto, “ Lux lucet in tenebris,” — the light shineth in darkness, — speaks 
 of them, as 
 
 “ Those who gave earliest notice, as the lark 
 
 Springs from the ground the morn to gratulate ; 
 
 Who rather rose the day to antedate, 
 
 By striking out a solitary spark 
 
 When all the world with midnight gloom was dark." 
 
 In the Waldensian Church, says Gilly, “ we find the line carried up to a 
 period sufficiently remote to connect her with the Apostolical succession. 
 We trace the creed, and the local habitation, if not the very name of this 
 Alpine Church, from age to age upwards, until we reach a date which satis- 
 fies us that having early embraced the primitive faith, she has retained it 
 
 * This should properly have been a note to page 21, at the sentence 
 quoted above. 
 
 f 
 
 6 
 
34 
 
 * 
 
 amid the surrounding darkness, as its only faithful depository, and having 
 done this, we discover the simple services, the primitive institutions, and the 
 traits of Christian character which correspond with those that may be col- 
 lected from the pages of Justin Martyr and Tertullian.” Bishop Hobart, in 
 his Sermon, preached to the congregation of English Protestants at Rome, 
 for the benefit of the Vaudois, says, “ It is a remarkable and interesting trait 
 in their history, that while the Christian world had grossly and lamentably 
 deviated from the purity of Christian faith, polity and worship, these people 
 retained that faith, polity and worship, in their primitive simplicity and 
 integrity. Christian truth, almost extinguished in the darkness which for 
 centuries overspread Christendom, was preserved pure and bright in the 
 sequestered valleys of Piedmont ; and here was lighted that torch which 
 dispelled the superstitions and corruptions that rested on the Church, and 
 restored her in many countries to her primitive purity and brightness. 
 And, finally, to pursue no farther this enchanting subject, it was of these 
 hill-saints that JIilton wrote that noble Sonnet 
 
 ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN TIEDMONT. 
 
 “ Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
 Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold : 
 
 Even them, who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
 
 When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones, 
 
 Forget not ; in thy book record their groans, 
 
 Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 
 Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled 
 Mother with infant down the rocks. 1 heir moans 
 The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
 To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 
 O’er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
 The triple tyrant ; that from these may grow 
 An hundred fold, who, having learnt thy way, 
 
 Early may fly the Babylonian woe ! ” 
 
 Milton’s Works, Fickering's edition, Vol. Ill page 71.