THE GOSPEL ADAPTED TO THE WANTS OF THE WOULD. 
 
 A 
 
 SERMON, 
 
 PREACHED IN PROVIDENCE, R. I., SEPT. 9, 1840, 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 
 
 FOR 
 
 FOREIGN MISSIONS, 
 
 AT THEIR 
 
 THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 BY NATHAN S. S. BEMAN, D. D. 
 
 Troy, N. Y. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRINTED BY CROCKER AND BREWSTER, 
 47 Washington Street. 
 
 1840. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 Psalm 72: 17. 
 
 “ His name shall endure forever : his name shall he con- 
 tinued as long as the sun : and men shall be blessed in 
 him : all nations shall call him blessed." 
 
 This divine song has a primary reference to the 
 kingdom of Solomon, the son of David ; but was 
 intended, at the same time, to typify the kingdom 
 of Jesus Christ, David’s more exalted Son. With 
 this single explanatory remark, I would leave the 
 general structure of the Psalm, and the exposition 
 of its various parts, to your own reflections. The 
 passage to which I particularly invite your atten- 
 tion, asserts the extent and duration of the reign 
 of Jesus Christ upon the earth ; and presents a 
 glowing picture of its prosperity and happiness. 
 In relation to its extent, it is to embrace “ all 
 nations,” and in duration, it “ shall be continued 
 
4 
 
 as long as the sun.” In other words, the kingdom 
 of Jesus Christ — the gospel kingdom — shall em- 
 brace all the nations of the earth, and endure, 
 with undiminished power and glory, while the 
 world itself shall stand. It is clearly asserted, 
 too, that the happiness of the human family will 
 be greatly increased under the predicted reign of 
 the Son of God. “ Men shall be blessed in him : 
 all nations shall call him blessed.” 
 
 Nothing can be more obvious than that this 
 prediction asserts, that the religion of the Gospel 
 will hereafter become, and will continue to be, the 
 prevailing religion of our world. This fact is fully 
 settled in the Bible. It was, for ages, the grand 
 theme of the Old Testament prophets; and the 
 truths which they committed, in strains of exalted 
 poetry, to the sacred lyre, have been taken up and 
 expounded with such clearness by their New Tes- 
 tament successors — by the Son of God and his 
 apostles — that not a shadow of a doubt can rest 
 upon their import. The same fact, that is, that 
 Christianity will become the religion of the world, 
 might be inferred, with equal certainty, from the 
 admission, that God is its Author, or that the 
 Bible contains a revelation from heaven. 
 
 But waving these considerations, there is anoth- 
 er important truth intimately associated with the 
 universal spread of the Gospel, to which I would 
 invite your attention on the present occasion. 
 The truth to which 1 refer is this : that the relig- 
 
5 
 
 ion of the Bible is adapted, in its nature, to be- 
 come the exclusive religion of our world. This 
 sentiment, it is apprehended, is more than inti- 
 mated in the text. Jesus Christ, the appointed 
 King of Zion, shall not only reign as long as the 
 sun shall shine upon the earth, but “ men shall be 
 blessed in him : all nations shall call him blessed.” 
 The Gospel is adapted to man as such — to all 
 men. It contemplates, not a specific class or 
 order of men, but man in the large and generic 
 sense. The Son of God has “received gifts for 
 men.” His empire embraces and secures the best 
 interests of our fallen race. “ Men shall be blessed 
 in him.” “ All nations shall call him blessed.” 
 The Gospel is adapted, not to the Jew, nor to the 
 Gentile alone ; not to the civilized, nor to the 
 barbarous exclusively — but to “all nations.” And 
 one nation after another, under the agencies which 
 God has ordained, shall welcome the Gospel, as 
 adapted to their common circumstances and their 
 common wants, till an entire world of nations 
 shall mingle their voices and send up the homage 
 of their hearts in one universal song. 
 
 The single sentiment I shall attempt to illus- 
 trate is this : The religion of the Bible is adapted , 
 in its nature , to become the exclusive religion of 
 our ivorld. 
 
 1. It is accommodated to every stage of human 
 society. 
 
6 
 
 I shall not here enter upon any nice specula- 
 tions respecting the natural state of man, consid- 
 ered merely as an intellectual and social being ; 
 nor attempt to settle the question whether that 
 state is savage or civilized. The apostasy of our 
 race occupies so early a page in the history of the 
 world, that it may be difficult for us even to pic- 
 ture to ourselves, with any degree of certainty, 
 what our condition would have been, as it regards 
 social habits, intellectual progress, or the arts of 
 cultivated life, had sin never marred this once 
 lovely heritage of God. What is now called the 
 state of nature — the wild and savage state, to 
 which we may easily trace back the most refined 
 and polished nations — would probably never have 
 existed ; and the more elevated conditions of so- 
 ciety, which are now altogether adventitious, and 
 which are superinduced by much care and culture, 
 might have been perfectly natural to man. But 
 these speculations apart, it is sufficient for my 
 present purpose to refer you to the social condition 
 of nations as it is, and remind you of the diversi- 
 fied forms of human society which the world 
 actually presents. These are not less marked and 
 various than the geographical surface of different 
 countries, or than personal form, the color of the 
 skin, or the features of the human face. 
 
 A single glance at the world as it is, and this 
 the intelligent eye has already taken, will save the 
 speaker the necessity of entering into detail. We 
 
7 
 
 have on the surface of this globe a population 
 almost infinitely diversified : the polished Euro- 
 pean, and his descendants not less elevated, in 
 almost every land ; the wild Arab, the wandering 
 Tartar, the inert southern Asiatic, the bigoted 
 Jew, the proud and self-confident Turk, the fierce 
 cannibal of Australia, the debased Hottentot, the 
 ignorant Greenlander, and the rude and savage 
 tenant of our own native forests : — and these fur- 
 nish but a mere specimen of the human race. 
 Nations differ in almost every thing — in their 
 modes of obtaining a livelihood, in civilization and 
 intellectual culture, in moral habits and religious 
 rites. 
 
 But the Gospel makes an appeal which men, in 
 all these diversified national circumstances, are 
 capable of feeling. This appeal they have felt. 
 In the days of the apostles, the truth of God over- 
 leaped the frame-work of national caste, and 
 evinced, in every land where its truths were 
 announced, its power to save. And facts of the 
 same character are interwoven with the whole 
 history of modern missions. Such have been the 
 triumphs of the Gospel in our day, that the fool- 
 ishness of infidelity, which has loudly asserted 
 that Christianity cannot be propagated among the 
 nations who differ in their habits and religions from 
 those who have long been under the influence of 
 this system, has been rebuked and put to silence. 
 The religion of the Bible is just such a scheme as 
 
8 
 
 is demanded, in order to accomplish the great 
 objects which it proposes. As it is designed for a 
 world, so it is suited to the exigencies of a world. 
 It has a universality of purpose, and a universality 
 of character, in order to carry out and perfect that 
 purpose. It takes the world as it is, and goes 
 about the work of making it better. It can reach 
 men just where they are, notwithstanding their 
 national peculiarities, and make them the friends 
 of God and the heirs of heaven. It needs no 
 pioneer. It asks for no herald to invoke other 
 agencies to prepare the way for its coming and 
 reception. It is itself the pioneer of .Jehovah — 
 the herald of the great King. 
 
 These things can be affirmed only of the Gos- 
 pel. Were we to examine all the systems of 
 ancient and modern philosophy which have pro- 
 posed to make men wise and happy, and submit 
 them to a critical analysis, we should perceive that 
 they are all strongly tinged with the spirit of the 
 age and nation in which they originated ; and 
 were, at the same time, capable only of a limited 
 application. Carry these systems across a few 
 lines of latitude or longitude, and they become 
 exotics in an ungenial clime and perish of them- 
 selves. Protract their existence a single century, 
 upon the very soil which gave them birth, and 
 among the very people who originated and cher- 
 ished their dogmas, and they become superan- 
 nuated and die of old age. The same is true of 
 
9 
 
 the religions of the world. They are all local and 
 temporary, and well they may be, for they are 
 dependent on circumstances for their very exist- 
 ence. It would be a thing next to impossible to 
 bring the Turks and the Greenlanders to exchange 
 religions; and yet Turkey and Greenland may be 
 made to feel the truth of God, and submit to its 
 power. No system of false philosophy has ever 
 been universal — no single form of paganism has 
 established its dominion over the nations of the 
 earth. But the Gospel is indigenous in every soil 
 where it is planted. It is at home in every land. 
 It accomplishes its own appropriate work wherever 
 it goes, for God is in it. 
 
 I would not intimate in these remarks, that dif- 
 ferent states of society may not be more or less 
 favorable to the propagation of the Gospel ; nor 
 deny that auxiliary agencies may be employed to 
 unfold, diffuse, and enforce the truth of God ; and 
 least of all would I affirm that the Gospel will 
 leave a nation as it finds it. Civilization and the 
 useful arts of life, letters and refinement, in one 
 word, all that can elevate man in the scale of 
 being, promote his happiness, or adorn and beau- 
 tify his social character, have never failed, other 
 things being favorable, to follow in the footsteps 
 of this revelation from heaven. 
 
 2. The Gospel is suited to the common wants 
 of man. 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 This system was not contrived to relieve us 
 from some factitious evils, nor to minister to our 
 artificial wants; but it contemplates the world in 
 its true light, and undertakes at once to mitigate, 
 and ultimately to root out, all suffering from the 
 kingdom of Christ. 
 
 And here we may see the difference between 
 the Gospel and every antagonist and conflicting 
 system. It is the difference between what is 
 particular and what is general — between what is 
 limited to individuals, and what is common to all 
 men — between what is restricted to one country 
 or one age, and what may be applied with equal 
 propriety and practical effect to every country of 
 the globe, or to every period from the beginning 
 to the end of time. The Gospel overlooks, as 
 unworthy of its high and heavenly aims, that 
 which is circumstantial, local, and temporary ; and 
 selects, as the object of its benevolence, that which 
 is essential, unlimited, and enduring. Among the 
 pagans, many a deity has derived his existence 
 from a mountain, stream, or forest. Altars and 
 forms of worship have been called into being to 
 avert some impending calamity, to stay the ravages 
 of famine, to mitigate the rage of pestilence, or to 
 turn aside the bloody scourge of war. The form 
 and productions of a country, the customs of do- 
 mestic and social life, the prevalence of certain 
 types of disease, the peaceful or warlike habits of 
 a people, and an endless catalogue of like circum- 
 
11 
 
 stances, have not only shaped and modified, but 
 have actually created systems of religious belief 
 and practice. 
 
 But the Gospel is constructed upon another 
 principle. It professes to supply what is most 
 needful for man, upon a nobler and more magnifi- 
 cent scale. It never attempts, as most false relig- 
 ions do, to remove the trivial and incidental evils 
 of life ; to guard men against the disabilities which 
 belong to their specific circumstances ; nor to ward 
 off disease or death by charms or talismanic power ; 
 but regarding all these as light afflictions which 
 endure but for a moment, it settles down at once 
 upon tbe common wants of men, as pilgrims on 
 the earth and the heirs of eternity. 
 
 A few of the common wants of our dying world, 
 for which the Gospel effectually provides, may 
 very properly be enumerated in this place. 
 
 Man, in relation to all kinds of knowledge, is 
 the subject of instruction; and in nothing does he 
 more imperatively demand it than in religion. 
 The lights of this world have become so dimmed, 
 that he never clearly sees, nor fully performs his 
 duties to God or his fellows, till a purer and 
 brighter orb in heaven shines upon him. Sin has 
 well nigh obliterated the perceptions of God and 
 duty from the human mind. The world is perish- 
 ing for the want of spiritual knowledge. This is 
 seen and felt every where. Not a soul on earth 
 can find the way to heaven without the special 
 
12 
 
 interposition of God ; and whether he communi- 
 cates himself silently and mysteriously, in here 
 and there a solitary case, without a written reve- 
 lation, we are not informed, and it is a problem 
 which we are not required to solve. But this we 
 do know, for God has taught it, that the Bible is 
 the grand source of religious instruction. The 
 nations are in midnight without it. It is a dark- 
 ness without the prospect of a dawn. It is deep, 
 dense, central, visible ; and not a star of promise 
 has been seen in the heavens, as the harbinger of 
 an opening day, by any telescope which nature or 
 art has been able to construct. Without the Gos- 
 pel, men are every where destitute of that knowl- 
 edge necessary to the well-being of the soul ; and 
 with it, they have every thing which God himself 
 deemed essential when their salvation was the 
 grand object to be accomplished. This fallen 
 world needs an infallible guide, and that guide is 
 to be found alone in a written revelation. No 
 decrees of popes or councils can supply its place. 
 No tradition, though it were to descend from 
 heaven, and emanate from the throne of God, can 
 become a substitute. The Jew', the Pagan, the 
 Mohammedan, the Catholic, the Protestant, all 
 need this volume. It is adapted to the common 
 wants of a w'orld ; and the nation, w hether refined 
 or barbarous, that is destitute of it, is living with- 
 out the sun. 
 
13 
 
 But man needs not only an infallible instructer, 
 but support under the nameless evils which sin has 
 inflicted upon him. In every country under heaven, 
 on every continent and every island of the sea, he 
 is hardly less miserable than he is sinful. And yet 
 the religion of the Savior can mingle the ingre- 
 dients of comfort in every bitter cup. Passing 
 over a long list of ills which flesh is heir to, I 
 would fix your attention on two, to which all men 
 are subject in whatever state of society or condi- 
 tion of life, and for which the Gospel provides a 
 perfect remedy. I refer to remorse of conscience 
 and the sting of death. These are co-extensive 
 with the fallen race. Sin is an evil of so malig- 
 nant a character, that it reveals itself in the pre- 
 sent life : it is followed by a present retribution. 
 Verily, there “ is a God that judgeth in the earth.” 
 The poor pagan feels this, and hence his sacrifices 
 and his self-inflicted tortures. It is on this princi- 
 ple that penance and pilgrimages belong to most 
 systems of false religion. But the Gospel alone 
 can calm the troubled spirit, pluck away the deep- 
 seated anguish of the heart, and inspire that hope 
 which prophesies of heaven. And not only are 
 the great evils of life provided for by the religion 
 of Christ, but death itself — that event everywhere 
 dreaded in our world — that event which may, in 
 itself, be considered the sum and concentration of 
 all earthly ills — the primeval curse of God upon a 
 world of rebels, may be divested of all its unlove- 
 
14 
 
 liness, and disarmed of all its inflictions, and be 
 converted into the richest blessing. The Christian 
 victor’s song is, “ O death, where is thy sting ? 
 O grave, where is thy victory ? ” 
 
 3. The Gospel is adapted to every order of 
 mind . 
 
 In this respect it differs from all human systems. 
 Among the most distinguished ancient nations they 
 had one religion for the learned, and another for 
 the illiterate. This was true in Greece, and pro- 
 bably, to some extent, in Rome. Their great 
 men, and especially their sages and philosophers, 
 gave little or no credit to the doctrines of poly- 
 theism admitted by the vulgar ; but on the other 
 hand approximated to something like a pure theism 
 in their religious belief. I would not affirm that 
 this was universal, possibly it was not even gen- 
 eral ; but, in many cases, it is an unquestioned 
 fact. As to their systems of philosophy, they 
 were too refined and subtle to be received by 
 common minds. I do not sav understood , for it 
 may be fairly doubted whether they were under- 
 stood by any. They were marked by intellectual 
 caste ; and this stamp had been put upon them 
 intentionally, in order to protect the prerogatives 
 of great minds, and to show the common mass of 
 men that they had no right to think. Neither the 
 system of the Stoics nor of the Epicureans could 
 have become universal. They were limited by 
 their very nature ; the former to a certain order of 
 
mind, and the latter to a certain moral or physical 
 temperament; and both of them entirely inappli- 
 cable, in all their parts and ramifications, to the 
 society or population of any country. Were we 
 to examine the speculations of any or every ancient 
 philosopher, trace out the various systems, examine 
 their origin, scrutinize their purposes or intentions, 
 and follow their progress to their final results, we 
 should arrive at this conclusion, that they were 
 never designed for the world at large, and being 
 adapted to a particular order of intellect, their 
 influence, whether good or bad, would be restrict- 
 ed to a small number of individuals wherever their 
 doctrines might be embraced. 
 
 By the side of these intellectual and moral 
 schemes, contemplate the character of the Gospel 
 in relation to the single feature of its adaptedness 
 to every order of mind. W hile some religions are 
 suited to the unlettered, and some to the cultivat- 
 ed, and while the same may be affirmed of certain 
 systems of philosophy and morals, the Bible 
 scheme is adapted to the intellect of every man. 
 No elevation of mind can rise above the sublimity 
 of its truths, no stretch of thought can go beyond 
 the vast reach of its purpose, no analytic powers 
 can detect a discordant element in its grand and 
 complicated system. It teaches the great man, 
 and makes him wiser and better. Time would 
 fail me, were I to attempt to enumerate the men 
 of mighty minds, the giants of the earth, who have 
 
16 
 
 towered above their fellows, as the oak above the 
 saplings of the forest, who, at the same time, have 
 acknowledged themselves indebted for their best 
 lessons of instruction, to the Bible. Boyle, of 
 whom it has been said, “To him we owe the 
 secrets of fire, air, water, animals, vegetables, fos- 
 sils, so that from his works may be deduced the 
 whole system of natural knowledge,” was in the 
 habit of reading this letter from heaven upon his 
 knees ; and Newton, that child-like sage, investi- 
 gated the wonders of revelation with an intensity 
 not less excited and profound, than that with which 
 he scanned the starry heavens, or passed his 
 measuring-line around the earth, or unbraided the 
 complicated tissue of light. 
 
 Nor was this communication from God made 
 for the instruction or entertainment of great minds 
 alone, but is equally adapted to the humble and 
 the unlettered. It is in ^revelation as in nature : 
 sublimity and simplicity are always united. The 
 same volume which furnishes the richest instruc- 
 tions to the sage, can be understood and enjoyed 
 witli as fine a relish by the husbandman who fol- 
 lows the plough, by the mechanic in his work- 
 shop, or by the child in the Sabbath-school. What 
 a vast variety, with respect to mental power and 
 acquirement, may be found in the ranks of believ- 
 ers ; and yet, gathered as they are from the four 
 winds of heaven, they all entertain essentially the 
 same views of the way of salvation, and have 
 
17 
 
 manifestly imbibed the same spirit. Indeed I may 
 add, what no one who has studied this subject can 
 have overlooked, that the Gospel, being designed 
 for a world as it is — a world in which the great 
 majority of its inhabitants are ignorant and unin- 
 structed, has been formed for the very purpose of 
 meeting this case. It is a revelation to the be- 
 nighted and the lowly. It teaches the sublimest 
 truths in such a manner that babes may under- 
 stand them, and inculcates the simplest with such 
 a heavenly elevation and pathos, that minds of the 
 largest compass and the profoundest thought are 
 instructed and delighted. 
 
 4. The Gospel counteracts sin in every possi- 
 ble condition. 
 
 Sin is the source of all the other evils which 
 prevail under the government of God ; and the 
 object of the coming of Christ, and the introduc- 
 tion and propagation of the Gospel, is the exter- 
 mination of this great evil from our world. The 
 Bible describes its nature, and tells us of its pre- 
 sent and future consequences. It holds up, in the 
 sun-light of eternal truth, its malignant features, 
 and, for an illustration of its fruits, points us to a 
 bleeding earth and a burning hell. The introduc- 
 tion of this evil into our world was the work of 
 Satan ; and “for this purpose the Son of God was 
 manifested that he might destroy the works of the 
 devil.” No other system of morals or religion 
 3 
 
13 
 
 has made an attack upon sin as such. Some par- 
 ticular sins have been denounced, and to a certain 
 extent, no doubt, counteracted by their practical 
 influence ; but it was reserved for the Gospel 
 alone to proclaim war against every sin, great and 
 small. It spares no man; it has no protecting 
 shield for the transgressor. It has no mantle of 
 charity to inwrap the sinner, and thus cover up 
 his true character as the enemy of God. It lays 
 the axe “at the root of the trees,” and hews down 
 the tall cedar as well as the withered bramble. 
 It condemns the sinning monarch in terms as un- 
 sparing and uncompromising as it does the sinning 
 beggar. For the city and the country, for the 
 refined and the ignoble, for Christian and for pagan 
 lands, there is but one law r — “Without holiness no 
 man shall see the Lord.” It has no respect to 
 age, station, learning, country, kindred, sex, fam- 
 ily, or profession in life, but bears testimony 
 against all who love and practise sin. 
 
 But the Gospel does something more than de- 
 scribe the nature of sin, and point out the present 
 and future woes which hang around a wicked 
 heart and life. It proposes a remedy. It would 
 relieve our sinful and suffering world from its ac- 
 cumulated evils by striking a death-blow at the 
 very root of all mischief. The Gospel is a scheme 
 contrived of God and revealed from heaven for the 
 removal of sin. It undertakes to make men happy 
 only by this process. It provides for the pardon 
 
19 
 
 of sin through the blood of the atonement ; and by 
 the instrumentality of truth, and the agency of the 
 Spirit, carries on, in the heart of the penitent and 
 believing sinner, a work of progressive sanctifica- 
 tion, which will be rendered perfect and triumphant 
 in heaven. And unless this effect can be produced, 
 of what use is any scheme of religion for such a 
 world as this ? A man may pass through a thou- 
 sand changes, and till he pass from death to life, 
 from sin to holiness, he wears his chains, and is on 
 the way to execution. The great curse is still on 
 him, and he must be miserable. Sin is uncancelled, 
 and he cannot be happy. Of what avail are the 
 stripes and lacerations which are self-inflicted by 
 the poor pagan ; or the austerities and penance of 
 the Romanist; or the fine speculations of the Uni- 
 tarian or the deist on the beauty of virtue and the 
 benevolence of God, while no radical change is 
 effected in the character ? Man is every where a 
 sinner ; and in all these human schemes and de- 
 vices there is no provision for the removal of this 
 fundamental evil. No system of religion, whatever 
 name it may wear, whether Christian or pagan, 
 can supply the moral demands of such a world as 
 ours, unless it commence with sin. Spare this 
 and you ruin the world. Leave this unprovided 
 for, and you shut forever the gate of heaven. 
 Omit this single item, and you open wide the door 
 of perdition. Strike out from your scheme the 
 provision for pardon and the power of sanctifica- 
 
20 
 
 tion, and you have a religion which can never be- 
 come universal, and would be of no use were it to 
 become universal, for it would bring no relief to a 
 sinful world. But such is not the Gospel of the 
 Son of God. 
 
 5. The Gospel is not dependent on any system 
 of human philosophy. 
 
 The Bible teaches “as one having authority, 
 and not as the scribes.” In narrating facts, it 
 records them as they are, and in their proper rela- 
 tions ; in the revelation of doctrines, it presents 
 them as fundamental truths which are to he ac- 
 credited, and makes no explanations of the former, 
 and enters into no reasonings respecting the latter. 
 It discloses facts and principles of which all men, 
 or the generality of men were before ignorant, or 
 in which, at least, they were but imperfectly in- 
 structed ; and there it leaves them. And there 
 these truths stand stereotyped forever, without 
 change of form or feature. The Gospel borrows 
 nothing from the reigning philosophy, for it has 
 nothing to decorate that it may attract the eyes of 
 men ; nothing to render palatable by courting the 
 popular taste ; nothing to explain, nothing to re- 
 concile. From the commencement to the close of 
 its communications to our world, though these 
 extend through more than fifteen centuries, and 
 were furnished by a large number of sacred pen- 
 men, it never loses sight of one fixed purpose, and 
 that is to tell men what truth is. And when this 
 
is done, its work is finished. Ft never comments 
 or philosophises upon its own production. Hence 
 the Bible, like its Author, has a kind of ubiquity, 
 and can live every where ; and, like him, it has a 
 perpetuity of existence, and is the same in every 
 age. Systems of human philosopliy may rise and 
 fall, and yet Bible truth flows on in a steady and 
 majestic stream, and not its surface is rippled by 
 the change. 
 
 In the interpretation of revealed truth, and in 
 the construction of human creeds and symbols, as 
 well as in all the systems of false religion, the 
 philosophy of the age, both intellectual and moral, 
 and perhaps I might add in some cases, natural 
 philosophy too, has exerted a very perceptible in- 
 fluence. This is what we might expect. If men 
 construct a religion, it must be of course a human 
 religion, and it will partake of human thoughts 
 and qualities. Men cannot beget angels. We 
 can hardly look upon one of these earthly produc- 
 tions without being able to detect its parentage ; 
 and to tell the age and country of its birth. The 
 same is the case, to some extent, of all human 
 symbols of the true religion. The creeds and 
 commentaries of each particular age and nation 
 embody much which belongs to that age and na- 
 tion. Indeed, we cannot expect it should be 
 otherwise ; for they are the productions of men, 
 and fathers generally live a second life in their 
 children. But the Bible occupies an independent 
 
22 
 
 position. It is the production of God. It depends 
 on no other system. It borrows nothing from any 
 other. Other systems live, flourish, wane, and 
 die; but this remains the same. It has already 
 survived, amidst the changing theories and specu- 
 lations of the world, almost six thousand years ; 
 and it is yet clad in all the freshness of its glory, 
 as it was in the day when it was born in heaven, 
 and sent down to the earth for our instruction. 
 Time has not whitened its locks, or palsied its 
 hand, or chilled its heart. Systems of philosophy 
 and modes of interpretation, one after another, 
 have gone down to the sepulchre, and are known 
 only in their epitaph ; but the Gospel lives, and is 
 powerful to save. Other systems which are 
 founded in error will in like manner pass away ; 
 but the religion of the Bible will never cease to 
 exist and act upon the world till all that God has 
 greatly purposed and kindly promised shall be fully 
 accomplished. Its truths may be tinged or obscur- 
 ed by a false philosophy, or by human specula- 
 tions, but this effect is local and temporary. 
 These things are no part of the system. The 
 Bible remains the same ; and, at another day, or 
 in another country, all is restored. Clouds and 
 mists may, in one hemisphere, or for a few days, 
 cover the face of the sun and shut out the light, 
 but the sun is not extinguished. He is always 
 shining somewhere ; and the clouds and mists of 
 all human theories will by and by be dissipated, 
 
23 
 
 and he will break forth, and in full-orbed radiance 
 shine every where. 
 
 6. The Gospel has no necessary connection 
 with any form of human government. 
 
 The Bible acknowledges the right and sanctions 
 the powers and prerogatives of civil government ; 
 but it does not prescribe any particular form. The 
 most that is said on this subject in the New Tes- 
 tament, is rather incidental than direct; and is 
 addressed principally to Christians, enjoining it 
 upon them to be peaceful subjects of whatever 
 government may happen to exist. The following 
 are specimens : “ Let every soul be subject unto 
 the higher powers. For there is no power but of 
 God : the powers that be, are ordained of God. 
 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth 
 the ordinance of God ; and they that resist, shall 
 receive to themselves damnation.” And again : 
 “ Render therefore to all their dues : tribute to 
 whom tribute is due ; custom to whom custom ; 
 fear to whom fear ; honor to whom honor.” It is 
 also said, “ Submit yourselves to every ordinance 
 of man for the Lord’s sake : whether it be to the 
 king, as supreme ; or unto governors, as unto them 
 that are sent by him for the punishment of evil- 
 doers, and for the praise of them that do well.” 
 
 This language is accommodated to the existing 
 governments of the apostolic age ; but the spirit 
 of these precepts may be applied with equal pro- 
 priety to any and every form of civil and political 
 
24 
 
 institutions. Had the Gospel assumed any other 
 ground than this, it would have been fatal to its 
 prospects as designed for a universal religion. If 
 any one form had been selected and approved, and 
 others condemned, it would have converted the 
 message of heaven into a political proclamation, 
 and all nations, except those whose institutions 
 might have received its approval, would have armed 
 themselves against its approach. It would have 
 been met and repelled with the same spirit with 
 which men are accustomed to meet and repel in- 
 vading fleets and armies. 
 
 That the Gospel is friendly to the rights of man 
 and the liberties of the world, is a proposition too 
 obvious to need proof. The influence of this sys- 
 tem, wherever it is cordially received, is felt upon 
 every great interest of society — upon the people 
 and upon the government. It will show itself 
 upon the legislation of a country — upon the char- 
 acter and the execution of its laws — and in various 
 ways, and by pervading and controlling influences 
 peculiar to itself, destroy oppression, and diffuse 
 and protect equal rights among men. It makes 
 good citizens and good rulers, without interfering 
 directly either with the form or administration of 
 government. 
 
 It was owing to this characteristic of the Gospel 
 that the first heralds of the cross gained access 
 with their message to every country, notwithstand- 
 ing the peculiar jealousies of the age respecting 
 
25 
 
 international communication; and though often 
 accused of treason, they were never convicted of 
 the charge. And it was on this principle that, 
 without an attack upon any political institution, 
 they introduced a train of moral causes which have 
 greatly modified and well nigh revolutionized the 
 governments of the civilized world. And it is on 
 the same principle that modern missionaries might 
 be permitted to go every where, and freely and 
 fully proclaim their message, without any alarm 
 on the part of existing governments. Indeed, 
 this is the prevailing temper of the reigning powers 
 of the earth at this moment. And in those cases 
 where Christian missions are excluded by the laws 
 of the land, their enactments are either founded 
 on ignorance of the real objects of the enterprise, 
 or, as is more generally the fact, are designed to 
 protect some false system of religion, which has 
 become publicly wedded to the state, and which, 
 every one must know, would inevitably fall before 
 the powers of the Gospel. 
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 1. The religion of the Bible must be true. 
 
 It cannot be the product of the human mind. 
 Its adaptation to the complicated circumstances — 
 to the wants, the sins, and the miseries of the 
 whole world, and that, too, through every period 
 4 
 
26 
 
 of its existence, is peculiar to itself, and has a 
 parallel in no other system. This one property of 
 the Gospel would require a greater compass of 
 thought and stretch of ingenuity, a more intimate 
 knowledge of facts, a clearer perception of causes 
 and effects, and final results — of existing evils and 
 their infallible remedies, than belong to the finite 
 mind. You have only to compare the religion of 
 the Bible with other systems, and you discern the 
 difference between God’s work and man’s. The 
 one undertakes only to provide for what is limited 
 to time and place ; the other, dispensing with ages 
 and localities, takes a broad sweep, like the mind 
 of its Author, and actually provides for what al- 
 ways exists, and is every where to be found. 
 
 There is not an individual religion of paganism 
 among the nameless varieties that fill the world ; 
 not a speculation of ancient or modern philosophy ; 
 not a thought in the vedas or shasters of the Hin- 
 doos ; not a disclosure in the koran, the pretended 
 revelation of Mohammed ; not a system of error, 
 or any part of a system, in any age or country, 
 but might be the production of the human intel- 
 lect and heart, and would ever be likely to be, in 
 the same existing circumstances. But I ask, who 
 but God could make the Bible ? I speak now 
 only of its adaptedness to the purpose for which it 
 was intended. What eye but that which surveys 
 the world at a glance, and beholds all nations, 
 with their multifarious ills and complicated wants, 
 
27 
 
 as they are, and reads with intuitive certainty the 
 moral pulsation of every heart, could see far 
 enough, and wide enough, and deep enough, for 
 such a work? What but the all-comprehensive 
 mind could devise a religious system, humble in 
 its grandeur and majestic in its simplicity, which 
 should be equally applicable to men in every na- 
 tion and every age : which has power to reclaim 
 the heart and control the life ; to disarm the 
 world of its enmity against God ; to restore the 
 wanderer ; raise the disconsolate ; and light up a 
 smile on the pale cheek of death ? Surely this is 
 no common undertaking? There is but one Being 
 who ever thought of doing it ; and the volume 
 that reveals this purpose has, written deeply and 
 indelibly upon its sacred page, the signature of 
 God. 
 
 2. The Gospel will finally prevail. 
 
 This might be inferred with great certainty 
 from the fact, or the admission, that God is its 
 author. If he constructed the scheme, it was with 
 some object in view ; for some great and worthy 
 purpose. The sins, and tears, and death-groans 
 of our world had gone up to heaven, and God had 
 fixed his heart on man’s redemption. For this he 
 formed the plan, sent his Son, accepted the sacri- 
 fice of his blood, and made, in his name, proclama- 
 tion of pardon and peace to this great family of 
 rebels. And shall not this plan go into full effect? 
 Will the great Architect leave his noble edifice 
 
28 
 
 half finished ? “ God is not man, that he should 
 
 lie ; neither the son of man, that he should repent. 
 Hath he said it, and shall he not do it? Or hath 
 he spoken, and shall he not make it good ?” Hear 
 his own declaration ; “ The Lord hath made bare 
 his holy arm in the eyes of all nations : and all the 
 ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our 
 God.” His purpose is clearly expressed, and 
 every jot and tittle shall be accomplished. 
 
 For the renovation of this world, we are not to 
 forget that God has adopted a system of agencies 
 suited to the object to be accomplished. The 
 Gospel is not a dead letter, but “ the power of 
 God, and the wisdom of God.” It embodies in 
 itself the most effective moral influences which 
 operate any where in the vast empire of God. It 
 was contrived for a world in the ruins of sin, and 
 it is the master-piece of Jehovah — the concentra- 
 tion of all that is wise and. magnificent in heaven. 
 It is just what the dying millions of our world 
 need. It can reach and save them. Its appeals 
 are such as human minds and hearts can compre- 
 hend and feel. It comes home to “the business 
 and bosoms” of men with a conviction and pathos 
 with which no other system is armed. Every 
 blow it strikes in our world, is felt upon some 
 interest, and tells upon its final destiny. And 
 securing, as it does, in the hands of a faithful 
 ministry and a praying church, the presence and 
 power of the Spirit of God, it will go forth in its 
 
29 
 
 strength to the conquest of the world. And what 
 shall stay the progress of that scheme of grace and 
 restoration which God has constructed — which is 
 adapted to man any where and every where — 
 which has already gathered the first-fruits of the 
 coming harvest — which has saved its millions in 
 ages past — which is saving its tens of millions in 
 the present age, and in reference to the faithful 
 administration of which by his devoted servants, 
 Christ himself has said, “Lo, I am with you 
 alway, even unto the end of the world ?” 
 
 3. They who possess the Gospel should do all 
 they can to communicate it to others. 
 
 This subject makes an appeal to Christians 
 which they must not, cannot resist. The Gospel, 
 my brethren, has been committed to us, and there 
 is no aspect in which this matter can be viewed 
 which does not urge, in the tenderest and most 
 powerful manner, our duty and our responsibility 
 upon us. We have the very scheme of mercy 
 which the world needs, and without which the 
 w orld must perish. And this dearest gift of heaven 
 was put into our hands, not that we should im- 
 prison or chain it, but that we should, to the very 
 last stretch of our power, give to it “the wings of 
 the morning,” and bid it fly to the uttermost parts 
 of the earth. The wants of our dying world, the 
 nature of the Gospel, the command of heaven, the 
 principle of benevolence, the pledge of success, 
 the seal of God upon all past efforts, and the 
 
30 
 
 cheering aspect of this heaven-born enterprise of 
 missions, all — all urge us to stand up like men 
 upon whom the vows of God rest, to whom the 
 eyes of perishing millions are directed, and whose 
 hearts have taken hold on the interests of eternity, 
 and then do as Christ and conscience would have 
 us. God has opened wide the door of the world 
 before us. The unevangelized millions of the 
 earth feel, at this moment, more deeply than they 
 ever felt, their need of the Gospel and its attend- 
 ing institutions, and its consequent moral, literary, 
 social, and political blessings. And can we go 
 back, or even stand still, when we contemplate 
 what God has already permitted us to do, or has 
 kindly done by us, in the work of making the 
 world what he would have it ? Let the American 
 Board and American Christians look at things as 
 they are — at their eighty missionary stations, 
 which appear as so many "cultivated spots scatter- 
 ed here and there through the deep and dense 
 wilderness of paganism — at their 478 foreign and 
 native laborers, whose toils have already beautified 
 these gardens of God — at their 10,810 reclaimed 
 wanderers who have taken shelter in the bosom 
 of the church the last year — at their twenty-four 
 boarding-schools, with their 807 pupils — at their 
 415 free schools, with their 21,606 little inmates 
 praying for instruction, — and then ask, shall this 
 work cease ? Shall another midnight succeed this 
 dawning day ? This is the time and this the place 
 
31 
 
 to settle this question. Oh, let us lift our stream- 
 ing eyes and bleeding hearts to heaven, and, with 
 a simple reliance on God, say this work must not 
 cease. 
 
 We, my Christian friends, are engaged in an 
 enterprise that honors God and blesses men ; an 
 enterprise in which the angels might wish to bear 
 even an humble part — the progress of which is 
 intensely gazed upon by all the good on earth and 
 all the perfected in glory, and the completion of 
 which will fill the world with songs of blessedness, 
 and heaven with shouts of endless triumph. 
 
 May God inspire us for this work, and take the 
 glory to himself ; Amen and Amen. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
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