Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][ocr errors]

A very slight attention to the history of the propagation of Christia nity, from the day of the gift of tongues, to the present period, is fully sufficient to prove, that the adoption of its creed is usually attended with a desire to propagate the several tenets of which it is constructed. The long lapse of nearly twenty centuries, during which time the kingdoms of men have undergone various changes, has not weakened the strength of Christian faith, or reduced to less intensity the fire with which the sacrifices, it has demanded, have been consumed. Although THE CREED itself has, according to the various views of the different ages, been subjected to many modifications, and the penalties of its infraction been more or less severely exacted, as the temper of bigotry has been more or less inflexible and sanguinary, still the thermometer of Christian zeal, in propagating the tenets of faith, has almost always maintained the same degree of temperature, and the volume of no age or generation has been folded up, without strong characters being impressed upon it, of the self-denial, the self-inflictions, the labours and atchievements of pious militants. The age when "carnal weapons" were employed in this sacred cause, to enforce its recognition upon the consciences of men, is declared, in the pride of modern wisdom, to have passed away, and is succeeded by another, the liberality of which permits the less violent but not the less potent weapon of argumentative persuasion. There have been times when the Church militant, under the banner of the cross, might have vied with the knights of the crescent in the application of its physical energies and armed hosts to the work of converting an infidel race from the darkness of heathenisin to the lights of truth, and the worship of the one deity. But that work was contemporary with the wisdom of our ancestors. Our age has advanced to a more enlightened sphere, in which new modes, for the application of power, have been discovered, in the use of which less preparation is necessary, while the effects are apparently less uncertain. Missionary zeal is the same now that it was in former ages; but its operations are conducted on different principles, and with less depredations committed upon the lives of the obstinate. The expenditure is as large and prodigal as ever, but items of a very different nature make up the page of disbursements.

The desire of proselytism is undefined; for this the globe has no limitations, and the ardour with which it pursues the one great object in view, spurns, with equal contempt, all moral and physical impediments. To the apostles of the cross the stormy seas, the icy regions of the north, the intense heat of the torrid zone, the scattered islands of the southern ocean, are all attempted with equal fortitude and indifference to life-their motto is "let sea and land be compassed to make even one proselyte." Such is the value of one soul; and its salvation depends so entirely upon his hearing and believing the Gospel, that, were he situated in some remote and solitary region of the earth, accessible by paths the most difficult and dangerous, all the wealth that ever was, or yet can be, dug from the bowels of this habitable orb, would be a willing

disbursement, and "the people of every tongue and name" would discharge but a scanty portion of their duty to the cause of humanity and the glory of the cross, were they, in one simultaneous movement, to embark with the message of light and life, to offer him that hope, which, according to the theology of the age, can only be founded upon the knowledge of the Christian revelation! This is the sentiment which warms, and animates, and thrills the hearts of the modern missionary. Country and kindred, all those tender sympathies from which flows so much that renders this life delicious, and binds us to it, are at once cast away from the affections of the heart, under the imperious and inflexi, ble rule of the self-denying principle, and become, as he mingles with strange beings, in distant climes, like the faint impressions of a dream "when one awaketh."

The Missionaries, within the last fifty years, have, particularly in Asiatic territories, fully exemplified the principle, that "faith without works is dead;" that a simple belief in the plenary inspiration and divinity of the Scriptures is not enough; but this belief must be combined with that characteristic benevolence which exerts itself to bring the whole erratic race of the posterity of Adam, to one particular form of divine worship, and to the subjection of one particular system of religious tenets. Formerly, the Church of Rome poured forth her wealth, and sacrificed her apostles upon the altar of missionary zeal; then succeeded the Protestant Reformed Church, to similar acts of disinterested devotion to the supposed claims of an ignorant and benighted world; after whom followed the Dissenters, less tenacious of forms, but directing the point of their spiritual weapon to the hearts and consciences of men. But here must drop the fruit of my meditations, while I proceed to the following narrative, which has lately been put into my possession, by the person whom it most nearly concerns.

It was during the administration of Lord Minto, that formidable obstacles were thrown in the way of missionaries in this country. Their interference with the religious prejudices of the natives, was viewed with an eye of suspicion by the conquerors of India, and it was apprehended that all attempts to convert their sable subjects from a religion which had its foundation in the impenetrable depths of antiquity, to the principles of Christianity, the profession of which, in their own country, was enforced by the most cogent considerations, would tend to weaken the foundation of their nascent dominion, and in the end subvert the hopes of political intrigue, and commercial speculation. Notwithstanding the precarious footing on which the heralds of the Cross found themselves placed, on their arrival upon these shores, on account of the arbitrary rules which the Government applied to interlopers, their hearts were not the less resolute, or their zeal the less ardent.

It was when the nobleman above-named presided over the councils of this country, that a few students in a theological institution, situated in one of the states of America, experienced the first kindling emotions of missionary desire, and the distant glories which they would necessarily reap either in martyrdom or success, in eastern climes, presented brighter attractions to their spiritual ambition, than would await

« ForrigeFortsæt »