LETTER VI.

THE OFFICE OF THE MISSIONARY COMPARED WITH THE MINISTRY AT HOME.

My dear Friend,

COMPARISONS, it is said, are invidious; but, as the christian world tacitly makes comparisons, forms its own divisions, and acts accordingly, it cannot be unfair to bring such things under review. If there is reason to suspect that in any one instance popular opinion rests upon insufficient groundsthat the things compared, and concerning which a judgment is formed, are seen through a medium that distorts their proportions, and imparts to them a shade and colour which do not belong to them; the interests of truth require an exposure of the deception, and an exhibition of the things as they

are.

Comparisons have been, and will be, made between the ministerial or pastoral, and missionary offices; but if this be done in the way of exalting one against another, there is utterly a fault among them who do so. There ought to be no strife which of them should be accounted the greater. Pastors at home, and missionaries abroad, are

"brethren"-servants of the same Master, employed in essentially the same service, although very different spheres of exertion are assigned to them. The offices have many things in common, although each calls for the exercise of appropriate gifts; and the reward of every faithful servant of Christ, whatever may have been his station in the church, will be the crown of glory that fadeth not away. If those crowns, like the stars, differ in glory, the brightest will not be given to those who have been greatest in their own eyes, but to those who have most humbly, most faithfully, and most devotedly served their Lord in the work allotted them.

It is therefore to be regretted, that there exists so strong a prejudice with many against the missionary character, and that there is such a tendency to depreciate evangelical labours in a heathen, below similar labours in a christian country. But on the other hand, far be it from me to sanction an error, not less unjustifiable than the one against which these remarks are pointed ;-the error of exalting the missionary at the expense of the stated minister of a christian congregation at home. Some ministers eminent for learning, piety, and abundant labour, are in the habit (it must be supposed from real humility) of extolling the man who becomes a missionary above all due bounds; they speak of shrinking from the comparison with men of such fortitude, zeal, &c. They almost rank some living missionaries with

apostles, and deceased missionaries with martyrs. Now, however graceful and humble all this may sound from the lips of a minister eminent for his gifts, and perhaps venerable for his age, it seems to me to be an infringement of the rule to think and speak soberly both of ourselves and others, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Let it not be thought, then, from the remarks that follow, that I wish to raise the missionary above his fellow-labourers in the gospel at home. My object is simply to state some of the difficulties the missionary has to contend with-difficulties which are peculiar to him; and, if felt at all, felt but in an inferior degree by a minister surrounded by a professing christian population.

In the case of the missionary, there are difficulties arising from the peculiarity of his situation as a man and a foreigner. And there are other difficulties directly affecting his success, arising from the state of the materials he has to work upon. To begin with the first.

The epidemic malady of human nature is seen in the heathen world in all its inveteracy. It there rages with uncontrolled force, and seems to be beyond remedy, as it certainly is beyond the reach of any means of human devising for its cure. In countries where the influence of christianity is felt, the symptoms of the malady are often greatly alleviated. It puts on a much less dis

malignant a character as he would represent— that they have the means of cure in their own hand-that their own physicians know cheap and easy methods of preventing its bad effects, while his are irksome in the extreme-such as they will never submit to-and that they will rather die than use them. Interest and passion, and love of all that is evil, will combine to scout the pretended dealer; and perhaps the diseased state of his own countrymen will be pointed at as proof of the inefficacy of his medicine, and the falsehood of all his pretensions.

But

There are difficulties in the way of success arising from the moral state of the people. they are not insuperable, because the gospel is mighty through God, to pull down the strong holds of Satan. Have we not seen that the strongest and proudest bulwarks, by sinners deemed impregnable, have fallen down flat before the sound of the gospel, as did the walls of Jericho by means apparently as contemptible? Even in circumstances deemed the most favourable, nothing less than the exertion of the same almighty power could effect the overthrow of Satan's empire in the soul; and in the most unfavourable, nothing more is necessary. But the state of a people characterized by an universal degradation of feeling, sentiment, and practice-exhibits the general difficulty under a most discouraging aspect, and requires on the part of the men who would

attempt to raise them from their moral prostration to the level upon which Christianity places its disciples, strong faith, and fervent zeal, and unwearied patience, and persevering diligence, and, as the life of all other duties, and the sustainer of all other right dispositions—a spirit of prayer. These qualities and graces are required in every minister, but missionaries should possess them in a sevenfold degree.

To attempt a full illustration of the difficulties of the missionary work would neither be a pleasing nor a profitable task. Many of the specific forms which the depravity of the heart assumes in heathen countries are local, and others are temporary-such as caste in India; and contempt of all people but themselves, and of all customs but their own, in China. But passing these, I shall just notice one or two things as specimens of the outworks which, in many parts of the heathen world, protect the empire of Satan, established there, from the threatened invasion of Christian missionaries. The political relations of pagan countries, the civil condition of the people, and the whole structure of society present so many points of resistance to every attempt to make an inroad upon them. Their religion, or if you will, their superstition, and their civil polity, are in many instances so interwoven, that the one cannot be assailed without striking a blow at the other. The sovereigns and chiefs of many pagan nations are the spiritual as well as the civil heads of the com

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