borough, a Bacon, or a Locke. And the world has produced but one Columbus from creation to the present hour.*

What the faculties of men are capable of bringing forth, when properly unfolded, perhaps we are incompetent to decide. We can only estimate from what has been, and this method seems to be our surest guide. But certain it is, that the faculties must be unfolded, before the individual can commence the man. This can only be done, by introducing civilization among those who are now in a savage state, or sunk in barbarism which is divided from it only by a few diminutive shades. Civilization always flourishes most where the gospel is preached in its purity; and therefore we may justly infer, that nothing can be so happily calculated, even in a national and commercial point of view, to effect the happy purpose, as the establishment of the gospel in the uncivilized and barbarous countries of the world.

But when from the political motives we turn our views, as ministers of the gospel, or as Christians, to the eternal welfare of these benighted fragments of human nature, the subject bursts upon us in all its greatness. God has placed us in a situation superior in this view to any nation of the earth; and has given us the temporal power and spiritual ability, to carry the gospel into distant lands; he has impressed us with its importance, and therefore requires us on this awful point to make our own reflections.

Perhaps we may presume to add evon to Columbus himself, though in an inferior point of view, our very great navigator Captain Cook.

CHAP. IV.

GENERAL SURVEY OF MISSIONS.

The necessity of sending the gospel into foreign parts—missionaries sent from Spain to the West Indies, to the East Indies, and to South America-the Danes send a Protestant mission to the East Indies-great French mission to China. Progress, zenith, decline, failure and sufferings of the missionaries-causes which conspired to defeat the designs of the mission.

A Protestant mission first sent from England by the Incorporated Society in London-origin of the society-the mission proves in general rather unsuccessful in its object, but ultimately benefi cial-the Moravians send missions into every quarter of the globe. -Methodist missionaries first introduced into Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, the United States of America, the West Indies, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland-success of the Baptist missionaries, and of the fol lowers of Mr. Whitefield-happy effects resulting from the joint exertions of all.

FROM the preceding chapters, in which the reader may dis

cover human nature in its deplorable state of savage degradation, we proceed to state a few of the most important particulars, which relate to those methods which have been adopted, for the civilization and conversion of those outcasts of society that are scattered through different regions of the globe.

The means which have hitherto been deemed most available, and most likely to produce those salutary effects, have been to establish missions among those tribes who were sunk in heathenish darkness, and given up to the grossest kinds of idolatry. In some cases these efforts have failed; and in others they have been crowned with much success. If however these missionary endeavours have experienced defeats in distant portions of the world, they have generally carried with them the causes of their failure. They have sometimes been so incorporated in their establishment, with secular affairs and the pecuniary interests of designing men, that the primary designs have been forgotten. At other times, though undertaken from the purest motives, the welfare of the ignorant savage has been trampled under foot; and the religion of Jesus Christ has been used as an instrument of traffic, or a passport to robbery, instead of being made the medium of salvation.

That some of these cases have occurred in the eastern regions of the globe, the following pages of this chapter will fully prove: and that plunder and devastation engrossed the place of true religion in the early settlement of the West Indies, the massacre of the natives and the plunder of their territories will not permit us to entertain a moment's doubt. And that this degeneracy of spirit, to which the failure of missions may justly be ascribed, has awfully prevailed over the continent of South America, let the history of that extensive but unhappy country decide.

That the good and gracious Being who governs the universe, is infinite both in his power and wisdom, will not admit of a moment's doubt. He can therefore accomplish his divine purposes either with means or without them, as that infinite power shall direct, and that infinite wisdom shall see meet. But the ordinary method which God adopts for the accomplishing of his designs, is through the instrumentality of means.

The selection of those means must be made by his power and wisdom; and in all his actions he adapts the methods which he chooses, to the great end which he has in view. On this ground he has been pleased to propagate the truths of Christianity, through the medium of those individuals to whom he had previously made known his will. He selects them to sustain a character that shall be suitable to their profession, and makes use of every method to convince them that all their sufficiency is of him. While they sustain that character, he engages to support them; and never abandons them, till they first abandon him. He crowns their endeavours with success, while they act with conscientious rectitude; and frustrates their designs, when they degenerate into base and sordid views.

Admitting, therefore, that God selects his instruments for the propagation of Christianity from those individuals and nations to which he has previously revealed his will, how can the Christian nations of Europe acquit themselves to God, while they enjoy with ungrateful supineness the light of the gospel, and refuse to disseminate it through the idolatrous nations of the earth! Can they, as nations, justify their conduct, while they withhold the exercise of that power, which God, for compassionate purposes, has placed in their hands?

Nor will the duty appear less conspicuous, if, from the obligations which we feel ourselves under, we turn our views to the deplorable condition of the Indian and other savage tribes. From these views new considerations offer themselves before Ms, and claim an interest in our most serious thoughts. For though we grant, that, through the infinite compassion of God, the condition of these savage nations may not be so desperate, as to exclude them individually from that tender mercy which

is over all his works, yet we cannot doubt that their situation is very dangerous.

Their condition resembles that of men, who wander through a pathless and inhospitable desert, without protection and without a guide; and who are obliged to grope their way in darkness, through bogs and morasses which teem with destruction, towards some place of safety which they do not understand, and which lies in a direction which they do not comprehend. Or if we survey their situation in another light, it is like that of helpless mariners, who are placed in the middle of an immense ocean, without a helm, without a compass, and without any knowledge either of the distance or bearing of the port of their destination; the sport of adverse winds, and of all the dangers of the hostile deep. If we view them in either case, their state is deplorable; in the former instance destruction is attendant on every step; and in the latter it waits upon every wave that heaves, and every breeze that blows. In both cases their preservation is possible, in the midst of surrounding hazards; but it can only be ascribed, in either, to a miracle which we cannot comprehend. Yet such is the situation of the benighted savages, in a moral view, in the various nations of the world; and such has been their case in all the preceding ages which have elapsed!

Can we then behold them in this deplorable condition while we enjoy the light of the gospel, and refuse to extend towards them the hand of brotherly love? Can we partake of those privileges which the gospel affords, and learn, through the sacred influences of divine grace "to know him whom to know is eternal life," and yet feel no compassion for our fellow-creatures? Surely such conduct is totally impossible; it is forbidden by every feature of the gospel; and the overtures of salvation assure us that it cannot be.

Divine grace is of a diffusive nature. It urges its real possessors to spread the sacred flame which glows in the soul, through every region of human nature, till "Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God." It enlarges the views of all the sincere followers of Jesus Christ; and infuses into their bosoms an earnest desire, "that all may know him from the least unto the greatest; that he may bring his sons from afar, and his daughters from the ends of the earth."

From these circumstances we may therefore infer, that our own condition as Christians, and theirs as savages, conspire to urge the necessity of their conversion to God. As people possessing the means of grace, it is a duty incumbent on us, that we make use of every exertion to promote that important end. As men in a state of nature, they have a claim upon our bene

volence which we dare not deny; and humanity and public interest lend their assistance to urge the demand.

The negligences which have marked the conduct of our progenitors, can afford no apology for our omission. The ages that are passed, are placed beyond the reach of mortals; and the generations of former years are sunk into eternity; but millions of idolaters and savages still remain. And though the original natives of the Windward and Leeward islands have little more than a name remaining, yet their stations are occupied by a race of men, whose situation is nearly similar in a moral view. Their condition unfolds an extensive scene of intellectual darkness, and they lay claim to that benevolence which policy and humanity, as well as justice and Christianity solicit us to bestow.

From those sketches which have been given in the preceding chapters, of the original inhabitants of the West India Islands, when they were first discovered by Columbus, it appears that their moral condition was truly deplorable. They were sunk in vice, and their Creator was to them" an unknown God." The strange conceptions which they formed of him, were blotted with deformity, and were derogatory to his honour. They were founded in their own sensual views, and rather calculated to lead the half-enlightened mind to doubt his existence, than to awaken within it the enlivening sensations of gratitude, adoration, and love.

From this condition of the natives, the steps which were at first taken by Ferdinand the Vth appear to have proceeded from genuine policy. His design was to establish colonies among them, and incorporate them with his own native subjects; to avail himself of their resources, while he improved their condition; and to introduce among them the various arts which embellish life. To accomplish these ends it was necessary that civilization should be introduced among them, and nothing was so likely to establish civilization as the introduction of Christianity. Hence he adopted the salutary measure of sending missionaries to these benighted people; to diffuse the light of the gospel among them, as a needful step to the permanent establishment of civilization, and to pave the way for those various arts which are necessary to the security of society. He considered this as the only method which could lay a rational foundation, and afford any hope of success; being fully assured that between civilization and Christianity there was an inseparable connexion.

These blessings must have been attended with habits of industry; they must have begotten a relish for those delights,