In no period since the times of the apostles, have christians been urged by stronger motives to engage in the work of missions, than are those of the present day. What numerous doors are open! what facilities are furnished for spreading knowledge! what means of multiplying power! what wide and inviting fields are ready for the harvest! and what a remarkable combination of events, have roused our church at large, to engage in the enterprise! In the year 1807, a young man left the University of this city, professedly a Deist. Having been induced to commence a resolute examination of the evidences of christianity, his conversion was the consequence. Longing then to spread the gospel in some Pagan land, he sailed for India on his heavenly errand. While on his way, being earnestly engaged in studying the bible, prayerfully and anew, in order to ascertain the will of God, as to the proper mode of building up the church on heathen ground, he was led to embrace our doctrines touching the constitution of the church. He then appealed to us for co-operation. church heard the call, concerted measures for his support, and sent him many helpers. Since then she has lifted up her eyes, looked upon the world as the field of her labor, and is seeking to send broadcast over it the good seed of the word. Mr. Judson, our first missionary, still The lives, surrounded with many converts and fellow-workers, and our Board of Missions have now under their care, 66 stations. Of these 15 are among the Indian tribes of America, 16 in Europe, 2 in Africa, and 33 in Asia. These embrace 45 churches containing 2000 members, 68 schools containing 1500 pupils, and there are connected with them 106 missionaries and assistants, 43 of whom are preachers. Important, however, as is missionary zeal springing from love to truth and goodness, we are called upon by the voice of the Divine Spirit, the voice of his word, and the voice of the universal church, to cherish in connexion with it, an enlarged and cordial spirit of christian union. It is not a documentary union of sects of which we speak, which in the present state of the world is not practicable, and which if it were, would accomplish but little good. It is not any visible fellowship produced by laying our scruples of conscience as a sacrifice on the altar of uniformity. It is a union of spirit; that which Jesus desired that his followers might so exhibit as to make an impression on the world of the holy power of his religion; that which he inculcated when he rebuked his disciples for opposing one, who did good in his name without being united to their visible association. Notwithstanding the collisions of ecclesiastical 66 bodies, many signs indicate that the hearts of christians at large, are throbbing with desire for a holier and firmer union than has heretofore existed. It is breathed more often from the lips' of prayer, it is uttered from the pulpit, proclaimed by the press, and now and then developed in some new plan of union." It is an auspicious omen. It is a mark of progress. It is a natural result of the freedom of religion. It might justly be expected, where truth " is not bound," where discussion has full scope, that in process of time there would be diffused among christians a more accurate knowledge of each other's position, and that thence there would be awakened a deeper sense of those inward affinities which are far stronger bonds than any outward formularies. For ourselves we have no new plan of union to propose. We believe in none. But we have firm faith in the workings of a free christianity to produce that enlargedness of heart, that regard for the right of private judgment, that respect for mental independence, that candor, courtesy, and love of truth, from which a real and enduring union will arise. We cannot legislate it into being. Only let us as christians develope in action the principles that are common to us, think more of our points of agreement than of difference, respect each other's liberty, declare our opinions frankly and fraternally, and "as far as we have attained walk by the same rule and mind the same thing," and then will the Saviour's prayer for the oneness of the faithful already have been fulfilled in us, and the elements of a union will have begun to germinate which will expand into a more beauteous bloom, and ripen into richer harvests of enduring fruit, in proportion to the increase of light, the progress of society, and the advance of a christian civilization. Full as we are of hope for the future, confident that goodness rules the universe, that the Almighty is carrying forward a profound plan to a glorious issue, which shall make known even in heavenly places his manifold wisdom, it is a natural wish that we could live to see the effects of various causes now at work, on the destinies of men. At such a moment we are touched with a fresh and vivid sense of the shortness of life. How brief the space allotted to us here! Yet the wish to live, though it spring from an interest in the fortunes of our race, pertains to the weakness and the childhood of our nature, not to its manly wisdom. The religion of Christ discloses to us higher relations and brighter scenes than those which engage us now, in which, however, our sympathies with mankind shall not cease. We are following fast in the track of departed generations. Our destinies will soon be linked with those, whose names we have celebrated, whose actions we have praised or censured, and who are now reaping the results of those elements of weal or wo, which were here at work in the formation of their character. The thought is apt to cast over the soul a shade of melancholy, which, however, prepares it to feel the truth, that it should be our great care on earth to leave some substantial proof that we have not lived in vain, that thus each of us, here and hereafter, "An angel's happiness may know ; May bless the earth while in the world above. In many a branching stream, and wider grow." |