This intellectual greatness, in its widest sense, signifies a mind of large general powers. This forms what is termed a man of talents. Where fancy and the creative faculty are strongly marked, and there is a powerful bias towards some particular pursuit, with a singular aptitude for its prosecution, this combination is designated-genius. It may be more fully defined as that lofty capacity of thought through which the soul, smitten with an intense love of knowledge, attempts to coinprehend the universe,—diving into the arcana of its own being, ascending the heavens, penetrating the earth, investigating the past, speculating upon the future,-and labours to ascertain the analogies, affinities, and relations of objects, together with the general laws and properties of matter. It may further be described, in one of its sprightliest aspects, as that power which, not fully satisfied with things as they exist, frames to itself new forms of ideal excellence, loveliness, and grandeur This is the greatness which belongs to philosophers, poets, and adepts in the fine arts.* It will hence appear that mere intellectual greatness has in it nothing moral. Considered simply in itself, apart from its operations, it does not entitle him who is its subject to any praise. Praise and blame have, properly, no existence separate from morals, which depend not on what men are, as manifestations of the Creator's power; but upon what they do, as subjects of his government. It is with mind as with body, a giant frame may excite fear and admiration; but who is so weak and ignorant as to laud a man on the ground of his bulk and stature? That over which we have no control-whether it appertain to our intellectual or our physical nature-can form no element of our moral character, and, consequently, is a matter with which the moral sense cannot deal either in approval or in condemnation. Volition is equally

* See Channing's Napoleon, p. 40.

essential to virtue and to vice; and the moment that man ceases to be a free agent, he ceases to be a moral one. Responsibility ends, where necessity begins. It ought to be repeated and urged till it be understood and felt by the whole civilized world, that, whatever may be a man's genius or talents, it is not the possession, but the use of them, that lays the foundation of his title to moral approbation. On this ground it is that we put in claims so high for the Christian missionary. The virtue of his deeds arises, in no small measure, from the manifold and multiform sacrifices and perils at which they are performed. This single consideration entitles them, as moral acts, to a place of the first distinction; but, when we add the love of God, of Christ, and of men, and the results, in relation to both worlds, which flow from missionary labours, they are at once raised as high above all other kinds of benefit and benevolent exertion as the heavens above the earth! I am afraid I shall be deemed enthusiastic in this point, and carried away by excessive zeal for the honour of my friend. Let us, then, look a little more closely at the subject of moral greatness.

What is moral greatness? With respect to the nature of this quality, there is a remarkable concurrence between the prince of the Roman classics and the writers of the Sacred Scriptures. The following is Cicero's definition, which you will excuse my translating for the general reader. "A really brave and great mind is chiefly discerned in two things; the first of which consists in contempt for external objects, from a conviction that a man ought neither to wish, nor to admire, nor to pursue any thing which is not honourable and becoming; and that, in doing this, he should succumb to no man, neither to passion, nor to fortune. The second is, that when he has arrived at such a state of mind as I have just described, he should perform actions not only of great magnitude, and abounding in

utility, but also attended with extreme difficulty, requiring the utmost labour, and fraught with the most imminent peril to life, as well as to a multitude of objects appertaining to it. The whole splendour and dignity, and, I may add, utility attaching to these two things, arise from the latter; but the efficient cause in producing great men is in the former.* For therein lies the principle which elevates men's souls, and leads them to despise earthly considerations."+ Had it been the orator's object to frame a description of moral greatness which should include the distinguishing features of the missionary character, which should set forth the nature of the missionary enterprise, with its tendencies towards the human race, he could hardly have been more successful. But while it embraces the elements of the missionary's character, and exhibits his claims on society, it goes far to exclude from the praise of greatness all the rest of the human race. If he only be great whose heart, life, and labours correspond to this description, where, except among Christians and Christian missionaries, is greatness to be found? Such, Sir, are Cicero's conditions of greatness; and, in pleading for the honour of Williams, I cheerfully abide by them. Tried by this test, who can rival the claims of the Martyr of Erromanga? They are great indeed; while, adjudged by this principle, the vulgar herd of the world's great men must be reduced to utter insignificance.

It is interesting to compare the views of the Roman orator with those of that great prodigy of parts, William M'Combie, the Scottish ploughman, whom the native force of self-tutored genius, aided by the light of Revelation, has conducted to substantially the same conclusions. This writer-in whom his native country has ten thousand times more reason to exult than in the

*Causa autem et ratio efficiens magnos viros est in priore. Cicero de Officiis, lib. i. cap. 20.

profligate ploughman bard of Ayrshire, Robert Burns,in his admirable volume," Hours of Thought," observes, that God is "the source and standard of moral greatness;" that "moral greatness cannot be displayed but in circumstances of trial;" that “ the primary element of moral excellence must be devotedness of heart to God, supreme and constraining love, which, in circumstances of trial, will manifest itself, according to the nature of these, in the resistance of temptation, the enduring of suffering, and in strenuous exertions in fulfilment of his will. Its being so manifested, in such circumstances, constitutes moral greatness.'

With Cicero, greatness and glory are inseparably related. He has most abundantly established the position, that true greatness, in the end, always brings true glory. The following is his declaration :-"The highest and perfect glory of a man consists of these three things; when the multitude love, when they have confidence in him, when they deem him worthy of special honour and admiration."* By Cicero's definition of glory I am as willing to abide as by his view of greatness; and I am ready, on his principle, to join issue with all the advocates of the exclusive claims of intellectual greatness. Let us appeal to the children of the Desert and of the Isle. There is no class of Englishmen, visitors of Polynesia, whose glory may, for a moment, be compared with that of the missionaries. I make no exceptions. All Cicero's conditions, whether of greatness or of glory, unite in John Williams. Is there in England, or in Europe, a man who will stand forth, and prefer a like claim for any other Englishman or European in Polynesia, who is not a missionary? In the estimation of the islanders, the greatest Englishman or European that ever visited them was but an insignificant personage as

*Summa igitur et perfecta gloria constat ex tribus his :-Si diliget multitudo,-si fidem habet,-si cum admiratione quadam honore dignos putat.-De Officiis, lib. ii. cap. 9.

compared with the Martyr of Erromanga. Comparison, indeed, there can be none: the servants of God enjoy a monopoly of this exalted honour. In all our colonial

territories, the only class of men entitled to the praise of either greatness or glory, according to Cicero, is that of Christian missionaries. Of this assertion the histories of Dr. Philip, Schwartz, Williams, Moffat, and a hundred of their brethren, supply both ample proof and illustration.

Cicero's description of greatness, brings the subject before us in an accurate and an easily intelligible form. He lays it down as a fundamental principle that the heart is the true source of moral greatness. He carries this view of the matter still further in his celebrated declaration, that No man was ever great without a certain divine influence."* How near upon this point the system of the heathen philosopher approaches to Christianity! What can be compared to the gospel of Christ in the power of "elevating men's souls, and leading them to despise earthly considerations ?" The Christian doctrine uniformly brings the heart that receives it, into the state considered by Cicero as the parent spring of moral greatness, and also as uniformly supplies that afflatus divinus, that celestial inspiration, without which he declares there can be no greatness. Cicero's description confirmed and illustrated by the scriptures of truth, imparts a lesson at once full of instruction and of encouragement. The word of God distinctly shows how all men may become morally great. The profound requirements of the Orator are thus abundantly promised through the Prophet:-" I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take

"Nemo vir magnus sine afflatu aliquo divino unquam fuit."