In

glory in you! They exult in your religious character, and in your godly rivalship of them in the work of spreading the gospel. Nor is this all; amid the discouragements of their peculiar position, at the present time, their hope under God centres wholly in you! From Ireland, the chosen abode of the man of sin, in relation to the work of missions, they have nothing to expect, but every thing to fear. As England looks towards the continent of Europe, scarce one of its nations meets her with a single ray of hope. Europe, England alone is the land of Protestant doctrines and Christian missions. Her Protestantism, however, stands in imminent peril from the elementary Popery of Oxford, and from that more matured form of it which flows in endless torrents from the sister isle. An awful cloud rests on the prospects of English Protestantism. It seems not improbable, that the dark and dreadful days of your illustrious forefathers may yet again, and, perhaps, at no distant day, return. The reascendancy of Popery in England seems but too probable. In this event, it is likely there will be another, and a much larger body of Pilgrim-Fathers, who will go forth and lay the foundation of new colonies, destined at length, like your own, to become great independent empires. But amid possible distraction, distress, convulsion, confiscation, banishment, or exile, what is to become of the enterprise of missions? England intrusts it to the hands of her children, to yourselves? Will you disappoint her? Will you prove recreant to a cause so dear to her heart, so intimately connected with the life of the world, and the glory of Zion's King? Will you, can you forget the land of your fathers' sepulchres, the land of your language, and of your religion? Oh! awake to a due sense of the dignity of your origin, the grandeur of your position, the elevation of your honour, and the weight of your responsibility!

Brethren of America! Suffer the word of exhortation. Why has such a blight come over your once fair moral creation? Are you sure that the Lord has not a controversy with you? Has your treasury never been polluted by the wages of iniquity, the price of blood? What meant the memorial presented "to the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions," at your last Assembly, by the New Hampshire ministers? Its burden was slavery; its object, purity! What meant the emphatic and thrice-repeated reference to the "studied silence of the Board ?" We are troubled by the following words of that calm, judicious, and respectful document: "The sober and considerate ministers and members of our churches, who have from the first been the firm and true friends of the Board, are distressed. They love the Board, and have loved it long. They regard it as foremost among the benevolent societies of the day. They have paid more for its support than for the support of any other society; and, more than of any other, has its prosperity been the burden of their prayers. But we greatly fear that their contributions must ultimately, and that before long, be suspended, if the Board shall think it their duty to observe such a studied silence on this great subject of interest and responsibility to American Christians." The admirable document from which these words are taken, is worthy of the servants of Christ, and of men descended from the Pilgrim-Fathers. Its just and upright authors have the hearts of the British empire with them, and posterity will honour their names! We rejoice to think that they are NewEngland men. The answer of your Board is a thing of course.. We were once familiar, in England, with such answers; and the experience we have had enables us to give you good and safe counsel. We say, then, take warning! The present course of your Board will inevitably drive them on a rock, on which the goodly

vessel must be dashed in pieces! Let them beware of worldly expediency! Let them beware of things that will "satisfy the South." Such things, we fear, will not often satisfy an enlightened conscience. Well might the Rev. Mr. Blodget, of South Carolina, say, "the report would satisfy the South. All the South asks, is, that the Board will attend to its own business, and so long we shall be glad to co-operate;" that is, Let us go quietly on, making merchandise of our fellow-creatures, and you shall have a share of the profits! Brethren, who is it that hath said, "I hate robbery for burnt-offering?" One of your own Committee was anxious to know, "how much the Board would lose by the withdrawal" of the anti-slavery churches. This is good. Where the demon of slavery presides, the proper morality is arithmetic! How can a ruthless slave-holder endure the presence of any other conscience but that of profit and loss? Brethren, again I say, beware! When you have calculated the extent of your loss, by the possible withdrawal of the anti-slavery churches, might it not be prudent also to estimate the loss to be sustained by the withdrawal of the anti-slavery God? Can the God of eternal justice and boundless compassion look with complacency on a work performed by hands dyed in the blood of man? Be not misled by the fact that he has hitherto blessed your agents. He has blessed his own word; but this implies no approbation of your constitution! Are you not conscious that Heaven's frown rests upon you? Mark the declaration of your chief secretary: "If God has left the churches at home, the Holy Ghost is among our missions abroad; and whatever becomes of this Board, or its officers, or the churches, the work will go on." We know this, and we rejoice to know it. This declaration, however, is a two-edged sword; it cuts both ways. The first part of this sentence supposes a calamity, which admits of

no alleviation.

Who can bear such a calamity? If any can, then the spirits of the lost may derive comfort from the fact that, while their residence is amidst eternal fire, the spirits of the just are rejoicing in Paradise!

Brethren of England and America! Christians, Protestants, friends of missions in all lands! it is high time to awake out of sleep! The trumpet of darkness has sounded, and the papal world, so long dead, is rising again. The French "Institution for the Propagation of the Faith," and the " Catholic Institute of Great Britain," are but the nascent flames of mighty fires, which are smouldering in the hearts of many nations. The former is the idol of the bishops of France, and is fast spreading over other countries, while the sovereign pontiffs have opened for it the treasury of indulgences, which they have extended to all the faithful who shall receive it amongst them, in whatever part of the world they may reside." "* The conditions of membership are, a Pater and an Ave, morning and evening, "adding each time this invocation: St. Francis Xavier, pray for us;"" and “an alms for the missions," of at least one halfpenny every week. This institution has, it seems, already done great things; but it is expected to accomplish objects incalculably greater. It is expected to rectify all Protestant disorders, both in Europe and America; to counteract the pernicious effects of Protestant missions in foreign lands; to put down the Bible Society, and to fill the earth with faithful adherents to the Church of Rome. Brethren, this throws fresh light upon your path, and necessities, not only of adopting a new providing yourselves with new armour. suredly be compelled to fight over again the battle of the Reformation, not in Europe only, but under every sky! What pity that the conflict of three centuries * Institution for the Propagation, &c., Prel. Obs. p. 3.

points out the course, but of You will as

back should have ceased ere the BEAST had been slain, and the world freed from further alarm! How fearful is the war which you are now called to wage! Idolatry, Mohammedanism, Popery, and various corruptions of Christianity, fill the world, and are banded against you. How glorious, then, is the enterprise! It is worthy of angels! For God you fight, and God is with you! Your ultimate success is certain. As sure as the Mediator reigns, so sure will be your victory. These mighty foes will be all routed and annihilated! The Lord of Hosts is with you, the battle itself is his. Sublime distinction! Celestial vocation! Oh! awake to its dignity and glory, and acquit yourselves as the sons of the living God, and the servants of Him who is King of kings, and Lord of lords!

But, brethren, that you may be successful, your operations must be guided by wisdom and prudence, as well as by piety and zeal. A great problem is now to be solved, relative to future missionary operations. The past has been devoted to a grand experiment, and the results have been the same both in Europe and in America. There is no need to repeat it; the process has been accurately conducted, and we cannot be misled. You have, therefore, now reached a point which calls for the adoption of a different course, and the introduction of a new principle. It is as clear as reason can make it, that if the missions be wholly dependent on home support, a limit must be reached in their operations, unless there be no limit to their pecuniary resources. Unless a plan can be devised, therefore, by which all missions shall at length become selfsupported, the world will never be evangelized. The idea of converting all nations by means of European and American agency is utterly preposterous. The wants of the heathen world require, at this moment, that missionary agency should be augmented a hundredfold. But our treasuries are exhausted; our concern