of governments, the patronage of princes, and the smile of kings; to have shown that the home deeds, even of a Howard, and his short continental tours of compassion, were but trifles, cheap and safe amusements, as compared with the suffering and sacrifice, the disheartening toil and the voluntary exile, the frequent perils and the cruel persecutions, the ill-paid and unpraised labours of these apostolic men; and then to have hurled your thunderbolts of burning indignation at all governments, whether home or colonial, and at all functionaries, whether civil or military, subjects or sovereigns, who dared to impede the progress of these best benefactors of the human race! Never, my Lord, never had orator such subject before! Never had statesman such an occasion of promoting the highest enterprise on earth; an enterprise comprehensive of the interests of all classes, of all nations, through all times! Heroes and sages, all who have been deemed first among this world's wise and good, are poor and limited subjects, poor beneath all poverty, and limited within all limitation, as compared with the murdered missionary of Demerara!

Since the death of John Smith, the subject of the missionary character has been repeatedly pressed upon your lordship, in a manner which strongly claimed your parliamentary attention and defence; and it is gratefully admitted that you have somewhat improved in your knowledge of its claims, and also made repeated reference to it. In your speech of July 13, 1830, in the House of Commons, you smote, with just severity, the persecutors of Mr. Orton and his brethren, whom you pronounced "blameless and pious men," which, though "faint praise," was still something. In your

G

66

speech in the House of Lords, February 20, 1838, you came more fully out, and did good service to the missionary body in the West Indies. Adverting to the sober and even devout manner in which the negroes passed the festival of their liberties, you found the cause of their laudable conduct in the labours bestowed upon them by the missionaries. They enjoy," said your lordship, "the advantages of much religious instruction, and partake, in a large measure, of spiritual consolation. These blessings they derive, not from the ministrations of the Established Church-not that the aid of its priests is withheld from them—but the services of others, of zealous missionaries, are found more acceptable and more effectual, because they are more suited to the capacity of the people. The meek and humble pastor, although perhaps more deficient in secular accomplishments, is far more abounding in zeal for the work of the vineyard, and being less raised above his flock, is better fitted to guide them in the path of religious duty. Not made too fine for his work by pride of science, nor kept apart by any peculiar refinement of taste, but inspired with a fervent devotion to the interests of his flock, the missionary pastor lives but for them; their companion on the week-day, as their instructor on the sabbath; their friend and counsellor in temporal matters, as their guide in spiritual concerns. These are the causes of the influence he enjoys; this the source from whence the good he does them flows. Nor can I pass by this part of the West Indian picture, without rendering the tribute of heartfelt admiration which I am proud to pay, when I contemplate the pious zeal, the indefatigable labours, of these holy and disinterested men; and I know full well, that if I make my appeal

to my noble friend,* he will repeat the testimony he elsewhere bore to the same high merits, when he promulgated his honest opinion, that for the origin of all religious feeling among the negroes, it is among the missionaries, and not the clergy, we must look.'"

Accept, my Lord, in the name of my missionary brethren in the West Indies, most sincere thanks for the noble "tribute which concludes this passage. "Heartfelt admiration" is a thing in which your lordship has dealt but sparingly; seldom have you bestowed it upon unworthy objects, and never in undue proportions. On these grounds this strong expression of your lordship's views is estimated at a very high value. I beg leave, however, to state that your lordship's view of the cause of the missionary's success is wholly unsound, and your idea of their inferiority in any respect, to the clergy, inaccurate. In your analysis of those causes, you have done all that philosophy can effect, which is justnothing! The wondrous difference between these two classes of spiritual physicians, my Lord, consists not merely, nor even chiefly, in rank, tastes, talents, culture, condescension, and habits--in all of which, however, the superiority for the most part lies on the side of the missionaries-but in the medicines which they respectively administer. Their views of human nature, of the character of God, of the essence and object of the Gospel," are nearly as different as morals and mathematics-and just as different are the effects produced upon their respective auditories. The creed of the missionaries, to a man, is that of your late evangelical friend WILBERFORCE; the creed of that class of the

66

* Lord Sligo.

clergy, the impotence of whose labours is attested by Lord Sligo, is that of your heathen favourite Cicero. In the dedication of your treatise on Natural Theology to Earl Spencer, speaking of the death of Romilly, you thus set forth the opinions of the Roman orator:"Ever since the time I followed him to the grave, I question if either of us has read, without meditating upon the irreparable loss we and all men then sustained, the words of the ancient philosopher best imbued with religious opinions:-'Proficiscor enim non ad eos solum viros de quibus ante dixi, sed etiam ad Catonem meum, quo nemo vir melior natus est, nemo pietate præstantior,'" &c.,-opinions at utter variance with the word of God. Alas! my Lord, the “melior natus est" comprises a doctrine and a principle which have no place in the volume of inspiration. How different is the language of Paul ! For the "præstantior pietate" of your Roman worthies, he would substitute

66

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever; who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Cicero's "præstantior pietate" is the exact counterpart of Paul's "wholly given to idolatry." Hundreds and thousands of negro boys and girls, by the Scriptures of truth, have become possessors of a wisdom and a worth infinitely surpassing all that the best men of the best days of Greece and Rome could boast.

My Lord, your error respecting the message has led to a corresponding error with regard to the messengers: and hence arise your utterly defective conceptions, both of the missionary character and of the missionary enterprise-conceptions so unlike yourself, upon all other subjects, and so unworthy of the mighty theme. The difference between the missionaries and the clergy, of whom Lord Sligo speaks, results from the difference of their religious systems; for, as are their respective systems, so are their own hearts, habits, and characters. This it was which rendered the one the friends and companions of the planter, and the other, of the slave; -which led those to addict themselves to carnal pleasure, and these to preaching and prayer. The power of the missionary arises from the things which he believes respecting the love of God, the death of Christ, and the Eternal Spirit. These, my Lord, are the weapons of his warfare, by which, in a brief space, he breaks down strongholds of darkness and superstition which have stood thousands of years, and on which this world's vain philosophy could have made no impression. Pity it is that such men as your lordship do not condescend to examine the facts of the gospel record, and the facts of the history of its propagation! The latter is the medium through which the missionary character and enterprise ought to be contemplated; for there is no other method by which justice can be done to either the men or their work. The want of a correct apprehension of those facts, accounts for the imperfection and meagerness of your lordship's views; for you always speak of the missionary simply as related to the West India Islands, and appear to think of him merely as a patient, painstaking, and conscientious schoolmaster-as an efficient sabbath