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must be based on perceived truth, must appeal to the ripe convictions of the more enlightened portion of the community.

It is on this account that we propose, in the present Article, to inquire after the true theory of missions to the heathen, particularly as respects their object and necessity.

The work of foreign missions, as the enterprise of evangelizing the heathen is called, has, since the apostolic period, always been prosecuted to some extent by the Christian church; but within the last half century it has attracted increased attention, partly by reason of a revived spirit of piety, and partly from the new facilities of exploration and labor furnished by the present age. Earnest, thoughtful, and sanctified minds have been its advocates and self-denying agents. The great mass of true Christians have supported it by their prayers and contributions. It has even conquered, to no small extent, the prejudices of worldly men and secured their occasional commendation. All classes, infidels scarcely excepted, declare that the work is honorable and important, and should be carried forward with energy till light has penetrated the remotest regions of darkness. But when we inquire for the basis upon which the enterprise should be prosecuted, for the necessity which vindicates the work, the answers are various and conflicting. The end to be secured by foreign missions differs in the opinion of different men, who may be arranged, however, in three classes, each with an independent theory of missions.

I. First, we have what may be termed the worldly or unevangelical theory. This advocates the cause of missions on secular rather than religious grounds; or, at best, on a basis of morality rather than of piety. Travellers meet with missionaries, are hospitably entertained, visit the schools and churches, behold the superior condition of the converted natives in all secular respects, and return home with a favorable report of the influence of missions in heathen communities. Men of science find, in the journals of missionaries, a record of facts connected with the geography, history, natural productions, and geological phenomena of distant lands,

and speak in a complimentary manner of the intelligence which they display and of the service which they render to the civilized world. Scholars also cheerfully acknowledge the debt which they owe to the researches of missionaries into the languages and literature of nations with whom there was before little intercourse. In like manner, the friends of education look with complacence upon the efforts of missionaries to remove the ignorance of the heathen nations, and praise their common schools, their seminaries, and their printing-presses. And then the moralist and philanthropist behold the degradation, the crimes, the cruelties and the sufferings of barbarous nations giving way before the meliorating influence of the gospel, and they add their commendation of missions. Even infidels do not hesitate to express a favorable opinion on such grounds. Thus the Westminster Review, the organ of the British philosophic "free-thinkers," in an Article entitled "Christian Missionstheir principle and practice" (July, 1856), declares the true and liberal theory to be, "the hope of raising whole nations out of a state of idolatrous corruption of morals into a condition of Christian civilization;" and in reference to Greece acknowledges, that the best hope for that country lies in the young generation reared under the influence of various Protestant missionaries. But these sceptical admirers repudiate the religious basis altogether, and will admit no necessity for missions as regards the spiritual well-being and final salvation of the unevangelized communities. Thus the Westminster Review, in the Article just cited, scoffs at the idea that the heathen are in any danger of damnation; and with reference to missions among Jews and Mohammedans, says: "We confidently declare success in this kind of mission to be impossible, as long as it is based on a religious ground and prosecuted by any theological agency." Even writers who are supposed to have evangelical sympathies, seem disposed to adopt this theory. Thus the North British Review, conducted by members of the Free church of Scotland, ridicules (August, 1856) the idea that missions are needed to save the souls of the heathen, as either put forth to

"draw contributions," or as an indication of "melancholy fanaticism." It says: It says: "We pity the dreary delusion of the Manichees, who enthroned the Evil Principle in heaven. But if we proclaim that God is indeed one who could decree this more than Moloch sacrifice of the vast majority of his own creatures and children, for no fault or sin of theirs, we revive the error of the Manichee; for the God whom we preach as a destroyer of the guiltless, can be no God of jus tice, far less a God of love. It needs no exaggerations such as these to supply a sufficient motive for missionary enterprises. Our object is, to introduce Christianity with all the blessings that accompany it: its true views of God, its ennobling motives, its pure morality; the elevation of life and manners, the civilization, the knowledge, even the material progress, which are sure to follow in its train." In all which, the reader will observe, there is no recognition of any relations to eternity! Now against this secular theory of missions, we have three serious objections.

1. It rests upon too low a basis. The highest interests of man are spiritual; the noblest relations which he sustains, are to God and eternity; his choicest possession is character. To look out, then, upon nations sunk in the lowest moral degradation, nations who have utterly forgotten God and debased the soul; who are horribly corrupt in character; who resist the light which they have and try to shut out that which is poured around them, and who are as unfit for heaven as it is possible to conceive; and to talk merely of civilizing them and making them more comfortable and decent for this life, is to belittle the whole conception of man as a spiritual and immortal being accountable at the bar of God. A human soul is more than a mere animal to be fed and sheltered; more than a mere social being to be fitted for polite society; more than a mere citizen to be qualified to rule or to obey; more than a mere creature of intellect, capable of education. Earthly civilization by no means exhausts his powers, or secures the true end of his being. He is one possessed of moral character, subject to the Divine law, actually guilty of its violation, and needing pardon for

the past and holiness for the future, that he may be accepted at the final judgment, and may be fitted to dwell with God and the angels in a higher and an eternal sphere of ac

To overlook these chief interests of his existence, while seeking to promote his temporal comfort and advancement, is to base missionary labors upon a foundation wholly inadequate.

2. This secular theory stands in opposition to the declarations of the Bible, with reference to heathen character and destiny. Its advocates repudiate the idea that the heathen are under condemnation as sinners and are justly exposed to eternal death. They regard these as persons simply ignorant, superstitious, degraded, and unfortunate; vicious perhaps in outward form but not in inward intent; mere babes in knowledge, whom it is well to instruct and elevate, but who are living according to their best conceptions of duty and are in no danger of divine condemnation. But however this view may suit the easy, superficial ideas and facile hopes of the sceptic, it will not satisfy the convictions of the Christian, who knows that the Bible teaches an opposite doctrine, and that Biblical descriptions of human character are always sustained by the most rigid investigation of facts.

It is certainly worthy of notice, that the Bible uniformly speaks of the character of idolaters in general as exceedingly corrupt. The description given of the various nations who dwelt in Canaan, and who are said to have been given up to destruction by the Israelites, for their horrible impieties and immoralities; the account of the inhabitants of the cities of the plain, as explanatory of their sudden and awful doom; the pains taken to guard the Israelites against social intercourse with the surrounding kingdoms, lest utter corruption should ensue; and the woes denounced by the prophets against all the heathen nations, not only for idolatry but also for every kind of vice, show that the ancient heathen were regarded by God as exceedingly guilty as well as degraded.

Nor are the references in the New Testament of a different nature. The Saviour speaks of the men of Sodom and

Gomorrah, and of Tyre and Sidon, as under condemnation and awaiting their doom at the judgment, and uses their case to warn his hearers, lest by sinning against greater light, they should come to a still worse end. Paul discusses the character and condition of the heathen of his day repeatedly and at length, especially in his epistle to the Romans, in which he declares, that, though destitute of the written revelation, they have yet the double teaching of nature without and conscience within, and are therefore without excuse for their sins. "Because that which may be known of God, is manifest in [to] them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." "For as many as have sinned without [the written] law, shall also perish without [the condemnation of that] law. **** These having not the [written] law, are a law unto themselves. Who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." Many of those whom he addressed in his epistles had been idolaters; and in his mention of their original character before the gospel was preached to them, he never speaks of them as merely unfortunate, but as guilty, and refers to their former companions as in danger of eternal destruction by reason of their utter corruption of heart and life. One or two passages will suffice in proof. "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth-fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry; for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience; in the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them" (Col. 3: 5-7). Compare also the following: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience; among whom also we all had our conversation in times past

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