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J 



f 



^1 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF A 



PUBLIC DELIBERATIVE MEETING 



OF TRS BOARD AMD FRONDS OF THE 

JlMerican tract society, 

HELD IN THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE, NEW- YORK, 

October 25, 26, und 27, 1842 ; 

TOGETBSR WITH TBE 

DOCUMENTS PRESENTED, 

AVD THE 

SERMON PREACHED, 
On tbat oecation. 



7 
N£W-YOftK : 

PRINTED BY DANIEL FANjSRAW, 
No. 150 Nat8au-«tr««t. 

1843. 



diOO^UOA^ 



P«f«. 

Object of the meeting, 9 

Members and friends present, 9 

Organization, 11 

Letters read, including letters from— - 

Rev. Dr. Hooker, Vermont, 11 

Hon. Charles Marsh, do 11 

Rev. "Dr. Codman, Massachusetts, 12 

Kev. Dr. Bolles, Boston, 12 

Rev. Mr. Vinton, do 12 

Rev. Mr. Kirk, do 12 

Rev. Dr. Humphrey, Massachusetts, 13 

Rev. Dr. Wayland, R. 1 14 

Rev. Joseph Hurlbut, Connecticut, ........ 14 

Rev. Prof. Goodrich, do 14 

Rev. J. M'Cord, New-York, 15 

Dr. T. W. Katchfbrd, Troy, 16 

£. C. Delavan, Esq. Balston, 16 

Rev. Tryon Edwards, Rochester, ; . . 16 

Hon. J. C. Homblower, New Jersey, 16 

Rev. Dr. Miller, do : . . 16 

Rev. J. H. Jones, Philadelphia, 17 

Rev. Mr. Suddards, do 18 

Rev. Dr. Parker, do 18 

Rev. Dr. Plumer, Virginia, 18 

Other letters, inserted in the order of the meeting. 
Sermon by Rev. James Romeyn. See page 168. 

DOCUMENT I. — Harmony of the Society's Proceed- 
ings, by Rev. Dr. Milnor, 19 

Report on the same, 26 

Address of Rev. Mr. M'Clure, 26 

Letter of Rev. Dr. Sharp, Boston, ••...•.• 27 



( 



6 CONTENTS. 

Pafe. 
DOCUMENT n. — ^pROYiDENTiAi. History of thb Societt, 

by Revk W. A. Hallock. Read by Rev. Dr. Edwards, • 28 

Address of Dr. Edwards, 31 

Letter of Rev. Dr. Woods, 32 

DOCUMENT III.— The Power of the Press, for Good 

AND for Evil, by Rev. Mr. Cook, 33 

DOCUMENT IV.— The Evils of an Unsanctified Lite- 
rature, by Rev. J^unes W. Alexander. Read by Rev. 

Dr. Potts, 44 

Rev. Gorham D. Abboii^s Report of a CommiUee on the Press, 59 
Letter of Hon. William Jay, 70 

DOCUMENT v.— The Character of the Society's Pob- 
lications, and their adaptation to the present 

generation of men, by Rev. Wm. R. Williams, D. D. 72 

DOCUMENT VI.— The Society's Pttbucations an Aid to 
Pastoral Effort, By Rev. Tryon Edwards. Read by 

Rev. Dr. M'Auley, 96 

Statements and Addresses by — 

Rev. Dr. M'Auley, 101 

Rev. R. K. Rodgers, 101 

Rev. Dr. B. C. Taylor, 102 

Rev. R. S. Cook, 103 

Rev. A. D. Smith, 104 

Mr. Heman Packard, 106 

Rev. Edwin Holt, 107 

Rev. H. P. Arms, 107 

Letter of Rev, J. Hopkins, • . . • « 107 

DOCUMENT Vn.— The Coe»oetexjb System— 

1. As adapted to the UmevangeUztd American Population^ 

by Rev. R. 8. Cook, 108 

Statements by Rev, Mr. Cook, 112 

Report on the Colporteur System, -.114 



CONTENTS. 7 

Page. 

SUttemeato by Charles Batler^ Esq 116 

Address of Rer. Br. Milnor, 116 

Letters of Hon. Roger Minot Sherman, ...».• 117 

<^ Rt. Rev. B. B. Smith, Kentucky, US 

^ Rev. J. T. Brook, Cincinnati^ 118 

« W. H. Bulkley, Louisville, 119 

2. The Colporteur System as adapted to our German PopU" 

/a/ion, by Rev. Mr. Cook. Read by Rev. Mr. Eastman, 119 

Address of Rev. Dr. Be Witt, 122 

« Rev. J. O. Gnldin, 123 

Letters of Rev. Prof. Sears, 124 

« Rev. Prof. Nevin, ; . . 125 

« Rev. Prof. Stowe, 126 

3. The Colporteur System as adapted to the conversion of 

ErroristSf by Rev. Mr. Cook. Read by Rev. Br. 

Adan^, . • 126 

Addressed Rev. Br. Adams, 128 

Statements by Rev. Mr. Cook, 130 

Report on the Colporteur System as adapted to Grermans 

and Errorists, 131 

DOCUMENT VUL—EvxaTCHmisTiAN A Missionary, pre- 
sented by Rev. Mr. Cook, 133 

Statements by F. A. Perkins, Esq 137 

Letterof Rev. J. C. Backus, 137 

BOCUMENT IX.— Relations OP the Soctett to Foeeion 

Lands, by Rev. W. A. Hallock, 138 

Statements by Rev. Br. Armstrong, 145 

Letters from Rev. S. Peek, Secretary, 145 

^ Rev. Br. Anderson, 146 

'^ Rev. Justin Perkins, Missionary, 146 

*^ Rev. H. R. Hoisington, do. : 147 

<< Rev. John Scudder, do 147 

BOCUMENT X.— The Financial Condition and Neces- 

siTiES or THE Society, by Rev. W. A. Hallock, • , . 149 



8 CONTENTS. 

Paje. 

Statements and Address of Rev. Mr. Eastman, .... 154 

Address of William Ropes, Esq. late of Russia, • • . . 155 

Letter of Rev. Dr. Alexander, • • • . • 156 

^^ Herman Camp, Esq. .«....•.•. 158 

« Rev. Dr. Yale, 159 

DOCUMENT XI.— The Necessity of a Higher Stand- 
ard OF Christian Consecration, by Hon. Theodore 

Frelinghuysen, 159 

Statements by Rev. Dr. B. H. Rice, 164 

Resolutions adopted by the meeting, 164 

Concluding Remarks, 166 



SERMON, by Rev. James Romeyn, 168 

I. The Occasion for evangelical sympathy and effort, . Ser. 5 

How Paul preached — at Athens, &c 9 

The same occasion yet remains — in a corrupt theology 
and literature — in defective education — in the issues of 
a fictitious and licentious press — hollowness of its mo- 
rality, 12 

H. The means of meeting our responsibilitiesy . < . . . 29 
The Society's publications are Divine truth— catholic- 
adapted— necessary— their variety — ^providential cha- 
racter and blessed results, 32 

Necessity of new vigor in this department— certainty of 
the issue — ^necessity for self-preservation — ^false pleas^ 
permanency, 53 



PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

BOARD AND FRIENDS OF THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

At tlie Broadway Taliemacley Kew-York* 

This meeting was called from a conviction that the proTi« 
dence of God, conducting the Society in its career of usefulness, 
was largely in advance of the general apprehensions o£ the 
christian community ; and that careful attention to its several 
spheres of labor, and discussion of the principles involved, 
would give definiteness to the conceptions of many as to its 
character and objects, and thus awaken prayer, liberality, and 
persevering effort to bless the world with these means of grace. 

It is believed that every intelligent reader of the following 
sketch of the proceedings, will perceive that ample foundations 
were laid for gaining the ends desired. Whether we consider 
the character of the able documents presented, or the cheering 
and valuable letters from distinguished individuals who were 
unable to attend, or the more definite views gained of the 
great objects before the Society, or the impulse given to the 
mind of those present, and which, it is hoped, will reach t&aa 
of thousands of others, there appears abundant cause of grati- 
tude to God that the Meeting has been held. 

We proceed to the history of the proceedings, simply re- 
marking that, for the sake of distinctness of impression, the 
Documents, reports of Committees, Addresses, and letters read, 
are given as &r as practicable in the natural order of the sub- 
jects discussed. 

On Tuesday, 4 P. M. Oct. 25, the meeting assembled. 

Present, The Hon. THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN, Preai- 
dent, in the chair ; William B. Crosby, Esq. of New- York, and John 
TappUi £aq. of Boston, Vice-Presidents. 



10 DELIBERATIVE MEETING* 

Rev. James Milnor, D. D., Rev. Thomas McAuley, D. D., Rev. 
John Knox, D. D., Rev. Jostin Edwards, D. D., Rev. Charles G. 
Sommers, John Steams, M. D. ; Moses Allen, R. T. Haines, Edward 
Richardson^ T. C. Doremus, James C. Bliss, M. D., James W. 
Dominick, William Forrest, Executive Committee. 

Rev. Messrs. William A. Hallock, 0. Eastman, R. S. Cook, Car- 
responding Secretaries, 

Rev. Messrs. Baron Stow, Gorham D. Abbott, A. McClurc, Seth 
Bliss, Henry B. Holmes, and George Denney, Esq. Delegates from the 
Branch American Tract Society at Boston. Rev. J. J. Dana, Canaan, 
Dele|rate from Berkshire Co. Mass. Tract Society. Charles Hosmer, 
Calvm Day, Thomas Smith, and Allen Porter, Esqs, Delegates from 
the Conn. Branch Tract Society, Hartford. Rev. Messrs. George 
Potts, D. D., William Patton, D. D., William R. Williams, D. D., 
John M. Krebs, D. D., M. S. Hutton, D. D., Asa D. Smith, Isaac 
S. Demand, and Elisha Tucker ; William W. Chester, Esq. A. R. 
Wetmore, Esq. William N. Blakeman, M. D. and John R. Ludlow, 
Esq. Delegates from the New-Vork City Tract Society. B. C. Cut- 
ler, D. D., Rev. Messrs. William B. Lewis, George Duffield, Jun. 
A. D. Matthews, J. Roland and S. Backus, Delegates from Brooklyn, 
N. Y. Tract Society. Rev. Messrs. Murdock and S. B. Willis and 
Edger B. Day, Esq. Delegates from Catskill, N. Y. Tract Society. 
Messrs. Day 0. Kellogg and Kingsbury Root, Delegates from Aux- 
iliary, Troy, N. Y. William Purves, Esq. Delegate from Philadelphia 
Tract Society. Rev. Thomas De Witt, D. D., Rev. Isaac Lewis, D. D., 
Rev. Thomas H. Skinner, D. D., Rev. Erskine Mason, D. D., Rev. 
William J. Armstrong, D. D., Rev. John A. Vaughan, D. D., Rev. 
William Adams, D. D., Rev. Spencer H. Cone, D. D., Rev. Messrs. 
John C. Lowrie, James Harkness, George H. Fisher, J. 0. Choulcs, 
John C. Guldin, Samuel I. Prime, John Marsh, Milton Badger, N. E. 
Johnson, Charles Hall, J. J. Ostrom, J. C. Bricham, Ebenczer Mason 
J. W. Cooke, J. W. McLane, A. Camp, B. Jjockwood, Geo. Hatt; and 
Messrs. D. W. C. Olyphant, Esq. John L. Mason, Esq. Charles But- 
ler, Esq. William Couch, Geo. P. Shipman, Stephen Holt, Timothy 
Hedees, Esq. H. W. Olcott, Esq. B. L. Woolley, Caleb 0. Halstcd, 
Jacob BroQwer, D. H. Winkham, William Shaw, Tilley Allen, Edward 
Field, Daniel Fanshaw, F. B. Schoalcs, Nathaniel Gray, J. H. Bulin, 
J. B. HortoD, Charles Starr, and F. S. Gant, New- York City. Mr. 
Heman Packard, N. Bridgwater, Ms. ; J. B. Nichols, Prov. R. I. ; Rev. 
Hiram P. Arms and F. A. Perkins, Esq. Norwich, Con. ; Hon. Thomas 
W. Williams, New Jjondon, Con. ; Rev. John Smith, Wilton, 
Rev. Jared Dewing, Fishkill; Rev. Henry Hoermance, Kinderhook ; 
Rev. P. Snyder, ^^ew Rochelle ; Rev. Jacob D. Fonda, Rev. Henry 
Hurlbut, Utica; Rev. James Romeyn, Catskill; D. W. Ingersoll, 
Brooklyn ; Nathaniel Gardner, Brooklyn ; Rev. B. C. Taylor, I). D., 
Bergen, N. J. ; Rev. A. D. Eddy, J. W. Hayes, Esq. and John Tay- 
lor, Newark, N. J.; Rev. David Magic, D. D. and Rev. N. Murray, 
Elizabethtown ; Rev. R. K. Rogers, Boundbrook ; Samnel E. Wood- 
bridge, Perth-Amboy ; Rev. Benjamin H. Rice, D. D., Princeton ; 
Horace Leet, Penn.; Rev. I. G. Hamncr, Baltimore; Rev. B. M. 
Palmer, Charleston, S. C. ; William Ropes, Esq. late from St. Pe- 
tenbargy Russia; Rev. Hiram Bingham, Sandwich Islandt. Hon* 



LETTERS BECEITEI). II 

dtedfl of other interested individuals were present at the Meetings 
daring the day, and large assemblies participated in the evening 0S> 
ercises with devout and solemn attention. 

The exercises were commenced with prayer by Rev. Baron 
Stow of Boston. 

In the absence of Rev. A. Maclay, Recording Secretary, Rev. 
Elisha Tacker and Rev. £|dwin Holt were appointed Secreta- 
ries of the Meeting, and Rev. J. O. Choules, Secretary pro. tern. 

The Document calling the meeting was then read, and the 
Rev. Drs. Milnor, Edwards and Patton, and Messrs. Hallock, 
Eastman and Cook, were appointed a Committee of Arrange- 
ments. 

Letters were read expressing deep interest in the objects of 
the Meeting and regret fur unavoidable absence, from the fol- 
lowing gentlemen, together with letters hereafter inserted in 
the sketch of the proceedings: viz. 

Rev. Nehemiah Adams, Boston, Ms. ; Hon. Simon Greenleaf, 
Cambridge ; Joseph Otis, Esq. Norwich, Con. ; A. W. Butler, Esq. 
Hartford ; Rev. Leonard Bacon, D. D. New Haven ; Rev. Wm. B, 
Sprague, D. D. Albany ; Henry Dwight, Esq. Geneva ; Rev. James 
W. Alexander, Princeton, N. J. ; Rev. Drs. S. H. Tyng, Geo. M, 
Bethune and Albert Barnes, Philadelphia ; Rev. William Carey Crane, 
Richmond, Va. ; Rev. Edward P. Humphrey, and Wm. H. Bulkeley, 
Louisville, Ky. ; Rev. B. Tappan, D. D., Augusta, Me. ; Rev. J. 
Helfenstein, Germantown, Pa. 

From Rev. E. W. Hoohry D. D. Benningtont ^^' 

'* My heart has been, is, and shall be in the great and good enter- 
prise of the American Tract Society, and will be with you in the 
contemplated meeting. The subjects proposed for consideration are 
great, and in my view vital to the enterprise ; and I should love to 
be present, and render any aid in my power, in the deliberations rela- 
tive to them. May ' the good Spirit of the Lord' be present to influ- 
ence, counsel and guide all who shall attend." 

From Hon. Charles Marshy Woodstock^ Vt. 

^' The Meeting, T doubt not, will be one of great interest, and I 
trust and pray that it may be attended and followed by the Divine 
blessing. I regret that I am obliged to say that my age and infirmi- 
ties, being now in my seventy- eighth year, forbid my attending on 
this interesting occasion. I hope that Ihe deliberations will render 
the path of duty plain, in relation to the important measures to b« 
adopted, and be followed with most happy results. 



12 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

'* The agency of humble and pious Colporteurs in carrying Tracts 
and Volumes to the huts and hovels of the poor, seems to me a most 
promising mode of distribution." 

From the Rev. John Codmanf D. D, Dorchester^ Mass. 

"I regret that a singular combination of arrangements ecclesiasti- 
cal, parocliial and domestic, the present week, must deprive me of 
the pleasure I should otherwise experience in meeting with so many 
esteemed friends, and consulting with them on the best method of 
promoting an enterprise which I consider second to none of the 
benevolent objects that distinguish the day in which we live.'' 

From Rev. L, Bollcs D. D. Secretary of the Baptist Foreign Mis- 
sionary Boards dated at Hartford^ Con. 

" I fondly hoped to bewith the managers and friends of the Ameri- 
can Tract Society at their meeting this day ; and for that purpose 
left home and came to this city, but my very slender health, and the 
state of the weather forbid me to proceed. I consider the occasion 
one of great interest, and pray God to preside over all your delibera- 
tions and act^. Hitherto the enterprises of the Society have been con- 
ducted in the genuine spirit of the Gospel, and have been signally 
approved of Heaven, and I have great confidence that they will so 
continue to be owned.'* 

From Rev. Alexander H. Vinton^ Boston ^ Mass. 

" I am at length obliged to say that my engagements, some of 
them special, will prevent my being present at the meeting of the 
Board. I regret this the less inasmuch as you have the prospect, if 
not the promise, of so large a representation from the Episcopal 
Church. In the devout hope that the cause may receive a new and 
saving impulse through this meeting, I am &c." 

From Rev. E. N. Kirk, dated at Andover^ Mass. 

** It grieves me to refuse you any thing, but especially this request. 
Tet I believe I know the Master's will. My duties at present are 
here, and not there. 

*' I rejoice that you have adopted the method of calling an extra 
meeting of the members of the Tract Society, to throw the responsi- 
bility of decision on them. Our Executive Committees have acted 
too much, and have been treated too much as if they were the Socie- 
ties, and the Church has seemed to act as if it were a great exercise 
of charity iu her to help them when they have brought themselves 
mto a strait. Oh, my dear brother, how little is there of genuine 
principle in the religion of the Charch ! Yet there is improvement^ 



LBTTESS RECEIYBD. 13 

progress, which the course you are now adopting is calculated to ad- 
Tsnce. Tell the members of Christ's holy Church, bought with bis 
blood, redeemed from hell, on the verge of glory and riches and 
bliss interminable, tell them that Christ^s cause languishes ; ask 
them if it must be so any longer 1" 

From Rev. Heman Humphry ^ D. D. Pesident of Amherst Coll, Mass. 

** Your call will, I doubt not, have the cordial approbation of all 
the friends and patrons of the American Tract Society. It is meet 
that they should come together, when they can have more time for 
prayer and deliberation, than can be allowed at the Anniversaries. I 
hope there will be a full attendance, and that God will be with you in 
every deed. I rely more and more upon the gifts of the Holy Ghost, 
to carry forward the work of the Lord, through the instrumentality of 
your and other kindred Societies. 

'* It is exceedingly encouraging and affecting to see how much 
faster God is opening the world to evangelical efforts, in answer to 
prayer, than the Church is prepared to take possession. Let any one 
go hack five and ticenty yc^XBf and consider what a small beginning had 
then beoQ made ; let him compare it with what has since been done, 
and help exclaiming, if he can, * what hath God wrought! It is 
the Lord's doing and marvellous in our eyes.* But then, what wide 
regions of the earth remain yet to be possessed. Shall the churches 
gird on their armour and go up and take possession, or shall they stay 
and die by the stuff. 

** What might not be done by the press, in the four quarters of 
the globe, if means of employing its mighty agency were furnished. 
The press never requires a year, nor an hour to get acclimated. It 
is equally safe under the burning Line and the Arctic circle. The 
Cholera cannot touch it ; the deadly miasmas of Western Africa can- 
not affect it ; it cannot suffer from cold, or hunger, or nakedness. 
When once abroad on missionary ground^ it is never obliged to i«- 
ium with an invalid family, nor to recruit its own exhausted energies. 
However rapidly the living teachers may follow each other to the 
grave, the preaa never dies. 

** And then, the Tracts and bound volumes which your Society is 
•owing broadcast over this great country, and aiding other Societies to 
print and scatter abroad in a hundred heathen tongues, who can es- 
timate, who could estimate if he had the arithmetic of angels, the 
amount of |(ood nhich has already been done : still less, what golden 
harveata are yet to spring up under this heaven-blessed cultivation. 
8ome of these Tracts may be spurned under foot, bat they feel no 
ptiBi no digcoQiagement. Many of them may^ be lost, bat how 



•i 



U DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

easily can they be replaced. What though some thouands of your 
bound volumes should be laid away to sleep quietly upon dusty 
shelves, how many hundred thousands will be doing their work in the 
hands of a million of readers. 

*' Let Home and Foreign Missionaries do all they can. Let their 
numbers be greatly increased. But if our country is saved, if the 
world is ever evangelized, it must be, I am persuaded, by the instru- 
mentality of the religious presSf as much as any other human agency. 
It is the true Archemedian lever, and the Bible is the pou sioi I be- 
lieve that no Society in the world has done more than the American 
Tract Society in proportion to its means, to dcvelope the mighty 
power of the Press, when brought directly to bear upon the highest 
interests of mankind ; and I look upon this developement as a mere 
carrat of what may be done ; of what will be done under the smiles of 
gracious Heaven, by scattering *■ the leaves of the tree of life, for the 
healing of the nations.' 

*' I send you this trifle ($5), for foreign distribution. Would that I 
could add to it a hundred fold. May. the Lord vouchsafe such dis- 
coveries of his holiness and glory to the meeting, as to make every 
heart exclaim, * How dreadful is this place ; it is none olh^r than the 
house of God ; it is the gates of heaven.* *' 

From Rev. Francis Wayland, D. D, Providence^ R. I. 

" It shall be my prayer that the Spirit of God may be with you as 
on the day of Pentecost ; that it'may guide you into all wisdom and 
energy and holy labor for Christ. The objects which you have sug- 
gested for discussion are of the greatest importance. I am sure that 
nothing should be allowed to prevent the Church of God from using 
the Press in every manner and in every place where Providence 
opens the door. I shall be glad to co-operate with the Society by 
every means in my power.** 

From Rev. Joseph Hurlbutf New London^ Con. • 

<* I assure you there is no subject that interests me more at pre- 
sent, than that of sending oat a phalanx of devoted colporteurs through- 
out our Western and South-Western States. I hope the time is not 
far distant when it will be in my power to give you some evidence of 
my interest." 

From Rev. Chauneey A, Goodrich, Prof. YeUe College, Con* 

" It is my fervent prayer that a double portion of that Spirit which 

bae in times past prevailed in your Society, may rest on all of its 

membeiB who assemble on this occasion. Wielding as yon do, in be- 

liilf of the ehareheei the migfatieet tngrae of eiviliied tociety, which 



LSTTEat BSCSIYfiD. 1$ 

has sbaken kiugdoms, and is destined to shake the whole earth, may 
aid be given yon from on high to turn all its power to the promotion 
of the Redeemer*s kmgdom. 

"We have reached an interesting and momentous crisis in the pro- 
gress of our great public institutions. On& after another has become 
encumbered with debt, and crippled in its operations. It is the impera- 
tive duty of the friends of Christ to prevent any further recurrence of 
these evils ; and I am glad that your Board have resolved to call up- 
on the public to decide before hand, what shall be done, to decide 
whether they will suffer the noble Institution to hesitate or falter in 
the onward course which Providence has so plainly marked out before 
her. I trust they will decide right, that the proposed meeting will 
give an impulse to the zeal and self-denial of all who love the cause 
of Christ, which shall bear your Society forward with redoubled 
power, in the widening sphere of action which opens before it.'* 

From Rev, William J. M^Cord, Dutchess Co, N. York. 

**l have ever felt deeply interested in the Tract cause, for to reli- 
giouM puhlicaiions I owe, under God, almost all that I am, as a christian 
and a minister. Every department of your enterprise has my cordial 
approbation, and shall receive my feeble aid.** 

From Thomas W. Blatchford, M, D. Troi/y N. York. 

" You do not know how glad I was when I saw a few weeks sinee 
that you had determined to hold a kind of holy convention, to eonsult 
tipon the great interests of the Tract Society. 

**I had just returned from that holy gathering at Norwich, with my 
heart bigger than my pocket, and a million times fuller, and my de- 
termination fully set in me never to let anything short of * impossibil- 
ity itself* clearly expressed^ prevent my being present at the annual 
gatherings of the A. B. C. F. M. 

** It seems now as though * I should not lose the relish all my days,* 
and I don*t want to. I feel (as I told my wife when I returned) as if 
I wanted to roll myself into the Lord's treasury, to be disposed of just 
where his commissioners-should desire. So glorious seems this cause 
of all eanses — and the Tract Society is only one of its most important 
members— whether it is the eye^ or the hand^ or the foot, I am not go- 
ing to determine, though it looks like a little of all. But ce.rtain I am 
that God has so constituted all those members of his Evangelizing 
machine, that the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee 
nor again the head to the foot, I have no need of you ; nay, much more 
those members which seem to be feeble are necessary. 

** The moment I taw your notice of the Meeting, I determined to be 



16 DELIBERATIVE MEETING* 

with you, God willing ; but whether I shall now be able, is yet a mat* 
ter of some ancertainiy. If I am not, impossibility itself will be 
clearly expressed ; but whether present or absent, I hope ever to be 
found like the bread tickets our baker leaves with us, * good for one 
Loaf."* 

From E, C, Delavan, Esq, Balhton Centre^ N, York, 

*t I have always felt a deep interest in the Tract cause. The first 
donation I ever made of any amount, was to assist in erecting the So- 
ciety's house. It required a great effort at the time to do what little I 
did, but I have always looked upon that effort as one that has been 
greatly blessed to me.*^ 

From Rev. Tryon Edwards^ Rochester ^ N. York. 

''The call for the proposed meeting I cannot but regard as one of 
the most important steps ever taken by your Society ; and the meet* 
ing itself, I hope and trust, may be but the first of a series whicht 
may annually bring together the friends of the Tract cause to delibe- 
rate for its interests, and act to extend its influence and usefulness. 

" As I am prevented from being with you, I send the paper which 
I have prepared, at the request of your Committee, on the relation of 
your publications to the pastoral office/' 

From. Hon. Joseph C. Hornblower, Chief Justice of Neto- Jersey. 

** I have endeavored so to arrange my public duties as to afford me 
an opportunity of being present at the meeting, but regret to find that 
it will not be in my power. I must be on the bench. If present with 
you I could contribute little beyond my best wishes for the success df 
the enterprise, and these you will have, though absent, accompanied 
with my sincere prayer that the great Head of the Church will be pre- 
sent with you by his Spirit, and conduct to such results as shall be for 
his glory and the best interests of the world." 

From Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D. Princeton, N. Jersey. 

*' I rejoice to find the Board of your Society convinced that some- 
thing more than usual ought to be done to rouse the zeal and extend 
the efforts of your noble Institution. Great and immensely important 
•8 is the good which it has been the means of accomplishing already ; 
yet> when we compare what it has done with what it might do> if the 
power of the press were properly estimated, and if the zeal of Ameri« 
can christians were animated in any thing like the degree which it 
ought to he, — it appears to me that every pious heart must be asham- 
ed and humbled to think how little we are doings and most see the 



LETTERS RECEIVED. 17 

necessity and importance of new and greatly enlarged operations in 
this wide and daily increasing field of benevolence. 

'' It does appear to me that several departments of this wide field 
have been hitherto neither estimated nor improved as they ought to 
be. The employment -of Colporteurs — the personal and general co- 
operation of private christians^ of both sexes, with the ministry, in 
spreading the knowledge of the Gospel^ and that without in the least 
invading the functions of the sscred ofiicc — ought both to be, un- 
doubtedly^ carried to a much greater extent than they have hitherto 
been pursued in our country. 

" Will the churches refuse or hesitate to sustain the Board in this 
extension of its labor 1 I hope not. In my opinion every friend to the 
peace and happiness of our beloved country^ as well as to the salva- 
tion of men ; — every patriot, as well as every christian, ought to feel 
himself called upon to do Jive if not ten times as much as ever before 
in forwarding this great cause. It is the cause of God — of our country 
—of our children and our children's children — to an extent that no one 
now can adequately estimate. 

''I can only say, my dear sir, that, in my old age, and near my last 
account, I stand ready to do all in my power to co-operate with your 
Board in its efforts to promote this precious cause. It would gratify 
me unspeakably to be present with you — not with the hope of adding 
anything either to the instruction or the solemnity of the occasion ; 
but to testify ray humble zeal in favor of the hallowed work in which 
you are engaged, and to contribute my mite of influence towards the 
encouragement of those who are engaged in it. 

'^ May the blessing of the King of Zion rest upon your meeting, 
and make it productive of rich and glorious results ! Cordially yours 
in the Lord.'* 

From Rev, Joseph H. Jones, Philadelphia. 

** I could not expect by my presence to add ' in conference * to the 
wisdom of the enlightened and devout body of clerical and lay breth- 
ren whom such an occasion will undoubtedly draw together. Had it 
been practicable for me to attend, however, I should have found their 
deliberations greatly serviceable to myself. I shall look, in common 
with thousands who are not permitted to be there, with lively interest 
to the resolt. And though my influence is but limited, and my zeal 
and love in the cause of our divine and glorious Redeemer too often 
lamentably small, yet I need not say that any subordinate service 
which I can render in promoting it, by the help of God, it will giv« 
mt mtich pleasure to andertake/' 



18 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

From Rev. William Suddards^ Philadelphia. 

To Ret. Dr. Milnob, — " Your kind letter covering an invitation 
to the hospitalities of yoor house and the interesting meeting at the 
Tabernacle is duly receivJed ; but my duties and the state of my health 
forbid my engaging at present in those delightful combinations of good 
men for great and good purposes, as in former years I was wont to do. 
They have my warmest regards, and I only regret that I cannot ren- 
der a support in some sort commensurate with my attachment. I am 
glad to find you at your post. We hope to have the ray of your ex- 
ample unbroken in this matter. It will speak to many who shall sur- 
vive you, in tones from the sepulchre, and men may rush to bear the 
fallen standard, who stood far away before you fell/' 

From Rev. Joel Parker^ D. D. Philadelphia, 

** Somebody has said that * what ou^t to be done can be done.' I 
inpposa the remark^lika most of our sententious sayings, is to be 
taken with some limitations ; but it does appear to me that the cause 
of the American Tract Society ought to receive a fresh impulse, and 
that the amount of good which it has already achieved, and the in- 
creased facilities which it now possesses for doing good must and will 
call forth the resources of the friends of Christ. Shall such a power 
to bless our country in this interesting forming period of its history, 
lie dormant in the stereotype-plates of the Tract Society, when a few 
thousand dollars, rightly applied, would send spiritual light and salva- 
tion to every destitute settlement, and almost every cabin in North 
America! Shall the cry of the heathen be heard, redoubled as it is, 
without any corresponding redoubling of our exertions.'' 

From Rev. William S. Plumer, D. D. Richmotidy Va. 

** I fully concur in the importance of increased zeal in the Society's 
work. Infidelity has retreated from high places, and has gone into 
dark comers. I have lately travelled from this place to Christians- 
burg, which is on the other side of the Alleghany mountains. I went 
Tia Charlottesville, Waynesboro, Staunton, Jjexington, Fincastle, 
Big Lick and Salem. In nearly all that country there is at this time a 
loud call for the Society's publications. I am much pleased with your 
recent publications and doings* 

^* P. S. There is great need of a Track containing a summary of 
the evidences of Christianity." 

On Tuesday evenings at 7, a sermon was preached by 
the ReT. Jahes Rohetn, of Catskill, N. Y. from Acts, 26 : 22, 
23, '^Haring therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto 



HASMONT OF THE -SOCIITT. 19 

this day, witnessiog both to small and great, saying none other 
things than those which the prophets and Moses did say 
should come; that Christ should suffer, and that he should be 
the first that should rise firom the dead, and should show light 
unto the people and to the Gentiles." A copy of this able, ap- 
propriate and highly evangelical discourse, was. on motion of 
"Rev. Baron Stow, requested for the press, and the Committee 
are happy to present it to the reader at the close of this yo- 
Inme. Prayers were offered by Rev. Benjamin H. Rice, D. D. 
and Rev, R. K. Rodgers. 

Wednesday f 10 A.M. Prayer by Rev. N. Murray. The Rev. 
Dr. Milnor, Chairman of the Committee, presented to the 
meeting the following Document 



^^^M'^VWVXA^A/WW^A^A^WVW^^^^^^/VWWWWW 



DOCUMENT I. 

f The Harmeny of the Society's Proeeedingi. 

^ Behold haw good and how pUatant a thing it if for bnthren to dwoU 

together in unity,** 

Among the many interesting topics deserving of notice 
on this extraordinary assemblage of friends of the Ameri- 
can Tract Society, may be eminently ranked that of the 
very remarkable harmony of feeling and action by which 
its past history has been distinguished. It would be un- 
grateful to that Divine Being whose direction in the ma- 
nagement of its affairs has been so constantly sought by 
its conductors, not to recognize, thankfully and devoutly, 
his special providence, and the benignant guidance of his 
Holy Spirit in all the way in which he has hitherto 
brought us. 



20 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

The Institution had its basis in the pcinciple of brother- 
ly love. It was deemed possible for the disciples of a 
common Savior, honestly divided from each other on 
some points of doctrine, discipline and worship, and sepa- 
rated into different communities, cordially to unite in the 
dissemination of those great truths of their religion in 
which they harmoniously concur, and which are indisso- 
lubly connected with the eternal well-being of the soul. 
It was not entirely a new experiment. Several small 
associations had been productive of much good- In Great 
Britain a similar effort, on a large scale, had been attend- 
ed with an astonishing measure of success ; and it may 
be added, the great Society by which it has been prose- 
cuted still maintains its harmony, and continues to bless 
that country and the world, through its numerous publi- 
cations, with invaluable treasures of spiritual knowledge 
and practical instruction. Tract Societies, both here and 
there, owe much of their prosperity, under the Divine 
favor, to those well-considered principles of action which 
were adopted at the outset of these undertakings as the 
basis of christian union. 

With whatever delight the christian mind may contem- 
plate the happy period, how distant none can tell but He 
who " knows the end from the beginning," when on all 
points the followers of Christ shall see eye to eye, be 
** perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the 
same judgment," and all unite under one congenial ban- 
ner^ it was apparent to every considerate mind that there 
were existing differences of opinion and practice among 
Evangelical christians, that in such a'combination must be 
left untouched. It was to be ascertained in what doctrines 
of faith all of this character were agreed, and an honest 
understanding was to be had that to such their united en- 
deavors were to be implicitly confined. Happily, little 
difficulty occurred in settling these. *' Man's native sin- 
fulness; the purity and obligation of the law of Gk>d; the 



HARMONY OF THE SOaSTT/ 21 

true and proper Diyinity of our Lord Jesus Christ ; the 
necessity and reality of hi? atonejment and sacrifice ; the 
efficiency of the Holy Spirit in the work of renovation; 
the free and full oSers of the Gospel, and the duty of mea 
to accept it ; the necessity of personal holiness, and a 
state of rewards and punishments beyond the grave, "— 
doctrines dear to the hearts of all evangelical christians, 
were the declared basis of our union. They were adopted 
with much deliberation and fervent prayer^ and they have 
continued to forih the inspiring topics of more than a 
thousand different publications, including upwards of one 
hundred bound volumes, which it has been our privilege 

to issue.- By a faithful adherence to these original terms 
of association, has harmony been uninterruptedly pre- 
served for the seventeen years and more through which 
the labors of this Institution have been so happily con- 
ducted. 

During this period no Tract or book has been issued 
but with the unanimous approval of all the members of 
the Publishing Committee, consisting of a representative 
from each of six evangelical denominations of christians. 
To wjiatever extent any denomination may have thought 
it a duty to spread abroad a knowledge of its own peculi- 
arities, this has been its own separate and exclusive 
work; we have scrupulously adhered to the principles 
on which our union is based, and on which its continu- 
ance depends. 

One great object, however, it is believed, has been ef- 
fected by this exhibition of harmonious action. Multitudes 
have become disposed to look more at the great princi- 
ples of their blessed religion, in which they are all able 
conscientiously to concur, and less on those in which they 
unhappily differ. The discovery has been satisfactorily 
made of the inferiority in number and magnitude of the 
latter, compared with the former. The beneficial exam- 
ple of its Divine Author has become more an object of 

3 



22 DBtlBEBATIVE MEETING. 

assiduous imitation. Where discussion has been had on 
subjects which are still in dispute among christians, lees 
of asperity has been seen in the pages of controversy, and 
the failure to convince an adversary, has not oflen been 
followed by the language of bitterness and denunciation. 
It has been seen by Protestant churches, that just in pro- 
portion as they present a united front to the assaults of 
infidelity and error, and the machinations of the Man of 
Sin, will the citadel of their hopes stand firm and unin- 
jured. Just as they spend their strength in mutual con- 
tention, will their common enemies gain advantage over 
them. It was a happy step towards that union, over the 
continued subsistence and increase of which the present 
occasion calls upon us so gratefully to rejoice, when that 
grand association, the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
originated, whose labors have given to the world more 
than fourteen million copies of the volume of inspiration, 
and multiplied the means of conveying its blessed truths 
to the nations of the earth, by translations into more than 
t50 of the languages into which they are divided. 
I The establishment of Tract Societies by christians of 
different denominations, was a further advance in the 
way to that blessed consummation, when all discord shall 
cease; when the principles, and objects, and modes of 
action among christians shall universally coalesce ; 
when the genius and spirit of the Gospel shall unite 
their hearts in christian love ; when God shall be adored 
as the universal Father; the world become one vast 
&mily of brethren, united to Him and one another by 
the blood of Christ, regenerated by his Spirit, and pre- 
pared to cast their crowns before the same Lord, and 
rend the concave of heaven with one harmonious shout 
of praise. 

In the retrospect of the past doings of this Institution 
and their results, they who have been most intimately 
connected with its transactions have reason, with a deep 



HARKONT OF THS SOCISTT/ 23 

sense of tbe imperfections of their own agency therein, to 
exult in multiplied evident manifestations of divine favor 
towards it. Especially do they rejoice in the delightful 
fact to which these remarks are intended to have a spe- 
cial reference — the preservation, thus far, of perfect uni- 
ty and concord among its officers and members, and the 
confirmation which this affords of every glowing antici- 
pation of its friends being realized in its future progress. 
For the promotion of this end let us improve our pre- 
sent assemblage. For this let our united prayers ascend 
to heaven, and our best endeavors be exerted. A dutiful 
spirit should delight to recur to the precepts, and a living 
faith to lay hold of the promises of God. Where is one to 
be found among the former which gives countenance to 
disunion and discord ? Where is there one among the 
latter that assures any recompense of blessing to a con- 
tentious and litigious spirit ! The religion of Jesus is a 
religion of love. It was this hallowed principle in which 
the Gospel originated, and its too partial prevalence has 
been the chief obstacle to its predicted universal sway. 
Its final success can never obtain, until the same mind is 
possessed by his people that was in Christ their illustri- 
ous Head, and their combined and unembarrassed efforts 
are united for his glory and the salvation of mankind. A 
wide field lies open before us. Millions of heathen im- 
plore, in their destitution, the exercise of our benevolence 
towards them. Other millions of nominal christians, if in 
their blindness they ask not, we know need our interpo- 
sition to pour into their minds the light of heavenly truth, 
and recall them to the simplicity that is in Christ. Still 
many a waste place of our own land reproaches the nar- 
rowness and lassitude of our exertions, while grateful 
multitudes, in regions which our efiTorts have availably 
reached, bless Gt)d for that concentrated union of action 
which ' has sent them our publications to light them on 
their way to heaven. Experience has proved that ou? 



34 . DELIBEBATITE MEETIKG. ' 

plan of union in this work of benevolence is not visionary 
or Utopian. It contemplates jio improper interference 
with any of the departments into which the family of 
Phrist is divided. 

Let no means employed by individual churches for the 
glory of the Redeemer and the salvation of those for whom 
Christ has. died, be disregarded or esteemed of light im- 
portance. Let the living ministry be respected as a ^lost 
honored Institution, a divine appointment, having the 
promise of the Church's Head to the end of time. Let 
each distinct branch of the vast household of faith em- 
ploy the means entrusted to it by a gracious Providence, 
to promote the great ends contemplated by divine mercy 
and goodness to our fallen race. But let the broader princi- 
ple of united action, so sanctioned of God, so blessed in 
its past results, so in accordance with the long cherished 
expectation of christian faith and the opening prospects 
of millennial glory, never be abandoned. O, it would 
grieve the soul of charity, and throw a gloom over the 
brightening prospects of futurity, were the sacred union 
of christians thus happily begun, and thus successfully 
pursued, to be dissolved, or in any measure lessened or 
impaired. But it may not be. The sacred bond roust not 
be broken. Withered be the hand that would attempt its 
severance. Whilst any portion of six hundred millions 
of , unenlightened heathen remain to be brought into sub- 
mission to the Prince of Peace ; while darkness broods 
over the superstitious churches of the East ; while Papal 
Rome is seeking to extend' her despotic sway over the 
minds of men ; and while multitudes, not utterly beyond 
the influence of Gospel light and truth, are seen crowding 
the broad road that leadeth to destruction, let christian 
union be made the means of counteracting these mighty 
evils. We ask objectors to. a plan so consonant with the 
spirit Qf the Gospel, what would have been the number 
of Bibles circulated within the last thirty eight years, if 



HARMONY OF TBS 80CIBTT. 25 

sectarian jealoasy and rivalship had been successful in 
preventing the establishment of that magnificent monu- 
ment of religious enterprise, with the thousands of its 
progeny, of the vast extent of whose most laudable exer- 
tions we have already spoken ; and how many precious 
souls would have gone unblessed to their great account, 
had not the great Tract Association of Great Britain, 
with our own and other kindred unions, disseminated 
through innumerable channels the words of life and sal- 
vation in the little pamphlet or the more enlarged volume. 
When we look at the details of spiritual good effected 
by this joint co-operation which stand authenticated and 
recorded in the annals of our Tmct Society alone, and 
form the most moderate conjecture of cases which have 
never met the public eye, we are compelled to exclaim , 
** What hath God wrought 1" And when we are mourn- 
ing over the remaining bitterness of party spirit in the 
Church or in the world, and are filled with grief that 
union is not the watchword with all that love their Sa- 
vior and their fellow-men, and while we also join in the 
lamentations of our associates, that the means of such ex- 
tensive good as lies before us are, by so many who profess 
highly to appreciate our object, injuriously withheld ; we 
may perceive, amidst all our discouragements, sources of 
pious gratulation for the past, and of inspiring hope for 
the future, that should silence our complaints, and lead ut 
to trust in God for an issue tp our labors for which we 
shall have reason to praise Him, through eternal ages. 

This Document was referred to Rev. Dr. Magie, Rev, Baron 
Stow, and Rev. Dr. Adams, who subsequently presented the 
following Report, which was adopted by the Meeting, and 
with the Document was referred to the Executive Committee 
for publication : viz. 



26 ]>ELIBERATiyE KBBTING. 



REPORT. 

We regard the doings of the American Tract Society, as set forth 
in this paper, with very deep interest. By these doings the £aet is es- 
tablished that good men may so coalesce on all substantial points of 
christian faith and practice, as to labor faithfully and successfully to* 
gethcr, without giving up any of their own peculiar views. The various 
branches of the Church are thus taught to forget the minimum of their 
differences in the deep conviction they feel of the value of the max- 
imam of their agreement. This Society cannot have operated for sevent- 
een years, in this harmonious way, without producing results of the hap- 
piest kind. It is cheering to the heart of pious benevolence to see that 
brethren, who are called by different names, and who worship under 
somewhat different forms, can nevertheless thus dwell togetherin unity. 

Your Committee feel that christians every where will be encou- 
raged by the lovely example of this Society *s operations. There is 
something in this fact which looks like a pledge and a prelude of that 
day when the watchmen shall all see eye to eye, and when Ephrftim 
shall no longer envy* Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim. We cannot but 
hope, therefore, that the American Tract Society will go on with its 
noble work in the same spirit in which the Society had its origin* 
This blessed work was founded in christian confidence, and it is only 
by a maintenance of the same spirit that it can expect to meet Hs'fnU 
measure of reward. 

Rev. Mr. M'CLURE, of Maiden^ Mass. in moving the adoption of 
this Report, said that the Document and the Report had struck a key- 
note which he did not doubt would vibrate in unison in every heart. 
It was pleasant to see christians of every name and sentiment co-ope- 
rating in such a work as this, and he had been reminded, while listen- 
ing to the Report, of one of the earliest efforts made in this cause. 
Forty years ago, a lady in Boston, a member of the Congregational 
church, became interested m some of the Tracts written by Hannah 
More, and called on a bookseller, a deacon in the Baptist church, to 
publish them. He said that if she would raise the money to buy the 
paper, he would print them at his own risk. She did so, and the Tracts 
were published and circulated. Here was a daughter of the Puritans 
co-operating wi^h a member of the Baptist communion in spreading 
the writings of one of the daughters of the Church of England. 

The operations of this Society seem to be calculated to raise up a 
race of broad-chested christians, men of big hearts, capable of sympa- 
thixing with all that love the Redeemer, with the 144|000, the repre- 



BA&xoxnr Of the sogistt. 27 

86nUti?e8 of the entire Choich of God. We desire to see more ezten- 
8i?e christian union then now prOreils, and not merely eztemal union 
that may be effected by one denomination becoming so strong as to 
swallow up others ; but union that is produced by bringing all nearer 
to the common centre. This is the only union that is of value in the 
sight of heaven. 

Mr. M. quoted the remark of Leighton, that we ought to inquire if 
the points in which we agree are not more numerous and important 
than those in which we differ ; and that of Melaucthon, In essentials, 
unity ; in non-essentials, liberty ; in all things, charity. 

With this "bond of perfectness,** we are in no danger of any com- 
promises, whereby the truth shall suffer. There flows in these reins the 
blood of the Covenanters ; it is capable of being warmed by the fire 
of the Puritans^ or any warmth imparted by christian love. I love the 
Church of my fathers — but that implies no reproach or indifference to 
others. For a man to say he loves his own mother — the being who 
kindly watched his infancy, blessed his hours of sickness, and has 
loved him more than any other being, is that a reason for another to 
take offence 1 Must there be no preferences in order to be union 1 Do 
I love mj neighbor less, because I love my family more 1 

The way to unite the Church is to propose to her various branches 
one glorious commanding object. It is not to be done by the sacrifice 
of cherished preferences and prepossessions. But when all are press- 
ing toward the same mark, however «ach may be platooned into dif- 
ferent sections, or marshalled under different leaders, the Church will 
present one solid phalanx to the enemy — the more effective, perhaps, 
in her efforts, ind more certain of success, for the order and discipline 
of their separate organization. 

Letter from Rev. Daniel Sharp, D. D. Boston, Mast. 

" I cherished the hope for a few days that I should be able to be 
with you at the expected Meeting ; but circumstances have occurred 
which will no^allow me then to visit New- York. I shall, however, be 
with f on in spirit. I have entire sympathy in the enlarged and catho- 
lic objects and efforts of the Society ; and undiminished confidence in 
the impartiality and sound views ef the Executive Committee. I 
should have been highly gratified to be present. May the Father of 
lights guide all your delfterations and control all your decisions.*' 

The following Document, prepared under the direction of the 
Committee, Was read by the Rev. Dr. Edwabob, approredi and 
refeired for publication. 



28 PELIBERATIVE UEETIl^G. 



DOCUMENT 11. 

ProTidential History of tbe Society. 

The Society's operations were commenced by issuing a 
series of Tracts and Children's Tracts ; but attention had 
already been directed both to the issuing^ of volumes like 
those of Baxter and Doddridge, and to operations in 
foreign lands. The question occurred whether its title 
should not be the American Tract and Book Society, or 
the American and Foreign Tract Society; but the In- 
stitution, formed in London in 1799, had simply the 
title " Religious Tract Society ;" the term Tract [Latin 
tractum, a treatise, or thread of discourse drawn out] 
was equally applicable to a larger or smaller publication ; 
and it was conceived that the term American might im- 
ply exertion wherever American benevolence should reach. 
The same views governed the Board in applying in 1841 
for the Act of Incorporation. 

The Society's first Report recognizes the imperious 
claims of pagan lands, and the second contains the princi- 
ples on which foreign pecuniary grants should be applied. 
Those principles were drawn up and presented to the So- 
ciety by one of its earliest and most steadfast friends, the 
lamented Jeremiah Eyarts, Esq. then Secretary of the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 
— nor is it now known how far his wide-reaching mind 
then anticipated the thousand ramifications of influence 
in favor of foreign missions, which should grow out of the 
active inlistment of Tract and Bible Institutions as auxiliary 
to that magnificent enterprise. Appeals from some foreign 
stations had already been received, and in the two follow- 
ing years the Society's first foreign pecuniary grants were 
made to the missions of the Board of Commissioners in 
Malta and Ceylon, the mission of the Protestant £pisco- 



HI8T0BT OF TBS SOCIETY. ' 29 

pal Church in Greece, and the mission of the American 
Baptist Board in Burmah. These grants have increased 
to the average of about $25,000 annually for the last 8e« 
ven years. 

In the Society's third year it entered on the volume ctr- 
culaiion, by stereotyping Doddridge's Rise and Progress, 
which was perpetuated by tke donation of $800 from the 
lamented Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, Col. Varick, Col. 
Rutgers and Nicholas Brown, Esq. ; and was ere long 
followed by issuing the Saints' Rest, Call to the Uncon- 
verted, Pilgrim's Progress, and kindred works. The 
fathers in the churches cheered the Society in the enters 
prise. In the Society's eighth year an active friend at the 
South instituted an extensive correspondence respecting it, 
and presented its claims at the ensuing Anniversary, when 
it was Resolved to attempt to reach every accessible family 
in the Southern Atlantic States with one or more volumes^ 
a design which, one year after, was extended to embrace all 
our Territories. Individuals were also raised up to give the 
enterprise, their undivided energies, both at the East and 
West, and seek to supply families not only with a volume, 
but with the "Evangelical Family Library;" the number 
of volumes has increased to nearly one hundred ; and by 
all the efibrts made, with the co-operation of pastors and 
christians generally, about 2,000,000 copies have been 
circulated. 

In the Society's fourth year attention was drawn to syi' 
tematic Tract distribution, A deep interest had been 
awakened in behalf of the destitute of our country, espe-* 
cially in the Western States, and a Meeting of gentlemen 
convened to raise fiinds^ when one of them, previous to 
subscribing $1000, said he wished to give at least ttoo 
tracts to every family at the West ; and as the effbrt to 
obtain means was prosecuted by the Secretary, the question 
occurred. Why not supply the accessible population at the 
Ea$t as well as the West ? The work was soon entered 

3* 



30 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

upon by the New- York City Tract Society, and in various 
places throughout the country. 

After two years the attention of some of the laborers, and 
especially the late Harlan Page, was called to the neces- 
sity of Connecting with the distribution faithful personal 
effort far the souls of men^ which greatly increased the in- 
terest and efficiency of these endeavors, and they were 
prosecuted to some extent in most of our principal towns 
and villages, and in very numerous congregations. The 
Society's energies were directed to the extension of these 
means of grace throughout the country generally, and in 
its ninth year it employed twenty-three years of agency^ 
partly for.the raising of funds, but chiefly to excite the peo- 
ple of God to fidelity to the population around them. The 
Societies in New* York City, Philadelphia, and some 
other important cities, towns and villages, have persevered ; 
the former having now 1000 visiters,, and reported the last 
year, 234 hopeful conversions, besides abundant incidental 
good. But it is deeply to be lamented that, from various 
causes, this Society's attention was gradually diverted from 
these eflTorts for the destitute of our country, till it lost the 
vantage-ground it had gained; and the loss to perishing 
thousands is known only to the Omniscient mind. 

If any thing can reconcile us to this loss, it is perhaps 
the fact that God has now directed the Society to kindred 
efforts for our destitute population, which promise in many 
respects still higher good. The prosecution of the volume 
circulation has shown that it also aflTords the fairest oppor- 
tunities to labor for the salvation of men, as it has also 
brought more distinctly to view the boundless moral wants 
of eur country. In May, 1841, the Agent for superintend- 
ing the volume circulation at the West, spread before the 
Committee the immense population which his endeavors 
had not reached. The tear of compassion was already fall- 
ing over neglected millions within our own borders. At- 
tention bad been awakened to the success of colporteurs, 



HI8T0RT OF TBB SOCIETY. 31 

plain humble men in France and adjacent countries ; and 
the Society resolved to seek out men of kindred spirit who 
would labor at smdl expense, to visit county by county, 
and with the christian co-operation that may be obtained, 
supply every accessible family with one or more books, 
by sale or gifl, accompanied with all proper endeavors for 
their eternal good A blessing has thus far evidently at- 
tended this system, and, so far as known, it has the cor- 
dial co-operation of the people of Qod. Nearly 20 of these 
Volume Agents for the destitute are now under commis- 
sion, 15 of them for the Western States, and three for the 
Germans, whose language they speak. 

Thus has God in his providence opened doors of useful- 
ness before the Society, which at his bidding they have 
humbly endeavored to enter. In each department they 
have discerned a work which the churches must evidently 
pursue, and in each the encouragements to labor continue 
ally brighten. Who will not pray that God will make the 
Offipers of the Society, its Managers, its Committee, its 
Agents, its supporters and friends, faithful to the trust, and 
bless these and other instrumentalities in subduing the na- 
tions to himself. 

As Dr. Edwakds proceeded with the reading of the above Docn- 
ment he added remarks on various topics presented ; adverting to th« 
early history of the New England (now American) Tract Society, 
formed at Andover in 1814, tWenty-eight years since. It began with 
obtaining sabscriptiMw of $20 or more, to be applied to printing Tracts 
designated by the Mtpeetive donors, one half of the edition to be re- 
ceived by the donor for gratuitous distribution, and the remaining half 
to be sold at cost, and the proceeds applied to reprinting the same 
number of copies, and thus the Tract to be perpetuated. From such 
beginnings grew the present Institution. He believed it originated 
from the Fountain of all good, and if its labors were prosecuted in de- 
pendence on him, it could never fail. The stream will rise as high as 
its source ; as he had just been reminded by the beautiful fountain 
from the Croton, that plays in front of the City Hall. Let all have 
the spirit of Him who, though be was rich, for our sakee became poor, 
and we shall seek out the destitute at home and sl^road ; and we 



3i DELIBEBATIYB MEETING. 

shall approach all, even the deluded Catholic and errorUt, with such 
love in our hearts that we shall not he repulsed. When we circulate 
Baxter's works it will be with Baxter's spirit, calling on God for a 
blessing. The two million Volumes issued by the Society, if thus cir- 
culated, and accompanied by the Holy Spirit, would seem to contain 
truth enough for the conversion of ** a nation in a day." 

In the work of foreign distribution, this Society and the Missiob- 
ary Boards were not different firms^but joint partners, all seeking, hke 
the great Apostle, by toil und sacrifice, to " fill up that which is be- 
hind " of the afflictions of Him, who made the one great propitiation 
for sin. 

In reference to Harcan Page, he well recollected when the Secre- 
tary came to him in 1823 or 4, and said we wanted engravings on the 
Tracts, and there was an ingenious mechanic in Connecticut, a pioas 
devoted man, who could make them. In this way Providence had 
brought into connection with this Society that man of God, whose ex- 
ample had done so much to awaken the churches to fidelity to the 
souls of men. 

Letter from Rev. Leonard Woods , D. D. The oh Sem. Andover,Ms, 

^ It' gives me pain to think that I cannot be with you, and by my 
personal presence show what interest I feel in the object of the Meet- 
ing. The Tract Society has always been dear to my heart ; and the 
importance of its labors has been increasing, in my view, from year. to 
year. I have been uniformly satisfied, and more than satisfied, with 
the arrangements by which the principal operations of the Society 
were removed from Boston to New- York; And I would not cease to 
bless God that he has. been pleased in so high a degree to prosper 
the Society. I cannot think of what has been accomplished without 
astonishment. How small was our beginning 1 How rapid the growth 
of the Society ! And how wide its salutary influence ! When, at the 
outset, I went here and there to induce men to contribute to this ob- 
ject, my heart would have been filled with joy could I have known 
that a tenth part of the good which has been done would ever have 
been accomplished. 

** The present depression of the Tract cause, I have thought, should 
not discourage us. It is nothing strange, if the zeal which has been 
kindled in favor of Foreign Missions, has at the same time turned off 
the public mind, in some measure, from this and other benevolent ob- 
jects. But I trust the depression is only for a time. When it comes 
to be teen and felt that the Tract cause is so intimately associated 
with the Missionary cause, and wfth all that is done in other ways for 



PQWSS OF THE PBE88» 33 

the spiritual good of our nee, I am sure the Tract Society will be 
sustained, and enabled to continue and enlarge its operations. 

" The flood of immoral and infi^del publications, to which you ad- 
rert, is one of the greatest evils of the day. Much is to be done in 
different ways to check that CTil. But I know of nothing which is 
likely to be so effectual as the wide circulation of the excellent 
Tracts or excellent Books which you heve published. 

** I have confidence in the Managers of the Tract business, and in 
others who will meet with them ; and doubt not you will hare wisdom 
from above, directing you to judge and act right iii regard to all the 
subjects which will come before you. I find it hard to deprive myself 
of the pleasure of joining with you in your deliberations. I assure 
you, that I shall, through divine help, double my past contributions to 
the Society, and my endeavors, in all proper ways, to promote the ob- 
ject of your Meeting. 

'< In my view, the great point is, to get the object of the Tract So- 
ciety fairly before the community, so as to produce, not an extraordi- 
nary and temporary excitement, but a detp^ permanent conviction of 
the importance of the object, and a steady habit of contributing to the 
funds of the Society. The generous charities and the fervent prayers 
of ministers and christians are indispensable.*' 

Eev. R. S. Cook, Secretary, presented the following Do- 
cument. 






DOCUMENT III. 

The Power of the Press— for Good and for Cvil. 

I. ITS INFLUENCE IN THE REFORMATION. 

Just three centuries and a quarter ago, an obscure men- 
dicant monk approacbied the Castle df Wittemberg, and 
nailed to the church-door a paper containing ninety^^fiTe 
theological propositions. They would only have served, 
perhaps, as^he death-warrant of their bold author, but for 



34 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

the wonderful Providence that gave wings to the seeds of 
truth they contained, by which they were scattered over 
the whole field of the Church. The press spread these 
theses with the rapidity of lightning. " In the space of a 
fortnight,'^ says a cotemporary historian, - " they had 
spread over Germany, and within a month they had run 
through all Christendom, as if angels themselves had been 
the bearers of thern to all men." 

Wherever this Tract of Luther's went, "it shook the 
very foundation? of proud Rome ; threatened with instant 
ruin the walls, gates and pillars of the Papacy ; stunned 
and terrified its t^hampions, and at the same time awak- 
ened from the slumber of error many thousands of men«" 
It was one of a wide series of triumphs achieved by the 
truth of Goit apprehended by a master mind, and pro- 
claimed through the only channel by which the world 
could have been aroused from the death-like sleep of cen- 
turies. 

It is a fact worthy of notice, in passing, that three Re- 
formations are linked together by the mysterious art of 
writing and printing. An eminent historian (Turner) in- 
forms us that *' as the writings of Wickliff made John 
Huss the Reformer of Bohemia, so the writings of John 
Huss led Martin Luther to be the Reformer of Germany : 
so extensive and so incalculable are the consequences 
which sometimes follow from hunran actions." 

Tracing the Reformation beyond these first beginnings, 
D'Aubigne says, " If we except Switzerland, where the 
preaching of the Gospel had been already heard, the arri- 
val af the Doctor of Wittemberg^ s writings every where 
forms the first page in the History of the Reformation, — 
A printer at Basle scattered the first germs of truth. At 
the moment when the Roman Pontiff thought to stifle the 
work in Germany, it began to manifest itself in France^ 
the Low Countries, Italy, Spain, England and Switzer-' 
land. Even though the power of Rome should fell the 



POWER OF THE PRESS. 35 

parent stem, the seeds of truth are hencefortH spread 
abroad in all lands." 

When the conflict thickened, Luther's voice resounded 
far and wide. [^* Three printing-presses were incessantly 
employed in multiplying copies of his various writings. 
His discourses passed from hand to hand, through the 
whole nation, supporting the agitated penitent in the con- 
fessional — giving courage to the faltering convert in the 
cloister — and asserting the claims of evangelic truth, 
even in the abodes of princes." 

The voice of God was now to be heard. The New 
Testament, in German, was given to the world, and ten 
thousand sheets a day, from three presses, were issued. 
In about ten years, previous to 1553, fifty-eight editions 
were printed and circulated ; and the Old Testament 
soon followed, issued in Tracts or parts, as the Bible ori- 
ginally was, *' to make the purchase easy to the poor, 
who caught at the sheets given to the world as a letter 
coming to them from heaven." 

In 1521 Melancthon issued his Tract, Loci Communes^ 
the design of which was '' to present theology as a sys- 
tem of devotion;" and it passed through 67 editions in 
74 years, without including translations. '* Next to the 
Bible, this work may have mainly contributed to the es- 
tablishment of the evangelical doctrine." 

The impulse which the Reformation gave to popular 
literature in Germany was prodigious. Whilst in the 
year 1517 only 37 publications were issued, in 1523, but 
six years afler, 498 were published, 183 of which were 
from the pen of Luther alone, incredible as it may seem. 
*' Whatever Luther and his friends composed, others dis- 
seminated far and wide. Monks, who were too ignorant 
to be able themselves to proclaim the word of God, tra? 
versed the provinces, and visiting the hamlets and cot* 
tages, sold them to the pepple. Germany was ere long 
overrun with these enterprising colporteurs. The efforts 



36 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

to suppress these writings increased the eagerness of the 
people to possess them; and when bought, they were 
read with redoubled ardor. By similar means, transla- 
tions of Luther's works were' circulated in France, Spain, 
England and Italy." 

• The Swiss Reformers were not slow in learning the 
power of the press. At an early date, a colporteur, named 
Lucian was employed by Zwingle, on the recommenda- 
tion of a scholar at Basle, himself "an unwearied propa- 
gator of Luther's writings," *' to go from city to city, 
from town to town, from village to village, nay, from 
house to house, all over Switzerland, carrjring with him 
the writings of Luther. To this expedient was many a 
Swiss family indebted for the gleam of light that found 
entrance into their humble dwelling." 

If we turn a moment to France, we find the principal 
Reformer giving her the New Testament in 1524; arid 
when the faithful few were driven from the kingdom, we 
see them on the borders, consulting on ** the importance 
of scattering the Scriptures and pious writings in their 
country." ** Oh," exclaimed these refugees, •* would to 
God that France were so supplied with Gospel writings, 
that in cottages and in palaces, in cloisters and in presby- 
teries, and in the inner sanctuary of all hearts, a powerful 
witness might be borne for the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." The presses stationed at Basle were incessantly 
employed in multiplying French works, which were for- 
warded to Farel, and by him introduced into France, 
through colporteurs — " poor men, of good character for 
piety, who. bearing their precious burden, went through 
towns and vrllages, from house to house, knocking At 
every door." Thus, as early as 1524, there existed in 
Basle, and having France for the field of their operations, 
a Bible Society, an Association of Colporteurs, and a 
Religious Tract Society." 

This brief review is sufficient to show the estimate in 



FOWEK OF THE PBE88. 37 

which the press was held by the Reformers ; and it fur- 
nishes some insight into the means by which that ama- 
zing Reformation was achieved, in the blessings of which 
ten generations of men have rejoiced, and which will he 
the joy and wonder of all succeeding ages. 

There is, however, another mode of illustrating the 
power of this agency as a means of reformation, by a 
glance at ike efforts made on the fart of iti enemies to ri- 
sist nnd suppress it, 

Tetzel, concerned for the fate of his traffic in indulgen* 
ces, denounced '*^punishment and disgrace in this world, 
and condemnation at the great day, to those who scrib- 
bled so many books and Tracts,'' as well as to those who 
"took pleasure in their writings, and circulated them 
among the people and in society." The Emperor Charles 
V. issued a decree, ratified by the imperial Diet, that th« 
writings of the Reformers should " not merely be rejected, 
but destroyed." ** You will, ihereforiB," said this mandate 
to all princes and prelates, "burn, or in other ways utter- 
ly destroy them." The Pope issued a bull, approved by 
the Sacred College, enjoining upon *• the bishops to 
search diligently for the writings of Martin Luther, and 
to burn them publicly and solemnly, in the presence of 
the clergy and of the laity." Even Henry VlTI. attempt- 
ing in vain to put down the influence of Luther's writings 
by his own royal pen, thought the flames a more effective 
extinguisher, and proceeded in solemn procession, with 
Cardinal Wolsey and the dignitaries of England and 
Rome, to St. PauPs Church, to burn the writings of the 
poor monk of WiltembergT— and, though '' his ^eart did 
not mean so," to kindle the fires of the Reformation 
throughout England ! In France, the government of 
Louis XIV. after, the revocation of the Edict^of Nantes, 
sent dragoons through the kingdom to destroy all the 
evangelical writings to be found ; and so successfully di4 



88 DELIBERATIVE MEETING 

they prosecute their mission, that they extirpated the 
christian literature of the French, and with it almost the 
last vestige of vital piety. 

We pause her0, without pursuing this mode of iilustra* 
tioD through the more familiar history of the Puritan age, 
when the press came again to the aid of evangelical reli- 
gion in a period of persecution and oppression, and scat- 
tered ahroad those spiritual classics which Baxter, Bun- 
yan, Flavel, and their cotemporaries wrote for the com* 
mon mind, and for universal man. 

Has the agency that in the 16th century could wake to 
life the energies of dormant mind in all the kingdoms of 
Europe; that excited the alarm and provoked the indig- 
nation of Emperors, Popes, and Kings, lest it should end 
their domination over the consciences of men ; that, a cen- 
tury after, enahled a few persecuted men to break again the 
yoke of semi-papal oppression, give liberty of conscience 
to England, and bring down the Gospel to the masses of 
the people ; that has ever been the defence of the 'Church 
from the assaults of infidelity: has this wonderful engine 
of light lost its power, now that the trammels of supersti- 
tion no longer bind its arms, and its arrows, unlike those 
of a rude age, rough and hastily made, may be the polish- 
ed shafts chosen from the armories of all ages ? In other 
words, if such wonders were wrought by the press in the 
infancy of its power, at the darkest period of the dark ages, 
with only the productions of a few poor monks, and when 
every thing conspired to diminish its influence, what 
may not be accomplished by it, under God, with all its 
improvements, with the productions of the best minds of 
centuries, with a hundred-fold increase in the number 
of readers, with nothing to oppose, but every thing to 
encourage the fullest employment of all its influence for 
the extension and up-building of the kingdom of Christ ? 
Bhame, shame on the man who would place hit hand on 



?OWSR OF THE PRESS. S9 

the mouth hy which the Church may now speak in ma- 
ny more languages than are recorded of the miraculous 
gih of tongues, and, with more than Reformation power, 
the words of eternal life, which shall he like the ** leaves 
from the tree of life, for the healing of the nations !" 

The Committee derfve encouragement in their ar^ 
duous work from the facts thus developed in the provi- 
dences of the past, connected with the main instrument of 
the Society's usefulness. They are not left, however, 
without a witness of the faithfulness of God in hlessing 
his truth, diffused hy a similar agency at the present day. 
Could the influences going forth from the 60,000,000 
Tracts and 2,000,000 books, in our land alone, be gather- 
ed up, a record would be furnished as instructive and as 
cheering as that found on any page of history. Even with 
the imperfect means of information enjoyed by the Com- 
mittee, and recent a$ is the work on a scale at all ex- 
tended, scarce a day passes without cheering intelligence 
from some quartei^, of individual souls coi^verted, of re- 
vivals of religion promoted, of believers edified and 
strengthened, x>r of good in some way to particular classes 
or communities. 

Instead of occupying the attention of the Board with 
a detail of these results, which abouqd in the Annual 
Reports, and other documents of the Society, the 
Committee would suggest that a season be devoted, du- 
ring the present sessions, to a narrative of the results of 
the volume circulation, as they have come under the eye 
of the members of the Board, and pastors and others 
present. 

II. ITS INFLUeNCE IN FRANCE. 

It were well if the subject might be left here — if there 
were no illustrations of the power of the press for Revo- 
lution, as well as for Reformation. But, unhappily, an 



40 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

agent so mighty for good has found minds perverse 
enough to employ it in giving ubiquity and immortality 
to evil principles, which more than once have poisoned 
the public mind by degrees, till it was lashed into fury, as 
the waves of the sea are tossed before the' tempest. An 
author has said that "the people are a vast body, of 
which men of genius are the hands and the eyes; and 
ike public mind is the creation of the philosophical writer.^* 
And the well known proverb, *'scribere est agere^^—^ro 
WRITE IS TO ACT, which was decreed by Charles II. 
when pronouncing death upon Algernon Sydney for 
mantiscripts found in his possession, is to the same point, 
Paine might have lived and died the drunken infidel that 
he was, and his memory and influence have perished 
with him, without dragging down thousands to share hia 
miserable doom, but for the mysterious agent that still 
heralds his infidelity and his shame. 

The^French Revolution had never disgraced humanity, 
but for the preliminary steps of dragooning out of being 
every vestige of vital piety in the books possessed by the 
people, ^nd then ^* unchaining the tiger" and letting him 
loose on the people, in millions of infidel and atheistical 
pamphlets and Tracts, (to say nothing of the Encyclopedia, 
and other works of atheistic science for the learned,) by 
which the populace were prepared for anarchy and the 
reign of Terror ! Arid what was U that threatened to in- 
undate England, toward the close of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, with the infidelity of France ? Not, surely, the per- 
sonal presence of Voltaire, Marat, and Rousseau ; but their 
poisonous writings, which, for aught apparent, might have 
accomplished their diabolical purpose to "crush" Chris- 
tianity, but for the kind Providence that raised up able 
champions of the cross, who wrote for the masses as well 
as the learned, and *' lifted up a standard against the 
enemy when he came in like a flood." 

Were oth^r illustrations needed, of the mischievous and 



POWEE or THE PEE88. 41 

wide-reaching influence of error, when propagated hy the 
press, they might he found in our own tiroes ; a single 
*' Tract press," with Papal tendencies, swerving numhert 
from the faith in a single branch of the Church. 

In this country, the source of immediate danger is not 
so much from an avowedly infidel press, as from a more 
insidious attack on public morals and private virtue ; first, 
by dissevering the connection between science, literature 
and religion, in the means of early instruction; and, 
secondly, by fostering a love for the fictitious and extrava- 
gant, interlarded with the profane and licentious. 

The great purposes of infidelity are mainly answered, if 
only religion can be kept out of the popular reading of 
the mass, and especially of the young. The natural heart 
will lead far enough- away from the cross without any 
positive evil influences, if only the Gospel can be exclu- 
ded. But while we rejoice in the amplest difiusion of 
knowledge, and^ in all means of early instruction, we can- 
not but feel the same alarm lest the means of moral impToye^ 
ment should not keep pace with the intellectual, that we 
should at the multiplication of railroads and steamboats, if 
the propelling agent were under no control. The people 
of France were noi destitute of intelligence ; but theirs 
was not the right kind of knowledge. The heart was un- 
tutored, and hence the catastrophe. 

111. FICTITIOUS AND LICENTIOUS PRESS. 

One great source of alarm is immediate and immi- 
nent. The press teems and the mails groan with fic- 
tion and trash. Daily, and weekly, and monthly peri- 
odicals are filled with matter, not only worthless, but 
often positively demoralizing^ The injury to mind and 
morals was sufficiently^ deplorable, when hundreds of 
steam-presses were throwing Oflf their thousands of vo- 
lumes daily of novels and romance*; and when circu- 



42 DELtfiERATIVB MEfiTIKG. 

lating libfaries served as literary groceries^ to famtsh the 
means of mental intoxication for the faflrhionable and the 
foolish. But now the United States Mail Department is 
transformed into a great circulating library, by which, 
at the twentieth part of the cost of transmitting a billet 
to a friend, enough of the confection of literature to de- 
range healthy mental digestion for a month, can be con* 
veyed to the remotest village in the land. The extent of 
the issues of this kind is as incalculable as the mischief 
wrought by their indiscriminate and almost universal 
perusal. 

But this evil demands a more solemn and stern rebuke. 
It is not a light thing that there should be entering ell our 
dwellings, men — or what is^ worse, their works — with 
unprincipled morals, giving false views of life, and cast* 
ing sneers upon the Gospel and its professors, to fill up 
all the leisure hours of parents, children and domestics 
with tales, that, if true, should not be read, and the less, 
since they are false. Every steamship brings " the latest 
novel" — of an author, who, perhaps, is illustrating in his 
life the principles of his book, violating one or all the 
commandments of the Decalogue — while every steamboat 
carries into the interior mammoth editions to poison the 
minds and ruin the souls of the multitudes who are eager 
to devour the precious effusions. O, what havoc of mind 
and morals results from this wholesale dealing in what is 
false ! Popular fiction invariably gives a disrelish for 
simple truth ; engenders a habit of reading for amusement 
simply, which destroys all hope of mental improvement ; 
familiarizes the mind with scenes of genteel or vulgar 
debauchery, and excites a thirst for similar adventures ; 
gives false views of the perfectibility of human nature, and 
leads to disappointments in the relations of life ; under- 
mines the Gospel and the influence of the pulpit, by draw- 
ing away the mind from serious things, lessening the pro- 
babilities that its truths will take effect on the conscience; 



POWBB OF TBS PKfiSS. 43 

or if they do, fiiniishing a ready mode of shaking off con- 
viction ; and by degrees sapping the foundations of rirtue, 
and leading to crimes which once would have been ab- 
horred. 

He most have been a careless observer who has not 
noticed fruits like these, of the seeds of ruin sown broad- 
cast over our land, in the fictitious publications of which 
we speak. We have now arrived at the second natural 
stage of the degenerate tendencies of the press. Grossly 
licetitiotis papers, without even the concealment of the 
name which once would have been scouted from the com- 
munity, are unblushingly circulated in the channels open- 
ed by ** the polite literature," which has contributed to form 
the morbid appetite that now cries ** give, give." Whether 
it will end in any thing short of the indecencies, obscenity 
and infidelity of France, remains to be seen. Laws seem 
to be inoperative ; public sentiment does not correct the 
evil, and will not, so long as it tolerates and craves a lite- 
rature that has paved the way for this ; i^nd for aught that 
now appears, the moral sensibilities are to be still farther 
outraged with the sight and the sound of libidinons papers, 
even when going to and entering the sanctuary of God. 

Is it not a proper subject of discussion and inquiry, on 
the part of the Board, whether something may not be 
done to restore a healthy moral tone of feeling on this 
subject ? Whether, by arresting public attention by the 
pulpit and the press, the tide of evil may not be stayed 
before every thing that is " pure, and lovely, and of good 
report" is blighted ? 

The above document was listened to with deep attention! 
and its exhibition of the flagrant evils to which we are sub- 
jected from this source awakened the most serious reflection., 

The following Document, prepared by Rev. James W. 
Alexander, of Princeton, N. J. who was deuined from the 
meeting, was read by Rev. Dn Potts. 



44 DELIBEBATIVE MEETING. 



DOCUMENT 17. 



The BvilB of an Unsaikkctified iiiterature. 

It has been common to speak of the books which men 
read, as their companions ; and it is as just to ^infer the 
character of men from their reading as from their asso- 
ciates. Men will be like ttieir bdoks, and this for a two- 
fold reason : firsts because the literary productions of a 
country are the fruit of its intellect and heart ; and second* 
ly, because they act with a mighty influence on society. 
It is therefore by no means uninteresting to the philan- 
thropist to inquire, What will be the reading of our pos' 
ferity and countrymen fifty years hence ? If it be pure, 
healthful, and fraught with wisdom, the generation will be 
exalted in holiness : if it be frivolous, or false, or corrupt- 
ing, or godless, the generation will be perverse and aban* 
doned. In the remarks which follow, an attempt will be 
made to show that an unsanctified literature is threatened, 
and that it is our duty to avert so dire a calamity ; for 
which purpose a series of observations shall now invite 
attention, in such method as seems to promise due pers- 
picuity. - 

I. A CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IS POSSIBLE, AND 18 

EARNESTLY TO BE SOUGHT. There IS nothing inj:om* 
patible with true religion in the attainments of secular 
wisdom or the delights of taste. The union of Science, 
Letters and Art with the revealed truth of God and the 
sentiments of grace, has been suggested and applauded a 
thousand times, until, so far as abstract statements are 
concerned,' the topic is already hackneyed. The ever- 
blessed^God, who is the Author of Nature and the Creator 
of our powers and susceptibilities^ is he who gave the 



AN VNSANCTIFIED LITESATTTBB. 45 

Bible, who provided the great Redemption, and who made 
the gracious affections of the believer what they are. 

This is, however, but a feeble statement of what is' in- 
tended. Not only does Christianity admit of a connection 
with literature and science, but all literature and science 
must fi^l of perfection if they lack this crowning excel- 
lency of renewed human nature. And if the public mind 
is susceptible of' great impressions and movehients from 
topics of high moment, it must be granted that language 
cannot be summoned to convey aught that is more sublime, 
awakening, or pathetic, than the themes of religion. Let 
us think of the multitudes who at a given moment are 
with avidity and delight, availing themselves of the fruits 
of the press, in the permanent book or the fugitive sheet, 
which enter every reading household ; and then let us 
ask, What are the topics which, thus presented, should 
engage the highest afllections of these inquisitive and im- 
mortal minds ? In the expectation of an eternal state, im- 
pending so nearly over them and us, what should be the 
great themes of interest which the parent should lay be- 
fore his child or read at the fireside, and which a thousand 
presses should setter broad-cast over the mind of the na- 
tion 7 The answer requires no delay : it has already arisen 
to the lips of every sincere christian. Nothing conceiv- 
able should or could so awaken these souls, or so mightily . 
prompt them to action, or so excite curiosity, or so purge 
the soul by means of the passions of fear and love, as the 
themes of revelation*: the mystery of their nature their 
fall« their peril, their escape ; their death, judgment, and 
eternity ; the love of Christ, and the heaven to which it 
leads. Add to this the records of prophecy, the prospects 
of the race, as opened in the promise of the latter glory, 
and the kingdom of Christ, which is to absorb and super- 
sede all other dominions. The language of man can utter 
nothing loftier or more affecting ihan these, and what- 
ever impulse or charm can be attached to words by the 

4 



46 DELIBERATIVE UEETING. 

discoveries of science, the cogency of reasoning, or the 
refinements of taste, may well be applied to the wotk of 
carrying these tremendous realities home to every human 
bosom. 

These, after all, are the truths for which the soul was 
made. The heart which has not been reached by tbem, 
has susceptibilities as yet altogether latent. These are 
the subjects which, above all others, will yet agitate sociiety 
to its remotest fibres. It would be folly to assert, theni-that 
religious considerations cannot be made interesting to the 
common mind. Compared with these, what are the things 
which our current literature — if literature it can be called 
— offi!'r8 to the myriads of eager readers ! What, in such 
a view, are the fugitive tales, the feigned embarrassments, 
and escapes, and catastrophes, the unnatural plots, the pic- 
ture of life high or low, the song and jest, all which are 
gaped after and hunted but with an avidity which not 
even the nightly work of the press and the importunity of 
the newsboy can satisfy ! The day has been when niasses 
of the people were convulsed by these very truths. This 
is the subject, these are the very propositions which broke 
the sleep of the Gentile world wherever apostolic teach- 
ing made its way; which ran through Northern and 
Middle Europe, in that amazing revival which we call the 
Reformation ; which penetrated every branch of the great 
Anglo-^axon tree in the seventeenth century ; and which 
were so familiar and so dear to the settlers of New Eng- 
land, that to this day they are the at^knowledged cause of 
the eminent intelligence and success of that happy land. 
The reading of the people just mentioned was, at these 
eras, almost exclusively religious reading. It will be 
so again, among every people, with all the aids and em- 
bellishments of science and learning suited to the progress 
of the race. 

There is not a department of science or a walk of in* 
nocent letters which does not claim of us to be wedded 



AN ITNSANCTIPIEI) LITBEATUBS* ** 47 

to religion. To dissever the two, is to shut out heaven 
from earth. Natural philosophy and natural history, in 
their largest acceptation, stand ready to become religious 
sciences, by n^rely turning their face toward God, whose 
they are, ,and whom they serve. The history of many 
aside from the plan of Providence, is a labyrinth without 
a clew. Poetry and Music, always claiming to be sacred, 
miss iheir proper themes when banished from the sane* 
tuary. And, if we are true to our vocation as christians, 
we shall be restless and unsatisfied until we shall have 
secured the teaching of whatever is worth teaching at all, 
in subserviency to God's grand scheme of civil ization, by 
means of holy Scripture and regenerating grace. 

In particular cases, and with various degrees of sue* 
cess, we see how kindly may be the union of Science and 
Literature with Divine Truth ; for we see, on the one 
hand, a Bacon, a Newton, and a Pascal, and on the other, 
ft Milton and a Gowper. We see it exemplified in the 
education which every gifted christian gives to a son or 
a slaughter, and this by means of books, or what might be 
conveyed by books; and the sight should prompt us to 
diffuse the ^benefit and promote the sacred union as &r 
as our united strength can reach. 

II. No COUNTRY HAS YET HAD A THOROUOHLY CHRIS- 
TIAN Literature. Every christian country has had 
the blessing for a time, and in a portion of its population ; 
but none has been leavened in the whole mass. Enough 
has been effected, on a small scale, at seasons of heavenly 
excitement, to show us what might be done ; but thus &r 
the majority of authors and readers have been of the earth, 
earthy. The world has yet to look for a sanctified litera- 
ture. The seeming exceptions would not detain us long, 
even in detail. Individuals there have been who have 
laid their science and learning at the feet of Christ. 

"Philosophy, baptised 
** In the pure fountain ^f eternal lore, 



48 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

** Has eyes itideed : and yiewing all she sees 

*' As meant to indicate a God to man, 

^* Gives him the praise, and forfeits not her own. 

** Learning has borne such fruit in other days 

" On all her branches *, piety has found ■^■ 

** Friends in the friends of science, and true prayer 

*' Has flowed from lips wet with Castalian dews." 

But in no country has the prevailing tastd for any 
length of time heen governed by such minds; and, In 
most, the religious compositions of the age have jSowed 
in a fertilizing but narrow stream through a land of car* 
nal pleasure and godless learning. The Reformation had 
giants of literature, but more giants were left within th# 
walls of Rome; and while the holy scholars of Great 
Britain were laboring for the Gospel, the liveliest writers 
of the age of the Charleses were sweetening a cup of poi- 
son, to be handed down even to our day. 

It is reserved for another era, to see a whole nation 
drinking with eagerness from the wblls of salvation ; and 
no instructed christian can refrain from praying that Gk>d 
would confer this unspeakable benefit on our own land, 
and our own generation. 

III. The Literature of our country is in a vorm- 
ING STATE. Not merely, in the strict and accredited use 
of the word Literature, is this true ; but in regatd to the 
sum of all the reading of our people. There are rapid 
changes in public taste and habit, which some of us have 
lived to see ; but there are tendencies of which we descry 
only the beginning, and the termination of which may be 
disastrous. The influences which move upon our im- 
mense reading public are powerful and innumerable, as 
we may infer from the very extent of the book-trade, the 
number of imported works, the presses in every city and 
town, and the multitude of periodical publications. But 
these influences are not uniform and homogeneous. The 
plastic condition of the common mind receives a mould- 



AN VNSANCTIFIED LITERATUKB. 49 

ing touch from every great intellect, at home or abroad, 
whether good or evil, and especially from the fictitious^ 
sportive and periodical compositions of the hour. 

That^ maM so ductile should be subjected to chance, 
or to the blind or sinister ids pulses of those who write 
from self-interest alone, and who are ready to cater for 
the vilest appetites and passions of our nature, is what the 
christian world should not brook for a moment. That 
the mittions who read, and who, in regard to the inner 
man, live by what they read, should be left a prey to li- 
centious, infidel, or, at best, trifling and carnal authors, is 
an evil of such injustice as would shock us, if we could 
see it in its proper colors. And to do this the more fully, 
it is desirable to inquire how far the general reading of 
our people deserves the name of christian. 

lY. The literature of our country is to a great 
EXTENT IRRELIGIOUS. Not that it is infidel or anti-chris- 
tian in a positive degree, but that it is not so imbued with 
Christianity as that wherever it goes it carries with it the 
savour of divine things. Laying out of view, for a little, 
those works which inculcate infidelity or vice, it must be 
acknowledged, of the large number which remains, that 
religious truth enters into a small portion. This is true of 
the daily reading of all classes, of the books used in schools, 
and of those which by thousands form the solace of the 
leisure hour. The people of the United States are more 
extensively a reading people than any upon earth. And 
in estimating the influence of what is read, we are not to 
confine ourselvea to the large volume, but include the 
magazine, the newspaper, the song-book, the stitched play 
or tale, and the monosyllabic primer of the child. Our 
presses are prolific in due proportion to the labor-saving 
devic^es of the arts. All censorship of books is absent. 
Every class of jjninds is addressed by the teeming period- 
ical press, and publishers vie with each other in afifording 
this luxury of modern times at the lowest possible pitce. 



50 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

The Statistics of the newspaper press alone are enough to 
astonish one who comes newly to the calculation. Or, in 
default of this, a single walk through one populous tho- 
roughfare, or a single hour on a steamhtBt-whar( or a 
Sunday visit to a dozen working-men, will suffice to show 
how welcome the closely-printed journal is to ereryclass 
of our people, and how sedulously it is studied^ even by 
the hackney-coachman on his box, the operatiye on hh 
scafibld, and the poorest wayfaring man who baM^ penny 
at command. From being a succinct account of the more 
important news, the journal has come to embrace cnrery 
thing which human curiosity can crave, and especially 
the record of all the crimes of all the convicted felons of 
the land, with every disgusting detail of evidence, until 
even children learn not to shudder at bloodshed or blush 
at uncleanness. The very advertisements of popular 
newspapers now tell of enormities, and intimate escapes 
from the ills of vice, at which our fathers would have 
grown pale. Whole works, of some length, are in this 
shape spread before multitudes who would not otherwise 
obtain them ; and these, in many cases, works of more 
than doubtful character. With many this is almost the 
sole reading ; and it would be enough if quantity were all ; 
for it occupies many an hour in the^week, and much of 
the holy Sabbath. And if we are reminded that there are 
public journals which nobly subserve the cause of mordls 
and religion, we cannot but remember that there are others 
which as openly do the work of destruction ; while, be- 
tween these extremes, there is an extensive series, which 
are the too faithful mirror of every folly and every trans- 
gression of our sinning people. Of much, then, in this 
portion of our literature, no christian characteristic can 
be predicted. 

Next in general interest we may name the rapidly in- 
creasing class of fictitious works; tales, novels and ro- 
mances. Without taking that high ground from which 



▲M UNSANGTIFIED LITERATURE/ 51 

severe moralists have condemned all of this species, we 
may surely say that, in point of fact, these books are not 
only void of any religious tendency, but that they culti* 
vate a taste Sue momentary gratification, distemper the 
mind in regard to all solid acquirement, and in many in- 
stances convey the seductive poison of error and voluptu- 
ousness* As the matter now stands, it is to be feared that 
half the reading of those who most need the improvement 
of boojji^ ia confined to this class, and that thousands of 
the young, in the laboring circles, devour every thing ac- 
cessible of this sort wiih an undiscriminating voracity. 

Rising from these inferior paths, we shall find to our 
sorrow, that of what may be called the solid instruction of 
our age, much is absolutely irreligious. Science, in all 
its circle, is taught as if the God whose workmanship the 
objects of science are, were to be studiously disregarded ; 
and a course of thorough scientific study, embracing the 
very materials of natural theology, might be made out 
from. authors of reputation and ability, which might be pe* 
rused without finding an allusion to the design and bene- 
volence of an Almighty Creator. The same is true of a 
great portion of historical literature, both old and new. 
From whom dp we so generally learn the annals of the 
Roman empire, annals inseparably connected with the rise 
of the Church, as from Gibbon ? To whom is the in- 
quirer concerning the next period oAener directed than to 
Russell ? Who is the most popular and fascinating his- 
torian of our own ancestry, if not Hume ? Or what ge- 
neral survey of the fortunes of the race at large is in 
wider circulation than that of Rotteck? Inferior but less 
sceptical writers abound, who nevertheless have no sen- 
tence which lifts the soul to God. 

Even where learning is genuine, therefore, and solid, it 
is irreligious, in the sense of being divorced from religion. 
The parts of truth, in order to be communicated, are dis- 
sected away from their native connection with^the great 



52 DELIBEEATIVB MtBETINa. 

truth of the system. Where religion is introduced, it is, 
in a very large class of able and popular works, such re* 
ligion as will present no foolishness to t)i6 Greek and no 
fitumbling-block to the Jew ; such religiontis will equally 
please the Papist and the Socinian ; in a word, a cold De- 
ism, which even Islam would not reject: and this in a 
land professedly christian, and in books which jnake no 
little show of devotion. By such a literature our posterity 
must be educatted, unless we substitute a better. A Amlop- 
ment of mind, furthered by such discipline, is dispropor- 
tioned and monstrous ; and the more so, the higher the 
intellectual attainment. That science which takes no 
cognizance of God's most valuable revelations can never 
be wisdom. From such a circle of knowledge, however 
useful on a petty earthly scale, God is excluded ; and we 
revel in a godless literature, in a world of which every 
lineament signifies his presence. So that where this pre- 
vails, he who would learn the things of God must go 
apart, inquire elsewhere, and resort to strictly religious 
works. 

But our reflections become still more melancholy when 
we find the same studied omission in works deliberately 
prepared for the instruction of youth in elementary schools. 
Consider the necessary tendency of training a child, day 
hy day,' and year by year, to exclude God ! Contemplate 
ten thousand schools, and millions of youth perpetually 
learning, and yet learning nothing which can save their 
souls ; taught to tread the very ground where God's pre- 
sence should be felt at every step, with a total absence of 
the idea of God ! Can such a method fail to promote the 
habit of excluding God from the thoughts ? 

School manuals and school libraries are formed, or are 
in progress in several of our States. They have been 
prepared with care, and by men of sound learning. But 
they have in more than one instance been produced in 
accordance with the very principle which we deprecate. 



AK XmSANCTIFIED LITEBATUEB 53 

Natural religion, that is, so much of truth as may carry 
the assent of the Mahometan, the Jew, and the Deist, 
they do sometimes contain ; but Christ crucified they do 
not contain. They teach many things, they teach them 
well^ but they teach nothing as to the great end for which 
man livef, and without which it were better for him that 
he bad aerer been born. 

Not every book denominated religious contains evan- 
gelical and saving truth. The spirit of unscriptural con- 
ceflsion is gaining upon us. Even moral and religious 
works appear, and gain public favor, which exclude the 
▼erjr vitals of piety. The grand central truths are left 
out. The reader moves in a circle which keeps Christ 
and Redemption always out of sight. This, though a 
negation, is one of which the consequences are positive 
and Fuinbus. No better scheme could be devised for the 
introdQction of practical infidelity, or for educating a 
generation of intelligent readers to be the prey of destruc- 
tive error. And every pious patriot must shrink from the 
anticipation of a whole people trained by means of a Christ- 
less literature. 

The field would open too widely for our present limits, 
if we were to show how fatal is the error of supposing 
that intellectual discipline and acquisition, however great, 
can prove a real rational blessing without religion. We 
can only take time to show the gigantic power of unsanc- 
tified learning, by pointing to the great names of unbe- 
lievers: to Voltaire in universal literature; to Bentham 
in jurisprudence and statesmanship ; to Lamarck in na- 
tural history, and La Place in the highest mathema:tical 
analysis. Let the blasphemy and murder of the French 
Revolution record the malign power of great intelligence 
abandoned of God. 

V. We must have a Christian Literatubb. All 
that has been said tends to this point We must have it, 
lest we become a rained people. If KnowMge is Power, 

4* 



54 DELIBSRATIVB MEETING. 

it is, when separate from religion, disastrous power j and 
forces of this kind are multiplying every day. We must 
have a christian literature, because our people are increas- 
ing with unprecedented rapidity ; because readers are 
multiplied with every effort in the cause of schools] be- 
cause books are more numerous and more accessible as 
the inventions of art advance ; because our country is to 
be the theatre of unexampled events ; and because unless 
we bestir ourselves the enemy will have pre*occupied the 
ground. 

The expectation of a universally prevalent literature 
such as Christianity demands, may be set aside as chimeri- 
cal. Yet before admitting the justice of the censure, it is 
right to say, that, as christians, we are living in the hope 
of this very thing : '' for the earth shall , be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." And 
we are bound to labor as those who look for such a con- 
summation. We cannot blindfold ourselves to the progress 
of society, the diffusion of light and freedom, the strides 
of science, the approximation of continents by means of 
art, the systematic energy of education; we behold a|l 
this tending to something which the world has not seen ; 
we tremble to observe these forces, in some seasons and 
regions, operating towards evil. But in every one of them 
we behold a mighty weapon, which the Lord will seize, 
for his own purposed uses, when his time shall have come : 
and we know of no means within our reach so potent as 
the communication of divine truth. 

Though the public taste is vitiated, and demands an 
aliment which is noxious, and though the existing litera- 
ture is supplied in correspondence with this morbid appe- 
tite, we are far from despairing. We hope both iq correct 
the taste and to improve the nutriment. Because every 
thing cannot be done, we will not be content to do nothing. 
Every good book which goes abroad, does its part to- 
wards forming a healthful taste. Every conversion to 



AN ITNSANCTIFIED LITSRATtTRE. ' 55 

God causes a desire for the sincere milk of the word. 
Every extensive revival of religion enlarges the demand 
for truth. As holy productions spread themselves, more 
persons will find what delight may he afforded hy com- 
positions which they lately rejected as dry and needless. 
The tide will turn as it regards popular fiction. The 
cloyed appetite will crave genuine nourishment If all 
who have ever hung with rapture over the Pilgrim's 
Progi;e8ft or the Saints' Rest, could be summoned to testify 
of their satisfiiction, even the novel-readers and haunters 
of the playhouse would learn new pleasures. Thus while 
suitable works, adapted to every capacity, are produced 
and disseminated, there will, in an increasing ratio, be a 
demand for more; and wherever grace strikes in with 
the effort in its regenerating power, the geometrical pro- 
gression will be such as to dissipate all our unbelieving 
fears. 

We must have, through the length and breadth of the 
church, a settled, operative conviction, that the common 
reading of the nation is not to be left to chance ; and that 
it is of the highest moment for our children and our coun- 
try, that all which they read should be according to the 
will of God. It is to public taste and public conscience, 
and not to the arm of power, that we look for this revolu- 
tion. We can endure no establishment to enforce a Uni- 
formity of creed ; we ask no censorship to paralyze the 
corrupting press ; but our hope is to send abroad so much 
of heavenly truth as shall win and retain tlie affections 
which are now wandering. And the work will be so 
much the easier, if christian parents and teachers will 
only exercise their prerogative by restraining those en- 
trusted to them from the idle, enervating, and poisoned en- 
tertainments afforded by a profligate press ; from the fool- 
ish fiction,. the profane or licentious drama, and, what is 
no less fearful, the daily print, redolent of vice, pointing 
the way to unhallowed amusemei^ts, chronicling the par- 



56 DELIBERATIVE MEETIIVG. 

ticulars of crime, and trumpeting to ten thousand families 
vices and inventions which should be buried as deeply as 
the cities of the plain. 
VI. In promoting this object, there is ample 

GROUND ON WHICH ALL EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS MAT 

UNITE. To argue this point, would be to ,vindicate the 
fundamental principle of the American Tract . Society. 
Their avowed friends need no such argument. But there 
is reason to believe that not a few truly benevolent chris- 
tians are withheld from giving a hearty support to the 
cause by doubts respecting this very proposition. Even 
against the common enemy they scruple to wage any 
warfare but under their peculiar banners. To such it 
may be right to say, that these humble suggestions pro- 
ceed firom a source which is far from being lulcewarm in 
the cause of the strictest ecclesiastical institutions. It is 
the excellence of the Tract Society's enterprise, that it 
trespasses upon no principles of evangelical churches, 
not even those which are highest and most exclusive in 
their own sphere; but it cannot go forward, unless the 
brethren of different persuasions consent to join hands in 
setting forward that vast portion of truth in which they 
are agreed. How much this is, may best be learnt from 
the publications which they have made. The ground is 
wide enough on which such men meet as Baxter, Bunyan, 
Mather, Hall, Fuller, Richmond, WiH)erforce, Cunning- 
ham, De Vinne and Gurney ; all speaking the same things, 
and all reserving to themselves the right of promoting to 
the utmost, in other connections, the inculcation of their 
respective tenets. So long as the unconverted millions 
belong to no sect, great portions of them must be left un- 
touched, unless the true disciples of all sects unite to 
strike the blow. And the American Tract Society and the 
American Sunday School Union have been showing, for 
a course of years, how safe and how effectual is such a 
guarded association of evangelical effort. 



AN UK8ANCTIPIED LITEBATTTRE. 57 

VII. It is our immediate duty to unite in fur- 

NISHIN^O A CHRISTIAN LITERATURE TO OUR COUNTRY. 

The time of our earthly labor is short, and we are hasten- 
ing to meet our countrymen at the bar of God. It has 
been calculated that, within the lifetime of some now living, 
the territory of our Union will contain a hundred millions. 
The tide sets so strongly into the unsettled regions as to 
outstrip all the stated and ordinary means of supt)ly. We 
have cast on the stream of the present generation sixty 
millions of Tracts, and two millions of books ; under the 
faror of the Divine Spirit we humbly believe that even 
this will appear " in that day " to have been saving to a 
great multitude. But we can do more ; we ought to do 
ihore ; with God helping us, we will do more. 

Our beloved land is just the stage on which so great an 
action may fitly be presented. In all the freshness of un- 
encumbered freedom and the bursting health of exuberant 
increase, in union and unbroken peace, we find ourselves 
at the very point where a grand experiment may begin. 
The genius, and learning, and zeal of the church need 
only to be concentrated ; the latent or diverted talent needs 
only to be brought into this channel ; education and au- 
thorship need only^to be sworn into the service of Christ, 
in order to move the mighty population of America. And 
what heart is not swelling with hope and exultation at 
the bare prospect of such an effort ; in which christians 
shall unite as christians, and consecrate every endow- 
ment of themselves and their sons to the cause of Christ. 

The demand is no ordinary one ; it calls for such read- 
ing for a great nation as shall include the very highest 
(ruits of human reason. But in what cause shall great 
sacrifices be made, if not in the cause of Him who died 
for US, and who is going forth to subdue the world 1 We 
are called upon, in some way or other, to flood the land 
with books which shall have a direct bearing on the eter- 
nal state. They must be provided, and thrown into every 



58 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

college, school, and household. The same Spirit who 
prompts the effort will graciously second it. When the 
great conversions and mighty revivals of a better day shall 
be more frequent and nearer together, the reading of our 
people will be worthier of immortal minds. Will it not 
be a good day for our blessed country, wheii the thousands 
yet unevangelized shall be absorbed in eternal things; 
when at every iire-side, every group of citizens, and every 
assembly, the politics of this world shall be less animating 
than the spread of the truth and the dispensation of the 
Gospel to the heathen ! 

There are signs even la the army of the aliens that a 
change must come. The human soul cannot feed for ever 
on a hollow, fantastic literature. No extravagance of 
stimulated invention can avail to slake the thirst of man- 
kind for nobler excitement. Secular fiction has tried its 
utmost, and falls back upon itself; so that it is more true 
than when the sainted Cowper penned it, that 

" Authors hear at length one general cry, 
" Tickle and entertain us, or we die. 
** The loud demand^ from year to year the same, 
** Beggars invention and makes fancy lame, 
" Till farce itself, most mournfully jejune, 
" Calls for the kind assistance of a tune ; 
" And novels (witness every month's review) 
** Belie their name and give us nothing new.'^ 

Yet our people are becoming rather more, than less, sus- 
ceptible of high emotions ; and have only to feel the elec- 
tric awakening of heavenly themes, to find that truth may 
possess the soul more strongly than, fiction; that the glo- 
ries of humanity are imaginary until the gospel be em- 
braced ; and that all the amusements, nay, all the trade, 
and politics, and warfare of the world, are tribes, when 
compared with the work of God in bringing back the 
nations to himself. 



MR. Abbott's sepobt. 59 

Amidst the disheartening moral evils which prevail, 
and the irruptions of fiilse science and corrupt literature, 
which wound the church on every side, it is our privilege 
to go libout christian labor under the enthusiasm of a 
lofty hope derived from prophecy ; for we know the time 
is coming when truth shall drive out error ; when " the 
light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the 
light of the sun shall be seven-fold as the light of seven 
dajfy id the day that Jehovah blndeth up the breach of his 
people, and healeth the stroke of their wound/' 

The two Documents above were referred to a Committee, 
consisting of Rev. Gorham D. Abbott, Rev. Dr. De Witt, 
Rev. Asa D. Smith, Rev. J. O. Choules, and Hon. Francis 
Willson. Rev. Mr. Abbott, in behalf of this Committee, sub- 
sequently presented the following able and valuable 

REPORT. 

The Committee to whom were referred the papers entitled 
•' The Power tfikt Press for good or for evil,*' and " The Evils of 
an Unstmctified lAteralure^^* respectfully report : 

That the views presented in those Documents respectively, are 
of a character that deserve the most serious consideration of eve- 
ry christian and patriot. The interesting historical sketch of the 
progress and achievements of the press since God gave it to our 
world, and the impressive view of the condition and wants of our 
country in respect to a. sanctified literature, they believe are des^ 
tined to find, a response in ten thousand christian hearts through* 
oat our land ; and if they mistake not the signs of our times and 
the aspect of the christian world, the responsive thrill which they 
are calculated to awaken in the hearts of the real benefactors of 
our race will not be confined to this transatlantic portion of 
Christendom. 

Your Committee would remark on a few of the topics brought 
to view in these Documents. 

THE PRESS IN EUROPE AND AMEBICA. 

It has been thought it would aid the efi*ect which these papers 
will produce, to accompany them with some brief details of the 
condition of the press in our country. 



60 DELIBEEATIVE MEETING. 

A few years since an investigiition waS made of ihe extent and 
character of the issues of the press, in all its departments. It was 
found that there were about 140 different publishing houses in va- 
rious parts of the United States. It was said by extensive book- 
sellers, that there were not far from 8000 different bobks, foreigxi 
and American, on tlie trade lists, and then circulating in our mar- 
kets. A tabular view was drawn up, exhibiting the annual issiies 
of volumes from the presses of our own country, of England, 
France and Germany. From these tables it appears that the aver- 
age of the annual issues in the United States during the three 
years, lfif33, 1834 and 1835, was not quite five hundred different 
works. In Great Britain there were about 1200 ; in France, 5000 ; 
in Germany, 6000. It was to be considered, however, that a consi- 
derable per centage of European publications was in small edi* 
tions, not intended for general circulation, while in this country 
no book was a candidate for publication without the prospective 
circulation of at least 1000 copiss. Not a few of our.most popular 
works reached ten times that number. The spirit and enterprise 
of our publishers were scattering- their works with indefatigable 
industry all over the land. The presses of the city of. Hartford 
alone were pouring forth an annual stream of a million of vo- 
lumes, and individual houses of other Qiiies, having on their list 
of publications from 300 to 500 different works, wer0 issuing at 
least as many hundred thousand volumes a year. The grand to- 
tal of all the volumes annually manufactured was about equal in 
number to half the entire population of the tand, 

GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE ISSUES OF. THE PRESS. 

The chatacter and moral tendencies of these immense issues 
from the press were next the subject of inquiry. A comparison of 
the statistics in the several. countries thus brought together^ pre- 
sented many interesting and important facts. 

It appeared that in France, during 1834, there were pnblishenl 
5153 different works, in the various branches of Theology, Juris- 
prudence, Alts and Sciences, History and Cteneral Literature. 
Of this number, 320 works, or one-sixteenth of the whole, Were 
Romances and Tales. In our own country, taking the aggregate 
of the years 1833, *4 and '5, the total issues were 1201 different 
works, of which 199, or about one-sixth, were Novels and Tales ! 
One-sixteenth in France ! one-sixth in America ! I 

In 1833 also, one-sixth of all the Novels and Tales published here 
were written by American authors; in 1834, one-fourth; and in 
1835, one-half were by oar own writers ; showing that the pro- 



MB. Abbott's beport. 61 

portionate demand for such prod actions was rapidly on the in- 
crease, knd the talent of oar coantrymen was pat in requisition to 
furnish the supply. 

It could not have been expected that the statistics and data col- 
lected were perfectly accurate and full. They were regarded only as 
an approximation to the truth, and all deductions from them were 
received with such allowances as were reasonable in the case. The 
sonrcee of information, however, from which they were derived, were 
the best the country afforded. And investigations which have since 
been made,' with perhaps equal care, confirm their general correct- 
ness. Any important fact or inference which might have been ques- 
tioned then, cannot be doubted now. 

THE INFIDEL PRESS. 

The. infidel publications of the country were also examined. 

It was said that there were more than ono hundred different works 
published and republishing in the country, with the avowed object of 
undermining public confidence in the Christian religion. The first 
class of these works was on " Materialism " generally, and ** Systems 
of Nature,*' and of ^' Reason.** The second was a large class of open 
and often blasphemous attacks on the evidences of Christianity, and 
on the sacred writings. The third class was, without discussion or ar- 
gument, a miscellaneous mass of tracts, pamphlets and papers, full 
of assaults on holy things. 

Moreover, an examination, to some extent, of the character of those 
productions which were most extensively circulated and read, fasten- 
ed a painful and deep-seated conviction that there was no source of 
corruption to the tastes and moral sense of our community more to 
be deprecated. They were filled with false views of human life, 
awakening expectations in the young which must end in bitter dis- 
appointment when they encounter its inevitable realities, unfitting 
them to discharge the duties, to bear the trials, or improve the disci- 
pline wfcicfa-life Ityi upon us all. And to say nothing of the absence 
of correcl principles, and of healthful and salutary instruction, which 
is perfectly compatible with the fullest relaxation and- entertainment 
of rational beings, they abound in positively demoralizing influences. 
The name, the attributes, the word, the institutions, the ordinances, 
the ministers and the children of God are often the subjects of pro- 
faneness or of ridicule. The oath points the jest, and quotations of 
Scripture give spice to the blasphemy. Vulgarities of thought and ex- 
pression, and every indeircacy that can flow from a pen, pollute the 
pages. Vice and crime are decked in dazzling coloia, e\il\A.\.vci%\\iA 



62 BELIBERATIVS MEETING. 

sympathies of the virtuous in the earthly retributions of the most 
abandoned profligates. The finest sensibilities of the moral constitu- 
tion are wounded and blunted. The foundations of purUy, truth, 
honesty, and moral obligation are all undermined. .A blank hftif page 
at the end of a chapter is all the comment on the darkest deeds of 
blood. The turn of a leaf introduces the hero to new and exciting 
scenes of captivating vice, and the end of his career in the protracted 
outrage of all human and divine laws, is the simple statement of the 
fall of the turf, or the closing of the wave over the end of a suicide. 

INFLUENCE OF FICTION. 

It became a grave question, how far the increasing catalogue 
among us of shameless crimes, whose names are *' Legion "—of pecu- 
lation, of fraud, of murder and of suicide, was traceable to the corrupt- 
ing influences of such publications ! Courvoisiec, the murderer of Lord 
William Russell, confessed, and wished the sheriff to let it be known 
to the world, (and the murderer's dying message has reached our laiid[,) 
that the idea of his work of blood was first suggested to him.by reading 
and seeing the performance of *' Jack Sheppard." This book was 
lent to him by one of the servants of the Duke of Bedford, and he la- 
mented that he had ever seen it. Oxford, too, who sought the Queen^s 
life, it is said, made substantially the same statement respecting the 
influence upon his mind of the '' Bravo of Venice.*' 

It was, and is now, a question in which every member of socie- 
ty is interested, how many criminals have the first idea of crime 
'* suggested" by the portraiture of crimes and vices in such books 
as these 1 How many Courvoisiers and Rnssells ; bow many Ox- 
fords and crowned heads ; and how many other victims of vio- 
lence and defalcation, of fraud, forgery and shame, are the victims 
of influences which flow from the novel and the play 1 

Should a few more venerable noblemen perish, and other daring 
deeds of crying enormity be multiplied, and it be clearly proved 
that the arts of the novelist, and the scenes of the drama have 
kindled the passions that direct the blow, the morality of these 
productions will assume a different aspect in the eyes of the civil- 
ized world. We may hope that something will- ere long be done 
in a land where literature, science, intellectual greatness and 
pure philanthropy are enshrined, to stay the progress of an evil 
that does its work 9t home, and then comes to spend its undimi- 
nished, pestilential power upon our shores. The writer, the pnb- 
lisher, and the vender of such productions will have an account to 
render in this world to an outraged community^ to the fathers and 



KB. Abbott's beport. 63 

mothers around them whose rained sons and daughters are the 
price of their gains. 

THE NEWSPAPER PRESS. 

The newspaper and periodical press was then the subject of in- 
vestigation. In 1^2 the political and miscellaneous newspapers 
of the country numbered about 1200. In 1836 there were about 
1500. In the two States of New- York and Massachusetts together, 
with a population of less than 3,000,000, there were published a 
greaternumber of newspapers than inQreat Britain, with a popu- 
lation of more than 25,000,000. 

The five New England States, together with New- York and 
Pennsylrania, embracing a population of less than 6,000,000, is- 
sued more than 750 newspapers, nearly as many as in all Great 
Britain and France united, with their population of 56,000,000. 
In the city of New- York, 30 out of the 40 newspaper establish- 
ments circulated annually more than 30,000,000 of papers. And 
estimating the entire issues from that city, they were found consi- 
derably greater than those in the whole United Kingdom of Great 
Britain. 

Our 900 weekly, 40 semi- weekly, 14 tri-weekly, and more than 
100 daily papers, allowing to each a subscription list of only 1000 
copies, made a grand aggregate of nearly 100,000,000 of sheets % 
year for our 18,000,000 of people. 

• Great Britain, according to the returns of the stamp-cffice in 
1836, issued less than 37,000,000 for her 25,000,000 of population. 

Our religious newspapers and periodicals, numbering nearly 
100, circulated from 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 of copies a year. 

Ninety semi-monthly, monthly, and quarterly magazines sent 
forth annually more than ninety millions of pages. A million of 
penny papers a month in our large cities, were, swelling the^tide of 
influence from the daily press. Some 500 different ballads and 
songs, floating among the masses that form the substratum of so- 
ciety in our cities and seaboard towns, told fall well their tale 
and suificiently explained why, in' one class at least, of our citi- 
zens, the Sabbath and the sanctuary, the ci^il laws and the sanc- 
tions of religion impose so little restraint upon the passions and 
vices of men. 

In short, it was perfectly evident froip the statistics collected, 
that our country was most emphatically distinguished among all 
nations of the earth in the extent of the issues and the alF-pervad- 
ing influence of the press. 



64 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

In Europe, with a population of 227,000,000, according to statis- 
tical tables in the " Annalesdes Travaux " of the Paris Statistical 
Society, drawn up by M. Balbi, the distinguished geographer, 
there were reported to be 2100 periodical publications. And in 
our own continent, with 39,000,000 of population, there were 2200. 

According to these tables, the known ^number of newspapers and 
journals issuing for the 900,000,000 of the population of the world, 
was 4500, of which nearly one-half were appropriated to less than 
40,000,000 of the inhabitants of our own continent. 

In Asia there was one paper for eyery 14,000,000 

In Africa, 6,000,000 

In Europe, 106,000 

In America, .40,000 

In the United States, . . . , 10,000 

From whatever/point the subject was viewed, the extent and im- 
portance of the power of the press in our country was forced upon 
the mind. Newspapers and periodicals of every kind, pamphlets^ 
ballads and books of all sorts, were evidently distributed amon^ all 
classes of our people with a profusion unparalleled in any other coun- 
try or age. 

From 2000 to 3000 editors, together with a large corps of authors, 
compilers, printers, and publishers^ connected with all these opera- 
tions, were exerting a daily and -almost hourly influence over the 
opinions, the principles, and the conduct of a nation, with which it 
was not easy to find any thing to compare in the history of the world. 

THE RELIGIOUS PRESS. 

When we are considering the inestimable blessings the press hat 
conferred upon our race, and upon our country, there is danger of our 
looking unduly at one side of the picture. The greatest blessing may 
be made, by perversion, the greatest curse. We contemplate the 
history of the press during about forty years past — since the forma- 
tion of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Some conception is 
formed of the 14,000,000 of Bibles in 150 different languages ; the 
mind runs over the operations of the London Tract Society and of 
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and of other kin- 
dred institutions abroad ; we glance at the origin of Bible, and Tract, 
and Sunday School Societies here, and dwell on the millions of 
Bibles and Testaments, and religious Books and Tracts which they 
have distributed, and add to the aggregate the multiplied publications 
of Christian publishers, who, moved by the fear of God and love of 
man, have wielded the press in the cause of humanity and religion. 



MB. Abbott's bepobt. 65 

and we exult in the gift and forget its perversion. Bat to borrow fte 
figure of the author of the Paper on Unsanctified Literature, we ought 
to remember, that though there are *' giants '' wielding the press in 
our own and other lands, in the cause of God and man, there are 
more giants still who are employing the same mighty engine in the 
service, of another. 

While this bleaeed Institatton that has called us together to-day, 
has been circulating its 2,000,000 of Books, and 60,000,000 Tracts, 
during a period of eighteen years, how many millions have been pour- 
ing forth under altogether different and opposite influences, tending 
not to purify and bless the land, but to corrupt and' destroy it. 

A meiAorial to our general Government, presented at the last Ses- 
sion, stated that the number of persons employed in all the various 
departments of the publishing business in the United States, was 
more than 40,000, of whom 25,000 were operative printers of papers 
and books ; that the amount of business annually done was more 
than $27,000,000 ; that there were 12,000,000 of volumes manufac- 
tured annually, and the capital invested in these operations was more 
than $15,000,000. 

How comparatively small, then, must be the influence of the 
present issues of this Institution, when we consider the gigantic tide 
of 12,000,000. of books, 3,000,000 of numbers of periodicals, and 
300,000,000 of newspaper sheets, which, according to this memorial, 
are annually doing their work in moulding the minds and hearts, and 
shaping the destinies of the millions of our countrymen. '" 

No reflecting mind can contemplate the present position of the Uni- 
ted States, in this respect alone, without a full conviction that it is 
without a parallel in the history of nations ; that we live in an era 
pregnant with great events ; that the press has for us as yet undevel- 
oped energies, that may in our land, as it has already in others, work 
reformation or revolution. The whole land is a vast school. The 
rail car, the steamboat, the manufactory, the work-shop, and the 
farm-yard, the mines of the Schuylkill and of Galena, are all 
schools. The printer is the daily teacher. Cunard^s mail to-day 
brings the " latest" from London and Liverpool, Paris and Canton ; 
all night the presses of New-Tork and Boston groan with their 
labor, and to-morrow the car and the steamer are bearing every 
description of news, and of moral and pernicious influences to- 
wards every poiiit of the compass. The iron horse, whose sinews 
are steel, and whose, provender is fire, **is off" for Washington and 
Buffalo, St. Louis, and New Orleans. His unceasing clatter echoes 
among our hills all day, and his fiery train illumines our valleys at 



66 DELtBEBATIVE tt££T2Na. 

• 
nigbt. In less time than it once took to go from London to Jdia 

o'Groat^s, the news from the other hemisphere is borne over one hilf 

of this. The mail-bag with its teeming sheets is dropped in every 

city and village of a territory 1500 miles square ! The colamns of the 

** Chronicle,^* and the " Times," which are read at Monday's breek- 

fast in London, have but one intervening Sabbath before they enliTen 

the parlors and offices of Bostdn and New-York ; and ere the Acadia 

sees Holyhead again, they are 1500 miles further on, in the selboni 

and verandahs of Louisiana. 

Everything seems to conspire to arouse and excite the public mindi 

and reading it wilt have. 

LIBRARIES FOR COMMON SCHOOLS. / 

The school-library system furnishes also a most impressive illustri- 
tiun of the views embodied in the papers before your Committee. 

Three years have already passed of the operation of the law of the 
state of New-York appropriating $110,000 a year, for five years, to 
the work of planting a popular library in each of the 10,0()0 school- 
houses of the State. Something like $300,000 have been expended, 
and probably more thnn a million of volumes are already distributed 
in the schools of New- York alone ; an4 perhaps half that number in 
other parts of the country : a greater work in bringing books before 
the minds of the present and rising generation than this Institution, on 
its existing scale of operations, performs in ten years. And when we 
consider what this system alone is destined to effect in ten years to 
come, among our 50,000 schools and 3,000,000 of children, the impor- 
tance of the views in the paper on an ** unsanctified literature,*' and 
the call upon the wise and good of our land to furnish a Christian 
Literature in its comprehensive and appropriate acceptation, come 
upon the heart with an emphasis that language can scarcely describe. 
Millions of dollars are to be expended, and in all human probability, 
in less time than has elapsed since the organization of this Society, a 
greater number of volumes will be manufactured and distributed 
among the common schools of this young nation than are now found 
in all the venerable public libraries of Europe ! When all the States 
of the Union shall follow the example of New-York, as several have 
already done, this grand national enterprise will command attention 
which it has not yet received. The character of these books that are 
to be multiplied by millions, and perform such a service in forming 
the intellectual aliment and the moral image of generation after gene- 
ration, will be a subject of solicitous inquiry among philanthropista 
and christians. 



Ut. ABBOTT^S Si^ORt. 67 

One -Other topic in tbe paper alluded to demands a word — tne 
tendency in our country to banish from the elementary books and 
systems of popular education the great fundamental truths and saving 
influences of Christianity. To some extent this is peculiar to us. 
It is not so in other states of Christendom. England, Scotland^ and 
Ireland, Prussia, Holland, and Rome, pursue a different policy. The 
educational discussions of other lands show that the disciples of 
Christ are contending for a chrutian education for their children and 
the people, with the firmness of a conviction that it is a requirement 
of the word of God. 

A single illustration will exhibit sufficiently the intrinsic importance 
of this subject, while at the same time it sets forth and corroborates 
the .views of the paper on " The Power of the Press." 

If it were told us, that in some other land a pen had been employed 
in the preparation of a book which was to be first in the hands of mil- 
lions of youth} developing their intellectual powers, kindling their 
■firs^ desires after kiiowledge, storing the memory with thoughts and 
fixing principles of action, with all the power and permanency of early 
impressions — that its apothegms and lessons respecting life and duty, 
time, salvation, and eternity, were interwoven into the very constitu* 
tion of the plastic minds of millions ; that in the space of forty years 
its author had been privileged to witness 18,000,000 of copies of his 
work, imprinting its own moral image on as many millions of youth, 
and following them too, with almost the fidelity of maternal counsel, 
through all the scenes of life's pilgrimage, from the school-house to 
the grave ; we should quote it as a rare and wonderful exemplifica- 
tion of the power of the pen and the press. 

But an American spelling-book has done all this, and the venerable 
Dr. Noah Webster has lived to see of the fruits of his pen, what we 
venture to say few writers ever have before him. 

This subject itself is a theme for a volutne. Is there any other 
book but the Bible which exerts so universal, so powerful and abiding 
an influence on each generation as it rises, and yet how little regard 
does it secure. Hew little concern, whether it be made a vehicle of 
truth, a standard of taste and of morals, and a teacher in every hand 
of ** whatsoever things are pure and lovely, and of good report," and 
that ^* accompany salvation." The .school-house stands next to the 
church, and the school-book is next to the Bible in forming the cha- 
racter and determining the temporal destinies of our country, and the 
eternal interests of our countrymen. 

In 1804 a catalogue was published in Boston, professing to contain 
all the school-books previously issued in the Utiited States. In 183)2; 



68 DBLIfiB£ATiy£ UEBTIIIO. 

# 
another similar catalogue appeared. In an interval of dS'years the 

total namber of school-books increased from 93 to 407, while oar 

population had been increasing from 6,-000,000 to 13,000,000. Ami 

when this investigation of the state of the press was made, there were 

found on sale 43^ works in the various branches of Theological Uterft- 

ture, 434 works of fiction, and 736 works on education, comprised in 

51 distinct branches of the subject, both. English and classical. 

It would seem to be a matter of some interest to know what is the 
real influence these instruments of education exert on the minds they 
are employed in developing. 

The destiny of our country, the hopes of the Church, and the 
prospect of the world's Redemption are concerned in the inflaences 
which are forming the character of the next generation ; and if it be 
true that our Almighty Maker God is, as it were, shut out from the 
world of human hearts, is not in all their thoughts, is excluded from 
their affections, and no fitting recognition of him in his works of na- 
ture, providence, or grace is found ; how important it is, in the work of 
bringing mankind back to God, to bring God in to the world of litera* 
ture, science, and art, and to incorporate His truth in all the essential 
elements of influence that move and mould mankind. 



READING FOR THE YOUXO. 

We have reason to thank God for the deep interest he is creating 
on this vast and important subject, and especially for his kind provi- 
dence in giving to our country such papers as have lately appeared 
from the Secretary of State, and Superintendent of Common Schools 
in New- York, the Hon. Samuel Young, on the use of the New Tes- 
tament in our schools, and the importance of inculcating its principles 
of morality with the first lessons of childhood ; on the introduction of 
vocal music as a branch of elementary education ; ai^d on the subject 
of a purer course of reading for our youth. 

Mr. Young says : ** I regard the New Testament as in all respects 
a suitable book to be daily read in our Common Schools, and I earnest- 
ly recommend its general introduction for this purpose. As a mere 
reading book, intended to convey a practical knowledge of the English 
language, it is one of the best text-books in use ; but this, althengh 
of great utility to the pupils, is of minor importance when the moral 
influences of the book are duly considered. Education consists of 
something more than mere instruction. It is that training and dis- 
cipline of all the faculties of the mind which shall systematically and 
harmoniously develope the future man for usefulness and for happiness 



KR. ABBOTT^S REPORT. 69 

ia sustaining the yarions relations of life. It mast be based upon 
knowledge and virtne, and its gradual adyancement must be strictly 
suboidinated to those cardinal and elementary principles of morality 
which are nowhere so clearly, distinctly, and beautifully inculcated 
as in that book from whence we all derive our common faith. The 
nursery and family fire-side may accomplish much, the institutions of 
ireligion may exert a pervading influence ; but what is commenced in 
the hallowed sanctuary of the domestic circle,- and periodically incul- 
cated at the altar, must be daily and hourly recognized in the Common 
Schools, that it may exert an ever-present influence, enter into and 
form part of every act of the life, and become thoroughly incorporated 
with the rapidly eipanding character. The same incomparable standard 
of moral tirtae and excellence which is expounded from the pulpit and 
the altar, and which is daily held up to the admiration and imitation of 
the family circle, should also be reverently kept before the mind and 
the heart in the daily exercise of the School.*^ 

In his^commanicatlon on the snbject of pernicious fiction, he 
remarks : — ** I am not opposed to the placing of works of ima* 
gination, eith^ in poetry or prose, in a distinct library, after it is 
well filled with nsefnl books of practical knowledge. Such works, 
if properly Selected, may be not only entertaining but instructive, 
by alTording correct delineations of human character. But to put 
into the hands of the young, works which are replete with recitals 
of ferocity and bloodshed, with murders and daring outrages, 
with the sanguinary feats of banditti and robbers, with the atroci- 
ties of depraved and brutalized wretches who are the opprobrium 
of GK>d'and man, is, in my judgment, directly calculated to blunt 
their finer sensibilities, and to render their hearts cold and cal- 
lous to the claims of humanity, by familiarizing their imagina- 
tions with scenes of depravity and blood. 

" I am also decidedly opposed to the whole class of high 
wrought novels and romances. They inspire superstitious fears, 
delusive hopes and morbid sensibilities, by giving false and subli- 
mated views of human life. In short, they disguise truth and 
inculcate falsehood.'' 

And in his address before the Convention at Utica, he^ recom- 
mends ^ tinging " as " a very efficient branch of moral and intel- 
lectual training,*' and speaks of having been a delighted wimess 
of its power over ''the little performers" in a school at Albany, 
their own spirits harmonizing with the spirit of the song, " as in 
reverential tones" they sung *' the power and goodness of the 
Creator," '* the beauties and harmonies of the moral world," " the 

5 



70 DELIBfiftATIVE ME«TIK9. 

attractions of benevolence/' " the obligations of patriotism,*' and 
'' the captivating loveliness of the moral virtues." 

To such sentiments the wisest and best of America and England 
will respond. Let them be reiterated. Honor to him whose heart 
thus cherishes the grand interests reposing in his hands. Blessed 
are the ten thousand schools, and more than )ialf a millioi^ of 
children receiving education under the guidance of such senti- 
ments. Happy for our country, that such are the vieWs of one 
who presides over the educatioilal interests of a State which 
is 80 emphatically taking the lead among all her sisters in this 
great cause, that the Superintendent of ^ew-York is almost the 
" Minister of Public Instruction " for the Union. ^ 

There are other topics in the papers submitted to your Commiltee, 
on which they would gladly remark, did the time and occasion permit. 
The various points that are treated, speak for themselves. Yoar 
Committee would simply add their conviction, that the' calling forth 
of such documents will alone compensate all the labors connected 
with this Meeting, were no other good accomplished. They hail Ihe 
call for a sanctified Literature as a most timely and providential event, 
and a harbinger of better days for our country and. the Christian world* 
And they would respectfully urge, the immediate employment of all 
the undeveloped resources and powers of this Institution, and etery 
other instrumentality that now in the providence of God eziste, or 
may yet be called into being — not directly to oppose the mighty and 
resistless torrent that flows from an ^' unsanctified Press,*' but to 
cause to flow, side by side, in rich abundance, purer streams, that, if 
it be possible, the thirsting spirit of the millions now on the stage in 
our country, and the stupendous succession of generations to follow, 
may be allured to drink. 

Letter from Hon. William Jay^ Bedford^ N. York, 

" Your remarks on our periodical press agree perfectly with my 
own observations and reflections. Almost the entire reading of our 
Whole population is newspapers and fiction ; and indeed I may say 
fiction alone, since truth forms so small a portion of the contents of 
our political journals. 

** The indecency of many of the novels with which the steam-press 
is inundating our land, and the profligacy and mendacity of our party 
newspapers, to say nothing of the avowedly obscene publications, 
cannot fail to influence our manners and our morals. The evil is 
rendered more grievons by the diflicuUy of removmg it. There are 
no coercive measures by which the multitude can be weaned from 



MS. Abbott's bepobt. 71 

their lore for low excitement, nor the mercenary restrained from 
catering for their depraved appetite. The obscene press might in- 
deed b^ instantly put down by our magistrates ; but they are for the 
most part politicians. 

'^I greatly fear that the predominating influence of our press is 
etil. Even our religious newspapers too often exhibit a bitterness 
and a sectarian selfishness but little in accordance with the spirit of 
Christ. 

" In my opinion there is no specific remedy for the profligacy of the 
press. So long as there is a market for wicked papers and novels, so 
long will the manufacture of these commodities be continued. 

'* While I owe you my acknowledgments for the sentiments you so 
kindly eiqiress for me personally, I am fully persuaded that nothing 
I could write on the subject would be of any avail. But I beg you to 
believe that I shall regard it a privilege and a duty to embrace every 
proper opportunity of advancing the interests of the American Tract 
Society. It is a truly christian Institution, and founded on principles 
and condocted in a spirit I peculiarly love. The christians of this 
nation might exert a predominant influence, but their sectarianism 
prevents concert of action, and their devotion to party politics se- 
cures their support of party men, however irreligious.*' 

The Rey. Wiluam R. Williams, D. D. of New- York, 
presented the followiDg valuable paper :- yiz. 



72 DBLIBEKATIVE HEETIK6. 



DOCUMENT V. 

The BTaugellcal Character of the Society's Publicatioiui, and 
their adaptation to the present generation of men. 

The various publications of the Society in our own 
land, if we include its issues of every form and size, 
from the handbill and the broad-sheet, up to the bound 
volume, already number one thousand. In foreign lands 
it aids in issuing nearly twice that number, written in 
some one hundred of the different languages and dialects 
of the earth. Amongst ourselves, in the seventeen years 
of its existence, it has already* by sale or gift, scattered 
broad-cast over the whole face of the land, in our churches 
and Sabbath-schools, through our towns and villages, 
among the neglected, in the lanes of our large cities, 
where misery retires to die, and vice to shelter itself 
from the eye of day ; and amidst the destitute, sparsely 
sprinkled over our wide frontiers, where the ministry 
has scarce followed, and the church can scarce gather 
the scattered inhabitants, some two millions of books and 
some sixty millions of Ti'acts. This is no ordinary influ- 
ence. It must find its way into nearly every vein and 
artery of the body politic. Whether it be of a pure and 
healthful character, is an inquiry of grave moment to the 
churches who sustain this enterprise, and to the country 
which receives this literature. If baneful, it is a grievous 
wrong to the community ; if merely inert and useless, it is 
a fraud committed upon the benevolence of the churches. 

I. Whether these publications deserve the confidence of 
christians, may be ascertained by the answer which is 
given to one question ; Do tiiet preach Jesus Christ 



CHiifiACTER OF PUBLICATIONS. 73 

AND HIM CRUCIFIED? He must be the theme of erery 
successful ministry, whether preaching from the pulpit or 
through [the press. The blessing of God' i* Spirit is pro- 
mised only to the exaltation of the Son of God, the Sa- 
vior of the world. •» I, if I be lifted up, will draw all 
men unto me." When Paul describes the peculiarities of 
his own successful ministry — a ministry that shook the 
nations — a ministry that carried the blazing torch of its 
testimony from Illyricum to Spain, he compresses these 
into a very brief space, lie was determined to know 
nothing but Christ Jesus and him crucified. In Christ 
he found the motive which stimulated all his ferrid 
and untiring^ activity, and the model upon Avhich was 
moulded every excellence of his character. ** To me to 
live is Christ." Only so far as the issues of this Society 
cherish this same principle does it ask, and only so far 
can it deserve from the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ 
that eoiC^ial support and that large extension of its la- 
bors which It solicits at the hands of the religious com- 
munity. 

And not only is it necessary to the success of such 
ministry of the press, that it should make the crucj^fied 
Savior the great theme of its teachings ; it should also 
present this theme, as far as possible, in a scriptural man- 
ner. By fhis we mean, not a mere iteration of the words 
of sacred writ, but that the mind of the writer should be 
so imbued with the spirit of the Scripture, and so pos- 
sessed by its doctrines, and so haunted by its imagery and 
illustrations, as to present, naturally and earnestly, the 
great truths of the scheme of salvation, in that proportion 
and with those accompaniments which are found in the 
inspired volume. His thoughts must all be habited, as 
fair as it may be, in the garb, and breathe the spirit of that 
only book to which we can ascribe unmingled truth. '' 

That the woirks of the American Tract Society are 
Ihus evangelical in thejr character, would seem sqarce 



74 DELIBERATIVS BIEETINa. 

needing proof, since none, as far as we' know, have yet 
questioned it. Amid the fier<^e and emhittered coQtro- 
versies, from which the church has never heen ezeinpt, 
(and certainly not in our own times,) we kno^ not that 
any, among the several hodies of christians generally 
recognized as evangelical, have arisen to impugn in this 
respect the character of the Society's issues. This has 
not heen because these books have been secretly circu- 
lated. They have been found every where, dropped in 
the highway, and lodged in the pastor's study, distributed 
in the nursery, the rail-car, the steamboat, and the stage- 
coach, as well as exposed on the shelves of the book-store, 
and they have challenged the investigation of all into 
whose hands they have come. Denominations of chris- 
tians, divided from each other by varying views as to the 
discipline and polity of the Church of Christ, and even 
holding opposite sentiments as to some of the more im- 
portant doctrines of the Gospel, have yet agreed in recog- 
nizing in these publications the great paramount truths of 
that Gospel, and have co-operated long, liberally ahd har- 
moniously in their distribution and use. 

The names of the authors whose volumes are found 
in friendly juxtaposition, standing side by side on the 
shelves of the libraries the Society has provided for the 
christian household and school, seem to furnish another 
strong pledge to the same effect. Doddridge, Baxter, 
Edwards, Owen, Fiavel and Bunyan, are names that seem 
to belong less to any. one division of the christian host 
than to the whole family of Christ. They are the current 
coin of the church, which have passed so freely from hand 
to hand, that the minuter superscription of the sects to 
which they may have belonged^ the denominational im- 
print, seems to have been worn away in the wide, un- 
questioned circulation they have received. And they 
have been acknowledged by evangelical believers, where- 
e?er the English language and literature have gone, as faith* 



CHARACTER OF PUBLICATIONS. 75 

ful and most powerful preachers of > the Gospel of Christ. 
They have received higher attestation even than that of 
having their ** praise " thus ** in all the churches." The 
Head of the Church has not withholden his benediction 
and imprint. The influence of His Spirit has long and 
largely rested on the written labors of these his servants ; 
and, while the authors themselves have been in the grave» 
their works are yet following them in lengthening and 
wideninj; trains of usefulness. Multitudes have been con- 
verted, and thousands of others have traced to these books 
their own growth in christian holiness. Some of these wri- 
ters were, while upon the earth, not inactive or unsuccessful 
as preachers with the living voice ; yet it may be questioned 
whether all the seals of their living ministry would equal 
the tithe of the seals which God has continued to set. to 
their posthumous ministry in the volumes they have be- 
queathed to the world and the church. 

II. But how far are they adapted to the wants of the 

l^RESSNT GENERATION OF MANKIND? We kuOW that in 

the varying tastes and habits of society, and its ever-shift- 
ing currents of feeling, new channels of thought are 
scooped out, and new forms of ejcpression become popular ; 
and the writer whose compositions present not these forms 
and move^not in these channels, may find himself deserted 
as obsolete. , Hi« works are consigned to the unmolested 
and Musty shelves of the antiquarian, while other and 
fresher rivals grasp the sceptre of popularity and useful- 
ness that has passed from his hands. New conditions of 
society and new institutions also, may require another 
style of address and another train of instruction than thosjS 
which, once indeed*, were most salutary and seasonable, 
but are so no longer.. If other classes of literature be- 
come antiquated, and the old give place to the new, rpay it 
not be so with religious literature : may it not be so 
with much, of the literature from which the American 
Tract Society is seeking to supply the christians of the 
present age T 



76 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

1. What then are the wants of the present age? Re- 
ligion, it should be remembered, if true, must be in its 
great principles unchangeable, and the same in all eras of 
the world's history. /^ 

*' Can length of years on God himself exact, . 
** And make that fiction which was once a fact?'* 

A revelation, from its source and the nattire of its con- 
tents, possesses, therefore, a fixedness and constancy that 
can belong to no science of merely human origin. The 
Bible stands apart from all the literature of man's devi- 
sing, as a book never to be superseded — susceptible of no 
amendment, and never to be made obsolete whilst the 
world stands. The book of the world's Creator and the 
world's Governor, the record of the world's history and 
the world's duty, the world's sin and the world's salvation, 
it 'will endure while that world lasts, and continue (o 
claim its present authority long as that government t)ver 
the present world may continue. Religious works, there- 
fore, the more profoundly they are imbued with the spirit 
of the Bible, will the more nearly partake of its indestruc* 
tibility. Hence the Confessjons of Augustine, written so 
many centuries ago, are not yet an obsolete book, nor can 
be while the human heart and the christian religion con- 
tinue the same that they now are. In their religious 
literature, the church and the world in the nineteenth 
century must, therefore, in most respects, have the same 
wants as the church and the world in earlier ages. 

It will be allowed, however, that there are certain pecu- 
liarities in the history and character of an age that may 
make one form of address and one style of discussion much 
more useful and reasonable in its religious literature than 
another. Has our country at this period any such pecu- 
liar wants? We might refer to many circumstances in 
its government and its people, their pursuits and their 
character, which distinguish and, as it were, individualize 
OUT land and our age. But to sum them all in one word. 



CHARACTER OF PtTBLICATIONS. 77 

we suppose the main distinction and boast of our people is, 
that they are a practical race. Others theorize, they act. 
Visionary reforms and schemes of society, that might in 
other regions be nursed for centuries in the brains of 
philosophers, and be deemed practicable T)nly because 
they have never been reduced to practice, if they find pro- 
selytes amongst us, are soon brought to the test of actual 
experiment; their admirers here act upon the theories, 
which, elsewhere, are but reasoned upon, and the system, 
exploding in the trial, refutes itself Our countrymen, 
the colonists of a wide and fertile territory, the mariners 
whose keels .vex every shore, and whose sails whiten the 
remotest seas, inherit the solid sense, the sober judgment, 
the energy, darinjg, and perseverance of the Anglo-Saxon 
race; and their political institutions and the broad terri- 
tory yet to be subdued and peopled, here give full scope 
to these traits of character. We are as yet, though a 
nation of readers, not a nation of students ; but much more 
a nation of seamen, farmers and traders. Our very stu- 
dies are practical ; and the cast of character which dis- 
tinguished the Roman from the Greek mind, and which 
made the former the master^ of the world — the practical 
character of the mind and its pursuits — belongs, in all 
climes and on every shore, to the Saxon race. If we, as 
a nation, have in this era of our history specific wants, we 
want then a practical literature in religion, as in other 
branches of knowledge — a religious literature, adapted, 
with practical wisdom, to the peculiar duties and snares, 
the prevalent errors and the popular institutions of our 
time. Has this Society furnished such ? 

That portion of its publications which are of American 
origin^' and which its exertions have been the means of 
calling out, or of diffusing more widely where they already 
existed,^all ita books that are of recent and domestic origin, 
may. be supposed naturally to possess some tolerable 
degree of adaptation to our own national watvt.s^\\v^- ^\^« 

5* 



78 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

vailing sins and follies of the times, and the peculiar re- 
sponsibilities and privileges of christian churches in the 
United States, in the nineteenth century. The writers are 
of us and wrote for us, and we may suppose that these 
productions at least are not wanting in such adapta- 
tion. Their currency and their usefulness, the souls 
which, by the blessing of God, they have conv«rted, and 
their influence on the fai^th, zeal, and purity of the churches, 
afford evidence of the same kind. Of the 430 pamphlet 
Tracts in the English language, issued by the Society, 
more than one half are of American origin. It was not 
80 in the earlier years of the Society's history. Of the first 
one hundred Tracts on the lists of this Society, more than 
two thirds were republications from works of British 
christians, of the richest character indeed, but they were 
the sidings of a rich religious literature more than two 
centuries old. Of the last one hundred of these 430 Tracts, 
on the other hand, more than three fourths were by 
American christians. We have not pursued the investi- 
gation into the bound volumes of the Society; but we 
suppose that there a similar result would be reached, 
although the proportion of American authorship is not 
yet as large, perhaps, as in the pamphlet Tracts. Here 
also it is increasing, however, and one third of the vol- 
umes may be regarded as of domestic origin. It would 
be found, we suppose, that the Societyi in the brief period 
of seventeen years, has done much to create a national 
religious literature. 

To effect any literary changes, seventeen years, it 
should be remembered, is a v«ry brief period. As far 
then as adaptedness to the special wants of this country 
can be decided by the domestic or foreign authorship of 
its publications, it would appear that the Society has, with 
great rapidity, exerted a most perceptible and powerful 
influence on the writers and readers of our churches. It 
has elicited and diffused a literature that is emphatically 



CHARACTER OF PUBLICATIONS. 79 

fer US, inasmuch as it isfrom ourselves. The inteltigent 
chrisliaa can never wish to see his denomination or his 
country confining its sympathies and its studies to the 
literature of the aect itself, or of that one country, thus 
shut up in the narrow circle of its own writers. Christi' 
anity is Hree, genial and philanthropic — it loves the race. 
Christianity is the only true citizenship of the world, and 
it hails the writings, and the history of all lands and all 
kindreds, when imbued with the spirit of ^he common 
Savior. But yet there may be certain evident advantages 
in having, for some purposes and within certain limits, a 
denominational and also a national literature in our 
churches. For this object of a national literature the 
American Tract Society may claim to have done much, 
and to have done it well. They have furnished a body of 
Tracts, popular in style, pungent and faithful, pithy, brief, 
and striking, that are singularly adapted to the moral 
wants of our community, and many of which, from their 
high excellence, would bear transplantation into the 
literatiire of almost any other christian country. 

2- As to the adaptedness for usefulness amongst our 
churches and people of those volumes and Tracts which 
thcr Society has derived from the rich christian literature 
of Great Britain, it may be deserving of remark that the 
more distinguished of these works are derived mainly 
frem three memorable eras in the religious history of that 
country. 

The first of these was the age of the Puritans and Non- 
conformists, Into the merits of their controversy with the 
Established Church of England it is no part of our design 
here to enter. They were, by the admission of the candid 
in every party, men of powerful intellect and ardent piety,, 
whose principles had been tried and strengthened in the 
fierce collisions of their age, and whose character reqeived 
in consequence an energy it might else have wanted. 
The measures of government, that threw the Noncou'^ 



80 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

formists out of their pulpits, were fitted to produce an 
admirable class of writings, such as the church has not 
often enjoyed. Many of these devout men, mighty in the 
Scriptures and incessant in prayer, had they been left to the 
quiet discharge of their pastoral duties, would have kept 
the noiseless tenor of their way, and the world would 
probably have heard little or nought of their authorship. 
Preaching would have absorbed their minds and consumed 
all their strength. The mere preacher has little leisure and 
often little fitness to be a successful writer. Thus the pub* 
lished remains of Whitfield are of little value compared with 
the waitings of many men far his inferiors in the pulpit 
and in its immediate results of usefulness. Had then the 
edicts and policy of the Stuarts left the Nonconformist fa- 
thers to their own chosen course^they would, many of them^ 
have died and bequeathed no literary remains ; or those re- 
mains would have been comparatively meagre and jejune^ 
from the want of leisure in a life of active and unremitted 
pastoral toil. But, on the other hand, had the rich and 
varied writings of that class of men, who, from the prison 
or beside its very gate, sent out their treatises to their 
peeled and scattered churches, been composed by mere 
students, men of the lamp and the closet, they would have 
been deficient in their popular style, their earnestness,^ 
and their apt familiar illustrations. None but pastors, 
acquainted with the people and familiar with the popular 
modes of communicating religious truth, could thus have 
informed the deepest truths of theology and morals with a 
racy vivacity, and surrounded them with such simple and 
every-day imagery. 

Thus, only men who had been bred pastors could have 
written some of these works. And, on the other hand, 
had they continued pastors, they could not have written 
them for want of leisure, inclination, and even perhaps 
mental poVrer. But when the prison and the pillory shut 
them in, and the pulpit had shut them out, die^e resolate 



CHABACTER OF PUBLICATIONS. 81 

and holy men resorted to the only chani^el left them for 
communicating with the hearts and consciences of men. 
It was the press. Had Baxter heen a mere student and 
not a.pastor, he would probably have made all his writings 
thorny, abstruse, and sterile, as the works of those school- 
men whose writings he seems so fondly to have loved and 
studied so closely. And, in that case, where had been the 
usefulness of the Saints' Rest and the Call to the Uncon- 
verted ? Had he continued always a pastor, he would 
have preached much more to the men of the ITth century; 
but it is very questionable whether he would have 
preached as well -or as much to the men of the 19th cen- 
tury as he now does. Here then is a class of writers, in 
whose history God seems to have made special provision 
that they should be trained to become effective as the 
practical writers of the church, bringing to the experience 
of the pastor all the leisure of the Scholar, and grafting 
upon the meditations of the study all the unction, the sim- 
plicity, and the popular tact of the pulpit. 

In addition to these peculiar preparations fpr general 
usefulness, the writing"^ of the Puritans and Nonconform- 
ists come to us, as Americans, commended by considera- 
tions of singular force. The fathers of New-England 
were of that class of men. The Adam and Eve of those 
regions were fashioned of Puritan clay ; and many of 
our peculiar institutions and our distinctive traits of nation- 
al character may be traced, through that New-England 
ancestry, to the character of the Puritans of England. 
We have a hereditary right in their works and memory. 
Their writings are moulded by peculiar influences, that 
have y6t left their traces upon our mental idiosyncrasy as 
a people. Connected as then the^Puritans of the mother 
country were with our progenitors by every tie of piety 
and blood, their voice comes upon, the ears of American 
christians like a testimony from the graves of those re- 
vered forefathers, who planted u]^on our rugged norlKetiv 



82 DELIBESATIVE MEETING. 

shores the germs of our freedom, our knowledge, and our 
arts, while seeking only in the desert a refuge from per- 
secution, and freedom to worship God; but who left, 
where they sought merely a shelter, the foundations of a 
new empire, stretching its territories already frona the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, and shedding the influence of its 
commerce and its freedom over either continent. 

The second of these eras, which have contributed to the 
christian literature of this Society, is that of the great re^ 
vivnl of religion^ under the labors of Whitfield and the 
Wesleys in England^ and the elder Edwards and the 
Tennants in our own country^ It was a great religious 
movement, awakening from lethargy and recalling from 
perilous errors a portion of the English Establishment, 
infusing a new life of piety into the English Dissenters, 
as in our own country it supplied the destitute and 
awakened the formal from Georgia to New-Hampshire. 
It Was an era, both here and in the parent countryiu of 
bitter controversy. The truths, recalled from their long 
concealment and urged with new zeal, were to be defend- 
ed from the press as well as from the pulpit, or the 
open field, where so many of those preachers delivered 
their testimony. To this day it is that we owe the Works 
of Doddridge and Edwards, that work of. Venn which the 
Society has very recently republished, and the menioir of 
Edwards' disciple and friend, the glowing, sufiTering 
David Brainerd. In the necessities of that time we see, 
though to a less extent, a combination of the same causes 
which made the Nonconformists' writings what they 
were. The preacher was grafted on the student. Had 
not {Idwards had the experience of those glorious revivals 
God permitted him to witness and to record, he could 
perhaps still have written the work " On the Religious 
Afiections ;" but it would have been a very different book. 
Without the resources of his rich pastoral experience it 
might have been as profound as the immortal Analogy of 



CHARACTElt OP PUBUCATIOKS. 83 

Butler, and as little fitted as that work to be generally 
popular with the great mass of readers. 

The third of these memorable eras may be designated 
as the era of modern christian enterprise. We know no 
fitter epithet to describe its varied activity, and its aggres- 
sive action on the ignorance of nominal Christendom and 
the wide %vastes of heathenism. It began shortly after the 
breaking out of the French Revolution. It was an age 
when God seemed for a time to allow a new " hour and 
power of darkness,^^ vikin to that which brooded over the 
world when its Redeemer was about to suffer. Then boil- 
ed up from the lower deeps of the human heart fioods'of 
corruption, that, in ordinary ages, slumber on, dark and 
unseen, in their quiet concealment. Then steamed up, 
as it were from the nethermost abysses of hell, strange 
and hideous errors, that generally avoid the light of day, 
and the world was aghast at the open appearance of athe- 
ism, and the rejection by a great nation, as in mass, of 
their old ancestral faith. But, as if to illustrate his own 
government of the universe, then, to meet" this revolt, rose 
up, from quarters the most distant, and some ^f them the 
most obscure, designs for good and enterprises of benevo- 
lence, of which the world had long seen no parallel. 
The Foreign Missions of the christian church, the Sab- 
bath-School, the Tract Society itself, and the Bible Society, 
burst up, as in quick succession, and ere the carnival of the 
pit was -ended, and while Satan seemed yet triumphing in 
his anticipated conquest of the world to impiety, the chris- 
tian faith received a fresh impulse, and the cause of the Sa- 
vior assumed an aggressive energy it ha^ never since lost. 
To this period belonged Buchanan and Pearce. In this 
pcnod Wilberforce published that View of Religion in 
the higher classes, which was, in the judgment of the 
commentator Scott, the noblest protest in favor of the 
gospel made for centuries — a book that consoled and de- 
lighted that eminent statesman Burke pn hiis d^\a% V^4^ 



84 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. . 

and that gave to the Church of Christ the lamented and 
beloved author of that immortal Tract " the Dairyman's 
Daughter," Legh Richmond. Pelted by Parr with 
learned Greek, and assailed by the Socinian Belsharp* it- 
went on unimpeded ^nd did its work. Its influence was 
most decisive, under God, in aiding the great work of 
reform, the effects of which are visible in the middle and 
higher classes of England. Then, too, wrote and labored 
Hannah More, and to the same period may be added 
Henry Martyn. ' 

All these three were periods of conflict. In the first 
and in the third, political contentions^ were intermingled 
with religious controversies. Wars and rumors of wcffs 
exasperated the fierce collisions between rival sects, or 
the strife that was waged between Christianity and those 
who cast off all fear, and mocked to his face their Maker 
and Judge. The second was indeed exclusively a 
period of reZ^iowjr controversy; but the points at issue* 
were so momentous, and the zeal exhibited so ardent, 
that England and America were filled with the noise of 
inquiry and dispute, as the Gospel went on winning 
new and glorious triumphs amid fierce opposition. 
There was, as in the apostolic history, a wide door 
opened, and there were also " many opposfers," and both 
Whitfield and Wesley were more than once, in 
christian Britain, on the eve of a summary and ferocious 
martyrdom. 

All these three eras were then eras of moral revolution. 
It is a familiar fact that revolutions produce great charac- 
ters. Their great emergencies awaken feeling and de- 
velop talent. Some mighty crisis paralyzes the weaker 
crowd, and summons forth the master spirit who can meet 
its demands, and rt^veals thus to the world his merits and 
his powers. And it is also true, that, although the highest 
works of science do not issue from such times, the most 
stirring and popular books are often the progeny of such 



CHASACTEE OF PUBLICATIONS. 85 

an age of turmoil and conflict. These orgasms of feeling, 
that shoot through the whole frame of a nation, may bring 
out much that is crude and extravagant, but they also lead 
to exertions of more than wonted power, and results of 
more than vulgar splendor. The best efforts of the best 
ymters are sometimes traceable to the excitement of 
some such stimng era. Pascars Provincial Letters, 
in which wit, argument, and eloquence are so splendidly 
blended, and, leaning on each other, group themselves 
around the cross of Christ, could not have been pro- 
duced in the holiday leisure of some peaceful era. It 
needed the fierce controversies in which Jansenism lay 
bleeding under the feet of triumphant Jesuitism, and 
struggling as for its life, while it testified, as from the 
dust, in behalf of many of the great truths of the Gospel 
-^it needed, we say, such a conflict and such a peril to 
draw out a production so impasisioned and so powerful 
even^from th^ mighty heart and the massive intellect of 
a Pascal. 

There are works that seemingly can ex\st only as the 
birth of the throes and death pangs of some great era 
of change and moral renovation. Such were the three 
eras to wliich we have alluded, and their character was 
imprinted on many of the works they produced, and 
which this Society reprints and. disseminates. No other 
age, no lighter emergency could have called forth such 
intellectual strength and such depth of feeling, and 
made the volumes so well fitted as they are to tell upon 
the heart of an entire nation. Works then written have the 
energy of the conflict and breathe for ever its strong pas- 
ions. Their words are often battles. Had Bunyan never 
inhabited a dungeon, we question whether the Pilgrim's 
Progress would have had its beautiful pictures of the 
Land of Beulah, alaqd of freedom, light and beauty, and 
we doubt whether that allegory had ever existed. Had 
Baxter never been an army-chaplain, who must talk 



86 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

Strong truths in plain terms, we question whether his 
works would have 'had all their passionate energy and 
their strong simplicity. 

With regard, therefore, to those portions- of the Soci- 
ety's publications which proceed from American authors, 
their origin is some evidence in favor of their adapted-* 
ness to our peculiar wants. With regard to all those 
works of British origin that came^ from either of the 
gireat eras upon which we have remarked, we have in 
favor of their influence not onlv the character of the 
writers, but the character of th6 age in which they wrote 
and did bat^e for the truth of God as they believed it. 

Taking now the literature of the Society, as prepared 
for this country in n^ass, we find in it evidently a variety 
and fulness of subjects that would seem to meet the va* 
ried demands of the church and the nation. For mission- 
ary literature, it has the memoirs of Brainerd, Buchanan, 
Schwartz, Henry Martyn, and Harriet Winslow. Does a 
pastor seek to train his flock to higher devotedness, 
where could be found a better maifual than Baxter's 
Saints' Everlasting Rest, written, as it would seem, 
under the golden sky of the Delectable Mountains, and 
in full sight of the Celestial City 1 Where better com- 
panions than the biographies of Leighton, and Payson, 
and Pearce, and J. Brainerd Taylor 1 Against infidelity 
we have Bogue, (the work that was read, and with 
some considerable impressions of mind, by Napoleon 
in his last days,) and Morison, and Keith, and the trea- 
tises of Leslie and Watson, while others, on the same 
subject of Christian Evidences, commend themselves as 
the works of writers who were themselves recovered 
from infidelity, as the writings of Lyttleton, West, 
Jenyns, and our countryman Nelson. There is provi- 
sion for every age — for the child, the Society has fur- 
nished the touching biographies of Nathan Dicker- 
man, John Mooney Mead, and Mary Lothrop, with the 



CHAKACTBR OF PUBLICATIONS. 87 

juvenile works of Gallaudet, and some of those by 
the Abbotts. For those who love profound thought 
it has Foster, and for the lovers of brilliant imagina- 
tion and glowing eloquence, the German Rrummacher. 
Of the Nonconformists and of the cotemporaries of Ed- 
wards we have already spoken. Few writers of our 
time have caught so successfully, on some pages, the 
spirit of Baxter as J. G. Pike, three of whose works 
the Society republishes. As models of usefMlness in 
the various walks of life, and in either sex, we have 
the biographies of Normand Smith, the example of the 
christian tradesman; and of Harlan Page, the private 
church member laboring for souls ; of Kilpin, of Hannah 
Hobbie, and of Caroline Hyde. The child just tottering 
from its cradle is ipet by the Society with the half cent 
Script^ure Alphabet, while, for the last stages of human life, 
they have Burder*s Sermons to the Aged, printed in type 
that suits it, for the dimmer eyes of old ^ge. Furnished 
at every variety of price, and in every form and size, as 
are the Tracts of the Society, the christian traveller who 
would scatter the seed of truth as he journey, and the 
christian father who would furnish his children with a 
library of devout and wise authors ; the christian minister 
who would train himself and others to higher devotedness 
and usefulness; the christian mother desiring aid to 
order her youthful charge aright, and the young disciple 
requiring a guide to the formation of a character of in- 
telligent and consistent piety — all find their wants met. 
Against Romanism and intemperance the Society have 
furnished a quiver of polished arrows in their bound 
volumes of Tracts on each subject, in addition to the 
separate volume of Beecher on the one, and of the la- 
mented Nevins on the other. They have Mason's 
Spiritual Treasury for the family altar and the closet ; 
and for the pilgrim gathering up his feet into his couch 
to die, they have the Dying Thoughts of Baxter. They 



88 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

leave bebind, after tbe funeral ceremony bas beeti per- 
formeH, tbe Manual of Christian Consolation by Flavel 
the Nonconformist, and Cecil tbe Cburcbman. They in- 
sruct tbfe active christian with Cotton Mather's "Essays 
to do Good," the book tbat won tbe praise und aid^d to 
form tbe usefulness of our own Franklin. Tbey ^assail 
the covetous and hard-banded professor with tbe burning 
energy and eloquence of Harris' Mammon. But tbe time 
fails to review separately all tbe varied themes of their 
publications and the varied channels througb which tbey 
are prepared to pour the same great lesson of Christ tbe 
only Savior, the Sovereign and the Pattern of his people. 
^. But what evidence have we that these volumes are fit- 
ted for the present generation of men in other lands ? Many, 
then, of this class of publications are written by mission- 
aries abroad, conversant with the field they till, and anx- 
iously and prayerfully addressing themselves to its wants. 
In Burmah and Siam, in India and in China, the Society 
is thus assailing the favorite idols and delusions of the 
beatben, in the manner which men who have given their 
lives to the work deem most suitable. The Society is thus, 
at the same time, proclaiming the Gospel before the car of 
Juggernaut and around the Areopagus where Paul 
preached; and many x)f their Tracts have already been 
blessed, to the conversion of the readers, and to shake, 
in the minds of thousands besides, the old traditional 
idolatry received from their forefathers. 

Others of these compositions are translations of works 
written in England or America, and many of them are in 
the number of the Society's E?iglish publications. It may 
to some minds seem very doubtful that any work, prepared 
originally for the christians of Great Britain, or our own 
land, can, by any possibility, be intelligible or useful to 
heathen nations trained under different influences and 
strangers to our modes of thought and expression. 

But it should be remembered that the good effects of 



CHASACTEB OF PUBLICATIONS. 89 

some of these translations have been put heyond doo^t by 
the testimony of missionaries as to the interest they have 
excited, and even by the conversion of some of the heathen. 
One of the works of Baxter, we believe it was his Call, 
was translated inhis life-time by our own Eliot for the use 
of his Indian converts; and a youth, the son of one of 
their chiefs, continued reading the work with tears on his 
death-bed. . The pastor who talked to the carpet- weavers 
of Kidderminster could, it seems, speak as well to the 
savage hunters and fishermen of Natick and of Martha's 
Vineyard. The Dairyman's Daughter was early trans- 
laled into Russian by a princess of that country, and has 
beeh acceptable and useful. The free-bom English maiden 
that lived and died amid the delightful scenery of the Isle 
of Wight has told her tale effectively to the serfs and 
amid the snows of Russia. Fuller's Great Question An- 
swered, another of the Society's Tracts, was crowned with 
strikine^ success in a Danish version, and it was found that 
the pastor of the inland English village of Kettering was 
still a powerful preacher in the new garb land tongue that 
had been given him for the inhabitants of Copenhagen. 
Others have gone yet farther. We name the Pilgrim's 
Progress of Bunyan as an illustration, because none of 
the religious works of Europe has been so widely trans*- 
lated. In English the Society has printed it not only in the 
ordinary style but in the raised and tangible characters 
used by the blind. Little did the tinker of Elstow ever 
dream that his matchless allegory should be translated 
into the tongue of the false prophet Mahomet. Yet it has 
appeared in Arabic ; and Joseph WoIflT, in his travels in 
Yemen, distributed copies of the version in that ancient 
an4 widely-spoken language. In seven at least, if not in 
more, of the dialects of India it has made its appearance ; 
in the Oriya, the Tamul, the Hindustani or "Urdu, the 
Mahrathi, the Malay, the Bengali, and v?ry recently in 
the Burman. 



90 DELIBERATIVE MEETINC^. 

Fears, at the time when an Indian translation was first 
proposed, that its European ideas and imagery would be 
unintelligible to the native of the East, led a popular fe- 
male writer to prepare in its stead hcdr Pilgrim of India, 
with its Hindoo phrases and metaphors. But the original 
Pilgrim has been permitted noW to speak, and he has 
spoken not in vain. The number of the London Evangeli- 
cal Magazine for the present month, (Oct. 1842,) contains 
the memoir of Daniel, a Hindoo convert, written by him- 
self. From this it appears that the work of Bunyan was 
a powerful instrument in his conversion : "At this period 
a gentleman put into my hand a book called the Pil- 
grim's Progress, which I read. Partly by reading this 
book and partly by the remembrance of ail the labor which 
had been expended on me at Coimbatoor, I began to feel 
that the christian religion was tbie only true religion, and 
that Christ was the only sinless Savior.'* This was, pro- 
bably, the Tamul version. 

A translation was made by the British missionaries in- 
to the Malagasy language, for the use of the christian 
converts whom God granted to their labors in the island 
of Madagascar. Of the hold which the volume took upon 
their hearts we may judge from the language of the letters 
addressed by some of these converts to their missionary 
pastors when expelled from the island : — " We are im- 
pressed and delighted when we read the Pilgrim's Pro- 
gross.** And at a still later day, when the storm of perse- 
cution beat yet more heavily upon them, and some were 
executed for the profession of their faith, it is said that 
while awaiting death they felt inexpressible peace and joy, 
and said one to another, '* Now are we in the situation 
of Christian and Faithful, when they were led to the city 
of Vanity Fair." An European book, thus quoted by Afri- 
can martyrs when about to die, must be of singular merit* 

The sa:r.e book has been translated into Finnish^ for the 
use of the region verging on Lapland, and printed in 



CIUBACTER OF PUBLICATIONS. 91 

Dutch foJT the use of the missions in South Africa. A ver- 
sion has been made into Hawaiian at the Sandwich Islands ,* 
and one in Tahitian for the Society Islands, though we do 
not know that the latter has as yet been published. 

A ^ook which could thus interest the fur-clad pea- 
santry of the- frozen North in their smoky huts, and 
the. tawny Caffre and Hottentot in the midst of his 
sandy, sunburnt plains, which delights in the cabins 
of oiir own West and in the far Hindustan, must have 
some elements that fit it for use everywhere. The na- 
ture of man is one in all climes. Conscience may be 
drugged and mutilated, but its entire extirpation seems im- 
possible, and it lives under the pressure of error and amid 
torpor to witness for truth, and right, and God, in quarters 
where our unbelief and fear would expect to find it, if not 
utterly wanting, at least utterly inert. The same heart 
beats under the tattooed skin of the New Zealander as 
under the grease and ochre with which the Tambookie of 
South Africa delights to adorn his person, under the silks 
of the Chinaman and the furs of the Laplander. It has 
every where the same depravity, that no grade of civiliza- 
tion or refinement can so adorn as to lift beyond the need 
of the renewing gospel, and that no brutalism can so de- 
grade as to put below the reach of the same efficacious 
remedy. Religioni it should be remembered again, is not 
mere abstract speculation ; it is also emotion. With the 
heart nian believeth. Now science and literature (strictly 
so called) may be an affair of certain civilized nations, and 
of them only ; 'but poetry and passion are of all lands and 
of all kindreds of the earth. And how largely do these 
enter into the structure of the Gospel, of the book revealing 
that Gospel, and of all christian writings modelled upon 
that Bible. There are, it must be allowed, in the produc- 
tion of Bunyan's genius, excellencies and peculiarities ihat 
do not exist to an equal extent in many of the other publica- 
tions of the Society) adapting it to interest mankind in 



92 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

every grade of civilization and under all the varieties of 
custom and taste that culture or neglect, error or truth 
may have produced. Yet it will, in all probability, be 
found, when the trial shall have. been made by competent 
translators, that many other of the favorite books of Bri- 
tish and American christians are fitted to become nearly 
as much the favorites of the converts whom the grace 
of God shall gather in the ancient East or in the islands 
of the seas. 

Our hope that much of the literature of European or 
American origin may thus become at once available for 
the spiritual wants of the converts from heathenism rests 
not on the peculiar talent of the works so much as on 
their subject and structure. Their themie is Jesus Christ, 
the character and the history<ievised by infinite wisdom, 
with the express intention of winning its way to the sym- 
pathies of man, under all the varieties of complexion, 
caste, language, laws and literature. This theme has 
proved its power to exorcise superstitions the most foul 
and inveterate, and to raise from the deepest and most 
hopeless degradation. Pervaded and saturated as so many 
of the Society*s works are with this subject, we have con- 
fidence that the divine grandeur of the theme will, to some 
extent, compensate for the defects of the human author- 
ship. The idols of all lands shall totter from their shrines, 
and yet be broken before its might ; and we look for the 
shattering of all by the faithful and full presentation of this 
truth — Christ and him crucified — a truth that is to be the 
great Iconoclast principle of the age ; for it is God's own 
device, and carries with it God*s own promise and the ir- 
resistible energy of his benediction. 

We have reason, again, to expect the adaptation of 
much of the religious literature of our own country and 
Britain to the wants of the foreign missionary, from its 
close assiniilation to the character of the Scripture. This is 
a book carrying one of the evidences of its divine origin 



CBASACTEB OF PUBLICATIONS. 93 

upon it, in -its power of interesting all grades of society 
and all ages of mankind. Par as any religious writer 
becomes penetrated by its , spirit, and transfuses, as many 
of the Society's authors have done, its imagery and train 
of thought into his own compositions, so far he prepares 
them for acceptableness and favor among every tribe 
of mankind. If the Scriptures look with special favor 
on any class of our race, it is on the Eastern portion 
of the world. The Bible is an Oriental book, as far 
as it is the book of any one region or race. It would 
have been, in style and imagery, a very different volume 
had the Anglo-Saxon race been left to prepare it. And 
as far as it should have partaken of their marked pe- 
culiarities it would have been less fitted for one great 
errand it has in this age to accomplish. The missions 
of our times are pouring back from the favored West and 
from the tents of Japheth the light of salvation on the 
long-neglected habitations of Shem, its original scats, and 
upon the millions of the East. It is some advantage, then, 
that we go to them w^ilh a book that, if it favor any class, 
is more Eastern than Western in character; and that we 
carry with the Bible a biblical literature that, from the book 
on which it has been founded, has, in many of its speci- 
mens, caught a tinge of similar feelings, and imagery, and 
style. 

In that body of religious literature whose evangelical 
and practical character we have thus imperfectly examined, 
(he Society have done much. But it would be doing them 
and their objects gross injustice to suppose that they pre- 
sent it as a complete body of religious reading for all 
the wants of the age. Its publications may have some in- 
equality of merit. What collection is otherwise? The 
lingering and fitful charities of the churches may forbid 
their enlarging it as they desire, and as the wants of our 
own and foreign lands require. The Nonconformist liter- 
ature has many, volumes they would gladly add to theic 

6 



9^ DELIBEBATIVB MEETIICa. . 

existing collection* There are two other great eras of 
religious conflict and effort, from the literature of which 
the London Tract Society has drawn largely,- and this 
Institution aB yet not at al]. We allude to the era of the 
stormy infancy of the Scottish National Church, and the 
works of its Rutherford, its Guthrie, its Binning, its An- 
drew Gray, and its Durham. The other greater and 
earlier era is that of the English Reformation. Of the 
works of the English reforaiers our British hrethren hare 
published several volumes. As to the present available- 
ness of this latter literature we are aware that there is di- 
vision of opinion ; but its history would be valuable, if not 
its remains. 

Nor is the American Tract Society to be judged as 
if it had completed its own designs, or finished its mission 
as respects a native religious literature. Its power to elicit 
works drawn up with peculiar reference to our position 
and habits as a people has as yet been shown but in a 
small degree. The churches of this country are capable 
of much more, and need much more; and if duly sustained, 
the Society may proceed in this work to a point far beyond 
the limit of its present attainments. Will the churches 
afibrd this aid ? Here at least they will have — if they 
choose, by prayer, and effort, and liberality, to secure it — 
they will have a literature all that they can wish, as to its 
national adaptation. 

And if our country and others that have been long fa- 
vored with the serene and pure light of the Gospel are yet 
to know days of dark and stormy controversy with error; 
if over the once-peaceful encampments of our churches is 
spreading the hum that, betokens an approaching com- 
bat ; if, as some fear, we are entering in our times upon a 
stern and close conflict with Romanism or with skepti- 
cism, or with both; or are to stand up for our national 
morals and national existence against the floods of a frivo- 
loas and profligate literature that now frowns the mindt 



CHABACTER OF PUBLICATIONS. 95 

of cor youth as beneath a rushing deluge of inanity, and 
filth, and venom, we have little fear as to the result. We 
cannot distrust the powers and the triumphs of Scripture, 
the safety and ultimate victories of the church. In the 
God of the Bible and the Head of the Church we need 
not fear to place the most unquestioning and imperturb- 
able confidence. He who gave the Bible will guard the 
gift ; and He who built will watch, as with a wall of fire, 
around the city of his own chosen Jerusalem. And, from 
all the past history of the church, we augur that out of 
this or any other conflict that may be awaiting us in the 
interval between our limes and the final glory of Christ's 
kingdom, there may grow some of the richest produc- 
tions of that literature which the church is yet to enjoy ; 
a literature as yet unwritten, and which this Institution, 
we trust, will, with others, aid in educing, diffusing, and 
perpetuating. Some of the richest legacies which sanc- 
tified genius has ever bequeathed to the christian church 
are like that more cherished portion which the dying 
patriarch gave to his favorite son, his Joseph, "One por- 
tion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of 
the Amorite with my sword and with my bow;** the spoils 
plucked as out of the very teeth of the Destroyer, the 
trophies of a late and hard- won victory. 

The above paper was referred to Rev. B. C. Cutler, D. D. 
Rev. George H. Fisher, and Charles Hosmer, Esq. who 
reported, recommending its adoption and publication, which 
was sanctioned by the Board. 

The Rev. Dr. M'Adley read the following, prepared by 
the Rev. Tryon Edwards, of Rochester, N. York. 



96 DELIBERATIVE MEETinif* 



DOCUMENT VI. 

, The Society's Publications an aid to Pastoral BfiRyrt* 

Some years since a distinguished minister of New Eng- 
knd thought within himself, what would '6e the efiect at 
the present day of the preaching of the great divines of the 
17th century. The more he pondered the thought the 
more it interested his mind, until at last he resolved to 
test the problem by copying and preaching to his own 
people a sermon from one of their number. Mentioning to a 
few individuals his plan and the reasons of it, that he 
might not be charged with plagiarism, he made the ex« 
periment. The Sabbath came; the sermon was preached^ 
and it told with mighty power. His large and intelligent 
congregation were riveted in ' breathless attention, and 
solemn as the graye. They went from the house, a few 
speaking in under tones of the deep impressiveness and 
power of the sermon, but most of them giving still higher 
tribute to its excellence by the thoughtful stillness in 
which they walked, searching their own hearts and 
thinking of eternal things. 

That sermon was from Richard Baxter, and its influ- 
ence in that congregation, and through if, will never die ; its 
power may go down from generation to generation, to be 
known in its fulness only at the judgment. By it "he, 
being dead," is yet speaking, and the power of his voice 
may be felt for ever I 

Now suppose that on any one Sabbath that same experi- 
ment were to be made in every pulpit of our land ; that 
Baxter were to preach on the same Sabbath to the whole 
of our vastly extended church-going population. Who can 
tell how blessed the results ? Nay further, suppose that 
not only Baxter, but Doddridge, and Flavel, and Bunjran, 



AID TO PASTORAL EFFORT. 97 

and Edwards, and the whole host of the most eminent and 
successful of God's servants in every age could all be 
gathered, and all could at the same time be preaching in 
every parish of our country, would it not soon make it 
as the very garden of God? And if any man or body of 
men had the power to raise these men from their graves, 
and bring them back for a season to preach as they did 
while living, would they not, by doing ^this, render the 
most important, I had almost said an infinite service to 
the pastors of our land, and, through them, to the church 
of Grod, and to the world? 

This very work the American Tract Society has done, 
and is now doing. Lightly as the momentous fact seems 
to have impressed the minds of multitudes, it is scarcely 
a paradox to say that this Society has raised the dead, and 
is sending them to the help of the living. The mightiest 
minds, the warmest hearts, the most active, and eminent, 
and devoted servants of God of every age — these they have 
summoned back from eternity, and now holding them in 
commission, are ready to send them to every village and 
hamlet of our country or the world. Every pastor may 
call thent to his aid in his arduous work. Every people 
may have the benefit of their labors. 

But to drop the figure, we would call the attention of 
the pastors of our land to the important aid provided for 
them in the Tracts and especially the bound volumes of the 
American Tract Society. As to the character of these 
volumes, it is well known. They are all of tried value, 
proved to be so by the united testimony of the Church, and 
by their ever-growing acceptance and usefulness. They 
are full of the substance and spirit of the Gospel, and aim 
directly at the conversion of the souls of men. They are 
also of every variety, embracing in their range every im- 
portant subject, and fitted to every age. The mere exam- 
ination of the catalogue of the Society will show that they 
are fitted alike for the strongest and the weakest minds, 



98 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

that they are adapted to every spiritual wan^ nnJto every 
exigency of the pastoral work. 

And now the question is, will pastors ponder this suh* 
ject? Will they dwell upon it till they feel its importance ? 
Will they avail themselves to the full of the aid which is 
ever ready at their call? To illustrate at the same time 
ihe importance and the mode of doing this, we would say, 
let every pastor of our land keep by him the bound vol- 
umes of the American Tract Society, and let his people 
see that ho is abundantly furnished with means for doing 
it. Let him have a shelf in his library appropriated to 
them, from which he shall, at his disoretion, lend or give 
them to the members of his charge. In the 40Q Tracts of 
the Society he may find ihe truth prepared and adapted to 
almost every circumstance and every individual. As he 
goes to the bouse of affliction^ let him leave a copy of "the 
Gift for Mourners," filled as it is with the rich thoughts of 
Flavel and Cecil: every grain of it pure gold. When going, 
like the Savior at Cana of Galilee, to the festivities of the 
marriage scene, let him give to those who are there united 
for life, the excellent ** Advice to a Newly Married Couple." 
It will show them the high responsibilities of the relation 
they assume, and strongly impress its important duties. 

To the sordid, the avaricious, the selfish, and those too 
much absorbed in the world, he may send " Mammon," 
with its powerful arguments and rousing appeals, calling 
to a self-denying benevolence, and pointing for motives to 
it, to the wants of the world and the day of final judgment. 
"Normand Smith," and *' Harlan Page," ihe former will 
impress the duty and illustrate the manner of living for 
God from day to day as a man of business, and the latter 
of individual christian eflTort for the conversion of the souls 
of men. By " Doddridge's Rise and Progress" he may 
arouse the careless, and point the inquiring to the Lamb of 
God; by "Edwards on the Affections," he may search 
the hearts and test the hopes of professing Christiana; 



AID TO PASTOBAL EFFORT. 99 

• 

and by the '* History of Redemption," expand the minds 
even of the most intelligent christians to new and vast 
views of truth, 90 that they, with a distinguished living 
divine, may be constrained to say that '* it seemed to him, 
after reading it, as if all his previous life he had been 
living in a nutshell;" by •* Foster'* he may "appeal '* in 
almost resistless tones to the intellect and heart of the im- 
penitent; by Pike, he may persuade to ** Early Piety," or 
•'Guide the Young Disciple;" byBrainerd or Martynhe 
may wake the missionary spirit ; by Nevins or H. Moore, 
rouse to a high standard of *' Practical Piety ;*' by Bunyan, 
point the " Pilgrim " on his way to the Heavenly City, 
and by Baxter, whisper to him ** Dying Thoughts," 
or tell of that "Rest" that remaineth for the Saint 
beyond the grave. And by these and the many other 
volumes of the Society, he may at all times, and es- 
pecially in revivals of religion, ever be preaching, or ra- 
ther calling in the mighty and sainted dead to preach, to 
individuals and from house to house, to all who are about 
him. Let the pastor do this, and he would deeply inter- 
est his own heart in the volumes that he circulates. He 
would save to himself a vast amount of labor, or rather 
he would multiply his own labors and usefulness an 
hundredfold. The mere fact that he gives or lends the 
volume would secure its being read ; so that thus, at the 
same moment, he may be preaching to hundreds, while 
still he goes on with his personal and private duties. By 
these volumes he will crowd out the thousand worthless 
works that otherwise will engage and corrupt his people. 
He will meet an intellectual and moral want — occupy a 
vacancy which, '* if he does not fill, the devil will." By 
thus making his people more intelligent, he will the better 
prepare them to hear and be profited by his own preach- 
ing. Thus making them familiar with a variety of most 
valuable authors, he will be able to preach much and 
powerfully by allusion ; the mere mention of Baxter or 



100 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

Banyan calling up all their instructions afresh to impress 
the heart. With the life, and strength, and talents of but 
one man, he will accomplish the Jabor of multitudes : 
making himself, as it were, the director of the mighty 
dead, tasking them every day for his own work and for 
the good of his people, and thus in the highest degree 
blessing them, and aiding on the cause and kingdom of 
Christ. 

Of one pastor we might speak who has availed himself 
of the aid which the American Tract Society thus offers 
to all. Its volumes he keeps constantly by him, at any 
time to be lent or given to his people. And richly has 
God blessed his effort thus to do good. Many of his 
people have been roused to reflection or led to the Savior 
by volumes like Foster's Appeal, or Doddridge's Rise and 
Progress of Religion; and many of the christians of his 
church have been edified and built up by works like those 
of Baxter, Bunyan, or Nevins, or Payson. One, by the 
perusal of "Mammon," has been led to double his subscrip- 
tions to the great objects of benevolence. Many a mourn- 
er has found rich and lasting instruction from " the Gift " 
that he has left them, and very many by the Tracts that he 
has given have been hopefully guided in the way of life. 

In closing we would again repeat, let but every pastor 
be wise and faithful to avail himself to the full of the aid 
which here is offered ; and let every church and congre- 
gation see that its pastor has fully the means of doing it, 
and both shall have reason to rejoice together in their 
common improvement and growth in grace, and in the 
prosperity of the cause of Jesus Christ. 

This paper was referred to Rev. B. C. Taylor, D. D. Rev. 
N. Murray, and Rev. J. W. McLane, and was adopted for 
publication. The meeting then proceeded to a free discus- 
sion and statements illustrative of the principles of the docu- 
ments presented. 



AID TO PASTORAL EFFORT. 101 

Rev. Dr. M'AULEY spoke of the value of the publications of this 
Society as an aid to the pastor. He knew a pastor who was accus- 
tomed to exercise great discrimination in the selection of Tt acts and 
books adapted to the capacity and age of those to whom he gave 
them ; and the conversion even of persons seventy years of age had 
been the result of his judicious labors. Persons to whom but a single 
Tract had been given, were led to the Depository for more, and by 
reading they were led to the sanctuary to hear, and thus were con- 
verted to God. 

Nothing, he said, was better calculated to impress the mind than 
the simple statement of truth, leading men to feel that there is an 
eye to see and search them, to teach them of their souls and the 
Savior, of heaven and hell. Such a statement of truth do the Tracts 
of this Society present, and we rejoice to see the day when all may 
become preachers of righteousness, by bringing the Gospel into every 
family by th^ir distribution. Dr. M. said that be had derived great 
benefit from the Tracts himself; often when exhausted in body, but 
compelled to make preparation for the pulpit, he had been roused to 
successful exertion by selecting and reading one of them. 

Rev. RAVAUD K. RODGERS, of Boundbrook, N. J. thought 
that, of all the great agencies for advancing the Redeemer*s cause, few 
were jnaore blessed in their results than the system of monthly Tract 
distribution and the general circulation of Uie volumes of this Society. 
. From every part of the land most delightful intelligence might be 
brought of souls converted to Christ by reading the simple truth, and 
multitddes reclaimed from the ways of sin. In his own congregation 
he said that the monthly Tract was anticipated almost with as much 
anxiety as the weekly sermon. When the Agent for volume circula- 
tion came among them, they supposed that in that scattered popula- 
tion little could be done ; but to prepare the way for an effort, Mr. 
R. preached a sermon from the text "Give attendance to reading," 
and the region was then districted, and the work commenced. The 
box which the agent brought, containing 150 volumes, was soon ex- 
hausted, and another procured, and another, until between eight and 
nine hundred volumes were scattered among the people. Four or 
five hundred of these Mr. R. distributed himself, and not a single 
individual to whom he offered them refused to buy one or more. 
This effort was made four years ago, and its influence is felt to this 
day, in keeping out a vast deal of the trashy and licentious reading 
which is 80 widely spread over the land. The church had been 
blesaed with a general outponring of the Spirit, and he knew not how 

6* 



102 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

far this blessing had been connected with the reading of the ▼olanie?. 
He mentioned several books which had been especially useful anci 
popular, as Pike's Persuasives to Early Piety and Guide to Young 
Disciples, Life of Harlan Page, &c. He concluded by assuring the 
Board that they have every reason to take courage and go forward ; 
and not to be weak or faint in their minds, being confident that their 
work is not in vain in the Lord. He believed they would find that 
the interest which pastors feel in their labors is too deep, and too 
closely allied to the great concerns to which they are called, to aU 
low them ever to suffer it to decline. 

Rev. B. C. TAYLOR, D. D. of Bergen, N. J. said that nothing 
could be more grateful to his feelings than to concur in the testimony 
of the usefulness of the publications of the Tract Society which had 
just been given. It was his privilege in early life to be under the 
instructions of a man whom he tenderly loved, and whose memory he 
cherished — Rev. Dr. Finley ; and whose counsels respecting the in- 
fluence of books pertaining to godliness he should never forget. 
During the great revival which took place in his church in 1815, he 
had witnessed the care and the zeal which that good man exhibited 
in disseminating light and truth through the medium of a few well- 
selected volumes, such as Doddridge and Baxter ; and there are many 
still living who can attest the wisdom of his action. Particularly 
Doddridge*s " Rise and Progress," the solemn and tender counsels of 
which had been blessed, he believed, to the spiritual benefit of his 
own soul. 

In the progress of my ministry, said Dr. T. I have endeavored 
never to lose sight of this means of influence. I have watched at- 
tentively the effect, and have made it an object to have, as far as 
possible, every family supplied with a plenty of religious reading. 
In the course of a few years I have distributed more than 1500 
Tolumes. This was before the last year. At that time God was 
pleased to pour out his Spirit, and just as one and another were cry* 
ing, *' What must I do V your agent came unexpectedly among us. 
I could not mistake the providence. 1 felt the way must be opened 
to the Agent. It was so. A neighboring pastor was called in to is- 
aist, and 700 volumes were added to the number already in the pos* 
session of my people. 

This was in the fall of 1841. Only about two months ago I was 
called upon by an individual anxious to speak concerning his soul. 
Doddridge*s '* Rise and Progress ** was again the happy instrument, 
ttodtr God, of awakening his soul to a sense of its peril. In view of 



AID TO PASTORAL EFFORT. 103 

what I have seen, I feel that I have great reason to bless God for the 
assistance your publications have rendered me. Fourteen years ago 
there were not more than four religions periodicals of any kind taken 
in my parish. But now how widely different. The spirit of reading 
exists among old and young: Religious truth has free and frequent 
contact with their minds and heart. They are more intelligent, and 
more ready to act. The truth has greater effect, and every appeal and 
claim of the Gospel a readier access to their minds. AH these ef- 
forts have excited a lively gratitude in my heart, and impel me most 
earnestly and affectionately to bid you, in the strength of the Lord, 
go forward. 

Rev. Mr. COOK, one of the Secretaries, said that he had had the 
happiness of circulating about 1 10,000 of the Society's publications in 
four years, and in all his experience he had met but one pastor who 
questioned the expediency of the plan of distributing books, and not 
one who, after having made the experiment, was not willing to say that 
it was a good work. And as to the silent influences of these volumes, 
they could never be gathered up till the day of judgment, but the 
officers of the Society are constantly cheered by hearing of the bless^ 
ed effects. He mentioned the volume effort in New Haven, Hart- 
ford, Boston, Troy, Rochester, Charleston, Savannah, &c. and said 
that in most of those cities precious and powerful revivals succeeded. 
How intimate the connection might be between those revivals and 
that effort it might be difficult to determine, but mpny have believed 
that the. connection was direct and powerful. One pastor in Boston 
attributes his own conversion to reading Baxter's Call, another in 
Troy referahis own to AHeine*8 Alarm, and the rector of one of the 
largest Episcopal churches in the West attributes his conversion from 
the Roman Catholic religion to the perusal of one of these books. 

Mr. C. said he would mention the particulars of but a single fact, 
which he had received a few days before from the lips of a son of 
the venerable minister alluded to, as an illustration of the benefits 
which might result from the Society^s volume circulation in destitute 
neighborhoods. It was one of many that might be stated. 

In 1807, a gentleman, journeying in the interior of New- York, 
then regarded as the fax West, took with him some copies of the 
'* Rise and Progress,*' and as he stopped at a oabin tavern, he noticed 
that the woman who waited on him at table was busily engaged in 
reading. He inquired what book she had, and learned it was ** Rise 
and Progress,** which a neighbor had lent to her, and she was copy- 
ing ont passages that peculiarly interested her mind. He gave her a 
copy of the book, which she received with great delight. In 1839 he 



104 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

was passing that way, and inquiring for this woman by name, he was 
pointed to an elegant house as her residence. He called, on her, and 
asked her if she remembered him. She did not. But do you not re* 
member the man who gave you Doddridge*8 Rise and Progress thirty 
years ago! **0h yes," said she, "are you the man? Why that 
book was the means of converting my soul ; and it was lent around, 
and others read it, andl we had meetings to read it together ; it was 
read at huskings and bees, and on the Sabbath day, and a revival foU 
lowed ; and by and by we sent for a minister and formed a church.*' 
The church of Wyoming is the fruit uf that seed. And that book 
still lives* and who knows but it may be the means of forming other 
churches, or raising up other writers like Doddridge to bless the 
world 1 The influence of books — of truths thus perpetuated — is 
boundless and incalculable. Baxter wrote — and his pungent truths 
fell upon the mind of Doddridge, and awakened it to the service of 
God and mankind. Under its impulse, Doddridge wrote his work, and 
it converted the soul and kindled the heart of Wilberforce. Wilber- 
force again wrote his View, and that was the means of Legh Rich- 
mond's conversion. His Dairyman's Daughter has been the means 
of converting hundreds. In giving a book, we may be lighting a 
train that may -kindle other fires, which shall spread their influence 
until their blended light shall mingle with the splendors of the Millen- 
nial morning. 

Wednesday, 4 P. M, — Statements by pastors and others con- 
tinued. 

Rev. A. D. SMITH, of New-York, said that he had affecting re- 
collections — some of which were personal — in reference, to the pub* 
lications of this Society. He could look back nearly thirty years, be- 
fore this Society had existence, when in early boyhood, residing in a 
Tillage where there was no minister, his mind had been excited and 
benefited by the small library of religious books which were pre- 
sented by the Connecticut Missionary Society. After perusing all the 
books of his father's library, and some even of a professional charac- 
ter, he resorted to this little repository, and there gathered some of 
his firmest and most useful views of doctrinal and practical religion. 
One work of a doctrinal character he could well remember, by Dr. 
Proudfit. He had never seen it since ; but its statements and views 
were still, after the lapse of so many years, unobliterated from his 
mind. This experience had given him an invincible argument for 
the propriety of placing in families, books of this character. Thej 
may be read as I read these^* simply because they are convenient^ or 



AID TO PASTORAL EFFORT. 105 

becaase there are no other. And if the time comes when those im- 
pressions shall be deepened and rendered effectual to the conversion 
of the soul, they will remember those early lessons, and they will 
have an unequalled force in the formation of christian character and 
of religious views. 

' But I wish to speak of the results that have come under my own 
observation. These Tracts and Books are an invaluable aid to pastors. 
I could occupy hours in particularizing the instances, in which I have 
received much aid from them. My pastoral visits are seldom made 
without calling in their aid. For the careless and the awakened ; for 
the mourning and the tempted ; not only the personal counsels of the 
pastor, but a perpetuation of them in the form of well-adapted Tracts, 
are necessary. Into the hands of the convert and the recent professor 
I love to place these Tracts.and Volumes. I have always kept a library 
of them for lending to my people. Not long since a young merchant, 
after a season of solicitude, expressed hope in Christ, and was admitted 
to the church. He came to mc for direction. His ideas of religion, 
though otherwise intelligent, were crude and ill-formed. It gave mc 
unspeakable happiness to be able to put into his hands such worthy 
guides as Baxter, Doddridge, and Pike. He read, and the expansion 
of his mind, and the increase of his spiritual knowledge, and his 
growth were perceptible to all. On a return from a short absence, I 
learned he had been suddenly called to reside in a destitute settle- 
ment in the West. It was a delightful thought to me, that I had been 
enabled to do so much towards giving a right direction to his reli- 
gious life. 

The benefits of Tract visitation I could descant upon till twilight 
has deepened around us. An infidel woman, who. was the wife of an 
infidel, was not long ago called upon by a lady with a Tract. At first 
she indignantly refused to receive it. But the lady talked with her 
— ^just as your Colporteurs will do — and at length gained permission 
barely to leave it. It remained for weeks unread ; but a rainy Sabbath 
brought a season of leisure and ennui, and she took it up to while 
away the time. Its pungent truths fastened upon her unseared con- 
science, and at length that unbelieving woman was weeping at the 
foot of the cross. 

There are other instances equally demonstrative of the power of 
these winged arrows — but one will be stated : Not far from my own 
church there was a family, consisting of a father and three daughters. 
The father was an infidel, an abandoned profligate and a despiser of 
God and holy things. So embittered had he become, that the sound 
of a church bell ever would exasperate him to blaspheiby and violence. 



106 DELIBERATIVE ' MEETING. ' 

His children of course were prohibited to attend church, and for years 
they were strangers to the sanctuary. At length a Tract visiter called. 
The father being absent, the Tract was received, and, under God, it 
was the means of awakening the eldest of the daughters. For fear of 
the father, she stole away to a religious neighbor to ^et instruction. 
She was converted, and united with tjie church ; and I had the satis- 
faction of remarking the peace with which she recently left the world. 

Mr. HEMAN PACKARD, from Massachusetts, stated that for se- 
veral years his health had obliged him to spend- his winters at the 
South, chiefly at New Orleans, where he found opportunities for do- 
ing good among the boatmen and raftmcn on the Mississippi. His 
first attempt was with a boatmap, who wept as he said, " You make 
me think of my mother, who< used to lay her hand upon my head and 
pray for me — you are the first person who for eight years. has spoken 
to me about my soul." This led Mr. P. to devise a way in which 
to benefit this class of persons. He procured from his native place a 
quantity of religious Tracts and pamphlets, which had long been laid 
aside, and proceeded to disperse them with very happy effects. As 
he returned to the South in successive winters, he increased his 8up« 
ply by similar contributions from towns in the vicinity of his native 
place. Pie would get the raftmen, who mostly came from Arkansas, 
to take bundles of Tracts to carry home and circulate' among their 
neighbors. 

Last autumn he had a supply of about a ton and a quarter of Bibles 
and Tracts. He met with some opposition, instigated in some cases 
by the priests ; though many catholics accepted his donations. He 
sometimes gave to applicants as many books as he could get into the 
saddle-bags which, after they had ascended the rivers perhaps 1500 
miles, they must then carry on their shoulders for many a weary mile 
before reaching their home. He had repeatedly had reports come back 
to him of conversions and revivals of religion originating from these 
simple means. He was once followed for six miles, over an exceed- 
ingly rough road, by several raftsmen, who were barefoot by reason 
of extreme poverty, for the purpose of obtaining Tracts. He once 
proposed to one of this class to go home with him for the same pur- 
pose ; as they went along, this man invited another, and still others 
to go with them, till there were five in company. One of these after- 
wards came again with two more ; and in the evening a boy with still 
two more. These instances must serve as a specimen of the many 
rehearsed by Mr. P. to show the want of good books at the distant 
South and West, and the inclination of the destitute to have this 
want sopplied. 



AID TO FASTORAL EFFORT. 107 

Rev. Mr. HOLT, of New- York, stated that while he was a pastor 
in Portsmouth, an Agent came to circulate the Volumes of the Soci- 
ety- The town was overwhelmed with an Universalist and Unitarian 
influence — so that even the systematic distribution of Tracts had to 
be suspended. But the effort was made, and the Volumes were rc> 
ceived with altogether an unexpected readiness, and the number of 
800 were circulated, where it was thought to be an idle estimate to 
.say that 150 could find purchasers. The effect was most happy. A 
revival of religion commenced soon after — what agency the Books 
had in it is not known — which left an impression more deep and per. 
▼ading than any other movement since the days of VVhiiiieUl. 

Rev. Mr. ARMS, of Norwich, Ct. added his testimony to the value 
of these publications. The cause was a favorite one, and had the en- 
tire confidence of ministers and christians in that part of the State 
where he resided. A benevolent individual of his church had just put 
into his hands fifty dollars for the purchase of the Society's volumes, 
as a pastoral library to be loaned as individuals had need. Many of 
the volumes he esteemed as among the most valuable of human pro- 
ductions. He particularized James' Anxious Inquirer, than which for 
ealtivated minds in an anxious state he knew of no better book. 

Lttler from Rev. J. Hopkins ^ Auburriy N. York. 

'* I rejoice at your efforts to wake the public mind to the importance 
of the Society *8 operations. On several' accounts I consider them, and 
especially the volume circulation^ as among the most valuable in all 
the brotlierhood of benevolent objects. The seed thus scattered is not 
liable to be corrupted. If we send the living preacher, he may become 
an errorist and disseminate tares; but the influence of Baxter, Dod- 
dridge, and Edwards will be against irregularity and sin in every 
formt and th^ fruit they produce will advance the honor of God and 
the best interests of men. Send these volumes to the West, and you 
send the most effectual preventive of error. Send them to the East, 
And there is no instrumentality like them to breathe life, and perma- 
nent life into the dead forms of Protestant Europe. Next to the Bible 
itself, these Voluihes will be the leaven to pervade the whole lump. 
May the Lord direct your deliberations, and lead to such measures as 
will effectually awake the churches to the importance of the enterprise. 

On Wednesday evening Rev. Mr. Cook presented the 
. following paper. 



108 DELIBESATITE MEETING. 



DOCUMENT VII. 

The Colporteur System* 
/. As adajHed to the unevangelized American population. 

The intelligent mind, apprehending the condition of the 
several classes of society in this land, and the relations of 
the country to the world, cannot bbt feel that whatever 
else is done or neglected, more must he done for the evan- 
gelization of America, Our very existence as a republic 
depends, under God, on the intelligence and virtue of the 
masses of the people; and our influence on other nations 
can only be for good, in proportion to the prevalence of 
the Gospel at home. To leave a majority, or a large mi- 
nority of the people, in ignorance of the Gospel, is not only 
suicidal, but detracts from the symmetry and depth of that 
impression, which, as a seal in the hand of God, we are 
destined to make on the nations of the earth. 

There is no one sentiment in which the christian com- 
munity are more agreed than that an enlightened ministry 
is an essential instrumentality of evangelization. But the 
view that regards this as the onlp agency, cuts off all 
hope in respect to millions of the present generation, to 
say nothing of the teeming millions of the future; for the 
men and the means to educate and sustain them are not at 
hand for the adequate supply of the spiritual wants of a 
population so vast and scattered as our own ; and if they 
were, the half of the existing generation of the unevangel- 
ized must perish before they can be brought into the field. 

Is it not then a proper subject of inquiry whether other 
agencies may not be brought to the aid of the ministry, so 



THE COLPORTEUR SYSTEM. 109 

that their lack of service may be supplied, and in some 
way the present generation be reached with enough of 
truth to guide them to the cross ? Whether humble, pious 
men in the common walks of life may not engage in seek- 
ing out the destitute; and in these fireside conversations 
and personal entreaties, and the diffusion of appropriate 
publications which God has so abundantly blessed, gather 
from the more hopeless classes many who might otherwise 
perish ? And whether the instructions of the pious dead 
may not be made available where the living preacher has 
not gone, and perhaps for years will not penetrate ? 

It is a noticeable fact, that Missionaries occupy succes- 
sively the more prominent and populous ports, trenching 
but slowly in a country of rapid growth upon the desolo' 
tions of the country. This is natural and right; but it ne^ 
cessarily leaves the very destitute scattered population al- 
most without a ray of light. Some system is indispensa- 
ble, that goes out literally into the highways and hedges, 
and carries the bread of life to the famishing multitude, 
who either cannot or will not come to the gospel supper. 
It must he an. itinerating system; for, especially in the 
newer settlements, the people live far apart and cannot be 
brought together statedly to hear the word. It is for such 
a class — ^the poor, the ignorant, the neglected population of 
our wide country, that the Colporteur System is espe- 
cially designed. It aims to carry a verbal message from 
Calvary to the ear, and a printed message to the eye of ev- 
ery one of these wanderers from God arid his sanctuary. 
It would furnish an advance guard, a corps of pioneers for 
the army of the Lord. It would' keep pace with the onward 
wave of immigration and minister to the spiritual wants 
of every newly formed household. It seeks to subdue the 
wild mountaineer by the presence of a Felix Neff, and to 
leave for his daily companionship a Baxter or a Dod- 
dridge. And on what principle is the obligation enforced 
to send the itinerant missionary to the mountains of Leba- 



110 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

Don or Neilgherry with his load of pious hooks, that does 
not demand a Colporteur for the mountains of Kentucky? 
Why to the plains of Siam and not. to the barrens of Geor- 
gia or the prairies of Missouri ? 

There is a power of adaptation in the Colporteur sys- 
tem, and a capacity for indefinite expansion, which £t8 it 
peculiarly for a country like ours. With sufficient discre- 
tion in the selection of men, every portion of the country 
and every class or the population may be approached in 
the way best suited to the great object. No matter how 
various the languages or sects, each may be made to hear 
and read in his own tongue the wonderful story of Redemp- 
tion. There need be no limit, save that of pecuniary means 
to the multiplication of men and books^ to such an extent 
as to reach every unevangelized family now on the stage, 
within a reasonable period, with two of the most effective 
means of good, personal religious conversation and^ the 
pious counsels of the best authors that have yet lived. 

The importance of the Society's volume circulation in 
families and congregations enjoying all the other means 
of grace, has been universally conceded: and it has re- 
ceived the favor and co-operation of pastors and churches 
in all the more favored parts of the land, to an extent con- 
ferred on scarcely any other enterprise of the Church. Can 
there be any more doubt that an incalculable service is 
done, by giving to domestic missionaries the aid of pious 
books in all the families of their congregations? And es- 
pecially those congregations that enjoy the labors of a mis- 
sionary only on alternate Sabbaths, or one Sabbath out of 
four or six. But there are hundreds of newly gathered 
and feeble churches, of various denominations, scattered 
over the land, which are without pastors, and for want of 
men and means must long continue so ; is it not a blessed 
work for the Society to install such men as Baxter, and Fla- 
vel and Bunyan in such vacant pulpits, and, by the presence 
of the Colporteur^ call into exercise whatever of active piety 



TH£ COLPOKTEUR SYSTEM. Ill 

there may be in co-operation with his labors for the une- 
vangelized around them ? Besides, a considerable portion 
of all who hear the Gospel in the distant parts of the coun- 
try, listen to that which is hortatory and uninstructivc, 
from preachers employed in secular pursuits six days of 
seven in each week. To such the Bible and religious 
books, in simple popular language, constitute an indispen- 
sable means of sound gospel instrnctiun. Oiher means of 
supplying the appropriate books than the Society's travel- 
ling Agencies, there are few or none ; and if there were, 
the personal labors of the Colporteur would be needed to 
form and foster the desire to possess them. Were there 
no other benefit from the Colporteur system than the fa- 
cilities it afibrds of furnishing means of grace, and know- 
ledge, and usefulness to professing christians in their dis- 
persion, it would still be one of the most important enter- 
prises in which the Society could engage. 

But it has a much wider reach. There are families and 
individuals here and there, in every part of the land, and 
tspecially in the sparsely settled states, existing in total ig- 
norance of Christ and his Salvation. Not a ray of light 
from above has ever dawned on their spiritual vision. Not 
a message of mercy has ever reached their ear. The Sab- 
bath brings no blessings to them. The Sanctuary is an un- 
known place. Heathen in a christian land! It is feared 
that the aggregate of such souls would equal the entire, 
line vangelized population abroad, reached directly by the 
influence of all our Foreign Missionaries. They may be 
found scattered through the pine barrens of the South, 
stretching down from the Delaware Bay to the Florida 
Keys; on the mountain ranges dividing the east from the 
west, from the northern spire of the Alleghany to the 
southern slope of the Cumberland; on the sea-like prairies 
and primitive forests of the boundless West, indeed, in our 
crowded cities and around all our sanctuaries — millions 
"who fear not God, and to whom the glad tidings of salva- 



112 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

lion are seldom if ever proclaimed. Shall these scattered 
millions be sought out, and the oral and printed invitation 
be given to them to come to Christ ? Is there wisdom and 
benevolence in a system that employs men to incite chris- 
tians of every name to share in the self-denial of giving to 
the destitute; or, if this is impracticable, to go themselves 
to the homes of those who will never seek the light? 
And on what principles and to what extent shall the Com- 
mittee prosecute these labors? They respectfully solicit 
the attention of the Board to the whole subject, and espe- 
cially to the fallowing questions : 

1. Shall the Committee undertake to carry forward the 
Colporteur system, on a scale sufficiently extended to reach, 
with all the christian co-operation that can be summoned, 
the existing generation of the unevangelized ? 

2. In prosecuting the work, shall the Committee instruct 
their agents to give one of the cheap volumes like^axter'a 
Call to every family destitute of all religious books.except 
the Bible, but unable or unwilling to purchase ? And shall 
an appropriate Tract be given to every family ? 

Mr. COOK proceeded to explain the Colporteur system in its adap- 
tation to the wants of the destitute, by a sketch of the labors of a 
day, in visiting sixty families residing mostly in log-cabins at the 
West. 

Two gentlemen took a light wagon and rode forty miles, calling at 
the abodes of the neglected and poor. They addressed the gate- 
keeper, the market-man, and the passing traveller, and gave Tracts 
to all. Passing a school-house, one of them stepped among the boys 
gathered before it, and was soon surrounded by the lads all eager for 
the little children's Tracts held in his hands. After supplying them, 
he called the larger boys to the wagon and supplied them with Youth's 
Temperance papers, and from the wagon-wheel preached a sermon to 
them adapted to their comprehension. 

Passing on, they soon came to a log-cabin, wh^re one of them re- 
quested a glass of water, in receiving which he expressed a hope that 
she would have a disciple's reward. This opened the way for personal 
religious conversation. The children could not read, though the 
mother could. There were no religious books in the house, and none 



THE COLPORTEUR STSTEH. 113 

attended church. Selling them a copy of Bazter*8 Call, and pointing 
them to the Lamb of God, the Colporteur proceeded. 

Another cabin contained a sick and dying man, who had not enjoy- 
ed the visit of a christian for two years. He knew that he must die, 
and had no hope. After placing Baxter's Call and appropriate Tracts 
in his hand, the visiter turned to the wife and inquired tenderly 
whether she was prepared for the trials that awaited her. She con- 
fessed her impenitence, but promised to read the book left for herself, 
and to her husband, when too feeble to read himself. With earnest and 
solemn entreaty to attend without delay to their souls* affairs, the 
Colporteur commended them to God in prayer and left them. 

Calling at another cabin^ he was met at the bars by a girl eleven 
years old, who was asked if she could read. She said. No. But don't 
you go to school ? No. Nor to Sabbath school ? No. Have yoq ever 
heard about God, who made the world 1 No. Nor of Jesus Christ 
'who redeemed iti No. Do you think you are a sinner t No. Do you 
know what sin is? No. But don't you know that you have done 
wrong ? r don't think I have. What could be said 1 There was not 
a single term that could be used which conveyed any meaning to that 
dark mind. A heathen in a christian land ! And there are others, 
many of them. The Church ought to know it, and ought to spare no 
effort to teach them the way of life. Now, where is the consistency 
of sending forth men to spend long years in acquiring difficult lan- 
guages, and crossing dangerous seas to preach the Gospel to the be- 
nighted, when KerCf in our own land, there are multitudes as unin- 
formed of the way of salvation as the far-off islander or the wandering 
Malay ! I would not lay a straw in the way of efforts to evangelize 
the heathen ; I would rather redouble every energy put forth in the 
missionary work.' But while this is done, for the sake of consistency, 
for the sake of souls, for the sake of Christ, let us not leave undone 
the great work of evangelization at home. 

yhe document was referred to Charles Butler, Esq. Rev. Drs. 
Skinner and Hardenburgh, Rev. R. K. Rogers, and Rev. E. 
Tucker, who, through Mr. Butler, presented a report, which, 
after slight amendments suggested by Rev. Dr. Patton, was 
adopted and referred for publication as follows : 



> 



114 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 



REPORT. 

Tbt subject is one of overwhelming interest to the christian, the 
philanthropist and patriot, in whatever point of vi6w it may be pre- 
sented. 

The Colporteur system is admirably adapted to m^et the nee<l of cor 
widely extended country, and the Committee hail the introduction of 
it by the American Tract Society with devout gratitude to God. la 
the opinion of the Committee, it may be employed throughout th&Iandt 
and particularly in the newer States and Territories, with the pros- 
pect of accomplishing the greatest good with comparatively a smiU 
expenditure of money. 

"The pulpit 
Must stand acknowledged, while the world shall stand, < 
The most important and effectual guard. 
Support and ornament of virtue's cause." 

But then the fact, solemn a.^ it is true^ is constantly pressed upon us, 
that *• the Messenger of Truth " has not been sent to preach the Gos- 
pel to the needy and destitute in our land — to restore the weak — re- 
claim the wanderer — bind up the broken heart, and 

" Armed himself in panoply complete, 
Of heavenly temper, furnish witn arms 
Bright as his own, and train, by every rule 
Of holy discipline, to glorious war, *■ 

The sacramental host of God's elect.'* ^ 

The living minister, thoroughly furnished for his work, is not sap- 
plied to the extent that is needed. Hundreds of thousands of cor 
countrymen are living and dying without the means of grace, with- 
out once hearing of the way of salvation. And the entire present 
generation of bur unevangclizcd population is passing on rapidly and 
surely to the grave, with scarcely a ray of hope to lighten up the 
darkness of the tomb, and the numbers are augmenting daily. Can 
we look upon such a scene with indifference ? We know that chris- 
tian hearts bleed in view of the destitution of our own country ; and 
we know that sympathies are enlisted and efforts are made to send 
the Gospel to the perishing ; but then we feel that all our efforts and 
agencies are utterly inadequate, and come short of the great object to 
be effected. A few may be saved by these efforta, but how many are left 
to perish ! *^ The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.'* 

The Committee believe, that in answer to the prayers of the 



THE GOLPORTEITR SYSTEM. 115 

Church, God in his grace has sent to us this Colpobtiur System, to 
enable ua to supply the lieedful laborers to work in his harvest-field. 
The Committee desire to recognize the hand of the great Lord of the 
harvest in devising a plan (second only to the stated ministry) by 
which the harvest may be gathered. 

The plan is one of practical interest ; and is commended for its 
efficiency, its' cheapness, its directness, and its comprehensiveness. It 
is suited exactly to the object sought to be attained, and if carried 
out thoroughly, as it ought to be, every settler upon the boundless 
and sea-like prairie — every inmate of a log cabin in the densest forest 
of the West, every wanderer from his own and native land, who has 
hither directed hie steps to a new home — every immigrant, who with 
his wife, his sons and his daughters, have just planted themselves in 
some place remote from human habitations, far away from the sound 
of the churchgoing bell, may find the Colporteur waiting for him 
there, to welcome him with a message of peace and salvation. 

The Colporteurs will be found by the way-side, and in the great 
thoroughfares, and upon the steamers, and the railroad-cars, and 
wherever the tide of emigration is setting, distributing the precious 
seed they bear, as angels of mercy to the weary traveller. 

The Colporteur, engaged in his work with the spirit of his Master, 
appears to us to be an indispensable instrument in carrying the Gos- 
pel to ihe unovangelized population of our own country. The Com- 
mittee can hardly conceive- of any other way in which it can all be 
reached ; and if all the young men now prosecuting their studies for the 
ministry in all the seminaries of the land, were to be baptized with a 
fervent missionary spirit, (and God grant they may be,) with the spirit 
of Paul, and Brainerd, and Martyn, and were to go into the Western 
field, they would be as a handful of men, and we should yet have to 
exclaim, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few^ 
pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth 
laborers, into his harvest." 

To meet this exigency, the Colporteur system comes to our aid', 
and carries the cup of Salvation to perishing thousands, who are in a 
dry and thirsty land, where no water is. 

With such views, the Committee respond to the sentiments con- 
tained in the Report submitted to them, and they would earnestly and 
cordially urge upon the Executive Committee^ 

1. To carry forward as fast as the Providence of God shall seem to 
direct, the Colporteur system, with the view of reaching, as soon at 
practicable, tho existing generation of the unevangelized in our own 
^country ; and. 



116 DEUBEBATIVE MEETING. 

2. In the prosecution of the work, to instruct their agents (the 
Colporteurs) to give one of the cheap volumes, like Baxter^s CaUy to 
every family destitute of all religious books except the Bible, and who 
are unable and unwilling to purchase, and to give at least an appro- 
priate Tract to pvery family. 

And the Committee believe, that in the prosecution Of a scheme so 
benevolent, and so divine, the Society may rely upon the blessing of 
the great Head of the Church, and the sympathies and co-operation of 
every friend of the Redeemer . 

Mr. BUTLER proceeded briefly to present a striking view of the 
moral condition of the West, drawn from his own observations made 
during several extensive tours. He adverted to the gigantic efforts 
now making by the Roman Catholics, and especially to a new though 
perhaps not very well digested plan for colonizing Irish Catholics in 
the West ; he thought the colporteur system indispensable in bringing 
the Gospel to bear on the West with sufficient particularity and 
power to counteract opposing influences, and save our destitute popu- 
lation and our country from ruin. 

Rev. Dr. MILNOR said that he perfectly accorded with the senti- 
ments of the Report. He had no doubt that the Colporteur system 
would be attended with great good, not only as the result of the 
labors of the agents of this Society, but in leading christians of all 
denominations to take means to enlist a like, agency to assist the 
ministry in various departments of labor. An impression^ he said, had 
prevailed that all effort for the conversion of men must be confined to 
the ministry alone ; and no doubt there are some duties which belong 
exclusively to those who havo been ordained to that work ; but he 
was happy to learn that the idea of employing these assistants to the 
ministry had been adopted here, and was about to be carried into ex- 
tensive operation. We have been interested with the working of 
this system on the continent of Europe. And in Ireland we know 
they have employed something of the same system in a class of men 
who are sent out to read the Scriptures to those who cannot read 
themselves. These men, though uneducated, have the grace of God 
in their hearts, and are competent to drop a word of counsel and 
make inquiries as to the spiritual condition of the families they visit. 
Our laborers being better educated, will doubtless be more useful. 

Dr. M. had been exceedingly pleased to see that in Great Britain a 
large society had been formed, of which Bishops are officers and 
patrons, and whose funds already amount to 50,000 or 60,000 pounds 
a year, called the Pastoral Aid Society, the object of which is to afford 



THE C0LP0STET7E SYSTEM. 117 

Pastors assistance in the care of large and scattered eongregations, 
where their income is small and their labors are great. This is done 
in some cases by famishing curates and in others lay helpers^ who, 
under the supervision of the pastor, may go from house to house 
among the cottagers, ascertain their wants, give them a word of use- 
ful counsel, and report to the pastor the results of their 'labors. If we 
look to the early days of the Church, among the acts of the Apos> 
ties, we find that they employed laymen and lay women to assist them 
in the great work of bringing sinners to Christ. 
. Dr. Milnor read from the London Christian Observer an interesting 
instance of the effects of the labors of a colporteur in Europe, and 
conclu'ded with a very earnest commendation of this cause as eminent- 
ly calculated, under discreet management, to be useful in this country. 

LeUer from Hon. Roger Minot Sherman^ FairJUld, Conn. 

*' We cannot neglect our country^s highest interests without incur- 
ring aggravated guilt. In 6ne important respect we differ from other 
nations. We are in our infancy, and apparently appointed to higher 
destinies than ahy other people. A vast proportion of the immense 
regions between the Atlantic and Pacific, the Lakes and the Gulf of 
Mexico, is still in a state of nature ; presenting, with the portions al- 
ready occupied, the noblest theatre for men of any part of the globe. 
And such is our government, that the millions of this population are 
to sway the sceptre, and by them its immense power is to be wielded, 
and its influence exerted for good and for evil, both over their own 
and other nations of the earth. 

** The importance of early influences in forming the character of 
such a people surpasses estimation. Their numbers, now^ are com- 
paratively few. The moral force of the settled portions of the United 
iStates, if put in operation, can now mould the character of those in- 
teresting settlements, in their rapid progress from a few log cabins to 
a populous town or great commercial city. Without these influences 
christian character is never formed, either in individuals or nations. 

*' When these already numerous settlements are multiplied ; when 
they become robust in principles and habits adverse to the influences 
of morals and piety, they will not only resist all means for their own 
reformation, but exert a counter influence on future infant settlements 
which will baffle the benevolent efforts of those who come after ut. 
When we compare each ten years census with that which preceded it, 
(the population of the West nearly doubling every ten years,) when 
we look upon the vast fields now occupied by a busy and prosp^ous 
population, which but yesterday were the lonely habitations of beasts 

7 



118 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

and savage men ; when from this we foresee the advancements which 
the next half century is to make, and consider the prevalence of reck- 
lessness and infidelity, and of a superstition more corrjupting in its 
tendencies and less susceptible of remedy than infidelity itself, sus- 
tained by wealth and power, can we doubt the supremacy of our obli- 
gations to our own country 1 Do not its wants greatly exceed the 
means hitherto applied ? Is not the field enlarging in a ratio to whick 
rihe provisions for its culture bear no just proportion t The Bible» the 
Minister, the Schoolmaster, the Volume, the Tract, eve^y appropriate 
means for enlightening and evangelizing our Western popolation 
should be bountifully supplied, as a primary duty of American chrie- 
tians. 

LetUr from Rt, Rev. B. B. Smithj Kalorama, Ken, 

'* It is one of the great privations of my position and my duties, that 
I cannot share in the precious infiuences of such animating Assem- 
blies. Yet every such occasion for special intercession is most wel- 
come to me, and on Tuesday of next week I shall be present with 
you in spirit. May He whose spiritual presence is really good for 
something, much more be present with you. 

'* Any further communication from my pen will be better through 
the press. Yet I cannot refrain, should this letter reach you in sea- 
son, to reiterate the plea for the poor mountaineers, and the specific 
form in which I present it, is, cannot you send us one of yoqr most 
self-sacrificing and devoted Colporteurs with a small pious family, to 
devote himself to the valley of the head waters of the Cumberland, re- 
turning on his own track once in three months, for a series of years ? 
Thank God, my printed appeal has stirred op a teacher and lady in 
Middletown, Md. to correspond with me on the subject. What it will 
lead to, and whether they have really counted the cost remains yet to 
be seen. The only hope of a lost world is, that . the Savior lives, 
and loves souls with an intensity of which our most fervent zeal is 
but a cold scintillation." 

Letter from Riv. J. T. Brook, Cincinnati^ Ohio. 

** I have only time to express my regret that I cannot attend your 
meeting, and my deep interest in the object .for which it has boon 
called. You know my high estimation of the Tract cause, both as mm 
efficient agency for promoting the Gospel and as a public bond of anioa 
among christians. And I should esteem it a high privilege to be per- 
mitted to stand upon your platform with representatives from diflftrMt 



THE COLPORTEXm 8TSTEM. 119 

branches of the Christian Church and unite my feeble voice with theirs 
in advancing the ' common Salvation.' 

** What is to become of a large portion of the population of this im- 
mense yallej unless faithful colporteurs are sent to their doors, leaving 
your publications ? Many of them must perish in heathenish darkness 
in the midst of a christian land ! and who will have to answer for it t 
Let every professed christian see to it that he have a good excuse for 
withholding4iis hand from such an opportunity of doing good unto all 
men, and bearing his part in the duty of preaching the Gospel to bv9ij 
creature." 

LUUrfrom WxHiam H. BulkUy, President of the Young Men's Tract 

Society t Louisville, Ken. 

<* < The voice of the West ought to be heard/ and it will be heard^ 
in a very few years, for good or for evil, speaking out in thunder tones 
to this great nation. It is no vain boast that the West is soon to gov- 
ern this country^ The more I reflect upon Western character and up- 
on the influences which are at work here for evil, the more important 
do I consider the effort of your Society to evangelize this mighty mass 
ofnrinds. - 

" I can assure you, my dear brother, that in this work you shall have 
not only my hearty co-operation, but also that of the Society over 
which I have the honor to preside. 

'^Our Society is increasing in numbers and widening its field of use- 
fulness. Wc have it in contemplation to establish several district 
prayer meetings in the more destitute portions of our city. It is grat- 
ifying to know that the influence of our Society has already been felt 
in starting into existence a Youth's Tract Society.'* 

Rev. Mr. Eastman, one of the Secretaries, read a contiDuation 
of the document on the Colporteur system, as adapted to 

II. Om* <«ennau Population. 

The attention of the Board is requested to the German papulation, 
whose rapid immigration, if not an occasion of alarm to the patriot, is 
at least one of deep interest to the christian. 

The number of Germans in this country is variously estimated at 
from 1,500,000 to 3,000,000. They constitute nearly one-fourth of 
the population of the cities at the West, and not less than one- tenth 
of the entire population of the land, with an unprecedented increase 
the present year.. The abundance and cheapness of land ; the com- 



12^0 PBLIBESATIVE UESTING. 

paratively high price of labor and freedom from taxation', will continue 
to swell the tide. 

We leave to others to canvass the probable bearings on our political 
institutions of the influx of a foreign population, sufficiently large 
already to hold the balance of power between parties ; a portion of 
whom owe allegiance to a foreign despotism ; necessarily igBonnit 
of our government and its laws; having a public sentiment of their 
own, which, by difference of language, is slowly affected by Ameri- 
can public sentiment ; exercising the right of suffrage at a very 
early period of their residence; liable to be made the prey of dc 
signing demagogues; jealous of newly acquired rights, which may 
be poorly understood, and which may be contested by an eq^ually 
jealous native population. There may be danger from these sources, 
neither unreal nor remote. But with all this we have nothing to do, 
only as there is an inseparable coincidence between the means of 
enlightening and saving the souls of a people, and their preparatioii 
for enjoying and perpetuating our free institutions. If the apprehen- 
sion of danger be not groundless, the only way to avert it i^ to givt 
the Gospel in their ovm langViage and its bless$d institutions to the 
whole population. And if it is, still motives of infinitely greater 
weight press upon us, in view of dangers that take hold on eterBity, 
to give the Grospel to the Germans. If American christians do noi 
provide for their spiritual wants, who will 1 

Discouraging as are many of the aspects in which the rapid in- 
crease of this population may be viewed, and little as is now done 
for their improvement, who can resist the conviction that God has 
sent them to our shores to be evangelized — to have conferred upon 
them blessings which either could not or would not have been given 
them at home. Wo be to us if we misinterpret or disregard this 
gracious behest of Providence ! 

THE GERMANS ARE INTELLIGENT. 

It is a memorable fact — indicating, perhaps, the principal agency 
to be employed for their b^nefit^-that all, or nearly all the Germans 
can read. Providence has so ordered it, that throughout Prussia and 
most of Germany parents are compelled to send their children to 
school, from the age of four to twelve; and if a recruit enters the 
Prussian army .who cannot read, he is at once instructed. But 
while this is true, and while Germany has '* nearly as many authors 
as readers," few of the books of this century are either free from 
ratumalistic sentiment, or written in a style for popular eirenlation ; 



TH£ C0LF0RTET7R SYSTEM. 121 

and very few who emigrate are supplied with profitable reading. 
Here and there " Amdt's True Christianity," or the works of Stil- 
ling may be found ; but the great mass of Germans are destitute of 
books, and will be, unless the hand of christian philanthropy sup- 
plies them. The taste for reading is kept alive, to some extent, by 
the i)eriodical press ; but, with some honorable exceptions, the poli- 
tical papers in the Grerman language do not favor, while many open- 
ly oppose a spiritual religion. Few, if any, hooka for the young, of a 
religious character, are published here, or imported from abroad. 

From this statement it will be seen how vast and encouraging a 
field is open before this Society. On it rests peculiarly the respon- 
sibility of furnishing an evangelical German literature for young 
and old, suited to the wants of a million of readers now in- 
habiting the West, to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands 
in Pennsylvania and the Eastern States, or of the millions that 
will soon follow their friends and fellow-countrymen to this *Uand 
of the free." The long and tedious process of reducing a language 
to writing, or acquiring it when written, has not to be gone through 
with before a beginning can be made ; nor have you to wait for a 
generation of readers to grow up under the culture of mission- 
schools, at vast expense. The whole process of elementary instruction 
is performed to our hand by their former governments ; but if we 

WAIT TILL THIS GENERATION PASSES FROM THE STAGE,. THIS PRO- 
CESS MUST BE REPEATED BEFORE THEY CAN BE BROUOUT INTO AS 
FAVORABLE A POSITION FOR EVANGELIZATION AS WE NOW FIND 

THEM. Shall we forego this advantage, when the cost of elementary 
instraction for the next generation will be ten times as great as that 
of providing the existing population with the means of salvation? 
Adequate means for the instruction of children are neglected in their 
efforts to acquire property for them ; and what motive will there be 
for parents to employ these means, if they have not books for their 
own and their children's use ? Delay wUl be ruin. 

The Society's books and Tracts are admirably suited to the po- 
pular German mind. They are solemn, ferWd and practical. In the 
German language and dress they will be read by Romanists and Pro- 
testants. A gentleman who is familiar with the German character 
said that " he had lent a copy of Pilgrim's Progress until it was li- 
terally read up ; and if 4ie had twenty copies they would be read 
up." " Put these books," said he, " in a popular form, and there is 
not a family that will not take and read them." 

But it is not enough to publish them : they must be carried to 
every German family. Colporteurs, speaking their language and 
understanding their character, must be employed to accomplish for 



12t DELIBfiRATIVE MEETING. 

that population what we are attempting for our own. A few such 
laborers have been found ; and Grod wDI raise up others in sufficient 
numbers, and of suitable qualifications, to carry forward this work 
on any scale that you may project, or the christian community sus- 
tain. If attempted in the right spirit, and by the right men,, it win 
be welcomed by many as the beginning of brighter days ; it will re- 
ceive the divine benediction ; it will lead the way for other enter- 
prises in their behalf; and our country may ultimately rejoice in the 
accession to her population of millions of industrious, sober, inteUi- 
gcnt, Americanized, chrutiari Germans. 

O, had Luther and his compeers enjoyed such facilities as we 
possess of giving the Germans a pure and uncorrupted Gospel, how 
speedy, and bloodless, and complete would have been the great Re- 
formation ! With the light of the successes and mistakes of the Re- 
formers before us, and the subsequent history of the church to in- 
struct us; with the accumulated treasures of the knowledge and piety 
of centuries in our possession, and abundant means for their dififu- 
sion; with every motive of patriotism, philanthropy and benevo- 
lence impelling us, what should prevent the speedy evangelizatioB 

of this Interesting people ? 

The Committee regard this subject as one worthy of the profound 

consideration of the Board ; and they solicit for it the attention its 

importance demands. 

Rev. Dr. DE WITT, of New- York, said that he thought the subject 
presented by the paper demanded careful and interested attention. 
The living preacher, however superior in his influence, was not all 
that was needed to spread the Gospel in a country like our own. Pas- 
toral labor is not adequate to our wants. There are souls beyond the 
reach of the pastor^s voice, and in regions where this expensive agen* 
cy cannot be supported. In this system there is a iiappy combina- 
tion of the living ministry and preaching by means of the press. 
Avenues are opened, the word is distributed, and the blessing of the 
Spirit sought to rest upon it. 

The great and vital cause of domestic missions requires such an 
auxiliary as this proposed system of Colporteurs. Unlike the physical 
nature, where hunger is created by deprivation, the hunger of the 
soul is least felt where the destitution is greatest. As these pioneers 
go into the sparse settlements of the West, they awaken this appetite 
for the word, and their efforts are preparing the way for the living 
ministry. 

The interesting class of our population referred to in the paper dif- 
fer from us in language, but are one with as in citizenship and social 



THX COLPOKTSTTft 6T8TXX. 123 

afid political destiny. Ab the leayen in the meal leavens the whole 
lump till it becomes homogeneous, so in this country the various kin- 
dreds and tongues, interests and prejudices, are all to be brought into 
harmony and concord only by the power of the same Gospel preached 
unto all. This system is adapted to the Germans particularly. They 
generally settle in little neighborhoods, the early character of which 
gives tone and character to all the after-increase of popuhtion. How 
shall we reach those who differ from us so widely 1 Only by bringing 
the Gospel into contact with them, in all its simplicity and power, in 
their own language. There is every reason to hope that it will be 
•tteniled with success. 

Dr. De Witt made an affecting allusion to the lamented Rudy, 
pastor of the German church, New- York, and introduced his successor, 

Hev. Mr. GULDIN, who remarked that this department of the So- 
ciety's operations had a special interest to him. He was a German 
himself, raised in the German church, and for twenty-two years a 
minister among them. He first remarked upon the field itself which 
the Society proposed to occupy. It was one of great importance and 
promise. And this for several reasons. Take their numbers. It is 
estimated that there are at least one million of Germans in this 
country. This is unquestionably much below the reality, to say no- 
thing of the old settlers, and this number is inl;reased by the constant 
flood of immigration. 

Their spiritual condition renders them worthy objects of sympathy 
and attention. True, religion, in its vital, saving power, is but too 
little known among them. They are a half century in the rear of 
their English neighbors. 

Consider the moral influence which the conversion and the zealous 
devotion of this immense mass would exert in the cause of Christ — 
even upon Germany itself — and upon our own land. Where is there a 
people among all the millions of the Gentiles which will sooner or 
more surely repay the effort to save them — or where is the island of 
the sea which presents a more important fleld than this ? 

Now is the most important and favorable period to exert a religious 
influence among the Germans. The character of the new settlements 
they are forming so rapidly at the West must soon be determined. 
There are men among them — men of mind and powerful influence — • 
who will be certain to lead them to infidelity, if there be no counter- 
acting influence exerted. The West is full of soul-destroying errors, 
Universalism, Catholicismi Mormonism, CampbelUsm, all 4i0 ia 



124 DEUBERATIVE MEETING. 

wait to decoy, mislead, and ruin the poor Germans. They are now 
just in that excitable, plastic, moulding state, produced by their resi- 
dence in a new country, in the midst of strange customs, languages 
and habits ; and the impress now left upon them will probably be 
permanent. The present state of things cannot last long. The Ger- 
man character will soon be formed. If the Church sufifers error to go 
in advance of lier efforts, they will be almost unavoidably drawn into 
the meshes of ruin. 

The plan of reaching this vast population by means of a sys- 
tem of Colporteurs is admirably adapted. The Germans ire la- 
mentably destitute of competent ministers. In Pennsylvania, niinis- 
ters are obliged to preach to several congregations — five, six, and 
sometimes even ten — reaching the different churches once iu three, 
four, or six weeks. Of course, this leaves a vast number with little or 
no means of religious instruction. If they are not reached by some 
such itinerating scheme as this, it is difficult to imagine how they 
can be. 

The above Document wa? referred to Rey. Dr. De Witt, Rev. 
Mr. Guldin, and Rev. James W. Cooke. 

Letter from Rev. B, SearSy Prof. Tkeol. Sent. Newton, Mass. 

" Allow me to express the great confidence I feel that the German 
population, both of this and the mother country, may be reached and 
essentially benefited by the method which you propose. The Ger- 
mans are a serious people, and very accessible, and have minds not 
only of great simplicity, but of depth of feeling. True, if you directly 
assail their religious system, as taught in the symbolical books writ- 
ten by the Reformers themselves, they will appear to be unsuscepti- 
ble of impression. And who can have a heart to complain of the ve- 
neration, even of those tainted with Rationalism, for a system of 
evangelical religion, which, in the sixteenth century, was the great 
light of Christendom 1 Does not the very fact of a remaining attach- 
ment to the old religion of their fathers as better than their own, and 
the additional fact that the German language is rich in old as well as 
more recent works of a standard character on practical religion, go far 
to show that there are peculiar facilities for the operation of just such 
a system of effort as you contemplate 1 I have taken some special 
interest in the religious state of the German residents in this vicinityt 
and have always found them very eager for German reli]§rious books. 
I have this very day received a request of the kind for any thing, in 
the shape of an old German book. I sympathize most deeply with 



THE COLPORTEUR STSTIM. 125 

you in your whole enterprise, and particularly in this branch of it I 
shall always stand ready to do any thing in my power to aid you/' 

Letter from Rev, John W. Neviuy Prof. Marshall {German Ref) 

College, Mercersburg, Pa. 

CLAIMS OF THE DE8TITDTE OF OUR COCNTBY. 

"I have read your Circular with attention, and also your * Report 
of a Western Tour.' No one at all acquainted with the condition and 
prosperity of our country can fail to feel that the work contemplated 
in this movement is one of vast incalculable importance. The value 
of the Colporteur system ha« been abundantly tested in other lands, 
and there is no reason why it should not be brought to bear with equal 
effect on the destitutions of this country. We have wide districts, in 
the very heart of the land, which cannot be effectually reached with 
evangelical instruction in any other way, to say nothing of the whole 
States in the far West, fast springing into importance, for whose wants 
the system might seem to have been expressly contrived. 

** I am glad t6 find that so much attention is likely to be directed, 
in this enterprise, to the wants of the German pojnUation. The sys- 
tem proposed ie eminently suited to their case, and if extended on a 
scale commensurate with its demands, cannot fail to yield a rich har- 
vest. This population is already very great, and is destined to swell 
to a vastly greater volume still by yearly emigration from the father 
land. Scattered, without a ministry to a great extent, and without 
ecclesiastical connection, confounding the idea of religious liberty with 
that of an entire independence of Church control, and more or less 
occupied with errors subversive of the Gospel itself, thousands of these 
foreigners seem cut off from the hope of religious improvement alto- 
gether, unless they can be reached in some such way as that which 
is here proposed. It will not do to leave such a mass of mind in the 
bosom of the country to take care of itself. It will not do to wait 
till the partition-wall of its language shall have fallen away. To a 
christian people who are willing, at vast expense, to send the Gospel 
across the ocean to nations of strange lip and tongue, it should be a 
light thing surely to break through the barriers of the Gem>an lan- 
guage at home, in order to reach a field so full of interest and promise 
as that which here courts their missionary zeal. 

*' The German ioterest in this country is destined to exert in time 

~a great inflaence on Germany itself. It forms the medium by which 

mainly, America b to be held in commanication with that section of 

7* 



126 OSUBERATIVE MSETINO. 

Europe, and to be felt on its spirit and life ; as it is the mediam also 
by which, in spite of ourselves, we must as a people come more and 
more into living contact with the force of this foreign spirit, as a 
moulding agency in the formation of our own character." 

LeiUrfrom Rev. Professor C. E, Stowe, Cincinnati, Ohio, 

** The accompanying letters of our German brethren, Messrs. 
Schmucker and Nast, will inform you as to what has already been 
done in the way of Colportage among the Germans in this city. . The 
attempt succeeds beyond my most sanguine expectations. The Ger- 
man Lutheran ministers encourage it from their pulpits, and the Ca- 
tholic priests denounce it ; and both seem thus far to help the work 
forward. We had a meeting at Rev. Mr. Brook's church last OTening, 
at which many interesting statements were made, especially from L. 
R., whom God has raised up, I trust, to do a great work among the 
Germans. Mr. Brook told us he had that day learned the fact, that 
a whole family of Germans, father, mother, daughtci^i and two sona, 
had been hopefully converted to God,. partly at least through the in- 
atrumentality of this Colportage ; and like instances are multiplying. 
It is almost tJie first ray of hope I have seen for the spiritual tpelfav 
of our Germans. Is this a time for the Society to relax its efibrts! 
No, it cannot be/' 

Rev. William Adams, D. D. read the following additional 
Document on the Colporteur system, as adapted to 

HI. THE CONTERSION OF ERRORISTS. 

The Committee would solicit the attention of the Board to a claaa, 
for whose spiritual improvement little is directly attempted, vis. i?o- 
man Catkolies and other Errorists. 

While the Committee are not unaware of the danger to our institu- 
tions, civil and religious, from the increase and prevalence of sects 
that in their nature and history have always been opposed to freedom, 
they do not sympathise with the spirit of denunciation that baa too 
often characterized the controversies with them. They are immortal 
beings, and tfie soul of each is of priceless value. We believe that 
the great mass of them are deluded, and that unless they are onda- 
ceived and led in true penitence to the cross, they must eternally 
parish. And though the work of reclaiming an arrorist may ba a dif« 
ficolt one, through the blessing of the Holy Spirit, it is not an impoa- 
mble OM— alaa the Church had atill been enveloped in the darioiaaa 



THE COLPOBTEim 8T8TSM. 127 

of the 15th century. The idea that the whole generation of the ad- 
herents of a false faith in this country must be left to a common 
doom, is abhorrent alike to the belnevolence of the Gospel and to 
common humanity. 

If, howeyeir, any thing is to be done to save them, it must be done 
individual by individual, family by family, by the fire-side or in the 
street ; for they do not, and will not come to our churches, or place 
themselves within the reach of the ordinary modes of instruction. 
And they need to be approached as other men are — not as partizans, 
but as men, and as sinners needing a Savior — with tenderness and 
affection, and a real and manifest desire to do them good. They may 
and will resist a harsh, indiscriminate condemnation of them and their 
errors ; but it remains to be shown that Christ«like compassion, and 
humble, prayerful, persevering effort will avail nothing in subduing 
the prejudice and winning the souls that know nothing experimentally 
of ptrdoned sin, and the fulness and freeness of the love of Christ. 
Has the great truth which unlocked the fetters of superstition, by 
which the soul of Luther was bound when in the monastery of £r- 
furth ; which severed the last cord that attached him to the Papacy, 
when climbing the holy stairs at Rome on his bare knees ! which was 
the burden and watchword of the Reformation and of Paul — ** ttu 
just shall live by faith ;'* — has this glorious truth lost its power 1 

The partial and yet successful efforts in Papal Europe for the con- 
version of Errorlsts, show that they are not irreclaimable, even where 
civil power and priestly domination are combined to strengthen 
the bands of error. Then why should indifference to this subject 
exist here, where the operation of our free institutions, the more gen- - 
eral diffusion of light, and the ascendancy of a spiritual religion, all 
favor the abandonment of useless forms ; and where, as no where 
else, every man is free to exert his fullest influence over his fellow- 
man t 

Wherever efforts have been successful for the conversion of Errorists, 
whether in the time of the great Reformation, or at the present day on 
ihe Centinent, colporteurs with Books and Tracts have eonstUtUed 
the principal agency. So it most be here. When practicable, as in 
the Temperance Reform, men must be employed who have themselves 
borne the galling yoke from which they would free others, and who 
can speak from bitter experience of the mischiefs and dangers of the 
system they would deniolish. These men should speak the language 
ot the people they approach, whether French, German, or English, and 
go to the people at their hcmesj commending to them the love of 
Cbriet and the completeness of his salvation. 



128 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

The colporteurs already in the service of the Society aie expected 
to approach the families of Errorists within their respective fields in 
this way. It is for the Board to consider whether there is encourage- 
ment or necessity for a class of laborers to be especially- devoted to 
this portion of our population. If the importance of this general sub- 
ject were more universally felt by the christian community, and each 
christian would exert his influence on those he could reach around 
him, the Board might' be relieved of a large share of the responsibility 
which now manifestly rests upon them. 

Dr. ADAMS proceeded to say that there was a time when he had 
but little sympathy with the incessant cry of evil to be apprehended 
from the power and influence of Papists among us. But he was com- 
pelled to say that sober reflection had brought him to feel that our 
dangers from this source had never been overstated. One thing is 
certain : Catholics are making desperate efforts to acquire influence, 
and are making a progress towards the consummation of their de- 
sires which greatly animates and encourages them. It is but three 
months ago since Saltzbeecher, the Prebendary of St. Stephens, in 
Vienna, left this city for Europe, after having completed a tour of 
inspection and exploration through the United States. He passed 
from city to city, and made his observations without being known to 
scarcely a single Protestant. The reports he carried back to the Leo- 
pold Society cannot be otherwise than most cheering to them. What 
if we should learn from our missionaries thai they had obtained pos- 
session of one temple after another, which had formerly been devoted 
to the worship of idols — as Catholics can say of temples devoted to 
Protestant worship — would it not awaken a thrill of enthusiasm in 
our hearts 1 We need not go to the West — the Catholics are making 
their strides here, in the midst of us, sufl[iciently fast to alarm and 
arouse every Protestant and every American. Yes, in this city, 
churches, once devoted to the pure worship of God, are now every 
Sabbath thronged with the votaries of the Catholic faith. I say this 
not in the spirit of denunciation, but with feelings of real alarm. I love 
the spirit of the paper I have read — it suggests the only proper mode 
— the only successful, authorized mode of reaching those whom it 
proposes to make the objects of faithful christian efibrt. 

There seems to be great incredulity in reference to the conversion 
of Catholics. But why should there be 1 As christians, we should be 
stanch in the faith that no form of error can withstand the Gospel 
and the influences with which it is accompanied. Have we forgotteD 
what the Gospel has already achieved] Do we not remember the 



THE COLPORTEUlt SYSTEM. 129 

Reformation — when, in the face of every disadvantage, the simple 
word of God wrought its conquests upon the Rhine, pervaded Ger- 
many} and crossing over to England, awakened thousands of just such 
deladed Catholics as those in our streets 1 Let us cherish faith in 
the power of the Gospel. 

Bat this is not aU. It is a faith in the Gospel, comparatively un- 
impeded in its influence, that we are called to exercise. Catholics 
are necessarily mnch more accessible in this country than they were 
in Lather's time. Then they had to apostatize from their religion 
when it was propped up by the civil power, and when the denun- 
ciations of the churdi could be enforced by pains and penalties. But 
h«re the Gospel meets them where every thing is free. They cannpt 
be chained to their errors by any overawing power. The light of 
the Truth cannot be shut out from their minds. 

Catholics are here divested of all those associations which have 
grown from century to century, and vrhich exert so much influence 
in other lands. The venerable antiquity of the relics, the cathedrals, 
the service, the hierarchy — circumstances which have been woven 
with their earliest impressions and most solemn and awful concep- 
tions, have there an incalculable power in keeping the conscience 
fast to the errors, with which they are connected. But here there 
are no old fanes, no venerable priesthood, no gorgeous display, no 
time-hallowed associations. Their religion is divested of every ad- 
scititious influence. It is left in its unaided, native power, to grap- 
ple with the Truth. 

Look, too, at the favorable influence which education must exert. 
' It seems like mockery to talk of the continuance or progress of 
Popery, when accompiuiied by education, intelligence, and freedom. 
The true keys of St. Peter are those which open the book of know- 
ledge, not those which pretend to hold the access to heaven. In 
Papal countries learning is nothing but a name. The libraries of the 
Vatican are splendid, but they are locked up. But here, every son 
of that church is brought within the reach of education. Here he 
is surrounded by an atn^osphere of intelligence. He cannot but 
acquirve information. Knowledge will force itself upon his mind^ and 
no ghostly power can lock him up so tightly but the perception of 
their delosion, deceit, absurdity and error will reach him in some 
degree. 

It is under all these favorable circumstances that we go forth to 
convert the Catholics. If there are any circumstances which render 
their conversion possible, are they not those into, which their immi- 
gration to this country introduces th^m 1 Let them be met with the 



130 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

Gospel, in the spirit of the Gospel, and who shall say they will be 
found inaccessible, or impregnable in their errors 1 The spirit of this 
Paper is that of kindness. I never yet met the man who could not 
be approached by kindness. He might repel you at first, but un- 
wearied kindness would prove too strongs for him. Christ comes to 
us in the spirit of love. His is the Spirit in which we should approach 
these followers of a false faith. 

We are all unaware of the stealthily rapid strides with which the 
Catholics are over-running us. We have no adequate idea of the 
numbers that are daily pouring in upon us. And more are on their 
way. The whole old world seems to be in commotiout disgorging 
her over-abundant pauper population. How shall we save ourselves, 
our beloved institutions, or the religion of our fathers 1 We cannot 
send them back. We cannot shut up the gates. Come they must 
and will. What shall we do ? I will tell you. As the gallant Emmet 
said of the enemies of his country, he would meet them on the beach 
with a torch in one hand and a sword in the other, to dispute the soil 
with them inch by inch : so would we meet these upon the beach , 
with the Bible in one hand and the grasp of love in the other. Wt 
would bid them welcome to our freedom, our knowledge, and our re- 
ligion ; and the result shall be, that they will settle among us, not at 
enemies, but as friends ; and from .the subverters of our freedom they 
will become its sure and strong defence. 

Rev. Mr. COOK announced some cheering facts !n respect to the 
progress of the labors of colporteurs at the West, particularly among 
the Germans. A letter received but the day previous, stat^ that 
1200 families had been visited in Cincinnati, and 700 German books 
and 25,000 pages of German Tracts had been distributed, and about 
fifty days of personal labor performed among the most hopeless 
classes. The result had been that a German church, which even at 
its dedication had been but thinly attended, was now filled to over- 
flowing, and a considerable number of conversions had taken place 
among Romanbts — among others, one entire family, father, mother, 
son and daughter * It was just such intelligence that cheered Lu- 
ther in the dawn of the Reformation. 

The paper read by Rev. Dr. Adams was referred to the same 
Committee as the preceding, who, through Rev. Mr. Guldin, report- 
ed as follows : 

The Committee to whom were referred the Documents relating to 
*' the Colporteur Sysienty in its application to the German popula* 
tioD^'* and to ^ Romanists and other errorists/' respectftdlj 



THE C0LP0RTSI7R SYSTEM. 131 

REPORT, 

That having given the subject prayerful consideration, they are 
prepared to approve the system as one wisely adapted, under exist- 
ing circumstances, to the spiritual wants of these neglected classes. 
They constitute a large and rapidly increasing portion of our popu- 
lation, and afford one of the widest and most promising fields for 
evangelical effort. And the present is a momentous period in their 
history, calling loudly for the utmost exertions for their salvation. 

.The Committee will only add some of the reasons for their full 
and deep conviction, not only of the propriety of the system of coU 
portage in general, but of its peculiar adaptation to the classes 
named, and the incalculable importance of carrying it out as 
Ailly and as speedily as possible. ^ . ^ 

1. There is a great want of German ministers, even to supply 
the ehnrches already formed. It is impossible to occupy and do 
justice to half the ground, with only the German preachers now in 
the field. 

2. There are many places, even in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir- 
ginia, and Ohio, to say nothing of the Far West, where there are no 
churches, and where an evangelical -German minister is scarcely 
ever found ; and though the Institutions of the German Churches are 
rapidly rising, and prbmise to do much in preparing a pious minis- 
try, it will require years before an adequate supply can be furnished. 

3^ This system will be a most powerful auxiliary to the evangeli- 
cal German ministry. A better day is dawning upon the German 
churches ; a pious and laborious ministry exists in many places ; a 
deeper interest is beginning to be felt in the cause of benevolence, 
and revivals of religion have been enjoyed in different sections. But 
the amount of evangelical instruction is totally inadequate. Pious 
ministers, then, so far as any thing is known of this system, do and 
wUl regard it as an iniestimable blessing from God, and hail it as 
one of their greatest and best auxiliaries. 

4, Where there are no churches or ministers — and there are 
many and extensive sections of country where there are none— the 
system of cplpbrtage seems indispensable. There are thousands of 
German families who very seldom, if ever, get to the house of God. 
Perhaps they live ten, fifteen or twenty miles from a place of wor- 
ship. Ii^to these destiti^te families your Colporteur enters ; he leaves 
among them your Volumes and Tracts in the German language. 
When he is gone the publications are read again and again; and 
<m the Sabbath they supply in a meavite \]bL^ "vraxkX ^^ "^x^^^xa^^ 



132 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

5. The system is admirably calculated to prepare these waste 
places for the institutions of the Grospel. It is like John the Bap- 
tist, "preparing the way of the Lord." If ministers are sent forth, 
as they must and will be, to organize churches in what are now 
desolations, will they not be aided, and bless God for the agency of 
your Society, in placing Baxter, Bunyan, Doddridge, Page, &c. 
among the families, with the fruits that will be manifest in souls 
converted and believers strengthened? 

For the foregoing and other reasons the Committee would urge 
a rapid increase in the number of colporteurs for the Grerman popu- 
lation, that the millions of that people who have come and are com- 
ing to this christian land may be blessed with the personal influ- 
ence of godly men, and the light that shines from the pages of Gros- 
pel writings. 

Conversion of Romanists and other Errorists. 

The other topic referred to the Committee, claims a moment's at- 
tention. The Conmiittee believe that the Colporteur System has a 
decided advantage over almost every other mode of doing good to 
^^ Komanists and other errorists." In some respects it has an ad- 
vantage even over the pulpit : for prejudices against it as a secta- 
rian effort can hardly be awakened. The Books and Tracts are in 
the true sense " Catholic," and exhibit the peculiarities of no de- 
nomination. They will be read by those who cannot be induced to 
hear Protestant preachers of any denomination. Romanists, too, will 
read these publications when they cannot read the Bible, which 
their priests may prohibit. 

There can t)e no doubt that thousands of errprists may be reach- 
ed in this way, who can be reached in no other. And if wc may 
judge from tbe blessed results of even the limited efforts made 
by the Society thus far, the conclusion is a safe one, that great 
numbers of a class hitherto little cared for may be reclaimed, and, 
by the blessing of God, saved through the system under consi- 
deration. 

Thursday t 10 A, M, — The Rev. I^r. Milaor in the chair. 
Prayer by Rev. Mr. Bingham, of the Sandwich Islands. The 
morning was wholly occupied with Documents and Reports, 
which have been inserted above, in the order of the subjects. 

Thursday, 4 P. M. — After prayer by Rev. Dr. Patton, the fol- 
lowing paper was presented by Rev. Mr. Cook, and referred 
to tht Ezecnttye Committee for pnblication. 



EVERT CHRISTIAN A MISSIONARY. 133 



DOCUMENT VIII. 



Every Christian a Misslouary. 

What does the Church expect of her Missionary to the 
Heathen? She expects him, in a word, to be a living 
" Epistle of Christ, isnown and read of all men." -She sends 
him forth among those who have no knowledge of a Sa- 
vior, or of the purifying power of his salvation ; the mis- 
sionary is to teach the one and exemplify the other. She 
sends him to those who are hastening to death and the judg- 
ment, yet ignorant of their danger, and unprepared to meet 
it : the missionary is to labor with untiring zeal to '^ snatch 
them as brands from the burning." He is to be content, pro- 
vided only ^^ his bread be given him and his water be 
sure," without a care for the superfluities of life ; he is to 
rise^above weakness and weariness, to trust God in the 
midst of discouragements, to submit cheerfully to self-de- 
nial in all the varied forms which it may assume to one who 
is self-exiled among a heathen population, and to " count 
not his life dear to himself," unto the end. He is not only 
to be " blameless and harmless, without rebuke," but to 
"hold forth the word of life," to labor in season and out of 
season for the salvation of the perishing, and to cease not, 
while life remain^, to " warn every one night and day with 
tears." 

Such is the standard which the Church sets up for her 
missionary ; and although she knows that oppressed as he 
is by the infirmities and imperfections of his nature, he does 
not in all things fully attain to it, she would yet pronounce 
him unworthy of his station should he aim at any thing 
less. She would be shocked to hear of his devoting his 
time and energies to the accumulation of property, even 
though it were to be professedly consecrated to Christ; or 
of his living in the midst of ihe perishing without the most 



134 DELIBEltATIVS MEETINC^. 

Strenuous^ systematic, persevering effort to bring every soul, 
accessible to his influence, to the Savior. The Church is 
right in this ; the word of God sanctions it all. 

Has the Church adopted the same standard for her own 
piety as that to which she expects her missionary to at- 
tain? We do but propose the question; let individual ob- 
servation and individual conscience answer. Who and how 
many in the whole American Church have consecrated all 
they have and are to the cause of Christ with such simpli- 
city and entireness of devotion as they expect from the fo- 
reign missionary 1 Who and how many feel «nd manifest 
such interest for the welfare of individual souls, in the dai- 
ly intercourse of life, as they expect the missionary to show 
for every poor heathen whom his kind exhortation may in 
any way be made to reach ? Who and how many live habi« 
tually in such faithful discharge of christian duty to the 
souls of men, that, a call to a foreign field of labor would not 
send them to their closets with the mournful confession and 
lamentation, " Mine own vineyard have I not kept ?" The 
eye of God doubtless sees some — it is to be hoped, many 
such ; but is it not a serious question how far this is the 
prevailing spirit of the Church of Christ ? 

Why should there not be one and the same standard of 
consecration for the christian abroad and the christian at 
home 7 Each professes to be actuated by the spirit of Christ ; 
without it, they " are none of his ;" but " is Christ divided ?" 
Is the cross to rest unequally upon those who claim to be 
following in his footsteps of humility and suffering ? Are 
the souls of men less precious because they live and di« 
within the very shadow of our churches, or people the fo- 
rests and prairies of our own native land ? Is there small 
need to care for those who, if they perish, will sink under a 
weight of condemnation which the heathen can never suf- 
fer — that of living where they might have heard the Gospel, 
and yet neglecting it ? 

Two or three reasons may be mentioned why the stand- 
ard of christian effort for every follower of the Savior 
should be the highest ever proposed to the foreign mis- 
sionary, 

1. It will bring peculiar glor^ to Christ, and bear an unan- 



BYERT CHRISTIAN A MIS8I0MART. 135 

swerable witness for him in the hearts of' men. He is not 
honored by mere external acts of devotion ; the veriest Pha- 
risee may excel in these ; nor by deeds of splendid benefi- 
cence — mere vanity may prompt them ; nor by outward 
acts of self-denial and austerity — the poor pagan can show 
as^ good ; but the test which he himself proposes is this, 
"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; 
so shall ye be my disciples." There is a daily beauty in 
the consecrated life of a consistent christian when the love 
and compassion of Christ beam from the eye and modulate 
the voice, and prompt to sincerely kind efibrts for the good 
of every, being within the sphere of his influence, which 
the world can neither gainsay nor resist. 

2. It will pre-eininently fit the soul for the enjoyment of 
heaven. What a diminution of happiness must there be to him 
who is^put saved — ** so as by fire !" — to him who enters 
the pearly gates alone — none there to welcome him, saved 
by his instrumentality ; none to follow him, led thither by 
his efibrts and prayers ! Blessed will be the eternity of a 
Whitefield or a Doddridge — as its rolling ages continually 
swell the accumulating tide of hallowed influences exerted 
by them on earth, and which must flow on for ever in a 
widening, deepening, brightening current. To those who 
have " turned many to righteousness " is that jewelled pro- 
mise given, ^^ They shall shine as the stars for ever and 
ever." ^ 

3. By such instrumentality is the world to be converted 
to God. It is his appointed agency, owned and blessed of 
him in all past time, and to be employed hereafter with a 
universality of application and a mighty efficacy, through 
God, for the salvation of souls, of which the Church has as 
yet scarcely a conception. The pen of prophecy has recorded, 
" And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and 
every man his brother, saying. Enow the Lord ; for all shall 
know him from the least of them unto the greatest of them." 
Does not this declaration recognize the agency of which we 
speak — employed through all future time, until, by the bless- 
ing of God upon the seed "sown beside all waters," the 
harvest of the world shall have been gathered unto Christ ? 



136 DELIBESATIVB MESIIH6. 

Blessed and glorious will be that consummation ; the Lord 
hasten it in His time i 

The principle involved in this paper is one that nuu 
through all the departments of effort in which the Society 
is engaged. The Colporteur System is but its embodiment, 
in endeavors to reach the population beyond the pale of in- 
fluence from organized churches, and in waste places where 
no professing christians are found, or where, through lack 
of vital piety, they are but as salt having lost its savor. 
The Volume Circulation has called out at least 25,000 
christians in different parts of the country, to exemplify 
this principle and prove its blessedness by their own expe- 
rience in temporary missionary service. The same principle 
is recognized in Foreign DistribiUion as carried forward 
by the ' missionaries and their nati?e helpers; a beaotifiil 
illustration of which is furnished in a recent letter of Rev. 
Mr. Dwight at Constantinople. Speaking of the converted 
Armenians, he says, ^^ Every man here who comes to the 
knowledge of the truth, becomes himself at once a missionr 
ary, and his influence is very important." 

The system of Tract Visitation also carries this princi- 
ple into most effective operation, and affords peculiar facili- 
ties for its systematic adaptation to the wants of the destitute 
and neglected in the vicinity of all our organized churches. 
It is of easy application in every place where there are 
christians who can unite in efforts to save their fellow-men. 
It places the responsibility of visiting personally a given 
number of families, on some one individual, who is expected, 
in connection with the distribution of appropriate Tracts, to 
do all that may be done by religious conversation and pray- 
er, gathering children into Sabbath Schools, and every 
other suitable means which his heart can devise, to bring 
his part of the field under complete moral cultivation. The 
energies of the Church thus developed, the influence of active 
piety thus diffused, would by the blessing of God do much, 
in addition to the labors of the ministry, towards rendering 
these desolate regions as the garden of the Lord. 

There is a demonstration of the feasibility and power of 
this agency in the history of the New-York City Tract 
Mission, and other efforts of the kind in various cities and 



SVEBT CHfilSTIAN A MISSI0MAB7. 137 

towns throughout the land. It is worthy the inquiry of the 
Board whether the more general extension of this system 
through the country might not aid greatly in conveying the 
knowledge of Christ to thousands of destitute and unevange- 
lized families, who, without the intervention of some such 
agency, must perish for lack of vision. 

F. A. PERKD^S, Esq. of Norwich, Conn, paid an instnictive and 
interesting tribate to the memory, of Sarah Lanman Hontington, af- 
terwards wife of Rev. Eli Smith, missionary to Syria, who, he said, 
exhibited more perfectly than any other christian that he had ever 
known, the symmetry of christian character. All the powers of 
her mind and the affections of her heart were employed in efforts to 
do good until she ceased to breathe. Before she indulged a hope in 
Christ, she was active as a Sabbath-school teacher, and when she 
made a profession of religion she seemed to make an entire conse- 
cration of herself to the cause of Christ. When the system of Tract 
distribution was introduced, she was one of the first to engage in it, 
and though the amount of good she accomplished may never be 
known, there are results which may be told. Mr. P. knew of one 
man, a skeptic, tOiWhom she gave Tracts, which she always accom- 
panied with a word of advice and prayer for^ and if permitted, with 
those to whom they were given. In this cage the result was the 
conversion of the man and his wife. In these labors she was un- 
tiring and faithful. It was this spirit that led her for years to de- 
vote herself to the instruction of the children of the Mohegan vil- 
lage ; submittipg to great self-denials to prosecute her work ; thus 
becoming a christian missionary in fact, long before she was one in 
name ; until the door was opened for her to go out to a foreign land. 
We all know how she labored there, and how she died. The same 
principle that prompted her efforts here, inspired her there, until her 
physical powers were exhausted under the impulses of her mind and 
heart. And can we doubt the effect if every christian female would 
take up the cross and follow her as she followed Christ ? 

Letter from Rev, John C Backus, Baltimore, Md. 

" I regret that it will not be in my power to attend the meeting 
called to consult on the best means of promoting the Tract cause. I 
feel the deepest interest in the whole enterprise — especially the vo- 
lume circulation and Tract distribution at home. Having witnessed 
the effects of these efforts, I feel convinced that, while they afford a 
most useful and ianctifying employment to church members, they are 



138 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. * 

most important aim2mrte< to the christian ministiy; tone of the belt 
«it6</t/«/e^ where the ministry of the word cannot .be enjoyed} and 
inyaluable pUmeers to the living preacher in destitute places. I feel 
truly anxious that you should be guided aright, and should be happy 
to be present and listen to the suggestions and counsels of fathers 
and brethren who have been called together. I will hope to catch 
something of the spirit of the meeting, and pray that a fresh impulse 
may be given to the cause^.'' 

Rev. Mr. Hallock, Secretary, presented the following 
paper : 



»W^W^^^^^^V^^%^^>^/^^W^^\^^^^^^S^^^^^>AA/S^^%^ 



DOCUMENT IX. 

Relations of the Society to Foreign liUid** 

The primarj inquiry in this connection is perhaps, 
What are the Divinely appointed methods of spreading 
the Gospel ? 

Not to extend remarks to topics foreign to the present 
occasion, three of these methods lie upon the very &ce of 
the New Testament: the public heralding o( the Gospel; 
Evangelizing by other means, as in labors from house to 
house; and truth written and read — all to be accompa- 
nied with prayer, and efficacious only through the bless- 
ing of the Holy Spirit. 

1. That the public heralding of the Gospel, so often 
practised by Christ and the Apostles, and so prominent a 
means by which the Gospel is now diffused in all chris- 
tian lands, is one of the Divinely appointed methods, re- 
quires no confirmation ; while there is occasion for un- 
bounded thanksgiving that the pulpit is so ably supplied. 



ESLAXIONt or TIXE SOCIETY TO FOBEIOM LAMPS. 1S9 

and the devout wbh that the Gospel, so faithfully pro- 
claimed, may hring forth more fruit in the active devoted 
lives of them who hear. 

2. That other methods of Evangelizing, or making 
known the Gk)spel ** from house to house,'' by the way 
side, and wherever individuals are to be met, have equally 
the Divine sanction, is plain to every attentive reader of 
the New Testament, especially in the original, where 
evangelizo, the prevalent term for publishing the joyful 
message, or *' Glad tidings," has not the restricted mean- 
ing now usually attached to the term preach ; but is ap- 
pUeiblo to the means employed by all the followers of 
ChTUl^ each in his proper sphere, in bringing men to the 
knowledge of his name. How far the neglect of this 
divinely enjoined co-operation with the ministry brings a 
blight upon the churches ; and what blessings might be 
expected were all their members to imitate the fidelity of 
primitive days, are questions worthy of attention by all 
to whom the interests of the churches are especially 
committed. 

That much of the labors of our Lord when on earth, of 
the seventy disciples, the twelve apostles and the eloquent 
Paul were of this less public, evangelizing character, 
every attentive reader of the Bible well knows. 

That others besides the apostles took part in spreading 
the great Salvation is equally clear. The first spreading 
of the Gospel of the ascended Redeemer was by "the 
church at Jerusalem^ as they were **all scattered abroad 
except "ihe Apostles," " and went every where preaching 
the word.V " The saints at Philippi " " shone as light in 
the world, holding forth the word of life." Whosoever 
" heareth '* is enjoined to repeat the message and " say, 
Come." 

Indeed it is clear that the New Testament (surely with- 
out intrenching on the prerogatives of the public minis* 
try) devolves on every individual christian a solemn re* 



140 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

sponsibility, both to exemplify and exert a personal in- 
fluence upon others for the Gospel of Christ, in every re- 
lation he can sustain. He must '*let hm light shine be- 
fore men," and be himself *• an Epistle " of Christ ; talk- 
ing of him " as he sitteth in the house, or walketh by the 
way, or lieth down, or riseth u^." The Scriptures are 
full of injunctions to fidelity to the souls of men, and to be 
"always abounding" in the work of the Lord. In the 
decisions of the judgment day, he that has buried his one 
talent and has not visited Christ in his members, must 
hear the sentence, " Depart, ye cursed." The example of 
all Scripture saints rebukes our prevailing sluggishness : 
the Marys and the Lydias were " helpers in Christ 
Jesus ;" the woman of Samaria could not refrain from 
saying, *' Come see the man that told me all things that 
ever I did; is not this the Christ?" and blind Bartimeus 
and little children could shout his praise. 

3. That truth toritten and read is a Divinely authorized 
means, the very parchment that contains all other Divine 
injunctions, speaks as with a thousand tongues, even if 
the finger of God had never written on tables of stone, or 
there were no assertion that "all Scripture is profitable," 
and no command to " give attendance to reading " and 
dig as for hid treasures in these sacred mines. And if 
such was the value thus Divinely attached to this means 
of grace, when to obtain copies was so difficult, what is 
now the obligation to employ the press with its thousand 
tongues and facilities passing belief to them of old — the 
first printed copies exhibited by Mentz at Paris in 1457, 
having well nigh cost him his life for the sin of witchcraft. 

All these means of diffusing the Gospel must doubtless 
be employed, whether in our own or pagan lands, if we 
would gain the highest success. We have not only the 
warrant, but the solemn obligation laid on us, as we have 
opportunity, to use them all; and we can omit or over- 
look no one but at peril. It is the glory of our day that 



MMUmOMU Of THK 80CIITT TO FOESIGK LAKM. 141 

the dumhes recognize all thefe means, and are in some 
measare employing them, both for their own edification 
and communicating the light of life to every creature. 
The commissioned .minister not only lifls up his voice in 
the pulpit, but preaches the Gospel in the catechetical 
class, in the pastoral visit, by personal example, and 
through the press. Other officers of the church co-oper- 
ate in ihese latter methods ; and the conscience of chris- 
tians generally is waking to the duty of being individual- 
ly ^usefaL Our great benevolent Institutions are founded 
on these principles : planting the ministry at home and 
abroad ; rearing men called to the sacred office ; and dif- 
fosing the Bible and truth in every form on the printed 
page, accompanied by the prayerful efibrts of the christian 
and coif oritur. 

The providing of an adequate ministry for all the pre- 
sent generation of men appears to be, under the ordina- 
ry dispensations of Providence and grace, impossible. A 
large portion of all on earth must go down to death with- 
out ever hearing of Christ by this means ; and it becomea 
a serious question how far the churches are bound to 
employ other divinely authorized means in co-operation 
with the ministry where it exists, and to prepare the way 
for it where it does not, and in some degree meet the spi- 
ritual wants of the perishing. What can be done by the 
rasss-— already pouring out its floods of licentiousness 
and sin — by thb Evamoblical prbss, accompanied by 
the labors of christians, and where necessary, by Colpor- 
teurs, or distributing Agents % 

Consideration has rise where been given to this subject 
as applicable ta our own country — how far may it apply 
to PAGAN LANPSi whsro there is yet scarcely one ordained 
preacher to a million souls % 

In commencing foreign missionary operations at any 
station, there can be of course, even were the language 
acquired,, no regular public heralding of the Gospel lo 



142 DELIB£RATiyS MEETING* 

great cangregations ; for pagans love their darkness and 
will not assemble to hear. The labors must of necessity 
be of the other classes above described — from house t^ 
house, with individual by individual, by the wayside or in 
places of public resort, with children in schools, in any 
and every way, till prejudices are subdued and congrega- 
tions can be assembled. 

The same must be true of all joining a mission as re- 
ipforcements until the language is thoroughly acquired, 
whether it be for one year, or ^ve^ or during life; and 
equally true of all native converts and native preachers, 
who though they know the language, have yet imperfectly 
learned the GospeL That to all these, well-written and 
clear exhibitions of Gospel truth are- an indispensable aid, 
is the united testimony of experience in the Missionary 
work. 

And the able disciplined Missionary , who has mastered 
the language, needs the press ' at every step of his pro- 
gress. In it he perpetuates the exposition of truth, which 
otherwise, at his death, could never be gathered up; He 
thus places in the hands of Missionaries who have not 
acquired the language, and of native preachers, teachers, 
catechists and inquirers, ihe best helps to their own ac- 
quisitions, and what in their endeavors for others they 
may read and explain or give, in connection with the 
stammering words they speak. Many a pagan has felt, 
when first taking into his hands a portion of the word of 
God, that he had now a fou sta — something definite and 
tangible that he could study and investigate as to the true 
religion. The Mission Schools must be taught, like all 
our seminaries, from the highest to the lowest, chiefly 
through the press. Every visit and tour for extending 
the operations of the mission needs this accompaniment, 
and by it the Missionary gives a portion of truth to thou- 
sands whom his voice cannot reach — thus creating a mo- 
ral atmosphere, and preparing the way of the Lord. In- 



HSIiATIOIfB OF TraS 80CIBTT TO F0BBI6N LANDS. 143 

dispensable tfaea as is the press at the outset of missionary 
labors* its influence accumulateij as in christian lands« 
with every advance of the great work, and must go on 
accumulating till all shall know the Lord. 

Does any one say that "the Missionary is sent forth* 
not to print, but to ' preach the Gospef ?' '' Let the objec- 
tion be intelligently made. Did not Paul '* preach the 
Gospel" in his Epistle to the Romans; and mny not the 
Missionary, in translating it into another tongue? And 
when he multiplies the best sermon he has preached ia 
tea thousand copies, is he not preaching the Gospel in the 
sense of the New Testament? Let us not be wise above 
what is written. Yea, he is bound to use all the appro* 
priate means which the providence and Spirit of God have 
pointed out. 

But may not the Missionary give the press a dispro- 
poriionate attention? Doubtless; and thus his error be as 
great as to neglect it, or to confine himself to publie 
preaching, or labors by the wayside, to the neglect of both. 

It is believed that the import of the objection, if distinctly 
stated, would be this : ** that the Missionary is hot spiritual 
enoujfh, and does not bring his efibrts to bear directly on 
individual souU^ — alas, that' any who make the objection 
should all their lives have neglected the same duty. We 
believe th^t no class of labors, abroad or at home, so be- 
nefit the heart i|s perafonal endeavors for individual souls; 
and it is also truis that the press, while its^ care may en* 
gross some precious hours, may be the greatest incitement 
and kelp to hundreds in this particular class of labor. The 
Tract is their letter of introduction ; it furnishes the occa- 
sion ^for going to men, and the topic of conversation, and h 
often itself blessed. All experience in christian, and papal, 
ifnd pagan lands, shows that Tracts and Books are ihe 
best auxiliary- to personal effort for the souls of itien* 
Take care, then, lest by stopping the press you quench the 
very spark which yoa would fkn into a flame. 



144 nSLlBEIilTITB 1CESTIR9* 

The question of (ha proportion cf aihniion to be girea 
to the press at each foreign Mission station, this Society 
refers wholly to the wisdom of the great and belored Mis- 
sionary Institutions with which it is its privilege to co- 
operate— r^consul ting them as to the amount needed^ remit- 
ting through their hands, and conforrbing to their wishes ^ 
that the direction of each mission may be one and unem- 
barrassed, while this Society, in collecting its funds, hn$ 
the missionary flame, and then poors its tributary streams 
in a hundred channels as the Lord has need of them. 

Each mission proceeds to issue whatever it deems best 
adapted to the people, never requesUd by this Society to 
foiikhoJd even its denominational petiiliarities^ But the 
foreign missionary leaves home and country mainly that 
he may oppose idolatry and sin, and preach '' Christ cru- 
cified;'' and probably ninetenths of all the Tracts and 
Books that have been issued, accord with the principles of 
this Society* To these, as reported on and approved by 
the Publishing^ Committee, this Society's pecuniary grants 
are applied — about 1700 publications, including nearly 
150 volumeS) having been already approved abroad in 
nearly 100 languages and dialects; and of $236,000, the 
total sum remitted, about $200,000 having been already 
reported as used fot approved publications. 

Pursuing these principles, questions pertaining to the 
ordinances or church government do not prevent the har- 
mony of the Institution. If any publication contains a de- 
nominational sentiment or term, the expense of it is borne 
by others, while the Society's grants are applied to those 
in which the Committee agree. These grants, too, are 
dispersed on the broadest principle of benevolence, as if 
they wete, what they claim to be, the Treasury of the Lord, 
and io be used just where the tvants of the perishing and 
the glory of the Redeemer seem most urgently to demand. 

^It should be remarked in closing, that nomiiutty 
fhristian eountfies make large dcoMnds on tfaia Society; 



KBLATION8 Of TBX 80CI1TY TO FOfiEIGN LAKOS. Ii5 

«8 Rassia, wkere no Missionary is allowed to preach in 
the native tongue, and on the other hand no infidel hook 
escapes the censor's hand, bat a cordial welcome is given 
to the evangelical press ; S w€;den and Finland, where none 
who cannot read are permitted to approach the rite of mar- 
riage; and Germany, France and Switzerland, where 
«oaije American Missionaries and the Foreign Evangeli- 
cal Society are assisting feeble charches, pastors, evange« 
lists and Colporteurs in their struggles to rekindle the 
expiring light of the Reformation, and to restore an, evan- 
gelical literature, which the rage of popery and infidelity 
so nearly exterminated. Some feeble efforts also extend to 
unhappy Spain, Portugal, Italy, South America and other 
foreign fields, while the Society pray the Lord of the har* 
Test to open doors of access to these nations, and '* over- 
turn, and overturn, until He shall come whose right it is." 

This Document was referred to a Committee oontiitiDg of 
Rev. William J. Armstrong, D. D. Rev. John A. Vaughan,. 
D. D. Rer. John C. Lowrie, and Rev. £. Tucker, who reported 
a reeonunendatioh that it be adopted and published under the 
direction of the Executive Committee, which was sanctioned 
by the Board. 

In presenting the Report Dr. Armstrong expressed his sense 
of the propriety and importance of this enterprise, and gave 
utterance to the warm emotions of his heart in behalf of the 
press and every other department of labor for the perishing 
millions of our lost world. 

letter from Rev. S. Peck, Secretary of the Baptist Muiionary 

Boards Boston, 

** I am sorry not to be with yoa ia yoar approaching meeting. 
My heart will be with you, and my best prayers that yoa may devise 
and execute worthily. The noble liberality of your Society to oar 
Board claims oar hearty gratitude; and aside iromthis, your aims 
and measures, and fll tha( we know of you, eonrmand our confi- 
dence and warm approval, and are entitled to our cordial co-opera* 



146 ' DBLlBSSATnrB MEETING. 

lion. I feel a special intereit in belialf of tile home department/ 
What will save oar country if the^instmm^ntaUty of yOnr Society 
Ihil or slacken 1" 

Letter from Rev. Rufus Anderson^ D, D. Secretary of the 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Boston, 

^ I need not say that I. feel an Jncreasin^: interest in your great 
department of christian charity. The YsAume distribution lUone is 
of immense ii^portance to our country — an anxiliary of inconceiv- 
able value to the living ministry of th^ word. The more I think of 
it, the more do I desire to see the whole body of onr christian peo- 
ple engaged in efforts to place the Society's Volumes in every family 
that will receive them. w> 

^ But it becomes me rather to speak of foreign lands. Th^ letter 
from Rev. Mr. Adger> written ai Constantinople, which you pro- 
bably received on Saturday, is a very striking exhibition of the caU 
ibr religious Tracts and Books in one of our missions. I think the 
necessity (or such helps is steadily increasing in most of the mis- 
sions—the difficulty is to multiply the missionaries fast enough to 
supply the also increasing demand for the preaching of the Gospel, 
and yet have time enough for preparing theuBooks and Tracts for 
the press. On these and all other points vital to the spiritual illu- 
mination of the world, let us ery aloud, and spare not, and lift Up 
•ur voicM like trumpsts. 

** I trust you will have a numerous attendance, and what will be 
far better, and indeed of indispensable necessity, the presence and 
blessing of the Holy Spirit." . 

Letter from Rev. Justin P«rfetn«, Missionary from the Nestorians. 

** I trust I need not assure you of our deep interest in the success 
of your Society. We are too deeply indebted for its past aid, and too 
dependent on its future beneficence, to look with indifference on its 
general prosperity and the result of the special meeting in prospect. 
The operations of the Press, at our Mission, and most other Mis- 
lions under the care of the American Board, and moite or less of 
other Boards, must of course be crippled, should joix pecuniary 
appropriations be ctt off; and what a calamity a general interrup- 
tion of that kind would bring upon the Missions^ithd what dark- 
ness and death shade upon the famishing heathen among whom the 
leaves of the tree of life have just began to fall, I need not attempt 



1£L1TI01I8 or TBB 80CUSTT TO FO&IIOM LANDS. 147 

to describe. I much regret that both the Bishop and myself camiot 
be with yoa to bear our feeble testimony to the momentous import- 
ance of your operations in foreign lands. We will at least try to 
Jidp you by our prayers. He who has graven Zion upon the palms 
of his hands wiU, we tmst, be with you and preside in your meeting ; 
and knowing as He does the value of Tract instrumentality at home 
and abroad In the advancement of his kingdom, we believe ^e will 
crown your meeting with a manife6t blessing. 

**I am greatly encouraged with the success of Mr; Homan Hal- 
lock in preparing our Syriac (or Nestorian) type. He astonishes me 
by thfe perfectness of his execution. I am occasionally with him to 
aid him as he needs assistance." 

Lttterfrom Rev. H, R. Hoisingion, Missionary from Ceylon. 

^ I feel that I could enter into your cause with all my heart) and 
perhaps could say something on the point of foreign distribtition \ 
bat the state of my family detains me, and the Lord*s ways are th« 
best." 

letter from Rev. John Scudder, missionary from Madras, 

dated New-York, Oct, 25. 

**It has pleased my heavenly Father to lay me aside from all 
active duty for the present. Of course I shaU be unable to render 
you any assistance at your approaching meetings. Indeed I shall 
be prevented from attending them altogether. This, ai you may 
trfuppose, is a severe trial, since no missionary of the Cross is perhaps 
. under^greater obligations to your noble Society than myself. Per- 
haps few have distributed so many of your publications. For several 
years, as you know, after going to Madras, I took long tours among 
the people, one design of which was to distribute these publications, 
and every year confirmed me in the belief that the work was a 
blessed work. 

** The grand ol>ject of the missionary is to preach the Gospel. 
But he does not find an enlightened people, who from earliest child- 
hood have been ^miliar with the truths which he proclaims. He 
preaches to men of bepighted minds, who are at first but little able 
to comprehend what they hear. Hence the necessity of some means 
to bring it Again and again to their mrnds, to make the Tract the 
companion of their solitary hours, to furnish themes for their medi- 
tations and social conversations, and thus to secure a constant re- 
membrance of what they, have heard, which God's Spirit may render 
effectual to their salvation. 



348 DSLIBIBATI7A l^STING, 

^ In a heftthen land fhe people do not flock to m to hear the 6o8* 
X>el t we mnst go to them, we mnst seek tkem oat in the highways 
and the hedges, in the lanes and in the streets, we mast speak a woi^ 
here and a word there. And often at th^ir temple Xestivals we mecft 
those who come from distant parts of th^ country, and who may 
never hear the Gospel bat once. ' These we may neyer see again', 
bnt we can give them a Tract which silently shall impart tmths, 
oyer which while they ponder, they may learn the Gospel scheme 
of Salvation. 

*^Yonr publications prore a great comfwt to your missionaries in 
their labors. If ader preaching the Gospel to the heathen, they are 
able to leave one of them in their possession, their hopes are greatly 
strengthened that their labors will not be in vain. The missionary 
often blesses God lor yonr Society, and prays ibr its enlarged action^ 
When his voice fails, and his strength wanes, still he can distribute 
the printed word, and he knows by experience the might of the 
press in battling with the institutions of idolatry. He knows its 
energies and the vast controlling instrumentality which it exerts* 
Yonr publications also prove a great stimulus to hiin to go forward 
in his tours. I mnst siiy that could I not have availed myself 
of them, as weU as those of the Bible Society, I think I should 
have taken bnt comparatively few of these toiirs.^^ 
«* Dr. Scndder proceeds to state a number of interesting facts, show- 
ing that Tracts haira been evidently Uessed in the eonvenion af 
.many souls. 

Tlixvnday^ 7 P. M. The closing meetisg was one of 
deep and solemn interest. After prayer by Rev* Mr. Holmes^ 
Mr. Hallock, Secretary, presented the following docamtnt, 
which was adopted, and referred for poblicatlon, vis. 



PINAIICUL OOMDinOlf OF TBI •OCIITT. 149 



DOCUMENT X. 



Tbe Financial Condition and If eceMltlct of tbo Soelety, 

This Society, in all ita principles, and it ia beliered, in 
its proceediaga, has been truly a benevolent loatitutien. 
From the first, it adopted the principle of making no profit 
on its sales; and an examination of the actual reaalts for 
fifteen years has shovrn that the total receipts ibr publica- 
tiona sold did not equal the total cost of issuing the same 
by U per cent Applications for grants of publications for 
the destitute, where there seemed a reasonable prospect of 
usefulness, ha^e never been denied ; and these gratuitous 
issues novr amount to about $10,000 annually. The So- 
ciety has also struggled to meet the cells of Providence 
from foreign and pagan lands ; its foreign pecuniary grants 
amounting in all to $236,500, 

The Institution is still endeavoring to promote both mis* 
cellaneous and systematic Tract distribution, according to 
all the wants of men, within our own borders, on the 
ocean, or at the most distant port and island of the globe. 
It is attempting to supply all our accessible, and especially 
our more destitute population with volumes ; to arouse 
christians to faithful effort for the souls of men in connec- 
tion with the dispersion of both volumes and Tracts; and 
to effect the object by sending into the more destitute coun- 
ties the fiiithful colporteur to call out the co-operation of 
christians, and seek to convey to every family one or more 
of the Society's publications by sale or gift. It is aiding 
the feeble churches of Europe in their struggles to revive 
a pure Christianity ; and lends a compassionate ear to 

8» 



ISO DELIBERATXTB KESTING. ' 

every call for the perishing — in the countries around the 
Mediterran^n ; in Africa ; in India ; in China — in what- 
ever land or clime men are found who may thu9 be 
blessed* 

THE society's WANTS. 

It was estimated in the resolutions of the Society at the 
J^st Anniversary, that it would need to employ at least 
$40,000 for our own country, and $40,000 for foreign and 
pagan lands during the current year. Its operational are 
10 progress both at hom« and abroad, with evidence per- 
hapa never before equalled of the smiles and blessing 
of Qod ; — ^and shall it be told that the total donatipnef re- 
ceived during the first half of the Society's current year 
were but $9533 32 exclusive of legacies, the latter having 
in the kind providence of God amounted to nearly an 
equal sum ; that the total >receipts for fpreign distribution 
in the same period were but $1510 86; and that the So- 
ciety's receipts are short of meeting dues to the present 
time by upwards of $5Q00. 

Nor is this merely a sudden or. transient diminution of 
receipts. The donations to the Society which for five 
years ending in 1839 had iaveraged $56,000 annually, 
fell in the two succeeding years to $41,000 ; and the last 
year to $35,000 ; and the Society's foreign grants^ which 
for seven years had averaged upwards of $26,000, fel) the 
last year to $15,000. 

The. Committee need not speak of the pain it has given 
them thus to 6urtail the amounts expected by our self-de- 
nying and devoted missionaries and other laborers abroad. 
To Rev. Mr. Rule in Spain, who expected $300, and has 
expended the whole, the Committee were able to remit 
nothing. To the Society at Toulouse, intimately asso- 
ciated with friends constituting the American Swiss Com- 
mittee in Qeoeva, and who are laboring to supply France 



PINANOUL CONDITION OF THS 80CI£TT. 151 

with evangelical volumes, they were able to send but $500, 
instead of $1000 expected. To the Paris Religious Tract 
•Society ; the Societies at Strasbourg, Galw, and Barmen j 
and to the Prussian Tract Society who labor for Hungary, 
the Bohemians, Wendes and Poles, all of whom expected 
$1300* the Committee were able to send nothing. To 
friends in Russia who expected $2000, they were able to 
send but $1000. To the three missions in Qreece $1000 
instead of 2300. To the mission in Turkey $1500 in- 
stead of $2500. To the missions amoflg the Mabrattas, 
only the small sum of $600. To IV^adura and Madras 
#1300 instead of $2500. To O^issa but 8500, one half 
of the sum proposed. To the Generaf-A^sembly's Mis- 
sions in Northern India and to China $2000 instead of 
$3000. To Burmah #800 instead of $1500. To the 
missions in Siam #1200 instead of 1800. To Java and 
Borneo nothing. To the Sandwich Islands #1000 in* 
«tead of^ $1500. In all but $15,000, where $30,000 were 
evidently needed. 

The missions to the Mahrattas, nearly one year since, 
had used all the funds committed to them, and stopped 
their presses. The mission to Turkey, occupying stations 
at Smyrna, Constantinople, Broosa, Trebizond, and Erze- 
Toum, in August last, had exceeded the total grants from 
the Society by about $1500; aiid their aflfecting plea for 
immediate remittances, that they may go on preparing ali- 
ment, especially for the Armenians, whom Qod is so much 
blessing by his Spirit, will be laid before, the Board. Bqt 
the Society has no means to meet the claims of either. 
The sum of $300, voted for the Lower Saxony Tract So- 
ciety at Hamburg, whose Depdt and stereotype plates were 
consumed in the late conflagration in that city, the Society 
have been unable yet to remit. 

The Committee ask the Board and friends assembled if 
these requests shall still be denied ? and how the Society 
•hall obtain means to meet them ! Are we» as a people, de.- 



152 BBLIBBEATIVt XBITIXO. - 

prived of erery comfort, and every lazuryi and ercn the 
meant of eub8i8tence« that the spread of the Gospel of our 
dying Lord must thus be hindered t Shall onr benero- 
lence thus cease to flow, and our ears be closed to the cry 
of the perishing ? Cannot something be done? Must we 
appear before God in judgment with garments thus red 
with the blood of souls 1 

A full triewof the subject requires the Committee to 
state, that while th^y beliere the Society never had more 
fully the confidence of Erangelical pastors* churches, and 
christians generally — a thousand streams which once 
cherished the Society have ceased to flow* Of elev^i or 
twelve hundred Auxiliaries which once contributed to the 
Society, ohly rizly-four remitted a donation during the 
last year. In all the States west of the Alleghany and 
i^OTth of the OhiOy but one Auxiliary remitted a donation. 
In all the South-western States but one. In all the Southern 
Atlantic States but one. In all the country west and south 
of Pennsylvania but ^bttr. Many churches which annually 
gladdened the Society by their contributions have allowed 
one, two, or three years to pass and remitted nothing. 
MtLnj ladies ^ni others who made and remitted collections 
have paused in their exertions. Many individuals who 
voluntarily sent iu their own donations have failed so to do ; 
And many wealthy friends who on an emergency gave by 
hundreds and thousands, are now unable to give by tens. 

It should be further distinctly stated, that in the view 
of the Committee this deficiency is not to be attributed 
wholly to the financial embarrassments of the countryi 
though they have had and still have their influence. Nor 
in their view is it to be ascribed mainly to the diversion 
of funds to other objects of benevolence. The want of 
steady systematic individual exertion by those more iiO' 
mediaiely connected with the Society^ and by the Pastors 
amd members of the churches generally^ is doubtless the 
chief ground of the present depression. When the Seere- 



FINANCIAL CONDITION OP THB tOClITT. 153 

uiy or Agent has publicly presented the Society's^ claims, 
contributions hare been made ; but ike mluntary efforts 
of Pastors, ChuVches, Auxiliaries and individuals hare too 
nearly ceased. There is the same deficiency of voluntary 
christian co-operation in distributing Tracts and books, and 
speaking to men of the Great Salvation. Yet who does not 
know that whether in obtaining funds, or endeavors for 
the soula of men, the work cannot be done wholly or 
chiefly by faid laborers? The men cannot be found, nor 
could the churches support them. The piety of members 
ojf the church who excuse themselves from self-denying 
personal exertion will wither; and how shall the self- 
moved benevolence of the Gospel appear to all men, if 
none labor but those who are paid ? 

Is it a &ct that we send our missionaries abroad, and 
employ Pastors and Agents at home, to do a work from 
which Christ's redeemed people are wholly to excuse 
themselves t Thou bleeding Lamb of God ! who didst 
ikpself come down to die, and hast commanded us to bear 
the cross and follow thee, and be '^ always abounding" 
in thy work — shall we render no voluntary service for the 
souls of men, and to spread the knowledge of thy blessed 
name ! 

The Committee are persuaded that here mainly lies the 
evil to be remedied. Let all the respected Pastors of the 
churches, and every member, do something, yea, do much 
for the cause of benevolence-— let every one, bought by 
the price of blood, consecrate his cheerful, self-moved, self- 
denying prayerful eflbrts to God and the spread of the 
Gospel, — and the great work of man's Salvation will not be 
hindered. God is showing us how we may labor, if we 
consecrate to him the willing heart and active* liberal 
hand. This consecration to Him will remove our grief 
for these deficiencies, and turn our lamentation into praise. 

We shall not then be found coolly sitting down to cal • 
culate what department of benevolence can best be desert- 



154 DSLIBSBATIVB MfiSTINtf. 

ed-^what schools disbanded — what presses stopped. Ra- 
ther shall we hold the present generation of men at home 
and abroad distinctly before our vision^* and seek to ^ive 
all whom we can approach the knowledge of SaWation be- 
fore they die. > 

The Committee solemnly avow their purpose to do 
what they can y by all means within their influence, dis- 
creetly and systematically, to gain the co-operation of the 
people of God. Four devoted men they have just com- 
missioned as General Agents for the distant West and 
South, who win there seek to gain the same result. And 
the Committee earnestly and affectionately ask the Board, 
the Pastors and the individuals present, male and female 
— not whether these labors of love shall go on-^or we 
must listen to the voice of God's word, and providence, 
and Spirit ; yea, '* wo is unto us " if we publish not by 
ten thousand tongues the Gospel of our crucified Lord — 
but,. will the members of the Board, will the Pastors, will 
all give their counsel, their active, individual, prayer- 
ful, self-denying efforts to raise the Society from its halt- 
ing, and carry these means of grace to millions ready to 
perish ? 

Rev. Mr. Eastman, Secretary, then presented letters as above, 
firom Rev. Mr. Perkins, midsionary from Ooromiah ; Rev. Mr. 
Hoisiogton, missionary from Ceylon, who were providentially 
detained from the meeting; and also from Rev. Dr. Scudder, 
who was confined by sickness in New- York, but convalescing, 
who has labored twenty-two years in Southern India, and has 
probably performed more labor in tours for Tract distribution 
than any other missionary. 

Mr. Eastman also read a highly interesting letter from Rev. 
Mr. Adger, of the mission to Turkey, in which he shows the 
inquiring state of the mindsof the Armenians, the publications 
in progress and called for, and the painful fact that all the So- 
ciety's grants had been expended, and a debt of near $1500 in- 
caried by the misstoo ; entreating the Society to give them the 



FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THS SOCIETY. 155 

means of going forward in their work so evidently owned by 
the presence and blessing of the Spirit of God. The various 
considerations and statements contained in these letters and in 
the above document on the pecuniary wants of the Society were 
urged by Mr. E. with great earnestness, and anxious appeals 
for the liberality and prompt and persevering effort necessary to 
enable the ISociety to go on without faltering in the various de« 
partments of labor to which, in the successive preceding meet- 
mgs, attention had been given. 

WILLIAM ROPES, Esq. a christian merchant, who has long and 
•occesafally labored in St. Petersburg, Russia, in connection with his 
family and a choice circle of friends, then presented a view of Tract 
operation* among the 60,000,000 of that empire. No laborers in this 
work have been mqre evidently blessed from on high. When he arriv- 
ed there almost nothing was attempted in this department ; but God 
had. opened the way and given them favor with the censor of the 
press and all in authority ; and friends in almost all parts of the Em- 
pire, in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, on the shores of the Black Sea, and 
even in Siberia and on the borders of China had actively engaged in 
the distribntipn, and had sent them communications of the most cheer- 
ing character^ :twenty or more of which he had in possession, and 
would gladly have read thiem to the meeting had time allowed. 

At an earlyjMage of their operations, Mr. R. had opportunity to 
lay the 'subject before the Grand Duchess Helen, wife of the Grand 
Duke Michael, the Emperor*s brother, and a woman of exalted worth. 
From that day they proceeded boldly in their operations. They knew 
the Emperor would prohibit nothing which he judged to be for the 
real good of his people. They established a Depdt. The Tracts be- 
came popular. They were read in the palace. Some were handsomely 
bound and sent there. The Emperor and his sister gave them their 
approbation. From that time they have gone on prosperously. The 
Minister of Public Instruction reports very favorably of the Tracts 
and of the friends by whom they are supplied. They print in the five 
languages spoken in Russia, and purchase from abroad in ten langua- 
ges, for the use of the numerous foreigners congregated there. Every 
convict exiled to Siberia is invariably furnished with a Bible and 
Tracts. Noblemen from the interior have in many instances purchas- 
ed qiliantities of , books for the use of their peasanjtjry, to whom they 
have proved highly beneficial. A con\^ct in Liberia, when on the 
point of committing suicide, had ^ T^act br^u^bt to him, and it was 
the means of his conversion. He has become a preacher of righ- 
teoasness. 



156 DELISBHATIYS MSSTINO. 

There were aome very pious Germans in St. Petersburg. Two 
handred or three hundred meet for prayer. This they might have 
done without molestation, by notifying the police. This wm neglect? 
ed, and their enemies enterect a complaint. An officer was ttnt to 
put down the meeting. He had in the house where it was held a very 
pious sister. He told her of his errand, and she most eameatly dis* 
suaded him from performing it, if he could avoid it. He retumad to 
the Emperor, and reported that the people so assembled did nothing 
but pray. '* Pray P* exclaimed that august j>er8onage, " let them 
pray. We need all their prayers. Let no one yentuxe to disturb 
them.*' 

One lady, conrerted through a Tract from the good Princess Met- 
ehersky, is, perhaps,- the most devoted laborer in the Tract cause to be 
found any where in the world. She enjoys direct tokens of the im- 
perial approbation Of her benevolent weekly visits to distribute BS>les 
snd IVacty in the immense hospitals. 

Ghreat numbers of Tracts are sent to the annual fair. Some are 
bought'by merchants from Ahkta, a town on the frontiers of China, 
and they have found their way even to the'** giteat wall." JFhere.is a 
vsst field for Tract operations in the Russian empire. The wonder 
and gratitude of the people is intensely excited by the libenHty of 
their distant friends, who thus send them the word of life. 

The total issues at St. Petersburg the last year were 1 15,000 pub- 
lications; and the total. issues in ten years, 2,400,000, all decidedly 
evangelical in their character. 

Letter from Rev. Archibald Alexander^ JD. D, Princeton, N. J, 

** After a full survey of alt the plans of doing good to the souls of 
men, which are now in operation, it is my deliberate opinion, that, 
with the exception of the preaching of the Gospel and circulating the 
Holy Scriptures, there is none which promises to be more efficient, 
and more extensively useful, in promoting the spiritual and Memal 
interests of men, than the publication and wide circulation of sound 
sYangelical books and Tracts. And if I were to undertake to select 
a set of volumes, which, in my judgment, it would be most beneficial 
to circulate, I should undoubtedly make choice of a large proportion 
of the volumes which have been published by the American Tract 
Society* No books that were ever written by uninspired men aia 
better adapted to promote true religion among the people, and none 
were evec more successful in the converaion of sinnen and the edifi- 
catm of the people of God, than many -of those on your liet, and 



FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THB 80CIETT. 157 

whioh are now in the eoiine of rapid circnlation. Many of thete 
authora have reeeired the approbation and sanction of the jadieions 
and piottt for two hundred yeara, and their value is aa highly appre- 
ciated now aa it ever wa^. When I reflect on. the number of these 
pioua and excellent works which^ within a few years, have been scat- 
tered through the length and breadth of this landt I cannot but rejoice 
and give thanka' to God th^t so much preciooa seed has been sown, 
which there is CTeiy reason to hope will in due time sprmg up and 
bring forth a rich harvest when the present generation shall have 
passed away. 

"Two millions of Tolumes and sixty millions of smaller treatises 
have been put into the hands of our reading population. And the 
bonnd Yolumes possess this adrantage over even the preaching of the 
Gospel, that they furnish permanent lessons of instruction. The book 
noiay be perused again and again by the same person, and ^he aame 
book may be read, before it perishes by the lapse of time, by some 
hundreds of individuals — for many of these precious volumes will be 
preserved for centuries, and will descend as a valued legacy from 
father to aon, and from the mother to the daughter. There are now 
,ib good preservation, many books which have been in common use 
for more than two hundred years, and which have been read by some 
half dozen successive generstions, and by many ^others beside the 
owners. The writer can well recollect when sQch books as Alleine*s 
Alarm, Baxter's Saints' Rest ai^d Call to the Unconverted, and the 
excellent treatises of Owen and Flavel, passed through the hands of 
most familiea in the neighborhood. He has known more instances 
than one, in which aged men of piety made it a: practice to borrow 
auch bdoks and carry them to persons who stood in particular need 
of tham. Let the person who contributes enough to pay the expense 
of publishing a smgle volume, reflect that he is providing spiritual 
nutriment, not only for the present generation, but for generations yet 
to be bom. And if, instead of giving circulation to one, he contributea 
fiinds sufficient for a hundred or a thouaand volumes, who can calcu- 
late the amount of good which a christian in moderate eireumstances 
may accomplish t 

** BuJt this brings me to a very painful part of my subjeet. In the 
circular of the Committee calling a public meeting of the Board, the 
mortifying fact is brought to light, that after the lapse of five months 
no more than 91600 had been received for foreign distribution, when 
the sum urgently demanded for this field alone is $40,000. And that 
of j|40,000 needed for home distribution, no more than $7000, ex- 
clusive of legaciea, had been paid into the treasury. What does 
this mean! Have the christian public lost sight of this entdr^riaev ao 



158 BXUBBBATIYE MSET|NG. 

intimately connected with the Salvation of men at hooM and abroad ! 
Or is it the hardness of the times which has thus dried up the streatnt 
which should have flowed into the treasury of the Lordt But chris- 
tians have not been prevented by the hardness of the times from ex- 
pending large sums in mere, luxuries. There is not an article* of luxury 
in common use which does not cost the christian public more thaa all 
the contfibutions to every benevolent Society and religious Institution 
in the land. For Christ*s sake, and for the sakeiof perisliing immortals, 
let not the curtailment of expenses begin with the treasury of the 
Lord. I do hope that upon reflection many, even of those who are in 
einbarrassed circumstances, will be induced first to part with super* 
fluous ornaments and furniture, and lessen the expenses of their richly 
spread tables before they abstract any thing from, the sum which they 
have been accustomed to lay upon the altar of the Lord. That money 
is best invested, and will ultimately bring in the richest harvest, which 
Is lent to the Lord. Even in this world none of our expenses bear 
reflection like , those which were incurred to .aid in advancing the 
kingdom of the Redeemer* The times are indeed hard, and most 
men are environed with difficulties. Every thing relating to currency 
and trade is out of joint. The curse of the Almighty has fallen on 
our pecuniary. Institutions. Confusion, failure, disappointment and 
ruin^have been visited on those things which among men were con*> 
sidered the most stable. But to wbat should the christian attribute 
this unhappy state of things 1 Ought he not to see. the hand of God 
in all these matters 1 Jehovah is vindicating his own right, and while 
he punishes grasping avarice, he sends a blast on that property which 
has not been sanctified by the cohsecration of the first fruits to Him. 
Let christians be assured that these hard times will not come to an 
end. until they learn to bring in literally and fully their tithes, first 
fruits, and free-will offerings to the treasury of the Lord. And when 
we have returned to our duty, then may we hope that the Lord will 
return to us. He calls upon his people to put him to the proof, by 
complying with all his requisitions. * Bring ye all the tithes into the 
storehouse, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of. Hosts, if I 
will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that 
there ahaU not be room enough to receive it.* *' 

LeiUrfrom Hon. Herman Camp, TrumansJmrg, N, York. 

** All the counsel I could give were I to attend, would be to advise 
a tystematie effort among alt the churches : 1 mean an annual sub" 
teription on paper by each church membeTt however small some of thb 
subscriptions might be. By this means I have found that the eontri* 
tatioDM are doubled, and in some cases trebled.'* 



CH&I8TIi:N CONSECRATION. 159 

Letter from Rev. Eiisha Yale^ D. D. Kingshoro\ N, York, 

** I wis mach pleased at the proposal for the Meeting, and espe- 
cially that one topic of consultation was^ the expediency of attempting 
to give at least one Tract to all of this generation of the anevanget- 
lEed before they die. I think the expense of travelling to the Meeting 
laid ont in Tracts may do more good than my presence ; and this sum 
I intend to consecrate to the work. 

*' Allow me to suggest, with ail deference, the propriety of holding 
d Special Meeting in each congregation as toon as your doings can be 
sent out to encourage us. I intend to have such a Meeting in my 
church, and let the people know what you are doing, and invite them 
to co-operate in the good work.V 

The Hon. Mr. Frelinghvtsen, President of the Society, 
who had been expected to prepare a Document, presented 
the sabstance of the same in a most solemn and eloquent 
appeal, which produced a subduing effect on the audience, 
and caused them to feel that in very de^d the presence of 
Qoi yras among them, and that it was good to be there. It 
was in substance as follows: 






DOCUMENT XL 



The NeoeMity of a higher Standard of Christian CXmsecratloo. 

Mr. F. said : I deeply regret that the pressure of other 
duties which could not he postponed, has prevented the 
preparation of the Document assigned to me by the Exe- 
cutive Committee as my patrt in these interesting services. 
And I have still greater oause to regret a necessary ab- 
sence from so many of your sessions. It is refreshing to 
meet with such christiah convocations, and consult on the 
great concerns of Zion and her prosperity. - The interest 



160 DIUBBftATIYS 1IB£TIN0. 

of such conventions is increased, wheti God in his provi- 
dence brings his people into straits and trials, and con- 
strains them to look away from an arm of flesh and all 
human sympathy, and shnts them up to a simple and ab- 
solute reliance on Himself. Such a crisis n^ets us now, 
in this department of benevoletice. And if we caUf with 
a pious king of Israel beset by formidable' enemies, lift 
the heart to God^— ^and like him, in view of the whole field 
of enterprise, the energies for evil of «^n irreligious press 
and the prevalence of error, the earnest cries of a perish- 
ing world, and the declining faith and zeal of the churches 
— if we can exclaim, " We cannot meet this great com- 
pany, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon 
Thee ;" — a deliverance will come and our fears be relieved. 
The pious Jehoshaphat s^w the enemies of hit people 
scattered like the chaflfof the summer threshing-floor, and 
the Hearer of prayer will grant to the same spirit now 
equally glorious manifestations. It is good to meet these 
exigencies; whatever brings us to the deep conviction 
that help can come from God alone is profitable for us. 
Then the soul looks away to the mercy-seat, and takes 
firmer hold of the faithful promise of a covenant-Grod. 
The subject that was particularly assigned to me, is the 
necessity of a higher standard of christian consecration, 
and every heart feels that there is an urgent need of this 
temper. A careful observer of Providence must have 
perceived in the last few years the clear indications of an 
approaching crisis, when the Church would be called to 
larger measures of liberality than she has been accustom- 
ed to extend. 

God seemed of design to arrange his dispensations so 
that this duty should press upon the heart with unwonted 
claims. He has been abridging the means of his people. 
He has dashed many a promising scheme of wealth, cut 
off* resources and diminished the returns of business ; and 
during the same time He has opened new and extensive 



CHXI8TIAN CONtSCftlTIOir* 161 

fields for moral caltivation ; obstacles have been remored, 
the progress of the truth all over the earth is in hopeful 
motion, and never before have such tncouragements been 
afibrded to the highest efforts of christian philanthropy. 
If we draw back now, if we fail to sustain the past contri- 
butions, these sacred charities will not only pause, but 
most fatally decline. And who can calmly contemplate 
such a consequence ? 

It is to be feared that the friends of the Redeemer are in 
sad mistake with regard to this subject. It was intimated 
in the correspondence read on the first afternoon of our 
meeting, that christians were generally prone to refer the 
whole responsibility of these enterprises to the immediate 
conductors, the Secretaries and other prominent Agents. 
Probably the misapprehension is still more vital. There 
is a view of divine sovereignty, which although it may 
not rise to a distinct expression, yet I fear does exist and 
impair the vigor of fiiith and hope. The thought is, that 
Qod will carry on the work of conversion, and because 
He mast interpose by his Almighty Spirit, if it moves at 
all, we are too apt to ascribe the whole to his sovereign 
good pleasure, and come very slowly to the persuasion 
that our agency is needed or required. Now it is a bless- 
ed Gospel truth that God is sovereign, but let 'us not 
forget that it is a sovereignty exerted according to ea« 
t!id>Iished laws ascertained and fixed as his throne — a 
sovereignty that connects the feeblest causes with the 
mightiest results — that ordains the means with the end, 
the prayer with the answer, the diligence with the bless- 
ing. Zion has sent up her constant supplications, ^ Thy 
kingdom come;" and^he Lord has given the response as 
clearly as if He had written it on the face of the whole 
heavens, "My kingdom shall come certainly and glo- 
riously, but only by this mode : when my people plead 
for its advent with fervent desire, attended by faithful 
labors; when they show by their seljMenying and hely 



162 DELIBERATIVB MEETING. 

consecration that they prize its coming better than thoa- 
sands of silver and gold." We have met the exigency, 
my friendsi when the Savior expects of his people to give 
more decided and costly proofs than ever before of . their 
attachment to his kingdom. -The remark was once ven- 
tured, that the time would arrive when christians would 
fear to die rich, unless in good works. I firmly believe 
that it is at the door, that the hour is knocking at the 
heart of the wealthy christian ; and as he repairs to the 
cross and surveys its unutterable mysteries of crucified 
love, and then looks over his treasures,. he will put the af- 
fecting inquiry to his own heart, "Shall I longer keep my 
hold of these to agrandize myself and exalt my children 
to the high places of the world, or shall I lay them all 
down at the feet of Him who bought me with his blood f ' 
[t is an honest question, and must have an honest answer, 
by the light and under the responsibilities of the eternal 
world. I trust that this momentous question will be held 
up to the minds of the rich until it shall rest upon their 
hearts with the weight of christian obligation. Where 
is the wealthy christian that can consent to die worth 
hundreds of thousand dollars, and leave six hundred mil- 
lions of his fellow-men perishing for want of the Gospel ; 
to die rich in those means, for the want of which afflict- 
ed Zion.is bleeding at every pore? 

And to all conditions I would urge, that, as a general 
law of providence, poverty is not the fruit of a judiciout 
liberality to the cause of Christ. According to his admi- 
nistration, they who give bountifully shall reap also 
bountifully. But suppose it should issue otherwise, what 
a precious memorial it would be for children, and what 
lasting honor to the parent, to have the record run in auch 
bright lines as these : He was rich in worldly possessions, 
but such was his estimate of the heavenly treasures, that 
he wore out his life and his fortune in doing good. The 
poor, the wandering, and thousands ready to periahp em- 



CHRISTIAN CONSECRATION. 163 

balm hia memory. He parted with the riches of time, and 
has gone to the rewards that will never deceive his hopes, 
nor fail in enjoyment. 

Some years ago (and the incident will not suffer be- 
cause this will be a repetition) one of our missionaries 
from Malta on a visit to this country, was presenting the 
claima of benevolence in a neighboring town, and he 
assumed as the basis of his plea, that christian liberality 
seldom led to poverty ; that God would take care of his 
people ; that He who gives to causes their efficiency, who 
knows and controls all the secret springs of enterprise 
and success* would vindicate by his providence the bless- 
edness of doing good even for time. But, said he, should 
it so happen that a special case comes up, where a chris- 
tian is impoverished by reason of his charities, I should 
rejoice in the privilege of an interview with him. I would 
take him by the hand, and as I grasped it, with a full 
heart I would say to him, dear brother, you are the first 
disciple of your heavenly Master I have ever seen who 
has faithfully copied his example. He was rich in the 
treasures of the universe, and became poor, that by hit 
poverty we might become rich. 

I will detain you with only one other incident. When 
the Executive Committee of this Society were lately de- 
liberating on the expediency of this meeting, the inquiry 
was anxiously going round the table, by what means we 
should awaken the churches to their measure of consecra- 
tion. One excellent brother, the Senior Secretary, when 
the question reached him, replied, " I have often been af- 
fected with the fact, that when our Society in past years 
has encountered difHculties, whatever feeling was moved 
at this Board, and deeply cherished here, went abroad. I 
found it among the churches. I cannot telly said he, how 
it was conveyed — a bird took it — I don't know the philo- 
sophy of it — but the interesting fact I know — and I fear 
the feeling is not strong enough in our own hearts.'! The 



164 OBLIBERATnrS MSSTING. 

^ remark, I perceived, thrilled on every spirit there. Irould 
see emotion kindling as he spoke ; and it is all true. This 
is the little leaven that quickens, we cannot tell how, but 
it spreads and pervades the mass, until the whole is lea- 
vened. So, my christian friends, let that blessed influence 
live to-night in this place, and it will soon expand beyond 
these walls, and whether it go forth from a small assem* 
bly or a great congregation, it will tell with power on the 
heart of Zion. We may not trace its operation in the 
rending of the rocks or the falling of the forests, but we 
shall certainly hear of it, in the sweet whispers of the 
Spirit's still small voice, and in the rich returns of His 
love. ■ " 

The Rev. Dr. RICE, of Pcinceton, begged permiatkm to nttsr the 
emotions of his heart on the subject of a higher standard of christiaa 
consecration. Christians must practice more ««//'-i2entai for Christ. 
We must diminish the expenses of our table and our wardrobe. We 
were as^a people extravagant. He belieyed God*s hand was abroad 
among us to bring us to such atlf-dtnial as shall prove the means ef 
our own growth in grace and preparation for heayen, and the only 
means by which our institutions of benevolence can now be eapported 
without faltering. 

An aged widow responded to these appeals by voluntarily 
offering $20, one half for Foreign Distribution, and one half 
for Colporteurs ; and one of the eloquent speakers testified his 
sincerity by requesting to be called upon for a donation of $100. 

BESOI^UTIOHS. 

The following Resolutions, submitted by Rev. Dr. MILNOR, 
were unanimously adopted : 

JlMofoed, That the deliberations of this Meeting, continaed during 
its sessions of two days, haye deepened the impression on oor minds, 
that the Press, while its powerful agency in the promotion of frivolity, 
error, infidelity and oermptioA is to be greatly deplored, ie fitted to 
ezen a conntertctiDg tnfittence eqailly powerful, uid that «s x^ri^^g 



RESOLimONS. 165 

iflsnes,^ when connected with christian conversation and efforts for the 
Salvation of men, may aid the ministry effectually in spreading the 
Gospel at home and abroad. 

Mtsolvedt That this Meeting rejoice in the high evangelical character 
of the Society*s publications, and their adaptation to the wants of the 
present generation of men ; and in what the Society has done and is 
doing to withstand the inflaence of a corrupt press, and to aid in furnish' 
ing for our own and foreign lands, a practical evangelical literature. 

Resolved, That the Providence of God seems evidently calling on 
the Society for renewed vigor in supplying the present generation of 
men with Tracts and Volumes, distributed both systematically and 
miscellaneously, as opportunities are afforded, and that the more des- 
titute portions of our country, including the German population, and 
all who have embraced dangerous error, have peculiar claims to be 
supplied with these publications and the labors of Colporteurs. 

Ruolvedf That in view of the work before the Society, as brought 
under the consideration of this Meeting, the sum of $40,000 proposed 
at the Society's last Anniversary as needed for our own country, and 
the further sum of. $40,000 for foreign and pagan lands, are, in the 
opinion of this Meeting, evidently called for in the providence of God ; 
andihat in the present alarming deficiency of pecuniary means, all pas- 
tors, churches, auxiliaries and individuals, male and female, friendly 
to the Society, are hereby earnestly requested to adopt the means 
within their power to relieve this want, and to give the Society their 
steady and systematic support. 

Resolved, That while this Meeting regret that so many esteemed 
and venerated officers and friends have been detained from their ses- 
sions, they are cheered by the full and unanimous expressions bf con- 
fidence and deep interest in the Society in Uieir respective communi- 
cations ; and that the entire harmony which has characterized all our 
proceedings, be acknowledged with unfeigned gratitude to God. 

Maolvedy That the thanks of the Meeting be tendered to the gen- 
tlemen who, at the request of the Committee, have prepared for this 
occasion valuable Documents, in which the great principles of our as- 
sociation have been ably unfolded, and our duty impressively enforced. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Meeting be tendered to the choir 
of the Broadway Tabernacle for their presence and aid on this occasion. 

On motion of Rev« Mr. Romeyn, it was further 

Resolved, That the Documents presented on this occasion be com- 
mended to the special consideration of pastors and of all who have 

9 



166 DELIBERATIVE MEETING. 

influence on the public mind tnd the training of the young ; and that 
the solemnity and weight of the pulpit be especially solicited in behalf 
of the principles maintained. ^ 

A deep and solemn impression of the presence of God 
and the responsibilities he has devolved upon the cliuiches 
evidently pervaded the Meeting, which .was throughout 
one of entire harmony, and was closed by ringing the 
Doxology,and the Benediction pronounced by Dr. Milnor. 

Who, in reviewing these exercises, can f^il to be affected 
at the exhibition of christian confidence uniting members of 
so many denominations in one grand design for evangel- 
izing a benighted world ; or at the evidence that true re- 
ligion is one and the same, though associated with various 
external distinctions 1 Who can but notice the providen- 
tial dispensations that have called the Society to so many 
departments of labor at home and abroad, or fail to see 
both in the written word and in the labors of Christiana 
generally, divinely appointed aids to the ministry ? 

Who does not both rejoice and tremble in view of the 
power of the Press for good and for evil, as here exhibited ; 
and who will not bless God for the sound Evangelical 
character of the Society's one tholisand publications, and 
one hundred volumes, and their adaptation to aid the Pas- 
tor in his work, to strengthen the christian, alarm the un- 
converted, and promote the revival of the work of God 1 

Who will not see in the summoning of christian co- 
operation, and the raising up and sending forth of Colpor- 
teurs to visit those beyond the reach of the ministry, a 
great duty devolving on the followers of Christ generally, 
and a means graciously provided, whereby the millions 
dispersed throughout the desolations of our own and other 
lands, may receive the message of salvation ? Whose 
compassion will not be awakened for the million of Ger- 
man emigrants on our own shores, and for deluded and 
neglected Errorists of every name? 

Who will not extend his vision to the millions straggling 



CONCLimiNG &EMABKS. 167 

with persecution and oppression on the continent of 
Europe, and the hundreds of millions in pagan lands; and 
join in the endeavor to extend these various means of 
grace to all, as far as our noblest efibrts can reach? 

Who will not lament the limited pecuniary means of 
the Society for supplying the destitute with publications, 
or supporting the Colporteurs whom God is raising up, 
and keeping the presses at foreign mission stations in 
motion ; and who will not practice some self-denial both 
in contributions and in e#orts, that this work, and the 
cause of benevolence generally, may be carried forward 
without halting? 

If some of the suggestions in the above valuable leU 
Urs sent to the Board were carried out, the desired ends 
might be gained: especially the suggestions, (1 ) that every 
congregation do something without delay, and continue 
its contributions annually ; and (2) that every individual, 
not excluding children, be induced annually to subscribe a 
sum on paper which is willingly consecrated to this object. 

This whole work, if what it professes to be, is the 
Lord's. The united prayer of those who love Zion he 
will answer ; and their devoted efforts he will make suc- 
cessful. Yielding to indolence and the spirit of the world, 
no promise is with us; but acting for Him, and in view 
of a hastening eternity, it shall finally appear that His 
grace abounded in blessing our endeavors. 



PLEA 



FOR THE 

EVANGELICAL PRESS: 

A DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED IN THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE, M. YOKE, 

BEFOBE THE BOABD AKD nUERDt OF THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

AT TH« 

OPENING OF THEIE PUBLIC DELIBERATIVE MESTINO, 

October 25, 1842. 



BY JAMES ROMEYN, 

LATE fJiSrOK OF THE RBF0EM2lf DUTCH CHPECB, CATSKILL* 



PUBLISnED BY REQUEST OF THE BOARD. 



PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY, 

IM NASSAU-STREET, N. YORK. 
1843. 



v ' 



X , 



At the Public Meeting of the Board, October 26, on 
motion of the Rev. Baron Stow, of Boston^ it was 
unanimously 

^^Resolved, That the thanks of the meeting be present* 
ed to the Rev. Mr. Rome yn for the able and appropriate 
Sermon preached by him the last evening, and that a 
copy be requested for the press." 

Extract from the Minutes 



D. Pao«liaw, Printar, 150 NaauiMtretl. 



A DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED IN THE 

BROADWAY TABERNACLE. 

NBAV-TORK. 

" Having therefore obtained help of God, I contitiue ufito this 
day^ witnessing both to small and great, saying none other 
things than those which the prophets and Moses did say 
should come : that Christ should suffer, and that he should 
be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show 
light unto the people, and to the Gentilks,"*^ — Acts, 26 ; 22, 23. 

These are the words of the great Apostle of the Gen- 
tiles, under trying circumstances. Scarcely had he 
entered the school of Christ before he encountered sus- 
picion and distrust from professed brethren, and perse- 
cution and bonds from enemies. He was now in more 
imminent danger from his own countrymen, who "liad 
crucified the Lord Jesus,'* than from the heathen them- 
selves 5 and he was compelled, in order to escape cer- 
tain condemnation at Jerusalem, to appeal to Cs&sar at 
Rome. He was now arraigned before the bar of a judge, 
who suffered an appeal, involving delay and suffering, 
to be taken ; and who rendered it a necessary alterna- 
tive by his own act, because he refused to release the 
prisoner when the power of decision was his own, 
though he confessed himself persuaded that he had 
done nothing worthy of condemnation — who knew no 
more of religion than to confound the claims of " the 
Son of God with power by his resurrection from the 
dead," with " certain -questions of Jewish supersti- 
tions 3" and who had studied no farther into the great 



4 FLEA FOR THE 

principles of justice than to have caught a glimmering 
of the conclusion, that it seemed unreasonable to send 
a man away a prisoner without signifying also the 
charge alleged against him. 

There he stands, an apostle, a chosen vessel, in soul 
*' free indeed," a man of mighty mind, of kindled affec- 
tions, of indomitable energy, before such a tribunal ! 
and " for the hope of Israel bound with a chain !" 

But though bonds and afflictions awaited him, how 
did he demean himself 1 Did grief dim to his eye the 
brightness of the crown of glory 1 Did he stand back 
from the bold avowal or dangerous service of a Savior 
whose name was " every where spoken against 1" Did 
his heart fail, or his cheek blanch, because he became 
from the hour of his conversion a " man of strife V sTlo 
obtain an answer to these inquiries, analyze his de* 
fence. He stirs up his soul to uncompromising faith- 
fulness by recalling the affecting scene of his conver- 
sion to God — ^he yei sees the light, he yei hears the 
voice, " Why persecutest thou me 1" and he strength- 
ens the steadfastness of his purpose by repeating his 
own inquiry, made in the honest hour of alarm, subnlis- 
sion and first love, ^* Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
doV His high commission, as it came from the lips 
of the Lord Jesus himself, who thus appeared to him in 
the way, is distinctly recollected and recited* He re- 
views his labors and the way the Lord had brought 
him, and feels a reviving influence from the deepened 
conviction, that he continued unto that day because he 
had ^^ obtained help from God." His impressive elo- 
quence attained its highest power when he adverted to 
his glorious theme and workj witnessing to both small 
and great the grand and central subject of revelation, 
** that Christ should suffer, and should rise from the 
dead, and should show light to the people and to the 
Gentiles." 



EVANGELICAL TKESS. 5 

The occasion and object of our present convocation 
are well understood. Our relations, duties, resources 
and hopes are the same as the apostle's were; and, 
perhaps, after setting forth Paul, and calling upon you 
" to follow them who through faith and patience inherit 
the promises," I ought here to pause. Wete I to obey 
my sense of inadequacy to the subject in hand I would 
"Silver of eloquence," and gold of truth refined and 
curiously wrought, I have none. Fragmentary outlines 
and dim images are all that present themselves to a 
wearied mind at a necessarily hasty glance. " Such as 
I have, give I unto you." And since the privilege of 
silence is denied me, I desire to hide myself behind my 
subject. I am but " the voice of one crying in the wil- 
derness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord ;" and I shall 
be content, with John, to decrease, if Christ may in- 
crease ; and like " a voice," to die away and be lost to 
your farther notice, if I may only reach your ^ ear, and 
wake your heart, and set in motion and rouse to ap- 
propriate action this important detachment of God's 
sacramental host. 

Our text presents two points for consideration : 
I. An occasion awakening sympathy and calling for 
benevolent action. 

II. The MEANS AND MANNER OF MEETING ITS RESPON- 
SIBILITIES. 

I. An OCCASION. In the case of both the apostle and 
ourselves, there is presented before us the spiritual deS' 
Utution of a fallen race; a state of investment by evil 
influences; and without relief exposure to eternal jper 
dition. 

1. On the general subject. The theology of a nation 
gives character to their principles of action, their wor- 
ship, and their hopes. After the perfections of the 



6 PLBA FOB THE 

Godhead are ascertained, the question next in order and 
importance, is, what is the actual condition of those 
who are his creatures and subjects 1 what their relation 
to his law, its rewards or penalties, and their prospects 1 
This broad principle has been as generally overlooked 
as it is obviously true. It is for want of attention to it 
that the unsanctified sinner hears with indifference the 
warning to flee 5 and the professed believer, though 
'* his eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Glory, and 
though he dwell among a people of unclean lips," feels 
not half his obligations. 

f^^ This is a lost world. Unless this be so, the Bible is a 
riddle ; the errand of Christ superfluous i the scenes of 
Calvary a pageant ; and the phrases ** marvellous light," 
" unsearchable riches," " gredt salvation," " depth of 
the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God," mere 
oratorical hyperbole. In order to understand the Bible, 
to judge of its character, to appreciate the wisdom of 
its adaptations and the riches of its grace; to enter 
into its spirit and carry out intelligently its designs, we 
must place ourselves where He stood who looked upon 
our race in their hopelessness when he made the provi- 
sions of the Gospel. If you show me the picture of a 
landscape, I shall differ from the artist and pronounce 
his work a failure, unless I plant myself precisely where 
he did when he executed the work. The relations and 
bearings of the difl^erent objects it presents will other- 
wise be greatly changed, if not entirely reversed, and 
its character of beauty, and wisdom of design, fail to be 
discovered. Let us apply the illustration. 

When God looked down from heaven upon the chil- 
dren of men, to see if there were any that did under- 
stand and seek God, they had all gone aside, they were 
altogether become filthy, there was none that did good, 
no, not one. The thoughts and imaginations of their 
hearts were evil, only evil, and that continually ; ^* they 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 7 

hated the light, and did not like to retain God iu their 
knowledge." 

There is in the heart of man a specific repulsion 
against the claims of God cts such. No chemical test is 
surer of detecting a latent ingredient or property, than 
the religion of Christ the " enmity of the carnal mind " 
when it would control hy its authority or woo hy its 
love. Like the spear of Ithuriel, its touch disrobes of 
disguise and reveals the true character of what is hidden 
tinder it. There is a hand for a friend, and a heart 
for kindred, and love of country, and provision for our 
own ; exposure of life at the very cannon's mouth, 
and millions of treasure for defence; efforts on the 
part of statesmen to bless the land with plenty and 
peace, and a compensating return if they may but 
'' read their history in a nation's eyes " — but when we 
claim these same affections and efforts for God, they 
are at once arrested in their exercise and refused. The 
natural perfections of God, men will admire and speak 
of; but from the very contemplation of his moral per- 
fections and government they shrink ; and' in the spirit 
of him who drew down a third part of the stars of 
heaven after him, they say, 

" O thou, who, with surpassing glory crowned, 
'* Look'st from thy sole dominion — to thee I call, 
" But with no friendly voice, and add iby name, 
" To tell thee how I hate thy beams." 

Your own Wilberforce (for you have his invaluable 
Practical View among your publications) has demon- 
strated this, and shown inadequate conceptions on this 
point to lie at the root of shallow conviction, and worth- 
less, heartless profession. The Savior declared to an 
objecting Pharisee : " To whom little is forgiven, the 
same loveth little." 

There is originality and point in the declaration, that 



8 PLEA FOE THB 

the " very arts and sciences would require divine pow- 
er to teach them effectually, if they involved as much 
holiness and devotion as the Gospel. Yes, did mathema" 
iics^ demonstrate the evil of sin and necessity ^ holi- 
ness just as the cross of Christ does, problems would 
soon he as unpopular as the doctrines of the cross. 
Were there no progress made in astronomy, without as 
much prayer as watching^ there would be but few astro- 
nomical students. If geology and botany required, as 
Mount Zion does, ^ clean hands and a pure heart ' from 
all who ascended their hills, neither the strata nor the 
flowers of the earth would have many visitants. And 
if music could never be well played but when there was 
* melody in the heart unto the Lord,' or when worship 
was its only object, music, with all its charmis, would 
have but few votaries. Even place and power in the 
state would not be the- objects of general ambition if 
they could only be obtained by spirituality of mind, and 
only retained by consecration to the glory of God. 
In ^ word, were the practical and devotional requisi- 
tions of the Gospel transferred from the Gospel to any 
trade or science, there would be just as much aversion 
to that trade or science as there now is to the Gospel j 
and as much necessity for divine influence to enforce 
their claims." These illustrations are notel, and may 
be deemed bold, but they are incontrovertible. 

Terrible charge t a race without. God — our species 
up in arms! Amid blessings unwott* Amid terrors 
unalarmed. If the great master of the English drama 
stirs up emotion by the exhibition rf fallen royalty, and 
none crying as it passed, " God save ;" what amaze- 
ment, horror, zeal, become us at the sight of Deity in- 
carnate coming to save, and met, not by mere cold in- 
difference, but resolute repulse — ^the sum of his history 
this : " He came unto his own, and his own received 
him not." 



WangblTcal press. 9 

"Fools make a mock at sin." He who adopts God's 
estimate of it will not hesitate on the great questions 
which are all in apposition with it, the necessity of 
atoning blood and renewing grace. The Gospel, the 
Gospel alone, lifts in our view the pall from a dead 
world I and he to whom Christ has given light resem- 
bles, in the affecting and inciting character of his situa* 
tion, the man who should awake to consciousness under 
ground, coffined and shrouded, and who should be able 
to look, under a sense of his indebtedness to distin- 
guishing mercy, upon the wide extended empire of de- 
solation around him, where God is not named, nor prais* 
ed, nor celebrated 5 where corruption alone, in various 
degrees and for^s, exhibits motion ; where all life is 
dead, and "death" only "lives." You will pardon me 
for dwelling so long on this point. I am laying a corner- 
stone, and adjusting to its place a pivot on which the 
mighty scheme of Redemption VLud all its agencies turn. 

2. These are the views which may be said to consti- 
tute a distinct and large class of the doctrines the apostle 
puts forth^ and which governed him in his preaching and 
action. If he does not teach the hopeless and entire 
alienation of man from God, by nature, then words have 
no meaning, and are good for nothing but to conceal 
our sentiments and produce false impressions of the 
subjects oxi which we employ them. Instead of claim- 
ing, under the overweening influence of Jewish arro- 
gance, that thisjr were " better than the Gentiles," he 
disclaims the Mntiment, and labors to prove from Moses 
and the prophets, in whom they trusted, that there was 
no difl^erence, that all were "justified freiely by grace." 
He "concludes all under sin, that the promise by faith 
of Christ might be given to them that believe." He 
declares that '*by the deeds of the law there can po 
flesh living be justified ^" and proposes, as the exclusive 
and sufficient jefuge, Christ as a " propitiaticm for sin, 



10 ^LGA TOU THfi 

through faith in his Wood." Read his dark and appal- 
ling indictment of our nature in Romans 1. He tells 
the Corinthians that he ^* determined to know nothing 
among them save Jesus Christ and him crucified." He 
congratulates the Ephesians, *' You hath he quickened 
who were dead in trespasses and sins." He assures 
the Galatians that '^ Christ was of none effect" to any 
who were of the wdrks of the law; and stirs up the 
gratitude of the Colossians by reminding them, *^You 
being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of the 
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having for- 
given you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting 
that was against them, and nailing it to the cross." His 
testimony every where is, man is dead in sin. Christ is 
" our life." " Christ in us, the hope of glory. ^^ 

We have a most striking display of the boldness and 
zeal, the love and pity it inspired, in Acts 17. He comes 
to Athens, the " Eye of Greece " and self-esteemed light 
of the world. A man of diminutive stature, plain garb, 
unpretending appearance, a seeming outcast and unat- 
tended Jew, might be seen upon the heights, where he 
stands gazing, now upon the cultivated fields and gar- 
dens around, now upon the bright sky and blue heavens 
overhead, and now forth upon the broad -Sgean sea, 
dotted with its beautiful islands, its rippled waters sport- 
ing with the sun-beams, or reflecting like a mirror the 
smiles and beauty of the Lord. As he walks the streets, 
he is seen lifting his sight to the top of the monumental 
column, and directing it along the massive and rich 
colonnade, he looks into the doors of their temples, and 
seems to scan intently every scene and object. He 
lingers also around the places where philosophy gave 
instruction on wisdom, and is seen on the outer verge 
of admiring groups, and while he listens displays impa- 
tient disapprobation. Though in the nation where So- 
crates was Qondemned to die for his opinions, he may 



SVAKGCUCAL PBESa. 11 

be found in the market-place disputing with the Gentile, 
and in the synagogue with the resident Jew ; and hoth 
quail before the power and are startled by the character 
of his words. 

Why did he speak ihus^ and whence this daring course 
of action 7 That sea, those hills, that sub had failed to 
lead to a discovery of Eternal power and a Godhead. 
Those temples had altars inscribed to the unknown Gody 
and were the resort of worshippers whose hearts were 
as cold as the marble of which they were constructed. 
Athens was the home of thirty thousand deities. The 
intellect that reared those splendid structures and the 
zeal that maintained their services were all unsanctified. 
The men he met were living corpses, dead while they 
lived. There was there no God, no Savior, no hope. 
" 'Twas Greece, but living Greece no more," and jus- 
tified in a spiritual and religious view the poet's im- 
passioned comparison of her modem with her ancient 
state, when he likened the'former to a beautiful corpse, 
whose materia], symmetrical organization remained, 
while the beauty and charm of ^^life" had fied, and 
which was just in the stage 

" Before Decay's effacing fingers 

" Had swept the lines where beauty lingers." 

Arts, arms, science, philosophy, government, every thing 
barely' intellectual flourished at Athens. But it was, 
though the proudest procluction of human effort, to a 
spiritual eye nothing but an affecting, self-reared monu- 
ment, unconsciously, undesignedly testifying that ^^ the 
world by wisdom knew not God." 

And when the " philosophers " encountered him as 
they came to the rescue of their several schemes, and 
after they had tumultuously hurried him along to Mars- 
Hill, amid the conjectures of some and the jeers of others 
at the "babbler," he rebuked, he reasoned, he thunder- 



12 PLEA FOE THE 

ed, he commanded repentance in the name of the God 
he declared to them. He pointed to the judgment, and 
showed them the Crucified coming in the glory of the 
Father with his holy angels, " no more to hleed, no more 
to die 5" and displayed a *' spirit stirred " by Gospel 
pity, zeal and hope. He held the light of truth over 
their idols, and exposed their nothingness. 

It requires but little effort of imagination to conceive 
how contemptible even to the eye of reason, in the light 
from heaven which streamed in upon those dark temples 
of idolatry during the apostle's speech, those senseless 
images appeared, compared with the ^Miving throne, 
the sapphire blaze " which he unveiled before their as- 
tonished minds ; and that he did, in effect^ by the word 
of truth, what Josiah did liieratly at the time of his 
reformation, when he ground the idols of the land to 
powder, and scattered their dust, broad-cast, in contempt 
and indignation upon the persons of their living dupes, 
and the graves of their departed worshippers. 2 Kings, 
23 ; 2 Chron. 34. He assailed their pride ; he braved 
their power i he defied their divinities ; and the impli- 
cation running through all he said and did was this : 
their enmity to God and their danger in view of " the 
day of the perdition of ungodly men.^^ On the pre- 
sent occasion he says, rehearsing his commission : *^ I 
have appeared to thee for this purpose, to make thee a 
minister and a witness both of those things which thou 
hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear 
unto thee ; delivering thee from the people and from 
the Gentiles, to open their eyes, and to turn them from 
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, 
that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inhe- 
ritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is 
in me." 

3. The same occasion yet remains. Corruption will 
never heal itself | nor have its heavings and fermenta- 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 13 

tions, like chaos when the Spirit brooded upon it, an 
inward tendency to, or a certain issue in a finished work 
and a fair creation. We are called upon to maintain the 
same agency the apostle left when he was summoned 
to his rest, and to enter into the same labors. This is 
still what it was, and what it will remain till He that 
sits upon the throne shall make all things new, a world 
lying in wickedness. 

In surveying the field of labor, the distinction made 
by the apostle still exists : light and healing are needed 
by ^Ukt ptophy and by the Geniiles.^^ 

mds to the Gentiles, we read, " where there is no vision 
the people perish." " As many as have sinned without 
law shall also perish without law ^" and the same apos- 
tle, who declares that ^* without faith it is impossible to 
please God," significantly in another place asks, ^* how 
shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard V 
It requires only a knowledge of their character to per- 
ceive at once the utter incongruity of supposing that 
they can in their debased condition enter the kingdom 
of God. Notwithstanding all that infidels have said in 
praise of the " simple virtues " of the. heathen, they 
would be loth indeed to exchange the security and ele- 
vation of Christendom for all the *^ loveliness " of pagan 
socio; ty. What say your Missionaries are the grand fea- 
tures of their condition as they strike the mind, even on a 
first view 1 Henry Martyn said that the associations in 
his mind, on beholding the celebration of their rites, 
were with the " vestibule of hell." The recent rapid and 
vivid description before the Foreign Missionary Board 
by a brother (Rev. Dr. Scudder) lately returned after 
twenty-two years' residence and labors among the 
heathen, makes the ears to tingle and the heart grow 
sick. He must have a stout heart who can remain un- 
afilected in perusing the Tract enticed the ** Horrprs of 
Heathenism " as it groups its evils and lets fall in pass* 
iDg a ray upon each. 



14 PLEA FOE THE 

As to th6 other class " the peophj^ who need to have 
liffht shown them in contradistinction to the Gentiles — 
the half civilized, half christianized parts of the world, 
together with the masses who, though under the full 
blaze of the Gospel, are living without God— their con- 
dition is not less deplorable, while it is more guilty j 
and appeals with peculiar pow^r to our christian sensi- 
bilities. Of every man born of woman it is true that ex- 
cept he be born again he cannot enter into the kingdom 
of God — ^that except he repent he must perish. 

Now in both of these cases there is no difficulty in 
discovering general reasons why men "thus depraved 
cleave to their idolatries, and why the Gospel, when it 
comes, should be treated as an intruder on their joys* 
We may name the moulding influence of education, 
pride of opinion, a natural jealousy of innovation, toge- 
ther with objections to its inconvenience — self-interest, 
inasmuch as many " have their living by this craft " — a 
fear of ridicule, or of loss of caste — the control of the 
passions — while the torpor of ignorance constitutes so 
much dead weight that must be lifted out of the way. 
These are the tyrants who parcel out the soul and body 
of man among themselves, when he- ceases to be free 
indeed. 

But there is one great influence which fortifies all the 
rest; puts a spell upon the soul; precludes inquiry, 
and denies Truth a hearing, and thus keeps the goods 
in peace. I mean a false and corrupt Theology and Lu 
ferature. Satan beguiled Eve — duped her understand- 
ing — ^before he destroyed her by a lie. Heathenism has 
its wise men, writers, apologists, oracles, books, reve- 
lations, defences, and miracles. 

It was the remark of the late Dr. Mason, that the dis- 
position of Satan makes him a devil : in intellect he is 
an angel ; that he never enlists fools, as such, in his 
service $ and that those who are thus employed ore 



£TA:(G£LICAL PK£SS« 15 

most assuredly volunteers. Intellect! Some of the 
mightiest minds that ever existed among our fallen 
lace have heen under the sn-ay of infidelity. The ver- 
iest wretches that ever lived will not avow the folly of 
acting without a reason, even though it he so weak a 
one that a child might explode it. In the controversy 
of Martyn with the Mahometan doctors, who is not re- 
minded of the struggle of ancient wrestlers, or the 
clash, and sparks, and intentness of swordsmen in 
deadly conflict 1 The web of sophistry need not be very 
strong to entangle, and at last enwrap and tie down the 
powers of the ordinary mind. Amid the errors of our 
day we have employ for the whole armor of light. 
Men who cannot repeat the Lord's prayer, nor the ten 
commandments, nor the creed, are familiar with Pope's 
sentiment, ** He can't be wrong, whose life is in the 
right ;" and this false maxim, and others like it, ** hav- 
ing a show of wisdom," constitute their vade mecum. 

The very physical sciences among the heathen were 
concealed from the common people, that they might be 
turned to the accottnt of a designing priesthood. And 
a late writer on hydraulics has exposed, in the construc- 
tion of heathen altars the secret yet simple machinery 
by which a knowledge of the laws of fluids, and of the 
action of steam were employed to produce their " ly- 
ing wonders." Here then is a weapon we must wrest 
from the hands of enemies and turn against them, or 
they will employ it to destroy us. We must make our 
selection, we must use it, or fall by it. 

It is undeniable that, among the masses, error and 
vice are on a crusade for the purpose of subjugation. 
Robert Hall remarked forty years ago, that one of the 
alarming symptoms of the "times" was, that infidelity 
vhis seeking difiusion among the common people, and 
had grown condescending ; and that, instead of being 
employed afr the instrument of mere literary vanity, it 



16 FLEA FOR THE 

had been adopted as the organ of political convulsion. 
To this we may now add, as a means of personal promo- 
tion, and, what is more debasing still, oi sheer pecu- 
niary interest. 

The muUiplicaUon of cheap puhliccdions is a feature 
of the day as distinct and novel, as that steam is the 
means of motion, and powder of warfare. We have 

Universalist, Deistical, Roman Catholic ^^ book con- 
cerns." We have newspapers, pamphlets, magazines, 
handbills, tracts, for every class of sentiments, ** clean 
and unclean." On the Sabbath, and during the week, 
the influence continually rolls on^ like water from a lake 
into the sea, and is distributed, as blood from the heart 
through the frame, by systematic, regular pulsation, at 
the almost hourly departure of conveyances forthe in- 
terior. To stimulate the^ exhausted, and aid the unlet- 
tered, and Tctain its hold over the hurried, the Itcen- 
iious print is hung forth, and obtrudes itself from the 
retired yet promiscuously frequented barber-shop of the 
steamboat and the keeping-room of the hotel, to the 
show-windows of Broadway. The half-naked or dimly 
veiled human form may be seen depicted in splendid 
volumes, adorning the centre-tables of fashion^ and in 
the hands of the young, whose fears for the safety of 
their principles or morals are suspended amid a trance 
of admiration at the skill of the execution f and who, 
while they contemplate the palpable, are not aware of 
what passion may soon clamor for importunately, or 
roving, gloating imagination supply. 

I have said that man is alienated from God, and have 
shown you one class of dangerous influences that m- 
vest him. We are now prepared to tract this infiu* 
ence in its processes and forms in sealing his ruin. 

First comes the mighty power of a defective domestic 
education. If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who 
will gird himself for the battle ] Parents, the natural 



EVANGELICAj;. PBE88. 17 

and sworn guardians of their children, are either off 
their guard, or positive corrupters. There is a denial 
of native depravity^or an undervaluation of its ** despe- 
rate" character; and there is resistance even to the 
theory of duty as it respects picking off the huds and 
germs of the apples of Sodom and clusters of Gomor- 
rah, and beating down to the ground and suppressing 
the growth of the thorn and thistle. 

Until the recent efforts made to furnish it, there has 
been a lamentable want, nay, almost a dearth of what 
might be deemed suitable and adapted reading for the 
young; while of works designed for mature minds, co- 
pies were scarce and dear, and no direct effort was 
made to give them circulation. Till we sit down to the 
calculation, we can form but a miserable, inadequate 
estimate of what is implied both on the score of method 
and responsibility in training up a child in the way he 
should go ; and if the light that is in us be darkness, 
the effect cannot but be disastrous. 

^ext^ a youth, thus ill freighted and ballasted, leaves 
his home, and commences the acquisition of a liberal 
education. The first opening of his eyes is amid the pro- 
ductions of pagan minds and hearts. His literary tastes, 
80 far as the forms and drapery of thought are concerned, 
are formed after models highly and exquisitely wrought 5 
but his sentiments, his moral tastes, are correspondingly 
perverted and vitiated. His views of the Deity are de- 
based, and his feelings familiarized with lust and abo- 
mination under another name. Let me present you 
with the testimony of St. Augustine, in his confessions 
on this subject. A more competent witness, a more 
affecting and striking illustration cannot be found. 

" What miseries, Lord, did I experience when I was 
directed in the plan of my education to acquire the 
knowledge that might be subservient to the attainment 
of false riches and honor. The uses of reading, writing 



18 PLEA FOR THE 

and arithmetic are obvious. Not so the study of the 
undoing of Eneas, while I forgot my own. Of what use 
was it to deplore the self^murdering Dido, while yet I 
could bear unmoved the death of my own soul alienated 
from Thee, during the course of these pursuits, from 
thee, my God and my life ! I loved thee not — and such 
is the spirit of the world, that I was applauded with 
' welLdone^ on every side. This is the kind of literature 
that has arrogated to itself the name of polite and liberal 
That two and two make four,, was to me an odious sing 
song 5 but the wooden horse, the burning of Troy, the 
ghost of Creusa, were to me enchanting spectacles. 
Alas, thou torrent of human custom, who shall resist 
thee 1 How long shall it be ere thou art dried up — how 
Jong wilt thou roll the sons of Eve into a gr^at and 
tempestuous sea, which even those who have fled for 
refuge to the cross can hardly escape. Have I not read 
at once of Jove, the thunderer and adulterer. What is 
this but to teach men to call their crimes no CTimes, 
while they have the sanction of gods whom they imitate 1 
Terence introduces a profligate young man justifying 
his lewdness by the example of Jove, while he beholds 
on the wall a picture of Jupiter and Danae, and -excites 
himself to lust by divine tuition. * Shall he who shakes 
heaven by his thunder do this, and may not I, a poor 
mortal, do the same V Yet I, my God, now indulged by 
thy grace to behold thee in peace, learned these things 
with pleasure, was delighted with them, and was called 
a boy of promising genius! But what wonder that I de- 
parted from thee, my God, when men were proposed to 
me as objects of imitation, who would blush to be de* 
tected in a barbarism or solecism in reciting their own 
actions though they were innocent, and who at the same 
time might recite the story of their own lewdness not only 
with impunity, but even with commendation, provided 
they did so with a copious and elegant flow of diction.^ 



EVAKGELICAL PRESS. 19 

Thus far his direct confession.* The fruit was worthy 
of the tree and the kind of cuhivation hestowed upon it. 
He ran to excess of riot ; was unhappy through the con- 
flict of conscience ; lived some years in adultery ; be- 
came a Manichean in principle; and was equally an 
adept in sin, superstition, eloquence and learning. In 
tracing the progress of corruption and the consequences 
that resulted to the world from this mistaken course, he 
says, *^I deceived, by innumerable falsehoods, master 
and parents, through the love of play and amusements. 
I robbed the storehouse of my parents through glut- 
tony, and to bestow things agreeable on my playmates. 
In my plays I sought to obtain fraudulent victories, 
overcome by the desire of vain excellence. Is this pue- 
rile innocence 1 Far from it, O Lord ! Change only the 
scene from pedagogues and masters, from nuts, and 
shells, and sparrows, to Prefects, Kings, and gold, and 
estates, and we see the vices ofmenJ'^ 

But enough. If this be not cultivating the thorn and 
thistle of the natural heart, then there is no such thing 
possible. Is not the person saved under such circum- 
stances, a brand plucked out of the fire 1 There can be, 
of course, no objection to the Classics on the score of 
literary taste and mere intellectual power, nor do I set 
up as a reformer ; but under these obvious influences 
and tendencies, and in view of the occasion before us, I 
am bold to say, that christian purity and zeal may at 
least demand Expujgated Editions ; and an ability and 
heart, on the part of instructors of christian youth, to 
comment on the sentiment and principles as well as in- 
struct in the grammatical construction of the language 
that sets them forth, and to vindicate and compare, 
and exalt by the comparison, *' the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord." 

♦ See his Confessions, as quoted by Milner in his History of the 
Church. 



20 PLEA FOR THE 

Your educated youth now becomes embarked in com' 
mercialy literary, professional or political pursuits. His 
mind having received its cast and color, stiffens into a 
partiQular form and becomes set. In the pursuits of 
aUter life he mainly enlarges his views and reapplies 
his already acquired principles. Even though his time 
is not fully occupied by his business, the selfishness 
of trade, the trickery of politics, and deference to. pub- 
lic opinion and taste on questions of the learned and 
elegant, confirm his errors,. wither his remaining' sensi- 
bilities, and unfit him for attention to ^* sublimer themes." 
Except among the professional and the devout, the 
** true worshippers," there is but little time occupied in 
reading works that directly ^^ mend the conscience and 
raise the heart." Our foreign relations are diversified^ 
our form of government peculiar and new, and absorb- 
ing questions continually arise. When an hour of 
leisure comes, the mind seeks relaxation, and is ill 
qualified and little disposed to do more than sport with 
the light and fantastic. Hence superficiality, save on 
absorbing topics, has Ibecome a national characteristic. 
The American mind is as limpid as the water of our 
inland seas, agitated by a zephyr and losing impressions 
as readily as it receives them. First thoughts satisfy; 
misleading analogies produce '* confirmation strong ;" 
appearances deceive ; error becomes patronized simply 
because men are unwilling to take the trouble to think 
on what is " a great thing " involving " their life." 
And multitudes, who, for general intelligence, wealth 
and influence, ought to be cedars in Lebanon, are seen to 
^* leave their fatness and put their trust in the bramble." 
Such being the depraved nature of man, ^^ drinking 
in iniquity like water," and such the depraving influen- 
ces under which a radically diseased mental constitu- 
tion is fostered and matured, let us now glance at what 
is ihe actual^ main staple of the popular press^ and the 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 21 

principal aliment of the great majority of mind in the 
reading world. It is not denied, nay, it is with gratitude 
and hope conceded, that science and art , are making 
rapid advances. The results of protracted and laborious 
effort are beginning to bless the world more largely. 
The pure ore, refined and ready for use, is brought to 
the surface and bespeaks the character of the treasures 
within, long hid in depths of darkness, amid " the bars 
of the earth." But we are now speaking of what affects 
sentiments and morals. The press, instead of leading in 
right sentiment and forming it, merely reflects it as it 
is, and too generally is a base pander to a vile and cor- 
rupting appetite. If the public taste be wrong, the press 
with its indescribable power perpetuates and extends 
the injury thus inflicted on vital interests. The question 
is, what will sell ? and as in other shambles and markets, 
80 here, supply responds to demand, although souls are 
included in the traffic, and patriotism and piety cannot 
fail to ask, aghast, what will the end be 1 

Shall I speak of Scott 1 for a long time the ** Great 
Unknown," receivirig homage high and pure, because 
paid to the character of the writings and not the person 
of the man. What amazing fertility of genius ! What 
deep lines ! What delicate shadipg ! What bold outline ; 
consistent keeping ; vivid coloring ! He had only to 
cast the light of his mind, with its penetrating power, on 
a subject, and it stood forth before the admiring specta- 
tor, distinct and wondrous as the creations of the pho- 
tographic art. O ! had that genius been to Mount Zion, 
and caught the inspiration of the temple, and the cross, 
and the kingdom of the Savior, and diffused their savor 
throughout the wide sphere he filled and the subjects 
at his command, he might now, and till the end of 
time, have been seen in giant form standing over Sco- 
tia, that " land of misty lakes and hoary mountains," 

and all lands that feel her influence, in the attitude in 

10 



22 PLEA FOR THE 

which David, from the threshing-floor of Oman, saw 
the angel of the Lord "as he stood- between heaven 
and earth over Jerusalem, with a drawn sword in his 
hand stretched over it," but not, like him, for destfuc- 
Hon, but for defence. 

The christian, however, cannot worship at his shrine, 
but must remain erect and resolute amid admiring mul- 
titudes, as Mordecai before Haman. though he was a 
man whom kings delight to honor. Though an elder 
in the kirk, he travestied her history, if he did not 
quite alter the record. He spoke lightly of her mar- 
tyrs. Not content with the creations of fancy, or to 
catch the living manners as they rise, he drew largely 
from materials consecrated by the most hallowed as- 
sociations. A literary Napoleon, he made the spoils ef 
even sanctuaries the ornaments of his capitol. While 
God turns sin to the account of reverence by taking 
the censer* of " sinners against their own souls," and 
forming of them broad plates for the altar, (Numbers, 
16 : 38,) that they might be a perpetual memorial, he 
took down the gold of the temple to fit out a variety 
shop. He traversed without reverential associations the 
land that had been the batile-field of religious liberty, 
and which contained gi its bosom the ashes of Knox. 
Confounding peculiarities of form with essential moral 
ingredients of character, he trampled scornfully on the 
dust of those whose spirits, while he was writing, were 
with God ; and to the fruit of whose sufl^ering he owed 
his freedom from molestation in the very act of awa- 
kening ridicule or pouring contempt upon their per- 
sons and principles ! The rebuke of England's sweet- 
est poet applies to Scotland's favorite, yet recreant son : 

*' Their ashes flew 
*'No marble tells us whither. With their names 
" No bard embalms and sanctifies his song: 
" And history, so warm on meaner themes, 
" Is cold on ihis.'» 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 23 

Nor can the qualified praise of the succeeding lines be 
extended to the writer named : 

" She execrates indeed 
** The tyranny that doomed them to the fire, 
"But gives the glorious sufferers little praise." 

What is the character of the impression made upon 
the mind of the general reader on the subject of a mi- 
nister of the everlasting Gospel, an ambassador '* to ne- 
gotiate between God and man the high concerns of an 
eternal state " by the so-called good-natured and bene- 
volent priest of "Jack HintonV What but a blight on 
the garden of God can be expected when an east-wind 
of the desert, such as Bulwer's productions in the main 
are, comes over it at regular intervals. What is the 
sterling and permanent value of another class of wri- 
ters, who, though free from the charge of wilfully '* re- 
moving landmarks," yet are mere worldly moral men 
themselves, and present, when they bring up the subject 
at all, radically defective views of religion and of all that 
is necessary to form and guide, the conscience and make 
meet for heaven 1 If " Jacob Faithful," and " Oliver 
Twist," and " Nicholas Nickleby," possess the charm 
of sentiment ; if they are endeared because they are 
" short and simple annals of the poor j" if they appeal 
to a different class of feelings in the breast of the read- 
er, their writers having chosen " soft pity's muse 5" if 
they have fearlessly laid open the abuses of the poor- 
house and boarding-school, and thus subserved the 
cause of philanthropy — 'tis well in its place, — " they ; 
have their reward," — but it is not such as, nor all that j 
the welfare of man, as an intelligent, accountable, de- 
praved and immortal being, requires. 

What is the amount of virtues depicted 1 Submission, 
honesty, simplicity, fidelity — a Deist's religion will re- 
commend all these, however destitute it may be of 
" sure testimony," " a perfect law," of efficient help, 



24f PLEA FOE THE 

of constraining motive, of pardoned sin, and eternal 
hope. They suggest not a thought beyond what is 
available for the purposes of the life that now is, and 
what they present are otAy somewhat purer specimens oui 
of a corrupt mass. What is their value, save to amuse 
the public and secure literary reputation and bread to 
their authors 1 Suppose all they say to be true, what 
doth it profit \ Do they cure the evils they portray 1 Do 
they bring "healing waters over these miry places 1" 
Wickedness is an " unblushing mask." You may fray 
away the vulture from one carcass, but he will light 
upon the next. You stay the act, but you leave the ap- 
petite. What are they all, I ask, as correctives of wrong ? 
Will a picture of a coi^agration, or the mere detection 
of an incendiary stay the progress of the flames 1 They 
resemble a representation in wax of a diseased part ; we 
derive pleasure in contemplating it, and our admiration 
at the skill displayed overcomes our nausea at the offen- 
siveness of the subject. To expect relief from this quar- 
ter is like expecting to be benefited under sickness or 
injury, by an artist skilfully depicting us to the life amid 
the pallor and languor of a sickbed, or falling under the 
club of an assailant. I allow them tact, genius, interest; 
but what are they to the great object we propose — the 
one thing needful, " Lord, heal my soul V Their de- 
fects alone condemn them. 

And what shall I say of another popular class of wri- 
tings which consists of tales, anecdotes, and sentimental 
poetry 1 among whose writers we sometimes find the 
names of commissioned preachers of righteousness, 
which display command of language, beauty of image- 
ry ; and which exhibit their readers in a condition not 
unlike Anthony and Cleopatra, as they gently floated on 
the Nile, amid soft music and in a perfumed atmosphere, 
their sails silken and their zephyrs gentle 5 and which 
aid in whiling pleasantly away the weariness of the 



£VAN6£LICXL PRESS. 25 

hours as we almost imperceptibly accomplish the voyage 
of life — but which, so far as the value of the sentiment 
is concerned, is only embalming butterflies and wasting 
amber on preserving insects promiscuously caught, only 
for the soke of having a subject — ** a lover's doleful 
ditty to his mistress' eye-brows." 

And what of another class still, which, because of 
their pernicious bearings on social as well as moral 
order, are the more to be deprecated for their intellec- 
tual power ; a code of blasting, poisonous principles, em* 
hellished wiih ail the graces of rhetoric and the skill of 
art — *' apples of Sodom" in pictures of silver j and moral 
volcanos, whose every heaving, in an additional num*ber, 
is a new eruption of scorching, desolating lava j each one 
an iBtna amid a garden more precious than Sicily's % 
These light and noxious publications flood the land, 
and they constitute a swarm; like miasmatic exhala- 
tions their influence is deadly, and their amount al- 
most darkens the light of day. 

We cannot allow the force of one argument generally 
urged in defence of these writings, that they lay open 
human nature and teach a knowledge of the world. I 
deny that there is any true knowledge of man, his cha- 
racter, constitution, duties, hopes, but what comes from 
Him who made man, who searches the heart, and who 
has " shown us what is good." I deny that all the books 
in the world put together, on the subject of prudential 
maxims and disclosures of the workings of human 
nature, equal the one Book of Proverbs, a part of 
God's revelation. It would indeed be a pitiable view 
of the nature whose dignity and self-sufliciency are 
maintained so strenuously, that its advocates call the 
Gospel a libel, and repulse the Savior, if the views of it 
presented in those publications are to ** end the matter." 
Their heroes are whited sepulchres, their virtues a mere 
mask for selfishness. *^ God is not in all their thoughts." 



26 FLEA FOR THE 

The sentiment of Young is pregnant with meaning, that 
** No man can underrate his merits, or overrate his na- 
ture." O ! what a miracle to man is man ! He speaks of 
" vast extremes " centring in us — of " different natures 
marvellously mixed." Pope caught a view of the same 
feature of his nature, when he calls man 

" A being darkly wise and rudely great, 
'* Tiie glory, jest and riddle of the world." 

^Tis here the value of the Gospel is seen and hecomes 
endeared. It discloses his high original, his guilty fall, 
his gracious recovery ; and all the phases his character 
presents may be explained by viewing them, either as 
the operations of an immortal spirit out of its element, 
and counteracting the design of a high, original desti- 
nation, or that same spirit renewed, conscious, panting 
after God and struggling to rise from earth and shake 
off the weight and fetters that encumber his motions — 
the one class gaining *' resolution from despair," the 
other " reinforcement from hope." 

As to the corruption these writers would expose — is 
to know ihaty a knowledge of human nature ? What is 
its amount 1 Mere morbid dissection, the exhibition of 
the offensiveness of disease and corruption from the 
crown of the head to the sole of the foot. And as the 
moral operator puts in his knife and lays open the pu- 
trid mass and turns it over and around, displaying at 
each motion additional loathsomeness, is ihis man ihe 
livings accountable^ intelligent agent? Is this the extent 
of your knowledge and art, ye physicians of no value ] 
Do you leave us here amid putrefaction and death 1 
Must we go to the dissecting-room to learn the value, 
power and uses of this mortal frame in its true charac- 
ter and highest application 1 Supposing your views true, 
not only, (which they are in part,) but the whole truth. 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 27 

(which we deny,) what do < you propose 1 To gov- 
ern the world by police, and let society move on in- 
deSnitely as a sickly person under the operation of a 
disease of which he must die at last, and in the mean- 
while be harassed incessantly by the necessity of 
watching and attempts at baffling its slow yet certain 
adi^ances. " Thou fool, will thy discovery of the cause 
suspend the effect, or heal it 1" 

This knowledge then can do nothing more, on Us own 
principles, than make a man an expert fencer, and teach 
him how to take care of himself by understanding how 
to parry and thrust, to act on the aggressive and repel 
assault. Such knowledge fills the mind with suspicion; 
it depraves, for we are transformed into what we gaze 
upon and are conversant with continually.- To deem me 
a villain is the way to provoke me to acts of villany. 

Society, under this influence, would become like 
Spain amid their civil wars. Force and artiffce are ever 
at work. Brigands and ruffians lie in wait at every step. 
There are secluded castles, and dark glens and moun- 
tain passes. We need a shield ever over our hearts and 
a weapon in our hand; to move by stealth and sleep 
upon a watch. Set features, intent looks and braced 
sinews will become characteristics, and all the bonds of 
brotherhood be severed like flax before the flame. Socie- 
ty would be dissolved, and though the forms of inter- 
course might of necessity be retained, all would be heart- 
less as a courtier's smile. Man's nature, susceptible of 
and craving " some better thing," would only render him 
pre-eminent in misery, even as Dry den's king was known 
to be one by his peculiar air of discontent. If we were 
wise and true to our instincts we should look out for a 
way of escape from a world which would be a hell in 
spirit, and in every thing but the name. " Help, Lord, 
for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from 
among the children of men !" 



28 PLEA FOR THE 

What we need is spmethiDg that will hold in check 
these tendencieji, ^PPfy healing medicines, and restrain 
these passions ; that wlH kindle anew the fire of love on 
these desecrated altars ; pour light through the secrecies 
of action, and health through the ** hidden parts '^ of the 
soul ; that will clear up these thickets, expel the hat and 
the owl from these deserted palaces, and gladden them 
with the light of day, and consecrate them for a heavenly 
visitant that will cast up a highway for the people, and 
restore the dominion of order, and peace, and love. 
Where is your helpl "I see him even now: 1 ,hehold 
him nigh : there comes a Star out of Jacob, and a Scep- 
tre rises out of Israel that shall smite the corners of 
Moab. And Edom shall be a possession. ^How goodly 
are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O IsraeL 
Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that 
carseth thee." " I will make the wilderness pools of 
water." *^ I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the 
myrtle, and the oil tree together." " I will bring the 
blind by a way they know not of. I will lead them 
in paths they have not known." " O Zion, that bring- 
est good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain : 
O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy 
•voice with strength ; lift it up, be not afraid ; say unto 
the cities of Judah, behold your God !" " How beautiful 
upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth 
good tidings, that publisheth peace ; that bringeth good 
tidings of good things, that publisheth salvation ; that 
saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Break forth into joy, 
sing together, ye waste places, for the Lord hath com- 
forted Zion. He will build Jerusalem. He shall sprin- 
kle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at 
him, for that which had not been told them shall they 
see, and that which they had not heard shall they 
consider." Numbers, 24: Isaiah, chapters 41, 42, 52, 
and 40 : 9. 



29 
n. The E£A3a iLsed warm cr Mzsnxc these ee- 



1. The example of ilie apaide m Ike case before ns is 
higUy inslniciiTe and cnf laiite* b presents, 1. per^ 
sotial coMtecrafiou — a diBtaet mi direct referextce to 
the design of his creation and cmnmission. 2. The 
form that consecration assnmed. ^ I showed — witness- 
ed " — he held forth testimony — a light. 3. The subject 
of his testimony was the great, general, leading, pecn- 
liar troths and hopes of Christianity, as the sum of the 
Old and New Testament Scriptures; "that Christ 
should suffer and rise from the dead.'' 4. The txttfU of 
this testimony — to all classes, ^ small and great,^ min- 
istering, of necessity, adapted truth, and to all nations^ 
both Jew and Gentiles. 5. He did it with laborious ef- 
fort, painful endurance and great risk. God gave him 
" help," was his shield and strength in a peculiar man- 
ner and degree. 6. He displayed a spirit of untiring 
perseverance and unflinching boldness ; notwithstanding 
all opposition, *' I continue.'^ And, 7. I may add that 
he was so intent upon his work that Festus for this, 
among other things connected with his ministry and 
hope, thought him '" heside himself." 

These points need not be dwelt upon. They present, 
however, one great feature in God's moral government, 
viz. that He accomplishes his purposes by agencies. The 
very battle wavered according as the hands of Moses 
rose or fell. If the rock is to pour out water, it must 
be smitten, though it be only by a rod. If the first- 
bom of Egypt are to die, it must be by the angel's 
sword. If " Jacob is to arise when he is small," it must 
be "by" some one. The weakness of the instrumen- 
tality proves that " the excellency of the power is from 
God," and weak things " confound the mighty." 

This, however, is not the place to establish a princi- 
ple which is recognized so distinctly as the obligation 

10* 



30 PLEA FOR THE 

of a redeemed sinner to follow Christ in " doing good," 
And with all due deference for the spirit of reverence 
avowed for the sovereignty of God ; with an explicit 
acknowledgment that the *^ times and seasons " are hid- 
den in his own knowledge, and reserved for his own 
power; and with a deep sense of the nothingness of 
man, being but the ^* saw in the hand of him that shak- 
eth it, and the axe in the hand of him that heweth 
therewith " — we cannot but deem it as inconsistent 
now to refuse methods and means of aid to the cause 
of Christ, involving, though they may, sacrifice, endu* 
ranee, and resistance even unto bloody as it would have 
been, had those who ^ministered to Him in the days of 
his flesh, turned him away from their doors and denied 
him a supply for his wants, in the spirit and with the 
words of the tempter, who would have thrown him 
back on the bare power of his Divinity y when he said, 
^^If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones 
be made bread." If no agency be admissible, why do 
they build churches and support a ministry for their 
own accommodation; and if these be, how can they 
consistently stop there 1 If we only provide for our- 
selves, " do not even the publicans the same 1" " What 
do ye more than others 1" What is it but the Dagon of 
selfishness sitting in dark enthronement in the temple 
of the God of the Covenant 1 To allow it, is to install 
an abomination that maketh desolate in the holy place. 
The form which the believer's agency is to assume is 
the illustration, defence, and propagation of the truth 
of God in every variety of method — in the living cha- 
racters of the life ; by upholding the ministry and the or- 
dinances of religion ; by the diffusion of religious intelli- 
5Tence in the newspaper and periodical ; by putting forth 
the preventive influence of the Sabbath-school and chris- 
tian education ; by sending the Bible where the bestowal 
of the whole volume at once would not be wasted j by 



EVANGELICAL FBESS. 31 

equipping and sustaining the mi'ssionary, the living 
teacher, wherever he can gain a hearing, or dare venture 
in person ', by the Tract, the smaller portion or more en- 
larged and specific treatise or volume on a select point ; 
pertinent, seasonable, plain, that can go where the liv- 
ing teacher cannot go, and can stay when he must de- 
part ; and embodies and perpetuates the truths he ut- 
tered in fugitive words, and which in its character as 
truth is mighty, and is comprehended within the broad 
promise : " My word shall not return to me void." 

Oitr more particular and chosen insirumentaliiy is this 
latter; and the object of my remaining remarks shall 
be to commend its claims to your understanding and 
hearts. If they should appear to be somewhat urgent 
and vindicatory, " is there not a cause " in the fact that 
its importance seems to have been somewhat lost sight 
of, and that with increased demands, and opening and 
inviting fields of labbr, there is a decreased supply of 
the sinews of action 1 

/ would preface the discussion of this part of my sub- 
ject by one general remark, that although many of my 
arguments and illustrations refer to Tracts, as they are 
technically and popularly denominated, viz. religious 
treatises ip their smaller forms \ yet I do not design by 
any means to limit my plea to them. What I advocate 
is Evangelical Truth in a permanent form and calculated 
for general circulation. The argument in behalf of 
Volume Circulation becomes, under given circum- 
stances and the force of the principles adduced, cumu- 
Ihtive — " the feeble as David and the house of David 
as an angel of God." That plain, slow-moving, colpor- 
teur's wagon, carrying from house to house the Gospel 
of the kingdom, in its spiritual associations is not un- 
like the cart on which the Ark of the Testimony was 
conveyed to the house of Obed-Edom, where it be 



32 PLBA FOR THE 

came a source of blessing and an occasion of joy ; be- 
fore which even a king with a priest's ephod danced 
with all his miaht ; whose reproach he bound as a gar- 
land about his brow, and the only effect of which was to 
stimulate the purpose — if this was vileness, to become 
even ** more vile." 2 Sam. 6. 

1. Tracts, in their essential character as Divine iruth^ 
are entitled to our regard, and Warrant hope in their 
use. Let me ask on what rests our expectation of suc- 
cess in any form of attempt at ** instruction in righteous- 
ness," from the mother with her child upon her lap, to 
the preacher conscious of his awful charge ; or the 
missionary believing that they " that dwell in the wil- 
derness shall bow before Him 1" 

You will quote the promises and assurances : '* The 
words that I speak are spirit and life." " The engrafted 
word which is able to save." " Of his own will begat 
he us with the word of truth." " He that goeth forth 
weeping, bearing precious seed, shall return with joy, 
bringing his sheaves with him." "The hand of the 
diligent maketh rich." Enough, grant it, grant it; but 
why is not all this my encouragement as well as yours 1 
If you speak of the unpretending form of these instruc- 
tions, so is the Bible a silent, unobtrusive volume, the 
work of many holy men, and gradually increased to 
its present size. So is every book powerless, and dumb, 
and inoperative till you consult it. So also the Author 
of all truth was deemed a root out of dry ground. So 
Paul was weak in bodily presence ; but we assuredly do 
not need to be reminded that the very filings of gold 
are precious ; that every single ray of light comes from 
the sun ] and that there is not a crumb that falls from 
our tables but it is the gift of God; and that the quality 
of truth more than the amount is its recommendation. 
It takes but a very small portion of truth to convert 
the soul, if it only receives application from above \ 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 33 

and without this opening of the eyes to " behold won- 
drous things out of God's law," you would in vain con- 
centrate the light of seven days upon one sightless eye- 
ball. A single summons, consisting of only two words, 
" follow me," severed the connection between the heart 
of Matthew and his place at the money changers' table. 
One sentence brings Zaccheus joyfully down the tree 
to the feet of Christ. One declaration uttered in a breath 
sent away the woman that was a sinner, penitent and 
relieved, from the house of the Pharisee. The great- 
est results had a beginning. The arrow that does exe- 
cution enters with a point. There is not a triumph 
you can claim for truth, in any form of dispensation-, 
that cannot be claimed for this. ** The blind receive 
their sight, the lame walk, the deaf hear." Our cause 
has sympathetic joy with the shepherd bearing home- 
ward a recovered sheep. It exults in bearing its humble 
part in producing and sust^aining the revival, where the 
Spirit of God moves mighty assemblies by a common 
impulse, as the trees of the forest are moved by the 
winds, coming down in answer to prayer and exhibit- 
ing his reviving influence in hearts in which the seed 
of his truth has been deposited. 

Before this revelation came, systems of philosophy, 
falsely so called, were the only guides of men on moral 
subjects and eternal hopes, as a writer declares, ^^ In this 
region and shadow of death the learned and illiterate 
sat for ages looking at each other in despair or scorn. 
From time to time some have started up after profound 
study and perambulated the valley, parading a new 
theory of mind, matter, or morals ; and for a time the 
hopeless spectators forgot their misery in a discussion 
of the mystery, but they discussed only to discard."* 
Of each one in succession it proved true, that their 
lights went out. 

♦ Philip's Manly Piety in its Principles. 



34 PLEA FOR TBfi 

-Every thing but the Gospel, as a " guide to happiness 
on high," in the God it reveals, the view of man it fur- 
nishes, the great features of God's moral government it 
exhibits, and the foundation of hope it points out, is a 
stupendous lie — a lie, because Christ declares, ** I am 
the light of the world." Stupendous in view of the so- 
lemnity of the subject, the boldness of the pretence, 
the character and permanence of the effect and the 
scale of its operations, and because involving the wreck 
of immortal hopes. "Error," said Hume, " can never 
produce the efiect of truth ;", and his and our Judge has 
said, " No lie is of the truth." In truth is otir hope. Call 
then, if you please, our agency diminutive. Shall one of 
the younger members of the family and sisterhood of 
truth be proscribed or neglected because she is little 1 
"lis a ray, at least, of the Day-spring from on high — 
would you arrest its progress, or attempt its extinguish- 
ment 1 Wherever a Tract is conveyjpd, there is " eet 
up a banner for the truth " in a deluded world. At our 
peril we either advance to take it down, or fail to im- 
prove its conquest or rally around and advance it. 

2. These publications are commended by their cha- 
racter as Catholic Trzcth ; and associated effort in regard 
to them is the harbinger and means of promoting unity 
in views and harmony in action. The kingdom of the 
Lord Jesus is the only true universal empire ; and in 
its establishment alone this sublime conception (a 
phantom when projected or attempted by earthly mo- 
narchs) will be realized. *^ As yet we see not all things 
put under" Christ ; but within his acknowledged domi- 
nions there are diversities of administration and action. 
Mere denominational differences maintained in the ex- 
ercise of intelligent and conscientious preference, and 
in the spirit of love, are perhaps not quite so much to 
be deplored as some at first sight might imagine i 
while the spirit of sect, in its exclusive claims and into- 



EVANGELICAL PBESS. 35 

lerant action, stands rebuked by the sight this platform 
presents. The only " fire " here called down from hea- 
ven on each other is that influence of the "Holy One" 
(Isaiah, 10 : 17) which " consumeth the chaflf " remain- 
ing in our christian character ^ which hath a "most 
vehement flame j^' which sat in the form of cloven 
tongues on the disciples at Pentecost, and is our hope 
that all nations will yet speak in their own tongues the 
wonderful works of God. We receive each other in the 
person of Christ. We avow a common salvation. (Jude, 
3.) We are one in Christ our Head — our b9nd is truth, 
our spirit, love. 

Whatever tributes our remaining infirmities of feeling 
or defective views, or our ignorance how to combine 
practically our respective forms and opinions in one s^^s- 
tem, may receive in our maintained peculiarities within 
our respective sanctuaries and denominational lines, we 
are not content without a united tribute also to the doc- 
trine of a unity of faith and of a holy Catholic Church, 
and an implied protest against the inferences these fruits 
of our remaining infirmities might seem to warrant. 
The Tract Society exhibit this more prominently than 
the Bible Society, for we do not here, as there, merely 
receive revelation en masse, without note or comment, 
but we agree on the question what are its distinguish- 
ing features, its saving and essential truths; and we 
make, in the very spirit and form of our organization, a 
much nearer approximation to seeing " eye to eye.'* 

We act also without the risk of collision attending 
united missionary operations. Where men, as is there 
necessarily the case, are agents with discretionary and 
somewhat undefined powers, they will always leave the 
imprint of their mental biases on their work. The noise 
of axes and hammers, and sometimes the strife of 
tongues is heard in the erection of the temple, and of 
ten the scaflblding enlists more interest than the pile 



36 PLEA POtt THE 

But the Tract league is a perfectly defined one, offensive 
and defensive. The types we employ are mutes till we 
bid them speak, and they can speak nothipg but what 
we all agree they shall utter. Our publications are 
truths also in such form as generalizes the views and 
liberalizes the feelings. 

The whole field appears like land to the mariner yet 
far off at sea, though in sight. He sees not the fences, 
hedges and lines which indicate individual proprietor- 
ship; but what he does see is the place of his friends, 
his country, his home. From this position we catch the 
broad and distinctive features of Christianity, in contrast 
with every other hope ever brought in, such as they ap- 
pear to be and are necessarily set forth by the mission- 
ary, who, from the sickening scenes that surround him, 
turns to rest his eye upon the spot where God " com- 
mands the blessing," and his *' tabernacle is with men." 
All who may warrant ably hope to meet in heaven, may 
and should meet somewhere on earth ; and here is one 
unexceptionable place and work. A strong conviction 
of common danger, an oppressive sense of obligation, 
will stir up and reveal the hitherto deep-laid, hidden 
and dormant elements of character ; the features of the 
soul will strike through, and the lines be strength- 
ened by action, even as patriots may differ about poli- 
tics at home, but are found side by side, and shoulder 
to shoulder to repel invasion and meet the enemy 
on the shore, because they both love their country. 
•* There," said an officer who had received a challenge 
to the man who gave it, when the alarm-gun was fired 
and the drum beat to arms, ^^ there is the foe ^ let us give 
proof in the conflict at hand who is the. bravest man." 
In the pause here created amid the clashing interests, 
and sentiments, and jarring movements of the religious 
world, how appropriate and sweet the words of Adam to 
Eve, as portray ed by the most sublime of uninspired poets: 



EVA^'G£LICAL PRESS. 37 

" But rise, let us no more contend, nor blame 
** Each other, blamed enough elsewhere, but strive 
" In offices of Jove, how we may lighten 
" Each other's burden in our share of wo." 

I love the Tract cause, because, without sacrificing 
one distinctive principle, it is the truth, " the truth in 
Jesus," without the encumbering influence of a given 
form, or the repelling aspect of one we do not prefer. 
Who can tell, of the numerous hands, hearts and heads 
that wrote the contents of these volumes, what was 
their name, save disciples of Christ 1 The conflict they 
create is between the conscience of the reader and the 
power of truth, and this is the eflfect they aimed at. 
They operate with the vigorous and pervading power 
of a process, and not the superficiality and attractions 
of a mere mode. What they effect, they eflfect noise- 
lessly, yet before their penetrating, melting, refining in- 
fluence the power of iniquity is broken and disappears 
as the bands of winter arc dissolved before the breath 
of spring, and here is the " hiding of their power." 

As in the case of feudal tenures before the march of 
order, and light, and truth, the weaker became merged 
in the more powerful; as the independence of the 
barons gradually yielded and the lines of demarcation 
claimed by them faded away, until at length central hn- 
perial power swayed its sceptre over the whole terri- 
tory, combined all these separate interests in one, and 
blended the whole mass of population under one law, 
name and jurisdiction; even so the cautious, conser- 
vative spirit of. denominational attachment, necessary 
and honorable under existing circumstances, will gra- 
3ually yield to the confiding spirit and enlarged mea- 
sure of christiian love ; the whole mass of spiritual 
material will be melted down under the assimilating 
and blending influence of the experience and love of 
the truth, until the promise shall be fulfilled: the Lord 
shall be King over all the earth. " In that day there shall 



38 PLEA FOR TBB 

be one Lord, and his name one." And of this, though 
we have not yet the sum, we have the pledge and its first 
friu'iSy for in this blessed work of doing good and com- 
municating we are all made *' to drink in one spirit." 

3. I love the Tract, because while it is Catholic es- 
sential truth, a light kindled at the altar of God, it is 
characteristic in its form. 

It is cheap — the widow's mite can purchase it and aid 
ils distribution, and the very miser hardly dare refuse to 
dispense what is, as nearly as possible, of all the works 
of men's hands, as free as God's gift of vital air and re- 
joicing light. It is portable, and like a good conscience, 
is a pleasant companion, a continual remembrancer, and 
is easily carried. 

It is seasonable and adapted truth, A Tract Volume is 
a quiver full of arrows, and we may select such a one as 
we need. The Bible is the storehouse, or rather the ex- 
haustless mine ; here are portions prepared for our use, 
and we may lay our hand at once on what we may judge 
available. It is hot the quiver and its contents bodily 
discharged that we employ in execution ^ but the single, 
selected, well-aimed arrow. Such arrows, shaped and 
suited for every variety of occasion by masters of as- 
semblies, the Tract Society places within our reach, 
labelled and with directions. Their publications com- 
bine a peculiar adaptation to the conviction of both 
the philosophic and common mind. Philosophy would 
be ashamed to reject induction, and nothing strikes the 
ordinary intellect like a fact. 

It has doubtless been observed how largely they con- 
sist of great principles applied and illustrated by actual 
occurrences ; how much narrative and incident are 
found in them, while it is a fixed and avowed rule to 
exclude every thing fictitious and unauthenticated. Now 
what is the reason that the great majority of christians 
r^ad the Gospels and historical parts of the Scriptures 



EVANGELICAL PBESS. 39 

most 1 Why, when we circulate pure revelation, do we 
begin with portions from them for the heathen, but 
because they exhibit truth applied to character and 
circumstances, pertinent and convincing, and perceived 
in itfi value and bearings by one who knew what was 
in man, and who detected, warned, convinced or com- 
forted, as the case might require. It is this character 
of incident, a crowded stage, busy action and stirring 
scenes, that give interest to the novel and romance. 
While the pulpit is pre-eminently the place for 
holding forth the word of life, the Tract is the appro- 
priate means of gathering up and improving much that 
would otherwise be lost ; and is supplemental, in an in- 
ferior and warrantable sense, to the Gospel. We follow 
the Gospel in its course through the world, as the first 
disciples did its Divine Author. We hear its lessons, 
observe its influence, and record, in familiar forms, 
scenes and occurrences that arise from it. What is 
written of the words and actions of the Savior is but 
a small part of what he said and did. We have a speci- 
men of one of his till then omitted sayings incidentally 
named by Paul, that " it is more blessed to give than to 
receive." And I see not why revivals now may not be 
recorded and rejoiced over as well as when the disciples 
said in holy gratulation, " Then hath God also to the 
Gentiles granted repentance unto life," and were inter- 
ested and took action when they heard "that Samaria 
had received the word of God." I cannot see why 
striking, hopeful and undeniable conversions now, may 
not call up adoring wonder as well as when Saul of Tar- 
sus breathed no longer in threatenings but in prayer. I 
need hardly say that we, of course, disclaim for these 
records the authority or rank of revelation 5 but are 
they not the Lord's doings, and should they not be mar* 
vellous in our eyes 1 Are they not in keeping with what 
he did while yet with usl Do they not illustrate his 



40 TLEA FOR THE 

promises and furnish " infallible proof " that Jesus is yet 
alive 1 And may not objectors be met with the reply of 
Peter on the day of Pentecost, to those who said these 
men are full of new wiiie, that this is what God has 
promised: "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh 1" 

To be consistent in rejecting what is so peculiarly the 
business, the charm, And the efficacy of the Tract, viz. 
to gather facts, arid illustrate and apply principles, we 
must cast aside the lessons of our own personal expe- 
rience 5 but can we do soand be innocent 1 What is im- 
portant to me as truih\ is also important io others. What 
i^ true in my experience, and may warrantably influ- 
ence, does not become false or unimportant because 
it is printed and circulated. Are we not obligated to 
cry, " Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will de- 
<5lare what lie has done for my soul," and to "magnify 
his works which' men behold 1" 

4. These publications seem to be essential to complete 
the assortment of the desirable instrumentalities of righ- 
teousness. We need the "whole armor of God." The 
breastplate, however important, without the helmet 
would leave us sorely exposed ^ and the shield without 
the sword might secure personal safety, but we should 
not be able to put forth aggressive action. Apply the il- 
lustration. We are not warranted, because our depend- 
ence is on the excellency of God's power, merely to 
stand still and wait for his salvation. 

We have, confessedly from God, the Bible, " mighty 
through God," its pathway through the empire of dark- 
ness traceable by the desolation of its strongholds. Who 
executed the first writing on earth 1 What was written, 
and /or what purposes 1 In the fact that God wrote his 
law and laid it up for reference by his people, and that 
in it we have something palpable addressed to human 
eyes and put in human hands, we have what at once de- 
stroys the foundation of those who would fain dissuade 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 41 

from action because of the impiety and presumption in- 
volved in the idea of being " co-workers with God." 

But is this, the bestowal of a revelation, the only 
agency permitted, required, necessary 1 The paper and 
ink of the Bible, like the material parts of all other books, 
is of the earth, earthy. That volume, though it has 
cherubim shading it with their wings, and bending over 
it in study of its mysteries, has not the wings of the 
cherubim appended, by means of which it may fly in- 
stinct with life and love to the relief of the dwellers in 
dark places. The " gates of hell " would never multiply 
it or give it circulation ; but would rather see, as was 
once fhe case, a solitary copy for an entire region of 
earth and that chained fast in some dark cloister, 
than the tons weight of it which strain the timbers of 
your depositories, and are ready for difliision. No. 
Man has an agency, " holding forth the word of life." 

But is this all 1 Is the circulation of that blessed 
volume the "whole duty of mani" Who sent Aaron to 
Pharaoh to enforce his command by Moses 1 Who 
placed Ezra in his pulpit of woodl Who said to the 
prophet, " Run, speak 1" Who asks, " Whom shall we 
send, and who will go for us 1" Who told the disciples 
I send you forth, ** as my Father hath sent me, even so 
send I you 1" The angel flying through the midst of 
heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach, is but 
the august symbol of men proclaiming to the astonished 
nations, "Behold your God!" 

While Christ then has settled the ConsiUuHon of his 
church — by-laws and incidental forms and instrumental- 
ities are all committed to our judgment, zeal and love. 
For want of this obvious distinction many are sorely dis- 
tressed at the sin of Sabbath-schools and other forms of 
benevolent action, because they do not find a regularly 
drawn constitution in the Bible. They might as reason- 
ably have refused aid to the man who fell among 



42 PLEA FOR THE 

thieves, because the prescription of ihe surgery and ike 
very salve the case required are not presented in the law 
of love. The disciple of Jesus, the " new man," has a 
head and heart and two hands, and they are all *^ the 
Lord's." These are his furniture for good words and 
works; and in this wretched world he need not take two 
steps before he can find occasion and a place to begin. 
What I contend for, then, is hot only warrant but the 
OBLIGATION of providing what may seem to be desirable 
and important auxiliaries in carrying out the duties of 
our stewardship* 

From the question of principle I now come to the 
question of fact : Is ihe Tract cause such an agency ? 
Amid the neglect of the Bible and the utter thoughtless- 
ness of men, the Tract fluttering in Inid heaven and 
crossing the field of vision, a flying roll, though inscribed 
with mercy as well as wo, catches attention; the subject 
at least comes up; and if one reads, with Balaam when the 
angel met hirii — he will find his path somehow obstructed, 
and he cannot get on without an awakened sense of 
guilt and humbling confession. With catechisms and 
other formularies, it contains elementary truths, out- 
lines, specimens; and in its relation to the great system, 
it stands like an inviting gateway to the field of promise 
and eternal hope. 

It aids attention as well as arrests it, and fixes impres- 
sions. Foster has exhibited, in a striking point of view, 
the strange and afiTecting waywardness of the heart of 
man. in the fact, that when the preacher " comes in the 
name of God," rehearses his law, and arraigns his au- 
dience, great and small, before the " great white throne," 
and in ideal presence places them there, — the sound of 
a retiring footstep, the slamming of a pew-door, or the 
fall of a hat from a peg, can arrest and divert attention, 
and interrupt if not break the spell which truth has 
momentarily thrown over their minds. By means of the 



EVANGELICAL FKESS. 43 

Tract, the minister, in retiring from the inquiry meeting 
or the sick room, may thus leave his memorial behind 
him. His words indeed have vanished into thin air; 
but here is their substance, and while held before or ap- 
plied to the heart and conscience, the impression be- 
comes transferred. The missionary also utters a few 
plain truths and then leaves the child of darkness to 
hold converse with the *^ talking leaf,^ and he thus sta- 
tions an unbribeable guard, a stern sentinel, wherever 
he can get a foothold or a hearing. It is a grappling- 
iron by means of which we retain a control OTer those 
with whom we come in contact, and to go forth with- 
out it is to go to a field of conflict without an im- 
portant weapon to wield when we get there. Who feels 
above confessing the aid derived from such pointed, 
coherent, impressive exhibitions of Gospel truth as they 
contain 1 

Besides, we have hereby a hold on men by Me pow" 
er of association. If we simply deliver a message, our 
words are only breath, and if one hears respectfully, 
though "he does them not,'* there is nothing that 
rouses a sense of guilt ; and men will excuse themselves 
for rejecting the message by reflecting on at least their 
patient and passive reception of the messenger. But the 
very act of thrusting aside a Tract is an outward start- 
ling putting away of the word of truth, and stands in an 
obvious and appalling relation to an " evil heart of un- 
belief," and a man's confirmed, public, formal rejection 
by Christ. If the Tract is received, and he feels resentful, 
it would be poor satisfaction to vent his rage on an in- 
animate and harmless piece of paper ; and whether he 
neglect or destroy it, he must offer violence to his con- 
science, and have a struggle on the occasion. If perus- 
ed, when our words of warning no longer sound in the 
ear they are heard in disturbing echoes from the Tract ; 
and we leave him alone^ his conscience and the truth 



44 PLEA FOR THE 

confronted. Nay, the very capitals in a Tract, ETER- 
NITY, have been known to catch the eye of a lov^r of 
pleasure, and convey the word, with its overwhelming 
solemnities, to the soul. With the impious king who 
saw a handwriting on the wall, she trembled, her sin 
was continually before her, nor did her anxieties cease 
till she found peace in believing, and could say, " My 
soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoiceth in 
God my Savior," and she exchanged her trembling on 
the verge of eternal wo for the character of "heir of 
eternal life, which God, who cannot lie," hath promised 
in Christ Jesus. 

5. We claim regard to these publication?, because of 
their varied character ^ direct bearings and powerful and 
attrnclive exhibition of Gospel truth. Did I. propose to 
disturb the ease of a careless sinner, I would put into 
his hand " The Barren Fig-tree." Was he to reform in 
a few particulars, and ask, " What lack I yet V I ^vould 
bring forth the balance of the sanctuary, and show him 
" The Moral Man Tried," and convince him that " Every 
Man is the Friend or Enemy of Christ." Should he be 
startled, I would hold him to his position by pressing 
on him the *' Worth of the Soul" and the horrors of 
" Heaven Lost." Should refuge fail him, and should he 
cry out in despair, I would answer the " Great Ques- 
tion," and hold before him the " Cross of Christ," and 
bid him " Come, and Welcome." Should he be discou- 
raged by the day of small things in his soul, I would in- 
struct him in the " Progress of Grace," and the nature 
of " Walking by Faith." When drooping through sor- 
row, I would give him *^ 'Tis all for the best," and re- 
light the fires of his languid eye by hope in the Lord. 
Had he a family, "Advice to a Married Couple," " Chris- 
tian Education " and " Family Worship " should be my 
chosen " words in season." Did gray hairs appear upon 
him here and there, and strangers devour his strength, 



EVAK6ELICAL PRESS, 45 

I would warn him of the danger of the ** Decay of Spi- 
ritual Affections," and ** The Sin and Danger of ne* 
glecting the Savior." I would relieve that sinking of 
spirit which ensues when the enemy comes in like a 
flood, by the stirring exhibition of the ** Church Safe ;'* 
and rouse the fearful soul that tires, and faints, and 
walks the ways of God no more, by showing him ** A 
Forty Years' Prayer-meeting.", The path of the youi^g 
should have waymarks, in the exposures here made of 
Debauchery, Intemperance and Gambling, surmounted 
by the inscription, ** My son, if sinners entice thee, conr 
sent thou not." I would also explode in their view, with 
more than electro-magnetic power, the ** Objections of 
the Infidel " by the Tract that bears that name. I would 
rebuke the worldling and cheer the saint by inviting 
them respectively to take their station >vith me at the 
bedside of Payson in the ** Land of Beulah," and show« 
ing them the consistent keeping between the life and 
death of the righteous. Yes, to help me both ** Keep 
my Heart" and " Teach my hands to war," next to the 
Bible, ever foremost give me the Trad Volumes, He has 
missed much who has not visited this garden of plants 
from " Paradise Regained," in the midst of which, dif- 
fusing savor and giving character to all around, stands 
the Tree of Life, its fruit varied and monthly, and its 
leaves for the healing of the nations. > And he has reason 
to question the soundness of his spiritual health who does 
not relish it and rove through it *' with ever new delight." 
Talk of your Annuals and holiday presents! The 
price of one of them will purchase a dozen or a score 
of these publications, whose is the rare property of 
value in the contents and not the form, and on every 
one of which may be written : *' The testimony of 
the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. More to 
be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine 
gold, sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb." 

n 



46 PLEA FOE THE 

* But these publications are not, as many erroneously 
suppose, calculated only for the young, the devout, the 
afflicted, or the simply well meaning. We fear not to 
put them forth for premiums at the literary fair^ and to 
recommend them as not to be disdained even by lips 
"wet with Castalian dews." Cian you on any subject 
show a clearer piece of tracery than the outline of the 
way from hell's dark door to a throne of light in ** James* 
Anxious Inquirer V Had earth ever a more rapt spirit 
than Baxter 1 or one whose writings do more to iill the 
whole scene with light, and in the perusal of which 
Tieaven more readily " comes down our souls to greet V* 
Can you produce more exquisite and touching sim- 
plicity than is presented in the " Dairyman's Daughter," 
whose author paints the scene in a believer's death- 
chamber with a pencil dipped in the varied and blend- 
ed colors of the Rainbow of the covenant \ And what 
need I say in recommendation of Bunyan, 

" Ingenious dreamer ! in whose well-told tale 
" Sweet fiction and sweet truth alike prevail—" 

whose Pilgrim's Progress even England's Poet Laureate 
pronounced a literary wonder, and exalted himself by 
editing. -Can mortal hand rend the veil away from the 
face of infidelity more effectually than Keith has done, 
who in his work on prophecy, amid the ruins of em- 
pires, awakes n voice and renders legible the inscrip- 
tion, "Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth." 
Have you read the " Village Funeral 1" Then you have 
beheld (in its own touching language) the whole scenery 
of death glittering in the light of immortality. Can the 
Universalist say otherwise, on a candid perusal of the 
Tracts that expose his cause, than this : I have a lie in 
my right hand, and my hope is like the giving up of the 
ghost 1 Can the lovers of the dance fed otherwise than 
that they make themselves vile 1 If you wish to see 
the Rock of Ages, "the only Refuge," invitingly set 



BVANGEUCAL PRESS. 47 

forth with the clouds about its base and the suBshine 
on its head, read " the General's Widow." And there 
too are the productions of that master mind, whose gi- 
gantic dimensibns and mighty action none can contem- 
plate « without the homage of reverence approaching 
awe ; that could stoop and could soar, and proved its 
possessor a ^' son of thunder '* and ** of consolation," bm 
its power is put forth in the *^ Contrast of the Death of 
Hume and Finley," and " Conversation with a Young 
Traveller." Only master the facts and principles there 
set forth, and you will have ever at hand an effectual 
quietus to that part of shortsighted and shallow, yet 
babbling and plausible infidel philosophy, and may say 
respecting it, as Moses respecting the Egyptians, ** Ye 
shall see them no more." But time would fail me to 
pursue the analysis. Cast your eye along the whole 
array of this armory, which, though thus replete, is 
but just begun. The place is Mahanaim, and these 
are God's hosts. Genesis, 32 : 2. 

6. The last plea we urge is the providential ckarader 
and the results of this mighty arid blessed agency. It is an 
important maxim, *' God is in history."* There is an 
-unseen yet almighty hand behind the scenes of Provi- 
dence, that brings them forward, adjusts, removes them, 
and carries on, towards its finished stage, the work of 
Redemption, by means of providential arrangements and 
events which he has linked in with it, and caused to be 
subservient to it. In the birth of Moses and Samson 
God raised up deliverers^ and did not merely employ, 
what was somehow, but not by him, adapted to the^ 
emergency and ready to his hand^ God turned the scale 
of battles which made Rome the mistress of the world. 
He gave fury to the wi^r-horse, and strength and aim to 
the warrior's arm, and preserved the spear and sword 

* See the magnificent preface to D*Aabign6's History of the 
Reformation. 



48 PLEA FOR THK 

and jshield unbroken, because he was preparing, by the 
hushing and subjugation of the nations, a fulness of time 
and a mighty stage for introducing into the world the 
Prince of Peace. In the subserviency of steam and other 
physical agents to moral uses we see *' 4he finger of 
God " as clearly as in the qualification of Bezaleel, by 
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, to *^ devise 
cunning works " in gold, and silver, and brass, and in 
cutting of stones and curving of timber, and all manner 
of workmanship for the construction of the tabernacle, 
and the ark of testimony, and the altar of burnt-offering. 
Exodus, 31:2, 11. We cannot, therefore, regard the 
invention of Prirding^ rapidly perfecting as the Refor- 
nu[tion arose, otherwise than as a chosen par^ of God^i 
instrumenicdUy, 

I have already alluded to the divine origin of record' 
ing truth and law. As a substitute for writing, and as 
a means of perpetuating act& and sentiments, we see 
nations renowned for arts resorting to the clumsy hie- 
roglyjphic, or rearing the costly monument for a single 
event. It will aid our estimate of the value of this agen- 
cy to inquire how the Church, when she was struggling 
for restoration from her captivity in modern Babylon, 
could possibly have dispensed with it, and to observe 
what advantages she would have lost had not. this help 
been at hand. The pen and the press are simply means 
of conveying and perpetuating knowledge. They are to 
a cause what wings are to a bird and feet to a man, iKi 
means of locomotion. They are a substitute for personal 
presence and instruction ; and nothing can be said in 
commendation of their general power which does not 
equally commend them in application to our cause, and 
so much tfie more entitle them to your liberal support, 
as our object is the pre-eminently important one to wit- 
ness, to both small and great, words whereby they may 
be saved. The apostle, who had no rest in his spirit day 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 49 

or night, and but little in his person, went where he 
could : where he could not go, or where he had been 
and could not go again, he wrote. The hand that penned 
the epistles to the Philippians and Timothy was encum- 
bered with a chain, and he makes a distinction between 
restraint laid on the preacher, and the continued exten- 
sion of truth : *' the word of God is not bound." 

On the invention of printing, the Classics were 
brought forth from the retirement of libraries, were il- 
lustrated and circulated. A new zeal for learning was 
thus enkindled. The public mind became roused and 
excited to quickened action, and was thus qualified to 
" hear and inwardly digest " the weighty discussions at 
hand. Speaking of Luther's theses, the historian says : 
^^ The Head of the Church, who sits in the heavens, an^d 
to whom all power is given, had himself prepared the 
soil and committed the seed to the hand of his ser- 
vant. He gave wings to these seeds of truth, and scat- 
tered them in a moment over the whole field of the 
Church." Do you ask how 1 '* The Reformer had hardly 
nailed them to the doors of the church of the castle of 
Wittemberg, when the feeble taps of his hammer are 
succeeded by a thunder-clap which shook the very 
foundations of proud fiome." It was the sound of the 
going of THE PRESS — ^ for they spread with the rapidity 
of lightning. In a fortnight they spread over Saxony — 
in a month they had run through all Christendom, as if 
angels had been their bearers instead of men."* 

Luther published several popular Tracts and Sermons 
— on the Ten Commandments, Explanation of the Lord's 
Prayer, &c. The Beast felt the goadings of the spear, 
and Tetzel very naturally disapproved of ** scribbling so 
many Books and Tracts." The Reformer's voice was 
heard beyond the confines of Germany, and in many 
regions they were the morning star that ushered in the 

• D'Aubignd, vol. I, page 248.. 



50 PLEA FOR THE 

auspicious day of Gospel light.* The Colporteurs light* 
ed up the fires of the Reformation in the very cottages 
of the peasants. Three presses were at work on the 
New Testament alone, striking off ten thousand sheets 
per day.^ In a few years seventeen editions proceeded 
from the press at Wittemberg alone. Of Melancthon's 
Loci CommuneSy in about seventy years there were 
sixty-seven editions. Luther, alone, wrote about 183 
Tracts, short treatises, such as the ** times required," 
each one a nail fastened in a sure place by a master's 
hand. In France, Le F^vre employed the same agency, 
and in 1524, 318 years ago, there existed at Basle, hav- 
ing France for its field of operation, a Bible Society, 
an association of Colporteurs, and a religious Tract 
Society. 

These efforts do not date therefore from our age ; 
they go far back and are a tried instrumentality. They 
gave the Reformers a sort of ubiquity, and proved like 
the rod of Moses to God's Israel. It was lifted by direc* 
tion received from the cloudy pillar and tabernacle, and 
when lifted led their march. As these sparks fell in 
showers over the nations, prohibitory decrees were is- 
sued, and the powers of darkness strove to put them 
out ; but each one proved to be fire from heaveii, and 
became a separate centre of light and heat, until at 
length, extending and blending, the glory of the Lord 
filled the land, and the people no longer stumbled on in 
their darkness, but rejoiced among the ** nations of the 
saved." 

It is but turning over the same principle in illustra- 
tion to tell how Baxter and Flavel in troublous times, 
and Bunyan from Bedford jail, wielded the pen when 
they could not officiate in person, and that too with a 
spirit and power which told upon the kingdom of dark- 
ness. Nor should the fruits of Tract operations in this 

• D'AubigBd, vol. 2, pp. 21, 22, 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 51 

City by missionaries and distributers be overlooked. 
These former have long and effectively pursued their 
self-denying labors in this department on means barely 
sufficient to keep vitality in the silver cord ; and none 
but those who will stop and examine, can estimate the 
value of their work. The Tract House furnishes a more 
effective and desirable police than the City Hall. The 
records of the Association I speak of, tell not of com* 
mittals to the penitentiary, but introduction to the 
prayer-meeting and sanctuary. Their proposed remedy 
for vagrancy is to bring back the wanderer to the Shep- 
herd and Bishop of souls. They thunder not at the door 
of offenders with the authority of *'the judge or the 
officer," but in meekness they instruct those who op* 
pose. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth they visit the 
abodes of wretchedness and guilt, to seek and save; and 
the guilty inmates need not run to hide themselves, for 
they bring salvation on tlieir tongues, and words of 
peace reveal. They care for those whom others care 
not for but hunt after. Tiiey seek out the cause they 
know ndt. Their weapons are prayer, and truth, and 
love, and every month you^hear some say : Rejoice with 
us, for we have found the sheep that was lost. God is 
not unmindful, and will not forget your work of faith 
and labor of love. The church blesses you in the name 
of the Lord. We offer you our congratulations and 
breathe upon you- our prayers as you pass in revie\v. 
You have witnesses on earth and a record on high. 

We have testimony also to the efficacy of this form 
of instrumentality in the history of darkness as well as 
light. Of Tracts, Books, Encyclopedias, there are other 
than religious ones. Poison instead of health was infus- 
ed into the fountain of knowledge by the French phi- 
losophers. The press laid^ the train whose explosion 
shook down the throne of France, prepared the grave 
of myriads, deranged and convulsed the civilized world. 



52 PLEA FOE THE 

and has opened, on the very spot where the anti-chris- 
tian conspiracy was carried on, a volcano whose porten- 
tous heavings even now constrain us with the prophet 
to exclaim, ^* Wo is me! my soul is weary because of 
murderers, and my sighs are many and my heart is 
faint." 

The Peess — it is adapted to do wonders — it can do 
wonders — it has done wonders. With its power of 
multiplication, it is a moral and intellectual repeating 
rifle-^one can chase a thousand as easily as a material 
one can defend an individual against the assaults of a 
gang. All we ask is, allow us the instrumentality and 
do not cripple us in its, use — hand on the truth and fur- 
nish us the means of discharging it^ and, with God's 
blessing, we fear not for the issue. 

Although the two causes which stand opposed employ 
the same methods of warfare, we have hope that we 
shall prevail, because wickedness is selfish^ and has no 
heart and feels no hands. To the extent of personal in- 
terest, or under temporary impulses, it may do much and 
act vigorously ; yet it will not sustain apostles, nor in- 
stitute missions, nor inspire martyrdom. Righteousness, 
on the other hand, is liberal, principled, has hope, con- 
tends for all, is incorruptible, and sustains this and all 
needed additional instrumentalities. Wickedness is 
false. Ours is the cause of truth. We speak to the con- 
science, whereas till men reach a certain point in ini- 
quity, they find it hard to kick against the pricks — a 
traitor always fights faintly. Wickedness has the as- 
surance of going into perdition, but with us is ** the 
mighty God." If the Tract be not an original sun, a 
light-bearer ** in the beginning," it may at least perform 
the ofiice of the Star of Bethlehem, which was a cre- 
ation for a particular occasion, and yielded a light so 
peculiar that it attracted notice and fixed the gaze and 
gently drew on even magi^ until it paused over the per- 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 53 

son of Immanuel, and having performed its office in 
bringing them there, it disappeared and left them to 
wonder and adore. 

Having thus exhibited the ground on which we rest 
our claim on your attention and liberality, allow me, in 
the conclusion of this discourse, to urge the importance 
of putting forth new vigor in this department of 

CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE. 

Firgiy then, I ask what shall be the effect of 4hi8 
combined review of facts, and principles, and circum- 
stances 1 We have caught a view of the genius and in* 
Huence of the Gospel of the ever-blessed God. We 
have traced the course of evangelical literature, like the 
Nile through the sands of Egypt, by its fertility, and 
have read its history in the light of His smiles. He who 
has the key of the house of David has set before us an. 
open door. We have looked upon the slain and wound- 
ed and exposed, and now whai is our decision ? Have we 
felt compassion rise, or shall we pass by on the other 
side 1 May we not hope for something allied to what 
ensued in Israel, when Hilkiab the priest brought to 
Josiah the book of the long-lost and neglepted law ; a 
book, a record, a rule in permanent form, that had not 
degenerated, though the priests handled not the law, 
though the princes had beeome vain and their judges 
were like evening wolves — when light flashed, and a 
sense of obligation startled, and conviction was felt, 
ai^d confession was made, and reform ensued, and idols 
tottered and fell. I know not how to estimate the com* 
parative value of the talents entrusted to us, but among 
the most precious is personal influence and wealth, and 
their burial and abuse are among the heaviest items in 
our account — what we have omitted to do when it was 
in the power of our hand to do it — *' ye gave me no 

meat — ye gave me no drink — ye took me not in." To 

11 ♦ 



5> PLEA FOR THE 

be consistent, we must either abandon or maintain the 
cause — are you prepared for a .decision 1 Would any 
here dare to loosen the first stone as the commence- 
ment of a process of dismantling 1 Would you riot fear 
the fate of him, who, though a king, had the arm 
withered which he dared to put forth with unhallowed 
design toward the -altar 1 And if mistaken zeal in sup- 
porting the ark when it trembled and was in appearance 
nigh to falling, met with death, of how much sorer pun- 
ishment shall he be thought worthy who would touch it 
with a view to its arrest. If,, like the younger son, you 
have said, I will not, like him, repent and go — and hav- 
ing said, I go, sir, beware of drawing back. 

Call, if you please, our cause a little one — recollect 
we do not allow this to be its character, we protest 
against the thought — yei if you will call it so, then hear 
me when I ask, Whose cause is it ? and ponder what he 
saith, *^ He that is unfaithful in the least, is unfaithful 
also in much." When you came to Christ you made no 
reserve in or selection of duty. Your inquiry was, 
'* Lord, whai wilt thou have me to do 1" Any thing but 
indifference.. Give, though it be the widow's mite, buj 
pronounce on us also your blessing, only lei both come 
from the heart. 

Call, if you please, my argument weak — but honor 
the cause as mighty. We only clain\ proportionate re- 
gard, and this recently it has not been our privilege to 
receive. We are one of a family of interests. We dare 
not indulge or express, neither do we ask a preference. 
We cannot say which one we would relinquish, more 
than a father could say which, out of a numerous and 
even cumbersome family, he would be willing to spare 
for conscription or death. Be it Joseph, or Simeon, or 
Benjamin, if evil befall, \t will wring a father's heart. 
The Savior is not here in person. The only opportunity 
of thus glorifying him is daring our stay on earth, and 



EVA^'GELICAL PRESS. 55 

though you may call this the least of all methods — call 
us dogs — yet the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from 
their Master's table. And there is an encouraging assu- 
rance to help it forward even on your own principles 
and views : " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least 
of one of these, ye have done it unto me." 

Come, brethren, let us be candid and come to the 
light. Cold hearts and carnal affections lie back of all 
our excuses and reluctance. Come, let us catch the 
glow of the sentiment, ** I am not my own, I am bought 
with a price. No man liveth to himself, and no man 
dieth to himself; for whether "svc live, we live to the 
Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord ; so 
that whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." Nay 
more, let us not limit our efforts by the prospect of 
dying, but catch the spirit of Peter, who endeavored to 
stir up pure minds and perpetuate the remembrance of 
truth beyond the time of his own decease ; and of Pay- 
son, who believing that Christ might be magnified by the 
extension of his testimony, directed that there should 
be a paper pinned on the bosom of his very shroud, re- 
minding all who came to take a last look, of the " words 
he had spoken. being yet present with them," and who 
thus preached from his coffin, and spoke, though dead. 

I shrink wuthin myself at the thought of the place I 
occupy on the present occasion. I would stir you to en- 
nobling and appropriate action by reminding each one 
of the honor of belonging to a council of deliberation 
such as this — not like Napoleon's staff, haggard and 
aghast, consulting, amid the frowning horrors of the 
Kremlin, by the glare of conflagration lighting up the 
darkness of the surrounding scenery, how they might 
safely retreat— not like them on the field of Borodino 
or Waterloo, where amid the flash and roar of artillery 
and rolling clouds of smoke, dense columns might be 
seen rapidly moving to support a flagging line in the 



56 PLEA FOR THE 

fiendlike work of mutual destruction — but with pity in 
heart and hope in the promises, we have come together 
to devise liberal things, to arrange a decisive movement 
in behalf of a kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy ; 
to spread, as Hezekiah did, the letter of the king of a 
warring ^host before the Lord ; and with the disciples, 
when gathered with " their own company," to lift our 
voice to God with one accord and say, ** Lord, thou art 
God, which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, 
and all that in them is ; who by the mouth of thy ser- 
vant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage,>.and the 
people imagine vain things 1 The. kings of the earth 
stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against 
the Lord, and against his Christ. And now. Lord, behold 
their threatenings ; and grant to thy servants that with 
all boldness they may speak thy word.!' Acts, 4<. 

Secondly, het us take encouragement from ihe cer- 
faihiy of the issue. Christ " must reign." " Thy throne, 
O God, is for ever and ever." Our agency is directly in 
the line of the revealed purposes of God, and as natu- 
rally bears on this result as the sowing of seed on the 
luxuriance of the harvest. *^ Truth shall spring out of 
the earth, and righteousness look down from heaven." 
God will not make void his covenant, nor profane the 
crawn of Immanuel -by casting it down to the ground. 
The efforts of earth and hell against the church shall no 
more avail for her destruction, than the weight of the 
shadow of a passing cloud can shatter a pyramid. The 
agency by which God will effect this is as undeniable 
as the end is sure and will be glorious. ^* Thou f|rt, O 
Israel, my servant, by whom I will be glorified. Is it a 
light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise 
up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of 
Israel 1 I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, 
that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the 
earth.'* ^' These are they that war with the Lamb, but the 



BVAM6ELICAL FBE8S. 57 

Lamb shall overcome ; because he is King of kingS| 
and Lord of lords ; and his people are called, and cho* 
sen, and faithful." 

To us first has God given the injunction and oppor- 
tunity. He has not come to us because he is at a loss 
for instrumentality. If even a Moses die, Joshua stands 
prepared to introduce to Canaan ; and if Judas becomes 
a traitor, a Matthias is at hand to take his bishopric and 
perform the work of an apostle. The emergency I have 
attempted to delineate happens in our day. Our per* 
sonal interest and the welfare of Zion are deeply in- 
volved. We feel a sense of obligation, and incitements 
and suggestions, which being interpreted are the whis- 
pers of the Spirit to our hearts. I would make to you 
the emphatic and thrilling appeal of Mordecai to Es- 
ther, when she hesitated to go in to the king, though 
the decree of destruction was signed, arid Haman wait- 
ed impatiently and confidently to hear the burst of 
wailing that would proceed from a whole nation doom- 
ed and dying, ** Think not with thyself that thou shali 
escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For 
if thou altogether boldest thy peace at this time, then 
shall there enlargement and deliverance arise from ari' 
other place ; but thou and ihy father's house shall be 
destroyed, and who knoweth whether thou art come to 
the kingdom for such a time as this." 

Thirdly. A powerful and constraining consideration 
is, that our benevolence reacts on ourselves in our dear- 
est earthly as well as spiritual and eternal interests; 
and that in promoting the cause of Christ in this form, 
we are performing an act of selfpreservaiion. There are 
few of the numerous travellers who swarm our land, 
who understand the mechanism by which they are 
carried forward, or who are aware that danger im- 
pends, until it is upon them, and they find themselves 
disabled and amid a wreck. It is with nations as with 



58 PLEA FOR TfiB 

individuals: God girds them though they have not 
known him. We know not the spring of our ble^sings^ 
and but few undertake in public affairs, deliberately and 
dispassionately to trace effects to their causes, or are 
willing to apply a correcting hand. 

Ours is a government, not of force, but of law. Laws 
(it is a trite remark) are but the index and reflection of 
public sentiment. The jars and commotions we see and 
feel, show that there is something out of place : thai 
somdhing is ike public conscience. Wisdom and know- 
ledge are the only sources of stable times — the fear of 
the Lord is our treasure. The collisions of truth and er- 
ror in our day are not mere " strivings after masteries j" 
they are a struggle for life. There has been an onset 
studiously made — what you witness is the reaction of 
healthful and conservative infitiences. 

Demagogueism is ot^r curse, as it has proved the 
blight of all republics. The materiel it wields, and by 
which it hopes to triumph, is what we strive to purify, 
and enlighten, and elevate : viz. ike common mind. There 
arc men in every land, and there are men in this, who 
would build their greatness even on their country's ruin, 
who would dig the grave of this republic, if they could 
but obtain the elevation afforded by its mound. We 
have reached that appalling stage of corruption in which 
we see ** dwarfish virtues and gigantic crimes and occa- 
sional eruptions of anarchy and crime." 

The mere sentimentalities of religion, however touch- 
ing and true, are not sufficient to counteract the pres- 
sure of evil we sustain : such as the deceitfulness of 
riches; the emptiness of grandeur; the vanity of the 
world — Leviathan is not so tamed. We need to carry 
applied truth to the bench, the bar, the jury-room, the 
ballot-box, the conclave of the politician, the hall of the 
legislator, the counter of the merchant, and the shop of 
the mechanic. The ministry need a double portion of 



EVANGELICAL PRESS. 59 

the spirit that rested on Elias to speak intelligently and 
fearlessly ** the testimonies of God hefore kings." If 
the people are incorruptible their representatives must 
be honest ; for our rulers, if we only mcule them know 
it, are not our masters, but our servants. It is a con 
elusion deliberately and firmly held and demonstrably 
true, that the only safety of this mighty nation from 
civil war, dissolution of our political union, religious 
error, anarchy and final despotism, is to be found in the 
sobering, self-denying influence of the religion of the 
Son of God. The Church must stand in the breach. 
Speedy " running," unsparing exertions, uncounted trea- 
sures, smoking censers, elevation above partizanship 
and personal considerations, a regard to principle above 
policy, and personal consecration — these are the reme- 
dies on which hope depends. It was biit a few years 
ago that a statesman of France, pressed out of strength 
by the weight, and bewildered by the complexity of 
national afiairs^ and appalled by the refractory and in- 
subordinate spirit of the nation, made the chamber Of 
his confinement and death ring with shrieks iind the 
outcry, " France wants a religion ! France wants a re- 
ligion!" Give us only the power and prevalence of 
truth and righteousness, and the true national policy 
will speedily and easily be discerned, and when dis- 
cerned, followed with one heart and one mind. Yes, put 
a Bible and an evangelical literature and secure the 
worship of God in the humbler dwellings of the land, 
and I fear not the efibrts of force from without or cor- 
ruption within. ** From scenes like these our country's 
grandeur springs — this makes her loved at home, rever- 
ed abroadj" and will plant a ** virtuous populace," to 
stand like *^ a wall of fire " around our institutions and 
interests. 

Fourthly > Is there a plea of \he-hard7uss of the times 
and commercial revulsions and embarrassments 1 These 



.60 FLEA FOR THS 

are the very circumstances to try the integrity and 
strength of our faith. God will shew himself strong in 
our hehalf in the day of trouhle. As if to contrast the 
spirit of the world and the spirit that is of God^ at the 
very time when the nations of Europe were drained of 
treasure and yet covered with the smoke of numerous 
battlefields, the august form of the British and Foreign 
Bible Society rose before their view, allied in its cheer- 
ing influences to the appearance of the Savior himself 
to the disciples when benighted and tossing on stormy 
Tiberias. The American Bible Society came into vig- 
orous existence immediately after the exhaustion, tu- 
mult and blood of the last war, as a blessed instrumen- 
tality to bind up the wounds that had been inflicted, and 
to hold in check the corruption naturally engendered. 
And NOW seems to be a set and appropriate time for the 
church to make even her deep poverty abound to the 
riches of her liberality, and to exhibit the strength and 
peculiarity of her principles, by emerging from the deep 
and bitter waters in which she has struggled and been 
steeped so long, with a song of praise on her lips and a 
thank-oflering in her hands. 

We might consistently plead embarrassment if we 
carried retrenchment through all our departments of 
expenditure, and if our cannot were one we expected or 
could dare to use in the day of account. Cannot ! do we 
arrest our substantial interests, or business, or the edu- 
cation of our families, and decrease our own comforts 
from this cause 1 and if not, do we mean, when God cor- 
rects us for our iniquity, that the blows of his provi- 
dence shall give us only a glancing stroke and shall fall 
with their heaviest eflects on his own cause 1 Cannot ! 
that single stick of confectionary with which you have 
just indulged your child has robbed the world of fifteen 
pages of evangelical light i and that well-flavored cigar 
with which you regale yourself in reclining attitude. 



EYAKGELICAL PBES8. 61 

arrayed m purple and fine linen, and after ** daily sump* 
tuous fare," stands over on God's book against you for 
ninety pages of his truth, if you make cannoi your pica 
and turn away his cause unassisted from your door 
Cannot ! Give me the crumbs that fall from your tables, 
the value of what you waste ; and in the Savior's ser- 
vice five small loaves shall feed as many thousands. 
Cannoi ! We can 4f we are in earnest. A blood-bought 
sinner talk so ! when a dancing courtezan pockets thirty 
or forty thousand dollars a year, and when the damages 
of a single breach of engagement are laid at twelve 
thousand dollars, and all this merely because men love 
their pleasures, and bestow their treasure where they have 
placed their heart — when on a brutal prize-fight poor 
men will stake their hundreds — ^when the water of your 
city of three hundred thousand inhabitants has cost its 
millions — cannot we spare a little for the conveyance 
of a rill of the river of life through the weary heritage 
of twice as many millions ready to perish 1 When the 
nation has expended one hundred millions to recover a 
region of uninhabitable everglade from a horde of sa- 
vages, shall this great land refuse for the aggregate of 
all her annual charities the comparative pittance of half 
a million to give to Jesus the crown of earth 1 Cannoi! 
You will think otherwise of the value of earthly trea- 
sures when the fires of the judgment shall melt down gold 
and silver as it does the rocks. Cannoi ! take back that 
word, for you must answer for it at the day of judg* 
ment. It is not true. There is not one here but that 
** lies to the Holy Ghost " when he says so, if he means 
to be understood literally. Is there one here who has 
not ** kept back part of the price," who has done whai 
he could f and shall we not henceforth tremblingly for* 
bear refusal to appropriate any thing of which confess* 
edly ** the Lord has need." 
Finally. What is wished is, without permanent funds 



62 PLEA rOS THJK 

or interest arising from investments} to tender the 
American Tract Society a permanent Institution, to 
raise it from the character of a mere contingency, a 
floating beacon, subject to the influence of neglect, and 
the action of the winds and waves, to that of a fixed 
star that shall shine equably, brighily, ever, to which the 
wanderer on the world of waves may look with full per- 
suasion of sure guidance and friendly aid. To effect^ 
this we need not the impulses of excited feeling, but the 
steady influence of principled and intelligent attachment. 
These results may be secured if the Church will be 
systematically benevolent ; if she will send forth con- 
stant supplies from a full spring ; if men will in the 
main be the executors of their own charities, and prove, 
in their sphere and daily course, like the sim, dispensing 
genial influence — 'if like a ** fine setting sun '' they will 
become richer and shine brighter and loom larger in 
the grace of christian benevolence as they approach 
the horizon, and if they will also ** bless the world 
when they go out of it, with a parting smile." 

Let us also form ennobling ideas of the great design 
of life and of true elevation of character, and hand over 
to the Church, when we arc gone, a generation who 
shall better serve the Lord. Adam says that a poor 
country minister, resisting the devil as. he goes the 
rounds of his parish, has nobler ideas of true glory than 
Alexander had. Cecil carries out the sentiment by saying 
that ** the aged woman who rises at two o'clock in the 
morning, lights her farthing candle, stands all day over 
her wash-tub, at night throws around her her threadbare 
and faded cloak, and steals out to some place of wor- 
ship, hears the truth of the Gospel, mingled it may be 
with ignorant yet honest zeal, but drawing in good into 
an honest ^ni prepared heart, is a heroine, has a noble 
mind, an elevated soul, compared with the greatest of 
men, considered as mere men of the world." 



SYAXGELICAL PSES8. 63 

Whether Constantine the great saw a cross and an 
inscription over it in the sky, or not, the sentiment 
conveyed is true, and to gather inspiration from it is 
our privilege. Yes, hlessed Savior, hy thee we shall 
he made conquerors, and more than conquerors. One 
of the most affecting features of our present condition i$ 
thisj that while we delay we are mocking the hopes and 
fail to satisfy the appetite ourselves have excited. Are 
you willing that your Institution, a stately vessel, on 
its eighteenth annual voyage in a circumnavigation 
of charity, after her form is hecoming known to the 
nations, her merchandise *^ more precious than ruhies," 
and her return watched for and hailed, should, with 
the white flag at her mast head and the hanner of the 
cross at her peak, and a consigpiment of all on hoard 
to the glory of the Lord, just come (as we have done) 
within view of the perishing, and for want of canvass to 
catch the hreezes that favor, or fuel to keep alive her 
fires, or even zeal to warp her along, should slack her 
Uiotion, and merely drift and toss ahout lazily at the 
mercy of the elements, instead of causing the sound 
of her going to he heard, and the ** deep in her wake to 
be hoary V 

If in the conflict with Amalek, the heart of Israel 
was strengthened, and their blows fell thicker, heavier, 
heartier, as they glanced at Horeb^s hoary summit, and 
saw in bold relief against the sky, the form of Moses 
with lifted hands and imploring look, for your en- 
couragement in your present enterprise, . turn your 
eye "to the everlasting hills," There, there stands 
the great High Priest of our profession, everlivmg to 
intercede. The crown of the universe is on his head, 
the tear of pity trembles in his eye, his hands are lift* 
ed — his prayers are prevalent — ^we fight under his in- 
spection, and victory is sure. See what a bright crown 
he holds forth to those who ** turn many to righteous- 



M PLEA FOR TEE BYANGELICAI. PAS88.^ 

nesSk" Listen to his assurance : *' They that be wise 
shall shine." **To him that overcometh will I give to 
sit with me on my throne ; even as I also have over- 
come, and am seated with my Father on his throne." 

O the power, the rapture of the thought that we 
have peace on earth, that we have peace with God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ — that peace is preach- 
ed to them that are afar oflT, and to them that are nigh ; 
that the worst days of this suffering world are over ; 
that *\ the night is far spent and the day is at hand " in 
which the clouds that hide the face of God from our 
view will retire ; when the rainbow of the covenant, 
once spread over them, shall have for its only ground 
the darkness of the mystery and grandeur of the God- 
head, and will be arched and fixed forever over the 
very throne of judgment ; when there will henceforth 
be nothing to shade the brightness of our heritage, 
and when our world shall revolve in the full light of 
Jehovah^s reconciled countenance, and as it *' rolls 
bumingly along" shall send up its shouts of salva- 
tion loud as his thunder and lofty as his throne. 

It is an impressive sentiment that we shall soon 
leave the region where so much is in rebellion against 
God, but we shall go where all that pass from our 
world must present themselves as from a battle, or be 
denied the privilege of mingling in the eternal joys 
and triumphs of conquerors. 

Our force is on the field, the lines are drawn, the 
standards are raised, the trumpet sounds the onset — and 
unless it can be shown that this agency is not connect- 
ed with this glorious consummation, there is no alter- 
native, and there is no admissible discharge from the 
service of this holy war. *' Speak to the children of 
Israel that they GO FORWARD." Amen. 



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