things, as education and general information, may be in some sense auxiliary to it, the preaching of the Gospel, the exhibition of the judgments and perfections of the One True God (still a reconciled God, a God of Love and Peace to all who call upon him in the name of his only-begotten Son), is the great and effectual means, under the Divine Blessing, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. By what other means were our own eyes opened, if indeed they have been opened, to the awfulness of the Divine Majesty, and to the one Refuge from sin and wrath in the Redeemer ?

These are the views, which justify the hopes cherished by the servants of Christ in their Missionary Undertakings, and the sacrifices which those undertakings require. Willingness, however, in any people, to forego their own prejudices, and to receive gladly the Messengers of the Gospel, does more: it constitutes a CLAIM, which ought to be met with alacrity.

Look around, then, upon the fields which occupy the cares of the Church Missionary Society, comprehending a population of many myriads of our fellow-creatures and fellow-subjects, they exhibit to us, every where, through all the shores of the Mediterranean, from Africa to New Zealand, from West to East-the most affecting, the most appalling spectacles of sin and wretchedness of dishonour to God, and of human degradation and perdition. My Brethren, I speak strongly-I speak, let it be remembered, as an eye-witness! For thirteen years, and upward, my lot has lain among the Heathen-among even the most civilized portion of

them, in India. What you have shuddered but to hear, I have often shuddered to behold;-and the remembrance is indelible! Not, however, to exhaust your time, in adding to those tales of horror, of moral turpitude, of abominable Idolatries, and devouring superstitions, which are familiar to you through many valuable publications, let me declare to you solemnly, from this sacred place, that scarcely could we frame a record respecting India too piteous-too degrading-too base! There are those, I know, who would persuade you to think differently: powerfully as these persons have often times been refuted-disproved as their allegations are, by many open and notorious facts, especially that of the almost total absence of moral culture in those Native Schools which are under exclusive Native management, by the known wickednesses of their religious fables and rights, and by the complaints and reproaches on these accounts of their own Writers-let it suffice me, for the present, to add my own to the many strong and mournful testimonies to the enormities of the Gods, the Worship, the Priests, and the People of India*-and, for you, Christians! let no contradictions of false or misguided Brethren rob us of your sympathy and confidence, which are our comfort in many labours and tribulations.

We will turn, however, from this view. Lift up, then, your eyes; and behold the fields as they appear, not in their own native shades, but in connexion with Christian Missionaries. I must not attempt to lead you over the wide survey which we might take with delight: I must still contract

* See Note at the end of the Sermon.

C

your view to a part only-that interesting part-the vast and prolific fields of India. There the scene presented to us, is distinctly that of a people now brought, from various causes, to a state of mental excitement unknown for ages, and everywhere welcoming Instructors. I speak of a fact, evidenced and authenticated by the most sensible alterations in the tone and habits of men of all castes, from the Brahmin to the Pariar-by the eager desire of multitudes for instruction--by combinations of the learned and affluent among them with ourselves, in School and School-book Societies-by the writings and numerous disciples of Native Reformersand by the testimony of the Missionaries of every Society to the respect and attention of willing crowds to the preaching of the Gospel, and the readiness with which Parents of every caste commit to them the education of their Sons.

But it is not the Heathen alone, to whom I would direct your attention. The fields of India include yet other subjects of the most lively interest, particularly the Syrian Christians of Travancore. What they have been-how ancient their Church, and once how honourable-what persecutions they endured, even unto martyrdom-and, alas! how the glory of their Christian Name had become obscured, through lengthened oppression and neglect: these things you have long known. To these Christians, your Missionaries have been, from the beginning, as gifts from Heaven. They have received them as the very Messengers of Christ: they give them unreserved confidence; and meet their counsels, and their plans of improvement, with even more readiness than could be expected, in the reluctant work of refor

mation. In a new trial of affliction which not long since befell them, they particularly consoled themselves in the care of this Society for them-" Still," said the Metropolitan, " we are persuaded that God has mercy in store for us, and THAT through your instrumentality." And how others among them had benefitted by Christian instruction, appeared by the application which a Syrian Youth made, on the occasion, of that exhortation of our Lord*, Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. "We can confidently answer," says one of your Missionaries in a very recent Report, "for their docility of character and thirst of knowledge. A close and apparently indissolubleunion," he adds, "subsists between us and the Metropolitan, a man of remarkable wisdom, integrity, judgment, and humility. Consider," he proceeds, "the number and respectability of the Christians; all of whom look to you-at the lowest calculation, 15,000 families; and there is not a man, woman, or child, but would come to our College and Schools, if directed so to do."

Nor can I quit the Missionary field of India under this Society, without directing you to some other particulars. I would exhibit to you somewhat, as I have seen it, of the Labourers themselves, dear to you I know-and may they be still more dear in the Lord!-going forth, from day to day, with the Everlasting Gospel in their hands, in faith and patience, with unabated zeal, rejoicing to bear the burden and heat of the day in such a cause. I would shew you in associated Friends, scarcely

* Proceedings of the Society: 1819-1820. p. 173.

yielding to them in a Missionary Spirit, at the several Presidencies*, at once the religious guardians of your sacred funds that they be not wasted and abused, and the helpers of those Labourers to counsel and encourage them in their difficulties. I would tell you of Four Churches, erected within so many years, resounding from Sabbath to Sabbath with the Gospel of God in five of the most extensive languages of the East-of Schools, containing some thousands of Children of the Collegiate Establishment of Travancore, languishing, alas! for the aid of more Labourers. I would point you, above all, to the great Episcopal College at Calcutta, to which you have, permit me to say, so wisely and so liberally contributed; and which we may contemplate, I trust, with an unpresuming faith in the Divine Goodness, as a future School of the Prophets for British India.

Then, my Brethren, leading you back to our text, and uniting in one general view the whole range of our Missions, I would ask-Say we not well, that the fields are white already to harvest? And if, then, the Blessed Redeemer so rejoiced at the yielding of the prejudices of Samaritans and at their flocking to his instruction, little as were the immediate fruits of that instruction, how should not we be satisfied and greatly encouraged at what our eyes behold! What, indeed, was the condition of Samaritans, what the dishonour done to God by them, and what their own misery, compared with the state of Africans, New Zealanders, and Hindoos? Where among Samaritans, particularly, were the worship, as among Hin

* The Society's Corresponding Committees at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.