tian views of the condition of man, while yet in idolatry and sin; and of the designs of God in regard to the world, by his Son Jesus Christ. It was the movement of a mind, which felt the infinite worth of the religion of Christ; which felt an unquenchable zeal for the extension of its blessings; and which could not be satisfied with itself, while anything was neglected, that could be done to reform, and to save the world.

We have, indeed no reason to suppose, that Paul was more strongly affected by the spectacle of idols and of idolatry at Athens, than he was at Rome, or at Corinth, or at Ephesus, or at Thessalonica; or than he was at any place, in which he witnessed the triumph of a false and a debasing worship, and the corruption of heart and manners that are associated with it. We have here but the incidental expression of a feeling, or rather of a state of mind, with which he everywhere, and at all times, looked upon the heathen world. He had been sent forth, like the other apostles, "to preach the gospel to every creature;" to call men, "everywhere, to repent and to turn to God; to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light;" and everywhere to establish the worship and service of the one God, "through the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." And, in this cause, he had made the greatest personal sacrifices to which man could be called; and had endured all that man could sustain. 1 need not enter into a detail of his journeyings, of his labors, and of the persecutions which he suffered, while, with unimpaired fortitude and resolution, he ceased not, in the city and the country, on the land and on the sea, while at liberty and while in chains, by conversation, by preaching and by his let

ters, to do all that man could do, to reclaim his fellowmen from idolatry and sin, to the faith of Christ; to the knowledge, and love, and worship of God; and to holiness here, in preparation for immortal happiness hereafter. We all know, in this work Paul persisted against all obstacles, and under every accumulation of suffering, untired, and undiscouraged; and that, like his Master, he gloriously terminated his life and his toils together in the cause. I would then ask any one, who is opposed to the missionary cause, or who is indifferent concerning it, here to pause and seriously to consider, whence was this sympathy of Paul in the moral condition of the heathen world? Was it unreasonable? Was it excessive? Were his efforts, or his sacrifices, beyond the fair demands, or the true importance, of the object? Or did he in truth feel no more for this cause, than ought to be felt for it by every Christian?

The true view of heathenism is, not that it is a condition, in which, if a man die, he is therefore necessarily under eternal condemnation. Terrible thought; and most dishonorable alike to God, and to Christianity! But, still, that it is a condition of darkness, of sin, and wretchedness, from which it is God's purpose to redeem the world. Paul saw not, nor did any of the apostles see in the heathen world, men who were doomed to endless perdition, only because they were pagans. But he saw in them the human nature degraded and debased; and his was a deep, and strong feeling of the greatness of the change, in character, in condition, and in happiness, which a cordial reception of Christianity would bring to them. He saw in them men, who were groping their way, they knew not whither; and who were sinking

deeper in moral turpitude by the very efforts, the very services, to which their false and debasing conceptions of religion were leading them. He saw the moral image of God in the soul to be marred and defiled; and he saw, and felt that, by the religion of Christ alone, its beauty and its purity could be restored. In these sentiments, and these feelings, is the first element of the missionary spirit; or of a spirit alive to the cause of the greatest practicable extension of the gospel of Christ. If, then, we see our fellow creatures in the darkness, and debasement, and misery of superstition, idolatry and crime, and have none of the sympathy with their condition which Paul felt, and none of the interest which our religion breathes from every page of its records, in the cause of their deliverance, their redemption, have we the spirit of the disciples of Christ? or, are we Christians?

Different views are taken of heathenism, and of false religion, and very different sentiments are excited in regard to them, far less from the actual diversity of their character, — although, indeed, it differs greatly in different places, than from the diversity of the state of mind in which it is contemplated by men. An infidel has told us, that "the religion of the Pagans consisted alone in morality and festivals; in morality, which is common to men in all ages and countries; and in festivals, which were no other than seasons of rejoicing, and which could bring with them no injury to mankind.”* And with a merely speculative Christian, by whom religion is regarded only as a matter of opinion, a sub

* Voltaire's Louis XIV.

ject for occasional discussion, the pagan idolatry was, and is, a mere speculative absurdity. With those who view religion only as a political engine, Paganism, and all religion, is good or bad, as it is favorable or unfavorable to their views of civil policy. And by those, who care little or nothing for the religion in which they have been educated, in any of its forms, or of its characteristic sentiments, no interest whatever will, of course, be felt in the religious or moral condition of the world. But neither did our Lord, nor his apostles, look upon heathenism with indifference; nor only, nor peculiarly in its political bearings; nor as a mere error of judgment; nor as an innocent, or a moral institution. No. Had our Lord and his apostles reasoned of the world, as too many now reason of those who are without the knowledge of God, and the blessings of his gospel; had they said, "the time has not come to bring Jews and heathens to the knowledge of the truth. They are not qualified to receive it. God will execute his own work, in his own time. They are safe. They will be judged in equity, and in mercy. Why then interfere, where our interference is not requested ?"-Had our Lord and his apostles thus reasoned of the world, what would now have been our condition? How much better than that of the ancient idolaters of Athens or of Rome; or the modern idolaters of Hindoostan or of China? Let impartial justice preside over the inquiry, and I have no fear concerning the decision upon it in every mind.

May I not then say to you, reader, whoever you may be, cultivate a christian sense of the religious and moral condition of those, who are living under the influences of heathenism, and of false religion, and, like Paul's,

your spirit will be " stirred in you," when you look upon the nations that are 66 wholly given up to idolatry ?” Yes, carry with you, into those dark regions of the earth, the light and spirit of the gospel of Christ, and your heart will "burn within you," with compassion for their miserable condition, and with christian zɔal in the cause of their deliverance from it. What, indeed, is there, that is low, what that is vicious, or what that is wretched, which was not comprehended in ancient, and which is not comprehended in modern, heathenism? There is nothing to be conceived either of lewdness, or of cruelty, which had not the sanctions of the religion of Greece and Rome; and which is not now a part of the idolatrous worship of the world. Nor, in any section of the world, was moral instruction ever connected with any department, or office, of heathen worship. Nay, more. This worship, with the vices that were not only incidental to it, but which found, in some of its exercises, their very spirit and life, was not left, even in the most cultivated ages of antiquity, alone to exert its full influence upon the multitude. Even legislators and philosophers, instead of endeavoring to instruct, and to reclaim their ignorant and corrupted countrymen, encouraged this degrading service by their teaching, required it by their laws, and sanctioned it by their examples. I ask, only, then, that the world which is without our religion, should be seen by us in the light, and considered with the sentiments, with which it was seen and considered by our Lord and his Apostles; and we shall be secure of the first element, or principle, of that spirit which will earnestly desire, and gladly seize the occasion, as widely as possible to diffuse the knowledge, and influence, of the truth as it is in Jesus.