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the age of miracles be gone by not to return, where is the consistency of waiting for a miraculous direction in this work, and for miraculous assistance in its execution? Shall we then wait for miraculous manifestations, to excite us to do what we may for its universal extension?

I will even proceed a step further, and ask, if we have not some advantage for the propagation of our religion, which the Apostles had not? With them, Christianity was an experiment that was yet to be tried. But we have the evidence of its truth and excellence, which is derived from the admirable institutions that have grown out of it; and which as much belong to it and depend upon it, as the branches of a vine belong to, and depend upon the stock to which they are attached. We can show, and prove, that in the degree to which it has been left to itself, unfettered by civil and ecclesiastical restrictions, it has triumphed over the strongest passions, and the most inveterate prejudices and customs; and has repressed abuses and crimes, which have been established and sanctioned by every other religion. By the knowledge, also, which it has imparted of mutual rights and duties, it has modified, and, we hesitate not to say, has improved civil government and public morals, to an extent to which no other than christian principles could have advanced them. Who that has thoroughly studied the history of our own country, has a doubt whether we owe our peculiar civil institutions to Christianity ?* Nor may we alone de

* I would refer the reader, who has not much time for inquiry on this subject, to the very able sermon, preached before the Legislature of the Commonwealth, by the Rev. Mr Dewey, of New Bedford.

fend our religion, and recommend it, by these most obvious and grand results of it. The countless associations which it has originated, for all the conceivable purposes of benevolence; the systems of education, that are essentially christian, which are forming and advancing throughout Christendom; the new responsibleness which it devolves upon woman, and the new rank which it has given to her; the emancipation which it has effected of the poor, from the entailed ignorance, degradation and debasement, in which every other religion finds, and leaves them; its efforts, and its success, in the work of abolishing slavery; and its influence on the domestic relations, and on domestic happiness; these are effects of our religion, which, in proportion as they are comprehended, and are seen in their true character by the intelligent of other religions, will do much, and cannot fail to do much, for its extension.*

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"Before going to war, it is right to count the cost; and in the conflict which Christians have begun tɔ wage for the moral subjugation of the world, it is proper to estimate whether, with their few and scattered numbers, they can cope with the myriads of their op. ponents. Certainly at no former period had they such means, and such promising success, as we now have. All the ancient war weapons' of victory, excepting miracles, are at their disposal; and new instruments of still greater potency, which the science of the latter days has been accumulating for a universal revolution of the mind, are ready to be brought into action, upon a scale of overpowering magnitude. Even the single resource which is lost, may yet be recompensed by equivalents; and a substitute, in many respects, may be found for miracles. The first effect of a miracle is, to arouse the attention, and to overawe opposing prejudices. The second, to afford a proof of the truth of the religion, of which it is a sealing accompaniment. The first object may be gained by experi

From what it has done, bad as Christendom is, we can demonstrate its adaptation to the condition, and to the wants of all men, and its tendency to an indefinite improvement of the human mind and character.

mental philosophy. As to the second, the difference in the proof of our religion, to any to whom it shall now be proposed, from its miracles, lies rather in the fact, that this proof is at the present day more circuitous, than that it is less conclusive, than it was in the days of the Apostles. Besides, the turning point of receiving Christianity, even in the apostolic age, consisted less in having seen the miracles, than in seeing their own need of a revelation, and its adaptation to the present circumstances of humanity. Moral influence has always prevailed more than supernatural influence. The generation that literally lived on miracles, and had angels' food' for their daily bread, perished from unbelief in the desert; while their children, brought up in the loneliness of the wilderness, far from the corruptions of the surrounding nations, were even eminent to after times, as an example of a right godly nation.""

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Hints on Missions, by James Douglas, Esq. pp. 22--24. This is a sensible little book; and far better worth reading, than have been many books upon the subject of missions, which have been, and are, more popular.

A friend suggests to me the expediency of remarking here, that the effect of miracles, as a means of missionary success, has been overrated; for the Apostles seem to have resorted to them only incidentally; and Rammohun Roy says, they are not of the value in the East, which many Christians are accustomed to ascribe to them. It is indeed well known, that the Hindoos boast of far more wonderful miracles, than are related by the Evangelists; and though these reputed miracles are as wonderful absurdities as were ever imposed upon human credulity, they must, and will dispose unconverted natives of India, to allow but little importance to the miracles of our religion. But converts to Christianity in that country, will obtain new sentiments of the miracles of Hindooism; and then also will they see in the miracles of the gospel much to confirm their faith, that it is, what it claims to be, a dispensation from God,

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"The third, and last element, or principle of that spirit, which feels a paramount obligation to do all that it may for the diffusion of our religion, is the feeling that God, in dispensing signal blessings to men, designs that they, whom he so distinguishes, shall be his agents in giving the widest possible extension to these blessings. In other words, God designs that man shall be his instrument, for imparting the blessings of Christianity to man; and he, who has the means, and the opportunities, thus to benefit his fellow creatures, will be held responsible at the bar of heaven, for the execution of the work which God thus requires of him.

That man should sympathize with man, that he should feel an interest, deep and strong, in the condition of his fellow-men; and, especially, that we should be affected, and strongly affected, by the wants and sufferings, not only of those around us, but of our whole race, I fear not to say is as much a law of our nature, as it is that we should feel a deep and strong interest in those, who are immediately connected with us, in the nearest relations of life; or, as it is, that we should love ourselves. This feeling may be, and it is, kept down within us, by the ascendant influence, which is obtained in our hearts by narrow, local, and selfish interests. It is a feeling, which many of the circumstances in our early education are suited to repress, and to enfeeble in us; and which our daily habits of business and of pleasure, as mere men of the world, may be counteracting, and restraining, and deadening within

us.

But there are occasions in the life of every one, whose heart has not been shut up by bands of brass, or iron, or adamant, when this feeling, chilled and dead as it may have seemed to be, is warmed into life, and puts

forth its strength, and breaks from its enclosures, and speaks in a language not to be misunderstood; at once vindicating our nature from the charge, that,

"There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart,

It does not feel for man;"

and demonstrating that it is the purpose of God, that man shall be his instrument for the communication of all possible blessings to man. I need not refer you to the effects, which are produced within us, while we are reading narratives of real, or imaginary scenes and circumstances of distress. These effects alone demonstrate, not only that God has made us for one another, but that, in an important sense, he has made each one of us for the whole of our species. Who, I ask, dwells upon the pages of history, merely that he may possess its facts; or simply for the mere personal uses which he may make of them? Or, who that knows the blessings of civil rights, and of civil liberty, has not felt all his indignation awakened against the despot, that has trampled upon these rights, even though ages have revolved, since the tyrant and the tyranny have passed away ? And who has not felt a joy, an exultation, to be surpassed only by that of an emancipated people, when the tyrant has fallen, and when at least one well directed effort has been made in the cause of human freedom? Who, as he has pondered on the pages of history, has not gone forth with the armies, over whose dust centuries have revolved, and joined the standard of the leader whom he has chosen, and fought for the rights of man; rejoicing, or suffering, as they were obtained, or lost; filled with the interests, the hopes, the fears of the distant age, to which his existence for the

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