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NEW MODEL 
 
 OP 
 
 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 
 
 TO POPISH, MAHOMETAN, 
 
 EXPLAINED 
 
 IN FOUR LETTERS TO A FRIEND, 
 
 BY THU ATTHOTl OF 
 
 '^NATURAL HISTORY OF ENTHUSIASM." 
 
 "With one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel.'* 
 
 NEW=YORK; 
 
 PUBIISHED BV J. IBAVITT 182 EEOADWAV. 
 CROCKER & BREW6TBE, BOiTONj 
 
 47 Washington Street. 
 183a. 
 

 % TESOLOSLGiliM, 
 
 \; 
 
 *'%^.^-!?: 
 
 'T 
 
 
 '^* 
 
 OF 
 
 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS, 
 &c. &c. 
 
 LETTER 1. 
 
 "and thbee ase differences of administrations, but 
 the same lord." 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 We have happily learned in modern times 
 to draw honey from the carcass of the lion. 
 Bigotry lies slain, and even a sweetness re- 
 commends its remains. We look on the fan* 
 side of schism, or we have imputed to it a fair 
 side, and have forgotten its proper deformity. 
 Few of us perhaps have not long ago ceased 
 to pray heartily or hopefully for its removal 
 from the Church. 
 
 We are now looking for a time of refresh- 
 ment and renovation. But we are aware that 
 renovation must bring with it the re-union of 
 
4 NEW MODEL 
 
 all sincere Christians, not merely in heart, 
 and hope, and faith, but in actual and visible 
 fellowship 1 The great principles of such a 
 Church union as must, ere long take place, if 
 a refreshment from above is received, it would 
 not be very difficult to gather from the Scrip- 
 tures ; nor would it require any very extraor- 
 dinary sagacity to mark out, and to set down 
 in detail the particular reforms, concessions, 
 and forbearances, which must be exacted from 
 the several communities of orthodox Chris- 
 tians in achievhig the annihilation of sectarian 
 divisions. Men who, like ourselves, my dear 
 friend, stand rather aside from the centres of 
 party feeling, and who, with a cordial good 
 will towards all who " love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ in sincerity," love no one community so 
 fondly as to be blind to its defects, and who, 
 moreover, accustom themselves to contem- 
 plate things around them, as if from the van^ 
 tage ground of a future age, might easily, if it 
 could be of any avail, chalk out, in all its parts, 
 such a plan of a Christian church as should 
 leave not an inch of standing room or shelter 
 for heresy, discord or schism. 
 
 But this is not our business ; nor is the day 
 come for re-edifying the house of God. The 
 Church, universal at th© present moment, posr 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 5 
 
 sesses neither the power, nor the wisdom, nor 
 the grace necessary to devise, or to carry for- 
 wards, movements of so important a kind. 
 We wait the season of heavenly visitation : — 
 in that season those changes, which all calm 
 minds have long seen to be equally indispen- 
 sable and impracticable, shall, as it were, spon- 
 taneously v/alk forth into existence. Right- 
 eousness and Peace— the sisters we have 
 parted, shall suddenly kiss each other. . ,,. 
 
 Meanwhile, no one, if formally appealed to,> 
 can consistently call himself a Christian, and 
 not profess to desire the restoration of ecclesi-. 
 astical harmony. Nor can any one make this 
 profession, and at the same time refuse to give, 
 practical proof of his sincerity, when he nrtigh^ 
 do so without hurt to conscience. . , . ^ 
 
 If, then, a fair occasion should present it^ 
 self, on which Christians, of all denominations, 
 might, with safety and facility, and with im- 
 mense advantage to the one great cause; 
 they have at heart, afford an unquestionable 
 exemplification of their dislike of religious di- 
 visions, and of their readiness to join hands 
 with their brethren whenever it is ppasible to 
 do so, it ought to be confidently, anyticipated 
 
b NEJW MODEL 
 
 that an opportunity so auspicious will not be 
 lost. 
 
 This pleasing- anticipation must be greatly 
 strengthened if the proposed measures of co- 
 operation are found to be recommended by 
 special reasons of utility : — if, for example, it 
 were proved, beyond doubt, that our long- 
 cherished hope of converting the world to the 
 faith of Christ is involved in the plan of Catho- 
 lic combination ;— then, and in such a case, 
 those must indeed be strongly fortified within 
 their little munitions of part}^ preference, who 
 should hold out against the summons both of 
 charity and reason. An occasion of this sort, 
 I boldly affirm to present itself now before the 
 Christian world. The gi-eat work of propa- 
 gating the gospel admits the co-operation of all 
 true Christians ; and not only admits, but ab- 
 solutely demands their undivided exertions. 
 
 In these letters I propose, with as much 
 brevity as possible, to establish and explain the 
 dotible proposition here advanced. 
 
 Butj first, I must claim your attention to the 
 very important distinction between what may, 
 for the moment, be impracticable, and what is 
 in itself chimerical : — the latter term belongs 
 only to ideas that have no affinity with truth 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 and nature, and which no change of ch'cum- 
 stances can recommend to reasonable men ; 
 but it may often happen that what is simply 
 impracticable to-day, may be so widely at va- 
 riance with the existing state of things, that 
 the crowd of mankind ^^ill greet it with an 
 outcry of scorn as if it were absurd. In such 
 cases, appeal must be had to the few whose 
 minds are conversant with great principles ; 
 but if enough of such persons cannot be found 
 to form a party in favor of the new proposition, 
 then forsooth the cause must stand over to be 
 adjudged by the better sense of a future age. 
 I would, however, refrain, on the present oc- 
 casion, from a style which may have the sem- 
 blance of arrogance. The style of crimination, 
 I shall not be in danger of falling into ; — for 
 the faultiness of our present system of Mission- 
 ary exertions has resulted inevitably from the 
 previous condition of the Christian Church ; 
 and it implies no blame on the part of indivi- 
 duals ; or none but such as is shared in minute 
 fractions by all, whose misfortune it has been 
 to live in times of division. 
 
 It would be strange indeed if, in the com- 
 plicated machinery of our Missionary Socie- 
 ties, there were no errors of management; 
 
 ■iiiW' 
 
8 NEW MODEL 
 
 but though these were much greater than 
 probably they are, it wouki be a work of very 
 questionable utility to spread them open to the 
 gaze of malignity and irreligion. At least it 
 may be said that the man who should freely 
 assume the office of censor in this case would 
 be liable to a just suspicion of secret disaffec- 
 tion to the great cause of evangelization. 
 Surely he must possess a super-human mag- 
 nanimity who, while sensitive to the credit of 
 religion, and glowing with zeal for its diffu- 
 sion abroad, should take up his post on the 
 side of opposition, and adopt a style of ani- 
 madversion which might render him liable 
 even to an unfounded accusation of hostile 
 feeling towards the noblest enterprize that the 
 world has ever witnessed ! 
 
 Happily, in the present instance, I have 
 no such painful duty to discharge ; — and on 
 the contrary can avow a firm persuasion, that 
 there exists among the officers and directors 
 of our several Missionary Societies as large a 
 measure of wisdom, of disinterested zeal, and 
 of primitive simplicity, as could have been- 
 brought into the service of Christianity In any 
 age ; and I believe that these excellent quali- 
 ties are as little alloyed by indiscreti<3ii, or by 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 9 
 
 sinister motives, as is at all compatible witti 
 the infirmity of human natm^e. 
 
 Nevertheless it may still be true that the 
 modern system of missionary exertion, taken 
 as a whole, is fundamentally defective, and 
 such as can never, unless miracle comes to 
 its aid, achieve an extensive conquest for 
 Christianity. Nothing less than the exalted 
 virtues and admirable temper of the founders 
 and principal supporters of the modern Mis- 
 sionary Societies could have hidden so long 
 from our eyes the capital error on which we 
 have been acting. We have been putting 
 contempt, not only upon the requirements of 
 Christianity, but upon those universal maxims 
 which the experience of mankind has proved 
 to be indispensable to success wherever hu- 
 man agency is concerned. Our error is so 
 great, and the good sense of the age so effica- 
 cious, — -when once set in movement, that re- 
 form cannot be distant. — The elements of 
 Christain zeal must presently be dissolved, and 
 recomposed upon a new model. 
 
 As a preliminary to the ensuing argument, 
 it is necessary to lay down the principles that 
 must prompt and guide every reasonable at- 
 tempt to propagate the Gospel. 
 
10 NEW MODEL 
 
 We are all agreed in the belief that our re- 
 ligion is destined to pervade the earth, and 
 that the time shall come when every tribe of 
 the human family shall bow at the sacred name 
 of Him whom we worship as Lord and Sa- 
 viour. To believe less than this seems scarce- 
 ly compatible with a profession of faith in the 
 truth of the Scriptures ; for, how dark soever 
 may be the language of prophecy in relation 
 to the times and the causes of the event, the 
 ultimate fact is declared in terms too absolute 
 to admit of any other interpretation than 
 one. 
 
 But uniformity of opinion ends with the be- 
 lief of this glorious fact ; for as there is roonn 
 for many suppositions in regard to the manner 
 in which the conversion of the heathen world 
 shall be effected, so, theories of all kinds have 
 actually been espoused. They may, howev- 
 er, all be classed under two general heads : 
 on the one side it is supposed, and certainly 
 sober reason approves the supposition, that a 
 gradual extension of the existing means of 
 evangelization, more and more copiously bles- 
 sed from above, will at length, according to 
 what may be termed a natural process, cause 
 the Gospel to triumph universally. On this 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 11 
 
 theory it is reasonable to believe that whe n 
 once a certain point of success has been attain- 
 ed, the mere accumulation of power and in- 
 fluence on the side of truth, will impart an ir- 
 resistible momentum and a greatly accelerated 
 velocity to religious principles, so that the last 
 conquest of Christianity shall be accomplish- 
 ed in an incomparably shorter period than has 
 been occupied in achieving its first successes. 
 
 On the other hand, reasons of considerable 
 force may be urged in favour of the opinion 
 that although the common means of religious 
 instruction may have a subordinate part as- 
 signed to them in the great movements that 
 are to change the moral aspect of the world, 
 yet, that the glorious revolution shall be effect- 
 ed chiefly by the operation of new and extra- 
 ordinary means, suddenly coming into play, 
 and perhaps of a supernatural kind. If we 
 entertain this idea, we must suppose, that the 
 part left to the Church will be little more than 
 that of joyous praise and admiration, while it 
 exclaims—" This is the Lord's doing, and it 
 is marvellous in our eyes." 
 
 The one of these suppositions, or the other, 
 may be entertained with perfect safety, by 
 those who are alive to their duty as Christians, 
 
12 NEW MODEL 
 
 and whose mode of thinking is free from con- 
 fusion. The first supposition, though it may 
 cheer the path of labour, cannot materially 
 enhance the obligation of sending the Gospel 
 abroad; nor can the second have any influ- 
 ence whatever, in a sound mind, to relax the 
 energy of Christian zeal. So long as the es- 
 tablished economy of the moral world contin- 
 ues what it is, the holder of the one opinion 
 and the holder of the other, must pursue pre^ 
 cisely the same course ; — they must put their 
 hands precisely to the same instruments; look 
 for their warrant to the same sanctions ; de- 
 pend upon the same aid ; and calculate the 
 issue on the very same principles of common 
 sense and scriptural injunction. 
 
 This sameness of conduct incumbent upon 
 all Christians, irrespectively of the interpreta- 
 tions they may give to the language of prophe- 
 cy, results from the breadth and the simplici- 
 ty of the principle which makes it our duty to 
 diffuse our religion. The most common style 
 of natural benevolence, the most secular sort 
 of philanthropy, the lowest notion of Christian 
 morality, not less than the most pure and ele- 
 vated impulses" of genuine faith and love, all 
 concur in demanding from us the same ardu- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 13 
 
 ous course. Mere remoteness of place, or cir- 
 cumstances of hazard and difficulty, cannot 
 be held essentially to distinguish the duty of a 
 parent or master to instruct his children and 
 serv^ants, from that which binds us to impart 
 Christianity to the islanders of the Southern 
 Pacific, or to the Nomadic tribes of central 
 Asia. Or at most the difficulty of the attempt 
 in the latter case, is only to be heard in ex- 
 cuse of inaction after a fair experiment has 
 proved it to be insurmountable. 
 
 The first law of Christian morality — to love 
 our neighbour as ourselves — to do unto others 
 as we would they should do unto us — to do 
 good unto all men as we have opportunity, 
 furnishes an incontrovertible warrant for the 
 Missionary enterprise, even apart from the 
 injunction left by our Lord with his disciples, 
 to "go and teach all nations." 
 
 These intelligible principles ask for no ex- 
 position ; they admit of no eloquence of en- 
 forcement. Whoever does not perceive and 
 feel the practical inference involved in them, 
 must be deemed to stand beyond the range of 
 persuasion — he lives to himself — he is cut off 
 from the family of man ; and whoever, on the 
 plea of hypothetical anticipations, sneaks away 
 2 
 
14 NEW MODEL 
 
 from the post of Christian duty, must be re- 
 garded as possessed of no common sense, or 
 no human sympathies. Even if it could be 
 shown on the strongest grounds of probability 
 that we may expect a divine interposition to- 
 morrow, such as should supersede our labours ; 
 still it remains certain, that to-day the work 
 of preaching the Gospel is the duty of all 
 who call themselves the disciples of Christ. 
 
 This duty is of so very clear and absolute a 
 kind, and it rests on so broad and firm a ba- 
 sis, that if the Missionary enterprise were once 
 fairly brought out from among the narrows 
 of sectarianism, it might be expected to inter- 
 est the feelings, and to command the support 
 of a large class of persons, who, though not 
 alive to the highest motives, are found to be 
 not slow in obeying the calls of common hu- 
 manity, and who, if certain facts were dis- 
 tinctly placed before them, would probably 
 rejoice to aid in dispelling the cruelties and 
 impurities of idolatrous worship. 
 
 But the obligation we are under, of attempt- 
 ing to convert our erring brethren to the faith 
 of Christ, is not more clear than is the princi- 
 ple under the guidance of which we are to 
 proceed in discharging the part assigned to us 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 15 
 
 Christian teachers wield no supernatural arms ; 
 they are simply — teachers : the utmost they 
 can do is to instruct and to persuade ; and in 
 the accomplishment of their task, they are 
 bound to avail themselves of all those methods 
 of influence which experience authenticates, 
 and which Christianity does not condemn. 
 It is true that the conversion of men is a di- 
 vine work ; but it is not the less the work of 
 human zeal, industry, and discretion ; and 
 we are just as fully bound to use our utmost 
 sagacity in the discharge of our part, as to 
 discharge it at all. 
 
 It is certainly very proper to keep in view 
 the abstract idea of preaching the Gospel, and 
 to think of it simply as an announcement of 
 pardon to those who, like ourselves, are guilty 
 and condemned, and yet are heirs of immor- 
 tality. In this general view the sons of Adam, 
 of every tribe, stand, without distinction, on 
 the same ground ; and in this view nothing 
 more seems to be included in the idea of a 
 Mis&ion to the heathen, than the sending forth 
 of men who, having themselves become parta- 
 kers of the grace of God, glow with holy zeal 
 and love towards their brethren, and are will- 
 ing to make the last sacrifice in attempting to 
 
16 NEW MODEL 
 
 win them to the hope of immortality. Doubt- 
 less the whole essence of Missionary labour is 
 comprised in this abstract^ idea ; nor can it 
 be imagined that any who go forth in this 
 spirit shall be suftered to spend their strength 
 altogether for nought, even though the mea- 
 sures they pursue are so little adapted to the 
 specific character of the work before them, 
 that miracle only could give them extensive 
 success. 
 
 But this elementary notion of evangelical 
 labour assuredly does not include all that ought 
 to occupy the attention of those who engage 
 in the work of propagating Christianity among 
 the heathen. If there are any who, from a 
 jealous fear of the introduction of a secular 
 spirit, would affirm that nothing ought to be- 
 long to a Christian Mission but the bare an- 
 nouncement of salvation, such persons might 
 instantly be convicted of a practical inconsis- 
 tency ; for which of them is there that would 
 not strive, in conveying religious instruction, to 
 adapt both his language and his argument to 
 the capacity and disposition of those to whom 
 he speaks '? Wh o would be so absurd as to 
 exhort a child and an adult, a peasant and a 
 scholar, to repentance and faith, precisely in 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 17 
 
 the same terms 1 None, in fact, would cany 
 their theoretical contempt of human wisdom 
 to this point of extravagance. Common sense 
 — not soon put quite to silence, leads even the 
 most determined dogmatists to conform them- 
 selves, as nearly as they can, to the intellect- 
 ual condition— to the ignorance, or to the 
 known prejudices of those to whom they an- 
 nounce the Gospel, 
 
 But tliis adaptation of the style to the hear- 
 er contains, by implication, an apology for the 
 use of all those subsidiary means which I have 
 to plead for as essential to the completeness 
 of a Christian Mission to the heathen. If the 
 actual condition of the people we are attempt- 
 ing to convert is known — and it ought always 
 to be known — before we make the attempt, 
 then a Mission to that people must include a 
 peculiarity of means, that must make the out- 
 fit utterly inappropriate to any other destina- 
 tion. 
 
 Can any one blame this adaptation of 
 means to special ends, who himself uses per- 
 suasion at all ? for in doing so he plainly re- 
 cognizes the principle, that a part is assigned 
 to the skill and intelligence of the agent in the 
 divine economy of salvation. Having gone 
 3* 
 
18 NEW MODEL 
 
 SO far, he can with no reason stop shor t in half 
 measures, or after himself using discretion and 
 skill in the business of Christian instruction, 
 find fault with those who employ any means, 
 how elaborate or circuitous soever they may 
 seem, which appear to have a tendency to 
 facilitate the entrance or progress of religion. 
 In a word, if Christians feel themselves bound, 
 -by the most solemn obligation, to preach the 
 Gospel wherever they can gain a hearing, 
 they are also bound, by the very same respon- 
 sibility, to bring into the service, not only their 
 zeal and piety, but all the sagacity, and skill, 
 and knowledge they possess, or may acquire. 
 To contemn any probable means of accom- 
 plishing their great object, is in fact to spurn 
 the sanctions* under which they act. If, for 
 example, a plan were proposed, which should 
 recommend itself by its obvious reasonable- 
 ness, Christians would have no more liberty 
 to reject it, than they have to withdraw alto- 
 gether from the Missionary enterprise. The 
 duty of preaching the Gospel contains the 
 duty of domg so in the best manner we are 
 able. 
 
 If the work of evangelizing the nations were 
 held to consist simply in finding men of devo- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.' 19 
 
 ted piety, in fitting them out, and shipping 
 them away to distant shores, as the winds of 
 heaven may determine ; — if the Missionary 
 work be nothing more than the casting the 
 good seed at random over the earth, then in- 
 deed we must grant that counsel, and concert, 
 and knowledge, and special qualification, can 
 add little or nothing to the hope of success ; 
 and then, those who are the least esteemed in 
 the church for wisdom, or at least distinguish- 
 ed by acquirements, may, as well as the most 
 accomplished, assume the reins of manage- 
 ment. 
 
 A few years ago, this inartificial notion of 
 Missions might perhaps have found a multi- 
 tude of advocates among the pious. But the 
 rebukes of experience have now rendered it 
 almost obsolete. All intelligent and well-in- 
 formed persons have become thoroughly con- 
 vinced that, so long as our Missionaries go ■ 
 not forth armed with miraculous powers, they 
 must encounter difficulties which can be sur- 
 mounted only by special qualities of mind, in 
 addition to piety, courage, and devotedness. 
 It is ascertained, also, that the necessary quali- 
 fications of a Missionary are, in part, the gifts 
 of nature to here and there an individual, and 
 
20 NEW MODEL 
 
 in part must be the result of a long and labo- 
 rious training. 
 
 Then, as to the business of direction at 
 home, if it requires in those who undertake it 
 less of personal courage and self-denial, it 
 asks for more of those high qualities of the 
 mind, which tit men for counsel and govern- 
 ment. I know well there is a tendency in 
 religionists, when speaking on subjects of this 
 sort, to give way to preposterous exaggera- 
 tions, and to make things that are truly im- 
 portant appear ridiculous by the comparisons 
 they use. I would carefully avoid this fault, 
 and yet am ready to hazard the assertion, that 
 the management of a universal Missionary 
 Society, conducted on large and rational prin- 
 ciples, would tax the faculties of the human 
 mind to the full as heavily as do the affairs of 
 an empire. Or if you demur at such an as- 
 sertion, you certainly will not deny that the 
 home management of our warfare against 
 idolatry and Mahometanism may well occupy 
 all the talents that the religious • world has at 
 its command ; — that the whole of its resour- 
 ces of wisdom, learning, and practical ability, 
 will always be inadequate to the work to be 
 performed ; and, in a word, that we are fur 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 21 
 
 from being in condition to dispense with the 
 most exact economy in the use of these re- 
 sources. If loss and waste of labour takes 
 place at the centime of movement, by the fault 
 of an ill-contrived machinery, oiu* apparatus 
 ought instantly to be taken to pieces, and re- 
 constructed on a better model. 
 
 Silver and gold, scarce as they may be in 
 the chests of charity, abound more than those 
 mental and moral qualities which the Mission- 
 ary work stands in need of; and if frugality 
 extends no further than to the husbanding of 
 finances, it forgets its chief duty. There is 
 incomparably more need of rational parsimo-^ 
 ny in the expenditure of the time and talents 
 available to the pm^poses of the great cause, 
 than of a mere sparing of the funds of our so- 
 cieties, though these indeed admit of no prod- 
 igality. 
 
 But how should there not take place an im- 
 mense waste of the most precious of our re- 
 sources, as well as of the most common, if, 
 in conducting an enterprise so various, so com- 
 plicated, and so difficult, there is neither unity 
 of counsels, nor a partition of tasks — if all are 
 attempting something in all Idnds — if, on some 
 points there is a lavishing of efforts, on some 
 
22 NEW MODEL 
 
 a collision, and on many a lack of service? 
 The aid of miracle must certainly be reckon- 
 ed upon by those who imagine that the work 
 of propagating Christianity abroad may pro- 
 ceed auspiciously while prosecuted on a sys- 
 tem directly opposed to those universal laws 
 which are found to be indispensable to the 
 success of all human undertakings. 
 
 It is now perfectly well understood that 
 unity of plan, and division of labor, are the 
 two great secrets of prosperity. From the 
 affairs of a counting-house to those of a king* 
 dom, and in mechanical processes of all kinds, 
 if the whole mass of labour be not subjected to 
 the same counsels, or if it be not distiibuted 
 among the several co-operators on the princi- 
 ple of giving to each the particular task 
 which by natural ability or acquired habit 
 he is qualified to perform, nothing is to be 
 expected but confusion, defeat, and waste of 
 means. It is the perfection with which, in 
 modern times, the principle of the division of 
 labour has been carried into elfect, that has 
 set the European nations generally, and the 
 English in particular, so immensely in advance 
 of the most polished people of antiquity, in all 
 the useful arts, and in the executive processes 
 of government. Division of Labour has 
 
NEW MODEL 23 
 
 seemed to vanquish impossibilities, and to im- 
 part a sort of omnipotence to human industry. 
 
 Walk round the circle of mechanic arts as 
 they are carried on in England at the present 
 moment ; visit manufactories, warehouses, 
 trading establishments, or public offices, and 
 you will see on every side, and under a thou- 
 sand forms, the same law working its way 
 through difficulty and perplexity, with the 
 ease of unconscious power, or with the celeri- 
 ty of enchantment. In the management of 
 the revenues of state, or in the making of a 
 pin, the very same engine, — the division of 
 Labour, is brought to bear upon the process. 
 Or if here and there, from the stubbornness 
 of inveterate custom, or the want of intelli- 
 gence, or the impliability of subalterns, the 
 obsolete and clumsy modes of labour are per- 
 sisted in, there you will also see Ruin resting 
 her heavy hand upon the work; or, at the 
 best, such small successes as may be obtain- 
 ed, are purchased at a cost of exertion which 
 if better applied, would have secured ten 
 times the product. 
 
 And now tell me, my dear friend, on what 
 plea it is, that you would exclude from the 
 management of Christian Missions, the unal- 
 
24 OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 terable law of successful achievement!? Will 
 you say that this great work is to form an 
 exception because it belongs only in part to 
 human agency ? — In behalf of that part, I 
 demand free entrance for the principle of 
 division of labour. Human agency, be its 
 range more or less limited, must submit itself 
 to its proper conditions, and can never, with- 
 out impious presumption, aspire to a confor- 
 mity with the methods of divine proceeding. 
 On the present occasion we are not talking 
 of miracles, or of wonders; but of things 
 that come under the hand of man — of things 
 which his skill may further, or his folly spoil. 
 And we are not only speaking of a work that 
 belongs to the sphere of human agency ; but 
 of one that is eminently difficult, operose, 
 various in its circumstances; a work which 
 peculiarly demands the application of specific 
 qualifications to specific objects. No enter- 
 prise of commerce or of politics, nearly so 
 much as the management of a Christian Mis- 
 sion to the unchristian' world, demands that 
 such and such individuals — rarely furnished 
 by natural ability and laborious acquirements, 
 should devote their undiverted attention, 
 through life, to the same spheres of action. 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 25 
 
 With how perilous a presumption are we then 
 chiirgeoble, if, in contempt of the well-known 
 principles of labour, we cast this mighty en- 
 terprise upon the billows of confusion, and 
 leave it to the winds and waves of accident, 
 to supply the place of the wisdom we will not 
 exercise. 
 
 But I ought not, my dear friend, to do you 
 the injustice of supposing that you will 
 undertake to defend the grand fault of the 
 existing sj^stem, or that you would oppose 
 yourself to reform on any other ground than 
 that of the impossibility of realizing a better 
 model. Assuming then that your assent is so 
 far gamed, there are two questions to be de- 
 termined ; — first, in what manner the common 
 laws of labour might be applied to the work 
 of propagating Christianity; and secondly, 
 how those obstacles are to be surmounted 
 which seem to render the proposed 'reform 
 impracticable. 
 
 For the first question then. — In the man- 
 agement of complicated affairs, unity of coun- 
 sels is necessar}^ chiefly because, without it, 
 full advantage cannot be taken of the method 
 of the division of labour; for this method 
 requires, that the whole work should be ana- 
 
26 NEW MODEL 
 
 lyzed with philosophical precision, and that, in 
 the actual apportionment of tasks, no motives 
 whatever should be listened to, but such as 
 are warranted by the severest reason. But 
 of course nothing like this can take place, if 
 the opinions and caprices of unconnected in- 
 dividuals rule the conduct of affairs. It is 
 true, that, in the execution of extensive mer- 
 cantile enterprises, a greater advantage may 
 arise to the public from leaving the eagerness 
 of individuals to discover, as it wer^ by instinct 
 the channels of prosperous adventure, than 
 can be secured by the ponderous and power- 
 ful macliinery of great chartered companies. 
 But in matters of gain the motives of exertion 
 have a vigour, a versatility, and a certainty, 
 which almost supersede the necessity of com- 
 bined counsels ; or even if partial errors arise, 
 they bring with them a quick chastisement, 
 which presently amends the fault. Besides, 
 the advantages belonging to a large trading 
 company, are counter-balanced by the op- 
 pressions that belong to monopoly. 
 
 An illustration more nearly allied to the 
 subject before us may be taken from the 
 affairs of government. The Christian com- 
 munity, meditating the subjugation of the 
 
OF CHTISTIAN MISSIONS. 27 
 
 nations to its own faith, may be compared to 
 a kingdom engaging in a war of universal 
 conquest, but having at its command very- 
 limited resources. In such a case success 
 must depend, not merely on the courage and 
 spirit of the people, and on the military talent 
 of commanders ; but quite as much on a 
 perfect system of management at the centre 
 of movement. Neither life or treasure must 
 be wasted upon ill-concerted attempts : there 
 must be no excess of force applied to particu- 
 lar points ; and especially the whole strength 
 of the state must always be held in readiness 
 to move towards any point where either ex- 
 traordinary danger, or hope, may present 
 itself. If, instead of such a perfect husban- 
 ding of means, the war of universal conquest 
 were left to the skill and courage of a dozen 
 independent chiefs, who, if not hostile to each 
 other, acknowledge no subordination; — if 
 each selects for himself his field of enterprise, 
 and devises for himself Lis mode of attack, it 
 is absolutely certain that, in such a case, nei- 
 ther the valour of the people, nor the talent of 
 their leaders, could avail to achieve any exten- 
 sive or permanent success. Splendid triumphs 
 might here and there be won, and unfading 
 
28 NEW MODEL 
 
 laurels acquired ; but the world would not be 
 vanquished. 
 
 The analogy is close enough to justify the 
 inference I would derive from it. — The holy 
 war of extermination v/hich Christians are 
 carrying on against the idols of the nations, is 
 one of too great extent and difficulty not 
 absolutely to demand a perfect combination 
 of efforts. This combination is asked for, as 
 we shall presently see, by powerful motives of 
 a moral and religious kind ; but it is chiefly 
 necessary for the purpose of giving effect to 
 the principle of Division of Labo.ur. This 
 desirable object might be fully attained, as I 
 shall show, !)y the simplest plan of concur- 
 rence, and without having recourse to any of" 
 that ponderous machinery, or pomp, and 
 state, and magnitude of movement, which 
 might offer temptation to ambitious minds, or 
 seem incompatible with the simplicity and hu- 
 mility of the Christian temper. 
 
 I assume then the supposition that, for the 
 purpose of bringing fully to bear upon the 
 Missionary cause, the great principle of a per-, 
 feet division of labour, the entire body of 
 evangelical Christians in the British islands — 
 not denying that the plan of co-o])eration 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 29 
 
 might embrace the foreign piotestant C hurdl- 
 es — are not merely all animated by a zeal of 
 the same quality, but actually willing to throw 
 together their resources — moral, mental, and 
 financial, into one and the same coffer ; — a 
 supposition manifestly accordant with the 
 spirit of the Gospel, as well as with the dic- 
 tates of common sense. . 
 
 We imagine then a universal, or rather a 
 harmonious association to be formed for the 
 purpose of propagating Christianity abroad. 
 It is then to be inquired in what manner it 
 shall distribute among its members and agents 
 the multifarious labours which lie before it. 
 
 Wherever division and sub-division is to 
 take place, very much depends upon choosing 
 aright the major and the 7ninor in our classifi- 
 cation. Thus, for example, it might seem a 
 simple and obvious mode of apportioning the 
 toils of a great Missionary Society, to assign 
 to separate committees the several depart- 
 ments of— financial management — the edu- 
 cation of Missionaries — the government of 
 the foreign stations — negotiation with our own 
 or foreign governments, &c. But advanta- 
 ges of a higher kind seem to recommend the 
 plan of making these different branches of 
 3* 
 
30 NEW MODEL 
 
 management the subject of a sub-division; 
 while the dissimilarity of the several spheres 
 of Missionary labour is taken as the basis of 
 the primary partition. On this principle 
 there would be formed a number of societies 
 separate and distinct, yet always in corres- 
 pondence with each other, and actually con- 
 nected by their relationship to a common 
 centre of counsel. Each would occupy its 
 peculiar field, and each distribute within itself 
 the different functions of finance — theological 
 superintendence — foreign management, &c. 
 The obvious fact that the condition of Pa- 
 gan, Mahometan, and professedly Christian 
 nations, is so various as to demand a specific 
 order of means in each instance, affords 
 ground enough for adopting such an arrange- 
 ment as the one above-mentioned. It is also 
 an obvious fact that there are to be found at 
 the semce of the Church, specific qualifica- 
 Hons, natural and acquired, fitting certain 
 individuals for moving with advantage in par- 
 ticular spheres of labour, rather than in others. 
 There are, for example, to be found actually 
 in the service of the Missionary cause men 
 who, from the opportunity they have had of 
 acquiring local knowledge, or from lltc nature 
 
OP CHRISTUN MISSIONS. 3l 
 
 of their studies, or from the peculiarity of 
 their tastes, are sure to be consulted or em- 
 ployed when particular measures are in agita* 
 tion. And if the principle of adapting our 
 evangelical enterprises with precision to the 
 condition of the people w^e aim to convert, 
 were more fully acted upon than it is, such 
 quaJifie'd individuals would be called upon to 
 act the prominent part which belongs to them 
 in the management of our Missions ; and yet 
 they might, with advantage to the cause, 
 share the labburs of direction with those well- 
 meaning individuals, whose zeal, rather than 
 any other quality, places them in the front of 
 the work. 
 
 I am extremely anxious, my dear friend, to 
 abstain from whatever might seem invidious; 
 but I must now request you to compare, for a 
 moment, the present system, over which an- 
 archy and confusion preside, and in which a 
 number of independent and unconnected 
 bodies are feebly attempting something in all 
 kinds, with the proposed apportionment of 
 peculiar tasks to separate associations, each 
 of which would be managed by two or three 
 individuals, specifically qualified to discharge 
 the part assigned to them. I ask which of 
 
32 NEW MODEL 
 
 the two plans it is that is recommended by 
 common sense, and the eternal laws of the 
 human mind, and which it is that asks for a 
 large apology on the ground of the inevitable 
 imperfection of all human affairs? But let 
 me, for the sake of giving more complete 
 illustration to the principle I advocate, de- 
 scend, for a moment, to the details* of the 
 proposed arrangement. We imagine then 
 the entire resources of Christian beneficence 
 to be decomposed, and recast in the form of 
 seven societies. — 
 
 Of these, the first would devote itself to the 
 task of supplanting the Romish superstition 
 by scriptural religion, in those countries that 
 still profess Popery. Perhaps the chief and 
 most promising sphere of its operations would 
 be found among the Independent States of 
 South America. The unhappy Ireland 
 would, of course, employ its cares, and it 
 would lose no opportunity for introducing the 
 light of truth in the Catholic countries of the 
 European Continent. May it be said that 
 the predominance of the elementary idea of a 
 Christian Mission, as consisting merely in the 
 sending forth of preachers, has, along with 
 other causes, operated to prevent the employ- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 33 
 
 ment of many subsidiary means which might 
 be had recourse to where the establishment 
 of a Mission, in the primary sense of the 
 term, is impracticable ? Otherwise, why is it 
 that so little has hitherto been attempted in 
 behalf of Popish countries 1 Such attempts 
 cannot be deemed unnecessary; for our 
 principles as Protestants oblige us to regard 
 all as unchristian, who in fact do not possess 
 the Scriptures. And whether the mass of 
 the people are absolutely ignorant of the ex- 
 istence of the Inspired Volume, or are suifer- 
 ed by their priests to know nothing more of 
 it than the mere name, is a matter of no con- 
 sequence to their spiritual state ; for public 
 rites, whatever names may occur in prayers 
 and anthems, have never been found to pos- 
 sess efficacy for conve3nng genuine religious 
 sentiments. It is therefore no breach of 
 charity to presume that those are not Chris- 
 tians who have not the Bible in their hands ; 
 and if not Christians, then they are the prop- 
 er objects of Missionary zeal. The only 
 question is by what means v/e should attempt, 
 under the peculiar circumstances of the case, 
 to introduce scriptural religion among them ? 
 It is obvious that, in dealing vvith the populace, 
 
34 NEW MODEL 
 
 the assailable point of the Romish religion is 
 its withholding the Bible from the laity. This 
 then is the side on which we commence our 
 attack. And here, contrary to the usual 
 course of things, when the promotion of truth 
 is our object, we have the natural impulses of 
 the human mind in our favour. No man, 
 we may be assured, is ever heartily pleased 
 with the attempts of another to keep him in 
 the dark ; and if we would understand the 
 extreme difficulty which the Romish priest- 
 hood have ever found in maintaining entire 
 the thick curtain of ignorance which they 
 spread over their victims, we have only to 
 observe the irritation — an irritation too great 
 to be concealed, which they feel whenever 
 attempts are made to light the candle of 
 knowledge within the pale of their church. 
 Our course is then open before us. It may 
 fairly be presumed that the formation of a 
 society in England, candidly confessing its 
 object to be the circulation of the Scriptures 
 in Roman Catholic countries, would have a 
 quickening influence upon the popular mind, 
 especially where there already exists a resent- 
 ful consciousness of the spiritual tyranny 
 which has so long locked uj) the Book of 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 35 
 
 God. Nor can it be doubted that the perse- 
 vering efforts of a body of competent persons, 
 having at their command a moderate revenue, 
 would, in a few years, in spite of prohibitions, 
 render the Bible by no means a scarce book 
 in countries where at present it is held only 
 by stealth. The issue need not be question- 
 ed : as the crying sin of the Church of Rome 
 is the suppression of the Scriptures, so, from 
 their diffusion, will it meet its overthrow. 
 
 The proposed Society, freed from the scru- 
 ples which must confine it to the Scriptures, 
 would employ itself in issuing — not feeble, flip- 
 pant, or irritating tracts, but powerful treati- 
 ses, of course condensed within a small com- 
 pass, on the principal questions at issue be- 
 tween Protestants and Papists : or rather on 
 the cardinal points of Christianity, as deriva- 
 ble from the Scriptures, and with little or no 
 reference to controversy. Such a society 
 would especially take care to provide and to 
 distribute historical treatises, popular in their 
 style, and yet substantially learned, in which 
 the rise of the Romish usurpation, and the 
 origin of its many corruptions, would be dis- 
 tinctly set forth ; every statement being sup- 
 ported by reference to proper authorities. La- 
 
Ob NEW MODEL 
 
 bours like these, and others which of course 
 would suggest themselves to well informed 
 and intelligent men, would well occupy the 
 undiverted attention of the few individuals 
 whom the public voice would call to the diffi- 
 cult task. To imagine that a chance com- 
 mittee of some dozen or score of good sort of 
 men, taken where they may be found, but 
 possessing no specific qualifications for the du- 
 ties they are to perform, and a committee, 
 moreover, distracted among a hundred dis- 
 similar objects, can efficiently discharge the 
 functions of such a society as I have descri- 
 bed, is indeed to affront common sense in a 
 manner that baffles reasonable expostula- 
 tion. 
 
 A second society would assume to itself the 
 vast and arduous labour of recommending the 
 Christian faith to Mahometan nations. Its 
 sphere, alas ! would embrace the largest and 
 the fairest portions of the earth. — The great- 
 er part of Asia, and of Africa, and a part 
 of Europe, are darkened by this delusion ! — 
 Immense and worthy enterprise ! and though 
 difficult, yet, at the present moment, in a high 
 degree hopeful ! But even the hopefulness 
 of the enterprise imparts to it a character of 
 
OP CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 37 
 
 awful responsibility. Who among us, at this 
 crisis of Islamism, shall obey the call of the 
 Clnistian Church, and appear as the cham- 
 pions of the cross to contend against the 
 mighty ! We have not here to engage on 
 the field of reason and moral suasion, merely 
 with untutored nomades, or with unsophisti- 
 cated islanders, ignorant of every thing but 
 of their paddles and their fruits. We" have 
 to do with men as acute, if not as well taught 
 as ourselves ; with men haughty by all the 
 recollections which remote history can im- 
 part ; with men who, looking only at the ex- 
 trinsic qualities of human nature, and the 
 obvious advantages of person, climate, and 
 produce, may easily persuade themselves that 
 their contempt of the western nations is not 
 absurd. We have to instruct and to persuade 
 the intellectual, imaginative, and astute Per- 
 sian ; the arrogant, obdurate, fanatical, and 
 yet noble-minded Turk. Nor do our diffi- 
 culties diminish if we descend among the sub- 
 civilized adherents of the Prophet, scattered 
 throughout India, the islands of the Eastern 
 Sea, through Egypt, and northern Africa. 
 
 For the style in wliich the Mahometan 
 should be encountered, an example, never to 
 4 
 
88 NEW MODEL 
 
 be lost sight of, has been set by Henry Mar* 
 tyn : and though, "of course, companies of 
 such men are not to be found ; yet whoever 
 is sent forth to labour in this field, should 
 possess qualifications of the same class. — 
 Nor can kindred qualities be dispensed with in 
 those who at home are to direct the work. 
 In conducting a Mission to Mahometan na- 
 tions, is it enough that men should be zeal- 
 ous, prayerful, kind-hearted] Is it enough 
 that they should be expert in managing those 
 details of business which are common to a 
 Missionary Society with every other charita- 
 ble institution? Or is it enough that they 
 should be competent to read sound theologi- 
 cal lectures to candidates for the work, or 
 that, in sending out their Missionaries, they 
 should be able to address to them powerful 
 and pathetic harangues 7 Is it, in a word^ 
 enough, that they should be just qualified to 
 do that which should be done if we had only 
 to send out a company of preachers to ofla- 
 ciate in the chapels of an English colony ? 
 All this is not enough. The projectors and 
 managers of such an attack upon Mahome-. 
 tanism as the present moment invites, should 
 be the four or five individuals who might be 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. S9 
 
 picked out from the fourteen millions of our 
 population. And these four or five gifted 
 men should be solemnly called forth by the 
 voice of the Christian public, and should be 
 placed in a condition in which they might 
 freely devote the undistracted attention of 
 their remaining years to the great work. 
 And let the agency of these individuals be as 
 much blended as you please with influence 
 of a more popular kind ; and let public opin- 
 ion bear with its whole force upon whatever 
 they do. We want no snug or sleeping se- 
 cresy; but we absolutely need qualified and 
 permanent agents for the achievement of 
 difficult tasks. 
 
 Beside the direct method of sending Chris- 
 tian teachers where they may be admitted in 
 Mahometan countries, and of circulating the 
 Scriptures, the peculiar state of the nations 
 professing Islamism invites the adoption of 
 other measures of a more general kind. — 
 Under the direction of a sub-committee, it 
 might, for instance, be attempted to lay before 
 the more advanced of the Mahometan na- 
 tions, the bait of European philosophy, sci- 
 ence, and art; and we might even tempt 
 them to move forward on the course cf im- 
 
40 NEW MODEL 
 
 provement by explaining the principles, and 
 exhibiting the advantages of our social econ- 
 omy and political institutions. By these 
 means, without obtruding invidious compari- 
 sons, we might generate among them that 
 salutary sense of inferiority which is the pri- 
 mary elem'ent of improvement. This feeling 
 would relax the cords of national and reli- 
 gious bigotry, would rob the Asiatic of his 
 absurd superciliousness, and give him in the 
 place of it, the manly desire to deal with 
 Europeans on terms of real equality. 
 
 A society, constituted as I have imagined, 
 might carry on literary correspondence with 
 intelligent orientals, and might invite the visits 
 of such persons to our country, and especially 
 might induce the sending of young men to 
 our universities, for the benefit of English 
 education. It would of course also be 
 attempted to furnish the educated classes in 
 Mahometan countries with a veritable and 
 exact knowledge of modern historj- — secular 
 and sacred. No subsidiary means, perhaps, 
 would better tend to dis^pate the illusion 
 which beguiles the followers of the Prophet.- 
 In executing this task, the safe path of perfect 
 candour should be adhered to, and the history 
 
or CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 41 
 
 of Christicanity — unglozed, and unveiled^ 
 should be held forth, and it should manifestly 
 appear that the force of ti'uth is confided in 
 by those who make these disclosures. 
 
 The pious need not be alarmed lest, in pur- 
 suing measures of this kind, we should too 
 much secularize the business of a Christian 
 Mission. They who are wise well know how 
 to bestow separate attention upon dissimilar 
 means, while pursuing a great and ultimate 
 object. Besides our Missionary Societies 
 ah-eady busy themselves, and very properly 
 in the establishment of manufactories, and in 
 the encouragement of commerce, as the 
 means of humanizing savage tribes. All 
 that we would do then, is to accommodate 
 our subsidiary means to the condition of the 
 people with whom we have to do. We send 
 a loom or a plough to Taheite ; but we must 
 treat the Pei'sian in a different manner. 
 
 The Society already existing for promoting 
 Christianity among the Jews, may here be 
 mentioned as occupying a third place in our 
 proposed series. 
 
 A fomth Missionary Society would under- 
 4* 
 
42 NEW MODEI* 
 
 take the propagation of the Gospel among 
 the polytheistic nations of southern Asia, and 
 the numerous islands in the Eastern Sea. 
 And you will not deny that enough is inclu- 
 ded in this sphere of labour to occupy the 
 undistracted attention of all among us who 
 are at once qualified and disposed, to give 
 their lives to the task. Without affecting to 
 disparage what has already been accomplished 
 in India, it may fahly be affirmed, that at the 
 rate at which the conquests of Christianity 
 are proceeding there, ages must elapse before 
 that strongest hold of abominable idolatry 
 will be vanquished, or those fair regions of the 
 sun purged of their impurities, and brought 
 to offer gifts, "gold, frankincense, and myrrh," 
 to the King of kings. Ere a twentieth por- 
 tion of the population now subject to our 
 sway, and now looking to us for theh* desti- 
 nies, has ever heard of Christianity, the mir- 
 acle of our power in India may have come 
 to its end, and the remams of the last Eng- 
 lish army that shall ever unfurl its colours hi 
 the East, may have hastened to their ships 
 from its shores. We have then not a year, . 
 or a day, to lose in desultory and divided ef- 
 forts. If we could fmd motives nowhere else, 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 43 
 
 we might find more than enough in the extra- 
 ordinary advantages which, at the present 
 moment, we possess for Christianizing India, 
 to induce us to dissolve the present inefficient 
 and wasteful system of Missionary efforts, and 
 to adopt a better. In truth, it might seem 
 wise, almost, while the resources of Christian 
 philanthropy are so limited, to withdraw our 
 expenditure from every other point, and to 
 concentrate our force upon these nations, 
 now, in so remarkable a manner, committed 
 to our responsibility. The men of other hea- 
 then nations are indeed our brethren, and 
 should be cared for ; but the nations of India 
 have come under our roof, and have drawn 
 around our hearth ; and their miseries must 
 instantly be relieved. And shall we be talk- 
 ing of our scruples, and stickling upon ob- 
 scure questions of church government, and 
 standing stiffly and stupidly within our petty 
 enclosures, while the people of India, in 
 millions— our subjects, our servants, our 
 children, are perishing in the fangs of their 
 daemon gods 1 Shall we " call hv water" — 
 the holy water of hypocrisy — ^wherein to 
 " wash our hands" from the blood of widows, 
 and infants, which is running past us like a 
 
44 NEW MODEL 
 
 winter torrent ? But you say that this is not 
 our guilt ; or not the guilt of the Christian 
 public in England. We have a zeal for 
 the salvation of the people of India; we 
 spend thousands in her behalf; our preachers 
 lay down their lives in her service. This is 
 true, and doubtless our labours come up as a 
 memorial for us in the court of Heaven. — 
 But the question returns — whether we are 
 doing the best we might for India ; or wheth- 
 er we are not rather drivelling in our zeal, 
 than acting with the discretion of men 1 
 
 f 
 The fifth of these evangelical corporations 
 
 should assume to itself the task of attacking 
 the iiTcligion of China ; and as our attempts 
 in that direction, though attended with pecul- 
 iar difficulties, are not likely soon to cover an 
 extensive surface, the same society might in- 
 clude within its sphere the nations of north- 
 em Asia. 
 
 The African race, central, western, and 
 southern; but excluding the Mahometan na- 
 tions of the northern and eastern coast, and 
 including the enslaved negro of the West 
 Indies, would employ a sixth association; 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 45 
 
 while the aborigines of the two Americas, 
 and the islanders of the great Pacific, would 
 fall to the lot of the seventh. 
 
 Thus should we have divided among us the 
 great family of man ! Vast apportionment ! 
 and at first appearance perhaps ambitious, or 
 chimerical ; but not so to the eye of experi- 
 enced benevolence. We know the work is 
 immense ; but we hear distinctly the call of 
 Heaven to engage in it ; we know by actual 
 experiment of what quality the labour is ; we 
 Imow by proof that success is not impossible ; 
 nay, we know it to be the probable issue of well 
 directed and persevering endeavours. Who 
 are the people that are now devising the con- 
 quest of the earth to the faith of Christ, but 
 the descendants of barbarians who were con- 
 verted to the same faith by the same means ! 
 
 If any one shall talk to us of the extreme 
 difficulty of the enterprise, we shall reply to 
 him, first — that we rely upon the aid and 
 promise of God; and secondly, that we intend 
 to employ our best discretion, as well as to use 
 our utmost energy in the business : we set 
 about it therefore piously ; but not presump- 
 tuously. We keep distinctly in view the 
 
46 NEW MODEL 
 
 double principle, equally true and important 
 in both its parts, that the work before us is 
 the work of God; yet not less the work of 
 man. 
 
 It is very probable that some other arrange- 
 ment than the one above described, and 
 which I have particularized only for the sake 
 of exemplifying the general principle, might 
 more advantageously be adopted. Still the 
 great law of the partition of labour would 
 determine the plan, however it might be mod- 
 ified. 
 
 I wish most carefully to avoid whatever 
 might seem invidious, or whatever might be 
 misinterpreted as intended to disparage the 
 character and labours of men who are held 
 by the Churches in deserved veneration. It 
 must, however, be permitted to me to con- 
 template, for a moment, the existing consti- 
 tution of our Missionary Societies, considered 
 as a whole, and as a scheme of human agen- 
 cy, devised to accomplish a difficult object. 
 
 It is perfectly known that, except on pe- 
 culiar occasions, the actual business of every 
 charitable institution is transacted by a very 
 small number of zealous individuals, who 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 47 
 
 perhaps are as often thwarted and embarras- 
 sed, as aided by their colleagues. Of neces- 
 sity, therefore, it must be that when a society 
 occupies an extensive and various field of 
 labour, the few efficient individuals are compel- 
 led, often at the expense of health and peace 
 of mind, to give their distracted attention, in 
 rapid succession, now to the home concerns 
 of the society, and now to its foreign opera- 
 tions ; and these foreign operations are of the 
 most dissimilar character. Placed in circum- 
 stances so perplexing, what can be expected, 
 even from the most accomplished talent, and 
 the most unwearied assiduity, but a vague, 
 inappropriate, and almost imbecile suffusion 
 of mental strength over the immense surface 
 of affairs. And what can be expected from 
 zeal so disadvantaged, but a waste of resour- 
 ces upon projects which, though they might 
 have succeeded had they enjoyed the benefit 
 of undiverted counsels, could not but fail 
 when they shared attention with a multitude 
 of dissimilar concerns 1 
 
 And let us turn into another sti^eet, and 
 enter another "upper-chamber" of Chris- 
 tian business ; and there see another little 
 laiot of zealous men, distracting themselves 
 
48 NEW MODEL 
 
 by an almost fruitless attention to the very 
 same extended circle of multifarious objects. 
 Again we may visit another, and yet another 
 committee — not each concentrating its forces 
 upon a single specific object — not each con- 
 stituted of individuals personally qualified for 
 the tasks they severally undertake ; but each 
 promiscuously gathered from the narrovsr cir- 
 cle of a particular party, and each burdened, 
 and over-burdened by the well-meant ambi- 
 tion of etfecting something at all points, and 
 something of all kinds. And does this Mis- 
 sionary system approve itself to reason 1 or is 
 it not rather a most ruinous chaos, in which, 
 though pure motives may be very conspicuous, 
 manly wisdom is not at all seen 1 
 
 The question is not whether the revenues 
 of an empire ought to be grudged as the price 
 of rescuing even a single human soul from 
 perdition ; but whether we are not solemnly 
 bound to do the best possible with our means, 
 limited as they are ? The question before us 
 is whether, in conducting our labom'S for the 
 benefit of manliind, we • shall conform our- 
 selves to those unalterable laws of intellectua] 
 and mechanical labour which take their rise 
 from the very nature of the human mind; or 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 49 
 
 set all such methods at defiance, and, content- 
 ing ourselves with the consciousness of the 
 purest intentions, and of the utmost possible 
 diligence, shall cast our efforts upon the 
 winds, hoping that Heaven, in its wisdom, 
 will direct them for good. 
 
 You may tell me perhaps, that the well- 
 known advantages of competition belong to 
 the present system of Missionary exertion, 
 and that our several societies act beneficially 
 upon each other — "provoking one another to 
 love, and to good works." I reply, in the 
 first place, that the benefits derivable fi^-om the 
 nvalry of sects are of a very ambiguous kind ; 
 and in the second place, that the stimulus of 
 competition, perfectly freed from the acrid- 
 ness of party-feeling, would belong to the 
 scheme I advocate. Each of the societies 
 above named, constituted promiscuously of 
 men of different communions, would have 
 before it a fair course of emulation, on which 
 by skill and assiduity, to win for itself its 
 proper share of public favour. 
 
 In such a system, public support would be 
 distributed much more advantageously than it 
 can at present. Indeed one can hardly im- 
 agine a more disadvantageous or wasteful 
 5 
 
50 . NEW MODEL 
 
 method of apportioning the whole amount of 
 Missionary contributions than the one actually 
 in operation, which doles out the revenues of 
 Christian liberality, not in any proportion to 
 the nature or extent of the work to be perfor- 
 med at the several points of the great enter- 
 prise ; but according to the most arbitrary of 
 all possible rules — ^the opulence or poverty of 
 each sect. Now it may often happen that a 
 less opulent society has taken possession of a 
 field where the largest revenues might with 
 peculiar propriety be expended : while on the 
 contrary another society, which, from the 
 wealth or extent of the party to which it be- 
 longs, has at its disposal five times the income, 
 may be spending its means on a large surface 
 to little purpose. It is as if, in managing the 
 finances of an empire, the millions of its rev- 
 enue were thrown into the wheel of chance, 
 to be drawn thence by the several ministers 
 of state, as luck may determine : thus, while 
 a subordinate department would be glutted 
 with affluence, the most necessary affairs 
 might suffer ruinous deprivation. 
 
 You remind me that popular opinion is lia- 
 ble to caprices and errors. This is true; but 
 its caprices^are never so great as those of 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 51 
 
 mere chance. If we include any considerable 
 portion of time, public opinion is found to 
 obey the ^ oice of reason, and to follow the 
 leading of facts. If therefore the Missionary 
 work were, without regard to party, appor- 
 tioned to several independent societies, each 
 having its peculiar sphere, and each depend- 
 ing, yearly, for the amount of its income upon 
 the claims it could substantiate to public fa- 
 vour, there would take place (particular in- 
 stances excepted) a highly advantageous flux 
 of Christian liberality towards the points 
 where it would produce the best effects. Or, 
 to borrow $l phrase from physiological sci- 
 ence, the special occasions of the whole sys- 
 tem would hi supplied by an instantaneous 
 determination^ forces, in this or that direc- 
 tion. ^ 
 
 But you lay that, on peculiar occasions, 
 something of this sort has actually taken 
 place ; and less opulent societies have success- 
 fully appealed to the liberality of the Chris- 
 tian public; But at how great a cost of la- 
 bour, and'anxiety, and deranged movement, 
 have such' extraordinary supplies been obtain- 
 ed ! and at the best they have given only 
 temporary aid where permanent support was 
 
52 NEW MODEL 
 
 in fact as much wanted as instantaneous as- 
 sistance. Our proposed new system would 
 adapt itself to such occasions both more rea- 
 dily and more efficaciously. 
 
 That the work of converting the heathen 
 should, in the first instance, have been 
 attempted by the several sects separately was 
 inevitable, under the then existing circum- 
 stances of the church. And that so much 
 has actually been effected amid the disadvan- 
 tages of a method so faulty and so feeble, 
 affords a strilcing proof of the intrinsic vigour 
 of Christian motives. — Thus when the peo- 
 ple of a country that groans beneath a for- 
 eign yoke rise, and without concert, without 
 a leader, and in detached parties, actually 
 make head against the common enemy, they 
 give the most incontestible evidence of the 
 force and genuineness of that spirit of patriot- 
 ism which moves them : and it may be confi- 
 dently said, that the energies of such a people 
 want nothing but to be skilfully directed to 
 achieve a perfect triumph. And thus too 
 may it be affirmed, that if the Christian body, 
 torn as it is, has in a few years accomplished 
 so much, the same zeal, wisely economised, 
 would presently win signal successes. 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 53 
 
 The ordinary course of human affairs 
 leads us to suppose that, in the progTess of an 
 enterprise so novel and difficult, some very 
 considerable changes in the construction of 
 its machinery must become necessary. — 
 Nothing that is complicated is weW done at 
 first ; and if the modern missionary zeal did 
 in fact, at its very outset, reach the maturity 
 of wisdom, v^e ought indeed to believe that 
 its birth was, in the most proper sense, mirac- 
 ulous. But the intelligent friends of our 
 Missionary Societies vidll not advance a pre- 
 tension of this sort ; on the contrary, they 
 will readily admit that our endeavours to dif- 
 fuse the Gospel are, in all respects, liable to 
 the common conditions of human agency ; 
 and that, as they are obnoxious to error, so 
 are they open to amendment ; and we must 
 expect them to succeed or to be overthrown, 
 not so much according to the purity of the 
 motives by which they are prompted, as in 
 proportion to the discretion with which they 
 are managed. The supporters of missions 
 have devoted to the glory of God and the 
 good of their fellow-creatures, not merely 
 their money, and their time, and the fervour 
 of their hearts, but the best vigour of their 
 5* 
 
64 NEW MODEL &C. 
 
 understandings ; and a vigorous understanding 
 is distinguished from a feeble one by the 
 promptitude with which it employs itself in 
 re^^sing its own proceedings, and by its eager- 
 ness to do better what it has done amiss. 
 
 I affirm then, that unless some difficulty 
 absolutely insurmountable, compels us to 
 submit to 'the existing system, and to bend 
 patiently under all its immense disadvantages, 
 that system ought instantly to give place to a 
 better. I hope, ere I conclude these letters, 
 to convince yon— first, that no insuperable 
 obstacle stands in the way of the proposed 
 reform ; and, secondly, that the New Model 
 which I have described, besides its being ne- 
 cessary as a means of success, is recommen- 
 ded by moral and religious considerations of 
 a kind that ought of themselves to secure the 
 compliance of every one who confesses obe- 
 dience to Chiist. 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 "have ye not bead what DAVID DID, A^D THEY THAT 
 WERE WITH HIM 7 — " 
 
 My Dear Friemd. 
 
 Religion is possessed by the church in eve- 
 ry age as a patrimony, handed down irorn the 
 fathers to the sons ; but it is not an unincum- 
 bred patrimony ; and if our Christian ances- 
 tors deserve our veneration for having preser- 
 ved to us the faith — often at the cost of their 
 lives or worldly interests, we are entitled to 
 make some small deduction ; from the debt 
 of gratitude on account of the serious injury 
 and the many inconveniences we sustain 
 from the discords they have delivered into our 
 keeping, and from the lasting ill consequences 
 of the divisions which their disputes engender- 
 ed, and which we think ourselves bound to 
 maintain. Even their wisdom and virtue 
 does us a harm, inasmuch as they operate to 
 restrain us from attempting to rid ourselves of 
 
56 NEW MODEL 
 
 what might be relinquished with vast advan- 
 tage. 
 
 Those who stand somewhat aloof from the 
 centimes of party-feeling, and who accustom 
 themselves to contemplate things around 
 them from the vantage ground of what — for 
 want of a better term — we must call the 
 point of philosophical speculation, cannot but 
 perceive that Christians of all denominations 
 are sadly crippled in judgment, and fettered 
 in understanding, by the reluctance felt to re- 
 nounce an iota of what they have received 
 as their heritage of religious principles from 
 the venerated founders of the sect. Events — 
 more powerful than arguments, must come to 
 the aid of the universal church when the 
 time of emancipation arrives. We have long 
 and fruitlessly listened to all that can be said 
 or written on certain well known themes. 
 Or, even if a new and a clearer method of 
 treating these subjects were to prevail, and 
 existing errors on all sides were to be demon- 
 strated, the consequent work of reformation 
 would be found to be attended with inextrica- 
 ble difficulties, and perhaps with dangers : nor 
 does it appear that, at the present time, there 
 are any to whom all parties would instinc- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 51 
 
 tively look up as qualified for the arduous 
 work of reconstructing- the Christian Church 
 on a model of perfect symmetry. We must, 
 then, wait the appointed season of renova- 
 tion ; — Time, the great innovator, must also 
 discharge the function of reformer. 
 
 Meanwhile, all right-minded men, well 
 aware as they are of the imperfections that 
 attach to the present condition of Christiani- 
 ty, and earnestly looking forward to a brighter 
 era, take care on all occasions, and to the 
 utmost extent which consistency permits, to 
 lean to the side of a true Catholicism ; and 
 both in spirit and in practice, step, as far as 
 they may, over hues of demarcation, and 
 seize, by anticipation, the blessings and ad- 
 vantages of that better state of things which 
 they hope for. Those auspicious inconsisten- 
 cies into which the'spiiitlof charity continually 
 leads good men, of all parties, have especially 
 abounded on the field of Missionary labour; 
 for while each party thinks itself obliged, in 
 conscience, to despatch shipments of its pecu- 
 liarities to the ends of the earth, and to take 
 all the care it can that Hindoos, Hottentots, 
 and savage islanders, shall worship after the 
 right manner ; yet, at the very same tiriae. 
 
58 NEW MODEL 
 
 each, with unquestionable cordiality and joy, 
 hails the successes of the others, and with 
 prompt sympathy lends aid on peculiar occa- 
 sions. 
 
 At the present moment there exists, among 
 the supporters of Missions, almost as perfect 
 a union of heart as can be wished for. — Noth- 
 ing of disunion remains among us but its im- 
 mense practical disadvantage, and its oppro- 
 brium in the eye of the world. If at this 
 time it might be suspected that a concealed 
 sentiment of hostility towards each other lurks 
 in the hearts of Christians — if there were rea- 
 son to think that they are not only divided, 
 but inimical, in that case, the idea of effect- 
 ing a combination must be deemed chimeri- 
 cal. But the reverse is the fact : the forms 
 of warfare only are kept up, while the spirit 
 of aggression has long since fled. Yet it is 
 supposed, that though dissociation be a great 
 evil, it can in no way be avoided. The con- 
 trary, I think, may be demonstrated. The 
 real difficulty has already been overpassed by 
 us, and nothing but an imaginary obstacle 
 stands in the way of the undisturbed co-ope- 
 ration of all parties in the Missionary cause. 
 I Hope to make good this assertion. 
 
OF CHRISTIAM MISSIONS. 59 
 
 If the opinion of Christians on the subject 
 of Missions may be fairly inferred from their 
 practice, it might be expressed in some such 
 terms as the following : — " We do, indeed, 
 think ourselves obliged to send to heathen na- 
 tions our particular shade of doctrine, and our 
 model of discipline and worship, which we 
 believe to be, of all others, the one most 
 nearly conformed to the canon of truth. Nev- 
 ertheless, far from supposing these peculiari- 
 ties to be essential to Christianity, or from 
 deeming it imlawful to aid the propagation of 
 our common faith under other evangelical 
 forms, we hail, with delight, every occasion 
 on which we can express om^ large sympa- 
 thies by directing the superfluity of our resour- 
 ces into other cnannels than our own. We 
 are most glad to diffuse the blessings of the 
 Gospel by all means, even though it should 
 go forth clad in a costume not to our taste, 
 or encumbered by excrescences which we 
 condemn. So long as salvation by Christ is 
 preached m simplicity and sincerity, we re- 
 joice, and we more than rejoice ; for we give 
 the hand of assistance, whenever they need 
 it, to the brethren from whom we dissent." 
 
 Such — putting out of the account a few 
 
60 NEW MODEL 
 
 singularly-contracted spirits, is, I think, a fair 
 interpretation of the conduct of serious Chris- 
 tians at the present time ; and we may read 
 in it a very distinct recognition of the doctrine 
 — and a most important doctrine it is — That 
 no culpable compromise of principle is impli- 
 ed in aiding the spread of Christianity abroad 
 under other forms than the one which, as in- 
 dividuals, we most approve. This capital 
 rule of conduct has been unconsciously fra- 
 med, rather under the dictation of sound feel- 
 ings, than by the logic of reason. — I rest the 
 whole stress of the argument pursued in these 
 letters upon this foundation; and that I may 
 not seem to draw too hasty an inference from 
 facts, I must place the subject in several points 
 of view. 
 
 In the first place, then, it may be affirm- 
 ed generally, that whoever has contributed a 
 mite to the support of a Mission, not conduct- 
 ed by his own party, or has given his pre- 
 sence and approving smile at the convocation 
 of any such society, or has occupied a place 
 on its hustings, or bestowed upon it an effort 
 of his eloquence ; — whoever has uttered a 
 sentiment of pleasure in hearing oithe succes- 
 ses of other societies, or has breathed a pray- 
 
OF CHTISTIAN MISSIONS. 6l 
 
 er for the spread of the Gospel — a prayer not 
 restricted to the exertions of his own party — 
 that man has already trespassed as far over 
 the bounds of religious scrupulosity as he would 
 have occasion to do in falling in with the pro- 
 posed plan of union. He has virtually declar- 
 ed, that he thinks it lawful, and even becom- 
 ing to a Christian, to give his aid in promul- 
 gating what he deems a defective or encum- 
 bered system of doctrine and discipline. I 
 request you, my dear jfriend, to fix your clo- 
 sest attention upon the facts to which I ad- 
 vert, and to show me wherein the inference 
 I derive from them is unsound. 
 
 Or let it be imagined that, from whatever 
 cause, the apparatus of some one of the exis- 
 ting Missionary Societies was broken up, and 
 its foreign stations a.bandoned. I ask wheth- 
 er every one of the members of that dissolved 
 society, or every one whose attachment to 
 Christianity is rational and sincere, would not 
 hold himself bound instantly to devote to some 
 other society, the whole amount of his wont- 
 ed contributions 1 Could any one, unless his 
 heart were frozen in sectarianism, allow him- 
 self, under such circumstances, to say, " My 
 Missionary Society is extinct ;-r-I have, there- 
 6 
 
62 NEW MODEL 
 
 fore, now no opportunity left me, conscien- 
 tiously, for taking part in the great cause ?" 
 Such a conclusion, if it were not the cloak 
 of niggardliness, would certainly be the ex- 
 pression of a worse than popish bigotry ; worse, 
 because it exists in the broad light of Protest- 
 antism. A Christian philanthropist is, no 
 doubt, free to choose the mode in which he 
 will promote the welfare of his fellow-crea- 
 tures ; but he w^ould abhor to think himself 
 free to withdraw from the labours of benefi- 
 cence : he scorns to give ear to any plea that 
 would exempt him from the demands of char- 
 ity on his purse ; he will break through every 
 restraint of habit, or taste, or party preference, 
 rather than be debarred from sharing in the 
 blessedness of going about to do good. 
 
 It is then not an unlawful act to send abroad 
 what we deem a defective or an encumbered 
 form of Christianity. Nay, it would be un- 
 lawful to refuse to do so if the alternative were 
 to' propagate the|Gospel in that form, or not 
 at all. Indeed we may go a step further, and 
 say it would be both lawful and laudable to 
 .act in this manner under such circumstances 
 as. the following. — Let it be supposed that, 
 suddenly, an extensive and promising field of 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 63 
 
 exertion opened itself before some one of our 
 Missionary Societies ; and that this field, while 
 it called for exertions on a large and costly 
 scale, gave the most reasonable hopes of com- 
 plete success. I ask then whether, in such a 
 case, an appeal to the Christian world from 
 the directors of the favoured society would 
 be made in vain ? Would the necessary aid 
 actually be denied ; or in granting such aid, 
 would it be attempted, by any party, to em- 
 barrass the proceedings of the managers in 
 the very moment of auspicious activity, by 
 requiring them first to revise their modes and 
 forms, and to substitute this observance and 
 ceremony, for that? Would any one, whose 
 heart is indeed warmed with the principles_of 
 our religion, make a demur in gi^^ng what he 
 gave, or restrict the pounds and pence of his 
 gratuity to such purposes only as it might least 
 shock his punctilious zeal to promote 1 No 
 such wretched caution, would, I think, be 
 thought of, at such a moment ; but rather the 
 animating hope of at length witnessing an ex- 
 tensive triumph of the cross — whatever pecul- 
 iarities of worship might attend it, would im- 
 petuously beavr away all lesser feelings, and a 
 torrent of liberality would flow towards the 
 
64 isE\W MODEL 
 
 scene of hopeful enterprise. Any other sup 
 position than this might justly be deemed a 
 calumny upon the religious public — a calum- 
 ny contradicted by facts which every one re- 
 collects. 
 
 But in the case here supposed we have ap- 
 proached very near to the proposition actual- 
 ly before us ; for a fair inference carries us 
 from one position to the other. — It is affirmed, 
 and surely on no very slight grounds, that a 
 plan of co-operation, in which all party dis- 
 tinction should be merged, would greatly pro- 
 mote the spread of the Gospel among the 
 heathen. To deny this probability is to con- 
 tradict the voice of universal experience in all 
 matters of difficult achievement Here then 
 is a demand made upon all parties to concede 
 their peculiarities ; and, for the promotion of 
 the great cause in which we are engaged, to 
 adopt those measures which are recommen- 
 ded by sound reason, and which common 
 sense would long ago have led us to adopt, 
 if sectarian interests had not stood in the 
 way. 
 
 And now what is the obstacle that prevents 
 our doing so, but the one which has already 
 been overpassed, again and again, by all par- 
 
 1 
 
OP CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. B5 
 
 lies? for all have often forgotten their scruples, 
 and their preferences, and given their support 
 to the glorious Gospel, by whomsoever pro- 
 claimed. " Unawares," we have " entertain- 
 ed the angel", of concord.— With a happy in- 
 consideration we have dropped the badges of 
 distinction; and in moments of excitement, 
 conquered by the spirit of our religion, have 
 joined hands with om^ brethren, vtnthout first 
 asking whether or not they " foEow with us." 
 
 The perplexing problem which s}iiods might 
 have discussed in vain during a session of 
 twenty years, has been resolved by the spon- 
 taneity of our hearts ; and it has been deter- 
 mined that a Christian, while he decidedly 
 prefers certain modes of religion, and delibe- 
 rately believes that those modes possess a valid 
 claim to universal homage, may nevertheless, 
 without any inconsistency, promote the spread 
 of Christianity abroad by the agency of men 
 who hold them in no esteem. Nay, it is viv- 
 tually implied in the practice of the religious 
 world at the present time, that to refuse such 
 aid on urgent occasions would be grossly in^ 
 consistent with the spirit of our religion. 
 
 What is it then that actually prevents our 
 acceding to the proposed plan of combina- 
 
66 NEW MODEL 
 
 tion 1 Not our respective scruples, for these 
 have already been practically set at nought ; 
 and We have all confessed the lawfulness of 
 aiding the promulgation of our common faith 
 under an imperfect or encumbered form. 
 Churchmen have supported the missions of 
 Dissenters ; Dissenters have contributed to 
 those of Churchmen ; Congregationalists have 
 helped to send out Wesleyan preachers ; Wes- 
 leyan eloquence has provoked Calvinistic au- 
 diences to greater zeal ; thepractisers of sprink- 
 ling have subscribed towards Serampore trans- 
 lations ; and Baptists have given their gold to 
 those who do not immerse ! 
 
 But it is alleged that, although a Christian 
 may accidentally support measures which he 
 does not thoroughly approve ; yet, that he is 
 bound by a due regard to his convictions to 
 devote the bulk of his contributions, whether 
 of personal service or pecuniary aid, to the 
 diffusion of the specific form of doctrine and 
 worship which he believes to be most agreea- 
 ble to the divine will. Let this supposed obli- 
 gation be fully admitted. On the present oc- 
 casion we are not compelled to sift the reasons 
 which seem to give it force ; for we may pass 
 over it on higher ground. This supposed du- 
 
OP CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 67 
 
 ty must be granted to be conditional. A Chris- 
 tian can only be obliged to propagate his spe- 
 cific opinions abroad when he actually has the 
 means of doing so ; but if he possesses no such 
 opportunity ; if no missionary association ex- 
 ists among the members of his own commun- 
 ion ; or if his religious opinions are peculiar to 
 himself; and if he can neither himself go 
 abroad as a teacher, nor is able to employ a 
 substitute, the abstract obligation is plainly 
 cancelled by the impracticability of discharging 
 it. Nevertheless a Christian so circumstan- 
 ced is not thereby absolved from the higher 
 duty — or we should say, debarred from th^ 
 privilege, of joining with others to diffuse the 
 blessings of the Gospel through the world ; 
 and if he cannot do it as he would, he will 
 still do it as he can. Thus we stand relieved 
 from the necessity of arguing the general ques- 
 tion. 
 
 The supposed duty of promulgating our per- 
 sonal opinions is even to a still greater extent 
 conditional ; as for instance — If the measures 
 of a particular society were obviously so ill di- 
 rected at home, or its sphere of foreign opera- 
 tions so unpropitiously circumstanced, as that 
 all rational hope of success were excluded ; 
 
68 NEW MODEL 
 
 while, at the same time, some other society, 
 by superior discretion, by greater zeal, and 
 by enjoying in a larger degree the blessing of 
 heaven, were seen to be rapidly advancing on 
 the com-se of prosperous exertion, so that ev- 
 ery shilling contributed to its funds might be 
 calculated to possess an infinite value, then, 
 and in such a case, the dictate of a genuine 
 zeal for our common faith, and of a sincere 
 benevolence towards our fellow men, would 
 lead a Christian to divert his alms from the 
 channel of unproductive expenditure, and to 
 direct them towards the field of copious fruit- 
 fulness. He would do so, even though the 
 opinions propagated by the one society were, 
 to a tittle, his own, while the forms or the di- 
 cipline sent out by the other contained much 
 that he thought decidedly reprehensible. Who- 
 ever would not thus decide in the circumstan- 
 ces supposed, while he "professes to believe 
 that, without the Gospel the people perish, 
 and admits that its saving efficacy inheres in 
 other forms of Christianity than his own, has 
 surely never conceived a thought more capa- 
 cious than might paps througli a needle's eye : 
 liis reptile conceptions, surely, are capable 
 of nothing more excursive than to crawl in 
 
OP CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 69 
 
 and out of his church, through a crevice. — 
 Surely such a man has never solemnly medi- 
 tated on the vast futurity that stretches before 
 the human family ! Surely he has no knowl- 
 edge of the sad ruin in which human nature 
 is lying — no idea of the hope set before us in 
 the Gospel ! Certainly the word — Eternity, 
 has never dwelt on the hearing of such a man. 
 Nay, he must be destitute of common benev- 
 olence : — nay, he must be devoid of common 
 sense ; for he holds the egregious absurdity 
 that some of the parts of Christianity are of 
 more importance than the whole. We need 
 not, however, arrest the course of our argu- 
 ment by attempting to vanquish the obdurate 
 bigotry of any such persons, if such there be, 
 since the sense of the great body of Cliristians 
 is decidedly opposed to a conduct and temper 
 of this kind. 
 
 The ground is then clear before us on which 
 to establish our ultimate proposition ; for if a 
 high probability of success in propagating what 
 is deemed a defective form of Christianity out- 
 weighs or supersedes the supposed duty of 
 promulgating what we think a more perfect 
 form of it — when the opportunity of doing so 
 is removed ; then we may say — that if a new 
 
70 NEW MODEL 
 
 constitution of missions on the principle of com- 
 bination and of the division of labour promises 
 — as unquestionably it does, to procure much 
 greater successes than can be hoped for while 
 the present sectarian system- is adhered to, 
 then are all Christians bound by the duty they 
 owe to their Lord, and by the duty of chari- 
 ty they owe to their deluded brethren of all 
 nations, to adopt the better system, even 
 though, in doing so, they must severally con- 
 sent to send abroad forms of government, and 
 modes of worship, which they approve much 
 less than their own. 
 
 I affirm then that the obstacles which at 
 first sight seem to prevent the adoption of the 
 plan proposed in these letters, have already 
 been virtually nullified by the practice and 
 better feelings of Christians. And certainly 
 the feelings inspired by preaching the Gospel 
 among the heathen are found to place party 
 distinctions in a point of view extremely dispar- 
 aging to their importance. The uniform tes- 
 timony of the most respectable Missionaries 
 is to this effect : — "While standing among the 
 heathen," say they, " and while surrounded 
 by the appalling spectacles of a horrid idola- 
 try, and while proclaiming the pure and sa- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 71 
 
 ving doctrine of the cross to the debauched 
 and fanatical \ictims of daemon worship, the 
 questions which divide the Christian Church 
 fade utterly from our view. — From the ground 
 on which we stand we can no longer discern 
 them ; or they seem in the extremest degree 
 trivial." Let it be granted that, according 
 to the rigidness of school-logic, this mode of 
 spealdng. is somewhat erroneous. Neverthe- 
 less it contains, in substance, a most momen- 
 tous truth — a capital principle, which, con- 
 versant as we are with ecclesiastical frivolities, 
 few of us are qualified to appreciate at its prop- 
 er value. But, not to insist upon generali- 
 ties, it may be observed that, of the several 
 causes of dissension among us, some belong 
 so entirely to England, and to its constitutions, 
 that they vanish in the viewless v/inds the mo- 
 ment we leave the British Channel ; — they 
 can no more be transported to India, or to 
 the Islands of the Southern Ocean, than we 
 can carry there the ices of Scotland, or the 
 fogs of the Thames. Other questions, on 
 which we divide, are superseded by the inar- 
 tificial state of the nations we are labouring to 
 convert, and among whom it would be egre- 
 giously absurd, as well as culpable, to intro- 
 
72 NEW MODEL 
 
 duce the leaven of abstruse logomachy. 
 There are other questions which the discre- 
 tion of every sound-minded Missionary will 
 lead him to keep out of the sight of those 
 whose respect for our religion he would not 
 impair. 
 
 No process of attenuation is perhaps more 
 exquisite than that by which the filmy slender- 
 ncss of sectarianism is wire-drawn to the dis- 
 tance often or twelve thousand miles. When 
 we come among a people savage or half civil- 
 ized, and intellectually rude, by whom noth- 
 ing but the very elements of religion can pos- 
 sibly be apprehended, and who must enjoy 
 the benefits of instruction during many years 
 before they can be qualified to form a judg- 
 ment on questions of abstruse or perplexing 
 controversy, we must, of necessity, hold all 
 such questions in abeyance for a length of 
 time. But here it must be well noted that, 
 though it is impossible to put our new converts 
 in possession of the grounds of theological ar- 
 gument, nothing is more easy than to infect 
 them at once with the jjoison of religious spleen; 
 and wliile we fail hi our attempts to convey to 
 them that sort of intelligent conviction which, . 
 among ourselves, mollifies the a^iperities of 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 73 
 
 separation, they may imbibe, with the utmost 
 readiness, the spirit of party. We may in- 
 deed propagate sectarianism among Hindoos 
 or Hottentots ; but it can only be in the un- 
 mitigated form of a blind bigotry, devoid of 
 reason and suavity. 
 
 I think I could engage to bring home from 
 India, or from Africa, a bundle of sermons: 
 and expositions, and private conversations, 
 taken verbatim from our Missionaries of vari- 
 ous denominations ; and after expunging, per- 
 haps, here and there a phrase, offer the col- 
 lection to the Christian world, and challenge 
 the several sects to claim their own out of the 
 mass. Mistakes much more improbable have 
 often been fallen into than that, for example> 
 of the Congregationalist, who, in looking over 
 such a parcel, should lay claim to the discour- 
 ses of the Church Missionary ; while a Church- 
 man, perhaps, would challenge the sermon 
 of a Dissenter ; the .Wesleyan those of the 
 Baptist ; and possibly the Baptist might lay 
 his hand on the instructions of a teacher who 
 sprinkles rather than dip ! Thus it would ap- 
 pear that the very opinions which, at vast cost, 
 and extreme injury to the great cause, we 
 have shipped off to China, or the Pacific, are 
 7 
 
74 NEW MODEL 
 
 SO unsubstantial or evanescent, that we cannot 
 recognize them when again brought back to 
 us. For what valuable consideration is it then, 
 that we are dividing our efforts till they become 
 feeble and inefficient 1 For what are we put- 
 ting contempt upon Christianity in the sight 
 of the profane at home, and of heathens a- 
 broad ] For what are we stretching our diifer- 
 ences from one side of the globe to the other? 
 For what are we putting in peril the conver- 
 sion of the world at this auspicious moment, 
 when Heaven has loudly caEed us to the work? 
 We are submitting to all this damage, and in- 
 curring all this hazard, and putting all this 
 dishonour upon the Gospel for the perpetua- 
 tion of opinions which, in fact, we find it hard 
 to preserve from evaporation ere they have 
 crossed the line. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 "for are ye not carnal." 
 
 I have affirmed, my dear friend, first, that 
 the union of evangelical Christians, without 
 distinction of party in the Missionary enter- 
 prise, is necessary as the means of managing 
 so vast a business efficiently ; and have then 
 endeavoured to shew you that such a union 
 is not at all impracticable ; or at least that it 
 is not forbidden by conscientious scruples. I 
 now proceed to adduce reasons of another 
 kind, in themselves weighty enough to secure 
 the compliance of the Christian world with the 
 proposed reform. 
 
 In the first place then the merging of party 
 distinctions when we go to preach the Gospel 
 to the heathen is absolutely necessary to pre- 
 serve Christianity from dishonour in their eyes. 
 
76 NEW MODEL 
 
 and to prevent the origination of heresies and 
 divisions among our converts. 
 
 The mischiefs that must, in the end, spring 
 from the diffusion of a sectarized Christianity 
 have not, as yet, had time or space to be de- 
 veloped ; but they will appear whenever the 
 infant church abroad shall come to lengthen 
 its cords, and strengthen its stakes. Even in 
 those islands or insulated regions where the 
 work of evangelization rests exclusively in the 
 hands of one and the same party, it must 
 happen — unless some disingenuousness is 
 practised, that the divided state of the church 
 at home will at length become known ; and 
 it will be extremely difficult to prevent the fact 
 from presenting itself in a startling point of 
 view to simple-minded converts. But in In- 
 dia, and in other countries where the agents 
 of our several societies come in contact, the 
 sectarism of English Christians must presently 
 obtrude itself upon the notice of the convert- 
 ed Hindoo : nor can the most ingenious glo- 
 zings hinder it from making a deep and unfa- 
 vourable impression on his mind. — He is 
 taught that the religion he has imbibed is de- 
 rived from a single, intelligible book — a book 
 given by inspiration of God ; and he reads in 
 
OF CHTISTIAN MISSIONS. 77 
 
 it that it should be the distinguishing feature 
 of the Christian religion that the ti^ue disciples 
 of Christ " love one another," and are at peace 
 among themselves. How is it then that those 
 who mutually acknowledge each other as the 
 true disciples of Christ, and who exchange the 
 tokens of affection as often as they meet, are 
 yet actually at variance ; — and so much at va- 
 riance that they can by no means unite in the 
 same measures for spreading their religion ; 
 but on the contrary are actually compelled to 
 have recourse to the cumbrous, and costly, 
 and ruinous method of despatching separate 
 embassies, so vast a distance, to idolatrous 
 nations ; as if there were scarcely any thing 
 held in common by the different sects of Chris- 
 tians ? Now there are two ways in which the 
 perplexities and inquiries that must arise a- 
 mong intelligent converts may be met : — the 
 one belonging to the present system ; and the 
 other to the system advocated in these let- 
 ters. 
 
 On the present system ; not only must the 
 fact of our divisions be acknowledged, but the 
 serious nature of the questions on which we 
 are at variance must be confessed ; otherwise 
 no sufficient reason can be given for the party 
 
78 NEW MODEL 
 
 measures we pursue : and it must be granted, 
 moreover, that, although pious and learned 
 men have, age after age, been employed in 
 discussing the controverted points, there is no 
 more probability now than ever, of their being 
 determined. Must not such a confession 
 greatly shake the confidence of thoughtful, 
 but imperfectly informed men ? can it fail to 
 abate their respect, both for ourselves and for 
 our religion ? and is it not full-fraught with 
 the infection, as well of doubt, as of discord ? 
 And yet no statement essentially different from 
 this can be made ; or if ingenious conceal- 
 ments were attempted, they could be of no 
 lasting avail ; for the minds of men are always 
 much more forcibly affected by obvious facts, 
 than by intricate apologies ; and so long as it 
 cannot be denied that the Christians of Eng- 
 land are divided into parties, and that these 
 parties are unable to unite, even when actua- 
 ted by the strong and pure motives which im- 
 pel them to send Missionaries to the other side 
 of the globe, it will be utterly in vain to talk 
 of the cordiality which exists among us. 
 
 But now let it be imagined that the propo- 
 sed union of Christians in the Missionary work 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 79 
 
 were effected, and that no party name — no 
 party difference were evet sent out of England. 
 In this case we might, without danger, with- 
 out shame, and even with honour and advan- 
 tage, explain to our converts the true state 
 of things at home :' we might, for example, 
 address them in such terms as the following. 
 — " It is indeed true that the Christians of 
 England differ in their manner of interpreting 
 certain passages of Scripture, relating to mat- 
 ters of discipline and worship. But that they 
 do not deem these differences to be of very 
 serious consequence, is proved by the fact 
 which you see before your eyes — that when 
 the conversion of their brethren in distant lands 
 is in question, they lay aside every variance, 
 and cordially join in their endeavours to spread 
 the Gospel. At the same time the differen- 
 ces which exist among us serve to give a great- 
 er value to our agreement on matters of doc- 
 trine ; for it proves that we exercise perfect 
 freedom of judgment, and are exempt from 
 restraint in the expression of opinion : our con- 
 sent therefore on the great articles of religion 
 furnishes a comdncing proof of the perspicuity 
 of the Scriptures on points of importance ; 
 since all who devoutly read the Bible come 
 
80 NEW MODEL 
 
 to the same conclusions in regard to them. 
 Moreover the differences which distinguish us, 
 though they are to be regretted, still serve to 
 illustrate the power of the Gospel to produce 
 concord among its adherents ; for if it had 
 not a strong influence of this kind, the several 
 parties, instead of concurring, as you see, in 
 the same measures, would act independently 
 of each other, and more as rivals than as al- 
 lies. Having given you this candid statement, 
 we may confidently advise you to entertain no 
 anxiety relative to those questionable points 
 which we do not at present bring under your 
 notice : the time will come when you will 
 have made those acquisitions in biblical and 
 historical learning which are requisite to the 
 forming of a competent judgment on subjects 
 of this class." 
 
 I ask which of these two explanations would 
 make the more favourable impression upon 
 the susceptible, half-informed, and perhaps 
 suspicious minds of new converts from Gen- 
 tilism ? Who can hesitate in preferring the 
 latter to the former 1 It is not only free from 
 occasion of offence, but it even sheds a glory 
 upon Christianity, and eminently illustrates its 
 power and excellence, and vouches for the 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 81 
 
 candour and simplicity of the motive which 
 impels us to preach the Gospel in every land. 
 
 On the contrary, the former statement, 
 sadly confirmed by the visible fact of schism, 
 transported from England to India, could not 
 fail to engender the most disheartening surmi- 
 ses ; or,, if it did not convey the poison of sus- 
 picion, would ine\atably impart the infection 
 of religious animosity. This probable event 
 demands the most serious attention of all who 
 support Missionary Societies. A singular 
 thoughtlessness has hitherto been indulged in 
 regard to it. We have gone out, carrying 
 the torch of divine truth in one hand ; forget- 
 ful that we bore in the other the smouldering 
 brand of theological strife. And here, my 
 dear friend, I must request you to correct me 
 if I err in the anticipations which I entertain. 
 I read the book of human nature, and the 
 book of church history, and without daring to 
 presume that human nature will show itself 
 altogether a different thing in India from what 
 it is in Europe, I calculate probabilities, with 
 a strong fear of not being found a false proph- 
 et of dismal things. 
 
 Should the nations of India receive from us 
 the religion of the Scriptures ; but receive it 
 
82 NEW MODEL 
 
 under the system we are now pursuing, it is 
 much more than we have any right to hope 
 for, that the very worst evils will not in time 
 spring up from the seeds of theological discord 
 which we are so unadvisedly scattering in the 
 East. 
 
 It is very true that in modern times religious 
 controversy has been stripped almost entirely 
 of its hateful qualities. But we may be assur- 
 ed that the mischief is latent, not extinct, and 
 shall surely reappear when circumstances fa- 
 vour its development. You tell me that dis- 
 cord and heresy may spring up spontaneous- 
 ly ; for they did so in the churches planted 
 by the Apostles : yes ; but shall we therefore 
 wantonly carry them in our hands ? If offen- 
 ces must needs come ; at least let them not 
 be traced to us. Let us not necessitate a sad 
 result, which otherwise, might be deemed on- 
 ly probable. 
 
 Really one might imagine that the confident 
 anticipation so generally entertained at pre- 
 sent, of an approaching era of universal love, 
 had operated to deprive Christians of all cau- 
 tion in the measures they are pursuing abroad. 
 We so firmly believe that the golden age is a- 
 bout to commence, that we fear not to scat- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. ©3 
 
 ter the elements of feud, trusting that before 
 they can work any harm, the period of Mil- 
 lennial peace will have commenced. Let us 
 mix tares with the wheat ; for a summer is 
 coming which shall allow the growth of no 
 weeds ! But on what solid groimd is it that we 
 proceed in assuming that those dire mischiefs 
 which so often have desolated the Western 
 Church, have spent all their force on this side 
 the globe, and shall never be brought forth 
 by the fervent suns of the East ? Do we know 
 infallibly that fierce animosities, and cruel in- 
 tolerance, shall never again burst from the 
 doors of discordant synods — that theological 
 difference shall never again issue in theologi- 
 cal hatred ? Who dares deny the possibility of 
 a sad repetition of the horrors which hereto- 
 fore, in our own isla,nd, have affronted the 
 sun 1 How amazing then — ^how culpable, is 
 our temerity in daring to carry out to a new 
 soil the germs of those very disagreements 
 which, though now mollified, yet bear fresh 
 upon them the scars of deadly strife ! Our 
 fathers, of two or three generations back, 
 pursued each other to the stake, to the gib- 
 bet, to the rack, on account of these very di- 
 versities of opinion, or dissimilarities of wor- 
 
84 NEW MODEL 
 
 ship which we (for conscience sake truly) are 
 sending' off to the ends of the earth ! Perilous 
 infatuation ! may heaven in its compassion 
 defeat our folly, and provide for the people of 
 the East a way of escape from the deadly 
 consequences of such inconsideration ! 
 
 Either then we are quite thoughtless of the 
 future ; or we are trusting to some miraculous 
 interposition to prevent the natural consequen- 
 ces of the course we pursue ; or we go on as 
 we have begun because we deem it impossible 
 to do better. I deny this impossibility ; — or 
 else affirm that impossibilities should be sur- 
 mounted, rather than that the heathen should 
 receive from us a sectarized Christianity. 
 Miserable delusion — or worse, hypocrisy, of 
 the man who pleads reasons of conscience 
 for proceedings so pestilent ! But I should re- 
 turn to the tone of moderation ; — the infatua- 
 ting power of inveterate errors is incalculable ; 
 otherwise we should not so generally, and so 
 long have been blind to the enormous impro- 
 priety of propagating our English schisms in 
 new regions. I am willins: to rest the neces- 
 sity of effecting a new model of missions upon 
 this single ground. 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 85 
 
 But again ; — the plan of a Catholic union 
 lor foreign missions is powerfully recommen- 
 ded by its tendency to produce a favourable 
 effect upon the minds of persons at home, 
 hitherto hostile, or indifferent, to Christiani- 
 ty. 
 
 There can be no consistency in professing 
 to be actuated by a burning zeal for the con- 
 version of Hindoos and Caffres, while we are 
 indifferent to the infidelity and impiety which 
 meet the eye around our homes, and often, 
 alas ! within them. A Christian must not 
 be reckless in regard to one immortal, and 
 say he is compassionately solicitous for the 
 salvation of another. His zeal must know 
 no distinction of place or nation ; or if it knows 
 any, it must give its preference to those who 
 stand within the nearest relationships. But 
 even if the conversion of the heathen were 
 the darling object of our exclusive endeavours, 
 nothing could more directly tend to promote 
 our design than to win, by all means, the co- 
 operation of those thousands of our country- 
 men who, at present, deny the aid they might 
 furnish, less from deliberate hostiiit}^, than 
 because "they know not what they do ;" and 
 partly, perhaps, because the missionary en- 
 8 
 
86 NEW MODEL 
 
 terprise has not yet presented itself under so 
 fair an aspect as it might. 
 
 Religious persons who mix exclusively in 
 society of their own sort, and who have no 
 intimate and undisguised intercourse with in- 
 telligent, but irreligious men, can form no cor- 
 rect estimate of the magnitude of the injury 
 inflicted upon tens, and hundreds of thousands 
 by the inconsistencies and discords of the 
 Christian world. It is true that the plea for 
 irreligion, which is ordinarily derived from 
 this source, is too palpably sophistical to have 
 any influence over a sound understanding — - 
 if it were not backed by the prejudices of a 
 heart at enmity with God. Nevertheless this 
 plea, in point of fact, proves itself to be fatal- 
 ly valid, and in the actual state of religious 
 profession, it is always a too easy task for the 
 caviller to pick up facts which give it a show 
 of plausibilit}^ When the proper evidences 
 of Christianity have been urged upon the ob* 
 jector with irresistible force, he makes good 
 his retreat, even with an air of triumph, from 
 what he feels to be the untenable ground of 
 infidelity, and takes refuge, as if in perfect 
 security, in some such evasion as this : " Well, 
 when Christians have agreed among them- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 87 
 
 selves what Christianity is, we will give it a 
 hearing." If it be replied that all those whose 
 spirit and conduct prove them to be the sin- 
 cere disciples of Christ, are actually agreed 
 in whatever is of most importance ; then it is 
 vaimtingly rejoined — " But if they are indeed 
 agreed in things important, why, on account 
 of things unimportant, do they stand, from 
 age to age, divided into parties, and so put 
 contempt upon the primary article of Chris- 
 tian morals?" Thus it is, that, in spite of ev- 
 ery explanation which can be given, the no- 
 torious fact of the divided state of the Chris- 
 tian body, snatches the weapon of comiction 
 from our hands, as often as we attempt to 
 vanquish gainsayers. But this, alas ! is a 
 disadvantage and an opprobrium under wHich 
 we must be content to labour, perhaps for a 
 century to come. — God grant a shorter date 
 to the error of his people ! To return : though 
 we cannot at once remedy the wide-spreading 
 evils of schism, the measure proposed in these 
 letters, and which, for its own sake, is desir- 
 able, as well as practicable, would go very 
 far towards removing all occasion of offence. 
 A public and formal act on the part of the 
 several evangelical sects, whereby they should 
 
88 NEW MODEL 
 
 consent to hold all their differences in abey- 
 ance, for the express purpose of facilitating 
 the progress of the Gospel abroad, would bring 
 more honour upon our religion than has ac- 
 crued to it in any way since the times of the 
 martyrs. So unquestionable a zeal for Chris- 
 tianity, apart from sectai'ianism, and even at 
 the cost of particular predilections, could not 
 fail to awaken a great degree of attention : — 
 it would confound malignant cavillers; — con- 
 ciliate the prejudiced, and happily dissipate 
 the distressing perplexities of thousands who 
 now are the pitiable victims of the scandals 
 that deform the profession of religion. Are 
 not these reasons weighty enough to obtain a 
 hearing ere we resolve anew to persist in our 
 disgraceful discords ] Should not the ruin of 
 souls at home make us pause in our path 
 when we are setting out to convert the heath- 
 en] 
 
 Men are influenced in the judgments they 
 form, immensely more by inferences drawn 
 from notorious facts, than by even the very 
 best arguments that are shut up in books. — 
 The argument for the truth of Christianity is 
 perfect : no chain of reasoning can be more 
 complete ; yet it Axils to command universal 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 89 
 
 assent ; for where it rests, it attracts the at- 
 tention only of those who scarcely need to be 
 convinced : others leave it on the shelf, while 
 they pursue their course of pleasure or ambi- 
 tion. We want some signal display of the 
 power and excellence of Christian motives ; 
 and with this view, nothing, hardly, could 
 have a better effect than such a relinquish- 
 ment of party distinctions, and for such a pur- 
 pose, as is here recommended. Perhaps even 
 a combination of Christians, still preserving 
 the old lines of separation at home, while they 
 pass over them for promoting the Gospel a- 
 broad, would have more force as an instance 
 of the power of Christianity, than as if an 
 entire amalgamation of parties had first taken 
 place. 
 
 The co-operation of sects in the Bible So- 
 ciety has certainly done great honour to the 
 spirit of the times. Nevertheless, as an in- 
 stance of Christian unanimity, the example is 
 essentially defective; for in joining together 
 to circulate the Scriptures, without note or 
 comment, we have abandoned nothing but 
 those prejudices and aversions, to persist in 
 which, when they might be fairly relinquished, 
 would be utterly disgraceful to men bearing 
 8* 
 
90 NEW MODEL 
 
 the Christian name. Mean-while, not a sin- 
 gle step has been taken on the course of real 
 concession or mutual forbearance. — In the 
 eye of the world — though the feelhig he differ- 
 ent, it is as if a conference of hostile persona- 
 ges were held on neutral ground, and under 
 the protection of a truce, for the transaction 
 of some necessary business, common to the 
 belligerants : — weapons are laid aside, and 
 compliments are exchanged, and expressions 
 of personal friendship are given and taken, but 
 peace is not in the assembly. 
 
 In the eye of the world also, and in the view 
 of those who do not, or who will not use dis- 
 crimination, the simultaneous, but unconnec- 
 ted efforts now maldng by the several sects to 
 spread the Gospel abroad, do not show a very 
 fair face ; for this extraordinary zeal, in the 
 form it assumes, may as easily be attributed 
 to the spirit of rivalry, as to the spirit of ex- 
 pansive beneficence. But were the proposed 
 Missionary Union to take place, an unan- 
 swerable refutation would be given to this false 
 and injurious supj^osition : — it must be a zeal 
 for the very substance of religion, not for the 
 form of it, which prompts such a sacrifice ; 
 and it would be manifest that we are so deeply 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 91 
 
 convinced of the excellence and necessity of 
 the faith we profess, that we would infinitely 
 rather publish it under a form we do not whol- 
 ly approve, than not at all. It is this very 
 proof of a heart-felt conviction on the part 
 of the religious, that is needed to awaken the 
 attention of the irreligious. 
 
 Once again : the proposed coalescence of 
 parties for the promotion of Missions is in the 
 highest degree desirable, inasmuch as its ten- 
 dency would be to bring about the union of 
 Christians at home. 
 
 There are those who think they discern 
 pretty clearly the source of that erroneous as- 
 sumption which seems to justify or to palliate 
 Church division. But subjects of this class 
 have been too often discussed, to permit of 
 their being brought forward anew with any 
 great hope of a favourable result. Events, 
 not books, must bring us back into the path 
 of concord. Meanwhile, it is in our power 
 to adopt a preliminary measure, in itself, as 
 we have seen, highly desirable, which would 
 set Church union in the most recommendato- 
 ry light, and almost irresistibly conduct us to- 
 wards it. While acting together under the 
 proposed new plan of combination, we should 
 
93 NEW MODEL 
 
 have constantly before our eyes a demonstra- 
 tion of the truth that Christians, though hold- 
 ing, as individuals, a diversity of opinion on 
 many points, may very safely and very advan- 
 tageously join haixls in a good work ; and 
 that, without harm or inconvenience, all may, 
 for the sake of a good work, lay aside many 
 things to which they have been long accus- 
 tomed, and are fondly attached, and may bear 
 with many things which they think reprehen- 
 sible, or susceptible of amendment. But if 
 they may thus co-operate, why not commu- 
 nicate 1 — if they may rally around the standard 
 of philanthropy, why may they not ^ meet be- 
 fore the throne of mercy ] Why need those 
 worship apart, who can do good together 1 
 Are the delights and benefits which belong to 
 the communion of saints unworthy of the same 
 sort of forbearance, and concession, which 
 have been yielded as the purchase of the ben- 
 efits of mutual aid 1 It would he felt, if not 
 logically proved, that Christianity gains infi- 
 nitely more by the union of its friends — even 
 though in uniting they make some sacrifice of 
 opinion, than it can possibly gain by their dis- 
 cords ; even though by means of dissension,. 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 93 
 
 certain opinions and practices (deemed impor- 
 tant) are valiantly maintained. 
 
 The inevitable result of combined labours 
 would be to triturate walls of partition. " We 
 are met," would Christians say, " to promote 
 a cause which is dear to us all alike : and if 
 in any thing we differ, we agree vastly more 
 than we differ." The habitual utterance of 
 sentiments such as this, v/ould, ere long, give 
 an irresistible preponderance to all that is great 
 and substantial, when weighed against what 
 is subordinate or trivial : and though certain 
 controversies might not perhaps be brought to 
 an argumentative issue, they would be over- 
 passed, and left behind ; and even if they con- 
 tinued to create diversity of opinion, they would 
 cease to be thought of as grounds of separa- 
 tion. 
 
 I will venture to advance a step further, 
 and to affirm it as highly probable that, when 
 once things come into this track, a perfectly 
 satisfactory solution of many existing difficul- 
 ties will speedily be obtained. My dear friend, 
 I request your especial attention to this con- 
 jecture. Let me state the case distinctly. — 
 It is indeed a most perplexing spectacle to see 
 a succession of honest and well-informed men, 
 
94 NEW MODEL 
 
 age after age, concentrating all the force of 
 their minds on the very same evidence, and 
 nevertheless coming to opposite conclusions. 
 This circumstance would not be so strange if 
 both parties confessed the question about which 
 they disagree to be of a doubtful kind, and 
 acknowledged, on both sides, that the evi- 
 dence is somewhat ambiguous and obscure. 
 But alas ! both loudly proclaim that the rea- 
 sons of their opinion are perspicuous as the 
 light of noon. Here, then, is our riddle ; for 
 it is equally amazing that wise men should 
 draw opposite conclusions where there is real- 
 ly no obscurity ; or that they should deny ob- 
 scurity where it actually exists. One is ready 
 to ask — why is it that the promised Spirit of 
 truth does not lead these good men in the same 
 path ? Do they not severally and sincerely 
 ask for the heavenly guidance 1 Yes, it is true, 
 that they ask — ^but they ask amiss, inasmuch 
 as they have not placed themselves iu a posi- 
 tion proper for receiving the boon. Let him 
 who prays to be informed of the mind of Christ 
 on certain matters of discipline or worship, 
 first yield obedience to the unquestionable, the 
 unambiguous law of Christ, which demands 
 that the bond of union among all who sin- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 95 
 
 cerely love Him should, by no means, be 
 broken on account of matters of " doubtful 
 disputation." Shall the Lord interpose to de- 
 cide a controversy which is allowed to gene- 
 rate di\isions in flagrant violation of his explicit 
 and intelligible rule of Church communion ? 
 Who can suppose it 1 Those who love the 
 Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity must first join 
 heart and hand, and cast away, with abhor- 
 rence, all those names of men that are now 
 called upon them. There must first be effec- 
 ted, not merely a restoration of cordial affec- 
 tion ; but a public, a formal, and a visible re- 
 conciliation ; and then shall that promised 
 light be given which is needed to dispel the 
 darkness that seems to rest upon some sub- 
 ordinate articles of our faith. The way of 
 the Lord is ordinarily first to obtain submis- 
 sion to his unquestioned will, and then to grant 
 those advancements in knowledge which are 
 desired, I am not surely presumptuous in 
 saying that this suggestion deserves the serious 
 consideration of those whom it may concern ; 
 and especially of those who, by office and 
 personal character, sustain extensive respon- 
 sibilities. 
 
 I would even hazard the prediction that ere 
 
96 NEW MODEL 
 
 ^ 
 
 five years have elasped, after a public union 
 of all sincere Christians has been effected, 
 scarcel}^ a doubt will remain on any theologi- 
 cal or practical question that can be deemed 
 at all important. It is, I think, a most delu- 
 sive expectation, entertained by some persons, 
 that the peace of the Church v^^ill be aifected 
 by the argumentative determination of existing 
 controversies. Is it not much more probable 
 that a revival of fer\^ent piety will, if the 
 phrase may be used, fuse the Church into a 
 state of union ; and that then the spirit of 
 discrimination and of sound judgment in 
 doubtful matters shall be conferred upon it ? 
 
 Allow me, for a moment, to pursue a plea- 
 sing and curious supposition. Let it then be 
 imagined that our efforts to diffuse the Gospel 
 have been crowned with very extensive suc- 
 cess, and that large and flourishing churches 
 have been formed in countries at present 
 overshadov/ed by Paganism; and let it be 
 supposed that the true doctrine of Christian 
 union is understood and maintained in these 
 churches ; that separation is unknown, and 
 that the blessed fruits of peace spring up on 
 every side. What nuist, in such a case, 
 happen, but that we sliould begin at home to 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 97 
 
 covet the same felicity ? Is it possible that 
 we should remain contentedly pent up, as 
 heretofore, within our little enclosures, while 
 we contemplated the joyous harmony of the 
 churches we had planted 1 Or if we remain 
 insensible to the edifying' example, would not 
 the spirit of missionary zeal revert to its 
 source, and those to whom we had conveyed 
 the Gospel send it back to us in its primitive 
 beauty ? The warm-hea.rted and unsophisti- 
 cated Christians of christianized India, or 
 Persia, or Africa, would visit us, and, travel- 
 ling from county to county of sectarian 
 England, call together the disunited congre- 
 gations of each town and city, affectionately 
 upbraiding them with their needless and guilty 
 schisms, and joining the hands of all, as the 
 mediators of charity, "beseech us by the 
 Lord to be all of one mind," and not merely 
 to love one another in word^ or in heart, but 
 to afford the natural demonstration of love — 
 undisturbed communion. Thus it would hap- 
 pen that, as if to check our glorying as the 
 keepers and dispensers of divine truth, we 
 should be compelled to submit to the humilia- 
 tion of receiving it back better than we had 
 sent it fortli. 
 
 9 
 
98 NEW MODEL 
 
 I 
 
 Finally, merging of party differences, ex- 
 pressly for the purpose of removing whatever 
 might hinder the spread of Christianity, 
 would have a powerful influence in dissipating 
 and putting to shame that fatal spirit of tri- 
 fling in religion which, in every age, and in 
 our own not less, has so easily beset the 
 Church. 
 
 How quickly, how readily do we substitute 
 any thing that wears the dress of godliness in 
 the place of its infinite realities ! One would 
 wish that, on the walls of every edifice conse- 
 crated to Christian worship, there were inscri- 
 bed the apostolic injunction — " Be not chil- 
 dren in understanding ; but in understanding 
 be men." When shall we learn the rudi- 
 ments of the arithmetic of the sanctuary % 
 When be able to calculate the immense spa- 
 ces of the skies, and be disenchanted of the 
 delusion which leads us to think a volute on a 
 pillar of the church — because it is near, lar- 
 ger than a world, because it is distant 1 But 
 how should we conceive of the things of eter- 
 nity, how even duly estimate the great matters 
 of common morality, how be rightly affected 
 by the miseries of the millions of the family 
 of man ; — how can we thus feel, think, and 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 99 
 
 act, like men, while we are stickling upon 
 phrases, and if not now sparring about mat- 
 ters of form, doing much worse — persisting 
 in our several peculiarities, after we have 
 become thoroughly convinced of the error of 
 those who, in an age of strife, divided the 
 Church on account of theml We sleep, 
 and are most idly dreaming while the fire 
 smoulders that shall consume all things ! Too 
 many of the precious moments given us for 
 effecting the escape of ourselves and of our 
 brethi^en have been lost : the time is come to 
 awake. 
 
 While Christians, within their several com- 
 partments, like groups of children in the four 
 corners of the play-ground, are amusing 
 themselves with the superior excellence, and 
 the immaculate purity, and divine authority of 
 their modes of government and forms of wor- 
 ship, and are wondering at the infatuation of 
 those who do not see things, so obvious, in the 
 same light as they do, it is impossible that the 
 splendours of heaven should attract their re- 
 gards : it is impossible but that the overwhelm- 
 ing facts, brought within the sphere of our 
 vision in the Scriptures, should fail of making 
 a full impression on their hearts. The mind 
 
100 NEW MODEL 
 
 of man is not so capacious, is not so compre- 
 hensive, is not so nicely poised upon its cen- 
 tre of movement, as that it may embrace, at 
 once, the great and the small, the finite and 
 the infinite ; or, at the same time be busied in 
 trifles, and occupied v^^ith affairs of moment. 
 By very necessity of nature the soul of the 
 bigot belongs to the class of reptiles ; and this 
 assertion holds good of the entire genus ; for 
 whether the creature be as venomous as the 
 adder, or as harmless as the mole, still he can 
 do nothing better than crawl. Or let it be 
 granted, that one man in a million may actu- 
 ally be found whose mind, at once gigantic 
 and exquisitely finished, can grasp the minu- 
 test object, without losing hold of the im- 
 mense. Nevertheless, unquestionably, the 
 generality of men have no such nice faculty ; 
 they must needs make their choice, and em- 
 ploy themselves either upon primary, or upon 
 secondary matters : — their stars forbid that 
 they should give heed to both. It may be af- 
 firmed with the confidence due to a mathe- 
 matical axiom, that every controversy agita- 
 ted in the Church on points of inferior mo- 
 ment, makes a reduction — often an immense 
 reduction, from the regard paid to the great 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 101 
 
 objects of faith. Away then with the trifler, 
 who pleads conscience and conviction for 
 petty scruples ! he is the destroyer of souls ! 
 A proposition, the converse of the one just 
 advanced, might with some limitations, be 
 affirmed, namely — that whenever a trivial con- 
 troversy is quashed, the attention it has ab- 
 sorbed is, as it were, redeemed, and set free 
 to be fixed on higher objects. 
 
 Yet to quash controversy by power, can, 
 under no imaginable circumstances, produce 
 good ; nor is any thing gained when diversi- 
 ties of opinion fade away beneath the torpors 
 of religious indifference. But a deliberate 
 relinquishment of discords, or of the forms of 
 discord, without a relinquishment of private 
 opinion, and for the very sake of objects in- 
 finitely important, could not fail to bring with 
 it a highly enhanced feeling towards those 
 vast realities, for the sake of which, the con- 
 cession was made. The interests of eternity 
 weigh with every man, very much in propor* 
 tion to the amount of the sacrifice which he 
 makes to secure them. And if a sacrifice of 
 worldly interests is found commonly to pro- 
 duce an increase of serious feeling; so, not 
 less, would a surrender of those prejudices 
 9* 
 
102 NEW MODEL 
 
 ^ 
 
 and preferences which, in the present instance 
 are all that need be laid on the altar of char- 
 ity, probably be attended by an elevation, and 
 a deepening, and an expansion of our reli- 
 gious convictions. 
 
 If once we had brought ourselves to con- 
 sent to aid in sending forth the Gospel among 
 the heathen under a garb less to our taste than 
 the one to which we are accustomed ; and if, 
 in order that we might by all means save our 
 perishing fellow-men, we had submitted to 
 shock our educational predilections, we should 
 from that moment, apprehend in a more vivid 
 manner than heretofore, the substance of the 
 enterprize in which we are engaged. We 
 should love the Gospel better ; we should love 
 our heathen brethren more fervently, and feel 
 more keenly the sadness of their spiritual 
 condition. It would be as when a man who 
 has been accustomed to peruse his Bible only 
 in his vernacular tongue, acquires another, 
 acd another language, and reads the great 
 message of God, expressed in a new, and 
 again in a new manner : at first he is incom- 
 moded and hurt by the loss of accustomed 
 phrases, and by the strangeness of the new 
 ones. But after a while, his mhid, with vost 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 103 
 
 advantage, disengages itself from the swath 
 of words, and, with a bui'st of new joy, recog- 
 nizes the same gi^eat and precious realities of 
 the Gospel beneath the diversity of the me- 
 dium. By forcing ourselves to embrace 
 Christianity under another garb, we should 
 fix our view upon its essential excellence; and 
 having turned away our sight from things ex- 
 ternal, should look with a more penetrating 
 glance into the vast futurity : we should " see 
 things that are afar off," and the glaring 
 shows of the present time would fade more 
 from our sight, and divert us less. 
 
 We have none of us, m fact, nearly so 
 vivid a sympathy for woes spiritual, as for the 
 sufferings of the body. How common a 
 thing is it, when some sudden demand is made 
 to administer relief to physical wretchedness, 
 that we all rush forward in benevolent reck- 
 lessness, trampling down partitions and punc- 
 tilious forms ; and many a kind-hearted sec- 
 tarist, rigid as the vraitry stream, when you 
 meet him on the by-path of his religious pe- 
 culiarities, melts down into charity on the cry 
 of the miserable, and is even seen to take a 
 pride in displaying his readiness to sin against 
 scruples, while he lends his hand and purse 
 
104 NEW MODEL 
 
 to the children of want. — Indeed, my dear 
 friend, I think so highly of the genuine hu- 
 manity of the great mass of religionists, as to 
 believe that (to take one example among 
 many) if the abolition of slavery might be 
 purchased at the price of their severally con- 
 senting to worship God henceforward in 
 modes they approved less than their own, 
 they would, almost to a man, violate their 
 ecclesiastical consciences. Oh that we could 
 always, and on every occasion, be as incon- 
 sistent as our better feelings sometimes make 
 us! 
 
 If we could but, as we ought, see and feel 
 the spiritual, as we see the natural, not a mo- 
 ment would be lost by the Christian world in 
 throwing aside — even with hasty fear and ab- 
 horrence, those embarrassments which, at 
 present, more than the oppositions of secular 
 power, more than the slenderness of pecunia- 
 ry resources, more than the malice and craft 
 of the infernal spirit, hinder the spread of the 
 Gospel through the world. If things spirit- 
 ual, in the force of reality, rested on our 
 hearts, we should in a moment start out from 
 our niches of marble formality, and press up 
 to the altar of philanthropy, each bringing 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 105 
 
 the bathed bundle of his prejudices in his 
 hand, to be taken up no more. 
 
 In the instance that I have just above sup- 
 posed, is it not certain, that the man who 
 should refuse to give up his scruples at the 
 call of humanity, would, in doing so, undergo 
 an induration of his sympathies 1 The act 
 of stoical Pharisaism in "passing by on the 
 other side," lest, while gi\ing aid to a stran- 
 ger in distress, he should contract some cere- 
 monial pollution, would bring a callousness on 
 every kindly feeling — if indeed he possessed 
 any such feeling to be so damaged. 
 
 The case before us is of a parallel kind : — 
 and if a proposition were actually agitated 
 for giving effect to the plan recommended in 
 these Letters, and if the proposition obtained 
 powerful support, and won a majority of voi- 
 ces, it may be affirmed that the minority who 
 should resolve to adhere to rigid principles, 
 how honest . soever their dissent might be, 
 would, in dissenting, sustain an irreparable 
 injury in their Christian sensibilities, and be- 
 come far less qualified than before, to take 
 part- in the labours of foreign evangelization. 
 
 I venture, on the other hand, to anticipate, 
 that the actual adoption of the plan of Cath- 
 
106 NEW MODEL 
 
 olic union for the propagation of the Gospel, 
 would bring with it a most auspicious revival 
 of spiritual religion. We should feel, with 
 much greater force than ever, the influence 
 of high motives ; we should be thrown direct- 
 ly upon all that is vast, elevated, and pure in 
 the objects of our faith. Having " put away 
 childish things," and renounced "beggarly 
 elements," and imposed silence upon " vain 
 janglings," and scorned scholastic refinements, 
 and loathed lifeless forms, we should feel that 
 we must also renounce all those inferior and 
 corrupting motives of ostentation or personal 
 ambition, which are so apt to mingle them- 
 selves with our best impulses. We should 
 sicken at praise ; tremble to receive or to offer 
 adulation; spurn levity, and shudder at the 
 very thought of being swayed in works of 
 charity by motives of worldly interest. 
 
 It now only remains, my dear friend, that I 
 should explain v/ith more precision than I 
 have yet done, the arrangements that it would 
 be necessary to make, in carrying the New 
 Model of Missions into effect. 
 
LETTER IV. 
 
 "l AM MADE ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN, THAT 1 MIGHT BY 
 ALL MEAN3 SAVE SOME: AND THIS I DO FOB THE GOS" 
 PEl'3 8AKE." 
 
 My dear Friend, 
 
 It is not possible, nor would it be desirable 
 if it were possible, to strip from Christiianity 
 every thing but its essential principles; nor 
 could w'e send among the heathen a bare an- 
 nouncement of salvation, and nothing else. 
 Of necessity, the glad tidings of peace through 
 Jesus Christ, must carry with them, go where 
 they may, a mode of worship, and a form of 
 social combination; even the simplest services 
 have their customs and orders, and the sim- 
 plest government their officers and subordina- 
 tion. These must be carried out with us, 
 when we go forth to preach the GospeF; for 
 it were an infantile folly, or a sheer affectation 
 to propose that our missionaries should stand 
 amidst barbarous, or half-civilized tribes, 
 
108 NEW MODEL 
 
 whose crude notions and ignorance must al- 
 ways lead them astray, where they are not 
 led by the hand, and to say to them, " We 
 have made known to you the great subject of 
 our mission — the life to come, and the terms 
 of pardon ; now we must leave you, without 
 instruction or bias, to adopt such modes of 
 worship and forms of government as shall 
 seem to you best ; — in these nice matters we 
 dare not guide you." Nothing could be more 
 preposterous or absurd than to hold this pru- 
 dish language to our converts from heathen- 
 ism. 
 
 But if we may neither send Christianity 
 without a form, nor leave our new . converts 
 to frame one for themselves, shall we convoke 
 deputies from the several communities, and 
 contrive a new model of worship, and frame 
 a new platform of government, such as may 
 win the approval of all parties? Who is 
 there so ignorant of history and of the world 
 as to anticipate a happy issue from such a 
 measure] The actual result would almost 
 certainly be an interminable and acrimonious 
 controversy, the din of which would awaken 
 the formidable ghosts of obsolete polemics. 
 Scarcely five men of oui' times have wisdom 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 109 
 
 or grace enough to qualify them for such a 
 business ; — even were they left to themselves 
 in carrying it forward ; and certainly not if 
 embarrassed by the folly and the heat of fifty 
 or a hundred assessors. In that case they 
 would inevitably withdraw themselves from the 
 scene of fmitless jangling ere an article was 
 finally settled. 
 
 There remains then no hope of effecting a 
 union of Missionary exertions, unless we 
 adopt the principle of waving altogether the 
 discussion of old controverted points, and of 
 submitting, for the attainment of an object so 
 glorious, to some one existing model of church 
 government and worship. 
 
 In selecting this one model, it is of course 
 necessary to dismiss entirely the idea of found- 
 ing our preference of that which we choose 
 upon its alleged, or supposed, intrinsic superi- 
 ority, or purity, or scriptural authority, or pe- 
 culiar adaptation to the specific purpose for 
 which it is to be used. No pretension of this 
 sort could possibly win universal suffrage, or 
 be made the basis of harmony. Another, 
 and a more commodious rule of choice must 
 be had recourse to ; and there are always 
 ready at hand loiver reasons of preference 
 10 
 
110 NEW MODEL 
 
 which happily save the compromise of princi- 
 ple, and the violation of personal feelings, and 
 prevent the rending up of prejudice. For 
 example — when a question of precedence is to 
 be determined, it is not asked — ^who is the 
 worthiest man, or the wisest, in the company; 
 but the place of honour is readily conceded 
 to him, be he personally wise or not, who al- 
 ready pQssesses some accidental pre-eminence 
 to which others may pay deference without 
 seeming to confess personal inferiority. In 
 such cases it is perfectly understood by all, 
 that the concession is made in the spirit of 
 courtesy, and for the sake of convenience, 
 irrespectively of what might be the decision of 
 absolute right and reason. If ever reluctance 
 is shown to submit to any such conventional 
 arrangement in matters of honour, resistance 
 arises, not among the noble, or the well-bred, 
 or those who might best support a claim on 
 the ground of personl merit; but among 
 those whose arrogance rests on the broad 
 bottom of their ignorance and ineptitude. 
 
 The common sense of mankind universally 
 acknowledges this mode of election to the 
 place of honour among competing powers or 
 persons, to be a good owe. In the instance 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. Ill 
 
 before us, no perplexity could arise in bring- 
 ing it to bear. — ^Ve should not say to the 
 several Dissenting communities, — " Concede 
 to the Established Church because its forms 
 and discipline are more Scriptural, or more 
 editing than your own ;" but we should sa)^, 
 " Yield, because some such concession is in- 
 dispensable to the large success- of the Mis- 
 sionary cause ; and yield to the Established 
 Church, because it stands among you alrea- 
 dy possessed, by common courtesy at least, 
 of a visible precedency : and yield to it, moreo- 
 ver, because principle will be much less com- 
 promised in so doing on the ground of courte- 
 sy, than as if any one of the several forms of 
 dissent, which possess no such ostensible 
 claim, were hoisted up above the others." 
 
 There might even be adduced another rea<^ 
 son of the proposed concession, which 
 Churchmen, without discredit, might urge, 
 and of which Dissenters might, with honour 
 to themselves, aclmowledge the force. — Is it 
 not, by usage universal, the custom for lighter 
 carriages to swerve from their line of road, in 
 favour of such as could not, without difficulty 
 or peril, pull out of their rut 1 — Do the Dis- 
 senters pride themselves on their freedom 
 
112 NEW MODEL 
 
 from the restraints, entanglements, and bur- 
 den, of statutes ecclesiastical ? — do they glory 
 in spurning human enactments'? — do they 
 abhor to link religion with secular interests ? — 
 do they rejoice to admit no forms which, as 
 individuals, they have no power to revise or 
 refuse ?— then let them, on this most worthy 
 occasion, and on the loud call of pagan mise- 
 ry, use their boasted liberty for the best imag- 
 inable purpose. Now let it be their glory 
 and their honourable boast that, when the 
 advancement of our common Christianity 
 was in question, they could and they did lay 
 then* several preferences on the altar of char- 
 ity. Is there a triumph to be won on the field 
 of theological strife that can equal in true 
 brilliancy the one that would be obtained by 
 such a concession, prompted by such a mo- 
 tivej] Scarcely ought the glory of martyrdom 
 to rank above it : — an offering this — gTateful 
 in the court of heaven beyond the fumes of 
 very much incense ! 
 
 An abandonment of the forms to which 
 they have pledged themselves to adhere, could 
 not be submitted to by the clergy of the Es- 
 tablished Church, or even by its lay members 
 without incurring difficulties of a kind that do 
 
 1 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 113 
 
 not at all lie in the way of any class of Dis- 
 senters who should make similar sacrifices. 
 And on this special gTound the preference 
 proposed might fairly be asked for on the one 
 side, and might properly be submitted to on 
 the other. 
 
 Nevertheless the ministers and members of 
 the National Church need not, on this great 
 and happy occasion, be altogether debarred 
 from sharing in the honours and pleasures of 
 Christian concession. In truth there is 
 ground on which they might lead the way, 
 and, as becomes them well, set the example 
 of forbearance, and invite and facilitate the 
 compliances they ask for. I mean that they 
 should admit into the for- is of worship sent 
 abroad those few modifications or retrench- 
 ments which some of the firmest and most 
 enlightened friends of the Church have sighed 
 to see effected. It would not be the objec- 
 tions or the scruples of Dissenters that need 
 be assumed as the guide in making these 
 small alterations ; but rather those recorded 
 hints and acknowledgments that, from time to 
 time, have been advanced by wise and pious 
 Churchmen. 
 
 To refuse this single step towards concilia- 
 10* 
 
114 NEW MODEL 
 
 tion would be to lose a signal occasion for 
 displaying the wisdom and the meekness of 
 the apostolic spirit : it would be to bring for- 
 ward anew the obsolete, and very dangerous 
 pretension to infallibility in regard to every 
 iota of our ecclesiastical constitutions ; and it 
 would be to make a flagrant profession of the 
 very principle of schism, namely — That not 
 even a particle — an indifferent particle — a 
 worthless particle of the modes we prefer, 
 shall ever be surrendered to the wishes or the 
 weaknesses of our brethren, even though the 
 surrender would prevent division, or heal it ! 
 
 On such a supposed occasion it would de- 
 serve the serious consideration of the true 
 friends of the Established Church, whether, 
 if a disposition to coalesce among themselves, 
 and even to give place in some degree to the 
 Church, actually existed among the numerous 
 bodies of orthodox Christians who stand on 
 the side of dissent, it would not be a most 
 unwise and perilous pertinacity to let the occa- 
 sion pass by and to decline absolutely all ami- 
 cable parley ; or to suffer an extensive com- 
 bination to be formed without the pale of the 
 Church, which might perhaps have been so 
 managed, as to have left her neither rival nor 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 115 
 
 adversary ; or none that could be formidable. 
 A resoluteness of this kind has not seldom, 
 both in public and private affairs, been the 
 precursor of irretrievable ruin. 
 
 We assume then the supposition that, with 
 some few and small exceptions, the forms and 
 ritual of the English Church are fixed upon 
 as those which, with least inconvenience, 
 might be sent abroad by a united Missionary 
 Society. It remains then to ask the several 
 classes of Dissenters how much of com- 
 promise or concession would actually be re- 
 quired of them in giving their support to such 
 a plan. 
 
 On looking to the " Fundamental Princi- 
 ple" of the London Missionary Society, it 
 would seem to a simple reader that it recog- 
 nizes, to the fullest extent, the very doctrine 
 that I have pleaded for in these pages. It 
 seems, I say, to make profession in its corpo- 
 rate capacity of the most absolute neutrality 
 on all those lesser points which divide sincere 
 Christians. But lest we should be accused 
 of drawing too hastily an inference favourable 
 to our object, let the terms of this fundamen- 
 tal law be deliberately examined. It is de- 
 
116 NEW MODEL 
 
 clared that, " As the union of Christians of 
 various denominations, in carrying on this 
 great work, is a most desirable object, so, to 
 prevent, if possible, any cause of future dis- 
 sension, it is declared to be a fundamental 
 principle of the Missionary Society, that its 
 design is not to send Presbyterianism, Inde- 
 pendency, Episcopacy, or any other form of 
 Church order and government, about which 
 there might be difference of opinion among 
 serious persons ; but the glorious Gospel of 
 the blessed God to the heathen ; and that it 
 shall be left, as it ought to be left, to the minds 
 of the persons whom God may call into the 
 fellowship of His Son from among them, to 
 assume for themselves such form of Church 
 government a& to them should appear most 
 agreeable to the word of God." 
 
 Now in interpreting these terms, the nature 
 of the case, and the actual practice of the 
 Society, alike forbid the supposition that it 
 proposes to propagate among the heathen 
 nothing but a naked abstraction of Christian 
 truth; or that it holds itself bound to abstain 
 from all acts of influence or guidance on 
 matters of Church government, discipline, 
 and worship. The final clause of the " Fun- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 117 
 
 damental Principle" must not be understood 
 in this absolute sense ; for as such a preten- 
 sion would be in itself absurd and insincere, 
 it were unchai'itable to impute it to the framers 
 of the article. 
 
 In point of fact, as every one well knows, 
 the Missionaries sent abroad by this Society 
 are drawn chiefly, if not exclusively, from the 
 congregations that adopt the Independent 
 modes of government and worship; and 
 these Missionaries — come whence they may 
 are trained for their work under clergymen 
 of that denomination. With their prepara- 
 tory studies they, of course, imbibe the prin- 
 ciples and learn the practices of congregation- 
 al dissent ; and evsn if, in going to their posts 
 of labour, they are not authoritatively enjoin- 
 ed^ to promulgate and establish the same 
 modes and principles, it may be fairly presu- 
 med that, by far the larger number of them, 
 when called upon to organize Christian soci- 
 eties, in heathen lands, actually conform their 
 proceedings, as nearly as circumstances will 
 admit, to the home model. 
 
 It is not then true, either that the London 
 Missionary Society sends abroad no form of 
 Christianity, or that it sends indiscriminately 
 
118 NEW MODEL ^^ 
 
 and at random, this form and that. The 
 practice of the society must be deemed the 
 best interpreter of its professed principle ; and 
 this principle we are compelled to understand 
 as meaning simply — that forms and modes 
 are, in the esteem of the society, things of 
 very inferior importance ; and that if it can 
 but diffuse the blessings of the Gospel, it cares 
 not at all, or cares little, whether the Christi- 
 anity it Propagates assume the garb of Pres- 
 byterianism, of Independency, or of Episco- 
 pacy. 
 
 If we would attach a precise sense to the 
 terms of the "Fundamental Principle," I 
 really see not any other than the one above 
 named, which, with the practice of the society 
 before our eyes, we can assign to them. Has 
 not the society always invited favour and aid 
 from serious persons of all denominations, on 
 the broad and no doubt sincere profession, 
 that its object is much larger than sectarianism 
 of any sort ? Has it not, in order to win uni- 
 versal concurrence, formally and solemnly 
 renounced the exclusive and sinister designs 
 of party 1 Has it not virtually given to the 
 world a pledge that nothing should be done 
 vmder its auspices which might fairly shock 
 the peculiar opinions of any who profess the 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 119 
 
 same great doctrine of salvation ? Or, let us 
 advance a step neaer to our specific object : — 
 The London Missionary Society has al- 
 ways, and with marked respect, and even 
 solicitude, invited aid from the clergy and lay 
 members of the Established Church ; and in 
 so doing, has tacitly acknowleged that there 
 exists no such difference of opinion or prac- 
 tice between itself and them, as must imply a 
 forfeiture of consistency on their part in be- 
 stowmg upon it their good wishes, their pray- 
 ers, then- eloquence, and their money. In 
 other words, the London Missionary Society, 
 as a body, seeks and desires to accomplish 
 nothing among the heathen which a consis- 
 tent Churchman may not approve of and 
 promote. 
 
 This is assuredly a truly catholic profession, 
 and it were extremely uncandid to insinuate 
 that there lurks under it any sinister purpose 
 of sectarianism ; or that it is not founded 
 upon a perfect mutuality of feeling ; or that 
 there exists any reluctance to follow the 
 "Fundamental Principle" wherever it may 
 lead. We are, I say, forbidden to suppose 
 that the society would, for a moment, hesitate 
 to throw the whole amount of its means into 
 
120 NEW MODEL 
 
 the chest of the Church of England — if once 
 convinced that, in so doing, it would more 
 effectually than in any other mode, promote 
 the one and only object it has in view — the 
 spread of the Gospel abroad. 
 
 From the corporate profession of the soci- 
 ety we may fairly turn to the individual prac- 
 tice of multitudes of its members, who, by 
 often directing the overflowings of their liber- 
 ality into the coffers of societies managed 
 exclusively by Churchmen, and by hailing 
 with unrestricted pleasure the successes of 
 such societies, declare in the most unequivocal 
 manner, that they know of no scruples of 
 conscience whatever which should prevent 
 their aiding to promote the diffusion of the 
 doctrine, and the discipline, and the ritual, of 
 the Established Church. We have then 
 reached our inference, and reached it without 
 any casuistry or refinement of reasoning; 
 and it is this — namely. That a plan of Mis- 
 sionary combination, giving preference to the 
 forms of the Established Church, would per- 
 fectly accord with the " Fundamental Princi- 
 ple" of the London Missionary Society, as 
 well as with the individual practice of its 
 members. 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 121 
 
 The indigent shade of the founder of Me- 
 thodism might be expected to come forth from 
 his repose, were it even surmised that the 
 Wesleyans would stand aloof from the propo- 
 sed plan of union, on the plea that they 
 could not support the usages of the Church 
 of England. It were a calumny upon that 
 respectable body to anticipate an objection of 
 this kind from them. No difference of opin- 
 ion, affecting conscience, holds the Wesleyans 
 in separation from the Church ; and their 
 actual disjunction must always be defended 
 on the general ground of expediency, or of 
 temporary necessity. Whenever it shall ap- 
 pear that the great ends of Christian teach- 
 ing among the lower classes, no longer de- 
 mand the separate assemblage of the Wesley- 
 ans, then theu^ separation will seem barely 
 justifiable. 
 
 If then other bodies of Christians who 
 might plead some specific differences of opin- 
 ion were impelled, by their zeal for the diffu- 
 sion of Christianity, to make concessions, it 
 cannot be imagined that the Wesleyan Meth- 
 odists, alone, would stand stiffly upon the 
 ground of sectarianism ; or that any paltry 
 considerations of party, or of personal ambi- 
 11 
 
122 NEW MODEL 
 
 tioii, would be allowed to prevent their falling 
 into a system of comprehension. 
 
 The forms of the Moravian community are 
 essentially in harmony with the modes and 
 principles of the English Establishment: — 
 the one form of religion is but a spiritualized 
 image of the other, adapted to the tastes and 
 feelings of what must always be a very small 
 class of persons. I can discern no obstacle 
 standing in the way of this estimable body of 
 Christions, if they were invited to co-operate 
 in measures directed by Churchmen. Or if 
 for a moment, they hesitated to obey the call 
 of charity — an event which I do not believe 
 would happen, they would doubtless presently 
 yield to the earnest solicitation^ of their breth- 
 ren of all other denominations, who, well 
 informed of the fervour and purity of the 
 Moravian Missionary spirit, would not spare 
 the most pressing entreaties for obtaining their 
 compliance. 
 
 You perceive, my dear friend, that I have 
 reserved my grand difficulty to the last ; and 
 I hear you, in the triumphant tone of an oppo- 
 nent who believes he has an insurmountable 
 
OF CHTISTIAN MISSIONS. 1,23 
 
 objection on his tongue, ask — "But is it pos- 
 sible to devise any scheme of comprehension 
 which shall include those able promoters of the 
 Missionary cause — the Baptists'?" "How," 
 you ask, " shall this body of our brethren, 
 without compromise of principle, or direct 
 violation of conscience, be brought within the 
 pale of, even the most ingeniously devised 
 system of catholic combination 1" You grant 
 that they may continue to labour in the same 
 great work ; but affirm that it must always 
 be in a corner of the vineyard by themselves ; 
 or at least, until the enigma is solved which at 
 present so peremptorily divides them from the 
 mass of Christians. 
 
 Rather than that this difficulty, which I 
 confess to be of a formidable Idnd, should be 
 allowed to prevent the proposed union of 
 Christians in the Missionary work, it would 
 be advisable to leave this one impregnable 
 fortress in our rear, and to advance on the 
 course of evangelical conquest, after bestow- 
 ing our best wishes upon the solitary exertions 
 of our Baptist brethren. But may not some- 
 thing better be hoped for '? In the cause of 
 unanimity really desperate in this quarter '? I 
 think not. One might, for instance, urge 
 
124 NEW MODEL 
 
 upon our Baptist brethren the general argu- 
 ment, above advanced, and appeal to them on 
 the ground of those practical concessions 
 which the infallible instinct of Christian feel- 
 ing — a far better guide often than the logic 
 of polemics, has again and again prompted 
 them to make. Has never a Baptist deemed 
 it consistent with his peculiar tenet to contrib- 
 ute a guinea — a speech — a prayer, in aid of 
 the promulgation of Christianity by those 
 who have defrauded it (as he believes) of one 
 of its sacraments ? I subpoena to appear in 
 open court before the Christian Church, the 
 most strenuous defender of immersion, and 
 the most determined opponent of paedobap- 
 tism that the Baptist body can send forth, and 
 demand of him to say whether, in framing 
 his daily petitians for the advancement of the 
 kingdom of Christ, he is wont, either verbally 
 or mentally, to limit his request to the small 
 circle of Baptist exertions'? I ask him, 
 whether he religiously shuns every convoca- 
 tion of Christians assembled to promote the 
 designs of paedobaptist Missionary Societies? 
 I challenge him to affirm that he has never 
 dropped his gold into a paedobaptist cofTer. I 
 dare him to say that he has never thanked 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 125 
 
 God for the success of paedobaptist preaching ! 
 You and I, my dear friend, know many of the 
 Baptists too well, and thinly far too highly of 
 them, to allow us even to give a hearing to 
 any one who, to the disgrace of his party, 
 should step forwards, and reply to these inter- 
 rogatories in the affirmative. We rather as- 
 sume it as certain that all intelligent and well 
 informed men of tliis denomination hold it to 
 be both lav/ful and praiseworthy to promote, 
 to the utmost of their power, the diffusion of 
 the Gospel, even when it is disadvantaged, as 
 they think, by a very material departure from 
 apostolic practice. They might therefore 
 give their aid to a Catholic Mission by an ex- 
 tension of the principle which often leads 
 them to support psedobaptist societies. 
 
 If this argument were rejected, or found to 
 be insufficient to win from the Baptists so 
 much concession as would be required, if they 
 fell in with the proposed plan of union ; our 
 next resourse must be to press upon our 
 friends of this persuasion a very serious jDrac- 
 tical difficulty, which already meets them in 
 their foreign operations, and which must as- 
 sume a most formidable aspect, if the happy 
 time should arrive of wide-spreading conver- 
 
126 NEW MODEL ^ 
 
 sion among the heathen. In order to see 
 his difficulty in its full force, and in a distinct 
 light, we will confine our attention to India, 
 and imagine that the teachers sent out by the 
 different Missionary Societies, and who are 
 stationed often in the same cities or vicinities, 
 actually succeed in collecting large congrega- 
 tions; and that their converts make profi- 
 ciency enough in religious and general knowl- 
 edge to qualify them for looking beyond the 
 mere elements of Christian doctrine, and for 
 forming opinions for themselves upon a variety 
 of secondary topics. In such a state of 
 things, it will be utterly impracticable for the 
 Baptist teachers to conceal from their flocks 
 the fact, that there exists, among Christians 
 in England, and in India, an opinion and 
 practice different from their own, relative to 
 the subject and mode of Bapfism. It wiD 
 then become necessary, for them to make 
 their choice between the only two courses 
 that lie before them. Of these courses, the 
 first, is boldly to assume the style of infallibili- 
 ty — a style, by the way, for which they may 
 find models enough on the page of Church 
 History, and even without looking so flir as 
 Rome. On this hazardous, yet often success- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 127 
 
 ful plan, they must empirically proclaim that 
 they are absolutely and entirely in possession 
 of the mind of the Lord, and that whoever 
 differs from them — let the reasons he may 
 urge be never so specious, is vdlfully and 
 criminally in error. But surely there are few 
 even though their persuasion of having truth 
 on their side may be of the firmest kind, who 
 would thus stake the whole of their influence 
 and reputation upon the passive obedience of 
 their followers. To act this reckless part 
 would not be to sow the seeds of bigotry, but 
 to carry to the infant churches a full-grown 
 intolerance, laden with its ripe fruit of poison. 
 I find it hard to believe that a Baptist teacher 
 is any where to be found so infurate with 
 dogmatism as not to shrink from his purpose 
 when about to originate so much mischief 
 among simple-minded converts ! 
 
 But if this course cannot — must not be 
 pursued, then the alternative wliich lies before 
 our Baptist brethren is precisely that which 
 common sense, not to say Christian humility, 
 prescribes. — Let them be content to set be- 
 fore then converts the simple fact, in some 
 such manner as this — " There has long been 
 " earned on a dispute among sincere Chris- 
 
.4 
 
 128 NEW MODEL ^' 
 
 " tians relative both to the mode of adminis- 
 " tering the ordinance of baptism, and to the 
 " proper subject of the rite. We accomit for 
 " the existence of this strange and unhappy 
 " misunderstanding, not by granting that any 
 " impenetrable obscurity rests upon the terms 
 " in which the Lord has made known his will 
 " in these particulars ; but by supposing that a 
 "superstitious departure from the apostolic 
 "practice took place in a very early age, and 
 " gained universal credit, and has possessed 
 " itself so firmly of the minds of the general- 
 " ity of Christians, that they are unable to 
 " free themselves from the illusion, or to per- 
 " ceive the force of the contrary evidence, 
 " which, to us appears in a light perfectly con- 
 '* wincing. We look forwards to the time 
 "when this error shall be dissipated, and 
 " when the Christian law of Baptism shall be 
 " understood by our brethren, as it is by us. 
 " Meanwhile, as you see, we are far from 
 " imputing to those who differ from us, any 
 " contumacious obstinacy, or guilty persistence 
 " in error, or indeed any motive inconsistent, 
 " with the genuineness of the Christian char- 
 " acter. We deplore the mistake which, as 
 ^' we think, they have fallen into ; but we do 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 129 
 
 " not love them the less on account of it : on 
 " the contrary, we respect their virtues, not 
 " less than as if they thought with us : we 
 " cultivate personal friendship with them ; we 
 " hold with them undisturbed Church commun- 
 " ion; we join hands with them heartily in 
 " every effort to do good ; and even more 
 " than this ; — in order that we may put no 
 " hindrance in the way of the measures used 
 *' for the spread of the Gospel, we consent to 
 '' do and to say rather less and rather more, 
 " than we should, if acting simply on our own 
 "convictions, without regard to the opinion 
 "of others. 
 
 If once this tone of reasonable moderation 
 and of Christian simplicity were taken ; — and 
 I am reluctant to believe that any other would 
 be assumed ; then, a deversity of opinion and 
 practice would cease to be a great evil ; and 
 means of accommodation might readily be 
 devised. Baptist teachers, wherever they 
 might be called to labour, would enjoy the 
 liberty which belongs to every Christian, to 
 set forth, in charitable terms, and on proper 
 occasions, the grounds of their peculiar opin- 
 ions ; and they, and those converts who might 
 be convinced by their arguments, would be 
 
130 NEW MODEL 
 
 free, individrially, to abstain from any practice 
 which they think unwarranted by Scripture, 
 and to observe any cerimonial which they 
 think of divine authority. This extent of 
 liberty couM generate no mischief within a 
 Church where common sense and Christian 
 charity preside. 
 
 But the hoklers of the opinion of the Bap- 
 tists would not be free-^for no disciple of 
 Christ can enjoy such liberty, to disturb the 
 consciences of the simple by exaggerating the 
 importance of an opinion obviously not essen- 
 tial to the faith of a Christian. Such persons 
 would not be free to talli with heat on the 
 disputed question ; they would not be free to 
 set a step over the limits of meekness and 
 modesty ; and assuredly they would not be 
 free to separate themselves on the ground of 
 any such " doubtful disputation." 
 
 On the other hand, it must be remembered 
 that the majority possesses no rightful author- 
 ity to insist upon the submission of individuals, 
 in matters confessedly of subordinate impor- 
 tance. The liberty of quietly protesting 
 against what is deemed erroneous, and the 
 duty of giving indulgence to such protestations 
 are correlatives : but the one does not imply 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONg. 131 
 
 a licence to break the bonds of unity, nor 
 the other a right to quash the expression of 
 opinion. 
 
 So much of indulgence and of concession 
 as our Baptist brethren must require, might, 
 with a very good grace, be granted to them 
 by the Church of England, which not only 
 seems to favour the practice of immersion, 
 but also, by demanding sponsors at the font, 
 appears, indirectly, to recognise a principle 
 not very unlike to that which is assumed as a 
 ground of opposition to the baptism of in- 
 fants. 
 
 And now, my dear friend, I anticipate the 
 question which you are hastening to put to 
 me ;— you have listened to my argument, and 
 think yourself entitled to ask whether, inform- 
 ed as I am in some tolerable degree of the 
 state of religious parties, and not altogether 
 ignorant of human nature, and not by tem- 
 perament very sanguine, I do myself think 
 the adoption of the principles here recommen- 
 ded a probable event? — The question is a fair 
 one, and I deliberately reply to it in the affir- 
 
132 NEW MODEL 
 
 mative. After distinctly reviewing the mighty 
 array of obstacle which, of course, will plant 
 itself in the path of those who may be won 
 to espouse the cause of expansive charity, I 
 am not afraid to say that I hope to see the 
 reform effected which I plead for. If I had 
 not believed that my plan and argument are 
 in fact only the expression and the interpreta- 
 tion of the spiri:^ of the times, I would not 
 have broached them ; or I would have waited 
 for the ripening of the temper that is grow- 
 ing. 
 
 I hear, indeed, the instant ontcry of hun- 
 dreds, perhaps of thousands, of respectable 
 men who, with all the kindness one could 
 wish in their hearts, yet have not a power of 
 vision to look beyond the limits of their relig- 
 ious habitudes. It matters not for such per- 
 sons that the high wails of partition may have 
 crumbled down, or been levelled to the 
 ground. — There they sit, unconscious of what 
 has happened within bow-shot. The oppo- 
 sition of persons of this class I do not con- 
 demn ; — God forbid ! but neither do I reckon 
 it to the amount of substantial difliculty. — 
 Whether there are hundreds, or hundreds of 
 thousuuds of such oppo&ers, is of little conse- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 133 
 
 quence. I give ' their repugnance a date : 
 they will startle at the proposition, and ex- 
 claim, as a man does who is awakened by a 
 stranger. But if they are not foolishly irri- 
 tated by indiscreet friends of reform; or 
 wrought upon by crafty partisans, they will at 
 length quietly fall into the new order of thmgs 
 and like it better than the old. Good feelings 
 are in them already ; and they have good 
 sense ; and they have partaken of the better 
 influence of the times, and they need only a 
 guiding hand in stepping across, from one 
 path to another. 
 
 You very well know that a proposition for 
 sound and rational reform is nothing more 
 than the embodying of some floating senti- 
 ment of right reason which has been, for a 
 while past, whispering itself, as it Were, in 
 every ones ears ; and speaking distinctly in 
 the ears of the wise and thoughtful ; and 
 which, although, when for the first time it 
 starts out into words, it makes many lift their 
 brows, very quickly insinuates itself, as with 
 the graceful ease of nature, among our inmost 
 convictions, and henceforward seems to us 
 like a something which we have always 
 known ond approved. How much soever 
 
134 NEW MODEL 
 
 the proposition advanced in- these letters may 
 at first, excite the surprise, or even dislike, of 
 the passive portion of the religious world, I 
 confide that it will in the' end give its irresisti- 
 ble weight to the side of those sentiments 
 which, unconsciously to itself, have been ger- 
 minating beneath the surface. I have but 
 interpreted — as I firmly believe, those indefi- 
 nite ideas v/hich, tliis long time, have been 
 coming to the birth in the hearts of Chris- 
 tians. — Many may oppose themseves to ne- 
 cessary changes at the first, but they will con- 
 sent in the end. 
 
 The friends of Missionary reform must 
 expect the hostility of the few — a few, I trust 
 whose hearts have not yet melted under the 
 kindly influence of the times ; or in whose 
 bosoms the gall of the worst of the malignant 
 passions — religious hatred, works with a ve- 
 hemence so much the more intense, because 
 it is confined. These persons, if such there 
 are in our age, may be infuriated, but they 
 are not to be swayed by the pleadings of 
 charity. Take from them the objects of their 
 splenetic preference ; and remove out of their 
 sight the objects of their splenetic aversion. 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 135 
 
 and you strip them to a state of pitiable des- 
 titution. To them the world would be a void 
 if they could find in it none to hate ; and 
 none to hug in hatred of others. Incompar- 
 ably rather would they wander upon the 
 mountans of eternal solitude, than be brought 
 unto the one fold where there is one shepherd- 
 Offer to such men the unleavened aliment of 
 love, freed from all relish of malice — they 
 turn upon you, and ask, " Is there any taste 
 in the white of an egg ?' 
 
 And such men — alas ! here and there one 
 such is to be found in the church — have ever 
 in readiness a store of most specious pretexts, 
 wherewith to cover the blackness of their 
 hearts : — they cany their poison in " an ala- 
 baster box," which one might suppose to 
 hold the " very precious ointment" of charity. 
 Forsooth, they are all alive with holy sensibil- 
 ity, fearing lest the purity of divine institutions 
 should be soiled by the touch of an " unwash- 
 en " finger, or the perfect symmetry of the 
 church marred by the misplacing of a stone ! 
 They can by no means consent — no, not to 
 the moving of a pin ; for have they not a war- 
 ranty of God's word for each pin, and its 
 bearing, in their tabernacle ? Can they not 
 
136 NEW MODEL 
 
 give you a text in favour of every inch of oint- 
 ment that decorates their church ? how then 
 should they sutFer sacrilegious hands to move 
 what heaven has fastened 1 
 
 But now I pray you follow one of these 
 sticklers to his home, and see if his zeal for 
 God be much better than odius hypocrisy. Is 
 he indeed moved with so sacred a solicitude 
 to maintain the right worshiping of G od in the 
 world ? but what does he do to promote the 
 honour of God in his family ] You will find 
 that he neglects the religious education of his 
 cliildren and servants ; or that he shocks such 
 sense of religion as they may have, by the 
 sourness, or the sallies of his temper ; by his 
 sensularities, by his levities ; or by the frauds 
 he practises in his business. Take you any 
 fifty of those who dislhiguish themselves as the 
 strenuous maintainers of sectarian peculiari- 
 ties, and I challenge you to pick out three 
 from the number, who do not, by some such 
 inconsistency at home,make it evident, that 
 their ecclesiastical zeal is a thing as hollow — 
 though not so harmless, as the slough of a 
 snake. 
 
 Or if indeed it grieves these sanctomonious 
 persons so much to think that a fev/ thou- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 137 
 
 sands of their countrymen persist in the eiTor 
 of worshiping God amiss ; does it not give 
 them a pain proportionably acute to know, 
 that millions of their fellow-men abroad are 
 worshippers of the devil ? In all reason, and 
 if there be any such thing as consistency, 
 whoever is zealous above measure from the 
 purity of religious forms, should show himself, 
 beyond all measure, ardent for the conversion 
 of idolators.^ If the errors of such or such a 
 sect of Christians moves his commiseration, 
 how feels he in regard to the^votaries of Brah- 
 ma? If he gives a tenth for the keeping up 
 of his church at home, he should bestow "the 
 half of his goods " for the preaching of the 
 Gospel abroad. We will then respectfully 
 listen to the scuples of the zealot, when he 
 has afforded us some such substantial proof 
 as this, that his pleas spring not from the 
 spleen of his temper, but from an over 
 wrought concern for the honour of God, and 
 the good of his fellow-creatures. 
 
 Persons of this class will, of course, and 
 by all means, oppose themselves to any meas- 
 ure, the tendency of which is to make secta- 
 rianism less sectarian. But their malice may 
 be very serenely defied by men of -a better 
 12* 
 
138 NEW MODEL 
 
 spirit. They live too late : — would they could 
 fall back into the thirteenth century ; or let 
 them hie away to Madrid ! Or, if they must 
 stay among us, let them herd together, and 
 pursue their ill courses as they can. A with- 
 ering shall rest upon whatever they attempt ; 
 the spirit they are moved by might perhaps 
 haiie been winked at by heaven an age ago, 
 but it shall be frowned upon now. 
 
 In looking around the amphitheatre of 
 evangelical profession in search of individuals 
 who may probably profess themselves favour- 
 ers of missionary reform, the eye fixes upon 
 many eminent persons; whose strong sense 
 and piety afford assurance that they will meet 
 whatever occasions may arise in the Church 
 with a self-denying and Christian manliness 
 of spirit. Perplexities may for a while hold 
 them back ; but certainly the distinguished 
 men of whom I am thinking, and whose 
 names will occur to you as readily as to me, 
 are not the men to be left lorlg, or far in the 
 rear, when auspicious movements are in pro- 
 gress. Tliey will convince themselves of truth 
 and act upon that conviction. 
 
 The confidence I feel that the sentiments 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 139 
 
 itlvanced in these letters- will at length meet 
 the approval of the persons I allude to, is very 
 strong. I have not been pleading for this or 
 that ingenious device, or been urging the a- 
 doption of a particular machinery of means, 
 or, with the fond dogmatism of an inventor, 
 magnifying the advantages of some new con- 
 trivance. I have insisted solely upon great 
 and universal principles ; and ho^e affirmed 
 strenuously nothing but truthes of the highest 
 moment. Let the measures I have been bold 
 to recommend be judged of, approved, or 
 rejected, on this high ground. Or, if a lurk- 
 ing motive of party-feeling can be detected 
 by the keenest eye, on a single page, let the 
 whole be set at nought. 
 
 Upon men of c^ji and vigorous minds I 
 would earnestly urge the propriety, at the 
 present moment, of surveying the state and 
 peculiar position of the Christian Church; 
 and beg them to ask themselves whether they 
 can believe that things will long remain as 
 they are? If not, it becomes us to be pre- 
 pared to act our part in a new train of events. 
 This sort of forecasting of the futm^e is by no 
 means prt sumptuous ; it is becoming to a 
 wise man ; it is encouraged by the word of 
 
140 NEW MODEL 
 
 God, which, in granting to our perusal a true 
 and unbrokenj record of past ages, and in 
 opening dimly before us the mysteries of fu- 
 turity, invites pious meditation to grasp the 
 entire cycle of time ; — yet not for purposes of 
 idle amusement ; but rather that we may 
 gather the wisdom which may guide us in this 
 season of oar responsibility. 
 
 It is true that, in an age of unsophisticated 
 simplicity, it may be enough that Christians, 
 whatever dangers or revolutions may impend, 
 are found humbly holding the faith, and doing 
 the will of their Lord. Come what may, 
 their spirit of love, and meekness, and purity, 
 furnishes them with all the preparation they 
 need for the day of trial. Clad and armed 
 with the doctrine of peace and holiness, they 
 can sustain no disadvantage from surprise. — 
 But for ourselves, as it is certain that we live 
 not in such an age of child-like uncorruptness^ 
 and as the faith and practice of the Gospel 
 among us is intimately mingled with, and on 
 all sides surrounded by those artificial senti- 
 ments, those nervous modes of thinking, and 
 those expansive notions, which belong to a 
 state of high intellectual culture, we must e'en 
 think and feel in a manner proper to our times. 
 
 1 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 141 
 
 Wc could not, if wc would, go back and sit 
 at the feet of Polycarp, and Clement, and 
 Barnabas ! We must reason with more com- 
 plexit} , with more comprehension, with more 
 exactness; and yet need not feel less as Chris- 
 tians should. The Giver of manly under- 
 standing and intellectual culture,- can sanctify 
 to liis own glory these endo^vments.. 
 
 At the present moment, those who, in fear 
 of losing their Christian simplicity, refuse to 
 think vigorously, or to fix.the eye upon re- 
 mote objects, and who, with the timorous- 
 ness, almost, of a selfish heart, will give at- 
 tention to nothing that does not immediately 
 concern them, will find that they have som.e- 
 what mistaken the specific duty to which the 
 Lord in this day is calling his people ; and in- 
 stead of retaining in their hands the sweets of 
 primitive ingenuousness, will hold nothing but 
 the ineptitude of indolence and folly. It is a 
 vain attempt to live otherv^^ise than according 
 to the characteristic conditions of the age in 
 which our lot is cast. 
 
 But if we do thus look extensively around 
 us, and forecast the probable course of events 
 — not to say gather the indications of prophe- 
 cy, it is hard to thinly otherwise that, that chan- 
 
142 NEW MODEL 
 
 ges are hastening towards us, such as discreet 
 men will rather muse upon than talk of before 
 *.hey come. The season of indecision, of neu- 
 trality, of half-measures, of snug repose, is 
 drawing to its end, and the question which ev- 
 ery man will have to determine — and to de- 
 termine perhaps in a day, will be, whether 
 he will take his lot of irretrievable ruin with 
 those who are infatuated with secular motives ; 
 or go over, in the hour of danger, to the stan- 
 dard of the Gospel. 
 
 The best, the true preparation for the ex- 
 pected hour of decision is, to keep the eye fix- 
 ed upon whatever is great and unchangeable 
 in our faith. The most fatal of all delusions 
 is to bo right in matters unimportant, and faint- 
 ly to apprehend the substance of religion. 
 The Christian Church has of late been school- 
 ed in this great lesson in a manner so remark- 
 able as to make manifest the hand of the Di- 
 vine Teacher. — The Missionary zeal has been 
 sent down upon us, not merely (or perha{)s 
 chiefly) as the means of converting the na- 
 tions; but as a spirit of burning and of judg- 
 ment, of scrutiny and discrimination. It fer- 
 ments in the lump to separate the precious 
 from the vile ; to make manifest who are on 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 143 
 
 the Lord's side, and who, by the confession 
 implied in their conduct, are to be numbered 
 with His foes. Then again it penetrates more 
 deeply into the mass of profession, and tries 
 us, and discriminates, in the capital article of 
 Christian love. In measure we have come 
 forth as gold from the trial : — the calumny of 
 Satan who, in the open court of heaven, has 
 these many ages been saying that the disciples 
 of Christ love not each other, is now found, 
 like ail his spiteful but specious allegations, to 
 be false ; and it is seen that, though still in- 
 firm in judgment, and faulty in practice, the 
 company of the godly are one in heart, and 
 purpose. Thus have we passed through the 
 initial process of the trial. 
 
 But the work of the Heavenly Refiner is 
 not yet perfected. Think we that he is con- 
 tent with what has been accomplished, or will 
 stay his hand, just at the* moment when the 
 fine gold is bursting forth from the dross ? As- 
 suredly not ; He will rather urge the heat, in 
 confident hope of the issue. 
 
 It is sublimely affecting to look round and 
 see in what manner we are shut up — shut up 
 beyond possibility of escape, under the hand 
 of Him who is dealing with us. Omnipotent^ 
 
144 NEW MODEL 
 
 both for judgment and mercy, and stern in the 
 determination of awful beneficence, and wise 
 to catch us in our own craftiness, he has been 
 leading his Church into the snare of its own 
 zeal, for its good. Let us contemplate the 
 straitness of the ground on which we are pla- 
 ced.— We have been quickened to a sense of 
 our duty to preach the Gospel among the na- 
 tions ; we feel that this obligation cannot be 
 evaded, cannot be forgotten, cannot be defer- 
 red. And now, for a forty years almost, we 
 have been toiling in the work, and are coming 
 to a conviction that a new, a greater, and a 
 better directed effort must be made in behalf 
 of our benighted brethren than has yet been 
 thought of We do not faint, or admit mis- 
 givings ; but yet, in the depth of our hearts 
 we conceal the wistful prayer of conscious 
 imbecility, and are fain to ask that the Lord, 
 in compassion to the world, would once again, 
 as in ancient times, grant to the use of His 
 servants the rod of his omnipotence ! 
 
 Whether or not this unwhispered desire 
 shall be listened to, who shall say ? But first 
 the Church must be brought dclilicrately to 
 revise its proceedings ; must candidly confess 
 that it has erred, and nuist addi*ess its^jlftothc 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 145 
 
 great work in a better manner. The convic- 
 tion which is already engendered, must come 
 forth, and be explicitly recognized ; that 
 Christianity can be successfully promulgated 
 only by the united exertions of all true Chris- 
 tians. This is the issue to which we are ap- 
 proaching. The work before us is found to 
 be too vast for our means — especially if waste- 
 fully administered : and the company of faith- 
 ful men must needs join hands, or be defeat- 
 ed in their purpose. 
 
 The Missionary zeal is thus bringing on a 
 reform at home, which the injunctions ofScrip- 
 ture have hitherto failed to effect We must 
 abandon our hope of winning immortal hon- 
 our and eternal reward, as the successful pro- 
 mulgators of the Gospel ; or else submit to the 
 divine rule of church communion. Eagerly, 
 and without forethought of the consequence, 
 we set about converting the nations, and now 
 find that ourselves must first be converted to 
 the practice of the apostolic age. 
 
 If there is any one body of persons upon 
 whom, at this moment, there rests, by emi- 
 nence, a fearful weight of responsibility towards 
 their Christian brethren— towards their coun- 
 13 
 
146 NEW MODEL 
 
 trymen at large, and towards the world, it is 
 the evangelical members of the Established 
 Church. Let them review their position, and 
 see in what manner the most momentous in- 
 terests centre upon the conduct they shall 
 pursue in the day when a new course must be 
 taken. — 
 
 It is no preposterous exaggeration to affirm^ 
 that the hope of the nations is now in the keep- 
 ing of the English, whose eminence, in what- 
 ever is most noble and useful, whose extensive 
 political power, whose expansive commerce 
 and colonization, whose spreading language 
 and brilliant literature, whose high and com- 
 manding spirit, conspire to fix upon them the 
 gaze of mankind. This is no empty vaunt of 
 national vanity ; for even if there were any 
 other people that might dispute with us the 
 palm of superiority in the particulars enume- 
 rated, yet, certainly, there is none that can 
 compete with the English on the ground of 
 expansive beneficence: if others are as valiant 
 and as wise, none are so charitable. Among 
 us — without a rival — is found the spirit of bold, 
 laborious, and liberal philanthropy. No peo- 
 ple sends forth, as we do almost daily Irom 
 our ports, heroes of mercy, who willingly take 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 147 
 
 their last look of the fairest and the happiest 
 of lands; self-banished by the compassion 
 which burns in their breasts towards the 
 wretched of distant climes ! It is then no ab- 
 surd boast to affirm, that the hope of the world 
 is now in the keeping of the English. 
 
 But we must prosecute yet further our search 
 for the casket that actually holds the jewel of 
 univ ers al mercy. Alas ! does the hope of 
 good for the nations rest with those — the thou- 
 sands among us, who are living for wealth, 
 or living for enjoyment ; with those who 
 thought yesterday only of pleasing themselves ; 
 who to-day are labouring only to please them- 
 selves ; and who are saying of to-morrow, 
 that it shall be more abundant in pleasure than 
 to-day ? No ; from these the wretched have 
 nothing to hope, save the casual alms that are 
 the price of riddance from importunity. 
 
 It is none other than the religionists of Eng- 
 land who are the sealed ministers of heaven's 
 wide beneficence to all people. It is the men ; 
 call them by what name you please ; enthu- 
 siasts, fools, hypocrites ;— call them thus, for 
 these words of contumely will, if so abused, 
 soon gain a meaning of honour ;— it is the 
 men who cannot rest on the couch of delight, 
 
148 NEW MODEL 
 
 or even be at ease in the home of domestic 
 peace, while they know that others, whom 
 perhaps they might help, are miserable. It 
 is the men who, in the midst oi' those person- 
 al cares and sorrows which make the selfish 
 more selfish, devise liberal things, and actual- 
 ly pay the cost of bringing their liberal devices 
 into effect. Tell me not that they exhibit 
 sometimes in their plans or temper the infir- 
 mity of human nature ; — I challenge not for 
 them the praise of angelic wisdom : — still it is 
 true that they are the persons of all mankind ; 
 and they, compared with the men of past ages, 
 who have imagined, and who have preserving- 
 ly laboured to bring about the reformation of 
 the world. And they — few of them opulent, 
 are defraying, from year to year, the charge 
 of carrying on the enterprise. Calumniators ! 
 look at the tables of charitable expenditure — 
 an expenditure to which you contribute not 
 even the price of the least expensive of your 
 frivolities.— Look ! and turn again to your sties 
 of selfish indulgence, and if you cannot be 
 ashamed, at least have the grace to be silent I 
 It is, I say, the religionists of England, of 
 every communion ; I mean the holders of the 
 doctrine of the Reformation, whose glory it is 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 149 
 
 to stand Ibrth as the saviours of the world. 
 Shall we descend to a more exact analysis of 
 the general mass ^ Not surely for any purpose 
 of invidious comparison ; but that we may gain 
 a better purchase upon the centre of move- 
 ment and power. The ^ound members of the 
 Established Church, the men — clergy and lai- 
 ty, who profess the doctiine of the martyrs, 
 the saints, the sages of the English reforma- 
 tion, stand certainly distinguished among the 
 professors of the same faith, if not by number, 
 yet by several signal pre-eminences. To them 
 (generally) belongs the visible advantage of 
 secular precedency. With them are rank 
 and fortune ; gifts which acceptably may be 
 laid at the feet of the King of kings. Theirs 
 are the benefits, inestimable, of thorough ed- 
 ucation ; an advantage which the Lord has in 
 every age vouchsafed to make use of when he 
 has had eminent public services in hand. By 
 them, almost exclusively, is enjoyed the hon- 
 our of enduring something more like a real 
 persecution from the world, than has been 
 suffered in England a long while by any class 
 of Christians. And may it not be added, that 
 the pious members of the Established Church 
 enjoy at the present moment, by eminence, that 
 
150 NEW MODEL 
 
 influence of the Holy Spirit from which spring 
 seriousness of temper, simplicity of faith, and 
 purity of morals ; and which moreover is or- 
 dinarily conferred upon those who are in train- 
 ing for peculiar sufferings or services. 
 
 These distinctions give to the body of enlight- 
 ened Churchmen a visible claim to the honour 
 of taking the lead in any new and important 
 measures in which the interests of Christianity 
 at large may be involved. An alternative 
 not to be evaded is before these persons ; they 
 must either take up the part which heaven as- 
 signs them, or lose rank in front of the church 
 universal. 
 
 If a proposition, such as might become the 
 wisdom and meekness of Christians, and the 
 good sense and manliness of Englishmen, were 
 made by Churchmen to those of the Dissen- 
 ters who are taking part in the Missionary 
 cause, I verily believe it would be hailed by 
 thousands of them with a burst of pleasure. 
 The minority ; I think it would be a minority ^ 
 who should persist in their rigidities, would 
 presently crumble away into absolute non-im- 
 portance. Should an overture, thus fraught 
 with charity, be made on the one part, and 
 acceded to on the other, extensive consequen- 
 
OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 151 
 
 ces of the happiest kind might be looked for : 
 A bright prospect opens to my view ! but I 
 abstain from themes which belong not to my 
 proposed task. 
 
 The ministers of Christ are accustomed in 
 moments of danger or difficulty, when com- 
 fort and aid from above are peculiarly needed, 
 to refer confidently to the last promise left by 
 the Lord with his disciples, that " He would 
 be with them always, even unto the end of the 
 world." But is it as often recollected that the 
 same Lord is present, not only for help in time 
 of trouble, but for judgment and discrimina- 
 tion 1 He walks among his churches as an ex- 
 act observer of the conduct, not of the indi- 
 viduals merely who profess obedience to his 
 will, but of the Church, as a public body. 
 He has a system of dispensations for individu- 
 als, and a system also for his Church. He 
 comes to its aid in times of depression, and 
 visits it with chastisement on occasions of mis- 
 conduct. He tries it with an hour of purify- 
 ing tribulation, and grants to it again an au- 
 spicious season in which, peculiarly, the praise 
 of immortal glory may be contended for and 
 won on some course of arduous labour. But 
 
152 NEW MODEL OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 if the occasion is slighted, the crown is with- 
 drawn from the course in punitive displeasure ;. 
 and the fair offer is made to the Christians of 
 another nation, or of another age. 
 
 I desire nothing, my dear friend, but that 
 those whose hearts are open to considerations 
 of this kind should, with the seriousness which 
 becomes the subject, hear the voice that speaks 
 in all that is happening around us, and read, 
 in the language of passing events, the special 
 message sent from the head of the Church to 
 the Christians of England. In the boldness 
 of devout conviction, I will predict, that if we 
 yield not at this moment to the command of 
 Christ, the glorious work of evangelizing the 
 world will be taken from our hands, and given 
 to others. Mercy of Heaven ! come down 
 and help us ; and as Thou hast conferred up- 
 on thy people the fire of zeal, grant unto them 
 also the spirit of wisdom and of love. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 «^,AX«.<^ 
 
 ^m^A 
 
r 
 
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1W|