OUR COUNTRY FOR THE SAK2 OF TYE WORLD.
SERIN BEHALF OF THE
IN BEHALF OF THE
AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY
SOCIETY,
PREACHED IN THE CITIES OF NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN,
MAY, 1851,
BY
REV. DAVID H. RIDDLE, D.D,
PITTSBURGH, PA.
NEW YORK:
PRINTED FOR THE AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY,
BY BAKER, GODWIN & CO.,
No. 1 Spruce Street.
1 8 5 1.








SERMON.
PSALM 67: 1, 2.
GOD BE MERCIFUL UNTO US, AND BLESS US, AND CAUSE HIS FACE
TO SHINE UPON US.
THAT THY WAY MAY BE KNOWN UPON EARTH, THY SAVING HEALTH
AMONG ALL NATIONS.
The beautiful principle embodied in these words, we
propose, on this occasion, to apply to the subject of
Home Missions; for rightly understood, we think it
places that enterprise in its most attractive and sublime
relations. This principle, if we have apprehended it,
is, that the establishment and prevalence of right religious influences and institutions in our own land, is the
surest and speediest method of securing the evangelization of the world. The principle originally applied,
of course, to those who lived under the Old Testament
dispensation. This Psalm belonged to the liturgical
service of the Jewish church; and was a portion, therefore, not merely of the private devotional reading of that
people, but of their public religious education. It was
designed and adapted to develop a proper spirit in the
mass of the people, and to shape the genius of the ancient church.
The peculiar structure of the passage shows the close
relation existing between the spiritual prosperity of God's
ancient people, and the salvation of the nations of the
earth. " God be mercifill unto us, and bless us, and cause
his face to shine upon us." In these words is acknowl



4
edged God's blessing as the true source of national excellence and prosperity, and the only security of their
glorious institutions. But why did they so earnestly
desire this blessing and the perpetuity of their national
institutions? "That thy way"-God's revealed method
of salvation-" may be known on earth, thy saving
health" —God's means of curing the moral maladies of
man-" among all nations." " God shall bless us, and
all the ends of the earth shall fear him."  This view
of the passage, which accords, we think, with all just
principles of philosophy, exhibits the ancient church in
a lovely, to some, possibly in a novel aspect. Even in
the ancient church, when under tutors and governors,
till the times appointed by the Father, there was cultivated an expansive benevolence, which embraced the
wants and wretchedness of the race-a spirit which
taught them to esteem themselves trustees of the blessings of God's salvation for "all nations."  To every
child of Abraham his native land was peculiarly lovely,
associated as it was in every hill and valley with so many
glorious recollections of the past; the land of promise,
where the battles of the Lord had been fought by the
heroes of faith; where the bones of the Patriarchs reposed; where the Ark of the Covenant dwelt, and the
Shekinah appeared. In their jubilees piety and patriotism blended in the rapturous cry, " He hath not dealt so
with any nation." But when the true spirit of the dispensation of types and shadows was imbibed, their
country, the glory of all lands, was most glorious in its
destined relations to God's plans towards the world,loveliest, as the chosen centre whence the "lines" of
"saving health" should "go forth through all the
earth," and bless and beautify " all nations." A genuine patriotism baptized with the spirit of religion, became, as it always must, a blessed and world-wide




5
philanthropy. In his nation and country was embosomed, and afterwards manifested, " a light" which was to
lighten the Gentiles, as well as be "the glory of his
people Israel." When the church should obey the voice
of her Lord, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and
the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee," then nations
would come to her light, and kings to the brightness of
her rising. The forces of the Gentiles, the abundance
of the sea, the flocks of Kedar, the rams of Nebaioth,
gold and incense, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box
-together,-the peculiar products of every clime and the
glory of every kindred, were to beautify his sanctuary,
and make the place of his feet glorious. And for this
purpose, to them were intrusted the Oracles of God,
and to them pertained the adoption, and the glory, and
the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises. Theirs were the fathers,
of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is
over all, God blessed forever.
A Jew, rightly trained by the inner spirit and genius
of this dispensation, would therefore prize his institutions,
and pray for their continuance; would most earnestly
of all desire God's blessing, the sunshine of his face
and favor on his native land, for the sake and salvation
of others, yea of " all nations."  " God be merciful
unto us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon
us, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving
health among all nations." " As the new wine is found
in the cluster," potentially and in purpose, and one saith,
"destroy it not, for a blessing is in it," the Jew would
rejoice that one whose word was omnipotent for preservation, had said this of his land and nation, because in
it, to God's eye and the eye of faith, was found an element, not yet indeed matured, the new wine of the




6
kingdom of God, which yet all nations were to drink for
refreshment and salvation-the prelibation of a nobler
cup at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Brethren, as Americans, and especially as American
Christians, we are privileged as was the ancient Jew,
and for analogous reasons, to love our country, and to
pray for God's blessing and the sunshine of his favor
on our native land! Patriotism, without boastful presumption, may say, "He hath not dealt so with any
nation." God never made such another country as ours.
The sun, as he goes careering and rejoicing as a strong
man to run his race, from the one end of heaven to
the other, does not shine on another land like this.
Yes! we may, and for good and substantial reasons,
LOVE OUR COUNTRY. But there is a nobler sentiment
which'should be enkindled in every soul, and incorporated with every passion, and refine and ennoble every
thought and feeling and action of all our mighty population —OUR COUNTRY FOR THE SAKE AND SALVATION OF
OUR WORLD. If we are true to our mission, and imbibe
the spirit of our Master, and walk worthy of the manhood
of the church, and be not rebuked by the manifestations
even of its pupilage; American patriotism, baptized by
piety, must become a blessed world-embracing —worldbenefiting-world-saving philanthropy!
We should seek the blessing of God on our country,
and labor for its spiritual prosperity, and the universal
establishment, in all our borders, of christian institutions
and their collateral and consequent influences. And he
is not a Christian, in deed and in truth, who does not do
this to the full extent of his ability and opportunity, by
his wealth, example and influence. But Oh! what an
increment of motive and energy will be added to all,
if we do this, as the willing instruments and conscious




7
trustees of the great God, for the speedy and universal
evangelization of our race.
On this high ground, we desire to place the enterprise,
and obligations, and glory of Home Missions. We
plead and labor for the establishment and extension of
a sound ministry, and the evangelical influences which
invariably cluster around it, beneficent to man and conservative of his interests in all his relations. By the
enlargement of Home Missions, correspondently with
our unparalleled enlargement of territory, and increase of
population, we desire to secure the prevalence of true
piety and christian principles at home; but in so doing,
we are pleading and laboring for a world's redemption,
for the good of a race for which Christ died, and over
which he is set to reign; and thus, indirectly, indeed,
but effectually and practically, we are fulfilling the injunction of the Master, s" Go ye into all the world, and
preach the Gospel to every creature." We try to fulfil
this intensive dispensation of christianity in our land as
represented by David, that so "the mustard seed," the
symbol of its extension, may grow to its destined proportions, and happy spirits from all nations may sing amidst
its branches, thence to take their flight, in joyous myriads, and nestle amidst the branches of the tree of life
in the midst of the paradise of God, where all at last, of
every tribe, and kingdom, and clime, will sing together
the new song of Moses and the Lamb.
Let our whole land be leavened, our country thoroughly evangelized-let all our institutions be brought under
the sanctifying influences of christian principles; let all
our population, high and low, rich and poor, learned
and rude, from the President who occupies the people's
house, to the peasant who inhabits the lowliest hamlet
or hovel of our Western wilds, be baptized with the
spirit of Jesus Christ; let Christianity of a pure apostolic




8
type, reign without a rival in all our councils, modify all
our legislation, be the inspiring genius of all our commercial, agricultural, and manufacturing interests; let its
precepts direct the application of our increasing and
superfluous wealth, and the grace of its author guide us
in projecting and prosecuting our schemes of philanthropy; let America, in a word, as the result of God's
blessing on her institutions of religion and organs of
benevolent action, once fully realize her responsibility
to God, and see aright her mission to mankind, and the
way of God would soon be known on earth, and his
saving health would soon be experienced among all
nations.  Right institutions, civil and religious-the
common heritage of man, and which appertain equally
and inalienably to all nations, and which we hold in trust
for the rest of the race, would soon be enjoyed by this
dark and troubled world, tossed so long by tempests on
the surges of unavailing change. The prayer of the
great American church of all denominations, caught
from the ancient oracle, should be, " God be merciful unto
us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us,
that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving
health among all nations." And every one who has a
heart to love God, his country and his kind, should say,
Amen! For it is the prayer and response of enlightened patriotism, enlarged philanthropy, and true Christianity.
This position of Home Missions is based on the assumption of the immense influence of our country, for
good or evil, on the other nations of the earth,-a postulate which we presume will be questioned by no intelligent Christian or citizen who has allowed his mind at
all, or intelligently at least, to dwell upon the subject.
The providence and past dealings of God seem to say
to our country, "Who knoweth whether thou art come




9
to the kingdom for such a time as this?"  In the arrangements of that Being who " setteth up one and putteth down another," whether it be spoken of a nation
or a man only, we have come to a position of peculiar, at least, if we cannot say peerless eminence, amongst
existing nations; to the possession of extensive, if not
incomparable influence, giving us incalculable power
over the rest of the world.  With a gladness of gratitude, not unmingled with solicitude for the fearful responsibilities involved, we gather evidences of this, alike
from the acknowledgment of friends, and the unwilling
but not less unequivocal admissions of our enemies;
from the hopes of the struggling masses, and the fears
of the dominant and oppressive minorities of the earth.
And was there ever "such a time as this," when so
many elements derived from the intimations of prophecy
and occurrent events, combined to constitute and justify
the expectations of a crisis, and when the possession of
power involved such mighty responsibilities? Granting
that there is to be an end, as unquestionably there is an
expectation, that God —who has allowed these anticipations to be gradually formed in the great heart of humanity, deepening and becoming more definite from
age to age —means to meet and fulfil them; that
the scoff of an atheistic age, " all things are to continue as they were from the beginning of the creation," in never-ending cycles of expectation and disappointment, is unphilosophical, as well as untrue; do not
the signs and the tendencies of the times, the voice of
prophecy, the wants of the world, the deep cry of our
baffled race " made subject to vanity," all seem to indicate, that soon God's " way is to be known on earth, and
his saving health among all nations?" and that our
country, for this purpose has been raised up, and trained,




10
and disciplined, and preserved through all our past
vicissitudes and perils as a nation?
Surely God has a purpose in so ordering events, that
elements of power, at particular periods, should come
into the possession of particular nations, so that they
may exert a decisive influence on the destinies of the
age and the fate of the world. " If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace," said the Saviour, to a nation of
old; "but now they are hid from thine eyes."  Thus
it has been often in the past history of the world. If
nations could have seen their dispensation, as we now
see it-could our light have been thrown back on their
path, or the issues thundered in trumpet tones, how different would have been their consciousness of their mission, and possibly, the course of their conduct.
At one period, had one more onward step been taken,
Carthage, the representative of African, instead of Rome,
the representative of European civilization, might have
triumphed, and been mistress of the world: and at another, had some other general, instead of Grouchy, been
selected, who would have scorned to taint his itching
palm with gold, the tide of battle might have been turned
at Waterloo, and with it, the fate of the world. God, who
" hath determined the times, and the bounds of our habitations before appointed," seems to have purposed that
our country, if conscious of her mission and prepared to
meet it, may exert a mighty, possibly a decisive influence
on the destinies of the earth, and have a glorious part assigned her amidst the last acts of the long drama of time.
And shall it be said of us, " Oh! if thou hadst known in
this thy day?" Or shall we try to realize our true mission,
and come to the consciousness of God's kind intentions
before it is too late? There is danger indeed of unduly




11
modifying the interests and probable results of our own
period, and of exaggerating every present crisis, and of
glorifying our own particular mission. Many such a
presumed crisis has passed, and the world abideth still.
Heaven and earth have been invoked, in regard to the
perils or prospects, now forgotten, or remembered by
the thoughtful student or antiquary with the smile of
pity or contempt. But surely " the end cometh."
There is a great temptation, also, to exaggeration
among Americans. But aside from all these self-exalting exaggerations, in the sober and solemn light of
facts and statistics, and the deep responsibilities they
involve, we can hardly adequately measure the present,
and especially the prospective greatness and consequent
influence of our country. This impression is deepened
by every view we can take of our country.
Look at the extent of territory, embraced in our present limits, immensely enlarged by recent annexations
and acquisitions, requiring new editions of geography
and alterations of maps every year to keep pace with
our progress. Stretching already from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, from wintry Maine to golden California!
What acountry! What an immense sea coast! And
then a northern boundary of glorious inland seas-God's
highways of commerce and communication from one
extremity to the other!
The same impression is made, if we look at the physical resources of our country-the almost immeasurable capacity of sustaining population, and the almost
infinitely varied productions of her soil. The natural resources of the American continent, it is computed, would
afford sustenance to 3,600,000,000 inhabitants-four
times the estimated present population of the globe.
The Western country alone, could supply the whole
world with bread-stuffs!  I remember to have seen at




12
one time, years ago, on the levee at St. Louis, a pile of
such, half a mile long, and nine feet high!
Again, this impression is deepened, if we think of
the prospective population of our country. It is conjectured, that fifty years from this time, we shall have
a population of 75,000,000; and 100 years hence, of
275,000,000. In other words, where there is now one
person, 50 years hence there will be 5, and 100 years
from this time 16. And these will not be serfs or paupers, but American freemen, enlightened by education,
conscious of their rights, and privileges, and powers,
whether moulded and restrained by religion or not.
Long before this latter period, our people, reinforced
from the effete nations of the old world, will have filled
up the vast basin of the Mississippi, and stretched
across the Rocky Mountains to the shores of the Pacific, and be occupying centres of commercial wealth and
of moral power, in close proximity to China and the
East; and thus, empire and civilization, completing the
mystic cycle, will reach the point whence they began their
march westward round the world! Recent developments prove how speedily their centres can be moved
half across a continent. Long before that time, too, the
appliances of locomotion and transportation, now going
forward, will be completed. Intelligence will be transmitted, with lightning speed, from one end of the continent to the other. From Boston and New-York, to
San Francisco and Oregon City, dispatches can be sent
in a few seconds, to hasten vessels of steam across to
China, or Japan; and men may travel continuously from
Maine to California without breaking the Sabbath.
Again, the same view is confirmed if we think of the
enterprise of our country. How many hundreds of
thousands of square miles of territory have we settled
already; and how many tens of thousands of miles




13
of canals and railroads have we constructed, and are now
constructing and projecting! What immense primeval
forests have given place, as by enchantment, to villages
and towns and cities! See how agriculture, and commerce, and manufactures, and schools, and churches
spring up along the path of American enterprise! In
virtue of this characteristic the United States have already become the third, if not the second in the rank
of commercial nations. The rapidity of our growth in
this respect, throws Tyre, and Venice, and Holland, and
England altogether into the shade. We now compete
successfully with England in furnishing ships, engines
and machinery for other nations. We excel and undersell her, in almost every market of the world; and by
superior diplomacy, share with her in the results of her
conquests in India and China. At the wharves of Pittsburg we fit out vessels for the trade of the Orinoco.
American artisans build railroads for the Autocrat of
Russia. They construct steamers for the Sultan of
Turkey, and build and drive coaches across the desert
for the Pacha of Egypt. We shall soon have lines of
communication across the Isthmus of Darien, and a
continuous communication to the Pacific, across the
continent.  But a few years ago, we carried on a
war with one nation of the New World, and without inconvenience, fed at the same time the starving nations
of the Old. Go where you will over the globe, and
you will find Americans-amidst the icebergs of the
Northern and Southern Poles, in the ports of China,
India and Japan, in the Bosphorus and the Baltic, at
the foot of the Himalayas and the Caucasus,'at the
World's Fair in London, and in search of Sir John
Franklin!
In the same connection we may notice the element
of power involved in our unity. With this immense




14
population, and almost measureless resources, we shall
have, unless evil counsels and sectional animosities prevail-which God in his mercy forbid-the influence of a
united people. There is nothing like this in Europe.
The ten toes of the great image, part iron and part
clay, have no common principle of cohesion. European
influence is frittered, from the fact that it has had no
unity since the age of Charlemagne. Europe is but a
congregation of nations of different languages, habits,
and religions; and the traveller feels it as he passes from
Britain to France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. But
power, as it passes into our hands, comes to one
people, speaking the same language, the language of
Milton, Shakspeare, and the English Bible, having one
literature, and one great common  soul.  Amidst all
other ominous aspects, it is cheering to see how soon
the process of homogeneity and nationalization is perfected here. Contrary to all antecedent reasoning, and
in face of the Latin adage, " Caelum, non animurn mutant qui trans mare currunt," it is a fixed fact, that men
of all nations and languages, are here unified and
Americanized! It seems as if the great God meant
of all these materials to " make one new man," a type
of humanity embracing the separate excellencies of all
other forms. The element of power, for good or evil,
involved in this unity and nationality, is immense.
Already the name of America, embodying our institutions and the weight of our example, to the hope of
millions, is strangely magical, in the ears and hearts of
the savage and civilized portions of the Old World.
Whlt will it be, if fifty years hence finds us as now,
" E PLURIBUS UNUM;" when the new man, now comparatively in childhood, shall have grown to the measure
of the stature of his destined proportions? What will
be the influence of such a united and immense people,




15
for good or evil, to scatter christianity and its temporal
accompaniments and eternal consequences, or circulate
pestilence and death over our world? In this view especially, the problem of perpetuated union, to the christian philanthropist, presents reflections of unparalleled
intensity and interest. It is especially in the light of the
the great idea, our country for the sake of the world, that
the question of division and secession should be contemplated; and that Christians are concerned to know
whether the centrifugal forces must necessarily be predominant, or whether one national life cannot be made
to pervade this great land, notwithstanding differences
of sentiment, and interests, and peculiar institutions.
If we look at these elements separately, especially
if we combine them together on the most obvious principles, it must be allowed that our influence will be
great; the weight of our example must be felt, the
spirit of our institutions will be copied, and the type
of our christianity or infidelity will be reproduced
over the globe. We are set for the rise or the fall of
many in our world. Nations unborn will rise up and
call us blessed, if we become their benefactors, or load
us with their heaviest curses, if we disappoint their
rightful expectations.  Oh! my country, after traversing thy beautiful prairies, and vast rivers, and inland
seas, and viewing thy growing territory, and population,
and future prospects, especially these elements of
power; who that has a heart to love God, or his race,
can refrain from praying, 4" God be merciful unto us,
and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us, that
thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health
among all nations!"
We do believe-who can indeed help believing?that if these elements of power are christianized and consecrated to the glory of God, and the spiritual good of




16
men; if in our voyages and circumnavigations to every port where we traffic, and to every people where
we transport our fabrics, we take the Bible, and a beautiful exemplification of its precepts in our own lives and
principles; if American enterprise becomes synonymous
with christian activity, and the love of Christ-the noblest and sweetest passion-comes to constrain commercial men, with a power and constancy equal to the
love of money, which is the meanest; the way of God
will soon be known on earth, and his saving health
among all nations. On the other hand, if these elements be left to flow forth in selfish and vainglorious
channels, unregulated by conscience and a sense of
accountability; if the American name becomes identified in the apprehensions of the nations of the earth,
with cunning, covetousness, and accumulation; then,
no tongue can tell or heart conceive the influence for
evil which will be exerted all over the earth, by our
country.
We try to abound in hope; but we cannot altogether
repress our fears, when we study the history of the
spirit of trade in past ages, and trace, with facts before
us, the premonitory symptoms of the decline and fall of
the ancient centres of commercial greatness, which have
successively figured and faded on the tableau of time.
It is sad to muse on the elements of the glory of
ancient Tyre; it is a solemn study, in view of the portraiture of the prophet Ezekiel, and the accomplished
fact, to remember the late prediction of the Secretary
of the Treasury in regard to this city, that " soon the balance sheet of nations will be adjusted in New- Y)rk."
We are a great people, indeed, and our greatness is
incre.ased on every side, and is increasing every
decade. While traversing the mighty West, a man
finds himself saying, "This is a great country-great




17
for good or evil, for Christ or Antichrist!" Which
shall it be? Whose shall be these prairies and cities,
and this stalwart yeomanry? What part will they take
in the great battle of principle? Whose forces will they
swell in the last conflict? There is one reply every
Christian would love to make, but there is an alternative also, in which all this enginery will be for evil —part
of "the sublime mechanics of depravity," more potent,
because more polished instruments of perdition.
Yes! American Christians, in the nature of the case
and from the analogies of the past, it is safe to conclude that we must be a great people, but not necessarily or universally a holy people. This, with the
blessing of God, depends on the efforts and sacrifices of
thosd who have pledged themselves, and covenanted
with God, to make the world's salvation their paramount
concern, and every thing else subservient thereunto;
and who, understanding aright the relations of our country to the world, as we have tried to depict them, have
resolved to do their part under this stirring idea, " at such
a time as this." For, let no man delude himself with the
dream, alike contrary to fact and philosophy, that without
evangelical influences and institutions, any thing else,
however excellent, will preserve us as a people from ruin.
There is no absolute warrant of safety in the peerlessness
of our position, the grandeur of our mission, or the awful
results of our failure; no promise of God, to prevent
the most terrible catastrophe which fancy can conceive,
or past history enables us to realize, provided we do
not use the means which God has put in our power.
Unless Christians, by their efforts and self-sacrificing
zeal, make christian institutions, and their collateral
evangelical influences commensurate with our widening
population; unless we send the educated christian missionary along with the emigrant, and plant churches
2




18
and Sabbath schools where the hand of enterprise has
felled the forest or dotted the prairies with farms and
villages; our country, the star of hope and guidance to
bewildered nations, will itself wander, and we shall lose
an opportunity of blessing mankind, such as God.never
gave to any people since the world was created. Nothing
but the power of the Gospel, made effectual in the hearts
of men, and influencing them in all their relations, can
save a free country like ours from destruction-a country where no despot in church or state does or dares force
outward conformity to religious requirements; where
the people rule, and make their own laws; where public
opinion is well nigh omnipotent, and independence of
all control, human and divine, is the most striking and
characteristic natural tendency. Here, the alternatives
are moral principle,-making every man a law unto himself, without which outward  law is a cobweb-the
wildest anarchy, or military despotism.  The Gospel
planted these colonies with "seed sifted from  three
kingdoms." Gospel institutions have made us what
we are, and nothing but the Gospel can preserve us from
destruction, or enable us to fulfil our high destiny towards the race. It is not enterprise, or physical improvements, or a glorious constitution and good laws,
or free trade, or a tariff, or railroads and steamships,
or philosophy, or science, or taste; but the grace of God,
that bringeth salvation, appearing to every man, and
inwrought into the heart of every man, that can save us
from the fate of former republics, and make us a blessing to all nations.
The issues involved in this question depend very
much, too, in our apprehension, on the character assumed and influence exerted by the West-on the fact,
in other words, whether we supply its wastes and build
there in a few years "the foundation of many genera



19
tions." Religious institutions do not rise spontaneously, or necessarily keep pace with the growth of population. The human heart naturally does not value or
secure evangelical influences. Its uncounteracted tendencies, if not to barbarism, are certainly to irreligion.
Men every where, and in all ages, love darkness rather
than light; especially the men who go out from the influences of churches and pastors, to seek their fortunes
and dig for golden ore, and build them towers whose
top will reach munto heaven. And such is the character
of much of the population crowding the West.
Scorched by the revivals, and restive under the restraints of other States, they go like Cain of old to found
or find a city of repose.  The restless spirit of change,
the feeling of Daniel Boone, drives men from New
England or New-York, to Illinois or Iowa, and then to
Wisconsin and Minnesota, and then to Oregon and
California. The outward wave is rolling onward, without regurgitation, till it meets the Pacific, where next to
dash, God only knows! No one who has not travelled
in the West can conceive aright of this subject, and the
momentous issues involved in it.  In the absorbing
cares of business, the multiplicity of outward incitements and ever-recurring pageants, the uniform flow
of affairs year after year, in older States and cities, we
are prone to think that all is well, and the West will
take care of itself. But to be able to pray the prayer
of the text aright, every Christian ought, if possible, to
see the West for himself. Good old deacons from New
England, staid divines from churches where order and
orthodoxy are triumphant, New-York merchants, retired
civilians, and philanthropists, in order to realize their obligations, should go and survey the land where their children or children's children are to dwell-to be blessed or
cursed, be blessings or curses, according as we do, or




20
neglect to do our duty. This rapid transfer of population from the older settlements to the new, and the unparalleled tide of emigration from the Old World, to which
recent, events there will only give additional momentum,
is a new development in the economy of nations, giving
rise to new duties and responsibilities, and adjusting
Christian obligation on a new scale of projection altogether.
" No pent up Utica contracts our powers,
But the whole boundless continent is ours,"
to care for, and to christianize. It is hard, after all we
have read, to conceive with what rapidity the West is
filling up with population. In some parts, " a nation is
born in a day." Fifty years ago, a line drawn from
Pittsburg north to Lake Erie, and southward along
the Alleghany and Cumberland Mountains, to the Gulf
of Mexico, would have embraced a white population of
less than 500,000; now the State of Ohio alone contains
a small fraction less than 2,000,000; Indiana little less
than 1,000,000; Illinois 850,000. The total population
of the States and Territories west of the Mississippi
and north of the Ohio River, in 1830, was 1,840,000,
less than Ohio alone at this time; while the entire population of Wisconsin amounting to upwards of 300,000,
and of Iowa a little below 200,000, has been received
since 1838. The city of St. Louis has regularly doubled
its population every six years since 1831, when it numbered 6,000; at which time Chicago, AMilwaukie and
others, now young giants, had no existence. A brother in the Convention in Chicago, a few years ago,
said, "In June you see one cabin on a prairie, passing
along in September, you see forty."
It need not and ought not to be concealed, that in
the West there is a singular " energy of error," and tendency to extremes of opinion on all subjects. Every




21
thing there is on a large scale —rivers, forests, prairies.
However philosophically accounted for, the same is true
of their errors also. Errors, like weeds, grow rank in
the human heart, without constant cultivation; while
truth, like the valuable productions of the husbandman,
requires constant, patient and diligent cultivation. The
errors of the West are of gigantic proportions. Their
leaders are bold, reckless and revolutionary. One of
the most striking characteristics of the West, too, is
the spirit of self-reliance, not to term it self-assurance,
which manifests itself in church and state, among saints
and sinners. They pronounce judgment on subjects
which have perplexed the wisest heads of all time, with
a self-satisfaction absolutely thrilling. They have, beyond all doubt, "the spirit of power," whether blended
or not with the elements of "love and a sound mind."
They are like their steamboats of high pressure, which
have vast propelling power, whether they have prudent
captains and sober crews or not. Like one of their representatives in Congress, many of them feel themselves
head and shoulders above the rest of mankind. Every
variety of human opinion, too, every heresy ever conceived in the human heart, or studied in the silent
chamber in past ages, every plunge of radicalism, and
every grade of infidelity is there. The errorist and
revolutionist, from the older States and the other hemisphere, there find the material all plastic to their hand.
The extremes of opinion, represented in our most sober
communities, and trying in vain to work themselves
into the religious and social structure, may there be
carried out to the full extent, without regard to consequences. The mighty West seems like a great caldron, where every heterogeneous element is fermenting,
foaming, and every now and then overflowing. Far off
in these wilds you may meet travelling agencies for




22
New York books, a certain kind of literature, there
known as the " Yellow Cover Literature," the miserable
trash of paid scribblers-the staple productions of some
large and flourishing eastern establishments. Whether
we sleep over this subject, or wake up to a proper sense
of duty and danger, while some ecclesiastics are fearing lest colportage will trench on their official prerogatives, there are bold and strong men there, " not afraid
to speak evil of dignities," night and day sowing
tares, scattering broadcast over the land their pestilent
errors, loosening the bonds of morality, sapping the
foundations of society, and baptizing the young with
their baleful influences. What we do in this matter,
we must do quickly, if at all-with our might, or the
crisis is past. The preponderating political and religious
influence of our country will soon be found, if it does
not exist already, in the West. If we wait, if we trust
these matters to chance, or please ourselves with dreamy
anticipations, and do not rise and build, other hands will
be found to give shape and character to this region, and
seize these elements of power, and use them for their
own purposes. There is a tide in human things, moments when the light dust may turn the balance of a
nation's destiny one way or the other. And what but
an educated, orthodox ministry, a ministry acquiring influence by intellectual superiority, and retaining it by
intelligent piety and persevering efforts —just such a
ministry as the Home Missionary Society proposes to
send out-will meet the exigency created by these circumstances? What other conservative principles, than
evangelical piety and institutions, can we trust amidst
the tempests of passion and error which threaten to
ingulf all that is dear to us as patriots and Christians,
and all that is embosomed for our world, in the purity
and perpetuity of American Christianity?




23
In addition to all we have said, you are aware that
systematic overtures are making to bring our country,
through the predominating power of the West, and thus
our world, under Roman Catholic influence; to fight in
that arena the battle of Popish or Protestant supremacy!
On this point we are not, and never have been alarmists. We do not blame the Roman Catholics for their
zeal. We honor them, on the contrary, for their consistency. They believe there is no salvation out of the
church-meaning the Romish church; that the best
temporal and civil interests of man are identified with
the possession and prevalence of the true religion; and
that every interest must be subordinated to the establishment and extension of Christ's kingdom on earth.
With these principles, what else could we expect than
the most vigorous and well-directed exertions to gain
preponderance of power in our country, whose institutions are destined ultimately to spread over the world?
They are fully cognizant of the facts and principles we
have been stating. They know that our country must
have immense influence, one way or the other, on the
nations of the earth, and that the West is the destined
seat of power. They lay their plans, and plant their
institutions accordingly. They project their cathedrals,
schools and colleges, on a scale of magnificence commensurate with our loftiest anticipations of the future.
They build for future ages. They believe in perpetuity.
They take hold of human nature by every handle to turn
it to their purposes, and despise no avenues to human
affection, or instrumentalities of human confidence. It
is by no means uncommon to meet large Catholic
churches where there are, now, scarcely any Catholic
hearers; and female seminaries where there are scarcely
any other than Protestant patrons. Verily, the prize is
worth contending for-the privilege of a preponderat



24
ing influence over this land, and thus over the world.
As was said in the ancient games-," Detur dignissinzo"
-the prize to him that wins it. In this matter, God will
not reverse the great principle of his economy, " The
hand of the diligent maketh rich." It will not do for us
to be forever quarreling with the Catholics, calling them
bad names, accusing them of ambition, conspiracies,
and what not, while we are doing nothing to establish
Protestant institutions. It is pitiable to be groaning
perpetually over Catholic progress and encroachments,
while we lavish our wealth in schemes of self-glorification, without equaling, or at least emulating the zeal
and benevolence of those whom we dread. We must
rear better schools, give a better education to youth of
both sexes, found libraries, sustain a learned and orthodox ministry so liberally, that they can cope successfully
with the Jesuit. We must scatter evangelical books
and a christian literature, over the whole field. Yea,
we must personally labor in our respective posts, learn
the luxury of making money to give away in largehearted schemes of benevolence, if we would not see
another generation, seduced by the gorgeous ceremonies
and splendid pageants of Popery, forsaking the religion
of their forefathers, and surrendering the institutions of
America to the power of Antichrist.
Roman Catholics are in earnest. They say, "We
must make haste; the moments are precious. America
will one day be the centre of civilization, and shall truth
or error establish there its empire? If Protestants are
beforehand with us, it will be difficult to destroy their
influence." Such is their avowed policy, and its expected results. Are we prepared to contemplate such
a policy, and such results, with composure? Is it nothing to us whether truth, in their sense of the term,
that is, Popery, or error, by which they mean the Protes



25
tant faith, Protestant morals, and Protestant institutions,
shall be established in our land, and thus reign over the
earth?
Catholics are united too, as well as earnest. Would
to God, Protestants were also. We want a blessed evangelical alliance, with the spirit of the text for its motto,
Our country for the sake and salvation of our world.
Whatever denominational distinctions and lines of operation our imperfect sanctification and absorption in nonessentials may render still necessary or unavoidable, this
great idea should outmaster and control every other, and
make every one who loves Christ and labors for the salvation of our country, our brother beloved and honored,
whether he casts out devils by our formularies, and follows with us or not.
A village in the West, for one half its population,
which is Catholic, has one church and pastor, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism; the other half, which is Protestant, has five or six pastors and churches, and each has
his separate "Psalm, doctrine, tongue, revelation and
interpretation!" Yet, " God is not the author of confusion," but of peace, in all the churches of the saints.
Brethren, the mission of our country, and the alternative it involves, has not been conjured up for the occasion, but it is placed upon us by Providence, and grows
necessarily out of the facts, principles and statistics we
have been contemplating. In the light of the idea we
have endeavored to elucidate and incorporate with your
heart's deepest feelings, we can best see the reason and
meaning of all God's past dealings with our country.
In this aspect, our country.must ever appear, to all capable of apprehending her position and relations, most
lovely and glorious-as the signet in the right hand of
God Almighty, by which he purposes to seal upon our




26
fallen humanity its last type of beauty and blessedness.
In the light of this purpose, we read with peculiar interest the facts of our antecedent history, civil and religious, from the beginning, hitherto. We can see why
he planted these colonies; why he has preserved them;
why he has interposed in answer to prayer in our darkest perils; why he has kept alive the spirit of piety, and
granted us so many seasons of revivals; why he suggested the idea of voluntary associations; why he originated
the Tract Society, and the glorious appendage of colportage; why, when the career of emigration first began, he put into the hearts of good men to form the Plan
of Union; why, in advance of that unexampled career of
expansion in recent times, which finds limits only by
stretching from ocean to ocean, he originated this glorious Association of Home Missions, with its collateral
blessings, to keep pace, if possible, with the march of an
almost incalculable multiplication. Yes! it does seem
as if God, our Heavenly Father, had prepared us, has
been teaching us, for something great, and good, and
glorious,-as Joseph was trained in youth, and then
raised out of prison, to save much people alive in time
of famine; and as David was called from tending sheep
to lead the armies of the living God; and Hadassah was
advanced from orphanage to the side of royalty to
save her people, at an awful crisis.
Oh! my country! " Who knoweth whether thou"-lone
orphan, cast out from thy fatherland and cut off from
a mother's kindness in thy youth, and now Queen regnant, imperial and peerless —" hast not come to the
kingdom for such a time," and for such a purpose "as
this'" And after all, wilt thou fail to understand thy
mission, and fall in with God's obvious purpose, and
appreciate aright thy privilege and responsibility? In
schemes of self-glorification or aggrandizement, wilt




27
thou lose the glorious opportunity of impressing thine
image, as God's signet, on the rest of the earth? 0,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, American Christians of this generation! " Shall our country be the home of piety and virtue, or the mighty
reservoir of irreligion and vice? Shall the voice of
prayer and praise, or of cursing and blasphemy be
heard throughout her borders? Shall our literature and
science, and commerce and agriculture pay their tribute
to the King of kings, or serve to foster to giant growth
the worst passions of the human heart? Shall this
great nation be rent with sectional jealousies and scarred
with the judgments of the Most High, or shall its future millions, as they rise in successive generations,
walk in the light of his countenance, and, appreciating
themselves the value of civil and religious liberty, extend their blessings to every land illumed by the sun or
laved by the sea?"
GOD BE MERCIFUL UNTO US, AND BLESS US, AND CAUSE
HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON US; THAT THY WAY MAY BE
KNOWN UPON EARTH, THY SAVING HEALTH AMONG ALL
NATIONS.








AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
The object of this Society is to assist congregations that are unable
to support the Gospel ministry, andto send the Gospel to the destitute.
It seeks and sends forth missionaries; by counsel and pecuniary aid, it
encourages the people to help themselves; strengthens feeble churches,
gathers new ones, settles pastors; and thus renders permanent the institutions of the Gospel.
The Society was organized in 1826, by delegates from the Presbyterian, Congregational, Associate Reformed, and Reformed Dutch denominations, and had then in its service 169 missionaries. The fifth year,
the number of missionaries was 463-the eighth, 676-the sixteenth,
791-the twenty-fourth, 1,032.  The first year's expenditure was
$13,984-the fifth, $47,247 —the eighth, $80,015-the sixteenth, $94,300-the twenty-fourth, $153,817 90.
The twenty-fifth year of its operations is briefly noticed in the following abstract from the last Annual Report, presented May 7th, 1851:
SUMMARY OF RESULTS.
More than one-third of those who were present at the organization
of the Society a quarter of a century since, have ceased from their labors.
Death has also removed, the last year, Rev. CALVIN CHAPIN, D. D., and
Rev. DAVID PORTER, D. D., Vice-Presidents of the Society; Rev. HENRY WHITE, D. D., one of its Directors; KNOWLES TAYLOR, Esq., its
former Treasurer; and Rev. WASHINGTON THACHER, the Agent of the
Society in Central New-York.
The Society has had in its service the last year, 1,065 ministers of
the Gospel, in 26 different States and Territories: in the New England
States, 311; the Middle States, 224; the Southern States, 1.5; the
Western States and Territories, 515.
Of these, 640 have been the pastors or stated suapplies of single congregations; and 425 have occupied larger fields. Four have ministered
to congregations of colored people; and 41 have preached in foreign
languages-10 to Welsh, and 29 to German congregations; and two to
congregations of Norwegians and Swedes.
The number of congregations supplied, in whole or in part, is 1,820;
and the aggregate of ministerial service performed is equal to 853 years.




30
Thepupils in Sabbath schools and Bible classes amount to 70,000.
There have been added to the Churches 6,678, viz.: 3,855 by profession; and 2,823 by letter. Many of the Western Churches have been
visited with the special effusions of the Spirit. Seventy-seven missionaries
make mention in their reports of revivals of religion in their congregations; and 366 report 3,096 hopeful conversions.
THE TREASURY.
Resources, —The balance in the Treasury, April 1st, 1850, was
$15,553 69.  The receipts of the succeeding twelve months have been
$150,940 25; making the resources of the year, $166,493 94.
Liabilities.-There was due to missionaries, at the date of the last
report, $11,935 77. There has since become due, $151,515 41; making
the total of liabilities $163,451 18.
Payments.-Of this sum, $153,817 90 have been paid.  The remainder-$9,633 28-is still due to missionaries for labor performed. Towards liquidating these claims and redeeming the additional pledges on
commissions which have not yet expired-making in all, $64,906 49there is a balance in the Treasury of $12,676 04-the greater part of
which was received near the close of the year, and is available only as a
means of cancelling the present indebtedness of the Society to its missionaries.
PROGRESS.
Thirty-three more missionaries have been in commission than in any
preceding year, and this increase has been mainly in the Western States
and Territories; forty-one more years of ministerial labor have been
performed; and two hundred and forty-five more congregations blessed
with the preaching of the Gospel.
Forty-three churches have passed from a condition of dependence to
that of self-support; sixty houses of worship have been completed; fifty.
five others repaired; and the building of forty others commenced.
During the twenty.five years of the Society's labors, not far from 800
churches, which had been reared and nurtured by its instrumentality,
have passed from the list of beneficiaries, and are now supporting their
own Gospel institutions; some of which are among the strongest and
most influential churches in the land.
AUXILIARIES AND AGENCIES.
The Report gives detailed statements of the prompt and liberal manner in which the views of the Executive Committee have been seconded
by the local Boards of Agency, and by the State and other Auxiliaries,
While nearly all evince their activity by an increased number of Mis



31
sionaries and of Churches assisted, they all report a larger number than
in any previous year as having become independent of foreign aid. The
sound and healthful growth of the missions is seen in the number and
value of the houses of worship erected, in the increasing energy of measures to promote temperance, in the establishment of Sunday and Weekday schools, and in general, in the yearly progress of whatever promotes
the stability of the churches and the order of society.
GENERAL VIEW.
The favor which God has shown to the Society during the past year,
in preserving the lives of its officers and missionaries, and crowning their
labors with such a measure of success, furnishes fresh occasion of gratitude, and new ground of encouragement. This record of the labors of
the year, completes the history of this Society for a quarter of a century.
Within this period, how has the field of its operations extended, and its
work increased. Our frontier has receded from the banks of the Ohio
to the shores of the Pacific. Seven States have been added to our
confederacy, and 12,000,000 to our population. In all the elements of
national importance, we have made unparalleled progress; and the work
appropriate to this Society has increased in like proportion. And,
though it has not accomplished all that with greater resources it might
have accomplished, yet the wide fields where it has gathered rich harvests for Christ-the multitude to whom it has distributed the bread of
life-the 3,000 churches it has aided, and the 100,000 souls it has
gathered into the fold of the Great Shepherd, testify that it has not
labored in vain.
In the prospective growth of our country for another quarter of a
century, we foresee the accumulating responsibilities of this Society.While, in the older States, it must "be watchful and strengthen the
things that remain that are ready to die," it must also go forth "bearing
precious seed," with the advancing tide of emigration, as it rolls toward
the setting sun. In planting Gospel institutions in our great central
valley, and on the shores of the Pacific, a work is to be done for Christ,
such as he has intrusted to no other people. It must not be delayed.
To this work let the friends of the Redeemer gird themselves anew.Encouraged by his past favor and the promise of his presence and aid,
let them prosecute this enterprise with increasing zeal and on a more
extended scale.