pray! It was she who watched over the dawn of youth, cheered me when pursuing a virtuous course, and frowned at vice! It was she who, under God, gave my mind a virtuous cast; and whatever principle exalts the mind, under the same Divine influence, I received from her. Farewell, my mother!- Faith hath built thy bridge across the gulf of death!'

Her funeral sermon was preached, December 9, 1830, by the Rev. William Burke, her old friend and acquaintance, from 1 Cor. xv, 26, The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death!

A PLEA FOR THE MISSIONARY CAUSE;

By the REV. SAMUEL LUCKEY, D. D., Corresponding Secretary of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

MEMBERS and friends of the Methodist Episcopal Church, my present business with you is, to solicit your attention to the high and commanding claims of the Missionary Cause. In this cause, Methodists, above all others, ought to take a deep interest. Their institutions commenced in the spirit of missionary enterprise; their doctrines are calculated to foster and encourage that spirit; and to its influence they owe, in a great measure, their unparalleled success as a denomination of Christians.

The itinerancy is, indeed, a permanent missionary system, providing regularly to furnish the means of grace to the societies raised up through its instrumentality. It is remarkably adapted, in its construction, to the commission given by our blessed Lord to his ministers, to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.' Thus have Methodist preachers gone out into the highways and hedges,' crying with a loud voice to perishing sinners, 'Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' The soul-animating doctrine of a free and full salvation, proclaimed in the spirit of a true missionary zeal, has been hailed by thousands in both Europe and America, whose feelings have kindled into ardour, as they have marked its progress, and witnessed its triumphs. the enemies of Methodism have noticed, with, perhaps, no small concern, the magnanimity of its ministers, in rushing into every open door to preach the Gospel to the destitute, without waiting to be formally stipulated with on the subject of their support; and the generous liberality of its members, in contributing to support its institutions, even beyond their own immediate neighbourhoods, for the benefit of the poor. Thus have Methodists given an example to the world of missionary zeal and enterprise. How far they have been instrumental in stimulating others in this work, I pretend not to say; but they are, and ever have been, from the very nature of

Even

their economy, and the spirit of their institutions, a missionary people. As pioneers and veterans in this cause, it becomes them to occupy the foremost ranks in the missionary field, and to spurn the imputation of relaxing their efforts, as occasions for increased exertions, and their means to aid in the glorious work, multiply. Brethren, that we may not fall under the mortifying disgrace of such an imputation, let me invite your serious and candid attention to the following reflections.

Consider, first, the object of our missionary efforts. If I cannot satisfy you that the object is a worthy one, and equal in importance to the claims made upon you for its support, I have no right to expect that you will engage in promoting it. But if it appear to be of God, and, as such, to claim the patronage and support of his people, you cannot neglect it without a plain violation of duty, and danger of incurring the displeasure of your heavenly Father. Examine it, then, with a religious concern, to ascertain the nature and extent of its claims.

The object is, to provide for furnishing the destitute with the privileges of the Gospel. The Author of the Gospel has declared that it shall be preached in all the world.' This is to be accomplished by the combined efforts of his people. And the signs of the times evidently indicate, that the era has arrived, when this glorious work is about to be entered upon in good earnest, by its friends of all orders throughout Christendom. And will American Methodists, hitherto the soul and life of the missionary ranks, sleep at their posts, when t allhe Christian world seems to be rushing on. to a general action with the enemy? Surely not. They have an illustrious part to act in this warfare; and I cannot but believe that they will come up to the work, and acquit themselves like valiant soldiers of Jesus Christ.

To estimate the extent of the object, survey briefly the field to be cultivated. He who has said, 'The seed is the word,' has said also, The field is the world. Of the eight hundred millions who inhabit the earth, only two hundred millions are estimated to have any knowledge of the Gospel of Christ. All the rest are shrouded in moral darkness. Africa is a vast moral waste. The inhabitants of Asia are, for the more part, carried away with their dumb idols, or shut up in Mohammedan delusion. Their very religious ceremonies are barbarous and licentious beyond description, and calculated to inspire a chaste and benevolent mind with indignation and horror. The light which here and there twinkles in the midst of this vast empire of darkness, emanating from a few Syrian churches, and the missions that benevolent Christians have instituted at different points, serves to render the surrounding gloom more fearfully appalling. Although Europe is, to a great extent, nominally Christian, yet even there, if we except the favored island which gave birth to Methodism, we may see a vast field for missionary labour. And what shall we say of our own continent? We call ourselves VOL. II.-April, 1831.

12

a highly favored people, with respect to religious privileges. But while we are congratulating ourselves on the privileges we enjoy, how few consider, that hordes of ruthless savages roam the wilderness which nearly half encircles us, (many of whom approach so near as to mingle with our frontier population in the common affairs of life,) who are as ignorant of the Gospel as though it had never been revealed from heaven! How few reflect seriously upon the moral and religious state of the inhabitants of South America, under the galling yoke of Papal idolatry and superstition, but rapidly preparing the way for the introduction of more liberal principles, when the Gospel may have free course and be glorified among them! Here, then, in the vicinity of our successful operations as a community of Christians, a large field for missionary enterprise opens before us, into which we are invited to enter without delay. To the above we may add, numerous destitute sections within the boundaries of our regular work. In some of these sections, there are none to solicit the introduction of the Gospel among them, because they do not appreciate its value. If we can prevail on them to hear a preacher sent among them, in the first instance, it is the utmost we can expect. But how can they hear without a preacher? and how shall he preach except he be sent? In others, individuals may be found who ardently desire the means of grace, but are unable to provide for supporting them, until others can be brought to unite with them in it. These have a claim upon the benevolence of their Christian brethren whom the providence of God has placed in better circumstances, to aid them in making the offer of the Gospel of salvation to their neighbours and friends. All these are embraced in the grand missionary field which is here spread before us.

Let me next call your attention to the importance of the object. With this you must be duly impressed, when you consider the evils which prevail where the Gospel is not known, and which it is designed to remove. Think, then, of the degradation and misery of all who are strangers to the blessings of the Gospel. Think of millions of immortal beings, bowing down to images, or paying religious devotion to reptiles and to stones. Think of infatuated mothers, tearing away their smiling infants from their bosoms, and casting them to contending alligators, or offering them a sacrifice upon the altars of devils. Think of the dying agonies of the bereaved widow upon the funeral pile of her deceased husband, and the living woes of the son who lights, and the weeping orphans who surround it. Think of the multitudes of infatuated victims annually crushed beneath the wheel of their idol god, and the infinite variety of licentious and sanguinary rites which attend the superstitions that prevail over a large portion of the eastern hemisphere of the world. From these turn your eyes to the tribes who inhabit our western wilderness. Mark their degradation of character, their sottish habits of life, and the wretchedness and misery which

every where attend them. Look at the condition of your southern neighbours, struggling for civil liberty and independence. To the true privileges of God's people, and the rich blessings of the Gospel, they are entire strangers. And even within our own territories, that large portion of the community around whom the influence of the Gospel has not thrown its restraints, sufficiently exhibits the wretched condition of any people destitute of its institutions. Let a good man spend but one holy Sabbath among them, and he will feel the force of this remark. It matters not, indeed, where we find the enemies and neglecters of the Gospel, or under what circumstances they manifest the disposition of their hearts, the description given by the Apostle will apply to every community of such, as well in this as in any former age :-There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full. of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.' Such is the condition of a great portion of our world; and such are the evils which the Gospel alone is calculated to cure. And is not the removal of such evils an object of sufficient importance to induce benevolent Christians to exert themselves in the promotion of a cause which aims exclusively at its accomplishment?

I appeal to you the more confidently, dear brethren, because you know how to value the Gospel, having appreciated in your own hearts the privileges and blessings it has brought to you, your families, and your respective neighbourhoods. For what would you part with these privileges and blessings? Propose the terms on which you will consent to be outcasts from Christian society, and spend the remainder of your days with idolaters, infidels, or profane sinners of any description. Let it be understood that you are never again to read the Bible, nor worship in a Christian assembly, nor hear of Christ. The communion of saints and the songs of praise in the house of God, are to be exchanged for the society of transgressors, and the blasphemies of the profane. You are daily to witness the filthy communications of the wicked, and to see your children and friends carried away with them, by the resistless tide of iniquity, without the means of arresting its progress, or rescuing them from ruin. And you yourselves are to go down to the grave without a ray of light to illuminate your path, or a Christian friend even to commend you to God by his prayers, when you are called to go hence. Are you prepared, for any consideration that can be named, to part with your privileges as Christians, and suffer all the evils which their absence must necessarily occasion? Would the honors of the world tempt you to it, or its riches, or its pleasures? Would the laurels of heroes, or the thrones of sovereigns, be a com

-pensation for the joys of the sanctuary of the Most High? Or would you barter away the privileges of the Gospel, as Esau did his birthright, for a morsel of meat, to satisfy you or your hungry children in a day of famine and distress? O no, methinks I hear you say, not even for life itself. We have no price to put upon the privileges and blessings of the Gospel. We cannot part with them. Such professions, brethren, we have often heard you make; and so have your families and friends. We are willing to believe you sincere in them. But will you bear in mind, while your hearts are animated with a sense of your own happy situation, that millions of your fellow travellers to eternity are in precisely the condition you would be in, if the blessed Gospel had never reached your habitations. As it is the object of our missionary efforts to convey the Gospel to such as are destitute, we have a right to conclude that you deem this object an important one, exactly in proportion to the value you place upon the privileges and blessings of the Gospel yourselves. And may we not also estimate the sincerity of your professions of attachment to the Gospel and its institutions by the interest you manifest in promoting this object?

But I have not done. The object embraces more than barely to render men happy in this life. It contemplates, as a subject of still deeper interest to pious minds, the salvation of immortal souls from sin and hell. Whatever we may suppose to be possible respecting the salvation of men unenlightened by the Gospel, it is its appropriate work, and that for which it was revealed from heaven, 'to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the living God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among those which are sanctified, by faith in Jesus Christ.' Such has been its effect. Of all you have known, who have died triumphantly in the Lord, how many do you imagine. would have come to such a happy end, if they had never heard the Gospel? Have not all ascribed their consolations to its influence upon their hearts? Among them you may reckon your dearest friends, your parents-your children, the objects of your tenderest regards. You lived happy with them for a season. But the cold blast of death came over them, and they are in their graves. Your only consolation respecting them is, that by the power and influence of the Gospel they had been previously changed, and sanctified, and fitted for a mansion in heaven. There you hope to meet them again. But for this consolation you would now be overwhelmed with grief. But consider, beloved brethren, how many are daily going down to the grave, unprepared for heaven, because unenlightened by the Gospel; and how many who, had they been favored with the privilege of hearing it, might have been prepared to meet this solemn event as triumphantly as your friends were enabled to do. And, if we refuse or neglect to send it to the destitute, how many will yet die in darkness and despair, who, by our combined efforts in the missionary cause, might be rescued and saved?