Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1818-07-24

be published IN the Richmond Enquirer
Signed by order.
ABNER WATKINS, Pres't.
Teste, STERLING SMITH, Rec. Sec'y.
ADDRESS.
The Jamestown { Prince Edudrd) Baptist
Foreign s. Domestic Mission Society, to
Mepeople Of Virginia.
God working ever on a social plan,
| by various ties attaches man 10 man:
| He made at fiis tho free and unconfined,
One man the common father of the Kind
| That every tribe, though placed as he best,
| Wnere seas ana deserts part II frem the rest,
| Dihering IN language, manners, on in face,
| Might feel its.lf allied 10 all the race.
[cowpER.
| VIRGINIANs. We address you, for
the purpose of calling your attention 10
the subject of Christian Missions sub
jec', rendered by its temporal, as well as
eternal Importance, deserving of the pro-
ioundest consideration. To dispel the
| gloom, in which superstition confounds
aud bewiiders her votaries 10 break lie
letters with which she binds them 10 casl
down, by The force of reason aud convic-
| ton, those unliallowed affairs, erected 10
her by de!usive ldolatry 10 stay the rash
land OF accommodation aud become
{ Tie bearers OF social happiness on earth,
| ana OF evangelical peace with heaven, TO
| Iations that know not God Alright, are,
| surely, worthy of Christians,
aud congemai to the wishes OF Virginidns
Such are the objects fer whose accom-
| piisiimcntvarlous societies, (ofwhicI ours
Is onr,) nave been formed both III Europe
ana IN America their success IS depends,
materially, OIL The encouragement and
support gwen them by the people
our ancestors parted, voluntarily. not
t,,,t II. 81.
lives too, IN the sacred cause of religion
and can you, who owe so much 10 the
! protective care OF heaven, blessed as YOU
are with Tie enjoy meni of every earthly
! good, covered with the beams of everv
science, and reared in the light of revela-
llon Itself, can you sacrifice that cause at
The shrlnes OF slOth and ayarce! We do
| not believe you can.
Oh me contrary, we come, confidently
| before you, 10 ask your support because
we are persuaded Of your benevolence. H.
beraiity, and humanity we know your
readiness TO participate i'll the fruiton of
| The " luxury of doing good ;" we are con-
lnced of your wish to share with Your
fellow beings, OF every nation and of eve
ry complexion, whether they pant beneath
| me line or shlver at the pole, those ineffa-
bic blessings bestowed upon YOU, bv The
benebcence Of Heaven.
| We have already remarked that the
subject on whcli we address Won deserves
| particular attention on two accounts, viz.
ITS temporal &its eterna! importance. But,
as this eternal consequence must b. seen
ana acknowledged by every one who re-
| fleets at all, we shall proceed TO consider
| II only III temporal point of view, with
| that brevlty 10 which we are reluctantly
clrcumscribed.
! The population of the world nav be
| computed IN round mum beers at one thou
| sand millions of souls of whom, accord
! Ing 10 an estimate made BY the Rev. MIR.
! horne, there are, al this lime, nearly four
hundred and sixty millions Involved in
| Pagan or hIahomeian deluSion. Surely.
| the knowledge OF this fact must create, in
every phianti'ropic bosom, d train of
melancholy reflections. Whilst our own
happy country, whilst all Europe, Cur
key excepted enjoys the light OF christi
anity, more than three fourths of the peo-
| pie OF Asia, wander in darkness and groan
beneath the band of unteellns despoiism.
| For, the happiness OF every nation, is pro-
poriional 10 the degree ofnRuence, iich
| uRshackled religion has upon it and we
may, safely, we presume, estimate the
individual happiness of its people, by the
same rule. Religion, liberty, and letters
reign together but around the throne of
superstition hovers the darkness of in
te!leciual night, and on il attend, "tiiat
ravening brood of fate, who lap the
blood OF SORROW" and feast Oh human mi
| sery.
What then must be the present con-
| diilon, OF the once happy and highly ia
lored Asia 1t was there, religion first
made her appearance, and there, angels
| OH r5racIOuS errandS hent nnca daion.J
| 10 converse with man. Ii was there, the
| foundation of civilized mans present inn
proved and enlightened state was laid,
and there, the inspiration of heaven de-
| scended, on Moses and Jeremi h, on
an Isaiah and Daniel, together with the
resi- OF their brother seers. Often liz thy
| temples, y Jerusalem, was The voice of
the Son OF God heard, teaching, exhort-
ing, or reproving thy hayward people
| and thy summit, Calvary, Witnessed the
completion of that mighty scheme, which
redeemed from the ihraldom of eternal
death, fallen and lost man!
| But the harp ofDavid is now unsirune.
and the voice OF prophecy, of reproof, and
OF instruction., is heard 10 more. The
| spirit OF Minus abides, in the hearts of
the people; they iall before images, made
with their own hands, and smeared with
the blood of their children-or poison
their minds, with the delnsive doctrines
OF the impostor Mahomet. Yes, that soil,
| Is now profaned by the tread of infidc
Arabs, on which The leader of captive is
rael stood, when Omnipotence said TO
bin, put of Thy shoes from of thy feet
| for tie place wliereon thou standest, is
! holy ground"
| To Judge oftle state of society, i'm any
| country we need only enoiiirn what -