Literary cadet, and Saturday evening bulletin. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1826-1827, 1826-12-30

,ents OF all thu is sublime III human purpose, nay,
combines them in a loitier perfection than any 9TH
| e enterprise, which was ever linked with the dcs-
iinies of man To show this, will be our design
and IN pros cutting it, we shall direct your attention
20 the grandeur Of the object the lluousness ofits
execution and the nature of the means on winch
we rely iors success.
ls,. The grandeur of he object. In the most
enlarged of the terms The Field is the icOrId.
Our sign is radically TO affect the temporal and
eternal Interests Of the whole race Of man. We
surveyed this field sfatiSfcay and fnd that of
the eight hundred millions who inhabit our globe
but two hundred millions have any knowledge of
the religion Of Jesus Christ. Ofthese, we are will
ling allow that bat half his real disciples,
and that there fore there seven OF the eight hun
drel millions to whom the gospel mu't he seat.
ave have surveyed this field geographically
We have looked upon our own continent, and have
seen that with the exception of narrow strip OF
hlnly settled country, from the gull of st. Law
euce to the mouth of the Mississippi, the whole OF
ih,s new world lieih in w.ckedness. Hordes OF
ruhess sa wages roam the wilderness Of the west,
aud men almost ignorant of the spirit OF the gos
pei, are struggling for independence in the South.
"We have looked over Europe. and behold
there nation putting forth her energies IN the
cause of evnngezing the world. We have looked
Tor another such nation but it is not TO be found.
few others are beginning to awake. Most OF
them, however, yet slumber Many them
selves in need of Missionaries. Nay, we know not
nut the movement of the cause of man in Europe.
is at present retrograde. There SCENE too evident
ly coalsion formed of the powers that be, to check
the progress of moral aud iutelec.ua improvement.
and to rivet again on the human mind the mana
cles of papal superstition. God on y knows no"
soon the reaction will commence, hLh shall shake
the continent TO ts centre, thrones and scep
tres and all the insig gnia Of prescriptve authority,
like the dust Of the summers IN eshing loor, and
establish throughout the Christian world repressn-
tative governments, on the broad basis of common
sense aud halieuahle right.
.sWe have looked over Africa, and have seen.
that upon one little portion reclaimed from bruta'
| lolatry by Miss onaries the Sun Of RIGHTEOUSNESS
! has shned 1t is a land Of Goshen, where they
| have light IN their dwellings. Upon all the re
mainder of .his vast continent, there broods mo-
| raj darkness impervious as that which once Ieed
her own Egypt that prolonged and fearful night,
| when no man knew his brother
| - We have looked upon Asia, aud have seen
MS northern nutio oos though under the government
| ui Il Christian Prince, scarcely nominaly Chrls'
,ian. On the West, It IS spell boundby Ilahomme-
dan deusion. TO the South, from the Persian gull
20 the sea of Kamschatka, including also its num-
e,less islands, except where here and there, Sy'
rian Church or a Missionary station twinkles amid
the gloom, the whole oi this imn ense portion OF the
human rae, is sitting in the region aud shadow OF
death such then is the field for our exeruon.-
II oncircles the whole family 'oi man, 1t includes
every uuevangeizei being OF the species to which
W, helong. We have thus surveyed the Miss'o
| nary Acid that we may know how great Is the
! undertaking to whi..i we stand committed.
| ave have also made an estimate of the misertes
! OF tn1- woria. w. Ia. saa, how IN many places
the human mind, shackied by ignorance and enfee-
blcd by vice, has dwndicd almost to the standard
| of brute Our Indignation has kindled at hearing
| OF men, immortal as ourselves, bowing down aud
wUrshipping u wandering beggar, or paying adora
| tion to reptiles and to stones.
Not only is intellect every where under the o.
minon of idolatrv prostrated; beyond the bounda-
ries of Chrstendom, on every side the dark places
of the Garth are filled with the habitations OF cruel
| ty. We have mourned over the savage ferocly OF
| the Indians Of our western wilderness. We have
| turned to Africa, and seen almost the whole cont-
nent prey to iawless bandtt. or else 1owins down
in the most re o,tng idolatry. We have descend
ed along her coast and beheld villages burnt or de-
| populated, fields laid waste, and her people, who
have escaped destruction, naked and tamlshins, flee
10 their forests at the sight OF stranger we have
| asked What fearful visitation of Heaven has laid
these settlements in ruins What destroying pestl
ence has swept this land, consgnipg to obliv-
ion almost ITS entire population? What mean the
| smoking ruins of so many hahltations! Aud why is
yon fresh sod crimsoned and slippery with me ira
ces of recent murder We have been pointed to the
dark slave ship lowering over her coast, and have
been told that .wo hundred thousand detencoless
| Oc are duuudlis stoiSt o""yt "
their passage, or consigned for lie to captivity
more terrible than death
| We have turned to Asia, and beheld how the
| demon of her idolatry has worse than dehased' ha
bru,al lizesl the mind OF man. Every where ns des
| potism has been grievous here, with merciless I.
ranny he has exulted in the misery OF his victims
He has rent from the human heart all that was ell
deariny in the charities of liie tie mas taught The
mother to tear away the infant as IT smiled IN her
BOSOM and cast it, the shrieking prey, To conten1lns
algators. He has taught the sou to sht the iune
| raj pile and to witness unmoved the dying agonle
| of his widowed, murdered mother!
ave have looked upon all ths-and our ooJec
j.. 10 pur,iy the whole earth from these abonina
, | t,ons Our object will n have been accompiishe,
nm the ,omahawk shall he buried forever, and thu
tree of peace spread its broad branches from the Al
lan,ic to the Pacific until thousand smiling villa
res shall be reflected from the waves oil the hlssod
RI, and the distant valleys of the West echo WIZ
the song OF the reaper; till the wilderness ana TN
solitary place shall have been glad Tor us, anu I'M
desert has rejoiced and blossomed as the rose.
"Our labors are not to cease, until the last siav
ship shall have visited the coast OF Africa, anu, TN
nations of Europe and America havi.g long slnc
redressed her aggravated wrongs, Ethiopla, Iron
the Mediterranean to the Cape, shall have stretch
| ed forth her hand unto God.
How changed will then be the face Of Asia :
| Bramins and sooders aud castles and shasters wi
, have pas.ed away, like the mist which rolls up tn
mountains side before the rising glories Oi asunl
| mer. Morning, while the land ON which II resteu