The Litchfield County post., 1829-01-22
CIRCULAR

-. .r-.Egs
 CIRCULAR
 Ofthc Foreign Mission isoeiety ot L;tch-
 field County.
 BELOVED PATRONS,
 There are few topics of thought more full of interest than that which is present. ed in the enterprise in which this Society is engaged. Whether we regard ;he state of mind from which it springs, and the ai- fcctions which it chershes; the al dances of holy minds which it forms the magni- tude of its object; the new moral energies it creates, and the expansion and applica- ton which it gives them ;-the influence which its vigorous prosecution eXcrts upon the churches d, home, and the sal vatIon 1t spreads abroad ;-thc certainty of its sue cess, or the splcndour of its ultimate re- suits, the missionary enterprise affords one of the richest and happiest hjeclS oteon- temptation within tue range ot lhought.- The more this subject, in all its legitimate bearings, is studied by holy minds, with 1 the deeper, and more delightful interest will these occasions be regarded, which call for active co-opera,ion in the work of spreading through the nations the knowl- edge of God. Such an occasion is our anniversary.
 In view of this anniversary, it is gratc- ful to know that the Missions of the Board to which we arc auxiliary, although some of them have been called to encounter opposition of most unholy character; and some have been visited with bereaVe- ment; and one of ,hem is partially and temporarily suspended in its operations, are still sustained, and are prosecuting the great work of bringing the heathcn to Christ, with vigor and success.
 The developemcnt olthe success of mis- sionary exertions must necessarily be slow in its progress: Too slow, we fear, for the patience of some very ardent minds. But it should never be forgotten, that the work is great and difficult; that it is to be applied to minds--to heathen minus, shrouded in darkness, in love with sin and enslaved by superstition and that it has always been more or less embarrassed by the scantiness of means of employing an adequate number of laborers. When these considerations are taken into view, we shall find much more occasion for aston- isbment at what has actually been achiev- cd by missionary exertion, than for won der at the fact that there still remains so much land to be possessed.
 Nineteen years have elapsed since the organization of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and already they have fourteen Missions, em- bracing about forty stations, thinly scatter ed over a vast extent of heathen territory, under their care. These are so many ra- diating points, from which, we trust, there will continually shine forth broader and stronger light, which from Ccylon, gleam- ing along up the Malabar coast, and pene- trating far into the interior, will soon min gle it's beams with those of Bombay and Surat :-and still spreading onward, shall consume by its brightness the deiusIons ot the False Prophet, and the imposluies oi l Roman Catholicism of Western Asia ;- and then, still passing wi'h augmented strength, westward, shall pour ifs radiance on bleeding Greece and Southern Europe, and send its beams across the ocean to mjuple with those of BraiDard &o Dwight; and thus cnward still, till the Islands of the Pacific shall rejoice in i's cii'nlgencc; and still onward, till t shall form one broad belt of glory encircling the globe. From most of these stations, have convcr- ted hca,hen already gone to heaven, to witness there, the power of the gospel oi Christ to bring the heather to God. Up- on many of them has the blessing ot the Lord of missions descended, multiplying converts to Christ as the drops of the morning; raising up witnesses on earth, and fixing the broad seal of heaven 10 the truth, that the gospel" dispensed by tbe hands of missionaries, "is the wisdoy' oi God, and the power of God unto saliva tion." Slow as has necessarily been the progress of missionary success, certainly much has been accomplished. Let any 1 candid inquirer compare the results oi mis" sionary labor, with the amount ot means