Litchfield enquirer., 1832-01-26

Committee Of the F0reign Mission Society
 cf fLitchfeId County. ... To THE BENEFAcToRs OF THE SOCIETY. Beloved Brethren and Friends,
 The unabating interest which you have long maintained in the cause of foreign mis- sions, as expressed by youEannual contri- buttons, the Executive Committee desire to acknowledge with devout gratitude to God. To see the thousand benevolent hearts which this Society has enlisted, joy fully bringing their yearly offerings to the treasury of the Lord, is a spectacle which angels may well contemplate with delight. In so doing, you have been associated in zeal and labors with the holiest men on earth, and have become co-workers with G od hiniself; for the cause which you have espoused ,has enlisted also the energies and sacrifices of Jehovah and his prophets-of Christ and his apostles.
 But while we thus commend your liber- aity, we arc frank to say, that we deem the efforts and sacrifices, hitherto made, by no means adequate to the magnitude and impertance of the object. To estimate cor re ctly the amount of service in this cause which duty requires ofus,we must not mea- sure our benefactions by the example ot those around us, or by the practice ot for mer years; but we are to compare them with the tolls and sacrifices of primitive christians in the same cause. No reason can be offered, why the same mind which was also in Christ Jesus and his apostles on this subject, should not be in christians of the present age-the same willingness to encounter toll and privation, if necessary, and become poor, that others through their poverty may be made rich. The command of our ascending Saviour, " Go preach my gospel to all nations," neglected as 1t has been for eighteen centuries past, has iost none of its obligations upon his disciples by the lapse of time. The distressing effects of sin upon world lying in wickedness' the value of the immortal soul. and the greatness of that salvation which the gos- bel provides, are the same now that they were when they called down the Son of God from heaven, to make his soul an offering for sin-the same as when apostles and martyrs encountered privatlon and death in execution of their commission.
 Why this relaxation in modern christians from the "labors more abundant" of the apostolic church2 Has the Redeemer re- faxed from his purpose of saving a lost world? Has he compromised any of his stipulated terms of discipleshp, and mode rated the service required of his followers Was it ordained that primitive christians, in their efforts to subjugate the world to Christ, should through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of heaven; while their successors might be permitted to be waited ,hither on <" "fowery beds of ease" |" riotipg on the fruits of their tolls and con- quests?
 If, among all the generations of Christs followers, any can be found on whom me obligation to carry his gospel to the heath en rests with peculiar weight, we must look for them in the present churches of Ame- rica. Enjoying privileges beyond any oth- CT nation, freed from oppressive burdens of every description, distinguished for their pecuniary and intellectual ability, and en- toying beyond any other churches on earth the gracious ef1usions of the Divine Spirit; they possess both the physical and moral resources for this enterprise in an eminent degree. Equally distinguished are the ab'- lity and privileges which fall to our inher- itance from those of our immediate ances- tors: who were harassed with successive wars (which made heavy and constant drafts upon the fruits of their industry. What more suitable expression of gratitude to God for the relief which he has kindly granted us from these endorsements, and for the overfowing abundance which his providence is now pouring into our bosoms' than the consecratiOn of our substance to him, which his missionary service requIress What better return can we mako for the infinite kindness of our atcning Saviour, whose sacrifice and mediation are the chan nel through which our every blessing hows' than to communicate to the destitute the same glad tidiaes of salvation which he has sent to us ssFreely ye have received i; freely give"
 1t is a fact which ought to be seriously pondered by every friend of the Lord Je- sus, that the churches which he has re- deemed and purified with his own precious blood, notwithstanding their awakened zeal and interest on this subject, have hitherto employed but a,small part of the resources in their possession, for the extension of their Masters kingdom. 1t becomes, ,ihere- fore, a vary solemn inquiry, how we are to answer for this delinquency, before Him, at his dread tribunal, where his glorious person, bearing the marks of his sufferings for us, will stand forth living witness of the ingratitude of those slothfnl, disciples, whn refIsed to consecratc their substance