Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-04-03

In the Mission churches-that slave-masters
are in the churches among the Cherokees and
Choctaws, Oppressive rulers in those at
the Sandwich Islands, and sproud Hrah-
Minis in those of India. all welcomed and
cherished as "children of the great household
OF God! And, as if this were not sufficient,
II Is now a matter of official chnCratulation,
that in the separation from it of all questions
OF morals, as matters of direct attention and
Injunction, and especially of thosa questions
that relate to the subjects in immediate con-
sideration, ''there has been a great advance
made in defining tho nature of the missionary
work, and in guarding its spiritual Character
THE BOARDS POSITION AND METHODS IN RE-
GARD TO IDoLArRY.
Nor, however strange all this nav seem.
in its distinct development to the churches,
Is lseither new, or confined to even these linn
It's, SO far as the present Directors of the mis-
sionary work, in the case Of the Board, are
concerned. The same principle and policy
nave been e%njoined by the Prudential Com
t%tllt'ee, and acted upon by the missionaries in
me Mediterranean for years, in respect to
Idoiatry Itself, as 1t prevails in the nominallv
christian oriental churches. Toward the close
OF 1888, the Rev. Cyrus Hamlln was set
apart as a missionary Of the Board to the Mes
torlans. In the instructions given him by the
Prudential Committee on that occasion, :. the
objects Of the missions to the oriental church
es and the means Of prosecuting them" were
distinctly set forth. Respecting these the
committee said, (Her. vol. 35, p. 41):-
Our object is not to subvert them: not TO
pull down and build up anew. 1t is 10 re-
form them; to revive among them, as has
been said, tho knowledge and spirit of the
Gospel. We are content that their present
ecclesiastical organization should remain. pro-
vlded the knowledge and spirit of the Gospel
can be revived under it. 1t may also be said
OF the rites and ceremonies Of those sects, that
they are mere out8orks, which it is not me-
cessary to remove before you come to the cit
adel; and an assault upon them will awaken
more alarm, more fierce hostility, more gene
raj and decided opposition, than upon the cit
adel itself. Direct your whole force TO the
principal post, and when that is taken the
others will tall at once"
In the course Of 1889, other missionaries
called 10 the eastern churches. To these
(Her. vol. IS, p. 363) the Committee also
said =
"Let the gospel be your grand theme; and
see that it be notlost sight of by those among
whom you labor. Yea, the GOSPEL, and no
discussions about feasts and fasts, about rites
and ceremonies, about the thousand modes
and forms Of religious observance, which the
people among whom you go have substituted
Jor me gospel; though these discussions have
Their place and importance, and will OCCASION
ally be forced upon you"
Similar instructions have been repeatedlv
given, and extracts from them might be quoted
at almost any length, to show that whatever
else the missionaries might do, they were not
directly to reProve or oppose the superstitions
and idolatries Of these churches. And these
instructions have been given to guide the mis-
sion to the Greek church, no less than that
to the HISTORIAN. And accordingly, the mis-
e%ionaries declare, that in their intercourse with
the members If the Greek church, g they Stu
di2usly avoid all collision with the rites and
ceremonies Of the church," Yet, as the Com
mittee allow, these are every where res ted
upon by their drluded ~vntaries as "a substi-
tute for the gospel" OF one Of them, wit
messed in the same 1889, the Scotch Deputa-
ton that then visited the East. say:-''H was
altogether a scene of the grossest iioi1h a."
And as every one, at all familiar with them
knows, they are throughout essentially super
siitious or idolatrous. In January, 1874, after
he had been driven from his position among
the HISTORIANS to Constan,inopIe, and after i,
had been decided to abandon the mission to
the Greek Church, the Rev. Cyrus Hamlin
himself, to whom a part of the above @instruc-
tons were given, wrote 10 the New York
Evangelist as follows:
at is believed and maintained by many
Protestant Christians, that the Greek church
is SO far orthodox in faith and practice, as to
entitle her to the communion and fellowship
of protestant churches, and that there is no
thing to which We need make objections in
her forms, provided they be animated with
spiritual life"
This, it will be observed, is the precise doc
trine Of the Board in the foregoing ins.ruc-
tons. In regard to it, Mr.. Hamlin proceeds:
Zone of the grand iaoL1iries of this church
having just come off with great echf, at seve-
raj places near the capitol, | send you a de-
scription of it as one Of the demonstrations
almost daily occurring, of the falseness of this
sentiment"
The scene was, what is termed I" the Bap-
tism of Christ" Having described it and
its connected superstitions, Mr.. Hamlin far
Their says:-
"The catechism universally received bv
the church-the national catechism of Greece
teaches the obligation of paying homage to
the images Of the immaculate mother of God,
and 10 the saints, and to acknowledge their
power of intercession, and of working mira
oles. 1t is but a short time since one of the
Greek churches of this vicinity had a cross
made from a horn Of a cow That .uas stabbed
in the manger ohere Christ rGs born. II pos
ssssed Tho power of healing all diseases, and