means of correcting and elevating their views of our char acter. Numerous and substantial services have accrued to the European from this source, especially in the islands of the Pacific. The single illustration we shall cite, however, has its scene in semi-civilized India. "Do not send to me any of your agents," said Hyder Ali, in his messages to the council at Madras, "for I do not trust their words or treaties; but, if you wish me to listen to your proposals, send to me the missionary Swartz, of whose character I hear so much from every one— him I will receive and trust." And in his letter to the Marquis Cornwallis, General Fullarton writes, "On our second march, we were visited by the Rev. Mr. Swartz, whom your lordship and the Board requested to proceed to Seringapatam, as a faithful mediator between Tippoo and the commissioners. The knowledge and integrity of this irreproachable missionary have retrieved the character of Europeans from imputations of general depravity.” * 4. To a very considerable extent, Christian missions have been instrumental also in the preservation of European life. On the capitulation of Cuddalore, in 1782, the influence and efforts of Gericke were the means of saving numbers from the fangs of Hyder, and from all the accumulated miseries which he heaped on his victims.† "When Bishop Johannes de Watteville was on a visitation of the negro congregations in the Danish West India Islands, the governor pointed to the church of the missionaries, and remarked, that it was the principal fortress, and considered by him as the great safeguard of the island. He added, that before it was built, he had not ventured to sleep a night out of the fortress on his plantation; but now he had no fear; for even if there was a conspiracy among the slaves, the Christian slaves were sure to hear of and to discover it." ‡ But on this important though incidental service rendered by Christian missions, the "Evidence on the Aborigines' abounds with illustrations. When, in consequence of unprovoked injuries inflicted by whalers and others, the natives have determined to seize, in blind retaliation, on the next European vessel that touches their shores, the missionary has often succeeded in dissuading them from the execution of * See Gutzlaff on this subject, Voyages, p. 58. Smit. and Choules's History of Missions, vol. i. p. 31. their fatal purpose.* Disputes, which could have ended only in personal conflicts between European crews and native tribes, have been terminated amicably by missionary mediation.† And even when a conflict of mutual destruction has actually occurred, the missionary station — as in the late insurrection of the Caffres has been a city of refuge to the fugitive European. Not only were their own lives saved, but, owing to the influence which they possessed, they were the means of preserving several of the traders. 5. This reminds us that commerce itself is under no small obligations to missionary influence. In vain were all the attempts of the colonial government to establish a commercial intercourse with the Caffre tribes, until the Christian missionary had gained a footing amongst them. But not only does he now form a connecting link in the chain of civilization between the colonies and the Caffres and other tribes,|| - by the introduction of the plough, he is likely to be the means of turning the attention of the aborigines from pastoral to agricultural pursuits; in consequence of which their cattle will no longer prove a source of irritation and conflict with the frontier colonists, and a much narrower compass of land will be sufficient for their comfortable support.** New Zealand is unquestionably the key to India, on the one hand, as the Cape of Good Hope is on the other. And if, as events increasingly indicate, a wise policy should require. our government to enter into a friendly treaty with that country, the measure would be greatly facilitated, if not entirely owing, to the favorable predisposition created in our behalf by missionary influence.tt Up to a very recent period the South Sea Islands were, in a commercial point of view, a complete blank; but now they are made to contribute to our wants, and to take off our manufactures, to a considerable extent.‡‡ Sugar is cultivated, and taken in native-built vessels to the colony of New South Wales; SS and more arrow-root has been brought fro thence to England in one year, than had been imported for nearly twenty previous years. Between two and three * Evidence on the Aborigines, pp. 47, 48, 285. Idem, p. 207. Idem, p. 344. ** § Idem, p. 339. Idem, p. 93. tt Idem, p. 85. || Idem, p. 346. ¶ Idem, p. 155. Idem, p. 314; and Howitt's Colonization and Christianity, pp. 440, 441. §§ Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 179. Idem, p. 180 hundred thousand of the natives are now wearing European clothing, and using European implements and articles, who a few years ago knew nothing of our manufactures.* 6. The shipping of our country, too, derives as much advantage from Christian missions as its commerce. This will appear, if it be recollected that intercourse between Europeans and the untaught islanders of the Pacific is always dangerous, and has often proved fatal. The adventurous Magellan fell at the Ladrone Islands; Captain Cook was barbarously murdered at the Sandwich group; the ship Venus was taken at Tahiti; M. de Langle and his companions were killed at the Samoas; the Port au Prince was seized at Lefuga; and the crew of the Boyd were massacred at New Zealand. And now, at all these islands, with the exception of the Ladrones, there are missionary stations, where between two and three hundred vessels annually resort; the crews of which look forward with delight to the hour when the anchor shall be dropped in the tranquil lagoon, and they shall find a generous welcome and a temporary home. Here, at the smallest possible expense, the captains can obtain a supply of fresh meat and provisions, refit their vessels, and recruit their crews.t Formerly, also, when a wreck occurred, the natives hastened to plunder and murder, or reserved those who escaped from the sea for sacrifices. Witness the unhappy sufferers of the Charles Eaton, and the still more recent massacre of Captain Fraser and his crew on the coast of New Holland. But now, wherever Christianity has been introduced, the occurrence of a wreck is the signal for the exercise of the kindest feelings towards the sufferers themselves, and of the greatest zeal for the protection of their property. The Falcon, the Sir Charles Price, and several other vessels, have been cast away at or near such stations; and not only have the captains and others attested that "not a nail was lost," and that all the attention was given to their personal comfort which kindness could bestow, but thousands of pounds have been transmitted to England and America as the proceeds arising from the sale of property saved on such occasions by native activity and zeal. Thus many a Christian * Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 311. t Williams's Missionary Enterprises, pp. 584, 585. Evidence on the Aborigines, p. 183; and Williams's speech beore the Common Council. missionary is, in effect, a British consul of the most unexpensive and efficient kind; and his congregation a society for the protection of British lives and property. While the missionary enterprise itself, by finding new havens at the antipodes for our fleets, opening new channels for our commerce, and every where multiplying the friends of our country, is eminently conducive to the prosperity of its temporal in terests. Such, we repeat, is the imposing magnitude to which this class of its results has now attained, that men who care not for any other or higher benefit, acknowledge that this alone would amply repay the efforts by which it has been gained. But though the benefits we have now specified possess all the importance attached to them; and though they are among the first to catch the eye in a survey like the present, we conceive that there are others of the same class of greater moment still. In closing our estimate of the temporal good accruing to the heathens from Christian missions, we remarked on the surpassing value of the services which they have rendered to negro emancipation, and to general colonization. And in concluding this brief account of their reflex temporal effects on ourselves, we cannot but avow our belief that their chief national value will hereafter be found to have consisted in the influence which they have shed on the same great objects. The full and distinct proof of this would doubtless require a large induction of historical facts. We will only ask, however, Where now are the possessions of that kingdom, whose armies and governors, with savage cruelty, exterminated the Caribs, the Mexicans, and the children of the sun? In whose hands are the Floridas, Mexico, Darien, Terra Firma, Buenos Ayres, Paraguay, Chili, Peru, and California? But if there be any truth in the doctrine of divine retribution, or any thing fearful in the divine displeasure, then every one admitting the guilt of slavery and the criminal spirit of our colonial conduct, will instantly grant that the missionary enterprise, by powerfully tending to abolish the former, and to ameliorate the latter, has instrumentally averted a great national curse, and has proved a proportionate national blessing. The magnitude of the blessing, indeed, is unknown; for its moral influence will continue to extend through every coming generation of mankind, and its value to increase with every moment of time. SECTION II. THE REFLEX SPIRITUAL BENEFITS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. Before the distant regions of the earth are likely to be turned to the knowledge of the truth, says Douglas in his Advancement of Society, England herself will be evangelized in the act of evangelizing other nations. Whatever may be thought of this remark, we would venture to ask, if the sole object of Christian activity within the last fifty years had been the advancement of religion in our own land, in what other way could it have been better promoted than it has been by sending the gospel abroad? In other words, had the same amount of money and effort which the missionary object has absorbed, been devoted to the diffusion of the gospel at home, is there any reason to believe that our country would have reaped greater spiritual benefit than it is now enjoying by the reflex influence of Christian missions? The particulars following will furnish materials for a correct reply. 1. It is not for us to say at what moment, or in what mind, the heavenly purpose arose which God has graciously made the occasion of modern missionary instrumentality. Even were the circumstances submitted to our investigation, they would probably present a web of mutual influence far too complicated for us to unravel. To the eye of God, however, such a mind, and such a moment, are doubtless present. The conception of the purpose was an era in the history of the Christian church, comparable only with the Reformation itself. And not less eventful to the moral condition of the world at large was the moment which saw its birth, than the hour in which Columbus determined to give a new world to the old, to their temporal concerns. And here, be it remarked, that He who hath made it "more blessed to give than to receive," began to bless the giver even before he could begin to impart; in the very act of intending and arranging to give. The mere announcement of the project was a blessing. If only by helping to break up the monotony which extensively prevailed in the religious services and topics of the day, it rendered a service to the church, which those who are accustomed to the variety of the present time can scarcely estimate. |