pamphlets, which, during the last forty years, have appeared on the subject of missions to the heathen." With this view, these unknown philanthropists offered a prize of Two HUNDRED GUINEAS for the best, and another prize of FIFTY GUINEAS for the second best, Essay on THE DUTY, PRIVILEGE, AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF CHRISTIANS TO SEND THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION TO THE UNENlightened Nations of the EARTH. The competition was understood to be confined within the limits of the United Kingdom. The extension of it to America was subsequently suggested; but the suggestion, by whatever considerations recommended, caine too late to admit of its being honorably adopted. - The Essays (with The proposals issued were commended to public notice and Christian interest by the signatures of three eminent ministers of the Established Church of Scotland- of whom one has since gone hence to receive the reward of a faithful servant- the Rev. Dr. Chalmers, the late Rev. Dr. M'Gill, and the Rev. Dr. Duff. the usual precautions for the concealment of the writers' names) were to be submitted to the examination of five adjudicators, selected, on a principle of honorable liberality, from those bodies of Christians with which stood associated the principal Missionary Institutions, the two Established Churches of Scotland and England, the Wesleyan Methodists, the Independents, and the Baptists. Forty-two Essays were received, differing very widely indeed in character and claims, from some of an inferior order, rising through higher degrees in the scale of merit, to a considerable number of sterling excellence. Between several of these the Adjudicators found no little difficulty in coming to a decision; nor did they ultimately arrive at perfect unanimity. The Essay which is now presented to the public, the production of the Rev. Dr. JOHN HARRIS, of Cheshunt College, was, after hesitation and correspondence, placed first by four Adjudicators out of the five; and, by the same majority, the second place was assigned to the Essay which has found for its claimant the Rev RICHARD WINTER HAMILTON, of Leeds. 1 By one of the Adjudicators the first place was given to a different Essay from either of these; which also, in the judgment of more than one of the rest, competed strongly for the second, as a treatise of great excellence. In these circumstances, the Committee, desirous to give the cause every possible advantage, resolved on offering a distinct premium to its author, — subsequently discovered to be the Rev. JOHN MacFarlane, minister of the parish of Collessie, Fife; and, under their sanction, with the generous concurrence of the two successful competitors, and with the recommendation of such of the Adjudicators as felt themselves at liberty to give it, this Essay too will be published. - The Adjudicators, influenced in their decision by the sentiment, arrangement, style, and comprehensiveness of the Essays, and by their general adaptation to the avowed object of the projectors of the prize, have given that decision in foro conscientiæ; and they now leave it, so far as opportunity for judgment is afforded, to the tribunal of public opinion. They consider it necessary, at the same time, to add, that having selected the Essays which appeared to them the best, they are by no means to be understood as, either collectively or individually, testifying approval of every view of opinion of their respective Authors. An apology is due, especially to the Essayists, for the long, and what to them must have been the somewhat vexatious delay on the part of the Adjudicators, in delivering their decision. Such apology they deem it sufficient thus to offer, on behalf of themselves, and of the Committee, without attempting any detail of explanation, how satisfactory soever such detail might be rendered. It now only remains that they breathe a united and fervent prayer for the success of this endeavor to advance the glory of God, and the happiness and salvation of men; a prayer in which they invite their fellow-Christians of every denomination to join,—that the present Essay, as well as such others as may pass through the press, may, under the providence of the Divine Head of the Church, contribute to the further excitement of his people's zeal in this highest and best of causes; and so may accelerate the arrival of that happy period, when his own gracious and faithful assurance, confirmed with his oath, and pregnant with so vast an amount of blessing to mankind, shall obtain its full realization, —“As surely as I live, all the earth shall be filled with my glory." Dand Welsh Jaber Bunting. Tho! I. Crisp. PREFACE. If the writer may be allowed to engage the attention of his readers for a moment before they enter on the perusal of the following pages, his only aim in so doing will be to facilitate that perusal. Of course, his first object in preparing this Essay has been to comply with the requirements of the advertisement, which has, indirectly at least, occasioned its existence. His compliance with these, however, has not prevented him from aiming at a point higher still; rather, it has formed the proper and natural ascent to it. That aim, he trusts, has imprinted its character, more or less visibly, on every portion of his work. He would briefly describe it as threefold and endeavor to show that the church of Christ is aggressive and missionary in its very constitution and design: its "field is the world;" that it is to look on the whole of this field as one; not regarding the claims of any particular portion as inimical to the interests of any other; but viewing the divine command which obliges it to seek the salvation of any one individual, or the evangelization of any one country, as binding it to attempt the recovery of the whole world; but that, in order to the accomplishment of this high design, more is necessary than mere ac tivity; that the entire consecration of all its resources is, for obvious reasons, made indispensable to success. With this view, he has attempted to fill up the following outline. In the First Part, consisting of three chapters, his object has been to state and explain the Scripture theory of Christian instrumentality; to show, by a general examination of the Word of God, that this theory is there prescribed and made imperative; and that the same divine authority predicts and promises its triumph in the conversion of the world. Thus, if the first chapter states the plan by which all the holy influences of the past should have been collected, multiplied, and combined, the Second exhibits and enforces the obligation of the present to that entire consecration which the plan supposes; and the Third engages that such consecration shall certainly issue in the future and universal erection of the kingdom of Christ. Having thus, in the First Part, viewed the Missionary Enterprise, generally, in its relations to the Word of God, the writer has proceeded, in the Second Part, to exhibit the benefits arising from Christian Missions, with the view of still further illustrating and enforcing their claims. This he has done in four chapters; the first of which contains an historical sketch of the diffusion of Christianity, and of the rise and progress of Modern Missions, with a statistical summary of their present state;* the Second enumerates * Perhaps the reader, unacquainted with the fact, ought to be informed that the "Evidence on the Aborigines," which is frequently appealed to in this part of the work, was given before a committee of the House of Commons, by the secretaries of the Church Missionary Society, the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and London Missionary Society, and by other competent witnesses. |