THE GREAT COMMISSION: OR, THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH CONSTITUTED AND CHARGED TO CONVEY BY THE REV. JOHN HARRIS, D.D., President of Cheshunt College, AUTHOR OF "MAMMON," "THE GREAT TEACHER," &C. WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS. SECOND EDITION. BOSTON: GOULD, KENDALL AND LINCOLN, 59 WASHINGTON STREET. 1843. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, By GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. WEST BROOKFIELD: C. A. MIRICK AND CO.-PRINTERS. PREFATORY NOTICE BY THE ADJUDICATORS. To the mind of the Christian philanthropist, no subject can possess a deeper interest than the state and prospects of the world, in relation to the Gospel of Christ: its state-as presenting, in the middle of the nineteenth century of the Christian era, so painfully mysterious an extent of ignorance, ungodliness, and misery;-its prospects,-as assured, by the promises of the God of truth and mercy, of an approaching period of universal knowledge, love, purity, and happiness. Estimating the value of means by the value of the end to which they are subservient, the subject of Missions to the heathen, for the subversion of false religions by the diffusion and Divine power of the true, cannot fail to hold a place pre-eminently high, in the minds of all who fear God, love the Saviour, and desire the good of their race. Influenced by such convictions and feelings, "a few friends of the Missionary Enterprise in Scotland," connected with the Scottish Establishment, but modestly concealing their names, formed the purpose, between three and four years ago, of attempting the infusion of fresh spirit into the benevolent exertions of the Christian church at large, for the speedier evangelization of the world, by inviting a "friendly competition" of talent and piety, in the production of a work less ephemeral than “the many excellent sermons, tracts, and 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, came too late to admit of its being honourably adopted. 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 Essays (with 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 honourable 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, |