Globalization of the United States, 1789-1861

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Choules, John O., and Smith, Thomas. The Origin and History of Missions; a Record of the Voyages, Travels, Labors, and Successes of the Various Missionaries, Who Have Been Sent Forth by Protestant Societies and Churches to Evangelize the Heathen.... 6th ed. Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, and Crocker and Brewster, 1842.

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John O. Choules and Thomas Smith. The Origin and History of Missions; a Record of the Voyages, Travels, Labors, and Successes of the Various Missionaries, Who Have Been Sent Forth by Protestant Societies and Churches to Evangelize the Heathen.... Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, and Crocker and Brewster, 1842. 1:Title page.

The American John Choules completed the Briton Thomas Smith’s labor in recording an ecumenical history of Protestant missionary programs emanating from both their countries.

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Friends and Followers of the Saviour!

We have taken a survey of the progress of the gospel during the last century; we have followed in its steps; we have glanced at the changes it has produced upon society, the moral beauty it has created in the wildest wilderness, and the elevation it has given to the character of man; — and what are our conclusions, but the high claims which the missionary cause prefers on all who hear the Christian name? Certainly there ought to be some proportion between the means and the endeavors of the church for the salvation of man and the extension of the Saviour’s kingdom. In the support of this holy enterprise, there must be a conformity to the active spirit which animates other associations, who, with objects infinitely inferior, let no opportunity escape which is likely to advance their interest and extend their influence. It is not our wish, by bringing forward the missionary cause, to throw other institutions into the shade: they present their claims, and they find an interest in the benevolent heart: there is no occasion for contrast, much less for disparagement. But missionary societies are invested with a peculiar sublimity; they partake of the glory and benevolence which arrayed the Redeeming God, when, with all the authority of the King in Zion, he gave the mandate, “Preach my gospel to every creature.” Like the morning sun without a cloud, they would bless every nation and people under heaven. The claims of some institutions are great, — such as the Magdalene, the Asylum for the blind, the Hospital for the diseased, and the Refuge for the destitute. They touch our feelings, they appeal to our sympathies, presenting misery at our very doors. But in relieving individual and resent distress; in listening to the supplicating cry of poverty; in affording relief to the sick, and bread to the hungry; in imparting knowledge to the ignorant, and consolation to the destitute; — are we to forget the world, and think nothing of its swarming millions, without God, — without Christ, — without Hope? Can we remain unaffected by the curse that thunders over the nations that know not God? Ought we to be unconcerned and indifferent to the scenes beyond the grave, and the unchangeable destinies of man?

Surely we need not speak of the adaptation of the gospel to the state and condition of the human race. Need we ask, From what source does the human mind perceive the absurdity of idolatry, the impurities of lust, and the injustice of oppression? Need we point to the fountain where we are purified from the cruelty and enormity of the heathen world? Need we mar the contrast between benighted nations and the lands of Christendom, where the standard of the cross has displayed its power and unfolded its glory? Would you know the necessity for the ministry of the gospel? Look abroad, and see it in the wretchedness of man. Where shall we direct your attention? To the teeming population of Asia? to the parched wilderness of Africa, and the many islands of the sea? or to the dark and far-off regions of the west? Where shall we direct your sympathies? To those parts of the earth where the Christian profession is prostituted to the basest of purposes? or where the Christian’s Christ is despised, and the Christian’s name is unknown? Oh! look abroad; behold the cruel king on the pale horse, with Hell following in his step. While we linger, he urges on his victories, and his spear is dyed in the blood of millions. Look abroad, and you perceive that, though much has been done to meliorate the condition of man, comparatively nothing is done. While the light merely touches on the coast, and glances on an island, whole continents are in the thickest darkness. Whichever way we turn the eye, the heart sickens at the prospect. Whichever way we lend an ear, we catch the complaints and moans of the wretched, and the shouts of cruelty from the dark parts of the earth.

What can relieve the miserable condition of man? What can dispel the ignorance of ages — the gross delusion that envelopes the world? What can soothe the anguish of the heart, exchange war for peace, uncleanness for purity, cruelty for love, and assimilate earth to heaven? What but the blessed gospel, which delivers from the powers of darkness, and translates into the kingdom of God’s dear Son?

What cannot the gospel do? What has it not accomplished? Where it has gone forth, it has, in the beautiful language of the prophet, turned the wilderness into a fruitful field, and the dry land into springs of water. At its voice, fallen humanity has sprung up, from the life of the brute, to an existence of intellectual greatness, from that of a worm to that of an angel; the cruel Indian, the filthy Hottentot, the sensual Otaheitan, and the oppressed Negro, have become civilized, have become Christian. Under its divine influence, charities most benevolent and extensive have arisen to the alleviation of misery and the consolation of a dying world. O blessed gospel! what a train of benefits follow in thy path! The heathen never heard among them of a society for the sick and infirm, never knew of an institution for the relief of the destitute, never thought of making strangers happy, and of teaching distant nations the way to heaven. O blessed gospel! in breaking the bonds of the negro, the chains of the slave, in giving bread to the hungry, and liberty to the captive, and consolation to the dying, thou displayest but faint emblems of thy spiritual and eternal blessings.

Then the missionary cause deserves the support of all who hear the Christian name, and are interested in the great salvation. When we look on it in all its connections, we see a convocation, not of the mean and despicable, to advance their own peculiar interests, not of the powerful and rich, to tyrannize over the weak and helpless, but an association of the great and good, of all that is excellent in the Christian church, of statesmen and legislators, of the brave warrior and the meek Christian, of the aged pastor and the ardent missionary, — an association in which the authority of the state, the wealth of the affluent, the tongue of the learned, the prayer of the poor, and the mite of the widow, are engaged to give the gospel to all the tribes and nations of the earth. Such a society of the good deserves well of all — it appeals to our common nature; and, overlooking every minor consideration, like the good Samaritan, yea, like the Son of God in his compassion to the miserable, it would save men and nations from their common ruin. Why do we speak of nations, when continents are its object, without overlooking the habitable rock — when the world is the mark of its prize, without forgetting an individual soul!

Who does not rejoice in the present day, when Christianity is putting forth her power, and claiming the earth as her own? How different the day from those which are passed, no more to return, when Christianity was hardly known in Christendom, when her worship was secularized, her habitations the temples of priestcraft and superstition, and her name put to the vilest purposes; when, in the long night of the dark ages, she could only be traced b her sighs and groans, when the caves and dens o the earth were moistened with her tears, and the dungeons and scaffolds of Europe were stained with her children’s blood! But that night of sorrow has fled; the envenomed arrow of the bigot shall no more be dipped in her blood, the torch of the persecutor shall no more light her to the stake: the Son of God has broken her captivity, has turned her mourning into joy; she has arisen from the dust, the more lovely for her tears; she has put on her beautiful garments of salvation, and, like the sun in his eastern glory, she is gone forth to enlighten and bless the earth.

The gospel has advanced in the union and exertions of its friends. The set time to favor Zion has arrived; the angel having the everlasting gospel to preach to all the nations is on his flight, and his wing shall never tire. And now shall the gospel recede? Shall it give way? Shall it now faint in the prospect of universal dominion? The superstitious may defame your object, and mock the attempt; the profligate and the vain may scandalize your motives; infidelity may sound the war-whoop, and urge on to human slaughter; yea, they may all combine to impede your advance, — but the gospel, powerful as the Son of God, cries aloud, “Silence, ye tempests; ye troubled winds, be still.” It advances! — let heathenism, and crime, and ignorance, and intolerance, tremble through all their ranks, while the gospel throws the arms of its compassion over a disordered world. At its approach the ignorance of ages gives way, the fires of persecution are extinguished, and the inquisition, with its horrid rack, tortuous pulley, and dying victim, are no more. It advances! — where is the eye that cannot see, where is the soul that cannot feel, where is the Christian’s heart that does not pant with joy at beholding the gospel rising superior to every barrier, and casting the streaming glories of salvation through the night of the heathen world? From its mild influence the ices of the North are dissolving; from its healing wing the sultry climate of the South is impregnated with the balmy breath of heaven; and from its morning light persecution and oppression are stealing away to the tiger’s haunt and the vulture’s habitation. It advances! — and we see Messiah’s kingdom coming on the earth; the nations are awaking through all the valley of Death; ere long the living army shall spring up in countless multitudes, and the anthem shall break forth, rising to the heavens as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, resounding, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah! the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”