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an object then desired as the result of missionary labor which is not now desirable. In other words, it must be shown that the former and latter missionaries have not an identity of office, a similarity of obstacles to combat, and a oneness of purpose. Let the affirmative of either of these propositions be satisfactorily sustained, and the wisdom of a different plan from that pencilled on the pages of the New Testament may be more apparent. If these cannot be sustained, we of course shall do well at least to try the experiment of the plan that Christ saw fit to give the church, before his departure from earth.

Were not, therefore, the Apostles and the Seventy, missionaries; in the true sense of that term?

It were, perhaps, trenching upon clerical ground for a lay writer to venture upon the exegesis of biblical terms and we shall not undertake it. But we have been taught that the word apostle signifies one that is sent. The fact, that the Twelve were sent abroad to publish the glad things of salvation, gave them the very title by which they are known in history. And although there has been supposed to be a marked difference in the purpose for which the Seventy were appointed, it cannot well be denied that they also were missionaries of the infant church. These two classes were the men upon whom the work of missions was placed by the Saviour. They differed from bishops, pastors, and teachers, whose offices were created after the faith had spread, and churches had been organized. They stand in marked distinctness upon the history of their times, as the bearers of the great news of salvation to different and distant people. So obvious are the points of resemblance, that we may con

clude they were, to the infant church, what is now designed to be embodied in the work of a modern missionary; and that, so far as identity of office is concerned, the eighty-two commissioned by Jesus Christ, and a foreign missionary of our own times, stand in the same relation to the church.

It is true, that the eighty-two were clothed with powers denied to the latter; such as the ability to work miracles, and, in some instances, to write with the pen of inspiration. But, apart from these qualifications, which were needed only in the infancy of the new dispensation,— there are clear proofs, we think, of the position just assumed. This, then, is an argument, well worthy a candid examination, in favor of now following the general plan marked out by Divine wisdom for the early messengers of salvation.

Secondly. Are the circumstances attending the labors of the former and latter missionary so obviously different, as to justify a departure from the course selected by the Saviour. Or, at least, ought we not to make trial of that plan, if a similarity of obstacles can be proved to exist?

This is an important matter for consideration; and the general opinion that "circumstances are different," should be temporarily dismissed from the mind, that it may receive a fair, unbiassed examination.

It will be remembered that results, the most signal and important to the cause of truth, followed the labors of the first missionaries; and in the efforts of Gutzlaff and others in our own day, who have measurably followed the course they pursued, we have evidence that the same causes produce the same effects. Facts of the most in

teresting nature, proving the tendency of a judicious use of medical skill, are reserved until a subsequent chapter.

Let us now notice some of the leading points of resemblance between the circumstances which met the foreign missionary in former times, and those which attach to the field of labor in the present day.

In the first place, the same general features of depravity are presented. The moral anatomy of man, like that of his physical organization, is the same in all ages and in all countries. The same tendencies and impulses every where exist; modified, of course, by the various extraneous influences and accidents of education, custom, and relations. Selfishness, anger, revenge, pride, lust, love of power; forgetfulness of God, and the like, are the spontaneous products of the heart, whether of the savage or the philosopher, of the degraded Caffre or the polished nobleman, of the Araucanian that treads in lofty daring the summit of the Andes, or the effeminate fop of St. James's. It is like the identity of species, which the anatomist finds when there is laid upon the dissecting table the delicate babe of yesterday, or the muscular form of the veteran sailor.

Different phases of the general laws of the heart may appear, but intrinsically they are the same; and have been so since the defection of our first parents. This, then, is the main feature of similarity in the case before us.

Without entering into the matter, in detail, it may be added, that the same laws of mental philosophy exist now as in former times, rendering the mind susceptible of influence from the same class of arguments. The

mental constitution has undergone no perceptible change. This fact is important, and should be borne in mind as we proceed.

As we pass to a more minute examination under this head, we may notice, secondly, that, to both classes of missionaries one of the most formidable of the difficulties presented is that of a corrupt priesthood. In the Saviour's time, we find the principal opposition to the gospel coming from the "chief priests" and rulers. As has been well referred to by a recent writer, "the common people heard him gladly." They saw in his religion that which commended it to their common sense. It bore upon its fore-front the broad and beautiful signet-mark of heaven. Wherever it made its way, blessings rich and free were scattered all around with a Divine exuberance. But the influence of those who wore broad phylacteries, and who fasted with an austere scrupulousness, while with a heart as foul as hell they sought personal advancement, would be trenched upon if the Apostles prevailed. These were the religious teachers of that age. And, as might have been expected-and in fact was foretold in prophecy-they kindled the fiercest fires of opposition. Their hands mingled the ingredients of the bitterest chalice that was put to the lips of the blessed Master, and his unoffending missionaries. All other influence combined as compared with theirs, weighed not a feather against the cause of Jesus!

It is unnecessary to speak particularly of the difficulties of the kind alluded to, which came upon the first missionaries from those who ministered in the rites of

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ganism. These are familiar to every intelligent mind, and the mention of them might be tedious to the reader.

Now, in these particulars we may see a counterpart of a class of difficulties-and one of the most appalling too→→ under which the modern missionary labors. Go where we may, in heathen nations, and with scarcely an exception the world over, we find a corrupt priesthood bloating itself upon the people and fastening to them with the fangs of a serpent. They hold absolute empire over thought, from the king to the beggar; and the fountain head of true knowledge, whether sacred or profane, is poisoned by them. With all pagan governments they have intertwined their doctrines, until the arrangements of political economy, and the codes of jurisprudence feel their withering influence. Not a palm-thatched cottage lifts its head by the way, but its inmates feel their iron hand, in one form or another. The road-side is strewn with the blanched bones of wretched pilgrims, induced by them to wander wearily to a far distant idol; but who have sunk beneath the accumulated weight of remorse, poverty, disease, and fatigue. So numerous has this army of false teachers become, and so artfully have their systems been managed, that, in many nations they hold a commanding and paramount influence !

It may be affirmed, we repeat, that in the particular just considered, the former and latter missionaries have the same, with which to contend.

A third point of similarity is observable in the extreme seeming inadequacy of the means of each, to effect any sensible change upon the nations.

How insignificant to human view was that little band of

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