are not unjustly called atheists; i.e. without the knowledge, and consequently the belief and worship of him, who is alone Gon.'

It appears, indeed, that when Christianity first made known such a being, hostility to his character was openly avowed. Whatever the Greeks could not accomplish by the sword," says a living author, "they endeavoured to effect by force of impious language. And such was the madness, with which they were inflamed, that they proposed rewards and honours to such of their poets and sophists, as should write with most wit and elegance, in opposition to the one, true, incorruptible GOD, from whom descended to mankind the gift of eternal happiness by Jesus Christ."*

3. From facts, exhibited in this discourse, we infer the depravity of heathen morals.

In religion is implied a retribution. Some actions are approved, and will be rewarded by a Supreme Power; others are disapproved, and will be punished. But what moral qualities are those, which meet the approbation of our Creator? And what will he finally condemn? If Jehovah is the object of worship, and our supreme legislator, these inquiries are easily answered. A pure Gov must require a pure worship, and a pure morality. But can it be imagined, that a sanctified heart,—a virtuous life, is requisite to propitiate such gods and

/* Dr. IRELAND's Lectures, as reviewed in the Chris. Obs. Feb. 1811.

goddesses, as those of ancient Greece and Rome, or of modern India? Is it to be imagined, that deities, who have been the patrons and perpetrators of every crime, should require their votaries to be free from crimes? Besides, it has been shown in this discourse, that, in the temples of these deities, in the worship, which is rendered to them, the grossest immoralities are not only tolerated, but required. Can Can any rational man doubt, what must be the state of morals in nations, that have such gods, such temples, and such modes of worship? Can any reflecting man, who has learned from the testimony of eye witnesses of unquestionable veracity, what are the abominations, practised in the Hindoo worship;-that several hundred thousand men, women, and children, from places vastly remote, assemble for the purpose of joining in such worship; can any reflecting person, I ask, tell us of the high state of morals among the Hindoos, and that a people, so innocent and mild, need not have any foreign religion, not even that of the Gospel, obtruded upon their notice?

But the moral degradation of the heathen does not rest merely on inference, however legitimately made from unquestionable premises. No fact can be proved with more abundant testimony.*

4. If there is no reason to hope, that the true character and worship of GoD will ever be made

See the note at the end of this sermon.

known among the heathen, but through the medium of divine revelation, then is it most obviously our duty to communicate to them those Scriptures, in which this revelation is contained. 17 do mat

On this subject, I would briefly appeal to every rational man, to every humane man; and to every Christian.bbm dibidw gile owner-fall!

Torevery rational man Iappeal, whether there is not something revolting in the thought, that so many millions of his own species should forever remain in the most abject intellectual degradation? whether; without making any efforts to prevent it, he con sents, that these millions, with all their descendants, through countless generations, having his own shape: and nature, and, like himself, possessing rational powers, susceptible of endless improvement, should reduce themselves to the level of brutes, by actions, habits, and modes of life, in which humanity and reason are proscribed? to onde tid out to an lleg 1 I appeal to the man of humane feelings, as to the condition of those nations, whose moral character and moral principles are formed on the model of pagan abominations. Let him contemplate the security of his own life and property; the confidence of social intercourse; and the sacredness of domestic relations, and determine at what price be would exchange these for the gross, indolent, suspicious, and degraded life of a Hindoo? At what price would he consent, that a wife, a son, or a

daughter, should, at this moment, be transformed into a disciple of that religion, imbibing its sentiments and feelings, to spend the remainder of temporal existence in such society, in such habits, and in such worship?

Our next appeal shall be made to the Christian. The religious instructions, communicated to your children, is such, as you first received from the sacred Scriptures. They are taught, that God is a spirit, and that he requires a spiritual and rational service. The morality, in which they are imbued, is the morality of Jesus Christ. When they go to the place of divine worship, it is, that these sentiments may be confirmed, and wrought into the character. Suppose now, that this sanctuary were instantly converted into an Indian pagoda,—that all Christian sentiments and feelings were erased from the intellects and the hearts of your children, -that the transformation had become general in this place, and throughout the nation,-that a misshapen, hideous image of enormous size were brought forth on massy wheels, as an object of worship, that thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands of our countrymen, and, among them, your nearest connexions, were rending the air with loud vociferations, or listening, with eager attention, to songs of unhallowed import, or seeking death in the midst of idolatrous uproar;-what would you give, or rather, what would you withhold, were it in your

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power, by any sacrifice, to restore your friends, to restore your country from the effects of so dreadful a revolution?!

On this subject let us hear the language of one of our own missionaries:* "when we stand at the distance of fifteen thousand miles, and look at six hundred million of heathens, in Asia in one mass, only a general and comparatively faint impression is made on the mind. But standing, as we now do in the midst of the heathen, and seeing them groping in thick darkness, bewildered in the mazes of the most absurd and shocking fictions, that the depraved mind of man could invent, wedded to their idols, and enslaved to vice;-when we see, as we sometimes have seen, a hundred thousand of our fellow creatures at once dancing and shouting around the bloody car of Juggernaut, and prostrating themselves before that hateful demon;when we actually behold all the nameless ingredients, which go to make up that mass of corruption, guilt, and shame, comprised in idolatry; O it is enough to awaken in the heart, that can feel for the wretchedness of fallen man, every emotion of pity, indignation, grief, and burning zeal?" boon ol

In view of the subject, no person, who believes, that Jesus Christ was a teacher, sent from Gon, can deny the condition of the heathen to be such, as imperiously to demand the interposition of the

* Rev. SAMUEL NEWELL.