and
industry? What has been done abroad? Look at the testimony of Africa,
Asia, the Isles of the Pacific, and the wilds of America. There has been
time to carry rum to every shore. There has been time to introduce
diseases among every barbarous people, which are hurrying them to the
grave by thousands. There has been time to kidnap thousands and hundreds
of thousands of the degraded Africans. There has been time to extirpate
most of the native population of North and South America. There has been
time to wage war, till the blood of human beings has flowed in torrents.
And then, in regard to just and honorable traffic, compute, if human
arithmetic be competent to the task, the amount of merchandise brought
from India, and from other distant lands. There has been time for all
this. Now I ask with great plainness, for it is a solemn and practical
subject, Had you exhibited the same enterprise, energy and perseverance,
in making known the Gospel to all nations, as has been exhibited in
worldly pursuits, would not every human being, long ere this, have heard
the word of life? Will you not, Christian reader, look at this question,
weigh it well, and deal honestly with your own soul?

Here, I am suspicious that some may be inclined to excuse themselves
with a vague thought secretly entertained, which, if expressed, would be
somewhat as follows:

"True, we have not exhibited as much zeal in teaching all nations as has
been exhibited by the worldly, and by many of ourselves even, in the
pursuit of wealth. But we claim not the praise of a holy, self-denying
and apostolic life. We are content with an _humble_ walk in the
Christian course, and a _low_ seat in heaven. Entire consecration, in
the sense urged, is what we never _professed_."

Your standard, then, it appears is very low--too low, it may be, to
admit you even to that humble seat in the courts above which you
anticipate. You claim not the praise of an apostolic life, and I
seriously fear that you will not obtain even the testimony of being a
true Christian. But how does it appear, that you never professed an
entire consecration to Christ of all your powers of body and soul? It is
true, the conduct of some would seem to say, that they put on a form of
religion to silence their fears, to cheat themselves with a delusive
hope, and to enjoy a comfortable state of mind on earth. But what,
really, are the vows that rest upon you? What else than to seek by
prayer and effort,