these claims for
labor, look at the wide-spreading desolations of the West, where
ignorance, infidelity, and Romanism prevail, and threaten, at no very
future day, to be the overthrow of our government--the extinguishment of
our dearly-bought and precious inheritance. All our exertions must be
put forth to save our country; for the progress of light and knowledge
throughout the world depends on its existence. The overthrow of our
government would put back the dial of the moral world ten centuries. Our
own nation lost, and what would become of the heathen? when would the
millenium arrive? Our present attention must be directed to the
salvation of our own country, and our missionary exertions must be
concentrated on the West."

The excuse does not stop here; but a citizen from Great Britain would
say, "I too must speak in behalf of my country--a country whose
possessions encircle the globe. The existence and religious prosperity
of a nation whose commerce is so great, and whose dominions embrace a
large portion of the heathen world, cannot but be intimately connected
with the universal prevalence of light and peace. It is of the first
importance, that the _heart_ of such a nation should beat with a healthy
pulse; that much effort should be made to promote a high standard of
vital godliness in the universities and churches at home. But more than
this, look at the vast body of laboring men in England and Ireland, who
are living in ignorance and in sin. They call loudly for teachers and
for preachers of the Gospel, and ought to receive, for the present at
least, all we can educate and all we can support."

In reply to this excuse I would first say, Let us look a moment at the
conclusion to which we are reduced. "The United States cannot furnish
missionaries, for the present at least; far less can Great Britain; and
still less the Continent of Europe." The inevitable conclusion is, that
the present generation of heathen must be left to perish. Six hundred
millions of our race must be deliberately relinquished to endure the
agonies of eternal death. But what is the plea that so readily leaves
the millions of ignorant heathen to hopelessness and despair? "We must
go to the West." "We must direct our efforts to the laboring class of
England and Ireland." Then, I say, be consistent, and actually _do_ what
you profess. As yet, how many of the learned, the eloquent and
influential of the ministry, have become missionaries at the