Let us glance at that affecting fact.

I. THE MORAL STATE OF THE HEATHEN.

The field is so wide, that I shall not even attempt to give any thing like a comprehensive view a single division in a sermon would not admit of this. A few facts, however, may suffice: because, from them, the general state may easily be inferred; and because select features strike the mind more forcibly than general descriptions.

a

But, in order to make a just estimation of the horrid chamber of imagery before us, we must proceed with the lamp of Revelation in our hand. It is by this infallible light, that the dark places of the earth full of cruelty (Psalm lxxiv. 20.) are rightly apprehended. Yet, as we enter into and explore the shades, we are confounded at the facts which present themselves.

For, surely, it must astonish the enlightened

eye of a moral traveller, to observe, that, if some nations of the Heathen have made considerable advances in civilization and science, yet that their knowledge of the character of God, and of their moral wants and resources, has been but gross ignorance-that their ablest guides, professing themselves to be wise became fools (Rom. i. 22)-that their very Gods were scandalous; their worship ridiculous, cruel, and impure; and their morals abominable.

But, in taking a wider survey of the Heathen World, though such a traveller may be less surprised at finding the Sun and other celestial Luminaries the grand objects of heathen idolatry, yet how must he be shocked at beholding millions of rational creatures prostrating themselves before an Ox, a Crocodile, a Serpent, a Dog, an Ape, or some monstrous assemblage of their several forms?--yea, before Vermin, before Vegetables,* and ten thousand other fantastic representations of Deity!

Nor are the objects of Idolatry more shocking than its Rites. "The religion of the Heathen in this vast territory," writes a faithful and intelligent witness still living among them, “consists of little more than Lust and Cruelty."

要

With respect to the former of these, were I to attempt to give a particular description of the impure attributes and symbols of Pagan Deities, of the troops of prostitutes which form a part of their establishments, and of the various abominable means by which millions are held fast in their idolatrous bonds, such a description would be evidently improper, and even dangerous. Such scenes are best described by the Apostle, when he says, It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret : Eph. v. 12.

But, if we advert to the Cruelty which ido

* O sanctas gentes, quibus hæc nascuntur in hortis Numina!

Juvenal, Sat. 15.

latry mingles with its devotions, what less than a superstition worthy of Hell still keeps tribes of wretches fixed through life in tormenting attitudes, crawling under intolerable burdens, burning their scalps, piercing their flesh with hooks, like those of old, who leaped on their altars, and cut themselves with knives, crying O Baal, hear us! 1 Kings xviii. 26. Above all, what but the most diabolical infatuation could urge the Heathen to multiply human sacrifices, and bring even their innocent offspring for a burnt-offering to such a Deity as Moloch! and which murders them in incredible numbers unto this day.*

But, if the Theology of the Heathen be so gross, what can be expected from their Morality? Even where little more of Christianity is found than the name, yet so has it raised the standard of morals, that pagan licentiousness is found intolerable in Christendom. Take a late instance of this in the conduct of our neighbours, the French. This people, after making the boldest experiment in profaneness ever made by a nation, in casting off its God; and who, for a time, seriously deliberated whether there should be any God at all; who, after madly stamping on the yoke of Christ, attempted to establish order on the basis of a wild and profligate philosophy-yet

A more particular account of such superstitions was intended here, but for the sake of bryeity, the reader must be referred to note A at the conclusion.

+ See note B.

even this nation was at length obliged to bid an orator tell the abused multitude, that, under a philosophical religion, every social bond was broken in pieces; and that Christianity, or something like it, must be re-established to preserve any degree of order or decency.

And here let me remind Females, how much they owe in society to the diffusion of gospel light; and let me thereby attempt to stimulate them, to employ their influence in diffusing its healing beams.

Could you behold the cruel slavery and degradation of your sex in Heathen nations, I should scarcely need any other argument with you.

When a Missionary, in South America, was reproving a married woman of good character for following the custom of destroying female infants, she answered with tears, "I wish to God, Father, I wish to God, that my mother had by my death prevented the distresses which I endure, and have yet to endure as long as I live. Consider, Father, our deplorable condition. Our husbands go to hunt, and trouble themselves no further. We are dragged along, with one infant at the breast, and another in a basket. They return, in the evening, without any burden: we return, with the burden of our children; and, though tired with a long march, are not permitted to sleep; but must labour the whole night, in grinding maize to make chica for them. They get drunk; and, in their

drunkenness, beat us, draw us by the hair of the head, and tread us under foot. And what have we to comfort us for slavery that has no end? A young wife is brought in upon us, who is permitted to abuse us and our children because we are no longer regarded. Can human nature endure such tyranny? What kindness can we shew to our female children, equal to that of relieving them from such oppression, more bitter a thousand times than death? I say again, would to God that my mother had put me under ground the moment I was born!"

Observe, this was not a peculiar case, but a national custom. Ah! how remote from that recommended by the benevolent and sympathizing genius of that Gospel, which we would introduce among them!

Look again at another national custom, which, to this day, brings a widow, after having just closed the eyes of her husband, to be burnt to ashes at his side:-30,000 say some, 50,000 say others, of such victims perish annually in the East Indies.

You may, perhaps, be willing to hope that the moral state of the Heathen, indicated by these features, must be confined to a few remote parts of the earth. Alas! it is comparatively but a small part of the earth, where, in a greater or less degree, such superstition does not still prevail. Mahometanism has, indeed, removed some of its