Daughters of the Cross: or Womans Mission | Page 2

the church to the wild

enterprise. This council Peter addressed, and, with all the eloquence of
a man inspired by a mighty project, depicted the wrongs and grievances
of those who yearly sought, for holy purposes, the sepulchre wherein
the Savior of man reposed after his crucifixion. He was successful in
inspiring the people with his own wild enthusiasm. All Europe flew to
arms; all ranks and conditions in life united in the pious work; youthful
vigor and hoary weakness stood side by side; the cross was worn upon
the shoulder and carried on banners; the watchword, "Deus Vult," burst
from ten thousand lips; and the armies of Christendom precipitated
themselves upon the holy land with the awful war cry, "God wills it,"
echoing from rank to rank.
In later times a mightier, nobler enterprise was originated, and the great
system of American missions commenced. The object was a grand one,
and awfully important. It contemplated, not the subjection of a narrow
kingdom alone, but the complete overthrow of the dark empire of sin;
not the elevation of a human king, an earthly monarch, but the
enthronement of an insulted God, as the supreme object of human
worship; not the possession of the damp, cold sepulchre in which Jesus
reposed after his melancholy death, but the erection of his cross on
every hillside, by every sea shore, in vale and glen, in city and in
solitude. It was a noble design, one full of grandeur and glory, as far
surpassing the crusade of Peter the Hermit as the noonday sun
surpasses the dim star of evening. Its purpose was to obliterate the
awful record of human sin, flash the rays of a divine illumination
across a world of darkness, and send the electric thrill of a holy life
throughout a universe of death.
At first, the missionary enterprise was looked upon as foolish and
Utopian. Good men regarded it as utterly impracticable, and bad men
condemned and denounced it as selfish and mercenary. The Christian
church had not listened to the wail of a dying world as it echoed over
land and ocean and sounded along our shores; she had not realized the
great fact that every darkened tribe constitutes a part of the universal
brotherhood of man; her heart had not been touched by the spirit of the
great commission, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature."
But the sun which ushered in the present century dawned upon a
missionary age and a missionary church. The tide of time has floated

man down to a region of light, and the high and holy obligations which
rest upon the ransomed of God are being recognized. The question is
now asked, with deep and serious earnestness,--
"Shall we, whose souls are lighted By wisdom from on high, Shall we
to man benighted The lamp of life deny?"
And the answer has been given. The church has felt, realized, and
entered into her obligation. By the cross she has stood, her heart
beating with kindly sympathy, her cheeks bathed in tears, and her lips
vocal with prayer. The Macedonian cry has been heard, and from every
nave, and alcove, and aisle, and altar of the great temple of Christianity
has come the response,--
"Waft, waft, ye winds, the story, And you, ye waters, roll, Till, like a
sea of glory, Light spreads from pole to pole."
In the early part of the year 1808 several young men, members of the
Divinity School at Andover, became impressed with the importance of
a mission to the heathen world. They first looked on the subject at a
distance, saw its dim and shadowy outlines, prayed that their visions of
a converted world might be realized, and wondered who would go forth
the first heralds of salvation. Ere long the impression came that they
were the men; and in two years the impression had deepened into a
solemn conviction, and they had determined on a life of labor, tears,
and sacrifice.
In 1810 they made known their plans to an association of
Congregational ministers assembled in Bradford. Although that body of
holy men had many fears and some doubts concerning the success of
the enterprise, no attempt was made to dampen the ardor of the young
brethren who were resolved to undertake the vast work. Many of the
aged men composing that association thought they could discern in the
fervor and zeal of these young apostles of missions the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost. However many were their fears and doubts, they dared
not, as they loved the cross, place a single obstacle in the way of the
accomplishment of such a lofty purpose; and when the question was
asked by the sceptic, "Who is sufficient for these things?" the awful
response,