AID OF PROTECTORATES TO MISSIONARIES.
It has been said that missionaries from America in foreign lands needed American government influence, or an American protectorate, or something of the kind. This is denied by the Rev. James L. Barton, secretary of the American Board of Foreign Missions, who says:— "Hitherto our missionaries have gone to the ends of the earth carrying on their work, and it has never been charged upon them that they were the forerunners of the colonies to be planted, which in turn were to lead to a protectorate from the home country, if not annexation. Missionaries from England, Germany, and France have been open to these charges, and thereby their influence has been greatly narrowed and their efforts misinterpreted, while our own missionaries have been entirely unhampered." The true missionary of Jesus Christ represents no earthly country or government. He is an ambassador for Christ and of heaven, and as such has no business to entangle himself with any earthly powers. If he would stand free in God alone, he would not have to apologize continually for the unchristian things done by falsely called "Christian" nations. The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal principle that man's relation with his God is above human legislation, and his rights of conscience inalienable. Reasoning was not necessary to establish this truth; we are conscious of it in our own bosoms. It is this consciousness which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many martyrs in tortures and in flames. They felt that their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn principle which nothing can eradicate. The bigot, in the pride of his authority, may lose sight of it; but, strip him of his power, prescribe a faith to him which his conscience rejects, threaten him in turn with the dungeon and the fagot, and the spirit which God has implanted in him rises up in rebellion, and defies you.—Report of House of Representatives, 1830. Every religious sect, however meek in its origin, commenced the work of persecution as soon as it acquired political power.—Report of House of Representatives, 1830.