away our
reproach; it will cast no small lustre on his majesty's reign, and
derive a blessing from heaven on his administration, and those who live
under the influence thereof.

Men of narrow minds have a peculiar talent at objection, being never at
a loss for something to say against whatsoever is not of their own
proposing. And perhaps, it will be said in opposition to this proposal,
that if we thought ourselves capable of gaining converts to the church,
we ought to begin with infidels, papists, and dissenters of all
denominations at home, and to make proselytes of these before we think
of foreigners; and that therefore our scheme is against duty. And
further, that considering the great opposition, which is found on the
part of those who differ from us at home, no success can be expected
among savages abroad, and that therefore it is against reason and
experience.

In answer to this I say, that religion like light is imparted without
being diminished. That whatever is done abroad, can be no hindrance or
lett to the conversion of infidels or others at home. That those who
engage in this affair, imagine they will not be missed, where there is
no want of schools or clergy; but that they may be of singular service
in countries but thinly supplied with either, or altogether deprived of
both: That our colonies being of the same blood, language, and religion
with ourselves, are in effect our countrymen. But that christian
charity, not being limited by those regards, doth extend to all
mankind. And this may serve for an answer to the first point, that our
design is against duty.

To the second point I answer; That ignorance is not so incurable as
error; that you must pull down as well as build, erase as well as
imprint, in order to make proselytes at home: Whereas, the savage
Americans, if they are in a state purely natural, and unimproved by
education, they are also unincumbred with all that rubbish of
superstition and prejudice, which is the effect of a wrong one. As they
are less instructed, they are withal less conceited, and more
teachable. And not being violently attached to any false system of
their own, are so much the fitter to receive that which is true. Hence
it is evident, that success abroad ought not to be measured by that
which we observe at home, and that the inference, which was made from
the difficulty of the one to the impossibility of the other, is
altogether groundless.

It hath more the appearance