We are deeply impressed with a sense of the obligation laid upon the church by her great Head to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” and the consequent claims which the various Pagan, Mohommedan [Muslim], Jewish and Papal nations of the earth have upon the church for the blessings of a pure gospel; feeling too that one of the great ends of the institution of the church was that she might in her collective organized strength, impart the knowledge of salvation to all the kindreds and peoples and tongues among men, and that so far as it has been revealed to men that there can be no salvation for the heathen without such knowledge; remembering also the many tokens of divine favor bestowed upon the efforts of Southern Christians while laboring in connection with the Presbyterian Church of the United States, and that an important portion of that work in the Providence of God had been laid upon their shoulders even before they had a distinct ecclesiastical organization of their own; and in view of the further fact that God by his providence has for some years been removing the obstacles that have heretofore prevented the introduction of the gospel among the great heathen nations of the earth, and has at the same time bestowed upon the Southern Church all the means and agents necessary for taking a large and distinguished share in the great work of evangelizing the nations…
The General Assembly desires distinctly and deliberately to inscribe on our church’s banner as she now first unfurls it to the world, in immediate connection with the Headship of her Lord, His last command: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature;” regarding this as the great end of her organization, and obedience to it as the indispensable condition of her Lord’s promised presence, and as one great comprehensive object a proper conception of whose vast magnitude and grandeur is the only thing which in connection with the love of Christ can ever sufficiently arouse her energies and develop her resources, so as to cause her to carry on with the vigor and efficiency which true fealty to her Lord demands, whose other agencies necessary to her internal growth and home prosperity. The claims of this cause ought therefore to be kept constantly before the minds of our people and pressed upon their consciences – and every minister owes it to his people and to a perishing world to give such instruction on this subject as he is able; and to this end the monthly concert [of prayer] ought to be devoutly observed by every church on the first Sabbath of each month for the purpose of missionary instruction as well as prayer, and it would be well to accompany their prayers with their offerings. To the same end the Assembly earnest enjoins upon all our ministers and ruling elders and deacons and Sabbath school teachers, and especially upon parents, particular attention to our precious youth in training them to feel a deep interest in this work, and not only to form habits of systematic benevolence, but to feel and respond to the claims of Jesus upon them for personal service in the field.