Foreign Mission Journal, December 1882

FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL. Published Monthly by tlio Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. “ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. GO YE, THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS.” Vol. 14 — New Series. {Entered nt the Foft-Ofllee at IUchmomi, Vn., ne eecoiul-claes matter.) Foreign Mission Journal RATKS PER ANNUM: One copy, scjiarnlely foldetl mid nddreased . f 50 Three copies, addressed to one . . 1 со Теи copies, addiessed loone person . . 300 Гог l у copies, addressed to one person . 10 00 One hundred copies, uddiesscd l«> one person . ao 00 Ж D* I lease remit by Draft, Postal Order, or in Кеш?* tcred better, and notify us I’ROMI'N.y of any change in address. Address, FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL. К ten mom», Va. FOREIGN MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHEHN OAPTIST CONVENTION, I.OCATBD AT HHHIMOND. VinaiKIA. I’iiemdkxt-sT Г,. M. CUItHY. Vlf'B-I*HE8inEMTH.— Illrinn Wm»U. A I Гл С к ■ .It, T,n., J. I.. llurrowe. Vn . Г I'. lllMiun. Flu.. О V. Оп'к'огу, N. (J., lioln'ft Ilylnml. Ky,. .1. J. I» Hen* fro,-, Alnlmina. II. s, liiincrut, Mn. II. \V I'lrkiul. T.in., W. I,. Kllpnlrlrk Uii.. (Пт*. Manly, S. ()., Mall, lllllamtin. T.nn . W. I). Ma) Held. Ark., Georg. WMtfl.ld, Allas., M. Klllson. W. \ a. OonUUSTOUDINII SECIIETAI1Y— И. Л. TUI'I'EK. Til к Anvil к ll — .Г. О. WILLIAMS. IltcoiiDimi Яепштапу— W. ii. OWATHMEY ADDITOn — JOSKl'II F. IIOTTHI'.I.L Поаппог M АМАН кия,— J. II, Hawthorne, J. II. Wat* Но». II 4. I'.Ilyson. W. E. Handier, E. Wortham. W. I). Thomas, W. tlodilln, II. II. Harris, J. Pollard, Jr., J, W. Jones. Л. II. Ulurke, J H Wlneton, J. II. Hut¬ son, U II. Winston, S. (I. Olopton. gSfAll eommunciatinns in reference I о the business of this Hoard should he addressed to H. Л. Tui'l'KK, Corresponding Secretary , Richmond, Va. 16УО11Г mailing books are cumbered with several hundred names of brethren who have not paid for the papers mailed to them. Some of them, as we accidently find out now and then, have moved, some are dead, some tlo not care to read the Journal any more. All these we wish to strikeolf Some others, we hope many, tlo appreciate it anti pay for it in working for the cause in their congre¬ gations. To these we are more than willing to continue tile paper, ami will gladly do so if they will tlrop us forthwith a postal slating their desire. Unless we hear from them promptly, however, they need not expect the paper to be continued. "ALL THE NATIONS." Tiie Mount of Olives affords one of the finest views to be bad in Palestine. East¬ ward are seen the green line of the Jordan Valley, a little part of the deep-sunken Dead Sea, and beyond these the azure hills of Baslian and Gilead, and the gray mountains ol Moal). Southward the eye sweeps over the historic hill country of Judah, the rugged land of the sons of Anak, of David, of ludas Maccabacus, and of John the Baptist. West¬ ward the spectator looks down upon the re¬ ligious centre of the world, the mountain- girt Jerusalem, surveys the leveled top of Mo¬ riah, scans the hill of Zion, and searches for tiie unknown knoll called Calvary. Turn¬ ing to tiie right, he marks the towering Miz- pah, then lofty Shiloh, and away up north¬ ward lie sees, sharply outlined in the clear air, tiie mountains of Ephraim, the fast¬ nesses of Samaria. Such were the impres¬ sive surroundings In which the risen I.ord said to His disciples, "Ye shall be my wit¬ nesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth;" and commissioned them to "preach repentance and remission of sins in His name unto all tiie nations.” He had opened their mind that they might under¬ stand the scriptures, He would now enlarge their sympathies to embrace the world. There was a breadtli of meaning in the Master’s words which even His most favored auditors were slow to learn. They tarried at Jerusalem till persecution scattered them "throughout tiie regions of Judea and Sa¬ maria.” Peter needed a special vision be¬ fore lie could realize that God would cleanse RICHMOND. VA.. - - -4 - ... — ===== the heart of a Gentile. Saul was specially chosen to hear the name of the Lord before the Gentiles, yet it was ten or twelve years after his call before the church at Antioch “separated him for die work.” It should be added that the early Christians, though slow to learn, were not slack in doing their duty. Without tiie facilities of modern com¬ merce, with its railways, steamships, post- offices, banks, without the aid of cheap pa¬ per and printing presses, by which books and tracts can be put at small cost into mil¬ lions of (lands, without organization for sys¬ tematic clfort, they yet spread tiie good news of salvation all over the Roman Em¬ pire. We have in this nineteenth century a bet¬ ter appreciation of the Saviour's words. All die habitable portions of tiie globe have been more or less fully explored. We rec¬ ognize the essential unity of the human race. We know something about the numbers, the social condition, and religious needs of the different peoples. We are within easy reach of all the nations. Our responsibility is pro¬ portionately heavier, for “to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be re¬ quired." But, alas, the very magnitude of the work seems to paralyze us. If there was just one single country in which the gospel had not been heard, men and means would be sent with eager haste, lest by a moment's delay some soul might perish un¬ warned in his iniquity, and his blood be re¬ quired at our hands. How much more ought we to be in earnest when for every pulse that sends its life-bearing current through our frames, somewhere a fellow- man is dying, and the great majority of them without any knowledge of Him who died once for all that we might live. A single needy object might appeal more strongly to our human emotions, but a "world lying in tiie evil one “ ought to en¬ large our conceptions of Christ’s work, and rouse within us the highest and holiest of all motives. But how can one preach to all the nations? Let us see. This sentence will be read in every continent. Copies of this little paper will be carried not only all over this country, but to South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Wherever it can go, any one of its readers can preach. A speaker at a certain Association last summer illustrated by aver¬ ring that on the previous Sunday he had spent the whole day in preaching, address¬ ing many thousand hearers in half a dozen different tongues. Beginning in the dead of night (it was daytime in the far East,) he preached in Shanghai, Tung Chow and Can¬ ton ; before daybreak lie had spoken in nine Italian towns and cities; immediately afler lie began to talk to the swarthy sons of Africa ; by eight o'clock he was warning the Brazilians to turn from vain superstitions; and then moving with the sun, he had told the old, old story from tiie Atlantic to the I’acific, to Americans, Mexicans, Indians and Chinese. What a glorious privilege lie had enjoyed I Ily bis contributions to Foreign, State and Home Missions, and by his prayers for the laborers employed, he had helped to sustain the preaching of tiie gospel nt all these points. He had therefore an interest in it all; it was. to some extent, his work, done through agencies, every one of which was more effective than his own personal voice could have been. A Decennial Missionary Conference will meet in Calcutta, December 2S. The range of subjects to be presented is very wide, em¬ bracing many important questions relating to missionary work. It is expected that fully two hundred missionaries will be present, representing different missions in India, Cey¬ lon and Burma!). DECEMBER, 1882. WEST VIRGINIA GENERAL ASSOCIATION. This hotly met NovemberOth, at I linton, on the C. & O. Railway, where it follows the north hank of the New river, surrounded by "the New river hills." The town recalls the Psalmist's illustration: "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round ahout his people from henceforth, even forever.” About this assembly of earnest workers for the Master, the Lord verily seemed to be. It was good to be in the midst of these stalwart sons of the mountain daughter of the Old Dominion. Tiie bonds that unite the Baptist workmen of Hie two Virginias are real. The States both belong, geographically, to the South, they were long one and the same State, their people have tiie same ancestry, and until re¬ cently the same history. The first mission work in West Virginia was done by the State Board at Richmond, and to this work not a few of tiie churches of that State owe their existence. With sucli lies, no State line can keep tiie Virginians from joining hands in the spread of tiie gospel. In our work in Mex¬ ico, which is prospering greatly, the For¬ eign lioard of tiie Southern Baptist Conven¬ tion, located in Virginia, unites with West Virginia, working through the Home Mis¬ sion Society in New York, to realize itsmotto: “North America for Christ.” Another bond of union is in tiie person of a noble and heroic missionary of our Board, who, by birth, education, marriage, and all family ties, is a West Virginian. These bonds of union are practically acknowledged by annual con¬ tributions to our Board from "the mountain State." Most cordially is tiie representative of our Board received at tiie General Asso¬ ciation of West Virginia. Occasionally com- iaitits are made that his visits to the State ave been two infrequent. This raises tiie question whether some such representative would not be welcome at the District Asso¬ ciations, and among their churches ? Would West Virginia nominate such a representa¬ tive from her own brotherhood, or should Vir¬ ginia send a son. of tiie mother State? These questions are encouraged by the facts that, our Board lias a Vice-President in West Vir¬ ginia, and is recognized in the minutes of the General Association as one of “ our Socie¬ ties,” and that ill appointing delegates to the Bible Convention at Saratoga, the Associa¬ tion expressed itself in favor of Foreign Bible work being committed to their Boards nt Boston and Richmond. Professor D. B. Purinton, of the State University, was elected President of the As¬ sociation. lie, by the way, is tiie son of a missionary sent by tiie State Board of Virginia. Tiie University lost nothing in furnishing a man so courteous, so clear-headed, so impar¬ tial to preside over a body, representing -175 churches and 20,000 citizens of tiie Common¬ wealth. Though absent at tiie organization ofthebody.W. F Attkisson, Esq., of Parkers¬ burg, was unanimously re-elected Secretary. His minutes strike us as a model of concise¬ ness, and the price at which they are printed shows good management on tiie part of somebody. The Stale mission work was ably presented by its Corresponding Secre¬ tary, Rev. L. W. Holden, who achieved last year the marvellous work of sustaining fif¬ teen missionaries with twenty-two hundred dollars, and reported only £340 debt. Brother Holden was elected Treasurer as well as Secretary. The discussions on Home and Foreign Mis¬ sions were made more intelligible and im¬ pressive by tiie use of large maps, which Rev. W. E. Powell, of Parkersburg, and Thomas Allen, of Dayton, Ohio, hung above the rostrum. The Christian women, headed by Mrs. J. W. Carter, have organized some forty missionary circles. Two meetings of tiie ladies atone were held during tiie Asso¬ ciation. We emphasize “alone,1' for around this point no little agitation lias gathered in some parts of tiie country. Tins is a pro¬ priety that need not be established by two rigid constitutional enactments of Woman’s Societies, ns the presence of a gentleman or two may sometimes lie important; lint tiie ladies will always feel more comfortable and be more efficient when they meet by them¬ selves. Sunday-schools were discussed as to their organization by Rev. W. P. Walker, of I hml- ington ; their institutes, by Rev. L. E. Peters, of Ravenswood ; and their perpetuity, by Dr. A. E. Dickinson, of Richmond, Vn., forcibly, analytically, and very facetiously. It was a good sign that the house was thronged to near the debate on Temperance, which was handled with telling, and sometimes thrill- ingefiect. Shelton Collegeexcited fmespeak- ing, as the life or death of the institution was No. 6.— Whole No. 181. involved. President Reynolds did some line thinking on his legs ; Rev. Pat. Murry showed good Irish wit and eloquence; and Rev. B. Cade, personally touched to the quick, was in just tiie state to put a man at his best, and made a speech which was at once pathetic and grand. The College was taken under the fostering wings of, tiie Asso¬ ciation. Many good tilings must lie omitted. The great thing of tiie occasion was Dr. Carter’s sermon before tiie Association, on tiie " Hid¬ den Resources of God.” * * * Among the “many good tilings omitted” were tiie sayings and doings of our reporter, whose name does not appear in his account. NORTH CAROLINA CONVENTION. The North Carolina Baptist State Conven¬ tion was held in the pleasant little village of Warrenton, November 1Д-18. Tiie Hon. J. C. Scarborough, Statu Superintendent of Education, was tiie President, and a number of other intelligent and efficient laymen were in attendance. State, Home and Foreign Missions and Education engaged the atten¬ tion of the body. Dr. Tichenor, tiie Sec¬ retary. advocated tiie cause of Home Mis¬ sions in a speech of great power and elo¬ quence. Foreign Missions was represented by Dr. Dickinson and the President of the Board. Our North Carolina brethren are wide awake, well organized and full of mis¬ sionary zeal. The evidences of progress in beneficent activities in the last few years are marked and encouraging. Churches and pastors are feeling their obligations to labor more systematically, and to accomplish by voluntary agencies what often requires ex¬ terior pressure. The two Boards of the Con¬ vention may confidently expect larger con¬ tributions. * EARS OF CORN. “ There is a vast difference between being a Protestant and being a Christian. Perhaps a majority of tiie French people are even now strongly inclined to become Protestants, if they have not openly avowed themselves as such; but if we could obtain the number of those who have been hopefully converted, it would be smaller Ilian is thought by most persons who rend the current religious cor¬ respondence from France." — Baptist Mis¬ sionary Magazine. “ When a man dies, his heirs, and even the world, are interested to know how much lie has left behind. He, however, is far more interested with tiie thought of how much lie lias sent before.” "Chinn had an astronomy in the times of Abraham; laws and literature, superior to those of Egypt, in the days of Moses; clas¬ sics a hundred years before David ; and poems in the days of Homer. * * * The Mikado of Japan traces back his imperial ancestry to the sixth century before Christ, making tiie longest reign of any royal family now represented oil the thrones of the world." — Rev. IF. !■'. Crafts. " Confucianism and Buddhism seek, with very little success, to persuade men to obey moral laws. Each of them has fine precepts, but with no grip, because no God. Botli are practically atheistic materialism.” — Id. Tiie southern Presbyterians are few in comparison with tiie Baptist host, but they sustain a foreign mission force of twenty or¬ dained ministers, one physician and twenty- six ladies, besides sixteen native preachers and forty-one other helpers. Their receipts for last year were, from donations and lega¬ cies £32,000, from woman's societies nearly £1 1 ,000, and from Sunday-schools over £0,300, making a total of £00,309.42. One of the most cheering signs in Spain is the great increase in the number of unpaid evangelistic workers, especially in the smaller towns and villages. Of the “seven churches of Asia ” of New Testament times, that at Smyrna alone is alive at the present day.