Foreign Mission Journal, July 1889

Foreign Mission Journal/ PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE FOREIGN MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION. t:. • ' V "ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. GO YE, THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS.” Vol. 20 — New Series. RICHMOND, VA., JULY, 1889. No. 12 — Whole No. 252 (Entered fit the Post-Office at Richmond, Va„ ns second-class matter.] Foreign Mission Journal. RATES PER ANNUM: i. For paper, eepamlely addressed, either to same or to diflereiH post otnces i One copy . л . - . 3S cts. Three copies @ tl, or . ЗЗЯ cts. apiece. II. For packages sent to one person, who shall be responsible for their distribution r Four copies lor <M, or more at. . 25 cts. apiece. Twenty-flva copies for #3. or more at . 20 cts. apiece. Onelfundred copies for»», or more at.. Wets, apiece. •*- Please remit by Draft, Postal Order, or In Regis¬ tered Letter, and notify ns rnoiit'TLY of any change n address. Address, FOREIGN MISSION IOURNAL, Richmond, Va. ADVERTISING RATES. 8ГД0В. 1 Month. 3 Months 6 Months 12 Months One Inch . Two Inches . Three Inches . . . Quarter column.,. Half column . One column . 1 2ft 2 40 3 60 4 76 9 25 18 00 3 46 S3 1Я 00 26 2ft 60 00 12 1 92 S j 12 (n) 22 60 33 00 40 00 9Q 00 178 00 FOREIGN MISSION BOARD OF THE 80UTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION, Locatid at RICHMOND, VIRGINIA PaasiDJtNT— II. II. IlAitais. Vice-PRE8IDBNTS.— Joshua Levering, hld.,0. tv. Tom kiss, La.. A.'E. Owen, Va.. N. A. Ralley. Fla., J. L. White, N.O..O. F. llngby. Ky.. W. O. Bled- ioe, Alabama, J. P. Greene, Mo.. H. H. Carroll. Teias. W. L. Kilpatrick, Оа- A. J. S. Thomas, S. O. R. J. Willingham, Tsnn.,J. fl. Searcy, Ark,, Oeorge Whitfield. Miss., W. F. Attklsson, W. Va. OOBBS8POHDIHO Secretary— H, A. TUPPER Assistant Secretary. T. P. DELL. Treasurer — J. 6. WILLIAMS. Recording Secretary— А. П. CLARKE. Auditor— II, C. BURNETT. Board or Managers.— H. K. Ellyson, О. II. Win¬ ston, W. E. Hatcher, J. Pollard, Гг., S. O. Clop- ton, .1. B. Hutton. W. D. Thomas, W. W. Landrum, Geo. Ооорег. О. H. Ryland, II. C. Bnrnett, T. P. Mathews. R. H. Pitt, R.S. Bosher, J L. M. Curry, Theo. Whitfield. t&'AU communications in reference to the business of this Board should be addressedto H. A. Tupper, Corresponding Secretary, Richmond, Va. SAILING OF MISSIONARIES, Rev. G. P. Bostick and wife, with Miss Fannie S. Knight, all of North Carolina, sailed from San Francisco in June for the North China field. Miss Knight goes out as the first of Miss Lottie Moon's long ex¬ pected helpers. Miss Emma Morton, of Missouri, who goes to take up the work left by Miss Mag¬ gie Rice when the Lord called her home, sailed from Newport News, June i6th, for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She sailed in com¬ pany with several missionaries of the Southern Methodist Church. Rev. С. C. Newton, wife and daughter, with Rev. W. T. Lumbiey and wife, left New York on June 15th for Liverpool, whence they go to reinforce the African mission. Brethren Eubank and Smith will rejoice when these much-needed helpers arrive. EXPENSES OF THE BOARD. Every now and then the question is asked either privately or publicly, either in the spirit of carping criticism, or of honest in¬ quiry, “What ratio of the money raised for foreign missions is actually expended on foreign mission fields, and what at home, in expenses?” Any one who has access to a copy of the minutes of the Southern Baptist Convention, can answer that ques¬ tion in a very few minutes, by an examina¬ tion of the Treasurer’s report, which is found at the end of the report of the Board. But many will not take the trouble to do this, and so we have concluded to call at¬ tention to the figures there presented, and let each reader of the Journal be prepared to answer the question whenever it is asked. According to the Treasurer's re¬ port, made at Memphis, the total amount of money raised for foreign missions during the year was 599,023.75. Add to this the balance on hand fropi last year, and the Board had for use, 5102,633.38. Of this amount, 5S7.1SS.32 was expended on for¬ eign fields, as follows : African missions . . 1;.$ 7,637 25 China missions . 23,918 23 European missions, (Italy).'. . 115, 6S8 92 Brazilian missions 18,972 00 Mexican missions, -.4. t.i.TT.i. 20,479 s6 Lxpenses of missionaries recent¬ ly appointed . ...:.t...:r.:2 492 06 . . ,iti ' «ai:rn Total/..,;, ..E'i87,iS8 32 / сг Л ' What of tiie balance, 515,44506? Of this, 5814.97 was left in bank, and 599L57 was paid to the banks as interest on money the Board had to borrow to carry on its work during the year. Subtracting these two amounts, we have left 5'3,639-42 for home expenses incurred in collecting and expending the whole sum. Ol this amount, 55,325.10 was expended on agencies in the States, as follows: Alabama . 5 345 S2 Florida . So 00 Georgia . 60S 33 Kentucky . 599 14 Louisiana . 400 00 Missouri . 1,491 81 Texas . . . i.Soo 00 These amounts never come in cash into the hands of the Treasurer of our Board at all, but as receipts representing cash Some one will ask, "why have these agencies ? " We answer— In the case of all the above mentioned States, except the two last, the State Boards appointed by the State Conventions, are, by direction of said Conventions, put in charge of all mis¬ sionary work in their respective States, and are the collecting agencies for all mis¬ sionary causes. These Boards become agents for the Foreign and Home Boards, and a part of the expenses attending their work is charged to each of these general Boards. These amounts are fixed by the State Boards, usually by direction of the State Conventions, and this system is held to be the cheapest form of agency work. In Missouri and Texas, no such arrange¬ ment has as yet been made, and in these States our Board has consulted the wisest brethren, to learn what is the best plan of operation. And here it has been thought best to employ agents, whose whole, time should be devoted to working for the Board. Of course, in such cases, good men have to be secured, and living salaries paid them. Wise brethren have considered this question in the light of existing facts, in these States, and feel that an agency is at present necessary to the best interests of the work. In Texas, owing to peculiar circumstances, only to be understood by those who know the State, such an agency will be absolutely necessary for some time to come. This amount, 55.325.10, from the 5t3,639-‘ 42, leaves <8,314.32 for what we may call “ ofiice expenses,” though this includes the expenses of Vice-Presidents of all the States, who frequently have to travel in behalf of the work, as well as mail large quantities of tracts, circulars, Journals, &c., and have some printing done. These office expenses embrace the salaries of the two Secretaries, the Treasurer and a clerk, postage, (no small item), printing of large numbers of tracts, circulars, &c., inite- boxes sent all over the country, part of the cost of the minutes of the Convention, (which, including the printing of the re¬ rooms, traveling expenses of the Secreta ries in visiting Conventions, and a number of small items not necessary to be enu¬ merated, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina. South Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas and Ten¬ nessee, make no claim upon the Board for any expenses save small sums embraced in the item "Expenses of Vice-Presidents,” and in these cases nothing goes to the Vice-Presidents as pay for their services. These services are very valuable, and the men very faithful in rendering them. All honor to these unpaid workers. We may add. in conclusion, that, so far as we can judge, the work oi the Board is carried on as economically as possible. considering how and where the money can be best expended. But before the year is half gone, some one, moved perhaps by an appeal from some favorite missionary, or by a sentiment awakened by some occurrence on a particular field, comes out in the papeis calling for special contributions for this or that special work. This too, very frequently, without consulting the Board as to the advisability of undertaking such work. Letters are written, appeal follows appeal, and in the course of time, many be¬ come interested, and money begins to be raised. This money is, as a general thing, just so much taken from the receipts for the general work to be applied to a special work— just so much taken from under con¬ trol of the Board and put under the control of persons who have no responsibility in connection with the general work. In many cases these special appeals are for objects which would not be approved by the Board, whicii is yet compelled by the action of the Convention to receive and forward the funds so raised. The Board has often to see money which is sorely needed for its general work diverted to objects which do not commend themselves to its judgment as worthy of present help. It is true that the Board sometimes en¬ dorses special appeals, but, in such cases, these appeals are for objects which the Board feels to be worthy of immediate help, and which come into its estimates for the year's work. And the Board is better able to Judge, for example, whether the time has come to build a house of worship in a certain field, than are a number of good brethren and sisters who have not looked into the matter at all, nor considered either the needs of other fields or of the gene¬ ral work. It is hard for a Board to see money going for ail sorts of purposes, some out of its control, when that very money is needed to put bread into the missionaries' mouths and clothes on their backs. Some of our best and wisest missiona¬ ries refuse positively to receive or handle special contributions, outside of the regular appropriations of the Board for them and their work. It is a pity all would not 4o likewise; then would a stop be put to a custom which has worked evil to the Lon¬ don Missionary Society, and is working evil to others lhat we know of. port, amounts to over 5s°o), rent of mission ^ty^xnew missionaries who had either QUOTAS OF THE STATES. From the letter of the Corresponding Secretary of the Board to the Vice-Presi¬ dents of the several States, we extract the following, from which may be seen what are the amounts asked from the several States this year, and the reasons wily the amounts are so large. We must now either go forward or retreat. Whicii shall it be? My Dear Brother: You will notice that Board reported to the Convention In order to obtain this amount, the quotas of the States for general purposes must be increased, and a certain per cent of the increased quotas for the general work must be added for building purposes, as follows : The London Missionary Society has reached a point where it must have an ad- ditibn of seventy-five thousand dollars to the annual income, or must withdraw from some of the fields in which it is now work¬ ing. This stringency is caused by the large increase of special funds. Although the in¬ come of the society is as large as formerly, a considerable proportion is given for spe¬ cial objects, so that the income available for general purposes is much diminished. — Exchange. There is a lesson in the above for South¬ ern Baptists. The Southern Baptist Con¬ vention charges the Foreign Mission Board with the work of caring for its missions. reached their fields or were soon to sail for them. Since the Convention, three others have been appointed, and a fourth has been invited to meet the Board for examination. Hence there aie forty new missionaries to be provided for. These additional labor¬ ers, including outfits, passages, teachers, salaries, &c., will cost, for twelve months, at least 520,000. Let it be remembered, also, that the opening of our new mission in Japan must be attended with extraordinary expenses, as our missionaries have no houses nor knowledge of the language, and will be entire strangers there, without the varied facilities for work and living which we have in our established missions. Please note in our report (p. v.) what is said with regard to the necessity of houses of wor¬ ship. The Board has committed itself to these buildings by requesting the missions to send in their estimates for these build¬ ings in July of this year, in order that the amount necessary for this purpose may be added to the regular appropriations of the Board. These chapels, five or six in num¬ ber, cannot cost less than 524,000. This sum must be added to 5126,000 for general purposes, making an aggregate of 5 150,000 . This will be fifty thousand dollars more than was received last year. But may not the 5150,000 be realized? Will not the de¬ nomination appreciate the fact that the Convention has approved and urged the forward movement of the Board? In response to our appeal the Conven¬ tion adopted the following, which you will please press upon the attention of your churches and State organizations: “ Resolved. That it is the conviction of the Convention that the Foreign Mission Board sTlould receive this year 5150,000 for ‘ its States. General Work. Dulld- tugs. Total. Virginia . 515.000 53,000 5:S,ooo Georgia . 15.000 3.000 18,000 Texas . 15,000 3,000 18,000 Kentucky . 15.000 3,000 iS.ooo South Carolina . ir,ooo 2.000 13,000 North Carolina . 11,000 2,000 13000 Missouri . 11,000 2,000 13,000 Maryland . . 6,500 1,000 7,5oo Mississippi . 8,000 1,000 9,000 Alabama- . 6,000 1,000 7,000 Tennessee . S.oco 1,000 6,000 Arkansas . 2,500 500 3,000 Louisiana . 2,000 500 2,500 Florida . 2,000 500 2,500 West Virginia . 500 250 750 Dist.of Columbia- 500 250 750 Totals. .w..„ 5126,000 524,000 5150,000 APPOINTMENT OF MISSIONARIES, At the June 'meeting of the Board, Miss Laura G. Barton, of Texas, and Miss Mary J. Thornton, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, were appointed to North China, as helpers to Miss Moon. It will be remembered that the ladies, under the direction of the Wo¬ man's Central Committee, in Baltimore, raised some 53,500 by their Christmas of¬ ferings to send helpers to Miss Moon. The Lord is giving the workers, and the Board is, with great Joy, sending them to the field. Mrs. J. P. Duggan, a grand-daughter of Dr. James B. Taylor, the first Secretary of the Board, a very accomplished lady, was appointed as missionary teacher to Madero Institute, Mexico. Mrs. Duggan will fill the place left vacant by the marriage of Miss Wright, and temporarily filled by a Mexican lady. Several young men were invited to meet the Board at its next meeting, for examina¬ tion. If these be appointed, all our mis¬ sions will have been pretty well reinforced, and after that the energies of the Board will be devoted to providing for the large force in the field. MISSIONARY FURLOUGHS. It has sometimes been thought by a few that missionaries come to this country for rest too often, and remain too long. We suppose missionaries, like the average hu¬ man being, are not all perfect ; but we must say in all fairness and honesty, that want of love for their work is a fault not often to he laid to their charge. As a rule.they are inclined to remain in the worl: in which they are engaged longer than is advisable; and not a few have perished at their post, rather than leave the field which they felt needed them. We have talked with a great many missionaries on this question, and without an exception they said it was hard¬ er for them to leave their work and return to America, than it was to leave home in the first place. Many of those on the fields to-day, no doubt feel as Mr. Partridge does when pleading for reinforcements for Swa- tow, China. " Unless some one can come to us tills fall, it will hardly seem possible for me to leave next Spring, even though I can only do half work. It is my earnest desire to stay until the spring of 1891, but the phy¬ sicians here think it would be unwise for me to do so, After the battle of Malvern Hill, I was placed in command of a part of the outer picket line, with orders to ‘hold the position until relieved.’ I should have stayed until now if I hadn't been relieved,” —Exch. Missionaries work harder and under far more depressing circumstances than pas¬ tors of our large city churches here at home. These usually have a vacation every sum¬ mer, while those are glad if they can get a little rest once in seven or ten years. And even then some of their brethren will meet them with, !' and what did you come home for ? ” teriy. meetings; but I heard you were com¬ ing to this meeting, and I wanted to see you-again and to talk with you. I came here four days ago. but all this time I could not get a chance to say anything more than salaam's to you, you were so busy and such a crowd was about you all the time. Seeing you even so much, and hearing your ser¬ mon on Sunday, and other talks to us, have done me much good, but I don’t feel quite satisfied yet. During all the years I have been a Christian I have been happy. I feel that God, the Holy Spirit, has dwelt within me. I feel this constantly, hut what I wanted, and which I have waited all this time to ask you, is this: After I get to Heaven shall I see Jesus face to face, ns I now see you, or shall I only see him ns I now do by feeling his presence with me? " I told the dear brother I fully believed, if he was faithful to the end, that he would see Jesus even more plainly than he then saw me, and that this great privilege he would no doubt enjoy daily in that happy land, throughout eternity, and that he could de¬ pend on this as true. When I had finished speaking he said: “That is just what I wanted to know, and none of the preachers could tell me. It makes me very happy, al¬ though I would have been satisfied had you told me that I would always have to discern Jesus spiritually as I now do. But I am more than pleased, and as it is most dark, and I have ten miles to go, if you will give me permission, I will go.”. Then making his best salaam with a smiling face he went, and my weariness had also gone. QUESTIONS. [This letter from an ardent friend of, and worker for, foreign missions, asks some questions that are well worth considering. Who can answer them? Ed.] Dr. H. si. Tupper: Dear Brother: Enclosed you will find - dollars for Foreign Missions. I hope your Board may receive the 5150,- 000 asked for, and more too. It, makes me feel sad to think it is so hard to raise the small amounts contributed for the great work, and to think how much is spent by Christians for foolishness. It seems strange that some of our money¬ ed men can be induced so easily to give 25. 50, and 100,000 atatimetoourcolleges.and then be satisfied with such small pittances for missions. Why do not our papers urge with the same persistence such contribu¬ tions as they do towards endowments of in¬ stitutions of learning, which are at best but secondary to this the final end ? It looks like spending the bulk of the outlay on the trimmings 01 the home. I have been some¬ what surprised that the - does not press this witli some of the ardor that it exhibits ior collegiate institutions. I do not think the colleges ought to be neglected, but they are in the commission only incidentally. Truly, Your Brother, Rev. Fung Chak, who has for the past two years labored so successfully amongst the Chinese in Portland, Oregon, has gone back to Canton, China, to preach the Gos- Sel in his native land. The work was being lessed so signally in Portland that only the urgent calls of the perishing millions in his own “ Flowery Kingdom " would have caused him to leave. May God's blessing rest upon him anti the work' he attempts. — Bap. Home Mission Monthly', This is the brother whose ietters .have appeared several times in the Journal. We have seen it stated that the anti-Chinese act prevents his bringing his wife into this country. Hence his having to leave. The departure of such a man will be China’s gain — America’s loss. He was a member of our church in Canton, and returns there to labor. The Board, early in the year, estimates the . . expenses of the work and appeals to the the proper support and progress of churches for the amount needed, carefully I work.” WANTS TO SEE JESUS. Rev. J. E. Clough, the great apostle to the Telugus, relates the following in a letter to the Baptist Л Magazine: . A lay brother about fifty years of age, from a village some ten miles from Vinu- konda, came to my door, and said he was going home now, but he wanted to ask me a question, and then he would go to his vil¬ lage a happy man. I told him to please make known ills request, and he spoke as follows: “I was baptized by you about twelve years ago, before the famine, I am a poor man and have to work hard to sup¬ port my family, anti I have not had much time to learn, and cannot often attend quar- The success of the Telugu Mission ap¬ pears to have out-run the ability of Ameri¬ can Baptists to appreciate it. Other denom¬ inations freely say, that, if they had sucli a wonder in their missions, their hearts would be all on a fire with enthusiasm. — Bap't Miss'y Magazine. Baptists North and South will have to be¬ stir themselves if they, in their work, keep pace with the blessings God is bestowing on that work in foreign lands. May the spirit of God stir them. Mr. Henry M. Stanley says of. the high inland plateau about the African lakes, " I consider it the healthiest region under the sun, and there is no more picturesque country in the world. It Js the Switzerland of Africa. All the people there are.’re,- markably fine-looking. . Ten American, twelve British,. and, ^hir;. teen Continental societies are at ’workjin Africa, besides many independent mission- - eries'. More than half'of AU'tbe.'missIffij . aries laooi ing in South Africa are Germans.