Foreign Mission J oubnal
C'ul)lisli<-il JSonilily 1>.V file rorvlgu .HiKsion JCoartl of llic Southern
НпрНк!
Conrcnllon.
"ALL VOWEll IS GIVER’ UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH.
GO YE, THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS .”
Vol. 9. — New Scries.
RICHMOND, VA., MARCH, 1S78.
No. 12.— Whole No. 96.
FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL
KATES
РЕК
ANNUM:
One copy . Ml cl*.
1'lvo or more copies to one person .
4»
“ a copy,
Twenty or more copies, to oil-' person .
:«)
11
Fifty or more copies, to one person . 'J!i " "
ai-l'leato remit by Draft, l'ostnl Order, or m Heclstereil
better.
Address, FOKFJON MISSION’ JOURNAL.
Richmond, Va.
FOREIGN MISSION BOARD
OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION,
LOCATED AT ItlClI.MON'I), VIRGINIA.
Pit Est ph st— .1 . b. M. CUIiKY.
ViCE-1'iiesidests.— Hiram Woods, Md„ .1.
Д.
Ilaelii-tt,
Miss.. F. Courtney, La ,
Л.
II. deter, Va., H. II. AIcL’iilltiin,
Fla., W. M. \\ Innate, N. U.,
Л.
I., Harrows, ICv., S. Hen¬
derson, Alabama, W. Hope Yeanian, Mo., .1. 11, Link, Texas,
II II. Tucker.
Па.,
.1. (J. Furman, S. Matt. Hilbnian,
Trim , .1. II.
Некто,
Ark.
OoitiiBSfOXpi.Nti Sect: i:ta tty — If. A. TLTI'LIi.
TliKAPLiiEit— .1. O. WILLIAMS.
l.'Keor.Di.sr, .Sk< iiet Alt y— W. II. OWATHMLY.
Лиштоп—
JOSLI4I F. COTTHLLL.
HOAUD or MAVtni:n«.— H. W. Warren,.!. It, Walkin’. H.
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Kllyson, W. !•:. Hau lier, II. Wortham, Henry McDonald,
W.Codilln, H. II. Harris, A. H. Dickinson.. I. W. Jones, A. II.
Clarke, J. It. Winston, T. J, Leans, C. 11. Winston, J. It.
Ciirllck.
£37*. I II communications in reference to the business
о/
mis Hoard should be addressed lo II.
Л.
T
ста:,
Ihncsponding Secretary, Richmond,
Га.
FOKM OF BEQUEST. .
“I hereby give ami bequeath unto Hut .Southern
Baptist Convention, fanned in Augu-tu, Georgia,
in the month of May, 1843, and chartered by the
Legislature of the State of Georgia, by an act
passed and approved December li'Jtli, 1815, [here
insert the amount . if in money, or 1 subject,' ij
other property, either real or personal,) for ‘Foreign
Missions.''
CLOBE OF VOLUME.
Tlil-i number concludes another volume of tlic
Journal. Betrospocting tlie year we have much
to be thankful for. The patronage of the paper
lias regularly increased and wo have reason to
know that some good lias been done in dissemina¬
ting missionary intelligence among our people.
Tlie Journal has paid its way, but more i« ex¬
pected of it. Next year its expenses will be lighter
than in tlie past, and wo hope that it may be a
source of pecuniary profit to the cause of missions.
The sheet should be enlarged. Will not our breth¬
ren a-slst to this end, by renewing their sulwerip-
tlons and enlarging tlie circulation?
MITE BOXES.
The question is frequently asked; “Where can
Jllte boxes b.; obtained, and what is the expense of
them?”. A postal card directed to us will secure
as many as may be asked for, and our thanks be¬
etles. The Board furnishes them gratuitously and
gratefully, and wo wish that our people would re¬
alize the value of these little vehicles to convey the
pennies of tlie Lord from our purses to the treas-
,1ГУ
of tlie Master. Tlie children of this world are
Indeed wiser in their generation titan the children
°f light. Tito woman wito swept her house for tlie
lost piece of money, and when site found it called
la her neighbors to rejoice with her, would have ap¬
preciated the maxim of the American sage : “Take
care of the pennies and tlie pounds will take care
ot themselves.” As tlie child Is parent to the man;
as the annual circlets of fibre form the majestic
oak; as the repentant sinners make up the count¬
less host of tlie redeemed ; so to compare small
tilings with great, pennies are tlie parents of
pounds— a pyramid of pounds is only tlie product
of pence— lienee tlie further adage of our poetical
and “so called” parsimonious philosopher: “He
that destroys a penny destroys the thousands of
pounds which might have been produced by it.”
And lie wito saves a penny for a good use, ns tlie
piece of money was saved from tlie llsh’s mouth,
may lay tlie foundation for untold wealth here and
hereafter. There may be such a thing as “penny
wise and pound foolish ;” but there is no such
tiling as penny foolish and pound wise— at least in
the economy of Him who presides over, not only
tlie heavens and tlie earth, but the atoms which arc
their pillars and architraves — tlie whole substance
from cap to foundation-stone, of tlie temple of na¬
ture, of which our Lord is tlie support and God.
And wo would beg tho^e who have these boxes to
use them regularly, anti deposit according to tlie
constitution commonly adopted by our mite box
societies — two cents per family, every Lord’s day ;
and not wait until the end of the month or quarter
and then deposit the whole amount. The training
is as valuable as the money.
Copies of the “Constitution” maybe bad with
the ‘boxes. . . .
GEOROE MULLER.
Some one asks in one of our religious papers :
“ IIow would it do for us to conduct our missionary
work on the principle of Mr. Muller?” His prin¬
ciple is to ask God, and not to ask man for tlie
means necessary to carry on tlie work. If the vote
of our people could lie taken, it would not be hard
for the Southern baptist Convention to decide on
which side of tlie question wisdom is to be found.
And, were it wise, how happy would we be to be¬
gin tlie next conventional year with the duty of
struggling with God alone for tlie support of our
missionaries. Ilow vast tlie labor and tlie anxiety
and tlie expense that would be saved ! How sim¬
plified would be the machinery of the Convention !
IIow much more apparent would be the hand of
Coil hi the management of the work ! AVe invoke
tlie sentiment of our pastors and people on this
subject. Let tlie question be raised in every church
and association and State Convention. Should the
majority of our churches vote that they ought not
bo asked for any more money to conduct the Lord's
work among tlie nations, it would be a clear indica¬
tion that it would not be safe to trust the principle,
but, should the vote turn tlie other way, 'mul Oitr
brethren feel'thaf irvyould be a gr'ief-for tliem not
to aid In this grand enterprise of Christ’s kingdom,
then there might be wisdom in having no mote
agents, and no more appeals for money. In the
meantime wc ask the consideration of our people
to the question : What is the high and holy use of
the property which God puts into our hands ?
Agassiz said lie had “no time to make money.”
But somebody must have time to make it, and a
great deal of it. When money-making stops in the
world, civilization, with its art and science and
education ; its social order and comfort and refine¬
ment ; its civil institutions and protection and stabil¬
ity, would roll back into barbariclife ; and the wheels
of Christianity, itself— provided there be neither mir¬
acle nor millennium— would as effectually back
down as Pharaoh's chariot in the Bed Sea.
Achatn’s wedge of gold and Babylonish garments
were cursed, not because wealth, but because ac¬
quired contrary to tlie divine will. Balaam might
have desired, without sin, Balak’s bouse of
gold and silver, but not in preference to the bless- •
ing of Israel. Ananias and Saphira might have
justly retained tlie whole ol their possession ; but
not a particle of it with a lie on their lips to man
or to God. It is they that “ err from the laltli in
coveting after riches that pierce themselves through
with sorrow, and are drawn in destruction and per¬
dition.” As Bouhours says: “Money is a good
servant, but a bad master.” Abralmm was a prince
among shepherds, and yet lie was tlie father of tlie
faithful. David was one of the wealthiest of mon¬
arch*, and he was a confessed type of King Eman¬
uel himself.
When our Saviour took that piece of money, and
asked. “Whose Is this image and superscription?”
lie did not mean to suggest that tlie tilings of
Ciesar are not lo he rendered to Christ. The very
first offering which he received on earth was of
gold and frankincense and myrrh. Money being
tlie representative of tlie commodities of this
world, and it)ie_lqve..Q,f .ItjF.'ing -tlie most specious ' -
form of idolatry, the consecration of it to tlie- true-.
God is one of the best tests of loyalty to Him, a1-
potent instrumentality to raise up tlie spiritual,
above the carnal of our nature, and a practicable •
exposition of tlie true use of all material and cir¬
cumstantial good, which is designed to blend with'
tiic gracious and spiritual in tlie reign of Him.
whose throne is tlie diamond studded heavens,'
whose footstool is the richly tapestried earth, and '
whoso palace is the material and immaterial uni- .
verse.
If some such views could be impressed on the:
minds and hearts of our people; if they felt it a;
joy and benefit to employ their substance as God
intends it to be employed, there would then be no ,
necessity to appeal and implore for tlie meagre stis- '
tentation of our missionaries. Abundant supplies
would come into tlie treasury of the Lord, in re¬
sponse to the necessities of our cause, and in accord¬
ance with our elloi-ts unto God.
But is not tlie nature of English people who give ’
so lavishly to Mr. Muller the same as that of Amer¬
icans? Verily, but If wc could condense, the mis¬
eries of Heathenism, and tlie blessings of tlie great-
salvation Into a visible, tangible thing, llk'e'Jiii
plian asylum, and keep it before tlie eyes of bur
people, we believe it would be the most powerful
and successful appeal to their sympathies and
charities. But as we cannot make such an appeal,
wo must content ourselves with following the old
way, and wait for the expression of our people, be¬
fore we decide it to be wise to apply to our mission¬
ary enterprise tlie principle advocated by the no¬
ble and godly German now visiting our country,
George Milllcr, of Bristol, England.
Absent. — The Editor of tlie Journal is at the
South, in the interest of the Foreign Mission
Board. As lie lias to edit at home and work abroad, .
it would not be strange if this number of the pa¬
per should be tlie least as well as the last of the
urcscnt volume.
