Home and Foreign Journal, January 1870

ОВ®(Ж 'JOUMAL Р1ШАСП THE GOSPEL-Td AVER'S? CREATHRE.’’—‘^rY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE.” Vol. 2— New Series. RICHMOND/ VA., JANUARY, 1870. No. 9— Whole No. 21. Fubltohed Monthly by tbc IPoreigrt artel Domo^tia Board» of -fcho Southern JBaptist Convention. uJic Щит ft <3?лшр gfxmml. TERM S ; J Ь to on. гогкт . Tra .lire— 1 won. T«tnli copl." «-l-lrn-M to on. P*ron,. ЙУайляЗятй* «<1°г^ГоГт. p. -60 ernta. — * a oo — з oo — 6 oo — lo oo js oo Th. d-m»nJ for tbl« mu. rt»l b«s brrn loud »nd prrrring. III.» mMlt; •Web bv tom Mt by «11 lh. Eoanb, M w.ll sa thcchnrchm of tb. Sonth. Вт lunonlblT boo.. ". ,ь*11 to .Ы. to bring to for* oar pocpl. th. rnrllmt infor- h-irior on th. grr«t objrct. CrtDlrmpl.trd by tb. Sonth.ro B.ptbt Coo- f.S Г"ЬП Introdaclng It Into th.ir thorohr. will to «Ы. thn. to mat. thrirp-opl. C. miliar with It* obol. mL-sionary .пг.гргив, «о<1 .мог. тог. Pto*r<»nitotr!t*. »h. l«rjc"t po^ibl. llrt^nod the tnonry rnrlo.— L B'rnit by mail, at ocr rl.k. In ro«t»I orders, registered letters, or chrcki on “м^лаагоч. Поэт ЛЯР Гс-зпо* Jocmu. Richmond. V«. §30**1. BICIIMOND, ТА. Нот. JAS. 11. TAYLOR, . Cor. Secrotary. THE KEW YEAR. With this number of our little sheet we commence jhoycar 1S70. Hon- many affecting memories arc revived by a review of tbo old year? Sad scenes have boon witnessed by some of our readers. Be¬ loved ones have stood at the brink of the grave, giv¬ ing to each other a last, lingering, loving look, then parting, to meet no more this side the spirit world. With many the year 1S69 has been full of disap¬ pointment and trial. Blighted hopes, painful dis¬ eases, sudden calamities, have caused bitter tears to flow, and rendered the months memorable for their sadness. With the lapse of another year there is also a re¬ membrance of sins committed, duties neglected, and vows forgotten. Alas ! how tearfully may each one call back the hours mlspent, and the opportunities of doing good neglected. These hours and tlieso oppor¬ tunities are forever gone. No regrets can recall them. How impatiently havo the little ills and crosses of every day been borne. Though God has borne with us, how unwilling have we been- to look with forbearance on theslightsand unkind words and memories of our nearest friends. Such a review of onr follies is replete with humiliation. But there is a bright side to this picture. God has been gracious ! The -year lias^ been loaded, with Ш^^ш^ро^^дТЕэжтсгстсз^ЬатоаЬеепЙдегеТсусгу mornii^A^He liatunot dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” Does not every one say, “Bless the Lord, О ray soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name?” The old year has fled ! The new year has begnn. The future is all unknown. Let humble trust in Jehovah for the future, as well as penitential, grateful love, in view of the past, be cherished. Who will give a thank offering on behalf of the Lord’s cause, in heathen lands? Let all such as can enter into the sentiment of these lines, present such an offering. Л new year’s gift to the Great Giver. По will not despise it. of traveling. God is bringing the nations near to ouch other. Ought we not to be in haste to spread the tidings of His salvation- where spiritual darkness has hitherto reigned ? The present is an excellent time to send in, contri¬ butions for Foreign Missions. - r G'A ItECEIPTS .OP THE AMERICAN BOARD. The. receipts of this (Pcdo-bnptist) Board are 5518,030 22 from September 1, 1868, to August 31, 18 CD. They say, “in closing the year, the Lord hath done great things for, us, whereof ye arc glad.” NORTH CAROLINA BAPTIST CONVENTION. This body held its last- session in Newborn, com¬ mencing ‘on fti о 10th of December. It was an inter¬ esting occasion. .Its members seem to he encouraged m view of the past', and to be inspired with new en¬ ergy in looking forward to tlio future. THE HEARTACHE. * ■We.sympathizo.-wifli our dear brother Shaver m the following, and call tho special nttention^of the readers of the Journal to it; ‘TebhaTe ‘he besrtschc. TTe do welt to hnvo it— for oar Slew of wh?T-?n,t-i.° °r8- 0Г- ГО‘1,СГ> U “"Г wel1 Bmi,e DS !n M- • 13 8,fd of ?вг P'°Plc- Л periodical devoted to cSn 'toT ^ rRt ’?C соп‘“ЬчЧопз from American Christians to this cause for the past year, including legacies, ^°B°\“m°°S°ld Scb0°I Presbyterians t° si OS per member, rn t.b5UNrtWrSCh°?1 and Co°E"S»«ionallsts to Si 03, among tho (Dutch) Reformed to ЭЗ cents, nmoo£ Episcopalians to 31 4 ?еяП£,Г0,ПА?е,£°а.-8,в ‘° 23J ceD,s- nod among BaptUt, to only 18 cento. If this be tme — and we fear there is littlo reason to question the approximate correctness of the figures— what shall we ray ? What can wc eaj bat this 7 Wo are tho people who clMja to recognize more clearljr than all others the great and vital law of regenerate membership in the church. W* profess to have preserved tho institutions of Christianity- from those perversions into, which others havo, in greater or Ices degree lapsed. Is it not a $hamet then, that wo should have given each a miserable pittance to carry the glad tidings of salvation to more than six hundred millions of heathens 7 How can we look this fact in the face, side by side with tho larger liberality or nil the principal denominations whom wo reproach for de- partnre from the New Testament — a liberality in one instance, six times more abundant than onr own 7 Breihre n, tee mute do better in (hit regard. Tho record of our gifts must no longer be a dishonor to ns. Who among us will not make an effort toward improvement 7" my peoplo about God.. Some of my people, have heard from wliito men down the river, about the great God, and I want to know about Him myself that I may become one of God’s men.” ’ Mr, Cooper told him as well ns ho could, tho general truths of Christianity, though painfully conscious that he was not himself familiar with them; but the chief did not seem fully satisfied, and finding that tho traveler was desirous of descending the river, he sent him in a boat with a delegation of his own people, liberally supplying hb needs, to Prome, and forwarded an ur¬ gent request, both by Mr. Cooper and hb own pco- ■ple, to tlio missionaries there, to send him a teacher « . «>-• , ih « ; « . ,i .. . . j-tf т • .i , - — . . Nparly six thousand dollars were reported as secured during the usTo dll][ercntobjects. -It was Pl«igiiS»ibr{^hJrebM tell 'ЬйТГыЙй^ЬЬ fribbLowthoyrmlght’ us to. meet many, of those who, in former yg®„wc become «God’s тсп'гГГ^* ' '' r* havo known as beloved in tho Lord. " f. ъ GOOD NEWS, PROM CHINA. Our brother Hartwell reports in his last monthly communication the baptbm of five converts, and en¬ couraging indications in regard to others. -Let us not forget to pray for these .laborers in for offilands. WHO WILL ANSWER? Are there' nono,otpnrly6nDgLmeoUni»lios?llotf£i'tjoS^afs'e disposition to. answer tire call of our Forcigu Mission Board for recruits to their -working force in Africa and China ? "We should regard it as a very sad token of Шз displeasure toward onr peo¬ ple, if cases of this kind were not found among us- How clear it 1э that, in some sort. He has shat из out from favor — if there are none of ue whom He ia willing to accept аэ instruments for the extension of His kingdom to lands that know Him not — none whom He baptizes into the spirit of missions, and thus owns as belonging, with their brethren, to the true church — the chnrch through whose labors Ho. publishes the tidings of Шз peace to all flesh 1 The above from the Christian Index and South¬ western Baptist, may well appeal to the prayerful consideration of the churches of the South. In view of this appeal, there are inquiries which thrust them¬ selves, and we urge them, upon the attention of all. Are the churches obeying the mandate of their Lord: “ Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that lie would CONSECRATION • send laborers into the harvest ?” Are the churches •True evangelical piety, the gr’eat want of the ready to sustain those laborers whom the Lord may churches, in order to the conversion of the world,” is e°nd »nto 1',е. barvest? ; Are the pastors of the the Leading of an article in the West Yirginia Bap- fnTfKa tho observance of thcr m Record, by brother T. Given. Nothing can be ^ s wl11 ш rcsPcct to these lIllnS3? truer than this statement. It is one which deserves the prayerful thought of every Baptist. The writer nigra that “wc need a more consecrated membership in our churches. Most professors of Christianity make religion a secondary thing, and give about as much of their time, talents, money and influence to tho cause of Christ as they can well spare from the world.” Is this true? Can this he consistent with sincere love to Christ? The little that is done by us for Him who died- for us would seem to justify tho allegation. Dear reader, examine thyself. BIBLE FUNDS. Who will send us a check for Fifty or One Hun¬ dred Dollars, for Bible distribution in China? The Chinese arc a reading people, and we must strive to give them the Word of God. A WORLD'S BAPTIST CONVENTION. May not such a meeting, at some day not distant, be held somewhere on the shore of the Pacific? Why not? In six days reprcsentativ.es of Baptist churches may reach such a gathering from the United States. Only eighteen or twenty days will he requisite from Eng¬ land and the Continent of Europe. From China .tn2tC8>,Da\aPP-K-,in ,“,,ГСС.Г -f°Ur WCfr a noble, athletic, and almost gigantic specimen of - 13 a,most annihilated by the increased foc.l.t.es ^ mountaineera of that region. Tho chief at once PRESBYTERIAN MISSION BOARD. The receipts of the Northern Presbyterian Board for the last', five months arc §54,297 IT. The Southern Presbyterian Board arc sending, the present year, ten or . twelve missionaries to foreign lands'. , , GOD IS WORKING. The following is taken, from the Gospel, Field: One of those unexpected and most cheering evi¬ dences of the' spread of the knowledge of the truth, which now, and then, and more and more frequently, arc brought, to the light; was communicated last sum¬ mer to the Christians of -Great Britain. The fact is as follows: А Ыг. T. T. Cooper, an English gentle¬ man of excellent education and adventurous spirit, left Shanghai as long ago as the autumn of 1867, with the intention of forcing his way through the mountains of China and Thibet, and reaching either British Burmah or Upper India. By the hostility of tho Chinese on the border, and of the people of Thi¬ bet, he was turned away from his course, and com¬ pelled to follow a route which brought him out on the bills where are the' head waters of the eastern branch of the Irrawady. . rAt the first village on the river to which he.,came he was brought to tho chief, said.: “You are a white man.,- Are -you one of God’s men ?” Mr. Cooper, astonished to hear such a ques¬ tion asked in such a place, replied a little evasively. He was not, he acknowledged, in any evangelical sense, a Christian.- . ,Tiie chief|went on to say : If , you, are one.of-.Gpd’e menyl'-want you-to,toll_me and ENGLISH В ARTIST MISSION. The English Baptist Mission at Delhi really dates from the close of the mutiny of 1857. That terrible outbreak swept away the Christian community pre¬ viously gathered. Now tho statistics of tho Baptist' Church in this ancicnfHindoo capital arc: In Janu¬ ary, 1868, there were 160 communicants; in January, 1869, there were 153. Throughout the year 21 were admitted by baptism. There arc at present 32 candidates aud inquirers, and 444-nominal Christians. The mission maintains lo prayer-meetings a week in different parts of the city. The average attendance upon the schools is 410; of these 15 are adults, 325 are children, of whom 48 are girls. Mrs. Smith has three Zenana circuits, by which she reaches 100 na¬ tive women. A main feature of this -mission has been the persistent and finally successful effort of Mr. Smith to havo tho native helpers supported by the native Christians. THOUGHTS WORTHY OF THOUGHT. "We clip from the Gospel Field , the following im¬ portant suggestions : CALL FOR ENbAROED OPERATIONS. If our Missionary work, especially in heathen lands, is to have a healthy growth and enlargement, we never need expect to see the day when these calls for increased liberality, greater expenditure, and larger reinforcements will cease to be made. Never until the^worlc. is. nenriugJts. completion, -nnd-tbc millennial g!oiy~ lawns. TITO REASONS. And thie for two reasons : Because God is always going before us, answering before we cry and more abundantly than we expect; and because, as a rule, Christians, the members of our churches, do not come up to the full measure of their privilege and duty in this matter. The first cause, we could not remove if wc would, and surely wc would not if we could. Perhaps, indeed, if the work has become so burden¬ some, we might try; we might stop praying “Thy kingdom come.” But even then we might incur the danger of that enlargement and deliverance that might have come through us, and in answer to our prayers, should arise from another place, but we and our fathers’ house should be destroyed. CANNOT SOMETHING RE DONE. But can wc not do something with the second cause mentioned ? Are the members of our churches as hard to he stirred up in this work as God is to he restrained from going before His people, and bidding them go forward ? Most surely not. It is quite possible, аз we believe, that the receipts of every year should meet the estimated expenditures of the year, and even go beyond thcpi, while the only earnest and special calls needed should be for the purpose of im¬ provement and advance. INFORMATION WANTED. That this is not the case now, is owing chiefly to the fact that the mass of our churches are unacquainted with the nature aud needs of the work to which they are called upon to contribute. Nor are they much to blame if their interest is measured by their infor¬ mation. If they know nothing, or next to nothing, about our foreign fields of labor, our missionaries there, the difficulties they meet with, the work they have already done, the work that still remains to do, and the openings for it, it is not wonderful that they should give no more than they do. The wonder is, that with only a vague interest in, and knowledge of the work as Christ’s work, and for.Ghrist’s sake, they give as much as they do. What is needed for an ad¬ vance, steady and healthful, is: First, information such as shall present our work to them in its true light not only, but in its relations to the great world of heathenism and sin, and the great work of the Church of Christ, which shall make heathens real, and their need and guilt real, and kindle an intelli¬ gent love and pity- ; and second, an intelligent con¬ viction that the work must grow, and be kept growing, and that not to keep it growing is to kill it. PASTORAL INFLUENCE. These two objects can in no way be attained so well as by the instrumentality of our pastors. From them the instruction must come, the information that is desirable ; and in their own hearts this conviction of -the necessary progress of the work must he so thorough and 'attain such power, as to. find its way irrcsistably to the hearts of their people. How is this to be done ? Certainly it will take time, and labor, and thought, and prayer, to do it as it ought to olso will ; and onr benevolent operations will linger on and drag out a miserable existence, or go by the hoard, if these are not brought into requisition. A WEEK OF PRAYER. Wo .havo received a paper signed by several prom¬ inent individuals in England, and on the Continent, proposing the first week in January as a season of special prayer for the extension of the Gospel, and the growth of true piety in the world. They thus address the friends of Christ’s cause: “Fallow Christians: The commencement of an¬ other year approaches. To those of us who name tho name of Christ, and who may- bo spared to wel¬ come jls advent solemn^dtltiesjandBresporieibilitics .will belong.' Tho C h и rcKTnmlJt lie -World remain as ever in direct antagonism, "and the voice of the 'Cap¬ tain of our Salvation will call us to the field of ser¬ vice and of conflict for the. dcfenco and extension of His Kingdom. Prayer, United Prayer, is .one of our mightiest weapons; and mindful of the “times of re¬ freshing,” so.* often enjoyed, and in so many places throughout the earth during the Week of Prayer, and remembering the sure promise of God’s Word, wo earnestly invite you to renew fervent and united supplication before the mercy scat of our reconciled God and Father in Christ Jesus, during the first week of the ensuing new year.” MISSIONARY POLICY. The following from our beloved brother Graves, of tlio Canton mission, is worthy of serious attention. If wc continue our work in the Foreign field, we must prosecute it with more energy, or it will foil of it¬ self. It were better to resign it to other hands than in a half-hearted manner to attempt to carry it on. Wo ought not to be satisfied with less than fifty mis¬ sionaries in the Foreign field : Bear Brethren — -I have lately received a file of your valuable journal for 1868, and -have been much interested in the various questions before the churches. I should like to express, my opinion on two points intimately connected with my own sphere of labor : ,1. The union of American Baptists Forth arid South in carrying on the work of Foreign Missions. 1. feel deeply interested in this question, perhaps I may be allowed to say more deeply interested than any one at home can be, for it intimately concerns the work to which I have dtsvoted my life- some advantages in sucli a union. 2. On the score of economy. Less money would probably have to be paid for the salaries of secretaries and, agents, and perhaps in other ways less diverted from foreign fields to carry on the homo machinery. A Board located in some central point as Philadel¬ phia or Baltimore, ’might be able to command tlic resources of the whole country, and distribute them to tho various mission fields at a minimum of expense. 3. In view of the present pressing necessities of the missionary field. We who are in foreign lands feel this more than the brethren at home possibly can. A general conducting a campaign may see tlio im¬ portance of occupying certain strategetical points, and if his requisitions for more troops arc disregarded, may resign and refuse the responsibility of the posi¬ tion. With us resignation is out of the question — we have enlisted for life, but O, liow painful it is to see our plans thwarted, our cherished hopes disappointed for. want of means. I have seen points which I wished to occupy taken possession of by our Pcdo-Bap- tist brethren, or what is for worse, left undisputed, in Satan’s sway. I have seen other missions raising up a staff of educated native assistants, while I, -haying to bear alone the duties of pastor, of preacher to the heathen, of itinerant to the “regions beyond,” and of .translator, have had but 6cant time and strength to devote to the training of native preachers, and no means for bearing the expenses of such students. To bo stinted for funds for a few years is comparatively easy to bear, for one may hope the crisis will soon be over, but when we -have to go on for seven or eight long years, not daring to occupy a new point, always trying to keep expenditures down -to the lowest sum, it leads us to inquire whether something may not bo wrong — whether the finger of Providence may not be pointing to somechange in our mode of operations. X am not speaking of personal wants. I have learned to bo content with little, and my salary, when paid, is sufficient, amply so, for my needs. But I am troubled about the heathen. They are perishing in their sins, and we arc so cramped in our efforts to save them. Immortal souls are at stake. You must not be surprised when I tell you that in moments of despondency the question sometimes comes up before my mind, “Is it not my duty to use every means to give these Chinese the Gospel? The Baptists of the South do not feel themselves able to carry on the work they have undertaken. Is not the Providence of God pointing to union with the North as the means for the supply of this destitution ?” All ques¬ tions of preferences and prejudices must be sent before this : “How can these immortal souls have the Gos¬ pel ?” If the Baptists of the South wish to have the honor of being known as missionary Baptists, they must accept the responsibility of that name. Unless more men and more means are sent, I fear the alter¬ native of suspending our missions or of uniting with our brethren in the North, will be forced upon the churches of the South. If it comes to this there is in my mind no doubt whatever as to wliicli alterna- tive wc should choose. 3. Such a union might hclp_ lo restore that unity of heart for which Christ prayed and which every true follower of Jesus must long for. While hoping that .behtoa 4*>Hi лг-*** H1®» .(►nob »d «i1»’1' he. But these will- be found to pay, and nothing these results might follow an organic union of the