The Commission, December 1850

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 12. “Go yc into all the world and prcacli the gospel to every creature.” RICHMOND, DECEMBER 15, 1850 Southern Uaptbt doinwitiou. Concspomlcnco of the Foreign Hoard. Communications relating to tlio general busi¬ ness nf tho Foreign Mission Hoard, may be ad¬ dressed, post paid, to James U. Taylor, Cor. See. Richmond, Va. Communications enclosing donations, or relat¬ ing to tiro financial department, may bo address¬ ed to Akcuioald Thomas, Trias. Richmond, Va. Tho Missionary. “As tho day began to dawn, I was in tho vicinity of Kaithby, and, on approaching tho Oak-Trees, could distinctly hear tho voieo 01 praiso and thanksgiving to God. Tho sound of melody at that early hour came upon mo, and in a place so lonely, that it led to reflections of the most cheering nature. Wo havo not toiled and labored in vain. ‘Tho people who sat in dark¬ ness bavo seen great light; and tiioso whose tongues wero accustomed to cursing, arc raising their voices in hymns of praise." — LcUcr from the Rev. It, Shaw, Stellenbosch. At cnrlj di«n of dij-, jrou might have teen, In (Southern Afrlc'l lonolj jilalo, a man Wniullug Ida »nj throcjh v.riuuj lolls and cans; 1 (a was u servant of tho Lord, vrho K(L llli bouse, till homo, to tell tlio Lmllicii land, )Tow deep lie/ bp Immersed In error’s night, How Uinj mlshl burnt tbo binds Uat kept tliom down Hrep chain'll In Su[4-rslltlon's Iron grasp, And rl»o superior to tho lofty skies. Met, liarkl from yonder lonely glen, tho voieo Of praiso la lorno along tho paailng Irtexe. It was a little hand of thoao who once Had spent their soiree In foul Uaaphemyj lint ttiey had lowly bint before tho cross, And felt tho power of Jesus’ blood to heal ; And miw^ In Joyous notes they probe tho Lord. ■ eout-rcvliing to tho man of Oodl . Mint precious balm to sootho'hb varlons pains! "" * Mellilnks It «ound.-.l with far rh-her tones And more melodious harmony to liim, Than the strong loud sweep of choral music Which on tits natlro Islo ho oft had heard. What tweet, what pleasing Images It wakesl It bill him that o’en Afrlo’a sons had felt Thu love, tlio peace, tho Joy, which show thcmscl tea In nets of mercy kind, la praise and prayer: It told him that ho had not spent Ids strength, Ills time, Ids talents, and his prajera In vain: llod hail placed honor on Ills coming there, Had made him instrumental In tlio work Of snatching sinners from tho hand of death, And loathing them tlio way to Joys on high: A luead so high, so glorious, that ho felt Nor pain too sharp, nor toll too great to bear! Thus cheer’d, tho man of Clod pursues his way. J. Alaev For tho Commission. As It Should Be. 1 called on an clJerly minister a few days agoj who informed mo that ho had just sent on a few names for tho Journal; also, that several young ladies in the bounds of bis church bad subscribed for tho Commission. Ho slated, moreover, tint iiia church and congregation made annual con¬ tributions to tlio causo of benevolence; that these contributions aro increasing; and in fact that hia church is doing as much as lie could ask them to do. What a beautiful sight is this! An aged minister, with locks as white as wool, matching nobly onward in every benevolent enterprise, and his little flock following steadily in his footsteps i Ho subscribes, himself, for several religious newspapers, and uses his influence to havo his pcoplo to subscribe for them too. Ho himself contributes to tlio causo of benevolence, and by In’s influence, his pcoplo contribute equal to hi3 hearts dcs’ro. This may not bo tlio case in tlio full extent, yet, considering what they havo dono heretofore, and how tlio spirit of benevolence has increased among them, 1m could not, now, urge them to do more. How long would it к till Ihe world would к converted if all ministers would act in this way! I have seen a minister in my travels who re¬ ceives and reads a religious newspaper gratis, l^ut who does not изо an iota of exertion to in¬ duce his pcoplo to subscribe for that paper And, although a pious man, ho uses no efforts tc have his pcoplo engago in tho benevolent enter¬ prises of tho day. When will we к induced U do all our duly. J, R. //, Now Zealand .Idea. An old man walked with mo tho ctliei day to cno of tbo settlements, when tho conversation turned on tho lovo of God. Ho said, ‘.‘Tlio love of Cod is a ropo let down to draw men up from earth to heaven.— Eng. Гарет. For tho Commission. “Praying; ns with much Entreaty that we should receive the Gift." More than eighteen hundred years havo rolled by, sinco the exercise of this bcncvolenco on the part of the Macedonian churches. With the advance of time, ought not the ml 6f tho Christ- ian church to advanco? llut do facts prove an increaso of zeal? Wo speak of pcoplo being “ behind tho ago ” in worldly things. Is not the churcli “behind tho age” in spiritual tilings! If we comparo tho requirements of tho gospel and tho ml of tho primitive Christians with tho zeal of tho church at tbo present time, it would seem that tho church is eighteen hundred years “behind tho age;” for tho zeal of tho church docs not equal the zeal of those who lived eigh¬ teen hundred years ago. Wo hear of the “in- solutions of the day,” and missions aro generally included in tho expression. By the use of the expression, it seems to us an acknowledgment that Christians of the present timo aro just begin¬ ning to see their duty— just awaking to a sense of their tC3ponsibility. Truth. - and, like tho olheis, only one or two professors. Wo have souglit long and diligently— hut thus ifar in vain,— for some definite information con¬ cerning tho existing discipline and regulations of ‘theso colleges. All those systems of instruction .which havo sprung up in modern times, and are ■ now doing so much for tho nations of the West, aro hero entirely unknown, There arc hooks in ,tho Chinese language which contain excellent 'maxims on tlio subject of education, give numer¬ ous rules to facilitate tho acquisition of knowl¬ edge, and detail systems of gymnastic exercises for the preservation of health. ; Of tho whole population of Canton, not more than one-half arc able to read. Perhaps not one boy out of ten is left entirely destitute of in¬ struction; yet of the other sex not ono in ten ever learns to read or write. There aie but few schools for girls in the city. Public sentiment here is against the education of females ; imme- gious character, which had been sent from China for their use. There were perhaps 100 of tlio Celestials present— and wo havo never seen a finer looking body of men collected together in San Francisco, In fact, this portion of our pop¬ ulation is a pattern, for sobriety, order, and obe¬ dience to tho laws, not only to our other fotcign residents, but to the Americans themselves. “The Chinese were dressed in the manner of their country, but appeared to have taken espe- cial pains to rig out to tho best advantage on this occasion. They were gathered in a circle upon the platform, tho Mayor and other gentlemen being in the centro. Mr. Woodworth stated tho object of the meeting, which was rendered into Chinese by a native. Mr. Williams then made a few appropriate remarks, which the Celestials appeared to receivo with a good deal of satisfac¬ tion— and then the Mayor put in Ыз oar, to good effect. A gentleman, whom we did not know, morial usage is against it ; manv passages in the followed in some eloquent remarks about the A Wise Investment. A Presbyterian lady in Ireland has recently left, among other handsome legacies, the sum of X‘30,000 “for tho spread of tho gospel in India." Sho was induced to appropriate it es¬ pecially to India, becauso her fortune was de¬ rived fiont that country, through, a brother, who held a lucrative post in the British army. The money, it is said, will probably bo employed in piomoling fcmnlo education. It could not be mom wisely or usefully appropriated. Would classics are against it ; and tho consequence is, they are left uninstiuclcd, and sink far below that point in tho scale of being, which they are fitted and ought evei to hold. The degradation into which tho fairest half of the human species is here thrown, affoids cause for loud complaint against tho wisdom and philosophy of ilio sages .and legislators of the Celestial Empire.' Wo do not knowingly detract from tho merits of tho Chinese ; in comparison with other Asiat¬ ics, they aie a learned and polished race. Those 'who havo been educated, aro generally remaika- ,bly fond of books ; and though there are no pub¬ lic libraries in Canton, yet llie establishments for manufacturing and vending hooks are numetous. And to supply those who ate unable to purchase for themselves the works they need, a great aumbetof cimnbtinir libraries .arrUiejit constant¬ ly in motion. Hut almost all of theso books are bad ; this charge, however, does not lie with equal force against those works which usually constitute tho text-books of literary men. Wo are admirers of Greek and Roman liteia- turo ; but we depreealo tho practice of putting into the bands of young students the “ master pieces” of боте of their most celebrated authors. The moral tendency of many of thoso heathen writings, whicli ever sinco tho dark ages have continued to form tho basis of the literary educa¬ tion of not a few Christian schools, is decidedly inferior to the Chinese. An elegant English The that multitudes in our country would act upon tho same great principle of equity and Christian ,“,c“ul *“ .'‘''“"'"'V. . 1 scholar has spoken well on this point, y! How many similar dcvi$C3 for the benefit! „. . . , ... , • , Chinese student,” says he, “ not being secured duty ! How many of the poor Indian and African Missions would , . , * , . ,iIt , , , from errors by tlio light of revealed religion, сзп thus bo secured ! Who can cstrmato the debt, , , . , . , , , , ? , , ' nnlir Hdrtrn hia irvtn nrppArhW 1mm ma ephnnf. which, as a nation and as individuals, wo owe to these races! And how can this debt so effec¬ tually, or so appropriately he paid, as by sending them the Cospel! This alone can repair the injury that theso races havo received at our hands. Let then the tens of thousands among us, who have been enriched by the lands and furs of the Indian, or tho toil of tho negro, re- only derive his moral precepts from his school learning. He is certainly, therefore, fortunate in tho possession of a body of ancient native lit¬ erature, which, whilo it cultivates his taslo and improves his understanding, contains nothing to inflamo his passions or corrupt lib heart. The Chinese aro not compelled, as wo arc, upon the authority of great names, and for tho sako of tho graces of stylo and language, to place in tho member the.. . indebtedness, and go mutate the h3nda of tlieir youtll, w0lka containing passages example of tins ptous lady; only let them not ^ m0(] ,0 „№ blush, -works, in defer till a dying day, \vl.at they could as well or ^ а(ЫгзЫо пш5тч nf тогаШ better perforin whilo m health. Iicllect on theso . . » .u . 1 , , | _ | , I aro mixed and confounded together in the same - I. . _ — - ........ I . n m I ibrt I OF. Ш..Л ll.«> _ 4 things, gcntlo reader, and tho Lord give thee an understanding and generous heart. — For. Miss. Education in China. Tho following interesting facts aro extracted from an old work on China. Wo commend them to tlio notico of our readers. Tlio high schools and colleges, are numerous ; but none of them aro richly endowed, or well fitted for the purposes of education. The high 3cliools, which aro fourteen in number, aro some¬ what similar to tho private grammar schools in England and America; witli this difference, that tiio foimer are nearly destitute of pupils. There aro thitty colleges; most of which wero founded many centuries ago. Several ol them aro now deserted, and aro falling to ruins. Tlirca of tho largest havo each about two hundred students, page, with avowab and descriptions of most dis¬ gusting licentiousness. Tho Chinese aro cer¬ tainly by no means free from the charge of gross¬ ness and indelicacy; but the higher class, at least, of Chinese literature, that whicli usually forms the library of youthful students, is in this respect wholly unexceptionable.” Chinese Gathering. Tho following is from tho San Francisco Courier:— "A very intercsthg ceremony took place yesterday afternoon on tho Plaza. Accord¬ ing to previous announcement, tho Chinese resi¬ dents of San Francisco assembled to receive, through tho hands of his Honor, Mayo: Geary, Frederick A. Woodworth, and Rev. Albert Williams, some works, principally of a reli¬ heavenly home to which ail who tread in the narrow way, aie fast hurrying. This and other metaphors, seemed to pnzzlo the interpreter to render into understandable Chinese, which had the effect to amuse the wide-trousers gentlemen mightily. After the speeches were over, Mayor Geary invited all the ‘China Boys’ to take a place in the funeral procession to-day, which in¬ vitation was most graciously accepted. The New Testament and tracts were then distributed, with a word of advice to the recipients, to make use of them as finger-posts lo point tho way to heaven; and after a reply from tho spokesman of the crowd, which a Chinaman who ‘ speakec Eenglcc3e,’ interpreted thus: ‘We like a good deal to have tho hooks, and shall no doubt find them very agreeable and vcry_ fum,y'’_ They Quielly jrepaiated, apparently with the idea that the outside barbarians are very great friends of Lin Chew, the Emperor of China, and all and singular, the flowery kingdoms and provinces of that part of creation.” Nothing to Give. So said a member of the - - church, to one of tho appointed collectors for foreign mis¬ sions. And yet ho professed to be a disciple of Jesus Christ — to ho governed by tho self-denying principles of his gospel. Nothing to give. And yet ho talked of tlio preciousness of the gospel to his own soul— of tho hopes he entertained of salvation through its blood purchased provisions. And he sometimes attends tho monthly concert, and prays that God will send tho gospel to the ends cf tho earth. Ho has said many times during tho year, “Thy kingdom come,” and pretended that it was ptaycr. If dollars were as cheap as words, tho treasury of benevolence would he full. Nothing to give. That means, the missiona¬ ries may starve, and tho heathen may go to hell, before 1 part with any of my money for their re¬ lief. Nothing to give. And he wears decent appa¬ rel, lives in a comfortablo house, sets a plentiful table, and seems to want nothing necessary to tho comfort of iiis family. Nothing to giro. And ho indulges freely in little luxuries, steps into the confectionary oc¬ casionally, smokes a good cigar, gathers his friends sometimes around his well-stored hoard, in eouvivial enjoyment, and can well afford tho expense. Nothing lo give. And the heathen are stretch¬ ing out their hands in imploring petition for tho bread of lifo, and warm-hearted Christian minis¬ ters, and even Chiisiian women, aro slanding up¬ on the shores of our own land, and looking across into tho darkness, and weeping for tbo means to cany them there, that they may minister to tho spiritual necessities of those perishing millions.’ Nothing to give. Yet God in his providence, is constant and munificent in lira benefactions.