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VOLUME 2, NUMBER 10, “Go yo into all thi* world and preach the gospel to every creature.’’ RICHMOND, OCTOBER 15( 1850.
Southern Baptist (Hommition.
Correspondence of the Foreign Board.
Communications relating to the general busi¬
ness of the Foreign Mission Board, may be ad¬
dressed, post paid, to
James B. Taylor, Cor. Sec.
" Richmondi Va.
Communications enclosing donations, or rclat-
ihg to the financial department, may be address¬
ed to Archibald Thomas, Treat.
Richmond, Fa.
For the Conimljslon.
Lines to Eov. T. J. Bowen.
Tlio following lines were suggested by the
death of Her. Hervey Goodale, the missionary
collcaguo of Brother llowen :
Brother beloved, thou tread’st alone,
A desert wild, with thorns o'ergrown ;
Hear Jesus say, with gentle tone,
“ My servant— look to mo."
t
" Gnodale is loosed from earthly bands,
A spirit now in better lands;
Beforo my throno in triumph stands,
!n blissful peace with me."
“ Thy faith and hope are sorely tried,
And all around is drear beside,
But be thou calm, and satisfied ;
/
And ever look to me.”
"Tho' far from home, fatigued, distressed,
, Lrko Noah's dove, can'st find no rest ;
But not alone;— no, nor unblest;
' ; * ' Whilst still thou look’stto me."
. *4 ". . .
.^Plunged in a etormy, treacherous wave,
Hated by tiioso', thou'Iong’st'to save;'- -
Thy steps seem verging on the grave ;
Still cling, 0 cling to me.”
“ My sacred truth is in thy hand,
Which mightier is than Magi’s wand,
Throw this broad-cast o’er Aftio’s land ;
But always look to me.”
“ Live for thy work, ’tis all Divine,
I.et Christian patienco it. thee shine,
And like tho branches to the vine,
Cling ever close to mo.”
Richmond. M. E. K.
For the Commission.
address his people inflhis day, in reference .to the
pleaching of the gospel. Why, he commanded
his ancient prophet to “cry aloud and spare not,”
and if any of these commissioned to proclaim a
Saviour to come, to point to tho Lamb to
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slain,
—if any of these bad failed of their duty, — God
would not have held them guiltless. Ho sent
Jonah to preach repentance to tho city of Ninc-
vah, and when he failed to'cxecule his high and
important commission, Almighty displeasur/ was
visited upon him. The question recurs, How
shall ice (now that the gospel 'has been fairly
tested, and accompanied by God'3 Spirit, hai
proved. to be' his power unto salvation; now that
the commission of the ascended Saviouiis under¬
stood, and clearly brought beforo our minds,)—
How shall we escape if wo neglect to promulge
this great salvation?
Tiio apostle evidently refers io the superior
light which tho Hebrew church and Christians of
that day enjoyed, as a reason for their greater
and more certain condemnation, if they failed to
apprecieate the offered gospel. Now God's pro¬
fessed people have been slumbering for eighteen
centuries, regardless of his commands to preach
the gospel, and uf the ptomised success to attend
that gospel.— What account they may have to
give, tho Great Judge only knows. Doubtless
many will be pronounced unfaithful stewards of
the manifold grace of God — to get but never give,
10 imbibo but never impart. But this we do
know, that since the modern missionary enter¬
prise: has commenced, since new Pauls have
arisen, ambitious to “testify the gospel oft the
grass of God,” as the Great Head of the church
had sealed their efforts with1 his approval',
о
as
God's providence, seems to unite with :his‘ word
in saying, “Go, preach the gospel to' every crca>
ture,” as many are “ running to and fro, and
knowledge is increasing,”— knowledge of duty,
— of encouragement ; if now any professed dis¬
ciple of Jesus neglects to promulgo the “ great
salvation " as far as he can, his will be guilt un¬
paralleled, and his commensurato punishment.
This is long enough for your sheet. In a sub¬
sequent article I wish to urge the greatness of this
“salvation” as a motive for offering it to the
world, X Y Z.
"All) here comes the plea of virtual infidelity!
Is not: ‘the earth tho Lord's, arid tho fulness
thereof!' 1 Leave thy widows and thy fatherless
children, 1 will preservo them alive, sailh the
Lord.’ Is it possible that we can'feel a greater
Security in' the arm of tho Almighty ! How
does'even the bare thought dishonor his 'sublime
omhij&ience arid grace! What docs it really
say? |‘ I will bo belter to myself than Jehovah,
for I do not in heart really trust in his goodness ;
I will be. my own good god, I will give myself
and my children tho good things we need ; yes,
1 will be my own good god.’ Mark it! all the
stops.of infidelity lead to this grand ultimatum—
the disownment of any God but self! But to
repirj to our inquiry. Waving the question of
future.provision, could you not, affording your-
self^ll the necessaries of life, yet, very easily
spare that sum to benevolent purposes! I see
you cannot say no. Then it is not yours at all ;
it belongs to the cause ol God, is instrumenlally
necessary in the great economy of means, to the
progress of that blessed cause, and if you daie
appropriate it to yourself you aie— shall I say it,
— it. J seems 100 harsh. — ‘Say it.’ — You are ‘a
robber and a murderer.'”
,it. : E. A. L.
To bo continued.
from that period,” said. tl|e preacher, “hayoj.
had a doubt on the subject. Facts, too, .have
proved the fulfillment of divine prophecies, and
have gone. se.fat.to accomplish the.divine.oath.”
For \ho Commission,
How shall wo escape if wo neglect
so* groat Salvation!
The neglect refeired to in this text is in hear¬
ing, believing and embracing the “ great salva
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■The missionary Message.
Christian missionary , you go to tell the victim^
of superstition of essential truth ; to point the'eyo
of the Hindoo wfdo'w from the corpse of
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bsnd to Him who is the resurrection and tlieJife;
to tail the infanticide mother that she may ’savd
her offspring, and riiay press tliem'torher heart ;
to the followers of Bhodhri of a true incarnation i
and the parched pilgrim of the desert of a well of
water that springeth op to everlasting life; and
tho devotee of the Ganges, of the washing of
regeneration, and the renewing of tho Holy
Ghost; and the self-lorjurlug votary of cruelty,’
that the name of God is 16vc j and the self-immo¬
lating worshipper oi Juggernaut, of the Sacrifice
offered once for all, and of lh6 blood which
cleanscth from all sin. Oh, find out the nation
where guilt has been hourly accumulating ever
since the time of the deluge, and the command
of Christ is, "go to it."— And, having gone,
challenge them to produce the guiltiest mari of
their nation, and the command of Christ is, “ o£
fer him redemption through tire blood of the
cross.” Have they, as many of ifie nations
have, the fabulous tradition that suclf or such a
cavern is the mouth of hell! Ask them to lead
you to it; for even there, could the' dreadful spot
Where shall I go last of all?
' A Hindoo, of a thoughtful, reflecting turn of
mind, but devoteJ to idolatry, lay on his death¬
bed. As he was himself aboot to plunge into ^ found, your commission would exteod-to the
... <1 11'L 1
that boundless unknown, he cried out, “ What
will become of mo!” "0,” said a brahmin,
who stood by, “ you will inhabit another body.”
‘“Afidiwhere,” said he, “shall I go then!”
“ Into another.” “ And. where, then!” “Into
another, and so on, though thousands of millions.”
Darting across this whole period as though it
were but an instant, he cried, “ Where shall I
go then?” Paganism could not answer, and he
died. agonizing under the inquiry, “ Where shall
I go last of all!” — Exchange paper.
Feeling what we give.
A missionary, in his report as to the field of
his labor, says : “ Methinks one reading this re¬
port says, ‘ Well, I will give five dollars to the
cause of domestic missions. lean give this amount
and not feel it.’ Suppose, my Christian brother,
you give twenty dollars, and feel it. Your Sa¬
viour fell what he did for you. A remark of
this kind onco heard from the pulpit, thrilled
Aiduus and Loxuh,
“ I admit then,” said Laxus, “that a man may
bo so unconscionably covetous, so extravagantly
luxurious, so enormously self-indulgent, so en-
- tirely forgetful, and supremely regardless of the; ,hrnugh myvvhnle soul,' and made' me do 1001 e
4 claims and miseries of his suffering fellow-crea- lhan empty my purse. 1 borrowed from a friend,
lion.” It has occurred to me, that the question , tures, as even actually to be morally guilty of. The idea 0[fuUng uhat Igate WM delightful.”
might ba asked, with not less pertinence nr foico, j murder in tho sight of God. But I challenge! Baptist Almanac.
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regards efforts for ils extension to others;— in! you to prove that I, in the premises of my world-
other words, that all thoso motives which would j ly circumstances, can bo found amenable to this
urge to embrace tho “great salvation” of the charge!”
gospel, would equally lead thoso embracing toj “ But do you really submit to me the liberty of
diffuse its truth and attendant blessings as widely
as possible, and that tho danger and guilt of neg-
candidly investigating the question from tho pro
raises of your actual possessions1 Do you pre¬
lecting to diffuse, would not bo less than that of raise to take no offence? ”
neglecting to receive.
Tho apostle, in the startling interrogatory,
“How shall wo escape!” &c., and in tho con¬
text, seems to present two aigumcnt3 to shew
the sin and danger of such neglect— 1. The pe- take account of your income.
“ I do. I am not afraid of tho inquisition,
am a poor man, — and you know it.”
Ground of Hope for the Heathen.
A few years since, Mr. Jay was invited to
preach before tbo Baptist Missionary Society ir.
London, with several of the founders of which
ho was acquainted. He beautifully sketched the
origin of the missionary spirit, and the difficulties
it had to encounter. He stated that ho himself,
very brink; for He whom you preach is able to
save even to that uttermost.
Witnessing Church.
“ In Iho first place, then, I must take a sort oil then a comparative youth, had somo doubts as to
inventory of your property; in the second, 1 must whether the lime had
сото
for tho evangelization
culiar facilities afforded for becoming acquainted
with the gospel, and tho irresistible evidences of
its truth ; and 3, tho intrinsic importance of the
gospel itself.
“ If (ho says) tho word spoken by angels re¬
mained steadfast, and those who disobeyed God’s
will as made known by his servants,— if those
received their just punishment, how shall wo es¬
cape, if we neglect a salvation offered and ‘con¬
firmed ’ by tho Lord himself! ” Tho Almighty
himself had deigned, by "signs nnd wonders,
and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy
Ghost,” to hear witness to the truthfulness and
divinity of tho gospel, and he says, " Dare you
neglect it now?” Just in this way might God
You own a com-
of the
езпЬ,
and at length he determined to call
fortable house, a snug littlo farm, which supplies
you with every necessary of food, a servant, a
horse and vehicle, &c., &c. Your income is four] received hiy young brother with ardent affection,
hundred dollars per annum. Now I do not set! and requested him to detail the peculiar difficul-
the standard of your duo liberality quite high; ties whfth oppressed his mind. Mr. Jay did this
enough, when 1 say you should annually givo at at considerable length, especially insisting on the
-What God
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-wrought in China.
The comparison. which Dr. Bridgeinanmakes,
in the extract below, of the slate of thiugs in
China twenty years ago, and, that now, existing,
is highly cheering. With all the discoutagemepts
which missionaries have had to encounter, in that
land, abundant evidences have been given that
their labor has not been unblessed. Let God’s
people keep on working, looking to God for the
increase, and who can tell what glorious things
may he brought about in tho next, twenty years.
Dr. B. says:—
“ More than twenty years have now passed
since the first messengers from the churches in
America reached the land of Sinim. " When
‘ tho beloved Abeel ’ and myself arrived here,
there was, in all this wide field, only one proiest-
ant missionary, and only limited access to , the
people at one port. To propagate Christianity,
on the part of the foreigner, and to embrace and
practice it, on the part of tho native, was then
alike, in either case, a capita] crime. In these
twenty years what changes have we seen! • Mor¬
rison and Abeel have gone to their rest; and
many others, who came subsequently to Chins,
are also gone ; yet nearly a hundred laborers, -
men and women, preachers and teachers of Je¬
hovah’s blessed gospel, are now in the field ; and
we have free access to millions of the people.
The first fruits of a great and glorious harvest
begin reappear. All this is a token forgood.
Ho who has done so much will do still more.
All the inhabitants of Sinim Shall come to the
and converse on tho subject with the venerable;, , c .
„
. , , Lord, even to Jesus our Saviour.”
John Newton. Jhe aged apostolic clergyman
least half this sum."
“Two hundred dollars! Me give two hun¬
dred dollars per annum ! You shock me, you
take my breath !”
“ Why not! Would not two hundred a year
supply all your actual necessities? ’’
“But then the future!- What would become
of my dear wife, my two children, my own dear
self, if I make no provision for the future!”
manifold obstacles which idolatry and human de¬
pravity in all their various forms presented to the
extension of the gospel. When he had ceased,
the venerable clergyman slowly laid down his
pipe, gathered up his form to an erect posture,
and looking his junior brother full in the face, said
in a most emphatic tone, “ My brother, I have
never doubled tho power of God to convert the
heathen world since he converted me/" “Never
Progress of Christianity in India. ,
A writer in Western India remarks that,
throughout all that region, there is an increasing
desire for books, and an increasing ability to pro¬
fit by them. The readiness to purchase — not ac¬
cept as a gift only— Christian books and tracts,
judging from all statements seen, iswithodt a
parallel in any part of the heathen world. Nino
thousand Christian books had lately been sold to
.native heathens. The same cheering fact, in re¬
gard to educational advantages, is mentioned by
other writers in different parts of India. — Ex. .
