FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL.
Published Monthly by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
‘ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTJI. GO YE, THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS.’
Vol. 15 — New Series.
RICHMOND, VA„ FEBRUARY, 1884.
No. 7.— Whole No. 187.
[Entered nt the Poet-Offici» at lllchmoml, Vn„ ae
second-class matter.]
Foreign Mission Journal
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Address. FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL.
Richmond, Va.
FOREIGN MISSION BOARD
OF THE SOUTHERN DAPTIST CONVENTION,
I.OOATHD at RICHMOND. VIRGINIA.
PnieiDaxT-J. I.. M„OURRY.
ViCB-I’UKSinENTa.— Julius Revenue, Md„ J. A.
Hackett. La., J. L. Ilurrow». Va.,
О.
K. Allen, Fla..
O. F. Oreeory, N.
О.,
T. T. Eaton. Kjr.. J. J. 1). lien-
froe, Alnbamn, It. S, Duncan, Mo., It II, Carroll,
Texaa, W. I,. Kilpatrick.
Па,
Ohas, Manly, ,S. C.,
Mall. Hill. man, Tenn., J. II. Searcy. Ark., George
Whitfield, Mile., TV. 1\ Walker, W. Va.
OonnaeroNDiNO SecnaTAtir— II. A.
ТШ'1
TniASDnKit— J. O. WILLIAMS,
ItkCOHDlNO StcnaTAitT— W. If. GWATUMEY.
Дшитоп—
JOSEPH F. COTTltELL.
IlOAitDOr
Макаопщ.
— J,
П.
Hawthorne, J.
П.
Wat*
Mas, II, K. El I vaon, W. E. Hatcher. E. Wortham, W.
D. Thomas, W. Ooddtli, H. II. Harris, J, Pollard. Jr.,
J. W. Jortee.
А. П.
Clarke,
Л.
II. Winston, J. II. Uni¬
son.
О.
H. Winston. S. O. Otcpton.
tS3~All communication s in reference to the
business of this Board should be addressed to
H. A. Tupper, Corresponding Secretary,
Richmond , ffl.
Our thanks are due to a number of our
southern Baptist weeklies for kindly notices.
We shall lie most happy to reciprocate
the kindness if they should ever need our
aid, as we need theirs.
THE FUTURE OF THE JOURNAL.
Certain prominent and influential brethren
have indicated a purpose to urge upon the
Convention at Baltimore next May the pro¬
priety of suspending this publication and
giving tlie matter now printed here to the
weekly papers in the several States. The
arguments are three: lirst, that the Journal
is a burden to the treasury ; secondly, that it
is unworthy of the great cause to which it is
devoted, is in fact “ a dry little sheet ; " and
thirdly, that its circulation is not half so
large ns the missionary paper of Southern
Baptists ought to command.
The first of these reasons has no founda¬
tion in fact, as will more fully appear below.
The other two have great force, and the in¬
jurious cITcct of their discussion lias been
keenly felt.
To the second count of the indictment we
plead guilty, but only so far as editorial mat¬
ter is concerned. It is not line of the letters
which make the bulk of every issue. To he
sure our correspondents might indulge in
highly-wrought descriptions or personal gos¬
sip, or crude speculations ; in a word they
might make sensational letters, and these
would suit the prurient taste of a certain
class of readers; but how sadly out of har¬
mony they would he with the work of
preaching tlie gospel of peace, and with the
spirit of the meek and lowly Master. No;
we insist upon it, the simple, straightfor¬
ward, calm letters that we publish from
month to month leave nothing to be desired
except more of tlie same sort. They give
us unvarnished facts, and that is just what
we want.
The third count is also too true. A cir¬
culation of 3,000 is ridiculously small when
compared with the million of white Baptists
in the South. But let us see. The average
of readers is two or three in a family, say
20,000 or one-fifth of our membership for the
present issue. We judge that very nearly
another fifth are really unable on account of
tender years, old age, poverty or illiteracy,
to take any paper. Fully one-fifth are either
actively opposed or totally indifferent to for¬
eign missions. Yet another fifth have never
heard of the existence of the Journal. And
the remaining fifth, some of them within a
stone's throw of the olficc of publication,
fully intend to subscribe, but have simply
neglected it from time to time on one excuse
or another, Now, then, the way to secure
the perpetuity of tlie Journal is to bring it
to the attention of tltose who have not heard
of it, or having heard have neglected to act,
and this can be done by a little effort on tlie
part of our present subscribers. Already,
in eighteen months, the list lias nearly
doubled and is still growing. If we can
double again in two years, and then again in
live years more, we shall have reached quite
a respectable circulation. Tills we can do.
Shall we not set about it at once?
While we thus urge our friends to help us
meet this objection, we feel bound in candor
to add that we are not very nervous about
tlie issue to be raised in Baltimore. The
publication was indeed suspended in 187.) at
the instance of the Board, but only because
an immense accumulation of “deadheads”
on the mailing-books made the cost largely
in excess of the receipts. New books were
opened and better arrangements for print¬
ing were made when it was, with the sanc¬
tion of the Convention, resumed in 1877.
The balance now, we are happy to say, is on
the other side, and there is good prospect
that at the close of this financial year we
shall have something to turn over to the
treasury of the Board. For that end let us
all work to add to the list of subscribers who
pay in advance according to published rates.
CONTENTED, NOT SATISFIED.
Paul had learned, as he wrote to the I’hi-
lippians, in whatsoever state he was, therein
to be content. And yet in tlie very same
epistle lie likens himself to ar athlete,
straining every nerve as lie presses toward
the goal. Contentment pertains to one's
surroundings, satisfaction to his attainments,
lie is contented or discontented with tlie ar¬
rangements of Providence, and with the ser¬
vices tendered him by his fellow-men ; he is
satisfied or dissatisfied with his own services
and growth.
The two may sometimes co-exist— we
have seen people who seemed to be both
satisfied and contented, others who ap¬
peared to lie at the same time dissatisfied
and discontented. Yet, generally, it is true
that self-satisfaction is the daughter of a
foolish vanity, which breeds also discontent,
while contentment is the offspring of nil
humble piety, which also hears nil insatiate
yearning for a better life.
I.ct us givrj these thoughts a practical turn
by asking a few pointed and personal ques¬
tions. Are you discontented with your lot
in life ? Do you find yourself disposed to
murmur at God’s providential dealings with
you ? Are you disposed to complain of your
friends and neighbors, and think they have
not treated you as you deserve? Does your
past seem unsuccessful and your future
gloomy ? Well, it is worth examining ; per¬
haps it may be that you have been too easily
satisfied, and have, therefore, done little or
nothing to glorify God, either in your own
life, or in making known to others the riches
of his grace.
Contentment is tlie main ingredient in tlie
cup of earthly happiness; dissatisfaction is
the great stimulus to progress. Woe to
Zion if she becomes discontented, and woe
to the world, as well as to herself, if in this
dispensation she is ever satisfied. " I shall
be satisfied," sang the Psalmist, "when I
awake, with thy likeness;” and he whose life
was made an offering for sin shall at last
‘•see of the travail of his soul and be satis¬
fied.” Till then it is incumbent on all who
call themselves by his revered name, in
whatsoever state they may be, to be content,
and yet to press incessantly toward the prize
which Im has set before us. This yields the
highest happiness earth can know, and best
prepares us for the bliss of heaven.
A BUILDING FUND.
Dr. G. A. Nunnally, of the Home Mis¬
sion Board, Atlanta, Ga., made a brief
visit to Richmond about the middle of
January. This Board is sustaining about
one hundred and twenty missionaries,
some of whom are laboring among tlie
Negroes in the older States, others
among the Chinese in California, others still
among the Indians of the southwestern Ter¬
ritories, but by far the larger number are
trying to supply some of the great destitution
among the white population, botli native and
immigrant, in Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas
and Texas. The Board is doing a great
work and could do much more if its treasury
were more promptly and liberally supplied.
Dr. Nunnally is the special representative
of a Building Fund, to be used in helping
weak churches to erect neat and substantial
houses of worship where they are needed.
Although he has given only two or three
months to tlie cause, he lias already secured
enough to justify him in promising liberal
loans to some fifteen or twenty congregations.
We bespeak for tiim wherever lie goes a
kind reception by tlie friends of Foreign
Missions. The same necessity that has com¬
pelled us to build in Rome, Lagos, Shanghai,
and in fact almost all our stations, is even
more pressingly felt in the new towns which
are springing up all along the rivers of
Florida and the railways of Texas.
A word of caution we must add in reference
to this as to all other special funds, and that
is, that they should always he accompanied
by a corresponding increase of regular giving
to the general work. The house is nothing
without the preacher, and the more houses
we build in these new countries, the more
missionaries we must send to proclaim in
them the pure word of life. Brother Nun¬
nally is an eloquent man. I le feels strongly
the importance of his work and states it
forcibly. Give liberally in response to his
appeals, yet so as at the same time to in-
creaseyour regular contribution to the Home
Board.
THE SCHOOLS IN MEXICO.
Dr. Tupper left Richmond on the 20th of
December, so as to be in Saltillo by the 4th
of January, where he expected to meet Gov¬
ernor Madero and other parties interested,
and after full consultation, to prepare for
ratification by the Board a scheme for in¬
augurating and conducting tlie proposed
schools. Dr. II. II. Tucker, of Georgia, ac¬
companied him, but was recalled by the ill¬
ness of his son.
We had hoped to present in this number
of the Journal something definite and re¬
liable on a question in which so many of our
readers are deeply interested. They will
have to wait another month. The Gover¬
nor was absent, and up to the 70th had not
returned. Dr. Tupper was contemplating a
trip of 150 miles to Parras and Patos. This,
at the rate at which mules travel, would oc¬
cupy some ten days at least.
The delay, though on some accounts to be
regretted, will give our commissioner a bet¬
ter opportunity to survey the field, consider
the whole subject, and seek out solutions of
delicate questions likely to arise. He will
thus come to the actual negotiations much
better prepared to guard all the points af¬
fecting our polity as Baptists and our duty
as simply a missionary organization. The
time apparently lost may, therefore, prove a
real gain.
Of his first Sunday in Saltillo and our
work there, the Doctor writes:
Sunday was one of the happiest days of
my life. The little church here is most earnest
and devout. They have three services on
the Lord's Day. On Monday Bro, Powell
baptized an interesting young man, who pro¬
poses to go to the Seminary at Louisville.
There were seven preachers present. Thu
occasion was full of joyous solemnity.
Our missionary occupies a commanding
position in the community. He knows the
very best people, who hold him in great es¬
teem. Tlie common people arc devoted to
him. He is a power for good. Pray for us.
Brother E. F. Baldwin sailed on the fifth of
January for a reconnoitring tour in Kabylia.
After lie had been appointed and had made
all his arrangements to start, even engaging
his passage, it came out that the good breth¬
ren in North Carolina were not so unanimous
and enthusiastic as the Board had been led
to believe. Paul and Barnabas differed on a .
question of expediency in reference to tho
foreign mission work, and from that day to
this, sharp contentions on similar questions
have arisen between good and true men ; but
he who makes the wrath of man praise him,
has overruled it to the furtherance of his
cause. Brother B. is expected to acquaint
himself as fully as possible with the field,
and to return before the next meeting of tlie
Convention. In Baltimore, we presume, tho
whole question of establishing the new mis¬
sion will be carefully considered in commit¬
tee and, if it should seem desirable, fully dis¬
cussed before the body.
We have two postals from brother Z. C.
Taylor — one tells us of the stoning of their
house in Bahia by some students— the other
(Dec. IStli,) tells of the applications for bap¬
tism, more fully stated in brother Bagby’s
letter. It has been said that no preaching is
a failure if it excites either tears or anger.
Tlie brethren in Brazil have both these signs
of success.
We called attention last month to tho
large number of baptisms reported. Almost
equally cheering arc the letters in this issue.
BOOKS KF.CEIVKD.
Tlie American Baptist Publication Society
lays on our table several beautifully printed
and handsomely bound volumes:
Scriptural Baptism, by the late Richard
Fuller, D. D., pp. 25C, price $1.00, iso republi¬
cation from a work which was extensively cir¬
culated sonic years ago. It is a clear and for¬
cible presentatation of what the Scriptures
teach about the act and the subjects of Bap¬
tism, marked by Dr. Fuller’s well-known
courtesy, candor, and earnest love of truth.
A Deacon’s Daughter, by Miss Lilian
F. Wells, pp. 250, price $1.00, tells the story
of a Vermont girl whose strong will rebelled
against tlie ascetic puritanism of a stem
father. Many of the pictures are life-like,
that of the deacon is quite overdrawn.
Eric, The Scandinavian, or Life in the
Northwest, by Miss L. Bates, pp. 314, price
$1.23, depicts life in logging camp, on the
Mississippi, and in Central America. -
The Family or the Black Forest, A
Tale of the Peasants' Wars, by the author
of Oi.d Bristol, price $1.50, introduces us
to places and times of the most thrilling in¬
terest— tlie border land between Germany
and Switzerland in the days of Luther and
Zwingle and Hubmeier. The story, simply
as such, is far below its theme, but its
graphic portraitures of life m the forest, in
the nunnery, in Zurick and other towns, to¬
gether with its incidental introduction of the
great religious leaders of 1525, make it well •
worthy of a careful reading.
