Foreign Mission Journal, March 1888

Foreign Mission Journal. l’UlSMSUKn JHINTIII.V BY THH РОШ2ГОХ MISSION BOARD OF T1IH SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION. ‘■ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. GO YE, THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS. Vol. 19 — New Simms. RICHMOND, VA., MARCH, 1S88. No. 8 — Whole No. 236* lEuterrU At the I’ost-Ofllee ut JMchmontf, Vn., u* eecoml-clase nmtfer.] Foreign Mission Journal RATES PER ANNUM: I. For ii4|u-n »e|v.it'(ilclj- aildrvwml. either lo same or to llinVri'llt poat cdlce’, : One copy . . . 33 CIS. Three copies Qll, or . ЭЗИ eu. «piece. II. l'or JinclcMo* sent to one person, who shall be •esponslblo for tlielrdlsttllititloii: Four copies for *1. nr mure at . 2Г.С1*. n piece. Twenty-five copies for *.(1. or more at . 5Ucts. apiece. Uno 11 Limited copies for tut, or more at.. 16 cts apiece. Л¥"Р1спее remit by Draft, I'ostal Order, or In Reel»- lON'il better, and notify us рпоягалг of nnychnnite in address. Address, FOREIGN MISSION lOURNAL, KlCIIMOXD. VA. ADVERTISING RATES. SPACE. 1 Month, 3 Months 0 Months 12 Months Two Indies . ThrcH Inches . quarter column... Half column... . One column . 1 25 2 IU 3 60 •1 7Г) 0 25 IS 00 3 45 0 45 0 20 1Я 0(1 25 25 60 00 и M 12 ГЮ IS (Ю 25 00 4S 00 92 60 12 И1 22 DO 32 OO 46 00 90 IM> 17S 00 FOREIGN MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION, Ьосатхп AT IUUHMONIJ. VIIifHNIA. I’UKKIDKIIT— If. H. Hauhis VICK V8IDKNTS. — .Toslina Leveling, Mil., L\ \V. Tomkins, t.a.. J. L. Harrows, Vft.. N. A. Ijaltey. Fin , W. I- Wright, N.O., (I F.llaKbv.Ky.. .I.J.li.Uen. (roe, Alabama. J. P Greene, Mo.. H. If. Carroll, Texas, W. 1,. Kilpatrick, Oa., Ohua. Manly, S. (J., T. M. Sealer, Term.. .T. II. Searcy, Ark., George Whitfield Mies. V/. 1\ Attklssoil W. Л a. OoniiusrorioiirdSitenaTAnY— II . A. TITl’EIt TuiASunXK— .T. a. WILLIAMS. RiconDiso SccnKTAHY— A. II. CLARKE. AUDiTOit-H. C. BURNETT. IlOAhn nr niANAOHns —II. K. Ellysou, .1. II. Win¬ ston. О. II. Winston. W. K. Hatcher, J. Pollard. .Tr., Я. (I. О onion. T. H. Hutson. W. I>. Thomas W. W. Landrum, W ,T. Shipman. Geo. Copper. О. II. Itvlaml.il. C. Harnett, T. V.Mnihews, К. II. Pitt, T. P. Hell. ЯЗГЛИ communications in refere.net to the business of this Hoard should be addressed to H. A. Topper, Corresponding Secretary, Uichmond. Va. FLORIDA CONVENTION, This hotly met with the DeLand church on Wednesday, January iSth, and continued for three days in what, we heard some of the brethren say, was one of the best ses¬ sions the body had over had. Leaving: Richmond at .4.40 1’. M. on Mon¬ day, we reached Jacksonville the next day at 1.30 P. M., and by taking the ttaitt could have reached Del-aml the same afternoon. We went, however, by boat tip the St. John's river, reaching Del.and l lie next morning. From Richmond to Del.and in about twenty- four hours. We have Just been reading “ The Life and Times of James I). Taylor.” anti as we read of his long journeys through the South, largo parts of which were made by stage-coach, anti many of which occu¬ pied weeks and months, we fell that in the matter of travelling at least, the later were better oil' than the earlier secretaries. The Convention was not largely attended, but the delegates who were present were earnest and diligent in their work, and made up by their diligence ami enthusiasm for the smallne-s of numbers. The report of the Board of Missions, to whose direc¬ tion all the mission work of the Conven¬ tion is entrusted, was a most excellent one, showing that the Florida Baptists are wide awake to the great opportunities pre¬ sented to them in the rapid development of their State, and to the great responsi¬ bilities which those opportunities involve, and not only are wide awake to these, but earnestly striving to meet the latter and improve the former. We were a little fear¬ ful lest the greatness of the work at home, and the demands of the work in Cuba, which this Convention had the honor of beginning, would absorb all the interest and gifts of the brethren. But we were agreeably surprised to find that the work of foreign missions lias a large share in their thoughts and affections, and is elicit¬ ing liberal gifts from them. We were assured by those who ought to know, that the £i,ooo asked of Florida by the Board would be forthcoming. A good hour was selected for the con¬ sideration of the report on foreign mis¬ sions and ample time given for its discus¬ sion. The occasion was made one of special interest by the presence of Rev. Dr. Wm. Dean, who kindly consented to speak to tlie report, and whose fifty years of service In China added interest and weight to every word he uttered. Dr. Dean, in the course of his remarks, paitl a very high tribute to our senior missionaries in China. Drs. Vates, Graves and Crawford, with their excellent wives. In the conclu¬ sion of his address lie drew a picture of the Chinese procession, marching to the darkness of a Christlcss grave and a heathen's doom, which tlrew tears from many eyes, anti if I mistake not, made many resolve to tlo more to save the Christ- less millions of China. Just as we were about to rise to speak to the report, a note was handed to us, en¬ closing a five dollar gold piece. We did not learn the name of tile sender, so as to thank him, but we do so now, not only for the gift itself, but also for the kindly spirit in which it was made. The note read thus: " I have adopted the plan of giving one tenth of the money 1 spend to the cause of the Lord directly, and as I lacked JS, when running up the amount of money spent in 1SS7, and I love the cause of For¬ eign Missions, here it is with prayer. This may help you to speak when you take the floor In behalf of Foreign Missions.” Among the many pleasant recollections we have with us of our trip to Del.and is that of a visit paid to DeLuitl University. This institution, with its excellent build¬ ing all nicely furnished and fully equipped, with an excellent faculty, lias been given by Mr. H. A. DeLand to the Baptists of Flor¬ ida, on condition of their raising $10,000 to¬ wards an endowment. Not often do Bap¬ tists have such gifts made to them, and we are not surprised that the hretiiren are working hard to meet the condition of the gift. In addition to the main building there is a beautiful house, built by Mr. J. B. Stetson, of Philadelphia, for dormitories. This building is almost full of boarders, and will be quite so in a few weeks. What a bles.-irg consecrated wealth is. .Our Florida brethren will certainly cherish and sustain their University. We cannot close this imperfect sketch until we have expressed our obligation to Bro, i’arce, of the Parceland House, for the choice entertainment which we enjoyed at his house. We were tempted to wish we could leave the mission rooms with all the vexing questions there considered, and spend a month or so with wife and children in this excellent hotel in the beautiful city of DeLand. But we are hack in the rooms, and the questions are being considered, such as — Who can he gotten to go to China 10 take up the work laid down by Davault anti Joiner ? Who will answer Dr. Yates’s call for helpers in Central China? Where will tile money come from to build that house of worship in Zacatecas, and to pur¬ chase houses for the Bahia anil Rio mis¬ sions ? Who will help ns answer these questions ? NEW MISSIONARIES APPOINTED. An extra meeting of the Foreign Mission Board was held on February 3d, to examine two young men, who had made application for appointment to two of our foreign fields. One of these was Bro. Hartwell R. Moseley, of South Carolina. Bro. Moseley is about twenty-four years of age, of rematkably fine physique, and of equally fine mind. He is a graduate of Furman Uuiversily, where lie took a high stand, and expects to graduate iu full at the Seminary in June next. For two years past lie has had charge of one of the mission stations maintained by the students of the Seminary in Louis¬ ville, Ky. He will go to Mexico, to aid Bro. Powell in the great work which is so pressing upon him there. Bro. ]. Л. Barker, the other applicant, is a native of Virginia, and is likewise a matt of good presence and fine health. Bro. Barker spent two years in Richmond Col¬ lege, among whose professors he bears an excellent name. He has been a successful pastor in tlve State, rfs well as a successful teacher. Two years ago, he left his field of labor and went to the Seminary, where he has been pursuing a special course, pre¬ paratory to bis work in Brazil, to which country I10 will go at the conclusion of his Seminary course in June. As we looked on these two men, young and strong in body, well trained, brainy, pious, consecrated, we felt that here were men who, under the blessing of God, would do a great tvoik in their respective fields of labor. They are teady lo do their part on the field— those of us who stay at home, have a part to perform as well ; we must support them with our means anti with our prayers. We are glad to he able to Indulge the hope that in a very short time we shall he permitted lo announce the names of others who will go as reinforcements to some of our other fields of labor. SPECIAL CONTRIBUTIONS. The Missionary Herald heartily approves the articles which have recently appeared in two prominent missionary journals dis¬ couraging the bringing of young men from mission fields to this country to be educated, atul urging Christian people not to give their money to those who do come. The Herald in the conclusion of its article says, “The missionary societies have been organized with the definite purpose of Carrying the gospel and its attendant bless¬ ings to the lands that are in need of them, and of being the channels through which Christian benevolence shall Row abroad. All who have a desire to bless those iu foreign lands with their money, will find tile existing organizations a wiser, more economical and efficient medium than private and individual efforts ; while the demands upon the societies are always far greater than their ability to meet them.” These are true and wise words. Anti we would go further and say that it is far better for Christians, who wish to give, to send their money to the boards having charge of the missions of the denomina¬ tion. to be expended by such boards according to their best judgment , than to give their money to all sorts of special objects on particular fields, even when those objects are appealed for by missionaries on the fields. And we have gooti reasons for saying so. Not only do these special gifts, made in response to appeals from the fields, greatly embarrass boards in their appropriations to the various fields, and produce great confusion in tlie accounts of the missions, a special object receives tlie approval of a board, then it comt-s under the hoard’s appropriations, and contributions to it so far aid the board to meet its obligations. We are glatl to be able to close this article with the words of the Correspond¬ ing Secretary, written to a Society which iiatl been hitherto giving its contributions to special objects, but has now decided to send to the board, thinking ’’ that the Board itself needs the money, and that those in charge of the foreign work ought to know and do know best where tlie money ought to go,” Here are his words: "That was a good and wise act of tlie ' Society of Mis¬ sionary Enquiry,’ sending the money to be appropriated by the hoard. It is a clear evidence of growth in thought. The infant mind can he interested only i.n particulars ; the broad intellect lays hold on great I general laws covering the particulars. Be¬ sides, suppose all contributors sent their donations for special objects, where would the Board get funds to pay Us heavy ap¬ propriations to tlie missionaries ?. Mission¬ aries, for their own sake, and the sake of the board, and for the people's sake, should refuse money for special objects for which the board docs not appropriate." P, I). WELL, LL. D, Horn July /9, 1S14; Died January >6, /SSS. Few names are better known to Ameri¬ can Baptists than Dr. Melt’s; and the death of no man of the denomination would have made a profounder impression. The great essential for strong and broad grasp upon the mind of a people is acknowledged supremacy in some elevated department of life. The lofty office is nothing without corresponding moral and mental powers td sustain it; but high position, combined with a true and strong character, meets the de¬ mand for honoring in life and remembering after death. Dr. Melt was a man of clearly defined and powerful character. He pos¬ sessed the power of intensely unified facul¬ ties. There was great oneness In tlie man. He was almost unique in the persistence and steadiness with which lie followed a few aims, with all his might, to their com¬ plete realization. His concentration of energies and opportunities was immense, but they work a serious injustice to some ' His constitutional characteristics, strength- parts of the work. Let one mission have 1 ened by severe training and constant suc- n little success as compared with another, j cesses of indomitable will made him, in the or let one have a man in it of some personal j line of his pursuit, well nigh invincible and magnetism and ability as a pleader for j perpetually successful. Nothing made him money, especially if that one have a better . so powerful as threatened defeat, which chance to reach tlie people than others, and ' was the signal for massing all that he was at once one mission will receive far more than its due proportion of the gifts of the people. Special pleas for particular objects will cat ry to that mission money that is needed to carry on the work in other and equally deserving fields. Still further, these special contributions for special objects are not under the con- tiol of the board by which the missionary is employed, but simply pass through its hands as through those, of a common car¬ rier, Hiui do not enable the board to meet its obligations for the support of its mis¬ sionaries. Now it must be seen at once that if a board be at all what it ought lo he, it is the best judge of the necessities of the work committed to its charge. It alone is able to look at all the fields and know tlie necessi¬ ties of each. It alone, by careful study under most favorable circumstances, is qualified lo rightly distribute the gifts of the denomination to its various fields, so that each shall have its share in due season. Missionaries on the field cannot do this. Each of them sees and feels the great needs of his own field — lie cannot see and feel aright those of a field on another continent. His field naturally seems to him the most needy, even though to a board which looks upon all at once, it may be the least so. Tlie hoard is responsible for all the fields ; it has to provide support for all the mis¬ sionaries; it lias to raise funds to build houses, maintain schools, pay teachers and for countless oilier tilings of which tlie ordinal у Ci-iistian man has no conception. Now if tlie treasury of tlie board is kept from receiving funds for all these various purposes by a large number of special gifts to special objects over which it has no control, made in answer to special appeals by the very missionaries whom it Iras to support, let us ask — how is the board to meet its obligations? Of course, where and could command for ultimate triumph. Under such conditions of character, it was not strange that the orphan boy of Liberty county, Georgia, should obtain education and a teacher’s place in New England; and, following the same line, should be¬ come a distinguished E’rofessor in Mercer University, atul the more distinguished Chancellor of the University of Georgia. He got these positions because tie was fit for them, and resolved to have them, it would not surprise us to hear, were his lieart-secrcts revealed, that when that orphan hoy, just in his teens, went lo New England, lie re¬ solved then to lie, by God’s help, at the head of the educational interests of his native State. His main characteristic, which is all we propose to set forth, had a striking illustration in a private matter, known, however, to all his personal friends. Given to excessive use of tobacco, which nearly ended his life, he stopped tlie habit suddenly, absolutely and forever. When asked how he did it, lie replied: и I said I will never tasle it again : and tlie least sugges¬ tion of appetite to do it I regarded an insult to my honor." Ills purpose was accomplishment. Dr. Mell would have made a splendid soldier. Had not the grace of God made him a minister of Jesus Christ, whereby lie achieved greater things than did Wellington or I.ee, lie might have had military fame equal to either of them. By tlie divine decrees, lie became the con- querer of self, and the ruler of his fellow- men, in peaceful spheres of Christian civilization, and in tlie most comprehensive and glorious work of the world’s evangeli¬ zation. These were tlie grand offices, in tlie execution of which, the varied gifts ami acquisitions of the departed man of God were brought into concentrated action so smoothly and quietly that lie seemed to teacli and to rule almost by instinct, while, in fact, it was by the most patient thought, constant self-discipline ami incessant toil. He was ever doing, ns he himself thohght, ' the work of several men. His greatest position was the Presidency of tlie South¬ ern Baptist Convention, There was none higher in the gift of his brethren. And it was tlie unification of all the abilities that made him eminent as a scholar, tt teacher, a minister of the gospel, together with special taste and hard study, and long ex¬ perience with regard to parliamentary law, which constituted him the incomparable Master of Assemblies. It was his preemi¬ nent fitness for this highest of positions which made hint what lie was, and what he is in tlie eyes of the Baptists of tlie United States. Tlie Baptist community at large bemoan the distinguished dead, and the Southern Baptist Convention, at its next meeting, will do appropriate honor to the man who shed increasing lustre on the body of which he was, for fifteen years, the most illustrious head. NOTICE, The Maryland Baptist Mission Room, 10 E. FayetteSt., Baltimore, Md., lias on sale missionary leaflets of all denominations, relating to Christian work in ail parts of the world. Л catalogue, price sets, with subjects arranged geographically, is a guide in selection. In connection with our special work us Baptists and members of the Southern Baptist Convention, an annual Prayer-card has been issued, embracing as monthly topics for prayer all the mission fields in charge of theS. В, C., Home and Foreign. Quarterly programs, following the order of the Prayer-card, are published as aids to monthly missionary prayer meetings. Suitable leaflets are recommended with each program. As occasion may require, new leaflets are written by prominent Southern Baptist ministers or missionaries, giving the latest information and urging to greater effort in prayer and gifts. Revs.J. Wm. Jones, D. D., I. T. Tichenor, D, D., Geo. Braxton Taylor, A. C. Dixon, H. P. McCormick of Mexico, and T. P. Bell, have kindly written most val¬ uable and interesting tracts, which have been published by tlie Mission Room during the past year. To secure the use of tlie Prayer-card program and leaflets, it is proposed to furnish the same quarterly at a yearly sub¬ scription of thirty (30) cents, subscriptions beginning at the first of any quarter. Orders for leaflets, catalogues, etc., promptly attended to. ' A GIVING REVIVAL, There have been revivals born of spirit¬ uality. Methodism was born in such under tlie Wesleys ; joint preaching amt singing revivals , as under Moody and Sankey; Bible reading revivals, such as eminently that of Dr. Munhall. But what is needed in tin: Baptist churches of America to-ilay, is a giving revival— л revival not of preach¬ ing, not of singing, but of giving. The uplifting of the hour needed is not in doc¬ trine, not in song, but in pocket. The con¬ secration demanded is not of our prayers, but of our purses to the claims of God. It is so easy on the conscience to preach and listen to preaching, and so difficult for preachers atul hearers alike to do the will of God. We Baptists need this revival in giving more than we need any other. We should blush at the record of giving the past year I lie need aj once a Giving Her rival in Churches and Sunday-schools. The next three months, if spent in nothing e/se but iu promoting Christian giving of silver amp gold coin amt nickels, would be the best three months ever spent. — G. S. Abbott. D. D. God speed the revival, for while the Christians withhold their gifts, workers ready for the harvest fields are kept out of them; while they withhold their“sllverand gold coin and nickels,” heathen souls are perishing for tlie bread of life. In Retzsch’s illustrations of Faust, as the demons of the under world contend for his soul, the angels hurl down on their heads tlie roses of Paradise; but as they touch the demons tlie roses turn to burning- coals. Light is a blessing only to him that uses it. Abused knowledge becomes a source of condemnation. What leaves God's hand a rose of Paradise turns to a burning coal when it touches the ungrate¬ ful, unfaithful soui. — A. T. Pierson, D. D. “What application lias this to me?” let each of us ask. Has God given us roses; of blessing which by our Ingratitude and unfaithfulness are turning to - burning coals ? Lord help us to know. - ''