Foreign Mission Journal, April 1883

FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL. _ lNilrtlslu-d Monthly by tlio Foreign Mission Hoard of tlio Southern Baptist Con volition. “ALL POWER IS GLV~EN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. GO YE, THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS.” Vol. 14 — New Series. RICHMOND. VA„ APRIL, 1888. No. 9.— Whole No. 163. (Knlrml >0 tli" I’uiU-Oillco in lilchmoml, Vii„ M'cnnil-clais miitti'r.J Foreign Mission Journal. RATES l’ER ANNUM: One copy, чс|)лгя»**1у folded ami addressed . $ 50 Three copies, addressed to one perron . 1 oo Ten copies, nddressed to one person . 3 00 Forty copies, addressed to one person . ю oo One hundred copies, addressed to one (Kirsoii. ... 20 00 ДЭ remit by Draft, Postal Order, or in Regis¬ tered Letter, and notify us promptly of any change in address. Address, FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL. Richmond, Va. FOREIGN MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAP1IST CONVENTION, IiOCATicn AT RICHMOND, VIRGINIA I’lmsinsHT — .Г. 17. M. CURRY. ViCK-rncsiDKNTn.— Ill mm Wootlt, M1I...T. Л. Ilnck- Plt. I,n„ J. I., llurrowi, Va., !• r. Ill.liop, Fla., 0. F. (Irreory, N. 0., Robert Ilylnnil, lty„ J. .1 I), lttn- fro.1, Alabama, II. S. Duncan, Mo . (1. W. l’lclo-ll, Texa., \V. 1.. Kilpatrick. On.. Uhn.s. Manly, S. O., Matt. IIII1, man, TVnn.. W. D. Mayfield, Ark., Oeorce Wliltfl*lil, Ml».. M. Llll.on, W. Va. OniiuK8i*OMmNO Skckrtahy— II. A. TUPl’EK. Тпклвинкн— .1. О. WII.I.I AMS. IUcohdiku Set bktaiiy— W. It. GWATIIMEY AL’titTOU — JOSEPH F. OOTTKKI.I.. IlOAim Or Man All нпи. — J. II, Hawthorn», .T. Il.Wnt- kin*. II. K. FJIyaon. W. II. Hatcher, E. Wortham, W. I). Thomas, W. rioddln. II, H. Harris, J. Pollard, .Tr., J. W. Jones. Л. II. Clarke, ,T. It Win. ton. .1. H. Hut¬ son, О. H. Winston, S. O. Olo|iU*,n. tSf"All communcialions in reference to the business of this Hoard should be addressed to H. A. Tupi'iiR, Correspondin'/ Secretary, Richmond. Va. This number does not contain the usual amount of news from the fields. The mis¬ sionaries are preparing their annual reports, and find less time to write for the yaurnal. We shall hope, ill the next and succeeding numbers, to make ample amends for the present deficiency, and meantime have filled our columns with other matter that well de¬ serves the attention of our readers. THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION. Wc gave last month some account of the origin of the Convention in IS 15. It re¬ mains to add a brief outline of its work. That work lias been done through the agency of Hoards of Managers appointed annually, and subject to such instructions ns maybe given them ft 0111 time to time. If we were called upon to stale in a single sen¬ tence tlie characteristic difference between the Northern Societies and the Southern Convention, we should say that in tiie former the Executive Hoards, by a complete pro¬ gramme carefully pre-arranged, shape the views of tlie general meeting; in the latter the Convention deliberates after its own fashion, and shapes tlie policy of its execu¬ tive. Our Convention at first appointed only two Hoards, one for foreign missions, located at Richmond, Va., tlie other for domestic missions, located at Marion, Ala. in 1S51 the work of circulating tlie lliblc, hitherto entrusted to the Domestic Hoard, was com¬ mitted to a new Hoard, located at Nashville, Tenn., which continued its operations just about ten years. In 1855 the Indian Mission Association (Louisville, Ky.) transferred its work to tlie Convention, and this was added to the duties of the Marion Hoard, which thus came to be called the Domestic and In¬ dian Mission Hoard. In 1805, when the Southern States were cut off from publish¬ ers in Philadelphia and other northern cities, a Sunday-school Hoard was appointed, and located at Greenville, S. C.; in ISOS it was removed to Memphis, Tenn.; and in 1873 was consolidated with the Domestic and In¬ dian Hoard, to which was soon thereafter given the shorter name of Home Mission Board. And finally in 1SS2 tlie Home Hoard was removed to Atlanta, Ga. To complete this rapid survey, it should he added that in 1850 was founded the Southern Haptist Theological Seminary (first at Greenville, S. C., now al Louisville, Ky.,1 an institu¬ tion which lias indeed no direct dependence on the Convention, hut forms with the two Hoards the '‘threefold cord" that unites Southern baptists in their common work. ' The Home Hoard lias had its missionaries in ail tlie Southern States laboring to bring them up, one by one, to the point of provid¬ ing for tlie destitution within their own bor¬ ders. Its receipts have fluctuated considera¬ bly, being largest when the State organiza¬ tions were doing least, and diminished again when its work had so far succeeded as to be¬ come in any given quarter no longer neces¬ sary. Its missionaries to the white race are now employed mainly, as we understand, in Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas, supplying, as far as means will allow, tile destitution winch is far too great for these States to meet without aid from abroad, besides these it employs a number of men for tlie instruction and improvement of the rising ministry of tlie colored race, main¬ tains a strong force among tlie red men of of the Indian Territory, and lias n prosper¬ ous mission to tlie Chinese in California. Kind Wards is the excellent little paper, started by tlie S. S. Hoard, and now issued under the auspices of tlie Home Hoard. Tlie receipts of tlie Hoard have been so va¬ rious and so much divided among tlie differ¬ ent objects which are now at last happily consolidated under one management, that it is difiicult to make a fair exhibit without going more into detail than our space will allow. They have been on tlie whole nearly equal to those of tlie Foreign Hoard, ns stated below. Tlie Foreign lioard lias planted and sus¬ tained missions as follows: China, at Can¬ ton since 18-13, at Shanghai since 1817, nt Tung Chow since 18(50; Africa, in Liberia ami Sierra Leone from 18-ili to 1S75, and in Yoruba since 1S50; Italy, at Rome and other stations since 1S70; in brazil since 18S0; and in Mexico since 1SS1. A mission to Japan was projected, and two brethren with their wives set sail from New York, August fid, 1SC0, on the “ Edwin Forest," of which no tidings have since been heard, nor will soberly, carefully, and to tlie best of our ability, was, and still is, that we shall need for tlie current fiscal year, to support our in¬ creased force and to authorize tlie Hoard to meet pressing demands for enlarging its work, nt least #53,000. We have published month by month the receipts. Tlie aggre¬ gate for ten and a half months, May 1st to March 10th, is onlv a little over £11,000. There remain yet six weeks from the time of this writing— four weeks, perhaps, from tlie time this readies its readers— to make up the remaining #14,000. It can be done, easily, overfiowingly, if all our churches will promptly take up and forward a collection worthy of the cause, and in proportion to their prosperity. Ilut, unfortunately, in more than half of them neither pastor nor any other member will see this paper, or think of tlie subject. Their dereliction increases tlie need that those of us who are not in sucli a pitiable case, shall make up for their lack of service, that we “ may cause no hindrance to tlie gqspel of Christ.” CHINA. he till “the sea gives up its dead." It seems to have been an untimely end, and yet in that great day many who have lived longer would fain exchange places with these lost missionaries. The receipts of tlie Hoard have been gradually increasing, as will appear from tlie following figures, taken at intervals of about five years and given in round numbers: J11 18 1C there was contributed from eight Stales, #11,000; in 1830, from thirteen States, #21, 000; in 1835, from fourteen States, #20,000 ; in 1SC0, #40,000— then came five years of war and desolation, requiring a new start — the con¬ tributions of 1800, more than half being from Kentucky, and a large part of tlie rest from Maryland, were #15,000; in 1871, #25,000 ; in 1870, #42,000; in 1SS2, #49,000. For the current year the prosperity of tlie country authorizes tlie Hoard to expect, and tiie im¬ perative demands of the work compel it to ask, a still larger increase. OUR TREASURY. We have dealt faithfully with our breth¬ ren. We keep constantly before our read¬ ers the list of missionaries, and state often and plainly how much is needed month by month for their support. A famous teacher of ethics used to say that if one knew Ids statements would he discounted, lie ought to exaggerate sufficiently to bring tiie hearer's estimate up to tlie truth. We have heard collectors, who seemed to he acting on this plan, expecting to get abbut half the sum they should name, ask for twice ns much ns they really hoped to receive. We cannot approve the principle, nor con¬ sent to its practice. Our estimate, made The apparent size of an object is inversely proportional to its distance. Our mapsi drawn on a large scale for our own and ad¬ jacent countries, on a much smaller one for the antipodal continent, confirm this errone¬ ous impression. We are, therefore, in danger of under-estimating the importance, the needs, the promise, and the demands upon us of our work in China. The population of the Celestial Empire is eight times as great as that of the United States. It is more than twice as large as the combined population of nil our other fields, Mexico, Brazil, Italy and Central Africa. The people are intelligent, enterprising, highly civilized ir. tlicir way, and intensely conservative;. This citadel of Satan is like some strongly garrisoned, fully supplied nnd skillfully held fortress on n mountain, diffi¬ cult of access, dangerous to assault, impos¬ sible to surprise, it can he taken only by long, arduous, persistent fighting, inch by inch. But, oh, when it is taken, as it surely will he. when tlie banner of redeeming love shall float from all its battlements, what a triumph fu. tlie King of kings, nnd what a shout of victory will go lip from his embattled hosts on earth to he re-echoed by that innumerable throng who “sing tlie song of Moses tlie ser¬ vant of God, and tlie song of tlie Lamb.’> Those very traits and circumstances which now close tlie mind and heart of tlie Chinese against Christianity will make them equally persistent in the faith when they fully em¬ brace it. The stronghold of sin will he just as strong in all its natural advantages, and far stronger in every other respect, when Em¬ manuel’s soldiers turn its captured batteries upon tlie dislodged legions of Satan. Another view is worth taking. I11 Catholic countries tlie people have indeed a poor chance to learn the way of life, and yet it is possible for them even through tlie thick mists of superstition and tlie black clouds spiead over them by priest-craft, to see some glimmerings of tiie light that marks tlie wicket-gate — the name of Jesus is at least familiar, Ids incarnation nnd his death, by picture and by symbol, are kept constantly be¬ fore them — it does not at all weaken our ob¬ ligation to send them a pure gospel, and yet it is possible that here and there one may at¬ tain a true faith without our aid ; hut in China, under the complete sway of Confucian morals, Buddhist philosophy, and a piety which aims no higher than ancestral wor¬ ship, tlie millions are dying with absolutely no hope " Beaten with few stripes ? ” Yes, hut beaten, " for as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law." The encouragements in our work in China arc great. The reliance here, as everywhere else, is on the promises of the Father to Ills Son, and the power of tlie Holy Spirit. A finite resistance, whether it he greater or less, must alike yield to an infinite force. The most obdurate rock is hurst asunder ns if it were an acorn, by drilling a line of holes, putting in wooden pins, and pouring on water from time to time. So tlie grace of God working in and through our missionaries posted in China is evincing its expansive power. If there were more of them, and if they were more freely watered through our sympathies and prayers, we might expect to to see greater results. But even as it is, wonderful progress lias been made. There are members of our Board, and not old men yet, who remember prayer-meetings in which tlie burden of all petitions was that God would open the closed gates of China— to¬ day every province is accessible to tlie gospel preacher. Thousands have been converted, and these, with hardly an exception, are earn¬ est workers in spreading tlie good news. The venerable Dr. Happer, (Presbyterian,) who went out in 1834, baptized during tiie first ten years of his labors only one convert. He writes: “During all those ten years of waiting and preparing 1 never felt any more discouraged than I have done since I have been permitted to baptize forty each year. Tile work is very hopeful for the future, and I hope through the blessing of God to see yet greater results during the next ten years if my life is spared to behold them." See also the closing words of Dr. Yates’ letter elsewhere printed. And thus all the mis¬ sionaries in China feel. Shall we not think of them more, pray for them more regularly and more earnestly, give more liberally for their support, and send them reinforcements for tlie great work hi which they are engaged f Delegates to Southern Baptist Convention. On the basis of one delegate for eacli one hundred dollars paid to the Board of For¬ eign Missions tlie Slates, are entitled to date to delegates as follows: Maryland, 29; Dis¬ trict of Columbia, 1 ; Virginia, 54; West Vir¬ ginia, 1 ; North Carolina, 39; South Carolina, 57; Georgia, 49; Florida, 1; Alabama, 17; Mississippi, 20; Louisiana, C; Tennessee, IS; Kentucky, 41; Missouri, 23; Arkansas, 2; Texas, 45. Arrangements with railroads for tlie ac¬ commodation of delegates will lie published so soon as tlie arrangements are perfected. H. A. TUPl’ER, March 20th, 1SS3. Cor. Secretary. Tlie Missionary Review (Princeton, N. J., #150 per annum) is a valuable bi-monthly of 80 8vo. pages. From the March-April number we take the following statistics, compiled from reports of 1882. The A. B. C. (Congregational) from a constituency of 487,000, had an income of #050,000. The A. B. Missionary Union, with a constituency of 002.000, had an income of #302,900. The S. B. Convention, with a constituency of 074,000, raised for foreign missions #40,000. We reproduce these figures for tlie guidance of our brethren who may he preparing to indulge at Waco in what we call in old Vir¬ ginia " Baptist brag." The proprietors of the new Mineral Spring in Botetourt county, Va,, have kindly sent us a large demijohn of water. Chemical analysis shows it to lie among the strongest and best to he found hi all our mountains, and it would seem especially remedial against dyspepsia and diseases of the secretory or¬ gans. Being under medical treatment and improving, before tlie water came, we have been unable to make a fair test of its effects, hut all we do know is highly favorable. Further information can he gotten by ad¬ dressing our good brother, Geo. H. Swann, Esq., Fincnstle, Va.