FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL/.
_ l'ubllsliccl Monthly by tlio Foreign Mission Board of the Soutborn Baptist Convention.
“A.LL POWER IS GIVER UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. GO YE, THEREFORE, AND TEAOE ALL NATIONS.”
Vol. 17— New Serif
RICHMOND, VA„ APRIL, 1886.
No. 9.— Whole No. 213,
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Foreign Mission Journal.
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Address. FOKRIGK MISSION JOURNAL.
RiciiMovn. Va.
FOREIGN MISSION BOARD
OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION.
I.ncATKP at niOUMONlv, VIKOINIA.
Phisidiint— II. H.
Пашня,
VICS-I'IISHDCSTB. — Joeliuu I.iivcrlnir, MU., 0 W
TumklKiA
Г.а„
.T. I,. Furrow*, Vn.. N. A. ItaMoy, Fla.
Tbeo. Whllfleld, N. <!., W. II. Felix,
Ку.. .Г.
J. I), lion
(гм,
Alabama, It. S. Duncnn, Mo., II It. Carroll,
TriaA, W. I,. Kilpatrick,
Па..
Ohim. Manly. S. I).,
J. M. Scntcr. Tran.. J. II. Searcy, Ark., Oeorcr
Whitfield, Mbs., W. F. Attklsson. Tv Va
nonnxsroxDif'o SXCIIltTAIIY— II. A. TW'I’EK.
TRXAStntsn— J. O. WII.I.IAMS,
Rxcoaotso Str niiTAitv— \V. If. OTVATIIMF.Y.
AcDtTon— JOSKIMI F.
ООТТ11ПЫ.
noino or
МлхлохиР
_ II. K. Ellr.on,
П
II Win¬
ston. A. II ''larke , I. U. Winston TV. K. Ilntoher. I.
T7. Jones. J. Pollard, Tr.. s. o. '’l-ioon. I. It. Hut-
•on. V. D. Thomas. W TV. I.nndriun. TV ,T. Shljr
man, II eo Oooi»-r. II. TV. Powers.
Г,
II. Hyland.
tSTAll communications in reference lo the
business of this Hoard should be addressed to
H.
Л. Тигриц,
Corresponding Secretary ,
Richmond.
Га.
The Convention meets in Montgomery on
Friday, May 7U1. To have repot ts ready in
time, the financial year must close at least a
week before Ilia! date, T.
л,
"on Friday, April
30th, at 12 M. Funds which reach the
Treasurer or the Secretary before that hour
will be accounted for in this year's receipts,
any coming afterwards will belong lo next
year.
through Virginia and the Carolinas, deliver¬
ing very interesting lectures in the towns,
and apparently timing Ills progress so as to
reach Montgomery, Ala., by the 7II1 of May.
Within the last few weeks he lias published
in the Biblical Recorder, the Religions
l/ciei/d, and perhaps oilier papers, a detailed
scheme, which he intimates will he "pro
seated for the consideration of the Conven¬
tion.” It is a grave question and deserves
careful handling. We desire to call atten¬
tion to some points which may be helpful
towards a fair consideration and a wise de¬
cision.
тш;_лит!ЮК1Т!1«.
For information about foreign fields, for
plans of work there, for the advantages and
disadvantages of any scheme, we must de¬
pend largely on the observation niul experi¬
ence of our older missionaries. Such an one
is Ur. Crawford, with his thirty-four years of
honorable service. His opinion on a ques¬
tion of policy would lie decisive, if it
stood alone. The fact is, however, that it
meets decided opposition on the part of his
co-laborers in other fields.
lie refers for support to Ur. Carpenter’s
book 011 ” Self-support in llassein,” and to a
paper, by Ur. Yates, on "Native Agency."
Ur. C.'s book was noticed in the Journal of
April, iS?4, and, at tile instance of the editor.
which Ur. C. proposes to remedy, but must
maintain that a kind Providence in denying
us an abundance of means lias saved us
from many troubles into which other hoards
have fallen. Ur. Crawford states truly what
he sincerely believes, but a soldier returning
from tlie front tells only of what occurred on
his own part of the line He cannot know
how the battle is going elsewhere.
Til
К
ARGUMENTS.
For a vigorous application of a single
principle the argument is assimpieand easy
as an algebraic equation of tiie first degree,
l.et a man exaggerate one idea Till it over¬
masters all his thinking, and his mind will
move in the simplest of all paths, a straight
line. Rut the problems of real life are compli¬
cated with many unknown quantities, which
cannot be eliminated by simply losing sight
of them. In the solar system, the pattern
of stability with incessant motion, the planets
are held lo their orbits by a balance of op¬
posing forces. The constant tendency to fly
oiT at a tangent is restrained by the con¬
stant tendency to fall into the central sun,
and both these are modified by mutual at-
attractions of other planets. Destroy either
of the main forces and wreck is the result.
So in the affairs of a mission. Shut up the
heart of compassion from the poor, un¬
trained convert, leave him coldly to his own
The cause in Mexico has pone forward
with a rapidity unparalleled, except among
the Telugus. We sent them missionaries,
and they are sending others into the regions
beyond. We helped them buy a lot and
build in Saltillo, they are buying and build¬
ing in other towns. We helped them to
found a college, they have themselves es¬
tablished a hospital. We do not know any¬
where in the whole round world a band of
Christians whose poverty seems to have
more abounded unto the riches of their lib¬
erality.
Now be it understood we do not claim
that these facts prove the propriety of em;
ploying natives or giving help— that would
be a one-sided argument — we cite them only,
for what they are fully competent, to dis¬
prove the alleged evils.
a copy was mailed to each of our mission- j guidance and support, and he goes disas-
Tbe May number of the Journal may be
delayed to contain nil abstract of tile annual
reports. Subscribers will please not be dis¬
appointed if it fails to reach them before the
io:li or 151I1 of the month.
DR. CRAWFORD'S PLAN.
Tile December number of ‘.lie Journal con¬
tained some notice of a protracted con¬
ference with Ur. T. I’. Crawford and others,
in reference lo " the future direction of our
foreign mission work," and gave the results
readied by the Hoard, after long and earnest
deliberation, in the form of a report on
“self-support, or the policy of confining ap¬
propriations strictly to work done by our
missionaries, and leaving native laborers to
support themselves, or be supported by
their fellow converts." This report recog¬
nized “self-support as the consummation to¬
wards which all missionary operations
should tend,” and urged that it “ be put into
practice as soon as possible in every mission
field," but gave cogent reasons against incor¬
porating it into any inflexible rules, and
closed with two resolutions ns follows:
Resolved 1, That while the principle of
self-support in our mission work is essential
lo healthy progress and ultimate success, we
ueiieve its practice is to be established not
“У
formal rule, but as the result of growth
and development.
Resolved 2, That we urge upon our mis¬
sionaries the duly of holding constantly in
view self-support as an object to be at-
lained, and of training their converts and
churches in this direction with all possible
diligence.
This report lias met with general and
hearty approval, both 'by the missionaries
and by thoughtful brethren at home, and its
meas have been embodied in the rules of
■he Hoard as amended February, >SS6.
Soon after its adoption Dr. Crawford left
Richmond, and lias been journeying slowly
aries. It is a highly suggestive treatise, and
would be read with profit by any laborer
among the heathen; but the intelligent
reader can hardly fail to see that its main
argument is illogically pressed and is quite
inconsistent with the author's purpose in
retiiming to America, which lie. explains fp.
400) to procure a teacher for "tlie pastors
and candidates for tlie ministry," and to
raise " an endowment of $40,000 for his sup¬
port, and for the partial support of the
school.” Ilis views arc repudiated with
great unanimity by bis co-laborers of the
Missionary Union. Ur. Yates presented be¬
fore a Conference of Protestant Missionaries
at Shanghai, some years ago, a pungent and
able protest against the employment of
»//•
consecrated men, and against "the free use
of money in the employment of native as¬
sistants, so as to make il, rather than the
gospel, the attracting power." This paper
has been reprinted at Ur. Crawford’s request,
as being "in tlie line of bis lectures and
plans." \Ve respectfully submit that lie had
no right to make such use of it, certainly
none without the approval of its author.
\Ve quote a sentence to show the position
Ur. Yates really occupied. "What then?”,
lie asks,
together?” he answers in italics, "By no
means," and proceeds to discuss tlie method
of testing their consecration and the best
plan for assisting those who stand the test.
Hear now what Dr. Graves, of Canton,
says in a recent private letter:
I am glad to see that the Hoard have taken
a common sense view of Hie needs of the
mission work. Of course we are working
toward self-support all that we can, and the
history of the Canton Mission shows what
we are doing in that direction. The schemes
of brethren Carpenter and Crawford are im¬
practicable and illogical. They call all help
subsidizing men to be Christians. If such
subsidizing is wrong, the whole Christian
work in America is on a wrong basis. Our
Colleges should depend simply on the fees
of the students ; all education societies and
Home Mission Societies should cease, and
infants should be trained to walkbefore they
learn how to crawl. There is enough com¬
mon sense left in our churches, however, to
survive this wave.
Similarly we might quote from brethren
Halcomb and Pruitt and Simmons, Taylor
and Eager, David and Eubank, Powell,
Bagby and Z. C. Taylor, to say nothing of
the ladies and the younger missionaries. In
the light of all this testimony we cannot ad¬
mit that our missions are suffering the ills
trously astray. Treat him as entirely de¬
pendent, and he falls just as fast into hope¬
less ruin. Both extremes are equally wrong,
sanctified common-sense will take a middle
course.
And such a course Ur. Crawford, himself,
t\vou!d take, for while .he., argues, stoutly
against all use
0Г
American money to help
native laborers, he provides that each mis¬
sionary may, at Ills discretion, disburse in
this way a certain stipulated amount .every
year, thus showing that his Christly spirit
and his hard common sense rebel against
his one-sided logic. The issue between him
and the Hoard is not about principles, but
about the best method of applying them.
He would have a limit, the same for every
missionary, and at all times; the Hoard would
fix the limit year by year, according to funds
and needs. Within tlie limit, however fixed,
each missionary would be ns free under one
plan as under the other, to expend or to
withhold at his discretion.
The great commission provides for mak¬
ing disciples, baptizing them and teaching
them. Thu Apostle to the Gentiles, in urg¬
ing the elders "to help the weak,” has left
on record a saying of the Lord Jesus, which
Dispense with native agents al- else had been unknown. With these on our
chart we may steer equally clear from the
Scylla ol casting outcouvert s, or feeding
babes on strong meat, and from the
Charybdis of the subsidy system.
SOM It FURTHER FACTS.
“ Iiy their fruits ye shall know them,” is
applicable to plans as well as to men. We
have not room to trace the historical argu¬
ment, but only to refer to two missions. If
the employment of native converts sub¬
sidizes them, the evil results should appear
most clearly in the oldest of our missions,
at Canton, which reports " twenty-five native
assistants and Bible women.” If the recep¬
tion of foreign aid enervates the native
church, it ought to show its baleful effects in
Mexico. What are tlie facts ?
The Canton church produced Longh-Juk,
than whom there has been no brighter ex¬
ample of consecration in this century. In
the recent terrible persecutions the brethren
took joyfully the spoiling of their goods,
and adhered nobly to the faith. They have
their own Missionary Society, and during
this past year have raised, besides what was
given to their society, some $300 for Christian
work.
PERSONAL.
Nine years ago the Board decided to issue
a small monthly sheet in place of the long
suspended publication of the Home and
Foreign Journal, and tlie undersigned was
elected to editand conduct this Foreign Mis¬
sion Journal. Tlie effort succeeded, and the
has been from that time to the pre-
elf-supporting. A break-down of
in the winter of 77-S, enforcing six
or eight months of travel and rest compelled
me to resign. I11 July, 18S2, the paper was
enlarged to its present size, and I was again
earnestly requested to take charge. The
Ijst of subscribers has increased gradually,
and my work proved a real labor ofjq^e.
But for six months, as careful reader^- must*"
have noticed, there has been a lack of
editoriai-nttentionci-Shai'p complaints have
been made, painful because they were just. 1
Other and more pressing duties, laid upon
me, left little time for this. So injustice to
the cause, not less than to myself, I again
resigned several months ago, and consented
only to finish out the financial year. My
special responsibility, therefore, has ceased,
and I bid an affectionate farewell to the
thousands with whom it has been my de¬
light month after month to commune on
mission work, or rather, I descend from the
tripod to sit among them as an earnest
reader.
Arrangements made for tlie future conduct
of the fournal will be dulyaimounced here¬
after, though probably not till after tlie meet¬
ing of tlie Convention. Subscribers may
rest assured that it will continue to sail on
in nearly the same old channels, freighted
as heretofore with “good news from many a
far country,” steered by fresh vigor at the.
wheel, and piloted with more ability than it
lias been by
H. H. Harris.
DELEGATES TO THE CONVENTION.
On the basis of receipts by the Board of
Foreign Missions from May ist, 1SS5, to
March 19th, 18S6, the States are entitled to’
delegates to the Convention at Montgomery,
Ala., May 7th, as follows:
Alabama, 26; Arkansas, 8; District of’
Columbia,!; Florida, 7; Georgia, 84; Ken¬
tucky, 53; Louisiana, 5; Maryland, ax;
Mississippi, 23; Missouri, 48; Nortli Caro¬
lina, 52 ; South Carolina, 68; Tennessee, 23;'
Texas, 117; Virginia, 59; West Virginia, 1 ;
Pennsylvania, 21 ; New York, 3.
THE UTMOST.
Agents, societies, pastors, churches, vice-
presidents, and individual friends should do
their utmost, between this time and the
Convention, in raising funds; and treasurers,
with all others, holding sucli funds should be
prompt in their payment. Our books close
on the 30th day of April, at .12 o’clock,
noon.
