Foreign Mission Journal, May 1888

Foreign Mission Journal PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE FOREIGN MISSION BOARD OP TIIE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION. il " i. ‘ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. GO YE, THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS” Vor,. 19 — New Series. RICHMOND, VA., MAY, 188S. No. 10 — Whole No. 238 [Entered at the I’ost-Otnce at Richmond, Va., i second-class matter,] Foreign Mission Journal, RATES PER ANNUM: I. For papers MejmrutPly addre*neU, either to same or to different |»oMt ofllces : Ono copy . . . . . ЗЛ cts. Three copies @ #1, or . ,.33H cts. apiece. II. КогрАскякев sent to one person, who shall 1 Glcfoi . •* And alive anil lo be gifted with a voice, every voice is pleading for China. Will the trained young ministers of the j South heed the pleas, and goto take up I tile work which he loved and for which lie ; i toiled and died? reH'onslblo lor their distribution: Four copies for +1, or more at. Twenty-five co|de9 for ♦Л, or in, Ono Hundred copies for*lS, or . 25cts. apiece. •t . VUcts. «piece. 0 at.. 1C cts. apiece. WPIense remit by Draft, Postal Order, or in Keels- tered Letter, and notify ui l-l-.oytTLY of any chanfte tu address. Address. FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL, Richmond, Va. ADVERTISING RATES. SPACE. 1 Month. 3 Months в Months 12 Months 1 2Л 3 45 ti Ю 12 14) Two Indies.... .... 2 40 в 45 12 BO 22 BO Я fiO 9 20 IS 00 32 (Hi Quarter column... Half column.. . Оно column . 4 75 0 25 18 00 13 to 25 25 50 00 25 00 48 00 02 50 48 00 90 00 178 00 FOREIGN MISSION BOARD OF THE 80UTHERN BAPTIST CONVCNTION. Locatkd at UIOIIMONl), VIRGINIA. DR. YATES' PICTURE. We are glad to be able to present our readers this month with what those wlto knew him say Is a good likeness of our 1 beloved Dr. Yates. It was never our V ill our people heed the privileKe to see him, though we had voices that come to them from his life , vvfs|led to ,ook into his fnce more than and work, and though not able to go in inlo tIl(lt of a„y man of this age. person, give of their means to send others We re};ret lhal lhe I)icture is ,lot as |arRe to help work out China's future? ■ as we ordered, and yet are glad to know Shall not the dead \ ates accomplish I th , is a corrcct likeness. The cut is more for Clnnas evangelization tlian the , , , . , f , living Yales could have done? Let the lakc" from a Photograph of Dr. Yates people answer. . belonging to the Mission Rooms. Pbisidunt— ll. II. llAltlltS. Vic«-PnssiDitNTa _ Joshua Levering, Md„ C. W. Tomklee. La.. J. L. Burrows, \’a,. N. Л, Halley, Fla.. W. L. Wright, N.G., G.F. IJagby, Ky., ,T. J. I>. Ren- froe, Alabama. J. P. Greene, Mo. , II. H. Carroll, Texas. W. L.KIIpatrlck, On, Oha«, Manly, S. C., J, M; Renter, Tean„ J. Ц. Searcy, _4-k., George Whitfield Miss. W. F. Atlkleeon Vo. A. TUPPER, COnnB&rOSDINO SkCTlKTAnY TfikASonsn-J. O. WILLIAMS. Ricoudino SkcnitTABY— A. It. CLARKE. ACDtTOn— H. C. BURNETT. Roaud or MAifAOkns — H. K. Ellyson, J. П. Win* •ton. О. II. Winston. W. E. Hatcher, J. Pollard, Jr., S. O. O opton, J. It. Hutson. W. 1). Thomas, W. W. Landrum, W. J. Shipman. Geo. Cooper, 0.11. Hyland. H. C.Burnett.T. P.Mailicws, It, II, PHt. T. P. Hell. t-HTAll communications in reference lo the business of this Board should be addressed lo H. A. Tupper, Corresponding Secretary, Richmond, Va. MATTHEW T. YATES, Born in Wake county, North Carolina, January 8th, 1819. Baptized October, 1S36, Ordained at Raleigh, October 18th, 1S46. Sailed for China April 26th, 18.17, and arrived in Shan¬ ghai September 12th, of same year. After nearly 41 years of continuous service, died there March 17th, iSSS. Rev. 14: 13. PASTORS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO MIS¬ SIONS, DEAD, YET SPEAKING. In a report presented to the Board at its last meeting, the Committee on China Mis¬ sions, alluding to the death of Dr. Yates, spoke of him as "inspiration to all our | work in China." And truly such he was. 1 Amid all the vicissitudes which have at- I tended our work there, we have all felt that l,iat success was certain, Was not Yates there ? , «on boards is to be chiefly found, not in He was so strong, and we had such implicit "the poverty of the churches nor the un- confidence in his strength, that we were . willingness of Christians to do their duty, almost tempted to neglect Ids appeals for ; but rather in the remissness of the pastors help— what heed bad a giant for help from J "'em to that duty. Sad to say, ordinary men ? He was himseir so brave | there is a great deal of truth in that state- and so hopeful that he inspired many with I ">="'• For some time we were inclined to 1 take the side of the pastors and charge tne remembered the day of prayer for missions appointed in January last? How many и n . . 1 alluded to it from the pulpit, and prayed The Christian Herald. o\ Detroit, Hunks ' . , ,, ■ ’ r„,ic 1 for the work and those engaged in it? We .at the reason of the small receipts of mis- , . , . , , , fear but few. And fewer still urged upon their people to let their gifts and their prayers go together. It has been said over and over again until it lias become very stale, that no church will refuse or neglect to give to missions whose pastor is deeply imbued with the spirit of missions and who presses , it needs to be I repeated over and over again yet very i many times, until pastors everywhere come his own feeling, ami our confidence in MM me suie o.u.e pastors u.o lhe сШпи Qf (h(, WQrk ц ) ^ members China's redemption was based in part on smallness of mission rece.pts to | yet it is true> aml being true, the fact that Dr. Yates had confidence in it., willingness of the people to give. And, But not only did he inspire the people "'a* <*ап:? was true to a certain extent, with hope and confidence in China's future; Very few if any Christians give as they , w |)ецеуе it, and believing, to act upon it. he had the power to move men to labor ought, even when earnestly and ‘“j “At. is the pastor, so is the church. If his 2nd give for the working out of that future, gently urget to о so >> ai iu pas о • . sold js al| aglow with missionary zeal, he How many hearts have responded to his | 1 here is much room for improvemerit here. I wj)| inlIame ,)is peopie wjti, t|,e same zea|, appeals, because they were bis, which were t liut- on ll,e °tller l,and' 11 IS also truo 1 j and their contributions will be on the same deaf to all others» How many purses | comparatively few pastors do earnes illy gca|e h, lhe ,s it not have been opened and their contents ' urge their people to give to missions. The poured into the Lord's treasury as his burn- j «'ant of interest prevents them from doing ing words have fallen on men's ears, even j " earnestly and the want of information from the lips оГ others. Not a few of our ! 0°™ >' intelligently. A few acts will younger missionaries have felt themselves i illustrate this statement. A noted prores drawn to the work by the inlluence that . s°r in one of our largest educational msti went forth from this consecrated man of God, whose whole grand self . , , the words of pen or lip! He l'a" but one opportunity to make a public spoke in was a power in China and for China. But he lias fallen. The strong arm that so long held up the banner of the Cross on China’s dark shore became paralyzed and fell at his side, and now, nerveless and dead, lies in the grave. The eye that ever looked so longingly for helpers from across the ocean, and ever gazed so lovingly upon the Chinese in their disgusting physical and moral degradation, has been glazed in death. The tongue that pleaded so ear¬ nestly with the Chinese and for the Chinese Is silent on earth forevermore. Heisdead! “Yates dead." But if he be dead, he is not silent. He still speakelh. And every word he speaks is a plea for China. Every influence that has ever emanated from him and his work seems, now that he is dead, to have become tutions said, that in the church of which had been a member for two years, he had contribution to missions The (pastor of one of our city churches, probably the largest Baptist church in the city— a leading church- some time since asked a brother, “Who is this man Eager who is being so much spoken of in tile papers?" Alas! Even by name our devoted missionary was not known, and how could lie be prayed for ? These arc but samples of facts that come to us every now and then, indicating that even in our city churches, which itre sup¬ posed— not always correctly, however— to be most perfectly developed in Christian work, there is often to be found not only negligence but ignorance of our mission work, on the part of those who are the divinely appointed leaders of the people. As a matter of fact, how many pastors true? If it be true, the smallness of our receipts for missions from Southern Bap¬ tists shows that many of our pastors need an awakening upon the subject of missions. May the Lord awaken them. REACTION IN JAPAN. ‘ There seemstobc a reaction takingplace in Japanese affairs from the rapid progress towards new ideas in government. Liberal ideas have been in the ascendant, and the people had been promised a constitution in 1890. But the liberal ideas of the peo¬ ple have outrun the government, and the latter is resorting to strong measures of repression, such as putting a ban upon all secret societies and slopping all open-air meetings. Arrest, exile ami imprisonment are being resorted to, and liberal views are being repressed. It. would seem, however, that the move¬ ment among the people towards liberal views had gone too far to be easily re¬ pressed. Let us hope that none of these tilings may impede the progress of the peo¬ ple towards that spiritual fieedom which comes through Jesus Christ. DR, YATES AND JAPAN. Dr. Yates was anxious that Southern Baptists should see the great opening in the empire of Japan, and seeing it should give their means for the establish¬ ment of Missions in that field more prom¬ ising of speedy, ample and profitable fruits than any other pagan country. He did not appreciate the wisdom of our being so shocked by the loss at sea of our missionaries to Japan — the first ever sent out from the United States— as to paralyze all further efforts in that direction, and ever to banish the thoughts of planting missions among that wonderfully progres sive people. He believed that that early conception was good and of God. The divine providence was mysterious. But it might have served, if rightly viewed, only to stimulate stronger faith and more vigorous action necessary to success in the new enterprise. Dr. Yates not only urged a renewed attention to this field, but presented for the Board's acceptance a laborer, whom he regarded eminently 'qualified to make a beginning for us, under most favorable circumstances. For seemingly good reasons the board did not approve the recommen¬ dation; and the Doctor, pressed by the necessities of his own field, satisfied his conscience with having done all he could do, and left the matter to Providence, and to the future awakening of God's people His death may be the means to this end. In the review of tiie life of our fallen missionary veteran natural at this time, we cannot fail to percieve that an element of the pathetic runs through that life, which enters it because of the vast distance between his ideal of mission work and the realization of that work hampered by the limited resources of men and money at his command. And this failure with regard to Japan deepens the tone of the pathos. There was something noble in bis appeal for a field not Ijisown; and peculiar¬ ly touching when that appeal failed. But Providence appears on the side of the early convictions of the Board and of the later endeavors of our brother. Without any responsibility in the matter, our Board was made an agent at the last meeting of the S. В. C. of presenting to the body a remarkable paper on the evangelization of Japan, from a distinguished government official, which was published in the Journal as a call of duty and of privilege to our people. Synchronizing with this appeal, came a proposition from a New York lady to aid the establishment by our board of such a mission while living, and not to forget it in her dying bequests. Now comes a new and powerful appeal to us. Other evangelical denominations are banding together in Japan, and the feeble Baptist force there stand at fearful odds. The several Pedo-Baptist consolida¬ tions number 3S4 missionaries ordained and unordained ; and 11,305 church mem¬ bers. The Baptists have 4 ordained and 27 unordained missionaries ; and 692 church members. In view of this disparity, Dr. Ashmore looking into the future, makes this painfully suggestive calculation. "It is estimated that the converts of Japan now double themselves in numbers every three years. At this rate, in the next thirteen years that remain till the close of the cen¬ tury the consolidated members would num¬ ber i8o,SSo, while the Baptists would number 11,072. This will be a great disparity. It would give a vast preponderance against views and doctrinces of inestimable impor¬ tance. Organized Japanese activities would be moving along lines which Baptists may have had but little to do in marking out." Does this not seem n call of provi¬ dence for us to stir up our early convic¬ tions about Japan ; go to the help of our Baptist brethren there ; and make the death of our brother Yates the occasion of our heeding his voice, now hushed, which we failed to do when it was living, ill tones of deep earnestness, solemn convictions and touching pathos with regard to South¬ ern Baptists doing something for Japan ? SCRAPS PICKED UP, A great religious revival has been in pro¬ gress in Japan, as a partial result of which' are reported 500 conversions, in .Tokyo. Yokohama is sharing in the blessing... . Our Baptist brethren of the North, accord- ‘ ing to the Baptist Missionary Magazine, need to give $163, 209 between April 1st and $pril 17th, in order to close the work of the Missionary Union free of debt . " Money bags are apt to tighten as they grow heavy.” Even so . In Russia every elfort is made to induce Baptists to join the Russian church, orelse toemigrate. . Prince William, heir of the German Imperial throne, is said to be decidedly evangelical in sentiment, and active in Christian work . In Madras, India, gov¬ ernment reports say, there is one criminal , in every 447 Hindoos, one in every 700 Mohammedans, one in every 2,500 nominal Christians. A good showing for Chris¬ tianity . A worthy gentleman in Leeds;- England, offered £ 15,000 to either one of three different missionary societies for mis¬ sion work done in northern South America. All declined it, on the plea of having all the work they could do..' . “One of our mis¬ sionary superintendents went to.a group of hamlets in the Rocky mountalns.where there was neither a church nor a Sunday-school, but there he found a poor but pious widow, whose humble home was the gathering place for prayer meetings, and there was not a soul in that ‘village that would not know where to go for counsel. But when Stanley crossed the Dark Continent, from Zanzibar to the Congo’s mouth, over all these 7,000 miles he found no nation that had heard of Christ 1 " — Dr. Pierson. A discussion recently took place at Luck¬ now between the Arya Somaj and the orthodox Hindus, when the attacks made upon Christianity by the former aroused the ire of the Mohammedans, who took sides with the Christians, declaring that Christ was. holy and sinless. — Missionary Review. "THE GOSPEL HERALD." We have received a copy of " The Gos¬ pel Herald a missionary paper published by the "Boards of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention.” it is devoted to the interests of all the various depart¬ ments of denominational work carried on by the Baptists of that State. State, Home and Foreign missions, Ministerial Educa¬ tion, and Sunday-school and Colportage work will each be represented in its pages by those who are in special charge of these departments. The first number comes to us about the size of the Journal, neatly gotten ' up and full of good things. We welcome it to a place among the many agencies now at work for the advancement of Christ’s king¬ dom on the earth, and bespeak for it an earnest support from our brethren in North Carolina. And many v/ho do not live in that State might do well to send fifty cents to Rev C. Durham, at Raleigh, and have a monthly visit from the Ha aid. We will give our readers a little morsel from the feast of good things presented in It: " Consecrated lives and consecrated cap¬ ital will fill the world with missions. There are times when the only true and accepta¬ ble prayer to God is the supply of men and means for the wise prosecution of the Lord's work. The highest type of Chris¬ tian manhood is demanded for and devel¬ oped by the Foreign Mission work. The ripest fruits Christianity has ever produced have been in the consecrated lives on mis¬ sion fields. There must needs be some¬ thing in this work itself that makes heroes and martyrs.” 4 The way to selfisupport in the missions of the I.ondon Society, in China, was found by letting the churches choose their own pastors. The method was discovered almost by accident. One of the mission churches was dissatisfied with the pastor which had been sent by the missionary in charge, and asked for another who was a favorite with them. The missionary told them they could have him if they would pay the whole of his salary, whereas they were then paying only about one third of their pastor's salary. They demurred at the proposition, but the missionary was firm ; and rather than lose the man they wanted, they agreed. This was an epoch in the history of self-support in the mission. News of what had been done spread among the churches, and soon six others had become self-supporting on the same.basis. This is now the rule in the mission, and works to the advantage of all concerned. Possibly there may be a useful hint in this for other missions. Self-support cannot.be secured without self-direction. — Baptist Missiouaty Magazine. ! r,d. Read brotherSimmons’ letter in thi^issue of the Journal and see how well our.'Ciii- nese brethren are working in tiie direction of., self-support. Self-direction is Baptist tist polity anyhow. ’ • '.if