Foreign Mission Journal, August 1884

FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL: Published Monthly l,y tlic Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. “all POWEll is given unto .me jn heaven and in earth, go ye, therefore, and TEACH ALL NATIONS.” Vol. 16— New Series. RICHMOND. VA., AUGUST, 1884. No. 1.— Whole No. 193. IKiuem! hi (lie Foet-OUlce ut lllchmontt, Va., ue 1 ^Hcoml-cliiss mutter.] Foreign Mission Journal. RATKS PER ANNUM: One copy, separately folilctl aiul nildresseil . % 50 Three copies, addressed to one person . 1 со Ten copies, addressed to one person . . . 3 00 Forty copies, addressed to one person . 10 00 One hundred copies, addressed to one person . 20 00 Please remit by Draft, Postal Order, or In RcrIs* tered Letter, and notify us rsoMPTLY of any change In address. Address, FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL. Richmond, Va. foreign mission board OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION, Located AT UHJIIMONl». VIRGINIA. I'HtsiiHiMT— J. L. M. OUItltY. Vlcc-l'uiisiniHTK. — 1 01 lam I.evtrlnc, 7.Ы., j. A llarlo-u. L.v, J. L. Harrows. Va., N. Л. HaRpy, Fla.. О. K. Оп-когу. N. О.. T, T. Union. Ky.. J. .1. I). Ren¬ fros. Alnhnmn, II. S. Iluiicnn, Mo., II II. Cnrroll, Tnis W L. Kiqmirick, On., IMim. Manly, s. ()., J ,4 Senior, Tenn.. .Г. It. Sonrcy, Ark.. Ueorire WblllloM, MU"., W. K. ЛИкИ-оп. W. Vll. OiililiBBI-Ovnivu sei iibtahy— II. A. TI'l'l’EII. TntA«i nun— .Г. ll. WII.I.IAMS, IUcoiidino Sn а ктл iiy — W. ll GWATIIMEY. ЛГШТОп -JOSEPH V. COTTRELL. Поаппот SIAMAUKIM.— J. II. Hawthorne, J. It. Wnt- iln>. II К Kllyson, W. i:. Hatcher, K. Wortham, W. Ii Thomnn, W cloililln.il. II. Ilarrli, J. Pollnril. Jr.. T W Jon», Л ll. Clarice, J II. Wluilon, ,T II. Ита¬ ки. (' II Wlneton. S. O. Clrpton РИГАН communications in reference to the business of th is ltonrd should he addressed to H. A. T LTi'HK, Corresponding Secretary , Richmond, Va. SPECIAL TERMS FOR TWO MONTHS. Dining August and September a great many Associations ami such like meetings will be held. They will furnish opportunities for Ihe friends of the./b/<>«(j/tosecme a mul¬ titude of new subscribers. To aid them in such efforts we offer to send the papers for 12 months at these REDUCED RATES. I. Kor papers separately addressed : One t.opy . . cents Three copies <$ fi or . 33^ спи» apiece. II. For packages sen! lo one person who shall distribute them : Four copies for ft, or more at . 25 cts. apiece. Twenty-five copies for fs. or more at 20 cts. apiece. One hundred copies for J15. or more at 15 cts. apiece. This offer holds only for subscriptions ac- companied by the money and received in August or September. It puts the paper within easy reach of any person, society or church that wants to hear from our foreign missionaries. With a little help from all our readers it will add at least five thousand to our present circulation. The time is short. Act at once. If you need a fewspecimen numbers, write for them. A TRIP TO TENNESSEE. The Tennessee baptist Convention held its , loth annual meeting at Murfreesboro July ; 3-5. At tile urgent solicitation of several i brethren, who begged us to meet them there, j we set out on the '2nd for a run of some six j or seven hundred miles. Our route lay obliquely across three mountain ranges and ' through the hundreds of fertile valleys which nestle among their spurs or spread into Load plains thick-set with gathered sheaves. Ages of rain and frost little by little denude the bleak heights, exposing their store of min¬ erals, and at the same time cover the shelter¬ ed lands below with alluvial soil. Thus na¬ ture opens her mines, invites man lo their developement, and provides also abundant food for the support of the miners. So in the realm of grace, the same overruling power which opens the fastnesses of idolatry and superstition, enriches Christendom with abundant means to sustain all who will go forth to gather the millions of unwrought gems and polish them for the Saviour's crown. Winds and waters are nature's ve¬ hicles; the cars of commerce carry the world of life. livery railway with valley exalted, mountain and hill made low, the crooked made straight and the rough places smooth, ought to be “a highway for our God," till “ th«* glory of the l.'ord shall he revealed and ail flesh see it together.” In one of the prettiest of the valleys framed hy gently sloping mountains, is the town of Cleveland, in which, after riding all night, we found, both going and returning, a hearty welcome to a most delicious break¬ fast. The good brother who presides over the buffet understands one part at least of bis business— he knows what to have for way¬ worn travellers and how to have it served— we confess to some doubt whether the half- dollars he gathers pay him to set so good a table, but if he is bent on breaking himself we advise all who pass that way to get the benefit of bis lavish outlay. We failed to meet the bretluen who had so warmly urged us to attend, for the simple reason that not one of them was there. The personal lack of their presence was well sup¬ plied by kindly attentions from Dr. Robert¬ son, of the Reflector, who presided in a man¬ ner which we have rarefy seen equalled, from I’rof. Irby, the courtly and genial Secre¬ tary, and from more than a score of brethren on the floor. It will not be thought invidious if we acknowledge our obligations specially to the editors of the Tennessee Baptist, Memphis, and the Missionary Baptist, Nash¬ ville. To the three papers just mentioned we re¬ fer any who may wish lo see a full statement of all that was said and done. The Journal has room for only an item or two. Dr. Strickland, of Edgefield, in a speech 011 education, thrilled the audience as he told of a casual meeting years ago, a mile or two from Murfreesboro, between a gentleman on foot and a boy driving a wagon; of how they fell into conversation and made an arrange¬ ment for the boy to enter Union University and pay his way by hauling wood on Satur¬ days, nod of wlint the results have been. President Jarman, of the Southwestern Uni¬ versity, nodded assent in proof of the cor¬ rectness of the statement so far as lie was concerned— the other party is our loved and honored missionary at Saltillo. The subject of Home and Foreign Missions did not come up in regular order till the last session, which was held Saturday night in the midst of a severe rainstorm. Only a few were out. They listened with interest to Dr. Tichenor and with gratifying patience to the brother who followed him. Our excellent Vice-President, deacon Senter, of Trenton, had, however, proved his fitness for the place, by foreseeing the difficulty and holding a foreign mission meeting of his own ap¬ pointment out under the trees during recess. The speaking in that conference was brief and pointed, and evidently meant work. We shall he greatly disappointed if it docs not result in doubling the contribution of the State. Tennessee is rich in the products of its mines and its fields. Over 80,000 of its peo¬ ple are enrolled on the books of Baptist churches. What a power they would wield, if all were heartily alive to the great work of giving a pure gospel to a perishing world. SPECIAL CONTRIBUTIONS. A brother, who has a flourishing Sunday- school Missionary Society, asked us the other day to suggest some special object or person to receive the benefit of the children’s con¬ tributions. His purpose was to set before them something that they could appreciate, and thus intensify their interest by concen¬ trating it. This advantage would no doubt follow a wise selection, and the special in¬ terest might in time be broadened to include other objects. »As an initiatory step, a means of education, such a plan often works admir¬ ably. And yet in the case proposed wd paid tile brother the compliment of decliningout- right— up thought his Society capable of a better tiling. The favorite plan with special contiibu- tors is to educate a child, or employ a Bible- woman, or support a native preacher, or superadd something to the regular mission work. To this there are numerous objec¬ tions. 1. The Mission board, keeping in con¬ stant communication with all the fields, de¬ votes much time апЗ thought to the most economical and best manner of expending money. It is fair to presume that their reg¬ ular appropriations to a given station cover all the most needful and wisest work that can be attended to with a due regard for other interests. 2. The support of natives is a matter of doubtful policy, to be undertaken only with the utmost caution. Dr. Carpenter in his book on Self-Support, says emphatically that it mars the 'influence of the missionary who dispenses foreign money, is deleterious to the native preacher and puts him in a false light before tile heathen. Many other mis¬ sionaries have become convinced that giving of our money for the maintenance of native children or teachers does more harm than good. •U. It is very apt to react injuriously upon the givers. Engrossed in a single thing, they come to think less of the general cause. Wrapped up in their own work, they care less for the kingdom of Christ. Then too, if that one object or person should fail, the interest is set back for almost a generation. Take a case within our own personal obser¬ vation. A certain District Association de¬ voted its contributions for foreign work to the support of a missionary whom it selected and sent to China. For years there was great prosperity, and all over the land peo¬ ple were pointing to the noble example of this banner Association. The churches gave liberally to ‘‘our mission.” But for good reasons the missionary resigned and came back to America. No suitable person could be found at once to take his place. There followed a complete collapse, from which the body, after thirty-five years, is just beginning to recover. Some of this despondency was doubtless due to the war of 1S81-G5, but much more, as events have shown, to the failure of a pet scheme. This or that man may fail, but the whole line moves forward ; it is better, therefore, as the proverb has it, not to "risk all your eggs in one basket.” THE “NORTHERN” SOCIETIES. It is well known to every intelligent Bap¬ tist in America that we, of the Southern States, carry on both Home and Foreign Missions, through one Convention, while our brethren of the Eastern, Middle, and Western States, conduct their Foreign work through the Missionary Union, with head¬ quarters in boston, and their Home work through the Home Mission Society, whose constitution requires that its Managers shall reside “ chiefly in the city of New York or its vicinity.” To distinguish between these Societies and the corresponding boards of our Con¬ vention, (located respectively at Richmond and Atlanta,) we have frequently prefixed the epithets northern and southern. This has been done simply for clearness of designa¬ tion and with no thought of giving offence to anybody. The officers and agents of the Missionary Union seem to have understood us perfectly, but some connected with the other Society have exhibited no little restive- ness on the subject. The matter is gravely taken up in the last annual report, presented at Detroit, May 20th, in these words ; “ That the American baptist Home Mission So¬ ciety is not sectional, is not a " Northern ” Society, but is even Continental, appears not only from the wide extent from which contributions come into its treasury, but also from the wide distribution of its mis¬ sionary force. The society’s operations have been conducted in -15 States and Territories, also in Ontario and Manitoba, and in two States of the Mexican Republic.” On this official utterance we have several remarks. First, we rejoice in what the Society has clone and is doing for the colored race ill the Southern States. It had abundant means and free access to the people. It was there¬ fore able to do in the establishment of schools and other like work, what the Southern Convention would gladly have done but could not. But secondly, the attitude assumed hy the Society towards our Convention is not so brotherly as that of the Missionary Union, which, though receiving money from 52 States. and Countries, extends its Southern District only to the District of Columbia. Thirdly, the claim strikes us as unintelli¬ gible if not absurd. Everybody knows that “there is no Mason and Dixon'sline through the commonwealth of Israel,” that no mis¬ sion society refuses money from beyond its borders or circumscribes its efforts by geo¬ graphical lines. What does the Society mean by saying it *‘ is not sectional, is not Northern?” It cannot mean that its managers and members, and the contributors on whom it relies, are equably scattered over the whole continent, for this is disproved by the lists and Treasurer's report. Our Hoard receives contributions from Northern Slates and has just appointed an Indiana man as missionary; it is not sectional, but is none the less Southern. It receives money from England, and has British subjects in its em¬ ployment; shall it therefore claim to be ail international organization ? And lastly, the words above cited come with a very bad grace from the Society which first, by formal resolution, drew the line between Baptists at the “South and at the North," nnd took to itself the very epithet to which it now objects. At its meeting in April, 1845, the month before the Southern Baptist Convention was organized, it adopted the following: “ Resolved, That, in our opinion, it is ex¬ pedient that the members now forming the Society, should hereafter act in separate or¬ ganizations at the South and at the North, in promoting tlie objects which were originally contemplated by tlte Society ;" and followed tins up by adopting a recommendation “ that, as the existing Society was planted in the North, has its Executive Board, and there re¬ ceived a charter, &c., the existing organiza¬ tion be retained by the Northern and other churches which may be willing to act to¬ gether upon” the question then at issue. For these reasons we shall continue, and we trust without giving any further offence, to use the term northern whenever we think it necessary to prevent confounding the New York Society with our Home board at At¬ lanta. A Silhouette— so called from the French Minister of Finance in 1759, who impressed his ideas of severe economy even on the Parisian fashions — is “an outline drawn in profile and filled with Indian ink. Some faces," adds our authority, “ are easily taken in this way, whilst others lose their charac¬ ters entirely, particularly those whose traits are well-harmonized.” The term is exactly descriptive of the sketches of our mission¬ aries in this number, but however inperfect, they are valuable as far as they go, and this paper ought to be carefully preserved for fu¬ ture reference.