FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL:
1*111)1 lulled Monthly by the Foreign Mission Hoard
о Г
tlio Southern Hnptlst Convention.
“ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH, GO YE, THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS.”
Vol. 16— New Series.
RICHMOND. VA„ SEPTEMBER, 1884.
No. 2.— Whole No. 194.
(Entered nt me I'ont-Omce at lUchmond, Va., ae
1 second-elites mnlter.J
Foreign Mission Journal.
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Address,
FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL.
Richmond, Va.
FOREIGN MISSION BOARD
OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION,
Locatcd at U20HM0N1). VIItOINIA.
I'llXBIDENT— J. L. M. OIJURT.
VlCI'l’USBID.NTe,— Jo.hun I.fvcrlnc, Md„ J. A.
Harkett, I. a.. J. I.. Ilurrow». Ya,, N. A. HiUlcy, Via.,
0. F. (Ir.eory, N.
О..
T. T. Eaton, Ky.. J. J. ft. lien-
Irof, Alabama, II. S. Duncan, Mo., II. II. Unrrolt,
Техад,
W. 1,. Kilpatrick, On., l!ha>. Manly, S. <).,
J. M. Scoter, Tenn.. J. II. Searcy, Ark., George
Wbltfleld, Mien., W. K. Atlkiseon, w. Yn.
noBRkSroKDtno Skckhtaiiv— H. A. TUl'PER.
Tnneuusu— ,1. O. WII.MAMS.
Recording Secretary — W. II. OWATHMEY.
AUDITOR— JOSEPH V
СОТТНЕЫ,.
IlOAODOT MANAOtene.— J. It. Ilawthome.J.II.Wat-
ktn". H. K. Ellyeon, W. E. Hatcher, E. Wortham, W.
D. Thomae, W. Ooddlu, H. H. Hurrt., J. Pollard, Jr ,
J. W. Jonee,
Л.
II Dl’ltke, ,T H Win-ton.
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II. lint-
»on.
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11 Winston. S O. 'Icptou.
1ST All communications in reference to the
business of this Hoard should be addressed to
H. A. Toppkk, Corresponding Secretary,
Kichmond, Va.
THE SPECIAL OFFER.
After the August number hail gone to
press we concluded to add another month
10 the time in which subscriptions will be
received at these reduced rates :
I.
Гог
papers separately addressed:
One copy . . cents.
Three copies for $1 or .
33И
cents apiece.
II. For packages sent to one person who
shall distribute them :
Four copies for J i| or more at . 35 cts. apiece.
T\>emy-fi\e copies for (5. or more at 20 cts. apiece.
One hundred copies forJi5«or more at 15 cts. apiece.
The offer holds, therefore, for any cash
subscriptions received during August, Sep¬
tember or October. Absence from the office
prevents any estimate of the effects of this
proposition. We have heard of one brother
who, in half an hour, secured subscriptions
for over one hundred copies, of another
who did about as well. These two are both
in Virginia. Front States more distant we bad
heard nothing up to the time of leaving
Richmond. If forty-eight others had done
as well, the whole five thousand for whom
we asked would have been secured. But it
is only at Associations and in the large
churches that one can pick up a hundred
subscribers in a few minutes. We shall ap¬
preciate the aid of our friends according to
their circumstances. One, perchance, may
deserve more, and really accomplish more,
by circulating three or four copies at a cost
of one dollar, titan another who seems to be
doing ten times as much.
Of two things we feel sure— any of our
readers who really desire to do so, can help
us in the present effort, and if one half of
them help to the extent of their ability, our
modest request for an addition of five thou¬
sand will be inofe than met.
VACATION.
We feel almost obliged to get a whiff of
mountain air every summer, and generally
contrive to combine the pursuit of health
with some efforts to do good, by a tour among
suclt of our district Associations as meet in
the uplands of Virginia. The programme
for this year embraced one which met in
Bedford county, the “plant bed” of preach¬
ers, another at Hollins’ Institute, one of the
best if not the very best of all our colleges for
young ladies, a third at Bristol, on the Vir-
and Tennessee line, and a fourth in Tazewell,
said to he the richest county in the State.
Severe sickness prevented us from reaching
the first, and from enjoying, although we at¬
tended, the second. We write under the
fatigues of over mucii talking at the third,
and on the eve of a thirty-mile drive across
the mountains to reach the last mentioned.
This number of the Journal is, therefore,
made up without any personal supervision
by the editor. It will, doubtless, prove, ns
did another of the same sutt, one of the
most interesting in the whole series; for the
lack of editorial work will be more than
compensated by the additional space al¬
lowed for letters from the field, with, per¬
haps, some selections from other periodicals.
The people among whom we itave gone
listen with deep interest to the presentation
of the claims of missions. Our esteemed
friend and brother, Rev. R. K. Acree, of
Lynchburg, is the Mercurius of the party.
Me takes along three large and distinctly
drawn wall-maps— a missionary map of the
world to illustrate and localize the facts
stated in a first-rate lecture on Foreign Mis¬
sions ; a map of the United States to exhibit
tlie work and the needs of the Home Board;
and a map of Virginia to point out the
varied demands made upon our State Mis¬
sion Board. Some few people do not ap¬
preciate maps, and would rather hear a
merely verbal statement of facts and figures,
or even a fervid declamation on the leading
motives and grand remits of modern mis¬
sions. We are persuaded, however, that for
real lasting elfect, for exciting intelligent
and fruitful interest, for connecting the facts
with something which, by the laws of asso¬
ciation. will be continually recalling them,
and, indeed, for the present interest of the
great majority of people, few things are
worth more than good maps, well handled.
We have noticed how old and young, literate
and illiterate, gaze with wide open eyes on
these graphic portraitures of countries and
localities, and listen with ears intent, to
statements which are not airy nothings, but
have a local habitation. We could wish
that every church and Sunday-school kept
such illustrations of truth constantly in
view.
Our brethren in this region are not up to
their duty In the matter of Foreign Missions.
They are for the most part members of
feeble and scattered churches, and have no
little struggle to support the ministry of the
Word in their own hounds and carry it to yet
more destitute neighborhoods around them.
Then, too, there seems to be peculiar diffi¬
culty in getting people who live in narrow
valleys, locked in by impassable mountains,
to take broad and far reaching views. It
was in the narrow pass between Ebal and
Uerizint that Jesus said, "Lift up your eyes
and look on the fields; for they are white
already to the harvest." The exhortation
comes to all who are like the disciples then
were, more concerned about the meat that
perisheth than about the throng of despised
Samaritans coming eagerly to drink of the
living water.
AN INEXCUSABLE BLUNDER.
For the August number we prepared, with
no little labor and care, brief sketches of our
missionaries. The article was reprinted
along with some other matter in tract form
and scattered all over the country. We read
it in proof more than once, compared it with
the list, which is printed every month, and
verily thought it was complete and correct
as far as could be in so short a space. We
were therefore mortified beyond measure to
find that we had omitted the names of our
esteemed brother Simmons and his wife, of
the Canton mission.
The discovery of the mistake was not
made till August lfith, at the Lebanon As
sociation, Bristol, Tenn. We undertook to
run over the list and point out the places
occupied by our brethren. As we turned
hack and forth and looked in vain for the
familiar name, we lost our train of thought,
and in profound confusion had to strike out
a new line of remarks.
There is only oneexcusethat weean frame—
we began with, the Chinese veterans and
then took up the younger members of the
missions. Brother Simmons occupies an in¬
termediate position, hardly a senior, yet
much more than a junior. We distinctly
remember getting together the facts in re¬
ference to his life, but either the sketch of
him was not written, or if written was mis¬
laid, and for the reason just given, the omis¬
sion was not noticed until we came to look
over the list, under the excitement of a
public speech. The case is made worse by
the further fact that we cannot supply the
lack until we return to Richmond and have
access again to the records of the Board.
We beg brethren who have received the
tract or the August number, to insert just
after what is ‘said about Dr. Graves, the
names of E. Z. Simmons and Mrs. Simmons,
and to put in hereafter the sketch which we
shall try to prepare for the October number.
THE MADERO INSTITUTE.
A number of bonds have been received by
Rev. W. D. Powell, of Saltillo, for the school
enterprise of Mexico. In another column
will be seen bis report of the cash received
by him. The contributions received at the
mission rooms for this purpose have been
reported regularly in our monthly acknow¬
ledgments in the Journal. Thanking the
friends of this important work for what they
have done, we hope that those who have
given bonds maybe able to meet their obliga¬
tions as the coupons become due, and that a
much larger amount than has been sub¬
scribed will be given to the Madero Insti¬
tute of Mexico, of which our missionary
I’owell is the Treasurer.
MISSIONS— No. 2.
Foreign Missions are still in the experi¬
mental stage— still without settled principles
of action — still uncertain as to ultimate re¬
sults. The movement began nearly a centu¬
ry ago under a divine impulse that aroused
all the dormant energies of Christendom.
Everywhere conventions were called, boards
appointed, funds collected, and missionaries
sent forth to convert the heathen world. Ex¬
pectations of immediate success filled the
minds of all. The heathen were supposed
to be longing for deliverance from their
chains. The gospel was rightly believed to
be the power of God unto salvation. The
missionaries, impelled by this conviction and
guided by the example of Christ and the
apostles, at first preached the gospel with
ail their might to the heathen masses, and
distributed Bibles and tracts in every direc¬
tion. Year after year passed away without
apparent results. Instead of seeing the
fieids ripening for the harvest, even the
tender blades did not appear. The people,
high and low, generally suspected the mis¬
sionaries of being disguised emissaries of
foreign governments sent out to prepare the
way for the conquest of tiieir country. From
of old they had been taught to regard all
strangers as enemies, anil could by no means
understand how they could spend time or
money for the good of others. The more
anxious the missionaries became for their
conversion the more suspicious the people
became of their motives and ultimate de¬
signs. It seemed to the sorely tried mis¬
sionaries as if this state of things would
never give way. The boards and churches
at home began to show signs of disappoint¬
ment, and every newspaper article called
for converts. They must see results ; must
itave something tangible to talk about, or
their interest in missions would subside and
contributions fall off. The day of tempta¬
tion had come, and who is sufficient for these
things? A change takes place. To sustain
the cause at home becomes the leading aim
alike of boards and missionaries. The
second experimental stage follows.
T. P. Crawford.
CANTON JOTTINGS.
MISSIONARY HEALTH.
I itave recently had the pleasure of peru¬
sing a paper by my friend Dr. Berry, of. the
A. U. C, F. M. Mission in Japan, on “ Mission¬
ary Health, Vacations and Furloughs.” It,
with some of the other papers presented at
the same time at the Conference of Japan
missionaries, held at Osaka in May, 1883, is
well worthy the attention of mission Secre¬
taries and Board. I give a few items.
TWO CLASSES OF MISSIONARIES.
"Two classes of missionaries are recog¬
nized : those who break down early, and
those who endure. The average length of
the missionary life of the former is only from
2J£ to 3 years, and,, though complete statis¬
tics are wanting, it is the impression among
physicians and others that the very young
missionaries are the most prominent among
these unfortunates, It is my conviction that
men and unmarried women under 25 years
of age, and married women under 23 should
hot, as a rule, be encouraged to enter upon
foreign missionary service in China and Ja¬
pan.”
FURLOUGHS.
From statistics which Dr. B. has compiled
from data afforded by different missions in
China and Japan, “it appears that the average
time of service before the first furlough is
rendered necessary on account of health is,
for China and Japan, 7 years and 1 month,
and 0 years and 8 months respectively. The
average lengtli of time favored by the differ¬
ent missionary boards forservice priorto fur¬
loughs, is aboutO years for China anil Japan.”
The terms of service advocated by Dr.
Berry and other medical men is that "the
time of service on the field prior to the first
furlough be seven years, and that prior to
subsequent furloughs be 10 years, to be mod¬
ified by health, existing conditions of work,
of home finances, and by individual prefer¬
ences." He insists that the "ten years or
longer" still adhered to by some societies, is
too long for the first term, and thinks that it
would “ be wise.to require the missionaries
in Southern China, Formosa and Siam to
take a furlough once in 7 years.” This isthe
policy of the English Presbyterian Mission.
In China the cnstomsservice allow a furlough
of two years once in .5 years.
DELAY OF FURLOUGHS.
Dr. B. says, " I would enforce one more
thought, viz : the importance of taking fur¬
loughs when needed. It cannot be two con¬
stantly remembered by missions and Mis¬
sion Boards, (I would add by missionaries
too,) " that when a brain breaks down that
lias been habitually overworked, and which
has for months, perhaps years, been calling
upon its reserve strength to. make up for its
insidiously growing exhaustion,. the chances
are many that it will never regain its pristine
powers, even after long rest and judicious
brain exercise."
He speaks very strongly and properly
against '’the terrible formula, ‘absolute ne¬
cessity,’ ” sometimes required by Boards and
acted upon by conscientious, but mistaken
missionaries.
MORE MOB VIOLENCE.
Brother Simmons heard yesterday that a
girls’ school, which we have recently opened
in Shiu Hing, was attacked by a band of
rowdies, composed of soldiers from the guard
boats. The furniture was broken and the
husband aad the father of the teacher were
assaulted.
THE CHINESE IN OREGON.
A recent number of the Bible Society's
Reporter contains an account of a Bible
meeting held in our Chinese church in Port¬
land. Addresses were made by our brethren
T’ong and Dong Gong, and by others in
Chinese and English, and a collection of $47
was taken up for the American Bible Society,
£20 of this was given by one Chinaman. It
is pleasing to see our members engaged thus
in aiding in the circulation of the word of God.
R. H. Graves.
