Foreign Mission Journal, October 1883

FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL. _ РчЪИнЬсЦ Monthly by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. “all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, go ye, therefore, and TEACH ALL NATIONS.” Vol. 15— New Series. RICHMOND. VA.. OCTOBER, 1888. No. 3.— Whole No. 170. fLnteretl ul Hu* PoM-OlHco nt Richmond, Va., as eccoml-cln**» nmlter.] Foreign Mission Journal RATES PER ANNUM: One copy, separately foliled and addressed . $ 50 Three copies, addressed to one person . i oo Ten copies, addiessed to one person . 3 oo Folly copies, in К t ressed to one person . . oo One hundred copies, addiessed lo one person . 20 00 Лд* Please remit by Draft, Postal Order, or In Regis¬ tered Letter, niul notify us i-romi-tlv of any change in address. Address. FORHIGN MISSION JOURNAL. Richmond, Va. FOREIGN MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION, Locatko AT ItlOHMONIl. VIllOlNIA. 1*1» К AID К NT— J. I., M. CUItny. Vicx-I’nMiDSNTft.— Joshua F.ovcrlnc, Mil., J. Л. Uncle. tt, I.n„ J. I.. Ilurmw., Ул.. И. K. Allen, Fla., O. F. Grezory, N. О.. T. T. Union. Ky.. J. J. II. lien- froe, Alnbmnn. It. S. Ilniicnn, Mo., II H. Carroll, Texiu, W. I,. Kilpatrick. (In., (Hina. Mnnly, S. O., Mntl. Hlllamnn, Tenn., J. II. Searcy, Ark.. Oeorre Whitfield Mlaa. \V. I*. Walker V.’, Va, nOHItKerONDlXa SKCIIKTAIIY— П. A. TUPPER. Thkakuiikh— J, (J. WILLIAMS. Kkcoiidi.ki Sihuktahv— W. II. OWATIIMEY. Auditoh— JOSEPH F. COTTliELL. Полно or M a nau кие, — J. II. llnwihome, J. II. Wat* kina, II. tC. Klly.oll, W. K. llfticher, E. Wortham, W. II. Thomtla, W. Goddln.ll, II. Tlarrla, J. l'ollard, Jr., J. W. Jones, Л. II. Glarke, J. II. Wlnaton, J. II. Hut- eon. О. II. Win* ton. s. O. Cloitton. tSTAU communications in reference to the business of this lloanl should be addressed lo H. Л. Tui-pek. Corresponding Secretary , ICichmond. I'd STATE OF THE TREASURY. it will be remembered that the Hoard asks for 5100,011(1 this year, and that the brethren in their general and State conventions, with great heartiness and unanimity, have ap¬ proved the request. Nearly live months (May 1st to September IStli,) have passed, during which the aggregate of receipts has been not quite $15.000 ; nt the same rate throughout the year they will foot up less than $10,000. Thu regular drain of neces¬ sary expenses since May 1st, has used up the whole amount received, together with the surplus brought over from last year, leaving the treasury at present entirely empty. This looks discouraging, hut there is a brighter aspect. The receipts, though so small, are somewhat larger than for the cor¬ responding period of last year. The hulk of contributions are not usually made till af¬ ter tlie fall crops are gathered and sent for¬ ward to market. We confidently expect a large increase of receipts in October, and a still larger one in November. This simple statement of our condition and prospects is made only to remind the brethren that the Hoard is in imperative and pressing need of funds lo sustain the work, and to urge them, as the time of their annual collection comes round, to make it as liberal as possible, and to send the money on as soon ns it can be gotten together. The work has been abundantly blessed and is growing; we, too, have been blessed far be¬ yond our deserts, and ought to grow in the grace of giving. THE TROUBLES IN CANTON. Headers of the daily newspapers will have noticed recently many dispatches about riot and bloodshed in the streets of Canton, and barbarous warfare waged in.Tonquin between the French and the Anamese. The items sent by sub-marine cable are so brief and fragmentary that one cannot easily get a clear and connected idea of the disturb¬ ances. The Scptember-October number of tlie Missionary Review contains the fullest account we have seen of the origin of the troubles. From this and from what we have been able to gather elsewhere, we have compiled the following statement, to be submitted in preparation for a more detailed and satisfactory account, such as we are hoping to get from Dr. Graves, possibly m time for this number, but more probably for the next. The country known on our maps as Anam joins the southwestern frontier of China and extends southward for a thousand miles be¬ tween the China Sea on the east, and Siam on the west. Its average width is two hundred miles, giving an area nearly equal to the com¬ bined areas of the two Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. Its population is variously esti¬ mated at from nine to twenty-one millions— a proof that very little is known about the country. Though entirely within the tropics, it has a range of lofty mountains running north and south through its whole length, and this secures great variety of climate and scenery, of soil and products. The country is divided into three provinces, Tonquin in the north, Cochin-China in tlie centre, and Tsiampa in the south. In this last is Saigon, the chief city of the French possessions. Tlie people are Mongolian and follow to a great extent tlie manners and customs, as they also use the written language of the Chinese. Tonquin was long a province of China, and though It re¬ volted, still acknowledges a sort of feudal dependence on the ICmperor, who. indeed, claims to be sovereign of all Anam. The Jesuits sent missionaries to Ananias early perhaps as the seventeenth or certainly the beginning of the eighteenth century. The first interferences of tlie French were ostensibly for the protection of these mis¬ sionaries. Just about a hundred years ago there was a rebellion in which the king was slain, and the rebels gained control of nearly the whole country. The youthful heir to the throne had been entrusted to a French missionary bishop, through whom lie sought help from Louis XIV, and by the aid of a French licet succeeded in reconquering the country. This ruler, of course, protected the missionaries, but bis successors renewed the persecutions with increasing violence up to about IS. 50, when France again interfered, and after some years of fighting got posses¬ sion in lSOO of Saigon and some adjacent territory. From this foothold the French merchants have been pressing steadily into other towns and provinces, and securing by treaties tlie opening of other porlsand privi¬ leges, The story of the present war is given as follows : A certain merchant was charged in Tonquin with smuggling. Complaint was lodged with the governor of Saigon. He sent a small force under Lieut. Gamier, who, instead of stopping tlie unlawful traffic, attacked the Anamese, and captured seve¬ ral places, but was himself finally taken and beheaded. This occurred some ten years ago, but could not be avenged at the time because of the war with Prussia. Within the last few months the conflict lias been re¬ newed with varying success and witli savage ferocity on botli sides. Hut what has this to do with our missions? The two chief rivers of Anam, the Cam¬ bodia, some 1,500 miles long, and the Sonka, some 500, botli rise in China, and are high¬ ways connecting the two countries. The Chinese Fmperor, as above mentioned, claims sovereignity over Anam, and the au¬ thorities there are appealing to him for pro¬ tection against the French. He is also alarmed at what lie considers aggressions by outside barbarians. It is no wonder, therefore, that all through China, and es¬ pecially in the southern portions, opposition to foreigners has become more active and bitter. The Chinese, of course, cannot dis¬ criminate between Catholic and Protestant, nor between Frenchmen and Americans, any more than we could distinguish on our streets a Tauist from a Buddhist, or a China¬ man from a Cambodian. On Monday, the 10th of September, the dispatches inform us, there arose a quarrel be¬ tween some Chinese and a Portuguese watchman on the quay at Canton. As the row increased, some dozen German and Engfish merchants, having armed them¬ selves, fired into the mob with deadly effect. This, of course, only added fuel to tlie flame. Tlie infuriated populace commenced to burn and rob the houses of foreigners. Chinese troops succeeded after awhile in quelling tlie riot, and ns soon ns possible gunboats were brought up and anchored off the foreign quarter. The whole city seems to remain, however, like a suppressed vol¬ cano, surging with sullen threats of death to all foreigners. It was a great relief to our anxiety to receive by cable, on the l.'ltlq from Dr. Graves, the two words “all safe.” From the fact that his dispatch was sent from Hong Kong, the island under English rule at tlie mouth of Canton River, we infer that our missionaries have all retired to this point, but we await fuller news by mail. “The future of the European colony,” says the news dispatch, " is gloomy in the extreme ’’—even more gloomy might seem the outlook of our little band of mission¬ aries, unless we raise our eyes heavenward. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee, and the remainder of wratli slialt Thou re¬ strain;” and some day it shall appear that all these things “have fallen out rather unto the progress ol the Gospel.” .Meantime the perils and perplexities of our brethren at Canton call for special and earnest prayer. WHY? A brother wrote recently for some tracts or pamphlets which might help him in pre¬ paring a paper on the question, “ Why should Baptists engage in missionary work'.” For the benefit of any other who may be in¬ clined to write or to preacb on the subject, we suggest tlie following heads of discourse, any one of which might be amplified at con¬ siderable length : 1. Because we bold the truth, and it is tlie truth which is to make men free. Other denominations, as we honestly believe, have added to the simple gospel certain forms and ceremonies, rules and regulations, which are a yoke and a burden. 2. Because modern missions originated in a Baptist association. Tlie labors of tlie Jesuits, the Moravians and some others, bad been long-continued, extensive and fruitful, blit the Christian world was not aroused from its deep lethargy till Win. Cary preached his memorable sermon. May 30tli, 1792, and in October following founded the parent of all the great I’rotestant missionary societies. 3. Because their missions have been so signally blessed. Since apostolic times no such scenes have been witnessed ns among tlie Karens and Telugus. As a denomina¬ tion, we have fallen far behind others in giv¬ ing money and sending out men, yet the visible results in our work have been pro¬ portionately greater than in any other. 4. Because tlie New Testament plan of in¬ dependent churches and co-equal ministers suits all men everywhere, and gives us a van¬ tage ground for establishing self-supporting organizations in heathen lands. We can best meet the prejudice against foreigners; and native churches, feeling their responsi¬ bility, are the best evangelizing agencies. 5. More than nil these, anil in fact includ¬ ing them all, is the great reason ; because the Lord has commanded us to make dis¬ ciples of all the nations. Missionary Education.— A gentleman in a public office in India recently inquired of all the native clerks in his office where they had been educated, and noted the char¬ acter of each. Of those educated in mis¬ sionary schools, nine were fairly honest and trustworthy, and three were otherwise; of those educated in secular schools, three were trustworthy, and thirteen were not, a result very gratifying to flie friends of education in missions. BOOKS, &C. The American Baptist Publication Society has kindly laid on our table “ The Vintous and the Karens" by Calista Vinton Luther, 252 pp., ten engravings ; price, $1 ; 11 Whit- ford Mills, or the Parting of the Ways," by Miss L. Bates, 250 pp., five illustrations; price, $1 ; “ The Miner's Daughter," by tlie same, "20 pp., five illustrations, price $1.25; and the Baptist Hymnal, (words only,) 200 double-column pages, price 03 cents.- Rev. Justis H. Vinton and his wife, Calist.T Holman, sailed for Burmali in 1S34, and hav¬ ing previously learned something of the 'Karen language from a native in America, entered at once upon their life-work. They gained thousands of converts among those most interesting people, and continued to laborwith short intervals of rest and with the greatest success until their deaths, that of the former in 185S, of the latter in 1801. The memoir is written by the loving daugh¬ ter, who took up her mother’s work, and has the excellencies and the delects that might be expected under the circumstances. Tlie pictures of life in the jungles are drawn by one who lias seen them ; tlie wonderful story of the Karens and their eagerness to hear the gospel, is hardly surpassed by tlie later Pentecostal season among the Telugus; the few things that some other might have put differently are pardonable as a tribute of af¬ fection. We heartily recommend the book. It is well worthy of a place in Sunday-school libraries and Christian homes. Miss Bates writes in the interests of tem¬ perance, more especially of that phase which has taken shape ir. the W. С. T. U. Tlie scene of Whitford Mills is laid in a New Eng¬ land factory village, and the story is well wrought. The miner’s daughter is put in Colorado, of which the author conveys rather indistinct conceptions.' Tlie Baptist Hymnal we have already commended. It is by far the best book wo have seen for use in our churches and prayer- meetings. The edition containing the words only costs less and is more suitable for those who know little or nothing of musical nota¬ tion. The annual sermon delivered by Dr. Jno. A. Broaddus before the last meeting of tlie Southern Baptist Convention is also issued by the American Baptist Publication Society, in a tract of sixty-two pages, price ten cents. It is entitled, “ Three Questions as to the Bible," and present in a clear, compre¬ hensive and satisfactory manner, the general principles which enable us to determine tlie canon, the authority, and the proper way to study the sacred scriptures. A full discussion of all the questions that have been raised would, of course, be im¬ possible in a single sermon, and to the ma¬ jority of readers would be unprofitable. Dr. Broaddus has, with admirable judgment, seized upon the salient points, and presents the strongholds of truth in a style that can¬ not fail to prove interesting. Our churches and Sunday-schools ought to buy it by the hundred, and distribute freely among all the people. El Hcraldo Mexicano, Saltillo, Mexico, editor, Wm. D. l’owell. assistant editors, Josi) M. Cardinas and Tlios. M. Westrup, is published monthly at $1.25 per annum. The copy before us (September) contains of reading matter seven pages (three-fourths ns large as those of the Journal) in Spanish and two in English, the rest of the twenty pages are filled with advertisements. The Baltimore Baptist, a folio 15 by 22 inches, editors H. M. Wharton and A. C. Baron, began its existence September 13th, and will be published every Thursday at $1 a year. The brethren in charge have much skill and some experience in tlie use of pen¬ cil and scissors. They start well and we heartily wish them a prosperous career.