The Commission, February 1850

COMMISSION. VOLUME 2, NUMBER 2. “Go yc into all the world and prcacli the gospel to every creature.4 RICHMOND, FEBRUARY 15, 1850. Soutljern jDaptist Qlommition. Corrcsiiomlcncc of the Foreign Board. Communications relating to tho general busi¬ ness of tho Foreign Mission Board, may be ad¬ dressed, postpaid, to James B. Taylor, Cor. See. Richmond, Va. Communications enclosing donations, or relat¬ ing to tho financial department, may be address¬ ed to Archibald Thomas, Trcas. Richmond, Va. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. For tho Commission. To tho Friends of Foreign Mis¬ sions in Georgia. Respected friends,— For more than six months past, I have been laboring among you to estab¬ lish a plan for an annual contribution to tho causo of foreign .missions. Tho plan has been re¬ commended by a largo number of ministers, and by more than half of iho Associations that belong to tho Georgia Convention; The plan is simple, easy and equitable. It is liko tho gospel, de¬ signed for all. This is tho plan ; — That each church appoint a committee of not las than two, icko shall solicit every member of the church, (and of tho congre¬ gation loo, if they please,) to contribute at hast ten cents annually, and as much more as God in his providence may enable him to do, for the for¬ eign mission. This plan, if generally adopted, would bring into tho treasury annually, from Georgia alone, того than $5,000, if no one were to givo mote than It) cents. If all tho Baptists in the South¬ ern States were to adopt this plan, more than $30,000 would go annually to tho Board for Foreign Missions ! I ask every missionary church to adopt this simple, this easy, this equitable plan. 1 ask every preachei of the gospel in Baptist churches, to bring this plan to tho notice of his people, and aid in its adoption. Will my dear brethren do this much for tho glory of God, for the honor of tho Redeemer, for tho salvation of perishing heathens? Will the delegates of того than half of the Associations in Georgia, who voted for this plan, bring it to tho notice of tho churches immediate¬ ly, if they have not dono so? Friends of Jesus, anil friends of a perishing world, permit mo to plead with you for an offer¬ ing to God, for a perishing world, this year. You profess to bo Christians ; to be missionary Baptists ; to have я hope in heaven. You havo a Bible, meetings convenient, means of religious improvement and comfort. You arc entrusted with tho Lord's money. Do you give to the mis¬ sion causo annnally ! Do you givo as God pros¬ pers you? Do you pray for tho spiead of tho gospel among tho destitute? I trust you do, or will, if you havo not dono so ! Many churches arc at work on this plan— will all go to work ! I havo throe requests to make of the friends of missions : — 1. That the pastors, tho delegates to the last Associations, and tho wealthy of all the churches, will bring forward tho above plan to tho notice of tho churches to which they belong, encourage the adoption of it by the church, and sustain it by the contribution of at least 10 cents. 2. That every church that adopts the plan in¬ form me by letter, addressed to mo at Macon, the names of tho committee appointed to solicit tho annual contribution from tho members. 3. That tho funds raised be sent up to tho Con¬ vention to meet next May. 1 am, dear friends, Yours truly, &c., Eli Ball, Agent of the B. of the S. I). C.for For. Miss. A Hint for Parents. “ My children won’t read,” said a man in my hearing, a few days ago, when asked to subscribe for the Missionary Journal, for the benefit of the family. And why, said 1 to him, do your chil¬ dren not iove to read? Have you over taken a religious periodical for them? “ No!" was the answer, “ thoy won't read good books," he con¬ tinued, “ they read light and foolish books some¬ times.” Hero tho secret eamo out, why children in a professedly pious family would not read a reli¬ gious periodical. There was no religious paper for than. If parents would gather their children around them after the toils of the day were over ; would put a religious periodical into their hands, and let ono of them read for an hour, and explain the subject to them, they would not complain, “ my children won’t read.” Tho Commission costs but 25 cents, and it would afford reading for children, that would not fail to interest them. Will tho parents try it ? Observer. Kentucky Bible Society. This society has made fine progress during tho past year in collecting funds, and I hope the funds collected will do much good. The so¬ ciety passed a resolution sustaining their auxilia- ly relation to the American and Foreign Bible Society at New York. Now, it should bo clearly understood, that while the Foreign Mission Board at Richmond, Virginia, do not look to that Society for Bible funds, cur missionaries in China arc disappointed in tho «so of any such as are paid into tho troasuiy of that Bible society. Is it not truly desirable, that the whole south and west should bo united on this subject— not as now, somo paying their Bible funds to the Amer¬ ican and Foreign Bible Society ; some paying to the Foreign Mission Board j and some paying none at all. Would it not bo best to organize a Southern Bible Society, in which all could unito ; or else heartily co-operate with the American and Foreign Bible Society, and apply to that society for tho Bible funds wo need ! I doubt not but it would grant them. Would it not be well for this important ques¬ tion to be maturely considered, and decided ac¬ tion taken upon it at the next Southern Baptist Convention, when it meets at Nashville, in 1651? Wo shall soon need a considerable amount of Bible funds in China, and wo sincerely hope, that wo shall not bo deprived of them fur want of united and suitable arrangements at home. In China we care little whence the requisite funds come, so that they bo forthcoming at the right time, and in sufficient proportions. But О breth¬ ren, let us bo united in this great work. At home and abroad, 11 Union is strength.” Wherotbero is a variety of sentiment, let tho majority rule on truo republican principles ; and let us, О do Jet us bo united in tho Bible cause, throughout the south and 'west! I. J. R. For the СоттЫоп. Short Sermons.-- No. III. Anil But he, «tlllnj to Justify himself, sold unto who is my neighbor.— Lcsr. x: i). Tho lawyer who proposed this question, had just before asked Christ, what he should do lo inherit eternal life ! The question being return¬ ed, ho anstveted it himself. But when he re¬ flected upon hfi own answer, he felt condemned, and to justify himself, sought to limit its mean- ing. I. Tho lawyer’s motive in asking the question, was that he might justify himself. Ho did not wish to extend kind and liberal feelings tn any except his friends ; certainly not to any of a Gen¬ tile nation. And he sought to shape duty ac¬ cording to his selfish prejudices Perhaps many Christians now inquire doubtingly, with regard to tho extent of their obligations of benevolence, from a willingness to justify themselves in the neglect' of duty. Somo say, “ Charity begins at home.” Now if we say it begins at home, we imply that it ends away from home. But does their charity begin even tlieie, or do they say this, from a willingness to justify them- t II. The question is answered. Whoever is capable of being benefitted by your charity, is your neighbor. Not merely your kindred, ac¬ quaintance, or countrymen. The Samaritan and Jew were strangers, foreigners, and by nation, cnemiej to each other. Yet they were neigh¬ bors. The widow and the fatherless, are your neighbors. Tho poor and tho needy have claims upon you. Thousands of widows are every year sacrificed on the funeral pile; and children worse than parentless, arc destroyed by theii parents in the most cruel manner. Millions of the poor are famishing for want of the bread of life. More than 700,000,000 of people are standing on ihe very brink of hell, and have nolhing to shield them from the wrath of God. .Th^e are your neighbors, whom you are required by the second commandment, to love as you love yourself. Would you be willing liko the heathen, to live a stranger to God, with no Christian friend to take you in, and instruct you in righteousness ? — sick unto death with sin, with no friend to visit and apply as a healing balm, the hlnod of Christ, and die fettered in sin, unla- mented, unsaved ? Then as you love your own soul, love theirs,— haste to give the gospel, the glorious gospel of the blessed God, lo the poor in all the world. II. G. —r A _ Forth« “ Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Hea¬ ven.” Christian! do you ever repeat the above in your supplications to God ? If so, do you fully realize its import! It expresses nothing less than a desire that the heathen may be given to Christ for an inheiitance, and the uttermost pans of the earlh fur a possession ; yea, that through out the world, every knee may bow, and every tongue confess him Lord of all. Now wo wish to ask further, if you are proving by your acts, that you really desire what you express, when you repeat this part of the Lord's prayer! If you are a minister, are you doing what you can to inform your people wilh regard to tlsa moral desolaiion of tho world, and of their obligation to assist in sending the gospel lo the heathen ! If you are not my brother, how can you pray “Thy kingdom come?'1 If von are a deacon, are you proving to the church by your effurts in the cause of missions, that your prayer is, “Thy kingdom come?” If you arc a private are you contributing according as God pored you, of your substance, for the of tho Redeemer’s kingdom ! — or aro you ex peeling God to convert the world in answer to your prayers, without llic use of other means! For aught wo know, God could havo adopted this plan ; hut it is sufficient for us to know, that lie has adoplcd another. Ho has chosen lo use tho gospel in the conversion nf the wotld, and his people as the instruments in disseminating it. Since, then, the heathen cannot believe in him of whom they have not heard, and they cannot heai without a preacher, in vain may we pray “ Thy kingdom come,” unless wo ate at the same time using the means that God has put into our hands, to biing about this result. A. For tho Commission. “Not One Dollar.” A few years ago, a rich man at tho scutli, (I could give his name and State if lcquhed,) was asked by a missionary for a contribution for Chi¬ na, and he replied, “ that he would not give one dolly in save the entire population of China itom being overwhelmed in the Pacific Ocean. This was a hard saying to fall from the lips of any one calling himself a man. Where is there a Christian who docs not think it strange that such misanthropy should exist in the hcartof any civilized human being 1 The Chinese, however, - aro in no danger of being overwhelmed in the Pa¬ cific Ocean, nor aro their temporal necessities very pressing. Rut they are exposed to the more terrible catastrophe of being engulfed in the burning lake of eternal despair and misery. How can their fearful plunge into tho angry waves of the wrath to come, be averted? Only by their believing tho gospel. How can they believe, un¬ less they hear ! How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall preachers preach, except they be sent! How can they be sent without expense? Who among ail the Southern Bap¬ tists will refuse to give one dollar lo save tho souls of the Chinese from being overwhelmed in the awful gulf of endless peidition? Alas ! is it not a fact, that there are many in the chuiches who do not care enough for the everlasting wel¬ fare of the heathen, to give one cent to aid in sending them the gospel. Is this a hard saying? How long shall it remain a true saying ? Shanghai, July 1819. J. L. S. For the Commlulon. Facts, Witten SHOULD MEET THE CHRISTIAN'S EVE, AND Tovcu the Christian’s heart. 1. The command of Jesus Christ, that the gospel should be. preached 'throughout the. wfroje. world, and to everv creature. 2. That though nearly two thousand years have passed away since the command was given, yet it lias never been obeyed by the church. 3. Thirty millions of the human family t year are passing into eternity, without a I ledge of the only name under heaven given ; men, whereby they can bo saved. 4. The superfluities of the Baptist church, would create a fund for missionary purposes, which would send into the field more raissior.a- ties than the whole professing Christian world employs at this moment. 5. The time will soon come, when from a new point of observation, Christians of Ihe present day will view the fields of heathenism, and re¬ ceive such impressions from tho sight, as eternity itself will scarcely efface. 6. The eye of the Great Founder of Missions is upon these facts. For the Co or Cost of a Bible. English Wesleyan Missions.— An exten sive awakening among the natives in South Af¬ rica has been realized during the last year, through the labors of the English Wesleyans. In tho year 1272, tho wages of a laboring, man were just three half-pence per day, and at the same period, the price of a Bible well written out, was £30 steiling. Of course a common laborer in those days could not have procured a Bible with less than the entire earnings of thir¬ teen years ! Now a beautifully printed copy of the same book can bo purchased with the fourth part of the earnings of a day, besides enabling the working man to aid in the distribution of the Word of Life, in those finds where its healing leaves have never yet been seen. What hath God wrought since then ! K. Sandwich Islands. — The French nation, at the mouth of the cannon, have demanded, con¬ trary lo tho law, that French brandies shall be introduced among tho people, and that the appro¬ priation for fiee schools shall be equally divided between the Catholic and Protestant schools, al¬ though only nine or ten Frenchmen reside on the island.