Newspapers / The Gospel Herald (Raleigh, … / April 1, 1888, edition 1 / Page 2
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2 THE GOSPEL HERALD. Th!: Gospel Herald, Publislied Monthly by the Boards of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention. Eev. C. DURHAM, Editor. Rev. W. L. WRIGHT, ) Rev. a. G. McMANAWAY, V Associat’s. Rev. JNO. MITCHELL, D.D. ) RALEIGH, N. C., AJ>RIL, 1888. THE PAPER. Intelligence, zeal, and consecration are needed in all of our work. We, many times, try to arouse zeal and consecration without the neces.sary foundation. Definite informa tion about the Master’s work is the only true way to the Christian’s heart and purse. If we secure contributions without it, the con tributor is injured rather than benefited, and the work to him is made a burden and a thing to be shunned rather than a pleasure and an oiiportunity to be coveted. To keep before the churches and Sunday- schools, therefore, in the cheapest possible form, definite information about our -mis sion (State, Home and Foreign) work, educa tional, Sunday-school and colportage work, with the special opportunities offered the Sunday-schools, the churches and individ uals by our Supply Store, will be largely the work of this jiaper. , It is an experiment, it is true, made for a year. It will, we believe, meet a real and felt need. So far as we know, it can be met in no other way. John E. Ray felt it for years, and, before he left us, the Board pub lished a little (juarterly for gratuitous distri bution. This was wise, even at considerable expense to the Board. The present exx>eri- ment does not involve the Board by expense, and if anything above expense is made, the Board will receive it. It will stand or fall on its own merits. Examine it; think of the field it is to occupy, the objects it is to stimulate, the real condition of our churches; and, if you can helji us put it where, in your judgment, it will do good, please do so at once. Rev. W. L. Wright, North Carolina’s Vice- President of the Foreign Mission Board, will have charge of the Foreign Mission Depart ment ; Rev. A. G. McManaway, Noj'th Caro lina's Vice-President of the Home Mission Board, will have charge of the Home Mis sion interest; Dr. John Mitchell will, from month to month, tell us about the Board of Education, and the large number of young- preachers under its care, while the three Superintendents (E. G. Harrell, N. B. Brougiiton and John T. Pullen) of Baptist Sunday-schools in this city will give their best and brightest suggestions to the Sun- day-school workers of the State. — - THE BIBLE ON STATE MISSIONS. Moses—“ If thou wilt forgive tlieir sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.”—ExodusS2: 83. The ])leadings of a great and true man/or Ms oim people. Jeremiah—“Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for tlie slain of the daughter of 771?/jjeople.”—Jer. 9: 1. Every Cliristian ought to be able to say ‘ ‘ my people—I love them—I weep for them. ” David—“ If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember tiiee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jeru salem above my chief jov.”—Psalms 137 : 5-6. My home—my people—my State—my Country, an expression of the great and the true. Paul—“ To the Jew first (State Missions) and also to the Greek”—Foreign Missions.— Romans 1 : 16. Paul—“When they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision (Foreign Missions) was committed unto me (Paul as the traveling missionary Corresponding Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board then located in the city of Antioch i as the gospel of the circum cision. (State Missions) was unto Peter (as the Corresponding Missionary Secretary of the State Mission Board, then located in Jerusalem). For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship (Corresponding Secretary ship) of the circumcision (State Mission) the same was mighty in me towards the Gen tiles (Foreign Missions). And when James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me '(the call to be a Foreign Missionary) they ■gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, (become Foreign Missionaries) and they unto the circumcision (State Missions).— j Gal 3; 7-9. The author of State and Foreign Missions alike is God. He makes the division in territory, and in men. The work is one, and alike important, and the workers are alike acceptible and honorable in God’s sight. Foreign Missions grow out of, and are sus tained and enlarged by the successful prose cution of State Missions. “ The hope of the heathen world is in well organized and well trained churches at home.”—M. T. Yates. Paul—“ I could wish that myself were accused from Christ for my brethren, ray kinsmen according to the flesh.”—Rom. 9:8. Remember, that Paul was at this very time the traveling Corresiionding Missionary Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board, located at Antioch, and this statement of his about State Missions will have the greater power. There are many strong -expressions in the writings of Paul, which show heartfelt in terest in the heathen (Foreign Missions), but no expression on record is so strong as this of the apostle on State Missions. Luke—“ Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”—LuJee 34 : 47. State Missions is to be of pi'ime import ance. Jesus—“Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, (Raleigh) and all Judea (all North Carolina—State Missions) and in Samaria, (the States around—Home Mis sions) and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Foreign Missions).”—Acts 1: 8. The Scrip>tures might be extended, but it is not necessary. Please study them, call the attention of others to them, talk of what you ought to do for missions, ivhen you ought to do it, and then do ivhatever you can do. Life is short. Whatever w-e do must be done soon. Now- is the accepted time. UNION MEETINGS--THEIR IMPORT- ‘ANCE and IMPROVEMENT. It is well nigh impossible to stimulate the churches and keep up an intelligent interest in our work where the brethren come to gether only once a year to sum up and con sult about it. The one link that is to help us is the four Union Meetings in each Asso ciation during the year. Where these are held and kept up with interest the collec tions are made with more regularity and the best final results are reached. Two things are needed to make these meetings a still greater povrer for good. .In the first place, the pastors should solemnly pledge themselves to each other to attend (unless providentially hindered) all these meetings on Friday and Saturday. This would secure representatives from the churches and Sun day-schools and large local congregations. Numbers have their influence, and, perhaps, now^here more than in such Union Meetings. Let it be understood that the pastors from all the churches, from city, town, and coun try, are to be present at 11 o’clock on Fri day, and the people ivill be there. In the second place, make the work of the Union meetings mo7-e definite. The subjects discussed are many times of no general in terest, and cannot, in the very nature of things, stimuiate the churches in Mission, Sunday-school, Educational, Or2ihanage or Coljiortage work. Let all such questions and subjects be discontinued. Why not have a report from each church at each Union Meeting about its collections for the various objects during the past quarter? Would not this of itself heli>, not only to keep these objects before the churches, and give infomiation about them, but to intro duce and stimulate more frequent, and hence jnore systematic and more scriptural giving? That organization which has nothing to do has no right to live, and must necessarily be feeble and short lived. That organization which is so general in its work, as many of our Union meetings seem to be, is like the farmer w-ho sowed one bushel of wheat on twenty acres of land—the result, at harvest, was not the best. No meetings are of more importance, when -wisely conducted, and none more useless as w-e sometimes see them. They can all be made important factors in our work by concentration, thought, and energy. Will not the pastors and laj-men take them in hand, attend, stimulate, and enlarge their influence for good ? Would it not be well for every Union Meet ing to be held in the State on Friday and Saturday before the 6th Sunday in April ne.xt, to discuss the following, viz : 1. The Bib] e on State Missions—expounded and ajiplied ; collection. 3. Dr. M. T. Yates—his life and work ; lessons ; collection. 3. Colportage—is it needed? Shall we make it one of the objects for whicli, in our churches and Sunday-schools, we will take collections ? Collection. 4. Our Sunday-schools—their condition and improvement. The Supply Store—its worl*; how we can helji it, and how it helps us; collection for Sunday-school Board. HO'W CAN I HELP THE MISSION WORK ? To answer this question wisely we must see our situation as it really is at the present day. 1. There are connected with the churches of our Convention, perhaps, about 50,000 persons that see no religious paper, and in this 50,000 church members there are not less than 10,000 families. Doubtless several hundred of these are the families of Baptist preachers. 3. Our needs are two-fold, viz: To increase the contributions of the “ well-informed,” and to enlarge the number of the ‘ ‘ well- informed,” and hence to enlarge the number of those who will contribute to missions. Tlie latter is the greater need. That pas tor, agent, or paper that does most to increase tlie number of givers in our churches will do most for the churches and most for mis sions. We think the Gospel Herald will aid in this work, and hence we make the follow ing suggestions : (a.) If any person, church, Sunday-school or Union Meeting will send us $15.00 we will see to it that this pajier goes, for this year, to 100 families where no religious jiaper is taken, and if $100, we will add $50 to it and send it to 1,000 such families. Could you make a better investment for missions ? If any one will send us $1.00, $3.00, $5.00, $10.00, or any amount, we -will send the paper, at the lowest club rates, t6 the extent of the money received, to the families of Baptist preachers and others in North Caro lina where no religious paper is takqn. (b.) Can you not secure a large club in your church? If you cannot do it yourself, could you not put some one, a brother or a sister, a bright boy or girl in your church or Sun day-school to do this work? It is, we think, worth the effort. Let us try it, and see the results. 3. There are two books, •(“ Our Country,” by Dr. Strong, and “ The Crisis of Missions,” by Dr. Pierson) that ought to be in the hands of all our jieople. They are the most thou ght- begetting, hope-inspiring, and faith-enlarg ing books ever written on missions. Now, if any one will send us $35.00, we will add $5.00 and see to it that 100 cojiies of these books go to 100 Baj)tist jireachers in North Carolina who are hard iiressed and have no extra money with which to q>urchase new and stimulating books. If each of these jireachers should, by means of these books, stimulate only 60 iieople to a deeper interest and a larger consecration in missions, there would be 5,000 people stimulated by them. Who will help us ? Here is a real opportu nity to do good. OUR SUNDAY SCHOOLS—SUGGES TIONS FOR THE WORK. During the mouth of April and first of May, the jiastorof every church, where there is no Sundaj'-school, should give s)3ecial at tention to the oi'ganization of one, either at the church, or of several, it may be, to suit the convenience of neighborhoods, surround ing the same. If the jiastor and deacons will give per sonal effort there can be no doubt about the success. If they fail to do so there is great reason for fearing that they will be mis understood and their influence do harm. If there is need of a ohui’ch in any neigh borhood, there is greater need for a Sunday- school, and if the church is not convenient to a neighborhood, then the pastor and dea cons should appoint a committee of brethren and sisters to take charge of the work in that community. Let it be remembered that first of all the pastor must feel the imiiortance of the Sun day-school, and then the deacons must join him and second his efforts. If our churches would wake up on this subject there would be a grand forward movement in the organi zation of Sunday-schools in North Carolina during this sjiring. Our Su2)q)ly Store here in Raleigh stands ready at all times to furnish outfits in the way of Bibles, Testaments, lesson-papers, song books, etc., at short notice, and where the school or church is not able to purchase the same, donations for a part, at least, will be made. HOW TO ORGANIZE. Select the best man you have as superin tendent ; a brother who is pious and can read well; will pray in p)ublic: not too old to appreciate the habits of children; a good disciplinarian, and popular with all classes. Get as near this kind of a man as you can. Let the pastor and superintendent select as many teachers as needed, and then they can select the remaining officers. Start your teachers by selecting one for the infant-class, and, if possible, separate that class bj' partition, or sejiarate room or curtain from the remainder. Get lesson helps, picture cards, etc., to have on hand from the first. Give a good start, and it will be easier to go. FACT'fe AND FIGURES. The Board has commissioned seventy mis- j sionaries and four colporters.-_J. A. White declined the work at Gastonia and Dallas, j and went to South Carolina. - _G. W. Har mon remained in South Carolina and did i not accept the work at Cleveland.. .D. A. Glenn said no to Mooresville. -. G. W. Gard- I ner resigned at Morganton and Hickory and ! went to South Carolina.-_G. P. Bostic re- | signed at Concord.. S. H. Thompson resigned at High Point.--T. J. Leary declined the work in Hyde.-_W. J. Fulford resigned at Snow Hill. -_J. R. Jones resigned at Smith- field., .The wife of W. B. Pope, and the wife of N. B. Cobb, and two little children of W. A. Price, have been called to be with the Lord.. _ J. A. Stradley, W. A. Price and C. C. Newton have been quite sick... “Not thy will but mine be done, changed Paradise into a desert; and not my will but thine be done, changed the desert into a Paradise, and made Gethsemane the very gate of Glory.”..The Supply Store has sent out to the Sunday-schools since December 1st, 1887, thirty thousand quarterlies and papers, and more than a thousand Bibles and Testaments, and about a thousand good books.. _ “ In the betrayal of Jesus we see the traitor’s kiss,and the Saviour’s calm response; the rash disciple’s blow, and the Saviour’s mild rebuke ; the bewildered and terrified discijiles, and the Saviour’s determination, though he could escajie in a moment, to ful fill the scriptures and work out the world’s salvation.”..Less than two months till the Southern Bajitist Convention...North Caro lina gave during last conventional year, (May 1st, 1886, to May 1st, 1887,) to Foreign Missions, $7,343.34 ; from May 1st, 1887, to March 1st, 1888, we have given only $6,090.- 70. Will not all our jiastors make an earnest effort before the 1st of May, for Foreign Missions? We must go forward.,, and not backward... “ The more eminent one is, the more should he be ca.reful; because he can not fall from his high jilace without damag ing others also.’’...One of our colporters finds seventy-two families without a Bible or a Testament... A great deal of heroism is often easier than loyalty and faithfulness in small things...Send to the Supply Store for all your Sunday-school needs; Bibles, Testa ments, song books, quarterlies, papers, ques tion books, reward cards, and any and every book on missions... Make large clubs at once for this paper.. .Examine the report on an other page and see what your church and your Association have sent up for State Missions.. .This paper wiil let you know each month what churches are helping the mis sion work... “ I approve the plan of the paper most heartily. Make it as fresh and bright as possible; scatter it everywhere ; fill it with information as to the fields, the work and the workers ; put in as many short, incisive paragraphs as you can ; count on me for all the help that I can give you.”— J. D. Hufham..-A jirofessed Christian who cannot find happiness in his work is never likely to find it anywhere.....See to it that your church takes a collection for colport age. Remember it is by the burdens we bear that w^e grove ; it is true with individ uals, churches, and denominations...They sought the crucified, but found the risen one... It was w'hile they hastened to honor the Saviour and rejoice the disoijiles that Jesus met them The Foreign Mission Board has received from the whole South in the last eleven months $58,499.33 ; we had hoiied to raise $100,000 this year...Eight new churches and ten new Sunday-schools have been organized by our missionaries since December 1st, 1887, and three new houses of worshqj have been finished, and twenty others are in process of construc tion. If such results have been reached through tlie dead of winter, what may we not exjiect through the spring and summer. The Board has appropriated $11,100, and has in hand about $4,000 in applications for help not yet acted on. ..The colporters are find ing great destitution...Who will send us $6, $10, or $35, for colportage ? Send your orders for Sunday-school literature of every kind to the Supply Store...If you need Bibles and Testaments for donation to those not able to pay for them, write to us...We need to-day believing, living, praying, work ing churches more than all things else on earth...Consecrated lives and consecrated capital will fill the world with missions. There are times when the only true and acceptable 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 something in this work itself that makes heroes and martyrs.Crisis of Missions ” and “Our Country ” are two of the most thought-be getting, and faith-inspiring books ever writ ten on missions; send to the Supply Store for them...“The Missionary Review of the World,” by Funk & Wagnalls, $3.00 jier year, is the best—every pastor should have it; subscriptions sent to the Supply Store will be filled ; send 35 cents for specimen copy. What has your church done for State Missions?—colportage? Our time to work for humanity is short...On February 3rd, Rev. H. R. Mosely, of South Carolina, was approved by the Foreign Mission Board at Richmond, and will at an early day be sent to aid Bro. Powell in Mexico, and Rev. J. A. Baker, of Virginia, was approved and will go to Brazil...Rev. R. T. Bryan says of one of his members in China : “ One farmer walks twenty-seven miles nearly every Sun day to attend church; comes sometimes when sick.” What do you say about this remark able statement, sister Bryan? Write tons... God bless Bryan and Herring, and their work...The book that inspires men is itself inspired of God—the Bible, through all the centuries and with all people, has been such a book. ..The Corresponding Secretary has, since December 1st, 1887, traveled about 1,300 miles, written about 1,000 letters and preached fifty times. ..Subscribe for the ever popular Bible Lesson Pictw'es—$1.35 a quar ter. .. Remember that every thing needed in the line of Bibles, libraries, music-books, maps, Sunday-school requisites, text-books, etc., can be purchased to your advantage through our Supply Store. A BENBFICIBNT INSTITUTION, and likely to be one of great power for the Baptists of the State, is the Student’s Aid Fund. We have a great college, with a good endowment, and now let’s helji on the boys. Of the 40,000 young men in North Carolina of college age, at least 10,000 of them are in Baptist fami lies. Not more than 350 of them are in col lege. If our few educated men have been of use to our denomination, what a chance we have here to increase the amount of use fulness by increasing their number. If, in stead of 350 Baptist young men in college, we had 1,000 or 3,000, who can estimate the splendid result to our people within a few years! Let every one give to this object, that the Fund may be built up immediately. Poor men, who think they are unable to educate their own boys, should invest in this Fund at once. Let them give what they are able to give. In time to come they shall re joice that they contributed to a Fund which enabled their boys to take diplomas at Wake Forest. Rich men should give, not merely for the great satisfaction that shall come to their hearts from having done good to others ; but the consolation it will afford them of know ing that, if they shall in time be unable to send their own children to college, this Fund shall be able to help them. No money is ever given aroaT/by theFund; but is loaned, from time to time, to deserv ing young men, with proper security. There are two “Funds”—the Permanent Fund and the Interest Fund. The interest on the Permanent Fund is loaned on personal security. The Interest Fund is made up of donations by parties who wish their money to be loaned on personal security, and the interest on the Permanent Fund. Thus, as may be seen, the Permanent Fund does not have a possibility of being lost, and must grow with the years, doing a great and much needed work for our denomination and the poor Baptist boys in our State, who yearn for an education. Other information about this Fund may be had by writing Rev. C. S. Farriss, of Wake Forest, who is the Secretary. Send him a contribution and ask him about it. We clip the following from an article con tributed to the Chronicle, on this question, by brother Farriss: “ For tlie present, Idt us see how the boys in North Carolina are faring in this matter of higher education. Data is not abundant, but I have gathered some facts, from good sources, that may at least prove interesting. The school age in the State is between six and twenty-one. Between these ages there are in North Carolina (report of Commis sioner Eaton 1880) 391,770 children. From this, let us get at the number of white boys in the State of College age—say from six- j teen to twenty-one. Unfortunately, North I Carolina makes up no such statistics. But, thanks to the laws of population, this shall offer no great obstacle. The State of Ohio does gather such statistics, and let us argue from them. In that great State, one in every 881 persons, of the school population, is of college age (16-31). Well, as boys and girls grow in Ohio much as they do here, let us apply the same proportion to our school population. That will give us 76,580.05 boys and girls of college age. Allowing for in crease since 1880, w^ould swell the number to 80,000. Suppose half of these are boys ! Think of it! 40,000 boys in North Carolina of college age. But how many are in col lege ? It is a large estimate to say that there are 1,000 white college students in North Carolina. And much of that material is in capable of higher training. What sort of material might be secured to the State, if those other 39,000 boys had a chance, is most suggestive. Who is the philanthropist to head movements that shall place higher education within the grasp of those boys who^ have the fire, and grace and brain to receive and acquire? Who are the men that profess to love our State when they come for the suffrages of its citizens? Are they quite ready and willing to contribute, in a practical way, to the advancement of her sons? “ I do not consider that what I have said opens the question of free tuition at our col leges. We must get at the matter in some other way—some way in which the manli ness of our young men shall be preserved, and at the same time every one of them be given opportunity. You cannot reach it through our legislatures. The wiser policy of State aid^ is toward expansion and exalta- tion ot curriculum, not toward specific help of individuals. This latter must come through private sources. North Carolina is much in need of Vassars, and Crozers, and Hopkins’. But so far, few of her wealthy citizens have showed any disposition towards helping for ward our young men in this matter. At
The Gospel Herald (Raleigh, N.C.)
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April 1, 1888, edition 1
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