Q
Monthly. ]
Devoted to the Relief of Baptist Destitution in Eastern North Carolina.
,[25 Cents per Yeai!.
VOLUME THREE.
NEW BERN, N. C., DECEMBER, 1902.
NUMBER EIGHT.
I^R WORK AND ¥%fORKERs|,
OUlt CORJiESPONl)lNi-l SEC-
ItETAlSV IS IIOEEEUE
OE THE EAST.
Rev. Livingston Johnson, Raleigh
B^astern North Carolina
2Teat section of onr State.
^ jtlic actual presence of (uror, wbicli
I suppose exists in various forms
in some sections of the Association,
need not endanger the element of ;
hopefulness in the situation; for
the man who will accept a truth ^
with an admixture of^error,. and:
does' so in sincerity, will not de- i
s])ise the ])ure truth when it is
iglitly and patiently presented
IS a
The 1^0 iiim.
people are intelligent and thrifty. And I assure the noble corps of
The land is very fertile ana can workers in the Atlantic Associa-
be improved so as to be still more tion, many of whom are my per-
prodnetive. Because of the anti- sonal friends, of my hearty best
mission sentiment in that section wishes for their success in the
of the State, it is right hard for Lord’s cause.
the missionaries to show great re-’;
suits from their work, but we be-
THE ElELl) WHITE UNTO
HA It VES T.
lieve that the time will come when
the fruit v\ill be visible and when
we shall have reason to rejoice for Blanchard. Cary,
every dollar we have expended in
State Alission M'ork in Eastern
North Carolina. It was in that
section that our ju'inciples first
took root, and from the East the
Baptists moved onward toward
membership is 95. We have
preathing two Sundays in the
month.
New Hope is an old. church of
forty or fifty years standing and
is about seven miles VAst of this
town with a membershi]) of about
35. I preach for the people there
one Sundav in each month. The
loncTegatious
are
growing' and
the interest deepening. The only
otb.er Baptist church in the coun
ty is in the town of Wilson, and
lives largely by its self and for its
self. Of late it has not sent any
delegates to the sessions of the
Association or Union Aleetingk
to conduct, a w’eek’s mcefing with
one of our beloved missionaries
not long since. In all that terri-
tory, comprising half of one of
the counties of the Neuse Asso
ciation, can, doubtless, be found a
dozen Alissionary Baptists^'.biit so
scattered, rvelTre’able to. find only
three or four. In some .parts it
is impossible to get. lieybnd, the
reach of a Alissionary Baptist
church, bitt in this eastern .section
it is exceedingly easy to lluul
,\diere there is no Baptist church
Therefore is it not' tyuej- that en-
held and fostered by the Alission-
■ajw 'Ba})tists. This must lx? done
in the spirit of-love. I believe our
doctrines can be preached in such
luaimer that people will be won.
We do not need these porcupine
preachers in Eastern Carolina.
We need iiiGu consecrated, strong
men, men of sympathy, men wdio
know how' to preach our great doc
trines ill a spirit of love.
Education as Avell as cA'angeliza-
tioif-must be emphasized as part
of our work. Alany liae-e stressed
education fo]‘ the West and evan-
fields condition^ great
of the
adAuantage
has been gained in Eastern North
Carolina to tlie Baptists, good
school eaeli for the Atlantic and
Associations, under good
V euse
tlie niouiitain peaks of the West. management, large-
Tt 13 the earnest, uesire of the , 'suuported V
Board to go back and strengthen symuathy, means much
“the things Avhich remain” in East
ern North Carolina.
in creating a larger SA'inpathy for
j all else tliat avc ueculiarlA’ stand
MISS I ON A It r ERE A CHE US
NEEDED.
Amain, the field itself seems
Rev. J. F. Love, Wadesboro, N. C.
AVith personal knoAvledge of re
ligious and Ba,ptist destitution in
several Eastern counties the sit
uation appears to me sorrowful.
The people are there; they are a
Avorihy kind; they are accessible;
they are tractable; when fed on
Avholesome doctrine they develop
, strong religioijs ^aracters^ '‘SSNp
the present force is not reaching
half of them and cannot reach
them. There is immediate and
supreme need of more strong mis
sionary preachers to enter this
promising and deserving held.
The results Avhicli such men can
jiroduce Avill justify sending them.
PASTORAL CHANGES TOO
FREQ PENT.
readier for our entrance to serve.
Isms that have attracted the at
tention of the' people of this sec
tion for several years are on the
wa.ne. It is true that a larger
part of our ]iopulation has never
taken up Avith these objectionable
iniKivations, but they Iihau had
tb.eir blighting effect upon the
ca.use generally. Places AA'here
,^,^trong opposition Avas raised to our
Nut raiic^^WRt-tCork' fiv'e ye'ai'3 ago
are noAV open to us Avith an earnest
sympathy for our cause. EAmfy-
Avhere our meetings liaA'e been at
tended Avith great s])iritual poAver.
From the stand ])oint of Avork-
ers on the held Ave are suffering
in some places. The pity is that
a good Avork should start up in a
section and lose its she]hierd and
The membership of these three
churches with their ])astors consti
tute the Baptist force in AA^ilson.
About 50 members Avere receiAmd
into these churches dmring the past
v(‘ar. West of Elm City is a scope
>f destitution in AA'hich a man
ouglit to spend at least three
fourths of his time. East of here
there is ]io Baptist Avork being-
done, (except at Crisp in Edge
combe countA' 16 miles from Elm
City) ’till yoAi reach the AL P.
Davis held in Greene county, and
the Avork at Winterville and
Greenville. This territory inchrdes
part of four counties and a popu
lation of perhaps 25,000 people.
Striking a line from AVilson to
AA^'interville this scope of country
is bounded on the East,North and
AA’’est, back to AA'ilson by the At
lantic Coast Line Railroad, and in
cludes something like 2,000 square
miles Avith one little Baptist
church at Crisp (not far from the
center) Avith a service one SAinday
in each nronth, and a membership
of 30 soul§'.' There is a good house
'of Avof-pvjifit-r-"'iEbe-
house at NfV'’ IIoj)(5. is not Avorth
mucluv At Elm City Ave have just
got to build or quit house-keeping.
But Ave have already begun to get
ready to l)uild. This is the sit-
Aiation. '
listing forces here is more difficult gelization in the East, 'until some
than in other sections"0151110 State, no doubt, have concluded that the
A lack of rcligidustieiitliusi'asin s-dc neel of the A\ estern jiart of
is another difficulty. with.A* Avhich 'onr State is education, and the sole
Ave have to contend. Tlieite are
two conditions 'under . which a
church stands in danger p'the first
is when a church'is very .strong
numerically and financially; the
second, is ayIicu a church is very
weak in both the'se particulars. In
the first iustaJice people are apt
to be contented ■ and indifferent.
This, kills.' entliusiaspi. Hr the’
second instance ])eople are apt to
be .discouraged. Idiis also, destroys
enthusiasniT ’’ AA-eak, struggling
church OAmrshadowed by a stronger,
not interested in. any. syniipatlietic
way Avith'.fhe AAuaker, the tendency
on the part of the Aveaker is to dis
couragement, ■ The causes of the
lack of enthusiasm, may be many.
A lack of a wliolesojne enthusiasm
for the things of God may obtain
anyAvhere, but in the Avotik jilace.s
especially. The -\veak are apt to
feel that there is but little they
can do. AA^henever any people or
church feels that they can do but
little, they are in danger of doing
-nrrfh-rtig'r’ q-iekple 'Bapt4ec*~ifr
gling mission ])oints progress has
DIFFICULTIES AND NEEDS.
be Avithout for a leng*tli of time
to come to nothing. If only strong
Bro. Rufus Ford, Benuettsville, B. C.
I read Avith much pleasure the
AIessenger. It does seem to me
that there is progress being made
in Eastern Carolina. Aly one re
gret is the constant changes in the
pastors. I do Avish they AAUuld
stay longer. “A man full of faith
and the HoHr Ghost,” Avith the
men could be led to this section to
take up their abode to stay the
field Avould soon be ours. The'
people are not an ignorant ])eople.
I’hey are Avell up Avith the aAnrage
in intelligence and are the most
jU'ospcrous of any section of the
State. ' AA^hen once they liaA-e been
converted and enlisted in the Avorh
Rev. Geo. N. Cowan, Kinston.
I began the pastorate of Kin
ston Baptist Church last -Tune.
Prior to that time my knoAvledga
of Eastern North Carolina as a
mission field Avas Anry meager. I
had read about the Aturk for some
years but had uoA-er been on the
field. Aly knoAvledge of existing
Conditions in this section is yet
limited, but I liaA-e been, in some
Avisdoni of a serpent and the harm- they will constitute the stronghold
measure, a student of the situation
lessness of the dove, Avith a good
degree of patience, and a still bet
ter degree of perseverance, ought
to remain more than a year or tAvo
on a. field.
of the denomination "in the State.
AA’^e do not need controversial
preaching nor faction stirrers here.
AA^e need evangelical gospel preach-
noAV confronting us.
There are some good and
I have served my present field | hopeful fields open hoav to such
seven years, once and again they | men. In CA^ery way there is much
have changed my Avages, Kit Ave j to encourage our Ba])tist Avorkers
loA-e each other noAV better than ! io Eastern North Carolina,
ever before. I
E VA NGELIZA LION THE
CHIEF NEED.
ROOM IN THE TAR RIVER
TERRITORY FOR MEN
AND CHURCHES.
Rev. J, D. Aloore, Barinvell, S. C.
An absence of more than seven
years from the Atlantic Associa
tion renders it impossible for me
to speak of its conditions otlienvise
Rev. R. D. Carroll, Elm Citjc
Dear Bro. AIoore; I
than brieflv and in a general Ava.Au
I judge that the chief need is
evangelization, from our stand
point. The people in the bounds
of the Atlantic Association are re
ligiously disposed, as much so as
any people I knoAv of. This is a
source of danger as Avell as hoi)e-
fIllness, of danger, if error gets
first on the field, of hopefulness,
if the truth of God is presented
in its simplicity and poAver. But
have in
tended all the |;ear to give the
:AIessexger some notes from this
I section. I have been in Elm City
; a year and have learned a good
' deal about Baptist affairs in Wil
son county. I am in the Tar RiA"-
er Association, aitd a large scope
'of its territory justly belongs to
the destitution of the East. There
are about 23,000 people in AA^il-
son county Avith three Churches,
and about 450 Ba]itists. The Bap
tist interest in- Elm City is rather
Aveak. AAA have about 30 mem
bers in the toAvn and the Church
1. In the first place Ave must
not fail to take into account tile
difficulties of the Avork. AAA Avill
not attempt to mention but a feAv.
Every Avork for the Lord has its
difficulties. It is -Avell that Ave
meet these difficulties. God never
intended his people to pass through
this Avorld on floAvery beds of ease.
Peculiar circumstances giv^e rise
to peculiar difficulties. The Chris
tian AV'orker meets difficulties in
the East not found in the AA^est;
some greater some less.
One difficulty, it seems to me,
is that of a coniparatively Aveak
force badly scattered. To enlist
the Imrd’s ])eople for service any
Avhere is a problem of no small im
portance. In the section under
consideration, Ba]ffist churches
are feAA' and, as a rule far betAveen,
Alissionary Baiitists, like stray
sheep, can be found here and
there; some Avith no church con
nection and some heyond the reach
of the church to Avhich they belong.
Thus, Ave see, there are many avIio
are not connected in any Autal Avay
Avith the Avork Ave are trying to do.
It was the joleasure of the Avriter
been so sIoav, it seems like no ])ro-
press at all. A pastor in charge
of one of the best churches in this
section reports a gain of but one
member. There Avere more added
to the church, but the loss kept
pace Avith the additions.
.Again, there is a difficulty,
groAving OAit of a misunderstanding
of denominational differences.
Here are several secfsrto wdiich the
name Baptist is applied. AATiat
liave they in common, if anything,
and Avhat is it that differentiates
them ? This is a question Avell
Avorth consideration. By the Avord
misunderstanding I mean a fail
ure to comjjrehend some very fun
damental truths by AAdiich the oile
is distinguislfed from the other.
This failure leads manv to treat
differences as a matter of no sig
nificance, AA'hile others'are led’to
emphasize these differences in a
way that is hurtful. The appella
tion ilissionary Baptist cannot be
a name having no significance.
That Avhich differentiates a Mis
sionary Baptist from any other
body of believers, even though that
body be one of the several to AAdiich
the term Ba]ffist is applied, must
be Avorthy of consideration. Tho4e
who treat these distinctions lightly
are not apt to have a strong grasp
upon the fundamental limits of
’their own denomination. Then
■those -dwelling in the .midst of^'a
multi]fiicity of denominations-—
in the church as Avell as out-—hav
ing something in common and
much that is not in common are
likely to be confused in their re
ligious conce])tion. This is true
of many. Under such circiun-
stances, progress is sIoav, sinners
are hard to reach.
2. AA'hat about the needs of the
field in the first place. I remark
that there must be faithful preach-
uced of the Eastern secticiii is evan
gelization. This is the truth, but
it is not all the trsith. Evangeli
zation should he emphasized as a
great need in tliis section, but the
educational need should likewise
have consideration. I do not know
that Ave need more schools. I am
not acquainted Avith the field as
a Avholc, but my limited kuoAvledge
of existing conditions has led me
to see clearly Avhat good schools,
controlled by the Baptists Avill do
to strepgthen-our cause in the East
as AA'ell as the AA^est. Evangeliza
tion should have the jn’e-eminence.
Tlie evangelization of the AA'orld
is our business. But no thinking
man Avill deny that AVinterville
School, as Avell as others I might
mention, arc meeting a deep felt
need long existing in the East,
^Another need is a broader mis
sionary conception. Alas, this is
true everyAvhere. But my short
experience in and about Kinston
has taught ine that many of our
name only. If Ave stand for Avhat
our naiiie im])lics this country will
be ours some day, if Ave do not we
had as Avell Auicate the field. The
only inmiunity from the laAV of
death an.d decay is “going.” A
Many
going church Avill groAV.
years ago our Association in a cer
tain State divided on 'missions.
Tlie many Avere op])osed to mis
sions, the fcAv faA'ored it. A small
band AvithdreAv froin those Avho
did not lielieve in missions. They
organized standing upon the great
Commission. This past August,
the anti-missionai’A^ Association
met to breathe its last. They had
dAvindled to 110 members. About
the same time the Missionary Bap
tist Association met having a niem-
hership of many thousand. One
lielieved in “going” the other did
not. One gloriously lives, the oth
er is. dead. The. true missionary
spirit means much for our cause
in these Eastern counties. It
means life and groAvth.
3. The outlook is hopeful. Not-
Avithstandiiig the difficulties, there
is much for Avhich to l>e thankful.
The labors of tlie
Alissionaries
•
luiAje been in some measure blessed.
I knoAv many of the jMissionaries
Avho are noAv laboring in the Neuse
a‘nd Atlantic Associations. They
are true men, thev are men of God.
God has and Avill bless the labors
of suchhnen.
Eastern Carolina is not a place
for the pessimist. I mean Ave do
not need them. AAm liaA-e found
some of these calamity hoAvlers in
Kinston! -They do not help our
cause here. There is an optimism
that does harm ; everybody is good
and on the way to gloiw. AA^e do
not need the calamity hoAvler. AVe
do not need the extraAmgant Opti
mist. AA^e need men Avho can see
difficulties and dangers, but, at the
same time men Avho can see things
.
ing of the great truths so long in the brightness of God’s promise.