NOETH CAEOLINA
Baptist Missionary Worker.
Jesus said: “ Go ye into all the worldand preach the gospel to every creature.”
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WHY WK SHOULD SUPrORT STATE
aiisMoxs.
1,Y T. H. PRITCHARD.
/■Vrj-.' ■ Because thus we shall he able the better
to retain our ministers in the Stale. I know that
in other clays we lost more men than now. Brant-
ly, Manly, J. L. Brooks and I’rof. Mims went from
North Carolina to give strength and di. i-.ity to the
Baptist pulpit of South Carolina. 'I'Le Mercers,
Silas and Jesse, were a great ble.ssing to Georgia’
M-hile Kerr, Howell and Poindexter, three of'the
very ablest men our Southern Zion ha.s produced
gave the force of their great powers to build up
the cause of truth in Virginia, rather than in their
native StMe. More recently our losses have been
many and serious. Missouri alone drew from us
Emmerson Berry, Brown, one of the editors of
the a,si, IMiman. Nelson and Harman.
^,"4 'he Southern States the sons
of Aorth Carolina are among the most learned and
useful pastors laboring for the Master.
.... I,.,...., 'J , . I
am glad to know that in Bailey. Overby, the Koy-
alls, the 7 .aylors, the -McManaways, Nelson, Strick
land the W oodsons. Wood. Battle, Wildman, Per-
ry, Jenkins, Hardaway, Tolson, etc., we have
gained more than we have lost of late years; nev
ertheless. so great is the field of our destitution,
and so inadequate the supply of ministers that we
cannot afford to lose any of our men at this junc
ture of our history. ^
Now these brethren did not leave North Caro
lina because they were wanting in love for their
native State, nor because there were no fields for
hem to cultivate here. They went for the reason
that they were not supported at home and were
offered hving salaries elsewhere. If we will give
our State Board a generous support, it can supple
ment the salaries given by many important but
rveak churches, and thus keep their pastors with
us. Moreover, we can not only thus afford remu
nerative employment for our own ministerial stu
dents during vacation and prevent other States
from enticing them from us as they have done in
several instances, but we can attract to our bor- i
ders many good men, old and young, w. dl]
greatly strengthen our denomination. I ve re
to say that if this Board had the command of $2S,-
ooo we could draw from all parts of the country
many excellent pastors to make glad the places
that are now solitary.
We should support this cause, in the second
place, because it is near us, and is emphatically
oitr cause. If it be true that “man’s duties lie about
him in concentric circles,’’ then the duty which is I
nearest to him has the first and most imperative
claim on him. This proposition I believe to be
sustained by ti . Scriptures, as well as common
^nse. The Gospel was to begin at Jerusalem.
Even the great Apostle to the Gentiles felt himself
bound first to offer the blessings of the Go.spel to
his kinsmen according to the Jlesh.
I do not say that we shall wait till all the peo-
p e o our own State shall be converted before we
shall send the Gospel to the regions beyond, but I
7'!^ emphasis, that nothing can relieve us
of the duty of laboring especially for the salvation
of those who are our neighbors and friends.
Moreover, it is evident, in the third place, that
State Missions lie at the very baSis of foreign mis
sions. The foreign work needs men, money and
prayer. As we prosecute the work at home with
vigor, our churches become stronger, our ministers
are multiplied, all the Christian graces are called
into active exercise, and the fountains of failh,
zeal, energy, and liberality are opened by which
the work abroad will be best strengthened and pros
ecuted. The home work is the parent stem—the
foreign work the branches,—the parent stem
is made vigorous and strong, in the same proper,
tion will the branches be healthy and fruitful.
Remember, brethren, that State Missions are
the foundation of all our enterprizes.
I.HPORTAXCE OF STATE 5IISS10NS.
\\ hoever believes in the necessity of the preach
ing of the gospel must be a friend of State Mis
sions. lor this involves nothing more than the
doing for neighbors and countrymen who are not
direct^ within the reach of our voices that which
we are doing for those who are. 'Would we not
rlnfi to th#- formp*- if.iVio.. l.orl
in their power to atteiul upon the preaching'of the
Word at our respective churches? But by reason
of distance—a mere accident—they cannot attend.
Shall we any the less on that account feel an in
terest in their salvation, and endeavor to bring
theni to Christ ? Do we forget and cease to take
an interest in the child or brother who has moved
away from our immediate neighborhood, and whom
we cannot now, as perhaps once, welcome to our
abode, or see at our social gatherings ? He ap
proaches more nearly our ideal of the true man
whose sympathies are not confined within the nar
row limits of the senses, and feels for his fellows
only when he sees them or has them within visit
ing distance. Even our anti-mission brethren be
lieve in Home and State Missions. They may ob
ject to the name, but their practice proves that they
have no objection to to the thing meant. The fol
lowing incident puts this in a clear light.
Two preachers—father and son—found them
selves. in the providence of God, in the midst of
an association strongly imbued with anti-mission-
ism. They frequently spoke to each other of the
matter, and strove to devise some expedient for
breaking the shell. At a regular meeting of the
body, the son moved lhat two “missionaries” be
appointed to labor within the bounds of the asso
ciation. The motion was opposed by several, and
by none more vehemently than by the father,’ who
twk the ground that the Bible made no mention
of “missionaries,” and that it was exceedingly
dangerous to introduce into the Lord’s work meas
ures which his Word did not sanction. Both prop
ositions. so evidently true, he insisted on to the
evment satisfaction of all the good brethren.
reeling himself thus intrenched in the confi-
dence of the body, on the next day he introduced
the^ following preamble and resolution :
\\ HF.REAS, d here are three districts within the
bounds ot the Association wholly without
preaching, viz,: A, B and C, (not to mention the
names.)
Resolved, That this Association “send away”
(Acts 13: 3). two brethren to preach the word of
God (Acts 13 : 51, in those districts.”
The resolution was carried by a large majority,
the son even, recovering from the blow dealt hini
the day before, voting for it. And to-day that as
sociation is “sending away” men to preach the
gosiiel in “ the regions beyond.”
fso converted man can, without doing violence
to his better nature, be indifferent to the salvation
of men at home and abroad. Whether in the min-
out of it, “ the love of Christ constrains
him he must work and give, d'o repress this
generous tendency is to injure himself and wrong
his own soul. To fail to respond to it is to become
dwarfed, and to undermine the foundations of
Christian manhood.
Spiritual leanness must be superinduced by curb
ing an impulse so divine. Christian activity and
spiritual health are inseparably connected. The
springs of joy dry up wlien choked by repeated
neglects of duty so imperative. ’’ It is more bles
sed to give than to receive.” If to be of large soul
and of large cajiacity for spiritual enjoyment is
“blessed,” then is giving better than receiving,
good as the latter is.
If a North Carolinian, from Cherokee to Curri
tuck, is reported as starving, what North Caroli
nian anywhere does not come to the rescue ? By
every train bread and meat are forwarded, and the
telenrairh clirk- ‘n symnalhv iviih tl.A
impulses of loving hearts.
Now, there are souls starving for the bread of
life in many a hamlet and swamp and mountain
cove in North Carolina. Christian men and wo
men ! to the rescue. Send help. Aid the toilers
in these destitute regions. Be encoufaged to give
yet more liberally in view of the great success God
has given to the labors of his servants in the past.
See how he has filled with Baptist churches regions
which thirty years ago were spiritual deserts. "Your
labor, has not been in vain. Nor will the future
be less marked with success if we continue to go,
and to pray and to give. God’s word cannot fail.
Wm. Royall.
SOME IMPORTANT FIELDS.
The territory through which the new railroads
in North Carolina are going should receive the im
mediate attention of our brethren. Centres of in
fluence will grow up at the stations, and, sooner
or later, consideraule towns will be seen where
now are to be found only the forests and farm
houses. It would be but wisdom on the part of
our good brethren who live in these neighborhoods
to secure two or three acres of land in the best lo
cations near these depots for future use. We
shall shortly need Baptist churches at every one
of them.
Let the brethren who live along the lines of the
Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley, Wilson and Flor
ence, and other new roads, take the hint, and act
it out at once.
I iioi'E that every one who reads this will send
one dollar to Rev. T. M. Honeycutt, Sparta, Alle
ghany Co., N. C., to help him pay a debt of 8150
on his house of worship. He has spent all his own
means upon it, and now lacks the $150 of having
enough to raise the debt. This is a very impor
tant field, the key to the whole county. Help
him all you can. ^
Let every Church and Sunday School in the
State send us a contribution lor State Missions
immediately. We greatly need $2,000 to pay the
first quarterage.