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IT n ' A ... ."i II l ( . w II JK U 11 II D 11 II Vl: V 7" f EH ORGAN OF THE NORTH CAROLINA BAPTLZTfyDEVOTED, TO BIBLE &EU8I0N, JSD JJQA TION, LITERA TURB AND . GENERAL tNTSLLigSNCB, olume 88. ; RALEIGH, N C, WEDNESDAY.-AIRIL! 8, 1893,5 ,r ; Number 40. r:t f 1 l M i I. I . fha Biblical; Recorder fOTLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAT. .- -"-' OFFICE j ' " . j r', i, , ' j (np taira) Fayette rllle Street, Raleigh, N. C. , Tkbxb pr BuBacBipnowi . .. lilt OOPjt 1UUUUU . .(. A.w lota tuten (copy extra to aendAr) , ...t . . . . . 80.00 inntivmoai oommanlcationa will always find Way to the waste basket. No exception. , t nndlns letters of business, it Is absolutely neo- I, jary that you give your poetoffloe address in fulL I Aa.tA on the label of your caper indicates then your subscription expiree, and also serves as ftcelpt wr yw awney. f Obitttariee, sixty words Ions;, are inserted tree of .'barse. When they exceed this length, one cent for eaca wora mint w jiu ui uw,. , j ; tHien writine to hare your paper changed, please .. tha nrwtoftloe at which rou receive the Daoer. y well as the oive to which you wish it changed. , Ramlttanoes must be ent by Registered Letter, Portofflc Order, Postal Note; Express or XraftL payable to the order of the Publisher. Do not send itamps. -; . ' - ;, Froia Ohisa. . . lftf Ikar Bro. Bailey: You have published Bra League s article on " unapeia.'r several weeks ego I sent to you his paper on Na fir PreAchera" and todav I am sendiDflr yon another article which he has just finished on Schools. 1. 1 thought yon would like to publish this also, so I asked Bro. League to let me copy it ana seuu w yuu. ae ia bcuu ing it off to his State paper to day. When the prophet was led of the Lord and set down in the midst of the 'lyalley oL dry bones," the Lord l caused i him to pass i by them round about, and see how very dry these bones were, and afterwards God told Ezeklel, the prophet, to prophesy unto these bones. We think it is well to study this work to which Ood has called us; " pass by round about it," view it from every side, tad see how very dry it is, and we want those of our brethren and sisters at home, who are helping us to do th's work, to study it with us. We do not feel called upon to do the work in a certain way just because tome other good and wise men have worked in that way. - Yet we are not spending all cur time, as some, perhaps, would insinu ate, in looking at and , writing about these "dry bones." There is prophesying to the Ume9t and prophesying to the wind, and we believe the Spirit of Qod is breathing upon these people and many of them shall live. Ood kno west whether they shall live and serve him or not. We want him to have all the praise, honor and glory. May God bless you, dear Brother Bailey, and give you many new years in which to serve his people, which you have ever done so faithfully. . , Your friend and sister, Fannie S. Knight, i P. 0. Chefoo, N. China, Feb. 4, 1893. (Written from Pingtu City, N. China.) MASONS WHT MISSIONARIES IN NORTH CHINA : 1 ; DO NOT BUN SCHOOLS. .i, A short time ago were given some of the main reasons why native preachers are not employed iu North China. It is proposed to give in the same way some of the main reasons why the missionaries do not. run schools. i - v..f . . In order to avoid being misunderstood, it may be well to state at the outset that it is not because there is any lack of apprecia tion of the general advantages of education from a material standpoint, or- for purposes of civilization according to western stand srds. ; But the large part of those to whom the missionary goes (leaving out Africa) are already civilized. Whether .j according f to western ideas or not is a very different mat ter. Civilization, however, is not the direct purpose of the missionary's work. Even if were, the gospel is rc cognized as the highest civilizing power," because it puts the lives of men on a pure and spiritual basis. Thus the missionary is indirectly a clvilizer. It is nowhere demonstrated how ever, that a Western type of civilization presents the best basis for the successful propagation of the gospel; that is for leading men to accept Christ as a personal Saviour. , Again there is no want of appreciation of the force that education has in broadening the mind and developing the usefulness of Christian men. " But it is believed that there sre other considerations which out ; weigh these and that even these are subject to inv . portant limitations1' Wrtr44-:d..' Education and Christianity, though so closely associated in lands nominally Chris tian, have really little in common. Through this association they have come to be re garded in some sense as almost synonymous. Jhe progress of Christianity is thought to depend larpel v on education." .; But may it not be possible that Jt hinders in almost as- jaaoy cases as it helps l Education aoes not have a tendency to make men self sufficient, and thus to rely less, perhaps, on the power of the Holy Spirit.? Not that an educated man who is really called by the Spirit will nave his power curtailed. t The danger lies in the tendency to draw in, as religious lead ra, or, preachers men who ;have not the Spirit's call And what is worse, if possible, the tendency to Bet aside on the ground of a want of education, men who are real vessels of the Holy Spirit. Baptists have recog nized this danger. But is there not more of this spirit and less realization of the danger than there Bhould be even among Baptists t In our great zeal for the "higher education" of preachers, and in our eagerness to prevail on those called to take advantage of such education; is there not danger that we may neglect to fully appreciate the importance of the Spirit's call, and also lightly esteem those who have not taken advantage of the " higher education ?" ; Whatever , explana tion may be given, the fact remains that the men who have been the most useful in pre senting the gospel, and through whose in strumentality most men have been led to ac cept Christ as Lord and Saviour, are men who were not educated in the schools. It is no sort of an answer to say that they wer$ educated. The simple point is that they were not educated in the schools but by ex perience and work. They were "educated in the ministry and not for the ministry." They have been moved by the Spirit and have gone forward day by day making the best use of what Ood has given, and depend ing on Ood have not lacked. It is quite as reasonable to suppose that they would have been hindered as helped by what men call a "liberal education.1' ' , ' , , We meet on the very threshold of hea thenism, both ancient and modern, the fact that in their minds education, or learning and religion are synonymous yon can scarce ly say anything to a Christian more Strik ing, or if he is educated more absurd, than to suggest that a man may be educated and yet not religious. , It follows therefore that when a missionary uses schools as a means of spreading the gospel, that he puts Chris tianity on a level with heathen religions and stamps it as a system of education, a some' thing to be learned, a something to be mere ly intellectually apprehended and after its various parts, customs, ceremonies, etc, have been thus apprehended' 16' be-entered. Not long since, an intelligent Chinaman called to see me and said that he had been examining Christianity and found that ages ago China had it and practiced it. In ex- STiining himself he said that for many hun red year j after Confucius the Chinese fol lowed learning for the purpose of obtaining salvation. Afterwards learning was made the means of rising to official distinction and thus the real merit of it lost. He was glad to know that foreign Cbuntries were preserve ing the pure idea and were propagating it in China. When the attempt was made to show him that the two were entirely dis tinct and that learning had no sort of effi cacy in salvation hi objestion was that surely if that was the case there would not be so much attention given to education on the part of those whose avowed purpose is the salvation of men. Will some one kindly answer his objection f It is possible that this impression may be eradicated from the minds of some of those with whom the missionary comes in daily contact. But upon the mind of the masses, which is the important thing, the impression is almost ineradicable. Is this worth while t What is gained ! The missionary comes in closer contact with a few and feels that thus he may u more thor oughly impress himself upon them." But it is not the missionary that needs to be im pressed. It is gospel truth., We have the assured promise of the Spirit to impress that if we preach it. The obvious duty of the missionary is to get the gospel in direct con tact with as many as possible. It is sug gested that one will multiply his preaching ten-fold through those educated and sent out t But there is no sort of assurance that a single one of those on whom years have been spent will be chosen of Ood to bear his message. If they are not chosen of God ? -God gives to each missionary his own opportunity of proclaiming the "good news," salvation. He prepares whom he will and calls whom he will. It is nowhere indicated that he has left to men the prepara tion of the material from which he shall se leat.? If this were true and if it were also true that God calls only educated men- ; But neither is true, God has chosen the " foolishness of preaching" to save men, and he has declared that the learning and wisdom of men cannot attain to a knowl edge of God. That some of the scholars are saved is not doubted. But it is through the gospel being preached to them, and not be cause of the school, but in spite of it. .Why should the missionary tie himself down to the few who gather daily in the school room when at the very best, if he is at all faithful to those who send their children to him, the longest part of his time must be given to se cure work, when there are hundreds avail able to whom he may preach the gospel ! No farmer would content himself with cul tivating an impoverished . hill side , when there was right by available a rich plain, even though the plain had briers and stamps on it. Nor would he, employ anyone else to do It may, also be urged that some of those who are thus educated do preach,'. , True-7 but may it not be that some of those preach rather because of the feeling that they have been educated for that purpose than that they feel the call of God ? : Many cases look much like itoJ More especially if they are paid with foreign money for the preaching. Educating men into the ministry may be consistent with some Pedobaptlsts, 1 but never for Baptists. We are Instructed.to pray for laborers to enter the harvest, not to f urni8h. them for it. ? If it is urged that no uch purpose is in view, I would ask what then is the purpose? 2 It surely cannot be to educate for education's sake. Is not the avowed purpose this preparation for relig ious work? Is this not forestalling the pur pose of God f If any of those thus educated are of the number whom God would call, might they not be as efficient if i they had not been thus educated ? , Does anyone sug gest that this may be God's way of calling t There ia no sort of evidence for it. All that is indicated as belonging to us in the matter is preaching the Word. . But perhaps som4 will say that the Lord has set his seal to this in that he does seem to bless it with success. It may' just as well be said that the Lord has set his seal to Catholicism, or to heathen, religions such as Mohammedanism or Con fucianism. All of these are eminently sue cessful in the same way, as the number of adherents will show.. ' .Tp' What it may be our duty to do in the case of those who do give evidence of being called to preach, it is not the purpose to discuss now, - We are praying that the Lord will call men' from among these Christians, but never have yet come forward. They will come in the Lord's own time. ! One thing is needful tbat they shall be men not only called by the Spirit, but men who depend on the Spirit. The greatest danger is in pro ducing artificiality. To teach such to ob serve all that Christ commanded may not include so much after all. Our dependence oh the Holy Spirit must be real if it should avail It is unwise to go to extremes in any direction, but this one thing may be safely put down as true that we are in far more danger of making too mucin than too little of ourselves in the matter of carrying forward the Lord's work. One Is never in danger ot hearing too much real trujh in Ood. One may be lazy, which is quite a different thing, but sometimes passes for' the same, f One of the most serious objections to schools is the foreignizing influence which unfits those educated for 'real life among their own people. ' Those so educated de pend largely on employment by foreigners. Indeed many of the schools are conducted on the understanding that all who graduate are to be thus employed.' This grew largely out of the foreignizing inflaence referred to above which was recognized by the Chinese, but as a place with foreigners is considered superior to a place among their own people. they are willing, some of them, to accept , . v ; l:i J 11 a 1 ana turn over tueircuuureu w iu lureiguci. One of the most difficult things that the for eigner finds is to learn to accustom himself or, at least, to understand the , modes of thought in the minds of the natives. Is it helping matters to put forth a set of men trained in Western modes of thought to grapple with the same difficulty f If indeed the modes of thought of the nation itself need to be changed and ' formed after the Western pattern, this would be the thing to do, but who will say that this ought to be done ? There is no doubt as to the neccessity of the matter of their thought being changed, but this is the province of the gospel and not of mechanical means such as education; etc. "- :' - ' ' - v'c-v 1 This foreignizing influence applies with great force to the education of the children of Christians. Many are very thoroughly convinced that this ought to be done. The reasons usually assigned are that education is a good thing for the foreigner and will be for the Chinese, therefore, we owe it to them. . But is it not an essential condition, indeed it is not a condition at all of the Erogress of the gospel. It may help, it may inder. On what ground then do we owe itt We do owe it to give them the gospel, not because it is "a good thing" but because it is salvation, and there is none else. If we will only be content to do the work which lies out so palpably before us where mil lions have not heard of the gospel, and leave to natural development all those other things that are not our province at all, they will adjust themselves. Whatever advan tages are to be had from education will be perceived and taken advantage of in a natu ral way. There would be no sort of sense in putting a steam plow to work in a newly cleared field full of stumps and roots. -; There is already the t idea among native Christians that the foreign school, or at least the school supported by the foreigner, with foreign appliances, etc., i9 essential to the progress of the gospel. This idea has its origin, of course, in the great amount of at tention given by missionaries to schools. A Chinese Christian said to me sometime ago: "I see no way for these boys who are grow ing up here to become acquainted with phi losophy; science, eto. How then is Chris tianity to go forward ?" He simply put Into words what such a large number of mis sionaries are practicing. His conclusion was perfectly legitimate. Without intend ing it, the impression is being made that the gospel is not a sufficient force. Oh for more trust in the promises of the Holy Spirit! This feeling of the insufficiency of the, gos pel is not confined to the native Christians; but has its effect on the missionary. " One of the most prominent of those; in China says that it is useless to look for real Chris tians in this generation in China, That it is only by educational development we can hope to reach a real Christianity,' and that it will take longer than a single generation to reach it. His ponsistency is admirable and worthy of emulation by all those who hold to the' necessity, of Schools," But; he would hardly seem to be in accord with the spirit of him who said: "All power Is given unto me," and " Lo I am with you." Such a legitimate following out of conclusions as this, would soon' work a revolution on this subject so far as Baptists are concerned. ' A very serious matter and one which per haps has not been much noticed, is the fact that schools breed oovetousneas in no small degree. ! The heathen who ajlow their chil dren to be educated in the foreigner's school,' do) it because of what they hope to' gainj either through the pupil's being fed and clothed, or as . indicated above through the position they expect to gain with the for eigner; It is not so easy to Bee that the Christians will be influenced by other mo tives The f act. that they do ieel that the missionary is defrauding them if he does not give them a school, Indicates as much! And as shown above, even if the desire for the school is claimed to be founded on a de sire to see the gospel. make progress, this desire is founded on a perverted notion of the real force of the gospel.,. It must not be supposed, as some perhaps will, that it is a matter of learning to read the Scriptures." The feeling; that there are certain things that they may claim as a right, and certain obligations which giving them the gospel puts the missionary under, leads to serious error. I once heard an honored missionary say with reference to a matter of persecu tion : ." Well, we have got them into this dif ficulty by their followingvus to learn the doctrine, and I feel . like , we ought to get them Out." There was hardly a realization, I think, of the force of what was said.' If the upbuilding of the lives and hearts of the native Christians depends on the mission ary, surely both are n an unenviable posi tion. Above all thingsjcdnverts from heath enism, or any other converts, need to feel that their dependence is on Godii : Material help, whetever itscharacter, is not what will help in this direction. Not that it is felt that these are sinners above all others in covetous tendencies, but that it is unwise to lace before them the conditions which lead n that direction. , If we owe it to them to give them all that is believed to be useful in the work in Western lands, what do we not owe tbem ! The time may come when they may be judiciously helped in many direc tions, but it will need to be when it can be done as brethren, and not doled out from everseers and employers. For the present, at least, it is felt that money used Jn schools can be more wisely spent in sending men to preach the WonV "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com manded you.1 Not what Western civiliza tion has developed or Western learning in terpreted but what Christ has commanded. To suppose that the heathen need the ele vating power of education to prepare them for the reception of the gospel is to deny the gospel the very power it is declared to have." The hardest class of men to reach in China is the proud, self-sufficient, educated class. Those who rejected our Saviour when . he was on earth belonged to that class." It will be so from the very nature of the case. It is not - through the ! powerful convincing arguments of men that souls are born into the kingdom of God bat through the simple; faithful presentation of a crucified and risen Redeemer, whb himself gives power to the Word. To the Jews a stumbling block, tq the Greeks foolishness,. but to them that are called, both the Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." j :. v- 7 ,!- A -.' Thos. J. League. f Pingtu, China, Feb. 4, 1893. . . i t i ' 1 i r, v 1 , . ; , Religious Lunacy,-.. . ; , Lunacy is a species of , insanity, i or a periodic madness. - Religious lunacy is a condition of the mind which attempts to measure the infinite by a finite tape-line,' Strange to say, nevertheless true, there is as mucn religious lunacy to-aay as mere was in the bygone dark and mediaeval ages. .' Its; existence, which is of no earthly benefit,' does immense harm to the poor, weak; sin-; laden, immortal souls, for whose deliverance Jesus, died and made the atonement. . ; 1 That the Bible, Old and New Testaments Is the inspired book of God, written by in-i spired authors, given-to man as God's only revelation; that the establishment j of the Christian church, being the legitimate putf come, of the life, teachings and commands; Of Christ, are well established biblical, his torical and traditional facts, which need no wasting of time, and reasoning, and produce offensive controversies.. 7 But the ,." ever lasting reason, reason, ( reason," ' appears upon the Christian arena,' now and then, tq fight God and his , sacred revelation,"' not knowing that it is hard to kicks against the goodw ? But what is human reason ? or what is human mind ? What is man as compared, to God! What is a drop in the boundless and fathomless ocean t 3 : A drop in the ocean; may be conceivable, but to compare man's mind to the Great Infinite is beyond human; comparison, and beyond the reach of a mor tals' conception. . " We may reason of that which we can see and touch, but the invisi ble responds only to that which is beyond reason." .It is religious lunacy that tries to find God outside his revelation, and salva tion out of Christ. It is religious lunacy that wants to prove that the inerrancy of the Bible is impossible.' Newspapers are full of discussions and controversies, v Here is Briggs with his little , reason; there is Smith with bis insignificant reasons; find, there are the "higher critics" with their trifling little reasons; and - still "others with various colors of ; other i(reasons.?j All are reasons which should sbe thrown in ; dirt-? carts, like city garbage, and hauled away as waste products so as not to impregnate and and contaminate a pure, healthy, religious atmosphere;-:.,'yf ,f;rsHG.v;;us ivvH' ) , Un8anctified, reason, like ; unsanctified riches, is a curse, and a dangerous thing in the world."' Like storms, it gathers up clouds of doubts, breathes thunders, brings forth a moral deluge; and drowns "feeble souls in despair.. Reason can not bat add to doubts, make apostates skeptics, and danfn a soul ins'eid of rescuing. Reason makes apostates, not converts." It can not reach the spiritual world; ; Religion of the mind or reason, is a sort of machinery, which runs to mangle up souls. God dwells in the heart, deals with the heart,' talks to the heart, and appeals to the heart, not to the head.; A true religion is divine. It is the life of God in the heart of man. r The reli gion of the mind,' therefore, is not the. life of God.' ' The head can not convert,5 but the heart does.' Argument can not move, hut tear does move.. ' . ' " u ! God is co more the God of deluge, fire, earthquakes, wind and plagues, but he is-' man Is the echo of his love from' heaven to earth, v The whole tenor of the word of God breathes love, peace, sympathy and life eternal.:; Peace on ; earth, and good : 0 will towards men. ; . -.- .' .:'.. -" 't ' V The dark ages of all religious warfare and mad controversies are gone and sunk, into-' eternityvk: Let higher criticism ? go. Let reasoning -religion go.. Time is short and precious. We cannot afford to lose time on any kind of religious lunacy. " -This is a period of active life, a period of - preacmng Junnst, a penoa 01 saving immor tal souls. A This is a, Christian era to sing ' Jesus lover of my soul,'', to play Rock of ages cieit xor me, ana fireacn Dy me auu word " the Son of Man is come to seek and save that which was lost" We have to let unsactifled " reason" and its noxious -doctrines and venomous - dogmas alone; ; and take np the "Word of God as a weapon, and like a good soldier of Jesus Christ enter into the slums of the cities, and go into the high ways and .hedges and benighted lands to rescne the perishing from alcoholic intem perance,' social impurities, doubts, ' covet ousness, -selfishness and idolatry. Let ns live Christ, preach Christ. Let our words, as well as conduct," preach the gospel in its simplicity, in its purity, in its sweetness, savored by the love of God and flavored by the life and character of Jesu?. - : . ' Da. J. A. Geoege. ' Baltimore, Md, ( - , : . . Conversion of an TxfideL 1 '. An interesting account of an Infidel s con version was recently given in the daily pray er meeting in Chicago, It is said that the man, while on his way to take the cars for the East, heard a little Irish boy who was sitting on the doorstep, sirging i.i There'll be no more sorrow there, , -' There'll be no more sorrow there.? ' i'f" Where f inquired the fkeptic, whose mind was Impressed by the words. "Where is it there'll be no more sorrow f" The boy answered ; t y Ifisyi A -ti 5 -: r- ii ; In heaven above, r t '- : Where all ia love, , ,,.-, ' ' There'll be no more sorrow there." ! , " The infidel hastened on to take his seat in , the cars; but the simple words of that hymn or chorus had found a lodgment in his mind. He could not drive them from his thoughts. They were, fixed. ; A world ;wbere there is no torrwff? . This was the great idea that filled, his mind. He dwelt upon it revolved it over in his thoughts. - It was the message? by the Spirit that led; him to the Saviour, who delivers the lost and ruined from sin here, and raises them to that .world of joy and glory where sin and sorrow are an known. Kind Words. ' - - Companionship of Christ M Make-Christ your most constant com panion." v Be more under his influence than under any c other influence. ' Ten minutes spent in his society ; every ' day, ay, two minutes If it be face to face and heart to heart, Will make the whole day different. Every character has an inward spring ; let Christ be it.' .1 Every action has a key-note ; let Christ see' it I Yesterday you got a cer tain letter.- You sat down and wrote a reply which almost . scorched the . paper.; : You picked the cruelest adjectives you knew and sent it forth, without a pang, to do its ruth less work.; ' You did that, because your life was set in the wrong key. You began the dayrwith the mirror ? placed at the wrong angle, To-morrow,, at , day-breakv turn it towards him," and even to your enemy , the fashion of your countenance will be changed. Whatever you then do; one thlng you, will find you could not do ton could not write that letter. : t Your first impulse may be the the same, your judgment may be unchanged, hut if. you; try it the ink will dry on your pen, and you will rise from your desk an unavenged, but a greater and more Chris tian, man. Brummond. Many of our Pedobaptist brethren ere con stantly quoting Robert Hall to show how "inconsistent" we are in' advocating strict 'communion; but the United Prtsbyttrian n frank enough to say on this subject : We cannot understand how Robert Ha'l co 1 1 contend for mixed communion, tvlfi I "did not believe that infant eprinklir --1 anybaptism at all." Central Baltic!. .-1 i,i ' " The undemonstrative brother is r earily unbelieving or backslid n ; : demonstrative brother h rt : fanatic- Temperaments C ,v. divers manifestations, tut c: 1 patient toward one auoll. vocate, - 1
The Biblical Recorder (Raleigh, N.C.)
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April 5, 1893, edition 1
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