Newspapers / The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, … / May 11, 1897, edition 1 / Page 5
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THE WILMF'GTOz; MESSENGER: TUESDAY, MAY 11, 1897. y WOMAN'S MISSIONARY UNION. Interesting Services Sunday Meeting .Largely Attended Yesterday. In accordance w it'll the pre-arranged programme, Sunday was emphatically "Missionary day," and after the de votional exercises tlie time was occu pied by addresses from returned mis sionaries and'Miss Marie Bulhmaier, a home missionary. The- meeting was opened with the grand hymn; "Onward Christian Soldier." Miss Fannie E. Heck presided, and in a few brief, but apfjopriate words as to the duty and privilege accorded to woman to aid in sd glorious a work, as that of missions, called pn Mrs. Johnson, of Mississippi, to- lead in prayer. The devotional exercises were con ducted by Mrs. Gwaltney, oT Virginia, She spoke earnestly and "tenderly on the subject of prayer, its necessity as a prepartion for efficient work, the cer tainty of the answer to prayer based on the promises of God and some of. the hindrances poor, weak humanity meets in its efforts to pray. She put some heart searchingquestions which can not fail to do good. Mrs. Hall, of Ala bama, then led in a prayer for grace and strength to be up and, doing, and for wisdom to do the right-thing in the right way. The beautiful hymn be ginning, "Take my heart and let it be,' was suner with much feeling. Miss Heck then introduced Mrs. E. F. Ta- tum. of Shanerhai. China, who has spent seven years at her post in that j benighted land, and who gave some 4 very interesting ''Tidings from China." TIDINGS FROM CHINA. Several years ago there lived in China a lady missionary whose work brought her into daily contact with little groups of heathen women, with whom she ' might spend a brief half hour, and from whom she must then .separate, never on earth, perhaps, to meet those same women again. Burdened with the sense of the responsibility these op portunities afforded her, she gave ex pression to her feelings in the query de partment of our little magazine, "Woman's Work in the Far East," the following question: " How may I, in a brief half hour, best pre sent the Gospel to a company of : heathen women, -the majority of whom I meet for the first and only time this side of eternity, and whose only opportunity this may be to hear of Jesus the Saviour?" It is with something of this same feeling that I have thought of this ' gathering today; and I have asked my self and I have asked my God how I might best, in the brief space of time allotted me, use this opportunity to present to you, the majority of whom I can never hope to see again, the Gos pel, work that is being done and that Remains to be done in China in general, jffand in t the part of China I represent in particular. Now I realize that I am not speak ing tjj those who are uninformed, or poorly-informed as to the mission work in China, but to those who represent the. best informed and the most deeply interested of all the Baptist women in the south; and I cannot expect to tell you much that is new. I can only hope that the Holy Spirit may impress afresh upon your hearts "the old story," as it comes from the lips of one who has herself labored on China's shores, and whose heart is deeply stirred every time she thinks of China's needs and China's opportunities. A few weeks ago I went to visit an old friend one deeply interested in, and comparatively well informed as to the mission work of the Southern Baptist convention, both at home and abroad. The March, or Japan issue of The Foreign Mission Journal had just been received and read, and my friend, re marking on how she had enjoyed it, added: "I was so glad it contained a map of Japan with dur stations marked, though it did make me ashamed that we are doing so little in Japan. I thought we were doing more. I ani glad we are doing more in China. She seemed surprised and disappointed when she learned that whereas South ern Baptists have in Japan one mis sionary for every 7,000,000 inhabitants, they have in China only one for every 12,000,000. That we may not be deceived, "but may the better understand just what we are doing towards preaching tne. Gospel to every creature" in China, this little map has been hung for reference, and that our eyes may help our ears in the few-1 brief moments we have together. CHINA AS A "WHOLE. Let us turn our attention for a few moments to China as a whole. There are, .as you well know, eighteen prov inces, that comprise a territory larger than the United States and Mexico combined, but our own loved land, con cerning Whose spiritual destitution we often hear and read, is as a garden of the Lord when compared to China. Here, in the United States, you cannot find a large, city anywhere without at least a dozen churches where the Word of Life is preached by faithful minis ters Sabbath after Sabbath, but of the 9S0 chief cities of China tand it is in these centers of influence and popula tion we would be most likely to find the missionary in only SO of these 9S0 chief cities are there the messengers of the Gospel. In the remaining 900 and in countless smaller cities, . villages and hamlets the darkness still reigns, and the name of Jesus has perhaps never been so much as heard and "how can they hear without a preacher, and how can they preach except they be sent," and how can they be ' sent unless you and I, to whom this work has .been committed., send them? When" I was thinking of - going to , China many said to me: "Why do you 'J go to China? There are heathen enough . at home. There is work at your own door." Yes; I knew it to be true, and A the importance .of work at home home mission work and state mission work can hardly be overestimated. , So long as there is a soul unsaved in these United States there is .need for home ;mission work, and so long as there is a .''.-soul unsaved in, North Carolina, or any other state, there is need for state mis sion work; but souls in China iare just as precious to God as vsosals in the United States. Take the 73.000,000 in habitants of these United .States and deduct them from China's population i and a world 300,000,000 would remain. Why should we have over 20 times as many ordained ministers aar China, when China has five times as 'many people? Each missionary, mac or woman, has 200,000 souls in heathen darkness looking to him or her for fhe Light of Life. If North Carolina's Gs pel priviliges were in the same pro portion she would be entitled to but four ordained ministers, and those of different denominations, for her 1,600, 000 souls. Only one in over 6,000 of China's population is a Christian that would allow about 250 Cchristians for this entire state, and that would put but three Christians in the city of Wil mington say one Baptist, one Presby terian and one Methodist, but Wilming ton must be,. twenty times Its present size to have an ordained minister of any 'denomination. Do we love our neighbor as ourselves? In Kneicheo province, where, I think, the China Inland mission have the only Christian work, there are but 70 Christ ians among the 5,000,000 of people. In Kansuh, where again the China inland mission are working single-handed, but 63 out of 15,000,000 have accepted Christ. And in far inland Yunnan, which the China inland mission have dared to claim for Christ, but 23 out of a popula tion of 5,500,000 have acknowledged His right to reign. In Hunan, where 18,000, 000 are hastening to eternity, no mis sionary has yet been allowed to locate; but a few messengers of the Gospel, undaunted by threats and violence, still continue to make itinerating trips into the province, scattering Christian liter ature and preaching to any who have "ears to hear." In Kwangse province, almost as hostile as Hunan, no mis sionaries have been able to locate until since the China-Japan war. The Chi nese have now been compelled to open the -city of Ny Chow to foreign trade and residence. By itinerating journeys our own Canton missionaries had pre viously gained a foothold in the prov ince, and now Mr. and Mrs. Chambers have settled there among the first, if not the first, to enter the open door. God is giving us a great oportunity in this province. Will we embrace it and' send others to the reinforcement of our two lone missionaries there they are waiting to go? If we do not, other de nominations will the Lord's work will be accomplished but we shall lose our privilege and blessing, as we are doing in so many -other fields. In Fuh kien province, where the massacre of ten missionaries occurred such a short time ago, there are over 20,000 inquirers, and 5,000 have been received into, the churches, making a total of 16,000 or 17,000 Christians in that one province, but not one gives thanks, under God, to Southern Baptists for knowledge of the Way of -Life. . : ' Perhaps we think we are doing all we can, but are we not deceiving our selves? One church, in Boston, Dr. A. J. Gordon's, in which there are said to be few wealthy members, but where the spirit of self-sacrifice and love . for lost souls reigns, the gifts for foreign mis sions this year are expected to amount to $10,000, more than all the Baptist churches of the state of North Carolina have given. And in that church, not withstanding frequent baptisms during the winter, over forty were awaiting the ordinance in the early spring and the church has been pastOrless since Dr. Gordon went to his reward, over two years ago. i SOUTHERN BAPTIST FIELDS. 1 And now let us turn to our own Southern Baptist fields in China. We are working in Shangtung, Kiangsu and Kuangtong provinces, and the Lord is blessing us yet, even as we have sowed sparingly. In Shangtung prov ince, where the North China mission is located, we have three stations Tung chow, Hwanghien and Pingtu. In Tungchow are located Dr. and Mrs. Hartwell and Misses Moon and Hartwell. Thirty or forty miles dis tant, at Hwanghien, are Mr. and Mrs Pruitt and Mr. and Mrs. Stephens, and 150 miles distant from Tungchow, at Pingtu, are Mr. and Mrs. Sears and Dr. and Mrs. Randle twelve in all, but there are 30,000,000 souls in Shantung province. God has given us about 200 souls, and for these we may well praise Him, since the repentance of each one caused joy in the presence of the angels of God, and since God so loved each one well enough to give His Son to diefor its .redemption. But let us also praise God and humble ourselves before Him wThen we remember that He has given to .the various Protestant agencies in that province that have sowed more bounti fully -than we in men and gifts,, and perhaps in prayer, also about 10,000 saved souls. In the southwest of Shangtung the Gospel mission, made up of Southern Baptist workers, has but recently com menced to labor, and its work is largely of a pioneer nature, preaching tomany who have not yet heard whether there b any Christ, but already a few have been converted. Starting at Tungchow, in Shantung province, and traveling down the coast some 400 or 500 miles, we reach Shang hai, the' principal station of our Cen tral China mission. But I want to make special mention of the work there later on, and. so we travel south some 800 miles and reach Canton, the center of the work in Southern China. ' Here, in a city of 1,500,000, we have at present S missionaries.. Eighty miles up the river,, at Shin Hing, are 2 more mission aries, and 120 miles further on, at Ng Chow, are 2 more. Here we have sowed a little more bountifully in men and gifts, and perhpas in prayer, and God has wonderfully blessed our labors and nearly 1,000 souls have been added to our Baptist churches, but the needs and opportunities increase with the work. God has given us about one-tenth of the Christians in Kwangtong province, but is He not ready to give us 10,000 Baptist Christians there, if we but do our duty? Not touched the vast in terior three maratime provinces Kwangei 2. CENTRAL CHINA MISSION. Now I want to tell you something of our Central China mission the needs, the difficulties and the encour agement. Dr. and Mrs. Yates arrived in Shanghai and opened work there in 1847, so that -this is our jubilee year a year, surely, when at home and on the field, we should offer thanks to God that He has permitted us to witness for Him in Central China these fifty years and a year when it becomes us to show our gratitude by attempting greater things for China's redemption and God's glory. We doubtless think that great things should have been accomplished in fifty years, ana l tninK we can but acknowl edge that great things have been ac complished when we remember that for the greater part of more thart forty years Dr. and Mrs. Yates were permit ted to spend in Shanghai they labored alone- among a heathen and anti-foreign people, and in an exceedingly try ing climate, and that their work was done in a strange and difficult language. The language was learned the work of years the New Testament, except Revelations, translated into the Shang hai dialect, tracts written and printed and a church gathered out of the dense dainkness of heathenism and developed, so that at Dr. Yates' death, not counting those who had died in the faith there were some SO living witnesses to tes tify to his faithful service and to the fact that in every nation "The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that beiieveth." Ninety miles from Shanghai, at Soo chow, another little church had been organized, and still another at Quinsan, an out station between Shanghai and Soochow, while up the ' broad Ya.igtse, at Chinkiang. 150 miles from Shanghai, still another little flock was undef.shepherded by Dr. Yates. Surely, when summoned into the presence of the Great Shepherd of the tfheep, he heard the "well done good and faithful servant." It was Dr. Yates great ambition, aroused and fostered by a Christ-like compassion for lost souls, to evangelize the triangle of territory at the three angles of which are Shanghai, Soochow and Chinklang a region densely pop ulated, and second in, importance to no part of China indeed, it is consid ered the strategic field of the empire. And what are we, his sisters and brethern, doing to fulfill the trust he left us, and to carry out1 the great com mission of our divine Lord and Master in giving the Gospel to this needy and important field? We have at present, in Shanghai, a city of 500,000, twenty-five times the size of Wilmington, one family and two single ladies Dr. and Mrs. Bryan and Misses Price and Kelly. j Ninetv milest furthpr nn at Snn Phnw ! another city of 500,000 and more, Mr. and Mrs. Britton have just been re turned to their work, which, during the nearly two years of their enforced ab sence at home, had to be superintend ed, together with the out station at Quinsan, by the missionaries at Shang hai, though there was infinitely more work in their own city and the sur rounding country than they could pos sibly overtake. ' One hundred and fifty miles from Shanghai, at Chinkiang, at city of 200, 000, ten times the size of Wilmington, Mr. Lawton and Miss Mackenzie are working, both having been on the field but two years. . Fifteen miles further on, at Yang Chow, a city of 400,000, Mr. and Mrs. Price have their home and work. Is it strange that we plead for reinforcements?- We do so long to occupy and evan gelize this triangle of territory laid off by Dr. Yates, ana have sent appeal after appeal for more laborers to preach the Word of God in its numerous cities and villages, assured that His Word shall not return void, and confident that a bountiful harvest shall gladden the hearts of those who sow the good seed. But, alas! The reinforcements to meet the need have not come, and i with all too fewto carry on the work in. the cities we already occupy, we have seen the recruits sent out by other denominations the Southern Presby terians, Methodists and Episcopalians- settle and begin work in these cities over which our hearts have yearned, and where glorious opportunities await ed us. To be sure, we rejoice, and will rejoice, that these people have at last an opportunity to hear the Gospel, but we think with sadness that we have failed to embrace an opportunity and lost our blessing. Other unoccupied cities and villages hundreds of them remain, snail we claim tnem ior unrist or shall others? x Even in Shanghai, Soo Chow, Chin kiang and Yang Chow, we are shining in "a very small corner. While Southern Baptists have now but one family and two single ladies in Shanghai, the Southern Methodists have four families and eight single ladies, and the North- ern Presbyterians five families and four single ladies. While we have one family only in Soo Chow, the Southern Methodists have four families, one sin ele man and five single ladies; the Southern Presbyterians three families, one single man and two single ladies, and the Northern Presbyterians four families. So it is in most of our other occupied stations in China. We are inclined to boast of our number at home, and per haps we' do not realize how little we are doing in the world's greatest mis sion field China. Dr. Davis' prayer. THE SHANGHAI MISSION. Our work in Shanghai is along three lines: The development of the church, the preaching of the Gospel to the heathen and school work among the children. The first could well employ one family, for in the training of those who have rejected their idols and turn ed to the living God, but who know lit tie of the "all things" He has com manded us, in teaching the ignorant women, who have been brought into the fold, to read their Bibles and to work for the salvation of their sisters, still in "the gall of bitterness," to warn, rebuke, comfort and cheer the flock in their manifold temptations, extreme poverty, and under their heavy burdens and often bitter persecutions, is a work" of no small proportions. Our church, however, is a joy to -our hearts, as we! as sometimes a source of grief and anxiety. It is a self -supporting church of about ninety (?) members, has a good Sunday school with an excellent superintendent and organist both i na tives a band of eight voluntary work ers, who, after their day's work is end ed, or on Sunday afternoons, go out to the street chapels or into the country, without any remuneration certainly they are not rice Christians and of fer to their poor, perishing countrymen the bread and water of life, "without money and without price." This church, calling to its aid the lit tle churches at Quinsan and Soo Chow, has organized a native association, opened an associational: school for boys and one for girls on ai self-supporting basis, under the direction of a native board of trustees. (Efr. Bryand and Mrs. Seaman having i been asked to help :with their, advice on this board. There is an Associational Home Missionary Society, and the women of the church have a very interesting and well attended Woman's Missionary Society, the contributions being used to pay the expenses of any of the sisters, who are' able to give the time and strength . for an itinerating trip into the country. These Christian women also meet once a month for prayer and testimony and twice a month to read and study Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Those who are not Christians are invited to attend these meetings, and sometimes nearly half our audience is composed of the heathen friends and neighbors of these Christian women, and there we have such a sweet privilege and blessed opportunity of sowing the good seed. The work among the heathen consists of chapel and street- preaching, house to house visitation, Inquiry meetings, country work 'and Bible .and tract dis tribution. This work f might well em ploy the time and energies of twenty five families, and thn, we could not overtake it. Aside fronv the two asso ciational schools, we ' have four day schools, . wfiich are supported at a cost 0f $4 or $5 a month, and which could be multiplied into hundreds all over the city, where each would be the nucleus of a little Sunday school, if we had missionaries to superintend them, na tive Christians ,to teach them and money to aid in supporting them. Thus far the few we have had have been supported by the missionaries them selves. There is - now one supported by dear old Deacon Wong. These schools are really little Sunday schools, open every day, where the children of the poor are gathered and taught to read, write and sing. At least half their time is given to the study of, the Bible and other Christian books. ' I I, could tell you much of these little day schools if I had time, but I want .to mention before I close a few of the difficulties under which we labor that you, at home, may know the better how to pray for us. First, we work among a people with na knowledge of God. When we talk to them of God they I immeaiately think of an idol in their I homes or some heathen temple. Think I for a moment just how you would be-I gin to tell an ignorant heathen woman I aoout- the Gospel; second, they have I no sense of sin, and consequently they I feei no need of a Saviour. Guilty - of I lying, deceit, theft, gambling, adultery. I vile language, idolatry and nearly every 1 sin m the catalogue, they yet. neither! reel nor acknowledge sin. Conscience I seems well nigh dead; third,-we work I among a people nostiie to foreigners I and to the message the missionaj-v I Drings a people proud of their ancient I civilization, and prepared to scorn I what we have to offer them. They have already three religions why offer them another? There is, however, a grad- ual change coming over them in this respect; fourth, we work in a country Where superstition reigns supreme. The people are in constant dread of evil spirits and seeking by all manner of means to appease them or thwart their designs winding alleys; kithchen gods; fifth, in our work among the women we labor among a class down-trodden and uneducated. They cannot read the .Bible we offer them, and of ttimes are not allowed to listen as. we read" it. Their ambition seems well nigh crush ed, and a sort of hopeless feeling seems to have settled down on most of them. The better class women stay closely at home, and if we reach them we must go to them, and, as a rule, they have no welcome for us. The sufferings they undergo during and as a result of foot-binding sadly junfits them for physical or spiritual exercise; sixth, the opium habit is continually on the in crease. Each year there is sent into China by Christian England some 80,000 -1 X -j .. . i . . cnesis oi. upiura enougn ip poison, to depopulate the globe, if taken by those unaccustomed to it. The habit is spreading among the women and we must work faster. It is said that the opium is doing more harm in a week than the missionaries can do good in a year. We, who are your representatives on the field, often ask "Who is sufficient for these things?" but, thank God, we are not left without an answer. While the conviction grows stronger with each day's experience that without Christ we can do nothing absolutely nothing we joyfully acknowledge that God's Holy Spirit, working in and through us and on the hearts of the people, is able to make the Chinese, so "dead in trespasses and sin," awake to 'newness of life." My dear sisters at home, let me beg you to continue your earnest prayers in our behalf and in behalf of the na tive. Christians, and as surely as God answers prayer, your petitions shall bring down "showers of blessing" on China's dry and thirsty land. "The harvest truly is great and the laborers are few; pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest." As we go home from the convention, let us go to rriake our appeals to God, rather than men, to "askand receive that our joy may be full.' Difference the Gospel makes: Heathenism Small shoe, a persecuting mother; Christianity Large shoe, a surrendered idol and beads. And, my sisters, there are thousands on thousands of heathen women over in China who are daily ignorantly breaking the first and great command ment, who might be lending their influ ence and prayers to hasten the coming of God's kingdom on the earth, if they but knew. And here, among the Baptist churches of this southland is a band of fifty or sixty who are saying "send us, "send us," and over in China are mil lions wnose neeas are senaing over sea and land the Macedonian cry , "Come ye," "come ye," and how shall we an swer them? Let us each make our reply to God. The large audience then stood up and sung, "Stand up, stand up for Jesus." j A CUBAN EXILE. The Rev.- Cova, an exile from Cuba, was then intruduced. ' Oh, how tenderly he 'plead, in soft, southern accents, for his bleeding, war desolated land, how graphically he portrayed the misery of his oppressed country. One would have to hear the soft cadence of tone and see the expression of his earnest face to have an adequate appreciation of his address. He began by saying: "Ladies' hearts are always in accord with lib erty and in full sympathy with those who struggle for freedom, and Christian ladies, to stretch out the hand to all who suffer." He stated that his church in Cuba was closed, hard trials and dif ficulties beset his people on every I -and. He took us, in spirit, to the pier v. here twice a week the steamer from Cuba lands, he showed the lonely exiles as they reached this country, despoiled of their earthly goods, torn from friends and relatives, fleeing to "this land of liberty, but, alas! on their arrival, many of them, too poor to pay for either food or lodging, and none, of them knowing where these necessaries were to be ob tained. He gave ah account of a visit he made to Tampa, Fla., for the pur pose of looking after the Cuban refu gees there. He found no place where they might worship God, though jnany of them were hungering for the "Bread of Life," and though the home board of the Southern Baptist convention had exhausted its funds, the ladies of Tampa provided a room and he has gathered a church." A collection was taken for Cuba. AT IMMIGRANT PIER IN BALTI- MORE. Miss Mane Bulhmaier, a native of Germany, whose special work is at the immigrants' pier, in Baltimore, then told of many pathetic scenes witnessed by her daily, but a description of her j work Is best learned from a leaf from her aiary. Arrived, S. S. Neckard. We were very busy all day. A family with -five children to Chic; they are veiy poor I helped, them with their baggage and supplied milk and eatables for them. The woman seems very feeble. A young girl to Pittsb. with not a penny to her name; bought her some thing to eat. A croup of 2 sisters and one orphan bro (Meta 'Nieman); to Ne braska, looked very resp. both in dress and manners, but bad not. quite one dollar in cash; bought food for them. (Have since rec'd a letter in which they tell of their safe arrival as well as. to repeat their thanks - for all kindness shown. A young girl (Mani Zentz) to Chic; had nothing but dry bread sav ed from the steamer. I gave her some thing in addition. All of them Were very grateful. A mother with a 11 -year-old daughter were detained; her 'husband had desert ed them and taken another wife; both wept bitterly. I talked to them, gave them something to read,, and was much pleased to see them after awhile ab sorbed in Its contents. A young woman had a baby trying in every way to quiet it, but was not successful. As to the cause of the trouble I learned that the child was hungry and would not take the cold milk. I took and warmed the milk, holding it over the gas. I was much pleased to see the little one enjoy- ing it. Helped several In getting their re- lease from the pier. A company of 25 souls en route to California were great- iy trou Died upon learning that the agent, with whom they, engaged Das- sage, had deceived them, inasmuch as he made out their tickets to call for a numoer or them to go by rail all the way ana tne rest or them to go partly DY water. lnis; of course, was not known to them before and when they were oougea to separate, their grief was indeed great. We tried everything ia our power to mauce the agent ores ent to change their tickets either one ay ur me omer, Dut qiq not suc ceed. This was all the more a severe trial for the people, as they had only among an -or them 56.00 to live upon. l 'was much pleased to find amone the lot some truly God fearing men and women; thus we were enabled to have sweet fellowship, notwithstand ing the disappointment they experi enced. ' I trust that with the blessing of God they will arrive safely at .their new home. . - Something special took place, even after all the passengrs had left the pier and were placed in the trains. A woman gave birth to a dead child. Of course she was removed from the train, an ambulance sent for her and she conveyed to the hospital while her husband had to leave her and go on his way to Denver, Col. I accompanied the woman in the ambulance to the hosp. She was very thankful to me, home after 6 o'clock very tired. A TOUR IN MEXICO. ' The choir then rendered some enjoya ble music, after which Mrs. Mosley, for merly of Satillo, Mexico, invited us to go with her on a tour of an afternoon's visiting. She first knocked at the door of a wealthy signora, where carpet, cur tains, pictures and rich furniture would almost beguile you into thinking your self back in the United States. The lady enters, dressed in rustling silk, and, after kissing you on both cheeks, announces herself your servant, and expects you to do the same. She is very gracious, snows you every atten tion, and when invited to attend church, thanks you and accepts, though she is never seen in tha place of worship, nevertheless. She also enters several homes of poverty, and some of abject want, but the inmates are more ready to hear the Gospel. She deplored the fact that the Mexican women are so un truthful that the missionary never knows whether she has accomplished any good or not; this, however, she does know, she has sown the good seed, which is her business, the harvest be longing to the "Lord of the Harvest." Mrs. J. P. Duggan, of Guadalajara, Mexico, not being present, Mrs. Green, from Southern China, . addressed the meeting, but the hour for adjournment being very near, the China field having been so nearly covered by Mrs. Tatum, her address was necessarily brief, though very interesting. A few minutes were devoted to the closing exercises of prayer and praise, when the meeting was adjourned, to meet at 9:30 o!clock Monday morning, MONDAY'S SESSION. The fourth and last day's proceedings of the Woman's Missionary Union was a most important and interesting oc casion. Miss Heck read a verse or two of scripture after which was sung, "Jesus Lover of My Soul." Mrs. Townsend, of Texas, then took charge of the devotional service and read Matthew 16. 2d-26 Consecration: "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me. let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. and whoso ever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his own soul?" Rom. 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies living sacrifices, holy, ac ceptable unto God, which is your rea sonable service." Consecration: Set apart for a sacred use. We should give ourselves com pletely and wholly to the service of the Lord. Consecration is simply whole; hearted devotion to the Lord. To live for Him and His Glory. To do what ever He would have us do.' It means constantly to Inquire His will not ours, Consecration is Inot simply the devo tion of one s self and one's time to some great cause, but it is living brave ly.and usefully our every day, monoto nous lives for the Glory of God. There are few of us that can be great mis sionaries or mission leaders, but we can be just as consecrated as they in what ever we have to do. Whether it be car ing for the children, managing the household, standing behind the coun ter, writing books,, or any commonplace duty. Consecration is not so much in the devotion to a great cause or in a great service rendered to the Lord, as it is in' the complete surrender of the heart to God; the complete surrender of the will to Him, Consecration is to make the Lord Jesus 'the basis of our hope, the centre of our affections, the fairest among ten thousand; the one altogether lovely it is "To love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, soul and strength." Sisters if we can get our hearts right toward God, science will take care of itself. What we ought to do, and how much we ought to do will spring from within us as a result of this devotion. Too many seek to at tain consecration by imitating the friends of it; by engaging heartily in some religious work, and yet to be en gaged in some good work, even for all the time is not to be consecrated. Con secration must be from the heart, not the hand. If only the heart' be right the hand, feet and lips service will take care of itself "Take my life and let it be," And as the subject for. consideration was "Consecration." the old familiar hymn beginning, "Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove," that humble, tender plea for more consecration, was sung. Minutes of meetings on Saturday and Sunday were read and adopted. Some one requested that Mrs. Ta tum's paper on China, read on Sunday, be published in pamphlet form ;this motion was seconded and carried. The delegate from Alabama, read a report from that state. She fold of disasters to denominational buildings which necessitated the raising of $45, 000, which of course, made some slight diminution in their subscriptions to foreign missions. She reported good work for the orphans and vigorously prosecuted "band work." Mrs. J. P. Eagle, of Arkansas, spoke of good work with the bands among boys. She shows much work done in her state in all department. - Mrs. Watson, of South Carolina, made a most interesting talk on this Interesting subject. She wonders why so few bands for boys are formed, as she considers this one of the most im portant and inviting fields of usefulness She asked, how can we interest the boys? - ; . There were many answers - to this question from various persons, taken from their own experience. Wre faaX gotten Mrs. Watson's paper entire, ImsZ . as our space will not admit of a fall record, we shall have to content our selves with this meagre allusion to thf drift of Tier interesting address. After a sprightly and earnest discussion on, the different department of band work. vis., for boys, for girls and for yoxxns men, in which many consecrated mo tit- - ers and some who were not mothers joined, Mrs. Nelson led the meeting In a fervent prayer for the young. . The committee for apportioning tbe- $30,000 called for by the Southern Bap tist convention, to the different statcay. made their report, there being no ol jection, the report was adopted without: discussion. The next in order was a report from the "Plan of Work." This report was a most judicious arrangement for woric. during the ensuing year, but as it will appear in the minutes of the convtrn- tion of the union, and would hardly be of interest to the general public, we will omit. This plan, however, beimr - fully discussed was adopted. Mrs. W. E. Hatcher, of Richmond spoke on missions, in general, and" more particularly on Italy. 5he rapid- ly glanced at the life of our first mis sionary, "The great apostle to the gen tiles," and plead that the scene' of life labors and death might have more at tention from the Baptist women of tbe south. The congregation then sung How Firm a Foundation Ye Saints the Lord." As the work had run over the allot ted time, only five minutes were taken for social intercourse. ' After the meeting was again called to order, the Rev. Dr. J. M. Frost. cJC the Sunday school board, addressed tlaa meeting and begged that- the ladies would adopt the recommendations. Af ter he had finished, they were read. SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD. L Woman's Mission Societies arc among the most forceful agents for ad vancing our denominational interests- We earnestly desire to have their kind- ly consideration and co-operation In our work. They may help us by put- tng the Sunday school periodicals of the Southern Baptist convention into all the schools, so far as possible, ancl emphasizing their missionary feature- 2. Our Bible wrork has - grown im mensely this' year, and we desire to see- It still further increased. We earnestly wish that our Bible fund could be en larged, and should be glad -of the- hearty co-operation of the Women s Missionary Union. 3. Missionary Day in the Sunday schools, as observed last September proved even a greater success .than heretofore. we want the help or the societies in this department also. 4. Some of the churches are begin ning to introduce a home department of: Sunday school work. W e are earnestly hoping to have the co-operation of the societies in still further extending this work and making it more effective, 5. We should like to have the Wo man's Missionary Union consider ' the propriety of sending boxes of cloth! fr to Sunday school fnissionares. It seems to us to open an opportunity for great usefulness and for helping a very worthy class of workers. There was much discussion on some points of these recommendation, but they were adopted. The present officers were elected: President Miss Fannie E. Heck, of Raleigh. Corresponding Secretary Miss Annie W. Armstrong, of Baltimore. . Recording Secretary Miss Nellie Martine, of Baltimore. Treasurer Mrs. William C. 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The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 11, 1897, edition 1
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