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THE
MISSIONARY MONTHLY
Is
devoted to the dissemination of Missionary information among the
United Brethren in Christ, at Home and Abroad
The first eight pages of the Monthly are edited by Rev. H. J. Becker,
Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Missions, of the United
Brethren in Christ. All communications for the Parent Board
Department should be addressed to the Editor.
The subscription price of the MONTHLY is Fifty Cents a year. Address
all business letters to Rev. H. J. Becker, 1618 W. Second St, Dayton,
Ohio, or, Mrs. A. R. Kiracofe, 119 N. Summit St., Dayton, Ohio.
We will not be responsible for money sent us unless by
Postoffice, Money Order, Express or Draft.
EDITORIAL.
WING WO
SANG.
During
a residence of about ten years on the Pacific Coast, experiences with
an Asiatic race of people quite numerous there, brought to notice many
strange, though often beautiful customs. , Missionaries in the Chinese
schools of the great cities on the coast have learned to study the
native peculiarities and customs of their pupils. Not to know them
becomes a hindrance to successful work among them.
The
above heading, to any one not knowing its meaning, would appear like a
vagary, but when it is translated into our language, it becomes rife
with intelligent thought and affords the teacher and preacher a fine
illustration to teach the gospel of the kingdom of Christ to them and
urge them to accept its blessings and yield obedience to its claims
upon their hearts and lives.
The
words are often seen at the entrance of their business houses, where
in large gilt letters the eye will be greeted again and again with Wing
Wo Sang. These words stand for the name of a firm which may
have a thousand branches scattered throughout the country. The
merchants hope to attract numerous patrons by the influence which the
firm name is said to induce. A literal translation of the words would
be "Everlasting Harmony
Produces." That is to say, "This company produces
everlasting harmony." The words are winsome. The Chinese identify
themselves in large numbers with the company. They buy of it, work for
it and are proud of belonging to it. Missionaries tell them that their
company, being only a thing of this life, cannot produce
"everlasting harmony," but that if they will identify
themselves with the kingdom of God-the kingdom of Christ, then they
will have peace and harmony in this life and in the life to come.
Their pupils are quick to grasp the idea and ready to enter into the
kingdom. Thus "a word fitly spoken, how good it is."
CHRISTIAN
CITIZENSHIP.
A
marked copy of the Christian Statesman from Allegheny, Pa., is
before us. Circulars accompany it calling attention to Christian
citizenship. The paper is edited by such men as Drs. McAllister,
Stevenson, Wylie, Roads, Leads. Its contributors are: Drs. McGregory,
Robinson, George, Weir, Foster, Burrell, Scoval, Kimball; Mrs. J. C.
Bateman and Joseph Cook. We are asked to give our views as to the
object of this periodical. To this we gladly give answer.
We
are in full accord with the great mission of the Christian
Statesman. To place this nation of freeman under the influence of
the highest Christian civilization known to civilized men, is an
imperative duty resting upon all good citizens. Not to seek to do it,
deserves censure. We read with pain the derision of Dr. McAllister's
masterly arguments and answers to numerous inquiries before the Ju- |
diciary
Committee of the House of Representatives, Washington, March 2, 1896.
It recalls the words of the Psalmist when he said, "The rulers of
the earth take counsel together against the Lord and against his
anointed.'" The report of the Committee on Hearing before that
body was simply to have this nation recognize "Jesus Christ as
the Ruler of the nations, and the Christian religion as the guide and
support of nations as well as of men." Infidels, Jewish Rabbis,
Spiritualists, Seventh-day Baptists, Unitarians, Advents and
"sundry atheistic infidels," were there to oppose it. The
Missionary Monthly is published in the interest of missions at
home and abroad. It joins the Statesman in bringing about the
recognition of Christ and the Christian religion in our own country.
We could go before the heathen world with better grace if our own
civilization were more like our maxims. The better sentiment of our
people is in favor of what the Statesman seeks to accomplish. Let us
push the agitation on to victory.
INACTIVITY.
Inactivity
is the paralysis of moral life. It shuts off all communication to and
from the seat of life. It deadens the sensibilities, hushes the voice
of conscience and casts in its dire wake the lost opportunities of a
lifetime. Sad, sad indeed is the lot of the laborers whom God has
called, who sit idly down day after day and do nothing nor care to do
anything to help carry forward the work of the Master. They need not
say, "No one hath bidden us," because the voice which calls
them is an audible voice as well as one which speaks to their inner
consciousness to go to work to day in his vineyard. Oh, what an
opportunity to be a "colaborer with Christ!" Who in his
senses can be inactive in the work of the Lord? The word of God
abounds with promises to his faithful toilers. He will help them in
every emergency, no matter how limited their circumstances. Grace will
abide without failure. Would it not be a happy day for the church if
the last faithless worker could be persuaded to take God at his word,
and if the last narrow giver to carry forward the work of the Lord
could be brought to realize in all of its fullness the divine
blessings attending the beneficent Giver? O, that the calloused hearts
of many who have it to give, were opened to receive the grace of God
and could be persuaded to come to the help of the Lord against the
mighty. Let us hold special meetings for prayer and plead with the
Lord to send his Holy Spirit into the hearts of the people to do their
full duty in every line of Christian work.
THE CHARGE
REPELLED.
We
are not persuaded that the cause of the massacres of missionaries in
so many of the foreign stations during the last year should be
attributed to prejudice against missionaries as such. Wherever the
true object of the missionaries is fully known, they have averted more
massacres than they have caused even where their object was not fully
understood. The baneful influences of traders who sell liquors and
steal and cheat the natives and of false teachers among them, has been
the cause more largely than all other reasons assigned for the
shedding of blood in mission stations. If the solution of the vexed
question of the civilization of the heathen world . were left entirely
to the several missions operating in heathen lands, they would arrive
at their pacification sooner than civil and military methods could
bring it about. Besides, when their civilization would have been
reached, they would also be Christianized, a thing not contemplated by
the governments which have taken in hand a
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