Part 10

There are a few themes so great, so charged with living importance, that an earnest man never wearies of their study. Like the rays of the sun, they are invested with perpetual freshness and force. Of these themes, the very greatest is the conquest of the world to Christ by the preaching of the Gospel and by the power of the Holy Ghost. But foreign missionary societies, whose special aim it is to carry the Gospel of Christ to the millions of heathenism, are not the exclusive guardians of this great trust. They are the advance guard of the army of conquest, clearing the way and widening the field, but their very presence as the scouts and scattered outposts of Christianity proclaims the presence of a greater army of occupation, pressing close upon their leadership. Back of your foreign work is that of home missions, the religious care of the ignorant, vicious, and neglected within our own borders; back of home missions is the manly culture of our professedly Christian constituency, the care and compact handling of our local churches; back of your local church life and work are those of your separate homes—influences secret, subtle, but all-pervasive, for in the Christian homes are the primary historic sources of all great inspirations and achievements, both for personal character and for social improvement. Far out on the world’s great battle-field, separated from each other by many a league, are the pickets of the army of the Lord; its great and growing supports are in the Christian nations, the Christian churches, the Christian homes.

Reinforcements at any point of the long line must increase the efficiency of the entire body. But the law of solid progress must be from the home, as the training school of personal devotion, through the church and the nation, to the broad world. I am afraid that we have not fairly estimated the importance of the third factor in the solution of the complicated problem of the world’s Christianization. We are not lacking in an appreciation of the value of domestic piety. We are not blind to the evangelistic vocation of the church, though the energetic revival of this conviction may be said to date from the close of the last century, and it has as yet only partially leavened the great body of nominal Christendom. But we are even farther from having mastered the thought that nations are born of a divine purpose, and summoned to missionary service.

God is marching on, not simply for the salvation of individual souls, and their preparation for a future heaven, but for the moral regeneration of nations, and the conversion of the world into a kingdom of righteousness and love. In this great task nations will yet be called to take an active part. Having ceased to be obstructive, having passed beyond the line of moral indifference, they are yet to prove themselves to be among the mightiest of positive forces for the world’s regeneration. And I confess that I have wholly misread the signs of the times if the Anglo-Saxon nationalities are not summoned and destined to bear a conspicuous part in the future of the world’s moral history. For you and for me there can be no call of greater urgency than that this youngest of the nations of the world, in which we are proud to claim our citizenship, whose birth is the marvel of history, whose development is the amazement of our time, whose guidance and discipline seem as clearly providential as were those of ancient Israel, shall be Christian, in order to the assimilation of all the heterogeneous elements of our population, and the consequent use of our united forces for the good of the race. No duty crowds us more closely than that we prove ourselves worthy of our ancestry, equal to our opportunities, building up on this new continent a compact commonwealth, whose glory it shall be that its streams of beneficence gladden all lands and enrich all peoples.

We cannot render the most effective Christian service to the world until we ourselves have become thoroughly leavened with the spirit of the Gospel, and any plan involving the Christianization of the American people must provide for the solution of that great problem with which this Association deals. You have not succeeded in making the white man the Christian he ought to be until he and the black man can clasp hands in the brotherhood of Christ. National unity must remain incomplete until all antagonisms have vanished, and the reconciliation is complete; and our moral influence on the world cannot be what it may be and ought to be until we have amicably and finally settled our domestic difficulties. American patriotism and Christian philanthropy—these are the two great considerations by which the work of the American Missionary Association appeals to the prayerful and practical sympathies of the Christian public.

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RELATION OF THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION TO CIVILIZATION.

BY REV. F. L. KENYON.

There are two civilizations in this nineteenth century that are striving for the mastery. They differ in their source; the one is from heaven, the other from earth. They differ in their objects. The one has for its object the elevation of the animal in man to the supreme place. The other has for its object the elevation of the intellectual and moral and spiritual in man to the dominant place. They differ also in their supports and instrumentalities. The superstructure of the one rests upon ignorance and vice. The other rests upon and is built up by and through the school, the church, and the home. Thus it will be seen that the higher civilization has a triangular foundation, and when we remember that the triangle represents the highest perfection, we may get a hint at least that this must be the final civilization. The school, where the mighty power of a true education dispels and destroys the threatening illiteracy of the world. The church, where the wonderful transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ incarnates itself in true manhood and womanhood. The home, where the love principle is dominant and all controlling.

The higher civilization, which is to be the ultimate civilization for humanity, must include within its bounds, as constituent factors, every portion of the human race. The defect of previous civilizations was in their omitting one or more of these great and necessary factors.

The first of these is the idea of God. And this, first, as a personal God. This is necessary so as to make God accessible to us. In the second place, the true idea of God must include righteousness. He must be a righteous God. This involves the ideas of justice and law, without which no civilization can be perfect. Eliminate these qualities from civilization and in the place of government will come anarchy, which always and naturally produces destruction. In the third place, the true idea of God includes the fact that he is a loving God. The Johannean conception on this line is the ultimate of all conceptions, viz.: God is love. It is very clear that the final civilization must have this idea of God in all the breadth which I have simply outlined.

The second great idea is the “equality of man,” an equality not of conditions but of rights. Equality before God’s law and love, before human law and institutions. From this equality of man comes the great doctrine of freedom for all. Slavery cannot exist in a final civilization, because this final civilization is built up in part on the idea of equality of man. From this equality of man comes that other great social doctrine of the brotherhood of man. Any civilization which ignores the equality of man, and these great included ideas, freedom and brotherhood of man, cannot, in the very nature of things, be the higher and the final civilization. All former civilizations failed to recognize this great fact, and this is one of the reasons why they became effete and passed away. I believe God has chosen this land, and has raised up this Association for the purpose of working out this problem.

The physical view is a low one, and really belongs to the lower civilization. In comparison with the intellectual, and moral, and spiritual, the physical sinks into insignificance.

The third great idea of the permanent civilization is “the true idea of woman.” In the earlier civilizations woman was held as inferior to man, because perhaps she could not endure the fatigues of the chase or engage in wars, and such brutalizing pursuits. The very signs of her superiority were read as evidences of her inferiority. In some her position was hardly anything but that of a slave or a toy. In that civilization which had the highest culture of any of the old civilizations, an educated woman was classed in the common thought of the people as an impure woman. Thank God such a civilization as that was not the final one. In the final civilization woman has her place alongside of man—co-equal and co-ordinate.

The fourth great idea necessary to a permanent and final civilization, is the true idea of childhood—its worth and place in the elevating forces of humanity. That civilization which holds in cheap esteem the life of a child, is a low and vanishing one. There is probably among the secondary tests of nobility no truer one than man’s regard for children. All the ancient civilizations were very low in this respect. Think of such a thing occurring in this nineteenth century, of any ruler commanding the slaughter of the innocents. No, the final civilization holds, must hold, to the sacredness of child-life. Jesus is bringing that about. He brought heaven to earth through the auroral gates of childhood. Bethlehem’s manger gave to the world a new and potent civilizing idea in the sacredness of child-life. These four constitute the elemental ideas, the living, molding, working forces of the higher civilization. The relation of the American Missionary Association to this higher civilization is now to be noticed, and so transparent is this relation that only a few words are necessary to set it forth. First. It is related in its work, in a similar way, be it spoken reverently, in which Jesus, the Son of God, is related to the children of men. He came down into humanity to its very lowest. So the A. M. A. goes down with its thousand tender hands and its five hundred beating hearts to the very bottom of the lower civilization. This is both human and divine wisdom. It is related to the higher civilization in the second place because it carries into and permeates the lower civilization with these great ideas of the higher. “No fleet can outsail its slowest vessel.” So no civilization can advance higher than the lowest elements or parts of it advance. These people to whom this Association carries these ideas are elemental factors in our civilization, and I know of no other royal road by which they can be brought into the higher civilization; and unless so brought they will drag higher civilization down, and give the victory to the lower civilization, and this nation will fall into the long procession of nations that, failing to rise to their great opportunities, have gone down in dishonor and disgrace to eternal death. To prevent this dire catastrophe, I believe God, whose favors have been manifold to our land, has raised up and commissioned this great Association. It is virtually related, therefore, to the higher civilization as its saviour, and also as the purifier and perfector of the higher by bringing the lower up to its proper place in it on these high idea lines. Incarnate these great ideas of the higher civilization into the lower, which, as I understand it, is the work of the A. M. A., and you have given the victory to the higher civilization in this the leading nation of the world; moreover, you have hastened the coming of the day of the Son of Man.

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DEDICATION OF LIVINGSTONE MISSIONARY HALL.

As a fitting sequel to the earnest and efficient annual meeting exercises in Cleveland, some of the officers of this Association and other friends proceeded to Nashville, Tenn., to attend the dedication of Livingstone Hall, Oct. 30.

As we published in our last issue a cut of the Hall and a statement of its history, dimensions and uses, we refer the reader to the November MISSIONARY for information relating to such matters. The dedicatory address was delivered by Professor Cyrus Northrop, of Yale College. Bishop McTyeire, President of the Vanderbilt University at Nashville, and Dr. A. G. Haygood, President of Emory College, Georgia, and Gen. C. B. Fisk, of New York, also made addresses. The dedicatory prayer was offered by Secretary Strieby, and music furnished by the Mozart Society and by Miss Sheppard and Miss Mabel Lewis, well-known members of the original Jubilee Singers Company. The address of Professor Northrop was masterly, timely and suggestive. It was welcomed and approved by the very respectable representation of Southern men on the platform, and published in full in the Nashville _Daily American_.

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RECEIPTS FOR OCTOBER, 1882.

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MAINE, $454.61.

Bangor. Hammond St. Cong. Ch. and Soc., 126; First Cong. Ch., 18.94 144.94 Belfast. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.00 Biddeford. Second Cong. Ch. 20.52 Brownville. Cong. Ch. and Soc., by Hon. A. H. Merrill. 100.00 Brunswick. Mrs. S. J. F. Hammond, _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 25.00 Fryeburgh. Cong. Ch. and Soc., 14; “The Young Pioneers,” 10. 24.00 Gorham. “Friends,” _for Library, Talladega C._ 43.00 Hampden. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00 North Anson. Mrs. Eunice S. Brown 10.00 South Berwick. Mrs. Hodgdon’s S. S. Class, _for Student Aid_, _Talladega C._ 25.00 South Paris. Cong. Ch. 8.06 Wells. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 27.09 Winterport. “M.” 2.00

NEW HAMPSHIRE, $242.33.

Amherst. Cong. Ch. 17.37 Colebrook. “Mr. and Mrs. E. C. W.” 2.00 Greenville. Cong. Ch. 15.00 Haverhill. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 13.28 Henniker. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for John Brown Steamer_. 5.00 Lyme. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for John Brown Steamer_. 10.00 Marlborough. Freedmen’s Aid Soc., two Bbls. of C., value 45, _for McIntosh, Ga._ New Boston. “L. H.,” _for Chinese M._ 25.00 New Ipswich. Children’s 20th Annual Fair 23.50 Newmarket. Cong. Ch. and Soc., 10.18; Thomas H. Wiswall, 10. 20.18 Pelham. Cong. Ch. and Soc 54.00 Pembroke. Cong. Ch. (ad’l.) 3.00 Tilton and Northfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc 20.00 Wilton. Second Cong. Ch 34.00

VERMONT, $304.80.

Barton Landing. Horace Jones 2.00 Brandon. Mrs. L. G. Case 5.00 Brattleborough. Center Ch. and Soc., 51.18; Center Ch., “A. S.” 10 61.18 Cambridge. Rev. E. Wheelock 5.00 Cornwall. Cong. Ch. and Soc., 67.50, and MRS. P. P. HURD, 30, to const. herself L. M. 97.50 Coventry. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 19.20 Craftsbury. Ladies’ Miss’y Soc. of Cong. Ch., _for Freight, for Atlanta U._ 3.00 Enosburgh. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (ad’l). 5.00 Grafton. “A Friend” 10.00 Grand Isle. Cong. Ch. 6.00 Montgomery Center. Cong. Ch. 8.00 Newport. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 9.75 Putney. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 4.87 South Hero. Cong. Ch. 20.00 Weybridge. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 38.30 Windham. Cong. Sab. Sch. 4.00 Windsor. Cong. Ch. and Soc. (ad’l) 6.00

MASSACHUSETTS, $3,503.10.

Amesbury. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 11.31 Andover. Mrs. Rebecca Mills 50.00 Agawam. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.55 Ashby. Cong. Sab. Sch., 46.43; Willing Hands Soc., 34.57; Mr. and Mrs. Jos. Foster, 2, _for Student Aid, Atlanta U_. 83.00 Ashland. Cong. Ch. and Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Talladega C._ 27.75 Barre. C. B. R. 1.00 Berlin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.00 Boston. Shawmut Branch Sab. Sch., _for Pekin, N.C._, and to const. DEA. S. C. WILKINS and DEA. N. S. LOVETT, L. Ms. 76.00 Boston. Misses M. A. and H. N. Kirk, 20; Mrs. L. A. Bartholomew, 5 25.00 Boxborough. Cong. Ch. 10.00 Brookline. Harvard Ch. and Soc. 75.64 Cambridgeport. Pilgrim Ch. Mon. Con. 9.06 Centreville. Cong. Sab. Sch. 5.00 Charlton. Cong. Sab. Sch. 15.00 Charlestown. Winthrop Ch. and Soc. 73.73 Chelsea. Ladies’ Union Home Mission Band, _for Lady Missionary, Chattanooga, Tenn._ 60.00 Chicopee. Third Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.69 Danvers. G. W. Fisk, _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 3.25 Easthampton. First Cong. Sab. Sch. 50.00 Fitchburgh. Rollston Ch. and Soc. 50.00 Gilbertville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 25.00 Holliston. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 101.35 Holyoke. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc., 14.67; First Cong Ch. and Soc., 6 20.67 Lanesborough. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00 Lawrence. Mrs. W. E. G. 0.50 Lawrence. Rev. C. Carter, Package Books, _for McIntosh, Ga._ Lexington. Hancock Ch. and Soc. 25.00 Lincoln. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 22.00 Littleton. Mrs. J. C. Houghton and S. S. Class, _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 4.00 Milford. First Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., _for John Brown Steamer_ 5.00 Millbury. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 170.57 Monson. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 50.00 Natick. Rev. Daniel Wight 10.00 Newburyport. Freedmen’s Aid Soc., _for Student Aid, Talladega C._ 75.00 Newton Center. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 33.93 Newton Highlands. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 12.00 Newton Upper Falls. S. D. H. 1.00 Newtonville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 60.38 Northampton. “H. N.” 1,000; First Ch., 100.62; “A Friend,” 87.50 1,188.12 Northfield. M. E. Hilliard 5.00 North Hadley. “Friend”, _for Student Aid, Atlanta U._ 0.75 Norwood. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 55.00 Oxford. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., 20; Woman’s Mission Soc., _for Freight_, 2 22.00 Orange. Mrs. E. W. M. 1.00 Palmer. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.94 Royalston. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 125.00 Rutland. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.01 Salem. Sab. Sch. of Tabernacle Ch., _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 50.00 Salem. Geo. Driver, 2; Mrs. J. H. W., 50c 2.50 Sandwich. Silas Fish, _for John Brown Steamer_ 5.00 Scotland. Mrs. J. N. Leonard, Bbl. of Books and Papers, _for Macon, Ga._, and 1 _for Freight_ 1.00 Sherborn. Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch. 34.25 Somerset. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.00 South Barre. Cong. Sab. Sch. 10.00 South Hadley. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., 34; Teachers and Pupils Mount Holyoke Fem. Sem., 31 65.00 Springfield. South Ch. and Soc., 48.07; First Cong. Ch. and Soc., 30.28 78.35 Sudbury. Ladies’ Miss’y Soc., 3, and Bbl. of C., _for Atlanta U._ 3.00 Sunderland. Mary Warner’s S. S. Class, Cong. Ch., _for Mobile, Ala._ 6.00 Taunton. Union Ch. and Soc. 10.00 Templeton. “Three Ladies,” Box of C., val. 18, and 1, _for Freight_ 1.00 Upton. Miss Lydia Chamberlain, 5; Miss Lizzie Wheeler, 2; Emma Leland, 2.25, _for Mobile, Ala._ 9.25 Uxbridge. Evan. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 24.00 Wakefield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 50.00 Walpole. Orthodox Cong. Ch. and Soc., to const. DEA. SAMUEL E. GUILD L. M. 57.62 West Boxford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.10 Westfield. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 23.90 West Granville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 4.00 West Granville. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for John Brown Steamer_ 1.00 Westhampton. Cong. Ch. 27.00 Westhampton. “Friend,” _for Pekin N.C._ 1.00 West Somerville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.00 West Springfield. First Cong. Ch. and Soc., 28; Second Cong. Ch. and Soc., 5.62 33.62 Winchendon. Rev. M. H. Hitchcock, 5; G. H. W., 50c. 5.50 Worcester. Central Ch. and Soc. (30 of which from MRS. ALPHONSO WOOD, _for Tillotson C. & N. Inst._ and to const. herself L. M.) 186.29 Worcester. “A Friend,” $5; “Fannie, Etta, Charlie and Mary,” 1.15, _for John Brown Steamer_ 6.15 Worcester. Old South Ch. and Soc., 53.77; Union Ch. Sab. Sch.; 18.10; Salem St. Ch., 3.50; E. J. Rice, 2; W. J. White, 2 79.37 ——— Box and Bbl. of C., _for Marion, Ala._

RHODE ISLAND, $181.44.