American missionary

“ I have not come at this late hour of the evening to enter upon an argument in favor of what I am sure every person within the sound of my voice is now thoroughly convinced of, but rather to express my gratitude and honor at the great work which is now going on in this country for a Christian education in the West and South, in which the American Missionary Association is so nobly taking the lead. I do not think you yourselves are entirely conscious of the sublimity of what you are doing and what you are helping to do. ”

“ We ought to have, then, at least one American missionary—not necessarily a great man, but a man of earnest piety and business capacity, and sound common sense—a man who would give to his mission the atmosphere, which, I am sure, our brethren recognize in the mission here, of Christian kindliness and brotherly love—not that of a condescending benevolence, but that of a hearty Christian brotherhood. ”

“ Benevolent societies for meliorating the condition of our race in this and other lands are numerous and increasing, and they display all the characteristic energy and enterprise of the Americans. The American missionary is now seen bending his course to the ‘islands of the sea,’ that ‘they may rejoice in the salvation of God,’ and to the ‘utmost parts of the earth,’ that they too may know the way of life. The Bible society, having supplied so far as possible every family in this land with the word of life, is now sending it through the missionaries to the heathen world ”

“ The missionary fire is beginning to burn in their hearts. When they go forth, bearing the sacred [406] symbol of our Lord’s love to men, every Christian man and woman in our land should help them. That movement—and it is coming—will, at no distant day give your colonization and missionary societies all they can do. ”

“ Under able editorial supervision, aided by the steady contributions of our intelligent missionaries and teachers in all parts of the field, and with occasional communications from careful observers and thinkers elsewhere, the American Missionary furnishes a vivid and reliable picture of the work going forward among the Indians, the Chinamen on the Pacific Coast, and the Freedmen as citizens in the South and as missionaries in Africa. ”

“ I was both pained and irresistibly amused by an incident that occurred not two hundred miles from New York, when the horse was in the first stage of training, and stoutly resisted allowing its ear to be touched.
The missionary was announced to speak in the church on a given Sunday, when the annual collection would be taken up. A good member of the church—the pastor says a sincere Christian—was very much put out about it; had heard enough of these old missionaries, and was not going to hear any more; did not believe in foreign missions—we had heathen enough at home. ”

“ We make the request that our friends will bear our work in mind as they visit the country churches. A little effort to circulate the American Missionary and to make the people acquainted with our work, would go a great way to help us. ”

“ The evangelization of the foreigners in America must be effected by the direct missionary effort of the masses of American Christians. That is the foundation truth. The work cannot be delegated to Home Mission Boards or any other agencies, no matter how good and strong in their place. ”

“ The Commission under which a society like this does its work. The warrant for a missionary society, as for all missionary effort, is found in the words of our Saviour to his disciples, just before he went up on high: “All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth; go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” ”

“ To his mind, a missionary was not a religious drummer nor a mere itinerant preacher. He was a settler, locating in a community, growing up with it, molding its moral, social and religious life. To the young colored men of America, educated and consecrated, no field offers grander opportunities for distinguishment, in these respects, than does long-neglected Africa. ”

“ We would like to have the great American Missionary Association constituency see these samples as we have seen them and do see them, not alone in pulpits, in schools and on farms and in trades, but also in commercial life and in places of extended influence. We should like to show our Samples in their Christian homes, homes which are not made of brick and mortar and boards and shingles, but which are only sheltered by these; homes where there is educated intelligence, where there are books and [Pg 68] thoughtful minds that can appreciate them ”

“ What may she not do for Christ? And these heathen are in our own country; they are our own people. These young missionaries are very peculiarly ours, and it is through the Northern churches that they are trained for their work. ”

“ But men of American sectarian preacher stamp never knew and never will know what a missionary spirit is. It is foreign to their habits as well as to their creed. When we hear of {358} American Protestant missionaries going forth with barely a change of clothes; when we learn that they abandon father, mother, family, house and home to preach the Gospel ”

“ I was happy to be able to confirm and illustrate some of those statements, and to urge upon that intelligent church, and the flourishing Sabbath-school, from which seventy were received into communion last year, the pressing, may we not say paramount? importance of that department of missionary effort.
If the “four millions” are suffered to live in vice and ignorance, and the superstition which is already seeking to overshadow them like the old fetichism of their ancestors, the American Church—yes, the nation—will find too late what a mistake they have made. ”

“ BLACK MISSIONARIES FOR AFRICA—THE BISHOP CROWTHER PLAN. REV. G. D. PIKE, D.D.
If God “hath set bounds to the habitations” of the different races of men, or to any race, that fact should enter into our plan of missionary work. It is our duty to succeed. How to do it, is worthy of our greatest thought and most earnest prayer. When we take the road to success in God’s work, we find heavenly attendants all along the way, and abundant supplies of grace and every needful thing. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Not all people can be aroused into interest for missionary work by any methods; whatever the zeal of the pastor, some indifference will remain. But if he has the missionary spirit, he will not be contented with an occasional preaching. He will determine the tone of worship and the direction of all endeavors by his enlarged view of God’s plan for the redemption of men. New suggestions, allusions, illustrations and prayers will swell the current of sympathy for missions, and increase contributions under any method of giving. ”

“ We are sent, not as philanthropists who hear the cry of the poor and needy, nor as patriots who realize the perils that overhang the State, but as missionaries of Jesus Christ who believe that salvation takes in the whole man, including philanthropy and statesmanship, and whatever builds up man for time and for eternity. ”

“ The attempts then made by British Christians had not been attended with so much success as to establish the practicability, or vindicate the wisdom of the missionary enterprise. For many years the work advanced but slowly. One denomination after another embarked in the undertaking; and now American missionaries are seen in almost every clime. Many languages have been acquired; many translations of the Bible have been made; the Gospel has been extensively preached; and churches have been established containing thousands of sincere, intelligent converts. ”

“ We rejoice that "the most prolific missionary field ever opened to any Christian people— right here at our doors," is gaining upon the interest and benevolence of the churches year by year. Never were the friends of the cause mote responsive; never was the work more hopeful. The work enlarges, and the people's faith enlarges. ”