Читать книгу: «The American Missionary. Volume 43, No. 02, February, 1889», страница 2

THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY

We have two objects in printing this magazine. First, to have it read, and, secondly, to have it paid for. The main purpose is the first, of course, for we wish to have it read if it is not paid for, yet we greatly prefer to have it both read and paid for. We believe that those who pay for it are most likely to read it, and for this reason we fear that this item will be seen only by those who do not need this reminder, but we draw the bow at a venture and tell our readers that the price of the magazine is 50 cents a year.

We wish to inform the pastors and churches that we have just issued a new Annual Leaflet, brief and packed with facts, and suitable for distribution in the pews before collections are taken for the Association. We shall be glad to furnish a supply gratuitously whenever called for.

Our Annual Report, also, is ready for distribution. Those who wish it will please send us a postal card requesting it.

THE ROMAN CATHOLICS AND THE FREEDMEN

Soon after the war the Roman Catholics seemed to have made a strong effort to win the Freedmen to their faith, and many Protestants felt a good degree of apprehension that the splendors of the ceremonial and the absence of race distinction might captivate the Negro. But the effort was unsuccessful and appeared for a time to have been abandoned. It has often been said, however, that the Church of Rome never surrenders an undertaking; it may delay and wait for more auspicious times, but in the end it perseveres. There are some indications of the renewal of the zeal of the Papacy for the Negro. The article in another part of the magazine, entitled "The Colored Catholic Congress," is an evidence.

One thing is certain. The Roman Catholic Church deserves praise for its disregard of the color-line. The rich and the poor, the white and the black, bow at the same altar, and one of the highest dignitaries of the church is not ashamed to stand side by side with the black man on a great public occasion. Protestants at the North and the South must not allow the Romanists to surpass them in this Christ-like position.

We ask our friends to read Mr. Dodge's article about the school at Pleasant Hill, Tenn. One thousand dollars has already been pledged for this building, on condition that the remainder of the $5,000 be secured. We ask that this remainder be given by individuals, and not taken from Church or Sunday-school contributions—all of which are needed for current work.

NOTES FROM NEW ENGLAND

I have swapped horses—exchanged a Georgia mule for a New England thoroughbred—and hereafter the "Notes in the Saddle" will be written from this dignified seat. And what a change it is from the South to New England!

Take a map and look it over. Put down in each State the illiteracy, and make the comparison. In this good Commonwealth of Massachusetts only seven-tenths of one per cent. of the native born white population are illiterate, while in Georgia twenty-three per cent. of the native whites, and in North Carolina thirty-two per cent. of the native whites, are illiterate.

The South is pre-eminently the great missionary ground for our Congregational Churches; for Congregationalism means the school-house as truly as the church—and here in New England there is most enthusiastic sympathy with, and support of, the American Missionary Association in its great work in that section of our country committed to its care by the churches.

They want the A.M.A. to take Congregationalism into the South, and whether it organize churches mostly of whites or mostly of blacks, New England demands that a Christian of any color be admitted into any church because he is a Christian. The feeling is intense here and growing more so.

Congregationalism could have planted its churches all over the South before the war, but it would not strike hands with slavery; so, to-day the children of the Pilgrims demand that the A.M.A., in its growing work, shall stand true to the historic principles of the fathers, and not compromise Christian truth for any seeming temporary advantage.

There is great interest in the work among the American Highlanders which the A.M.A. is pushing with such vigor. I spoke in a church near Boston recently, and, after the service, a young man, his eyes bright, his face flushed, hurried down the aisle and exclaimed, "I am a Kentuckian!" I had been telling some plain and rather painful truths concerning the people of Kentucky—the murders committed there; their lack of school privileges, etc. I thought this friend might question some of my statements, but I was delighted when he said: "I thank God that some one is ready to call attention to the terrible needs of my own State. I can't get people to believe me when I tell them of those needs. I was brought up on the edge of the mountains and know them well, and I do not believe there is any spot on earth more needy than that region of my own State." He accentuated his words by a generous gift to the Mountain Work of our Association.

A good friend of the A.M.A. in Gorham, Me., put into my hands the letter of Edward Payson, in which he accepted the call of the Second Parish Church of Portland, requesting that it be sold and the proceeds go to the A.M.A. work. It is a most interesting historical document, of value to some one collecting historical literature. It was a generous gift, for this kind woman valued it highly.

The President, S.D. Smith, of the "Smith Organ Company," of Boston is filling our schools with music, gladness and praise. He has sent three organs to as many schools, within a few months, at no cost whatever to the Association, giving these grand instruments and paying freight on them to the field!

One message that comes from the work in North Carolina is of so much interest that it ought to have a place here. A teacher had been visiting her former field of labor, and she writes of this visit as follows:

"One young man, who was but a small lad when I left there, came to shake hands with me and said, 'Do you remember how you talked to me right out there under that tree? I tried at first to get away from you, but you would not let me go till I promised you I would give myself to the Lord. I thought, "Now I must not lie to that woman," and I did what I promised right there, and I have kept serving him ever since.'"

Such evidences of souls renewed is worth a life of even such self-sacrifice as this brave woman lives. Like testimony could be gathered of many of these A.M.A. missionaries.