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2 r r '1 t THE LORD'S PRA YEU. BY R. H. RAK KALB. The lord’s Prayer is at once simple, beau tiful, comprehensive and complete. It is simple and beautiful in its language ana style; complete in its vast comprehensive ness, reaching far and wide in the great do main of religious truth, recognizing and embracing the noble principles that underlie the teachings of our blessed Lord, and that constitute the basis of the Christian religion. The disciples had asked our Lord to teach them how to pray, and this is the answer in which they were to follow in spirit. It is a pattern for them to be guided by in their pe titions. First there is an acknowledgement that there ,s a God whose dwelling place is in heaven. Then there is adoration- showing reverence for the name of the Lord. Then follows a supplication, asking that God's kingdom might come, and that his will j might be done on earth as it is in heaven, I asking also for daily support, and help in i temptation. Then praising and magnifying I the power of God—"for thine is the king- I dom and the power and the glory forever.” ■ Following this model and Christ’s instruc- ; ‘ions, we learn that we are not to use vain i repetitions as the heathen do. In this our i time, and perhaps the assertion may be true ( as respects other ages of the Christian era, it does seem that many Christians, or at least 1 those who profess to be Christians, are fre quently really guilty of taking the name of l the Lord iu vain. In this prayer Christ once I and once onlv says, "Our Father who art in heaven." While it is not meant that we should literally call upon the name of the Father but once during a prayer, yet we would call attention to the fact that we do frequently call upon the name of God con tinually throughout our prayers, much after the manner of one who does dot think what he is doing. How often do we in our prays era say, "0 God," ‘ 0 Lord.” "Our Father,” “Our Heavenly Fathir,” or. byway of va riety, “Our dear Heavenly Father,” etc., in an unthinking way. Some attentive listen er might fancy, without irreverence, that we put in the exclamations to fill up and to make out a kind of respectable-sounding prayer, or that they are put in to gain time to think what must come next. We see nothing of these continual exclamations in the prayer before us. Again; men often pray as though they would take heaven by storm, (at least, so far as the loud noise they make has to do with it), and as though they would bring visibly before the congregation the blessings of hea ven by their thundering voicesand eloquent strains, often accompanied with enthusiastic gesticulation and equally as often having the voii e changed from its natural tone changed sometimes to a full-frog-bass, or a whine, orsome other unnatural tone. We should bear in mind that God is not deaf that we should cry aloud and heat ourselves (clapping the hands, etc.,) as did the prophets of Baal. Men often pray in public so low that one half the audience cannot hear what they say—getting only a word now and then as with nnewed breath they speak the first word of a sentence a little louder than the rest. We should pray, if in public, so as to suit our voice to all within our reach, so that every one can hear and join in with us (si lently) in the petition to God, but not so loud that the audience lose sight of the pe tition, and think only of the voice, or the manner or the words used. We see also that the prayer before us is short. Public prayers are often so long that the audience becomes weary. Many a listen er has said in his mind,"' wish he would get through." I remember in my experience a good brother was called upon by the min ister after preaching to pray. The congrega- tion, composed almost entirely of working men, and the time being mid-summer, with very short nights, were, after listening for a long time to a very dull sermon, rather tired and sleepy. So a short prayer seemed to most of the audience rather appropriate in the close. But the brother called upon (him self a minister), prayed a long while, and confined to pray on, and on, and still on. and for so long a time that the kneeling au dieoce, completely exhausted, arose and sat upright on the seats ; but the brother prayed on, and on, until half the audience, who were trying to hold out to the end, fell asleep, and the other half were disgusted be yond measure. It was said that the reason the brother closed his prayer when he did, was because he heard some one leaving the church. Thus, oftentimes much injury, and perhaps no good, is done by making public prayers unreasonably long. Again ; men often pray for a host of ob jects that are scarcely thought of at any other time, so far as we may judge from their actions and the general tenor of their lives. If I pray for the gospel to be sent to the heathen, I ought to do what I can to help send it to them. If I pray to be kept from temptation, I ought to strive to avoid temp tation. Likewise, if I pray for the sick, the distressed, the afflicted, the poor, the widow, the orphan, and countless other things so well known in our prayers, then my atten tion ought to be given to the carrying out of these thoughts in acts—making my practice correspond with my teaching. And if Ido not make mv practice correspond with my eaching, or at least do not try to do so, then it is wrong for me to pray lor all these things. Bight here, in my opinion, Chris Ilans often make a great mistake. God will aot bear our prayers umess we are in ear nest, and if we are in earnest, we will show it elsewhere than in our prayers. So far as length of prayers is concerned, private indi vidual prayers may be of any length, for we and that our Saviour in private spent much time in sweet communion with his Father. But public prayers should be reasonably long and reasonably short. Another custom connected with public praying, and for which we find no precedent either in Christ's example or that of the early Christians, is that of expressing openly and with loud voice, one’s approval of the prayer being made. To illustrate: a brother Is leading in prayer, and the brethren around make frequent and continual excla mations, as, “yes, Lord,” "do Lord,” etc., or one or two and sometimes several, join in he prayer and produce such confusion that ao one can tell who is leading in the prayer, This custom, when carried to the extent of producing confusion, must be wrong, be cause we know that God is not the author of confusion ; and, moreover, it is a viola tion of the injunction of Paul to the Corin thians, "let all things be done decently and in order.” While this custom is not so pre valent in Baptist churches as in some others, yet Baptists are ever to keep before them 'hat glorious injunction, “let all things be done decently and in order.” "Our Father”—one common Father. The same God that made the Hindoo, the Indi an, the Chinse. made me. The highest po tentate of earth, living in royal luxury and splendor, and the humblest peasant that walks the vale of poverty and despair, have the same God and Father as the author of their being. "Our” may express the idea •hat the human family are bound together in a close relationship. In it we may recog nize the Greek and the Jew, the Egyptian and the Hindoo, the Arab and the Roman the Ethiopian and the Indian as our broth ers. “Our’ —not the Father of myself alone, not the father of my people only, not the father of my church or denomination only, THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 1881. but our Father, the Father of all the human family. There is also a specific application of “our Father," peculiarly sweet to Christians. It is in viewing God as specially the Father of all those who are indeed lambs of the flock of Christ, who are his sheep, and who know his voice, “who are the called according to his purpose,” who are the foreknown, the predestinated, the called, the justified, the Jlorifled, the heirs of salvation through ecus Christ according to the fore-knowl edge and will of God. He is the kind, gen tle, merciful Father of all true Christians— of all who have been redeemed by the blood of our Savior. “Our Father"—lovely relationship! Hu manity exalted along with the angels, “for thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and bast crowned him with glory and honor." When we contemplate the depth of depravity and corruption of weak humanity, how merciful and condescending is God when He still would have us call him Father. We too often look upon God as a be ing dwelling in majesty and glory, and never looking upon us but with the eye of justice and the sword of destruction—as one with whom we have no affiliation, who can not be touched with a feeliag of our infirm ity. But we are taught to look upon Him i as a father, who, obeying the instinct of his ! nature, is ever ready to do what is right and best for his children. A child has all con | tidence in our heavenly Father, so that when I we go to him in prayer, we will go believing I He will hear us and grant our petitions. "Who art in heaven.” Art. who exists. I Our God is a living God, not like the gods iof the heathen which have no life. Not like the deified sun. moon, etc., but a living God, who demands lively service at the 1 hands of his creatures, not dead sacrifices. I “In heaven.” The special place where God 1 visibly manifests his glory to the chosen ; ones around him. Men often worship gods that are on earth. Their affection and ens tire being are often absolutely enwrapped in things of this world. Some worship riches, some dress, others bow before the good opin ion of their fellow-men. Duty is too fre quently sacrificed to deeds of policy. Our aspirations often rise no higher than an ac complishment of some worldly purpose. The dwelling place of our Father, our God, is in heaven. Where our treasure is there will be our heart; if, therefore, the God of heaven is our Father, He is our treasure, and our heart-aspirations and desires will be toward Him in heaven. This acknowledge ment divides the whole human family into two classes, the one having God as their Father, the other worshipping some earthly object as their god. We might well ask the question, are we worshipping the God of heaven, or are we bowing down to some Baal of our mind? "Hallowed be Thy name.” All reverence be to thv name. All honor and majesty and glory and awe be gathered around thy name! Men are ever to bless ai d praise and magni fy, and hold in reverential awe, the name of the Lord. Can a Christian curse? Can one who loves the Lord take his name in vain ? "Thy kingdom come.” Thy kingdom, not that of one earthly king or potentate. Let all of our aims and aspirations be sub ordinate to the success of the kingdom of God. Let the cause of our Lord be develops ed aiid increased and multiplied and spread abroad until all the world be possessed with ! the knowledge and the spirit of Godly ser vice. Far back in the remoteness of anti quity it had been revealed to men that the Son of God would come into the world and set up his kingdom. Now the time was ful filled. and Christ was in the world setting up his kingdom, and made it the duty (andeer tainlv it is a grand privilege) of every mem ’ ber of that kingdom to ask God's blessing upon it, and to be himself at all times pre -1 pared to uphold it, and to resist all opposi tion to it and all innovation into it. To guard it carefully—make it the chief con cern. Let it be the grand object, end, and aim of man. How we ought to love that kingdom I —how we ought to cherish and i protect it, and if need be, like the martyrs, to die for it 1 This is the kingdom in the foundation ot which Christ is the chief cor- ner-stone—“and no other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid in Christ Jesus.” Having such a foundation it is able to stand the shock of time, and how ever rudely it may be assailed from time to time, it shall yet prevail over all its enemies and be triumphant through Christ our Lord. “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heav en.” Thy will, not mine—not the fulfill ment of my ambitious designs if not in liars mony with thy revealed law. Oh I that we could be at all times reconciled to the dis pensation of God's providences, not murs muring at them, but submitting in humili ty. God knows better than we do what is best for us. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and his ways are not our ways. With him there is fullness of wisdom, jus tice and truth. Man’s will is often tyranni cal and oppressive. At his best estate he is imperfect in thousands of ways. To err is a characteristic featurecommon to all humani ty-reaching from the minutest details of his life-work even unto the greatest develop ment of his grandest aspirations. God’s will is always just and true, perfect and pure. "As for God, his way is perfect: the work of the Lord is tried ; he is a buckler to all those that trust in him." We, his creatures, can never be placed in circumstances in which we should complain of his dealings; Like Job, we should be submissive, meek. God’s will is his glory. The great object of rendering service to God is his glory, not merely our salvation. Our salvation is a sequence of glorifying God in our lives. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” The eternal covenant between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, for the salvation of fallen and condemned hu manity was made that God might be glori fied. While God’s glory is not affected by | the obedience or disobedience of man, yet through Christ there may roll in from these worthless souls of ours a revenue of glory which He, who loves the broken and con trite spirit, “will not despise.” "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heav en.” As angels in heaven ever do the will of God, so men on earth ought to continu ally strive to do His will. Men who have the Bible to read have no excuse for not doing the will of God. There man’s duty is clearly revealed. He that knoweth his duty and faileth to do it, shall be beaten with many stripes. , "Give us this day our daily bread. W.e are taught in the Bible that the earth and all therein belongs to the Lord; and that we, the workmanship of his hand, are de pendent upon him for all that we have and all that we are. It is in him we live and move and have our being. It is made our duty to feel and to recognize at all times such dependence; and thus we are taught to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Some times, it might be, that upon the question of life support, Christians find themselves in volved in the darkest clouds of unfortunate circumstances—the night of woe spreads its i dark mantle over them—they are sunken in the very depth of despair, and are well nigh ready to give up. Ah, then is the time to look unto the Lord. "Trust in the Lord, and do good ; soshalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” David says again, "I have been young, and now am ’ old • yet have I not seen the righteous for • saken, nor his seed begging bread.” , “And forgive us our debts as we forgive ■ our debtors. In Adam all have sinned and . come short of the glory of God. Every sin i cursed member of the human family rests i therefore in a state of condemnation, and . has need to be forgiven of sin before he can become reconciled to God; therefore he is to > pray, “forgive us our debts." He is to feel that lie is a debtor to God, and to seek ear- neetly God’s pardon with the spirit that for gives even as he would be forgiven. And if he does not fully and freely forgive others, he cannot expect to be forgiven by God. “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses." Thus we will be forgiven even as we forgive. We sometimes hear one say: “I can forgive, but I cannot forget." If an insult has been offered me, and the offending party has repented and sought my forgive ness, and I say I freely forgive him, and yet will still harbor the thought of the offence in my mind—will still brood over it and think about it, and allow it iff affect me in my intercourse with him, I am deceiving myself. I have not really forgiven him. The true spirit of forgiveness wilrfenable us to forget the offence. Again, we sometimes get tired ot forgiving so often as we are called upon to do so; but Christ teaches us to for give, not for a limited number of times, but indefinitely. We ought to remember -that we sin against God oftener and much more than any one ever sins against us. The spirit of revenge is the spirit of the devil; and nothing can, therefore, be more opposed to the temper which Christianity was designed to promote, than such a spirit. The spirit of Christiahity, on the other hand, “suffer eth long, and is kind, envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not his own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” “And lead us not into temptation, but de liver us from evil." The apostle James says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God : for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted when ke is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” This may mean, then, suffer us not to be led into temptation, or if tempted deliver us from the temptation, or enable us to resist the temp tation and to come out victorious. The world in which we live is full of sin and sin ful influences. The great "adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seek ing whom he may devour.” There are thousands of forms which he assumes in order to influence those he would destroy. Especially does it seem true in the present era of the world, that sin presents itself in innumerable pleasant and alluring ways to draw the unwary into its meshes. With the grand improvements of our age comes also the great evil of a more ready communica tion of impure ideas, suggestions, etc. From the great stench-holes of depravity in many of our larger cities, there are being continu ally sent forth to the homes of thousands of our people, literature of an immoral and de grading tendency, whose effect is to destroy the purity and chastity of our lovely boys and girls, and to beget a spirit of looseness in morals, and to sap the very foundation of virtue. Ah, when we open our eyes to the sad fact that sin is wide-spread, and is con tinually threatening to overthrow the bul warks that pious parents have erected around the sacred spot called home, and in spite of all watchfulness and care, will often covert ly enter their households and lead to des truction their loved ones, how important for us to remember the prayer which is our model, “Lead us not into temptation 1” Our pride and our self-confidence —even our habits of rectitude —are not safeguards to protect us from the rolling tide of tempta tions that continually threaten out course, hut will snap like a reed before the wild tor nado. There is no safety save in the strength of God’s grace. “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.’’ ItisGods kingdom for the reign of which we are to pray, acknowledging at the same time that the power to accomplish that reign is His, and the glory of the accomplishment is His, The Sunday-School. international Sunday-School Leaeona. [Prepared specially for The Index by Rev. 8. H. Mlrick, of Washington, D.C.] Lesson XII. —March 20, 1881. REVIEW. For our present exercise let us recall what we have learned from Luke about John the Herald and Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We will follow the order of the lessons. I. • In the year 6 B. C., Zacharias, a devout Jewish priest, and his equally devout wife, Elizabeth, also of priestly descent, lived in Judea, either at Hebron orat Jutta. Though having long prayed for a son, they were now old and childless. Zacharias went to Jeru salem to minister for a week in the temple. While standing by- the golden altar in the Holy Place, on which he had just put the fragrant incense, and the multitude were standing without in silent prayer, the angel Gabriel suddenly appeared. The piiest was startled, and the angel bade him “fear not.” Then he announced to him that his wife. Elizabeth, should bear a son, and directed him to call his name John. Father and mother should find their long trial of faith ending,in gladness, and many should rejoice at the birth of the boy. This child was to become great in the sight of the Lord, be tilled with toe Holy Ghost, become a second Elijah and the Herald of the Messiah. 11. Six months later Gabriel visited a young Jewish woman living at Nazareth—Mary by name—who was affianced to Joseph, a young Nazarene carpenter. To her he announced that she should become the mother of a child,whose name should be Jesus. Mary im mediately leaves home, and after a four days ■ journey enters the house of her cousin, Elizabeth. To the prophetic salutation with which Elizabeth receives her, Mary responds in an inspired song, in which she sings of the personal favor which God had shown her in making her the mother of the Messiah, of the blessings which shall flow to the world through her son, and of the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham. 111. After three months John is born, and the neighbors and cousins of Elizabeth gather on the eighth day to celebrate his circumcis ion and his naming. Then Zacharias, in a prophetic song, predicts the mission first of the yet unborn Jesus and then of the new born John ; that of the former to be the Sa vior of men, and of the latter to prepare his way. IV. Another six months pass, and shepherds are watching their flocks by night near to Bethlehem, the city of David. An angel comes suddenly upon them amid a blaze of light, and announces that in the neighboring city Christ, the Lord, is born, and that they will find him lying in a manger. Immedi ately a multitude of angels are seen and heard praising God in a sublime doxology. Then the shepherds hasten to Bethlehem, and there find Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. Then the shep herds tell of their angelic visitors, and Mary of the coming of Gabriel. All the people wondered at what they heard from the shep herds, but Mary thoughtfully remembered all these things. The shepherds returned praising God for what they had heard and seen- Six weeks after the birth of Christ he is presented in the temple, and an offering for his redemption presented in obedience to the Mosaic law. There lived in Jerusalem a devout old man, whose name was Simeon, who was waiting for the coming of the Mes- siah, for it had been revealed to him’that “he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." This man was in the temple when the child Jesus was brought in by bls parents, and immediately recognizing him as the Messiah, takes him up in his arms, and blessii g God, deciares himself now ready to depart from earth. Not only does Simeon speak of God’s salvation as revealed, but prophecies that the child shall be the occasion of the fall of seme and the rising of others, a sign spoken against, a source of an guish to his mother's heart, and a revealer of the thoughts of men. VI. We next meet Jesus when a boy twelve years old. He had grown in body, and had become very wise for his age. He goes with his parents to Jerusalem, where he spends a week in attendants upon the Passover ser vices of the temple. When they return, he remains behind, and is found listening to the temple teachers and asking them ques tions. All wbo heard him are astonished, and none more so than his mother. He re turns to Nazareth and remains there subject to his parents, VII, We pass now over eighteen years, atfd find John coming forth from the wilderness at the age of thirty, clothed in a garment of camel’s hair, bound about him with a leath ern girdle. He preached repentance in “all the country about Jordan,” and a great multitude flock to hear him. Conviction follows his preaching, and to their inquiries as to what they shall do, he bids the people generally to be generous, the publicans to avoid oppression, and the soldiers to quit extortion. Then he announces the coming of the Savior, who would baptize in the Holy Ghost and in fire. VIII. Jesus now preaches in Galilee withuntir ing industry and great popularity. We find him at Nazareth, where his childhood was spent. He enters the synagogue, and stand ing up to indicate his desire to read the Scriptures, a roll is handed him containing the prophecy of Isaiah. He reads from the sixty first chapter, and as he sits down to address them, the eyes of all in the syna gogue are intently fixed upon him. “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears,” he says, and thus proclaims himself the Messiah. IX. Within three months from the time when he preached at Nazareth, we find the Savior casting out demons and healing the sick. In some unknown town in Galilee, a man, hopelessly incurable with leprosy, prostrates himself before him, and with strong faith pleads to be cleansed. With a touch ot heal ing power and words of cheer the man is immediately and perfectly cured. In Caper naum a helpless palsied man is brought by four others, and with much difficulty let down through the roof of a house into the presence of Jesus. Jesus forgave his sins, and when the scribes and Pharisees in their thoughts accused him of blasphemy, he proved to them his power to forgive sins by curing the man of his palsy by his simple word. The people were amazed and glorified God. X. John had been imprisoned by Herod, and sends two of his disciples to Jesus that they might be the more convinced that he was the Messiah. The Lord directs them to go back and tell John what they had seen and heard on their visit, and after they have left tells the people about him, that John is the predicted messenger preceding the Messiah. .XL In a Pharisee's house the Lord is entertain ed. A woman who had been a notable sin ner, enters and stands behind Jesus as he reclined at table. Her tears of penitence and gratitude wet the Savior's feet. She wipes them with the hairs of her head and kissing them anoints lhem with the precious oint ment which she had brought. The Lord commends her, forgives her sins and bids her go in peace- TO THE BAPTISTS OF GEORGIA. Brethren : After a continuous service of thirty-three years I leave the pastorate, at the repeated and unanimous request of the Trustees of Mercer University, to become their “Financial Secretary and Lecturer on Theology.” The object to be promoted is of prime importance to the best interests of our denomination, especially in Georgia, and it is also the object of my warm and constant love since my graduation in 1846. My pur pose is single—to promote the interests and prosperity of Mercer University. I hope, however, to preach the gospel widely while pursuing my special work. I ask for the sympathy and co-operation of my brethren, pastors and members of the churches —of the five hundred graduates of the College scattered abroad, and of the citi zens of Georgia generally, who are friends to all proper efforts for the higher education of the people of our Southland. We need greatly well-trained and informed minds, well developed moral and religious character, to advance the best interests of our people. Mercer University is the chief factor in our denominational power. There is a ne cessity for educated missionaries at home and abroad; and educated ministers, deacons and members of our churches. God has given man the religious faculty. All educa tion is incomplete which neglects this part of man. No College can so meet the relig ious development and instruction of our sons, as Baptists, as can our own Mercer. The graduates of Mercer University have made large contributions to the influence and greatness of the Baptists of Georgia. If true to our duty much more may be accom plished in the near future. We need the completion of the required buildings; the enlarging of the library and apparatus; that our endowment be placed upon a wider basis —the endowment of scholarships and professorships; the awak ening of parents, guardians and youth to the great advantages of wider and higher educa tion. As Baptisti we need to realize that we have come into the possession of the inheri tance secured to us by the prayers and sacri fices of the founders and friends of Mercer. Let us catch their spirit, wisely manage our inheritance, and greatly enlarge its amount and usefulness! Baptists have an obligation to meet in the education of their sons which no other peo ple can fulfill for them. Let the silver trumpet be heard from the mountains to the seaboard—from the Savannah to the Chatta hoochee—calling the hosts of our brother hood to support their own University 1 I ask the pastors to bring the claims of the College before their people, and give us help at once by a cash collection, which may be forwarded to me at Macon, Georgia. I ask the good women of our churches, the young as well as the older, to form Merceriau Societies for our aid. They can organize and contribute at least a dollar per member, each year, to enlarge the facilities of education at Mercer. Let us also form classes who can and will give one hundred or fifty dollars, this ear. Let those who are making, or should be preparing their wills, remember that Mercer University can never die ; and that they can, by request, like Jesse Mercer, Jane Posey and others, do good through all time, and be themselves held in everlasting remembrance. As parents you can, in no other way, con tribute so much to your sons' happiness, success and power, as hy giving them a col legiate education under wise and wholesome religious influences. Hoping to find a cordial welcome among my brethren in my new sphere of labor, and a generous support of our University, I am, Yours in the blessed Jesus, SVLVANVS LANDRUM. Missionary Department. REV. J. H DbVOTIE, KEV. C. M. IRWIN. yxmtors, Mission Board of the Georgia Baptist Conven tion-Officers: Rev. R. B. Headden, President: Rev. J. H. DeVotle, Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer: Rev. V. C. Norcross, Recording Secretary. Member*—Revs. D.W. Gwin, A. T. Spalding, H. C. Hornady, F. M. Daniel, V. G. Norcross, Dr. J«s. 8. Lawton. Atlanta; G. A. Nun nally, Rome; D. E. Butler,Madison: J. G. Ryals and R. B. Headden, Carteisvllle; J. H. DeVote. Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.-Rev. H. A. Tupper, D. D., Correa ponding Secretary, Richmond, Va. Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention—Rev. Wm. A. Mclntosh, D.D., Cor responding Secretary, Marlon, Alabama. GIVING FROM PRINCIPLE. The following letter illustrates giving from principle, which is evidently reasonable, scriptural, and pleasing to the Lord: “Dear Bro : Within find fifteen dollars, dedicated by prayer and thanksgiving to the service of tne Lord, which I send to you for State Missions.” The brother has not given me the privilege of using his name. Notice, this is first a transaction between him and bis God. He sets this apart for, and gives it to, the Lord. This he does with "prayer,” to know his duty, for grace to dis charge it, and humbly asking him to accept and direct it for his glory and the promotion of his cause. He makes "thanksgiving” a part of this consecration. Thanksgiving! How wonderfully appropriate. God had given to him that he might give; had as sured him that he would accept his offering, and make him an honored instrument of working with his Lord. Thank giving for the inclination of his heart to give, ana the luxury enjoyed in the worship of giving. Ten thousand thanks for the promised suc cess, rich reward, and assurance that "the Lord loveth a cheerful giver.” The motive influencing is love. Faith takes God at his word, and guided by the provision of his providence, he sends his contribution on its way for State Missions, saying, “pray that I may become a uselul Christian. A professed believer, who does not give, violates the first principle of the Christian religion; it condemns all selfishness, and commands loye and self-sacrificing benevo lence. "That man may breathe but never lives, Who much receivesand nothing gives; Creations blot, creations blank, Whom none can bless, whom none can thank.” He who gives from principle, will give as God has prospered him. Not a pittance to Him who gives him rich abundance. The poor may hope for acceptance with two mites, but bow can a rich Christian pray about and give thanks over a few dimes, while indulging in luxury and worldly ex travagance ? Thousands for the world, what for Jesus ? _________ REPORT OF CENTRAL COMMITTEE FOR QUARTER ENDING FEB. Ist, 1881. W. M. S. Second Baptist church, Atlanta, for L. Whilden’s Bible class sl3 50 W. M. 8., Second Baptist church, Atlanta, for Lottie Moon 6 75 W. M. S„ Greshamville church for "New Hope” In L. Whilden’s Bible class 8 60 W. M. 8., Albany church, for I. H. Eager... 22 CO SSO 25 Dear Sisters: Let us have a full report from every society in the State iu gcod time to make out our annual report for the State Convention. Yours In Christian love, Mbs. Stainback Wilson, P. C. C, Mrs. A. C. Kiddoo, Cor. Sec’y. A GOOD ADVANCE. “Our church has adopted (he plan of ten cents per month from each member, where possible to get it, and you may expect an other remittance from us about the 15th of March. 8. A. Burnby. “Madison Baptist Church.” That field has always been well worked. The members love Jesus, and that love can work wonders. “Each member” is to be in ■ structed and asked to contribute for mis sions. If all our churches would make the effort to reach each member twice a year, even, there would be a flood of means for missions. D. mormon MISSIONARIES. One of the prominent officials of the Mor mons says there will be about seven hun dred Mormon missionaries in the field this year. All over Europe and America these men will proclaim the doctrines of this wicked imposition. Numbers of converts were made in Geor gia last year. Our State Board has only twenty-two missionaries. Ought we not to do more to meet these and all others, in these destitute regions, where they sow the seeds of falsehood and deception ? D. ANOTHER PLEASANT SURPRISE. Received of Rev. Dr. Wm. H. Mclntosh, Corresponding Secretary of the H. 8., of the S. B. C., $74.75, contributed as follows: Beth el, Association, Ga., $43 60; Summer Hill, Stewart county, Sabbath-school. $31.15. Please accept, dear friends, our unfeigned thanks, and may the Lord “bless you wita all spiritual blessings,” and “withhold no good thing” from you. Yours in Christian love, R. J. Hogue. Boggy Depot, Feb. 19. The Central Committee of Woman Mis sion Society, of Georgia, has decided to re port to the Mission Board Georgia Baptist Convention. Our sisters are accomplishing a noble work in diffusing missionarj’ infor mation, and collecting funds for the cause. We are greatly encouraged by their co-ope ration and prayers. Holy women were fore most in ministering to Jesus when he was on earth. Even now they constitute a large majority of the membership of the church es. How vast an amount of good for the conversion of the world the Baptist women of Georgia can do if they will make the effort I Will you all try ? Jesus said of one, “she hath done what she could.” Have you? Will you? D. Da. J. H. DeVoite : My class of little girls in the Cave Spring Baptist Sabbath-school have formed themselves into a “Mission Band,” made me their treasurer, as such I enclose an order for three dollars ($3), apply as you think best. I only wish it was many times more. Your sister in Christ, Ida Davis. Begin with the Sunday-school children, give them missionary instruction, encourage their benevolent inclinations, aid them to form the habit of giving, lead them to Jesus. When knowing his will, motives of faith and love will develop a generation of mis sionary Baptists, contributing from Chris tian pricciple. A sense of duty, ardent emotion and self-sacrificing action, sweetly blending to glorify God in aiding to bring ail the nations to our Redeemer. Lord bless that little “Mission Band.” D. The Bible its own W’itness.—The follow ing incident was related by the Rev. Dr. Yates, a veteran member of the American Baptist Mission in Shanghai. It occurred some twenty years ago: A Chinese merchant came into his chapel one afternoon, and after talking with him a short time, Dr. Yates sold him a copy of the New Testament. He took It home, two or three hundred miles away, and after about three months appeared again in the chapel- He came back to say that he was under the impres sion that the book was not complete, that surely It must have other parts, and so he eame to get the Old Testament, as he had read ana studied the New Testament. What had he done with the New Testament ? He had taken it to his home and shown it to the schoolmaster and the reading people. They said, "This is a good book. Contucius him self must have bad something to do with it.” As there was only one copy, they unstitched this one, and took it leai by leaf, and all those who could write took a leaf home. They made twelve or fifteen complete copies of tne New Testament and introduced it into their schools without any “conscience clause.” It was introduced as a class-book in all that district for heathen schools.— Exchange. YONG SEEN BANG. In the Foreign Mission Journal is the sols lowing autobiography of this interesting Chinese Baptist missionary, our first Chinese convert. He has been supported for thirty five years by the Ladies’ Missionary Society of the First Baptist church, Richmond, Va.', to whom the lett- ris written. He spent sev eral days at my house in Marion, Alabama, when be visited this country with brother Shuck, soon after his conversion. The com pleteness of his change has been proved by bis Christian life and work for Jesus. “autobiography or yonu seen sang. “To the Ladies of the First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va.: “Teacher Simmons has told me that you have written, saying that your church ia now one hundred years old, and that you wish to make a record of the things done during the century, also that you wish a letter from me. "I will now tell you of my conversion and of my becoming a preacher: Mr. Shuck was the first man who came to Canton Prov ince to preach the gospel and to found a church. When I heard the doctrine of Je sus my mind became enlightened, and I re ceived it with joy, trusting in Jesus for the atonement of my sins and the salvation of my soul. I was the first to believe in Jesus and to be baptized (immersed). I was the first man in the Middle Kingdom (China) to preach the gospel, to scatter the good seed of the Word, and to exhort my fellow countrymen to believe. After I was bap tized I always went into the streets to dis tribute tracts and to preach. Many ridiculed me as a follower of the foreigners, but I went on preaching and distributing tracts, not noticing the ridicule and taunts of those around me; I urged men to trust in Jesus, that they might have the Holy Spirit to re new their hearts, and there were nine men baptized on one day. When Mr. Shuck was preaching in Canton Province there were twenty-one persons in all baptized. Seeing that there was no chapel where the converts could be gathered together and the heathen could listen to the gospel, Mr. Shuck return ed to America to collect funds for a chapel, hoping, after conference with the brethren, to come back to China and put up a perma nent building for a chapel and a house of prayer. So he returned to America, I ac companying him; thus I became acquainted with you, my sisters. You were pleased with me and undertook to support me as a preacher to the Chinese. "On his return to China, Mr. Shuck went to Shanghai and built a chapel. I spent several years there preaching to the people and distributing books. Afterwards I re turned to Canton and helped teacher Whil den. Before long Mr. Whilden returned to America and left me alone in Canton to preach the gospel. Afterwards teacher Gail lard and Graves came, and a door was open ed for the gospel, and many believed in Je sus, so that several hundred men and women have believed and joined the church. Many of these have died in the faith, others have disappeared, and others have been excluded for breaking the rules of the church. There are nov more than one hundred and ninety persons in fellowship with the Canton church. Every year an increasing number believe and unite with the church, and new preachirg places are opened in different parts of the country. The number of the baptized is not yet very great, because the gospel has not been known very long in China, and the people do not yet thoroughly understand it. Our Heavenly Father has all power, and he will surely cause the truth to advance rap idly. Jesus has said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed for smallness, but will become a great tree in magnitude, so that the fowl of heaven may find shelter under its shade. “Thank you, my sisters, for supporting me for thirty years and more in preaching the gospel. Thanks be to God for his blessing in giving me a life of peace, and in preserving me in strength of body- “Wishing all my sisters peace, I pray that God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit may abide with you all. Amen. “ Yong Seen Sang. “Canton, China." AFRICA TO BE EVANGELIZED BY NATIVES. The following is an extract from a letter of W. J. David, Lagos, Africa : “I am glad that ‘efforts are making now for some more extended work’ in behalf of Africa, if it means that there will be an equal number of white and colored men sent out, but if it means that colored men will be sent to the exclusion of white men, then I say it is a mistake which the Board will regret sooner or later. I would advise that instead of sending colored men that way, if the Board would expend the money it would take to bring them over, and the extra means that will be required for their support (as compared with natives,) in es tablishing a good Training Institution, which will supply the Board with more faithful, euergeitc and useful, at the same time less expensive teachers and preachers, it would be the wiser plan. We must plan for the future. Such men would have from five to six hundred dollars salary, while a much more efficient man can- be reared here who would live comfortably upon one hun dred and fifty to three hundred dollars. Teachers can be had from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty dollars. If we are to do a great work with small means, this plan is the most feasible. If you have the means to employ more expensive labor, then send the kind that is most desired—white men. In short, my opinion is that Africa must be evangelized by her sous and daughters, and trained upon the field, (her own chil dren educated in European nations are not as useful workers as those educated here,) under the superintendence and assistance of white men. This opinion is based upon experience and observation at mission sta tions along 2,000 miles of this coast. Doubt less this advice to the Board is on the same principle as advice to editors—without cost or remuneration. May the Lord direct and bless the deliberations of the Board upon this very important subject.” The Work of Translating.—lt is abun dantly evtdent how important for a people with a language as yet unwritten must be the literary labors of the missionary, who thus lays, in the spirit of the gospel, the foundation stone of a people’s future litera ture. But a too speedy translation of the whole Scriptures into an unprinted language has its drawbacks. It requires long familiarity with a language, and deep penetration into its spirit to be able, after much prayer, to create and coin expressions and ideas which will be of infinite importance for the future growth of the community in Christian civi lization, For a time at least, the more im portant parts of Scripture should be consid ered sufficient—Christlleb on the Foreign Missions of Protestantism.