Missionary Work and Sunday Legislation
By Editor
Dr. Maxwell, of Swatow, China, says of the people of that country that "there is a great misapprehension as to the number of people who can read. It is absolutely certain that there are not twelve millions who can do so, and it is certain that they will never read the Bible except it is supplied in their own vernacular." Outside of the thousands of churches in London there are 500 missionary workers. Each missionary calls on 500 families every month. They visit the slums and rum-holes, and are subjected to many dangers. During the warm season open-air meetings are held every day and night on the streets and in the parks. The class of people who attend these meetings are people who never have seen the inside of a church. A letter from London to a recent number of the Churchman says:— "One well-meaning M. P., Mr. Francis Peek, is about to ask Parliament to enact a measure to prevent police, railway men, omnibus men, etc., from working more than six days a week, and enforcing in other respects a stricter regard for the Lord's day [Sunday]; but it is perhaps to be feared that such attempts to 'enforce Sabbatarianism' will only provoke other parties to get repealed what they term 'obsolete statutes at variance with the spirit of the age,' which have helped hitherto to uphold a public decorum." Agitation for legislation in favor of Sunday is becoming world-wide. It is an ill omen of the times. Concerning the affairs of the American Board the Missionary Herald for March says:— "The receipts from donations for the first five months of the financial year are about $6,400 less than those for the corresponding months of the preceding year, and the receipts from legacies are about $34,200 less; so that the total receipts fall short by over $40,000. The call, therefore, with which the year began, for an additional $150,000 beyond the receipts of last year, is a call now for nearly $200,000 additional." This is rather an alarming showing; and the Herald asks, "What does it mean?" Reports from the American Home Missionary Society and the Presbyterian Boards show about as large a falling off in receipts during the same time. The Los Angeles Tribune of February 25 contains a report of a sermon preached by the Right Reverend Bishop Murray, of New South Wales, Australia, in Los Angeles, February 24, 1889. After speaking of the prosperity of Roman Catholics in Australia,—stating that they numbered about one-fourth of the entire population of Australia and New Zealand, or about 750,000,—he referred to the necessity of individual and family prayer, so as to make a "prayerful, God-loving country." The report continues:— "He urged this as a medium for making government less antichristian, for the Legislators representing a religious community would enact laws, certainly not in opposition to the laws of God. Following up this same line of thought, he took another step and affirmed that only on a firm religious basis can a government stand, if it would be strong, powerful, and morally secure from misgovernment, from weakness and corruption. 'And any creed,' he said, 'is better than none. Give me the Church of England, or the Presbyterian, rather than that government with no religion.'" This is another straw which shows the direction of the religio-political current in our country. Herod and Pilate were made friends over the persecuted and maltreated Christ; can we wonder if a proud and emasculated Protestantism joins hands with Roman Catholicism to persecute the followers of Christ in these days? The Churchman says that "the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London have been provoked to write to the Times against the N. Y. Herald's Sunday issue in that city." They regard this new departure with "much concern, involving, as it does, the loss of the weekly day of rest to all who are employed in connection with that paper." But these prelates ought to know that there is more Sunday labor put on a Monday morning issue than is on the Sunday morning paper. The reason why the Sunday paper is opposed there, is, we suppose, something akin to the reason why it is opposed here,—it is a competitor of the churches; men read it instead of going to church. But Bishop Temple mentions lawn-tennis parties, and Thames boat-racing, which are prevalent, and he hints that this is so even among the church people. The protests have not much edge to them. Their chief effort at the present will be to advertise the Herald, and that will suit Mr. Bennet. "Facts for the Times" is the name of a useful work for sale at this office. It is made up of extracts from ancient and modern writers bearing upon a wide range of Bible subjects. It is not designed to detract from the authority of the Bible in any way, but to show what good and great men of the past believed, or were compelled by force of evidence to admit, concerning some of the great doctrines of the Bible. It clearly shows that many of what are called "new doctrines" are old, and have been held by respected men of other generations. It also shows the difference between the religious teaching of to-day and that of previous times. Extracts and comments from different writers to the number of nearly one thousand are given on remarkable fulfillments of prophecy, difficult Scripture texts, natural phenomena, facts connected with our country's history, statistics of population, intemperance, war, and crime, condition of the religious, political, and physical world, and many other subjects of interest. The book is also of assistance many times in helping the reader to come to correct conclusions on many important subjects, and to lead him to the "old paths" of truth. It contains nearly 300 octavo pages, well bound in cloth. Price, post-paid, 50 cents. Address the Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal. Would that modern clergymen were as willing to make as much of the apostle Paul's sacrifices and labors as they are of his vacations(?). We clip the following from the Churchman of March 2:— "A very sensible thing has been done by the bishop of Carlisle in laying the foundation of a fund for providing a holiday rest for clergymen who are unable to meet the expense out of their own pocket. Clergymen live a life of emotional and moral excitement which is more wearing than is generally supposed. The smallest parish, and most remote cure, have responsibilities which are more than human. St. Paul, at a most trying and exciting period of his life, broke away from his companions and his work and took that pleasant, lonely walk from Troas to Assos." How little it takes to satisfy men, when they wish to be satisfied! An unwarranted inference, a perverted text of Scripture, is then a sufficient basis for a theory. That church which professes to trace its succession from St. Paul, must needs find something in the apostle's life to justify vacations and holidays for clergymen. His whole life is scanned, his holidays noted, and an instance cited; and that instance was a nineteen-mile journey on Sunday from Troas to Assos after the apostle had preached all night! Acts 20. We would suggest as examples of vacation Paul's labor at Corinth (Acts 18:3), his trip to Rome (Acts 27 and 28), or, his night and day in the deep (2 Cor. 11:25). What a change would take place if ministers of Christ were as willing to make as much capital out of the sacrifice of Christ and his apostles as is here made out of a holiday (?!) Souls would then be saved. Political power would not be needed to bolster up a perverted system. F. Clement Ambrose, in an article in Our Day, of February, condemns England most unmercifully for shipping her idols into India—and justly, too. But he cannot let it rest there. He says: "The governing race in India flatters the marketable goods, and profanes the God of the missionary by forgetting to remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. There is no Sunday in its calendar of public works." Now we suppose if England made such a calendar, if India only had a Sunday law, the idols she furnishes India would be considered only toys. The worship of idols is the transgression of the law of God, because it substitutes the images for God. The putting of Sunday in the place of the Sabbath is directly contrary to the command of God. It is just as unwarrantable a substitution as that of the images, and we opine would have as little effect in converting the nations to true Christianity. It might compel the form, however, as that is the principal thing with these Reformers. The Christian is called to fight; and one of the essentials in the character of a good soldier is courage. It comes from the Latin words, cor, heart, and ago, to act. It is heart action. Fear causes the heart to cease its beating, but courage is the heart acting in its regular manner. The word implies a sense of strength and confidence. A man who is not confident in his strength, or his supposed strength, cannot possess courage. His heart cannot act normally. It flutters, or ceases to beat. Courage also implies threatened danger, strong, wily foes, and seeming defeat, at times. Were the way always smooth and safe, did our foes immediately surrender, did success ever attend us, we would need no courage. Anyone could be brave and confident under such circumstances. But the path of the soldier of Christ is the opposite of all this. The roughest of ways, the strongest and subtlest and most sleepless of foes, sometimes defeat through lack of wisdom or watchfulness. None but the courageous can conquer. But the Christian may have courage. Faith lays hold of God's strength; so it does not matter how weak the individual, his confidence is not in his own power to cope with his enemies, he is "strong in the Lord and in the power of his might." And when by faith he is clad in the best armor, serving in the best cause, under the mightiest Captain, with unlimited resources and strength, surely the Christian may be of "good courage." "Be of good courage and He shall strengthen thine heart." Then, with God's strength, thou shalt "be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For Jehovah shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken." Prov. 3:24-26.