The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1867-11-27
Our Foreign Missions.
DIR. WILSON'S ADDRESS.

ings of Presbyteries this Fall and othel
expressions of public sentiment in oul
Church, that there is a growing interes
in this subject, and deeper conviction
gaining ground daily that the impoyer
ished condition of our country cannot
safely be offered as plea for neglecting
it. There is no fact in modern ecclesi
astical history that is better established
than this: that attention to the wants Of
the world abroad is help rather than a
hindrance to spiritual prosperity at home.
If we were to sag it is sure way to
promote the interests of vital religion il
our own congregations, around our own
fresides, and in ear own hearts, we should
be nearer the truth. DR.. Payson elo
quently remarked that when the English
Church began to reach the full cup OF
salvation to distant India, the overhowing
drops fell apoy ~ Own soil and gladden.
ed the prospect with new signs of lif'
and beauty. To her noble Bible and
Tract Society, and her various Missiona-
ry organizations, that Church is doubt
less largely indebted for the blessings OF
the Gospel that have been in the present
century so richly difiused among her
own people. In addition to the Free
Church of Scotland and the little band
of Moravians mentioned by DIR. Will
son, we have striking example in
the Reformed Dutch Church of this
country. The growth of this Church
has been so manifestly the result of its
efforts in the Foreign Field, that its lead
ing organ and its best writer's and speak
ers are accustomed to base their appeals
in behalf of Missions upon this very
ground.
We have not lately heard any address
to which we listened with more pleasure
than to that of DR.. Wilson on this subject,
lately delivered before the Synod Of Vir-
ginia. The evident honesty and sinceri-
ty of the speaker, approved by severe,
personal experience in the cause, the
grace and dignity of his manner, and the
easy flow of his language were much Ill
favor of good impression when he ad-
dressed us on this subject, as well as
when he advocated the cause of Susten-
tion, not less important and interesting.
But above and beyond all this, as he un-
folded one after another the providential
indications and the active efforts which
have already opened before our Church
three great and widely separate fields, it
was impossible for that large audience of
Christian people to resist the conviction
that the great Head of~the Church was
now indeed c.asling His peopSlnnnllrs
after rich and noble Inheritance nj the
wide domain purchased by the blood of
the Redeemer.
In obedience to the natural desire that
all in the bounds of the Synod might
participate in the emotions awakened by
this discourse we give full report of it
below, with the hope that pastors and ell
ders will, at their Monthly Concerts of
Prayer, and on other suitable occasions,
make known the interesting facts to their
congregations.
The report was made by member of
the Synod for the Richmond Dispatch.
Dr. Wilson took the pulpit about o'clock
Saturday night, and proceeded to address the
Synod and large part of the audience that had
been assembled to hear the sermon.
He said that years ago the Church established
missions among the Indians west of Arkansas,
viz: Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks,
and Seminoles. The missionaries were all old
men. Mr.. Byngton, eighty years of age per-
forms long rides and laborous services. He is
now in New York experimenting the printing of
the Bible in the Choctaw language, by the Amer
lean Bible Society. Before the war the proper
ton of church members among these Indians
was larger in the ratio of their population than
among the white people of the United States.
When the war broke out. they warmly espoused
the Southern cause. He was among them at the
time, and was surprised to see to what extent
the war-dance and other old heather customs
were revived among them. Many were slain or
died from sickness during the war; the churches
were scattered; religion suffered; and the peo-
Ia don, aroli,ad Rut in rn0nfhc in or
past better spirit had been revived, and the
number of converts last year was larger than
formerly; the proportion of members in the
churches is larger than before the war; and the
aspect of things encouraging. He could testify
from personal observation that the work of reli-
gon among the Choctaws was remarkable for its
genuine character. They were the best people
by nature that he had ever seen, and were re-
markable for their honesty, sincerity. and entire
devotion to their Master, Jesus Christ. Their
contributions to the cause of benevolence (espe-
cialy to foreign missions) were, before the war,
greater than those of churches in more favored
sections, considering their poverty. When he
travelled in an open wagon through their coun-
try, he found the people so honest that he never
found it necessary to remove his baggage from
the wagon at night; but as soon as be crossed
the line into Arkansas, he was told that he must
take his baggage out at night and put 1t under
lock and key. Their taste for preaching was
simple They did not ask for learned men or
orators; they only wanted men who could read
the Bible and explain it to them without exhor-
tation, and would sit for three hours under these
familiar discourses. They were willing, they
said to take our caSt-of ministers II they were
good men, and could read and explain the Scrip
lures. In his travels he often found old men and
women assembled around pine fires near meet
ing house, learning to read under their children,
who had been taught to read at the schools Of
the missionaries. These old people only aspired
to learn enough to enable them to read the BIZ
BILE. When the minister arrived at the house Of
a Christian Choctaw on any day of the week, a
horn which hung at the door was taken down and