Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1869-11-23
Address of Rev. DR.. VIM. Munsev

On Friday, the 18th of November, this elo-
quent divine delivered, at the Broad street
Methodist Church in Richmond, an address on
behalf of the Missionary Cause. The Richmond
Whia says: 2a
Long before the hour fixed for the address
| to commence, crowds of people had focked
thither-fearing that they would lose the on
portunity OF hearing the American Spurgeon.
those who had heard him before, soon saw that
though eloquent IN thought and brilliant in i'm
agery, his sllvery voice. usually as clear in its
ring and as distinct In its vibrations and intona
lons as the horn of the hunter on bright
winters morning, somewhat lacked It's wonted
clearness and power Those who had never be-
tore heard him, however, thought not of this
as they listened to his massive thoughts and
striking and impressive figures, illumined every
now and then by wonderful specimens of word
painting, that reminded them of the gorgeous
MOWERS, drapery, jewels and burning sunlight of
the ORIENT. On cold paper, from notes that
| have become chilled, it were as impossible TO
give an adequate idea of his force of reasoning.
power OF illustration or wealth of imagery, as IL
would be to transfer to this column wood cut
sketch OF Elder S Battle of the Crater" and
thereby do justice to that great Virginian's
work OF art. His idea of duty, as contrasted
WITH that OF great mathematician, his picture
oI ETERNITY, and others that we could name. will
never be effaced from the memory of his hear
ers. One OF the most attractive features of his
Grafton is his accuracy of language and the ex
act adaptation of the word used to convey the
Idea intended. In this he excels everybody we
have yet heard. In fact, the most finished artist
| is not more keenly alive to the importance Of
the incest discrimination as to shades and tints
! OF colors than is Mr. Munsey in his selections
from words almost and yet not identical in mean
ing.
His address was quite lengthy, but of course
| no one tired OF listening to him. While not IL
| tending to depart from our original purpose.
and make synopsis Of it, we ought not to omit
to state that he declared that the Church of
God Is constltutlonally missionary in its purpose
that 1t Isl moreover, and must ever continue
to be, aggressive IN its war against the world
and sin.
| Of this address, the Enquirer and Eronraer
| furnished the following abstract
In commencing his address, DIR. Munsey said
he should be desultory, and would pursue no
regular line OF argument. He appeared as the
agent OF the Foreign Mission Board andyoud
present the claims of the Foreign Mission to the
consideration OF the Conference.
lie SAID there were two enemies In the Church
which should be expelled, and must be expell-
ed before Its work could be property accomplish
| ed on earth. The first is lpfdetitq The Metho--
dist Church South had had young man ready
to go to China as missionary for year past
but ne had not gone beause there was no money
to pay his expenses The Church was afraid
to risk Its money in such an enterprise. The
faith that would not risk every dollar one had
on God promise was anfdelity
Fifty years ago, with the exception of the
Moravians, one church ediGce Of moderate
capacity would have held all the missionaries in
the world. Since that time the number has
been vastly increased $S, 100, 900 had been
| spent, and three hundred thousand souls had
| been converted. AS a result of missionary labor
| he said, commerce had increased; markets had
been opened Heaven approval had been Sc
cured; an investment had been made. the plea
sure OF which would last through all ages /; our
own salvation and the salvation of the churches
at home secured.
The second enemy In the Church was selfish
ness. This sin Is contrary to the spirit of religion
| and was the root OF many other SINS Religion
is essentially aggressive and he thought that the
aphorlsm, ''charity begins at home,'' had done
much harm to the cause of foreign missions.
and he wanted it driven out Of the Church. II
| was the robe IN which the arch-fend clothed
| himself to represent an angel Of light 1t was
essentially selfish and opposed to the true spirit
of religion.
| He said the Southern Methodist Church had
commenced operations amongst four tribes of
Indians, the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees
and Greeks, and that money was wanted to car
ry them on. All Of these tribes had taken the
part of the South in the late war, and out of a
population OF about $4,000 had lost 25,0O0.-
They call tor help to-day, and the only thing
that can be done to civilize and christianize
them is to send missionaries and build up schools
and churches amongst them. We have but
splendid churches on the dust of the dead of
their race and We are now called upon to help
| them. .t u.r
The Church had agreed to give 81, 500 for
missionary purposes to the lndiaus and it must
redeem its pledge. This field and the mission
which was organized in China in lS4S, were the
only active fields which the Methodist Church
now have. The field in China was the greatest
on earth, and It's success would be indicative of
the success of the Church. Unless something
was done speedily in China that people, one
third OF the human roce, would be lost to Christ
for centuries, perhaps They would be educated
| to lnhdellty, and it would be more difficult to
convert them from iu6delty than from pagan
ism.
The board Of foreign missions was In debt to
the amount of $4,000. Of this amount $l9,-
600 was due to gentleman in New York, who
cashed the drafts and saved the credit of the
board during the war, when remittances could
not be sent from the South. This debt must
be paid. The Virginia Conference has given
more than any other Conference in the conpec-
tion, and he felt deeply grateful. He wanted
1t to do more. lie said the membership of the
church amounted to about 545, 900 persons, and
that In response to an appeal to this member
ship for money, he had received 5000.
The Old School Presbyterian church paid for
foreign missions $l.0S for each of its members:
the Congregationasts, $l.O3 the New School
Presbyterians about so cents; the Reformed
Dutch about As cents; the -EDiscopaians, 81
cents; the Is cents, and the Methodists 2t
cents. $685. --
The Wesleyan Methodists in England paid
81 per head and the church there was much
more powerful than In this country.
DIR. ,Munsey's address, Of which we have
given but a meagre synopsis, was about two
hours and half In length, and was listened to
with deep attention by large audience. The
church was crowded to It's utmost capacity
Many very beautiful and eloquent flights of
oratory were INDUCED in by the speaker and
held the audience spell-bound. There was not
the slightest manifestation Of weariness, and
every one would have been willing, apparently,
to have listened double as long So
/ At the close Of the address collection was
taken up, and upwards Of S., 900 in money was
subscribed and paid in towards paying off the
debt of the beard 4
When the hand hath done good act, ask
the heart whether twas we'll DONE t
Which is the way to curb a wild young man
n n