St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-03-17
Letter from China.

III tht ftticdOHtdH OF October StlI, lie
cciNed to-day December Gth-I motto,
this item ''Thc entire amount of con
tootS up S2.SOO.SG." If all the churche.
connected with the various Mission
AIRY Boards would give us liberal.
ly aS did the st. JolInshury churche.
last October, how long before the YEARLY
cry, The Board is again in debt =
would cease to be heard Ir who ar.
good at tigures. calculate. and publish
the result. We who are missionaries re-
i"ice with you who have given, as vel
as with those who receive we rejoice
and pray that other churches may '.gr
and do likewise"
a letter just received tells of one
Foreign Missionary Board SI95.OOO in
debt. In consequence of this debt.
when money is wanted for sanitary pur-
| poses, for schools. or 10 establish Other
schools III remote region; when such
Il thing as Il school for girls. was never
before heard of i'll all the these ages OF
| Chinese civilization; or when helpers
are needed to do some of the much
work those already in the field must
needs leave undonc the answer is the
same old story We must economiZe.
because of hard times and debt. So ",
do economlZe e-save money and lose
| life Our good Secretaries do all they
can, but they do not think it wise tu
Increase the debt. 1t is not. PERHAPS.
busineSs-like. But it may be that the
wisdom of this world in this respect, is
toolishmcss with God Perhaps we need
Il little more of that faith that removes
mountains. Had the contributors Il
little mole of this faith. prompting them
to trust more of their gold and silver Ia
the Lords care. the secretaries and
missionaries would not need quite 81
much. For missionaries To live upon.
and do their missionary work upon faith
entirely. is not wise. \ good reliable
Board. to stand upon i'll emergencies. l.
IL good thing.
One missionary lady, who came t"
China on the faith plan. for want of a
good toCthold Somewhere. drittcd here
and there. and tiualy V finds herself
anchored in the Romsli Church. Why
iS il that the regular contributions in
some churches are So small and that
frantic. spa>modic efforts. have to be
made nearly every year to remove the
debt ? Is it want Of faith i'll God. OF
lack of faith in missionaries
Now am going to take it for granted
that some of the readers of the CdledO-
MAN like to hear about missionary life
and work. and tell you what | know
about missionary work. Not all |
know. however. for that would lie too
much to he 'digested at once. A mis-
sionary. travelling at home, says. at is
wonderful how little many of the
churches know about missionary work. .
(ThiS was not said of New England
churches, yet it may be true of some of
them.) | wonder how Aany people
read the Missionary Herald, or other
missionary papers. as they do their
dailieS and weeklies, quite through. to
get information, to keep posted on the
affairs of the times? 1t is possible a
careless reading or no reading at all -
of missionary news, accounts for their
not knowing as much as they might,
and for their meagre contributions.
| remember in the olden times. at the
North Church. the mission fields were
parcellcd ont to different persons, who
were expected to gather all the infofma-
ton they could, and give an abstract of
the news of the month at each monthly
concert. In the first place. not all the
church members were there to hear,
and perhaps some whe heard of these
missionary "tours,' of prosecutions, OF
encOuragements and discOuragements
generally, thought missionary life must
be stupid sort of life any how, and
did not heed what they heard, did not
think of the men and women of whom
they heard as real lire men and women.
at the front. where the battle is tercest
contending with the devil and his
! lepions whether in the form of false
brethren. OF outright heather. For the
devil never loses an inch of his territory
that he does not fight tiercely for: and
to make more sure of the victory, when
he sees he is losing ground, he sends
some of his own chosen officers into the
church. there to maneuver or to fight
for him. 1t NAV he. even now, when
the labors of such men as Messrs. Good
rich, Porter, Stanley, Smith, etc, and
of those women who help them. are re-
ported. there are drowsy listeners, who
fancy these men and women are like
the reports abstracts of humanity
sort of an influence floating about North
China for the benefit of the po"l
heathen. Or, if they realize that they
are human beings, they think oi