The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-03-08
SUNDAY SERMONS.
Rey,J. ii. Wright DiscOurses on sour
Foreign MissiOnaries"---Ch
Building by Rev. W. A.
Spencer.
OUR FOREIGN MISSIONARIES.

Where Are They" Having chosen the
great commission" of Matt. 2S 2S-29 as
his text, Mr. Wright said Jesus was
foreign missionary. He came to earth TO
save. He personally selected and cons
missioned the eleven AS missionaries TO
all nations, and later he chose Saul, OF
Tarsus, as the special apostolic missions
ary to the Gentle world At his request
the father sent the holy spirit forth as =
missionary to bless and guide the church
The church herself sends out her mis-
sionalies to all nations Foreign mis-
sion work, inaugurated by Jesus, is to be
continued by the church to the end of
time.
Mr. Wright then called attention to the
fact that the great commission, given by
the Savior just before his ascension, was
the first, last and only commission given
by his own authority and rendering par
don TO the whole world. He who goes
out as a missionary of the cross must go
preaching ID harmony with this cOmmis>
sion. lie who commissions alone has
tile right to dictate the manner OF service
and terms of pardon. The missionary
can only declare what is commanded.
Referring to the movement with which
his church is connected, he said it was the
result of an earnest desire to find common
ground of union for ali Gods people
The existing divisions were not only need
less but hindered the progress OF Gods
cause. Sixty years ago this conviction
became so strong that AN earnest effort
was made ia discover a platform on which
ali might stand. To The cry of The BIZ
Die, the bible alone is the religion of
Professionals, they added: Where the
bible speaks We speak; where the bible
is silent, we are silent. Holding
this principle to be true, they fol-
lowed it though it forced them to give
up infant baptism aud other practices as
unscr;ptural IT led to the rejection of
ali human creeds AS sinful and into the
simplicity of primitive worship and prac>
tees The first fifty years OF their his
tory, so rapid was their growth, they paid
almost sole attention to home work. un>
I'll they numbered SOC 600 members with
an average annual increase of ) 900 The
past ten years, Mr., Wright added, has
found us paving more heed to the first
clause of the commission as given By
Mark Cl6 16l Go into all the world and
preach the gospel" Missions in Jerusa
lem and Jamaica having proved compare
lively unsuccessful, we hesitated to try
elsewhere. Foreign missions do not nee
essarily imply work in pagan lands, so
we began to establish missions in old
England. Chester, Southampton Liv
erpool, London, etc, have all yielded us
glorious results. God has blessed us in
raising up men especially fitted for mis-
sion work. DR.. Holck has been at work
in Copenhagen, Denmark. Jules Delau-
nay, educated in Rome, Frenchman by
birth, has been successfully laboring in
Paris. In Constantinople Shishmanian,
Kcvorkian, Tavltian and others, all Ar
menians are busy, laboring as well as
at Sivas, Bardizag etc. in Asia Minor
In far off India, at Hurda and Bilaspur,
faithful bands are tOling with success.
Last weeks papers brings us words that
two of the lady teachers and bible read
ers were badly hurt in runaway. One
OF them teacher in my Sunday school in
another field. had limb broken. re-
member when her sister bcsought me to
persuade her not TO 90, but refused.
sympathiZG with her, so far away from
friends, but God will sire ngthen her In
Jamaica, Australia and New Zealand
others are laboring. From far off Japan
tidings come back to us of unexpected
success. There few month ago, fell the
first Of our foreign missionaries, and the
name of Josephine Smith has become
sacred among us. The others toll to give
u higher idea of life A young japanese
said, 81 will go to America to marry.
Assured by the missionary no American
woman woman would have him, he
yielded to his fathers choice, saying to
the missionary, Il will marry her, but
she won't come further than Tokoi until
she is married. When do you 90 to
meet herr" was the reply. ooh, ! am not
going there. My cousin lives there. He
will marry her for me, then she will come
and he my wife" And so it was Mar,
riage by proxy Convenient perhaps, bu
where is virtue?
SO in foreign lands our missionarie,
are at work One other, NJ. d. Todd, re-
turned, exhausted, to die, passed away
few weeks ago. Let our sympathies, oul
prayers, our means 90 to carry the It'd
ings,Of life beyond to all nations.
Liberal contributions were given in the
Sunday school and at both church ser
vices.
CHURCH EXTENSIONS.
Rev. DR.. w. A. Spencer of Philadel-
phia, who was born and reared in Rocl
Island, but now of Philadelphia, which
is his official residence as assistant secre-
tary Of the Church Extension society o
the Nj. i. church in the United States
occupied the pulpit in the First NJ L
church last evening, preaching an elo
quent and interesting sermon His sub,
ject was the work of the society in Amer
lea and the means OF raising funds tt