The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-06-16
SUNDAY MEDITATION

| SUNDAY MEDITATION
--~+r-s-
| A Study of the international Sunday
SgiioU
School Lesson. Appointed for June
| Is, 1892. re-
| --t-z -
Subject: Our Duty to Support Missions. Ps.
-.
Zone reading these notes should first carefully
study the paragraph FROM the Holy Scriptures ~
| indicated above.l
INTRODUCTION.
/. 1t ia we'll the committee on selecting les
sons for Sunday schools have special lessons on
| the subjects of temperance and missions.
June 26 is set apart to consider the second
subjcct-missions st. Mt. %: 10, is the COM
mission of the Church. Rev. John Wesley's
idea that the world is our field of operation as
Christians is correct
Mr. Dariom has not been counted as Christ
Ian in the sense of having ever allied himself
to church body of ever having protested
Ialtn IN bBo CnriStian reIi1lon as SiPeFhatu-
raj system of faith. He was, nevertheless, too
sensible man not to recognize. allow and ap-
preciate the work done by Christians. He
| heard through some adverse critics Of foreign
missionary work and then said, defending
missionaries against SO unreasonable attack.
| "They forget, or will not remember, that
| human sacrifices, and the power Of an idola-
trous priesthood; system of pro1igacy un-
paralleled in any other part of the world; in
fanticide, consequence of that system;
| bloody wars, where the conquerors spared
| neither women nor cEildren-that all these
have been abolished; and that dishonesty, in
| temperance and 1icentiousness have been
| greatly reduced by the introduction Of Christi
| anity. In IL voyager TO forget these things is
| base ingratitude; for should he chance to be at
| the pout of shipwreck On some unknown
coast, he will most devoutly pray that the les
son of the missionary may have extended thus
| far"
1t is to be remembered our missions are not
simply for spiritual effects. The aim is largely
| to help men and women in this world. The
famous III. AT. Stanley is correct, declaring in
| one Of his volumes, eft is strange how British
| phian thropsts, clerical and lay persist in the
| delusion that the Africans eau be satisfied with
spiritual improvement only. They should en-
| deavor to impress themselves with the undo
| niable fact that man-white, yellow, red, or
| biack-has also material wants which crave to
be understood and supplied. a barbaroua man
| is a pure materialist He Is full of cravings
| for possessing something that he cannot do
| SCRIBE Ho is like a child which has not yet
acquired the faculty Of articulation. The mis-
sionary discovers the barbarian almost pefied
| with british ignorance; with tho instincts Of
man in him, but yet living the life of beast.
| my experience and study of the pagan prove
| to me that If the missionary show the poor
| materiaist that religion is allied with sabstan-
| tiai benefits and improvements of his degraded
| condition the task to which he is about to de-
vote himself will be rendered comparatively
| easy; for the African, once brought in contact
| with the European, becomes 6ocile enough. He
| is awed by q consciousness of his own immense
| inferiority, and imbued with q vague hope that
| he may also rise In time to the level Of this
| superior being who has challenged his admir&-
ton It is the story of Caliban and Stefano
| over again"
! That was strange statement made by Lieut..
| Shore in lecture en- China and Japan. He
| said {: Until the arrival Of foreign surgeons
| there was not native in the whole Chinese
| Empire who could remove tuDor, treat an
| abscess or even set fractured limb with GER
| tainty." At the time when he spoke there
| were no surgeons in tins army OK navy of
| China.
When in addition to the material effects Of
| Christianity we add the strictly religious
| spiritual, we have an argument in favor OF the
work absolutely irresistible. The two thoughts
| are admirably blended in tho following from
| Bishop Phillips Brooks: Preaching the Gospel
| to the heather IS not standing upon the beach
of a dark continent and crying into the darkness
the story of the Lord. 1t is nothing less, moth
| ing easier, than laying upon all the heather
nature. upon body, and soul, and mind, and
| conscience, and ordinary habits, all together,
the truth Of the redeemed world as Ii has been
laid upon all our nature in all our Christian
culture. That is the reason why the missionary
colleges in China and in India, and the medical
missions with their hospitals where the poor
| bring their sick bodies to be healed, and the
missionaries homes with their living pictures of
Christian family life as true aud legitimate
part Of our missionary power are the churches
| where the missionaries preach. Philanthropy
| and education have come in these modern
| times to take very prominent place in mig
sionary operations not because they were
needed in addition to religion, because the full
truth Of Christ must reach the whole nature Of
man through the whole nature OF man, or the
true Gospel was not preached"
| g We have another lesson from the Book of
Psalms The Psalms have gotten fast hold of
the Christian world, and all young people
should be made familiar with them.
| The Syrian theologian and ecclesastic his
| torian ID. 1872, in preface to the Psalms,
said: " While most men paid little or no atten-
ton to the rest of the Scriptures they were so
familiar with the Psalms that in their houses,
in the streets, and in the ghways they enjoyed
profit and delight by the singing of these
divine odes"
J. +. McCurdy, In an encyclopedia article
| (Johnson's), says of the matter of Psalms: q" It
| must suffice here to say that they tthe Psalms)
| were the outflow of the spiritual life of the most
highly endowed natures of long period Of
Israel's history. Thus, they contain a record
| Of their alteration, confessions, petitions, and
aspirations as these were conditioned, under
the spirits guidance, on the one hand by their
conceptions and knowledge Of God and of his
dealings with men, and the other by their
own inner history and outward circumstances.
| We find in the Psalms vital appreciation Of
| the ideas Of God and Providence that had been
unfolded in the teachings Of the Law and the
most practical illustrations of the duty and
privilege Of worship and obedience. And 30
fresh, various, just, and profound are their
views Of the spirituality, holiness, and good
ness of God, and their representations Of the
yearnings, conflicts, and triumphs of the ear.
nest soul, that the Psaltcr has not only promoted
and made venerable all the hymnology Of the
Church, but has always been the chosen con-
soler and counselor Of the Christian heart"
The Hebrews divided the Bible into three
| divisions-Law, Prophets, and Photographs.