The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-12-13

mate way IS TO make cheerful and liberal
contributions to the great cause of mis-
SONS.
Brother laymen pardon me, but there
is between us a peculiar bond of sympa-
thy, and in closing / feel / want to give
you a suggestion. Try the experiment If
you please Of making a special donation
to the Missionary cause. Make the do
nation substantial enough to give you
some concern and large enough to pro-
mote some special interest, and see how
your interest in the Missionary cause
is quickened. Notice how you warm up
to every effort to promote the evangeli-
cation Of the world, how your desires
for the welfare Of those who labor in for
eign lands grows. Watch how more
readily the notice in our church journals
Of the growth of the Missionary cause
engages your attention; how much more
fruitful are statistics Of the progress Of
missionary efforts, which heretofore per-
haps you have passed over with a casual
glance-for | am sure the experiment will
| repay in the rich approval Of your con-
science, and with the sense of duty done.
besides providing You an asset, that will
not be consumed when the world burns
down.
Since this Conference sat one year ago
at Elizabeth City, a touching scene was
enacted in Trinity church, Durham, and
one that viii be long remembered in that
community A splendid young woman
stood before that congregation to say
goodbye, before quitting these shores
for a home in far-a-way China Her
respected and aged father is a superan-
uate of this Conference. From early
manhood to ripe old age. he has faithful-
~ lived the life Of an itinerant Metho-
dist preacher, and with great power and
acceptability has preached the holy Cos
pei. Now his eye is dimmeP and his
| natural force abated and he fingers in
the fast setting sun Of a useful life His
shield and helmet which bear evidences
of having been worn in the thickest OF
the fight hangs hard by on the wall of
his humble home. His well worn lance
IMPOSED is still upon his lap His bow
is unstrung, but not before his culver
has been exhausted, calmly and pa
tiently he is waiting the summons to
come up higher"
Servant of God, will done,
Rest from thy loved employ;
The battle fought, the victory won,
Enter thy Masters joy"
And while the grand old man." I'm
Gle Joe Martin viii no more be able to
bear the blood stained banner of the cross
to victory, his charming daughter, sister
Lizzie r. Martin, in Pagan China will
carry on the conflict sustained by hum
bic faith in her fathers God; and as
she is truly the daughter of the North
Carolina Conference and our sole native
born Missionary in Foreign fields, let each
Of US resolve that her name shall be
found upon the list Of those we especially
remember in our private devotions.
Some 20 years ago, our beloved Brother
r. Page Ricaud came to Durham one
afternoon, having in charge a bright
handsome Chinese boy, named Charles
Jones Soon, and interested Trinity Sun
day School in Charlie. He was put to
school first at Trinity College, and later
was sent to the theological Department
OF Vanderbilt University TO be more
thoroughly equipped for work in the Mis-
| sionary. fields among his own benighted
| countrymen in China; so that. the town,
which at the close of the war was mere
railroad watering station, but now sends
| its products around the world, thanks
| be to God, sends sometimes on the same
ships messengers Of the cross, proving
| that the love for the spiritual has not
| been lost in the race for the material;
grasping after the shadow as it were,
we have not lost the substance for we
| claim to have established in China and
Africa an interest that through the crash
of worlds and the wreck of empires will
bind Durham forever and eternally with
golden cords to the throne OF God.
Nor has the work of educating Charlie
Soon been without good results upon
Durham leaving as it were a reflex infu-
ence-for to this day Trinity Sunday
School takes a special interest in the Mis-
| sionary cause and contributes every year,
through Brother S. H. Wainwright,
| principal of the Anglo Japanese College,
Kobe, Japan, one hundred dollars, in
aid of the Self Help Society, a band of
young japanese students, in the school
at Kwansei Gakuin, Kobe Japan. and
to stimulate an interest in the Mission
airy cause, our faithful superintendent
has set up in the ladies' parlor adjoining
the Sunday School room, and which in
fact is used by one Of the classes of the
Sunday School, cabinet filled with Mis-
sionary curios, and photographs OF the
young japanese students, and the school
buildings where they are being educated,
can be seen there also.
And, when the Angel, who, standing
with one foot upon the land, and one upon
the sea, swears that time shall be no
longer; then as the one hundred and for
ty and four thousand, who stand contin-
ually about the throne, bow down to
worship, crying worthy is the Lamb, |
shall expect to hear some divinely APP
pointed messenger announce, life up
your heads, o We gates, and be We lifted
up We everlasting doors, and let the ran
somed from China and Africa come in,
and as Charlie Soon, and Jas. A. L.
Trice and wife shall marshal past a null
titude from China and Africa with their
robes washed white in the blood Of the
Lamb, wearing crowns of victory, and
waving palms of rejoicing, the great
oratorio of heaven will swell with the
anthem
''AH hail the power of Jesus name,
Let angels PROSTATE fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
L 7