The record-union., 1898-09-25
IA new MISSIONARY FIELD.
REV. A. b. BANKS SAYS WAR
INCREASES CHURCH WORK.
A Sacramento Minister Says This
Coast Will Become Very
Important.

Probably every thoughtful person in
the country has caught a CLEAN of the
truth that the annexation of Hawaii
and the extension of American interests
abroad, as result of the war (whether
the Philippines are annexed or not) will
develop a greater amount of business
than ever known in this country This
will be wide in it's ramifications.
Rev. A. B. Banks of this city, who
has given the subject of foreign acqui-
sitions a great deal of thought, and who
believes in the expansion of this coun-
try's foreign policy, says there is a
line of activities now opening that few
people have ever suspected-that of for
eign missionary work; it looks beyond
the Pacific, to China, Japan and the
Philippines.
II am proud to say said the gentle
man last night, that the Baptist
Church has always been prominent in
missionary work. We have strong
home and foreign societies, and the
church has a powerful and perfect or
ganization. At the May meetings, where
it was decided that the representatives
of the church will meet in San Fran
cisco next year, it was the general SEN
timent that the West is becoming a
more important field than ever before.
These great meetings to consider church
work are held every year.
To-day Boston is the center of our
missionary work, being the. location of
the great missionary depot. Chicago is
our Western point, while Philadelphia
is the headquarters for the publication
= L, H.
cific Coast is as yet only rim, not a
center though there are houses in San
Francisco that carry our publications.
Here, however, is what I see: San
Francisco is destined to become the
center of missionary effort, not only
in our church, but for other churches
The Orient will be supplied from San
Francisco.
Next spring the May meetings will
bring hundreds of leading Baptists to
this coast, representatives from all over
the Union. These meetings will be held
in San Francisco. I can foresee that,
as a result of their deliberations, the
coast viii grow in Importance in their
estimation. Great advances have been
made in the work since Rev. o. c..
Wheeler first opened a Baptist Church
on the coast in August, 1919, at San
Francisco next locating in Sacramento,
where he is still remembered by all the
old time BaptistS, not only here, but
everywhere. He came here and did
great work in the pioneer times of the
country. That is one of the reasons
of the meeting that will occur in May
at San Francisco, sort Of semi-centen-
NAL celebration"
1t is also Mr. Banks idea that the
country's growth is destined to be such
that all pursuits will look across the
ocean. II firmly believe" said he,
that China and the Orient will furnish
a wonderful field in the next few years
for the industrial, commercial, educa-
tional and religious activities of Ameri-
cans. AS a result the Pacific Coast and
California in particular will become
more than ever an important center
rather than a mere rim of influence.
There are many signs in the religious
field that this is true, and I cannot see
why it is not so in other realms
Macaulay wrote against the extern
sion of empire for England, and he, as
we'll as others, have argued that CO.
lonial possessions have been menace
TO every country entering that field );
but they wrote of monarchies. You
must remember that this is a land of
freedom and that the soil of the world,
the tomorrow Of civilization. so to
speak, is ripe for the opagation of
the idea of liberty. That surely will
give the country hold abroad and will
make California important in the fu-
fIlrp