The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-07-05
THE STORY OF YATES, TIE MISSIONARY.

l. III JbS ICIi S'S
Of Yates, the Missionary" by DR.. Chas.
T.. Taylor. President of Wake Forest
College. and published by the Sunday
School Board Of the Southern Baptist
Convention at Nashville, Tenn. 1t is Il
handsome volume of three hundred pages
illustrated with Il picture of Matthew
T.. Yates standing, pictures OF the
churches and schools and mission rooms
in China QUILT during the forty-tWo years
he was Il missionary in the Celestial
Empire, and Il picture of the humble
home near Morrisvillc, Wake county, in
which he was born.
This Sabbath. July 3rd. 1898. has been
spent by ME in a Sabbath's days journey
from Mt. Pisgah Baptist church in Wake
coutny, near which Matthew Tyson
Yates was born on the Sth day of jan
uary, 1919, to Shanghai, China, where
this man Of God laid deep and broad the
foundations of Christianity in Il wonder
fully successful ministry of almost half
n century. 1t has been more than Il
Sabbath days journey in knowledge of
the mission work. in obtaining Il clearer
insight into the heroism of that soldier
of the Cross who carried the gospel
to those who sat in darkness, and i'll APP
probation of the character and labors of
Il North Carolinian who deserves a place
in the pantheon of its great sons.
DR.. Taylor has done his work well.
He was embarrassed by the abundance
of material, for Yates had written much.
and his private letters and letters to the
churches and the press, most Of which
nave been preserved, would alone fiji! It
large volume. DIR. Taylor's task was to
let extracts from these letters tell tie
story of the life, and in this way his
book. as he says. would almost warrant
the title Of an autobiography" 1t COM
hineS all the merits of an autobiography
with the attra ctions of Il biography from
Il sympathetic friend. who, seeking to
hide himself and let the reader see only
the virtues of his hero. has given IA vol
umc of such rare interest that | could
not bring myself to quit its perusal I'M
til the last chapter had been finished.
The only true test of eloquence is, Does
it move pcople:' The only true test of
Il biography is Does the writer put the
reader into such relationship to the sub
ject that he is made Il living soul. and
his deeds absorb and charm:' BY this
test DIR. Taylor's life of Yates is I, sue
cess. if | am any judge. Boswell did
not write with more admiration and af-
lection than does DR.. Taylor. and yet
there is nothing of the Boswell in his
inspiring story of the Wake county youth
who Won Immortality because he forgot
himself i'll his sacrifice for his Master.
When | had completed the last page
and remarked to Il friend that it was a
career that ought to make the name
Yates as dear i'll our North Carolina an
nails as the name Of Nathaniel Macon. |
WAS asked: What influence was it that
prompted Yates to 90 to ChinaI' the
answer was. He was called of Goo as
truly as Samuel was called to the priest
hood There is no doubt of it. In the
days of Yates youth there were 10 mis-
sionary societies in the churches. and
suspect that if the pastor of Mt. Pisgah
church. after the monthly service at
which the people did not tire at a two
hours discourse THAT was Il time when
the people could stand sound doctrine in
allopathic doses had given out a notice
that THE Woman's Missionary Society
,yiIl I,I1 81. ,A-.I,. ,-..lI
morrow afternoon at ) o'clock''-I say
| expect such Il notice would havc taken
the breath of the most devout deacon.
Inere was Il Mission Board then. but
the Jealous missionary spirit was not in
fiIencinG the churches to any great ex-
tent, and if Mt. Pis@ah had ever given
ten dollars in all its history to the cause
of foreign missions it was the exception
among the country churches of 60 years
ago. In fact, in nearly all the churches
sentiment where the Indifference wa.
penetrated by zeal or hostility.
The father of Yates was a Christian
man. a leader in the church. and as 3
boy the future missionary heard rich me.
as Robert II. Daniel, 4. c.. Howell
Tom Armstrong, John Purefoy anf
+. w. Down preach-and the last name,
WAS one of the giants of his day. but i
does not appear that any of then
influenced the youth to foreign
mission work. Except Rev. John Pure
foy it is not probable that any of then
spoke to the boy about his own salvation
That good man put his hand on his hea.
and said. May the Lord make ii preach
er of him. This impressed young Yate
deeply, but the human influence to mis-
sion work came from reading the life o
Mrs. JudsOn. He writes of his religion
experiences and impressions. showing tina
he was finding his way to God after til
Old -fashiOned way of repentance and con