Christian Messenger (Bonham, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 25, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 27, 1877 Page: 5 of 8
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Christian Messenger.
1
Savoy, Texas, June 20,1877.
Bro; Burnett :
I have just returned from a
trip in Cook and Wise counties.
I did not do much preaching,
but found several congregations
without a preacher, and with-
out means to sustain one; some
I fear have too much formality
to have much of the spirit of
Christ, and I fear that some of
the preachers that have preach-
ed for these churches, have
taught more formality than
gospel. I met with Bro.’s Arm-
strong and Calaway; we had
one addition at Decatur, two
at Eldorado, two on Martin's
Branch, and four on Oliver
Creek; the brethren at these
points seem very zealous, but
are poor, too poor to support
a preacher. There is a great
field of labor open in Wise
and Jack counties, one in
which great good could be ac-
complished, if some good and
faithful evangelist could be
supported. I have been in
Texas three months, and have
been preaching most all the
time, and have had several ac-
cessions to the church; have
received about eleven dollars in
all. But I am still willing to
labor for my Master and Savior.
If my reward is poor in this
life, it will be great in the life
to come. May God, the Father,
help us all to do our whole
duty, is my prayer. Yours, in
hope of eternal life,
Wit. C. McDonald.
Bbo. Burnett :
We have a mail at our office
from up the country, by way
of Corsicana, on every Satur-
day. The Messenger, being
published on Wednesday,
should reach us on Saturday of
the same week, but we do not
receive it until the following
week, ten days after its publi-
cation. Can this be remedied ?
We prize the Messenger very
highly, and are always disap-
pointed when it fails to come
at the right time. Bro. Allen
Kendrick was with us on last
Lord’s day, at night, and
preached an excellent discourse
on “ Work.” The church here
is ministered to bv Elders E.
•*
C. Chambers and N. B. Sykes.
Preaching once a month in
Montcaljn, on 3d Lord’s day;
on the fth we meet in the even-
ing tqf^reak the loaf, and on
the 1st and 2d Lord’s day we
meet at Sardine Ridge, 2 miles
from town. We have occasion-
al preaching by passing breth-
ren, but we are convinced that
but little good can be done in
any community by preaching,
%Hess the church is actively
and constantly engaged in the
practice of their Christian du-
ties. We must be always
abounding in the work of the
Lord. By so doing we grow in
grace, acquire spiritual
strength, and the body being
thus invigorated and strength-
ened, are enabled to do great
good. Occasional feeding on
the bread of life will starve a
church or an individual to
deatj^
YYflfr brother in Christ.
0 Warren.
JtyNTCXLM. June 20, 1877.
Union Bluff, Hill Co., Tex.,
June 12,1877.
Bro. Burnett :
We have a few brethren in
this neighborhood contending
for the faith. %We have been
neglected, as it were, by the
preaching brethren, until late
Bro. T. F. Driskill, a worthy
brother, has agreed to meet us
the 3d Lord’s daj^Jn each
month, and we ^pect to do all
we can, as far as we are able,
to build up the cause, although
surrounded with considerable
prejudice. Bro. Elgan deliver-
ed one discourse at Hillsboro
on the night of the 10th, to an
attentive congregation. Breth-
ren, call by and help us, as you
travel. Yours in Christ,
D. C. Wornel.
Ye Unspeakable
Heaiji
spc
the
Speech of Wong Chin Foo,
at Steinway Hall, N. Y.
At about 8:15 the vivacious
little heathen advanced witu a
quick, nervous gait to the front
of the platform and said that
on account of his copious name,
which few Americans were fa-
miliar with, he usually intro-
duced himself. He then pro-
nounced the numerous sylla-
bles glibly, and the audience,
despite its intellectuality,snick-
ered. He then, as a preface,
apologized for his imperfect
English in a fashion more mod-
est than necessary and said
that he was not responsible for
being called a missionary, as
he was not one and did not
think missionaries were needed
in America any more than in
China or elsewhere. He was,
however, anxious to explain a
few things in relation to his
country. The missionaries,
who he did not think intended
to lie, had misrepresented the
Chinese, partly on account of
their prejudices and partly on
account of their imperfect
knowledge. And it was for
their interest to say what they
did, for if they told the trutn
the mission boards would not
end money to keep them
ere. In enumerating the
wrong impressions the Amer-
icans have of the Chinese he
said they thought nothing was
raised in China but rice, and
that the Chinese lived exclus-
ively on rice and rats and pup-
pies. “Why,” said he, “I nev-
er knew rats and dogs were
good to eat till I learned it
from the Americans.”
Attacking his subject with-
out further preamble, he said:
“You have oeen told that we
have no belief in God, and a
critic in one of the news
attacks me on the groun
ing that there is no word mean-
ing God in Chinese. If the
word were translated into Chi-
nese it would mean suirit, and
we believe in the over-ruling
spirit. The holiest word we
have is heaven, and l defy you
to find one among the 450,000,-
000 Chinese who will use that
word lightly, excepting as they
have learned it from the mis-
sionaries. They will swear in
English, some of them. We
don’t need missionaries or the
Bible to show us God. Our
own nature and all the wonder-
ful works of nature show us
that there is a God. The very
drop of water that falls from
somewhere on top. Do you
think there are no philoso-
phers in China ? Do-you think
powder, the first cannon and
the first system of laws. And
if with all the intelligent states-
men who assist in governing 40,-
000,000 of people here there is so
much trouble in governing
aright, how do the Chinese
manage to govern their 450,-
000,000 ? All your intelligence,
your higher religion, your
greater laws and your more ex-
cellent principles are power-
less to prevent crime, yet I af-
firm that you have ten times as
many murderers as the Chinese
with ten times as many people.
And how do we accomplish
this ? I will tell you. It is by
the excellence of our laws.
These laws have come down
through many generations of
philosophical minds. And we
don’t choose our rulers by fav-
or and by votes. Out of 50,-
000 men who have studied
twelve or fifteen years the Em-
peror chooses three or four who
can stand the best examina-
tion. And these men must not
only have learned the laws but
have mastered the principles.
Can we not say then that half
the population must be intelli-
gent ?
“They say we bow down to
stock and stone. Yes, our peo-
ple do, exactly as the Chris-
tians do. I saw a very intelli-
gent Roman Catholic gentle-
man praying for half an hour
in front of a crucifix once, and
when he got up I asked him if
that was his god. He 6aid no,
it was an • emblem. We use
emblems also. But we do not
consider them gods. Does any
Christian suppose that the
bread and wine you use is
really the body and blood of at least four hundred years be
Christ? It is only a humbug-
ging way of representing them.
“I want to make two points :
1, that a form of religon is giv-
en by the Creator to every na-
tion that is suited to it: 2, that
missionaries going from one
nation to another only confuse
matters in general. The Amer-
ican and ’Chinese people are
exactly opposite in almost ev-
erything. With you, gentle-
men remove their hats in socie-
ty. With us, if a gentlemen
should do this he would be
thought a savage. You shake
each other’s hands till you
give one another the rheuma-
tism. We shake our own when
we greet our friends, and the
tighter we squeeze the more we
honor our friends, but w& only
hurt ourselves. You take soup
first, we take it last. Yrou have
your wine iced, we have it
steaming hot, but we don’t get
so hot alter drinking it. You
ask about the health of one
another’s wives. If one should
be guilty of asking a Chinese
gentleman about his wife he
would—well, he would reply
politely, but he would say
“She is altogether too insignifi-
cant a person to engage your
attention for a moment. It is
of no consequence about her
health.” What would happen
if an American gentleman
should say this ? I imagine he
would have more trouble than
Brigham Young. And you
show your affection in public.
I remember how amazed I was
when I first saw a gentleman
kiss and embrace his wife in a
depot. I thought the Ameri-
cans must have so much affec-
tion .that they could not con-
trol themselves. But I found
.out afterwards that these peo-
ple who embraced themselves
in public quarrelled with them-
selves in private. In China we
keep our affection for private
life, and we are more careful
why she did not play, for I
thought she had be tuning the
instrument, and I was aston-
ished that so beautiful an in-
strument should make such
horrible noises. And I have
seen Chinese musicians move a
Chinese audience to tears and
laughter without affecting in
the slightest degree two or
three European gentlemen who
were present. But because I
did not enjoy it, was there no
harmony in the piano playing?
And because the Europeans
were not affected, does it fol-
low that the music of the Chi-
nese was not good ?
“It is so with our religion.
It differs from yours, but is
that any reason for supposing
that God has forgotten 300,000,-
000 of his creatures ? If God
so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son to die for
it, does it seem reasonable that
he leaves the largest part of
that world without the benefit
of that sacrifice ? If the par-
ticular denomination who pass-
ed a resolution lately that all
adult heathen would be damned
believed it, they would all p*
at once to heathen countries,
or else they would be in danger
of being damned themselves.
If it is true, we need 40,000,000
missionaries at once. But why
should they talk about adult
heathen when one of the Pres-
byterian denominations has
said with equal reason, that hell
is full of children five or ten
inches long ? But you all know
this is not true better than I
can tell you. The great relig-
ionist Buddha was our Christ,
tie end of whose name is Wong
Chin Foo, closed his lecture
and was warmly applauded.—
[N. Y. World.
A Difficulty. •
A Methodist minister is in
trouble hbout infant church
members!]ip. He writes to the
St. Louis Christian Advocate as
follows:
“Mr. Editor :—I have a case
that troubles me. X. Y. was
baptized in infancy. In adult
age he has professed faith in
Christ, seeks membership in
the Methodist church, and de-
sires to receive baptism as .an
act of intelligent faith. I know
what our “standards” hold on
the subject.- ’They deny him
his request, and send him else-
where for church membership.
This disposal of the case sug-
gests the following questions,
which I submit to you. Please
answer them in the Advocate.
Note, I am a Southern Metho-
dist preacher, in charge of reg-
ular work; I believe firmly m
infant baptism; the case 1 sub-
mit is actual; and similar cases
have frequently occurred in my
ministry. But the questions:
1. When Peter says (Peter
iii. 21,) that baptism is the “an-
swer of a good conscience to-
wards God,” does he mean the
conscience of the church, as
represented by the administra-
tion, or the conscience of the
subject ?
2. When one baptized in in-
fancy renounces, on coming to
mature age, the act performed
upon him as baptism, does it
not cease to be baptism to him?
and he taught us our -religion (Consult Rom. ii. 25, where cir-
* ’ in a given
in a moral
that the Chinese who havel about marrying, for we have
come in such numbers tojno system of divorces. Per-
Amerira, or even that the lec- liaps the reason is that we have
turer before you, is a fair repre- j no lawyers to show us how to
sentative of the Chinese liter-!get rid* of our husbands and
ary men? If so, you are great-; wives. All our pleasures are
There is a pecan tree in San!hv mistaken. Aside from our j different. I remember I went
Saba county over eighteen feet' ^F-derful history, look at the; to hear a very famous piano-
in circumference anil otip hnn j inventions of the Chinese, player soon * after I came to
11 circnmterence and one hun- TU^llia,ie ,he first printing, America, and I sat for half an
t!p to1 the first mariner’s compass, the hour waiting for her to berin.
dred and fifty feet from
tip of the limbs.
i first porcelain, the first gun-j And when she went out I asked dressed, the gentleman, the lit
fore Christ. It has all the es-
sential principles of Christian-
ity. I don’t see that this Chris-
tian religion is anything so
wonderful that it should be ad-
vertised everywhere like Mrs.
Winslow’s Soothing Syrup.
What is it to become a Chris-
tian ? I take it to be becoming
a Christman. Well, Buddha
taught how to become one.”
The lecturer then quoted at
considerable length from the
doctrines of Buddha, which are
taught in different language, he
said, in the New Testament,
aiid continued: “Christians say
that Buddha did not teach the
immortality of the soul. That
the nearest he ever came to it
was in teaching the transmi-
gration oj souls. W.ell, the
Buddhists aon’t understand it
so. We think he taught the
immortality of the soul as clear-
ly as possible. And if we did
not believe it, why should our
religionists practice their terri-
ble austerities and torture them-
selves, and travel thousands of
miles to learn more of religion,
as they do ?”
Confucius, he explained, was
not a religious but a moral
teacher, and had given China
all her education. He said that
there had never been any per-
secution under the teachings of
Confucius, and that Buddha
explicitly taught toleration for
the religion of others. Under
Christianity thousands of men,
women and children had been
slain for their religious belief.
“And this is kept up now. Even
I am persecuted. They have
followed me with all sorts of
slanders and bloody-shirt busi-
ness wherever I have lectured,
and the papers have been full
of stories about my ‘beating’
hotels and getting into all man-
ner of disreputable scrapes.
But,” he continued excitedly,
“why don’t they prosecute me
legally, if it is all true. I defy
any of the malicious Chistians
and editors who have circulated
these stories to prove them.
But pray pardon me talking
about myself. This persecu-
tion always excites me.”
With a few graceful words
of compliment to his audience,
which he said was the greatest
in criticism and the smallest in
numbers that he had ever ad-
curacision ceased,
case, to be such
sense.)
• 3. Is the denial of the right
in question anything more than
a corollary of the Romish doc-
trine, that in baptism an indel-
ible sign, or mark, is placed
upon the soul ? I quote from
Peter Dens’ “Moral Theology,”
a standard in high repute
among Romanists. Dens gives
the doctrine of his church. In
treating of the sacraments of
baptism, thp eucharist and or-
ders, as impressing a sign upon
the soul, “it is indelible,” savs
he, “so that it never can be de-
stroyed either in this world or
roy<
the
glory,
disjerrac
m me world to come, but it will
remain in the good for their
and in the bad to their
ce.” Hence, the council
of Tr€^t, in its “Canons coni
ceraing Baptism,” says:
“13. Whoever shall say that
infants, because they have not
the act of faith, are not to be
reckoned among believers after
having received baptism, and
on this account are to be re-
baptized when they arrive at
the years of discretion ; or that
it is better that their baptism
be omitted than that they sho’d
be baptized in the faith only of
the church, when they do not
believe by their own act; let
him be accursed.”
4. If no ‘indelible sign’ was
‘impressed on the soul’ of X.
Y. by his baptism in infancy, a
postulate in the affirmative,
that no Protestant, we dare say,
will accept—upon what Scrip
tural or rational ground can he
be denied baptism now ? Shall
I repel him from the church of
his choice, because his con-
science does not tally with our
standard writers,” as they are
termed, on a point on which
both the Scriptures and our
book of discipline are silent ?”
The editor closes a lengthy
reply with the following:
“Without venturing any ad-
vice to our correspondent on a
matter so delicate as this, and
about which there has been
such diversities of opinion an 1
practice among professed
Christians, we merely say, in
the language of the apostle,
“let every man be fully per-
suaded in his own mind.”
“Happy is ho that condemnt th
not himself in that which ho
alloweth.”
m
m
• JS
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Burnett, Thomas R. Christian Messenger (Bonham, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 25, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 27, 1877, newspaper, June 27, 1877; Bonham, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth974302/m1/5/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bonham Public Library.