REVIEWS ... ... ... ... 107 ... ... 103, 182 45 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... : ... 105 42 403 320 45, 107, 177, 244, 312, 397, 474, 541, 612, 680, 753, 813 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE 48, 181, 249, 318, 401, 480, 542, 550,552, 617, Missionary Society last year. I also know a church in the town of B——, which numbers 162 members, and this latter church is equally as wealthy as the church I have referred to in the town of A-—; but this church only contributed £10 to the Missionary Society last year, which was £12 less than her sister-church, to the same object. Again, I know a church in the town of C, which numbers 170 members; this church only contributed £2 17s. to the Missionary Society last year. Further, I know a church in the town of D—, which only numbers 90 members, and I know that this church is not only fewer in its members, but it is also very much poorer in this world's wealth, than the church in the town of C--; still, though this church is fewer in numbers, and poorer in this world's goods, than the church in the town of Cit contributed to the Missionary Society last year, the handsome sum of £18 13s. 6d., full £15 more than her wealthier sister-church in the town of C to the same object. Again, I know a church in the village of A-, which numbers 228 members; this church contributed £18 16s. to the Missionary Society last year. There is another church which I know in the village of Bwhich numbers 245 members; this church, which is equally as wealthy as the church in the village of A—, only contributed £5 15s. to the Missionary Society last year-full £13 less than her sister-church in the village of A- to the same object. I will institute one more comparison only: A church in the town of E- - numbers 273 members. This church contributed £64 6s. to the Missionary Society last year; another church in the town of F numbers 509 members; this church contributed only £43 17s. to the Missionary Society last year-more than £20 less than a church fewer in number than herself. We could add many such instances as the above to show the unfaithfulness, more or less, of many of our churches in reference to our Missionary Society and the command of our Blessed Lord. The above will suffice for the present. The above inequality in the contributions of our churches must have a cause or causes. One of the causes of the inequality, we believe, is the indifference of many professing Christians to all missionary work. Thousands of professed believers in the Lord Jesus, in the United Kingdom, are in possession of the Word of God themselves; they hear the Word of God preached regularly and faithfully, and they are, at the same time, perfectly satisfied to allow the millions of heathen, who are enveloped in thick darkness, to perish without a knowledge of the Saviour. How different are the feelings of such to the feelings of the poet, expressed in the following beautiful lines: "Saved ourselves by Jesus' blood, Let us now draw nigh to God: Pray, that they who now are blind, Another cause of the inequality mentioned is the ignorance of professors respecting missionary work. And I fear that, as ministers, we are not blameless in this matter; at least I take blame to myself for not having endeavoured, to the extent which I ought, to acquaint myself with the mission-fields of the Society, and with the missionary operations of our devoted and faithful missionaries. We want, as ministers, to give our churches and congregations more information about the fields which our Society is interested in, and the labours of our beloved brethren, the missionaries, who are labouring in connection with the Society; were we to do so, the people generally would take a deeper interest in the work; we should have larger contributions and more earnest prayers offered for the success of the work.. Other causes of the inequality are bad methods of collecting the money. Passing over the bad methods at present, I shall say a word or two as to what we ought to do in this matter. The Wesleyan Methodists make every child that is of age a collector to their Missionary Society. Why should not our churches appoint their children collectors to our Society? Are our children less talented,. or less apt for the work than the children of the Wesleyan Methodists ? I trow not. There ought to be a missionary-card in the hand of every child; a missionary-box in every class in our Sabbath-schools. There ought also to be a missionary-box in every Baptist family, to help swell the amounts contributed on the Anniversary Sabbath, and the contributions of the monthly prayer-meeting. Good methods of collecting mean good and large collections. Further, another cause of the above inequality is the great want of more officers. Local secretaries and treasurers must be multiplied. For instance, we have a secretary and treasurer for the Aberdare district. The secretary corresponds with the Baptist churches from Pontprenllwyd to Mountain Ash. There ought to be a secretary at Pontypridd to correspond with the churches from Quaker's Yard to Llantwit and Treforest. |