Missionary alliance 1888.pdf - DSpace

50 INTER-SE:\HNARY)[ISSIONARY ALLIANCE.The vice8, introduced through it in so many places, call for themost earnest thought and protest of an assembly like this; on theprinciple that he who has a knowledge of an intended crime and powerto prevent its execution becomes 8n accomplice of the criminal, if heallows the crime to be committed. Each one of us has some share ofguilt in that which the opium curse brings, unless by our prayers andefforts we are doing wha.t our peculiar circumstance will permit us todo to stop its awful course.just think! while 32,000 of the Chinese have been converted toCilriRt, 150,000,000 of them have been made victims of the opium pipe.Cannot this cODvention do something against this minister of sin? Somedetermine by their pens to keep the subject graphically before theChristian worldj while others urge, through petitions or arguments, ourlegislative bodies to remembe-r that Christianity is humanity and thatwe fire not at aU at ease while a people are languishing under thisscourge of the orientftl nations. Scarcely less awful was the decisionthat brought this calamity about, thall that of the great internationalconf~ren('e .of '84 and '8:> in Berlin, which decreed that the right to sellrum In Africa should be unrestricted.Free rum in the Congo is one of the IDost inhuman steps Christendomho. taken [or the last half of this century. Says Mr. lIorn.day :"Free rum in the Cougo is rapidly assuming a gravity not even secondto that of slavery. The African races have a natural passion for Intoxicantsand t~eir ~li.mate i ~ deadly to drinkers. So eagerly is rum80ught, so preclOus IS It held 10 many parts of Africa that it has becomethe currency of the co~ ntry.For purpo~es of barter it has supersededc.loth, gold and everythlDg else." Let this picture of Dr. Emil Holuthve beforp everyone as a constant reminder of the efforts that th d ­ties of religi~n,. the br.otherhood of man say they should make t: re~cuethe penshlDg children of the Dark Continent. In h,·S "Sv I C h Ai· "h even.I. ears n oout . nca . e says: II As we wended our way down theslope, we came Within. view of another village. The mere sight of ourwagons served to put Its p~pulation into a state of extreme excitement.A whole crowd of men 10 tattered European Clothes-followed byus many women and a swarm of naked children-came sho u t· Ing eager I ytow dar d I uds. They were nearly all provided with bottles, pots or cansan cr e out for brandy, brandy.II They had brought all manner of things to barter [0.,. - r ··t 0SPlrt s. neman h eld up a Jackal B hide, another a goat skin , anothe r h ome-ma d espoons and platters. As we attempted to drive on,th·elf lluportuDlties. .waxed louder than ever..They caught hold of the br·d>lies andpushedt he oxen back, becommg ever more and more clamoro W h d~ us. e a almostto b eat them all. before they would allow us to d Ldirty, untruthful, living without a thought beyond th .pro cee e ImIDe d late .· present,capable of well nigh any crime for tire water" Th·· Iazy,. IS 18 a P cture• •CURIs'rIAN COLLEGES IN }~OREION lIISSIQNA1W FIELDS. 51disgustinl(, degraded, sad enough to touch the heart of every man aDdwoman, who has a grain of Christian pity or human sympathy to excite.Rum here destroys her thousands, but there her tens of thousands.Here its reign is held in check, but there its work is to be seen Inits true and full developments. It is to the bonor of the United Statesand England that they protested against this wrong. Let them neverstop protesting, until a new conference shall wipe out the blot thatthe last gathering at Berlin stamped upon us. If the picture couldonly be painted vividly enough to rouse tbe churches of this country andGreat Britian to the opposition this crime demands IGod nill'8, and this sin certainly has punishment somewhere in itstrain." If nothing is done," says AIr. Hornaday, "within twenty years theinhabitants of the Congo will be fatally injured." Tbe ohurches musttake the matter up, it is their business. "Inasmuch as ye hnve doneit unto these, ye have done It unto me."Commerce, while it can be 8 blessed hand-maid to missionaJ'y effort,and while, incidentally it is of great service in spreadin g' the cause ofChrist, yet in a. lnrge part of its operations, on account of the spirit ofgreed th at dominates it, it is one of the formidable hinderances to theGospel.Its presence, however, is so inevitable, that, if there is ODe grand objectfor which the church should pray and labor, it is the conversion ofthis great enterprise, that the spirit of selfishness which \las made itmad may be exorcised by tbe word of our Master, and that, clotl~ed a.ndin its right mind, it may sit at the feet of .Jesus to ~ea~n hIS w)l1,tbat over the oceans in its ships, that over the desert In Its caravansmay travel nothing that win bring degradation and sorrow, but tellingthe message of salvation it may be the harbinger and strengthener ofthe joy and peace llnd Ii ,~ht of the kingdom of God.The Importance of Establishing Christian Collegesin Foreign Missionary Fields.] ' APEH,B\~ EDMUND s. BROWNLEE, AJ.JLEGJIENY, PA.A modern rival of Christ as a saviour of mankind is eUuClltion,frequently called culture. This is uo n~w.saviour, for t~ere have al.wa!sbeen men who prefer philosophy to rehglOn. I~ ou~ time the belIef tnthe power of education to be_a saviour of mnnktnd IS very .great. Thefirst duty, we are told, is to cultivate. ourselves: Self·rehance Is t~efirst virtue; the gratification of the mlDd the chief end .?f man. It IScertainly true that Wh!ltever elevates human life and refines ~e mind,whatp,ver cnnblf's us to e-nter into the treasures of art amI hteratureshould be commended and loved and praised. But when education puts.itself forth as a saviour of the human soul it goes beyond its bouod.