Questions for Consideration. THE following handbill is published by the Church Missionary Society. As it is equally suitable to the supporters of all foreign missions, will our own friends let it have their prayerful perusal ? "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.”—Mark xvi. 15. For "the whole world lieth in wickedness."-1 John v. 19. "Having no hope, and without God in the world."-Eph. ii. 12. "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent ?"-Rom. x. 13–15. You are earnestly requested to think out the meaning of the above words of God, and then to put to your heart, and make your heart answer, the following questions: 1.-Do I owe any duty to the Heathen? 2.-Did not our blessed Lord and Master give this positive commandment to all His true disciples, "Go ye, and teach all nations"? 3.-Have I ever done anything to promote the eternal welfare of the Heathen? 4.-If I have not, is this right in me? Is it not, rather, disobedience to God's command ? 5.-With what feelings shall I meet the Heathen at the Day of Judgment, when they cry aloud against me, that I lived on the earth when they did, that I knew the way to heaven, and yet that I never sent to tell them? 6.-Can I be a true Christian if I love not what God loves, and strive not to do what He commands? 7.-Can I be sincere in desiring that "God's way may be known upon earth, His saving health among all nations," if I make no sacrifice of time, or money, or influence, to send Missionaries into all Heathen Nations ? 8.-When I pray, "Thy kingdom come," do I mean what I say? And do I expect God to answer my petition? 9.-Did not Christ engage in Missionary work? 10.-Were not His disciples Missionaries? 11.-Do not the holy angels take an interest in Missionary work. Luke xv. 10. 12.-Ought any objections which the ignorance, or prejudice, or unbelief of man can urge against this great work of the Lord, hinder me from doing the utmost in my power, through the best channel I can find ? 13.-Ought I not to plead for pardon, because of my heartlessness about the dying Heathens' souls? 14.—Ought I not now, without delay, to do what I can in this great work of God? 15.-Do I mean to do it? May the love of Christ constrain us! May God the Holy Spirit show us all what is the will of God in this matter, and then give us willing hearts to try and carry it out! The Promises are sure. "Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession."-Ps. ii. 8. "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied."-Isa. liii. 11. "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him."—Rev. xiv. 6, 7. "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever."-Rev. xi. 15. To feel much for others and little for ourselves, to restrain our selfish and to indulge our benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of human nature.— Adam Smith. The Juadequate Support of Foreign Missions. MR. JOSEPH COOK, in a lecture, after his return from a journey round the world, says : "The Christian churches of the world should be satisfied with nothing less than sending out one ordained missionary for every fifty thousand of the accesible pagan population of the world." "No church ought to call itself thoroughly aggressive and evangelical that does not expend, for the support of missions at large, at least one dollar for every five it expends on itself." "At present these standards of effort are to be insisted on with the utmost urgency. "All that united Protestant Christendom together raises annually for missions would not pay the liquor bill of the United States for three days, nor that of the British Islands for two. At the opening of the century all Protestant Christendom expended only 250,000 dollars annually for missions. It expends to-day 7,500,000 dollars for that purpose. This is a large sum, you think. It is a bagatelle. The dissipations of Saratogas and Newports and Brightons would hardly find this sum worth mentioning in the hugeness of their expenses for self-gratification. The churches are penurious toward missions. We pride ourselves on having paid off great debts, and on having received some mighty legacies for missions; but I believe we shall be, as Ernest Renan says, 'an amusing century to future centuries'; and one of the things that will amuse our successors on the planet will undoubtedly be our unwarranted selfcomplacency in this day of small things in missions. In China there is not an ordained missionary to-day for a million people. In the population accessible to the American Board there is as yet only one missionary for some 700,000 inhabitants. Modern Christendom has thrown one pebble into the great ocean of missionary effort, and stands with an amused childish conceit on the shore of history watching the wide ripples produced by that pebble, and supposes that it is reforming the world. Another century will sneer at us for our conceit and our penuriousness." A Bindoo on Protestant Missions. THE Hindoo Maharaja of Mysore, to whose direct administration the four millions of Mysore, in South India, have this year been made over, made this significant reply to an address from the Protestant missionaries, who have been so successful in that province : I am sensible of the great good which your missionaries have always done, and feel sure will continue to do, in the cause of the moral and intellectual advancement of the people; and I sincerely sympathize in the great cause of female education which you have recently taken in hand. The righteous principles which govern your religion must always be conducive to good government and to the best interests of the people; and I beg to assure the missions of my support and sympathy in their valuable labours. I wish you every success in your disinterested and sacred work. Notes and Gleanings. THE ANNUAL MEETING of the Committee of the Missionary Society will be held at Bethel Chapel, Infirmary Street, on Tuesday, June 19th, at three o'clock. THE ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING will be held in Hallfield Chapel, Manningham Lane. Chairman: The Worshipful the MAYOR OF BRADFORD. Speakers: Revs. C. W. SKEMP, of Bradford; H. WOOD, of Orissa, India; and T. R. STEVENSON, of Derby, late of Ceylon. 240 MISSIONARY OBSERVER. BAPTISM AT CUTTACK.—April 1st, seven were baptized by brother Shem Sahu. CORRECTION.-The reader is requested to correct an inaccuracy on page 116 of the March Magazine as to the Architect of the new school building, Cuttack. H. Beck, Esq., was the Architect; and it may interest our friends to know that Mr. Beck is a native of Loughborough. J. B. MR. MULHOLLAND, in a private note to the Secretary, writes: "The weather is getting very warm. Early work is now the order of the day. The Government Offices, European School, Printing Office, have the day's work done before some of my friends in Scotland are well out of bed. The men in the printing office start at six a.m., and leave off at noon. The other places mentioned do only four hours' work. What a curious world this is. You, in England, are closing all your doors and windows to keep out the cold; we, in Cuttack, are using the same appliances to keep out the heat. I am now writing (two p.m.) without coat and vest. Quite an invasion of snakes have taken place in our compound this week. Two got off; but one fell a prey to my stick last night. A large one got in a hole in the wall. The servants brought a kettle of boiling water and gave him a warm bath. Nay, they thought they would roast as well as boil him, and brought an armful of straw, which must have made his skin crack. We saw no more of that one. Last Sabbath morning I witnessed the first baptism in India. It was a very pleasing sight. I trust that the multitudes of heathen by which we are still surrounded may soon bow to the sceptre of King Jesus, and, like the seven last Sunday morning, publicly declare that they are His followers. We, a fortnight ago, had a Hindoo festival. It was sickening to look at it. When shall Christian Britain rise to the full responsibility of the final command of the Crucified One? I thought, while in the fatherland, that I knew what the call from the heathen world was, but I find that I had not half realized the sickening want. If your Committee could only 'Come and see,' I think the effect would be wondrous. The Lord waken up the churches from their criminal slumber. Mr. Young wishes me to remember him to you. He is still enjoying his usual good health, and liking the work." Contributions Received on account of the General Baptist Missionary Society from April 16th Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the General Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by W. B. BEMBRIDGE, Esq., Ripley, Derby, Treasurer; and by the Rev. W. HILL, Secretary, Mission House, 60, Wilson Street, Derby, from whom also Missionary Boxes, Collecting Books and Cards, may be obtained. Our Lapsed Members." BY REV. W. R. STEVENSON. UNDER the head of "Lapsed Members" may be included those placed in the following columns of our Connexional Year Book:-1st, the Excluded, meaning thereby persons who, having fallen into sin, have been cut off from fellowship by a formal and solemn vote of the church; and, secondly, the Erased, a column which embraces two classes, namely, persons who, in accordance with their own request, have been allowed to withdraw from fellowship; and those who have, as it were, drifted away from us, until at length, without any other cause being assigned, their names have been removed from the Church Register. In examining the statistics of our Connexion for the last three years I find the numbers included under these two heads of Excluded and Erased to be as follows: In 1880-Excluded, 139; Erased, 836; total, 975. Looking at the entire numbers in membership, and taking the average of three years, I find the annual loss under the two heads named to be at the rate of about four in every hundred. Now we must not be surprised or discouraged by the circumstance that we have lapsed members. Our Saviour seems to have intended to prepare the minds of His servants for this fact when He uttered the parable of the Sower. The seed which fell upon rocky ground, where there was not much depth of soil, and that which, after it had sprung up, was choked with thorns, both represent cases of lapsed members. Probably it may be suggested by some that we should not have so many of these "lapsed" ones if greater care were taken in the admission of members in the first instance. But my impression is that our churches do not usually err very much in that direction. The cases, I think, are very few of persons received who were not apparently sincere and earnest at the time they offered themselves for fellowship; and it may be questioned on what scriptural grounds these, if to all human appearance believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, could have either been rejected, or had their term of trial indefinitely prolonged. The more common error is that of not paying sufficient attention to the teaching and training of converts after their union with the church, in order that instead of losing their interest in spiritual things they may be led to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. But I apprehend that it was the wish of the last Conference, in regard to this paper, not that I should discuss the question how to prevent the lapse of members, but rather offer some suggestions as to our * The substance of a paper read at the Midland Conference, Coalville, May 16, and printed by request. GENERAL BAPTIST MAGAZINE, JULY, 1883.-VOL. LXXXV.-N. S., No. 163. 242 OUR LAPSED MEMBERS. duty to those who have actually lapsed. To this latter point, therefore, I shall more especially address myself, although we shall find in our discussion of the subject, that the two questions are so closely connected that it is very difficult to consider them altogether apart. Let us take in succession various classes of "lapsed members." 1. The first I would name are those who have fallen through strong drink. Surely our duty to these is expressed in those well-known words of Paul, "Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, looking to thyself lest thou also be tempted." (Galatians vi. 1, Revised Version.) We must not lightly give them up as irreclaimable. The Temperance Reformation, which has of late happily awakened so much interest in the churches, at once points out to us the kind of method to employ, and affords encouragement in the performance of duty. We must try, without delay, to enlist our fallen friends in the Total Abstinence corps, and must be willing to strengthen their weakness by the influence of our own example. Nor this only; we must be prepared, through a succession of weeks, and perhaps even months, to expend much time, and sacrifice much ease and personal convenience in the Christ-like endeavour to reclaim them. Two instances may be cited illustrative of the spirit of self-sacrifice and perseverance in which this work should be undertaken. One is that of a man who occupied an influential position both in general society and in the Christian church, but who unhappily fell into drinking ways. This, then, was how his Christian friends acted. A little band of them agreed together to make his reclamation their special object. They remonstrated with him tenderly and faithfully. They persuaded him to take the total abstinence pledge. And (this is the chief point to which I wish to call attention) recognizing the fact that it was the man's social instincts which brought him into danger, they arranged amongst themselves that for a time he should never, in his leisure hours, be left wholly to himself. Now one friend made it his business to call upon him, and now another; they invited him to their homes, contrived friendly walks or drives together; in short, they took care both that his mind should be pleasantly occupied, and that his weak and wavering resolves of amendment should be strengthened by the influence of good companionship. At first, indeed, there were one or two discouraging relapses; but, in the end, perseverance in the work of Christian love triumphed. It is several years now since these circumstances occurred; but the good results remain to this day. The other case I would mention is that of a man of the artisan class who had been a drunkard, but some years ago signed the pledge, became a Christian, and a member of the church. But after a time he fell, and fell, and fell again. His friends, however, would not give him up. They pleaded with and prayed for him; and their efforts were crowned with success. For two years now he has not merely been an abstainer, but a devoted Christian, and a useful and honourable member of society. He often says that it was the persistent perseverance of his Christian friends that won him. Now this, dear brethren, is the spirit we ought to manifest towards those who have fallen through strong drink. It is the spirit of the good |