II.—HOW SPEEDS THE WORK?
In the February number we gave a brief chapter of replies to this question. We make no apology for giving a second chapter now. It is just what our readers want to know, and what we equally wish to tell. And—
1. The Finances.—It was at this point our former chapter closed. I announced that we were laying out work with reference to raising, over and above the regular appropriation from the parent society, $5,000 this year, in place of $1,610.70 received last year. I am glad and grateful to be able to announce that of that $5,000, fully $2,600 are already in sight, either in cash or in reliable pledges. It has been made easy to raise this, because all except the hundreds (i. e., $2,000) has come in a single donation from the grand English house of Balfour, Gunther & Co., in this city. That is to say, $500 from the senior partner in Liverpool, Alfred Balfour, Esq., $500 from his Liverpool associate, Hon. Stephen Williamson, M. P., and $1,000 from the house as a whole, among the partners in which is a worthy son of Chalmers’ great successor in the Free Church of Scotland—that prince among preachers, Dr. Guthrie. This great gift is proffered in the hope and expectation that the balance of $3,000 will not be found wanting, and, God helping us, it shall not fail. There has been a painful sense, all along these years, that we were reaching only the outer edge of the great necessity touching, so to speak, only the bare fringe of our great opportunity, though we have done the utmost possible for us, with the means at our command. I can with a clear conscience claim that not a dime has gone forth needlessly; that every minutest item of expense has been carefully scrutinized; and, while it would be “too good to be true” if we said that no mistakes had been made, that every experiment had proved a success, or that no fields have been entered from which we were compelled to retire before the harvest came to view, still, I speak the simple truth when I say that I know of nothing that to-day I would extract, or, so far as our endeavor is concerned, essentially change. The constant prayer has been for the Master’s guidance; is it vain or presumptuous to believe that the prayer has been answered, his promise fulfilled, his guidance vouchsafed? It would be meanly ungrateful if I did not thus testify for Him.
But the point is that now we must go deeper. We cannot rest on the outer edge of the great work. We must avail ourselves to the utmost of our opportunity, and for this we must have a marked increase of means. Toward this, now that God has inclined these English brethren to give so largely, I cannot believe that American Christians will fail to make fitting response. And inasmuch as I cannot see how more than $1,500 out of the $2,400 remaining to be raised, can possibly be gathered in California, I venture to press it on the thoughts and hearts of Eastern friends, to furnish over and above their regular contributions to the parent society, at least $900 for its California auxiliary. Let the gifts be sent directly to me at 940 Copp Street, or to our treasurer, Deacon E. Palache, 218 Front Street, San Francisco.
2. Our Schools.—In the February Missionary I spoke of 13 schools in operation, a larger number than ever before. The first of March will see the number 14, a school being prepared to start on that date, at Tucson, Arizona. It will be, by far, our most distant out-post, but gives promise of being a very useful mission. Several of the pupils who had become Christians in connection with our Santa Barbara mission, work failing at that place, moved on towards the front, and were scattered among the villages of Arizona; one, at least, even crossing the line into Mexico. We had letters from them occasionally, such as encouraged us to believe that, though in exile from what had been to them a very house of God, and often standing alone, as Christians, among a crowd of ungodly and profane Americans, they were still walking in the truth. At length, from one of them who had settled at Tucson, came, in behalf of himself and eight or nine others, an urgent request for a mission there. At the suggestion of some excellent Christian ladies of that city, to whom I appealed for advice, and who kindly pledged their personal co-operation, the school is to be placed in the care of Rev. Mr. Messenger, once a missionary of the Episcopal Board in Africa. He is pronounced to be “a good Christian, who can sing well, can play on the organ, and will work earnestly” in the liberty of Christ and not in bondage to any ritual or liturgy. The pupils attest their zeal by pledging contributions sufficient to pay the rent of the school-room, $15 per month, and, perhaps, the incidental expenses likewise. Pray for the success of the first Chinese mission in Arizona.
Among the new schools reported in my last was that at Oroville. Its teacher is a daughter of Rev. Alvin Ostrom, pastor of the Congregational Church in that place, who himself was once a missionary in China, and has, in his enforced return to this country, been hungry these many years for an opportunity to preach Christ again to the Chinese. I hardly need say that with such a spirit in the work tokens of a coming harvest begin to appear. Two or three of the pupils began to venture in, on Sabbaths, to the half empty church, and to sit in unoccupied pews. Whereupon an irate Caucasian vents himself in the village newspaper in this wise:
“Ed. Mercury—‘What are our places of divine worship coming to?’ is a question with many. Are we to give way our places in the pews to the long-tailed Mongolians, or shall we be obliged to take sides with them? We answer, ‘No!’ Better send them and our pretended leaders away together to their proper places. We have no objection to his teaching them, but for the sake of common decency and the respect due to us, let it be a separate matter.
“Church-Goer.”
The community soon began to be astir. The pillars of the church began to tremble. Subscriptions began to be withdrawn. Families were reported as “going over to the other church.” The croakers rose to the ascendant, and the outlook grew dark. But silence and patience and gentleness, and pastoral diligence, having God and the right on their side, are winning the day; and fresh sunshine, gleaming through the whole church-work, already “puts to silence the ignorance of foolish men.”
Although the severe storms of the past two months have interfered with the attendance on our schools, and even made desirable the temporary suspension of one of them, yet there is much to encourage in the reports received. At Marysville three during last month “joined the Association,” professing thus their faith in Christ, and coming under probation with reference to reception to the church. At Sacramento the teacher writes, rejoicing over the return to the school, with heart apparently renewed, of one pupil for whom she had labored and prayed with great earnestness, but who first left our school for another, and then seemed to “go to the bad” with utter recklessness. But the Lord has brought him back, and he now applies to be received to the Association, and to be thus recognized as a believer in Jesus. This Sacramento school, as, also, the one in Stockton, that in Marysville, and those in this city, are a perpetual joy to me, in the spirit which pervades the work and the results vouchsafed. Indeed, I know not that I need except any of our schools from this statement, and I cease to mention them by name only because the list would be too long. The great lack just now is Chinese helpers trained for service. To select them wisely, to provide for their being trained, to put them into harness at the right point, where by teaching they can learn to teach and by preaching to preach, is the problem now before me.