CONCERT EXERCISE.
[This Concert Exercise will be enlarged and published in separate form, and supplied gratuitously to any who may wish it for concert purposes, on application to Rev. G. D. Pike, 56 Reade street, New York.]
TEMPERANCE WORK IN MISSIONS OF A. M. A.
Singing. “Dare to do right. Dare to be true.”
Responsive Readings.
Leader. “Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.” Lev. 10:9.
Girls. And the angel of the Lord said to the mother of Sampson: “Thou shalt bear a son. Beware and drink not wine nor strong drink; for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God to the day of his death.” Judges 13:3, 4, 7.
Boys. “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab, the son of Rachab, our father, commanded us, saying, ye shall drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons forever.” Jer. 35:6.
Leader. “It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink.” Prov. 31:4.
Girls. “Lest they drink and forget law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.” Prov. 31:5.
Boys. “Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength and not for drunkenness.” Eccl. 10:17.
Leader. “They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.” Isa. 24:9.
Girls. “For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.” Prov. 23:21.
Boys. “Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” I Cor. 6:10.
Leader. “Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babblings? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?” Prov. 23:29.
Girls. “They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.” Prov. 23:30.
Boys. “At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” Prov. 23:32.
Leader. “But now I have written unto you, not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard; with such a one, no, not to eat.” I Cor. 5:11.
Girls. “Restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Gal. 6:1.
Boys. “Young men likewise, exhort to be sober minded.” Titus 2:6.
Leader. “And every man that striveth for the mastery, is temperate in all things.” I Cor. 9:25.
Girls. “Therefore let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” I Thes. 5:6.
Boys. “For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night.” I Thes. 5:7.
Leader. “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31.
Prayer.
Singing.
POSITION SUSTAINED BY A. M. A.
Leader. What has been the attitude of the American Missionary Association since its organization in 1846 on the temperance question?
Girls. It has always taken a decided stand against the use and the sale of intoxicating drink.
Boys. Its missionaries have been instructed to advocate the cause of temperance, and to organize societies to promote total abstinence from the use of alcoholic drink.
Leader. Does the Association assist missionaries, or students, who refuse to abstain from the use of ardent spirits?
Girls. It is the rule of the Society in its work among the Indians, the Chinese in America, and the Negroes at the South, to employ only those who have good habits and settled convictions on all moral subjects, including that of temperance.
Boys. In its collegiate and normal schools, where there are large numbers of boarding students, all are required to observe habits of total abstinence.
TEMPERANCE WORK AMONG INDIANS.
Leader. Have the Indians been subject to peculiar temptations to intemperance?
Girls. Yes. On many of the reservations, our agents complain that whiskey is a great curse. At the Leech Lake Agency, six Indians were killed in drunken quarrels among themselves in six months.
Boys. Rev. Myron Eells, of Washington Territory, says he convicted quite a number of persons for selling liquor to the Indians, which aroused the fierce opposition of the whiskey ring, which had done its utmost to prevent his success.
Leader. What has resulted from efforts for their reformation?
Girls. So much was accomplished by Rev. Mr. Spees and his wife at Red Lake, that not a drunken Indian had been seen for many weeks.
Boys. At the Skokomish Agency, about 130 Indians took the temperance pledge. Since then those who came under the influence of the missionary abandoned the use of strong drink. The opposition, however, by the liquor sellers was such that they burned seven Indian houses by way of retaliation.
Leader. Do Indian youth readily accept temperance principles when brought into the training schools of the Association?
Girls. They do. Those brought to Hampton by Capt. Pratt gave up their tobacco and whiskey during the first year, held prayer meetings together, and pursued the industrial occupations required by the school without serious objection.
Boys. At the Green Bay Agency, within a few years, a great work has been done in the way of temperance reform, so that Mr. Wheeler, the missionary on the ground, says that a more temperate community of its size cannot probably be found in the State of Wisconsin.
Singing.
Address on the Work of the Association among Indians.
[See April American Missionary for 1883.]
TEMPERANCE WORK AMONG THE CHINESE.
Leader. Are the Chinese on the Pacific Coast exposed to temptations to intemperance?
Girls. Gen. C. H. Howard, writing from Sacramento, says: At their groceries, liquors are always to be found. The older persons have a prevalent habit of constantly smoking opium when in from their work.
Boys. The increase of traffic in opium in the United States has been very great during the past twenty years, which is no doubt partly accounted for from the presence of the Chinese.
Leader. Do Christian influences make the Chinamen better?
Girls. At an annual festival in Sacramento, a converted Chinaman said of the converts among his countrymen: “Oh yes, all much better men, do not steal, do not gamble, do not do any bad, no opium, some not even smoke cigars. We can tell, all other Chinamen watch Christian Chinamen. When he is converted and believes truth, it makes him good inside. He don’t want to go wrong anymore. If all Chinamen be Christians then no more trouble about ‘must go.’”
Boys. Among the 2,567 Chinese students in the schools of the American Missionary Association last year, religious work was very encouraging. About one in ten of those who came under the influence of the society are converted. These abandon their evil habits as readily as converts among other races.
Recitation. By a little girl. “Washee Washee.”
[See January Missionary, 1883.]
TEMPERANCE WORK AMONG THE COLORED PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH.
Leader. Are temptations to intemperance common among the colored people?
Girls. Yes. More so now, than in the days of slavery. When slaves, it was not for the interest of their masters to furnish them strong drink as a beverage, and the Negroes had but little opportunity or money to purchase it for themselves.
Boys. They now have the privilege of working for wages, and most of the grocery stores as well as the saloons keep liquor, and are glad to get the Negro’s money for it.
Leader. Are there not laws in the different Southern States, prohibiting the sale of intoxicating drinks to minors and to drunken persons?
Girls. There are in quite a number of those States, but these laws are not often enforced.
Boys. In some States they have local option laws in which the counties can vote prohibition, and when temperance measures are carried it is largely the result of Negro votes.
Leader. Has the American Missionary Association found an open door for temperance work in its missions South?
Girls. It has. Some years the pupils in attendance have numbered 40,000, among whom were persons of all ages.
Boys. Not unfrequently the enthusiasm for establishing temperance societies has been very great. Middle-aged and gray-haired men and women have eagerly sought to enter the Bands of Hope established by the children, and when admitted have been lifted up from their vices and advanced in sobriety and usefulness.
Leader. Can you give some statements relating to the work in particular missions?
Girls. At Talladega, Ala., they have a Union Temperance Society, which holds monthly meetings full of interest. All the Sunday-school and all the College students are members. They keep the work lively among all their mission schools.
Boys. At Marion, Ala., there is a regular temperance catechising in the day-school against rum and tobacco, also in three mission Sunday-schools. For several weeks before Christmas, mass meetings are held in different churches, at which addresses are made on the subject.
Leader. Are the churches of the Association committed to the cause of temperance?
Girls. They are. Many of the churches have distinctive rules, requiring abstinence from the use as a beverage of intoxicating drinks, and forbidding the selling of such.
Boys. The churches and conferences of the Association are practically temperance societies. They hold temperance as an article of their faith and undertake to exercise discipline on that principle.
Leader. Are they peculiar in their treatment of the subject of temperance?
Girls. They differ from many churches South in this particular. A pastor in Savannah writes: “No one can tell the importance of these Congregational organizations here except those on the ground. Our church has taken an open bold stand against liquor drinking and liquor traffic. Our little temperance society has become a power in the city and surrounding country. It has provoked others to good works. Two other societies have been organized in the city and one at Belmont.”
Boys. At Childersburg, Ala., Rev. A. Jones had his church burned after giving a temperance lecture, but instead of surrendering, his people have rallied and they are building better than before.
Leader. What has been the success of the work for temperance in the Sunday-schools of the Association?
Girls. Among the 7,000 scholars in the Sunday-schools, a very encouraging work has been carried on year by year. Bands of Hope have been organized and temperance gatherings held and pledges signed by a very large number of children.
Boys. Mr. Curtis writes from Alabama as follows: “Temperance at Anniston booming. The whole country thoroughly aroused. Temperance taught in the Sunday-school. Band of Hope meetings, temperance prayer-meetings and mass meetings with lectures and discussions.”
Leader. Do those who go forth from the schools of the Association to teach and preach promote the cause of temperance?
Girls. They do. Over 150 who were converted to the cause of temperance while at Tougaloo, Miss., signed the pledge and did temperance work in connection with the teaching in the common schools, and in various other ways.
Boys. During a single year the total number of signers to the pledge obtained by the students connected with one of the institutions of the Association was 1,300. The teachers sent forth from the normal classes exert great influence, not only in the schools where they give instruction, but also among their friends and neighbors in the localities where they carry on their work.
Singing.
Recitation by a little girl. “Question of Color.”
[See American Missionary for October, 1882.]
Address on Temperance Work of the A. M. A.
[See American Missionary, May, 1883.]
THINGS NEEDFUL.
Leader. What is needful in order that the American Missionary Association may succeed in its great work among the Indians, Chinese and Negroes?
Girls. Above all things it is desirable that those in its schools should give their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ, in order that they may have a great teacher and helper to guide and assist them in all their efforts for the practice of Christian virtues.
Boys. They need also a larger number of well educated missionaries to go among them to instruct and encourage them in all that pertains to right living.
Leader. What two things can all those who have taken a part in this Concert Exercise do to assist the American Missionary Association?
Girls. Every one can pray that the Lord will send forth laborers and pour out his Holy Spirit upon the schools and churches established for the Indians, Chinese and Negroes in America.
Boys. Each one can contribute money for the support of missionaries and to help those who are studying to become teachers and ministers among three great races represented in the work of the Association.
Recitation by boy. “Missionary Music.”
[See American Missionary, Feb., 1883.]
Singing. Jubilee Song, “Rise and Shine.”
Collection.
Prayer.
Benediction.