A pastor of an M. E. Church South, in Georgia, asked us by mail, the other day, for a hundred copies of the American Missionary to put on a Christmas tree for members of his church, that he might thus awaken more interest in the missionary cause. We sent them. This is the first time we were ever asked to send our publications as “Christmas greens.”
How the angels must smile when they see a man whom God has greatly prospered carefully take a hundred dollars out of a hundred thousand that he has laid away, and hear him say to himself, with a chuckle of self-complacency: “Yes, we are only stewards; we must deal generously by these good causes; I will give that to the Lord.” A pauper giving crumbs in charity to the King on whom he depends for daily bread! But then there are some who do not give even the crumbs.—Congregationalist.
In this month of February, we publish, according to our custom, the list of our missionaries and teachers in the field; and we are proud of it, not for its length or numbers, but for the high and approved character of those who constitute it; nay, rather, we are thankful to Him under whom we all labor, that He has given to us and to each other so worthy a band of co-laborers, so intelligent and so devoted. We do not forget that these pastors and teachers are far from their homes, and that each is known personally to but a limited number of the friends of the Association, and we bespeak for them not only a general but a personal remembrance. Would it not be well to select some one whose work you, reader, will follow with especial interest, to whom you will some time write, assuring of your interest and prayers, and with whom you may establish and maintain a personal friendship? Pray for some one at least in this list by name, and you will be less likely to forget to pray for all the rest.
“Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem.”—So, in that hour of unearthly experience as recorded in the fifty-first Psalm, does David’s heart leap from the state of penitence and of forgiveness to take in the welfare of Zion. So, evermore, does the truest devotion inspire the missionary spirit. The first burden of our Lord’s Prayer is for a heavenly Kingdom on earth. His last prayer with and for His disciples, that they might be kept, and sanctified and glorified, was, “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” It is the instinct of a soul in communion with God, that in every prayer it should utter at least one petition for the coming of his Kingdom. So often do our lyric hymns, which are but a transcript of Christian experience, glance off from almost any line of thought and of feeling, to utter the great aspiration for the crowning of Christ in His spiritual realm. The nearer we come to God, the more do we long to have Him enthroned in all hearts.
ARRIVAL OF MR. NURSE IN AFRICA.
Mr. Miller writes: “I am very glad to be able to announce to you the arrival of Bro. Nurse from America to join our work in Western Africa. His voyage was rather longer than had been expected, and he doubtless grew impatient as the ship neared this place, and stood several days under the silent influence of a calm.