History and Ecclesiastical Relations of the Churches of the Presbyterial Order at Amoy, China — John Shaqi
History and Ecclesiastical Relations of the Churches of the Presbyterial Order at Amoy, ChinaTalmage, John Van Nest
Religion
History and Ecclesiastical Relations of the Churches of the Presbyterial Order at Amoy, China
Talmage, John Van Nest
Missions -- China; Presbyterian Church -- Missions
the former plan, and let the work go forward with the Divine blessing as
in days past. The people will be more encouraged, and praise God more
heartily, when you tell them of six organized churches like our own, and
many others growing up all around, than they will if you tell them of
only three churches, and only a few out-stations, under our care. They
will not object to hear that the English Presbyterian brethren are
laboring with us, and organizing churches so nearly like our own.
However powerful the motive addressed to the desire to build up our own
Church, there are motives infinitely more powerful. Such are the motives
to be depended on in endeavoring to elevate the standard of liberality
among our people.
Let brethren in the Ministry try the experiment, and tell their people
of the wonders of God's grace:--that he has led his servants from our
own Church in this land, and from the Presbyterian Church in Great
Britain, in their work of evangelizing the heathen, and laying the
foundation of the Church of Christ, to lay aside all national
animosities, and rise above all denominational prejudices and
jealousies--that he has given to the Presbyterian Church in England,
and the sister Church in Scotland, a spirit of catholicity and
liberality as exhibited in the previous part of this paper--and that, as
a consequence, he is causing his Church to grow up in the region of Amoy
in beautiful proportions, all the congregations under their care and
ours also manifesting the same spirit of catholicity and liberality,
submitting to each other according to the Divine command, working
together with the utmost harmony, and, as a consequence, with wonderful
effectiveness. Can you account for such things except by the energy of
the Spirit of God? Surely it is not the spirit of the world, neither is
it the spirit of the devil. Try the experiment, then, and see whether
the wonders of God's grace will alienate the hearts of his people. Your
Missionaries have no doubt--we can hardly understand how any who examine
the subject can doubt--we are sure that no one can personally behold the
work and yet doubt, that the wonderful blessing of God, which has
accompanied the work at Amoy, has been both the cause and the result of
this harmonious labor on the part of your Missionaries, and those from
the sister Churches in England and Scotland. Therefore, we feel assured
that the simple recital of the grace of God thus manifested, must
influence the hearts of his people most powerfully, and therefore it is
that we beseech the Church not to interfere with, and hinder the work of
God. May we not refer, without being charged with disrespect, to the
Synod of Jerusalem as a proper example for our General Synod? Peter
says, "Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear?" And then the
decree, which the Synod sent to the Churches, runs thus: "It seemed good
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