American Missionary | Page 2

the Pilgrims,
Brooklyn, N.Y. This sermon appeared in print in one of the daily
papers, and attracted the attention of a benevolent gentleman deeply
interested in the Christian education of the colored people, who was so
impressed with the great value of the address, that he has furnished the
Association with the means to print a large edition for general
circulation. This we have done, and we presume that already, many of
our readers have had the opportunity of reading this eminently wise and

timely utterance on one of America's greatest problems. Should any
one desire an extra copy, we will gladly furnish it on application.
Although the discourse has had large circulation, we cannot resist the
temptation to extract a few of its forcible utterances on some very
important points.
Permanent popular liberties have their only sure foundation in sound
moral conditions practically universal. We must secure these among
those to whom we have given the ballot, and who are to be henceforth
citizens with ourselves. Otherwise, we are building our splendid
political house on the edges of the pestilential swamp from which fatal
miasmatic odors are rising all the time. Yes, we are building our house
on piles driven into the thick ooze and mud of the pestilential swamp
itself. We are building our cities, which we think are so splendid, and
which are so in fact, as men built Herculaneum and Pompeii, on a shore
which ever and anon trembled with earthquake, over which was hung
the black flag of Vesuvius, and down upon which rolled, in time, the
lava floods that burned and buried them.
We have got to meet this immense problem, which is not far off, but
right at hand; which is not a problem of theory, or of distant history, but
of practice and fact; and which concerns not the well-being alone, but
the very life of the nation. Noble men and women at the South are
engaged in it already, with all their hearts; and we must help, mightily!
It would be the craziest folly of the age for us to be indifferent to it.
Some men may say, perhaps, "But this is a work that cannot be done. It
is too radical and vast to be hopefully attempted." Nonsense! There is
no work for the kingdom of God and the glory of His name, which
cannot be done! With the Gospel in our hand, we can do everything.
There has been a good beginning made already. This Society, to which
we are to contribute to-day, the American Missionary Association, has
four established colleges, three of which are entirely supported by itself,
have been founded by it and are carried on by it; and the fourth very
largely so. It has multitudes of high schools, normal schools and
primary schools.
First of all, we want men trained, and women too, in the knowledge of
the truth as it is in Christ, and then to have them teaching others. And
that is precisely the line along which the Society to which we are to
contribute to-day, as we have done gladly and largely heretofore, is

carrying its incessant operation.
Now I affirm absolutely that if ever there was a work of God on earth,
this is his work! If there was ever anything to which the American
Christian people are called, they are called to this. If there was ever a
great opportunity before the Christian church, here it is.
Ah, my friends, don't say "It is too great a work." It is going to be done!
You and I may do or may not do our part in it. It is going to be done!
* * * * *
MISSIONARIES TO ALASKA.
As announced in the last number of the MISSIONARY, we have
appointed two men as missionary teachers for the new station to be
opened at Point Prince of Wales, Alaska. The names of these brethren
are H.R. Thornton, of Hampden Sydney, Virginia, and W.T. Lopp, of
Valley City, Indiana. The credentials furnished by these young men are
very satisfactory, and they enter upon the field with the full realization
of its difficulties and even dangers, and yet, cheerfully trusting
themselves to the hand of God, are ready to go forward with undaunted
faith. We bespeak for them the prayers of God's people. It is expected
that they will leave home about the middle of May and sail from San
Francisco June 1st. Dr. Sheldon Jackson and Dr. Pond will aid them in
providing materials for the building and the necessary outfit. They will,
therefore, be well provided for, though long months must elapse before
they can again have communication with the civilized world.
* * * * *
IN A NUTSHELL.
_WHICH IS THE WISER WAY?_
There are some people who