1850.
Letter from B. J. Bettelheim.
85
laws; and as the laws say, they can have no dealings with a foreigner, he may sink up to his waist in a ditch, or in the sea-as indeed was twice my case—and nobody would act wrong if he did not help him out. To make it possible therefore for a missionary to live here as a man, and carry on this mission effectually, means are required, adapt- ed to the peculiarities of this particular ground, but hitherto none such have been employed. I shall, therefore, close this sketch of my opera- tions with a few suggestions.
1st. Sound the trumpet in Zion; make this mission known to those who watch the progress of the Gospel. In the Record, a leading Eng- lish religious paper, not a single notice is to be found respecting this mission, and I suppose because its editors knew nothing of it. Among the multiplicity of objects now engaging the world as well as the church, anything requiring special or even common attention, must be prominently brought under notice.
2d. Sound an alarm in the holy mountain of God. The church of God has tender sympathies. Tell her a day of darkness and of gloomi- ness, a day of clouds and thick darkness, has spread over us. I am the man that has seen affliction; I am hedged about that I can not get out; the enemy has made my chain heavy. Now, let the children of God only know my case, and the difficulties experienced in making known the glad tidings of salvation, and we shall not fail to have their tears, their prayers, and their help.
3d. Knowing this, that no mission of Christendom is of any private interpretation, it is the duty of all to work together for good. No mission becomes the private property of those who first undertook it, but all and each who approve of the new sphere opened for Christian and philanthropic exertions, are its patrons. A mission like this in Lewchew, in particular, isolated and cut off from regular intercourse with the main-land, approached by only a few straggling ships, not all of whom assist us, and a few rather injure, will scarcely be regarded as likely to be successfully carried on by a mere handful of men at such a distance. We are thankful for the Divine favor which has enabled us to open this new corner in the Lord's vineyard, and we may be sure that if it is his will to prosper the tillage, laborers will be raised up to enter upon the harvest.
4th. No half work. Either keep it up efficiently, or give it up al- together. One man to a station like this renders even his efforts al- most nugatory. If the mission be at all worth carrying on, let there be at the very least one brother sent to my help, one who can endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, shod with the preparation
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