Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1853-09-01
VOLUME X. NO. 36.


missionary labor. and It Ia now believed thst
there are no less than eighty Protestant mission.
aries in that field.
| We have sketched somewhat more st length
than we intended, the history Of the Protestant
mission in China, but the account possesses 90
interest from the more or less direct conneetion
which the labors Of these missionaries have had
with the existing rebellion. There is one fact to
which we have adverted. which we wish to
bring still more strongly before our readers, for
we are inclined to believe that il will explain
the apparently anomalous circumstance that the
rebels are fighting under the banner of the cross
for The redemption Of their country.
1t has been stated that in 1919 the Bible was
translated into the Chinese, and since that time,
by means Of printing presses established at
several stations in China and its vicinity, an al
most innomerable number Of this and other
missionary books have been circulated among
the Chinese, BY whom, it is stated, they husv
been almost inuo' ably gladly receiued This, we
"'''"' ~ ~ Se-'. '' ---> --poa the waters' which
has been found after M ny days. The Chinese
are a reading and think. = people. The Rev.
Mr.. Spear. who has spent sesera years as a
missionary in that country, says that there are
among them men Of great literary attainments,
whose requirements and abilities would do hon.
or to The courts Of Europe They have their
literary societies whose members are numbered
by thousands. They have, too, several secret
revolutionary associations, and among them the
Triad societies, which were established early in
the present century, and have for their object
tho overthrow of the present dynasty and the
restoration Of native prince. These 'Triads'
know each other by secret signs like the Free
Mason. How largely the faculties Of caution
and secretiveness are developed in the Chinese,
may be inferred from the fact that notwithstand.
ing the existence of these societies mist have
been known to the government for nearly fifty
years. they have never been able to suppress
them. Now it is not improbable that knowl-
edge of the Bible, and of the prospects and rev.
elalions of Christianity may have been obtained
Chinese, and made part OF the cherished doc
trines of these secret societies. Among peo.
pie like the Chlnese--shrewd cautious, and
averse to communicating information with re-
gard TO their internal affairs to forelgners--it is
not impossible for Christianity to make consd-
erable progress without even the missionaries
being aware of the fact. How much more
likely is this to occur if the pure and holy prln-
ciples of the Bible become part Of the cherished
doctrines of secret association, having its ram
lfications throughout the whole Empire, and
numbering among it's members the most intel.
lectual portion Of the community!
We have already remarked that the Chinese,
as people,h have but little reverence for religious
rites and ceremonies, and this s particularly
true of the more intelligent and educated classes
the students and scholars! We are justified
in surmising that they realize The hollowness--
the unsubstantial nature of doctrines and cere
monies which have no basis, in revelation or
reason. Among such class, made up Of those
who are accustomed to reflect and to reason, ii
may readily be supposed that the pure and en-.
nobling doctrines of Christ and his apostles,
would be received with favor, and woul be
recognized as tar more in consonance with rea
son and nature-and more adapted to the wants
of man than the superstitous and indolatrous
worship OF their own country.
In view Of the present condition Of affairs in
China, and of the elements which are involved
in the existing insurrecton, the news from that
quarters will now be watched with no less i'll
terest than that from the European continent.
The sympathies # the Christian world cannot
but be thoroughly enlisted in contest which
promises to spread the gospel over an empire
having population Of twenty-five millions Of
sonIs. We cannot but hope that a new era
is dawning upon China, and that nation pos
sessing within itself the elements of greatness,
but which for centuries has remained stationary
ls about to burst the barriers Of excluslveness
by which it has been surrounded, and to estab-
Iish an intercourse and relations of sympathy
and good will with the great family of nations.
-----------------