The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1867-03-20
Missions in China---Interesting and Instruc.

since China began to have written history
China has ever sought exclusion and avoide,
intercourse with other nations and her peop
devoted themselves to literary and peaceful
pursuits rather than to the acquisition of terri
tory or glory by military force. The popula
ton of China is roughly estimated at abou
one third of the entire population of the world
For ages and generations our Christian civil
|sation could not gain hearing amongst be-
people, nor foothold upon her SOIL
The Roman Catholic Church was the first te
send missionaries to this secluded empire, bu
they were finally banished from the empire
1t is but little more than fifty years since the
first Protestant missionary went to China tc
meet single handed and alone-so far as hui
man agency was commemorative ancient and
time honored prejudces of this people, and to
combat them with the single truths of the
Christian religion Instead of one there are
now 200 missionaries in the field, and the
membership are counted by hundreds. The
multitudinous gods of China-3O OOO-and
the difficulty of acquiring the language, every
sign OF which expresses an idea instead of a
sound, 1.-THE chief distractions to the speedy
eyangesation Of tie Chinese Their lingual
signs are various]y estimated from forty to
seventy thousand in number; but g, 900 are
sufficient for the penal code of the empire,
5000 for the standard classics of Confucius
and 10000 for the translation Of the Holy
Scriptures. A missionary can acquire the
language after a residence of about three
years amongst them. But having gained a
knowledge of their written language, the whole
on IS tiva IL
written language being understood by all
though the dialects are various To reach
the millions of India, on the contrary, knowl-
edge of go languages is required, and to reach
the other two-thirds of the earth's inhabitants
acquaintance with 1908 languages is ne
cessary.
The religions of China are Confucianism,
Tauism and Buddhism, the first of which is
the established religion of the empire. It
teaches a comparatively high form of moral
ity, but, like other systems Of idolatrous wor-
ship, it has lost much of its hold upon the peo
pie. Tauism deifes and incarnates reason,
and teaches the absorption of the good into
the Eternal One, and of successive transmit
grations of the bad, and cxhorts to moral pu-
rity by life of seclusion, auserity, celibacy
and meditation upon virtue.
Buddhism though last introduced into China,
was the religion Of the empire under the Mogul
dynasty. 1t is now the religion Of the COM
mon people, whose houses are filled with idols,
and whose minds are crowded with superst-
tons.
Coufucianism is an excrescence which the
caustic of free thought will consume The
errors and supersttions of both Tauism and
Buddhism will vanish before the light of sci
ence, as the mists and ghosts of night before
the light of day. For illustration Buddha,
who assumed to be omniscient, teaches that
earth is a place with mountain in the centre,
100000 miles in height, base ridge of
stone Sc 100000 miles in circumference that
eclipses are caused by giant who can swal-
low either sun or moon in his mouth that
some cities have stood on earth millions Of
years, and some kings have reigned quadril-
lions of years that the human race originally
had wings, and that they may be generated by
flowers, or vocal utterances; that among the
virtues is one which is impossble, and another
that if universally observed would soon ter
inmate the human race; and that God and
Heaven are, in the last result, NUwANA, or
China has of late years been brought more
into contact with other nations, and the inter-
course is making itself felt upon the people
Russian civilization presses upon it in the
North, French on the South, British and Amer
lean aIl~along the coast. AS the acquaintance
Of the Chinese extends, their prejudices d.
minish. They are anxious to learn Western
languages in order to obtain situations among
foreigners, for which they are very eager.
Western language must, and will, of course,
be followed by Western literature.
In 1347 the Methodists first entered the
field with their missionaries. They have cho-
sen the Province of Fookien-a fowery land, |
we'll watered and picturesque, where three
crops may be gathered in one season; where
Tue tea plant thrives, and the peach and or
ange grow; where long before the vernal equi
nox peas adorn the hill-sides, and growing
wheat the valleys; where under a January
sun roses bloom ; where beneath the ample
shades of the camphor tree fragrant shrubs
perfume the air, and where one may hope for
lealth and long life as reasonably as in Vir-
sinla.
This province contains within an area of
80, 900 square miles, 100000 Of people,
IS third class cities, and first class, of which
Eoochow, the largest and the capital, is the
read of their mission. Here the Methodist
Church sustains SO missionaries, owns prop
rty worth $4,000, has native membership
If 154, and runs mission press, which prints
1000, 900 pages year, besides maintaining a
oundling hospital and schools for boys and
iris. There is disproportion between the
mount of missionary labor expended and the
esuts as seen in the membership. But when
he above difficulties are considered, and the
act that one missionary there-Dr. Maclay-
pent nine years laboring before he could
cunt the first convert, the membership will
ppear large The annually increasing facii-
es for communication between our own coun-
Y and China will more effectually than any
Their fundamentally open up the way for
lodern civilization and Christianity to reach
le homes and hearts of these millions OF hui
ian beings.
R1rLED SHOT. Henry Ward Beecher, in