The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-04-06
WONG CHIN FOO.
Sermon Delivered in philadelphia by
Educnfet ChInaman

WONG CHIN Foo.
Sermon Delivered I'm Philadelphia by au
Educated ChInaman.
The Philadelphia Times says: Owing
to the rainstOrm but a small audience
greeted the heather orator, Wong Chin
Foo, who lectured in Concert hall upon
q The Great Religions of China and
Japan" and contrasted Confucianism
and Buddhism with Christianity. His
English is fluent and forcible, and with
out any foreign accent. He wore the
costume of a " red button mandarin,
as China bestOws that title upon all her
learned men, the degree of proficiency
being indicated by the number and
color of the buttons. On the platform
sat his cellege mate, MOung Sanwin.
His listeners were 50 pleased with his
graceful and easy manner that after the
lecture they crowded around the rOstTum
to shake hands with him, an operation,
adverse to Chinese customs, but to
which he sOciably submitted. The
following are extracts from the dis
course:
Let us reason together upon one of
the most important subjects Of the time.
There are more than five hundred mil
lions of people who never heard Of the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
according to your scriptures, what Is to
he done with all these Is 1t possible
for a great and merciful God to care for
one portion OF the human family and
neglect the other? I could see nothing
reasonable or Just in Gods sending three
fOurths of the human race to hell for no
other reason than the difference between
their honest convictions and those of the
rest of men. God has given to the va
riOUs nations way to salvation fitting
their respective peculiar needs. \ prev
alent idea in this country am at
loss to know how it OTiginated-is, that
the Burmese and Chinese have no proper
idea of a Supreme Being. Why, before
Germany, or France, or England knew
the art of civil liviHg-when their peO-
pie We're clad like the wild Indians Of the
west, then China and HindOestan were
as highly civilized as they are to-day.
They knew the art of printing, and
thousands of years ago some of
the most useful instruments of mod
ern times were invented by them. Is it
possible that such people could bow
down to wood and stone, and not know
the difference between the Creator and
his creatures? / admit we have images.
| [ lately saw an intelligent gentleman
kneel before a cross; I did not disturb
him, knowing that he was cOmmuning
with his God. When he arose l asked,
/ ''Whv do YOU kneel to a cross of wood
insteadof to GOd?" He told me that
that cross represented the sufierings Of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and recalled to
him the whole Bible: he did not rever-
ence the wood as wood, but as a sacred
memorial. In our temples we have i'm
ages to remind US of God greatness and
are the more readily to inspire fear and
humility in our hearts.
We, ike you, have the ten command
ments of God; but we have not your
first commandment, because the Chinese,
unlike the Jews to whom yours was given
on Sinai, never fell into idolatry. And
yet the Jews were in direct communica-
ton with God Here are ours: First,
thou shalt not kill the smallest creature:
| second, thou shalt not steal: third, thou
shalt not infringe the laws Of chastity;
fourth, thou shalt not lie; fifth, thou
shalt not calUmniate; sixth, thou shalt
not revenge injuries; seventh, thou shalt
not excite quarrels; eighth, honor thy
! father and mother; ninth, preserve faith
| in the holy writings; tenth, believe in
/ immortality. The golden rule OF Con IL
] CiUs i the same as the great Christian
! commandment, except, like everything
| else in China, which is on the opposite
| side of the earth, you know, it reads back
ward, thus: Whatsoever you would
that men should not do to you, do YOU
not to them" The Christian religion
would not take in China; neither would
! COnfuCianism in this cOuntry-espCciall
/ our rule: 50 Grieve not because thou art
not promoted to high offices" You live
/ in order to do well; we live in order TO
/ live well, loving our fellOw-man, prac-
/ tising morality, never thinking OF death
! till the hour comes; and when it does
come, if our lives have been good, we are
| prepared People believe the Chinese
/ government to be the most tyrannical in
the world: that the emperor has sole coll
! troll over the lives Of his subjects. ] Is
not 20. The emperor cannot break our
/ laws. and they protect the natural rights
! of all men. f. after a rule of three
years, the head Of a city does not I'M
prove his people in morality and mtcili-
| genCe he cannot be promoted; and If
/ school-teacher, during the same period,
| makes a similar failure with his pupils,
! he loses his position. In China we never
/ knew slavery until Of late years, when
! Spain, Portugal and Italy carried off our
/ coolies and little children to sell them
/ in the West Indies and elsewhere. Trace
/ back the history of China for four thou
sand years, and slavery will not be found
/ on its pages. There all men are equal
/ as they are here; but we distinguish be
| tween the ignorant and the intelligent
/ Learning is 50 highly regarded in China
/ that man with Il blue button on his
! cap can travel all over the country with
out penny in his pocket, and when he
passes, all must stand aside and respect
/ him a. one from whom they have some
! thing moral and intellectual To learn, for
/ no seminary in China dare issue "A diplO-
ma to a man of known immortality. The
moral Is considered far above the intel
/ lectuaI In making this distinction we
| obey Confucius, who says we should as
| sOciate with none who are not equally
intelligent with ourselves, lest we become
de graded TO their rank. The great doc
tor also says: Let The public schools be
carefully maintained, and let children bt
early instructed in morals" As tn,
parents give birth to our bodies, we be
Heve our school teachers give birth t,
our souls.
Many say that we have no religion
but only moral principle. In our opinion
moral principle is religion. To show tn,
similarity of the Buddhist, with tbt
Christian religion, l viii read an eN
tract: "The oracle commanded Nishnl