The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1876-04-07
WONG CHIN Foo.
Sermon Delivered in philadelphia by an
Edurated ClIInaman.

| Foo, who lectured In concert nan upOl
''The Great Religions of China ant
Japan" and contrasted Confucianisn
and Buddhism with Christianity. Hi
| English is fluent and forcible, and with
out any foreign accent. He wore tn
costume of a red button" mandarin
as China bestows that title upon all he
learned men, the degree of proficiency
being indicated by the number anC
color of the buttons. On the platform
sat his college mate, MOung Sanwin
His listeners were so pleased with hi
graceful and easy manner that after thu
lecture they crowded around the rostrun
to shake hafds With him, an Operation
adverse to Chinese ctistotris, bit tt
which he sociably submitted. The
following are extracts from the dis
course:
Let us reason together upon one o
the most important subjects of the time
There are more than five hundred mil
lions of people whb never henrd of the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
according to your scriptures, what is tC
he done with all these? Is it possible
for a great and merciful God to care fol
one portion of the human family and
neglect the other? / could see nothing
reasonable or Just in Gods sending three
fourths of the human race to hell for nc
other reason than the difference between
their honest convictions and those of the
rest of men. God has given to the va
rious nations a way to salvation fitting
their respective peculiar needs. A prev
alent idea in this country-I am at a
loss to know how it originated-is, that
the Burmese and Chinese have no proper
idea of Supreme Being. Why, before
Germany, or France, or England ki1ew
the art of civil living-when their peo-
pie were 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 cross; 1 did not disturb
him, knowing that he was communing
with his God. When he arose | asked,
"Why do you kneel to a cr,ss of wood
instead of to God?" He told me that
that cross represented the sufferifigs Of
the Lord jesus Christ, and recalled to
him tile Whole Bible: lie did not rever-
ence the wood as wood, but as sacred
memorial. In our temples we have i'm
ages to remind us of Cod greatness and
are the more readily TO inspire fear and
humility in our hearts.
We, like you, have the ten command
I.
first commandment, because che 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 is 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-especially
our rule: 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 con-
troll over the lives of his subjects. 1t is
not so. The emperor cannot break our
laws, and they protect the natural rights
of all men. Ii, after rule of three
years, the head of a city does not i'm
prove his people in morality and intelli-
gence he cannot be promoted; and if a
school-teacher, during the same period,
makes 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 so highly regarded in China
that a man with 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
Il. g.
no seminary in China dare issue diplO-
ma to a man of known immortality. The
moral is considered far above the intel
lectual. 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
TO their rank. The great doc
tor also saws: "Let the public schools be
maintained, and let children be
early instructed in morals" As the
parents give birth TO our bodies, we be-
fieve our school teachers give birth to
our souls.
MANY saw that we have no religion,
but only moral principle. In our opinion
moral principle is religion. To show the
similarity of the Buddhist, with the
Christian religion, l will read an ex-
tract: "The oracle commanded Vishnu
to become a man and be born in the city
of Matra, or Buddha Vishnu replied:
{ I will become incarnate in the house of
Sadie. and will issue forth to mortal birth
from the womb Of Devaci Ga virgin). 1t
is time L should display my power and
relieve the oppressed earth from It's load
When Devaci became pregnant her
countenance became radiant with celes-
tial light Brahma and Seva, with a
host of spirits, came to her and sang
In thy delivery, our favored of all wo-
men, all nature has cause To exult. How
ardently we longed to look and behold
that face for the sake of which we have
come to exult how ardently we longed
TO look and behold that face, for the
sake of which we have cOured round