Morning journal and courier., 1882-12-25
Christianity i'm the Far East.

Sermon By Rev. Joseph Cook, D. D., at
 the Firs4R Church, Fair Haven -A A
 Large Congregation and H Highly In-
 terestIAg Discourse.
 C-ie of the largest congregations ever as. sembled in Fair Haven was present in the First Congregational church yesterday after noon to hear discourse by Rev. Joseph Cook, D. D., Christianity in the Far East" On the platform beside the speaker were seated Rev. H. C. Hovey of the Second Congregational church, Rev. $. M. Hammond of the Methodist church. Rev. A. H. Ball of the Grand street Baptist church, Rev. J. H. DeForest, who has spent eight years in Japan doing missionary work, and Rev. Bur- dett Hart pastor of the church. The speaker took for his text Mark xvii l.: : 'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" and Cor. v., 10, II, IA, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the thing done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men bnt we are made manifest unto God and trust also made manifest in your consciences * * For the love of Christ constraineth us.''
 The eloquent speaker remarked that we had no distant lands nowadays, We can send letter around the globe in ninety days. The Occident is initiated by the Orient. If Chris tianity succeeds with it will in China and Japan. The East is our neighbor. A soul to be at peace with God must love what he loves and hate what he hates. We must love our neighbours soul as our own. If we are faithful to the end we are told we shall be saved. Nor do believe time of probation is allowed to lunatics, idiots children. | II. l@ hades and ghenna, paradise and heaven, | but there IS a great gulf between hades and paradise not to be bridged across. Nor does this doctrine prevent 1 the salvation of infants imbeciles and | heathen who have not had moral chance. In this doctrine that the heather must be | saved and ought at once to be taught the scriptures is my first motive for urging the propagandism of the gospel in foreign lands. New England, in proportion to it's wealth and | population, has done more for foreign mis- sions than any country in the globe, but it | ought to do still more.
 My second reason for urging on the mis
 sionary work is the miserable condition of Pagan peoples and the heroic attempts they 1 are now making to better themselves. It has
 been said tat many of the Pagan peoples | are effete, worn out and would not amount
 to much anyway. When I first reached India l that was my impression. l thought then that | the rulers had so ground down the people
 that there was no viger left in them. But l had only seen the lower classes, and found | it was far different with the higher orders.
 In India fourteen languages and over one | hundred dialects are spoken, while there are | twenty different kinds of people and almost
 as many religions The natives of Bengal l are good writers, excellent editors and fluent | speakers They are strong in all civil affairs ! but in military matters towards. I believe the Hindoos and southern Chinamen are the
 strongest tribes under the tropics. Gun
 powder and the mariners compass were
 known in China long before they were
 impossible to be initiated in
 this country. Nor are the Japanese, as has
 often been said, mere echoes. They have
 their faces turned toward the future, and
 not the past, like the most of Asia Within
 a quarter of century Japan has overthrown | the feudal system, organized an army, navy,
 postal system and university. In 1890 a
 Parliament will be organized the repre-
 sentative system They regard the English
 as the most important foreign language. All
 through Japan there is an enthusiasm for
 Occidental learning, and system of com.
 pulsory education has been established. The
 work of the Japanese missionaries is more
 hopeful than anywhere else, save per haps in India. The time is com
 ing when the work there will bt , self supporting. I trust soon there will b, at least one missionary to every 50, 900 heath
 en. The condition of the women in man,
 places is simply terrible In Japan, owinl chiefly to the emperors, women are beginning to receive an. education. The opium trade i , also serious drawback to eastern civiliza
 tion.
 Thusly the speaker urged that in the frs
 fifteen centuries of the Christian era LOGO, GOO souls were converted in the next thre centuries 100000, and in the eighty two years of this century owe ! 2,OOO,OOO have been added. Tn ! Asiatic regions are doomed, and Christianity like the gulf current, will roll through tn , ages until every tongue and nation sha know Messiah's name. My last argumen lays in the fact that Christianity never stoo , more erect or on a firmer foundation than does to-day. Now is the accepted time t labor in the Lords vineyard. May his labor i, CTS reap an abundant harvest,
 The speaker held the attention of hi 1 auditors for over an hour. The service wa . rendered more enjoyable by the excellen U singing by the choir, enlarged for the occs 1 sion.
 r A man suffering from debility and loss< D appetite took two bottles of Hoods Sarsar
 : kap ,ds o,,I