The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-02
CHINA AND THE CHINESE.
A Pulpit Lecture by DIR. Alabaster on Theil
Customs and Religion.

n Lecture Dy Drs A1aDASCer Oh 1nelT
Customs and Religion.
Rev. John Alabaster, pastor of the Meridian
street NJ. E. Church, delivered his regular monthly
lecture, last night, before large congregation
his subject being China and the Chinese" and
the address was an interesting one, both on &C
count of the information it gave and the at
tractive manner in which it was presented.
In beginning, he said that few existing nations
were invested with such interest as China for its
territory covered one-tenth of the globe, and it
had population of 500, 600, 000-one- third of the
people of the earth. Few people could form an
adequate idea of what such population meant
To count that many would take nan fifty three
years, counting fifty minute for ten hours
day. China had more people within her borders
than all Europe and North and South America
combined 1t was the Methuseiah of nations.
Compared with its antiquity modern civilization
was but a babe of yesterday. The Chinese
reached far back Of the Christian era and shook
hands with the Egyptians and Assyrians. Their
dynasties had been powerful, and theirs was long
the hermit empire, shut out from the rest of the
world The origin of that people was obscure.
They say that they came from central Asia, and
they call their country "the center of the worlds
circumference'-Boston on a very large SCALE as
it were Other fanciful titles had been given
them, 1.-The Flowery Kingdom, ''the Celestials,"
and the like
eve see but side of the MOON" said DR..
Alabaster, ''and therefore we are apt to imagine
that there is no other side. We know a great
deal about our own people, but very little of the
Chinese. They are our antpodes in more WAYS
in al
everything. They are stagnant people, every
thing being fixed and Interchangeable with them;
we are advancing and progressive They are imi-
tative. we inventive; they copy, we produce.
Yet they made many discoveries hundreds of
years before they were known to other nations.
They understood the arts of masonry, as is shown
by their great wall. They invented artesian wells
they inocuated for smallpox nine hundred
years before such practice was known in
Europe; they printed the works of Confucius
FIVE hundred years before Gutenberg invented
the new process; they had a knowledge of the
qualities of gunpowder of the magnet, and of
anastnetcs many years before the more formal
discoveries were made. Their manners and
customs are very different from ours. Their
books are read from the end backward
and downward; they use white for
mourning instead of black the soldiers
wear Quilted skirts and carry umbrellas
| and FANS they wear their watches in an, outside
| pocket; when they black their shoes they whiten
| them the dresses of the ladies taper toward the
feet they ought to; they locate the seat of un
derstanding not in the head-but in the stomach,
| as many Americans Co. They cramp their
womens feet to keep them in the house. and pay
| the doctor when they well, and stop when
they become sick, which is emnently just and
! proper In China the parents train their chill
| dren and the little ones have reverence for the
| aged-a very funny custom, indeed. We re-
| move our hats as mark of respect; they take
| off their shoes. Their men ride horses sdewise
| and the women ride like our men. We use soft
| ~ 81 IL
clapper outside the bell, and do many other
| things different from US. What curious people
| we must seem to be to themw
/ The speaker continued with an interesting dis
cussion of the religious side of the Chinese life.
| He said that among them you could see some
| thing that could be seen no other place earth;
that is man having three religions, not conflict
ing and not inconsistent with each other. These
! were Confucianism, Tauism and Buddhism In
| the discussion of the first he gave carefully
prepared account of the life and teachings of
the great Confucius, who born
about $50 years before Christ, and
| had no NEUROLOGICAL background to his
/ history He was married at the age of nineteen,
and haa two children, a son and daughter; and
| the direct descendants now numbered about 40,
| 600, and they comprised the only hereditary
| aristocracy known to the Chinese. In compar-
ing the lives of Confucus and the Savior, he said
| that the former was moralist alone-the latter
/ a teacher of morals and religion. The doctrine
| of Confucus was an elevated form of political
econ omy, having for its aim good government;
the doctrine of Jesus Christ was for a spiritual
kingdom, for the elevation and en-
nobling of mankind Confucius. after all.
was but a grand dreamer, standing
at the foot of the celestial ladder. at
| the summit of which the Son of Man. Con-
tinuing the discussion of the Chinese character,
Dr. Alabaster said that the people were very SUI
| perstitious, having strange ceremonies relating
4 to birth, death and marriage. They believed in
omens, and signs, and luck. Regarding govern
| mental institutions he said: "China has the only
! proper and respectable aristocracy in the world