The morning call., 1894-05-26

in upon them the filthy poison Of alcohol.
AS it is, there are ten heathens converted
to drink for one that is converted to Chris
tianity."
People gIancing through these state
ments and others, such as The Koran
forblds the use of wine IN any shape"
were startled with the impression that
member of Christian Temperance Union
should exalt the teachings of Mohammed-
ism and Buddhism above those of Chris
tianity, and great amount of discussion
and many emphatic denials were the re-
suit. When seen by CALL representa-
tive Mrs. Brown observed:
Had there been more time I could have
shown by quotations from letters written
by missionaries the impression created
upon the heather world by Christians
who send to temperate nations mission
aries and liquor in the same vessel. Here
is one:
''If the English were driven out Of india to.
cay. the chief trace of their having been there
would be the number of drunkards left be-
hind.
Now temperance is the foundation of
Buddhism, for instance. 1t is one of Its
four cardinal virtues. and The temperance
of the people who profess it is largely ow-
ing to their religious education from
childhood. 1t was only in the last century
or so that drinking became even unpopu-
lar among Christians; it is only just be-
gin ming to De regarded really as a SIM"
Frederick j. Masters, superintendent of
the Methodist Chinese Mission, who has
worked for many years as a missionary in
China and India. at once acknowledged
the superior sobriety of those protesting
Brahminism aud Buddhism TO Christians.
bnt he attributed it to race and tempera-
meut.
They smoke opium. but that does not
brutaliZe man," he said. ut is reserved
for Christian civilization to get drunk, 20
outside on the street. raise pandemonium.
and after painting the town red for man
to 60 home, drag his wife out of bed and
beat her. In Buddhist countries the wives
beat the husbands. l was in China nine
years, and only saw one drunken man.
That was such phenomenon that took
pains to make inquiries, and found he had
been made intoxicated by some British
sailors.
ITO some extent this abstemiousness
is owing to Buddhism. which makes
drunkenness one of the four cardinal
vices, but the real reason lies in the differ
ence of temperament. We are a Jolly
TOllieking sort Of people, and the Asiatic
is phlegmatic, and takes his pleasures
more sadly. In India the Brahmins are
also exhorted by their religion to abstain.
but they are more up in balloon people
than the Chinese, and the vice Of drunken
ness is spreading to an alarming degree
among the high-caste Hindoos. by contact
with Anglo-SaxOn civilization.
Now, please don't imagine when saw
these things" continued Dr. Masters
earnestly, that am attributing them to
defects in Christianity. In Hong-Kong
the Chinese have an impression that it is
part of an Englishman's religious exer-
cises to get drunk on a Sunday, but that is
the fault of the Englishman and not of the
religion. l am English myself" pursued
DR.. Masters, land 1 we'll remember how
my uncles and grandfather used TO be con-
tinually referring TO those touching words
OF Timothy to Paul, Take a little wine for
the stOmach's sake / don't mean to i'm
ply that my dear relatives got drunk, but
they had the old-fashioned impression
that 1t was manly to eat roast beef and
drink beer. Fifty years ago a temperance
man or woman was looked upon as a
crank, but mind you l consider the conn.
tenance that our Christian ancestors gave
TO drink to be misapprehenson on their
part In Interpreting the teachings of the
Bible 90 this subject. Christianity teaches
temperance. and as l said before | do not
consider the abstemlonsness of Buddhists