The record-union., 1895-11-26
MISSION WORK IN CHINA.

Some time ago the Record Union dis
cussed the question DO Missions Pay?"
The conclusion not reached, but ap-
preached was that those of China have
was doubt expressed. The Review of
Reviews has been considering the evil
dence regarding the beneficial charac-
ter of the missions in China, and con-
veys the impression that the burden of
testimony is in favor of the missions.
Our conclusion was based on state
ments made by Norman White and sew
eral Bishops and missionaries. Of
course, on such a subject there will be
many opinions and much conflicting
evidence.
1t is possible that the adverse judg-
ment reached is not fully sustained by
the facts now developing, for here we
have Hon. J. W. Foster, certainly a
talented observer, addressing the Epis-
copal Council at Minneapolis, and the
American Board of Missions at Brook
Ign, where he said, at great length,
that the mission work in China has
been the means of great good Mr..
that we must not be surprised at a con-
siderable degree of domestic unrest in
Chino q flor +ba Sbool< of tho oraaf for
eign war, especially in view of the dis
charge from active service of great
bodies of soldiers who have become
scattered through several provinces.
He predicts that general quiet and or
der will soon be restored in China, and
that thenceforth the missionaries will
have much easier access than ever be-
fore to the people everywhere. In his
opinion It would be a great loss and mis-
fortune to give up the beginnings that
have been made, and he eXhorts the
missionary bodies to lose none of their
faith in the possibility of benefiting
Oriental peoples through a presentation
of the value and significance of the re-
ligion of Christ.
Mr.. Foster is very recently from the
Orient. He is a sincere believer in mis-
sion work and in the religion of Chris
tianity, and therefore stands in the atti-
tude of a partisan. He was, while in
China, in the employment of that Gov
eminent in negotiating a peace with
Japan. He had opportunities to OBJ
serve and to form broad judgments.
His testimony must therefore be re-
cefved with respect.
On the other hand, the able critics and
practical observers, Messrs. Henry Nor
man and Arnold White, have charged
that the missionaries sent out from our
country have been i'll chosen; that their
verts to Christianity are few, and that
many, if not a majority of the alleged
converts, are insincere.
We quoted in the first article on the
subject the testimony of missionaries
themselves, and of heads of churches in
China, to the effect that the antipathy
of the Chinese to the missionaries has
not only not been overcome, but that
hatred of them had spread and intensi-
fed among the Chinese. 1t must be
confessed that between these conflicting
testimonies it is difficult to come to a
satisfactory conclusion as to what is
the fact.
We are content, however, until there
is more light shed upon the subject,
with the conclusion that the cases of
the missionaries have not been proved;
that in the face of the recent massacres,
and the admitted inability of the mis-
scenarios to remove the belief from
among the people that they subsist
upon Chinese babes and children, their
mission has not been so successful as
the fifty years of effort put forth ought
to justify.