Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-10-19
DIFFICULT TASK.
That Of the Christian Missionaries
in China.
Almost Insuperable Obstacles TO sues
cess in Their work of Converts
ing the Mons
DDS Employed.


follow actively their various branches
OF the work in the different provinces
of the empire. Many of them, in in
tellectual aud spiritual gifts, are far
above the average of our home workers.
In their doings with the natives they
prove to be Influenced by the highest
principles OF good will and humanity,
as well as by Christian charity. They
are men aud women of whom America
may we'll feel proud, says Prof. John
Fryer in AinSlee's.
Some who criticise the labors of mis-
eionaries depend only upon bare sta
aistics. They reckon up the Number
of mission stations and church mem
bers with the number OF years of work,
and take these as the measure of use
fulpess. Such people do not realize
the difficulties OF the situation, which
make the results beyond the reach of
arithmetical computation. The reli-
gious beliefs, the customs and preju-
6ices of the Chinese are intrenched
behind centuries upon centuries Of SUI
perstition. Tt must be remembered
that China Is the most ancient empire
in the world. Before the Jews beca me
nation, say 25 centuries before
Christ, China's civilization had already
reached high standard. Her wealthy
inhabitants wore silks and satins while
the Israelites were in Egypt, and long
centuries before Greece and Rome were
thought OF. Her ethics, her laws and
administration of government have
come down almost unchanged through
all those thousands OF years. AS far back
MS histocy gPes the Chinese were gov
erned by almost the same fo-m of pa
ternal or patriarchai government that
has stood unshaken amid the rise and
fall of western empires, and is sill as
influential in its strength and vigor.
1t is this antiquity which the Chinese
fail back upon with so much pride that
stands in the way of their accepting
anything so modern as Christianity.
But in the consideration OF the difii-
culties the missionary has TO epcoun-
ter there is not only the antiquity but
also the enormous size of the nation
and the extent OF country. Out of a
total of 100000 square miles the 18
provinces, or China proper, contain
1,5Oo,oo of square miles. In the mid
die of China is one of the greatest
and most densely populated plains in
the world, through which flow the Yell
low river and the Yangtse. This one
plain supports population of 75,o00,-
600, OF nearly three times as many
people as inhabit the United States.
The emperor of China rules over one
tenth of the surface of the inhabitable
globe, and nearly half the population
of our planet. Both the land and the
people are not only immense and over
whelming, but strange, unique and
without analogy. The methods used
for preaching the Gospel in our own
lands or among uncivilized races have
to be modified greatly, II not entirely
changed, when applied to the civiliza-
tion OF China. The mass to be moved Is
enormous, and the power applied must
be great in proportion.
Added to this difficulty of the size Of
the nation there is the compexity OF
the language. The old saying that
"the devil invented the Chinese char
hcters TO keep Christianity out of
China" appears to have some show OF
reason when we find that In place OF u
Chinese alphabet there are tens of
thousands OF formidable hieroglyphics
of pictorial characters, aed that each
constitutes separate monosyllabic
word. Furthermore, this written lam
guage is TO be seen and not heard, to
be read and not spoken. Then there
is the official or court language used in
the northern and central provinces,
with hundreds of different dialects
spoken south OF the Ysngtse. The mis-
sionary there has therefors TO learn
the local dialect, the court language
and the written or classical language
before he can preach, read the trans.
latlons OF the Scriptures and carry on
oral and written intercourse with all
the different classes of natives he
meets. This alone is the work almost
OF lifetime.
But when the missionary has over
come these difficulties, which few sue
ceed in doing beyond certain limited
extent, his task is only just begun. He
has 10 learn all that the ordinary Chi
nese know from their classical and 9th
er books and teachers in order TO meet
them on their own ground. Then he
must begin TO attack the sentiments
the Chinaman holds most dear and
which are hallowed by the Garlic as
sociations and patental love These
ancestral teachings and examples, with
his methods of religious worship. are
deeply imbedded In his inmost heart.
Yet the missionary has to ask him to
give up many or most OF them and ac-
cept untried foreign dogmas aud meth
ods In their place. IL IL any wonder
that the conservative principle in Chi
nese human nature rebels, and that the
Chinaman naturally is opposed TO all
missionary propagandiSm: II is al
most impossible TO realize the immens Sc
aaerifcs a Chinese, even OF the lower
class, has 70 make when in the face
OF the opposition and the contempt Of
bis family, his hnsmen, his whole clan
aud his friends, he determines 10 be-
come a sincere Christian and TO follow
the teachings OF uncouth-looking
strapgers from far-oft lands who are
poPularly known as foreign devils!"