The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-19
Mi.xion Work In China.

cannot fail to affect materially future mis-
sion work in China. Although. as citizens
! of their respective countries. they must
at all hazards be protected from the fury
of barbaric Orientals, 1t is pertinent to
enquire why, after all. they should have
gone there in the first place.. and whether
there is any reason for their continuing
to live in country where their lives and
those of their wives and children must be
in more or less danger. I'D bgs sa.
The usefulness of all kinds Of mission
work has come to be doubted in these
days: and the work in China Is open to
alleged that many Chinese have become
| nominal Christians through poverty or de-
| sire to gain the missionaries protection
against Chinese societies which they have
offended. This naturally causes bad blood
to exist between native Christians and the
followers of Confucius. and obviously. does
Christianity more harm than good. But
| it will always be a phenomenon attendant
upon mission work in countries where the
people are very poor. In India they call
| such converts rice Christians"
Many hundred years ago Catholic mis-
sionaries were driven out of China in
circumstances almost precisely similar to
those which now exist; and that was the
beginning of China's anti-foreign yolicy.
What is the use of trying to convert peo-
pie against their will? The civilized world
is beginning to ask that question, and to
realize that where one religion is more or
less forcibly superimposed on another. the
result is a twisted system Of morality.
consequent upon the mixing of the two.
and very bad for society in general This
country is at present suffering from an at
tempt. persisted in for many centuries.
to make Anglo-Saxon paganism over on
the pattern of Oriental mysticism taken
literally. The Bible is not an outgrowth
of the Saxon mind, but Of the utterly diff
ferent Semitic character; and while its
fundamental truths are universal and.
therefore. can be accepted by all people.
the Occidental theologian. in taking its
metaphor and parable literally. has wound
himself up in an infinite mass of W.
reasonableness and error.
Now, these same Occidental people. An
glo-Saxon In their character. Oriental in
their religious phraseology. and with
system of thought which is weird and
wild mixture of both, have struggled over
to the Orient to try to make the Mongo-
liam mind see religion as they think 1t
ought to. What possible chance is there
that any straight and comprehensive sys-
tenn of morality will result from this as
tonishing mixture? The Golden Rule and
the Sermon on the Mount are universal
truths. as comprehensive as the multiple
cation table; and their lessons happen
also also to have been taught by Confucius
and Buddha; but the various theological
systems of the West are simply artificial
monstrosities which. If the Oriental ac-
cepts at all, he must study as an Ameri-
can would study the mythology of the peo-
pie of Kamtchatka, from the outside.
What connection can such Intellectual ex-
ercise have with the ingrained moral char
acter which is developed through genera
lions of heredity in every people; which
teaches the japanese gentleman to be SO
careful OF his wife's delicacy and reputa-
ton that he will not even let her be seen
by strangers, and the American gentle
man to be so proud of his wife that he
takes her with him wherever he goes?
The affection and regard for the welfare
of the loved ones are as deep in one case
as the other, but who would expect to
make over the social standards of one ma
ton to suit the others ideas when these
essential differences are once understood?
If it is really supposed that this thing
can be done, why not try it under reason
ably favorable conditions? Let the Amer
lean missionaries now in China be set to
convert all the Chinese now in the United
States. This population exists in America
precisely as it does in China, socially,
morally, and politically. The churches
which send missionaries to China do not
welcome Chinese into their congre cations,
nor do they pay any attention whatever
to Chinatown, which is within mile of
them. Why not station these mission
aries in San Francisco Chicago, and New
York. where they can live more comfor-
tably and safely than in Tientsin, and will
have use for all the knowledge of Chinese
language and character which they have
acquired? Why not set them to stop the
Chinese slave trade break up opium dens.
and teach the Monaghan now in this coun-
try how to take on American civilization?
All this they can do at a little expense.
without condemning themselves and their
children to exile, and they can keep in d.
rect touch, all the time, with the churches
that support them.
The transport Thomas sailed from San
Francisco Saturday with four hundred re-
endorsements for General Macarthur. This
helps to corroborate the statement of Otis
that the insurrecticn in the Philippines is
at an end.
II we are not greatly mistaken. President
Mckinley will shortly wish that he had
been prompter in granting the petition of |
the missionary element TO have troops
despatched to China. 1r there should be |
any general massacre over there. we are |
afraid that his hesitancy and delay will |
subject him TO unkind criticism ,I- |