The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-08-03
REAPlNG THE
-. - WHIRLWIND. FIR
The. China of Today Is Reaping
the Results Of
OF HEATHENIsM.
Interesting Sermon by Rev. H. Clay Fer
guson. on the Present state of
Affairs In the Far

The second sermon on "The present
troubled state of Chinese affairs and
the lessons for man" was preached Sab
bath evening at Calvary Presbyterian
church by the Rev. H. Clay Ferguson.
The special theme was. "The elements
entering into the present state of affairs
in China and the awful results" The
text was from Gal. 6:7-"Be not de-
ceived. God is not Knocked; for what
soever q man soweth that shall he also
reap"
The pastor said in part: Man will IT.
sist, in spite of the word Of God and hu-
man experience, that somehow he will
reap good at last even II he sow evil.
But there is an unalterable law holding
between seed and harvest and there Is
no exception, nor can there be. Man
has a right to get good when he sows
good seed, and he ought not to get good
| IL he sows evil.
! The heather empire of China is reap
ing the results of ages of heathenisin.
There are many causes of the present
trouble. The following stand out prom
inently: First of all,
| "CHINA'S RELIGION"
To imagine that China Is non-relig-
| ious would be a grevious error. She Is
| exceedingly religious. But her relig-
ion Is not help, but a hindrance to her.
Whatever may be said of Confucion-
| ism or of Buddhism as to ethical or
| moral truth, they are both of man;
both erring; both inadequate to the
needs Of the human soul. Doth leave
| China in darkness and heathenisln
| after ages of worship at heather
shrines. Both left China a child in in
telligence and in the knowledge Of re-
ligious truths and Christian concep-
| tion of science, art. literature, phi
losophy, ethics, agriculture and me-
chanics, that have rendered the Chris
tian nations the leaders of the world of
men. China is hoar with age, yet she is
a child. The more intelligent nations
have treated her as lacking In knowl-
edge and in the power of self-defense
and she has lost, and while they are not
to be praised for this, she is to be blam-
ed. Her religion has been the clog on
her wheels. 1t is pollythustic. She has
many gods to please and serve. II she
disturb the soil for railways, the god of
the land is angry at her, and the drag
ons of the air may come down and
destroy whole households or communi-
ties So is 1t Of the water courses and
all about her in nature. Hence she Is
afraid to advance. Her coal fields might
have been worked. She might have
been great manufacturing nation, with
arts and science that would have placed
her as one of the first-class powers.
But her religion has led her to fear and
to be hindered by the imagined desires
and anger Of many gods. She has made
gods out Of her own imagination from
sticks and stones and then fallen down
in worship and obedience to what she
by heredity believes they demand of
her. Idolatry, which is a part of her
heathenism, has caused her to pray to
gods that could neither hear nor an
swer, and in peace and war left help
less and prey for the nations.
Ignorance is power and it has caused
her to feel self-sufficient in her helpless
ness. -progressiveness, exclusive
ness and superstition are results of her
religious system. The mighty incubus
of heather religion must be removed
or China forever remains in the rear
van Of the nations. Yet the great mass
of her people fight this and hence part
of the cause of her troubled affairs.
Why will men insist that a nations re-
ligion has nothing to do with it's civic
and material progress?
The second great cause of the present
unsettled condition in China is the q
TEACHING OF CHRISTIANITY
as taken to her by the preached and
written word of God. Churches and col
leges have been reared and are doing
their overturning work. The bible
has gone among her people. The en-
press dowager was presented a few
years ago with copy bound
in gold, the gift of the missionaries and
the native converts to Christianity in
China. Preachers of Christianity have
been taken from the ranks of Confu-
cious, customs changed, caste broken
down, part of the people touched by
the finger Of God and awakened to
sense Of their need and the awful condi-
tion of China in religious, civic, moral
| and social sense, and these awakened
| ones are striving against all that is dear
| and sacred to the Chinaman by hered-
| ity, and this has thrown China gradu-
| ally but certainly into CONSERVATION.
AS we tear down old and inferior
buildings that we may build more use
full and grander proportioned structures
to suit the times and conserve our new
| Pui iPoocob oo SSou III pioNiuCHcC 10
Overthrowing the old heather China
and it's hindering, out-of-date heredi-
ties that He may rear for China the
new religion which alone will be ade-
quate to her needs and build her upon
a new foundation that will hold her
firm while she is reared into her mighty
and possible self among the nations.
But all this Is revolutionary and sub
versive. 1t overthrows her religion, de-
stroys her gods; RACES her splendid tenn
pies to the ground breaks into pieces
her idols;. subverts her home land as 1t
was; bewilders her. 1t is the word of
Christ, Think not that am come 10
bring peace, but the sword"
There must be the overthrow that the
new China may be built up a glory
among the nations and be marshalled
under the only universal banner that