St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-08-11
THE ORIENTAL SIDE.
How Chinese Dignitaries View the
Present Trouble In the East.
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: Especial washington Letter.l


rTHE Ptolemaic theory of the uni
verse was accepted by the scien-
titic world until Copernicus DEM
onstrated it's errors. The earth is round.
aot fat And yet, upon the theory OF
the fiatness of the earth, the ancient
astronomers calculated eclipses and
and returnings of comets.
Truth is difficult to obtain, that is,
the whole truth. Consequently man
kind gropes in error on many points,
some lines for many centuries. Well
established beliefs are SO well en-
trenched that even when their errors
are demonstrated people grudgingiy
take the truth at it's full value. There
is a race of people on earth which con-
sistently and persistently refuses to
accept the truth, as it is seen and ac-
knowledged by hundreds of millions
of people. Earnestly and conscien-
tiously the Jews cling to the belief that
God gave to their ancestors all OF the
truths of religion which are worth
knowing. and they sincerely believe
that all inspired writings were made
by the hands of their prophets, priests
and kings. II
As a matter of fact every brain il
capable of receiving inspired truth.
Inspiration came not only to the writ
ers of the Old Testament, and to the
writers of the New Testament, but to
many others, even unto this day and
generation. The utterances of Abra-
ham Lincoln at Gettysburg were in
spired from the same source whence
came the inspiration of the authorship
of the book of Job. We may as well 60
back and accept the Ptolemaic theory
of the universe, and reject that of
Copernicus, as to permit ourselves to
believe that inspiration ceased when
a few men died, and that the universal
Father ceased to communicate with
was gathered unto his fathers.
"Your Christian religion is good.
but it assumes that the Father. loved
a limited few of His children" says the
Chinese minister to this republic.
''Where is there any foundation in the
history of mankind to warrant the
assumption that the Thousands of mill
lions of human beings in the orient
were overlooked by their Creator?
They do not believe that they have
been overlooked. They know to the
contrary" ~4g
One of. the intelligent members of
the Chinese embassy here land they
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cannot talk about religion. They must
particularly avoid talking on such sub
jectsi for publication. Nevertheless
you may be sure that all of us have
views, and not one Of Us for moment
believes. or will ever believe, that the
Creator sent many thousands Of mil
lions of people to dwell in China with
out religion and without the love of
the Father Of all mankind, or that
positive information concerning the
plans and purposes of God was COM
municated alone to . few people in one
of the smallest corners of the earth. -
] We were talking about the condi-
tions in China, and the hatred mani
tested towards the missionaries there.
Speaking in perfect English. he said:
81 notice that Salvation Army men and
women have been mobbed in Denver
and other: large cities of this couD-
try, and yet they were teaching the
Christian religion. as they understand
it. I have read in your newspapers
that Mormon teachers in Tennessee,
Kentucky, Alabama and other states
have been mobbed and driven away.
Supposing that the people of China
have less intelligence than your own
people, is it strange to you that they
should resent the efforts which have