The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-12
MISSIONARIES IN CHINA.
Almost InsupernbIe Obstacles to
Their Success.

Their Success.
Prof. John Fryer in Ainslee's.
"At present there are nearly thousand
American missionaries in China, repre-
senting the different Protestant churches
of the United States. They follow active
ly their various branches of the work in
the different provinces of the empire.
Many of them, in intellectual and 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 goodwill and
humanity as well by Christian charity.
They are men and women of whom Amer
lea may well feel proud.
THE home of the missionary is CEN
ter of light for all the surrounding dis
triots The children of the mission schools
and colleges see the home life of the mis-
sionary families, learn the meaning of
the Stars and Stripes of the national flag.
understand their feeling of patriotism in
its highest sense, and delight TO learn the
history of the country that has sent them
so much help from purely philanthropic
motives. Il is the spirit of Christianity;
and 1t is the American missionary who
is eminently qualified to teach 1t to them
even in the face of the corrupt govern
ment of China
Some who criticize the labors of mis-
sionaries depend only upon bare statis-
tics. They reckon up the number of mis-
sion stations and church members with
the number of years of work, and take
these as the measure of usefulness. Such
people do not realize the difficulties of the
situation, which make the results beyond
the reach of arithmetical compute ton.
The religious beliefs, the customs and
prejudces of the Chinese are entrenched
hah f,,A ut If
stition. II must be remembered that China
Is the most ancient empire in the world.
Before the Jews became a nation, say
twenty-five centuries before Christ, Chi
mas civilization had already reached a
! 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 UNI
changed through all those thousands of
years. As far back as history goes the
Chinese were governed by almost the
same form of paternal or patriarchal gov
eminent that has stood mistaken amid the
rise and fall of Western empires, and is
still as influential in its strength and
vigor. 1t is this antiquity which the Chi
nese fab 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 diff
culues the missionary has TO encounter
there is not only the antiquity but also
the enormous size of the nation and the
extent of country. Out of total of $780,
600 square miles the eighteen provinces,
or China proper, contain 100000 of square
miles. In the middle of China is one
of the greatest and most densely popu-
lated plains in the world, through which
flow the Yellow river and the Yang-tse-
This one plain supports a population of
ia. 600 0O0 or nearly three times as many
people fnhabit the United States. The
Emperor of China rules over one-tenth
of the surface of the habitable globe, and
nearly half of the population of our
planet. Both the land and the people are
not only immense and overwhelming, bu,
strange, unique and without analogy. The |
methods used for preaching the Gospel !
in our own lands or among uncivilzed
races have to be modified greatly, If not |
entirely changed. when applied TO the civ
liza ton 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 complexity of the |
language. The old saying that the devil |
invented the Chinese characters to keep |
Christianity out of China appears to have |
some show of reason when we tnd that |
in place of a Chinese alphabet there are |
tens of thousands of formidable hero
glyphics of pictorial characters, and that |
each constitutes a separate monosyllabic |
word Furthermore this written Ian |
guage is to be seen and not heard, 20 be |
read and not spoken. Then there is the |
official or court language used in the |
northern and central provinces, with hun
dreds of different dialects spoken south of |
the Yang-tse. The missionary there has /
therefore to learn the local dialect, the |
IL
cal language before he can preach, read |
the translations of the Scriptures, and |
carry on oral and written intercourse with |
all the different classes of natives ne |
meets. This alone is the work almost |
of a lifetime.
But when the missionary has overcome |
these difficulties, which few succeed in |
doing beyond a certain limited extent, his |
task is only just begun. He has to learn |
all that the ordinary Chinese know from |
their classical and other books and teach |
ers, I'm order to meet them on their own |
ground. Then he must begin 20 attack |
the sentiments the Chinaman holds most |
dear and which are hallowed by the |
earliest associations and parental love. |
These ancestral teachings and examples, |
with his methods of religious worship, are |
deeply imbedded in his Utmost heart. Yet |
the missionary has to ask him to give up
many or most of them, and accept untried |
foreign dogmas aud methods in their |
place. Is It any wonder that the conser- |
vative principle in Chinese human nature !
rebels and that the Chinaman naturally
is opposed to all missionary propaganda |
ism? 1t is almost impossible to realize |
the immense sacrifice a Chinese. even of
che lower class. has to make when in the |
face OF the opposition and the contempt
of his family, his kinsman, his whole clan
and his friends he determines to become
81 Christian and follow the
teachings OF notwithstanding strangers
from far-of lands who are popularity
known as foreign devilsH"
-s-@-s
"A team Of Kansas City hremen is now
on the way to Paris to take part in the