Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-28
IN THE CHINESE TONGUE
SERMON PREACHED TO CELEsTIALs
OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
Address by Rev. Robert Z. Chambers
Before Two Meetings-The
Far East.

Churcn OF this city, and who, with his
wife and child, is in the United States on
leave of absence, addressed two meetings
at that church yesterday afternoon. Mr..
Chambers left China November TO- 1909,
after the close of the Boxer troubles: he
will return 10 the far east next fall.
The first of the meetings began at 3
o'clock, and was intended especially for
the benefit of the Christian Chinese of
| Washington, it being the belief of those
in charge of the exercises that the celes-
tial residents here would be pleased to meet
one who had recently been in their own
land. About thirty Cinnamon. representing
various Baptist churches here, attended
and paid the most marked attention to all
that Mr. Chambers said. In addition to
the Cinnamon present there audi
ence of English-speaking people which
filed the large room.
Mr.. Chambers exhibited to his hearers a
large and handsomely printed copy of the
New Testament, which was published in
China. the work being done by Chinese
printers, and similar in all respects. eX-
| cept the binding. to one that was printed
by the Presbyterian Missionary Society of
| Shanghai, and presented to the empress
| dowager about five years ago. He explain
| ed that the Chinese are far easier to reach
| through printed matter than by the per-
! Sonal efforts of missionaries, and that while
| there are many dialects in China, the same
| printed characters are in use in every part
| of the empire. After several appropriate
| hymns had been sung in English. Mr.
| Chambers read a selection from the Blbie
| in Chinese, and when he had concluded,
| Poi Kin, resident of Washington. by re-
| quest, led in prayer in his native tongue.
| The Sermon.
| Following this Mr.. Chambers delivered
| sermon in Chinese, which occupied about
| twenty-five minutes. These exercises were
closed with singing God Be With You TIL
! We Meet Again" the preacher singing the
| hymn as a solo in Chinese and the au-
dience joining in the chorus in English.
The dismissal of the audience was fol-
| lowed by an informal reception to the Chi
nese present, during which each of the lat
| ter grasped Mr.. Chambers warmly by the
| hand and expressed the pleasure he had in
| meeting a foreigner who was able to con-
| verse with them in their own language.
| The second meeting was under the
auspices of the Junior Baptist Young Peo
| pies Union of the church. Mrs. NAPLES
| presiding. At her request Mr.. Chambers
| told something of what was being done in
| China under the auspices of the Chinese
| Baptist Publication Society. of which he is
headquarters are in Canton This society
| is, he said, but little more than two years
| old, but up to the time he left Canton,
about three months ago 1t had published
| more than 100000 volumes. Some of these
were quite large, while others were very
| small.
The society owned. he said, three
fonts of type and Chinese font.
thing from American font. He
pointed out that in America the printer
| can have all his upper and lower case of
| type on single frame, and easily reach
| them all, but in China II 600 little boxes
| are required to hold the characters from
which the printing is done. There are 2l7
| radicals, which are the foundation of the
| printing system and these must all be
! learned hV heart before n
| dertake to set up a book or other printed
! matter.
| Reverence for Printing.
! The Chinese, he said, have a great rev.
| erence for printing, and he had seen boxes
on the streets which were painted the
words: Have pity on the printed paper"
| The object of this was to prevent any CT
! the posters from being thrown away, and
1t was expected that when a person had
anything of that sort to dispose of he
| would put 1t in the box. At stated inter-
walls a Chinese will come along, place the
paper in a bag and carry 1t to temple,
| where 1t was burned as an offering to the
| god of literature.
| On one occasion. he went on to say, a
| missionary got into serious trouble and
| came near being mobbed for stepping on
a book. although he did unintentionally,
and it was only after considerable explana-
| ton that he was allowed 10 go his way.
| Mr. Chambers remarked that he would
| be glad to answer any questions any per-
| son in the audience might feel disposed TO
| ask him. and gentleman inquired in what
manner the Chinese received missionar-
| les. .
| ut is a mistake to think. some do"
| was the reply, that the Chinese are mold
ing ont their hands and begging for mis-
| siCnaries 1t is easy to get a crowd to
| listen to you. for they assemble to hear a
| foreign devil. as the term is for all per-
sons from outside of their own land They
| LIST m "
say and if what is told is contrary to their
way of thinking they will say That man Is
| a fool The Chinan1an does not care what
any one believes on the subject of religion.
on one occasion, after L had preached about
| Jesus, l heard man say. nat foolish-
ness to talk about a man being alive who
died nearly 2,0C0 years ago 1t is not that
they are opposed to the Christian religion
| that they have killed the missionaries, but
! because they regard the missionaries as
| emissaries of the nation from which they
come 1 have often heard the cry, Kill
| the foreign devils but never heard XIII
| the missionaries They cannot understand
| how 1t Is that missionaries go among Them
| never earn any money so far as they can
| see and yet are supported. l have been
| asked, How much does your king pay you?
| They have a proverb in China: First, the
| missionary: second the consul, and third
the soldier and 1t cannot be denied that
| 1t has been only too true in experience.
| The Exemptions.
| Continuing Mr.. Chambers said that for
| eieners were exempt from the operations
| of all Chinese law; that no matter what the
| foreigner did the Chinese could not arrest
| him. An arrest could only be made by the
col;sul of the offenders country or under
| his orders, and the trial would be before
| the consul. 1t would not do to have any
| other arrangements In this regard because
| the foreigner could not get justice in a
| Chinese court, but the privilege had been
| often abused.
| Mr. Chambers was asked to tell about the
| first convert under his ministry in China
and he replied that after he and his wife
became sufficiently acquainted with Chinese
| to read the Bible in that language they
| held a Bible reading meeting each night
There one man who attended every
meeting for more than month. He listen
ed intently to the reading, but never asked
question, and despite Mr.. Chambers most
| earnest efforts the latter could not get him
| to talk with the preacher. The readers had
reached the last chapter of Matthew, which
/ they were engaged in explaining to their
| audience, when all at once the man an
| ncunced that for the future he intended to
! be Christian. Three or four months later
| leprosy began to show itself upon the man.
! There was no mistaking the spots. This
being noticed by his friends. some of them