The times., 1901-04-22
Missions 20 the Heathen.


in behalf of endowed missions to the
heather. and he says that the evangeli-
cation of the world is the supreme claim
upon the Christian Church, and that
this obligation was enforced throughout
the ministry of Christ and reaffirmed in |
the sacred terms of his last command.
The command referred to probably Is
that adjuring the disciples TO so INTO !
all the world and preach the gospel TO |
every creature a shrewd old farmer |
once made the comment, aprUpos OF the |
desire of a feckless nephew OF his to pc
come a missionary. that when Christ
commanded 'em to preach the gospel to /
every critter he didn't mean that every !
critter should preach the gospel
There is considerable sense in this.
The minds of most intelligent people.
in and out of the churches, are just now
being disturbed by doubt as to the
wisdom of foreign missions carried on
after the present plan. IN the first
place. there is nothing in it which much
resembles Christ's plan. According to
Matthew. Mark, and Luke, the apostles
We're given power to heal diseases, cast
out devils. raise the dead, and drink
any deadly thing without its hurting
them. No modern missionary pretends
to do anything of this kind except the
medical missionaries. who do heal dis
eases and whose work is productive OF
great good. The Catholic Church, in
sending its priests to out of the way
corners OF the world, has long taken the
precaution to give tEem an education IN
medicine as we'll as in theology; and II
is A noteworthy fact that il has not sent
women into places where they Will be
at the mercy of savage rebels in case
of revolt. Another rule laid down by
Christ was that the missionaries were
to take nothing with them, not even
bread. and were to support themselves
Some of the early Wesleyan preachers
followed this command literally, work
inc with their hands for their living,
and preaching during their scant leis-
ure time. and some of the Salvation
Army missionaries. do it now. Finally,
if they were prosecuted in one city they
were TO flee unto another-not stay
there and call for troops, or loot or de-
OF course. it may be said that times
have changed. and that all these mi
nutiae are not to be taken literally; but
if is difficult to see where some of these
good people get their authority to say
what in the Bible is to be taken liter
ally and what is not. There IS GER
tainlv not much sense in picking out
I .r-- mi al
world and preach the gospel to every
creature. and disregarding all the other
commands, especially that enjoining the
missionary to go first to the lost sheep
! Of the house Of Israel For cons der
/ able length Of time the Christian
| Church of Europe was sending mission
aries to preach the gospel in all the
| world. and savagely prosecuting the
/ lost sheep of The house of Israel mean
while. Moreover, how is il To be ascer-
| tanned which part of the world is first
| to be converted? 1t looks to the impair
! tial observer as if it might be just as
well 10 see that every creature in the
! United States Of America has been CON
verted. before attacking Bombay, Con
stantinople. and Pekin. 1t would surely
be quite possible to convert all the Can
! tonese in the Chinese quarter of New
York. to say nothing Of other cities of
this lard. if it is going to be possible to
/ convert the four hundred millions of
people in China itself; but even that
has not been done, and is not likely to
be Even among native Americans
there is considerable need for one kind
of mission or another. Until il is safe
for young girl TO go anywhere alone
in this country without being insulted
or harmed. until the police department
Of New York Is purified, and the poll
ticians Of this country convinced that
rotten ward politics is bad for the
health Of the people and worse for the
moral welfare Of the persons most con-
cerned. until Phariseeism-the one sin
,for which Christ seems to have had nc
mercy-is a little suppressed and dis
credited, it seems as if it might be well
to leave the Confucians, Buddhists, and
Shintoists TO the workings of their owr
religion and the benefcent influences
. OF the Christian civilization Of the
West. introduced by secular means
There is not much use in spreading civ
liza tion which does not ciyilize; and il
the secular authorities of Western ma
2 tions had been converted to sense
Of their responsibilities, perhaps th'
! opium trade would not have been in
troduced into China, and there would
p not be seventy saloons in Lucknow
J where there was not one before the ad
T vent Of the foreigner.