The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-04
rKE MISsIONARY sPIRIT.
Are the Nations Seeking 20 GhPiStIanize
China Themselves Christian?

To THE EDiToR or The SuH-Sir' VIII
you permit a humble layman seeking en-
lightenment to PROFOUND the query: Is the
missionary spirit consistent? l have been
reading with some trepidatlon the news from
China, portentous In the extreme TO those
who are carrying the Gospel to the heathen,
and | learn that the wrath OF the CELESTIAL
fanat les is at,high pressure. 1t ma be that
riot and bloodshed will sweep away the IN
stitut ions of Christianity and that the institu.
lions Of Christianity. in the shape OF armed
battallons, will ~retaliate by sweeping away
the fanatics. Are we oonslstentY
China il one of the oldest Of empires. Cen
turtles before the cont inent OF America was
discovered, that vast nation fourished WIN
its laws, its customs, Its religion, IL may De
that Confucianism and Buddhism are not
morally and officially the peers of Christianity.
but have we the right to assail such venerable
antiquities, first peacefully, then, II unsuc-
cessful, forcibly? Can we censure the oev-
otees of thsse religions for combating the
extension Of an alien faith and the extermi-
nation of the national creeds? Suppose TOT
a moment that missionaries from the ORIENT
were to invade the United States, preaching
the doctrines dear to them. What a cordially
hostile reception they would meet HOW
strenuously do we encounter the PROSECUTING
bands of Mormonism' And why? Because,
forsooth, they are p esumptuous enough 70
attack our cherished tenets, our reVered
Christianity. And yet we censure the heathen
because. loyal to their treasured institutions,
they resist our missionaries In their persist
ent efforts to destroy them,
Ia IL not rank impertinence to force upon an
unwilling people an unwelcome and hated
religion? For 5000 years and more the
Chinese have lived and died in the faith OF
their fathers; and the enlightened civilized
nations Of to-day seek to uproot that faith.
and II opposed, chastise the opposers with
bayonet and bullet. Have we despaired of
ourselves? 10 Europe, Ia America Christian?
Perhaps never before have idolatry, lioen-
tiousness, agnosticism been more rampant.
ia the mere knowledge OF the Gospel, unao-
companied by faith and good works. the pass
port to salvation? Can We not utilize the
missionary spirit in domestic Improvement?
Certainly the Church is waging a by no means
triumphant battle against the forces or sin
right here In our own country; and yet it'is
sending out emissaries to the far distant
empire to anita gonize a people and a people s
faith, In vain efforts to implant its doctrines.
is Confuclanism a lie? Who can say? Are
we bold enough to declare that every religion
except our own Ia an institution of the devil?
May 1t not be that we are the heathen? Let
him who is omniscient answer. The history
of mankind Is the history of broken and dis
carded religions. Truth lives but can we say
that we have found II? God Is; but can we
say that we have found Him2 We think we
have, So do the Chinese. Possibly both are
wrong. Possibly both are right. At least
we can exercise a broad spirit OF liberality
and liberation. and allow a nation the pos
session of its convictions. Let lis first Chris
tianize America. Let us save our shot and
shell for an invading foe. JOHN PRAYFuL.
I-TTrI March I