Milford chronicle., 1908-10-30
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
AND CIVILIZATION
Address Delivered at Carnegie Hall,
New York City, April, 1908, by
the Hon. William IL. Taft.

| have known good many people
that were opposed to foreign mis-
sions l have known a. good many
regular attendants at church, con
sistent members, perhaps, that relig-
lously, if YOU choose to use that term,
refused to contribute to foreign mis-
sions. Now, / confess that there
was time when / was enjoying a
SNUG provincialism that | hope has
left NE now, when | rather sympa-
thized with that view. Until I went
to the Orient, until there were thrown
on me the responsibilities with ref
erence to the extension of civilization
in those far distant lands, | did not
realize the immense importance of
foreign missions. The truth is we
have got to wake up in this coun-
try. We are not all there is in the
world There are lots besides us, and
there are lots of people besides us
that are entitled to our effort and our
money and our sacrifice to help them
on in the world. No man can study
the movement OF modern civilization
from an utterly impartial standpoint
and not realize that Christianity and
the spirit of Christianity is the only
basis for the hope of modern civiliza- /
tion and the growth of popular self /
government. The spirit of Christian
ity is pure democracy. 1t is the
of man before God, the ,
equality of man before the law, which .
is. as | understand it, the most Cod !
like manifestation that man has been
able to make. Now, am not here to
speak of foreign missions from 4
purely religious standpoint. ! am
here to speak of it from the stand
2oint of political, governmental ad-
the Advancement of mod
ern civilization And I think | have
lad some opportunity to know how
dependent we are On the spread Of
in any hope that we may
lave of uplifting the peoples whom
Providence has thrust upon US for
,ur guidance.
Religion and Political Government.
am talking practical facts about
h effect of religion on the political
government, and / know what I am
alking about. l did not realize until
went into the Orient the variety of
hings that foreign missions accom-
lish. The missionaries have reached
he conclusion that in order to make
man a good Christian, You have
ty and teach him something to do
nd give him some sense aad intelli-
ence.
So, connected with every successful
oreign mission is q school, Ordi-
arily an industrial school. Also 4
hey teach the native that cleanliness
J next to Goodness and that one ,
usiness of his is to keep himself
ealthy. and so in connection with :
very good foreign mission they have
ospitals and doctors And. tn ~a-
1re. the mission makes a nucleus Of I
lodern civilization, with schools, I
aachers and physicians and the !
hurch. In that way. having edu- /
lted the native, having taught him !
ow to live, then they are able to be +
ire that they have made him 4 con c
stent Christian.
China Headed Right.
Every foreign mission IN China is
nucleus of modern civilization. I
ow China Is in great state of tran l.
tion. China is looking forward to s
'ogress. China is to be guided by L
hon? 1t is to be guided by the
)ung Christian students and schol-
s that either learn English or some d
reign language at home or are sent Il
yroad to be instructed, and who a
me back and whose words are lis n
ned to by those who exercise fn1u- n
ice at the head OF the Government. is
nerefore it Is that these frontier al
,sts Of civilization are so much more ii
lportant than the mere numerical Il
unit of converts seems to make tf
EN-. in
l speak from the standpoint of po- M
ical civilization in such a country II
China. They have, think, 5000 ei
iSsfopnrias IN China Tho rurohar -,