The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-07-25
By WILLIAM r. ELLIS.

Some persons still think of China
only In terms of Chinese laundrymen.
They assume an attitude of rather con-
temptuous indifference toward the
"heathen Chinese and rather take
credit to themselves for It. They have
no knowledge Of the real China, with
Its polished manners, its immemorial
customs. Its classical education. and its
incsIculable wealth in men, minerals
and merchandise. It 10 altogether be-
yond the power OF most OF US to visual
lie a nation of four hundred million
people. SO we so on In. our provincial
ism, utterly unaware that some OF the
gravest problems Of the twentieth
century are being wrought out in that
greatest OF all living nations which,
within the memory OF every person who
reads these words, has reversed front
with respect to all that rs known As
Western civilization. ..,ss.s,,--,rs
whoever sets out to know China is
wise with the wisdom to tomorrow
A great many westerners have buri-
ed themselves as leayen In China, and,
ali unrecognized. their lives and la
bors are a factor in the present trans
formation Of the empire
To have lived greatly for great ends
is a form OF success achieved by many
missionaries who have given themselves
for Ching
The idea of career entertained by
Jesus aptly describes the life OF some
of the great missionaries OF China.
.'The Son Of man came not to be minis
tered unto. but to minister and to give
his life q ransom for many.
The ancient art Of China. and the
history OF China. have been appreciat-
ed by only q few persons. although to-
day Chinese ceramics are priced by
discriminating persons everywhere.
Even the geography Of China has been
a terra incognita." and the first really
complete and correct maps have APP
peared within the past twelve month !.
These, Enthusiastically, like most
other pioneer enterprises in China, are
las to the Chinese Empire" with Its
separate maps of the eighteen provin-
ces and four dependencies. Is WORK
to evoke the enthusiasm OF every stu
dent of China 1t is issued by the China
Inland Mission. and has campanion
volume, THE Chinese Empire" Such
eminent sinologues as Sir Robert Hart
and Sir Ernest Eatow warmly praise
the scholarly excellence of this work,
cradle by-products of missions.
No hero of missions regards himself
as such.
the scholarly power of some> mis-
sionarieg Is really astonishing. There
was Walter Medhurst. who could speak
nine languages: Bishop Schereschews-
ky, who translated the whole Bible:
Elijah Bridgman, also a Bible transla-
tor: and such living veterans as w. A.
p. Martin. D. 8. sheffield. Arthur H.
smith. DR.. Wherry, and the lately de-
ceased Calvin J. Natter. The new edu-
cation of China is in the hands OF
Christian missionaries and their stu
dents
Morrison, Milne, Chauncy Goodrich.
Walter Lowrie, ]. Hudson Taylor. John
L. Nevius, DR.. Peter Parker. Bishop
Boone, Wells Williams, H. Blodget. DR..
Griffth John. James Meadows. Hunter
Corbett-how the names Of the great
servants Of China mount up. The
western world little knows what they
have done but some day China will
enshrine them In her hall of great
ones.
To say that all missionaries are great
and noble and heroic is, of course, RI
diculous. They are not. I have met
all kinds in China alone. But 1 re-
member most clearly such men as the
reserved and scholarly B. C. Patterson
a Southern Presbyterian; DR.. j.. Wal
ter Lowrie, the great son Of one of
China's great missionaries. and himself
the savior OF his city from destruc-
tlon by the Allies In 1900 the sturdy
tireless Courtenay H. Fem, miller of
the Picking siege and now teacher~of
teachers and a Christian administrator:
Isaac T. Headland, connoiseur In Chi
nese art and literature; Fletcher Brock
man and d. Willard Lvon. major gem
erals OF the new army Of Chinese young
men; DR.. W. H. Park the beloved
doctor of Soochow. and DR.. H. c. Du-
Bose of the same city, father of the
anti-opium movement that Is relieving
China and the world OF this curse.
An increasing number of natives are
to be numbered among the Christianiz-
ing forces of China. once we reckon
ed upon the missionaries to convert the
nation: now we see clearly that n