The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1910-08-11
OUR SERMON THIS WEEK.
Delivered Mt Bethany Church by Rev.
c. L. Bousfeld, Missionary to
China.

In the first chapter OF Genesis, we
read that God created man In His
own image and after His likeness
and gave Him dominion over every
other created thing. Man in fellow
shin with God was to rule all. In
the next chapter we read how man
brought Into his own nature another
element. that of evil and lost his fell
lowship with his Creator. In the
fifth chapter we are told that seth
begat a son In his Image and after
his likeness" and man has been ever
since a being created to rule all In
fellowship with God, yet yielding to
the evil one and, having lost the DO
minion. himself, slave. True hap
piness has been and will be impos-
sible until man has been restored and
holds once more the power and Hills
the Mace for which he was created.
His condition is described by Paul
In Romans VII: THE good that |
would that | do not and the evil that
would not, that | do" Christ by
regeneration restores us and we first
regain dominion over ourselves ana
then over the world.
Men are not bad because they want
tn he: q saloon keeper does not sell
lisuor because he likes to see lives
ruined and homes wrecked and char
acter blasted. These things grleve
him but the love of gain and gold Is
stronger and that rules him. A
Chinaman will often come into
missionary's home and noticing how
clean and tidy it Is call 1t "a little
heaven" The first thing you will
notice In a Chinaman who becomes
Christian is that he cleans up his
house and washes himself and MS
clothes with greater care. He is not
satisfied any longer to have the pigs
rubbing against his legs in the din
ing room or to have the hens roost-
ing In the rafters of his house or to
have his hoes and mattocks in the
corner of his parlor. His standard
of living Is raised. He Is no longer
satisfied with the old life. Ply him
with questions, analyZe his motives.
and you will find that he never liked
the old way but was too lazy TO try
anything better. Laziness ruled him
and not he, himself.
There is no market for our manu-
featured goods among tribe or saw
ages. One of the first effects OF the
preaching of the gospel is develop
ment of trade Till Christ is preach
ed, there is no demand for all the
comforts and conveniences of life
which mark Christian civilization.
With the preaching of Christ, man
once more gains the dominion, there
comes a higher standard OF living and
with it, law and order, safety for life
and property. Forty years ago,
Uganda was peopled by naked saw
ages. The tribes were perpetually
fighting, enc against another. The
people lived under conditions too re-
voting to be mentioned in public No
ones life and no ones property was
safe. You sent your missionaries
there. They killed the first. You sent
more. Some of them met with the
same accident but you still sent
more. Now, Col Roosevelt has re-
ported that he found law and order.
churches and schools and Christian
civilization under a Christian king.
And 80 1t Is wherever Christ Is
preached the dominion Is restored.
Consider Turkey. Twenty years ago
and less, Turkey was the despair OF
the civilized world. We heard of
the "Unspeakable Turk" The Sultan
was The sick man of Europe" Tur-
key was the home OF brigands and
robbers Nothing was safe in Turkey,
and had 1t not been for the jealousy
of Russia. Germany and Great Bri-
tain, they would have wiped it off the
map and there would have been no
more Turkey. But you sent your
there. 1t was not many
1t is true but still Christ was preach
ed in Turkey. The world neither
knew nor cared but they kept on
preaching. AT last a few young
Turks caught the vision. They said
1t must stop, this crime and corrup-
tion. They brought about the most
sweeping revolution of history prac-
tically without blood She'd Even the
infamous old Sultan was allowed to
live. They had learned to govern
themselves and master their passions
and the dominion was restored. Com
pare the French Revolution of 1890.
God was left out of that. Christ was
not preached there. Madame Roland
and her associates planned just such
a peaceful revolution as was carried
out in Turkey but mems passions
broke loose. In the reign of terror,
the streets of Paris swan with blood.
The whole period Is blot on the his
tory of France.
The speaker next reviewed the
marvellous progress of Japan and
then the awakening of China and the
progress of the past few years in that
great empire.
To give money for missions often
seems like putting 1t in box with
the bottom dropped out. 1t seems as
though the only result OF giving was
an appeal for more. 1t Is said that
a summer visitor was watching
workman In a stone quarry. He was
working on a huge block of granite
and made nothing more than
scratch. After watching all the morn
ing and most of the afternoon, the
great stone split. The visitor then
asked: Which blow split the stone,
the first or the last?" The man an
swered 1.-THE first and the last and
all the middle ones" So 1t Is with
mission work. We often have to
wait time with patience; to knock
at the door of heathenism, knock