Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-28

teaches us TO measure our service, not
by the service that has been rendered or
by the service that may be rendered. or
by the service that can he rendered. but
by the need OF those unto whom We min
lister. Reciprocity? That is not suffi-
cient. The Christian nations Of the worit
spend hundreds of millions year -
make life more pleasant for the helpless
and unfortunate who cannot hope TO re-
pay single dollar OF the money spent
upon them.
Another follower of confucius asked
him what he thought of the doctrine that
evil should be rewarded with good and
he replied: IF YOU reward eyil Win
good, with what will YOU reward good
And he announced his rule Reward evil
with justice and reward good with good.
Reward evil with justice? How can one
tell what Justice is If his heart is full OF
hatred and he is waiting for an oppor-
tunity for revenge? Only when love takes
the place of hatred-oniy when one un-
derstands his relation To God. and under
standing his relation to God, learns OF
his kinship with his brother-can no
know what justice is or the measure
thereof. II I were called upon 10 naule
the one thing which more than any other
distinguishes the Christian religion frcu9
all other religions and moral codes.
would name forgiveness-Christ taught
forgiveness. and. therefore, he could
command his followers to love their
enemies and to return good for evil.
The Chinese boast that they live I'D 10
the ideals Of Confucius, but those ideals
could be embodied I'm the life of a nation
without lifting the nation TO high plane
and believe that the philosophy OF Con-
fucius is largely responsible for the fact
that China has stood still for twenty CEN
turtles. The people easily overlook tho
ideals OF Confucius. and when man
overtakes his ideals his progress stops.
1t is the glory of the Christian ideal
that while 1t is within sight of the weak
est and the lowliest. il is yet so high that
1t keeps the best and noblcst with their
civilization is the greatest that the world
has ever known because il rests upon a
conception Of life that makes life an
amending struggle upward. with no limit
to human advancement or developments
II religions are to be measured by the
results recorded in history. behold the
greatness Of Christianity! Except where
they have borrowed from the Christian
nations the followers of Mohammed. the
followers OF Buddha and the followers OF
Confucius are practically where they
were fifteen hundred or two Thousand
years ago. while Christianity took the
races Of Europe when they were called
barbarians and I'm ten centuries has en-
abled them to reach civilization sur
passing all the civilizations of the past
How shall we show our gratitude for
the blessings that Christianity has
brought to US? We are largely In.
debted to 1t for the benefits which flow
from universal education; who will meas
ure its advantage to our nation? Chris-
tianity has strengthened the doctrine OF
Enforcement by teaching the claims
of brotherhood; who will estimate the
benefit which this nation has deriven
from the belief that all men are created
equal? Christianity has given us a sys-
tenn of religion which leads US to tho
worship of Creator: it has taught US q
sense of responsibility to a personal
of greatness in which He Is to be the
chiefest among US who is the servant OF
all.
What is it worth to US and to our
children to be permitted to enjoy the
triple blessings Of universal education.
free government and the Christian rsis-
gion? We cannot repay the debt to th0ae
who gave us these things: they are de&d.
These blessings have come through gen-
erations of toll and sacrifice. We must
make repayment to those about US and
to those who come after US. We can
make part payment by transmitting
these institutions to posterity. not only
unimpaired but improved. but We shall
no. discharge the debt entirely unless
we bring these institutions to the AZ
tention of others who know them not
and the foreign missionary field FUR
nishes us one avenue through which 10
manifest our gratitude to God for the
inestimable privileges of citizenship
to which Christianity has so largely con-
tributed.
Copyright, 1918, by William j. Bryant