Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-12-15
China, the Amazing

of twenty-six, having taken his NJ. A.
degree and at the moment studying for
his LII. D., he conceives that it would
be q noble and glorious career, high.
ly pleasing to the sacred gods and his
ancestors" to expose the teaching of
the foreign DEVILS" and refute their
sacrihgious utterances. He is sat
isfied that the foreign devils come to
the country for no good purpose. He
believes that every one of the black
robed individuals is "the paid agent
of some foreign power" only present
in the country to spy upon its govern
imentl
OF the teaching Of the Fforeign dew
ils' he cannot speak in terms Of cor
tempt sufficiently contemptuous. Ho
understands that it is part Of their
teaching that "the Heavenly Father
allowed His Son to come to earth to die
for wicked people," to him this is pal
pably absurd. He could understand it,
if it were said that He died for good
people. But elf the gods are good
and want men to be good, win they al
low members of their families to be
killed like criminals for the sake cf
criminalsq" And he is satisfied that
"ths crazy fad" will die out!
We read on, Twenty-one years later
he has become a great general and
great statesman. His mind has been
growing all the time. His eyes have
opened to thousand facts. In 1870 ne
writes:
cit cannot be said, even by my worst
foes, that l have been bosom frienl
to the foreigner, either the man that
comes to force his trade upon us, or the
fellow who would cram his religion
down our throats . yet in spite of
all our dislikes, if we truly have the
best interests of China at heart, we
will no longer oppose the coming of the
foreigner, whether he be trader, mis-
sionary, or tourist"
He is ready for liberation: "When
last 1 saw Tseng-kofan we spent several
hours in full discussion of this great
problem Tsen-kofan, like my
self has changed his views exceedingly
in the past five or six years, and is no
longer Il later of the Christians. H9
told mo that it was his intention some
of these days to memorialize the throne
to issuo an edict Of complete tolerance
for all foreigners Of whatever profess
sion nr occupation, and told him that
I would gladly join in such memorial
if he would so desire"
His latest recorded views were written
in 1885 Whether he ever went beyond
the position reached at that time there
is no evidence to show. But the ground
then taken is simply marvellous. Ho
concludes that there is no reason f0r
hating Christians. Devoted as he is,
mind and spirit, but sentiment and by
reason, to the teachings of Confucius, he
is now ready to place Jesus Christ on
the same exhalted level as that of
China S hero.sage He affirms that in
America CT Europe he would be a fol-
lower of Jesus, as in China he follows
Confusius. He say that even in China
there are thousands, perhaps millions,
of his com trymen who would be the be'-
ter qor Christianity. He declares that
he must never again be thought Of as
unfriln1ly to the people Of the west,
whether they come to China as merch
ants or Missionaries or whether they
do not come at all. And, finally, that
it is time China--China from the south
to the north-recognizes that some
Christians are better than some Taoists
and some followers of Buddha.
The missionaries who poured the blood
out for China and for Christ did not die
in vain.