WESTERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE

November 7, 1877

BY REV. A. STRITMATTER

"Speak to us across the water," was the parting injunction of a good brother of the Ohio Conference, as the writer bade him a hurried good-by at the railroad station of Jackson, Ohio. The train moved on, and the speaker was soon left far behind; but his simple message was not forgotten. Many a time it has recurred to the writer's memory, and many a time has he longed for a voice to penetrate the ear and heart of every believer in Christianity, as the magnitude and needs of the missionary work have pressed upon him.

The work of evangelization is radically the same all over the world, but the difficulties incident to it are to a great extent peculiar to every country. In Christian lands the masses of the people are acquainted with the fundamental principles of religion; they have a conscience, and some sense of honor and moral duty. But in heathen lands the masses know nothing of even the elementary truths of Christianity; their conscience is blunted and seared, and guilt and crime are unattended by remorse and shame. Appeals to the heathen heart are almost like appeals to the nether millstone. Of all hard hearts there is none harder than that of the Chinese or the Hindoo. Such immobility, such lack of all finer sensibilities than that of self-interest, almost exceeds belief and certainly surpasses description. Were Christianity nothing more than a human system of morality or philosophy like that of Plato or Confucius, it were in vain to hope for its triumph in China or India. The granite walls of a stereotyped civilization, encircled by the sluggish moat of stagnant thought, would oppose invincible obstacles to the arts of reason and moral persuasion. But "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." Yet God does not work miracles in the conversion of nations, and the sanguine missionary who looks for immediate and extensive results is almost invariably doomed to disappointment. Not by earthquakes and throes of nature does the Gospel make its power felt, but its influence is diffused like the leaven in the meal. The method may be a silent and gradual one, but it is equally effectual, and its results are none the less thorough, permanent, and wonderful.

With all the immobility, avarice, and selfishness of the Chinaman's character, he possesses more than one redeeming trait sufficient to command our respect. He is not impressible like the African, but neither is he fickle like the Japanese, or treacherous like the Hindoo. He is industrious. His lands have been cultivated from the times of Abraham and Melchisedek; forty centuries of tillage have not diminished their productiveness, and at the present day they still afford sustenance to the dense and crowded masses of population. He is patient under injury. Ground down under a system of oppression, extortion, and fraud, and living under a feeble and decrepit government, his rebellions are few and his insubordination to the laws the exception rather than the rule. No better evidence can be had of the naturally pacific disposition of the Chinese,

than the fact a government intrinsically so weak is able to hold such enormous masses of people together. Even the civil and military officials, against whom the worst charges to be brought are those of arrogance, peculation, and self-aggrandizement, are not guilty of such crimes as disfigure the annals of other Oriental nations. In the language of the historian of the Middle Kingdom, "To the honor of the Chinese, life is seldom sacrificed for political crime or envious emulation. No officer dreads a bow-string or poisoned cup from his lord paramount, or is on the watch against the dagger of an assassin hired by a vindictive competitor."

Furthermore the Chinese are valuable dependents. It is true they love money, and condescend to the meanest artifices to procure it. But for a reasonable compensation they will faithfully perform whatever task is assigned them, and cheerfully stoop to such menial services as would scarcely be expected from any but abject slaves. The masses of the people are not unintelligent. True, their conservative policy and national prejudices have fettered their minds and prevented the free expansion of intellect. But they have the knowledge of letters and of printing, for neither of which they are indebted to Western civilization. They have immense compilations of history, poetry, and encyclopaedic knowledge, and their classical literature is distinguished for its refinement and purity. While there is much that is vile and abominable in the fictitious publications of the country, no Chinaman need blush to hold up before the world the pages of Confucius and Mencius. Without extenuating the immorality and vices of a heathen people groveling under the accumulated weight of ages of superstition, let us at the same time gratefully acknowledge the meritorious qualifications which they possess. In the evangelization of the nations there is hope for China. Her prejudices are strong, but not so strong as those of the Mohammedan; her superstitions are gross, but so were those of the ancient Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon races. Looking at the present achievements of Christianity, there is foundation for encouragement. At the opening of the present century, China was a sealed country; her ports were rigidly closed against foreigners; and from Canton to Peking there was no opening for penetrating into the interior. After twenty-seven years of patient missionary toil, Dr. Morrison closed his eyes in death, while the gloom and darkness which hung over the country on his first arrival were scarcely yet pierced by a beam of hope, betokening the dawn of a brighter day for China. Forty-three years more have passed away, and what do we behold? Nearly a score of ports thrown open to foreign commerce; the Imperial city itself occupied by representatives from all civilized countries; steamers plowing the broad waters of the Yangtze, into the very heart of this great empire; telegraphs and railroads beginning to herald the progress of modern civilization. Half of the eighteen provinces are occupied by missionaries; at thousands of stations the Word of God is proclaimed to the people in their own tongue; and tens of thousands of converts are enrolled in the Church of Christ. As we look at the results of a half century of labor, we are moved to say, "What hath God wrought!"