r TheEvolution of New China Br William N.Bi^EW^T^R CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE WASON CHINESE COLLECTION Date Due .jiACi ^ittbi ^mm j j Cornell University Library BV 3415.B84 The evolution of new China 3 1924 022 921 245 "PI Cornell University B Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022921245 Q P5 3 O '■4 z z 'Z 'Si THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA 'By WILLIAM N. BREWSTER A Missionary to the Chinese CINCINNATI: JENNINGS AND GRAHAM NEW YORK: EATON AND MAINS ':l.l.:kAKY Copyright, 1907, By Jennings and Graham ' I love her with a love as still As a broad river's peaceful might, Which, by high tower and lowly mill. Goes wandering at its own will, And yet doth ever flow aright. And on its full, deep breast serene. Like quiet isles my duties lie , It flows around them and between, And makes them fresh and fair and green. Sweet homes wherein to live and die." — Lotxiell. PREFATORY NOTE. The substance of the following pages was given to the students of the Theological School of Boston University in a series of addresses in November, 1904. The students and others ex- pressed a desire to have them in more permanent and fuller form than their notes. They were not delivered from manuscript. The task of re- writing has been a slow one, not only, nor, perhaps, chiefly because of lack of time from the life of a busy missionary, but because the changes in China have been so rapid and sweeping during the last three years that any utterance except prophecy is almost sure to be out of date by the time it reaches the American public, unless it is telegraphed and published in a daily newspaper. So that there is no intention to make this little volume a vehicle of news. The periodical and daily press must be relied upon for that. There is, however, an at- tempt to discuss the trend of events, and to indi- cate the direction of the Eastern breezes by a few straws here and there. PREFATORY NOTE. "The Evolution of New China" seems like a more pretentious title than so small and incom- plete a discussion deserves: but to discover the laws of evolution it is not necessary to investigate every species, and that in every stage of develop- ment. It takes only three points to determine the center and the circumference of any circle; and upon that principle the Evolution of New China may be indicated without making the discussion an encyclopedia. This evolution must be upon four distinct lines : political, industrial, intellectual, and ethical. These are all dwelt upon as fully as the author's space and time, and the reader's patience, seemed to permit. The political evolution has been so rapid and so fluctuating of late that the question uppermost in the minds of most of the students of the China situation is, "Will it be Evolution or Revolution?" That a great political crisis is approaching be- comes more and more manifest every day. The conservative forces among the highest officials have been very active and successful of late. Charges and counter charges or impeachments of high officers are pouring In upon the aged Dowager and the weak young Emperor in most bewildering pro- fusion. The last high mandarin who has secured an audience is "the man of the hour," and it is often a very literal, not a figurative, "hour." The counter charge that usually follows is quite as likely to be believed. The various cliques of pro- 2 PREFATORY NOTE. gressives and conservatives are still further divided by the deeper chasm that yawns between Manchu and Chinese. With almost universal suspicion and widespread enmity among the highest officials, and with the alien dynasty held nominally by a weak and childless prince, but actually by a woman past seventy years of age, both of whom are frequently reported ill, it is plain to the most casual observer that a political revolution of some kind is not far distant. Let all friends of China and of humanity pray that it may be a bloodless one. But however it may come, ultimately it will make for progress in modern civilization ; it will open wider the doors of Christian opportunity, and add heavily to the responsibilities of Christendom speedily to bring the personality and power of humanity's only Hope within reach of every one of China's four hundred and thirty millions. Since the chapter entitled "Centenary Cur- rents" was written, the great Centenary Confer- ence has met in Shanghai. The most interesting debate of the Conference was upon the proposi- tion to call upon all Christendom to unite in found- ing a great Christian University for the highest post-graduate work in all lines of modern pro- fessional and technical training. Some of the strongest speeches of the whole session were made upon both sides of this great question. The final decision, after prolonged discussion in Conference and committee, was that the permanent Educa- 3 PREFATORY NOTE. tional Committee appointed by the Conference be left uninstructed upon the subject, to act as it sees fit. The Educational Committee, consisting of nearly fifty of the most representative men of the whole missionary body, having an executive committee organized with Shanghai as headquar- ters, is commissioned to strengthen the existing col- leges and secondary schools, and Is officered by several of the strongest advocates of the University scheme. Now let a group of the great philan- thropists come forward with the cost of a "Dread- naught," to mold the New China into a Christian civilization by means of the highest Christian leadership in every line of useful endeavor. But the keynote of the great gathering was Christian unity. And this did not mean merely a nebulous harmony of spirit, but a definite look- ing towards organic union in one Church of Christ in China. Early in the session the Conference appointed a group of eight sub-committees, one for each of the various large Church families, as Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist, and so on. These sub-committees were to seek to bring about organic union in their own group. As a matter of fact, the Presbyterians have al- ready formed one Presbyterian Church in China, and others are following hard after. Then fol- lowed the most significant and dramatic event of that memorable twelve days. Doctor Gibson, one 4 PREFATORY NOTE. of the two presidents of ,the Conference, who was also chairman of the committee on the "Chinese Church," proposed: Resolution VII: "While the appointment of these committees contemplates the formation of six or more Church organizations for the Chinese Church in the first instance, it is the earnest hope of this Conference that these Chinese bodies, with the assistance and advice of the foreign mission- aries, may from the first prepare to unite with each other in the closest practicable bonds of Christian fellowship, either in organic ecclesiastical union, or in a free federation, as they may be led by their own interpretation of the mind of Christ, and by the guidance given them in the providence of God, and through the teaching of the Holy Spirit." Amidst quiet but Intense excitement this far-reaching and Indeed most radical resolution was put to "this great representative and con- servative body of nearly five hundred missionaries and carried without a dissentient vote. It was not sprung upon the Conference ; the printed reso- lutions had been in the hands of the members for three days ; the discussions had been deliberate and thorough. The Divine Presence was so real in that Martyrs' Memorial Hall that it could scarcely have caused surprise had the visible person of the Master Himself appeared in the midst of His disciples, and they had heard His voice as He 5 PREFATORY NOTE. breathed upon them, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Surely in China, at least, the Master's prayer that the disciples "all may be one" is in the process of speedy fulfillment. The evolution of one Christian Church from the many, if real- ized, will be the supreme factor in the Evolution of New China. William N. Brewster. Hinghua, China, via Foochow, June 4, 1907. CONTENTS. Chapter Page I. The Greatness of China, H II. The Political Paradox, 37 III. Higher Education, - 65 IV. General Education, - 96 v. The Industrial Problem, - us VI. China's Triune Religion, - 143 VII. The Early Missions of China, I68 VIII. A Typical Mission Field, - - 193 IX. Spiritual Forces, - - 221 X. The Indigenous Church, - 244 XI. Centenary Currents, ... 269 XII. Centenary Calls, ... 297 ILLUSTRATIONS. Facing Page Anniversary of the Anti-Foot-Binding So- ciety, Frontispiece A Chinese Pleasure Garden 16 The Emperor Kwangsu and the Empress Dowager, 52 His Excellency Yuan Chang, Executed by Im- perial Order, 62 Hall of Classics, Peking, - 68 Confucian Temple, - 76 Anglo-Chinese High School, 90 A Busy Street in Peking, 130 Altar to Heaven, Peking, 144 Buddhist Temple, Peking, 156 Priests at a Buddhist Monastery, 164 Astronomical Observatory, Peking, 178 Hu Po-mi, the First Chinese Preacher, Fuhkien Mission, 202 Summer Cottages on Mountain near Hinghua City, - - 212 Ng. Hong-bau, His Mother, and Two Sons, - 240 William Nast Memorial Church, Hinghua, - 264 9 CHAPTER I. THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. The average man of this generation has been accustomed to look upon the Chinese as a joke. "John Chinaman" the washerman, with stolid face, almond eyes, and Manchu badge of subjec- tion hanging down his back, is not a figure to command respect. We have laughed at him, and too often despised him, when we have taken the trouble to think of him at all. We can have little interest in the work of Christianization and civilization of the world's most populous empire until there is in our hearts a profound respect for and appreciation of this mighty nation. We must recognize China's potential greatness. We must be able to distinguish between causes that make for temporary weakness and the properties that insure ultimate strength. Our proposition is that The qualities inherent in the land and its in- habitants will probably place China among the greatest of the world's empires before this new century has reached its meridian. I. — China Is Great In Material Resources A great people ought to have a great country in which to grow. If they do not, they must get 11 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. possession of one away from home. Greece was small and poor, except in brains ; but nothing more was needed for the Greek to dominate all lands. He colonized and conquered his whole known world. Later, "Rome sat upon her seven hills, and ruled the world." England's little, island is not much to boast of. Her meager resources have been used marvelously well ; but to make the mother country what she is, it was necessary to create a greater Britain across all seas. Upon the other hand, America is vast in extent and has latent wealth unlimited. The land is great enough in itself to be the home of a great people. Such is China. For thousands of years the Flowery Kingdom supplied the wants of a highly civilized and numerous people, without any foreign com- merce whatever. A rapid inventory of the re- sources of the Middle Kingdom reveals astonish- ing possibilities for the future, as well as amazing present development. The question is often asked. What is the climate of China? As well make a similar in- Latitudes q^lj-y concerning North America. That depends upon whether you are in Alaska or In Florida. China, inclusive of Mongolia, extends all the way from the fifty-fourth parallel to the eighteenth or through thirty-six degrees of latitude. That is forty-five per cent wider than the United States of America, exclusive of Alaska. The American Republic stretches only from the forty-ninth par- 12 THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. allel to the twenty-fourth, or twenty-five degrees. The eighteenth parallel, which touches China's extreme southern limit, takes in not only Cuba, but nearly all of Jamaica and Porto Rico. So that China grows not only semi-tropical products, but tropical as well. No other single country has such a variety of latitude, and yet no part of it reaches into the frigid North, nor into the change- less heat of the central tropics. The mind does not readily grasp numbers of seven figures. It gives a very dim con- ception of the size of the Chinese Empire Extent to say that it covers four and one-quarter millions of square miles. Think of China as one-third of all Asia; or half as large as European and Asiatic Russia combined. Fifty Great Britains, or twenty-six Japans could be put inside of it. The United States of America, Alaska, and all her island possessions might be laid down within this ancient empire, and still leave room for France, Spain, and Italy, without crowding. Next to Russia, it comprises the largest extent of contiguous territory that the world has ever seen under one government. How- ever, the vast but arid and almost uninhabited dependencies, Mongolia, Chinese Turkestan, and Tibet, comprise sixty per cent of this area, whose sparsely scattered inhabitants are variously esti- mated at from four to nine millions, or less than two per cent of the whole population. Recent 2 13 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. conquests of American deserts are prophetic for the future of these Central Asian wastes. In the twenty-one provinces of "China Proper" and Manchuria we find one million, seven hundred and twelve thousand square miles of territory, nearly all of which is richly productive. This part of the empire covers more than half the extent of the United States of America, with its three million square miles spread out under God's sun- light and stars. If Joseph Cook was right when he declared in his famous lecture entitled "Ulti- mate America," that his native country embraces "the largest contiguous body of arable land in the world," then it is equally true that, while Russia must be given second place, yet China stands third of the world's empires in this important feature of national greatness. Many Americans think of the Chinese as a nation of laundrymen. The fact is, they are the Pffxiart- world's most painstaking agriculturists. The ''^^""■' amazement of the observing foreigner at the patient industry and skill of the Chinese farmer never ceases. There are farms in Ohio, after less than a century of cultivation — and that of only one crop a year — which are so deteriorated that they win not sell for half their value of a gen- eration ago. New England is so covered with abandoned farms that It has become a fad for city people to buy them for summer cottages. But China is made up largely of fields that have 14 THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. produced never less than two, generally three, and sometimes even four crops a year for a mil- lennium past, and they are as productive now as they ever were. This is not so much due to the soil's extraordinary fertility, as to the skill and industry of the cultivators. They know the value, and they constantly use as fertilizers, not only night-soil and the manures universally in use, hut also ashes, bone-dust, lime, sulphur, and even nitrogen in the ■ form of bean and peanut pulp. They go to great expense in order to fertilize their fields thoroughly for every crop. They do all this without any knowledge of agricultural chemistry. They literally put back upon the soil everything that is taken off. It has no chance to deteriorate. As there Is every phase of the tem- perate and tropical zones, except the central tropics, so have they every variety of product. We are prone to think of China as a great tea plantation. In truth, this best known product is but a small fraction of China's agricultural out- put. Though rice is their greatest cereal, yet wheat and millet are everywhere ; cotton is grown in vast quantities; sweet potatoes cover millions of acres; beans, peanuts, sugar-cane abound; In- digo, tobacco, and hemp are plentiful ; while, alas ! the beautiful but deadly poppy flourishes increas- ingly over all the central and southern provinces. Most of the fruits that Western nations prize, the Chinese have long enjoyed in abundance. We 15 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. invite our visitors to bananas, pomelo, peaches, plums, pears, grapes, loquats. Except the berries, most of the fruits grown in America have flour- ished in China for centuries, and they have sev- eral very delicious varieties that are as yet almost unknown to Western countries. While the greater part of the surface of China has been worked to the outside limit by these Subsoil patient and skilful husbandmen, the wealth be- ^"''"'''^" neath the surface has remained almost untouched. However, the treasure is there. It Is now gen- erally admitted that the coal deposits of China are probably the richest in the world. It is known to exist in every province. Like many other things, the Chinese discovered and used coal long before Europeans knew Its value. Eight centuries ago, that famous Venetian- traveler, Marco Polo, wrote: "It is a fact that all over the country of Cathay there is a kind of black stone exist- ing in beds In the mountains, which they dig out and burn like firewood. It Is true that they have plenty of wood also, but they do not burn it, because these stones burn better and cost less."^ It is established beyond question that the Chinese used coal for fuel long before the Christian era. But their mining methods are so primitive, their means of transportation are so expensive, and their superstitious fear of fungshui and the dragon has 1 Quoted from Yule's Marco Polo, vol. I, p. 395, in Williams' Middl» Kingdom, vol. I, p. 304. 16 z w Q o 9. Z X u THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. been so deep-seated, that the vast deposits are still practically untouched. The latest and highest authority upon the topography of Eastern Asia is "The Far East" (Oxford, 1905), by Archibald Little, for over forty years resident, traveler, and student of the Orient. In describing the great coal and iron beds of the province of Shansi, in North China, lying just west of the Chihli Province, in which Peking is located, Mr. Little says (page 30) : "Shansi is, in short, a second Pennsylvania; its vast coal measures spread over twenty-five degrees of the meridian. . . . These coal and iron strata are said to belong to the old carboniferous forma- tions; the deposits are inexhaustible; the coal seams reach as much as forty feet in thickness, and lie mostly undisturbed, and are easily worked, resting as they do on a horizontal limestone foundation." One of the first results of an awak- ened China will be the opening of these extensive coal deposits. Iron is also found in abundance and very widely distributed. In many places, as in Shansi, it is found in close proximity to coal. Gold was produced in fifty-two localities a quarter of a cen- tury ago, and silver in sixty-three places. Silver and copper are the basis of Chinese currency. Gold has never been utilized, except in the arts. Copper ore exists in every province, and In sev- eral places is found practically pure. The prov- 17 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. ince of Yunnan, in the far southwest, is especially rich in this valuable metal. Lead, zinc, and tin are also abundant. Many deposits of all these ores are, or have been, worked by primitive methods, and the time is certainly not distant when modern skill in mining, and improved means of transportation, with the cheapest labor on earth in great abundance, will place these vast deposits among the greatest wealth-producing mineral beds in the world. In the far western province of Sz'chuen, the celebrated Tze-lin-ching artesian wells, from fifteen to eighteen hundred feet deep, have been bored for salt. When they have not struck the salt water they have generally found natural gas. By crude bamboo pipes they have utilized this gas to boil the brine, thus securing salt by evaporation. Think of that — 'Centuries before Andrew Carnegie was born, or Pittsburg was founded.^ So here we have a people living in a home stretching through the best parts of the temperate and tropical zones. They have a soil fully as productive, a climate no less salubrious than America. There is potential wealth beneath the soil as abundant as is found in any land. It is a goodly heritage. The heir to such an estate must needs be indeed a foolish and wasteful prodigal,, if he does not develop into one of the richest among the family of nations. 2 These facts regarding minerals are culled chiefly from Williams' Middle Kingdom, vol. I, pp. 304-312. 18 Numer- THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. II. — Great In Its People But after all, a country's real greatness must be in its people. The trouble with Africa and South America and Turkey is not the lack of natural resources, but the dearth of capable men and women. Scotland is made up chiefly of granite mountains and granite men; but the "canny Scot" does a large fraction of the world's thinking and doing, and owns much of its wealth. None will dispute the supremacy of the Chinese in numbers. The government of China collates no accurate census, such as is taken, decennially Great In all Western countries; but the levying of thej^^^^' recent "Boxer" indemnity claims was the occasion of a rough census being compiled by the central government, which places the population of the empire, including dependencies, at about four hundred and twenty millions. This makes the Chinese outnumber Americans by five and Japanese by nine times. All Europe combined scarcely reaches this stupendous figure, while India falls short of it by more than one hundred mil- lions. The Indian Empire is inhabited by a very great variety of tribes and races; Europe bristles with hostile bayonets and cannon ; America has its huge race problem; Russia has several of them, and even England has its Ireland; while the Chinese are practically one race. They are more nearly homogeneous than any other great popu- 19 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. lation. This race solidarity is sure to be a power- ful element in making of China a mighty factor in the world's future. The Chinese physique is remarkable. What other country can produce men by the scores of Great millions who are able to pick up a load of from ^^'"' ■*' one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty pounds, and carry it twenty or even thirty miles in a day, and keep that up almost daily for weeks ? The average American who walks empty-handed twenty-five miles in a day wants the remainder of the week to get over it. For strength and endurance, the Chinese coolie has no equal. But sheer physical force is not the most unique quality of the Chinese laborer: rather is it his adapta- bility to all zones inhabited by civilized man. We have him in Northern Manchuria, in the latitude of North Dakota, and there he seems to be in his normal climate as much as the Cossacks them- selves. In the Peking region he swarms over that Chihli plain, and he flourishes along the fortieth parallel as well as the Buckeye or the Hoosier. Then we find nearly two hundred million Chinese in the great Yang-tse Valley. Here they are in the latitude of our Gulf States, and they are as much at home in their rice and cotton fields as are the negroes in Dixie. But even that is not the most amazing fact illustrating this feature of Chinese physique. Nearly one thousand miles south of the mouth of the Yang-tse, in the Kwang 20 THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. Provinces, largely within the tropics, you find forty millions of Cantonese, which many consider the best type of the whole race. When the Anglo- Saxon arrives in that latitude, he wilts. In Hong- kong most Englishmen limit their office hours to from four to five a day. Exposure to the South China sun without a thick hat will prostrate the average Caucasian; the Mongolian is indifferent whether his head is protected or not. But let us take another flight. Sail twelve hundred miles farther south; we are at Singapore, within one degree of the equator. In this great British colony the Chinese do nearly all the really pro- ductive work. The native Malay has little talent and less industry. The great silver and tin mines of the Malay peninsula are worked by Chinese labor. And these yellow miners adapt themselves as readily to that changeless summer as though they were blacks from Central Africa. So, we have the hardy Celestial all the way from the latitude of Manitoba to that of the mouth of the Amazon, and he seems to flourish equally well everywhere. The Mongolian is the only race which com- bines energy, brains, and business talent in a high degree, with a physique that flourishes in the tropics. This fact means much for the world's future development. There is Borneo, with an area of two hundred and eighty-four thousand square miles; equal to the great States of Michi- 21 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. gan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota combined. Here is one of the richest countries in natural resources and fertility on this planet — a continent, with great rivers and vast forests of precious timber. It is now a wilderness. But the Chinese have discovered it. Only five or six years ago — in the year 1901 — a shipload of Chinese families, mostly Christians, went from Foochow to found a colony in Borneo, called New Foochow. They have done well, and more have followed. That one island is capable of sustain- ing one hundred million Chinese, and then average only three hundred and fifty to the square mile — about the present figure for the whole Yang-tse Valley, and a less density than is found in many parts of China to-day. And these myriads will be living there and flourishing a few centuries hence, for the Chinese alone, of all the races, can furnish both the physique and the brains to develop these vast tropical wastes. It seems probable that a very important fea- ture of the future influence of the Chinese race Conquest upon the peoples of the Eastern tropics will be ''gamation^^^ improvement of the native stock by amal- gamation. It is conceded by the best observers that wherever the Chinese intermarry with the women of these tropical tribes the result is a marked improvement in the racial type. Doctor Doremus Scudder, for many years superintendent of the American Board of Missions in Hawaii, 22 THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. recently told the writer: "Of the many races found at that cross-roads of the Pacific highways, the best type was the offspring of the marriages of Chinese men' with Hawaiian women." Bishop W. F. Oldham has made a similar declaration, in the Northwestern Christian Advocate, regard- ing the people of the new American island em- pire, and the Filipino women. The same Is true of Burma and Malaysia. It is In a high degree probable that a few centuries hence many of these weaker tribes In the East Indian Archipelago and Peninsula will have been merged into a new and better race of men which is predominantly Chinese. For in the Issue of these alliances, it is Invariably the Chinese that preponderates. This is true even of Chinese Eurasians. "The old Chinese type is extraordinarily persistent, and this is seen In the mixed offspring of Europeans and Chinese to-day, in which the Chinese type persists even to the quadroon of the second generation."^ It is seldom that Chinese women go to these foreign countries. Prejudice against It is very strong. Few, ex- cept occasionally native Christians, take their families with them ; while the men go to Malaysia by shiploads from the ports of South China. During the one month of August, 1905, from the single port of Amoy, five steamers carried two thousand, six hundred and ten coolies to the Straits Settlements; and this was not an unusually large 8 "The Far East," by Archibald Littla, Oxford, 1905, p. 21. 23 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. monthly number. The ports of Swatow and Canton furnish as many more. Many of these never return to China, and those who prosper, and stay there, must make alliances with native women, if they marry at all. This kind of conquest re- quires generations for its accomplishment, but its results are more permanent than the victories of an Alexander, a Napoleon, or even of a Dewey. But the most magnificent physical development will make only a big booby, unless that strong Creathody is the home of a clear, vigorous mind. " ^ually Europeans and Americans generally regard the Chinese as a stupid lot. It is not unnatural that they should. In America we judge them by the average specimens we see, and they look dull enough. But if they are so very unintelligent, as compared with other Oriental races, when did they become so? During the past half century? Be- fore that time the Chinese were the intellectual leaders of all their known world. Even brilliant Japan sat at the feet of Chinese Gamaliels for more than two thousand years. Japan got her classical literature from China. Chinese literature is effete, though not useless. It has elements of real greatness. But it is written in the most laborious and difficult mode of expressing thought ever devised by the mind of man. The written language never was spoken. It consists of about twenty-four thousand distinct hieroglyphic charac- ters, made by from one to forty strokes of the 24 THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. little brush pen. A scholar must know five or six thousand of these so perfectly that he recognizes them as automatically as the Western student does the letters of his alphabet. And yet the written language resembles the spoken as little as French is like Latin. The foreign missionary wishes to send a letter to a native preacher. He dictates it to his Chinese amanuensis almost as rapidly as he would an English letter to a stenographer, and it is taken down in this laborious character. There are tens of thousands of literary men in China who can do that. The nation that can cultivate literature as a passion, using such a difficult mode of expression, must have extraordinary mental vigor. But has not their devotion to this pedantic style of learning really unfitted the literary Chinese for practical modern studies? No doubt the ma- jority of this generation of literati, who are already past middle life, never will enthusiastically take up what they call "Western learning." Our hope with the Chinese, as with all other backward peoples, lies with the younger men and youth of the nation. But when young China undertakes to master the learning of the Occident, he shows the same brain power that made his ancestors the schoolmasters of the Orient for thousands of years. Doctor George B. Smyth, for nearly twenty years the efficient president of the large Anglo-Chinese college at Foochow, is authority for the following 25 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. instance. A few years ago one of Doctor Smyth's former pupils, after graduation at Foochow, went to Ann Arbor for a medical course. He stood very high in his classes there. Having concluded that it would be to his advantage to talie a diploma from a British school, as he expected to practice in the English colony at Singapore, he went to Toronto to complete his course. In one year he graduated from the Toronto Medical College at the head of his class, taking the Queen's Scholar- ship, which carries with it a substantial reward of five hundred dollars, and is the highest honor that can be won by a medical student in Canada. He was offered a position on the teaching staff of Ann Arbor University, which he declined. It would be easy to multiply examples illustrat- ing the intellectual power of Chinese in Western schools as compared with European students, but it might weary the reader, and add only unneeded proof to a generally admitted fact: that many Chinese young men and a few young women have been educated in American and European schools, and it has been the exception when they have not acquitted themselves creditably, and often they have carried off high honors. The number of these young people who are going abroad for study has greatly multiplied of late. Mr. D. Willard Lyon, editorial secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association of China, after a very care- ful investigation of the subject, reported that at 26 THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. the end of November, 1905, there were eight thou- sand, six hundred and twenty Chinese young men studying in Japanese schools, being an increase of six thousand, two hundred and fourteen during the year 1905. Less authentic reports put the number of Chinese students in European and American schools at the same time at one thousand; while one of the leading Chinese newspapers, the "Nan- fangpao," in its issue of July 13, 1906, reports: "The total number of Chinese students now in Japan is given as thirteen thousand. Every month five hundred to six hundred (students) are leaving China for Japan."* The outcome of these stu- pendous facts needs no seer's eye to foretell. Within one generation China is sure to become not only potentially but actually the intellectual equal of any Oriental nation. The intellectual quality, however, that most distinguishes the Chinese above other Orientals, is their commercial talent. In his book entitled Great Com- "The Russian Advance," Senator Beveridge tells '"^"'^ ^ how he was entertained at Stretensk, a Russian town in the heart of Eastern Siberia. He was the guest of the agent of the Russo-Chinese bank at that place. He says (page 233) : "The banking rooms themselves are in charge of the manager and two under officers, both Russians, the other assistants being, as is uni- versally the case, Chinese ; for you must know that * Quoted in North China Daily News, of Shanghai, July 14, 1906. 27 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. the Chinaman has an aptitude for sharp finance not equaled by any other money-changer in the world." Mr. Beveridge does not even except Yankees or Jews. The fact is, the Jew does not flourish in China. You seldom see one there. "After General Grant's tour around the world, he told Senator Stewart that the most astonishing thing which he had seen was that wherever the Chinese had come into competition with the Jew, the Chinese had driven out the Jew."^ An ancient Jewish colony in the province of Honan, at Kai- fung-fu, was visited by Doctor W. A. P. Martin in the year 1866. He tells us that he could not find even the ruins of the synagogue — only the cornerstone of the foundation marked the site. Doctor Martin asked if there were any of the Israelite race in the crowd of curious onlookers. Several men with the universal Jewish features came forward and sadly confessed the low state to which they had fallen; all knowledge of their Scriptures gone, their synagogue torn down, its very beams and stones sold for food.° In what country except China would the Jew, without per- secution, reach such a state of poverty as that? You will find the Chinese assistant In all the banks In the Far East, even In Yokohama and Kobe, In Manila and Singapore. The reason for this is because of both their efliiclency and their 6 "New Forces in Old China," by A. J. Brown, Rcvell Company, 1904, page 41. 6 Martin's "Cycle of Cathay," RevcU Company, 1897, p. 275. 28 THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. trustworthiness. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation is one of the strongest finan- cial houses in the world. They have branches in nearly every important trade center in the Orient. When a prominent Englishman retired from the management about ten years ago, at a great fare- well banquet given in his honor at Shanghai, in response to a toast, he paid this high compliment to the Chinese employees of the bank: "This corporation has been, doing business In the Orient for a generation, and has employed hundreds of Chinese assistants in places of responsibility; but we have never yet lost one dollar by the defalca-' tlon of a Chinese employee." Unfortunately this speech was made a little too soon, for not long after, quite a serious case of default was discov- ered, committed by a Chinese compradore In Shanghai. But only one case in a generation, among hundreds, is a record that the world's his- tory of banking would find it difficult to parallel. The same business capacity Is shown In gen- eral commerce that is manifested In finance. Again, to quote Mr. Beverldge: "Your China- man is the world's most careful and persistent small merchant — and large merchant, too, for that matter, as you will soon learn if you take pains to investigate Into the heavier commercial transac- tions of China. In short, the inhabitant of the Flowery Kingdom, who Is disgracefully negligent of government and of all civil affairs, is the most 3 29 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. industrious and careful toiler, the most ingenious and persistent merchant, and the most alert and advantageous "dealer in money now on the face of the globe/ The writer would not put it quite so sweepingly as Mr. Beveridge, but applies that statement to the nations of the Orient without any reserve. An American, resident for many years in Nagasaki, who has been deputy-consul, and also acting-consul at that port, described how the Chinese shoemaker, right there in Japan, would take the trade from his Japanese competitor. "John makes shoes in his shop, but he has a boy on the jetty watching for the the war-ships coming in. Nagasaki is the popular winter harbor for all the European Pacific fleets. The boy sees, far down the Narrows, the smoke of an in-coming man-of-war, and runs back to tell his master. John's apron is off and hat on in less than a minute. He is on board that ship as soon as it has cast anchor. He goes from forecastle to cabin with his samples and the laconic question, 'Makee shoe? makee shoe?' In an hour he has a dozen orders. His Japanese rival sits in his shop and waits for customers who do not come. Soon the Chinese has the Japanese shoemaker In his shop, working by the day, while John is getting rich." At Kobe a prominent educator was asked, "Why do you, a missionary to the Japanese, patronize a Chinese 7 " The Russian Advance," Harper Brothers, by Senator Albert J, Beveridge, 1904, p. 233. 30 THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. grocer?" His reply was, "A Chinese tradesman knows how to treat a customer, and a Japanese does not." The world has just awakened to the great Christendom by their valor and generalship. Their statesmanship in peace is not inferior to their skill in war. But it will give us more correct qualities of the Japanese. They have astonished views of the whole Oriental situation If, at the same time, we get some knowledge of the less admirable points of the Japanese character; and it is agreed with practical unanimity among the for- eign merchants of Eastern Asia that Japanese merchants, as a class, are less trustworthy and less capable than the Chinese. Lest this important item in the argument for China's ultimate su- premacy in the Far East seem to be supported only by general statements of possibly prejudiced persons, below is quoted the opinion, not of an outside critic, but of "one of the foremost of Japanese merchants and financiers, Baron Shibu- sawa." This prominent Japanese nobleman, in an article in the June-July number of "Japan and America," 190J, gives the following analysis of the business defects of his countrymen: "There are, however, four peculiarities in the Japanese character which make it hard for the people to achieve business success. These are: Firstly, im- pulsiveness, which causes them to be enthusiastic during successful business, and progressive, even to 31 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. rashness, when filled with enthusiasm; secondly, lack of patience, which causes easy discouragement when business is not so successful; thirdly, disin- clination for union; and fourthly, they do not honor credit as they should, which is so important a factor in financial success. These four peculi- arities are to be met with in Japanese business men in a more or less marked degree."* (Italics ours.) The comparatively low rank in the social scale traditionally given to the tradesman in Japan is doubtless an important reason for this anomalous characteristic of high political probity, coupled with the opposite in commercial life, so conspicu- ous in the Japanese national character. Trade having been socially discreditable, it has not at- tracted the best minds of the nation. These have devoted themselves to politics and war, the two professions held in highest esteem. It is claimed that this social stigma upon trade is being rapidly done away with in the new Japan, and that with its removal will come higher standards of com- mercial honor. One of the latest and highest authorities upon the subject of the commercial ability and probity of the Chinese is the Honorable T. R. Jernigan, in his new book, "China In Law and Commence. " (Macmillan, 1905.) Mr. Jernigan was for many years United States Consul-General at Shanghai, 8 g^joted in Clement's " Handbook of Modern Japan," p. 39, McClurg & Co., 1903. 32 THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. and has since occupied a leading position before the bar in that metropolis of the Orient. Mr. Jernigan says (p. 226) : "The foreign merchant is generally sure that as soon as the Chinese mer- chant takes delivery of the goods shipped on his account, so soon will the equivalent therefor be placed in the hands of the trader or shipper. . . . When a bargain is concluded, the Chinese thor- oughly appreciate the necessity for the fulfillment of their obligations; and this is one of the chief reasons why the commerce of China, and 'open doors' thereto, has been made a ruling diplomatic subject." It is important, however, for us to understand that the Chinese are no more conscientious, in the ethical sense, than their commercial rivals. Oriental peoples, as a rule, are great liars, and the Chinese are no exception. Witness the duplicity of Chinese diplomacy! Conscience about telling the truth is purely a product of Christian civiliza- tion. Moreover, the petty shopkeeper in China cheats his customer, especially If he is a stranger, at every possible opportunity. But Chinese mer- chants in the ports have learned that the man from the West will continue to trade with the one who meets his obligations most promptly. Being the best business man in the Orient, he is the most honest purely "for revenue only." He has found that he can make more money in that way. When we consider the immeasurable advan- 33 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. tages of the Chinese, because of their country's great natural resources as compared with all their rivals, and then add to that the results of our study of the still more important factor of the personal equation of the problem, we are driven to the conclusion that the commerce of the Orient will be largely in Chinese hands before the middle of this century. Others will share richly in the vast commercial development of the Far East, but the Chinese will control it. It seems scarcely necessary to conclude our argument for China's potential greatness with the truism that : In a com- mercial age like this, where trade supremacy lies, there, we may be sure, sooner or later all other ma- terial fruits of civilization will naturally gravitate. We shall have ample time to consider the sins of the Chinese. We might paint the picture with- Greatout a ray of light, and tell the truth, but not the whole truth. You look into a great cave in the earth from its mouth, and you see only inky dark- ness. Go inside a hundred yards and turn towards the opening. The light is dim, but not totally gone. There are ugly shapes in the twilight and huge black shadows, but there are glistening stars as well. Better see the dark cavern of heathenism from the interior, rather than take a hasty, shud- dering glance from the cave's mouth. It is dark enough at best, but here and there is a ray of light, and stars are shining in the gloom. The lofty conceptions of virtue, as taught by their 34 THE GREATNESS OF CHINA. sages, and held, theoretically at least, by all Chinese, will be touched upon elsewhere, so that they need not be elaborated here. The fact that Chinese theory of virtue and its practice are so divergent is not wholly discreditable to them. Much might be said in a similar vein concerning the theory and practice of the Sermon on the Mount in Christian lands. There is no doubt whatever that the lofty ideals of conduct set forth by the ancient sages of China, and the reverence in which these sacred books are held, has been a powerful factor in preserving the life of the people. Let us take only one striking illustration : One of the worst blots upon heathen religions in all ages and countries has been the deification of lust. The worship of the Phoenician Ashtoreth, the Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus has had its counterpart in every pagan civilized nation ancient and modern except in China. Korea is the only apparent exception, but Korean civilization is simply a pale reflection of that of China, so that the credit is almost wholly due to the greater na- tion. The Chinese are by no means a chaste people — indeed, they are the exact opposite; but, be it said to their eternal credit and glory, that they have never made religious worship a cloak for the most groveling orgies. In this respect China stands out in a class by herself amongst all civi- lized idolatrous people in this and every age." 9 Consult " The (Middle Kingdom," by Dr. Williams. Scribner's Sons, New York, igoi, "vol. Il> pp. igz, 193. 35 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Let us come to the study of the problem of the evangelization of this mighty people with un- covered head. You can make no progress in winning even one soul to Christ unless you re- spect him. He may have fallen to the level of the beasts, but you see the man In him still, and you take off your hat in the presence of that man- hood. Until you have this attitude even for the sinner in his sins, you can never win him. No more can you help a community or a nation. Here is a great country, the home of a great people. With reverent respect let us come to the study of the problem of its conquest for Christ. 36 CHAPTER II. THE POLITICAL PARADOX. In striking contrast with the great qualities of the Chinese people is the political imbecility of the empire. For the past half century no nation has been so feeble as the Chinese. Whatever European powers have demanded, China has been compelled to yield. Russia was for a time the most rapacious, and took all she wanted. That the Bear disgorged is due to China's good fortune, not her credit. It required the magnifi- cent harbor of Kiaochou and special mining and railroad privileges in Shantung to comfort the sorrowing heart of the Kaiser, grief-stricken at the murder of two German priests. The International Settlement at Shanghai controls the gateway to the empire. Every good harbor and strategic point on China's coast Is practically in the hands of for- eign powers. It is not strange that the world has received the impression that China is a weak country, inhabited by a feeble race. It is no easy task to explain this astonishing anomaly : A great country, and a still greater people — yet politically a cipher. 37 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. In marked contrast with the commercial probity of the Chinese is their political corruption. It is difficult to exaggerate the extent to which Grfl/> "graft" controls the entire system of government Uni-versal .^^ China. The lowest office a Chinese can hold is that of policeman. He is called a "runner." He is universally despised and hated. The fact that a man was a policeman shut him out of the civil service examinations, until that system was abolished. It is a stigma upon his family, as well as himself. They are out of society. Yet this office, in spite of its disabilities, is rewarded by no salary. Not only that, but the runner actually buys his place ! In Hinghua the usual price paid to the magistrate for a position on the police force is about what an unskilled laborer would be able to earn during an entire year and board himself. Of course, the magistrate who sells such an office expects the purchaser to get back his capital with interest in any way he sees fit. When ordered to make an arrest, except in rare instances, a Chinese policeman is not expected to do it. He takes his writ of habeas corpus and threatens to arrest. He gets as much as he can from the family of the accused for not doing it. He reports to the magis- trate whatever seems to him most convenient and profitable. He declares that the writ was issued against the wrong man, or that the defendant has disappeared. The magistrate knows that he can put no dependence upon what these men say. He 38 THE POLITICAL PARADOX. has licensed them to lie If they want to. Another writ is issued, and the runner bleeds somebody else. At last, If some one must be arrested, he seizes the most convenient person, whether guilty or Innocent. In jail the prisoner must pay these fellows so much a day to keep from being tortured by them. A Chinese prison Is a veritable hell on earth. Very recently the uniformed and salaried gendarme has appeared in the neighborhood of the capital, and near certain of the most progressive of the viceroys; but over the greater part of the empire the ancient system Is still In full force. If that describes the lowest official, what must be the extent of bribery and corruption In the higher offices, where wealth, honor, and fame are a part of the perquisites? All government posi- tions are a matter of appointment, no such thing as an election being known. The appointing power habitually sells the offices, and usually to the highest bidder. An official may be appointed for a term of years, or he may be simply an acting officer, liable to removal at any time. With the exception of a few of the highest offices, appoint- ments are usually made as "acting magistrate," and thus the frequent removals enrich the appoint- ing powers. Many millions of dollars change hands in this way every year. It is taken as a matter of course. Such political corruption as the so-called "postal frauds," of which so much was made In America, and rightly, during the year 39 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. 1903, would not be classed as "graft" at all in China. That would be perfectly legitimate. The idea of letting a contract for postal boxes without receiving a commission on the sales would not enter into the mind of a Chinese oiEcial. It is taken for granted that he gets his profit, other- wise how could he secure an office in the first place, and how could he keep it after it is once his? Even funds for the relief of famine and distress are not exempt. The Yellow River is called "China's Sorrow." It is the sorrow not only of the people who live along the banks of that eccentric stream, but the whole population of the empire is made to share in the calamity. The Yellow is the most useless river for its size upon the face of the earth. It flows swiftly through a loose soil for many hundreds of miles, and then reaches a great plain which has a fall so slight that the sediment is deposited. Embank- ments only make it worse, for it fills up again. When there is a flood, it has been customary for the imperial government to issue a proclamation ordering a subscription throughout all the prov- inces to relieve the distress and to mend the banks. Then the officials reap a harvest. These villainous runners are the collectors! A district or ward is assigned to each squad of policemen, and every well-to-do family is held up for a subscription toward this philanthropic enterprise. After the funds pass through the hands of these policemen 40 THE POLITICAL PARADOX. and the various officials to the highest in £he province, not one dollar In five ever reaches the banks of the Yellow River, and what is used there is largely wasted. One of the last appointments Li Hung Chang ever held, before his final work as Peace Com- missioner after the "Boxer Uprising," was that oi U Hung "Commissioner of Repairs for the Yellow River." Ri^"r' A shrewd Chinese literary man was asked, "How ^^p'"""'- ■' _ _ stoner does it happen that old Viceroy Li, past seventy years of age, is appointed to that work? I did not know he was a civil engineer!" He replied: "O, Li Hung Chang will never go near the river. He will just handle the money. That is one of the most lucrative posts in China." With the greatest man in the empire and the richest at that ad- vancecf age still wallowing In the mire of political corruption like that, what can be expected of the common run of officials? It is not necessary to look further for the secret of the astonishing political weakness of China. This system of graft has been as universal in the army and navy as In the civil administration. Soldiers have been fleeced of their pay; torpedoes have been filled with coal dust instead of powder. Without radical financial reform there is no hope of China attaining polit- ical independence. The paradox is here : How can we harmonize these two pictures of Chinese character? The 41 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. commercial probity and the political corruption of the same people seem to be utterly irreconcilable. 7"^^ These pictures are as unlike as the "before taking" and "after taking" so familiar to us in the advertising columns of newspapers. There are those who would cut the Gordian knot by simply referring it to the peculiar nature of the Chinese. It reminds one of the advice that a shrewd old lecturer of fifty years ago in the Cincinnati Medical College used to give his students: "Young gentlemen, when you get into the practice of medicine, you will find that your patients will ask you many questions which you will not be able to answer satisfactorily to yourself. When cornered in this way, just say, 'O, that is the nature of the disease.' Four-fifths of your patients will be satisfied with the reply." And *so our physicians attendant upon the Sick Man of the Far East tell us: "That is the nature of the Chinaman. He is a paradoxical creature any way. We must not expect to reconcile him with himself. He is full of surprises and opposite extremes." But such a begging of the question will not satisfy thoughtful people. • • Then there is the explanation given by Senator Beveridge; not original with him, but a common Senator wzy of accounting for political corruption every- /■^eV where. Mr. Beveridge says in substance that ^nltto'n'^^ is because the Chinese are absorbed in com- . mercial pursuits to such an extent that they are 42 THE POLITICAL PARADOX. indifferent to political matters.'" That Is a very natural reason for political corruption to be given by an American politician. That explains it in New York and Cincinnati; why not In Canton? But had Mr. Beveridge staid In China long enough to learn the customs and inner life of this great people, he would have known better. He would have found that the sacred books of China, the books that every Chinese who has learned to read at all has committed to memory by constant repetition from the age of six to sixteen, these Chinese classics really treat chiefly of political economy. The sages, Confucius and Mencius, were statesman of their day, and their books are largely reports of conversations upon political sub- jects between minister and sovereign. I submit that It would be a psychological Impossibility for the boys of a nation to be brought up upon an intellectual diet like that, and then be Indifferent to political matters the rest of their days. We will have to go deeper Into the Chinese situation than any such superficial observers have gone, in order to understand this paradoxical condition — A great people, but an imbecile State; commer- cially sound, but politically rotten. Another and more plausible attempt is made to account for China's anomalous position among the nations by attributing it to the unwarlike spirit of the people. The argument runs thus: "The I " The Russian Advance," Harpers, 1904, p. 233, 43 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Chinese are a nation of shopkeepers. They dis- like anything that interrupts trade. Nothing does Unwar- this SO seriousIy as war. They hate war because ''*' f/'"^ there is no money in it for them. The soldier is CAitieseiQ-^ down in the social scale. The military rank is below the civil. China never can be a powerful State, because no people with such an unmilitary spirit can ever make their country powerful for offense or defense." It would be useless to main- tain that there is no truth in these statements. Fortunately for the rest of the world, the Chinese are not thirsting for military glory. Adam Smith's description of man as a "trading animal" applies pre-eminently to the almond-eyed Celestial. These trading instincts form one of the most ef- fective replies to the hysterical cry against the "Yellow Peril." But the absence of the "jingo" spirit does not prove that the present weakness of China is constitutional and incurable. The two strongest military powers to-day are the greatest commercial peoples, America and Great Britain; both hate war, and one prime factor in this love for peace in the English-speaking countries is the loss to commerce caused by war. That the Chinese will make good soldiers when properly equipped, honestly paid and skillfully led, was abundantly proven over forty years ago, in the work of General Gordon, who transformed the beaten, dis- couraged, and disorganized imperial army into the "Ever-victorious Force" that quickly quelled the 44 THE POLITICAL PARADOX. Taiping Rebellion. The Southern Chinese are more pugnacious than those of the central and northern provinces. Chinese pirates have infested this coast from Foochow to Canton for centuries. Sometimes they have controlled the commerce, and trading vessels paid the pirate chief regular tribute, buying Immunity from attack. These maritime provinces of the south were the last to yield to the Manchu Invaders. Fighting is by no means confined to the sea. In part of this HInghua region It is common to estimate the size of a village or a clan, not by the number of its families or "ranges," but by the guns it can put into the field against its rivals. Every man has his weapon — generally an old-fashioned, single-bar- reled shotgun; and these little civil wars are so constant and so bloody, that we who travel these regions, need no argument to convince us that the Chinese can fight when necessary. The unpatriotic spirit of the Chinese as a nation Is the root from which flourishes its political corruption and national senility. It is a The Ex- double root. One is as loose and transient as a ^^oflld child's first teeth; the other is deep as the heart of the nation itself. The explanation of the singular lack of patriotism among the Chinese, that lies right upon the surface, and must be apparent to any thought- ful observer who knows anything about the his- 4 45 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. tory of modern China may be summed up in one sentence, THE GOVERNMENT OF ^^^ CHINA IS NOT A CHINESE GOVERN- DynJityMENT. The Manchus have ruled China for more than two and one-half centuries. In the early half of the seventeenth century the famous Ming (Bright) dynasty, which ruled China for two hundred and seventy-six years, was tottering to its fall. The people were groaning under the corruption that had become universal through the court favorites of the weak emperor. Rebellions were springing up in many parts of the country. The most powerful was under a viceroy named Li Tsz'-ching. He was joined by several other viceroys, and they actually captured Peking in the year 1643. The last of the Ming emperors com- mitted suicide. The eastern provinces submitted to the usurper Li, who seemed to be about to found a new Chinese dynasty. The partisans of the Mings, seeing that they could not cope with the rebels, invited a great Manchu chieftan from Mukden, the capital made famous in the recent Russo-Japanese war, to come over with his army to help put down this rebellion. This Manchu chief or emperor, Tsung-teh, had long foreseen the ap- proaching political crisis in China, and had pre- pared his army to go in and take possession of the land. He did not expect to be asked to come, but he accepted the invitation with alacrity. Li and his associates were soon conquered. The 46 THE POLITICAL PARADOX. Manchu troops marched into Peking. The Trojan horse entered the city, — and it is there yet. Then followed one of the most remarkable series of events In all history. For two hundred and six years this Manchu dynasty consisted oi^ Remark b, • j-ir . r «W^ Line ut SIX diiterent emperors, or an average or „} Pri„ces thirty-four years to each reign; and of these six, at least five of them would have ranked as great rulers, great statesmen, and most of them as great soldiers in any age and in any land. That ex- plains the marvelous and long-continued hold this alien dynasty has had over such a vast empire. The last of these great emperors was Tau-kuang, who died in the year 1854. He died broken- hearted because he had staked his very throne upon keeping opium out of his empire, and he lost. Three of his sons are said to have been victims of the opium habit, and he saw ruin in it for his people, as it had been for his own family. The forcing of opium upon China by England is the blackest stain upon the fair name of that great Christian nation. All good men rejoice that the new Liberal government has strongly intimated that it stands ready to rectify this great wrong, in so far as such things can be righted. Tau- kuang was succeeded by his weak son, Hien-fung. He had not been on the throne more than two years when a great rebellion broke out — showing that it was the strong personality of the Manchu rulers that had kept down the anti-Manchu spirit 47 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. among the people. The Tai-ping rebellion spread all over South and Central China. It lasted for eleven years. It established its capital at Nan- king, within two hundred miles of Shanghai, and its emperor ruled there for six years. Its armies nearly reached Peking at one time, and were turned back not so much by the imperial forces as by lack of supplies. Indeed, that rebellion almost certainly would have overthrown the Manchu house but for the timely aid of that Christian knight of the nineteenth century, the great Gen- eral Gordon. Shortly before Gordon's final vic- tory, Hien-fung, the weak emperor, died. He left a son seven years of age, who became emperor under the name Tung-chl. Of course a regency was necessary. The empress and the mother of the emperor were made joint regents, for the lad's mother was not the real empress, but the second wife of the late emperor Hien-fung. Being the mother of the heir, and the stronger character of the two, the real power of the regency soon fell into the hands of the associate regent. That regent was the famous empress dowager who, after forty years, still rules China. Eleven years passed, and the boy became a man of eighteen. He was about to assume the reins of power when he suddenly died. A new heir must be appointed, so they choose a child of less than three years of age from the imperial clan, but not in the direct line. He began his reign In January, 1875. 48 THE POLITICAL PARADOX. Thirty-one years have passed away, but that em- peror has little more real authority in his empire to-day than when he was in swaddling clothes. The complex character of the dowager empress need not be discussed here. That she has several of the qualities of real greatness there can be no doubt. She seems to be progressive or conserva- tive largely as she chances to be under the influ- ence of enlightened or bigoted advisers. That she was in full sympathy with the "Boxer Uprising" at the time, there can be no doubt. That she has long since fully realized the folly of it, is equally certain. But that has little to do with our present problem; namely, the political weakness of the numerically largest nation on earth. The above brief historical sketch makes plain one prime reason for the lack of patriotic spirit in China as shown In the well-nigh universal political cor- ruption. The reigning dynasty is alien. Every one understands why the Finns and Poles are dis- loyal to the Czar. The Irish attitude toward Eng- land is no mystery. The Manchus have degen- erated through the coddling of the reigning house. They are despised by the officials of Chinese blood. They are generally inferior in education and in- telligence. Gradually they are being crowded out of the positions of power all over the empire. Until very recently the military has been under Manchu officials, while the civil authorities have been Chinese. Yet the rank and file of the sol- 49 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. diers have been mostly Chinese. It is not difficult to see why Chinese soldiers, led by Manchu gen- erals, would not be thirsting for the glory of dying on the field of battle. With pay in arrears, in- ferior weapons in their hands, and training of the most incompetent kind, it is no wonder that the Chinese soldier has not distinguished himself. Nor is it strange that, when Chinese armies were beaten so badly and with such ease by the Japanese, the bulk of the country was indifferent to the humiliation, so long as the seat of war was confined to Manchuria. The majority of the people who knew what wcs going on looked upon it as a quarrel of the Manchus, and they did not care particularly how it came out. The most superficial observer can hardly fail to see that the present regime can not continue How indefinitely. The fact is that dynastic changes in China have been very frequent since the collapse of the famous house of Chau, in the year B. C. 255. During the last twenty-one hundred and sixty years, including the present Manchus, there have been twenty-two dynasties, or an average reign of less than a century each. The longest, the Tangs, reigned but two hundred and eighty-seven years. The Mings continued two hundred and seventy-six years. The Manchus are now, in the year 1907, in their two hundred and sixty-third year. But age is no argument, if there is still the vigor of mature manhood. What are the facts? The SO THE POLITICAL PARADOX. power is still in the hands of a shrewd woman who is really usurping the throne. She is seventy- three years of age. Her adopted son, the Emperor Kwangsu, is not in the direct line ; that ended with his predecessor, who died childless. Kwangsu, at the age of thirty-four, is himself childless and im- potent. He seems to be a well-meaning young man, with a weak body and feeble purpose. His worst enemies are the conservative Manchus them- selves. The Chinese esteem him, and will not likely rebel while he lives. Nor is it probable that any successful rebellion will be raised during the lifetime of the dowager empress. But it hardly seems reasonable to expect that the Chinese, who now practically control all the important posts in the empire, will consent to the appointment of another Manchu emperor from the imperial clan who is not the direct heir to the throne. There would seem to be only one consideration that might cause the Chinese real rulers of China to consent to the appointment of a Manchu successor of Kwangsu, and that is, that they feared to raise the question of a change of dynasty lest the country be plunged into political chaos over the choice of a new imperial house. But in any case, the days of government by imperial decree in China are numbered. The lessons of the Russo-Japanese war are being studied and learned rapidly by Chinese statesmen. Such pressure has been brought to bear upon the 51 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. throne by the leading viceroys, that a Constitu- tional Commission has been sent abroad to visit Co«j«'- Japan and the leading countries of Europe as Go'vern-well as America. That commission has already '"*^J ^" reported favorably; and the imperial decree was promulgated in September, 1906, announcing the purpose of the throne to grant constitutional gov- ernment at the earliest possible moment. The chief duty of all officials now is to prepare the people for these new responsibilities. It is given out that the great reform will be consummated during or before the year 1920. It is not im- probable that the consent and even active co-opera- tion of the aged dowager in this most radical of proposed reforms is consciously or unconsciously influenced by the fact that she knows her reign can not be prolonged many years; in her opinion at least, the young emperor is not equal to the exer- cise of such great responsibilities, and better a constitutional government, yes, better even a re- public, than that the Manchu dynasty be driven from the throne by a national uprising. In any event it is plain that the political indifference of the Chinese, caused by the tyranny and misrule of a decadent alien line, is certain soon to pass away. When the Chinese people get a chance to have a real share in the making and in the exe- cution of their own laws, they will take as keen an interest in politics as any nation. Their almost total absence of a landed aristocracy and hereditary 52 ■■■'"1 THE EMPEROR KWANGSU, AND THE EMPRESS DOWAGER. THE POLITICAL PARADOX. titles makes of China a very rich soil for the growth of democratic ideas; far more so than Japan, with Its centuries of feudalism. So that, whether the revolution comes In a great upheaval which overthrows one dynasty to establish another ; or better, if the imperial power is largely trans- ferred to the people themselves, we may confidently expect during the next decade a great revival of national spirit in China that will make for the strengthening of the empire and the purification of its political life. But China's political corruption and consequent national weakness has a deeper and more ancient origin than the alien dynasty. It Is the most all- JAe pervading feature of Chinese civilization. In Cause many respects it is the most commendable prin- ciple of Chinese ethics. Yet because of the dis- proportionate emphasis of China's sages upon this one virtue, it has become the father of their most destructive political vice. This Is no other than their much-praised filial piety, the key-note of Chinese civilization. Mr. Jernlgan begins his chapter en- titled "Family Law" with the following para- graph: "The subject of this chapter is the most important in the legal code of China. It would be impossible to understand or appreciate the customs and laws of the Chinese without some knowledge of their family life. In China the family is the center about which everything re- 53 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. volves."^ This universally admitted fact, rightly understood, sheds much light upon the mysterious paradox which is our present study ; namely, Com- mercial probity combined with political corruption In the Chinese character. We have seen that this commercial honesty Is not conscientiousness, but simply business shrewdness. This loyalty to family, rather than to State, makes the father dili- gent to provide for his sons while they are young, and the sons to nourish the father when they grow up. The family estate Is cared for and added to with the utmost diligence. Even the pirate, while he plies his nefarious vocation upon the high seas, is "pious" in that he is destroying other men's lives and property that he may take proper care of his aged parents. This focusing of the life purpose of every Chinese man in his own family must. In the very nature of things, weaken the national spirit, undermine the sense of loyalty to the government, and make rare the regarding of "pubhc office as a public trust." The natural consequence of making family good the all-per- vading aim of life seems to have had much to do with forming In the mind of the nation the Idea, which is almost universal, that to secure a lucrative office Is for the sole purpose of enriching one's family estate as much as possible during the short tenure of office, and then, when retirement 2 "China in Law and Commerce," T. R. Jernigan, The Macmillan Com- pany (New York, 1905), p. m. 54 THE POLITICAL PARADOX. becomes necessary, life will be one of luxurious leisure in the neighborhood where his ancestors have lived for centuries. His descendants will have an ample fortune for many generations; the family name has become established. Let no one get the impression that the Chinese sages did not inculcate the virtues of loyalty and faithfulness in political service. They emphasized these qualities very strongly. But they so completely put the family as the central unit that the effect has been to subordinate the claims of the State to filial duties. At this point Chinese and Japanese national life are in most striking contrast. The key-note to the Japanese national religion, Shintoism, is China and emperor worship, or patriotism as embodied in Q^^^ayt loyalty to the Mikado and the State. To quote from a Japanese authority: "The tenets of Shintoism cover the two predominating features of the emotional life of our race — patriotism and loyalty."^ We have seen that the key-note of the Chinese national religion is ancestral worship or filial piety. These two forces have worked out in the two great Mongolian nations the most marked contrasts in their national character and political life. The Japanese gladly gives his life for his country; the Chinese sacrifices all for his family. The Japanese cheats In business, but as an official 8 Dr. Nitobe in his book " Bushido," quoted in "A Handbook of Modern )apan/' by £, W. Clement, McClung and Company, 1903, p. 239. 55 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. he is faithful to his trust, especially in time of national danger. The center of his life is the nation: he is loyal to it. The Chinese conducts his own business with infinite pains and skill; but he treats a government trust as a private emolu- ment. The center of his life is his own family: he is loyal to it. It is not the writer's intention to give the impression that there is no patriotism in China, any more than he would wish to be understood that filial piety is not found in Japan. Japanese ethics give great emphasis to filial piety. Confucian literature was carried to Japan in the beginning of the Christian era, and is classic there as well as in China. "The 'five relations,' around which clustered the Confucian ethical code were those of Father and Son, Ruler and Ruled, Hus- band and Wife, Elder and Younger Brothers, and Friends. In China 'filial piety,' the great virtue of the first- relation, was the foundation of the whole system; but in Japanese Confucianism, this was relegated to the second place, and 'loyalty,' the great virtue of the second relation, was put first."* Thus the central thought of the two nations Is fundamentally different, and It has worked out in each the wide contrasts which have made such momentous history of late. Is, then, the case for China hopeless? Will this self-centered attitude of the Chinese render impossible the securing of honest administrators * "Handbook of Modern Japan," p. 350. 56 THE POLITICAL PARADOX. in sufficient numbers to govern this quarter of the human race? To shift the moral standpoint of these myriads is a stupendous task. Who is suffi- cient for these things ? Undoubtedly the example Emulation of China's nearest neighbor will do much to shame °[„adlquate her out of the disgraceful corruption that has been the rule In all civil affairs. It brings the blush of shame to the cheek of the modern young Chinese educated abroad to see his country corri- pelled to put its maritime customs service into the hands of foreigners in order to have a decently honest administration. The disgrace of it will arouse young patriots to carry on a campaign for civil service reform that can not but accomplish much. This is already manifest in not a few in- stances. But the motive is too superficial to stir profoundly and permanently so numerous and con- servative a people. It Is becoming more and more manifest to the thoughtful, progressive Chinese that a new and powerful motive must enter into the life of the nation In order to shift it from the self-centered view of life that has been culti- vated and developed by four thousand years of ancestral worship. Japan's intense patriotism Is largely the product of Japanese national religion. China's political indifference Is primarily the fruit of the Confucian cult gone to seed. Young China is filled with ambition to emulate Japan's political power and Independence. But Japan's point of view can not be gained by a veneer of modern 57 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. science and military tactics. Nor is Shintoism a religious propaganda. It is national, and only national in spirit and aims. It is simply the ex- pression of the Japanese national spirit. It can not be transplanted to China or anywhere else. The bearing that these important facts will probably have in the development of Christianity The in China is one of the deepest of the problems to be ^^^V studied by the world-leaders of this generation. No force in the world to-day will so surely and quickly shift the center of gravity of the Chinese national spirit from self to country as the rapid spread of the Christianity of Christ. In no other way can the deepest evils be eradicated and points of national weakness be strengthened. This fact will become more and more apparent to the best leaders of the New China as they endeavor to grapple with the enormous difficulties of govern- ment reconstruction. The ablest and most potent man in China to-day is Yuan-Shih-kai, viceroy of the Chihli Province, in which Peking is located. One of his closest confidential advisers, a gifted Chinese physician, has recently declared upon a public platform, "The only hope for China is in the Christian religion." This sentiment was not expressed with regard to the personal salvation of the individual, but national salvation here and now. Christianity, and only Christianity, can supply the element that Chinese ethics and philosophy have conspicuously failed to impart. 58 THE POLITICAL PARADOX. Recently there has appeared a very significant article upon this same subject In the first issue of the "Journal of the World's Chinese Students' Federation." This "Federation" Is strictly non- religious. It is designed to be a common plat- form for all Chinese students of the modern type. It is very ably officered, and Its "Journal" Is of the highest grade, being printed half in English and half In Chinese. It is edited entirely by Chinese. The organization and its "Journal" are sure to be very powerful factors In the making of the New China. In an article entitled "Some Requirements of the Hour," the writer quotes George Kennan's five reasons for China's weak- ness, as given in the "Outlook:" (a) Lack of national unity; (b) Almost universal prevalence of official dishonesty; (c) A moral deficiency, which may be imperfectly described as lack of civic virtue; (d) Lack of uniformity In her standards of value; (e) Lack of fighting ability. The writer urges all Chinese patriots to ponder well these indictments from a well-wisher of China; especially (c), which accounts for (b) and perhaps also for (a). Let the Chinese writer speak for himself : "Herein lies the need of a religion. . . . The amount of unselfishness displayed becomes the measure of a nation's strength. No nation can afford to be without a religion, for the vital reason that its very existence depends upon having one; 59 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. and to be strong, a nation must have a religion that demands the greatest amount of unselfishness and fills the individual with the purest kind of enthusiasm. . . . The main strength of the great nations of to-day lies in the kind of religion they possess : a religion calling for the highest measure of self-sacrifice. " 'But,' you say, 'look at Japan; she has no such religion, and yet she is strong.' It is true that Japan has not the same religion, but she has a substitute for it. The Mikado occupies the place that other nations have given to a God. A human is the recipient of a devotion that other nations give to a Superhuman ; and this is the weak point in Japan's national life. The standard is too low ; the object of their devotion is too brittle. The time will come when, like Dagon, he will fall from his pedestal and bring ruin upon his worshipers. ". . . . 'But why accept a religion that makes so many demands upon one's faith?' you say. 'There are a great many people, profound schol- ars, who refuse to believe it; why should I?' Be- cause of its practical results; because there is no other religion in existence that is such a powerful factor in making individuals and nations strong. We judge our business methods by results; why not our religion? The question is too important a one to be lightly turned aside. Every thinking man owes It as a duty to his country to face the question squarely. Every brave man will come to 60 THE POLITICAL PARADOX. some decision about it before he stops. The lack of civic righteousness is essentially a religious lack. It must, then, be a lack in the prevalent religion of China. What religion best meets this lack? That is the requirement, the vital requirement of the hour."= Let this truth, so clearly and forcibly stated in the leading magazine of the New China once become apparent to the body of progressive Chinese, and the religion of the once despised Nazarene will sweep over the nation like a great tidal wave. The writer would much regret if this chapter gives the impression that there is no unselfish devo- tion to country and duty among officials in China. Mandarin TTT1 -1 • • -1 1 J Martyrs Wnue It IS too rare to give character to the ad- ministration as a whole, yet enough of the precious metal is found in the black dirt to satisfy the diligent assayist that there is plenty of good ore below, awaiting the pick and the furnace. The writer would be an ingrate indeed not to remem- ber that the preservation of the lives of his wife and children, and of scores of other families in the interior of Central and South China during the memorable summer of 1900, was probably due in large measure to the courageous martyrdom of two Chinese officials. It was in the early stages of the "Boxer" madness that Prince Tuan, «" Journal of the World's Chinese Students' Federation," July, 1906, pp. 34, 35, Shanghai. 5 61 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. presumably with the authority of the dowager empress, issued the order to all the magistrates of the empire: "The foreigners must be killed. The foreigners retiring must still be killed." The decree was sent to the near-by districts of the north, and in many places it was carried out with awful effect. But the sending of the order by telegram to the more distant parts of the empire was providentially put into the hands, of two officers who had had experience In diplomatic legations abroad. They knew that the execution of that command would mean the dismemberment of China. They agreed that to change it would cost them at least their own lives ; but that would be cheap to purchase the redemption of their native land and the innocent lives of hundreds of foreign guests. They also knew full well that the slaughter of the missionaries would be followed by the murder of tens of thousands of Christians, their fellow countrymen. They determined to change one word of that telegram. The order received by the distant officials read: "The for- eigners must be protected. The foreigners retir- ing must still be protected." The bloodthirsty Tuan awaited impatiently the reports of the slaughter. None coming, he wired for informa- tion. The ruse was speedily detected, but too late to correct it. The viceroys of the southern and central provinces had consulted together by wire and agreed to disregard all decrees from Peking 62 HIS EXCELLENCY YUAN CHANG. (One of the two martyred Officials executed for changing the Imperial Telegram from " Kill " to '* Protect.") Note. — This photograph was presented to the author by the son of H. E. Yuan, in Shanghai in September, igo6. The daughter has recently been baptized and received into the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The son is an associate member of the Young Men's Christian Association The son told the author that his father owned and read a copy of the New Testament. THE POLITICAL PARADOX. until order should be restored. But our heroes could not escape the wrath of the enraged and disappointed human tigers. Summoned into the imperial presence, they confessed that they had changed the order because they loved their country more than they loved life. They begged that their families might be spared the execution which it is customary to visit upon the near relatives of Chinese officials condemned for treason. "For this heroic act, both officials were seized and put to death with cruel torture."^ Fortunately, their families lived in Chehkiang Province, near Shang- hai, and were out of the reach of "Boxer" chiefs. A year later the anniversary of our heroes' mar- tyrdom was celebrated in their native province. A poem, composed for the occasion, was published in the leading papers of the empire; a translation was also widely printed in the English newspapers. The nation which, in the midst of the horror of Peking in the summer of 1900, could produce even two such men, is not without hope. Among the martyrs' crowns prepared for the one hundred and eighty-nine foreign missionary men, women, and children, and the unknown thousands of Chinese Christians who gave their lives for the redemption of China during those terrible weeks, will not the Master have a diadem for each of these, whose voluntary martyrdom 6 See '-A Thousand Miles of Miracle," by A. E. Glover, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1904, pp. 316 and 317. 63 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. probably saved humanity from the most unspeak- able horror since the massacre of Saint Bartholo- mew, if not since the days of Nero? O China, great China! in spite of all thy weakness and superstition and sin, thou wilt yet be the Koh-i- noor upon the brow of Him who is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords ! 64 CHAPTER III. HIGHER EDUCATION. September 2d, In the year 1905, will go down in history as the birthday of the New China. On that day the Imperial government at Peking issued a decree abolishing forever the time- Abolition honored system of civil service literary examina- "g^^^^f tlons. This was not the first imperial decree of Examin- the kind. Seven years before, on the 23d of June, 1898, the young Emperor Kwangsu, who was then under the influence of the now famous group of reformers led by Kang Yu-wel, issued a decree ordering that the old methods of examinations be changed entirely for a new course of competition. But the reactionaries were too strong for the re- formers, and the emperor was soon a prisoner in the palace, the reformers were headless or fugi- tive, and on the following November 13 th a de- cree was Issued by the dowager empress rescinding the edict of the previous June, and restoring the old style examinations. How near this folly came to destroying the empire Is now known to all the world. But the new order has come to stay. History has been making fast during these seven 65 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. years. The battle of Manila Bay has brought America into world politics; the Legation siege in Peking has taught its lessons; Port Arthur has fallen; Mukden has been taken; and the Baltic fleet has found its watery grave. The Peace of Portsmouth opened a new era to the Mongolian race. Scarcely had the protocols been signed, when the government of China issued this epoch- making order. While the decree was from the emperor, sanctioned, of course, by the empress dowager, yet it was really the united work of the most powerful men in the empire. It simply executed the demands of the six leading viceroys, put in the usual form of a memorial to the throne. These memorialists have immortalized themselves in Chinese history. This Is but one of the many reforms that these really great and progressive statesmen are working out for their country. Let not the list of strange names discourage the reader. These six viceroys were Yuan Shih-kai, located at Tientsin, and the real prime minister of the em- pire; Chao Erh-sen, of Mukden; Chang Chih- tung, of Hankow fame, author of "China's Only Hope," translated by S. L Woodbrige, and pub- lished by Revell; Chou Fu, of Nanking; and Tsen Chiun-hsuen, then of Canton. The sixth was Tuan Fang, then governor of Hunan, soon after promoted to the viceroyalty at Foochow, and ac- tually, though not officially, the head of the Com- mission which only three months later started 66 HIGHER EDUCATION. abroad to study modern governments with the purpose of drafting a constitution for China. This list, with the positions they occupy, shows that China's face is turned toward the sun-rising. No request which these men unite upon can be refused by the imperial authority; and nothing which they oppose can be carried out. The reforms of '98 were abortive because they were not backed by any of the leading viceroys. Every step in ad- vance now taken will be permanent. The recon- struction of China is already begun. No future contingency is more certain than that two decades hence will find it a modern state. But the new will be an outgrowth of the old, and to understand it the past must be carefully studied. It is in their literature and their ancient method of civil service examinations that China has been most favorably known to the outside world. With the possible exception of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Chinese literature has no analogy in history, while their system of examinations is absolutely unique. The peculiarities of their hieroglyphics and their bearing upon mission work will be discussed in a later chapter. While the old method of conferring degrees is now only a matter of history, yet that for which the old sys- tem stood In principle is as strong as ever. Degrees are no less important, education is no less rever- enced than of yore. The change is in the cur- riculum, and in the method of conferring degrees. 67 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. The new is grafted on to the old stock: to know the fruit we must study its origin. It was about the year /6oo of our era that the famous Emperor Taitsung, of the Great Tang The Old dynasty, instituted the system of literary exami- of £j^fl^ii^tions for the selection of civil officers. Previous inatimstQ that time the literature of the ancient sages had been reverenced and diligently studied, but it had not been the sole basis upon which officers of State were selected. So that this system was in full force all over China for thirteen centuries. It became a part of the warp and woof of Chinese civilization. Under the old system, de- grees were never given for having taken a certain course of study and passed creditable examinations in a college. Chinese colleges or schools did not confer degrees. This privilege the State reserved for itself alone. Three degrees were attainable. The first was given to the successful competitors in the examinations held every eighteen months in the prefectural cities. The second was won at the triennial provincial examinations held at the capital of each province; while the third was only granted, also triennially, at the imperial capital. China Proper is divided into eighteen provinces. These are subdivided into from half a dozen to a score of prefectures, each of which is made up of two or more districts or counties. Twice in three years the undergraduate literati of a county assembled at the county city for a preliminary ex- 68 o z < o o hJ < HIGHER EDUCATION. amination. This was conducted by the local officials. The contestants usually numbered from one to four thousand, according to the size of the district. A theme or text was given to all the contestants by the examiner from the sacred Four Books, or Classics. Each was to write an essay upon the subject assigned. Those whose produc- tions were considered sufficiently creditable were then allowed to go up to the examination for the first degree, to be held at the prefect city under the direct supervision of the provincial literary chancellor. These selected candidates would num- ber several hundred. The government had previ- ously fixed the number of degrees that might be conferred. It did not often exceed fifty, and might be as low as twenty. No matter how many worthy scholars there were, the chancellor could not exceed this fixed number of degrees. The dis- appointed candidates might console themselves with the thought that they would have another chance eighteen months later. It was not un- common to see old, gray-haired men past sixty years of age still coming to the examinations, hoping to reach the goal of their ambition before they died. It is not strange that the attainment of this honor, even the first rung of the ladder of fame in China, should have been much coveted. In the county of Pocheng, one of the two counties of the Hinghua prefecture, there are probably about 69 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. two million inhabitants. Of these, only about five hundred hold even the first degree. That is, the graduate is one among four thousand of the Why people. In a Western country the one college ''^^^^^^ graduate in a town of four thousand inhabitants Prized -would be quite distinguished, particularly if all the people of the town reverenced letters whether they were educated or not. So that for hundreds of years three or four thousand men were accus- tomed to appear for the semi-triennial preliminary examinations in Hinghua city. They spent their lives in preparing for these contests, and as the expense was considerable, many of them also spent all the money they could save or borrow. It is a common thing for families to own certain fields that their wealthy ancestors left entailed for the purpose of defraying the examination expenses of the literary men among their descendants. In the provincial and imperial capitals each student was put into a little cell alone. He had his food with him, and could not come out until his essay was finished or the allotted time expired. But in the examinations for the first degree, generally a large open hall was used. Rigid search was supposed to be made for books or borrowed essays con- cealed about the person of the candidate. The examinations, from first to last, extended over several days, for there were always at least three trials, each time the number of contestants being reduced. During the time of the examinations, 70 HIGHER EDUCATION. crowds of students and their attendants or friends would fill the city; and it was the all-absorbing topic of conversation. That was a gala day when the successful names were published. The gradu- ates were carried about the streets, with bands marching before them, and red cloth over the tops of their sedan chairs. A great reception was given each when he reached home ; feasts were prepared, and presents were given by relatives and friends. Everything possible was done to make of it a great event and to flatter the vanity of the graduate. He might never rise any higher, — few ever did — but the honors already attained gave him dis- tinction in his neighborhood, and it was made a source of revenue in local politics as well. The graduate could now go to the triennial examinations at the provincial capital. He there had a much severer test. Among the from four The Sec- to eight thousand candidates of the province, j^j^J"^ made up solely of those who had already secured Degrees the first degree, it was exceedingly difficult to gain the second. Among the two million inhabitants of the Pocheng County in Hinghua, and the more than five hundred first degree men, there are only thirty-six graduates of the second degree, or one for every fifty thousand people. These men have very great influence in their local neighborhoods, and are eligible to civil office, although most of them pass their days in awaiting appointment, un- less they have "friends at court" or wealth to 71 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. purchase a position. Last of all, there was the triennial examination at Peking for the third de- gree, where the famous ten thousand cells were often insufficient for the candidates. None but the second degree graduates could compete. The trip to Peking from distance parts of the empire is a very expensive one, and only a small propor- tion of the eligible candidates attended. These examinations, theoretically at least, were conducted with great care and secrecy. The successful con- testants received their degrees from the emperor himself; and the graduate was almost sure to be appointed to a lucrative office of some sort. He was ranked as a great man wherever he went; honors and wealth were his to the end of his days. Doctor Williams assures us that: "On the whole, it may be safely asserted that these examinations have done more to maintain the stability and ex- plain the continuance of the Chinese government than any other single cause."^ With a system of government examinations like this ever stimulating the ambitious youth of Bearing China to literary endeavor, it is not strange that Facts upon the wholc nation should be imbued with the most ^w"'"k profound reverence for literary talent, and for the literature of which they are so proud. The very paper upon which their characters are printed is sacred. Along the streets are little shrines, where the loose bits of soiled paper with characters upon 1 " The Middle Kingdom," vol. I, p. 565. 72 HIGHER EDUCATION. them are gathered and burned as incense. They will not suffer it to be trodden under foot of men. The work of teaching commands universal respect. The great Confucius is remembered, not as a high minister of State, but as the teacher of a remarkable company of disciples. These facts throw light upon the kind of Chinese preachers we must have, if we succeed in commanding the respect of the people. Of course, first and always, we must have men of unselfish devotion and high integrity. But they must be more than that. The Chinese are accustomed to look up to their teachers as scholars. A preacher is a teacher. They give to both exactly the same title. Their whole sys- tem of civilization calls for preachers who can preach and teachers who can teach. To mission work in China the college is no less essential than the chapel. What kind of missionaries can suc- ceed with such people? Of course they must be spiritual and devoted. But that is not the sole qualification. They must be students, thinkers and scholars. China is the last field to which to send missionaries of inferior education. They will not be able to command the attention and re- spect of either the literate or the illiterate Chinese. A nation drilled for thirteen centuries under the above described system can not be led into the truth by uneducated teachers from Christian lands. It was in the curriculum that the whole system broke down. The vast labor of preparation for 73 THE EVOLUTPON OF NEW CHINA. these severe examinations was not expended in ac- quiring what may be regarded as useful knowl- edge. No attention was paid either to math- The Cur- ematics or to natural science ; neither foreign his- tory nor mechanics had any place in the course of study of the vastest college the world has ever seen. The efforts of the students were expended in writing jejune essays upon mysterious sayings found in the classics. They should be full of apt quotations from the ancient authors. The style had to be after the exact pattern shown to them in their standards. They must be strictly orthodox according to the official commentator of the classics, Chi-ni,who wrote about seven hundred years ago. Whoever dared to offer an opinion contrary to that of Chi-hi had no chance whatever of securing his degree, and might be severely dealt with by the government for his monstrous heresy! Until very recently, nothing like modern knowledge has been a requirement for attaining the highest literary honors in China. Moreover, the candidate was expected to be able to reel off rhymes almost as fast as he could write, and upon any subjects given to him by the examiner. Sometimes these verses were very clever and witty, but scarcely any of it was poetry. All this accounts for the dense ignorance, until very recent years, of the best educated men of China regarding the simplest facts of science, or even of geography. We are told of a scholar of • 74 HIGHER EDUCATION. Foochow, who flourished during the middle of the nineteenth century, who undertook to write a for- eign geography for his countrymen. He -^z.?, Educated puzzled, and put down all foreign authorities as ^^'""''""^' incorrect because they placed Rhode Island and the Island of Rhodes four thousand miles apart, when they were evidently one and the same place ! The writer has talked with learned magistrates who did not know the direction of America from China, nor how near Japan is to their native land. As late as the year 1899, four years after the Chinese-Japanese war, the magistrate of a very rich district, in the writer's hearing, delivered him- self on this wise: "Japan used to be just like us in China ; but about twenty-five or thirty years ago she began going the wrong road, and she has been getting jyorse and worse ever since." Of course, such dense ignorance In high places is now rapidly disappearing, but that It existed so gen- erally as late as the close of the last century shows how little Chinese old-style education had to do with knowledge. The Chinese themselves always regarded these essays as simply a means to an end, the way to secure the coveted honors. They had a saying The Pass- that: "The graduate treats his essay writing like^"^^"'^'*^ a man serves the brickbat with which he knocks at a door; the door being opened, he throws the brick away." Once an official, and essay writing was discarded as useless. But of late years a vast, 75 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. though almost silent change, was noted in the lit- erary class. It was observed that since the year 1900 the examinations were very much more thinly attended than formerly. In South China the falling off was fully one-half. This was a sure evidence that in their estimation the value of degrees had greatly diminished. But the most significant change was in the attitude of the gov- ernment itself. While most of the Manchus were ultra-conservative, and the Chinese whom they favored were of the same mind, yet the pressure of the progressive was so great that very radical changes were made in the curriculum. The old, stilted essay was given a back seat, and later was abolished altogether; while mathematical prob- lems, questions on international law, natural sci- ence, and geography were substituted. All this was a preparation for the final catastrophe, when the venerable but obsolete system fell under the imperial edict of September 2, 1905. God seems to have prepared this situation in order to give His to people the greatest oppor- CAris- tun'ity since the tragedy upon Calvary to win one "opplr-^^^^^^^ °^ ^^^ race unto Himself. The younger (unity men among these literati, both graduates and undergraduates, are thirsting for the new knowl- edge. No doubt the source of this desire is largely commercial. The old system of inane essays has passed away. The new learning Is the road to preferment. But who are so well prepared to give 76 o 2 3 a w h Z < u b. Z O HIGHER EDUCATION. to them what they need and want as the mis- sionaries of the Cross? Even the students of our High School in Hinghua were drafted in by lit- erary men to help them prepare for the new style of questions in their examinations ; and it is highly significant that candidates who were tutored by these Christian young men were remarkably suc- cessful. On the day we were leaving Hinghua for America, in October, 1903, a number of students accompanied us on foot for more than a dozen miles. About ten miles out we saw com- ing toward us a company of soldiers in bright uniforms, led by a band, and followed by a fine new sedan-chair, covered with red cloth. Inside the chair, we learned, was one of the new second- degree graduates, returning from Foochow, "Bearing his blushing honors thick upon him." Among our students was a bright young man who is a mathematical genius. He had tutored this "great man" in the modern studies for his ex- amination. There is a beautiful custom in China that new graduates must hunt up all their former teachers, pay each a visit, give presents, and in every way show their gratitude and reverence. Had this second-degree graduate seen his teacher of mathematics among our students, etiquette would have required him to stop his procession, alight from his chair, and pay his respects to the youth who had helped him climb the ladder of fame. Our modest young scholar was so fright- 6 77 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. ened at the possibility of such a scene, that he hid behind his companions so that his distinguished pupil could not spy him. This kind of leaven working all over China will not, of course, in itself convert these Chinese scholars to Chris- tianity, but it will make it impossible for them not to respect the messenger of the Cross, and doubtless many of them will also accept his mes- sage. This Influence is already seen in the schools being started by private subscription, as well as Pri'vatehy government funds, to meet the new conditions. Upon a recent Sunday afternoon, as a missionary was returning from his usual open-air preaching tour, one of the young men of the party asked him to step in to see the rooms occupied by one of these schools, located In part of his family property. The missionary had often been Im- pressed with the refined intelligence of this young man's face. He had been very regular in his attendance upon all the Church services for several months. He wished to enter the Biblical school next term as a self-supporting student. The mis- sionary was led to a great house that was built about a century ago by a Hinghua man who was a viceroy. This young man was a great-grandson of this Viceroy Lin. The school was in charge of his older brother, who occasionally attended Christian services with a sister mission, the An- glicans. The little lecture hall had no sign of 78 HIGHER EDUCATION. idolatry in it. Only a picture of Confucius was hung upon the wall, but no Incense table was there, and they were careful to explain that the customary Idolatrous rites were never practiced. The school has no session on Sunday, except to come together for roll-call and a half-hour of writing. Half a dozen of the best literary men of the city give, almost without compensation, a- part of each day to teaching in this school. The missionary talked to two of these teachers about Christ as the Power they needed to do the work they were so nobly attempting for their people. They listened and replied In a spirt that showed that they were not far from the kingdom of God. It would cause no surprise to see that school, with at least a part of the teachers, attending divine service on Sunday in a body. Such schools are now scattered everywhere In the Interior of China. They are glad to have the missionaries and Chinese teachers In mission schools visit them. They recognize the fact that the foreigners can help them. They are like children taking their first steps, and will grasp at any outstretched hand. This stage will not continue many years, but while it lasts the Christian educator's opportunity is supreme. The advantages to the missionary, through the passing away of this unique and ancient system of examinations, are manifold. It is impossible for the new system of education to be Instituted 79 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. by the government without text-books. At first, they must be of the simplest kind. The elements Literature oi natural scicnce, mathematics, political science, l,loijand other branches of useful knowledge have all been put into Chinese in the form of "science primers." This has been largely tjie labor of the missionaries, or of men who began as missionaries, and have thought they found a broader or more congenial field in this special kind of literary work. Not infrequently these men have gone into gov- ernment educational institutions, as Doctors Martin, Fryer, Ferguson, and Tenney. Then there is the general literature that supplements the text-books. The histories, ancient and modern, the biographies, and books upon law, medicine, and political economy, as well as the extensive litera- ture upon Biblical subjects, are thus far almost entirely the work of the missionaries or of their pupils. This has been true of the history of modern missions from the times of William Carey and Robert Morrison until now. The reason why the books of the new learning in China have been chiefly the work of missionaries is that they have been the only class of foreigners who have had the knowledge and the patience to create such a literature in the Chinese hieroglyphics. It is too laborious a task for men to undertake for recre- ation or amusement. Hitherto there has been little or no money in it, and the fame has seemed re- miote to the man who is not building for eternity. 80 HIGHER EDUCATION. Here is a field for labor, however, that has in it rich rewards. Until recent years the missionary in educational work in China could hardly avoid authorship. He is teaching, say a class of young preachers in homiletics. Having no text-book, he must prepare his own outlines. In two or three years these expand into lectures. He dictates, and the students take notes. That is slow and labori- ous. He prints a small edition of one or two hundred for class use. A neighboring missionary hears of this, and asks for a dozen copies for his students. In a little while there is call for it in other schools, and a revised edition is issued for general circulation. That is the history of the origin of many text-books now in use. Pilcher's Astronomy, Mateer's Mathematics, Mrs. Parker's Geography, Fryer's Science Primers, Martin's Political Economy, and scores of others are the standard text-books all over China. A full bibli- ography here is out of the question; it would fill many pages. For men and women whose vision and faith and patience stretch out into the centuries, what field of literature furnishes half the attractions? One-fourth of the race for a possible audience I Then, it is virgin soil. In Western countries the new books and the old are innumerable. They crowd each other out. In China they are so few that every worthy book is sure to be used and use- ful. Even though the books prepared twenty years 81 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. hence will displace these of to-day, the new authors will never eclipse the pioneers. Elias Howe's sewing machine would not find any buyers in the market to-day, save among the collectors of antiques; but who, except the manufacturer, knows the Inventor of these improvements? Howe labored, and other men have entered into his labors, but not into his honors. Half a century hence the pioneers in Chinese modern literature will occupy a position no less unique. Of course, the foreign authors of Chinese books do not do their own writing. They in- MetAods variably employ Chinese scholars to put their ary Coot- thought into the exceedingly difficult hieroglyphic ^""'""character. There are many foreigners in China who have a good knowledge of the character for reading, but few for writing it. The labor re- quired to learn to compose as a Chinese, would consume so much time and strength that the for- eigner would have little time left to prepare his thought, and his books would be as jejune as the literature they are intended to supersede. They have a saying in the Columbia River region that "A white man can learn to spear a salmon as well as an Indian ; but by the time he has learned, he is as good for nothing as the Indian." So the foreigner might become as fine a Chinese scholar as his amanuensis, but in most cases he would then know as little else. The foreigner must learn the spoken language so well that he can express 82 HIGHER EDUCATION. the finest shades of thought idiomatically and forcibly to his Chinese assistant; then let him get as good a knowledge of the character as he can without becoming a fossil. But If the Church of Christ takes advantage of this unparalleled opportunity, It must he, quick about It. The new order of things, ushered in T/ie op- by the abolition of the old system of examinations, Requfrel carries with it a modern educational system as a ^"^^'^ substitute for the ancient. The degrees are still given, but they are to be obtained, as In other countries, by taking a course of study In a school and successfully passing all the required examina- tions. The edict emphasized this point. To quote a few sentences: "In a word, the methods and aims of our modern schools of learning have the same force as the ancient form of selection of men for office from the schools, as mentioned above, and the methods and rewards in rank and degrees are the same as those hitherto obtained by the old style of literary examinations." The door is now wide open for all who will to obtain the highest degrees. Heretofore the number of graduates at each examination was limited by government regu- lation. In the new order, as many degrees will be granted as there are worthy candidates. The decree then goes on to order the establishment of modern schools of all grades in every part of the empire, universities in all the provincial cap- itals, and intermediate and primary schools to suit 83 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. the needs of the nation. It is needless to add that the Chinese teachers who are qualified to organize and carry out these vast plans for educating four hundred millions of people, are wholly inadequate. The few who might do it are largely occupied in lucrative commercial pursuits in the treaty ports, and are not available for educational work. Who are taking advantage of this helpless condition of China to supply her- needs? The Christian na- tions, with their countless wealth in money and men ? Would that we could say so ! Much is being done, for which we can not be too grateful ; but, compared with the possibilities and needs, it is insignificant. It is Japan that is seizing this opportunity to make herself indispensable to her big, weak neighbor. Japanese schools are being started in many of the ports. Chinese government colleges are already employing scores of Japanese teachers. Recently, text-books have been prepared by them. They are establishing printing presses. It is superfluous to say that this new element in China does not make directly for the progress of Christianity, but the opposite. Agnosticism has swept over the Japanese student class until a Chris- tian in a Japanese government college Is a very rare specimen indeed. Those who come to China are almost certainly not Christians, and are likely to be anti-Christian. We have seen how Chinese students are flocking to Japan. Early in the year 1906, when there were over ten thousand Chinese 84 HIGHER EDUCATION. young men studying at Tokio, there were in America only one hundred and five, or one per cent of the number in Japan. " There is a tide in the affairs of men Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune." Such a flood-tide is now flowing in upon the Christians of all nation with respect to China. Now, NOW is the time to seize the most amazing and unique opportunity since Paul preached on Mars' Hill, for turning the most numerous nation the world has ever seen into the channel that flows Godward. Mission colleges are the parents of all the in- stitutions of higher modern education in China. The early missionaries gathered in boys : orphans. Mission sons of native preachers and other workers, and^""*^" taught them, beginning with the primary grades. Some of these schools were called colleges, and even universities, a good while before there was anything visible of that nature except to the eye of faith. A Methodist bishop went to China twenty years ago, and seeing the great possibilities before a university in the Yang-tse Valley, con- ceived the idea of founding there a school of the highest education. It was then a small school for little boys. The infant having been christened University, of course a suitable nurse must be found to nourish it into manhood. One of the now veteran missionaries was appointed president, 85 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. while still in America. He tells a pathetically humorous story of how, when he went to visit his Alma Mater before starting for his new field, dear old Doctor Miner Raymond took the new president by the arm for a walk on the campus, and asked him to promise that Raymond's Sys- tematic Theology would be the only text-book upon that subject used in the new university of the Orient. The president entered into solemn covenant to do as the aged theologian wished! Upon reaching Japan, the matter-of-fact mission- aries soon undeceived the embryo president, ex- plaining that the university was one of the Chris- tian Science kind, it was thought into existence, and existed only in thought. Like the faith which created it, the university was but "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." With mixed emotions, the missionary pro- ceeded on his journey. That primitive stage is now long past in Central China and elsewhere. Mission colleges in almost all cases had small be- ginnings, but the outcome is justifying the faith of their founders. One of the largest mission colleges of its kind is at Foochow, and it is among the oldest. It had a very unique origin. Mr. Ah Hok, a wealthy Christian Chinese merchant of Foochow, gave ten thousand dollars to found the school. He bought a fine property that was for sale cheap and gave it to the college. The Missionary Society of the 86 HIGHER EDUCATION. Methodist Episcopal Church supports the foreign missionaries connected with the Faculty, while the high tuition fees pay the native staff, with a balance Foochoiv for equipment. The students have been required chlnl'se from the beginning to pay all their own expenses. ^°^jfff , In the year 1905 the students numbered three hundred and thirty-nine, taught by seventeen teachers. A very large proportion of this student body are sons of officials and of wealthy mer- chants. In addition to the original plant given by Mr. Ah Hok, one of the dormitory buildings was built entirely by contributions from Chinese mer- chants and mandarins. The course of study is in English, using chiefly American text-books. They also give a good education in the Chinese classics. The expenses of such an education being high, it is not strange that a large majority of the pupils are from non-Christian homes. The very numerous Christian community of the Foochow region is made up largely of small tradesmen, or poor farmers with small holdings or renters, and comparatively few of them can afford to pay for their sons' education at such a school, though the cost need not exceed thirty or forty dollars (gold) a year. There are several very earnest Christians among the Chinese teachers, and re- vivals have not been infrequent. Many of the students from non-Christian homes have accepted Christianity. The most thoroughly equipped in- stitution of this type in China is Saint John's Col- 87 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. lege at Shanghai, connected with the American Protestant Episcopal Mission. With its staff of ten carefully selected foreign professors, and its fine museum, laboratory, and other scientific equip- ment, it is prepared to give to the two hundred and seventy-five Chinese young men boarding at the college a first-class Western education. The Soochow University, at the capital of the Kiangsu Province, in which Shanghai is located, is under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. While newer than Saint John's, Soochow University, with its seven foreign professors, its magnificent building costing $4,500 (gold), and its large endowment in Shanghai property, bids fair soon to equal any school of its class in China. These three leading institutions are given, not as an exhaustive list, but only as representatives of this type of mission college. Institutions of this sort are located in nearly all the large treaty ports, and they are doing much to break down prejudice against Christianity, win the favor of the influ- ential classes, and, above all, to spread enlighten- ment amongst the people who will have most to do with making the New China. However, few Christian workers, especially not many Chinese preachers, come out of schools of this kind. For a mission to depend entirely upon this type of school for its ministerial train- ing is to court failure. The cost is so great that the graduates from Christian homes almost in- 88 HIGHER EDUCATION. variably come out in debt. Their education has a high commercial value. Naturally, they take the position that pays the best, in order to clear off these school debts. Not infrequently they purpose to go into business only temporarily, and as soon as freed from the embarrassment of debt, they in- tend to go into the far less remunerative Christian service. But experience teaches that these good intentions are seldom carried out. There is another type of mission college which is more distinctively missionary. It gives much the same education as above described, though Free generally the scientific instruction is In the an^'°Board Chinese language, and English Is taught. If at all, as a language, as German and French are taught In American and English schools. The radical difference is that no tuition, or very little, is charged, and the students are given free, board by the mission or It Is In part free. The ad- vantages of this system are that the management can choose its students, and unpromising ones can be dismissed. This method makes It not only possible but easy for Christian parents, no matter how poor, to educate their sons. As a rule, nearly all the students in such schools are Christians. A large proportion of them become Christian workers. Such schools have proven very effective in training a well-qualified ministry. This is the method that has been In vogue In the Peking University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 89 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. with very marked success in raising up a highly educated and deeply consecrated Chinese ministry. Many of the famous schools, such as Doctor Mateer's, at Tengchow, in Shantung; Doctor Parker's, at Soochow; and Doctor Sheffield's, at Tung-cho, near Peking, have used this system with excellent results. Deeply convinced that free education is by no means an unmixed blessing to giver or Industrial receiver, and thoroughly satisfied that the av- ° ''erage Hinghua Christian can not afford to pay for the cost of the education of his boys, we of the Hinghua Methodist Episco- pal Mission began, in 1895, to endeavor to give work for part of each day to students whom we knew were too poor to pay their way entirely. This is by no means the highest motive or aim in industrial education. The ideal is to give the student a trained body as well as mind. That is always expensive. But we were striving to solve the problem immediately before us. Our ideal had to wait upon opportunity. We believed it better to have the beneficiary boys work, even though they earned nothing in cash. But profitless labor is not stimulating, or even interesting. We found that it was necessary to make a fair business success in order to get the best work from the boys. For seven or eight years we have had all our work done in the printing press by students, under the direct supervision of a Chinese foreman. We 90 H < D X o z o o 3 O en X o w z s o 6 O z < HIGHER EDUCATION. have been hampered by lack of suitable quarters and capital, but from twenty to thirty students have earned their way by working about four hours daily in the various departments of our small Romanized colloquial printing press. They are paid by piece work, and earn all they get. It is not difficult to make a financial success where there is no competition. It is another proposition to go into the Chinese market and compete with native producers. If any American or European missionary friend Is contemplating such a move, take the advice of one who has bought his wisdom, who tells you, "Do n't." The guilds In China control almost all the business, and there is no chance for the foreigner unless he Is In with them or has something which they have not and badly want. Moreover, the Chinese dealer sells upon the closest margin. We can not compete with him at all. But there Is a more excellent way. We have hit upon a plan of loaning capital, upon first-class mortgage security, to competent native workmen, who give work to four or five boys for each one hundred dollars capital. We furnish the house and the tools. They manage the business. The gain or loss is theirs. They teach the trade and pay by the piece at market rates. There is a reference committee, to whom appeal may be made in case of a difference between students and em- ployers as to rates of pay. This plan is most economical of the time of the foreigner. It Is 91 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. safe. The most successful of these native in- dustries has proven to be weaving cotton cloth. Two Christian men, brothers, experienced weavers and good business men, have worked this depart- ment up until it is supporting about sixty boys. After the first year, any boy over fifteen years of age can earn his school expenses in this department by working four hours a day. The cloth is sold in winter as fast as it can be woven. In summer the market closes for several months, but all the accumulated product is disposed of in a few days in October. For twenty-five dollars (gold) per student, exclusive of cost of house room, this de- partment can be enlarged indefinitely. We feared that the time taken for the indus- trial work would affect unfavorably the scholarship Effectoi our pupils, but our practical experience has co- ^_.^^^^°^" incided with that of other lands. "Government, ship examinations In India and South Africa show that pupils In schools with Industrial courses are on a level In literary attainments with their competitors from purely literary schools, the time given to work being compensated for by the greater alert- ness and application of the Industrial pupil. The same testimony comes from the schools for the American negro."^ Though not more than two- thirds of our students are in the industrial de- partments, yet the honors are nearly always car- 2 Encyclopedia of Missions, Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1903, p. 328. 92 HIGHER EDUCATION. ried off by those who spend about four hours a day at manual labor. (See note at the end of this chapter. ) In the year 1900 there were reported eighty- three institutions of higher education and board- ing-schools supported by Protestant missions in statis- China, with three thousand and nine students.^ ""' k"',, not Dull But the 'Educational Directory for 1905," care- Reading fully compiled by Professor N. Gist Gee, of Soo- chow University, and published by the Educational Association of China, shows that at least eight thousand male and four thousand female students were at that time residing at the various Protestant missionary boarding-schools and colleges, and one thousand male and six hundred female day-students were in attendance, or a total of thirteen thousand, six hundred students. This shows an increase of more than ten thousand or of four hundred and fifty per cent during the first half decade of the new century. Allowing that the first figures are less complete than the later, yet the rapid increase in educational work is clearly shown in these re- markable statistics. The number of institutions has multiplied almost as rapidly, showing the greater area covered by missionary operations. The Directory gives one hundred and eighty-five boarding-schools and colleges for male students, and ninety-three for female students, or a total 8 "Atlas of Prottstant Missions," Harlan P. Beach, New York, 1903, p. 23, 7 93 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. of two hundred and seventy-eight, as against eighty-three five years before. In summarizing the above facts of the "Edu- cational Directory" in an editorial in "St. John's Echo," for May, 1906, Dr. F. L. Hawks Pott, the president of St. John's College, the first school in China whose degrees have received recognition by the American government, calls attention to the significant fact that of the fourteen institutions which may be properly classed as colleges, twelve were founded and are being conducted by Ameri- can missionaries. It is a full decade since Mr. John R. Mott made his famous tour of the world in the interest As an In- of the World's Student Christian Federation. Mr. 'ves men ]yjQ(.^ig opportunities for the careful and thorough study of world-wide missions have been unsur- passed by any living authority upon this subject. In summing up the results of that world tour, he gives his deliberate judgment in the folowing sen- tence: "After visiting nearly all the mission col- leges in China, and studying them with care, we were convinced that no money is being expended on the mission field which Is yielding larger re- turns, when one views the mission problem In Its entirety."* Let the stewards of their Lord's goods ponder well this pregnant utterance from one who knows * " Strategic Points in the World's Conquest/' 1901, p. 165. 94 HIGHER EDUCATION. whereof he speaks, and make their investments with the wisdom so characteristic of "the children of this world." NoTE.^ — Record of three classes in the Hinghua Middle School and four classes in the Common School for the first term of 1906: Total number of students, 93; working at industries, 50; not working at industries, 43. Honors were taken as follows: ist 2d 3d 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Honor Honor Honor Honor Honor Honor Honor Honor Working, 6367SSSS Not working, 14102222 Working students, 54% of total. Working students took 75% of all honors. In all but second honors working students far out- numbered those who did not work; and in the second the propor- tion was as three to four in favor of those who did not work. 95 CHAPTER IV. GENERAL EDUCATION. The preceding chapter may have given the reader the impression that the Chinese as a nation are highly educated. Casual visitors to these shores who hear about the extravagant reverence of the Celestials for their sacred books, and the high honor paid by all classes to literary talent, sometimes write magazine articles and even books in which they extol the Chinese as the most literary people in the world. Such statements are as far from the truth as are the bowlings of the sand- lot orator, who denounces the whole empire as ignorant and barbarous. Dr. W. A. P. Martin, whose experience in educational work in China is equaled by few and surpassed by none, in his most recent work has declared: "Of those who read understandingly (and nothing else ought to be called reading) , the proportion is greater in towns than in rural districts. But striking an average. It does not, according to my observation, exceed one in twenty for the male sex, and one in ten thousand for the female."^ Quite recently. Doctor Martin has said: "In point of illiteracy, there is 1 ** The Lore of Cathay," by Dr. Martin, Revell Company, 1901, p. 300. 96 GENERAL EDUCATION. no doubt that China stands at the top of the list, showing a larger proportion of non-readers than any country that is not wholly barbarous."^ Here is another paradox awaiting explanation: The people holding education in the highest honor, themselves the most illiterate. Learning to read in China is incomparably more difficult than the task in countries where there is an alphabetical literature. The Chinese printed Chinese page has no relation to phonetic sounds. The ap- ^tTI/V; peal is wholly to the eye, not to the ear. Doctor Gibson, of Swatow, has given the following ingenious Illustration of the genesis of these mys- terious characters: "A child has a picture book, and some one reads the story of it to the little one. He undertakes to re-tell the story to a play- mate. He will turn from picture to picture in order, and the sight of each will bring to his mind the story; but he tells it In his own language, not that of the book he has heard read. Multiply these pictures until they cover every point of the story, and even every minute detail, and you have the principle back of this strange literature."" But these pictures are most rudimentary. There are two hundred and fourteen radicals, made up of from one to seventeen strokes of the pointed brush pen, and the tens of thousands of characters 2 " The Chinese Recorder," Shanghai, January, 1902, p. 18. 3 "Mission Problems, etc.," by Rev. J. Campbell Gibson, Oliphant & Co., igo2, Edinburgh, pp. 34, 35. 97 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. are formed by more or less arbitrary or fanciful combinations of these radicals. There is enough association of ideas in perhaps half of these com- binations to aid memory; while imagination helps in part. But the strain of sheer memory to retain even the six thousand so-called common characters is prodigious; and when you add the eighteen thousand others, exclusive of the thirty thousand or more scientific terms, you have a task beyond the reach of even the extraordinary mind, much less the average. Of course it is not necessary to know more than about four thousand characters in order to read most of the books readily; but even that is a task that taxes the mind for many years. But the most serious difficulty in mastering Chinese literature so as to read it correctly, to say nothing of composition, lies in the fact that the classical language is not the one spoken. It is even more difficult than the Latin or Greek classics, for these were once living languages. The Chinese literary language is not even a dead language, for it never was alive! This fact ex- plains, in part, why the Chinese teacher has been accustomed to compel the young pupil to commit to memory volume after volume without the boy knowing anything whatever of the ideas contained in the books. He only learns the names of these characters, not the ideas they represent in the spoken language. The boy thus gets the rhythm- 98 GENERAL EDUCATION. and form of the literary language. Then, after about three years, the teacher takes his pupil back over these same books and teaches him to "translate" the characters into his mother tongue. Like the bee, he first makes the honeycomb, and then fills it. The reform methods of teaching, now coming into vogue, propose to do away with this mechanical memorizing, and substitute the more rational process of teaching the meaning along with the characters. This will, without doubt, greatly reduce the task of learning to read, but It seems probable that the next genera- tion of Chinese scholars will have lost the highly ornate and much-admired Ilterafy style of compo- sition to which the old civil service examinations gave Its highest awards. This will be no serious loss to China or to the world, but the ability to compose in the unspoken classical language will become more and more rare as the emphasis In education Is put upon ideas rather than upon lit- erary style. There is already a marked change of style in the modern books and periodical litera- ture. It Is becoming simpler and more colloquial. That this process will continue as the modern edu- cational movement advances, there can be no manner of doubt. There are also colloquial char- acter literatures — that is, Chinese characters that have been adapted to the speech of the people. The Foochow region has such a colloquial, used chiefly by the missionaries. It Is much easier to 99 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. learn to read this than the classical ; but the preju- dice of the Chinese literary man against this pro- fane use of his sacred characters is naturally very strong. The Mandarin colloquial character is widely used and has a large literature. Another serious complication in popularizing education in China is the multiplicity of dialects. DiJects^^^^ is known as the "Mandarin" language or dialect is spoken over the entire country north of the Yang-tse River, and in that great basin, except near the river's mouth. This is also the court language everywhere. But south of this there are many local dialects that differ from each other as much as the various European languages of Latin origin differ among themselves. Between Shanghai and Canton on the coast there are more than ten distinct languages of this kind. They are spoken by from one to ten or fifteen million people each. All business and social intercourse, whether of scholar or coolie, is carried on among the people in their local colloquial. These dialects are very tenacious. The writer's first experience of traveling in China was with that veteran mis- sionary, the late Doctor Nathan Sites, of Foochow. Stopping by the roadside under the shade of a clump of trees, we were soon surrounded by a group of men who had been working in the fields near by. We were in a region where the Foochow dialect was spoken, but Doctor Sites observed that they conversed with each other in the dialect of 100 GENERAL EDUCATION. the Amoy district, which is two days' journey south of the locality described, with HInghua lying be- tween. Upon inquiry, we found that the ancestors of these men immigrated to this county from Amoy fourteen generations ago, before the time of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers ! For busi- ness purposes the men had learned to speak the Foochow dialect, but in their families they still used their ancient ancestral tongue. The great number of dialects has been one of the strong arguments in favor of the hieroglyphic character, for these are read with equal facility everywhere. A picture hung up In the Immigrant building at Ellis Island would give the same Ideas to every one of the myriads coming from European States, yet each would think of the objects in the picture In the language wherein he was born. Thus the characters are called by different names In the various parts of China, but the ideas they represent are the same everywhere. So China has many languages but one literature. The problem of a universal education for China's millions now begins to loom up before us in vast proportions. Really, the difficulties seem Dijjicui, insurmountable. The cost of education Is enor-""."/^ mously Increased by this cumbrous vehicle. It is Education a conservative estimate to say that it adds five years to the time required. This would tax the resources of the richest country, to give even an elementary education to all its youth. But for China, with 101 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Its undeveloped resources, vast populations crowded Into the smallest possible space, such a task is altogether prohibitive. Another difficulty that Is equally Insurmountable Is the impossibility of the average person keeping up the education acquired in childhood. To gain the ability to read and write In hieroglyphics is a huge task, but to retain what has been attained experience proves that it is necessary to keep up the studies con- stantly. This has developed a literary class in China. They make literature their business. If poor, they teach school. If they have private means, they have been accustomed to spend their days in preparing to secure the next literary de- gree. Twenty years ago, Doctor Gibson, in a pamphlet entitled "Learning to Read In South China," called attention to the Indisputable histor- ical fact that: "Wherever a hieroglyphic litera- ture has prevailed, education has been confined to a distinct literary class, and the common people have been kept in ignorance." This is pre-emi- nently true of China. With a reverence for learn-^ ing among all classes that is unsurpassed, if not un- equaled, and with the stimulus of government rewards for learning such as no other country has ever held out to its people, among all nations China shows the largest per cent of illiteracy. The task of making education universal, or even ap- proximately so, with the old system, would seem to be hopeless, no matter how earnest the effort 102 GENERAL EDUCATION. made by government and private philanthropy. The solution of this stupendous problem is one of the most difficult of the many now confronting the statesmen of China. Material prosperity and education are close allies in this day. For a nation to attain wealth without the general education of the masses is impossible. It is idle to talk about "education for culture's own sake" to a people half of whom are underfed. Utility is first; and a people hampered by such a cumbrous and labori- ous vehicle of knowledge can not possibly compete in the race with nations so clogged. Illiterate labor must be of necessity more or less inefficient; and all history, as well as common sense, confirms the proposition that Chinese labor will be illit- erate as long as its present system of literature is its only method of education. The fact is that the idea of universal education for all classes, such as is sought for by the educators and statesmen of Western countries, has scarcely yet dawned upon the minds of the leaders of China. For more than four thousand years Chinese scholars have been accustomed to look upon education as the close monopoly of Mandarin, Literati, and Company, Limited. To the mandarin, "universal education" means that all the people who are in any occu- pation requiring a knowledge of books should be able to read them. But why does the chair-coolie need to read? He would soon quit his work, and want to ride in the chair himself. Then who 103 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA, would be the beasts of burden for the lordly man- darin? The truth is that the old civilization of China is consistent with itself. In the New China all things must be made new. Intelligence must pervade the whole population, and must be applied to every task. Men must cease to be beasts of burden, and mind must master matter. How can China escape from this intellectual thraldom? All experience bearing upon this sub- TAe Way ]ect points One way. Words are many, sounds of Escape ^^^ £g^ jjg^ characters to represent sounds, not words, and combine these few characters to ex- press all words. That is the method that all na- tions have used who have attained to anything like general literacy among the masses. Here, as in nearly all lines of intellectual improvement, the missionary has been the pioneer. One of the earliest of the many systems of Romanization is that of the Ningpo dialect, located not far south of Shanghai. Doctor Martin gives the following graphic account of its genesis more than half a century ago, which is so characteristic of the pioneer work of missionaries that the passage is here quoted almost in full: "The Ningpo dialect being unwritten, and incapable of expression by Chinese characters, which, being ideographic in their nature, have a very uncertain phonetic value, we were reduced to the necessity of representing it as best we might by some application of the ever-accommodating Roman alphabet. With no 104 GENERAL EDUCATION. book or vocabulary to guide me — the Ningpo mis- sionaries not having published anything of the sort — I was left to form my own system. I took the German, or rather Continental, vowels as the basis, and with a few modifications soon arrived at a mode of notation which enabled me to repro- duce what I had written down from the lips of my teacher. The idea struck me of teaching him to write In the same way ; and this was easily done, as we had a new teacher of quick apprehension, by the name of Lu. In a day or two he was able to write separate words, and a week later I re- ceived a neatly written note inviting us to take a "tiffin," or noonday meal, at his house. Its lucidity and simplicity delighted me, and I ex- hibited it rather ostentatiously at the breakfast- table. ... I next showed it to Messrs. Cobbold, Russell, and Gough, of the English Church Mis- sion, visiting each in succession and explaining the system by which I proposed to teach the natives to write with Roman letters. They received me with the warmest sympathy. . . . Before the sun had set on that to me memorable day in Janu- ary, 1 85 1, we had formed a society for the pur- pose of fixing a definitive system for the writing of the Ningpo colloquial. . . . The next step was the preparation and printing of books. . . . The Chinese saw with astonishment their children taught to read in a few days, instead of spending years of painful toil, as they must with the native 105 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. characters. Old women of threescore and ten, and iUiterate servants and laborers, on their conversion found by this means their eyes opened to read in their own tongue the wonderful works of God."* During the half century following that "mem- orable day" in Doctor Martin's life, the various dialects have been nearly all reduced to writing. The work of producing a literature in this simple form has been done entirely by the missionaries. It has been a stupendous labor, but one that al- ready has brought rich rewards, and the results are only beginning to be realized. A brief account of our experience In Hinghua will illustrate what has been and will be done in Personal rmny parts of China in popularizing education. Experience ^^ that the "common man" can share it while he toils with his hands for his daily sustenance. This Hinghua dialect is probably spoken by not more than three million people, crowded into a fertile region seventy-five miles east and west by forty north and south, on the Fuhkien coast be- tween Foochow and Amoy. When the first for- eigners moved here to live permanently, in the autumn of 1890, we found a Christian community of less than one thousand. They had no literature except the classical character. The colloquial character, made by the early missionaries of Foo- chow, was not used in Hinghua, and we found it impracticable to introduce it. Having been con- < "A Cycle of Cathay," Revell, 1897, pp. 54-56. 106 GENERAL EDUCATION. vinced by the reading of the above mentioned pamphlet by Doctor Gibson, that the use of the Roman alphabet phonetically is essential to raising up an intelligent spiritual Chinese Christian Church, we went to work at once to create such a literature. While beginning to learn the spoken language, we reduced it to writing. Only one Chinese was found who could give us the eight tones. Here was one of our most serious diffi- culties, for the same word might have at least seven different meanings, in the various tones. Tone marks had to be made for each of the vowels. The small number of missionaries — 'for the first nine years never numbering more than five or six at any one time, including wives of missionaries and unmarried ladies — and the large and ever- expanding work, both educational and evangelistic, made the difficulties of creating an entirely new literature very great. Without a copious litera- ture to reward the student of the new system, we could not offer inducements sufficient to stimulate the people to take up the task in earnest, or to continue it after fairly begun. The difficulty of printing what had been prepared was one of our most serious drawbacks. At first it was done in Foochow, but we found that to send "proof" a two days' journey overland was utterly imprac- ticable, if we expected to get anything finished in this generation. Later a press with one printer was detailed from the Foochow plant to work in 107 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA, Hinghua. The Four Gospels and the Acts, primers, and the Cateehlsm, were published slowly. In 1897 a small plant of our own was established. Foochow printers proved expensive and unsatis- factory. We finally settled upon the policy of us- ing student printers under the supervision of a competent foreman. Those who have passed through an experience of this kind will give their sympathy unasked to a fellow mortal who treads the Initial stages of^ this thorny path. While the phonetic method is immeasurably easier than the Ideographic, let no one get the Im- pression that it is easy to convince a Chinese community of that fact by a concrete Illustration. Besides those things which were without, there was the struggle that came upon us dally because of the utter Indifference of the great mass of our Chinese Christians and even a majority of our workers as well. We were fortunate In not having to encounter open opposition from any quarter, but that educated Chinese teachers and preachers should be indifferent Is to be expected, until the experimental stage is passed. They had spent the best years of their lives in learning to read the classical character. They possessed In it the key that unlocks all the stores of Chinese learn- ing, ancient and modern. Why should they spend time in acquiring a new system, however easy, since it would not open to them any new store- house of knowledge? As to teaching Illiterates 108 GENERAL EDUCATION. among their members, they were still unconvinced that it was practicable, however plain it seemed to be theoretically. For five or six years we were like the voice of one crying in the wilderness. It was a lonely desert of sand and sage-brush. Dur- ing this period, very few village Christians learned to read by the new method. However, we had our schools, and we could require the students, men and women, boys and girls, all to learn the Roman- ized. After a time these students, as preachers and Bible women or teachers of day-schools were scattered abroad, and the seed began to spring up. When we had a constituency of two or three hun- dred, we began publishing a small monthly news- paper. The ice was softening, if not breaking up. We felt that ere long the springtime would mel- low the long winter of our discontent, in due time glorious summer would be upon us, and a boun- teous harvest make us forget the laborious and dis- couraging seed-time. But we did not expect it so soon, nor in the way it came. In the summer of 1900 the "Boxer Uprising" burst upon China and an astonished world. For- tunately, it did not become necessary for all the Help from men of the force of foreign missionaries to leave ^"^"""'^ Hinghua. The press was not closed, nor was the "Revivalist," our newspaper, suspended. The people regarded it as their most trustworthy and prompt bearer of the latest news. All over the prefecture the Christians looked for its coming 8 109 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. as those that watch for the morning. Many be- gan learning to read in order to get the news. Non-Christian neighbors also found out that the Christians received reliable news, instead of idle rumor from mouth to mouth, and they came to readers of the "Revivalist" to test the truth of the reports they heard, for at that time practically no Chinese newspapers were circulated in the in- terior. Undoubtedly this was a strong element in keeping the peace which Hinghua enjoyed during that terrible summer. At the large seaport town of Antau, a lay preacher's daughter, a little girl nine years old, had learned to read the Romanized fluently. A group of the literary graduates of the neighborhood, non-Christians, of course, would in- quire of the pastor when the "Revivalist" had arrived; and these proud Confucianists were ac- customed to assemble at the church and gather around this little girl, while she read to her eager audience the all-important news from the North. Has not the prophet long ago told us of a time coming when "A little child shall lead them?" Even indifference could not withstand such demon- stration of utility, and the progress of our col- loquial was very rapid for the next three years. Since the autumn of 1903, the advance in this respect has been somewhat checked because of temporary reduction of the force of missionaries on the field by furlough and other causes; but large reinforcements having arrived, the new lit- 110 GENERAL EDUCATION. erature will soon be moving on more rapidly than ever. The progress of the Christian community in intelligence and spirituality has been very largely in direct proportion as the new method of reading has prevailed. The writer remembers examining a class of new inquirers at a station that had been opened only eight weeks. The young people had been Eight very diligent in learning, assembling every even- -y./^ ' Ing at the chapel. Five young men stood in a Darkness row and each read, with only occasional hesita- tion, a passage from the latest issue of the "Re- vivalist," which he could not possibly have seen before. A dozen young women read any part of the Catechism at sight, and more than a score of others, children and adults, had mastered the primer, only needing practice to be able to read anything. Learning to read by this method Is far easier for them than English for our children, because all is phonetic, and they do not have to learn to spell. This group of two-months-old babes in Christ sang our songs, read our books, and told in simple language the story of their passage from darkness to light. Three months before that had been a raw heathen community, scarcely a person in the little village able to read, fighting among themselves to settle all their numerous quarrels, living a life of the flesh only — as dark a spot as even pagan China could produce. While listening to this company of young Chinese 111 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. reading Christian books, and watching the new light shining in faces that had been so recently as dull and hopeless as the multitudes about them, that missionary saw the sage-brush of the wilder- ness burst out with oleanders, chrysanthemums, and orchids, the glistening sand changed to soft, green turf, and the air was vibrant with the song of birds. One such moment Is worth ten years of toll. However, the language of China Is not these southern dialects, but the so-called Mandarin lan- Mandarin gnage, whIch Is spokcn with minor differences the Great ^ j^^j. j^^g ^.^^^ three hundred million people, or Language ' ... nearly three-fourths of the Chinese race. This Is at least double the number of the people who speak English as their mother tongue. This is the speech that must be simplified, if the masses of China are ever to be educated. The Educa- tional Association-, composed of the foreigners who are engaged In educational work In China, at its triennial meeting In 1901 took very strong ground upon this question, and appointed a representative committee to devise the best possible system of Romanlzation for the Mandarin. This committee did its work remarkably well, and the new system is meeting with general favor. The literature is being created, and will rapidly Increase. Here comes In an apparent solution for the complicated problem caused by the multiplicity of languages in the southern provinces. We have taught the 112 GENERAL EDUCATION. Mandarin in our schools in Hinghua more or less regularly for years, but progress has been unsatis- factory. There were no suitable text-books. The new Romanizatlon primers and three of the gospels arrived during the month of February, 1906. Soon after the term opened, inquiry of the teacher of Mandarin as to how he liked the new system brought the reply, "In less than one week the boys were able to read the Gospel of Mat- thew." Of course they had a knowledge of our Hinghua to begin with, and already had some- thing of a vocabulary In Mandarin. There is no apparent difference of opinion among those who have studied the question that this system will become very popular among the student class all through South China, where the desire to learn to speak the Mandarin is universal among all educated people. It Is not improbable that this Mandarin Romanizatlon will first spread in these dialect regions, where it is of immediate prac- tical value even to the educated. By having these text-books used in the primary and Intermediate schools, the pupils reading the phonetically written language for half an hour a day. In two or three years schoolboys in South China would have a good start at least In learning the great speech of the empire. The teachers can be prepared for this without much difficulty in normal schools and short institutes. It will be greatly to the interest of the government to accomplish this, and the 113 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. new educational leaders will naturally adopt this method when its practicability is proven. In time, is it visionary to expect that the local patois of the South will be absorbed and disappear as the tide of universal education in one common tongue sweeps over the land? Whatever may be the fate of the spoken dialects, the literature of the Mandarin is sure to become universal, unless history reverses, instead of repeats itself. Ger- many has many colloquials, but one literature. . So has England. Reasoning from analogy, we may conclude that the Mandarin Romanization will gradually take the place of the classical char- acter literature, or so-called wen-li, among the masses of the people. Classics will still be useful to the learned, as they are to-day in Europe and America. But when all literature in Europe was in classcal language the Dark Ages prevailed. To make classical characters the sole medium of literature is to perpetuate the Dark Ages in China. An interesting account was recently published in the North China Daily News, from its Peking p/ionetic correspondent, of a movement that had sprung up ^^^^"" spontaneously at the capital. Some one had in- vented a system of phonetic characters and had reduced the Pekinese to writing. Several wealthy Chinese ladies had been greatly impressed with the simplicity of the method, and had given money to open schools for girls and women where they could be taught to read in a few weeks by 114 GENERAL EDUCATION. ' this system. At the time the correspondent wrote, there were twenty such schools at the capital. Hundreds of women and girls had learned to read. A newspaper had been started. There was great enthusiasm. A few weeks after the publication of this account, Dr. Arthur H. Smith, the best known living writer concerning things Chinese, was our guest In Hinghua for several days. He told us that the government had begun to have the soldiers taught this new system of phonetic character. The characteristic reason given was that "The leaders of the New China had learned that one chief element in the amazing efficiency of the Japanese soldier lies In the fact that he can read. The Chinese soldier Is generally illiterate, and with the hieroglyphics only he will be so always. The organizers of the new army thought they saw in this simple phonetic method a way to emulate Japan." All this goes to show how thin is the ice that has been supposed to be frozen solid clear to the bottom of this human stream. In an astonishingly short time it may break up before our eyes, and become the swiftest flood on earth, rolling on toward the sea of universal edu- cation and the highest civilization. For we must constantly keep in mind the probability of con- stitutional government being launched in China In the near future. Already the imperial decree has gone forth; the time is uncertain, but the fact is indubitable. It will come as soon as the people lis THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. are prepared for It. But constitutional govern- ment means franchise. To give political power to China's illiterate millions would be suicidal; to confine it to the literati, as that class has ex- isted for centuries, would be unjust to the tax- payers, for most of the landowners are illiterate. The nation would not long submit to such in- justice. The natural and apparently inevitable solution of the difficulty will be for the govern- ment to insist upon an educational qualification, but make the path to the minimum requirement as easy as possible. The reported government en- couragement of this phonetic colloquial in the army is a significant straw. When the alternative is squarely faced of a franchise in the hands of millions of Illiterates, or of recognizing and en- couraging colloquial phonetic literature, there is little doubt that even Chinese scholastic conserv- atism ultimately will give way. With govern- ment sanction it Is probable that the now despised colloquial literature will spread throughout the masses with extraordinary rapidity. That many of the educated Chinese realize the thraldom of their present literature is seen from the fact that soon after the return of the Constitutional Com- mlsson from abroad In the summer of 1906, they were presented with a monster petition, signed by ninety thousand literati and students of the Pechlli Province, and one of the requests of this great body of Chinese scholars was that the Com- 116 GENERAL EDUCATION. mssion pray the Imperial government to devise a simpler form of literature. The significance of this can scarcely be overestimated. The govern- ment can not and will not ignore petitions from such a numerous and powerful body. From the "simpler form" It is only a matter of evolution to the simplest form; and evolution in these days in China is a matter of decades instead of centuries. 117 CHAPTER V. THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. Twenty years ago a young theologue was student-pastor for a year of a small village con- gregation on Cape Cod. The neighborhood was saturated with infidelity, and intensely anti-mis- sionary. Several retired skippers of the sailing ships that used to make two- and three-year voy- ages "around the Horn," and come back laden with whale oil and spoils of the Orient, were the oracles of the community. He soon found that time spent in argument with them was worse than wasted. It was best to listen — and then change the subject. One day an old "sea-dog" was telling what a failure missions were, and how he had seen it with his own eyes in the South Sea Islands. The youth ventured to remark: "How does it happen that you visited those islands? I thought the people there were all savage cannibals, and no white man could set foot on their shores with safety." A sheepish look came into those foxy old eyes as he stammered out, "They — they were, until the missionaries went there before us traders, and civilized them up a bit." That Christian mis- sionaries have been the advance agents of civili- 118 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. zation and commerce from the first centuries of our era till now, js so generally admitted by all that it is needless more than to state the propo- sition here. Wherever missionaries have gone among the Christless nations they have made it a part of their business to "civilize them up a bit." The preceding chapters have not given the im- pression that in the mind of the writer China is an uncivilized country. It has a civilization of its industrial own, and in many respects it is a high civiliza- Condtmns tion. The Chinese have a right to be proud of It: as most certainly they are. But one of the tests of the quality of a system of ethics and laws Is the results achieved by it in the temporal conditions of the masses of the people. How does the Confucian system measure up to this criterion? The poverty of the masses of China is Indescribable. It is Impossible for any pen pic- ture to do the case justice. The value of food consumption Is a fair Index of temporal conditions. A school boarding-club in Hinghua which the students manage them- Cost of selves and pay all costs except wages of the cook, ^°fjj'' has averaged three cents, American currency, per day for each member. They have lived better than the village people generally do. They have eaten rice, while multitudes In certain regions of Hinghua can only afford sweet potatoes, which they slice up and dry in the sun and use as their chief staple food the year round. Those who live 119 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. on this coarser and cheaper diet need not spend more than two cents a day. But multitudes of the peasantry along this South China coast can not afford more than two meals a day, even of the cheapest food. This further reduces the expense, we might estimate, half of one cent, leaving one and one-half cents a day to keep soul and body together. A peasant family of five would re- quire, even at this lowest rate, food for man and wife, three cents, and say one cent for each of the three children; total, six cents. We get un- skilled labor, outside of harvest and planting seasons, at from six to eight cents a day, even in Hinghua City. Several years ago it was five cents. It is plain that, counting loss of time for illness, rainy days, and holidays, both husband and wife must work constantly to secure even this bare pittance for so small a family, and that the chil- dren must be put to work — gathering fuel, manure, or carrying loads — at the earliest possible age. For people who own no fields and have no capital, even for those in good health, life must be simply a continuous desperate struggle for a bare animal sustenance. The margin for clothing is very small indeed, and for other things absolutely nil. The blessings even of Chinese civilization are as far out of the reach of these landless peasants as though they lived in Central Africa. Under such conditions what wonder that in the poorest, sandy regions along this coast, it has been customary 120 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. when in the frequent village fights a man has been killed, to settle the indemnity at a sum scarcely equal to the price of a good fat pig? Pork is in steady demand in these markets, and men are not ! The desperate industrial conditions are further seen as we compare the values of land and labor. The average price, for the past dozen years, of Compar- the best, well-watered rice land on this broad values Hinghua alluvial plain has been from two hun- "^Yi'^d dred to three hundred dollars (gold) per acre. Of course there is plenty of cheaper land, but it is less productive and has not the irrigation so constant and accessible. A laborer working at even ten cents (gold) a day, three hundred days in the year, would have to toil for from seven to ten years, and save every cent of his wages, in order to accumulate enough to buy one acre of the land which grows his food. No wonder that when a Chinese becomes the fortunate pos- sessor of a little of such real estate, he is loath to part with it! No Chinese sells a parcel of ground unless he is forced to it by circumstances, or is getting an inordinate price. Two causes have actively operated to relieve the congestion of population along the South China coast during the past decade : First, the decent Bubonic Plague has carried off millions. No sta- /„/-/a,i|Jf"f tistics have been collated, but that the population has been seriously reduced Is manifest to the most 121 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. superficial observer. Thus the plethora of work- men for the work to be done has been reduced. Second, a still more potent and less distressing factor has been the enormous emigration to the Straits Settlements. Tens of thousands have gone annually from this Hinghua region alone, while further south the movement has been even greater. This exodus is confined to the young men be- tween twenty and forty years of age who are strong enough for severe coolie labor. This has had a marked effect upon the labor supply for chair and burden carrying especially, and upon wages in harvest fields, almost doubling prices; the ordinary unskilled labor, done in part by peasant women, has been affected much less. However, the cost of nearly all the necessaries of life has advanced in much the same proportion, so that the industrial condition of the masses is not materially improved. This chronic distress of the people is often attributed to over-population. Undoubtedly the Causes— country is very densely inhabited, but not more pltuiation^^ than many other countries. Great Britain has one and two-thirds times the population of China per square mile. China Proper has two hundred and eighty per square mile. Japan has exactly the same. China, without its dependencies in Central and North Asia, Is just eight and one- third times as large as Japan, and, according to latest accepted estimates, China has eight and one- 122 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. third times the population of the little giant of the Pacific.'' But the latent natural resources of the big continental empire are much greater, in proportion to its size, than those of Japan. For example: "In Japan barely one-eighth of the area is cultivated. With the exception of the small river deltas, the whole country consists of moun- tains, amongst which tillage Is confined to narrow valleys and small hollows and to a few larger elevated valley basins, where a rich soil, mainly of volcanic origin, has collected." On the other hand, Sir Robert Hart, the veteran head of the Chinese Maritime Customs service, estimates that at least half of the surface of the eighteen prov- inces of "China Proper" is now cultivated land, or four times the proportion of Japan. More- over, China still has much land to be possessed, while Japan's cultivation can scarcely be extended. If the proportionate advantages of China over Japan are, even now as four to one when we com- pare the superficial resources available, the po- tential wealth below the surface is even greater. In contrast with the Inexhaustible and widely dis- tributed, though undeveloped, mineral wealth of the Middle Kingdom, the Japanese mining re- sources are Insignificant. Of the all-important "black diamonds," we read: "Outside of the coal district In Northern Kiushiu, little coal is found in t ■'The'Far East," by Archibald Little, Oxford, 1905, p. 18. 6 Ibid, p 280. 123 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. the Japanese Islands (apart from Formosa).'" And of the metals we are told: "Valuable min- erals in paying quantities, excepting copper, antimony, and in some places, magnetic ore, are generally conspicuous by their absence."^ Yet Japan is able to come out of a war against huge Russia with unimpaired financial credit, while China can not pay necessary expenses in time of peace! Japanese skilled workmen command two and three times the wages of Chinese artisans. China's balance of trade is steadily against her; while Japan's moved forward even while the great war was in progress. Evidently the root of China's industrial poverty is not over-population. Nor is idleness a factor. The Chinese are the most laborious of nations. The peasantry go to ■f'l'' their fields as soon as they can see to work, and they quit at dark, often taking only a cold lunch without going home for dinner. In times of drought we hear the foot-pumps creaking all night long ; and where the irrigation depends upon wells, they catch what sleep they can beside the well while a few more buckets of water accumulate, and then draw it out for the parched ground. In South China, where there are no wheeled ve- hicles, everything must be carried upon the shoulders of men and women, unless there happens to be a convenient canal or stream. The farmer 7 "The Far East," by Archibald Little, Oxford, 1905, p. 295. 8 Ibid. p. 297. 124 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. carries his ploughs and thresher to the field in the morning and brings them back at night. He must transport his crop home in the same way. Having so much ^capital in his land in proportion to the value of his labor, he dare not let his fields lie idle. So he harvests three crops of grain ; and in some parts of China, even four and five crops, including quick vegetables, are gathered from the same fields. His busy season lasts the year round. The Chinese peasant has his faults, but idleness is not one of them. The cause of his poverty must be sought for elsewhere. China is fortunate in not having a wealthy, landed aristocracy, making the cultivators serfs . of the soil, as in India, Russia, and to a limited Not in a extent in all States that were once feudal, ^^oh- Aristocracy ably in no country except America, is so much of the labor of cultivation done by the actual owners of the soil as in China. Socially the Chinese farmer ranks next to the scholar. The land is cultivated, not in large tracts, but in small fields, seldom more than half an acre in size and generally much less. The farmers, both owners and renters, live in a near-by village, and go to their fields for work. There is no special object in having a large tract all contiguous, as In an American farm. In China nobody ever buys or sells a farm; It Is always fields. Occasionally a rich ex-ofScIal succeeds in buying up a hundred or more acres In one neighborhood, but It is very 9 125 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. seldom, and as a rule his sons or grandsons gamble and smoke it away in opium. So that the large landed estate, with hundreds of renters who are practically serfs of the soil, is unknown in China. This accounts in part for the painstaking and successful cultivation of the land for which China is famous. Moreover, tenants either pay a fixed cash rent, or, more frequently, a share of the crop, usually one-half, and it is to their interest to get as much out of the soil as possible. This feature of industrial conditions will be greatly in China's favor when modern appliances open the country. The whole population will share in the national prosperity, not merely a few rich merchants and gentry. Since the poverty of the masses of China can not be fairly attributed to over-population, un- productive soil, laziness, or intellectual incapacity; nor is it due to semi-serfdom of the agriculturists, as in Russia and India; where are we to look for the root of the difficulty? That the idolatrous superstition of the people is a potent factor, there can be no doubt. Also, the moral corruption of the governing classes, resulting in all-pervading "graft," has done much to impoverish the country. However, these are but the accessory trunks, not the main stock, of this huge banyan tree that darkens half a continent and enshadows one- quarter of the human race. Modern industrial development has taught all 126 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. students of political economy and sociology that intelligence is as essential to the production of food for body as it is to food for mind. The old artificial and vicious distinction between secular The Root and religious affairs has been relegated to the anti- ^j^'^^^ quarian junk shop. So the claim that purely lit- erary intelligence is the only education, and that mechanics is for the vulgar and uneducated is fast passing away. Modern industrial progress, especially in America, has awakened us to the fact that a skilled hand must be directed by a culti- vated mind ; that the highest success in mechanical production is in proportion to the amount of trained brain power brought into action, just as truly as in the composition of an epic poem. We have seen that the Chinese have the Brawn, and that they use it without stint. They can beat the world in profitless perspiration. And they have Brains. The difficulty is right here: the Brain and Brawn are not united. The educated men are one class and the laboring men are another. They do not mix any more than oil and water. The literary man cultivates long coats, long sleeves, and long finger nails, to advertise the fact to all that he never soils his hands with physical labor of any kind. His heaviest implements are chop- sticks, pen and fan. The laborer is Illiterate. He knows only to use his physical strength and that in the most primitive way. This Is the reason why China surpasses all nations in the pedantry 127 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. of its scholarship and in the profitlessness of its labor. This accounts for the stationary or even retrogressive character of many of China's indus- tries. In ancient times this chasm between the scholar and the laborer was less marked, and sev- eral industries, as pottery and silk weaving, reached a high degree of cultivation. But the succeeding generations have retrograded because the laborers have simply sought to imitate the past artisans, but have not had their intelligence. We hear much about "Chinese cheap labor." The truth is that from the very countries where wages are highest, China is importing such neces- sities as flour, cotton cloth and kerosene. Hing- hua is less than seventy miles from the nearest treaty port, Foochow. Before the small steamers began to ply between there and our port, we had to have all our foreign supplies carried overland a two days' journey on the shoulders of men. We occasionally ordered goods from a Chicago mail order house; and we noted that the expense of transportation by rail and water via New York to the Anchorage, ten miles below Foochow, was frequently less than the cost of transportation from the steamer by lighter to Foochow and thence to Hinghua. The journey half way round the world by land and sea was made by a combination of Brain and Brawn: the last stage was by un- assisted Brawn. In a small town in Missouri, half a dozen men were pushing an empty box- 128 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. car from one side of the street to the other. They had no switch engine in such a small place, and it took all their strength for a quarter of an hour to move that car a few yards. Shortly after, a train of thirty or forty loaded cars passed by at the rate of twenty odd miles an hour. The crew of that train was about the same in number as the group who had so laboriously moved that empty car a few rods: but the train crew were having an easy time, while their mighty engine was bringing Chicago and Kansas City within a few hours of each other. One Chinese farmer, working long hours and constantly, can cultivate but one acre of rice land. The modern rice grower in Louisiana tends one hundred acres, and has an easy task as compared with his Mongolian competitor. Through the west gate of HInghua City, every morning for two or three hours passes in single file an almost continuous procession of men and women carrying loads of fuel. They have char- coal, good split wood, roots, pine tops, grass. It is cut from the mountains west of the city. Near the market the hills are owned, and even the un- cut grass is sold at a good price; but back twenty miles in the hills the grass and small trees are practically of no value, and may be had for the cutting. Yet one of our unskilled laborers, work- ing at six cents a day, would have to take the wages of at least three and sometimes four days 129 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. to buy one hundred and fifty pounds of that dried grass in Hinghua City, and for an equal amount of good wood a week's wage would leave little margin. The entire cost of that fuel is in the transportation by "Chinese cheap labor" for less than twenty miles! The simple fact is that un- intelligent labor is never cheap. That labor is the cheapest which is the most efScient, whatever be the price. The apparent exceptions, such as in domestic service in the Orient, are only temporary local eddies in the great stress of human endeavor. The mighty current of this universal and benefi- cent law is the divine protection given to toiling mankind, more effective than any protective tariff or exclusion law devised by statesmen. Having found the origin, the remedy is a simple matter, — remove the cause, and you have The Rem- the cure. We have found the cause of China's China's P'^'^^^^Y ^" th^ divorce of Brain and Brawn. To Po'verty re-establlsh a happy family, re-wed the divorced parties. Here is work for the missionary, as well as for the statesman, the diplomat, the manu- facturer and the merchant. When Edison, watch- ing a storm from the deck of an Atlantic liner, was asked what he was thinking about, he replied, "I was thinking of this enormous waste of power." The modern seer looks out upon this vast sea of Chinese humanity, expending physical strength as no other nation under heaven, yet with it all scarcely able to keep from bankruptcy and starva- 130 o z 2 w H D THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. tlon, and thinks, "What an awful waste of undi- rected energy I" It is the writer's conviction that an important part of the duty of the Christian missionary in China is to help build a power plant to conserve these aimlessly tossing waves. But the problem of helping relieve the in- dustrial distress in China is not nearly so simple as it may at first sight appear to the uninitiated. /^o'"'»o< The poor, overburdened village Chinese does not want your help. He is well satisfied, and he sees reasons against making any change that no for- eigner would ever dream of. We watched him harvest, handful at a time, two crops of rice and one of wheat annually for six years from our Hinghua plain, using his little sickle; and we thought of the old-fashioned "cradle" that our grandfathers used for cutting wheat forty years ago. It would do the work of five or six grass- hooks. The blades cbst only about one dollar. The handle and frame could be made in China of bamboo for a few dimes. It required little skill, and could not get out of order. Moreover, a veteran missionary on the field had swung a "cradle" in his youth, and he could teach the first men the art. What could be more certain of success than that? The "cradle" arrived from New York, and the missionary arranged with a Christian farmer to cut his wheat. The multi- tudes assembled. Wonder and admiration were upon all faces and lips, until a wise (?) man 131 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. proposed an objection which all admitted was in- surmountable. Reader, would you ever guess what it was? Said the village oracle: "That will never do: for if the thieves should get hold of one of those long knives, they would harvest all our crops in a night !" Clearly, the place to grapple with these industrial conditions is not in the villages. These Ephraims are joined to their idols : let them alone. The woman in the parable hid her leaven in three measures of meal, not in three baked loaves. The industrial leaven must be put into the youth of the land. The great educational awakening that is now going on in China is a hopeful sign that indus- 7n^tt//r/W trial regeneration is not far distant; but the modern Necessary education of young China must go further than mere book learning, if the tap-root of the nation's poverty is cut by it. Lord Charles Beresford tells of how he astonished the workmen in a Chinese gun factory by showing them how to use their tools. They said: "Why, our superintendents are all scholars. They know nothing about the management of machinery." That is why the Chinese must have an expensive foreigner to man- age every industrial enterprise, or else make a still more expensive failure. The difficulty is not only that the educated man in China can not use his hands, but he does not want to. For more than two thousand years it has been drilled into his mind that physical labor and scholarship are in- 132 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. compatible, that manual toil of any kind is dis- graceful to him. To eradicate this real root of the whole difficulty, there is no available force more potent than the industrial school: and the religion of the Carpenter of Nazareth must be the inspiration, rather than purely commercial motives, if the highest results are obtained either in mechanics or in ethics. It Is not enough simply to preach the theory of the dignity of labor as taught In the New Testament and Illustrated in our Lord's life. We must put it into the concrete as He did. In one of the largest and most thor- oughly Christian of our mission colleges in China, in which all the students pay their own way, the president frequently had requests for financial aid from needy students. They were Invariably Christian boys who claimed that without a few dollars' aid it would be impossible for them to continue through the term. The gateman of the compound went off duty at dusk, and the night watchman did not begin until ten o'clock. The president wished to engage a student to sit in the neat little gate-house for four hours, doing his evening studying there instead of his room. For this the president was willing to furnish board. But not one of those needy students would accept the job. Do not blame those foolish boys too much. They feared that he who accepted that post would be jeered at by one hundred others as "Gate-keeper." It Is the system that is at fault. 133 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Had there been an industrial department in con- nection with that school, where needy students were earning their way in whole or in part while pursuing their studies, that easy post at the gate would have been the most popular work in the school. If for no other than the ethical reason, it would well repay both government and mission authorities to establish industrial departments in connection with the schools and colleges of China. At first, the sons of wealthy parents need not work in them unless they choose to, but when the man- darin's proud scion discovers that the boy with the marks of toil upon his hands surpasses him In scholarship, he will soon find growing up in his heart a respect for the toiler which he never had before. Remove the social disgrace from me- chanical labor, and you open the way for the best minds to be turned into this channel of study and effort. Until the stigma is removed, only those who can not make a living in more honored ways will be willing to devote themselves to the mechanical arts. Few modern philanthropists question the de- sirability of Industrial education. Missionaries Is It fff^-generally admit that it would be beneficial ; but the average missionary and member or mission boards doubts its practicability; so that ends the discus- sion. But the fact that a thing Is desirable. In- deed essential to the highest success, is strong pre- sumptive evidence that it Is also practicable. The 134 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. law runs through all God's universe: Given the demand, nature furnishes the supply. A wise educator has recently said: "The problem of education is to secure the teachers." This is even more essential in technical education j^e than in the general literary instruction given in Pf''">"fl , . . i- . Equation all schools. None of us would think of starting a hospital without a physician. Why, then, at- tempt a factory without a master mechanic? Many are the failures strewn along the path that the writer has traveled in seeking to strike this gold lode: but every shaft that was sunk in vain represents his own ignorance of the geology of the soils and rocks. Nobody ever succeeds In teaching others what he has not thoroughly learned himself. The fault of failures does not lie with the missionary alone. He has had to play Jack- of-all-trades, not because he liked It, but because the master mechanic was upon the opposite side of the globe. His excuse is the same that the frontier home missionary in America gives when charged with wasting his energies by being his own sexton, Sunday-school superintendent, and chorister. It is necessary in order to have the church cleaned, the school taught, and the "tune raised." We need to learn again the profound sig- nificance of the fact that the first and greatest missionary to the heathen was a mechanic; and he worked steadily at his trade of tent-making in order to keep from overdrawing his bank account. 135 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. The Basel Industrial Missions in India are the best existing models. They have a half century of experience behind them. They have long passed the stage of experiment. In the valuable paper by Mr. L. J. Frohnmeyer, of that mission, sent to the Ecumenical Missionary Conference, held in New York in the year 1900, we are informed that: "The first attempt in this direction was made by the ordained missionaries. From an in- dustrial point of view these attempts must have proved failures. Want of funds, absence of tech- nical or mercantile training with most of the mis- sionaries, want of experience and of continuity as long as the matter is left to the occasional taste or aptitude of an ordained missionaijy will easily account for such failures."^ Again, Mr. Frohn- meyer declares: "It has been our experience, proved by many experiments, that we have never succeeded in any trade without a qualified man- ager sent out from Europe."^" This is sound philosophy as well as business sense. The stream can not rise above its source. Yet it is not neces- sary to maintain an expensive European manager for all time in order to continued success in a trade once thoroughly established, for upon the next page we read : "As to the question of self- dependence, our carpentry is in the hands of a native Christian who, in addition, may serve as a testimony to the educational effect of these es- 9 Report of the Conference, vol II., p. 157. 10 Ibid, p, 160. 136 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. tablishments. He is not only a very able and painstaking carpenter; he is a man guided by Christian principles. Here we have a missionary industry which has reached its aim." (Italics ours.) These Basel Industrial Missions start a new industry by sending out a European missionary mechanic, and in time this man incarnates him- self into Indian mechanics and the exotic becomes indigenous. Are they successful? "By the last report of the Basel Industrial Missions, after pay- ing five per cent on the capital invested, and various donations to funds for the support of in- valids, widows, and orphans, $57,780 was turned over to the evangelistic work of the Basel So- ciety."" Here is "philanthropy at five per cent," and a wide margin for donations. The Basel Missions have answered completely the whole question of practicability. What these painstaking Germans can do, can be done by all who will learn and practice their methods. But such results were not attained in a year, or even In a decade. The general principles, however, having been worked out, progress should 4 ^^'"- be far more rapid and satisfactory during this Solution generation than the last. Clearly the sine qua non of the whole problem of industrial education is in the skilled and otherwise qualified mechanic or artist. At first he must come from Europe or America. But such men are too rare and too ex- U Encyclopedia of Missions, Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1903, p. 329 137 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. pensive to be brought in anything like large num- bers. With nearly three hundred mission board- ing-schools in China, to supply even one-fourth of them with such missionaries is impracticable. Moreover, it is doubtful if it is even desirable. The Chinese are better financial managers of their own affairs than foreigners can hope to become. The natural solution of the difficulty is simple enough. A few men and women of the very highest qualifications in one large, central institu- tion could train Chinese industrial instructors for the schools of the whole empire. No one mis- sionary society could afford to become responsible for such a great enterprise, nor would it be fair to ask it of any. But all the leading societies uniting could do so without seriously burdening any; and in a few years competent native instruc- tors could be supplied to all. School faculties in the provinces might pick out suitable persons and send them to the central technological school under contract to return and take charge of in- dustrial departments in the schools sending them. The very existence of such an institution would stimulate the industrial idea in all mission schools, and in government schools as well. A competent faculty, giving its whole attention to these prob- lems, would work out practical methods in detail, and make it possible for the ordinary provincial school to begin industrial work without expensive experiments. Most of the difficulties in industrial 138 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. education could be solved in this way. For ex- ample, we have a reasonably successful weaving department in Hinghua. Recently a new style of cotton cloth from Japan became popular among the people. Our weaver succeeded in reproducing the figures of the new cloth, but he had to sell for about ten per cent less than the Japanese article, though his cloth was heavier and would wear better, simply because no one in Hinghua under- stands the art of fast dyeing. With an institution established for the purpose herein outlined, such difficulties would disappear. The school would teach all things necessary to complete success in each line of industry it attempted. To-day UNION is in the air. Union of nations; there are workingmen's unions; capital- ists unite; "brotherhoods" flourish as never before. Above all, the disciples of Christ are being drawn to one another, and the Spirit of the Master is leading the various Churches to seek co-operation and mutual help. It is difficult to unite existing institutions ; vested interests and past history work against it. But here is a field for union that has no vested interest and no past. There are no Calvanistic or Armenian mechanics, and the only heterodoxy is inefficiency. The platform is broad enough for everybody. This type of philanthropy commends itself to all classes of men, and when practical demonstration of efficient management has been made, funds will be available from 139 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Jew and Gentile, Christian and pagan. For it would be impossible to confine the work of a great school of Technology in China exclusively to train- ing instructors for industrial schools. Inevitably the whole range of modern mechanical arts would develop in its curriculum. How could electricity be ignored in this "electric age?" China will have electrical appliances when she has electricians, and not until then. The training of engineers, civil and mining, would be an inevitable development. Who doubts that China will build more miles of railroad and open more new mines during the next forty years than any other country, or any two countries combined? Who will furnish the skill? Has Christianity nothing to do with all this? This material expansion may be for the Chinese people spiritually a savor of life unto life or of death unto death. If materialistic philosophy, or no philosophy at all except the minding of the things of the flesh, takes the place of the old superstitions, then will the last state of China be even worse than the first. But if the spiritual forces of Christendom will recognize that these material things too are holy, hallowed in the Car- penter's shop at Nazareth; If modern apostles will see the vision and hear the voice, "What God hath cleansed, make not thou common ;" it is more than probable that the very forces that tend to be a savor of spiritual death may be made a mighty savor of life unto life. 140 THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM. But is this legitimate work for the Christian missionary? A good man reminds us that "The first missionary to the heathen determined, when he went to Corinth, that he would know nothing "ci^e among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." J^ I^'Af So should every missionary. That is his message, and his only message. But the difficulty with our good friend Is that he misreads that passage Into : I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ crucified. Paul said, "Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Before the tragedy upon Calvary the world's Redeemer lived among men for more than thirty years, "going about doing good." "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" takes In all the toil and all the service, all the love and all the sacrifice, from Bethlehem to Calvary, from the Manger to the Cross. Paul preached the boy Jesus, the Model for childhood in all ages and climes. Jesus the carpenter: He spent at least five times as many years at the bench as He did In the pulpit. What a workman He must have been! Jesus, the elder brother, the bread- winner of a family, laboriously providing for the necessities of His widowed mother and younger brothers and sisters. Jesus the physician, going about among the people relieving pain and restor- ing health and life. Paul preached Jesus Christ, who upon two occasions fed a multitude who could not otherwise obtain food. He said: "I have compassion upon the multitude, for they 10 141 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. have been with me now three days, and they have nothing to eat." The disciples would have sent them away. Not so the Master. He fed them. Experienced evangelists like General Booth and others agree that it is a waste of time to preach the Gospel to a hungry man. Jesus knew that from the beginning. Ninteen centuries have rolled into the eternity of the past, and again the Master stands in the midst of His disciples. He looks out over the hungry multitudes — not five thou- sand, but four hundred millions of the Chinese race, at least half of whom are under-fed from the cradle to the grave. We hear again those tender words, "I have compassion upon the multi- tude. Give ye them to eat." Have not all these centuries taught us the lesson? Do we still say with the twelve: "Send them away. Let them go buy for themselves. It is not our business to feed them. We just preach to them!" O Master forgive us that we learn of Thee so slowly! Or shall we take the little or much that we have, and with His blessing divide it among them all? The nations where "Jesus Christ and Him cruci- fied, is most preached and sincerely followed have the most of the mechanical skill, the knowledge, which are the loaves and fishes put Into the hands of us. His disciples: enough, with Christ's bless- ing, to enable China's millions all to eat and be filled. 142 CHAPTER VI. CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. In the month of May, 1902, it was the writer's privelege to stand upon the spot where the em- peror of China, as the Son of Heaven, annually at the winter solstice worships the Most High. Covered only by heaven's blue dome, is a magnifi- cent circular marble altar of three terraces. The lowest is two hundred and ten feet in diameter, the second one hundred and fifty feet, while the top measures ninety feet across. In the center is a large round slab of flawless marble, upon wiiich the ruler of one-quarter of the human race has been accustomed for many centuries to pray at least once a year to the Invisible Supreme Creator of all things. Many of these prayers have come down to us, and not a few of them breathe a spirit of devotion that reminds one of the sweet singer of Israel. Listen to a few echoes of these petitions to their God and ours, from an emperor of the Ming dynasty, as used in the year 1538, nearly a century before the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. The translation is that of Doctor James Legge, author of the standard edi- tion of the Chinese Classics in English. After the 143 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. various offerings of sillc and gems as well as meats had been laid before Shang Ti, the Supreme God, with suitable ceremony, the emperor prayed: "The service of song is completed, but our poor sincerity can not be fully expressed. Thy sovereign goodness is infinite. As a potter, hast Thou made all living things. Great and small are curtained round by Thee from harm. As graven on the heart of Thy poor servant is the sense of Thy goodness, but my feeling can not be fully displayed. With great kindness Thou dost bear with us, and, notwithstanding our demerits, dost grant us life and prosperity. . . . Spirits and men rejoice together, praising Ti, the Lord. What limit, what measure can there be, while we celebrate His great name? Forever He setteth fast the high heavens, and establisheth the solid earth. His government is everlasting. His poor servant, I bow my head, and lay It In the dust, bathed In His grace and glory. . . . All the ends of the earth look up to Him. All human beings, all things on the earth rejoice together In the Great Name."^ Can any Christian listen to this voice from the Chinese Altar to Heaven, and not believe that such a prayer was well-pleasing to God? Doctor Legge affirms, and with elaborate and convincing argu- ment from philology and history, proves that "Five thousand years ago the Chinese were mono- 1 "The Religions of China," by James Legge, Scribner's, i88r, pp. 49-51. 144 r o z > X < -J < CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. theists."^ And again he asserts, "The original monotheism of the Chinese remai in the state worship to-day.'"* The rehgion of a people that has still even this last remnant of a pure and lofty conception of God, should not be approached with supercilious contempt. Rather let us with bowed head and open mind draw near to this, the deepest problem of the life of a great people. We shall learn a fuller and deeper meaning to that saying of Peter : "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every na- tion he that feareth Him, and worketh righteous- ness, is acceptable to Him." But let us not be misled into the notion that the four hundred millions of Chinese already have a religion of which this sublime rite is the key- note. The Chinese emperor does not worship the Supreme God upon that altar as an example for his people to follow. He prays for all his sub- jects there. As the representative of the nation, he approaches the throne of God. But he alone, in that vast empire, has that privilege. It is a state function. Should any one of the emperor's subjects presume to perform this act of worship in that place, he would be decapitated for high treason. The performance would be taken as proof positive that the worshiper aspired to the throne. 2 '■ The Religions of China," by James Legge, Scribners', 1881, p. 16. 3 mi, p. 51. 145 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. I. The Three Religions There are "three religions," but not three rival sects, among the orthodox Chinese. Confucian- ism, Taoism, and Buddhism are all state religions of China. While there are many who emphasize one form of doctrine more than another, yet every orthodox Chinese holds to all three. Even the Buddhist priests are also Confucianists and Taoists. Doctor Gibson has aptly compared this anomaly to three serpents. Serpent number one, Confucianism, swallowed number two, Taoism; but not completely, so that the Taoist head pro- truded from the Confucian mouth. Serpent num- ber two was thus able to swallow number three, Buddhism, which in turn protrudes from the mouth of number two. So we have a triple- headed monster, each retaining a certain amount of his own personality, and yet all three are a unit — a triune religion. It is impossible to under- stand this anomalous condition without a brief his- torical resume. The so-called founders of these three systems of religious philosophy were all contemporaries for eight years of their lives. Confucius, the youngest, was born in the year B. C. 551, or eight years before Gotama, the Buddha, died at the age of eighty. Of course they lived the one in India and the other in China, and never knew anything about each other. Not so with the two Chinese 146 CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. sages. Laotze, or "Old Master," the reputed founder of Taoism, was probably born B. C. 604, and was fifty-three years of age at the birth of his more famous contemporary. Tradition that seems well authenticated asserts that these two sages had at least one interview, when Confucius was thirty-five years of age, and Laotze was in his eighty-eighth year. The profound metaphysics of the elder transcendentalist was too deep for the practical Confucius, who went away dazzled but mystified. Each of these men had his distinct work, and each attempted to supply what the other lacked: while Buddhism endeavored, at least, to give to mankind what neither of the Chinese sages sought to provide. To put it in a nutshell: Confucianism deals with the visible present life; Taoism concerns itself chiefly with the invisible present life; Buddhism dwells upon the invisible future life. Confucius concerned himself only with the material things of this present world. When Confu- asked to tell what he knew or thought of the """'■"" future life, he replied, "Not knowing even life, how can we know death?" He was a consistent agnostic regarding the invisible world both present and future. Doctor Legge declares that Con- fucianism "teaches the existence of the soul after death, but nothing of the character of that exist- 147 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. ence." Confucius was not an originator of doc- trines. He sought out the best of the customs and teachings of the ancients, and claiming that these could not be improved upon, he crystallized the past into a system, and has molded the thought and civilization of his people for two thousand four hundred years. No adequate conception of Chinese religious thought can be formed without understanding something of their ancestral worship. This is the one point upon which they all agree. It was a cardinal doctrine of Confucius. But, like nearly all his teaching, it did not originate with him. The ancestor is worshiped in the form of a small wooden tablet about ten by two inches in size, with the name of the deceased painted upon it. The Chinese believe that the spirit of the departed ancestor enters into this bit of wood when the worship begins, and departs after the ceremony is over. Sacrifices or offerings are made to the spirit of the ancestor temporarily occupying this tablet. Food is placed before it. The savory odors pro- vide the feast for the departed spirit; and then the material viands are eaten in the most matter- of-fact way by the devout worshipers. These offerings are made several times a year, especially on the birthday and the anniversary of the death. To an enlightened Chinese, this might be only a way of paying respect to the memory of his pa- rents : and a few very intelligent missionaries have 148 CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. even claimed that ancestral worship is not idolatry at all. But the great majority think otherwise, and they are no doubt correct. Certainly it is the least debasing and harmful of all forms of idolatry ever practiced by mankind. But the ruling motive in this worship of an- cestors is to secure the blessing and help in this life of the spirits of the departed. The belief is that happiness comes to the deceased through the sacrifices of their descendants. This accounts for the passionate desire of the Chinese to have children, who will provide for them not only in their old age here on earth, but after death their spirits will be ministered unto as well. Hence the widespread custom in China of leaving certain fields entailed by will to be forever used for the purpose of paying the expenses of these sacrifices. The heirs may cultivate the fields only on con- dition that a portion of the income be used per- petually in these ancestral offerings. So that happiness in the future life, or "salvation" as we call it in Christian nomenclature, Confucianism makes to result, not as a reward for nobility of life here, but because of the faithfulness of one's descendants in offering the stated sacrifices and worship. The spirits of deceased parents, it is believed, can punish the negligent or disobedient children by bringing misfortune upon them, just as they could when still alive. Hence the worship is followed largely through fear. 149 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. But Confucius left the whole problem of the conscious future state in such ambiguity that con- sistent Confucianists are agnostics upon this ques- tion. In a collection called Chia Yu (the authority of which, however, is not above suspicion, accord- ing to Doctor Martin) , when a disciple asked whether or not deceased ancestors were conscious of the worship paid to them, the sage is reported to have replied : "If I should say the soul survives the body, I fear the filial would neglect their living parents in their zeal to serve their deceased an- cestors. If, on the contrary, I should say the soul does not survive, I fear lest the unfilial should throw away the bodies of their parents and leave them unburied." Doctor Martin is right when he says of Confucius: "He ignored, if he did not deny, those cardinal doctrines of all religion, the immortality of the soul and the personal ex- istence of God, both of which were currently re- ceived in his day."* So that a careful study of the ancestral worship feature of Confucian teach- ing does not require us to modify our generali- zation that "Confucianism deals with the visible present life." It was impossible that the Chinese nation should rest In Confucian agnosticism regarding the rao/m invisible things of life, present and future. It did not. A school of so-called "Rationalists" grew up, calling themselves followers of the great 4 " The Lore of Cathay," p. 176, Revell Company, 1901. 150 CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. contemporary of Confucius, Laotze. He left one short book of five thousand words, called the "Tao Teh King," of which Doctor Legge informs us, "There is not one word that savors of either su- perstition or religion."^ This book is so full of ambiguity that it served the purpose of the "Rationalists," who could read into it anything they wanted to teach. Taoism grew up in China to fill a void left by Confucius. That great sage found superstition rife in his time. He sought to counteract it by evasion. This was a fatal mistake. Nature abhors a vacuum. The human mind must have a solution of the mysteries of life, or it will invent one. The visible world is moved and controlled by invisible forces. The monothe- Ist attributes these to God, the polythelst creates his own gods. It is the attempt of the finite mind to account for the things seen In nature. So this "Rationalism" has become the most irrational scheme of thought held by civilized man. From the Taoist root has sprung the necromancy, by which Taoist priests and fortune tellers of various kinds terrorize the people regarding the lucky or unlucky sites for graves. The invisible spirits of ancestors and the gods, who are the forces In nature, must be appeased by proper locations, or calamity will come upon the living. The famous fiing-shui or "spirit of the wind and water," that has such a large space in Chinese life, is a part fi Religions of China," p. 164. 151 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. of their Taoism. It settles where they shall build a house, how It must face, and Its height; the dead are burled according to Its demands; roads are made and temples are erected. It Is the cause of lawsuits innumerable, and village or clan quarrels by the thousand. Taoism has peopled the air with numberless spirits which keep the Chinese in constant terror. That Is why the Chinese bedroom either has no outside window, or the window Is kept shut; for It Is plain that the evil spirits will come In and destroy the son and heir! Again, to quote Doctor Legge: "The dread of spirits Is the nightmare of the China- man's life, and to this dread Taoism panders. It encourages It by Its teachings, and lives In a great measure by It. This is the prevailing characteristic of the system at the present day."° A dozen years ago, we rented a large old building for a school. It had been built by a wealthy man. There was an inner court, stone paved, into which a large part of the roof drained. But the water did not run out. We opened the covered drain, and found that It had filled up, because it made two or three sharp angles before getting out of the house. Inquiry brought out the information that it was so In all such buildings, In order that the good fortune of the family might not run out of the house along with the drainage, through the occult influence of the evil spirits. 6 "The Religions of China/' p. 197. 152 CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. The superstitious terror of the Chinese for the dragon is a natural outgrowth of the Taoist cult. This monstrosity, that forms the imperial coat of arms, and is seen on flag and temple, dish and The damask, everywhere in China, is not supposed to be an animal that might be found by hunting for it like the traditional sea-serpent that is re- puted to elude the search. It is an impalpable, spiritual dragon that is in the sky and on the sea, but is also under the ground. He is a powerful influence in forming the contour of the earth. He is much nearer the surface in some places than in others, and the necromancers warn the people of their danger in such localities. A missionary noted in one region that the people had no wells, but carried all the water for domestic purposes from a distance. He found the reason was that the dragon was supposed to be so near the surface at that place that digging even a shallow well would wound him, perhaps open a vein, and his vengeance would be visited upon the community by some dire calamity. When we first located in Hinghua we did not dare to build a house two stories high: it would have aroused the neighbor- hood on account of the destruction of their fung- shui. But after several years, we ventured to build a new church with galleries, and had no difficulty. We could not afford a bell, so the sexton beat a gong from an upper window to mark the hours for our schools. Within two 153 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. or three years half a dozen or more of the literary men of the neighborhood won degrees In the civil service examinations. We found ourselves very popular among them. We learned that an im- portant element in this local favor was that the hourly beating of our musical gong had so pleased the dragon that he greatly bestirred himself in behalf of the local celebrities and brought them their good fortune! Thus for five centuries these two schools of philosophy developed In China, and sought to sup- Buddhism ply this great nation with all it needed in religion. They had Confucius, the moral materialist, with his doctrine of the present visible world ; and there were the Taolst philosophers (?) vainly endeavor- ing to explain the mysteries of the visible world by peopling it with invisible spirits, mostly 'malevo- lent, to be appeased with the arts by which these charlatans flourished. It all began and ended with the present world, visible and invisible. Here Chinese religious leaders stopped. But the Chinese mind could not rest there. Not only "What am I?" but "Whither am I going?" was a query that would not down. Confucianism and Taoism did not even try to answer this vital ques- tion, and they also failed to suppress it. In the year 65 of our era, more than five centuries after the death of Confucius, the Chinese Emperor Ming-ti sent an embassy abroad in search of a new religion. It Is said that this 154 CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. was in consequence of a dream in which he saw the image of a foreign god. The embassy re- turned in the year 67 with a group of Buddhist priests. An Indian prince, who was a zealous Buddhist, had received the embassy with royal honors, and sent back with them a carefully se- lected group of his own monks. The time was ripe for the spread of such a religion in China. The Chinese had been trying to content themselves with these two schools of thought that only at- tempted to deal with this present life. No such religion can permanently satisfy any people. The mind and heart both crave light upon the problems of immortality. Buddhism was an attempt to penetrate the veil of the dim unknown. Vain and mistaken though it be, yet it was the best the embassy found. One can not help wondering what would have been the result had these seekers after the Un- known God met Paul, or one of the apostles of Christ, in that year of our Lord 66, instead of finding disciples of the Buddha? Is it not prob- able that the Chinese would have been the first of the nations to accept Christianity? Perhaps Chinese missionaries would have evangelized the heathen tribes of northern Europe, and the march of civilization might have been reversed. They tell us that this is a materialistic age, and that high moral standards and modern science have left no place for a spiritual religion that 155 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. dwells upon a future life of the soul. Never! so long as men are men. The most materialistic people in the world tried the high morality of Confucius, and the vain attempts of Taoist necro- mancers in lieu of real science; and after five centuries of experiment, they sent to the hated foreigner for a religion that tried to tell them how to gain eternal life. They did this, not be- cause they rejected their own materialistic philos- ophies. Eighteen centuries later they clung to these same systems as tenaciously as ever. But because they wanted what these religions did not attempt to give, they sent to a foreign country for teachers to tell them how to find life beyond the grave. Jesus the Christ has offered the only rational solution to that problem. There may be fluctuations in the Interest men take in this supreme question of life, but never will they be able to get away from It. The history of religious thought in China, most materialistic of all coun- tries, proves this. The world will tire of preachers of Christianity only when the preachers themselves grow weary of their great message of immortality through faith In the Crucified, and give the multitudes stones for bread. Buddhism spread rapidly In China, not as a new religion to displace the old, but as Its adjunct, the third serpent swallowed by the other two. Buddhist temples and priests are found every- where, and the people worship Buddha as the 156 o z 3 Oh 3 CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. greatest of their multitudinous gods. There are many who take the vegetarian oath and practice Buddhism more rigidly than the ordinary Chinese. These are usually found to be more earnest and thoughtful about religious things than the average of their countrymen, and many of the most zealous converts to Christianity are from among those who diligently sought salvation by this mistaken but only road they had known before. II. The Future of the Three Religions We have traced their past history. What now of their future? The missionary is told that he is attempting the impossible when he goes Into this most ancient civilization proposing to over- throw systems of religion hoary with age and entrenched In the life of the people for thousands of years. What are the prospects of overthrowing Con- fucianism? Surely, that is impossible. Yes, it is. Doctor Gibson calls attention to the fact that The Future after twenty-five hundred years you will seldom °ja„i°mP hear any Chinese, even Christians, admit that Confucius was wrong in any of his moral pre- cepts. They agree with us that he omitted much truth ; but, with the exception of ancestral worship and a few minor doctrines, they do not acknowl- edge that he taught falsehood. Undoubtedly the New Era in China will gradually put Confucius in a relatively less prominent position than he has U 157 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. occupied; indeed, this Is already apparent. Yet it is probable that Confucius will be revered and believed in China so long as the present race of men lives here. But what of that? It is only by a severe stretch of the word "religion" that it is made to cover Confucianism at all. The sage was a philosopher. He was not an idolater in the usual sense of that term. The great moral truths taught by him are a part of the heritage of the past for all men. We missionaries are not in China for the purpose of persuading the Chinese to turn their backs upon the truth found in the teachings of their great sages, but to show them that there is more and better truth that these men did not have. The Christian scholar of the Occident is not asked to reject Plato when he ac- cepts Paul. No more must the Oriental student entirely discard Confucius to embrace Christ. The claims of the two are altogether different. The one Is a philosopher, the other a Redeemer. By sending to a foreign land for Buddhism, China two thousand years ago admitted that Confucian- Ism as a religion Is inadequate. Gotama's dreary failure opens a wide door to Christ. Their ancestral worship Is confessed by all missionaries to be the greatest difficulty. There Is so much that is praiseworthy in the filial piety of these Orientals that It Is difficult to draw the line between the harmful and the good. Rev- erence for the dead is a virtue. Worship of them 158 CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. as gods is debasing and blasphemous. In prac- tical experience we find that it is not very difficult to lead the learned inquirer to see that he can be truly reverent toward his earthly father's memory, and yet worship only his Heavenly Father. We hear that precious name for God most frequently upon the lips of our Chinese con- verts. Here we find the strong emphasis of the Jewish law upon the subject of filial piety, both in the Decalogue and elsewhere, a great help. So far as ancestral worship is concerned, all that they need to give up in accepting Christianity are their idolatrous sacrifices to the dead. They may keep the kernel of love and reverence for their fathers, and throw away the husk. So that this most wide- spread and deeply-rooted of the religious customs of China, while a serious barrier, is by no means an insuperable one. The truth is that two-thirds of the damaging idolatry and superstition in China is Taolst, Here is where the numberless gods are born. To a of Taoism? superficial observer it looks like hopeless labor to try to clean out this heathen pantheon. There are millions of gods, big and little, general and local. Who is sufficient for these things? We might as well admit that if we have to deal with these pestiferous imps one by one, we would never get through the task. But the fact is that the tap- root of this Upas tree is ignorance, rather than any strongly organized system. These spirits 159 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. have been created to account for the phenomena of nature, which otherwise would be left unex- plained by Chinese ignorance of the simplest laws and facts of science. One night we were awakened by a frightful noise of beating pans and blowing horns, coming from the barracks about a mile distant. We noticed that the moon had a strange appearance, and then remembered that a lunar eclipse was due. The soldiers were making night hideous, in order to frighten the dragon lest he swallow the moon. Their efforts were successful; as they have always been for centuries ! How shall we deal with that foolish superstition? Would a sermon upon the Beatitudes be effective? What those soldiers and all the masses of China need in order to rid themselves of the dragon and all that class of idolatry, is a knowledge of the simplest truths of astronomy, geography, and other science primers, that are familiar to every American and European schoolboy. Indeed, the schoolhouse is just as es- sential as the church for the overthrow of Chinese idolatry. The mysteries of nature once explained, will quickly clear the atmosphere of these spirits embodied in idols. In our campaign against idolatry we have to-day an immeasurable ad- vantage over the ancient Jewish prophets or the early apostles: for we can give a rational account of the things which the heathen nations have created their idols to perform. The ancient 160 CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. prophet could only declare that all these phe- nomena were the work of one great God, Instead of many little gods. The modern prophet can explain these mysteries so that any child can un- derstand and must believe. When the spirit of the modern educational movement breathes the breath of life throughout China's four hundred millions, this feature of their Idol worship, which Is by far the major paft and the most destructive as well, will fall like a house of cards. In all this, the government educational move- ment is a powerful adjunct. Every Chinese news- paper helps to undermine the vast structure. One of the most vigorous and effective assaults upon Chinese necromancy that we have ever seen pub- lished, appeared as an editorial in a Chinese secu- lar newspaper of Shanghai. The fting-shui super- stition is constantly being held up to ridicule by these papers. Indeed, every candle that Is lighted at the altar of knowledge will help to dispel this form of darkness in benighted China. Of these three systems, Taoism, having the least of truth In it, will be the first to surrender to the conquering hosts training under the banner of Him who is the Truth. Buddhism appears to be even more formidable. Certain it Is that in the countries where Buddhism has full sway, as Slam and Burmah, it Is v^ry of Bud- dlfficult for Christianity to make headway. But'^'^""'-^ Buddhism in China is In Its weakest and most 161 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. diluted form. The reasons for this are fundamental and can never be materially changed. Probably the most important of these causes of comparative imbecility is the low character and quality of the priesthood. No religion can powerfully and per- manently influence a strong nation, unless it is represented by an intelligent and educated priest- hood of a moral character to command respect. This is scarcely less true of the non-Christian faiths than it is of Christianity. Burmah is the great Buddhist stronghold, and the reason for this is not far to seek. The monks are the school- masters of the nation. The Rev. Julius Smith tells us that "Every Burmese boy is taught to read by the Buddhist priests." Of course the devotee does not lose this opportunity to indoc- trinate the youth of the land. But In China there are no such schools. The powerful literary spirit of the nation is neither used nor aided by the priests of this system. The reason is obvious. The monks are among the most illiterate of the people. No Chinese father would think of em- ploying one of them as the tutor of his children. While there are isolated cases of Chinese literary men becoming monks, yet the instances are too rare to be counted as even modifying the general description of the priesthood as being ignorant in the extreme. Even the prayers he interminably repeats, the votary does not understand. The ritual is simply a paraphrase of the Sanscrit, us- 162 CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. ing Chinese characters to represent the sounds. So that there is no meaning whatever to the forms of prayer croned over day after day. There is no Buddhist preaching. The people, of course, must be ignorant of the doctrines, where their teachers know so little. Indeed, we are told by Doctor Williams that "Far more is known about its (Buddhism's) peculiar tenets in Europe, than among the mass of the Chinese."^ The moral standing of these leaders of the third great religion of China is on a par with their education. The Chinese monastery is a veritable Cave of Adullam. Fugitives from jus- tice may escape punishment by taking priestly vows. The custom is for bankrupts to repudiate their debts by shaving their heads and becoming Buddhist priests. Imagine the effect upon the social standing of the clergy in America, for such a practice to become so prevalent as to acquire the force of law! This of itself shows the low order of men in the priesthood, and makes it im- possible for them to command general esteem. Being neither respectable nor respected, their in- fluence upon the nation is almost nil. That the government should permit such common usage, in order to recruit the priestly ranks, shows that it must be exceedingly difficult to secure enough in- mates for the temples. The reason is very plain. It is not because their support is insufficient. They 7 "The Middle Kingdom," vol. II, p. 222. 163 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. live in abundance and idleness. But the doctrine of ancestral worship, the deepest of Chinese re- ligious beliefs, goes directly against the practice of celibacy. Few Chinese are willing to give up the hope of legitimate descendants. Hence, the num- ber of Chinese parents who consent to give their sons to live this celibate life Is very limited. They are equally anxious for grandsons as for sons. Frequently boys are bought as novitiates by the priests from parents in time of financial distress; but the adult ranks of the Buddhist priesthood in China are recruited, not wholly but very largely, from the shady side of society. Of necessity, the influence of such a priesthood Is the least possible for a religion recognized and patronized by the state. A prominent American clergyman was witnessing a service at the great Buddhist mon- astery on Kushan, near Foochow. The abbot kept chanting his prayers with the others, but much faster, and between paragraphs talking to the visitor. The tourist was asking questions through his Interpreter while the service was going on. Said the foreign religious teacher, "That is not a good way to pray — so irreverently!" The abbot replied with a grin, "It is a good way to get all I want to eat." That represents the spirit of nearly all his class In China. The doctrine has little hold upon him. He is simply getting an easy living. Of these same ignorant, and often immoral Buddhist . priests we are told: "The 164 z z < z o < z o c-, Q Q X h h <; Oh CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. Confuclanist, in his pride of office and learning, may ridicule their mummeries, but in his hour of weakness, pain and death, he turns to them for help, for he has nowhere else to go."^ With such leadership, and such attitude of the worshiper, we need not look upon Buddhism as any serious barrier to the progress of Christianity in China. Rather does It stand as a pathetic witness to the hopelessness of materialism to satisfy the human heart. The Christian Trinity stands in striking con- trast with this triune religion. It is plain to the most superficial but unprejudiced observer, Chns- that Christianity is superior to each and all oi""""^ these systems in their very best points, while it is free from the grotesque absurdities that mar what of truth they possess. In estimating the probabilities of success in our efforts to persuade these multitudes to accept Christianity, we must ever bear in mind that whatever there Is of truth in their ancient systems, they need not give up, but rather find it in a more complete form in the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus. If not, then Chris- tianity is not the perfect religion. The vicarious worship by the emperor for his people is expanded in Christianity Into adoration toward the God of Heaven by every one who will. The emperor worships Heaven because he is the "Son of Heaven." It is ancestral worship to him. Christ 8 " The Middle Kingdom," vol. II, p. 222. 165 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. comes to the Chinese with the story of the Loving Father, rather than of the Prodigal Son. Every one is a child of God, and may enter into his inheritance by repentance, faith, and love. For the ghost of the earthly father, shivering in some dreary cavern, hungry for the rice and cakes and pork which its son must offer at least twice a year or incur its wrathful punishment, Christianity brings the loving care of a Father, who asks, "Is there anything too hard for Me?" For the mil- lions of invisible spirits, great and small, that cause the thunder and floods, the pestilence and famine, the prosperity and misfortune of each life, the Son of God tells this and every nation of the one Spirit and Father of all spirits, who created all, and through His own established laws works out His will in nature and in life. Above all, the power of Christianity to satisfy the instinctive longing for immortality has no counterpart In China's religious system. An old man of wealth and Intelligence living in HInghua City, was a very zealous idolater. His son had been a Christian for many years, but the father would not permit either wife or daughter to at- tend Church services. Finally, however, through the son's influence both mother and sister were won to Christ. The father held out for a long time, but at last yielded to the prayers and en- treaties of his entire family, and himself became a Christian. Very soon after this, his wife took 166 CHINA'S TRIUNE RELIGION. the dread bubonic plague. She died in two or three days, happy in her new-found faith. We feared the effect of this blow upon the old man, but young believer. How his neighbors would taunt him with, "This is the revenge of the idols for your forsaking them!" Could this babe in Christ endure such a test? How anxiously we looked for him the next Sunday morning. He was in his usual place. What could one say to comfort him? Going to him after the service was over, I did not need to speak. He grasped my hand in both of his, and the tears ran down over a shining face: "Yes, my wife is gone; but I know she is saved. She left a testimony that none of us can doubt. She told us, 'Jesus has come to take me home. Do not mourn for me. In a little while we will all be happy together, forever with Him.' " To the ambassador on be- half of Christ, one such testimony is worth a whole library of treatises upon comparative religions. It Is the Holy Spirit's seal, witnessing that only the Son of God can satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart. It Is a prophecy that the re- ligion of the Triune God. will yet displace China's triune religion. 167 CHAPTER VII. THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. There are unauthentlcated traditions that the Gospel was carried to China in a very early /. ra^ period: even that the doubting Thomas himself P^;^^"was their first missionary. However, proofs are not in evidence of such early conquests of the cross among the "Celestials." But we do know that Nestorian monks first brought the eggs of the silk-worm from China to Constantinople as early as the year 551 of our era. As they seem to have been long residents of China, and it Is not likely they were the first of their order In the land of SInIm, it is safe to place the introduction of Chris- tianity into China as early as the close of the fifth century. The most Interesting, ancient and authentic record of that early period is the famous Nestorian r^? Tablet at Sl-ngan, In ShensI province, In North- "raW«west China. This city has been made famous of recent years by the empress dowager and her court fleeing there from the foreign armies, after the I Where not otherwise stated the authority for the facts regarding; the Nestorians and Roman Catholics in this chapter is " The Middle Kingdom," by Dr. Williams, Scribner's, New Yorlt, 1900. chap, XIX. 168 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. "Boxer" outbreak. The tablet was discovered in A. D. 1625. It is dated in the year 781. It con- sists of about two thousand, two hundred and fifty words, besides a long ode of sixteen verses. It gives the general substance of Christian doctrine, though vaguely, and speaks of the Scriptures. It then records a brief historical sketch of the way Christianity had been received by the various em- perors of the reigning Tang dynasty, whose rule marks the golden age of China. Of the Tangs, Dr. Williams declares that "This celebrated line of princes began its sway in peace, and during the two hundred and eighty-seven years (A. D. 620- 907) they held the throne, China was probably the most civilized country on earth; the darkest days of the West, when Europe was wrapped in the ignorance and degradation of the Middle Ages, formed the brightest era of the East."^ The greatest of this great line of Chinese rulers was the son of the founder, known as the Emperor Taitsung. He is regarded by the highest authori- ^'^ ties to have been the greatest ruler that ever sat Chinese upon the Dragon Throne. He was scholarly and humane, just and generous, a statesman and a soldier. It was Taitsung that instituted the civil service examination system, which has had more to do with maintaining the stability of Chinese in- stitutions than any other one thing. But what has all this to do with early Christianity in China? 2 "The Middle Kingdom," vol II, p. 167, 169 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Much every way. It was under the patronage of this best and greatest of Chinese rulers that Chris- tianity was first widely promulgated in China. Hear the unimpeachable testimony of the writing on the famous granite slab at Si-ngan: "In the time of the accomplished Emperor Taitsung, the illustrious and magnificent founder Reception of the dynasty, among the enlightened and holy Ne'tUan^^'^ who arrived was the most virtuous Olopun, Bishop from the country of S3Tia. ... In the year A. D. 635 he arrived at Chang-an: . . . the sacred books were translated in the imperial library; the sovereign Investigated the subject in his private apartments; when becoming deeply impressed with the rectitude and truth of the re- ligion, he gave special orders for its dissemina- tion." The Emperor Taitsung received Olopun with distinction. He was evidently coming under appointment of the head of the Nestorian Church, as archbishop of China : for the missionaries of that Church had been laboring there already for more than a century. The emperor gave them the facilities of the imperial library to translate their sacred books. He took their translations into his own apartments, and there examined them personally with great care. The account on the tablet then goes on to tell the result of the emperor's study of these Christian books. "In the seventh month of the year A. D. 638" (three years after the arrival of Olopun), 170 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. "the following Imperial proclamation was is- sued: . . . 'The greatly-virtuous Olopun, of the kingdom of Syria, has brought his sacred books and images from that distant part, and has pre- imperial sented them at our chief capital. Having ey^- ff.f'"""' amined the principles of this religion, we find them to be purely excellent, and natural: investigating its originating source, we find it has taken its rise from the establishment of important truths: its ritual is free from perplexing expressions, its principles will survive when the framework Is for- got: it is beneficial to all creatures; it is ad- vantageous to mankind. Let it be published throughout the empire, and let the proper au- thority build a Syrian church In the capital, in the I-nIng Way, which shall be governed by twenty- one priests.' " The tablet then informs us that the emperor ordered a fine portrait of himself to be made and hung upon the walls of this new Christian church. The new religion was called the "Illustrious." The speaking stone goes on to narrate that under the Emperor Kautsung (the son and suc- cessor of Taitsung), the new faith prospered Suheguent , , , 111 Prosperity greatly, and was favored by the government. To quote the exact words of the record: "In every province he (the emperor) caused Illustrious churches to be erected, and ratified the honor con- ferred upon Olopun, making him the great con- servator of doctrine for the preservation of the .171 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. State. While this doctrine pervaded every channel, the State became enriched, and tranquillity abounded. Every city was full of churches, and the royal family enjoyed lustre and happiness." Shortly after this time, the Buddhists, becoming alarmed at the growth of the new religion, stirred up active opposition, and for a time succeeded in checking it. But later the imperial favor was restored. As late as in the time of the famous Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, in the last quarter of the thirteenth century, six hundred and fifty years after Olopun's arrival, the Nestorians were numerous and respected. Indeed, this Nestorian period extends over not less than eight hundred years, and probably from first to last a full mil- lennium. Three There are three very important inferences for Important ^^is to draw from this long-buried bit of Church Inferences . history. It was no accident that the golden age of modern Chinese history was the period when Christianity most flourished in that empire. We ''"■•"have found that China during the seventh century was the most highly civilized country in the world : and this was the time when China's and the world's most enlightened ruler was studying the recently translated Nestorian Christian books, issuing proclamations of approval, and building churches for the worship of the true God and of His Son Jesus the Christ. It is not claimed that Taitsung 172 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. became a genuine Christian in our sense of that word, but that he was powerfully influenced by Olopun, the Syrian bishop, who arrived at Tait- sung's court in the eighth year of his reign of twenty-three years, and that this influence had much to do with the humane and just adminis- tration of his government, seems altogether prob- able. So that the golden age of China is not to be put down, as we have been accustomed to hear it, to the influences of pagan religions alone. It was produced by those systems, strongly reinforced by Christianity. That Christianity, with such a splendid start, failed to conquer China, and finally died out al- together, leaving for five hundred years nothing Second but this granite record, is a matter of deepest concern to the missionaries of to-day. Will our modern missions share a like fate a thousand years hence? What was the weakness of this early and vigorous propaganda? It is evident that these Syrian priests did not give the Scriptures to the common people. The books of the New Testa- ment, and the Old, may or may not have been translated at that time. There is no positive proof that they were. The Nestorian ritual and other books containing their doctrines certainly were translated; However, if the Bible itself was put into Chinese at that time, it seems quite evident that it was kept in the hands of the priesthood and the favored few. An esoteric Christianity is 12 173 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. a dying Christianity. Had God's Word been given a fair chance then, China to-day might be a Chris- tian land. Dependence was put upon ritual, bap- tism, formalities of worship. It is not God's way, and His Spirit was withdrawn. The modern Protestant missionary has learned this lesson well ; and wherever the Cross is preached, the Word Is the foundation upon which he builds the temple of God among men, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. The Nestorlans preached a defective Chrlst- ology. Their Church was born of bitter doctrinal rA/Vflf controversy. It was not unorthodox so much as superorthodox : the extreme opposite of Arlanism, the ancient Unltarianism. The Godhead in Christ was exalted until it was made a separate nature from the human : God simply dwelling in a human being. The divine humanity of the Christ was lost sight of, and then denied. The preaching of Christ that conquers men must exalt the Son of Man. The Nestorlans brought to China a doc- trine of the God-man: the modern missionary must bring a Divine Personality. That divine humanity must be revealed in concrete form, by working out the "humanities" of Christian, moral, and social reforms. Nestorlanism died of inertia because It ignored the dynamics of the Christ life. "He went about doing good." So must we. No Christian evangel has ever been permanently suc- cessful that In Its Chrlstology has exalted the 174 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. Divine at the expense of the Human, or the Hu- man to the disparagement of the Divine. Let us take deeply to heart this lesson of the final ex- tinction of Nestorian Christianity in China. The Personality we bring is both divinely human and humanly divine. We must not only preach Him, but illustrate Him in our individual lives and in our methods of work. The divinity in these mul- titudes will rise to meet the Son of God when they see Him : their humanity will be transformed into His likeness when the Son of Man appears in all His radiant beauty. Toward the close of the Nestorian period, as Marco Polo was about to leave the land of his adoption, the first Roman Catholic missionary ar- //. Roman rived in China — a monk, John of Montecorvino, '^■llfg", ordinarily shortened to Corvino. It was just as the thirteenth century was drawing to a close. The great Mongol conqueror, Kublai, was on the throne. He patronized the new cult, and it pros- pered. Corvino seems to have been a very good man, and he labored faithfully and wisely. But his work Was confined almost wholly to the Tartars or Mongols, the then dominant race in the em- pire. He translated the whole New Testament and the Psalms into the Tartar language. It was claimed that he had thirty thousand converts when he died, in the year 1328, at the age of eighty, greatly beloved and venerated by all the people. But forty years later the Mongols were expelled 175 • THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA from China, and the great Chinese Ming dynasty established imperial sway. The Roman Catholics had so identified themselves with the reigning tribe that they had obtained little hold upon the Chinese people themselves. The expulsion of the Mongols meant the destruction of the mission. Here, again, we see how disregard for the fundamental principles of Christian work, as laid down by the Master Himself, leads to ultimate failure. The uniform custom of Romanism to seek to ally itself with the secular power made for a temporary success, but in the end, and that in less than half a century, a complete failure was the outcome of this good man's life work. For more than two centuries, of the two hundred and seventy-five years of the Ming dynasty, neither Nestorians nor Roman Catholics were ac- tive in any part of China. The long period of inactivity was broken by the Jesuits. Francis Xavier attempted it. He Arri-vai of started for China, but failed to reach its shores. t/ie Jesuits Hq (jiej on an island near the Portuguese colony of Macao. But thirty years later, in 1582, Matthew Ricci and a companion succeeded in obtaining permission from the governor of the Kwangtung Province, in which Canton is located, to live at Shau-king, at that time the governor's place of residence. The manner in which they accomplished this is of interest. It is characteristic of the work of the Jesuits in China ever since. 176 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. Ricci and his companions assumed the garb of Buddhlsf priests. As Buddhism was a foreign re- ligion, it was not difficult for them to palm them- selves off upon the governor as Buddhist priests from another country. In this disguise they ob- tained an audience with the governor and assured his excellency that "They had at last ascertained with their own eyes that the Celestial Empire was even superior to its brilliant renown. They there- fore desired to end their days in it, and wished to obtain a little land to construct a house and a church where they might pass their time in prayer and study, in solitude and meditation, which they could not do at Macao, on account of the tumult and bustle which the perpetual activity of com- merce occasioned." More than three centuries have passed, and the Jesuits of China are as they began. Ricci was twenty-one years in China before he succeeded in the great aim of his life — getting a favorable hearing at the imperial capital. He reached Peking, January 4, 1601, during the first week of the seventeenth century. He and his as- sociates soon obtained a strong hold among the high officials. The way in which this was done, even at that early date, is of intense interest. Ricci was an accomplished mathematician. He translated Euclid into the Chinese language. He was an astronomer. He captivated the officials by lectures upon astronomy. Ricci himself died 177 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. in 1610, at the comparatively early age of fifty- eight, but he had given thirty years of labor to China. His Jesuit co-laborers followed his ex- ample, and gave themselves actively to literary work. We are told that by the year 1636, only thirty-five years after Ricci arrived in Peking, these Jesuit scholars "had published no fewer than three hundred and forty treatises, some of them religious, but mostly on natural philosophy and mathematics." It is impossible not to admire the amazing industry and talent of these men. It seems hardly possible that this actually occurred three centuries ago, and in Peking. When the Manchus overthrew the Mings in 1644 and established themselves in Peking, the TA« Jesuits, as usual, put themselves upon the winning CoTque"t^^^^- They prospered greatly during the first reign, but under the succeeding regency they fell under disfavor, and were imprisoned and severely persecuted. Relief came in a characteristic way. The great Emperor Kanghi became of age, and assumed the reins of power. At that time the leader among the Jesuits was a man named Verbiest. He resided for thirty years in Peking, from 1658 to 1688. This man, also, was an as- tronomer. While in prison he studied the Imperial Almanac, and discovered important and gross errors in it. He succeeded in getting the ear of the young emperor, and pointed out these errors. The result was that the native imperial astron- 178 2 s ^ 3 nl w ttj CL, h-l >< > a o CD < > U a: a i o .-H J o/»/;»g- munity m liftmg its pagan environment is ex- tremely small. The priest at their old station near Antau in Hinghua claims that their church rec- ords in that station extend back into the Ming dynasty, or at least over a period of two hundred and seventy years. But they have not lifted or en- lightened that region appreciably in all that time, so far as we can observe. The reasons for this are easily apparent. They do not give the Scriptures to their people. The Chinese are a literary nation. Their Scriptures Confucian books are in the hands and minds of ^'"^'^''''all who can read at all. They are loyal to Con- fucianism, because they are brought up upon it from childhood. To withhold the Scriptures from 180 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. the hands of any people is destructive of spiritual life: but in China it is doubly fatal. No illiterate church can command respect or influence here. Ricci, in the rules laid down for the guidance of his followers, plainly permitted ancestral wor- ship. He even allowed image worship and en- idolatry couraged it. The Chinese call the Roman Cath- ^j^/^f: olic Images and their own idols by exactly the same ished name. They see no difference, nor is there any essential distinction between the pagan idolatry and theirs, in the minds of the mass of uneducated followers. The difficulty with Moses was over- come in true Jesuitical fashion. They simply cut the second commandment out of the Decalogue, and divided one of the others to make up the ten! There is a department of the Roman Catholic propaganda that devotes Itself to the baptism of dying Infants of the heathen. The work is done Depend- by zealous or well-paid old women. Their OMt^t^sacraments is a few innocent sugar pills, and a bottle of holy water. They hear of a family where there is a sick child, and ingratiate themselves into the family by claiming to have medicines that have great efficacy. They use these methods only where it seems almost certain the child will die. Before administering their remedies, they ask permission to cleanse their hands with the holy water. With their hands still wet, they give the sugar pills, and thus surreptitiously administer the 181 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. rite of baptism upon the dying child. It has been customary to make calculations of the number of souls thus saved, and the expense, and upon that basis to issue appeals to the home churches for gifts. Twenty years ago the annual reports of all the Roman Catholic missions in China gave some- times more than one hundred thousand of such baptisms every year! This illustrates the implicit reliance of these missionaries upon sacraments for salvation. Hence, with the average adult convert, baptism, mass once or twice a year, and confes- sional as often, fulfill the minimum conditions of acceptable membership. With the pagan ancestry and environment, such means are wholly inade- quate to uplift a community. Some people think doctrine does not amount to anything, be it true or false, so long as the Po/i?;Va/ motives are sincere. The difficulty with that -''f'^J^'' theory is that conduct grows out of belief. For Serious example, the Roman Catholic missions have num- bered among them some of the most saintly men who ever lived : in private life, pure ; in self-abne- gation, complete. But the spiritual fruit of their labors is extremely disappointing. Their doctrine of the relation of Church and State is largely responsible for this. It makes their church a political organization first, last, and all the time. Of all countries in the world, China is the last that can be genuinely evangelized in that way. Political entanglements are what Protestant mis- X82 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. sionaries most fear, and strive to avoid. The Roman Catholics, consistently with their doctrine, seem to use it as their most effective means of evangelization. The modern treaties of Western states with China protect Christians from persecution because of their religious faith. That is all right in it- self, but it is liable to serious abuse. A man comes to the missionary, bruised and bleeding. His friends appear with the pitiful story of his persecution because he has refused to join in the idol procession, or to pay the assessment made by the village elders for their idolatrous worship. He is a new convert. To the missionary novitiate the case seems very plain, and he sometimes rushes to the magistrate with it, to find later that he has been an unconscious tool in the hands of false converts. The experienced missionary makes a careful investigation, which often reveals the fact that there was an old clan quarrel that had been dragging on for months or even years, and this was only one phase of it. The side that was getting worsted concluded that they would try the influence of the powerful foreigner in their behalf. The Protestant missionary tells them that he can not take up their case in court, as it is not a per- secution affair. They must settle it the best way they can without his aid, unless it be as a peace- maker outside the courts entirely. Now, the Roman Catholic missionary conscientiously regards 183 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. this as a providential opportunity to reach these people with the Gospel. He would not hesitate a moment to take the case to the magistrate, and fight it as a persecution case. If he wins the suit, he has great prestige in that neighborhood for a while, and hundreds flock into the church. Some- times Protestant and Roman Catholic communities have not dwelt together in harmony. The poli- cies of the two missions have such fundamental differences, that it could scarcely be otherwise. In Hinghua we have been peculiarly favored in this respect. During all these sixteen years there has been no serious breach of the peace. One form of policy we have found to be especially conducive to this most desirable state of tran- quillity. Their doctrines naturally make them, on principle, very industrious proselyters. They sometimes hold out inducements to disgruntled Protestants to "come with them and they will do them good." For example: a group of Protestant members, usually recent inquirers, claims to be suf- fering persecution. Upon examination, the mis- sionaries are satisfied that it is only a private quarrel. They ask for help of the missionaries in the courts, which Is of course refused. The Roman Catholics hearing of It, offer sympathy and promise help. If the so-called Protestants will come to them. Then these people hunt the missionaries, and threaten to become Catholics In a body. If their demands are not acceded to. To all such, we In 184 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. Hinghua have invariably replied: "You not only have our consent, but our blessing, in going. If you are staying with us for the purpose of using us In that way, the sooner you go the better off we will be." Two or three such experiences do not need to be repeated. It Is no part of the writer's purpose to go Into details regarding the faults of Roman Cath- olic missions In China. The Shanghai papers fre- French quently have elaborate accounts of most serious p°^'^^^, troubles. In which apparently the priests or their Not Per~ converts, or both, seem to be In error. But these conditions can not be permanent. The patronage of the French government, for purposes of political aggrandizement, seems to have been one of the chief factors In making such things pos- sible ; for without the backing of a foreign govern- ment it would be impossible to carry out such a policy for any great length of time. It would seem probable that the recent radical changes In France, separating Church and State, will soon result in a marked change of French policy in respect to protection of Roman Catholic missions in China, regardless of strict treaty rights. More- over, the results of the Russo-Japanese war destroy the prospect of French aggression In the Orient, and make the alliance between priest and diplomat no longer profitable to the State. The final out- come Is likely to be greatly to the benefit of the . highest Interests of these widely extended and 185 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. numerous missions. The time is not far distant when China, as a modern state fully controlling her own internal affairs, will not brook interference in her judiciary by priest or Protestant missionary. The church that is built upon that sandy founda- tion will then fall; but the work that abides, will stand forever. The really sincere missionaries among the Roman Catholics will rejoice that they can then do genuine work for Christ. Doubtless much that is now visible will come to naught, but the remnant shall be saved. At the New England Dinner given in New York several years ago, a noted editor gave a ///. Earliest definition of a saint, which he rightly claimed had Protestant . .... . u « • • Mission not yet gotten mto the dictionaries: A saint is a person who lived not less than a century ago, who is canonized now, and was cannonaded then." If Protestantism had a calendar of saints, Robert Morrison would be added to it by universal con- sent during this centenary year of his arrival in China. He had his share of the cannonading, too; proving his fitness for canonization. An appren- tice boy learning to make lasts, as Carey his con- temporary of India made shoes, of humble Scotch parentage, he studied during odd hours when other boys amuse themselves, and became a scholar In Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In the year 1804, he was appointed by the London Missionary So- ciety, corresponding in England to the American Board or Congregational Society in America, as 186 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. the first Protestant missionary to China. He took two years of special study in their missionary col- lege, and acquired a beglnnSig in the Chinese lan- guage through an old Chinese manuscript of the New Testament in the British Museum, aided by a very imperfect Chinese-Latin dictionary also in manuscript, compiled by an unknown Roman Catholic missionary, and taught by a Chinese tutor named Yong Sam tak. No East Indian ship would carry missionary cargo in those days: so that Morrison was com- pelled to sail for China by way of America. Be To China it recorded for the glory of that enlightened states- '"'" '""'"" man, James Madison, then Secretary of State, that he gave the young missionary a cordial letter of commendation to the American representative at Canton. And, while America did not furnish the man, yet it did provide the ship that carried the great pioneer to the Inhospitable shores of the then sealed land. He landed at Canton, September 7, 1807. So hostile were the English traders in Canton at that time, that we are told: "For some time it was not deemed expedient for him to be openly Hostility known as an Englishman, and hence he was re- "f Traders garded as an American. . . . The British were quite willing, when Morrison's missionary char- acter began to be known, to call him the Amer- ican missionary, but his American acquaintances were extremely uneasy lest this story should 187 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA offend their commercial friends and the Chinese officials."* But after two years of quietly enduring social ostracism and open and secret hostility, the sky Trawj/a/or cleared. His great learning made him necessary ^"J^^?^^ even to the East Indian Company, and he was Company zsked to become their official translator on a liberal salary, with ample time to pursue his 'lit- erary labors. He held this position for the re- maining twenty-five years of his life. This com- pany made abundant amends for its early mistreat- ment of their distinguished servant by furnishing the seventy-five thousand dollars necessary to cover the cost of publication in the year 182 1 of that monumental work, Morrison's Chinese Dictionary, the key that has unlocked China to the world. When we look for what is technically called "fruits of religious work" in the life of this heroic Meager missionary, we find very little to reward our search. ResultsWe learn that: "He was never permitted to con- duct an open service for all Chinese. On the contrary, It was necessary to hold the meetings behind closed or locked doors, for fear lest the few attending might be arrested for their interest in Christianity. . . . If as many as ten were pres- ent on the Sabbath, It was a good attendance."^ After seven years of toll, the first Protestant 4 " Princely Men of the Heavenly Kingdom," by Harlan P. Beach, Cin- cinnati, 1963, pp. 18, 19. 6 " Princely Men, etc.,'' pp 26, 27. 188 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. Chinese convert, Tsai A-ko, was baptized. This man was only a servant, and not a very good one either, as Morrison at one time dismissed him. Nevertheless he continued faithful to his bap- tismal covenant until his death, five years later. Surely God hath chosen the weak things of this world to confound the mighty! From such a be- ginning has grown, in one short century, the Prot- estant Christianity of China. Morrison's only colleague, Doctor Milne, was of still more humble origin, and so uncouth that one of the members of the London Missionary ^jarfor Society committee suggested that he would better-''^''"* be sent out as a servant of a regularly appointed missionary. The young man did not even take offense at this proposition, but said he would gladly go in any capacity whatever, even as a servant. However, he was sent to China as a regular mis- sionary, and gave ten short but full years of val- uable service, rendering his senior colleague ex- ceedingly important aid in Bible translation; and also founding the first Protestant school for Chinese boys. This was located at Malacca, in the Straits Settlements, where many Chinese lived, and where there was much more freedom to prose- cute mission work than was possible in China. To Doctor Milne was given the joy and the honor of baptizing the convert who developed into the first Chinese Protestant preacher, Leang A-fa, and be- came a mighty power for good, preaching and 13 189 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. writing tracts. Some of these writings are used and useful, even to the present day. When Mor- rison finally succumbed under his severe labors after twenty-seven years of service with only one furlough, he left in China a Protestant Christian Church, consisting of two foreign missionaries and three Chinese Christians. As far as statistics go, Doctor Morrison's twenty-seven years of self- sacrificing toil seemed to have little, almost noth- ing, to show. These two colossal men, the founders of Chinese Roman Catholic and Protestant Chris- Rice: and tianity respectively, Ricci and Morrison, have c^m'plred^^^^ in common, and yet they are striking in contrasts. They were both terribly in earnest, they counted not their lives dear unto themselves; they were intellectual giants, and their mental strength was that of the trained athlete. The contrast was in their point of view, which directed all their action. Ricci had in view the bringing of as many men as possible to accept certain dog- mas, and to submit to certain rites through which they were to obtain salvation. Morrison had strong beliefs, too, but he saw that men must first be enlightened to perceive the truth, before they can accept it in any way to do them good. With Ricci, literary activity was simply a' means to an end, and that end was not to spread enlightenment to benighted China, but to secure access to the ear of China's leaders, that the dogmas of Rome 190 THE EARLY MISSIONS OF CHINA. might have free course. With Morrison, literary labor was a larger thing. He wished to bring men to accept Christ as their Savior, but he was willing to toil and wait, sending forth the written Word, and the Dictionary, which was to make literary labor easier for those who were to follow. The Light would justify itself for shining. The Reve- lation would be its own apology. In immediate results, Ricci's work far surpassed Morrison's. In permanent leavening power upon the inert mass of Chinese heathendom, Morrison's to-day is im- measurably the greater. (Ricci and his immediate successors had far more influence in China than any that have followed them. The successors of Morrison have steadily increased in spiritual, in- tellectual and social power to this day. The weakness of Ricci's work was not primarily in method. It was as good a thing to give to China science in the seventeenth century as it is In the twentieth; and the successors of Morrison wisely have given ever-Increasing attention to this branch of Ikerature, and to the founding of schools for its instruction. The strength or weakness of any religious propaganda is not primarily In its methods, nor even in its doctrines, important though these be, but In the motive that lies back of It all. Ricci's motive was to build up a Church In China owning allegiance to the Roman pontiff: Morrison's consuming passion was that the king- dom of God might be set up in China. Ricci's 191 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. consecration was as absolute as Morrison's, but the one was devoted to an ecclesiastical system, the other was surrendered to Christ his King. In proportion as the successors to Morrison follow his example in this regard will they grip the Chinese nation. 192 CHAPTER VIII. A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. "Will it be too much trouble for you to take a parcel of books to Shanghai for me?" said the treasurer of the Foochow Mission of the Meth- A Fortu- odist Episcopal Church to the writer, as he was"''* about to embark recently for the Gateway of China. Of course it was no trouble. The books proved to be a gold mine of interest on the voyage, and the fact that the little steamer took four days, instead of the customary forty hours for the voy- age, did not trouble the traveler in the least. They were the early records of the mission, and among them was a chronicle of important and in- teresting events noted at the time by the official historiographer, elected from time to time by the missionaries. No historical resource could be more authentic, and the records are packed full of facts of the deepest interest and significance. The writer realizes that the limits of his space, time, and resources of information are such, to say nothing of the bounds of his readers' patience, that nothing approaching to a centennial survey of China missions is possible in these pages. More- over, that work is being done by far more compe- 193 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. tent hands, and will be available to the public as soon as these brief messages may be read. Our purpose here is simply to trace a typical field's development. The details of the cultivation of each corner of the vineyard differ, but the general principles are essentially similar. If the reader will take this attitude toward the following sketch, he will get a more vivid view of the whole of China as a mission field, and of how it has grown, than if a fleshless skeleton of the historical facts of each mission were placed before him. The three pioneer missionaries. Rev. Moses C. White, M. D., and wife, and Rev. Judson D. First Collms, arrived at Foochow September 6, 1847, '^"'^^ ■* after a voyage from Boston of one hundred and forty-six days. Now the trip can be made in twenty-three days, or less than one-sixth of the time. Had the voyage been one day longer, they would have reached Foochow upon the fortieth anniversary of Morrison's arrival at Canton. After five years of service, Mr. Collins returned to America very ill, and soon went to his reward. The first Mrs. White died in Foochow in the spring of the year 1849. The second Mrs. White's ill-health made it necessary for her hus- to leave the mission field in 1852, the same year that his colleague was invalided home. Eight months after Messrs. Collins and White reached Foochow, the mission was reinforced by the arrival in April, 1848, of Rev. Henry Hickok, 194 A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. D. D., and wife, and Rev. R. S. Maclay. Ten months later, February 14, 1849, I^r. and Mrs. Hickok embarked for America. Their departure was made doubly pathetic and sad by the fatal ill- First Re- ness of their little child, who died on board the '"f""""'"'' sailing ship while still at anchor In the mouth of the River Min. The little body, the first of so many to be laid at rest in the American cemetery at Foochow, was given to the tender care of the missionaries who had accompanied them to the ship, while the sorrowing parents sailed for the home-land. Dr. Hickok came out as superin- tendent of the mission, but his health broke al- most as soon as he arrived, and they were com- pelled to return, having rendered little service ex- cept one of suffering. Who shall say that It was all in vain? Rev. L W. Wiley, M. D., and wife, landed at Foochow, July 9, 1851. Two years and four months later Dr. Wiley buried his wife In the little cemetery, and shortly after, January 16, 1854, he took ship for America with his two motherless little daughters. After twenty-four years. In December, 1877, Bishop Wiley returned to the scenes of his early labor and sorrow, to preside over the session of the mission and or- ganize it into an annual conference. Again he came. In November, 1884. He arrived very ill, and grew rapidly worse. Loving hands laid him beside the wife of his youth. With Dr. Wiley there also arrived Rev. and 195 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Mrs. James Colder. In less than two years, May, 1853, they left for Hongkong during the serious unrest caused by the Taiping rebellion, and did not return. During the first decade two more families arrived, both in the year 1855 — Rev. and Mrs. E. Wentworth, and Rev. and Mrs. Otis Gibson. Mrs. Wentworth died in less than four months after their arrival.- In 1859 Dr. Went- worth married Miss Phoebe Potter, and remained until December, 1861, when they returned to America on account of Mrs.^ Wentworth's serious illness. Dr. and Mrs. Gibson gave ten full years of splendid service. While on furlough he was assigned to the mission to the Chinese in San Francisco, where his work during the anti- Chinese agitation, and the unique character of the man, made him known far and wide as a Chris- tian hero. The close of the first decade is a good place to pause for a survey. The first thing that must Rc'view impress every reader is, that this was a costly "^^^^'^^ service. The alabaster box of precious ointment was broken over and over again. Of the eight men, one died; of the equal number of women, three were laid away in the cemetery. One man left the field because of his own ill-health, and two on account of the illness of their wives. One returned to America because his wife's death laid upon him the care of two little children. Only one family departed from the field for reasons 196 A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. other than the most imperative. Two families rendered a full term of ten years of service, and but one returned to China after the first furlough. A mortality of twenty-five per cent, and break- downs of nearly as many more, tell their own story. It was so during the early stages of nearly all mis- sion fields in China. It was very difficult ffi those days to secure suitable building sites. The Chinese government did everything possible to prevent the missionaries from securing a foothold. Being able only to rent ground, the missionary societies and the missionaries did not think it good business to expend much money upon buildings. February i, 1850, Rev. J. D. Collins writes to Secretary Pit- man: "The dwelling house for myself, for which we last quarter rented the site, is now nearly com- pleted at a cost of something less than $450." Four hundred and fifty dollar missionary residences are effective instruments for filling missionary graveyards. These facts make superfluous any comment upon the Ignorant talk about extrava- gance in missionary parsonages. There were other Inconveniences in those early days. A letter dated January 9, 1849, from the chairman of the China committee to the superin- Postage tendent of the mission, rejoices in the ratification of a treaty between America and England by which letter postage between the two countries was reduced to twenty-four cents !• How the missionaries lived and worked is re- 197 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Finances flectcd in the estimates for expenses for the year 1850, sent to the missionary society. Salaries, Revs. White, Collins and Maclay, . $1,500 00 Salaries, three Chinese teachers 216 00 Rent and repairs, three dwellings 42S 00 Three schools, rent and teachers, 330 00 Chinese tracts for distribution, 100 00 Rooms, tract distribution and preaching, . . . 225 00 Chinese Scriptures, ... 200 00 Medicines for dispensary ' . . . . 100 DO Itinerating expenses SO 00 Traveling to mouth of River Min for selling bills of exchange 10 00 Postage .... 24 00 Health trips, incidentals, exchange, etc 820 00 Total $4,000 00 Salaries of five hundred dollars each left little margin for "missionary luxuries." In this early budget we see the germs of nearly all future de- velopment: Medical work begun, tract distribu- tion, schools, and preaching. September 22, 1855, '^^ "^o*^ ^^'^ momentous record: "Mission decided to recommend to the Unmarried^oard of Missious the sending out of three un- ^o"'"' married ladies to teach in our missions." And the following April 6th, it is recorded : "Received news that Bishop and Board approve of our ap- plication for three female teachers, and that they will send them out by first convenient oppor- tunity." This action anticipates the organization of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of ' 198 A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. the same Church by fourteen years, and shows how far-seeing were these pioneer missionaries, and how statesmanlike in action were the officers of the missionary society. It was not until within a few weeks of the close of this first decade that the labors of these heroic men and women began to bear visible fruit The First in the baptism of the first convert. The chronicle is of intense interest: "June i, 1857. — During the last month one man has given us evidence of being a sincere inquirer after salvation, and he will soon be baptized. He has" given up his 'household gods.' " "June 14, Mr. Ting was baptized and received into the communion of the Church. He is a man of family, having a wife and four or five children. He is about forty-five years of age. Up to the time of his baptism, neither he nor any of his family has ever had any business relations with us, nor has any of the family been in the service of any of the mis- sionaries." Here, at least, was no "rice-Chris- tian." Mr. Ting lived for eighteen years after his baptism, and died in the faith, July 8, 1873. Four months after Mr. Ting was baptized, the rite was administered to his wife and their two youngest children. These were the first children baptized by Protestants in Foochow. The mis- sionaries of the American Board had baptized a man publicly, and a woman privately in her sick room, about a year previously. From these be- 199 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. ginnings has grown in just half a century the largest Christian community, including all the mis- sionary societies, in any province in China, aggre- gating close to one hundred thousand men, women, and children, baptized and inquirers. At the session of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held at Los The Real Angeles in May, 1904, there sat upon the rear of the of the platform a white-haired, clean shaven, neat M«rto« |jj.j.|g jjjgjj^ ^}jQ quietly came and went day after day. No one thought of presenting him to that august body, and giving them a chance to honor by a "Chautauqua salute" the founder of the mis- sions of that great church in three empires. That saintly old man was Dr. R. S. Maclay, the only one of the eight missionaries arriving at Foochow during the first decade, who returned after his first furlough. Doctor Maclay was superintendent of the Foochow mission from March, 1852, until he was appointed in 1871 to superintend the organi- • zation of the new mission to Japan. Here he labored until 1885, when the veteran pioneer was again chosen to organize the new mission to Korea. The great success that has characterized the work in all three of these fields attests the wisdom of the master-builder, who laid the founda- tions. Some time this modest man, who quietly took the lowest seat, will receive the summons of the Master of a greater feast, "Friend, come up higher." 200 A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. The opening of the second decade was made memorable by the baptism of the man who be- came the first Chinese preacher or evangelist. The First Here is the record: "January 17, 1858. A man p*/"^ commonly known by the name of Hu, a soldier by profession, was baptized, taking the name of Po-mi." Again, "February 7, Brother Hu and Brother Ting commence to speak in public on Sundays at longtau, taking for their subjects the Ten Commandments in order. Brother Hu bids fair to make a useful and powerful preacher. He speaks boldly, is a man of considerable education, good family, and makes a good impression upon the people, commanding the respect of all." "October 11, 1858. Hu Po-mi is licensed to exhort." Following this epoch-marking event the work began to spread into the Interior, especially south, down the coast in Hok-chiang, and toward Hinghua. Hu Po-mi was the first of a family of three brothers who became preachers, presiding elders, and pioneer evangelists of the infant Church. Five years after this baptism is recorded an equally important conversion. "February 8, 1863. To-day Rev. S. L. Binkley administered baptism The for the first time, and to the first convert at Ato ^u""'' chapel. The name of the candidate is Ling Ching- ting, and he lives in the Hok-chiang district. We hope that he may be useful in carrying the Gospel there." Most nobly and fully were those hopes 201 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. realized. Twenty days later it was noted: "The mission to-day authorized the employment of Ling Ching-ting as a native helper. He is to study, and do all he can besides in preaching, and the regular work of a helper at Ato chapel." This man was singularly qualified to be the pioneer evangelist of all this southern region. He was a native of the island of Lamyit, inhabited by Hinghua-speaking people, but divided between the two civil districts of Hok-chiang and Hinghua, he belonging to the Hok-chiang side; but he was of Amoy-speaking ancestry : so that he spoke with equal facility the dialects of Foochow (Hok- chiang) , Hinghua, and Ingchung or Amoy. He became the pioneer evangelist of all three of these regions, where fully two-thirds of all the Chinese Christians of this mission are found to-day. Two of his sons were presiding elders after him. Mr. Ling had been a heavy opium smoker, and a professional gambler. He was the terror of his family and the neighborhood; but, like the de- moniac, after the legion of devils had been cast out, he went home and told his kindred and friends what great things the Lord had done for him, and many believed. From this island of Lamyit, the notorious headquarters of the pirates who terrorize and victimize this whole coast, the Gospel story spread to the two neighboring peninsulas of Hok- chiang on the one side and Hinghua upon the other. 202 THE REV. HU PO-MI. The first Chinese Preacher of Fuhkien Methodist Missions. A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. But let us go back to the missionaries. It is impossible for us to name all of them: but we could not omit the first to arrive during this second Dr- Bald- decade, Dr. S. L. Baldwin, of blessed memory, whose wife died at sea March i6, 1861, on the return voyage, taken in hope of saving her life just two years after their arrival. Dr. Baldwin gave twenty years of service to missions in China, and twenty years more in the office at New York. Few missionaries have rendered greater service to the cause of China than this man, whose youth seemed perennial, but who burned himself out at last In zeal for the cause of world-wide evangelism. With Dr. Baldwin arrived the Misses Wool- ston, the first unmarried women missionaries of the mission, who labored for twenty-four years — from Women 1859 till 1883 — chiefly in the education of girls. ''"'"'"^' The pioneers of a great company, whose work is beyond praise. In those early days no foreigner lived in China beyond the limits of "treaty ports," except Roman Catholic priests. These men, without families /"»>// and in the native dress, went where they pleased, yj^*^ but the Protestant missionary, with his wife and children, was differently situated. The Foochow missionaries determined to try a cautious experi- ment by opening a station only twelve miles In- land. The record reads: "November 8, 1862. To-day Brother Nathan Sites and family went to Ngu-kang to take up their residence there. Pre- 203 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. viously to their leaving, the families of the mission assembled and appropriate religious exercises, con- ducted by the superintendent, were held." The end of this episode is described later: "April 5, 1865. Return of N. Sites and family from Ngu- kang, where they had lived for two years and five months. No molestation. Recalled because of reduced force of missionaries." In spite of this successful experiment, strange as it may seem, it was not until full twenty-five years later, in the autumn of 1890, that any family of this mission took up a permanent residence outside of Foochow. The physical health of the missionaries who arrived during the second decade is in most strik- Health |jjg contrast with that of the first ten years. Of impro'ved men, eight arrived — the same number that we found during the first decade; five of these ren- dered service of from twenty to more than forty years, as against two in the previous period. One died; one returned to America; one left for an unknown cause. The comparison regarding the women is even more striking. Of the twelve who came, seven lived to give full service, as com- pared with two the first decade. One died as against three, or as eight and one-half percent is to thirty-seven and one-half per cent. It was not a change in climate, but in conditions. The mis- sion had succeeded in purchasing a suitable site for a "compound," and had erected commodious, sani- tary dwellings.- This was before the sanitarium 204 A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. period. The missionaries had to stay in Foo- chow all summer, and the latitude is that of Southern Florida, yet with wide verandas on four sides of their houses, and large rooms with high ceilings, they were preserved in health and did their work the year round. The progress of this second decade is shown in the report of the annual meeting, held in Oc- tober, 1866: "A good meeting. Examinations p^o^rm good. Year's increase between fifty and sixty. "^'^^^ Total membership, over two hundred." Then fol- lows this significant note: "Perfect union of feel- ing in the mission among missionaries and between missionaries and native helpers. An earnest de- sire for divine power to rest upon and give us success this new year." It was with this spirit that this heroic little band entered Into the twenti- eth year of the work of the mission. It is not strange that we find this remark: "January, 1867. Hok-chlang is still blest of the Lord. Many Indications of a genuine work In progress. The helpers of that district are extending their work to other parts — a favorable omen." But the burden of the "regions beyond" was pressing upon the hearts of these earnest men. The following April, 1867, the travail gave h'lrth Distant to a new mission. The subject of extension agi- tated the mission, and took form In decided action by the mission on the last day of this month (April). The question was thoroughly discussed 14 205 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. by the brethren, namely, Dr. Maclay, S. L. Bald- win, N. Sites, L. N. Wheeler, and V. C. Hart. All came to the conclusion that extension is de- sirable, and as a church we ought to do more for China. Kiukiang was considered a favorable place to take up. Dr. Maclay was authorized to write to the Board stating the action of the mis- sion, and urging upon the Board the necessity of immediate action. Also to appoint one member of the mission to pioneer the work. The utmost harmony prevails in the mission, and God is smiling upon us." In May Rev. V, C. Hart was appointed by Dr. Maclay to open the work at Kiukiang, on the Yang-tse River. "June, 1867. Mr. Hart made a trip to Kiukiang and Hankow : gone about six weeks. No hindrance to the project in view." The second decade closed with the sky reddened by the glow of the coming sunrise. To the outside observer the darkness was no less Inky than of yore ; but these men of vision saw the day- dawn and were glad. It was not until the first month of the third decade of the history that mention is made of Pint any part of what is now the Hinghua Conference. Mmion "October, 1 867. Dr. Maclay and N. Sites visited of Htngnua _ ' ■' . • i j Hok-chiang and our work at Lamyit, an island some forty miles from Hok-chiang City, down the coast about ten miles from the main land. An interesting work is in progress at this place. Sev- eral baptized. The converts have suffered some 206 AJTYPICAL MISSION FIELD. from persecution. . . . The island is not popu- lous, but several thousands of hardy people dwell here, and make a livelihood in farming and fish- ing. The work has opened into the populous Hinghua prefecture; prospects of a good work. Thus the shield of the Lord is ever over His people in that region." A few days later, in giv- ing an account of the annual meeting of that year, is this important entry: "October i6, 1867. The mission proposed to occupy two distant fields, . . . besides determined to open Hinghua." Forty years have passed since that action of the Foochow mission; and the little one hath become ten thousand. "Expansion" was the watchword in those days. "June 30, 1868. A very important step was taken in the regular mission meeting to-day. The Peking brethren unanimously passed resolutions calling upon the Board to establish a station at Peking." The following year this action bore fruit in the appointment of the Revs. Wheeler and Lowry to pioneer that great work. Dr. Wheeler had spent two years and nine months in Foochow, and Dr. Lowry had been for a year and one-half a member of the Foochow mission. The selection proved to be a most happy one, and few missions of any church in any land have had a history of more unbroken prosperity than that which these mission- aries, under God, founded nearly four decades ago. 207 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. But this lavish liberality in men and means brought about a condition of affairs that was in- ^^''^jdeed critical for the Foochow work. January 25, to Tive 1870, Rev. S. L. Baldwin and family started for America on account of the very delicate state of Mrs. Baldwin's health. This left on the field only Dr. Maclay and Rev. Nathan Sites and family. Yet the log-book reads: "Some of the native preachers seem indeed to be 'full of faith and of the Holy Ghost;' and it is with much joy and great hopes that we enter upon 1870, notwithstanding the feebleness of our foreign force." Surely this is the faith that removes mountains. The third decade witnessed the arrival of only four men and five women, including the first lady ijf/Vorce- physician of the Woman's Foreign Missionary menu Dur- Society. Two of these men and their wives ren- Decade^txtdi permanent service, while one returned upon account of his wife's illness, and another because of his own broken health. During much of this ten years there were only four or five men on the field at a time, and sometimes fewer. The work was almost wholly evangelistic Itinerating, the higher educational institution not yet having been born. It was for this reason that the mission, In spite of its reduced numbers, not only did not feel keenly the pressure of overwork, but actually offered to give at least one of their number to open a new mission on the Yang-tse at Ichang, 208 A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. above Hankow. When this action was taken December 29, 1876, and the proposition was formally sent to the missionary authorities in America, the historian records: "A majority of us think that we have too large a force concen- trated here at Foochow." At that time there were in Foochow five missionaries and their wives, Messrs. Baldwin, Sites, Plumb, Ohlinger, and Chandler. At present, in the same territory, the same missionary society has twenty men, and the work is considered to be seriously under- manned. Two causes have contributed to this radical change of view. In the first place, the early missionaries itinerated widely, as the work Why spread through zealous evangelism of the Chinese of vienv? pioneer preachers. These tours of inspection lasted from two weeks to as many months. Of necessity, this supervision was at long range. A very small proportion of the converts were from the vicinity of Foochow. The improved condi- tion of the Chinese Church and ministry, resulting from the closer supervision made possible after foreign missionaries were located in the country districts since the autumn of 1890, has demon- strated conclusively that the occasional itinerant supervision policy is not the most effective. Doubtless it was necessary during the early years, but that plan was abandoned none too soon for the good of the work and for all concerned, 209 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. The second cause of change of policy, requir- ing a muclj larger force of missionaries, is found The Why in the modern growth of the institution of higher £^^'il'» ^'^"'^^tion. In the earlier days, when a man of even very limited education became a zealous con- vert, after instruction in the doctrine for a few months by the missionary, he would be sent out to tell the story. These lay evangelists did very effective work. It has been so in all such move- ments. Wesley's helpers were largely of this class. The early pioneer preachers of America were thrust out in the same way. But the standard of education among the masses of the people has advanced. These men, even in England and America, were generally intellectually the supe- riors of the people to whom they ministered. So it was in the early days of mission work. But a new generation of Christians has grown up in the West and also in the East. The Christian college and the university have developed to meet the need, lest the Church should become more in- telligent than its ministry. Woe to the pastor and woe to his flock, when the shepherd can not go before his sheep! Of these twenty men in the Methodist Fuhkien missions to-day, six are wholly absorbed in the institutions of higher education; three are in medical work, which thirty years ago had not been begun; two are devoted entirely to the supervision of primary education ; and two are engaged In training young men for the ministry. 210 A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. It is the Institutional and special work that has absorbed thirteen out of the Increase of fifteen men, since the above mentioned five missionaries thought, at the close of the year 1876, that they had "too large a force concentrated at Foochow." From their point of view they were right, but they had not begun to see visions. The fourth decade (1878-1887) was char- acterized by unusual freedom from sickness or death among the missionaries. Of the five men fourtA who arrived, one soon became discouraged and^''"''' quit the work in six months. The other four, Doctors Smyth, Wilcox, Worley, and Lacy, are all still in the active service of the missionary society, though Dr. Smyth is engaged In the home field work. Of the eleven women, one broke down, one left the field with her husband, one married, and eight are still In the active work, including the wives of the above mentioned four men and Misses Jewell, Carleton, and Hartford, and Miss Fisher, now Mrs. Brewster. That after twenty years, out of sixteen recruits twelve should be still In the service is a most remarkable record, and one which It might be difficult to duplicate. No doubt the fact that during the previous decade, in 1875, the sanitarium at Sharp Peak at the mouth of the River MIn was completed, has had something to do with this unusual record of longevity. In this connection the following entry will be of interest: "1875, September 15. The 2U THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. mission, excepting one or two of the brethren, who in turn remained in the compound, have been spending the hot season at the sanitarium at Sharp Peak, which was completed in June last. . . . We are persuaded that we have all been strengthened by our temporary residence by the sea." It was not until twelve years later that the now popular mountain resort near Foochow was first occupied. The sanitarium at the seaside, built for six families, has been long outgrown, and many have built cot- tages on the cool mountain top. This movement was pioneered by two of our Foochow veterans. "1887. Brother and Sister Plumb spent their first summer at Kuliang, Sharp Peak not having proved beneficial to them." Now there are more than two hundred who find the cool breezes and mutual fellowship during July and August, a help phys- ical, intellectual, and spiritual. It was about the middle of this fourth decade that the radical new departure was made in higher Anglo- education. The origin of the Anglo-Chinese Col- ^CoUege^^^^ is indeed unique. A Chinese merchant be- came a Christian. He prospered. He closed up his great store on Sunday, and was more pros- perous than ever. The story of his connection with the college is vividly told in the mission diary. "January 19, 1881. The Anglo-Chinese College was announced as established. This had been preceded by a donation, or promise of the same, of ten thousand dollars for this purpose by 212 < H Z o z o td O < H h o W u A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. T. Ahok, Esq., a very generous sum for one Chinaman to give for such a purpose. . . . No- vember, 1881. The Conference, Bishop Bowman presiding, convened on the i8th, and adjourned on the 23d. During the visit of the bishop the ten thousand dollars promised by Mr. Ahok for the college were paid, and plans made for the purchase of suitable property. Subsequently the fine property, residence and grounds, adjoining our mission compound were offered for sale, and It was purchased for fourteen thousand dollars." Mr. Ahok stands at the head of a long line of Christian Chinese merchants who, in the genera- tions to come, will build and endow Christian col- leges and all sorts of philanthropic Institutions for the benefit of their fellow countrymen. No nation will excel the Chinese in this regard, when Christ reigns in their hearts. Many will give more, be- cause better able, than this pioneer; but the name of T. Ahok will ever stand at the head of the long list of Chinese Protestant Christian philan- thropists. During the fourth decade the evangelistic work made steady but slow progress. The missionaries were still "concentrated at Foochow," and the re- Fifth inforcements were absorbed largely in the ntvf^lf^' college work. It was not until well into the fifth '^ '" ^^ decade that two country stations were opened, Dr. M. C. Wilcox and family moving to Kucheng in October, 1890, and the writer occupying Hinghua 213 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. in November, immediately after his marriage with Miss Elizabeth Fisher, a missionary of the Woman's Board, who came to Foochow in 1884. The writer sailed from New York in November, 1888, with Bishop Thoburn, fully expecting to spend his life in India. He was sent to Singapore to relieve Doctor Oldham of the pastorate of the English-speaking congregation. A year in that mid-tropical climate seriously impaired his strength. He found both health and a wife in a trip to China in the spring of 1890, and dur- ing the summer of that year he was transferred at the request of the Foochow mission, doubtless because they saw they must either take him or lose the lady whose work they knew they could not spare; although they gave as the reason that a vacancy had just occurred In their ranks by the breakdown of Mr. Donohue, and that Hinghua needed a man immediately. This decade was characterized by a marked forward movement in the work of evangelization. Ad'vance in There was an Increase of one hundred and fifty E-uangelhm ^^^ Cent, making a total In the year 1897 of members, 6,082, and probationers, 6,569. All the other features of the work advanced in much the same proportion. The health record of this period falls far below that of the previous decade. Ten men arrived: One died, one broke down, two left because of their wives' ill-health, one did not return after 214 A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. his first furlough, and only five, or fifty per cent, are still in the work, as compared with eighty per cent of those who came during the previous Recruits decade. There was a large reinforcement of the "[fj^jf force of women workers. Twenty-four reached the field, of whom fourteen, or fifty-eight per cent, are still here, as against nearly seventy-three per cent in the fourth decade. Of the missing ten: five broke down, one left on account of her hus- band's illness, and another because of her hus- band's death, while three went the way of all the world, and are making as many homes and hus- bands happy in America. The decade closed with the semi-centennial Jubilee celebration at Foochow in October, 1897, in which delegates from all the Methodist Epis- ^^^ copal missions of Eastern Asia participated. The •^«*''« occasion was made especially interesting by the presence of Doctor and Mrs. S. L. Baldwin, whose memories were freighted with the victories and heroic toils of the past. The sixth decade is too modern to be written of as history. It includes the entire life of the Hinghua Conference, which Bishop Joyce organ- sixth Ized in November, 1897. The Christian com-^"'"'^ munlty. Including members, probationers, inquir- ers, and baptized children, has grown from 6,129 In 1897 to 11,512 in 1906, or about eighty-eight per cent; while the rate of increase in the Foo- chow Conference has been about the same, report- 215 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW. CHINA. ing a Christian community aggregating in 1906 a total of 15,582. However, in these totals there are of adults baptized, in Hinghua only 3,251, and In Foochow, 6,482. There is enough in these figures to encourage our faith that the next genera- tion will count converts by the hundreds of thou- sands instead of tens of thousands. The founda- tion laying has been slow, the superstructure will rise with great rapidity. Of the nineteen men who have arrived, fifteen are still on the field, one was transferred to India, Rein- one brolce down, and two have died. Of the ^'"'2"^^^'^ thirty-five women recruits, thirty are still here, only Sixth one has left because of her own ill-health, the other "^ ^four have departed for causes related to their husband's illness, death, or transfer; and one left the field not to return. It is a matter of the gravest moment that, within a very short time, three young men of the Fuhkien missions died on the field, right at the opening of their career. These young men apparently were all physically perfect when they arrived. They were college athletes. They did not neglect their exercise, or live carelessly. Yet within sixteen months — from July, 1904, to October, 1905 — B. F. Marsh, F. L. Guthrie, and James Simester died on the field, within one of as many as fell in the other fifty-eight years of the mission's history. Including Nathan Sites, who had rendered thirty-four years of service, and N. J. Plumb, who had labored twenty- 216 A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. nine years. Mr. Collins died in America shortly after his return from China. Rev. C. P. Martin died of cholera at Foochow in 1864, four years after his arrival. These four were the only deaths among the men, except the three who died so near together and so recently. A life insurance company would study such a phenome- non to find the reason why. Surely it Is no un- accountable accident. All three of these young men were given heavy administrative work very soon after their arrival. They were college presi- dents before they had been two years on the field. It Is one thing to teach a certain number of hours, or to travel a number of days, and preach occa- sionally, and It is another and a very different thing to be responsible, day and night, for the conduct and the training of one or two hundred boys and young men, with the difficulties of a half- learned language and unfamiliar Eastern customs ever keeping the nerves upon the rack. It requires years of experience to carry such responsibilities without a nervous strain that few constitutions are able to bear. The exigencies of the work seemed to demand putting these institutions In charge of these splendid young men. The Church had been so tardy in sending reinforcements, that there were not enough veterans to take these administrative responsibilities, and It cost the terrible sacrifice of three of her best sons. May the lesson not need to be repeated! 217 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. But statistics do not tell all the results, or indeed the largest outcome, of these sixty years of toil and sacrifice. The writer recently had oc- Untab- ca,sion to call at the book depot of the Commer- ^^^^f cial Press in Shanghai, the publishing house that is furnishing most of the school books of the new regime. Upon learning that his customer was from the Fuhkien Province, the manager said: "More than half of our publications are going into Fuhkien." "How do you account for that?" asked the astonished visitor. "The missionaries have been there .the longest, and Chinese Chris- tians are most numerous there," was the significant reply. It was a plain business matter with this Chinese publisher of school books. Not that the Christians purchase so many books; indeed, but a small proportion of the sales are to them; but the mission schools and colleges all over the prov- ince, radiating from Foochow on the north and Amoy on the south, have sent out scores and scores of teachers, who are being employed in day and boarding-schools everywhere. It is the leavening power of the Truth. The new education in this province has had little encouragement from the provincial government. An ignorant old Manchu Tartar-General has been acting-viceroy for several years, ever since the reform movement became so popular. He has done practically nothing to aid the reformers. The educational movement in this province is from the people almost entirely, and 218 A TYPICAL MISSION FIELD. its amazing progress is due in large measure to the Christian community that pervades every sec- tion and all classes. All along this densely peopled coast region, Christian chapels are found so thickly planted that a traveler can obtain shelter every night, and take Ch^rrhes every meal, with a Chinese pastor as host. ^^ ^here the regulation rate of three miles an hour, journey- ing in any direction, he will find a welcome, with the ubiquitous tea, almost every two hours or less at a different place of worship, if he has leisure to accept the warm Eastern hospitality offered. Many of these chapels are simply rented or leased Chinese houses, and commonly the congregation is small and of humble station in society; but the light is shining from it into the surrounding dark- ness. Generally a day school Is found, and not infrequently two of them at each chapel — one for boys and one for girls. Even the mixed school has appeared among us, and little girls read with their brothers, as in a Christian land. In the day schools under the supervision of Rev. George S. Miner, in the Foochow Conference, there are three thousand, three hundred and twenty-seven pupils. Mr. Miner secures in tuition fees from the pupils, and in special gifts from friends of his work in America, the entire cost of these one hundred and thirty-five schools. Similar work is being done in Hinghua; and also by the Church Missionary So- ciety, and the American Board, from Foochow as a 219 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. center, and by the English Presbyterians, the Lon- don Missionary Society, and the Reformed Church of America, working out from Amoy. That most widely read author on China, Doctor Arthur H. Smith, recently prefaced a speech to an audience of Christians in Hinghua with the remark: "In the Fuhklen Province you have the largest Prot- estant Christian community in the empire; and in my home province. Shantung, we have the next largest. I bring to you, representatives of the most numerous body of Chinese Christians, the greet- ings of the next in numbers. May your continued prosperity stimulate us all to greater faith and more earnest endeavor, until all your fellow countrymen are brought to Christ." 220 CHAPTER IX. SPIRITUAL FORCES. It was no accident that the dispensation of the Holy Spirit was ushered in when "the day of Pentecost was now come." Jesus came not Symbolism to destroy the law, but to fulfill it; that is, "to fill <>f P'"'''"" it full." ^ The symbol was to become in Him a reality. That the sacrifice upon Calvary was syn- chronous with the feast of the paschal lamb, was in the plan of redemption from the beginning. Less apparent, but no less true, was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit a fulfillment of the symbolism of Pentecost. It was the Jewish harvest feast. Nations civilized and savage. Christian and pagan, ancient and modern, generally have ob- served a harvest feast. It is written deep in the nature of mankind that the life-sustaining forces are in some way divine, and it is becoming that men give thanks. The world's spiritual harvest began on the day of all days in the Jewish calendar most fitting to typify it. But there is a real danger of misreading the significance of Pentecost. Good men have taken it to mean that the harvest is ripe 1 Phillips Brooks in a sermon preached at Trinity Church, Boston, in the year 1884. 15 221 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA everywhere, and it is only necessary to put in the sickle and reap. When years pass by without one single sheaf gathered, as it was with Carey, Jud- son, and Morrison, faith is staggered; and the question is raised: Did these good men have the faith that removes mountains? Wherever Paul went, right in the midst of heathenism, within a few months or even weeks he founded a Chris- tian Church. Have the modern apostles to the Gentiles lost the primitive faith and Pentecostal power? Without question missionaries, as other men, have accomplished less than they might have done had their faith been perfected, their wisdom unerring, and their lives wholly blameless. The missionaries themselves are the last to claim that all has been done that might have been. The treasure has been in very earthen vessels, often leaky and defective. Nevertheless, the aggregate results of the last century of missions have been in harmony with the symbolical prophecy of Pente- cost, no less than the thrilling story of the first century. The whole philosophy of missions is in- volved in this proposition. Peter at Pentecost, bringing three thousand converts into the new-born Christian Church ; and Morrison, toiling for seven long years before baptizing his first convert; both equally illustrating the symbolism of Pentecost? Incredible ! But if we can not establish our propo- sition, then the modern missionary propaganda is of man, not of God, and it will come to naught- 222 SPIRITUAL FORCES. The very idea of a harvest carries with it the thought of previous long labor and patient wait- ing. It often happens that one soweth and an- The First other reapeth, but there is never a harvest ^'^^-^^H^sulden out a sowing by some one. It was pre-eminently so at Pentecost. "There were dwelling at Jerusa-,, lem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven" (Acts i, 5). They were there because they were "devout." They had come on a long, tedious, and expensive journey that they might worship God. They had fed upon the law and the prophets. Like Simeon, they were "waiting for the consolation of Israel." All they needed was to be convinced that the Messiah for whom they had looked had really come, and that Jesus, the crucified and risen, was indeed He. The plow- share of the law had broken up the fallow ground of their hearts : the seed of the promises had been sown by Jehovah's prophets, from Samuel to Malachi : it had been watered by the tears of Jere- miah, and enriched by the blood of martyrs from Abel to Zacharias. For centuries had the Lord of the harvest waited patiently, until the fullness of time should come. When Peter stood before these assembled multitudes, he knew that he had but to put the sickle into the ripened grain. Nearly half of the brief extract of his sermon that has come down to us consists of quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures, which all his audience held in almost idolatrous veneration. The remain- 223 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. der of it is made up of brief comments upon and ap- plication of the passages quoted. These thousands agreed with the premises of Peter's sermon, and they naturally accepted his conclusions. Such results would be psychologically Impos- sible with a Hindu or Confucian audience. Peter MDd^erB was too wIse a preacher to have preached that on """■'sermon to a pagan multitude. As well go with a modern McCormick harvester into an unbroken wilderness. When the hardy pioneers crossed the Appalachians into the Ohio Valley, they not only brought their seed grain and their sickles. They used first of all their axes, and then their spades and plows. They cleared the forest before they sowed their grain. The pioneers of the pagan wilderness were no less practical in their methods. Morrison's Chinese Dictionary consumed as many years in its compilation as Jacob spent for love of Rachel. Half of that mighty man's life in China went into that one work. But every mis- sionary since Morrison has been beholden to him. He furnished the key that unlocked the door of that sealed land. The century just closing has seen a little harvesting in China ; but the real work of this one hundred years has been one of clear- ing the wilderness and breaking up the fallow ground. Carey, Judson, Morrison, Maclay, men of little faith, because for a week of years or more they saw no visible fruit of their labors ! These were the men before whose faith ours seems to 224 SPIRITUAL FORCES shrivel into nothing. Anybody can believe in the Lord of the harvest when he is in the midst of the joyful labor of gathering in the golden grain. They who can toil on with cheerful heart and buoy- ant spirits while Sydney Smiths sneer, and wise- acres wag their heads and say "Aha, aha !" while the daily message delivered for more than two thousand times falls upon deaf ears: these be the men whose faith rebukes our petty impatience that the harvest is so long delayed. They were content to sow, that a later generation might reap. They endured as seeing Him who is invisible. The greater part of the first century of modern mis- sions has been in the nature of clearing the forest and preparing the wild virgin soil for the seed of the Word, rather than harvesting the ripened grain: but that makes the labor no less Pente- costal, if it be less dramatic. The foregoing chap- ters have been. In part, devoted to an attempt to make clear the work of the axe and the plow. The axe of literature has cleared much of the dark forest, letting In the light of day. The edu- cational plow has been one of the mightiest Instru- ments in the hands of the great Husbandman to break up the fallow ground. The Industrial plow has been of use, but too often it has been left In the furrow, unappreciated or unskilfully used. The medical plow has been one of the most diligently and effectually used of all. But while the great Pentecostal harvest in China is 225 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. still in the future, yet the Lord of the harvest has not kept all the husbandmen waiting or simply clearing the ground and sowing the seed. There has not yet been "the sound as of a rushing, mighty wind," but the still small voice has often spoken, and even the tongue of fire has not been altogether silent. Taking the Pentecostal power in its broader, deeper, and truer sense as embracing all the work of the Holy Spirit in pro- ducing a spiritual harvest in the world, every for- eign mission field abounds in modern chapters in the Acts of the Apostles. Perhaps in no one line of action is this more apparent than in the Providential guidance and Guidance care given to the Spirit-called men and women vfthe spmt ^^^ ^.^jj j^^ ^^^^^ distant fields. It is a fundamental principle of science that "like conditions produce like effects." Because the development of modern civilization and the spread of education in Western lands have produced fundamentally different con- ditions from those that existed in Biblical times, the tendency is for us to discredit or look with suspicion upon many of the ways that God is represented as teaching and leading His people in primitive ages. This seems to be hardly according to the accepted principles of our boasted science. In "the changeless East" we have still a repro- duction of many of the conditions of ancient Israel and of the times of our Lord. It is not unreasonable to expect like primitive workings of 226 SPIRITUAL FORCES. the Divine Spirit. For example, Old and New Testament Scriptures abound in accounts of God's teaching and guiding His servants by means of visions and dreams. This is a much discredited form of spiritual instruction in these days in Chris- tian lands, and rightly so. But among the primi- tive peoples of Asia God seems to use it still, and for the same reasons that it was effective in the times of Samuel, of Isaiah, and of Paul. It is because of the almost universal belief in visions and dreams among the people. Their idolatry is full of it. This habit of mind makes it the most natural method of spiritual guidance. Permit an illustration from personal experience. Immediately after our marriage at Foochow, mentioned in the previous chapter, we traveled overland to Hinghua. We had temporary rooms fitted up in the chapel while an old ancestral hall, which had been bought from a family who had all become Christians, was be- ing made over into a foreign residence by putting in board floors and doors and windows. The furniture for this residence, and other heavy freight, was to come later from Foochow. To bring all this overland, a two days' journey upon men's shoulders, would have been very expensive and destructive as well. After careful inquiries, we decided to run the risk of storms and pirates, and to ask Doctor Nathan Sites, who had charge of the matter, to ship our goods by native junk 227 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. via river and sea to our Hinghua port, Antau, whence they could be brought to Hinghua City by canal boats. It was a new thing under the sun, and with many misgivings the plan was finally agreed to. A 'junk was chartered at Foo- chow, and a large part of the money advanced. The goods were put upon two large lighters, and started down to the river to where the junk was lying. Doctor Sites went with the lighters to see everything carefully transferred. To his amaze- ment the junk was not there. That morning it had quietly weighed anchor and put off, no one knew where! Disgusted and mystified with such perfidy, there was no alternative but to order the flat-boats back to Foochow. Scarcely had Doctor Sites disembarked on the jetty, when a man ac- costed him, introducing himself as a Christian from Hok-chiang, the county lying on the sea- coast between Foochow and Hinghua. This is the substance of the man's story: "I own two or three junks. Several days ago, while I was asleep at night, I saw a white robed visitor who said to me, 'Take your boat to Foochow as soon as you can, and bring the goods of the Hinghua missionaries to Hinghua.' When I awoke, I was much distressed because my boats were all at sea, and I could not obey the summons. But after five days one returned, and I immediately went aboard; and here I am, to take the goods free of charge." 228 SPIRITUAL FORCES. You can imagine the good doctor's amaze- ment. The two lighters were unloaded upon this Christian's boat: and a safe passage landed all at Hinghua City. The story spread among our Christians. They said, one to another: "These new missionaries are surely sent of God. We must rally around them." And they did. It was a physical impossibility for that man in Hok-chiang to have received any Information as to our plans for transportation. The most reasonable explana- tion Is the simplest, that the almost universal belief in visions among the primitive people In these lands, as in ancient times, caused a wise Providence to use similar means to Impart in the most effective Way an important spiritual lesson. The Holy Spirit is given for guidance, as well as for inspiration. This is manifested in God's providential care over His servants in carrying out a Heaven- His will, while harvesting the ripening grain. One ^'"* ^'"""' Instance may help to strengthen the faith of the reader, and honor Him whose ways are past find- ing out, but who numbers the hairs of our head. When we went to Hinghua in November, 1890, there was no other foreign family living nearer than Foochow. To secure a physician in case of urgent necessity, a messenger must go to Foochow overland, a journey of two days and nights, and an equal time would be consumed by the physician in coming. Living in Chicago with the nearest physician In San Francisco, one would be closer in 229 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. time than we were. Good friends remonstrated with us for being so rash. Our second child was born there, attended only by a Chinese woman who had taken a course at the Woman's Hospital in Foochow. We lived there for nearly five years before we had any resident physician, and in all that time only once did we imperatively need a doctor, and then one was on hand more promptly than if he had resided half a mile away. One day in January, 1894, a servant rushed in with the news, "There are two foreign men out in the front yard." Hastening out to wel- come the strangers, as a door of the court opened a tall, slender young man almost fell into his host's arms, saying, "I am sick." His companion, a much older man, was recognized as Doctor Kipp, a veteran evangelistic missionary of the Dutch Reformed mission of Amoy. The sick man was Doctor J. A. Otte, a medical missionary of the same society. They were on their way to Foo- chow from their station of fhang-chau, a five days' journey south of Hinghua. Doctor Otte seemed to have an acute attack of what was then called the "Grippe." We took the best care of him we could, and he improved rapidly. The second day he thought himself able to proceed on his journey, and they were about to start, when his hostess asked our faithful Chinese nurse to bring the baby boy Francis, ten months old, saying that he had been restless during part of the night, and 230 SPIRITUAL FORCES. seemed to have a little fever. The doctor care- fully examined the child, and noticing suspicious symptoms, turned to Doctor Kipp saying : "I think I would better stay here for a day or two and see what this is. You go on to Foochow, and I will follow as soon as I can." Before that day closed, the doctor's suspicions were confirmed — our baby had the small-pox! Doctor Otte told us that he himself was taken ill only a few hours after leaving home, and pru- dence dictated an immediate return, but he could not make up his mind to order the chairmen to "about face." He reached the large station of Tsuen-chau on the third day, and here was a hos- pital with an eminent physician. Dr. David Grant, and his junior colleague, Dr. Paton. It seemed folly not to stay there for treatment: but in spite of protests of friends, he pushed on two days farther until he reached the place where, unknown to himself or to any of us, he was soon to be needed so imperatively. Had he arrived in health, he would have gone on the next morning, before the dread disease had shown itself. The saintly Bishop Ninde visited the Eastern Asia missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1894-95. It was war time and winter. He was advised by many not to undertake the journey into Korea. His reply might well be graven upon the medals of highest award for deeds of bravery : "It is my duty to go; and I am too much of a 231 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. coward to step out of the path of duty." The way of duty is the way of safety. The Father's care is the essential thing, not the external con- ditions. In doing the Master's will any place is safe. It is this that makes the life of the foreign missionary, even in the interior of China, one of joy and peace. He hears the assurance from the lips that never deceived : "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." It was in June of 1893, less than three years after our arrival in Hinghua, that our first "Pente- o«r costal Meetings" were held. This ten days' Home Rt'ui'val Camp-meeting in Hinghua City marked a new era in the work. Probably the most effective and accurate account of it will be made by reproduc- ing a letter written to our then missionary secre- tary, the late Bishop McCabe, dated June 19, 1893, and published by him in the Church papers. "My Dear Brother: Last Wednesday night we closed a ten days' Home Camp-meeting in Hinghua City. It was a Pentecostal time. We had been waiting, preparing, praying, working for it for a long time. Sunday, May 14th, was Ep- worth anniversary day. The subject was: Prayer for the Holy Spirit. At the League meeting 'Sun- day night the spirit of prayer fell upon us. When the time came to close, we dismissed the little chil- dren and those who did not care to remain. The Biblical and Women's schools both stayed in a body. We knelt in prayer, and everybody seemed 232 SPIRITUAL FORCES. to forget the flight of time. Forty minutes passed, the spirit of prayer seemed universal, incessant; even then I had to ask them to arise. All felt God was leading. We must have special meet- ings. This we did every night that week, with no abatement of interest. The following Sunday our Chinese presiding elder, Rev. LI Diong-cui, said he thought all the preachers and workers should be called together to share the blessings we were receiving. Most of the preachers and others, except five or six who were educated in Foochow, had never attended a series of revival meetings. "We sent out word for all to come for a ten days' meeting, beginning Monday, June 5th. They came, not knowing what to expect, but all except one of the twenty-five preachers were here, and he was detained by sickness. The day-school teachers, the Bible women, the SIngiu Women's schools, and a few others came — in all about one hundred men and women who, with the students in the city, made up a congregation of over two hundred at every service. In the afternoon the men and women had separate services, and at four o'clock the men went to hold street meetings. Now I wish to give you a plain account of just what happened. At the beginning, I was appar- ently strangely led to preach as to an unconverted congregation. This was not my planning. These were Christian workers. But I could prepare 233 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. nothing else, and repentance — the new birth, the judgment to come, were the themes. For two days there was a stubborn resistance, while conviction was deepening. Then, one by one these preachers, students for the ministry, and Bible women began to confess, either that they had never had a clear witness of the Spirit to pardoned sin, or they had lost it! By Thursday nearly the whole company were completely broken down; such repentance, such confession, and such pleading prayer I have seldom, if ever, witnessed. We could not invite them forward for prayers; there was not enough room. At several services the whole house was an altar. On Friday the Comforter came. They were converted in their rooms, at the services, in the after meetings. That night we gave up the meeting to the people to tell the glad news. The difBculty was to get a chance to speak; four or five wanted the floor at once. "Do not think that these men were hypocrites before. Most of them were hard workers, and were doing much good. No doubt many were living as near up to their light as the average pastor in the home-land. Think of their heathen surroundings, barren literature, and generations of heathenism behind them, and you can understand how it came about. . . . The last three days, from Monday till Wednesday, we sought to lead them to take Christ as their full Savior from the power of sin, and to be baptized with the Holy 234 SPIRITUAL FORCES. Spirit for service. The spirit of prayer and vic- tory were more and more manifest. The women were equally blessed. Misses Trimble and Wilson, together with Mrs. Brewster, labored and prayed with and taught them. Their greatest victory was on the last day. The final praise service, Wednes- day night, was a time never to be forgotten. For two hours the testimonies, clear and ringing, told of Jesus the mighty to save. We had to limit the time, and assign the floor to the one having the best claim, always several rising at once. I did not take any census, but certainly over one hundred were clearly converted or reclaimed, and all baptized anew for service during those eventful ten days." Thi.s account throws light upon an important feature of Christian work in all pagan lands. The real spiritual conversion of the people is generally an experience entered into some time after the conversion from idolatry. The great revival now going on in India, as remarkable as any move- ment since the first century of our era, is almost wholly within the Church itself, among the exist- ing Christian community. It is another illustration of Pentecost being a harvest, following laborious tillage. The missionaries have prepared the soil and sowed the seed, cultivating it with infinite patience and toil for half a century. The year of Jubilee has come, not as yet in a vast Ingath- ering from without, but In a spiritual harvest from 235 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. within : the only place where it reasonably could be expected. It is a serious mistake to suppose that this previous cultivation must all be done by human The agents, and that it must extend over a long course c^ftlZ °/ y^^"*®- To the Jew and to the average Chris- tian of his time, Cornelius was a heathen soldier; but in reality he was "A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, who gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God al- way." He was not a Jewish proselyte, though no doubt he had read the Old Testament Scrip- tures, and worshiped God as therein portrayed. Always there have been such men in the midst of paganism. They have been the salt that has kept the whole body from hopeless putrefaction. It is the common experience of missionaries that their most exemplary and spiritual converts are those who were most zealous in their idolatry. Very few of the devout in China, like Cornelius, "pray to God alway." His contact with Judaism had taught him this. In China these genuine seekers after God usually practice idolatry In some form, but to them the idols are symbols of spiritual be- ings. Several years ago a missionary of the Eng- lish Baptist mission in Shantung, told In the "Chinese Recorder," among other reasons for the unusual success of their work In that province, that there were scattered over their territory small bands of zealous religionists usually gathered 236 SPIRITUAL FORCES. around a leader, who was like a priest to them. It has been the policy of the mission to search out these leaders and preach to them Christ. Many of them had accepted the truth, and in most cases they had been able to bring with them into the Christian Church many of their followers. Doctor John Ross, of Mukden, gives valuable testimony upon this important feature of the work of the Holy Spirit in non-Christian lands. Doctor Ross says : "Numbers of men and women who, before they knew Christianity, were earnest zealots, laboring by asceticism and endless ritual to work out peace for themselves, have entered our Church. As might be naturally expected, these are the most zealous and the most effielent preachers of Christianity to their fellow country- men. . . . We have here, then, the remarkable fact that many thousands in monasteries and in the homes of common life are, as we put it, con- vinced of sin, and yearn for and strive after some way of deliverance. For many years we have made a special point of becoming acquainted with the more earnest of the Buddhist sects into which this class finds their way. Not only does Chris- tianity open the prison doors of these prisoners of despair, and exchange their moans for songs of glad deliverance, but in these delivered ones we have Incomparably the best agents for the extension of Christianity among all classes of the people. One such man, well instructed, is of more value 16 237 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. in bringing the influence of Christian teaching to bear upon those who are without, than any for- eigner, however able, however wiUing, or however zealous."^ We have had similar experiences in Hinghua, though upon a much smaller scale. In the year 1893, while attending a quarterly meeting at Po-io, a native seaport, I noticed among the men baptized one of remarkable purity of face. His was a real saintly countenance. The impression was deepened by a brief conversation that this was a most unusual convert. He seemed to undei-- stand spiritual things at once, without a long process of training. To him prayer seemed to be as natural as his very breath. Upon Inquiry it was found that he had been the leader of a group of religious zealots in his home neighbor- hood, who had practically discarded the ordinary idolatry of the region, but burned incense to the unseen spirits, good and bad, and to the "Lord of heaven and earth." They prayed as best they knew, and sought to live exemplary lives. He had spent many years in search of the Truth, going to visit all the shrines, and the "holy men," "living Buddhas," and whomsoever promised help to the sIn-sIck soul and held out hope for salvation in the future life. Later he had joined a vege- tarian sect called the "Three Religions," founded 2 " Mission Methods in Manchuria," by John Ross, p. 50, Revell and Company, 1903. 238 SPIRITUAL FORCES. about three centuries ago by a Hinghua literary man, who claimed to be the incarnation of the founders of all three of the State religions of China. This man, named Na Leng-gang, was of high character and brilliant mind. He was cer- tainly, an earnest seeker after the truth. He still has many disciples in this prefecture. Some time they will turn to the Christ, for whom their hearts hunger but know it not, "as the doves to their windows." Ten yeai-s before his baptism, this man, Ng Hong-bau, had heard of Christ, and for several months had attended Church services in a village about five miles from his home. But not yet being fully satisfied of the claims of Chris- tianity as the one true religion, he had again gone in search of heart rest. He believes that God permitted or ordered this return to false faiths that he might be better prepared by experience of the vain search to lead his fellow countrymen to Christ. Shortly before the above mentioned quarterly meeting, he was planning to organize a society of the "Three Religions." Sorely troubled in spirit he went into his private room, leaving word with his family that he was not to be disturbed for any reason whatever; and there for three days and nights he fasted, and prayed to the "God of heaven and earth" to reveal to him the truth. The "Three Religions" taught and practiced among other things exactly what a very modern sect 239 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. whose headquarters are in Boston claims as a new discovery, the "Christian Science" or "Mind- cure" doctrines. Hong-bau had cured many people in this way. But he found that those whom he had helped, instead of being grateful, in many cases became enemies rather than friends, and soon went back to their sinful habits. In his deep dis- tress he called upon God to explain to him (i) "Why are these people whom I helped so un- grateful?" (2) Should I permanently organize a Three Religions society?" After three days of agonizing prayer, the Spirit of God, as he believes, revealed to him the truth. Regarding the first mystery, the Spirit led him to understand that: "The sicknesses of these people are because of their sins. It can do them no good to cure their bodies if they do not repent of their sins. Their physical pain is deserved punishment. Seek first to turn them from their wicked lives, then help heal their bodies." The second question was answered: "I have already established the Christian Church. Christ is the only Savior. Believe Him, and bring your followers Into His Church." Immediately, this Spirit-taught man went to the nearest Christian Church and joined it, with his whole family. For many years he has been a remarkably useful lay preacher. He keeps our mission book-store with great efficiency and scru- pulous honesty. All day long he preaches the great truths that he prizes so highly, because he sought 240 z o < a: w K h o D <; 6 z o o z SPIRITUAL FORCES. for them so long, as the "merchant seeking goodly pearls." He has literally sold all that he had and bought the pearl of great price. He gives with amazing liberality. His life is a shining example of the indwelling Spirit. But during those twenty years while he was seeking the light, praying to God, keeping himself pure from all defilement of the flesh, gentle and forbearing in all his dealings with his fellow men, who can doubt that he was accepted of God, a soul redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb? What is that querulous voice saying? "Why send missionaries to heathen lands, if these people can be saved without a knowledge of the historical Christ?" My friend, such cases are rare. The average man does not thus hunger and thirst after righteousness, either in Christian or in pagan lands. In all ages and countries the marriage supper of the Lamb can be furnished with guests only by the Lord's servants going out and con- straining the people to come in. But few readers will raise such a question. Rather will they re- joice as did Peter upon learning that "God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to Him." To the disciple sitting at the feet of Jesus, learning of Him, finding rest, and joy, and peace, can there be any stronger appeal to go or send the messenger of the Cross of Christ than the pathetic figure of this wanderer 241 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. from shrine to shrine, from teacher to teacher? Who would not count it all joy to bring to such the message that there is One who has invited all the weary and burdened to find rest in Him? Sometimes the modern prophet grows weary and discouraged at the apparently unequal and losing conflict with heathen Ahabs and Jezebels. He sits down under a juniper tree and can scarcely refrain from saying with Elijah: "It is enough;, now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. ... I, even I only, am left." But God, who knoweth the hearts of all men, comforteth and enlighteneth the Elijahs of every age by reminding them that there are still "seven thousand In Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." As China presents the best type of paganism in ancient or modern times, it is altogether probable that this class of Spirit-pre- pared minds are more numerous amongst the Chinese than in other lands. It is the business of the Christian missionary to search out these struggling souls, feeling after God, if haply they might find Him, and tell them that He Is not far from each one of them. Let the conviction become general in any section of China among this class of seekers after God — and they seem to be everywhere — that Christianity Is indeed God's final and complete revelation to men, and ere long Pentecost will be repeated there in power. It 242 SPIRITUAL FORCES. win not be merely the work of the Holy Spirit at that particular time, but the outcome of years of preparation, when "the true Light that light- eth every man that cometh into the world" was shining dimly, but yet truly shining, into the souls of men yearning for the Truth. As John the Baptist was forerunner of the Messiah, preparing the way before Him, so the Holy Spirit is making straight the paths before the modern messengers of the King. Let us get out from under the juniper tree, and in 'the mount of God listen to the still small voice bidding us throw ourselves with fresh courage, and zeal, and faith, into the mighty world forces, be they kings and potentates or great social and religious reforms. Let us be- lieve His assurance that we are not alone. Seven thousand times seven thousand humble, unknown, Spirit-taught men and women in the midst of the mass of pagan idolaters are awaiting the prophet's call on Carmel. 243 CHAPTER X. THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. The average man who thinks about missions to the Christless nations at all, regards the work " The as more or less Quixotic. It is a benevolence, of Mfssions" i^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^'^^ Points Mission, whose aim he supposes to be not to abolish or even to revo- lutionize the slums, but simply to save an occa- sional soul that would otherwise perish. To him the missionary societies are merely great charity organizations, whose objective Is worthy of all praise, but the most that can be expected is that they will persuade a few tens of thousands of pagans to turn from their idols to worship the only true and living God. It is easy enough to draw a truthful, yet very dark and discouraging picture of what has been accomplished and seems likely to be attained, as compared with the un- done task. From this point of view, it is not difficult to prove that missions can never be other "than a failure, since there are more non-Chrlstlans now in the world than there were a century ago, when Morrison came to China. The inadequacy of the efforts we are making to evangelize these myriads Is often vividly pictured by showing that 244 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. in China, for example, in the year 1900, counting all the men, ordained and unordained, their wives and the unmarried women, there was but one for- eign Protestant missionary to one hundred and fifty thousand of the estimated population. That proportion would give only one minister of the Gospel and his wife to the District of Columbia; while the great State of Ohio, with its more than four million people, would be ministered unto in things spiritual by ten men ordained and mar- ried, assisted by eight deaconesses ! The cry is sometimes raised, "Let us double the missionary force in the next five years," in a given field. And that is a stirring appeal. The rate of in- crease of new recruits of late years has been most encouraging. But what are these among so many ? Would the spiritual destitution of the Capital City be materially improved by having two clergymen and their wives, instead of one? Or would a score of them grapple with the situation in Ohio much more effectively than ten? The truth is that if we admit that the evangelization of these Asiatic millions is to be d'-ne by foreign mission- aries, then we have undertaken a hopeless task. The Protestants of Europe and America never will contribute the money and the missionaries sufficient to do a work so stupendous. To all such honest doubters of the practica- bility of missions, the best reply is to admit the force of the argument, and then even go further, 245 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. and assert that it is not only impossible to Chris- tianize these nations In that way, but It Is un- desirable as well. Nothing is more certain to in- Not De sure failure in this huge undertaking than for the lordly Caucasian to be Imbued with the Idea that he Is to do it all. If he could, it would be the worst thing possible for the intellectual, moral, and spiritual development of the people to whom he goes. We would then have an exotic, not an indigenous Church, and an exotic Is always an expensive and puny thing. At a missionary con- vention In America a missionary from the tropics saw a number of plants in large pots around the communion rail. He asked one of the attendants what they were. His Informant, amazed at the poor man's Ignorance replied, "They are palms !" Palms ? That much-commiserated returned exile had spent his all too Infrequent vacation days In the mid-tropics upon the seashore in a grove of palms that towered fifty to one hundred feet Into the heavens. And these pot plants on the edge of the platform were palms ! No wonder he had forgotten how a North American palm looked. Yet these cost more than those. They required a furnace and a glass house all winter, and care that cost time and money just to keep them alive. Fruit? No, they were only for ornament. In Singapore they are a source of great revenue. These convention plants are exotics; those In Malaysia are Indigenous. 246 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. Have you ever eaten a fresh leitchee? Or a lingeng? You will not find these words in your latest edition of the "Standard Dictionary;" nor pn,^ are. you likely to get any light upon these fruits ^■^".'"^ '°^^ from any books of reference at your command. And if you do find them mentioned in more than one place, almost certainly they will be spelled dif- ferently. Yet they are two of the most delicious fruits to be found anywhere. Beecher's familiar remark that, "The Lord doubtless could have made a better fruit than the strawberry, but He never did," Is excusable upon the ground ground that the great preacher never ate a fresh leitchee. This fruit grows upon trees; when ripe, It is about the size and color of a strawberry; the skin Is a rough, brittle bark, that covers a white meat with a black pit. It tastes — but who ever described a taste? A taste is like a religious experience — you must try It, to know It. That is why the Psalmist said, "O taste, and see that the Lord Is good." The lingeng is round; its bark Is smooth and yellow; the meat looks like that of Its earlier sister fruit, l)ut Is sweeter. Not a few prefer this to the leitchee, but the foreigner usually likes the leitchee better. Neither can survive heavy frosts, so that they do not grow north of Foochow on the China coast. They are dried and shipped all over China, being a luxury at the feasts of the rich. But the dried article Is very Insipid, as compared with the fresh fruit. 247 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Having long coveted this delicious fruit for his fellow countrymen, when planning for a fur- lough in the autumn of 1903, the writer had two of each variety carefully planted in large tubs, and crated. He looked after watering them himself. They were carried overland to Foochow, shipped to Shanghai, and then trans-shipped to the Pacific liner. The problem of care upon the steamer was a very difficult one. It took fees to the steward and deck hands. Whenever the returning mis- sionary was in a mood to look after anything, he gave them almost daily personal attention. They arrived at the port of San Francisco in good con- dition. The inspector of horticulture, whose duty It was to burn them up If they had any strange insects or fungus growth upon them, was pleased that he could spare them. Before we reached our hotel, Mr. Dorsett, an agent of the Agricultural Department at Washington, had been there to see if he could get possession of those trees. He had just arrived from Washington, appointed by the Department to open in Southern California a nursery for foreign, tropical, and semi-tropical fruits and plants. Mr. Craft, the inspector at the port, had told his friend Dorsett of his "find." With alacrity and relief those trees were turned over to the man best qualified In all the country to care for them. The trees have done well; and two years later the Department requested a further shipment of plants from Hinghua for propaga- 248 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. tion in Florida and Porto Rico, as well as Southern California. These leitchees were the second brought to America that survived the voy- age, while the lingengs seem to be the pioneers of their kind. But success with four trees does not mean that a shipload would do as well. The Agricultural Department did not cable for ten thousand more ! Had they done so, how many would have arrived alive? The American people are as able and willing to pay for good things to eat as any upon the face of this planet; but they never would make it profitable to cultivate whole orchards of any fruit with imported trees. These exotics will be carefully cultivated and propagated, as in China : when old enough to spare a branch, a ball of earth will be tied around a joint; it will throw roots out into the ball. After a while the branch will be cut off next to the trunk of the tree and planted. The process will continue for a dozen years or more, until trees can be put upon the market at commercial prices, and to our grandchildren these two fruits may become as common as oranges and bananas are to us; but it will be when the exotic has become indigenous. The foreign missionary is an exotic. He must live in these foreign lands in the most expensive way. Often he breaks down, and goes to his American or heavenly home before he has accom- plished anything. He is essential to the initial 249 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. stages of the work, just as the first fruit trees must be imported, no matter what the cost. But if the fruits of the Tree of Life are ever abundant enough to feed the famishing multitudes of Asia, the tree must become indigenous. The Young Men's Christian Association is one of the best organized and most effective forces "Foreign for the redemption of the Oriental peoples. It ^^"'' is led in China by Mr. E. S. Brockman, the gen- eral secretary for China, Mr. D. .Willard Lyon, the editorial secretary, and a very carefully selected body of young men. The key-note to their policy is found in a newly coined name for their mis- sionaries, ^"foreign helpers." We have heard from the beginning the expression "native helpers." It was natural for the missionary to adopt this term, applying it to the men whom he trained for service and then employed and directed in all their work. But while this view of the relation of the foreign to the native agent may have been inevitable in the initial stages of the task, yet it Is plain to any thoughtful observer that these great empires can never be won for Christ until that attitude of the foreigner to the native is radically modified, if not indeed reversed. Mr. Brockman and his associates boldly declare to the Christian young men of China : "We are the 'helpers.' You are the men who are to save China; and we are here only to help you get the work started." The foreign missionary Is a John 250 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. the Baptist of this movement. At best he can but prepare the way for the mighty host whom God will raise up to lead their fellow countrymen to Christ. Other qualities being equal, that mis- sionary will be the most effective who has the grace and the vision to say of the native apostle: "He must increase, but I must decrease." And he must say It as John said it, not In sullen regret, but with the ringing note of victory, "This my joy therefore is fulfilled." It Is especially im- portant that this be the attitude of the missionaries to the strong, proud, virile, Mongolian races of Japan and China. Anything that flavors of the patronizing or domineering spirit will be quickly and justly resented, and those who might become the most effective workers are disgusted and alienated. However, so long as the native worker is paid or supported by the foreigner's money, and the relation is that of employer and employee, it -wWlWhatisan be impossible to realize this ideal. The term church? "native helper," with all that it implies, will con- tinue to color all the dealings of the missionary with those who look to him as paymaster. An Indigenous Church must be self-supporting, self- propagating, and self-governing. This does not mean that the Church of Christ In China must be able to do all that is necessary for the re- demption of its own land before It can be con- sidered indigenous. May the time never come 251 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA when it desires to cut off all outside aid and build around itself a Chinese wall of exclusion. Cereals are indigenous to America, but the Agricultural Department searches all lands for improved va- rieties, that there may be constant progress. The ideal is a Church strong enough to walk alone, but glad to avail itself of every genuine aid that will accelerate its advancement without weakening its power of self-help. Such assistance will be especially needed and appreciated in the higher educational institutions, long after the evangelistic work throws away its crutches and finds it can run and not be weary, can walk and not faint. Students all over the world, and nowhere more so than in the United States of America, receive free education from the State, or have the cost reduced to a mere nominal tuition through great endowments. Many generations will probably pass away before the Christians of America justly can be relieved of the obligation of helping their poorer neighbor across the Pacific by making it possible for Chris- tian Chinese youth to secure the best education. So with the eleemosynary work In hospitals, or- phanages, institutions for the blind, the lame, the afflicted of all classes. China will be as generous in its giving when the Gospel of the humanities pervades the land, as any country on earth: but the multitudes are so great, the needs are so wide- spread and terrible, that her richer neighbors will find here an abundant outlet for their super- 252 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. abundant wealth for generations to come. Let no one get the impression that self-support in foreign mission work means immediate relief of the people of Christian lands from their obligations to give their money and their sons and daughters to this huge task. No greater calamity could come upon the Church in Christian lands than for the motive to become general which inspired the penurious deacon to pray, "Lord, convert all these heathen quick, so as- to stop all this expense!" At best, even after the Gospel has spread to every part of these lands, self-support will only mean a change of direction in the use of the. money : less for direct evangelization, but more for the equally essential work of higher education and the highest charity. Indeed, the money given for education will be far more effective when the dis- tinctively evangelistic work is carried on without outside aid. Then the indigenous tree will be laden with fruit. Missionaries generally admit these principles as fundamental. They differ more or less upon questions of method, in working out the theories w^y a into the concrete. Much depends upon local con- ^'"^^pi^ ditions, and the stage of development reached in any given field. Doubtless, if the writer's experi- ence were larger, and opportunities of observation had been wider, other fields would furnish far better illustrations of the practical application of these axiomatic truths In the science of missions. 17 253 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. To give a summary of the whole China field from statistical tables is the part of an appendix, and does not belong here. Moreover, the problems involved can not be shown in mere figures. We are dealing with a living organism; the only way to understand it is to see it living and growing in concrete form. The field where the writer has spent all his China life is of necessity more familiar to him than any other, and there is no alternative but to take our experience here to illustrate the thought of this chapter. Upon our arrival in Hinghua in the autumn of the year 1890, we found eighteen preachers Self-'m the district, working more or less diligently on inHmihua^^'n POor pay.^ The scale per month was: three dollars for the preacher; if married, an additional one dollar and fifty cents; and seventy-five cents for each child. All were paid at the same rate, whether ordained or not, whether in charge of a circuit, or junior preachers. A careful exami- nation of necessary living expenses convinced us that the allowance Vas inadequate, and that these men must eke out a living by other means. No wonder they sold medicines and took fees for various services. After consultation with the Chinese leaders, both clerical and lay, a plan was adopted with the consent of the missionaries at Foochow, according to which the Church members 1 The following sums of monfty are all in Mexican or silver dollars. One Mexican dollar is worth about fifty cents United States currency. 254 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. were allowed to increase their subscriptions to pas- toral support, for ordained men up to four dol- lars for the man, two for his wife, and one for each child. The response was that in one year the native contributions for pastoral support in- creased from one hundred and eighty-two dollars to four hundred and ninety, or an advance of nearly two hundred and seventy per cent. This far more than paid the small increase of about twenty-five per cent in rate of salaries. Clearly, a fairly liberal support for workers is as good economy in China as it is in America. But a serious difficulty soon presented itself. New places began to call for the appointment of preachers. The regular appropriation of the mis- The Prob- sionary society was about the same from year to i^„°^^"'^ year, and it was all needed for the support of the men already appointed. When a call comes to open a new village, if it is not quickly re- sponded to the probability is that opposition will arise, and the smoking flax will be quenched. To plan in the spring to wait for the appropriation of the next year, and that with a very slight proba- bility of getting the money even then, meant that the workers who branched out to these new places would soon become discouraged, and the calls un- responded to ere long would cease. Why not open these new places upon a self- supporting basis from the start? Not a few mis- sionaries believe that this is the best plan: and 255 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. argue that if the Christians never know any sup- port but their own, they will develop quickly, and be indigenous from the beginning. There may be parts of China where this is practicable ; and there may be missions that can do thorough work upon this basis: but in HInghua we find that it is not a safe plan. There is the constant danger of being drawn into political affairs. Any shrewd preacher with a little experience, untrammeled by supervision and unhampered by conscience, for a while at- least can make several tirnes a catechist's salary in South China by using his position ec- clesiastical to help his constituents in matters political. This is the temptation that must be guarded against most strenuously by every mis- sionary, especially in new stations at a distance from the foreign center. To put a Chinese preacher down in the midst of a multitude, in a new place, without salary except what he can get from these new Inquirers just out of and many of them scarcely yet free from heathenism, is to put too great a strain upon even regenerate human nature. We have found it best not to solicit subscriptions for pastoral support from new inquirers, or to receive contributions from them until they have been regular attendants upon wor- ship for at least three months. After they are known to have no political motives, they are per- mitted to have a share in the support of the Gospel. When China has a modern government, 256 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. where all receive fair treatment regardless of creed or connections, this extreme caution will be no longer necessary. But under existing condi- tions, it has seemed to us better to hedge about our work in this way: at best, the spiritual re- sults are far from ideal. In accordance with this policy, we began to let our opportunities and needs be known through correspondence and the Church papers ; and generous aid came, sufficient, with the steady advance in local contributions, to meet the frequent calls. For five years this went on. The progress was encouraging: but we found that the advance in self-support did not nearly keep pace with the increased expenses. The proportion of foreign to native money was even going against us. At this rate, a self-supporting Church was getting farther and farther away. In the midst of our perplexity a terrible calamity came upon us. It was early in August of the year 1895. We had spent the summer, as usual, in a little temple upon a mountain about one thousand feet high. The four miles from our residence in the city. While Massacre returning from a day in the city, having almost reached the foot of the mountain, I was stopped by the cries of a breathless messenger, bringing a formidable-looking envelope from the American consul at Foochow. Breaking open the seal, I learned what all the world had heard by cable two or three days before, of the terrible "Hua- sang Massacre," in which eleven English mission- 257 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. aries had been brutally murdered by members of a vegetarian society in Ku-cheng, about one hun- dred miles northwest of Foochow. The consul peremptorily ordered all Americans still In the In- terior to proceed to the vicinity of Foochow. We made hasty preparations, and started the following Monday, fully expecting to be permitted to return early in September. But the negotiations dragged into months. There was no prospect of consular permission to return before the Conference session early in November. Having this unwelcome leisure forced upon us,, we decided to Improve the opportunity to vlslf ^ ^"Shanghai, and also to see something of the worh Vacation'in Central China. Most people seem to think thai the missionary lives in the pleasant prospect ol getting a vacation after a while, and he endured the exile and labor In the hope that he will bd able to leave It for a furlough in a few years. The fact Is that the missionary's hardest trial Is to leave his work, and his greatest joy Is when he can return to it. The first fortnight of that vaca- tion this missionary was carrying about with him a burden that gave him no rest. He thought that the labor of years was going for naught, because of this enforced absence of all the foreigners. One night on the Yang-tse, it seemed that the burden was greater than longer could be borne. Kneeling down by the hard, narrow bunk In his steamer cabin, his prayer interpreted into plain English 258 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. was about thus: "O Lord, I do not see how You are going to take care of all those people down in Hinghua without me!" It seems foolish, and even amusing, now; but it was real enough then. But a Voice came out of the silence, as real as if human lips had spoken it: "Are they not as dear to Me as they are to thee? Have they not cost Me more than thee? Is there any- thing too hard for Me?" The burden rolled off into the dark, murky waters of the Yang-tse, and it did not return. The remainder of that vaca- tion was a genuine rest. We were confident that the work, so dear to us, was being watched by a sleepless Eye, and cared for by a tireless Hand. Early in October, upon our arrival in Foo- chow, one of the first to greet us was a young preacher from Hinghua who had heard the time Another of our expected arrival, and seemed to have no MutTng other business there, but had made the two days' journey just to tell us the news. He did not have to wait long for the opportunity. "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." He began by telling us how, about three weeks previously, a little group of Chinese preachers had come together in Hinghua City, burdened with their unusual responsibility and not knowing what to do. They prayed and counseled together. They said: "We have been depending too much upon the foreigner and for- 259 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. eign money. Now we see how weak we are." They re-dedicated themselves to the work, and solemnly covenanted together that they would give of their substance, as well as their strength, as they had never done before. One member of the staff in the city. Rev. Hu Caih-hang, was very ill at the time, but they adjourned to meet in his bedroom, where all could be together, and there around his sick-bed they all entered into Jacob's Bethel covenant: "Of all that Thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto Thee." The sick man began at once to recover. Then followed a characteristically Chinese scene. A group of American preachers, when on How the mount of transfiguration as these men were, Is //? would have sung the Doxology several times, while they shook hands. But these matter-of-fact Orientals did more than that. One of them quietly took out his pencil and said, "How much is it?" Each man frankly told the amount of his income that year: calculating the tenth was simple enough, and after subtracting the benevo- lences already given or pledged, they found they had eighty silver dollars. That was as much to them, with an average salary of less than one hundred dollars, as eight hundred dollars gold would have been to a similar group of Methodist preachers in America. The next night was the regular Thursday evening prayer-meeting: and these men, full of their new joy, one after another 260 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. told the story. Nobody exhorted any one, no col-' lectors were appointed, but before that meeting closed the eighty dollars were doubled. The news spread without any committee, and before our Mercury had left for Foochow the voluntary sub- scriptions had nearly doubled the one hundred and sixty dollars of the prayer-meeting. "Now," said he, "we have this three hundred odd dollars in good subscriptions and cash, but we do not know what to do with it. That is what I came up to Foochow to see you about." Difficulties of that kind do not generally trouble the missionary very long. But this seemed to be no ordinary dona- tion, to put into a building, or to open a new sta- tion, important and valuable as such work is. After careful consideration, consultation with fel- low workers both Chinese and foreign, and above all much earnest prayer for guidance, it was decided that we would organize forth- with a HInghua Home Missionary Society. At the session of the Foochow Annual Con- ference, which met In a short time after these memorable events, this bundle of tithes was re- ported as the first Home Missionary collection. Ordinarily, missionary societies are organized; like machines, they are wound up and set to running. The HInghua Home Missionary Society was born; a child of the Spirit, we simply clothed it with by-laws and a constitution, and christened it In the name of the Triune God. It has been care- 261 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. fully nurtured through more than a decade, and it has grown with the passing years. The following May the General Conference of 1896 constituted the Hinghua Mission Con- Theference, giving its boundaries the following de- M/VwoB scription : "The Hinghua Mission Conference Conference ^]^^\l consist of the Hinghua Prefecture, and of such adjoining territory as may be set off with it by a vote of the majority of the members of the Foochow Conference present and voting at the ensuing session." The Foochow Conference voted that the Ing-chung district should be a part of the Hinghua Mission. The new Mission Conference celebrated its creation by contributing to the now thoroughly organized Home Missionary Society one thousand, four hundred and thirty-one silver dollars. The next year the special thank-offering of 1896 was nearly duplicated, and in 1898 the people gave sixteen hundred and three dollars. Then followed the two years of severest test. The "Boxer" outbreak was preparing. Evidently, a crisis was approaching. The clouds that broke over China and a startled world In June of 1900, were not a thunder-shower that gathers in a few minutes while the sun still shines. To those who had ears to hear, the mutterlngs of that storm extended over many months. The year 1899 showed a sharp decline in our Home Missionary collections of three hundred and thirteen dollars, but this was largely made up in the total volume 262 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. of self-support by an advance of two hundred and forty-four dollars in contributions for pastoral sup- port. A year later, and the fiery furnace was heated seven times " hotter than its wont. The Home Missionary thermometer registered the lowest In our history, with a decline of one hun- dred and seventy-three dollars, leaving a total of only one thousand, one hundred and fif- teen dollars. But the marvel of all was not that it was so little, but that any collection was taken at all I While the heathen raged, our Chinese pastors quietly stayed at their posts, going about among their people with word and example of comfort and encouragement. The for- eigners were permitted by their consul at Foochow, Doctor S. L. Gracey, to remain In Hinghua if they saw fit. Toward the end of July it was thought best for the ladles and children to be taken to the vicinity of Foochow, and they found a com- fortable and safe refuge at the sanitarium on Sharp Peak, an island at the mouth of the River Min, while several of the men of both our mis- sion and of the Church Missionary Society, most of whom were unmarried, stayed on the field all summer, and there was no disturbance. The fact that the usual work was being carried on with- out interruption tended to counteract the effect of the wild rumors that were going about, and the presence of foreigners made it Incumbent upon the local magistrates to bestir themselves to prevent 263 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. an outbreak, which would in the end injure them- selves as much as any one else. So that every preacher came up to Conference in October re- porting, "All the collections taken." The total receipts showed a shrinking of only about ten per cent from the previous year. The form of the Fourth, which was like the Son of God, was with His own in the midst of the furnace, and they came out without so much as the smell of fire upon them. It is not strange that the next year was one of special thanksgiving, and the HInghua Church rAa«^/- celebrated its marvelous deliverance in a very ^'^'"^ practical way. They started out to reach for the Home Missionary Society the sum of two thou- sand dollars. It seemed like an impossible thing, except to the believers. It meant an advance of nearly eighty per cent. But the preachers came up to Conference with two thousand, three hun- dred and twenty-two dollars, or an advance of one hundred and eight per cent. However, that was under the inspiration of a special call, and It was in a prosperous season for the farmers. The year 1902 was a semi- famine season. For the first time within the recollection of "the oldest Inhabitant," one could walk dry shod across Irrigation canals on the first of May, which Is normally in the midst of the wet season. Crops failed, and prices of food advanced from sixty to one hundred per cent. Could we hold 264 ►V- < D X O Z lU l-Li j= a > h JZ u 'o D >, La C o £ z oo B _ c X .n u Qj" a: J3 D e J rt < Z OJ Cb o c < Z -1 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. our own under such conditions? We dared not ask for more, and it seemed presumption to ex- pect that. We told the people to do the best they could, and reported the results in the "Re- vivalist" as the summer went by. The preachers actually came to Conference with only twenty- three dollars short of three thousand, an advance of twenty-eight per cent. It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The years 1903, '04, '05, and *o6 showed a steady annual growth of almost exactly five hundred dollars, reaching, in 1906, five thousand and forty-three silver dollars. Of course the regular contributions to pas- toral support are made, in addition to the Home Missionary offerings, and year after year these two collections about equal each other. The reasonable expectation is that these contributions will ulti- mately cover all the needs of ministerial support. There is in the constitution of the society a pro- vision that one-fifth of all the collections shall be used as a contingent fund for the opening of new work, and other unforeseen needs. In this way, for several years past, all new work has been opened by funds locally raised. This makes the work self-propagating. The foreign missionaries have contributed liberally to the Home Missionary Society, partly as an example, but chiefly because they have seen in it the best place to invest their tithes. Of late years, the foreign money included 265 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. in these above mentioned sums would be about ten per cent of the entire amount. In the pas- toral support contributions, the proportion is much less. In the two collections this foreign money may reach seven per cent. The little group of pastors in whose hearts the society was born at that ever memorable prayer-meeting have set their paternal mark upon their child, and from the be- ginning nearly all the Chinese preachers have put a tithe of their salaries into this and other benevo- lences of the Church. This example of the pastors has been the real secret of this self-support move- ment. But for their voluntary liberality, nothing of the kind would have been possible. Surely, the saved life is to him that loseth it. It may be several years before the evangelistic work in this little corner of the Master's vineyard is entirely self-supporting. It will come, not by cutting open the tightly closed buds, but by cultivating around the roots. Nothing is gained by undue forcing in this direction. When the fruit is ripe, it will drop without any one shaking or clubbing the tree. Several years ago at a quarterly meeting at the native sea-port of Po-io, during the early testi- The mony meeting, a man arose and gave the following j'^ffl^'"„y unique experience: "Friends, you all know me. I have been a Christian less than a year, but I have much to be thankful for to God. You know I own a seagoing junk, and yesterday we came 266 THE INDIGENOUS CHURCH. into port, having been out in the great typhoon that swept this coast last week. Right in the midst of the storm my heathen crew struck. They said to me: 'This is the vengeance of the sea gods for your having become a Christian. Now if you do not promise us that you will make the usual offering to the idols if we get back safely to port, we will not touch another oar or rope, and we shall all go to the bottom together.' What could I do? I dared not deny my dod. I turned away from these men, went to a quiet part of the ship, and kneeling down I prayed to our great God and to Jesus His Son that He put it into the hearts of these heathen sailors to go to work. After a while I looked around, and every man was at his post, and doing his best. We rode the storm. None but our God could have changed the hearts of those men. I owe my life to Him. Now if I were still a worshiper of Idols I would have gone to-day to the temple on the hill, and offered a great sacrifice to show my gratitude. I do not want to be' less thankful to the God who heard my prayer. I have brought here an offering of fifty dollars. You brethren know better than I what to do with it. I leave that to you." This Chinese skipper was less than a year out of heathenism. Some members of that ofllcial board were not much longer removed from idolatry. They might have said, "Let us make this the nucleus for a new 267 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. church fund." They needed the church badly enough. They were worshiping in the reception hall of the residence of one of their own number. -But that did not seem to occur to them. They said, "We need a few new benches, for so many inquirers have been coming of late." So they took ten dollars for buying backless, narrow seats, and then turned over the remaining forty dollars to the Home Missionary Society. Of all the Christless nations, it seems probable that the Chinese will be the most- liberal in con- tributions to the work of their own evangeliza- tion. They are good at making money, and they are not at all miserly in the use of it. They have been accustomed to spend large sums upon their idolatry. It is natural for them to give in a similar way to their new faith. The newly- awakened national spirit will materially aid the missionary cause in this respect. The commercial opfening of the country will improve the social conditions, so that the willing-to-do will become the well-to-do. Take away from the Gospel herald the reproach among the heathen that he is an hireling of the foreigner, and you double his power. The sickly exotic has become indigenous. 268 CHAPTER XL CENTENARY CURRENTS. The colored sister quaintly and aptly described the situation of Christianity in China, when she criticised the Church choir with the remark: "Dem young folks, dey sings mighty fine; but de. Current trouble is dey blends too fa' apa't." A keen re- ^^i'^'' alization that our multitudinousness is the tap- root of our weakness, is the most noticeable cur- rent in the thought of the missionary body of China to-day. The pages of the "Chinese Re- corder," the missionary magazine of China, are crowded with articles and news items upon this subject. Convention programs are full of it. A national organization has been effected for the sole purpose of promoting Christian federation. The leaders of this movement have been chiefly missionaries of North China, but the interest is widespread; indeed, practically universal. One whole day of the Centenary Conference Is to be devoted to the question of "Comity and Federa- tion." In the light of the constant and favorable discussion that has been going on for several years past, there Is reasonable hope that in this direction 18 269 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. the results of the Centenary may be definite and far-reaching. There is no question in the minds of most of the experienced missionaries In China, that over- Apparentty hpping of territory is very harmful to the spir- Rfval Sects . , , ^ , , , „ ,4,, itual results of the work of all concerned. The difficulty is that to the Chinese mind, these Churches are rival sects. They are unable to un- derstand how it can be otherwise. The mystifica- tion of the non-Christian public will become greater as the country opens by means of im- proved methods of travel. When he can journey by rail, the Chinese "man in the street" will go abroad into other provinces. The seventy-two different missionary societies, a new one or more in each locality he visits, will puzzle him. When the missionary attempts to explain it all away, he finds himself in an embarrassing position. The Chinese gentleman asks: "Why do you have these many different Christianities?" The missionary hastens to explain: "There Is only one Christianity. These are simply dif- ferent organizations, with the same faith in the same Christ." "Then why do you have all these little so- cieties? Why not unite into one great and har- monious Church?" The missionary rejoins: " We agree upon essentials, but we differ upon minor doctrines, which keep us from uniting." 270 CENTENARY CURRENTS. Then the matter-of-fact Chinese wants to know: "How is it that you can not agree to let each man believe as he pleases about the non- essentials, and join hands upon fundamentals?" It is a waste of time to debate what is all but universally conceded. The "union in the air," that we hear so much about, needs to be put upon An the ground. Constructive statesmanship is the re- ^'JJZrence quirement of the hour. The Peking Federation Conference, held September 28 to October i, 1905, was the outgrowth of a meeting during the summer of 1904 at Peitaiho, the sea-side re- sort of North China. A committee was appointed at Peitaiho to arrange for a delegated Conference a year later, and also to secure by correspondence the consensus of opinion among missionaries upon the following questions: 1. The preparation of a union hymn-book. 2. The adoption of common designations for churches and chapels. 3. The adoption of common terms for God and the Holy Spirit. 4. The federation of all the Protestant Churches of China. Stenographic records were made of all that was said and done at this important Conference. Three thousand copies were printed, and one sent to each missionary. Great good was accomplished, at least in the way of effective agitation, which always must precede concrete achievement. It was 271 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. clearly demonstrated from the correspondence re- ported and the action of the Conference, that the missionaries as a body long for the time when the Body of Christ In China may be one. But it is clear that these questions, with the exception of the fourth, are only preliminary. A union hymn-book might be more convenient and eco- nomical ; but hymnology In China is still too young to be put Into a strait-jacket. It Is in its in- fancy. It needs plenty of fresh air and nourish- ment and liberty to grow. If it ever reaches a healthy maturity. As to the "terms question," It is an academic one, which really will settle itself in time by usage rather than by show of hands. Schemes for division of territory and union edu- cational institutions, all are important, and help toward the goal, chiefly by removing sources of local irritation. Then there are the movements to unite into one the various Church families, as the numerous bodies of Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Methodists. All these currents are in the right direction, and every disciple of the one Master wishes them success, but they do not strike at the real root of our difficulties. Protestant Christianity in China has two main sources of weakness : Weakness Flrst, the divisions within itself. '^ Second, the gulf caused by the fact that each Church owns a more or less dominating foreign allegiance. 272 CENTENARY CURRENTS. As long as these Churches are foreign in name, origin, control, and resources, they will be looked upon with suspicion by the average Chinese. The movement toward Christianity can not take on national proportions until the Church is na- tional.^ This is but a corollary to a previous chapter's proposition, that no tree can flourish until it becomes indigenous. To do away with the many divisions, without remedying the foreign al- legiance, would not materially improve the situa- tion. The Roman Catholics have not the first of these disabilities, but they have the second In Its worst form, and we know too well the Intense antipathy it causes. Plainly, any solution of the problem must remove both of these disadvantages. However, this fact need not disturb us, for or- ganic union seems hopeless of attainment, except upon the basis of a wholly new organization es- tablished upon national lines. Very seldom does any small denomination Consent to be absorbed by a larger one. Vested Interests, historic memo- ries, and too often less commendable reasons, make such marriages exceedingly difficult of con- summation. Still more Impossible is it to unite two large bodies, unless it be in an entirely new organization. The solution, then, if we admit the above premises, is the organization of "The Church of Christ In China" by a union of all the Protestant 1 The term " national " is not used in the sense of a State Church. 273 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. bodies. Nobody would be absorbed; none would be perpetuated; all would come in upon an equal 7"*^ footing. Why should this seem like an impos- o/' C/im/ sible thing? See what is happening right before in China our eyes now in Canada. The Presbyterians, the Methodists, and the Congregationalists are actually consummating organic union. If they can unite in Canada, what is there to hinder these three groups from becoming one in China? And if three, then why not thirty? or threescore and ten? To be sure, there are real difficulties in the way, and we dare not make light of or ignore them. These difficulties fall into three groups: first, the creed; second, ecclesiastical polity; third, foreign supplies. As to the first, the most Important fact to bear In mind In Its discussion is that no creed need The Creed state all that any one believes, even in religion. If we remember that in Christ's picture of the judgment. He that sitteth upon the throne has no word whatever to say about the orthodoxy of those upon His right hand, or the heterodoxy of those upon His left, we will have little difficulty in agreement upon the confession of faith. The admittedly essential points are few and simple, and enlightened Christians everywhere practically already agree. The second, the problem of government. Is Po/zV)- probably a more difficult one than that of creed. At best, any adjustment must be a compromise, 274 CENTENARY CURRENTS. for no plan will satisfy every one. But is the present system any more satisfactory? Is every- body content all the time now? As Dr. Arthur H. Smith recently put it : "It is only the question of which way is the least bad." Witness the dis- cussions that wax warm before and during a Methodist General Conference! The many changes that are made, and the many more that are advocated in vain, reveal how much dissatis- faction, active or dormant, there Is all the time. No existing system being incapable of improve- ment, and none that gives entire satisfaction, is it not reasonable to suppose that a commission, representative of all the Churches in China, would draw up a constitution for the "Church of Christ In China" that would be far better adapted to the conditions and needs of the Chinese Church than any one of the imported systems now in vogue? These forms of ecclesiastical government grew up under wholly different conditions from those which exist In China to-day. The new con- stitution would be the product of the matured experience of men who had given their lives to the work of Christ in China. Such a commis- sion, presumably, would have a large number of representative Chinese members. If our purpose Is to attain the highest efficiency for China, this would seem to be the surest way. Certainly, none need fear union upon the ground that the methods and polity of the new Church would be less effec- 275 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. tive in China than his own. Like new shoes, they might pinch a bit at first, but in the end they would wear longer and better than the easy but worn-out old pair. But how about the missionary societies ? This third point of difficulty, at first sight, really seems Foreign to be the insurmountable one of all. Few of "^^'"us will not agree that it is sheer nonsense to talk of organizing such a Church, and then leaving it to evangelize China without the aid of foreign money. Probably all agree that for a good while to come these appropriations from the missionary societies will need to be increased rather than diminished. Yet it is clear that there would have to be very radical changes in the present relations of the missionary societies to the work In China, if organic union should be consummated. To con- tinue the minute supervision and control of all financial' matters by the different society boards, with headquarters in Europe and America, would cause confusion worse confounded. Such union would be only nominal, and In the end probably shortlived. The simplest solution of such knotty problems Is usually the best one. Suppose the first and ^ ■S'a?- second stages of the evolution of the "Church of ^J«/1o« Christ in China" were successfully passed: the creed agreed upon, the constitution adopted, and the organization completed — ^what would be the next step that the new Church should take? What 276 CENTENARY CURRENTS. would be done in any other part of the world? Would it not organize a missionary society? In this day a Christian Church without a missionary society is an anomaly, if not a monstrosity. Being led by a body of men and women whose lives have been given to missionary work, it is reason- able to assume that the "Church of Christ in China" would organize its missionary society upon the most approved lines, profiting by the experi- ence of all the societies working from Europe and America. Naturally, its headquarters would be in China, and probably at Shanghai, the metropolis of the empire, for the same reasop that English societies generally have their head offices in Lon- don, and American societies in New York. "But how about the money?" is asked. Under such conditions, would the Churches of Western lands continue their contributions for China's evangelization? Why not? Is not the union for the sake of more effective service? What if Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists, as such, cease to be in China ? There will be more Christians than ever, and the money given will be used far more effec- tively than is possible under the existing condi- tions of long range, overlapping, and rivalry. What good reason can be given why the mis- sionary societies should not grant their former appropriations for China through the missionary society of the one Church, as readily as they have 277 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA given to support their own denominational organi- zations ? At first, the new society would be much like a missionary clearing house, through which these more than seventy foreign societies might have their funds administered with greater economy than is now possible. Of course, the wishes of the societies contributing to the work in China would be carefully conformed to, just as all philanthropic organizations receive gifts, which they administer according to the wishes of the donors. Gradually a division of territory might be arranged, by which a given society would become responsible for the evangelization of a certain province or section of it. Of necessity, the China Missionary Society would have its secre- taries or agents in America and Europe, to repre- sent the cause to the various societies and before the public, and with joint committees of the co- operating boards to supervise the exceedingly im- portant work of selecting suitable missionary can- didates. But the resources of the China Missionary Society would not stop with lump appropriations Outside from existing missionary organizations. The larg- Resources ^^^ society working in China, the China Inland Mission, with eight hundred and forty-nine mis- sionaries, fully one-fourth of all the missionary force in China, never solicits money contributions, and it has no organized Church constituency; yet "the barrel of meal does not waste, nor the cruse 278 CENTENARY CURRENTS. of oil fail." Is there any reasonable doubt that the union of all the Churches in China would arouse such sympathy and enthusiasm among the most spiritually-minded Christians all over the world, that contributions would flow into its treasury by every Incoming mail? Its monthly magazine would be second In interest to none of its class. We may be sure It would be admirably edited. It would sink an artesian well of ever- flowing supplies. However, all this has to do with the offerings from abroad. Ultimately, It is to the Chinese themselves we must look for the greatest work in The uiti- evangelizing their own people. The foreign "'"*' "" donor, as well as the foreign worker, gradually must give place to the Chinese giver and laborer. Even now there are local missionary societies in China to which the average contribution of the Chinese communicants, poor as they are, is greater than the per capita subscription to missions of the members of the same Church In the home-land. These small, but significant beginnings are a prophecy of what the "Church of Christ In China" will do when it is fairly under way. One chief reason why the advance in self-support In the past has been discouraging Is the fact that the churches have been foreign in control and sup- port. Make the organization national, and the Chinese members certainly would give far more liberally. Human nature is built that way. It 279 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. would be equally true in any land. The time will no doubt come when the unevangelized, or less evangelized, parts of China will be mission fields for Chinese Christians in the more favored provinces, as Fuhkien and Shantung. They will send their own missionaries into the regions be- yond, and support them. Presumably, Chinese representation and control in the affairs of the society would gradually increase, at least in the ratio of their contributions, as compared with the foreign income. When foreign money is no longer needed, the work of the foreigner is done. What a jubilee that will be! Will not the next Morrison Centenary see this glad consummation? This proposition is no Utopian scheme. Be- ing the largest mission field, China of necessity Example'is most difficult to movc. Our little neighbor, Korea, has not so many obstacles to overcome: fewer societies, less men, shorter distances. In June, 1905, a joint Conference of the missionaries of Korea at Seoul unanimously adopted a reso- lution that "The time is ripe for the establish- ment of one Korean Protestant Church, to be called 'The Church of Christ in Korea.' "" The carrying out of this resolution will be delayed until General Conference action can be secured for the two Methodist Churches, but indications are that it will not be opposed by those governing bodies. 2 Report of Thirteenth Conference of Foreign Mission Boards, 1906, page 21. 280 CENTENARY CURRENTS. At the Nashville Conference of Foreign Mission Boards, in speaking of this prospective union in Korea, Dr. John F. Goucher said: "But if they become independent Churches, who shall say no? It is progressive, and it is very manifest from the indications that this is the objective, though it is not to be hastened by legislation. The Methodist Church, I think you will find, thoroughly welcomes union in Korea. . . . The" development of the in- dependent Churches, independent of foreign con- trol, is the ideal towards which these nations are hastening; the whole tendency is towards unity. Therefore, whether It will be in the very near future, or a little later on, I doubt not that the unity will be realized to the glory of God."' Will not organic union in Korea be the forerunner of a similar consummation in Japan, and also In China? These people of Eastern Asia are de- veloping a strong national spirit. If the foreign missionaries do not move, the native Christians in each country will probably take the matter into their own hands. Abortive attempts have been made already in China, and though failures, they are very significant straws, showing the current's direction. Conversation with some of the leaders of the Chinese Church has convinced the writer that the undercurrent Is strong toward an inde- pendent National, though not a State Church. S Report of Thirteenth Conference of Foreign Mission Boards, igo6, page 25. 281 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Better far that the missionaries and the missionary societies join with and give sympathetic direction to the movement, than that they resist It until the tide can be stemmed no longer. In that event, disastrous results would follow. But there are no Indications that this tendency to union will be opposed by the broad-minded, ^H»/a£/« catholic-spirited leaders of the missionary move- ofmZns^^^^ in the homelands. At the Haystack Meet- ing Centenary, Dr. Arthur J. Brown, who stands second to none amongst these leaders of to-day, gave as his conception of the work of the for- eign missionary society, "To plant Christianity and help It get started, and then educate it to take care of Itself. . . . Let the Asiatics accept Christ for themselves, and develop for themselves the methods and institutions that result from His teaching."* The most frequently repeated ques- tion that the writer heard from thoughtful friends of missions, while he was on a furlough recently, was: "Do you not find that the many Churches In China cause confusion in the minds of the Chinese as to your real purpose?" It was Im- possible to give a negative reply. The opposition to the movement towards organic union, It seems, will be neither from the givers to missions, nor from the administrators of mission boards; nor will it be from the party by far the most deeply concerned, the Christians of these lands. Union 4 The Outlook, Oct. 20, igo6, p. 397. Quoted by Dr. Lyman Abbott. 282 CENTENARY CURRENTS. will come when the missionaries themselves catch the vision. The Psalmist touched the secret spring of all such action when he said: "I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart." Certain developments in the attitude of the government of China towards mission schools and colleges of late, show that it is of the utmost Hostility importance that the Christian Churches adopt a Gowrnment policy that will make plain how altruistic their real purposes are. "Recently the Board of Edu- cation drafted a set of rules which, besides other things, excludes students graduating from schools under the management of foreigners and mission- aries from examination for admission into the government service.'" Viceroy Yuan Shih-kai, soon after the above rule was published, issued to the district magistrates of the Chihli Province the following order : "I command you to note the difference be- tween the East and the West. Because this dif- ference exists, you must not give your consent to foreigners to establish schools or colleges for the education of Chinese young men in the interior of China hereafter, as stipulated in the regulations sanctioned by their Imperial Majesties some time ago. Should any foreign subjects or missionaries apply for permission to open schools in the in- 6 Chinese Students' Journal, No. 3, November and December, igo6, page 6. 283 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. terior, you shall neither grant them official regis- tration, nor bestow government rewards or prefer- ments on the students, even after they have com- pleted their course. This is to safeguard the edu- cational rights of China. As regards the foreign schools in this province already in existence, you can allow them to exist as they are at present, but no official registration shall be made. The foreign ministers will soon be informed of this action."" Why this almost fierce and manifestly unjust treatment of missionary schools? It is not oppo- sition to Western learning, for at about the time the above quoted orders were issued this same Board of Education was conducting an examina- tion of students returned from studying in for- eign countries. These candidates were awarded the very highest degrees, without paying any at- tention to their Chinese scholarship, and indeed in most cases they were known to be distinctly deficient in their Chinese education. The examina- tion papers were written in any language, at the option of the candidate, and eighteen out of forty-two were in English. "Not the slightest distinction was made between Christian and non- Christian candidates. In fact, the religious beliefs of the men were never made a matter of inquiry, and nothing was required of the candidates which 6 Chinese Students' Journal, No. 3, November and December, 1906, page 6. 284 CENTENARY CURRENTS. would enter into conflict with their religious scruples. . . . The credit for this exhibition of wise toleration is due to the examiners and the ofllicers of the Ministry of Education. ... Of all the thirty-two successful candidates, nine were Christians, eight Protestants and one Catholic."' Yet this same enlightened (?) Ministry of Education excludes graduates of Christian colleges in China from even entering the government ex- why This aminations! Evidently the objection is not to the^°^.''^^^^ religious doctrines taught in Christian schools, nor is there fault found with the quality of the schol- arship imparted. The "South China Journal," a Shanghai Chinese daily with an English page, of October 13, 1906, explains editorially that the above cited action of the Board of Education was taken "on the ground that China does not wish to encourage foreign interference In her educa- tion, as it may have the effect of hindering the attainment of extra-territoriallty abolition." Evi- dently the fear Is that the foreign-controlled Churches which conduct these schools, will fail to impart to the young men they educate a patriotic spirit, which is essential to the strengthening of the empire, in order that China may at an early date re-establish full control of her territory upon an equality with other countries. We know that these fears are groundless, but that they exist to 7 Prof. N. W. Yen in Chinese Recorder, January, 1907. (Mr. Yen him- self stood second in the honor list. He is a son of a late minister of the Amer- ican Episcopal Church.) 19 285 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. the great detriment to all kinds of mission work in China, is no less certain/ Is it not probable that these disabilities under which the missionary labors before the Chinese government and the Chinese public, would be largely removed by shifting the center of control of the Church from Western lands to China? This would disarm suspicion. The people of China have suffered enough from foreign aggres- sion to have a right to question the sincerity of foreigners. Each mission being a part of a for- eign organization, the missionary seems to be the agent of a foreign power. Put the entire ecclesi- astical authority in China itself, right under the eyes of the officials and populace ; give the Chinese Christians large representation in all Church councils; make it manifest to every fair-minded critic that the missionary is here, not to build up a society that owns allegiance to some mysterious power across the sea, but to aid the Chinese to 8 It is generally believed by foreigners and intelligent Chinese alike that these unjust regulations will not long stand. Minister Rockhill, in an official letter dated December 22, igo6, published in the " Journal of the Amer- ican Association of China *' of January, 1907, said in reference to Chinese Government recognition of degrees conferred by Christian Institutions in China, * there is reason to believe that favorable action may be taken." We are indebted to the "Chinese World's Students' Journal " of November, igo6, for the information that one of the most influential secretaries of this board has had the courage to lodge a protest against the enforcement of such legis- lation. This secretary declared : "Our Government, instead of using these students, rejects them, and drives them to seek employment under foreigners. Thus wt resolutely slam our doors against the faces of the only tnen who are at present tt^ he trustedfor honesty of purpose and uprightness of character." (Italics ours.) What higher compliment could be paid to the work of Chris- tian colleger in China ? 286 CENTENARY CURRENTS. build up a Chinese Christian Church, wholly self- governing, and it seems probable that the present attitude of government and people would rapidly change to one of confidence and good-will. The strongest visible current toward united effort Is seen in the work of education. Splendid plans are maturing, and already a few of them Tke Union have been carried out, for uniting into one the |^"^f ""''' several colleges that have grown up under the patronage of various missions in such large centers as Peking, Nanking, Hankow, Foochow, and else- where. In Peking a union medical school is an accomplished fact. The medical missionaries of the capital have united and formed, by all odds, the strongest medical faculty in the empire. The empress dowager contributed ten thousand dollars (Mexican) to this splendid enterprise. Fortu- nately, in this instance, the missionary teachers with the necessary training were already on the ground, and with very little additional expense the school could be organized. But the ready-to- hand staff of instructors for technical training stops here. The great weakness of the work of Christian education in China is that It Is almost wholly academic and general, not post-graduate and special. The criticism Is often made, and not unjustly, that the Christian Anglo-Chinese colleges produce chiefly clerks for the Customs service and employees for commercial houses. But Is this the fault of the colleges? They are doing all they 287 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. are equipped for. Technical training can be made profitable only after a general education as a foundation has been broadly laid. This founda- tion laying is the function of the college. Nor are the students who go out from the schools to be blamed for accepting and continuing in clerical positions. Their education has fitted them only for such employments. The existing Christian educational institutions in China drop their students at the point where they are prepared to learn to do something worth while. If these schools are to turn out men who will lead the empire, evidently Christian educators must ex- tend and specialize their work into the various departments of useful knowledge and technical skill. What a limitless opportunity for Christian philanthropy! One-quarter of the human race without a single well-equipped university for the professional or mechanical training of its sons! A population equal to that of all Europe com- bined, yet wofully lacking in the means of ob- taining any of the technical knowledge that makes a modern civilization possible. Let us particu- larize a little : ( I ) LAW. Constitutional government is promised by imperial decree; but how can this Needed pledge of the emperor be fulfilled without trained menfj'!n^'e Chinese lawyers? Who will organize Chinese i/si^CT-j/V;) courts ? Who will be the justices? Who frame modern legislation? As far as China's political 288 CENTENARY CURRENTS. future is concerned, this seems now to be the most essential need. (2) ENGINEERING. Railroads are not being built, rich mineral deposits are lying un- touched, not primarily for lack of money, but for want of men. "No engineers" is the lament everywhere. Ignorance of how to use it is the only limit to the possible water power of China's great rivers. Electricity has boundless possibilities; but all are latent. To the Western mind, the situation is scarcely conceivable. Nowhere in China is it possible to obtjin a thorough training in any of these lines of practical technology. (3) AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. The Western world is sending money to China; President Roosevelt has issued an appeal; the American Government is loaning its transports — all to help the starving millions in Central China. Floods have ruined crops, because the mountains are denuded of vegetation. The per capita value of the product of all Americans engaged in agri- culture increased from $287 in 1890, to $558 in 1905.° It nearly doubled in fifteen years, largely because of the work of the Government's Depart- ment of Agriculture and of the agricultural col- leges throughout the land. No wonder one American can cultivate as much rice as one hun- dred Chinese! It is a Christlike work to help feed these famishing myriads, but shall we stop 8 R. H. Edmonds in *' Review of Reviews," December, 1906. 289 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. here? It may be less spectacular philanthropy, but It Is certainly far more practical and econom- ical to give money to produce conditions where famines will occur no longer. When the wealth- producing and wealth-conserving forces are let loose in China, by the opening of mines and by the multiplication of modern transportation fa- cilities, and when these mountains and plains are treated scientifically by highly trained Chinese ex- perts in forestry and agriculture, famine, even in this most populous of the world's empires, will be only a matter of nistory. ^ (4) MECHANICS. As pointed out in the chapter on Industrial Education (V), unlike in- stitutions of higher education In the West, an all-embracing scheme for China would require a department where the mechanical arts and sciences are taught in the most thorough manner. China can never have waterworks until she has plumbers ; electrical appliances, until there are Chinese elec- tricians; wagons, before there are wheelwrights; and so on through the long list of appurtenances of our boasted civilization. Here is where the chasm between literatus and laborer may be abridged. (5) DENTISTRY. Here is, for China, an entirely new and much needed profession. If, as scientists claim, unsound teeth are one of the penal- ties of civilization, then China must rank high up In the list of civilized nations. Four hundred 290 CENTENARY CURRENTS. millions of people with thirty-two teeth apiece — twelve billion, eight hundred million dentistless teeth 1 — averaging three inches to each set, they would make a row of ghastly, grinning jaws from New York, via Peking, St. Petersburg and London, clear around the globe, with a good margin for a double track from New York as far as Buffalo! (6) ART. But are we to treat the Chinese nation as though it were only four hundred mil- lions of people to be governed, with bodies to be sheltered, clothed, and fed? To soul-culture, the beautiful is no less essential than the useful. In- deed, art and economics have become hopelessly intertwined in these latter days. Architecture Is simply unknown in China. All houses are built upon a common pattern, be they palace or hut. It would be difficult to devise any- thing more unsanitary. It is neither economical, comfortable, nor healthful. Who will plan the modern government buildings that the new regime will demand during the present generation? Music, even In China, is ancient enough, and was much cultivated by Confucius. There is no lack of reverence for it ; but alas ! the execution is excruciating. For this very reason, a modern conservatory of music would be appreciated by multitudes of Chinese as by few other people. (7) THEOLOGY. So much for the outside veneer of our civilization ; but what for the heart 291 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. of it? After a century of missions, a real the- ological school in China is yet to be established. There are training schools for Chinese evangelists, which have been very useful; and there are a few small institutions of a higher grade; but there is no school where what would be regarded in Europe or America as a full staff of professors are giving their undivided time and attention to the work of thoroughly educating Chinese young men for the Christian ministry. It is idle to ex- pect the graduate to go from the mission college to the training school for the ministry, unless that school is equipped to give really advanced, post- graduate work. One such theological seminary, with at least half a dozen of the ablest teachers, equal to any theological faculty anjnvhere, giving their whole time to it, would attract many of the devout young men from all the Christian colleges to enter the ministry. The standard of culture for the entire body of Chinese evangelists would be raised by it. From the feet of its Gamaliels would go forth the Pauls of China, to win their native land to Christ. Its graduates would change these many feeble training schools into real theolog- ical seminaries. It would give the brightest minds among the Christian young men a broad culture in modern scholarship that would prepare them to meet the attacks of materialism from without, and of destructive criticism within the Church. The Titanic struggle that is now on in China 292 CENTENARY CURRENTS. between the forces of light and darkness, calls for giants. If Christianity dominates China, it must have leaders intellectually equal to any in political or commercial life. To train such lead- ers, the School of Theology must equal that of Law, or Medicine, or Engineering. What better way of commemorating the first century of Protestant Christianity in China could be devised than for all Christendom to unite in ^ Fitting , ,. . . . . , . Centenary roundmg one great, mternational, mterdenomma- Memorial tional university for the highest post-graduate education in the learned professions and in tech- nology of every description ? To be sure it would take at least ten million dollars, gold, to do it; but that is not half of what has been invested in Chicago University, or in Stanford, or at Berkeley, California. It is reported that half of that sum was expended upon the buildings alone of the recently opened Harvard Medical School. One battleship of the "Dreadnaught" type repre- sents an equal outlay. Shall we put the price of a first-class man-maker lower than that of a first- class man-killerf The only reason that this sum seems large for such a purpose is that we have been accustomed to look upon missions as an affair of penny collections. "Silver offerings" fill up the traditional measure of our obligations to the "Christless nations." How prone are we to repeat the ancient question, "And who is my neighbor?" As though geography or ethnology had anything 293 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. to do with it! "My neighbor" is the man toward whom I have the opportunity to be neighborly^ Mr. Bryan, in his great Fourth of July speech in London in the year 1906, enumerating the ^^^'^ blessings which the Christian nations are bound ^^on the to Carry to the rest of the world, specified five: jj^^^.^ "Education; knowledge of the science of govern- Burden" ^cntnt; arbitration as a substitute for war; appre- ciation of the dignity of labor; and a high con- ception of llfe.^" Mr. Bryan had just returned from his tour of the world, where he had studied deeply the problems of the relations of the East and the West. Thoughtful, well-informed men everywhere will accept this statement of our debt to the Orient. For China, at this time, it is the writer's conviction that the Christian nations can fulfill these obligations In no way so surely as by founding one such great university. What good would It do? To put it upon the lowest plane, that of self-interest: the What gxQzt railroad magnates, the Iron, oil, flour, " and cotton kings of Western lands, could not invest a few millions In better paying stocks. Every civil engineer, every electrician, indeed every graduate from any department, wherever he went, would widen the market of each American and European manufacturer and farmer. But it is immeasurably more than a com- mercial question. The 'university would help 10 "The Outlook," July 14, 1906. 294 CENTENARY CURRENTS. mightily to make clear to the Oriental mind what Western civilization really is. It is not strange that there has been such misconception. The "seamy side" has been the one the Chinese have seen most constantly. Many of them think there is no other. President Wilson of Princeton, in welcoming the Chinese Constitutional Commis- sioners at New York, March lo, 1906, said to them: "We believe, in short, that everything that is sound in our civilization or polity is founded on the principles of the Christian religion, how- ever unworthy we may sometimes have been of our own ideals. We believe our missionaries to be the messengers among you of all that has made us great and vital."^^ At the same banquet, Ex-Mayor Seth Low said: "I am very far from saying that the in- fluences of these (Christian) teachings are the only influences for good that have entered into Western civilization; but I do say, without fear of successful contradiction, that he who would attempt to understand Western civilization and its development, without giving to these ideals the weight to which they are entitled, would be like a man who should attempt to read a tele- graphic message in cipher who did not have the key." The most serious danger in the awakening of China is that they will misread Western civili- 11 World's Chinese Students' Journal, Nov., 1906, p. 23. Reported by F. K. Tsao, B. Sc. 295 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. zatjon, by ignoring the key to the cipher. A, great Christian university would put that key into the hands of every fair-minded, intelligent Chinese. The consequent mutual understanding and good- will between Orient and Occident would be a better guarantee of international peace than a score of "Dreadnaughts" could give us. And what would the university do for China ? Without dogmatism or compulsion, the white light from the Sinless One, the Ideal Man, the Brother of all men, would pervade every department, would shine into every mind and heart that crossed its portals. Thousands of China's best minds would " Go, spread their trophies at His feet, And crown Him Lord of all." From these halls would go forth the men who would equip similar institutions in each province and establish colleges throughout the empire. In less than a generation, in every department of state, in every calling in life, its graduates by sheer force of merit would easily lead their countrymen. These men in the highest places, with Christian ideals and with Christian character, would pave the way for the speedy coming of a Chinese Christian civilization. 296 CHAPTER XII. CENTENARY CALLS. It is a good cure for pessimism to consider for an hour the difference one century has wrought : Morrison, alone, friendless, suspected and hated by his own countrymen and the Chinese alike, landing upon a hostile shore; and the parties of missionaries arriving at Shanghai and other ports almost weekly in the great mail steamers of Europe and America. Think of the difference in the reception they receive; the contrast in the work they find awaiting them; the open doors, the outstretched hands. But the significance of this change is not primarily in its encouragement to us. It is pleasant to contemplate what has been done : but if the China Centenary is simply a jubilation over past achievement, it will be worse than a failure. All honor to the heroes into whose labors we are entering! But were they here to join their voices in the double jubilee, they would urge us to "Forget the things which are behind, and stretch forward to the things which are be- fore." It is the "Centenary Calls" that we need to hear. The past victories are useful only as they strengthen our faith, stimulate our zeal, and 297 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. add to our wisdom, that the future triumphs may be far greater than any victories of the past. The friends of missions have every reason for encouragement, in view of the great missionary The Key- revival that is sweeping over Protestant Christen- Mj«°»i»-^ dom ; and we believe the awakening is just /JeT^ii;^/ begun. But there is one feature of this ag- gressive campaign that seems to the writer to be defective, and which weakens our power, both with men and with God. There is a dispropor- tionate emphasis placed upon the financial side of the missionary problem, as compared with the personal element. The word "disproportionate" is used advisedly. The money side of the question is essential. It must be emphasized strongly and constantly. But to make It appear the sine qua non that Is so general in these days, puts our entire plea upon a lower plane than It is placed In the New Testament, or by the facts of experience. The personal equation Is too often Ignored en- tirely, or at best given a secondary place. Do we not thus grieve away the Holy Spirit, and lose our power to move men at their deepest depths? When our Heavenly Father planned to redeem the world, He put into it the best He had. Nothing short of His most precious pos- session would meet the case. He gave His only begotten Son. We have the Son's own word to His Father: "As Thou didst send Me Into the world, even so send I them Into the world." It 298 CENTENARY CALLS. is Christlike men and women who will save man- kind. God gave His Son; and if this provided redemption is ever accepted by the race, it will be through the parents of Christendom giving their sons and their daughters, living sacrifices upon the altar of humanity. This idea, that personal devotion is primary and material -resources are secondary, is borne out by the facts of past history and of present ^^o//o//V experience. The missionary movement to evan- '""''^^^ gelize the nations started in a little prayer-meeting at Antioch, before the middle of the first century. The pastor, the assistant pastor, lay preachers, and official members were having a special meet- ing for fasting and prayer, when the Holy Ghost said unto them, "Separate unto Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." It is scarcely possible for us to believe that there were no protests. Surely some one amongst them reminded the brethren that "there were tens of thousands of unsaved Gentiles all about them there in Antioch;" that "they could not spare these two men, at any rate — the very best preachers in the city;" "the work of years would go to pieces;" and much more equally familiar talk. But the Holy Ghost had spoken, and that settled it. Of course they took a collection. They would not have sent these two brethren beloved away with empty wallets. But this minor cir- cumstance is not even mentioned in the inspired 299 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. record. The great thing that occurred that day was that Paul started out to preach the unsearch- able riches of Christ to the Gentiles. You can not put any commercial value upon an event like that. It is priceless. Nearly eighteen centuries rolled by, and an- other little prayer-meeting was held. It was in Birth the Widow Wallis' back-parlor at Kettering, Movers England. The Holy Spirit had moved a band Movement q[ Baptist prcachcrs to organize a foreign mis- sionary society. They were not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. They took a collection, too, and raised thirteen pounds, two shillings, sixpence. But the great event that made that meeting memorable was that here the Holy Ghost said, "Separate unto Me William Carey for the work whereunto I have called him." That meant more to the evangelization of pagan lands than if the offerings had reached one hundred thousand pounds. We recognize the preponderating force of personality in other things. We call money "the Personal- smtyvs of war," but the muscles of war are the AU Victories ^^^^^^^ and sklll of the man behind the gun. In the recent great Oriental war the personal equation won every victory. It was because of their skill in handling ships and guns that the Japanese sunk, or put out of action, the whole Russian fleet sent against them. The land battles were decided by the same element. The Russians 300 CENTENARY CALLS. had more resources, but the Japanese were more resourceful. Whether in peace or in war, the victory is to the resourceful man, rather than to the man with great resources. The resourceful man creates his own supplies. The call to-day then, as it was at Antloch and at Kettering, is first of all a call to individuals to give themselves. We must dwell upon the financial needs frequently and emphatically, but we should have ever in mind Paul's position when he took a collection, "We seek not yours, but "^jou." The loudest call to-day to the disciple of Christ is to give himself to world-wide evangelism. It is not primarily that he go in person. That The Uni- duty and privilege comes to few. But to every caii to the Christian there is a personal call, that is far more Christian than an annual subscription to the missionary so- ciety, even though the offering is fully up to his ability. "We seek not yours, but you." Paul longed for a sympathetic hearing for his mes- sage. He wanted diligent "examining of the Scrptures daily," as the Bereans gave, to see "whether these things were so." He came for- ward for prayers in every one of his epistles not for himself but for his work, that the doors might be opened, if shut; and if wide open, that he might be able to enter in and take possession. One of the most hopeful features of the missionary revival now going on is in the "study classes" among the young people: but why confine them 20 301 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. to the young? Why not the whole Church, young and old and middle-aged, all give them- selves to intelligent study of this most fascinating theme, that throws light upon nearly every branch of modern science, as well as of ethics and re- ligion? Prayer will follow knowledge, and gifts will follow prayer. Our Lord said: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." The reverse is equally true: Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also. The gifts will follow the prayer. There Is also, to the minister, the Universal Call. There was a popular way of putting the To M? universal call a few years ago, in the beginning Minister oi the great Student Volunteer Movement, that was, in the writer's judgment, very erroneous and harmful. It was proclaimed that "Every one who is called to preach the Gospel should assume that he is to go to the foreign field. The special call Is the one to stay at home to preach." It was argued: "The commission was to 'Go Into all the world.' The need is greater abroad, and presumably God wants His workers in the most needy place." Such arguments are very plausible, and have misled not a few. It Is true that there is a call universal, and there is also a call personal: both are vital. The former is the call of God to every preacher of His Word, to make the evangelization of the WHOLE WORLD the passion of his life, the 302 CENTENARY CALLS. key-note of his ministry. President Charles Cuth- bert Hall, of the Union Theological Seminary, in an address before the great Ecumenical Missionary Conference held in New York City, April, 1900, gave utterance to this momentous truth: "The problem of the divinity school is this: not how to train an occasional man for the foreign field, but how to kindle the missionary passion in every man that passes through the school, that he may thereby become an able minister of Christ. . . . As for the man who shall enter the pastorate at home, he requires the missionary passion to make him great in sympathy, apostolic in his view of Christ and Christianity." If these pages contain any message to the minister in Christian lands, it is this : Wherever you spend your life, what Doctor Hall calls "the missionary passion" must be your controlling motive and inspiration if you would reach your highest usefulness. There is a rapidly decreasing contingent of pastors in America and Europe, who preach one missionary sermon a year, and that as a prelude to the annual missionary collection, which is taken in a per- functory way. In proportion as this formal treat- ment of the great theme is abandoned for a whole- hearted and frequent presentation of this as the core of the Gospel, do we find the Church quick- ened into new life and power. Three important advantages accrue to the am- 303 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. A rn>/« bassador of Christ who comes to his people filled "^^"'^^^with this message from his King. First, he becomes a better preacher. He gets the larger vision. Themes for his preaching have a breadth and sweep of thought that is Impossible with the path of the preacher's life running In the valley instead of treading the mountain tops. Such was the passion for humanity that made D. L. Moody the most powerful evangelistic force of his time. It made Spurgeon the greatest pastor evangelist. Less apparent, but no less real, was this true of that idol of the Boston theological student of the "eighties," Phillips Brooks. The strongest human force in molding that most colossal figure of the pulpit of his time was his mother. Of her, his biographer tells us, "The subject that most absorbed her imagination was foreign missions, about which she kept herself in- formed and for whose success she hungered and prayed." Phillips Brooks drank In this inspiration with his mother's milk. He visited Japan and India. His Church carried on foreign mission work upon a large scale. He had the vision from childhood. No preacher can attain to his largest growth who walks another, and a lower path. A second great gain to the preacher who makes the salvation of the whole world the key- note to his ministry, is that he will have better hearers. Good hearers have much to do with making preaching good. What is the trouble with 304 CENTENARY CALLS. the average twentieth century Christian? Is not the one word that describes it most completely — "self -centered ?" We are engrossed in this mad race for wealth. The very multiplication of the comforts and conveniences of life stimulates the desire to possess them for ourselves. Even our education and our culture tends to develop this altogether too human tendency. It is the root problem of the Christian ministry, how to stem this tide of selfishness in our Churches. Unless this can be done, "Ichabod" will be written across our portals. It is the opposite of the Christ spirit; and "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." How shall the mod- ern ministry deal with this most subtle foe of genuine Christianity? Exhortation and denuncia- tion will be equally ineffective. It will more likely empty the pews. Chalmers' great sermon upon the "Expulsive Power of a New Affection" gives us the philosophy of how this demon of selfish- ness may be exorcised. A more worthy, a mightier center of affection must come into the life, or it will continue to revolve around self. The motive must be put In the concrete, or It will never take hold of the average life and dominate it. That concrete motive which has all of the elements to lift the believer In the Christ to a life of lofty vision and holy enthusiasm, Is found In the great modern movement of, Christendom for world evangelism. The theme Is Inexhaustible 305 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. in its variety, and boundless in its horizon. Let a congregation once get this vision of Christ as the world conqueror, and never again can it settle down into the self-satisfied, self-indulgent, self- centered, religio-social club life of so many churches called Christian. A congregation of eager listeners, on fire for the world's redemption, will give wings to the message of any genuine preacher of the Gospel. A better preacher, with better hearers, is sure to bring the third benefit of this larger vision — a more fruitful ministry. A few years ago there went to his reward one of the most useful men of his time. He was not a great man, as the world reckons greatness. He was not a pulpit orator, though he always preached sermons that were the result of careful thought and prayer. But during his long ministry of more than half a century there were many epoch-making revivals, the fruits of which remain unto this day. Bishop Foster was an intimate friend of this saintly man from boyhood: and the bishop in the Introduc- tion to Mr. Fee's autobiography, "Bringing the Sheaves," expresses his judgment that "It is doubtful if any man of his generation will have more stars in his crown of rejoicing; or more happy souls to welcome him to his heavenly home, than William I. Fee." Ten years before his pass- ing away, Mr. Fee told the writer that he had been counting up the men and women who had 306 CENTENARY CALLS. gone into special Christian work in the home and foreign fields as the direct result of his ministry. He could recall one hundred and twenty-seven. Among these were some of the most useful men of our day. A large number were foreign mis- sionaries, among whom he mentioned Dr. Charles W. Drees, of the Spanish-speaking missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; another, a great missionary pastor. Dr. William Nast Brodbeck. The fruitfulness of such a life is beyond all calcu- lation. It is world-wide and eternal. Young people considering the call to the for- eign mission field instinctively turned to this saintly man of God for counsel. To one of them • he revealed the secret spring of this living foun- tain that made his life like a well-watered garden. He said: "When I was a young man, I. offered myself to China. I failed to pass the physical test, so that the missionary society did not send me. But I resolved to work for the foreign mis- sion field as best I could at home, and God has blessed my efforts in sending many to represent me abroad." Had he gone to China, he would have done a monumental work there, no doubt; but God had an even greater purpose which was abundantly fulfilled. In a dozen mission fields, scores of Spirit^filled men and women reincarnate William I. Fee, while he has passed into the heavenly places. Such a ministry archangels might covet. With the point of vision of this apostolic 307 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. man, every herald of this evangel, though placed in the smallest parish in the narrowest field, may say as truly as John Wesley, "The world is my parish." His own people will climb the mount of transfiguration with him, and distant continents will feel the uplifting power of his life. But there is a call of God to go and bear His message "far hence unto the Gentiles," that is no The In- less real, though generally less dramatic, than that Ca// which arrested the persecutor of this New Way on his journey to Damascus. There is nothing more supernatural about this than the call that every true Christian should have to his life work. God has a purpose concerning each one of us. The fulfilling of that purpose is attaining our own highest good and greatest usefulness. It is reasonable to assume that we can find out His will concerning us. The call comes to the young man to preach, the young woman to become a deaconess. There may be no vision, no over- whelming manifestation of any kind, but there is a clear, settled conviction that admits of no doubt, that this is the will of God. That is God's call, as much as the vision of Isaiah. But the general call to preach, or to teach, is not enough to justify the offer to go to the foreign mission field. The writer believes It not advisable for any one to go who Is not as clearly called for this special foreign work as he was In the first place to his work in the home-land. The 308 CENTENARY CALLS. manifestations of such a call are largely a matter of temperament and of circumstances that are be- yond the individual control, but the result is es- sentially the same: a settled conviction that it is God's purpose concerning me that I labor for Him In some distant mission field. The young person who is vague and uncertain upon this point will almost certainly find seemingly impera- tive reasons why he should return to his native land before many years have passed by. Sooner " or later, almost every missionary is baptized into his work with some real or imaginary trial that tests his or her purpose to the straining point. The missionary who never has a "juniper tree ex- perience" is either singularly blessed by a kind Providence, or he lives on the outskirts of the great conflict for the conquest of the Chrlstless nations. And when that experience comes, he needs the solid rock of a conscious call, the recol- lection of a time when the Lord said unto him, as unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee." The experience of one may be misleading to others. The danger is in causing the young candi- date to expect similar manifestations, or else he a Call is In doubt of the reality of his own call. But^^yjj' with the above safeguards in mind, the reader should not be misguided, and may be helped, by an account of a call which the writer knows to 309 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. be authentic. The story illustrates the valu? to the young missionary of a. clear, unmistakable call in meeting the tests of the early years upon the field. This missionary went through the the- ological school, and spent one year in the pastorate, without having seriously considered the question of service in the foreign field. He did not know- ingly resist duty in this respect. He simply did not debate the question at all. His work was in a large home mission district in a great city, and the first year was blessed with an almost con- tinuous revival. At the session of his Conference in September, 1887, Doctor Thoburn, soon afterwards elected missionary bishop, spoke with great power at the missionary anniversary. He drew a graphic pic- ture of the comparative needs and extent of the home and foreign fields. His plea was for men to go. As he spoke, the young preacher believed that it was God's voice speaking to him, and that he must either go, or consciously disobey. He was seated in a part of the house away from intimate acquaintances or friends. He said noth- ing about it that night. The next day he went to the building where the Conference was in ses- sion to find his father, who had been a member of that Conference for over thirty years. The simple request for an interview in one of the small rooms seemed to move the elder preacher in an unusual way. The son began to tell of his new 310 CENTENARY CALLS. experience of duty ; the father only said, with deep emotion, "I knew what you were going to say. I knew it last night." His father's sister, the wife of one of the members of the Conference, was visiting the session. There was a strong at- tachment between aunt and nephew. He went to find her, that she might hear the news first from his own lips. She herself answered the door- bell. He began to tell her, as he had his father, and she interrupted him with the same words, "I know what you are going to say. I knew It last night." The way was not opened for going that year. He went back to his former appointment. It was a year of waiting and watching for the moving of the pillar of cloud and of fire. At the next Conference session he again took appointment to return for a third year. The General Executive Meeting of the Woman's Foreign Missionary So- ciety of the Methodist Episcopal Church met In that city In October, 1888. During one of the meetings he asked God to give him some sure sign that it was His will that he offer himself to go at once. The token came in a promise made to Moses, when he asked for a similar favor, at a critical time In the wilderness. For hours he seemed to hear the words, like the refrain of some sweet song: "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." In less than a fortnight he was steaming out of New York 311 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. harbor, watching the Liberty Light fade away in the gray morning. The novitiate was sent to re- lieve a famous missionary of the pastorate of an EngHsh-speaking congregation that had grown up under his fruitful and manifold labors. The mid- tropical climate and other causes rapidly under- mined the young missionary's health, and in fifteen months he was sent to China for a vacation. In May, 1890, while attending the great Decennial Missionary Conference of China at Shanghai, he received a cablegram which read:. "Father paralyzed. Official Board wants you. Come. Mother." His father was serving his second pas- torate in a beautiful country town in Ohio. Three happy boyhood years had been spent there. Those terrible words brought out the vivid picture: father stricken with paralysis in one room; an invalid brother, prostrate with incurable spinal abcess, requiring constant care, in another ; mother, a semi-invalid ever since her son could remember; a younger sister, still in school, the only help. That official board cabled three hundred dollars to pay the young missionary's passage expenses to America. The superintendent of the mission was in America at the time, visited the stricken family, and wrote that he did not see how the son could do otherwise than return to them. The missionary society's secretary wrote in a similar vein. Every earthly call seemed to be the oppo- site of the "heavenly vision" of eighteen months 312 CENTENARY CALLS. before. With heart almost torn asunder with the apparent conflict of duties, the young missionary wrote to that precious mother in her furnace of affliction. He reminded her of how clear his call had been to give his life to the nations in heathen darkness, and then said: "Mother, If when you receive this letter you still think that my presence in America Is necessary, cable me the one word, 'Corne;' and I will return and stay with you until our affairs are so arranged that I can leave you. If you can do without me, cable, 'Stay.' " After more than a month of waiting, the reply came, to him two of the sweetest words ever spoken or written: "Stay. Mother." Another five weeks, and the letter, written the day of the cablegram, told of the all-night struggle, the Gethsemane of that little mother's life, when in the early dawn of that midsummer day peace and victory came. "Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done." Not often Is the young mis- sionary brought face to face with such apparently opposite duties; but when he Is, he looks back along the path over which he has been led, to see if he could have been mistaken in his call. God knew that such a time would come to this young missionary, and In His loving wisdom He gave at first such indubitable proofs of His will that, like a great sheet anchor with steel cable, it held steady In the storm. Here and there, God calls a William or a 313 THE EVOLUTION OF NEW CHINA. Hudson Taylor to some extraordinary work out- side of the regular channels; but, as a rule, the The call of the Church is one of the signs to be de- M« CAar"* pended upon to confirm the call of God. The spirits are to be tried, John tells us, lest we be deceived by them ; and one of the ways of trying the spirits is by consultation with devout, experi- enced men and women, and by the authorized agencies that God has raised up for carrying on His work. The call to go is first a call to pre- pare to go, if preparation is not already thorough and reasonably complete. There is a widespread misconception of the kind of workers who can be useful in the foreign mission field. Many really think that good people, who are not particularly useful or successful at home, are the kind to send abroad, like the merchant who ships his surplus last year's stock to foreign lands, and sells It at a greatly reduced price. This misconception has been fruitful of much harm to the cause of mis- sions on the one hand, and of commerce on the other. It has deterred many of the best qualified from seriously considering the foreign field as the place for them to do their best work; and It has no doubt led not a few poorly qualified to think that they might succeed in what they sup- pose to be the easier work abroad, when they had partially failed at home. In Northwest Iowa there is a big estate of ten sections of land, a great corn ranch. Among 314 CENTENARY CALLS. the ranch buildings is a seed corncrib. It is a tight, double-walled building, with a furnace in the basement, in which the fire never goes out all "w/iat- Winter. The temperature is not allowed to fall Man Sow- below forty degrees in that corncrib, no matter ^^^^^ ^^ how cold the weather outside. The corn is not ^^^^ ^««/"" thrown in piles. It is laid upon racks clear up to the ceiling, no two ears lying one upon top of the other. Every ear is of the largest size, and perfect in form. If you inquire of that scientific, practical farmer who manages this great estate, "Where did you get this corn?" he will tell you: "We piclied it out or our entire last year's crop. The best ears from over six thousand acres are in this house." He will show you a machine with which he takes off the imperfect grains at either end of each ear. He uses for seed the picked grains of the picked ears, cared for in the most thorough manner until ready for planting. He can not afford to sow "nubbins." He that soweth nubbins, shall reap also — corn-cobs. The very highest service the corn can render is to be seed for next year's crop. The Church of Christ needs the picked ears, carefully nurtured in the best schools and institutions for training them. There must be many varieties of missionaries for the multiplicity of work to be done, just as there are many kinds of grain, and all useful; but when it comes to sowing, only the best of each class can be used as seed without great loss. 315 THE EVOLUTION OFNEW CHINA. Do you not hear that youthful Jonah, strug- gling with the call to "go to that great heathen city," murmuring, "How can I go to bury myself in China?" And well-meaning but foolish friends are telling him, "It would be a great waste of your brilliant talents and rare culture to be sepulchered like that." "Buried," did you say? That is just what they do with all that magnificent corn. That is what they pick it out for. It is worth burying. In a little while there is a great resurrection and then a glorious harvest. Did not the Lord of the harvest tell us: "Except a corn of wheat fall in the ground and die, it abideth alone: if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit?" Here is the great spiritual paradox that all nature joins with the Author of life in declaring: "He that saveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for My sake, the same shall save it." It makes no difference where your life is spent. If fruitful, it must be buried. The only question Is, Where? In what soil? The virgin soil of the Orient is the. richest in potential harvests. Has the Lord of the harvest picked you, as a large full ear, fit for seed in the great fields of His planting? What higher honor can you ask of Him? It Is not death for which He has chosen you, but life : life perpetuated, life multiplied, life infinitely enlarged. 316