64 China as a Protestant Mission Field. Cossacks that lie round about China like the bark and brashy parts around the tough heart of a tree. Nails driven into the hard center may require more blows of the hammer, but, once driven home, are more apt to hold bark and sap and heart together. And this we say, not to disparage the outer crust, but in self-defense; for the solid heart of oak is being put in unjust comparison of late. The time has come to accept the challenge and to begin to cry out in favor of China's claims to a fair proportion of men and means. It is not to be forgotten that in Central Asia two forms of religion, hostile to our own Christianity, are working their way across the Asiatic Continent from the westMohammedanism in the southwest, and the Greek Church in the northwest. It is the widening fringe of Chinese population alone which stands in the way of their advance. Let it not be forgotten, either, that in that almost unknown region between the cold snowstorms of the north and the hot sandstorms of the south, and lying also in the vaunted zone of power, is an expanse of country that will some day hold an empire of its own—an empire that will have a better vantage-ground for permanent greatness than had either Babylon or Nineveh of old. This wonderful region will some day be the prize of a contention between the Russian and the Chinaman. Our own Christianity and missionary aspiration has far more to hope for from the success of the Chinaman than of the Russian or the Moslem. Neither of the latter will grant us religious liberty, while China has already committed herself and will not retrace her steps. Missionary success in Western China means the exaltation of a pure Christian influence in Central Asia and the erection of a barrier against these two bigoted and intolerant systems of faith. An advance there is an attack on the Russian and Moslem rear. The great Province of Szchuan, with its thirty or forty millions of people, is the real heart of Central Asia. Humanly speaking, as goes Szchuan, so will go Kan Su, on the north, and Yun-nan on the south, and Thibet, on the west; and as they go so along with them will go scores of outlying clans and tribes and kindreds. We hesitate not to say it-the key to great Central Asia is Szchuan, and Szchuan only. The key is not to be sought for through the medium of any one, or any dozen, or any dozen dozen of petty tribes and families and clans around the border and up and down among the hills. It is therefore of inestimable importance that Christian missions should hold Szchuan in force, and should do it speedily. The battle for religious ascendency in Central Asia will not be fought and won among any of the hills and spurs of the Himalayas, but in rich and fertile Szchuan; not among wild and wandering tribes, disintegrated and disconnected, but among that well-organized and well-governed forty millions of one civilization and one speech who are established in the valleys of Szchuan, up toward the head waters and along the tributaries of the Upper Yang-tse. X. China is the greatest mission field in the world, because into it are being concentrated more missionary forces than in any other. There are already forty different societies and organizations, with their representatives here. Comparatively few years ago the number of missions was less than in India, that favorite missionary center. Now it is greater. The missionaries have increased from year to year till they have now run up to twelve hundred; and still the ratio grows. At the Conference a year and more ago a call was made for a thousand to be sent in five years. They will come, and still others; for where the carcass is thither, in a good sense, will the eagles be gathered together. There is room for them all, and need for them all, and both room and need for many more than will be likely to come. A great missionary plant is being provided: presses, schools, hospitals, all on great scales, according to the predilections of different persons. And this large missionary body is being scattered here and there throughout the empire: in the cities, to preempt them in the name of the Lord; in the China as a Protestant Mission Field. 65 towns and villages, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord; on the mountains, to cry, "Behold, the morning cometh, the darkness is past and the true light now shineth." There are some places in the empire which they are not able safely to penetrate; but where they can there they go, and there they are, and there they stick, and there they stay. The words of David may be paraphrased and applied to China: "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge; there is no speech nor dialect in the land where their voice is not heard; their line is gone out through all the provinces, and their words to the end of the empire." When intelligent and discerning missionary boards are thus willing to invest their men and their means to such an extent it indicates great expectations, for which there must be great preparation, "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." are to come great collisions; here are to be fought great and decisive battles for the truth; here the powers of darkness are to make a stand for the ascendency of heathenism; and here the soldiers of light are to make a stand for the supremacy of the Prince of Peace. "And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels." It is not without moral suggestiveness that we remember that the device on the banner of China is a dragon, and that the dragon is pictured as trying to swallow the sun. It is the very symbol of Satan. He will do his best to keep his goods in peace. But he shall be cast out; and when that is done there will ring through the length and breadth of this devil-ridden land a mighty song of thanksgiving which all the world shall hear. "Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ."-Baptist Mis-, sionary Magazine. 66 The Idolatry of China. The Idolatry of China. A MISSIONARY in China, the Rev. George Owen, thus writes to the Missionary Chronicle of the progress of idolatry in China: "The history of China is a striking instance of the down grade in religion. The old classics of China, going back to the time of Abraham, show a wonderful knowledge of God. There are passages in those classics about God worthy to stand side by side with kindred passages in the Old Testament. The fathers and founders of the Chinese race appear to have been monotheists. They believed in an omnipotent, omn ́scient, and omnipresent God, the moral governor of the world, and the impartial judge of men. "But gradually the grand conception of a personal God became obscured. Nature worship crept in. Heaven and earth were deified, and God was confounded with the material heavens and the powers of nature. Heaven was called father, and earth mother, and became China's chief gods. Then the sun, moon, and stars were personified and worshiped. China bowed down to the hosts of heaven.' The great mountains and rivers were also deified and placed among the state gods. "This nature worship continues in full force to the present time. In the southern suburb of Peking stands a great marble altar to heaven, where the emperor, accompanied by his high officials, worships on the morning of the winter solstice. In the northern suburb is a large square altar to earth, where he worships on the morning of the summer solstice. In the eastern suburb there is an altar to the sun, and in the western suburb an altar to the moon. But nowhere in Peking, and nowhere in China, is there a single altar dedicated to the worship of Shang-ti, the god of the ancient classics. Nature has taken the place of God. "Polytheism aud idolatry followed. From the dawn of history the Chinese worshiped their ancestors, regarding the dead as in some sort tutelary deities. This naturally led to the deification and worship of deceased heroes and benefactors, till the gods of China, increasing age by age, became legion. Her well-stocked pantheon contains gods of all sorts and sizes. There are gods of heaven and earth; gods of the sun, moon, and stars; gods of the mountains, seas, and rivers; gods of fire, war, and pestilence; wealth, rank, and literature; horses, cows, and in sects. "But the degradation did not stop here. The Chinese sank lower still and became demon worshipers. Charms-long strips of paper bearing cabalistic characters, in black, green, and yellow-hang from the lintels of most doors, to protect the house against evil spirits. Night is often made hideous and sleep impossible by the firing of crackers to frighten away the demons. Almost every village has its professional exorcist and devil catcher. The fear of demons is the bugbear of a Chinaman's life, and much of his worship is intended to appease their wrath and propitiate their favor. And once a year, during the seventh moon, a gigantic image of the devil himself is carried in solemn procession through every town and village, followed by the populace, feasted, and worshiped. "Animal worship, too, is rife. In some parts of North China certain animals are more worshiped than the most popular gods. The fame of even the largest temples is often due not to the gods they contain, but to the supposed presence of a fairy fox, weasel, snake, hedgehog, or rat. These five animals are believed to possess the secret of immortality and the power of self-transformation and to exercise great influence over the fortunes of men. Their pictures hang in thousands of homes and their shrines exist everywhere. "I have seen crowds of men, women, and children worshiping at an ordinary fox-burrow. And I have seen one of the great gates of Peking thronged day after day with carriages and pedestrians going to worship a fairy fox supposed to have been seen outside the city walls. Any day small yellow handbills may be seen on the walls and hoardings of Peking, assuring the people that 'prayer to the venerable fairy fox is certain to be answered.' "Thus low have the great Chinese people fallen, literally fulfilling the words of the apostle Paul: 'Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.' This is the result of four thousand years of continuous national life. During those long centuries China has grown enormously in power, wealth, and intelligence. But in religious knowledge the rolling centuries have witnessed only gradual degradation and decay. China, 'by wisdom, knew not God.' "Once upon a time a wise man and a simple child of nature were put into a labyrinth without a clew, to see which would find its way out first. Both perished in the vain attempt. Neither wisdom nor simplicity prevailed. The Chinese, with his civilization and learning, is that wise man, and the African savage is the child of nature. Both have failed to find God, and have become worshipers of blind nature, dead men, evil demons, and dumb animals. Without the Bible man is without a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path. The Bible is the only clew to the perplexing problems of life, and the only light through the dark valley of the shadow of death. "A new era has begun in China, an era of railways, telegraphs, and science schools. Before the fierce light of modern science the gross idolatry of China must gradually disappear. But science, like the sun, conceals more than it reveals-it shows us earth, but shuts out the heavens with their infinite starry depths. Science may destroy the idols, but will not reveal God. It may breed skepticism, but will not inspire faith. The Idolatry of China. And I would rather see the Chinese polytheists than atheists. Superstition is better than unbelief. Only the Bible can give back to China the lost knowledge of God, and we have now a grand opportunity of giving her that Bible. The whole of that great empire is now open to us, and we are free to preach the Gospel and to distribute the word of life among its teeming mil lions." Another missionary in China thus writes about the gods of the Chinese and their worship: "The Chinese think there are a great many gods, some male and others female. It is hard to say which they regard as their supreme god, or whether they have any such. They commonly worship Tien, which seems to mean the same with them that heaven does with us. They also worship the sun and the earth. They also worship Tienhow, the " Queen of Heaven." She is also called Kwanon, and is the patron goddess of sailors. Loong Wang, or the Dragon King, is the god of rivers. They have also the god of learning, the god of riches, and a very great many others. Besides these gods there are the spirits of their ancestors and a great many other spirits that they worship. There are, for instance, the spirits of the mountains, and the spirits of the hills, and the spirits of the valleys, and the spirits of rivers and brooks, and the spirits of trees, and the spirits of rocks, and the spirits of roads and bridges, and nobody knows how many others. I will tell you some of the ways in which they worship them, and these are things that I have seen myself and know to be true. "The principal way in which they worship these gods and spirits is by burning incense before them, offering them pieces of gilt or silvered paper, and making sacrifices either of animals or of some other kind of food and drink. The incense which they burn is commonly either sandalwood, which gives a very pleasant odor when burnt, or else a kind of composition made of the dust of sandalwood and other substances, which is formed into little sticks about as large as a common goose-quill. These sticks are called Joss sticks. They are sold in almost every shop by the hundred, and there is hardly a person in China who does not use a great many of them every year. "I have often seen these Joss sticks burning at the foot of a large tree by the roadside. They were lighted and placed there by travelers, in order that the spirit of the wood might not injure them as they went on their journey. This is a very common thing. So it is when they are going anywhere in a boat. They light a parcel of these Joss sticks and set some of them around the mast of the bat, and place some others before the idol in the cabin, for almost every boat has its idol. I once offered a boatman a dollar for an old, dirty, ugly idol in one corner of his boat, but he told me no-he would not take three 67 hundred dol'ars for it, because it brought him all his good luck. And when the boat starts they com monly light some bits of silvered paper, and, waving them up and down, throw them into the water. This I have often seen done, and commonly I have observed that it was done by a boy or by the youngest person in the boat. I once asked a man why he did so, and what answer do you think he gave? He said it was an offering to the devil and to evil spirits, that they might be favorable to them and not hinder or injure them on their voyage!" A missionary in China writes: "The feeling of dissatisfaction and longing for help is shown in the readiness of the Chinese to forsake an old and follow a new idol that secures the reputation of having special powers. One conspicuous feature in their treatment of the idols is a lack of reverence. Their worship is pure selfishness. Seldom does a sense of sin have anything to do with it. Fear of temporal calamity, longing for good luck, the desire to have sons, to be rich and distinguished-these are the motives that prompt them. Fear of retribution is felt to some extent, and the indefinite hope that sin will not be punished if offerings are made." THE BRASS MULE CURE. A traveler, recently returned from Peking, tells us that he saw a method of cure which may be new to some of our readers. In a temple outside one of the city gates is to be found a brass mule of life size, supposed to have wonderful healing properties. Patients suffering from every imaginable disease seek this temple to obtain a cure. The method pursued is as follows: Supposing you suffer from sciatica, you go with all speed to this famous temple, and, having discovered the particular part of the brass mule corresponding to the painful region of your own body, you first rub the animal a certain number of times, and then with the same hand shampoo your own disabled member, and then-well, then the pain goes. The special feature of this method of cure is its delightful simplicity. Is your tooth aching? Just scrub the mule's tooth and afterward your own, and, voilà! the cure is complete. Have you an ulcer of the cornea? Pass the tips of your fingers to and fro over the particular eyeball of the mule, and then, with well-regulated pressure, rub repeatedly the afflicted eye. The mule has, unhappily, lost his sight during the many years he has been engaged in his benevolent work, the eyeballs, we are told, having been gradually worn away, as the result of constant friction, until now you have only the empty orbits to operate upon. The animal is patched in all directions with fresh pieces of brass put on to cover holes produced by the constant friction of eager patients, and a new, perfectly whole mule stands ready at hand awaiting the day when his old colleague, having fallen to pieces in the service, shall give him an opportunity of likewise benefiting posterity. 68 Turning Round the Bridge Ladder. Turning Round the Bridge Ladder. IN China, after the dead body of an elderly person has been laid out, a singular custom is observed in many families. If there are married daughters, and they are living within a reasonable distance for them to attend the funeral, they are expected to return home with their husbands and children. Several Taoist priests are employed to prepare the "bridge ladder" and aid in the celebration of the ceremony, at the expense of the son-in-law or sons-inlaw of the deceased. A post some seven or eight fect high is placed in a socket or frame standing on the ground in a perpendicular position. Into holes pended one or two large paper hangings, relating to the infernal regions. The body of the deceased is lying on one side of the room, or, if there is an adjoining room which can be used, it is placed in it. When everything is ready the ceremony is commenced by lighting the lamps and candles on the "bridge ladder," as well as the candles and incense on the table. The priests chant their liturgy amid the noise of cymbals. The married daughter comes forward, having a white cotton cloth bound about her head, partially concealing her eyes, or she holds to her eyes a white cotton cloth much as one would a handkerchief while crying. The eldest son of the deceased, if there be living sons, now advances, and taking made in the sides of this post are fastened several tiers of sticks or bamboo, two or three feet long. These sticks project outward and upward a little from the perpendicular post. Sometimes these sticks amount to several tons. The longer ones are placed toward the bottom, and the shorter ones toward the top, the lowest tier being three or four feet from the ground. At the extreme outer end of each is suspended by a wire a kind of glass cup, containing oil and wicking, the whole constituting a lamp. On the top of the upright post is placed a candle. Into a hole about three feet from the ground made in the upright post is inserted a pole, projecting a right angle, some two or three feet longer than the longest of the sticks having lamps at their end. This "bridge ladder" is placed in the middle of the room. On one side of the room is placed a table having candles and incense upon it. On the wall or partition, of the room, by this table, are sus hold of the end of the long pole, pushes gently against it; the post turning in its socket, the entire "bridge ladder" moves. The wife of the eldest son, his younger brothers and their wives, the married daughters of the deceased and their children, etc., now follow slowly the elder brother as he pushes around the "bridge ladder" for a few times. The object of this performance with the "bridge ladder" is to lighten and assist the deceased on his way. It is called "bridge ladder" because it is fancied to resemble a bridge and a ladder. The bridge would aid the dead to pass rivers, and the ladder would help him to climb steep places, should he meet such impediments on his journey.-Doolittle. "CONFUCIANISM in China is a system of morality and political economy, and relates to the duties of men to each other in the family, in the community, and in the state." |