Editorial Letter by William Warren Prescott

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 27, 1907

Editorial Letter

By William Warren Prescott

Jottings from the Editor’s Note-Book

THE first missionaries to China were the representatives of the Roman Catholic Church. The names of John of Montecorvino, Nicholas, and the Italian Jesuit, Matteo Ricci, head the list of the apostles of Rome. Of the last it is written: “Being more a politician than a theologian, he discovered the secret of remaining peacefully in China. The kings found him a man full of complaisance; the pagans, a minister who accommodated himself to their superstitions; the mandarins, a polite courtier skilled in all the trickery of the courts.”

That this has been the continuous policy of the Catholic missionaries may be seen from the following statement by a writer of some prominence on mission work in China: “Imposing churches have been built, in one case with a roof of imperial tiles surreptitiously secured and painted, so that their real character would become only slowly apparent, and the progress is evident all along the line. . . . From the outset they have sought to adapt themselves to the people and to the popular need. If curiosity filled the mind of officials and the court, curious clocks and other Western novelties were used. . . . Catholicism’s relation to Protestant missionaries and their work is a blot on the name of the church, from which one would gladly turn away. Until comparatively recently their policy was simply that of ‘let alone,’ but at present it is quite otherwise. Beginning first as a system of proselyting among Protestant Chinese, it has proceeded to most active opposition, amounting often to bitter persecution of Chinese Christians. Being fearless of lawsuits because of Catholic protection, and unscrupulous as to method if only the church is the gainer [the same principle is adopted all over the world], they have repeatedly attempted to blot out weak Protestant communities. . . . It should be added that most of the criticisms of missions made by the Chinese and by anti-missionary foreigners, including every item of any validity, are chargeable to the policy and work of Catholic missions, though these critics do not discriminate between Catholics and Protestants in their accusations.” In confirmation of this testimony I might add that an intelligent Chinese student told me exactly the same thing before I left America.

The story of the first Protestant missionary to China is briefly told in the inscription upon his tomb at Macao: “Sacred to the memory of Robert Morrison, D. D., the first Protestant missionary to China, where, after a service of twenty-seven years cheerfully spent in extending the kingdom of the blessed Redeemer, during which period he compiled and published a dictionary of the Chinese language, founded the Anglo-Chinese college at Malacca, and for several years labored alone on a Chinese version of the Holy Scriptures, which he was spared to see completed and widely circulated among those for whom it was destined, he sweetly slept in Jesus. He was born in Morpeth, Northumberland, Jan. 5, 1782, was sent to China by the London Missionary Society in 1807 [just one hundred years ago!], was for twenty-five years Chinese translator in the employ of the East India Company, and died at Canton, Aug. 1, 1834.” It may be of interest to our people to know that the memory of this pioneer worker in China is kept fresh in the minds of our workers in Canton from the fact that Brother E. H. Wilbur has named his boy Robert Morrison Wilbur.

Varied has been the history of missions in China since the death of Robert Morrison. Sometimes progress has been very slow. Sometimes wars have been overruled so that access has been obtained to hitherto inaccessible provinces. Sometimes massacres of foreigners have been the lever for prying open doors that had been tightly barred. The Boxer uprising in 1900 was a turning-point in the history of China, and the expression “New China” is now used to indicate the changed condition. To just what extent this has been favorable to genuine missionary work it is rather difficult to say. On the one hand there are external evidences of progress, but on the other hand there seems to be a strong tendency to compromise with heathenism and to combine Chinese and Christian creeds. It is quite likely that this is simply one of the fruits of the New Theology—the substitution of human philosophy for the revelation of the gospel as set forth in the Scriptures. At all events, it is certainly true that there never was a time in the history of the Middle Kingdom when there was such an evident demand for the teaching of the message for this generation, and the way has been fully prepared for this movement. Thoughtful observers must recognize the providence of God in this situation, and the call of God for consecration to the closing work.

It is interesting and suggestive to note how the introduction of modern facilities for travel and communication in these countries in the far East has been followed by the opening of work for the spread of the closing message of the gospel. Thirty-five years ago the first railway was opened in Japan, a short line extending only from Tokyo to Yokohama, a distance of eighteen miles. Since then lines have been built covering the main parts of the empire. There was no railway in Korea until the time of the recent Russo-Japanese War, when a line was constructed the whole length of the country from south to north by the Japanese as a military line. A journey which occupied weeks five years ago is now accomplished in two or three days, and this time will soon be reduced. It is only about one year since the railway line from Peking to Hankow, in

China, was completed, a line which opens up a great territory in Central China, and brings it into comparatively easy touch with the port cities. The last few years have witnessed almost a convulsion in these three countries, and it has been during these very same years that we have really occupied these countries with this message. Thus it is evident that the providence of God has prepared the way for a quick work, and at the very same period the representatives of the truth have appeared in these fields to carry forward the work.

As the result of my visit to Japan, Korea, and China, I have been deeply impressed with the conviction that the time has fully come for a great forward movement in these fields. The events of recent history in that part of the world are of the most far-reaching significance, not simply to those who are interested in the extension of earthly kingdoms, but also to those who are working to hasten the coming of the everlasting kingdom of our Lord. Decades, and even centuries, seem to have been compressed into a few short years. This is a sort of prophecy of what will be accomplished in a short period in proclaiming this message in these same countries. The difficulties of the field, as viewed by one who speaks especially of China and from a human standpoint, are summed up thus: “The Chinese language is so difficult, the adaptability to native customs and ideas that are so essential to success is so hard to cultivate, the absence of quick religious responsiveness is so discouraging, the opposition of friends of the inquirers is so powerful, the multitudes needing Christian ministry are so overwhelmingly numerous, that the strongest, wisest, most versatile, and most spiritual young man or woman need have no fear but that every talent will have opportunity for the fullest exercise.” At the same time this writer says that “some of the most fruitful workers in China are persons whose Chinese is halting and imperfect, but whose life speaks eloquently of the love of God as evidenced by love for his needy children.” The call for workers may be well put in these words: “Come with a love that is undying for those who would perhaps put you to death, if they dared; come above all as a manifest child of God, endued with all those spiritual graces which spring from the Holy Spirit, and which are daily renewed in a consecrated closet.” To those entrusted with the closing message this call comes with double force, and I earnestly hope that many will respond to it in the near future.

“China, with its teeming millions, Souls for whom the Saviour died, Knowing heaven, but not the pathway, Lost, is waiting for a guide. “Now the Word from home has reached them, Are there none to lead the way? Ere the harvest-time is over, Will you help as well as pray?” W. W. P.