The Dark Side | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 12, 1883

The Dark Side.

MISSIONARIES in heathen lands have many things to contend with of which we know comparatively little. The following statement in regard to Chinese pauperism, which was made recently at the Methodist preachers' meeting at Chicago, by Rev. Victor Hart, for seventeen years a missionary to China, is a good partial commentary on Rom. 1. The same condition of things would erelong exist in this country, if the teachings of Ingersoll and others of his class were to be generally adopted:—

While many writers depict the celestial empire as a land of wonderful beauty, wealth, and prosperity, it is true that objects of charity are more plentiful there than in any other country on the globe. Beggars there are of two kinds, those who are organized into bands and thrive under governmental protection, and the transients, who are in really destitute circumstances, but equally unscrupulous and undeserving with their more fortunate brethren. A resident of China is unable to escape from the former class, for if he does not accede to their demands, an army of several hundreds, and not infrequently several thousands, will make a descent upon his habitation, and cause him to rue the hour of his birth. The transient beggars are equally successful by their dogged importunity, and escape is out of the question. One cause of so much pauperism is the lack of public improvement—all public walls, canals, and buildings being allowed to go to ruin. Another cause is the prevalence of the opium habit. It is shown by the official record that the imports of opium from India exceed the exports of tea, and in addition an immense acreage is devoted to the cultivation of the poppy, from which the drug is manufactured, about six-tenths of the entire consumption being grown in China. Mr. Hart stated that fully eight-tenths of the entire male population of the empire are addicted to the habitual use of opium, and crowds issue from the opium dens in China, as the denizens of the "Five Points" in New York do from saloons. Among them are also found many women.

Where Buddhism flourishes, pauperism is at its zenith, and in sections where the higher civilization of Christianity has obtained a foothold, beggars are rarely seen. Mr. Hart spoke of some of the discouraging features of missionary work among the Celestials, growing out of the unscrupulous trickery of the majority of the population, whereby they endeavor to secure the influence and money of missionaries to further their various political and other schemes. For this purpose they will frequently profess to be converted to the Christian faith, and when their end is accomplished, or their deception discovered, they will unceremoniously cut the acquaintance of the missionary and throw up their prayer-books.