A MISREPRESENTING CHRISTIANITY.
One of the curses of missions is in holding before the heathen,—and the evil begins at home,—the idea that the great so-called civilized nations of earth are Christian. They are not Christian in any sense, and as nations, can not be. It is cruel deception to persuade ourselves that it is so; it is crueler to deceive the poor native. A religious contemporary, in speaking of the evils of liquor-drinking in heathen lands, says: These social drinking usages also bring discredit upon the Gospel, and retard its influence in heathen lands. A Persian missionary relates that if a Mohammedan is seen drunk, it is a common remark that he has become a Christian. We recall, also, the illustration, which may be familiar to many. When it was urged upon the chief of a Mohawk tribe that he should allow a missionary to come and dwell among his people, he replied, “What you preach? ‘Preach Christ?’ ‘Yes,’ answered the missionary. The chief, towering to his full height, broke out: “We don’t want Christ! Once we were powerful. We were a great nation. Our young men were many. Our lodges were full of children. But Christ came, and brought the firewater. Now we are weak. Our lodges are empty. Our hunting grounds are deserted. Our council fires are gone out. No! we don’t want Christ. Go away!” Let the heathen all know who Christ is, and that all who follow Him are Christians, and only these; that His teaching, His life, are the standard, and nothing else; and that so-called Christian nations are to be tried by that standard as truly as heathen nations. Teach them that Christ has allied Himself with no earthly government; that His kingdom is not of this world, and that unregenerate men and women in the so-called “Christian” nations need to be regenerated by the power of God as truly as any heathen. Then Christ will not be so misrepresented, and greater, better fruits will appear.