The Gospel in China by J. N. Anderson

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 5, 1902

The Gospel in China

By J. N. Anderson

J. N. ANDERSON

This great world empire, with a national history spanning millennia, occupying an area of the earth’s surface exceeding that of the United States, and teeming with one fourth of the world’s population, has come to be the problem of this generation politically and religiously. Here, beyond a peradventure, the temporal and spiritual forces will be arrayed for the last decisive campaign. As Napoleon once said, “When China moves, the world will move.” And what will the next great world movement bring but the rightful King and his kingdom?

Fifty years ago the world’s political center was Constantinople, and the equilibrium was maintained by guaranteeing the integrity of Turkey; and it must be admitted that it still ranks first as a strategic point. But while that is true, it is equally true that China, for so many thousand years practically unknown, stands to-day as a great center of interest and importance politically, and that its fate may in the near future be the cause of a changed map of both Europe and Asia. This is, however, a matter that lies beyond our ken, and we can only know for a certainty that God will stay or direct the winds of political strife in the interest of his own divine purpose—“this gospel of the kingdom.” And this is the aspect of the question which involves the most serious problems for our times, and with which we are in this study chiefly concerned.

The introduction of Christianity into China is by no means a modern event; and it is quite impossible for us to estimate the amount of gospel light that has been shed upon this ancient empire by different missionaries during the Christian era. A lithograph which tells of the introduction of the gospel into China before the end of the seventh century, may be seen in the Congregational House library in Boston. This was taken from a monument found in Singan-fu, a city in one of the northwestern provinces, where the Chinese court was then located.

A Nestorian tradition reads as follows: “By St. Thomas hath the kingdom of heaven taken unto itself wings, and passed even unto China.” The history of these Nestorian missions covers a period of about one and one-half centuries, between the early part of the seventh and the last part of the eighth centuries. From the monument already mentioned, it is seen that these missions were both popular and prosperous, so much so that several of the reigning emperors were favorable to Christianity; but after a time both Buddhism and Christianity were proscribed, and now nothing remains of the Nestorian missions except the monument of Singan-fu.

After this reaction in China against foreign religions, it was not until the eleventh century that missionaries again sought to enter the land of Sinim. The mission established at this time lasted about four hundred years, being overthrown by the infamous Jenghiz Khan, who, by his bloody conquests, caused the destruction of five million human beings, and so won for himself the distinction of being called a scourge of the earth.

A second mission was started among the Tartars north of the Hoang-Ho and east of the Caspian Sea, who were nominally made Christians by their ruler, who sent to Bagdad for Nestorian missionaries. As a result of this enterprise, a large Nestorian church was established, claiming a membership of two hundred thousand among the Tartars. This work flourished until it was swept away by a flood of destruction brought on by Tamerlane, 1334 to 1405.

Our first modern knowledge of China comes to us from a follower of Francis Assisi, one John of Planocarpini (1245) who at the age of twenty-five made a journey of ten thousand miles through central Asia.

Kooblai Khan, the most famous of Mongolian emperors, the patron of Marco Polo, the Venetian, removed the capital to Peking, in 1282; and although he was not a Christian, nevertheless he showed his interest in the gospel by sending to the pope for one hundred learned men to come to China and preach the Christian religion and instruct in Western knowledge, but the quarrel over the election of a new pope delayed the matter until Rome’s opportunity was passed.

About this time, however, John of Monte Carvino, who is called the Apostle to the Moguls, at the age of fifty years inaugurated a great work in Peking. He mastered the Chinese language , translated the Psalms and the New Testament, and at the same time opened numerous schools in the Chinese capital. A generation after his death the work he started was well-nigh obliterated by a severe persecution following upon the overthrow of the Moguls in China.

Modern missions in China date from the year 1582, when the learned Jesuit, Father Ricci, and his associates opened a vigorous crusade. Zeal, earnestness, tact, and learning all combined to give them a large measure of apparent success; and there was even a prospect that the great Emperor Kanghi would adopt the new faith. Ricci’s knowledge of mathematics and his ability to draw beautiful maps gave him a warm place at court. With rare skill he decorated his maps with Bible texts and symbols, and asked the privilege of preaching Christianity as the only price of his maps. He supplemented his preaching with literature, and his success was so great that descendants of his converts are still to be found in China. The good effect of this mission enterprise was seriously lessened by the entrance of other rival Catholic societies, and the contradictory decisions and conduct of the popes of that period; and over and above all, their teachings and practices were then, as now, corrupt and superstitious.

In 1724 an edict forbidding the propagation of the Christian faith was issued by the emperor Yung Cheng. This edict was called forth by the fierce antagonisms of the religious orders, and, by the contradictory decisions of the popes, as already mentioned. A few missionaries concealed themselves, but most of them were sent out of the country. This brings us to the year of modern missions as carried on by Protestant missionaries and societies.

Hongkong, China.