THE GOSPEL AND OTHER RELIGIONS.
By Editor
THE following, under the above heading, is taken from the Independent of June 16; it gives a good though brief review of the present condition of the religious world:— Three facts of great importance and significance to the work of foreign missions are now prominently before the churches. The Brahmins of India are considering the wisdom of admitting pariahs to caste privileges; the mandarins of China are again instigating the circulation of the outrageous placards that led to the riots in the Yang-Tse Valley; the Moslem Government is seeking by every means to circumscribe the work of the missionaries both in teaching and preaching. Similar reports come from other fields—in Uganda, in West Africa, in the South Pacific. What does all this indicate? In a certain sense there can be no crisis in missions. They never reach a point beyond which their work becomes easier. On the contrary, with every vantage point gained, new difficulties, new opposition will become apparent. In another sense each new phase constitutes a crisis. Such an experience is now upon the church. At no time has there been such a stirring among the great religions which for centuries have dominated Asia. Mohammedanism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism are recognizing that in the new faith which has come to them from the West they are meeting a power that will overcome them unless they can by some means stop the headway they see it making among their followers. Missionaries, too, realize that they are approaching what will prove an even harder fight than any before in their effort to establish the religion of Christ in India, China, and the Levant. It becomes, then, of paramount importance that every step be taken wisely. The people of these lands may be, for missionary purposes, divided into four classes: Those who recognize spiritual need and are dissatisfied with their old faiths and ready to accept a new one; those so closely identified with the old faiths, whether by belief or self-interest, that they are bound to uphold them; those who have little or no religious belief of any sort and look upon the various systems merely as means to the end of national and social well being; those who, with true oriental conservatism, accept the doctrines of their fathers, and look with dread on any invasion that threatens them. This last class contains the immense majority of the people. To it both missionaries and hierarchies of whatever name look for support. So far it has been greatly affected by Christianity, but as one by one converts have been drawn from its numbers, it is becoming evident not only to the leaders, but to the people themselves, that the power of the old faiths has been already seriously undermined. It is not that these millions are yet anxiously waiting for the gospel, far from it, but the number among them who are reaching out after the truth as it is in Jesus is not only great but widely scattered. The wonderful sales of Scriptures, too, and the wide diffusion of European manners and customs, recognized as the outcome of Christianity, have been seeds whose fruit is already apparent, so that there are few places where there is not some knowledge about, if not of, the gospel. It is significant that at just this time comes the proposal for a parliament of religions in connection with the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, next year. What effect it may have cannot easily be told. One thing is certain, Christianity will be on trial as never before. From every quarter of the world there will come men to see for themselves the results of the religion of our missionaries, in a land where it has had every advantage. The reading of papers, the discussions of a few hours will be of comparatively little value beside the great object lesson of a Christian nation. We have sent out our heralds to proclaim the gospel. Now those to whom they have gone will come to judge for themselves as to our sincerity in sending them. A manifestation of Christian life here will do more to move the masses there than all the sermons of our preachers. A conviction forced upon these representatives from the Eastern world that we ourselves care little for the truth that we preach to them, may set back the cause of missions many years. Let us see to it that at this time, when so much is at stake abroad, we be not found wanting at home.