“The popular fury,” says the Catholic Mirror, “which has broken loose in China is expected by some to advance the cause of Christianity and civilization by the opening which it affords to the nations of the West to divide and conquer. Had the dealings of these same nations with the heathen empire been founded upon principles of equity and justice, religion might have had opportunity to diffuse itself by its own sweet pervasive way, instead of relying upon armed force for an ineffectual conquest.”
“Nothing” is more true than that the progress of the real gospel has been hindered rather than helped by appeal to force. It is true that conquest has opened the way for missionaries to go where they could not otherwise have gone. But were not the very obstacles which have been removed by force, due in the first place, in very large measure, at least, to the use of force?
The first missionaries of the cross had absolutely no human power to which to appeal for protection. They were not followed by traders greedy of gain. No “Christian” nation stood ready to annex the territory they penetrated. The ships that carried them to foreign lands in their cabins did not have their holds filled with death and destruction in the form of intoxicating liquors. These are a few of the things that have hindered the progress of the gospel far more than armed force has ever helped it.
Unordered Copies of The Sentinel of Liberty
Any one receiving The Sentinel of Liberty without having ordered it, may know that it is sent by some friend. Those who have not ordered The Sentinel need have no fears that they will be asked to pay for it.
The Epworth League Does Itself Credit
The Illinois State Epworth League, in session last week at Peoria, very sensibly tabled, with only one dissenting vote, a motion to send a telegram of greeting to President McKinley. The fact that the President of the United States is a member of some church should give that church no mortgage on him as a public official; nor should it give the President any mortgage on the vote of the denomination to which he belongs. The League did itself credit.
United States Troops and the Concert of Europe
The presence of a formidable army of U. S. troops in China, joining with the armed forces of Europe in putting down the “Boxer” movement and exacting satisfaction for the fearful outrages perpetrated in Peking, is to be looked for at an early date. It is reported that troops are now being dispatched from this country and from the Philippine islands, for this purpose. The United States will thus join the “concert of Europe” in China; but will it be as easy a matter to withdraw from that concert as to join it? Is it, in fact, a difficult thing to foresee a time in the near future when United States territory in Asia will lie side by side with that of the powers of Europe; so that American isolation from the territory of European nations, and from the political strifes of the Old World, will be a thing of the past?
Presenting Christ Without Coercion
The Sunday School Times has a note which states a truth that should be borne in mind by every Christian. It is this: "If we could only present Christ as he really is, how surely men would be drawn to him without the pressure of our clumsy urging!" Says Mr. Sankey, out of his lifelong experience, 'People come to Christ, I find, in a very simple way.' Not through argument or persuasion, so much as through simple presentation of Christ as he is, do men accept him."
Of course that which is true of "the pressure of our clumsy urging," is doubly true of our brutal attempts to compel.
Civil and Religious Liberties Assailed
"The liberties, civil and religious," says the Vulcan (Colo.) Times, "for which the founders of this great republic insisted, are being assailed to-day and often successfully. It is the present danger and menace of this people. How few see it!"
War Expenditures and Indian Famine Relief
Apropos of the Indian famine and of the utter inadequacy of the relief measures, the Springfield Republican says: “What a melancholy reflection it is that so many millions of pounds sterling and American dollars should be expended on unrighteous war; instead of in relief of the greatest human distress by starvation and cholera.”
Maps Illustrating the Eastern Question
Do not forget about those maps offered in last week's Sentinel, illustrating the present “Eastern Question,” for the nominal sum of 15 cents. Send in your orders now; the supply is limited.
Truth Cannot Become Sectarian
Truth may be held by a sect, but can never become sectarian.