others; but Mr. Kingsmill treats all such valuable hints with disdain. Just as he once tried to prove the meaninglessness of the Shi-king Chinese by composing an imaginary Sanskrit version based on the Chinese meaning, so now he persistently tries to prove the meaninglessness of Chinese ethnology and philology by composing an imaginary version based on Chinese ethnology and philology.

As regards M. Terrien de Lacouperie's extraordinary performances with his imaginary ku-wên or ancient phonetic Chinese characters, and the alleged polysyllabic nature of old Chinese, I unhestitatingly characterise it as a tissue of mischievous rubbish from beginning to end. It is not difficult to see from his article on the Oldest Book of the Chinese that this writer is alike ignorant of modern colloquial and the principles of both modern or ancient literary construction. Instead of taking a given subject and working it out, this ingenious but superficial scholar obfuscates all specialists by taking refuge in generalities, and leading them a "Will o' the wisp" hunt amongst Ugro-tatars, Sinico-annamites, and cuneiform inscriptions. Professor Douglas' capacities as a sinologist are known to be very modest, though passably respectable; the less he compromises himself with M. de Lacouperie the better for his reputation in the

extreme East.

THE CHINAMAN IN CHRISTIAN LANDS VIEWED FROM A
CHRISTIAN STAND-POINT.

BY REV. H. V. NOYES.

(Continued from page 136.*)

IV.

How can Christian effort for the Chinese in Christian Lands, and Christian effort in China, be made to so co-operate as to be mutually helpful? THAT such co-operation is desirable does not admit of a moment's

question. That a mutual and entirely candid interchange of views, and communication of facts, between those who are labouring in Christian lands, and those who are labouring in China, would help such co-operation, is almost equally evident.

The facts stated and suggestions made, in this paper, are of course from China, as a stand-point, but with the thorough conviction that facts and suggestions, coming from other stand-points, will be most cordially welcomed here.

*The previous pages of this Article had discussed, I. How do Christians in Christian lands regard the Chinese? II. How ought Christians to regard the Chinese in Christian lands? III. What ought Christians in Christian lands to do for Chinese among them?

In considering the inquiry, above made, we ought not to lose sight of at least the three following facts:

(1) That mission work for the Chinese, as for others, has for its object a spiritual benefit mainly; is designed to lead them to recognize their obligation to "love the Lord with all the heart and their neighbors as themselves;" and over against this fact, that the mind of the ordinary Chinaman is intensely directed towards his own personal advantage. From infancy he has been brought up to feel that the important question of life is a question of cash. The associations, guilds, clans, that he is accustomed to, are founded on self-interest and intended for the benefit only of those inside the charmed ring. In the face of these antecedents, Christianity comes to teach him that spiritual interests are infinitely more important than temporal, and that instead of considering only his own interests, or those of his own guild, or clan, he must learn this, to him, strange lesson, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." See Phil. ii. 4.

(2) That many Chinamen, to be fully understood, need to be seen on both sides of the ocean. There are not wanting those among them who go on the principle of doing while in Rome as the Romans do. The writer has known of parents advising their sons to be Christians in America, and id laters in China, and of men acting for themselves on the same principle. He knows too painfully well that some who talk very smooth things to those who are interested in them in Christian lands, and even express earnest wishes to do good to their countrymen will, on their return, not only neglect the performance of ordinary Christian duty, but give the cold shoulder to native Christians who try to lead them to the performance of such duty. What is true of many others, is specially true of many Chinamen; as one writer has well remarked, "The outside and inside man do not by any means always tally.”

(3) The Christian Chinaman returning to his own land is often called to face tremendous difficulties.

These begin on ship-board. At Yokohama a contribution is taken up by the Chinese passengers to make idolatrous offerings, with a view of securing prosperity for the rest of the voyage. The Christian, who refuses to contribute, is made the butt of ridicule, and probably tabooed thereafter. Some yield here. But those who stand firm have only commenced their contest. It must be borne in mind that the Chinese still retain much of the patriarchal life, and dwell together in clans. For a man to come from all the kind associations and helps of a Christian land, and suddenly be placed in the midst of one of these heathen clans, is sometimes

almost like being thrown into the fire, with no one to help or pity. One man, who has for years been doing faithful work as a native preacher, was wakened one night, soon after his return from California, by a rope, which his wife was placing around his neck, for the purpose of strangling him, because he was a Christian. Another refused to perform the usual idolatrous rites when building a new house. Soon one of the neighbors died. He was held responsible for the death. His house was torn down over his head and he himself beaten so cruelly that he fully believed at the time that the intention was to beat him to death. Another had his house half completed and then his neighbors interfered, and he lost nearly all that he had expended. In all such cases there is hardly a shadow of hope of redress from the mandarins, who will ordinarily maintain that the troubles met with are not on account of Christianity. No difficulty is found in trumping up some other

reason.

The following statement of some difficulties will be all the more impressive from the fact that it is given, almost in the exact words, of a returned Christian, who has long and patiently borne bitter persecution himself. He was treated with constant unkindness by the members of his own family, for whose salvation his heart still yearns, was beaten by his own mother and at last utterly cast out. He taught his younger brother, a most interesting boy, until he too wished to cast in his lot with the hated Christians. Then he saw that younger brother hung up, by ropes placed under his arms, before an idol shrine, and on account of his stedfast refusal to worship, beaten until his back was a raw mass of bleeding flesh. And yet in the fresh recollection of such experiences, I have more than once heard this man, without making any reference to his own. sufferings, exhort his fellow-Christians to receive persecution and loss of property joyfully for Jesus' sake. Such a man has a right to speak of difficulties and the following are what he mentioned.

(a) We worship the true God and trust in him for everything. We will not worship idols, therefore the people of the world hate us.

(b) We must live with neighbors who are heathen. Every year there are many occasions when contributions are solicited for theatres, for various idolatrous festivals, for building or repairing temples, for the service of the temples, or other idolatrous offerings assumed by the shops in turn. If we refuse to give such contributions, the people will certainly revile us, perhaps band together in crowds to abuse us, and perhaps attack us with spears or knives or guns. The wiser portion may be aware that it is not lawful for

them to thus maltreat us openly, on account of our belief in Jesus, but they will make hidden plans to injure us.

(c) If we live in a village, there will be other clans besides our own. The villagers will certainly have gods of the land and of grain which all who live in the village are expected to worship. The expenses will be distributed either according to persons or families. If we refuse our quota, the villagers will certainly revile us and perhaps beat us, or likely enough refuse to guard our rice fields, or will burn our property.

(d) If any villager builds a house he must select a lucky day, and employ the priests to drive away the evil spirits. If we, who believe in Jesus, refuse to do this, and then any of the villagers are taken sick and die, the responsibility of the death is laid at our doors, and we are required to make a recompense for the man's life.

(e) At the time of marriage, a lucky day must be selected, and every possible effort will be made to compel us to bow before the ancestral tablet and worship. If we refuse, we cannot avoid the reproaches of our fathers and brothers.

(f) If parents die, we are expected to employ Buddhist or Tauist priests to deliver their souls from hell, to burn incense of various kinds, and if we refuse, our brethren and kindred will beat us, or perhaps the maternal uncles will tear down our houses and destroy our property, perhaps steal our pigs and cattle, butcher them and eat them, while we do not dare to resist.

(g) At the annual distribution of the clan dividends, if we will not unite in ancestral worship, we will probably be deprived of our share, or if we have sufficient influence to obtain it, we can hardly escape being bitterly reviled.

(h) If we are engaged in trade, we may be called upon to contribute for useless superstitions, and idolatrous customs, and if we refuse, we are fortunate if we do not lose our customers. Quite likely we may be injured by secret plots, and will certainly find it difficult to escape the ill-will of the neighborhood.

(i) If we are employed as workmen, many employers will wish us to light incense and candles in idolatrous worship of the god of wealth, and we will almost certainly be required to work on the Sabbath day. If we refuse, we will probably lose the good will of our employers and our situations also.

(j) If employed in teaching, we must put the pictures of the sages on the wall to be worshipped. If we will not do this, the parents dislike it and we lose our scholars.

Thus we see that turn which way he will, the Chinese Christian in his own land finds a difficulty staring him in the face.

The above statements prepare the way for saying that those who come back to China from other lands as professed Christians are of three sorts.

First. The pure gold men who, in spite of all opposition or persecution, live straightforward earnest Christian lives and so let their light shine. After all that has been stated above it will not. perhaps be very surprising to learn that this class are in the minority.

Second. Those who may have been honest in professing Christianity, but had not fully appreciated all that it involved. They find the pressure against them so fearfully strong that for the short time they are usually at home, for a visit, they hide their light under a bushel.

Third.-Those who were no doubt hypocrites from the beginning. It is well that these facts should be known and effort directed to increase the first of these classes and diminish the others. To Christians tempted and tried, no difference how weak or erring even, or where they are, the strong arm of Christian kindness should be stretched forth in friendly aid, and earnest prayer ascend that help may be given them from on high.

We venture to make the following suggestions.

(1) That attention may with advantage be strongly directed to the fact that a knowledge of Bible truth on the part of Chinese, who return to us here, is of immensely more importance than a knowledge of the English language. While these schools, for teaching English, are established for the Chinese, it cannot be too prominently kept in view, that the great object of those, that are missionary in their character, is to bring these Chinese under Christian influence. The object of the Chinese pupil is ordinarily to become qualified to do business with English-speaking people; the object of his Christian teacher is to use the opportunity to make him acquainted with Bible truth. In most cases the English language is the only means of communication possible. And while only words of warmest approbation should be applied to those engaged in this good work, and who probably appreciate their difficulty more than any one else, still the fact must not be disguised that the ability to understand English, of the large majority of Chinese, is so limited that the Biblical knowledge they can get, through this medium, must of necessity be very meagre. The great gulf is not by any means satisfactorily bridged. And yet the Christian kindness of those who teach is not lost, even when their words are not all understood. It often leaves strong and permanent impressions for good.