SYNOPSIS OF LECTURE III The evils discussed in the previous lecture have accentuated the call for an effective remedy. It is the purpose of the present lecture to pass in review some remedial expedients which, although sometimes advocated with much assurance, have nevertheless failed to vindicate their efficacy apart from the inspiration, guidance, and cooperation of Christianity. It is not asserted that they are in every instance inherently and necessarily without value, but that, in view of the ordinary tendencies of human nature, they are found to be for the purposes of social reconstruction defective and misleading, incompetent to cope with the difficulties 'and demands of the environment, unless pervaded and directed by the moral power and spiritual enlightenment of Christian ideals. With a view to test the social fruitage of these agencies apart from Christianity, the following propositions are discussed: I. Secular education apart from Christian truth does not hold the secret of social regeneration. II. Material civilization, as exemplified in temporal prosperity, artistic luxury, and commercial progress, cannot guarantee the moral transformation of non-Christian society. III. State legislation in and by itself, apart from Christianized public sentiment, is not an effective instrument of social righteousness. IV. Patriotism cannot be trusted to insure the moral or political reform of non-Christian peoples. It may represent simply a blind and prejudiced adherence to all that is objectionable and injurious in the religious, social, and national life. V. The moral forces of ethnic religions are not capable of an uplifting and beneficent renewal of society. The individual and social product of Buddhism is found to be a paralyzed personality; of Confucianism an impoverished personality; of Hinduism a degraded personality ; of Islam an enslaved personality. The making of a perfected society is not in Shintoism, nor in Taoism, nor in Jainism, nor is
Parsism equal to the task. Other and lesser religious lights lead only into social darkness. Christianity is the supreme gift of God to human society. It is full of religious truth, moral energy, and penetrating influence, making it instrumental, wherever introduced, in changing the current of social life in the direction of higher ideals and nobler culture. As a religious environment it becomes an inspiring and a guiding force in the formation of a new public opinion and in the lifting up of the purer standards of
civilization. LECTURE III
INEFFECTUAL REMEDIES AND THE CAUSES OF THEIR FAILURE
Page -- 354 --
"Religion, like everything else, is to be judged by its effects. What moral discipline, what type of character has it produced? Does it develop manhood? Has it restrained human passion and selfishness? Has it purified and ennobled the life of the home? Has it been fruitful and beneficent in its influence on social and political institutions? Has it contributed to human freedom and happiness? What educational force has it exerted? What literature, arts, and sciences have sprung from it? Has it been a friend to progress and civilization? In short, what history has it, and to what extent is that history being realized in the public life of the
world?" REV. T. E. SLATER. "Through its whole history the Christian religion has developed supreme affinities for best things. For the noblest culture, for purest morals, for magnificent literatures, for most finished civilizations, for most energetic national temperaments, for most enterprising races, for the most virile and progressive stock of mind, it has manifested irresistible sympathies. It goes wherever it can find these superlative growths of human nature. Where it cannot find them it creates them. Judging its future by its past, no other system of human thought has so splendid a destiny. It is the only system which possesses undying youth. . . . There are religions of the soil. They abide where they were born. They develop no power of self-expansion and no facility of migration. Of this immobile type Christianity is not. It has restless, migratory impulses—tastes, we may almost call them—which forecast its destiny of dominion. It is emphatically the religion of colonization and of commerce. Always and everywhere it is the pioneer of beneficent change. It transplants itself into nascent languages and cements antagonistic races from which elect nations spring. "It is a striking fact, bearing upon this world's future, that civilization gives no sign of perpetuity in history till it is transplanted into Christianity. Independently, like all other social forces of human origin, it rots and dies. Only when it is rooted in Christian ideas does it give promise of a future. The most corrupt nations have been the most accomplished in civilized graces. The most appalling downfalls of great races have been the ending of the most illustrious careers of national renown. The ante-Christian civilizations have betrayed a frightful tendency to the development of cruelty and lust in national entertainments and the rites of national religions. They taught men to luxuriate in the sufferings of their fellows, and to adore their
deities by act of bestiality." AUSTIN PHELPS, D.D., LL.D.
Page -- 355 --
LECTURE III
INEFFECTUAL REMEDIES AND THE CAUSES OF THEIR FAILURE THE study of the social evils of the non-Christian world has emphasized the necessity for an adequate remedy. Here we deal with a vital point in our discussion. If a remedy is needed, then it is essential that it be the right one. We must scrutinize with care all proposals intended to provide relief and guarantee improvement. If we can determine with our best light that little, if any, dependence can be placed upon certain popular or highly recommended panaceas, then we have cleared the way of approach to something more effectual, and have prepared our minds to accept it with confidence in its adequacy. It will be helpful at this stage of our inquiry to
Christianity the "still small voice" of human history.glance at some of the civilizing agencies which are sometimes named as competent to regenerate heathen society independently of Christianity, and see if they have the moral quality and force necessary to the accomplishment of such a task. Their claims are often put forward with great assurance and plausibility. Education, civilization, legislation, patriotic aspirations, the moral power of ethnic religions, and the spirit of self-prompted reform are all, singly or collectively, referred to as instrumentalities capable of lifting society to the higher levels of morality and of recasting humanity in new spiritual moulds. In reviewing these agencies and scrutinizing their potentialities, we are reminded of the vision of the ancient seer, in which he was taught that the quickening power of the Lord was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in a "still, small voice." It is not in the external commotions, the visible upheavals, the outward and spectacular changes, that the divine energy dwells, but rather in the secret influences within.
Page -- 356 --
It is the voice of God, at once tender and inspiring, that summons the soul to life and action, and gives it the mighty assurance of indwelling power. It should be borne in mind, moreover, that the agencies
The question stated.above referred to, so far as we are familiar with their influence in Christendom, are already in coöperation with Christianity. They are in part infused with and inspired by its spirit. If the Christian element in these instrumentalities is to be included, then they are practically mission agencies. Education under the spell of Christian influence is one thing, and quite another thing when entirely out of touch with Christian ideals. When pervaded by the spirit of a true religious outlook, it gathers to itself a vital force, a purifying energy, a moral tone, a gracious temper, and a constructive aim which place it in the front rank of helpful social forces. The same may be said of civilization, patriotism, legislation, and the power of public opinion; if these are infused with Christian sentiments, they cannot be looked upon as acting independently of, but rather in coöperation with, Christianity. If the question is to be fairly put, therefore, it must be whether education and kindred forces, entirely separated from Christianity and independent of it, will avail to save society. Missions are not insensible of the value of these instrumentalities as those which yield themselves to moral aims and can thus be consecrated to human advancement. In fact, they are made in an indirect way the very channels of mission activity, and as such are useful and effective, but will they be fruitful in beneficial results without the Christian spirit? Are they in themselves morally vitalizing and reformatory? Upon what basis do they rest in inculcating moral accountability? Have they inherent virtue to renew and refashion the spiritual tone of society? We can safely claim that, tested by such searching criteria, they will be found to be lacking in power to accomplish deep and permanent results ;1 nor have they a watchword, such as Christianity possesses, to stimulate and ennoble humanity. The remedy required must have in it a supernatural and divine efficacy, which never inheres in purely secular civilization.2 This supreme factor of supernatural energy must be mighty, pervasive, effectual, and universal. It must be able to work revolutionary changes in the realm of intellectual perception and moral impulse. Think for a moment what is required of it and what are the forces arrayed against it. It will necessarily be in 1 Cf. Seelye, "Christian Missions," Lecture II., pp. 31-58. 2 Cf. article on "Christian Supernaturalism," by Professor B. B. Warfield,
D.D., LL.D., in The Presbyterian and Reformed Review, January, 1897.
Page -- 357 --
conflict with debased public sentiment, immemorial social tendencies, dominant customs, hardened sensibilities, confirmed phases of character, much ignorant inertia, and a host of all-powerful superstitions.1 In view of these requirements, is there any remedial agency which is equal to the task, except, as we shall try to show later, the religion of Christ, which it is the function of missions to teach and establish?2 I Education alone, apart from Christianity, will not accomplish it. It is
Is the secret of social regeneration in education alone?not in itself a moral force. In fact, if it is out of touch entirely with Christianity, it often becomes a powerful weapon of evil, and may be subsidized in violent hostility to the higher welfare of society. Let us here guard carefully our meaning. We do not intend to assert that education under Christian auspices, pervaded by the spirit and aim of a Christian purpose, is not a useful and helpful stimulus to social progress. It should rather be counted a noble and legitimate missionary instrumentality. Our contention, then, is that mere education, either elementary or higher, apart from Christianity, with no promptings of Christian morality, no infusion of Christian truth, and no lessons in Christian living, is not in itself an effective instrument of social regeneration. We do not dispute that it is an intellectual stimulus, that it broadens the outlook, and breaks the fetters of superstition, is of benefit in its sphere and way as a ministry to the mental faculties, and that it may indeed be a scholastic preparation for a subsequent study and more appreciative apprehension of Christian truth and morality; yet, while it is in alliance with materialism, agnosticism, or a false and superstitious religious system, its power as a moral regenerator of society is at a minimum. Civilization is not derived from or based upon knowledge in the head so much as it is drawn from and prompted by a true religious and humane temper in the heart and life of man. 1 Cf. article on "Foreign Missions and Sociology in China," by the Rev. Arthur H. Smith, in The Missionary Review of the World, February, 1895. 2 "It must be recollected that the moral standard of individuals is fixed not alone, and sometimes not principally, by their personal convictions, but by the principles, the traditions, and the habits of the society in which they live, and below which it is a point of honour, as well as of duty, not to sink. A religious system is only, then, truly tested when it is set to reform and to train, on a territory of its own, great masses of mankind."—William E. Gladstone.
Page -- 358 --
The evidence of this lack of regenerative power in mere education is not wanting. The ancient culture and the highest scholastic achievements of Oriental and classical paganism were developed side by side with the grossest moral degradation and the most colossal social wrongs. Classical philosophy in its most ideal development had nothing better to offer as a social system than Plato's dream of a perfect society as represented in his "Republic," and, as Dr. Fairbairn says, "That Republic could not have been realized without the ruin of humanity."1 The Renaissance was a revival of learning, but it was fruitless in moral energy until the Reformation introduced the spirit of a living religious faith into the quickened intellectual development of Europe in the sixteenth century. The deistical revival of the eighteenth century was an effort to alienate learning and religion, and its tendencies are recorded in the history of Western Europe in that century of social reaction and confusion. Coming to more modern times, there are no nations in the world
Is the evidence from Japan, China and India convincing?where education apart from Christianity has had such large opportunities as in Japan, China, and India. The advances of education in Japan have been phenomenal; yet competent observers are convinced that intellectual progress alone has not improved the morality of the country.2 In China, education is the hope and the goal of tens of thousands of toiling students, and the result is represented by the literati of the Celestial Empire, who form, perhaps, one of the most 1 The abortive character of Plato's ideal has been sketched by Dr. Fairbairn, who thus writes of it: "Think where he [Plato] lived, in the fairest land of antiquity, under the brightest sun, amid the most cultivated people, pupil of the greatest teacher and philosopher of his race, associated with the wisest statesmen, heir to an heroic past, moved by a poetry that is still the joy of the scholar, and then conceive him turning in his maturest manhood to think out the model of a perfect republic. And what was it? It was a state where there was to be little freedom, for philosophers were to be kings—and a strange king the philosopher always makes, for he is a man resolute to fit men into his theory, and his best theory is, you may be well assured, a bad frame for the simplest man. And the state these philosophers were to rule was to be one where the home was destroyed, where women were to be held in common, where there was to be a community of goods, where life was to be regulated by rules and hard-fixed methods that would have allowed no elasticity, no play for glad and spontaneous energy. That Republic could not have been realized without the ruin of humanity, and was possible at its best only for the Greek, was conceived in derision of the barbarian, and afforded even to Greek nature only the poorest exercise."—Fairbairn, "Religion in History and in Modern Life," p. 163. 2 Bishop Evington, of Japan, in a speech in Exeter Hall, in the spring of 1894, gave as his emphatic testimony that education pure and simple has not influenced for the better the morals of Japan. See The Church Missionary Intelligencer, April, 1894, p. 287. One of the makers of the New Japan, the "lamented Neesima, revealed his wise discernment when he said: "We seek to send out into the world not only men versed in literature and science, but young men of strong and noble character, who will use their learning for the good of their fellow-men. This, we are convinced, can never be accomplished by abstract speculative teaching, nor by strict and complicated rules, but only by Christian principles, and, therefore, we adopt these principles as the unchangeable foundation of our educational work, and devote oar energies to their realization."
Page -- 359 --
effective barriers to her social progress. The Chinese system of education, left to itself, would hold the empire in the grasp of an unprogressive and stereotyped social system, and provide no remedy for its stagnation and vacuity. In India one of the ripest fruits of non-Christian education is the Brahman, and it is a demonstrated fact that even under the influence of modern education, unless touched by the illuminating and regenerating power of Christianity, he can remain a Brahman still, and will defend the social anomalies of the Brahmanical system, no matter to what degree of culture his education is carried. The system of caste survives practically intact in a purely educational atmosphere, and high-caste students who have received university education under the government system of non-religious influence have clung to the most puerile features of caste ceremonialism to an extent which even Hindus themselves acknowledge to be a disgrace to intelligent manhood.1 One of the most ignoble spectacles of the modern world is an educated Hindu of high caste, upon his return from a visit to European civiliza- 1 The Rev. M. A. Sherring, in his "Hindu Tribes and Castes," says of some of them: "With all their weight of learning, the possession of which enables them to carry off university degrees and honours, they are perfectly content to mingle among the most superstitious and ignorant Hindus, to do as they do, to obey their foolish dictum as law, and to have no other aim in life than to conform to the most rigid usages of their ancestors."—Quoted in "Papers on Indian Social Reform," section on" Caste," p. 49. "It has been generally acknowledged that secular education alone will not permanently and satisfactorily develop or elevate moral character. It is only, as all missionary experience proves, when a man accepts Christ as his teacher, example, and Saviour that he ever rises above the vices and immoralities of a past heathen life. Education and so-called Christian civilization do work a certain amount of outward improvement, but it is only a whole-hearted acceptance of Christ that does or can produce an abiding and worthy moral character. Old habits and customs die hard, but it is only the men and women who become Christians who ever really rise above national weakness, superstition, and vice. So far as known, not one of our native Christians denied the Faith in the terrible days of the Indian Mutiny."—Rev. D. Hutton (L. M. S.), Mirzapur, North India.
Page -- 360 --
tion going through the ceremony of expiation in accordance with the requirements of his religion, which consists, among other things, of swallowing a pill composed of the five products of the cow. He is truly spoken of in The Hindu Patriot, a leading native paper, as "an imbecile swallower of penitential pills." The effect of Indian education apart from Christianity is simply to galvanize the social curses that Hinduism has introduced and perpetuated. In a paper presented to the Bombay Conference of 1893 (Report, p. 429), Dr. Mackichan, Principal of the Wilson College at Bombay, writes: "The testimony is borne in from all quarters of the land that secular education, apart from the inculcation of the principles of Christianity, has proved a very doubtful blessing so far as the religious condition of the people is concerned. The Government itself, which presides over this system, is profoundly conscious of its failure, and seems to shrink with some alarm from the consequences of its own action. It turns for help to all who can supply the influences which it must exclude from its own system. Surely this appeal is a testimony of authority and weight."1 1 Dr. Norman Macleod once expressed his judgment upon the problem of education in India as follows: "If the non-religious schools and colleges be left alone, they will eventually leave the bulk of the educated portion of the natives either without any faith in God or without any fear of God. If Christian colleges and schools flourish alongside the secular ones, a true and reverent faith will be seen to be compatible with the highest education." At the recent annual prize distribution at the high school of the Church Missionary Society at Jabalpur, Sir Anthony P. MacDonnell, K.C.S.I., Civil Commissioner of the Central Provinces, presided, and in the course of his address, in which he referred to the difficulties which beset the Government in the attempt to convey moral training in State schools, remarked : "For my own part, I consider the difficulties so great that State schools offer me but little prospect of a satisfactory solution. The problem can alone be solved by such institutions as this, which are free to make religious and moral teaching part of the daily curriculum." He especially commended the school as "one of those which aim at something higher than imparting mere secular instruction, and recognize the great principle that moral training is the only sound basis of education."—Quoted in The Church Missionary Intelligencer, April, 1893, p. 292. The late Sir C. U. Aitchison, K.C.S.I., in an able article on the Brahmo Somaj, spoke of materialism and agnosticism, which, "as the outcome of a purely secular education, are throwing their baleful shade over the educated youth of India."—Ibid., March, 1893, p. 173. A missionary in India writes: "There is one thing which education does not seem to bring to India, and that is moral stamina. The ability to accept and harbor the most debasing social customs of this land is found among Hindus almost as frequently, if not as fully, under the university cap and gown as under the unkempt hair and rags of the village plowman. This is a vast and ghastly factor in the great Problem of India's social and religious renovation."—The Gospel in all Lands, June, 1894, p. 276.
Page -- 361 --
The fact that government education in India is so fully and vigorously supplemented by the evangelical spirit of mission schools and colleges is a saving influence of the highest value. India, no matter how fully educated, with Christianity ruled out and Hinduism and Mohammedanism still dominant, would wait indefinitely for the day of its social regeneration. Educated Mohammedanism, whether in India or elsewhere, would furnish only another illustration of the impotence of mere secular knowledge to rescue society from the dominance of desolating and degrading evils against which Christianity alone sets itself in sturdy and irreconcilable opposition. There is no doubt whatever that within as well as
Some interesting testimony from Christendom.without the bounds of Christendom a high degree of educational culture may be linked with a depraved moral life. It may even be at the back of the most vicious and dangerous philosophical and social theories. At a recent sociological assembly in Paris, Sir John Lubbock asserted that the experience of England since the passage of the General Educational Act, in 1870, has demonstrated that education has had a direct and perceptible influence in the diminution of crime. While the fact that crime has decreased in England since 1870 was not disputed, yet his assertion that this decrease was due to the influence of popular education was questioned, and it was shown that at least in France experience had indicated exactly the opposite conclusion. The interesting point was then fully brought out that in France the education was purely intellectual, while in England it was accompanied by moral training and discipline; and strong ground was taken in advocacy of the position that mere physical and intellectual education would not lessen crime, but that if a moral and religious element were introduced the reverse would no doubt prove true. It is, indeed, a grave question how far education, intelligence, and even a high degree of civilization, by virtue of their own independent influence apart from the power of moral principle, work for the good of society. Certainly there are strange enigmas in contemporary history in the political, commercial, industrial, and humanitarian aspects of the world, which bring our enlightened age to the Bar, and lead us to question whether the world, if it had to wait upon secular education alone for the inauguration of its social millennium, would not be doomed to a long and hopeless vigil.
Page -- 362 --
II Civilization as represented in material prosperity, artistic luxury, and
Is there a guarantee of social regeneration in material civilization?secular progress is also of no avail as a guarantee of social regeneration. It is not in itself a moral factor, and cannot be trusted to work for the higher welfare of society. It is true that the modern secular spirit and the world-culture of our age may be given by civilization without Christianity; they may be introduced in a crude fashion in the form of social veneering, by commerce, colonization, education, and foreign intercourse; but it is evident that the advantage of this method is wholly superficial. It is clearly the testimony of experience that no power of moral renovation is inherent in material progress. The spirit of wickedness and the degrading practice of vice are quite as much at home in the godless atmosphere of the great capitals of civilization as amid the barbarous surroundings of Asia and Africa. An environment of luxurious civilization does not change the essential nature of vice, nor give a moral tone or any distinctive elevation of manners to culture. To be sure, there is civilization and civilization, but we are speaking now of a civilization which is not Christianized in any degree. One of the results of the rapidly developing intercourse between Oriental and Occidental
Can the ethnic religions coalesce with Christian civilization?nations will, no doubt, be an attempt to establish a modus vivendi between higher modern civilization and non-Christian religious society. We shall be likely to witness an attempt at the absorption of Western civilization, accompanied by a strict adherence to the religious codes of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Mohammedanism. It is doubtful whether the amalgamation can be accomplished. Christian civilization in its purer and finer features is so much the product of Christianity that the attempt to adopt it on the part of non-Christian cults will be impossible without concessions and compromises which would be revolutionary, and in the end destructive of the ethical and religious supremacy of the alien faith. Conservatism will not yield; the new liberalism will be obliged to break with the old system; and the result will be the entrance and dominance of Christian ideas. There is no country in the world where the experiment could be made with less of a clash than in Japan. Modern culture and Western methods have been, however, to no small extent
Page -- 363 --
allied with Christianity, and the probability is that a large and dominant infusion of Christian ideals will enter the New Japan to mould and guide her social development. Whether Japan is ready at present to acknowledge it or not, her true national progress and social elevation will depend upon her attitude towards Christianity. She can never inaugurate and foster a Christian, or even any distinctively moral, civilization without Christianity. There is every prospect, however, that she will escape in large measure the terrible blunder of entering upon a new era of progress weighted with the incubus of her old religious cults. The lesson of history is clear and convincing. As Warneck says: "The history of all times shows no example of this, that mere civilization has been the means of elevating again a sunken people. . . . Christianity is not the bloom, but the root; culture is not the root, but the bloom of Christianity."1Japan, as the first Oriental nationality under the stimulus largely of native energy, to break through the barriers of the past and join the march of modern progress, would do well to ponder seriously this suggestive fact. It is a lesson of deep significance and prophetic import to all the waiting peoples of the non-Christian world about to enter sooner or later upon a modern era of rapid and marvelous development. History and experience unite in the testimony that material civilization does not minister to the immortal nature of man, or carry in itself that secret principle of moral energy which touches and renews society with a purifying and uplifting power.2 If civilization in any land or any age is to have the stamp of nobility and the promise of permanence, it must be founded on morality; and the only morality which has stood all the tests of experience and history is essentially Christian. 1 Warneck, "Modern Missions and Culture," pp. 149, 232. Cf. also Cust,
"The Gospel Message," pp. 174-186. 2 "Take any one of the attributes of humanity and educate it to the loftiest
conception of culture, take them all and refine them to their utmost capacity, and you arrive at something infinitely removed from Christianity. Roman jurisprudence, Greek art, Spartan endurance, French taste, German militarism, English commerce —all are evidences, components, necessities of civilization, but singly or unitedly they in no wise make Christianity. 'My kingdom' reigns in sanctified affections and heaven-molded wills and spiritual aspirations. Amid enervating influences Christianity means manliness; in antagonism to the false glamour that gleams around self-assertion, it opposes meekness and forbearance; it signifies the absence of mean ness, and insists on purity of thought and life; it demands self-sacrifice in the stead of epicurean indulgence; sympathy, and not stolidity, stoical indifference, or selfishness, in any of their disguises. In place of all the artificial castes of society, its frontier lines and boundaries, it confesses an all-comprehending brotherhood; it implies a charity so tender and beautiful that it is content to measure a man by his best moods instead of his worst; it means a life linked on to a higher one; it imports the weaving into one strong strand of the will of the Great Father and that of the wayward child."—George H. Giddins, in The Evangelical Magazine, September, 1895, p. 526.
Page -- 364 --
The highest social life of the ancient world was destitute of the distinctive
The status of man in Oriental civilizations.features of Christian civilization. True, there was an extraordinary development of arts and sciences, immense and profound systems of speculative philosophy, marvelous industrial achievements, magnificent architectural triumphs, imposing public works, abounding luxuries, costly amusements, imperial shows, splendid ceremonialism, commercial enterprise, colonial expansion, colossal military undertakings, vast political machinery, renowned and flourishing municipal life—in fact, the most advanced civilization of the age was centred and solidified in those great Oriental empires. Where, however, was man himself amid all this pomp and glory of visible achievement? He and the whole social system of which he was a part were crouching in the deep shadows of this great fabric of material splendor. With strange and suggestive irony he, himself, seemed to drop out of sight and sink into littleness in the presence of that imposing display of magnificent things. He, the living ego, was submerged in a material maelstrom. Injustice, degradation, misery, cruelty, and vice seemed to reign in his sphere. There was a deification of power and sovereignty as represented in the rulers of men, but there was an awful and crushing humiliation of man himself as represented in the social system. Substantially the same status, so far as the experience of common humanity and the prospects of society are concerned, is revealed in the great Oriental communities of to-day. In Japan, China, and India there is an imposing material civilization manifested in exquisite artistic workmanship, a voluminous literature, architectural triumphs, and industrial accomplishments. The Orientals are in many remarkable respects workmen who need not be ashamed of their achievements. We can spend an hour in wonderland whenever we have the opportunity of visiting some exhibition of their handiwork. The manual skill of civilization has never put forth finer products than the exquisite enamels, the beautiful dyes, the sumptuous carpets, curtains, and hangings, lovely silks, and curious bric-à-brac in gold and silver and bronze, that come to us from the Orient; yet this is all, let us notice, from lands
Page -- 365 --
where humanity sits in the shadow and does its work in an atmosphere of social degeneracy and eclipse. "The attainments of the Chinese in the arts of life," says Dr. S. Wells Williams, "are perhaps as great as they can be without this spring of action [Christianity], without any other motives to industry, obedience, and morality than the commands or demands of the present life. . . . They have probably reached as high a point as they can attain without the Gospel, and its introduction, with its attendant influences, will ere long change their political and social system."1 The mere introducing of these Asiatic empires into the "sisterhood of nations," or the
Social reform implies a change in the spirit of Asiatic empries, rather than their material civilization.development of commercial intercourse with Christendom, Still less the introduction of Western facilities and inventions, or the exchange of Oriental for Occidental commodities, will not touch the real seat of the trouble.2 The "funded civilization" of the Occident, even though transported bodily into an Oriental environment, will produce no moral fruitage, and will never accomplish the radical social reforms which are sorely needed.3 There is already a degree of material civilization in China, which might be expected to elevate her socially, if such were its tendency. In the Province of Szechuan and up the Valley of the Yangtse there is a development of agriculture and industrial prosperity which has supported interior China for centuries, with hardly a breath of intercourse with the external world; but the result of all this is simply China, and a similar outcome may be expected where civilization alone, without Christianity, holds the helm of society. In New Zealand the testimony of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, an heroic and devoted missionary pioneer among the Maoris, is of the same tenor. "He saw with painful reality that education, contact with Europeans, and increase of knowledge and refinement, did not change the character of the Maoris. Nothing but genuine conversion by the saving power of the blood of Jesus Christ could make such vile and degraded savages into new creatures."4 Replace This Text 1 " The Middle Kingdom," vol. i., pp. 47, 48. 2 " The introduction of railways will not cause a single idol to disappear. Are the temples in Canton any less crowded because this city has electric light and telegraph lines? Universities by teaching natural science may cause students to abandon trust in idols, but will not make them Christians, and the vast millions will continue to worship idols until the ineradicable tendency to worship is satisfied with something nobler than human workmanship can supply."—Rev. Albert A. Fulton (P. B. F. M. N.), Canton, China. 3 Smith, "Chinese Characteristics," p. 326. 4 Page, "Among the Maoris," p. 49.
Page -- 368 --
its being pervaded by the spirit of righteousness and honor.1 It may open the way for missionary enterprise, but in many instances the reverse is conspicuously true, that missions have prepared the way for the advances of commerce, as has been notably the case in Africa.2 But where commerce alone has been depended upon to accomplish the task of the reformation of a corrupt and sunken society, it has invariably failed. Even what has been named the "Gospel of Cloth" is no guarantee of a
Will outside covering secure inside cleansing?higher morality among savage races. Christianity is right in insisting upon a proper clothing of the person; yet native races may be clothed to perfection, but this will not in itself bring them within the pale of decency or cleanse their lives from the foulness of immoral practices. It is the testimony of experienced missionaries that among savage races scant clothing is not in itself an evidence of immodesty, and where vice prevails the attempt to introduce virtue by means of European garments is in vain.3 On the other hand, the Christian instincts of modesty and purity, once implanted in the heart, are sure to cleanse the vileness within and to regulate the proprieties of dress. The shallow and mistaken character of the cry, "Civilization first and Christianity afterwards," has
The cry, "Civilization first and Christianity afterwards," a false watchword.been abundantly revealed in the experience of missions. The universal testimony of missionaries of lifelong observation and ripe capacity for discrimination is unmistakably of the same tenor. Dr. Morfat, after twenty-six years of missionary life, writes: "Much has been said about civilizing savages before attempting to evangelize them. This is a theory which has obtained an extensive prevalence among the wise men of this world, 1 Cairns, in "Report of London Conference, 1888," vol. i., p. 116. 2 Moffat, "The Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat," p. 433. 3 The Rev. James Macdonald, in writing of African religious beliefs and
social customs, remarks: "So far as our knowledge of African peoples goes, the kind and amount of clothing worn does not seem to have any influence on public morals. The Waganda clothe from head to foot, and put a man to death if he walks about naked in a public place, but their morality is very low, and offences against
the Seventh Commandment are common everywhere. The Baris go almost naked, and they are in no way noted for immodesty, but rather the opposite. The Gowane are exceptionally well clad, but this does not prevent their having a custom that a girl may not marry till she has borne a child. The paternity of this child is not inquired into. That is her own affair, and the husband has nothing to do with it. The child is sold as a slave. Among the Dyoor, with their scanty aprons hardly equal to fig-leaves, domestic affection is very marked, and the Bongo, who wear little clothing beyond a tail hanging down behind, limit their men to a maximum of
three wives, a rare virtue in Africa."—"Religion and Myth," p. 219.
Page -- 369 --
but we have never yet seen a practical demonstration of its truth. We ourselves are convinced that evangelization must precede civilization. It is very easy in a country of high refinement to speculate on what might be done among rude and savage men, but the Christian missionary, the only experimentalist, has invariably found that to make the fruit good the tree must first be made good. Nothing less than the power of divine grace can reform the hearts of savages, after which the mind is susceptible of those instructions which teach them to adorn the Gospel they profess."1 To this distinguished missionary also is attributed the saying, "Civilization drives away the tiger, but breeds the fox." The impracticable character of this civilization creed of missions is manifest, moreover, in the utter absence of any missionary enterprise based upon this theory of procedure.2 The true attitude of Christian missions towards commerce and all the modern facilities of transportation, communication, and material progress is to seek to permeate them with the Christian spirit and use them for the moral and social advantage of the people wherever happily they are established. 1 Moffat, "The Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat," p. 372. 2 The question is pertinently asked by Dr. A. C. Thompson, in his "Moravian
Missions," "What, now, have the apostles of civilization simple and pure ever done, or what are they likely to do, for savage races? Where are the polished philanthropists who, in their contemptuous prejudice, repudiating evangelical missions, stand all ready with plow and printing-press to start for the dark places of the earth which are so full of the habitations of cruelty? Let their names be handed in. If any men holding to this mistaken idea, that civilization must precede Christianity, are prepared to put the theory to the test, they are men of Christian principle and devotion. The Dark Continent is not without an experiment of that kind. Eighty years ago the English Methodists, under the leadership of Dr. Coke, entertained a scheme for introducing civilization among the Foulahs of Western Africa. A number of well-disposed artisans of various descriptions were engaged to go out, under the idea that after some progress had been made in civilization missionaries should be sent to preach the Gospel. William Wilberforce and some other leading men of the day lent their patronage, and great expectations were awakened; but the scheme proved a complete failure. When the agents reached Sierra Leone their courage failed. They had not strength of motive sufficient to carry them out among the savages. The constraining power of love for the souls of perishing heathen men is required to establish even philanthropic men among a barbarous people; and nothing will so soon start such a people on the highroad of social and material improvement as the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In South Africa, civilization had the field for more than a hundred years all to itself; and what did it achieve? It robbed the natives of their lands; it reduced them to virtual or actual slavery; it debauched them with ardent spirits; it formed illicit connections, by which both Europeans and natives are degraded; in the spirit of a Cortez and Pizarro, it has boldly declared that savage Kaffirs should be made to sink before industrious men of a superior
race".—Thompson, "Moravian Missions," pp. 408-410.
Page -- 370 --
III State legislation in and by itself, apart from Christianized public sentiment, is not an effective instrument of social regeneration. Legislation may originate from only two sources: it may be introduced by a foreign government, ruling either by conquest or in the form of colonial administration, or it may spring from the native government itself. In the first instance, unless native public opinion is in
Wherein state legislation fails.sympathy with it, it amounts simply to a purely legal pressure from without, which may secure under compulsion the formal observance of specific rules of conduct. However important and useful it may be, it is lacking in inspiration and fails to command the hearty assent and coöperation of native society. It may enforce its exactions while it lasts, but it cannot create a sympathetic spirit. It concerns itself, moreover, with the prohibition of such external acts as may constitute an offense in the eye of the law or that may be prosecuted as a crime. It is in the power of law to punish criminals, but it cannot eradicate the criminal instinct and purpose. Its punishments are not necessarily potent even as a deterrent. No human expedient can change the disposition which is back of the overt act. As a matter of political expediency it is natural that foreign legislative administration should be very cautious and hesitant in pushing any State legislation which conflicts with native opinions and customs of a religious or social character, unless there be the most imperative legal and moral necessity for so doing. Even the British Government in India at first, in violation of its own rule of neutrality, adopted the gravely compromising policy of patronizing Hinduism by participating officially in its revolting public ceremonies, and making grants from its treasury for the support of Hindu temples. Happily, however, another spirit now prevails, but not without considerable pressure from Christian sentiment at home, and still there are strange concessions to native religious customs, especially the obscenity of certain observances of Hinduism and of some of its spectacular ceremonialism. The policy of absolute neutrality in religious matters still obtains, and is likely to do so for a long time to come. As a method of government this is no doubt wise, and would be unexceptionable were it not for the attitude of moral compromise which it involves. It serves to illustrate, however, the prac-
Page -- 371 --
tical difficulty of social regeneration by law where, native sentiment and immemorial custom stand in the way.1 In the second instance, where native legislation is supposed to be operative, it may be said to be unprecedented to find the cause of moral and social reform taken up by native non-Christian governments, unless the stimulus has come either from Christian missions or from the example and influence of civilized nations.2 The instinct of reform does not originate among savages, nor with barbarous or even semicivilized governments. Stagnation, indifference, and heartless toleration of evil customs have for centuries been the rule in the annals of non-Christian countries. Moral regeneration as illustrated in Christendom is a bright exception in universal human experience. The originating impulse has been planted in society by the power of Christianity before any legislative reforms have been enacted. For the fullest confirmation of this statement we have simply to turn to the history of Eastern nations, such as Japan, Korea, China, India, and other partially enlightened peoples. The step forward in each case where it has occurred has been by virtue of influences and impulses arising from contact with Western Christendom. That great and permanent reforms have been accomplished by
Where reform attends colonial administration its spirit is Christian.Christian powers in connection with colonial administration should be acknowledged with satisfaction and gratitude; but it should be noted also that this has been done under the stimulus of Christian principle and humanitarian instincts, and it may be questioned whether it is not the exception rather than the rule that even the colonial policy of Christendom has concerned itself very much with the moral and social progress of subject races. The British rule in India is the most conspicuous example of what a Christian power can accomplish for the material and social benefit of a people among whom the responsibilities of colonial administration are assumed. While there is still much to be done, yet the record of reforms in India which have been effected by the direct agency of British rule is a noble chapter in the administrative annals of Great Britain. The list itself, as given by Dr. George Smith in his "Life of the Rev. Dr. Wilson of Bombay," is a revelation of the social barbarism of India in the early part of the 1 The Dawn in India, July, 1895, p. 62. 2 "The Christian thought, the Christian tradition, the Christian society, are the great, the imperial thought, the tradition and society of this earth. It is from Christendom outwards that power and influence radiate, not towards it and into it that they flow."—William E. Gladstone.
Page -- 372 --
present century. Among these reforms may be mentioned the following : the abolishment of sati, or widow-burning; the prohibition of infanticide ; the stopping of human sacrifices; legal restrictions against suicide; the forbidding of barbarous cruelties, such as the impaling of criminals or tearing them apart by elephants, the serious maiming of women and thieves, the extraction of evidence by torture, the trial by ordeal, hook-swinging, and cutting by knives ; the making of slavery a crime; the non-recognition of caste distinctions before the law; the raising of the age of consent; the legalization of the marriage of widows; the establishment of a system of government education. This is a record which must be regarded with intense interest by every lover of justice and freedom. Yet, with no Christian leaven at work in Indian society, can we have any guarantee that all these abominations would not be speedily revived if legal pressure were withdrawn? The facilities of modern civilization which have been introduced, the courts of law, and the admirable system of police for the preservation of public order established throughout India, indicate also the benefits which attend English rule. The history of British colonial administration in other parts of the world has many bright aspects and commendable features, yet the Christian student of British colonization cannot but be pained by many evidences of a dominant policy of political or commercial imperialism, and of some shameful lapses from the standards of enlightened Christian rule. We doubt not, however, that the Christian element in British administration will appear more and more as time goes on. There are many English officials who regret most keenly the shortcomings revealed in the colonial policy of England, and look with the highest favor upon Christian missions as a cooperative agency of incalculable value and promise in filling out the deficiencies of government in the sphere of moral and humanitarian reform. Striking instances, however, may be noted which indicate
Illustrations of the failure of purely legislative pressure.either the incapacity or the failure of legislation, even in the colonial administration of Christian Powers, to reach the social needs of non-Christian peoples. This may arise from the limitations of self-imposed neutrality in regulative legislation concerning all religious and many social matters, as in the case of the British rule in India above referred to; or there may be a culpable failure to act where aggressive legislation or a modification of existing policy is called for. The opium traffic is an illustration. There may still be failure arising from the inoperative character of legislative enactments. In India, for example,
Page -- 373 --
notwithstanding the official suppression of sati, the legalization of the marriage of widows is practically a dead letter, because of the failure of Hindu public opinion to sanction or respond to the spirit and aim of the enactment. The same may be said of the effort to regulate the question of child marriage and the age of consent, and to guarantee entire religious liberty throughout Indian society. The attempt to inaugurate sanitary measures has often failed, by reason of the unconquerable prejudice of the native populations, as was illustrated recently in connection with the plague at Hong Kong, and to a lesser degree in India. Such objectionable customs as foot-binding are almost beyond the reach of legislation, unless some radical change of public sentiment shall secure coöperation on the part of native society. A study of the colonial policy of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal reveals the strange indifference of these nations to the moral and social welfare of their foreign constituencies. On the contrary, national ambition, commercial advantage, political expediency, and reckless disregard of the moral responsibilities involved in colonial enterprise, mark to a deplorable extent the history of European contact with and government of inferior races.1 In a chapter entitled "A Study of French Colonial Administration," in his recent volume, "The Peoples and Politics of the Far East," Mr. Henry Norman presents many instructive and significant facts bearing upon this subject. The history of French aggressions in Siam, Algeria, and Madagascar supplements by facts of a similar tenor what is said there. The story of European protectorates in Africa is yet in its earliest chapter, but there are even now startling anomalies of administration and legislation, which dim somewhat the otherwise brilliant outlook for African progress.2 No doubt Providence uses human government as a preparation for the
The historic of the "Pax Britannica" in the development of India.advances of His kingdom. Rome was an instrument to accomplish a work of great value in preparing the world for the advent of Christianity; so the British rule in India will be used by Providence to facilitate the progress of Christianity in that vast realm. The "Pax Britannica" will no doubt occupy a place of historic honor in the religious and social history of India, equal, if not superior, to that 1 For an historical summary of the darker features of European colonial contact with inferior races, see Warneck, "Missions and Culture," pp. 239-306. 2 See an article on "German Policy in Central Africa," in The New Review, February, 1897, for a searching exposé of the spirit and practice of German administration in East Africa. Cf. also article in The Saturday Review, January 30, 1897, p. 106.
Page -- 374 --
which has long been accorded to the "Pax Romana" as a preparation for Christianity. The noble part to be taken by British rule over a united India, in anticipation of the development of an Indian Christendom, is as yet but faintly realized. The preparatory and cooperating external instrumentalities would be of little value, however, were the majestic spiritual forces of missionary enterprise lacking. The true, ideal status in this connection is a hearty, sympathetic, and mutually respectful coöperation between the legislative forces of Christian government and the spiritual and moral energies of Christian missions. Missions, on their part, may be greatly facilitated and aided by a generous and sympathetic government policy. Government, on the other hand, may be helped where it is weakest by the moral backing and spiritual inspiration that can come alone through Christian teaching and living. Notable utterances on the part of distinguished Christian officials in the colonial service of England could be quoted in advocacy of this policy of coöperation and mutual support.1 1 At a missionary meeting in Brisbane, Australia, Sir W. Macgregor, the Administrator of British New Guinea, referred to mission work in substance as follows: "He had been several times asked since he had been in Brisbane if the missionaries did any good among the natives. The question surprised him, but he had no hesitation in answering it. His mind was perfectly clear on the subject, and he looked on missionaries as being absolutely indispensable in a country like New Guinea. In a new country like Fiji or New Guinea secular education was entirely in the hands of the missionaries. The Government of Fiji or the Government of New Guinea could do nothing in that direction. In his judgment, the work which the Wesleyan missionaries had done in Fiji in the way of education was perhaps greater than their wonderful work in converting the natives. But apart altogether from the question of secular education, he had no doubt whatever that good government and order would never be permanently established unless they had Christianity as their basis. He wanted to see order established in New Guinea on the basis of Christianity, and he knew it would then survive him. That could only be brought about with the assistance of the missionary societies."—Quoted in Work and Workers in the Mission Field, July, 1892, p. 101. Sir Charles Elliott, when Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, expressed his judgment as to the value of missions as a coöperative agency in the realization of the highest aims of Christian government in India, in the following memorable language : "The point that I would insist on to-day is this: that, whether successful or not, the work of offering Christianity to the people is one that ought to be persevered in, since without that we should fail to utilise one large section of the influence which the European ought to have on the Asiatic mind. I hold that it is the part of missions to carry on and complete the work which England is placed here by Providence to effect, and which would be imperfect without them. The Government of India can do much; if it could not, we who are its servants could not feel the pride and enthusiasm with which we serve it. ... It can bestow education on the masses, and can even offer, with a doubtful and hesitating hand, a maimed and cold code of morals. But it can go no further, and there its influence stops. Consider what a vast hiatus this stoppage implies. Government cannot bestow on the people that which gives to life its colour and to love of duty its noblest incentive; it cannot offer the highest morality, fortified by the example of the Divinely Perfect Life. It is here that the missionary steps in to supplement the work of the official. ... I make bold to say that if missions did not exist, it would be our duty to invent them."—Quoted in The Church Missionary Intelligencer, April, 1894, pp. 249, 250.
Page -- 375 --
IV Patriotism is not a competent or trustworthy guide in social reform.
Is patriotism a safe watchword of social reform?As regards morality, wisdom, and practical insight, it may be utterly misleading, spurious, and superficial. It has no moral guarantee and no proper standard of intelligence. It may be simply a reflection of the existing status, and represent only a blind and prejudiced adherence to opinions and customs in themselves objectionable and injurious. It cannot alone be safely trusted to promote the welfare, happiness, and progress of society. It is true that enlightened, unselfish, and high-toned patriotism, under the culture of intelligence and Christianity, is a beautiful and commendable trait which has had an inspiring mission in the world. Often has such been fruitful in heroism, self-sacrifice, and high devotion to the welfare of humanity. There is, however, a false and sinister patriotism which may work only disaster and prove a hindrance to true progress. It may be narrow and clannish, and at times only another name for feudalism. It may be inspired with military ambition and the desire of conquest. It may act hastily, thoughtlessly, imprudently, under the unsafe stimulus of pride or national conceit, or swayed by the stormy impulses of passion. It may be so destitute of moral discrimination as to advocate, defend, and promote outworn traditions and serious social evils simply because they exist and have been characteristic of past national history. It may become so identified with a false religious system as to seek the promotion of a socially debasing cult and to limit religion within national lines. Even at its best it is rarely, if ever, an advocate of moral and religious change, but rather seeks to solidify and perpetuate existing religious beliefs. It is usually regarded among non-Christian nationalities as unpatriotic to embrace a new religious faith. This is especially true in Japan, where patriotism, or an intense national
Page -- 376 --
spirit, is a militant influence in opposition to the progress of Christianity. Patriotism may minister to pride, self-conceit, and national complacency, as in China, and to a considerable extent in India, so that nothing new from without is welcome, though it may be evident that it will be beneficial and reformatory. There is a certain kind of patriotism in vogue at present among Oriental nationalities, which, if it had its own way, would doom them indefinitely to the dominion of all the miseries, evils, and barbarous anachronisms which have ruled them in the past. Intelligent native opinion in India has detected this false note of patriotism,
The temper and trend of patriotism in India.and denounced it as social treachery and in reality a barrier to true national advancement. Sir Madhava Row has condensed much solid sense and wisdom into the aphorism, "What is not true is not patriotic."1 A native Indian who has been influenced by the intelligent study of principles and practices outside and above the range of Hindu thought, and who sees in them something better and more hopeful than prevalent native customs, must run the gantlet of bitter criticism on the part of so-called Hindu patriots, if he ventures to advocate the new in preference to the old, or the foreign in preference to the native. Illustrations of this are found in the Hindu journals, and are strongly deprecated therein.2 The late Mr. Manomohun Ghose, an Indian barrister of distinction, remarked that "he felt a legitimate pride in the ancient civilization of India, but he was bound to say that an undue and exaggerated veneration for the past was doing a great deal of mischief. It was quite sickening to hear the remark made at almost every public meeting that the ancient civilization of India was superior to that which Europe ever had."3 India, in fact, is accepting the educational culture, the sciences and arts of foreign nations, and even the most intense Hindu patriot would not stultify himself by de- 1 The Hindu, a native journal of Madras, says : "We have observed of late a tendency on the part of some of our educated countrymen to apply their mental powers for irrationally reactionary purposes. Social customs and institutions which are evil in their results, and are the product of past simpler and less civilized conditions, have received elaborate defence, and even certain merits have been attached to them." The Subodha Patrika, of Bombay, another native journal, remarks in a similar strain: "Patriotism is now taken to mean a blind praise of all that is ours, and a strong denunciation of all that is foreign. It matters not whether a custom is good or bad; it is ours, and we must praise it." 2 "Papers on Indian Social Reform," section on " Caste," pp. 51-55- 3 Ibid., p. 55.
Page -- 377 --
claring his preference for the old and obsolete methods of conveyance and intercommunication, or advocate the crude and ignorant conceptions of Hindu geography, science, and mythology. The extension of this adoption of truth, knowledge, and modern inventions, to the realm of social life and religious enlightenment is, however, quite as much the part of true patriotism, and will in the end prevail. In the meantime it is clear that either national prejudice or reactionary opposition, and even hatred, to everything foreign places much of the so-called patriotism almost, if not quite, outside the circle of helpful agencies for social reform. Enlightened and guided by the broadening and ennobling teachings of Christianity, we may expect that it will, in the future history of missions, be a powerful instrument of coöperation, national reformation, and Christian development. V The moral forces of ethnic religions are incapable of accomplishing an uplifting
The social value of ethnic religions.and beneficial social transformation. The source from which, above all others, it would be natural to expect a saving social influence is the religions of the Orient. When we consider the antiquity of these great ethnic faiths, the air of dignity which surrounds their origin, their immense influence in Oriental society, their historic continuity, the reverence which has been accorded them by successive generations, the extent of their sacred literature, and the existence therein of many moral principles and precepts of true wisdom and excellence, we naturally incline to regard them as the guarantee of a helpful and beneficial ministry to society. They certainly represent the best results of human effort, subsidizing mental acumen, enfeebled moral instincts, and the dim light of nature to solve the problems of existence, or at least to illumine somewhat their darkness. So far as intellectual research, thoughtful penetration, and religious insight are concerned, they represent, at least in their original ideals, the consummation of non-Christian philosophy, the concentration of rational wisdom, and the most diligent, painstaking, even agonizing, effort of the Oriental mind to grasp the higher harmonies of truth, to lift the brooding mysteries of life, and offer a way of escape from its sorrows, temptations, and perils. Here surely, then, we might say that we have a stronghold of hope and an effective instrumentality for the social salvation of mankind.
Page -- 378 --
As we study, however, the theoretical constitution and the practical outcome of these marvelous religious systems, while we are bound to give them credit for saving society from still deeper lapses into social degradation, yet we cannot but be impressed with the unsatisfactory character of their historical results. We must here confine our attention especially to the consideration of the practical fruits rather than the philosophical content of these ethnic cults. Like the great systems of classical paganism, they have had a long probation and an undisturbed opportunity to work out the highest and best product of which they are capable. They have held not only the balance of power, but they have had undisputed possession, free scope, and unchallenged dominion for ages; and yet is the Oriental world really, except as Christianity and Western civilization have entered it, morally much in advance of the state of the Roman Empire at the coming of Christ? Christendom, as the social product of Christianity with its humble entrance into history and its lack of worldly support, may be contrasted with the Orient, where the ethnic systems have had every advantage of traditional prestige, political patronage, and social éclat. The intellectual, moral, social, political, and spiritual map of the world to-day is significant evidence of the differentiation of Christianity as an uplifting power among men.1 Study, moreover, the characteristics of the average Oriental, or of Oriental society en masse, where we may expect to find, if anywhere, the fruitage of the great religious forces of the East. The intellectual status of Oriental society is significant.
Oriental character put in evidence.Of course we expect that there will be ignorance of modern Occidental sciences, arts, inventions, and discoveries in the realm of knowledge, but we hardly expect to find such a prevailing barrenness of intellectual discipline and culture as characterizes the teeming masses of Eastern lands. If we scrutinize the attainments of the learned castes, the literati, the doctors of philosophy, law, and theology, we are im- 1 "Despite the poetic fancy which invests non-Christian religious systems with an aureole of sanctity and beauty, they have been weighed, and found wanting in power to meet the deepest wants of mankind. Whatever their rightful place may have been under Providence in the education Of humanity; whatever the virtues they are calculated to promote among peoples in a certain stage of mental or material development; however beautiful the theory, or elevated the ethics, which some of them embody or enjoin, we cannot accept them as a substitute for Christianity, or withhold its higher light from those who sit beneath their shadow. Nor is this merely a question of dogmatic theory; it is one of world-wide practice involving the happiness or misery of many millions. As the result of her travels over an immense tract of country,—the Polynesian Isles, Japan, Southern China, the Malay Peninsula, India, Ceylon, Cashmere, Western Thibet and Central Asia, Persia, Arabia, and Asia Minor,—Mrs. Bishop speaks of non-Christian lands as a great and howling wilderness, without hope because without God in the world. It is a mischievous delusion to hold that the sobriety of Islam or the ethics of the Light of Asia can restore, as Christianity can, the wastes of sin, shame, and sorrow."—The Quarterly Review, January, 1894, pp. 54, 55.
Page -- 379 --
pressed with the extent of their researches, but also with the dryness and futility of their learning. We are amazed at the puerilities and the profitless and irrelevant aspects of their traditional knowledge. We are dazed at the vanity and vacuity of their speculations and at the dearth of wholesome thought. There seems to be a characteristic failure in the power of logical and precise thinking. The imagination and memory are abnormally developed, but the faculties of exact reasoning are seriously impaired. There is a certain acuteness, quickness, and mental shrewdness, but little depth, consistency, or poise, and an inveterate tendency to crookedness of mental process and careless inexactitude. If we turn now to moral qualities, the first impression is that of confusion and uncertainty. Moral perceptions are vague and lax. Egregious blunders are recognized, and even acknowledged, which are nevertheless persisted in with singular fatuity and unconcern. We meet with a curious incapacity for the personal appropriation and self-application of moral obligation, and an everlasting shifting and shuffling in the presence of moral responsibility, a conspicuous failure to recognize the force of principle as a motive and constraint in conduct, an enormous exaggeration of the personal over the moral factor in social and political life, an acceptance of theory with a failure to practise, a readiness to assent with a hesitation to act, a large fund of abortive convictions, a serious collapse in moral and spiritual stamina. There is external zeal, but internal hollowness and insincerity. Men are adepts in the arts of deceit, with the most easygoing and undefined sense of obligation to truthfulness. The Oriental character is almost the precise antithesis of the Puritan. Duty, except as it is identified with self-interest, is a dim and inoperative conception. The disposition to throw aside and shift responsibility is almost universal and resistless. The fact of temptation is the prevailing excuse and apology for evil-doing. The Old Adam, in the sense of another irresponsible personality, is the historic burden-bearer of Oriental sins. If he fails, fatalism is a refuge. Stalwart will-power is the exception in relation to all evil solicitations. Easy-going compliance is the rule. The moral nature as a whole, if not in a state of collapse, is universally feeble, except as
Page -- 380 --
morality is identified with asceticism and external conformity to ceremonial ritual. In the realm of religious experience there is the most chaotic and capricious conception of sin and the nature and measure of personal accountability. There is an exaggerated respect for external requirements, and slight consideration for internal states. The spiritual realm is pervaded by an atmosphere of legalism. Religion is clung to and practised with persistency and zeal, but in a thoroughly ceremonial spirit, while the practical duties of piety are a singular mixture of moral laxity and profitless exaction. Much of the most religious life of the Orient is specially objectionable in its influence upon society. The personal qualities that are characteristic of an Oriental are complacency, pride, self-confidence, and conscious assurance of the superiority of himself and his environment. He has wrought diligently in his own strength for his own glory, and, in his estimation, he has succeeded. He delights in his historic past, and is hardly conscious that his present is any the less worthy of admiration. He needs a thorough toning up in intellectual sincerity and moral manhood, and some lessons in humility. The trend of heredity has been marked by long and steady deterioration, so gradual that he does not recognize it, and is quite unconscious that he, himself, is a representative man in this respect. It is an exceedingly difficult and perhaps invidious thing to attempt to
Its brighter aspects and possibilities.speak thus in general terms of average character in the Orient. There are no doubt many individual exceptions, while national characteristics may present some differentiating features; yet as an all-round statement we venture to express the conviction that there is nothing which can be seriously challenged or pronounced unseemly and unfair in the estimate. A residence of twenty-one years in personal contact with Asiatics, and a somewhat extensive study of Orientalia, have given the author at least a basis for forming his own judgment, which he offers for what it is worth. He would be the last to deny or wish to obscure the fact that there are also many charming and winning traits of character in Oriental manhood and womanhood, such as patience, gentleness, courtesy, hospitality, gratitude, loyalty in friendship, and much genuine and hearty domestic affection. There has been a strong hereditary tendency to hospitality in the social life of Asia, and the ethics of human relationships have been prominent in much of its religious life. The social feelings and habits of the better classes in the Orient are, as a rule, far removed from the barbarism of savage races. There is every reason, moreover, to rejoice in the fact
Page -- 381 --
that humanity in the East is capable of high culture, stalwart morality, earnest evangelical piety, and beautiful refinement, combined with genuine simplicity of personal character. The Providence of God no doubt has still in store a national training, a social discipline, and a personal regeneration of the Asiatic world, which will prepare it in the future to be the scene of some of the brightest and noblest triumphs of Christianity. It will be instructive, in this connection, to glance at the social history
A study of the social tendencies of Eastern religions.of some of the more prominent ethnic religions, and discover, if possible, the secret of their inability to work out the regeneration of Eastern society. There must be each case a sufficient explanation for such a characteristic and universal failure to lift humanity to the plane of a higher civilization. Can we discover this, and indicate it in its proper context as a satisfactory explanation of the disappointing result? Let us glance for a moment at Buddhism. It has had an immense following of not less than one
Buddhism and its social forces.quarter of the human race. Its manifest weakness is in its failure to establish and enforce moral obligation, and if it fails here, so far as the individual is concerned, it must fail also in the realm of social responsibility. Its conception of God, if indeed any definite conception can be recognized, is at best vaguely impersonal. When you search for a personal Deity, He is not to be found. In its doctrine and worship it is a highly wrought system,
but without that living touch with the divine which is the essence of religion. "God not in it" will be its historic epitaph. If God is not in it, then God's ideal of man and of human society is absent. Its early history revealed a genuine impulse in the direction of charity, brotherhood, and humanitarian ethics, and a missionary zeal which was phenomenal, as well for its patience and gentleness as its heroism, but without the underlying motive and the staying power which were necessary, and without the capacity to work a moral change in man. Buddhism, where it does not merely represent a refined selfishness or a bald asceticism, is now a riotous idolatry, around which is gathered a hireling hierarchy. No religion can live on an ancient and long worn out reputation. It must be judged by the test of its practical outcome in the lives of its followers. Buddhism proposes an escape from the miseries of life, but by means of asceticism and self-immolation rather than by moral victory over them. Its great problem is the universal sorrow; its great woe is existence; and it suggests as a method of es- cape a process of personal sublimation and ecstatic preoccupation, which will in the end reduce human nature practically to a vacuum. So far as its attitude to society is concerned, its practical tendency is to soar out of touch with it rather than stoop to the alleviation of its miseries. It is a system of spiritual monasticism, which presents as its crowning achievement a withdrawal from social responsibility within the shell of a happy unconsciousness of the world. The extinction of militant desires, especially all that may be classed as intemperate and lustful, is its highest purpose. Constructive non-existence of the personality as a social factor is the philosophical and practical goal of Buddhism. So far as any service to society is concerned, its present attitude is negative rather than positive, since "it turns away from the world on principle." Human nature in its noblest and most essential social gifts and capacities, and in its crowning prospects, is, according to the Buddhist ideal, reduced to the mystical exaltation of the individual. Its social creed is the isolation or withdrawal of self for the benefit of self. It is a policy of scuttling, and leaving society to sink beneath the waves. The highest and choicest hopes of Buddhism do not contemplate the social weal, but rather the individual attainment of Nirvana or Arahatship, involving at once the deprivation and desertion of society.1 In brief, the characteristic shortcoming of Buddhism as a
The contribution of Buddhism to society is a paralyzed personality.ministry to the social life of the East is its practical paralysis of the personality as a social dynamic—its attempt at the obliteration of the individuality as a working factor in society; and hence the extinction of its usefulness.2 Not so much in its theoretical conception, but in its practical outcome, it has been found to be lacking in the altruistic impulse, which seems ever to gravitate into egoism. "From the first," 1 Cf. Bishop Boyd Carpenter's Bampton Lectures on "The Permanent Elements of Religion," pp. 150-154. 2 To quote the words of Principal Reynolds: "Not by under-estimating the
reality of self, but by conferring upon it an infinite value and significance, did Jesus free those who believed in Him from the greatest burden; not the burden of existence, but the burden of sin. Jesus Christ abolished distinctions, not by emphasizing the unreality of souls, but by investing all souls with a new meaning, which in itself was more to be desired than all the temporary and vanishing shadows of earthly greatness. Buddha turned men's eyes away from the sorrows of life. He would have men think them out of existence by a species of intellectual training. Christ took all our sorrows and sickness and death upon Himself, that He might take them away; and He pronounced His benediction on the poverty, the mourning, the hunger, the sorrow, the death, which are the handmaids to the soul in its passage into the perfect life."—Reynolds, "Buddhism," p. 22.
Page -- 383 --
writes Professor Marcus Dods, "Buddhism reserved its highest blessings for the man of contemplation, who could pass through the world as a stick floats down the river—unattracted to either bank." Love for others and corresponding service, although down in the books, have not been and cannot be insisted upon in the spirit and power of Christian altruism. "The contrast between the Gospel of Christ's salvation and the law of Buddha's deliverance is so great that words cannot measure it. The moral culture which schools the mind into utter passivity and indifference to all things and persons is the very antipodes of the spiritual culture which loves and blesses all the works of God, which embraces all souls, and is reconciled to the Supreme Will."1 The proposed deliverance of Buddhism is from the misery of restless desire rather than from sin. Its programme contemplates the deliverance of self rather than of others. Its outcome is rest and ecstasy for the man, not as a member of a perfected society, but as one who has escaped into untroubled isolation. Its supreme desire is the individual Nirvana, that state of mind in which the personality is virtually extinguished and the spirit is in a state of poise and rest. It is a final goal of existence where there is no further prospect of "becoming" to trouble the soul. The possible round of rebirths is ended, and a blissful serenity and security are henceforth the happy portion of the possessor of Arahat-ship.2 This experience, it may be noted, is possible in connection with the present earthly existence. Is it any wonder that the record of Buddhism as a ministry for the elevation and renovation of human society is marked by failure? In like manner let us consider briefly the influence of Confucianism,
Confuccianism and its social role.and see if we can detect the secret of its social shortcomings. At the outset we are impressed with its natural capacity to influence society, and if any mere ethical code can contain the secret of social regeneration, Confucianism might be expected to reveal it. The special sphere which it expressly seeks to regulate is society. It fixes its attention upon the five relationships, between ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger, and friend with friend. The five regular constituents with which it endows our moral nature are named as "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and sincerity," and it requires" affection between father and son, concord between husband and wife, kindness on the part of the elder brother and defer- 1 Reynolds, "Buddhism," p. 34. 2 Professor T. W. Rhys Davids, "Buddhism: Its History and Literature,"
pp. 151, 173, 175.
Page -- 384 --
ence on the part of the younger, order between seniors and juniors, sincerity between friends and associates, respect on the part of the ruler, and loyalty on that of the minister; these are ten righteous graces equally binding on all men."1 There is nothing here which Christianity would repudiate; on the contrary, rather would it sanction and enforce them all. Much emphasis has been given to the fact that the ethics of Confucianism are on a high plane. This is true and should be frankly acknowledged. Indeed, it is to be expected that the human reason, in laying down an elaborate programme of reciprocal duties, if it were true to itself and guided by the light of natural religion and human experience, would instinctively accentuate these points; and not only China, but the world, may be thankful that an ethical code like this has dominated so many millions of our fellow-men for centuries. It is not the simple code of Confucian ethics which has paralyzed China's social development; it is rather the fact that it lacks motive power of the right kind; it is deficient in vitalizing forces.2 The more we study this monumental system of ethical religion the more its fatal weaknesses come to light. Where is God? we inquire. Where is the ultimate basis of authority and the supreme motive of duty? To be sure, there is an annual representative worship of Heaven on the part of the Chinese Emperor, in which he takes the place of his people and is their official substitute in rendering homage to that indefinite entity which is called Heaven and stands for God. The people as a whole assume an attitude of unconcern and irresponsibility towards the Supreme Power. In fact, the attempt on the part of a Chinese subject to offer public worship to Shangti, in accordance with the prescribed ritual, would be counted an act of high treason. There is among the masses no intelligent recognition of authority. There is no motive which is not, in the last analysis, resolved into self-interest, and 1 Legge, "Christianity and Confucianism Compared," p. 12. 2 "The evidence we have to offer is that of experience. We find that
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism have not made the corpse live, but only garlanded it with flowers. There are good points and teachings in these religions, but they are simply precepts without living power to raise the people. The educated Confucianist is ignorant, proud, and conceited. He only knows what Confucius taught (and does not practise it), and what Confucius did not teach is not knowledge. Go to a Buddhist temple and question the priest. He knows little or nothing of his own religion, cannot interpret the prayers he chants or read the books of his own creed, but leads an idle, vicious life. Like priest, like people. These religions have not lifted a single burden or borne a single sorrow. They have plunged the people into hopeless night as regards the future life, and have given no power to overcome sin in the present one."—Rev. Joseph S. Adams (A. B. M. U.), Hankow, China.
Page -- 385 --
there is a conspicuous lack of moral accountability. Man is a law unto himself; but as this has never satisfied the intuitive demands of the moral nature, a substantially polytheistic substitute has been found in the ancestral worship of China, and also in the prevalent superstitions of nature-worship.1 We note, too, the excessive overloading and overdoing of the ethical code of duty with supplemental precepts and concessions representative either of expediency, weakness, or folly. On the one hand, is undue laxity; on the other, over-stringency. The rights and interests of the individual are slighted in deference to the State and the family. Excessive power is conceded to rulers and parents. Reverence for ancestors develops into idolatrous worship. The living, on the other hand, especially women and the weaker members of the family, are regarded as inferior, and treated with an undue assumption of power; hence the forced betrothal of children, the evils of polygamy, infanticide, or the heartless committal of girls to a life of misery. The practical outcome of this human adjustment of details reveals a marked absence of the delicacy, the wisdom, the tenderness, the considerateness, and the justice of the Christian spirit. Confucianism stumbles and blunders so hopelessly in the practical application of its code that the issue, so far from securing the happiness and welfare of its followers, with a benignant guardianship of the rights of the helpless and the dependent, has perpetuated the historic shortcomings of Chinese society. We cannot but note also the absence of altruism and the lack of a spirit of sacrifice in social life. There is little appreciation of man as man. Selfishness dominates the whole attitude of the Confucianist, not only towards humanity, but towards his own environment, and often towards even his own family. There is a notable absence of a personal example for guidance and comparison. Confucius himself, according to his own statements, was imperfect.2 The literature which Confucianism has put forth is destitute of spiritual power and magnetic inspiration. It is cold, and powerless to move and quicken and vivify the soul. The practical outcome of Confucianism fails to realize even its own ideal. While there are exceptional characters, and men of amiable and gra- 1 "All the gods of China," writes the Rev. Arthur H. Smith, "may be said to
have been dead men, and by the rite of ancestral worship it may be affirmed that, in a sense, all the dead men of China are gods. . . . There can be no doubt whatever that as a nation the Chinese are polytheistic. There is also the worship of nature. Temples to the gods of wind, thunder, stars, sun, and moon abound. Any kind
of a divinity which seems adapted to exert a favorable influence in any given direction will be patronized." 2 Legge, "Christianity and Confucianism Compared," p. 31.
Page -- 386 --
cious characteristics in the ranks of its followers, yet they are manifestly not the average product of the system. As a man among men the Confucianist is lacking in moral sincerity, in the altruistic purpose, in humility and the spirit of sacrificial service. As a religionist he is either polytheistic or agnostic.1 The emptiness of Confucianism appears in its annihilation of a divine personality as a source of authority, its undue estimate of the moral power of ethical conceptions, its homage to rule and precept as alone sufficient guides to society. It has exalted ethics as in themselves the personification of authority and an all-sufficient motive.2 It has perverted them by accommodating interpretations, accretions, and misapplications, until they have led on to idolatry, and become the teachers of half-truths, or practical reversals of their original ideals. Its sign of failure is its exaltation of self as the interpreter and exponent of moral obligation. It, therefore, lacks the authority, the motive, the wisdom, and the personal touch of Christianity. The divine personality is in total eclipse; the human personality stands alone and helpless as its own master. We find, therefore, that the crucial defect of Confucianism
The contribution of Confucianism to society is an impoverished personality.as a social force is its impoverishment of the personality, its non-recognition of its needs. It is a religion of shortcomings, of partial truths, of half-power, of undefined responsibility, As a code, while excellent so far as it goes, it becomes in the end narrowed, distorted, misdirected, and misshapen. Its practical result, as revealed in the social history of China, is an imperfectly developed, partially cultured, feebly inspired, 1 Smith, "Chinese Characteristics," p. 316. 2 " One of the ablest Oriental scholars has said that China has the best moral creed outside of the inspired code. Scattered throughout the voluminous writings of recognized authority are profound utterances of high ethical value, applicable to every class, from emperor and prince to magistrate and scholar, trader and laborer. Millions daily study these books, in which rulers are exhorted and admonished to adhere to justice and righteousness in dealing with the people; and no nation on the earth knows better than the Chinese that 'evil has an evil recompense, and good has a good recompense.' But what do the facts disclose as to the ethical fruit of these wise admonitions? China stands forth to-day as one of the most conspicuous examples of the utter worthlessness of mere natural ethics to elevate and purify a nation. They know, but they practice not. The power of the seen and tangible outweighs all considerations when balanced against the possibilities of future compensation. Scores of sayings may be produced from their classics in which prince and people are urged to justice and propriety, and yet there is not on earth a more corrupt set of rulers than those who to-day hold power in this vast empire."—Rev. Albert A. Fulton (P. B. F. M. N.), Canton, China. "I see the results of Confucianism, perhaps the best human system of ethics the world has had, after a trial on a large scale for two millenniums, and, after this long trial, China, like the woman in the Gospels, is only growing worse. Is it not fair to infer that her case is hopeless apart from Christianity? But Christianity can cure all her ills, and it will."—Rev. Chauncey Goodrich, D.D. (A. B. C. F. M.), Tungcho, near Peking, China.
Page -- 387 --
morally blinded, and socially moribund humanity. The human reason has taken a gigantic leap in its own strength, but it has fallen short, and the result is Confucianism. It is the great historic illustration of the failure of a human ethical code, with no acknowledged sovereignty back of it, no constraining love in it, interpreted and applied by the imperfect wisdom and the moral weakness of man. Let us turn now to Hinduism and scrutinize its record as a
Hinduism and its social record.social stimulus and help to mankind. It was born in a process of nature-worship; it was nursed in pantheism; and it has matured into stupendous ceremonialism and a colossal system of idolatry. The better divinities of its earlier history have been superseded by evil ones. It has developed in its downward trend the most tyrannical and overshadowing sacerdotalism in the religious history of the world. The priestly caste has never assumed such masterful supremacy over the mysteries of religion and the life of men as has been revealed in the triumph of the Brahman. This has been its spiritual and philosophical history for two thousand years. Buddhism at length attempted its impossible rôle of reform, but Brahmanism held its own, and the modern era of Hinduism began. It has since grown by absorption, accretion, and expansion into the most gigantic and debasing parody of true religion in existence. Into its Pantheon have come the most monstrous representations of Deity that the human mind has conceived. The thirty-three gods of the Vedas have grown to hundreds of millions. Siva, Durga, Rama, Krishna, and Kali have taken their places at once of honor and shame in the temples of Hinduism. Truly its last state is worse than its first. With Krishna, Siva, and his supposed wife Sakti, and a multitude of other divinities, have developed the nameless features of Hindu worship, the orgies of its festivals, and the moral taint of its most sacred places. "The worship of Siva, of Vishnu, and the other popular deities," writes Professor Max Müller, "is of the same, nay, in many cases of a more degraded and savage character than the worship of Jupiter, Apollo, and Minerva; it belongs to a stratum of thought which is long buried beneath our feet; it may live on, like the lion and the tiger, but the mere air of free thought and civilized life will extinguish it."1 In its principles and practices it represents at once the religious 1 "Lecture on Missions," p. 47.
Page -- 388 --
patronage of vice, the enthronement of tyranny, the exaltation of cruelty, the consummation of ceremonialism, the adoration of sacerdotalism, the utmost assumptions of caste, and the most profound depths of idolatry. No religious development of history has succeeded in establishing such lines of separation between man and man as are revealed in the system of caste. A more complete reversal of the spirit of Christianity cannot be imagined. The touch, even the shadow, of a member of a lower caste is pollution to one of higher rank. In the esteem of high-caste Hindus, cows are holier than their brother men, and companionship with them is less offensive than the impure presence of men and women who are separated from them by the intolerance of caste.1 Principal Caird has truly said: "The system of caste involves the worst of all wrongs to humanity, that of hallowing evil by the authority and sanction of religion." What shall we say, moreover, of the status of woman in Hindu society, the position she occupies, and the wrongs she endures, which are directly instigated by the social code of the Hindu? Hence, if we look for the most characteristic note of failure in the
The contribution of Hinduism to society is a degraded personality.social influence of Hinduism, we shall find it in its degradation of the personality as a social factor. This appears in the system of caste, in the treatment of woman, and in the emasculation—almost the destruction, of morality. Its doctrine of transmigration, linking man with the animals, reduces personality to its lowest affinity and robs it of hope. It is immensely to the credit of the Hindu that he has any manliness left, and it is a wonder that Hindu society has survived at all.2 There is a growing spirit of social reform in the more intelligent circles of Hindu society apart from any profession of Christianity. It has, however, been largely under the stimulus of the various movements known as Somajes, and is itself an indirect result of the entrance of Christianity. It is a question how these reform movements will succeed without a closer touch with a living Christianity. Very com- 1 "As a leading Hindu paper of Southern India said not long since of the degraded Pariahs, so we may say of all the social evils that afflict India: 'Hinduism can do nothing for them; Christianity must reach them.' "—Rev. T. E. Slater (L. M. S.), Bangalore, South India. 2 Sir H. S. Maine has said: "On the educated native of India the past presses with too awful and terrible a power for it to be safe for him to play or palter with it. The clouds which overshadow his household, the doubts which beset his mind, the impotence of progressive advance which he struggles against, are all part of an inheritance of nearly unmixed evil which he has received from the past."
Page -- 389 --
petent observers express grave doubts as to their permanent efficiency.1 Passing on to the history of Mohammedanism, let us see if we can
Islam and its social failure.
note the secret of its social bankruptcy. Islam originated in part in the effort to reform society spiritually and socially. Its progress was marvelous, and the secret of it was not simply the renaissance of its great theological doctrine, but the stalwart wielding of its sword. Its rehabilitation of the doctrine of the unity of God, and its mighty faith in the sovereign decrees of destiny, would no doubt have awakened a spiritual impulse in the minds of its elect votaries; but its claims would have failed to secure any extended recognition had they not been enforced by a military ardor which carried the Saracen hosts through Western Asia and along the northern shores of Africa, until they threatened Europe alike in the East and in the West. Nothing could have been more attractive to the Arabian plunderers than the entrancing dreams of world-booty, which seemed about to be realized in the militant progress of the first century of Islam. Its two watchwords of merit and reward had a magical influence over its followers. 1 "For more than twenty years I have watched the various religious movements which, primarily inspired, as it seems to me, by Christianity, have sought to reform Indian religious thought and Indian social life and conditions; and, making all allowance for any bias or prejudice I may as a Christian missionary possess, I am forced to the conclusion that nothing but Christian life and principle can permanently effect and consolidate even social reforms. The failure of such movements as that of the Brahmo Somaj and the Prarthana Somaj to effect any widely spread social change is now acknowledged. A later movement of a socio-religious kind in connection with the Arya Somaj has appealed to Hindu national feeling and tradition in the north and west of India, and has succeeded in gaining followers on account of its wider design and apparent retention of the old basic Hindu beliefs, while rejecting later and additional Puranic accretions more or less directly condemned by the intelligence generated by European science. This is a movement among Hindus and for Hindus only, and, among other objects, aims at the abolition of idolatry, and modifications of caste, and various social arrangements in the direction of greater liberty. Of all the religious or socio-religious organizations I know in this country, with perhaps the exception of Mohammedanism, it shows the greatest antipathy to Christianity, to the Founder of Christianity personally, and to His teachings, and if allowed free scope would, I am persuaded, be a distinct source of danger in the State. None of these movements, so far as I can judge from their history and results, can at all compete with Christianity as a 'reforming agency which can reach to the roots of the evils which afflict human society'; they are all too limited in their scope, have no elements of permanency in them, and fail to operate as a universally elevating influence to raise all sorts and conditions of men from lower to higher planes of social or moral or spiritual life."—Dr. James Sommerville (U. P. C. S.), Jodhpore, Rajputana, India.
Page -- 390 --
Its enticing emoluments and its moral compromises are attractive considerations to the average Oriental. It is a combination of a simple religious creed, such as it is, for the soul, and easy-going license for the lower nature. The Moslem devotee bows the knee and worships in good form the God whom he adores, and at the same time bows his head and kisses with heartfelt satisfaction the sins that he loves. In either case the salutation is devout and genuine, a characteristic feature of his religion. His fast of Ramadan for a whole month once a year is made up of rigid abstinence during the day and unchecked license during the night. The Islamic code is a strange mixture of the supersensual and the sensual, of the potency, grandeur, and dignity of spiritual doctrine intermingled with a grovelling carnality and weak license of the flesh. It is a strange and bewildering appropriation of religious teaching, with a debasing transference and readjustment of it to the service of material conquest and fleshly debauch. The Moslem warrior seemed to refresh himself with the inspiration of truth, and at the same time to fire his soul with the ravishments of sensual delights. While fighting "in the ways of the Lord" he draws near to Paradise, but this militant exaltation is no barrier to the seductive enjoyments of earth. At the close of the era of conquest the real social history of Islam may be said to begin, and it has been marked by a notable absence of progress in political civilization or of moral training and culture in the individual and the family. As regards its relations to the civilized world, it is a gigantic and demoralizing social incubus, with no power of coöperation, adaptation, and moral adjustment. Its fixed traditionalism, its legislative rigors, its ceremonial exactions, its spirit of despotism, its degradation of woman, its sanction to slavery, and its cruel fanaticism are impassable barriers between Islam and progressive culture. The Koran invariably calls a halt to civilization. It fixes inexorably the bounds of freedom with an intolerable narrowness and rigor. It is clearly a provincial product of an ignorant and semibarbarous environment. It is a compromise with the spirit and practice of the rude, undisciplined religious and social systems of Arabia. It has not only ostracized, it has made impossible, some of the sweetest and noblest features of Christian civilization. It cannot enter the realm of modern refinement and adjust itself therein. If Islam steps in, the Christian home must step out. If Islam assumes control, freedom must die. If the Moslem becomes the guide and the guardian of social morals, refined womanhood must flee as for its life. The history of Armenia during the past year or two has been a significant commentary on the social as well as the political spirit of Islam, and has revealed in
Page -- 391 --
lurid, hellish light the desolating, devouring, unnamable possibilities of cruelty in Islamic fanaticism. What then shall we designate as the characteristic note of weakness
The contribution of Islam to society is an enslaved personality.and failure in the social mission of Mohammedanism? It is found in its enslavement of the personality and its non-recognition of the principle of religious and social freedom. Mohammed sealed the doom of Islam when he unsheathed the sword. It has become the executioner among religions. Its method is conquest by arms, and the death-warrant for apostates. Its Koran demands intellectual slavery; its harem requires domestic slavery; its State implies and enforces both a religious and a civil slavery. Its great doctrine of fatalistic submission to inexorable sovereignty has been made to include man in his relations both to the Koran and to the civil and military authority represented in the Khalif, and finds its consummation in its supremacy over woman as both the possession and the slave of man.1 True to its instinct of domination and power, this degrading slavery of woman has been transplanted to the Paradise of Islam, where no nobler function is assigned her than to be the possession of man without stint of number.2 1 "It is this sensual and degraded view of woman that destroys to so great an extent the good influence which the better part of the teaching of Islam might exert in the East. So long as women are held in so light an esteem, they will remain vapid, bigoted, and sensual; and so long as mothers are what most Muslim mothers are now, their children will be ignorant, fanatical, and vicious. . . . If the mother
is ignorant and vicious, the son cannot form a high ideal of womanhood, and thus is barred off from the chivalrous spirit wherewith alone a man may reach to the highest love: that 'Subtle master under heaven,Not only to keep down the base in man,But teach high thought, and amiable words, And courtliness, and the desire of fame,And love of truth, and all that makes a man."The Muslim has no ideal of chivalry like this to make his life pure and honourable; his religion encourages an opposite view, and the women among whom he is brought up only confirm it."—Stanley Lane-Poole, "Studies in a Mosque," pp. 108, 109. 2 Principal Fairbairn's judgment is at once final and true: "The god of
Mohammed . . . spares the sins the Arab loves. A religion that does not purify the home cannot regenerate the race; one that depraves the home is certain to deprave humanity. Motherhood must be sacred if manhood is to be honourable. Spoil the wife of sanctity, and for the man the sanctities of life have perished. And so it has been with Islam. It has reformed and lifted savage tribes; it has depraved and barbarized civilized nations. At the root of its fairest culture a worm has ever lived that has caused its blossoms soon to wither and die. Were Mohammed the hope of man, then his state were hopeless ; before him could only lie retrogression, tyranny, and despair."—"The City of God," pp. 97, 98.
Page -- 392 --
What now can be said briefly of Shintoism and its social
Is there in Shintoism the making of a renewed society?promise? It is doubtful whether we should really call it a religion, as it seems to have no doctrinal creed, no clearly defined moral code, no standard but the dictates and desires of human nature itself. It was but a phantom of a religion before Buddhism supplanted it in Japan in the sixth century, and since then it seems to have gone into retirement and desuetude. Its recent revival would seem to give it official importance, but it is impossible that it should hold its own in the New Japan. As a State religion it is already an anachronism. The spirit of to-day among that alert and progressive people can never coalesce with the Shintoism of the past.1 It is too much an instrument of intellectual slavery and sacerdotal tyranny. Whatever may be its ideals, it is a narrow, forceless, and ineffective social programme for humanity. What can we say, moreover, of Taoism and the influence of
Has Taoism the secret of social progress?that mysterious philosopher of the Taou (or way), and his little book, which is the tiny basis of the colossal system which has sprung from it? Laotse is the magician of Chinese religious history. His system, like others, was comparatively pure at its origin, but has developed into a vast phantasmagoria of charms, incantations, superstitions, ghostly fancies, and mystical jugglery. It is virtually a religion of quackery, although, like Confucianism, it has a mixture of grain and chaff. Its moral code, however, is destitute of force, and touches society with no genuine uplift. It has a minimum of good mixed with a maximum of evil, and as an instrument for saving society it lacks the life, the energy, the wisdom, and the common sense which would give it success. We can only leave it as too manifestly incompetent to claim further attention. We sometimes hear of Jainism, which originated, like Buddhism, as a
Is there a social gospel in Jainism?revolt from Brahmanism, and has led an obscure and precarious existence in Western India. It is atheistic in spirit, and seems to cherish as the magnificent aim and engrossing occupation of its followers the abstaining from inflicting any injury upon animals, and especially from taking their life. Its moral code enjoins five duties and forbids five sins. The duties are described as, "first, mercy to all animated beings; second, almsgiving; third, venerating the sages while living, and worshipping their images when deceased; fourth, con- 1 Griffis, "The Religions of Japan," p. 97.
Page -- 393 --
fession of faults; fifth, religious fasting." The sins are named as, "first, killing; second, lying; third, stealing; fourth, adultery; fifth, worldly-mindedness." In practice, however, the emphasis has been laid upon the preservation of animal life. In this respect they have tithed the "mint, anise, and cummin," and neglected the "weightier matters of the law." In a little volume published in India they are referred to as follows: "They care more to preserve the life of a dog, a hen, a diseased and decrepit horse, even of an ant, a bug or flea, than the life of a man. When Kathiawar came under British jurisdiction, the Jains stipulated that cattle were not to be killed for the English troops; but female infanticide had existed for untold generations without any effort on the part of the Jains to check it. They are enjoined not to eat in the open air after it begins to rain, nor in the dark, lest they might unconsciously swallow a fly. They must not leave a liquid open, lest an insect should be drowned. Vayu Karma is keeping out of the way of wind, lest it should blow insects into the mouth. The priests carry a broom to sweep insects out of the way of harm as they walk or when they sit down, and a mouth-cloth to prevent them from entering the mouth. The cots of the Jains are often infested with bugs, as they will not kill them. Some of the richer Jains pay poor men to lie for a time in their beds, allowing the bugs to feed on them, that they may not be troubled when they go to sleep. The Jains look upon themselves as very meritorious on the above account, though many of them are extortioners and oppress greatly those who come within their power."1 Surely the insignificant social scope of Jainism is manifest. Parsism is a relic of the past,2 having hereditary
Can we hope that Parsism is equal t the task?affinities with the ancient religion of Zoroaster, which was nature-worship developed in a monotheistic rather than a polytheistic direction. In its doctrine of Dualism it engaged in an heroic struggle to preserve the character of God from degradation and defilement, but, after all, the Creator is largely identified with His works. The Parsis, however, are not themselves fire-worshippers. It also as a social force has been 1 "The Principal Nations of India" (Madras, Christian Literature Society), pp. 105, 106. 2 "The religion of Zoroaster,—the religion of Cyrus, of Darius and Xerxes,— which, but for the battles of Marathon and of Salamis, might have become the religion of the civilized world, is now professed by only one hundred thousand souls—that is, by about a ten-thousandth part of the inhabitants of the world. During the last two centuries their number has steadily decreased from four to one hundred thousand, and another century will probably exhaust what is still left of the worshippers of the Wise Spirit, Ahuramazda"—F. Max Miiller, "Lecture on Missions," p. 46.
Page -- 394 --
"weighed in the balances, and found wanting," although hardly any other Gentile religion has so many excellent features and can so easily receive the regenerating influences of Christianity. Parsism has in it much of hope, since with less of confusion and convulsion than others it can receive the pure morality and the spiritual teachings of Christ. Of nature religions as they exist at present in the world, in various
The universal verdict of history as to the social outcome of all non-Christian religions.forms of animism, spiritism, fetichism, and pagan idolatry, with its bloody and licentious rites, there is no necessity that we should speak here. They can never lead society to a higher level and teach it the secrets of regeneration. There are still remnants of religions which might be named,—some of them relics of the past, and others born of present struggle and revolt from ancient systems,—which, however, only serve to confirm the universal verdict of failure which characterizes the social mission of all non-Christian faiths. Sikhism, for example, Sufism, Babism, Drusism, the religion of the Aztecs, the Toltecs, and some ancient cults of South America, the religions of the aboriginal tribes of North and South America, the Teutonic, Celtic, and Slavonic heathenism—all have either had their day or are now on trial, and only one verdict is possible concerning them: they have failed to do for man what Christianity has succeeded in accomplishing and will yet more perfectly and universally achieve. Whatever of partial excellence may be in them is found more perfectly in Christianity. The characteristic shortcoming of them all is their imperfect presentation of truth, their lack of motive power in the right direction, their superficial moral guidance, and the hopeless supremacy of the evil over the good. They need the benign touch, the spiritual discernment, the noble ideal, the moral energy, and the all-conquering element of personality so characteristic of Christianity. It should not be claimed that they all have been entirely powerless for good and have had no worthy moral influence; still less should it be asserted that they have exercised no beneficent power in history and have had no valuable message to mankind. They represent the best philosophical, moral, and religious product of the human intellect, feeling after God in the darkness of ignorance and in the uncertain light of natural religion, with whatever help may have been derived from the residuum of revealed truth, which has never been entirely banished or obliterated from the Gentile mind. They are the fruit of struggle and aspiration and of that imperfect adjustment which the human reason is capable of accomplishing in the realm of religious doctrine and practice. That they contain a measure of original truth cannot be denied; but it is a truth
Page -- 395 --
that has been misinterpreted, misapplied, overlaid with human vagaries, and prostituted to evil ends.1 The natural religious development of man has not been in the direction of truer vision and higher attainment, but rather towards lower views and baser practices. How sharp is the contrast between religions of human and those of divine origin! Christianity comes as a supreme gift from God, full of truth, energy, and
Christianity God's best gift to human society.unfailing capacity, to change the current of religious life in the direction of regeneration and progressive advancement towards a perfect individual and social development. Both before and after the Incarnation, whether in its preparatory stages or in its New Testament consummation, it is a contribution of spiritual and moral power introduced into the individual experience of man, and so into the general progress of society, in the form of a fresh, vivifying, and energizing religious environment, under the influence of which God and man coöperate in a movement towards perfection. The secret of the noblest social destiny is in Christianity, and the sooner the world recognizes it the better. There is no escaping the conviction that the judgment of
Paul's diagnosis of heathenism still true.Paul as to the religious value and moral standing of classical paganism is as true to-day in substance and spirit concerning modern ethnic faiths as it was of contemporary antichristian creeds in his age. There has been perhaps a kaleidoscopic transposition of philosophic principles, a rehabilitation and relabelling of external ceremonialism, and some readjustment of immorality to its modern environment; but the evidences of lineal descent and spiritual heredity are unmistakable. The "vain imaginations" are still to the front, the "foolish heart [or understanding]" is still "darkened," the professedly "wise" are none the less "fools," the "creature" is still honored rather than the "Creator," the "things that are not fitting" are still in their place of prominence, and they are admired and defended by the heathen apologists of to-day with the same strenuous zeal and stout-hearted complacency as of old. But the victory of Christianity, although it may seem to come slowly and "not with observation," is as assured now as it was then. We have thus passed in review the prominent, in fact the only possible, rival forces which can be brought into comparison with Christianity as possessing any supposed capacity for effecting social changes of 1 Cf. "The Religions of the Orient," an address by the Rev. Jacob Chamberlain, M.D., D.D.
Page -- 396 --
a helpful and elevating nature. We have seen good
The watchword of missions is Christianity, both for individual and society.reason to regard them as in themselves hollow and ineffective. Some of them are useful, indeed even valuable, as instruments and adjuncts of Christianity; but without its coöperation, and uninfluenced by its pervading spirit, they are doomed to failure. Education, material civilization, State legislation, patriotism, and ethnic religions are not in themselves gifted with the power of social regeneration. Each in its own way fails at vital and crucial points. There is manifest need of a nobler and higher ministry to society from some authoritative and inspiring source, and that this ministry is provided and freely offered in Christianity is a cheering fact to which we shall in the next lecture give more special attention.
Page -- 397 --
LITERATURE AND AUTHORITIES FOR LECTURE III To avoid repetition, many volumes mentioned in the other lists are not included in this, although they would properly find a place in the literature of Lecture III. The reader is therefore requested to consult the other bibliographies as in some instances supplementary to the one given below. ADAMS, BROOKS,The Law of Civilization and Decay: An Essay on History.L. and N.Y., The Macmillan Co., 1896. DORCHESTER, Rev. DANIEL,The Problem of Religious Progress. Revised edition. N. Y., Hunt & Eaton, 1895. FEATHERMAN, A., Social History of the Races of Mankind5 vols. Trëubner & Co., 1881-88. GRAU, Rev. R. F., The Goal of the Human Race; or, The Development of Civilization : Its Origin and Issue. (Translated by Rev. J. G. Deimler and Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall.) L., Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1892. HUNTINGTON, Bishop F. D., Social Problems and the Church. Cambridge, Mass., The Church Social Union, 1895. JAPP, A. H., Master Missionaries: Chapters on Pioneer Effort throughout the World. L., T. Fisher Unwin, 1883. LAURIE, S. S., Historical Survey of PreChristian Education, L. and N. Y., Longmans, Green & Co., 1895. LESSING, G. E., The Education of the Human Race. Fourth edition, revised. (Translated by W. Robertson.) L., Kegan Paul, Trench, Trëubner & Co.. 1896. MACKAY, T., Methods of Social Reform: Essays, Critical and Constructive. L., John Murray, 1896. MAHAFFY, Rev. J. P., A Survey of Greek Civilization. Meadville, Pa., Flood & Vincent, 1896. PATTISON, S. R., Gospel Ethnology. L., The Religious Tract Society, 1889. SEELYE, Rev. JULIUS H., Christian Missions. N. Y., Dodd, Mead & Co., 1875. STEELE, Rev. ROBERT, The New Hebrides and Christian Missions, with a Sketch of the Labour Traffic. L., James Nisbet & Co., 1880. WARNECK, Dr. GUSTAV, Modern Missions and Culture. E., R. W. Hunter, 1882. YOUNG, ROBERT, The Success of Christian Missions. L., Hodder & Stoughton, 1890. BUDDHISM BEAL, Rev. S., Buddhism in China. L., S. P. C. K., n. d. BERRY, Rev. T. S., Christianity and Buddhism: A Comparison and a Contrast. L., S. P. C. K., n. d. CARUS, PAUL, The Gospel of Buddha. Fourth edition. C., The Open Court Publishing Co., 1896. COPLESTON, REGINALD STEPHEN, Buddhism, Primitive and Present, in Magadha and in Ceylon. L. and N. Y., Longmans, Green & Co., 1892. DAVIDS, T. W. RHYS, Buddhism: A Sketch of the Life and Teaching of Gautama. L., S. P. C. K., n. d. DAVIDS, T. W. RHYS, Buddhism Its History and Literature. N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1896. DAVIDS, T. W. RHYS, Lectures on the Place of Buddhism in the Development of Religious Thought. L.,S. P. C. K., 1881. EDKINS, Rev. J., Chinese Buddhism. L., Trëubner & Co., 1880. HARDY, R. SPENCE, Manual of Buddhism. L., Williams & Norgate, 1880. I-TSING, Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (A. D. 671-695)(Translated by J. Takakusu.) Letter from F. Max Müller L., Henry Frowde, 1896.
Page -- 398 --
KELLOGG, Rev. S. H., The Light of Asia and the Light of the World. L. and N. Y., Macmillan & Co., 1885. OLDENBERG, H., Buddha: His Life, Doctrine, and Order. L., Williams & Norgate, 1883; N. Y., Charles Scribner's Sons, 1883. REED, ELIZABETH A., Primitive Buddhism : Its Origin and Teachings. C., Scott, Foresman & Co., 1896. SCOTT, Rev. ARCHIBALD, Buddhism and Christianity: A Parallel and a Contrast. (The Croall Lectures.) E., David Douglass, 1890. SIMPSON, WILLIAM, The Buddhist Praying Wheel: A Collection of Material Bearing upon the Symbolism of the Wheel and Circular Movements in Custom and Religious Ritual. L. and N. Y., The Macmillan Co., 1896. SUBHADRA BHIKSHU, A Buddhist Catechism. N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1895. TITCOMB, Rev. J. H., Short Chapters on Buddhism. L.. The Religious Tract Society, 1883. WADDELL, L. A., The Buddhism of Tibet. L., W. H. Allen & Co.; N. Y., Charles Scribner's Sons, 1896. WARREN, HENRY CLARKE, Buddhism in Translations. Harvard Oriental Series, vol. iii. B., Ginn & Co., 1896. WILLIAMS, Sir M. MONIER-, Buddhism in its Connection with Brahmanism and Hinduism. L., John Murray, 1889. CONFUCIANISM DOUGLAS, ROBERT K., Confucianism and Taouism. L., S. P. C. K., 1895; N. Y., E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1895. FABER, Rev. ERNST, A Systematical Digest of the Doctrines of Confucius. (Translated from the German by P. G. von Moellendorff.) L., Trüubner & Co., 1875. JENNINGS, FOSTER H., The Proverbial Philosophy of Confucius. N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1896. LEGGE, JAMES, Christianity and Confucianism Compared. (Present-Day Tracts Series.) L., The Religious Tract Society, n. d. MACGOWAN, Rev. JOHN, Christ or Confucius— Which? or, The Story of the Amoy Mission. L., J. Snow & Co., n. d. HINDUISM BEACH, HARLAN P., The Cross in the Land of the Trident. N. Y. & C., Fleming H. Revell Co., 1895. BHATTACHARYA, JOGENDRA NATH, Hindu Castes and Sects. Calcutta, Thacker, Spink & Co., 1896. CALDWELL, Bishop, Christianity and Hinduism. L., S. P. C. K., 1879. COLEBROOKE, H. T., Essays on the Religion and Philosophy of the Hindus. Revised edition. L., Trübner & Co., 1873. MACDONALD, K. S., The Brahmans of the Vedas. Madras, The Christian Literature Society, 1896. MITCHELL, J. MURRAY, Hinduism Past and Present. Second edition, revised. L., The Religious Tract Society, 1897. MITCHELL, J. MURRAY, The Hindu Religion: A Sketch and a Contrast. (Present-Day Tracts Series.)L., The Religious Tract Society, n.d.
The same is published in a book entitled Two Old Faiths. Meadville, Pa., Flood & Vincent, 1891. OLDENBERG, H., Ancient India: Its Language and Religions. C., The Open Court Publishing Co., 1896. PHILLIPS, MAURICE, The Teaching of the Vedas: What Light Does it Throw on the Origin and Development of Religion?. L. and N. Y., Longmans, Green & Co., 1895. Philosophic Hinduism. Madras, The Christian Literature Society, 1893. ROBSON, Rev. JOHN, Hinduism and Christianity. E. and L., Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1893. STRACHEY, Sir J., India. New edition. L., Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1894. Upanishads (The). (Translated into English with a Preamble and Arguments by G. R. S. Mead and Jagadisha Chandra Chattopadhyaya.) L., Theosophical Publishing Co., 1896. Vedas, An Account of the. Madras, The Christian Literature Society, 1892. WILKINS, Rev. W. J., Modern Hinduism. L., T. Fisher Unwin, 1887. WILKINS, Rev. W. J., Hindu Mythology. Calcutta, Thacker, Spink & Co., 1882. WILLIAMS, Sir M. MONIER-, Indian Wisdom. L., W. H. Allen & Co., 1876. WILLlAMS, Sir M. MONIER-, Brahmanism and Hinduism. Fourth edition, enlarged and improved. L. and N. Y., Macmillan & Co., 1891. WILLIAMS, Sir M. MONIER-, Hinduism. L., S. P. C. K., 1890; N. Y., E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1890.
Page -- 399 --
WILLIAMS, Sir M.MONIER-, Religious Life and Thought in India. L., T. Fisher Unwin, 1887. WILSON, H. H., Essays on the Religion of the Hindus. 2 vols. L., Trübner & Co., 1862. ISLAM ALI, SYED AMEER, The Life and Teachings of Mohammed: or, The Spirit of Islam. L., W. H. Allen & Co., 1896. ALI, SYED AMEER, The Ethics of Islam. Calcutta, Thacker, Spink & Co., n.d. ALI, MOULAVI CHERAGH, The Proposed Political, Legal, and Social Reforms in the Ottoman Empire and Other Mohammedan States. Bombay, Education Society's Press, Byculla, 1883. ARNOLD, JOHN M., Islam: Its History, Character, and Relations to Christianity. L., Longmans, Green & Co., 1874. ARNOLD, T. W., The Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith. L., A. Constable & Co., 1896. BAHADOR, SYED AHMED KHAN, Essays on the Life of Mohammed. L., Trübner & Co., 1870. HAINES, C. R., Islam as a Missionary Religion. L., S. P. C. K., n.d. HUGHES, Rev. T. P., Dictionary of Islam. L., W. H. Allen & Co., 1885. HUGHES, Rev. T. P., Notes on Mohammedanism. New edition. W. H. Allen & Co., 1894. JESSUP, Rev. H. H., The Mohammedan Missionary Problem. P., Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1879. MUIR, Sir WILLIAM (Translator), The Beacon of Truth ; or, Testimony of the Coran to the Truth of the Christian Religion. L., The Religious Tract Society, 1893. MUIR, Sir WILLIAM (Translator), Sweet First-Fruits. L., The Religious Tract Society, 1893. MUIR, Sir WILLIAM, The Coran: Its Composition and Teaching, and the Testimony It Bears to Holy Scriptures. L., S. P. C. K., n.d. MUIR, Sir WILLIAM, Mahomet and Islam. L., The Religious Tract Society; N. Y. and C., Fleming H. Revell Co., 1895. MUIR, Sir WILLIAM, The Life of Mahomet from Original Sources. L., Smith, Elder & Co., 1877. MUIR, Sir WILLIAM, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall, from Original Sources. L., The Religious Tract Society, 1891. MUIR, Sir WILLIAM, The Rise and Decline of Islam. (Present-Day Tracts Series.) L., The Religious Tract Society, n.d..
The same is published in a book entitled Two Old Faiths. Meadville, Pa., Flood & Vincent, 1891. OSBORN, ROBERT DURIE, Islam under the Arabs. L., Longmans, Green & Co., 1876. OSBORN, ROBERT DURIE, Islam under the Khalifs of Baghdad. L., Seeley & Co., 1878. SELL, Rev. EDWARD, The Faith of Islam. New edition. L., Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1896. SMITH, R. BOSWORTH, Mohammed and Mohammedanism. N. Y., Harper & Brothers, 1875. STOBART, J. W. H., Islam and its Founder. L., S. P. C. K., n.d.. TISDALL, Rev. W. ST. CLAIR, The Religion of the Crescent. L., S. P. C. K., 1895. WHERRY, Rev. E. M., A Comprehensive Commentary on the Quran. 4 vols. B. and N. Y., Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1882. WHERRY, Rev. E. M., Islam; or, The Religion of the Turk. N. Y., American Tract Society, 1896. WORTABET, Rev. JOHN, Researches into the Religions of Syria. L., James Nisbet & Co., 1860. COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RELIGION BARROWS, Rev. JOHN HENRY (Editor), The World's Parliament of Religions. C., The Parliament Publishing Co., 1893. BARROWS, Rev. JOHN HENRY, Christianity the World Religion. (Haskell Lectures delivered in India.) Madras, The Christian Literature Society, 1897. BARTH, A., The Religions of India. L., Trübner & Co., 1882; B. and N. Y., Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1882. BETTANY, G. T., The World's Religions. N. Y., Christian Literature Co., 1891. Reissued in separate parts by Ward, Lock & Bowden, N. Y., 1892. CHAMBERLAIN, Rev. JACOB, The Religions of the Orient. N. Y., R. Brinkerhoff, 1896. CLARKE, JAMES FREEMAN, Ten Great Religions. 2 vols. Thirty-fourth edition.B. and N. Y., Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1895.
Page -- 400 --
COBBOLD, G. A., Religion in Japan: Shintoism, Buddhism, and Christianity. L., S. P. C. K., 1894. CUST, ROBERT NEEDHAM, Common Features Which Appear in All Forms of Religious Belief. L., Luzac & Co., 1895. DODS, Rev. MARCUS, Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ. L., Hodder & Stoughton, 1893. DÖLLINGER, J. J. I., The Gentile and the Jew in the Courts of the Temple of Christ. 2 vols. L. and N. Y., Longmans, Green & Co., 1865-67. Du BOSE, Rev. HAMPDEN C., The Dragon, Image, and Demon; or, The Three Religions of China. N. Y., A. C. Armstrong & Son, 1887. EDKINS, Rev. J., The Early Spread of Religious Ideas, Especially in the Far East. L., The Religious Tract Society; N. Y. and C., Fleming H. Revell Co., 1893. EDKINS, Rev. J., Religion in China. L., Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1884. ELLINWOOD, Rev. F. F., Oriental Religions and Christianity. N. Y., Charles Scribner's Sons, 1892. FABER, GEORGE STANLEY, The Origin of Pagan Idolatry, Ascertained from Historical Testimony and Circumstantial Evidence. 3 vols. L., Rivington, 1816. Faiths of the World (The). St. Giles Lectures. Second series.E. and L., William Blackwood & Sons, 1882. FALKE, ROBERT, Buddha, Mohammed, Christus. Part I. (descriptive)Güters-loh, Bertelsmann, 1896. GRANT, G. M., The Religions of the World in Relation to Christianity. L., A. & C. Black ; N. Y., A. D. F. Randolph & Co., 1895. GRIFFIS, Rev. WILLIAM ELLIOT, The Religions of Japan. N. Y., Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895. HARDWICK, CHARLES, Christ and Other Masters.. L. and N. Y., Macmillan & Co., 1886. HARDY, R. SPENCE, Eastern Monachism. L., Williams & Norgate,, 1864. HAUG, M., Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsees. Third edition, edited and enlarged by E. W. West. L., Kegan Paul, TrenchTrübner & Co., 1884. HOPKINS, EDWARD WASHBURN, The Religions of India. B., Ginn & Co., 1895. Indian Evangelical Review (The), Calcutta Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. London. Journal of the American Oriental Society. KARAKA, DOSABHAI FRAMJI, History of the Parsis. 2 vols. L. and N. Y., Macmillan & Co., 1884. LEGGE, JAMES, The Religions of China. N. Y., Charles Scribner's Sons, 1881. LYALL, Sir ALFRED, Asiatic Studies: Religious and Social. L., John Murray, 1884. LYALL, Sir ALFRED, Natural Religion in India. Cambridge, The University Press, 1891. MACDONALD, Rev. JAMES, Religion and Myth. L., D. Nutt; N. Y., Charles Scribner's Sons, 1893. MARTIN, Rev. W. A. P., Hanlin Papers; or, Essays on the Intellectual Life of the Chinese. First series. L., Trübner & Co.; N. Y., Harper & Bros., 1880. MARTIN, Rev. W. A. P., Hanlin Papers; or, Essays on the History, Philosophy, and Religion of the Chinese. Second series. Shanghai, Kelly & Walsh, 1894. MARTIN, Rev. W. A. P., The Chinese: Their Education, Philosophy, and Letters. N. Y., Harper & Bros., 1881. MATHESON, Rev. GEORGE, The Distinctive Messages of the Old Religions. E. and L., William Blackwood & Sons, 1892. MAURICE, Rev. FREDERICK DENISON, The Religions of the World and their Relations to Christianity. Fourth edition. L. and N. Y., Macmillan & Co., 1861. MENZIES, A., History of Religion. N.Y., Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895. MITCHELL, J. MURRAY, Non-Christian Religions: Their State and Prospects. Present-Day Tracts Series. L., The Religious Tract Society, 1897. MITCHELL, J. MURRAY, The Zendavesta and the Religion of the Parsis. (Present-Day Tracts Series.)L., The Religious Tract Society; N. Y. and C., Fleming H. Revell Co., 1887. MOLLER, F. MAX, Sacred Books of the East. L. and N. Y., Macmillan & Co., 1895. Non-Christian Religions of the World (The). (Bound volume of Present-Day Tracts.)L., The Religious Tract Society, n.d.
Page -- 401 --
Outlook (The.) (The Message of the World's Religions. A series of articles on the prominent religious faiths of mankind, beginning with the issue of June 26, 1897.)N. Y., The Outlook Co., 1897. RAWLINSON, Canon GEORGE, The Religions of the Ancient World. L., The Religious Tract Society, 1882. Religious Systems of the World. (A collection of addresses delivered at South Place Institute.) Second edition. L., Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1892. REVILLE, Rev. A., Prolegomena of the History of Religions. L., Williams & Norgate, 1885. Revue de l'Histoire de Religion. Paris. SPARHAM, Rev. C. G., Christianity and the Religions of China : A Brief Study in Comparative Religions. L., Office of London Missionary Society, 1897. TERRY, Rev. MILTON S., The Bible and Other Sacred Books. N. Y., Hunt & Eaton, 1890. THOMAS, E., Jainism; or, The Early Faith of Asoka. L., Trübner & Co., 1877. WARREN, President W. F., The Quest of the Perfect Religion. (Baccalaureate Address, Boston University, 1886.) B., Rand A very Co., 1887. WILLIAMS, Sir M. MONIER-, Modern India and the Indians. L., Trübner & Co., 1887. |