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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
May 1924
A Gospel Which Is No t a Gospel Two Ministerial Meetings Rev. Arthur S. Paynter, General Director of the India Christian Mission
the last month I have attended two Mon- orning Ministerial Meetings in the home- It might enlighten some of the Lord’s peo- know what is being said and listened to in
“ One,” again replied the missionary, “ and when this man ceases to work— and he is getting on in years— a successor will not be appointed.” The professor appeared to express decided satisfaction that the preaching of the Gospel 'rt'as to be given up in that district. He told us there were more than three hundred thousand Protestant Christians in China today and he was “ sorry there were so many.” Some of the Christians were of a poor type and instead of seeking to make Christians, the work of the missionary was to give them our western civilization and education. The professor followed the ex ample of the Baptist minister, to whom I refer above, and urged the importance of teaching birth-control, saying that this was one of the primary duties of a missionary in China. No dissentient voice was raised to the address. I give it as my opinion that if missionaries are going to China and India to act on the professor’s advice, they may possibly have an opportunity of being martyrs to the cause, for the Eastern peoples will assuredly have none of this teaching. Had the professor, started a really energetic campaign in the interest of birth-control in China, his min isterial brothers might never have heard his address. What would they not have lost! A godly colored minister present, privately asked the professor at the close of the meeting if he understood him to say that education must precede the preaching of the Gospel in China. “ Certainly, that is the inference,” was the reply, “ unless you can change the psychosis of the Chinese people.” Christians in the home lands, who believe that the only way to help the heathen is to preach the Gospel of the grace of God, ought to know these things and something must be done to make them know them, that:— (a) They may take action and demand the withdrawal of all foreign missionaries holding snch views, and (b) They may weep and pray for the men, both abroad and at home, who are so sadly departing from the faith. What a parody on the Great Commission to imagine our Lord saying, “ Go ye into all the world and give the heathen people Occidental civilization and education and teach them birth-control.” TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS The King’s Business is printed and mailed out each month about five or six weeks ahead of the date printed on the magazine, so that our foreign subscribers and those in Canada and the eastern part of the U. S. will get their copies in time to use the S. S. Lesson helps. Hence the January, 1924, number was mailed out the last half of No vember, 1928. For this reason it was impossible to begin many of the subscriptions that were received in Decem ber, 1923, and early January, 1924, with the Jan uary number as was requested. We are asking all subscribers who do not want to keep their January number to return them to us. Therefore, a little later on, we may be able to furnish the January number to those who must have them and will write us for them, Very respectfully, R. H. Richards, Business Manager.
such meetings. Let me briefly describe what I heard. The first was a Baptist Ministers’ meeting in a city of about a million inhabitants. The paper of the morning was written by the President of Colgate University and was read by a young minister. It was a criticism of the conversion of St. Paul and particularly endeavored to explain away the light that shone from heaven round about Saul of Tarsus when the Lord met him on the road to Damascus. Paul’s blindness was described in the President’s paper as being attributable to the fact that “ Paul was neurotic, an epilep tic.” It would be interesting to hear Paul on the Presi dent of Colgate. The paper also dealt with the recently published statis tics as to the alleged inability of many of the people of the United States to take higher educational courses. Only thirteen and a half per cent of the citizens of the United States of America, it is said, possess the ability to take a college course. Hence, says the Principal of Colgate, min isters of the Gospel should only be recruited from this thirteen and a half per cent. What about the humble fish ermen of Galilee? Eugenics next received consideration and the sixty per cent of the people of the United States who have not, it is asserted, the brain power to take a high-school course should, we were told, be encouraged to have only small families; whilst the forty per cent, who it is alleged alone have the mental ability to take a high-school course, should be encouraged to have large families. As the reader sat down he remarked with gusto, “ I think that is a great paper.” A minister arose and said, “ I do not think so, and I pity the students of Colgate.” He also calmly but forcibly com batted various points of the article. The paper was not put to the vote but, judging from ex clamations pro and con of those present, I think the gather ing was about equally divided. My colleague from India, Rev. E. L. Goonasakara, when given five minutes to ad dress the meeting, said that Modernism among the mission aries in India was resulting in Hindu converts reverting to their heathenism. Second Meeting The second meeting was a gathering of the ministers of the Federated Churches, also in a city with a population of a million people. A young professor was speaking of missionary work in China. He has spent twelve months in China and gave us his impressions of that great land. The substance of his address was:— The day of evangelism in China is passing and quickly passing. This is true of all missions, including the China-Inland mission. What we ought to do was to give the Chinese our Occidental civiliza tion in which was included religion or Christianity. Speak ing to a leading missionary in China he inquired, “ How many native missionaries have you preaching Christianity in heathen villages in your district?” “ One,” replied thé missionary.” “ You misunderstood me,” said the professor and repeated the question.
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