r > 1 | ^ »1 rromise and renl Address Recently Delivered, upon His Return from China, at the Bible Institute Auditorium By DR. R. A. TORREY •
At the request of the Milton Stewart Trust for w ork in China, Dr. Torrey last summer made his second visit to China, spending four months visiting Bible Con ferences and speaking to the foreign and native missionaries and Christian w ork ers. Upon his return to Los Angeles he was requested to give a message in the Church of the Open D oor on Sunday a fter noon on “China Today,” the address be ing listened to by over three thousand people.
often utterly false about another part of China, or another class of society. Sweeping generalizations and assertions are usually dangerous, and they are particularly dangerous when made a- bout China. I. The Government First, a few words about the Govern ment of China. China is supposed to be a Republic. Only a few years ago, our papers, maga zines and reviews were full of praise and wonder about the great bloodless revolution by which China changed al most in a day from the most despotic tyranny to “ one of the most progressive republics in the world.” Some of us, many of us, perhaps most of us, be lieved that and some of us did not be lieve it. We knew human nature too well and uniform history too well to believe that and alas! those of us who did not believe it were right. ■China, with its teeming millions, Is not a re public except in name. The mass of the people are helpless in the greedy grasp of scheming politicians and heart less militarists, who care nothing what ever for their country’s honor, or liber ty, or peace, or prosperity, who care for nothing but to line their own pock ets with gold. They succeed remark ably well in that, and as soon as they see that they cannot hold their power and their opportunity to steal much longer, they decamp with their steal ings, as the Governor of Hupeh did
HINA today is a land of mar velous promise, but also a land of mystifying problems. There are tremendous possi
bilities in this great land, but there are also terrifying obstacles. I have visited China three times in the last twenty years and have travelled very widely there for the brief time I have spent in that country. I have been from the most Northern Province to the most Southern, and from the farthest Eastern Province to next to the farthest West. I have talked with nearly all classes, from the highest to the very lowest, and have tried to lis ten and learn more than I have talk ed and taught, and my son has talked with all classes, from the President of the great Republic down to paupers, who are literally starving to death, and I have listened much and long to what he had to say about the country he so greatly loves. The oftener one visits China, the less inclined he is to be opinionated and dogmatic about it, if he is a man who keeps his ears and eyes open. What may be perfectly true about one part of China, or. one class of society, is
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