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THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S
gence and capacity for learning, their philosophic cheerfulness, and their boundless gratitude. The Chinese know that America is their best friend, and their confidence in America and their gratitude to America is amazing. They have often little confidence in England’s friendship, and there are rea sons for that, but their confidence in, and gratitude to, Americans, is bound less. (3) In the next place, China’s promise lies in the vast population of the country. China holds within its borders one fifth of the population of the whole globe. (4) Again, there is much of prom ise in the readiness of the Chinese to listen to, and receive, the Gospel, when the Gospel is preached in its purity and simplicity and the power of the Holy Spirit. (5) There is great promise also in the character of Chinese converts. We have been often told that all Chinese converts are “ rice Christians;” that is, that they become Christians to get food, or to get some other gain. Anyone who says that is a liar and gross slan derer. That is plain language, but it is the exact truth. Some of the noblest, truest and most lovable Christians I have ever met in my life are Chinese. My son, who goes right out and lives among them, eats at their tables, sleeps SB their homes, deals with them in business and knows them in all the varied relations of life, tells me that some of these Chinese Christians, from different classes of society, put him to shame by their prayer life, their inti mate communion with God, their un derstanding of the deep things of God, and the purity, integrity and unselfish generosity of their, lives. Remember, I am not now talking about the Chinese as they are by nature, but as they be come by grace. I am not talking about the Chinese as Confucianism, or Buddh ism, or Taoism, or Mohammedanism
households and permanently cleaning up even the politics of the community? Jane Addams meant well and she is a noble woman, and she has made great sacrifices, but she had the wrong Gos pel. And yet today a quite numerous party and a very loud and insistent company in China and at home are try ing to get us to substitute in China “ the Social Gospel,” that never has wrought anything very real and very lasting in America or anywhere else where it has been tried, for the Gospel of this Book that has for centuries demonstrated its saving power in individual lives, in fam ily life, in community life and in na tional life, wherever it has been tried. And it has been tried for some years in China in a large way and has a- chieved large results. And if we lis ten to the clamor of these pure theor ists, who cannot point to a nation or a city where their so-called Gospel has accomplished anything worth speaking of, and give up the Gospel which has demonstrated its power through the centuries, then we play the fool and in that case God pity missionary work and God pity China. II. China’s Promise and China’s Peril Now, let me speak of China’s promise and China’s peril. 1. First of all, China’s promise. . Wherein does the promise lie? In many things: (1) China’s promise lies, first in the great natural-resources of that land. Of these I must not stop to speak, but they are enormous. (2) China’s promise lies secondly, and far more than in her great natur al resources, in certain national char acteristics of the Chinese people. I will simply stop to mention their untir ing and uncomplaining industry, their wise and consistent frugality, their un- parelleled practicality, their essential honesty, their extraordinary intelli
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