1931: A Glance at the Twentieth CenturyHartshorne, Henry
Science
1931: A Glance at the Twentieth Century
Hartshorne, Henry
Prophecies; Twentieth century -- Forecasts; Utopias
At this juncture, a rebellion occurred, headed by a descendant of the
leader of the great rebellion of the nineteenth century. A considerable
undisciplined army of disaffected men was brought together, and they
marched toward Peking. The Emperor summoned his grand mandarins, and
also his chief religious advisers, two venerable native Christian men.
Between these, he was borne out in his palanquin upon the great highway,
followed by the imperial guard, unarmed, towards the approaching army.
Cannon were discharged by the latter; but the balls went far over the
heads of the imperial procession. Nearer and nearer they came; and, when
within hearing, the native preachers accompanying the Emperor, and the
Christian members of his guard, sang together an exultant Christian
hymn. Almost paralyzed with astonishment, the rebels still slowly
advanced. As they came within a few hundred yards, the Emperor left his
palanquin, and he and all his suite prostrated themselves in silent
prayer to God. As if struck by a power from on high, the rebel soldiers,
rank by rank, fell also to the ground; leaving their three chief leaders
sitting on their horses alone. Then the Emperor and chief mandarin
arose, and the latter solemnly bade the officers to do obeisance to
their Emperor. One after another, they slowly dismounted, and each, as
he came towards the Emperor, kneeled down, and, drawing his sword,
performed the hara-kari, or national penal suicide. The chief mandarin,
in a loud voice, commanded the people to return in peace to their homes,
with the forgiveness and blessing of their Emperor. They obeyed; and the
rebellion was at an end.
* * * * *
Of items of religious information nearer home, I may take note, that the
Foreign Missionary Association of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of
Orthodox Friends has now seven missionaries in different fields; most of
them engaged in Central Africa. The Society of Friends has altogether
more than sixty foreign missionaries laboring in different parts of the
world.
The missionaries sent out by all Protestant denominations together, from
Europe and America, are hardly more numerous now than they were fifty
years ago; their work being so much better done, generally, by their
converts, the _native preachers_. Not an island in the Pacific is
without its Christian church; not a spoken dialect in the world without
its Bible. Yet the world has not, by any means, become altogether
Christian, even in Christendom itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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