One word in conclusion. I have tried to show the greatness of the
crisis that is before us. The civilisation which has long been worn by
the white man alone is now being donned by the yellow man, not as the
result only of missionary effort, but as the result of those great
world causes over which puny mankind has no control; and I have tried
to show that all that we can do is to recognise and frankly accept this
great fact, namely, that the members of the human race who are subject
to and governed by our civilisation are to be nearly doubled, and that
the second half will import into that civilisation not only new
traditions, but a new racial personality, which must cause a
fundamental alteration in many of its traditions and customs. We must
not say that the movement will be shortly completed, for it has
scarcely yet begun; but we have seen enough in the success that has
attended the movement both in Japan and in China, to convince us that
it will ultimately dominate the Far East. This movement may be for
good or for evil; it may be for the downfall of the world, for the
perpetual misery of mankind, if that which is evil in both
civilisations is to be perpetuated and {326} that which is good is to
be destroyed; or it may be for the benefit of mankind if, when the
Christian civilisation welcomes the great yellow races, it accepts from
them, as it has accepted from many other races, their characteristic
virtues. Hitherto our civilisation has grown richer; every race it has
conquered has added beauty to its traditions and nobility to its
ideals. We may look forward with hope, if not with confidence, to its
future. But if this momentous change in the history of the world is to
be well directed, it can only be done by men of sincere Christian
faith; and if the civilisation is to augment these benefits to mankind,
it can only be by being more fully endued with the Christian ethics on
which its whole greatness depends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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