New Forces in Old China: An Inevitable AwakeningBrown, Arthur Judson
History
New Forces in Old China: An Inevitable Awakening
Brown, Arthur Judson
China -- Commerce; China -- Foreign relations; China -- Politics and government; Missions -- China
If, however, after full and careful deliberation, missionaries feel
that it is their duty to disregard the advice of their minister or
consul, they should consult their respective boards and if the
boards sustain them, all concerned should accept responsibility
for the risks involved.
But if missionaries do not permit governments to control
their movements, they should not be too exacting in their
demands on them when trouble comes. The Rev. Dr. Henry
M. Field once said:--
``A foreign missionary is one who goes to a strange country to preach
the gospel of our salvation. That is his errand and his defense. The
civil authorities are not presumed to be on his side. If he offends the
sensibilities of the people to whom he preaches, he is supposed to face
the consequences. If he cannot win men by the Word and his own love
for their souls, he cannot call on the civil or military powers to convert
them. Nor is the missionary a merchant, in the sense that he must have
ready recourse to the courts for a recouping of losses or the recovery of
damages. Commercial treaties cannot cover all our missionary enterprises.
Confusion of ideas here has confounded a good many fine plans
and zealous men. It is a tremendous begging of the whole question to
insist on the nation's protection of the men who are to subvert the
national faith. Property rights and preaching rights get closely entwined,
and it is difficult to untangle them at times, but the distinction
is definite and the difference often fundamental. By confusing
them we weaken the claims of both. And when our Christian preachers
get behind a mere property right in order to defend their right to preach
a new religion, they dishonour themselves and defame the faith they
profess. To get behind diplomatic guaranties in order to evangelize the
nations is to mistake the sword for the Spirit, to rely on the arm of flesh
and put aside the help of the Almighty.''
That is, in my judgment, stating the case rather strongly.
Doubtless Dr. Field did not mean that governments would be
justified in discriminating against missionaries and he would
probably have been one of the first to protest if they had done
so. He was addressing missionaries, reminding them that they
could do in liberty what the governments could not do in law,
and exhorting against any disposition to depend unduly upon
the sword of the secular arm. At any rate, he was a devoted
friend of missions and as such his words are deserving of
thoughtful consideration.
XXI
RESPONSIBILITY OF MISSIONARIES FOR THE
BOXER UPRISING
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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