But a little while ago we were praying God to open the door of China; and now the Chinese are pressing in at our own back door, having a steam ferry between our shore and theirs. Even the building of our Chinese wall, while China has been tearing down hers, has had the immediate effect of hastening 25,000 of these people in at our Golden Gate before the law should go into effect, and this influx has been felt already in our schools, which for the last few months have had a total larger than that of any former months. Mr. Pond certifies that even the enforcement of the law will not for some time occasion any let up in the pressure upon our school accommodations. We have as stock on hand, as raw material, these 125,000 people whom we should work up in the Christianizing way, so that they may be prepared, some for their own mission work at home, and some to receive the masses who may come by-and-by when the embargo is lifted. So that while our government stands at the Golden Gate to warn off any Mayflower immigrants, it may be that this enforced quiet and isolation will become a mighty factor in the scheme for Christianizing China. But none the less is it a ludicrous object lesson that the nation which stands with its front door wide open to receive 90,000 Europeans a month, should yet shudder over the 125,000 Mongolians who in many years have sought admission at the back door. It is a humiliating confession that 50,000,000 of Christian people, compacted as a nation, should shrink from having their system come into contact with the effete superstitions of 125,000 sojourners. But the politicians’ law is only for ten years. The principle, the conscience of the nation will be at work. The law may become a dead letter or be repealed. Before we are aware of it, the flood-gates may be raised and a great tide may set in. So, in any event, we have herein a grand opportunity, a mighty obligation.