CHAPTER VI.

MISSIONARY WORK.

WHEN Christ gave the command to his disciples to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," there was the dawn of a new era in the history of the human race. The meaning of the commission was far from being fully apprehended by those to whom it was announced, and they required higher qualifications than they possessed at the time, to enable and constrain them to carry it out. The promise of the Father, however, was duly fulfilled in them; and under the teaching and influence of the Holy Spirit, they were led as circumstances called them to convey the message of salvation to the ends of the earth. We are familiar with the early proceedings of the Christian Church; how that from Jerusalem the word of the Lord was sounded abroad far and wide. By one means and another, by chosen apostles and private individuals, the good news was carried to distant and remote places, till in the process of time, Christianity gained multitudes to its side, and became the recognized religion of the conquerors of the world.

But all this was confined to parts that were com

paratively well known, and more or less connected with Western civilization. We need to look forward in the course of years to observe the progress of the Gospel in the country we are now contemplating. There was little or no contact with it in the first ages of Christianity, and yet we find that the light of truth spread thither at an early period, so that in the year 300, Arnobius speaks of its effects among the Seres or Chinese, the Persians and Medes. Monks returned from the country with the eggs of the silkworm in 552. They had resided there for a long time, and were probably not the first who had done so. Chinese history, too, contains the account of the arrival of certain priests from Tatsin or Judea, who had appeared at court and been approved by the Emperor, so as to warrant the propagation of their religion. This was during the reign of Tatsung, in 639. We might have known little more about the matter, had it not been for an important discovery in 1625 of a stone tablet in Si-ngan-fu, in the province of Shen-si. There was an inscription upon it in Chinese and Syrian characters, which professed to be a narrative of the diffusion of the Kin-kiaou, or the illustrious religion of Tatsin, that is Christianity, in China. It is the most ancient Christian record of the kind in Asia, and is highly valuable on its own account. The date of its erection is stated to be 781, and there can be no doubt as to the genuineness of it. The tablet is still in the

K

same place, and has been verified of late years by Protestant Missionaries, as it was first discovered by Roman Catholics. It was the work of Nestorian Christians, who are supposed to have entered the country as early as the year 505, A.D. They seem to have prospered for a long time, and the tablet gives a full account of their mission, its character and successes in different reigns. They appear to have gradually disappeared from public view, and with the exception of the above tablet, we have no further trace of them.

The first Romish missions began about the latter part of the thirteenth century, when the Nestorians were in existence, who opposed them both in central Asia and in China. They made considerable progress, but suffered much during the defeat of the Mongols and the rise of the Ming dynasty, and seem to have been extinguished altogether. In 1552, the celebrated Francis Xavier contemplated a mission to China, and was actually on his way to it from Goa, when he died in sight of the country. The next Missionary of note who reached it after his day was Matthew Ricci, in 1581, when he established himself at Canton. He was a man of high scientific attainments, and in the prosecution of his work, he went to the capital through the interior of China. He soon became famous, from his mathematical and astronomical knowledge; and the Emperor desired him to send for a number of able men to assist in the Observatory

and other departments. Many European scholars of this class soon joined him, who added greatly to the celebrity of the Mission. While they were engaged in the capital, others were occupied in the provinces, spreading their religion. Multitudes joined their ranks and became converts to the faith. Changes, however, occurred in the course of events, chiefly in consequence of the differences that arose between the Jesuit and the other Missionaries. The progress of the faith was arrested, and its prospects were blighted; the Emperor was offended, and persecution commenced. He expelled the priests to Macao, and the Catholic religion was strictly forbidden. After that time, the work was carried on under many disadvantages. Its emissaries were obliged to conduct their operations in a most secret manner, and were exposed to many cruelties if found in the interior by the local authorities. They claim, however, to have been able to maintain their missions in different parts of the country, during the long night of trial; and the number of their converts is said to amount, at the present time, to upwards of half a million.

It was in 1807 that the London Missionary Society sent out the Reverend Robert Morrison to China. He was the first Protestant Missionary to that part of the world. He commenced his work in the neighbourhood of Canton, where the foreign. merchants were residing, and persevered in it in a

manner that does him the highest credit. From the interdict laid upon foreigners going into the interior, he remained at his post, acquiring the language, and laying the foundation of Protestant Missions in China. The sentence of exclusion lasted long, and was rigorously observed by the authorities. Though Merchants and Missionaries increased in number, and our intercourse with China was greatly advanced, no improvement took place in the way of extended facilities. Each year seemed to add to the disadvantages of trade and commerce; while, as there was no possibility, so there was no inducement, for Protestant Missionaries to penetrate into the interior. It was otherwise with the Romanists, who had converts in various places, and who were welcomed by them whereever they went. Still the first Missionaries, though confined to a particular locality, were not idle. They worked for the future, as they sowed the seeds of Divine truth in their immediate neighbourhood. They had large scope for this purpose, by their being in the vicinity of numbers of people, who could hear the word and receive religious books for themselves and for transmission into the country. They could do no more. They were called to wait till, in the Providence of God, the door was opened, and they were at liberty to go into other places and preach the gospel.

That time came at the conclusion of the first war with China, in 1842. In virtue of the treaty