1. Is it worth while to attempt Christian missions among the Chinese in our own country?
2. If so, of how much importance is it?
3. Who should do it?
4. If anything is to be done by us, how much should be done?
5. And is there any case of urgency about it?
To the first question we answer: Yes, verily! It is worth while. There is no form of Christian missions within the circuits of the earth more worthy of being done, and of being done with all possible alacrity and vigor, than this. The American Missionary Association is exactly the Society to do it. It is the glory of this Society to hasten to the rescue of the despised and the exceptional races and classes in our own land. It has already done grand things toward the evangelization of the Chinese among us. It has set an example, most conspicuous in the eyes of all the people, of definitely planning to make known to this peculiar people the Gospel of Redemption; a Gospel whose supreme peculiarity it is, that it is fitted to meet the inmost necessities of all men, of all men alike.
The success in winning the disciples of Confucius to the cross and the grace of Christ has been signal enough to show how completely practicable the undertaking is.
If it were not worth while to press our missionary effort among the Chinese right here in America, it would be absurd to talk of missionary effort among the Chinese in China. The importance of this work cannot be measured by its bulk. Nor is it to be estimated by any census of countable immediate results. It is a kind of work, which, according as it is done, or left undone; or as it is done with slack and nerveless hand or with vim and vigor, will test the very character of our churches; will touch the conscience and well-being of the nation; and will, without a doubt, have vital and decisive connection with the future of that most populous empire on the globe.
There is China, with its four hundred million souls, subject to a single sovereign—a heathen empire. Here is America, Christian America; the foremost republic among the nations, and soon to be the leading power among the Governments of the earth. It holds already the position of moral leadership in the far East. What shall be done with this leadership? Right here in our midst are some two hundred thousand representatives of that empire, every one of whom with hardly an exception hopes some time to return to his native Orient. What will the Christianity of America do for them?
There is an unmistakable providence of God in the presence, in the country, at such a time as this, of so many representatives of the great empire. Such providences are to be reverently heeded. They are as the banners of the Almighty, meant to lead forth His loyal people to the gracious conquest of the world. As for ourselves, what are we disposed to do about it?