May 31.
We may not always agree with the opinions and methods of individual. missionaries, but there must be few in the community who do not approve; at, least -to some extent, the philanthropic efforts of the missionary body as a whole to bring to China all that. is good in our Western civilization. Even merchants" and traders who are indifferent to religious propaganda cannot but acknowledge the advantages they have derived from the pioneering of the early missionaries, and it must be a relief to them to know that when travelling in the interior of China they are generally within easy reach of a fully qualified missionary physician. On the whole, Rife in China would be vastly poorer if the missionaries were not. here, or if their number seriously declined. It is a question, therefore, of general interest whether the stream of Protestant missionaries coming to this country will continue in the future to be as strong and steady as heretofore, despite the various influences, favourable and unfavourable, which are now changing the whole life of the Chinese, and the effect of the Great War on reigion in the West.
To answer this question it is perhaps best to turn to the United States where the great financial prosperity enables the churches to send out more missionaries than any other country. Formerly, Great Britain was in the lead, ut the classes there which support foreign missions have been very hard hit by the war, heavy taxation, and the high cost of living, so that the income of the missionary societies has been veduced and missionary reem! fare fewer. But wealth alone is not the impelling power in missions, What has been the influence of recent world events upon missionary ideals? A few months ago at Indianapolis, U.S.A., there was a convention of six thousand college students belonging to the "Student Volunteer Movement," an organization con-isting of individuals who have purposed to give their lives to foreign missionary service. The official report of the Convention must cause misgivings in the minds of old-time missionaries who expect missionary candidates to have glowing faith and zeal, Perhaps in Shanghai there ave Heople who can remember how the whole of England in the eighties wax stirred by the "Cambridge Seven," who later came to China as' missionaries But at Indianapolis there was little enthusiasm and much searching of heart. To quote from the report, "a conviction that America was not 98 per cent. all right grew upon the dele gates." It was felt that "the old order of things is unsatisfactory "We could scareely blame the girl from China who asked why we sent missionaries. to her people when our own-needed Christianizing so badly." The gloom was deepened by another Chinese who deplored the students' "lack of knowledge of things Oriental, and of the need for harmonic vibrations of purer tones." There was no discussion of theological issues, although the churches in America are gravely disturbed by the controversies between the Fundamentalists and Modernists.
Indeed the word "church" was idem mentioned. This seeming indifference to doctrinal and ecclesiastical convictions is not evidence that the students had soared to serene spiritual altitudes where controversy has no place.
the contrary, more than one writer present at the Conference deplores their lack of spirituality. "Vital personal religion is not strong to-day among the college arid university students of America." Discussion was mainly concerned with such topics as racial equality; the> proper attitude towards war and the means of securing world peace; and—strange to say—"how far Americans had any right to adopt any methods of missions or of colonization which would tend to impose our Western civiliza~ tion or our Western Christianity upon the peoples of the world." It is evident that the whole movement is changing; it is pass~ ing out of the control of its founders and the old mission cries have more or less, lost their appealing. power. "The present student generation is thinking not much of evangelization in the ordinary sense of the word, as of reconstruction of society as well as individuals." Moreover, there is the suspicion that "it does not regard the challenge of foreign missions as of paramount importance in the Christian pro-
To the friends of foreign missions all this, at first sight, is not very encouraging. These students do not seem to feel they have a great and inspiring message to deliver to distant peoples; they are more concerned with social reforms, yet their missionary ardour even in this direction is dampened by their dissatisfaction with the social conditions of their own country. But they are young, very young, and we should remember that organized Christianity was grievously wounded by the Great War, and that the young are in revolt against the old ways and wish to find something new and better. In religion the old forms in which spiritual truths are expressed are being questioned and the students must be given time to think things out for themselves. Periods of spiritual unsettlement, change, sometimes actual declenhave not been infrequent in the history of Christianity, but true religion has always shown 'a wonderful power of recovery. The knowledge of Christianity that is now being spread rapidly over the whole world must surely be preparing the way for a great religious movement which will not be quite the same as any the past. This will revive the churches in the homelands and) greatly strengthen "indigenous" Christian churches in non-Christian lands. To return to the main point. Whether foreign missionaries to China in the future will be very numerous is doubtful, and those who do conic, earnest and confident, bably be very con their theological. views. But more and more the work now done by missionaries will be carried on by Chinese Christians and on ines marked out by themselves.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.