Sept 17.
In the present very disturbed state of China it is most important that foreigners, whatever their business or calling, should be united in their protests against attacks, which are now becoming frequent, upon their lives, personal liberty and property. In such protests there need be no vindictiveness, The main desire is to help the Chinese to establish law and order in the interests of all alike. If foreigners do not insist on the protection to which they are entitled, it encourages the lawless and ignorant to think that robbery and murder may be committed with impunity, and public affairs will go from bad to worse. Hence the public meeting which was held several weeks ago in Shanghai to protest against the Lincheng outrage was extreme-well attended, representatives of every class being present, including not a few missionaries, and the resolutions proposed were carried unanimously. Unfortunately this unity of sentiment is not to be found everywhere in China. A number of missionaries in Kuling recently issued a tentative public statement expressing their earnest desire "'that no form of military pressure may be exerted to protect us or our property, that in the event of our capture by lawless persons or our death at their hands no money may he paid for our. release, no punitive expedition be sent out, and no indemnity exacted.'' In other words, lawlessness with all its consequences should be suffered without check or hindrance. These missionaries confess they have no authority to speak for their respective missions or churches.
The quoted statement; with itg implications, is in line with the opinions expressed by the Pacifists in England during the @reat war. It deserves respectful consideration, for it is based on a particular interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount. Whether this interpretation is correct, and whether it is ap-Plicable at all times, in all places and to all stages of spiritual development are questions to which the majority of foamed and devout theologians give a different answer. As a matter of fact, no Christian
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.