To give the letter of Mr. James M. Yard on Missionaries in Szechuan its proper setting, it is reproduced from the N.-O. D. N. of December 5.. Addressed to the y ib says:—Mu article or a quotation from the "Chinese Christian Advocate'? appeared in your 0 paper some time ago which seaned to infer that missionaries in the province of Szechuan are in the habit of Jeaving their stations very frequently, thus leaving the Chinese Church to suffer because of their lack of bravery and loyalty.
Your paper is read widely and the above statement has caused consider-uble disturbance. It is very unfortunate that a statement which is so far from the truth should have been copied so widely. I am writing this in the hope that I may, to some extent, undo the harm that was done, unwittingly by you of course, to the missionaries in the far western " province, I lived there myself for 12 years and know positively that no missionaries left their stations except at the time of Revolution in 1911, when all were ordered out by their various consuls: even then some of them remained at their pasis. At no other time have any of them ever left.
I am, ete., (Signed) James M. Yard."
Any one unacquainted with the fact would hardly guess that Mr. Yard is himself editor of the Christian Advocate"? from which was taken the offending paragraph which is now backfiring on him and his brother editor off the Recorder-" All the blame would seem to rest upon the "N.-C, D. N."' or perhaps on em to whose article he may be referring. Let us look at their facts:
While I have never seen a Chinese issue of the "Advocate" I understand that the paper is published both in English and Chinese. Whether one is a translation of the other, or whether Mr. Yard has any connexion with or responsibility for the Chinese edition I have no Means of knowing, but this has no bearing on the present case for it was the English edition of the '"Advocate''? from which the ''Recorder" quoted and thereby started something. Let us quote from the September 'Recorder,' page 545, under the heading "'Extraterritoriality and Missionaries" the paragraph that is making these editors so sick to-day "Recently a prominent evangelist of our church who has of late travelled extensively in West China, told us in a sermon that our church life Jacks the spiritual uplift. He attributed. this lack of spiritual life to the unrest and disorder which occurs in Wiest China almost every _year, causing the missionaries to flee' from their stations when rumour of war is thick in the air, and returning when everything is quieted down. He further stated that this recurring flight for refuge lias had a great effect upon the Chinese Christians' faith in God, and it is mo wonder that the Church members there are so spiritually barren'? This being the case, again to borrow the words of the "Chinese Recorder''—'How can we expect the Chinese church to venture forth boldly, trusting God alone, if their western brothers try to straddle two planks, one, extraterritorial privileges, and the other trust in God!
West China is a long way off and the mills of the gods grind -slowly, but after many months the protests from West China have forced the "Advocate" into an admission of what it knew al! along.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.