In'view of the recent restric~ tions on the teaching of Christianity in schools which, despite disavowals, has been widely interproted as an act of direct ligious intolerance, an analysis of the attitude of' the late Dr. Sun Yat-sen towards the same question throughout his lifetime is of peculiar interest, Such an analysis, based chiefly upon ree~ ards made by Chinese during the late leader's life, has been made by the Rev. Father Paschal M. delia, part of whose Life of Dr. Sun Yat-sen the "North-China Daily News published some weeks ago. D: Sun Yat-sen was always' a admirer of Christianity and was to the end a believer in its tenets. His political will is well-known, but it is. not generally Known that "he left what may be called a religious will, This said: "For more than forty years T, a disciple Christ, have been fighting against the devil. You, too, have to fight in the same' way and, what is more, you have to believe in God." "Much that is now and throws a fresh light upon the Tate leader's life and beliefs, is contained in Father D'Elia's analysis, eleven years of age, and where he! attended Protestant school. There hho began to study the Bible, But} his businesslike brother soon grow, uneasy about the foreign education! Sun Yat-sen was receiving and so abruptly decided to put a stop to his studies. Much against his wil the future revolutionist had to give} up the Western studies he loved so well and return to his native village.
Nevertheless what he knew about the Bible was not lost. Apparent'y inspired by a Gospel page, one day} he took a coin, and to his hearers} proposed the question: "Who is the ruler of China?" "Why, the Son of Heaven." "Is the Son of Heaven a Chinese?" "Of course; none save Chinese is fit to be the Son of Heaven." "Well, behold on this coin the characters that are inscribed by the Son of Heaven, They are not Chinese; they are Tartar characters. Henge China is not governed by Chiniese but by a Manchu."
He justly considered idolatry as the fundamental cause of ignorance and wanted to do away with it. He grieved to see his parents, poor country people, prostrate themselves before those graven and painted wooden images. He wisely refected: "No progress is possible for} China as long as the people offer incense to idols. Superstition inspires fear. Ere China can become a progressive nation, it will be necessary] to destroy all these paintings _and sculptures, for all superstition stands for fear and ignorance.'
One day he decided to put ideas into effect. Accompanied by some of his friends, he climbed into the village pagoda. Some of the devotees soon began to prostrate! themselves before the idol of the North Emperor." By a sign Sun} ordered them to rise. Then he took, hold of the idol's finger and began to brag: "Why should we worship wooden gods? They cannot even! help themselves, Who then shall saY that they can help us? Now Took and see if the god can prevent, mo from twisting off his finger. Watch sharp to see if he even'
And he pulled off the! idol's finger. Then he held it out toward his abashed companier added proudly: "Now you see the sort of god that you have to protect your village: T break and twist his finger off, and he holds his grin the same as before. What sort of a god {is that to protect the village?"
The uproar was great when the account of the incident reached the simple villagers and everyone exclaimed: "This is the result of foreign education!" Undoubtedly good Chinese mothers warned children against associating with the young reprobate who was unanimously anathematized and sent into and.in Christianity. Since the mature of the present paper is documentary more than anything else, it is our intention, as far as possible, to lev the documents—mostly speak for themselves. These documents are absolutely unbiased, 18; they are for the most part published by the Nanking Government and by, men as prominent as Dr. Hu Han-min, State Councillor and President of the Legislative Board of Yuan, While he was only a little boy, Sun sought the reasons of, us; he in country-woman who received any instruction, One day he was admiring the tar ber "Of an up-turned bowl," was the only answer he received. Later on, as if purposely making his ques tions more and more embarrassing, and probably after having witnessed 'a death, he queried: "Mother, what happens to persons when they di "The poor woman more than ever bashed by this embro philosopher answered sadly: "There is nothing after death; all ends there"—"Eit don't want my life to end when T the poor little searcher after the truth, At Tsuiheng, his home village, his! religious amounted to naught; born a pagan, remained a pagan until his sojourn in Honolulu, where he went the first time in 1877, when he was The above incident raised an im: passable barrier between the old China represented by his compatriots and the China of the future of which Sun was the only representative at that time. It also helped him to break away from the religion of his forefathers and turn toward janity. In Hongkong, where he took refuge after the grea scandal just related, he continued his religious educate which had merely been started in Honolulu, What he most admired in Christianity was its outward manifestation as exemplified by the Anglo-Saxon culture. He believed) in Christ because His teachings were the starting point of Western civilization.
Equipped with none too profound knowledge of Christian doctrine, he received baptism from the hand of} the Rev. ©. R. Hager, a Protestant] paster, at the age of eighteen. He then became member of the London Missionary Society.
In later, years he got acquainted with some prominent Protestant, Missionaries, such as John Kerr,' President of the Canton Medical/ School, James Cantho, and Dr, Man-_ son, Professor of the Hongkong] Medical School, who a few years Inter saved his'life in London.
Tt was in 1896. The miscarriage of the political stroke attempted in Canton the year threatened to compromi order to escape the pursuit of the Imperial police—for now he was known as the soul of revolution—be travelled to Japan, Am and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.