HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES
IN CHINA

CHRISTIANITY in the past has been very destructive of human life in Europe, and the principal reason why so many lives have been lost and so much harm done by this religion is because of the dense ignorance and natural superstition of the people of that time. If Christianity should get a firm foothold in China, it would without doubt be very expensive to the Chinese nation, and result in the loss of a great number of lives; but in the very nature of things it could not prove so destructive as it did in Europe. The Chinese are already a very highly civilised nation, and by no means so superstitious as we were in the Middle Ages. Still, if the introduction of Christianity is not controlled, it will cost the Chinese many lives and much territory.

Of course, the best thing would be to have all the missionaries withdrawn and kept out of the country, exactly as the Russians do; but China is not prepared, at the present time at least, to adopt the measures which have proved so successful in Russia. She is unable to do the right thing because she is not prepared to enforce her rights with the sword.

As it is not expedient at the present time to attempt to expel the missionaries altogether, some other means of dealing with them must be found. "What cannot be cured must be endured." Why should not the Chinese follow the example of the Japanese, ignore the existence of the missionaries, and instruct the people-even though it cost a lot of money to do

so that the proper way to deal with foreign missionaries is to leave them entirely alone, to have nothing whatever to do with them, and to boycott every native who has intercourse with them?

Let us say, for example, that there are ten thousand missionaries in China. Allow ten thousand of the educated literary class to follow these missionaries, wherever they may go, with a simple literature in the form of pamphlets for the natives, instructing them as to the true character and history of Christianity, pointing out the great harm and loss of life that has taken place in Europe on account of its ravages, advising everyone to abstain from having anything whatever to do with the missionaries, and by no means to insult or attack them, or interfere in the least with their property. A system like this might prevent foreign potentates from fishing in China with live bait that is to say, missionary bait—as the Germans have already done.

It certainly would not be very expensive for a great nation like China to ensure her well-being by employing a staff of learned men to counteract the influence of missionaries in a sensible manner, absolutely free from all attacks upon either persons or property. The common people should be instructed that there is a considerable number of so-called Christian nations which, on account of the high development they have reached in the art of war, are able to inflict very serious injury upon China, and that it is highly expedient that China should not come into conflict with these powerful fighting nations. It should be explained that the missionaries are to a considerable extent used as decoys to entrap the Chinese, to cause trouble, and to give an excuse for an invasion of China, a seizure of her territory, and a demand of very heavy

indemnities from the Chinese. That the wars which have heretofore been forced upon China have been brought about by attacks of the Chinese upon missionaries is a well-known fact; and, although the missionaries have formed the excuse for the war, these attacks have really been wars of spoliation.

The people should be told that there are some hundreds of kinds of Christianity, but that they all originated in Northern India and Western Asia many thousand years ago, and that the system which was evolved at that distant date was many years later taken up by a certain class of men in Rome, where the stories of the Virgin Birth, the man-God, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection were all retold and attributed to someone who was alleged to have lived in Asia Minor only a few hundred years before. It should also be pointed out that Christianity has been very destructive of human life in Europe; that at its instigation hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been burnt alive, some historians even claiming that more than a thousand millions of mankind have lost their lives on account of Christianity; and that the creed rests on a belief that the world was only created about six thousand years ago, whereas China was a civilised country long before that date. The Bible teaches that there was a flood that enveloped the whole earth, above the highest mountains, during the reign of a certain emperor. As the flood did not reach China, it is positive evidence that it never occurred. The Jesus Christ from whom Christianity derives its name does not differ in any material degree from Jeseus Chrisna, who was alleged to have lived fully two thousand years earlier, and of whom full accounts will be found in Eastern literature.

The Incarnation of Krishna and the Wonderful Events that Followed.

Historians tell us that about 500 B.C. incarnations in Northern India and China were innumerable. One of the most remarkable was that of Krishna, the man-god of the Hindus. Kansa, the reigning sovereign at the time, was told by a fortune-teller that the eighth son of his sister Devaki would usurp his throne. In order to defeat this he attempted to kill all the children of his sister. Ultimately Devaki conceived of the god Vishnu (the Holy Ghost of the story), and when Krishna was born he was able to converse intelligently at once, comforting his mother and giving some very excellent advice to his step-father, Vasudeva (the Joseph of the story). As a temporary expedient the mother exchanged Krishna for a girl baby. This answered the purpose very well for a time, but later on Vasudeva took him into a distant country. This was an excellent move, because shortly after Kansa (the Herod of the story) ordered that all the babies in the Empire should be killed, and this order was carried out (the Slaughter of the Innocents). Soon after, Kansa, learning that the god-baby had escaped, made many attempts upon his life: "A demon nurse was sent to poison him with her venomous “milk." The step-father then decided to move him into a still more distant country, but again he was pursued: "Krishna "slew the huge serpent, Kali-naga, overcame the giant, Shishoo"polu, killed the monster bird that tried to peck out his eyes, and “also a malignant wild ass. He also burnt the entrails of the "alligator-shaped Peck-Assoort, who had devoured him, and "choked Aghi-Assoor, the dragon who attempted to swallow him. “When Krishna had grown to youth he became the favourite of "the lasses of Gokula. When he played the flute every one of the "dancing girls believed that the swain whom she embraced was "Krishna himself." Ultimately Krishna raised an army, marched against Kansa, killed him, and took possession of his throne.

This is the original story of Krishna in the rough, as it was told twenty-four centuries ago. Later on it was greatly enlarged and improved upon, and with Buddhism and Paganism became a part of the potpourri of Christianity.

To face p. 336.