New forces in old China : an unwelcome but inevitable awakening . of our brother men, what shallbe our general principle, detraction or fair play? Becauselackadaisical writers picture the Christless nations as in theinnocence of Eden, shall we, at the antipodes of fact andtruth, proceed to blacken their characters ? Shall we comparethe worst in Canton, Benares or Zululand, with the best in Lon-don, Berlin or Philadelphia? Surely God cannot look withcomplacency or hear with delight much of the practical slanderspoken among white folks and Anglo-Saxons of His childrenand our brothers. There has
New forces in old China : an unwelcome but inevitable awakening . of our brother men, what shallbe our general principle, detraction or fair play? Becauselackadaisical writers picture the Christless nations as in theinnocence of Eden, shall we, at the antipodes of fact andtruth, proceed to blacken their characters ? Shall we comparethe worst in Canton, Benares or Zululand, with the best in Lon-don, Berlin or Philadelphia? Surely God cannot look withcomplacency or hear with delight much of the practical slanderspoken among white folks and Anglo-Saxons of His childrenand our brothers. There has been too much of a disposition to think of theChinese as a mass, almost as we would regard immense herdsof cattle or shoals of fish. Why not rather think of theChinese as an individual, as a man of like passions with our-selves? Physically, mentally, and morally he differs from usonly in degree, not in kind. He has essentially the same hopesand fears, the same joys and sorrows, the same susceptibility topain and the same capacity for happiness. Are we not told. Do We Rightly View the Chinese 33 that God hath made of one blood all nations of men ?We complacently imagine that we are superior to the discussing the question as to what constitutes superiorityand inferiority of race, Benjamin Kidd declares that we shallhave to set aside many of our old ideas on the subject. Neitherin respect alone of colour, nor of descent, nor even of the pos-session of high intellectual capacity, can science give us anywarrant for speaking of one race as superior to another. Realsuperiority is the result, not so much of anything inherent inone race as distinguished from another, as of the operationupon a race and within it of certain uplifting forces. Anysuperiority that we now possess is due to the action upon us ofthese forces. But they can be brought to bear upon theChinese as well as upon us. VVe should avoid the popularmistake of looking at the Chinese as if they were merelyanimals
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmissions, bookyear190
