point of view, it can easily be seen wherein and how far Confucianism fails. It absolutely abandons two of the three essentials of civilization-religion and science; while as to that which it does affect-morality-it is only gyrating perpetually in a vicious circle, trying to live conformably to our nature. (Vide the Classics, passim.) Hence, while in China the three relations are still felt to exist, as attested by the instincts of even the Confucianists themselves, their corresponding essentials do not exist, and have never existed; nor could they in the absence of Revelation-without which religion, morality, and science, one and all, are alike impossible. It is herein that Christianity is discriminated from all the known systems of the world (and hence proves its origin)-to wit, its comprehensiveness. It envelops the whole man; it develops the whole man; it illuminates and controls the whole man; yea, more, it comprehends (embraces and understands) his entire being and relations. In this it is singular, extraordinary, alone, true; yea, farther, one and complex-uniting as it does every essential of man's relations into one vast, harmonious, complete whole -embracing the knowledge of ourselves and of God—of ourselves in relation to God, of God in relation to us; supplying a standard of morality plucked from the summit of divinity, and making possible the utmost development of our intellectual and material resources, it satisfies the cravings of our sublimest intuitions, and gives energy and impulse to all that is strongest and noblest in man-thus preparing him both to live and to die. Such a system is the desire of all nations, and special in its adaptation to meet the wants of China. Nor is that all. China waits for it- has waited long. All her systems are spent. Their temples, in ruins, crown the hills, while the unsatisfied, undying instincts of her people still crave a religion to enlighten, console, regenerate, and save them; pent-up woman and the disrupted social relations demand and wait for a morality founded in truth and consistent with life; the very hills and valleys wait for it, and are impatient to disgorge their long-stored treasures to enrich the nation whom her ancient systems have despoiled and impoverished. And now when the Government has taken the initiative, and proclaimed its determination to "go to the root of the matter," where is there a Christian heart that will not bid it God-speed, or a Christian hand that will refuse to lend its aid? The "root of the matter" is Christianity, not broken and dissevered, but complete in all its relations, without the loss of one essential-and for this the land of Sinim waits. 3. By throwing light on the subject of qualifications for the work. The grand object of the missionary enterprise is one, wherever be the field, or whatever the character and condition of the people to whom it is addressed-to wit, to win the heathen world to Christ-in fulfillment of the promise of the Father, who hath said: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." And "the true missionary character is based on a single sublime conception-that of reconciling immortal souls to God." The field, then, is the world, and the laborers embassadors for Christ. Whether, therefore, we contemplate the magnitude of the enterprise as displayed in the vastness of its extent-embracing as it does the whole world, with all its divisions and subdivisions of hemispheres, zones, and climates, continents, islands, plains, plateaus, and mountains every foot of land and water whereon dwelleth a creature for whom Christ died; or as displayed in the number and variety of the nations, races, tribes, and clans, with languages and dialects, institutions and governments, equally diverse; or whether we consider the delicacy, difficulty, arduousness, and responsibility of the duties involved in its embassadorial characterwe can but feel the supreme importance of separating unto the Lord men especially qualified for such a work. And just here, parenthetically, we would observe, we cannot emphasize too strongly the relation of the Church to this matter. Much devolves upon it. It is required to be "all things to all men," in the person of its representatives; and this implies not only a diversity of gifts in the agents appointed, but, on the part of those accrediting them, more or less intimate acquaintance with the circumstances, condition, and wants of those to whom they are to be appointed. Fitness is power, and where that is want ing the enterprise is doomed to failure. Given the right men in the right place, and God will vindicate his promise, in due time, by bringing the entire heathen world into subjection to Christ. It does not pertain to the scope of this article to enter exhaustively into the details of the subject here mentioned, only with special reference to China. Viewed, then, in the light of Confucianism, the national and dominant sect, and which possesses all the mind, thought, literature, learning, and authority of the land, I should say, what China needs is not many, but able men. Great enterprises require strong men. The Saviour recognized that fact, and "was pleased to increase the ability of the few missionaries whom he had selected, rather than to multiply their number; thus establishing for us the principle not only that missionaries should be well qualified men, but also that while the laborers are few,' we render an important service by enlarging their qualifications for their appointed and peculiar work." But the appointment of able men implies more than efficiency—it means economy for the Church. For, "If by any means the ability of a missionary candidate to be useful can be doubled, then, by doubling his ability, we do essentially the same as to call into the field an additional laborer. If we increase his power tenfold, then we render him ten times as capable of effect, without any addition to the expense of his support. Who has not seen this practically demonstrated--an individual, with faculties and affections all thoroughly trained, moving through the world with a consecrated momentum which fifty others, destitute of his qualifications, could never equal?" says says Baron Stow. But such a principle has not only the sanction of the blessed Saviour's example-the assurance of greater effectiveness and economy in general to commend it-it has also this extra commendation: it makes it feasible, possible, for any Church, however poor, by adopting it, to enter the field, and participate largely in the efforts put forth for the world's conversion. But to return. The conversion of China is a stupendous undertaking, "and combines in itself the elements of all that is sublime in human purpose," or arduous in human effort. Appropriately, therefore, may it be said, if the laborers be few, they should be able men-men endowed with physical, intellectual, and moral qualifications, which, when combined, consummate their fitness for the work-men whose constitutions will inure to hardness, and support the mind in its heroic toil; whose minds can successfully grapple with a difficult language, and then from the wealth of their own pour in floods of light upon those whose mental darkness has never been illuminated by even the transient coruscations of a meteor thought; whose learning, rich in thought, human and divine, shall make even the god of literature tremble to see his devotees forsake his shrine for books not only filled with leaves and words, but teeming with ideas; whose faith grasps the whole situation, and, planting itself on the immutable word of God, claims China for the Lord; whose loving heart, burdened with "the ministry of reconciliation," will burst forth in irresistible torrents of remonstrance, or into a yearning whose magnetic impulse shall win the soul to the Saviour-men who have a deep sympathy with their object, unflinching devotion to it, and hence great staying-power; but, above all, men "endued with power from on high," "mighty through God" to vindicate the claims of the gospel. Such are some of the elements of power, special only in quality and degree, desiderated in a field like this; and where they coëxist in any one individual, he is one of the few whose lives, if given to China, would help to originate or set in motion trains of influence which would never falter in their hallowed course till One song employs all nations, and all cry, Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round. Thanks to Confucianism if these views of its shortcomings, and the exigencies they have created, should contribute to hasten the day when China shall rejoice in the liberty, comprehensiveness, and truth, of a better system. Shanghai, China. INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. BY THE REV. J. H. POTTS, Editor of the Michigan Christian Advocate. ALL evangelical Christians hold the Scriptures to be divinely inspired-that is, that the authors of the sacred writings were so controlled, or moved upon, by the Spirit of God, that they were enabled in general to do their work with infallible accuracy; yet within this limitation there are widely different views as to the particular method by which truth was conveyed from the mind of God to man. Justin and the Fathers held that every word of Scripture, as well as every thought, was dictated by God, the writers serving only as amanuenses. This has been stigmatized as the mechanical theory, reducing the sacred writers to the position of mere machines. Nevertheless, the theory is held by the large majority of believers even at the present day. It is also defended by not a few scholars whose opinions are entitled to universal respect. Hodge pointedly inquires, "If God can control the thoughts of a man without making him a mere machine, why not also his language? rendering every man infallible in the use of his characteristic. style. If the language of Scripture be not inspired, then we have the truth communicated through the discoloring and distorting medium of human imperfection." Wordsworth employs similar language to express his belief that the sacred writers were not left without divine guidance as to the form in which truth should be expressed. Gaussen says: "The Bible is not, as some will have it, a book which God employed men, whom he had previously enlightened, to write under his auspices. No; it is a book which he dictated to them; it is the word of God: the Spirit of the Lord spake by its authors, and his words were upon their tongues." Again: "It is always the inspiration of the book that is presented to us as an object of faith, never the inward state of him that writes it. |