Seven Churches of Asia

“ Bishop Niquinta, during the memorable council of Toulouse in 1167. He said: ‘The seven churches of Asia in Apostolic days were divided among themselves. But no church harmed another or bore aught but charity for another. We are also divided, and my counsel is that we retain the essential verities of our common faith, that we nourish our souls in the grace of the Paracletos, and if we entertain speculative dogmatizings let us do so in humility and charity. We are happily united to-day in spiritual communion. We number among us many brethren from remote churches. ”

“ The churches push their skirmishers into the interior, plant stations, and have regular services. Gradually the old doctrines strike root in the new soil, and at length a creed answering to Evangelicalism is commonly held, thus repeating the first stage in the history of Christianity in Asia as in England. ”

“ I have seen what your representatives, more particularly the agents of the American and Canadian Churches, have accomplished in Korea itself. They have built wisely and well, and have launched the most hopeful and flourishing Christian movement in Asia. Their converts have established congregations that are themselves missionary churches, sending out and supporting their own teachers and preachers to China. A great light has been lit in Asia. Shall it be extinguished? For, make no mistake, the work is threatened with destruction. Many of the church buildings have been burned ”

“ In urging the consideration of these facts, and insisting so much on the existence of Christian traditions, concerning the early propagation of the faith in the remotest East, we have had a special purpose in view.
Those who have studied the system of Buddhism in Upper Asia, have been often struck with the analogy, in many points, between its doctrines, moral precepts, and liturgy, and those of Christian Churches. Unbelievers have exulted at these resemblances, and have inferred immediately that Christianity was copied from the religious systems of India and China. ”

“ He proposes to finance the schools with a wholesale disendowment of the two religions in which he does not believe, Buddhism and Taoism. He writes: "Buddhism is on its last legs, Taoism is discouraged because its devils have become irresponsive and inefficacious." He then suggests that seven temples out of ten should be used both as regards their building and their funds for educational purposes. But he has a sympathetic way of treating the disendowed clergy of China. ”

“ I think that many of them agree with me that already a nobler form of Christianity is being produced on Asiatic soil than that which we have brought thither, and it may well be in the providence of God that a new and splendid era of Church History is opening up as these responsive and religious peoples of the Orient are captured by the Gospel of Christ. In spite of the failures of Christendom and of our divided Christianity the whole of Asia reverences the historic Jesus, and from her contact with His Spirit is at once reforming and revivifying her ancient faiths. ”

“ Religion.—Buddhism, which swayed Korea from the 10th to the 14th century, has been discredited for three centuries, and its priests are ignorant, immoral and despised. Confucianism is the official cult, and all officials offer sacrifices and homage at stated seasons in the Confucian temples. Confucian ethics are the basis of morality and social order. Ancestor-worship is universal. The popular cult is, however, the propitiation of demons, a modification of the Shamanism of northern Asia. ”

“ The preaching of the Gospel was, in fact, heard in the most remote countries, and probably in the very heart of the Chinese Empire, — an empire at that time vaster, and perhaps more civilised, than that of Rome.
The propagation of the Christian faith in Upper Asia, is a subject that has been very little studied. People have generally contented themselves with supposing that the Gospel was not carried there till a recent time; and it is nevertheless now discovered that to a certainty the doctrines of Jesus Christ were preached from the very beginning to the nations of the utmost East. ”

“ The monastery and church, celebrated throughout Asia for the riches which they contain, are enclosed within high walls, and secured by strong and massive gates. It is here that the head of the Armenian church constantly resides, together with a large retinue of bishops, priests, and deacons, who form the stock which provides clergy for most of the Armenian churches in Asia. ”

“ Perhaps no temple of non-Christians, save that of Buddhists, is cared for by men of other faiths. Christian Churches in Southern Asia do often employ Hindus or Mohammedans to care for them and act as collectors of their funds. But none but Mohammedans go into a Mohammedan mosque, and only Hindus enter a Hindu temple. There sits a Mohammedan also inside the pagoda area selling coffee and bread to all who wish to buy. Bishop Thoburn once remarked that perhaps only in Burma, and that at a Buddhist place of worship, could such an incongruous sight be witnessed. ”

“ Her daughter, the brave little Reformed Church in America, had her attention early drawn to the cradle continent of Asia, to which the debt of Occidental Christianity and civilization is inexpressibly great. Some of the most successful Christian missions in India, China, Japan, and in the Malay and Moslem worlds have been founded and steadily supported by the Reformed Church in America, and mighty has been her part in the educational conquest of Asia. ”

“ The Chinese were sunk in a low state of religious disbelief, and the Sung rulers were not disposed to play the part of regenerators of their country. The second fact was that the only vigorous religion in China, or, indeed, in Eastern Asia, was Buddhism, which, since the establishment of Brahmanism in India, had taken up its headquarters in Tibet, where, however, the supreme authority was still secular—that is to say, it was invested in the hands of a prince or king, and not in those of a priest or Grand Lama. ”

“ The “Nan-t’ang,” a Roman Catholic church, founded in 1600 by the early Jesuit missionaries, was burnt by these Boxers, and as most of their converts and families live around the church, one can well imagine the slaughter that took place before it was finally fired. This is only one instance of the many missions and churches where the same kind of thing has happened. The Roman Catholics alone claim to have ten thousand converts in Peking.
The Pei-t’ang is a large fortress cathedral, and capable of splendid defence. It is the oldest and richest Roman Catholic stronghold. ”

“ Those who went there and became professed Buddhists were exempt from punishment.
The educated classes despise both Taoists and Buddhists. Nevertheless in sickness, or in death, they patronize them. This shows that our religious instinct is so strong that a man will worship anything rather than nothing.
As I said, there is nothing in Chinese religions corresponding to the Christian Sabbath. In none of our festivals, holidays or anniversary celebrations, does the idea of rest enter. Instead of churches, we have temples which embody the highest architectural skill of the Chinese. ”

“ Since the early days of the Jesuit Fathers, the Roman Catholics have always been active in China. They claim to have 700,000 converts. Their success, in comparison with other sects, may perhaps be attributed to the fact, that their ritual and gaily decorated churches are more attractive, and in accordance with the Buddhist religion and temples; but it must also be said, that the priests go amongst the people, adopt their life, and wear Chinese clothes, including the pigtail. Aided by the nuns, they minister to the temporal wants of the population, as well as the spiritual. ”

“ If the Missionaries be allowed to proceed in building up a Church, like our own, simply with reference to the evangelization of China, doubtless brethren in the ministry, and other influential men, could take occasion therefrom to prejudice the Churches against our work. ”

“ When native evangelists are equipped and sent out the number of converts grows rapidly. The next stage, then, is the organisation of native churches. In this matter each mission follows the Church order to which it belongs. In some places there are bishops, priests, and deacons ; in others ministers, elders, and deacons ; in others again, no settled ministry is recognised ; but, in all, there are congregations gathering from Sunday lo Sunday for worship, preaching, and the celebration of Holy Communion. The diversity of forms is not as confusing to a Chinese as it is to a Western mind. ”

“ We do not worship in a Roman basilica, but in the buildings that the northern architects have devised as suitable, both for Christian worship and for our climate. The new Chinese churches need not be replicas of the Chinese temples; the object of the building is different, therefore the building should differ, but there are many other forms in which it is possible for the architect to express in Chinese architecture the eternal truths of Christianity. ”

“ During twelve years of somewhat intimate study of Buddhist countries I have found that while there is much that is degenerate there is much that is very noble, and the object of this little book is to estimate the living forces of the religion rather than to emphasise its weaknesses. It is at once more scientific and more worth while to look at the strong than at the weak points of a religion, and there is an increasing school of missionary thought which believes in building the Christian Church of Asia upon the great foundations laid through so many centuries. ”

“ Now, there are more than 24,000 venues for religious activities in Xinjiang, of which 23,753 are Islamic mosques. There are 26,800 clerical persons, of whom 26,500 are of the Islamic faith. Every year, the government allocates specialized funds for the maintenance and repair of the key mosques, monasteries and churches. In 1999 alone, 7.6 million yuan was allocated by the central government for the reconstruction of the Yanghang Mosque in Urumqi, the Baytulla Mosque in Yining and the Jamae Mosque in Hotan. ”

“ The greatest harmony exists between the different missions, and the preacher for the day belonged to the Presbyterians. The main difference between the missions is one of policy. The Presbyterians encourage the Koreans to rely upon their own efforts for support, to build their own churches in native style, and to undertake the work of evangelisation at their own expense. The offerings of the Korean church (that is of all the missions) is said to be already £25,000 per annum, and the number of converts 200,000 ”

“ No such rigorous control over the multiplication of rites and deities has been instituted elsewhere. On the other hand, while in other countries the State has recognised no more than one established religion, the Chinese Government formally recognises three denominations. Buddhism has been sanctioned by various edicts and endowments, yet the State divinities belong to the Taoist pantheon, and their worship is regulated by public ordinances; while Confucianism represents official orthodoxy, and its precepts embody the latitudinarian spirit of the intellectual classes. ”

“ Even to-day, the only vigorous element in the heterogeneous religious systems of China consists in that expansion of the ideal of filial piety which takes the form of the cult of ancestors: a cult which has done so much in the past to preserve, consolidate and multiply the Chinese people and make them peaceful, law-abiding and home-loving, and which has nevertheless been condemned as idolatrous by the two great branches of the Christian faith. ”

“ Already all the Presbyterian and Reformed Boards operating in Japan, Korea, Mexico and India have joined in the support of a united native church in those lands, and similar movements are in progress in other lands and in several churches, notably the Protestant Episcopal and the Methodist Episcopal. In China, the representatives of the eight Presbyterian denominations of Europe and America have met in loving conference and planned to unite all the native Christians connected with their respective missions into one magnificent and commanding Church. ”

“ Kingdom, under the lights of the United Presbyterian Kirk, Free Kirk, Episcopalian Church, and The Kirk, not to mention a large and varied assortment of Dissenting Churches of more or less dubious orthodoxy, he is openly hostile to the introduction of Christianity into China. And nowhere in China is the opposition to the introduction of Christianity more intense than in the Yangtse valley. In this intensity many thoughtful missionaries see the greater hope of the ultimate conversion of this portion of China; opposition they say is a better aid to missionary success than mere apathy. ”

“ At any rate, no one can doubt the importance of Roman Catholic work in China. They now claim to have over a million of adherents, served by nearly two thousand priests, and when one reads that they declare that they have made in Peking alone thirty-three thousand converts in one year, one realises what a power they are in the Christianisation of China. In the West such figures would mean the downfall of Protestantism, but in China such figures mean the growth of a common Christianity which all denominations can influence and in which all denominations can have a share. ”

“ The activity of the Buddhist clergy in recent times has shown itself in two ways quite unconnected with religious propaganda. Extensive journeys in Central Asia for political and scientific purposes have been undertaken 148by Buddhist travellers, who in the course of their wanderings have gained much valuable information; while others have done useful work in supplying the spiritual needs of Japanese communities abroad. ”