A CHINAMAN'S VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY.

Press, Volume XXXVI, Issue 5074, 12 December 1881, Page 3

A CHINAMAN'S VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY.

TO THS EDITOB OS THB PEEBB. Sib, —I have received the following letter through the pott, and thinking it may amuse your readeri, shall be obliged if you can find ■paoe for it. Your*, &c, WttUAM PBAIT. December 3rd, 1881. The following translation of Ah Ohing's letter to hie brother Jam at Hong Song is presented to the President of the Canterbury Free Thought Association, to be dealt with as he may think fit:— " Know, O Jam, that I am living at Christchurob, in New Zealand, which is an island in the Sooth Sea, and I write to tell yon that last week there waa great religions exoitemenfe here. The people are barbarians, but not savages. Most of them from Europe, and are either Christiana or Freethinkers. The others have come from Asia and are Jews. Now, on the third day of last week the Christians opened a large temple, very grand and beautiful, which they oall a cathedral, for the worship of Jehovah, their gdd; and two days later the Jews opened another temple, which they oall a synagogue, also for the worship of the same god, Jehovah—for the Jews will nst worship in the Cathedral, and the Christians will not worship in the synagogue. How is that? you will ask. Well, I will tell you. The Jews are about 2000 years older than the Christians, and during all that time they worshipped Jehovah as- one—one God and one person. Then came the Christians, who told the Jews that they did not understand their own God, and that He was not one person only, but three—Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Of course the Jews denied this, but the Christians would not be denied, and they said the Jews must and should believe in the three persons or they would slaughter them; and they did slaughter thousands of them. But in those days the Christians were very fond of blood, and when they could not get Jews to kill they killed one another. But this is altered now. Binoe the Christians have sent their ships to our great country they have got somewhat civilised through the influence of our blessed Gotama, and now they do not kill the Jews. So two days after the Cathedral was opened to worship Jehovah in three persona, the religions zeal of the old Jews burst into a flame, and they opened their synagogue to worship Jehovah in one person. You may guess what would have happened if such a thing had been done before the Christians had intercourse with the disciples of Gotama; but now there was not a single Jew killed ; no, nor even wounded, and in the evening of the same day the Freethinkers opened a temple also, and these people will not believe in even one person in Jehovah. They think he is no more than a myth. They seem to be followers of our Confucius, and pay no attention to any god, or any world but this, which they mean to turn into a paradise. But the Christians did not harm them either. About three hundred years ego, when these Chrlatians were at war with one another, a> great many of them lost their stings, and ever sinoe then they have been breeding Christians without stings, or with stings imperfectly developed. But, the Freethinkers do not do them justice. They accuse them of neglecting their interests in this life for the sake of a life which they believe is to come afterwarda but I know that this is a false accusation. I have much dealing with them, and I am snre that they pay as muoh attention to their interest* in this life as any Freethinker can do. It is true that their god has told them not to do this, but in pnctioe they pay no more attention to hi* commands than I do. I am getting a little gold together, and by-and by you will, perhaps, see mc in Hong Kong. Farewell, O brother Jam, Aβ Ohxkg.

If the Engliih language were divided into one hundred part*, sixty would be Saxon, thirty would be Latin (including, of course, the Latin that has come to us through the Frenoh), and five parts would be Greek. The most rarmx affhctioh with which we are troubled is what is commonly called oolds, and yef;, trifling m they are from a superficial standpoint, they are but inductors or conduotora of many dire diseases. If they do not end in pneumonia or some pulmonary complaints, they fall on the kidneys, and here is just the point at whioh Udolpho Wolfb's Sohibdam Asohatio SoHXAPPe comes to our aid, and by its searching, permeatiog, and pervasive action on these organs, restores them to their r ormal condition.—[Advt.]