DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 235, 23 December 1927, Page 5

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

LETTING PEOPLE ALONE

(Copyright, 1927.) A RTICLES are appearing nowadays saying that the white man should withdraw all of his merchants and missionaries and China alone; she should be allowed to work out her own salvation -without any interference from us. It seems to be the popular impression that missionaries are busy-bodies who give us a great deal of trouble and are always asking for protection. The impulse that made the missionaries go to China in the first place was an altruistic one. They did not go over to exploit the Chinese, but that exploitation, if there is any, is done by quite another class, though it is popular to give the missionaries the blame. Just how far we ought to go to help make other people good is a question. Nobody loves a busy-body and everybody resents being helped along the upward path. Nobody wants to be uplifted. The very spirit of Christianity is one of helpfulness for one’s neighbour. What Christianity would do without the missionary spirit it is hard to tell. Tlie»old hymn expresses the Christian’s feeling: “Oh, that the w-orld might taste and see The riches of His grace. The arms of love that compass me Would all mankind embrace.”

What the world would be without this militant spirit of Christianity it is hard to say. There have been the class of minds which have always railed at the missionaries and ridiculed them, but wherever they have gone in any country and wherever their work has not been thwarted bj’ another kind of people, the missibnaries’ influence has been good. Dr. Sun Y’at Sen. father of the revolution in China, was himself a missionary product. Everybody who lias been benefited by a great moral vision wants to impart it to other people. Of course there are a good many people who go about this offensively, and a good many others who resent interference with their private affairs. To cut out the missionary spirit would be to emasculate Christianity. It is linked up with all the helpful reform movements of the world. Its aim is to make people better and many acknowledge its helpful influence. To stop the work of righteous reformation would be unfortunate to humanity. The situation in China calls for delicate and thoughtful consideration.