PROTESTANT TESTIMONY IN FAVOUR OF CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 396, 12 November 1880, Page 7

PROTESTANT TESTIMONY IN FAVOUR OF CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES.

(Are Maria.)

In Robert Fortune's " Wanderings in China " the following testimony in favour of Catholic missionaries may be found. Mr. Fortune was Botanical Collector to the Horticultural Society.

" The Roman Catholic missionaries conduct their operations in a manner somewhat different from the Protestants. They do not restrict themselves to the out-ports of the empire, where foreigners are permitted to trade, but penetrate into the interior and distribute themselves over all the country. One of their Bishops, an Italian nobleman, resides in the province of Kiang-soo, a few milea from Shanghai, where I have frequently met him ; he dresses in the costume of the country, and speaks the language with the most perfect fluency. In the place where he lives he is surroundod by his converts, in fact it is a little Christian village, where he is peifoctly safe, and I believe is seldom if ever annoyed in any way by the Chinese authorities. When new Roman Catholic missionaries arrive, they are met by some of their brethren, or converts, at the port nearest their destination, and secretly conveyed into the interior ; the Chinese dress is substituted for the European, their heads are shaved, and in this state they are conducted to the scene of their future labours, where they commence the study of the language — and in about two years are able to speak it sufficienily well to enable them to instruct the people. These poor men submit to many privations and d&ngerg for the cause they have espoused, and although I do not approve of the doctrines which they teach, I must give them the highest praise for enthusiasm and devotion to their Faith. European customs, habits, and luxuries are all abandoned from the moment they put their feet on the shore of China ; parents, friends, and home, in many instances, are heard of no more ; before them lies a heathen land of strangers, cold and unconcerned about the religion for which they themselves are sacrificing everything, and they know that their graves will be far away from the land of their birth and the home of their early years. They seem to have much of the spirit and enthusiasm of the first preachers of the Christian religion, when they were sent out into the world by their divine Master to ' preach the Gospel to every creature,' and to obey God rather than man."

From all parts of Rhenish Germany ami the adjoining region 8 there come reports about the serious damage done by last winter' 8 frosts to the vines and the fruit trees, the extent of which is only now being realised. Thus in the district around Fulda over 55,000 fruit trees have been killed, being about one-fourth of all in the district. The vines seem to have fared better. The stock has suffered in many cases, while the root is still vigorous. But the injury even to the vines will be felt for some years. The roses also have suffered greatly. The tea-rose has almost disappeared throughout the Khine valley, and even the common dog-rose has been quite destroyed in many places. Strangely enough, as it would at first appear, the deep valleys suffered most, while elevated slopes and open places escaped with minor losses.