Page:Chinese Speaker (E. Morgan, 1916).djvu/179

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THE CHINESE SPEAKER
159

minor branches of Christianity. Thus we see that though Western religion is not a unity, yet the heart and gaze of all are upon the one Jesus. Is this not unity in diversity?

It would be difficult to treat exhaustively of the many works of Jesus for the human race, the whole of the New Testament is his biography. The dry-as-dust scholars of our China, have constantly maligned Jesus, saying that his is an unorthodox religion. This pernicious thinking must on no account be encouraged by the citizens of the Republic. Because any religion which has been able to survive thousands of years in the world,—this year is Anno Domini 1913, and received the homage of countless people, must contain some incorruptible and permanent truth. Otherwise, if these dry-as-dust old teachers for instance advocated some religion, is there any one who would worship them, may I ask; could it survive some thousands of years may I ask. This is absolutely impossible.

According to the Bible, before Jesus came into the world, the God of Heaven saw that the sins of the world inhabitants were very great, which if unrepented of, would bring down the judgment of Heaven on them. Therefore God sent His Son Jesus into the world to preach. When Jesus came into the world he did not eschew any hardships, but with pain and sorrow rescued the inhabitants of the world one by one, from the depths of sin. All those who were brought under conviction, reformed their lives. Subsequently many Jews opposed Jesus, and laying hold on him, crucified him on the cross. Whereupon God, considering the sufferings of Jesus, and the reasons for them, which were that they came upon him in his work as Saviour, wiped out therefore the sin of the world. Afterwards the human race, having received the inspiration of Jesus, and knowing that Jesus gave his life to save the world, was full of boundless gratitude. Every year on the 21st of April, the day of his passion, all keep a memorial service, called the Feast of the Passion. The 25th of December again is the day of his nativity, when all observe a Merry Christmas, a feast called the Nativity of Jesus.

Since the religion of foreigners is diverse, and, yet one, so whenever the day of the birth of Jesus comes round Protestants, Catholics, the Eastern and Greek Churches, scholars, farmers, artisans, tradespeople, men and women, old and young all indiscriminately, and without distinction show their worshipful love of Jesus. So it is that workmen stop their toil, shops suspend their business, schools cease their classes, officials refrain from public business, and the smoke of every manufactory and the noise of all machinery are not seen or heard. In the morning when the sun rises, all clad in fresh garments, as soon as they hear the tinkling of the