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Catholic Church in China from 1860 to 1907

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Catholic Church in China from 1860 to 1907 Lt/J'w D'vision T3X i GG5 Section .W S 5 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CHINA THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CHINA FROM 1860 TO 1907 ^ t. 'r. \ ^ MAY 1G 191: BY REV. BERTRAM WOLFERSTAN, S.J. LONDON AND EDINBURGH SANDS & COMPANY ST LOUIS, MO. B. HERDER, 17 South Broadway 1909 PREFACE “ By what authority dost thou these things ? And who hath given ” thee this authority ? —Matt. xxi. 23. In any consideration of the conversion of the non- Christian world one fact becomes at once apparent, viz., that there are, in the main, two widely distinct agencies at work—the Roman Catholic Church, and the innumer- able religious connections which compose the Protestant body. It is sometimes maintained by benevolent persons that, as both are working on behalf of “our common Christianity,” they are equally desirable ; for, while at variance as to details, they are one in all essentials. But this condition is by no means fulfilled, as, far from coinciding in essentials, they are not even agreed in the primary statement of what constitutes those essentials. Were this division confined to Christendom the evil would still be sufficiently serious but when it is carried ; into the presence of the non-Christian world, the harm becomes vastly augmented. For the heathen — by which term non-Christians— are usually described—not unnaturally asks : “ Why should we adopt Christianity when its very teachers cannot agree among themselves ” as to wherein precisely it consists ? One lamentable result, therefore, seems likely to accrue from this spectacle of a divided and contentious Christianity, viz., the making of the conversion of the heathen more difficult year by year, and thus delaying VI PREFACE indefinitely the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom upon earth. Deplorable as such a state of things would be, it is by no means all. For, in the assertion of their own particular beliefs, and in controverting those of others, such bitterness and strife has been engendered among Christians themselves—the test of whose profession was to be, “ By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” (John xiii. 35)—as to warrant the sceptic in his taunt, “ See how ” these Christians do love one another ! And this fact has so impressed the heathen, that they have been known to declare their conviction that, “heathenism with love is better than Christianity without it.” In brief, the delivery by portions of the Christian world of the message of salvation has been so accomplished, as to convict the messengers out of their own mouths of the falsity of their professions, and thus steel the heart of the non-Christian world against the message itself. Wherefore, since so much confusion has arisen, and such obscurity has clouded the judgment of Christians themselves, it becomes of the very first importance, if we would consider the matter aright, to cast aside all prejudice, and divesting the case of all side issues, investigate what it is we are endeavouring to teach those whom we call “heathen,” and what authority we have for so doing. The Christian missionary, then, appears before the non-Christian world in one of two capacities. Either he is the merely earthly bearer of a merely human he is the duly herald of message ; or authorised a message from Almighty God. If it is the former character in which he appears there is little to be said. His message being merely human, his hearers have just as much moral right to their opinions—provided there is nothing demonstrably irrational in them—as he to his; and they or their rulers are quite justified in their resentment of any attempt to upset the existing order PREFACE vii of affairs. But, if the missionary claims to be the properly accredited herald of a message from Almighty God, it behoves him not only to present one which is not inconsistent with any established conclusion of natural science, or fact of history, but also to account for his own reception of a revelation from the Creator and Lord of all things, his authority to impart the same, and his ability to give some assurance of his freedom from error in its transmission. That the Christian doctrine emanated from Jesus Christ is admitted by all; and of His actual existence upon earth, as a historical fact, there is now no serious dispute in any quarter. But whether this Christian doctrine was supernatural, and consequently amounted to a divine revelation or no, rests upon the fact that He had a divine commission this on ; and again depends whether He was what He asserted Himself to be—the Son of God. The Christian contention is that Jesus Christ did so prove this by the manifestation of a power more than human over Nature, animate and inanimate, during His life, and still more by His own Resurrec- tion. For, it is obvious that no one could raise himself, of his own power, from death to life, unless he were the Lord of both—in fact, God. Our first duty, then, is to show, not that the Gospel narrative describes the life and actions of a divine Being (for that is obvious, granting the facts as described), but that we can be assured of the absolute truth of that narrative. The facts set forth rest, in the first instance, on the testimony of those that witnessed them. In their case the Divinity of Christ was proved by His known character and His wondrous works, especially the Resurrection. As credible wit- nesses of those miracles they asked their hearers to share their convictions, “the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed” (Mark xvi. 20). Of course, those converted owed both the impulse to believe and its result to God’s grace, but — viii PREFACE their adhesion was won to start with by the demon- strated credibility of the witnesses. But now, mark the whole scope of their message. It embraces not only the whole revelation of God’s Nature and Attributes, and of man’s duty towards Him which was comprised in Christ’s teaching and example, but also the fact that they had the same divine commission as He had, “As the Father hath sent me, I also send you” (John xx. 21). We accept that fact precisely on the same grounds as we accept the rest of their message, the acceptance of which or non-acceptance (through ignorance or incredulity) makes the difference between Christian and non- Christian. We may pause here to dwell upon the supreme importance of the Christian revelation. It is a communication from the Creator of the Universe Who is Truth itself — of certain facts concerning Himself; and also a prescription of the nature of the service He desires from His rational creatures; in order that they may attain the sole end for which He created them— His own glory and the salvation of their souls. We can best appreciate the value to be attached to that end by considering the price which Christ paid to secure it. For it He came on earth, for it He suffered and died, and for it He commis- sioned the witnesses of these stupendous events to testify to them, and teach His doctrine to all people. It follows, then, immediately, that the divine Wisdom, having matter of such importance to communicate to mankind, must have taken every precaution to see that the message was clearly under- stood, and transmitted in all its integrity. To suppose, therefore, that any ambiguity existed in Christ's in- structions to the first Christians is to suppose that Almighty God made a revelation to those whom He selected- to hand it to their contemporaries and to posterity, being indifferent the while as to whether PREFACE IX they understood it aright; and that He prescribed the manner in which He would be honoured and served, but still left it open to misconception. If this be so, another mystery is added to the many which encompass us, viz., Why was any revelation made at all? And such a supposition involves us in the further conclusion, among others, that the work of Jesus Christ for man began and ended with the Redemption, that He brought no message to the human race—or none that was essential—and that man’s subsequent service of God was not to be concerned with the act of Redemption, further than the preservation of the memory thereof as a more or less vague historical fact. Hence the Christian belief, eminently simple and reasonable, has always been that Jesus Christ had a definite message for mankind— His own contem- poraries and the rest of the human race to the end of times—and that He must have made adequate provision for the right understanding and entire transmission of this message. It remains for con- sideration how this was to be secured. It was in fact secured by the establishment of a single, organised, visible community, charged with the custody and transmission of Christ’s message to the human race. This community was single because all the members were to agree in one faith, practise the same method of worship—sacrifice—and avail themselves of the same means of sanctification—the sacraments while they were all to be united under ; one head in whom resided the supreme authority. This unity under one head implied organisation, which is the distribution of functions among the mem- bers of a composite body by the supreme authority thereof for organisation was necessitated the ; by fact that the community was to extend over the whole world.
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