There is no fear that the religion of the Joss-House will ever
usurp the religion of the Christian altar. Men have expressed the fear
that if the Chinese came in overwhelming numbers to America they would
endanger the Christian faith by their idolatry. But would this be
true? Has Christianity anything to dread? What impression has the
Joss-House made all these years on the life of San Francisco outside
of Chinatown? None whatever, except to make the reflecting man value
the Christian faith with its elevating influences and its blessed
hopes all the more. It is a mistake then to exclude Chinamen from our
shores on the ground that they will do harm to Christianity. On the
contrary the Church will do them good. The Gospel is the leaven which
will be the salvation of heathen men. Did it not go forth into the
Gentile world on its glorious mission, and did it not convert many
nations in the first ages? Has it lost its potency to-day? No! It is
as powerful as ever to win men from their idols and their evil lives.
The question of Chinese immigration is a large one. It has its social
and its political aspects.
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