Show POLYGAMY AND FOREIGN MISSIONS Time Tho following I Is I from tout tim c t of or I HI III 6 mid amid Is Iti to tn m people hecim ue o c of I the lie hc ci dl senti sentiment I- I ment It lc III In he lie East Emt It will be lie ol Mr ed limit hut the lie problem confronting til time the South r Presbyterian h General embly As-embly I Is much like that problem mi Mr lir Ir Booth of this ibis city Milled in iii 11 I hl tic Ills tc testimony at mit Washington n hll tol he lie Il had not been able to solve hc And wl one Ole nU may t u t I that I ma I. I t tho tl thoe I i oe e who nho in I have l ma ye been lii I his his- I Is 0 I because l' l of his testimony tl nou ilO 10 train their heir guns 11 on oil Rev Hc I Hush Juh high II II White hile awl and thoc e elio iii lio hn endorse him Also Abo one ma may note hole Hint time the I. I Literary i Digest l Is a thoroughly reputable paper Some Sonic of the tho good gool who have ha e been besieging congress congress con con- Jre gress s with lh petitions to oust a 0 Mormon from froni the senate for or fear ear that that exalted ho body mn may maybe bo be tainted h by the presence of or one whose church used to permit polygamy amy ma may bo he Interested In learning that lint time the foreign foreign for for- eign ml missionaries are receiving into Inlo their own churches people who are arC guilty Jul of or the thc same name famo practice and arc aro allowing them th m to continue In such relations Not only so but the time Southern Presbyterian General Assembly of 1 1904 o. o adopted a resolution which is construed by the time mIssionaries missionaries mis mIs- as permitting them thorn to receive and amid countenance polygamists The rime he resolution reads In Iii view of the fact that lint tho ho Presbyterian church Is unalterably opposed to polygamy and would not nol under any circumstances tolerate tol tol- erate the entrance Into Inlo pol polygamous Jamous reIn relations Lons of nn any of Its Ils members even on c In heathen lands and aul In view le of tho lie groat s-roat care cre of our Executive Committee of Foreign Missions i in appointing to the work In foreign lands only workers of or piety and discretion wo vo doom deem leom It f unnecessary to make mako an any deliverance on this subject It I should be noted that In this resolution the lie Assembly said sall It I would woul not tolerate a members member's entrance Into Inlo polygamous relations but said sall nothing about a members member's continuance In that relation If It f ho lie hohal hail had hal been heen a pol polygamist before conversion Rev nev Hugh II I. I While n a In Hsu Chow I Fu Pu China the time Presbyterian missionary u interprets re resolution resolution re- re solution as placing tho the responsibility on the missionary anti and letting him deal heal with tho time subject as ho may moy seem scout guided b by the Holy Spirit In nn aim article In 11 The Christian Christan Observer Louisville he gives his own view vic as ns follows Inasmuch Inasmuch as when one In Ignorance of the law of God has ha assumed tho the responsibilities of a husband to lo more than timan one wife or concubine to retract his course courso would be bc more sinful than to remain lu in It I therefore therefore therefore there there- fore in tho the caso case of or apparently genuine repentance on time the UI part of such sucha a one he ho should be he received Into Inlo time the church with due lue Instruction as asto asto asto to the time heinousness of his sl sin warning as to tho tue future and being reckoned reek reck as Ineligible to hold hol In the time church Mr 11 White hlo holds that the time visible church has no right to lo exclude from Its Is membership any one ono who would not nol bo be excluded from front the time Invisible church and ho gives the thc following reasons reason reasons for thinking that there are arc In time the latter hatter Thc gives precedent The Time Injunction 1 Tim ill Iii Il 2 that a bishop should be the timo husband of one wife plainly Implies implies Im Im- im- im plies ples that there were members member In time the church who had more than one Did Paul put that In for time the sake of euphony or to lo fill fl u Up space If I there were vere no such members why give glo such a n. charge as to the min ministry n- n Perhaps he lie foresaw that nineteen hundred years cars later some American Presbyterians In China would admit such men to membership member member- ship nn and he hc therefore warned them against going nn any further Let Letus Letus Letus us suppose that Chesapeake Presbytery or om 0 Maryland Presbytery In iii ordaining a minister should charge him that no polygamist bo be admitted admitted ad ad- to the eldership what a laugh would go through the time papers paper How many polygamists are there thore In Che Chesapeake Presbytery or om Maryland Maryland Mary Mary- land Presbytery The subject would unquestionably not be mentioned unless there were vere such Further I hold that not only theoretically but hut In Iii reality time the Old Testament Is as much a part of or Gods God's law toda today as 38 the tho New Testament Is The New Testament Is not to be he held to the tho exclusion of the Old but In order to a n clear view of or truth each must be bc viewed In all aU Its Is circumstances and relations ant We Ve believe that hint pol polygamy gamy was a sin In Old Testament times as asIn asIn asin In New Ne' Testament times yet ret God accepted and amid honored tho the faith of Abraham Abrham Jacob David and other polygamists He lie le did not thereby justify justh their poly polygamy am hut but accepted them as true truc men In him spite of the lie fact that through I Ignorance norance or om weakness they had fallen falen In with prevailing pre pro custom God Clod did not exclude them from Crom rein the church ChUch and we have the word the word of or tho ho Lord LOId Jesus Christ himself olf that those h 1 h T are aro now nom In In tho time kingdom dom of or he heaven cn J- J Shall wo 0 be wiser than God If I David were ivere In Maryland Presbytery Presby Presby- tel tery cry after aCer reading his beautiful inspired psalms the they would debar him from Crom admission to the time Lords Lord's table For tho time to dismiss his wives Is to make malee him a liar lar larand and a violator of solemn covenants declares Mr Mi White hUe and Co for I the thc women and children chren Involves es sorrow disgrace ruin in this life and amI well nigh Inevitable damnation in tho the world to conic come Further If It were a mere mero question of self self-sacrifice sel to lo purify purlY one of or sin the duty I would be bo plain however hard It might be but In taking these women as wives vives or concubines the man assumes re responsibility for evade without sin and anti sin made mote moro their helm welfare which he lie can not grievous by the awful consequences thereof What can he hc tb do with her hr nil all ho lie can do to escape pe tho the vengeance ven von Send her back hack homo home He lie will wi have al her without expecting them to of her tam family for disgracing assume tho the burden buren I of ot her support and the odium of her disgrace Soil Sell el alume her Of cour course e ho lie can sell sel her to some seine opium sot to whom no one will vill sell sel a daughter aughter Not long bug sluice since at Hsu Chou Fu we wo heard hearl night wI by night pitiful s from a neighboring cabin a poor pOOl wife was to bo be sold like an ox to a purchaser Can he hc not set her imer aside hlo a-hlo on un an alimony some American will wi say And Ant then what whal Is she Not a a. wife not n a widow not a maid what but a a. helpless defenseless tempted bit of humanity at tho the merc mercy of the degraded embittered woman a ot unprincipled a piece of wreckage to be picked up UJ b by the time Time The woman would likely settle the time question of lieu her case caso In An nn easier casler way with two hundred cash of opium oDium or 0 a calt catty of hemp rope unless she wish wished cd to lo live lve that she might Clr curse c the hearted hard har man and tho the cruel cold blooded religion that had bereft her of home of name of honor These are not fanc fancies s but hut facts In tho the early carly hl history lor of our OU China mission a n case of this tills I kind was was' thus dealt deal with and anti time tho missionaries In iii charge saw sa all al too loo well cli time the baleful effects thereof In tIme the case caso of or a woman who had before been a hopeful Inquirer of time the wa way of 81 vat I o n. n nAnd And An what becomes of time the children 1 In Iii a land land whore where tho the Individual l dual ual Is nothing except excel as an aim integral rl part of a family when a It man maim Is not John Smith or llam William Jones but hut Wang Van No 2 or Ot Cluing Chang No 3 where time the Yer very word for blackguard is a ham bare halo pole 1010 ole ono one who has no family nor not connections time the son of a ca off cast t-orf t wife a man without fatally family or name a man with wih a bar sinister in iii 11 his escutcheon what what lies les before him but hut a life of or shame and disgrace dl graco Or Or shall shaH the tho father fathel add to the bitterness of the time mothers mother's cup cupi i by hy taking the children train from her and nHI bringing them lher up as tho tIme children of oC tho first wife wiCe Can Caim the tho mother be he disgraced and time tho child's childs life not be blighted blie Gr Granted that in lu China filial fIal love be lie not Hot up to time the Christian standard yet et nature hInds binds the offspring to lo the time parents and antI b by ligaments that hint are arc not lightly rent remit asunder aundel In Iii either case rest assured tho time mothers mother's ruin will burn into time the hearts of the time child children ren ron such hatred of the time Christian wil religion as shall shah with wih but little doubt damn them to a hopeless ss hell Is It Il necessary to time the salvation of oC one ono man maim that his Innocent wives and amid children should be bo thus blighted Nor Is there thero any practical danger of Us its Is setting a precedent or lowering tho time standard o of the time church In iii China The Tho cases are arc few and ami oven when they aro are admitted so su stringently Is the Ito of time the relation Impressed on time the church that tho time isolated cases arc a n warning rt rather el than timan an nn encouragement Such has been heen the experience in tho time Northern Presbyterian Missions of Shan Shantung lung where the time membership Is now nov numbered by time the thousands and In our own mission S in America we aro are down loWum in the mud laying haYing these bun foun lations calons For you ou who stand on time the hank batik it Is easy calY enough to say how things ought to be done one but hut if it you YOl were here doing it you would see bee things timings In a different light |