1830.
Letter from B. J. Bettelheim.
33
dreds are now at least practically prevented from idolatry, by the mere fact of our occupying this temple. Shall Budhism again rear its own ruins? Shall we restore a fort given up by the enemy? Must not heathen Lewchew be convinced by this time, that the Hú-kwok sz' had noth- ing to do with what it claimed respect and support for? The dozens of big, and scores of minor, idols in this establishment, now for years kept in utter darkness, a mode of treatment admitted by their own votaries to be deadly to their supposed divine life, must almost neces- sarily lead the nation to conclude that it was not they who protected the country, but that there is a great and living God, who being the Father of us all, giveth good gifts to his children, and with paternal tenderness, and forgiving, sparing love, maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good; and that it was He, who, while their idols warmed themselves in his sun, left not himself without a witness among their blinded votaries, and did them good, giving them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find Him, through whose precious blood this wonderful love and forbearance were purchased. Is it possible that Christians, whose hearts revolt at papal idolatry in Europe, should not sympathize with the horrors a missionary is exposed to among Asiatic heathen? Is Lewchew too far for them? Is it outlaw- ed in God's creation? "Thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire." Is God now less a jealous God, less an enemy of idols, than he was of old? And now the enemy,--Budhistic priests and Confucian rulers, has surrendered his gods, shall we be forced into the foolish generosity of restoring them? Shall we let Satan loose after chaining him a little?
Having written thus far, I was obliged to lay my retrospect aside for three months, in order to complete a grammar of this language I was preparing. The rough copy of a vocabulary, a labor carried on between two and three years, is also ready. I hope both of them will be useful and welcome to missionary brethren, whom we can not give up the hope it will finally please the Lord of missions to bring to our help. I scarcely know how or where to take up the thread of my tale, but as a communication we had to-day (Sept. 7th) from government allows us to indulge the cheering thought that Providence is about to secure us this year again our usual post: for as the Lewchewan junks brought us no letters this year from Fuhchau, we conclude they will take uone from us, and I take it for a hint that I should go on in a narrative, undertaken with the view of reviving the interest of our brethren in
VOL. XIX. NO. 1.
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