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“I Am
The Way.
The Truth, and
The Life."
Dr. Young J. Allen.
If the question were asked, “What individual
element has played the most prominent part in
bringing China into the eyes of the world and her
people into a slow realization of their enslaved
position?” the answer would be prompt, swift and
true—“ The American Missionary.” For years the
work in China has gone on steadily, laborously,
and patiently. Often results have been slow, al
ways changes come gradually to the Chinese mind;
sometimes they come not at all, and it was this
conservatism, born of ages and ages of heredity,
nourished by surroundings and conditions, that
mizht well daunt the bravest, which the American
and English missionary had to face in the far
East. But the work has progressed and the vet
erans in the field can at last begin to see some
progress made by their years of tireless labor. Os
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these veterans, there is, perhaps, none more worthy
of consideration than the subject of this sketch,
Dr. Young J. Allen, who has recently returned
after fifty years spent in the Orient.
Dr. Allen went directly from Shanghai to Nash
ville, Tenn., and was the guest there of Dr. 0. E.
Brown, of Vanderbilt University, his plan being
to attend a meeting of the Board of Missions held
in Nashville during the Student Volunteer Conven
tion, and then to proceed to Birmingham, Ala., to
the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South.
Dr. Allen looks the geuine patriarch, his long,
flowing beard, his calm manner and his wonderfully
satisfied look testifying to his perfect realization
that he has striven to “do the Master’s work.”
In an interview given to a Nashville paper, Dr.
Allen said: “I do not object to your calling me a
Chinaman; but you must not call me a Chinese—•
we make a distinction. I am a Chinaman, but I
am above all, an American.” Dr. Allen was made
a mandarin many years ago, for he impressed the
Chinese government with his conservative methods,
his profound religious convictions, and with his
willingness to learn the people among whom he
worked .and for whose good he strove.
Dr. Allen has made a careful study of the Chi
nese people; he realizes the difficulty in converting
them, and he said that missionaries must be ex-
> 1311 Hi
Dr. YOUNG J. ALLEN.
The Golden Age for March 22, 1006.
tremely careful in the work done among these
people. He speaks learnedly on the governmental
troubles in China, and seems to think that the re
sult of the present conditions in that country must
be such as to give the people more prominence and
better laws. The ship on which Dr. Allen returned
to this country was the Dakota, and a company
of distinguished Chinese came over at the same
time, their intention being to study American forms
of government.
Dr. Allen stated that he thought the “whole
commotion in China” would tend to the emancipa
tion of its people and would result in radical re
form.
The greaest literary work which Dr. Allen has
translated, is a mammoth work in twenty vol
umes on “Woman in All Lands,” but he has also
translated many Chinese and Japanese works ,and
is the author of a history of the war between Japan
and China. He is a prominent member of the So
ciety for the Diffusion of Christian and Useful
Knowledge, and his wide experiences have given
him a fund of general information that the mere
student of books could never have attained.
It is impossible to pay a fully fitting tribute to
the work of this great man,, but it is safe to say
that the years which are to come will bear for him
and for his class ample testimonials of the gigantic
task he has undertaken, to which he has devoted
his whole life, and of which we can but hope he
will at least see the beginning of fulfillment.
The Straton Resolution.
In a recent issue of The Golden Age, editorial ref
erence was made to the resolutions presented by Rev.
John Roach Straton to the Baptist Ministers’ Con
ference of Chicago, concerning Professor Foster’s
radical book, “The Finality of the Christian Reli
gion.”
That resolution called attention to the “destruc
tive” conclusions of this book—denying the inspira
tion of the Bible, the performance of miracles and
the resurrection of Christ—and called for Prof. Fos
ter’s resignation from his chair in the University of
Chicago. A heated debate was precipitated, but ac
tion was deferred.
Now the announcement comes through the daily
press that the following resolution was passed by
the Conference on March 4, by a vote of 48 to 22:
Whereas, a member of this Conference has is
sued from the University of Chicago Press, a book
entitled, “The Finality of the Christian Religion,”
therefore be it,
Resolved: That we as a Conference, declare it to
be our resolute conviction that the views set forth
in this book are contrary to Scripture, and that its
teachings and tendency are subversive of the vital
and essential truths of the Christian faith.”
While this resolution is perhaps a slight modifi
cation of the first, yet such a ringing declaration by
such a decisive vote, shows that the preachers who
believe and love the Bible as the inspired revelation
of God to man, are overwhelmingly in the majority
in that great city, and under the shadow of
that great university where—none can deny—so
much skepticism has been bred.
The pity is that there should be a minority vote
of 22.
All friends of “orthodox truths” rejoice, of course
in the brave and successful part which the brilliant
young pastor of the Second Baptist church has taken
in this matter of wide-spread interest. The people of
the South and especially of Georgia, experience a
grateful pride that Mr. Straton has been a leader in
such a cause.
John Roach Straton did a work for the college life
in Georgia and the South whose value cannot be
computed. At Mercer University where he was a stu
dent for several years, his name was the rallying
cry of student enthusiasm in the literary societies
and intercollegiate contests in debate and oratory.
Straton was never defeated—holding the champion
ship at one time, both for Georgia and the South.
Hundreds of students were, in many colleges, in
spired and blessed by his commanding personality
and his winning eloquence.
Wedding a beautiful and queenly Georgia girl,
Miss Georgia Hillyer, and doing magnificent work
later in the chair of oratory at Baylor University
REV. JOHN ROACH STRATON.
in Texas, his countless friends rejoice that his
splendid powers are now humbly consecrated to that
most beautiful and far-reaching of all callings—the
'Christian ministry.
In point of actual numbers, as well as in unity,
amity and mutual co-operation, the Nashville Con
vention leads all other religious gatherings of which
we have any record. The following figures will give
some idea of the extent of the work and the num
ber of those interested.
Accredited delegates, students, 3,069, professors,
286, total, 3,346. Total at Toronto convention four
years ago, 2,957. Institutions represented, 700 ,at
Toronto, 453. Missionaries present, 144, from twen
ty-six mission lands. Representatives of ninety-five
foreign missionary agencies, 149. Press representa
tives, including speakers, volunteers out of college,
Young Men ’s and Young Woman 's Christian Asso
ciation Secretaries, 397. Total in attendance, 4,188,
not including hundreds not registered, as compared
with 2,957 at Toronto. Nearly 19,000 attended the
Missionary Exhibit at Watkins Hall.
The man who has a fixed purpose which is
the result of mature thought commands my ad
miration.
“The Entrance
of
Thy Woras
Giveth Light"
3