But I am astonished that four Christian statesmen, four members of
Congress in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, who seriously
object to people on account of their religious convictions, should
still assert that the very religion in which they believe--and the only
religion established by the living god-head of the American system--is
not adapted to the spiritual needs of one-third of the human race. It is
amazing that these four gentlemen have, in the defense of the Christian
religion, announced the discovery that it is wholly inadequate for
the civilization of mankind; that the light of the cross can never
penetrate the darkness of China; "that all the labors of the missionary,
the example of the good, the exalted character of our civilization, make
no impression upon the pagan life of the Chinese;" and that even
the report of this committee will not tend to elevate, refine and
Christianize the yellow heathen of the Pacific coast. In the name
of religion these gentlemen have denied its power and mocked at the
enthusiasm of its founder. Worse than this, they have predicted for the
Chinese a future of ignorance and idolatry in this world, and, if the
"American system" of religion is true, hell-fire in the next.