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From the last census taken by the
Chinese government in 1813, it appears
that the population of that empire was
then 362,447,183; a population more
than twenty times as great as that of
Greenland, Labrador, the Canadas, the
West Indies, the South Sea Islands, the
Cape, Madagascar, Greece, Egypt, Abyssinia,
and Ceylon,—i.e., more than
twenty times as large as nearly the
whole field of Christian missions, India
and the East being excepted.
In 1821, the missionary, Dr. Milne,
calculated the population of Cochin
China, Corea, Loo-choo, Japan, and
other districts tributary to China, to be
about 60,000,000. If there should be in
those countries, with Burmah and Siam,
only 20,000,000 instead of 60,000,000,
they form an important field of missionary
labour. The British subjects of
continental and ultra-Gangetic India,
are 77,743,178; the population more
or less under British influence in India,
is 33,994,000; making a total under
British influence in India, of 111,736,178.
Of the 362 millions of the Chinese empire,
probably 150 millions are females;
and among the 111 millions of India
there are about 50 millions more; so
that, in these two countries, there are
200 millions of heathen females demanding
our commiseration and Christian care.
The condition of the Chinese women
is thus described by the missionary
Gutzlaff:—“Such a general degradation
in religion makes it almost impossible
that females should have their proper
rank in society. They are the slaves
and concubines of their masters, live
and die in ignorance, and every effort to
raise themselves above the rank assigned
them, is regarded as impious arrogance.
As long as mothers are not the instructors
of their children, and wives are not
the companions of their husbands, the
regeneration of this great empire will
proceed very slowly.” As might be
expected, suicide is a refuge to which
thousands of these ignorant idolaters
fly. “The unnatural crime of infanticide
is so common among them, that it is
perpetrated without any feeling, and
even in a laughing mood. There is also
carried on a regular traffic in females.”
The condition of the Hindoo women
is, if possible, worse. They are treated
as slaves, may not eat with their husbands,
and are expressly permitted by
law to be beaten. Degraded and despised,
they naturally sink towards the
level assigned them by public opinion.
They have no mental employment whatever;
and being very much excluded
by the extreme jealousy of which they
are the objects, from missionary instruction,
it appears that their miserable
condition must be perpetuated, till Hindoo
society undergoes a radical change,
unless they be improved by Christian
schools.
To meet these necessities, a society
has been formed of ladies of various denominations,
united together by Christian
piety, for the wretched female population
whom they wish to elevate and
bless. Some of the objects to which
the Committee will direct their attention,
are the following:
1. To collect and to diffuse information
on the subject.
2. To prepare and send out pious and
intelligent women, as trainers and superintendents
of the native female teachers.
3. To assist those who may be anxious
to form female schools in accordance
with the rules of this society, by grants
of money, books, and superintendence.
What Christian lady, to whom this
appeal may come, will refuse her co-operation
in so good a work! To aid the
beneficent legislation of a paternal government
in the improvement of so large
a population committed to our care;
to rescue the weak from oppression, and
to comfort the miserable in their sorrow;
to give to the infant population of
India, and of China, the blessings of
maternal wisdom and piety; to teach
the men of those nations, that those
who are now their degraded slaves, may
be their companions, counsellors, and
friends; to disgrace, by a knowledge of
the rudiments of European science, those
fabulous and polluted legends of their
sacred books, which are at variance with
geographical and astronomical facts; to
make them acquainted with the Bible,
which now they cannot read; to place
them under the instruction of the missionary,
from whom they are at present
excluded; to bring them to the knowledge
of Christ, and to prove that his
grace can do more in a few years to
bless them, than centuries of heathenism
could do to degrade them;—these are
the great objects which carried Mrs.
Wilson to the children of Hindostan,
and Miss Wallace to those of China:
but, while “the harvest truly is plenteous,
the labourers are few.” Other women
of equal capacity, and who can
show the same perseverance springing
from compassion and faith, must follow
the good example. And if they offer
themselves to this work of the
Lord, will not the Christian women of
this country, by sending them forth, and
supporting them in their work, show to
the continent and the world, that gratitude
to God and to Christ for the blessings
of providence and grace, can kindle
in their hearts an earnest and self-denying
pity for those who, though they
speak in other tongues, and are separated
from us by half the earth’s circumference,
are yet as capable of joy and
sorrow as ourselves, and are among those
to whom our Redeemer has commanded
that the gospel should be preached?
Wives, who are happy in the affection
and esteem of your husbands; mothers,
who enjoy your children’s reverence and
gratitude; children, who have been
blessed by a mother’s example, and a
mother’s care; sisters, who have found
in brothers your warmest friends; Christian
women, who feel that you can lend
to society its charm, and receive from it
a loyal courtesy in return; protected,
honoured, and loved—impart your blessings
to those who are miserable because
they are without them. If your minds
are intelligent and cultivated—if your
lives are useful and happy—and if you
can look for a blessed immortality beyond
the grave, do not, for the love of
Christ, whose sufferings have been the
source of all your blessings, and of all
your hopes, do not refuse to make Him
known, that the degraded millions of
the East may, like you, be “blessed in
Him,” and, like you, may “call him
blessed.”
Those readers who desire further information
may obtain it from Mr. Suter,
19, Cheapside; by whom contributions
will be thankfully received.
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