I was told by a prominent patron of the Woman's Christian Union that she
felt very sorry I did not have the consolation of religion, coming as I
did from a heathen land. Some "heathens" might have been insulted, but I
had come to know the Americans and was aware that she really felt a
kindly interest in me. I replied that we could find some consolation in
the sayings of our religious teachers, as the great guide of our life
is, "What you do not like when done to yourself do not do to others."

"Why," said the lady, "that is Christian doctrine, our 'Golden Rule.'"

"Pardon me," I answered, "this is the golden rule of Confucius, written
four hundred years or so before Christ was born."

"I think you must be mistaken," she continued; "this is a fundamental
pillar of the Christian belief."

"True," I retorted; "but none the less Christians obtained it from
Confucius."

She did not believe me, and we referred the question to Bishop ----, who
sat near us. Much to her confusion he agreed with me, and then quoted
the well-known lines of one of our religious writers who lived twelve
hundred years before Christ: "The great God has conferred on the people
a moral sense, compliance with which would show their nature inevitably
right," and remarked that it was a splendid sentiment.

"Then you believe in a God," said the lady, turning to me.

"I trust so," was my answer.

Now this lady, who believed me to be a "pagan" and unsaved, was a
product of the American school system, yet she had never read a line of
Confucius, having been "brought up" to consider him an infidel writer.

I have seen many of the great Western nations and observed their
religions. My conclusion is that none make so general and united an
attempt to be what they consider "good and moral" as the Americans; but
the Americans scatter their efforts like shot fired from a gun, and the
result is a multiplicity of religious beliefs beyond belief. I do not
forget that America was settled to afford an asylum for religious
belief, where men could work out their salvation in peace. If Americans
would grant us the same privilege and not send missionaries to fight
over us, all would be well. No one can dispute the fact that the
Americans are in earnest; the greater number believe they are right, and
that they possess true zeal all China knows.

The impression the convert in China obtains is that the United States is
a sort of paradise, where Christians live in peac