Page:Gems of Chinese literature (1922).djvu/287

 



HAVE heard that those who wish to save us from the upheavals of the present age, arrange their advice under three heads, to wit: (1) Keep safe our State. (2) Keep safe our holy religion. (3) Keep safe our Flowery stock. Now these three points are in reality connected by a single thread, and that is unanimity. To keep safe our stock, we must first keep safe our religion; to keep safe our holy religion, we must first keep safe our State. How can the stock be preserved? Wisdom will preserve it; wisdom, which is another term for religion. How can religion prevail? Force can make it prevail; force, which is another name for militarism. Thus it is that in a State which does not command respect, religion will not obtain; and if the State be not prosperous, the stock will not be held in honour. There is the religion of Islam; it is not based upon right, yet because the Turks are a fierce, cruel, and courageous race, the religion retains its vitality. There is Buddhism; here we find an approximation to right, yet because the Indians are an unwarlike race, Buddhism has lost its hold. There is the “luminous” religion (Nestorianism) of Persia; because the State was weak, the religion was changed. The ancient religion of Greece may exist or it may not; the Roman Catholic and Protestant religions prevail over six-tenths of the earth’s surface, a result which is due to powerful militarism. Our holy religion prevails in the Middle Land, where for several thousand years it has undergone no change. The 34