Page 26 - incense-bearers of han

“Mr. Hu-Resembling-Prosperity—the Great One—the worshipful one—

“The small brother (designating the writer) has in the past been a student of the
philosophies of the sages, a devotee of the three religions. Now, the small brother has
found the true Doctrine of the Mean, the Mediator between God and man, the Man
Christ Jesus. If you care to discuss the matter, come and visit me when you have the

opportunity.
“The autumn‟s peace be unto thee!
“The diminutive brother, Chu Yuan-Shan.”
Re-reading the epistle to assure himself that there was no mistake, Mr. Hu jumped

to his feet in a rage, threw the letter down on the tile paved floor and stamped upon it
with both feet.

“He has found the „true Doctrine of the Mean,‟ has he? Did not the philosopher

Mencius enunciate the Doctrine of the Mean sufficiently well that he has to turn aside
to this foreign Jesus?”

He was well-nigh speechless with anger that a master-scholar of Chinese literature

and philosophy should be guilty of such a horrible defection. He ignored the letter and
sent the messenger back empty-handed as a deliberate rebuff to his old crony who had
so seriously apostatized.

During the months that followed the subject haunted him. He tried his best to
account for this strange mental aberration on the part of his old friend, and he debated
every angle of it until he was brain-weary.

He was torn between anger and resentment at his friend‟s unaccountable departure
from the precepts of the fathers and curiosity as to its cause.

“Were Chu a mere yokel of the fields untaught in the four books and five classics,

this talk of discovering the „true Doctrine of the Mean‟ could be attributed to
ignorance, but Chu is a master of arts and knows the classics to recite by heart from
beginning to end! Again were he a pauperized scholar he might be doing something to
help himself financially, or trying to „eat the foreign doctrine,‟ but Chu is a plutocrat,

the owner of many fields!”

Baffled in his attempt to explain the phenomenon, the lunar year drew to a close.

Mr. Hu now wished that he could hear again from his friend Chu. He began to

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