The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

462 THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

The Hindus are very religious, but theirs is a religion of
despair, of stagnation, blind to the needs of life, impractical,
personality-destroying, deadening-and Christ was the opposite of all of these things. China, on the other hand, is
practical, meticulously careful for the concerns of this life,
bending her soul to material things, profound in business
and philosophy, but disappointingly shallow and unresponsive
to the things of the spirit. The Filipinos combine an intense
interest in this world with a marvellous appreciation of spiritual truth. They combine the potentialities of both the
Chinese and the Indians. They have revealed these potentialities in spite of the centuries of repression which they endured under the heel of Spain. This book has attempted to
reveal how their spiritual genius is bursting into blossom,
now that their hour has come! They are going to work out
for the Far East a simplified, beautified conception of the
spirit of Jesus Christ-they will help the Kingdom of God
to throw off its European garb, and take upon itself once more
the Oriental dress in which it began its career.
Not only cam the Filipinos do this; in a few years it may
become plain that they must do it. The cleavage between the
races seems, unhappily, to be growing wider. Asia will not
always submit to dictation from Europe or America. She
will listen to those who understand her heart, and who do not,
at every step, do violence to her sensibilities. The day has,
indeed, already arrived when the multitudes of Orientals will
listen to Christianity only from Oriental lips. A considerable
number of requests have come from various colleges in China
for Filipinos to come and teach subjects which have hitherto
been taught by Americans, because it is felt that Filipinos will
prove more popular as instructors than white persons could
be. One such request from Foochow College asks for a
Filipino "who is (I) a Protestant, (2) preferably a university graduate, (3) one qualified to teach high school English. Is there any live young fellow in the theological school
who could do the job, and who would like to come over here
as a missionary for a year or two at say $50 Mex per month
and travel? Living is dirt cheap here if he can get along on