han they did themselves.

It was well he was prepared, for his opponents came down upon him in
full force. Every day a band of college graduates, always headed by Giam
Cheng Hoa, came up from the town to the missionary's little hut by
the river, and for hours they would sit arguing and talking. They were
always the most noted scholars the place could produce, but in spite of
all their cleverness the barbarian teacher silenced them every time. He
fairly took the wind out of their sails by showing he knew quite as
much about Chinese religions as they did. If they quoted Confucius to
contradict the Bible, he would quote Confucius to contradict them.
He confounded them by proving that they were not really followers of
Confucius, for they did not keep his sayings. And with unanswerable
arguments he went on to show that the religion taught by Jesus Christ
was the one and only religion to make man good and noble.

Each day the group of visitors grew larger, and at last one morning, as
Mackay looked out of his door, he saw quite a crowd approaching. They
were led, as usual, by the friendly young scholar. By his side walked,
or rather, swaggered a man of whom the missionary had often heard. He
was a scholar of high degree and was famed all over Formosa for his
great learning. Behind him came about twenty men, and Mackay could see
by their dress and appearance that they were all literary graduates.
They were coming in great force this time, to crush the barbarian
with their combined knowledge. He met them at the door with his usual
politeness and hospitality. He was always courteous to these proud
literati, but he always treated them as equals, and showed none of the
deference they felt he owed them. The crowd seated itself on improvised
benches and the argument opened.

This time Mackay led the attack. He carried the war right into the
enemy's camp. Instead of letting them put questions to him, he asked
them question after question concerning Confucianism, Buddhism, and
Taoism. They were questions that sometimes they could not answer, and
to their chagrin they had to hear "the barbarian" answer for them. There
were other questions, still more humiliating, which, when they answered,
only served to show their religion as false and degrading. Their
spokesman, the great learned man, became at last so entangled that there
was nothing for him but flight. He arose and stalked angrily away, and
in a little while they all left. Mackay