Notes of Progress From Szechuan by F. A. ALLUM

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 4, 1915

Notes of Progress From Szechuan

By F. A. ALLUM

F. A. ALLUM

OUR friends in the homeland will be glad to know that we now have the deeds for the land for which we have been negotiating, and that they have been duly stamped by the magistrate. This may not seem of great importance to those unacquainted with China, but it is often a long-drawn-out process, owing to the great objection that the Chinese have to foreigners’ securing property in their country. Sometimes two or three years pass before the matter is finally settled to the satisfaction of both parties. Now we can truly say that we have our stakes set in Chung-king, never to be removed till the Lord comes, for we believe that this place is undoubtedly the best center for our headquarters in western China. We have perhaps the best available site on the Chung-king side of the river, the land being outside the city, only between twenty-five and thirty minutes’ walk from our chapel. It is a beautiful site, surrounded by bamboo groves. Dr. MacCartney, the senior missionary of Chung-king, who has a hospital and equipment in that place worth over $100,000 gold, said that he had this site in mind for a sanitarium. The survey for the I-chang, Chung-king, and Cheng-tu Railway passes within a stone’s throw of our property. We feel very thankful to our Heavenly Father for giving us this beautiful place, and feel fully satisfied that it was his special leading that directed our steps to this site. We also feel very thankful to our brethren and sisters in the homeland who have so generously supplied the money to secure this land.

THE FIRST FRUITS IN SZECHUAN, WEST CHINA

Building operations have now begun on our bungalows; the first house will not be completed till the middle of December. It is impossible to hustle the East, for, as Kipling has said,—

“’Tis not wise for the Christian’s health To hustle the Aryan brown, For the Christian rifles, and the Aryan smiles. And weareth the Christian down. And the end of the fight is a tombstone white With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, ‘A fool lies here Who tried to hustle the East.’”

Our bungalows are to have ample cellar room, all the living rooms being on the first floor, which is raised six feet from the ground. We have a large attic, with a sleeping porch opening off it. The basement is to be of stone, and the rest of the building of brick, with native tile for roofing.

Our two canvassers are having remarkable success in taking subscriptions and selling single copies of our monthly Signs of the Times. In six weeks’ canvassing of the cities between Wan-hsien and Chung-king, they took over four hundred yearly subscriptions, thus securing, including their single copy sales, over $148 Mexican. They faithfully turned over to the mission fifty per cent of their sales, together with their tithe, which amounted in all to $81.42 Mexican. This is perhaps the best piece of real self-supporting canvassing work that the writer has seen in China. We are planning to line the cities that are located on the Yang-tze-kiang with our truth-laden literature, all the way from I-chang to Cheng-tu, a distance of over one thousand miles. That this can be done, the experience of these two canvassers amply proves. And it will be largely through the self-sacrificing work of the native colporteurs that the loud cry of the third angel’s message will be given in these heathen lands. These men are a great source of strength to our work.

I am sure all will rejoice to know that we have reaped our first fruits in Szechuan. Four precious souls on July 3 were buried with their Lord in baptism. These had all been keeping the Sabbath for nearly a year, and the baptism took place just about one year from the time we opened our chapel in Chung-king. Before administering baptism, we give them a two weeks’ course of special instruction on the fundamental principles of the faith. There were others who requested baptism, but they were asked to wait until they had further opportunity for instruction.

A new chapel has been opened in Lao Chang, a busy market town located twenty li [about seven miles] out from Chung-king on the main paved highway from Chung-king to Kui-chau. We have organized a Sabbath school here with a membership of about twenty. On market days we often have as many as one hundred attentive listeners in our chapel. This is our second company in Szechuan.

We have also received calls from Wan-hsien, which is the next important town below Chung-king, asking us to open a chapel there. These calls come as a result of the work of our canvassers. The opening of this chapel at Wan-hsien will probably be our next step in the development of the work in this province, but it will have to wait some time yet, until we are through with our building operations here at Chung-king.

Our rented home on the mountain has enabled us all to keep well and strong during the summer, and is situated between our city chapel and the chapel at Lao Chang, so that we have been able to carry the regular Sabbath service all through the summer. Brother Warren, sometimes accompanied by his wife, went to one chapel, while Mrs. Allum and I went to the other.

In looking back over the past year we can see how our Father has led us, when we compare our present favorable situation with that of Brother Warren and myself when we arrived at this great city a little over a year ago, and were forced to spend the first three weeks in a house boat outside the walls of the city, being unable to find a place where we could lay our heads. But now we can rejoice that we were permitted to experience these inconveniences in order that we might have the privilege of opening up the work in this great western field.

In conclusion, we can say that we were never of better courage, and never had greater confidence that the Lord is going to bless his work in this field. This field is not an easy one, and what we especially need just now is to pray earnestly that reenforcements may be sent to us in order to strengthen the work and enable us to begin work in or near the capital, Cheng-tu, and from there press on until we have missionaries located in Tachienlu, the great doorway to Tibet. Will you not join us in the earnest prayer that these developments may quickly take place, in order that the Tibetans, who have waited so long for the message, may receive the light of the truth. Thus that glad day which will reveal our Saviour coming in the clouds of heaven will be hastened.

Chung-king, Szechwan.