China by J. J. WESTRUP

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 29, 1909

China

By J. J. WESTRUP

J. J. WESTRUP

Last Sabbath afternoon a young brother came into my room, and as we were talking about many things, he related an experience, and the tears filled my eyes as I saw his simple, childlike faith. He said: “When we were going to have the workers’ meeting in Cheo Chia K’o, I had no money to take with me, with which to buy food while on the road, and while there. But I prayed to God to provide, and I went, and he so provided that I had all I needed. At the end of the meeting, they took up a collection to build a church in San Go Ch’iao. I wanted to give, and told my cousin so; but I had no money. He said that if they got it within three months, it would be all right, and that I could promise the money, and then work, and give it as soon as I had earned it. Hence I promised to give them one string [one dollar Mexican].”

I said, “The Lord does not expect you to give what you have not.” “True, but I can earn it. The Lord is soon coming; and he says, ‘Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.’ But I want to have some treasure there when he comes.” The tears filled my eyes. The poor brother has to walk in the dust, under the burning sun, for at least fifteen days, selling Bible portions and papers and tracts, before he is able to earn that amount over and above what it takes to keep him and his family with the barest necessities of life. The widow gave all that she had; but this poor brother gave what he had not earned as yet. This brother, poor in this world’s goods, will be richer in the kingdom of heaven than those who have given only out of their abundance. O that those who have this world’s goods may learn a lesson of childlike faith in the word of God!

A native doctor accepted Christ as his Saviour about two years ago. We have watched him, and prayed for him daily, as we knew it meant a great sacrifice for him. He lives at the Shang-tsai out-station. When I visited them the other day, he said: “When I used to sell my medicine at an enormous price, and played cards, drank, and smoked opium, and could make from one hundred fifty dollars to three hundred fifty dollars a year, then they said I was a good man, a fine fellow, and I had many friends. But now when I have quit these habits, and by making my living in an honest way earn only from thirty-five to forty dollars gold a year, they call me a bad man, and all my worldly friends have forsaken me. I had to discharge my cook, and my wife does the cooking now; but I am not afraid to work, I am not lazy.” And surely he is not.

Only coolies are supposed to roll wheelbarrows and do hard work, and if any one else does it, he is regarded as a coolie. But this man, although educated and a doctor, wheels his books himself on a barrow to places where he wants to go to sell them—he is one of our book sellers. Some time ago he had sold out. Then he took his barrow, and came all the way to this station, got his box of books, and wheeled them back to Shang-tsai, a distance of seventy-three miles in all. And such trips he makes often. On evenings and rainy days he makes shoes to sell, to earn a living.

My wife and I have more confidence in the Chinese the longer we work among them. Some may come from a wrong motive, but others are as true as steel. This doctor can sell more than twice as many books as any other man. He reads his paper, tract, or book through, and can tell the contents to the people in an intelligent way. He can talk and preach. I never heard any one like him. He is very bright, and learns the truth quickly. I am confident that he, kept by the grace of God, will be a great help in giving this glorious closing message in China. When the Chinese believer, with his practical mind and simple faith, sees the Sabbath truth in the law of God, he at once asks his Sunday-keeping pastor for a definite proof from the Bible as to when and how this law was changed, or when it and the teachings of the prophetic books were abolished. As the pastor knows that it is impossible to give any such proof, he constantly encourages his poor church-members to read and to preach only the New Testament. What a pitiable condition when an overseer of a flock is afraid to preach the whole Bible! And then when we come and teach the native believers the whole truth, that they may gain a deeper experience and a firmer hold on God by faith, the pastors threaten to throw them into prison, or at least attempt to frighten them by this threat. In Ye Hsien one threatens to imprison a man who has just accepted the whole truth, or any one else who preaches the Sabbath. May they beware lest they belong to the class mentioned in Matt. 7: 21-23.

China, with one fourth of the population of the earth, has been most neglected in the past, and therefore needs most help just now. We need literature. O, help us with means to get literature as soon as possible! Here a few are willing, yea, eager, to listen to and drink in these soul-saving truths of an eternal gospel. I praise the Lord that I am here. I want to live and die here, or else be here on duty when the King comes with his reward. And this is the heart’s desire of every one of us who are in China, and that will be the

wish of every one who is yet to come to this land. O that we could fathom the length and breadth and height and depth of that glorious, eternal reward that will be given to those who are faithful unto the end! And how earnest, how zealous, we should be! how we should sacrifice, and lay up treasures in heaven, and thus hasten the coming of our King!

Last night as I was meditating before I went to sleep, my heart went out after God as never before; and how intensely I longed for the day when we can be entrusted with the fulness of his Holy Spirit, who would make our Father and Saviour more real to us, the truth brighter, heaven nearer, and our eternal reward ten times more precious to our minds than it is now. With what power we should proclaim this glorious message then! Of course I am thankful for the measure of the Spirit which I have. I am not worthy of more. I rejoice that the day is soon coming when we shall be worthy, through Jesus, to receive the fulness of the Spirit.

Honan.