A Missionary Tour in the Far East by J. E. FULTON

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 26, 1915

A Missionary Tour in the Far East

By J. E. FULTON

Manchuria

J. E. FULTON

WE were sorry to leave our workers and native brethren in Korea after so brief a visit, but other appointments hastened us. All our natives at the Soonan (Korea) meeting and the students were at the station to greet us on our arrival, and they were all in the chapel when we bade them good-by, asking them not to go through the rain and the mud to the station, as they desired to do. After riding all the afternoon and night by train, we arrived in the morning at Mukden, the chief city of Manchuria. Here we met Brethren Petersen and Grundset and their wives, at whose homes our party was kindly entertained during our stay in Mukden.

Mukden is a city of nearly a quarter of a million people. The Japanese are numerous here, and some of the public buildings they have erected are very fine structures. It is thought by many that the Japanese will eventually control Manchuria altogether, as they do now in part. Monuments of battles fought in the Russo-Japanese War have been erected by both Japanese and Russians.

Mukden was the old capital of the Ching, or Manchu, dynasty. Here the emperor Tai-tsung was buried, and to build him a mausoleum vast sums were expended. There is a large inclosure with high stone wall, a park within, and many expensive buildings of stone and marble, with beautifully colored tile roofings, expensive embellishments, and marble monuments. This dynasty, after nearly three hundred years' rule over China, was overthrown by the recent revolution.

We were glad to meet the little company of Chinese Sabbath keepers in this place. The two young brethren already mentioned, with their wives, have done good work, and a beginning has been made in this great northern field. When they arrived here less than a year ago, we did not have a Sabbath keeper in all three of the Manchurian provinces, but now about twenty Sabbath keepers meet regularly, and one or two of the number are developing into good canvassers. This is a great center, and our workers are taking steps to secure better mission headquarters. The present mission buildings are not suitable, and we should own our own premises, that buildings may be erected according to the needs of the work. In China the building of houses is not so expensive as in the homelands of the missionaries, for both labor and building materials are cheap.

These two workers, with the native canvassers, are all the laboring force we have for three provinces in Manchuria, containing a population of 17,000,000. The Chinese living in this northern climate are a vigorous race, and we shall find some good people among them. We were surprised to see the vast area of farming land throughout this great country. It is well farmed, wheat being a principal crop.

Is it not a sad fact that millions are without an opportunity of hearing the message in all these regions? There is not a worker in any city or village in all Manchuria, with its millions, except in Mukden.

The monotony of wide fields of farming land in this flat country is broken here and there by little mounds that are not cultivated, grass being allowed to grow. These are Chinese graves, sacred to the memory of the departed, and faithfully guarded by the living. Wherever one stands, there are almost sure to be graves in sight, and sometimes thousands. And one is rarely out of sight of a village or a large city.

While comparatively much is being done by Seventh-day Adventists in mission fields, only a small part is being accomplished that the situation demands. The unnumbered millions of dead are fast being augmented by millions more falling into Christless graves, with no missionary near to point the dying to a satisfying hope and a better land. Shall we not send up earnest petitions to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into his harvest?

The fields are white, and any one with a spark of human sympathy cannot but be distressed to view the multitudes helpless, hopeless, and dying. Where is our Christianity if we allow blood-bought souls to perish on the brink of eternity when we have committed to our hands the means of salvation? To the church has been committed the work of reaching out for the lost, but how many of the Lord's battalion belong to the reserve corps! Some are fighting faithfully the

battles, while a vast number are taking their ease. "Lift up your eyes," said the Saviour, "and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." When Jesus saw the multitudes, his heart was moved with compassion; and when we see the millions unsaved, will not our hearts also be moved to pity, and our hands be outstretched to save?