The Wealth of the East by Mrs. Emma T. Anderson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 3, 1910

The Wealth of the East

By Mrs. Emma T. Anderson

SOME centuries ago Marco Polo sent forth from the cells of a Venetian prison wonderful tales of a far East. Twenty years at the court of Kublai Kahn had made him familiar with wealth such as no king of the West might show. He told of ivory couches enshrouded with marvelous tapestries wrought in needlework; of sparkling jewels, cut with consummate skill and set in the yellowest of gold. All this he had seen, and he desired the newer world of Europe to share in the treasures he had discovered.

You all know the story and the sequel as well. The world was stirred to a maritime activity never known before. Commerce with the East became the great world project. Men like the “Merchant of Venice” risked all in ships, that perhaps they might come to share in this wonderful wealth.

BELIEVERS ATTENDING A GENERAL MEETING IN BURMA

It called for bold spirits to brave the sea in those days; but men were not wanting, neither was money slow to come; for was there not untold treasure to be won? More ships, and more, followed those which never returned. The way was too long; there must be a shorter route. More men, more money, were needed. Men began to lose heart before the prodigious undertaking.

“I pledge my jewels!” It was a woman’s voice that bridged the crisis; for to her the enterprise was not merely commercial; she hoped that by this means the emblem of the cross might come to overshadow this rediscovered world.

In the Temple of Five Hundred Genii, in the city of Canton, a time-worn, smoke-begrimed bust of Marco Polo rests in the midst of a long line of Chinese gods; and as I have watched the incense smoke curling about this decidedly Western figure, in its equally decided Oriental setting, I have wondered at the ever-widening circle of influence this one man was able to create, and that, too, principally while a prisoner under the ban of his state. I have wished that our missionaries might emulate the irrepressible Venetian; that they might be so importunate, so insistent, in representing the actual possibilities of conquest for the kingdom of heaven, that there shall be created in the hearts of those in the home land an undying enthusiasm, which time shall not diminish, and an unflinching zeal, which no difficulties can checkmate.

Do you believe the great mines of the far East are worth the cost of working? Gems not to be bought for the worth of a whole world are lying in the

rough of heathenism, waiting. I have seen some that have been gathered, and testify to you that they compare favorably with any in our Western lands. Here, for instance, is a cluster of six. How our hearts beat with joy as we gathered on the banks of the river just outside the village of San-li-ti-en, in the province of Honan, to see them washed in the crystal stream, by baptism into Christ. That they were real gems no one could doubt who witnessed the shining faces that rose to newness of life.

One was Tsai. It was a sharp contest for a time as to which kingdom should have his service. Relatives besought and commanded, and held out official responsibilities in the province. But he esteemed “the reproach of Christ” the greater treasure, and is associated with editorial work on our Chinese paper. Another was Wang, son of a merchant. Father and son were traveling far from home when they came into a gospel meeting. So fascinated were they that it was decided to remain at the inn another day, and come to the meeting that night. Then the sojourn extended to ten days; and when the father had to go on, the son remained at the mission. He, too, is now connected with the publishing work.

Space forbids further details; but through the evangelistic work and the school work and by all means, jewel after jewel has been collected, daily increasing in value.

“Have you really found anything in China worth your effort?” one man asked me. “Yes; a hundred times yes,” I answered. For one of these souls the Master himself would have come from heaven to earth.

MRS. EMMA T. ANDERSON.

Canton.

1. FIRST-
FRUITS AMONG
THE TAMILS,
SOUTH INDIA
2. WORKERS’
MEETING, FU-
KIEN, CHINA
3. KOREAN
EVANGEL-
ISTS, BOTH NA-
TIVE AND FOR-
EIGN — 1. FIRST- FRUITS AMONG THE TAMILS, SOUTH INDIA 2. WORKERS’ MEETING, FU- KIEN, CHINA 3. KOREAN EVANGEL- ISTS, BOTH NA- TIVE AND FOR- EIGN