China by W. C. HANKINS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 7, 1908

China

By W. C. HANKINS

W. C. HANKINS

At the beginning of another year, we wish to send a few words of greeting to our brethren in the home land, and to report something of the progress of the work in this field.

During the year that has just ended, the Lord used Elder N. P. Keh to sow seeds of truth in the district of Chow Chow, of which Swatow is the seaport, and Chow Chow Foo, the prefectural city. There are now about thirty at the latter city who are standing firm for the truth, and a number of isolated ones are holding up the light of truth in different portions of that district.

The Tsoan Chiu company reports also a recent addition of eight persons to the number of those who are meeting together each Sabbath; and a few days ago we received a letter from there, telling about a young preacher who had just left the employ of his former mission, that he might keep the Sabbath. This young man is a son of the old elder, who was one of the first Sabbath-keepers to be baptized in that city.

The truth has even taken root in Sien In, a city of about one hundred thousand inhabitants, about fifty miles north of Tsoan Chiu. But the story of our trip to that place, and what we found there, I will write later.

We have been working quite hard at the language, and at the production of literature in the Chinese language. We hope during the coming year to do considerable translating, if the Lord wills.

We had an interesting experience selling calendars the other day. These have the Chinese and foreign months printed side by side, for convenient reference, and all around the calendar itself are printed texts of Scripture, the ten commandments, etc., in Chinese characters. We sold each calendar for four cash, and the way they sold was an encouragement to us who had had but little experience in that kind of work. The first day we took only one hundred apiece. They were soon disposed of. Most of the time we could not hand them out fast enough to meet the demand, and when we had sold the last one, there were still people standing around us, holding out their money for one. The second day was like the first, except that we each took two hundred, while our teacher took one hundred. The whole five hundred had been sold in less than an hour. In the two days about nine hundred copies were sold, which exhausted our supply, but we could easily have sold several thousand.

From December 22 to 28 we had a meeting of all our native helpers, for prayer and study, and on the last Sabbath of the year we held the ordinances, and our native language teacher was baptized by Elder B. L. Anderson.

We are all well, and of good courage. We are glad to have a part in the work here, and hope the Lord may impress the hearts of many of our young workers to consecrate their lives to the work in this needy field.

May the Lord's rich blessing be with those of our brethren who are bearing the burden of the work both at home and abroad; and may he hasten the day when his people shall all have been gathered out from among the nations, sealed, and prepared for his coming, which “is near, and hasteth greatly.”

Amoy. January 20.