Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · May 23, 1907

Editorial

By Editor

Editorial Letter

Jottings from the Editor’s Note-Book

OUR conference at Shanghai was the first really general meeting of our workers ever held in China. Up to that time some of these workers had been strangers to one another except by name. It was a great privilege for all to be permitted to meet thus, and to become acquainted with one another and with one another’s work.

The conference continued ten days, and the time was fully occupied. The usual program consisted of a devotional service before breakfast, a Bible study at nine o’clock, business sessions at eleven and four, and another Bible study in the evening. The remainder of the time was devoted to committee meetings and consultations. I will say but little about this meeting, as it will be reported by one of the brethren, only mentioning some special features. It was encouraging to see so large a number who had given themselves to the work in China. While the field is vast, and the number of people is almost overwhelming, and while the corps of workers now in the field is only a beginning, yet it is a cause of thankfulness that a good beginning has been made. When we remember how many other fields have been opened in the five years during which this company has been entering China, we have reason to take courage. There are other societies which have been much longer on the ground, but which have fewer representatives in the field to-day. But consecration than numbers, and my hope for the future of our work in China was strengthened as I saw the spirit of earnestness and devotion that characterized those who are trying to give the gospel message in that field.

In the Bible studies I endeavored to present the threefold message of Revelation 14 as the fulness of the gospel, the saving truth which is to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. I felt greatly blessed in this effort. I am sure that the Holy Spirit illuminated our minds, in answer to our prayers that our understanding might be opened that we might understand the Scriptures. Old truths took on a new meaning, new truths were revealed, and all were seen to be comprehended in the preaching of a crucified, risen, and ascended Christ, our great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, who is the Lord our Righteousness. The doctrine of justification by faith as the essential gospel was found to be the heart and soul of this message. The relation of all the leading phases of the third angel’s message to this vital and saving truth was seen in a clearer light than ever before, and all felt that they could hereafter teach the message as a message of salvation in a sense in which they had never been able to do before. I feel confident that the results of this experience will be seen in the greater fruitage of future efforts.

The Sabbath of the meeting was a day of privilege and blessing. Elder Gates preached a helpful discourse in the forenoon, and in the afternoon we celebrated the ordinances of the Lord’s house, after which we had a social service. Those who have such opportunities regularly can hardly appreciate what it means to those who have been almost wholly by themselves for years, sometimes not seeing the face of a foreigner for months at a time. Hearts were drawn together, and hope and courage were renewed.

Brother D. H. Davis and two of his fellow workers of the Seventh-day Baptist mission at Shanghai attended several of our meetings, and we were glad to greet them. I greatly enjoyed the privilege of taking dinner with these friends at their mission station near the West Gate, where Brother Davis and his estimable wife have been located for twenty-seven years. They have a pleasant home, near which they conduct a school for boys and one for girls. Brother Davis recalled the fact that Elder S. N. Haskell visited him at this place when he made his trip to China about fifteen years ago.

I spent a few hours in a hasty look through a portion of the native Chinese city of Shanghai, but found nothing essentially different from what I saw in other places, unless it be that the beggars seemed to be more numerous and more ragged. The contrast between Shanghai within the walls and Shanghai without is very marked. The latter is in many respects like a modern city of the West, with some fine buildings, both public and private. It is the great distributing center for Central and Northern China, and the shipping interests are very extensive. Being situated on the Whangpo River, fourteen miles from its mouth, the largest ocean-going boats can not come to its docks, but must receive and discharge cargo and passengers at Wosung by means of large tenders, but ships up to six thousand tons come up the river, and of course all the Chinese junks can do the same. The river is a very busy scene where the steamships, the men of war, the Chinese junks large and small, the smaller craft, and the many sampans crowd the channel, and where the commerce of many nations is carried forward.

Shanghai also has the reputation, and so far as my information goes it seems to be justly deserved, of being a very wicked place. Intemperance and immorality are frightfully prevalent. By many the Chinese are looked upon and treated much as the blacks are in the Southern States, and an influence is exerted which is most depressing to missionary effort. Some of the representatives of the so-called Christian nations do not by their conduct commend the civilization of the West as being in any way superior to that of the Chinese, and in fact I think their testimony is in favor of the heathenism of the East. The simple truth is that heathenism is the same whether it reveals itself in the life of one who has heard but refused to obey the gospel, or in the life of one who has never seen the light from heaven. If anything, the former is often the worse of the two. “If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”

We held our farewell meeting Wednesday morning, February 20, and the workers began to leave at once. Some went the same night, some the next night, and all were gone by Friday night. We may

not all meet again during our warfare here, but we shall look forward to a glad reunion when the conflict is over, and the victory is won. The veterans from many a hard-fought field will then unite in the song of Moses and the Lamb. Glorious prospect! May we all be kept faithful.

W. W. P.