CHIFU is an open seaport on the east coast of North China, in Shan-tung Province, and directly west of Korea. Being sent there by the doctor's orders to recuperate from the typhoid fever, no very active campaign could be attempted; but with the help of a native evangelist, nearly every home in Chifu was canvassed for our Chinese magazine, and between two and three thousand papers and tracts were placed in the hands of the people in that city and the near-by villages.
It was these trips to the mountain villages that proved to be of unusual interest. There are no roads over these mountains, only trails, and all travel is by foot or donkey back. We used a mat-covered frame, or litter, supported on poles, borne by donkeys traveling single file. On either side of our swinging chair a sheet of paper was pasted, on which it was announced in large characters that we were distributing publications pertaining to “The Gospel of the End of the World.” Great crowds collected wherever we stopped. We would then talk to the people, and tell them as best we could in the brief time we had, to prepare to meet their God. Besides papers and tracts to sell, we had a liberal supply of folders for free distribution. When we went through a village, it was as if a great gust of wind had suddenly whirled upon the people a shower of autumn leaves. Nearly every man, woman, and child was grasping a sheet of paper, and inquiring of one another, “What do these things mean?”
At times the trail led straight up over the mountain rocks, winding in and out among cliffs and chasms, and turning such sharp corners that many times it seemed as if the chair would be torn to pieces. At other times the road led through quiet valleys, beside still waters, where the summer sun shimmered through the tops of lofty trees, birds twittered sweetly in the foliage, and the very atmosphere seemed alive with praises to the Creator. Then again we turned a corner, and there was the city wall towering up, and inside were poverty and ignorance, filth and disease, on every side.
How we longed to be able to tell all these people about Jesus in such a way that they could grasp the truth, and be saved when he comes. The best we could do was to speak to a few hundred people, sell papers to those willing to buy, and distribute tracts to those who were not able to purchase. In a short time the chair was on its way again, escorted out of the city gate by a crowd of curious children and idlers who were intent upon getting one more look at the foreigner.
DISPOSING OF THE LAST PAPER.
We shall probably never see these people again. But there are some among them who will remember, who will investigate, accept Jesus, and be saved. The command is, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” and he who gave the command said, “My word . . . shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.”
