Central China Union Mission
By A. G. Daniells
FROM YEN-CHENG IN HONAN WE CAME with Elder R. F. Cottrell to Hankow, the headquarters of the Central China Union Mission. Here we met Sister Cottrell, Dr. Larson and wife, Brother and Sister Ryd, and about one hundred of our Chinese evangelists, canvassers, Bible women, and students. We remained here a week, holding meetings daily from morning until night. The Central China Union embraces the four central provinces of Honan, Hupeh, Hunan, and Kwang-si. Elder R. F. Cottrell is the superintendent of this union. The four provinces of the union have a land area of 292,000 square miles—about one third larger in area than such unions as the Northern, Lake, and Columbia. The people living in this union number 120,000,000, more by one fifth than all the people living in the United States. The reports for the year ending 1914 are very encouraging. There were 26 churches, with a membership of 742, and 21 companies having 430 believers who are being prepared for baptism. The total number identified with us in this union is 1,172. A large number embraced the message during 1914, and 223 persons were baptized. Fully 75 per cent of all these have come to us direct from heathenism, while only 25 per cent had been Christians before uniting with us. We know that the gospel has the same power today that it has ever had, to win men and women from heathenism, and our brethren in China are endeavoring to impress this upon all our workers. We do not believe that our mission in China or any other country is to endeavor to win Christian people from other churches to our cause, with the ambition to build up a denomination. Our mission is to preach the everlasting gospel to all men in all lands, and to receive into our body those who believe what we preach and give evidence of amendment of life. In doing this work we must surely push out into the darkest corners of the world, and work for the most godless and degraded people to be found. This we are doing in Africa, India, and China, and we are proving that the gospel is still “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” It was reported that of the 100 who were present at our meeting in Hankow, 66 had been idol worshipers, 26 had been addicted to the use of wine and tobacco, 4 had been opium smokers, 19 had been gamblers, 5 were previously sorcerers, 2 had been polygamists, 1 had been a Taoist priest, 1 had been a murderer, and one had been insane for many years. People in Christian lands, accustomed to associate with men and women who have a more respectable record, might have some doubts about the reliable, substantial character and worth of a church made up of individuals with such a bad record. But no one present at that meeting could harbor any such misgivings. If all the professed Christians in Christian lands would give such convincing and unmistakable evidence of regeneration by the power of God as these believers give, the influence of the church would be far greater than it is in winning the lost to Christ. Every one of those converts had turned away from his idols, wine, tobacco, and opium. They10had renounced gambling, sorcery, and polygamy. The Taoist priest had left the grimy, smoking temples of his idols, and was working earnestly for Christ; the murderer was rejoicing in the forgiveness of his awful sin, and in the matchless love of God that could save such a sinner as he; and the man who had been afflicted with insanity so long, was clothed and in his right mind, and his heart was full of praise to God for the restoration of his reason. This man had been delivered from hopeless insanity by the prayers of a little church of Chinese converts. The elder of that church was present at our Hankow meeting. He himself had been a follower of Confucius for many years, and was a man of good education, having been granted a degree from the Chinese government for successfully passing the higher examinations. One of the happiest occasions of my ministry was when this dear old brother, saved from heathenism, took from my hands the emblems of our Lord’s death, to pass them to that audience brought from heathen darkness into the glorious light of the gospel of Christ. And he passed these emblems with as beautiful dignity and fine delicacy as they were ever passed in any congregation in Christian lands. He knew their meaning and their value. Such changes wrought in the hearts of sinners, reveal the secret that distinguishes the blessed Christ from all the false gods and teachers of every heathen land. But here, as in Honan and in so many other places, we were well-nigh staggered by the inadequacy of our force of workers to meet the pressing needs that have sprung up by the development of our work. Take the province of Honan: area, 83,000 square miles; population, 22,000,000; church membership, 359, 83 per cent of whom came to us from heathenism; believers preparing for baptism, 600; total converts, 959; evangelists, 17; canvassers, 33; Bible women, 3; school-teachers, 13; other workers, 4; total workers, 70. But in this province we have not a single foreign minister. Elder Lillie was located there last year, but on account of the dampness of the climate he has been obliged to go to another part of China. This leaves Brother S. G. White, the secretary and treasurer, alone to look after the workers, the churches, and the general work. Conditions in the province of Hupeh are just the same, with the exception that Elder Cottrell, the superintendent of the union, resides at Hankow, the capital of Hupeh. I appeal to presidents of union and local conferences in America to stop and ponder over this situation. I appeal to the ministers of America to take it to heart. I appeal to the tens of thousands of believers in behalf of this great pressing need in China. Brethren, something definite and large will have to be done at once to safeguard our precious interests there. Thank God for the call. It would grieve and dishearten us if we could make no headway, if our workers were retreating, if our mission stations were being deserted. With glad hearts we shall respond to this call of our Lord for money and for men. We shall continue to divide our forces in America, and we shall increase our offerings, even if it requires that we decrease our present worth to do so. We have a fine mission station in Hankow, about two miles from the business part of the city, and the surroundings are all that could be asked. Good judgment has been exercised in the erection of the mission homes. Now a school must be provided for the education and training of the large number of young people we have in Central China. Our general meeting was most encouraging. We ordained Brother Hwang Dzun Dao to the work of the ministry. He and his faithful wife have stood by the side of our foreign brethren for eight or nine years, helping them to gather and hold the members we have in that part of China. Now they will go to the province of Kiang-si to open the work there. Calls had come from twenty different places in that province when I was at Hankow. These interests had been awakened by the literature circulated there by our canvassers. But the moment Brother Hwang Dzun Dao crosses the line into Kiang-si, an imperative call will come to the homeland for at least one more foreign worker to take the superintendency of the work in the province. That is the way it works. We look over the line at the millions of lost souls, and feel that we should give them the message. A canvasser crosses over with literature. The people buy and read it. An interest is awakened to hear more. An evangelist is sent. People embrace the message. Then a superintendent is needed, then a mission home, and then a school. The onward march never stops, and it never will, thank the Lord, until the earth is lightened with his glory. I question whether the possibilities for the accomplishment of a great work in the Central China Union Mission can be fully grasped by any one at present. In establishing our headquarters of this union at Hankow, we should lay a good, broad foundation for a large work. Hankow is the natural center from which to operate in Central China. It is about seven hundred miles inland from Shanghai, but being located on that great river, the Yang-tze-Kiang, which is navigable for large steamers, it is like a great seaport. A fleet of fine steamers plies the river from Shanghai, arriving at and leaving Hankow daily. Hankow is connected by rail with Peking and the Trans-Siberian Railway. A line of railway is now under construction which is to connect Hankow and Canton. Another line is being built to connect Hankow with China’s most western province, Szechuan, and Tibet. Greater Hankow includes three cities,—Hankow, Wuchang, and Han-yang. These cities are separated by rivers, about as New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City. The combined population of the three is about 2,000,000. Being a great commercial center, this place has a large foreign population. It seems providential that our work is being firmly established in this important place, and we should, from the beginning, plan for a large work. I was glad to find Brother and Sister Cottrell in good health and thoroughly in love with their field and their work. They have both worked very hard since going to China. The burden of their mission has rested heavily upon them, and the Lord has blessed them in every way. They have a good knowledge of the language and the people. They have learned how to bring the Chinese people into the truth. They should have more help to relieve them from the heavy pressure of work they are now under. Let us remember the Central China Union Mission field in our prayers.