The Workers' Institute at Amoy, China
By W. C. Hankins
A SHORT time ago we held a workers' institute at Amoy. Brother Hung, from Chow Chow Fu, was present, besides all the regular workers of the Fuhkien Province, and such of the brethren as lived near enough to come in. We had a good institute, and met four times each day for about two weeks. The morning and evening services were devoted to prayer and social meetings, while the forenoon and afternoon services were for Bible study. Elder B. L. Anderson presented a series of lessons on the sanctuary, which was very interesting, as well as profitable, to all. Elder N. P. Keh also gave a series of very interesting studies on the Word of God, and the writer took up a verse-by-verse study of as much of the book of Revelation as could be completed in the short time we were together. During the first part of the meetings, one of our workers was called home on account of the serious illness of his aged mother. She was ill when he left home, but, being anxious that her son should lose none of the benefits of the meeting, she would not let him know of it for fear he would not go. It was only a few days, however, until it became doubtful if she would live, so one of the neighbors came after the son. He immediately returned home, and did all he could to save her, but without avail, and a few days later we received the sad news of her death. She had accepted the Sabbath truth about a year before and had been baptized, and we have every reason to believe that she will come up in the resurrection of the just. It is not certain just what her sickness was, but we suspect the bubonic plague; for several of those who came to see her took the plague and died in a few days; and a number of those living near the chapel—where she was staying—also took the plague and died. Among these were the little son and daughter of one of the most faithful Sabbath-keepers in that section. To many this would be a source of great discouragement, but he, like Job, says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord,” and gives no sign that he loves God any less because of his affliction. Then, last of all, we heard that our faithful chapel boy at that place—Do-gang—had also taken the dread disease, and was dead. He had served the mission faithfully for over four years, and we all miss him very much. He was a worshiper of idols when he first became the caretaker of the Do-gang chapel, but he had been keeping the Sabbath for some time before his death, and had given every evidence of a thorough conversion. During his last illness, he begged his family, who are heathen, not to inquire of the idols for him or to go through with any of the regular heathen rites; and he exhorted them to turn from the worship of idols to the living God. He told them that Christ was coming soon, and exhorted them to prepare to meet him. Our hearts are sad as we think of the sudden death of these loved ones, but we rejoice to know that they died “in the Lord,” and claim the blessing pronounced in Rev. 14:13. And, as we12saw this young man, who, but a few years ago, was a worshiper of idols, dying with the name of his Saviour upon his lips, we felt renewed courage to press forward with this glad news of salvation, and to carry the message of mercy to the uttermost parts of this great empire of China. At the close of the institute, there were four candidates for baptism; one of them is a very intelligent and well-educated young lady who is now teaching the girls' school held in our Amoy chapel building. Two of the four that were baptized had never been members of any other church. We feel to thank God that his truth is gathering out precious souls for the heavenly kingdom, and we hope that you will all remember this needy field in your prayers.