A Call From China by A. C. SELMON, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 28, 1906

A Call From China

By A. C. SELMON, M. D.

A. C. SELMON, M. D.

My brother, are you waiting and earnestly longing for the Lord Jesus to be revealed in the clouds of heaven? There is a great work yet to be done before that can take place; for this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.

If you could only be with us here at one of our stations in inland China for a single day, you would have opportunity to see something of the great work that yet remains to be done. Here we have three fourths of China's four hundred and twenty-six millions, and only nine workers to preach the message.

It is true we are getting a start in the very center of China, and the location in many ways is strategic. We are in the center of the oldest inhabited portion of China, and have access to both railroad and river, so we can push out in all directions. It is also strategic in reference to the language, for the language here, known as Central Mandarin, gives us access to all the fifteen Mandarin-speaking provinces. But what concerns us most, and leads us to pray most earnestly, is that we have not more people here in training for this work.

After the missionary reaches the field, there are many days before him ere he can do much in preaching the gospel. The people and the language must both be learned before he can begin work. We long to see reinforcements coming out to help us. You know this blessed truth, and what other call do you want to lead you out into the regions beyond? The missionary activity of Seventh-day Adventists is the best index of their faith in the soon coming of the Lord. Those who feel and know that he is soon coming, will be using every energy to proclaim the gospel message to those who are yet in darkness. If all the young men and women in our training-schools had this conviction, what an incentive it would be to their work! They would be in no danger of becoming engrossed in any of the false sciences and speculative philosophies that side-track some of our young people. How to win men to trust the Saviour is a science that even angels are desirous of looking into.

So, my brother or sister, as you are surrounded by all the comforts of home life, and are planning to settle down in some enterprise simply for the sake of making a comfortable living, will you not think of China's millions that are perishing for a knowledge of the truth which makes your heart glad? The great mass of people in inland China do not know what it means to live comfortably. They do not say, “How do you live?” but the expression is, “How do you pass the days?” It is simply a matter of existence with them; nothing to live for, and no hope to banish the fear of dying. And so it is that we find them committing suicide on the most trivial provocation. There is scarcely a month passes that we do not have several suicide cases to treat. I was called to a suicide case last week that I had twice rescued from opium poisoning.

As you look at the Chinese that are to be found in the laundries throughout the country, do not judge the whole nation by them. They have left their home land with the sole and only purpose of amassing wealth, and have no other motive. The majority of them, in fact all of them, are from the large open ports, where they have come in contact with foreigners, chiefly business men and speculators, and they have seen nothing desirable in these men, but have quickly learned to copy their vices. So in the majority of cases they are not a representative class of Chinese. But here we find the people changed very little from what they have been for hundreds of years. And while they are not by any means waiting for the gospel with open arms, yet they are easier to reach than many of those who have come in contact with modern, Western ideas.

The accompanying picture will give some idea of how blind the people really are, and how much they need the truth. The picture was taken last summer during a dry period. The crops were suffering for rain, and after praying for days to the rain god, without avail, they took him out of the temple, and seated him on a table exposed to the hot sun. A wreath of withered leaves was placed on his head, and some withered branches before him, to show him how dry it was. This method was used to coerce him to send rain. If your next-door neighbor went to such extremes of folly as this, would you not do all in your power to point out the true God to him? The fact that China is a few thousand miles from you does not lessen your responsibility; for if you do not go, who will?

Siang Cheng, Via Hankow, China.