H. W. MILLER, M. D by H. W. Miller, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Sep 15, 1904

H. W. MILLER, M. D

By H. W. Miller, M. D.

average blood heat, ninety-eight degrees Fahrenheit. The candidates are of all ages from twenty to eighty years old. The older the applicant, the more likely he is to pass, as age is greatly respected.

The parents consider it a waste of time to educate a child that is going to be a carpenter, blacksmith, or cook. So only the children of teachers and officials have this privilege, as they are destined to follow the occupation of their fathers.

To a foreigner it is of interest to visit a Chinese school. While stopping at a Chinese inn, I heard in the adjoining room a continuous chatter, so I took occasion to go in. The teacher was a middle-aged man, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, smoking his pipe; the children were sitting around a table, reading, at the top of their voices, out of some books that their fathers or older brothers had used. The one who could make the most noise was the favored one by the teacher. The teachers claimed they could not tell whether the students were studying if they did not hear them. If the instructor should notice that one's voice was getting a little weak, he would speak out to him very harshly.

The subject-matter studied is composed largely of the Chinese classics, including the history of the emperors, and their temple worship. They have very little idea about the outside world, their knowledge of geography is limited to a radius of fifty miles surrounding their home, and they think that if any one should get beyond the great wall of China, he would fall off the world.

There are a few good books written by Chinese, especially one called the “Sacred Edict,” which contains right principles; but as the Chinese themselves say, they are read and considered better for the other man than for themselves to follow. The principal theme throughout all their literature is ancestral worship.

Many of the missionary societies have started high schools in the treaty ports, where the foreign method of education is used, but many disadvantages seem to be connected with this work; for very few of the students afterward choose the evangelistic work, or desire to teach their own people, but seek a paying position in a business house.

Where we are located in the center of China, a school conducted after the foreign school would be very unpromising. The evangelist could not, after completing such a course, teach the people, using examples involving modern methods; for example, to illustrate God’s power by likening it to the power stored in an electric wire, would mean nothing to a man who had never dreamed of electricity. The resources of the field must be used, and the students must be educated in the field. Paul taught the heathen at Lystra by drawing illustrations from nature, and as conditions here are very similar, we shall do well to follow his example. Outside the Bible, geography is the only essential study here. Many other missionaries are conducting schools on this plan, with the best results yet reported. As rapidly as we have converts and establish churches, it is our purpose to place the children in schools; but to take a large number of children now, whose parents are in heathendom, and educate them is not promising. Already we have a demand for a school for the children of our converts, which we hope soon to open. We also hope to have a Bible school to train evangelists. As regards the medical education of Chinese, the best method is to have the students assist in treating the sick, and while doing this, describe the disease. In a short time they will learn to recognize the ailment, and be able to treat it independently. I have one boy now who has made good progress by this method. The practical medical work is the most valuable, even in the States. We hope to be so led of God that his plan may be carried out, and certainly this branch of the work will constitute a great factor in preparing this people for Christ’s soon coming.