p. 11 | Our Work in China by Mrs. J. N. Anderson

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 10, 1903

Our Work in China

By Mrs. J. N. Anderson

Mrs. J. N. Anderson

Since coming to China, our personal efforts have been confined to Hongkong and its immediate vicinity, owing to the demands of the work at this place. The work for soldiers and sailors has gone steadily forward, with but small attendance at the meetings, but with constantly accruing results. Nine men have been baptized, and five or six more are obedient to the faith. Seven of these left for England in the “H. M. S. Terrible” the latter part of July. They are an enthusiastic, loyal little band, who, under many and great difficulties, are uprearing the banner of truth in this great war vessel manned by a crew of nine hundred men. One of their number, writing from Port Said, in the Mediterranean Sea, says: “Brother Wilcox [a man who was interested here in Hongkong] has made a firm stand for the Lord and a profession of present truth in the ship. Two others since our leaving for England have begun to lead Christian lives, and are studying their Bibles.”

Three more obedient believers have since gone home in the “Arathusa.” They, too, are active for the salvation of their comrades. One man formerly in the “Terrible” has been transferred to a ship cruising the coast of northern China and Japan. Brother Andrew Sharp is the only Sabbath keeper on the “Tweed,” now stationed at Ichang on the Yang-tse River, in the interior of China. In a recent letter, after expressing his determination to purchase his discharge from the navy as soon as possible, and to give himself to the Lord’s work in China, he says, “God knows men strong in the faith, making a stand for Christ, are needed in the service, influencing others to the better life; and if it be God’s will, I am willing to remain in the navy for any length of time, . . . my greatest aim in life being to lead many souls from darkness to the light and freedom which are in Christ.” Brother Sharp is the son of a Baptist minister in England. He has had a good practical business education, and is possessed of a manly courage of conviction, which will make him of real service to the work in China.

Now and then we get rumors of persons unknown to us by name or face who have visited the mission and carried with them rays of light either from the word spoken or from the printed page, which they in turn radiate to others. In a very remarkable way, and in spite of formidable obstacles, the message for to-day is making its way in the British navy on the China station.

At least two men are needed for this work here in Hongkong. A larger mission, with reading room, lunch counter, and plain lodgings, could do a great work, both as a temperance and as a gospel agency. Rents are high, but after a few months, no doubt, such an effort could be made largely self-supporting. In this large city of homeless men, many of them only boys in age, at a great military, naval, and commercial crossroads, is an opportunity to establish a work of world-reaching influence. A similar work ought to be undertaken at once in Shanghai, where the settled European population is even larger than here. We are daily praying for means to establish this work on a proper basis, and for consecrated, energetic workers to carry it on.

So far no definite work for the Chinese has been undertaken, except an earnest effort to acquire their language. The Lord has gone out before us in the person of patient toilers, who, for his dear sake, have been willing to sacrifice their lives in obscurity to give the written Word of God to this people. A complete Bible in cloth can be bought for twenty-five cents, a copy of one of the Gospels for one-half cent. Christian songs and other literature have been translated. Dictionaries and numerous helps to the study of the language are at hand. On God’s part, “all things are ready;” he waits for our co-operation.

On every side are opportunities waiting for us, but, with the blessing of God on our best efforts, it will yet be many months before we can even speak the language of China. The written language is the study of a lifetime, but three years of persevering effort ought to prepare us to use our Bibles intelligently.

The British government has made liberal provision for the education of Chinese subjects in this colony, but there is still a demand for schools of colloquial English. Through the influence of Mok Man Cheung, a number of leading Chinamen have undertaken the financial responsibility of opening a free Christian school of this character. A room has been offered free of rent, and tables and stools for seating secured. At present the school will be in charge of my sister, Ida Thompson, and will be open from 9 a. m. to 1 p. m. Later, when other help arrives, an evening school must be opened for the benefit of those who cannot afford to give working hours to study. The room will be entirely at our disposal, thus affording us a place where evening Bible studies for English-speaking Chinese can be conducted.

On the mainland at Sun Ling, about one hundred miles from Hongkong, Chan Joe Fat, who heard the message in Portland, Ore., and who is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church in that place, has begun a work for his fellow countrymen. So far as he has been able to communicate with us through an interpreter, we understand that it is now about three years since he returned from America. He is deaf, and beyond the age of active labor, but lives with his son, who provides his support. Since his return he has devoted his time and what means has been at his command to the spread of “the joyful message” of salvation, and now reports that three or four are walking with him in the light of present truth. He expects to give the remainder of his days to this work. No money is acceptable on his own account, but he very gladly receives portions of the Scriptures, tracts, and Bibles for distribution, and earnestly pleads for a small mission to be opened in his native village of about six thousand inhabitants. A larger village in the immediate vicinity would be easily accessible to such a mission. A younger brother, apparently a good Chinese student, is associated with him in his work. This brother, being a man of dependent family, requires some financial assistance, and a sum equal to a little more than four dollars a month has been appropriated to their work. One half of this is paid by a private subscription.

Brother Eric Pilquist has tendered his resignation to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and will come to our reinforcement in China when he is free; but he must wait the arrival from England of a man to take his place. He uses freely the Mandarin Chinese language, and has spent ten years in colporteur work in North Central China. Writing of his disappointment in the delay of his expected release, he says, “I have made up my mind once for all that I am going to preach and work with all the strength God gives me in the spreading of the last warning message to this dying world. I will do all I can in my Bible work, but God has established my feet on the walls

of Zion, and commanded me to cry aloud, and to lift up my voice like a trumpet, and I will cry.”

The tide of Western civilization has set in, and the interior of China is bound to be opened to foreign commerce. Now while there are large sections of territory untouched by Christian or foreign influence, rents and property are cheap, and missions can be established with comparatively small outlay of means. Western trade brings with it money, and gives a boom to prices. In the interior money is very scarce, and consequently a little goes a great way in erecting buildings, or for rents where suitable native structures can be secured.

Chinese methods of fertilization and cultivation of the soil are such as to make it very desirable for each mission station to have connected with it a patch of ground sufficient to grow vegetables and small fruits for its own consumption. Such an investment, with the price of labor at eight or ten cents a day, would not only be economical, but a wise precaution against fevers and infectious diseases, as well as a practical educator to the people in whose midst it might be located.

We are halting at the threshold of a vast empire bruised by the jealousy of her contemporaries, rent with internal discords and dissensions, trammelled by ignorance and superstition, oppressed by the avarice and misrule of her national guardians, groaning in poverty and distress, her only inspiration the fitful, flickering flame of ancestral altars. There should now be scores of earnest young workers living among this people, studying their characteristics and their speech, preparing to act as leaders of missions to be established all over this great expanse of territory. One trained worker can employ a score of native helpers, who, under his direction, will be able greatly to increase his efficiency. Just now is the opportune time to invade China with the third angel’s message.