Dedication Ceremony of the Signs of the Times Publishing House, Shanghai, China
By F. E. Stafford
On Sunday afternoon, March 9, a happy crowd assembled in the newly furnished chapel of the new Press building at Shanghai. The Press employees, all the foreign workers connected with the Press and with the Asiatic Division headquarters, the members of the Shanghai church, and a few invited friends composed the assemblage who gathered on this occasion to dedicate the new buildings to God and the third angel’s message.
The service was opened by a violin and organ voluntary, after which the congregation united in singing “Crown Him Lord of All.” A Scripture lesson was then read from Isaiah 40; and after prayer, W. E. Gillis, superintendent of the Press, addressed the audience, briefly outlining the growth of the printing work in China, and giving many interesting facts concerning the erection of the new buildings. He told of some of the difficulties and struggles through which the work has had to pass, and he said that it was with grateful hearts that we assembled on this occasion to dedicate this commodious and convenient Press building to the work of God in China. The present March issue of the Signs of the Times is 64,000 copies, and we have a steady and increasing demand for our tracts and books, and it may be truthfully said that as yet we have only begun the work in China. So we look forward with great hope to the future, believing that God will richly bless the printing work in China, and that the papers and books which are circulated from this office may be the means, in God’s hands, of bringing the truth to thousands of China’s millions, who now are living in darkness and sin.
Signs of the Times Publishing House, Shanghai, China, with employees in front
At the dedication of the Signs of the Times Publishing House, March 9, 1913
View of the workers' homes at the publishing house headquarters in Shanghai. The publishing house is just back of the building at the extreme right of the picture.
View from the Signs of the Times office, showing the coffins and graves scattered over the field. China has very peculiar plans for burial.
C. N. Woodward, treasurer of the Asiatic Division, and treasurer of the Press, then gave the figures and data regarding the cost of the various buildings. Among other things, he said that his report, while it gave the price in money, yet could not give, and no one knew but God, the cost of these buildings in the sacrifices endured by our brethren and sisters in the home lands who have given so freely of their very living in order to make it possible for us to have these pleasant buildings. The buildings, which include the Press building, with all departments, offices, editorial rooms, chapel, and Asiatic Division offices, ten Chinese houses for employees, one double semi-foreign house, and five foreign houses, together with the land (a little more than four acres), and all improvements to date, have cost a total of $32,950 United States gold.
A vocal duet by K. H. Wood and wife followed, after which Pastor I. H. Evans, superintendent of the Asiatic Division, preached the dedicatory sermon, and R. F. Cottrell offered the prayer. The sermon was built on the words, “Lord, save us: we perish.” Among other things, he said:
“There comes a time in the lives of men when they feel their utter helplessness. This crisis may come unexpectedly, or it may be the growth of years; but come it does, and then man cries for help. The heathen looks to his gods, the worldly man to his club and associates, the Christian to his God and Saviour. Friendless, comfortless, perishing, every mortal feels, in this hour of crisis, that he must have help outside himself. What he has enjoyed and gathered to himself in the years of his activity is now but rubbish. His life looks wasted. What he had labored for and trusted, seems of no avail. In the helplessness of his condition, he cries, ‘Lord, save me: I perish.’
“Jesus Christ answers the heart-cry of every man who seeks Him in sincerity. Without Him there is only human strength for man; and surely ‘vain is the help of man.’ The ministry of our fellows may comfort us in the hour of trial. Their sympathy, their faithfulness and loyalty, may assuage in a measure our grief; but still there is something in the human heart that is unsatisfied. That is the heart-cry for God, and there is no way of satisfying the need but in coming to Jesus Christ with childlike faith, praying, ‘Lord, save us: we perish.’”
“The heathen around us feel this need, and seek help from their gods of wood and stone, going from temple to temple in the vain endeavor to find some deity or spirit that may give them what they desire. But their hearts are never satisfied; they know not the One who is able to help in time of need. That is why we are in this land of Sinim—to show these benighted seekers the way to God. For this reason we have built this little chapel; for this reason we have erected and equipped this printing plant; for this reason and no other have men and women come to this land—that those who know not God, may find salvation in Jesus Christ.”
“We have assembled on this occasion to dedicate this chapel and this printing plant to the service of God. Without the divine blessing, the worship in one, and the printed page of the other, will be only waste. But with the blessing of God, both may prove a mighty factor in the upbuilding of the kingdom of God in China.”
At the conclusion of the service, the congregation were shown through the grounds and various buildings of the compound, after which refreshments were laid out on the large tables in the bindery. The employees and those connected with the Press entered heartily into the spirit of hospitality which was shown, and it was greatly appreciated by the guests, who departed with expressions on their lips of grateful praise to God, the giver of all things, who has seen fit to establish this institution in our midst, and with a prayer in their hearts that He who has begun a good work will strengthen it and complete it to the end, to His great glory and honor, and that this publishing house, which has now been dedicated to the work of the third angel’s message, may rapidly develop into an important feature of this work in China in the short time which is allotted to us.
And thus another mile-stone has been passed in our work in China. As we look back over the past four years, and see how the present large work has been built up from a very small beginning, with almost no equipment at all, and an edition of a few hundred copies, to the present large and convenient building, with a circulation of over 60,000 copies per month; when we look into these various departments, hear the whir of the presses and foundry machinery, visit the packing room and see the boxes of spirit-filled literature going out to all parts of the field, we are led to exclaim, “What hath God wrought!” We thank God and take courage, and with renewed consecration return to our work, with a determination to hold the standard high, and press the battle hard against the enemy, and, trusting in the power of our mighty Captain, rescue many of these benighted heathen, snatching them up from the very brink of death and destruction, and placing their feet on the solid Rock, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
