p. 537 | A Chinese Boy

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 29, 1883

A Chinese Boy.

About fifty miles from Shanghai, in the city of Quin San, there is a little Baptist Church. One of the members is a boy sixteen or seventeen years old now, who before his conversion had formed the habit of drinking wine. He soon saw that this was sinful, so, after asking God to help him, he decided upon the following plan of overcoming the sin which had gotten hold of him. A small wooden box was made, closed all around except a hole in the top, and every day at the usual hour of drinking wine, the "wine man" inside (as he chose to call his appetite), would bite him and want wine. Then he would run to the box and put into it the money he used to spend for wine, exclaiming, "There now! you can't get any wine to-day, for your money has gone into the box." Each day this process was gone through until he ceased to want wine; and when the little box was opened he was surprised to find how much money was there, all of which then was given to the church as a thank-offering to that God who had saved him from a strong and wicked habit.

Let us see how many lessons there are in this true story. First, God will give us power to overcome great sins, if we only ask him and do all we can ourselves. Again, we see that much money that is spent in sinful and unsatisfying pleasures might be made to do lasting good by a little self-denial. But there is still a third lesson our story teaches us, and it is this: The gospel of Christ can do for the little boys and girls of China what it does for those in America. Does it make your home bright and give cheerfulness to every passing day? So it does for other homes. When the Saviour said, "I am the light of the world," he intended that the message of love and pardon which he came to bring should be carried by his people to all nations.—Kind Words.