p. 12 | GOOD NEWS FROM CHINA

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 7, 1892

GOOD NEWS FROM CHINA.

The following collation of interesting incidents is from the pen of a Chinese Christian named Jee Gam, and appears in the October issue of the American Missionary, organ of the American Missionary Society:—

Our beloved brother, Mr. Joe Jet, evangelist of our Chinese Missionary Society, has returned from China. He brings glowing accounts from the field of our missionary society. The following are a few of the many incidents which occurred during the two years of his labor:—

Joe Jet and his coworkers, consisting of a physician and an assistant and a colporter, have received many invitations to preach and to give medical treatment among the villages of South China. Most of these meetings were held in ancestral halls. In former years this privilege could not be had under any circumstances. Furthermore, they were given the use of a large temple where there were many idols, the principal one being Tong Kew Foo Yen, words which mean "pine tree, ninth month, honorable lady." Tradition says that many years ago there was a very good woman who happened to die by a large pine tree. Her spirit became a goddess. Accordingly this tree was cut down, a log of its trunk was made into an image, and in the same spot this temple was built.

Over eight hundred people came from the surrounding villages to this temple to receive medical treatment, and more than one thousand people heard the word of God there. Many of the hearers have shown gratitude for our work. The keeper of the temple frankly confessed, when questioned by Joe Jet, that the idol was simply a block of wood, and therefore it had no spirit. May the Lord water the seed sown in this temple.

Another time a boy of fifteen years of age was brought to the dispensary to be treated by our physician, but on the following day he died, or apparently died. The parents and relatives of the lad came and openly accused our physician of having poisoned the boy. They demanded that he should go with them, and bring the boy to life again. The doctor asked them to produce the prescription given by him.

Upon examination he found that the medicine could not cause the death of the youth. So he went with them, praying as he went, most earnestly in his heart, for God's mercy and help. The Lord heard his prayer. When he arrived, the crowd greeted him with all manner of threats. "If you don't restore this boy's life, we will bind you;" another said, "We will whip you to death;" others said, "We will tie you with a rope, and send you to the magistrate, and have you beheaded."

The doctor paid no attention to these threats. Though he found the boy, to all appearances, dead, yet he trusted God and applied the medicine that he had brought, to the boy's nostrils two or three times. He called aloud to him. The boy sneezed and rose again. The doctor asked him whether or not it was his medicine that caused his unconsciousness. He exclaimed: "No, you are blameless. Your medicine has done me good; but my mother is not good. I cannot endure her longer, so I have taken opium in order to commit suicide."

After this explanation he lay down, and slowly sank away and died. The crowd and the parents were dumb with confusion. The doctor made a few remarks, slightly reproved them for their false charges, which made them very ashamed, also said that he was very sorry for the boy, but he could not do anything, as his medicine was far from that place, and therefore he bade the people good-by. Was not this a most remarkable manifestation of God's grace? Behold how he protected his servant in the hour of great danger!

Last summer, when Joe Jet and Jee Chong Ting, the assistant preacher, were making their visits among the Christian brethren from place to place, they observed a man, an entire stranger to them, crossing the road in front of them. A man behind them, also a stranger, called out, "Yasou doe." No reply was made, and he called again, "Yasou doe, why don't you preach Jesus?" The man thus addressed as a "Jesus man" still made no reply to the remark, so Joe Jet and Chong Ting thought the call was meant for them; but, turning around, they were convinced that it was for the man on the crossing. Joe Jet said to Chong Ting: "This man must be a Christian, and we do not know it. The Lord uses this man's mouth to reveal him to us; so let us speak to him." They introduced themselves to him, and found he was a Presbyterian brother from Los Angeles, Cal., but he had not been to the chapel services. He was not known to the new Presbyterian missionary stationed at San Ning City. Accordingly, Joe Jet spoke to him like a brother and warmly invited him to attend the meeting. He not only consented, but felt stimulated and thankful to God for this strange way of meeting between Christian brethren. This incident reminded Joe Jet of the saying of the Lord Jesus: "There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known."

Last year, during the outrages in North China, some of the people in San Ning City took occasion to excite quite a mob, and wished to tear down our chapel. Joe Jet and Chong Ting reported this to the authorities of the city. They at once issued a proclamation, stating that the missionaries were good people, and the doctrine they teach is also a good one. They and their property must not be interfered with, and a heavy penalty was threatened to all violators. A copy of the edict that was issued from the emperor, was also hung up in the inside of our chapel. When the people saw these they went away, and said the Emperor and the authorities were all on the Christians' side. Thus quietness was again restored.

Leu Haw Hing, formerly a Methodist preacher from California, was preaching one day to a professor of high rank in the college of his native village. When he was about half through, Haw Hing's uncle came in, and walked up to him, and snatched the Bible away from his hand, and threw it into the gutter. The book was badly damaged, but Haw Hing kept cool, and, without saying a word, or demanding the reasons, walked to the gutter and picked up the Bible, and wiped it with his handkerchief. He came back to the professor and resumed his preaching as though nothing had happened. This set the professor in profound thought for two days. He said within himself, "If Christianity make a man so meek and true, that is the doctrine I want." So he accepted Christ, and gave up his Chinese college at the end of that year. In the following year he became a professor in a Christian college at Canton City, and has held that position ever since. He is highly respected, and is doing a grand work for Jesus. Thank God for Leu Haw Hing's meekness and patience in leading such a man to Jesus.