Constant Progress by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 12, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 36.

Constant Progress.

By Editor

Even during the short time this number is in preparation we are receiving most encouraging news from our mission fields. Before us is a letter from Dr. A. C. Selmon, of Shanghai, China. After telling us of the relief that funds which we sent forward were to famine sufferers, he says:

"In closing I wish to mention one incident that shows the power of the Gospel to make new creatures of sinful men and women. Last December, during some preaching services that were held in our church at Ying Shang, a middle-aged man by the name of Dziang took his stand to be a Christian. He had a bad reputation in the town, for he had been an official in the yamun, as head over a lot of tax-collectors. His favorite son was sick and at the point of death, when a Christian neighbor of his told him that the Christian God could heal diseases. Hope grew in the man's heart, and he resolved to pray to God. The Lord in mercy heard his prayer, and the son lived. The man began attending meetings in our chapel. He stopped swearing, left off the use of wine and tobacco, and showed in his life the fruits of the Spirit. He began calling his neighbors in and telling them the good news. He attended a Bible institute held in Chow Kia Kew, a month ago, and he, together with his son, was baptized. While he was away from home attending this meeting his wife came down with famine fever, and died. We felt anxious, fearing this would be a heavier blow than he could bear; for whenever any calamity comes to one who has taken his stand to be a Christian, all the man's heathen neighbors, friends, relatives, and in fact the whole town, are loud and insistent in proclaiming that calamity has come because the gods are angered at the man for worshiping the foreigner's God. But when Brother Dziang returned and learned of his wife's death, he showed such a spirit of submission, and in every way manifested such a Christian spirit, that it touched the hearts of all who knew him, and brought a blessing to the church. Altho a successful business man, and well able to provide for his family, the famine was so severe that he himself was affected by it."

And this is how God's Gospel is reaching the hearts of many in China.