REAL sacrifice is not confined to the more favored lands. Recently, in connection with our mission work in the southeastern part of China, we presented the manner in which our world-wide work is carried forward, and how in the home fields people sacrifice, that money may be sent on to support workers in distant mission fields. The native brethren's hearts were touched. They immediately began taking up a regular Sabbath offering. One of the brethren gave a gold ring, that he had bought before becoming a Christian, and said that he would sell it and give the proceeds. He managed to sell the ring for nine dollars, to which he added enough to make it an even ten dollars. To be sure, from our standpoint, this is not a large sum; but it must be remembered that a man here can be hired to work hard for two whole months for that sum. Thus really this brother gave a sum equal to the wages of two day-laborers anywhere in the world for the period of one month.
Our other Chinese brethren are lifting bravely. It will do you good to know that we are doing all we can on this side of the water, to help carry the financial burden of our mission enterprises.
W. C. HANKINS.
Kulangsu, Amoy.
After the Hunan Riots
By R. F. Cottrell
FOLLOWING the Chang-Sha riots of a year ago, we had thought that our work in Hunan Province might be seriously retarded. It is true that for a time the believers were scattered; but as the excitement died away, it was found that in the hearts of a goodly number the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour had taken root altogether too firmly to be thus easily destroyed. The loyalty and devotion of the true-hearted was by that means only made the more apparent.
Not only this, but it seems as tho the truth had gained momentum by the break. In a number of respects the work is double what it was a year ago; and in the amount of literature sales, it has increased fivefold. Two schools, one for the boys and one for the girls who are children of believers, have been started, in both of which manual labor is combined with the study of books. We truly believe that these are destined to do a good work in the preparation of our children and youth for true service.
Looking backward, we can truly report a prosperous year; looking forward, we are full of courage.
R. F. COTTRELL.
Chang-Sha, Hunan.
An Active Family
By Frederick Lee
IN Anhwei we are cheered by many evidences of the working power of God to save. Here, for instance, is a family just out from heathenism. The son is in our boys' training school, the daughter is in our girls' school, and the father and mother are working for these blessed advent truths among their neighbors.
The Chinese expression, reh hsin ("hot heart"), which is their term for "earnestness," can truly be applied to them. Already the father has influenced a number of his friends, all of whom are heathen, and they are studying with much interest.
This big man, who was once an officer in the Chinese army, one Sabbath began crying like a child as we were in the meeting. When asked why he wept, he said it was because his heathen father and mother, who were dead, did not have the opportunity to hear this truth. This shows the working of the Spirit of God on a man's heart, giving him a burden for the souls of others. Wherever he goes he can not keep still. He must tell all how much better it is to worship a loving God than a mud idol or a dead ancestor.
FREDERICK LEE.
Province of Anhwei.
Out of Bondage
A Convert's Testimony
FORMERLY, I had many bad habits, among which was the smoking of opium. In these ways I spent all the money I could earn. I began the use of opium when I was nineteen years of age, and was bound by this habit for thirty years. As a result my body became very weak. Year before last, a friend of mine told me of the Gospel of Christ, and desired me to go with him to a Gospel hall. Afterward I purchased a copy of the Scriptures, and read it through from Genesis to Revelation. Later I bought a copy of the tract entitled "The True Sabbath," and read it carefully.
I then resolved to abandon the use of opium, and every wrong habit, and also to keep the Sabbath. From the seventh moon of year before last to the present time, I have kept every Sabbath. In the third moon of last year, evil men stirred up a riot, and nearly all the missions in this place were destroyed. We in our mission also suffered some persecution. The Lord tested us, and our faith was strengthened. In the eighth moon, Pastor Cottrell came to Hunan, and we received baptism.
EVANGELIST WU GWAN SAN AND WIFE
My bodily strength is increasing. Our hearts are continually happy, for in everything we are receiving of the Lord's grace. We write this letter to especially praise the Lord. To all who read, we send greetings of peace.
Your humble brother and sister,
WU GWAN SAN,
WU DJI DAO.
Chang-Sha, Hunan.
BELIEVERS AT THE SWATOW GENERAL MEETING
ONE church spends twenty times as much for its choir as for its missions; in another, the printed programs cost more than they give to this great cause; in another, the soprano costs enough to support two missionaries and a hundred native preachers in the field.
BELIEVERS AT THE SWATOW GENERAL MEETING
HONAN
A GROUP OF CHINESE CONVERTS AT A MISSION STATION.
AT A BIBLE INSTITUTE IN HONAN
The New Honan Training School
By H. W. Miller, M.D.
WHEN it was decided to make a beginning with this central training school for workers, we thought perhaps we could get eight or ten who could be put in training for evangelists and medical workers.
When the day came for the opening of school, only three of those whom we had counted upon were present. School had continued but a week, when a house-boat arrived from Ying Shang Hsien, one hundred and forty-five miles to the east of us, with seven bright young men as students. A few days after, another boat arrived, having on board four men, and an aged lady, the mother of one of the men. They had come a distance of about one hundred and forty miles, having never met one of our missionaries, only having seen a native evangelist. This mother, over fifty years of age, was as earnest as her son to learn and receive training. Altho reared from childhood in ignorance, in a home without order and system, she was prompt at her classes, and observed the regulations of the school as did younger pupils. We believe that she will make a valuable worker.
The coming of this party at the time of the opening of school, having heard nothing of such an enterprise, and their demands being met in the establishment of the school, was to us an indication of the approval of God in the inauguration of this training school. We had many other experiences throughout the school year, assuring us that God was leading in the enterprise. We opened industrial work for the boys. This consisted mostly of selling literature. A four-year course is offered for evangelists and Bible workers. One year is added to complete the medical course, the students for the latter course working in either the laboratory, the dispensary, or the hospital.
Our hope in reaching the Chinese is centered in our Chinese brethren; we must develop every one of talent who gives promise of becoming a worker, and urge such into the work of soul saving.
H. W. MILLER, M.D.
Almost—But Lost
By Kathrina B. Wilcox
By Kathrina B. Wilcox
Christian, have you long been waiting
For the blessed Christ to come—
Waiting, working, praying, watching,
For your Lord to take you home?
Have you labored for the Master
With a long and earnest zeal?
Have you patiently responded
To the love for Him you feel?
He delays now, waiting, yearning,
For the souls He has not blessed,
For the wild and wand'ring children
Who have ne'er His love confessed.
While thus waiting, are you growing
Cold and careless, worldly-wise?
Are you just as anxious, earnest,
As before, to gain the prize?
Are you lukewarm, brother, sister?
Is your past all spent in vain?
Will your years of earnest labor
Prove but loss instead of gain?
Wake! arouse you! hear the summons,
All are needed in the fray;
Yes, arise! be up and doing,
For the Master calls to-day.
Shall He say of you, O Christian,
"Almost saved—but lost at last;
Harvest's here, the summer's ended,
And probation now is past"?
O, awake, before the Master
Comes to bind the sheaves away;
Rather hear from angel reapers,
"Almost lost—but saved to-day."
Found the Divine Chart and Compass
By W. L. Foster
An old sea-captain was visiting Nagasaki, Japan, at the time of our tent meetings. He was one night studying the stars, and thought, "What wonderful lights to guide the ships over the pathless sea!" As he pondered, he longed to know more about them; and then the thought came to him, "Why, those people at the tent claim to know the Lord, who made these things; it may be they can tell me."
GATEWAY TO TOKIO IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY
The Lord was guiding him; for when he came to the tent the next night the text of Elder Kuniya's sermon was: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work." Gen. 2:1-3. The Spirit of the Lord impressed his heart, and he came again and again, and was baptized with others converted at the meetings.
His home is on an adjacent island. He says there is only one Christian worker on the island, and begs that some one be sent to teach the Bible there.
W. L. FOSTER.
Nagasaki, Japan.
Woman's Work in Japan
By Mrs. F. H. De Vinney
We have lately begun organizing "Dorcas" societies in our churches, and the members are showing much interest. The Japanese women are very ambitious to learn the Western ways of cooking, general ways of housekeeping, caring for children, and simple treatments for common ailments, such as can be given in the home. This calls them to the meetings; and as fast as they learn the object of the society, they respond eagerly to the invitation to become regular attendants. One feature of every meeting is a Bible reading, and we trust this will be the means of bringing many of these precious souls to a knowledge of the saving truth for these last days, and also broaden the sphere of usefulness of our sisters in the church, by making them real soul winners.
The Lord has blessed every effort put forth for His name's sake, and has watered our own souls as we have ministered to others.
MRS. F. H. DE VINNEY.
Tokio, Japan.
CHAPEL AT WAKAMATSU, JAPAN
Importance of Missions
NAPOLEON said, "The army that remains in its entrenchments is beaten."
GOSPEL TENT AT NAGASAKI JAPAN
A church without missions, without earnest, aggressive work, is a declining church. The spirit of self-indulgence grows, the spirit of Christian self-denial dwindles. The gravitation of pure love is toward equal distribution. You can not accumulate water in a heap except by freezing it. Neglect of missions is the blight of the parish and the church. God blesses the church which goes out in self-denying ministries to others.—Exchange.
JAPANESE TRAINING SCHOOL OF 1910-1911 TOKIO. A "DORCAS SOCIETY" GROUP - TOKIO
Among Japan's Millions
By F. H. De Vinney
NOTWITHSTANDING all that has been done by Christian missionary effort in Japan, Christianity can hardly be said to have obtained a foothold in the Kingdom of the Rising Sun.
The ambition of the Japanese is unbounded, and their progress since 1868 has been rapid; yet the changes have been in the adoption of the customs and ethics of the Western world, rather than the changes that vital Christianity brings to the human heart and life.
The governing classes are suspicious of Christianity, and lay most of the ills in public life to the change from the old order to the new. Among the great masses of the middle and lower classes, there is almost complete indifference to any form of religion that does not promise to bring immediate advantage in things worldly, over the old worship of their gods; but here and there the light of truth has found its way to hearts with all its transforming power. And there are none with whom the change is more apparent, or who will suffer and sacrifice more for Christ's sweet sake, than these honest hearts.
By actual experience, the use of tents during the entire period of the warm weather has been found to be a splendid manner of attracting the attention of the different classes of people. A song or two will fill the tent at almost any hour of the day with interested if only curious listeners, but never fails to bring some burdened, hungry heart who receives gladly the news of a Saviour's love and care.
This season we have had tents located on each of the principal islands: Honshiu (mainland), Kiushiu, and Shikoku. Our paper, Owari no Fukuin ("The Gospel for the Last Days"), with the books and tracts, goes ahead by the hands of our faithful canvassers to prepare the ground for the public and house-to-house labors of the living teachers. To our training school are called the promising young men and women from the efforts in the field, who are instructed in Bible, methods of work, music, as well as in such common branches of education as may be found necessary. These are then tested and tried in the canvassing field, in our printing-office, and at the sanitarium, and heavier burdens placed upon them as they develop. In this way those who are not genuinely called to Christian service, are eliminated.
From our last year's students, fourteen new, earnest, active workers are assisting in tent, canvassing, Bible, and sanitarium work this present season.
We can see many of the difficulties which, like mountains, loomed before us, break down before the onward spread of the message.
F. H. DE VINNEY.
Tokio, Japan.
KOREA
By H. A. Oberg
EVANGELIST LE PONG AND FAMILY - KOREA
“Dying in the Dark”
Face to Face with Devil-Worship
[One of the first Christians in Korea, in a prayer for missionaries, described his land as a place “where all believe in devils and are dying in the dark.” The following from our Korean mission treasurer, illustrates the terrible darkness of the worship of demons:]
WESTERDAY afternoon my coworker, Kim Pyong No, and I were called to a village a few miles away, to a devil-worshipper’s house. The man had heard of the Christian’s God and His power to save from evil spirits. His wife had been a sorcerer for seventeen years. Three years ago he made her discontinue these dealings with Satan, upon which she lost her mind. They continued to worship the devil, having a room dedicated to that purpose, in which sacrifices were offered daily.
We gave the man a thorough Bible study on the true God, and also on the impostor, Satan. After singing of hymns and prayer, we went to see his wife, who was sitting on the floor, in a corner of a dirty room, clothed in tatters and filth. She would not look at us, could give no reasonable answer, and altogether was a pitiable sight.
We then told the choo en (master of the house) that God could not be an inmate of the same house with Satan; that he would have to tear down his idolatrous work completely, and place himself in God’s hands. This he agreed to do, upon which we were taken to the spirit’s room. The picture of that famous Chinese general, Kwan Hong, who lived in the second century, and was canonized in the twelfth, and known as the god of war, was torn down, as well as all things pertaining to devil-worship. Numerous offerings to the different spirits were brought from all parts of the premises and destroyed.
We sang and prayed further, and then returned home at midnight, after making preparations for the woman to be moved to other quarters for a time. So there is one less shrine in Korea for spirit-worship. O that God may work mightily to save! Unite with us in asking help from our Master in this warfare.
H. A. OBERG.
Seoul, Korea.
A Bible Institute for Women
By Mimi Scharffenberg
We had decided last year to conduct a Bible institute especially for Korean women.
From Pyeng Yang, ten Korean women who had gathered there from different places left with me for Chinnampo, where we were going to hold the institute. As the river was frozen, we had to go overland. We had five horses, and took turns walking and riding. We made the journey in two days.
The first night we had to stop in a village where there was but one hotel. We managed to get some rooms, and nine of us slept on the floor, as all Koreans do, in a room eight by sixteen feet. The following night eleven of us slept in a room eight by ten feet. I managed to lie next to the door, and hoped to get a little fresh air once in a while; but as soon as I would open the door a little, some one would exclaim, “Please close the door; it is cold, and I am catching cold.”
During the institute we lived and held our meetings in the Chinnampo Girls’ School. Our attendance, including women, girls, and our native Bible workers, was about thirty. Some could not leave their homes for any length of time, so would stay only for a week; but the majority stayed through the whole month.
Special instruction was given to our Bible workers, and they in turn helped in other meetings. A portion of each afternoon was spent in active work among the people of Chinnampo.
On the last day of the meeting, when Elder C. L. Butterfield was present, nine souls were baptized. One sister, sixty years of age, mother of one of our Bible workers, had been awaiting baptism for a long time. When she heard of the opportunity, she walked a distance of over ten miles to reach the place. When this Korean mother met me, she put both arms around me. I said, “You make me think of my own dear mother at home.” Then her daughter said to me, “You know Jesus is coming soon, and it will not be very long until you can meet all your loved ones, never more to part.” To hear these words of comfort from a Korean sister did me more good than I can tell.
