p. 31 | Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 44. (11/3/1910)

A Chinese Druggist

By W. C. HANKINS.

ONE of those now deeply interested and studying the Word is a heathen druggist, who lives not far from Amoy. He is a man of good reputation, and fairly well off. He has long known about Christianity, has read much in the Bible, and also other Christian literature. He has a number of friends who are Christians. These have often tried to get him to attend church with them, but he always refused to do so; for, said he, “The Bible says the seventh day is the Sabbath, and you are keeping the first day of the week.”

One day, however, he heard of a denomination of Christians who keep the seventh day as the Sabbath. He was so interested that he wrote to one of our Chinese evangelists at Amoy, Elder Keh, asking us to come to see him. Brother Keh had several days’ visit with him, and the man is apparently giving evidence of conversion, and is planning to keep the Sabbath, as he had so long felt it should be kept. There are others in that same region who are interested with him.

W. C. HANKINS.

Kulungsu, Amoy.

Conditions in Portugal

By C. E. RENTFRO.

I HAVE spent a few weeks out with the colporteurs, both to encourage them and to share in this blessed means of spreading the light. The incredulity seen on every hand is appalling. The name of Jesus is heard by multitudes with scorn. One meets the same spirit toward religion that we read of in the history of the French Revolution.

Now and then we meet people sorrowing over present conditions. The old people especially call for a moral awakening, come by what means it may. We know there is but one way,—to spread abroad the Word of God and the literature by which to interest people in Bible study. We have begun the publication of a paper, Os Signaes dos Tempos ("Signs of the Times"), by which to call attention to the signs of the soon-coming King. C. E. RENTFRO. Lisbon.

On the Equator

By W. W. Wheeler

LEGALLY there is perfect freedom to propagate any religion in Ecuador. Still this idea of religious freedom is not always understood, especially in the interior. Recently I was with Brother Navarette in one town, where his publications were taken from him and burned in the plaza, or public square. In the country around Quito, the capital, it made us think of old times to be stopped by a mob, and see the New Testament torn up and burned in the street. Twice we were obliged to put spurs to our horses, in order to escape the stones. But our prayer is that all this will create inquiry, and lead some to find Christ and learn to love his appearing. Pray for these, who, religiously, know not their right hand from their left, and of whom less than one half can read.

W. W. WHEELER.

Ambato, Ecuador.

Abroad With a Medical-Evangelistic Wagon

By W. S. Hyatt

Two or three generations of the Kafir people of the colonies have grown up more or less under the influence of the gospel. Two classes have developed,—those who entered the schools and accepted Christianity; and those who rejected all, declaring that education and Christianity spoil the natives. The latter have sunk deeper and deeper into superstition.

From our Maranatha Industrial Mission, in eastern Cape Colony, we have gone out among the Kafir villages with an ox-cart, holding evangelistic services, and ministering to the physical needs of the people.

The medical missionary work drew large numbers of people to the wagon, seeking help. Men, women, and children came from far and near with all manner of ailments. Having but a limited knowledge of diseases, we were often at our wits' end to know what to do for them; but we did what we could, trusting that Christ's blessing, physically and spiritually, would follow the work done in his name. The results were surprising to us, a few fomentations often accomplishing more than we would usually expect from weeks of treatment.

Our method of work was quite new to the natives, as they had never before seen white men going about among them and freely assisting them. When a white man came into a native village, they often suspected that he was there for no good purpose, and the children would hide away; but not so when the "little wagon" came.

At one place a man came seeking help for his little daughter. We gave her a few treatments, seeking God's blessing upon them, and he did not disappoint us. One day the father came to me; and said: "Missionary, we have heard about the love of God; but this is the first time we ever saw it."

W. S. HYATT.

Maranatha Mission, South Africa.

To the Public

By W. T. KNOX

All the proceeds derived from the distribution of this issue are dedicated to Foreign Missions. The distributors who carry with them official solicitors' cards are authorized to solicit donations in behalf of the Seventh-day Adventist Mission Board; and we assure the donors that the funds contributed to such persons will be transmitted through the regular denominational agencies to the treasurer of the Mission Board.

W. T. KNOX, Treasurer.

Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.

China’s Millions Without Hope

It is estimated that every year 12,342,840 Chinese die without hope in God. In thirty years 450,000,000 of these people pass into eternity without any knowledge of a dying Saviour’s love.

Delegates to the Edinburgh Congress

Three delegates appointed by our Foreign Mission Board attended the recent International Missionary Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland. One of these, W. A. Spicer, secretary of the board, spent the summer in Europe attending general meetings.

Sabbath School Mission Offerings

OFFERINGS to missions by the children and others attending our Sabbath-schools during 1909 amounted to $112,047. This was a great help in meeting the demand of the mission treasury for more than a thousand dollars a day to support the workers in distant lands.

Missions Review Number Gifts

LAST year 705,000 copies of the special Missions number of the REVIEW were printed for circulation. As a result of this distribution, $40,765 has been received in gifts, large and small, for extending the knowledge of Bible truths in heathen lands. This generous response by the people is hereby gratefully acknowledged.

Workers Needed for Foreign Fields

OUR Mission Board, in making a tentative list of workers who should go into foreign fields this year and next, to answer pressing calls for help, conservatively estimate that over two hundred will be needed. Those to be sought out of home and sent include evangelists, physicians, nurses, teachers, and evangelist-canvassers to circulate gospel literature.

Bible Distribution in China

From the time that the British and Foreign Bible Society began operations in China to the end of 1905, this society alone distributed 13,246,263 copies of the Bible, Testaments, and portions of the Bible.

Christianity’s Moral Influence in Japan

The editor of one of Japan’s large dailies pays a glowing tribute to Christianity in the following words: “Look all over Japan. More than forty millions of people have a higher standard of morality than they have ever known. Our ideas of loyalty and obedience are higher than ever, and we inquire the cause of this great moral advance. We can find it in nothing else than the religion of Jesus Christ.”

Twenty Years Among China’s Millions

“TWENTY years ago a layman laid aside his pen at six o’clock one evening on his office desk in the city of Louisville, Ky., and set out for China the day after. To-day in the heart of China he spends eight months of every year in a small house-boat, which is so low that he can not stand upright in it; so narrow that he can stretch out his hands, and touch the edge on either side. He is the only missionary among a million starving souls, and he told the writer on the occasion of his last furlough in America that these have been the twenty best and happiest years of his life, which he would not exchange with any of the members of his former firm, who have since become men of wealth in material things, but who are poverty-stricken toward God.”

Christian Allies Among Mohammedans

MOHAMMEDANISM presents, perhaps, the greatest challenge to true Christianity found in all Christendom. It is cheering to know that God has raised up three powerful allies to Christianity in the conversion of three of Islam's most learned and talented leaders. These men are Mohammed Schukri Effendi, Sheik Achmed Keschaf, and Mohammed Nessimi Effendi. Two of these are brothers whose forefathers sprang from the conqueror of Rumelia. They have founded a seminary in the German Orient for the training of missionaries to work among the Mohammedans. They are also led out to publish much; and they say that wherever they have journeyed in Rumelia, Anatolia, and Arabia, they observe that, through this literature, the Moslem learned ones have always been put to silence. May God prosper their work greatly, that many out of the ranks of Islam may learn of the “Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and experience the “power of God” found alone in the gospel of Christ Jesus the Lord.

A Missionary Among Plague Victims

ONE of our missionaries, located at Pakhoi, Kwangtung Province, China, early during this present summer passed through a terrible siege of the plague. Over a thousand victims in a short time perished. A beautiful garden was the scene of his labors. This was formerly owned by a rich man, but passed quickly into the possession of the people, the owner and nineteen others of his family and servants dying within one week. Here those stricken with the plague were brought in great numbers. The groans of the dying and the inability to care for the dead made it a place to strike terror to the stoutest heart. Among these dying ones this missionary labored on until his chair-carriers were stricken and died. The missionary escaped the disease, and succeeded in giving the good news of the gospel to several before death struck them down. The gospel herald must often sacrifice his all for Christ, but the blessed Master promises that he who loses his life for the gospel's sake shall find it unto life eternal.

Missionaries Amid the Changsha Uprising

Two of our missionaries, P. J. Laird, an evangelist, and his wife, a physician carrying on dispensary work, passed through the recent uprising in Changsha, an inland city in the province of Hunan, China. In common with other foreigners in the city at the time, they lost all in the riots. Soon after, as the result of their experience on that occasion, they were compelled to leave China on sick furlough. They are in the home land now, earnestly working for China’s millions as only returned missionaries can.

Mission Work in Australia

From Australia missionaries are sent into adjacent islands of the Pacific with the gospel. These workers receive their training for the most part at institutions in Australia — schools, sanitariums, and publishing houses. G. B. Thompson, field secretary of foreign missions, is visiting Australia in the general interest of mission work.

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