p. 12 | Review and Herald, Harvest Ingathering Number

Earlier text: On the Bombay Side of India

THE START
FROM CHIFU
TO MOUNTAIN MULE CHAIR. — THE START FROM CHIFU TO MOUNTAIN MULE CHAIR.

BOOK DEPOSITORY
IN SHANGHAI CHINA — BOOK DEPOSITORY IN SHANGHAI CHINA

Seed Sowing in Shan-Tung Province, China

By F. E. Stafford

CHIFU is an open seaport on the east coast of North China, in Shan-tung Province, and directly west of Korea. Being sent there by the doctor's orders to recuperate from the typhoid fever, no very active campaign could be attempted; but with the help of a native evangelist, nearly every home in Chifu was canvassed for our Chinese magazine, and between two and three thousand papers and tracts were placed in the hands of the people in that city and the near-by villages.

It was these trips to the mountain villages that proved to be of unusual interest. There are no roads over these mountains, only trails, and all travel is by foot or donkey back. We used a mat-covered frame, or litter, supported on poles, borne by donkeys traveling single file. On either side of our swinging chair a sheet of paper was pasted, on which it was announced in large characters that we were distributing publications pertaining to “The Gospel of the End of the World.” Great crowds collected wherever we stopped. We would then talk to the people, and tell them as best we could in the brief time we had, to prepare to meet their God. Besides papers and tracts to sell, we had a liberal supply of folders for free distribution. When we went through a village, it was as if a great gust of wind had suddenly whirled upon the people a shower of autumn leaves. Nearly every man, woman, and child was grasping a sheet of paper, and inquiring of one another, “What do these things mean?”

At times the trail led straight up over the mountain rocks, winding in and out among cliffs and chasms, and turning such sharp corners that many times it seemed as if the chair would be torn to pieces. At other times the road led through quiet valleys, beside still waters, where the summer sun shimmered through the tops of lofty trees, birds twittered sweetly in the foliage, and the very atmosphere seemed alive with praises to the Creator. Then again we turned a corner, and there was the city wall towering up, and inside were poverty and ignorance, filth and disease, on every side.

How we longed to be able to tell all these people about Jesus in such a way that they could grasp the truth, and be saved when he comes. The best we could do was to speak to a few hundred people, sell papers to those willing to buy, and distribute tracts to those who were not able to purchase. In a short time the chair was on its way again, escorted out of the city gate by a crowd of curious children and idlers who were intent upon getting one more look at the foreigner.

We shall probably never see these people again. But there are some among them who will remember, who will investigate, accept Jesus, and be saved. The command is, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” and he who gave the command said, “My word . . . shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.”

F. E. STAFFORD.

A Tamil Colporteur

By V. E. Peugh

LAST evening Samuel, one of our new colporteurs, came to the bungalow. At first we hardly knew him, there was such a change.

He walked with head erect, and there was a quick spring in his step and a sparkle in his eye that spoke unmistakably of courage.

Little more than a month ago Samuel first heard of the colporteur work, and was convinced of its power in spreading the message of truth. He felt that God definitely called him to this work.

“I have walked one hundred miles,” he said, “and sold papers in many villages. I told them that Jesus is coming again

quickly. And now I am filled with much courage.”

COLPORTEURS IN PERU (NOTE THE TWO INDIANS STANDING)

He had earned enough money on this his first tour to buy his first complete Tamil Bible. His face beamed as he took the priceless treasure. “Wherever I go,” he said, “I shall take it with me.” With bags filled with papers he was ready to start out on another tour. We believe that when the Lord claims his own, Samuel will be among them, with those whom he has gathered out of heathen darkness.

V. E. Peugh.

Nazareth, South India.

GOVERNOR OF LUCKNOW (INDIA) PRINTING OFFICE AND LORD OF THE MAIL MATTER OF THE POST OFFICE.

A Matabele Colporteur

EVIDENTLY the colporteur work has its place even among the kraals of the African interior. J. V. Wilson, of our Solusi Mission, Rhodesia, writes of the experience of Jim, one of the mission teachers, who went out as a pioneer colporteur among the kraals, or villages:—

“He sold all his books and traveled about one hundred miles. At one kraal an old native was so pleased with Jim’s work that he took Jim to the cattle kraal and showed him two nice young heifers, saying he could have them as soon as he sent some one to get them. The Lord surely helped Jim in his work.

“A license costing nearly fifty dollars is required for the colporteur work. When the young man learned that Brother Walston, superintendent of our mission, was willing to get him the license, he replied:—

“I received your letter, and was very glad to hear that the way is open for me. The letter seemed to come from Jesus. The work of selling books is very great, and I love it as I do my food. I want to canvass the whole of Matabeleland.”

“This suggestion of food reminds me of the fondness of the African for his meal porridge. I shall have to tell you what one of our native teachers asked me. We were talking about heaven, and he wanted to know if they would have their porridge there; he said it did not seem to him that he would want to live in heaven if he could not have it there.”

PASSENGERS BEING LANDED FROM THE FERRY ON THE BACKS OF COOLIES AT CHIFU.

Chinese Colporteur Delivered

By J. J. WESTRUP.

We have a chapel just outside the city of Pi-yang, in Honan. The country is full of robbers, and recently they came to plunder the city. The gates were locked, and soldiers mounted on the walls. Then the robbers compelled the people living outside to carry fuel to the gates in order to burn them. The soldiers on the wall shot down those who carried the fuel, while the robbers behind shot those who refused to carry it. It was a terrible situation.

One of our colporteurs was captured by the robbers and ordered to carry fuel. As he advanced with his burden, he saw others shot down at the right and left. He prayed for deliverance as he walked, and a bullet struck him, passing through his leg. Then he could not walk, and was excused from further attempts by the robbers. He thanked God for the deliverance, and the Chinese observers said, “He is more valuable than we; his God can help him.”

The colporteur hired a wheelbarrow man, and after a two-days journey arrived at our mission station, and in a few weeks was fully healed. He feels that the promise of the ninety-first psalm was literally fulfilled in his experience.

J. J. WESTRUP.

Honan, China.

Among the Filipinos

By Floyd Ashbaugh

“Now eat heartily,” my Filipino host said, “for it is a long way to the next town, and you will get very hungry if you don’t.” Then he gave me two raw eggs and a piece of bread for breakfast. His heart is large, but sometimes the store of food is very scanty. We usually board with the people when out on the colporteur trips.

It is sometimes pathetic to see the efforts some of the Lord’s poor make to purchase books containing the gospel. One man sold his pig to get the price. A woman pawned her jewelry. A family arranged to make small monthly payments from their meager earnings. And all that they may have the truth of God.

The work has its difficulties as well as its pleasures, but bookmen do not enter the field looking for easy places. Whether traveling over the hills or through the valleys, with the blistering tropical sun above, or in pouring rain, and typhoons, among friendly tribes or among robbers, in healthful localities or in those infested with plague and fever, the Lord’s blessings are always the same. His promises are sure, not one faileth; and we abide under the shadow of the Almighty. We find in him a rock of defense, a covert from the storm, a shelter from the heat.

FLOYD ASHBAUGH. Philippine Islands.

JAPAN AND

By Riley Russell, M. D.; C. L. Butterfield.

lievers. Numbers, I know, do not count, but God is calling to all the earth, from sunrise to sunset, and some of Korea's sons and daughters are hearing and obeying the message that we bear. “The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.” Ps. 50: 1.

RILEY RUSSELL, M. D.

Soonan, Korea.

To and Fro in Korea

ACCORDING to the prophecies of the last days the message of the coming of the Lord was to go with a loud voice. Small though our staff of workers is in Korea, we feel that the Holy Spirit is giving power to the testimony borne.

“During the five days spent with the Cady church in company with Brother Pae Hyon Ju,” writes Evangelist Chyon Mun Cook, “there were twenty-seven new believers gathered in. Now we are going to another place where there is an urgent call for help and no doubt quite an interest. The numbers that are coming out of heathenism and accepting the message this year are a sure sign that we are living in the last days, and that the angel of Revelation 18 has come down with a strong voice and great power.”

So the reports come in monthly from the workers. During the last year over a million and a half pages of our books, tracts, and magazines, not counting Bibles, were distributed from our mission press. The sales amounted to $2,235, in this land where only three or four years ago it was said we could not sell the publications, for the people were too poor to buy. God has wonderfully blessed. We rejoice as we see the message of Revelation 14 being proclaimed in all parts of the earth, and we know that the message will soon triumph in the glorious appearing of our Saviour.

C. L. BUTTERFIELD.

Seoul, Korea.

Korean Hearts Won

MRS. DR. RILEY RUSSELL, of the Soonan (Korea) dispensary, writes of an experience during the absence of the doctor while on one of his evangelistic tours to preach the message in the regions beyond. Her letter shows how hearts are won to the gospel by loving ministry: —

“A woman came fifteen li (five miles), carrying her ten-year-old daughter. The child’s hand had been crushed under one of those great stones which are used in hulling rice. Every bone was crushed, I think, and the last three fingers all but severed. The poor mother was distressed, and I knew just how she suffered. We gave chloroform and sewed the hand together, and put the child in our emergency room in the new dispensary. The little one is coming out all right. The mother now says that she will be a Christian, and I shall try to get the little girl into our school.”

Praying to Satan for Peace

A KOREAN hid himself away from mankind up in the mountains for two years, praying to Satan and fasting, hoping to reach a condition of peace. Finding no satisfaction, he decided to become a Christian, and began reading the Bible. But he was perplexed to find the right way. One night after prayer for guidance, he felt special assurance that the Lord would show him. Next morning one of our canvassers met the man and gave him Bible studies. He gladly accepted the light, and has been obeying the Lord with us for nearly a year. So the Lord guides the feet of the worker to the souls that are praying for light.

Though the building of our new dispensary at Soonan has kept me out of the evangelistic field a good deal, still last year I had the privilege of baptizing seventy-five be-

The Sects of Buddhism

THERE are 13 denominations and 57 sects of Buddhism in Japan. There are 71,769 temples, 53,081 priests, and 73,047 engaged in teaching and preaching. There are also other kinds of priests and nuns to the number of 54,001. Besides these there are 10,000 students for the priesthood.

GROUP OF JAPANESE MAGAZINE SELLERS.
GROUP AT CHIRRAMPO WHERE OUR WORK IN KOREA BEGAN — GROUP OF JAPANESE MAGAZINE SELLERS. GROUP AT CHIRRAMPO WHERE OUR WORK IN KOREA BEGAN

Called Out of Darkness to Light

By H. Kuniya

Our work at Kogoshima, Japan, seemed to go very slow and hard, and at times we were tempted to close our effort and move to some other place; but a change came which indicated that the Lord indeed is pouring out his Spirit upon honest souls while they are yet in heathen darkness.

One evening as we were holding meetings in a Japanese house which we had fitted up as a meeting place, and I was speaking upon the worship of false gods, a middle-aged woman, accompanied by one younger, came in and sat down. She at first looked around for something to worship, as was her custom when going to the temples; but seeing no idols, she gave attention to the sermon. She continued to come each evening, and soon began to keep the Sabbath and gave up the use of tobacco. At one of the meetings during the week of prayer, she gave this testimony:—

OFFICE STAFF MISSION PRESS TOKIO, JAPAN.

“When I came to the meeting the first night, I had never heard a Christian sermon; and as I came in the house with my daughter and sat down, there seemed to be a strange light around you while you were speaking. I asked my daughter if she could see it, but she said that she could see nothing strange. I continued to see it as long as you were speaking from the Bible; and since I have learned more of the Bible, I have come to believe that it was an angel of the Lord to lead me to the true religion, and I thank and praise him for showing the light to me, a poor heathen.”

She has had some experiences since which have been the means of impressing upon her mind the words of truth which she has heard. One day she came to me to tell me about them, and asked me if such things could be from the Lord. I read to her from Joel's prophecy how the Lord has promised in the last days to pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, and it has greatly strengthened her faith, and given her love for and confidence in God's Word. She cannot read, but is getting a good understanding of the gospel message for this time, so that she can tell it to others.

It has been very difficult to get the people to come to the meetings, but now many come, as if led by unseen hands, and six who never before heard the gospel have given their hearts to God. Is not this evidence of the latter rain, and the soon coming of the Lord?

H. KUNIYA.

Adrift and Calling for Help

By F. H. De Vinney

WE were returning from a trip to a country district north of Tokio, where we had joined in the dedication of a little country bath church. This Kuji church, by the way, was built by a group of thirty members, all peasant farmers, with slender incomes. They had previously worshiped in the home of one of the members, one of those tiny Japanese houses with the sliding paper partitions which can be moved to throw the whole house into one room. We rejoiced with this little company that their church by the roadside in the rice fields was dedicated free from debt. This was made possible by their own self-sacrifice, helped out by some contributions which had come from friends in America.

On our walk to the railway as we returned, we passed through a fishing village by the open ocean, and watched the fishermen taking the fish from their nets after the night’s work. Though the day was calm and bright, a rough, high surf was rolling, making sailing dangerous.

Just then a boat attempted to put out to sea and was overturned. Two of the men reached the shore by swimming, but the third clung helplessly to the boat and was being taken out to sea, making frantic signals for help to the many on shore who were watching, but who seemed to us to be quite indifferent to his peril.

Finally the man was rescued by a boat coming in from the sea. One of our Japanese workers said: “How we ought to work for these poor souls all around us, who are drifting out into a hopeless eternity.” Indeed, we who have the light must not be indifferent to the signals of distress from perishing souls in ignorance of the way of life. We must redouble our efforts to give them help before they drift beyond our reach.

F. H. DE VINNEY.

Tokio.

Thanks for New Buildings

“I CANNOT tell you how much we appreciate our new buildings,” writes Miss May Scott, of the Soonan (Korea) girls' school. “At first it seemed strange to hold school in a real schoolhouse. Noises sounded so different through brick walls from through mud walls, and to hear noises above was strange, too; for Korean houses have no second story. The rooms are light and have plenty of sunshine. We use the school chapel for church services. Already it is almost too small. Last Sabbath nearly two hundred and sixty persons were present, listening to the word of God. Many are obeying. One man gave a ringing testimony. He says before he was a Christian he was always uneasy, but now he has peace in his heart. As he is busy at his work, he is all the time thinking of Jesus. So God is working on the hearts of the people here.”

KOREA

By ALFONSO N. ANDERSON

The Bible Shelf

A row of Bibles and Christian books, instead of an idol shelf, is what I found in the home of a Tokio police sergeant recently. A sweet Christian spirit pervaded his little home. While we could converse but very little,—as I am but a new recruit in Japan,—still I had a most delightful visit, for we both knew the joy of Christian fellowship that no human language can express. By the light in his eyes I knew he had caught the spirit of the Book, and he showed me a Testament that he carried constantly in the bosom of his blue uniform.

After the lady had served refreshments, he purchased a copy of our Japanese paper, Owari No Fukuin (Gospel of the End). Then we knelt, and each prayed in his mother tongue, while the Spirit that maketh intercession united our prayers in one offering of incense before the Lord.

Count this not a trifling incident, for it contains a world of meaning. Many who read the pages of truth that are being scattered like the leaves of autumn in a heathen land are receiving the same joy as beamed from the soul of this Japanese police sergeant who had erected a Bible shelf instead of a heathen idol shelf in his home.

ALFONSO N. ANDERSON.

Tokio.

The Great Commission

“ALL power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

A Hindu Boy

By Mary V. Peugh

The tropical summer sun had risen and was beating down with all its fury upon the parched and burning landscape. In the distance two travelers were wearily plodding along. They had started on their journey from a far-off village long before the cock had sounded the notes of coming day, and now the noonday heat is at its height, and they are compelled to seek shelter under the thorn tree half shorn of leaves. But they must not tarry long, for the mission school must be reached before night.

As they come nearer, we see that their heads are shaven, and that they are decked with rings in their ears and bands about their wrists and ankles; we also see the large red and white marks on their foreheads, which tell us that they are worshipers of the Hindu god Vishnu.

But why should they be coming to our station? The father speaks: “I have brought my son to put in your school. I have heard that you take boys here and teach them. And,” he added, “I also hear that bad boys become good when they come to your school; so I have brought my son.”

When some of the father’s friends tried to persuade him to take the boy from our school lest he should become contaminated with Christian doctrines, the father answered: “Before I took my son there, he was disobedient and caused us much trouble. Now every time he comes home, I see a great change in him. He is obedient and kind, and is always ready to help about the home. I am not afraid of such contamination; he shall stay in the school.”

Today this Hindu lad is a firm believer in the Word of God. Now you see no marks of the Hindu god upon his forehead. When the last Christmas vacation came, he went to his father’s village determined to teach the new-found faith.

BOYS' DORMITORY, NAZARETH SCHOOL, TIRUNELVELI, SOUTH INDIA.

There are scores of other boys just as promising as this lad who are not in our boarding school today because they are not able to pay their way, and we have not the room and means to take them.

MARY V. PEUGH.

Nazareth, Tinnevelli, South India.

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