“GIVE, me one, please; give me one for my mother,” said poor ragged boy, as we passed through his village.
“Four cash! Have you four cash? These Gospels are four cash each; you cannot have one without the money.” So said the native bookseller, and the boy turned away with a sigh of disappointment. Those wistful dark eyes led me on, and we followed him into his home. He could read, wanted to read, the book to his mother. Having read clearly and well several verses to us we gave him a copy of Mark’s Gospel. The neighbors had by this time gathered, and we unrolled a large sheet of paper with a text in very large characters written upon it, “Without shedding of blood is no remission of sin.” Small slips of pretty paper had the same characters written upon them, and we gave one to each person. Then we pointed out the meaning of each character, or each pair of characters.
The text upon the door or wall generally attracts a large crowd. We press home the teaching of the text, and there is good attention; as one speaker follows another the crowd changes a little, but it does not decrease. At last we are asked to speak to individuals, and I answer the questions of the women who gather round the foreign woman in the house, whilst the bookseller continues to speak with the people, and sell books outside. Our last look at the village, as we leave it shows several large groups gathered round the happy men who can read pretty well; the village, which has two or three such, is somewhat larger than the villages that have taken most of my attention. The difficulty is that so few can read with much understanding, except in the cities. As we look back upon the village we see the people pasting up our little slips of paper, and a second visit finds our text still on their walls.
We sometimes give a book, but it is so much better for them to buy, though they are so poor.
But says someone, “Do you see results from all this work”?
Why, we are sowing now. Harvest joy belongs to harvest time. Remember the work is the work of the unfailing God. We see the springings of the green blade, and we know the seed is germinating in many hearts.
One day a gentleman came for a talk with me. He had been reading to his white-haired mother the Bible I had given him. The story of the Creation, with many other Old Testament stories, pleased them so much, but all the directions about blood-shedding puzzled them. Why must God be approached and worshipped by blood poured out? Is not God a compassionate God? Once more we had an opportunity to explain the gospel of salvation by the substitution of the Savior.
Pray for our dear Chinese readers of the Scriptures. Like ourselves they need the help of God the Holy Ghost before they can understand what they read.
“We know all about hell,” said one old woman, “but what is that you are saying about a place prepared for one to go to after death?” We marked the passage that tells of many mansions in a Father’s house, and gave her the book (her grandson can read), and we told in what manner a person is prepared for the prepared place.
I have been asked, “Do native Christians stand―do they endure well?” Yes, they stand splendidly if they abide in the Lord; away from Him, like ourselves, they fall and are sore hindered. The strongest and brightest Christians we have are those who know their Bible well, and amongst these the strongest are those who know not only the New Testament but also the Old Testament. Our Chinese Christians need a whole Bible, and happily they have got it.
Only the Word of God can help China in her deep darkness; only the Holy Word, only the light of the World, can save China; and the Scriptures, which reveal Him to the Chinese, are needed by converted and unconverted alike, yet the people are so poor, many of them, that they can hardly afford the few cash we ask for single copies. Again, cases occasionally occur in which the present of a Bible or a gospel to one slightly interested, yet not inclined to buy, deepens interest, and thus leads ultimately to conversion.
One old Christian came to me with the sad story that his eyes were failing, and so he could no longer read his New Testament. I showed him a large type Testament which had been latterly published, he wished much for it, but he could not buy it. We give our Chinese Christians a small present on their New Year’s Day, and so when the joyous day arrived we made his heart glad with a present of the coveted New Testament. How delighted he was! Wherever he may be found, there also is his big Testament, with the large Chinese spectacles beside it. I wish some of our English Christians would copy the diligence in the use of the book shown by our Chinese brother.
From the Bible Society