New delegates were seated, as follows: Atlantic Union, C. S. Longacre; Lake Union, Dr. R. M. Clarke; Pacific Union, E. D. Sharpe, Mrs. S. N. Haskell; Western Canadian Union, C. A. Burman.GCB May 19, 1909, page 61.30

The time was then given to the Review and Herald Publishing Association for its legal meeting, a report of which appears on another page.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.1

The meeting adjourned.

L. R. CONRADI, Chairman,
W. A. SPICER, Secretary.

TENTH MEETING

WASe

May 18, 3 P. M.

As the Conference met for the afternoon meeting, it was seen that the platform had been somewhat transformed. A large map of China hung from above the pulpit. Chinese mottoes and hangings covered a screen at the back of the platform, indicating that the meeting was to be devoted to reports from China.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.2

L. R. Conradi occupied the chair, and prayer was offered by I. H. Evans.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.3

The chairman called upon J. N. Anderson, superintendent of the China Union Mission, to report for the general field, which he presented as follows:—GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.4

THE CHINESE UNION MISSION FIELD

WASe

“I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us.” Isaiah 63:7.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.5

In the spirit of this text I would present to you our report of this quadrennial period. In the many divine benefits and the tender care vouchsafed to us during this period there is cause for deep gratitude and thankfulness on our part. Especially is this true in the preservation of the lives of our workers, both Chinese and foreign. During this period not one of our workers has been called to rest, though we have had no little sickness. At different times nearly all our workers have been in the clutches of malaria, while others have been called to face the more deadly attacks of dysentery, sprew, and the like; and in consequence some have had to retire for a time from the field. Yet it means much that in a land where our knowledge of entirely new conditions was nil, which necessarily has led to some mistakes in the matter of caring for our health, our force of workers remains intact during the entire quadrennial period. With the Father’s continued blessing, and a greater vigilance on our part in guarding the health of our workers, may we not expect an even better showing in the future?GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.6

Progress, Present Status, and Comparative Gains in the FieldGCB May 19, 1909, page 62.7

We are glad to report progress in every respect in the field,—not striking or extraordinary, but steady and permanent. At the time of our last General Conference, our work in China was just fairly beginning. We had foreign workers in two provinces, Kwang-tung and Honan, and the conversion of a Chinese evangelist was inviting us through a wide-open door into the third, Fu-kien. This province now has two foreign workers with their wives, and a substantial work has been inaugurated. In addition to this we have entered two other provinces, Hunan and Kiangsu, and the foundation for aggressive work is being laid. In the former we have one man and his wife located in the provincial capital, Changsha; and in Kiangsu we have seven workers stationed in the city of Shanghai, where our general headquarters have been fixed. The locating of our printing interest and mission headquarters in Shanghai was the occasion of our entering this last province, giving us a new language and a population of about thirty millions.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.8

Four years ago our total force of foreign workers was fourteen, located in the provinces of Honan and Kwang-tung; today we have, all told, thirty-seven (including wives) distributed in five provinces, though at present eleven of these workers are in the home land. Our force of Chinese assistants has increased from nine to forty, and it must not be forgotten that this means a largely multiplied increase in efficiency on the part of both foreign and native workers.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.9

Our foreign workers had at that time made a small beginning in two Chinese languages,—the Cantonese and the Mandarin. To-day we have workers whose knowledge of Mandarin, Cantonese, Amoyese, and Hakka, makes them efficient teachers of the message in those languages. Other workers are now nearly prepared to take up active work in the language spoken in the section where Shanghai is located. Thus we have active work carried on by foreigners in five distinct languages, and the sixth is urging us forward in the person of a Chinese worker who speaks Hoklo, the language of the region about Swatow, in the province of Kwang-tung.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.10

Four years ago we had five main stations at which foreign workers were located, and one out-station. At present we have eight main stations, stronger and better manned, and ten out-stations directed and successfully worked by the combined efforts of the foreign and Chinese laborers. At that time we had only three schools, scantily attended, and conducted by ill-prepared teachers, as against eight schools to-day, with an attendance of about one hundred fifty, taught and trained by a corps of teachers of considerable ability, and with no little preparation for their work.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.11

We had one organized church with one native member (Brother Keh), and a scattered and uncertain number of baptized converts not yet gathered into church fellowship. Now we have a Chinese church-membership of ninety-four, all of whom are gathered into one or another of the five local churches. Of this number the greater part were Christian converts to the faith, though a fair percentage came directly out of idolatry and heathenism. As a rule they are faithful in paying tithes, and take an active interest in the progress of the truth among their own people. This is not a large constituency; but it is a precious seed, which, under the fostering care of the Holy Spirit, will yield an abundant harvest in that land.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.12

The Publishing Work

Our publishing interest has been developed almost entirely within the past four years. Two small tracts had been translated at the instance of Brother La Rue, and two others had been prepared and given a small circulation. To-day we have twelve tracts in circulation, and several others in manuscript ready for the press. Our mission paper, the Gospel Herald, is issued monthly. The subscription list, which at the beginning of the year stood at two thousand, is constantly increasing.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.13

Medical Missionary Work

In her deep sin and alienation from God, China’s cup of physical suffering is not only full but overflowing. This suffering, so often the direct result of ignorance and superstition, is ever-present; and the missionary never escapes the almost intolerable sight of disease and bodily ills, many of which he is helpless to alleviate. While we have from the beginning of our work in that field made the healing of the soul the first interest, yet we have by no means forgotten or neglected to mitigate the physical suffering all about us. Most of this work has of course been done by the workers whose preparation gave them special knowledge in that line; nevertheless, much has been done by all our workers in this particular. To-day we have five dispensaries, as against three four years ago. Only the simpler cases have been attempted, but hundreds have been reached in this way. Our workers should all be practical medical missionaries; and to effect this end, some means should be devised whereby a short course of training could be given all candidates for this field.GCB May 19, 1909, page 62.14

Institutional Facilities

Little progress has been made in the way of providing the work with buildings and other material facilities. One year ago last fall a building was purchased for the Bethel Girls’ School in the city of Canton at a cost of $3,200 (Mexican), or about $1,500, U. S. In the sale of the Sinyang property by the removal of our publishing interest to Shanghai, two building lots on Chikongshan, valued at about $500, U. S., came into our possession last summer. A very good Rest Home, with three acres of land on Mokanshan, was bought last fall for about $850 gold.GCB May 19, 1909, page 63.1

A small piece of land has also been bought about twenty-five miles inland from Amoy for the erection of a school. This school is designed to serve the double purpose of educating the children of our own converts, and training workers for that field, which has a population of some ten millions. Only a part of the land needed has thus far been secured, at a cost of forty dollars. At least one hundred dollars more will be needed to secure the necessary additional ground for this important enterprise, and we have estimated that it will require not less than $2,000 to build and equip the school. Last January while our general meeting was in session in the city of Shanghai, a site comprising five acres of land within the limits of that city was negotiated for at a price of $6,280, U. S. This is to serve the general interests of the publishing, educational, and medical work in China. The publishing plant and the buildings for the other two interests, with suitable equipments, remain to be provided.GCB May 19, 1909, page 63.2

A good mission compound has been leased and repaired as a central station in the city of Cheo Chia K’o, Honan. This is a long stride toward giving character and permanency to our work in that province.GCB May 19, 1909, page 63.3

Features of Special Mention

To the glory of God and for the encouragement of us all I speak of a few items of special interest in our work in that field. In looking over the past, it is encouraging to know that in it all God has wrought for his people and his truth. By the mouth of the last of the Old Testament prophets, God says, “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 1:11 (R. V., margin). Ours is the day of fulfillment; and in these great heathen fields we see his hand at work.GCB May 19, 1909, page 63.4

In the province of Fu-kien in the city of Chinchew, seventy miles up the coast from Amoy, a dozen of the most spiritual and intelligent members of a church of long standing have taken their stand for the truth, and are to-day a strong company of believers prepared for church organization. They are well-grounded in the message, and a working body in that part of the province. This interest sprang up of itself, and yielded this large measure of fruit with almost no effort on our part. This is but the nucleus, the seed; for we believe an abundant harvest is yet to come from this spiritual planting.GCB May 19, 1909, page 63.5

Spiritual Awakenings

In the province of Honan there have been wide-spread awakenings in several of the surrounding cities adjacent to our work, and out of these much fruit has already been gathered. Last December Elder J. J. Westrup baptized twenty-three, and organized them into a church; and a large number of inquirers, many of whom give promise of becoming obedient to the word, are gathering about him for instruction. The brethren at Cheo Chia K’o, a few miles distant, report large numbers of inquirers coming to them from near and far to learn the new doctrine. In the Kwang-tung province we have had the pleasure of seeing Brother Hung, the pastor of a native church in the city of Chaochowfu, step boldly into the truth with his entire family and his wife’s sister; and while the members of his former church have not yet identified themselves with us, twenty-five or thirty meet regularly in his house on the Sabbath, and there is ground for believing that the day is not far distant when a goodly number of these will fully enlist in the cause of present truth, and so become a beacon light in that large prefectoral city. And thus we have the beginning of a great work among that large class of Hoklos, numbering about six millions. During the last year more calls came to us from various parts of the province than we were able to meet, and in some instances these calls represented not only scores but hundreds of inquirers. It is not affirmed that all these openings spring from sincere and honest motives, nor need we be surprised if there be found much chaff and little wheat. Nevertheless they are signs of the Lord’s working, and we must find in them his definite call to fuller consecration and greater endeavor in this great opening province.GCB May 19, 1909, page 63.6

Present Openings and Urgent NeedsGCB May 19, 1909, page 63.7

By this heading I would not be understood to mean that any part of the Chinese field is to-day closed to our efforts, or that serious and immediate entrance into every province of that mighty empire is not a most urgent need. This aspect of the situation will be dealt with in the proper place. The point in this paragraph is that a few specific openings and pressing calls are now facing us with a just and stubborn claim that refuses to be denied, and in this conviction we make our appeal to this Conference that they may be given early consideration.GCB May 19, 1909, page 63.8

Brother J. P. Anderson, a single man under twenty-four years of age, has acquired a working knowledge of the Hakka language, and is to-day leading out single-handed in the work for that people, who number not less than ten millions. This is not wise; it is not economical; it is not necessary. The responsibility of continuing such a situation lies with us who have the ordering of the work in the field. A mere statement of the facts will suffice to lead us to send him immediate relief.GCB May 19, 1909, page 63.9

In the city of Changsha, perhaps the most important point in the most antiforeign province in the Chinese Empire, we have Brother P. J. Laird and wife, assisted by two good Chinese helpers. They have made an entrance into that province at no little sacrifice and expense, and it is only reasonable that we forthwith strengthen our hold, and prepare for work that shall carry the message into the entire province. Two men and their wives should be sent into that province without delay. The province is estimated to have not less than twenty-two million souls within its border; and no man who seriously faces the facts can for a moment question the wisdom as well as the urgent necessity of sending immediate re-enforcements.GCB May 19, 1909, page 63.10

We have entered Hunan; there is no alternative, we must press the battle until the victory is ours. Let us make no mistake; we must hold securely all that we have gained and make it the foundation for a larger work.GCB May 19, 1909, page 63.11

Laying Broad Plans

To a certain extent, our workers are all canvassers, but there still remains a distinct field for the man who gives his entire time and strength to the work of selling our literature. The canvasser is a broadcast sower of the gospel seed, and in a population such as we have in China his work is doubly important. For the present we feel that not fewer than four young men should be sent to lead out in the four provinces where our work has taken root,—Kwang-tung, Fu-kien, Honan, Kiang-su. These provinces will readily produce faithful lieutenants if we can secure strong young men who will carefully train and direct them. The urgency of the situation leads us to believe that the Lord of the harvest has the right men to send into the field.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.1

At our general meeting held in Shanghai last January, we were seized with a boldness and a faith that led us to plan for the immediate entrance of our work into every province and dependency of the Chinese Empire. To effect that end, we set about organizing our field and our forces; and now we come to this conference seeking your endorsement and co-operation, and that of our whole church body, in this tremendous undertaking.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.2

Instead of dealing with that vast empire as so many provinces and dependencies, it seemed good to us to recommend that the Chinese world be constituted a union mission field, formed by the organization of ten co-ordinate divisions or mission fields, as follows: 1 The North China Mission Field, comprising the three provinces of Chili, Shan-si, and Shan-tung, with a population of sixty-six millions; 2 the Northwest China Mission Field, made up of two provinces, Shen-si and Kan-su, having a population of seventeen million five hundred thousand; 3 the West China Mission, in which are grouped three provinces, Si-chuen, Yu-nan, and Kwei-chau, whose aggregate population is estimated at eighty-seven million, scattered over a vast area, and of all China the most inaccessible; 4 the South China Mission, composed of Kuang-si, Kwang-tung, and Fu-kien, with a population of fifty-seven millions; 5 the Central China Mission, into which are gathered four provinces, Honan, Hu-peh, Hunan, and Kiangsi, whose population mounts up to one hundred and one million; and 6 the East China Mission, including Kiang-su, Che-kiang, and Gan-hwuy, in which is a population of fifty-three million. These six divisions, each one of which is by itself a large field, are all carved out of what is called China proper, out of which, in point of population, could be formed the following fields: Japan, Great Britain, Italy, the United States, European Russia, Spain and Portugal, France and Algeria, Tunis and Madagascar, Austria and Brazil, Canada, Norway, and Sweden. To the north and west are the four great dependencies. Manchuria, Mongolia, Turkestan, and Tibet, with a population of eight millions, two millions, a million and a half, and six millions respectively. Each one of these, in our plan, constitutes a separate mission field.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.3

The city of Chaochowfu, where Pastor Hung’s acceptance of the truth opened to us a door to about six million people, is in great need of a foreign worker to connect with him, and help develop the work in that large field. There is no doubt that this opening is the Lord’s own leading; therefore it is our plain duty to follow him, and take full possession with all possible haste, lest we let slip our opportunity. The call is for only one worker, who, with the assistance of Chinese helpers, will be able successfully to look after that entire field. This opening has already waited too long; it is unsafe to delay longer.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.4

In view of the fact that in my removal to Shanghai, Brother E. H. Wilbur, who has now been in the field for almost seven years, remains the sole foreign worker in the Cantonese field, it is an absolute necessity to send one additional worker to connect with the work in Canton. That work is in itself far beyond the powers of one man, and the fact that our workers must be given some regular change out of the field, suffices to show the reasonableness of this call.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.5

The Canvassing Work

For some time the members of the Chinese Mission Committee have felt the need of planning more largely for the publishing work. Our list of tracts is growing apace, and even with our present meager printing facilities we are prepared to issue a large volume of good literature; but unless these silent messengers are carried to the people, all our efforts in this direction are wasted. On the other hand we have a promising number of young men who must be trained and set to work. We all recognize the fact that to eliminate canvassing work out of our home field would be to cut off one of the most vital, as well as one of the strongest, features of our propaganda. This is no less true in the Chinese field; and we shall fall short of doing our duty if we overlook or neglect to inaugurate this work at an early day.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.6

With the entire Chinese field divided as above indicated, it follows as a matter of course that each one of these ten main divisions must have a director, or superintendent (and it is quite as necessary that one physician be assigned to each division as well), with possibly other officers to follow later. Five men out of our mission force already in the field have been recommended to act as directors of the North, West, Central, South, and East China mission fields. Thus the present call is for fifteen men to act as directors and physicians. But this, we must not forget, is simply officering the field, not manning it. Brethren, this work in China is yours quite as much as it is ours, and we come to you in the conviction that it is in your hearts to provide sufficient men and means at this time to place an advance guard in each province and dependency of that great empire.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.7

Facing One Fourth the World

In this way we are planning for an advance move on the entire Chinese world—easily one fourth of the population of the earth. In this undertaking our feeling should not be so much that we are doing our duty, or that we are accomplishing a great work, as that we are carrying the final message of mercy and truth to a race of sin-laden souls, hopelessly bound by the cords of sin. They know nothing as they should of God, the holy and loving Father, and hence have little sense of sin, or of the need of a Saviour from guilt and its consequences. They glory in Confucianism, which is essentially self-righteousness, totally ignoring the need of an atonement for sin, and a reconciliation between sinning man and the holy God of all. As Confucianists they have no faith that lightens death, and the resurrection means nothing to them.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.8

All the religion they have consists in the deification of dead men whose spirits they both fear and worship. Buddhism and Taoism, with all their accursed teachings, hideous and senseless ceremonies, and lying promises, supply all the absent elements of a heathen religion. From all this issues the great flood of evil with which that people is deluged,—infanticide, concubinage, polygamy, civic and domestic corruption, with a multitude of other sins sufficient to sink the empire but for the long-suffering of God. Do we feel China’s burden of sin? Are we ready to extend to her the healing God has committed to us?GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.9

China is to-day open to missionary endeavor as never before in all her long history,—a fact clearly recognized and reckoned with by all the missionary societies operating there. Almost to a unit the different mission boards are addressing themselves to the task of doubling their force of workers without delay; and that a large measure of success is attending their efforts in this direction is evidenced by the increasingly large influx of missionaries into China. Every steamer from Europe or America brings them. This enthusiastic, quickened pace on the part of these societies is largely the direct result of a serious endeavor on their part to effect the evangelization of the world in this generation. Some limit the time of its accomplishment to a score of years. Considered by itself, is not this great idea born of God? And if they are thus moved to great undertakings, what shall we say of Seventh-day Adventists, whose faith that Christ is at the door is the cardinal, dominating doctrine? Shall we on our part postpone the coming of our Lord by delay? Are we not now prepared seriously and adequately to lay hold of this task?GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.10

In this situation we are constrained to submit to our brethren here assembled, and to the entire body of believers, the desirability, the wisdom, the necessity of at once sending out to that great field forty strong, consecrated young married men, to enter upon the great task of carrying the advent message to the millions of the Chinese world.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.11

Following this outline report of the general field, Elder Anderson made some additional remarks upon the awakening of China. It is seen in reforms domestic, social, industrial, and political. This is not a figure of speech, he declared, but an actual condition appealing to us.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.12

He said: “Brethren, this is the China into which this message has been cast within the past few years. We have entered upon the work with our eyes open. We deliberately passed a vote that that empire should hear this message, not as provinces, but as one whole empire, and I believe we did it because we felt that this message should go to the whole empire.GCB May 19, 1909, page 64.13

“You understand perfectly how this message works in this country. You know how it stirs the hearts of men and women in all parts of the world. It is a message that stirs mightily. So, what may we not expect that it will do as it extends over the Chinese empire? I therefore submit that we are under solemn obligations to push forward this message with greater efforts in that field at this time.GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.1

“It is needless to say there are great needs to be met to make this possible. There is a publishing work to be built up, to supply literature for nearly 450,000,000 people. In educational lines, each province should have its own school and corps of teachers to train the Chinese young men and women to go out as evangelists and teachers. Then there is the medical work. All these different lines will call for scores and hundreds of missionaries to lead out in the work. The Chinese Christians are anxious to take hold of the work.GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.2

“It does not seem quite right to me, brethren, that the support of this great work should rest upon the uncertain foundation of the free-will offerings, as sacred and as good as they are, while we rest the home work on the certain foundation of the tithe. I am anxious for the time when a certain fraction of the tithe shall regularly go to foreign fields, in addition to the free-will offering, in order that this work may go forward, and that there may be no halt in this great message that you and I love.GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.3

“When Sven Heden, the explorer of Tibet, was stopped in that country, and told to go back, he answered that he could not do so. Asked why he could not go back, he told the officials that his religion was to go forward. That is a good religion for us in this message. The work must not surrender. It can not compromise. It can not retrace its steps. It must go forward. This message to-day stands in China facing forward, and, brethren, we must do what we can to let it advance.GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.4

“Although we are not a large company in China, we do not come here confessing that we are fearful or discouraged as workers there; but we do feel that the people are too many for us; so we ask that from among the young men whom God is calling to the mission fields, we may have assistance. As in days of old the Saviour said, ‘Give ye them to eat,’ so to-day we believe that our Master would be pleased if we would plan to impart liberally to those who have not yet had the privilege of sharing with us our spiritual blessings. God would have us go there, and with a firm, fixed purpose carry that work forward. And so in closing, I would say, in the words of another,GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.5

“‘Enlarge, inflame, and fill my heart
With boundless charity divine,
So shall all my strength exert,
And love them with a zeal like thine,
And lead them to thy open side,—
The sheep for whom their Shepherd died.’”GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.6

Following Elder Anderson’s remarks, Dr. A. C. Selmon and wife, with Brethren Esta L. Miller and O. J. Gibson, sang a hymn in the Mandarin language. This hymn had been composed by Pastor Hsi, and is entitled, “I once was a sinner bound in sin; Jesus set me free.”GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.7

Mrs. Bertha L. Selmon, M. D., in Chinese costume, then reported as follows on work among the Chinese women:—GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.8

WORK FOR THE WOMEN IN CHINA

WASe

The great problem which confronts us here, and which confronts Seventh-day Adventists everywhere, is how to find men and means to supply the needs of a world-wide field. Often when calls are made, the answer comes that there is no one ready to answer the call. Could they but see the real situation, and realize the possibilities for service in this hour, every young man and woman in our ranks must rise and prepare for a part in this closing work.GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.9

In the few minutes allotted to this paper, I hope that we may see more clearly the situation among the women in China. Filled are their lives with cares and sorrows; empty of joy and every hope, unless there has come the transforming grace of Christ. For the Chinese woman there is a monotonous round of toil. She must pick the cotton, spin the thread, weave the cloth, and make the garments for the household. She must cook the food, grinding the flour herself; and often she is called to the field or garden to help gather in the crops. Frequently have I heard it said, as the women gather in village groups to hear of the gospel for the first time, “I would like to come to the meeting, but we are always busy; there is no time to go. How can the gospel be for us?” But I am glad that even for them, “where there is a will, there is a way;” and once having tasted, they will leave no stone unturned to reap the blessings the gospel has in store for those who improve their God-given opportunities.GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.10

At the first meeting they are permitted to attend, they will talk aloud, remarking about the missionary’s clothing or shoes. If a new arrival comes, they rise and receive her as is their custom at home. So they must be taught first little by little how to conduct themselves in a meeting.GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.11

In Heathen Homes

It is almost impossible for us, surrounded with the loving ministrations of our home life, to realize what the life of such a poor woman can be. She has no home as we know it; even as a child, she is not counted as belonging to the parents, but to the home of the boy to whom she is early engaged. From many homes the children are sent out to gather dry grass and sticks for fuel. At the harvest time, children of seven to ten years carry home great baskets of straw and stubble on their backs. On her marriage day the young woman is sent weeping away from all that she has known and loved to all that is unknown and dreaded.GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.12

She is fortunate if she finds a mother-in-law who treats her with any consideration. Her husband is still his father’s son; he is not supposed to speak to her during the first days, and it is rare indeed, except among Christians, that the husband learns to love his wife. The house itself is dark and gloomy. Often the cattle are housed under the same roof with the family. There is no outlet for the smoke of the cook-stove, and even the walls of the best room present nothing more attractive than hideous idols or pictures of them on cheap paper pasted up over the mantlepiece. The bare earth floor is damp and cold. Even in winter there is no cheerful fireside; only a pan of coals buried in ashes over which to warm the feet.GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.13

I can only touch on the ignorance and superstition of the masses of Chinese women. Never having had an opportunity for even a limited education, their minds are filled with superstition and fear of foreigners and the doctrine which they preach. When a woman is recommended by some of her neighbors to come to us for treatment, other women gather to discuss the matter. They say that if she takes our medicine, she will have to eat our doctrine; or our medicine will cause her to be childless for life; or we will hypnotize her, and make her do stupid things; or she will die in a hundred days after taking our medicine.GCB May 19, 1909, page 65.14

These are some of the foolish rumors given out. But in spite of all this, many come and get help.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.1

Work for the Physician

As there is almost no rational treatment of disease in China, the women are sadly neglected. I will mention one or two dispensary cases. The first was of a mastoid abscess resulting from middle-ear disease. The patient had suffered the pain till the pus had made its way through the bone. I lanced the abscess and put in drainage. The suffering must have been intense; yet this woman had been doing her household work, and her mother-in-law abused her because she had to take the time to come to the dispensary each day for four or five days to have the wound dressed. Fortunately, she made a quick recovery.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.2

Another case was that of a woman who was brought to us on a stretcher. Two scalp wounds made eleven days before were still unwashed; the hair was matted with blood, dirt, and vile sticky ointment. She had had lockjaw for eight days. I told them it was too late to save her; but as they urged me to do what I could, I cut off the hair, shaved the scalp, and opened and dressed the wound; but the poor creature died the following day.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.3

One day a poor woman was brought in dying of opium poison. Her mother-in-law followed, cursing and reviling her for being so unfilial as to commit suicide. That morning had brought merely a trifling incident, but it was just the straw too much for the young wife and mother to bear. She had been scolded every day since she came to the home, and this morning, for a matter for which the mother-in-law knew she was in nowise responsible, she dared to answer that she could not help it, and was then accused of impudence, and beaten by her husband at the mother-in-law’s command. This was why she took opium and ended her life of misery. Her own mother’s family came next day; and not finding the mother-in-law, whose life they sought, they smashed all the dishes and furniture, and broke up all the windows and doors in the mother-in-law’s home, by way of revenge. This is only a glance at the physical and spiritual need of our Chinese sisters. Helpless and hopeless, with no rights which any one is bound to respect, it is little wonder that to them life itself becomes a burden.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.4

Miss Ida E. Thompson, our pioneer mission school teacher in Canton, reported on educational conditions, with particular reference to the school work already undertaken, or definitely planned for, by the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.5

THE WORK FOR THE WOMEN OF CHINA

WASe

It is with a feeling of deep appreciation that I come before this Conference, and so much the more as I realize that here are gathered from all lands fellow laborers who are anxious to share this time in presenting the needs of their respective fields.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.6

I come to present before you one third of the entire world’s inhabitants. Four hundred fifty millions of voices from heathen China are calling to you, “Come over, ... and help us.” “This is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will harken and hear for the time to come?”GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.7

I purpose to speak briefly of the educational work in China, though our plans for this work are not yet matured. There are government schools with which we must compete,—universities, normals, colleges, commercial schools, industrial schools, naval and military schools. The government sends large numbers of students to Great Britain, the United States, France, Germany, and Belgium. Many are also sent to Japan for an education. In 1906 there were thirteen thousand Chinese in the University of Japan, half of whom were maintained at government expense. In the normal schools the students’ expenses are defrayed by the government, but they must engage to teach six years in the state schools. The moral tone of the government schools is exclusively Confucianist.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.8

Mission schools and colleges are also numerous throughout the country, Roman Catholic predominating. The Shanghai Catholic Mission has a university, a college, and an industrial school, and maintains in and around Shanghai fifty other schools, with an attendance of 3,750 pupils.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.9

What about Seventh-day Adventists, who have a special message to give, a definite work to do, to prepare the world for the soon-coming Saviour? How shall our schools rank? While we may not have the numbers that other missions maintain, shall we not stand at the head in this work? We have young men and women who are well equipped, who will venture all because of their zeal in their Master’s cause, who have no business or ties of a personal nature to stand above their duty to the Saviour.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.10

Marshall Broomhall, of the China Inland Mission, has said: “Apart from the large coast towns and central cities, education throughout the country is, generally speaking, in a highly unsatisfactory condition, and this fact gives to the mission school its great opportunity and responsibility.”GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.11

Speaking of the great change which has taken place in the national system of competitive examinations, Bishop Moule, of mid-China, in a retrospect of sixty years, says. “The great educational system that goes has its faults, and the Confucian ethics had their deficiencies; but for the mass of the people at present it is Confucian morality or none, since, whatever else is accepted from the West by way of education, it does not embrace our, that is to say Christian, morality. It is on that account that I long, more than I used to, to see the church in the West, under whatever denomination, roused to the duty of a really generous expenditure of her money and of her best-equipped sons and daughters on the effort to seize the critical moment.”GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.12

Last year the viceroy of Nanking sent to Wellesley College four Chinese women to be educated. This is the first instance of Chinese women being officially sent abroad for an education. It is the index finger, pointing out to us what is before us, and that now is our time to work for the women of China.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.13

Our plans are not yet matured, our schools are few, our teachers are wanting, our courses of study are crude, our buildings must needs be spoken of in the singular number; but we have made a beginning.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.14

We have done something in every province in which our work has entered. In Honan we have four schools,—two for boys and two for girls. At Chin Chiu (Fukien) there is a boys’ school. In this province of Fukien there are thirty-five baptized converts, among then ten or twelve children and young people of school age. Here we need to be definite in laying plans at once for a good school, that these may have a right foundation, a sure anchorage in this present truth. Not only so, but we must train workers from these to carry this message to others. We have, therefore, already gone ahead at To K’ang, a small market town, and bought about an acre of land, paying therefor the sum of forty dollars. There is opportunity to add to this tract from three sides, and this we hope to do as soon as we can have the means. We want to put up a plain, substantial two-story building, that will furnish room for a boys’ boarding school and quarters for the foreigner who shall have charge of the school.GCB May 19, 1909, page 66.15

This school is to be established in the midst of ten million who speak the Fukienese language as a representative of the truth. Two thousand dollars will be required to complete this enterprise, and for this money we must look to you.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.1

It is thought best to open the school for boys first, and then add a girls’ school as soon as we can. Sister B. L. Anderson has for some time been sending quantities of the Chinese linen drawn and embroidery work to America to friends to be sold, with the proceeds of which she hopes to lay the corner-stone of this school.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.2

Honan is also ready for such a school at this time. Brother and Sister Westrup at Sha Yau have done their best to start schools both for boys and for girls.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.3

At Cheo Chia K’o Brother and Sister Allum are pushing forward, and adding to the work begun by Dr. and Mrs. Selmon.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.4

In K’wang T’ung, where our work first began in China, we have opened five schools,—three for girls and two for boys. One of the boys’ schools is a Bible training-school, from which we have already six of our present corps of native workers.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.5

We believe the school work to be one of the most effective means of carrying this gospel to the Chinese. By it we gain access to the hearts of the pupils, we find openings into their homes; and, perhaps the most important of all, we are enabled to train our own young people as workers.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.6

In Canton the Bethel Girls’ School is a boarding school with day pupils. Here we enroll upward of sixty girls and women, with twenty-five boarders. Here we plan to develop teachers and Bible women. This school was opened five years ago. This year we are using one young lady from the school as a teacher. One woman who learned to read her Bible, and found her Saviour in the school, offered her services free as a Bible woman this year. She is a capable, unusually active woman, and has already done much good. Another old lady about sixty years of age, when we were studying how Anna received Jesus in the temple, and though above one hundred years old, spread the news of salvation in the Saviour, exclaimed: “O, Miss! I want to be Anna in Bethel Girls’ School.” She felt she had found her work and her place. She is now filling it.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.7

Two of our girls attended the church missionary meeting. Upon their return they set about thinking what they could do. They concluded they must have a part in that work, but according to Chinese custom they must be confined to the school home. So they asked me for the Chinese church paper, and set about canvassing teacher and pupils for it. Not very long after, with faces all a glow, they came handing a list of nine annual subscriptions, accompanied by the cash.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.8

It is our plan that this school shall answer the need of a boarding school for Quang T’ung,—a province with twenty-nine millions of people, and shall be fed by the day schools opened in all parts as fast as we have teachers, and by the children of our Sabbath-keeping people.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.9

You all appreciate the advantages of the boarding school above the day school in this land, where children come from Christian homes, even Seventh-day Adventist homes, but how much more the benefit to be derived where the homes are daily engaged in idol-worship, and children are compelled by their parents to bow to gods of wood and clay.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.10

In the east side of Canton, Miss VanScoy has opened a day school with an enrollment of twenty-five girls. Some have gone from her school this year to Bethel, and some have come from Kongmoon, where Brother and Sister E. H. Wilbur have been located.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.11

We have had a number of Hakkas in the school. This race numbers ten millions. Thus far Brother J. P. Anderson is the only foreign representative of this message among that people.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.12

We would like very much to enlarge our present quarters at Bethel School by purchasing the adjoining lot to the East. This lot has practically no buildings of value on it, and I understand can be bought for five or six hundred dollars. The building now used was seriously damaged by the typhoon last July, one section being blown to the ground. Could we have three thousand dollars we might purchase the lot, rebuild the school and a home for the foreign directors of the school. We want to open a kindergarten department next year, and plan for a normal school on this site.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.13

Could we have the men and the means to do this next year, it would put our work in Canton, the metropolis of China, with its two and one-half millions of people, on a substantial basis so far as the educational effort for the women and girls is concerned, and would be very encouraging to the workers there.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.14

We in China feel we must push this branch of the work. We need native workers who have been trained in our own schools, we need a place where we can train those who come to us, and with a little help could go out as workers. Heretofore we have been working with teachers who were not Christians, because we had no teachers of our faith, and to take those of other missions meant they must either be untrue in their teaching and practice to their own mission, or untrue to us, and we felt to choose one who was not an idolater, and who did not seek to oppose us, was preferable. For in mission schools the foreigner in charge is looked upon by the teacher and pupils as the one who is to give mold and character to the school.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.15

We have been late in entering China, but the wonderful way in which God has gone before, and set in operation the forces to prepare the way for us, indicates that we have no time to lose if we expect to gather a harvest of souls from China. God says, “I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles and set up my standard to the people.” “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken.” “My glory will I not give to another, neither by praise to graven images.” In the book “Education” we read: “To obtain an education worthy of the name we must receive a knowledge of God, the Creator, and of Christ, the Redeemer, as they are revealed in the sacred Word.” And again, “Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God’s ideal for his children. Godliness—God-likeness—is the goal to be reached.”GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.16

If we do our part in giving such a training to those who come into the kingdom from Sinim, shall we not need to begin to plan at once, and push forward with our utmost diligence until Jesus comes?GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.17

In conclusion I want to say again: “This is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will harken and hear for the time to come?” Isaiah 42:22, 23.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.18

J. N. Anderson: We will next hear from Dr. A. C. Selmon, on the medical work in China, particularly in the interior, with special reference to the province of Honan. Dr. Selmon spoke as follows:—GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.19

Present-Day Conditions

Honan, one of the central provinces of China, for which I speak, is a vast fertile plain that supports thirty-five millions of people, a population of over five hundred to the square mile. For the most part, these are farmers and small merchants. Although for a long time bitterly antiforeign, Honan has shared with its sister provinces in the new spirit which has come into China.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.20

Since the Boxer troubles of 1900, eight hundred miles of railroad have been built in Honan, giving the province a trunk line from north to south and another from east to west. Previous to 1900, Honan possessed not a single foot of railroad, and only a few of the larger cities had post-offices; but at present there is not a city or town of importance in the province that is without a regular mail service. Gos is surely preparing the way for us; for how could we send forth the truth-bearing page without post-offices and post-roads? While a few years ago in one city of two hundred thousand not more than three newspapers were subscribed for, to-day in this same city, newspapers are read by every merchant and educated man. New business enterprises are being started, such as modern cloth-weaving, glass-making, a modern plant for extracting vegetable oil, etc. Rich deposits of coal are being opened up, and a tide of new economic conditions is setting in on every hand.GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.21

But a change fraught with greater importance than all these was the reorganization of the educational system. Previous to August, 1901, education in China consisted in storing the mind with a cargo composed of the old Confucian classics, some of which date back to the time of Queen Esther; but on this date an imperial decree was issued abolishing the old-style curriculum of study and the old-style literary examinations, and directing that thereafter there be examinations in Western arts and sciences and economic and governmental methods. It was further decreed that schools and colleges be established throughout the empire. So by this one decree an educational system was abolished that had been in vogue for millenniums, and several millions of China’s brightest young men, who were in the schools of the old order, with their faces toward the dead past, executed a “Right about, face!” and are now looking toward a living future. Chang Chi Tong, one of China’s oldest and most trusted statesmen, and a right-hand man to the new regent of China, in advocating the establishment of schools throughout China, says:—GCB May 19, 1909, page 67.22

“Convert the temples and monasteries of the Buddhists and Taoists into schools. To-day these exist in myriads. Every important city has more than a hundred. Temple lands and incomes are in most cases attached to them. If all these are appropriated to educational purposes, we guarantee plenty of money and means to carry out the plan. Buddhism and Taoism are decaying, and can not exist; while the Western religion (Christianity) is flourishing, and making progress every day. We suggest that seven temples with their lands, out of every ten, be appropriated to educational purposes.”GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.1

In compliance with this advice we have seen workmen tumbling the idols out of a temple, and in their places putting in tables, chairs, and other necessary appliances for a modern school. Formerly, female education was a thing unthought of. There were absolutely no schools for girls outside of mission schools; but now schools of all grades for girls are being established throughout the empire.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.2

This brief mention of the changes which are taking place must be made in order that you may know that it is for such a time as this, and in the face of such conditions as these, that God has led this people to make a start in warning China’s millions.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.3

At present we have two mission stations in Honan, where foreign workers are located. Chowkiakow is a busy city of two hundred thousand situated on the Sand River, a day’s journey by cart from the railroad. Brother and Sister Allum and Sister Schilberg are located here; Brother R. F. Cottrell and wife are also temporarily at this station. Brother and Sister Westrup are in Li Wan, a village situated about half way between Chowkiakow and the railroad. At a distance of from three to thirty-five miles from these two central stations, there are eight out-stations where there are companies of Sabbath-keepers.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.4

The numerical growth of the church has in the beginning been very slow. The newly arrived missionary, be he ever so zealous, can accomplish little until the language is mastered to such a degree that he can express his own thoughts, and understand the people when they express theirs. While much can be done in six months in acquiring a vocabulary sufficient to converse about ordinary topics, yet up to the present time there have been none of our workers who have acquired sufficient mastery of the language to do effective work in less than two years. The language-study course for new missionaries, as outlined by all the large missions, covers a period of three years; and of these three years the first two are given up entirely to language study. Acquiring the language is only half the proposition that confronts the missionary; he must learn the people, their customs, religions, and manner of thought.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.5

Mission Schools

Every foreign worker in China must be an educator. The reason for this is seen when we face the task of giving this message to over four hundred millions of Chinese. It is evident that the messengers must be Chinese trained for the work. In our schools we have the children of Sabbath-keepers, both boys and girls, and brighter students will not be found in the schools of any land. Not only are the children in our mission schools, but many of the parents as well; for in those who accept the truth there is found a determination to learn to read the Bible that no hindrance short of blindness will overcome. Among the men in China there is said to be sixty to ninety per cent of illiteracy; and it is safe to say that among the women there is not one in a thousand who recognizes characters.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.6

At present we are carrying on our school work the best we can in the low, dark, mud-walled, thatched-roof Chinese houses; and it is only the enthusiasm of the learners and their absence of nerves that enables them to sit on the narrow, backless benches, and study their lessons day after day. The quarters we have for our boarding students are even more cramped and uncomfortable than the school-room. In the elementary school work, the Bible and song-book are the readers used. Elementary geography, physiology, and arithmetic are also taught. The children learn to write Chinese, and even men and women from thirty to forty years old undertake the difficult task of learning to write the Chinese characters in order that they may take down texts from the Bible studies, and prepare texts and notes for their work in preaching the gospel. The girls are taught to sew, and we are now putting in a small weaving machine, and planning for industrial work for our students. Under the most favorable circumstances, the struggle for existence is so hard that when one or more children are put in school, where they must be clothed better, and where their food will cost more (since they can not eat from one common kettle), it means that we must help support the children, and this we shall aim to do in part with industrial work. At the present rate of exchange an outlay of $1.30 a month will supply a student in our schools with food and clothing, and this sum will be reduced when we get some industrial work started.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.7

A Student

An instance will show the fruit of our mission school work. Sister Liu, a woman about forty years old, is the wife of a military magistrate. Several years ago her husband left her, went into another part of China and married a second wife, leaving his first wife a home and a small amount of property. When we opened the work in Siang Cheng, we rented a compound adjoining hers. Her life had been made most miserable by the cruelty of her old mother-in-law by the cruelty of her old mother-in-law. She had become an inveterate tobacco-user.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.8

Belonging to a mandarin’s family, her prestige in the village was even greater than that of the village elders. When we came to take possession of our rented quarters, her rage knew no bounds. She hated foreigners at best, but hated and reviled us in particular, because in order to get out to the road she must pass through a part of our compound. By various kind acts on our part her fears were somewhat quieted. When patients came to the dispensary, my wife would often ask her to come and help in questioning them to find out their trouble. Seeing the work we did in our dispensary, helped much in breaking down her prejudice.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.9

Finally it was suggested to her that she learn to read; for although she was a magistrate’s wife, she could not read a single character. She began reading from the “Gospel Primer” and then from the Bible, and being a very bright woman, made rapid progress, and was soon able to help in teaching a few girls who were gathered in as the nucleus for a girls’ school. She not only learned to read, but learned the way of salvation as well, and step by step we saw the change taking place in this poor woman’s life. She stopped the use of tobacco; then made away with the ancestral tablets; then she ceased worshiping idols on the first and fifteenth of the month; and finally, to the surprise and wonder of the whole village, took down all the idols about her house, and declared herself a believer in the gospel. This step brought down upon her the condemnation and hatred of all her relatives.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.10

Since this open confession was made, she has been a faithful witness to the truth in her village, and while there were previously, outside of this one woman, no visible results in the village from our work, yet now there is a good interest, especially among the women, and to-day this woman is a faithful teacher in one of our girls’ schools.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.11

The future growth of our work in China will depend in no small way upon the mothers in the homes of the Sabbath-keepers; and in these schools it is our blessed privilege not only to teach the children and train them up for workers, but we may go back of the children, and teach the mothers to read God’s Word, and see the influence of that Word grow in their hearts from day to day until the heathen Chinese woman is changed by conversion into a Christian wife and mother.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.12

Most of our school work thus far has been elementary, but we have two short sessions a year when all Chinese workers come together for Bible study and training. Our crying need in Honan is along the line of school work. We must have a boarding school, where we can train up our young people from our Sabbath-keeping homes, and surround them with a home life that is conducive to Christian living. The interest is growing, and there is a constantly growing demand for more Chinese evangelists, colporteurs, and Bible women. To supply this demand we must have a good training-school, where those who have had a primary education can be thoroughly fitted up for service in these various lines of work. These schools, housed in adapted Chinese buildings, would be inexpensive, and would be of inestimable value to the work in China.GCB May 19, 1909, page 68.13

Without them not only the educational work will suffer; but the evangelistic, medical, and canvassing work will necessarily be crippled for lack of trained men.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.1

Evangelistic Work

The Chinese Sabbath-keepers, evangelists, and Bible women are the real convert-makers in China. It remains for us to teach, train, organize, and direct in the work, and so the evangelistic work of the missionary for the most part is to meet inquirers and interested ones who come, conduct Bible studies with them, and conduct meetings for the believers. On the Sabbath either a foreign worker or a Chinese preacher must go to each of the out-stations to conduct meetings with the companies. Frequent itineraries must be made to visit these out-stations, to meet inquirers, and to look after the interests of the company in general.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.2

Only recently one of the members of an independent church learned of the Sabbath, and, through his influence and that of two other men from the same company who attended our general meeting held in Honan last December, ten or twelve of the church-members began to keep the Sabbath, and are helping build a chapel, so that meetings can be held with them every Sabbath. This instance serves to show how the interest springs up that makes what we designate an out-station. In one of Brother Westrup’s out-stations, there are fifty who regularly attend his services; in another there are sixty who come every Sabbath. In the Honan companies there are fifty who are baptized or are ready for baptism, and an equal number that we class as probationers and inquirers; and in addition there are double this number of interested ones.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.3

Persecution is the lot of all who accept this truth in China. One sister near Shang Tsai was beaten unmercifully on more than one occasion because she believed the gospel, and attended our meetings. Sister Wang, after she began keeping the Sabbath, was compelled by her father to go into the harvest-field and help reap wheat on the Sabbath day. When Brother Chen began keeping the Sabbath, under Elder Pilquist’s teaching, his wife was so bitterly opposed that she destroyed his Bible and song-book, and locked him out of the house every evening when he came home from Bible study.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.4

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to the Chinaman who believes as verily as it is to the sinner of any other nationality; and we are glad to report that the church in China is a witness-bearing church. Our Sabbath-keeping Chinese surely enjoy the blessing of the Lord; for previous to their believing the gospel it was only by the strictest economy that they could, by working seven days of the week, feed and clothe their families. Where poverty is well-nigh universal, as it necessarily must be on a wage of six to seven cents a day, they are paying a tithe which, as the church grows, will be sufficient to support the native workers.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.5

Brother Wun, who is a colporteur, in one of his trips to the Shi Bridge village, met a man some thirty-five years old, and succeeded in interesting him in the gospel. The man was in difficult straits even from a Chinese standpoint. He was a vender of hot sweet potatoes, and his earnings would not exceed five cents a day. On this he had to support his old mother and a blind brother. Although his exterior was uncouth, he soon showed that he was in earnest. He bought a copy of “Gospel Primer,” and mastered it at night with what little help he could get. Then he began learning to read the Bible, and has kept at it so persistently that he can now read most of the New Testament and some parts of the Old. Not only has he learned to read, but he is now a converted man. When I hear him pray, and tell the gospel story to a crowd of people in the Street Chapel, it seems strange to remember that only a little over a year ago he was a poor, ignorant, superstitious heathen, worshiping at the shrine of every false god in his village, without any knowledge of the true God, and with no ray of hope to brighten his bitter lot. Now he is a Sabbath-keeper, and a candidate for heaven, and to stand with you and me among the host of the redeemed if we are as faithful as he so far has proved to be.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.6

Medical Work

In connection with the work in Honan, we are conducting three dispensaries,—one at each of the two central stations, and one is by a self-supporting, Sabbath-keeping Chinese doctor. All our workers find that they must do more or less medical work, whether they have ever had any medical training or not. The people believe that every missionary of the gospel must have some ability in medical lines; and so, whether at the mission station, or out itinerating, the sick and suffering besiege one for help. In all the great heathen world there is not a country where medical missionary work has played, and will play, a more important part in the proclamation of the gospel than in China.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.7

The native physicians of the old school are entirely ignorant of anatomy and physiology. The people do not understand the first thing about the nature of disease. The remedies in common use are such as in the nature of the case cause disease rather than cure it. Surgery, as practiced by the native doctor, is most rude and barbarous. The sufferings of the poor Chinese women in cases of difficult childbirth are beyond description.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.8

Held as the people are in the clutches of superstition, they believe that evil spirits and the anger of the gods are the chief causes of disease; and so in their treatments they use sorcery, puncturing with needles, blistering, the cautery, and various inhuman methods. They know nothing of the laws of hygiene, and their care and treatment of infants is such that infant mortality is appalling. With our present equipment and having to look after the interests of all the departments of the work, we have been able to treat only those diseases which yield quickly to treatment, and do not require hospital accommodations. For lack of a small, inexpensive hospital, we have been forced to turn away many cases when we could have saved life; and because of this lack, we have to-day among our Sabbath-keepers those who are in direct need of surgical help.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.9

In our dispensaries we have saved the lives of over five hundred persons who have taken poisonous doses of opium with suicidal intent. As a rule, the one whose life we save seldom takes the trouble to return and thank us—not because the Chinese as a people are unthankful for favors, but as a rule those who try to take their own lives want to die, and really are not thankful that we have prevented them from carrying out their plan. But this work is a demonstration of the spirit of the gospel, the influence of which is seen in removing the prejudice of the people.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.10

While the work so far accomplished seems insignificant when compared with the area and population of China, yet it has served to show that there are many honest souls in whose hearts this truth will find a place. At no time in the past has there been such an interest as now. Through our paper, the Gospel Herald, and the few tracts we have put out, interest is being aroused on all sides. Inquirers have come from the adjoining provinces of Shantung and Anhui. With our present force of evangelists we are unable to answer the many calls that come from various companies asking that some one come and tell them about this “true doctrine.” The name by which we are commonly known in Honan is “Chen Tao Hui,” which means the “true doctrine church.” Inquirers also want to know about the Sabbath doctrine and the end-of-the-world doctrine.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.11

These reports from China were witnessed to by the Spirit’s presence, touching all hearts. Heartiest amens greeted the appeals for more help for that great empire. Elder Anderson stated that China was to have another hour during the Conference, when he hoped to have Elders Prescott and Evans speak of their observations in China, which they have visited during the four-year term.GCB May 19, 1909, page 69.12

Meeting adjourned.

L. R. CONRADI, Chairman,
W. A. SPICER, Secretary.

Bible Study

LEGAL MEETING OF THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION