King's Business - 1914-08/09

THE KING’S BUSINESS

477

most an impossibility, and compelled the Chinamen missionaries to locate as peddlers outside the walls, the victory is won. The Christian tact of the men won the interest of an influential citizen and as a result of his interest aroused and that of his friends, the East Suburb Chapel cannot hold the Christians who now attend the meetings. Another reason for the happy development is the attitude of the Christian business men toward the Sabbath. On Sundays from their store-front always hangs this sign: “This is the Sabbath; no business today.” While the daily market of that busy street surges in a roar all around them, they stand like Daniel and his friends,— worshiping God on his holy day in his holy sanctuary. Also the members of this firm preach to their customers, and during dull hours go out into the surrounding villages and herald Christ. The Lord is faithful, and has -prospered his righteous servants. And they have purchased a two-story tang pe (pawnshop), the upper story of which is to be fitted up for an additional school, and the first story for a church. A rchaeologists have been stirred by the remarkable report laid before the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres by the Abbe Henri de Gonouillac, who has just returned from the excavations in Babylonia and believes he has found the biblical tower of Babel. The Abbe was sent by the French insti­ tute on a mission of research to El Ahymer, about eighty miles south of Bagdad and a short distance from Euphrates. There he laid bare the remains of the city of Kiss, one of the earliest capitals of Babylonia, •far older than Babylon itself, and uncov­ ered an immense palace similar to the early royal buildings discovered elsewhere in that country. In the middle of the great courtyard of the palace were the ruins of an immensely high tower named “The Temple of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth” and sac­ red to the national god, Zamama. This temple, with its strange name, the

Arthur Smith describes in the Medical Mis­ sionary the suffering caused by ignorant native doctors in China. “ If a wound is discharging pus a plaster is put on to keep the discharge in. If the pus works through this, a second plaster is superadded. For dog bites a circle is described around the wound and a picture of a tiger drawn on the skin within the circle-; the tiger being stronger than the dog will overcome it and the man will get well. Ear troubles are treated with puncture in order to let the pain out. The insane are commonly tied to stones and kept out of doors in all weathers. The heads of sick children are seared with hot irons to let out the devils. A woman had a hip sore which was dis­ charging freely. Her well-meaning hus­ band came to the doctor and described a curious white string which he had been at­ tempting to pull out. This proved to be the sciatic nerve. J am es S. G ale , in his mission study text­ book, “Korea in Transition,” says: “ One day there came into one of the mission stations a sturdy Christian from the north. After the usual greetings he was asked the purpose of his visit. His reply was, ‘I have been memorizing some verses in the Bible, and have come to recite them to you.’ He lived a hundred miles away and had come all that distance, traveling four nights—a long stroll—to recite some verses to his pastor; but he was listened to as he recited in Korean, without a verbal error, the whole Sermon on the Mount-. He was told that if he memorized it it would be a feat of memory and nothing more; he must practice its teachings. His face lighted up with a smile as he promptly replied, ‘That is the way I learned it. I tried to memorize it but it would not stick, so I hit on this plan: I would memorize a verse and then find a heathen neighbor of mine and practice the verse of him. Then I found it would stick.” , ’ I n one >pf the elite cities of China, where pagan conservatism made the Gospel al­

Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs