JUNIOR KING'S BUSINESS
The Story of Pao Ghue
by Alice M. Ardagh
L ong ago in the land o f China, lived a little Chinese girl named Pao Chue. Little Pao Chue was the daughter o f the governor o f a prov ince in China. She was his only child. There was a mission station in the town in which Pao Chue lived, and she had been allowed to attend the classes there to receive the benefit o f Western education, and especially to learn to speak English. But little Pao Chue learned other things from the missionaries besides the “ foreign” language. She learned o f the missionaries’ God; and what she learned about Him opened her childish heart to see that she must no longer worship the idols to whom her people taught her to pray. She learned that fo r all the countries o f the world there was only one God, the great God who lived in heaven. She told her parents o f this wonder ful discovery, and they were very angry. They bade her to forget all about such wicked teachings and to continue to worship the gods o f her ancestors. But Pao Chue said, “ I cannot, honorable parents. The one and only God says we are not to wor ship idols! And He is the only One who can protect us from evil and answer our prayers.” Poor little Pao Chue was punished severely to make her return to the worship o f idols. O f course her par ents did not allow her to attend the mission classes any more. But Pao Chue had learned to love the won derful Jesus who had died fo r her, and she could not be a traitor to Him even if they should punish her fatally. “ They whipped H im !” she kept saying to herself. “ And then they crucified Him! I can easily bear to die for Him.” But the Lord whom Pao Chue had learned to love had work for her to do here on earth, and the time soon came fo r her to do something for Jesus. In some districts o f China, certain leaders used to gather soldiers into an army, hoping to get control of the government in that part o f the
country. The governor o f that sec tion has soldiers, too. When one side wins, the soldiers on the other side must escape. The defeated army flees to the mountains and takes to rob bery for a living. These men are then called bandits. They have no way o f getting even food except by raiding the towns and villages in the valleys. But they do not stop at tak ing food and clothes; they often kill people or carry certain ones away into the mountains until a ransom is paid for them. One day the people o f the city where little Pao Chue lived looked up the mountain roads from their homes in the valley and saw a horde of mounted men riding down. With quavering hearts, they realized what was coming upon them. The gov ernor, too, was terrified, for he did not have enough soldiers “ What can we do?” he cried. “We cannot hope to defend ourselves! These bandits have conquered wher ever they have gone! What can we do?” Suddenly a thought came to him. He remembered that his little Pao Chue had said that the God she worshipped was the only One who could save from evil and answer prayer. He ran to her. “ Pray to your God to save us!” he cried. “ If He is a God, and as powerful as you say, beg Him to keep the bandits from entering our city and murdering us! Quick! Quick! Ask H im !” And little Pao Chue dropped down on her knees right where she was and prayed in these words: “ 0 God! 0 dear Lord Jesus! They won’t be lieve You are the great God, the only God, the only One able to do anything fo r us! But now You can show them. Lord, now is Your chance. Show them! Keep the bandits from coming in !” Pao Chue’s prayer was overheard by her father and mother and by all the people who had come running to the governor’s house to appeal to him to do something to save them from the bandits. By this time the bandits had almost reached the gate o f the city, and the people, seeing
them rushing toward the entrance, cried out, “ You see! He is no God! He cannot keep the bandits ou t!” And then, with amazement, they saw a s t r a n g e thing happening. Right in the gateway was a rider and his horse, but the horse was rearing on his hind legs, and refus ing — in spite o f the terrible lash ing his master was giving him — to advance one step through the open ing. Instead, he backed, then turned and fled back along the road by which he had come, bearing his rider with him. Viewing his leader’s desertion with wonder, a second bandit tried to take his place in the gateway; and again the astonished townspeople saw the strange sight — a fleeing horse and helpless rider! And as the second man hastened away, he cried to his followers, “ Do not go in there! You cannot! The streets are full o f de mons!” That was the best explana tion the Chinese bandits could give for their b e i n g s t o p p e d un their attack, but we know that it was God who kept them from enter ing the city. How did this wonderful answer to prayer affect little Pao Chue’s governor father and mother and all the other friends ? A t first they were too startled to think. Until t h e y could see nothing o f the departing bandits but the dust kicked up by their racing horses, the surprised townspeople gazed after them. Then they turned to the governor with a questioning look that seemed to ask, “ What do you make of it ? ” And the governor, falling down on his knees, cried to his little daughter, “ Oh, pray for us all, Pao Chue! Tell your God that we know now that He is the one true God, and ask Him to forgive u s!” Again God heard the prayer of a little girl, and in that town, in the governor’s house and in most of the other houses, idols were broken up and thrown away. The governor and his people gathered in the mis sion house to listen eagerly to all that the missionaries could tell them o f this wonderful God.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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