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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
June 1926
| Our Bible Institute in Hunan Province, China
Superintendent
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T h e Hunan Bible In stitu te (th e China D ep artm en t o f the B ible In stitu te o f L os A n g e le s) Is org a n ised a lo n g similar^ lin es to the h om e In stitu te,— tra in in g n ative Chinese y o u n g m en and w om en fo r C h ristian W o rk , and at the sam e tim e ca rry in g on a ctiv e e v a n g e listic w o rk am on g the unsaved. . , , , . _____ Th e w ork (w h ich Is re co g n ize d b y the differen t e v a n g elica l m ission s as One o f the best In C h ina) has th ree departm en . (T) A Bible Institute at Changsha (th e ca p ita l c it y o f Hunan P r o v in ce ). • (2 ) Thirteen Evangelistic Bands w ith th irteen m en in ea ch band, d ev otin g the m orn in g s to B ible stu dy, and the a fte r - • noons to g iv in g the O ospel in the n ative hom es. . . , (3 ) The Autumn Bible School and Conference at Nanyoh (one o f China’s five sa cred m ou n ta in s). H undreds o f con v ersion s have resu lted from the w o rk don e am on g the th ou san ds o f pilgrim s. AMONG THE MILITARY AGAIN
man to a challenge! Chang seized his opportunity to pass on the good news. He is a military man and it was done in a military way, but God is able to use even the somewhat formal presentation of the Gospel to the conversion of men. The introductory opportunity came on the second of Jan uary when our auditorium was borrowed by Chief-of-StafT Chang for the purpose of having the Governor address a special group of men. Our friend’s purpose was a wise and far sighted one. He wanted to give the men something of special interest on their New Year holiday, he wanted to give them their first idea of Christianity and, perhaps most of all, he wanted to influence the Governor for Christ. He had brought Governor Chao around for a call the pre vious Sunday afternoon so that an introduction had already been made. The Governor did not attend the afternoon meeting as planned, so, after a few short addresses, mostly from their own officers, and a Gospel hymn by a chorus of Hunan Bible Institute students, .the meeting adjourned from the auditorium to the social hall on the third floor of the Milton Stewart Hall, where tea and cakes were served. The room was packed to capacity and the men gave every indication of enjoying to the full the provision that had been made for their entertainment. This was no ordinary group of Chinese soldiers, but the nucleus of a new battalion, mostly men of high school education who would become the officers and. non-com-' missioned officers in the new unit.. Growing out of this introductory opportunity we were able to organize Sunday afternoon meetings at their barracks which, by the way, were excellently kept. On each occasion a number of us would go, usually one foreigner and several Chiifese, includ ing our singing teacher and two or three of his aptest pupils. At first we thought it desirable to limit our service to an hour, but soon saw that that would not satisfy at all. They urged us to give from two to three hours, and the men always listened with strict military attention. Besides the Sunday service a Thursday evening Bible class was organized for the officers of this group under the leadership of our Mr! M. K. Hsiao and Rev. Charles A. Roberts. But to return for a moment to the second of January: Governor Chao, Chief-of-Staff Chang, Mr. Liu, the Chief-of- Police, and Colonel Wu were the honored guests that even ing at a dinner in the home of Doctor and Mrs. Keller. Mrs. Steven and the writer had the honor to be among the guests of the evening also so that we had the privilege of seeing his Excellency in social mood. He is a man still in the early forties, but has for years been a man of influence and power, and we long to give Chief-of-Staff Chang every assistance in his sincere efforts to win him to Christ. He gave every indication of cordial response to Doctor Keller s
ANY friends of the Hunan Bible Institute will remember an article in the August (1925) num ber of “ The King’s Business” about the work of Biola Evangelistic Band No. 2 amongst the sol diers of the third division of the Hunan army. The story which we wish to tell today is very closely related to that one, indeed is an outgrowth of it. The principal figure in this story was only beginning to take an interest in the Gospel when that article appeared and even to the present date has not been baptized. In military circles he is a very important man, being the Chief-of-StafT of the third divi sion and one of the trusted advisers of the Governor of the province. Chief-of-Staff Chang is a thoughtful, refined gentleman of “ religious" temperament, raised a Confucianist and thoroughly familiar with the writings of the great sage. Much as he admired Confucius, however, he found no peace of heart in his teachings, even coming to the conclusion that Confucianism is not a religion at all. Turning to Buddhism he studied all its important books but again found no peace, though he admired many of its teachings. You will remember Colonel Wang, who figured in the August article, and the courage and success with which he introduced Christ to his sdldiers. Chief-of-StafT Chang had known him for a long time and had admired him as a man and a soldier, but had regretted his associa tion with a “ foreign” religion. Still in his own dissatisfac tion with Confucianism and Buddhism he had at times wondered wherein lay the secret of Colonel Wang’s life, and specially as to the change that he could not help seeing in jhim as well as in the officers and men in his regiment who had accepted Christ. One day he was visiting Colonel Wang in his quarters and noticed, lying on the table, a translation from the English of a Christian book. The translation was made by Mr. B. Ts’eng of Changsha, one of the ablest Christian scholars in China. Chang’s interest was aroused by the name of the translator and he borrowed the book in order to study the Chinese composition, which he knew would be of the best. But as he read he was arrested by more im portant things and was led to make a study of Christianity and in a very short time discovered that here he could find real peace, the peace that he had failed to find in either Confucianism or Buddhism. Shortly after this he was moved to Changsha, the cap ital. Colonel Wang had written to Dean Hsiao about him, and soon after his arrival Chang became a frequent visitor on the Hunan Bible Institute campus. How often it is true that a great opportunity is dependent on the response of one
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