1
September 1926
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
506
After the meal, at a signal from the Taoist priest, the other men began to bring out things. Slowly and beam-, ingly, they undid them,— a big, rich-red banner, a canopy of the same color and with much embroidered work upon it, to be placed over a temple idol; and lastly, lingeringly, as the climax, a big real yellow silk umbrella, beautifully orna mented; but especially impressive because embroidered on it were the names of 267 headmen of surrounding villages. The banner was placed upon the wall; the canopy was stretched over the banquet table, and the umbrella erected in state, held by two men, before the festive board. Then the priest began his speech, all rubbing their hands in pleasure and amusement at our surprise. The priest said that all these beautiful things were originally designed and made to honor an idol to be erected in this very room; but that we had brought Jesus to their hearts and that now they were so full of Him that they had no place for the mud and painted idol. Gently but firmly, we— the Chinese pastor and I— were forced to sit in chairs of state under the sacred canopy. Our protestations availed nought. The program they had planned out was all for the honor of the “ Jesus- God” whom we preachers represented. To the assembled eager men this throne-chair honoring of Jesus’ representatives, was but the crowning of Him. These beginners, lifting their heads above the miasma of heathenism, meant this to be a great tribute to the true God. All Chinese dearly love a spectacle. And these had it that day, in the gorgeous colors and the ceremony. As the priest proceeded with his speech,— we two en throned as it were under the canopy— he said that their hearts had first been drawn to notice this foreign religion by our famine relief work; and that the names of so many village headmen on the ceremonial umbrella testified to the gratitude,— shifted by their villages from Dragon King to JeBUS, — for the relief given. Then the priest ended his speech of good-will and felicitation with the astounding statement that a company of representative men, on the morrow would come to escort these valuable trophies to our annual church meeting in a nearby village; would display them there, to honor the occasion; then would present them formally to me. After the priest had finished we held a religious service —not belittling the false gods they had forsaken, but glori fying the Jesus they now accepted. The service was tender, earnest, sympathetic— a beautiful event, with speaker and auditors “ en rapport.” By this time the yard was full of neighbors; “ the room of state” was crowded with the more important men who had gradually arrived and there taken their places; a miscellaneous crowd more quiet and hushed than I can recall during a religious service in any village. The service was followed by more rejoicing, mutual con gratulations and glad farewells, the hosts, in grave dignity, escorting us some distance from the village— not as the Ephesian elders, weeping, took leave of Paul; for we had good hopes of meeting in worship again at many a future date, and, if it pleased God, soon. But the day with its adventures, was not yet ended. The priest wished to escort us to still another village, as yet we knew not why, or to see whom. We followed him, gay and beaming, “ twinkling” asBuringly. The sun was low in the west, when he knocked at an iron-cased and spiked double door (like the gate of a walled city) that led into a spacious compound. The tower-like structure built up over the por tal and the very high wall of stone (for this is in the stone country and the stone mason's paradise) reminded oqe of a castle fron t.' The priest said, as we waited for the porter: (Continued on page 644)
An Unique Day Interesting Incidents o f a Few Busy Hours DR . C H A R L E S E R N E S T S C O T T American Preabyterien Mission Tsinanfu, Shantung Province, China Dr. Scott, well known and well loved mis sionary, says in his letter to the editor enclos ing this article, "I wish 1 could sit down and reveal to you how actively, powerfully, sub- tlely, insidiously, Modernism is working in our midst. It is a great grief to us that many men, evangelically trained, will not stand up in front of Modernism here and manfully contend against it.” This inspiring account of the results o f the preaching of the old Gospel proves that it has lost none of its effectiveness when faithfully given. F ALL strange experiences, I ran into them today, in connection with going among the villages and examining candidates for baptism. At one village I examined a Taoist priest, about forty years of age, brighter and better educated than any other catechu men met this fall. He took the examination in his own house yard, surrounded by a large crowd of fellow-villagers, who stood curlopsly, listening to all that was said. Some years ago, an evangelist gave this priest a copy of the Old Testament, a remarkable procedure, as inquirers usually read a Gospel first, and then a New Testament. He knew a great deal of the contents, was keen and enthusi astic for the “ New Doctrine,” boldly disclaiming faith in his old beliefs. Though much interested in his case and desiring his in fluence, we did not baptize him, expecting to instruct him more fully before admission into the church. He is a leader among local Taoists, and has much influence among the headmen of thirty surrounding villages. Gleefully, he in sisted on leading us to another village,— we knew not why, till wo arrived. There we .found grave and dignified men, well-dressed, who came out into the fields to escort us to their home, a yard and house swept and garnished. (Previ ously these men had knelt and “ k’a t’ou”— bowed down to the ground— to a fellow evangelist who had found and taught them). The case strikingly suggested the Cornelius episode! We were ushered into a new spacious building, clean and well-furnished, which had been erected as a temple for a select coterie of the more well-to-do families of that region. And now it was rededicated by these men as a place of worship of the living and true God. We examined the in quirers who had gathered there to be catechised, but did not find them ready to be received into church membership. Then they brought on an elaborate feast. We, though wary from experience of such an exhibition of zeal and zest in the Doctrine on the part of new inquirers whom we had never before Been, could not but partake. There was no decent reason in sight why we should not accentuate their manifest delight in having us as their guests, we who to them represented the Jesus God. All the time there was running through my head Homer’s famous phrase: “ Beware o f the Greeks bearing gifts.” Why all this fuss? r
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