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OUR MISSIONARY PAGE [Continued, from page 221] room was empty! The two missionaries were left alone—the one to grieve over the loss of a long-sought-for opportunity, and the other to grieve over the door that she had closed—in ignorance. “ I was further told that I must never say a baby is fat or that it looks well. If this is done, the eye o f the evil spirit will henceforth be upon that baby. Rather, it must be considered thin and weak look ing. Do you wonder that a prayer of gratitude ascended from my heart to the Father, that I was not yet able to speak the language? ' “ On another occasion, I visited one o f the Sunday-schools. Again came the old cry, ‘I f only I knew the language, that I might be able to go among the people 1’ After Sunday-school, we were shown one o f the rooms where the people were weav ing. I was about to enter, but was re strained by the missionary. It was then explained that, had I entered, the room would have been polluted, and it would have been necessary to whitewash it again before it could be considered, clean. To them, leather is unclean. As I wore shoes, the room would have been polluted, had I entered. The Chucklers are the outcastes o f the outcastes. They are so treated be cause they make sandals and deal in leather. “Again, one must never touch a Brahmin woman. Should one do so, or should one’s shadow fall upon her, she Would be de filed, and would have to bathe in the river before she would again be considered clean. Moreover, one must never touch their water pots, otherwise they, too, would become unclean. One o f our mis sionaries, while visiting in a home, was seated in such a position that the top of her topee touched a hanging pot. Im mediately the pot was thrown away, and the poor missionary had to buy a new one. “ Is it any wonder that I lifted my heart to the Lord in thankfulness that I was not yet able to go among the people? Truly, divine wisdom is needed in order to be ‘wise as serpents and harmless as doves.’ ” A G reat T hrill Miss Hillman, having been on the field long enough to speak the language in some measure, later writes this word: “I had a great thrill last week — I took my first prayer meeting. The greatest thrill was in the fact that they understood what I said. They are making me take many meetings now. W ill you pray with me that I may have ‘the opening o f the mouth’ ? How one longs to tell them all that is in one’s heart!” In War-Torn China TT . ast fall , Miss Hazel Smith went to JM China to take up work in a training school for young Chinese women located at Shanghai. She has had some exciting experiences in connection with the recent warfare in China, concerning some of which she wrote on February 3, 1932, as follow s: “ To be frank, I never wrote a letter that seemed more difficult to write than this one. I am in the office o f the mission building right now. Eveiy few minutes there is the sound o f bombing and o f snip ers. Thousands and thousands o f refugees are rushing into the settlement. Wheelbar rows and every other possible conveyance,
loaded with babies and household bedding, etc., throng the streets. The streets are packed with people. Our girls are all at the China Inland Mission; and for this we are very thankful. “ There is a nervous tension that pre vents any real work being done. As a friend of mine, who is working on the fifth floor, said, ‘I just can’t transcribe notes when airplanes are sailing overhead.’ I can do that all right, but I can’t write personal letters when snipers are here and there, and when cannons are thundering in the distance. They kept up all last night, but I was so cold that I was quite inter ested in that. W e tried to get back to Kiangwan for more bedding, but found it was impossible. W e took practically noth ing away. “ I was awakened at 12:30, with cannons and machine guns sounding sharply through the clear air o f a glorious moonlit night. It seemed so aw fu l! W e all got up and talked and prayed, and with peace in our hearts went back to bed. But sleep isn’t so easy to the tune o f machine gun fire. Each rat-tat o f gunfire would bring the vision o f men suffering and dying, and o f homes destroyed. Morning came, and at least seven hydroplanes were in the air, bombing and flying over our compound. The girls were wonderfully brave and sweet and calm; but oh, what they must feel! W e know how awful this war makes us foreigners feel; how much more must they suffer when they consider their coun try which they love! But we have with us the All-sufficient One, and'we shall not fear what man may do unto us. “W e felt, especially considering all the girls, that we had better leave Kiangwan and come into the settlement. But there was not any way out—no busses or trains, and the only distance possible o f walking to the city was through the thick o f the fighting. To make matters more interest ing, the report came that the train parked on the track next to us was full o f sol diers, and the next battle was to be cen tered in Kiangwan. The Oriental Mission ary Society, with their truck and auto, came to our rescue, and in two loads brought us into the settlement. But no sooner were we comfortably settled in the concession than the report came that we were not safe—they were already sniping there, and we could hear it and see the crowds running for safety. “While we have had to leave material things behind, we know in truth that we have the joy o f His presence. ‘And the peace o f God which passeth all under standing shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ ” Evangelizing the Filipinos B y N orman H. C am p T he P hilippine I slands afford a wide and effectual door for the distribution o f evangelical Christian literature in the English language. For many years, until 1930, Spanish was the official lan guage in the Islands, but now the English language is taught in all the public schools, and is read or understood by nearly one- half the population. The younger generation, especially the student class, reads and speaks English and is anxious to secure suitable reading matter in that language. “In 1928, there were 1,111,509 pupils in the 7,311 public schools, with 293 American and 25,958 Filipino teachers. There were 655 private schools with 84,685 pupils and 2,823 teach
ers. The state-supported university of the Philippines in 1928-29 had 5,698 students. A missionary of the Student Center in Iloilo tells o f the difficulty in finding suit able books for the young people to read. She writes : “ I have been more and more impressed as time goes on with the need of building up a library at the Student Center, and I am convinced that this is one defi nite way we can serve this great student community. I long to put worth-while books into the hands o f these thousands of students, and the teachers who are guiding their thoughts. The people who have been to school all use English. They learn to read, but they have no place to borrow, or even to buy, books.” Another missionary writes : “English is being spoken by a rapidly increasing num ber of people in the Philippines. The ma jority o f the younger generation speak it now, and it is the best means o f communi cation in the Islands. I think that the printed page is one o f the best ways at our disposal for spreading the gospel mes sage.” In view o f this “open door” and “golden opportunity,” the Bible Institute Colpor tage Association o f Chicago, founded by D. L. Moody in 1894 for the purpose o f pub lishing and distributing evangelical Chris tian literature, is undertaking to supply the large demand for books, tracts, and Scrip ture portions in the English language. One native worker writes from Manila to ask if there is “any fund for the supplying o f books from the Moody Colportage Library free for English-speaking students in the foreign fields,” and then he tells o f the great need there. Another writes, “W e do so want to scatter the W ord in printed form where we cannot penetrate in per son.” Still another says, “ Thank God for the books that you have furnished me. These and* the tracts have opened the minds o f the people about the truth o f the saving grace o f our Lord Jesus Christ.” Such expressions come from native Chris tians who are anxious to distribute whole some evangelical literature, and thus be a help to their own people. Shall we not give them the “ Bread o f Life” ere they perish? While there is a growing demand for such Christian reading matter in the Eng lish language, such as is published by the Association, there is also a growing tend ency among the Filipinos toward material ism. These are perilous days for them. Many have revolted against the ecclesias tical domination and tyranny that has pre vailed in the Islands for the past three centuries, but they have not yet heard or believed the gospel o f Christ, which alone is “ the power o f God unto salvation.” Free thought, theosophy, spiritism, athe ism, and skepticism are winning many o f the intelligentsia and supplanting the power o f the church. One observer sees the present critical situation as a challenge to Christians. “ There are those,” he writes, “who are catching the vision, and all are open-minded and willing to see and listen. . . . I know o f no place where peo ple, particularly young people, are so eager to_ know, and so persistent and pertinent with their inquiries.” Come and See Have you ever noticed that the gospel story opens with the invitation o f Jesus, an answer to a question, “ Come and see” ? And have you noticed that the gospel closes with the same words spoken by the empty sepulcher, “ Come and see” ? — J ohn M acbeath .
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