July, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
259
Junior KING’S BUSINESS B y M a r t h a S. H o o k e r
horse was rearing on his hind legs, and re fusing—in spite o f the terrible lashing his master was giving him—to advance one step through the opening. 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 won der, a second bandit tried to take his place in the gateway; and again the as tonished townspeople saw the strange sight—a fleeing horse and helpless rider I And as the second man hastened away, he cried to his followers, “Do not go in there! You cannot! The streets, are full of demons!” That was the best explana tion the Chinese bandits could give con cerning their being stopped in their attack, but we know that it was God who kept them from entering the city. How did this wonderful answer to prayer affect little Pao Chue’s governor father and mother and. all the other friends? At first they were too startled to think. Until they could see nothing of the departing bandits but the dust kicked up by their racing horses, the surprised towns-. people gazed after them. Then they turned to the governor with a questioning look that seemed to ask, “ What do you make o f 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 us 1” 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 gover nor and his people gathered again and again in the mission house to listen eagerly to all that the missionaries could tell them of this wonderful God. Memory Work for July A Bible verse for each letter in the word “July” is the K. Y. B. C. memory work for this month. “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt. 7: 1) . “Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy
A T THE C ITY GATE B y A lice M. A rdagh
L ittle P ao C hue was the daughter of the governor o f a province 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 of Western education, and especial ly to learn to speak English. But little Pao Chue learned other things from the missionaries besides the “ foreign” language. She learned of the missionaries’ God; and what she learned about Him opened her childish heart to see that she must not any longer worship the idols to whom her people taught her to pray. She learned that for all the countries of the world there was only one God, the great God who lived in heaven. She told her par ents o f this wonderful discovery, and they were furious. They ordered her to forget all about such wicked teachings and to con tinue to worship the gods of her ancestors. But Pao Chue said, “I cannot, honorable parents. The one and only God says we are not to worship idols I And He is the only One who can protect us from evil and an swer our prayers.” •Poor little Pao Chue was whipped se verely to make her return to the worship o f idols. O f course her parents did not al low her to attend the mission classes any more. But Pao Chue had learned to. love the wonderful Jesus who had died for her, and she could not be a traitor to Him even if they should whip her to death; “ They whipped H im !" she kept saying to herself. “And then they crucified Him I I can easily bear to die for Him.” But the Lord whom Pao Chue had learn ed to love had work for her to do here on earth, and the time soon came for her to do something for Jesus. In some districts o f China, certain lead ers sometimes gather soldiers into an army, hoping to get control of the government in that part of the country. The governor o f that section 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 robbery for a
living. These men are then called bandits. They have no way o f getting even food ex cept by raiding the towns and villages in the valleys. But they do not stop at taking 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 of the city where little Pao Chue lived looked up the moun tain roads from their homes in the valley and saw a horde of mounted men riding down. With-quaking hearts, they realized what was coming upon them. The gov ernor, too, was terrified, for he did not have enough soldiers to protect the city. “What.can we do?” he cried. “We can not hope to defend ourselves I These ban dits have conquered wherever 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 persisted in worshiping was the only One who could save from evil and answer prayers. He ran to her. “Pray tp your God to save us I” he cried. “If He is a God, and as powerful &s you say, beg Him to keep the bandits from entering our city and murdering us! Quick 1 Quick! Ask Him I” And little Pao Chue dropped down on her knees right where ‘§he was and said just these words: “ O God! O dear Lord Jesus 1 They won’t believe You are the great God, the only God, the only One able to do anything for us ! But now You can show them. Lord, nozv is Your chance. Show them! Keep the bandits from com ing in 1” - “ Pao Chue’s prayer was overheard by her father and mother and by all the peo ple who had come running td the gover nor’s house to appeal to him to do some thing to save them from the bandits. By this time the bandits had almost reached the gate of the city, and the people, seeing them rushing toward the entrance, cried out, “You see I He is no God I He cannot keep the bandits out I” And then, with amazement, they saw a strange thing happening. Right in the gate way was a rider and his horse, but the
Courtesy, China’s Millions
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