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December 1928
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
encouragement ought to be given. Even a missionary in China has written to a Christian Journal in America that he had apostatized from the faith in Jesus. I may say that I believe he is a born-again servant of God and that our almighty Saviour will allow no one to pluck him out of His hand. Holding this belief I never ceased to pray for him, not even for a single day. My firm conviction is that many readers of T h e . K ing ' s B u siness are also earnestly upholding this sorely tempted child of God in prayer. On reaching Shanghai recently after summer confer ences in the South, I hurried to Nanking hoping to see the Marshal, but he had left for the North a few hours before I reached there. I, however, saw General Chang Chih Chiang who was commander-in-chief when Marshal Feng was in Russia. That perfect Christian gentleman received me with his usual heartiness. Noticing near the entrance to his reception room a table piled up with his gift Bibles, lliaid, “Praise the Lord, General, you are not ashamed to show your colors. Marshal Feng is perhaps the most spoken against of any man in the world.” I said, “Many say he is not a Christian. What is your opinion, General ?” Without a moment's hesitation he said, “I believe he is a real Christian.” General Chang is chairman on the com mission for the suppression of opium, and Marshal Feng is also a member of the committee. The Secretary of the opium commission is one of the ablest and most widely known pastors in China. He had been in closest contact with Marshal Feng during the month he stayed in Nanking. I asked' his opinion of Mar shal Feng and he said he certainly believed the Marshal tov be a real Christian. Among other proofs he gave what was i|ud by the Marshal at a dinner to which he had invited all the pastors of Nanking. “Brethren, you must not conclude that I am not a Christian because I have no religious teaching in the army like we used to at Peking and elsewhere in other days. Now the army has become very large and I have two Generals who are Mohammed ans and one General who is a zealous Buddhist. In China we stand for freedom of worship and it would be wrong for us to demand uniformity and compel the others to worship as we do. We know that man does not live by bread alone but by the Word of God. I, through my example by word and deed, try to show them what a Chris tian ought to be.” Another earnest Christian who had been with Marshal Feng during part of the campaign in Honan said that on several occasions he had been invited to dine with him and on every occasion the Marshal returned thanks before eating. This does not sound very much like a man who has apostatized. And this Christian said that Marshal Feng assured him that his hope for the regeneration of China was not in the principles of Sun Yat Sen but in the Word of God. Two Nanking missionaries told me that during the time Marshal Feng spent in Nanking he by word and deed showed himself to be the most outstanding Christian in the city.: They said that the Marshal was so outspoken against the proposed lavish expenditure on the new capital and the new road now in process of building for Dr. Sun’s funeral that the spendthrifts could wish him on the other side of creation. His whole plea was for careful ness and economy in view of the great poverty and suffer ing in the land. Surely a man with such a vision and such love for his people has come by it as he looked into the face of Him who died on the cross of Calvary.
Christ would soon return again, they would assume a waiting attitude and cease their activities; and they must be led to think that the world can only be improved by their own efforts. This is merely an argument based on expediency, aris ing from a very short-sighted outlook. Can we suppose that what the Lord reveals to us regarding the future, will; stand in the way of our carrying out His express com mand to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature? There cannot be such inconsistency be tween the teaching of Christ, and His command; and the fault must be on our part in failing to understand what the purpose of God is during this present age, and what He desires to accomplish through His faithful people. T h e G reat I ncentive to E arnestness A very practical reply to this objection is to point out that many among the most earnest in Christian work, have held the belief that Christ would return before long to close this age anilestablish His millennial kingdom. They tell us that the hope-of the return of Christ was one of the greatest incentives of their earnestness. To be lieve all that the Scriptures declare, can never interfere with our Christian usefulness; it is when the Bible is doubted and considered unreliable that zeal is likely to flag. There is a great danger in the neglect of any doctrine which is clearly taught in the Scriptures. It is the neg lected field on the farm where thistlejlpring up and scatter their pernicious seed over the good ground. In the same way, the neglect of the great theme of the coming ..of Christ, and the want Of a Scriptural knowledge on the subject, has left the minds of many in so vacant a condi tion that they are readily misled by distorted views and unfounded prognostications of the future. We are, therefore, led to conclude that the explana tions and exhortations on this subject, throughout the Scriptures, can only become consistent and coherent when we believe that this present age is to end with a great intervention on the part of God, as drastic in its result as the flood or the exodus, even the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, to establish His kingdom upon earth. With this belief, our prayer: “Thy, kingdom come,” becomes intelligent, and in harmony with the eager cry at the very end of the Bible: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”} The admonition to commemorate the Lord’s Sup-. per “till He come,” points us forward likewise to its con summation at the marriage supper of the Lamb. This joyous anticipation was a sustaining force to the early Christians, with their long-sighted faith; and it should become so again, with increasing vividness, to the present generation, when the signs multiply that the end of the age is approaching. ¿ He . a» Concerning Marshal Feng
E have the following interesting letter from Rev. Jonathan Goforth of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission, Szepingkai, Man churia, China, concerning Marshal Feng: Dear Ed itor: No doubt but that readers of T h e
K in g ' s B u siness would like some facts about Marshal Feng Yu hsiang. Many have never ceased to pray for this Christian General, and all facts which might lend
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