THE KING'S BUSINESS
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New Testament; this book has a power that is lacking in all of the other books." This gave the evangelist an opportunity to explain to Mr. Dai what the New Testament really is, and why it has a power all its own. The longer Mr. Dai studied the deeper became his conviction that he had at last found the truth for which he had been seeking so many years. His experience is a beautiful and practical demonstration of the absolute trustworthiness of God's promise-"Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." Jer. 29: 13. Mr. Dai had been in the city for about a month when h e received a let– ter summoning him home because of the serious illness of a sister-in-law. The evangelist was again surprised when his guest packed up his bedding and departed as suddenly as he had ar– rived, not even asking if he might pay his board for the time he had been there. The evangelist thought: "Sure– ly this is a very strange man." After a time a letter came from Mr. Dai say– ing, that his sister-in-law had died and that he desired to have a Christian funeral for her and inviting the evan– gelist to come to his mountain home and conduct the funeral. The evange– list accepted the invitation and on his arrival at the village he found a new surprise awaiting him. here in that mountain village, to his great joy, he met a little company of over twenty bright men of the student class who had been led to faith in Christ through God's blessing on the testimony of Mr. Dai. In due time a little church was organized in that village, a building was rented and fitted . up for a place of worship, and every penny of the ex– penditure was provided by this group of men who had so recently given their hearts to Christ. Here then is a truly indigenous. self– supporting and self-propagating church in one of China's hundreds of thousands of villages, a church established as a result of God's blessing on that copy of "Selected Portions of the Holy Scrip– tures" given out in faith by one of our evangelists. What a glorious privilege it is to have associated with us 130 brave, earnest young men who are giv– ing their lives to this work of taking the spoken and written Word into the far-away country villages of this great land. • The open-heartedness and receptive– ness of all classes of people in China
derful story." He then went on to tell us of the conversion of a Mr. Dai, a man of the student class who over thirty years ago began an earnest search for the Truth. He was a man of some means and determined to travel about and try to find a true religion that would satisfy the longings of his soul. He went to a famous temple near to the top of a lofty mountain and there began the study of Buddhism and for many years he faithfully continued this study, but it utterly failed to bring peace to his heart. About three years 1 ' ago Mr. Dai found a copy of our book, "Selected Portions of the Holy Scrip– tures." This book had been given to another man who took no real interest in it and, after a superficial glance at it, threw it away, but God watched over His Word and brought it into the hands of a man whose heart was prepared to receive it. The book at once gripped Mr. Dai and after a time of earnest study he became convinced that here indeed was the Truth. Mr. Dai's home was in a mountain village about thirty miles from the city of Macheng, where the Swedish Mis– sionary Society has a station, and in his intense desire to know more of this newly discovered religion he wrote a letter to the friends at Macheng and asked if they would permit him to come there to study the Gospel. On receiving an affirmative reply he promptly packed up his clothing and bedding and started for Macheng. After his long tramp down the mountain and across the plain he at last reached the home of the evangelist, went in, intro– duced himself and, to the great sur– prise of the evangelist, asked where he should open up his bedding, saying that in accordance with their correspondence he had come on to make a thorough study of the Gospel. Every bedroom ln the little home of the evangelist was occupied, but with characteristic pres– ence of mind and courtesy he at once made the stranger feel at ease by say– ing: "We will fix up a bed for you right here in my study." As soon as the guest was settled in and they had got– ten closer together over the conven– tional cup of tea the evangelist got down a few carefully chosen books, among them a New Testament, and ad– vised his guest to begin his study with those books. After a few days of dili– gent study Mr. Dai said to his host: "The very best book in the collection Which you have placed before me is this
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