*
808 porary position both among the Chinese and the English, and go further among the people o f these shores with the W ord of eternal life in my hands, and gradually also on my tongue.” He goes on to explain that he had to choose jl between remaining in Hongkong to carry on this important work because there was no one in sight to take his place, or giving it up for the, to him, far more important work o f “going forward into the field at large, in order at once to attain in a proper man ner the spoken language, and to spread abroad the Gospel o f salvation among these unsaved millions. This latter course I felt it my. duty to adopt, although it is one accompanied by many difficulties and dangers o f different sorts.” His work how lay among the scattered villages. He would send his boat on ahead and join them wherever it was convenient. His method o f work is thus described: “As soon as he reached a village he com menced to read his Bible aloud; say, under the shade o f a tree—soon the villagers began to gather and he explained to them the nature and object o f the Gospel. Usu ally someone would ask him at meal time where he was to eat. And he as usual partook, o f what was set before him by some hospitable villager. As evening approached, someone would offer him a night’s shelter; and thus he often went on from week to week, preaching the Word, and lacking nothing.” He thus describes the message which he brought to the dying multitudes o f China: “ Today I have been out, and have had more encouragement in the aspect o f the people, and also in my ability to communicate to them the great truths, (1) That there is but one true God, His character, etc.; (2) That all men are sinners—-idolaters, etc. ; and (3) That there is a Saviour and only one, Jesus, the Son o f the living God.” WEARS CHINESE .CLOTHING In the cities where the Chinese were accustomed to seeing foreigners in foreign dress Mr. Burns and other Christian work ers held to their own costume, but when he began his work o f evangelizing away
THE KING’S BUSINESS
from the cities, he adopted the Chinese costume because it enabled him to mingle more easily with the people and avoided the unnecessary excitement which the strange - European dress would have aroused. From Hongkong he removed to Canton and later on to Amoy which he reached July S, 1851. In this great city o f over a hundred thousand and with (lit erally) millions within easy reach o f it, he labored for between three and four years still holding to his distinct purpose o f evangelization. It was here, in 1854, that he really began to see some definite results o f his work, j Accompanied by two native evangelists, one o f whom was a converted fortune-teller, and the other a converted soldier, he went on an evangeliz ing tour, stopping first at the market town o f Pechuia, where God was pleased to own his testimony. “When I left Pechuia last Monday it seemed that including young and old there might be about twenty per sons who have declared themselves on the side o f the Gospel, but some o f these are children and two or three are women whom we have not seen—mothers who have received the truth from their sons or hus bands. Among the number o f those who are attached to the Gospel are two whole families o f six members each. The eldest son in one o f these families, a promising youth o f twenty, early showed much deci sion, having on the birthday o f ‘the god o f the furnace’ taken his god and put it in the fire. The idol having been but in part consumed, his mother discovered among the ashes a part o f its head, and the father and mother together beat their gon severely; but some o f the other Pechuia inquirers, having come to comfort the young man and reason with his par ents, their views underwent so sudden and entire a change, that in a day or two after wards they, with their four sons, brought out all their idols and ancestral tablets and publicly destroyed them in the view o f the people. The father I have two or three times met with, and he seems, along with the four sons (an interesting set o f boys), to be in a promising state o f mind.”
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker