Foochow Overflow Audience of Almost 2000 Students and Merchants Waiting Outside to Hear the Message Repeated.— P aere 18. /A How China’s LeadebI Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Columbia University Libraries https://archive.org/details/howchinasleadersOOeddy How Chinas Leaders Received the Gospel By G. SHERWOOD EDDY THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 124 East Twenty-Eighth Stheet NEW YORK Governor of Fukien Province. GAVE A DINNER FOR ALL HIS OFFICLALS. TO WHOM THE MES- SAGE WAS GIVEN Commissioner of Foreign Affairs IN Chekiang Province, con- verted AND KAPTIZED HOW CHINA’S LEADERS RECEIVED THE GOSPEL During the last half of 1914, a tour was undertaken Tours of through the thirteen principal capital and metropolitan 1913 and 1914 cities of China for an extended evangelistic campaign. Compared In 1913 Dr. Mott and the writer had visited many of the same cities on a similar mission. Then some 4000 non-Christian students and Chinese leaders were brought into Bible classes, and of this number 1300 applied for membership in the churches, being re- ceived by baptism or on probation. During that year the student audiences averaged about 2000 a night. This year interest so heightened that attendance at the main public meetings averaged 3000 and in five cities of the south 4000 a night. A total of more than 18,000 inquirers gave in their names, promising to make a study of the four Gospels with open mind and honest heart and to begin to follow the life and teach- ing of Jesus Christ according to their conscience. About half this number immediately enrolled in Bible classes and are being taught by selected teachers specially prepared in normal courses. It should be understood that this manifestation was Prepared not accidental, but the result of the most careful Ground human organization, combining prayer and pains, faith and work, dependence upon God and human effort. These great meetings represented also long genesis ; a century of missionary seed-sowing lay behind the meetings, without which they would not have been possible. They represented also the indispensable co- operation of practically all the missionaries and Chi- 3 For and By the Churches The Association’s Service Other Guide- posts to the Story nese Christians in the cities where the meetings were held. Indeed, we endeavored to enter no city where the Christian forces were not united in the under- taking. These meetings were not the result of the work of any one man or organization, but were conducted for and by the churches in China. For instance, in Fukien Province practically the entire missionary body and the Chinese Christians worked for months in advance. By prayer and by careful training they prepared Chi- nese leaders as Bible teachers to instruct the inquirers and converts on whom they are now devoting months of patient effort to prepare for entrance into the Church. This measure of cooperation was typical of the other centers. The distinctive services of the Young Men’s Chris- tian Associations locally were intermediary and execu- tive. Two representatives of the national staff in particular made outstanding contributions — Dr. W. E. Taylor by promotion along the three lines of advance preparation in all the cities, of cooperation during the campaigns and of conservation of the results, in short, the coordination of the whole movement ; and Profes- sor C. H. Robertson, who as science lecturer preceding in some cities and joining in others rendered decisive help by breaking down prejudice on the part of offi- cials, gaining access to classes difficult of approach and showing the students of China that there is no contra- diction between true science and true religion. Let it be recognized, too, that there were no easy victories. Nor is the work now finished. Rather it has raised great problems and difficulties which must be faced. The facts indicate, however, a remarkable openness on the part of the leaders of China to give an earnest hearing to the Gospel of Christ. For a century three classes largely have held aloof from Christianity, namely, the officials, the literati (or stu- 4 dents) and the business men of China. To penetrate these powerful groups this campaign was planned. To restrict attendance to these classes men were ad- mitted by ticket only. Our problem was not to reach the 400,000,000 of China but the Republic’s few hun- dred thousand leaders in the great centers. We began in Tientsin the middle of September. On the opening night we made our way down to the great Guild Hall on the modern electric tramway which runs on the site of the former city wall, where as late as the siege of 1900 the Chinese fought to keep out the “for- eign devil” with his hated civilization and religion. Arrived in the Guild Hall, we found 2000 students crowding every seat and several hundred turned away from the doors. Meetings were also held for women students. On the last day a total of over 1000 inquir- ers expressed their desire to join Bible classes in order to make a study of the four Gospels and an honest investigation of Christianity. By November, 120 Bible study groups were solidly under way. Last year after the meetings in this city, 500 of these Confucian stu- dents had enrolled in Bible classes conducted among the students of every one of the fourteen government colleges and higher institutions in Tientsin; and later over 200 of them were received by the churches either by baptism or as probationers requesting admission to the Church. The next week was filled with meetings in the old conservative capital of Peking. We entered the city with a sinking heart, “in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” A great door and effectual was opened unto us, but there were many adversaries. We gave ourselves to prayer and God answered in a marvelous manner. President Yuan Shih Kai received us and expressed deep interest in the meetings. He is liberally contributing every year to the national work of the Young Men’s Christian Association. The Vice- Tientsin— Gateway City Peking:, Seat of Power 5 Spirit of 1900 Contrasted Three Thousand Students and Gentry in one of Shanghai's Modern Theaters President of the Republic, General Li Yuan Hung, whom I had known last year as Governor at Wuchang, gave us a special luncheon and requested us to address his family and guests. We presented to him Chris- tianity as the hope of China. The sympathetic and cordial cooperation of the officials and students was in striking contrast to their attitude in the bloody persecution of 1900. The Min- istry of the Interior, at their own suggestion, granted us a site for a pavilion for the meetings, within the Forbidden City itself, just in front of the Imperial 6 Palace, where today resides the little boy Emperor who abdicated the Manchu throne, and where the Dowager Empress ruled with an iron hand and guided the Boxer Uprising to its terrible conclusion. It is the first time in history that Christian meetings have been allowed within this sacred precinct. The Minis- try suggested that we place this pavilion near the sacred altar where the Emperor annually worshiped the “Spirits of the Land.” It seemed of strange sig- nificance that near the spot where the Emperor prayed to an “unknown God” for fruitful harvests for his people, we should have the priceless privilege of pro- claiming God as Eather and Jesus Christ as Saviour at the beginning of this great spiritual harvest among the students and leaders of China. While the Ministry of the Interior gave us the site, the Ministry of War granted 200 tents from the army to make the structure rain-proof. The Minister of Education granted a half- holiday to all the government students in Peking to enable them to attend the opening meeting. On the opening day, 4000 students crowded the hall and listened with earnest attention. They interrupted almost every paragraph with enthusiastic applause. After hard hitting on moral issues, however, the audi- ence on the second day was reduced to a little less than 3000, as we spoke on the sins which are undermining China’s individual and national life. On the third night we spoke for over an hour on Jesus Christ, the only Hope of China. More than 1000 men signed cards as inquirers to join Bible classes from more than a score of colleges in the city. A meeting was also held in another part of the city attended by 1700 of the gentry and business men. The Board of Trade asked for 300 reserved seats at this meeting. Three hundred and fifty of these men indicated their desire to join Bible classes. Hundreds of the 20,000 men Hundreds Refused Tickets 7 Eminent Inquirers One Hundred Newspapers Enlisted who had attended Professor Robertson’s science lec- tures the week before had to be refused tickets for the evangelistic meetings in order to concentrate on picked audiences of students and officials. Last year, with far less preparation, of 500 non-Christians en- rolled in the Peking Bible classes, more than 150 were received by the churches. The visible, direct results this year will be far greater. The response of Chinese officials and leaders is the more notable here in the capital city, long the most conservative center of China. At one meeting held for inquirers who were deemed near the point of decision for the Christian life I recognized a former Governor, two generals, a private secretary to the President, the director of China’s national bank, other prominent officials, and a young non-Christian philanthropist who within a year has given $12,000 Mexican to Christian work, and is providing free education for several hun- dred students and distributing the Bible to hundreds in the capital. In addition to the 14,000 who attended the evangelis- tic meetings in Peking, the message w'as extended to thousands of readers by the twelve Chinese news- papers of the city which published the reports of the lectures. Many of them are continuing a series of articles on Christianity. Over 100 newspapers in China are thus cooperating in this Christian campaign. Nearly 200 Chinese Christian young men were nor- mally trained in advance to lead the Peking Bible classes in conserving the results of the meetings. Preaching places in twelve parts of the city were arranged, offering special Sunday evening meetings for the inquirers to relate them to the churches. All the Christian forces of the city continue united in splendid support of the movement planned and carried forward under the auspices of all the churches in the city. 8 We next visited Changsha, the capital of Hunan in Inland China, long the most bigoted of the provinces. I remember some twenty years ago writing a little pamphlet on “The Supreme Decision of the Christian Student,” appealing for volunteers to enter unoccu- pied Hunan, which then had over 20,000,000 people without a single missionary or Christian. As we left the steamer and entered the great gates of the ancient walled city, we saw the posters announcing the evan- gelistic meetings on the very notice boards where a few years ago hung commandments to kill “foreign devils who had come to make medicine out of the eyes of their kidnaped children.” Here fourteen, or even four, years ago we would have been driven out by angry mobs, but what a change today ! As we came to the opening meeting, there was a young missionary acting as gate-keeper who had first entered the city on Thanksgiving Day, 1898. Driven out himself from the city gate by the officials, he had come back a week later by another gate, only again to be forced out and driven down the river. The next year when he re- turned, he was again attacked by the crowd, swung by his queue, beaten and driven from the city by an angry mob, shouting, “Kill the foreigner.” At the meetings this year he opened the gate of the meeting to let in the throngs of modern students who almost fought to get tickets of admission to hear the message of Christianity. The meetings were held in a great pavilion erected near the Confucian temple, in the grounds granted by the Governor himself. Three thousand students were admitted by ticket, the Governor’s band attended and the Governor’s hearty message of greeting in approval of the meetings was read to the students by the leading government college president in the chair. At the close of the meeting, the band played “God be with you till we meet again.” We came to the city in answer to a Long:-Big;oted Hunan 9 Plain Speaking Message Reenforced by Interpretation telegram from fifteen Confucian principals of schools and colleges, .inviting us to address their students. I shall never forget the scene on the second day. After plain speaking on the bribery, graft and dis- honesty of the officials and merchants, and the immo- rality of students, as the cause of China’s present weakness, we had expected a falling off in the attend- ance. Nearly half an hour before the time of the lecture, however, the doors had to be closed. Over 3000 students were crowded into the hall, and 500 were gathered outside in an overflow meeting ad- dressed by one of the missionaries. The question in every heart was, “What can save our country?’’ Our subject on this day was, “The Hope of China.” We asked the students if they had anything that could save their country and make honest officials, merchants and students, but they were silent. For an hour we laid before them the claims of Jesus Christ in the appeal of His teaching to the mind, the appeal of His character to the heart, the offer of His power for the will. A\'e tried to show that He is able also to solve the social problems, to meet the test of universality in a Gospel valid for all men, and to give the dynamic of progress which China needs today, in that He brings us to God, the ultimate power of the universe. Some 800 of these men game out the next day, in spite of the rain and the distractions of a Chinese feast day, to be assigned to Bible classes. As typical of the change wrought in this city and province in one short decade was our interpreter, Mr. Nieh, who stood out as a striking object lesson before the students. He was a member of the leading family of the city. His father had been Governor of four provinces in China. His uncle. Marquis Tseng, was China’s Minister to England, France, Germany and Russia. His grandfather was Tseng Kuo Fan, China’s greatest statesman of the century. Four years ago he 10 was a young Confucian atheist. He had hated Chris- tianity for the heavy indemnities which his people had been made to pay when Roman Catholic Christians had been injured. When his father, the aged Gov- ernor, was lying at the point of death, he sent for Dr. Hume of the Yale Hospital, who had quietly become his friend in spite of the fact that the young man always refused to speak of religion. As he saw Dr. Hume kneel at his father’s bedside and pray, he was deeply moved. Finally, after some days, he said to Dr. Hume, “It is too late to save my father, but I want you to kneel and pray for me here by my father’s bedside.” When Hunan seceded last year, this young man Wuchang, went with a Red Cross corps to the front. Taken for Storm Center a spy, he was arrested and thrown into prison at of Revolution Wuchang. Four of his fellow prisoners were be- headed. There, face to face with death without trial, he turned to God, and for the first time in his life prayed to his Heavenly Father. Instantly a strange peace seemed to fill his heart and in a moment he knew that there was a God and that He had heard his prayer. After his release from prison, he was baptized last Christmas Day, but was so weak that he felt he could not make 100 Christians in the little chapel hear his feeble testimony. He stood in the great pavilion and swept that throng of students with his burning words, boldly testifying to Jesus Christ as his own Saviour and the only hope of China. We spent ten days in three great cities of the Yangtze Valley. /^In Wuchang, the situation fairly bristled with difficulties. On the opening night it rained, yet more than 1000 students came out and sat for an hour in the rain with their umbrellas up. I had to speak with the rain on my face or dripping down my neck. But the earnestness of the students was such that they remained to the end in spite of 11 Mr. Xieh. Sox of Governor of Four Provinces, Converted Confvcian Atheist, Interpreter, AND Mr. Eddy every obstacle. : The next day it rained all day, yet that night 1500 sTudents came out through the mud and listened earnestly as we spoke on sin. On the third night 2500 students filled the great pavilion. After speaking for an hour on Christ as the only Saviour more than 2000 remained to an after-meeting and 400 enrolled themselves as desiring to join Bible classes to search the Scriptures. Last year some of the officials in the city were op- posed to all public meetings because of the unsettled political conditions. Wuchang, in fact, is the storm- center of revolutionary Young China. The officials are always afraid of trouble. Last year they would not even let us look in at the great Heroes’ Temple of the city, where the Emperor was worshiped under the old regime. The Military Governor, after hearing of our work from the Vice-President of the Republic, General Li Yuan Hung, who entertained us in Peking, erected at his own expense a pavilion in this temple to seat several thousand students, put in an electric light equipment, telephone service, and provided tea for all guests. The Civil Governor granted leave for the stu- dents to attend the meetings. We next went to beautiful Hangchow, a former capital of China, the southern center of classic culture and conservatism, which so long excluded the mission- ary and scorned the Gospel. Arrived in the city, we hastened to the modern theater where the meetings were to be held. The Confucian owners had granted the theater for three afternoons, canceling an impor- tant theatrical engagement and refusing to take the several hundred dollars a day which was the usual rental. Inside the theater we found 2500 students, while outside 2000 more were standing patiently for an hour, waiting their turn to get in. After delivering our message to the first audience, the theater was emptied and filled again to overflowing, while the ad- Hangchow's Duplicate Audiences 13 Entire Student Body Hear A Governor’s Dinner dress was repeated. The ^Military Governor, who was to have taken the chair, at the last moment was com- pelled to send his representative to open the meeting for him. After we had spoken frankly on the desper- ate need of China, the graft, corruption and moral destitution of the country, we expected a smaller audi- ence on the second day. On our arrival at the theater, however, we found it filled with 2500 students and the doors closed. Two thousand men were again kept standing in the street for over an hour awaiting the second sittings. These figures mean that the whole student body of the city, numbering 4000, came out to the meetings, and in addition the officials and leaders of education and of trade. The Civil Governor granted a half-holi- day to the students for three successive days, and on the second day his representative took the chair. After we had spoken on Jesus Christ, an opportunity was given for those who wished to join Bible classes to do so. More than 1000 students enrolled themselves as inquirers. Four years ago, immediately after the meetings, the principals and teachers of the govern- ment colleges had forbidden the attendance of the students at Bible classes and opposed our work. This year these same principals invited us to a banquet, thanked us for helping them in their work for the stu- dents, and received cordially an address in which we asked for the opening of the government schools to voluntary Bible classes. Our interpreter in Changsha was Mr. C. T. M'ang, the young Christian statesman of China, formerly a member of President Yuan’s Cabinet and Vice-President of the National Senate. He is now' National Secretary of the Young Men’s Christian Association wdth Mr. F. S. Brockman. On the second night, the Military Governor, the . Civil Governor and the officials of the province invited us to a banquet. After dinner, the Governor requested 14 me to address them. I showed them a series of charts which revealed the economic destitution of China com- pared with other countries and which plainly showed the moral bankruptcy of the nation. I then spoke of , Christ as the only hope of China. I quoted the instance of Sergius Paulus, the Roman Governor, who believed when the Gospel was presented to him. I shall never forget the scene. It was a privilege of a lifetime to present the message of Christ’s Gospel to these rulers of the most progressive province of China. Two men stood out as leaders in that group. There Two Leaders was the young Governor, less than thirty-five years of age, a soldier in the revolution, now a general and the ruler of 17,000,000 in this enlightened province. Beside him sat his young Secretary of State, Mr. S. T. Wen. A few years ago this young man was a Confu- cianist, knowing little of Christianity. With the Gov- ernor, he was one of the leaders of the revolution which made China a Republic. Three years ago he came to the province to act as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Secretary of State. In 1913 he came to Shanghai as the Governor’s representative to attend a banquet tendered Dr. Mott and myself and to re- quest a modern Young Men’s Christian Association building for the city of Hangchow. Immediately on his return, at his recommendation, the Governor gave a splendid lot, covering two and a half acres of the most valuable land in the center of the Manchu city. Side by side, the young Governor and his Secretary of State carried on the great fight against opium, until recently they celebrated the absolute prohibition and cessation of this evil in their province. After I had stated the claims of Christianity, while Secretary of my interpreter was speaking with the Governor, I went State Baptized over to the Secretary of State and said to him : “The Ethiopian said to Philip after he had heard the Gos- pel, ‘What doth hinder me to be baptized?’ I ask you. 15 THE FIRST PEKIN'G AUD1EN:CE-4000 GOVERN 1= MINISTER OF INTERIOR INSIDE THE FORBIDDEN CITY, PEKING STUDENTS AND OFFICIALS IN THE PAVILION Will you become a Christian?” He said, “I will.” “When will you receive baptism and join the Church?” I asked him. “Next Sunday,” was his prompt re- sponse. On the following day this fearless man took the chair at the meeting and stated publicly that he had decided to become a Christian. Even the non- Christian students broke out into applause when he made this bold statement. On the following Sunday he was baptized. On the same day, fulfilling the re- quest of President Yuan Shih Kai for a day of prayer for peace, the Governor and the Secretary of State ordered prayer for the peace of Europe and the world to be offered in all the cities of his province. Truly the Kingdom is coming in China. To Foochow Vs. Leaving Hangchow, we made our way down the Invited by the southern coast to Eoochow, the “city of joy.” We Governor went to the province of Fukien in response to a tele- gram of invitation received months before from the Governor, the Chamber of Commerce, the Minister of Education and the Confucian principals of the gov- ernment colleges. On the morning the meetings were to begin, I visited the quiet cemetery where the mis- sionary martyrs of Foochow lie buried. I stood be- side the eleven graves of those who were mobbed, torn limb from limb and hacked to pieces less than twenty years ago, and then went to the Guild Hall for the meetings. Two thousand Confucian students and young men were crowding every seat in the hall, and almost an equal number were standing outside in an overflow meeting, waiting to hear the message re- peated. Sitting on the platform was the aged Arch- deacon Y'olfe. When he arrived in China fifty-two years ago, there were but four Christians in this part of the Empire. He himself was driven out of the city. Now practically every student in the city attended the meetings, as well as the leaders of every section of the community. On the second day, the 18 hall was again twice filled, and 600 students and others enrolled themselves as inquirers to join Bible classes to study the four Gospels. On five successive nights we were given a Chinese feast by the various classes of the community. First the Governor and all his officials invited us to dinner and requested us to address them. We were able to speak on Christianity and to present the Governor and General with copies of the Bible. One of the leading officials decided for Christ, to be baptized within two months. Although some 300 were received into the churches after the meetings last year, marking them avowedly Christian, the Governor sent a letter to each magistrate of the twelve other cities of the province announcing the speakers and dates of the province- wide meetings, and requesting all the officials to co- operate. Some forty educators and college principals with the Minister of Education entertained on another evening and said to us in an address : “Confucianism alone cannot save China. We need the moral dynamic and principle of progress which Christianity can give. Christianity has long appealed to the lower classes, but has not the time now come for you to appeal to the leaders and educated men of the nation?” Several of these college principals expressed a desire to study the life of Christ and a number offered us the privilege of opening Bible classes in the government colleges themselves. The Chamber of Commerce invited us to address them on two successive evenings. A few years ago there was no Chamber here and the men as indi- viduals were strongly hostile to Christianity. But the most significant development of this year was the new departure in organizing from this city a province-wide campaign to carry the message of Chris- tianity to all parts of Fukien with its 11,000,000 inhab- itants. Three hundred and fifty Chinese workers, including the strongest leaders from ten neighboring A New Standard of Open- Mindedness Province-wide 19 Amoy Taotai Issued Proclamation cities, were gathered in Foochow for a week of special training in preparation for the campaigns in their own cities. Some of them traveled for ten days, a distance of 300 miles by boat or on foot, to attend the meetings. The poor Christians of the province raised $4000 toward the cost of the undertaking. Five science lec- turers, trained and equipped by Professor Robertson of the Lecture Department of the Association, with five Chinese evangelists who had attended the training con- ference, then went out two by two to the twelve sec- ondary cities of the province. In each of these cities the officials cooperated, offering Guild Halls, govern- ment buildings, theaters, and in one case part of a Confucian temple for the housing of the evangelistic meetings. The gentry and leading non-Christians of the whole countryside were invited into the cities, together with the local students and officials to hear the Christian message. After a few weeks of meetings in these cities, which in turn called in the Christian workers and representatives of the outlying districts and villages, the campaign was carried on to the utmost limits of the province. The audiences in the first line of secondary cities totaled 81,191. The number of inquirers already reported from Fukien much exceeds that for all China in the 1913 effort. After leaving Foochow we spent the next four days in Amoy, the rich port city in the south of the province. Before our arrival the Taotai or chief offi- cial, had sent out a proclamation to the men of the city and a message to the officials of the other cities of his district, endorsing the meetings. No tickets were dis- tributed because the demand was so great. In order to gain admission to the meetings some 8000 leading men came to the Young Men’s Christian Association building in person and wrote out an application for tickets. Hundreds had to be refused. A luncheon was given by the leading officials as soon as we arrived in 20 Fukiem Province-wide Campaign— Thirteen Central and 200 Smaller Cities— 9230 Inquirers 21 Three Thousand Sit through Rain the city. At this, addresses of welcome were given by the Lieutenant-Governor, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, representatives of the gentry, officials. Cham- ber of Commerce and educators, and the American Consul. A special meeting of the officials of the city was held at which I presented Christianity as the only solution for China’s desperate need. On the opening day of the public meetings, more than 5000 filled the mat-shed which had been tempora- rily erected in an open square of the city. I showed from charts the material bankruptcy of China due to her moral bankruptcy. Feeling was so deep that some of the men were in tears. I spoke so strongly against graft and corruption in official and business life that I was not sure they would receive it. The attendance on the second night, however, was even more remark- able. It was raining and we were expecting that the meeting would be postponed, as Chinese do not come out in their silk garments and cloth shoes on a rainy night. Upon arrival at the hall, we found that men had taken off their undergarments to wipe off the wet seats and sit upon these garments. The rain kept coming through the porous mat-shed, but in spite of this, 3000 men sat for an hour as we spoke on sin, endeavoring to drive home conviction on dishonesty, gambling and impurity, the besetting sins of the city. On the third night, 4000 men came. When it was asked how many were ready to become earnest inquir- ers and to join Bible classes, some 1200 non-Christian men gave in their names. Side by side were million- aires, students, officials and business men. The chair was taken at the various meetings by the Lieutenant-Governor, the District Magistrate, the Min- ister for Foreign Affairs and the representative of the gentry. During the week, a total of 12,000 attended Professor Robertson’s science lectures and more than 13,000 the evangelistic meetings. During each day a 22 training conference was held in Amoy as in Foochow, for 300 Christian workers, including all the native pastors of the district. After attending the evangel- istic meetings and the conference, these men went back to the cities and towns of the whole district to carry on similar meetings as part of the Fukien province-wide campaign. Following the evangelistic meetings a campaign of social service in education, sanitation and moral re- form, is to be conducted throughout the province. The section on sanitation was placed in charge of the missionary doctors and hospitals of the province. Some sixty per cent of the children of China die be- fore they are two years old. Plague, cholera, small- pox and other diseases sweep away numbers who could be saved by scientific sanitation. We aim not only at the saving of individuals but at the bringing in of the Kingdom of God and the establishment of a new social order in this long stagnant and once changeless empire. We began in the far south at Hongkong. It is sig- nificant to note the growth of the evangelistic move- ment as measured by the attendance on our last four visits to Hongkong: these have been respectively 300, 600, 1500 and 4000 a night. The large native theater which had been reserved for the meetings was filled each night three times in succession, compelling us to repeat each address many times in order to reach the crowd attending the meetings. On the second night when inquirers were called for, over 600 non-Christian men signed cards and have been enrolled in Bible classes. Separate meetings were held in the various colleges, in each of which a number of non-Christian students decided to enter the Christian life. It is a striking fact that in all the meetings held throughout China this year, there has been an instant and large response whenever inquirers were called for to join For a Better Social Order Hongkong Triple Audience Each Night 23 Canton Victory Through Disaster Students Join the Church Bible classes, or students longer in contact with Chris- tianity were asked to make the final decision to enter the Christian life. In Canton we faced the most difficult situation of the entire tour. The so-called third revolution had begun, bombs were being thrown in the streets, the President had proclaimed martial law and the Gov- ernor was forced to forbid all public meetings of every description in the city. The mat-shed which had been erected to hold 4000 students had to be torn down unused. Owing to the present political unrest, and the recent attempt to revive Confucianism in the city, we feared that it would be impossible to do anything in the way of Christian meetings. We were surprised, however, to find that the Governor had called together all the leading college principals and teachers of the city to confer with us. After addressing these men for an hour, they invited us to a banquet, and later asked us to address their Educational Association. For the first time the leading colleges of the city opened their doors for meetings. I had the privilege of addressing the 700 students of the great Normal School which is training the future teachers of this province ; also the 700 students of the principal Law School and other institutions. In spite of the political restrictions, we were able to hold two meetings for non-Christians in a church. It was crowded with a picked audience of 1300 men. Five hundred and thirty of the non-Christians present immediately entered Bible classes as inquirers. One hundred and fifty non-Christian students decided to begin the Christian life, including sixty medical stu- dents. One college principal writes : “We are full to overflowing with joy. On Sunday we received into the Church forty-two students and sixteen others. I have never seen anything like it in this school.” Even more important was the training conference for Chris- 24 Special Meeting for Governor and Officials of Fukien Province tian workers. We found gathered there 1000 Chris- tians and workers of all denominations, including 150 from outlying cities and towns who had come in to attend this training conference in preparation for a province-wide campaign next year for Kwangtung, which numbers 37,000,000 inhabitants. In Shanghai meetings were held for a week in the Shanghai— various colleges and the largest theater. One meeting Boys by was announced for boys at three o’clock in the after- Thousands noon. Two hours before the time a messenger came running to say the theater was filling rapidly. On arrival we found 4800 boys between twelve and eight- een years of age, 3000 being in the theater and the others in an overflow meeting in a neighboring church, until they could be admitted to a second meeting in the 25 Nanking: Opens with Governor Present Leadership Yielded to Abler Hen theater. A letter just received reports many of them organized in Bible classes and twelve boys already baptized. The last city of the tour was Nanking, an ancient capital of China. Here, as in Canton, there were many adverse circumstances. The officials, however, coop- erated in arranging for the meetings in a remarkable way. The Governor had granted the large Exposition Theater and the use of the city railway to carry' all students and officials to and from the meetings free of charge. As we drove out to the first meeting, we found the roads lined with troops for three miles, in honor of the Governor’s presence at the opening meet- ing. As soon as the Civil and Military Governors arrived, we began with an audience of 2000 inside the theater, while an equal number of students were kept standing for an hour in an overflow meeting, listening to Professor Robertson’s scientific lecture until their turn came to be admitted to the evangelistic meeting. On the second day', likewise, over 4000 again attended. The Governor’s wife took the chair at my wife’s open- ing meeting, attended by some 3000 of the leading women of the city, including the wives of the officials. On the first day we showed that China’s present material bankruptcy is due to her moral bankruptcy, while on the second we showed that Christianity offers the only hope for China in the future. On the last day, after speaking for three days with a sore throat, I was forced to stop at the end of five months of almost con- tinuous work in China. Two men carried the meet- ings to a successful conclusion, far better than I could have done. These were Mr. C. T. Wang, the former \’ice-President of the Senate, who had been our inter- preter throughout the meetings, and !Mr. M’en, the Secretary of State of Chekiang Province, baptized during our meetings in Hangchow. It was a signifi- cant fact that the man who completed the meetings 26 was himself a new convert of only a few weeks’ Christian ex- perience. Let me now gather An Effort to up a few outstanding Analyze facts from this tour of five months in China. First is the remarkable attendance, which is an index of the pres- ent evangelistic oppor- tunity among the stu- dents and official classes of China. The total attendance for last year at the evan- gelistic meetings was 78,230 ; this year it was more than double that number. While last year there were 7000 inquirers, this year there were over 18,000, Fukien Province alone reporting 9230. Foo- chow reports the first fifty non-Christian stu- dents already baptized ; Canton over seventy. A Buddhist priest from Amoy has sent me his sacred robes, bell and drum, with his Budd- Salt Commissioner, a Foremost SCriptureS and haS Official of Fukien Province, Con- bcCOmc a Christian VERTED During Ca.mpaign after fifteen years of 27 Official Attitude Beyond Precedent The Method and Spirit Contagious fruitless search for peace in a Buddhist monas- tery. A second noteworthy feature is the remarkable co- operation on the part of the officials of China. From the President down, the leading officials received us with great cordiality, hospitality and openness of mind. The Vice-President and the Governors of the prov- inces we visited entertained us and requested us to address them, affording the privilege of bringing pub- licly before many of them for the first time the claims of Christ, and the opportunity to present Christianity as the only adequate solution for China’s crucial prob- lems. These officials in some cases took the chair at meetings, erected pavilions for the evangelistic meet- ings, or sent proclamations through their city or province with favorable announcements of the meet- ings. They for the first time as a class gave earnest attention to the public presentation of Jesus Christ and His Gospel, and by their remarkable openness of mind, threw open to us not only the official classes but the students and leaders of China for a great evangelistic forward movement. Thirdly, the development of the new province-wide campaign will make possible the reaching in time of the remotest country districts of Inland China. We have now proved the success of this method of train- ing the Christian leaders of a province, sending out the workers two by two to visit the secondary cities and from these in turn carrying the Christian message to the outlying towns and villages. In each of the thirteen cities of Fukien, the results were beyond our highest expectation. In some towns the mayor, with nearly all the leading officials and government teachers of the city, joined Bible classes and became inquirers after the meetings. Already other provinces are de- manding similar campaigns for the next year. 28 After 4000 years of preparation and 100 years of A Determining; missions, the doors are thrown wide open in China for Decade reaching the officials, the educators, the students and the leaders of a nation that number one quarter of the human race. Already there are signs of the beginning of a Confucian revival which indicate that this oppor- tunity will not be prolonged indefinitely. We must press our advantage immediately in the length and breadth of the Chinese Republic. To call for retreat, retrenchment, or the closing of work at a time when China is thus open would be disastrous beyond com- putation. Rather we must advance. Succeeding cen- turies may not bring back the opportunity of this dec- ade. As the former Vice-President of the Senate said after visiting these cities, “Give us a decade and we can have the leaders of China for Christ.” iAs we go to press, a report has been received from Dr. W. E. Taylor of Shanghai, national director of the efficient follow-up work, which shows that the total attendance at the evangelistic meetings alone was over 200,000 ; that more than 18,000 were enrolled as inquirers ; that some 10,000 have entered Bible classes ; and that every mail registers men being received into the Churches. 29 FOREIGN WORK LITERATURE HOW CHINA S LEADERS RECEIVED THE GOSPEL. By Sherzvood Eddy. Prepaid, per hundred, S3.00: dozen, 50 cent.s: 5 cents each. A WORLD ADVENTURE IN STUDENT BROTHERHOOD. By E. T. Colton. 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This 16-page manual for employed officers and committeemen analyzes and records the experi- ence of those Associations which are successfully educating and enlisting supporters of a liberal and growing foreign work policy. Prepaid, per hundred, $3.00: dozen, 50 cents; 5 cents each. .MEMBERSHIP SUPPORT FOR A FOREIGN POST-HOW ONE ASSO- CIATION GAINS AND HOLDS IT. By E. Graham Witson. The story of achievement by West Side. New York, extending over a sufficient term of years to attach to it a value compelling attention. Prepaid, per hundred, $2.00; dozen, 25c; single copies gratis. FOREIGN MAIL ANNUAL. 1914. An annual review of the Foreign Work. Prepaid, per hundred $10.00; dozen, $2.00; 20 cent.s each. FOREIGN MAIL. A bi-monthly periodical of 32 pages, illustrated. An- nual subscription 25 cents; in clubs of ten or more 15 cents each. ORDER FROM The Foreign Department, The International Committee 124 East 28th Street, New York City 41