Chinese Diamonds for the King of KingsGoforth, Rosalind
Religion
Chinese Diamonds for the King of Kings
Goforth, Rosalind
Missions -- China
*Part II. WANG-EE’s NEIGHBORS.*
The great plain of North-Central China stretches for six hundred miles
North and South. The villages are for the most part as thick as the
homesteads in the more thickly populated districts of Western Ontario.
It was while visiting in one of these villages, Ta-kwan-chwang, that the
writer came to know and love the characters sketched here.
First there comes to mind Wang-ee’s aunt, the leading woman of her
class, the one who chaperoned the women’s party on their first visit to
the missionary’s home. She was the first woman to be baptized and was
always for years, till "called Home," the one who most delighted in
extending to us the hospitality of her home.
Then there was Wang-ee’s gentle frail little wife, a striking contrast
to the strong-minded, masterful personality of the aunt. This little
woman seemed to spend her time sitting on a low stool in front of the
great family caldron or pot in which the food was cooked. As she fed
the fire with long, dried corn-stalks she directed her household, her
sons and daughters-in-law, her grand-children, and later even great
grand-children, not in the loud and stormy tones usually heard in
heathen homes, but with a quiet dignity and self-command which often
astonished the writer. What a monotonous life hers was! Day after day,
year after year the same! No summer holidays for her! Was it much
wonder she appeared always like a worn-out, tired-out human machine?
Her faith was the faith of a little child, but she seemed incapable of
fixing her mind on _herself_, so long and systematically had she thought
of others. She, too, has passed on.
Then there comes Mrs. Lee—one of the first to accept Christ. Long
standing eye trouble was fast destroying her eyesight, to save which she
came to the women’s hospital at Changte. Her one earnest request was
that she might be permitted to hold the writer’s hand during the
operation, which was performed without chloroform. When all was over,
she rose and said, "Oh, Jesus was beside me through it all."
Among the first converts in this village were two women, widows of two
brothers. For years these women had never allowed the burning incense
to become extinguished before the family tablets. They were both
earnest devotees of a heathen religious sect. These women accepted
Christ as their Saviour at the same time.
The elder whom we called Sung-ta-sao had a wonderful answer to prayer
early in her Christian life. A young nephew whom she was bringing up as
her own (she was childless) became critically ill with enlarged spleen,
a terribly fatal disease. Hearing of another Christian having had her
child restored to health in answer to prayer when the doctor had
pronounced him past hope, she gave herself to prayer for her nephew who
was completely restored. This proof of the reality and power of God
made a deep impression on the band of young Christians.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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