Forty Years in South China: The Life of Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D.Fagg, John Gerardus
Religion
Forty Years in South China: The Life of Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D.
Fagg, John Gerardus
Missions -- China; Talmage, John Van Nest, 1819-1892
she expected to maintain herself, and whether she thought she should be
able to earn a living at Amoy. She replied that she trusted in God. If
she could not get as good food as others, she would eat coarser food.
"There is still a goodly number of inquirers at Amoy. In our meeting for
conversation with them to-day; we met with two very affecting cases. They
are lads, the elder being in his seventeenth year, and the younger in his
thirteenth. Their parents and friends bitterly oppose them in their
determination to follow Christ.
"They have been severely beaten. The elder was severely scourged
yesterday. This morning he was again tied up in a very painful manner, and
beaten by his cruel father. He carried the marks of his sufferings on his
arms, which we saw. We were told that he had scars also on other parts of
his body. We trust that they are 'the marks of the Lord Jesus.' A
brother, still younger than themselves, we are told, also worships Jesus.
If they are, indeed, lambs of Christ's flock, the blessed Saviour will take
care of them; but their severe afflictions should call forth much sympathy
and prayer in their behalf.
"The conduct of our church members continues to give us much comfort. They
are not free from faults. They need much careful oversight and exhortation
and instruction. In consequence of this, our cares, anxieties, and labors
must necessarily increase as the converts increase. But if allowance be
made for their limited knowledge, only a short time having elapsed since
the most of them first heard the Gospel, there are probably but few
churches, even in our own beloved country, compared with which the
Christian character of this little flock would suffer. Were it not for the
Christian activity of our members, so many of them abounding in good works,
our operations here would necessarily be confined within much narrower
limits. Almost every one seems to be impressed with the truth, that he or
she is to improve every opportunity to speak a word for Christ. Many of
them are quite effective speakers. The heathen are often astonished to
hear men from the lower walks of life, who previously had not had the
benefit of any education, and are yet perhaps unable to read, speak with
such fluency, and reason with such power concerning the things of God, as
to silence all their adversaries, even though they be men of education."
Speaking of the awakening at Peh-chui-ia, a market-town once under our
care, now under the care of the English Presbyterians, Mr. Talmage
continues:
"We have been specially interested in their lively faith, their praying
spirit, their earnestness in the study of the Holy Scriptures, and, as a
consequence of all this, their joy in the Holy Ghost.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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