Notable Women of Modern ChinaBurton, Margaret E. (Margaret Ernestine)
History
Notable Women of Modern China
Burton, Margaret E. (Margaret Ernestine)
China -- Biography; Women -- Biography
"Is self-supporting work a missionary work? Assuredly yes; for is
not the money thus gained used in giving relief to the poor?... And
if all money received goes again into the work, to increase its
efficiency, why may it not be counted missionary? Part of it is
given as thank-offering by those who are not Christian, and all is
given for value received from Christian effort. Our Lord healed
diseases without money and without price. If we ask, 'What would
Jesus do?' under our existing circumstances, the suggestion comes
to my mind that it would be something different in form, but not in
principle, from what He did in a different land, under far
different circumstances, nineteen hundred and more years ago.
Someone says we are to follow Jesus, not to copy Him; and the
principal thing, it seems to me, would be always to abide in the
Spirit of the Christ, by whatever method we feel constrained to
render our little service."
Although the new step was taken so bravely, it was not an easy one. Some
idea of the courage it required is shown by the doctor's report of her
first year in Nanchang; "The very thought of making a report causes many
poignant memories to rush upon us. With what hesitancy and timidity did we
begin our work in the new field! Knowing our own limitations, it was not
with a light heart that we began the new year. Yet," she was able to add,
"as we toiled on, we could but acknowledge that we were wonderfully led
along 'The Pathway of Faith.'"
Enough money was contributed by the Nanchang people to enable Dr. Kahn to
rent a house in the centre of the city, in which dispensary work could be
carried on, and in which she lived. They also supplied her with a small
stock of drugs with which to begin work, and she treated something over two
thousand patients during the first eight months. The number seemed small
after the work to which she had been accustomed in Kiukiang; but she was
becoming known in the city, and in addition to her patients several of the
women of the city had called on her in a purely social way, many of them
educated women of the official class. Dr. Kahn says of them:
"As the wives and daughters of expectant officials they are
representative of the better class of the whole country, for they
are assembled from every province. It is pleasing to note that
dignity and modesty are often combined with real accomplishment
among them. It is amongst these that there is a marked eagerness to
learn something better. They talk about their country incessantly,
and deplore with real sincerity her present condition, of which
many of them have a fairly good knowledge. To these we tell over
and over again that the only hope of China's regeneration is in her
becoming a Christian nation, and that only the love of Christ can
bring out the best qualities of any people...."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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