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January 20, 1909. THE PRESBYTER.
spreading at home but there is no reason for our friends
to be alarmed about us.
Business in this part of the empire has not been affected
by the changes that have taken place and there
is nj obstacle to mission work other than such obstacles
as we are constantly meeting with. It seems almost a
miracle that God has preserved China through these
thousands of years, when so many other kingdoms have
ri*spn nrifl folio"
la it unrcasonaDie to believe that He
intends to glorify His name by bringing the nation to
recognize that He is the true God, and by bringing
countless thousands of this people to a saving knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ? To that end we are
working and praying. The time is ripe for mission
work along all lines, evangelistic, educational, medical
and literary. I am sure that you will help us by a prayerful
interest in the work. There may be many
changes made which will be helpful to China, but there
can be no real reform until the Gospel takes hold of
the people, the Gospel which alone can change the heart
of man.
I was distressed to see the notice of Mr. Whittet's
death; he will be a great loss to our chui'ch. Hope
Mr. McFaden is quite well again.
With best wishes fqr a happy Christmas, and praying
that God may richly bless you in all your work for him,
I remain,
Yours cordially,
J. Mercer Blain.
A \17 A MT AT" cr?T tj - ~ *
xi vv nn x ur oc<t>rCjL 1 VS. A LAbOK OF
LOVE.
(Continued.)
A missionary teacher, not of our own church, who is
giving out .life and strength in a wasteful way, because
of retrenchments, lately wrote: "The poverty (?) of
the great Presbyterian Church at home makes the
meagreness of our educational equipment in this day
of opportunity almost unbearable."
Shall we continue at our Nanking Seminarv to bo
pensioners upon our Northern brethren? Not one of
you business men would act so in a personal enterprise.
Not one of you active women would so "sponge" upon
another. Suppose one of you business men had gone
(into a partnership and had sent an agent to establish a
branch house in another city, each to put in $6,000
capital. What would you think of yourself if you let
the other partner do all, while you drew your share of
the profit? and when the store rent and taxes were
due, allowed your agent to take what had been provided
for his salary and personal expenses 1 Suppose
one of you good women joined a friend to give a reception
at a club or hotel, each to pay half; and then let
her pay all, while you posed as the generous, hospitable
hostess? These things are incredible. Even so would
be the Nanking situation, if it were not true!
Does some one suggest that he does not approve of the
union part, or joining our good friends from across the
Potomac? But this is already an accomplished fact,
and our own missionaries are there teaching, Dr. Davis
and Mr. Leighton Stuart; and we are leaving them in
[AN OF THE SOUTH. n
the lurch and causing them to "lose face," as the Chinese
say.
Now Dr. Davis has many friends in our Church,
especially among the noble and generous North Carolinians.
Will they not bestir themselves for this work?
Probably no one on the mission field is so widely
known and beloved as Leighton Stuart; suppose all
who arc his friends, all who have received help and inspiration
from him in their Christian life and service,
put hand to this wheel? What a mighty turn would
come to pass! Suppose we try it? Each practice some
real self-denial, giving Nanking Seminary the proceeds.
r)r> if ??? i
V-r IV IIU?> ;
As to not wanting to work with the Northern Church
(alas, that any should so feel!) it would seem that unfriendliness
would make one more than ordinarily punctilious
in a matter of money.
Two brothers, living side by side, fell out. Later a
bridge used by both needed rebuilding, and a contract
was drawn up by which each was to do part. One
brother did his share and more, for he put the bridge
in condition to pass over, though far from finished and
hardly safe for lack of the other's part. Would you
not think the latter would be anxious to do his full
share, lest he be under obligations to the one with
whom he did not want to be friends? "Of two creditors,
let me pay my enemy first."
But there is no question of enmity with two allied
churches; and when we think of John W. Davis and
John Leighton Stuart, and th*? ?
, inc_y arc preparing
to preach Christ, we shall want to do our best to
uphold these brethren beloved in the Lord. Let us
take away the stigma from the Church we love so well,
and restore her self-respect by a labor of love.
Mr. C. B. Stevens, an elder in the Charlottesville, Va.,
church, and one of the State Committee of the Laymen's
Movement, has consented to receive our contributions,
and will publish the receipts in the Church
papers.
Let us hope for a rich man or two (a rich woman will
do finely) with thonsnnrtc *
iuul uciaiea iuna, and
for a multitude of friends with hundreds, scores, tens,
fives, ones, to build his house. Let us pray that God
will open our hearts, and our check books, so that Nanking
may celebrate her Chinese New Year, in February,
rejoicing that when God said to the North, Give up,
and to the South, Keep not back, both alike have
obeyed him! T. K. M.
THE LESSON OF SERVING.
Every human life that fails to hear its message and
learn its lesson, or fails to speak it out, keeping it locked
in the silence of the heart, leaves this earth a little
poorer.
We cannot live unto ourselves. We belong to him.
We are the servants of every man we meet. This is
o-,r privilege, and if we do it unwillingly, it is a duty.
We must use or lose the truth. Our service is the
world's claim on us, but we owe it to ourselves to
serve. The bread we break for men is twice blest, and
ours is the greater blessing.