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April 21, 1909. THI
among the members. Hence if these
meetings could effect a spiritual cleansing
nothing could be more valuable for
our work.
A large mat shed was erected upon the
catupus of the Methodist University
capable of seating some 1,400 people.
There were delegations of missionaries
native helpers and others from various
cities nearby. From the first the meetings
were well attended, in the mornings
the tent being about four-fifths filled, in
the afternoon crowded, and entrance was
by tickets carefully examined. There
were two services daily from ten till
noon or after, and three till five or six.
Mr. Goforth began by telling quite
simply of his experience in Manchuria
and elsewhere and what he had seenTn
Korea. Before and after preaching
opportunity was given for prayer and
many led, but with more or less of a
stereotyped and formal tone. Then the
services dealt with such subjects as the
hindrance sin always is to the presence
and power of God's Spirit, the need for
revival and other practical themes, all
treated in a very quiet and strikingly
simple unsensational manner. Gradually
men uegan 10 maae coniessions 'jui
chieily of a general nature or of _?ngs
that cost little in the telling. One.
voting man from Tsing-kiang-pu rushed
up to the platform and with much
emotion confessed to inconsistency and
deadness. Occasionally others did the
same. But we who had been hoping for
such scenes as had taken place elsewhere
were far from satisfied, and more or less
sceptical. Some of us had been in an
attitude of mind which hoped for such a
revelation of power but scarcely dared
expect it, and calmly though with intensest
interest watched the progress. At
the daily prayer meeting held by the
foreigners after the afternoon service one
could study the register of * faith and
hops. Thursday, the sixth day the missionaries
were *in anguish. I never understood
so well what it meant to "agonize
in prayer." They blamed themselves for
the apparent failure, they simply pleaded
with God. They confessed to their own
lack of faith and love and effort. In
groups or singly they, and doubtless many
Chinese too, continue the intercession.
Friday morning the answer came.
Before Mr. Goforth had preached it
began?where so much else does that is
good?among the women who were all
nn one side. It seemed that the whole of
their side of the tent was weeping. Amid
tne general sobbing one and another,
often several togetner, arose and prayed
v or confessed to sin. That afternoon it
spread among the men with very much
'he same effect. Saturday morning was
probably the mcst remarkable experience
?f all. As soon as the hour came one
after anotner from the already crowded
tent prayed or confessed, many rising
at their seats, with an increasing
tendency to go to the platform and make
a statement, then leading in prayer or
asking some one to pray for them. Mr.
tloforth was not allowed to preach. This
lasted for three solid hours. It continued
all afternoon, and again there was no
preaching. The platform would often be
full of penitents waiting their turn. By
Sunday morning and afternoon It had
^ ecome much easier to do this, almost
f e thing to do," and som6 confessed
? PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU'
with no other apparent reason. But all
througn this last day there were many
who were evidently doing so because of
an irresistible influence.
Saturday several missionaries confessed
to sins of temper, lack of faith,
unloving treatment of the Chinese and
other faults the statement, of which before
such an audience was no easy ordeal.
Sunday morning and afternoon Mr. Goforth
stopped the confessions long
enough to preach short and appropriate
words of warning and encouragement.
But when he had finished in the afternoon
the confessions continued long after
dark and on until nine o'clock, a large
part of the great audience waiting
until the end.
Earlier in the afternoon he had asked
the whole audience to rise and pray for
the Emperor and his father, the expelled
or faithless native helpers and members,
the whole "Eighteen Provinces" ot
China proper, and Mr. Goforth's next
appointment in Pekin, the capital.
One rarely hears such a volume of
prayer nor with such evident earnestness
(the Chinese almost always pitay
aud.bly). and it simply thrilled us. Then
all united in singing the simple hymn for
children and beginning "Jesus loves me
this I know."
There was no suggestion from the
platform that at this time such confessions
should be made. Still less was
there any sensational method of any kind.
Some were undoubtedly playing to the
foreigners of the audience and were
wholly or in nart hvnocritical. Some
were perhaps vaguely suspicious that
this was expected of them. More were
doubtless acting under emotion or contagious
enthusiasm. Some of the confessions
were of the kind that appeared
to cover the greater by telling the
lesser sins. Others were mere platitudes
or generalities that no one minds admitting.
But making amplest allowance for
all these there was a residuum that to us
cannot De explained in other way tnan a
mighty divine influence. One elderly
native pastor whose knowledge of
Chinese human nature has tended to
make him pessimistic and whose pastoral
experience has been most dispiriting
came to the meetings with little
sympathy and no expectations. He says
that at the very least there were oneforth
of the confessions which were
absolutely above suspicion and to be
accounted for in no other way. A
heathen Confucianist who attended regularly
and is now convinced that Christianity
is true, says fully half of those
whom he knew?and he knew nearly all
the local people*-were unquestionably
sincere, and tae tone of all was about in
this proportion. He added that what officials
could by no torture have extracted
xnese unrisuans admitted in public. These
two testimonies are the most conservative
and unprejudiced we have heard.
Of those who confessed from the
platform there were about 300. wjiile
those In the audience could not have
been reckoned. To those who know the
Chinese and their emphasis on "face"
this meeting is all the more phenomenal.
It would be impossible to recount the
nature of the confessions. Some had
broken every commandment in the
Decalogue, especially as to murderous or
hateful thoughts and actual transgres*4'
TH. 17
s:on of the remaining four commandments,
including even two women who
had violated tue seventh. in some
cases the admissions were made with
intense agony, in others there had been
a deliberate intention carried out with
perfect self-control. The young man
from Tsing-kiang-pu confessed four or
five times before he could finally tell
the real thing that haunted him, that
he belonged to a secret gang of saltsmugglers
the badge of which he tore
from him and threw upon the pulpit with
tears streaming down his face. Nor was
his experience in not at first making a
clean-breast unique. Helpers confessed
having managed law-suits in the Church's
name, to idolence, love of money, bitter
ness against their foreign associates, etc.
Some told of money belonging to others
which they promised to return. Many
called on members of the audience by
name to forgive a wrong, and many reconciliations
were thus 'effected. One
heathen teacher admitted that he had
been fighting the question for thirty
years, that he had hated the foreigners
and tried to find every fault he could in
them and their converts, but he now had
determined despite the ridicule it would
bring upon him to apply for baptism.
The students oi the University had been
at odds and had brought reproach upon
their Y. M. C. A. and the Christian
name. Those in charge had been hoping
the meetings would heal the breach. At
first they treated the thing with scorn.
Thursday night in their own Y. M. C. A.
iiicj i uii ii'sseu 10 me priae and
other causes that had led to estrangement,
and on Sunday one after another
made the most manly statements I ever
heard from young men, admitting not
only this but other things that had been
Inconsistent and a cause of stumbling
to the heathen school-mates. Our
Seminary students confessed?some in
public, a.I but two or three in a remarkable
meeting among themselves that
lasted for two hours?the things tney
confessed we, of the faculty, having not
pried into, but we can testify to a new
ring and earnestness and in some
cases at least to a happy expression
"joy in the Holy Ghost." One of them
uau ueiure entering me seminary bought
two outer garments wun money to which
he had no right. These ne wore one day
and after confessing the story from the
platform he disrobed himself of then and
threw them upon a chair as he walked
down. Another told of a questionable
speculation whiteh Involved a number
of helpers and Christians in the Kiangyin
district, and he together with one of the
helpers present relinquished their investments
amounting in each case to over
four .iionths' stipend.
Other people confessed to sins of
omission and put themselves on record
to begin a new life of service and love.
Many seemed oppressed with their past
indifference regarding the salvation of
relatives and friends and?mo3t wonderful
of all for a Chinaman?of wives. Men
even publicly apologize to their wives,
which one mus' live in China to appreciate.
Imagination and memory seem to conspire
against some people by swapping
functions at critical junctures.?J. A. Macon.