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Women's Societies
I
SUGGESTIONS.
By Miss C. L.. Campbell.
"She . . . served . God with fast
ings and prayers night and day." ?
Luke 2:37.,
"Prayer is like opening a sluice be
tween the great ocean and our little
channels, when the sea gathers itself
together and flows in at full tide." ?
Tennyson.
In our Foreign Mission work we
are dealing with things Chinese in
February as well as in January, and
the following thought for your invi
tations to the meetings is borrowed
~ from that consecrated and versatile
worker for the Lord, Mrs. E. C.
Cronk.
Sketch the back view of three "lit
tle heathen Chinese," pig-tail and blue
blouse, especially,- on a small card.
Now, it is perfectly evident that they
are looking forward ? away from the
onlooker; and this will very much
emphasize your message written be
neath their Chinese feet: "We are
looking forward to seeing you at our
missionary meeting on February 1."
The same trio portrayed on a large
card will serve excellently as a poster.
Put this up at least a week before
hand and your meeting is at least well
advertised. Nobody will lorget the
tale told by the three little "pig-tails."
As one feature of your program,
write at the top of a large blackboard
these words, "China's Needs."
Have one member read: "He that
believcth on the Son hath everlasting
life: "and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life." (John 3:36.)
Then write the word "Christ" on the
board In large letters, separating the
"C" somewhat from the rest of the
word.
Have another member read: "Give
ye them to eat" (Matt. 14:16), with
emphasis on "ye." Then write Just
under the word "Christ" the words
"Human help."
Again let somebody read: "Pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest"
(Matt. 9:39), and write the word
"Intercession." The next reading: "I
will put a new spirit within you"
(Ezek. 11:19.) Write the words
"New Spirit."
The last reading: "Now then we
are ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor.
5:20). Write as the fifth word In
your column "Ambassadors," and
your audience will immediately see
that the acrostic of China's needs
spells China; and this little trick will
fasten the needs In their memories
and in their prayers.
The article from Mrs. Hugh W.
White given below will be of great
help in your China meeting.
And if you send 1 0 cents to the
Nashville office, asking for February
helps, you will get some treasures.
HOW CHINESE CHRISTIANS'
PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED.
Some years ago, In a meeting of
about forty or fifty Christian Chinese
women, I asked them to tell me how
they first came to have real faith in
Jesus. One said: "My child was ill,
and I prayed to Jesus to make him
well, and he got well, so I believed
In Jesus." Another said: "My son
Imd been away from home for years,
and I didn't know where he was, but
I prayed to Jesus, and he came back
home." Another said: "I was sick,
and was made better by prayer."
Another said: "I had troubles in my
family, but I prayed to Jesus, and now
we^have peace." And so on, one after
another testifying that their faith had
been born of or strengthened by an
answered prayer for a real, practical,
visible, tangible blessing. Are you
disappointed that they did not say
that they prayed for relief from the
burden of sin and were answered?
Well, I would have been glad to
hear that, too, but it was interest
ing and instructive to learn that the
Spirit does not always work just in the
?way we anticipate, but has His own
methods.
Five or six years later we had meet
ings in which several of these same
women took part. I wish you could
have heard the prayers ? the earnest,
ardent, heart-broken, heart-breaking
prayers, first for themselves, for for
giveness of their inmost heart sins,
for humility, for purity, for growth
in grace, for the power of the Holy
Spirit; and, secondly, for others ? their
own families and friends, and then
others, perfect strangers perhaps,
whom they knew only as those for
whom the Lord had died, and for
whose salvation they yearned. Is not
this the very Spirit of Christ?
And were these prayers answered?
One young woman, the bright tears
starting to her eyes, said to me: "I
have been a believer for years, but
this winter I have proved the power
of real prayer and real Bible study."
Another, after weeks of prayer and
conflict, was brought out into "a
wealthy place" of joy and love and
happy service. Then, just at that
juncture, she was stricken with pa
ralysis. Our foreign doctor was away,
and when he returned he gave very
little hope of her improvement. But
prayer was made for her without ceas
ing by scores of Christians in that
place and other places. She Im
proved and soon had her mind and
her voice clear again. But to find her
self chained to the bed in helpless
ness! Her naturally quick, impia
tient disposition asserted Itself and
she found her affliction hard to bear.
But before long she was led to perfect
submission. "If God doesn't want
me to run around and work for Him,
I'll just lie still," she said. From
that time she was peaceful and happy,
and, moreover, began to improve.
Thanks were given publicly at prayer
meeting a month or two later for her
recovery. "It is 'not the thing in
China," said the speaker, "for this
disease to be healed. Out of ten who
have it, nine die!"
The Chinese are an extremely prac
tical peopel. They want to know what
is the good of this doctrine and of
prayer. And when they do find out,
they put it into practice. They believe
that prayer is really a means of get
ting what they want, and so they
pray, and pray in faith, and often
pray for things and about things that
we wouldn't think of praying about ?
but they get the answers! And we
learn from them to enlarge our own
prayers.
Ting Li-mei, the Moody of China,
has a prayer list of about 2,000 names
for whom he prays constantly. I be
lieve it was J. Campbell White who
told him he would like to have his
name on the list. "Oh, it is here,"
he said, and showed him in his little
book ? No. 1666.
One of the ablest preachers in the
North Kiangsu mission has recently
had his salary raised to, I believe, six
gold dollars a month. The reasons
for his receiving such a liberal sum is
that he has a wife and three children
to support, and also that we believe
that our educated preachers should
be able to live in rather better style,
Jo practice hospitality, to subscribe to
a religious paper, etc. So ire has re
ceived this raise. But about two
years ago hi? wife noticed her little
girl, about three, kneeling down in a
corner praying very earnestly. She
listened and heard the child praying
to the Heavenly Father for a new
dress ? a flowered dress! (coarse blue
gingham printed with white flowers).
Hearing of this incident, I thought I
might be justified in assisting in the
answering of her prayer; so I en
trusted as much as twenty-five cents ?
perhaps thirty ? to a friend and told
her to buy the "flowered dress" and
give it to her mother to make for her.
The little daughter of this friend, see
ing her companion bloom out in the
dress, said: "I want a flowered dress,
too!" - "Ah, no!" said her mother.
"You are not praying in faith. You
are just purposely asking for it."
Do they understand anything of the
principles and practice of prayer, or
do they not?
A heathen friend kept coming to a
missionary to ask his aid in settling
an "affair" about some property, in
which he was afraid of losing several
hundred dollars. The missionary
could not use his influence in the
case and had to decline. As he came
day after day, a visiting missionary
said: "Next time that man comes
let me talk to him. I believe I can
help him." She spent much time in
prayer, in preparation for the inter
view, and then read with him 1 Cor. 6,
prayed, and made him pray over the
matter. In a short time he came
back delighted, saying that the mat
ter had been compromised by the pay
ment of ten dollars. As the Chinese
say, is there not a God in Heaven?
Mrs. Hugh W. White.
TO THE WOMEN OP THE VIRGINIA
SYNODICAI,.
A True Story.
Once upon a time, not very long
ago, a little girl caught the spirit
of giving, but she had nothing to give.
(Is that you?) But she had one hen.
( Is that you?) This hen, her eggs,
and her heirs, the little girl dedi
cated to the Lord, and she gave on
Foreign Mission Day $2.50 to the
Lord's treasury. (Is that going to be
you?)
If every woman, every one of us,
in Virginia, would find out what she
could do, then do what she could, our
Synodical gifts to all causes would be
doubled before we ever begun to feel
It. Carrie Lee Campbell,
Syn. Sec. of Foreign Missions.
VIRGINIA SYNODICAL
The mid-winter Executive Commit
tee meeting of the Virginia Synodical
will be held in Charlottesville on
January 25th. Any individual or in
stitution having matters of business
or general interest to present to this
body will please submit details thereof
in writing to the Synodical president
by the 20th. Any suggestions rela
tive to the more effective conduct of
Woman's Work through Synodical and
Presbyterial channels will be gladly
received and considered.
Caroline R. Walton, President.
Others are effected by what I am and
say and do. And these others have also
their sphere of influence. - So that a
single act of man may spread In wid
ening circles through a nation, or hu
manity.
Nothing is lost; the leaves of spring
That fall in the autumn dead and
sere,
Help in the woodland ways to bring
The violets of the following year.
The granary must be filled before
the poor are fed; knowledge muit be
gained before knowledge 1b given.?
Plato.
THE PRAYER MEETING
WHAT IS THE BIBLE TO US?
By Rev. Russell Cecil, D. D.
Week Beginning January 21, 1917.
Read Psalm 119:9-16; Romans
15:4; 2 Timothy 3:14-17.
It la not a light task to answer truly
the question at the head of this arti
cle. It was Chillingworth who was
credited with saying, "The Bible, and
the Bible alone, is the religion of the
Protestants." This is a summary way
of stating the value which the Pro
testant Church places upon the Word
of God. It is safe to say there would
have been no Protestant Reforma
tion had not the early reformers dis
covered the Holy Scriptures, which
had almost been lost sight of during
the dark ages of the Church, and had
they not revived the general study of
them. It was when the people began
to study the Scriptures for themselves
that they discovered what the gospel
really means. To answer the ques
tion, therefore, "What is the Bible to
us?" is virtually the same as answer
ing the question, what is the Chris
tian religion to us?
(1) The Bible to us is the Word of
God. It is not the word of man; it is
not the history of religion among the
Jews; it is not the natural develop
ment of the religious idea among men
continued through hundreds of years;
it is not the compilation of the best
literature of the Hebrew race. It is
all of these, it is true, but infinitely
more ? it is the Word of the Living
God to the human race: "Holy men of
old spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost." The Jewish people were
the chosen people of God, to whom
and- through whom He revealed His
holy will. The body, of revelation
was gradually made known through
several centuries; and, as a plain mat
ter of fact, all the books of the Holy
Scripture^ are the products of lit
erary men of the Hebrew race. But
when all this has been said, and the
most made of it that can be made, the
principal thing about the Holy Scrip
tures remains to be said, and that Is.
that we have in them the record of
the revelation of God's will to men.
It is this singular fact which distin
guishes the books of the Bible from
all other books, and makes it of un
speakable value to all believers in God
and in Jesus Christ.
(2) The Bible, as the Word of God,
reveals to us the way of life and sal
vation; and this way is not to be
found elsewhere. Men do not discover
for themselves the way of life, they
are not able to work out their own
salvation; but they must come to the
Word of God and learn from it how
they are to be saved. Paul tells Timo
thy that the Holy Scriptures, which
he had kriown from a child, were able
to make him "wIbo unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ
Jesus." This is the wisdom of God,
and not the wisdom of men. Nothing
is more pathetic than the efTorts of
those who have discarded the Scrip
tures, and are endeavoring to discover
the way of life for themselves. The
wisdom of men at its best is foolish
ness to God; and had not God chosen
to reveal Himself and the way of life
through Jesus Christ, as we find it In
the Holy Scriptures, we would have
forever perished in our sins. We m*y
discover God in nature, hut not the
Saviour: He is revealed to u? only
in the Scriptures.
"Thy glory o'er creation shines;
But in Thy sacred Word
I read, in fairer, brighter lines,
My bleeding, dying Lord."