THE accompanying selections from Dr. Parrott’s letters will interest our readers: ―
“Lao-ho-Kóu, N. Hupeli,”
May 13th 1894.
“We have completely succeeded in gaining the goodwill of the people and of the officials of this place. We could not have expected so much kindness from the rulers of our own country even as the chief mandarin and others have shown us here.
“As you are aware, for some five months we waited on here, looking for and trying to secure a suitable house for residence and hospital work.
“A place just outside the east gate of the city was found, and the owners were willing to sell it to us. They were needing money, and would only sell. The owner of the property had recently died, and in his will he requested his heirs to spend a large sum of money on his burial. This they were unable to do without selling some of the property. The house with large garden was supposed to be haunted, and no Chinaman would live in it, nor was it any good for commercial purposes, being two minutes’ walk from the streets of the suburb.
“Like every Chinaman in the Empire, the owners asked a price for it far in excess of its value. Patient waiting and apparent indifference, however, brought them down to a reasonable figure.
“Some £50 will be needed to repair the place. Some parts of the house are very old, and the woodwork is rotten. The outbuildings also require a good deal of altering and rebuilding, but before this letter reaches you, I hope we shall have commenced work in real earnest.
“We have much cause for thankfulness in the favor, both in the eyes of the officials of the place and of the people, which God has given us. This is the more gratifying, since others have been trying to enter a city not far from here, and have utterly failed to secure the friendliness of the people, and were at last sent out of the town by the mandarin. I feel sure that with a thorough knowledge of medicine and a heart bent on pleasing the Lord, and being willing to follow His guidance, one might easily occupy nearly any one of the hundreds of the walled cities which are still untouched by the missionary.
“Were it not for the ladies and the two children who are with rue, I should never remain in a place where there are other laborers preaching Christ, so long as towns and cities exist far and near without any witness whatsoever.
“Our way to Singan is still closed. There is a Norwegian brother living in a small house in Singan, and, from all I gather, is faithfully preaching Christ. He is a gentle and quiet man; but we hope to enter that city in time, and were cheered by hearing that one of the chief mandarins and some of the gentry had heard that a doctor was coming to Singan, and were making inquiries. This looks hopeful for us.
“I must not fail to thank you heartily for the pictures you are sending me for tracts. Soon after receiving your letter a man came to me, asking for employment. He is spiritually an inquirer and a printer by trade. He has done printing for the China Inland Mission, and prefers to work for Christians rather than for the heathen, though it be at less wages. In him seemed to be just the man for your work, especially as he is an engraver as well as a printer, and can therefore cut the blocks for the tracts, which is the Chinese method of printing. I will send you copies of the tracts so soon as I can get them done. I have engaged him as gatekeeper. His wife will look after the gate when he is working. I hope also to let them manage a little bookstall at the hospital entrance, so that patients and others can purchase Scriptures and Scripture tracts.”
It will possibly be in the memory of some of our readers that we sent out to Dr. Parrott some Bible illustrations, such as have appeared from time to time in our Magazine. These were printed upon long strips of paper, which is the form roost pleasing to the Chinese. Passages of Scriptures relating to the healing of the leper, the giving of sight to the blind man, and to the story of the sower and the fisherman, will be engraved on wood, and then printed over and under the pictures. The people will hang them up upon their walls as ornaments, and thus there will be in their houses the words of life and salvation.
We have received for this purpose the sum of £115s. 4d., but as the cost of transit of the printed sheets amounted to £1 58. 7d, we had hardly ten shillings left to defray the cost of printing, and, therefore, cannot do much in this direction, unless our friends are stirred up to aid this work of gospel distribution.
“This morning,” continues Dr. Parrott, “I heard of heathen men buying our Christian hymn-books simply to use as song-books.
They are fond of singing (they call it ‘singing,’ but the sounds made would hardly be so denominated in England), and our books are much to be preferred to their own impure song-books. These people are a strange mixture of good and evil!
“We have eight inquirers, four of whom, I feel sure, are true believers; the others know scarcely anything, but wish to serve the true God. We praise God for their early encouragement.”
They come every morning to prayers. This morning one of them prayed for fine weather in order that the workmen may go on with the repairs. The man told the Lord it was His house, and that we were His servants, and wished to get it repaired quickly, so that the people outside might come and learn of the love of God in Christ. Another one prays for his two daughters and his persecuting wife. He told the Lord that his girls were proud and fond of dress, and called him a foreign devil because he came to worship the Lord.
“Just at present I am fully occupied with thirty carpenters and builders, who do scarcely any work at all if I am not present.”
The accompanying extract will also interest our readers. The magic lantern is a great institution in China for bringing people to hear the gospel. We are sending out some slides to the mission, and should be glad to have others forwarded to us to dispatch with them.
“I thought, perhaps, it might be of interest to some of you at home to know how a magic lantern is appreciated by the Chinese. When the people about here heard that the native Christians had seen one on New Year’s Day, they were very excited, and many came to call to hear about the wonderful pictures coming out of a lamp. For days there were knockings at the front gate to know if the pictures could be seen, and some called about it late at night. The first time it was shown here we had it in the front hall of our house, and only had the native Christians in. We showed them some miscellaneous pictures first, all of which elicited various curious remarks. Afterward we showed them the story of Jonah, of Joseph, and some of the life of our Lord. We asked our native teacher to tell the others about the pictures, and we were pleased to find how easily they all recognized the pictures from having read about them in their Bibles. A little while after this, some mandarins came and asked if we would show them the magic lantern, and we arranged a day, and they came and brought some of their wives and children up to the chapel, and we had all interesting time.
“The doctor showed the pictures, and another missionary explained them, preaching at the same time. There was perfect silence, and great interest was aroused, and thus these proud officials certainly heard the gospel that night if never before, for they are a great deal too important to come to the chapel, or to stand in the street, to listen to preaching.” Our picture represents a Chinese doctor, and as Dr. Parrott dresses like the natives we can imagine his hearty countenance in his Chinese surroundings.