A pitiful cry was heard coming from the direction of the neighborhood well.
“Did you hear that, Daddy?” asked the missionary’s young son.
“Yes, I did, Clifford,” Mr. Clinton replied; and father and son hurried to the spot. Several Chinese women had already gathered around the big well and were gazing hopelessly into its depths.
“It is Wa Lung, Mrs. Lee’s little slave girl,” they heard one of the women say.
Mr. Clinton looked down into the dark well but could see only water.
“Wa Lung,” he called loudly, but the only answer he got was the echo of his own voice.
Quickly seizing the heavy rope to which the bucket was tied, he said, “Clifford, would you be willing to go down after her if I tie this rope around you, and then let you down and pull you up again?”
“Sure, Daddy! I’ll go!” replied the boy; and he waited while his father quickly tied the rope around his waist. Then he lowered Clifford into the well.
“Stop! Stop!” cried the Chinese women, as they saw the boy disappearing into the well. “The missionary is crazy to risk drowning his son just for a slave girl!”
Then they stood silent at last waiting to see the outcome of the “foolish” missionary’s act.
Some minutes passed, and all was silent below. Then Mr. Clinton received the signal and began to pull on the rope. Up came Clifford, clinging tightly to poor Wa Lung. The women thought the little girl was dead, but the missionary applied artificial respiration, and soon she revived.
The women continued to declare that the missionary was crazy to risk his son’s life to save a Chinese slave girl. “Only sons are important,” they said. “Not girls—and a slave girl at that! It was such a foolish thing to do.”
“Listen,” said the missionary, when things had quieted down. “God did something like this, only far greater and much more wonderful. Like Wa Lung, we were all sinking down and perishing in the deep pit of sin. We were sinners, disobedient and worthless. But God loved us just the same, and He sent Jesus, His dear Son, down into this world to save us. On the cross He descended into the deep dark well of sin and death; He died to redeem us. But He rose again from the dead and brought with Him all who put their trust in Him as their Saviour. He has gone back to heaven and waits until the moment when He will come again and take all His own to be with Him up there.
“Do you mean,” asked the Chinese women, “that God sent His Son to die for poor Chinese women and girls just as much as for your Emperor or the President of the United States?”
“Yes,” he replied, “God loves every one just the same, and Jesus died for all. I came here to tell you about Him.”
The story of how the missionary risked his son’s life to save a Chinese slave girl quickly spread through the towns and villages. Often as the missionary went from one place to another preaching the gospel he would hear people say, “We want to hear about God who loves all people enough to give His Son to save them. We want to hear it from the man who tries to be like Him.”
ML-11/04/1979