Living In Ningpo
The autumn of 1856 was well gone before I got to Ningpo, a very ancient and important city on the coast of China. Opened by the treaty1 of Nanking in 1842, to enable foreign people to live there, it had long been the place of missionary work. The many streets are full of life.
As winter came, I rented a house in Wu-gyiao-deo or Lake Head Street. It was not a nice place in which to live.
I clearly remember writing the first letter of my name in the snow which fell on my bed in the large upstairs room. This room was now divided into four or five smaller separate rooms. The roof of a Chinese house may keep off the rain but it does not give good protection against snow which will blow up through any small opening in the wall and find its way inside.
Although it was not finished, the little house made a nice place to stay during my time of work among the people. There I thankfully lived and found plenty of ways to serve —morning, noon, and night.
During the last part of this year, my mind was greatly concerned about continuing to work with my mission because it was often in debt. I had always stayed away from debt and kept within my salary, although at times only by being very careful. Now there was no difficulty in doing this, for my income was larger. Because the country was at peace, things did not cost as much.
But the society itself was in debt. My fellow missionaries and I were told to draw money for our salaries. But, the society often had to borrow to pay us. I finally decided in the following year to stop my work with society because my heart was troubled by this problem.
The teaching of God’s Word seemed unmistakably clear: “Owe no man anything. ”(KJV) To my mind, borrowing money means a conflict with Scripture — a belief that God has not given some good thing and we decide to get this for ourselves.
Couia that which was wrong for one Christian be right for a group of Christians? Or could any number of mistakes we made before make it right to do it now? If the Word taught me anything, it was to have no connection with debt.
I could not think that God was poor, that He was short of what we needed, or not willing to provide for whatever work was truly His. It seemed that if there were any lack of money to carry on work, in that project or at that time, it could not be the work that God wanted done. To satisfy my conscience, I resigned from the society which had given me my salary.
I was happy that my friend and fellow worker, Mr. Jones, was also led to leave society for the same reason. We were both thankful that we left without any break in friendship or crosswords on either side.
We had the joy of knowing our feelings were shared by several people on the committee although the society as a whole, could not come to our position. We trusted God alone for what we needed and were able to continue a connection with the people who cared for us. We sent home reports for publication as before as long as the society continued to exist.
This step was more than a little trying to our faith. I was not at all sure of what God would have me do, or if he would meet my needs so that I could continue working as before. I had no friends from whom I expected help.
I did not know what means the Lord might use but was willing to give up all my time to the service of evangelization among the unsaved. I would be pleased if He would give me any small amount on which I could live.
If He were not pleased with this, I was prepared to do whatever work might be necessary to help myself. I would give as much time as possible to more missionary efforts. But God gave His blessing and help.
How happy and thankful I felt when I was able to leave! I could look right up into my Father’s face with a satisfied heart, ready by His grace, to follow Him. I felt very sure of His loving care. With what blessing He did lead me and provide for me I can never, never tell.
It was like some of my early home experiences. My faith was not without trial and often failed. I was so sorry and ashamed that I failed to trust such a Father. But oh, I was learning to know Him! I would not even then have chosen to be without the trial. He became so near, so real, so close to me.
Once in a while, money was short. It was not because I did not have enough for personal needs but because I gave help to the needy and dying people around me. Many trials went beyond these, causing me to look deep into my heart, and being deeper, brought much more rich fruit. How happy I am to know that what Miss Havergal said is true.
“They who trust Him completely, find Him completely true.” I have learned that when we fail to trust fully, He remains faithful and does not change. He is completely true even if we trust him or not.
“If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. ” (2 Timothy 2:13) But oh, how we do not please our Lord whenever we fail to trust Him. What peace, blessing, and victory we lose when we sin against the faithful One! May we never again refuse to trust Him!
The year 1.857 was a time of trouble. At the end of that year, there was an attack on Canton by the British. This marked the beginning of England’s second Chinese war. Talk of trouble was everywhere. In many places, the missionaries passed through much danger. In Ningpo, we faced a considerable threat to our lives, but God took care of us in answer to prayer.
The attack on Canton began. When the news came to the Cantonese in Ningpo, they were very angry. They immediately set to work to destroy all the foreign people living in the city. It was well known that many of the foreigners used to meet for worship every Sunday evening at the house of a missionary. The plan was to encircle the place at a certain time and kill all foreigners present. Then they would kill any who were not at the meeting.
The Tao-t’ai, or chief official of the city, easily agreed to this plan. The plan was now ready to be carried out and the foreigners knew nothing about what was to happen. A similar plot against the Portuguese people was carried out a few months later and between fifty and sixty were killed in open daylight.
It so happened, that one of those who knew about the plot had a friend who worked for the missionaries and wanted them to be safe. He was led to warn his friend of the coming danger and advise him to stop working for foreigners. The helper made this known to the missionary for whom he worked. The little group then knew about their danger.
On realizing how serious the situation was, they decided to meet at one of the missionary houses and hide under the protection of God’s care. They did this with good results. At the very time we were praying to the Lord, he led a lower public official, the Superintendent4 of Customs, to call upon the Tao-that and argue with him on the matter.
He told him that any such thing would, cause the foreigners in other places to come with an army to fight them and destroy the city. The Tao said that when the foreigners came, he should deny knowing anything of the plot and direct their anger against the Cantonese who would then be destroyed. He planned to destroy both Cantonese and foreigners with one trick.
The Superintendent of Customs let him know that all such attempts to escape punishment would not work. Finally, the Taot’ai sent a message to the Cantonese, removing his approval of the attack. This took place at the very time when we were asking protection of the Lord, although we did not know about this until some weeks later.
Here again, we were led to prove that “His arm alone, is enough and our protection is sure.” I cannot attempt to give any history of what happened during this time. When 1857 came to an end, Mr. Jones and I had the joy of many blessings. It is interesting to remember the happenings connected with the first confession of faith in Christ, which brought us new hope.
At one time I was preaching the good news of salvation through the finished work of Christ when a man of middle age stood up and gave witness of his salvation and his faith in the power of the Gospel.
“I have long looked for the truth,” he said, “as my fathers did before me, but I have never found it. I have been far and near, but without having it. I have found no rest in Confucianism, Buddhism, or Taoism; but I do find rest in what I have heard here tonight. From now on, I am a believer in Jesus.”
This man was a leading official of a group of Buddhists in Ningpo. A short time after he confesses faith, there was a meeting of the group for which he had at one time been responsible. I went with him to that meeting. To the ones who once worshiped with him, he told about the peace he had received in believing.
Soon after this, one of his friends was saved and baptized. Both are now in heaven. The first of these two continued to preach the good news of great joy. A few nights after he was saved, he asked how long this Gospel had been known in England. We told him we had known it for hundreds of years. “What!” said he, surprised.
“Is it possible that for hundreds of years, you have known about the good news and have only now come to preach it to us? My father looked for the truth for more than twenty years and died without having it. Oh, why did you not come sooner?” Many people have died since that sad question was asked.
But how many might repeat the same question today? More than two hundred million since then have gone into eternity without the hope of salvation. How long shall this continue and the words of Jesus, “to every person,” go without being obeyed?