WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL
WHICH TELLS HOW A LINK WAS ESTABLISHED BETWEEN WESTMINSTER AND HWOCHOW
BIBLE SCHOOLS
AMONGST the courtyards which constituted our new premises was one into
the walls of which was inserted a stone, engraved with the words in
Chinese and English: "Women's Bible School. Erected by the Congregation
of Westminster Chapel, London. Jesus said: 'I am the Way, the Truth, and
the Life.'"
The women's rooms had never been large enough to hold those who were
anxious to come, and now at last suitable premises were going to make
possible the fulfilment of a long-cherished plan--that of giving
adequate training to suitable women.
It seemed a long step from the days when, freely roaming around the
villages, we taught some of these women the very first character they
knew, spelling out with them the text: "God so loved the world that He
gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life." The next step had been attendance at
a station class for twenty days, sometimes repeated yearly but never
leading to advanced work. In our new premises we divided the students
into three groups: Firstly, those attending a ten days' course, who
served as training-ground to a second group of more advanced women who
had passed the initial stage, and who now entered for the two years'
course of Bible training and practical experience as evangelists.
Thirdly, a picked few who, having received more regular teaching, were
able to continue their own studies and help to superintend the work of
the juniors, especially on the practical side, meanwhile giving a
considerable portion of their time to aggressive evangelistic work.
Foremost amongst these was Mrs. Liang, mother of Ling Ai, the
headmistress of the girls' school. Strong, true, a woman of no ordinary
ability, little escaped her penetrating glance. It was in middle age
that she first heard the Gospel, an indirect influence of the opium
refuge work; for Mrs. Liang had never smoked opium, nor had any member
of her family. A neighbour, however, had, and on her return from the
Refuge she produced with pardonable pride the copy of St. John's Gospel
which she had bought, and better still, could read. It was hard for Mrs.
Liang to see the former degraded opium smoker ahead of her in learning,
and she persuaded her husband to give her the needed help. She borrowed
the book and started at the first chapter. She had not been to the
Mission House nor had she seen the missionaries, but before she met them
she had met their Lord. It was but one more proof that "the words I
speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life," and the Holy Spirit
illuminating the written pages brought home to her its meaning. "He
came unto His own, and His own received Him not," she read, and how can
I say what took place? She tells me that she was convicted of sin, and
that she found her Saviour.
[Illustration: WOMEN'S BIBLE SCHOOL.
Mrs. Hsi on the left, sharing a book with Miss French. Mrs. Liang on the
right, sitting at Miss Cable's left.
_To face page 160._]
Intercourse with Miss Jacobsen was soon established, and under Mr.
Cheng's influence her husband also believed. Mrs. Liang was baptized,
her own feet and Ling Ai's were unbound, and the latter became a pupil
in the girls' school.
Mrs. Liang herself lived quietly at home until the year 1900. At that
time the local Boxer leader was a near neighbour of hers, and he was
prepared to kill these well-known adherents of a foreign religion. On
recovering consciousness, however, from the trance which preceded the
issuing of inspired orders, he uttered the surprising words: "Return
each to your own place; let each busy himself with his own affairs." Not
daring to disobey his followers scattered, and the small group of
Christians was safe. Ling Ai has described the experiences of those days
in the following words: "For months we were as those whose hair is bound
around the neck, not knowing at what moment we should be called upon to
die, but after our deliverance we united in saying: 'We have been under
the shadow of the Almighty.'"
When we came to Hwochow Mrs. Liang, realising our difficulties, was one
of the first to come to our assistance, and quickly endeared herself to
us by her thoughtful, kind, practical ways.
To the work of preaching she gave herself with unusual energy and
devotion, so that to-day there are few women in Hwochow who do not know
her, and scarcely a courtyard that has not been visited by her.
Assisting Mrs. Liang is Mrs. Bah, who the first time I saw her refused
to have any intercourse with us. She was the senior wife of a wealthy
man who had died early, leaving the two widows to arrange matters as
best they could. The younger one smoked opium, but was the proud
possessor of a son who by law was the property of the elder wife, but it
was obvious that to the younger was due the honour of introducing a son
and heir to the house.
The fact that Mrs. Bah the younger at last became a Christian and left
her evil habits, did not make the elder woman more friendly, though she
had in time to confess that life was easier for both under the new
conditions. After some time the Christians of the village received her
permission to use a cave in her spacious court for worship, in return
for their offer to put it in repair. "It can do no harm," she argued,
"and repairs are badly needed." Every evening they met to read the Bible
and pray, and Mrs. Bah, prompted by curiosity, took her spinning to
within earshot. She understood little, but the reiteration of the words
"Heavenly Father" puzzled and interested her. "If it really be the
Heavenly Father whom they worship," she reasoned, "they should be in the
best room." The thought grew upon her until a change was effected, and
to this day Mrs. Bah's guest-room is the village church. She soon left
her spinning-wheel to join the worshippers and gradually came to the
triumphant belief, weak at first, but taking slow shape, that "the
attitude of the soul to its Maker can be something more than a distant
reverence and overpowering awe, that we can indeed hold converse with
God, speak with Him, call upon Him, put--to use a human phrase--our hand
in His, desiring only to be led according to His will." This was the
spiritual story of Mrs. Bah.
I could tell of many others and the theme is tempting, for by so many
and such varied paths have these comrades travelled. To mention only our
youngest student who at the age of sixteen, member of a heathen family,
heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ from an elder sister, a patient of the
Women's Opium Refuge. She determined that as far as in her lay she would
be a Christian. Yielding to her wishes, her parents engaged her to the
son of a believer. After her marriage, when her entrance to the Bible
School was suggested we demurred, but agreed to her attending a station
class, only to discover that once more the Spirit of God had
accomplished that of which we knew nothing. This young woman, who had
only heard the Gospel from a sister who herself did not believe, had
been truly converted. Reference to the curriculum in Appendix A will
make it clear that the subject which has the pre-eminence is Bible
study. The students prepare the books there mentioned, and during the
years they are with us cover also the course indicated by Dr. Campbell
Morgan's Graded Bible, which Miss French has translated for their use.
The instruction of inquirers in the village centres is undertaken by
those women evangelists who have completed their course. In places to
which they are invited by the local church they hold classes of ten
days' duration, following the course of study as in the central station.
By this means a large number of women are under instruction, and
heathens are brought in contact with the messengers of the Cross.
City and village visiting forms an important branch of the training, and
last but not least, classes taken under criticism, when it falls to the
lot of the missionary to ask the questions which might occur to a
heathen audience, and to impress upon the students the necessity of
clear presentation of the Gospel. It is desirable that they should
express the things which have gripped them in an individual way, not
adopting a Western colouring but using to the full their Eastern
knowledge: "Originality is like a fountain head; orthodoxy is too often
only the unimpeachable fluid of the water company."
The prodigal son, for example, naturally smoked opium in the far
country, and the Chinese pictures so represent him. It was not, as we
have supposed, in her confidence that oil would be supplied that the
widow's faith was exemplified, but rather in her willingness at Elisha's
command to go forth on a borrowing expedition when she was already so
deeply in debt.
We are sometimes treated to illustrations truly Eastern in character, as
the following example will indicate. It was accepted by the audience as
a solemn exhortation, as was the preacher's intention, the missionaries
being the only ones present to whom the humorous side was evident. The
subject was the importance of a whole-hearted acceptance of the Gospel,
and the foolishness and uselessness of a half-hearted belief. A man, we
were told, was begging by the roadside; he was very ill, and a passing
doctor had pity on him, and gave him some medicine which the man
promised to take. Questionings, however, arose in his mind as to the
reliability of the said doctor, and yet he could not but take the drug,
as he felt so ill. A compromise was decided upon, and he took half the
dose. For a few hours he felt wonderfully well, and rejoiced in his
restored condition; towards night the pain was more acute than before,
and he was at his wits' end. How he regretted his folly, for his illness
was certainly more serious. A few months later the same doctor,
travelling over the same road, met the same man now reduced to a bag of
bones.
"What!" said he; "are you not the man to whom I gave medicine last time
I came this way?"
"I am," he replied, "and I have been much worse ever since."
"Worse!" exclaimed the physician; "how is that?"
"I only took half the dose," said the man; "I did not venture to take
the whole."
"Alas! alas!" he replied, "how terrible! Your illness is the result of
parasites attacking your vitals. That medicine would have killed them
all. Had you taken the full dose you would have been well; had you
tasted none there would have been hope for you. You took a small dose,
and the parasites were sent to sleep, and later, when the effect of the
drug had gone over, they awoke more lively than ever. Having once tasted
of the drug and experienced its effect, nothing will induce them to be
trapped a second time. Return home, and prepare for a lingering death."
In the moral drawn, the folly of an endeavour to serve two masters was
made clear--a truth which all present felt to have been powerfully
interpreted.
THE DRAW NET LET DOWN INTO THE SEA
"Take up God's inspired word anywhere you like,
and while we are called upon to adore the
sovereign counsel of God and to say constantly
that it transcends and surpasses all that we can
do and all that we can expect, yet He does not
bring the season of refreshing without engaging
His children to help Him. The splendour of the
grace may sometimes conceal man's effort, but it
never cancels it."--Rev. ELVIT LEWIS.