Foreign Mission Journal-Supple
ent
RICHMOND,
УЛ.,
MAY— JUNE, 1882.
THIRTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT.
Continued from Fourth Page.
the Northern Hoard; three of them under the pa¬
tronage of t he Richmond Iioard— two of winch
are connected with my mission at Shanghai and
Kwin San, and one of them with the Shantung
Mission at Tung Chow. There were til delegates
and missionaries present. Important matters con¬
nected with the' polity of our churches were dis¬
cussed. None of the churches reported a large
addition during the past year.
"Total contributions during the year, $547. 72;. of
this sum my Shanghai church contributed $31G,
and the Kwin San church 521. I send you here¬
with a photographic group of the delegates and
missionaries who attended the Association. As this
is a group of Chinese Christians, forming the first
Baptist Association in China, Missionary Societies
and friends of missions might desire to possess
it.”
DR. YATES’ HEALTH.
On February 2Gth our brother wrote : " 1
am happy to inform you that I am about well.
On the second inst. 1 had my eighth and most se¬
vere surgical operation. My doctor called yes¬
terday and said that one more call, in about a
week, would probably be bis last professional
visit. Yesterday I preached morning and even¬
ing and feel none the worse for it. Rejoice with
me with thanksgiving and praise to the Giver of
ail mercies."
WORK OR THE YEAR.
The following is taken from Dr. Yates’ annual
report:
” During the year 1881 I was not in a condition
to visit any ol our out-stations. Till early in
November I was able to preach Sundays and
Thursdays, at the Baptist church near my house.
Services were held in this church regularly, by
Rev. Wong-I’ing-San, Sunday nights, Tuesday
nights, and Thursday nights, prayer-meeting Wed¬
nesday nights. Attendance varying from 60 to
160, according to the weather. Service has been
held by Wong Kia San at my school house live
miles in the country. At Kwin San Rev. See
P’ay-tsz-oo has kept up regular services, twice on
Sunday and twice during the week. TsungTsoong
Ob has been in charge at Soo Chaw, where he has
held regular and irregular sendees in his small and
miserable hired house. In one room he and his
wife live, and in the other he sits and converses
with one, two or three, who have called to inquire
about the new religion at any hour of the day
or evening. When lie lias a dozen or more, he
rises and preaches to them. Thus our work goes
on from day to day, with varying hopes and lears
and disappointments, and with earnest prayer
and supplication for the blessing of the Spirit upon
his word of truth. We ardently desire large re¬
sults; and we doubt not our prayers are answered
to the full ; but not exactly in the form we desire
to see— fully matured fruit. God’s ways arc notour
ways. There is much preparatory work required,
in this part of the country at least, li does
seem as if the process of converting a Chinaman,
of bringing him to the point of clearly apprehend¬
ing and appreciating the love of God in Christ
Jesus, is a long one. None of the churches of
this or of. the Chib Kiang province have had
large additions.
"Five have been baptized— our present member¬
ship is one hundred and one. The contributions
of the churches at Shanghai and Kwin San ag¬
gregate 5314.25. We have made progress by get¬
ting rid of some dead branches. 1 have finished
the gospel by Luke, and have published 2,000
copies of Paul to the Romans. After a final re¬
vision, the gospels of Mark and Luke will be
ready for the press. I propose as soon as my
health is firmly established to go on with Corin¬
thians. The Lord grant strength and wisdom, a
willing mind and energy, in all the departments
of bis work until bis gospel shall have been made
known unto all nations; Gh, Lord, hasten that
tjayj”
The translations of Dr. Yales are into the dialect
of his province. The Board has authorized him
to draw on our Treasury for the expense of their
publications.
GENEROUS ACCOUNT.
The liberality indicated in the following ac¬
count appended by Dr. Yales to his annual finan¬
cial report, should humble any who do not highly
appreciate our noble missionaries, and give gen¬
erously to the support of their work :
" Cost of school-house for girls-boarding
school on a somewhat new plan . .. 5602.00
Cost of furniture for same, with teacher's
wages and general household ex¬
penses to December 31st . 132.00
Wages of day school teacher for girls, 12
months . 48.00
$842.00
‘‘The expense of this enterprise has been
borne by Mrs. Yates and Mrs. Sea¬
man in equal parts.
Rent of rooms for girls day school . $48.00
Wages of teacher for a day school for
boys 'at the country station . GO.OO
Aggregate . ... 8950.00
“These latter items of expense have been borne
by myself. Both school-houses have been built
on my land, adjoining the church buildingnear my
bouse. This makes it very convenient for the schools
to attend the Sabbath services. I leave Mrs. Yales
to give an account of her boarding school.”
MRS. YATES AND SCHOOLS.
Her school.
Our new school was opened in June, 1881, on a
plan somewhat different from that of other schools.
Where the parents are able to clothe and board
their daughters, we require them to do so _; and no
foot binding is allowed. These conditions_ are
unpopular, even amongst our own Christians.
Some of them would consent to furnish board and
clothing, but cannot give up the gentility of small
feet. Two of our pupils are children of church-
members who cheerfully bear all expenses. We
have only three , but are not a bit despondent, being
confident of success in the end. We shall receive
some whose parents are too poor to provide food
and clothes — as many as our means will allow.
Native school.
Mrs. Yales reports another school originated and
sustained entirely by seven native Christian wo¬
men of their church — all of them very poor. Our
sister writes:
They tell me from week to week what has been
done, but 1 do not remember that even as much
as a suggestion, on my part, has ever been needed.
I have not yet been to the school, for 1 wish these
women to feel that it is their own special work.
Besides this weekly superintendence, visits .are
sometimes made to the mothers of the scholars,
and others in the immediate neighborhood, to tell
them of the way of salvation.
CANTON.
THANKSGIVING.
In rendering the annual report for his mission,
Rev. E. Z. Simmons says:
" With grateful hearts we record the abundant
goodness of God. The mission has been blessed
with good health. Brother and sister Graves re¬
turned to their work, after eighteen months ab¬
sence, with renewed strength and zeal. We have
purchased a lot and built a mission dwelling.
The lot purchased is between the two mission
dwellings, which has added much to the comfort
of both houses, and greatly increased the value
of our property. These, with many other mercies,
crotyns tills as a blessed year.
. MISSION STATIONS.
Canton. — There has been daily preaching in tlie
chapel. The congregations vei
у
good— from fifty
to several hundred hearing the gospel daily.
| Many manifested interest in the truth. A Sun¬
day-school, organized in March, has given much
encouragement. The attendance has been more
than a hundred. The average- attendance about
eighty-five— divided into seven classes. All
these, except one, are taught by Chinese. This
developes the teaching ability of our native mem¬
bers.
The Chinese Missionary Society. — They have
a chapel on Ho Nam, (opposite Canton,) where
daily preaching has been kept up. I have often
exchanged with their preacher. They have kept
Ж
semi-weekly services at night at Tung Shek
>k. They have also a station at San Kiu, near
Shiu Hing. The funds for their work are mainly
received from Chinese Christians in Demerara and
Portland, Oregon. Some is contributed by our
churches here. This Society is doing good, not
only by preaching, but by cultivating the finan¬
cial' ability and self-dependence of the native
Christians.
Tsung Fa. — There has been no assistant station¬
ed there this year. But our work has been looked
after by different assistants and myself, spending
there from one to four weeks at a time. In Feb¬
ruary' I dedicated their new chapel. Tin's marks
progress, as this is the first chapel built by our
members; and, perhaps the first built in China
without assistance from abroad. There lias been
a great deal of opposition and persecution there
since we began to build. At present this seems
to have died out, and given place to more friend¬
ly feeling on the part of the people.
Sat Nam. — This is a very large and important
town, about forty miles N. W. from Canton, near
the junction of the North and West Rivers. ’ Dur¬
ing the year a much better house has been rented
than we had last year. There has been daily
preaching and dispensary work. Some 1145 pa¬
tients have been treated. A very large number of
tracts have been sold. This is considered one of
the hardest fields in this province. But with God
nothing is hard. We confidently expect that He
will cause the seed sown to bring forth fruit. The
rent and the medical assistant are paid by the
medical Mission Society of China. This Society
has appropriated $120 for the work there for 1882.
Lo Pa. — Early in the year we opened a station
there and began daily preaching. The opposition
was so great that after about three months the
assistant in charge thought it best to give up the
work.
She
к Кок.
— The preacher here is Lo Kwok — a
faithful, but impulsive man. He is supported by
an Association in Georgia. There has been some
encouragement here.
Tsing Une.— Early in the year we succeeded in
getting possession of the chapel, which was greatly
damaged last August by a mob. The doorway
was bricked up, and we were denied entrance. I
asked Lo Kwok to go there and try to get the
chapel back, or to rent another if possible. He
went and called the few members together, and
begged the Lord to direct and Help them. They
went to the chapel, pushed the bricks out of the
doorway, went in and cleared away the rubbish,
and then held a three days prayer-meeting, thank¬
ing God for their success, and asking Him to help
them hold the house for His glory. Lo Kwok
sent to the magistrate and asked him to issue a
proclamatiom to the people not to molest the
Christians in their house of worship. To my
great surprise the officer immediately com¬
plied with the request. Matters have been very
quiet ever since. Several have been bap¬
tized. I regard our success a direct answer
to prayer. This station was opened by Dr.
Graves just before he went home, and has been
supported by him.
Shiu Hing — The church there has been sup¬
plied by Tso Sune, a self-supporting preacher.
He has done a good work. There seems to be
signs of new life among the members. Several
persons have been baptized. Tso Sune has kept
up daily preaching most of the time. The church,
witli my assistance, lias employed one of their
members as a colporteur. Considerable work
lias been done in tfie villages and market towns
near Shiu Hing.
Hong Kong. — After taking this work, the 1st of
March, ’81, 1 had to wait until 1 heard from the Board
before making the changes I thought necessar
In the interval l told the members if they won
2d
