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God's work in China formally began with the coming of Protestantism, when it brought the gospel to China. It has been one hundred years since that time. As far as the advance of God's work is concerned, these one hundred years can be divided into three periods.
The first period covers the ninety years from Robert Morrison's coming to China until 1900. This can be called the gospel period. During this period, the main work of God in China was to preach the gospel to sinners and to lead men to faith in the Lord Jesus as Savior. During this period, except for a small number of people who witnessed God's deeper work, the majority only heard the gospel through God's grace and came to know the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
The second period, which began in 1900 and lasted for around thirty years until 1937, can be called the period of revival. During this period, God not only caused His gospel in China to be more clearly preached, and not only brought more people to a clear understanding of salvation, but also revived many people all over northern and southern China. These ones were stirred up to consecrate themselves to the Lord and to live and work for the Lord. These revived ones loved the Lord in their hearts, desired the truth, studied the Bible, zealously preached the gospel, and brought in a revival to the Lord's work everywhere. The Lord's work in China during this period was much improved over the previous period! However, there were only a small number of people who, like firstfruits, received God's deeper grace on top of the grace of revival to advance to a further knowledge in life. The majority were satisfied with God's work of revival. Although these ones were more advanced than those in the first period, they needed more advancement! Therefore, God began another period.
The third period began around 1937 and can be called the period of life. Although many people in China have been saved and revived, they still do not feel satisfied. They are still hungry and thirsty. They have been revived to love the Lord with a burning heart and to live for the Lord, and they have felt satisfied, but now these things cannot satisfy them any longer. Although they have all these things, they still feel they have an inward lack. Inwardly, they have a deeper need which the experience of revival cannot satisfy. Their need cannot be satisfied by a mere burning love for the Lord or a practice of living for the Lord. At this time God has done a deeper work within them to give them a deeper inward hunger and thirst. This deeper hunger and thirst can only be satisfied by God's life, and this deeper need can only be met by God Himself.
During this period of life, God is not working merely in a general way to save and revive men in China; He also is doing a deeper work in some to make them pursue the knowledge of life. All those who witness and cooperate with the operation of God's grace in them feel that it is not enough to just live for the Lord; they need deeper experience. This deeper experience is the knowledge of the Lord as their life. They have already experienced not living to themselves (2 Cor. 5:15), but now the Lord is leading them into the experience of "no longer I who live" (Gal. 2:20). Before they were living for the Lord; now God is leading them to learn to let the Lord live for them. Before they felt satisfied if everything was for the Lord. Now they must rely on His life; they must allow Him to live out of them before they feel the anointing.
During this period, the so-called revival meetings and revival sermons cannot satisfy the inner need of seeking Christians. Seeking saints everywhere are hungry and thirsty; they need something deeper to meet their needs. Even though they may not know what their inner need is or be able to explain exactly what they hunger for, when they hear messages about the Lord as their life and how He wants to live out of man, there is a response within them. They yearn for the kind of experience described in these kinds of messages.
This kind of hunger and thirst among the seeking saints everywhere is a sign that God's work in China has gone on. Presently, however, this is still the beginning of the period of life. From this point onward, God's children must have a deeper pursuit, knowledge, and experience of His life.
If we want to keep up with God's work, we must pay attention to three matters concurrently.
Preaching the gospel is the beginning of God's work. If there is no gospel preaching in a place, there is surely no start to the work of God. Preaching the gospel is also the spread of God's work. If we want God's work to spread and the kingdom of God to increase in any place, we must preach His gospel. Furthermore, preaching the gospel is also the continuation of God's work. If no one on earth preached the gospel for twenty to forty years, I am afraid God's work on earth would stop completely.
The wider we spread the gospel, and the more thoroughly and fiercely we preach it, the better it is. It would be wonderful if we could become crazy for the gospel's sake. We are not afraid that the brothers and sisters would become too zealous in preaching the gospel. In every church we should encourage the brothers and sisters to "spend and be utterly spent on behalf of...souls" (2 Cor. 12:15). Every church should have burning gospel meetings. The brothers and sisters should all be burning in bringing relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and classmates to hear the gospel. We should saturate the homes, schools, businesses, factories, prisons, restaurants, boats, trains, airplanes, buses, trams, ferries, piers, stations, parks, public places, large streets, little alleys, and any other places with the voices and footsteps of brothers and sisters who are preaching the gospel every day. We should pass out gospel tracts, pictures, books, and other publications in large quantities and in every place. It would also be wonderful if many brothers could be raised up to put up gospel banners in every place or gospels ads and neon lights in every town and city, along the railroads and highways, at the piers and stations, and in ships and buses. We are not afraid that the brothers and sisters would become too much in the matter of preaching the gospel. We only fear that they would not do enough!
In every local church there should be genuine revivals. The brothers and sisters should all zealously love the Lord and consecrate themselves absolutely to live for Him. They should all drop the world and have the reality of "giving up" and "selling all," as recorded in the four Gospels and Acts.
If a local church has only the gospel without any revival, it is definitely short. If there is no revival, the gospel has no power. The power for preaching comes from one's sacrifice of the world. The more we give up the world, the greater our power in the gospel will be. If we are willing to give up everything and sell all, the gospel will be a gospel of authority in our mouths. If we are like Lot, living in today's Sodom, it should be no surprise that our relatives consider our gospel as a mockery, just like Lot's sons-in-law (Gen. 19:14).
Furthermore, without revival, it is inevitable that we will have problems with spiritual pursuit and knowledge of life. We cannot be lazy in our pursuit of spirituality and our knowledge of life. We must realize that the knowledge of life depicted in the Epistles comes after "giving up" and "selling all" in the four Gospels and Acts. The knowledge of life has to do with resurrection; "giving up" and "selling all" have to do with the cross. If we do not pass through the cross, we cannot experience any resurrection. If there is no "giving up" and "selling all," it is difficult to have the knowledge of life. If we do not have the reality of "giving up" and "selling all," not only is our gospel void of power and a mockery to others, but our spiritual pursuit and interest in life, to a considerable extent, become a kind of recreation and high-class entertainment. Therefore, we must have genuine revivals before our gospel can be powerful and our experience of life real.
In a local church there should be the zeal for the gospel, the reality of revival, and the knowledge of life. We should not stop at the gospel; nor should we stop with revival. Revival, like the gospel, is not God's goal; it is merely God's means to bring us to life. We should advance from the stage of the gospel to the stage of revival, and from the stage of revival to life. Only life is God's goal. The gospel gives us life, revival removes the hindrances to the knowledge and growth of life, and life brings us to God's goal.
The knowledge of life means the knowledge of God as life within us through the working of His grace (Col. 3:4). It means the knowledge of living by His life (Gal. 2:20), the knowledge of abiding in this life, and the knowledge of living out this life (Phil. 1:20-21).
The goal of God's salvation is to make us His vessels (Rom. 9:23-24). He put Himself as the "treasure" within us, the vessels (2 Cor. 4:7). From the time we were saved, God has been working on us continually to put more of Himself deeply into us so that we might gradually become lost in Him. This results in a deeper union in life with Him, which ultimately reaches perfection.
The goal of life is to bring God into man so that man may become lost in God. In this way, God and man, man and God become perfectly one.
We should pay equal attention to the three preceding matters. We should not emphasize one at the expense of another. If we emphasize these three matters equally, our work will go on in a stable and solid way. These three matters together make up a three-strand rope. If the strands are all of the same thickness, the rope will be very strong.
In addition to the above, we should also pay attention to some other matters. We must know the sphere of our work, the object of our work, and the move of our work. We need to pay attention to these three others matters.
Whether we are preaching the gospel, bringing in a revival, or pursuing the knowledge of life, all three should be for the building up of the church, and all of them should be done in the church. We should be deeply impressed and should recognize clearly that the service God wants is the church service, that is, a corporate service. He does not want personal service, that is, an individual service. Furthermore, the result of all service should cause the church — the Body of Christ — to be built up.
We should also know that the church is expressed practically in a locality. The universal church is what most people call the invisible church. This is not practical enough. The church must be practical and local to us. Therefore, our service and work must be conducted in the local church and must build up the local church. We should encourage and lead the brothers and sisters in each locality to rise up to serve and work together in their respective locality. The gospel should not be preached just by the so-called workers. It should be furthered by all the saints striving together in one accord and in one soul for its advancement (Phil. 1:5, 27). The service should not be limited to a small number of so-called servants of God. Instead, all the saints should serve together as priests (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). In every locality, the whole church should preach the gospel, the whole church should rise up to serve, and the whole church should work.
In our service and work, our individual element should be reduced to nothing, and our personal work should disappear in the face of corporate church service.
Our work and service must be done in coordination, and our coordination must be carried out in the church. No matter how great or small we are, we are all members. No matter how small we are, we cannot be less than a member. We should have a deep feeling that we cannot be independent in any way. We must feel that we need the coordination of the other members.
We should pay particular attention to the young people in our work in each locality. Today Satan's organizations and philosophies pay particular attention to young people. Can we not infer that God is paying attention to young people as well? This does not mean that the souls of older people are not precious in God's eyes, but it does mean that for the sake of God's work and for the future of the gospel, there is more hope with the young people. Our gospel work should place special emphasis on high school and college students. We should spend and pour out our all to save, cultivate, edify, and lead these young ones.
In leading the young people, there are three things we should pay attention to.
Once a young person is saved, we should help him take care of the sense of life. We should teach him how to fellowship in life, how to deal with his conscience, how to deal with his personal matters, how to have a thorough consecration, and how to practice absolute obedience. The more earnestly and strictly they practice these things, the better it is.
If it is right for a person to receive worldly education when he is young, it is more right for him to receive spiritual education when he is young. We must help and lead the young believers to study the Bible. We want them to receive a strong education in the truth of the Bible while they are still young. This has much to do with their future service to the Lord; it is something they can draw on for the rest of their lives. We should encourage them to set aside definite, adequate, and prime hours for the systematic reading of the Bible. In particular, they should devote many of their vacation days to reading the Bible extensively. They do not need to get into the profound meaning of the Word at the beginning. They only need to read it. The more familiar they are with the Word, the better it is for them.
We should lead the young believers to be zealous for the gospel and to have a proper attitude toward it. They must be on fire for the gospel. The gospel must be a consuming obsession to them. They must forget their positions and their faces. They should not care if others laugh at them or oppose them. They must open their mouths to preach the gospel and kneel and pray in any place at any time. Every time they go out of their house, they need to pass out some gospel tracts. In their spare time they must look for people to preach the gospel to. They must commit themselves to preaching the gospel to a certain number of people every day. They must also commit themselves to saving one soul within a set period of time. This seems artificial, even giving the appearance of an activity of the flesh, but the young believers need this kind of exercise.
We must lead the young believers to pay equal attention to these matters. The knowledge of life causes them to grow in life, the knowledge of the Bible causes them to be edified in knowledge, and their attitude toward the gospel causes them to be exercised in the work. These three matters are all interrelated, and they build one upon each other.
After the brothers and sisters in a local church have received a certain amount of edification, the church should encourage them to receive the Lord's leading to migrate to other localities and far away places for the sake of the gospel.
When the gospel went out from Jerusalem in the beginning, there were two lines. The first line consisted of the believers scattering abroad and preaching the gospel. The second line consisted of apostles doing the same thing. The gospel preaching in the first half of Acts (before chapter thirteen) was done almost entirely along the first line, while the gospel preaching in the second half of Acts (beginning in chapter thirteen) was done almost entirely along the second line. In God's eyes the believers' preaching is as significant as that of the apostles' preaching. God's desire is to have His gospel preached to the entire creation through these two lines. Unfortunately, today nearly all of the preaching of the gospel is along the line of the apostles; almost no one preaches along the line of the believers. Consequently, the gospel cannot go out as fast as in the beginning. For the sake of the spread of the gospel in these last days, we should allow God to recover the line of the believers' preaching.
According to the Bible, Christians should be moving, not standing. We are the true descendants of Abraham (Gal. 3:7). We should be pilgrims on the earth, moving and pitching our tents as he did (Heb. 11:9, 13; 1 Pet. 2:11). We should walk on the earth but not "dwell on the earth." We have a "commonwealth...in the heavens" (Phil. 3:20). On earth we should "wander without a home" (1 Cor. 4:11). If we have an established dwelling place on earth and cannot migrate, we are not up to the Christian standard; we have a problem. We are rooted on the earth. We must be like nomads and always be moving. When we move, the gospel moves with us. We carry the germs of the gospel with us. Wherever we go, the gospel spreads like a contagion. The gospel should spread to all lands this way.
The gospel came to China from the West one hundred years ago. However, up to the present time, the footsteps of the gospel have only reached the coastal provinces. The interior of China and the remote areas have seen little of the gospel. The gospel has been preached so slowly in China because of two main reasons:
1)The Chinese Christians have been immature in the growth in life. The gospel does not spread through excitement, ideas, or even organization. The gospel spreads through planting Christ's life into men like a seed. Suppose a kind of botanical seed is brought to China from a foreign country and planted in the coastal areas of China. We must wait until the seed grows up, matures, and produces other seeds before we can plant these seeds in other regions. This is the way the gospel spreads. Christians in the coastal regions must be very mature in life before they can go out and plant the gospel in remote areas.
2)In the past almost no Christians from the coastal regions migrated to the remote provinces, so it has been difficult for the gospel to move from the coast to the interior. The preaching of the gospel is like a relay race in a stadium. The brothers from the West brought the gospel to the coastal regions of China and passed it on to us. We brothers in the coastal regions should receive the gospel and carry it to the interior and remote regions. We should not expect the brothers from the West to pass us up and go there before us. If we would migrate with the gospel to all these places, the gospel would spread very quickly over the whole country.
Although many Christians from the coastal regions have migrated to the interior in the past ten years because of Japan's attack on China, most of them went with the motive of escaping the war, finding a job, finding a school, or finding their families; very few went for the gospel. After the war was over, most returned to the coastal regions. Very few seeds of the gospel remained in the interior. This is a pity.
Today every locality along the coast should help the brothers and sisters in every occupation prepare themselves for the Lord's leading to take up their occupation, families, and even more, the gospel to migrate to the remote provinces. In this way the gospel will not stop with us.
Finally, there are a few things we should guard against. In every age and every place, there are always things that damage God's work. Today at least three things are before our eyes.
Today the Chinese government welcomes Christianity. This affords us all kinds of conveniences in our gospel work. We readily acknowledge God's hand in this. However, whenever any political authority on earth welcomes Christianity, the church on earth is challenged with greater temptation! Pergamos failed in this area, and Thyatira also fell on account of this (Rev. 2:12-29).
Just as the Lord and His kingdom do not belong to this world, the church does not belong to this world (John 18:36; 17:14, 16). The church was chosen by the Lord out of the world (15:19) and sanctified from the world (17:19). The church is sanctified because it is separated from the world. Whoever belongs to the church has received a heavenly calling (Heb. 3:1). His commonwealth is not earthly, but heavenly (Phil. 3:20).
When a political authority rejects Christianity, such a problem may affect the move of the church, but this persecution is in accordance with the church's heavenly nature. However, if a political authority welcomes Christianity, it may make the move of the church easier, but the result is that she may lose her heavenly condition. Whenever any earthly political power embraces Christianity, the church loses her heavenly purity. Whenever Christianity and earthly authorities hold hands, the church unites with the earth and commits fornication with the world. Political authority is altogether earthly, while the church is altogether heavenly. The church and state should be absolutely separated one from the other! The Roman Church with its many dark, corrupt, evil, and erroneous practices came about because Christianity was joined to earthly political authorities. On the one hand, we should take advantage of the welcome from the government and use every convenient opportunity to spread the gospel. On the other hand, we should always be warned that earthly welcome can erode our heavenly position. We should always maintain our heavenly status with fear and trepidation.
We thank the Lord for His grace among the Western brothers and sisters, who brought His gospel to China. However, we cannot deny the fact that wherever the gospel from the West goes, the power of money from the West also follows. It is of God that the gospel came, but it is a real problem when money comes along with it. There is nothing wrong with money being given in the way of spiritual fellowship to meet the needs of the Chinese churches. But it is absolutely wrong for money to become a kind of financial power! The fact remains that much of the money from the West came as a kind of financial backing to Christianity in China. Due to the changes in the Chinese government between 1926 and 1927 (this change was certainly allowed by God), the power of so-called Western Christianity in China was reduced considerably. But after China won the last war, a kind of trend crept in. International cooperation has resulted in the so-called Western powers moving into Chinese Christianity again. We should guard against this!
Even if the money from the West is not an issue, one who is learning to serve God in purity should guard himself against it. Perhaps the money does not influence us, but it may become a crutch to us. The only thing a servant of God should rely on is God, not foreign currency. The source of his supply should be the heavens, not the West. His eyes should be on the heavens, not on Westerners. The money from the West may not become an influence, but it may cause one to lose his faith in God!
The Chinese saints and the brothers and sisters from the West should have fellowship one with another in the Lord. They should confine their relationship strictly to this fellowship in the Lord. If the relationship is normal, both spiritual supply and material supply will be mutual. If this is not the case, the relationship is abnormal and should not exist.
The New Testament service is spiritual rather than formal (Rom. 7:6). It is of life, not of letter (Heb. 7:16; 2 Cor. 3:6). Although there are outward activities to our services and outward arrangements to our work, these activities and arrangements, in themselves, have no significance. They are merely expressions of the inward reality of life, expressions which match an inward spiritual need. If there is no reality of life inwardly and no spiritual need, any ritualistic activity or business arrangement has no bearing upon God's New Testament service. It is possible for a local church to have a certain outward expression that appears to be ceremonial in some way. Yet it is there to take care of the inward reality of life. It may have some outward arrangements in its service. But this is done to take care of some inward spiritual need. When other localities see these practices, they should not imitate. Outward things are done to express inward reality; they are done to match inward needs. If there is nothing inward, there should be nothing outward. Outward things should grow out of inward things; they should overflow from inward things. If there is nothing growing and overflowing from within, anything outward is vain imitation. It is worthless and is actually harmful. (Witness)
For the sake of His testimony in Tangshan, the Lord has chosen some brothers and sisters here to meet to worship and serve Him. In order to preserve and lead us, He has led us to fellowship often with His servants and all the churches. This enables us to live in the supply of life in the Body, as well as preserves us in His will and grace. In our last letter, we reported the condition of the assembly in Tangshan. Have you read it? During the past two months, Brother Sia came from Tientsin to fellowship with the brothers and sisters and to confirm that we are going on here in a proper condition. Because of His love for us, the Lord has given each of the brothers and sisters trials of sickness and accidents. This has brought us to an awareness of our smallness and weakness. We can only prostrate ourselves before the Lord. We beg the Lord to deliver us and have mercy on us so that by His grace we would not become those who slip away in this age! Because the newly saved ones have grown so much in life, we could not delay baptizing them. After fellowshipping with Brother Sia and receiving confirmation, we baptized them peacefully and successfully with the Lord's support on August 1 (the Lord's Day). There were thirteen brothers and eight sisters. Tangshan now has a total of thirty-eight brothers and sisters who are baptized and who have been received into the Body. However, we have not yet established the table to remember the Lord. We are still looking for the Lord's arrangement concerning this matter. We want to fellowship this matter with you and ask you to pray for us. If you have the burden, please give us some advice concerning when and how we should establish the table. We hope you brothers will remember us for the sake of the commission of the Lord's glorious testimony. This is our report to you. May the grace of the Lord be with you!
The brothers in Tangshan,Lee Ze-zhe, Wang Yu-zhai, Wang Gui-wu, Enoch Hsiao,Dai Ju-yu, Chui Yu-linAugust 4, 1948
Mailing Address: 7 Zuang-Yuan Third Strip, Tangshan City, Hopeh province
Two months ago, I received a letter from Brother Jin-zhien, saying that many brothers had "handed over themselves," but he did not tell me the details and the extent of their consecration. I thought that it was a general consecration in principle. It was not until two days ago, when I received and read Brother San-gang's own notes from the April conference in Shanghai that I realized that the extent of "handing over oneself" was not just an empty consecration in principle. It was so concrete that even one's choice of career and dwelling should be in accordance with the church and the gospel. My heart rejoiced because the Lord had mercy on me, a small brother in the remote locality of Siying, and allowed me to know His ordained way in this age. I am now willing to fully hand over myself, my job, and my dwelling. I do not want to "go my own way" any longer. I want to be restricted, and I want to submit to authority. I beg you brothers not to leave me behind.
A few years ago, as I was preparing to go inland to take the college entrance exam for an engineering degree, I was clear that my goal of being an engineer after graduation was only a temporary measure. When the time came, I would give up this earthly occupation and singleheartedly serve the Lord by preaching the word. When I was about to graduate last year, I felt to shorten this time of temporary commitment. Presently, I am forced to take up a little of my earthly occupation because I am still immature in the matter of serving Him. I am ready to give it up whenever He wants me to. I earnestly desire to receive more training during these days!
With regard to a job for me in Shanghai, it does not have to be with the Railroad Company. Any job will do, as long as I am capable of doing it, and as long as it does not take away from my time of learning with the church. Any job will do, even if it is not with the Railroad Company (private contractor, high school mathematics or physics teacher, or anything).
Your little brother in the Lord,Yu Pao-shengJune 15, 1948
Mailing Address: c/o 38 Alley 240 Tung-Ren Road (23) Shanghai
Greetings in the Lord to my elder brother, Cheng-hua:
I have read your letter and deeply feel that your word concerning the importance of quality over quantity is very important. When I was preaching the gospel in Tsingtao, I felt that there was no need to pull in so many. A great outward appearance with no inward reality harms the church. I am before the Lord in prayer! It would be a great blessing indeed for the brothers and sisters in Tsingtao to be graced by the Lord and be brought into the way of life. I feel that it is right for outward activities to cease. If they abound instead, they will only become hindrances. I have paid much attention to the cross in the past and feel that the cross has not worked deeply enough among us (in Tsingtao)! The separation of the soul and the spirit and our knowledge of the Lord are too insufficient! Thank the Lord! He has sent you here to Tsingtao. Many of the co-workers rejoiced at this. Emmanuel!
Your little brother,Chang Tze-jiehJuly 9, 1948
I am preaching the gospel here in the Lord's name. Apart from individually preaching in homes on the Lord's Day on Hulu Island, there are already two home meetings. (Twenty to thirty people attend each meeting.) In addition to these meetings, there are also three or four meetings on the Lord's Day. God has recently opened a door for us in the Battlefield Hospital and the Railroad Hospital in Chi Mountain (between Hulu Island and Jinxi, twenty Chinese miles from Jinxi). May the Lord grant us mercy and grace.
If any brother or sister is coming to the Northeast, please send me a letter of introduction so that I can serve him or her before the Lord with hospitality and fellowship to fulfill my function as a member of the Body.
Your little brother in the Lord,Lo Shi-renJuly 31, 1948
Mailing Address: Chinese Farmers' Bank, Jinxi, Liaoning
Thank God for working in a small number of young brothers in the church in Shanghai. Through their zeal for the gospel, many brothers and sisters have been stirred up. These brothers felt that being lukewarm, half-living and half-dead Christians was unacceptable. If they were going to be Christians, they had to give their all and consecrate everything for the Lord. They felt that they should follow the Gospels and drop everything to follow the Lord. If not, they could not be good Christians today in this age. They also felt that young people did not need to study so many spiritual theories or deep doctrines; neither did they need to sit around hoping to become a Brother Lawrence or a Madame Guyon. They felt that the easiest, most basic, and most practical thing to do was to preach the gospel and not be ashamed of it. They took a strong stand for the gospel. They reckoned that if they did not learn to preach the gospel and were not exercised in this matter, it would be useless to talk about other matters because they would have no spiritual future.
There is one heart-rending fact: The gospel has been in China for over a hundred years. Yet the gospel is still confined to the coastal regions. Many who serve mammon are not afraid of anything; they do not care about sacrifice but move to inland remote regions for the sake of money, business, or career. But few of God's children are willing to go inland for the sake of the gospel. We must confess that many souls are perishing because of our lack of zeal and burden for the gospel.
We all know that the gospel is the Lord's commission. With regard to geography, we should preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. With regard to the audience, we should preach the gospel to all the creation (Mark 16:15). Preaching is the special privilege of every saved sinner. An angel could only say to Cornelius that his prayers and alms were remembered by God. When Cornelius wanted to hear the gospel, he sent for Peter (Acts 10:4-6). The angel did not have the privilege of preaching the gospel. Someone once said that if God allowed the angels to preach the gospel, the heavens would immediately be emptied. Furthermore, preaching the gospel clears one's debt. Paul said that he owed everyone a debt, whether Greek, barbarian, wise, or foolish (Rom. 1:14). Here we must emphasize one point: Preaching the gospel is the responsibility of every Christian. Whether we like it or not, the debt must be paid. No Christian can say that he does not have a share in the matter of the gospel. Perhaps we are not lacking in other things. But who dares to say that he has paid off the debt of the gospel? We are debtors to every sinner. We should pay our debt to every sinner.
For this reason, the brothers all felt they must at least pay back their debt of the gospel to the five million inhabitants of Shanghai. We have already made more than twenty vests with gospel slogans written on the back and front. Some vests have "Vanity of vanities" on the front and "All is vanity" on the back. Others have "Turn back, do turn back," on the front and "Why should you perish?" on the back. Still others have "Christ came into the world" on the front and "to save sinners" on the back. We wear the vests. Some carry gospel tracts, some carry "gospel" flags, and some play the accordion. We go out in groups to the busy streets in the middle of the city and walk down the sidewalks on both sides of the road. As we march, we pass out tracts. When we reach a park or an empty public place, we preach the gospel. We have also prepared a large truck with an amplifier and a speaker to go to places farther away.
We have only gone out a few times, and there is no obvious fruit. However, one fact remains — a small gospel bomb has been dropped in Shanghai. As we marched, thousands and tens of thousands of people watched us. People came out of the alleys and buildings to watch us. Every time we returned, we were inwardly filled with joy and zeal. We feel that our inward fellowship with the Lord is now more intimate. We seem to be more separated from the world. Indeed the gospel shoes are the only thing that can separate us from the earth and keep us in the Lord's way. If the Lord has mercy on us, we hope to continue this work. One day we hope that "there will be no place left to preach" in Shanghai.
We ask the brothers and sisters in each locality to take advantage of this unique opportunity to preach the gospel. We should do what we can for the gospel, as Brother Paul said, "I do all things for the sake of the gospel" (1 Cor. 9:23). We should live, die, teach, study, do business, run factories, labor, have families, and do everything for the gospel. Paul said that everything he did was for the sake of the gospel.
I hope we would have this attitude toward the gospel: No matter where we are or what we do, we are special agents for the gospel. If we live this way, our walk will match our gospel. What is the gospel? The gospel is God's love for the world. The gospel is the expression of God's grace; it is God's sacrifice. To us it is the gospel, but to God it is the sacrifice of His Son. If we want to preach the gospel but do not exercise love or grace in our living, or if we are not willing to sacrifice or suffer, turning "the other cheek," letting others "take our cloak," or going the "extra mile," we are not worthy of the gospel. The gospel is not just a work; it is a battle. If we do not strive in one accord, it is very difficult for the gospel to spread. May this small fire of the gospel in Shanghai burn the cold hearts of many of God's children. May this small bomb wake up many sleeping Christians so that they would not miss this opportunity and would not be ashamed of the gospel, but instead would preach the Lord's gospel well. We can say this: If we neglect this opportunity to preach the gospel with our mouth today, perhaps one day we will have to preach it with our blood. (Chang Yu-zhi)
All things work together for good. The orphanage has been back in Hankow for seventeen months now. In these seventeen months, I have learned many things. When my will was shaken to the point of falling and I was almost disappointed, the Lord said to me, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when reproved by Him." From that time on, I dared not give up on myself or consider myself too poor to be useful. I went on, one step at a time, according to the light I had received. I did not look back on the past. I am learning to have Brother Lawrence's attitude: "Only working, not retrospecting." I do not care if things are bad or good.
Your brother in the Lord,Lan Tsi-yiAugust 10, 1948
Mailing Address: P. O. Box 99, Hankow
My heart is completely filled with happiness and rest because God is stirring within His children in His church in these days. Oh! I give worship, blessing, and thanks to our heavenly Father, the everlasting God. He always hears man's prayers and accepts man's cries. He forever supports those in weakness and comforts those in afflictions. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoking flax He will not quench. I will now tell you a little of God's work, grace, and mercy on me in recent months. I hope you will be able to teach and correct me in many areas so that I will not become proud or dejected.
In September of last year, God brought me into the valley of shadow. In the beginning of October, I fell into trials. I felt exceedingly heavy and depressed both inwardly and outwardly. However, in the deepest part of my heart, I still believed that time would bring me through. Though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I feared not, because the Lord was with me. (Of course, at that time I did not feel this way.)
While I remained in the valley of shadow, I was drawn to read the books of poetry, especially the book of Job. In reading it, however, I discovered that I was short and had sinned. Job, who had fallen into such a serious trial, never sinned with his mouth or offended God. What about me? I often blamed God and murmured against Him. Sometimes I judged myself. If I had continued like that for a long time, I would have been like the Israelites who died in the wilderness; they could not enter Canaan because of their murmuring. Later, God gradually led the brothers to pray that I would come out of the valley of shadow. O dear brother, "Weeping may linger in the evening,/But a ringing shout goes up in the morning." Hallelujah! In May of this year, I finally came out of the valley of shadow. Oh! It was like the bamboo shoots in spring that come out after the rain, and the honey that drips from the bees' nest. How fresh it was! How joyful! How sweet!
I felt that "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine." At the same time, I had a great inward thirst. So I began to pursue. I felt that I could not be a Christian in the way that I had been before. I felt that being a Christian is not a matter of degree; it is a matter of the whole being becoming involved. It was not a matter of being good or bad but a matter of being a model or living up to standard. It is not a matter of curing a headache or a sore foot but of having a thorough examination and rooting out the source of the illness. I felt that a Christian cannot be loose in following the Lord; he must first sit down and consider the cost. I finally felt that the first basic thing a Christian must do is consecrate his life and not be ashamed of the gospel, just as Paul did not hold on to his own life in proving the gospel. The second matter was to stand absolutely on God's side and not to discount any of God's word at all. Was not the first sin in the universe a twisting and discrediting of God's word? We should not just submit to God's word in principle; we should obey the clear writings too. What do you think?
After this, I had a time like I never have had before of reading the Bible, praying, fasting, and dealing with the Lord. I thought of how desolate my many years as a Christian had been! How poor! I have really been uselessly taking up space! I also discovered that I had not learned any lesson during this time. I did not have a good attitude toward the gospel. I had to ask God's forgiveness for this.
When I read the first chapter of Matthew on May 26, it dawned on me that the first person mentioned was Abraham. I felt that I should learn to give up things and be willing to consecrate myself like Abraham. When I came to chapter two about Jesus' birth, I found how Herod's heart and even the hearts of everyone in Jerusalem were unsettled. I said to myself, "Now I realize that wherever the gospel goes, it should unsettle men!" May God give me a way to unsettle people when the gospel goes out from me. I set my mind to make a gospel signboard to carry on my back. After talking to some brothers in the university, we proceeded with it. We made vests of white cloth, with many kinds of gospel slogans written on the front and back; we wore them in class, near the school, on the bus, and on the road back and forth between the meeting hall and the school. When we first began to wear them, we felt very embarrassed, but by the Lord's grace we told ourselves that we should not be ashamed of the gospel. This was the motivation and the beginning of our wearing the gospel vests. Later, we marched on all the streets once or twice a week, wearing the vests and preaching the gospel. We did not just let the world hear it; we also let them see it.
I believe if we have three hundred people who are absolute for God and who do not care for their own lives, they will shake Shanghai. If there are three thousand people, they will shake the entire country. If there are thirty thousand people, they will shake the whole earth. In this way the gospel will be quickly preached to the ends of the earth; it will hasten the coming of the kingdom of God. May God give us more people! Have not the leading brothers said that the outward appearance of the church has been in desolation for two thousand years? May God give us mercy, that we would stop the desolation in this generation. May God quickly recover us to the original condition of the church.
My hand is sore from writing this much, but my heart is burning and excited. The preceding account is my small experience. I do not hope to do anything great. I just want to take my stand and advance the gospel "in one accord" with all the saints.
If there are any errors in my letter, I hope you will feel free to correct and teach me. Amen.
Your little brother in the Lord,Hsu Er-jianAugust 11, 1948Jiao-Tong University
The famine in Ch'ang-ch'un is very serious. One catty (about a pound) of red rice costs fifty million yen. A sack of flour costs more than four billion. We want to escape but cannot get free. The brothers have enough food to last for about another month (on the average). No one can afford to buy anything to eat. If there is no other way to relieve the urgent need, it is possible that we will all starve to death. More than forty brothers escaped at the beginning of June. The sisters went to the border twenty miles away, but were not allowed entry, nor were they allowed to go back. They had to sleep under the stars. They ate all the food they had brought with them and were forced to eat grass and even leaves of trees. I am afraid that Hua Tien-min's old mother and Kuo Sheng-mo's mother have already starved to death. The horses have all been killed and eaten, but there is still no deliverance. The denominational churches in the city have tried to find some ways to give out a little food, but they cannot help much. Only one sister who fled has safely made it to Peking. She walked and crawled for more than a month to get there...
Your little brother,Ai-guangAugust 14, 1948
Temporary Mailing Address: c/o 10 Interior Alley, Fukien
Peace to my two dear and respected brothers in the Lord, Watchman and Witness:
Thank and praise the Lord who loves us that you have not forgotten your little brother living far away. I have received both The Ministers and The Glad Tidings. These two publications are really like the Lord's anointing, and they refreshed my spirit and soul. They are also like drops of dew on the grass. I felt watered by them. I can only loudly sing hallelujah to praise our Father God. I have not been able to write to you until now because of the weakness of my flesh and the bondage of worldly affairs. I hope you will pray much for me, your weak younger brother. May the Lord bless your work so that it will not only water and feed the weak brothers but will cause many people to leave darkness and turn to light. Glory be to the Lord's name. Amen.
Lee Jin-kuiAugust 2, 1948
Mailing Address: Mao-Sin Soap Factory, Shaoyang, Hunan
I lost my job last year, and the Lord arranged for me to come to Subic Bay in the Philippines to care for the medical needs of fifty to sixty people on a naval ship. I am the only believer on the ship. I have been here for six months already. Praise the Lord for putting me in this lonely place. I have maintained my daily Bible reading in a normal way. He is teaching me lessons that I have not yet learned. I am quietly enduring this boring life, looking to Him, and meeting with Him. The sailors on the ship all feel that life is bothersome and boring, but inwardly I am filled with His joy and rest. It is really like Brother Lawrence pulling up a weed from the earth and being happy because he loved God. Thank God, I also have His presence. He has also led me to do some things pleasing to Him aboard this ship. I am lowly and weak, possessing nothing, but the God of mercy wants His grace to be perfected in a person as lowly as me. It is extremely marvelous that two people from Sian in the North have been clearly saved. They have recently learned to have fresh fellowship with God inwardly. I often receive a supply of life from their prayers. Truly, the gospel is not of the letter, but it is the out-flowing of life and the result of God's mercy. I echo the words of Madame Guyon which you wrote to me long ago: "Just as air fills a vacuum, so also does God fill those who empty themselves." I have nothing to say but, "Praise the Lord for His great love!" He "will have mercy on whomever [He] will have mercy, and [He] will have compassion on whomever [He] will have compassion" (Rom. 9:15). Dear elder brother in the Lord, I often feel that I will obey His voice when the time comes. I am still immature and need to be concerned with practical things and with learning the basics. May the Lord have compassion on me. Amen.
I also hope you will remember me in spirit! Last month the Lord gave me enough time to make a trip to Manila. I did not have any outward curiosity. My heart's desire was to visit the brothers and sisters in the Lord in that city. I was able to fellowship with them during this visit. I stayed in Manila for a week in the home of Sister Huang Chi-ai. I feel that the Lord has especially laid hold of a group of brothers there who are somewhat clear regarding the inward leading of life. Recently, the church has been greatly touched by the news that some brothers and sisters in Shanghai made absolute consecrations and that the work is spreading everywhere. The saints here really hope that God would send an elderly servant here to edify them. They all treasure the news from Shanghai. We believe that God has begun His work and will complete it. May God bless the church. Amen.
Your little brother in the Lord,Yen Chang-taoJuly 18, 1948
Mailing Address: Mr. C. T. Ien L.S.T. 982 c/o post office, Olongapo Zambales, P. I.
Respectful greetings:
I heard that God has blessed the local church in Shanghai in these days with a development never seen before. More than four hundred brothers and sisters have completely consecrated themselves. Thank the Lord, He has also begun the work of raising up prayer here. We still need God to raise up leaders or we will have no way to go on. Brother Miao sent a letter saying that the earliest he could come would be the end of the year. May His will be done. Amen.
If the Lord wills and leads, I will take a trip to Shanghai. I hope to wait for the Lord's leading there. I hope you will pray for me. I know that you are very busy with the work, but if you could take some time from your busy schedule to briefly tell me the latest messages from God, I would be very grateful. Praise God for His abounding grace!
A weak member in the Lord,So Lin-tiok
Mailing Address: Mr. So Lin-tiok, Dr. H. S. Huang, 882 Reina Regente St., Manila, P. I.
Peace to the responsible brothers:
Brother Yu Dao-sheng boarded a boat on July 22 to pass through Canton on his way to Shanghai. Has he arrived?
We do not have a fixed place for our meetings. We no longer meet at the old address on Jie-Shi Road. Our temporary mailing address is as follows: Chen Ming-zhi, Lai-Zhan Section, Canton Regional Engineering Office, Siying, Zhanjiang.
I believe the church in Shanghai is remembering the church here. Finally, we hope you will pray for us much.
Your brother in the Lord,Chen Qi-shouJuly 30, 1948
Brother Yu Dao-sheng arrived safely in Shanghai on August 9. He constantly thinks of you brothers and sisters in Zhanjiang. What he is learning will be beneficial to you. We should thank God together. — Editor
August 17, 1948Shanghai
Brother Yu-xian:
With regard to your question in your letter of April 24 (see Issue No. 1 of this publication), the answer is as follows:
A saved person should be a serving one. Furthermore, his service should be in coordination with the local church. If he receives grace to serve in a way which occupies his time and strength, of course he cannot, and should not, take a job. If he receives grace to serve, but all his time and energy are not completely consumed, he should use the rest of his time and energy to do a job. (But this job is just a second job; his true profession is serving God.)
A person should not idly wait on God and look for His arrangement. He should always serve God in the church in the place where he is. If he has extra time and energy, he should take a job. May you have peace in the Lord!
Your brother,Witness LeeAugust 16, 1948
Respectful greetings:
The church in Dongsha has had very little growth in life in recent years. We lack the experience of reality in our living, and we do not have enough light. Furthermore, because we lack fellowship with your locality, you are not able to feed us, and there is a general spreading of spiritual famine. I trust you are willing to supply us because of our immature spiritual condition. (We have not had any special conference recently, apart from the prayer and fellowship meetings, visitations, and baptisms.) We are writing this letter as a Macedonian call: "Come over...and help us!" In the future, if you have conferences, please notify us that we might attend. We pray we would be able to receive the truth.
This letter was written that you might know the condition of the churches in Dongsha. We are sending you a table listing the condition of the churches. Please grant our request and give us an answer. (There were too many signatures for this letter, so we have not published them here. Please see pages 72 and 73 for the table of the condition of the Christian assemblies in Dongsha.)
July 8, 1948
I am a recently saved sinner! God in His mercy has placed me among the members to learn to serve Him. Thanks and praise be to Him.
After Brother Lan Tsi-yi returned from Shanghai (where he attended the conference), he told us that the brothers and sisters in Shanghai (and its surrounding areas) had received great grace and are avidly consecrating themselves. Brother Lan hoped I would have the opportunity to go there and participate, and I also felt a tremendous inward desire to go. In addition, I have read Brother Yu Dao-sheng's letter from Zhanjiang to a brother here, written after the Young People's Edifying Meetings in the fall, telling him about the saints' hunger and thirst in pursuing the Lord. I felt as if oil had been added to my inward fire. My inward condition has become very desperate. (I intend to apply to the post office to transfer me to Shanghai for training.) I have sought God's will concerning this matter continually with the brothers and am still in the process of seeking His desire. I am afraid of falling into my personal likes due to my own zeal. I do not want to frustrate God's plan. I am also afraid of hesitation ahead because of too much analysis and thus neglecting God's arrangement. I am writing to tell you leading brothers my inward condition. I hope you will not ignore me, but will instead give me an answer. I will do what you counsel. May God bless you with abundant grace!
Your little brother,Chang Guang-zhaoAugust 4, 1948
Mailing Address: Gospel Court, Xiao-Dong Jia Alley, Hankow
I have not written for a long time, but I often remember you in the fellowship of prayer. Thank the Lord that He has done some work in Shanba. It is a work that is not from man. The meeting hall has already been purchased for a total of more than two hundred million yen. There are two courts with a total of fourteen rooms. We use six of the large rooms for meetings. The Lord has done a wonderful work. In the beginning we borrowed, then rented, and now we are able to buy the meeting hall. We never expected the owner to sell us the hall, because he is very rich. After we rented it, the brothers and sisters prayed continually for this hall and asked the Lord to give it to us. Thank the Lord, He heard the prayers of His children. The owner suddenly announced he was going to sell the house. The Lord did this. We saw the Lord's clear presence in everything. Among the brothers and sisters, more than two hundred have been saved for less than two years, and there are not many wealthy ones among us. But within two weeks, we collected enough offerings for everything except a small balance. Glory be to Him.
Brother, is the Lord leading you to have a conference in Shanghai? Please remember us when you pray. May the Lord preserve you and be with you.
Your brother in the Lord,Chao Xu-dongMay 15, 1948
Mailing Address: 28 Chung Cheng Road, Hsiapa City, West Suiyuan
Peace to the brothers and sisters meeting in the Lord's name in Shanghai:
In the past, we were very lonely in this remote mountainous region because communication was cut off during the war. Thank the Lord that we heard of the revival and new light in your locality. Our hearts are filled with unspeakable joy. This is the Lord's marvelous doing!
We received the Lord's leading to come here in the winter of 1941 to open up the barren lands (farming). We began meeting at that time and have continued until now. Although we have passed through the attack of storms and winds, thank the Lord, the number of saved ones has increased.
There is now one woman who truly believes in the Lord. (She was possessed by demons but turned to the faith.) We were unable to preach the gospel when we first came here because we could not speak the local dialect. Thank the Lord, a small number of brothers are now able to speak it. Because the brothers' harvests are not large, all are forced by the cares of this life to work very hard, and the Lord's work has been put aside. We feel shameful in our hearts and can only ask the Lord to open a door for the gospel. We also ask you brothers to pray for us!
We feel very weak because we are all infants in the Lord and very immature in the Lord's work. We only learn through petition. We deeply hope that some brothers from your locality could come here to lead and strengthen us. We would be happy to give them hospitality.
We are sending a table of our condition for your perusal. In the future, we ask you to instruct us much. Please send us a response. May the Lord bless you.
Your brothers,Hsu Xiu-gen, Chou Yuan-lung, He Chai-genAugust 11, 1948Mailing Address: c/o Jixin Cooperative Farm, Yangshuchiao,Yiyang, Kiangsi
(See map on page 78.)
History: In the fall of 1941, Fan Chi-hung of Nansha, Xiaoshan, Chekiang, came to this area to purchase undeveloped land. In the winter of the same year, some of the brothers and pioneers came to develop the area. They built straw shelters on the land they purchased and established a new village — Ji (Christ) xin (Faith) Chun (village). The meetings began at that time. In the winter of the next year, they built a straw building for the meetings and established the meeting hall.
Name: The Christian Assembly in Jixin Village
Address: Jixin Farm, Yangshuchiao, Yiyang, Kiangsi
Began meeting: November 1941
Began remembering the Lord: April 1947 (We still have not formally established the Lord's table.)
Native origin: Shaoshing and Xiaoshan, Chekiang
Occupation: Farmers
Present number: Males: 69; Females: 54
Number in the meetings: Males: 44; Females: 33
Present number in the table meetings: Males: 16;
Females: 16
Names of leading brothers: Hsu Xiu-gen, Chou Yuan-lung, He Chai-gen
Neighboring denominations: In Yiyang — China Inland Mission; in Zhaobin — China Inland Mission outpost (fifteen li from our village) has already stopped.
Nearby transportation: Fifteen li from the Yiyang Station of the Chekiang-Kiangsi Railroad; Kiangsi-Chekiang Highway is on the eastern side (passing through Yangshuchiao); two li from a river port on the west.
Education: We began a night school in the spring of this year (two hours every night). On Mondays we teach the Bible, on Tuesdays we teach hymn-singing, on Thursdays we teach from the cooperative text and the popular lessons. We teach the rest of the classes on Friday, Saturday, and the Lord's Day.
Notes: Our numbers include all men and women both young and old. Locally there are thirty-two households registered. Ninety percent of the population has a native origin of Nansha. Because there is a prayer meeting on Wednesday night, we do not have classes. There is a prayer meeting that begins at 3:00 p.m. on Friday afternoons.
There are meetings three times a day in Kuling Mountain (with the exception of prayer on the Lord's Day morning and rest on Wednesday). There are two meetings in the morning. The first is a basic training for the ministry of the word. Messages have been given on submission to authority and the exercise of the spirit, emphasizing the separation of the inner man and the outer man. The second meeting is for individual judgments. Only one person is allowed to testify in each meeting, and then his problems are discussed after his testimony. It seems to be a practical training in the judgment in the house of God. The evening meeting is for the preparation of the edification of new believers.
Since coming to the mountain, my spirit has been gradually revived before God, and recently I have been moving gradually upward. (From the meeting in Shanghai all the way to Foochow, my entire being was prostrate before God as if I were paralyzed. I had no feeling or strength. It is really marvelous. Praise the Lord!) I hope I will not need to struggle in dealing with the negative things again, but can be strengthened in the positive things. If you have anything to say to me, I am willing to receive the help.
Your brother in the Lord,Lee Yin-hsinJuly 7, 1948
Four publications — The Ministers, The Gospel, The Way, and The Present Testimony — have all been published on time. Although they are all bimonthly magazines, we must publish one publication every half month. Therefore, every department is very busy. We would like to answer some subscribers' questions and ask you to attend to a few points:
1)News of Believers will be discontinued with the eighth issue. The Present Testimony will continue after News of Believers. Its contents will be more specific than that of News of Believers. Subscribers to News of Believers will receive at least one copy of The Present Testimony from us. Whoever would like to continue to subscribe should fill out the subscription form and send it to us. If you do not notify us, we will discontinue your subscription in the following issue. (Please read the back cover of that publication to find out how to subscribe.)
2)Because of too many subscribers from the localities, we have no more copies of Issue No. 1 of The Gospel. From now on, those who subscribe to this publication will receive copies beginning with the second issue. This paper is very expensive. (It costs one hundred million yen to typeset one hymn with music and to have one picture on the front.) We hope that when you give copies to people, you will not just scatter them like tracts but will give some consideration to whom you are giving them to.
3)Some readers subscribe for others. It is best to give this information to your friends personally. Forgive us for not notifying them for you. Furthermore, it would be best if you would mail your personal letters directly to your correspondents in Shanghai (other than those who are working in the Gospel Book Room). Please forgive us for not being able to verify information or conduct business on your behalf.
4)When filling out a subscription order: a) Be sure to write legibly. b) Subscribers from other provinces must give us the name of their province and city or county so that we may prepare cards and labels. c) When subscribing to several publications, it is important to use the same name and address for each subscription because we file subscriptions according to a person's last name.
5)When changing your address or the number of copies in your subscription, it would be best to send us the paper wrapper from your subscription which contains your name, address, and quantity on it. At the very least, include your previous address. This will reduce the amount of time we have to spend in looking for your record. Please remember this. This will save us some trouble.
6)Although there are temporary prices for the three publications — The Ministers, The Way, and The Present Testimony — in reality we have only charged enough to cover the postage for The Ministers. (The price of sending one paper is now at least ten thousand yen.) While we were editing and typesetting the first issue of The Ministers, one roll of white newsprint cost almost five million yen. The price for one roll has now increased more than tenfold. The other costs, including typesetting and printing, have also risen with the rise of the cost of living and have increased more than tenfold. Our most recent cost was more than ten thousand yen for typesetting one word. You can imagine the rest of the costs. But thank God, through the offerings of many brothers and sisters, He has allowed us to put out these publications on time. We are sharing this so that you can thank God with us for the publications that have already been put out, and so that you will know how heavy our burden is in order to pray for us.
7)Although certain places can receive letters and wired money, the post office may not accept printed materials. Sometimes we send the materials by airmail. Even though we are willing to spend the money, sometimes it is not even accepted as airmail. We are now trying to find people who will go to these places to carry the publications with them. We hope that the churches in the far regions like the Northwest would also be able to receive these four publications.
8)We are unable to calculate foreign postage and domestic airmail postage because we have only a few workers (who are all very busy) and because the postage rates increase unexpectedly. (At present it costs more than 300,000 yen to send one magazine by domestic airmail.) We can only ask our readers to calculate the postage costs from the stamps on the publications when they receive them.
We hope to serve all the local churches well in the matter of the publications. It is difficult, however, to avoid errors because we are so busy. If we forget something, please tell us so that we may correct the error. May the Lord bless every reader.
The Shipping DepartmentShanghai Gospel Book RoomAugust 17, 1948
(The monetary system changed while we were proofreading this copy. We are now charging by the "gold yen." If anyone has a need but is unable to pay the cost, we are still willing to consider giving the publications free of charge.)
NATURE:To show the way to serve, to help the serving ones and the churches in the different localities go on, and to solve the problems related to the ministry.
TIME OF PUBLICATION:Temporarily set at bimonthly.
PRICES:A) In order to prevent those who do not need this publication from carelessly disposing of it, we are forced to temporarily set the following prices: The three issues of this half year are temporarily priced at two gold dimes in national coinage. (National and international postage is not included in the price. Air or surface mail postage costs will be added.) B) We will consider giving the publication to those who really need it but cannot afford it. C) We will receive gladly from those who are able to make a donation to help with the cost of publication.
SUBSCRIPTION:Whoever would like to subscribe to this publication should fill out one of the cards provided, and mail it to the Shipping Department, Gospel Book Room, P. O. Box 5008, Shanghai. (In every place with a local church, please contact the local church there.)
WIRING MONEY:If you are wiring money through the post office, you will need to include our post office branch name. Please mark on it: Jingan Temple.
Beginning September 1, we have changed the price of our publications to the following gold yen values:
1) The Ministers:Issue Nos. 1 through 3 in the second half of this year will temporarily cost a total of two gold dimes.
2) The Way:Issue Nos. 1 through 3 in the second half of this year will temporarily cost a total of six gold dimes.
3) The Present Testimony: Issue Nos. 1 through 3 in the second half of this year will temporarily cost a total of two gold dimes.
1) Whoever subscribes after September 1 must calculate their price in gold yen.
2) We will not ask for more money from anyone who did not receive this issue of the publication or did not know that we had changed the price to gold yen and had sent their money to us according to the old prices.
3) Please do not send us stamps in lieu of money. Because large pieces of mail require high value stamps, we cannot use stamps of small value. If you are in a locality which truly cannot wire money, then please send us stamps of high value (at least one gold penny per stamp) in place of your money.
Gospel Book Room, P. O. Box 5008, ShanghaiSeptember 1, 1948
