THE ANNIVERSARY AT STOCKTON.
Last month I gave some account of our anniversary at Sacramento, with the address by Lem Chung. Last Sabbath evening, June 19th, we held our anniversary at Stockton. It was an exceedingly interesting and useful service. The church was well filled—better than ever before when I have been there. The report of the secretary, Mr. M. J. Nightingale, and the supplementary one by the teacher, Mrs. M. B. Langdon, showed good work done with glad results. Just 100 Chinese had been enrolled as pupils in the school during the year, though the largest enrolment in any one month was 49. The average attendance on some months rose to 35 or 36, but the average for the year was 25. Two of the pupils have been baptized and received into the Congregational church in Stockton during the year, and others are now ready to be thus received.
The exercises by the pupils were well rendered. The pastor of the church, Rev. John Hooper, made an earnest and effective address, pledging his own sympathy and co-operation in such terms as will be very helpful to us in the year to come. Your superintendent said a few words also; but that which thrilled us most of all was the brief and modest address of our new helper, Lee Pak Yuen, converted in connection with our Oakland Mission, and a member of the First Congregational church in that city. I give it to our readers just as it was uttered.
ADDRESS BY LEE PAK YUEN.
Dear Friends and Teachers: I am very glad to see you all, but I have not much to say to you. I can only tell you how I became a Christian.
For the first three years I was in California I did not like Jesus, and I did scold those Chinese Christians who spoke about him. I only liked to go and gamble, and play cards and drink. So I had no money to live on. I felt very sorry; but afterward I was asked to come to school, and for many months in school I also talked against Jesus; but the teacher did not scold me, but was very kind to me. He taught me, at length, to read this verse in Matt. ix. 13, “For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” But, at last, the Holy Spirit convinced me to believe in Jesus with all my heart, and now I thank you very much for what you have done for me and for my countrymen. I hope the Lord bless you, and bring many to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I know the Lord is very strong. He helps every one to believe in Him. Without Him we can do nothing. He will watch over us and take care of us. Now I will tell you what I did while I was in China. I left California to go back to China to my father’s house. He called me to worship the gods, but I would not. My father had made all preparations for my worshiping. He took my hand to go out of the door to worship the ancestors, and he wanted me to kneel down and pray to them. Because I would not, he scolded me and called me crazy.
I came out to Hong Kong and stopped there one month. I then went back to my home, and found my father crying, and all very sad. I asked, “What is the matter?” My father answered: “You are no good. You come home and will not worship my gods. The gods will kill your brothers.” I then went to see my brothers, and found one of them very sick indeed. The doctor said he cannot live two days. I almost cried myself. My father then said to me: “If he dies I shall kill you. If I do not kill you, all your other brothers will die.” I then took my father’s hand, and knelt down and asked the Lord Jesus to bless him; but my father scolded me all the time, for he did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. He heard my prayer for my brother’s sickness. In twenty days he was all well. All the people of my village called me Christ; but I said, I am not Christ; he is in heaven. The Bible says, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name I will do it.”
My dear friends, I hope you will not forget to pray for China, that all may be brought to believe in the true God. Let us remember the promise, “Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession.”
THE MAY REPORTS.
I add the following item, clipped from The Pacific of June 8th:
The monthly reports for May from the various mission schools of the California Chinese mission are very encouraging. The work is larger and, as we gladly believe, better than ever before—more schools, more teachers, more pupils, and, we trust, many souls seeking Christ. The statistics are as follows: Schools, 14; teachers and helpers, 27; pupils enrolled, 566; of whom 190 were received during May, against 68 who left the schools. The aggregate average attendance was 314. Since the beginning of the present fiscal year (Sept. 1, 1880), 1,245 pupils have been enrolled. Of the pupils now in the schools, 136 are reported as giving evidence of conversion.