Listen to the testimony of the son of a prominent Christian official in China:—
“Where did the Chinese Republic ever come from? You say from the reformers and revolutionists. You don’t go back far enough. Dr. Sun was in a large measure responsible for it all, but where does he come from? Where did he get his principles of freedom and equality? These were instilled into his heart by a missionary, and who was he? He was a follower of Jesus Christ, and in China for the direct purpose of teaching how Jesus came to save the world.... Blot out of China today the education which owes its origin to Jesus Christ, and where will China be? In the depth of deepest ignorance.”[99]
Sun Yat Sen, by many considered “the first citizen in the hearts of his countrymen,” spoke with no uncertain sound of China’s greatest need in this time of her crisis. “Brothers,” he said, when addressing a number of Chinese students, “applied, practical Christianity is our true need. Away with the commentaries and doubts. God asks your obedience, not your patronage. He demands your service, not your criticism.”[100]
Applied Christianity in China.
“Applied, practical Christianity,” is what the missionaries are trying to give China, and can any part of their work be more practical or more important than what they are doing for the children who are soon to be the statesmen and educators, the military and social leaders, the fathers and mothers of the great new Republic of the East?
Dr. Li Bi Cu.
Many pages might be filled with true tales of how Chinese children, won to Christ in early life, have brought blessing and uplift to hundreds in their land. The story of Dr. Li Bi Cu and her mother is a wonderful illustration of what might be multiplied many thousands of times if there were always some one ready to rescue girl babies and to give them a fair chance.
Dr. Li Bi Cu is one of China’s new women. A forceful speaker, using perfect English, with a charming personality, Dr. Li Bi Cu never fails to win the hearts of her audiences. Those who heard her at Northfield can never forget the appeal made by the little woman in Chinese dress, to the women of the United States to come to the help of her countrywomen. The mother of Dr. Li Bi Cu was rescued from the street, where she had been thrown to die, when only a day or two old, and taken to a mission school, where she was cared for, educated, and trained as a Bible woman. She married a Methodist minister, Mr. Li, and her daughter, Li Bi Cu, grew up in a Christian home. One of the missionaries, seeing unusual ability in the young girl, brought her to America for a more thorough education than China afforded. She studied in Folts Institute, and later entered the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia. Graduating with honor, she returned to China after eight years’ residence in the United States and was sent to the Fukien Province, where the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church had opened a hospital, and where she has cared for the souls and bodies of thousands of patients.[101]
A charming sequel to the story shows how this splendid Chinese woman is ready at a moment’s notice to do her duty as a Christian citizen of the world. She was passing on her return to China a point not far from Chicago, when the train struck a track laborer and suddenly stopped. The injured man, a Russian by birth, was brought aboard, and Dr. Li, hearing of the accident, volunteered her help. Then was seen the curious combination of a Chinese Christian woman physician caring for a wounded Slav in an American baggage car![102]
Chinese mothers in council.