Rev. F. E. Lund, of Wuhu, tells this incident in connection with a visit to the out-station at Nanking:
“On going back to the school about ten o’clock at night I found in a dark corner on the street a poor boy, half frozen to death. His piteous groaning attracted my attention. His legs were already numbed and his feet swollen and covered with chilblains which made him quite unable to move. He told me he had been driven out from his home a few days ago, as his father and younger brother were on the point of starvation. His mother died last year in the famine. I knew that it was up to me to save him. There was no one else to do it. The cold night would have finished him. So I had him carried to our school, where we gave him a warm bath and put him into new wadded clothes. During the night he was in great pain and delirious, but in the morning he seemed hale and hearty, and proved to be a most straightforward and clever little man. He is ten years old, but very small for his age. It was most interesting to see how heartily our Chinese neighbors endorsed this little bit of charity. One gave me $2.00 to help pay for the clothes. Another brought two pairs of socks. Some one sent a hat, and an innkeeper sent bedding. If we only had a trade school to put such boys in, we could do a little work along this line and it would certainly meet with the approval of the best class, who would be sure to give substantial help. At any rate, it would be a work that the best Chinese would appreciate and understand.” (Spirit of Missions, April, 1913.)
SCRIPTURE READING
“The Child in the Midst,” Matthew, 18:1–6, 10–14.
Christ commends the humility of the little child and the spirit of those who receive a child gladly, whether into the home, the school room, or into any part of their sphere of influence. There is no place in Christ’s Kingdom for the one who “does not want to be bothered with children” or who provokes, injures, neglects, despises, or causes one little one to sin.
“The feature of child-nature which forms the special point of comparison is its unpretentiousness. What children are unconsciously, that Jesus requires His disciples to be voluntarily and deliberately.” (A. B. Bruce.)
PRAYER
Grant, O Heavenly Father, that as Thy holy angels always behold Thy face in heaven, so they may evermore protect Thy little ones on earth from all danger, both of soul and body, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Father of the fatherless, let the cry, we pray Thee, of the orphan and the destitute enter into Thine ears; rescue them from the perils of a sinful world and bring them to the refuge of Thy Heavenly Home, for the sake of Thy Holy Child Jesus, our only Saviour and Redeemer. Amen.