REV. W. C. POND.
With the beginning of a new fiscal year there came to me a deep sense of dissatisfaction with the present status of our work—a sadness which almost touched the borders of discouragement at the decrease in attendance on our schools, and the lack of eager outreaching and aggressive endeavor on the part of us all—Superintendent, Teachers and Chinese helpers,—all alike. The methods, which had been so strikingly efficient in years past, seemed to be failing us now. We were settled down into them, as ruts; and, no matter how slow or hard or fruitless our movements along the old line, it seemed impossible to see what else to do, or how we could strike out into new paths, or plan any material change in the ordering of our campaign.
Sometimes the question would arise; Is our work done? Has the Restriction Act, which for the present diminishes so greatly the incoming of fresh recruits for our schools, rung the knell of our missionary success? But to this question only one answer was possible. Even if, looking out from a stand-point of consummate Calvinism, we should venture to decide that the Lord's elect among the Chinese in California had all been gathered in, there were, nevertheless, these little flocks of Christ's own sheep and lambs already gathered that must not be left without a shepherd's care. Surely there is a duty that we owe to these, and to leave them untended in this wilderness would be to count ourselves in among the goats on the left hand of the Judge.
But no Calvinism of any sort—and certainly not of our sort—gives us any basis for such an unchristian decision. We cannot shelter behind it, and think to retire with honor when we have as yet only skirmished on the edges of the field. For the Chinese heathenism of California remains to-day, so far as we can see, substantially a solid mass, without any fissure, though not without a scar. Many chips have been struck off from it, and for these we bless God; but the rock-like hardness of the Chinese heart remains substantially unbroken. Say that all our missions have reached, in the aggregate, 5,000 of these souls—there remain 65,000 virtually untouched. Suppose that we could count 1,000 born of God in all the missions (and this would be a large estimate) there remain 69,000 that are still aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without God and without hope in the world. To penetrate, somehow, this Chinese wall of prejudice, conceit and superstition, and pierce, with the sword of the spirit, the hearts intrenched behind it—to reach, somehow, the myriads not reached, and to bring them forth from the darkness that they love into the saving light that now they hate—this was the problem. You can look at it. I have looked at it—till the sense of helplessness and uselessness threw me down upon my knees with my heart next door to despair. But there the still small voice was heard again, the voice of an infinite Saviour saying, "Be not afraid, only believe." "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say even to this mountain, Remove hence, and it shall remove."
But with fresh courage, born of faith, came a conviction that some change of method,—not as abandoning by any means our schools, but as introducing new methods, breaking in upon an old and worn routine, was indispensable. What it should be I could not tell. One could conceive of several plans of operation, which would be beyond our reach for lack of means, but to find the work and then the workers, and still keep inside the line of safe expenditure—this called for a wisdom which could come to me, at any rate, only from above. We have been seeking this guidance. I say, "we," for I believe that teachers and helpers have prayed with me for it. We expect it to come. We venture to hope that we see it coming.
One token is the opening of new fields, especially at San Diego and Tulare—experiments yet, but hopeful ones. Another token is that in one, at least, of our helpers evangelistic power seems to appear. Not without anxiety did I see him brought within the fascination of the "Holiness Band" and the "Salvation Army," and my fears were not groundless, as some minor symptoms in his spiritual life clearly disclosed. But I believe that his Master and ours knew what was going on and will bring him forth out of it all, unscathed and better fitted for high service than he has ever been hitherto. At present he is in Oroville. After being there less than a week he wrote, "God has given me three souls—one of them at the meeting last night." And later, Rev. Joseph Adams, pastor of our church there, wrote as follows: "There is a very blessed work going on among the Chinese here. After conference with Wong Ock I invited him to bring to my house all the boys he thought were Christians. I fixed an evening about ten days ago, and invited my church clerk and Dr. Read to be present. Wong Ock came with eight boys. We were occupied with them until nearly midnight. It was one of the most blessed meetings I have had in this county. I examined them, through Wong Ock, as interpreter, in relation to their conversion, how it was brought about, and what was their present experience. Two professed to find peace with God during the meeting. Their child-like faith and ready acceptance of the statements and promises of the gospel were simply delightful. Considering their former training, and the small advantages of Christian knowledge, it was truly wonderful. My brethren agreed with me, that beyond all dispute they exhibited a glorious work of the spirit of God."
A third token of approaching answers to our prayer I see in the coming among us of Rev. D. D. Jones, who has been connected with our South China Mission, under Rev. C. R. Hager of Hong Kong. The French war has so disturbed the people among whom he was laboring, and, for the present, so closed the doors to missionary service, that he has seized the opportunity for a visit to us. He is well fitted for street preaching, and seems to have the evangelistic spirit. By way of experiment I have asked him to labor with us in this city for a month or two—hoping, if the Lord accepts our endeavor, to have him visit Sacramento, Marysville and other points. The beginnings of his work are encouraging, and we venture to hope that fruit already appears. We ask the readers of the Missionary to add their requests to ours, that these tokens may be what the cloud was, big as a man's hand—precursor of glad out-pourings such as those in which Elijah left the mount of conflict and of prayer.