{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_26033/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_26033","id":"gutenberg_26033","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26033","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Prayer"],"text":"Produced by Free Elf, Emmy and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive/Canadian Libraries)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  How I Know\n  God Answers Prayer\n\n  The Personal Testimony\n  of One Life-Time\n\n          By\n          ROSALIND GOFORTH\n          (Mrs. Jonathan Goforth)\n          Missionary in China since 1888\n\n          \"They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy\n          great goodness.\"--Psalm 145:7.\n\n          \"Go . . . and tell them how great things the Lord\n          hath done for thee.\"--Mark 5:19.\n\n          HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS\n          NEW YORK AND LONDON\n\n          Copyright, 1921, by\n          Harper & Brothers\n\n          PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nIT seems fitting that this little book of personal testimonies to\nanswered prayer should have a brief introductory word as to how they\ncame to be written. The question has been asked by some who read many of\nthese testimonies as they appeared in the pages of The Sunday School\nTimes: \"How could you write such personal and sacred incidents in your\nlife?\" I could not have written them but for a very clear, God-given\nleading.\n\nThe story is as follows: When in Canada on our first furloughs I was\nfrequently amazed at the incredulity expressed when definite testimony\nwas given to an answer to prayer. Sometimes this was shown by an\nexpressive shrug of the shoulders, sometimes by a sudden silence or\nturning of the topic of conversation, and sometimes more openly by the\nquery: \"How do you know that it might not have happened so, anyway?\"\n\nGradually the impression deepened: \"If they will not believe one, two,\nor a dozen testimonies, will they believe the combined testimonies of\none whole life?\"\n\nThe more I thought of what it would mean to record the sacred incidents\nconnected with answers to prayer the more I shrank from the publicity,\nand from undertaking the task. There were dozens of answers far too\nsacred for the public eye, which were known only to a few, others known\nonly to God. But if the record were to carry weight with those who did\nnot believe in the supernatural element in prayer, many personal and\nscarcely less sacred incidents must of necessity be made public.\n\nAgain and again I laid the matter aside as impossible. But I know now\nthat the thing was of God. As months, even years, passed, the impelling\nsense that the record of answers to prayer _must_ be written gave me no\nrest.\n\nIt was at the close of the 1908-10 furlough--during which, as a family,\nwe had been blessed with many and, to our weak faith, wonderful answers\nto prayer--that my oldest son urged me to put down in some definite form\nthe answers to prayer of my life, and extracted from me a solemn promise\nthat I would do so.\n\nBut months passed after returning to China, and the record had not been\ntouched. Then came a sudden and serious illness which threatened my\nlife, when the doctor told me I must not delay in getting my affairs in\norder.\n\nIt was then that an overwhelming sense of regret took possession of me\nthat I had not set down the prayer testimonies, and solemnly I\ncovenanted with the Lord that if he would raise me up they should be\nwritten.\n\nThere was no more question of what others might think; the one thought\nwas to obey. The Lord raised me up; and although he had to deal with me\nvery sternly once more before I really set myself to the task, the\ntestimonies that are given here were written at last--most of them in\nodd moments of time during strenuous missionary journeys among the\nheathen.\n\nThus it will be seen that these incidents of answered prayer are not\ngiven as being more wonderful, or more worthy of record, than multitudes\nthe world over could testify to; but they are written and sent out\nsimply and only because _I had to write them or disobey God_.\n\n                                                     ROSALIND GOFORTH.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                       FOREWORD\n\n  How these testimonies came to be written               iii\n\n\n                         I\n              \"GETTING THINGS FROM GOD\"\n\n  The simplicity of petition                               1\n\n\n                         II\n          EARLY LESSONS IN THE LIFE OF FAITH\n\n  Led by a bird. Toothache taken away. Reward of seeking\n    first the Kingdom. Financial aid. Sunday-school\n    scholars given. Guidance in time of crisis. A prayer\n    preparation for China. A beautiful seal on the new\n    life                                                   6\n\n\n                         III\n              \"GO FORWARD ON YOUR KNEES\"\n                     (1887-1894)\n\n  The key-note of pioneer years. Help in the language\n    from the Home Base. Prayer-opened doors.\n    Deliverance in time of peril. \"Kept by the power\n    of God.\" Prayer and medical work. Converts from\n    the first. Wang Feng-ao, the proud Confucian\n    scholar. Wang Fu-Lin, the opium fiend. Dr. Hunter\n    Corbett's testimony. The result of obedience. From\n    the gates of death. Lord Sandwich's testimony         15\n\n\n                          IV\n             A GOD-GIVEN FIELD (1894-1900)\n\n  A promise given. The promise fulfilled. Our great\n    need. One need supplied--an evangelist. A second\n    need supplied--a Bible-woman. Paying the price\n    of petition. A touch of healing. A Chinaman's\n    faith,--the locust story! A Christian woman's\n    faith for her child. _Our child died_--a case of\n    unanswered prayer. A God of deliverances              28\n\n\n                          V\n            OUR DELIVERANCE FROM THE BOXERS\n                       (1900)\n\n  A clear answer to prayers in the home church. Led\n    on through dangers and trials. Safely brought\n    through                                               43\n\n\n                         VI\n        PROVING GOD'S FAITHFULNESS (1902-1908)\n\n  God must come first. A hard proposition. In the\n    furnace. Made willing in the day of God's power.\n    Testimony to God's abundant faithfulness. A\n    Bible-woman of exceptional power given. God\n    meeting the Home message--\"Retrench.\" Abundant\n    funds provided. A beautiful instance of \"God's\n    wireless.\" A case of \"While they are yet speaking\n    I will hear.\" The life made easier. A child's\n    fever restrained. Blessing in the work, converts\n    given. A God-suggested remedy. Chinese prevailing\n    prayer for Mr. Goforth. Women sent to us. Doors\n    for preaching opened. Workers supplied abundantly.\n    Kept from smallpox. We may trust Him wholly.          69\n\n\n                        VII\n             THE STORY OF ONE FURLOUGH\n                    (1908-1910)\n\n  Meeting a condition of petition--obedience. Six\n    difficult doors opened. Trusting for everything.\n    Apples sent in abundance. Fruit, the best, in\n    abundance. A telephone supplied. A fur coat.\n    God's wonderful keeping power, a blessed\n    experience. Help for the children's sewing.\n    Another case of \"God's wireless.\" A timely offer.\n    A daughter's guardian provided. A case of the\n    Lord's lovingkindness--a red cloth ulster! Too\n    many to record                                        89\n\n\n                        VIII\n              OUR GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE\n\n  A blessed incident from Keswick. A verse of a hymn\n    given. A governess provided. Rain withheld in\n    answer to prayer. Five pounds sent. Sewing and\n    prayer. A gracious leading, and a great need\n    supplied. An incident in Tientsin. More help with\n    the sewing. A sewing machine supplied. A case of\n    tuberculosis healed. Two incidents of prayer and\n    revival. Fifty dollars sent for friends in need.\n    Another case of spiritual \"wireless.\" Led to a\n    lost key                                             105\n\n\n                         IX\n                   TO HIS PRAISE!\n\n  Trusting God to supply needs. His faithfulness.\n    Prayer and dress. The restraining power of\n    prayer--my son in the Great War. A prayer\n    answered abundantly for one at home. Our\n    God-given site. Closing words. All in \"abide.\"\n    Bible study on prayer                                124\n\n\n                         X\n                   VICTORY FOUND\n\n  Childhood yearnings for the presence of Christ.\n    Half-hearted conflict with sin in early years in\n    China. Pride and bad temper. Secretly criticized\n    by Chinese women. How to live Christ as well as\n    preach him. Heights and depths of spiritual\n    experience. Lifelong prayer for the fulness of\n    the Spirit. The conference at Niagara-on-the-Lake,\n    June, 1916. A speaker's message and leaflet on\n    \"The Victorious Life.\" Christ accepted as Saviour\n    from the power of sin as well as from its penalty.\n    The joy of realizing his Indwelling Presence. All\n    summed up in one word, \"Resting.\" Bible-study on\n    \"The Life of Victory in Christ\"                      131\n\n\n\n\nI\n\n\"GETTING THINGS FROM GOD\"\n\n          \"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and\n          not one of them is forgotten before God? . . . Fear\n          not therefore: ye are of more value than many\n          sparrows.\"--_The Lord Jesus Christ._\n\n\nTHE pages of this little book deal almost wholly with just one phase of\nprayer--petition. The record is almost entirely a personal testimony of\nwhat petition to my Heavenly Father has meant in meeting the everyday\ncrises of my life.\n\nA prominent Christian worker, who read some of these testimonies in The\nSunday School Times, said to the writer: \"To emphasize getting things\nfrom God, as you do, is to make prayer too material.\"\n\nTo me this seems far from true. God is my Father, I am his child. As\ntruly as I delight to be sought for by my child when he is cold or\nhungry, ill, or in need of protection, so is it with my Heavenly Father.\n\nPrayer has been hedged about with too many man-made rules. I am\nconvinced that God has intended prayer to be as simple and natural, and\nas constant a part of our spiritual life, as the intercourse between a\nchild and his parent in the home. And as a large part of that\nintercourse between child and parent is simply asking and receiving,\njust so is it with us and our Heavenly Parent.\n\nPerhaps, however, the most blessed element in this asking and getting\nfrom God lies in the strengthening of faith which comes when a definite\nrequest has been granted. What more helpful and inspiring than a ringing\ntestimony of _what God has done_?\n\nAs I have recalled the past in writing these incidents, one of the most\nprecious memories is that of an evening when a number of friends had\ngathered in our home. The conversation turned on answered prayer. For\nmore than two hours we vied with one another in recounting personal\nincidents of God's wonderful work; and the inspiration of that evening\nstill abides.\n\nA Christian minister once said to me: \"Is it possible that the great God\nof the universe, the Maker and Ruler of mankind, could or would, as you\nwould make out, take interest in such a trifle as the trimming of a hat!\nTo me it is preposterous!\"\n\nYet did not our Lord Jesus Christ say: \"The very hairs of your head are\nall numbered\"; and \"not one sparrow is forgotten before God\"; and again,\n\"Your heavenly Father knoweth what ye have need of _before_ ye ask\nhim\"?\n\nIt is true that \"There is nothing too great for God's power\"; and it is\njust as true that \"There is nothing too small for his love!\"\n\nIf we believe God's Word we must believe, as Dan Crawford has tersely\nand beautifully expressed it, that \"The God of the infinite is the God\nof the infinitesimal.\" Yes, he\n\n          \"Who clears the grounding berg\n             And guides the grinding floe,\n           He hears the cry of the little kit fox\n             And the lemming of the snow!\"\n\nNo more wonderful testimony, perhaps, has ever been given of God's\nwillingness to help in every emergency of life, than that which Mary\nSlessor gave, when asked to tell what prayer had meant to her. \"My\nlife,\" she wrote, \"is one long daily, hourly record of answered prayer.\nFor physical health, for mental overstrain, for guidance given\nmarvelously, for errors and dangers everted, for enmity to the Gospel\nsubdued, for food provided at the exact hour needed, for everything that\ngoes to make up life and my poor service. I can testify, with a full and\noften wonder-stricken awe, that I believe God answers prayer. _I know\nGod answers prayer!_\"\n\nI have been asked the question: \"Has God _always_ given you just what\nyou have asked for?\"\n\nOh, no! For him to have done so would have been great unkindness. For\ninstance: when I was a young woman I prayed for three years that God\nwould grant me a certain petition. Sometimes I pleaded for this as for\nlife itself, so intensely did I want it. Then God showed me very clearly\nthat I was praying against his will. I resigned my will to his in the\nmatter, and a few months later God gave what was infinitely better. I\nhave often praised him for denying my prayer; for had he granted it I\ncould never have come to China.\n\nThen, too, we must remember that many of our prayers, though always\nheard, are not granted because of some sin harbored in the life, or\nbecause of unbelief, or of failure to meet some other Bible-recorded\ncondition governing prevailing prayer. (See Bible Study on pages 129,\n130.)\n\nThe following incidents of answered prayer are by no means a complete\nrecord. How could they be, when no record of prayer has been kept all\nthese fifty years? Had there been, I doubt not that volumes could have\nbeen written to the glory of God's grace and power in answering prayer.\nBut even from what is recorded here I, too, can say from a full heart,\n_I know God answers prayer_.\n\n          \"He answered prayer: so sweetly that I stand\n           Amid the blessing of his wondrous hand\n           And marvel at the miracle I see,\n           The favours that his love hath wrought for me.\n           Pray on for the impossible, and dare\n           Upon thy banner this brave motto bear,\n              'My Father answers prayer.'\"\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nEARLY LESSONS IN THE LIFE OF FAITH\n\n          \"I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice\n          and my supplications.\"--_Psalm 116:1._\n\n\nWHEN a very little child, so young I can remember nothing earlier, a\nsevere thunderstorm passed over our home. Terrified, I ran to my mother,\nwho placed my hands together, and pointing upward repeated over and over\nagain the one word \"Jesus.\"\n\nMore than fifty years have passed since that day, but the impression\nleft upon my child-mind, of a Being invisible but able to hear and help,\nhas never been effaced.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe most precious recollections of early childhood are associated with\nstories told us by our mother, many of which illustrated the power of\nprayer.\n\nOne that made a specially deep impression upon me was about our\ngrandfather, who as a little boy went to visit cousins in the south of\nEngland, their home being situated close to a dense forest. One day the\nchildren, lured by the beautiful wild flowers, became hopelessly lost in\nthe woods. After trying in vain to find a way out, the eldest, a young\ngirl, called the frightened, crying little ones around her and said:\n\"When mother died she told us to always tell Jesus if we were in any\ntrouble. Let us kneel down, and ask him to take us home.\"\n\nThey knelt, and as she prayed one of the little ones opened his eyes, to\nfind a bird so close to his hand that he reached out for it. The bird\nhopped away, but kept so close to the child as to lead him on. Soon all\nwere joining in the chase after the bird, which flew or hopped in front\nor just above, and sometimes on the ground almost within reach. Then\nsuddenly it flew into the air and away. The children looked up to find\nthemselves on the edge of the woods and in sight of home.\n\nWith such influences bearing upon one at an impressionable age, it is\nnot surprising that I came even as a very little child to just \"tell\nJesus\" when in trouble.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThrough the mists of memory one incident comes out clearly, which\noccurred when I was six or seven years of age. While playing one day in\nthe garden, I was seized with what we then called \"jumping\" toothache.\nI ran to my mother for comfort, but nothing she could do seemed to ease\nthe pain.\n\nThe nerve must have become exposed, for the pain was acute. Suddenly I\nthought, \"Jesus can help me,\" and just as I was, with my face pressed\nagainst my mother's breast, I said in my heart:\n\n\"Lord Jesus, if you will take away this toothache right now, _now_, I\nwill be your little girl for three years.\"\n\nBefore the prayer was well uttered the pain was entirely gone. I\nbelieved that Jesus had taken it away; and the result was that for\nyears, when tempted to be naughty, I was afraid to do what I knew was\nwrong lest, if I broke my side of what I felt to be a compact, the\ntoothache would return. This little incident had a real influence over\nmy early life, gave me a constant sense of the reality of a divine\npresence, and so helped to prepare me for the public confession of\nChrist as my Saviour a few years later, at the age of eleven.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAbout a year after my confession of Christ an incident occurred which\ngreatly strengthened my faith, and led me to look to God as a Father in\na new way.\n\nWhen Easter Sunday morning came it was so warm only spring clothes\ncould be worn. My sister and I decided at breakfast that we would not go\nto church, as we had only our old winter dresses. Going to my room, I\nturned to my Bible to study it, when it opened at the sixth chapter of\nMatthew, and my eye rested on these words: \"Why take ye thought for\nraiment . . . seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall\nbe added unto you.\"\n\nIt was as if God spoke the words directly to me. I determined to go to\nchurch, even if I had to humiliate myself by going in my old winter\ndress. The Lord was true to his promise; I can still feel the power the\nresurrection messages had upon my heart that day so long ago. And\nfurther, on the following day a box came from a distant aunt, containing\nnot only new dresses but much else that might well be included in the\n\"all these things.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAn unforgetable proof of God's loving care came to us as a family about\nthis time, when my parents were face to face with a serious financial\ncrisis. Isaiah 65:24 was literally fulfilled: \"Before they call, I will\nanswer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.\"\n\nAt that time, it is necessary to state, we depended on a quarterly\nincome, which came through my mother's lawyer in England. Unusual\ncircumstances had so drained our resources that we found ourselves, in\nthe middle of the quarter, with barely sufficient to meet a week's\nneeds. My dear mother assured us that the Lord would provide; that he\nwould not forsake those who put their trust in him. That very day a\nletter came from the lawyer in England, enclosing a draft for a sum\nample to meet our needs till the regular remittance should arrive. This\nunexpected and timely draft proved to be a bonus, which did not occur\nagain.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSome years later, having moved to a strange city, a great longing came\nto do some definite service for my Master. One day there came to the\nBible class I attended a call for teachers, to aid in a Sunday-school\nnear by. When I presented myself before the superintendent of this\nSunday-school the following Sunday, and offered my services, it is not\nmuch wonder I received a rebuff, for I was young and quite unknown. I\nwas told that if I wished a class, it would be well for me to find my\nown scholars. I can remember how a lump seemed choking me all the way\nhome that day.\n\nAt last, determining not to be baffled, I prayed the Lord to help me\nget some scholars. I went forth praying every step of the way, the\nfollowing Saturday afternoon; and canvassing just one short street near\nour home, I received the promise of nineteen children for Sunday-school.\nThe next day a rather victorious young woman walked up to the\nSunday-school superintendent with seventeen children following. Needless\nto say I was given a class.\n\nIn the autumn of 1885 the Toronto Mission Union, a faith mission,\ndecided to establish a branch mission in the East End slums of that\ncity. Three others with myself were deputed to open this work.\nEverything connected with it was entirely new to me; but most helpful\nand inspiring I found it. For in face of tremendous difficulties, that\nseemed to my inexperienced eyes insurmountable, I learned that prayer\nwas the secret which overcame every obstacle, the key that unlocked\nevery closed door.\n\nI felt like a child learning a new and wonderful lesson--as I saw\nbenches, tables, chairs, stove, fuel, lamps, oil, even an organ, coming\nin answer to definite prayer for these things. But best sight of all was\nwhen men and women, deep in sin, were converted and changed into workers\nfor God, in answer to prayer. Praise God for the lessons then learned,\nwhich were invaluable later when facing the heathen.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe time came when two diverse paths lay before me--one to England, as\nan artist; one to China, as a missionary. Circumstances made a definite\ndecision most difficult. I thought I had tried every means to find out\nGod's will for me, and no light had come.\n\nBut in a day of great trouble, when my precious mother's very life\nseemed to hang in the balance, I shut myself up with God's Word, praying\ndefinitely for him to guide me to some passage by which I might know his\nwill for my life. My Bible opening at the fifteenth chapter of John's\nGospel, the sixteenth verse seemed to come as a message to me: \"Ye have\nnot chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should\ngo and bring forth fruit.\" Going to my dear mother and telling her of\nthe message God had given me, she said: \"I dare not fight against God.\"\n\nFrom that time the last hindrance from going to China was removed.\nSurely the wonderful way God has kept his child for more than thirty\nyears in China is proof that this \"call\" was not a mistaken one. \"In all\nthy ways acknowledge him, and he will make plain thy paths\" (Prov. 3: 6,\nmarg.).\n\nDuring the summer of 1887 a book written by Dr. Hudson Taylor came into\nmy hands. In \"China's Spiritual Needs and Claims\" the writer told many\ninstances of God's gracious provision in answer to prayer. The incidents\nrelated impressed me deeply. A little later, a few weeks before my\nmarriage, when I found I was short fifty dollars of what I would need to\nbe married free of debt, I resolved not to let others know of my need,\nbut to just trust God to send it to me. The thought came--if you cannot\ntrust God for this, when Hudson Taylor could trust for so much more, are\nyou worthy to be a missionary?\n\nIt was my first experience of trusting quite alone for money. I was\nsorely tempted to give others just a hint of my need. But I was kept\nback from doing so; and though I had a week or more of severe testing,\npeace of mind and the assurance that God would supply my need, came at\nlength. The answer, however, did not come till the very last night\nbefore the wedding.\n\nThat evening a number of my fellow-workers from the East End Mission\ncalled, and presented me with a beautifully illuminated address and a\npurse. After these friends had left I returned to my home circle\nassembled in the back parlor, and showed them the address and the purse\nunopened! Not for a moment did I think there was anything in the purse\ntill my brother said: \"You foolish girl, why don't you open it?\" I\nopened the purse, and found it contained a check for fifty dollars!\n\nThis incident has ever remained peculiarly precious; for it seemed to us\na seal of God upon the new life opening before us.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\n\"GO FORWARD ON YOUR KNEES\"\n\n1887-1894\n\n          \"I will go before thee, and make the crooked\n          places straight: I will break in pieces the gates\n          of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron\"\n          (Isa. 45:2).\n\n\nIN ATTEMPTING to record what prayer meant in our early pioneer days,\nother than purely personal testimonies must be given; for we were, as a\nlittle band of missionaries, bound together in our common needs and\ndangers by a very close bond.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn October, 1887, my husband was appointed by the Canadian Presbyterian\nChurch to open a new field, in the northern section of the Province of\nHonan, China. We left Canada the following January, reaching China in\nMarch, 1888. Not till then did we realize the tremendous difficulties of\nthe task before us.\n\nDr. Hudson Taylor, of the China Inland Mission, writing to us at this\ntime, said: \"We understand North Honan is to be your field; we, as a\nmission, have tried for ten years to enter that province from the\nsouth, and have only just succeeded. It is one of the most anti-foreign\nprovinces in China. . . . Brother, if you would enter that province, _you\nmust go forward on your knees_.\"\n\nThese words gave the key-note to our early pioneer years. Would that a\nfaithful record had been kept of God's faithfulness in answering prayer!\nOur strength as a mission and as individuals, during those years so\nfraught with dangers and difficulties, lay in the fact that we did\nrealize the hopelessness of our task apart from divine aid.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe following incident occurred while we were still outside Honan,\nstudying the language at a sister mission. It illustrates the importance\nof prayer from the home base for those on the field.\n\nMy husband was finding great difficulty in acquiring the language; he\nstudied faithfully many hours daily, but made painfully slow progress.\nHe and his colleague went regularly together to the street chapel, to\npractise preaching in Chinese to the people; but, though Mr. Goforth had\ncome to China almost a year before the other missionary, the people\nwould ask the latter to speak instead of Mr. Goforth, saying they\nunderstood him better.\n\nOne day, just before starting as usual for the chapel, my husband said:\n\"If the Lord does not give me very special help in this language I fear\nI shall be a failure as a missionary.\"\n\nSome hours later he returned, his face beaming with joy. He told me that\nhe realized most unusual help when his turn came to speak; sentences\ncame to his mind as never before; and not only had he made himself\nunderstood, but some had appeared much moved, coming up afterward to\nhave further conversation with him. So delighted and encouraged was he\nwith this experience that he made a careful note of it in his diary.\n\nSome two months and a half later a letter came from a student in Knox\nCollege, saying that on a certain evening a number of students had met\nspecially to pray for Mr. Goforth. The power of prayer was such, and the\npresence of God so manifestly felt, that they decided to write and ask\nMr. Goforth if any special help had come to him at that time. Looking in\nhis diary, he found that the time of their meeting corresponded with\nthat time of special help in the language.\n\n          \"I cannot tell why there should come to me\n             A thought of some one miles and years away,\n           In swift insistence on the memory,\n             Unless there is a need that I should pray.\n           We are too busy to spare thought\n             For days together of some friends away;\n           Perhaps God does it for us--and we ought\n             To read his signal as a sign to pray.\n           Perhaps just then my friend has fiercer fight,\n             A more appalling weakness, a decay\n           Of courage, darkness, some lost sense of right;\n             And so, in case he needs my prayers--I pray.\"\n\nAt last the joyful news reached us women, waiting outside of Honan, that\nour brethren had secured property in two centers. It would be difficult\nfor those in the homeland to understand what the years of waiting had\nmeant to some of us. The danger to those dear to us, touring in Honan,\nwas very great. For years they never left us to go on a tour without our\nbeing filled with dread lest they should never return; yet the Lord, in\nhis mercy, heard our prayers for them; and though often in grave danger,\nnone received serious injury. This is not a history of the mission, but\nI cannot forbear giving here one incident illustrating how they were\nkept during those early days.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTwo of our brethren, after renting property at a town just within the\nboundary of Honan, and near the Wei River, moved in, intending to spend\nthe winter there; but a sudden and bitter persecution arose, just as\nthey had become settled. The mission premises were attacked by a mob,\nand everything was looted. The two men were roughly handled, one being\ndragged about the courtyard. They found themselves at last left alone,\ntheir lives spared, but everything gone.\n\nTheir position was serious in the extreme--several days' journey away\nfrom friends, with no money, no bedding, and no clothes but those upon\nthem, and the cold winter begun.\n\nIn their extremity, they knelt down and committed themselves to the\nLord. And according to his promise he delivered them out of their\ndistresses; for even while they prayed a brother missionary from a\ndistant station was at hand. He arrived unexpectedly, without knowing\nwhat had occurred, a few hours after the looting had taken place. His\ncoming at such an opportune moment filled the hearts of their heathen\nenemies with fear. Money and goods were returned, and from that time the\nviolent opposition of the people ceased.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA few months after the above incident several families moved into Honan,\nand a permanent occupation was effected; but the hearts of the people\nseemed as adamant against us. They hated and distrusted us as if we were\ntheir worst enemies. The district in which we settled was known for its\nturbulent and anti-foreign spirit, and as a band of missionaries we were\nfrequently in the gravest danger.\n\nMany times we realized that we, as well as our fellow-workers at the\nother stations, were kept from serious harm only by the over-ruling,\nprotecting power of God in answer to the many prayers which were going\nup for us all at this critical juncture in the history of our mission.\nThe following are concrete examples of how God heard our prayers at this\ntime.\n\nWe had for our station doctor a man of splendid gifts. He was a gold\nmedalist, with years of special training and hospital experience, and\nwas looked upon as one of the rising physicians in the city from which\nhe came. Imagine his disappointment, therefore, when month after month\npassed and scarcely a good case came to the hospital. The people did not\nknow what he could do, and moreover they were afraid to trust themselves\ninto his hands. We, as a little band of missionaries, began to pray\ndefinitely that the Lord would send cases to the hospital which would\nopen the hearts of the people toward us and our message.\n\nIt was not long before we saw this prayer answered beyond all\nexpectation. Several very important cases came almost together, one so\nserious that the doctor hesitated for days before operating. When at\nlast the operation did take place the doctor's hands were strengthened\nby our prayers, the patient came through safely, and a few days later\nwas going around a living wonder to the people.\n\nVery much depended upon the outcome of this and other serious\noperations. Had the patients died under the doctor's hands, it would\nhave been quite sufficient to have caused the destruction of the mission\npremises and the life of every missionary. Three years later the\nhospital records showed that there had been twenty-eight thousand\ntreatments in one year.\n\nAgain, we kept praying that the Lord would give us converts from the\nvery beginning. We had heard of missionaries in India, China, and\nelsewhere, who had worked for many years without gaining converts; but\nwe did not believe that this was God's will for us. We believed that it\nwas his pleasure and purpose to save men and women through his human\nchannels, and why not from the beginning? So we kept praying and working\nand expecting converts, and God gave them to us. The experience of\nthirty years has confirmed this belief.\n\nSpace permits the mention of but two of these earliest converts.\n\nThe first was Wang Feng-ao, who came with us into Honan as Mr. Goforth's\npersonal teacher. He was a man of high degree, equal to the Western M.\nA., and was one of the proudest and most overbearing of Confucian\nscholars. He despised the missionaries and their teaching, and so great\nwas his opposition that he would beat his wife every time she came to\nsee us or listen to our message. But Mr. Goforth kept praying for this\nman, and using all his influence to win him for Christ.\n\nBefore many months passed a great change had come over Mr. Wang; his\nproud, overbearing manner had changed, and he became a humble, devout\nfollower of the lowly Nazarene. God used a dream to awaken this man's\nconscience--as is not uncommon in China. One night he dreamed he was\nstruggling in a deep, miry pit; but try as he would he could find no way\nof escape. When about to give up in despair, he looked up and saw Mr.\nGoforth and another missionary on the bank above him, with their hands\nstretched out to save him. Again he sought for some other way of escape;\nbut finding none, he allowed them to draw him up.\n\nThis man, later on, became Mr. Goforth's most valued evangelist. For\nmany years his splendid gifts were used to the glory of his Master in\nthe work among the scholar class in the Changtefu district. He has long\nsince passed to his reward, dying as he had lived, trusting only in the\nmerit of Jesus Christ for salvation.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnother of the bright glints, in the darkness of those earliest days in\nHonan, was the remarkable conversion of Wang Fu-Lin. For many years his\nbusiness had been that of a public story-teller; but when Mr. Goforth\ncame across him he was reduced to an utter wreck through opium smoking.\nHe accepted the Gospel, but for a long time seemed too weak to break off\nthe opium habit. Again and again he tried to do so, but failed\nhopelessly each time.\n\nThe poor fellow seemed almost past hope, when one day Mr. Goforth\nbrought him to the mission in his cart. The ten days that followed can\nnever be forgotten by those who watched Wang Fu-Lin struggle for\nphysical and spiritual life. I verily believe nothing but prayer could\nhave brought him through. At the end of the ten days the power of opium\nwas broken, and Wang Fu-Lin came out of the struggle a new man in Christ\nJesus.\n\nI shall have occasion to speak of this man again.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn all the cases of divine healing cited in this record it will be noted\nthat God healed in answer to prayer either when the doctors had done all\nin their power and hope had been abandoned, or when we were out of reach\nof medical aid.\n\nSoon after coming to China the Rev. Hunter Corbett, one of the most\ndevoted and saintly of God's missionaries, gave a testimony which later\nwas used of God to save the writer from giving up service in China and\nreturning home to Canada.\n\nDr. Corbett said that for fifteen years he had been laid aside every\nyear with that terrible scourge of the East--dysentery; and the doctors\nat last gave a definite decision that he must return at once to the\nhomeland and forsake China. But, said the grand old man: \"I knew God had\ncalled me to China, and I also knew that God did not change. So what\ncould I do? I dared not go back on my call; so I determined that if I\ncould not live in China I could die there; and from that time the\ndisease lost its hold on me.\"\n\nThis testimony was given over twenty-five years ago, when he had been\nalmost thirty years in China! In January, 1920, when well-nigh ninety\nyears of age, this beloved and honored saint of God passed to higher\nservice.\n\nFor several years I had been affected just as Dr. Corbett had been, and\neach year the terrible disease seemed to be getting a firmer hold upon\nme. At last, one day my husband brought me the decision of the doctors,\nthat I should return home. And as I lay there ill and weak, the\ntemptation came to yield. But, as I remembered Dr. Corbett's testimony,\nand my own clear call, I felt that to go back would be to go against my\nown conscience. I therefore determined to do as Dr. Corbett had\ndone--leave myself in the Lord's hands--whether for life or for death.\nThis happened more than twenty years ago, and since then I have had very\nlittle trouble from that dread disease.\n\nYes, the deeper the need, and the more bitter the extremity, the greater\nthe opportunity for God to show forth his mighty power in our lives, if\nwe but give him a chance by unswerving obedience at any cost. \"In the\nday when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength\nin my soul\" (Psa. 138:3).\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nDuring our fourth year in China, when we were spending the hot season at\nthe coast, our little son, eighteen months old, was taken very ill with\ndysentery. After several days' fight for the child's life came the\nrealization, one evening, that the angel of death was at hand.\n\nMy whole soul rebelled; I actually seemed to hate God; I could see\nnothing but cruel injustice in it all; and the child seemed to be fast\ngoing. My husband and I knelt down beside the little one's bedside, and\nhe pleaded earnestly with me to yield my will and my child to God. After\na long and bitter struggle God gained the victory, and I told my husband\nI would give my child to the Lord. Then my husband prayed, committing\nthe precious soul into the Lord's keeping.\n\nWhile he was praying I noticed that the rapid, hard breathing of the\nchild had ceased. Thinking my darling was gone, I hastened for a light,\nfor it was dark; but on examining the child's face I found that he had\nsunk into a deep, sound, natural sleep, which lasted most of the night.\nThe following day he was practically well of the dysentery.\n\nTo me it has always seemed that the Lord tested me to almost the last\nmoment; then, when I yielded my dearest treasure to him and put my Lord\nfirst, he gave back the child.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhile writing the above I came across an extract from the Christian of\nMarch 12, 1914, in which the editor said:\n\n\"Speaking at the annual meeting of the Huntingdon County Hospital, Lord\nSandwich referred to the power of spiritual healing, and premising that\nthe finite mind cannot measure the power of the infinite, said he\n'looked forward to the day when the spiritual doctrine of healing and\nthe physical discoveries of science will blend in harmonious\ncombination, to the glory of God and the benefit of humanity.'\"\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nA GOD-GIVEN FIELD (1894-1900)\n\n          \"Lord, there is none beside thee to help, between\n          the mighty and him that hath no strength; help us,\n          O Lord our God; for we rely on thee, and in thy\n          name are come against this multitude\" (2 Chron.\n          14:11).\n\n\nTHE story of the opening of Changte is so connected by a chain of prayer\nthat to give isolated instances of prayer would be to break the chain.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA few months after our arrival in China an old, experienced missionary\nkindly volunteered to conduct Mr. Goforth and his colleague, who had\njust arrived, through North Honan, that they might see the field for\nthemselves.\n\nTraveling southward by cart, they crossed the border into Honan early\none morning. As my husband walked beside the carts, that morning, he\nfelt led to pray that the Lord would give that section of Honan to him\nas his field. The assurance came that his prayer was granted. Opening\nhis daily textbook, he found the passage for that morning was from\nIsaiah 55:8-13. Like a precious promise of future blessing for that\nfield came the words: \"As the rain cometh down, and the snow from\nheaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it\nbring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to\nthe eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it\nshall not return unto me void.\"\n\nFor six years, however, our faith was sorely tested.\n\nOf all places, Changte seemed most determined to keep out the\nmissionary. And there were other difficulties in the way. A presbytery\nhad been formed as others joined us, and all matters had to be decided\nby that body. Two stations that had been opened, where a foothold could\nfirst be gained, required all, and more than all, the force we then had.\nSo for six years the door to Changte remained fast closed. But during\nall those years Mr. Goforth never once lost sight of God's promise to\nhim, nor failed to believe it.\n\nAgain and again, when Mr. Goforth and his colleague visited the city,\nthey were mobbed and threatened, the people showing the utmost\nhostility. But the day came, at last, when the long-prayed-for\npermission from the presbytery to open Changte was granted. The very\nnext morning found Mr. Goforth _en route_ for Changte, to secure\nproperty for a mission site. Often has he told how, all the way over\nthat day to Changte, he prayed the Lord to open the hearts of the\npeople, and make them willing to give him the property most suitable for\nthe work. Within three days of his reaching Changte he had thirty-five\noffers of property, and was able to secure the very piece of land he had\nearlier chosen as most ideal for the mission.\n\nThus the Lord did break in pieces the gates of brass which had kept us\nso long from our promised land.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA year later I joined my husband there, with our three little children.\nIt was arranged that our colleague should take charge of the outside\nevangelism, while we opened work at the main station.\n\nTo understand what it meant for us to have our need supplied, there\nshould be some knowledge of what that need was.\n\nWe decided, from the first, that no one should be turned from our doors.\nMr. Goforth received the men in the front guest room, while the women\nand children came to our private quarters. During those first weeks and\nmonths hundreds, nay thousands, crowded to see us. Day by day we were\nliterally besieged. Even at meal-time our windows were banked with\nfaces.\n\nThe questions ever before us those days were--how to make the most of\nthis wonderful opportunity, which would never come again after the\nperiod of curiosity was past; how to win the friendship of this people,\nwho showed in a hundred ways their hatred and distrust of us; how to\nreach their hearts with our wonderful message of a Saviour's love?\n\nAll that was in our power was to do, day by day, what we could with the\nstrength that was given us. From early morning till dark, sometimes nine\nor ten hours a day, the strain of receiving and preaching to these\ncrowds was kept up. My husband had numbers of workmen to oversee,\nmaterial for building to purchase, and to see to all the hundred and one\nthings so necessary in building up a new station. Besides all this he\nhad to receive, and preach to, the crowds that came. He had no\nevangelist, Mr. Wang being then loaned to Mr. MacG----. I had my three\nlittle children, and no nurse or Bible-woman. When too exhausted to\nspeak longer to the courtyard of women, I would send for my husband, who\nthough tired out would speak in my stead. Then we would rest ourselves,\nand entertain the crowd, by singing a hymn.\n\nSo the days passed. But we soon realized that help must come, or we\nwould both break down.\n\nOne day Mr. Goforth came to me with his Bible open at the promise, \"My\nGod shall supply all your need,\" and asked: \"Do we believe this? If we\ndo, then God can and will supply us with some one to help preach to\nthese crowds, if we ask in faith.\"\n\nHe prayed very definitely for a man to preach. With my doubt-blinded\nheart, I thought it was as if he were asking for rain from a clear sky.\nYet, even while he prayed, God was moving one to come to us. A day or\ntwo later there appeared at the mission the converted opium fiend, Wang\nFu-Lin, whose conversion has been already recorded.\n\nNo one could have looked less like the answer to our prayers than he\ndid. Fearfully emaciated from long years of excessive opium smoking,\nracked with a cough which three years later ended his life, dressed in\nsuch filthy rags as only a beggar would wear, he presented a pitiable\nsight. Yet the Lord seeth not as man seeth.\n\nAfter consulting together Mr. Goforth decided to try him for a few days,\nbelieving that he could at least testify to the power of God to save a\nman from his opium. Soon he was reclothed in some of my husband's\nChinese garments; and within an hour or two of his entering the mission\ngate, practically a beggar, he was seated in charge of the men's\nchapel, so changed one could scarcely have recognized him.\n\nFrom the first day of his ministry at Changte there was no doubt in the\nminds of any who heard him that he had indeed been sent to us by our\ngracious God, for he had in a remarkable degree the unction and power of\nthe Holy Ghost. His gifts as a speaker were all consecrated to one\nobject--the winning of souls to Jesus Christ. He seemed conscious that\nhis days were few, and always spoke as a dying man to dying men. Little\nwonder is it, therefore, that from the very beginning of his ministry in\nour chapel men were won to Christ. God spared him to us for the\nfoundation laying of the church at Changte, then called him higher.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMr. Goforth's need was relieved by the coming of Wang Fu-Lin, but not\nmine. The remarkable way God had sent him, however, gave me courage and\nfaith to trust God to give me a Bible-woman. Those who know anything of\nmission work in China will agree with me that it is far more difficult\nto find women than men who are able to preach the Gospel; or if able,\nwho are free for the work. But I was beginning to learn that God is\nlimited only from the human side; and that he is always willing to give\nbeyond our asking, if the human conditions he has so plainly laid down\nin his Word are fulfilled.\n\nA short time after I had begun to ask my Heavenly Father definitely for\na Bible-woman, Mr. Mac G---- came in from a tour, and his first words\nwere:\n\n\"Well, Mrs. Goforth, I believe we have a ready-made Bible-woman for\nyou!\"\n\nThen he told me how he had come across a widow and her son in a mountain\nvillage, who had heard the Gospel from a recent convert out of one of\nthe other stations. This man had been a member of the same religious\nsect as the widow and her son. When he found Christ he at once thought\nof his friends, and went over the mountain to tell them. Mrs. Chang\nreceived the Gospel gladly. She had been a preacher in that heathen\nsect, and had gained the fluency in speaking, and power in holding\naudiences, so necessary in the preaching of the Gospel.\n\nThe way was soon opened for her to come to me, and she became my\nconstant companion and valuable assistant in the women's work during\nthose early years. She witnessed a good confession in 1900--being strung\nup by her thumbs when refusing to deny her Lord. Faithfully she served\nthe Lord as a Bible-woman, until the time of her death in 1903.\n\nDuring the first two or three years at Chang Te Fu we lived in unhealthy\nChinese houses, which were low and damp. It was therefore thought best\nthat we should have a good semi-foreign house built for us. The work at\nthis time was so encouraging--converts being added weekly, and sometimes\nalmost daily--that we feared lest the new house would hinder the work,\nand become a separating barrier between ourselves and the people. We\ntherefore prayed that God would make the new house a means of reaching\nthe people--a blessing, and not a hindrance. The answer to this prayer,\nas is often the case, depended largely upon ourselves. We had to be made\nwilling to pay the price that the answer demanded.\n\nIn other words, we came to see that in order that our prayer could be\nanswered we would have to keep open house every day and all day, which\nwas by no means easy. Some assured us it was wrong, because it would\nmake us cheap in the eyes of the Chinese; others said it was wrong\nbecause of the danger of infection to the children. But time proved\nthese objections to be unfounded. The very highest as well as the lowest\nwere received, and their friendship won by this means. And, so far as I\ncan remember, our children never met any contagion because of this way\nof receiving the people into our house.\n\nThe climax in numbers was reached in the spring of 1899, when eighteen\nhundred and thirty-five men and several hundred women were received by\nus in one day. These were first preached to in large bands, and then led\nthrough the house. We have seen evidences of the good of this plan in\nall parts of our field. It opened the hearts of the people toward us,\nand helped us to live down suspicion and distrust as nothing else could\nhave done.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn May of 1898 we started down to Tientsin by houseboat, with our\nchildren, for a much-needed rest and change. Cold, wet weather soon set\nin. Twelve days later, as we came in sight of Tientsin, with a bitter\nnorth wind blowing, our eldest child went on deck without his overcoat,\nin disobedience to my orders. Shortly after the child came in with a\nviolent chill. That afternoon, when we arrived in Tientsin, the doctors\npronounced the verdict--pneumonia.\n\nThe following day, shortly after noon, a second doctor, who had been\ncalled in consultation, met a friend on his way from our boy's bedside\nand told her he did not think the child could live till morning. I had\ntaken his temperature, and found it to be 106. He was extremely\nrestless, tossing in the burning fever. Sitting down beside him, with a\ncry to the Lord to help me, I said distinctly: \"P----, you disobeyed me,\nand have thus brought this illness upon yourself. I forgive you; ask\nJesus to forgive you, and give yourself to him.\"\n\nThe child looked at me for a moment steadily, then closed his eyes. I\nsaw his lips move for a moment; then quietly he sank into a sound sleep.\nWhen he awoke, about dusk, I took his temperature, and found it 101. By\nthe time the doctor returned it was normal, and did not rise again.\nAlthough he had been having hemorrhage from the lungs, this ceased.\n\nIs not Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and forever? Why should\nwe wonder, therefore, at his healing touch in this age? \"According to\nyour faith be it unto you.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nDuring those early pioneer years, when laying the foundation of the\nChangte Church, my own weak faith was often rebuked when I saw the\nresults of the simple, child-like faith of our Chinese Christians. Some\nof those answers to prayer were of such an extraordinary character that,\nwhen told in the homeland, even ministers expressed doubts as to their\ngenuineness. But, praise God, I know they are true. Here are two\nconcrete examples.\n\nLi-ming, a warm-hearted, earnest evangelist, owned land some miles north\nof Chang Te Fu. On one occasion, when visiting the place, he found the\nneighbors all busy placing around their fields little sticks with tiny\nflags. They believed this would keep the locusts from eating their\ngrain. All urged Li-ming to do the same, and to worship the locust god,\nor his grain would be destroyed. Li-ming replied: \"I worship the one\nonly true God, and I will pray him to keep my grain, that you may know\nthat he only is God.\"\n\nThe locusts came and ate on all sides of Li-ming's grain, but did not\ntouch his. When Mr. Goforth heard this story he determined to get\nfurther proof, so he visited the place for himself, and inquired of\nLi-ming's heathen neighbors what they knew of the matter. One and all\ntestified that, when the locusts came, their grain was eaten and\nLi-ming's was not.\n\nThe Lord Jesus once said, after a conflict with unbelief and hypocrisy:\n\"I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid\nthese things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto\nbabes.\"\n\nOur little Gracie became ill with a terribly fatal disease, so common in\nmalarious districts--enlarged spleen. The doctors pronounced her\ncondition quite hopeless. One day a Chinese Christian woman came in with\nher little child, of about the same age as our Gracie, and very ill with\nthe same disease. The poor mother was in great distress, for the doctor\nhad told her also that there was no hope. She thought that if we would\nplead with the doctor he could save her child. At last Mr. Goforth\npointed to our little Gracie, saying: \"Surely, if the doctor cannot save\nour child, neither can he save yours; your only hope and ours is in the\nLord himself.\"\n\nThe mother was a poor, hard-working, ignorant woman, but she had the\nsimple faith of a little child. Some few weeks later she called again,\nand told me the following story:\n\n\"When the pastor told me my only hope was in the Lord, I believed him.\nWhen I reached home I called my husband, and together we had committed\nour child into the Lord's hands. I felt perfectly sure the child would\nget well, so I did not take more care of him than of a well child. In\nabout two weeks he seemed so perfectly well that I took him to the\ndoctor again, and the doctor said that he could discover nothing the\nmatter with him.\"\n\nThat Chinese child is now a grown-up, healthy man. And _our child\ndied_. Yet we had prayed for her as few, perhaps, have prayed for any\nchild. Why, then, was she not spared? I do not know. But I do know that\nthere was in my life, at that time, the sin of bitterness toward\nanother, and an unwillingness to forgive a wrong. This was quite\nsufficient to hinder any prayer, and did hinder for years, until it was\nset right.\n\nDoes this case of unanswered prayer shake my faith in God's willingness\nand power to answer prayer? No, no! My own child might just as\nreasonably decide never again to come to me with a request because I\nhave, in my superior wisdom, denied a petition. Is it not true, in our\nhuman relationships with our children, that we see best to grant at one\ntime what we withhold at another? \"What I do thou knowest not now, but\nthou shalt know hereafter.\"\n\nAnd one of the most precious experiences of God's loving mercy came to\nme in connection with our little Gracie's death. We had been warned that\nthe end would probably come in convulsions; two of our dear children had\nbeen so taken. Only a mother who has gone through such an experience can\nfully understand the horror of the possibility that such might come\nagain at any time.\n\nOne evening I was watching beside our little one, Miss P---- being with\nme, when suddenly the child said very decidedly: \"Call Papa; I want to\nsee Papa.\" I hesitated to rouse her father, as it was his time to rest;\nso I tried to put her off with some excuse; but again she repeated her\nrequest, and so I called her father, asking him to walk up and down with\nher until I returned.\n\nGoing into the next room I cried in an agony to the Lord not to let\nGracie suffer; but, if it was indeed his will to take the child, then to\ndo so without her suffering. As I prayed a wonderful peace came over me,\nand the promise came so clearly it was as if spoken: \"Before they call I\nwill answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear.\" Rising, I was\nmet at the door by Miss P----who said: \"Gracie is with Jesus.\" While I\nwas on my knees our beloved child, after resting a few moments in her\nfather's arms, had looked into his face with one of her loveliest\nsmiles, and then quietly closed her eyes and had ceased to breathe. No\nstruggle, no pain, but a \"falling on sleep.\"\n\n\"Like as a father pitieth, . . . so the Lord pitieth.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nEver-darkening clouds gathered about us during the months following\nGracie's death; and while the storm did not burst in all its fury till\nthe early summer of 1900, yet the preceding winter was full of\nforebodings and constant alarms.\n\nOn one occasion thousands gathered inside and outside our mission,\nevidently bent on serious mischief. My husband and his colleagues moved\nin and out all that day among the dense crowd which filled the front\ncourtyards; while we women remained shut within closed houses, not\nknowing what moment the mob would break loose and destroy us all. What\nkept them back that day? What but trustful prayer! And the Lord heard\nthat day, and wonderfully restrained the violence of our enemies.\n\nWe did not know then, but those experiences were preparing us for the\ngreater trials and perils awaiting us all.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nOUR DELIVERANCE FROM THE BOXERS (1900)\n\n          \"God is unto us a God of deliverances\" (Psa.\n          68:20, R. V.).\n\n          \"Who delivered us out of so great a death, and\n          will deliver: on whom we have set our hope that he\n          will also still deliver\" (2 Cor. 1:10, R. V.).\n\n\nMANY times we were asked in the homeland to tell the story of our escape\nduring the Boxer uprising, and often the question was put, \"If it was\nreally God's power that saved you and others on that journey, then why\ndid he not save those of his children who were so cruelly done to\ndeath?\"\n\nFor a time this question troubled me. Why indeed? One day when seeking\nfor light on the matter I was directed to the twelfth chapter of Acts.\nThere I found the only answer that can be given. We are told in the\nsecond verse that James was put to death by the sword; then the rest of\nthe chapter is given to the detailed record of Peter's wonderful\ndeliverance in answer to prayer (vs. 5, 12). In that day when all things\nshall be revealed I am convinced we shall see that _prayer_ had much to\ndo in the working out of our deliverance. When the first cable was\nreceived in Canada informing the home church of our party starting on\nthat perilous journey, we are told a great wave of prayer went up for us\nfrom Christians of all denominations. The Presbyterian Assembly of\nCanada was meeting at the time, and one session was given up entirely to\nprayer on behalf of the missionaries in China. Never had that body\nwitnessed such a season of intense, united intercession.\n\nLater when giving the story of our escape in the homeland, repeatedly we\nhave had people come to us telling how, during the weeks which elapsed\nbetween the first cable informing the home church of our danger, and the\nsecond cable, which told of our safe arrival at the coast, they had\nnever ceased to cry to God to save us. Then, too, after all is said, we\nmust believe God was glorified and God's purposes were fulfilled in the\ndeath of some as in the saved lives of others. The blood of the martyrs\nis still the seed of the Church.\n\nIt was in the month of June, 1895, that an incident occurred which has\never been linked in my mind with the events of 1900. I was about to\nleave Toronto with my four children to join my husband in China, when a\ncable was received telling of the cruel massacre of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart\nand others. Deep and widespread sympathy was expressed and much anxiety\nfelt for missionaries generally in China. Many urged me to delay our\nreturn; but I felt it best to keep to our original plans, and a few days\nlater found us bidding farewell to friends at the Union Station,\nToronto.\n\nJust as the train was leaving a lady stepped forward quickly to the\nwindow and said, \"You do not know me, but I have prayed the Lord to give\nme a promise for you; it is this, take it as from Him,\" and handed me a\nslip of paper. I opened the paper and read, \"No weapon that is formed\nagainst thee shall prosper\" (Isa. 54:17). Then and there I raised my\nheart to God in prayer that he would fulfil this promise to me and those\ndear to me; and as I prayed there came the clear assurance that the Lord\nheard.\n\nNever can we forget that winter of 1899-1900. The clouds had begun to\ngather, and the mutterings of the coming storm were heard on all sides\nof us. Repeatedly we were as a mission in gravest danger, and at such\ntimes were literally \"shut up to God.\" The temper of the people was such\nthat any little thing angering them would have been as a spark to\ngunpowder.\n\nFrom the time of the government crisis of the autumn of 1899, we, in\ncompany with all other foreigners in China, realized that conditions\nwere becoming serious, yet never did we expect or prepare for such a\ncataclysm as took place when the storm clouds suddenly burst in the\nearly summer of 1900.\n\nThe first indication we had of coming danger was when our mail carriers\nrunning to and from Tientsin were stopped and our mails returned. Thus,\ncut off from the outside world, we had to depend solely upon the wild\nrumors afloat among the Chinese for information. The country around us\nbecame daily more disturbed; day by day we could hear the beating of\ndrums and the cries of the people for rain. The darkness and horror of\nthose days, in the midst of which sickness and death entered our home,\ncan never be forgotten. On the nineteenth of June our eldest daughter,\nFlorence, after a week of intense suffering, was released from pain. It\nwas while her life was still hanging in the balance that we received the\nfirst communication from the American Consul in Chefoo urging us to\nflee. This message was quickly followed by another still more urgent.\n\nThe question was, where could we flee? Our usual route was by river boat\ntwo weeks to Tientsin, but this way was blocked, the whole region being\ninfested with Boxers, and Tientsin even then in a state of siege. The\nonly possible route left open to us was southward by cart,--fourteen\ndays to Fan-cheng,--then ten or more days by houseboat to Hankow. We\nfaced such a journey at that time of the year with fear and trembling\nbecause of the children, the danger from heat and sun being very great.\nGladly would we have stayed, but the Chinese Christians urged us to go,\nsaying they could escape more easily were we not there.\n\nWe had with us our four remaining children: Paul, nine; Helen, six;\nRuth, under three; and baby Wallace, eight months. Their faithful\nChinese nurse, though weeping bitterly at parting from her old mother of\nalmost eighty, decided to come with us. There were altogether in the\nparty five men, six women, and five children, besides the servants and\ncarters.\n\nMany were the difficulties in the way of getting carts and other\nnecessary things for the journey, but one by one all things needed were\nprovided as we besought the Lord to open the way. There were many\nindications on that journey that God's purpose was to save us; one of\nthe most striking of these happened just as we were about to leave.\n\nThe day previous to our departure a message passed through the city of\nChang Te Ho, the messenger riding at breakneck speed. This messenger, we\nlearned later, was en-route for the Provincial Capital with the sealed\nmessage from the Empress Dowager commanding the death of all foreigners.\nWe had planned first to take the direct route south, which would, as far\nas we can now see, have led us to our death, for this route would have\ntaken us through the capital. Almost at the last moment, and quite\nunaware of the danger on the direct route, we were led to change our\nplans and take a route farther west, though it made a considerably\nlonger journey.\n\nWe left Chang Te, June 28, 1900, at daybreak. At Wei Hwei Fu, the first\nlarge city to which we came, an attempt was made to break into our inn,\nbut as we prayed the mob dispersed and we were left in peace. On July\nfirst we reached the north bank of the Yellow River, and there for a\nshort time (it was Sunday afternoon) we rested under the trees. Little\ndid we dream that even then many, very many, of our fellow-missionaries\nand personal friends were being done to death by the merciless Boxers.\nAt sunset the ferry which carried us across the river reached the south\nbank, and here we found several missionaries and a party of engineers\nwaiting for us. These latter were fully armed and had a fair escort.\nAfter some difficulty it was decided that we should all keep together,\nbut in reality this party kept by themselves, except that we stayed in\nthe same towns at night. Each day that passed seemed harder than the\nlast, the heat was intense, and the ten or twelve hours of bumping over\nrough roads in springless carts made even a bed spread on the ground a\nwelcome resting-place.\n\nOnce, when Mr. Goforth had jumped off our cart to get fresh water for\nour head cloths, a crowd gathered round him and became very threatening,\nraising the cry, \"Kill, kill.\" All the other carts were ahead, and the\ncarter would not wait for Mr. Goforth, as he was afraid. During the few\nmoments that elapsed before my husband was allowed to join us even the\ncarter turned pale with suspense,--and oh, how I prayed!\n\nExcept for a few similar passing dangers, nothing special occurred until\nthe evening of July seventh, when we reached the small town of Hsintien.\nWe had heard during the day that the whole country ahead of us was in a\nstate of ferment against the Roman Catholics. Scarcely had we reached\nthe inn when the engineers and the missionaries with them who had\nbecome increasingly alarmed at the condition of the country, informed us\nthat they were going on to the large city of Nan Yang Fu that night, but\nwould leave us two soldiers and two of their carts. Mr. Goforth did not\nwish them to go, for he felt it would greatly increase our danger.\n\nShortly after they left us the mob began to gather outside our inn. The\ngate was barricaded with carts. For hours stones were thrown against the\ngate and demand was made for our money. A messenger was at once sent\nafter the engineers' party, asking them to return. All that night was\nspent in sleepless suspense.\n\nEarly in the morning the messenger returned with the reply that they had\nfailed to get help from the Nan Yang Fu official and were obliged to\npush on. As soon as the carters heard we were thus left helpless a panic\nseized them, and it was with great difficulty they could be persuaded to\nharness their animals. All this time the crowd had been becoming more\ndense, as we could see through the cracks of the gate, and were\nominously quiet. Hints had been given us of coming danger, but that was\nall; none spoke of what all felt,--that we were probably going to our\ndeath.\n\nSuddenly, without the slightest warning, I was seized with an\noverwhelming fear of what might be awaiting us. It was not the fear of\n_after_ death, but of probable torture, that took such awful hold of me.\nI thought, \"Can this be the Christian courage I have looked for?\" I went\nby myself and prayed for victory, but no help came. Just then some one\ncalled us to a room for prayer before getting into our carts. Scarcely\nable to walk for trembling, and utterly ashamed that others should see\nmy state of panic,--for such it undoubtedly was,--I managed to reach a\nbench beside which my husband stood. He drew from his pocket a little\nbook, \"Clarke's Scripture Promises,\" and read the verses his eye first\nfell upon. They were the following:\n\n\"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:\nand he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say,\nDestroy them.\"\n\n\"The God of Jacob is our refuge.\"\n\n\"Thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.\"\n\n\"I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee\nwith the right hand of my righteousness. . . . The Lord thy God will hold\nthy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.\"\n\n\"If God be for us, who can be against us?\"\n\n\"We may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man\nshall do unto me.\"\n\nThe effect of these words at such a time was remarkable. All realized\nthat God was speaking to us. Never was there a message more directly\ngiven to mortal man from his God than that message to us. From almost\nthe first verse my whole soul seemed flooded with a great peace; all\ntrace of panic vanished; and I felt God's presence was with us. Indeed,\nhis presence was so real it could scarcely have been more so had we seen\na visible form.\n\nAfter prayer we all got on our carts, and one by one passed out into the\ndensely crowded street. As we approached the city gate we could see that\nthe road was black with crowds awaiting us. I had just remarked to my\nhusband on how well we were getting through the crowds, when our carts\npassed through the gates. My husband turned pale as he pointed to a\ngroup of several hundred men, fully armed, awaiting us. They waited till\nall the carts had passed through the gate, then hurled down upon us a\nshower of stones, at the same time rushing forward and maiming or\nkilling some of the animals. Mr. Goforth jumped down from our cart and\ncried to them, \"Take everything, but don't kill.\" His only answer was a\nblow. The confusion that followed was so great it would be impossible to\ndescribe the escape of each one in detail. Each one later had his or her\nown testimony of that mighty and merciful deliverance. But I must give\nthe details of Mr. Goforth's experience.\n\nOne man struck him a blow on the neck with a great sword wielded with\ntwo hands. \"Somehow\" the blunt edge of the sword struck his neck; the\nblow left a wide mark almost around his neck, but did no further harm.\nHad the sharp edge struck his neck he would certainly have been\nbeheaded!\n\nHis thick helmet was cut almost to pieces, one blow cutting through the\nleather lining _just over the temple_, but without even scratching the\nskin!\n\nAgain he was felled to the ground, with a fearful sword cut, which\nentered the bone of the skull behind and almost cleft it in two. As he\nfell he seemed to hear distinctly a voice saying, \"Fear not, they are\npraying for you.\" Rising from this blow, he was again struck down by a\nclub. As he was falling almost unconscious to the ground he saw a horse\ncoming at full speed toward him; when he became conscious again he found\nthe horse had tripped and fallen (on level ground) so near that its tail\nalmost touched him. The animal, kicking furiously, had served as a\nbarrier between him and his assailants. While dazed and not knowing what\nto do a man came up as if to strike, but whispered, \"Leave the carts.\"\nBy that time the onlookers began to rush forward to get the loot, but\nthe attacking party felt the things were theirs, so desisted in their\nattack upon us in order to secure their booty.\n\nA word as to myself and the children. Several fierce men with swords\njumped on my cart. One struck at the baby, but I parried the blow with a\npillow, and the little fellow only received a slight scratch on the\nforehead. Then they dropped their swords and began tearing at our goods\nat the back of the cart. Heavy boxes were dragged over us, and\neverything was taken. Just then a dreadful looking man tried to reach us\nfrom the back of the cart with his sword, missing by an inch. I thought\nhe would come to the front and continue his attack, but he did not. I\nhad seen Mr. Goforth sink to the ground covered with blood twice, and\nhad given him up for dead. Just then Paul, who had been in the last\ncart, jumped in, wild with delight at what he seemed to think was great\nfun, for he had run through the thick of the fight, dodging sword\nthrusts from all sides, and had succeeded in reaching me without a\nscratch. A moment later my husband came to the edge of the cart scarcely\nable to stand, saying, \"Get down quickly; we must not delay in getting\naway.\" As I was getting down one man snatched away my hat, another my\nshoes; but we were allowed to go.\n\nRuth was nowhere to be seen, and we hoped she was with the missionaries\nwho had charge of her at the time of attack. I saw that Mr. Goforth's\nstrength was failing fast, for he could scarcely walk, and as men began\nto follow I urged him forward with the baby and the other two children,\nand turning faced the men, begging them to have mercy on my children,\nfor they had begun to stone us. Some of us were black for days from the\nblows received then. They stopped and listened, then the leader said,\n\"We've killed her husband, let her go.\" With this they ran back to the\ncarts.\n\nI knew Mr. Goforth could not go far. We could see a small village not\nfar distant, and to this we hastened, praying as we went that the Lord\nwould open the hearts of the people to receive us. Here again Paul\nseemed to feel no fear, but said, \"Mother, what does this put you in\nmind of? It puts me in mind of the Henty books!\"\n\nAs we neared the village men came out to drive us away, but I begged\nthem to help us. By this time Mr. Goforth had sunk to the ground.\nPutting the baby in an old woman's arms, I knelt down beside my husband.\nThe children were crying bitterly. Mr. Goforth looked as if he were\ndying. The women standing round us were weeping now. This was too much\nfor the men, who came forward saying, \"We will save you.\" One ran and\ngot some stuff to put in the wounds, assuring us it would stop the flow\nof blood, and it did. This man helped me to bandage up the wounds with\nbandages made from garments taken from myself and the children. They\nhelped my husband, and we followed them into a little hut, where they\nlaid him on a straw bed and locked us in. Hot water for bathing our\nbruises, food and drink were handed us through a small window, and we\ncould hear them planning how they would save us. We told them how\nanxious we were to hear of our friends and little Ruth, so they sent a\nman to inquire.\n\nWe found that these people--the whole village--were Mohammedans, and had\ntaken no part in the attack. We felt that God had wonderfully directed\nour steps to that village.\n\nAll that day Mr. Goforth lay still, but looked at times so very white\nthat I feared the worst. Never for one moment, I believe, during that\nday did I cease to pray for his life. And when Mr. ----, one of our\nparty, arrived about four o'clock looking for us, Mr. Goforth at once\ngot up as if perfectly well, insisting on walking to the cart. To me,\nknowing how he had looked that day, it seemed only a miracle. His only\nanswer to my protest was, \"Only pray; the Lord will give me strength, as\nlong as he has work for me to do.\"\n\nAs we were leaving, the kind friends of the village gathered round\ninsisting on my taking some old clothes to put round the children, who\nwere almost naked, saying, \"It will be chilly at night.\" As we went\nforward to join the others, Mr. ---- told us how one by one all had\nescaped. Dr. ---- was the only one beside Mr. Goforth seriously injured,\nthe poor fellow having had his kneecap severed and the tendons of his\nright wrist badly cut, besides many other wounds.\n\nAll that day our friends had been waiting by the roadside, unable to\nproceed without carts, owing to the doctor's condition. They had joined\nin one petition, that God would move the carters to come. Those who know\nChina and heathen carters will readily acknowledge that it was nothing\nshort of a miracle--the miracle of answered prayer--that made these\nheathen carters come, after all they had already gone through. For come\nthey did, five of them, all that were needed, now that our luggage was\ngone. We learned too, that our faithful Chinese nurse, who had charge of\nRuth, had saved the child at the risk of her own life, lying upon the\nchild and taking many cruel blows, till greed for loot drew the men off.\n\nWe soon joined the rest of the party, and by six o'clock that evening we\nreached the large city of Nang Yang Fu. The city wall was black with\npeople, and as we entered the gate the wild crowds crushed against our\ncarts. Sometimes the animals staggered, and it seemed as if nothing\ncould save the carts from being overturned. Every moment or two a brick\nor stone would be hurled against the carts, and that cry, \"Kill, kill,\"\nwhich can never be forgotten when once heard, was shouted by perhaps\nhundreds of voices. Yet the Lord brought us through, and \"no weapon\nprospered.\"\n\nWhen we reached the inn a wild mob of over a thousand men filled the inn\nyard; and as we alighted from the cart these men literally drove us\nbefore them into one room, which in a few moments was packed to\nsuffocation. For probably an hour the crowd kept crushing us into one\ncorner; then those outside became impatient at not being able to get in,\nand demanded that we be brought out. We managed to keep some of the\nladies from going out; but the rest of us--men, women, and\nchildren--stood facing that seething multitude until relief came in the\ndarkness. Why did they not kill us then? Why, indeed? None but an\nAlmighty God kept that crowd back.\n\nAs soon as we had reached the city a servant was sent to the official\ndemanding protection. It was dark when this man returned, in a state of\ngreat agitation; his story was that as he was waiting for an answer from\nthe official he overheard a conversation between two soldiers, and\ngathered from what they said that the official had sent a party of fifty\nsoldiers along the road that we would have to take, with the order that\nevery one of us must be put to death. The official was afraid to have us\nkilled in the city lest he should afterward be blamed; but by this plan\nhe could say brigands had done the deed. So sure was this servant that\nwe were all to be massacred that he would remain with us no longer, but\nreturned that night to Honan with the report that we were all killed.\n\nA consultation was held, and the question was, should we stay in the\ncity and again demand protection, or should we go on and trust God to\nopen our way? The latter course was decided upon. But for a long time\nthe carters utterly refused to go farther with us. Again prayer opened\nup our way, and by two o'clock in the morning all were ready to start.\n\nThe official had sent a few foot-soldiers to guide us to _the right\nroad_! (to the waylaying party). The night was very dark, and as we were\npassing through the gate of the city we noticed what seemed to be signal\nlights put out and drawn in. We all felt these to be signals to the\nwaylaying party ahead. A short distance from the city, probably about\none hundred yards, our carts suddenly stopped. Some one ran up and\nwhispered to Mr. Goforth, \"Paul and Mr. ---- are missing.\" Search was\nmade for them, but without success.\n\nA veil must be drawn over those terrible hours of suspense; my faith\nseemed to fail me, and I could only cry in my agony, \"If Paul is gone,\ncan I ever trust God again?\" Then I remembered how marvelously God had\ngiven me back my dear husband's life, and I just committed Paul into his\nhands and waited to see what he would do.\n\nWhen all hope was given up of finding the missing ones, a cart was left\nbehind with a trusted servant, and we went on. Then we saw God's\nwonderful plan for us. While we were waiting the soldiers had fallen\nasleep in the carts, and were not aware that the carters were taking a\nside road until we had gotten miles from the city and beyond the reach\nof our would-be murderers! The soldiers were infuriated at this\ndiscovery; but after some threatening they left us and returned to the\ncity. Thus again we saw that God was indeed unto us a \"God of\ndeliverances.\"\n\nAgain and again that day we were surrounded by mobs. Many times I held\nup the poor, dirty clothes which the Mohammedans had given us, and the\nstory of how these had been given quieted the people perhaps more than\nanything. Once the cry was raised to drag our children's nurse out of\nthe cart; but as we cried to God for her the people let us alone, and we\npassed on. At another time a man snatched the remains of Mr. Goforth's\nhelmet away from us, and tore it to pieces. I had hoped to keep it as a\ntrophy should we ever get out safely.\n\nWe were at this time in a pitiable condition. Most of the men had head\nor arms bandaged; Dr. ---- was unable to raise his head. What we\nsuffered in those carts with nothing but the boards under us cannot be\ntold. Nine persons were packed in our cart, which under ordinary\ncircumstances would have held four or five. At noon we reached a large\ncity, where the animals had to rest and feed. Then again we saw an\nevidence of the Lord's loving kindness over us.\n\nJust as we were getting down from our carts the crowd became very\nthreatening, and it looked now as if our hour had indeed come; but at\nthis critical juncture two well-dressed young men of official class came\nthrough the crowd, greeting Mr. Goforth in great surprise. They had been\nreceived by him in our home at Chang Te Ho. A few words of explanation\nwere spoken, then they turned quickly to the crowd and told them who we\nwere and of the work at Chang Te Ho. The attitude of the people changed\ninstantly, and they made way for us, giving us good rooms, and food was\nbrought which was greatly needed.\n\nThat noon, as one after another came up to express their sympathy at\nPaul's loss, I could say nothing--I was waiting to see what God would\ndo. When Mr. Goforth told the young officials about Paul and Mr. ----,\nthey were greatly concerned, and promised to send men at once to search\nfor them. These friends in need sent with us a man of the district to\nguide and help us, and also wrote an urgent letter to the official of\nthe city we were to stay in that night, asking him to give us an escort\nand help us in every way he could.\n\nAbout four o'clock that afternoon a man came running after us with the\njoyful news that Paul and Mr. ---- were safe, and would reach us that\nnight. As I heard this news my unbelief and faithlessness in the hour of\ntesting came over me with overwhelming force, and I could only bow my\nhead and weep. Oh, the goodness and mercy of God! Never had the love of\nGod seemed so wonderful as in that hour.\n\n          \"Could we with ink the ocean fill,\n             Were the whole sky of parchment made,\n           Were every blade of grass a quill,\n             And every man a scribe by trade;\n           To write the love of God above\n             Would drain that ocean dry,\n           Nor could the scroll contain the whole\n             Though stretched from sky to sky.\"\n\nThat night we reached our destination about nine o'clock, having\ntraveled seventeen hours over those roads, with but a short break at\nnoon. It was marvelous how Mr. Goforth was sustained, for he was obliged\nto start at once for the official's residence with the note I have\nalready referred to. On the way through the street the mob about\nsucceeded, several times, in getting him down under their feet; but God\nwas with him, and he reached the Yamen in safety, being courteously\nreceived by the official, who promised us protection, and sent him back\nto the inn under escort.\n\nWhen Paul and Mr. ---- arrived that night, they tried in vain to wake\nme, but nature had to have her way. I knew nothing till I wakened with a\nstart at about two A.M. Jumping up, I started to look for Paul, and\nnever can I forget the scene! The whole party was lying on the bare\nearthen floor, practically without bedding or mattresses.\n\nA word concerning the experiences of Mr. ----and Paul. The two had got\ndown from their cart and were walking behind. In some way they missed\nthe road in the dark, and became separated from us. During that day they\nwere repeatedly in the gravest danger.\n\nOn one occasion, when surrounded by a violent mob, and one man had\nraised a club above Paul's head to strike him down, Mr. ----felt\nimpelled by some unseen power to shout out, \"We are not Roman Catholics,\nbut Protestants.\" At this the man lowered his club, exclaiming, \"Why,\nthese are not the bad foreign devils, but the good foreign devils, like\nthose missionaries at Chow Chia K'eo\" (China Inland Mission). At this\nsame place the hearts of the people seemed turned toward them in a\nwonderful way. One man gave Paul one hundred _cash_ (five cents) to buy\nsome food; another man carried the lad on his back for miles to give his\nfeet a rest, they were so sore. This same man, when he could carry Paul\nno longer, ran ahead to try and find us. When they reached the inn where\nwe had been so helped by the two Chinese gentlemen, they found that\nthese friends had food prepared and a barrow waiting, also a guide ready\nto lead them to us!\n\nLess than an hour from the time I awakened we were on the road again.\nThe official was true to his promise, and a large mounted escort\naccompanied us. That day we were on the road twenty hours, reaching Fan\nCheng at midnight. Here we found the engineers' party waiting for us\nwith boats hired, but we were obliged to remain twenty-four hours in the\nmost loathsome inn we ever had the misfortune to be in in China. It was\nan unspeakable relief to get into the houseboats, even though we only\nhad bare boards to lie on, and the boat people's food to eat.\n\nWe were ten days going down stream to Hankow. One after the other became\nill. When still a day from Hankow, a steam tug met us with provisions.\nOur children cried at the sight of bread and milk! We were not allowed\nto stop long enough at Hankow, as we had hoped, to get clothes and other\nnecessaries, but were obliged to hasten on by the first steamer, which\nleft the following morning. I was obliged to borrow garments for myself\nand the children from our fellow-passengers.\n\nAt Shanghai the streets were being paraded, and every preparation was\nbeing made for an attack. We learned with deep sorrow of the death of\nmany dear friends at the hands of the Boxers. Ordered home by the first\nsteamer, without anything left to us but the old clothes we had on at\nthe time of the attack, how could we get ready in such a short time for\nthe long home voyage? There was no lack of money, for our Board had\ncabled all we needed. The question that faced us was how could I get\nclothes made for six of us in such a short time, with Chinese tailors\ntoo busy to help, no machine to be had, and no ready-made clothes to be\nbought except for Mr. Goforth and Paul.\n\nAgain I found that man's extremity was but God's opportunity. He was\ntrue to his promise, \"God shall supply all your need.\" Even as I knelt\nin an agony of prayer, beseeching God's help, and asking definitely that\nsome one should be sent to me to help with the sewing, two ladies were\nat the door asking for me! These were perfect strangers, but had seen\nour names among the recent refugees, and God had moved them to come and\noffer their assistance! They worked for me night and day until we had to\nget on board the steamer. Never shall I forget their Christian\nfellowship and practical help at that time.\n\nBut in the rush to get the older children ready, baby Wallace's clothes\nwere neglected. There was nothing for it but to take materials and make\nthings for him on the voyage. In this connection came a most wonderful\nand precious evidence of God's power to answer prayer. For the first few\ndays of the journey I worked early and late trying to make something for\nthe little one, who had scarcely anything to wear; but as we were\nnearing Yokohama I realized I had almost reached the end of my strength.\nMy needle refused to work; try as I would I could not even see where to\nput the needle.\n\nFolding up my work I went down to the stateroom, and kneeling down I\nspread the work before the Lord. Too far gone to agonize in prayer, I\ncould only quietly, almost mutely, just tell him how the poor child had\nno clothes. Rising with a great sense of the burden having been lifted,\nI put the work away, locking it in a trunk, then went up on deck and lay\ndown almost insensible from exhaustion. How long a time passed I do not\nknow, but it could not have been more than half an hour when some one\ncame and touched me, saying, \"We have dropped anchor in Yokohama Bay,\nand a large bundle has been thrown up on deck from the lighter for you.\"\n\n\"For me!\" I cried. \"Surely not; I know no one in Japan.\" Then I thought,\n\"It is the answer come!\"\n\nGoing down I found a letter from Mrs. O. E., of the China Inland\nMission. She said that her little son, the same age as baby Wallace, had\ndied four months before, and the Lord had pressed her to send his\ncomplete outfit to me for my child! Opening the parcel, I found not only\neverything the child could possibly need for a year or more, but much\nelse. Had some one stood beside that dear sister and told her what I\nmost needed, she could not have done differently. Yes, surely Some One\ndid direct her loving hands, and Some One just used her as one of his\nchannels; for she lived near to him, and was an open channel.\n\nThree days later my own collapse came; but praise his great name, he was\nwith me in the darkness and brought me through.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nPROVING GOD'S FAITHFULNESS (1902-1908)\n\n          \"The safest place . . . is the path of duty.\"\n\n\nONE of the results of our gracious and merciful deliverance from the\nhands of the Boxers was an increased desire to make our lives tell in\nthe service of God--to spend and be spent for him. Our Heavenly Father\nsaw this and just took us at our word, and led us out into the path\nwhich meant absolute surrender as I had never known it before.\n\nIt is so true that \"God will be no man's debtor.\" When he asks for and\nreceives our all, he gives in return that which is above price--his own\npresence. The price is not great when compared with what he gives in\nreturn; it is our blindness and our unwillingness to yield that make it\nseem great.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe following story has been asked for many times. Believing that it has\na lesson for others, I give it, though to do so means lifting the veil\nfrom a very sacred part of my life.\n\nAfter the Boxer experience, my husband returned to China in 1901; and,\nwith my children, I left for China in the summer of 1902, leaving the\ntwo eldest children at the Chefoo schools, _en route_ to Honan. Mr.\nGoforth met me at Tientsin, and together we traveled by river-boat\ninland a journey of about twenty-four days. During those long, quiet\ndays on the river-boat my husband unfolded to me a carefully thought out\nplan for future mission work.\n\nHe reminded me that six missionaries, from a mission-station which had\nbeen destroyed by the Boxers, were now permanently stationed at Changte;\nand that the main station, now fully equipped, no longer needed us as\nbefore. He felt that the time had come when we should give ourselves to\nthe evangelization of the great regions north and northeast of\nChangte--regions which up to that time had been scarcely touched by the\nGospel, because of lack of workers. His plan was that we--husband and\nwife, with our children--should go and live and work among the people.\n\nTo make this possible a native compound would be rented in the center,\nwhere we would stay a month for our first visit, leaving behind an\nevangelist to carry on the work; and we would revisit this and other\nplaces so opened as many times as possible in the year.\n\nWhat this proposition meant to me can scarcely be understood by those\nunfamiliar with China and Chinese life. Smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet\nfever, and other contagious diseases are chronic epidemics; and China,\noutside the parts ruled by foreigners, is absolutely devoid of\nsanitation.\n\nFour of our children had died. To take the three little ones, then with\nme, into such conditions and danger seemed literally like stepping with\nthem over a precipice in the dark and expecting to be kept. But, on the\nother hand, I had the language and experience for just such work, the\nneed was truly appalling, and there was no other woman to do it. In my\ninnermost soul I knew the call had come from God, but I would not pay\nthe price. My one plea in refusing to enter that life was the risk to\nthe children.\n\nAgain and again my husband urged that \"the safest place\" for myself and\nthe children \"was the path of duty\"; that I could not keep them in our\ncomfortable home at Changte, but \"God could keep them anywhere.\" Still I\nrefused. Just before reaching our station he begged me to reconsider my\ndecision. When I gave a final refusal, his only answer was: \"I fear for\nthe children.\"\n\nThe very day after reaching home our dear Wallace was taken ill. For\nweeks we fought for his life; at last the crisis passed and he began to\nrecover. Then my husband started off alone on his first trip! He had\nbeen gone only a day or two when our precious baby Constance, a year\nold, was taken down with the same disease that Wallace had. From the\nfirst there seemed little or no hope. The doctors, a nurse, and all the\nlittle mission circle joined in the fight for her life. Her father was\nsent for, but arrived just as she was losing consciousness. A few hours\nlater, when we were kneeling round her bedside waiting for the end, my\neyes seemed suddenly opened to what I had been doing--_I had dared to\nfight against Almighty God_.\n\nIn the moments that followed God revealed himself to me in such love and\nmajesty and glory that I gave myself up to him with unspeakable joy.\nThen I knew that I had been making an awful mistake, and that I could\nindeed safely trust my children to him wherever he might lead. One thing\nonly seemed plain, that I must follow where God should lead. I saw at\nlast that God must come first. Before the precious body was laid away\npreparations for our first trip were begun.\n\nWas God faithful to the vision he had given me? Or did he allow the\nchildren to suffer in the years that followed, when months each year\nwere spent with them right out among the people? As I write this,\neighteen years have passed since we started on that first trip, and none\nof our children have died. Never had we as little sickness as during\nthat life. Never had we so much evidence of God's favor and blessing in\na hundred ways--as may be gathered from the definite testimonies which\nfollow.\n\nWithout one exception, every place in which we stayed for a month, and\nopened as my husband had planned, became in time a growing church.\n\nAnd I found, to my surprise, that I was able to give more time to the\nchildren, that I was able to guard them better when on those trips than\nwhen in the Changte Station. For the mission compound was large, and\noften the children were out of my sight for hours at a time; whereas the\noutside native compounds we lived in were so small the children were\nalways within sight and reach. Even when groups of women were listening\nto the Gospel, I was able to direct the children's lessons. As I look\nback on that time, my heart is filled with overflowing gratitude to God\nfor the wonderful grace and strength he gave for that life.\n\nMy great regret is that I did not keep a record of answers to prayer. I\nfind it most difficult to record just what \"asking and getting things\nfrom God\" meant at that time, but it now seems to me to have been the\nvery foundation of the whole life. The instances of answers to prayer,\nhere recorded, are simply the ones connected with that life which stand\nout most clearly in my memory of those years.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe first answer came the morning after our dear Constance died, and was\nthe one that had the greatest, most far-reaching effect on the new life\nand its work.\n\nAs I thought of facing the crowds of heathen women day by day, and what\nit would mean to carry on aggressive evangelism outside, there was one\nneed I felt must be met--that of a Bible-woman. As I prayed for\ndirection, a Mrs. Wang Hsieh-sheng came to mind as the one I should ask.\n\nBut when I laid my request before her, that she come with me, she burst\ninto tears, saying: \"I dare not. I have only one child left, and it\nwould risk her life too much.\"\n\nSeeing how she felt, I did not urge her, but told her to go and pray\nabout it for a day, and bring me her answer after the funeral that\nnight. When she came that evening her face was shining through tears, as\nshe said: \"O my Shepherd Mother, I will go. If you are willing to risk\nyour children for the sake of my sisters, how much more should I!\"\n\nEighteen years have passed since that day. I would need to write a\nvolume to record all that Mrs. Wang meant to me in those years; yes, and\nto the work. As the years passed she became my beloved companion,\nsharing in all the responsibilities and hardships of that life, and also\nin its joys. I realized more and more that she was indeed a God-given\nco-worker. Though circumstances have led me away from that life, she\nstill remains and works for her sisters in the Changte Church.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne of the hardest words a missionary can get from his Home Board is the\nword \"retrench.\" My husband and I were on one of our evangelistic tours\nnorth of Changte. Every door seemed wide open before us, and the time\nripe for a specially aggressive campaign of evangelism for the heathen.\nBut, just as we were planning for this, word reached us from our station\ntreasurer of a message received from the Home Board that funds were low,\nand retrenchment must be carried out along all lines.\n\nTo us this meant dismissing helpers, and a general curtailing of our\nwork. We faced the question squarely. Our own tithe had been long\noverdrawn. How then could we support the men we had, and go on with the\nwork which was opening so gloriously before us after years of hard\npioneer preparation?\n\nBut we decided to go on as we had planned, and to trust God for the\nnecessary funds; believing that, though for the time being the home\nchurch had disappointed us, God would not fail us.\n\nThe following Friday a home mail reached us, in which was a letter from\na lady in New Zealand. The writer said she had read a letter of ours in\nThe Life of Faith, and wished to support an evangelist under us. This\nrelieved us of the support of one man, but there were many other needs\nas yet unmet.\n\nThe following Monday, when our next mail was forwarded to us, a letter\ncame from a lady in Australia, enclosing a draft ample to meet every\nspecial need in the work for a year to come. She stated very plainly\nthat she did not wish the money put into the general funds of the\nmission, but to be used by ourselves in any way we thought best. Indeed,\nhad she known the special circumstances in which the letter would find\nus, she could scarcely have written more exactly to fit our case.\n\nAgain, a year after this experience of God's faithfulness to meet all\nour needs, we began to feel the need of special funds for the work. My\nhusband, as usual, seemed quite sure that we should keep on as we had\nbeen doing, and that the money needed would be sent. In spite of all the\nblessed lessons of the past, my faith seemed to fail me; and I spoke\ndecidedly against using our salary, when we needed it all for ourselves\nand our children's education. We were traveling homeward by cart at the\ntime and the matter was dropped; though I felt my husband was hurt by my\nlack of faith.\n\nWhen we reached home, that evening, a letter from a lady in Canada was\nawaiting my husband. He read it first; and I cannot forget the look on\nhis face as he handed it to me, with the words \"I told you so.\"\n\nAs near as I can recall it the letter said: \"My mother and I are\nstrangers to you, never having seen or heard either you or your wife.\nBut my mother, who is an invalid, has for some time been restless\nbecause of a conviction that has come over her that she should send you\nsome money. So to quiet my mother I am sending you fifty dollars.\"\n\nAs I read the letter, I certainly did feel ashamed of my lack of faith.\nIn writing our acknowledgment, I told how wonderfully opportune the\ngift had been. A couple of months or so later came a reply, telling us\nthat the invalid mother passed away soon after my letter reached them;\nand that the story of how God had used her in this matter greatly\nstrengthened her faith, blessing and helping her during the closing days\nof her life.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn one occasion, when we were traveling from Wuanhsien to Pengcheng, we\nreached the town of Hotsun late in the afternoon, expecting to stay over\nnight. But on our arrival we found that the Christian whom we had sent\nto arrange for our accommodation had failed to get us a place, every one\nabsolutely refusing to take us in. While the animals were feeding, and\nwe were trying to eat our dinner of Chinese dough-strings in the midst\nof a curious crowd, my husband told the Christian to go out again and\nlook for a place while we prayed.\n\nWe dared not close our eyes, lest the superstitious heathen crowd\ncrushing against us on all sides would take fright, thinking we were\nmesmerizing them. So we just lifted up our hearts silently to our\nFather; and before many minutes had passed, indeed before we had\nfinished our meal, the Christian returned greatly rejoiced, saying: \"A\nwealthy man has offered you a fine empty place which has just been\nfixed over. And you can have it as long as you like, free of rent.\"\n\nFor three days we preached in that place--morning, noon, and night--to\ngreat crowds; and a work was begun which has gone on ever since.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere were times when my faith was severely tested, and I fear too often\nI did not stand the test; but oh, how patient God is with us in our\nhuman weakness. \"Like as a father pitieth, . . . so the Lord pitieth.\"\nThe Chinese have often said to me, \"Your children seem made for this\nlife.\" But I know it was God's great goodness. He knew how hard the life\nwas, and how difficult it would have been for me to continue that work\nhad the children been peevish or hard to manage. Time and time again we\nhad to get the little ones up before daybreak to start on a cart\njourney, but I do not remember that they ever even cried. They would\njust wake up enough to get dressed and ask sleepily, \"Are we going\nagain, Mama?\" and then go off to sleep as soon as we were settled in our\ncarts.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn one occasion, arriving at a certain town, we found the place in which\nwe were to stay unfit for the children. It was simply horrible. On\neither side of us, almost reaching to our door, were two great\npigstys--Chinese pigstys! In front of the door were eight or ten great\nvessels, filled with fermenting stuff which had been there all summer,\nand which added to the other varied and oppressive odors. I greatly\nfeared for the children, and wanted to leave at once, but my husband\nseemed calmly certain of the Lord's power to keep them from all harm.\n\nOn the second evening the youngest child became very feverish. Mr.\nGoforth was holding a meeting with the men. I was almost overwhelmed\nwith fear lest the child had diphtheria. Kneeling down beside him, I\ncried to the Lord as only a mother under like circumstances could pray.\nAt last, tired out, I fell asleep on my knees. Awakened by the entrance\nof my husband, I felt the child's head again and it seemed cooler, and\nthe child quieter. The following day he was quite well. Is it much\nwonder I can say I know God answers prayer?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nReturning from our summer holiday the first of September, 1912, we hoped\nto find a place rented at a certain large center where we had planned to\nbegin work; but to our disappointment learned that the evangelists had\nsecured premises in a small market village, where there was just one\nChristian. There was nothing to do but to go there, though it seemed\nalmost useless, for it was the busiest season for those farming people.\n\nOn our way to this place we prayed much that the Lord would prepare the\npeople, and open their hearts to the Gospel. We had not been there many\ndays when we became convinced that we had been led there, and that the\nLord was opening the hearts of the people in a most unusual way. Crowds\nof men and women heard the preaching every day. Our evening Gospel\nmeetings, with organ and hymn scroll, were crowded out on to the street.\n\nEverywhere we met with the utmost friendliness, and before our month's\nvisit was ended we had the joy of seeing some of the leading people in\nthe village and district come out boldly for Christ. One was the chief\ndoctor; another was the head man in the market. In the store, through\nwhich we women had to pass to get to the evening meeting, there were\nthree men and a young lad of fifteen; all of these were brought to\nChrist. The men were opium users, gamblers, men of evil lives. Two of\nthem are now preachers of the Gospel, and one is the leading man in the\nlittle growing church there.\n\nHad I time and space I could go on multiplying cases where the same\nresults have followed when the cross of Christ has been the pivot of all\nChristian teaching, and prayer has been the source of power.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn one of the early visits to the city of Linchang, a woman came with a\nlittle child whose foot was terribly burned. The whole foot was badly\nswollen, the inflammation reaching some distance up the leg. The child\nwas feverish, and seemed in a serious condition. It happened that on\nthat trip I had forgotten to bring the simple remedies which I was\naccustomed to take out with me, so the woman was told nothing could be\ndone. But she begged so piteously that I could not turn away; and\nlifting up my heart in prayer I asked the Lord to guide me, if there was\nanything I could do.\n\nEven while I prayed the thought of a bread poultice came to mind. This\nremedy seemed almost absurd. I had never heard of such a thing being\nused before under like circumstances, but I resolved to try it. Twice a\nday the foot was cleansed and put in the poultice, and it was really\nwonderful to see how it healed. We were there ten days, and when we left\nthe foot was almost completely well. The mother, father, the child\nherself, and indeed the whole family, became Christians. On a later\nvisit I examined the foot, and found not even the sign of a scar\nremaining.\n\nI told this incident not long ago to a medical doctor, and he said:\n\"Why, there is no miracle in _that_! It was just up-to-date\nhygiene--giving nature a chance by cleanliness!\"\n\nI replied: \"Doctor, to me the miracle lay, not in the poultice, but in\nGod's telling me what to use; and now it is to me all the more a miracle\nof prayer, since you say it was up-to-date hygienic treatment.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAt the same place, some years later, we were conducting special tent\nmeetings for Christians in the day time, and for the heathen at night.\nJust after our meetings began the weather turned bitterly cold, with\nwind and sleety rain. The tent was like a drafty ice-house. My husband\ncaught a severe cold, which became worse each day. He had fever and\nsevere pains in head and chest, but would not give up his meetings. One\nnoon he came from the meeting looking very ill, and lay down to rest\ntill the afternoon meeting.\n\nI determined to take the Christians into my confidence, and tell them of\nmy anxiety for Mr. Goforth. So, some time before the afternoon meeting\nI slipped out and called them into the tent, telling them of my\nhusband's condition and asking them to pray for him. Oh, what a wave of\nearnest, heart-overflow of prayer went up without a moment's pause! The\ntears came to my eyes as I thought, \"Surely God will answer such\nprayers!\"\n\nThen, fearing my husband might arrive, I gave out a hymn. A few moments\nlater he walked into the tent in his old brisk way, looking quite well.\nAt the close of the meeting he told me that shortly after he heard me go\nout the pain in his head and chest ceased, the fever seemed to leave\nhim, and when he started for the tent he felt quite well. The symptoms\ndid not return.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen on a visit to a certain out-station, after being there two whole\ndays, scarcely any women had come to see us. We were so circumstanced\nthat I could not leave the children. The third day I became so burdened\nin prayer that I could only shut myself up in an empty room and cry to\nthe Lord to send women to us, as he knew I could not leave the children.\nFrom that day we always had plenty of visitors to keep us busy, either\nChristian women studying or heathen women listening to the Gospel.\n\nAt Tzuchow, the first place we opened together, the people seemed much\nset against us. After the first period of curiosity was over, no one\ncame to hear the Gospel. As we had a nice place for the children to play\nin with their faithful nurse,--the one who saved Ruth's life in\n1900,--Mrs. Wang and I determined to go out each afternoon and try to\nreach the heathen women with the Gospel. Before going out we always\nprayed the Lord to open a door to us for preaching. And as I now recall\nthat time, never once did we return home without being invited into some\nhome to preach, or at least being asked to sit on a doorstep and tell of\na Saviour from sin.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne of the most outstanding evidences of God's favor and blessing was\nseen, at this time, in the way he provided my husband with native\nhelpers. To carry on the plan of work we had adopted required a good\nforce of trusty evangelists. Time and again we looked to the Lord for\nmen and women to help us, and the answer always came.\n\nAs my husband always seemed to have plenty of men to help him, he was\nfrequently asked for evangelists by his fellow-missionaries of both our\nown and other missions. I was at first opposed to his giving away his\nbest men, but he would answer, \"The Lord has been good to me; should I\nbe less generous with my brethren?\" And it certainly was remarkable how,\nwhenever he gave a really valuable evangelist, another man, even better,\nwas raised up shortly after. The secret of his getting men may be seen\nbest through words of his own, taken from a letter to a friend in Canada\nabout the time of which I am now writing:\n\n\"We came to this little market town in September of last year. My wife\nhad two women workers. I had Mr. Tung, the old evangelist, and a young\nhigh school graduate without experience, and the only Christian man in\nthe district, very ignorant but with this to recommend him, that he was\nconverted or quickened by the Holy Spirit in the Changte revival, and\nwas intensely in earnest. We were here only about twenty days when\ndozens began to inquire, among whom were robbers, opium sots, and\ngamblers. The work went on all day and well on till midnight. We were\nall tiring out. We had not enough workers. It was like a very heavy\nburden that forced me to my knees. I told the Lord that he was the Lord\nof the harvest, and that he must send more harvesters. There was a time\nof intense looking to God, almost amounting to agony, and then the\nburden lifted, and I knew that God had answered. I told my wife that I\nwas sure that God was going to send me workers.\n\n\"Now what is the result? Since then he has sent me two Chinese B.A.'s,\nboth excellent speakers. He moved an excellent elder to give up his\nbusiness, and he has been appointed an evangelist. At this center a\nscholar, who was an opium user and gambler, got converted last year. His\nprogress has been most remarkable, and it looks as if he is going to\nmake one of the front-rank preachers. Also two brothers here, who were\namong the first converts last year, help to preach, their father--also a\nconvert of last year--providing their food.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnother gracious evidence of God's over-ruling providence was seen in\nthe way we, especially the children, were kept from contracting\ncontagious diseases. The Chinese carry their children about everywhere\nin their arms, even when sick with all sorts of contagious diseases.\n\nI give the following instance to show how impossible it was to know when\none would run into danger. Going to a certain village for a day's\npreaching, I took with me little Mary, then three years of age. We were\nwaited on by a Christian woman who was most kind and attentive,\nbringing water and food for both Mary and myself. Being much taken up\nwith preaching to the women, it did not occur to me to ask why she kept\nher baby's face covered, for the child was always in her arms. Just as\nwe were leaving I asked her; then she uncovered the baby's face, and to\nmy horror I found that the child was suffering from smallpox! For weeks\nI watched Mary's temperature, but nothing developed.\n\nThrough repeated instances of this kind I came to see that Mr. Goforth\nwas right when he said, \"The safest place for yourself and the children\nis in the path of duty.\"\n\nAs I recall those years of touring life with our children, words fail me\nto tell of all the Lord's goodness to them and to me. Though there were\nmany hard, hard places, these were but opportunities for special grace\nand help. Many times, when discouraged almost to the point of never\ngoing out again with the children, there would come evidence that the\nLord was using our family life, lived among the people, to win them to\nChrist. Then I would take new courage, and go again. Oh, it is so true\nthat\n\n          \"We may trust him fully\n             All for us to do;\n           Those who trust him wholly\n             Find him wholly true.\"\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nTHE STORY OF ONE FURLOUGH (1908-1910)\n\n          \"Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will\n          deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me\" (Psa.\n          50:15).\n\n\nIN THE summer of 1908 I was obliged to return to Canada with five of our\nchildren, leaving Mr. Goforth in China for the revival work.\n\nReaching Toronto, I learned that my eldest son was at death's door from\nrepeated attacks of rheumatic fever. He was then almost a day's journey\naway. On my way there, as I recalled the times in which he had been\ngiven back to us from the very gates of death, my faith was strengthened\nto believe for his recovery again. But, as I prayed, it became very\nclear that the answer to my petition depended on myself; in other words,\nthat I must yield myself and my will to God.\n\nI had been planning to take no meetings during that furlough, but to\ndevote myself wholly to my children. I confessed the sin of planning my\nown life, and definitely covenanted with the Lord that if he would\nraise my son for his service I would take meetings, or do anything, as\nhe opened the way for the care of the children.\n\nThere were six difficult doors, however, that would have to be\nopened--not one, but all--before I could possibly go out and speak for\nChrist and China, as God seemed to be asking. First, the Lord would need\nto restore my son to complete health, as I could never feel justified in\nleaving a sick child. Second, he would need to restore my own health,\nfor I had been ordered to the hospital for an operation. Third, he would\nneed to keep all the other children well. Fourth, a servant must be sent\nto take care of the house--though my income was so small that a servant\nseemed out of the question, and only the strictest economy was making\nboth ends meet. Fifth, a Christian lady would need to be willing to take\ncare of the children, and act as my housekeeper in my absence from home.\nSixth, sufficient money would need to be sent to meet the extra expenses\nincurred by my leaving home.\n\nYet, as I laid these difficulties before the Lord, I received the\ndefinite assurance that he would open the way.\n\nMy son was brought back to Toronto on a stretcher, the doctor not\nallowing him to raise his head; but on arrival he would not obey\norders, declaring that he was so well he could not and would not remain\nstill. Fearing the consequences of his disobeying orders, I telephoned\nfor the doctor to come at once. On his arrival he gave the lad a\nthorough examination, and then said: \"Well, I cannot make him out; all I\ncan say is, let him do as he pleases.\"\n\nWithin a month the boy was going back to his high school, apparently\nquite well. Some months later he applied for a position as forester\nunder the government. He had to pass through the hands of the official\ndoctor. My son told him of his recent illness, and of what the doctor\nhad said concerning his heart; but this physician replied: \"In spite of\nall you have told me I can discover nothing whatever the matter with\nyou, and will therefore give you a clear bill of health.\"\n\nAs for myself, I did not go to the hospital; for all the symptoms that\nhad seemed to require it left me, and I became perfectly well. A servant\nwas sent to me who did her work sympathetically, as helping me to do the\nLord's work. A married niece, living near, offered to stay in the home\nwhenever I needed to be absent.\n\nAnd so there remained but one condition unfulfilled--the money. But I\nbelieved this would come as I went forward; and it did. Each month that\nfollowed, as I made up my accounts, I found that my receipts exceeded my\nexpenditures sufficiently to enable me to spend money for work in China,\nand to purchase things which I needed for China, including an organ. All\nthese accounts were laid before our beloved Mission Board secretary, who\napproved them.\n\nUnder these circumstances I dared not refuse invitations to speak. Yet,\nso weak was my faith, for months I never left home for a few days\nwithout dreading lest something should happen to the children during my\nabsence. I even accepted meetings with the proviso that if the children\nneeded me I must fail to keep my appointment. But as the days and weeks\nand months passed, and all went well, I learned to trust.\n\n          \"'Be still; be strong to-day.'\n             But, Lord, to-morrow?\n           What of to-morrow, Lord?\n           Shall there be rest from toil,\n             Be truce from sorrow?\n           'Did I not die for thee?\n           Do I not live for thee?\n             Leave me to-morrow.'\"\n\nIn giving the following I wish to make clear that, had I been living a\nlife of ease or self-indulgence, I could not have been justified in\nexpecting God to undertake for me in such matters as are here recorded.\nIt must be remembered that I had stepped out into a life which meant\n_trusting for everything_.\n\nBefore leaving China for Canada my husband had said to me: \"Do not stint\nthe children with apples; give them all they want.\" But when I began\nhousekeeping I found this was not very easy to do. Apples were\nexpensive, and the appetites of my six children for them seemed\ninsatiable. However, I began by buying a few small baskets; and then I\ndid not need to buy more, for apples came in a most wonderful way. First\nin baskets; then, as the season advanced, in barrels. These came from\nmany different sources; and in some cases long distances, express paid\nto the door. On one occasion a barrel of large, hard \"Greenings\" came\njust as we had finished the last barrel. The children complained that\nthey were too hard to eat, and begged me to buy them some \"Snows\"--very\nexpensive, but delicious apples for eating. I had only purchased one\nsmall basket of \"Snows\" when a large supply, almost a barrelful, came\nfrom a distant friend.\n\nI feel that the Lord saw that I had given up all for him, so just showed\nhow he could provide, thus evidencing his love and care for my dear\nchildren. We had set up housekeeping at the end of the fruit season, and\nso I had not been able to do canning for winter use. That winter, again\nand again, gifts of canned fruit came, sometimes from unknown sources.\nAltogether, seventy jars of the finest fruit were sent to us. I will\ngive the details of just one of these gifts.\n\nShortly before leaving home for ten days, the servant informed me that\nthe canned fruit was finished. Accordingly, I went down and ordered\nenough dried fruit to last till I should return. On reaching home I was\ngreeted at the door by a rush from the children, all trying at once to\ntell me that a lovely valentine had just arrived. Leading me back to the\nkitchen, they showed me the table covered with twenty jars of the most\ndelicious looking fruit, and a large can of maple syrup. On a card\naccompanying the gift was written: \"A valentine for our dear 'substitute\nin China,' from her sisters in Renfrew.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nEarly in the winter it became evident that a telephone was a necessity,\nwith my numerous calls and engagements. I hesitated about going into\nthis expense, not being quite sure that it was right to use in that way\nthe money given me. At last, I prayed that the Lord would show me his\nwill in the matter by sending me half the amount needed for the\ntelephone within a certain time, if it was right for me to get it.\nBefore the time expired the money had come; so I got the telephone.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAs the weather became cold I began to suffer on the long drives in the\ncountry to appointments, and was soon longing for a fur coat. I\nconsulted our mission secretary as to whether, if sufficient money were\ngiven me, I could put it into a fur coat. The answer was a decided\n\"Yes.\" There was no doubt that the coat was a necessity in the Lord's\nwork. So I began to pray the Lord to send the money quickly, for the\ncold was severe. In less than two weeks I received the money needed, and\nof course got the coat.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe ladies of the Winnipeg Presbyterial had arranged a series of\nmeetings for me in Winnipeg, Brandon, and other places in that vicinity,\nabout ten in all. The collections from the meetings were to defray my\ntraveling expenses, which would amount to over one hundred dollars. On\nmy way by train from Toronto to Winnipeg I caught a severe cold, which\nsettled in my throat and chest. I did not want the women to be\ndisappointed, and also put to all the expense, if I failed them. Just\nbefore reaching Winnipeg I was enabled to commit myself definitely into\nthe Lord's hands, for strength and voice for the meetings. The days that\nfollowed can never be forgotten, for the bodily weakness, fever, and\nthroat trouble were removed only while I was giving my addresses. In\neach case, though so hoarse before and after speaking as to be scarcely\nable to make myself heard above a whisper, my voice cleared for the\naddress.\n\nFor example: while at Dr. and Mrs. C. W. Gordon's home the Sunday I was\nto speak in Winnipeg, I was advertised to speak that night in Dr.\nGordon's church. At the supper table I asked Dr. Gordon if he would be\nready to speak should I fail. Just before my time came to speak I\nslipped up on to the platform behind Dr. Gordon, who was praying; and\noh, how I cried to the Lord for help and courage! For the church was\npacked, and even the Sunday-school room partitions were opened to\naccommodate the crowd. My throat was as if in a vise, and I felt weak\nand ill. But, as Dr. Gordon introduced me, I stepped forward possessed\nby a feeling of wonderful calm and absolute confidence. It seemed I\ncould just _feel_ One like unto the Son of man beside me, and never had\nI felt so completely and only a channel. For more than an hour I spoke\nso that every one heard distinctly; but when I sat down my throat\ntightened as before. Dr. Gordon told me later that he had a man sit in\nthe most difficult place in which to hear, and that he had heard every\nword.\n\nSo it was till the end of my appointments. On the homeward journey I\nasked the Lord either to heal my throat, or to provide a way for me to\nget a needed rest from speaking, for I had many appointments awaiting me\nin Ontario. A few days after reaching home four of my children were\ntaken down with measles. During the weeks I was in quarantine with them\nmy throat received the rest it needed, and became quite restored.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne day the following early summer, in looking over the children's\nclothes, I found there was so much to be done I was fairly overwhelmed.\nI saw it was quite impossible to do the necessary sewing and keep my\nappointments too. The question that weighed heavily was, \"Should I\ncancel the meetings for which I had given my word?\" My husband urged me\nto buy ready-made clothes, but I knew how expensive they would be, and\ncould not bring myself to do so. I went alone and laid my burden before\nthe Lord, praying that, if he wanted me to speak further for China, he\nwould show his will by sending me some gift that would enable me to get\nready-made clothes for the children.\n\nA few days later I was speaking at a Presbyterial gathering in western\nOntario. At the close of the evening meeting an old gentleman put into\nmy hands some money. I asked him what he wished me to use it for, and he\nreplied, \"For your children. Use it in a way that will help you to be\nfree for God's work.\" My heart rose in thanksgiving, and I decided to\naccept it as the token I had asked of the Lord. On my return to Toronto\nI spent this gift in buying ready-made clothes for the children, to save\nmy time and strength for the Lord's work.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen busy in my home one day, the thought of two dear friends of the\nChina Inland Mission kept coming constantly to mind, and I began to\nwonder if I should not send them some money. Looking into my purse, I\nfound I had only fifty cents on hand. I put the matter out of my mind,\nwith the thought that if the Lord wanted me to send them anything he\nwould provide a way. That afternoon's mail brought a letter from a\ndistant place in Ontario where, a year before, I had visited and spoken\nfor a friend. The letter was from the treasurer of the Christian\nEndeavor Society for which I had spoken. He enclosed five dollars, and\nsaid the money was to have been given me at the time I spoke for them,\nbut had been overlooked.\n\nMy first thought was to return it, as it would be dishonoring my friend\nto accept money for such a service; and then I remembered my friends for\nwhom I wanted money, and I decided to send the five dollars to them. My\nhusband, returning the following morning, handed me another five to put\nwith it, and the ten dollars was sent off.\n\nIn due course a reply came from my friends, saying that the very morning\nmy letter arrived they both had been given assurance that a certain sum\nwould come, for which they had been praying. This was to meet a need\nwhich they did not wish to bring before their Board. My letter brought\nthe ten dollars; and another letter in the afternoon's mail contained a\nsum which, with mine, exactly made the amount they had been asking the\nLord for.\n\n          \"Say not my soul, 'Can God relieve my care?'\n           Remember that Omnipotence hath servants everywhere!\"\n\nOn one occasion, when about to leave home on a ten days' trip to\nMontreal and other places, word came that the children's Sunday-school\ntreat was to take place during my absence.\n\nLittle Mary had no \"best\" dress for the occasion. I had planned to make\nher a white woolen dress, but now there was no time; and I knew I could\nnot make it while away, with so many meetings ahead. But, that very day,\na lady from our church called and said she had wanted for a long time to\nhelp me, and asked if she could do any sewing for me. With dim eyes and\na grateful heart I accepted her offer. On my return, Mary told me of her\nwearing a pretty white cloth dress for the Sunday-school treat.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOnce more we planned to leave Canada for China, and a serious problem\nfaced me. Our eldest son could be left to face the world alone, but not\nour daughter of sixteen. It was necessary that a suitable guardian be\nfound for her. I called on three different ones whom I thought would\nfeel some responsibility toward the missionary's daughter, but all three\ndeclined to accept the responsibility. I then saw that it was not for me\nto try to open doors, but for this also I must look to the Lord. I\nprayed that, if he wished me to return to China, he would send me one to\nwhom I could commit her.\n\nA short time passed; then a lady called, whose life had been devoted to\nthe training of young women. Her beautiful Christian character made her\nthe one above all others in whose care I could gladly leave my daughter.\nThis lady told me that in her early years she had hoped to give her life\nfor service in China, but the way had been closed. She now felt that the\nLord had laid it upon her heart to offer to take charge of my child.\nYears have passed since then, and she has fulfilled my highest\nexpectations of her. Rarely has a more definite answer come from a\nloving Father, nor one that brought greater relief and help; for this\noffer, coming as it did in answer to my prayers, seemed to be\nunmistakable proof that the Lord would keep my child as I gave her up.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe time had almost arrived for beginning the last preparations for the\nlong journey to China, when one day Ruth came in from her play with her\nheavy coat almost in shreds, she having in some way torn it on a barbed\nwire fence. The coat was the only heavy one she had, and I had planned\nto make it do for the ocean voyage, intending to get a new one in\nEngland. I tried to find a new one in the stores, but the season was\npast and I could not; and I had no time to make another. I just took\nthe need to the Lord and left it there, believing that in some way he\nwould provide. A few days later a friend telephoned me that her mother\nhad recently returned from a visit to Chicago, and wished me to come\nover to see a parcel she had brought for me. Oh, the relief that came\nwhen I found that the parcel contained, among other things, a handsome\nred cloth ulster, which fitted Ruth perfectly. This fresh evidence of\nthe Lord's overshadowing care touched me deeply. Those who have never\nknown such tokens of the Lord's loving care in the little things of life\ncan scarcely understand the blessedness that such experiences bring.\n\n          \"Whether it be so heavy that others cannot bear\n           To know the heavy burden they cannot come and share;\n           Whether it be so tiny that others cannot see\n           Why it should be a burden, and seem so real to me,\n           Either and both I lay them down at the Master's feet\n           And find them alone with Jesus mysteriously sweet.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAs I attempt to recall the answers to prayer on this furlough, so many\ncome to mind it is impossible to record them all--help in keeping my\nappointments, courage and power for public speaking, physical strength,\nand guidance in facing many difficult problems.\n\nIt was at this time I formed a habit of getting a message for a meeting\non my knees. It often seemed to me very wonderful how, as in a flash,\nsometimes, an outline for a talk on China would come. Never having kept\nnotes, nor even outlines of addresses, I have frequently been placed in\ncircumstances when I have felt utterly cast on the Lord. And I can\ntestify that he never failed to give the needed help, and the realized\ndivine power. Yet sad, sad is it that often at just such times, no\nsooner would the address be ended than the Satan-whispered thought would\ncome, \"I have done well to-day.\"\n\nOh, is not the goodness and forbearance of our God wonderful; wonderful\nthat he ever again would deign to give help when asked for it?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA short time since I asked a dear friend whose writings have reached and\ninspired multitudes throughout the Christian world: \"How did you do it?\"\n\nSoftly, with deep reverence in look and tone, she replied: \"It has been\ndone all in and through prayer!\"\n\nWith deepest gratitude and praise to our ever faithful God, I too can\ntestify that any little service I have been able to do has been done by\nhis grace in answer to prayer.\n\n          \"I stood amazed and whispered, 'Can it be\n           That he hath granted all the boon I sought,\n           How wonderful that he for me hath wrought!'\n\n              *      *      *      *     *     *\n\n           Oh, faithless heart! _he said_ that he would hear,\n           And proved his promise, wherefore didst thou fear?\n           How wonderful if he should fail to bless\n           Expectant prayer with good success!\"\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nOUR GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE\n\n          \"Behold I am the Lord, . . . is there _anything_ too\n          hard for ME?\" (Jer. 32:27.)\n\n          \"Ah, Lord God! there is _nothing_ too wonderful\n          for thee\" (Jer. 32:17, margin).\n\n\nTHE following illustration of the truth, \"What is impossible with man is\npossible with God,\" occurred while we were attending the Keswick\nConvention in England, in 1910.\n\nOne evening my husband returned from an evening meeting, which I had not\nattended, and told me of a woman who had come to him in great distress.\nShe had been an earnest Christian worker, but love for light, trashy\nfiction had so grown upon her as to work havoc in her Christian life.\nShe had come to Keswick three years in succession, hoping to get\nvictory, but had failed.\n\nMy whole soul went out to the poor woman; I longed to help her. But Mr.\nGoforth did not know her name, and the tent had been so dark he could\nnot recognize her again; besides, there were about four thousand people\nattending the convention. That night I lay awake asking the Lord, if he\nknew I could help her, to bring us together, for I, too, had at one\ntime been almost wrecked on the same rock.\n\nThree evenings later the tent was so crowded that I found difficulty in\ngetting a seat. Just as the meeting was about to begin, I noticed a\nwoman change her seat twice, and then rise a third time and come to\nwhere I was, asking me to make room for her. I crowded the others in the\nseat and made room for her--I fear not too graciously. While Mr. F. B.\nMeyer was speaking I noticed she was in great distress, her tears\nfalling fast. I laid my hand on hers, and she grasped it convulsively.\nAt the close of the meeting I said, \"Can I help you?\"\n\n\"Oh, no,\" she replied, \"there is no hope for me; it is those cursed\nnovels that have been my ruin.\"\n\nI looked at her in amazement, and almost gasped: \"Are you the one who\nspoke to Mr. Goforth Saturday night?\"\n\n\"Yes; but who are you?\"\n\nScarcely able to speak for emotion, I told her, and also of my prayer.\nFor the next few moments we could only weep together. Then the Lord used\nme to lead the poor crushed and broken soul back to himself. As we\nparted, a few days later, her face was beaming with the joy of the\nLord.\n\nWhile addressing a gathering of Christians in Glasgow I was giving a\ncertain incident, the point of which depended upon a verse of a certain\nhymn. When I came to quote the verse, it had utterly slipped my memory.\nIn some confusion I turned to the leader, hoping that he could help me\nout; but he said he had no idea what the hymn was. Turning again to the\npeople, I had to acknowledge that my memory had failed me, and, feeling\nembarrassed, I closed my message somewhat hurriedly.\n\nSitting down, I lifted my heart in a cry to the Lord to lead me to the\nverse I wanted, if it was in the hymn-book used there. I took up a\nhymn-book and opened it, and the very first lines my eyes fell on were\nthose of the verse I wanted, though it was the last verse of a long\nhymn. Rising again, I told the people of my prayer and the answer, and\ngave them the verse. The solemn stillness which prevailed indicated that\na deep impression had been made. Some two years after, a newly arrived\nmissionary in China told me he had been present at that meeting, and how\nthis little incident had been a great blessing to him.\n\n\"They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and\nwere not confounded\" (Psa. 22:5).\n\nBefore leaving Canada we had written to the China Inland School at\nChefoo, China, hoping to get our children admitted there; but, shortly\nbefore we left England for China, word reached us that both the boys'\nand girls' schools were overflowing, with long lists of waiting\napplicants. This was a great blow to me, for I had been looking forward\nto engaging once more in the aggressive out-station work.\n\nBut the children could not be left, and were too old to be taken away\nfrom their studies. It seemed necessary, therefore, that a good\nChristian governess should be found, who would teach the children and\ntake charge of the home in my absence. All the way across the Siberian\nroute this matter was before us. Earnestly did I pray that the Lord\nwould direct the right one to us; for I knew that to get a young woman,\nwho could fill the position we wanted her for, would be very difficult\nin China.\n\nWe had planned to go direct to our station, but illness forced us to\nbreak the journey at Peitaiho, where we met a young lady, the daughter\nof a missionary. Many difficulties appeared in the way of her coming on\nwith us, but one by one these were removed; and when we continued our\njourney this young woman was one of our party.\n\nTime proved her to be truly God-given. Not only was she all and more\nthan I could have hoped for, but the Lord answered my prayers that her\nyoung life might be consecrated to the Lord's service in China. She\nlater went through her training in England as a nurse, and is now in\nChina as a missionary of the China Inland Mission.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe summer holidays at Peitaiho were drawing to a close. Heavy rains had\nfallen, making the roads to the station, six miles distant, almost\nimpassable. Word had come that our two children, Ruth and Wallace, must\nleave by the Monday morning train in order to reach the steamer at\nTientsin, which was to take them to Chefoo, where they were attending\nthe China Inland Mission schools. All day Saturday and Sunday torrents\nof rain continued to fall, with a fierce wind from the north.\n\nI rose before daybreak Monday morning, to find the rain still pouring\ndown in torrents. I roused the servant, and sent him off to make sure\nabout the chair, cart, and donkeys. A little later he returned to say\nthat the chair had been blown over, and the chair-bearers had refused to\ncome. The carters also refused, saying the roads were impassable; and\neven the donkey boys said they would not go.\n\nI was truly at \"wit's end corner.\" I went alone, and did not take time\neven to kneel down, but just lifted up my heart to my Father to stop the\nrain and open a way for the children to get to the station. I felt a\nsudden, strong confidence that the Lord would help, and going out again\nI ordered the servant to run fast to the village near by and get fresh\ndonkeys. He was unwilling, saying it was useless, no one would venture;\nbut I said: \"Go at once, I know they will come.\"\n\nWhile he was gone the children had their breakfast, boxes were closed\nand taken out, and the children put on their wraps. Then the rain\nstopped! Just then the servant returned with several donkeys. Within\nfive minutes, children and baggage were on donkeys, and started for the\nstation. A few hours later one of the donkey boys returned with a\nhastily written note from Ruth, saying they had reached the station\nwithout any mishap, and quite dry; for it had not rained on the way\nover, but had started to pour again just after they had got on the\ntrain. The rain continued for days after.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAt the close of our four months of meetings in Great Britain, in 1910, I\nfelt a strong desire to send a gift of five dollars to five different\nobjects in Britain, to show in a practical way our sympathy with the\nworkers in these various branches of the Lord's work.\n\nMy husband was in the midst of his accounts when I asked him to give me\nfive pounds for this purpose. He told me it was impossible, as we had\nbarely enough for the journey to China. As I left him I wondered why I\nseemed to have these gifts so definitely laid upon me to send away, when\nthere was no money. Reasoning that if the thing were really of the Lord\nhe could himself give me what he wished me to send, I put the matter\nfrom my mind.\n\nThat evening's mail brought a letter from a stranger living some\ndistance away, judging from the postmark; for the letter had no address,\nand was not signed. The letter said:\n\n\"I do not know you, nor have I met you, but the Lord seems to have laid\nit on my heart to send you this five-pound note as a farewell gift, to\ndo what you think best with.\"\n\nIt was with a joyful heart I sent off the gifts to the five Christian\nworkers in Britain. Had the giver said it was \"for work in China,\" as\nwas usually the case, I could not have used it for any other purpose.\n\nHow to get the sewing done for my family and yet meet the pressing calls\nmade upon me as the wife of a pioneer missionary, for almost thirty\nyears has been perhaps the most difficult and constant problem of my\nmissionary life. In connection with the solving of this problem, I have\nseen some of the most precious evidences of God's willingness to\nundertake in the daily details of life.\n\nThe following story must be given in detail to be really understood, as\none of the striking instances of how God, in his own wonderful way, can\nwork out the seemingly impossible.\n\nReturning home to our station from an unusually strenuous autumn's\ntouring, I planned as usual to give the month of December to the\nchildren's sewing, so as to leave January largely free for a\nBible-women's training class. But my health broke down, and I could make\nscarcely any headway with the thirty-five or forty garments which had to\nbe made or fixed over, before the children returned to their school in\nChefoo. By the eighteenth of December we decided to cancel the class on\naccount of my ill-health; and to all the women, except one whom I\nentirely forgot, I sent word not to come.\n\nAs the days passed, the burden of the almost untouched sewing became\nvery great. At last I cried to the Lord to undertake for me. And how\nwonderfully he did! On December twenty-eighth, when I was conducting the\nChinese women's prayer-meeting, I noticed in the audience Mrs. Lu, the\nvery woman to whom I had forgotten to send word. She had come a long\ndistance, with her little child, over rough mountainous roads, so I felt\nvery sorry for my thoughtlessness. Mrs. Lu accompanied me home, and I\ngave her money for a barrow on which to return the next day. I then sat\ndown to the sewing machine. The woman stood beside me for a little, and\nthen said:\n\n\"You are looking very tired, Mrs. Goforth; let me run the machine for\nyou.\"\n\n\"You!\" I exclaimed, astonished, \"why, you don't know how.\"\n\n\"Yes, I do,\" she replied.\n\nShe was so insistent that at last, in fear and trembling, I ventured to\nlet her try--for I had only one needle. It took but a few moments to\nconvince me she was a real expert at the machine. When I urged her to\nstay and help me, she replied that, since the class was given up, she\nwould return home on the morrow.\n\nThat night I was puzzled. Why should the Lord lead this woman to me--the\nonly one, so far as we knew, who could do the machine work--and then\npermit her to leave? I could only lay the whole matter before the Lord,\nand trust him to undertake. And again he answered. That night a fierce\nstorm came on, lasting several days and making the roads quite\nimpassable. Mrs. Lu, finding herself storm-tied, gladly gave all her\ntime to me. The roads remained impassable for a whole month, during\nwhich time I did not once need to sit down at the machine.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhile in Tientsin with my children during the revolution in 1912, I had\noccasion to go into the Chinese city with my servant. We visited three\nstores. On our way home by the tramway I discovered I had lost a\nfive-dollar bill and one of my gloves. I had foolishly put the bill\ninside the glove. Ashamed to let the Chinese servant know of my\ncarelessness, I sent him home when we reached the end of the tram line.\nAs soon as he was out of sight I took the tram back to the city. On the\nway I confessed to the Lord my carelessness, and asked him to keep the\nglove and money, and lead me to where they were. I retraced my steps\nback to two of the stores where we had been. As I entered the second,\nwhich was a shoe store, a number of men were in the shop; but there,\nright in sight of all, on the floor lay my glove, and I knew of course\nwith the five dollars inside. It was with a heart full of gratitude to\nmy loving Heavenly Father, and an enlarged vision of his love, that I\npicked up the glove and returned home that day.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn one occasion when on furlough with several little children, and my\nhusband in China, I had no settled home. When the time came to do the\nsewing for the long journey back to China, I had simply no way to get it\ndone. I just had to look to the Lord; and, as so often before, he was\nagain faithful, and opened the way. When shopping down town, one day, I\nmet a minister's wife from a distant country charge, who said: \"I want\nyou to come with all your children, and get your sewing done with me. A\nnumber of the ladies of our congregation sew well, and will be delighted\nto help you.\"\n\nI gratefully accepted her invitation, and while staying with her a\nsewing-bee was held in the church. In one week the sewing was finished,\nwhich would have taken me many weeks of hard, constant labor to\naccomplish alone.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe winter of our return from China, after the Boxer tragedies, I felt\nkeenly the need of a good sewing machine, as I could not possibly do\nthe children's sewing by hand and still get time for meetings. One day,\nas my husband was leaving on a deputation tour, I asked him for money\nfor a machine. He assured me it was impossible; that we had only\nsufficient for bare necessities. I knew well he would gladly give me\nmoney for the machine if he had it. So I laid my need before my Father,\nconfident that he knew it was a real need, and that according to his\npromise he could and would supply it.\n\nI was so sure that somehow the money would come, that I went down town\nespecially to choose a suitable machine. I found it would cost\nthirty-six dollars. A few days later I received a letter from a band of\nladies in Mount Forest, Ontario, enclosing twenty-three dollars and some\nodd cents, and saying: \"Please accept the enclosed to buy something you\nhave lost as our substitute in China.\" Only a day or two later another\nletter came, from quite another part of Ontario, enclosing twelve\ndollars and some cents. The two amounts came to exactly the sum I needed\nto purchase the machine.\n\nThe second letter stated that the money was sent to help me buy a sewing\nmachine. It has always been a puzzle to me how they came to send the\nmoney in that way, for I had not spoken to any one but my husband about\nwanting a machine. When Mr. Goforth returned I was able to show him what\nthe Lord could give me, though he could not.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI had been holding a class for women at an out-station, staying in the\nhome of the elder, Dr. Fan. The day before I was to return home, Mrs.\nFan asked me to go with her to visit a very sick boy whom the missionary\ndoctor had sent home from the boys' school, Wei Hwei, because of his\nhaving tuberculosis of the lungs. Mrs. Fan told me the mother was in\ngreat distress, and begged me to come and pray with her. I found the lad\nin a truly pitiable condition. His mouth was swollen, his face a ghastly\nhue, and every moment a cough racked his frame. He seemed to me quite\nbeyond hope, and looked as if he could not live long.\n\nOn our way home to Mrs. Fan's, the message of James 5:14, 15, kept\ncoming persistently to me, as if spoken by a voice: \"Is any sick among\nyou? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over\nhim, . . . and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall\nraise him up.\"\n\nI simply could not get away from those words. On reaching Dr. Fan's\nhome, I sent for him, and asked if he and the other elders would be\nwilling to pray with me over the lad. He consented, though at first he\nseemed rather dubious. There were quite a number of Christians gathered\naround as we placed the boy in our midst. All knelt down, and I read the\nwords from James. I told them plainly that I could not say that it was\nindeed the Lord's will to heal the boy; all that was clear to me was\nthat we must obey as far as we had light, and leave the rest in God's\nhands for life or death. Several prayed, and we then dispersed.\n\nEarly the following morning I left for home. Circumstances prevented my\nreturn to that place, and in time we moved to another field. More than\ntwo years later, while visiting Wei Hwei, I met Mrs. Fan, who told me\nthat the lad had completely recovered and was then working with his\nfather. Still a year later I met Dr. Fan, and upon inquiring about the\nlad, the doctor told me he was perfectly well, and was in business in\nWei Hwei City.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe power of intercession is shown in the following two incidents:\n\nIn the winter of 1905 a call came for my husband to hold special\nmeetings in Manchuria. On reaching Liao Yang for these meetings, one of\nthe missionaries showed him a letter from Mr. Moffat, of Korea, which\nsaid: \"I have a thousand Christians here who have promised to pray for\nMr. Goforth, and I know their prayers will prevail with God.\" Can we\ndoubt that their prayers had something to do with the marvelous revival\nmovement which followed?\n\nWhen in England, in 1909, my husband was the guest of a lady in London\nwho was noted for her power in intercession. He was telling her of the\ngreat revival movements he had been through, which took place in\ndifferent provinces of China; and she asked him to look at her diary, in\nwhich were notes of times when she had been led out in special\nintercession for Mr. Goforth. These dates exactly corresponded to the\ntimes of greatest revival power.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA few months after we returned to China from a furlough, I invited a\ncertain missionary and his wife and children to pay us a visit.\nPeculiarly touching circumstances had led me to give this invitation.\nBoth husband and wife were in ill health, and greatly needed a change.\nThey resided in a far inland station, quite cut off from other\nmissionaries. They were not connected with any Society, and were looking\nonly to the Lord for their support. Just as these friends had started\ntoward us, on their five-days' journey, smallpox broke out at our\nstation, and one of the missionaries died. A telegram was sent, hoping\nto catch them before they left, but it did not reach them until they\nwere a short distance from our station. Then the whole family had to\nturn around, and once more take the long, trying journey, homeward. As\nthe weather was very cold at the time, one could imagine what a terrible\ntrial to faith the whole experience meant to them. I felt so deeply for\nthem that I planned to send sufficient to cover at least the expense of\nthe journey. But, on getting out of quarantine, I found I could not draw\non our treasurer for the fifty dollars needed, as Mr. Goforth was not at\nhome. However, the Lord had seen the need long before I felt it, and had\nthe exact amount ready. Three days after I got out of quarantine I\nreceived a letter from Mr. Horace Goven, of the Faith Mission, Glasgow,\nenclosing a draft for five pounds which, at the rate of exchange at that\ntime, came to fifty dollars Mexican. The gift came from the workers of\nthe mission, and he stated that they wished me to accept it as a\npersonal gift. Needless to say, the draft was sent off that same day to\nthe needy friends in the far-off station.\n\nOn one occasion, while we were temporarily stationed at Wei Hwei, Honan,\nI was called to nurse a fellow missionary who had contracted black\nsmallpox. This missionary died; and it was while shut away from every\none during the time of quarantine that I had the following experience:\n\nI awoke suddenly one night feeling greatly troubled for one in Canada.\nSo strong was the impression that this friend needed my prayers, that I\nfelt compelled to rise and spend a long time wrestling with God on this\none's behalf; then peace came, and I again slept.\n\nAs soon as I was out of quarantine I wrote to my friend and told of this\nexperience, giving the date. In time the answer came, which said\nthat--though no date could be given, as no note had been made of it--as\nfar as could be judged, it was about the same time that I had had the\nburden of prayer that my friend was passing through a time of such\ntemptation as seemed almost overwhelming. But the letter said: \"I was\nbrought through victoriously; I know that it was your prayers that\nhelped me.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe following incident may seem trifling to some; but to me no answer in\nmy life ever brought more intense relief. For this reason I have\nreserved it, as the final testimony of the original prayer record.\n\nMy husband had gone to hold revival meetings in a distant province, and\nwhile he was away I went with my Bible-woman to a certain out-station at\nthe urgent request of the Christians, to preach at a four-days'\n\"theatrical,\" which brought great crowds. The four days there were\nenough to wear out the strongest; for many hours daily we had to face\nunruly crowds coming and going; and at the end of our stay I turned my\nface homeward utterly worn out. My one thought was to get to Wei Hwei,\nour next station, for a few days' rest with my youngest children, who\nwere attending school there. A sight of them, I knew, would recover my\nenergies better than anything else.\n\nBut in getting home I in some way lost the key of the money-drawer. It\nwas Friday, and the train for Wei Hwei left on Saturday at ten o'clock.\nDifferent persons came for money, but I had to put them off with some\nexcuse. There was too much money in the drawer for me to leave with the\nkey lying around somewhere; besides, I myself could not go without\nmoney.\n\nAs soon as I had my supper I started searching everywhere. Drawers,\npigeonholes, shelves, were all searched in vain. After hunting for two\nhours, until I was too exhausted to hunt any more, I suddenly thought,\n\"I have never prayed about it.\" Stopping still just where I stood by the\ndining-table, I lifted my heart to the Lord. \"O Lord, you know how much\nI need a rest; you know how much I long to see the children; pity me,\nand lead me to the key.\"\n\nThen, without wasting a step, I walked through the dining-room, hall,\nand women's guest room into Mr. Goforth's study, to the book-case (which\ncovers one side of the room), opened the door, slipped two books aside,\nand there was the key. So near did the Lord seem at that moment that I\ncould almost feel his bodily presence. It was not that I remembered\nputting the key there, but he led me there.\n\nYes, I _know_ God answers prayer.\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nTO HIS PRAISE!\n\n          \"They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy\n          great goodness.\"\n\n\nTHIS chapter is written more than seven years later than the foregoing,\nin further testimony and praise.\n\nReturning to Canada at the time of the Great War, we came face to face\nwith a serious financial crisis. Only two ways seemed open to us. One\nwas to lay our affairs frankly before the Board, showing that our salary\nwas quite insufficient, with war conditions and prices, to meet our\nrequirements. The other course was to just go forward, get a suitable\nhome and whatever we required, and trust our Father to supply what was\nneeded above our income. We decided on the latter course.\n\nA dear daughter felt indignant that we should have a salary insufficient\nfor our needs; but we assured her that to trust God for what was lacking\nwas not begging. The day came when this child and myself took possession\nof our new home. As we entered the dining-room we found a large mail\nfrom China on the table.\n\nOne letter was forwarded from the lady in Australia whose gifts, in the\npast, seemed always to have met some felt need. Her letter enclosed\nfifty pounds, with the expressed wish that thirty pounds should be used\nfor work in China, but twenty pounds was to be used to meet some\npersonal need. I handed the letter to my daughter, saying: \"Shall we not\nbelieve that God will undertake for us? It seems to me as if our Father\nwere beside us saying, 'My child, take this hundred dollars as an\nearnest of what I am going to do for you.'\"\n\nTears stood in her eyes as my daughter gave the letter back, saying:\n\"Mother, we don't trust God half enough!\"\n\nWere I to attempt to write the history of the months that followed, a\nlong chapter would be required; but my testimony along this line is\nsurely sufficient.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt was on this same furlough that I came to have an enlarged vision of\nmy Heavenly Father's willingness to undertake in what some might term\nthe minor details of everyday life. Missionaries, especially we\nmissionary women, know only too well how we are criticized in the matter\nof dress, when in the homeland and when traveling. I have had, through\nthe years, not only many amusing but trying experiences in this\nconnection, and I resolved to make the question of dress a definite\nmatter of prayer. And I rejoice to testify that the result of this\ndecision became a constant source of wonder and praise. Yes, I found the\nLord could guide me even in trimming my hat to his glory! That is, so\nthat I could stand up before an audience and not bring discredit to my\nMaster. Praise his name!\n\n          \"There is nothing too great for his power,\n           And nothing too small for his love!\"\n\nAt the time of the Great War a son had gone to England with the first\nCanadian contingent. When this news reached us in China, I began to pray\ndefinitely that the Lord would use my son's gifts in the best way for\nhis country's good, but would keep him back from the trenches and from\nactual warfare. My boy did not know of this prayer.\n\nSome weeks after reaching England he was looking forward to leaving for\nthe trenches in France, when orders came that he was needed in the\nOrderly Room, and his unit left without him. Months later a call came\nfor volunteers, to fill the great gaps made at the time of the first\nuse of gas. My boy resigned his position, and joined the company of\nvolunteers to be sent to France. Just before they were to leave he was\nagain sent for from Headquarters, and told he was to go to the Canadian\nBase in France as adjutant. His duties in this capacity kept him at the\nForwarding Base. A year later he again planned to resign, in order to\nget to the trenches. He had begun making arrangements for this step,\nwhen he had a fall from his horse, which caused him to be invalided home\nto Canada, where he was kept till the close of the war.\n\nIt would indeed be difficult to persuade his mother that all this\nhappened by chance; for one day, when in great distress, expecting any\nday a cable to say he had left for the trenches, I received a most clear\nassurance from the Lord that he had the boy in his keeping.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAfter our return to China, when in great trouble, I prayed the Lord to\ngrant me a clear sign of his favor by giving me a certain petition,\nwhich affected a child in the homeland. The request was a complicated\none, including several definite details. A little more than a month\nlater, a letter reached me from the one for whom I had asked the Lord's\nfavor. She wrote joyously, telling that she had received just what I had\nasked for, and in every detail as I had prayed.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen my husband resigned the regular field work of Changte, Honan, it\nbecame necessary for us to find a home elsewhere. The only suitable\nplace, meeting all our requirements, was on the hills at Kikungshan,\nSouth Honan. On going there to get a site for our home, though we looked\nfor more than a week, we could find no place. As we started down the\nhill, one morning soon after midnight, I was feeling our failure very\nkeenly, for we had given up our old home. When my husband saw how bad I\nfelt, as he told me later, he began to cry earnestly to the Lord to give\nus a site. And before we reached the station the assurance had come that\nwe would get a place. A friend on the train, traveling third class, saw\nus getting on the second class, and came in for a few words before\ngetting off the train. When he heard we had failed to get a site, he\nsaid:\n\n\"I know of a beautiful site which our Mission is reserving for a future\nmissionary. I'll ask them to give it to you.\"\n\nA few days later the treasurer of this Mission wrote us that they had\nunanimously and gladly voted to give us the site.\n\nI am now writing these closing words in our God-given home, built on\nthis beautiful site, one of the most lovely spots to be found in China.\nSo from this quiet mountain retreat, a monument of what God can give in\nanswer to prayer, this little book of Prayer Testimonies is sent forth.\n\nAs the past has been reviewed, and God's wonderful faithfulness\nrecalled, there has come a great sense of regret that I have not trusted\nGod more, and asked more of him, both for my family and the Chinese.\nYes, it is truly wonderful! But the wonder is not that God _can_ answer\nprayer, _but that he does_, when we so imperfectly meet the conditions\nclearly laid down in his Word.\n\nIn recent years I have often tested myself by these conditions, when\nweeks, and perhaps months, have passed without some answer to prayer,\nand there has come a conscious spiritual sagging. As the discerning soul\ncan plainly see, all the conditions mentioned in the list below may be\nincluded in the one word \"Abide.\"\n\n\nConditions of Prevailing Prayer\n\n    1. Contrite humility before God and forsaking of sin.--2 Chron. 7:14.\n\n    2. Seeking God with the whole heart.--Jer. 29:12, 13.\n\n    3. Faith in God.--Mark 11:23, 24.\n\n    4. Obedience.--1 John 3:22.\n\n    5. Dependence on the Holy Spirit.--Rom. 8:26.\n\n    6. Importunity.--Mark 7:24-30; Luke 11:5-10.\n\n    7. Must ask in accordance with God's will.--1 John 5:14.\n\n    8. In Christ's Name.--John 14:13, 14, and many other passages.\n\n    9. Must be willing to make amends for wrongs to others.--Matt.\n       5:23, 24.\n\n\nCauses of Failure in Prayer\n\n    1. Sin in the heart and life.--Psa. 66:18; Isa. 59:1, 2.\n\n    2. Persistent refusal to obey God.--Prov. 1:24-28; Zech. 7:11, 13.\n\n    3. Formalism and hypocrisy.--Isa. 1:2-15.\n\n    4. Unwillingness to forgive others.--Mark 11:25, 26.\n\n    5. Wrong motives.--James 4:2, 3.\n\n    6. Despising God's law.--Amos 2:4.\n\n    7. Lack of love and mercy.--Prov. 21:13.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nVICTORY FOUND\n\n\nAT THE close of this little volume it seems fitting to recount again a\nwonderful personal experience, narrated in The Sunday School Times of\nDecember 7, 1918.\n\nI do not remember the time when I did not have in some degree a love for\nthe Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour. When not quite twelve years of age,\nat a revival meeting, I publicly accepted and confessed Christ as my\nLord and Master.\n\nFrom that time there grew up in my heart a deep yearning to know Christ\nin a more real way, for he seemed so unreal, so far away and visionary.\nOne night when still quite young I remember going out under the trees in\nmy parents' garden and, looking up into the starlit heavens, I longed\nwith intense longing to feel Christ near me. As I knelt down there on\nthe grass, alone with God, Job's cry became mine, \"Oh, that I knew where\nI might find him!\" Could I have borne it had I known then that almost\nforty years would pass before that yearning would be satisfied?\n\nWith the longing to know Christ, literally to \"find\" him, came a\npassionate desire to _serve_ him. But, oh, what a terrible nature I had!\nPassionate, proud, self-willed, indeed just full was I of those things\nthat I knew were unlike Christ.\n\nThe following years of half-hearted conflict with sinful self must be\npassed over till about the fifth year of our missionary work in China. I\ngrieve to say that the new life in a foreign land with its trying\nclimate, provoking servants, and altogether irritating conditions,\nseemed to have developed rather than subdued my natural disposition.\n\nOne day (I can never forget it), as I sat inside the house by a paper\nwindow at dusk, two Chinese Christian women sat down on the other side.\nThey began talking about me, and (wrongly, no doubt) I listened. One\nsaid, \"Yes, she is a hard worker, a zealous preacher, and--yes, she\nnearly loves us; but, oh, what a temper she has! _If she would only live\nmore as she preaches!_\"\n\nThen followed a full and true delineation of my life and character. So\ntrue, indeed, was it, as to crush out all sense of annoyance and leave\nme humbled to the dust. I saw then how useless, how worse than useless,\nwas it for me to come to China to preach Christ and not _live_ Christ.\nBut how could I live Christ? I knew some (including my dear husband)\nwho had a peace and a power,--yes, and a something I could not define,\nthat I had not; and often I longed to know the secret.\n\nWas it possible, with such a nature as mine, ever to become patient and\ngentle?\n\nWas it possible that I could ever really stop worrying?\n\nCould I, in a word, ever hope to be able to live Christ as well as\npreach him?\n\nI knew I loved Christ; and again and again I had proved my willingness\nto give up all for his sake. But I knew, too, that one hot flash of\ntemper with the Chinese, or with the children before the Chinese, would\nlargely undo weeks, perhaps months, of self-sacrificing service.\n\nThe years that followed led often through the furnace. The Lord knew\nthat nothing but fire could destroy the dross and subdue my stubborn\nwill. Those years may be summed up in one line: \"Fighting (not finding),\nfollowing, keeping, _struggling_.\" Yes, and failing! Sometimes in the\ndepths of despair over these failures; then going on determined to do\n_my_ best,--and what a poor best it was!\n\nIn the year 1905, and later, as I witnessed the wonderful way the Lord\nwas leading my husband, and saw the Holy Spirit's power in his life and\nmessage, I came to seek very definitely for the fulness of the Holy\nSpirit. It was a time of deep heart-searching. The heinousness of sin\nwas revealed as never before. Many, many things had to be set right\ntoward man and God. I learned then what \"paying the price\" meant. Those\nwere times of wonderful mountain-top experiences, and I came to honor\nthe Holy Spirit and seek his power for the overcoming of sin in a new\nway. But Christ still remained, as before, distant, afar off, and I\nlonged increasingly to know--to _find_ him. Although I had much more\npower over besetting sins, yet there were times of great darkness and\ndefeat.\n\nIt was during one of these latter times that we were forced to return to\nCanada, in June of 1916. My husband's health prevented him from public\nspeaking, and it seemed that this duty for us both was to fall on me.\nBut I dreaded facing the Home Church without some spiritual uplift,--a\nfresh vision for myself. The Lord saw this heart-hunger, and in his own\nglorious way he fulfilled literally the promise, \"He satisfieth the\nlonging soul, and _filleth_ the hungry soul with goodness\" (Psa. 107:9,\nA. V.).\n\nA spiritual conference was to be held the latter part of June at\nNiagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, and to this I was led. One day I went to\nthe meeting rather against my inclination, for it was so lovely under\nthe trees by the beautiful lake. The speaker was a stranger to me, but\nfrom almost the first his message gripped me. Victory over Sin! Why,\nthis was what I had fought for, had hungered for, all my life! Was it\npossible?\n\nThe speaker went on to describe very simply an ordinary Christian life\nexperience--sometimes on the mountain-top, with visions of God; then\nagain would come the sagging, and dimming of vision, coldness,\ndiscouragement, and perhaps definite disobedience and a time of\ndown-grade experience. Then perhaps a sorrow, or even some special\nmercy, would bring the wanderer back to his Lord.\n\nThe speaker asked for all those who felt this to be a picture of their\nexperience to raise the hand. I was sitting in the front seat, and shame\nonly kept me from raising my hand at once. But I did so want to get all\nGod had for me, and I determined to be true; and after a struggle I\nraised my hand. Wondering if others were like myself, I ventured to\nglance back and saw many hands were raised, though the audience was\ncomposed almost entirely of Christian workers, ministers, and\nmissionaries.\n\nThe leader then went on to say _that_ life which he had described was\n_not_ the life God planned or wished for His children. He described the\nhigher life of peace, rest in the Lord, of power and freedom from\nstruggle, worry, care. As I listened I could scarcely believe it could\nbe true, yet my whole soul was moved so that it was with the greatest\ndifficulty I could control my emotion. I saw then, though dimly, that I\nwas nearing the goal for which I had been aiming all my life.\n\nEarly the next morning, soon after daybreak, I went over on my knees\ncarefully and prayerfully all the passages on the Victorious Life that\nwere given in a little yellow leaflet that the speaker had\ndistributed.[1] What a comfort and strength it was to see how clear\nGod's Word was that victory, not defeat, was his will for his children,\nand to see what wonderful provision he had made! Later, during the days\nthat followed, clearer light came. I did what I was asked to do--I\nquietly but definitely accepted Christ as my Saviour from the _power_ of\nsin as I had so long before accepted him as my Saviour from the\n_penalty_ of sin. And on this I rested.\n\nI left Niagara, realizing, however, there was still something I had not\ngot. I felt much as the blind man must have felt when he said, \"I see\nmen as trees, walking\" (A. V.). I had begun to see light, but dimly.\n\nThe day after reaching home I picked up a little booklet, \"The Life That\nWins,\"[2] which I had not read before, and going to my son's bedside I\ntold him it was the personal testimony of one whom God had used to bring\ngreat blessing into my life. I then read it aloud till I came to the\nwords, \"At last I realized that Jesus Christ was actually and literally\nwithin me.\" I stopped amazed. The sun seemed suddenly to come from under\na cloud and flood my whole soul with light. How blind I'd been! I saw at\nlast the secret of victory--it was simply Jesus Christ himself--his own\nlife lived out in the believer. But the thought of victory was for the\nmoment lost sight of in the inexpressible joy of realizing CHRIST'S\nINDWELLING PRESENCE! Like a tired, worn-out wanderer finding home at\nlast I just _rested_ in him. Rested in his love--in himself. And, oh,\nthe peace and joy that came flooding my life! A restfulness and\nquietness of spirit I never thought could be mine took possession of me\nso naturally. Literally a new life began for me, or rather _in_ me. It\nwas just \"the Life that is Christ.\"\n\nThe first step I took in this new life was to get standing on God's own\nWord, and not merely on man's teaching or even on a personal experience.\nAnd as I studied especially the truth of Christ's indwelling, victory\nover sin, and God's bountiful provision, the Word was fairly illumined\nwith new light.\n\nThe years that have passed have been years of blessed fellowship with\nChrist and of joy in his service. A friend asked me not long ago if I\ncould give in a sentence the after result in my life of what I said had\ncome to me in 1916, and I replied, \"Yes, it can be all summed up in one\nword, 'Resting.'\"\n\nSome have asked, \"But have you never sinned?\" Yes, I grieve to say I\nhave. Sin is the one thing I abhor--for it is the one thing that can, if\nunrepented of, separate us, not from Christ, but from the consciousness\nof his presence. But I have learned that there is instantaneous\nforgiveness and restoration to be had _always_. That there need be no\ntimes of despair.\n\nOne of the blessed results of this life is not only the consciousness of\nChrist's presence, but the _reality_ of his presence as manifested in\ndefinite results when, in the daily details of life, matters are left\nwith him and he has undertaken.\n\nMy own thought of him is beautifully expressed in Spurgeon's words:\n\n          \"What the hand is to the lute,\n           What the breath is to the flute,\n           What's the mother to the child,\n           What the guide in pathless wild,\n           What is oil to troubled wave,\n           What is ransom to a slave,\n           What is flower to the bee,\n             That is Jesus Christ to me.\"\n\nThe special Bible-study which I made at that time was embodied in a\nleaflet. Proving helpful to others, it is added below.[3]\n\n\n=God's Presence=\n\n          The secret of Victory is simply Christ himself in\n          the heart of the believer. This truth, of Christ's\n          indwelling, is, and always has been, a _mystery_.\n\n          Romans 16:25.\n          Ephesians 3:9 with Colossians 1:26, 27.\n          Ephesians 5:30, 32 (R. V.).\n          Colossians 4:3.\n\nChrist himself taught this truth.\n\n          John 14:20, 23; 15:1-7; 17:21-23.\n          Matthew 28:20.\n          Revelation 3:20. (See also Mark 16:20).\n\nIt was a vital reality to the Apostle Paul.\n\n          Romans 8:10.\n          1 Corinthians 6:15.\n          1 Corinthians 12:27 (R. V.).\n          2 Corinthians 5:17.\n          2 Corinthians 13:5.\n          Galatians 2:20.\n          Galatians 3:27.\n          Galatians 4:19.\n          Ephesians 3:17.\n          Philippians 1:21\n          1 Thessalonians 5:10.\n          Hebrews 3:6.\n\n          The words \"in Christ,\" which recur in many other\n          passages, will have a new literalness when read in\n          the light of the above.\n\n          The Apostle John had a like conception of Christ's\n          indwelling presence.\n\n          1 John 2:28 to 3:6, 24.\n          1 John 4:4, 12, 13, 16.\n          1 John 5:20.\n\n\n=God's Purpose=\n\n          As Victory is the result of Christ's Life lived\n          out in the believer, it is important that we see\n          clearly that _Victory_, and not _defeat_, is God's\n          Purpose for his Children. The Scriptures are very\n          decided upon this truth.\n\n          Luke 1:74, 75.\n          Romans 5:2.\n         [A]Romans, chaps. 6 and 8.\n          1 Corinthians 15:57.\n          2 Corinthians 2:14.\n          2 Corinthians 10:5.\n          Ephesians 1:3, 4.\n          Colossians 4:12.\n          1 Thessalonians 5:23.\n          2 Thessalonians 3:3 (R.V.).\n          2 Timothy 2:19.\n          Titus 2:12.\n          Hebrews 7:25.\n          1 Peter 1:15.\n          2 Peter 3:14.\n          1 John 2:1.\n          1 John 3:6, 9.\n          And many other passages.\n\n          That Christ came as the Saviour from the _power_\n          as well as the _penalty_ of sin we see in Matthew\n          1:21, with John 8:34, 36, and Titus 2:14.\n\n\n=God's Provision=\n\n          God knew the frailty of man, that his heart was\n          \"desperately wicked,\" that even his righteousness\n          was \"as filthy rags,\" that man's only hope for\n          victory over sin must come from the God-ward side.\n          He, therefore, made kingly provision so rich, so\n          sufficient, so exceeding abundant, that as we\n          study it, we feel we have tapped a mine of wealth,\n          too deep to fathom. Just a few suggestions of its\n          riches:\n\n          God's _greatest_ provision is the gift of a part\n          of His Own Being in the person of the Holy Spirit.\n          The following are but some of the many things the\n          Holy Spirit does for us, as recorded in the Word:\n\n          He begets us into the family of God.--John 3:6.\n          He seals or marks us as God's.--Eph. 1:13.\n          He dwells in us.--1 Cor. 3:16.\n          He unites us to Christ.--1 Cor. 12:13, 27.\n          He changes us into the likeness of Christ.--2 Cor. 3:18.\n          He helps in prayer.--Rom. 8:26.\n          He comforts.--John 14:16.\n          He guides.--Rom. 8:14.\n          He strengthens with power.--Eph. 3:16.\n          He is the source of power and fruitfulness.--John 7:38, 39.\n\n          Some of the victorious _results_ in our life, as\n          Christ has His way in us, are shown in:\n\n          Romans 8:32, 27.\n          Romans 15:13.\n          2 Corinthians 9:8, 11.\n          2 Corinthians 2:14.\n          Ephesians 1:19.\n          Ephesians 3:16, 20.\n          Philippians 4:7, 13, 19.\n          Colossians 1:11.\n          1 Peter 1:5.\n          2 Timothy 3:17.\n          Jude 24.\n          John 15:7.\n\n          To the seeker for further Scripture help the\n          writer would suggest a plan that has proved a\n          great blessing to herself.\n\n          Read the Psalms through, making careful record of\n          all the statements of what the Lord was to the\n          writers of the Psalms. The list will surprise you.\n          Then on your knees go over them one by one, with\n          the prayer that Christ may be to you what he was\n          to David and the others.\n\n          Take a Cruden's, or better still a Young's,\n          concordance and look up the texts under such\n          headings as Love, Fulness, Power, Riches, Grace,\n          etc., grouping them into usable Bible studies. As\n          a sample, taking this last word, \"grace\"; the more\n          one studies it the more wonderful does it become.\n          Here are some of these headings:\n\n          Grace for grace.--John 1:16.\n          Sufficient grace.--2 Cor. 12:9.\n          More Grace.--James 4:6.\n          All Grace.--2 Cor. 9:8.\n          Abundant grace.--Rom. 5:17.\n          Exceeding abundant grace.--1 Tim. 1:14.\n          Exceeding riches of His grace.--Eph. 2:17.\n\n          But let us remember that to simply know of riches\n          will never materially benefit us. We must make\n          them our own. All fulness dwells in Christ. It is\n          only as we \"apprehend\" (which means take hold or\n          take in) Christ through the Holy Spirit can it be\n          possible for these spiritual riches to become\n          ours. The slogan of this glorious life in Christ\n          is just \"Let go and let God.\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] This leaflet, giving a carefully selected list of Scripture\nreferences on the Victorious Life, may be had from The Sunday School\nTimes Company, 1031 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., at 50 cents per\n100 copies; or 15 cents for 25 copies; postpaid.\n\n[2] \"The Life that Wins\" may be obtained from The Sunday School Times\nCompany at 2 cents each; or 20 cents a dozen copies, or $1.50 per\nhundred, postpaid.\n\n[3] This leaflet may be obtained from the Christian Life Literature\nFund, 600 Perry Building, Philadelphia, at 15 cts. a dozen, 60 cts. a\nhundred, or 2 cts. each.\n\n[A] The 7th chapter of Romans should be read in the light of the 6th and\n8th chapters.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's notes:\n\nObvious punctuation errors repaired.\n\nPage 129, \"4\" missing from list of Conditions of Prevailing Prayer. The list was\nrenumbered to correct this.","title":"How I Know God Answers Prayer: The Personal Testimony of One Life-Time","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":32205}