Page 162 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 162
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
when Miss Wilson came upstairs and told us an eclipse of the moon was just beginning. She said the
Chinese have a tradition that there are two moons, one black and one white. The black one has a
large mouth and a small throat, the white one has a small mouth and a large throat. When an eclipse
occurs, they think it is the black moon trying to swallow the white one, so they make all the noise they
can to frighten him away, and the darker the shadow becomes across the moon, the louder becomes
the noise on the street.
One week we were delighted to see something of the Feast of Lanterns. All through the week, the
streets were crowded with people carrying lanterns, and one evening I was allowed to go out with a
Chinese woman. We could scarcely move for the people, but it was a lovely sight to see so many
coloured lanterns against the drab background of the narrow dirty streets and the blue Chinese
gowns. The lanterns were all made of paper and were of every conceivable shape; birds, animals,
cars, rickshaws, or anything else that their ingenuity could suggest. There was that carefree holiday
spirit in the air as we walked down the street, quite a contrast to the tense feeling during the student
riots.
We watched a Buddhist funeral one day through our upstairs windows. There was a Buddhist Temple
on one side of our compound so we could get a good view. The preparations were on such a lavish
scale that we guessed the dead man must have been pretty wealthy. His wife and two small children
were there all dressed in white, which is the mourning colour in China, and there were all sorts of
things for the use of the dead man in the spirit world, all made of paper. A house about six feet square
and made of coloured paper was erected first. Then inside it was placed a great variety of furniture
made of paper. Paper servants stood outside and paper money was stacked everywhere. In a few
days all this was burned to be transported, as they believed, to the spirit world so that the spirit of the
dead man would lack nothing.
Mrs. McFarlane never lost an opportunity of inviting any Chinese of note to come and speak to us, and
on one day Wang Mingdao, who was later imprisoned and tortured by the Communists, came to
Yangzhou. He spoke to an enormous crowd of Chinese at the Baptist Mission in the city one
afternoon, and of course a great part of what he said was lost on us, but for nearly two hours that vast
congregation hung on every word he said. When he came to us later in the week and spoke in
English trying to tell us how to be effective missionaries in China, one of the things that impressed me
was ‘Identification with the people’, and he expressed appreciation of the fact that the CIM workers all
wore Chinese dress while in China.
A spiritual crisis occurred in my life at Yangzhou. Often on Sundays I took my Bible and sneaked up
to the attic where all our boxes were stored. There, in a quiet spot, I tried to spend time alone with
God, to listen for His voice and to seek His guidance about the way ahead now that He had brought
me to this vast needy land. One day, as I prayed, He brought to my memory something which I had
been very successfully covering up, but which now in the clear light of His presence, I knew must be
put right. It was a lie I had told Mr. Lack in one of my interviews as an applicant to the Mission. At
least it was half true, and therefore, I had assured myself, not really a lie. But now as God brought it
to the surface again, I knew I had intended to deceive. I don’t know if ever before I had had any deep
conviction of sin, but I certainly did that morning as I realised that God wanted ‘clean vessels’, and I
was unclean. The upshot was that I wrote to Mr. Lack, told him the whole story, and some weeks
later had a very gracious, understanding letter from him in which he said he had now torn up my letter
and the whole thing was forgotten and forgiven.
The other important thing in my inner life happened one day when I was praying about my future and
which of the many provinces in China He wanted me to serve Him in. I committed my relationship
with Harry to Him, and whether we had a future together or was there somebody else. I felt I wanted
162
Amy Moore
when Miss Wilson came upstairs and told us an eclipse of the moon was just beginning. She said the
Chinese have a tradition that there are two moons, one black and one white. The black one has a
large mouth and a small throat, the white one has a small mouth and a large throat. When an eclipse
occurs, they think it is the black moon trying to swallow the white one, so they make all the noise they
can to frighten him away, and the darker the shadow becomes across the moon, the louder becomes
the noise on the street.
One week we were delighted to see something of the Feast of Lanterns. All through the week, the
streets were crowded with people carrying lanterns, and one evening I was allowed to go out with a
Chinese woman. We could scarcely move for the people, but it was a lovely sight to see so many
coloured lanterns against the drab background of the narrow dirty streets and the blue Chinese
gowns. The lanterns were all made of paper and were of every conceivable shape; birds, animals,
cars, rickshaws, or anything else that their ingenuity could suggest. There was that carefree holiday
spirit in the air as we walked down the street, quite a contrast to the tense feeling during the student
riots.
We watched a Buddhist funeral one day through our upstairs windows. There was a Buddhist Temple
on one side of our compound so we could get a good view. The preparations were on such a lavish
scale that we guessed the dead man must have been pretty wealthy. His wife and two small children
were there all dressed in white, which is the mourning colour in China, and there were all sorts of
things for the use of the dead man in the spirit world, all made of paper. A house about six feet square
and made of coloured paper was erected first. Then inside it was placed a great variety of furniture
made of paper. Paper servants stood outside and paper money was stacked everywhere. In a few
days all this was burned to be transported, as they believed, to the spirit world so that the spirit of the
dead man would lack nothing.
Mrs. McFarlane never lost an opportunity of inviting any Chinese of note to come and speak to us, and
on one day Wang Mingdao, who was later imprisoned and tortured by the Communists, came to
Yangzhou. He spoke to an enormous crowd of Chinese at the Baptist Mission in the city one
afternoon, and of course a great part of what he said was lost on us, but for nearly two hours that vast
congregation hung on every word he said. When he came to us later in the week and spoke in
English trying to tell us how to be effective missionaries in China, one of the things that impressed me
was ‘Identification with the people’, and he expressed appreciation of the fact that the CIM workers all
wore Chinese dress while in China.
A spiritual crisis occurred in my life at Yangzhou. Often on Sundays I took my Bible and sneaked up
to the attic where all our boxes were stored. There, in a quiet spot, I tried to spend time alone with
God, to listen for His voice and to seek His guidance about the way ahead now that He had brought
me to this vast needy land. One day, as I prayed, He brought to my memory something which I had
been very successfully covering up, but which now in the clear light of His presence, I knew must be
put right. It was a lie I had told Mr. Lack in one of my interviews as an applicant to the Mission. At
least it was half true, and therefore, I had assured myself, not really a lie. But now as God brought it
to the surface again, I knew I had intended to deceive. I don’t know if ever before I had had any deep
conviction of sin, but I certainly did that morning as I realised that God wanted ‘clean vessels’, and I
was unclean. The upshot was that I wrote to Mr. Lack, told him the whole story, and some weeks
later had a very gracious, understanding letter from him in which he said he had now torn up my letter
and the whole thing was forgotten and forgiven.
The other important thing in my inner life happened one day when I was praying about my future and
which of the many provinces in China He wanted me to serve Him in. I committed my relationship
with Harry to Him, and whether we had a future together or was there somebody else. I felt I wanted
162
