Page 46 - Three Score Years & Ten
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“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
observation he helped in one of the Mission offices during working hours, but his leisure time always
found him out on the streets with a bundle of literature praying that God would lead him to the right
place and the right people. He died in Shanghai and one wonders if he ever knew what one tract had
meant in the life of Arthur Moore.
Another man who influenced Arthur's life at that time, and who became a lifelong friend, was Mr.
Meredith Hardman, the Business Manager for the CIM in Shanghai. Because of the difficulties in
obtaining many essential goods in the interior of China, the Mission kept a store of things in Shanghai.
Mr. Hardman was in charge of this department and spent many hours making up orders for
missionaries in the far interior, and trying to post them off at the cheapest rates.
He was there to advise new workers what they would be wise to taken inland with them, and he was
always available to help pack the boxes. These sometimes had to be taken on long journeys lasting
several months and utilising river boat, train, wheelbarrow and mule cart as well as other means of
transport. His days were full but one of his out-of-hours activities was to lead a Bible study for English
speaking business men or others in Shanghai. It was an outreach of the Free Christian Church, and
was a great blessing to many lonely young men facing the dangers and temptations of life in a foreign
port.
Notices of the meetings were placed in public places, and it was probably one of these at the Police
Headquarters which led Arthur to the Lord in 1903 when he was twenty four years of age. Arthur
never forgot the three texts Mr. Hardman used to convince him on that occasion:
Isaiah 53:6 The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
John 3:16-17 God so loved the world that . . whosoever believes in
Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 5:24 He that heareth and believeth has passed from death
into life.
It was a tremendous moment for Arthur Moore, and one which he never forgot. To the end of his life
he never ceased to marvel at the grace of God that reached down and found him when he was utterly
indifferent, and drew him to Himself. "Saved by grace" was his life text, and that was all he wanted to
be put on his gravestone when he died.
No sooner saved than Arthur wanted to serve his new Master with all the strength and enthusiasm that
he put into everything he did. Noticing that members of the CIM neither smoked not drank, one
afternoon he hurled his beloved pipe into the Huangpo River determined not to be outdone by others
in his devotion to the Lord.
He joined the Free Christian Church and took part in all their activities but, as he watched missionaries
come and go from far off places in China, there grew in his heart a desire to take the message of the
Gospel to those places where no missionary had ever been, and where millions of people had still
never heard.
He had long talks with Mission leaders and, following their advice, decided to resign from the Police
Force and go back to England where he could get some Bible training before applying to the CIM to
return to China as a missionary.
46
Amy Moore
observation he helped in one of the Mission offices during working hours, but his leisure time always
found him out on the streets with a bundle of literature praying that God would lead him to the right
place and the right people. He died in Shanghai and one wonders if he ever knew what one tract had
meant in the life of Arthur Moore.
Another man who influenced Arthur's life at that time, and who became a lifelong friend, was Mr.
Meredith Hardman, the Business Manager for the CIM in Shanghai. Because of the difficulties in
obtaining many essential goods in the interior of China, the Mission kept a store of things in Shanghai.
Mr. Hardman was in charge of this department and spent many hours making up orders for
missionaries in the far interior, and trying to post them off at the cheapest rates.
He was there to advise new workers what they would be wise to taken inland with them, and he was
always available to help pack the boxes. These sometimes had to be taken on long journeys lasting
several months and utilising river boat, train, wheelbarrow and mule cart as well as other means of
transport. His days were full but one of his out-of-hours activities was to lead a Bible study for English
speaking business men or others in Shanghai. It was an outreach of the Free Christian Church, and
was a great blessing to many lonely young men facing the dangers and temptations of life in a foreign
port.
Notices of the meetings were placed in public places, and it was probably one of these at the Police
Headquarters which led Arthur to the Lord in 1903 when he was twenty four years of age. Arthur
never forgot the three texts Mr. Hardman used to convince him on that occasion:
Isaiah 53:6 The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
John 3:16-17 God so loved the world that . . whosoever believes in
Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 5:24 He that heareth and believeth has passed from death
into life.
It was a tremendous moment for Arthur Moore, and one which he never forgot. To the end of his life
he never ceased to marvel at the grace of God that reached down and found him when he was utterly
indifferent, and drew him to Himself. "Saved by grace" was his life text, and that was all he wanted to
be put on his gravestone when he died.
No sooner saved than Arthur wanted to serve his new Master with all the strength and enthusiasm that
he put into everything he did. Noticing that members of the CIM neither smoked not drank, one
afternoon he hurled his beloved pipe into the Huangpo River determined not to be outdone by others
in his devotion to the Lord.
He joined the Free Christian Church and took part in all their activities but, as he watched missionaries
come and go from far off places in China, there grew in his heart a desire to take the message of the
Gospel to those places where no missionary had ever been, and where millions of people had still
never heard.
He had long talks with Mission leaders and, following their advice, decided to resign from the Police
Force and go back to England where he could get some Bible training before applying to the CIM to
return to China as a missionary.
46
