Page 50 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 50
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
"preaching hall" or led Bible studies with the church people, or went out on the street preaching and
selling Christian literature.
Apart from all this he was responsible for the secretarial work for the whole province, keeping
accounts, writing and answering letters, shopping and despatching goods to distant stations. It was a
full and an interesting life and, I think it was at that time he set up a standard of discipline for himself
from which he never afterwards departed. He felt that had he been working for an earthly master, he
would have had to keep regular hours and to account for the salary he received. As the servant of a
Heavenly Master, he should do no less, so although he could order his time as he pleased, he set
himself regular hours of work and refused to consider his own leisure or recreation until he felt he had
given the Lord His due. When I knew him in later years, he always had a text hanging over his desk,
"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needs not to be ashamed". I felt he tried
to live by this rule.
As Esther recovered from her difficult childbirth, she found much joy in her new role of motherhood,
but she also helped in the work among women for which her mother was responsible. By mid 1910
she was pregnant again, expecting her second child in March 1911. With a home and a small child to
care for; language study and exams to prepare for; preparation for women's meetings; and morning
sickness again, it could not have been an easy year for Esther.
Her brother George Findlay (GFA) who had also been sent from Language School to Gansu, was
working with Mr. and Mrs. Ridley in Xining. Towards the end of the year he came through Lanzhou
on his way to Chengdu in Sichuan Province where he and Fanny were to be married in February
1911. They were married in the home of Ella Ritchie, Esther's old school friend. The Ridleys were
due furlough, so GFA suggested that Esther and Arthur take over the work in Xining on the Tibetan
border until they returned. Anxious to get settled before the birth of their second child, they prepared
to move to Xining as soon as possible and, by the end of January 1911, they had completed the long
journey and were ready to throw themselves into the work.
XINING
It was the first time they had been alone in charge of a big station. Arthur was 32 and Esther 27, a
young couple with a small son of fifteen months and another child expected shortly. Xining was a big
Chinese city near the Tibetan border at an altitude of 7,500 feet. It was about 900 miles due west of
Beijing. About twenty miles from Xining and across the border in Tibet was the very famous Buddhist
monastery of Kumbum.
One of the first evangelistic trips Arthur took after settling into Xining was to this monastery. Every
year on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year, a great Butter Festival was held at Kumbum which
drew people from far and near. This was the largest monastery in Tibet apart from Lhasa, and at the
time of Arthur's visit it was estimated that some 4,500 lamas lived there, and nearly 100 living
Buddhas. The main temple stood high on a steep slope, and its roof of pure gold worth thousands of
dollars, could be seen for miles shining in the sun. If it had not been for the surrounding high
mountains which closed it in, it would have been visible for a much greater distance. Many attempts
have been made through the years to capture the temple and its precious gold roof, but it was almost
impregnable, and its priests were prepared to fight for it.
Two or three times a day the priests and living Buddhas met in the massive prayer hall for prayers,
and those who have heard them say it is like the humming of a swarm of bees, a sound never to be
forgotten. The fifteenth day of the New Year was one of only two occasions when the huge forty foot
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Contents
Amy Moore
"preaching hall" or led Bible studies with the church people, or went out on the street preaching and
selling Christian literature.
Apart from all this he was responsible for the secretarial work for the whole province, keeping
accounts, writing and answering letters, shopping and despatching goods to distant stations. It was a
full and an interesting life and, I think it was at that time he set up a standard of discipline for himself
from which he never afterwards departed. He felt that had he been working for an earthly master, he
would have had to keep regular hours and to account for the salary he received. As the servant of a
Heavenly Master, he should do no less, so although he could order his time as he pleased, he set
himself regular hours of work and refused to consider his own leisure or recreation until he felt he had
given the Lord His due. When I knew him in later years, he always had a text hanging over his desk,
"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needs not to be ashamed". I felt he tried
to live by this rule.
As Esther recovered from her difficult childbirth, she found much joy in her new role of motherhood,
but she also helped in the work among women for which her mother was responsible. By mid 1910
she was pregnant again, expecting her second child in March 1911. With a home and a small child to
care for; language study and exams to prepare for; preparation for women's meetings; and morning
sickness again, it could not have been an easy year for Esther.
Her brother George Findlay (GFA) who had also been sent from Language School to Gansu, was
working with Mr. and Mrs. Ridley in Xining. Towards the end of the year he came through Lanzhou
on his way to Chengdu in Sichuan Province where he and Fanny were to be married in February
1911. They were married in the home of Ella Ritchie, Esther's old school friend. The Ridleys were
due furlough, so GFA suggested that Esther and Arthur take over the work in Xining on the Tibetan
border until they returned. Anxious to get settled before the birth of their second child, they prepared
to move to Xining as soon as possible and, by the end of January 1911, they had completed the long
journey and were ready to throw themselves into the work.
XINING
It was the first time they had been alone in charge of a big station. Arthur was 32 and Esther 27, a
young couple with a small son of fifteen months and another child expected shortly. Xining was a big
Chinese city near the Tibetan border at an altitude of 7,500 feet. It was about 900 miles due west of
Beijing. About twenty miles from Xining and across the border in Tibet was the very famous Buddhist
monastery of Kumbum.
One of the first evangelistic trips Arthur took after settling into Xining was to this monastery. Every
year on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year, a great Butter Festival was held at Kumbum which
drew people from far and near. This was the largest monastery in Tibet apart from Lhasa, and at the
time of Arthur's visit it was estimated that some 4,500 lamas lived there, and nearly 100 living
Buddhas. The main temple stood high on a steep slope, and its roof of pure gold worth thousands of
dollars, could be seen for miles shining in the sun. If it had not been for the surrounding high
mountains which closed it in, it would have been visible for a much greater distance. Many attempts
have been made through the years to capture the temple and its precious gold roof, but it was almost
impregnable, and its priests were prepared to fight for it.
Two or three times a day the priests and living Buddhas met in the massive prayer hall for prayers,
and those who have heard them say it is like the humming of a swarm of bees, a sound never to be
forgotten. The fifteenth day of the New Year was one of only two occasions when the huge forty foot
Return to Table of 50
Contents
