Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-26
Christian Endeavor Hour
Conducted by Grace Livingston Hill LutZ.


Sunday, December 81 1908.
Topic: Foreign Missions: The New Life of
China. Ezekiel. xxxvii lii.
The Scripture lesson is Ezekels vision
of the valley of dry bones. TO no country
and people would this vision apply more
aptly than to China and the Chinese.
Submerged in ignorance. sin, heathendom
and self-conceit, they have been dead to
the possibilities of life. They have been
like great valley of dry bones. the
mere bones of a nation lying idly in the
sun. God sent prophecy upon them.
The foreigners were admitted into their
borders and lived among them. The
prophecy sof civilization and education
began to breathe upon them. and 10, there
was a shaking and the dry bones came
together bone TO his bone. and the
"sinews and the flesh came upon them,
and the skin covered them, but still there
was no breath in them. They learned
the strength of wisdom, and they began
to send their young men to other cOun-
tries 10 be educated. and the flesh
and form grew. But still the breath of
life was not in them
Then the Lord God said: Come from
the four winds, o breath. and breathe
upon these slain. that they may live. So
the missionaries came from the four
corners of the earth and gained en-
trance. and as for years they breathed
the breath of heavenly life into the land
gradually ii began to enter and an
other of these forms that used to be mere
dry bones, until little by little-one
through a sermon. another through the
consistent life of the missionary, another
through the martyrdom of those faithful
missionaries another through kind word
and the hope of salvation in Christ
they are beginning To stand upon their
feet, IAN exceeding great army.
1t is no wonder that China has been
4
ing great Ignorance of all ways save their
own has been hopeless blind to them.
For instance, there are still to be found
books in the bookstores of Picking and
other Chinese cities describing foreigners
as barbar1anS. There are curiously exc
cuted water-color pictures of the different
races. one representing a race with ears
reaching down to the ground, another
Is pictured as having its face sort
of boss in low relief upon the breast and
another with the head under the left
arm.
In China it is highly improper for a
man and woman to be seen walking to-
sether in public. A man may not even
ask his friend OF the health of his wife
or any of his female children. 1t is a
tabooed subject. Some years ago COM
pany of students We're sent to this coun-
try by the Chinese government, and their
headquarters were in Hartford Conn.
One day one of the young students had
been to church and Sunday school, and
walking home with young lady, Ameri-
can fashion, he met the Chinese director
of this educational mission, as it was
called. He took off his hat politely be-
fore his superior-another offense in
China-and the old disciple of Confucius
looked at him in horror. This was re-
ported in Picking, and characterized as an
entire loss of the sense of decency. With
other causes it led to the recall Of the
whole body of. students. This will give
some little idea of the variety of prob
lens that our missionaries have to deal
! with in trying to lead this people into
the light.
All Chinese cities have temples to Con-
fucius. Here are offered costly gifts and
rare silks. In Picking the emperor otli-
ciates. AS many $1,000 pieces of
costly silks. each piece ten feet long,
many of them rare brocades. are burned
! annually in the temples of the empire in
honor of Contucius
/, Hints to the Leader.
| The Endeavor Hymnal. 49, 1G6, 16s
1S7. 236, 81.
| 1t will not he difficult to get facts
about China. The newspapers and mag
azines are teeming with news and there
are some wonderful new books which
make the life and customs exceedingly
vivid Divide the subject into themes
asking members to take four minutes each
on Chinese Homes" Family Relations"
sion Work. Education Modern
| Changes" Opium" etc. Close with
| series of prayer for the work If rightly
conducted this meeting should make the
whole society feel like joining mission
study class on China.