Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1918-05-29
Letter from Rev. John Lake.

The following letter was received
from Rev. John Lake by Mr.. A. S.
Tompkins, and will be of interest to
our readers.
Canton, China.
April l, 1913.
Dear Mr.. Tompkins,
After I had answered your last
and much appreciated letter, | re-
ceived the minutes of the 1917 Edge
field Baptist Association, which you
so tho~ughtfully sent me, and now
comes a copy of the 1914 minutes
from you. / greatly appreciate your
thoughtfulness, I assure you, and it
is a joy indeed to Keep up with the
work of the Lord in the dear old
home county and association I love
so we'll. This mail also brought from
the Secretaries the minutes of the
State Convention. These, with the
Baptist Courier, help me to see how
the work of our churches goes on
in the dear old Palmetto State.
They and the other papers, county,
state and national, that I am priv
LEGGED to see, make this voluntary
lifetime Punishment of mine less a
observation-disclosures but for the
Masters sake I never would have
come, and I'd never have stayed, yet
l hope to go to heaven from China.
This is not that I love China more
than America, but that I feel that
China needs me more and that my
little life, spent here, will mean most
for the Kingdom of God.
1t is indeed a privilege to help lay
the foundations of the work among
a people numbering probably 400,
100000 and to feel that the people
are really and truly responding to
the claims of Christ. There are weak
Christians here as we'll as in all lands
and China has peculiar weaknesses,
too, yet I feel that after all these
years I have seen enough to more
than justify all the toll in such a eli
mate and the separation from friends
and loved ones at home.
Yesterday we made out our quar-
terly report to the Board at Rich
mond and which showed that in
churches which Wife and l look aft
er here in Canton city, and in other
cities, there are TT members, who,
last year gave S5,50O.OO in this mon
ey, about $3,500.O0 that would be
in United States currency, and there
were 10 baptisms. Many of them l
baptized myself. Some were baptized
by Chinese pastors whom I helped
to ordain, and VINO are supported
in part by the native Baptists, part
ly with the money given through me
by the Foreign Mission Board, that
is given by you brethren and sisters,
week by week and year by year.
Compare these figures in the re-
port of one man and his wife with
the reports from some whole associa-
lions in the home land, and when you
consider that China is a heather
land, and is so backward and poor,
there is much to make US thank God
and take courage-it meal to me
that the work is really taking root.
Tonight we begin our quarterly
preachers Institute here in Canton,
and the nearly thirty preachers and
colporters that I personally look after
and encourage will all be there, l
trust. What a time of comforting and
exhorting and planning between ses-
sions we do have at these meetings.
Then when it is over, Wife and l
hope to start on our regular rounds
of the churches and chapels and
schools in our field.
We travel so much in native craft,
overland, sometimes afoot, for Chi
mas transportation facilities are far
and far away behind those of
tries like America, but in it all, and
often amid robbers and pirates, and
while China is still in revolution,
we feel safe.
We are praying much for your
dear boys-yours and those of all
our dear friends at home, as they
endure greater physical privations
and dangers in France. God give us
a righteous and lasting peace.
Our love to you and yours and all
Edgefeld.
Yours,