"On arriving at Ta Ss[)u] Kou we found Gilmour very well indeed; looking better than he did when I saw him in England. He was jubilant over our coming, and it has been a great source of happiness to me to know that G.o.d"s sending me here has up till now given happiness and comfort to one of His faithful servants. I have had a slight taste of being left alone, and I must confess Gilmour has had something to endure during the last few years.
"We are living in hired rooms of an inn. Gilmour is not in this courtyard. I have been alone here with my Chinese boy for the last five weeks (Dr. Smith being in Ch"ao Yang until a few days ago). I have been unable to get a proper teacher at present. Gilmour"s student has been teaching me. He speaks distinctly. With him I have made very fair progress. I hope in a few days to secure a proper teacher.
"Another thing which has taught me a good amount of the Chinese I know is having to give orders to my Chinese boy in house-keeping generally. I am thankful to G.o.d for past experiences in my life, though they were rather rough; for here I find they come in very usefully. I had to teach my boy how to cook and do things generally. It was rather an amusing piece of work, seeing that I knew nothing of the language. Each order I gave him was a comedy in two or three acts, all played out in dumb show. In telling him what I wished purchased I was obliged to imitate sounds which are peculiar to certain beasts and birds, which when he understood, he announced that fact by opening wide his eyes and emitting a loud "Ah!" which was generally followed by the name of the thing indicated bellowed forth at the top of his voice as if I were deaf. Also he in turn, when he had anything to tell me, always stood in the centre of the room and went through a whole performance. On one occasion, when he wished to tell me that a certain dog had stolen the day"s meat, the performance was so amusing that, when he had got through, I asked him what he was trying to say, in order that I might once more see the fun.
"Forgive me for taking up your time with such frivolous things. But I have picked up much of the language in that way, although at the cost of being grimed with soot and burning my fingers. All that is now past, and the boy is very useful, and, although now a heathen, I am hoping that by my influence he may be led to know the love of Jesus Christ. I am very glad that I came straight out here. I am sure I shall learn the language (of the _people_, perhaps _not_ of the _books_) better than in the frontier cities. I am constantly forced to try and speak. Every day I have some visitors here whom I must try and entertain. I feel stupid at times with them, and perhaps they think I am; but, nevertheless, each day"s experience is adding to my vocabulary. And when so learnt, I know that people will understand me when I speak.
"Gilmour is doing a valuable work. Every day he goes to the street and sets out his table with his boxes of medicines and books. He has three narrow benches, on one of which he sits, the other two being for his patients. Of the latter he has any amount, coming with all the ills to which humanity is heir. It is a busy street, not of the best repute, for it is where all the traders in second-hand clothes and dealers in marine stores spread out their wares.
"For some weeks I went out at a certain hour to take care of Gilmour"s stand while he went and got a "refresher" in the shape of some indigestible pudding made of millet-flour with beans for plums. He generally left me with a patient or two requiring some lotion in the eye or some wound to dress. Then I, being a new-comer and a typical "foreign devil" (being red of hair and in complexion), always brought a large following down the street with me, and attracted a great crowd round the stand. At first it was not pleasant to sit there and be stared at without being able to speak to them; but after a while I got very interested in the different faces that came round. On one occasion I noticed the crowd eagerly discussing something among themselves, giving me a scrutinising look now and then. Now and again one would turn to his fellow and rub his finger across his upper lip as if he was feeling for his moustache. I had only been here a week or so then, and knew very little of the language; but I listened attentively, and at last I heard them speaking the Chinese numerals, and then it all dawned upon me that they were inquiring about and discussing my age; so I up with my fingers indicating the years of my pilgrimage.
I never saw a crowd so amused. "Ah, ah!" they said, and opened their eyes, highly delighted that I was able to tell them what they wanted to know. Then I had my turn, and, pointing to a man here and there in the crowd, I used what little of Chinese I had in guessing their ages.
"But the sights of misery, suffering, and wretchedness which gather round Gilmour"s stand are simply appalling. His work seems to me to come nearest to Christ"s own way of blessing men. Healing them of their wounds, giving comfort in sickness, and at the same time telling them the gospel of Eternal Salvation through Jesus Christ.
One day that I went I found Gilmour tying a bandage on a poor beggar"s knee. The beggar was a boy about sixteen years of age, entirely naked, with the exception of a piece of sacking for a loin cloth. He had been creeping about, almost frozen with cold, and a dog (who, no doubt, thought he was simply an animated bone) had attacked him.
"The people here are desperately poor, and the misery and suffering one sees crawling through the streets every day is heart-rending. I have not a doubt that I am in a real mission field, and thank G.o.d that He has given me the opportunity to do something towards alleviating some of this misery. But what about the work as regards the saving of souls and establishing of a Church? I can only speak of the work in Ta Ss[)u] Kou. It is in its initiatory stage. All the Christians and adherents can sit round the four sides of my table. But I am highly pleased with them."
The letters of this period have a very tender and sacred a.s.sociation for all who received them, since they reached England after the telegraphic tidings of James Gilmour"s death had brought sorrow to his many friends.
They came, in a sense, like a message from one "within the veil." Some of these refer to the books he was reading, and from which he had derived benefit; some depict phases of his experience; some bear directly upon his work and its needs; all possess the solemn value and are read in the clearer light imparted to them by Death.
The first was written to one of his brothers.
"Do you know _In the Volume of the Book_, by Dr. Pentecost? It is A 1. I have just read it. It is not a dear book. Read it, man, by all means. It gives zest to the old Bible. I am reading through the New Testament at about the rate of a gospel a day, or two epistles.
Rapid reading has advantages. Close study of minute portions has other advantages. All sorts of reading are valuable. Go for your Bible, brother. There is no end more in it than ever you or I have yet seen. I am going for it both in Chinese and English, and it pays as nothing else does. In Jesus is all _fulness_. Supply yourself from Him. May the richest blessings be on you from Him!
Heaven"s ahead, brother. Hurrah!"
The next was to the Edinburgh correspondent from whose letters we have previously taken extracts.
"This mail was sent off February 2. It came back the same day. The man was scared by robbers. He leaves to-morrow. We are well. We are _idle_. Would you believe it? It is Chinese New Year time, and I cannot go on the street with my stand. No people: soon will be. We are thankful for the rest. It won"t last long.... Oh, it is good to have Jesus to tell all to. May He be more of an intimate friend to you and to me! The troubles of this earthly life are not few. How many were Paul"s! I am reading Farrar"s _Life and Work of Paul_. It puts much new light on the epistles. What a time the man Paul had of it! Yet he called them "light afflictions." How much lighter are ours! And the same heaven he looked to is for us--the same crown--not to him only, but to all who love the appearing of Christ. You love Him. Rejoice and be glad. I _am_ so glad that the crown is not only for such as Paul, whom we cannot hope to imitate, but for those (ii. Timothy iv. 8) who have loved His appearing. We _do_ that, don"t we? May the joy set before us enable us to endure, when endurance is needed! May your heart rest in Him! May your soul cling to Him! May His light always shine on your path! May I always, even in dark days and dark times, have His light in my heart and soul! Don"t regard me as one always on the sunny heights, but as one often cast down, often in much feebleness, in much unworthiness, and falling so far short of my own ideal. But it is good to think that, in Christ, we are perfect, that He makes up all.
"Parker and I read _Holy of Holies_, when together. It is a good book. Meantime, he and I are three days" journey separate, and may be so for a month to come yet. I hope he likes it. It is a little hard on him, but I had to come here on mission business, and, if needed, will return to him at any time. Looking again at Heb. vi.
4-6."
His correspondent had asked him about this pa.s.sage.
"It is said--it is impossible to "renew them again to repentance."
Does it not seem clear that what is described cannot be the case of one who has the repentant heart? I think so decidedly, and that pa.s.sage has no bearing on the sinner who repents.... No one will come to harm who commits himself to His keeping. And no one will lack leading who has G.o.d for his guide. If I could only hear of or from the friends I pray for, that they had given themselves over to G.o.d"s keeping, I would be at rest and thankful. You are trusting in Him. You will not be ashamed. He will take care to supply every needed blessing at the right time and in the right way.
"Some day, I believe we shall stand in Eternity and look back on Time. How ashamed we then shall be of any want of trust and of any unfaithfulness! May He help us to look at things now in _that_ light, and how to do as we then shall wish we had done!...
"I would be glad if you would send me half a dozen copies of the _Wordless Book_. Two copies fell into the hands of robbers and were thus lost....
"I shall be glad to have the _Life of Faith_. You might mark any pa.s.sages that strike you."
In a letter to the Rev. J. Paterson, dated April 1, he writes:--
"It helps me much out here to get the best consecrated literature, and to get it early. Men in the most difficult and dangerous fields should be the best armed and equipped. Some of these books open up new treasures to me in G.o.d"s Word. I do not use them in place of G.o.d"s Word, but as openers to the treasures."
In almost the last letter from him received by his brother Alexander and dated April 24, 1891, the following pa.s.sage occurs:--
"_The Practice of the Presence of G.o.d_, being conversations and letters of Brother Lawrence. Please send a copy to yourself, John, Matthew, Paterson, Miss Gowan, and ten copies to me, charging all costs to me, of course. It is by a Roman Catholic: don"t imitate his Roman Catholicism, but his practice of the presence of G.o.d."
In April Mr. Gilmour journeyed to Tientsin, and was unanimously elected to preside over the annual meeting of the North China District Committee of the London Missionary Society as chairman. His last communication to the home Society, with the exception of one brief note upon a matter of committee business, was a post-card, dated April 20, 1891, received in London some weeks after the tidings of his death. It runs:--
"Arrived here yesterday. The world keeps shrinking. Left Ta Ss[)u]
Kou Monday 8 A.M. Tuesday noon dined in a border Mongol village, in a Mongol"s inn, served by a Mongol waiter, in presence of a number of Mongols. Got to London Missionary Society"s Compound, Tientsin, Sat.u.r.day, 5 P.M. Our headquarters are just five days from the extended railway. Am in A 1 health, everybody says so here, and that truly. Meantime am in clover, physically and spiritually. With prayers for the home end of the London Missionary Society"s work.
"Yours truly, "J. GILMOUR."
Just thirty-one days later he was lying dead in the same compound. How the interval pa.s.sed is told by those who enjoyed those closing days of lofty spiritual fellowship. Had it been foreseen that the end was so near, the fervour and impressiveness and help of his presence could hardly have been increased. Before, however, pa.s.sing to the details of this last month, the following letters are given _in extenso_ as they form the last lengthy sketches of his work drawn by his own hand.
"Tientsin, L.M.S.: April 20, 1891.
My dear Mrs. Lovett,--I guess you are at the bottom of 10_l._ from Clapham Congregational Church Working Society (Ladies). Ar"n"t you?
If so, thanks. If not--I was going to say you ought to be--but my courage fails me. Anyhow, you can read and please forward the enclosed with my best thanks to the friends. I got here two days ago, and am here for a short time. The railway has gone out eastwards, is still going, and has now a station near me in Mongolia--near me being five long days" journey; but that is near, as near and far go here.
"I have many grateful and many prayerful remembrances of England and English friends, and a vivid remembrance of your kindness when I was with you. My regards to your parents. I hope you and your husband and children are all well. I heard of Mr. Lovett being in America--_American Pictures_ on the stocks?
"I had intended to write you a nice letter, but it won"t come, and the letter must go as it is. Please read into the remaining blank sheet all the feelings and good wishes I should express and do feel, and next time I write you, may it not be in the ebb tide, at the end of a mail.
"Your husband"s a Director. I _do_ hope they are sending me a doctor. If he can do anything in the matter, I wish he would.
"Yours, dried up and feeling dumb, "JAMES GILMOUR."
Enclosed in the above was the following letter, dated March 10, and addressed to "The Clapham Congregational Church Ladies" Working Society."
"Dear Friends,--Many thanks for your handsome donation (10_l._), notice of which has reached me last night. I am told you want to hear from me. All right. I am just back from a month"s raid into Ch"ao Yang. Had a fine time. Good weather and plenty of work in the marketplace. Baptized four adults, three being women--all Chinese.
It is the day of small things truly, but I am not a little encouraged, over the women especially. That now makes four Christian families in Ch"ao Yang or its immediate neighbourhood.
The two wives baptized this time have Christian husbands. It has all along been our prayer that the unsaved relatives of the saved might be saved.
"Mrs. Chu"s husband was baptized a couple of years ago. She consented to his taking their two children to me to be baptized, but she herself would have nothing to do with Christianity or Christ. This time she got over her difficulties. I was much pleased, especially as she had annoyed her husband a good deal last year about his having been beaten about his Christianity. She also had her little child baptized. Pray that G.o.d may keep and help them in all the many complications that will arise on account of their Christianity, living as they do in a composite family, the ruling powers of which are heathen.
"Mrs. Ning is a model wife. They are poor. Her husband cannot dress in good clothes, but is always as neat as a virtuous wife, skilful with her needle, can make him. She mends so neatly. I once discarded a vest (Chinese) and gave it to her husband. He took it home, and later on I saw him swelling about in it quite like a neat old gentleman, though I was almost ashamed to give it him.
"They have had family worship in their home for a year or two--they say. We went to baptize her. It was such a small, poor house, but so very nice inside. Mother and grown daughters and little girl, with father and grown son, all sleep on a little brick platform, hardly big enough for me--one man. She and the grown daughter support the family by needlework--making horsehair women"s head fittings, which the father sells, when he has nothing more to do.
"The son is epileptic and can earn nothing, and is, in addition, a great eater. He is a good man and a Christian. As we entered, the son and daughter went out. The mother and little daughter were baptized. The father did not wish his big daughter baptized. When she is married she will get a heathen mother-in-law, who will go for her and make her worship idols. So said the father. In a few days the father came back, saying that out of fear of the coming mother-in-law he had not had his daughter baptized, but that his daughter had pressed him so hard that she was as formidable as the mother-in-law. The daughter says she"ll stick to her G.o.d and let them stick to theirs, and so she was baptized. She has a hot time before her. Chinese mothers-in-law are no joke. Pray for the la.s.sie that:--(_a_) she may be steadfast; (_b_) she may be wise; (_c_) she may be gentle in her resistance; (_d_) enabled by G.o.d to endure; and that the mother-in-law may be restrained. G.o.d can do all things.
"Here, in Ta Ss[)u] Kou, two of the Christians have wives very much opposed to Christianity, and give their husbands hot times.
Remember the husbands, please, and all such in their shoes, in prayer, and may the darkened women themselves be enlightened. You have no notion how deeply sunk in superst.i.tion the women are. Still another Christian has a wife whom he has to allow to worship a weasel, because the woman shows symptoms of being possessed by the beast if she does not worship it!
"The other day a woman came to my stand in the market-place, saying that "Mr. Yellow" troubled her. "Mr. Yellow" turned out to be the weasel, and she firmly believed her sickness was due to the beast.
"We are badly in want of a lady medical man in this district. Don"t you know of one who would do? Are there none of you who could study medicine and go out as doctors to some of the many needy places?
Much was hoped for this district from the late Mrs. Smith, but G.o.d took her. Any one who comes here should have good health, and not fear seclusion from foreign company. I would suggest that a couple should come, a medical and a non-medical. There is a house which could be got for such a couple, only I don"t see how they could get on without knowing some Chinese. Perhaps some one of the Peking or Tientsin ladies already speaking Chinese would volunteer to be a medical lady"s companion. Would that G.o.d would stir some of you up!
Meantime, thanks for the money. Thanks also for the prayers which I take for granted you let us have. You might also pray for a woman who has a very good, quiet, Christian husband, but herself has such a temper that she cannot in decency take on a Christian profession.