he movement,
and the healthy manner in which it has been carried on. The Directors
trust that from the outset these earnest Christians will understand
that it is their privilege and their duty to sustain for themselves
the ordinances of that faith which they have now received:--
"On the 2nd of December, Mr. JOHN STRONACH visited a large village
still further distant, called San-io, and had, in the spacious public
school-room, a numerous and attentive audience for two hours. But
the chief interest was displayed in the village of Tang-soa, distant
from Bo-pien about twelve miles, the native place of the zealous,
but as yet unbaptized convert, whose earnest efforts to instruct his
numerous neighbours I referred to in my recent letter. In Tang-soa
his efforts among his relatives have been so successful that many
of the villagers not only gave up the school-room for us to give
addresses in, but, after listening to them with an interest
altogether new in that part of the country, begged me to gratify their
desires for regular instruction in Christianity by establishing
services every Sunday. I asked what proof they could give of the
sincerity of their desire, and fifteen replied by bringing in the
evening all the idols they owned, and in the presence of about forty
of their fellow villagers, placing them on the table and then
decapitating them, breaking them in sundry pieces, trampling them
frequently under their feet, and otherwise ignominiously treating
them, to the great delight of the numerous boys who were present and
who joined gleefully in the sport; and we were at once offered the
village school-room as another chapel, with the hope of eventually
being put in possession of the idol temple. One of the deacons at
Bo-pien, who has often attended the examinations for the first
literary degree, has been engaged as an assistant preacher. At
Tio-chhu, the new station referred to in my last letter, I had the
pleasure, on the 8th December, of baptizing four additional converts,
making twelve in all."
The Report further observes with respect to the general character
of the churches in Amoy:--
"While lamenting the falls of some, we rejoice in the salvation of
many. In the region of BO-PIEN there has been a decided awakening;
not the least interesting feature of which is, that it was commenced
by the preaching of an individual who belonged to a church the fewness
of whose members has often been cause of regret; thus showin
|