ning-point in his days?"--WALTER PATER.

CHAPTER XVI

WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL

WHICH TELLS HOW A LINK WAS ESTABLISHED BETWEEN WESTMINSTER AND HWOCHOW
BIBLE SCHOOLS

AMONGST the courtyards which constituted our new premises was one into
the walls of which was inserted a stone, engraved with the words in
Chinese and English: "Women's Bible School. Erected by the Congregation
of Westminster Chapel, London. Jesus said: 'I am the Way, the Truth, and
the Life.'"

The women's rooms had never been large enough to hold those who were
anxious to come, and now at last suitable premises were going to make
possible the fulfilment of a long-cherished plan--that of giving
adequate training to suitable women.

It seemed a long step from the days when, freely roaming around the
villages, we taught some of these women the very first character they
knew, spelling out with them the text: "God so loved the world that He
gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life." The next step had been attendance at
a station class for twenty days, sometimes repeated yearly but never
leading to advanced work. In our new premises we divided the students
into three groups: Firstly, those attending a ten days' course, who
served as training-ground to a second group of more advanced women who
had passed the initial stage, and who now entered for the two years'
course of Bible training and practical experience as evangelists.
Thirdly, a picked few who, having received more regular teaching, were
able to continue their own studies and help to superintend the work of
the juniors, especially on the practical side, meanwhile giving a
considerable portion of their time to aggressive evangelistic work.

Foremost amongst these was Mrs. Liang, mother of Ling Ai, the
headmistress of the girls' school. Strong, true, a woman of no ordinary
ability, little escaped her penetrating glance. It was in middle age
that she first heard the Gospel, an indirect influence of the opium
refuge work; for Mrs. Liang had never smoked opium, nor had any member
of her family. A neighbour, however, had, and on her return from the
Refuge she produced with pardonable pride the copy of St. John's Gospel
which she had bought, and better still, could read. It was hard for Mrs.
Liang to see the former degraded opium smoker ahead of her in learning,
and she persuaded her husband to give her the needed help. She bor