Letter from Hattie to Mother, August 6, 1871
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Mother, August 6, 1871
Subject
Missionaries; Presbyterian Church; God; Bible
Description
Harriet Noyes wishes her mother a happy birthday in the beginning of this letter and then updates her on the mission work. It seems to be slow moving, but she has faith in God. Dr. Happer planted doubt that their lack of success has to do with their being unbelievers, and that is discouraging to Harriet. There are a few women who have joined their church recently that she mentions, though not by name.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1871-08-06
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_060
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
[Note: Additional note sideways in margin of page one]
Our mail brought news of your illness but I hope you are well
again before this. You + Father will try and take good care
of your health
for the sake
of your children
will you not.
I hope you
both pray
often that we
may all be spared
to meet once
more on
Earth.
Canton China.
August 6th 1871
My [u]dear Mother[/u]
It hardly seems as
though a year had passed since
I wrote your last birthday letter but
so it is. And this year your birthday
comes on the Sabbath. I have been
to one of my schools to-day for the
first time since the excitement here
became so great that the authorities
requested us to stop Mission work, for a
time. The school I visited to-day
has been the largest in the mission
there have been more than thirty
enrolled this year but to-day when
I went there there were only [u]four[\u].
and I very much fear that it will
be impossible to get them all gathered
together again . It seems discouraging
but we can still remember that it
is Gods work and not ours and if
we can only be [u]faithful[\u] in doing
what he gives us to do we need not
be troubled about results. I often
feel so thankful that we are to be
judged by a merciful God instead
of by man's estimates of success.
"And [u]well I know[\u] his [--faithful--] patient love perceives
[u]Not[\u] what I did but what I strove to do."
I am sure if we were to be judged by the
success there has been in Canton during
the past years we could never [u]never[\u]
have the [u]faintest[\u] hope of being counted
faithful servants. But I am sure
that God knows that although we
are very [u]very[\u] far from what we ought
to be still the success of his work is
dear to our hearts. I remember hearing
Dr Happer refer a short time since
to the cities of Chorazin Bethsaida et cetera in
which Christ did not many mighty
works because of their unbelief as a
parallel case + that the reason Christ
does not now do many mighty works in
Canton is because of our unbelief.
such a view is painfully depressing +
I cannot think it is a parallel
case. I do not believe if Christ had
gone there + found a few disciples [u]trying[\u]
to teach the people the way of life even
if they were [u]far[\u] from as earnest + faithful
as they should be, he would have
told them that it was on account
of [u]their[\u] unfaithfulness that the cities
were not blessed. One or two of the
chapels in the city have again been
opened for service and we hope
before long that all will be.
I do not know when we can go
again to our schools in the country
I fear we shall find them
almost broken up. Last evening
I went to have a talk with and old
woman sister of one of my school
teachers 84 years old who wishes
to join the church. I hope that
she is influenced by right motives
and believe that she is although
at first I felt a little distrustful
I think I wrote to you last
month that the last time I was out
at Nganpin I met four women
who said they were ready to give
up idolatry indeed had not
worshipped idols for nearly a
year. Two of them for more than
a year have always come to the
school when I have gone out there.
I hope all the disturbances we have
had will not hinder the good
work of course it [u]can not[\u] although
it may seem to. But "though the
heathen rage and the people [u]imagine[\u]
a [u]vain thing[\u] He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh,the Lord shall have
them in derision." So many things in
the Bible that we used to read as belonging
to a far off time + place now seem so
perfectly natural, as I am sure
they could not to any one who
had never been out of a Christian land
[Note: sideways in margin of page four]
I must come up here to sign my name + wish you many
returns of this day and that I may sometime be with you to help
you enjoy your birthday.
Your loving daughter,
Hattie.
Our mail brought news of your illness but I hope you are well
again before this. You + Father will try and take good care
of your health
for the sake
of your children
will you not.
I hope you
both pray
often that we
may all be spared
to meet once
more on
Earth.
Canton China.
August 6th 1871
My [u]dear Mother[/u]
It hardly seems as
though a year had passed since
I wrote your last birthday letter but
so it is. And this year your birthday
comes on the Sabbath. I have been
to one of my schools to-day for the
first time since the excitement here
became so great that the authorities
requested us to stop Mission work, for a
time. The school I visited to-day
has been the largest in the mission
there have been more than thirty
enrolled this year but to-day when
I went there there were only [u]four[\u].
and I very much fear that it will
be impossible to get them all gathered
together again . It seems discouraging
but we can still remember that it
is Gods work and not ours and if
we can only be [u]faithful[\u] in doing
what he gives us to do we need not
be troubled about results. I often
feel so thankful that we are to be
judged by a merciful God instead
of by man's estimates of success.
"And [u]well I know[\u] his [--faithful--] patient love perceives
[u]Not[\u] what I did but what I strove to do."
I am sure if we were to be judged by the
success there has been in Canton during
the past years we could never [u]never[\u]
have the [u]faintest[\u] hope of being counted
faithful servants. But I am sure
that God knows that although we
are very [u]very[\u] far from what we ought
to be still the success of his work is
dear to our hearts. I remember hearing
Dr Happer refer a short time since
to the cities of Chorazin Bethsaida et cetera in
which Christ did not many mighty
works because of their unbelief as a
parallel case + that the reason Christ
does not now do many mighty works in
Canton is because of our unbelief.
such a view is painfully depressing +
I cannot think it is a parallel
case. I do not believe if Christ had
gone there + found a few disciples [u]trying[\u]
to teach the people the way of life even
if they were [u]far[\u] from as earnest + faithful
as they should be, he would have
told them that it was on account
of [u]their[\u] unfaithfulness that the cities
were not blessed. One or two of the
chapels in the city have again been
opened for service and we hope
before long that all will be.
I do not know when we can go
again to our schools in the country
I fear we shall find them
almost broken up. Last evening
I went to have a talk with and old
woman sister of one of my school
teachers 84 years old who wishes
to join the church. I hope that
she is influenced by right motives
and believe that she is although
at first I felt a little distrustful
I think I wrote to you last
month that the last time I was out
at Nganpin I met four women
who said they were ready to give
up idolatry indeed had not
worshipped idols for nearly a
year. Two of them for more than
a year have always come to the
school when I have gone out there.
I hope all the disturbances we have
had will not hinder the good
work of course it [u]can not[\u] although
it may seem to. But "though the
heathen rage and the people [u]imagine[\u]
a [u]vain thing[\u] He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh,the Lord shall have
them in derision." So many things in
the Bible that we used to read as belonging
to a far off time + place now seem so
perfectly natural, as I am sure
they could not to any one who
had never been out of a Christian land
[Note: sideways in margin of page four]
I must come up here to sign my name + wish you many
returns of this day and that I may sometime be with you to help
you enjoy your birthday.
Your loving daughter,
Hattie.
【首页边缘书写笔记】 我们的邮包带来了消息，听说您生病了，但是我希望您在这封信之前已经好了。 您和父亲要注意身体， 保持健康， 为了孩子们的 苦苦哀求 你们会的，对吗？ 我希望你们 经常祈祷 这样 我们就可以 再一次 在地球上 见面了。 中国广州 1871年8月6日 我亲爱的母亲， 很难想到 一年就这么过去了， 我去年给您的生日写了信， 但是今年不一样。 今年的生日在安息日。 我去了其中一所走读学校， 一段时间以来的第一次，因为过于骚乱 所以专家要求我们停止组织活动一段时间。 / 今天我参观的学校是最大的， / 今年有三十多个人加入， / 但是今天我去的时候只有4个。 我很害怕， 他们不能重新聚集在一起。 看起来很沮丧， 但是我们还能记得是神的杰作， 而且不是我们的， 如果我们只对他给我们的工作有信心 / 结果就不会有太多麻烦。 我经常感到很感激， 我们可以被慈悲的上帝评判， 而且不是被一个男人评估成功。 上帝不仅知道你做了什么 也知道你试图做什么 这是在广东， 被去年在广州的成功定义。 去年，我们永远不会有对佣人的最微弱的希望， 我们不会被称为上帝的忠实仆人。 / 但是神知道我们离成功很远。 / / 我记得Happer医生说过 他在Chorazin、Bethsaida和其他宗教不多的城市 的时候， / 他说耶稣没有在那里因为很多人不相信， 恐怕我们在广州没有成功是因为没有信心。 / 因为我们的不信任。 这很令人绝望， 而且我不能想到这是平行案例。 我不相信天主是否会到那个地方， 并且开发一下新的教义去交给人们 / 如果他们像我们想的那样很真诚、有信心， 他会告诉他们， 这是在我们意料中的。 / 一两个做礼拜的教堂 重新开放了， 我们希望不久以后， 所有的都能开放。 我不知道我们什么时候可以再去乡下学校， / 我担心我们会发现学校快要毁掉了。 昨晚，我去和一个想要加入教堂的老师的姐姐聊天， 她已经84岁了。 / / 我希望她的是被正确地激励了， 即使我开始觉得有点被打扰 / 但是我认为我上个月写给你了， / 我上一次去了南平 遇见了四个女人， 她们想要放弃追捧他们的偶像， 已经有一年了。 其中两个已经放弃了一年多， 每次我去南平 他总是来光顾学校。 我希望这些干扰不是什么问题， / 即使看起来是个问题。 / 但是即使异教徒， 还有让人们认为我们是徒劳的。 他在天堂会很快乐， 天主会让他们被奚落，。 很多在在圣经里写过的事， 好像发生在很远的地方，现在感觉更适合广州， 就像我确定的那样， 圣经中谈到的地方对于从未离开过基督教国家的人来说一定很陌生。 / 【第四页边缘书写】 我必须在这里停下来， 希望收到您的回信，我希望可以做点什么， 让您享受您的生日。 爱您的女儿 Hattie.
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Mother, August 6, 1871,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 26, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/113.