Letter from Harriet, February 19, 1908

noyes_c_cor_471.pdf

Dublin Core

Title

Letter from Harriet, February 19, 1908

Subject

Glossolalia; Christianity; Fanaticism; Second Advent; Salvation; Missionaries; Christian education of girls; Boarding schools

Description

This long letter begins with Harriet discussing the "gift of tongues." It is a new craze that is spreading to Canton from the US through a teacher Mr. McIntosh, who Harriet says is illiterate. People became concerned because he claimed only those with the gift will be saved in the second coming, which he says is happening soon. She and Mrs. Ings visited him and found the people there speaking in tongues frightening. They held prayer meetings that teachers and students from Harriet's school attended, much to her displeasure. She tells of a couple of instances where she went to retrieve students and discourage them from praying for hours and hours a day, hoping for the gift of tongues to come to them if they repeated certain phrases enough times. Eventually, she sent students home because they did not have a teacher. Overall, Harriet does not believe in it and thinks it is a shame there are well-intended Christians participating in it.

Creator

Noyes, Harriet Newell

Source

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #4

Publisher

Unpublished

Date

1908-02-18

Contributor

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

Format

PDF

Language

eng (English)

Type

Text

Identifier

noyes_c_cor_471

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

Macao Feby 19th 1908
I will write something about the
"Gift of tongues," as we have come
in contact with it here. Several
months since, during our summer
vacation, ASin told me that she
had heard something [u]very wonderful[/u]
that a man had come to Macao
from America, that in America, he
lived as Los Angeles which seems to
be the hot-bed of this development. I
feel like writing the word [u]devil[/u]-opment
as Andrew Jackson used to insist
upon pronouncing it, he had heard
the Holy Spirit saying to him
"Go to O-moon" -- O-moon is the
Chinese name for Macao. He
claimed that he had never heard
of "O-moon," and had [u]no idea[/u] in
what part of the world it might be
found, but nevertheless "took ship" and
came right to Hong Kong, and
when he inquired there for O-moon
found that he was "[u]right here[/u]".
He and his wife, with the help of
some of the Alliance Mission started
some meetings here, and soon
managed to create quite an

(2
excitement. The were so noisy
that the Portuguese objected to the
meetings, and once he was taken
before the authorities, he expected
to be able to speak in Portuguese
but found he could not, and
although the meetings have been
continued during all these months
in different places and are still
being held in Hong Kong, and
many claim to have received
the Gift of tongues, we have yet
to hear of a single person who
has spoken a single [u]intelligable
word[/u]. Nevertheless quite a good
many have been drawn into
it. Well ASin came back
greatly impressed, and said
they were coming up to Canton
to hold meetings. We know she
wanted us to invite them to
come to us , but we had [u]no[/u] idea
of doing so. Here in Macao
several "emotional women" and
some of the Chinese claimed
to have received the gift, and
to receive revelations +c +c +c

(3
One of the young women of the
Christian Alliance Mission said she
was ready to do anything the Holy
Spirit directed her to do if it was to
roll down stairs she would do it.
Directly she felt that she was
directed to roll down stairs, so
down she went. I think down
two flights, Another chattered
so violently that her false teeth
kept dropping out but she would
replace them and go on.
After a little the man + his wife
Mr + Mrs McIntosh came to
Canton, and commenced holding
meetings in the house of a Christian
Chinese . He is a very good man
but is considered unbalanced
most people think he is quite "off"
It was still in vacation time
and the house is quite near us.
We heard that they were going
to make a special effort for the
True Light Seminary. As it was
the time of vacation our teachers and
scholars who lived near enough
all attended the meetings ---
We all felt greatly perplexed
if there was any good in it, of

(4
course we did not wish for a
moment to oppose it, and besides
we felt that it would be unwise
for those who favored it would of
course consider it religious persecution
and rejoice in being "persecuted
for righteousness' sake". And we
knew that those, at least some of
those who were attending the
meetings [u]were[u] in deadly Earnest
in wishing and longing to be
filled with the Spirit. And it
seems as though some have
received a blessing. Little
ATsit, ASin's daughter was
greatly impressed, she has for
a long time wished for a fine
Education had been attending
the Christian College, and
hoped sometime to go to America
and "learn all that any one
knows." But the little girls
who were receiving revelations
told her that the Spirit's message
to her was that she should not
be so selfish, thinking only of
herself, and her Education but
should give it up and "Preach

(5
the Gospel", and she accepted
it as the "word of the Lord"
and has come to help in the
Seminary for which we are
very glad . She says that her
great longing to go on with her
studies left her and she felt at
once that this is what she
wishes to do. I think it really
is a blessing that she has received
in answer to the prayers of her
Mother and Aunt, and the
Lord chose to send it to her in
this way. After she went to the
college her Aunt was greatly
troubled + feared that in the
pride of learning she would
lose her spirituality and forget
her duty to others. Her aunt is
a very consecrated Christian
and she told me that she
prayed about it for a long
time until she felt that she
could leave it with the
Lord , so I regard this as
the answer to her
prayers ------

(6
Mr McIntosh is a most illiterate
man, and he is certainly an
adept at "[illegible] Scripture" --
He [u]teaches[/u] that [u]very soon[/u] Christ
is coming, and then all
those who are filled with the
Spirit as evidence by their
posessing the gift of tongues will
be received up with Him while
all others will be left down here
to undergo [u]seven[/u] years of
terrible tribulation. Of course
this made all the Chinese
that is those who attended the
meetings really a very small
number most anxious to
"get it" as they expressed it
and so insure safety.
ASin was about half convinced
seven tenths some one said
and she very much wanted
me to go and see what I though
of it all, and I promised
that I would. One evening
while we were at our evening
meal, some one came and
said that several of our

(7
scholars had "got it" or as they
often put it "received the Spirit," and
wanted me to go-- Mrs Ings who
lives with us an orthodox "Scotch
lassie" said she would go with
me. The missionaries all hesitated
to condemn it at first because none
of us wished to oppose anything which
might contain a blessing for any
one, and until I went to see
I did not know but there might
be something in it that would appeal
to me, and we surely all desire
spiritual blessings . As we went
into the door we were met by one of
the Chinese Christians who said
"We are receiving great blessings-"
We passed on to door of an
inside room and there were
perhaps twenty sitting on the
floor, all chattering and
praying, one who sat near the
door a former scholar was
shaking her hands and
running her tongue out chattering
all the time and looked
so wild and ghastly, that I

8
was horrified. As soon as she
saw us she sprang up and struck
me with both her hands very
hard , and then turned and
did the same to Mrs Ings. I
thought "The spirit that is animating
her thinks we are unbelieving
and wants to drive us away", but
presently I found it was not so,
but that she was pleased that we
came. she looked up in my face
+ said "The Lord has great
blessings for you , you will have
a [u]beautiful[/u] crown". She has
always been very nervous, and
when in school used to have
hysterics . In the corner was
another little girl the daughter
of the man who met us at the
door. She was saying to herself
over and over what sounded
like "getaway getaway getaway
goloo coloo goloo" without any
variation over and over.
A Miss [?Wimm?] a missionary
of Macao who was with them
said to Mrs Ings "See the [u]wonderful[/u]

(9
works of God." Mrs Ings said
"I do not think so at all" ---
and turned and walked out.
In a minuted I followed, her
Mr McIntosh tried to persuade
me to stay and talk, but I would
not. It all seemed perfectly
dreadful to me. When school
commenced we did not allow
the scholars to go. but proposed
having daily prayer meetings in
the chapel as we often had.
We though we could control the
meetings and hoped to make
them profitable. The first
week of school we were having
our mission meetings, and
so could not attend these
meetings. After a few days
one evening one of the teachers
sent to say, they were getting
very noisy in the meeting
I went in at once and
when I was near the
chapel heard the voices of

(10
many in prayer and
thought . Oh! it is as it was in
India and was so delighted
and hurried out to find Miss
Butler. But when we went it we
found it was not so it was just
a little Babel. I was horrified
and said Let us all rise and
sing. Little ATsit was so frightened
for me that she went out I think
she fully expected the Spirit
would strike me dead ---
They all got up rather unwillingly
back to her and put my arm
around her, and raised her
up and held my hymn book
so that she could see. Afterwards
I heard that some of them said
that I "[u]pulled[/u] her up while
she was praying-" I know at the
time that some of them felt that
I was quenching the Sprit;
but felt that it was a necessary
measure. After one or two prayers
I closed the meeting, and they rather
reluctantly went to their rooms.

(11
After that I attended the
meetings, the next evening
I read, and explained to
them the 14th chapter of [illegible]
and told them plainly that
while we did not want to oppose
anything that was good we
intended to follow Paul's
directions, and have everything
done "decently and in order."
When I closed the meeting
they evidently did not want
to go to their rooms, but I rang
the bell our usual way of
dismissing in the morning, and
force of habit started them.
One was left kneeling about
the middle of the room
surrounded by several who were
fanning her, I walked down
the aisle to see who it was
but when I found it was
one of the teachers, did not
venture to "pull her up while
she was praying", but sat
down and waited until
she reached the amen.

(12
One day I went over to Mr Boggs for
advice, indeed we missionaries
consulted a good deal about the matter
for it seemed a very perplexing
question. We could not of course forbid
them praying, especially in their
rooms. One night sevral of them
kept it up in their rooms, till about
midnight. After that I went
around a little after nine-o-clock
to see if all was quiet according to
the "rules and regulations."
I do not think we would have
had much trouble in school had
it not been that the teacher of the
advanced class herself a young
girl was completely carried away
by it. She was the one referred to
above, who continued kneeling after
the meeting closed. Of course her
girls nearly thirty almost all
followed her lead. One saturday
about ten of the girls took their [?testaments?]
and went up into the chapel, and
spent nearly the whole day on
their knees, jabbering and praying.
I went in two or three times
and sat for awhile, but it did not
disturb them apparently. I head
that they said if they would say "tut tut tut
tut tut tut" without stopping [u]long[/u] enough

(13
and [u]fast[/u] enough after a while
they would not be able to [u]stop[/u], and
then of course they would have the
gift of tongues which they so
greatly desired .The next week
we decided to discontinue the
meetings, and the following
Saturday I took my music class
up into the chapel. Saturday
many of the girls go home for a
few hours, or if they have anything
to attend to go out on the street.
That day one after another
asked permission to go out until
I began to be suspicious, and
later found that they had
gone with this teacher to the
meeting. At 2 PM their study
hour I went in to their school
room , and found only about
half the scholars there, and
the teacher herself had not
returned. I locked the
gate and took the key so that I
would be sure to know when
they came back. The father
of one of the, who disappeared

14
entirely had come to see his
daughter .I told him we would
wait until four-o-clock and
then if they did not come
would [--not--] send for them
At four I sent one of the Bible
women to call them but as
soon as she went in a coolie
who had been chattering incessantly
for two days called out "the
devil has come" which did not
greatly please her. Some of the
girls came back , but four did
not, and as this man's daughter
was one of them .he said he
would go for her, and wanted
me to go with him which I did.
As soon as we went in, and
I told the girls to get up and
come back to school, the same
old fellow called out "the devil
has come" "the devil had come" and
commenced chattering more
rapidly. I said "[u]No[/u] I am
[u]not[/u] the devil". The one
missionary in Canton who
has [u]accepted[/u] + believed in the
manifestations is Miss Clark

(15
of the London Mission. She was
prostrated full length on the floor
with her head buried in her hands.
She looked up to see who the devil
was that had intruded , Afterwards
they decided that the man was not
filled with the Holy Spirit. but
posessed by an evil spirit, which
seemed more probable --
He talked the greatest lot of nonsense
which at first they received as
revelations from God. Among other things
he said they must make a great
chapel of the house in which
the meetings were being held,
put in 100 electric lights, buy
100 doz tins of condensed milk,
100 doz bottles of Florida water,
+c +c. They commenced
putting in the Electric lights
but when they found that
it would cost $800.00 and
that the man was "posessed
of the devil-" concluded to
pause --- Well that Sat
even when the little teacher
came back [--she--] from the
meeting she announced that she had
received a revelation from the Holy Spirit

(16
to the effect that she must at once give
up teaching, and go and preach the
gospel in her native city. She had been
having evening meetings with her class and
we noticed, that they turned off the electric
lights, we supposed in order that we
should not see them, but afterwards
learned, that they were expecting to see
the Spirit manifested in tongues of fire,
and so darkened the room in order tp
heighten the effect. It seemed as
though we would be obliged to send the
girls home, but we were reluctant to do
this, as we know they would consider
it persecution, and we did not wish to
array ourselves as so decidedly opposed
to the movement in [illegible], as we felt that
some of those who believed in it were really
Earnest Christians, and sincerely seeking
for the gift of the Spirit. Sabbath evening
at the Christian [?Endears?] meeting, the
little teacher rose and expressed her
convictions and told how felt "bound
in the spirit" to go and preach the
Gospel, and said she did not know
what day the Spirit would call her
to go, perhaps the next day, but at the
latest it would be before the end of the
week. Instantly our way out of the
dilemma flashed upon me, and it
was carried ^out and proved so satisfied
that I shall always feel that it was
shown to me. The next morning we
went into her school-room, and told

(17
the scholars, that we all heard
what the teacher had said the evening
before, and although we felt that
was all as it was, yet we could not have
the school go on [u]without a teacher[/u],
and so they might all go home for a
week, and if we could find a teacher
we would send for them to come
back. Of course in the middle of the
year it was not very likely that we
would be able to find a teacher.
They were very unwilling to go, and of
course we said it was a great pity, and
we were sorry, but there was no other
way, +c +c putting all the responsibility
of breaking up the class upon the
teacher where it belonged. Afterwards
we arranged for about then of them
who had not gone into it to stay and
go in the other classes and so
continue their studies, but their
class-room remained empty.
So in this way, our position was quite
clearly defined without really active
opposition or disapproval being expressed.
Those on ^our [--the other--] side felt that it
was very wisely managed .
Well that settled matters as far as
the school was concerned. There is
another teacher who has been with

18
us many years, and is really the
"hub" of the school Hoong Sin Shang -
and from the first she did not "take
any stock" in it, the younger teachers
were undecided . I forgot to mention
that for a time every little while a
messenger would come to the
school saying that the Holy Spirit
called this one or that one to come
to the meeting, and of course the one
thus summoned would feel that she
[u]must[/u] go. Finally I had to tell
them that we did not wish such
messages to be sent, which doubtless
seemed very dreadful to them.
One day the wife of the man
where the meetings were held
and her adopted daughter, who
had been one of our scholars came
to see me, and asked if they might
pray for me. Of course I consented, but
I did not kneel down, and they
both commenced praying together and
I said Oh! no pray one at a time.
While they were praying I was called
out to see some of the scholars who
were going away, and before I could
get back, they had ceased their prayers
I am afraid it seemed rather
dreadful to them . There are
hosts of other things that have happened

(!9
in this connection during [u]these[/u]
months, but I fear my letter is
already longer than you will
care to read. For months such
meetings have been held in HongKong
and some of the "doings" are most
revolting. A man came from India
an American who is holding the meetings
he went to India expecting to be able
to speak the language there but found
he could not. When Dr Todd returned
from U.S.A there were 21 of these
"[u]missionaries[/u]" on board, they expected
to be able to speak Japanese and
Chinee, but of course could not.
The little teacher above referred to
claimed to have [u]Eight[/u] gifts. The one
who struck Mrs Ings and me, said she
could speak 16 different kinds of languages
while another, who had been her teacher
[u]could only speak 14[/u], the Spirit had
revealed this to her. This same girl
was engaged to teach in a school in
Hongkong and she wrote to the missionary
that she would come when the Spirit led
her, she did not know what day it would
be. Miss Davies wrote back to her that
she could come the next [--day--] Tuesday
or not at all, so next Tuesday she
went. I wondered how it would come
out, it was not very long until Miss
Davies sent her back to her home with
a suitable escort.

澳门,1908年2月19日 我会写一下关于“神圣的语言”的内容, 因为我们和这里有联系。 / 在放暑假的几个月, 阿鑫告诉我她听说了一些事, / 一个不是很好的美国人来澳门了, / 他来自洛杉矶, 看起来这种活动在那里很常见 我感觉写的是:撒旦恶魔, 因为Andrew Jackson过去常常这么发音, / 他听过圣灵对她说: ”去澳门“。 Macao的中文说法就是澳门。 他声称他从没有听说过澳门, 也不知道在哪能找到, / 但是她直接坐船到了香港, / 当她到了, 便发现了她到了正确的地方。 他和他的妻子在同盟组织的帮助下 / 开始了一些会议, 很快成功地激励了一些人。 注:“神圣的语言” 许多五旬节派基督徒声称拥有神圣语言的恩赐,他们胡言乱语自认为可以和上帝对话。 (2 她们的会议很吵, 因为她们说的是葡萄牙语, 葡萄牙人反对他们, 所以他们被送到了警察局, 他认为上帝给了他讲所有语言的天赋, 但是他发现他不能说包括葡萄牙语, 即使会议在不同地方持续了几个月, / / 也同样是在香港召开的, 很多都学会说神圣的语言了, / 我们从来没有听过一个简单易懂的词。 / 但是很多人还是深信不疑。 / 给阿鑫留下了很好的印象, / 她说他们想到去广东组织会议。 我们知道她想让我们邀请他们那样的传教士,但是我们不想 我们可以邀请她, 但是我们还没有这么做的想法。 在澳门这里, 几个多情的女人和一些中国人 / 声称收到了神圣语言的礼物, 并且知道了真相,等等。 (3 其中一个基督教同盟组织的年轻女人说 / 她准备好了一切, 如果神灵让她滚下楼梯, 她都会做。 她直接感觉到圣灵让她滚下楼梯, / 所以她就照做了。 我认为她下去很平稳, 另一位女士胡言乱语, 假牙都掉了, 她会镶上新牙并且继续。 过了一段时间,一个矮个男人和他的妻子, McIntosh夫妇来到了广州, 开始在一个基督房子里举办会议。 / 他是个好人 但是被大多数人认为奇怪, 他很内向。 还是假期时间, 而且这件房子离我们很近。 我听说他们要努力为真光神学院做点特殊的努力。 / / 因为这是放假的时间, 我们住学校近的老师们和同学们都来参加了会议 / 我们很不解, 这里有什么好, (4 当然我们也不希望是相反的场面, 还有, 我们觉得那不是个好主意, 因为那些人 他们一定会把这看作是一场宗教压迫 深感欣喜地为公正压迫。 / 而且我们知道这些, 至少有些来开会的人 都是很真诚地对待圣灵的。 / / 看起来有一些祝福。 / 小阿赛——阿鑫的女儿让我印象深刻, / 她一直有个愿望就是进入基督教学院 接受良好教育, / 并且希望什么时候去美国学校这些。 / 但是收到启示的女孩们 / 告诉她圣灵叫她不要自私, / 只想着自己和 自己的教育, 应该放弃这些去传教, (5 她同意了, 就像神的旨意 她来帮助我们神学院, 让我们很高兴。 她说她现在不想去学习了 / 她离开感觉到这才是她想做的。 / 我认为这真的是她的福 / 从她为她妈妈和阿姨做祈祷者的时候的祈福, / 然后上帝把它带到了这条路上。 她去上大学后, 她的阿姨就有很大麻烦, 担心她为学习骄傲 / 而失去本心 并且忘记对别人的责任。 她的阿姨对基督教奉献很多, 她还告诉我她为此祈祷了很久 / 直到她觉得她可以离开上帝, / 所以我把它看作 她作为祈祷者对回应。 / (6 McIntosh是读书最少的男人了, 而且,很确定 他最擅长【字迹模糊】圣经引文—— 基督教开始的时候, 他很快就教了, 然后所有被灵魂填满的人 透过这个过程, 他们学会了神圣的语言, 就可以和他平起平坐了。 所以人在这里受苦了七年。 / 当然, 这让所有来参加会议的少数中国人 / / 很着急学会 就像表达的那样 而且很不安全。 阿鑫被说服了一半7/10 有人说 她特别像让我去参加 并且看我怎么看, 并且我保证我会的。 一天晚上, 我们吃晚饭的时候, 有人来了 那个人说: (7 我们一些学校学会了, 她们经常接受灵魂, 并且想让我去—— 很我们住在一起的正统苏格兰小姑娘Ings说 她跟我去。 开始,传教士们都很犹豫谴责 / 因为没有人想让可能包含给什么人祈祷的对立面发生, / 直到我去看, 我不知道, 但是有什么事情吸引着我, 而且我们确定所有的灵魂都在祈祷。 / 我们进门的时候, 我们遇到了一个中国基督教徒, 他说:我们正在接受很好的祝福。 我们走进房间 大概有20人坐在地上 / 在喋喋不休、在祈祷, 其中一个坐在门前的一个前学生 / 在摆手并且 不停地念叨 看起来 很野生很恐怖,我都被吓到了。 8 她一看到我们, 她突然出现并且猛拍双手 / 并转过去, 看起来和Ings太太一样。 我认为“灵魂正在激活她的思想, 我们感觉很不敢相信 并且想要赶走我们。” 但是现在我发现不是, 但是我们的到来让她很高兴。 她看到我的脸说 上帝保佑你, 你会有很好的加冕。 / 她总是很紧张, 而且在学校的时候,她常常狂笑。 角落上, 是另一个小女孩, 在门口见过我们的男人的女儿。 她自言自语, 一遍又一遍, 听起来像“走开 走开 走开 够了 够了 够了“ 声音没有变化。 一个和她们一起的驻澳门传教士小姐和Ings太太说 / ”看看神的杰作。“ (9 Ings太太说 ”我根本不觉得——“ 就转身走开了。 一分钟后我跟过去, 她、McIntosh努力劝我楼下说说话, 但是我不会。 一切都让我感觉糟透了。 当学习开学的时候, 我们不允许学生去那个传教士的祈祷会, / 但是计划每天都在小教堂开祈祷会, 就像我们经常做的那样。 我们认为我们可以控制会面, 并且让她们受益。 / 开学第一周, 我们有传教组织会, 所以不能参加这些会议。 几天后的一个晚上, 我们其中一个老师寄信说, 她们在开会的时候很吵。 / 我立刻就去了, 当我走近小教堂时, 听见了很多祈祷者的声音和想法。 (10 / 啊!就像我们在印度一样, 而且也很高兴、很着急要找到Butler小姐。 / 但是当我们去的时候, 我没发现没有那么好, 只有一片嘈杂。 我吓到了而且说,让我们站起来唱歌吧。 小阿赛被我吓到了, 她走出去, 我认为她很期待 圣灵把我打死—— 她们都没有不情愿地在她身后站了起来 并且把我的双臂围住她, 并且抱起她 拿起我的赞美诗集 方便她看到。 之后,我听到有些人说, 在祈祷的时候,我把她拎起来了—— 我知道,那个时候 有些人认为我在摄取灵魂; / 但是感觉很有必要衡量。 一两个祈祷者来了以后, 我结束了会议, 她们很不情愿进了房间。 (11 我出席了会议之后 第二天晚上, 我给她们阅读并解释了 【字迹模糊;译者注:赞美诗】的14章节 并且很痛苦地告诉她们, 我们不想反对任何事, 我们该好好跟随保罗的指引, / / 事情都圆满并有序地完成了。 会议结束时, 很明显她们都不想回房间, / 但是我像往常一样 停止了早上的铃声, 并且让她们养成习惯。 有个人还在房间的中央跪着 / 她周围人叫了她好几次, 我顺着过道走过去发现 她是我们的一位老师, / 不想在她祈祷的时候拉她起来, / 而且坐下来等她结束, 直到说一句: “阿门!” (12 一天我去在Boggs先生咨询 确实我们的传教士把令人不解的事情问出了答案。 / / 我们当然不能禁止她们祈祷, 特别是在她们的房间。 一天晚上, 很多人都祈祷到午夜。 然后, 九点以后,我走了一圈 确定一下她们是否像规定那样安静。 / 我认为我们在学校不会有很大麻烦 / 因为老师们教的高年级 / 一个年轻的女孩完全独立。 她是之前说的其中之一, 祈祷会后接着跪着。 当然她的女孩接近30个 基本上都跟随她的带领。 星期六, 大约十个女孩带着圣经 来到教堂, 基本上花一天时间跪着、叽里咕噜还有祈祷。 / 我去了两三次 坐一会,但是不打扰她们。 / 我对她们说, 如果她们一直“突突” (13 / 她们会停不下来, 当然她们会学会这个她们期待已久的语言。 / 之后的一周, 我们打算暂停祈祷会, 下一个星期六,我把我的音乐班带来了小教堂。 / / 星期六,很多女孩回家几个小时, 或者如果她们要去哪里, 她们会上街。 那一天,一个接一个向我请假出去 / 直到我开始怀疑, 后来发现, 她们去见这个老师了。 下午2点以后,是她们的学习时间, 我去了她们的教室, 只找到了一半的学生, / 老师也没有回来。 我锁上大门,带走钥匙 以至于我可以确定谁进来。 / / 其中一个没有回来的女孩的父亲来学校要看女儿。 14 / 我告诉他我们会等到四点 / 如果她们不回来, 我们会通知他。 四点,我让一个圣经女人找她们, / 但是她一开始呼唤 有一个苦力,唠叨了两天,突然叫了起来: “恶魔来了” 让她很不高兴。 / 有几个女孩回来了, 但是四个没有回来,那个男人的女儿也是其中之一。 他是 他会找到女儿的, 还想让我和他去。 我们一进去, 我叫女孩们起来回学校, 老苦力又喊“恶魔来了 恶魔来了” / / 然后开始念咒。 我说:“不,我不是恶魔。” / 一个接受并相信神圣语言的驻广东传教士 是来自伦敦传教组织的Clark小姐。 / (15 / 她跪倒在地, 头压在手上。 她在寻找谁被恶魔侵扰。 / 之后,他们决定那个男人没有被圣灵填满, / 被恶灵侵占, 是最靠谱的—— 他开始说了很多让人不理解的话, 就像她们刚刚开始接受神的启示。 / 还有他说, 她们要在我们开会的房子了建一座伟大的小教堂, / 安100个电灯泡, 买100沓锡罐装浓缩牛奶, 100沓平装弗罗里达水等等。 她们开始装电灯泡 / 但是当她们知道这些800美元 / 而且男人被恶魔侵占 她们停止了。 好了,那个周六的晚上, 当小老师回来 / 她宣布她收到了上帝的启示 / (16 她必须放弃教书去她的城市传教。 / / 她有晚课我们也注意到了, 她们关闭了电灯, 我们认为这是为了我们看不到她们, 但是学习之后, 她们应该可以在火苗中看到灵魂, / 而且房间都变暗了, 以至于可以让反映更剧烈。 看起来我们必须把女孩们送回家了, 但是我们很不情愿, 因为我们知道她们会认为这是迫害, 而且我们不想让自己和她们成为对立, / 因为我们觉得 相信它的人都是虔诚的基督徒, 诚心寻找灵魂的礼物。 安息日的晚上, 在基督教会面, 小老师认了她的罪, 并且告诉我们她如何感觉到她的灵魂束缚, 去传福音, 还说她不知道什么时候灵魂会呼唤她去, / 也许就在明天, 最晚这周末。 我们立刻处于一个进退两难的境地, 突然间我们的问题解决方案出来了, 就像上帝揭示了他的解决方案 以至于我感觉它现身了。 第二天早上, 我们去了她的教室, (17 告诉学生 我们昨天晚上之前听到了老师在说什么, 即使我们觉得就是它该有的样子, 但是我们的学校不可以没有老师的情况下开放, / 所以她们也许该回家一周, 如果我们可以找到老师, 会让她们回来的。 当然,年中很难找到一位老师。 / 她们很不情愿地走了, 当然我们也说了那很可惜, 我们也很抱歉,但是没办法,等等 是我们的责任, 因为一个老师解散了一个班级。 / 我们安排了10个学生留下来, / 然后去其它班级让她们继续学习, / 但是她们的教室空荡荡。 所以这么说的话我们的立场很明确, 不用真的做什么, 很明显,我们是对立的。 我们这一边感觉很明智地管理。 / 好了,学校目前为止很稳定。 有另一个跟我们很多年的老师, / 18 学校的核心人物:侯欣尚?? / 开始就没有什么打算, 年轻一点的老师们都没有决定。 我忘了说, 有一段时间 我们收到一点关于圣灵会出现在我们的祈祷会的消息 / / / 结果是她被传唤,必须要去。 最后,我们说我们不想让这样的消息发出, / 毫无疑问, 让他们很痛苦。 一天那个组织会议的男人的妻子收养了女儿 / / 是我们的学生, 她们回来看我,并问我她们是否可以为我祈祷。 我同意了, 但是我没有跪下, 她们同时开始祈祷, 我说:不要,不要同一时间祈祷。 她们期待的时候, 我被叫去看跑出去的学生们, 在我能回来之前, 她们停止了。 我担心这会让她们失望。 / 很多事都在这几个月发生了, (!9 / 但是我害怕这封信已经比你们能认真看下去的长度长了。 / / 几个月,这样的会议在香港召开, 还有一些正在做的事情令人作呕。 一个去了印度的美国人组织会议, / 他去了印度认为可以说这个语言 但是发现他不能用。 当Todd意思从美国回来, 有21个这样的传教士上船, / 他们以为可以说日语和中文, 但是不可以。 那个小老师声称会八种语言。 / 那个让我和Ings太太惊讶的女人说: 她能说16种, 然而其他的都是她的老师, 只能说14中, 圣灵为她揭示了。 同样的女孩在香港的学校和决定在学校教书, 她给传教士写信说 圣灵指引她的时候,她可以来, 她不知道是哪一天。 Davies回信说 她可以明天——星期二来或者根本不来, 因此她下个周二去了。 我想知道是什么结果, 不久后, Davies小姐把她保护好送回家了。 /

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Letter

Citation

Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Harriet, February 19, 1908,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed October 4, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/525.

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