JESUS, I MY CROSS HAVE TAKEN

Jesus, I my cross have taken,

All to leave and follow thee; Naked, poor, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shalt be. Perish every fond ambition,

All I've sought, or hoped, or known; Yet how rich is my condition!

God and heaven are still my own.

Let the world despise and leave me;
They have left my Saviour, too;
Human hearts and looks deceive me-
Thou art not, like them, untrue;
And while thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate, and friends disown me;
Show thy face and all is bright.

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure;
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain;
In thy service pain is pleasure;
With thy favor loss is gain.

I have called thee, Abba, Father,
I have set my heart on thee;
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather;
All must work for good to me.

Man may trouble and distress me;

"Twill but drive me to thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me;
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
O, 'tis not in grief to harm me,

While thy joy is left to me!
O, 'twere not in joy to charm me,
Were that joy unmixed with thee!

Soul, then know thy full salvation;
Rise o'er sin, and fear and care;

Joy to find in every station
Something still to do or bear.

Think what Spirit dwells within thee;
Think what Father's smiles are thine;
Think that Jesus died to win thee;
Child of heaven, canst thou repine?

Haste thee on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer;
Heaven's eternal days before thee,
God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission,
Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days;
Hope shall change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

Henry Francis Lyte.

CHAPTER VII

THE FIRST TWO YEARS ON THE FIELD

Yes, we need along life's pathway,

Feet with patience shod;

Faith to wait and not grow weary,

Lives that love to plod.

SIMPSON.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose.ST. PAUL.

E now come to the beginning of that period of Mrs. Farmer's life which was so wholly consecrated to the service of God, and used by the Master to extend His kingdom in dark Kuangsi. Happily, she has left in her diaries and letters-from which we have already begun to quote in Chapter V, a record sufficiently full to enable us to place before our readers a well-ordered and connected history of her entire missionary career. These letters and diaries were not written with the thought that they would appear in print, for their contents were jotted down in an artless and simple style; but they are invaluable as an index to her inner life and character. As one reads them he is made conscious of the fact that he is not reading the life of an ordinary Christian, but a saint. The deepest spirit of prayer and communion with God breathes throughout the pages, and one is made to feel that he is treading upon holy ground. The same desire and longing for a holier and better life seizes the heart of the reader as he peruses the daily entries of her journal. One perceives the same saintliness and fragrance of devotion as when reading the records of Madame Guyon, Hester Ann Rogers, and other saintly women, whose lives and writings have blessed the world.

The gospel of the grace of God in human lives, when allowed to have full sway, will ever produce the same beautiful flowers and glorious fruits of devotion, self-denial, and saintliness of character. The gospel of Jesus Christ ever evinces one of its divine credentials, in the fact that it is not restricted to any clime, time, or nation of people. Unlike the flowers and fruits of earth, which are dependent upon different latitudes and soils in order to flourish, the gospel seed has in it that quality of divine universality that causes it to thrive in any soil of the human heart that will meet the conditions for its reception. Other systems may meet some of the needs of a particular people, but the gospel meets every need of the whole world! The results are ever the same, whether it be sainthood of Paul's day, the Middle Ages, or the present.

These few letters and diaries constitute the most precious legacy which could have been left by my dear wife. As I read them my heart is made to continually lift itself in prayer and communion with God, and my soul is made to hunger and thirst after righteousness and to strive for the full attainment of those high ideals and aspirations which come to the soul in its best moments.

The record also reveals that there were many temptations and obstacles thrown in her path, which she most victoriously overcame; and it emphasizes anew the old truth, that the path from earth to heaven is not a smooth one and does not always lead by mossy beds of flowers, but that rugged mountains and burning deserts lie between the Christian and the sublime heights of strong Christian character.

We shall try as far as possible to let the record of this period be told in her own words; but, our lives and work having been such a unit it is difficult to avoid intruding self, especially where we are compelled to supply the thread of the narrative.

The annual meeting of the South China Mission began the day after her arrival in Wucheo, which was the Sabbath, and continued for a week. Her journal is largely a résume of the devotional exercises of that conference. At the close of her first Sabbath in China she writes, "I can

not tell the joy of my soul for really being in China." The conference was a busy time and she thoroughly enjoyed each session. Her deeply spiritual nature eagerly responded to the devotional exercises in which she took a part, and her clear mind did not fail to grasp firm hold of the various problems of mission polity and administration.

When Mrs. Farmer came to China, the central receiving home at Wucheo, although in process of construction, had not been completed; consequently, not only during the busy conference days was she crowded into a small room with four or five others in a poorly built Chinese house remodeled to some extent for the use of the mission, but even for some little time after conference, she had to live almost without privacy and convenience which are so much prized by Western people. She never complained; but joyfully began her language study and other duties incidental to a missionary's first year in a mission land. It was enough for her that Christ had chosen and sent her to be His mouthpiece to speak the words of life to the women of China, if He would only bless and use her for His glory. She realized that she came to China to be a soldier of the cross of Jesus Christ, and those first days of what may be called camp life were typical of the subsequent years of her missionary career; for her love for Christ and her zeal to preach His gospel where it had not been heard caused her lot at times to be cast in any but comfortable circumstances. She was a true pioneer, and few missionary women have had to live under more trying conditions than she. But she was a true servant of Christ and well knew that happiness and success did not depend upon environment, but upon doing the will of God in His time and place.

At the time of her arrival in China, she was one of the first women to be appointed to work among the Mandarinspeaking women of Kuangsi; and, as previously said, the only station in that section was at Kweilin, the capital of the province, and was occupied by two young men. Since there was no opportunity to study the language among the Mandarin women, she resolutely and bravely began to do so at Wucheo, the dialect of which place is very dissimilar in