Page:The Chinese Empire. A General & Missionary Survey.djvu/145

 Mr. Duncan of the China Inland Mission was the first Protestant missionary to work in Nanking. He reached the city in 1867, travelling viâ Soochow and Chinkiang. His first lodging was in the Drum-tower—a conspicuous landmark in Nanking—where he rented a room from the Buddhist priest in charge of the building. Communication with the coast was difficult in those days, and it came to pass that Mr. Duncan's funds were exhausted. His servant had contributed his scanty store, but in spite of the utmost frugality that too was almost gone. One morning as Mr. Duncan was leaving his lodging to go to his daily task of street preaching his servant asked anxiously, "What shall we do now, teacher? The money is all used up." "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed," was the cheery reply. When Mr. Duncan returned at night, weary from the long day's work, the servant was looking out for him, and seeing him afar off, he ran to tell him the good news. Mr. Rudland had come in from Shanghai that very day and their need was met. "Of course," was Mr. Duncan's reply; "God said 'verily thou shalt be fed,' and He is always to be trusted."

To-day Nanking is one of the great missionary centres of China. The Methodist Episcopal and the Foreign Christian Mission have both large hospitals and well-equipped colleges in the city. The other missions, working in the city and district, are too numerous to be mentioned seriatim, but it may be asserted that, with the exception of Shanghai and possibly Peking, there is no city in China which has such a large body of missionaries or such magnificent institutions. Mr. Duncan died at Torquay in 1872. He never saw the fruit of his labours. Like Paul in Athens, his soul was stirred as he saw a great cultured city wholly given to idolatry, and, without a home, without a friend, he wandered daily from temple to temple, from tea-shop to tea-shop, telling to all who would listen the story of a Saviour's love. Could he revisit the city now how delighted he would be to see the progress that has