one donkey and
the promise of another, is suspended as to membership for twelve
months, and is forbidden the chapel for three months.

'I am not bright about Ta Cheng Tz[)u], as you may suppose. Worse
than the stealing case is that of the head man, Li San, who says
that he was promised employment before he became a Christian! The
ten days we passed there we were the song of the drunkard and the
jest of the abjects; but the peace of God _passes all
understanding_, and that kept my heart and mind. We put a calm
front on; put out our stand daily, and carried ourselves as if
nothing had happened.

'The great thought in my mind these days, and the great object of
my life, is to be like Christ. As He was in the world, so are we to
be. He was in the world to manifest God; we are in the world to
manifest Christ. Is that not so? Iniquities, I must confess,
prevail against me; but as contamination of sin flows to us from
Adam, does not regenerating power flow into us from Christ? Is it
not so?'

Meanwhile work was going steadily forward and some impression was being
made. He made a flying visit to Tientsin and Peking in the autumn, but
was soon back at his post. In his report of work for the year he is able
to point to progress.

'1888 has been a tumultuous year. In December, at Ch'ao Yang, there
was a sudden irruption of men and boys to learn the doctrine.
Evening after evening we had from twenty to fifty people in our
rooms to evening worship. We hardly knew how to account for it, but
did all we could to teach as many as we could. The cold weather
finally did much to stop the overcrowding, but there was good
interest kept up among many till the end of the year.

'The baptisms for the year were, at Ta Cheng Tz[)u], two; Ta Ss[)u]
Kou, two; Ch'ao Yang, eight; total, twelve adults, all Chinese.

'One man has been put out, so that the numbers stand as follows: Ta
Cheng Tz[)u], four; Ta Ss[)u] Kou, three; Ch'ao Yang, nine; total,
sixteen, all Chinese.

'Three adults, Chinese, were baptized ten days ago, and I hope to
baptize two children next Sunday; but we have almost no promising
adherents here at present. There are three entire families
Christian, with Christian emblems on their door-posts; another
family is Christian, but cannot fly the colours on the d