when they were always unarmed, they determined to surround the house on one of these occasions, and destroy all those assembled,—cutting off afterwards any individuals who might not have been present. They obtained the sanction of the Tao-tai, the chief civil magistrate of the place, to this plot; which might have been carried out—as was a similar one against the Portuguese a few months afterwards;—but a native, who was acquainted with the design, had a friend in the service of one of the missionaries; he warned this friend of the coming danger, and urged his leaving foreign employ. The servant made the matter known to his master, and thus the missionaries were apprised of their danger. They determined to meet together at the house of one of their number to seek the protection of the Most High, and to hide under the shadow of His wings. Nor did they thus meet in vain.
At the very time that they were praying, the Lord was working. He led an inferior mandarin,—the superintendent of customs,—to call on the Tao-tai and remonstrate with him on the folly of permitting such an attempt"; which, he assured him, would rouse the foreigners in other parts to come with armed forces to avenge the death of their countrymen, and raze the city to the ground. The Tao-tai replied, that when the foreigners came for that purpose, he should deny all knowledge of, or complicity in, the plot; and so turn their vengeance against the Cantonese, who would, in their turn, be destroyed; "and thus," said he, "we shall get rid of Cantonese and foreigners by one stroke of policy." The superintendent of customs assured him that all such attempts at evasion would be useless; and, finally, the Tao-tai sent to the Cantonese, withdrawing his permission, and prohibiting the attack. This took place at the very time when we were asking protection of the Lord; though we did not become acquainted with the facts until some weeks had elapsed. Thus we proved that
"Sufficient was His arm alone,
And our defence was sure."
And not only have we in this, and in many other circumstances of external danger, found Him "a very present help in trouble;" we have likewise experienced His faithfulness in supplying our temporal wants, in answer to prayer. A few instances may be referred to. In the latter part of the year 1857, having been nursing a missionary brother who died of small-pox,[1] it was necessary to lay aside the clothing which had been worn in attendance on him, for fear of conveying the contagion to others. Being at this time in possession of less money than was requisite to procure what was needed, prayer was the only resource. The Lord answered it by the unexpected arrival of a box of clothing left some months before in Swatow, in the south of China.
- ↑ The Rev. J. W. Quarterman, of the American Presbyterian Mission North.
