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that we must have a special afternoon meeting at the little mud-thatched church to set

forth that momentous subject.

About an hour before the time for the service the patriarch hobbled out of his gate
on his crutched and moved down the street of his village to “invite” the villagers to

the meeting.

He spied a fellow standing on the top rung of a ladder repairing the thatch on his
roof. “Come down from there!” commanded Mr. Hu, “don‟t you know the pastor is

going to preach on the coming of Christ? Get your family and hurry over to the
church!” Immediately he began to back down the ladder.

A moment later he addressed a man behind the counter of his store. “Where‟s your

daughter?” inquired Mr. Hu. “In the back yard,” replied the proprietor. “Call her to
come and wait on the trade and you and your wife and your son come over to the
church to hear the pastor preach on the return of Christ.” “Hao, hao—Ma sang chiu
lai!” “Good! I will be there with the speed of a horseman!”

Further down the road in an open space a yokel stood holding a cow by a line
fastened to a ring in her nose, while she contentedly ate her hay. “Hitch that thing!”
yelled Mr. Hu, “why should you stand there like a wooden man when the pastor is

preaching on the coming of Christ? Make no delay in coming to the church.”

The little church, needless to say, was jammed beyond capacity and the people
stood in the courtyard. For an hour and a half the old gentleman sat erect on a

backless bench six inches wide and listened with rapt interest to the message of the
near advent of Christ in the light of fulfilled prophecy.

The meeting over, we felt the old gentleman should get back to his home as

quickly as possible. We had a Harley Davidson motorcycle with side-car in the
courtyard and persuaded the old gentleman to entrust himself to that outrageously
noisy contraption.

We packed him in the side-car—crutches and all. He was not entirely happy and
looked a little rueful as we threw our leg over to kick off the starter. When the engine
started with a series of deafening explosions the old gentleman‟s face was a study in
the fear of fortitude. We whirled out of the courtyard and onto the undulating dirt road.

The steel rimmed wheels of countless ox-carts had transformed the road into little

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