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occasion has given parlor narrations of stories from his knowledge and experience, he

has been urged by some friends to take advantage of the tide of interest in things
Chinese and commit such stories to writing for secular consumption. This, to date, we
have had neither time nor inclination to do, having been called to preach the Gospel.

However, we have told the stories submitted herewith that bear testimony to the
power of God in the hearts of members of this lovable and ancient race to so many
audiences and with such obvious evidences of interest and inspiration, that we have
acceded to an oft-repeated demand to commit them to writing.

Regeneration in no sense denationalizes these folks, so in describing them both
before and after this supernatural event ha occurred to them, we have striven to avoid
obscuring their natural characteristics or etching personalities that are strangers to

their background of environment.

It may be noted that the distinctly indigenous Chinese flavor of the first three
chapters largely disappears in the later stories. The reason is not far to seek. The

characters portrayed in the latter chapters are of modern China, and in their habits of
living and thinking have been so largely Westernized that to cast them in the ancient
mold would be a literary absurdity.

Just a word about the title, “Incense-Bearers of Han.” HAN is the old name for
China proper, the area that comprises the eighteen provinces and excludes Manchuria,
Tibet and other out-lying provinces. The “incense-bearers” we have derived from the
thought contained in the passage of scripture, II Corinthians chapter two, verses

fourteen to sixteen. The following translation of this scripture is particularly
impressive: “Now thanks be unto God Who always causeth us to triumph in Christ.
For by me he sendeth forth the knowledge of God, a stream of fragrant incense
throughout the earth. For Christ‟s is the fragrance that I offer up to God in them who

are saved and in them who are lost. To these it is an odor of death, to these an odor of
life.”

The picture seems to be of a triumphal procession of one of the Roman conquerors.

The conqueror rides on a white steed at the head of the column, followed by the
Vestal Virgins, each of whom holds a censer containing fragrant incense which they
swing as they march along. Behind them comes chained a group of the captives of
war, half of whom will be that day executed when the parade is over and the other

half will be released to return to their own country. The odor of fragrant incense, an

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