Everlasting Pearl

Everlasting Pearl, by Anna
Magdalena

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Everlasting Pearl, by Anna Magdalena
Johannsen, et al
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Everlasting Pearl One of China's Women
Author: Anna Magdalena Johannsen

Release Date: September 24, 2006 [eBook #19365]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
EVERLASTING PEARL***
E-text prepared by Al Haines

Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which

includes the original illustrations. See 19365-h.htm or 19365-h.zip:
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/9/3/6/19365/19365-h/19365-h.htm) or
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/9/3/6/19365/19365-h.zip)

EVERLASTING PEARL
One of China's Women
by
ANNA MAGDALENA JOHANNSEN
For Sixteen Years a Missionary in China
With Preface by Walter B. Sloan
Second Impression

[Frontispiece: EVERLASTING PEARL. The photo was taken after her
marriage to Mr. Lü.]

China Inland Mission London, Philadelphia, Toronto, Melbourne and
Shanghai Morgan & Scott, Ltd. 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E.C.
MCMXVIII
First Edition October 1913 Reprinted January 1918 Completing 5000
copies

PREFACE
Thirty-five years ago missionary work was commenced in the city of
Yüshan, situated on the Kwangsin River in Kiangsi, one of the central
Provinces of China.

The conversion of "Everlasting Pearl," which is the subject of the
following narrative, is a part of the harvest which has been reaped in
later years by the missionaries of the China Inland Mission, who still
continue to carry on the work in this city and neighbourhood.
In April of last year I had the privilege of spending ten days there, and
of addressing the Church on the Sundays. On the first Monday morning
we watched, with great interest, the departure of some of the country
Christians to their homes. The party consisted of a simple-looking
company of men and women, clad in the plain blue garments that the
country people usually wear. The men were walking, but the few
women, with their diminutive feet, were perched on barrows, and one
of them was pointed out as being "evangelist, pastor, and Biblewoman,
all rolled into one," in the district from which they all came. This was
the woman, a part of whose life-story is told in this book, and after
reading the many striking incidents which it contains, I gladly welcome
the opportunity afforded me of writing a brief introduction.
Even as a study of human life, the story is one that is full of interest. It
takes us far away from the ordinary beaten track right into the heart of
China; and so intimate is the writer's acquaintance with the habits and
customs of the people, that there are few, even of those who know
Chinese life well, who will not be able to learn something from reading
these pages.
The Chinese are a people of strong character; and although this woman
stands out as being possessed of marked ability and determination,
there are other lives of which we catch a glimpse in which similar
features can be clearly discerned.
It is, however, as an illustration of the power of the Gospel, in the heart
of one who was brought up in heathenism, that the narrative possesses
its supreme interest. In this case from the time when the great decision
was made, after long resistance, to yield to Christ and trust in Him,
there was no going back. We read of many trials, sorrows, testings, but
the onward and upward course is steadily maintained.
The religious devotee, when converted, always makes a better disciple

than the person who has been entirely indifferent to the concerns of the
soul; and so it was in the case of "Everlasting Pearl." She clung
strongly to the vow that she had taken when she became a vegetarian,
and on this account she long withstood the claims of the Gospel; but
when at last she heard the call of Christ, then she turned to Him in full
surrender and whole-hearted obedience, and became a burning and a
shining light amongst her relatives and neighbours.
The reader will observe the record of not a few dreams and visions in
the story; but instead of these tending to discredit its truthfulness, they
will only confirm it to those who know the life of the people of this
class in China.
The statement is constantly being made that the Gospel spreads more
through the life and testimony of the converts themselves than by the
work of the missionaries. The way in which this woman was brought to
Christ, and the way in which she led others to Him, illustrates this fact;
but truth is many-sided, and here we also see how large a ministry there
still is