Many crowd the Savior’s kingdom

Not only do newly saved ones like to meet, but revived Christians also like to meet. This was the case in the great Chefoo revival. From November 13, 1942, God began to work among the brothers and sisters. That was a Lord's Day, and I had prepared to speak a message concerning life, but the direction of the message turned, and I spoke concerning consecration instead. The brothers and sisters were touched by the Holy Spirit and were revived. After that we met daily for one hundred five days. In the perfecting meeting on December 20 the brothers and sisters sang Hymns, #472 after the message, and everyone wept. At that time the church did not formally announce meetings, but the brothers and sisters spontaneously came to the meeting hall each day to meet. On December 27 the Lord worked more strongly, and we called a special conference, which lasted until December 30. That time was full of the presence of the Spirit of God. Beginning January I, 1943, the brothers and sisters met from morning to evening. They fasted, testified, prayed, and spoke from the podium. Although we were there all day, no one was tired. Sometimes the meetings lasted ten hours, yet no one felt that the meetings were too long. The brothers and sisters were desirous of the meetings. Later, the church scheduled meetings every night at seven. Some brothers and sisters would come at five o'clock to reserve seats with their Bibles or bags. When the church realized this, regulations were made so that only people, not backpacks, bags, or Bibles, could reserve seats. We met like this for over three months.

Although Brother Nee accepted my fellowship and wanted to revise hymns containing improper rhyme patterns, he was unable to do so because he had written them in a way that if he changed a single character, the meaning would suffer some loss. Chinese Hymns, #468 and also English Hymns, #472, which says, "Many crowd the Savior's kingdom, / Few receive His cross," were both favorite hymns among us in the 1950s because they really touch one's heart. We were often brought to tears while singing them. Since we have seen more of God's central lane and His New Testament economy, we do not sing these hymns as much as before. When I worked on the second edition of the Chinese Hymns, I followed all the rules of Chinese poetry.

Concerning this matter, I must give a supplementary word. This practice actually began in 1943 during a genuine revival in Chefoo in northern China. In a meeting at the end of 1942, we sang the hymn that begins, "Many crowd the Savior's kingdom, / Few receive His cross" (Hymns, #472). At that time the saints were so moved that they were choked with tears. A few hundred brothers and sisters in the meeting hall all wept together. We met continually in this way for a hundred days. I had originally been invited to Tsingtao, and I was prepared to go and work there, but prior to my departure I could not find my ID card. During the Japanese occupation, it was difficult to travel without an ID card. Therefore, I had no choice but to remain and meet in Chefoo. Little did I know that a revival would be brought in. A few days after the beginning of the revival, I unexpectedly found my card.

This visitation and shepherding were very effective. Thus, a revival was brought in at the end of 1942. During our year-end meeting I went up to the podium and called a hymn: "Many crowd the Savior's kingdom, / Few receive His cross" (Hymns, #472). As soon as we sang the hymn, I began to weep, and everyone in the audience began to weep as well. We were all weeping, and there was not much of the preaching of the word. This was the beginning of the revival. We had meetings continuously for over one hundred days, and every day the Holy Spirit was working. The revival was so strong that all eight hundred brothers and sisters in Chefoo consecrated themselves not only once but multiple times. Whenever the saints came together to meet, some would bring jewelry for an offering, and others would bring clothes. If someone was touched by the Lord concerning his jewelry, he would offer up his jewelry with tears; if he was touched concerning his clothes, he would offer up his clothes as well. In less than a month the brothers and sisters had offered up all their stocks, bank deposits, houses, farms, land, furniture, sewing machines, bicycles, and more. The offerings were so abundant that we had to divide ourselves into teams after every meeting to count and catalog the items. The machine team was responsible for counting items such as sewing machines and phonographs, the stock team was responsible for counting stocks, and the bank-account team was responsible for counting saving accounts. In addition, there was a clothing team, a property team, a cash team, and so forth. The counting took at least one to two hours every night. These brothers and sisters not only gave material offerings and consecrated themselves individually, but they also consecrated themselves household by household. They consecrated their children, spouses, and parents to the church.

While the church in Shanghai was in a big turmoil, a revival began in Chefoo at the end of 1942. In 1940 I returned to Chefoo and rearranged the practical service of the church according to the blueprint that I had seen with Brother Nee. I established the elders' office and the deacons' office with various services. Within two years a revival was brought in. In the summer of 1942 I was invited to preach the gospel in Tsingtao and stayed there for two months. In addition to preaching the gospel, I gave messages to edify the saints. The number of people in the church grew from about one hundred to more than three hundred. Within a period of two months, more than two hundred people were baptized. Then I returned to Chefoo to continue leading the church. At the end of the year, a revival came in. On the last Lord's Day of the year, I called a hymn: "Many crowd the Savior's kingdom, / Few receive His cross" (Hymns, #472). As soon as we began to sing, I wept, and the entire congregation also wept. I did not say much in the message. This was how the revival began.

...Let me give you a testimony. On December 31, 1942, we were having a meeting in Chefoo. In the middle of the meeting I picked a hymn:

Many crowd the Savior's kingdom,
Few receive His cross;
Many seek His consolation,
Few will suffer loss.
For the dear sake of the Master,
Counting all but dross....

Hymns, #472

When we sang that hymn, everyone in the meeting wept. That day there were about five hundred people in that meeting. Everyone was weeping. I could not sing either. I had to cry with everyone else. The next day was the first day of 1943, and everyone came together again. After this we met continuously for one hundred days. Every day that we met the number of attendants grew more and more. The hall was filled with people inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs. All the rooms, big or small, were filled with people. No one was idle; no one dropped his job. But every day people walked to the meeting from their homes. There were no cars then. Even the sisters walked every day for half an hour to the meeting hall....

We saw that when money was not released by the brothers and sisters, there was no way for genuine revival to occur. On December 13, 1942, the Lord did a work among us. That afternoon I was preparing to preach a message on life. We had been preaching messages on life for two or three years, but that afternoon my message took a turn. From that day forward, we saw that God's gospel can never be released as long as the problem with money is not settled.

Today God cannot be released because the gospel cannot be released, and the gospel cannot be released because money cannot be released. I know that in a certain denomination in a certain place, a few rich people put their money together and built a chapel. Yet the men themselves were still collecting debts and exacting high interest on loans. Can God be released under such circumstances? At that time some brothers in Chefoo had been without jobs for over a year. Some sisters had even taken up embroidery work, which required fine labor but did not allow them to earn much money. As a result, not much was received from the offering box. For six months we received nothing from the offering box designated for the co-worker sisters. But on that day there was a great difference in offering; many envelopes were received. The offering was not a result of my preaching. On the twentieth, which was the following Lord's Day, I went up to the platform again. We sang Hymns, #472, and many were moved to tears. They realized that the gospel had not been released because they had been holding back their money. By the next Lord's Day, the twenty-seventh, the Lord's work was even stronger, and we felt that we had to meet every day. Beginning January 1, 1943, which was a holiday, we began to have conferences that lasted from ten o'clock in the morning until six o'clock in the afternoon. One brother was sick and could not sleep at night. The Lord touched him and asked him to consecrate himself. He could not resist the Lord, and in the end he yielded everything. In this way about six to seven hundred people all consecrated everything to the Lord. Some consecrated their grant deeds. Others consecrated their stocks and shares. Many consecrated themselves for the work in northwest China. This lasted for three and a half months. We met every day for over one hundred days. One day I said, "Who is willing to go to northwest China for the gospel's sake?" Almost everyone stood up. Many were willing to move their whole family, including all their wealth, for the gospel's sake. The first group that went were laborers with lowly occupations, farmers, and manual workers. The second group that went had better occupations. Some were nurses, others were doctors or men with capital. The third group that went out were the preachers and the co-workers. When the first group moved out, it shocked the whole city of Chefoo, because the outsiders had reckoned that we would never be able to do this.

This kind of revival went on for three months, and we got ourselves into big troubles. This does not mean that we purposely tried to get ourselves into trouble. All the brothers and sisters had consecrated everything. What should we do now? The brothers and sisters had emptied out their hearts and had offered up all their belongings. Some came laughing, while others came weeping. But all came with their belongings. For two nights we waited on the Lord until after midnight, and we discussed again and again what we should do. After the bread-breaking meeting on March 14, we told the saints what they should do after they have consecrated themselves. During this period everyone became involved in this revival. Many dared not even touch their clothes when they went home. The minute they touched them, the Lord would ask them to consecrate. If they kept anything back, they would not have any peace. But when they offered up everything, they had peace.