Sketches from Formosa.

230
SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA
tunities for speaking personally to the people about things
pertaining to the Kingdom.
On I4th May he went to the thriving town of Tang-sikak
where, among the intelligent Hakka population, he
says that " God set before me an open door, and enabled
me to speak the Truth with a warm heart." One hundred
and nineteen little pamphlets were sold in this place ;
fifty-four of them having been purchased by a man in
comfortable circumstances for distribution among his
friends and neighbours. An old native doctor, the sign
of whose shop is " Golden Longevity," was particularly
pleased to listen to all that was said, and showed no
small degree of hospitality to the preacher.
That same day, he journeyed on to Tang-toa-tun (now
called Tai-tiong or Taichu) and there, too, he was
strengthened to preach the Word with love and boldness.
In one part of this important centre, a great many persons
were busily engaged in gambling, but they were not at all
displeased when our Brother asked them to hear what he
had to say. Their attention was at once arrested when
Pa began by declaring that he was formerly a notorious
gambler himself, and guilty of much more wickedness in
the sight of God.
I well know how it would go on. He would tell them
a great deal about himself, past and present. He would
have them in shrieks of laughter the one minute, and
anxious lest they should lose a word the next. The
compassion and the grace of God working in his own life,
and ready now to bring blessing unto them, would be the
burden of his message. He could not but speak of the
things which he has both seen and heard. There is not a
little of the born orator about Mr. Li Pa, and it is a rich
treat to watch the provoking good-nature and shrewd
mother-wit with which he can reply to all objections.
I have known him now for many years, and rejoice over