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130 CHINA MISSION YKAR BOOK.which greatly hindered the work for the remainder ofthe year.The doors of Manchuria have been closed to us, itseemed, until the summer of 1908, when the Lord stirredup Brother Peyton Stephens to make another attemptin behalf of our North China Mission. In the summer,with two evangelists, he made the first trip to look outthe land, and, following the line of railway, the} preachedthe good news as far as Harbin.Central China. Shanghai, Soochow, Chinkiang, andYangchow.The year 1907 is made memorable by the visit ofDr. and Mrs. Willingham. Never before in the historyof the Southern Baptist Convention has a secretary ofthe Foreign Mission Board seen with his own eyes thevast field in which we are laboring and come faceto face with the multitudes we are trying to save.Our strongest church is, of course, the Old NorthGate Church, established by Dr. Yates. It is largelydirected by a group of earnest young men and Pastor\Vu. These young men have also supported and conducted a school in connection with one of the chapelsand have held a large number of evangelistic services.During the summer they conducted a series of specialmeetings running through several weeks, in which muchfaithful and effective preaching was done. The Cantonese church is a specially encouraging part of ourShanghai work.Brother McCrea is trying to open work in Changchowfu,a large prefectural city just half way betweenChinkiang and Soochow. He says of this place: "Itis on the Grand Canal and its occupation will close upthe last gap between the eastern and the western sectionof our Mission and will complete the famous Yatestriangle which is mentioned in his biography andwhich he wished to occupy over thirty years ago.This has not yet been done through lack of workers.