A Sermon Preached by the Rev. A. N. Rowland in Union Church, Shanghai, Sept. 9, 1923
Text: Watching Jesus they saw the earthquake." Matt, 27.54.
The word-translated "watching" strictly means "keeping," so we will read It, "They saw the earthquake, Keeping their eyes on Jesus." Sometimes the sorrows of the world are on such a scale and of such intensity that they are, as it were, staged. for us. They are always with us-~-I want to make that clear at the beginning. There is no new factor introduced by this earthquake for the trial of our faith, as is so often suggested. Whatever has gone to the making of this catastrophe, in its seeming injustice, is always a= work somewhere or other on the face of the earth. But in one day and in one place the forces that hide the kindness of God have been dramatized, perhaps to point some lesson, at least to make us think. Even those who have tried to keep their thoughts within the Shanghai triangle of drinks, dollars and dancing, or at any rate the things that are related to appetite or ambition, have found themselves concerned with a matter of wide human interest, and one that raises questions about God. The invisible has spoken loud enough at last for them to hear.
Tet us think over some of the manta] reactions that have been caused. First we must have noticed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.