272
Report of the Ophthalmic Hospital.
MAY,
fluence. The operation immediately proceeded, the tumor was extir- pated, and the arteries-unexpectedly numerous and large-were tied. The patient awoke from the lethean sleep with slight sickness, but it sox n subsided. He suffered comparatively little, either during or sub- sequent to the operation, and on the 4th of July was ready to com- mence his long journey home. The evening preceding his departure, he presented a note expressive of his gratitude, of which the following is a translation.
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Presenting myself before the bench of Dr. Parker, the celebrated American physician, bowing my head to the earth, I beg leave to return thanks for his favor.
“I, your inferior, am obliged to you the venerable doctor, for healing my disease, for which my sense of gratitude is difficult to name. I ain also under obligations for your superabounding humanity, inasmuch as whatever I have asked, you have been ever ready to bestow, which to eternal agés I shall not forget.
"Now upon the fifteenth of this month (4th July, 1849), I am to pro- ceed with my friends to Kweichau; and after returning home, I shall every day burn incense and light candles, and bowing my head to the ground, return thanks to the deified Jesus, and to God, the Majesty of Heaven. I shall, moreover, write their names upon cards, and will widely disseminate them among all the people, in order to make some return for their great favors; and life after life, age after age, my sense of gratitude will not be slight.
"With solemnity I write this [acknowledgement], and reverently thanking you, respectfully present my wishes for your golden tranquil- lity. Worshipfully, your inferior Sü Changfú.”
This gentleman was an attentive listener to Christian instruction during his residence in the hospital, and it was painful to perceive from this note how imperfect the views he had formed of religion. His departure being unexpectedly delayed a day, it afforded an opportunity for correcting his error, and imparting to him further instruction, and impressing upon him that the heart alone is requir ed in the worship of the true God, and not the burning of incense and candles as in the worship of idols It has been suguested by an intelligent Chinese, that the epithet "deified Jesus" had been suggest- ed by his understanding of the divine and human nature of Christ. This case is of interest as illustrating some of the difficulties in impart ing Scripheal truths to the heathen mind,
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