General Conference Bulletin, vol. 6
Missionary Talks
W. A. Spicer, C. P. Bollman, I. H. Evans, C. M. Snow, T. E. Bowen
EXPERIENCES IN CHINA
Thursday, May 27, 6 A. M.
J. N. Anderson: I think it is commonly supposed that China is a unit. It is under one government and one system of laws, but in other respects it is almost as diversified as Europe. There are a great many different languages. Sometimes they are spoken of as dialects; the fact is, however, that they are distinct languages. GCB May 31, 1909, page 229.4
So far we have workers who speak five of the different languages of China and are conducting missionary work therein. The Mandarin language is spoken with variations in fifteen out of the eighteen provinces, speaking broadly. On the coast we have several different languages. For instance, in the Shanghai district, where our work has been lately taken up, we have a distinct language, spoken by twenty or thirty millions of people. Our headquarters have been located there, because we can reach all parts of the empire more readily from that place. However, even with the best communication that China affords, it takes a long time to reach the more distant parts of the empire. The distance is about 2,500 miles from Shanghai to the border of Tibet, and it takes six weeks to make the journey from Shanghai to the province of Sichuan. The workers who go to the province of Kan-su must take two months to reach that place. One method of travel to these upper provinces is by boat up the Yang-tse-Kiang River. One or two hundred coolies pull these boats up the narrow gorges through the rapids. Thus you see the workers who will be placed in Kan-su will be farther removed from our headquarters in China than our headquarters there are from this country, counting distance by the length of time taken to reach their station. GCB May 31, 1909, page 229.5
There is still another language spoken by the people in part of the province of Chehkia and the province of Fu-kien. Down in the southern part of Fu-kien we have work started. We have two foreign missionaries located at Amoy. The language of Formosa, where there are something like 3,000,000 people, is nearly the same as that of Amoy. We are to have Formosa annexed to our field since the language is Chinese. As we indicated the other day, we are planning to build a school about twenty-five miles inland from Amoy. The first will be a boys’ school, but we hope to add a girls’ school later. There are 10,000,000 people who speak the Amoyese. The people in Singapore are very largely Amoyese, as are also those who come to this country. The Cantonese understand only that language. So you see this school will do service for a great number of people. We are calling for $2,500 with which to start that school, and we hope to have it in operation very soon. GCB May 31, 1909, page 229.6
The workers at Amoy are Elder Hankins and wife and Elder B. L. Anderson and wife. Brother Hankins has been there four years, and my brother (B. L. Anderson) has been there three years. A very fine work has been opened up in that province, largely due to Elder Keh, who is a native, and who accepted the truth five years ago. He is a man of large experience, an intellectual man, born of Christian parents. Of course, the great advantage that he has is that he is a Chinese. He understands some things that we foreigners can not possibly enter into. It does not matter how long we are there, we can never become what the Chinese are to their own people. He is of Chinese blood; he understands the likes and dislikes of his own people; and whenever he looks over a congregation, he reads them at once, and knows just what to say and how to say it. Our way of appealing to their minds and hearts never can be exactly the same as the ways of the Chinese, because we always carry with us so much that is foreign to that people. Our arguments, our way of putting things, in fact, everything about us, is more or less covered up with foreign ideas or notions, which, of course, are a part of us. So Brother Keh is a help to our work almost beyond estimate. He is an ordained minister, one in whom we have all confidence, and has as good an understanding of this message as any of you who sit in this congregation, and better than many of us, including the workers, because he has a tremendous amount of energy and ambition. He lays hold of things with a seriousness that gives him success. GCB May 31, 1909, page 229.7
I might tell you the little story of how he came to accept this message. There was a young man by the name of Timothy Kay who had come up from Singapore, and who had been taught by our Brother Munson. As there were so many around Singapore who spoke the Amoy language, Timothy Kay was sent up to Amoy to learn that language, that he might be able to use it in working for the people who spoke it in that section. So he attended the London Mission School at Amoy, and, being a man of great deal of enthusiasm, he determined to make converts. He called at Canton on his way up, and said, “I have made up my mind that the Lord must give me one good, faithful worker.” GCB May 31, 1909, page 229.8
He did not get any young man that I know of out of this school, but he did meet Elder Keh, who was an ordained minister of the English Presbyterian Church, a very pillar of their work in that country. The latter’s attitude was at first antagonistic. But Timothy saw him to be a man of a great deal of Christian earnestness and enthusiasm, and so he addressed himself to the task of setting him right on the doctrines we hold. For that reason he would oftentimes meet with him and talk with him in a personal way, and they frequently went out to the hills, where they would not only converse together but pray together over these questions. But Timothy was more set in his ways than Elder Keh, and they are both men of a great deal of perseverance and backbone. After reading the Scripture, and praying, and talking about these things, Brother Keh began to feel that his position was not as secure as he had thought. Little by little the truth began to take root in his mind, and by and by he accepted the whole truth. I do not know a man who has a larger hold on the message, and believes it more firmly and intelligently, than Elder Keh. GCB May 31, 1909, page 229.9
After his conversion to the truth, he came down to Canton for additional instruction. Elder Keh had a great deal of respect and very tender feelings toward the foreign missionaries who had been with him all these years, and he was naturally in a quandary to know what to do about being baptized. This was five years ago last summer. He returned to teach for a time among the English Presbyterians, with whom he had been associated formerly; but his change of views led to his resignation. Not long afterward he was turned out of the church, and his former friends came to look upon him with suspicion, because he had taken what appeared to them to be a very strange stand. Even to this day, he is not looked upon by his former associates with feelings of real Christian love, although he still holds their confidence in his integrity and sincerity. GCB May 31, 1909, page 230.1
News of the conversion of Brother Keh has spread widely, we find, in that part of China. We met a man who lives about ten miles from Canton, who began to remonstrate with us for circulating Sabbath calendars, and thus confusing many; and he also took us to task for getting a man in Amoy. We told him that we had not sought to get him out of his former faith and belief, but that when he sought us, we had simply read the Scriptures to him, and that he accepted them as they read. We find many people who have learned of his conversion. GCB May 31, 1909, page 230.2
I have often said that Brother Keh is, in some respects, worth five of us foreigners. He speaks the Amoyese language fluently, and has considerable knowledge of the Cantonese, and knows somewhat of the Mandarin; and he is able to do practical work in the Chaochow, often known as the Hoklo language. Brother Keh has set himself to the task of learning the English language. He wishes to read the writings of Mrs. E. G. White, and other of our literature, in the English original. He feels the importance of this, and wishes to have the English language at his command. In fact, he is actually getting hold of it, but he finds that it is somewhat more difficult to learn the English than it was to learn some of the Chinese dialects. GCB May 31, 1909, page 230.3
I will refer again briefly to our proposed school. We plan to start a school at a place called Dogan, where there are ten or twelve believers already; and we expect some children to come from Chuanchoo and other parts. For some time our brethren have had difficulty there, because those in authority insisted that we should contribute to the support of their gods and their temple service. Under the imperial edict, those who accept the Christian religion are not under the necessity of doing this; but our native converts were assured that the clans among whom they were living were so powerful that the imperial decrees would not be heeded. GCB May 31, 1909, page 230.4
The situation became such that we feared a riot there, and so took counsel over the situation, and sent Elder Keh up to see what might be done. He called all the elders of the clan together, and told them what Christianity is, how this situation had arisen, and that we would be pleased to do all we could in supporting public works or in doing what we could for the public welfare of the community, but that we could not support their temple service. At the close of this talk, the men were given a feast; and since the feast our people have not been solicited further to contribute to the support of the gods. In China, a feast goes far toward making friends. GCB May 31, 1909, page 230.5
Down on the coast, at Swatow, we learned of five or six hundred people who stood together, and wished the gospel preached to them. Other missionaries had been invited, but did not feel free to go. There were a good many Catholics in those parts. This group of inquiries sent a representative to us, and asked us to send them some one to help them. We responded by sending Brother J. P. Anderson. You may read of his royal reception as he approached the village. GCB May 31, 1909, page 230.6
After one of the meetings held by Brother Anderson some time after his arrival, a man who had been in attendance was waylaid about a mile and a half from the village, and stabbed in the leg. The wound was serious, and blood flowed profusely. Those who were with this man naturally thought that Brother Anderson was a physician because he was a foreigner. So they brought him back, and by the time he had reached the missionary’s home, a large crowd of excited people had gathered about him. Brother Anderson and a native worker had retired in an upper room. When they heard this demonstration of several hundred people who were talking about what had happened, they feared to come down at first. But the natives insisted that the missionary should come down and dress the wound; so he came down, and did the best he could for the man who had been stabbed. Fortunately, he had some knowledge of how to deal with such a case. By wrapping a cord tightly above the wound, he stopped the flow of blood, and then he filled the wound with flour. The treatment was successful. Some time afterward I saw the wound, and it had healed nicely. Incidentally, I might say that this shows what our missionaries may be called upon to do in an emergency, and it shows how readily the Chinese respond physically to the simplest forms of treatment. GCB May 31, 1909, page 230.7
In all parts of that country we have calls for help. The needs are tremendous. There are, for instance, ten millions of the Hakka people, where Brother J. P. Anderson is working alone. I will give the remainder of the hour to Dr. Selmon, who will speak of the work in the interior. GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.1
IN HONAN
Dr. Selmon: I believe that you will be interested to hear some of the latest news from China, so I will read portions of a letter that I have just received from Brother Allum, who is located at Cheo Chia K’o. Brother Allum is a student from the Avondale School in Australia. He writes of an interest that has sprung up in the province of Anhuei, in which no Seventh-day Adventist has been, so far as we know. He writes as follows:— GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.2
“Your good letter arrived at Cheo Chia K’o while I was on my way to Ing Shang Hsien, An Huei, and so I have waited until now for a reply. You will be glad to hear that the Lord is opening up the work in this province, and also the province of An Huei in a wonderful manner. Just now, when there is so much to be done, I am the only male worker in these parts. You have probably heard of Sister Westrup’s and Sister Cottrell’s sickness, thus causing both to be away from Honan at this time.” GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.3
Brother and Sister Westrup have put up a little home for themselves in a small country village of about two hundred inhabitants. A wonderful interest has been awakened in that section. Last fall he baptized at one time twenty-three persons. They have more than a hundred inquirers. They are conducting a boys’ school with twenty students, and a girls’ school with an attendance of about thirty. Besides this, there are nine in the districts around them. Of course they work too hard, with all these things pressing upon them. GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.4
When we visited them last fall, we found Sister Westrup in bed with nervous prostration. What was the reason? A man had come a distance of twelve miles to see Brother Westrup. He was not at home, and nothing else would do but that he should have some Bible studies. He represented quite a number of Christians in another district. So Sister Westrup sat down with him that afternoon for three or four hours. But he was not satisfied then, and she studied with him till one o’clock. The next day she was sick, and had to keep her bed for two or three days. GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.5
Later, when she was sent down to Shanghai with her husband to attend our general meeting, they had great hardships on the road. As a result of the exposure, she was taken down with typhoid fever, and had fearful hemorrhages for several weeks. We despaired of her life, but we are thankful that she is now on the road to recovery. She and her husband are now in our mountain home, 150 miles from Shanghai. So that leaves all that interest in their section without a foreign worker. They have left native workers in charge. A girl seventeen years of age is looking after the girls’ school. That is why Brother Westrup is not at his place in Honan. Sister Cottrell came down with appendicitis and had to go to Shanghai, where she could have surgical attention, and of course Brother Cottrell went with her. Brother Allum continues:— GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.6
“You can not imagine how much I long for the time when you and Brother Miller will be able to return to Honan. I do hope and pray that you will be able to return very soon after the General Conference meeting, for there is more work to be done than we can cope with. GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.7
“Now I will tell you something of my trip to Ing Shang Hsien. The people down there became interested in the truth through reading some literature which we had previously sent them. That first copy of the Fuh In Hsuen Pao, with the illustration of the man breaking the commandments, and the article, ‘Why I Keep the Seventh-day Sabbath,’ has proved to be about the best piece of literature we have gotten out. At least it is bringing in the best returns.” GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.8
This shows what our literature will accomplish in China. That will show you why we are so much in earnest about having better facilities for our printing work in that field. Some of you saw, more than a year ago, some pictures showing the place where Dr. Miller opened up the printing work away up there in the interior. He had had no experience in printing, and he had associated with him a few Chinese helpers who had never seen a printing-press. They began their work with only a small Washington press, but when it began to operate, the people crowded around to see what a wonderful machine it was. I read further from Brother Allum’s letter:— GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.9
“I left for Ing Shang Hsien, Monday, March 15. It is fully 500 li [a li is about one third of a mile] down the river, and 350 odd li from the border of Honan and An Huei provinces. It is a small Hsien city, not as large as Siang Cheng, and has no mission there, with the exception of the Chi Tuh T’u Huei [Christ’s Disciples’ Church] and the Roman Catholic. The Chi Tuh T’u Huei is a native, self-governing church which has its headquarters at Shanghai. [There is a strong movement on the part of some of the natives in favor of setting up their own organization, independent of the foreign missionaries. This is the church here referred to.] GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.10
“You remember that two years ago we were very anxious to get some of these men interested in the truth. The leaders of this church in Shanghai are some of the most influential and intelligent Christians that there are in China. Pastor Han, their missionary, is a native of Shui Tsai Chi, Honan. Just previous to Han’s acceptance of the truth, the Chi Tuh T’u Huei had concluded negotiations for the purchase of a property in Ing Shang Hsien, which cost them over three hundred and fifty strings of cash [$175]. We got there in time to partake of the feast which was given at the conclusion of this purchase. They have supported Han liberally for the last three years, formerly giving him $15 a month [Mexican], and his travelling expenses, etc. He now receives, I am told, $20 a month and expenses. He reports monthly, as we foreign workers do, and receives his money through the China Inland Mission. His converts are baptized by China Inland Mission ministers. GCB May 31, 1909, page 231.11
“Well, to make a long story short, after battling with snow and rain and head winds for eight days, we arrived at Ing Shang Hsien on Monday, March 22, at 9 P.M. That night I preached on the sure word of prophecy, and we talked to Pastor Han about the truth until 3 A. M. Thus we got very little sleep that night, but did not mind that, for I could see that Han was solidly taking his stand for the truth. We stayed with them five days, and I presented to them the following subjects: Daniel 2, Daniel 7, Matthew 24, the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14, the millennium, why we keep the seventh-day Sabbath, how to keep the Sabbath, the seal of God, the mark of the beast, etc.” GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.1
You see that these people are intelligent, so that they can comprehend such truths as that. We do not need to confine them to milk, we can give them solid food as well. I continue:— GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.2
“Brother Liu would not do any of the preaching; he said they wanted to hear me, but he was a great help in taking with them about the truth. Thus you can see I had a busy five days with them, but they were happy days, and seven have taken their stand to keep the commandments of God, and have signed the covenant. Pastor Han has already sent in his letter to his society at Shanghai, telling them of his determination to keep the Sabbath of the Lord. He is determined to obey God at all costs. I think I can truly say that he is as fine a man as has yet come into our ranks in Mandarin China. This has thrown a regular thunderbolt into the ranks of the other missions. When they heard that he had taken his stand for the truth, they would not believe it, and said they would write to him, and prove the statement false. He has a splendid reputation both inside the church and out, and has a real intelligent class of young people attending his meetings. He preaches like a man who has a real, living experience with the Lord. Praise God for all his wonderful works. His wife is now with us at Cheo Chia K’o, learning more of the truth. She has unbound her feet, and is heart and soul with her husband in this message. The other five are also real good people. Several of them want to come to Cheo Chia K’o to study the Bible. You must certainly return quickly, and help us in this line of work; for one man can not run around the country to answer the many calls that come in, and at the same time do justice to the work at the station. GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.3
“On my return to Cheo Chia K’o I found that Mrs. Allum had already opened up the Bible school, as there were some twenty-five men and twenty women and girls waiting for instruction.” GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.4
You can imagine something of the work that falls upon our workers there. They may be criticized for overworking, but how can one do otherwise than work when there are so many calls, and so few laborers? Mrs. Allum was the only one there to teach these many interested ones. GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.5
“I found on my arrival three new Sabbath-keepers who had taken their stand for the truth during my absence. One of these is a fine old man from Chen Chou Fu. There is quite an interest they say at that place.” GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.6
In our Bible school there has never been a better interest than during the school that is being held at this time. They have studied early and late. Sometimes they are heard at midnight, praying and studying the Bible, or getting their texts for the next day’s lessons.’ GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.7
“I forgot to mention that sixty li further down the river from Ing Shang Hsien, An Huei, at a place called Cheng Yang Kuan, is a company of Christians who are greatly stirred over the truth. One of their members, named Wang, read in our literature that we claimed that the pope changed the Sabbath, and determined to prove whether this statement were correct or not, and so went to the Catholic mission station at Ing Hsien and inquired. He was told by the Catholics there that our statement was correct, and that the Catholic Church by its power and authority had changed the day. Thus the Catholics are helping us to proclaim our truths in those parts. We must have a man sent out to China immediately to take up the work in the An Huei province. The people in An Huei speak very clear Mandarin, which is even better Mandarin than that which is spoken in Honan. I did not have the slightest difficulty in talking to them.... GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.8
“Since the meeting that one of the missions held at Kai Feng Fu, they are very busy preaching that Christ did away with the law, but the truth is triumphing, and will triumph to the end.... There is one additional fact which I might mention which may help you in stating the needs of the work, and that is that another company of Christians three hundred li to the west of Brother Westrup’s station are calling for his workers to go there. We will have to leave this call till Brother Westrup comes back.” GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.9
I do not know how to put this more forcibly before you, than to ask you to imagine that over in Pennsylvania there had never been a representative of this truth, and that there should come to this Conference an appeal for some one to come to teach them. How many volunteers would there be out of this company to go and teach them the truth? Now will you distinguish between the people in Pennsylvania and those in China, and say that souls in Pennsylvania are worth more than those in China? GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.10
We have another company away over to the southwest who have been calling to us for more than a year, but we have as yet been unable to answer the call. These are things that stir our hearts, and we most earnestly hope and pray that they will stir your hearts as well. GCB May 31, 1909, page 232.11