First Evangelistic Efforts
In the spring of 1855, 1 took a somewhat dangerous trip with the Rev. J. S. Burdon of the Church Missionary Society. He later became Bishop1 of Victoria, Hong Kong. In the great mouth of the River Yangtze, about thirty miles to the north of Shanghai is the group of islands of which Tsungming and Haimen2 are the largest and most important. Upriver is the important city of Tungchow, close to Lang-shan, or WolfMountains, famous as a holiday place for those who worship evil spirits.
We spent some time bringing the Good News to those islands and then went on to Lang-shan. Here we preached and gave books to thousands of the worshipers attending a special holiday for those who worship evil spirits. From there we went on to Tungchow, The following from my diary will tell of our painful time there:
Thursday, April 26, 1855 After breakfast, we prayed and placed ourselves in the care of our heavenly Father, asking for His blessing before we went to this great city. The day was cloudy and wet. We felt sure that Satan would not allow us to attack his area without a very serious fight.
The result later proved that this showed God’s watchfulness over us.
Our national teachers did their best to tell us not to go into the city. But we had decided that, with God’s help, nothing should stop us. We told them to stay in one of the boats. If we did not return, they were to learn what they could about what happened and return quickly to Shanghai to tell our friends. We also asked that the other boat wait for us, even if we could not get back that night.
Taking our books and a worker, we set to the city, about seven miles away. Walking was out of the question because the roads were very muddy. So we rode in wheelbarrows,0 the only transportation in these areas. Needing only one carrier, this was less costly but not a nice way to travel on rough, dirty roads.
We had not gone far before the worker asked to go back, as he was completely frightened by reports about the national soldiers. We told him to return, not wanting to involve another in trouble and decided to carry the books ourselves. We looked to Him for extra strength, for our body as well as spiritual strength, who had promised to provide all our needs.
At this point, a kind and important-looking man came up and seriously warned us against going on. He said that if we did, we should find to our sorrow what the Tungchow soldiers were like. We thanked him for his kind warning, but could not act upon it as our hearts were fixed.
We did not know if we were facing prison and death or to pass out Scriptures and tracts safely. But we had decided, by the grace of God, not to leave Tungchow any longer without the Gospel. We did not want its many thousands of citizens to die not knowing of the love of God.
After this, my wheelbarrow man would go no nearer the city. I found another with little difficulty. As we went on in the mud and rain, we could not help feeling the danger of our position, but our minds did not change.
From time to time we strengthened each other with Scripture and singing Gospel songs. I recall one such song which seemed to fit our situation very well and made me feel much better.
The dangers of the sea, the dangers of the land, Should not frighten you: your Lord is near at hand. But should your fearlessness fail, when tried and strongly troubled, His promise shall stand true, and set your soul at rest We passed through one small town of about a thousand souls.
In the Mandarin language, I preached Jesus to a good number of people. Never was I so happy in speaking of the love of God and the atonement of Jesus Christ. My soul was richly blessed and filled with joy and peace.
I was able to speak with unusual ease How happy I was when, after preaching, I heard one of our listeners repeating to newcomers, the truths of which I had spoken. Oh, how thankful I felt to hear a Chinese telling his friend that God loved them, that they were sinners, but that Jesus died instead of them and paid for their guilt! That one time was worth all the trials we had passed through. I felt that if the Lord should give His Holy Spirit to change the heart of that man, we had not come for nothing.
We passed out a few New Testaments and tracts for the people to be able to read. We could not leave them without the Gospel. It was well that we did so, for when we reached Tungchow we found we were so tired that we were pleased to have only a light load.
Nearing the end of our trip, at the west side of the city, I recalled the prayer of the early Christians, when mistreatment was starting. “And now, Lord, consider their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with great fearlessness. ” (Acts 4:29) In this prayer we fully joined with the early Christians.
Before entering the edge of town, we made our plans so that we could act together. We informed our wheelbarrow men where to wait for us so that they would not get into any trouble. Then, looking up to our heavenly Father, we placed ourselves in His keeping, took our books, and set off for the city.
We walked along the road to the West Gate and smiled at the unusual name of heh-kwai-tsi (black spirits) which was given to us. We wondered about it but later found that it was our clothes that caused them to use this name for us. Passing several soldiers, I said to Mr. Burdon that these were the men we had heard so much about. They seemed willing to receive us quietly enough.
Long before reaching the gate, a tall powerful man made fierce by drink stopped us. He roughly held Mr. Burdon, letting us know that all the soldiers were not so peacefully minded. My friend tried to shake him off. As I turned to see what the trouble was, we were encircled by twelve or more cruel-looking men who hurried us onto the city.
Soon, my load became more than I could carry and I was unable to change hands to help myself. I was soon very hot and hardly able to keep up with them. We demanded to be taken before the chief judge but were told that they knew where to take us and what to do with people like us. They spoke to us using the most insulting names.
The fierce, drunken man soon left Mr. Burdon and became my chief trouble. I was neither as tall nor strong as my friend and was less able to stand against the man. He hit me and almost made me fall again and again.
Taking me roughly by the hair, he held my clothes around my neck and almost stopped my breath completely. He held me hard around my arms and the top of my body making these parts black and blue. Had this treatment continued much longer, I would have passed out.
With my strength almost gone, it was a joy to remember a few lines about heaven that my mother wrote in her last letter to me: We speak of the home of the blest, That country so bright and so fair, And often are its glories confessed; But what must it be to be there! To be gone from the body! To be present with the Lord! To be free from sin! This is the end of all that man’s evil can ever bring upon us.
As we walked along, Mr. Burdon tried to give away a few books, not knowing if we might have another chance to do so. But the soldier became angry and demanded that handcuffs be brought. None could be found, but this showed us that we could do no good in trying to pass out books. There was nothing to be done but quietly obey and go with the soldiers.
One or two times, they argued about what should be done with us. One said that we should be taken to the judge’s office, but others wanted to kill us at once without appeal to any government officer.
We were at peace, recalling that the apostles were happy to be thought honorable enough to feel pain for the cause of Christ. From my pocket, I took a Chinese name card. 1 demanded that we be led to the office of the chief official and the card be presented to him. After this, we were treated with more honor. Before this, we had been unable to make them understand that we were foreigners although we wore English clothes.
Oh, we were roughly pulled through many long tiring roads that did not seem to end. I have never felt more thankful than when we stopped at the house where a Mandarin lived.
We were both very tired and in serious need of a drink of water. Resting against a wall, I asked them to bring us something to sit on, but they told us to wait. On begging them to give us something to drink, I received the same answer.
Around the doorway, a large crowd had gathered. Collecting his remaining strength, Mr. Burdon preached Jesus Christ. The cards and books had been taken into the mandarin. Since he was a low-level official, he finally sent us to a higher officer.
Finding that they planned to turn us out again into the crowded roads, we refused to move one step and demanded that sedans be brought. This was done after some dispute and we were carried off.
On the road,- we felt so thankful for the chance to rest and for having preached Jesus in the face of Satan’s evil efforts. Our joy must have shown on our faces. As we passed along, we heard some say that we did not look like bad men. Others seemed to feel sorry for us.
On arrival at the judge’s office, I wondered where we were being taken. We had passed through great doors that looked like those of the city wall, but we were still within the city. We entered a second door which made it appear to be a prison.
But on seeing a large sign made of stone, with the words “Ming chi fu mu” (the father and mother of the people), we felt that we had been carried to the right place, this being the official name used by the mandarins.
Our cards were again sent in. After a short delay, we were taken in to see Ch’en Ta Lao-ie (the Great Honorable Father Ch’en), who had been Tao-tai of Shanghai. He knew the importance of treating foreigners with kindness. Coming before him, some of the people fell on their knees and put their heads down to the ground. My guard motioned me to do the same, but I did not obey.
This mandarin seemed to be the highest official ofTungchow and wore a solid blue button on his hat. He came out and treated us with every possible sign of honor. He took us to a more private room, but we were followed by many writers, runners, and other officials.
I explained the reason for our visit and begged to be allowed to give him copies of our books and tracts, for which he thanked me. Giving him a copy of the New Testament with part of the Old (from Genesis to Ruth), I made a short explanation of our teachings. He listened very carefully, as did all the others present. He then ordered food which he ate with us.
After a long stay, we asked to be permitted to see something of the city. Before leaving, we wanted to hand out the books we had brought. He kindly agreed. We said we had earlier been most dishonorably treated. We told him we understood that the soldiers knew no better. However, we asked him to give orders that we were not to be troubled anymore.
This he promised to do and with every possible sign of honour, walked with us to the door of his official home. Several runners were sent to ensure that we were treated with honor. We handed out our books and left the city. It was interesting to see how the runners made use of their queues.8 When the road was blocked by the crowd, they used these to hit the people.
We found our wheelbarrows and paid off the sedan0 carriers. Then we sat on our simple transports and returned to the river. We were followed for half the distance by a worker from the judge’s office. Early in the evening, we got back to the boats in safety, truly thankful to our heavenly Father for His gracious protection and aid.