For Christ in Fuh-Kien

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dJnrneU Uttioeraitg BItbrarg

CHARLES WILLIAM WASON

COLLECTION

CHINA AND THE CHINESE

THE GIFT OF

CHARLES WILLIAM WASON

CLASS OF 1876

19t8

Cornell University Library
BV 3420.F8S86 1904

For Christ In Fuh-Klen /

3 1924 023 068 590

Cornell University
Library

The original of tiiis book is in
tine Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023068590

For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

BEING A NEW EDITION {THE FOURTH) OF

ZU Stcrp or tbe fufc^Kien mission of tbe
Cburcl) missionarp $ocietp.

3Lon5on :

CHURCH MISSIONABY SOCIETY, SALISBURY SQUARE, B.C.

1904.

\_All rights reserved.^

WERTHEIMER, LEA & CO.,

46 & 47, LONDON WALL, AKD CLIFTON HOUSE, WORSHIP STREET,

LONDON E.C.

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

V^[/HE First Edition of this Book appeared in 1877, and was
^^ the work of Mr. Eugene Stock. When, in 1882, a
Second Edition was called for, Mr. Stock partly re-wrote
some of the chapters and brought the whole up to date. The
Third Edition was a reprint of the Second, with a supplementary
chapter added.

Since 1890, when the Third Edition was published, the exten-
sion and development of the work have made striking progress.
Then, six stations only were occupied by European missionaries ;
now, fifteen are so occupied, among them being the native city of
Fuh-chow (as distinguished from the Foreign Settlement on
Nan-tai Island), the city of Kien-ning, to which an entrance was
in vain sought for many years, and several towns south of the
river Min. Medical Mission stations have increased in number
from three, with five medical missionaries and no qualified
nurses, to five, with ten medical missionaries and six nurses. The
most marked feature of development during the period is in the
number of unmarried lady missionaries. In 1890 they were three,
besides two F.E.S. and ten C.E.Z.M.S., in 1904 they are 42, and
43 C.E.Z.M.S. And the advance in statistics giving results of the

iv Preface.

■work has been at least proportionate to the greater efEorts pnt
forth. Baptized Christians in 1890 were 4,163, they are now
10,385 ; communicants were 2,267, now 4,297 ; Chinese ordained
men were eight, and unordained agents 224, now there are 15
ordained pastors, and 224 other agents. Last year (1903) 998
adults were admitted by baptism into the Church of Christ, in
1890 the number was 196.

In view of this advance it has been found necessary in the
present Edition to remodel and to rewrite much of the Book, and
this has been done by the Rev. T. McClelland, who worked in the
Mission from 1890 to 1896, and who has since laboured as an
Association Secretary in Ireland and in London south of the
Thames.

G. F. S.

CM. House,

Salisbury Square, B.C.
June, 1904.

Contents,

CHAP. PAGE

I. A PiCTtTEESQUE Province AND ITS Prospects 1

II. How THE WOEK G-REW ... 10

ITI. Opening Doors .23

IV. Movement and Improvement .31

V. The Fiery Trial . , 38

VI. A Wave op Blessing 45

VII. Over the Mountains: The Story of Lieng-kong .51

VIII. In a Deep Valley: The Story op Lo-ngwong 59

IX. A Mountainous Prefecture : —

(1) FUH-NING AND ITS OUT-StATIONS ... ... 74

(2) NlNG-TAIK AND ITS VILLAGES . . 80

X. A Centre op Light : The Story of Ku-cheng ... 94

XI. The Land op Tea and Timber :—

(1) KiBN-NING ... Ill

(2) Kien-yang ... 126

vi Contents.

CHAP. PAGE

XII. Self-propagating Churches : The Story op Hok-chiang

AND HiNG-HWA : —

(1) HOK-CHIANG 132

(2) HiKG-HWA 146

XIII. The Ministry op Women ; or, Women Workers in the Field 153

XIV. Chinese thbib own Evangelists ; or, The Training op

Native Workers Ifi3

XV. Literary and Translational Work 168

XVI. Conclusion in

XVII. Appendices : —

I. Other Missions in the Edh-Kien Province 178

II. Chronological Sketch op C. M. S. Fuh-Kien Mission 179

III. Missionaries to Fuh-Kien 181

IV. Statistics op the Fuh-Kien Mission in Quinquen-

nial Periods 18i

List of Illustrations.

Archdeacon "Wolfe and Fuh-Kibn Native Clergy in 1894: Frontis2neee

Map OF THE FuH-KiEN Province Facing p. 1

View of Fuh-chow — Two Bridges , , 3

Portraits of Some Prominent Missionaries „ „ 10

Girls' Boarding-school, Boys' High School, and Theo-
logical College, Fuh-chow ,, ..28

Portraits of Missionaries killed at Hwa-sang, August

1st, 1895 „ „ 43

Hospital at Hing-hwa , „ jri

Patients and Workers, Fuh-ning Hospital „ ,,75

First Native Women's Conference, Hing-hwa „ ,,149

C.M.S. STATIONS ARE MARKED

?or Cbrist in FuhKkn.

CHAPTER I.

A Picturesque Province and its Prospects.

"A good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that-
spring out of valleys and hills." — Deut. viii. 7.

" In the morning sow thy seed." — Eccl. xi. 6.

" We have no fires of martyrdom now to test our fidelity to Jesns Christ ; but
we are not left without a test. God is testing- xis all continually as to the
measure of our faith, love and devotedness to His Son by the presence of a.
thousand millions of Heathen in the world. It is a tremendous test ; so real, so
practical ! G-ifts that cost us no self-denial are no proof of devotedness."— J.;((/«.

tHE ProYince of Fuh-Kien is one of the smallest of the
eighteen into which China is divided, being about the size of
^~^ Ireland and Wales combined, and contains a population of
about twenty-two millions. The river Min, on which the capital,
Fuh-chow, stands, divides the province into two unequal parts.
The smaller half, to the north, is the district mainly occupied by
the Church Missionary Society, though it carries on work in two
districts on the south side of the Min as well. Here, too, and
also in the north-western, part of the province, the American
Methodist Episcopal Mission and the American Board of
Foreign Missions are at work, and further south, around Amoy,
there are stations belonging to other English and American
Societies. The scenery of Fuh-Kien is magnificent. The
mountains that divide it from the more inland provinces rise to

A

2 Foe, Christ in Fih-Kien.

a height of from 6,000 to 8,000 feet and throw out spurs which
streicb, sway in brolien ridges across the country, and at last jut
out into the sea in bold promontories, with countless rocky islands
standing like outposts all along the coast. Gorges of extreme
beauty break the outlines of these ridges, and down them rush
the mountain streams that fertilize the valleys dividing ridge
from ridge. "Paddy" or rice fields occupy all the soft marshy
land in the hollows ; acres of sweet potatoes cover the first rising
ground; the tea-shrub, planted in terraces, is dotted over the
hill sides, like the vine of Southern Europe; while the tobacco
plant, the sugar cane, and various cereals and vegetables are
marked by the traveller as he pursues his continually ascending
and descending course.

The Chinese of Fuh-Xien are in character like their country,
more rough and vigorous than the people of the comparatively
level provinces in the north. Those who live inland, where the
ridges and peaks are the highest, partake of that energetic and
daring disposition which the unavoidable struggles with the
difficulties and dangers of a rugged region usually impart to its
inhabitants. In those nearer the coast the qualities of the
mountaineer and the mariner are combined.

Fuh-chow, the capital of the province, stands on the river
Min, ten miles from the Pagoda Anchorage, where steamers and
foreign sailing vessels lie, and solne thirty miles from the mouth
of the river. It is a walled city, containing a poiDulation of
about five hundred thousand people within the walls, and as
many more in the suburbs outside. Like all Chinese cities it
has a poetical name, viz., the " Banyan City," and large
numbers of these fine trees are found in the city and neighbour-
hood.

The work of the Church Missiouarj- Society in China, like
that of other Societies, was begun after the Treaty of Xan-king',
Avliich followed on the Opium War of 1840-42. Two missionaries
were sent out in 1844 on a preliminary journey of inquiry,
which resulted in Shanghai and Xingpo being occupied in
1845-48, and Fuh-chow in 1850.

It was in May of the last-named year that the Revs. W.

A Picturesque Province and Its Prospects. 3

Welton and E. D. Jackson arrived in Fiili-chow. The American
missionaries, wlio iiad preceded them by four years, were not
allowed to live inside the walls, but only in the suburbs on
Nantai, an island in the river Min. Through the intervention of
the British Consvil, however, part of a temple on Wu-shih-shan,
or " Black Stone Hill," within the city walls, was assigned to
the new-comers as a residence. This concession, which was
obtained with difficulty, would probably soon have been lost
but for the personal popularity acquired by Mr. Welton,
who, being a medical man of some experience, opened a
dispensary, to which Chinese of all classes thronged. The
literati, or " read-book-men " (as they are called in China), who
had several clubs on the hill, where they met for discussion or
worship, and in which students, up from the country for their
examination, could reside for a term, took umbiage at the
proximity of the missionaries, and resolved tO' turn them out.
A series of petty annoyances began, the tiles of the roof were
forcibly removed one night, and the garden door carried away ;
efforts were made to rouse the passions of the populace ; and
at last the priest of the temple, who was the lessee, brought to
the Consul the quarter's rent which had been paid in advance,
and begged him to get rid of the obnoxious tenants.

Nothing came of this, and though the excitement continued,
some successful cures performed by Mr. Welton won the hearts
of the people. But ultimately, to save the local officials who
had ratified the agreement from the displeasure of the supreme
authorities at Peking, to whom the liter-dti appealed, the
missionaries consented to remove to another temple, equally
well situated on the same hill, and not objected to by the literary
class. This difficulty was but the first, however, of many similar
ones in the history of the Fuh-Kien Mission.

The ninth day of the ninth moon is a great festival with the
people of Euh-chow, the principal amusement of which is the
flying, on Black Stone Hill, of kites, made in various shapes,
such as birds, insects, etc. During this festival in 1851, the
year after the commencement of the Mission, a crowd of
holiday-makers attacked the premises occupied by the mis-

A 2

4 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

sionaries, destroyed the furniture, and carried off all they could
lay hands upon. Mr. Welton took refuge in the interior of the
temple, and was kindly protected by the priest. A few months
later he hired a Chinese house with a view to fitting it up as
a school, but the workmen employed in repairing and adapting
it were so violently threatened by the literati that they had to
desist; two literary men engaged to organize the school were
seized by the authorities (acting, as it was believed, under
instructions from Peking, where reactionary counsels then pre-
vailed), flogged, and cast into prison, and Mr. "Welton was
obliged to abandon his plan. A piece of land, however, was at
length secured, upon which mission-houses and other buildings
were erected; and for twenty-seven j-ears these premises were
occupied without molestation.

The spirit of the missionaries, like that of St. Paul at Athens,
was from the first deeply stirred by the sight of a whole city
" given to idolatry." Heathen processions and superstitious
observances met their eyes on every side as they walked the
streets. Mr. .Jackson wrote (July, 1850): —

At this particular time of the year we can hardly stir out but we meet
idolatrous processions. The gods are represented by immense pasteboard
heads and bodies, with wooden arms moved by strings. They are sup-
ported by men, who are covered with the long drapery flowing from the
idols' necks ; opposite to the man's face a hole is cut for the purpose of
enabling him to see and breathe. It is enough to excite the smile of
ridicule to notice the swaggering gait some of the men assume when they
see a foreigner coming. Sometimes, as they can only see straight before
them, in moving to one side of the path, the idol's head gets a blow, and
on one occasion his crown got knocked oft. The people are " mad upon
their idols.''

Little missionary work could be done by men who as yet knew
hardly anything of the language; but Mr. "Welton's dispensaiy,
besides exerting a powerful influence in giving them favour in the
sight of the people, was made a means of disseminating Gospel
truth. A Chinese tract directing the reader to the " True Physi-
cian" was given to every patient; and as for three or four years
from 2,000 to 3,000 cases were treated annually, the Way of Life
was widely piiblished by this means. From 1852 to 1855 Mr.

A PiCTUEESQtTE Province and Its Peospects. 5

Weltou laboured alone, Mr. Jackson having been removed else-
wkere ; and his perseverance in the study of the language and the
people soon enabled him to converse with the Natives. Among the
villages of the surrounding country, the frequenters of the plays
performed in the temples by strolling actors, the students who
flocked to Fuh-chow for the literary examinations, the sick for
whom his visits as a doctor were requested, the lepers in the
village allotted for their separate residence, the Tartar soldiers
in their distinct quarter of the city, and many other classes, we
find him mingling freely, with the message of salvation ever on
his lips. Everywhere " the common people heard him gladly " ;
he travelled from place to place without molestation ; and even
the extreme shyness at first manifested by the women gradually
wore off. Natives were also employed to sell or distribute Chinese
Testaments ; but being, of course, Heathen, they proved untrust-
worthy. In 1854, Mr. Welton succeeded in starting a school,
which was soon well attended. Among those by whom his
medical aid was sought were opium smokers and the friends of
those who took the drug in order to destroy themselves.

In June, 1855, after three years of patient sowing of the
good seed alone, Mr. Welton was cheered by the arrival of two
fellow-labourers, the Revs. Y. M'Caw and M. Fearnley; but in
the following year his health broke down, and he returned home
to die. He entered into rest in March, 1857, leaving a touch-
ing testimony to his love for the great cause in the shape of a
legacy to the Society of £1,500. Meanwhile the young
missionaries were hard at work upon the language; and in less
than eighteen months after their arrival, they were able to begin
preaching in public.

Neither of the two brethren had any lack of willing hearers ;
but neither was spared to the Mission long enough to have the
joy of seeing any of these hearers turn from idols to serve the
living God. Mr. M'Caw's career, though giving great
promise of future usefulness, was very brief. His wife had
been taken from him within a few months of her landing
in China, and after two years' faithful labour, he, too, died
of fever in August, 1857. Another two years saw the Mission

6 For Christ ix Fuh-Kiex.

deprived of Mr. Fearnley, who was obliged to leave on account
of his wife's illness; and though in the meanwhile the Eev. G.
Smith had arrived at Fuh-chow, this again left the work to a
single labourer unfamiliar with the language.

Long before Mr. Smith could speak with any comfort or
readiness, he went in and out among the people, setting
before them with a stammering tongue, but with the loving
heart of a true missionary, the claims and the invitations of the
Grospel. "We have just noticed the ordinary incidents of such
work, and need not repeat them. But one passage in Mr.
Smith's journal is worth attention, as it introdiices us to a
department of evangelistic work in Fuh-chow which must have
severely tried both his patience and his moral courage.

Let us first, however, explain that in China the honour
attached io the attainment of literary degrees is extraordi-
nary, and success in the examinations is an indispensable
qualification, not only for official employment, but for social
position. There are four of these degrees. The first, to
attain which the candidate must pass three examinations,
is called Siu-Tsai, or " Budding Talent." It raises the
possessor above the common people, and exempts him from
corj)oral punishment, but it does not qualify him for Govern-
ment employ. The second degree, called Kyu-Jin, or " Pro-
moted Man," qualifies for lower offices. The examination
for it is held every three years, in all the eighteen provincial
capitals; and there are generally five to ten thousand candidates
at each capital. The third, called Tsin-Sz, or "Advanced
Scholar," is the entrance to higher official life, and the
examination, also triennial, is held only at Peking. The
fourth degree, of Han-Lin, or as it may be called, "Acade-
mician," is only attained by the few who aspire to the highest
posts, and is conferred with much ceremony at the impeiial
palace.

The triennial examination for the second degree was held
at Fuh-chow in 1859, and the city was crowded with candidates
from every part of the province of Fuh-Kien. Mr. Smith
resolved, if he could not speak intelligibly to these students.

A PiCTUEESQUE PROVINCE AND ItS PeOSPECTS. 7

that lie would at least distribute copies of the Scriptures at the
door of the Examination Hall. The following from his journal
is the passage we referred to above: —

This year the examiuation for the Kyu-Jin, or second literary degree,
takes place in this city. Consequently the place is crowded with
reading men from every part of this large province, and it forms an
admirable opportunity for spreading far and wide a knowledge of the
truth. To-day we went down with a large number of copies of the
Scriptures, to take advantage of the opportunity thus presented. After
waiting about two hours, during which we engaged in conversation with
the people standing about the place, the beating of a drum, a loud report
produced by a kind of cracker, and the commencement of some very inhar-
monious music, announced the speedy exit of some of the anxious candidates,
to each of whom we proffered a volume of our treasures, and only in two
instances were they declined. Some getting one volume, came to us to
complete the set. Besides ourselves, two American brethren were engaged
in the same goud work.

Three more days were the missionaries distributing the
precious Word of God. " It may be," wrote Mr. Smith, " that
many will not be read, but if only one or two should be instru-
mental in turning an idolater from the error of his way, all our
expenditure and fatigue will be far more than repaid."

So passed the first ten years of missionary work in Ftih-Kien.
Diligently and prayerfully had the sowers scattered the good
seed over the city of Fuh-chow and the surrounding country. But,
while year after year the fertile and well-watered plain yielded
its earthly produce to the labours of the agriculturist, the
spiritual husbandman waited and waited, and looked in vain for
any sign that the seed of the Kingdom had even taken root, much
less was springing up. The people were hearers, indeed, and
willing hearers, but they were wayside hearers. The Gospel
grain fell upon hearts not only naturally hard, but trodden over
by the petrifying tramp of superstition and ignorance and vice.

In 1860, the tenth year " without a single conversion or the
prospect of such a thing," the Home Committee seriously
discussed the expediency of abandoning Fuh-chow. AYith the
more promising Mission further north in the Cheh-Kiang
Province undermanned, was it right to cling to a place where

8 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

God seemed to be withliolding His blessing? But Mr. Smith,
on hearing this, made a most earnest appeal to be allowed to
remain. Not for three years (as in our Lord's parable), but for
ten, had fruit been sought and none found; yet the patient
" dresser of the vineyard " begged that the fruitless tree might
be " let alone that year also." And that very year the reward
so long looked for, and so unceasingly prayed for, began to be
vouchsafed. On December 22nd, 1860, Mr. Smith wrote home,
" I hope that a brighter day is about to dawn upon us. There
are three men whom I look upon as honest inquirers."

It is interesting to observe that the very agency first employed
(by Mr. "Welton) to sow the seed in Fuh-chow — that of medical
skill — was now the instrument used by God to reap the firstfruits.
The E.ev. W. H. Collins, a Cj[ualified surgeon and a missionary
of the C.M.S., who was stationed at Shanghai, paid a visit
to Mr. Smith, and during his stay opened a temporary
dispensary, to which numbers resorted. Earnestly were the
claims and invitations of the Gospel pressed upon the
applicants for medicine; and the inquirers referred to in
Mr. Smith's letter were the result of this effort. Two of these
men were baptized on March 31st, 1861, and the other, with a
fourth, on July 4th of the same year. On the latter date Mr.
Smith touchingly wrote, " "With only these few converts I begin
to feel something of the anxieties and fears and doubts, but
something also of the joys, of which St. Paul speaks. They are,
indeed, as children. Oh ! that the Lord may give me
grace to be a father to them." His " anxieties, fears
and doubts " were, alas ! only too well founded. It is
a truly mysteiious and humbling fact, that of the four
who seemed to be the first fruits of what has since proved
an abundant harvest, three afterwards fell away from
the faith ! One, named Tang, remained an upright and worthy
Christian man, and was employed by the Mission as a chapel-
keeper. Another, named Lo-Sia, who was expelled from the
Church for immorality, and lived for many years a life of sin
and extreme wretchedness, was in 1879, by the abounding grace
of God, brought to true repentance. He died shortly afterwards

A PlCTCEESQUE PeOVINCE AND ItS PeOSPECTS. 9

in the house of one of the Christians, resting upon Him Whose
hlood cleanseth from all sin.

The prospects of the Mission now rapidly brightened. Other
inquirers came forward ; the authorities at last conceded the
light of opening preaching halls and schools within the city,
which was speedily taken advantage of; crowds of attentive
listeners frequented the services thus established; books and
iracts in large numbers were eagerly purchased, so much so,
that free distribution was suspended; and the colporteurs sent
to the surrounding villages met with the most encouraging
reception.

CHAPTEE II.

How THE Work Grew.

" And so were the churolies established in the faith, and increased in number
daily." — Jets xvi. 5.

" The spirit of Missions is the spirit of sympathy, of self-denial, and of service,
which is only another way of saying that it is the Spirit of Christ. The Church
must have the spirit of Missions if it would be His Church. The Church, which
is His body, must be a living organism, not a withered, lifeless trunk. It can
maintain its life only by seeking to extend it into the lifeless world." — Dr.
r. a Smith.

^^N the summer of 1862, the Rev. J. R. Wolfe joined the
5^ Mission ; and this reinforcement encouraged Mr. Smith to look
out into regions beyond, and to form plans for sending
the Gospel to them. The great Island of Formosa, only a day's
sail from Fuh-chow, particularly called forth his sympathies;
and all that he heard of the populous cities, towns and innumer-
able villages in the interior of the Fuh-Kien province sounded
in his ears as a call to " come and help " them also.

But now, once more, in the mysterious providence of God,
a dark cloud was to overshadow the Mission. In October, 1863,
it was for the third time bereft of its leader. The call came to
Mr. Smith to " go up higher," and while this faithful servant
entered into the joy of his Lord, Mr. "Wolfe entered upon the
sole charge of the work. Within two months he, too, was brought
to the verge of the grave by dangerous sickness. " It pleased
the Lord to spare him," said the Committee in reporting this
further trial, " lest we should have sorrow upon sorrow," but he
had to retire to Hong Kong for the recovery of his health, and
Fuh-chow was for a time without a C.M.S. missionary. When
Mr. Smith died there were thirteen baptized converts, and five

,>,?>*v? '

ilSHOP G. SMITH

ilSHOP J. C. HOARE,

(ISHOP J. S. BURDON

REV. G. SMITH. ARCHDEACON WOLFE.

PORTRAITS OF SOME PROMINENT MISSIONARIES.
Those of Bishop Hoare and Archdeacon Woife are from cop) right photOL:raphi by Elliutt & ]-ry.

How THE Work Grew. 11

catecliiimens awaiting baptism — a cliurch small in numbers, it is
true, but strong in faith and zeal. A faithful and able convert of
the American Mission, named Wong Kiu-Taik, acted as pastor
and evangelist, and htindreds attended his preaching in the
two churches in the heart of the city. The Great Shepherd did
not forsake His sheep: their faith was sustained, and all was
graciously over-ruled for their good.

In the early part of 1864 a violent outbreak of popular fury
arose against the work of another Society labouring in the city,
and the C.M.S. Mission was not spared. The rioters destroyed
a preaching hall, schools, mission library, and dwellings of
the nati^'e agents, did much damage to other property, and
inflicted injuries O'n such Christians as they could lay hold of.
In one night, seemingly, the work of years was undone. We
can imagine what a sore trial all this must have been to a
little band of recent converts, with no missionary to cheer their
hearts, and explain that it was no strange thing that had
happened unto them. Two inquirers took alarm, and withdrew,
though we believe they afterwards returned ; but not one
baptized member wavered. And what was the general result ?
Not only did Mr. Wolfe, on his return, succeed in getting full
compensation for all damage done, so that he was able at once
to rebuild the wrecked mission premises, but the riots did a real
service to the work by bringing Christianitj- prominently before
people of all classes. Men who had hitherto not known or not
noticed what was going on, began to inquire what this new
doctrine really was. Crowds flocked to the rebuilt chapels ; false
and gross reports which had been circulated were discredited ;
the notion that Christians could only be abhorred by all right-
thinking folk for their vile and wicked lives was corrected ; an
anonymous book appeared, evidently the product of a Heathen
who was little acquainted with Christianity, but defending the
missionaries; and one of the converts said, "It is much easier
to be a Christian now than it was twelve months ago, before
the riots." Yet domestic persecution continued, and the Master's
words were fulfilled, " A man's foes shall be they of his own
household." Mr. Wolfe wrote : — " Our two catechists (Wong

12 For Cueist in Fuh-Kiex.

Kiu-Taik and Sing Ching-Mi, of wliom we shall hear again)
have to bear a great deal for the sake of Christ, even from their
own families. They do, indeed, suffer shame for the Name of
the Lord Jesns. I am persuaded that it does them good, but it
is not pleasant to the flesh." The zeal of these Chinese
brethren was exemplary, and it was not fruitless. Of some of
the converts, who came in one by one at this time, it is mentioned
that they were brought to Christ by the instrumentality of
Wong Kiu-Taik.

One of these new converts was very interesting. At first he
was a most bitter opponent of the jMission, and used to come to
the chapel on purpose to interrupt the service and abuse the
catechist. One day he was so violent that he had to be turned
out, after which he did not appear again for some months, and
was quite lost sight of. But one Sunday Mr. Wolfe, noticing
a stranger listening attentively, went and spoke to him. " Sing-
sang " {i.e., Sir), said the stranger, " don't you know me.''" It
was the very man, but Mr. Wolfe had not recognized him. He
had not come under any human Christian influence during
his absence, but the Spirit of God had been his teacher ; he had
given up idolatry, and now wished to " be a Christian and worship
Jesus." He placed himself under regular instruction, and at
length his baptism was fixed for Christmas Day, 1864 On that day
he not only came forward himself to the font, but brought his
little daughter in his arms to consecrate her also to the service
of Christ. His name was Ling, to which was now added, as a
Christian name, Cheng-Seng {i.e., highest degree of faith). He
had carried on a lucrative business in connexion with the idol
temples. This he gave up, which brought upon him much
persecution, and he was often followed in the streets by a crowd
of people blaspheming that holy Name by which he was called.
Another of the new converts brought a storm upon his head
by resigning his situation as foreman in a mercantile establish-
ment, because he would neither work on the Lord's Day nor be
a party to the deceit and fraud practised in the trade."

The Mission was not now left to a single missionary. The
Eev. A. W. Cribb had arrived in November, 1864, and after

How THE WoRiv GEE^^■. 13

passing through the usual weary period of hard study of the
language, was actively engaged in useful labours.

In the following year, the number of converts rose to fifty,
and this, be it observed, not by the half-hearted adherents of
whole villages or families coming in eii masse, but by the subju-
gation of individual souls, one by one, to the obedience of Christ.
This year was also marked by decided tokens of spiritual growth
in the little Church ; " increased prayerfulness, more zeal for
the conversion of others, a deeper acquaintance with the truth,
greater boldness for Christ, and less shrinking from the shame
of the Cross." Severe discipline was exercised in one or
two cases of inconsistency by excluding the offenders from
the Lord's Table. This had a wholesome effect generally,
and the backsliders themselves came back in deep peni-
tence to be readmitted. Persecution, more or less trying,
continued, and the hostility of the literary classes was
undiminished — a regular association being formed by them
to oppose the missionaries, and particularly to prevent
Natives from selling or renting premises to them. But the
common people gladly heard the message of salvation ; a weekly
discussion class was successfully carried on, and proved very
useful for the exposition of Christian principles ; the Scriptures
were widely distributed ; and one man was converted, without
any instruction by the missionaries, simply by reading a copy of
St. Matthew's Gospel.

We now come to what may be called a building-up period.

First let us refer briefly to the building of the material
church; for the Mission now had a house of prayer in the
heart of the city, worthy of the capital and of the growing
congregation. It had been provided in the most gratifying
manner. The European merchants of Fuh-chow, struck with
the manifest blessing vouchsafed to the work, had subscribed
5,000 dollars for this purpose, and the new church had been
publicly and solemnly opened on October 8th, 1865. Two years
later, the opening of a new church in " iS'orth Street " gave
the missionaries a third centre of evangelistic work, the other
two being the first church opened in " South Street," and the

14 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

church of 1865 in " Back Street." The new " North Street "
church was the especial charge of Mr. Cribb, who, having now
mastered the language, was working vigorously. Besides the
services in this church, and a share of those at the principal
church, he took the north-western part of the province as a
field for itineration, with the out-station of Ku-cheng as his
centre. He also systematically visited the villages which in great
numbers dot the plain of the Min around and above Fuh-chow ;
and finding that the people, being in the fields at work, could
not attend the preaching in the day-time, he made the experiment
of renting a room in a village for a night-meeting once a week.
He would leave the city towards sunset, walk eight miles to
the place, preach for an hour — the room being thronged, con-
verse with inquirers, get supper and a little sleep, and return
to Fuh-chow at day-break. Further, he started a boarding-school
for boys, on the plan which had already done so much good in
some parts of India, and, devoting some time to literary work, he
produced in the next year or two a Chinese Reference Xew
Testament and a Harmony of the Gospels.

It was in the early part of 1868 that the infant Church of
Fuh-Kien had for the first time the advantage of an episcopal
visitation. Dr. Alford, the Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong,
who had lately come into his diocese, not only visited Fuh-chow
itself, but made a tour of two or three hundred miles among
the out-stations, partly on foot and partly in the Chinese
sedan-chair. He held confirmations at Fuh-chow and also at
Lieng-kong, Tang-iong, Lo-ngwong, and Ku-cheng, where out-
stations had by this time been opened, of which some account
will be given in subsequent chapters. Xo fewer than ninety
Chinese Christians received " the laying-on of hands " and
ratified their baptismal vows. At some of the places there were
also candidates ready for baptism, Avhoni the Bishop himself
almitted into the Church. On Ascension Day a still more
important event in the history of the Mission took place — the
senior catechist, Wong Kiu-Taik, being admitted by the Bishop
to Deacons' Orders.

The story of this first Chinese clergyman in Fuh-Kien is very

How THE Work Grew. 15

interesting. Wong was a young landscape painter in Eut-chow.
An intimate friend of his, named Hu long-Mi, also a painter, was
a Christian, a member of the church belonging to the American
Episcopal Methodist Mission. After much prayer and frequent
earnest entreaties, he persuaded Wong to read the Scriptures
and attend the public services. Very soon the result was
manifest. AVong's mother, who was tenderly attached to her
son, was warned that he was in danger, and ought to be looked
after. " What is wrong ? " she exclaimed. " My son has
always been industrious and dutiful; what has happened?"
" He attends the foreign church." " Impossible," cried the old
lady; "it cannot be that my son would do such a thing." On
questioning him, however, she found, to her horror, that it was
only too true, and that although he " could not understand all
the foreigners said, yet it seemed very reasonable."

It needs some familiarity with the peculiar relations of parent
and child in China to understand fully the power Wong's mother
had over him. She kept him closely confined to the house, and
tried in every way to shake his determination, weeping, scolding,
and threatening by turns, but all to no purpose. Her wrath was
intensified by continually hearing him praying, " Lord bless
my mother!" and invoking the hated name of "Jesus." At
last she said, ''Son, you must stop this praying." "Mother,"
said Wong, " I have always obeyed all your commands, b\it this
I cannot do." " But the noise disturbs me." " Then I will pray
silently." " You shall never pray in this house again."
" Mother," said Wong, " I cannot stop praying." " Leave the
house, then," she exclaimed ; " I disown you for ever as my
child, and when I die, dare not to join with the family in
celebrating my funeral obsequies."

This " terrible anathema," ,as Bishop Alford calls it in the
narrative from which we take these particulars — and in China
no curse could be more dreadful — drove Wong from his home,
but not from his faith. He went and lived with his friend Hu,
and rapidly grew in knowledge and grace. One day his mother
sent to bid him come to her. He could only think it was a
plot to seize and kill him ; but, after a painful mental struggle.

16 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

he said to the missionary, " I will go ; pray for me." He went.
The mother asked him if he was still determined to be a
Christian. " Mother," he said, fully expecting some sudden
assault, " I am." " Then," said she, " if you will not change
your mind, I shall change mine. You may be a Christian, and
you may live at home." Overwhelmed with joy, Wong fell on
his knees and thanked God; and a few Sundays after he was
publicly baptized by the name of Kiu-Taik, " seeker of virtue."
This was in 1857 ; and he was twenty-three years of age.

For some months Wong Kiu-Taik continued his occupation
as a painter, but eventually he was taken into the service of
the American Mission, and for three or four years laboured
zealously as an evangelist. A dispute about the right term to
use in the Chinese tongue for " God " caused a division among
the missionaries, and a word which Kiu-Taik could not
conscientiously use was, for a time, imposed on all the agents.
He resigned his post, and shortly afterwards joined the C.M.S.
Mission, with the entire approval and strong recommendation
of his late employers. In 1862 he became a catechist, and in
1868, as we have said, he was admitted to Holy Orders, the
American missionaries themselves being present on the occasion,
and expressing their hearty pleasure at seeing their former
helper admitted to the ministry.

During the next two years, the work extended rapidly at
the out-stations ; but Fuh-chow seemed less and less willing to
receive the message of salvation. There was little open
opposition; the public services were still largely attended by
Heathen — South Street church, where AVong Kiu-Taik mostly
preached, being especially thronged; and particular mention is
made of large sales of Scriptures in 1870, '' upwards of two
thousand copies of portions of the Word of God being sold in
the city and suburbs." But few, indeed, came forward to confess
Christ boldly ; and until recent j-ears the city work has given
our brethren the least encouragement of any part of the
Mission. It must, however, be remembered that the city
preaching was not without its influence in the province. In
several cases men from distant towns and villages heard the

How THE W-OUK Geew. 17

Gospel at Fuk-chow, believed it, and carried it with, them to
their homes, there to spring up in the hearts of their friends
and neighbours, and to be revealed after a time by a message
to the missionaries asking for a teacher.

In 1869, a third missionary arrived, the Rev. J. E. Mahood;
but the Mission was not to have the benefit of three labourers
all at once, and before Mr. Mahood could preach in Chinese,
Mr. Wolfe's health compelled him to return to England for a
time. In the meanwhile, trials from both within and without
beset the work. At iling-ang-teng and Lo-ngwong, the
conduct of some who had entered the Church gave the
missionaries much sorrow and anxiety; difficulties arose in
connexion with the purchase of land or the renting of buildings
at one or two out-stations near the mouth of the Min; and a
violent outbreak occurred at Lo-ngwong in 1869, the mission
church and the house of a leading Christian being attacked and
much damaged, and the converts subjected to severe persecution;
all of which we shall relate more fully in subsequent chapters.

Out of evil, however, God brought good. The vine, pruned
by the sharp knife of persecution, and with the unfruitful and
withered branches cut away by excommunication, shot forth
its boughs and yielded its grapes plentifully. And when, in
April, 1871, Bishop Alfofd paid a second visit to the Mission,
he was able to write most encouragingly of what he saw.
Mr. Wolfe was in England at the time, but the Bishop,
accompanied by Mr. Cribb, made another long circuit, travelling
for nine days from station to station, and confirming seventy-
four more converts. After all the defection, and severe discipline ,
the Bishop was able to report more than three hundred members
of the Fuh-Kien Church, besides above fifty apparently sincere
inquirers; and it is clear, on a comparison of the figures in
successive returns, that this was taking the very lowest estimate.
In a few short years what had God wrought !

The Mission was now started on a new period of development
and expansion. But the mysterious providence which has so
strangely marked its history from the first is again seen at this
juncture. Immediately after Bishop Alford's visit, Mr. Cribb's

18 EoR Christ in Fuh-Kien.

weakened health necessitated his immediate return to England ;
and Mr. Mahood, with two years' experience of China, was
left in sole charge of the Mission. He was, however, efficiently
aided by the Rev. AYong Kin-Taik, who had received Priests'
Orders during the Bishop's stay; the onward progress of the
G-ospel through the agency of the native helpers never stopped for
a single moment; and the period of a year and eight months that
elapsed between the departure of Mr. Cribb in April, 1871, and
the return of Mr. Wolfe in December, 1872, was one of distinct
progress in almost every part of the field. More than 150
persons were baptized in the interval; the total number of
adherents of the Church, including candidates for baptism, rose
from 360 to 800; and that of communicants — the best index
of spiritual life — from 150 to 280. These, however, were not
all new converts. Many who had fallen away in the Lo-ngwong
district, and some who had been excluded from Church privileges,
returned in penitence and were received back into fellowship.

The same period was signalized by one of the most
serious of the many outbursts of furious opposition that
have marked the history of the Fuh-chow Mission — that
known as the Shan-sin-fan plot, which was a deeply-laid
scheme for destroying all missionary work in the south
of China. In July, 1871, small powders, called shan-
sin-fan {" genii powders "), were quietly distributed over
the southern provinces, the distributors declaring that they
would prevent calamity and disease, and they were eagerly
sought after by multitudes of people. Suddenly some thousands
of inflammatory placards appeared, and were scattered in every
direction, warnino- the people that the powder was " a subtle
poison issued with sly venom by the foreign devils," that within
twenty daj's of taking it they would be attacked with a dire
disease which only the " foreign devils " could cure, and that
cures would only be effected on condition that the victims became
Christians and practised the most infamous vices. These
placards produced intense excitement. In several places the
infuriated people rose against the converts, beat them, and pulled
down their houses ; the mission churches were destroyed at Ku-

How THE Work Grew. 19

cheng, Ang-iong, Sang-iong, and Sek-paik-tu, and for a time
it was scarcely safe for an Englishman to be seen in the streets
at Fuh-chow. When the excitement had a little subsided,
Mr. Mahood paid a visit to Ku-cheng and Ang-iong, to comfort
the persecuted Christians; but the journey proved a most
perilous one, and he narrowly escaped death. A few months
later, he again visited the same stations without molestation.
He exhorted the converts to patience and gentleness, and by
way of setting them an example of a forgiving spirit, himself
called upon the very men at Ang-iong who had led the riot^
and took a cup of tea with them.

Under this persecution, the converts gave unmistakable
evidence of the grace of Grod that was in them. At Ang-iong the
Christians were driven from their homes, and robbed of clothes,
money and property, yet not one denied the faith. Siinilar
outrages were committed upon them at other places. The
general result of the outbreak, indeed, was not wholly evil.
Some inquirers were naturally frightened away, but true reli-
gion was tested and strengthened by the fiery trial; the Heathen
saw, to use Mr. "Wolfe's words, that " there is a religion for
which men are prepared to suffer " ; and when they discovered
how false the placards proved to be, they became more
eager than ever to hear the Gospel. So it is always. Has
there ever fallen a calamity upon the Church concerning which
we could not say, with Nehemiah, " Howbeit our God turned the
curse into a blessing " ?

In December, 1872, Mr. Wolfe returned to Fuh-chow,
after an absence of two years and a half. A few weeks later
he made a complete tour round the whole district, visiting all
the out-stations and travelling 338 miles. At one or two places
the work appeared to have stood still, and even to have gone
back; but at the great majority both the past progress
and the future prospects encouraged him greatly. " On the
whole," he writes, " I have been cheered by the condition of the
Lord's work throughout the country, and the future prospects
are decidedly more encouraging than ever they have been."
Notwithstanding the " many adversaries," he found that

B 2

20 Foe Chbist in Fuh-Kien.

wherever an agent had been fairly established and the objects
of the Mission rightly understood, there the people were de-
cidedly friendly.

Mr. Wolfe's return to the Mission enabled him and Mr.
Mahood once more to divide the district between them. But,
not content witk the ground already occupied, they at once
took steps to advance yet further into the regions beyond. In
1874, Mr. Mahood undertook a journey across country northward
to Wen-chow, a great city actually beyond the limits of the
Fuh-Kien province, and within those of Cheh-Kiang, which
was opened to foreign trade in 1875. But, alas ! this
journey was the last he was to take in the service of the
Mission. The season, unfortunately, had advanced to a time
when no Englishman can safely travel in China; and on the
way back Mr. Mahood received a sunstroke, from the effects of
which he never recovered. _ He rallied for a while, and strove
to go on with his work ; but at the beginning of 1875 he was
peremptorily ordered home by the doctors, and died on the
voj^age. He was yet quite a young missionary; he had not been
six years in the field; but Grod had worked not a few miracles
of grace by his instrumentality, and his name will always have
an honourable place in the annals of our Missions in China.

Thus, once more, the Fuh-chow Mission was in the hands of
a single missionary.

In 1875 a warm welcome was accorded the new Bishop
of Victoria, the Eight Eev. J. S. Biirdon, who had in
former years been the Society's zealous and intrepid pioneer
missionary at several stations in Xorth and Mid China, and who
came to give the benefit of his long and varied experience to the
younger but more rapidly growing Fuh-Kien Mission. This
was his first visit. During his second visit which took place in
the following spring, he ordained four native brethren at Fuh-
chow. A short sketch of them will help the reader to under-
stand what manner of men they were. Some of them had
endured persecution, counting not their lives dear unto them;
they had lived as well as preached the Gospel, and they were
pillars of the Church for many years afterwards.

How THE WOEK GrEEW. 21

(1) Tiag Seng-Ki was a convert from Miag-ang-teng on tke
Min river, below Fuh-chow, where there was a promising work
in the earlier days of the Mission. He was an artist, and, though
not one of the literati, was well educated. He was baptized
in 1867. At the Bishop's examination, his answers were the best,
and accordingly he read the Grospel at the ordination. He was
thirty years of age.

(2) Tang Tang-Pieng was a convert of long standing. He
heard the Gospel from Mr. Welton, the^ first C.M.S. missionary
in Fuh-chow. Baptized by the American Episcopal Methodists
in 1857, he joined the English Mission in 1864, and became one
of the first catechists, being stationed at Lieng-kong. He had
suffered many persecutions for the faith, and proved himself a
tried worker. He was fifty-two years of age.

(3) Ling-Sieng-Sing (whose widow, Chitnio, has for many
years past been the Matron of the Fuh-chow Bible-Women's
Training School) was formerly a schoolmaster, and was baptized
by Mr. Mahood. He was an earnest catechist, and had been
cruelly treated in Kien-ning (see infra, page 112). He was
forty-three years old.

(4) Su Chong-Ing also was a schoolmaster, and formerly an
opium smoker. He was brought to a knowledge of Christ by a
carpenter, 'Ngoi Cheng-Tung, of Ang-iong, and baptized by Mr.
Cribb in 1867. He was the first to occupy the remote city of
Ping-nang, and was in his fortieth year when, ordained.

On this second occasion the Bishop travelled from town to
town in the interior, and confirmed no less than 515 candidates.
During the tour 146 adults were baptized. The Bishop found a
total of 1,443 adult Christian adherents of the Mission, with a
stajffi of 52 paid catechists, 80 voluntary helpers, and 17 students.

Such were the visible results of fifteen years' work, since the
first converts were baptized in 1861. What was the estimate
formed of them by so experienced a judge as Bishop Burdon?
He pointed out three conspicuous faults, or, at least, unfavourable
features, in the Fuh-Kien Christians: — (1) want of education,
(2) want of cleanliness, (3) want of reverence in worship; and
he gave very earnest counsels as to the remedying of these defects.

22 Yon Christ in Puh-Kien.

On the other hand, he mentioned three characteristics of an
opposite kind, which, he wrote, " lead me to rejoice in the work,
and to believe that it is of God," viz. : ■ — (1) the fearlessness of
the converts in piiblicly avowing themselves to be Christians,
(2) their steadfastness and patience under persecution, and (3)
their liberality in gifts for church-building, etc.

We have now reached a distinct period in the history of
the Mission. In the autumn of 1876 two new missionaries
arrived, and their advent led to marked developments both in
the work in the districts, and also in the training of native
agents, which, in view of the large number of converts, now
demanded more attention.

chaptee iii.
Opening Doors.

'• For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many
adversaries." — 1 Cor. xvi. 9.

•' Has time changed the word of promise,

Has one jot or tittle failed ?
Nay ! the conquering Christ has conquered.

Death has trembled, sickness paled.
Vista after vista opens,

Channels new, through which His power
Flows in healing streams which widen

Day by day and hour by hour." — E. P. Crowthei:

tN November lith, 1876, the two new missionaries referred
to in tke last cliapter, the Rev. R. W. vStewart, a graduate
of Dublin University, and the Rev. LI. Lloyd, of
Islington. College, arrived in Fuh-chow. As soon as they
had acquired some knowledge of the language, they
relieved Mr. Wolfe, of some of the heavy responsibility then
resting upon him. The training of native schoolmasters and
catechists was handed over to Mr. Stewart, whose chief work
it became for some years ; while Mr. Lloyd was put in charge
of several of the country districts. Mr. Stewart, however,
had not long been engaged in the educational work when
there arose a storm of opposition on the part of the literati
of Fuh-cho'W city, which resulted in the burning down
of the Theological College, and the expulsion of the Mission from
the city. The circumstances under which this took place are
recorded in the " History of the Church Missionary Society," *
from which the following extract is taken ; —

For twenty-seven years the Society's Fuh-chow Mission had been in
peaceable occupation of its premises on the Wu-shih-shan, or Black Stone

* Vol. iii., pp. 227-229.

24 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

Hill. In 1878, Robert Stewart proceeded to erect, in a corner of the
ground, a building for the proposed Theological College, having already
forty students to accommodate. Every care was taken, as with the buildings
already occupied, that they should in no way, by style or height, offend
the Chinese superstitions. The plans were submitted to the British Consul,
and he, after personally inspecting the site, gave his writte^n consent ;
and the new building was completed without any objection from the
mandarins, whose club-house was close by, and without the slightest indi-
cation of any feeling on the part of the people. Suddenly, however, on
August 30th, while the mandarins themselves and a consular officer were
viewing the building, a mob of hired roughs assembled, and proceeded
systematically to burn it, the Chinese authorities making no attempt to
stop them, and the Consul himself, who was sent for, saying he could do
nothing. Other outrages followed, and no reparation could be obtained.
Then the owners of the whole plot of land hitherto occupied brought an
action for ejectment against the Mission, which, under the Treaties, had
to be tried before the English Consular Judge. The plaintiffs put forth
seven petitions, but one was withdrawn and five were dismissed. The
seventh, however, was successful, the Court deciding that the plaintiffs
might resume possession of their property at three months' notice. The
lease had recently been renewed for twenty years, and it must be added
that, according to Chinese usage, leases carry the right of renewal from
time to time, provided the rent is duly paid ; and without such a custom,
it is obvious that no one would put up buildings on hired ground. The
Judge's decision, therefore, caused surprise, and the Chinese authorities,
to prevent an appeal to a higher court, offered to grant a new site at a
lower rent. The new site, however, was not in the city at all, but in
the Foreign Settlement, which the missionaries had always wished to
avoid; but ultimately, for peace sake, Stewart yielded (Wolfe was now
in England) and accepted the compromise. But outrages continued to
be perpetrated upon schools and other buildings, also in the native city;
and the inexplicably unfriendly attitude of the Consul led the C.M.S.
Committee to appeal, in 1880, to Earl Granville, the Foreign Secretary.
The Society is always exceedingly reluctant to r.esort to the Govern-
ment, and even to seem to rely upon an arm of flesh; but in this
ca,se very simple and ordinary rights under the treaties were set at
nought, and the suspicion arose that there was something behind. An
adequate cause had been whispered by a friend who had been in China
and at the Foreign Office Mr. Wright frankly stated it to Lord Granville'
and he promised to make inquiry. Whether he did, the Society never
knew, and the matter dropped.

But when in 1886, Miss Gordon - Cumming's "Wanderings in China"

Opening Dooes. 25

appeared, the whole story came out. What the Society, having no positive
evidence to prove, had refrained from even hinting at in public, that
accomplished traveller and fearless Scotchwoman proclaimed to the world.
She was actually at Fuh-chow for some months shortly after the outrage,
and knew all that went on, in a way that the missionaries very likely
did not. The fact is that the Chinese authorities, under orders from
Peking, offered to the Consul full compensation for the Mission, and a
renewal of the lease of the same ground. This offer he did not communicate
to the Mission, but on his own account pressed for some other concessions.
What were they ? The English community had long wanted a race-course,
but could not get the land. At the same moment when the Mission was
ousted from the city, the race-course was granted. In incisive language
does Miss Gordon-Cumming denounce this transaction, giving all the
details in their nakedness ; and then she bursts out as follows : —

" There is no gainsaying the fact that many persons look upon
missionaries and their work as altogether a mistake, an annoying effort
to bring about undesirable and unprofitable changes. What a pity it must
seem to such thinkers that St. Columba or St. Patrick ever took the
trouble to come to Britain, or, indeed, that a, handful of low-born Jews
should have presumed to preach in Greece or Rome — to say nothing of
their little troubles with the literati of Judea. As regards obedience
to The Master, Whose last Commandment these troublesome missionaries
are trying to carry out, that may be all very well in theory, but not in
practice; and as to a Chinese St. Stephen, they have neither interest in
nor sympathy with any such, even when his martyrdom is enacted almost
at their doors."

In accordance with, the compromise above referred to, a lease
of a building in the Foreign Settlement was granted by the
Chinese Government at a small rent, and in this the Girls' School
was carried on; but some difficulty was experienced in securing
a site for a new Theological College. Temporary premises were,,
however, occupied, and, ultimately, a site having been obtained,.
a new building was erected and opened in 1883.

Notwithstanding the trials and persecutions which were con-
stantly falling upon the Native Church in Fuh-Kien, the Gospel
continued to win its way. At the close of the year 1878 there
were 100 out-stations, containing 104 churches and chapels,
throughout the thirteen districts of the Mission, while the Native
Christians (adults and children) in connexion with the Mission
numbered 3,000 or more.

26 I'oR Christ in Fuh-Kiex.

Great activity in spreading tke knowledge of Christ has, as
a rule, characterized the Fuh-Kien converts, and this was now
heing exemplified in an eminent degree. Mr. Stewart records
overhearing two converts discuss the matter, and they came to
the conclusion that it was a breach of the eighth Commandment
not to make known the Gospel to others. Another encouraging
feature noted at this time, was the increase in the native contri-
butions, the adult baptized members of the Church giving on an
average more than a dollar a head for Church purposes. When
it is remembered that a dollar to a Chinaman is worth as much
as a sovereign to an Englishman, it will be seen that the giving
of the Chinese converts is at least not behind the giving of
English Christians. In some measure, therefore, the Native
Christians in Fuh-Kien were realizing two, important duties: (1)
that of extending Christ's Kingdom among their heathen neigh-
bours, and (2) that of supporting the religion they professed
by contributing of their means.

The year 1881 was remarkable for the occupation by
European missionaries of Fiih-ning, the first city in the province
other than a treaty port to be so occupied. L'p to that time the
work there had been carried on by native helpers, superintended
by a missionary residing at Fuh-chow.

During the following year steps were taken towards the
organization of the Native Church, on the same plan as had
been adopted in Tinnevelly and other parts of India. Under this
plan, every district has a Native Church Council, composed of
delegates from the various pastorates or groups of congregations,
each pastorate having its own local Church Committee. In 1883
this Native Church organization was established in the more
advanced districts of Lo-ngwong, Hok-chiang and Ku-cheng.
At the Annual Meeting of the Native Church Conference, held
at the end of the year 1882, the subject was discussed, a native
olergyman introducing it in a speech, of which the following
vrere the heads: —

(1) Money given to the cause of God is lent to the Lord.

(2) The reward which the Lord gives to zealous work in
this direction.

Opening Doors. 27

(3) The zeal of the Heathen in supporting the devil and his
idolatry with money should put the Christians to shame in their
great bacliwardness in supporting the cause and worship of the
true God Who loved them so much.

(4) The duty and the necessity that Native Christians should
support themselves in order to avoid the scorn and shame levelled
at them because of their living on the money of the foreigner.

(5) The testimony to the truth and reality of the faith and
profession of Christianity which self-support would give to the
Heathen, who now think the Christians mere pretenders working
for foreign money.

This Conference was afterwards formally constituted a part
of the Native Church organization under the title of " Provincial
Council." The meeting above referred to was the last on the
less regular footing, and, as giving an idea of the nature of the
Conference, the following account of it is appended: —

The Conference commenced on Monday, December 11th, after
preliminary services, and Holy Communion on the previous
Sunday. The subjects discussed during the Conference were :
(1) "Foot-binding of Female Children"; (2) "Persecution and
Law-suits"; (3) "Schools and Education"; (4) "Women's
Work "; (5) "' Medical Work "; (6) " The best mode of Exciting
a Spirit of Liberality in Contributing Money for Support of
Christian Objects." The discussion on each subject was opened
by one of the native clergy or catechists.

Each evening a devotional meeting was conducted by the
Natives, the subjects being: — "Thy Kingdom Come," "The
Power of Faith," " Sanctification," " The Sympathy of Christ
with His People," and " The Blessedness of Showing Mercy."
On the Saturday evening preceding the Conference, a missionary
prayer-meeting was held, and many had an opportunity of giving
their experiences aa to the success or otherwise of the mission
work at their stations during the year.

One of the important movements of this period was the effort
to develop women's work. At that time it was not the practice
of the Church Missionary Society to send out unmarried lady
missionaries, and the recently-formed Church of England Zenana

28 For Christ in Fdh-Kien.

Society only looked upon India as its field. Miss Foster, of tke
Society for Promoting Female Education in. the East, who had
been in charge of the C.M.S. Girls' School at Fuh-chow, came
home in 1881, and pressed the Church Missionary Society to
send out women workers. She was referred to the Church of
England Zenana Missionary Society; and that Society after
some hestitation agreed to start a China Mission. Its first
missionary was Miss Gough, daughter of a veteran C.M.S.
missionary at Kingpo. She went to Fuh-chow in 1883^
but subsequently married the Eev. J. C. Hoare, of Ningpo,
now Bishop of Yictoria. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart were at
home on furlough in 1885, and did much to arouse a warm
interest in the possibilities of women's work in China, especially
among their own friends and connexions in Ireland, with the
result that the C.E.Z.M.S. Committee were induced to take up
the matter more earnestly; two sisters — Misses I. and H.
Newcombe — were sent out in 1886, and year by year afterwards
others followed, until a large staff of lady missionaries was found
working in Fuh-Kien. Of the subsequent development of
women's work more will be found in Chapter XIII.

Another leading event of 1883 was the opening of the new
Theological College by Bishop Burdon. A suitable site had been
obtained in the Foreign Settlement on l^an-tai Island, a few
miles from Fuh-chow city, and with the aid of the compensation
money received from the Chinese Government for the destruction
of the buildings in the city, a new College was erected with
accommodation for fifty students, and with a large hall, fitted
up as a chapel, capable of seating 200 persons. Mr. Stewart
wrote : — " The Bishop remarked at the opening that we had been
chased from ' Esek ' and again from ' Sitnah,' but now we were
settled at ' Rehoboth,' and the Lord hath made room for us and
we shall be fruitful in the land."

In the following year the work of the Mission was much,
interfered with by the outbreak of hostilities between the French
and the Chinese, and especially by the attack of the former upon
the forts and arsenal on the river Min, which caused great excite-
ment among the Natives. In some districts the converts suffered

FUH-CHOW THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE.

Opening Dooes. 29

mucli reproacli because of their adhesion to the foreign religion,
an.d in Hok-chiang official persecution was added to the " boy-
cotting " of relatives aiid neighbours. As a result some back-
sliders had to be mourned over, but on the other hand many
Christians wrote to Mr. Wolfe begging him not to be anxious
about them, and saying they were " ready to die if it were God's
will, rather than forsake the Lord Jesxis Who had died for
them."

At the Annual Conference of 1885, " a beautiful spirit," so
wrote Mr. Wolfe, " of Christian moderation in reference to
the war was manifested by all who spoke or referred to the matter.
They took it as a call from Grod to their country to open its
gates and its heart to the blessed message of love and peace
which the Church was proclaiming in the cities and towns and
villages of the province."

! At this Conference, Mr. Wolfe gave an account of a visit
he had lately paid to Corea, which greatly touched the meeting.
One of the Chinese clergy and three Chinese lay evangelists
volunteered to go and start a Corean Mission; and in the follow-
ing November Mr. Wolfe sailed for Corea with two of the
latter, the necessary funds having been contributed by
friends in Fuh-Kien and in Australia. But the hopes of a
permanent Mission there were sadly discouraged by the return
of one of the Chinese brethren whose heart failed him. The
other, however, stuck to his post and was reinforced by another
helper. Mr. Martin paid them a visit in the autumn of 1888,
and found they had made friends with a number of the people,
as many as fifty or sixty often coming in to hear what they had
to say. Of these some ten stated their willingness to acknowledge
Christ, but feared the King's prohibition. Later on, when a
Bishop of Corea had been consecrated and reached that country,
accompanied by a staff of missionaries, it was felt that the
presence of the Chinese was not necessary. They, therefore,
quietly withdrew, and are now doing excellent work in "Fuh-Kien.

In April, 1887, the Euh-Kien Mission was much encouraged
by a visit from the Rev. F. E. Wigram, then Hon. Clerical
Secretary of the C.M.S., and his son. They made a tour of 180

30 For Christ in Fuh-Kibn.

miles througli the various districts, accompanied by Mr. Wolfe
and Mr. Martin.

The period covered by this chapter witnessed progress in the
following particulars: —

(1) A great extension of the work in districts outside
Fuh-chow ;

(2) The development of educational work by the establish-
ment of the Theological College and the Boys' School at Fuh-
chow, where the training of native agents was conducted on an
enlarged and more systematic basis than previously;

(3) The organization of the Native Church on the plan
adopted in Tinnevelly;

(4) The occupation of Fuh-ning by the foreign missionary,
that being the first city outside the treaty port to have a resident
European ; and

(5) The commencement of work among women by women
missionaries.

chapter iv.

Movement and Improvement.

" Ye shall be witnesses uiito Me." — Acts i. 8.

"The work of vntnetts is the duty of the whole Church. The Jidd of witness is
the territory of the whole world. The force of witness is the baptism of the
Holy Spirit." — Dr. A. T. P'lersmi,

EVEEAL new developments were skaping themselves at
the time reached in the last chapter. The first and most
important was that of sending out unmarried lady
missionaries. The example set by the Church of England
Zenana Missionary Society in this respect has been mentioned.
This was soon followed by the Church Missionary Society,
and Miss Emma Goldie sailed in the autumn of 1887 as
the first C.M.S. unmarried lady missionary to Fuh-Kien. Miss
Groldie joined her sister, Mrs. Martin, at Euh-ning. She was
followed in the nest year by Miss M. D. Boileau, who was
associated with her in work amongst the women and girls of
that district. Year by year fresh women workers were sent
forth, until now (1904) there are no fewer than forty-two C.M.S.
unmarried lady missionaries in Fuh-Kien.

A second noteworthy event of this period was the formation
of the Dublin University Fuh-Kien Mission. Some special
missionary meetings, held in Trinity College, Dublin, during
the year 1885, were the means of arousing considerable interest
among the students, and it was decided to form a University
Mission, in connexion with which men should be sent forth under
the C.M.S. to one of the Society's fields of labour, and their sup-
port undertaken by the members of the University. The field
selected was Fuh-Kien, no doubt because of the connexion of the

32 For Christ ix Fuh-Kien.

'Rev. R. W. Stewart (who, as already mentioned, was a Dublin
graduate) with that Mission. The first missionary to go out under
the auspices of the Dublin TJniversity Fuh-Kien Mission was the
Rev. J. S. Collins, son of the Rev. W. H. Collins, a missionary
of the Society at Shanghai and Peking from 1857 to 1880, whose
visit to Fuh-chow in 1860 led to the first baptism (see supra,
pao-e 8). He sailed in the autumn of 1887. Others followed in
subsequent years. In 1894 a Ladies' Auxiliary was formed, and
since then several women workers have been added to the staff
supported in connexion with the Dublin University Fuh-Kien
Mission, though, for special reasons, three of these at present
work under the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society.
But we are anticipating.

A third important movement of this period was what was
known as the North-West Extension, the idea being to establish
a line of stations extending from Kien-ning in a north-westerly
direction into the province of Kiang-Si. For this special work
two men went out in 1888 — the Revs. H. C. Enox and H. S.
Phillips. After two 3'ears the former was obliged to return home
on account of ill-health, and Mr. Phillips was left to attempt
single-handed the difficult task of opening up the jYorth-West.
In Chapter XI. some account will be found of his persistent and
self-denying labours, which at length, after much opposition
and some narrow personal escapes, were rewarded by his obtain-
ing an entrance into Kien-yang city, and by his gathering in the
firstfruits of the spiritual harvest which will no doubt "" in due-
season " be reaped there to the praise and glory of God. For
lack of men, however, extension further Xorth-West has not
been possible.

Having traced these three important movements, we now
proceed with the general history.

Not only was the European staff greatly strengthened by the
new developments but the ranks of the native clergy also were
reinforced by the admission of three men to Deacons' Orders in
November, 1887, and of two others in the following spring. The
growth of the native agency was accompanied by growth and
development in the Native Church. Native Church organization

M0VEME>"T AND ImPEOVEMBNT. 33

was now firmly established in each of the eleven districts into
which the Mission was divided, and which correspond with as
many hsiens or counties, each district having its own Church
Council (with a European missionary as Chairman), and employ-
ing and paying its own agents. To the funds of this Council,
raised locally, the Society made annual grants, to be reduced at
a fixed rate year by year. By this means self-support was en-
couraged and stimulated.

In 1890 Mrs. A Hok, a Chinese Christian lady, paid a visit
to England, which is mentioned here because it was the means
of greatly quickening interest in women's work in Euh-Kien,
land of sending out a number of additional workers to that
field in connexion with the Church of England Zenana
Missionary Society. She came to England with a Chinese maid,
under the care of Miss C. Bradshaw, and was conducted by
Mrs. Stewart about the country, addressing meetings in various
parts of England and Ireland. Her faith was sorely tried in
the death of her husband before she could get back to him;
and she suffered much from the reproaches of her heathen
friends, who saw in his death a just punishment upon her for
leaving him and going to the country of the " foreign devils."

The Mission was visited by Bishop Burden in the autumn of
1891, and again in the following spring. On the second occasion
he admitted three Chinese to Deacons' Orders, bringing the
number of native clergy up to fifteen.

The year 1891 also saw the completion of the revision of
the Bible in the Fuh-chow colloquial dialect. The work of
revision was chiefiy done by the Rev. Dr. Baldwin, of the
American Board of Foreign Missions, and the Rev. LI. Lloyd,
one of the C.M.S. missionaries. The new edition was p'ublished
by the British and Foreign Bible Society, which in this, as in
80 many similar instances, proved itse^lf to be an indispensable
auxiliary of foreign missionary work.

The year 1893 is noteworthy as that in which the first two
ladies sent out by the Church Missionary Associations in
Australia (which were formed as an outcome of the visit of
the Rev. R. W. Stewart and Mr. Eugene Stock to the

34 PoH. Christ in Fuh-Kien.

Colonies in 1892) reached tke Mission. They were followed
in 1895 by Miss Amy Isabel Oxley, a great grand-daughter
-'of Samuel ilarsden, "the Apostle of New Zealand," and the
first to enter the Marsden Training Home at Sydney, who
was sent out by the New South "Wales Church Missionary
Association. Since then the Australian Associations have
sent out further reinforcements, and Canada also has sup-
plied some workers to the Mission.

But while the Mission was thus gaining recruits, it was
also suffering by the removal through death of several workers.
On January 16th, 1893, the Mission lost its senior native
clergyman, in the death, through an accident, of the Rev.
Wong Kiu-Taik, of Fuh-chow. There had been a somewhat
heavy fall of snow, causing surprise and some alarm to
many Chinese who had never seen snow before. Mr. Wong
climbed to the roof of his house in the city of Fuh-chow to
see the effect of the snow-covered houses, and losing his balance,
fell down on the stones beneath. He never moved or spoke,
and in a few minutes breathed his last. He was a specially
qualified controversialist, well acquainted with the various
heathen systems and customs of his countrymen, and able to
hold his own with the literati of the city. The story of his
conversion will be found on page 15.

Not since the year 1863, when Mr. Smith was called to his
rest, had the death of any European worker occurred actually in
the Mission, though Mr. Mahood died on the voyage home in
1875. But in 1894 two inost valuable women workers — Mrs.
Martin, wife of the llev. J. Martin, and Mrs. Phillips, wife of
the Rev. H. S. Phillips, were called to their rest, the former in
January and the latter in November. Mrs. Martin, as Miss E. A.
Goldie, went out in 1881 as a missionary of the Society for Pro-
moting Female Education in the East. During her twelve years'
service she laboured devotedly for the salvation of the Chinese
women and girls. Mrs. Phillips, as Miss M. Apperson,^ was one
of the band of Irish ladies who were among the earliest mission-
aries sent out by the C.E.Z.M.S. to Fuh-Kien. She was the first
lady missionary in Kien-yang, and by her death the women of

Movement and "Improvement. 35

that city lost their only teacher, and the Mission a most gifted
worter.

The losses thus sustained were followed in August, 1895, hy
one yet more grievous. While a numiber of missionaries were
gathered at Hwa-sang, a little village not far from Ku-cheng,
for rest and change, they were attacked by a party of Vege-
tarians, and eight of them were murdered. The sad occurrence
is narrated at length in the nest chapter. '

The massacre naturally affected the work of the whole
Mission. The European missionaries in the various districts
were summoned to Fuh-chow, iinder the British Consul's orders,
and remained there for several months until it was deemed safe
for them to return.

The Sub-Conference was held as usual in IVovember. The
brethren met under a very solemn sense of the gravity of the
occasion, but there was no feeling of panic or despair; Bishop
Burdon presided, and for the last time. He was also present
at the Native Provincial Council, of which Archdeacon Wolfe *
wrote : —

The College Chapel and Hall were crowded, and many had to be accom-
modated on the verandahs. The late massacre was, of course, a prominent
subject at our native missionary meeting; one after another got up and
declared how their hearts had been touched and how this sad event had
awakened in them, such a burning desire as they had never before felt
for the salvation of their people, and a determination to work harder than
ever, by' God's help, for this object. I felt as these native brethren were
giving utterance to these feelings in burning words, that God was already
bringing good out of the Hwa-sang mas.sacre,,and that He was preparing,
us for. greater blessing still.

It is especially noteworthy that a year which saw the larger
part of the Mission bereft for months of the presence of the
European missionaries, witnessed in .most districts a greater
interest and a larger spirit ' Of inquil'y than ever before.
The number of adult baptisms in the year 1895 was 503, while
in the year following the massacre the number was 753, half as
many more, and the largest annual insrathering in the whole
* Th3 Rev. J. E. Wolfe was appointed Archdeaooa of Fuh-chow in 1887.

c 2

36 For Chkist in Fuh-Kien.

history of the Mission. Who can doubt that this progress was
greatly due to the many prayers which at that time went up to
God on behalf of Fuh-Kien from all parts of the Christian world ?

The year 189G saw the retirement of Bishop Burden from his
Episcopal, though not from his missionary, labours after more
than forty years of active service. His feeble health made it
difficult for him to visit the Fuh-Kien Mission, which constituted
the most important part of his diocese. Accordingly he resigned
the see, intending to remain in China and devote himself to
literary work, while also engaging as far as possible in direct
missionary effort. He was succeeded by Dr. J. C. Hoare, a
son of the late Canon Hoare of Tunbridge "Wells, and formerly
Principal of the Theological College at Ningpo.

The work of the Mission proceeded quietly but steadily for a
year or two after the consecration of Bishop Hoare. At the close
of 1899 a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel was killed in the Shan-Tung province by some men who
were known as " Boxers," and that murder proved the prelude
to more extensive anti-foreign outrages in the following year
than had previously been known in China. The number of
" Boxers " and their depredations increased with marvellous
rapidity. Their audacity even led them to besiege the Lega-
tions, the official residences of the Ministers representing
Foreign States in Peking. The siege lasted two months, from
June 20th to August 15th, 1900, and during its progress in
some of the northern provinces, more particularly in Shan-Si , large
numbers of Europeans and Native Christians were put to death.
The whole country felt the tremor of these startling events, and
so serioiis was the aspect of affairs in the province of Fuh-Kien
that at the request of the Viceroy and the British Consul all the
European missionaries, excepting some of the male missionaries
at Hing-hwa, were summoned to Fiih-chow in June, 1900. In
that month a terrible disaster visited the province, which seems
in God's providence to have been a powerful deterrent to those
who plotted evil against the foreigners. On the very day on
which, if rumour can be trusted, an attack on the Europeans was
to have been made, the river Min, which flows through the centre

Movement and Improvement. 37

of tke province, rose to a lieiglit unexampled for upwards of one
hundred years. The floods put a stop for a time to the designs
against the foreigners, and through the loyalty of the Viceroy and
the mandarins to their engagements to the European consuls,
the missionaries, by God's favour, were preserved from harm.

It was not until February, 1901, that the country was deemed
quiet enough for the workers to return to their stations. For
eight months the up-country stations had been deprived of
European supervision. Something was done by correspondence
to keep in touch with the converts, and from time to tinie the
missionaries were able to pay a brief visit to one or another of
the stations, but practically the l^ative Christians had to be left
to themselves. iN evertheless, at the close of 1901, after visiting
every district of the Mission, Bishop Hoare wrote that his visit
made him realize more than ever that the Holy Spirit of God was
working mightily in the province.

With this testimony we may very fittingly bring the
general story of the Euh-Kien Mission to a close. When we
recall the early days of the Mission (almost eleven years with-
out a single convert); the expulsion from Fuh-chow city;
the years of preaching carried on in the halls and churches
within its walls without any apparent result; the opposition
and persecution which, not only in Fuh-chow, but in almost
every place in the country districts, attended the first preaching
of the Gospel — when we recall all this, and then see how at
the present time the work has been extended into five out
of the nine prefectures which constitute the province
(seven out of the ten hsiens of the F\ih-chow prefecture being
occupied) — with a total of 12,052 adherents (baptized 10,385,
catechumens 1,667); a band of 224 native helpers; 192 schools
with 3,192 scholars; annual native contributions amounting to
f9,500; and, in particular, when we see in Fuh-chow city itself
— long hostile and barren — the Mission re-established, houses
and schools built, lady missionaries permanently resident and
pursuing their work without let or hindrance, while there is a
Native Church of 1,300 adherents in Fuh-chow and neighbour-
hood — -we can only say, " What hath God wrought ! "

chaptee v.

The Fiery Trial.

"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial .... but rejoice,
inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings." — I Pet. iv. 12, 13.

'■ Even the seeming waste of precious lives has been but the breaking of the
costly flask, filling the world with the odour of unselfishness and heroic piety,
and prompting to its imitation." — Dr. A. T. Pie.rmn.

tHE Mission was called in tke course of 1895 to pass through,
a " fiery trial," tlie like of wticli had not been experienced
at any time in its previous history. Previous pages have
testified to many outbreaks of violence in Euh-Kien, but none of
them can at all compare with the "baptism of fire" of which
Hwasang was the scene in August, 1895, and of which some
account must now be given.

The Eev. E. W. Stewart, on his return to Fuh-£ien after
four years' absence, during which he did valuable work on the
deputation staff at home, and as a special deputation to Australia
and Canada — in the year 1893 was- appointed to Ku-cheng in
succession to the Eev. AY. Banister, who had been in charge of the
work in that district. Soon after Mr. Stewart took up his resi-
dence there, a sect known as Vegetarians began to give trouble.
This was a political faction, having really nothing to do with
the vegetarianism of the Buddhists, which sprang suddenly into
vigorous life, taking advantage of the Grovernment being en-
gaged in war with Japan,. In August, 1894, an attack was made
by some members of this turbulent party upon the Christians of
a village called A-teng-pang. Other attacks followed, but the
authorities seemed unable to cope with the trouble. Indeed, so
helpless were they, that on one occasion when the magistrate
arrested some of the rioters, the tables were turned, the prisoners

The l^iEEY Trial. 3'J

were sent liome in state, and tke mandarin's secretary was
publicly beaten. Large numbers joined tbe Vegetarians, and in
December a monster gathering was held, which caused consider-
able alarm to the Native Christians, but no injury was done. Mr.
Stewart recalled the fact that it was the 19th of the month, when
" a belt of prayer for the Fuh-Kien Mission, was encircling the
earth " — a more potent protection than the arms would have
been which the Natives urged Mr. Stewart to procure for them.
The Vegetarians, emboldened by the weakness of two successive
magistrates set up a reign of terror, and deeds of violence were
committed in various parts of the country. By this time their
numbers were between 3,000 and 4,000.

In the spring of 1895 they assumed a very aggressive
attitude. The magistrate was threatened, and Ku-cheng city
was shut up for several days at the end of March. Mr. and Mrs.
Stewart, with the ladies, left their houses, which were situated
outside the city, with a river between, and entered the city for
safety, getting in over the walls by means of a ladder. Some
settlement was come to between the magistrate and the besiegers,
and the latter withdrew. The ladies and children were then
sent to Fuh-chow, but they returned to Ku-cheng in June, as it
was considered safe to do so. In a few weeks the missionaries
went to Hwa-sang, a village in the hills, where they were
accustomed to spend the hot months of July and August. The
party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart, with their five children,
Mildred (aged 13), Kathleen (11), Herbert (6), Evan (3), and
Hilda, the baby (one year), and their nurse, Lena Yellop,
together with Miss Elinor and Miss Elizabeth Saunders, of the
Victoria CM. Association (who had come to Ku-cheng to live
with Mr. and Mrs. Stewart while studying the language), all
residing in one house; and of Miss H. Newcombe, Miss
Codrington, Miss E. Stewart, Miss Gordon, and Miss Elsie
Marshall (all of the Church of England Zenana Missionary
Society), who lived in another house a few yards distant. The
indirect cause of the massacre at Hwa-sang was a fight which
took place in a little village near Sa-iong. Two men were killed,
and the Viceroy, at the instance of the Ku-cheng magistrate.

40 Foe Christ in Fxjh-Kien.

sent a force of two hundred soldiers from Fuh-cliow under a
military officer. This exasperated the Vegetarians, and they
were persuaded by a fortune-teller, known as " Long Finger
Wails," that the only way out of their difficulty was to commit
some deed of violence, and resist the authorities. Lots were then
cast as to which one of the following three plans they should
adopt: (1) to attack the city; (2) to attack a rich man's house at
Tang-teuk; or (3) to go to Hwa-sang, which was about fifteen
miles from their headquarters, and attack the foreigners. Three
nights in sxiccession the lot fell upon Hwa-sang, and on the night
of July 31st the march began. About 280 men started, but
some deserted on the way, and only about 120 men reached their
destination.

The 1st of August was Herbert Stewart's birthday, and his
sisters, Mildred and Kathleen, were out in the early morning
(about six o'clock) plucking flowers for him when the murderers
arrived. One of them seized Kathleen by the hair and beat her,
but she escaped, and ran home, hiding under the bed. Mildred
also ran home and lay upon the bed. When the attacking party,
armed with spears and swords, entered the house, she was attacked
and wounded in the knee. What happened to Mr. and Mrs.
Stewart can never be known, but Kathleen found the house was
burning, and at once went to the help of her brothers and sisters.
First she dragged Mildred out; then, returning to the aursery,
she pulled the baby from under the nurse, who had been killed;
afterwards, each in turn, she carried out her two brothers; and,
ultimately, with the help of a Native, succeeded in getting all
four down to a house lower down the hill belonging to Miss
Hartford, an American missionary, who had also been attacked,
but was saved from death by a Native Christian, escaping with
a cut under one ear. Meantime, at the ladies' house, the
Vegetarians were engaged in their horrible work. The ladies
on being attacked attempted to escape, but on getting out at
the back they were immediately surrounded by the Vegetarians.
They pleaded for their lives; some even of the rioters seemed
touched and inclined to spare them, and an old Hwa-sang Native
joined in appealing for pity, but all in vain. A wild-looking

The Fiery Teial. 41

man, bearing a red flag, appeared and sliouted, " You know your
orders; kill outright," and so the sickening work began.

■ The Rev. H. S. Phillips (who had just arrived on a visit from
Kien-ning, and was living in a house five minutes' walk off) was
aroused about 6.30 by hearing a noise, and went up to the
houses. When he arrived -he found a number of men
engaged in carrying ofi loads of plunder, but on a horn
being sounded the Vegetarians began to leave, first setting
fire to the houses. Mr. Phillips could see no foreigners, and
concluded they had escaped, though he feared something
dreadful had happened, for he heard the Yegetarians say as they
left, " Now all the foreigners are killed." He soon knew the
awful facts. He first found the children in Miss Hartford's
house, Mildred and Herbert being seriously wounded. Miss
Codrington was there, too, having had a marvellous escape,
but being seriously wounded. He then rushed back to the
houses and found the bodies of Miss Elizabeth Saunders, Miss
Stewart, Miss Gordon, and Miss Marshall. Later he discovered
the body of Miss H. Newcombe at the foot of a hill in front
of the house. Still later, the bodies, or rather the ashes, of
Mr. and Mrs. Stewart, Miss Elinor Saunders, and Lena Tellop,
the nurse, were found in one of the burned houses. It is thought
they were put to death before the house was burned.

Mr. Phillips immediately sent for Dr. J. J. Gregory, a medical
missionary of the American Methodist Episcopal Mission, then
in Ku-cheng, and with his help the remains were placed in
coffins, and the next day a start was made for Euh-chow. After
going ten miles Herbert Stewart became delirious and soon
passed away, though the fact had to be kept from the Natives lest
the coolies should refuse to carry the sedan-chair any further.
The melancholy procession passed on, journeying all night, and at
Chiu-kau boats were taken for Fuh-chow, which was reached on
Sunday afternoon. On Tuesday, at 5.30 a.m., the remains were laid
side by side in the quiet little English cemetery at Euh-chow, and
no one who was present will easily forget that solemn service
held in the stillness of the early morning of an Eastern summer
day, with the long row of open graves, and the subdued grief

42 Foe Christ in Fuh-Iviex.

and sympathy evident in the faces of the missionaries and
others who joined in these last offices. A few days afterwards
Hilda,' the baby, succumbed to the injuries she had received, and
was buried by the side of the others, while Mildred lay for weeks
in a precarious state from, the wound inflicted on her knee. At
one time little hope was entertained of her recovery, but prayer
was made for her continually, and God spared her life.

Such is the bare narrative of what has been called
" the most solemn scene in the history of the Church
Missionary Society." Upon those in the field the blow fell
with staggering' force. The feeling of the native converts
was expressed in the questions which they constantly put to
the missionaries, " Why did God allow this ? Tou have always
told us that God is Almighty; why did He not protect His
servants?" "What could the missionaries say to them? They
could only prajr that their faith might not fail. And these
prayers were answered. There was no falling away of the
Native Christiams. On the contrary, there was a very large
ingathering of converts the following year. But we cannot
dwell upon this here, nor upon how the news was received at
home ; the limits of this book do not permit of our doing so.
For accounts of the feeling which was aroused throughout the
country when the massacre became known in England, of the
remarkable prayer-meeting held in the Exeter Hall, London, a
few days afterwards, of the wealth of sympathy and prayer called
forth on every hand, and of various questions in reference to
mission policy, etc., which were raised and discussed, the reader
is referred to the Church Missionary Intelligencer for September,
1S95. We are likewise unable to dwell upon the life and work
of the victims of the massacre, and must content ourselves with
the following brief sketch taken from the C.M.S. Annual Report
for 1895-9G. For fuller biographical notices the reader is re-
ferred to the Society's magazines and to the several "Lives"
which have been published.

Mr. Stewart was born in, March, 1850, and was the son of
the late Mr. James R. Stewart, of Dublin. He was educated at
Marlborough School and at Trinity College, Dublin. After leav-

*?■■

"BE THOll FAITHFUL UrfTO
DEATH:, AftP I V/ILL GIVE
THE! A (ROW/1 OF LIFE','

%J0

PORTRAITS OF MISSIONARIES KILLED AT HVVA-SANG, AUG. 1st, 1895.

The Fiery Trial. 43

ing college he studied law in London, but just as he was about to
be called to the Bar the great spiritual crisis of his conversion
occurred. This was at Richmond, in Surrey, at Holy Trinity
Church, under the ministry of the Rev. Evan Hopkins.
The call to the ministry followed shortly afterwards, and
then the call to the heathen world. He offered to the Society
in 1875, and, after a year's training at Islington, was ordained
at St. Paul's Cathedral on Trinity Sunday, 1876, together with
the late Bishop Hill, the Rev. LI. Lloyd, of the Fuh-Kien
Mission, and the Rev. J. J. Bam bridge, late of the Sindh Mission.
While at home on sick leave in 1891 he was invited by the Com-
mittee to accompany Mr. Eugene Stock on his Australian tour,
after completing which and visiting India he returned to the
Mission via Canada, in restored health, in the autumn of 1893.

Mrs. Stewart, nee Louisa K. Smyly, was a daughter of the
late Dr. J. Smyly, of Dublin, and of Mrs. Smyly, lately deceased,
whose work in connexion with the Irish Church Missions is so
well known in Dublin.

The two Misses Saunders were the firstfruits of the Aus-
tralian visit of Mr. Stewart and Mr. Eugene Stock. A few months
before, during a special Mission conducted by the Rev. George
Grrubb, they had definitely given themselves to the Lord for His
service, and the very evening that Mr. Stock and Mr. Stewart
landed at Melbourne — Sunday, April 24th, 1892 — they responded
to Mr. Stewart's first sermon by an inquiry about going to China.
The original plan was that their widowed mother and they should
all go together as honorary missionaries. The financial faikires
that occurred in Melbourne soon after made this impossible, and
the Church Missionary Association proposed to send out all three
upon its funds. The mother, however, decided to stay behind
for a time, in order to realize what was left of her property,
hoping eventually to follow her daughters at her own charges.
Her design was carried out in part, for in 1897 she joined the
Mission, expressing the hope that she might be privileged to see
a " martyrs' memorial at Ku-cheng of living precious stones."

The four other missionaries murdered were ladies of the Church
of England ZenanaMissionary Society, namely. Miss Hessie New-

44 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

combe, one of four sisters from Blackrock, near Dublin; Miss
Elsie Marsball, the youngest daughter of the E^v. Canon
Marshall, Vicar of St. John's, Blackheath; Miss Flora Lucy-
Stewart, eldest daughter of the late Rev. James Stewart, Rector
of Little Stukeley, Huntingdonshire, who dedicated her in her
earliest years to missionary work ; and Miss Mary Ann Christina
Gordon, who was born at Ipswich, in Queensland, and was sent
to China in 1891 by the Australian Auxiliary of the Zenana
Society. The going out to China of two at least of these four
sisters was due, under God, to the personal influence of Mr.
Robert Stewart, and the same may be said of not a few others
on the Zenana Society's list of 'missionaries in Fuh-Kien.
Indeed, it may almost be said that of all services rendered in the
Gospel cause to China by Mr. and Mrs. Stewart, that of calling
thither the noble band of ladies, many of them Irish like
themselves, to labour in connexion with that Society was the
most fruitful.

Css!^->

CHAPTEE YI.

A Wave of Blessing.

" So mig-htily grew the "Word of God and prevailed."— .^.efe xix. 20.
" Gracious Spirit, Thou art not quenohed by blood. Let it make Thy garden
soil strong to grow Chinese believers in." — A MetlaltaMla Cimvert.

iTt^DRING the early days of the Mission its general history
was either indentical or closely interwoven with that of
the work in Fuh-chow city and district. But by 1887,
the year reached at the close of Chapter III., so many stations
and out-stations had been opened in the Fuh-Kien Province that
the missionary operations in Fuh-chow had ceased to be of such
paramount importance as formerly. Indeed, if visible success
were the standard of importance, the work at the newer stations
called for the greater prominence, for it showed many signs of
increased progress, which were lacking in connexion with the
efforts in the capital city of the province. Evangelistic work was
vigorously carried on within its ancient walls, and in South
Street Church large audiences gathered day after day to listen
to the message of salvation ; but the literati, as usual, stirred up
strife, which, while it increased the zeal and energy of the native
workers, served, no doubt, tO' turn some would-be inquirers from
the truth.

About this time the educational work in Euh-chow was much
strengthened and developed. The Divinity College was placed
under the charge of the Rev. (now Archdeacon) W. Banister.
He had the valuable help of the Rev. Ting Seng-Ki, who acted as
Vice-Principal, and whose quiet and consistent life exercised a
marked influence upon the students. Originally an artist, and

4G FoK Christ ix Fru-KiEX.

not a " read-book man," it was wonderful Low his intellectual
powers developed. His spiritual tone, and apprehension of
spiritual truth, were also- very marked. Altogether he was a
great illustration of what the Gospel can do with the Chinese.

On. his death in 1896 he was succeeded by Mr. Wong Siong-
Tek, son of the late Rev. AVong Kiu-Taik, the Society's first
native clergyman in the Mission. He had acquired a knowledge
of English which secured him a good appointment in a mercan-
tile office, which he now gave up, at a loss of almost one-half
of his salary, in order to engage in direct mission work. He had
been a voluntary Church worker for some time before. Mr.
Banister re-organized the evangelistic work of the students, so
that the villages of the Fuh-chow plain were systematically
visited, magic lantern lectures being given with great success.
Since 1898 the Rev. J. Martin has been Principal of the College,
which now (1904) contains about thirty students.

The Boys' High School, which was in charge of the Rev. T.
McClelland, and afterwards of the Rev. F. E. Bland, was
recognized more distinctly as a Training vSchool for Schoolmasters
and Assistant Catechists, and had an average of from 30 to* 35
students. A branch of the Scripture Union was formed and
greatly helped the young men to study the Word of God as daily
food for their souls, and not merely as a text-book for their
school work. Missionary and Scripture Union prayer-meetings
were held on Sunday afternoons, the boys themselves taking
part in the meetings. In 1895 a Boarding-school was opened
for boys under seventeen years of age.

Among those trained of late years was a man with a remark-
able history. Baptized at Ku-cheng, he entered the American
Mission Hospital in that city, but through the influence of
relatives he was induced to give up his Christian profession and
enter the Buddhist Monastery of Kushan, near Fuh-chow. There
lie attained a high position, being second in authority. He was
sent to Singapore to appeal for funds, and succeeded in raising a
sum of 120,000. While engaged in superintending the repairs
of two pagodas in the heart of Fuh-chow he met with two of the
native workers, and their arguments and persuasions led him to

A Wave of Blessing. 47

decide to return to- tlie fold from which he had strayed. The
Eev. F. E. Bland wrote: —

His first thought was that he should go and collect the money which hp
bad promised to get in for the monastery, and then he would lay aside his
vows. Our Christians urged on him that this was no matter for delay —
that he must beware of the plea, '■ Lord, sufEer me first to go and bury my
father.'' So he decided then and there to break with Buddhism. He gave
up two valuable certificates he had obtained in the monastery, one bearing
the imprimatur of the Emperor, and one issued by the head of the monastery
himself, by which he was not only authorized to collect subscriptions for
the monastery, but always had at hand a means of getting a livelihood for
himself. These two ceriifi.cates I now have in my posses.^ion.

Efforts for the education and training of women and girls
were not omitted. By means of a Bible Women's Training
School, and a Grirls' Boarding-school on the island of Nan-tai,
and a School for Christian women in the native city, as well as
by Sunday-schools maintained by the C.E.Z.M.S., steps were
taken to ensure a supply of those female native agents who are
so urgently needed.

By the year 1894, the work in the city was beginning to give
encouragement. On Christmas night, between 300 and 400
people listened attentively for three hours to the story of Christ's
Birth, Life, and Death. There were six men in a Catechumens'
Class, and the attendance at the Sunday services was greatly
increased, especially that of women and children. This was due
largely to the devoted work of Miss Mead, of the C.E.Z.M.S., and
to the influence of her little day schools.

Euh-chow had its share in the blessing which followed the
prayers called forth by the Hwa-sang massacres.

During the months of October and ISTovember, 1895, the church
and other preaching places were crowded with people. Arch-
deacon Wolfe wrote : — " I cannot say I think all these people are
sincere, but I have never seen anything like this in Euh-chow
in all my years here." Hithei-to it had been next to impossible
to get anybody to sell a site for a house or church to a foreigner,
but now offers of more places than were wanted were made as sites
for houses, chui'ches, or hospitals. Even part of the Wu-shih-shan

48 For Cheist it^ Fuh-Kien.

premises, the very spot on wlilch the old College stood, with a
large piece of land attached to it, was offered for sale.

The villages in the Fuh-chow district were, of course, in-
fluenced by the change of attitude in the city. Miss Goldie
wrote at this time : — " I am visiting the villages round Fuh-chow
four afternoons a week, and never have I found such ready and
willing listeners. It seems as if a wave of blessing were passing
over this province."

During the following year this movement towards Christianity
still continued. In Back Street Church, in the city, such large
crowds came to listen to the preaching that it became necessary to
provide for overflow gatherings. Nor were practical results want-
ing. Some fifty- five adults were baptized in 1896, one of whom
was the head of the Taouist priests in the Fuh-chow Prefecture.
.4.S a proof of the sincerity of his profession, this man declined
to go and perform some Taouist rites (for which he was offered
a sum of ten dollars), giving as his reason that he was now a
Christian. Another of these converts was a blind preacher, who
had been in the habit of earning his living by attending various
festivals and descanting on the virtiies and heroic deeds of the
gods. After his baptism, he began to learn the miracles and
parables of Christ, in order to publish them abroad in the
streets of Fuh-chow. Among the converts baptized in connexion
with the city church about this time was a Mr. Wong Ing-Ang,
who had offered in 1895 to sell a site to the Mission for building
a house, but the authorities refused to sanction the sale, and
the missionaries were obliged to relinquish their title.
During these negotiations Mr. Wong came under the
influence of the Gospel, and after a time of instruction
and testing, was baptized. Another case was that of a young
man, bed-ridden, who accepted the Gospel teaching through the
ladies who visited the women at his house.

An interesting event of the same year was the visit of Mr.
J. R. Mott, of the Student Volunteer Missionary Union, to Fuh-
chow. A Conference was held in the city, when between 700 and
800 young men and women were present from the institutions and
congregations connected with the several Protestant Missions.

A Wave of Blessing. 49

As a result of this visit, a Christian Student Association was
formed among the students of the Theological College, which
had the effect of greatly improving the spiritual tone both of the
College and of the Boys' School.

Another event which took place in 1897 must be mentioned,
viz., the re-occupation by the Society's missionaries of the
native city of Fuh-chow. A site having been obtained near the
north gate, a commodious house was erected, and in the month
of October Miss A. E. Wolfe, Miss E. M. Brooks, and Miss E. E.
Massey took up their residence therein. The last named, who
was a trained nurse, soon commenced dispensary work, which a
year or two later was placed under the supervision of Dr. Gr.
Wilkinson. A little hospital for women with twelve beds was
opened in 1901, and received 105 in-patients; also a men's ward,
which became available for use in the following year.

But although the long-barren soil of Euh-chow city was thus
at length bearing fruit, yet opposition had not altogether ceased.
Many were still bitterly hostile to Christianity, and from time to
time manifestations of this spirit occurred. Thus in the
month of August, 1898, placards, illustrated and otherwise,
were published in Fuh-chow vilifying Christianity and Christ
Himself, some of which were too horrible to be described.
Notwithstanding, the interest grew, and, premises having
been secured, a new church and preaching hall were opened
that year; while the work of the lady missionaries among
the women was most encouraging. " One could go to fresh
houses every day and be warmly received in all," wrote one of
the workers. Another sign of the changed circumstances was
the greater boldness manifested by the Native Christians. They
even went so far as to carry flags bearing Christian mottoes in
procession in the streets, but this was stopped in response to a
friendly request from some of the gentry, since there was a
danger lest trouble should be caused by the roughs.

During the troubles of 1900, which have already been
referred to, the Christians in Fuh-chow itself escaped serious
molestation. But those in the district were not equally fortun-
ate. At Teng-kie the catechumens were subjected to severe

D

50 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

persecution from Romanists and Heatten'; tkeir property was
plundered, many of them were beaten, and one was actually
killed. At otlier places, t-oo', trial was experienced, but a large
numbei' of tbe converts stood firm. In one instance, at least, the
fidelity of a Christian was rewarded by the conversion of her
persecutor. Archdeacon "Wolfe wrote on Christmas Day,
1901:—

One of the women who was baptized to-day in South Street is a deeply
interesting convert. She is one who has suffered much for Ohrist, but one,
too, who has triumphed by prayer and patience into a great joy and glad-
ness of faith. Several years ago she heard the truth and became a believer
in Christ, but her husband, who was then a bigoted Heathen, would not
listen to her request to attend the Christian servicei in our church. Slie,
however, interested her eldest son in Christianity, and he soon decided
openly to confess himself a Christian, and was baptized last year. This
enraged the bigoted father, who blamed and abused his wife as the cause of
this calamity, as he called it. In his rage he beat the sou, destroyed all his
Christian books, and strictly prohibited all intercourse with Christian
associates. In vain, however, for the young man took every opportunity of
associating with Christians, and attended the church. The mother could do
nothing but pray for the conversion of her husband, and God has graciously
and wonderfully answered these prayers ; and to-day this man and this
woman, his wife, with the remaining members of their family, have been
baptized by myself. During the examination of candidates last Monday,
previous to baptism, it was truly refreshing to see the joy which filled this
woman's soul as she related her victory for her husband's conversion gained
by patience and two years' earnest prayer to Christ ; and it was equally
cheering to listen to the husband's thanksgiving to God and to his wife for
the wonderful change wrought in his heart, and for the fact that his entire
family are now united in the faith of Christ our Lord.

The total number of adult baptisms in the city and district
during the year 1902 was 177. Among them were twenty-three
lepers, who, after careful examination, were baptized in their
Ancestral Hall. During the j^ear 1903 the number of adult
baptisms was 129.

chapter vii.
Over the Mountains : The Story of

LlENG-KONG.

" White already to harvest." — St. John iv. 35.

" The missionary's life is one of surpassing joy, for who has ever tasted a
delight more intense than that of seeing souls Ijorn into the Kingdom, and
perhaps no country has given larger results for the amount of labour bestowed
than China. ." — Grace Stott.

ghT^ lENGr-KOIS^G is a large and important hsien, or second
Jl=dJ class city, tMrty miles north-east of Fuh-cliow. It
stands on tlie river Lieng, wliicli flows tKrougli a broa.d
and fertile valley from N.W. to S.E., parallel with, the valley of
the Min. Lieng-kong is approached from Fuh-chow either by a
direct path over the mountainous country dividing the two val-
leys, or by sailing down the Min to a pljice near the mouth called
Kwang-tau, and then taking a shorter path (seven miles) over the
mountains. Both routes conduct the traveller through most pic-
turesque scenery. The former is especially fine. Aiter leaving the
northern gate of Fuh-chow city, the plain, covered with populous
villages and assiduously cultivated, is traversed for seven miles
to the foot of Peh-ling Pass, up which the path consists of stones
arranged to form irregular steps. Mounting the steep ascent
for about a thousand feet, and turning round, the whole plain
that has just been left is spread out before the eye, " looking
like one immense richly-ornamented carpet, on which stand two
millions of human beings," or, as another missionary expresses
it, " like the plain of Sodom, well watered everywhere, but the
men wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." Turning
again, and proceeding northward, the path gradually ascends

D 2

52 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

through paddy-fields and corn-fields, past tea-gardens and rest-
houses, to the " Tigers' High Retreat," from whence, looking
north, another extensive view is obtained of the valley of the
Lieng, stretching right and left for many miles. A steep descent
leads down into the valley, and then, following the course of the
stream eastward for a few miles, the traveller reaches Lieng-
kong. The river here is navigable for small boats, which daily
convey goods and passengers to and from the villages on the
banks and on the hill sides; and, below Lieng-kong, for large
sea-going junks, which sail up to the city walls, distant from
the sea several miles.

The city of Lieng-kong is the capital of an extensive and
populous district. It is a place of considerable wealth, and con-
tains large numbers of gentry and literati. These are the
most obstructive classes in China, and Lieng-kong has been a
comparatively barren field from the first in respect of spiritual
fruit; yet it has an interest of its own, in that it was the first
out-station occupied in the Fuh-Kien Mission.

In September, 1864, Mr. Wolfe visited the city, and a month
or two later a catechist named Kuong-Mi was sent to begin the
work of setting the Gospel before the people. On his removal
in the following year to break fresh ground at Lo-ngwong,
another catechist. Tang Tang-Pieng (afterwards ordained, and
who died in 1881), succeeded him. A small room for
preaching was hired, and there these Chinese brethren preached
daily, and sold tracts and portions of Scripture. The gentry,
however, interfered, and induced the landlord of the hired room
to give the Mission notice to quit, taking measures at the same
time to prevent the letting of any other place. The one chance
of maintaining a position in the city was to purchase the whole
house out-and-out ; but would the " head landlord," himself one
of the gentry, sell it to the foreigner? This seemed most im-
probable ; but the wife of this man, who had become acquainted
with the catechist's wife, and had heard the Gospel, persuaded
her husband to agree to the purchase, and the premises became
mission property. This success, it may well be supposed, did
not tend to make the gentry less suspicious. They organized

Over the Mountains: The Story of Lieng-kong. 53

a system of espionage, both on the movements of the catechist
and on the people who attended the preachings ; and when Mr.
Wolfe opened a boys' school, they came and made searching
inquiries into its object, examined the books and then com-
plained to the police. Some excitement ensued, and a few of
the boys who had been gathered together were withdrawn ; but
the teacher quietly persevered, and no serious harm was done.

It was not long before a few inquirers came forward, despite
opposition and on one of Mr. Wolfe's visits in 1866 he had
the joy of baptizing the first two converts.

During the following year the work was carried on " in the
face of much and most persistent opposition, the enemy disputing
every step." Eight persons were baptized, five of whom
were women, the result of the zealous labours of Mrs. Tang,
the wife of the catechist. One of them, a widow, who manifested
much of both faith and knowledge, was severely beaten by her
friends for joining the Church, and dragged roughly from the
chapel, where she had taken refuge, and an attempt was made
to sell her to a heathen husband. But it failed, and she after-
wards became the wife of the catechist Ching-Mi, to whom she
was a loving helpmeet. She died in 1871, full of peace.

A few more baptisms were recorded ini the next two years ; and
in May, 1868, Bishop Alf ord, on his first visitation tour, confirmed
four men and five women at Lieng-kong. But the work
continued to be carried on with much difficulty. In
one year placards were posted over the city, imputing
abominable motives to the mission agents; whereupon the
catechist issued a counter-placard, containing the Ten Com-
mandments and a few words inviting the people to " come
and see." The chief Mandarin being appealed to at the same
time, showed a kindly feeling towards the Mission, not usual
in a Chinese official. He issued a short proclamation, for-
bidding the molestation of the Christians; and when one of
the converts was accused to him of disturbing the peace, he said
to the complainant, " You are not telling the truth ; I cannot
believe the followers of Jesus are evil-disposed people." Lieng-
kong did not, however, fulfil its early promise. Bishop Alford,

5^ Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

on the occasion of his second tour through the province in 1871,
did not visit it, but his statistics gave aa baptized members,
thirty-four adults, and eighteen children. Nevertheless Mr.
Wolfe, in February, 1873, found the Church entirely scattered;
" some dead, others expelled, others again standing aloof." Only
one of the converts remained on the spot — a stonemason, one of
the first two baptized. He had suffered much for the Lord
Jesus in years gone by, and said he had experienced too much
of His love to forsake Him. In 1876 the work took a fresh start;
some of the old converts returned and three new ones were
baptized, while several others entered themselves as inquirers.
By this time the Gospel had found its way into the villages, an-d
several of them were occupied as out-stations.

The first of these was Tang-iong, about fifteen miles north of
Lieng-kong city. Mr. Wolfe visited it in November, 1865, and
in 1867 a room was hired, where a catechist daily preached and
taught, finding many willing listeners. A few months later Mr.
Wolfe reported that the interest of the people in the Word of
God was remarkable, and that the catechist complained that he
had no time to himself for private reading or improvement, from.
the continual flow of inquirers and learners. Several placed
themselves under regular instruction, gave up idolatry, and
commenced to observe the Lord's Day. In October the first
baptism took place. The candidate was an old man, " one of the
patriarchs of the place," and his case was a remarkable one. Mr.
Wolfe wrote: —

His conversion has been almost instantaneous. He appears to have
taken hold of the truth at once. Some people seem to be afraid of these
sudden conversions. To me, a sudden conversion appears a more evident
work of the Spirit than any other sort of conversion. When I see a dark,
ignorant Heathen at once receiving and miuiifesting an intelligent know-
ledge of thei Gospel, I am convinced that nothing else but the Spirit of God
could so enlighten his previously dark heatlien mind. Such a, sudden
change could not be effected by anything else. The old man of whom I
speak has, from the first time he heard the truth, shown a degree of appre-
ciation of the Gospel which is very remarkable and encouraging to us. As
soon as he received the truth into his own soul, he devoted his whole time
and energies in making it known to others.

Over the Mountains: The Story of Lieng-kong. 55

This old man soon brought others to the Saviour he had
found, beginning with "them of his own house." In March,
1868, two of his sons and four of his grand-children were
baptized, with another man ; and in September ten other persons ;
all won through his instrumentality, and notwithstanding that
he was in a very feeble state of health. He might be seen,
staff in hand, tottering from house to house, persuading the
people to come to Christ. He was described in the following year
as " standing on the brink of eternity " ; but he lived on, and
in 1873 he was again mentioned as " looking forward with faith
and hope to the end." In the following year he passed away.

Persecution, as elsewhere, soon arose against the converts,
and our Lord's word came true in Tang-iong : " When tribu-
lation ariseth because of the Word, by-and-by they are
offended." Inquirers drew back; some of the baptized shrank
from confessing Christ; and the early promise of the station
was not fulfilled. A little Christian community, however, re-
mained, and a new church, the gift of the late Rev. Henry
Wright, was opened in 1877. The magistrate at first forbade
the placing of the sacred name of Jesus over the door, but gave
way on a gentle reminder that the toleration of Christianity was
provided for by the laws of the Empire. Some of the old con-
verts have passed away, witnessing a good confession, but few
additions have been made from the mass of Heathenism around.

The work spread to other villages, such as Tau-ha, where,
in spite of persecution, some boldly confessed Christ, and were
baptized; Ma-pe, where, at the instigation of the gentry, an.
attempt was made to pull down the chapel which, happily,
was frustrated by the timely interference of an influential
friend of the Tau-ka catechist; and Tong-a, where, in 1881, a
young man was baptized, of whom a touching account was given
by Mr. Stewart. He was a young man of good family, one of
the members of his household holding an important position
among the literati of the district. AVhen it was demanded of
him why he had joined the hated sect, thus bringing discredit
upon his people, he replied that the doctrine was good and that
he could not give it up. He was forthwith set upon and beaten

5G Foe Cheist in Fuh-Kiex.

till he fell to the grouad insensible. At this stage his mother
interfered, saying she only wished him to be beaten, not killed.
He came to service next morning bearing the marks of his
wounds and was baptized by Mr. Stewart. When asked, " How
do you know that Jesus loves you ? " he replied, " Why, did He
not leave His Father and the glory of Heaven and come down
and die for us wicked men ? What is that if it is not love ? "

A strange occurrence led to the commencement of work at
Koi-hu in 1885. In the previous year an old man had a remark-
able dream. He saw five men sitting on the side of the hill, and
at once addressed them, asking who they were and what brought
them there. They in return asked the old na^n what he wanted,
and he replied, " I want to know goodness." The five men then
said, " Go to Sing-taing and there you will be told what is good-
ness " (Sing-taing being a C.M.S. out-station). Puzzling over
the matter, the old man, one day afterwards, met a Christian
man, a Native of the valley, to whom he narrated the dream, and
by whom he was told of the Saviour and also of the fact that
there was a church at Sing-taing. The following Sunday he
walked about seventeen miles to that place, and there heard from
the catechist of the love of Jesus Christ and what true goodness
was. This incident led to the occupation of Koi-hu, and there
shortly afterwards seven adults, including the old man, were
baptized.

Meanwhile the work in Lieng-kong city was making some
progress. In the year 1888 twenty-two converts were baptized,
nineteen of whom were members of one family, while in the
following year the number was fifty-five. These results may in
some measure be traced to the fact that the city and district had
been put under the charge of Ting Seng-Ang, an excellent
catechist, who in the year 1887 received Deacon's Orders from
Bishop Burden. His wife (a former Fiih-chow boarding-school
girl) conducted a day school in the city of Lieng-kong, the most
flourishing in the whole district. In addition, she had a class
for Bible-women once a week. The congregation meeting for
worship in Lieng-kong city numbered at this time (1889) nearly
200, but most of these came from the adjacent villages.

Over the Mountahsts : The Story of Lieng-kong. 57

Little of note occurred in the early nineties, and but few had
the courage to brave the inevitable persecution which came upon
those who openly confessed Christ. In the year 1895 the work
in the villages was sadly interrupted by the advent of Romanists
to some of the most encouraging stations, with the result that
about 200 adherents fell away.

Two years later the Misses K. Power (now Mrs. Hipwell, of
Hong Kong), A. I. Oxley (now Mrs. Wilkinson) and M. Searle
took up their abode in a small house in the church compound in
Lieng-kong city as the first resident European missionaries.
In the following December they removed to Deng-doi, a large
walled village of over 4,000 inhabitants, six miles distant from
Lieng-kong city, where a house had been built for their accom-
modation. Their work soon began to tell.

They gained a reputation as doctors, so that the sick came
to them in large niumbers. A commencement was also made
with work among the blind. A small house was rented and a
few blind boys were taught to read, Miss Osley having adapted
the Braille system to the Fuh-chow dialect as written in Eoman
letters. "Within a couple of years she had the joy of seeing four
of these boys baptized; six women were also baptized at the
same time, one being the cook at the blind school. A women's
school was also built, and was opened in October, 1899, with
sixteen women. Besides carrying on the station work the ladies
made several tours , itinerating through the district, and many of
the villages gave tokens of blessing. At Buang-sang sixteen
women and over a dozen children were baptized. At Sieu-o Miss
Oxley noticed, while on a visit there, a strange woman among the
Christians, and asked her whether she worshipped God. She
answered, " Yes." " Have you given up your idols ? " to which
she replied " No," but said she was willing to do so. She and
her husband then took down their idols and in the presence of
a large number of people burnt them. At Ma-pe the Christians
subscribed five hundred dollars to buy a large native house, to
be renovated and converted into a church; and at another village,
Uong-ngie, where, notwithstanding persecution, there were no
less than 300 adherents, a similar amount was raised. From

68 For Cheist in Fuh-Kien.

time tO' time the fidelity of tke native converts has been
severely tested. During 1902, a year in which first the plague
and then cholera raged with great violence, anid idol-processions,
intended to propitiate the false gods and induce them to
ward off evil influences, were of frequent occurrence, the Man-
darin went so far as to attribute the sickness to the Christians,
and put a placard outside the Yamen advising the people to
have nothing to do with them. In one of the villages the
catechist and some Christians who were with him were bmtally
treated. Some twenty men fell on them, and, after beating
them severely, forced the catechist down on his knees in front
of some idols, and told him that he must worship them. He
refused, saying, " You may take a knife and cut off my head,
but I will never worship the idols." At the close of 1902 the
JNTative Christians in the district numbered nearly one thousand ;
and about half of them were communicants. Archdeacon
Wolfe was in charge of the Lieng-kong district until 1897
when the Hev. W. Light succeeded him, supervising the work
from Lo-ngwong. In 1900 Archdeacon Wolfe and the Rev.
LI. Lloyd were in joint charge, and in the following year the
district was placed under the Rev. J. Martin, of the Fuh-chow
Divinity College.

chaptee yiii.

In a Deep Valley : The Story of Lo-ngwong.

"All that -will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." — 2 Tim.
iii. 12.

"After eight and a half years of journeyings among Asiatic peoples, I say
unhesitatingly that the raw material out of which the Holy Ghost fashions the
Chinese convert, and ofttimes the Chinese martyr, is the best stuff in Asia."
— Mrs. Isabella Bishop, p.e.g.s.

' OME thirty miles north of Lieng-kong, in a deep valley,
surrounded by high mountains and close to an arm of
the sea, stands the important hsien city of Lo-ngwong.

TL.6 first attempt to plant the standard of the Cross in this
city was in November, 1865, when Mr. Wolfe visited it
with a native catechist, and had at first an encouraging reception.
After two days' search, however, they failed to find a place
that could be hired as a preaching room, the people being afraid
to let to foreigners. They discovered a respectable shopkeeper
who was a personal friend of the catechist Tang (see supra, page
52) and he kindly did his best to get a room, but without success.
Shortly aftei-wards, determined not to be bafiied, Mr. Wolfe sent
a catechist, Kuong-Mi by name, to take up his residence in
the city, and, without holding regular services, to try and over-
come the prejudices of the people, and make known the Gospel
by personal intercourse with individuals. His mission was made
a special subject of prayer at Euh-chow, and the answer was
not long delayed, for within a week of his arrival Tang's friend
succeeded in hiring a suitable room for a chapel.

Two months afterwards Mr. Wolfe again visited Lo-ngwong.
He found that great interest had already been aroused, and two

60 PoR Christ in Fuh-Kien.

apparently sincere inquirers gave promise of an early harvest.
One of these, on leaving after a long and earnest conversation,
said, " Sing-sang [Teacher] it is a hard matter to believe. It
is hard to be as holy as your religion requires ; help me, therefore,
by your prayers to the heavenly Father for me." All night the
house was besieged with people come merely to look at the
foreigner, and the next day, Sunday, January 21st, 1866, crowds
assembled, despite drenching rain, to listen to the preaching. One
old man said : — " How can we live if we embrace this religion ?
You say we must not deceive, nor lie, nor swear, nor scold
people ; this is a very strange doctrine ! " At this there was a
general laugh ; but all admitted that the things denounced were
wrong, and confessed that " the religion " was good — " only, for
that very reason, they could not adopt it." How true it is that
men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are
evil ! The chapel was not yet used, some opposition being
exhibited ; but a little later it was opened for preaching by Mr.
Cribb, while on a visit to the city.

The first baptism at Lo-ngwong took place in October of
the last na.med year (1866); but no particulars of the case are
given. In December, however, three most interesting men were
admitted into the Church. One, Sia Seu-Ong, was the first
convert from the village of A-chia. The two others were
an old man of considerable property and influence, named
Siek, and his son, Song-To. The son was "one of the
most notorious evil-livers in the whole city," and had
brought such disgrace upon his family that, although he
was an only son, his father was on the point of disinheriting
him. One day " by chance " he looked into the chapel as
the catechist was preaching. Then and there the truth
laid hold of his heart, and he gave up his sins forthwith,
and yielded himself to the Redeemer, of Whose love and
power he had heard. The neighbours could not appreciate the
inward and spiritual change; but they did see at once the
difference in his outward life ; it became a common subject
of discussion among them, and it brought great numbers to
inquire and to buy tracts and books. The old father could not

In a Deep Yalley: The Story of Lo-ngwong. 61

at first believe in the reality of the reformation, and when he
helieved it he could not understand it; but although himself
a zealous idol-worshipper, he could not oppose his son adopting
a religion which had worked in him such a change. The son,
however, became intensely anxious for the salvation of his father.
On Mr. Wolfe's next visit the quondatn reprobate came to him
in his distress, and then and there fell upon his knees by Mr.
Wolfe's bedside, and poured out his heart in prayer for old
Siek's conversion. He would not be baptized, saying he must
wait for his father, that they might enter the Church together ;
and so, eventually, they did.

It was not long before further souls were given to the
labours of Li Ching-Mi, the catechist in charge, who, though
without much education, even in a Chinese sense, and with
natural abilities below the average, was nevertheless a m.an of
prayer and of simple faith, and was one of the chief instruments
in building up the Lo-ngwong Church. One case is thus
described : —

Out of a family of three brothers, two believed and were baptized.
Sooa afterwards the mother aaid the wife of one of these believed,
and were alsio baiptized. The elder brother, however, though he
acknowledged the truth of the doctrine for twelve months, resisted every
argument and entreaty, and declared he could not join himself to the
Church. He is a very clever man, and one who, if he were converted, I
thought was very likely to prove useful to the Mission. He is a doctor
by profession, and is celebrated for his skill. In the providence of God,
a, oircumstaaoe has occurred which has subdued his heart, and was the
means of deciding him to cast in his lot with the people of God.

The oateoliist at Lo-ngwong received a letter from his sou at Fuh-chow
informing him that he was dangerously ill, and begged him to hasten
to his bedside. The father at once started for Fuh-chow, and brought
this Lo-ngwong doctoi- with bim to prescribe for his son. But it
was too late ; death had already entered, and was rapidly doing its
work. The day after their arrival the young man died. The doctor was
present, and was struck with the peaceful and calm departure of the
young Christian. This made a deep impression upon his mind ; it
was a confirmation of aJl he had heard about the religion of Jesus, and
light was immediately poured in upon his soul. The dying man addressed
to the assembled friends words of rebuke for the tears that were being

62 Foe Christ in Ftjh-Kieit.

shed, and expressed a holy confidence in the merits of the Redeemer.
" Do not weep for me," he said, " I am only going home a little sooner
than you. I go before, you will follow. Why should you weep when I
am going to see my Saviour, and be for ever with Him ? I have perfect
peace through the merits of Christ." He then gave directions about a
few little matters, and concluded with a request that all should join in
praising and thanking God for His great mercy in calling him to a knowledge
of His truth. He then quietly passed away, and his soul was with the
Saviour.

But these words of this dying Christian fastened themselves in the
mind, and wrought life in the soul, of the Lo-ngwong doctor. He left the
chamber of death a, changed man. He received, when least he expected
it, or wished for it, the pearl of great price, and resolved from that very
moment to give himself up to God. He was brought to me two or three
days after by the catechist, and himself earnestly requested baptism. He
was on his way back to Lo-ngwong, and that very night I baptized him in
my study in the presence of a few of the native brethren. He departed the
next morning early, rejoicing as he went on his way, and the catechist returned
with him, sorrowing, no dotibt, for the loss of an earthly son, but rejoicing
also that God had given him this spiritual son. He was the subject of many
prayers. His mother, sister, and two brothers often prayed for him, and
now he returns to them to rejoice their hearts, and kneel with them around
the same throne of grace as the lost one that was found.

Other applicants for baptism, though apparently sincere, were
put off for various reasons ; some because they were not sufficiently
instructed in the faith; one or two, because, though attending
all the services and prayer-meetings regularly, they would not
give up opium-smoking, a pernicious habit very common at
Lo-ngwong, and very destructive in its effects. But in the follow-
ing year the opium traffic itself yielded a convert to the Church.
An old man seventy-five years of age, who kept an opium shop
in a village three miles from the city, abandoned his unholy
traffic, and was baptized; and notwiihstanding his age, and the
hilly road to be traversed, he regularly walked in and out every
vSunday for service. About the same time a great sensation was
caused by the conversionof a government official, much respected
in the city for his high character and integrity. His adhesion to
the Church tended not a little to " take away her reproach
among men." " If that man," it -would be said, " has joined
the doctrine, surely there can be nothing wrong in so doing."

In a Deep Valley: The Stoey of Lo-ngwong. 63

So promising a Mission as that at Lo-ngwong was not likely
to be let alone by the great Enemy of souls. Tliere is no more
favourite device of the adversary than to sow tares even in the
garden of the Lord, and what has been seen everywhere in every
age of the Church we must not be surprised to find in China.
A fiery trial was perhaps necessary at this juncture to separate
the dross from the pure metal, and it was not long in coming.

On the night of Sunday, June 20th, 1869, a body of the
Chinese soldiers and police, accompanied by some of the gentry
and literati, attacked and broke open the mission chapel,
destroyed the furniture, and seriously damaged the building.
Having plundered the catechist, who lived in an adjoining room,
they proceeded to the house of old Siek, and committed a similar
outrage there, turning the inm^ates, who had retired to rest, out
into the street. The old man was not in Lo-ngwong at the time,
we must say providentially, for he would scarcely have escaped
with his life had he been at home. This outbreak was but the
first of a series of acts of lawless violence perpetrated by the
police upon unoffending Christians. It was pleaded by the Man-
darins that Siek and two or three others had wantonly destroyed
the idols in one of the temples ; but this was never proved, though
it seems probable that some of the converts had been more
zealous than discreet in their conduct, and had failed to " walk
in wisdom towards them that are without." In any case it could
not be pretended that the Christians as a body had done any-
thing to irritate their heathen neighbours ; yet the whole
community was for several months subjected to a distressing
persecution. Some were beaten, some robbed of their all, some
dragged before the magistrate upon false charges, and compelled
to purchase their liberty by heavy payments. One man had a
dying thief laid at his door by the district policeman, who then
accused him of murder. Another was kept in prison for many
months and died there. This persecution seems to have been
the work almost exclusively of the governing classes, the people
generally, taking little or no part in it, and in some cases even
showing sympathy for the sufferers. But the impression gained
ground that Christianity was a proscribed religion. It certainly

i64 Foe Cheist in Ftjh-Kien.

could not now be said tliat no reproach attached to the Christians,
much less that it was advantageous to be one. The wrecked
chapel standing unused was a public witness to the ban under
which the infant Church lay. Moreover, the delays which took
place in obtaining redress for all the material damage done,
.owing to everything being referred, and referred again, to the
supreme authorities at Peking, encouraged the local officials to
further acts of annoyance and petty persecution. We cannot
wonder, under these circumstances, that half-hearted disciples,
and especially those who joined the Church to get some personal
advantage, fell away. Inquirers drew back in alarm, and some
even of the baptized kept aloof, not daring tO' suffer shame for
the name of Christ. Yet the majority of the little flock stood
firm, and more than a hundred met Sunday by Sunday at the
village of Ki-po, three miles from the city, for common prayer
and praise, an old convert there lending his house for the pur-
pose, although by so doing he incurred no little persecution.
Later on compensation to the amount of |1,600 was received
from the authorities, and with it a new and substantial church
was built. It was opened by Bishop Alford in April, 1871, and
he was then able, after a searching examination, to administer
the rite of confirmation to forty candidates, a sufficient testimony
to the reality of the work that had been going on.

A new period of advance now began. " Then had the
churches rest throughout [the district], and were edified; and
walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy
Ghost, were multiplied." The Sunday congregation averaged sixty
or seventy, and would have been much larger but for the long
distance at which some of the members lived. The excommuni-
cations of the preceding year had done good, by setting a higher
standard of Christian living, and showing the Heathen what
manner of persons the converts ought to be. The character of
some of the latter was such as to make a real impression upon
their non-Christian friends. One man in particular was men-
tioned by Mr. Mahood. He suffered great opposition from his
relatives, but nevertheless stood firm. At length his child died,
and when all the rest of the family were mourning around him.

In a Deep Yalley: The Stoey of Lo-ngwong. 65

lie said to tliem, "Before I became a Cliristian I was like you,
living- without liope in God; but now I know ttat God gave
me that child, and inasmuch as He has taken it away, I cannot
grieve." His mother and other relatives were sO' struck with
his faith and resignation that they renounced idolatry and
united themselves to the Christian community.

From Lo-ngwong the Gospel spread to many outlying
villages. Some account must now be given of these out-stations.

The work at A-chia began in a very interesting way.
Towards the end of the year 1866, Ching-Mi, the Lo-ngwong
catechist, made a tour through the surrounding country, accom-
panied by old Siek and his son Song-To, preaching the Gospel
from village to village. In the course of this tour they visited
A-chia, a village about sixteen miles west of Lo-ngwong, and
among their hearers there was a young man, whose name was
Sia Seu-Ong. He believed the story of grace at once, without
question, " and was persuaded of it, and embraced it," and shortly
afterwards, when the catechist paid a second visit to A-chia,
he came forward and avowed himself a follower of Jesus. He
took a copy of the Scriptures, and then went round the village
and invited his neighbours to come and read in it about the
Son of God Who had come into the world ; and the catechist, on
visiting the place a third time, found that seven other young
men had joined him in meeting together to pray to the true
God, and in keeping holy the Lord's Day.

The attention of the villagers was now attracted to the little
band, and a trying persecution began, before which the seven
gave way and deserted their leader. He, however, remained
faithful, and became a marked man in consequence. The
neighbours taunted him with turning " foreigner " ; his mother
dragged him from his room when on his knees in prayer ; and his
wife bitterly reproached him for his apostasy from the religion
of his forefathers. But, as with Ltither, opposition only
strengthened his purpose; and, that all might know his resolu-
tion, he onie day brought out his household gods and ancestral
tablets, and publicly burnt them in the presence of the horror-
stricken villagers. Recovering from their surprise, they rushed

E

66 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

upon him, but he escaped and hid himself until their anger had
calmed down.

Sia Seu-Ong was baptized at Lo-ngwong in December, 1866;
and, full of zeal, letumed to A-chia to speak more earnestly
still of the Saviour, under Whose banner he had enlisted. His
wife now relented; but his mother was more furious than ever,
and vowed she would kill the foreigner who had ensnared her
son, if he dared to come near the village himself. In the
following October, Mr. Wolfe visited A-chia, and baptized ten
persons, some of whom belonged to the neighbouring villages.
The converts had been subjected to illtreatment and annoyance
of various kinds. But so much the greater cause for thankful-
ness was it that, under these circumstances, some were found
bold enough to take the vows of Christ upon them. Before long
the persecution spread to other villages. The Christians were
accused of poisoning the wells, and one man, named Cho Seng-
Hing, who dwelt in the little village of Sang-kaik-iong, was
beaten and forced to flee for his life, while his home was
plundered. Sixteen of the converts from A-chia and Sang-
kaik-iong were confirmed at Lo-ngwong by Bishop Alford in
May, 1868, and on his second tour he visited A-chia itself and
confirmed ten more.

Among those baptized in later years was a literary man,
a graduate of the second degree {Kyu-Jin), named A-Sia, who
was amongst the early inquirers at A-chia. He was president
of the religious festivals, and received (it was stated) about
$500 worth of grain yearly for his services, which, of course,
he would be obliged to sacrifice on his becoming a Christian.
Like to the young ruler, he would fain follow Christ, but his
riches were a hindrance, at least for a time. But on the
occasion of Bishop Burdon's visit in 1876, he was baptized,
taking the name of Ek-Seng (" One Faith ").

The villages of Ki-po and Sing-chio are situated in a long
narrow valley three or four miles north of Lo-ngwong. It was
at Ki-po that so many of the Lo-ngwong Christians used to
meet during the persecution of 1869-70. Just before his
departure for England in 1870, Mr. Wolfe baptized sixteen

In a Deep Yailey: The Story of Lo-ngwong. 67

persons at Sing-oliio. On his return, in, 1S73, he had a
remarkable reception, and found that the idolatrous procession
to the village temple, and the making of offerings to the great
idol, had been abandoned.

0-iong is the name of an extensive plain lying north of the
mountainous district around A-chia, and fifteen or twenty miles
north-west of Lo-ngwong; and also of a town in the middle of
the plain, round which are grouped a large number of populous
villages. The inhabitants are a very degraded people. The
men are inveterate opium-smokers, and the effects of the habit
are seen in the deserted ruins of houses once respectable, and in
the wrecks of humanity hanging about. Infanticide is terribly
common, and the paucity of girls among the children, so
characteristic of China in general, is especially marked here.
At many places, as we have seen, the beginning of the work
has been under circumstances of peculiar interest in some way ;
but perhaps no station has so strange a story as 0-iong. Mr.
Wolfe, on one of his journeys, saw two men sitting by the road-
side, and went and spoke to them of Christ. These men, never
having seen a European before, were terribly frightened, and
thought it must be the devil. Sis years passed away and there
came to their town, which was 0-iong, a Christian basket-maker
from Lo-ngwong, and lodged in the house of one of them, whose
name was Chung-Te. To the astonishment of the latter, the
basket-maker talked about the same things that the strange
apparition had spoken of six years before; and the heart of the
listener soon opened to the story of grace. Chung-Te was
baptized soon afterwards, and for six months walked eighteen
miles every Sunday to join in Christian worship. A catechist
was stationed at 0-iong; but great opposition arose, and three
houses in succession in which he lived were attacked by the
people and destroyed. He thereupon retired; but 0-iong was
mot left without a teacher, for a zealous Christian fro^m Ning-
taik went over every Sunday, a distance of thirteen miles, to
hold service there. In a few months a congregation of thirty
was gathered.

A severe trial, followed by a renewed persecution, came upon

E 2

68 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

Chung-Te in August, 1874. His wife, a devout Christian woman,
died in child-birth. Her end was a most bright and happy one,
and she passed away while her little daughter was singing to
her, " For ever with the Lord." Chung-Te was determined that
his wife should not be buried with the customary idolatrous
ceremonies ; but he carried out this intention in the midst of
a great uproar, and after all was over, he was seized and severely
beaten, and his house would have been pulled down but for the
interference of the Chief ^Magistrate. Some years later Mr.
Stewart wrote of him as follows: —

The old Christian, Chung-Te, the father of the Church in that district,
is still as earnest and hardworking as ever. He talks to every one he
meets on the road ; and as we trudged along together, I heard him
familiarly styled as " Praise the I/ord." This man has, indeed, suffered
for the Name he loves. According to the local custom, when any one dies,
it is necessary to fasten the body in a. sitting position, in a chair, in
the best room ; and the catechist told me that when Chung-Te's dearly-
loved wife, who had been his sharer and his one human sympathizer in
persecution, died, he had to perform all these painful offices single-handed,
for not one neighbour would come near to assist him because he worshipped
Jesus. He stood alone then ; but he has lived to see not only a Christian
congregation in his own village, but also several other little ohurches
liu the surrounding country, offshoots from it. At my last visit I
found his dear little girl, his sole remaining comfort, had left him to
become the wife of a heathen man, to whom she had been engaged in
infancy, before the father believed. May God grant that this husbajid
may not ill-treat his young wife on account of her faith, but soon join
with her, and take her God to be his God!

long-tung has an interesting history. One of the inhabitants
heard the Gospel at A-chia, and having embraced it, proceeded
to make it known to his neighbours. For two or three years he
met with violent opposition, biit in 1876 he died, and after his
death the head-man of the village, who had been his chief
opponent, became convinced of the truth of Christianity, and,
instead of getting up processions in honour of the idols, opened
the hall for Christian worship. The villagers attacked his house,
destroyed his tea-plantations, and expelled him and his family ;
but subsequently he was allowed to retiirn in peace, and his

In a Deep Yalley: The Stoky of Lo-ngwong. 69

most furious antagonists became regular attendants at the
services.

Another out-station, Lau-iong, has furnished an instance of
the power of a faithful witness to Christ in the midst of persecu-
tion. Mr. Stewart thus narrated the circumatances in 1879: —

The earnestness shown by the little body of converts at Lau-iong is the
more remarkable, seeing they have been called upon already to suffer very
severely. Two of them were imprisoned by the Mandarins on an entirely
false charge. Every endeavour to obtain their liberation was tried, but
without success, till a few months ago, when at length they were given
their liberty. During their long incarceration the Mandarin admitted
that there was in reality no charge against them ; still, by means of
heavy bribery, the gentry were enabled to keep them still in prison.
However, while there, they did good work for the cause of Christ. First
of all, the jailer himself was impressed by their behaviour as well as
their words, and, before very long, openly joined the doctrine. This was
followed by the oonversion of one of their fellow-prisoners, and, owing
to the friendship of the jailer, they were allowed to hold service in the
prison every Sunday ; they were also given small positions of trust in
the place, and the good to the Church which resulted from their imprison-
ment was altogether perhaps greater than if they had never been
imprisoned.

The work throughout the whole Lo-ngwong district now
made rapid progress. In the year 1881 the number of adherents
increased from 777 to 961. Dr. Yan Someren Taylor had
started an itinerant Medical Mission, and not a few of those who
joined the Church were led to do' so through either them-
selves or their friends receiving benefit from the medical treat-
ment. The Rev. Sia Seu-Ong, who was then in charge of the
district, having been ordained by Bishop Burden in 1880,
was wonderfully successful in drawing many to the Church,
though the sad defections afterwards proved that mixed
motives had often prevailed, and our Lord's parable of the
wheat and the tares received another confirmation. The
Church in Lo-ngwong city had now become too small for
the increasing congregation, and at the yearly Conference, held
at Fuh-chow at the close of 1882, Mr. Sia appealed for funds
to purchase larger premises.

70 Foe. Cueist in Fuh-Kien.

These years of " fatness " were followed by years of " lean-
ness." Several of the most spiritual and active members of the
Lo-ngwong Church died during 1888 and 1889, among them
old Siek, who passed away full of years and faith in Grod, but
without seeing the fulfilment of his prayers for the repentance
of his prodigal son, Song-To, who' had been baptized with his
fat;her, but had fallen back. Many of the Native Christians
who remained showed little evidence of spiritual life, and
when, at the beginning of the year 1890, the Rev. J. S. Collins
was put in charge of Lo-ngwong, and took up his residence in
the district, he found much to distress him. The district had
previously been superintended by Archdeacon Wolfe from Fuh-
chow, but he was. only able to visit it occasionally; consequently
the native pastor and other agents did not have that close and
co'nistant supervision which was so necessary. As a result,
quarrels and dissensions were sadly prevalent, and constituted a
great stumbling-block to the work among the Heathen. This
is illustrated by a remark made to Mr. Collins, " The
Christians abuse their neighbours. We can do that without
changing our religion." In some cases, too, the work proved to
be only of a surface character. As an illustration of what was
met with, Mr. Collins told of a visit he paid to Tiong-tang,
where in one large clan out of seven brothers sis had been
baptized : —

My first visit there was the sign for a storm such as I have seldom
encountered. One of the hrothers had heen expelled from the Church on
a. charge of false witness, though he had previously held a. position as
Churchwarden (or what corresponds to the office out here), and the bitter-
ness against all in authority was intense. With open Bibles they met
me text for text, with bitter words and angry looks and gestures. I waited
and prayed. At last the chance was given and they listened till the
word given me brought from the second brother the angry retort, " There
was only one Jesus, and He was God, but I am a man," but it had
shown him our standard, and his own conscience had shown him how far
short he had fallen of it, as he confessed months afterwards with words
of humble apology.

But encouraging incidents were not lacking. Sung-
kia, being situated on an island three miles to seaward, had

In a Deep Valley: The Story of Lo-ngwong. 71

escaped tlie unliappy contagion of discord, and was described
as "the one bright spot" in fee district. Mr. Collins wrote: —
The two leading men are in themselves pictures of what the love of
Christ can make this people, and an evidence that there was a true and
real work from the very first here. Just before I came an attempt had
been m.ade by the Heathen to compel the Christians to subscribe to a
new idol temple. The richest man on the island is a Christian, and,
led by him, they stoutly refuised, and held their own. Not only so,
but they did m.ore. The island was reached by a stone causeway,
covered at high tide. The chief village on it extends for half a mile
along the side of the island facing the mainland. At the upper end,
opposite the new temple, is the old causeway, so that to cross from the
lower end of the village, a long detour had to be made. The Christians
refused to subscribe to the temple, but to show their public spirit, offered
to build a second causeway at the lower end of the island. This was done,
and I was taken to see the new causeway as a, triumph, which, indeed,
it was.

And of a former member of the congregation at Uong-buang
who had lately removed to Lo-ngwong, and whose zeal was a
great encouragement, Mr. Collins wrote: —

Living in the Roman Catholic quarter of the town, he refused to go
with his neighbours, who invited him, either to worship or to gamble,
and his reputation reached the ears of the priest, a Spaniard, who sent
for him and talked with him for two hours, questioning him on both the
Old and the New Testament history. Astonished at the answers of so
rough a man, he asked him how many years he had read in school. " I
never was at school," said the man. " Where, then, did you learn all
this ? " " Prom reading my Bible " was the answer, and the priest was
silent. Then he showed him the crucifix in the chapel. It impressed
the man, but in an unexpected direction. To some minds his answer
would be shocking, but to him, himself recently an idolater, it came quite
naturally. " What a pity," he said, " to make an idol of the Lord Jesus
Christ for the Heathen to laugh at ! "

Mrs. Collins was warmly welcomed in visiting the homes
of the Christian women, but meetings of women were not
possible, owing to the prevalent animosities.

During the next few years the work was extended in several
directions. A little hospital was opened at Lo-ngwong under
the charge of the head student of Dr. Taylar's hospital at Fuh-
ning; a boarding-school for boys was established with sixteen

72 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

pupils, and also, a Women's Scliool; and work among a
community of lepers living outside the Nortk Gate was set
on foot by the help of the Mission to Lepers, which supplied
the stipend of the leper catechist who lived amonig them.
He was the only Christian in the village when he died, in
1895, but there were one or two earnest inquirers. Later a
number of the lepers were baptized; a church was built in the
village by means of funds contributed through the Mission to
Lepers by two Dublin ladies; and afterwards an American lady,
through the same Society, provided the money for building a
Home for the untainted children of lepers (which was built close
to the Mission compound), and also for its endowment.

Lo-ngwong participated in the movement which seemed to
sweep over all the districts diiring the year following the Hwa-
sang massacre. As many as 400 gave in their names as inquirers
in Lo-ngwong city, and the interest was proportionately great
in other places. At Sa-sang, four miles from Lo-ngwong, over a
hundred joined the congregation in one' year. But Mr. Light (who
was then in charge of the district), like his predecessors, had to
lament the merely nominal religion of many of the converts. He
instanced a small village of a hundred people in which every
family except two were professing Christians ; the village temple
and its idol were forsaken, and the meetings for worship were
held in the Ancestral Hall, which formerly had been used for
idolatry. Yet many of these people were nearly as ignorant as
the Heathen themselves.

Strenuous efforts have been made to remedy the state of
affairs, and lead the converts to a consistent walk with Christ.
Unhappily they have hardly met with the wished for success,
but at the same time something has been accomplished. In
1901 reliable catechistS' were sent round to visit the out-stations
in pairs, remaining in each place about a month, in order to
rouse the Christians, search out the backsliders, and preach to
the Heathen. The Rev. W. C. White, who was in charge of the
district, wrote as follows concerning this effort: —

No results were manifest at first. The catechists when they returned
had for the most part a discouraging story to tell of the backsliding and sin

I>r A Deep Yalley: The Story of Lo-ngwong. 73

and apathy, but at the end of the summer an increased activity was noticed
among the Christians. They began to be solicitous for the welfare of the
women and old men who lived long distances from church and could seldom
■come, and for the Heathen around them. On their own initiative they
opened preaching halls, centring round their main churches within a distance
of three or four miles, and were themselves responsible for the maintenance
of these halls, and under the catechists' supervision, for the regular con-
ducting of services three Sundays in the month, the first Sunday of each
month all gathering in the main church for service. Up to the present
twenty of these additional preaching halls have been opened, and I trust
there are more to follow.

In the year 1903 forty-two adults were baptized in tKe city
and district, several of tkem being connected with, the Leper
Settlement.

The work in the Lo-ngwong district was for a long time
superintended by Archdeacon Wolfe from Fuh-chow. The
naissionaries in charge since 1890 have been the Revs. J. S.
Collins, J. Martin, T. McClelland, W. Banister, W. Light, and
W. C. White.

CHAPTER IX.

A Mountainous Prefecture.

'■Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." —
St. Mark i. 17.

" Upwards, as long as Thou wilt lead !
Nor toil nor peril shall we heed

Where Thy strong footsteps fall." — A. E. M.

(i) FUH-NING AND ITS OUT-STATIONS.

^UH-NING or (as it is called in the local dialect) Hok-ning,
is a prefecture in the north-east of the Fuh-Kien Province,
about four days' journey from Fuh-chow. It comprises
the five hsiens of (1) Ha-puo (which is the district lying around
the prefectural city of Fuh-ning) ; (2) Fuh-ang ; (3) Euh-ting ;
(4) Sieu-ning ; and (5) Ning-taik ; and is, roughly, about eighty
miles long, and varies from about fifty to seventy miles in
breadth. The country is very mountainous, the plains even in
the largest valleys not being of any considerable extent. The
people are poor, and as regards trade, the district is probably
the least important in Fuh-Kien. The city of Fuh-ning is in a
state of stagnation and decay. There is little or no enterprise
among its inhabitants, and were it not for the fact that it is the
prefectural city, with its high officials — civil and military — and
their attendant soldiers, it would soon cease to be of much
importance.

Among the inhabitants of the Fuli-ning district are to be
found aboriginal tribes, who live chiefly among the mountains.
They have a language and dress of their own, though the latter
distinction ought perhaps to be confined to the women, who wear

HOSPITAL AT HING-HWA.

PATIENTS AND

A Mountainous Peefectuee. 7b

a dark blue blouse folded across the breast and a dark sbort
kilt, reaching barely to the knee, while their legs are wrapped
round with dark blue cloth, so as to leave a diamond-shaped
patch at the back of the leg. Straw sandals on their feet and
an enormous head-dress, made of tin and cloth and beads, com-
plete their quaint costume.

The city of Fuh-ning was visited by Mr. Wolfe in 1866, and
he wrote very hopefully of its promise as a mission station.
Like other places, however, it had to wait for the development of
■native agency before having a resident teacher. One of the
four men ordained on Easter Day, 1876, the Eev. Tang
Tang-Pieng, was appointed to this station, and in the following
year, two men, the firstfruits of his labours, were baptized by
Mr. Lloyd. One of these died shortly after. He refused all
connexion with idolatry during his illness, received the minis-
trations of the Eev. Tang with gratitude, and died with the
name of Jesus on his lips.

The work, however, progressed very slowly. Mr. Lloyd, in
1880, reported only one baptism for the year; and oommented
on the extenit toi which the opium habit prevailed, stating he
was assured that 70 per cent, of the people were addicted to
the vice.

In 1881 the station was occupied by European missionaries,
the Rev. J. Martin, with Mrs. Martin, commencing to reside
there in that year. They were joined in the following year by
Dr. B. Van Someren Taylor, whose medical work was prodiictive
of much good in breaking down prejudices and in reaching the
hearts of ]N"atives where other methods failed. A dispensary
was opened on Easter Monday, 1883, and by the end of six
months there had been 2,350 visits of patients. A hospital
was afterwards built which, in 1886, had 771 in-patients, two-
thirds of whom were the victims of opium-eating and opium-
smoking.

Among the patients whom Dr. Taylor was enabled to cure
was a military officer of high rank. He gratefully presented Dr.
Taylor with " a very pretty banner, which was carried through
the streets with the accompaniment of music and a good deal

76 For Cueist in Fuh-Kien.

of pomp." As the years passed this branch of the work steadily
developed. Dr. Taylor was joiaed for a short time by Dr.
W. P. Mears, and on Dr. Taylor's removal to Hing-hwa he was
succeeded, in 1897, by the Eev. Dr. S. Synge. The work was
further stimulated by the opening of a women's hospital, which
was placed under the charge of fully qualified medical ladies,
first Mrs. Mears and afterwards Mrs. Synge. Efforts to train
r^ative medical students have been attended with considerable
success, and two of them were considered competent to be placed
in charge of the hospital work when for a tiine the station was
without a European doctor.

Systematic work was commenced among the women and girls
by Mrs. Martin, and afterwards carried on by Miss Emma Goldie
(Mrs. Martin's sister). Miss M. D. Boileau, and others. By 1889
there was a women's school containing nine students, and a
girls' school with twenty-four pupils. Both of these have since
grown considerably. During the holidays the ladies visited
King-taik and the village out-stations.

At the end of 1896 the Parent Committee made an.
arrangement whereby the prefecture of Fuh-ning, with the
exception of the hsien of Ning-taik, was assigned to workers
supported by the Dublin University Fuh-Kien Mission, on the
understanding that the same regulations should apply to them
as to other C.M.S. missionaries in the Mission.

Some trouble was experienced in the year 1898 through
serious and organized persecution, which was continued during
part of the following year. Happily this did not affect the work
prejudicially, and at the beginning of 1900 a hopeful movement
took place. A remarkable and tuiaccountable spirit of inquiry
was manifested. The time of the different catechists and
churchwai'dens was fully occupied in interviewing those who
oame to them, sometimes even before breakfast, and the little
church was crowded beyond the limits of its capacity. Two
influential men. were baptized about that time, the one a native
doctor named Hong, a man of influence and large practice in
the city, and the other a literary man, a language teacher of the
missionaries, concerning whom the Rev. L. H. Star wrote.

A MoTJNTAiivous Prefecture. 77

" No auB in England could realize what his Baptism has probably
meant for him."

The constancy of the Native Christians was tried during the
disturbances of the year last mentioned, and the enforced and
prolonged absence of the missionaries , but the great majority of
them stood firm. Those whose courage failed them were, with
very few exceptions, unbaptized adherents, and hardly any
of the baptized converts went back even for a short time.

We now turn to notice some of the out-stations. Sang-siva,
probably the largest town in the district, is situated on the north
shore of Fuh-ning Bay. It contains over ten thousand in-
habitants, and, therefore, is a good deal more populous than the
prefectural city itself. It is really an unimportant place
geographically, as it is on a point, and its roads lead nowhere;
but there is an anchorage for junks close by, and its population
is chiefly composed of " men of the sea." The work was com-
menced by a medical student, who treated 100 patients there
during his first six weeks of residence, and in 1894 there were
some sixteen men under instruction. The roll of catechumens
a few years later contained more than seventy names.

The Christians at Eng-a, ten miles south of ¥uh-ning,
opened up work in Swa-sieh, a fishing town six miles westward.
The message of salvation was freely received, and by 1899
there was a congregation of fifty souls , including eight baptized
women. They did not escape molestation. Early in 1901 bands
of " Boxers " made brutal attacks on individual Christians, in-
cluding women. When complaints were made the aggressors
joined themselves in thousands to the Spanish Roman Mission,
and from that time lawlessness and disturbances rapidly in-
creased. A member of the staff of the British Consulate,
Mr. F. A. Mackinnon, was sent to the district to make investiga-
tions, and while these were proceeding an incident occurred
which the Rev. T. de C. Studdert narrated as follows: —

On one occasion seventeen of our people who were in the county magis-
trate's Yamen giving evidence were almost killed by an angry and howling
mob, principally composed of so-called Roman Catholics armed with knives.
The runners and a few soldiers in attendance were unable to keep them

78 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

back or control them. Mr. Mackinnon and I were sent for by some of our
Church people, and arrived, through horrible scowls, yells and threats, just
in the nick of time. The mob had already threatened the Mandarin, who
was shaking from head to foot with fright when we arrived, and was not able
to speak for some time. But we were in time to prevent serious mischief and
to save the lives of our seventeen witnesses, who had practically given up
their earthly lives as lost. I merely mention this little incident, as I think
the heroic conduct of our head-catechist on that occasion is worthy of
mention. The mob, showing their knives, were wildly shouting for his
death first, and when they made an onrush for the little group of Christians,
one of the yamen runners quickly kicked a hole in a partition wall leading
into the women's quarters of the yamen and helped our poor people to
crawl through one by one. He and others urged the head-catechist to get
through first, as his life seemed the most imminently in danger, but he
refused to move until he saw the others all safely through ; as the shepherd,
he said, should not desert his flock, but should, if necessary, lay down his
life for them.

Eventually a number of tie " Boxers " were imprisoned,
but on tbe application of the Christians whose property they had
plundered their sentence was mitigated.

At Cho-wang , thirteen miles further south, the Rev. H. M.
Eyton-Jones was able to rent a ghost-haunted house at an
exceptionally low rent, and commented on the fact, that the
Christians, enjoying liberty of mind and spirit, saw only the
ridiculous side of the matter, and enlarged upon the density of
their still-enthralled countrymen. Although one of the oldest
of the out-stations the number of converts has never been large.

In the district around Fuh-ang, a hsicti city, there is a large
Roman Catholic Mission, with several thousand adherents, most
of them being hereditary Christians of several generations.
The work of the Society, however, has grown, especially of late
years, although persecution has often been rife. In 1901 serious
opposition was set on foot by the Mandarins, which resulted in
the burning down of the church. Mr. Studdert wrote that the
determination was expressed to drive tne Protestant missionaries
out of the district, and added: —

Pictorial placards were sent out, in which some of us foreign missionaries
and ladies, and some of our catechists, were represented as being led to

A Mountainous Pkefectuee. 79

execution by fierce runners brandishing their swords over our heads, we
being led with chains about our necks, or kneeling before the Mandarin and
oificials, who as well as ourselves are mentioned by name under the pictures,
the ladies being half stripped of clothing, and a group of Native Christians
praying for mercy, while the whole is headed " The expulsion of the
Christians,'' victorious flags being carried by the soldiers of the Mandarin's
retinue.

Happily matters quieted down, and before long Miss J. E.
Clarke was able to- spend a fortnigtt in the city, visiting by
invitation the wife of the military Mandarin, whom she found
most friendly and willing to listen to the Glospel.

At Fuh-ting, another hsien city, two days' journey north of
Puh-ning, a book shop was opened by Mr. Eyton-Jones in
March, 1895. While there he was furiously attacked by a
policeman attached to the yamen, who rushed at him with a
dagger. The assailant, however, was disarmed and detained
till the arrival of other policemen, who took him away.
Possession was kept of the shop, and two colporteurs, paid by
the British and Foreign Bible Society, began to work in the
district. Subsequently the Rev. Dr. Mackenzie was able to open
a dispensary, which was placed in the charge of a native doctor.
This soon began to break down prejudice, for before long there
were several apparently genuine inquirers, including an under-
ling in the yamen, who had been cured of opium smoking, and
whose conduct improved so much that his master, the Mandarin,
declared that the doctrine must be good. The firstfruits of
Fuh-ting have since been gathered in. At Swa-tong Miss J. E.
Clarke, who stayed three days in the house of a family of in-
quirers in 1895, found that the young wife in this family who
was cured in the Fuh-ning Hospital in 1894, told her husband,
on her return home, something of what she herself had heard of
the Grospel. In consequence the husband began to attend
Christian worship at a place three miles odffi, and soon after
started family prayers.

Sieu-ning has not as yet been permanently occupied. Mr.
Star visited this city in 1898, and afterwards a catechist was
sent, but no house could be rented for him, and he has been

80 EoR Cueist ix Fuh-Kiex.

obliged to live in an inn. There is a strong anti-foreign feeling,
and for the present the work must be done by Natives. A pedlar,
the iirstfruits of the city, was baptized in April, 1900. The
work at IIivang-Kang owes its commencement in 1899 to one
of the villagers entering the service of the missionaries, and
becoming a sincere Christian. On his return home he began to
speak to his cousins, some of whom accepted Christ, and in their
turn taught others. Tai-hung was visited for the first time by a
European in March, 1900, when Mr. Star and ilr. Studdert
found there fifteen inquirers who had endured much severe per-
secution. Mr. Star noticed in the house of one or more of them
some large holes in the roof of the kitchen caused by stones
hurled down from the hill behind the house. These inquirers,
in order to attend divine worship at Cie-tau — six miles distant,
where was the nearest church — without molestation , had to make
their way thither by back mountain paths. At Buang-sang, a
village on the shores of the Sang-swa basin, thirty of the thirty-
three families have given up their idols and resolved to worship
the one true God.

By the end of 1903 the number of Protestant Native
Christians in Fuh-ning city and district was 456, forty-three
adults having been baptized during the year.

Since 1880 the missionaries in charge at Fuh-ning have been
the Revs. J. Martin, H. M. Eyton-Jones, L. H. F. Star, and
T. de C. Studdert..

(2) NlNG-TAIK AND ITS VILLAGES.

NiNG-TAiK is a large and important hsien city in the Fuh-
ning prefecture, some five-and-twenty miles north-west of
Lo-ngwong, on the coast, an arm of the sea running up to the
walls. The valley in which it is situated is bounded on the
south by a range of mountains, from the topmost ridge of which
a magnifioent scene is presented to the eye. One of the
missionaries has written : — " The view as we descend is literally
enchanting. Lofty peaks and yawning chasms meet the eye on

A Mountainous Peefbctuee. 81

every side. Trees and flowering shrubs are scattered plentifully
all around, while the deep blue sea placidly reposes beneath us,
like a silvery expanse spreading away in the distance, and
glittering in the morning sun."

The city was first visited by Mr. Wolfe in January, 186G.
In his journal he described his feelings as he approached Ning-
taik: —

I looked at the city with much interest. Will it receive the messengers
of Christ who have now come to it for the first time ? Its dark roofs were
to me a striking picture of the moral darkness of its people, and, on the
spot where I stood, I prayed the great Father of the human family to
enlighten His creatures with the light of life, and dispose the people of
Ning-taik to receive Jesus as their deliverer. There were at that moment
two earnest Christian men (the two native brethren I had sent on) preach-
ing Jesus to the inhabitants, and requesting them to give a place for the
preaching of the Gospel of peace.

For some years Ning-taik appeared the most hopeless spot
in the whole Mission. In 1869 the report was: — "The night of
toil still continues, without one bright star to encourage the
lonely catechist." There was some thought of abandoning it,
but it had been found a good centre, and from it the Gospel had
reached some remote mountain villages, so it was spared for
awhile.

But the seed was not lost. In 1875, Mr. Wolfe wrote: —
"The little chapel at Ning-taik, which for years seemed the
very picture of desolation and spiritual barrenness, has at
length become too strait by reason of the numbers who flock
to it to worship God and learn His precious truth " ; and his-
next report told of that true test of success, persecution, the
Christians having been beaten, and their houses broken down,.
" yet no one has denied the faith."

But how came this about .P The story gives us a hint of the
wonderful workings of Providence in all these matters. The
temporaiy mission-house was obtained, as well as three or four
others, in different stations, through the influence of a tea-
merchant at Lo-ngwong — not himself a Christian — out of
friendship, more or less disinterested, to foreigners. The owner

F

82 For Christ ix Fuh-Kiex.

of the house, hating Christians, tried, as soon as he found out
the object for which it was hired, to turn out the catechist; but
'Sir. Wolfe, having the deeds, determined to keep the place.
A new catechist came; he influenced the landlord; by God's
grace the landlord became a believer; he was baptized at Ning-
taik four years later, and afterwards brought others to the faith
by going out to Ni-tu and elsewhere preaching. He also covered
in the yard at the back of the house to give increased room for
services.

By the year 1881 the Rev. Ting Seng-Ki, who was then in
charge of the work, was able to speak with thankfulness of great
progress made by the Gospel since — eight or nine years before —
he was a catechist stationed in Ning-taik city. At that time
he occupied a small, unsuitable house, the only procurable one
outside the city gate, and scarcely one of the people would listen
to what he had to say, while no out-stations had been opened in
the country around. But in 1881 there was an excellent house
within the city; the people listened respectfully to the preaching
of the Gospel ; and fifty or sixty Christians, week by week, met
together for service. In the country around, moreover, stations
had been opened in many directions, and numbers were
acknowledging Jesus as their Saviour. He added at the close of
his conversation with the European missionary: — " Of a truth
this is the great power of God ; man could not have brought
it about." There was, however, some cause for sadness. Twenty
members had to be expelled from the Church during the year,
some having relapsed into idolatry, some having gone back to
the opium pipe, while others had been guilty of sins against the
seventh Commandment.

Among the interesting converts about this time was an old
man, named Ing-Seung, who for forty years had been a leading
man among the Vegetarians (Buddhists). At the beginning of
the year 188'3 he became an earnest inqiiirer after salvation.
Whenthe other members of the sect heard of his desire to become
a Christian there was great consternation among them, and they
sent two of their chief men all the way from Ku-cheng to en-
deavour to bring him back to the old faith; but their efforts were

A Mountainous Prefecture. 83

lanaTailing, and Ing-Seung, his wife, and a grown-up son were
baptized at Ning-taik on 21st October. At tbe same time a
second leading Vegetarian was baptized, and in the following
year there was another very interesting conversion from, among
these followers of the Buddhist faith. It was that of an old
man who occupied a position somewhat similar tO' that of a priest
among the Vegetarian sect. Mr. Lloyd and Mr. Ting had some
conversation with him in 1883, but he seemed to treat the whole
matter as a joke. However, he attended the services in Ning-
taik church, and finally became a Christian, and was noted for
his earnestness in making known the truth to others. He
suffered much from sleeplessness, and used to spend whole
nights in prayer and in reading his Bible. He died in 1892.
Mr. Martin (who took charge of the district in 1885) wrote of
him: —

When he first accepted Christ he was persecuted by his friends, his
wife, and family. His wife would not allow him to take any money out of
the house for Church purposes. He was anxious to give his share
towards supporting the catechist, so, as he could not get any from the
house, he began to plant indigo, and gave a good proportion of the profits
to the catechists' fund. Some four or five years since he spoke to me about
his anxiety for his wife and children, and asked me to pray for them.
Soon after, his wife and son showed signs of interest in the Gospel, and
later on were baptized. He was always ready to help in Church work.
Two years ago he was chosen as the head of the Ancestral Hall, and had
a deal of work to do as adviser and organizer. He used to say to the
catechist, " This work takes up a lot of lay time, and I cannot do as much
for Christ as I wish. I do long for the time to come when God will call
me to go Home." His call came in February, 1892. He was able to witness
for Christ up to the end, and just before his death he called the Christians
together, and spoke to them very earnestly about their own souls and the
souls of the Heathen.

Mr. Martin mentions another case of persecution which
originated with the refusal of a Christian to pay some thirty
or forty cash (about 2d.) towards the expenses of an idolatrous
procession and theatrical performances. The man was beaten
and his wheat and bamboo trees were cut down. When Mr,

F 2

84 Foe, Christ in Ftjh-Kien.

Martin appealed to the Mandarin the latter sent messengers to
tke place, with the following consequences : —

These messengers went, but failing to get money from the offending
party they seized one of the brothers of the family. The other brothers
heard of it, and before the constables were able to reach the city of Ning-
taik with their prisoner, the brothers overtook them, beat them, and
released their younger brother. On their return to the village they
determined to have their revenge on the Christian; so they marched to
his fields, where ha was working, seized him, dragged him by his queue
through the fields and streets to their house, bound h im , and tried to
force him to sign an agreement that he would deny the name of Jesus, and
promise not to appeal to the Mandarin again. On his refusing they tor-
tured him by running shoe-needles into his feet. He continued to assert
his faith in Christ, and they threatened to kill him, and to pull down the
chapel. At this juncture the elders of the village interfered. The
Christian's wife iied to the Mandarin and sought his help. He sent con-
stables to the village, but the villagers had armed themselves with guns
and instruments of husbandry. The constables on hearing of this, returned
and told the Mandarin they were afraid to go on. In the meantime the
Christian was liberated, and allowed to return to his own house.

After the Hwa-sang massacre in August, 1895, the European
missionaries were obliged to retire from Ning-taik, but visits
were paid from Fuh-chow in October and November. Through-
out the whole district there appeared to be a forward movement.
In Ning-taik city, a hard soil, some twenty families were attend-
ing the services, and from some of the out-stations encouraging
reports were received. Another sign of progress wa-s the increase
in native contributions, which in 1895 exceeded the previous
year's total by |100.

During this year the Rev. Tiong Muk-Tung died. He worked
in Ning-taik for several j^ears, and had recently been appointed
to Lo-ngwong, but on account of his illness he had not been able
to remove. Eventually he was taken to Fuh-ning Hospital,
where he died after a lingering illness. He was not a brilliant
man, but he was a good, faithful worker, and an earnest and
zealous preacher of the Gospel. At the time of his conversion
he received a beating, from the effects of which he never quite
recovered. A detailed account of his death was written by his
brothei- to the missionary in charge, which tells how the dying

A Mountainous Peefectuee. 85

man passed peacefully away shortly after the brother had read
to him the " No-Bridge Eiver " chapter in the Pilgrim's Pro-
gress. The banner which preceded the coffin bore the Chinese
characters signifying " Death had no terror for him ; it was
a return home."

In 1896 a girls' boarding-school was erected, capable of
receiving fifty boarders, and afterwards a school for women. The
former began with seventeen pupils, a number which had in-
creased to thirty-seven at tJie close of the year. Nine of the girls
have since been baptized, and also several members of the women's
school. But while visible blessing has rested on these institutions,
the city congregation has not been quite satisfactory. A sense
of sin is said to have been completely lacking among the people,
and duplicity to have abounded. But it shoxild be remembered
that the converts have much to hinder them. One of their diffi-
culties is the long distance of the homes of many of them from
any place of worship. Eor instance, one wo-man, an inquirer,
had to walk six or seven miles over two very high passes in order
to be present at a service, so that, owing presumably to her slow
rate of locomotion, it took her many hours to get to church and
back again.

At the close of 1903, the Native Christians in the Ning-taik
district numbered 1,300. The stories of many of them are of
deep interest, but one only can be given, that of a woman
residing in a village three miles from Ning-taik. Miss M. E.
Barber, one of the missionaries, wrote in November. 1899: —

Yesterday a chair stopped before our door, aud when I went to see who
had arrived, I saw a poor deformed woman, a cripple of about thirty, with a
text card, on which was written a prayer, and a small book from which we
always teach beginners hansjing in front of her dress ; and in answer to my
greeting she said, " I have come to learn about Jesus." Nothing else could
she be got to say. I then discovered from our school matron that some
weeks ago Miss Boileau and her Bible-woman were visiting in the village
where this woman lived, and that she sent for them, hoping that the
foreigner could heal her body. Of course Miss Boileau told her of the
Great Physician, and pointed her to Him Who could save her soul. Once
after this she heard about Jesus, and her visit to us yesterday was her
third opportunity. I told her about the importance of speaking to
Jesus often, wht n she interrupted with, "But I am told that when Christians

86 Foe Christ in Fxth-Kien.

pray they must kneel, and I cannot kneel ; if I put my head down and
close my eyes, will that do ? " Soon afterwards we all met together and
prayed for her, and as we prayed she cried quietly to herself.

Two years afterwards slie was baptized, and the following
account was given of lier by another lady: —

She is generally called Mo-ka (" No legs ") by the Natives all round, but
her baptismal name id Ai-Muoi ("Loving Little Sister"). She came in
for just one week's special preparation. It was such a pleasure to have her
to teach, she was so anxious to learn. It was, too, very sad to see her sit
from earl}' morning till night on her tiny stool, utterly unable to help herself
or move unless some one lifted her bodily. She is very patient. Her
knowledge of Chinese character astonished me. As I referred her to
diilerent passages in her Bible, she could turn them up and read them very
well indeed. One day I remaiked about her being able to read so well, as
she has had very little opportunity of being taught. I know that for some
time her New Testament, Prayer-book, and hymn-book have been her only
companions, and she spends much time reading them ; but Chinese charac-
ter is not often learnt by inspiration. So I said, "How is it you know
character as well as you do ? If ia reading you come across characters you
do not know, who teaches you ?'' " The Holy Spirit does,'' was her reply,
" I have no one else." One day she said to me, " Before I knew Jesus I
used to be very, very miserable and wretched, because my body was so
weak, and I and my mother were so poor ; but now,'' she says, "it is quite
different.''

We must now notice a few of the numerous out-stations
which have been opened in the district. Ni-tu, which is the
oldest, is situated on the sea-shore, south of Ning-taik, and just
at the foot of the mountains. It is a place of some importance
as the centre of a considerable population scattered along the
coast. The Gospel first spread thither from Lang-kau, and in
1873 there were ten Christians. Two years later, encouraged by
the impunity with which the Christians were ill-treated at
Chek-tu (see infra, p. 87), the gentry of Ni-tu determined to
follow so excellent an example: —

A man died of fever, and the gentry raised the cry that these Christians
were the cause of this fever, and that the idols were angry. On Sunday
morning, as the Christians were quietly engaged in worship, the leading
gentry, with the official Te-po, beating his official gong, and followed by a
mob, proceeded to the chapel, dragged the Christians forth, and beat

A Mountainous Peefectuee. 87

tbem most violently, and threatened to kill them unless they renounced
their faith and returned to the worship of idols. The Christians, however,
returned again in the afternoon to their usual worship, when they were
again dragged forth and beaten, and one of their number murdered on the
spot. Three others are in a rather precarious condition, but it is hoped
tliat they will recover. The Ning-taik magistrate was called on by the
mother and son of the murdered Christian to take notice of the murder,
and hold the ordinary inquest demanded by Chinese law under such
circumstances. Instead of coming at once, as he should have done, he
waited five days, till the body, under this tropical heat, was decomposed,
and then came and had the audacity to declare that the Christian had not
been murdered — that it was clear he had committed suicide by taking a
dose of poison ! No witnesses were examined, and his (the murdered man's)
wife and son, and other friends, who were still Heathen were threatened
and frightened into silence by the magistrates and subordinates. It was,
however, too favourable an occasion for the magistrate not to exact his
ordinary " squeeze,'' and it is confidently reported that the gentry were
compelled to make him and his subordinates a bribe of $4,000. These are
specimens of the way in which the Christians are treated, and how the
authorities deal with the cases.

The name of the murdered man, Ling Chek-Ang, deserves
to be recorded as that of the first martyr of the Fuh-Kien Church.
In 1887 there were ten baptisms at Ni-tu, and twenty others
were being prepared for admission into the Church, but as time
passed most of the converts fell away, and in 1902 it was found
that the only one of them who had remained firm was the son
of the martyr.

Cheh-tu was opened in 1875, and the very same letter from
Mr. Wolfe which reported this fact gave a deeply interesting
account of the firstfruits of the works : —

At Chek-tu, one of the newly-opened stations, and where considerable
interest has been awakened, the persecution raged, and still rages, most
furiously. On the occasion of my visit to this place in November last I
baptized seven deeply-interesting men, who made an open confession
of their faith im Christ, surrounded by a mob, which literally howled for
their death. This mob threatened to pull down the chapel on the occasion,
and one of them struck a severe blow at myself . A friendly Heathen warned
the catechist of a, design on the part of the gentry to come and pull me
out of the chapel at night and set fire to the house. This caused us somc^

88 Foe. Christ in Fuh-Kien.

little anxiety, but we knelt down and committed ourselves to the care of
our heavenly Father, and then lay down calmly and enjoyed a peaceful
sleep. One of those whom I baptized on that evening made a very deep
impression on my mind. He was eighty years old, and perfectly blind.
He showed a marvellously clear perception of the atonement by Jesus. He
stood up in the congregation, and leaning upon his staff, related the
history of his conversion to Christ. It was deeply affecting. He was,
as he said, at the age of thirty a devout worshipper of the idols, but he
soon found out their worthlessness, and abandoned them for ever. For
many years he worshipped nothing, but was in agony to know what to
worship. He then betook himself to worship the rising sun, but this
brought no peace to his heart. He then worshipped the moon and stars,
but peace did not come ; at length, in the deepest distress, he gave up the
worship of the sun and moon, and cried for the true God. Just at this
crisis we opened our chapel in the village, and the old man heard the
catechist preach about Jesus, and believed at once with his whole heart.
" Now," he said to me on the occasion of his baptism, " I can die in peace;
I have found a Saviour." I am expecting great things in this village.

Lelc-tu, whiclL was one of the earliest out-stations, is remark-
able for the prominence and faith of its women converts, and
on this account has been called the Philippi of Xing-taik. One
of them, Patience, afterwards a Bible-woman, was called upon to
suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel. Hr. Martin
wrote : —

Her husband will not let her go to the chapel, and will not permit her
to read any of our books ; he has taken some from her and destroyed them
before her eyes. When I was there some of the Christians told me tbis
woman wanted me to call on her husband ; but as an older Christian said it
might bring more blows to the woman, I decided not to go. So I wrote on
a slip of paper (St. Matthew xi. 28) : " Come unto me " ; '• Believe in Jesus,
and be not afraid, for God loves you," gave it to our sister, and told her
to take it to the persecuted, and to tell her we would all pray for her and
jher husband. A few days after my visit, the Rev. Ting called at the
chapel, and when the woman heard he was there, she and her two daughters-
in-law went to see him and to join in the service. On her return the
husband of the woman asked her why she disobeyed him and went to
worship God. He then struck hor and knocked her down. She said, " If
you beat me till I am dead I shall not fear, for I shall then go home to
God." This aggravated her husband still more, and he took up a chopper,

A Mountainous Prefecture. 89

and, holding the iron, struck her with the handle on the shoulder. He
might have gone further, but was hindered by some who were present.
Two days after this, she called on the late student at the chapel, and said :
"Although my husband struck me with the chopper the other day, you see
I am all right now. Praise the Saviour ! The Annual Conference is near,
and the catechist will be going. Please give this half-dollar to him as my
Church subscription, and tell him to ask all the missionary ladies and our
native sisters to pray for me and my house, and to ask God to turn the
heart of my husband."

Two years later an account was sent of further trials whicli
she had to endure: —

Last September (1888) the husband of this woman heat her so severely
as to compel her to keep her bed for seventeen or eighteen days ; for the
greater part of that time she ate very little, and cried bitterly. In the
midst of her sufferings she thought of the words, " A man's foes shall he
those of his own household." She thereupon prayed that the Saviour
would strengthen her and make her willing, if necessary, to be beaten to
death by her husband rather than deny Christ. She also prayed that she
might have courage to show her faith by attending the Sunday services
in the chapel. When she recovered she went to the chapel. At this her
husband was greatly exasperated, seized a shoe and threw it at her,
saying, " If you will go to worship God I shall beat you till you die."
The woman replied : " If you kill me, I shall be saved, but I will not give
Tip going to the chapel." Her husband, seeing that she was determined,
desisted from beating her, and she is now a regular attendant at the services.
She, together with her two daughters-in-law, who join her in her worship,
subscribed one and a half dollars towards the Church expenses. She is
sixty-five years old, and was baptized by the name " Patience." The two
daughters-in-law also were subsequently baptized.

To the north and north-west of the valley in which stands
the city of Ning-taik rises a rugged mountain plateau some '3,000
feet above the level of the sea, which stretches for more than
twenty miles northward and westward. Though maintaining a
general height of some 3,000 feet it is by no means a flat plain,
but is dotted with a vast number of little beehive-shaped hills,
rising close to one another to varying heights, and covered with
vegetation. The view over the whole district from one of the
higher peaks is most extensive and most curious. One would
expect to find this highland region a desolate moor, but on the

90 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

contrary, no fewer than four hundred villages are stated to be
scattered ovor the plateau, which is called Sa-hiong, or the
Western Villages. Certainly it is densely populated, and every
acre of ground highly cultivated. The beehive-like hills are
covered with rows of tea-shrubs, planted in terraces from base
to summit; and the intervening bits of level space are the rice
and corn fields.

The people of the Sa-hiong table-land are simple, industrious,
and well-to-do. The women have " a pleasinsf frankness and
absence of the artificial shyness which marks the dwellers in
the lowlands." Each village is occupied by one clan, comprising
in some cases 200 or 300 families, all bearing the same surname,
and all tracing their descent from one ancestor. Sioh-chio is
the principal village, as being in the centre of the district, though
in population and wealth it is surpassed by others.

On to this iDopulous table-land mounted the feet of the
messengers of Christ, bringing good tidings and publishing
peace ; and among these highland villages the name of Jesus
became dear to many scores of humble Chinese believers. It
was in 1870 that Mr. Wolfe first visited this region. He arrived
late at night at Sioh-chio (Stone Town), and was hospitably
received by the head of the clan, " Mr. Stone," but was permitted
at once to retire to rest without intrusion. He wrote : —

I was exceedingly tired from the long walk over the mountain road,
and at once retired to my little room. I lay undressed upon the pallet,
and immediately fell asleep. About twelve o'clock at night I was awakened
by the loud voices of singing in the next room by the oatechist, colporteur,
ChristiaDS, and inquirers, who had remained reading and praying to that
hour.

Next morning the people crowded to the house to se© the
stranger, but thej'^ were " exceedingly polite," and quietly retired
while he breakfasted. After breakfast he examined three candi-
dates for baptism, one of them being " Mr. Stone " himself, who
had, with others, embraced the faith of Christ upon the preach-
ing of the IN'ing-taik colporteur. By this time many hundreds of
people had assembled outside, and were patiently waiting for a
sight of the foreigner; so Mr. Wolfe, accompanied by his two

A Mountainous Prefecture. 91

native helpers, went out and began tO' preach to a dense throng of
eager listeners. The sun, however, was so hot that the elders
and head-men invited them to come into the Ancestral Hall, a
large old building, held in profound reverence as the dwelling,
some centuries before, of the first ancestor of the " Stones," who
(it is said) migrated from Nan-king and built the house, round
which the village gradually grew as his descendants multiplied.
In this hall, surrounded by the ancestral tablets of the " Stone '
family, and with the elders sitting on either side — one of them
an aged patriarch of ninety years — Mr. Wolfe and his com-
panions stood up and preached for two hotirs ; the attention never
flagging, and the elders, when he had finished, thanking him
for his " doctrine," which they pronounced " good, and in
accordance with reason, but new to the Western Villages."
At the close of this deeply interesting meeting Mr. Wolfe
and a little company of believing Chinese retired into an " upper
room " in " Mr. Stone's " house, and (it being Sunday) held
morning service; and after the second lesson the three adult
candidates and two children were baptized — the firstfruits of
Sioh-chio unto God.

In the afternoon they proceeded to " Long Town," a village
about a mile distant. There, too, they were invited by the head-
man, " Mr. Long," to preach in the Ancestral Hall. On return-
ing to " Stone Town " Mr. Wolfe was invited to take some
refreshment at the house of a leading man, a relative of one of
the converts that day baptized: —

This man is a most devout Buddhist. We had some very interesting
conversation with him. He contended that Buddhism and Christianity
were essentially the same, that both taught men to live virtuously, and
both pointed to future rewards for the good, and punishments for the
wiclced. We endeavoured to point- out carefully to him the essential
differences. He looked very thankful, but made no reply to our explana-
tions. The Taouists and Buddhists have agreed to tolerate each other
upon the supposition that, after all, their respective systems are essentially
the same, and so their gods are content to live on easy terms with one
another, and not unfrequently stand together upon the same altar, and
receive the adoration of the same devotee. Christianity, too, would be
tolerated, and the Chinese would easily be induced to accept Christ

92 For Christ in Euh-Kien.

amongst the number of their gods, if it could be content with the same
terms on whii;h all the other systems are willing to be received, viz.,
that no one of them claim to be absolute and exclusive truth. Now as
Christianity docs claim this, and openly avows its determination to expel
by moral force every rival system from the altars of this nation, it
naturally at first appears strange and presumptuous to this people. The
Buddhist gentleman above referred to expressed this feeling when I placed
before him the claims of Christianity to an undivided supremacy over his
heart and soul. He would gladly believe in so noble and pure a Being as
the New Testament represents Jesus to be, if he might be allowed to
believe in Buddha, and Lao-tse, and Confucius also. This man is a type
of a very large class in China, especially amongst the followers of Buddha.

King-se-hung (" the peak of tke golden Monastery "), another
out-station in the Ning-taik district, is situated among the
mountains. A stiff climb for about an hour and a half from
the city brings the traveller to the mission church, in the
midst ol a number of scattered hamlets. For several years one
or two Christians living here were in the habit of attending the
services at jVing.-taik. A catechist was sent to reside in the
place, at the request of the people, and towards the close of
1875 a large number were baptized. A church was afterwards
built, the ifative Christians themselves contributiiig the site and
a sum of money besides.

Chiong-ka affords an illustration of how the work extends
without the aid, and sometimes without the knowledge, of the
foreign missionary. In the year 1879 one of the Native
Christians at Ting-sang-a, a Mr. Ma, removed to Chiong-ka
-with his family. The nearest chapel being a long way off, he
was obliged to conduct service in his own house, to which he
invited his neighbours, explaining that he belonged to the
" doctrine of Jesus." The number of people who came in-
creased, and he asked for assistance to help to provide forms for
their accommodation.

Htiok-leng is a large and busy market town lying to the
north-west of Ning-taik city, and is an important centre for
evangelistic work. It was occupied for some years without any
visible result, but in 1882 some converts were baptized, one of
them being a fniit of Di-. Taylor's medical work. He came to

A Mountainous Peefectueb. 93

be operated on for diseased jaw, and while being cared for,
beard and believed tbe message of salvation. He was the means,
of leading his brother and a fellow-workman to become candi-
dates for baptism. At this place a Christian woman suffered
much on accou.n[t of her faith. Mr. Martin relates the story as
follows : —

She was locked up in a loft by her husband and kept a prisoner for
three or four months, but was able to persuade somebody to buy a hymn
book for her. About this time her husband and a few friends of his met
the catechist in the street and struck him, and before the case was settled
the woman was released. For two Sundays she walked through the rain tO'
the chapel, and her husband, making some other reason an excuse for his
anger, struck her, and not long after she died from the effects of the blow.

Of late years the work has been more promising. A larger
place of worship has been obtained, affording accommodation for
about 200 people. IN'inety-nine adults were baptized here in
1903, some of them walking nine miles, others fifteen, and one
man even twenty-one miles to be present at the services.

The work in the ISTing-taik district has always been super-
vised from a distance, first by the Rev. J. E.. Wolfe, and after-
wards by the Revs. J. Martin, T. McClelland, W. Light,.
L. H. F. Star, and W. C. White.

CHAPTER X.

A Centre of Light: The Story of Ku-cheng.

" Ye are the light of the world."— /Si. MaU. v. 14.

" We thank Thee, Lord, that some are found

Amid the heathen night,
To let faith's lantern shine around

With clear and steady light.
We thank Thee that the dying hour

Of many a timid saint
Has witnessed to Thy promised power

To help and cheer the taint." —John P. Holson..

'Xa. U-OHENG is a hsien of the Fuli-cliow prefecture, lying
to the nortli-west. The county town (of the same name)
is reached from Fuh-chow by ascending the river Min as
far as Chiu-kau, which may he regarded as the gate of the
district. Leaving the river here and proceeding by road,
Ku-cheng city is reached in one long day's journey, the distance
being about thirty-three miles.

Ku-cheng was first occupied as an out-station at the end of
1865. Two catechists went as pioneers, and hired a room for a
preaching chapel. Then Mr. Wolfe visited the city, preached
to large and attentive audiences, and left one of the cal^echists to
carry on the work.

At the close of 1866 Mr. Cribb, who had taken over the super-
intendence of the work, was able to report that the catechist had
laboured with much encouragement, and that larger premises
had to be used because of the great numbers attending the
preaching. Several tours had been made through the surround-
ing villages, and large quantities of tracts and books disposed of.
One man who had beeni baptized at Fuh-chow was earnestly
teaching his wife. She was baptized early in 1867, and in the

A Centre oe Light: The Story of Ku-cheng. 95

same year five others were added to the Church. One was a
promising- yoimg man, who was at once taken into the prepara-
tory class for catechists; another was the schoolmaster of a
village eight miles off; a third was the son of a literary man;
and the remaining two were remarkable for the patience with
which they bore eighteen months' probation which was imposed
upon them before baptism in consequence of their having been
opium smokers. One of these two men was afterwards admitted
to Holy Orders.

The work was not, however, carried on without difficulties.
One arose from the refusal of the catechist to contribute to the
customary subscription, or tax, to the idol temples. As in similar
cases elsewhere, his house was attacked and serious damage
inflicted; but the Ku-cheng police arrested the rioters. Another
difficulty was in connexion with the slanderous reports spread
by a man who came to the chapel as a professed inquirer,
obtained copies of the books, and then went about telling absurd
stories of what went on there, affirming that he had been
admitted to the secrets of '' the religion," in proof of which he
produced the books. For instance, he affirmed that at the Fuh-
chow mission-house there was a pond or tank containing water
brought 'from a wonderful place called the Pool of Bethesda;
that converts, under the pretence of being cleansed from all
sin, were required to wash in this pond; that those who did so
suddenly dissolved, and were no more seen; but that from the
dregs consequently deposited the foreigners extracted opium !
A curious instance, indeed, of the way in which the opium traffic
hinders missionary eJfort.

In the following year, 1868, another difficulty arose which
hindered many inquirers at Ku-cheng and other places from
coming forward. This was the persecution eibdured by a new
catechist who was sent to Ku-cheng, a graduate of the first
degree, who had been baptized at Fuh-chow in the previous
December. ISo sooner did he commence his work than a storm
of persecution arose against him from the literati of Ku-cheng,
as well as from some members of his own family. Besides
attempting to compel him to support idolatry, they threatened

96 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

to cause his degree to be takea away from him, and to deprive
kim of his share in. the inheritance of his forefathers. To show
that they were in earnest in this latter particular, they refused
to give him his share of pork, which, according to the will of
his ancestors, was to be given to every member of the family,
old or young, male or female, on a given day in every year.
This may appear a small matter, but being noised abroad
throughout the Ku-chensr district, it actually had the effect of
frightening most of the inquirers not only in Ku-cheng city,
but also at places as distant as Sek-paik-tu and Sang-iong. The
catechist for a time bore all bravely, and avowed his determina-
tion, come what might, not to deny his Master. But alas ! his
faith was not firmly established, and he fell away. He was
afterwards received back, but no great confidence could be
reposed in him. He had tried to serve God and mammon, and
signally failed.

Ku-cheng was one of the places visited by Bishop Alford
in 1868. He baptized three men, and confirmed twelve men
and three women. Some of these were from out-stations.
During the next two or three years there was much encourage-
ment at several of these places, but in Ku-oheng itself the infant
Church grew slowly, l^evertheless , when the Bishop visited the
city a second time in 1871, he found twenty-two adult baptized
members, besides children. It was in the year last mentioned
that the Shan-sin-fan plot, which has already been alluded to
(see supra, page 18), was carried out. The Ku-cheng district
especially suffered from it, and Mr. Mahood, who was then in
sole charge of the Mission, was seized at Ang-iong by the
rioters, and forced to go to Ku-cheng, where he narrowly
escaped death at the hands of the mob.

For a few years Ku-cheng city continued to show little
interest in the Gospel message; but though preferring for itself
darliness rather than light, it became a centre of light to the
villages arotind. Not that there were no converts in the city.
Ten adult baptisms were reported in 1872, and sixteen in 1873,
and many who were once bitter opponents of Christianity began
to publish abroad the glad tidings of salvation. By 1874 marked

A Centre of Light: The Story of Ktx-cheng. 97

progress had been made. Upwards of one hundred people,
mostly Buddhists, in the city or immediate neighbourhood, had
joined the city congregation, and twenty-eight had been baptized.
From that time the city and district became much more fruitful.
In May, 187G, Bishop Burdon visited Ku-oheng for the first
time, and was accorded a most hearty welcome. He wrote: —

On arriving at the chapel, which has only lately been enlarged, and is now the
largest chapel in the whole Mission (the chapels in the city of Fuh-chow, I
think, included), it was at once filled from end to end with Christians and
Heathen. The little house, too, for the native deacon, behind the chapel,
was filled to overflowing, and it was difficult to find a resting-place. I
thought it best to get into the pulpit, and, after saying a few words to
them in Mandarin, which were interpreted by the Christian schoolmaster, I
told them that I had come a great distance that day, and was both tired and
hungry, and should be obliged to them if they would now go home and
come back at another time. To my amazement, and that of Mr. Wolfe,
the crowd quietly dispersed, and though we had to do almost everything in
presence of a number of people, yet we had comparatively a quiet time
for the rest of the evening. I thought my whole reception in this city a
remarkable thing. The people were most respectful in demeanour, and
the only word I heard as I passed through the streets was a remark, sotto
voce, on my great age.

In 1882 the Rev. W Banister was appointed to take charge
of Ku-cheng and also of the adjoining county of Ping-nang,
and four years later he was able to take up his residence in the
city of Ku-cheng. An interesting fact was revealed when the
title deeds of the property on which this house was erected were
examined : —

The ostensible owner of the site had to look up the deeds, and the first
was found to go back to the Ming Dynasty, 200 or 300 years ago. The
investigation, however, brought to light the fact that the father of the
occupier had sold the land, and that the actual owners were the trustees
of an idol society. These gentlemen, literary men though they were,
were willing to sell the idol property to the Christian Church, and
accordingly the name of the idol society and the Christian society appear
side by side in the deed.

According to Chinese custom, the completion of the building
was celebrated by a feast, and on May 31st, 1887, 120 guests

G

98 For Christ in Fch-Kiex.

were entertained, the day concluding with a lantern exhibition,
which gave immense satisfaction.

The eleven years during which Mr. Banister was in charge of
the work were a time of great jjrogress. The baptized Christians
in the two districts (Ku-cheng and Ping-nang) increased from
615 to 1,014. The organization of the congregations improved,
while the changed attitude of the people generally was specially
marked. The work of education also advanced. A boys' board-
ing-school was established at Ku-cheng with twenty-four pupils,
and twenty-seven day schools in the two districts had between
them an attendance of 300 children. Another important step
was the organization of a band of native evangelists, who visited
each part of the district in succession, gaining access to new out-
stations as a result of their visit. Work amongst women and
girls also was vigorously prosecuted. The Misses I. and H.
Newconibe, of the Church of England Zenana Missionary'
Society, went to reside at Ku-cheng in 1888, and with great
devotion gave themselves to the work among the women and
girls of the district which had been begun by Mrs. Banister.
Previously the Chinese wives and mothers had been largely
neglected, and the neglect had been one of the most serious
defects in the work. As soon as they were reached and in-
fluenced, the result was seen not only in the addition of many
women to the baptismal roll, but also in the impetus given to the
work generally.

There was also an interesting movement among the afflicted
people residing in the Leper Settlement outside Ku-cheng city.
Mr. Banister wrote in 1891: —

Three years ago an old eatecliist whom God liad used in different
parts of His vineyard developed a disease which ultimately turned to
leprosy. It was a great trial to the old man and his wife, and their faith
was sorely tested. After having been pronounced incurable by the
foreign medical men at Fuh-chow he was admitted into the leper com-
munity, and immediately became their chaplain. God used him from the
first, and one after another joined him in worship, and received his
instructions, until now there is a congregation of twenty to thirty every
Sunday .... After my return from the Annual Conference I was
privileged to admit nineteen members of this singular congregation into

A Centre of Light: The Story of Ktj-cheng. 99

Christ's visible Churcli by baptism. It was a solemn and inrterestang
occasion. The Rev. H. S. Phillips, by whose efiForts the church was built, and
the Rev. T. McClelland witnessed the admission of these new members into
Christ's Chnrcih. I examined them one by one, and was deeply interested as
each one confessed in simple and touching language their faith in the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ for them. The first to be baptized was one
whose eyes had long been closed by disease to the light of heaven, but
Christ had given him light. Bach feature of his face was destroyed, and
yet he followed every word of prayer, and his distorted mouth articu-
lated every sentence as it was uttered. He has been appointed exhorter
amongst his fellows, and, as his old pastor said, he can now see better
than those who have eyes. Another, who came next, seemed to be free
from external leprosy, but a spasmodic movement of the eyes bore
witness to the presence of the dread disease. A third was a young man
whose face lighted up with joy as he was named a disciple of Christ,
but his feet were shapeless stumps without toes. I might go through
all the list, but it would be too long, for each one had some sign which
marked him for death, but the chief hope, for one and all, was life in the
new clean body of the Resurrection. One of them was asked some time
ago what good it was for a leper to become a Christian, and the reply
was that " the teacher told me that I should be clean in heaven." What
other power but Christ can bring light into such darkness, or hope into
such hopeless misery ?

The following year ilr. Banister was able to build a Leper
Asylum, where these poor siiffering creatures might be more
comfortably housed and their sad condition ameliorated by better
diet and healthier surroundings. The funds for the purpose
were provided by the Mission to Lepers.

All this time the congregation worshipping in the city church
was growing, and a greater spirit of unity and earnestness was
manifested, which was attributed largely to the establishment of
a branch of the Christian Endeavour Society, an effort in which
the American Methodist Mission joined. Once a month a
united meeting was held in the English and American Mission
churches alternately, and the sight of a large church filled with
Christians impressed the Heathen not a little, as was shown
by the following incident which occurred at one of the
meetings : —

Two strangers entered, and sat all through the meeting, one quite
silent, but attentive, the other very meddlesome and talkative. The silent

G 2

100 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

listener came from a village six miles away, and out <.f mere curiosity had
come into the church. The conversation was on subjects which were all
strange and new to him, but it struck him that the religion which caused
men to ponder and plan how to reach others, and help them in this way,
must be good; and after the meeting he stayed to converse with the
catechist, and ultimately he stayed on until the following Sunday, and
attended the services. The Spirit seemed to have reached his heart and
taken firm hold, for since that time he has come down from his home in
the hills week by week, for the Sunday, and, best of all, he has now been
joined by a group of half a dozen men, who walk these twelve miles, to
and from church, every week. They beg now for a church to be established
in their mountain home, and that a teacher be sent to them.

The Rev. E,. W. Stewart, after being some years at home, was
able to return to Fuh-Kien in the autumn of 1893, and was
appointed to take up Mr. Banister's work. He and Mrs. Stewart,
with their children, went to reside at Ku-cheng in December,
1893. Their time of service here, however, was of short dura-
tion. As we have seen in Chapter Y., troubles soon began, and
on the first of August, 1895, they, with others of the Ku-cheng
missionary band, were translated to the higher service above.

On Easter Day, 1897, a chapel was opened in the mission
compound at Ku-cheng, which had been erected in memory of
those killed at Hwa-sang. A new building was also put up
for the boys' boarding-school in memory of the late Eev.
R. W. Stewart, towards which the Chinese Christians sub-
scribed most liberalh'.

From the very commencement of the work greater success
has attended the efforts made in the villages than those made
in the towns, and we now give some account of what has been
done at the more important places of the Ku-cheng hsiei}, before
turning to notice the hsieu of Ping-nang.

One of the most interestinig villages has been Lau-a. In
1875, Mr. Wolfe baptized several people, and forty or fifty
presented themselves as candidates for baptism. They had sub-
scribed no less than |300 towards the cost of a church, designed
to hold 500 people , one member giving a third of that sum him-
self. But as at so many other places of early promise, the

A Centke of Light: The Stoey of Ku-cheng. 101

Cliurch at Lau-a has not grown. There have been additions,
but there have also been losses, the latter in part attributable to
the persecution endured by Ngoi Kaik-Ki (afterwards the Rev.
Ngoi Kaik-Ki) who was a Native of Lau-a, and especially to his
being deprived of his degree, which made a bad impression in
the place.

The story of Ngoi's conversion was given by Mr. Stewart as
follows: —

Many years ago, about twelve or fifteen, a missionary, whose name he does not
know, was passing through the province, giving away Bibles, and gave him one.
From curiosity, to see what foreign books contained, he read some of it,
but did not care for it, and soon put it aside. Years afterwards he heard
that numbers of people were going to our chapel, which had been opened
in Ku-cheng, to hear the " foreign doctrine," and, thinking of his book,
which had been lying so long neglected, he took it up again, and, in his
own words, " read it, and read it," till at length he came to the conclusion
it was " very good." He then went to the chapel as an inquirer, and
learned from the catechist the truth more clearly. His great difficulty
was the giving up Confucius, who, he thought, taught such high
morality; but his Christian friend, who was also a literary man, showed
him how much higher was the morality taught by Christ, which, among
other things, forbade deception under any circumstances. His household
were so enraged at his wishing to join the Christians and disgracing his
family, that he could get no peace at home, and was forced to go up on
the hills to pray alone to the one true God he had learned to love.

Up to this time he had had the training of the sons of a number of the
wealthy gentry about ; but no sooner was the change in his religion known,
than they were all taken from him. Mr. Wolfe afterwards made him a
catechist, and having shown every satisfaction in that capacity, he was
chosen at the last Conference to be the tutor of our Training College.
Poor fellow! in acting as he has done, he has literally fulfilled the words
of Christ, and left father, mother, brethren, wife, and child, for His sake,
and the reward will most surely be his. Worldly honour, too, he has lost,
for his hard-earned literary degree, which in China is looked on as an
object worthy a man's spending his whole life to obtain, has been taken
from him, for no other reason than because he has joined the Christians.
His wife declared she would have nothing more to say to him, and his
little child, one year old, he has had also to leave behind.

Subsequently, however, his wife was won over to the faith.

102 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kiek.

and she and her three children were baptized in October, 1881.
In that same year an influential man was baptized to whose
younger brother Mr. Ngoi Kaik-Ki had acted as tutor some
years before he was employed by the Mission. He (Ngoi) being
at that time a Christian, and his baptism being much spoken of
in the district, frequently told this man, and all in his house
who would listen, the reason why he had given up Confucius,
Mencius, and the other sages of China, for Jesus Christ. At the
time no result was apparent, but subsequent events showed that
God had caused the faithful words spoken by His servant to find
a lodgment in at least one heart in that family.

From time to time some members of the Lau-a Church have
had to be expelled, bigamy in some instances being the cause.
A missionaiy's description of one curious case is given as illus-
trating the customs of the people: —

The man, who has been baptized for some years, has always been much
persecuted by his wife, who has cherished a bitter hatred towards
Ohristiaeity. The husband, however, remained firm, and regularly
attended tihe services at our church. Last year his first wife, finding that
no children were born to her, endeavoured (as is the custom in China) to
persuade her husband to marry another wife, so that the family name
might be kept up. He spoke to the catechist about it, and was, of course,
told that such an act would be wrong and contrary to the teaching of
Christ and His apostles. The man seems to have steadily refused to listen
to his wife's suggestion for a long time, but at length he gave way, and,
consequently, we have been obliged to expel him.

Ngu-tu must also be mentioned. Its name first occurred in
the Report of 1876-77, and in the following year there were
said to be forty candidates for baptism, who were regularly
attending the sen-ices and keeping the Lord's Day. Three in
particular were mentioned, leading men, who had taken a chief
part in the erection of a large idol temple, but threw up their
connexion with it just as it was approaching completion, and
would have pulled it down again but for the opposition of their
neighbours. This station has owed much to the wife of the
catechist. Both she and her htisband, while yet Heathen, had
practised the " curious arts " of Chinese necromancy; but, like

A Centre of Light: The Story of Ku-cheng. 103

their Ephesian prototypes, tliey, at their baptism, burned their
books.

The missionary history of Ang-iong is indissolubly associated
with the names of two brothers. A carpenter, named Ngoi
Cheng-Tung, heard the good news of a Saviour proclaimed by
the catechist at the church in Ku-cheng city. He believed the
message at once, and persuaded his half-brother, Ung Kumg, a
tailor, to "come and see," — or rather to come and hear — like-
wise, and was quickly rewarded by his conversion.

The two men spoke to a third, a dweller in another village,
who forthwith came and lived with TJng-Kung for a while in
order to be more fully instructed in the faith, and then went
forth in his turn to tell others of the Saviour he had found.
The result was that on visiting the village, Mr. Cribb found the
carpenter working as an evangelist, and the tailor — a quiet and
thoughtful man — as an instructor of those whom his brother's
exhortations brought together. Both these men were baptized
by Bishop Alford when he visited Ku-cheng in 1868, and con-
firmed at his second visit in 1871. Through the agency of these
two remarkable men, the infant church at Ang-iong grew and
flourished.

The Shan-sin-fan persecution (see «M;pra,page 18) fell heavily
upon the Christians, but none forsook their new-found faith, and
before many years had elapsed the instigator of the riot himself
was baptized.

TJng-Kung, the tailor, died in 1879. In 1874, on the occasion
of Mr. Mahood's last visit, before starting on the voyage he was
not to live to complete, this devoted Chinese brother, with tears
rolling down his cheeks, said, " Sing-sang, I am afraid I shall
never see you again, as I feel raj owni strength failing; but
thanks be to God, we have a glorious hope of immortalitj-, for
when this earthly house is dissolved, we have a building of
Grod, eternal in the heavens." The young missionary, however,
was called away before the aged convert, who survived him four
years, exemplary to the last in consistency and zeal. TJng-Kung
made over some property to Mr. Wolfe to provide a cemetery
for the Christians, and on his death beqvieathed half he possessed

104 Foe Christ ix Frn-KiEx.

to the Ku-cheng Church, the other half going to his brother.
The latter's face, says Mr. Lloyd, "was full of joy when he
reached Fuh-chow to tell that Ung-Kung had ' gone Home.' "

For some time most encouraging accounts were given of
Ang-iong year by year. In 1878 Mr. Lloyd wrote: —

There is scarcely a village near Ang-iong in which some few Christians
are not to he found, and it is very pleasant to see them coming in to the
services on a Sunday morning, after a tiring walk up the mountain side.

Two years later he said that in Ang-iong itself there was
only one family entirely Heathen, and that the church was quite
filled with worshippers. But as time passed, there was much
backsliding, and at length the report of the missionary in charge
said, " Ang-iong is no longer the bright spot it once was."

Several other villages in the same district as Ang-iong have
yielded fruit to the labours of the evangelists. Puang-lang is
remarkable for a widow — a woman of influence and better
education than most of her sex in China — who embraced the
faith of Christ in 1869. During the Shan-sin-fan disturbances
she was exposed to great annoyance. At one time a mob sur-
rounded her house and threatened to destroy her property if
she did not renounce Christianity. She took the Bible in her
hand, and standing at the door, said: — " This Book teaches us the
religion which foreigners believe; that same religion I believe.
No one who believes this religion can possibly be guilty of the
acts of which Christians are now accused, and sooner than give
up the religion of Christ I would cheerfully permit the officers
to behead me." She was not further molested; but two years
afterwards she fell ill and died. Most remarkable is the account
of her end: —

For two days she lay speechless. Afterwards she recovered, to the
great joy of all her friends, and in a few days was able to visit the neigh-
bouring villages. She then began most earnestly to exhort the people to
renounce Heathenism, and to embrace Christ as their only Saviour. Crowd.s
of people flocked to hear her, and many wept as she exhorted them to
repent and flee from the wrath to come. For a month after her recovery
she went from village to village, exhorting the people to cast away their
idols, and to look unto Jesus as their only hope. After this her strength

A Centre of Light: The Stort of Ktj-cheng. 105

began to fail, but still she persevered in proclaiming Christ unto the
people ; and at last, full of joy and hope, without a sigh or pain, she fell
asleep in Jesus.

Her triumpliant death, was tlie means of strengthening many
of the feebler Christians in the faitt of Christ. But " heing
dead," she " yet spake." " Before she died," Mr. Mahood wrote
in the following year, " her son and grandchild were hardened
idolaters. She prayed fervently for their conversion, but before
the answer was given she had gone to her heavenly Home.
Since her death both have been led to embrace Christianity,
and are now rejoicing in Christ."

At Tong-liang the head mam of the village became a
Christian in 1875. His peaceful death two years later while
attending th.e Annual Conference in Fuh-chow so impressed his
widow and younger son that they became earnest inquirers. At
Cho-paiig, the birth-place of the Rev. Su Chong-Ing, his faith-
ful pi'ayers for his native village were answered, after his death,
by the baptism during the year 1880 of eleven persons, making
in all about forty Christians at th.at time.

Sang-iong, a walled town of 10,000 inhabitants, lying forty
miles elast of Ku-cheng, and tlie same distance west of
Lo-ngwong was occupied in answer to an invitation given by
travellers from the place. In November, 1867, Mr. Cribb
visited the town dressed in Chinese costume in order to obtain
a preaching room and get the agreement for its letting settled
without attracting the notice of the people generally. This was
successfully accomplished, and a catechist was located there.
For a long time the field was comparatively baiTen, and a good
d©al of opposition was displayed to the catechist's work. At
one time stones were thrown at the windows and on to the roof
day by day; and on the catechist complaining to the magistrate
and pointing out the chief offender, the latter not only denied
the charge, but took the earliest opportunity of disproving his
own denial by breaking into the chapel, destroying the seats,
and damaging the walls. Mr. Cribb, on his nest visit to Sang-
iong, appealed to the elders; and they vindicated tlie reputation
of the town for equity by requiring the oifender to repair the
damage and also make a public apology.

lOG Foe, Ciieist in Flh-Kiex.

A few converts came in one by one, enough, at all events,
to suffer persecution during the Shan-sin-fan riots in 1871, when
the chapel was torn do^vn and the cateohist had to fly for his
life. One of the Christians on this occasion displayed remark-
able courage. He was attacked by an infuriated mob, who
threatened to murder him if he did not drink a mixture which
they gave him for a test to see whether he had poisoned the
wells. When they presented the cup to him he refused it, and
said: — "If you wish to kill me you can do so, for I am quite at
your mercy; but as I have been guilty of no crime, I shall not
drink this cup. I believe in Christ, Who is the Saviour of
sinners, and I would rather suffer death at your hands than give
up that faith." He was robbed of his clothes and had to endure
great annoyances. But all testified to his unwavering faith in
Christ. During the years which have since passed the work has
made some progress, though not of a marked character. At one
time there were as many as 100 Native Christians, but declen-
sions afterwards took place.

The Gospel was first brought to Sa-iong by some who
had heard and received it at Sang-iong. In its earlier history
the village was a striking illustration of the bitter disappoint-
ments which in the mysterious providence of God are some-
times permitted in order to remind us of our own helplessness,
and of the instability of human nature.

Up to the end of 1878 eight persons had been baptized. Of
these five had been expelled (mostly for breaking the seventh
Commandment), one had died, and two remained, and these two
Mr. Lloyd had to suspend in the following year for entire neglect
of even the outward observances of religion. Thus came to an
end what seemed at first the nucleus of an infant Church.

For thirteen long years Sa-iong remained utterly indifferent
to the blessings of the Gospel from which some of its people had
fallen away. The call to return came from a remarkable source,
and for a very striking cause. In the year 1892 a heathen
Native of the town wrote a letter to the master of the Ku-cheng
boys' school, in which he said that he " had observed with
sorrow how the young men of the town were becoming utterly

A Centre of Light: The Story oe Ku-cheng. 107

demoralized and given up to gambling and opium smoking ; that
he had consulted with the oldest and leading inhabitants as to
what ought to be done; and that they all felt that the best
thing would be to invite the Christians toi return, and thus
preserve their town from utter demoralization. In response
to this invitation a catechist was sent, and in April of the
following year Miss Maud Newoombe, Miss Burroughs, and
Miss Codrington, of the C.E.Z.M.S., toot up their residence
in the town, and met with a friendly reception. In the
month of December a station class was opened which bore
fruit very quickly. Eight professed conversion. Of these two
died, three were baptized in the following June, and the re-
maining three were candidates for baptism. Out of the twelve
members of the class, nine unbound their feet; no small token
of sincerity, especially in those cases where they had been bound
till the foot only measured two and a half inches in length.

The Eiiropean missionaries, of course, were withdrawn after
the Hwa-sang massacre, and Miss Codrington, who had been
seriously wounded, was obliged to come home for a time. Her
health having been restored, she returned to Fuh-Kien at the
beginning of 1897 and resumed her work in Sa-iong, meeting
with a wonderful reception on her arrival. She wrote : —

As we neared Sa-iong, the stir of excitement increased; Christians
from all the different villages in the district met us, and surrounded or
followed our chairs, and as we passed along the streets, greetings
resounded on all sides. Our chairs were put down in the market place,
and there the little children clung round us, and with their dear dirty
little arms, in ours, we entered the familiar old house. There such a sight
met us — loving Chinese hands had been hnsj preparing for us ; green
arches and Chinese lantems< produced a fairy-like effect, and on either side
of the large audience hall were gathered a large group of men and women,
men on one side, women on the other. Oh ! to see the women's face.«, and
to feel the clasp of their hands — it W8S more than sufficient reward for
coming back to them.

The hsien of Ping-nang, like the adjoining hsieii of Ku-
cheng is comprised in ihe Fuh-chow prefecture. It was origin-
ally worlicd as part of the district of Ku-cheng , but subsequently
a separate Church Council was formed, and while the one

108 PoK Cueist in Fuh-Kie^t.

European missionary superintended tlie work tJbere and in Ku-
cheng, it was regarded as a distinct district.

Ping-nang, tke most northerly town in the prefecture of
Fuh-chow, was visited by Mr. Cribb in November, 1866, and
great interest was excited by his preaching. Xo one, however,
could be located there until two years later, when the catechist,
Su Chong-Ing (who was afterwards ordained), was sent, and
a house rented as a chapel. As usual in the larger cities, the
anger of the leading inbabitants was aroused. It was con-
veniently discovered that the landlord had a flaw in his title-
deeds ; and he was seized and sentenced to receive one hundred
strokes with the bamboo. Thus even Heatken h.ave suffered in
the cause of the Saviour they knew not. Th.e magistrates
then sent for the catechist, and with great politeness assured
him tkat they recognized the beneficent character of Ckris-
tianity, but tbat, as the gentry of Ping-nang had just sub-
scribed a large sum of money to establish an asylum for
destitute ckildren, th.ey needed no impulse from without in
the direction of deeds of charity ; they therefore kindly advised
him to go to some other place where his excellent teaching might
be more obviously required. The catechist had to leave th.e city,
but whether the asylum was ever built is as doubtful as wbether
the flaw in the title deeds would have been noticed had the house
been let to any but a foreigner.

Although the attempt to occupy the city was th.us frustrated
for a time, work was commenced without difficulty in some of
the towns and villages of the district, and in 1882 a man from
the city was baptized by ilr. Banister. He was a maker of
vermicelli, and had proved his sincerity by closing his place of
business on Sundays. Little, however, has been done in Ping-
nang itself. Catechists were placed there in 1898, and the Rev.
J. R. S. Boyd visited the city twice in 1900. But tke place has
a reputation for being strongly anti-foreign, and the work has
j'ielded no converts in recent years.

One of the villages alluded to above is called Tong-hio, and
the work there has been crowned with a good deal of success,
eight or nine converts being baptized in 1884. One of tkese, an

A Centre of Light: The Story of Ku-chexg. 109

old man aged seventy-six, seemed to liave laid liold of the truth,
in a marvellous way. Mr. Banister wrote : —

He received the name of Chiong Chiek " perfectly ihuminated." . . .
He first heard the truth some years ago as the catechist was preaching
in his village, and invited him, stranger as he was, to stay to dinner, and
tell him more of this new doctrine. He did not believe then, but the seed
thus sown by the wayside was not in vain, for last year the old man was
led to join the Church, and throw in his lot with the people of God, and as
I baptized him I felt that only the Holy Spirit could have taught him.

In a few years' time a church was built which was filled
every Sunday with an orderly and intelligent body of wor-
shippers, able to read their Bibles, and use their hymn and
Prayer-books. But the offence of the Cross had not ceased.
At Pi-liang a young man, much impressed by the sudden
death of his uncle, resolved to become a Christian. In con-
sequence of this he was beaten by his father so severely that
he fled to another village. Thither the father followed him,
caught him, put a rope round his neck, and dragged him through
the street until the Heathen cried out on him. He dragged him
back to Pi-liang, and recommenced his persecution, hanging
him up by the thumbs and endeavouring to extort a promise from
him to forsake the worship of God, but the son refused, and
relatives interfering, he was at last let loose. He took refuge
with some relatives, and shortly afterwards was baptized.

Among the many other interesting cases, too, must be briefly
mentioned two. The first is that of a family at Chia-a, consist-
ing of a woman ninety years old, her son and daughter-in-law,
and their son, fifteen years old, who were baptized in 1897.
The son carried his old mother on his back to and from
church. She was too deaf to hear the questions put to her,
but she said contimially, " Jesus died for me." The other
case is that of a man in another village, Pa-ha, who was the
only Christian in the place. Mr. Martin asked him, in the
presence of the elders of the village, what were his reasons for
desiring baptism, and upon his replying, inquired of his
fellow villagers whether what he said was true. They replied :
" Tes, he used to be bad and dishonest, but since he worshipped

110 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

God he is quite different ; he is a changed man, and the doctrine
of Jesus has brought about the change."

Since the Hwa-sang massacre there has been little advance in
the Ivu-cheng and Ping-nang districts. At the close of 1895
the number of Native Christians was 2,613, and 151 adults had
been baptized during the previous twelve months. Eight years
later the number of converts had fallen to 2,027, though the adult
baptisms during the year had been 163. The village schools
aiforded as much encouragement as any form of work. Appli-
cations for teachers were received in 1902 from many places,
including one where a dozen children were waiting for a
Christian teacher, and all the people — about four hundred in
number — were willing to give up idols and opium. They had
a house called Hok Ing Dong ("Happy Tidings Hall"), to
which they were accustomed to take any Christian able to con-
duct a service for them who happened to be in the village.

The missionaries in charge of the Ku-cheng and Ping-nang
districts have been the Revs. W. Banister, R. W. Stewart,
J. Martin, and J. R. S. Boyd.

chapter xi.

The Land of Tea and Timber.

" He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man." — St. Matt. xiii. 37.

" Brave to the work with hopeful hearts
The sowers go to sow ;
Hard is the ground where falls the seed,

But well the sowers know
The Master will come to watch the yield,
They lahour icith JSim in the lonely held." — Watson.

(l) KlEN-NlNG.

x^ lEN-NIJN'Gr, in the prefecture of that name, is a large
and important city, 260 miles north-west of Euh-choav.
It is, in fact, the second city of the whole province north
of the Min, and the great inland emporium of trade. FromKien-
ning comes the great bulk of the produce — tea, timber, resin —
that is brought down by river to Fuh-chow, and is either there
absorbed or thence exported. Paper, also, is manufactured on
a large scale in the Kien-ning district, and distributed over the
empire. The city is romantically situated in a fertile valley
among the mountains, at the confluence of several streams,
which unite to form one of the principal feeders of the Min,
and the population is a thriving and busy one in an unusual
degree.

Mr. Wolfe visited Kien-ning in 1863. He was well received
and attentively listened to, and distributed many portions of
Scripture and tracts. In 1867 he and Mr. Cribb wrote a most
earnest appeal to the Church at home to send men out specially
to take up their residence at Kien-ning ; but for a long time the
staff was never sufiiciently reinforced to admit of this, and
althougn the eyes of our brethren often turned wistfully to the

112 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

great heathen city that seemed to call so loudly for Christian
eiiort, it was not until 1875 that work could be commenced there,
and then there was no Englishman to send. The experienced
catechist Ling Sieng-Sing (afterwards ordained) and four
assistants were set apart for this purpose. For eleven months
they laboured, and had already gathered a little congregation
of inquirers, when, at the end of February, 1876, the storm
of persecution burst upon them.

The following most touching account of Ling Sieng-Sing's
trials at Kien-ning was written down by his wife, Chitnio, in
English, which she acquired when a girl in Miss Cooke's school
at Singapore: —

Sieng-Sing went to a place named Kieng-ning Fu. There was not
one Christian man in that place. Sieog-Sing could not speak that
language first, it is a little different from what we can speak, so
he was very sad, and always praying for the Holy Spirit to help
him, his prayer was answered, and he could speak that language. He
preached in his house a small chapel, there were, many Heathen heard
him, and several believed in the one true God and Jesus Christ Whom
He has sent. The chief men of the place were quite angry, they were
afraid that many would become Christians, and that the English would go
and take that place and govern it, so they shut their houses, for many
days not open; they said the English sent these catechists there.

Sieng-Sing went to Kieng-ning Fa on the fifih month and in the
seventh month he was very sorrowful, he did not know what was the
matter, he felt as if the Holy Spirit was saying to him that something
would happen to him, he could not sleep, so he read his Bible, he was
quite alone in the chapel, but there was a heathen man who used to take
care of the chapel, Sieng-Sing used to teach him to read the Bible. Sieng-
Sing was reading and praying day and night. One night as he was
reading there sprang up a light quite bright in the room, everything was
quite white, his hands, and feet, and body, were all shaking, and in about
half an hour it was all gone, so he prayed, he was not a bit afraid, God
taught him to remember lots of verses in the Bible to comfort him.

In the eleventh month there were four students came to help Sieng-
Sing at Kieng-ning Fu, and in the twelfth month the persecution came.
The chief men hired other men to do it. It began in this way, they sent
some children to throw dirt very nasty on Sieng-Sing's bed, they wanted
to try him to beat these children so that they may find fault with him,
but he did not do or say anything, he was reading his Bible ; lots of men

The Land of Tea and Timber. H3

came and caught Sieng-Sing with the students ; two of the students were
not there, they had gone to Puh-chow for their wages, so they caught
Sieng-Sing, his nephew, and two students, took their jackets off, and
brought them to a tree, and hanged them with their tails tied up to the
tree, and their feet lifted up from the earth. Sieng-Sing's nephew was
quite afraid, so he said to him, "To-day you must have great faith!"
Sieng-Sing says he did not feel a bit pain when they beaten him, he was
able to sing and praise God. In about two hours they brought down
these catechists from the tree, and gave them vinegar mixed with hair.
They said this would kill them, but they did not swallow it. They beat
these men, and said, " Now what can your God do ? " Sieng-Sing said,
" I quite pity you all, because you do not know the way of salvation."
They said, " You are in great trouble to-day, because you wish to work
for the English, and be their soldiers." Sieng-Sing said, " I am not
working for the English, I am working for my Saviour, Whom you do not
know ; that is the reason I am teaching you now." Some of them had
knives, and said they wished to kill Sieng-Sing. So he said within him-
self, " If they kill me, I am willing to die for my Saviour, and I shall be
at home with Him." So the wicked men brought these good men into
the streets, tied their tails together, and made tbem walk about to let all
the people see them to frighten them, so that they dare not believe the
Gospel. The heathen man who took care of the chapel went and told
the Chinese judge. When he came the men all ran away. Then the judge
brought Sieng-Sing and the students to his house, and was very kind to
them, gave them some food and money to buy clothes, and let one of his
men go with them to Fuh-chow. The wicked men also pulled down the
chapel. Sieng-Sing was converted about six years ago through the
preaching of a catechist.

In tke first edition of this book (1877) occurred the following-
words : — " When and how Kien-ning will again be invaded in
the Name of the Lord we cannot now say." About a year after
that book was published the next invasion took place. The
Rev. LI. Lloyd and the E.ev. Ting Seng-Ki made a long journey,
eight days, up the river in a boat to N'ang-wa, a town fifteen
miles short of the city. Communications had passed with a man
in Kien-ning who was willing to sell a house, and Mr. Lloyd
now came to complete the purchase. His journal is as follows : —

April 19th, 1878. It was considered best for us to remain at Nang-wa,
fifteen miles from the city, while the Rev. Ting proceeded there and got

H

114 i<'oE Christ in Euh-Kie:n^.

the deeds ready. This he did, and on. April 20th returned to Nang-wa,
accompanied by the owner of the house, to whom I weighed out some
900 ozs. of silver, and received the deeds of transfer. I am sorry to
say that since my return to Puh-chow we have received a copy of a
placard which has been pasted up by some unknown person at Kien-ning
city, saying we have purchased a house, to be used as a chapel, and that if
the " Foreign Devils " come there, they will drive them out.

However, tlie renewed "invasion" of tlie city again failed
for the time, for the same parties who' had so shamefully treated
Ling Sieng-Sing again attacked the house Mr. Lloyd had pur-
chased, destroyed it, and expelled the catechist.

Kien-ning remained closed till the year 1884. During that
year it was again occupied, a house inside the walls heing
rented from a man who had been cured gratuitously of a bad
leg at the Community Hospital in Fuh-chow, and who, in con-
sequence of this, willingly let the house. The trouble in former
days arose from the opposition of the Lieng-Kah, or Native
Guild, but as the present landlord was himself one of the head
men in the Lieng-Kah, as well as a relative of one of the mission
helpers, it was hoped the Mission would be allowed to hold the
house in peace; but not so. Mr. Banister thus recorded the ex-
pulsion of the Mission: —

Our venture of faith in the spring of last year ended in failure and
expulsion once again. Our brethren Ngoi Seng-Ong and Ting Sing-Ki
went there shortly after our Church Council meeting, and occupied the
house which had been rented. After remaining there in quietness for
about a fortnight, they were suddenly set upon by a hired mob as in former
times was the case. Their clothes were torn from them, they were
severely and unmercifidly beaten, filth was crammed into their mouths,
and in an ignominious manner, amidst the shouts and jeers of the heathen
crowd, they were expelled from the city. Surely this is bearing shame
and reproach for the Master's sake, and becoming as the offscouring of
the earth for His Name.

Several years elapsed before the door thus again closed was
re-opened.

A forward movement was made in 1889 when the Revs.
H. C. Knox and H. S. Phillips occupied Nang-wa, where a couple
of native medical students had already engaged in dispensary

The Land or Tea and Timber. 115

work. In fhe following year two medical students took up their
residence at Tai-chiu, a suburb of Kien-ning city, about a stone's
ihrow from tbe West Gate, and there they commenced medical
work.

All went on quietly for a time, and then some trouble arose
in connexion with the payment of subscriptions to an idolatrous
procession. The native helpers at Tai-chiu were being pressed
to pay these demands with the threat that if they refused they
would be turned away, and the house probably pulled down.
The missionaries at Nang-wa, on being consulted, advised the
people not to pay, and then gave themselves to prayer. The
appointed day passed and no disturbance took place. The owner
of the house, having heard there was a likelihood of his property
being injured, went to the leaders of the idolatrous arrangements
and paid the required subscriptions. The JSTative Christians,
however, made it known that this was done voluntarily, and
that they would on no account countenance idolatry, although
willing to contribute towards mending a road or a bridge.

But the opposition of the enemies of the Gospel in the place
had been aroused, and the following year showed that the old
hostile spirit, so often manifested in Kien-ning, was as active
in this suburb as it had ever been in the city itself. The local
mandarin at last endeavoured to close the hospital, and the native
students were frequently summoned and commanded to leave
the place and give up the premises under threats of sundry
penalties if they refused to do so. An appeal was made to the
Chinese authorities at Fuh-chow, who urged the British Consul
to recall the missionaries. The Consul, however, insisted upon
treaty rights being extended to the Mission, while, on the other
hand, as a conciliatory course, the missionaries agreed to dis-
continue for three months public preaching in the hospital.

But the Mission was not long allowed to remain in peace.
At the close of the year 1891 Dr. Eigg purchased a piece
of land for building a small hospital in lieu of the hired
house. This was made the occasion for renewed hostilities, which
culminated in the wrecking of the rented dispensary, and a
violent and most abusive attack upon Dr. Eigg and the native

H 2

116 FpE Cheist in Ftth-Kien.

helpers. The gentry were bent on preventing the erection of
the new hospital, and the magistrate, while acknowledging Dr.
Rigg's right to the land, seemed unable to resist them. Two
men, from whom the land had been bought, were thrown into
prison; bogus graves were discovered on the property, and made
the pretext for a charge of impiety in disturbing the soil. At
length, on May 11th, 1892, the storm burst. Dr. Rigg shall tell
the story in his own words: —

About 2 a.m. I was awakened by a dreadful smell, and certain sounds
made me guess what was the cause. I cautiously opened the door, and
found it smudged with filth, and quite a load of the same stuff was on
the doorstep and all about. The perpetrator had gone off. I moved my
bed into the hospital, at the back, and was called up about six o'clock to

see the Mandarin He urged me to leave at once, as he said

that Ohio Chie-Puoi had " several tens " of men hired at 200 cash a day
to pull down our hospital and other buildings. He said he had had a row
with Ohio the previous day, and intended to acctise him to the Viceroy.
I asked liim why he wished me to leave, and he said it would then be
easier for him to protect the hospital. I doubted this, and rather thought
that if I went he would not protect it at all. However, I promised to
go as soon as he sent twenty soldiers armed with swords to keep watch
during the day, and eight to watch at night. This he promised to do,
and I promised to leave as soon as they arrived. The soldiers were to
keep watch for eight days and nights. He then left.

I took a little breakfast, tea, and bread ; but none of the others had
anything. There were then in the hospital Ting Siu-King, the medical
cateohist ; Ting Hiong-Sieng, my student ; the hospital cook ; two col-
porteurs ; the leper catechist ; one of the carpenters ; and a mason and
myself. After the Mandarin left more and more people gathered together,
and shortly there was a shout, and the people began to shower stones on
the hospital, and to pull down the window bars. No soldiers had come,
and those on the premises were practically of no use. All the Natives who
were with me went off by the back door, but not before they had pressed me
to do the same. I slowly followed, and was pushed and struck by a
number of people who pressed on me ; they threw brickbats and lumps of
wood, but, so far as I know, I was not struck. I climbed a bamboo fence
and got into an adjacent garden, but there I was u mark for stones, etc.
I climbed another fence, and made my way into the chief street of Tai-
chiu, and went on the way to Kien-yang. I was closely followed and
pressed upon, struck, and my clothes torn off me, my watch and chain
were torn away, my hat went, everything in my pockets was taken, and I

The Land of Tea and Timber. 117

was thrown on the ground. When I was thrown down a second and a
third time, I was dragged to a large filth pit and they tried to pitch
me in. I dreaded this exitremely, and prayed in my soul to be kept
from such a horrible death. I did not doubt it would mean death,
as the pit was deep. I held on to a man's wrist till I could no longer
resist them twisting and bending my fingers, and then held on to a
man's clothes. I made a violent effort, and got on my feet, and, thrusting
all I could aside, made off, but not so quickly as I should have liked.
After being thrown down once or twice more I got free, and ran along
the road away from those horrible pits. Until then the colporteur had
bravely kept by me, but then I lost him. A Fuh-chow man followed me,
and helped me. I was hatless, in a hot sun, and my clothes were ragged
and torn. My spectacles had been snatched off, and I could not see far.
My Fuh-chow friend, whom I did not know, led me about three English
miles on to a ferry, and left a man with me to lead me to Nang-wa. On
the ferry-boat I was recognized by a former hospital patient, who lent
me his umbrella and voluntarily gave me fifty cash. So I went on, and
partly by walking, partly by boat, got back to Nang-wa about 12,30 or
1 o'clock.

Througli the intervention of the Consul at Fuh-cliow a fine
was imposed on tlie leader of the riot, and it was agreed that
the Mission should be compensated, a new site given for a
hospital, the old hospital repaired, and that a proclamation should
he issued declaring the right of missionaries to rent, purchase,
build, or reside in any part of Kien-ning. In accordance with
this agreement, a site was given for a new hospital at Seven
Stars Bridge, close to Kien-ning city, and before Dr. Eigg left
for home in 1893 he had the satisfaction of seeing the buildings
.well advanced towards completion. During his absence on
furlough the work at the hospital was carried on by his medical
students, but the people were slow to give their confidence, and
the number of patients was not very large. A year or two later
an important forward step was taken by obtaining a house with-
in the city, in which the Rev. Li Taik-Ing, a native deacon,
began to reside at the beginning of 1897. In January of the
following year, an open service was held in this house for the
first time, and a few months later a dispensary was opened by
which Dr. Rigg hoped to overcome the prejudice of the Kien-
ning city people, who were not much influenced by the hospital

118 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

at Seven Stars Bridge. So far as could be seen these steps liad
some effect in improving the attitude of the people, but their
apparent friendliness soon gave way to violence and murder.
The circumstances which led to the expulsion of the preachers
of the Gospel from the city for the sixth time were thus
described by Dr. Higg: —

When I left Kien-ning for Fuh-ohow for a rest, early in May, 1899, matters
were pretty quiet. We had had unrest owing to rumours of salt-poisoning
which had spread all over the province ; then we also had the death of a
woman patient in the hospital, and the subsequent charges of mutilation
of the hody. The inquest held by the Mandarin and the proclamation
following it did not settle matters, as some person, or party, by word and
placards charged the Mandarin with hushing up the matter owing to our
having given him a heavy bribe. That, however, settled down, until on
May 2Bth a boy was found with his throat cut, and one leg taken off and
missing. This was in the day-time, and not far from the Leper Settlement,
where we are known to frequently visit. The crime was at once, in a burst
of frenzy, attributed to us, and the whole city got in a panic. For a day
and a half the danger was extreme. It was, however, happily averted,
as we then thought, by the action of the local officials, but, as I now
believe, by the party agitating against us not being prepared to attack.
Later on a Fuh-chow man was arrested at Nang-wa, and under torture
confessed that he was an accomplice to the crime. He said he was our
agent, but the Mandarin threatened him with punishment unless he with-
drew the statement. After that the people seemed to forget their idea of
our being at the bottom of it, but from then right on to our expulsion on
June 15th there were daily new stories — usually very circumstantial, but with
no definite evidence, of murders, kidnappings, giving chloroform hy the roadside
— circulated in all directions, in the villages and suburbs about Kien-ning. The
people seemed to be going mad, and when I reached Kien-ning on
June 13th I did not like their looks. The day I arrived, on one side of the
road from the West Gate of the city to Seven Stars Bridge, three men
stood with a, yellow paper flag stuck in the ground. One of them was
lamenting over his missing brother, and looking at what he said was a
man's eye. A crowd gathered, but, beyond exciting the people, nothing
came of it, as some children brought the thing into ridicule by breaking
up the supposed eye, and showing it was a piece of drift-wood from the
river.

It was thought desirable that the foreigners should leave the
district for a month or two, so that the people might quiet down ;

The Land of Tea and Timber. 119

accordingly the C.E.Z.M.S. ladies were summoned from the
country villages in which they resided to Seven Stars Bridge,
just outside the city, and arrangements were made for a hasty
flight should one become necessary. On Wednesday, June 14th,
the city was in a ferment, an accusation having been made
against five men of having attempted to murder a boy in one
of the villages ; and early the following morning, news having
arrived that an attack had been made on the mission property,
the retreat commenced. Dr. Eigg wrote : —

We reached Namg-wa about seven o'clock, and it was one of the joys
of my hfe to find that, ttie Zenana ladies had ariived there. We
broke up Nang-wa school, put the premises in oLarge of ttie authorities,
and, after a full morning, got off to Yen-ping, where I went to see the
Taotai. There we learnt that two lepers (one the catechist, himself a
leper) had been brutally murdered, and thrown into a well, the leper church
burnt, our city church entirely destroyed, and all burnt, and that the
fringe of the mob had followed the Prefect and two Hiens to Seven Stars
hospital, and in their presence, and in spite of the soldiers (at that tiniK
increased to thirty or forty, or more), looted the hospital and our ladies'
house. My house, being securely locked, was not touched, and the native
quarters, being full of soldiers, escaped the looters. Mr. Lu, a literary
man, who has been recently baptized, and who is the teacher of one of our
boys' day schools, was severely beaten, but was rescued by friends. The same
happened to Mr. Sie, Dr. Pakenham's teacher, who is a Christian of some
years' standing. Many others were threatened, and some dare not return
to the city. Some men, who- are not baptized Christians, were very brave
and helpful, at serious personal risk and loss of goods.

For some time a condition of unrest prevailed throughout
the district, but in July Ngoi Tek-Ling volunteered to re-
turn to the hospital at Seven Stars Bridge, and three months later
the Rev. W. C. "White paid a visit to the district, and baptized
twenty-one adults. Happily the authorities acted with prompti-
tude, as judged by the Chinese standard, in bringing the
murderers to trial, and after much discussion between the native
officials and the British Consul, a settlement was arrived at. To
quote from Dr. Eigg's Annual Letter for 1899: —

Full money compensation has been paid for all losses and expenses,
and our burnt church is to be rebuilt ; the -murderers are in prison in

120 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

Puh-chow ; the Kien-ning gentry have been compelled to sign a humilia-
ting agreement that in future they will not molest the Christian Church ;
a stone tablet on which the toleration clauses of the Tien-tsin Treaty are
inscribed is being prepared for erection in Kien-ning city; a proclama^
tion explaining the folly of the recent riots is being posted over all the
seven hsiens of the Kien-ning prefecture ; and last, and least in the Chinese
eyes, the orphan boy of the murdered man is to be provided for. The
Prefect has with great fairness lent us a large house in the city to use
until our own is rebuilt.

In process of time the undertaking to rebuild tlie ckurch. was
duly carried out, and tlie new edifice was opened in September,
1900. Services were beld on several successive nigbts, wbicb
were attended by five or six biindred men, wbo listened quietly
to tke Gospel. Tbe boys' boarding-school was re-opened in
that year, and a bouse witbin tbe walls was leased and used as
a bospital in tbe place of that at Seven Stars Bridge wbicb bad
been destroyed by some disastrous floods in tbe previous year.
Considerable friendliness was displayed by tbe civil and military
officials, and before long Mr. Phillips, commenting on the
favourable attitude of tbe people, said that such danger to the
Church as existed was rather of prestige than of riot or pillage,
for much imposition was attempted in tbe name of Christianity.
But he added , " here and there we see that tbe crust which bides
the volcano is not too thick, and that tbe heart of Chinia is not
yet really changed."

Chief among tbe out-stations of Kieni-ning is Nang-wa, a
market town on the bank of the river Min, about fifteen miles
below Kien-ning city and witbin tbe Kien-ning prefecture.
Work was commenced there in 1888 by two native medical
studenitsi from Fub-ning, who opened a dispensary, which
served greatly to disarm the hostility of tbe people. As already
stated, the Eevs. H. C. Knox and H. S. Phillips took up their
residence in the town in tbe year 1889 , and there they were after-
wards joined by Dr. John Rigg. The intention of Messrs. Knox
and Phillips was to penetrate further north-west in tbe direction
of tbe neighbouring province of Kiang-Si; ana during tbe winter
of 1889 they made a tour, visiting Kien-yang, Tsung-ngau,

The Land of Tea and Timber. 121

Sung-ki, and Ching-ho, all cities with a considerable popnlation,
and all centres of populous districts. Up to tke present the only
one of these cities to he occupied has been Kien-yang (see infra,
page 126).

The people soon thronged to take advantage of the skilled
medical treatment which was at their disposal, and in 1893
2,274 out-patients and 202 in-patients were received at the
hospital. The opium cases were fewer than in previous years,
a fact which Dr. Rigg could only account for by assuming that
the number of those wishing to be cured was getting exhausted
in the immediate neighbourhood. He remarked that he often
said to opium habitues, " Opium is a very good thing, is it not? "
but he never heard a Chinaman say, " Yes, it is."

Four lady missionaries of the C.E.Z.M.S., were appointed to
this district at the end of 1891, and when the Rev. J. S. Collins,
who was in charge of the district, came home on furlough and
Dr. Rigg took up his residence at Seven Stars Bridge, near
Kien-ning city, where the new hospital had been built, the
ladies were left alone at the station.

Mr. Collins returned to Nang-wa in March, 1897, but his
term of service was but short, for on Easter Tuesday, April
20th, he met his death by drowning. He was travelling by boat
down the river Min from Yen-ping, and about nine miles from
that city the boat struck a rock. Mr. Collins, on perceiving that
the boat was going to pieces, jumped into the river, and was
overpowered by a whirlpool while trying to swim to shore. His
body was found, and interred in the Fuh-chow Cemetery. Some
three hundred Native Christians attended his funeral. The
hymn, " Peace, perfect Peace " was sung in English, and " For
ever with the Lord" in Chinese.

A pathetic sequel to the drowning of Mr. Collins in the
Min, occurred a month or two later in the wreck of the
P. & 0. s.s. Aden, in which Mrs. Collins, with her two children,
and other missionaries, were passengers. The ill-fated ship
struck on a reef off the eastern coast of the Island of Socotra,
on June 9th, 1897. Mrs. Collins and Mrs. Smyth (wife of
Dr. Smyth, a C.M.S. medical missionary at Ningpo), with

122 FoK Christ in Fuh-Kien.

their children, and Mrs. CoUins's nurse, Margaret Hogan, left
the ship in a life-boat, with such of the other lady passengers
as elected to do so, in charge of two officers and a crew, on
June 10th, and the boat with its living freight was never heard
of again.

Mysterious indeed are God's ways. James Stratford Collins
survived fevers, and escaped riots, to die by drowning in the
familiar Min, on whose waters he had hundreds of times been
borne without a thought of danger. He was an ardent mission-
ary, of a bright and sunny nature; impulsive, it is true, but
generous to a degree, and full of kindness. A brass to the
memoiy of Mr. and Mrs. Collins has been put in Ardamine
Church, Co. Wexford, the native place of the latter, bearing
the appropriate text, " When thou passest through the waters I
will be with thee." A memorial to Mr. Collins, subscribed for
by old Reptonians, has also been erected in the Chapel of
Repton School, where he was educated, and a further fund,
raised by friends in Ireland, has been applied towards pur-
chasing some mission property in Kien-ning.

The Eev. and Mrs. W. C. White, of the Canadian Church
Missionai-y Society, originalljr located to Kieu-yang, were
afterwards appointed to Nang-wa, and resided there during the
greater part of the year 1898. Mr. White reported that five
families had put away their idols — one in lYang-wa itself, amd
the others in neighbouring hamlets. He thus described one of
the services for the destruction of these false gods : —

We roused all the men in the liamlet to come — about thirty in all —
and then in the flickering light of taJlow dips, sang hymns, and prayed.
The oatechist then gave a, short, earnest talk, after which the men called
for one of our number, Ha-CheLg, to speak to them. After this we took
down all the idols and idolatrous scrolls, the charms and shrines, idol prayer
hooks, and paper money, and piled all in the centre of tlie mnd floor.

The Heathen by this time had all gone out, some with frightened looks
upon their faces, feeling perhaps that something dire would be sure to
follow such sacrilege. The good man's wife too was in a, fearful state, for
she was not yet reconciled to putting away the idols. One idol in par-
ticular she wanted to keep — " It is so new and beautiful, and cost such a
lot ; could I not keep it for children to play with ? " But all had to go

The Land of Tea ajvd Timbek. 123

on the pile, and then, the fire being applied, we watched the smoke and
flames with a joyful heart, feeling that it was a real sacrifice unto God,
for it was no easy thing for the old man of sixty years to break off from
old associations and memories, and to stand alone for the cause of truth
and Christ'.

Since tke occupation, of Kien-ning the work of the Society
at Nang-wa has been on a smaller scale. A branch hospital is
maintained there, and four adults, the fruit of the labours of the
C.E.Z.M.S. ladies were baptized in 1902.

Among the other out-stations in the Kien-ning prefecture,
Ciong-bau calls for a word of mention. Several adults were
baptized there in 1894, one of them formerly a great gambler,
who gave up a number of gambling bills which he had received
in his heathen days. The C.E.Z.M.S. girls' boarding-school has
met with much success. The work at long-gi has also been
encoiiraging.

The city of Ye7i-2nng, or (as it is called in the Fuh-chow
dialect) long-ping, is situated some 150 miles north-west of Fuh-
chow, at the confluence of two rivers which, together, f o^rm the Min.
It is the capital of a prefecture bearing the same name, in which
are included seven hsiens. It was in March, 1868, that the first
attempt was made to occupy Yen-ping permanently, there being
then a catechist named Ngoi Hiong-Ing, who being better edu-
cated than his brethren, cotild speak the Mandarin dialect, which
is in common use in these large cities. With much difficulty a
house was obtained for use as a preaching chapel and for the
catechist's residence, and the literati resorted to every kind
of artifice, short of open assault, to stop the work. At length
they succeeded, though only by an accidental circumstance. One
of the great fires which have on so many occasions ravaged Yen-
ping broke out and destroyed over 100 houses and, among others,
that rented by the missionaries, the catechist only just escaping
with his life ; and then when search was made for new quarters,
no one was found bold enough to let to the missionaries. Several
years elapsed before another chapel was secured , and in 1875 the
house was pulled down under the auspices of the literati. In the
meantime God's promise that His AYord shall not return unto Him.

124 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

void had been fulfilled in one conversion. A man heard the Grospel
preached, and went away giving no sign that he had been im-
pressed. Having to go down to Fuh-chow in the way of trade,
he called on Mr. Mahood, who showed to him " the way of God
more perfectly," and gave him a Chinese Bible. The reading
of God's Word finished the work begun in the man's heart; he
openly renounced idols, avowed himself a Christian, and was
the means of bringing another whole family to embrace the
truth he had himself accepted. He afterwards joined the
American Episcopal Methodists.

No advance was made in Yen-ping for some years. The
chapels were closed, and the mission agents excluded until the
year 1882, when leave was given to re-occupy the station and
repair the long-damaged and deserted chapel. But little or no
lasting result appeared to come from the work in the city; and
at length, in the year 1894, partly because the American
Episcopal Methodists were labouring vigorously throughout the
district, and partly because of the difficulty of superintending
the work owing to there being no European missionary available
to take up his residence in Ten-ping, the out-station was closed.
It was re-opened, however, two years later, and a dispensary
established in charge of a native medical agent. But before
long, opposition of a most violent character once more manifested
itself. In the month of June, 1899, riots occurred in Kien-
ning, of which an account has already been given (page
119), and the disturbances spread to Yen-ping. The church
of the leper asylum outside the walls was burnt, the city
church destroyed, two lepers (one the catechist, himself a leper)
were brutally murdered and their bodies thrown into a well. A
striking illustration of faith and courage was exhibited
by an old man, formerly a school teacher. The mob had
gathered outside the hospital, which was carried on by N"goi,
and it seemed as though the building would soon be torn down.
At this juncture the doctor, catechist, and other workers prepared
to leave, and called to the old man to accompany them; but his
answer was: — "You are young men, while I am old and
useless; you must all go, but I shall remain here. I am not

The Land of Tea and Timber. 125

afraid, for tke hairs of my liead are all numbered, and my
Heavenly Father will protect me." His trust was not in vain,
for the mob passed by without doing any damage.

In the district outside Yen-ping lies Nang-sang, where a
notable incident occurred when Mr. Wolfe visited it in
1874. Great opposition was manifested, and no reasoning
would quiet the crowd. Two or three men from Fuh-chow
(not Christians) chanced to be present, and, stepping for-
ward, proceeded to address the people, telling them that
they knew the " Sing-sang " well, that he was a very respectable
man, and that his doctrines were well known at the capital, and
publicly preached in large buildings there. And this was not
the only service they rendered. A meeting was held in the
Ancestral Hall to organize opposition to the foreigners being
allowed to hire a house in the town and leave a resident catechist
there. The Fuh-chow men attended the meeting, and so
fully vindicated the motives of the missionaries that the tide
of public opinion was reversed, and a resolution was passed
that, the doctrine being good, residence be permitted. Meeting
Mr. Wolfe next morning as he was leaving the town, these
heathen allies remarked to him: — " How stupid and ignorant
these Nang-sang men must be not to have heard of Christianity
before, and when they did hear it, to put it away so unreason-
ably." Of such men we should be tempted to say that they were
" not far from the Kingdom of Grod," did we not know by sad
experience even in Christian lands what a gulf may separate
mere patronage of the Gospel from a personal acceptance of its
claims. At one time there were more than thirty adherents at
Nang-sang.

At two other places in the district, both of them large towns,
there was an extraordinary movement towards Christianity in
1899. Mr. White, who was then in charge of the work, wrote: —

About the year 1897, some business men of one of these towns, while
in Fuh-chow, heard the Gospel through C.M.S. workers, and later on
invited a Native Christian to go up and teach them. He went up on an
evangelistic tour, all his expenses being paid by those who invited him,
and the result was, that a number joined themselves together, and called

126 Foe Chuist in Fuh-Kien.

themselves C.M.S. Christians. They asked to he recognized as such,
hut as the town was within the district of the American Board, they
were told that the Church Missionary Society could not take up work
there, and were strongly urged to comiect themselves with that Mission.
This however they refused to do, and suhsequently sent a. deputation
to the Kion-ning Quarterly Meeting tO' request that tie work might b©
taken up by the Society. This, of course, was firmly declined. Altogether
182 men gave up their idols and enrolled themselves. There were 183,
but it was decided by the others that one, a B.A., because he was
addicted /to opium, should not be counted a worshipper, though he could
attend services if he wished.

Tke superinteading missioaaries at Kiea-ning and Naag-wa
liave been tlie Revs. J. S. Collins, W. C. Wiite, and H. S.
Pliillips.

(2) KlEN-YANG.

Kien-yang is one of the seven hsiens of tlie prefecture of
Kien-ning, and its capital city lies to the north of Kien-ning
•city, from which it is distant about forty miles. It was visited
in 1889 by the Revs. H. C. Knox and H. S. Phillips, and
afterwards, in the year 1891, Mr. Phillips took up his abode
there, living in a native inn while he sought for a house.
After soim© time he was able to secure one, but in consequence
of the tro'ublous state of afiairs at Kien-ning in the spring of
1892, he delayed bringing up his wife till the following
October. A settlement had been arrived at between the Consul
and the Chinese authorities, which led him to believe that he
might with safety proceed to Kien-yang. But evidently no
dependence was to be placed upon the assurances of Chinese
officials. The evil spirit shown so manifestly at Kien-ning, and
only temporarily laid to rest there, had apparently travelled to
Kien-yang, for within two days of the arrival of Mr. Phillips
and his wife, a violent attack was made upon them, and they
were obliged to abandon their house. The following is Mr.
Phillips's account of the matter: —

On _ October 6th I brought vip my wife to Kien-yang. The previous
•day an attack had been made on the Natives in the house, and my

The Land of Tea and Timber. 127

servant (" Beseech Grace"), and a plasterer (a Heathen), working forme,
were severely beaten. When we arrived, all seemed quiet again. I
informed the district magistrate of our arrival, and asked him to settle
matters. He took no steps to do so, save issuing an almost useless
proclamation, and sending a couple of runners across. On the 8th the first
thing in the morning, I heard that the two characters ' meaning " Drive
out the devil," were posted on the city gate. I sent across, and informed
the Yamen. About 9 a.m., I heard the Mandarin himself Was coming,
but ere he arrived I saw the first of over ten men carry two buckets
apiece of filth, this they proceeded to ladle out all over the place. My
wife, for the time, was comparatively safe in an inner room. She had
only just said " good-bye " to a, very friendly set of women who had come
to visit her. Directly I saw these men come in I knew at once a row was
imminent, and went to search for " Beseech Grace." While looking for
him one of the rioters doused me with manure. An inquirer, named
Chiu, urged me to run, and immediately several men cried, " Oh, you are
one of them," dragged him to the ground, and began to beat and kick
him ; I got in between, and as none of them seemed to have courage
to beat the foreigner, I was able to help the poor fellow up.

Now the magistrate arrived, and hesitated for a moment to come into
the house on account of the smell. When we got inside the man who
had previously ladled manure over me aimed a blow at my head with a
heavy stick. Providentially the magistrate caught his arm, and saved
the blow. I now joined my wife in the inner room ; she had just been
spending the time in committing all to our Father. Shortly afterwards
poor " Beseech Grace " joined us ; he had been disgracefully treated, and
was in an almost fainting and half-naked condition. He had gone out at
the hack, and was caught by these' ruffians, and shamefully beaten, and
forced to eat filth. Now the mob spied us through a window, and this
they at once made for : its wooden bars were immediately smashed up.
The Mandarin, with a few soldiers, then came and harangued the people
from the window, but he was men with shouts, threatening the Mandarin,
&c. We now hSard the house was on fire, and the Mandarin said our only
chance of escape was to accompany him to the Yamen, so we got out
through the window and, surrounded by a small squad of soldiers, started
for the Yamen, believing we were leaving all to the flames, but sure all
was being overruled by our Father. We heard later that almost all our
possessions were untouched and sealed securely, and that only the house
I had bought and was repairing had been burnt down. This was a next-
door house.

The next day, as to occupy the house was impossible, owing to the
filth, I agreed — on getting an assurance that our goods should be sealed,

128 PoE Cheist in Fuh-Kien.

and would not be opened till I came up Again — to go down to Nang-wa
for a while, and it seemed best to go down from that place to Fuh-chow
for consultation, especially as the Conference was getting near. Only
about twenty men took part in the riot, all were people of the suburb
in which we dwell, and almost all members of one family named Chian,
sons and grandsons. No city-people took any part. The crowd were
mostly spectators.

Mr. and Mrs. Phillips did not return to Kien-yang till the
spring of 1893, having spent the interval at Fuh-chow and Nang-
wa. They rejoiced to find a few inquirers who had met together
weekly for worship in their absence. Mr. Phillips entered into
negotiations with the local Mandarin for purchasing a house,
and after a long delay, at length succeeded in obtaining a resi-
dence just outside the North Gate. Mrs. Phillips, having
acquired very quickly a knowledge of the dialect, began work
amongst the women, and a dispensary opened by a native medical
student, trained by Dr. Eigg at Nang-wa, which had 1,504 new
patients in eight months, was useful in breaking down the
prejudices of the people. After a long struggle a foothold was
at last obtained for preaching the Gospel to the Kien-yang people.

But not long after this, death deprived Kien-yang of its first
lady missionary, and the Mission of a most gifted and saintly
worker. Mrs. Phillips, after a lingering illness, passed to her
eternal rest in November, 1894. As Miss Apperson, she first
worked as a C.E.Z.M.S. missionary at Fuh-chow. Afterwards
she joined the ladies of that Mission at Ku-cheng, and was
married to Mr. Phillips in April, 1892.

Several years elapsed before there were many tokens of
blessing, but on Easter Day, 1898, two baptisms took place, and
these were followed by another in the autumn. The following
year there was one more baptism, that of an old woman whose
story is of special interest as illustrating the moral struggles
through which so many converts pass, and the state of " twilight
Christianity " in which they often remain for a time before
coming into the full light and liberty of the Gospel. In this
part of the province there is a class of women given over to the
service of Buddha, and known as those who read the holy

The Laxd of Tea and Timber. 129

books. They wear a distinctive dress ; are strict vegetarians ;
of good repute; careful in their manner of life; and spend
their time in going from temple to temple reciting pr;9,yers.
Old Mrs. Ho for thirty years was one of these women. She
heard the truth from Mrs. Phillips (Mr. Phillips had married
again), and was convicted of sin. A real work was begun in her
heart, which was soon to be tested. She had received payment
in advance for prayers she was saying for some families. As
three months had been paid for, and paid for in kind, the old
woman was in a difficulty, for she was convinced that idolatry
was wrong, and yet realized that she was bound to fulfil her
service for these people. In the end she came one day to say
that her prayer-debts were all paid , that she had hurried them
over, and all the time in her heart prayed to God. Soon there
was a further test of her faith. These Buddhist chanters,
during their life, prepare a number of things in order to secure
their happiness in the other world. Mrs. Ho, like others, had
made her collection, and had entrusted them to a friend to keep
until her d^ath, when, according to custom, they would be burnt
over her coffin. She was reminded that Christ was now her all-
sufficient Saviour, but no pressure was put upon her to sacrifice
these passports to bliss. Two months afterguards she asked
ISfrs. Phillips whether she must give up all her chanting
paraphernalia, but little was said to her beyond the simple
statement that it would please the Lord Jesus. Mrs. Phillips
wrote in April, 1899 : —

One afternoon she called me downstairs, and to my delight I saw that
of her own accord she had brought her basket and all that it contained.
It was a very solemn time for us both ; she was then giving up what had
cost her a lifetime to make. How easy for me to take from her, but
what must it have meant for her ! The old brown fingers trembled as she
so carefully took out bundle after bundle of paper prayers, marked with
the red mark which is the proof that so many prayers have been said ;
packets of chop-sticks, bowls, spoons, all made in paper ; packets of
twisted paper, the cords to draw her soul from hell ; a large paper-made
ancestral tablet on which was written her life history, the date when she
was dedicated to the service of Buddha, &c., signed by her sous and
herself, and by other chanting women ; two passports which were to frank

I

130 For Christ ix Fuh-Kien.

her through the evil spiiit world (on these were written the names of
several devils, and permission to pass through their halls) ; a purse made
of calico, containing gold and silver money to be used in Hades ; numbers
of shoes of gold and silver, each representing so many dollars (these, she
sai'1, Were rnade with great labour) ; her rosary with a little image o£
Buddha, and two silver characters for Buddha and happiness ; four or
five smaller rosaries ; a paper representing a ship — this is surrounded by
hundreds of little circles^ each representing so many prayers, and therefore
so muoh money (the ship was supposed to bear her through Hades to the
happy land beyond) ; a very pretty pair of white and blue satin shoes
(real size) for her to wear after death. Among the paper things was a
large round of cardboard, and on it were fastened gold paper hair
ornaments, earrings, bracelets, &c. With all these was her idol calendar,
telling when and where she must worship certain idols. It was very
touching to see the old lady carefully take out these that had been most
precious treasures to her. She told me what they were, and slowly put
them back, and then looked up brightly, and said, " Xow I have Jesus,
that is enough, I do not want these any more." Then they were packed
up in her peculiar red basket (only used by such women), the wooden
box, to hold incense, was also there; and later on she brought me her
brown coat, grey skirt, and even her old black stick, and little wooden
box in which she used to take her rice to the temple. " I used all these
things in the service of Buddha, I must have nothing more to do with
them," she said, as she gave them to me .... She said two months
after, " I must tell you one true sentence ; since the day I gave you all
my things I have been so happy. I went back to my room, and knelt
down and thanked Jesus, and now I get more happy every day." Again
she said, " Yes, the neighbours say I am better-looking now, and I am ;
since I served Jesus, I have nothing to worry me, so my cheeks grow
fatter." She was baptized on Easter Day, taking the name of " Obtained
the Truth."

Another deeply interesting case whicli occurred at a pla^e
called Hu-lu-STiing was then described hy Mrs. Phillips: —

Looking across the village street, we saw there was a large, gaudily-
painted idol-temple. Every time we came up from Fuh-chow we had passed
that temple, but never knew before that there was a poor old priest living
there, dead in trespasses and sin truly, but with the possibility of life, and
now life and salvation were to be his. An earnest young bookseller had
often looked in and found the Buddhist priests repeating their prayers
and had tried to give them the message of salvation, but they had turned

The Land of Tea and Timber. 131

away, unwilling to listen. Two days before we arrived the bookseller had
been into the temple again. This time, he said, he felt the Lord gave him
a message of judgment. It was a " message," and the priest had to listen.
For two hours he listened, and then, trembling and crying like a child, again
and again asked, " Who then can save me ? who then can save me ? " I was
sitting talking to some of the women before our service began on Sunday
morning, when I heard sobs. In a little while I went into the central room ;
there were a number of men who had come for service ; but there was one
there who noticed no one, who oared not what any thought — a poor old
man, sixty-three years old, his head shaven clean, his old priestly robes
wrapped around him. There he stood, one who for twenty-four years had
been a priest of Buddha ; and how my heart rejoiced as I heard through
his sobs, " My sins aie so heavy, oh, who can save me? my sins are so
heavy, who can save me ? " Over and over again w© told him, and made
him read for himself what God has said. He went home for his meals, but
spent the day with us ; and at our evening service I saw a look of joy on
that old face, and I think he knew Who could forgive his sins.

The history of the occupation of Kien-yang is a typical illus-
tration of the way in which the Kingdom of Christ is set up
in China. What has been the story in most places in Fuh-Kien
now occupied by Christian missionaries ? First, the itinerating
Tisit, followed by an attempt to settle permanently; then, opposi-
tion, in many cases resulting in expulsion; re-entry and, finally,
permitted residence, followed in due course by baptisms and the
setting up of an infant Church. Such has been the history of
Kien-jj^ang. It took almost ten years to reach the last stage;
but the stage has been reached, and the foundations laid of a
living Church of Christ. We can have no doubt that through
God's prevailing grace the work will grow and extend, and that
in Kien-yang, as elsewhere, the strongholds of Satan will be
pulled down, and the Lord Jesus exalted in souls saved and
blessed-.

The superintending missionaries at Kien-yang have been the
Rev. H. S. Phillips and (for a few months) the Rev. W. C.
White.

I 2

chapter xii.

Self-Propagating Churches : The Story of
hok-chiang and hing-hwa.

'• Andrew . . . first fludeth his own brother. . . . And he brought him to
Jesus."— S«. Join i. 40-42.

"It is a very remarkable fact that the native converts, in every land where
Missions have been established, have within one generation, furnished on the
average five times as many evangelists, teachers and native helpers as the
original missionary force." — Dr. A. T. Pie.rson.

(i) HOK-CHIANG.

STuT OK-CHIANG, a hsien of the Fuh-chow prefecture, lies to
ill' "1. the south-east of Fuh-chow city, between a tributary of
the Min and the sea coast. The people are of a wild and
unruly character, and murderous clan fights frequently take
place among them. They are also very ignorant, and super-
stitious to the last degree. For the most part they are poor
and ill fed, living largely on the native sweet potato and
peanut, which are the chief products of the country; the land,
especially that near the sea, being too poor to grow rice. Mr.
Wolfe, in the early days ol his missionary career, travelled over
these parts as over others. But no attempt was made to gain a
footing there for the Mission ; and the numerous body of
Christians belonging to it were the fruits, direct or indirect, of
the American Methodist Episcopal Mission.

It is not clear what was the original cause of the desire of
these Hok-chiang Christians to be connected with the English
Mission. The desire, when expressed to the C.M.S. missionaries
at Fuh-chow, was for some time discouraged by them; and
although Mr. Mahood, when alone in the Mission in 1872,
visited the district in response to an appeal from some of the

The Story of Hok-chiang and Hing-hwa. 133

people, and taptized sixty persons, yet, on Mr. Wolfe's return
in th.e following year, the cateoliists> sent to them were with-
drawn, and the converts were counselled to accept the niiniatra-
tioois of the American Mission. This, however, they declined
to do; and for some years they were left to themselves. At
length, in 1878, their earmest appeals being continually renewed,
Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Lloyd visited them, to ascertain, if possible,
the reasons for their wishing to join the English Church; and
the result was that, with the acquiescence of the American
brethren, steps were taken for their recognition by the C.M.S.
Mission. On December 10th, 1878, at a meeting of the C.M.S.
missionaries, native clergy, and leading lay members, the
following resolutions were passed: —

(1) That in consequence of the peculiar circumstances of the case, and
the danger likely to arise of this large body of people, if left any longer
to themselves, without some supervision and teaching, becoming altogether
lost to Christianity, or else adopting the most crude and erroneous notions
of the Christian faith, this Mission accept the responsibility of taking
charge of them, and supply them with a few well qualified teachers, at
least for the present.

(2) That it is no spirit of interference with our brethren of the
Methodist Mission, but only, as it seems to us, the necessity of the case,
that induces this Mission to take up work among these people in the Hok-
ohiang district.

(3) That the members of this Mission wish to place on record and
express their appreciation of the earnest labours of their brethren of the
American Methodist Episcopal Mission, and earnestly desire that the spirit
of cordiality and true Christian friendship which has hitherto prevailed
between the two Missions in their work throughout the province, often in
the same towns and villages, may still prevail, and that these two Missions,
which have been so much blessed in the past by the same Lord, may con-
tinue to share together, in a tenfold degree, His gracious favour, until
there shall be no- more need in this province for either of them to say,
" Know the Lord," for all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest.

In his report for 1879, Mr. Stewart thus referred to the
matter : —

For five or six years before January 1879, when we agreed to take charge
of it,' the Church existed, and grew rapidly as an independent Church.

1-34 Foe Christ ix Ftth-Kien.

Though calling itself by our name, it yet had neither teachers nor help of
any kind from us. The people rented or built their own chapek, chose those
best fitted among them to act in turn as catechists and teachers, and,
meeting twice on every Sunday, read together the Proper Lessons for the
day and the English Prayer-book, and the blessing of God rested upon
them in the most ma/uifest way. However, a year ago, w© listened to their
earnest request for help, and sent them down six catechists, for the danger
of their falling into errors and heresies, if they continued without any
trained teachers, was very great.

In the Society's Annual Eeport for 1879-80, when this
statement was quoted, the Committee expressed very strongly
the " intense grief and humiliation " they would feel if the
sending these sis catechists led to the Hok-chiang Christians
doing less for themselves. The following year Mr. Stewart,
referring to this remark, stated that the result deprecated had
not come to pass ; that the Christians had not only subscribed
more than before to the general fund for the support of
catechists, but had also engaged an additional catechist on their
own account; besides which, they had raised money for the
purchase and repair of churches. There were throughout the
whole district about 700 adherents, of whom 315 had been
baptized.

During the next ten years, although the work in Hok-chiang
city did not afford much encouragement, that in the villages,
which is described in some detail later on, made great progress.
The 700 adherents of 1879 had become 2,672 in 1889, and in
the latter year 180 persons were baptized, of whom 114 were
adults. The spread of the truth was due to the fact that so
often those who came to the knowledge of Christ told others of
Him, and the voluntary efforts of the converts were well aided
by the excellent work of many of the catechists. One, who
laboured for a time at Hong-a, in his preaching tours adopted
the plan of cariying a banner, with a text inscribed, and in-
addition wore a sort of linen vest with the Ten Commandments
written in Chinese characters on the front, and the Seven
Beatitudes inscribed on the back. This at once discovered who
he was and the nature of his mission.

But this large number of Christians, however encouraging in

The Story or IIoK-ciiiAxci axd Hixu-hwa. 135

itself, was a source of constant difficulty and anxiety to the
missionary in charge. Notwithstanding every effort to keep
them out, unworthy people entered the Church, and defections
were sadly common. The work was also sorely tried by the
unscrupulous methods of the Eoman Catholics, who endeavoured,
and in some cases successfully, to draw away the converts. Arch-
deacon Wolfe, in his report for 1891, stated that by promising
to erect a church free of expense, to relax the observance of the
Sabbath, to free them from the support of their teachers, and to
assist them in their law-suits, the Roman Catholic agents
succeeded in drawing away a few at one place, and in inducing
several heathen families who were about to join the C.M.S.
Mission, to go over to the Roman Mission. Some of the
Christians, however, resisted the advances of the Romanists.
One at Ko-sang-che, to whom they came and offered a large
bribe if he and his family would join them, replied: — "Will
such things save my soul? I have learnt from the Bible that
Christ alone can save me ; what is all your money to me, if my
soul is not saved ? "

Another difficulty arose from the ignorance of the people,
and the hopelessness of attempting to teach them their own
written language. Many of the converts having embraced
Christianity long after middle age, and being for the most part
poor villagers, could not make much progress, even if they had the
leisure to learn, in reading or writing Chinese, and so Christian
instruction had for the most part to be conveyed by means of
viva voce teaching.

In Hok-chiang city considerable interest was manifested
towards the close of the eighties; the attendance at the services
exceeded the accommodation, though the majority of the con-
verts came from the surrounding villages. During 1889 three
very intelligent men were baptized. One of them was the
eldest son of one of the gentry, who offered no opposition
to his son and daughter-in-law embracing Christianity, though
he himself got no further than an admiration of its morality.
The old father was the head of the clan, the members of
which, to the number of 150, all relatives, lived in the same

136 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

house. On one occasion, when the family were getting
ready to go to the theatre, the old gentleman asked his eldest
son and daughter-in-law why they were not getting ready too,
and their little daughter answered, " Christians don't go to the
theatre; it is contrary to the Christian teaching. Father and
mother are Christians, and I am one too, and we won't go to
theatres any more." The grandfather exclaimed, " How is this ?
I have been exhorting my children for years to abstain from
theatre-going, but I could not influence them ; now this new
religion has had more power in a few days than all my
exhortations had for years ; truly this is wonderful ! this
must be good, and from a little child, too! Good, good,
very good," the old man murmured as he left the room.
The daughter-in-law was baptized in the following year,
although great efforts were made to prevent her joining the
Church, especially by her mother-in-law, who wrote to her
mother, begging her to use her influence to prevent the disgrace
of her daughter becoming a Christian. The answer which the
mother returned was to the following effect: — "I have heard
nothing but good of the Christian Church; my daughter
has explained it all to me; I see no disgrace in my
daughter and her husband joining the Christian) Church."
The daiighter showed one of the greatest evidences of
sincerity that a woman in her position could show by unbinding
her cramped feet and those of her little girl. Both afterwards
went to Fuh-chow, one to the Women's School and the other
to the Girls' Boarding-school, to be further instructed in the
faith.

In 1892, in consequence of the progress of the work, the
district of Hok-chiang was divided into two, with a native
ordained pastor over each division. Hok-chiang city was the
headquarters of the Rev. Lau Taik-Ong, who had the care of
eighteen congregations; while twenty congregations were placed
under the charge of the Rev. Yek Twang-Mi, who had his
headquarters at Ko-sang-che. All over the district there
Avere large ingatherings; churches were built and enlarged
at many of the stations; and 325 candidates, of whom seven-

The Story of Hok-chiang and Hing-hwa. 137

teea belonged to- one pastorate, that of Ting-cliong, were
confirnied by Bishop Burdon in 1892. At one village, wkere
for the previous twenty years efforts had been made in vain
to gain an entrance, tiirty families gave up their idols
and began to attend chiirch. In another village all except
three entered their names as Christians, and regularly attended
church. They destroyed their idols, and presented the small
temple, in which they once worshipped, to be repaired and turned
into a chapel of ease. The large idol, which was considered the
judge and protector of the village, and which sat on the dais in
this temple, was handed over to Archdeacon Wolfe, and by him
sent home to the Church Missionary House. The Archdeacon
wrote : — " These cases are only specimens of what is taking
place over the district, and about which I cannot now write
more pai-tioularly."

Thus there was much to encourage the workers; yet
persecution was never very far off, and the year 1893 saw a
renewal of trouble under the regime of a hostile mandarin
who, on assuming office, issued an invitation to the literati
of Hok-chiang city to send in essays on the theme "How
far Christianity is calculated to injure Confucianism; and
the best means of opposing its influence." At one or two
of the stations the Heathen came in large numbers and
plundered the Christians of their cattle and furniture, and
in one case they seized the eldest son of a Christian family
and kept him a prisoner, till Archdeacon Wolfe took measures
for his release. In the following year, trouble was made by
some of the gentry of Luang-puang , and several Christians were
so badly treated it was feared they would not recover. One
old man was beaten, his house pulled down, his cows driven
away, and his son carried oif and cruelly trea/ted. The father
died, and it was stated by some that he took his own life.
Persecution was also experienced in the villages of Tiang-
pieng, and Nang-sa-sang. The leading opponent, at the head
of some four thousand people, with flags and banners flying,
tore down eleven houses of the Christians, stealing their con-
tents, fired bullets through the door and windows of the church.

138 Foe Cueist ix Fuh-Kiex,

and took away the crops on wkicli the people depended for their
support. The magistrate took no steps to punish the offenders.

Nor was it the Heathen only. The Eomaruists seem to have
been specially violent in their opposition at this time. On one
occasion about 200 Romanists made an attack upon some Native
Christians at a place called Ka-tau. At Luang-puang some of
their agents forced themselves into the houses of C.M.S. con-
verts, and took down the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten
Commandments, and then sprinkled the house with " holy
water,'' and putting up an image of the Virgin and child, held
a sort of service. A Christian who remonstrated was severely
beaten.

The Hwa-sang massacre of 1895 was followed by a general
movement towards Christianity. By the end of that year some
2,000 or 3,000 persons had professed to join the Church. In one
large town, eight miles from Hok-chiang, 200 families joined
during jNfovember and December, notwithstanding the issue of
a proclamation of an unfavourable character by the local
magistrate, which resulted in a number of Christians being
plundered as well as personally illtreated.

The following year was marked by an important development
in the work amongst women. Previously the only European
lady at work in the district had been ]\Iiss M. E. Wolfe, who,
living at Fuh-chow, visited the various stations from time to
time. But in September, 1896, Miss Wolfe, with Miss K.
Andrews and Miss E. J. Harrison, took up their residence at
Ko-sanig-che, where a house had been built for them, and in
December Miss M. E. Barber and Miss F. E. Oatway went to
live at Keng-tau, the centre of the other division of the district.

Three years had to elapse before Hok-chiang city received
resident European missionaries, for it was not until 1899 that
Dr. Mabel Poulter, a qualified doctor, and Miss A. H. Leyboum
took up their abode there. Thej^ at once opened a dispensary,
which did much to gain the goodwill and confidence of the
people, and in the next year a hospital was built.

The medical work was soon on a considerable scale, and in
1903 over one-thousand in-patients were received, and the visits

The Story of Hok-chiang and Hing-hwa. 139

of out-patients exceeded sixteen thousand in number. Two
hospital patients were among the eight women, the iirst to be
baptized at the station, who were received into the visible
Church in September, 1902. Five men belonging to the Leper
Settlement, two miles from the city, were baptized in the same
year.

The whole of the district suffered severely during the years
1899 — 1902 from the ravages of the plague, and from other
troubles as well. First came a typhoon which wrecked many
of the churches ; then floods ; then a large tidal wave destroyed
the crops all along the coast. These disasters caused great
famine and distress, but, in spite of all, the contributions of the
Native Christians, of whom there were 2,500 at the close of
1903, materially increased.

Until November, 1902, Archdeacon Wolfe superintended
the Hok-chiang district from Fuh-chow, but in that month he
was relieved by the Kev. J. B. Carpenter, who had taken up his
residence in Hok-chiang city in March of the previous year.

Having thus traced the progress of the work in the district
in general and in the hsien city, we must notice what has been
done at the three other stations, i.e., places where European
missionaries or a native clergyman reside, and at some of the
out-stations.

It has already been mentioned that Ko-sang-che was
occupied by the Rev. Yek Twang-Mi in 1892, and by Miss
M. E. Wolfe, and others, four years later. The ladies at once
commenced work among the women, and Miss Andrews, by
her knowledge of dispensing, did much to gain a good name
for Christians and their doctrine, the converts testifying that the
Heathen treated them better now that the ladies had come to
live in the district, as they were convinced that the religion
could not be bad, " for the foreigners were so good and kind."
Similar testimony was borne in 1900. When the European
missionaries left the station some ill-disposed people proposed to
loot and destroy the mission buildings, but an influential man
in the town publicly announced that he would be surety for
these premises, and that any one who touched them would have

140 For Cheist in Ftth-Kien.

to reckon with him, " as the ladies' only aim was to benefit the
people and do them good." But the medical work did more than
disarm prejudice, for it was the means in one year of winning
five families, one being a large household containing twenty-
eight persons.

An important step was taken in 1899 by opening a women's
school. It began with eight pupils, who increased to sixteen when
the second temi came. These were all either baptized Christians
or inc]uirers of some standing ; and the general idea was that after
two years' instruction those who seemed likely to- make efficient
Bible-women should be sent on to Fuh-chow for further training,
while those who were not found altogether suitable for such
employment might be able, in their own villages, to teach in
girls' day schools, and thus influence the children, and, through
them, their parents.

Keng-tau was one of the principal centres in the early days
of work in the Hok-chiang district. In 1879 the Eev. E. W.
Stewart, who was then in charge of the district, stated that the
number attending service was about 160, which was really more
than the little church could acconuuodate , and that the
Christians were arranging to collect money to build a new
church on a site oifered by an aged Christian mian, who for
years had been the great supporter of the work there. Mr.
Stewart wrote as follows concerning this man: —

I asked him, while we were walking along the road together, what led
him first to be a Christian, and he told me that some ten years ago his
little girl, who had been taught at one of the American chapels, was lying
apparently on her death-bed. There was no one else then in the house
who believed but this little girl. She asked her father to bring her Bible
and Hymn Book, and read out to her ; he did so, and day after day read
in the New Testament the words of the Saviour she had learned to love.
As time went on, she got better, and finally recovered; and, when she did,
she told her father and mother they must keep on reading the Holy Book,
and believe in the Lord Jesus. He told me that they did as she asked
them, and that the mother believed, and then he did. There were then
only two or three Christians in the place, and when his friends heard that
he was about to join the Christians, they tried to dissuade him. " You
have always been in debt," they said, " and now, if you keep one day in

The Stoey of Hok-chiang and Hixu-iiava. 141

seven, you will be worse off than ever." He replied that he believed in
God, and must keep His commandments — even if he starved, he must do
so ; but that God could help him, if he obeyed Him. I asked him if God
had helped him, and how it had fared with him since. He replied,
" Teacher, before I believed I never ended the year without being in debt ;
but now, these ten years, I have never once been hard pressed for money ;
I have always had enough for my wants. God has been very good to me.
Even when the years have been bad, and all round have been suffering, I
have always had enough. God has taken care of me. Twice," he said,
" I began to get cold and forget God ; but He called me back each time in
a kind of vision or dream, in which I felt that the presence of God was
mysteriously near me." When he first joined, he had to give up his former
work, because of the difficulty of keeping the Sabbath ; but he soon got
other work to do, and though labouring hard from Monday morning till
Saturday night, he had never failed all these years, though surrounded by
Heathenism, to keep the Sabbath holy.

By tlie end of 1883 tliere were between 200 ajid 300 adherents.
Some, however, endured but for a while. In 1885 Mr. Wolfe,
the missionary then in charge, had to lament the relapse iriito
Heathenism of several families, and had the mortification of
seeing some of them openly Eind publicly take part in gross
idolatrous worship in the town. The catechist, though a good
man, was not quite equal to the position, and a new man
was appointed, who by his zeal and energy was the means
of infusing new life into the entire pastorate, which then
consisted of six villages, in which were Christian congregations.
In one of these (Tiang-pieng) the number of catechumens had
increased from three to seventy, and they had subscribed in
money and labour over $200 towards erecting a place of worship
for themselves.

Soon after the arrival of the ladies in 1896, a station class
for women and a girls' boarding-school were commenced, the
latter having thirty pupils in 1903, in many of wnom a gratify-
ing improvement was noticeable. By degrees the rudeness
which at first characterized the people was exchanged for kind-
ness and friendliness; the missionaries were constantly invited
to go to the homes of the Natives, and no less than forty
families gave up their idols. In many cases, no doubt, the

142 For Cheist in Fuh-Kien.

motives were mixed; but at all events tlie people had put them-
selves in the way of receiving the Grospel. Another enicouraging
sign was the willingness of many of the women to unbind their
feet.

In the villages open doors were discovered on every hand,
and some interesting converts were won. The case of orbC' woman
was thus described by Miss Oatway: —

When returning from my last itinerating trip I passed a heathen village
about four miles from home. As I passed by, a woman came out from n,
house and walked up to me. Her face was very white and troubled. Sh-t
said she wanted to worship God, and asked me to go to her house and teach
her about God. I went. She was most eager to learn ; in fact, was intensely
in earnest. She said for seven years the devil had tormented her, till she was
driven to despair of ever knowing peace. She spent all her money and her
strength in worshipping the idols and the devils, in order that the devil might
be cast out, for she said she was possessed of the devil ; but she only grew
more wretched. Finding all this was of no avail, she oa't the idols away,
but still found no peace; then, hearing that reading Confucian books could give
peace, she got these and read them night and day, but only grew worse, and,
finding these books could not bring peace, she threw them away too, and
despair settled upon her. At this time some one said to her that if people
joined the Church they had heard that God would give them peace. So
from that time she wished to hear about God, and said to her neighbours,
" If you at any time see the foreign missionary lady pass this way let me
know, a/ud I will go and speak to her." So as I passed by that afternoon
they told her, and she came out to see me. She received every word I told
her, and has become an earnest Christian. She is a wonder to all who know
her, for she is now so bright and happy and goes about telling her relations
and every one what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for her, and they can
see she is quite changed. The peace she sought so long she found in
Christ.

Of course there were discouragements. Many Christians of
old standing became indifferent, and some actually returned to
idolatry. The Heathen, too, appeared self-satisfied, and illus-
trations of their cruelties often occurred to grieve the heairts of
the workers. But solid progress was made ini spite of all.

The fourth station is Tang-tmi, on the island of Hai-tan,
where Miss E. J. Harrison went to- live in the autumn of 1902.
A catechist had been stationed there many years before, but had

The Story of Hok-ciiiaxg a.\d Hix(i-HWA. 143

been withdrawn , and the story of the resumption of the work is
worthy of record. At the beginning of 1896 a deputation con-
sisting of two heathen men waited on Archdeacon Wolfe at
Puh-chow, pressing him to re-open the out-station. The Arch-
deacon could not promise to comply with this request, but he
-resolved to take an early opportunity of visiting the island. He
tried to do so in March, when he was in Hok-chiang, but the
weather was too rough, and no boat would venture. However,
he instructed the Rev. Yek Twang-Mi and a catechist and
colporteur to go. They spent several days on the island, and
brought back the news that 1,200 families had given their names
as inquirers, and that they had rented, repaired, a.nd furnished
two large Chinese houses to serve as churches. Thereupon a
catechist was sent from Hok-chiang to take up his abode on
the island, which is fifty English miles long, and from twenty
to thirty broad. In May the Archdeacon succeeded in visiting
it, and proceeded to the chief town. Pang-tang. On the way he
was accosted by one of the old converts, left on the island when
the catechist was withdrawn. The Archdeacon wrote of their
meeting : —

The dear old man went almost frantic with delight, and literally hugged
me round the waist, and would not let me go till lie brought me to his
house in the village close hy, and got tea and other refreshments for me.
He was loud in praising God for having once more brought me to the
island. He then told me there were five others who had held on to their
faith, and brought out his Prayer-book and Hymn Book to show me. Ho
had also a New Testament, though he had scarcely learning enough to
make much use of it.

The Archdeacon's visit was quite unexpected. He found in
Pang-tang a large house fitted up as a place of worship, and
two rooms for a catechist; and on the evening of the day of
his arrival an audience of nearly 100 men gathered together
for worship and exhortation, which continued till nearly mid-
night. The next day a book, containing the names of 1,400
families who had professed themselves Christians, in the town
and adjacent villages, was brought to him. Several villages
were visited, and at Ngak-yeu-pwo, where some 200 families

144 Foe Christ ix Fuh-Kien.

had given up idolatry, a large house, once the pawnshop of the
village, had been rented and fitted for public worship and a
catechist's residence. In two other villages houses had been
prepared in the same way; and the Archdeacon was told that
on a small island off the larger one, some 100 families, out of
a total of 800, had prepared a house for a ca/techist, and that
from yet another island of 700 families a request had been sent
for a resident teadher. For all these openings the Archdeacon
could only spare two catechists, and they were taken with much
pain and many misgivings from important congregations in
Hok-chiang.

The work among the men was diligently carried on by the
catechists , but it was difficult f oi' them to reach the wo'men, and
at one place which Miss Harrison visited in 1899 she found a
church roll containing the names of forty men, but not one
woman. On another island there were no women among the
few inquirers, Miss Harrison being told that, whife they were
willing to> let their husbands and sons go to' church, they thought
that one out of each family was enough. This was in accord-
ance with their heathen idea of vicarious worship of the gods,
for it is customary for the father or eldest son to go to the temple
and perform the prescribed rites on behalf of the whole family.

The island was sorely afflicted in 1902 by both plague aind
droiught, and several of the Heathen in the extremity of their
distress sold their wives and children. In the midst of these
trials the Christians were closely watched and efforts were made
to entice them back to the idols, but the majority of them stood
firm, and ten new converts were baptized during the year.

The story of Keng-Mang is a story of severe persecution, and
of the Christian, fortitude of the cateohist, Ting-Ing-Soi. In
1879 the following account of a severe persecution was
received : —

At this place there has been very severe persecution this year. The
catechist, Ting Ing-Soi, has, poor fellow, been called to suffer very severely
for the truth. The work had been greatly blessed, and the Christiana had
just built a beautiful chapel and catechist's house, the value altogether
amounting to about $1,100. Just as the work seemed thriving and extending,

The Story of Hok-chiang and Hing-iiwa. 145

Satan endeavoured to interrupt it. First of all, a Christian's field at a
neighbouring village, called Ngiang-tau, was taken from him by the
Heathen ; then the other poor Christians of the place, altogether seven
families, had their things stolen from them at night — potatoes, pea-nuts,
and other produce of their fields. When the thieves were caught, the
Heathen would not allow them to be brought to the Mandarin. This
went on for some time, but the enemy was not satisfied. Next n pro-
clamation was put on the walls by the leading men of the place, for-
bidding the people to give the Christians rice, or water, or to have any
communication whatever with them.

The same day our poor cateohist. Ting Ing-Soi, passing through the
village, was set upon by an immense crowd, instigated by these chief men,
was terribly beaten, and then dragged off, no one knew where, and
shut up in some place. He was stripped of his clothes, though at
the coldest season of the year; and, had he not been liberated next day
by some runners of the Mandarins, he probably would have died. As it
is, he has been seriously ill ever since, and was obliged to come up to the
hospital in Fuh-chow to be healed of his wounds. His bravery all
through was something remarkable. He told me he never once felt the
slightest fear. Even when he saw a knife in their hands, and believed
they were going to carry out their threats, and kill him, he boldly told
them they could not kill his soul, and that if it were God's will that he should
die, he was only too ready, and rejoiced to go ; and since his liberation
he has utterly refused to have any notice taken of his own sufferings. I
have been throDgh the village with him since the attack upon him, and even
into the miserable opium den where he was imprisoned. Its wretched
inmates made no concealment about the matter; they all knew they had
nothing to fear ; he was only a Christian, and the Mandarins did not
punish them for hurting a Christian. The men of the seven families have
had to flee for their lives, and though it is now some five months ago, they
have not been able to return. All their season's crops have been put up
to public auction, and three of their cows sacrificed to the idols in honour
of the defeat of the Christians. The poor fellows are wandering about
the country seeking shelter among their fellow Christians, who, indeed,
have behaved with great liberality towards them, providing them with
food and clothes so far as their small means would allow.

The little house we have been using there as a, chapel in wet weather,
Tfhen it was difficult to get over to Keng-kiang, was on that day entirely
wrecked — books, furniture, everything taken out into the street, and
burned. I went into the place myself. There is nothing left but the bare
walls ; even the doors are gone. So far all our applications for redress

K

146 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

have been of no avail ; it is, indeed, wonderful that, with such risks, any
should be willing to join the doctrine. There is at Keng-kiang a congre-
gation on Sundays of above 100. May God in His mercy at this time bless
and comfort them in their sore distress!

Ting Ing-Soi never recovered from the effects of this ill-
treatment. He grew weaker and weaker, and died just as the year
1880 was closing. Mr. Stewart often visited him on his death-
bed in the f oreigni hospital ; and his one sorrow was that he had
done so little for the One Who had suffered so much for him.
He used often to talk of the joy of going to heaven, and
one day when the end was fast approaching, he said, " It is not
death; living is death; dying is life."

Great progress was made in the Keng-kiang district during
the year 1888, especially at Ngiang-tau. Whereas three years
before there were only two weak Christians in this village, then
there were forty, and in addition there were Christians from
sixteen neighbouring villages attending the services. About
£22 was contributed towards the erection of a place of worship,
besides the free gift of a site.

In the year 1884 a large number of people belonging to the
village of A-hai became inqiiirers, and at one time it seemed as
if the whole population were about to join the Church. A
general destruction of idols took place, and many sent messages
to their friends at a distance, exhorting them to believe in God.
A teacher was asked for, but no catechist could then be spared,
and many went back to their idols. But about 200 remained
true.

(2) HlNG-HWA.

The prefecture of Hing-hwa lies to the south-west of Hok-
chiang, and comprises two hsiens, viz., Puo-tien, which contains
the prefectural city (Hing-hwa) and Sieng-iu, whose chief city
(also called Sieng-iu) is about twenty-five miles S.W. of Hing-
hwa city.

The work in this district was initiated by a catechist, Sang-
Au, who was appointed by the Eev. G. Smith in 1862, at

The Story of Hok-chiang and Hing-hwa. 147

wkich time he was the only catechist in the Fuh-Kien province
connected with the Church Missionary Society. Twenty years
later an appeal was made to the Home Committee to set apart
two missionaries to work in the district, which was found too
remote to be properly superintended hy members of the staff at
Fuh-cliow, but the Committee were unable to comply with the
request, as the forces in other parts of the province required
strengthening. In 1887 it was resolved to withdraw the Chinese
agents also, since other Missions had stations nearer to the
district than had the C.M.S., and steps were taken to carry the
resolution into effect. Mr. Stewart writing to the Committee
in that year related the touching sequel: —

With tears in our eyes, for we felt somewhat like shepherds deserting
their sheep, we made known to the converts our determination, and even
went so far as to make preparations for the removal of our cateohists ,• but
the converts followed the men, brought back their luggage, and compelled
them to return with them, promising themselves to provide their entire
salaries if we would only allow the men to remain. This we have agreed
to do for the present, trusting we shall have the Society's sanction for it ;
and I feel sure your hearts will be filled with gratitude, as ours are, that
there is so much vital Christianity in that densely populated district.
When men agree to support their own cateohists from their own pockets,
especially when those men are Chinamen, onei may be pretty sure there
is something real in their profession.

For a time the Committee adhered to their determination to
withdraw their agents from Hing-hwa, but they ultimately
yielded to the earnest and repeated solicitations of the converts.
In March, 1889, the catechist at Hing-hwa, Ting Chung-Seng,
who had succeeded Sang-Au, was ordained by Bishop Burdon.
This man, like some other converts in Fuh-Kien, bore in his
body " the marks of the Lord Jesus." He was a Native of Ning-
taik, and when he began to attend the services there he was
beaten by his elder brother. A large indented scar on his leg
remained as the result of that beating, but Chung-Seng had the
satisfaction of knowing that this same brother died a rejoicing
Christian.

At the end of 1889 there were 404 baptized adults connected
with the whole Hing-hwa district. Two years later, when

K 2

148 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

Bishop Burdon visited tke district, he confirmed twenty-two
candidates in Hing-hwa city, besides seventy-eight at the
out-stations; and in the following year Mr. Lloyd reported
seventy baptisms, some of the converts being the direct result
of the day schools, which had been established in some of the
villages. By this time the work had grown enormously,
and the difficulty of efficiently superintending it from Fuh-chow,
where a different dialect was spoken, was so great, that, in the
year 1893 , the Parent Committee appointed the Eev. C. Shaw to
reside at Hing-hwa. He and his wife, with their three children,
went there in the autumn of that year, and set to work to learn
the new dialect. Their teacher and his wife were among the
first to be baptized after their arrival. The man had been an
opium-smoker, but had given up the habit; but the reformation
was only temporary. The old habit returned, and whem he was
put under discipline for giving way to it, he joined the Roman
Catholic Mission, which received him with open arms, although
they knew that he had been a member of the English Mission,
and also were aware of his special weakness.

iS^otwithstanding the absence of the European missionaries
from the district during the latter half of 1895, consequent
upon the Hwa-sang ni'assacre, Grod gave manifest tokens of
blessing. The attendance at the church in Hing-hwa city rose
to as many as 400, and to meet this growing congregation,
the place of worship had to be changed four times in three
years. A new church, accommodating between 500 and 600, was
built upon the site of an Ancestral Hall, which was purchased
for the purpose, and also a college with class-rooms for fourteen
resident students. The latter was used for training catechists,
a work which was rendered necessary by the difference between
the dialects of Hing-hwa and Fuh-chow. In addition. Dr. B.
Van S. Taylor, who had been ti-ansf erred from Fuh-ning,
erected not only a hospital, capable of accommodating ninety-two
men and twenty-eight women, but also a college for medical
students, and a mission-house for himself and family. So o-reat
was the progress that during the five years 1893-98 no less than
400 persons were baptized, most of them being adults.

The Story of Hok-chiang and Hing-hwa. 149

Hing-hwa was tJie only inland station of the Fuh-Kien
Mission wliich kad resident European missionarieis tkroughont
tke troublous year 1900. The ladies had tO' be taken to Fuli-
cbow, biit Dr. A. T. Sampson and the Rev. S. J. Nightingale
were permitted by the Consul to remain, and were kept in safety,
although at one time there seemed to be a likelihood of disturb-
ance. All branches of t!h.e work have been maintained and even
developed, and baptisms have taken place in connexion with
most of them. One of the recent converts, Mr. lah Cu-Ga, a
litei^ary man, had not come into contact with foreigners until he
was engaged as Dr. Sampson's language teacher. The latter
said of him: —

During those first few months with me it was a struggle for him between
Jesus Christ and Confucianism with its concomitant of ancestor-worship.
Every step he contested, but his heart had been touched before his head was
convinced, and was on the side o£ Jesus Christ almost from the beginning.
I did not urge him at all to apply for baptism. It should come from himself
if he had really come to believe from his heart. At the time of the autumnal
sacrifices to ancestors he did not go home for them, but remained teaching
me until they were over. At the beginning of this year Mr. Nightingale
examined and baptized him. By reason of his literary degree he is one of
the head-men of his village, and in previous years it had been the custom to
bring the village idol to his house. This year he refused to receive it.
Shortly afterwards disease broke out amongst the cows and pigs in his
village, and this was attributed by the villagers to the wrath of the insulted
idol, and Mr. lah has had to suffer in many petty ways. He has also been
" cut " by many of his old friends, and is regarded as a heretic by the other
Confucian scholars in the city.

Of another, Miss A. F. Forge wrote in 1902: —
About two years ago she was brought to the hospital by a former patient.
I think I shall never forget the look of utter misery on the poor creature's
face ; she told a pitiful tale of pain and suffering. I will not go into details
as to her condition; you can imagine what she was like if I just tell you
that for eight years she had not left her bed, and that during that time light
and water had been carefully avoided, She had spent much money on native
doctors, and from time to time at great inconvenience to herself had been
carried from place to place to visit idol-temples ; but all was of no avail, so
at last she gave up in despair, yet frequently paid out money, vainly hoping
that the idols would be more merciful to her in the spirit-world ; then, when

150 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

nearly all her fortune was gone, for she was not poor (her husband, who had
died some years before, had left her with two children fairly well-to-do), she
was persuaded by the woman before mentioned to come to the hospital, was
admitted as a patient, and in about two months we began to see signs of
healing. She remained with us just over three mouths, then went back to
her home with changed heart and body, walking to her village, a distance of
six miles. This caused no little sensation amongst her neighbours, for she
had not been able to walk or even stand for so long a time. Several from
this village now come to church. Two other women seeing her wonderful
cure, came to the hospital for treatmeut ; all three asked for baptism.

Tke Eevs. C. Skaw and S. J. Nigiktingale liave been th.e
superintending missionaries at Hing-kwa.

Sieng-iu is tke okief city of tke second of tke two hsiens
wkick compose tke Hing-kwa prefecture. Tke first Europeans
to occupy it were tke Misses Lloyd and Witkerky of tke
C.E.Z.M.S. wko went tkere in tke first kalf of tke nineties.
Skortly after tke Hwa-sang massacre serious trouble broke out.
A raid was made upon tke kouse of tke Eev. Ting Ckung-Seng,
tke native pastor, and som.e of kis belonginigs were stolen. Tke
ckurck also Was injured in many ways, and tke opponents went
so far as to speak of killing Mr. Ting. Tke latter removed kis
family to Hing-kwa, but k© kimself remained faitkfuUy at kis
post. About a montk later Mr. Skaw keard of anotker plot to
take Mr. Ting's life, and sent and begged kim to come away,
but ke replied, " I will take all tke care I can, but I cannot
leave tke people."

Witk so devoted a pastor considerable progress was soon
made, and by 1901, in wkick year tke Eev. S. J. Nigktingale
went to reside at Sieng-iu, tke first European missionary of tke
G.M.S. to do so, tkere were twenty centres in tke hsien in wkick
services were keld regularly. In tke following year tke Man-
darin and tke literati proposed a keavy tax on tke pretest of
finding tke money required for tke payment of tke indemnity
wkick kad been imposed on Ckina by tke foreign Powers. Tkis
was regarded as ruinous to trade, and tke skops were skut and
rioting ensued. Happily none of tke missionaries suffered, but
tke skops of several of tke Xative Ckristians were burned. Tke
spirit in wkick tkey bore tkese afflictions was indicated by a

The Story of Hok-chiaxg axd Hi.\g-hwa. 151

letter which, they sent to a native congregation in Jerusalem
which supported two Tillage schools in the district. The follow-
ing is an extract: —

Only recently we heard from our clergyman that the brethren in Jerusa-
lem are always in a state of persecution, just as the Apostle Paul of old and
our ancient Chinese worthies were. The doctrine then was high and noble,
but outsiders came and used blaspheming words about it. Brethren, the
Scripture says, " Fear not him who can only kill the body, but cannot kill
the soul," therefore we are not anxious about the saints. Brethren, you
suffer persecution ; verily that is happiness. We hrpe you will faithfully
observe the truth. At this time we together suffer with the Lord. Certainly
afterwards together we shall be glorified. The Scripture says this, and it
must be true.

A few words must suffice for the out-stations in the Hing-
hwa prefecture. Dang-seng (called Taeng--ting in previous
editions of this history), nine miles to the north of Hing-
hwa, was early occupied, and by 1888 possessed a little band of
twelve Christians, all very' earnest, one of them especially giving
nearly all his time to visiting and other efforts to spread the
truth. The earnest labours of two missionaries of the
C.E.Z.M.S. in after years stimulated the zeal of the catechist
and Native Christians, and in 1896 there was a congregation
numbering three hundred souls. Sixteen persons were baptized
at Dang-seng in February, 1902.

At Co-haxi the grace of giving has been displayed by the
catechumens in a remarkable way. Although only eleven in
number and all very poor, nevertheless, in 1887, they subscribed
thirty-five dollars for the repair of the house used for divine
worship, and in 1888 they raised a like amount towards the
support of the oatechist; besides providinig him with rice. The
schoolmaster, in particular, gave the whole of his stipend to-
wards the cost of maintaining the catechist, and had in con-
sequence to sell his only field; and some of the others were
obliged to pawn their clothes to make up the sum promised.

At Kieng-sang, the most southern station, Mr. Lloyd baptized
thirteen men in 1888, three of whom had been led to Christ by
a poor illiterate wood-g-atherer, who, during his visits to their

152 For Christ in Fih-Kiex.

solitary houses amongst the hills, had told them of the Saviour
Whom he had found.

At the end of 1903 there were G26 converts in the Hing-
hwa district, and about the same number in that around
Sieng-iu, and 180 adults were baptized in the two districts
during the year mentioned. The majority of the converts are
of the farming class, and illiterate, having been taught viva voce
what they know of the Gospel. They are of an impulsive nature,
easily influenced, whether for good or evil, and, as elsewhere,
while there is much to thank God for, there is also much in
this ISTative Church to call forth the sympathy and earnest
prayers of people at home.

The history of the work in this district suggests one or two
special remarks : —

(1) The work, begun there by one of the early C.M.S.
catechists, has been largely self-developing, the converts them-
selves spreading the light, with little or no guidance from any
European missionary during the earlier years of its history.

(2) It affords an illustration of the practical difficulties which
confront the missionary in the field, arising out of what is
known as "the Comity of Missions.' Here were a number of
converts who had received the Gospel through C.M.S. agents.
The field being already occupied by other societies of a
different communion, the Comity of ilissions would require
the Church Missionary Society to abandon it. The peculiar
circumstanices of the case, however, and especially the fact
that the converts were unwilling to place themselves under
the care of any other Mission, justified an exception to this rule.

(3) The Hing-hwa Church supplies an interesting example
of self-support. One of the conditions upon which the Committee
acquiesced in the work being superintended by their missionaries
was, that the Native Christians should be entirely responsible
for the pay of their catechists and teachers; the Committee
limiting their help to a grant for the salary of the native clergy-
man. This stipulation has been faithfully carried out from
the beginning though, no doubt, the day schools, as well as some
of the work carried on by the C.E.Z.M.S. ladies, receive the help
of " foreign " money privately contributed.

chaptee xiii.

The Ministry of Women ; or, Women Workers
IN THE Field.

" The Lord givetli the word : the women that publish the tidings are a great
host."— Psalm Ixviii. 1 1. (R.V.)

" Work nobly, sisters, work !
Bright gems all hidden lie ;
The Master shed His blood

Those gems to buy." — E. Zakshiiu Gureh.

J HE ministry of woman has become in the present day an
important factor in Church organization at home. Her
services are eyen more important in the foreign field, and
no history of the Fuh-Kien Mission would be complete without
some separate account of the work of the noble band of women
whose earnest and devoted labours have contributed in no small
degree to the progress of the Gospel in that province.

Up to the year 1875 the only work amongst women and girls
was that carried on by Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Wolfe, and Mrs.
Mahood, the wives of C.M.S. missionaries, and of necessity it
was on a small scale. In the year just mentioned the Society
for Promoting Female Educatioai in the East undertook the
work of the Grirls' School at Euh-chow, whict it carried on to
the close of its existence in 1899, wheni the missionaries of th.e
F.E.S. joined the C.M.S. , and continued the work as before.

Eight years later, in 1883, the Church of Englajid Zenana
Missionary Society, whose operations till then had been con-
fined to India, was led to begini a China Mission by the repre-
sentations of Miss Foster, of the F.E.S. , regarding the openings
for work among Chinese ladies of position. For this purpose,
the C.M.S. transferred to that Society the daughter of the Rev.
F. F. Gough, of Ningpo, who was at che time studying in

154 For Christ ix Fuh-Kien.

England with, a view to educational work under tke C.M.S.
Miss Grough. accordinigly proceeded to China as tke first Zenana
Missionary (if an Indian word may be applied to Ckina). Sub-
sequently sbe was married to the Rev. J. C. Hoare, of Ningpo,
now Bishop of Victoria, but ber place in Fuh-Kien was more
than filled by a number of Irisb ladies wbo were led to offer by
the influence of tke Rev. and Mrs. R. W. Stewart. Tke first
two, Miss I. and Miss H. Kewoombe, went out in 1886, and
kave since been followed by other workers from England and
Australia.

In 1887 the Churck Missionary Society began to add un-
married lady workers to its staff in this Mission. Miss Emma
Groldie was tke first to go out, and ske was joined by Miss M. D.
Boileau in 1889. Tke Society continued to send out workers,
and in June, 1904, kad forty-two lady missionaries on its staff
in Fuk-Kien, in addition to tke wives of missionaries.

All women's work, wketker carried on by C.M.S. or
C.E.Z.M.S. missionaries, is directed locally by a Ladies' Con-
ference, keld annually in Fuk-ckow, wkick gives unity and, as
far as possible, uniformity to tke work. Tke nature of tk© work
done by tke ladies of tke two Societies is practically tke same,
and it is all under tke supervision of tk© C.M.S. missionaries in
ckarge of tke respective districts in wkick tkey are appointed to
labour.

It is proposed in tke present ckapter to give a brief sketck
of women's work in tke field, witk some account of tke particular
sckools or stations wkere it is carried on. Tke work may be
described under five beads: — (1) Training of Bible-women;
(2) station classes; (3) girls' boarding-sckools ; (4) kouse-to-kouse
visiting; (5) itinerating in tke villages.

(1) Bible-women's Trainhstg Schools.

In tke later sixties and early sevenities Mrs. Wolfe, tke wife
of Arckdeaoon Wolfe, gatkered togetker a few baptized women
and taugkt tkem, and tkese became Bible-women, or tke wives
of catecliists. Tkis branck of tke work was afterwards carried

The Ministry or Women. 155

on. by Miss Houston, of tke F.E.S., who arrived in 1875, and
took charge of the girls' sdhool as well, but it was not fully
developed until, with the adventt of more missionaries, it was
possible to set one lady apart for this special work.

In 1878 Mrs. Stewart, with the help of the senior Bible-
woman, Mrs. Ling, or Chitnio (the name by which she is better
known), gave much care and attention to teaching the wives of
the catechists, and of the students who were at the Theological
College. These, with a few other baptized women, considered
suitable for training, lived in a native house inside the mission
compound. Later on, a building was erected for a Bible-women's
training school, out of which for more than twenty years past, a
large nximber of earnest native helpers have been sent forth, who ,
either as the wives of catechists or schoolmasters, or as Bible-
women, have been teaching and living the Grospel of Jesus
Christ am^ong their heathen sisters. A striking testimony was
once given to a Bible-woman's life and work. A missionary
was speaking of the power of Christ to save and keep from sin
those who trust in Him; and a woman in the crowd said, " Yes,
we believe that is true; the church-mother [Bible-woman] lives
thus."

The education given to these women consists mainly of
instruction in the Bible, and in later years they have been taught
how to teach. The course of instruction extends over two years,
at the end of which time, if found efficient, they are employed to
work among the women of the villages under the direction of a
lady missionary. The cost of supporting one of these women,
while being trained, and afterwards as a Bible-woman, is about
£6 a year.

The training of women agents brought about considerable
advance in the Mission. Previously, in some places, owing to
the lack of women workers, there were only men in the con-
gregations, for Chinese etiquette miade it difficult for women
and girls to go where there were no responsible women teachers.

For some years the Fuh-chow Bible-women's training school
was the only one in the Mission, but as the work grew it waa
found necessary to establish similar institutions in the various

156 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

districts, and in 1903 schools were to- be found at Lo-ngwong,
Ning-taik, Ku-cheng, Ciong-bau (Kien-ning), Hok-eliiang, and
Dang-seng (in tiie Hing-hwa district).

(2) Station Classes.

These classes are for Christian women who need further
instruction, and also for female inquirers. A third class is
sometimes admitted, that of women whose husbands being
desirous of becoming Christians are anxious that their wives also
should know the Gospel.

The plan adopted is for the women to leave their homes
and reside at the station where the lady missionary lives for
a period of three months. Rooms are provided for their accom-
modation, and arrangements made for their board. In some
instances, however, they provide their own food. The circum-
stances of Chinese family life allow of married women thus
leaving their homes, for in China the sons, as a rule, bring their
wives to their father's house, and so there is generally under
the one roof, besides the wife, several daughters-in-law with
their children, so that when one daughter-in-law goes to the
station class for a term her sister-in-law can mind hex children
in her absence. While at the mission station these women are
taught the essentials of the Gospel, and the chief doctrines of
Christianity as contained in the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and
the Ten Commandments. They are also taught some simple
Christian books and hyrans. Most of them are exceedingly dull
of intellect; it often takes a week to teach them half the Lord's
Prayer and to get some faint elementary knowledge of its
meaning into their minds.

The following letter illustrates the work done in these station
classes: —

There were twenty women in my station class who were nearly all con-
verted. Not long ago, thirteen of these dear women were baptized after
several months of probation, and in every case the testimony was that they
were changed women. There were four others of this class anxious to be
baptized, and they will be, I think, later on. One of the women, a pretty

The Mixistey of Women. 157

young widow, has been determined for some time to be a Christian, for
she discovered that the idols could not save her husband, and she heard
of Jesus and His love. Another woman, elderly, and not the least bit
handsome, all her front teeth having gone, was found by Chitnio on the hill-
side, looking for a poisonous weed to end her existence, as she had twice
been rescued from the river. Her husband and son were dead, and she
felt she had nothing to live for. The women in the class helped her, and
begged her to oome and learn about Jesus, so she came, stayed, and is
now very happy. Another is the wife of a Taouist priest. He is a very
wicked man, but she is good and earnest.

Suet, are many of the women who come to a station class ;
women who have led utterly joyless lives, enduring trials and
sorrows without any knowledge of Grod's care and love for them.
In most oases, when they leave the class, their very looks are
changed, for they possess a happiness unknown before, which
gladdens and brightens their countenances. As she takes her
leave a woman will often say, " Pray for me, that I may plainly
tell to others the saving Lord that I have found "; or, as another
remarked, when getting into her chair to return home, " Here I
have learned a new thing, ' Happiness ': praj"- that putting forth
all my strength I may bring to my relations the gladness that
I have myself received."

Station classes are now to be found in almost all the districts
in Fuh-Kien. Ten shillings anid sixpence supports a woman at
one of these classes for three months; and some organization at
home, such as mothers' meetings, &c., by providing this sum:
help to bring the Gospel to the women of China.

(3) Girls' Boarding-schools.

As early as 1863 the wife of the Rev. George Smith opened
on the Black Stone Hill, in Fuh-chow city, a boarding-school for
girls, to which day scholars were invited ; but this failed, as the
girls with their crippled feet were unable to climb the hill.
The following year the school was re-opened, and with greater
success. In 1865 Mrs. Wolie, who was assisted by Mrs. Cribb,
took charge of the school, and during the succeeding years many
girls were trained, some of whom are to be found in the Mission

158 For Christ ix Ftjh-Kien.

at the present time. Ten years later Miss Houston, of tlie
Society for Promoting Female Education in tlie East, took over
the charge of the school. Miss Houston had been working
among Chinese girls in Singapore for ten years, and conse-
quently she brought considerable experience to the work.

After the riot in Fuh-chow city, in 1878, the school was
removed to the Is^an-tai Island, a suburb of Fuh-chow, where, in
a more commodious house, granted by the Chinese officials at
a low rent, as part compensation for the destruction of the school-
house in the city, a larger number of girls were received as
boarders, and day scholars from the surrounding streets were
also accommodated. On the expiration of the lease of these
premises, in 1900, the school was removed to Liang-au village,
near the Church Missionary Settlement, where large new
premises had been built. A school chapel has also been erected
in the compound. At the end of 1903 there were over 200 girls
in the school (including day scholars).

Other girls' boarding-schools, intended for the daughters of
Native Christians and of inquirers, have been opened by the
C.M.S. at Ku-cheng, Fuh-ning, and Xing-taik, and by the
C.E.Z.M.S. at Sang-iong, Sieng-iu, and elsewhere. In addi-
tion, a school for better class heathen girls has been started by
Miss Leslie, of the C.E.Z.M.S., in the suburbs of Fuh.-chow,
which has proved very successful. The girls are required to
contribute towards their own support, if not to entirely maintain
themselves.

In the boarding-school for the children of Native Christians,
the teachinig is carried on in the native language. The girls are
instructed in the Bible and Prayer-book, and in other Christian,
books. They are taught a little geography, arithmetic, history,
and singing; they learn to read and write in the Chinese char-
acter, and in the Romanized colloquial, and also how to make their
own clothes and shoes, and to do all kinds of household work.
But the chief aim is that they may become true believers in
and followers of the Lord Jesus, and, in time, missionaries to
their own people.

Many of these girls are trained sufficiently to enable them to

The Ministry of Women. 159

teach, little day schools, and thus influence not only the children
under their care, but also their heathen neighbours. Teachers
in China always exercise great influence, and command respect,
because they can read books ; and wherever these girls go as
day school teachers there is almost sure to spring up a work
for God among the women. One such schoolmistress in a
certain village was asked by the men, ""What have you done to
our wives and children? Formerly they quarrelled, and were
not h.appy, now they sing and are glad of heart."

Many other instances of the usefulness of these schools might
easily be given. One or two must suflS.ce. Thus, a missionary
wrote : —

Another interesting girl in this school is Hok-King (" Precious Gem "),
a bright, loving girl, obedient, considerate for others, and conscientiouB
in her work (she teaches the younger ones). She is an earnest Christian,
a great favourite, and deservedly beloved by all. One strange thing about
her is that she is not married or betrothed, although eighteen (most
unusual in China). She is very happy, and has no desire to leave
school .... She cannot help shining for Jesus ; and when a mission
school turns out a girl such as this, we may indeed thank God, and take
courage ; but Hok-King would tell you, " It is not I, but the grace of
God."

One of the girls from the Ku-cheng school became the wife
of Lau Cong-Ing, who was for some time assistant master at
the Fuh-chow High School for Boys. While there she visited
and itinerated with a lady missionary, who wrote of her as
follows : —

Mrs. Lau was visiting with me this afternoon; it was very sweet to
hear how simply she told of Christ's love and power to save, in the houses
we went into. She has also been an itinerating journey with me lately,
and was most helpful, though a little shy at first. She has such a bright
little face that all the women were ready to listen to her when she spoke.

A Fuh-ning missionary wrote that the catechist at Sang-
sua had married one of their school girls, whose silent example
oft3n preached a sermon to those about her. When paid her
first month's salary as a teacher, she sent the money back, saying
that for many years she had been " beloved of God," and that
sh.e woiild like to do her work for nothing save the love of Christ.

160 Foe Christ ix Fuh-Kiex.

The Church Missionary Society has no expense in regard to
the girls' boarding-schools, beyond the salaries of the European
missionaries and the maintenance of the school buildings, for
the girls are supported by the subscriptions of the European
community and of friends at home, and by the proceeds of the
sale of work sent out by working parties at home. The average
cost of supporting a girl is very small, the C.M.S. makes no
grant for the purpose, and the money has to be raised by the
missionaries themselves in various ways, chiefly by contribu-
tions received from friends at home.

(4) HousE-TO-HousE Visiting.

House-to-house visiting among the better class Chinese is a
most difficult task. To begin with a lady missionary cannot go
among them without an introdiiction, any more than she can
visit strangers in England without an introduction. Secondly,
Chinese etiquette has to be carefully studied, else the missionary
will be looked upon as a sort of barbariani, having no politeness ,
and, therefore, will not favourably impress those she desires to
help. Thirdly, as a general rule, there is a vast amount of talk
about utterly useless things before an opportunity is given for
telling the Gospel message. The following are typical of the
questions which are often asked by the Chinese ladies: —

How did you come to our country ? Did you walk or sit in a chair to
come? No! Well perhaps you sat in a boat? Who bought your dress?
What a dull colour, why do you not wear green, or red, or blue? Did
your mother or mother-in-law buy it ? Tou did ! Did you have money of
your own, and you are not married! Do not the women in your country
marry? Ah! there was a reason! Had you some disease? (Aside.) Can
you not see her feet are so large 1 What a colour her eyes are ! Can you
see with white eyes P (They are blue.) Yes ! How far can you see ? Can
you see better than we do? Why do you not have black hair?

These questions illustrate the curiosity which has to be
satisfied, especially at a first or second visit, until the Chinese
women become better acquainted with their European sisters.
Then comes the opportunity, and the Gospel story is told; a
story strange, indeed, to them, and unlike any they ever heard

The Ministry of Women. 161

before. So wonderful, they cannot believe it, so strange they
cannot take it in, at least at the first hearing.

Many visits are paid, many prayers are offered, and many
tears water the seed sown. Much of the seed sown seems to bear
no fruit; but, on the other hand, there is "the good ground"
prepared by the Holy Spirit, into which the seed falls, and fruit
is borne unto eternal life in the case of many women of " the
land of Sinim."

Visiting among the women of the lower classes is carried on
with less difiiculty. As a rule, the missionary does not need an
introduction, and is able to reach a larger audience, and deliver
her message more quickly. Perhaps a wornan standing at the
door of her house, interested in seeing a foreign lady passing
down the street, speaks to her, and the lady replies. " Why ! she
speaks our words," the Chinese woman exclaims, and forthwith
invites the missionary and her Bible-woman indoors. A child is
despatched to invite the neighbours to come and see the " foreign
lady," and soon the room is more than comfortably full, perhaps
overflows into a courtyard, or even into the nearest temple, and
there in the presence of the large, ugly, dirty idols , the missionary
tells Redemption's story, and with the Bible-woman's help keeps
up the preaching for several hours. The missionary can always
have an audience in China, varying, of course, in size. In some
of the better class hoiuses perhaps only five or six persons are
present, while in other cases there will be as many as 150 or 200.
The large audiences change from time to time, but even at the
end of several hours, when from the lateness of the hour or from
sheer fatigue, the missionary must take her leave, some will
plead, "Say it all over again; we want to remember it"; or,
" Come quickly back and tell us the story again."

(5) Village Woek, Itinerating.

Visiting among the villages is, to some, the most attractive
form of missionary work. Travelling from village to village
with a native Bible-woman; stopping a day in this village and
a night in that; sleeping in the mud inn, unless the village
is fortunate in possessing a chapel with a prophet's chamber;

L

1G2 Fuit Christ in Fuh-Kien.

gathering the Christian women together to encourage and stimu-
late their faith ; examining those previously taught by the Bible-
woman; preiaohing to the heathen women; teaching in the day
school (if there is one); and so on from day to day, telling it
out among the Heathen that the Lord is King, and able to save
them from sin — this is the work of the itinerant lady missionary.

Perhaps in one village the opportunities are very good, and
a whole day may be spent visiting the homes of the people. In
other cases a few days may be given, and then the missionary is
off again.

What if the mountains are steep, and the valleys rough, the
sun hot, and the journeys long ; there rings in the missionary's
ear such words as these : — " How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings " ; " other sheep I
have ; them also I must bring " ; with the joyful hope that her
labours will " not be in vain in the Lord."

At the close of tlie day,
'Twill be sweet to say,
" I have brought some lost one Home."

The above sketch will give some idea of the nature of the
work carried on by lady missionaries in Fuh-Kien. The work
has been abundantly blessed. Large numbers of Chinese wives
and mothers have been won to Christ by means of the station
classes, village itinerating, and house-to-house visitation; large
numbers of girls — future wives and mothers — have also been
brought to the Saviour at the various schools; and a Christian
atmosphere being thus secured in the home, husbands and sons
have in their turn been influenced, and the work of the Mission
in general has been greatly stimulated and furthered. At the
end of 1887 (when the first unmarried lady missionary was senit
out) the number of converts was 6,701 (including catechumens);
at the end of 1903 there were over 12,000. It is, of course,
impossible to say how much of this increase is due to women's
work, but there can be little doubt that the manifest blessing
which has rested upon the Fuh-Kien Mission in recent years has
been due, under God, in a large measure, to the whole-hearted,
self-denying labours of our lady missionaries among the Chinese
w<imen and girls.

chaptee xiv.

Chinese their own Evangelists ; or the
Training of Native Workers.

" And He gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and
some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." — Eph. iv. 11, 12.

" Every true convert (in China) becomes a missionary, and it is in this spirit of
propagandism that the hope for the future lies." — Mrs. Isabella Bishop, f.r.g.s.

JHE attention of kome friends of Eoreign Missions lias in
th.e past been concentrated too much upon tlie European
missionary, but happily in the present day truer concep-
tions of missionary work prevail, and tlie absolute necessity of
the native helper is becoming generally recognized. As for the
missionary, the latest recruit has not been long in the field
before he realizes (if he had no idea of it before) that a great
and important part of the work to be done by the foreigner is to
train the native brother.

A brief sketch, therefore, of this work will now be given.
In the previous chapter some account of the trainin.nr of Bible-
women, and of girls in boarding-schools, has already been given.
This chapter will treat of the training of schoolmasters and
catechists. But before speaking of the Fuh-chow High School,
where the schoolmasters are trained, something must first be
said concerning the village day schools and the country board-
ing-schools, which form the first two rungs of the educational
ladder, the whole system consisting of four stages: —

(1) The Village Day School.

(2) The Country Boarding-school.

(3) The Fuh-chow High School.

(4) The Fuh-chow Divinity College.

L 2

164 For Christ in Fuh-Kiex.

(1) The Village Day School.— The necessity for giving
some Christian education to the children of the native con-
verts was early recognized, but for some years the number of
village schools was not very large, and in 1883 there were only
thirty-eight schools, with 479 scholars. The following year the
niimber of schools had increased to sixty-four. The Parent
Comniittee, however, were uiiable to sanction the additional
estimates for this large increase, but a liberal contribution
received from Tunbridge Wells through Canon Hoare enabled
the additional schools to' be maintained, and , indeed, still further
increased in number, for next year there were seventy-four
schools in existence of which only eleven were supported by the
Society's funds. Under the fostering care of the Rev. H. "W.
Stewart, who was in charge of the educational work at Fuh-
chovF, schools were set up in many of the villages. For the
year 1903 the total number of schools open varied from 170 to
200, with an attendance of more than 3,000 scholars. Of these,
two-thirds were the children of heathen parents.

These schools serve a double purpose. First, the children of
the jN^ative Christians have there the opportunity of receiving
Christian instruction ; and, secondly, the school is an evangelistic
agency, where heathen children are brought under the influence
of Christianity, and in their turn may be the means of influenc-
ing their parents. In this way some knowledge of the Gospel
reaches many a heathen home where the missionary never goes.
The total cost of maintaining one of these schools is about £i
a year.

(2) The Country Boarding-school. — The next step towards
the Fuh-chow Divinity College is from the village day school
to the boarding-school of the district. A boy having entered the
day school at the age of, say, seven years, and having gone
through the prescribed course there, has the opportunity of
further reading in the country boarding-school, which exists in
almost all the districts in the Fuh-Tvien Mission. In the board-
ing-schools the pupils are lequired to contribute towards their
own food, and only Christian lads are admitted. Here they
may remain till they reach sixteen years of age, when, if con-

Chinese their own Evangelists. 165

sidered suitable, they are transferred to the Fuh-chow High
School, with a view to being trained as schoolmasters.

(3) The Fxjh-chow High School. — Originally this school
was the only boarding-school for the whole of the Mission, and
boys were sent to it direct from the village day schools ; but, as
the work developed and the converts increased, it became
necessary to establish boarding-schools in the various districts,
and in recent years the Fuh-chow school has been carried on
more distinctly as a training school, whither the best boys from
the country boarding-schools are sent, for the purpose of being
trained as native agents. The course lasts for four years. A
portion of each day is given to the study of the Chinese classics
and to Chinese composition, but the greater part of the educa-
tion given is in Scripture knowledge. All the teaching is in
Chinese. The boys, as a rule, are very diligent, and anxious to
make the most of their opportunity. They are very amenable
to discipline, and give little trouble. The average number of
pupils is thirty. Examinations are held twice a year in the
prescribed course, and the answering for the most part is very
intelligent. The boys show a wonderful knowledge of the letter
of their Bibles, and, making allowance for the Chinese weakness
in the thinking faculty, are able to reproduce a good deal of
what they have been taught.

At the end of four years, if considered fit, intellectually and
spiritually, the student is sent out as a schoolmaster, and put
in charge of one of the village day schools. A large number
of these schools are now taught by trained men, and thereby
greater efiiciency is secured. There is a marked difference
between a school in charge of a Fuh-chow trained master and
one taught by the older style of master.

Some of the students never get beyond the position of school-
master, but most of them have the ambition to reach the higher
office of catechist, and when good work has been done in the
former capacity during the testing time of three years, the young
schoolmaster is allowed to enter the Fuh-chow Divinity College
for further training as a catechist.

(4) Ffh-chow Divinity College. — We have now reached

166 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kibn.

iiie top rung of the educational ladder. This institution
had its origin in the preparandi class established by Mr. "Wolfe,
and carried on by him in Fuh-chow city until the year 1878,
when the work of training natiye agents was handed over to
the Eev. R. W. Stewart. The work was sadly interfered with by
the expulsion of the Mission from the city shortly afterwards, and
the destruction of the college erected by the liberality of Mr.
Stewart's friends in Ireland. After five years of delays and
obstacles, however, a mew college was erected on a site granted by
the Chinese authorities on the Island of Nan-tai. The new build-
ings, which comprised the college, boys' boarding-school, and
principal's house, were erected at the cost of the William Charles
Jones Fund, supplemented by the compensation money paid
by the Chinese authorities for the damage done in the riot. The
College was opened in November, 1883, with thirty-three
students. Since then it has turned out a large number of earnest,
capable men, who have been the means in God's hand of leading
many of their fellow-countrymen to a knowledge of Christ and
of His salvation.

The students, before admission to the College, must be recom-
mended by the Native Church Council of the district to which
they belong, and also pass an entrance examination. In the earlier
years of the Mission the intellectual attainments of some of the
men were not very considerable, but of recent years, since many
of the students have been men who have passed through the
Fuh-chow High School, a higher standard has been reached,
and this will be increasingly the case as the general educational
work of the Mission is developed.

As in the Boys' High School, so in the College, the entire
education is practically in Scripture history and doctrine, and is
carried on exclusively in the Chinese language. Part of the
training consists in learning how to preach; the students take
short evangelistic tours in the villages in the neighbourhood of
the College, and in this way a useful work is done in spreading
a knowledge of the Gospel.

The College course is divided into two sections. At the
end of two years, if the student has made satisfactory pro-

Chinese their own Evangelists. 167

gress, lie is seat out iato one of tke distriets to act as acliool-
master or assistant catecliist for one year, in order to give him
some practical experience, and to test his capacity for further
training and ultimate fitness for the work of a catechist. If
he fails in the test he is dropped, and returns home; but if the
missionary of the district reports favourably of his year's pro-
bation, he comes back to the college, and proceeds with the
remaining two years of the course.

It is from the catechists that the ranks of the native clergy
are recruited. Having served the oifice of catechist well, and
obtained the recommendation of the European missionary, the
candidate for ordination is allowed to enter the Bishop's
preparation class, and having read the course prescribed, and
passed the several ex minations held by the Bishop, he is
ultimately ordained.

Such is the educational work as carried on in the Fuh-Kien
Mission. Of its importance and vaKie we have already spoken.
The success graciously vouchsafed by God to the Fuh-Kien
Mission has been, in a large measure, granted through a native
agency, as the reading of this book will have shown.

chaptee xv.
Literary and Translational Work.

" The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." — St. John
vi. 63.

" And some toil on with busy pen.

His scribes who write in other speech.

The words of life and Light to men."— IK J. L. Slu-ppavd.

JHIS kistory would not be complete witkout some account
of the efforts made to provide the Native Church in the
Fuh-Kien province with a Christian literature, and also to
supply the non-Christian Chinese with hooks and tracts, giving
the chief tenets of Christianity, and showing its moral force and
spiritual value in the world. It need hardly be said that the
Bible occupies the iirst place in work of this description, and
much labour has been expended by missionaries of all denomina-
tions in preparing versions of the Scriptures in the High Wen-li
suitable for China's advanced scholars; in simple Wen-li for the
use of those less well-educated; in Mandarin, which is the col-
loquial of almost the whole of Western and Northern China;
and in the various vernaculars spoken in the Southern provinces.
These last-mentioned translations are made in Chinese char-
acter where that is possible, and where that is not possible in
lioman character, and as the Native Church is largely composed
of those who have had very small educational advantages, the
value of these colloquial versions cannot be over-estimated. It
must never be forgotten that in Fuh-Kien and the adjoining
provinces, the extent of territory over which any particular dia-
lect obtains is a comparatively small one, usually about as large
as one or two English counties, and consequently a fresh collo-
quial version is needed whenever work is commenced in a new

Literary anu Tkanslational Work. 169

district. Thus we have in Fuh-Kien (besides the two Wen-li
versions mentioned above) a complete version of the Bible in
the Fuh-chow dialect, both in the Chinese and Roman
character, which is used for about fifty miles round Fuh-chow
city, and also incomplete versions in the Hing-hwa, Kien-
ning, and Kien-yang dialects. It must be understood that
these vernacular translations are almost exclusively sold to
our Christian converts, and that large numbers of Xew Testa-
ments and single Gospels and Epistles printed in the AYen-li and
Mandarin styles, which are understood by all educated Chinese,
are also sold annually all over the Empire.

It is impossible to speak too highly of the care which has
been bestowed upon the preparation of these various versions
of Grod's Word written, and knowing as we do that it is by the
entrance of this Word into his soul that man obtains life and
light, we cannot but be deeply thankful for the accuracy and
faithfulness to the original, which characterize these Chinese
translations of Holy Scripture, and acknowledge that the time
and labour spent upon this work has been well worth while. It
will not be out of place here to express our indebtedness to the
British and Foreign Bible Society, the handmaid of all our
Missionary Societies, by whose aid, and at whose sole cost, all
these versions of Holy Scripture are prepared, printed, and
published, and to whom no missionary ever appeals in vain for
advice and assistance.

Next in importance to the Bible itself, we naturally place the
Book of Common Prayei-, which is, of course, used in all our
churches, and also in many of the homes of our people. Its
value to a people just emerging from Heathenism, whose ideas
with regard to the Deity and the mode of addressing Him are
often most crude and ill-formed, can hardly be exaggerated.
Our Fuh-Kieni Prayer-book has been prepared both in Chinese
and Roman character, and is an almost exact translation of the
English book, though some few necessary alterations have been
made — e.g., in the wording of the State Prayers, and in the
Preface. With these variations it is a faithful reproduction of
our familiar Prayer-book, and is a treasured possession of most

170 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

of our converts. In the most recent edition tke Canticles are
pointed for cliantinig, and in our larger cliurdies the singing is
now very creditable, and is certainly congregational.

Our Hymn Book contains some 300 of our best known Eng-
lish hymns, carefully translated, with due regard lo Chinese
idioms and ideas, with which are incorporated a small number
of original compositions, giving expression in metrical form to
the chief truths of the Christian Faith.

It would be well-nigh impossible to enumerate all the books
and tracts translated and put into circulation amongst the
people, but it may be mentioned that various standard theologi-
cal works are in use, especially amongst the theological students,
including commentaries on the Bible and Prayer-book. There
are also books of devotion such as " The Pilgrim's Progress,"
Meyer's "Shepherd Psalm," and "The Imitation of Christ";
monthly magazines both for adults and children, which are
much appreciated and widely read, and which have a definite
Christian tone ; and numerous small pamphlets and tracts on very
varied subjects which are sold in large quantities both to Chris-
tians and non-Christians. China needs more than anything,
perhaps, enlightenment with regard to Western civilization and
mode of life generally, and nothing is more likely to dispel her
erroneous ideas with regard to the motives which actuate mis-
sionaries than the diffusion far and wide of pure literature
tinged with Christian truth. What has been written above will
show that the workers in Fuh-Kien are fully alive to this
fact, and are doing at least something to meet this need. In
conclusion, it must be remembered that the Religious Tract
Society is always ready to help in this literary work, and that
without its assistance much of it could not be done.

CHAPTER XYI.

Conclusion.

" Except a corn of wlieat fall into the ground and die, it abidetli alone : but
if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."— <S. John xii. 24.

"Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children.
And let the beauty oi the Lord our G-od be upon us : and establish Thou the
work of our hands upon us ; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it."
— Psalm xc. 16, 17.

(ijT^ET us gather up a few thoughts suggested by the foregoing
Ji^ details respecting the past and future of the Fuh-Kien
Mission.
(1) The first thought is that embodied in the pregnant text
that stands at the head of this chapter, "Except a corn of
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it
die, it bringeth forth much fruit." Such, in Christ's own words,
is the law of His kingdom. To that law He Himself submitted,
dying that multitudes might live. Again and again, in the
history of His Church, do we find it illustrated; and not least
in the history of modern Missions. Sierra Leone is the most
conspicuous instance, but Fuh-Kien, on a smaller scale, is per-
haps equally striking. What, in brief, have we seen in the
preceding chapters ? Eleven years passing without a single con-
vert — two missionaries dying in the interval, and a third just
as the firstfruits were being gathered, besides a fourth after-
wards — bitter and repeated persecution of the converts — and
now (1904) more than ten thousand baptized Native Christians,
besides sixteen hundred catechumens. Such, summed up in a
single sentence, is the story of the Euh-Kien Mission. " It is the
Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes."

(2) How has the work been done ? Certainly not by a large

172 Foe Christ in Fuh-Kien.

staff of English missionaries ? During half the first thirty years,
viz., during periods amounting together to fifteen years, only
€ne missionai-y was im the field. During other periods, amount-
ing to nearly ten years, there were two.

The spread of the Gospel in Fuh-Kien has been the result
of native agency. Several of the earliest converts baptized in
the city of Fuh-chow gave up their occupations, and entered the
service of the Mission. These were stationed at various promising
centres ; and as the work grew, others were selected from among
those who embraced the Gospel, and sent forward to open fresh
stations. Some of them have proved unsatisfactory. In more
than one case a trusted agent, whose evangelistic labours have
been manifestly blessed of God, has fallen away ; and anything
sadder than this it is hard to conceive. But it is nothing new.
The enemy that ensnared them is the same that destroyed a
Judas, enticed away a Demas, hindered the usefulness of a
JVIark, even overcame a Peter. jN'ot a few of those who have
been led into sin have been brought back. Others , we are sure,
will be. Our part is to blame not so much those who fell as
ourselves, for had we sent out a sufiicient number of missionaries
they need not have been left, as they were necessarily left, for
months together, without the guidance and instruction of older
brethren in the faith, in the midst of demoralizing scenes and
influences, out of which they had but recently themselves been
delivered. But the career of the majority has been very different.
They have faithfully cariied the Gospel from place to place,
and they have patiently taught the poor and the ignorant.

But the good work has not been done by paid agents merely.
Perhaps the results are still more due to the voluntary efforts
of the converts. Sons have brought their fathers to Christ;
husbands have brought their wives; the good news of a Saviour's
love has been passed on from mouth to mouth, and from village to
village.

Nevertheless, the very success of ouj- native brethren has
rendered the need of additional European labourers more urgent.
Bishop Burdon most justly wrote some years ago: — " The foreign
missionary is needed, not only to give the first impetus which calls

Conclusion. 173^

Ckristian Chiirckes into existenice, but to guide, superintend, and
watch, over the new Christians. They are ignorant. They need
' teaching to observe all thinp;s whatsoever the Master has com-
manded.' The best among them require careful training,
that they may become teachers of their countrymen. The
teacher, the evangelist, the itinerator, the theological professor,
are all needed first from Christian lands, and more than one
of each.'"''

(3) In the early days of Christianity, it was in the great
cities that the Gospel made the most rapid progress. We find
St. Paul's time almost entirely spent at places like Corinth and
Ephesus, and read scarcely anything of the work in the rural
districts. And so long was it before the peasantry of the Roman
Empire received the new faith, that the word pagani, i.e.,
peasants, villagers, country folk, came to mean idolaters, and hence
our word " pagans." In China, just the reverse has been the case.
While the good news of salvation has been joyfully received in
village after village, the dwellers in the great towns, though they
have had more opportunities of hearing it, have mostly displayed
either careless indifference, as at Fuh-chow itself and at Lieng-
kong, or bitter enmity, as at Yen-ping and Kien-ning. Even
in the case of country congregations whose headquarters happen
to be in the city, the converts mostly come from outside the
walls, and not from inside, as we have observed at Lo-ngwong
and JYing-taik. Will the word urban hereafter become in China
synonymous with Heathen, as the word pagan did in Europe ?
Bishop Burdon has remarked: — " There seems to be something in
the very atmosphere of a Chinese city opposed to the claims of
religion. At home, if our great cities are the centres of very
much evil, they, at all events, are also the centres of some good.
In China I am almost afraid it must be said there is no counter-
acting influence to the evil." Let our prayers go up to God in
behalf of the cities of China.

(4) And as it is the cities which show the greatest indiffer-
ence to the Gospel, so it is from the literati and gentry, whose
influence preponderates in them, that the chief opposition to
the work has come. It cannot be pleaded that the preservation

174 For Christ in Fuh-Kien.

of public order is their motive. No charge can justly be brought
against the missionaries of an injudicious excess of zeal m ex-
citing the hostile passions of the mob. The usual mode of pro-
cedure, in occupying a new station, is to send first a native teacher,
who, living quietly among his countrymen, removes prejudice,
explains the objects of the Mission, and the motives that have
led to its establishment, and thus smoothes the way for the
visits of the European missionary. And in point of fact the
opposition does not come from " the mob." The people generally
would welcome the Mission but for the hostility of the literati.
The conduct of the latter recalls that of the Jewish leaders at
Thessalonica, who, we are told, " moved with envy, took unto
them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a
company, and set all the city on an uproar." On the other hand,
let us do justice to the fairness and courtesy with which, in
some cases, the magistrates have protected the missionaries and
the converts, and put down disturbances.

How far the official representatives of European nations should
be expected to interfere to prevent persecution is a difficult
question. In reporting some outbreaks in the Ning-taik district,
Archdeacon Wolfe once justly observed that " the Native
Christians must, in a country like China, be prepared to expect
and endure persecution on account of their religion ; and," he
added, " they have endured it more or less all along." With
reference to the occasional appeals of the missionaries for con-
sular interference. Bishop Burdon has remarked that they " only
take it for granted that the Consuls themselves are Christian men,
who, before a heathen magistrate, will not be ashamed to show
that they take an interest in Christians, even though they are
Natives of China, and to try every moral means in their power
to instil the principles of toleration and fair dealing into the
minds of the rulers of the land." And when the local authorities,
in avowed defiance of the treaty between Great Britain and
China, which secures toleration to the converts, themselves
openly encourage violence and oppression, it is high time that
a Christian nation should interpose. But our real trust must
be, not in an arm of flesh, but in Him Who, while He said,

Conclusion. I'^'S

" In tlie world ye shall liave tribulation," said also tliat His
people were ''of more value than many sparrows."

(5) One consequence of the Church having been principally
gathered out of the rural districts is, that the majority of the
converts are very ignorant; and Bishop Burdon has pointed to
this as a great source of weakness in the present, and of anxiety
for the future. Not, he was careful to explain, that they display
ignorance of the Bible and its leading truths. On the contrary,
considering how all their knowledge has been gained, viz., hy
hearing only, there would seem to be very many manifest signs
of their having been in a peculiar sense " taught of God." But
the fact that very few know how to read their own language
is one deserving our earnest attention. Education is a branch
of mission work that has not been largely cultivated in China,
perhaps from a mistaken estimate of the extent of education
among the people. With so comparatively scanty a supply of
m.issionaries, and with even the staff of native catechists quite
inadequate to the growing woik, the importance of the converts
being able to read the Word of Grod for themselves is manifest,
that they may be kept in spiritual health, and preserved from
error in both opinion and conduct.

Meanwhile it is a matter of great thankftilness that the
Bible in the Chinese tongue is at all events accessible to
the people through their ears. And the inability of so many
to study it for themselves only serves to enhance the value of
the work done by the catechists, upon whose oral instructions so
much has depended. They, too, most of them, could not read
before their conversion ; and Christianity, to use Bishop
Burden's words, " has been the means, not only, as we trust, of
saving their souls, but of elevating their minds and stimulating
them to the acquisition of knowledge, so far as it is within their
reach."

(6) If the Bible has been a precious boon to the infant
Church, so also has the Prayer-book. " Its constant use
in all our stations," wrote Mr. Wolfe in 1870, " I have found
of the greatest advantage to these poor ignorant people. It
helps them to pray ; it gives them ideas, and appropriate words

170 Foe Cueist in Fuh-Kien.

to express them; it is a powerful instrument for teacMng the
Chinese correct notions of God and of the great work of re-
demption ; and it is destined, I am convinced, to exercise a great
influence for good in the enlightenment of the people." And
Mr. Mahood wrote in 1873: — "The Prayer-book is of immense
value in these little congregations. It preserves them from
uttering what is unscriptural in their petitions to God." N^ot
that it is slavishly adhered to. On the contrary, one of its uses
has been to train the people to pray themselves. And it is an
interesting fact that every Satiirday evening, at every one of
the regular stations, a prayer-meeting is held at the same hour
specially on behalf of Missions and missionaries. Is there as
much prayer among ourselves for the Christians of Fuh-Kien
as there is among them for us and our work?

(7) It is a well-known principle of the Church Missionary
Society that tbe development of Native Churches should be
fostered in three directions, viz., self-extension, self-govern-
ment, and self-support. The first, as we have seeni, has been
a specially characteristic feature of the Fuh-Kien Church. As
regards the second, Native Church organization has now been
firmly established in all the districts except in the Ten-ping
and Kien-ning prefectures, where the numbers are as yet small.
Nor has the third point been neglected. In all the Native
Church Councils self-support has been systematized, and rules for
securing the carrying oiit of the system have been drawn up, and
the object in view is, in considerable measure, being attained.

(8) Lastly, the work I's a real worh. Bishop Burdon, in 1876,
gave the following testimony: — " The number of Christians," he
wrote, " for the time during which work has been going on,
and considering the small number of labourers sent out from
England, is something wondei-fiil." He then asked, " But is the
work real?" and proceeded to point out three weak pointts in
the Native Christians : one, the ignorance we have already
referred to; the other two, that they had not yet learned that
" cleanliness is next to godliness," nor formed those habits of
reverence in the house of God to which we are accustomed. But,
he added, "I honestly think that nothing worse could be found

Conclusion. 17 7

out or said against tke converts "; and, he adds, " It is my firm
belief that the work as a whole is a genuine one. ... I
look forward most hopefully to its future."

The word " conclusion " is only in a very limited sense a
suitable title for this chapter. The writer may lay down his
pen, the reader may close the volume ; but the story which the
one has so imperfectly narrated, but which, it is hoped, will
nevertheless so deeply interest the other, is a story yet in pro-
gress. For this book is not like an ordinary treatise, or a memoir,
or a tale, complete in itself. It does but present the opening
scenes of a history going on even as we write — which has dis-
tinctly advanced in interest and importance since the first
edition appeared years ago — and which shall still go on till
time shall be no more. We have seen the planting of what
we cannot doubt will grow intO' a noble and fruitful tree — the
first trickling and bubbling waters of a stream that shall widen
till it fertilizes all the thirsty land — the founding of what
assuredly will rise into a fair and mighty temple of living souls.
But the conclusion will not be until the great Voice out of heaven
shall say. It is done !

The years roll round^and we our work pursue

Witli care and labour

Yet through all the years

One great and changeless working shows itself,

Gleaming athwart the clouds of sin and woe,

With the bright glow of immortality ;

But intertwined and woven in so close

With human things, that oft our feeble sight

Fails to discern it ; yet 'tis ever there,

Out of the complex and corrupted mass

Shaping a new creation ; day by day

Clasping fresh objects in its firm embrace.

Its wondrous circle ever widening,

Until He come, Whose hand hath wrought the whole,

To crown it with completion ! for eyes,

Divinely touched, its glories to perceive !

for a vision, free from earthly stain,

To trace its all-triumphant way ! let

Thy work appear unto Thy servants, Lord !

And let its beauty shine into our hearts 1 — S. (t. Stuck.

M

APPENDICES.

I.— OTHER MISSIONS IX THE FUH-KIEN PROVINCE.

^IVE other Missionary Societies are at work in Fuh-Kien. Of
these the London Missionary Society, the English Pres-
byterians, and the American Dutch Reformed Church,
occupy the southern part of the province, and have their head-
quarters at Amoy.

Two American Societies, however, are established at Fuh.-
chow, and their field of labour is partly coincident with, and
partly contiguous to, that of the Church Missionary Society.
These are (1) the Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions
(" A.B.C.F.M."), which virtually represents the Congrega-
tionalists of the TTnited States, and (2) the Methodist Episcopal
Mission. Both these Societies occupied Fuh-chow three or
four years before the first C.M.S. missionaries arrived.
The Board Mission has not been a large one, and its
out-stations lie mostly within a short distance of the capital on
the south side of the Min. It has also established itself in the
city of Shau-wu, in the north-west of the province. The Epis-
copal Methodists, on the other hand, carry on a very extensive
and successful work, covering the greater part of the countiy
south of the Min for neai'ly 200 miles, and also reaching to Ku-
cheng and Yen-ping, in the north-west. At one time they also
occupied Lo-ngwong and Lieng-kong, but withdrew to leave the
ground clear for the Church Missionary Society. Their first
convert was baptized in 1857, after a period of patient

Appendices. 179

■waiting of tlie same length, as in the C.M.S. Mission.
Progress was rapid in 1865-70, just the time when the early fruit
was gathered at our own out-stations. They have a Mission
Press, a Hospital, an Anglo-Chinese College, a Theological
School, a Pemale Training Institution, and a Boys' High School.

II.— CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH OF C.M.S. FUH-KIEN

MISSION.

[The figures m parenthesis refer to the page on which reference to the event will be found.]

1850 Eevs. W. Welton and E. D. Jackson arrived at Fuh-olio-w. May (3).

1851 Mr. Weltou opened a dispensary (3).

1852 Mr. Jackson transferred to Shanghai (5).

1855 Revs. F. M'Caw and M. Fearnley arrived at Fuh-ohow. ./nne (5).
Mrs. M'Caw died (5).

1856 Mr. Welton retired (5).

1857 Mr. Welton died in England (5).
Mr. M'Caw died at Fuh-chow (5).

Wong Kiu-Taik and Tang Tang-Pieng baptized by the American Episcopal
Methodists (16).

1858 Rev. G. Smith arrived (6).

1859 Mr. Fearnley retired (6).

1860 Proposal to close the Mission after ten years'' work without fruit. Mr.

Smith begged for leave to remain (7).
Rev. W. H. Collins visited Fuh^ohow, and opened a dispensary (8).

1861 First two converts baptized. Marcli Sl-sf (8).

1862 Rev. J, R. Wolfe arrived. Muy (10).

Wong Kiu-Taik entered service of C.M.S. (11).

1863 Mr. Smith died at Fuh-chow, leaving thirteen baptized Christians and

five catechumens. October (10).

1864 Rev. A. W. Cribb arrived at Fuh-chow. Novemher (12).
First out-station (Lieng-kong) occupied (14, 52).

1865 Mission church opened in Fuh-chow city (13).
Lo-ngwong and Ku-cheng occupied as out-stations (14, 59, 94).

1866 Ning-taik occupied as an out-station (81).
First two converts baptized at Lieng-kong (53).

Su Chong-Ing and others baptized at Ku-cheng (95).
Old Siek and his son, and Sia Seu-Ong of A-chia, baptized at Lo-ngwoug.
Decemher (60).

1867 Tang-iong, Sang-iong, and other out-stations occupied.

1868 Visitation of Bishop Alford. 90 converts confirmed (14).
Ordination of Wong Kiu-Taik on Ascension Day (14, 16).
Yen-ping occupied as an out-station (1 23).

1869 Rev. J. E. Mahood arrived (17).

Outbreak at Lo-ngwong ; destruction of the chapel. June (63).

1871 Bishop Alford's second visitation (17).
Mr. Cribb left for England. April (17).
Shan-sin-fan plot. July (18).

1872 Baptisms in the Hok-chiang district (133).

180 Foe Christ in Ffh-Kien.

1873 Commencement of a regular Preparandi Class for the Training of

Native Agents.

1874 Consecration of Rev. J. S. Burdon as successor to Bishop Alford (20).
Rev. A. B. Hutchinson visited the Mission.

1875 Mr. Mahood left for England invalided, and died on the voyage (20).
Kien-ning and Fuh-ning occupied as out-stations (26, 75, 112).
Expulsion of Mission from Yen-ping (123).

Bishop Burden's fi.rst visit to Fuh-chow (20).

1876 Murder of a convert at Ni-tu (86, 87).
Expulsion of Ling Sieng-Sing from Kien-ning (112).

Bishop Burden's visitation. Ordination of Tang Tang-Pieng, Sing-
Ki, Ling Sieng-Sing, and Su Chong-Ing. A2}r!l ISth. 515 converts
confirmed (20, 21).

Revs. R. W. Stewart and LI. Lloyd arrived (23).

1877 Death of Rev. Su Chong-Ing.

1878 Second futile attempt to occupy Kien-ning (113).
Wu-shih-shan riot ; destruction of the College. August SOth (23).
Ngoi Kaik-Ki appointed Vice-Principal of the College.
Hok-chiang Christians received into C.M.S. Mission (13.3).

1879 Death of Rev. Ling Sieng-Sing.
Dr. B. Van Someren Taylor arrived.
Action for ejectment again.st the Mission.

1880 Visitation of the Mission by Bishop Burdon. Ordination of SiaiSeu-

Ong at Ku-cheng. May SOtJi.
Removal of the Mission to Foreign Settlement, Fuh-chow (23, 25).
Rev. W. Banister arrived.

1881 Death of Rev. Tang Tang-Pieng.

Ordination of Ngoi Kaik-ki at Hong Kong. Feimary 25t7t.

Grift of Mr. W. C. Jones for establishing Training College at Fuh-chow.

1882 First baptisms at Ping-nang (108).

1883 New C.M.S. Theological College at Fuh-chow opened (28).

1884 Further attempt to re-occupy Kien-ning again unsuccessful (114).

1885 A Mission in Corea undertaken by Fuh-Kien Native Church (29).

1886 Tour of Bishop Burdon in Fuh-Kien. 900 Confirmations.

1887 The Rev. F. E. Wigram in Fuh-Kien (29).
First C.E.Z.M.S. missionaries arrived (28, 153).

Miss Goldie (first C.M.S. lady missionary) arrived (31, 154).

Rev. J. R. Wolfe appointed Archdeacon of Fuh-chow (35).

Ordination of Ting Seng-Ang, Lau Taik-Ong, and Ling Seng-Mi by Bishop

Burdon. Nuteviher 21th.
1889 Ordination of Ho Seu-Hok and Ting Chung-Seng by Bishop Burdon.

March nth.
Nang-wa occupied (114).
Dispensary established at Tai-chiu (suburb of Kien-ning) (115).

1891 Rev. H. S. Phillips began to live at Kien-yang (126).

1892 Tai-chiu Dispensary wrecked ; narrow escape of Dr. Rigg (115, 116).
Work in Sa-iong revived.

Riot at Kien-yang ; lives of Mr. and Mrs. Phillips endangered (126).

1893 Death of Rev. Wong Kiu-Taik (34).

Rev. C. Shaw appointed to Hing-hwa (148).

Hospital built at Kien-ning (Seven Stars Bridge) (117).

Misses H. E. and E. M. Saunders, from Australia, arrived (33, 39, 43).

Kien-yang re-occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Phillips (128).

Appendices. 181

1894 Death of Mrs. Martin (wife of Rev. J. Martin) (34).
Death of Mrs. Phillips (wife of Rev. H. S. Phillips) (34, 128).

1895 Massacre of Missionaries at Hwa-sang. August 1st (38-44).

1896 Fuh-ning assigned to Dublin University as special field (76).

Rev. and Mrs. J. R. S. Boyd (first missionaries sent by Canadian C.M.S.)

arrived.
Bishop Burdon resigned his see (36).
Remarkable movement towards Christianity — 753 adult baptisms (48).

1897 Kien-ning city occupied (117).

Rev. J. S. Collins drowned in river Min (121).

Mrs. Oollins, children, and nurse drowned in wreck of s.s. Aden off Socotra.

June (121).
Rev. Ting Seng-Ki died.

Visit of Mr. Mott, of Student Volunteer Missionary Union (48).
Re-occupation of Fuh-chow native city (49).

1898 Consecration of Rev. J. C. Hoare as successor to Bishop Burdon (36).
First baptisms at Kien-yang (128).

1899 Kien-ning city premises destroyed by mob ; murder of Native Christians

(118, 119).
Riot in Yen-ping (124).
Ordination of Wong Hung-Ong. Novemler 12th.

1900 Jubilee of Mission.

The " Boxer " troubles. Missionaries recalled to Fuh-chow from nearly

all the inland stations (36).
Native Christian killed in Fuh-chow district.

1901 Missionaries return to their stations (37).

1902 Deaths of Revs. Ting Seng-Ang and Sia Siu-Ong.

1903 Ordination of Diong In-Kieng, Ding Ing-Ong, Diong Ing-Do, Wong

Hung-Hwong, Ding Huai-Ngie. May \Zth.

III.— MISSIONARIES TO FUH-KIEN.

[Note. — The following is a list of all C.M.S. missionaries who have laboured,
or are labouring at the present time, in the Fuh-Kien Province of China. Where
a name occurs without " Rev." preceding the initials the missionary was a layman.

AbbreviatioHS. — The University or College of the missionary is indicated
thus :— Oxford, "Oxf." ; Cambridge, " Camb." ; Dublin, "Dub."; Durham,
" Dur." ; London, "Lond."; Church Missionary College, Islington, " Isl." : in
the case of ladies trained at " The Willows," Stoke Newington. " The Olives,"
South Hampstead, or at the Society's Highbury Training Home, the words
" Willows," " Olives," or " Highbury," occur after their names ; died, " (?."]

1.— Male Missionaries— Clerical and Lay.

1849 Welton, W., B.A. Oamb. MedicaL 1849-58 ; d. 1858.

Jackson, Rev. B. D. Isl. 1849-53.
1855 Fearnley, Rev. M., M.A. Camb. 1855-60.

M'Caw, Rev. P., B.A. Dub. 1855-57 ; d. 1857.
1858 Smith, Rev. G. Isl. 1858-63 ; d. 1863.
1861 Wolfe, Ven. J. R. Isl. From 1861 ; Arohdn. of Fuh-chow, 1887.

182 For Christ in Ftjh-Kien.

1868 Mahood, Rev. J. E. lal. 1868-75 ; d. 1875.

187i Sedgwick, Eev. J. H. Isl. 1874-76.

1876 Stewart, Rev. R. W., M.A. Dub. Isl. 1876-95 ; killed, 1895.

Lloyd, Rev. LI. Isl. From 1876.

1878 Taylor, B. Van S., M.B., C.i^. Edin. From 1878.

1881 Martin, Rev. J. Isl. From 1881.

1882 Shaw, Rev. C. Isl. From 1882.

1886 Light, Rev. W. Isl. 1886-1902.

1887 Collins, Rev. J. S., B.A. Duh. 1887-97 ; d. 1897.

1888 Knox, Rev. H. C, M.A. Oxf. 1888-90.
Phillips, Rev. H. S., M.A. Camb. From 1888.

1889 Eyton-Jones, Rev. H. M., M.A. Camb. 1889-1900.

1890 McClelland, Rev. T., M.A. Dub. 1890-97.
Mears, W. P., M.A., M.D. Dur. 1890-93 ; d. 1901.

1893 Star, Rev. L. H. F., M.A. Dub. 1893-1901.

1895 Bland, Rev. F. E. Isl. From 1895.
Cutten, Rev. J. A. Isl. 1895-97.

Boyd, Rev. J. R. S., B.A. Toronto. From 1895.

1896 Synge, Rev. S., B.A., M.B., B.Ch. Dub. From 1896.
Woods, T. B. Isl. From 1896.

1897 White, Rev. W. C. Prom 1897.
Miiller, W. From 1897.

Howe, Rev. S. W. C, B.A. Camb. 1897-1900.

Mackenzie. Rev. M., B.A. Dub., M.B., CM. Edin. From 1897.

Pakenham. H. R., B.A., M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O. Dub. Isl. From 1897.

Sampson, A. T., M.B., CM. Edin. Isl. From 1897.

Studdert, Rev. T. de C, M.A. Dub. Isl. From 1897.

Pakenham-Walsh, Rev. W. S., M.A. Dub. From 1897.

1898 Nightingale. Rev. S. J. Isl. From 1898.

1899 Carpenter, Rev. J. B., B.A. Camb. Isl. From 1899.
Wilkinson. C, M.A., M.B., B.C. Camb. From 1899.

1902 Blundy, J. Isl. From 1902.

Hind, Rev. J., B.A. Dub. From 1902.
Reeves, C W. Isl. From 1902.

1903 Sanger. P., M.A. ,M.B. Camb., M.R.C.S.,L.R.C.P. From 1903.
Ridler, Rev. H. B. Isl. From 1903.

Butler, Rev. J. J. Isl. From 1903.

2. — Women Missionaries.

1887 Goldie, Miss Emma Sophia. From 1887.
1889 Boileau, Miss Maria Dechal. From 1889.

1892 Clarke, Miss Janet Gumming. Willows. From IS 92.
Clarke, Miss Jemima Eliza. Willows. From 1892.
Wolfe, Miss Mary Elizabeth. From 1892.

1893 Saunders, Miss Harriette Elinor. 1893-95 ; killed, 1895.
Saunders, Miss Elizabeth M. 1893-95 ; killed, 1895.

1896 Oxley, Miss Amy Isabella. Nurse. 1896-1902 (now Mrs. G. Wilkinson).
Andrews, Miss Katherine M. Nurse. Highbury. From 1896.
Barber, Miss Margaret E. Willows. From 1896.

Appendices. 183

Brooks, Miss Edith M. M. Highbury. FroQ\ 1896.

Clemson, Miss Rosamund. Highbury. 1896-1900 (now Mrs. T. de C.

Studdert).
Harrison, Miss Eleanor J. Highbury. From 1896.
Leybourn, Miss Amelia Louise. Nurse. Highbury. From 1896.
Little, Miss Eugenie Louisa. Willows. From 1896.
Oatway, Miss Florence Emily. Willows. From 1896.
Wolfe, Miss Annie Muriel. From 1896.
Thomas, Miss Edith Marion K. Highbury. From 1896.
Molloy, Miss Margaret E. From 1896.
Searle, Miss Minna. From 1896. i

Harmar, Miss Gertrude Maude. Willows. 1896-1902 [now Mrs. "\V. S.

Pakenham- Walsh) .
Harmar, Miss Mary, L.R.C.P. & S. Edin., M.D. Brussels. 1896-97 (now

Mrs. S. Synge.)
Massey, Miss Ellen Elizabeth. Nurse. From 1896.

1897 Newton, Miss Sophia S. From 1897.
Suttor, Miss Isabel. From 1897.
Saunders, Mrs. B. From 1897.
Bibb, Miss Leila. 1897-1901.

1898 Burton, Miss Amy B. Hill. Highbury. 'From 1898.

Forge, Miss Augusta Frederica. Nurse. Highbury. From 1898.
Forge, Miss Florence Annie. Nurse. Highbury. , From 1898.
Greer, Miss Anna Louisa. Willows. 1898-1900.
Poulter, Miss Mabel. M.B., B.Ch. Glas. From 1898.
Mort, Miss Ellen. From 1898.
Nicholson, Miss Kate Louise. From 1898.

1899 McClelland, Miss Annie. Highbury. From 1899.
Bushell, Miss Jessy. From 1899.

Lambert, Miss Clara Jane. From 1899.

1900 Poulter, Miss Julia Harriette. Willows. From 1900.
Sears, Miss Margaret Ellen. From 1900.

1901 Bennett, Miss Mary Isabella. Highbury. From 1901.
Hitchcock, Miss Alice Maud. Highbury. From 1901.
Ramsay, Miss Isabella Bonella. Highbury. From 1901.
Merchant, Miss Elizabeth Eva. Willows. From 1901.
Baldwin, Miss Margaret Ellen. Nurse. Willows. From 1901.
Marshall, Miss Nellie Osborne. From 1901.

1902 Coleman, Miss Fanny Louisa. Highbury. From 1902.
Bradley, Miss Lucy Florence. Willows. From 1902.
Carpenter, Miss Alice. Olives. From 1902.

1903 Hanington, Miss Mabel Louise, M.B. Toronto. From 1903.
Heard. Miss Anna Maria. Olives. From 1903.

184

FoK Christ in Fuh-Kien.

IV.— STATISTICS OF THE FUH-KIEN MISSION IN
QUINQUENNIAL PERIODS.

Year.

Foreign Missionaries.

S3
3

•A

bo

<l

'-3

Native CI

risti.nn Adherents.

Communicants.

1

>
^

S

1

Baptized.

■J,

§

1

.3

t
o

1865

1

2

*

»

«

13

1870

3

3

6

1

34

«

*

340

160

1876

2

1

3

1

26

-ft

»

1,200

400

1880

2

1

3

6

3

116

*

*

3,556

1,261

1886

6

1

7

13

4

140

3,188

2,516

6,704

2,011

1890

10

2

10

2

24

8

224

4,163

4,326

8,489

2,267

1895

12

2

11

8

33

11

157

6,540

6,671

13,111

3,062

1900

16

7

14

34

71

11

195

9,667

11,811

21,478

4,327

1903

15

9

17

41

82

16

224

10,385

l,667t

12,052

4,297

'* No returns under these headings.

t This decrease is apparent rather than real, and is due to the imposition of a definite
test before admission to the catechumenate. The number of catechumens in 1903 under
the old plan was 12,739.