1 1 1 1 ■ ■ ■ 1 1 ■ I ■ ■ ■ „ , . . . .TTrt'. 
 
 WA NG : 
 A CHINESE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 I Rt. Rev. W. W. CASSELS. 
 
 Bishop of Wt'stern China. 
 
 I^EW EDITION. 
 
 lonCon : 
 
 Morgan & Scott, 12, Paternoster Buildings, E.G. 
 China Inland Mission, Newington Green, N. 
 
 ^ I I I I I I I I I I I 11 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I M l I I II I I I I I I I I I I I I I 
 
WANG : 
 A CHINESE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 RIGHT REV. W. W. CASSELS, BISHOP OF 
 WESTERN CHINA. 
 
 "For this cause we also, since the dav we heard it, do fzol 
 cease to pray for you!' — Col. i. 9. 
 
 — ^-e^ — 
 
 0NE of the most remarkable of the 
 Christians connected with the little 
 Pao-ning Church in North-east Si- 
 ch'uen is a man of the name of Wang 
 Tsong-ih. 
 
 Originally belonging to the Ma family, 
 he was, in early life, adopted by the 
 Wangs, who seem to have given him a 
 fairly good education. Later on, he 
 obtained an appointment in the army, 
 and served in several engagements in 
 the province of Yun-nan at the time of 
 the Mohammedan rebellion. 
 
Wang : A Chinese Christian. 
 
 3 
 
 He had a good position, but lived a 
 wild and reckless life, and ultimately was 
 dismissed from his regiment for opium- 
 smoking, which was a breach of military 
 discipline. Returning home to a district 
 proverbially immoral, notwithstanding the 
 hundred temples from which it derives its 
 name, he continued for a while his evil 
 life ; so much so, that, as he has often 
 said, there was no sin of which he was 
 not guilty. But soon Wang's dormant 
 conscience began to awake ; he grew 
 dissatisfied with his evil life and longed 
 for something better. 
 
 Various plans were pursued in order to 
 bring peace to his restless heart. First, 
 he tried a Buddhist receipt ; he became 
 a vegetarian, and learnt to recite incanta- 
 tions, in the vain hope of accumulating 
 merit and appeasing the cravings of his 
 conscience. Then he went on Confucian 
 lines, and for some three years travelled 
 about preaching the published sermons 
 on the moral maxims of the Sacred Edict ; 
 getting thereby, no doubt, sufticient money 
 
4 Wang : A Chinese Christian. 
 
 to pay his travelling expenses, but certainly 
 getting no satisfaction for his aching heart. 
 
 Later on, he heard of the Roman Catholic 
 place in our city ; and, applying there for 
 some teaching, he was instructed to buy 
 a yellow candle which he was to burn, 
 reciting certain prayers three times a day 
 from books with which he was furnished. 
 But, as I have heard him say, the so-called 
 converts there were utterly unchanged in 
 their lives, and were guilty of sins which 
 even he felt to be wrong. 
 
 After another year or two his steps 
 were led, thank God, to the Fuh-ing 
 T'ang, as the Missionaries' houses and 
 chapels are generally called, which had 
 only recently been opened in the city of 
 Pao-ning, Here he heard the Gospel for 
 the first time, and in this case, as in so 
 many others, it was the exhortations of a 
 native Christian, who was himself but 
 starting on the Christian life, which 
 chiefly moved him. He bought a couple 
 of Christian books, and studied them at 
 home. Later on he returned again, re- 
 
Wang: A Chinese Christian. 5 
 
 ceived a little further instruction, and 
 purchased a New Testament. 
 
 Now, it was his ambition to possess an 
 Old Testament ; but the book was com- 
 paratively expensive, and money had also 
 to be provided for his road expenses into 
 the city, a distance of over thirty miles. 
 His circumstances at this time were such 
 that it was no easy thing for him to save 
 money ; but so eagerly did he desire the 
 precious volume that he stinted himself 
 of his necessary food until at last he had 
 got together sufficient money, and was 
 able to come in and make his purchase. 
 
 It was about this time that Mr. Beau- 
 champ, accompanied by a native Christian, 
 first visited his house, on one of his many 
 itinerations. 
 
 Wang himself was away, but his wife 
 was at home, and they were invited in. 
 They found every sign of idolatry re- 
 moved, and in the place where idolatrous 
 scrolls generally hang they found new 
 scrolls, one witfi words to the effect that 
 the Supreme Ruler was the one true 
 
6 Wang : A Chinese Christian. 
 
 God, the other saying that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ was the one only Saviour. And 
 instead of the usual incense vase there 
 was placed the treasured Bible and other 
 Christian books. 
 
 Mrs. Wang told the visitors that every 
 seventh day her husband spent the day in 
 reading the Bible, and would hardly even 
 cross the threshold for fear of breaking 
 some command in which he had been 
 instructed. There was a little grandchild 
 there who could repeat some Christian 
 hymns and had learnt to pray. 
 
 Until this time we knew but little about 
 Mr. Wang ; but at Christmas, 1891, we 
 invited him, with our other native Christ- 
 ians and catechumens, to come and spend 
 two or three days with us. It was then 
 that he came out on the Lord's side very 
 clearly. 
 
 Just before Christmas, Mr. Cecil Polhill- 
 Turner arrived at Pao-ning on his way to 
 Sung-p'an where he was hoping to open a 
 station for work among the Tibetans. On 
 his way to us our brother had been daily 
 
Wang : A Chinese Christian. 7 
 
 asking the Lord to provide a native com- 
 panion for him, who would be a help on 
 this expedition into an entirely new 
 district. He mentioned the matter to me. 
 My difficulty was that it was contrary to 
 our practice to employ our Christians or 
 catechumens, if it could possibly be 
 avoided, for the reason, so well under- 
 stood in China, that the witness of 
 Christians (especially in small and young 
 churches) who have been taken into em- 
 ploy is so much less powerful than that of 
 those who are entirely independent. I 
 felt, however, that if our brother's prayer 
 was of the Lord, He would find a way to 
 answer it without causing any hurt to our 
 little church. So we prayed for guidance, 
 and took no further step at that moment. 
 
 On Christmas-day the Holy Spirit was 
 manifestly working in our midst, and the 
 service, instead of closing as usual, took 
 the form of a sort of consecration meeting 
 at which our Christians and catechumens 
 were found ready to yield up to the Lord, 
 out of love to Him, various things which 
 
8 Wang: A Chinese Christian, 
 
 might prove a hindrance to them. One, 
 for instance, brought up his tobacco-pipe ; 
 others resolved to give up their w^ine ; and 
 so on. Witnessing this spirit with great 
 joy, it occurred to me afterwards that 
 possibly someone might offer to go with 
 Mr. Polhill-Turner as a volunteer. 
 
 A day or two afterwards our brother 
 had an opportunity of addressing our 
 people and of stating his needs. At the 
 close of that service, in answer to a very 
 guarded sort of appeal, Wang stood up 
 and declared his readiness to go. 
 
 Now, it had already occurred to us that 
 Wang would be a very suitable man in 
 many ways. He had been in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Sung-p'an ; he could write 
 and read well, and would thus be a help 
 in drawing up a deed of rental ; he would 
 not be above doing rough and menial 
 work and acting as a servant on the road. 
 But I felt it to be very important that he 
 should not undertake this service lightly, 
 or with any misapprehension of its condi- 
 tions. So I pointed out in detail the hard- 
 
Wang: A Chinese Christian. 
 
 ships that would be incurred ; he would 
 have to look after the horse, and carry the 
 baggage, and was to receive only his food. 
 
 Being still resolved to go, his offer was 
 accepted, and he set off with Mr. Turner. 
 
 At Sung-p'an, a house was taken and 
 Wang left in charge, whilst Mr. Turner went 
 off into the Kan-suh province to fetch 
 his wife and children. They returned in 
 May, and for two or three months Wang 
 remained helping in the work. 
 
 After this, however, there ensued a period 
 of drought, which was attributed to the 
 foreigners, it being reported that Mr. Turner 
 was seen to go outside the city gate and 
 wave a brush across the sky, thus sweep- 
 ing away the gathering clouds. 
 
 At last on 29th July the threats of venge- 
 ance broke out into open violence so terrible 
 that we can hardly bear to tell of it even 
 in a passing word. A crowd, which had 
 been gathering all the morning, rushed into 
 the courtyard, and with murderous violence 
 and terrible curses and cruel blows, our 
 friends were all seized and bound, and 
 
10 Wang: A Chinese Christian. 
 
 dragged out into the street. And then 
 stripped and wounded they were led out- 
 side the city gates, where the rabble, 
 divided in mind, cried out : — " Throw 
 them into the river," " Stone them," " Tie 
 them up in the sun till the rain comes." 
 
 But before any course of action was 
 decided on, a military official appeared, 
 and with some difficulty persuaded the 
 crowd to take the party up to the magis- 
 trate's residence for trial. Here they were 
 kept for some hours in a small room, their 
 arms still tightly bound, while the howling 
 mob raged without. 
 
 At length the magistrate called for 
 Wang, along with the cook who was in 
 attendance on the Turners, and assuring 
 them that he could not otherwise disperse 
 the crowd, required them to be punished 
 to appease the mob. Uncomplainingly they 
 assented, and were taken out and beaten 
 in the usual way across the legs till the 
 flesh was terribly raw, and then heavy 
 wooden collars were placed upon their 
 necks and at last the crowd dispersed. 
 
Wang: A Chinese Christian. n 
 
 When asked at the beginning of the 
 magistrate's examination who he was, 
 Wang simply answered that he was a 
 Christian, though if he had been faint- 
 hearted, he might easily have disclaimed 
 being anything but an outsider, not having 
 received baptism at that time. 
 
 And when his master and mistress after- 
 wards expressed their horror and indigna- 
 tion at his treatment, Wang only said, 
 " Oh, it is nothing ; it was for Jesus' sake." 
 
 When the suffering missionaries had been 
 escorted safely to a neighbouring Mission 
 Station, Wang returned to Pao-ning. 
 
 I was immensely struck with his 
 behaviour. There was no word of com- 
 plaint against the magistrate who had 
 beaten him so terribly ; on the contrary, 
 he praised him, saying he had done his 
 best to allay the riot. There was no boast- 
 ing spirit because he had suffei-ed so 
 nobly ; on the contrary, he never men- 
 tioned the matter, until, when I found out 
 from my letters what had happened, I 
 questioned him to get at the details. ■ He 
 
12 Wang : A Chinese Christian. 
 
 said that his heart was full of peace as he 
 stood upon the bank of the river, bound 
 hand and foot, and expecting every 
 moment to be thrown in. He had just one 
 regret. He regretted that he had not 
 yet confessed Christ in baptism, fearing 
 that perhaps Christ would not confess 
 him as His disciple. I assured him that 
 he had passed through a baptism of fire. 
 
 On 25th September, 1892, he was duly 
 admitted into the Church along with five 
 others, one being the native teacher from 
 whom he had first heard the Gospel. 
 
 Since that time, our friend has continued 
 to grow in grace, and has been not a little 
 used of God, On Christmas day of that 
 year, at another consecration meeting, he 
 was led to give up his tobacco-pipe ; 
 and he gave the following reasons for 
 doing so — reasons which might possibly 
 have weight elsewhere than in China : — 
 
 1. When reading his Bible, his atten- 
 tion was frequently distracted by his pipe. 
 
 2, When out preaching with one of the 
 
Wang: A Chinese Christian. 13 
 
 missionaries, his going oif to get a smoke 
 often delayed them. 
 
 3. He had just taken the Holy Com- 
 munion, and it seemed inconsistent to be- 
 gin to smoke tobacco directly afterwards. 
 
 4. It was a bad example for his child- 
 ren and grandchildren. 
 
 5. It was a useless habit. 
 
 The action was entirely his own, and 
 appeared to be prompted by the desire to 
 be free from a habit, which might in anyway 
 hinder his full consecration, or prevent the 
 full inflow of the Holy Spirit to his heart. 
 
 Some month's later Wang's son was 
 baptised, and the young man's testimony on 
 that occasion is worth repeating. " When 
 lirst my father came home," he said, "and 
 began exhorting us to believe the Gospel, I 
 thought to myself, ' Well, you are a fine sort 
 of person to come and preach to us ; you 
 have never done a good thing in your life. 
 But as for me, though I can't say I am free 
 from sin, yet I have always stopped at home 
 and done my farming, and lived a respect- 
 
14 Wang: A Chinese Christian. 
 
 able life.' But/' he added, "in a short time 
 I began to see that my father's life was quite 
 changed, and then I believed what he said." 
 
 But his life and testimony have been used 
 to others, too. His wife and daughter-in- 
 law have, after the usual full probation 
 and examination, been admitted into the 
 Church, and several others in his neigh- 
 bourhood have also been brought to the 
 Lord through him. 
 
 One, for instance, is a man named Wei, 
 who had practised sorcery and exorcism 
 for 45 years, and had also taught pupils 
 these black arts. On one occasion he was 
 led by Wang to come into Pao-ning, bring- 
 ing with him his idols, his books of sorcery, 
 and his divining sticks, which he burnt 
 pubhcly on the Lord's day. 
 
 A month later, when this man returned 
 to attend Our Sunday services, I asked 
 him in our testimony meeting, whether he 
 had made up his mind and intended to 
 serve the Lord. The little, old man, who 
 has a big head and large eyes, drew him- 
 self up to his full height, and with just a 
 
Wang: A Chinese Christian, 15 
 
 touch of indignation, exclaimed : — " Am I 
 going to serve the Lord ! Why, when I 
 burnt my books and idols, I gave myself to 
 the Lord. I am the Lord's." 
 
 To shew how diligently this ex-sorcerer 
 has studied the New Testament, I may 
 mention that he has written in larger char- 
 acters the numbers of the verses throughout 
 the whole New Testament, in order that 
 with his poor eyesight, he may more 
 quickly catch sight of them. 
 
 I must keep reading this Book," he 
 says, " or else I cannot keep the devil out 
 of my heart, having served him so long." 
 
 Visits which have from time to time 
 been paid to Wang's house show increas- 
 ingly that his family (which includes several 
 grandchildren) is being brought up in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord. 
 
 " One glance into Wang's little thatched 
 cottage," writes Miss F. M. Williams, 
 referring to a visit, " was enough to show 
 that it was a Christian's home . . . His 
 son came in from the fields, where he had 
 
1 6 Wang: A Chinese Christian. 
 
 been working, with a gospel of St. Mark in 
 his hand. They insisted on keeping us to 
 their dinner of rice and sweet potatoes, and 
 when I spoke of leaving, the son said : * Do 
 not go until we have prayed together.' " 
 
 " As the next day was Sunday, I arranged 
 to go up again from the market and have 
 a service, and though the Wangs' house is 
 in quite an isolated spot, far away among 
 the hills, they had gathered together about 
 forty people, and we had a good time. 
 
 " Wang had previously suffered a good 
 deal of petty persecution from the neigh- 
 bours. While he was having his Sunday 
 services they would destroy his ripening 
 crops, and so on." 
 
 Later on Miss Kolkenbeck writes : — 
 We had a good time at Peh-miao-ch' ang 
 (The Hundred Temples' Market) and at 
 Wang's home. A man named Li Wan-yiien 
 came to us for medicine, and pressed us 
 to visit his home. We did so, and they 
 entertained us very "hospitably. They are 
 such nice people, and very well-to-do. 
 After dinner, while having a talk, he asked 
 
Wang- A Chinese Christian. 17 
 
 how he was to worship God. I told him 
 the first thing would be to destroy his idols. 
 
 " ' How am I to do that ? ' 
 
 Put them in the fire, they are only 
 wood/ I answered. 
 
 " ' Shall I do it at once ? ' 
 
 " ' Certainly, the sooner the better.' 
 
 " So he immediately stood up on a stool, 
 and got down his Uen-chang Lao-ie [the god 
 of literature]. 
 
 " Our Christian coolie and servant spoke 
 very nicely to him, encouraging him to trust 
 only in God, and telling him their own 
 experience on similar occasions. So the 
 idol was chopped up and set fire to, as 
 well as all idolatrous papers, etc. Then 
 we sang a hymn and had prayer. . . . 
 The idol was destroyed in the presence 
 and with the full consent of Li's wife, 
 grown-up son, daughter-in-law, and other 
 children, besides two married daughters 
 who had returned on a visit, and a good 
 many neighbours — no one raising objection. 
 
 " It will be an opening for future work, 
 and I hope to visit them soon again. 
 
1 8 Wang: A Chinese Christian. 
 
 "Wang was not with us ; he had 
 strained his back the day before, and so 
 was not able to go on as had been 
 arranged. He was much cheered by the 
 news, and no doubt the Lord kept him in 
 the district to be a help to Li Wan-yiien. 
 He is very bright as usual." 
 
 More recently our friend has been 
 helping in the work at Kwang-yiien. 
 
 We have told the story so far without 
 comment of our own, but a few remarks 
 burn for utterance in conclusion. 
 
 First. See here one instance (and the 
 story of many another Christian would 
 bear it out) that God is blessing His work, 
 and give Him, oh ! give Him, the honour 
 due unto His Name ! Let full, unstinted 
 praise go up to our God, for He is with 
 us in our work, hearing prayer, and 
 granting the presence and power of His 
 blessed Spirit. 
 
 But, secondly^ what a trumpet-call to 
 renewed effort we have in this little story ! 
 For twenty years, as Wang has said, he 
 sought the way of life and found it not. 
 
Wang : A Chinese Christian. 19 
 
 And he is but one of millions left to grope 
 in heathen darkness all their lives, and 
 then, at last, fall into impenetrable gloom. 
 
 The elder of a market-town in our dis- 
 trict, said to a Christian who was start- 
 ing on the three days' journey to Pao-ning : 
 — " Go, and tell the Missionary that he 
 must send a preacher here to teach us the 
 way of life, otherwise we shall all be lost, 
 and in the lost world we shall make our cry 
 against those who refused to come and 
 teach us ! " 
 
 Oh ! that this little story might prove to 
 be a trumpet-call to renewed consecration 
 to God for the evangelisation of China, in 
 the case of many who read it ! 
 
 And lastly, we are burdened with an 
 intense desire to lay this man Wang and all 
 the native converts upon the hearts of God's 
 people as an object of earnest and continued 
 prayer. Oh ! how little many of us have 
 risen to our responsibilities, or enjoyed our 
 privileges as intercessors ! God have mercy 
 upon us, and help us, lest these neglected 
 responsibilities and unused privileges rise 
 
20 Wang: A Chinese Christian. 
 
 up in judgment against us ; lest through 
 our fault the work is being weakened — 
 poor tried and tempted ones stumbling 
 into the hands of the oppressor, when 
 they might have been strengthened to 
 stand out manfully for God ! 
 
 It has often been noticed that when the 
 history of such a man as this is made 
 public for the encouragement of God's 
 people, the evil one makes a special attack 
 upon him to cause him to fall. Shall we 
 not be beforehand this time, and earnestly 
 uphold this brother with our prayers ? 
 
 NOTE TO NEW EDITION. 
 
 Some time after the foregoing was 
 written, Wang did fall, by resuming the 
 use of opium, though we cannot doubt 
 that he was restrained by God in answer 
 to prayer, from plunging more deeply into 
 sin. When his fall became known among 
 the workers in China and the friends of 
 the Mission at home, there was much 
 prayer made to God by many of His 
 people, that the power of Satan might be 
 
Wang : A Chinese Christian. 21 
 
 restrained, and our brother be brought 
 back into fellowship with Christ and 
 with the Church. 
 
 • The following account from Rev. C. H. 
 Parsons gives the briefest outline of God's 
 answer to prayer, in Wang's full confes- 
 sion and restoration. In the midst of our 
 praises we must not forget that the evil 
 one will continue to plot against him, and 
 that he will need our prayers quite as 
 much now for his upholding as before he 
 did for his uplifting. 
 
 **The restoration to fellowship of Wang 
 Tsong-ih — who had to be suspended, 
 early in the year (1897), for opium- 
 smoking — was a most touching scene. 
 He asked to be allowed to sing a hymn 
 {" I think upon my sins and then, amid 
 his tears, spoke of his past life ; his time 
 at Sung-p'an with Mr. Cecil Polhill- 
 Turner ; his fall, when he took opium to 
 allay neuralgia ; and the Lord's subse- 
 quent dealings with him — how the house 
 at Peh-miao-ch'ang, where he had been 
 smoking, fell down, injuring him, and 
 
22 Wang : A Chinese Chfistian. 
 
 leaving a mark on his head which he will 
 very likely carry for life. He realised 
 this as God's voice, and we saw in it an 
 answer to our cries to God for our much- 
 valued brother. He quoted Micah vii. 8, 
 ' Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy : 
 when I fall, I shall arise,' etc. All of us 
 felt that we had a very blessed meeting 
 that afternoon." 
 
 Our latest letters from the Pao-ning 
 district speak of our brother as being 
 actively engaged in the work of carrying 
 the Gospel into new districts. 
 
 F.A.S. 
 
 May, 1898, 
 
London ; Newington Qreen, Mildmay, N. 
 Toronto: 632, Church Street. 
 Melbourne: 267, Collins Street. 
 
 Origirii— The Mission was formed by Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, 
 M.R.C.S., in 1865, with the object of carrying the Gospel to the 
 millions of souls in the hiland Provinces of China. 
 
 MethodSi— (i) Candidates, if duly qualified, are accepted irres- 
 pectively of nationality, and without restriction as to denomination, 
 provided there is soundness in the faith on all fundamental truths, 
 (2) The Mission will not go into debt ; it guarantees no income to the 
 Missionaries, but ministers to each as the funds sent in will allow. 
 Thus all the workeis are expected to depend upon God alone for 
 temporal supplies. (3) Neither collections nor personal solicitation 
 of money are authorised. 
 
 Ag'ency. — The staff of the Mission in May, 1898, consisted of 
 773 Missionaries (including wives, and Associates). There are also 
 over 600 Native Helpers, some supported from Mission funds, and 
 others either provided for by themselves or by native contributions. 
 
 Support. — The Missionaries and Native Helpers are supported, 
 and the rents and other expenses of Mission premises, schools, &c., 
 are met, by contributions sent to the Offices of the Mission, without 
 personal solicitation, by those who wish to aid in this effort to spread 
 the knowledge of the Gospel throughout China. The income for 1897 
 was about ;^45,ooo from all sources. 
 
 Progress.— More than 300 stations and out-stations have been 
 opened and are now occupied either by Missionaries or Native 
 labourers. Since 1865 more than 10,500 converts have been baptized ; 
 and there are now (1898) over seven thousand communicants in 
 fellowship. 
 
Wei, the ex-sorcerer, referred to on pages 14-16.