Soldier— Pastor 
 Martyr 
 
 WANG CHEN PEI 
 
 The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, Rindge Literature Department 
 150 Fifth Ave., New York City 
 
SOLDIER— PASTOR 
 MARTYR 
 
 By 
 
 Mrs. F. D. GAMEWELL 
 
 WANG CHEN PEI was a soldier in 
 the first days of his young man- 
 hood. Six feet tall and stalwart. With 
 head thrown back and fine freedom of mo- 
 tion in his powerful frame he was a picture 
 of youth rejoicing in his strength. 
 
 He was at home in his native village 
 when his father left for a trip to Peking. It 
 was an arduous journey of thirteen days' 
 travel by cart. The allotted time of absence 
 passed and the father did not return. Days 
 grew to weeks and then Chen Pei vowed a 
 vow. He vowed that if the gods would 
 bring back his father to his anxious family, 
 he would then take the whole family on a 
 pilgrimage to the sacred mountain of Tai, 
 
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where they would prostrate themselves and 
 give thanks. The vow was made — the 
 father returned. There was rejoicing and 
 they told him of the vow. The father said : 
 "No, no, my son. We surely shall give 
 thanks, but not at Tai or any other moun- 
 tain, neither before any of all the gods we 
 have known in the past. I have found the 
 true God. To him we shall give thanks." 
 The old man gathered his wondering fam- 
 ily about him and with speech and manner 
 that silenced all questions, the father told 
 the story of how, in Peking, he had found 
 the true God. 
 
 Who can picture its telling in a Pagan 
 village to ears accustomed to tales of many 
 gods that now heard for the first time of 
 the one God and His Son? 
 
 The substance of the story was as 
 follows : 
 
 The venerable Mr. Wang while travers- 
 ing a great street of China's capital city, 
 observed a throng passing in and out of a 
 small building that opened upon the street. 
 On approaching he learned that a foreigner 
 was talking inside. He stepped in to have 
 a look at the foreigner. Being a well bred 
 gentleman he quietly seated himself and 
 
looked about. Presently what the foreigner 
 was saying arrested his attention. He 
 moved to a front seat and listened intently. 
 Here was answer to many questions. Here 
 was supply for many a need. Can it be 
 true ? Mr. Wang waited until the preacher 
 sat down, for this foreigner was a Meth- 
 odist missionary and this building was a 
 Methodist street chapel. Then Mr. Wang 
 came forward and asked questions concern- 
 ing what he had heard. The missionary 
 became interested in the intelligent ques- 
 tioner and invited him to come to the mis- 
 sion in a near-by street and stay a few days 
 until he could satisfy his questioning mind 
 and heart. The missionary gave Mr. Wang 
 a room, a Bible, and helps for the study of 
 the Bible. The old man read and studied, 
 and questioned the missionaries in daily in- 
 terviews. Poring over the wonderful story 
 day by day, it sunk into his soul and he was 
 converted. Then he remembered that the 
 days of his absence from home had length- 
 ened beyond expectation, and fearing that 
 his family might be anxious, he bade adieu 
 to the missionaries, first securing from 
 them a promise to visit him in his village 
 home, and hastened to return to his family. 
 
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Months passed, for there was much to be 
 done in that Peking mission, and never 
 enough workers for the doing of it all ; then 
 the missionaries packed a cart with Bibles 
 and tracts, with bedding and food, bestrode 
 their horses and set off for Au Chia in 
 Shang Tung, the home of Mr. Wang. They 
 stopped in villages along the way and 
 preached in the streets, distributed tracts 
 and Bibles, held inquiry meetings in the 
 inns, and came, finally to Au Chia. There 
 they found that Mr. Wang had taught his 
 family the new way of salvation. The old 
 man announced to the joyfully received 
 missionaries that all in his house waited the 
 coming of the missionary that they might 
 be baptized. 
 
 Chen Pei was baptized with the rest. 
 Also his mother whom he afterward 
 wheeled to Peking in a wheel-barrow, four 
 hundred miles away, where she might learn 
 to read the Bible for herself. This was 
 after the death of his father. His father 
 had hoped to preach, but was taken ill and 
 knew that his hope could not be realized, 
 but he rejoiced that he had a son to take 
 up the work which he himself would so 
 gladly have done. 
 
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Chen Pei finished the course of the Train- 
 ing School in Peking and became a preach- 
 er and vigorous soldier of the Cross. He 
 knew no physical fear and was also a fear- 
 less spiritual leader. He often gave safe 
 escort to the girls of the Peking school to 
 and from home in their vacation days. His 
 powerful figure, his fearless manner, and 
 masterful bearing made him a tower of 
 strength to the girls, and to timid church 
 members later on in the beginning of the 
 persecution of 1900, when he held his own 
 through stormy days in spite of threats and 
 open demonstrations. He was in Peking 
 when the final crash came and the siege of 
 Peking was ushered in, by a storm of bul- 
 lets that continued until the allies came and 
 put an end to the storm. 
 
 The Japanese soldiers who, with the Ital- 
 ians, guarded the premises in which nearly 
 three hundred native Christians were given 
 refuge, organized a spear corps and made 
 Chen Pei the captain of the spear men. 
 Spears were the only arms available, so 
 with spears Chen Pei and his men were 
 armed. Their particular duty was to watch 
 ior any of the enemy who might have a 
 mind to come over the wall of their refuge, 
 
and punch them into a change of mind. 
 One day when leading his spear men Chen 
 Pei was shot. They laid him upon a 
 stretcher and carried him into the British 
 Legation and would have carried him into 
 the hospital there, but his agony was so 
 extreme that they laid him upon the ground 
 outside the door and built a mat covering 
 to protect him from the sun. His son, the 
 grandson of the old Mr. Wang, sat beside 
 him and fanned him until his spirit was 
 freed. 
 
 A friend who had known Chen Pei since 
 the days of his conversion and through all 
 his days of service, kneeled beside him and 
 asked in all tenderness, "How is it with you 
 now, Chen Pei ?" Slowly, feebly, he replied, 
 "My body is in great agony, but my heart 
 is at peace, Jesus is here." 
 
 What was it not worth to have had a 
 part in sending the missionaries who led 
 Chen Pel's father and Chen Pei himself into 
 the right way? What was it not worth to 
 have had a part in building the chapel 
 where Mr. Wang first heard of God and 
 Jesus ? What was it not worth to have had 
 a part in supplying the missionaries' carts 
 with tracts and Bibles, — to have had a part 
 
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in building the Training School to fit such 
 
 men for preaching? There are other Mr. 
 
 Wangs. There are other Chen Pels, but 
 
 few missionaries. There are many cities 
 
 and few chapels, — many to be taught and 
 
 few schools; and the command still abides, 
 
 "Go ye into all the world and teach." 
 
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