Persecuted Chinese Christians Attend Missionary’s Bible Class

Originally published in 1892

This class is composed of the more promising among our country members who give hope that they may be future leaders in their neighborhoods, of some new converts who need to get an insight into Bible study, of some young men who are regularly studying with me, and some of the larger Christian school boys, and such of the Canton church as can spare the time. … Let me introduce you to a few of them.

That brother on the left is brother Hui King San. He is a born leader; a literary man of some cultivation. When he first came, soon after his conversion, he had some of the proud over-bearing manner of his class, but this has worn off, and he now shows forth the meek spirit of Christ. He always sits near the front, drinks in every word of instruction, nods his head in approbation, and smiles as new ideas and fresh truths break in upon him. … He and brother Ho Kap Sui are the leaders among the Hakka brethren in Tung Une. On the front benches, on the right, are two old men. One, old brother Li … has stood persecution, and now in his old age, (he is about 70), he comes regularly to every quarterly class at his own expense, and delights to spend the evening of his days in studying the Word. …

A few seats back of these two old brethren are two young men from near Shiu Hing, both very bright. One of them, brother Liu … was a student. … His becoming a Christian aroused much opposition and persecution. His father’s hopes for his literary career were blasted, for it is almost impossible for a Christian to be admitted to a degree if he acknowledges himself a Christian. He was beaten and locked up, but made his escape by night over the roof. His father gave his uncle, who is a desperate character, a written permission to kill him wherever he might find him. He escaped to Canton … and he has been earning a bare subsistence by doing copying. … Since the class he has been studying regularly with me, but has lately returned home on a visit by my advice, and through God’s answer to our prayers, we learn that his parents have become reconciled to him, and he is kept busy all day talking to his fellow-villagers of Jesus. …

On the seat behind these young men are three men from the province of Kwang Si. One of them, brother Pau Man Wa … is consumed with a burning zeal to bring his native province to Christ. For this he has been persecuted and beaten, and forbidden to enter villages; but he works with unflagging zeal and the gentle and earnest spirit of Christ. … With him are two men whom he has brought down to class. They were both baptized last year. One of them deserves to be mentioned as an example of how the gospel works. Some three years ago a little band of Christians met at the house of one of their number to read the Bible and worship God. … Several of the Sue clan had become Christians, and the clan had a meeting to stop the progress of this new-fangled perverse doctrine. They selected three of their number, one of whom was Yue Kin Poon, now our brother, to warn the Christians to desist. … The Christians replied that they were breaking no law and had a right to worship as they thought right. When they met the next day they were set on by [a] mob, led by brother Yue. Brother Pau was beaten, as were several others. … The things in the room were broken or carried away. The Christians took the matter to the magistrate, not demanding any reparation for damages, but asking merely that they might be protected, and that their assailants should be warned not to interfere with their exercise of their religion. … When the rioters were called before the magistrate they were surprised to find that the Christians had brought no grievous charge of assault or bill for damages, as the [non-Christians] certainly would have done in a like case. … Yue says he was so struck with the moderation and magnanimity of the Christians that he felt that such a religion must be good, and that the common reports of Christianity must be slanderous. This led him to examine the Bible for himself, and the truth and Pau’s forgiving spirit led him to become a Christian. He was baptized and at once became as active in talking to others of Jesus as he had been in opposing Christianity in the days of his ignorance. …

Want of space forbids me of speaking of others. … Some men, both at home and in China, seem to think it is a misuse of mission funds to employ them in imparting a knowledge of the Bible to these native brethren, and would cast the Chinese on their own resources as soon as they are baptized, and let them pick up a knowledge of the truth the best way they can in their country villages, but we do not so read our Bible, or so conceive our duty.


Excerpted from “My Quarterly Class” by Dr. R.H. Graves, The Foreign Mission Journal, August 1892, p. 10-12.