Fifty Years in Amoy (Story of the Amoy Mission, by Philip Wilson Pitcher, 1893) Part 1

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Copyright 2001-8 by Sue Brown & Dr. Bill Order Books iE-mail
Note: Click thumbnails for larger photos Amoy Mission in 1877
Fifty Years in Amoy--The Story of the Amoy Mission, Chapters 6 to 10
By Rev. Philip Wilson Pitcher, Missionary of the Reformed (Dutch) Church at Amoy, China (Published by the Board of Publication of the Reformed Church in America, New York, 1893). Scanned from my personal copy. Enjoy--and please share any texts or photos you have about the Amoy Mission. Thanks! Dr. Bill

Preface Dedication to Dr. J. V. N. Talmage
Chapter 1 Intro & Survey              Chapter 2 Historical Outline
Chapter 3 History of Missions in China                 Chapter 4 Amoy
Chapter 5 Kolongsu                      Chapter 6 The Doors of Amoy Opened
Chapter 7 Founding of Amoy Mission     Chapter 8 Succession of Missionaries
Chapter 9 Missionary Methods       Chapter 10 Church of Christ in China
Chapter 11 The Nine Churches       Chapter 12 Benovelence of Amoy Churches
Chapter 13 Two Notable Political Events       Chapter 14 Medical Work
Chapter 15 Education Work Appendix

CHAPTER VI. THE DOORS OF AMOY OPENED.
For many years China was nothing more than a hermit Kingdom. She shut herself off entirely from the outside "barbaric" world. Her walls were high and strong, and every door hermetically sealed against all intrusion of the foreigner.

Early in the nineteenth century, as we have seen, the missionaries Morrison, Milne, Bridgman and Abeel began knocking at the barricaded gates of the Empire for admission to preach the everlasting riches of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But for years they were obliged to confine their labors to the suburbs of Canton and the island of Macao (a small island off the southern coast of China), and the bleak and rocky coast of the Empire. In no other places in the vast nation were missionaries tolerated.

This seclusion was persistently maintained until the year 1840, when the chariots of an unjust war came rolling up against these hitherto impregnable walls. The history of this war, so extraordinary in its origin, so marvelous in its course, so momentous in its results, not only forms one of the most interesting chapters in the world's history, but the consequences of that war itself upon millions of mankind have placed it amongst the most important chapters as well.

Originating in a "commercial misunderstanding," waged between "conscious superiority" on the one side, and "ignorant pride" on the other, and resulting in bringing one-half of the world into intercourse with the other, demands more than a passing notice. Let us confine ourselves, however, as briefly as possible to the origin and results of that war that led to the opening of the barricaded doors d China.

To fully understand the situation it is necessary to go back in history and discover what relations China held with foreign nations before the ships from England touched her shores. Early did the Romans, Greeks, Mohammedans and Phoenecians spread their sails and speed away for far off Cathay to traffic with its inhabitants. And there is a record of a commission being sent by Marcus Antonius to the country "producing the rich silks so much prized in Rome." In 1254, A. D., two Venetian gentlemen, Nicolo Polo (father of Marco Polo) and Matteo Polo visited China and were kindly welcomed by the Grand Khan, as the Emperor was? then called. Subsequently Marco Polo visited China and remained twenty-five years. He became a great favorite with the Emperor awl was made one of his officers, which goes to show the good feelings the Emperor had toward foreigners.

So far as the records reveal, the intercourse between these nations was above suspicion and distrust, and unrestrained commercial relations extended to all who came to trade with them for twenty centuries at least. In the seventeenth century (A. D.) new powers began to send forth their ships, plowing the great waters in search of conquest and new territory. Spanish, Dutch, French, Portuguese and English sent forth their navies in search of new territory and to conquer the world if necessary for their respective governments.

China began to look with suspicion on these proceedings. And who can blame her? She watched with eager interest the events that were taking place "in the neighboring regions of Luconia. Java and India," and the cruel treatment the victors visited upon the vanquished.

Being witnesses of such scenes, as they stood on their watchtowers of their nation's defences, is it strange that the doors and gates of China suddenly swung shut, and were sealed and barricaded against the intrusion of the avaricious foreigners? As unto Luconia. Java and the isles of the sea, so must be the ultimate purpose of these sea kings concerning them.

Who shall say that any other policy would not have been suicidal? Had she pursued any other course the hour of doom to her independence would surely have struck, and her authority over her subjects have ceased forever, and the nation long ago have crumbled to pieces and their territory be possessed by others. Why? "The belief entertained by Europeans at that period, that the Pope had the right to dispose of all pagan lands, only wanted men and means to be everywhere carried into effect." And the probability is that had China allowed these Spanish and Portuguese and other colonists to settle at will in her domain, the Chinese nation would long ago have been swept into that oblivion where so many other great nations are buried. Who can criticise her, then, for instituting such strict measures under the circumstances for her own self-preservation, even to making herself a hermit nation for nearly two centuries?

When the history of China is fully written it will be the most wonderful history of the most wonderful people that ever engaged the mind of men. And when that people are fully understood, there will be little to criticise, much to applaud and much to esteem. Five thousand years have rolled away, and yet of all the nations of the world, China is the least understood and the most shamefully judged and treated.

Not yet is the fullness of time with her. The hour of her greatness and due appreciation has not yet sounded over the world. But if anyone can read the signs of the times aright, that hour is soon to come. Some day this nation will stand out the mightiest and strongest nation of the world, and let us hope and pray and work that it will be the best, best civilized and the best Christianized nation on the face of God's earth.

With these few observations in mind, we may now consider the opium war. After the expiration of the privilege granted by charter to the East India Company in 1834, and by which they had enjoyed a monopoly for nearly two centuries in carrying on trade at Macao and Canton, the English government sought to renew these commercial relations in such a manner that all British merchants might have a share of the trade with the Chinese people.

To this end the Rt. Hon. Lord Napier was sent to China to commence negotiations for maintaining trade on a “proper footing." He arrived in Macao, July 15th, 1834, and, suffice it to say, he made a failure of the enterprise simply on accouut of lack of diplomatic skill. He failed to comprehend the Chinese way of doing things, and the Chinese failed to comprehend the English way of doing things as well. The Chinese were arrogant and suspicious. The English were none the less arrogant, but less slow. While we cannot excuse either, there was less excuse for England than for China. Surely China had a right, that England did not there possess, of saying how and in what manner things should be done. Lord Napier, instead of waiting at Macao, pushed on to Canton without official permission from the Chinese authorities. This was too great an affront to the dignity of the Chinese, and set in motion a broil and disturbance that eventually resulted in war.

Lord Napier died on September 27th, 1834. The nervous strain was too much for him, and he succumbed under the trial. Others followed him, but it was not until April 12th, 1837, that England was granted the privileges she sought.

But at this time trade was almost entirely confined to traffic in opium, as that was the only article that would sell. And some of the Chinese as well as foreigners were eager for the extension of the sale, as it brought them large gains. And every effort was made to legalize the use thereof. There were many, however, who had the welfare of the nation at heart, who fought to the bitter end, both against the introduction and the use of it in the land. No truer or stauncher friend had the Chinese people in this trying hour than the Emperor himself, and if his government had been the stronger, instead of being the weaker, opium would never have lodged itself in the Celestial Empire.

The natives pleaded, and foreigners argued, that if it was not introduced now, some other way would surely be opened to its introduction; still the Emperor and his good advisers resisted all overtures to let it in, or legalize its use.

For forty years the Government had shown its sincerity of wishing to keep the noxious poison out; yet, in spite of all such efforts, so-called Christian merchants and monopolists of Europe persisted in smuggling it in, and finally forced it upon them at the cannon's mouth.

And the Emperor had good grounds for resisting it. He looked upon it as a design (rightly or wrongly, as the case may be,) of the foreigner introducing opium, in order, first: to so debilitate and impoverish the people that resistance on their part would be in vain, and, secondly: the subjugation of the nation would easily follow. From our point of view, the surmise was unjust; but who can say, in view of all the events that were transpiring about them, that such a view of the situation was unjust from their basis of observation? This impression gained ground, until the whole nation became aroused against foreign intrusion. Then, too, this impression was deepened from the fact that the Chinese saw that these foreigners never smoked the drug themselves, nor was it used in their own country. What else could it mean but this? Then the baneful effects upon the minds and health of the nation, and the awful drainage of $20,000,000 a year was likewise cause sufficient to awaken conjectures and sound the alarm over the whole domain. And so, instead of enacting measures to legalize the sale there-of, measures were at once instituted to restrain its sale, and, if possible, banish it from the Empire. But the evil had become a monster too great, as the result proved, for the power and wisdom of the Chinese to deal with. Imprisonment and execution and banishment of offenders proved of no avail. Finally, on the 18th of March, 1838, a proclamation was issued, demanding the surrender of all the opium in possession of the merchants, and bonds required that no more should be introduced under penalty of death.
Four reasons were given for such demand:

(1) Because they were men and had reason.
(2) Because the law forbade its use.
(3) Because they should feel for those who suffered by its use.
(4) Because of the present duress of the Government.

In response to this appeal, 1,037 chests were delivered up, and then, on March 27th, 1839, through Chas. Elliot, the English representative, 20,283 chests, valued at $11,000,000, were passed over to the Chinese authorities.

But the bond was never signed, though an agreement had been signed by most of the foreign merchants not to trade in opium any more. This agreement was not kept. This whole quantity was destroyed by the Chinese authorities in good faith, and, as a noted historian observed, it was "a solitary instance in the history of the world of a pagan monarch preferring to destroy what would injure his subjects rather than to fill his own pockets with the sale." In addition, sxteen persons-English, American and Indian-principal agents in the trade, were ordered out of the country and told never to return again. But the opium trade was not banished or destroyed.

Before the last chest was destroyed, shiploads were on the way and some being unloaded on the defenseless shores. And it kept on coming and coming until the two nations of England and China were plunged in a cruel and destructive war--cruel and destructive alone to the Chinese Government. So, willingly or unwillingly, the Chinese had to accept the evil.

"To obtain reparation for insults and injuries, for indemnifications of losses, and for future security and protection," were the pretexts England offered for making war upon a weak and powerless nation. Each one must judge how far she was justifiable in such an action.

Might made right in those days, and before the English power China fell; yet, in these days, we venture to say, such action would not be tolerated. Poor China-we say-after all her care and concern for her subjects, she had not only to accept the deadly drug, but had to pay $21,000,000 (part of it for the opium that was destroyed in April, 1839), and gave up the island of Hong-Kong to the British nation. Let others pass their verdict on such justice.

It has been said the war was necessary to break the arrogance and pride of the Chinese people. Perhaps it was. Still, we do in all sincerity ask, would not the result have been the same, and more happily accomplished, if, in the first place, the East India Company, and later the English Government, had been mare zealous in the diffusion of Christian truth and the Word of God? But what was done? For nearly two centuries they set their faces against truth and righteousness, and every effort made to translate the Word of God met with their disapproval and bitter opposition.

The affairs of nations, as well as of individuals, are in the hands and under the control of the Great Ruler of the universe. Who can read in all this history anything but the Almighty "accomplishing His great and wise purpose by allowing man to pursue his petty, private, and even unjustifiable ends?" Beyond this mystery we cannot penetrate.

But this no more excuses the nation which battered down the doors, and forced the vile opium traffic in upon China, than the unfaithful disciple was excused for betraying the Christ to perform the will of God.

But out of all this evil God brought good! Canton, Amoy, Ningbo, Foochau and Shanghai were opened for foreign trade and residence, and, best of all, for the introduction of the Gospel.

And that gospel power is shining fuller, stronger and brighter, in the face of the new difficulties that have been thrown in its way by the introduction of opium in this land of heathen darkness. It is able to save unto the uttermost, therefore, China—in spite of opium.

And there was good, too, in the fact that China had to deal with England rather than Russia or Turkey, or some Mohammedan or Roman Catholic power. It was Protestant England, and whatever else may be said of her in this unfortunate and cruel affair, this may be truly said: That wherever England goes, there go laws, protection, freedom and liberty of conscience and Christianity. Had Russian. Spanish or Turkish power gotten control of India, or had any of these powers battered down the walls of China, the condition of affairs in the celestial Empire would probably have been far blacker and more sad than they are in this day.

Every missionary has had cause more than once to thank God that the British flag floats and waves over the Eastern Seas rather than any of those mentioned above.

Other ports were opened for trade and residence, and to-day the doors stand wide open, waiting for the messenger to arrive, bringing the gospel message of peace and good will toward all men. God speed the day when the foreigner shall force out of the Empire that same drug that they forced in—not by might, but by the Spirit of the Lord.

By the Treaty of Tien-Tsin, made in 1858 and ratified in 1860, ten new ports were opened in China, among them being Tam-Sui, Taiwanfoo, Swatow, Choofoo, Tien-Tsin. In 1878 there were twenty-one ports opened for trade, and permission granted to all foreigners (1860) to travel with passports. The treaty ports to-day are, viz.: Amoy, Canton, Swatow, Foochau, Ningpo, Shanghai, Tien-Tsin, Pekin, Choofoo, Hankow, Ichang, Chinkiung, Tam-Sui, Taiwan-foo, Keloong, Takow, Woohoo, Woochau, New-chawang, Kiukiang and Kiong-chiu.

CHAPTER VII. FOUNDING OF THE AMOY MISSION.
While General Synod was in session in New York, in 1842, a communication was received from Dr. Abeel (then stationed at Macao), giving expression, amongst other matters, of his confidence that China would soon be thrown open for the entrance of missionaries, and urged that steps be taken for the occupation of some field, as a centre for missionary operations. Long before Synod was privileged to hear this message, Dr. Abeel, in company with Rev. Mr. Boone, was sailing up the coast of China, and on the 2d of February, 1842, landed at Hong-Kong. After a short stay here they re-embarked, still journeying up the coast, until on Thursday, 11 o'clock a. m., on the 24th of February, before the Treaty of Nankin was concluded, they entered the port of Amoy, and as the pioneer standard-bearers of the banners of the cross, set up those emblems in this part of that benighted land.

Dr. Abeel immediately took up his residence on the island of Kolongsu, then occupied by the British troops. The house that he occupied stands to-day in good repair, underneath the branches of a. great and large banyan tree. It is sort of a relic, or an heirloom, which we think should belong to us.

When Dr. Abeel and Bishop Boone landed, the island of Kolongsu was in possession of the British troops. They were received very kindly by Major and Mrs. Cowper, and tendered every hospitality possible. .Major Cowper escorted Dr. Abeel about to inspect the houses, and gave him his choice where he might permanently establish himself. But there was not much choice, as the English soldiers, in search of firewood, and Chinese likewise in search of plunder, had made havoc with them all. The one had stripped them of all inflammable material, and the other had torn up every brick on the floors in search of buried wealth. But, a choice had to be made, and Dr. Abeel chose this house, with a larger room in the centre and a smaller room on each side. On each side of the entrance there is also an independent projecting building, composed of one or more rooms which might be used for a kitchen or storeroom, or servant's quarters. As soon as possible Dr. Abeel set to work making the necessary repairs, and by Saturday, February 26th, moved in and took possession.

In addition to commencing work immediately amongst the Chinese, Dr. Abeel gratuitously rendered service to the English troops by conducting an English service for them in his own house from time to time. It is a sacred spot, for here, we may say, was born the grand work which our eyes are permitted to witness today. It has long ago passed into the hands of others, and save by one man, the fact of Dr. Abeel ever having lived there is forgotten.

So suspicious are the present occupants of foreigners that when a party of missionaries and friends desired to enter and let their eyes rest for a moment upon the rooms where this sainted and holy man lived, they were absolutely denied all admission.

One week after their arrival, March 3d, they made their first visit to the city of Amoy. The cordiality and kindness of the natives surpassed their most sanguine expectations. Unmolested, they were allowed to hold services and distribute religious books and other literature.

After the peace was declared and the Treaty of Nankin (1842) concluded, the officials and dignitaries of that district seemed to vie with each other in their attempts to welcome the missionaries of the cross. "The head Mandarin, the naval commander-in-chief, and the highest civil authorities invited them to their houses, returned their visits, received their books, listened to their instructions, accompanied and assisted them in their excursions into the surrounding country." "In April (lS42) the Imperial Power made a complete change of rulers at Amoy. But the new rulers displayed to the missionaries the same kindness they had experienced from their predecessors. They even aided them in procuring conveyances to make excursions further and more extensive than could be allowed by the imperial edicts. They were received by the people with equal favor. Such confidence they inspired that at one time two contending villages, instead of settling their disputes, according to usual custom, by combat, agreed to refer their differences to the missionaries, as umpires."

Thus encouraged, they spurred on in their course, making tours into the neighboring country "as far as the city of Chiang-Chiu," twenty-five miles west of Amoy. Preaching, instructing, social prayer meetings, Bible classes, were the order of the day. Instant in season and out of season, Dr. Abeel and Mr. Boone went every where they could, teaching and preaching "in His name," until the 22d of June, 1844, when they had the pleasure of welcoming as fellow-laborers Rev. Messrs. Doty and Pohlman. Dr. Abeel was not permitted to witness any reward of his labor in Amoy. On the 24th of January, 1845, on account of completely shattered health, he was compelled to leave the work he loved and set out upon a journey home and there the Lord called him to serve Him above, September 4th, 1846.

CHAPTER VIII. THE SUCCESSION OF MISSIONARIES.

DAVID ABEEL, D. D., 1842-'45. Dr. Abeel was born at New Brunswick, N. J., June 12th, 1804. At fifteen years of age, failing to secure an entrance into West Point Military Academy, he turned his attention to the study of medicine. It was while in pursuance of this course of study that his heart was touched by Divine grace, and ever after he devoted his life to the service of his Master.

At the age of nineteen, in the autumn of 1823, he began fitting himself for his life-work by entering the theological seminary at New Brunswick. After a preparation of three years, not only in the "school of the prophets." but in that school of personal experience, where one gets the best tuition for the ministry, viz.: down among the sad and lonely ones, ministering unto the poor, "the sick and afflicted," he began his labors in the little village of Athens, Green County, N. Y., May 26th, 1826.

For a little more than two years he was permitted to labor in this vineyard, when failing health compelled him to resign and seek the warmer airs of St. Thomas, of the West Indies.

Dr. Abeel was a conscientious, deeply spiritual man. His holy life was a power. He was a man of much prayer, and, like Daniel of old, would retire during the hours of the day and commune with his Lord. He set before himself the very highest and best ideal, even his Master, Jesus Christ. Complete self-consecration to the service of the master in the promotion of the welfare of his fellowmen was his high and holy aim. So it was not strange that his mind often reflected upon the condition of the heathen world, and that in the first flush of manhood he heard and heeded the voices calling out of darkness bidding him to come over and help.

Only a man possessed of indomitable pluck and perseverance and eminent piety would have braved the dangers and perils that David Abeel did. Never robust after his ministerial labors at Athens, once at death’s door. and never recovering from an organic affection of the heart, yet this devoted and courageous young soldier, undaunted and fearless, pushed on bearing the banners of the cross until he had unfurled those emblems on many isles of the Southern Pacific and the heathen lands of the Orient. On the 14th of October, 1829, he sailed in the ship Roman, Capt. Lavender, from New York for China, and after four months and eleven days he reached Canton, February 25th, 1830.

Dr. Abeel went out under the patronage of the Seamen's Friend Society, but at the same time made a conditional appointment with the A. B. C. F. M. (who were about to establish a mission in China), viz.: that if at the expiration of a year he saw the way opened, and felt it his duty to engage in missionary work, he would sever the relations with the S. F. S. and devote his services to the A. B. C. F. M. Dr. Abeel went out in company with Elijah Bridgman, who was under appointment of the A. B.C. F. M.
Their passage and support for one year was contributed by a merchant, David W. C. Olyphant, Esq., who was engaged in the Canton trade in connection with Talbot & Co., of New York. He was deeply interested in this missionary enterprise, and not only furnished the finances for this one year, but it was by his presentation of facts and arguments that the work was commend by the A. B. C. F.M. (1830). This waa the first American mission represented in China.

After serving the Seamen's Friend Society for ten months, Dr. Abeel tendered his resignation, and in December, 1830, transferred his services to the A. B. C. F. M. Then began his missionary journeys to Java, Siam, Singapore, Malacca, Borneo and the different islands of the Eastern Archipelago, and finally to Amoy, China, where he established the work we review today. Besides, he traveled far and wide, visiting Christian nations, such as England, France, Holland, Prussia, Switzerland and America, stirring up churches and awakening a missionary fervor in behalf of the cause of foreign missions.

He died in Albany, N. Y., September 4th, 1846, at the age of forty-two, leaving the memory of a Holy and consecrated life behind him and the foundations of a work laid deep and strong, that will last so long as time endures. He rests from his labors in the beautiful cemetery of Greenwood, Brooklyn. His works do follow him.

He was the founder of the Amoy Mission, February 24th, 1842.

REV. ELlHU DOTY, 1844-'65. (Click Here for Doty Page)
Mr. Doty, son of Stephen and Phebe Nelson Doty, was born at Berne, Albany County, N. Y., September 9th, 1809. He attended the village school until he was thirteen years old, when he became a clerk in the store of Jacob Settle, Berne, N. Y., and remained with him until he was nineteen years old. Faithful in his duties, he was honored and loved by all. At the age of seventeen or eighteen he became converted, was baptized and received into communion of the Reformed Church at Berne, N. Y., November 4th, 1827. The first seeds of his missionary life were implanted in his heart while attending the Sabbath-school of this church, and after his conversion he felt it to be his solemn duty to preach the gospel to the heathen. He shortly after resigned his position in the village store, and began making preparations for his life-work by studying with the Rev. Abram H. Meyers, at that time pastor of the Berne church, in order to enter Rutgers College. While at Berne his fellow student was the Hon Joseph P. Bradley, and the two men were always close friends. He entered college in the year 1830, when he was about twenty years old, "and upon this account he overleaped—not by his own suggestion, but by the earnest advice of all his professors of the college and seminary—two years of the collegiate course." He probably entered the New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1833, and after a full course, graduated in 1836, when he was ordained a missionary, and on the 18th of June of the same year embarked for Java, where he was appointed to begin his missionary efforts.

The year 1836 marked a new epoch in the history of foreign missions of the Reformed (Dutch) Church. A deeper and a wider interest had been already aroused by the closer union with the A. B. C. F.M. which had been consummated in the year 1832. The new responsibility excited the entire Church to a? greater earnestness in behalf of the salvation of the heathen. But it was in the spring of 1836 that the whole Church was moved to a greater consecration than ever before. This was occasioned by the announcement that four young men, viz.: Elihu Doty, Elbert Nevins. William Youngblood and Jacob Ennis, of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, had offered themselves and had been accepted for the foreign field. One may easily imagine how deeply the hearts of all the people were impressed in the early history of missions when it became fully known that these four young men had at one time consecrated their lives to the foreign service for the Master.

On the 30th of May, 1836, in the Middle Dutch Church in New York, they were formally set apart for the solemn office of preaching the Gospel to the heathen, and there received their instructions to proceed to Java to found a mission on that island, hoping thereby to receive favors and encouragements from the Dutch Government in their new enterprise. But their reception was entirely the reverse of what they had expected. Arriving at Batavia (Sept. 15th, 1836), the jealousies and suspicions of the Dutch Government were immediately aroused, and they were detained for more than a year, not being allowed to proceed with their labors. Finally they were allowed to proceed and locate their mission at Borneo. Mr. Doty started ahead and reached Sambas, June 17th, 1839. Mr. Youngblood arrived September 19th the same year, while Mr. Nevius, on account of the ill-health of his wife, was obliged to proceed to Singapore. Subsequently Messrs. Pohlman and Thompson joined the workers at Borneo, where, upon their arrival, Messrs. Doty and Pohlman gave themselves to the welfare of the Chinese immigrants. who had come there seeking fortunes, while Messrs. Youngblood and 'Thompson confined their labors to the Dyachs and Malays.

After laboring here some four or five years, Messrs. Doty and Pohlman began to realize that this especial work that they had chosen was more or less circumscribed, and that they could accomplish far greater results in wider fields that were already waiting for them in China. So under the direction of the Home Board (A. B. C. F. M.) they left Borneo in April, 1844, and arrived at Amoy, China, in June, and became co-laborers with Dr. David Abeel in the work that he had already founded.

Mr. Doty's life was a very checkered one. His efforts in the Indian Archipelago were, so far as human knowledge would lead us to suppose, a signal failure, while his efforts in Amoy were crowned with marked success. As Dr. Chambers said at the time of his death, "A sharper contrast can hardly be furnished by the entire history of missions than that which existed between the fruitless toil in Borneo and the golden harvest in Amoy. But he was the same man in both. The ill-success did not dishearten, large ingatherings did not puff up. He stood in his lot where the Master sent him, and knew how to labor and to wait, and knew, also, that the faithful herald of the cross is a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish."

Sorrows and afflictions were multiplied during almost the entire course of his earthly pilgrimage. The shadows that death cast across his pathway were indeed dark. First of all, he was called upon to mourn the death of the "genial and winning" Dr. Abeel, then the death of his first wife (Eleanor Ackley), then the death of his fellow-laborer and companion, Mr. Pohlman, in 1848, then the death of his second wife (Mary Smith), in 1858.
Yet, the lights and shadows that played across his life brought out in fuller relief the grand and noble character of this very unostentatious man. Patiently and submissively he bore his every trial. Modestly and becomingly he accepted .the success of his labors, that God granted unto him.

He was eminently pious. His life breathed a beautiful Christian spirit, and intercourse with him showed that he lived near his Master, and was full of love to the Saviour, to His cause and His people. He was not brilliant nor profound, but he was laborious and determined, deemed by many a mere plodder, but he plodded successfully. Whatever he undertook to do, he did with his whole might. He was conscientious in every duty and spared not his strength to perform it to the end, and his death was due to overwork. Owing to the lack of co-laborers, he was compelled to do more than he could safely perform.

For fourteen years he labored with but a single companion, first with Mr. Pohlman and afterward with Dr. Talmage. "The harvest was white and perishing before his eyes," "and he hesitated not in thrusting in his sickle early and late, in season and out of season," until his strength entirely failed him.
Much time of his latter years was devoted to the literary work of the mission, a department for which, by his habits of accuracy, his candor, judgment and freedom from caprice and prejudice, he was admirably fitted. In 1865 he left his chosen field to return to his native land to die among his friends. But God ordered it otherwise; he departed this life four days before reaching the coasts of America, at the age of fifty-six. His remains were brought on and the funeral services held in the Middle Dutch Church, Lafayette place, New York, on March 27th, 1865, where thirty years before he was commissioned, and was laid to rest at Troy Hills, N. J., the home of his second wife, there to await the glorious resurrection.

At Amoy, his real work was accomplished. "There stands his monument upon the coast of China, fair as the sun, in a group of churches-burning lights among millions of heathen, with every element of strength, expansion and perpetuity."

Mrs. Eleanor (Ackley) Doty, 1844-'45; Mrs. Mary (Smith) Doty, 1847-'58. (Died; buried at Amoy, China).

W. J. POHLMAN, 1844-'49. Click Here for Pohlman Bio, excerpted from Pitcher, 1893.

Reverend John Van Nest Talmage Please Click Here

Rev. and Mrs. Joralman [1855-'58]

Located at Amoy—Evangelistic Work
Rev. Daniel Rapalje, 1858; Mrs. Alice Ostrum) Rapalje, 1878; Rev. Alvin Ostrum, 1858-'64; Mrs. Susan (Webster) Ostrum, 1858-'64.

OSTRUM [Alvin, 1858-'64] Click Here for Rev. and Mrs. Ostrum's story.

Rev. John E. Watkins, 1850; Mrs. Sarah A. (Heuston) Watkins, 1860.
These beloved missionaries were never permitted to enter upon their chosen work. They sailed in the ship Edwin Forrest in August, 1960, and no tidings were ever received of her fate.

They have long ago dropped anchor along the shores of the Golden Seas; and instead of reporting for duty in the city of Amoy, theirs has been the blessed privilege of reporting for duty in that city of light, joy and peace—the City of the New Jerusalem. There they served Him. With Mr. and Mrs. Watkins, three of the Amoy missionaries have found their last resting place beneath the waters of the mighty sea, while Mrs. Eleanor (Ackerly) Doty, Mrs. Mary (Smith) Doty, Mrs. Theodosia R. (Scudder) Pohlman, Mrs. Abby (Woodruff') Talmage, Miss Caroline E. Adriance and two or three children of the missionaries sleep in the little hallowed cemetery on Kolongsu, Amoy.
"They sleep in Jesus and are blest;
How sweet their slumbers are,
From suffering and from sin released,
And freed from every care."

MISS CAROLINE ADRIANCE, 1861-'64.
(First single woman to serve directly under the RCA)
Two miles south of Auburn, N. Y., at the outlet of Owasco Lake, stands the Sand Beach Church (Owasco Outlet Church, Classis of Montgomery), Rev. Chas. Maar, pastor. Though perhaps unknown to many of the members of the Reformed churches, yet, on account of the number of missionaries, whose names are enrolled on her records, and who have gone out from her walls to publish the message of salvation unto the nations sitting in darkness, is worthy of better acquaintance and wider reputation.

It was in this church that Miss Adriance received both her spiritual and missionary education.

In 1851, Rev. S. R. Brown, D. D., who had been a foreign missionary at Canton, China, under the auspices of the Morrison Educational Society, and in charge of the Morrison Memorial School at Canton, became pastor of the Sand Beach Church.

It was under Dr. Brown's instruction, we may assume, that Miss Adriance received her missionary enthusiasm, and by whom was awakened the desire to go and tell the glad tidings off salvation to the souls perishing in the darkness of heathenism.

Dr. Brown's life was fired with the spirit, of missions, and the flame flowed with such brightness that it touched and fired the lives of members of his little flock at Owasco Outlet.

In 1852 a Ladies' Foreign Missionary Society was organized in this church, and Miss Adriance was one of the charter members—and a very active and consecrated one. It was in this school that she for seven years was, unconsciously, perchance, fitting herself both for the Macedonian call and for usefulness on the foreign field.

But a few years go by before that call comes to the pastor and to his child of faith alike. Japan had been opened and was ready for the Lord’s harvesters to enter and begin the seed-sowing in the fallow soil.
So when the call came in 1859 from the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed (Dutch} Church to Dr. Brown to go and represent that denomination in the "Land of the Rising Sun,''' he was ready to respond most heartily to the summons.

Others had at the same time received the summons, and with the same spirit of gladness obeyed the call. And thus it came to pass that it was that, instead of one or two, quite a company set out at that time from that church.

There were, besides Dr. and Mrs. Brown, Rev. Guido Verbeck, D. D., and wife, Miss Mary E. Kidder (now Mrs. E. R. Miller, of North Japan Mission), and Miss Adriance. Some of them were already, and others of them became, members of this church before their departure.

Dr. Verbeck was a graduate of the Auburn Theological Seminary, and while at Auburn became a member of this church.. Mrs. Verbeck was a member. Miss Kidder was teaching at Owasco Outlet in Dr. Brown's school, and she thus became attached to this church. Hence, it was that at that time when this little company set forth for the Orient on the ship Surprise, from New York, in the spring of 1859, they were all members of the Sand Beach Church, at Owasco Outlet, N. Y.

This little memoir has to do, however, with Miss Adriance. Caroline Adriance, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Huinphrey Adriance, was born in Scipio, N. Y., October 29th, 1824. When about four years old she met with the greatest loss which can come to a child in the death of her mother, so the care of her in childhood devolved upon others, who could not feel toward her as mother.

There was nothing remarkable about her childhood, and the only record of those early years is that she was obedient and affectionate, and grew up to be useful and helpful; yet, there is a beautiful history written in those lines that friends may well cherish.

At about the age of sixteen, during a revival that occurred in the neighborhood, she was one among others at that time to decide to accept Christ as her Saviour. Soon after she made a public profession of her faith by uniting with the sand Beach Church, where she remained a consistent member until she received the call to go unto the heathen.

Miss Adriance was a volunteer. The Board was not in the position to send her at that time, so she went out at her own expense. And not only that, but before she left New York she made her wiIl and bequeathed all her earthly possessions to the Board of Foreign Missions, which amounted, at the time of her decease, to $2,500 or more.

Miss Adriance's friends were very solicitous about her going alone, and on account thereof she received no small portion of discouragement from them to enter upon what seemed a most hazardous enterprise.

That she made no mistake, and that her life was full of joy in her work, we have ample testimony in a letter (April 8th, 1861,) of hers to a cousin now living in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In the letter, she writes:
"I recollect well the anxiety you felt on my account because I was single and alone, with no protector, and I presume you have often wished to know how your poor lone cousin was getting along. Could you have been permitted to have looked into my home in Japan you would have seen me surrounded with blessings far more than you could have imagined. I will not attempt, nor do I wish to make you think that it was no trial to leave brothers, sisters and friends to whom I was strongly attached; the dear little church of which I was a member; my own native land, which none could love more than I. Can any one think that it was not a trial, and a severe one, too, to be separated from all these with little expectation of ever seeing them again? But, strong as are ties which are (for a season, at least,) severed, I do not regret the course I have taken, and I am not sorry I am in Japan. I trust I am where the Father would have me, and that He has something for me to do in this far off land."

Her chosen lot was with the laborers at Yokohama, Japan, but finding that she could not pursue the work she had set out to do among the women of Japan, withdrew from the field and joined the Mission at Amoy some time in 186l.

Here also she was only permitted to labor for three brief years, when death cut off her life of usefulness March 5th, 1864; yet, during that time, by her beautiful Christian character and unsparing devotion, she endeared herself to all with whom and for whom she had labored.

Loving hands laid her to rest in the little hallowed cemetery on Kolongsu, where others of the Amoy Mission lie sleeping their calm and peaceful slumbers.

Over her grave, in that far off land, stands a modest little monument, with best of inspirations that one might wish for at life’s close: "She hath done what she could."

LOCATED AT SI0-KHE-EVANGELIST1C WORK.
Rev. Leonard W. Kip, D. D., 1861; Mrs. Helen (Culburtson) Kip, 1864 [Died; buried at Amoy, China]; Rev. Augustus Blauvelt, 1861-'64; Mrs. Jennie (Zabriskie) Blauvelt, 1861-'64.

BLAUVELTS
Mr. and Mrs. Blauvelt left Amoy August 30th, 1864, and arrived in this country the close of December. Mrs. Blauvelt's health was shattered, and as there was no prospect of her being able to return within a year or two, Mr. Blauvelt proposed to the Board that they send him back to China and leave his family in this country. "The sacrifice did not seem called for, though it excited the hearty admiration of the Board for the spirit which prompted it."

In 1865-'61, he became pastor of the Bloomingdale (N. Y.) church, Classis of Ulster, and served it until 1871-'72. For a number of years past, on account of an enfeebled mind, he has been unable to manage his affairs.

REV. HOWARD VAN DOREN, 1864-'73.
Mr. Van Doren was compelled to leave his work on account of weak eyes, which threatened total blindness.

On his return to America he served the churches at Cato, N. Y., Classis of Geneva, for two years, 1874-'76; Tyre, same Classis, 1876-'82; Gallupville, N. Y., Classis of Schoharie, 1883-'86; Esopus, N. Y., Classis of Ulster, 1887-'92; Bath-on-Hudson (new organization), 1892—.

MISS HELEN M. VAN DOREN, 1870-'77.
Miss Van Doren was oue of the faithful workers of the Mission, and it was a great loss when ill-health compelled her to return to the homeland. She had charge of the girls' school, which was organized just about the time of her arrival, and she also did a great deal of country work, visiting the women of the out-stations in company with the Misses Talmage.

JOHN A. DAVIS.
Mrs. Emma C. (Wyckoff) Davis, 1868-'71.
Ill-health banished these two also from the list of active workers at Amoy. Mr. Davis served the Board for two years after his arrival in America; then served the churches at Palisades, N. J., Classis of Bergen, 1872-'73; Pottersville, N. J., Classis of Raritan, 1873-'78; Oyster Bay, L. I., North Classis of Long Island, 1878-'82; Second, Newark, N. J., Classis of Newark, 1883-'89. He is now serving a Presbyterian church at Hempstead, L. I., 1892.

LOCATED AT AMOY.
Miss Mary E. Talmage, 1874; Rev. David M. Talmage, 1877-'80.
Mr. Talmage was obliged to leave his chosen field on account of his poor health. So shattered was his strength that several years passed before he fully recovered. Pastor Bound Brook, N. J., 1882-'84; Clarkstown, N. Y., 1885-'87; Westwood, N. J., 1888.

MISS CATHARINE M. TALMAGE, 1881.
Miss Talmage went to China in 1874, and, notwithstanding her poor eyesight, at once engaged in the active work of the Mission. She labored on independently in this way for seven years, when in 1881 she was regularly appointed by the Board.

LOCATED AT AM0Y-EVANGELISTIC WORK.
Rev. Alexander S. Van Dyke, 1882; Mrs. Alice (Kip) Van Dyke, 1886.

LOCATED AT AMOY-EDUCATIONAL WORK (ACADEMICAL)
Rev. Philip W. Pitcher, 1885; Mrs. Anita F. (Merritt) Pitcher, 1885.

LOCATED AT SIO-KHE--MEDICAL WORK.
Miss Y. May King, M. D., 1887-'88; John A. Otte, M. D., 1887; Mrs. F. C. (Phelps) Otte, 1887.

LOCATED AT AM0Y-EDUCATIONAL WORK (THEOLOGICAL.)
Rev. John G. Fagg, i887; Mrs. Margaret (Gillespie) Fagg, 1889.

LOCATED AT AMOY.
Miss E. M. Cappon, 1891.
LOCATED AT SIQ-KHE.
Miss Nellie Zwemer, 1891; Miss M. C. Morrison, 1892.

CHAPTER IX. MISSIONARY METHODS AND AGENCIES.
In every missionary enterprise in China there are four clear and well-defined departments of evangelization, viz.: evangelistic, medical, educational and the press. The Amoy Mission has been characterized as being a "preaching mission." And it is true, yet it would be erroneous to suppose that the preaching had been confined to the chapels and churches. The same blessed Word has been preached, not only in the chapels and on the streets, but in the medical and educational institutions, and in the books and tracts and other literature that have been issued from her presses as well. The aim has been to preach as beautiful sermons in the wards of the hospitals, the school-room, and from the printed page as from the sacred desk, thus sowing the Word broadcast.

Still, the church has been paramount. The church has been of the first importance and always led the way—the hospitals, the schools following as accessories, or, as new channels through which the Word might run and be glorified. To this true order of our enterprise, the substantial results we now witness are in no small measure due. Medical and educational work and the press have been considered of great importance—in fact, indispensable—but all these departments have ever been kept "subservient to the proclamation of the Gospel." We propose to review these four departments as briefly as possible, and endeavor to ascertain what each has accomplished in these fifty years.

FIFTY YEARS IN AMOY Or A History of the Amoy Mission, CHINA.
FOUNDED FEBRUARY 24,1842. Under the Patronage ot the American Board at Commissioners for Foreign Missions from 1842-1857.
Transferred to the government of the Board of Foreign
Missions of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America in June. 1837.

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