A MODERN PAUL | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 30, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 18.

A MODERN PAUL.

THE TRUE STORY OF A HEROIC LIFE.

Over twenty years ago, in a leading college of Canada, a young man was engaged in study for the ministry. He was, from the first, regarded by his fellow-students as a man of deep consecration and overmastering zeal. He had laid himself, a living sacrifice, on the altar of ennobling service. There was a far-away look in his dark eye that betokened a strong purpose and a “hot heart.” He eagerly read the story of Martyn, and Carey, and Duff, and Williams; and it soon became known in college that young McKay had “set his face resolutely” to the same grand work as that in which these men engaged. He believed the genius of true Christianity to be missionary effort, and when the veteran Duff returned to Scotland in 1870, McKay crossed the Atlantic to see him. In Edinburgh and Aberdeen he listened to the thrilling story of the great missionary, and his soul caught fire. Absorbed by the single idea of “the world for Christ, and Christ for the world,” he returned to Canada to complete his studies.

He first resolved to go to India with Duff, but afterward decided to raise the standard of the cross on the island of Formosa. Previous to this, Jesuit priests had attempted the introduction of Christianity there; but, despite their well-known zeal and determination, they were forced by the hostility of the natives to abandon the enterprise.

McKay bade farewell to relatives and friends, who considered his life as good as lost, and, after a long and dreary voyage, reached his destination. Alone and friendless, among people of peculiar language and strange customs, he was regarded with suspicion from the very first, and every day the epithet, “foreign devil,” was hurled at him by people of high caste and low caste alike.

Again and again his life was in jeopardy, but he kept his “heart fixed.”

Resolved at the very beginning to acquire a knowledge of the Chinese language, he went out into the mountains, among the herders of sheep. Within a year, by dint of perseverance in forcing the shepherds into conversation, he had gained considerable knowledge of the Formosan dialect. Returning to the villages he found the hostility of the inhabitants even more marked than before. Notwithstanding, he told the officials he had come to stay, and stay he did. The only house he could secure was a low mud hovel, through which, in the wet seasons, there flowed a stream of water. Here he resided for a year, subsisting on badly prepared rice. Here, too, he began his work of translating the Gospel into the native tongue. At the door of the hovel he took his place, night after night, with the Bible in his hand, and declared to the curious throng that the God of that book was the true and only God; and, as they in turn pelted him with mud, and threatened him with violence, he told them that the God in whom he believed would protect him. Testimony is borne to the fact that never once did he give evidence of fear.

After some time his marvelous courage gained for him a degree of respect. The people began to reason in this way: he must either be a magician, and in complicity with the evil one, or else there is something wonderful about the religion he professes. Inquirers began to seek his hovel, in the night, like Nicodemus of old, and, like him, some of them were “born again” to the new and better life. A Hoá, one of the shepherds whom he met in the mountains, was his first convert.

Emboldened by this success, McKay began to make tours through the neighboring villages, followed by the few faithful men who had renounced heathenism. Here again he was subjected to every kind of indignity, and on many occasions only his bold defiance of the hostile faction saved him. One day a soothsayer, or sorcerer, followed by a large concourse of excited people, intercepted him and his little band. The sorcerer, with a sword passed through the fleshy part of his arm, approached, repeating terrible incantations, and defying the power of the stranger’s God. McKay swerved not to the right nor left, and when close enough fixed his eyes fearlessly on the bleeding fanatic before him. The sorcerer turned out of the path, and was so affected by the courageous conduct of the “foreign devil” that he abandoned his evil craft and became a Christian. He afterward told McKay that he, with his followers, had gathered that day determined to kill him, but were so impressed by his heroic conduct that not one of them could raise a hand against him.

Barefooted and bareheaded, clad in the Chinese dress, through all kinds of weather, the missionary continued his work. He endured indescribable hardships, and yet never complained, because he had faith in the divinity of his mission, and loved the souls of men.

North Formosa is now practically won for the Christian cause. A college has been established for the education of young men, and already fifty native preachers have graduated from it; a seminary boasts a large attendance of young women; 3,000 souls have been received into church relationships, and the work goes grandly on.

The southeastern part of Formosa is inhabited by a low and savage race of the Malayan type. They are the inveterate foes of the Chinese, whom they regard as intruders, and consequently make many savage raids on their settlements. The Chinese live in constant terror of this treacherous enemy, and the state of unrest thus occasioned McKay found to be very hurtful to his cause.

He determined to seek a remedy. It was a desperate one, and one requiring indomitable courage to apply it. He resolved to visit the chief of the marauding tribe, and propose to him terms of peace and friendship.

He was entreated by his friends to desist from so hazardous an undertaking, but once more his purpose was formed. Accompanied by three Chinamen, he set out over the hill country, and, after a toilsome journey, came in sight of the chief’s settlement. Upon their approach the savages prepared for hostilities, and almost immediately a dozen guns were leveled upon the peace-seeker and his friends. It was a moment of terrible peril, and needed steady nerve and quick thought. One instant, and McKay had placed one hand over his heart, and with the other pointed upward. It was a hair-breadth escape; for before the chief, who had recognized in McKay’s action his own sign of friendship, could give the command to drop the guns, one of the Chinamen had fallen victim to the savage hate. The chief then approached with his right hand placed over his heart; peace was declared, and a treaty formed which in its terms was very favorable to the missionary and his people.

A few years ago, during the Franco-Chinese difficulty, the French soldiers landed on northern Formosa. When outrage after outrage was committed by the troops, and the Chinese officials were entirely helpless, McKay in person entered strong protest against the action of the invaders, and demanded there and then indemnity for any loss the mission had suffered through their uncalled-for vandalism. Suffice to say, his protest was respected and his courage rewarded.

Time would fail me to tell of all the adventures of this singularly consecrated man during these years of toil and triumph; but the characteristics of true heroism are written on his whole life.—The Voice.