FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA by E. H. Wilbur

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jan 16, 1907

FIFTY YEARS IN CHINA.

By E. H. Wilbur

IT was my privilege recently to attend a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival in Canton, China, of the Rev. R. H. Graves, M.D., D.D., missionary of the Southern Baptist Convention, U. S. A. This meeting was attended by about two hundred fifty Europeans, many of whom were missionaries, and addresses were given by prominent speakers, including the British and American Consuls at Canton. The subjects considered were as follows: “Fifty Years of Diplomacy;” “Fifty Years of Government;” “Fifty Years of Commerce;” “Fifty Years of Education;” “Fifty Years of Bible Translation;” “Fifty Years of Mission Work;” and by Dr. Graves himself, “Fifty Years of Canton.”

On April 19, 1856, Dr. Graves started from New York on a sailing ship. Coming by way of Cape Good Hope, he arrived in Hongkong after a voyage of one hundred fourteen days. Two days later, August 14, he arrived in Canton. With the exception of an occasional visit to the United States, Dr. Graves has continued faithful at his post, thru all these fifty long years, treating the sick, preaching the Gospel, teaching, writing, translating, etc., until the present time; and, even now, at the age of seventy-three years, is still actively engaged in translating, teaching, and preaching. He seems to have adhered closely to his one aim in life, that of preaching the Gospel of Christ to the Chinese. I heard him say recently, in an address before his Chinese church, that he had endeavored to teach the truth as it is found in the Bible, as he understood it. He said he preached because he loved to preach, and not merely because it was a duty.

To the question as to whether any other missionaries had spent fifty years in South China, Dr. Graves replied that there had been two others, Rev. Dr. Ashmore, of the American Baptist Missionary Union, of Swatow, but now at home in America, and the Rev. R. Lechler, of the Rhineish Mission, who has returned to his home in Germany.

Great changes have taken place since fifty years ago. Instead of requiring the long, tedious voyage by sailing ship of one hundred fourteen days, the journey can now be made from New York to Hongkong by railway and steamship in about twenty-six days. Then foreigners were allowed to live only in the five open treaty ports of China. Now there are about forty open ports, and over 3,000 European missionaries are scattered thruout the empire.

When Dr. Graves came to Canton, no European was allowed to enter the walled city, but as long ago as 1869 he took personal oversight in erecting a chapel on one of the main streets inside the old city. It was in this very chapel, beautifully decorated with flowers, that the Chinese recently celebrated Dr. Graves’ fiftieth anniversary.

When Dr. Graves arrived here, he found not only his colleague, Rev. C. W. Galliard and wife, but there were also Dr. Hobson, a missionary of the London Mission, who was a son-in-law of Dr. Robert Morrison, besides missionaries of the Wesleyan, American Board (Congregationalists), and the Presbyterian missions; also the Rev. Mr. Roberts, an Independent Baptist who had a chapel on the river front. On the same site there now stands an old chapel which is occupied by a Seventh-day Adventist mission-school.

Last, but not least, it should be mentioned that among those previously on the ground was John G. Kerr, M.D., who spent forty-six years as a medical missionary in Canton, dying here in 1901. When Dr. Graves came to China, his mission had but one chapel, one native preacher who was the only Chinese member. He labored several years before baptizing his first convert. Their mission now has twenty-six American workers in this and Quangsai Province, thirteen Chinese pastors, thirty Chinese preachers, and over 3,200 native members. Other missions have also made great progress in the same time.

Ten years ago Dr. Graves issued a book in English of over 300 pages entitled, “Forty Years in China.” This book gives a good description of the conditions then existing, and, to a large extent, still existing in south China. Besides assisting in Bible translation and in translation of “Gospel Hymns,” Dr. Graves has also written and published in Chinese a book in four volumes on “The Teachings of Jesus,” a book of 220 pages on “The Parables of Jesus,” a book of 108 pages on homiletics, a geography of Palestine, besides many smaller works.

Dr. Graves has made it a rule of life never to miss an appointment, and to always be on time. By his faithful and sympathetic life he has won the confidence and esteem of both Chinese and Europeans. He has done much to prepare the way for those who come later, and it is to be hoped that many more consecrated workers will come to take up the work of giving the Gospel of Christ to the Chinese.

E. H. WILBUR. Canton, China.