The Footprints of An Evangelist

 

Dr. Sung (1901-1943) was born in the province of Fu-Jian, China. He was a famous evangelist and revivalist of the Chinese church in this century. He studied in the United States of America between 1919 and 1927. In 1926, he received a Doctorate of Science in Chemistry from Ohio State University. In 1927, he responded to God’s calling and returned to China to spread the Gospel to his kinsmen. On his return voyage to China, he was determined “to proclaim the gospel in China even if I shall die; as long as my kinsmen can receive salvation, even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will be willing.” He tossed all the symbols of his academic achievement-his golden key and merit certificate-into the ocean. After returning to China, he devoted all his energy to proclaiming the Gospel. His footprints covered most of China and Southeast Asia. It was with his own life that he kindled the fire of spiritual revival among the Chinese churches.

This article records some of the events during Dr. Sung’s evangelistic journeys to Anhui and Henan provinces in late 1937. The author, Rev. Chu Huaian, had accompanied Dr. Sung during the early years of these journeys. As a witness, he recorded the difficulties and hardships that Dr. Sung had endured for the sake of preaching the Gospel. But “how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” May there be followers from our generation after the footsteps of those pioneers who went before us.

-The Editor

From Suxian to Fuyang

During the first part of December 1937, Dr. Sung held a revival meeting in Suxian, Anhui for eight days. Back in January 1934, he had led a meeting there before, so this was his second time leading a meeting in this part of the country. This was the first time he did not use an interpreter. God greatly blessed the meeting. It was during the time of Japan’s invasion of China, which had begun a few months before. At that time, the fall of Nanjing was just a matter of days, but still, there were over a thousand people that came from the surrounding towns and villages to attend the meeting.

It was also during that time that Dr. Sung received a letter from Mrs. Sung in Shanghai telling him that their home had been robbed and all their belongings and books, including the tens of thousands of letters he had collected over the years, were all gone. He was very saddened and was anxious to go home. However, because of the battles in the area, there was no transportation to take him home. Moreover, he was scheduled to lead meetings in North Anhui and Henan. So Dr. Sung submitted to God’s will and continued on as planned.

The very next morning, after he finished the meeting in Suxian, he hired a rickshaw to take him to Mengcheng, a southwestern town about 130 Li (Chinese mile, about 40.38 miles) away. I accompanied him on my bicycle. Along the way, we frequently encountered armed deserters who demanded money from travelers. Fortunately, before we left, we had some change to give them to avoid any unpleasant incidents. We arrived at the town that night at 9 o’clock and stayed at the local church there. Elder Tian hosted us and asked Mrs. Tian to fix us a nice hot meal. We hadn’t really eaten for the entire day and were cold, hungry and extremely exhausted.

Not too long ago, Dr. Sung was here to lead an evangelistic meeting. But this time he was just passing through. The Fuyang Inland Mission sent a brother to meet us. It was December and cold.

Dr. Sung felt the chill of December, and considered that we still had about 180 Li (56 miles) of unsafe roads to cover without any inns to stay for the night. It would be too tiring to continue this way for two more days. Therefore, he insisted on taking a bus. But all the motor vehicles had been conscripted by the military; there were none available for us. Dr. Sung had no choice but to hire another rickshaw the next morning and I followed him again on my bicycle.

After traveling about 10 miles, the rickshaw driver refused to continue because his feet now hurt. So I hired the only vehicle available to us-a one-wheel cart. It was the only transport the village had. One side of the cart was for luggage and the other side for passengers. The driver would then push from behind. It was bumpy to ride in and slow to move. Even though I had my bicycle, I could only push it along.

It was already midnight when we arrived at a small town, Madianzhen, and found a small inn. We were really hungry and asked the innkeeper if he had any food for us. He had only some leftover chili pepper noodles. Although Dr. Sung and I could not stand spicy food, the innkeeper told us that it was cold at night and it’s better to eat some so that we would feel warm as we slept. We were so cold and hungry we thought if we did not eat, we would not be able to sleep. I urged Dr. Sung to take the chili pepper noodles, but the noodles were far too spicy for us. After forcing ourselves to swallow a couple of mouthfuls, we could not take any more. We had to use ice cold water to rinse our mouths.

That night we had trouble sleeping because we were cold and hungry. Eventually, we were so tired that we dozed off. However it was a very short sleep, for we were awakened feeling itchy all over our bodies. I turned on my flashlight and saw a lot of ticks crawling on our blankets. Dr. Sung jumped out of bed and said, “This place is like hell where the worm never dies and the fire never extinguishes.” He said that because he could still feel the spicy peppers like fire in his mouth and he itched from the bites of the ticks. He also commented, “I am 36 years old and I have never been so miserable; even a mental hospital in America would be a better place than this. This is too much!”

After we dressed, we spent the rest of that cold and hungry night sitting on a bench. At first we could sing “At the cross, at the cross, be my glory ever,” but later we did not have any more energy. Our teeth even chattered when we talked. What an unusual night!

Finally, the sun rose above the horizon and we resumed our journey to our destination over 80 Li (25 miles) in the southwest direction. Because the man-pushed cart moved so slowly, it would take us another 10 hours or so to reach our destination and we traveled on empty stomachs. Finally we arrived at Chahuamiao and there was a porridge stand. Having gone a day and a half without food, we found the plain, simple and bland porridge tasting like honey to us. No wonder that after Dr. Sung finished his porridge, he gave a satisfying smile and said, “This tasted so sweet even without sugar!” Even though we only had two bowls of plain porridge each and no other food we could feel our strength returning.

At last we arrived at our destination, Fuyang, an important town northwest of Anhui province. We saw a welcome party of over 10 elders and deacons from the Inland Mission waiting at the pier. We soon learned that Christians from all over the vicinity had gathered in the local church since the day before waiting for our arrival. Without hesitation, Dr. Sung announced that the evangelistic meeting would start that night. His announcement was greeted with a big round of applause.

From then on, he preached twice a day and was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. As a result, numerous people repented every day. He preached with such intensity that even in the cold of December, after each meeting, his undergarments were soaking wet from his sweat. Adding to his discomfort, he preached with such force that his hemorrhoids often flared up. Even though he had already had an operation for his hemorrhoids while he was studying in the U.S., the condition was not cured. Every night after his preaching he had to wash away the blood from his underwear. Sometimes, when he preached twice a day, he had to wash them twice. He often said to me, “Paul was given a thorn in his flesh. Likewise God had given me a thorn in my flesh, lest I should be proud.” He also asked me not to mention his hemorrhoid condition to anyone, fearing that church leaders would ask people to wash his underwear for him. This thorn in Dr. Sung’s flesh was with him until the day he went to heaven.

Entering Henan Province

After the revival meetings in Fuyang, I accompanied Dr. Sung through towns of Taihe, Jieshou, etc. and entered Henan province. During the height of war, no motor vehicles available. We had to hire rickshaws. It was never peaceful along the way.

Near the city of Xiangcheng, we encountered three local bandits. They asked us what we did. Dr. Sung told them we were preachers for Jesus. They observed that, with the commotion and turmoil of the ongoing war, people could not even flee fast enough with their lives. Why bother preaching? One of the bandits said, “We are actually in the same profession; you preach heaven’s ways, we carry them out.” Another politely asked, “How about sharing with us a few dollars? We are completely penniless. You are good people. I’m sure you will want to do good deeds, and you will be rewarded as well.”

Dr. Sung asked me to give them five dollars and told them, “You have to believe in Jesus, Jesus saves sinners.” They replied, “Jesus is right, we are sinners.” Before we were on our way, they instructed us, “After you pass Xiangcheng, if you encounter others troubling you, just tell them, ‘Big Brother San-Ma has already collected five dollars from us.’ They will then leave you alone.” Throughout the rest of our journey, we did not encounter any other bandits.

It was only after we arrived at the Gospel church of Zhoukou that we were informed; these bandits would rob anything from anyone.

We thank God that we did not lose any of our clothing or bedding; it was truly a miracle. The most amazing thing was, I had placed all of Dr. Sung’s money in my inside shirt pockets. If the bandits were to search and rob us, we would have been totally helpless. Praise God for preventing the bandits from doing so.

It was quite late when we arrived at Zhoukuo, one of the four famous towns in China. It took some effort to locate the Gospel church. I asked the doorman if there was a pastor; and was told that they had a foreign pastor. I asked for accommodations for two evangelists passing through. The doorman went inside to the foreign pastor and came back with the reply that we could stay with the doorman in the outside room.

We had to make do. Dr. Sung shared the bed with the doorman and I slept on the haystack in front of the stove. Before sunrise the next morning, Dr. Sung urged me to go on our way. He said, “The doorman’s feet are so smelly that I couldn’t sleep at all. You were better off sleeping on the haystack.”

Before we left, Dr. Sung wrote a note in English to the foreign pastor. He accused him of lack of loving hospitality for other preachers of the Gospel, and advised him to examine himself carefully. Our rickshaw had traveled about 20 Li (6 miles) when the foreign pastor and his wife caught up with us on their bicycles. They felt very sorry that it was Dr. Sung that they had mistreated. They apologized profusely begging Dr. Sung to return for breakfast with them. But Dr. Sung refused, “We are not going back. You are showing your hospitality to a Ph.D. rather than an evangelist. You must thoroughly repent of your behavior!”

We later arrived at the town of Xiaotan. There a small eatery was frying Chinese breadsticks. Dr. Sung said, “We missed dinner last night and breakfast this morning. Now that we have such yummy food, let’s have our fill.”

At the Luohe Station

By nightfall we arrived at Luohe station along the Nanjing-Hankou Railway line. It had not been easy getting here from Suxian on the Tianjing-Huangpu line, since there were neither trains nor motor vehicles available. Now we needed to wait for a northbound train to Xuchang; the train station was crowded with people fleeing south. Rumors were spreading that the Japanese army had invaded the northern part of Henan Province. Train after train full of wounded soldiers were traveling southward; none were going north, except some trains transporting military weapons. A station worker suggested that we climb atop one of the military trains; there was no other way to Xuchang. In consideration of the fact that there were over a thousand people waiting to hear the Gospel in Xuchang, Dr. Sung said, “Let’s climb up there!”

The top of the cargo train was quite high. I let Dr. Sung stand on my shoulders to reach there. I was going to toss our luggage up before I went up. The station worker offered, “You go on ahead and I will help you with your luggage.” After handing me the first few pieces of luggage, he ran off with the final piece which was a small leather case. Recklessly, I jumped off from the top of the train and chased after him. He disappeared into a narrow street in the dark night. I came back weeping, Dr. Sung was so saddened he started to weep also. The little leather case contained no money, only the Bible that Dr. Sung used for his preaching, plus his notebook and two diaries.

Arduously, I got on the roof of the train. The train pulled away from the station in the chilly night wind. It was dangerous for us up there because there were no hand rails on the roof. Fortunately, the train moved very slowly, otherwise we might easily have fallen off.

At midnight the train pulled in to Xuchang. We found the church by daybreak. We told the pastor and elders how we had the little leather case stolen. They rushed to the police station requesting assistance to search for it, informing them that it was lost around the Luohe station area. The church even dispatched some members to conduct their own search at the town of Luohe, posting all over the streets and alleys a “Lost and Found” reward of $20 for the return of it. At that time, $20 was a large sum of money. This was all to no avail.

According to the station manager, these thieves often impersonated a station worker to steal passengers’ luggage. When they found no money inside the bag, they would just toss the case away. It was a pity that the two diaries could never be replaced. Dr. Sung still mentioned this incident on his sickbed at Xiangshan, Beijing in 1942, as it was quite regretful to him.

Christmas in Xuchang

The leather case was stolen on Christmas Eve in 1937, that same night that we traveled to Xuchang on the roof of a military train.

At noon on Christmas day, Rev. Ai Nianshan of the Lutheran church prepared a two-table banquet to welcome Dr. Sung. At the table with Dr. Sung were the leaders and VIPs of Xuchang and at my table elders and deacons of the church. After Rev. Ai introduced Dr. Sung to everyone, he also introduced the mayor of Xuchang seated to the left of Dr. Sung, and the chief justice of the court to the right. Then there were the police commissioner, and the publisher of the Xuchang Daily.

By this time, I detected Dr. Sung getting impatient. When Rev. Ai introduced the leaders of the church at my table, Dr. Sung stood up immediately and commanded me to switch seats with him. He said, “I am a servant of the Lord. I came to lead evangelistic meetings. I should be seated with brothers and sisters from the church. You go and mingle with those officials.” We experienced a similar occurrence in Mengcheng in the past. Dr. Sung was always vehemently against churches holding any unnecessary social gatherings during revival meeting time. He said, “We are one family as brothers and sisters; we should have the joy of eating together as a family. Why do we invite these big shots? It would be fine to invite them to come for the message. But to solicit their flattery and to have them for show, that is wrong.”

I had to obey Dr. Sung at the time and seat myself between the mayor and the chief justice, exchanging chitchats with them. I had just turned 18 and was only a hymn leader accompanying Dr. Sung. I did not know what to say in front of these high officials. I quietly prayed. Then as we ate, I started telling them how Dr. Sung came to know the Lord and how he received God’s call to be an evangelist. The Xuchang Daily reported this dialogue the following day. After dinner, as these VIPs were saying goodbye, Dr. Sung invited them to come to the evangelistic meeting that evening. They all agreed to come but none of them showed. They had heard of Dr. Sung’s fame for a long time and just wanted to take a peek at him.

The only purpose of Rev. Ai Nianshan was to let Dr. Sung know of his social standing with the elite at Xuchang; he possessed some power. Dr. Sung advised him face to face later, “Jesus came to be with the sinners and tax collectors, not to be with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Jesus came not to save the righteous but the sinners.” Judging from his subsequent actions, Rev. Ai did not really heed the admonition from Dr. Sung.

At Xuchang, because over 1,000 people came, the meetings were held in the open space behind the church. Japanese planes flew overhead every day, but the Lord granted us safety throughout the meetings.

On New Year’s day, 1938, we took a southbound refugee train to Xinyang, a city in southern part of Henan Province.

-Chu Huaian came from Mainland China, is a pastor, currently resides in US. From Christian Life Quarterly, December, 1997, Vol. 1, No. 4.