An American from China to Chinese in America: William Speer
In these days of free interchange among those who were but a little while ago as far apart as the ends of the earth, it is not always easy to say just who are to be considered a “heathen people” here or there, and just who are in their spirit and course to be called a “Christian people.” Peculiarly is this the case with the Chinese Empire on the one hand, and with England and the United States on the other hand, in the light of the historic facts of the past sixty-five years. And this has a bearing on the question of foreign missions and missionaries, and in considering the life-work of such a man as Dr. William Speer, of the United States and of China, as a devoted foreign missionary in Canton and in San Francisco.
The attention and interest of William Speer of Pennsylvania as an American Christian, of one of the newest peoples of earth, was first drawn out to China as representing the oldest civilization on earth, being made war on by England as a “Christian” nation in order to force opium, as a means of material and moral destruction, on those of the older civilization by means of superior engines and missiles of death.
He longed to go as a foreign missionary to China, in order to save the souls of those whom the English were bent on taking the earthly lives of. That seemed a strange state of things. In 1846 he was appointed to the Presbyterian mission in Canton, and he went out to his new charge, expecting to spend his life in that work there.
But the discovery of gold in California drew to that field both Christians and heathen, and soon there was a need of missionaries among both sorts of seekers or settlers in California. In view of this Dr. Speer, as one familiar with the language and customs of the Chinese, was called to be the first missionary among the Chinese in California, he having returned, for his health, from China; and then there came at times the perplexing question. Who, as judging by their conduct and spirit, truly represent a “heathen” or a “Christian” nation? Dr. Speer in California was as exclusively a missionary among the Chinese as in Canton j although while in either field he incidentally was of much service to American citizens whom he met.
He soon won the affection and the confidence of the Chinese in California. His centre and his chief work was in San Francisco and the neighborhood; but his labors and his influence extended far beyond. It was not long before he had organized a Chinese church in San Francisco. Other such churches were formed soon after; and the members and the power of these churches grew. Dr. Speer aided in organizing Chinese Sunday-schools in various Christian churches, at other hours than, and as distinct from.
the regular Sunday-schools of the churches; and in some schools special classes of Chinese were attached to the main Sunday-school of the church. Dr. Speer’s health again giving out, he was succeeded by Rev. Dr. A. W. Loomis; and he again by Rev. Dr. I. M, Condit. Several religious denominations vied with each other in well-doing for the Chinese in California. A number of Christian Chinese young men were in training for evangelistic work among their people. It was soon made evident that the sphere of the American missionary from China was as important among the needy ones to whom he now went as it had been while he was in China.
It was in 1872 that I was in California, to attend the Sunday-school convention of the Pacific coast. Then I first met good Dr. Loomis, and became personally acquainted with him and his work. I was for some time among the Chinese in California, observing the brighter side and the darker. I visited, in order to see what there was on both sides, the opium-dens and the gambling-shops, the Chinese theatre and the Joss House, the close quarters where the Chinese packed together to sleep. And I saw the best quarters of the richer Chinese merchants, and the assemblies of those under Christian influence in the churches and Sunday-schools and Chinese reading-rooms. Seeing thus, and hearing from others who liked and who disliked the Chinese, I was enabled to form an intelligent judgment as to the need and the value of Christian missionary work among the Chinese in California, as it was being carried on under the lead of the Mission begun by Dr. William Speer.
A good side was presented at the anniversary of the Sunday-school of the church in Oakland which I attended. There were five divisions in the school, of which one division was the Chinese. Oiferings were on that day brought in by all. The oifering of the Chinese was larger than that of any other division, although the individuals in the Chinese division were far from being the best able to give. Each division had its banner. That of the Chinese was of yellow silk with its dragon on it and with the added motto, “God is our King.” As each person handed in his offering he recited an appropriate verse of Scripture; some of these showed an appreciative sense of the fulness of Bible teachings. Said one, “Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” Said another, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”
The leader of this class was a young Chinaman preparing to be an evangelist among his people. As the good American pastor of the church responded to the offerings and Bible recitations of this class, he took the hand of the young evangelist and welcomed him and those whom he led, saying as he did so, “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” That certainly was a bright side view of the Chinese in California and of the best Christian recognition of them, which made me glad and grateful.
But there were features of the life as I saw it that were not as bright. In another California city than San Francisco, I found that the Chinese Sunday-school could not meet in the American Christian Church at any hour. The reason of this was that when they had had a Chinese Sunday-school meet in their church they had received notice from rougher Americans that that Chinese Sunday-school must be given up or the church would be burned down. As they persisted in their Christian work their beautiful church was burned down, and they were told that if they taught the Chinese in the new church when they rebuilded, that church would also be fired. And as the good superintendent informed me, no insurance company would give them a policy on their church unless they promised not to gather Chinese in it where they could learn the gospel. As I heard in these later years of the “Boxer” riots in China I wondered whether the Chinese spirit was so different from that rife in some of our American people, or whether there are good and bad in both lands.
Again I was impressed in visiting, with Dr. Loomis, the Chinese quarter of the city, which is kept quite apart from the American quarters. On the outer edge, which when I visited was where the wealthiest Chinese merchants lived, I found these men in comfortable homes. They had on their reading tables the London Times, the Washington Chronicle, the New York Tribune, and the Boston Daily Advertiser. As I talked with these merchants they seemed as familiar with world affairs as Philadelphia or Hartford citizens. When I left them and the Chinese quarter, I found that, by the way I went, the lowest quarters of American residents were nearest to the best quarters of the Chinese. So in passing out of the quarters of the “heathen” Chinese to the quarters of the “Christian” American people, I was stepping down socially, materially, morally, and religiously, in my surroundings. I could fully realize that it would not be easy to convince those Chinese that they would be the gainers by becoming like such “Christians” as their neighbors.
But the people of the United States have never treated fairly the people of another than the white race. They welcome and treat fairly incomers from other lands if they be of the Caucasian or white race, but our history as to the treatment of those of another race, whether they be red, black, or yellow, has been discreditable and unfair from the days of Jamestown and Plymouth. If ever they do differently, it will be a complete change of spirit and policy.
But I was glad that Dr. Speer had been brought from his foreign missionary field to show the California Chinese that there are better men in nominally “Christian” lands than some whom they find burning churches and maltreating peaceable Chinese on the Pacific coast. And my confident hope is that the spirit which actuates American Christian missionaries to go to the ends of the earth, or to come from the ends of the earth, to preach and exemplify Christ to those who have need of him, will ultimately raise the spirit and conduct of American citizens. East and
West, North and South, to the standard which it should and can have. And may God hasten that day; and may he incline our hearts more and more to pray and strive towards that end!