ADDRESS BY FUNG AFFOO.
The following address was delivered at the last Annual Meeting of the California Chinese Mission by Mr. Fung Affoo, one of our missionary helpers. It was listened to with much interest, and at my request, Affoo has furnished it for publication in the Missionary.
W. C. Pond.
“Christian Friends: I was asked to make an address here this evening, but I have not much to say. I do not know your language well enough. I have only a few words to say about the Chinese Young Men’s Christian Association, of which I have been a member about three years. This Association was organized not quite four years ago. There are other Chinese Christian Societies besides this one, in San Francisco and elsewhere in this State. This Association has now a membership of 131; about three-fourths of the members were gathered in during the last two years. It has given us great encouragement, seeing that the work of this Association has been thus far so successful through the help of God. But I am afraid that some people would say that, while so much has been done for the cause of Christianizing Chinese, only so little of the work has been accomplished in return. But if they really knew the difficulties and temptations in the way of our people becoming Christians, they would say otherwise.
“By being a member of the Association for three years, I have known what their difficulties are. I will tell you a little of it; perhaps it will illustrate to you some of their principal difficulties. As the rule of our Association requires that ‘any one who desires to become a member of this Association must forsake idolatry and all bad habits, and prove himself to be a follower of Christ,’ so, when he is a member, he must do accordingly; and when he does that, his friends and relations will turn their backs on him, and will have nothing to do with him. That makes it very unpleasant, and he feels the loss of their friendship very much; because it is a general thing among our people in this country that, when a Chinaman first comes here from China, he is a dependent on his friends and relatives, who provide him food and shelter, and then find him employment until he has earned some money; then he pays them back what seems to him right. He feels it is his duty to respect and follow their advice, because of their kindness to him when he was a stranger. So, when he becomes a Christian, he not only feels he has lost those friends, but, perhaps, sometimes gets a good whipping from his relatives also. That not only prevents some from becoming Christians, but four or five of our members have turned back under these circumstances.
“But we make it one of our principal duties to make each one feel that he has found some better friends in the Association than those he has lost by becoming a Christian. Not long ago a young man became a Christian, and his friends, not satisfied with abusing and jeering at him, wrote a false report to his parents in China, telling them that their son in California not only had forsaken his old religion and the worshipping of his ancestors, but also had cut off his long queue and dressed in foreigner’s clothes. When they received this news, they wept and made many inquiries, and worshipped all the gods they knew of, praying them to use their spiritual power to turn their son back to be a Chinaman again, so that, when they die, they will have some one to take care of their bones and feed their ghosts. When the young man heard of this, he wrote home to them, telling them it was true that he had become a Christian, but it was not true that he had cut his queue and wore the foreigner’s clothing, and said that he was a Chinaman still; he would honor them just the same, and perhaps more. And he has not heard from them speaking on this subject ever since. Now, friends, such things as I have said often occur, but most of our members are firm. When once they have become Christians, they will stick to it, though they have so many hardships to bear.
“They often encounter some hard questions about Christianity from their heathen friends, such questions as, ‘If Jesus was the Son of God and a good man, why did the people kill him on the cross? People would never kill a good man that way.’ ‘You say, being baptized with a little water pour on your head, and your sins are no more. I can take the water and pour on my head, or wash me all over fifty times a day!’ ‘You say God created heaven and earth and man, and has power over everything; why He lets the devil live and lead the people to go astray, and, when the people die, He will condemn their souls and send them to hell?’ etc., etc. If they cannot answer these questions, they will ask their teachers or search the Scriptures to see what answer they can get from them—not only that those questions may be answered but in hopes that their heathen friends may be led to become Christians, also.
“We feel we are weak and few in number, but we trust God, and lean on His strong arm, that He will carry us through. We know that He has been very good to us, and has given so many kind friends to help us along; and we hope, through His goodness, that all our people will soon know that Jesus is the only Saviour of the world.”