In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8
Missionaries and Chinese Converts (1900)
“I don’t fear if God wants me to
suffer the death of a martyr”
During the infamous Boxer rebellion in China, ten Swedish missionaries were massacred near So-p’ing on 29 June 1900 after a violent mob looted and torched their mission premises. Chinese Christians and others friendly to the missionaries were thrown into the fire and burnt to death. The missionaries had escaped but were later captured, manacled and killed.
Among those who died during this incident were: Nathaniel Carleson, who was the senior member of the mission group; Ernst Peterson, the youngest and shortest-serving missionary; and a Chinese mother and daughter. One of the four young Swedish women who died, Mine Hedlund, had written poignantly in her last letter, “I don’t fear if God wants me to suffer the death of a martyr”.
The following day, missionaries Edith Searell and Emily Whitchurch also fell victim to the Boxers at Hiao-i, Shan-si. Emily had gone to China in 1884 after hearing of the country’s need from Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission. Edith, one of the first missionaries to China from New Zealand, worked alongside Emily for four years, and they spoke of Jesus to many at a refuge for opium smokers. About Emily, a fellow worker wrote, “God has graciously owned and blessed her service of love; and the many precious souls saved, demons cast out, sick ones healed, opium smokers reclaimed, testify how mightily God can use one yielded life.”
From the human standpoint all are equally unsafe, from the point of view of those whose lives are hid with Christ in God all are equally safe! His children shall have a place of refuge, and that place is the secret place of the Most High… “A mighty fortress is our God” and in Him we are safe for time and for eternity.
Edith Searell wrote this in one of her last letters, dated just two days before her martyrdom in 1900