The parents of both these young martyrs met the news of their children’s death with the calm and fortitude one might expect of those whose lives had been long conformed to the will of their Heavenly Father. Dr. Scott, for many years a missionary in China, gave this tribute to his daughter and her husband: “John and Betty had heavenly perspective. Given that, all other things fall into their proper proportions.”

Back in Paterson, New Jersey, U.S.A., the home of the Stam family, the same submissive spirit prevailed. “Oh, why did they go there!” exclaimed one lady. “Because the love of Christ constrained them,” Father Stam replied. “We were glad to see them go, and would gladly have let them go again, because we look not at the things which are seen. They were not after money or comfort, but after souls.”

There had been a time, however, when John’s father had been reluctant to see his son go to China. He had fond dreams of the day when this able young man would take over the leadership of the mission which he himself had founded. This mission, known as “The Star of Hope”, had begun in an abandoned livery stable in the heart of Paterson. Later, grown to proportions never imagined, it reached hundreds of persons with the message of salvation through its outreach into asylums, hospitals, jails and homes of the poor. With such a work on his heart, it was only natural that Mr. Stam should long for it to be carried on by someone of the caliber of his son John. But, like the man of God he was, he laid this hope on the altar and told his son that he was only too glad to hear that he had offered himself to work among China’s millions.

John, however, had not always possessed this “heavenly perspective”. Family prayers, a happy Christian home atmosphere, the love and wise counsel of affectionate parents – all this could not give him a personal faith in the God his family so devotedly served, although it certainly laid a foundation for it.

And so when John graduated from the Christian Grammar School, he had not yet settled the spiritual issues of his life. He decided to take a course in business education, but the two-year program was rendered more or less unhappy by the restlessness within.

However, at fifteen years of age, he became awakened to the fact that he was indeed a sinner in need of divine forgiveness. He saw himself forever lost without the Savior and, in the spring of 1922, while in the college, seated at one of the desks, he terminated the raging within and gave himself completely to God for the performance of His will. From that time, he became an active Christian, although for six years after his conversion, he engaged in office work in both Paterson and New York. The trend of his life now shifted from material and worldly interests to those of a spiritual nature.

Of a reticent disposition, John had poignant struggles in regard to the open-air services led by his father. But, as he walked with God, his shyness and fear gave place to a joyful boldness in his effort to bring others to Christ. One summer, he and a younger brother engaged in outdoor witnessing practically every night.

John’s new relationship to God not only changed his life in the spiritual sense, but also quickened his intellect. He began to take a new interest in the world around him, and, since at the time he was employed in New York City with its teeming millions, he had ample opportunity to observe human nature.

As this young man began to know God more intimately, the soul need of those around him became a matter of great moment, and the call to His service grew more and more urgent. He gave full-time effort to The Star of Hope Mission for a brief period and then enrolled as a student of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He had saved sufficient money to take care of all expenses for a time, and his parents expected to aid him when it became necessary. But the word of God to John at this period was, “Act as if I were, and you shall find that I am.” So he decided to learn to trust Him for everything during training, instead of waiting until his arrival upon a mission field.

He entered the Institute with enthusiasm and purpose, and excelled as a student, but it was his spiritual vision and qualities of leadership which marked him as a man designed of God for a position of responsibility in future Christian service. He was exceedingly prayerful and, during these busy years at the Institute, it was his habit to rise at five in the morning, spending time in communion with his Heavenly Father before the routine of the day. John wrote of his training at the M.B.I.:

“I count it a great privilege to be here, if only for the lessons I have learned of Him and of His dealings with men…The classroom work is blessed, but I think I have learned even more outside of classes than in them.”

The subject of the victorious life very much engrossed him at this period. “I think, sometimes, we excuse ourselves when we fail, because we realize that the flesh is weak,” he writes to his brother. “If we could really see sin as God sees it, what a fight would be put up!” Then he adds a quote from another teacher: “Reckon, reckon, reckon rather than feel; you take care of the reckoning, and God will make it real.”

It was at Moody’s too that his growing knowledge of his Master caused him to embark upon a life of complete faith and trust in His care. We can see the deep lessons learned in a letter written to his father, when John discovered that The Star of Hope Mission, which was entirely a faith mission, was going through financial difficulties:

“About twelve months ago, when I began to come to an end of the money I had taken to the Institute, I told the Lord that if I am to go to China I must know Him as the Answerer of prayer here in the homeland. May I mention some of the lessons I have had to learn?

“First, that it is all of grace. God does not reward us with what we need, because of our faithfulness. We are unprofitable servants at the very, very best.”

“Second, that it is useless to get down and pray unless we have searched the Word and let it search us (Psalm 139:23-24), even our thoughts toward others, our motives and desires. Once I had to wait three days for urgently needed help, to learn this lesson.”

“Third, that it not our faith we must depend on, but God’s faithfulness – our faith being only the hand held out to receive of His faithfulness.”

“Fourth, that if the answer does not seem to come, there may be something in me that causes God to delay in very faithfulness. His faithfulness causes Him not to answer me, in such a case. He cannot encourage His servant in a wrong attitude by answering his prayers, can He?”

“Fifth, that faith must be intelligently based upon the revealed will of God. Not because I have a supreme conviction that I need something or other, but because I find it is His will, I can pray with confidence.”

“Sixth, that I am not to expect the Lord to answer in just the way I suggest, or think best. Means and manner and everything must be left to the will of God. We keep on looking to our usual or possible sources of supply, forgetting that our real source of supply is the Lord, and that He can use anyone, anywhere, with equal ease and freedom.”

“How, I do thank Him for this past year! I would not have had it otherwise, for all the ease of a bank balance. How could I ever have learned to trust the Lord, even a little, if everything had gone smoothly? How could He have checked me up, had I not been entirely dependent upon Him? Of course, He knows what we need! We can have a blessed peace and rest without anything at all to depend on but His promises…The Book has become a new book to me, this last year.”

John then goes on to rejoice in the ever-widening knowledge of the character of his Lord. He revels in the promises of Matthew 6:33! “ ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ That’s a business contract with two parties, God and ourselves. How poor would be our stay, if it were only the supplies in sight, or the people who usually send the money! It is not our work; it is His. His interest in it exceeds ours a thousandfold. As long as we are in His will, He cannot forget us. Could Mother forget her boys? Try as either of you or Mother might, you could not forget us…

“Dear Dad, what a blessed thing it is that God thinks it worthwhile to test us! Workmen only spend time and trouble on materials they can make something out of. God will perfect that which concerns us, Hallelujah!”

As the months rolled by, the vast land of China seemed to extend a beckoning hand, and the call to go there as a pioneer missionary became more and more urgent. Then it was that John began to attend the weekly prayer meetings for the work of the China Inland Mission. Here he met the girl who was to become his faithful wife and fellow martyr – the one whom God had prepared for him in His own school of learning and of suffering.
Elizabeth Alden Scott, although born in Michigan, U.S.A., had been reared in China. These stanzas, selected from a long poem written as a tribute to her missionary parents, show that theirs was indeed a happy Christian home.

“My words, dear Father, precious Mother,
May God select from His rich store.
I am, because you loved each other –
Oh, may my love unite you more!
But not content with mental culture,
Seeing my spirit mourn in night
You taught the Word and Way for sinners,
Until Christ’s Spirit brought the light.
Your life for others, in each other,
Shines through the world, pain-tarnished here;
As faithful steward, Father, Mother,
Your crown shall be unstained by tear.”

Betty, as she was called, possessed a gentle, warm disposition. She passionately loved the many-faceted aspects of life, as has been revealed in the poetry that came from her pen at eighteen years of age and later. Toward the close of her high school years, the girl succumbed to an attack of inflammatory rheumatism which affected her heart to such an extent that, for a matter of months, complete rest and quiet were necessary. During that period, Betty acquired a deeper awareness of the spiritual side of life than she had previously known.

Returning to the States for further education, she entered Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, with a faith in God and eternal verities well-grounded. The gay, frivolous life which held charm for so many around her, had no attraction for her. Instead, she seriously and purposefully devoted herself to her studies and graduated with honors.
After one year at college, Betty had attended a summer Conference at Keswick, New Jersey. There she surrendered to Christ in such a way as she had scarcely believed possible. Her own words reveal the depth of this consecration:

“Lord, I give up my own purposes and plans, all my own desires, hopes and ambitions (whether they be fleshly or soulish), and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to Thee, to be Thine forever. I hand over to Thy keeping all of my friendships; all the people whom I love are to take a second place in my heart. Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Work out Thy whole will in my life, at any cost, now and forever. To me to live is Christ. Amen.”

In a letter to her parents she adds a further amplification of this consecration:

“I don’t know what God has in store for me. I really am willing to be an old-maid missionary, or an old-maid anything else, all my life, if God wants me to. It’s as clear as daylight to me that the only worthwhile life is one of unconditional surrender to God’s will, and of living in His way, trusting His love and guidance.”

A year late, after another twelve months of college life, she again writes:

“When we consecrate ourselves to God, we think we are making a great sacrifice, and doing lots for Him, when really we are only letting go some little, bitsie trinkets we have been grabbing and when our hands are empty, He fills them full of His treasures.”
At Keswick, Betty had also received a fresh vision of China’s need, of which, because of her background, she was already aware. This impelled her to pray that God would permit her to labor in that land, if He saw best. With foreign service a possibility, Betty enrolled at the Moody Bible Institute a year earlier than John Stam had done.

From someone who knew her while at the M.B.I. we get a further glimpse of this dedicated young woman: “Betty was quiet, never profuse, gently direct, and above the average in intelligence and culture. She was never hurried or ruffled. Her dress, while suited to the occasion, was never the least bit showy. She did not wear jewelry or frills and flowers. Her dark, straight hair, parted on one side, was worn in a knot at the back of the neck. I thought this very becoming to her. Her choice was evidently the simple life, with high ideals and a definite goal.”

But underneath the quiet calm of her outward demeanor, she was undergoing some searching experiences. “It almost seemed,” her father wrote, “as though, out of her peaceful, sheltered life, she had prescience of terrible things she would some day encounter for the Lord, and be called upon to suffer for His dear sake. Meanwhile, her real heart was in training for the tragic test.”

Uncertainty as to her future field of service lay at the root of some of this conflict. The lepers of Africa had been brought to her attention and the question came, Would she be willing to go to that needy land give herself to care for these sufferers? To give up China, and all that that entailed, cost her sensitive nature a great struggle. Yet finally, as Mrs. Howard Taylor puts it, “though it meant death to her loving, aesthetic spirit, she was enabled to offer herself even for this, if it were the will of God.”

In the following poem entitled, “My Testimony”, she expresses it thus:

And shall I fear
That there is anything that men hold dear
Thou wouldst deprive me of,
And nothing give in place?
That is not so –
For I can see Thy face
And hear Thee now:
‘My child, I died for thee.
And if the gift of love and life
You took from Me,
Shall I one precious thing withhold –
One beautiful and bright,
One pure and precious thing withhold?
My child, it cannot be.’

Still further however, had these testings to go, until, at last, this eager soul found her true rest in God. Her consecration at the Institute had gone much deeper than that at Keswick five years previously.

Eventually Betty’s call to China became clearer and she knew that it was in that land that she must labor for her Master. Then it was that she had attended the prayer meetings where John Stam was a regular attendant. Since their ideals were similar, it was not strange that a regard for one another was begun. Which deepened with passing months.
During her last term at the M.B.I., Betty had applied for candidacy in the China Inland Mission. Since John had one more year of schooling, he was somewhat uncertain of his future and did not feel it would be fair to her to propose their engagement for a protracted period. So, without any definite understanding between them, Betty sailed for China in the Autumn of 1931. The parting for both was difficult. John wrote of it to his father:

“The China Inland Mission has appealed for men, single men to itinerate in sections where it would be almost impossible to take a woman, until more settled work has been commenced…Sometime ago I promised the Lord that, if fitted for this forward movement, I would gladly go into it, so now I cannot back down without sufficient reason, merely upon personal considerations. If, after we are out a year or two, we find that the Lord’s work would be advanced by our marriage, we need not wait longer.”

“From the way I have written, you and Mother might think that I was talking about a cartload of lumber, instead of something that had dug down very deep into our hearts. Betty and I have prayed much about this, and I am sure that, if our sacrifice is unnecessary, the Lord will not let us miss out on any of His blessings. Our hearts are set to do His will…but this is true, isn’t it, our wishes must not come first? The progress of the Lord’s work is the chief consideration. So there are times when we just have to stop and think hard.”

The father’s comment as he read this moving letter was: “Those children are going to have God’s choicest blessing!” Then he added, “When God is second, you will have second best; but when God is really first, you have His best.”

Betty was working in China at the time of John’s graduation from Moody, and he had not yet been accepted by the China Inland Mission. However, in the summer of 1932, after a six weeks’ stay at the Philadelphia home of the Mission, he was judged suitable and shortly sailed for China.

As soon as his future was assured, he wrote to Betty, expecting an answer before the date of his scheduled sailing. Since he received none, his voyage to China, by way of Honolulu and Japan, was somewhat clouded. Was he really sure of Betty’s love and, what was more, was he willing for all the will of God? Before he reached his destination, however, he knew that he was indeed ready to accept His plan for the future. What was his joy then, on arriving at Shanghai, to find that, forced by circumstances and with no knowledge of his coming, she was there.

In accordance with the regulations of the Mission, John could not marry for a year, but the mutual love of the young couple was so true and so evidently born of God that they did not doubt His approval upon their relationship. Betty journeyed north to an inland station, and John went to language school.

The area where she, with others, was stationed, was troubled from time to time by bandits. But missionaries of the China Inland Mission never swerved from the path of duty, until certain of God’s will. Hard at work, endeavoring to master the Chinese language, John was concerned about Betty’s safety. “If we should go on before,” he wrote her, “it is only the quicker to enjoy the bliss of the Savior’s presence, the sooner to be released from the fight against sin and Satan.”

With the year of required language study and Gospel service ended on John’s part, he and Betty planned for marriage. October 25, 1933, was the date selected. Never was there a sweeter bride, nor a bridegroom with a more noble Christian bearing. Heaven’s blessing seemed to rest in a peculiar way upon everything taking place that lovely Autumn day at the home of Betty’s parents in Tsinan.

After two weeks of honeymoon and a period of language study, it was decided that their permanent center should be the city of Tsingteh, sixty miles distant and a bulwark of heathenism. From this point, they walked to small towns over rugged mountains, scattering the Gospel seed and, with faith, looking forward to the joy of harvest. “The valleys just teem with villages,” wrote John. “Oh, that the Lord might have an assembly of true worshippers in each one.”

September 11, 1934, at Wuhu, was a memorable day for John and Betty, for it was then that a small daughter, Helen Priscilla, came to make her home with them.

But ominous clouds were appearing on the horizon of life. The Communist situation was worsening in China. In the district around Tsingteh, it was reported that small companies of bandits were posing a threat because of the drought, with a consequent shortage of food. John hesitated to take Betty and the baby back but, being assured by several Chinese magistrates that there was no cause for alarm, he decided to go. However, on the way they stayed a few days at Suancheng with their missionary friends, and little Helen was dedicated to God in a beautiful service. They reached their home at the end of November and were keenly anticipating their program of language study and evangelization.

On December 5th, utterly contrary to what had been expected, the Communists attacked Tsingteh, taking it the next day with practically no resistance, Betty was busy with the baby when word of the success of the Reds reached them. In no time at all, lawless men were looting the town, and the sound of repeated gunfire could be heard. The Stams, with their Chinese servants, knelt in prayer and, when the soldiers demanded entrance, greeted them courteously. Betty served them tea and cakes, as John endeavored to negotiate in regard to their demands for money.

But, intent only on evil to these foreigners, they bound and carried him to the Communist chief. A short time later, they returned for Betty and the baby. Despite the confusion, John succeeded in writing a letter to the Mission at Shanghai, although he knew that the demand for 20,000 dollars could not be met. The last paragraph said, “The Lord bless and guide you and, as for us, may God be glorified, whether by life or by death.”
Then a group of soldiers ordered John, who carried the baby, and Betty, on horseback, to a town about twelve miles away.

“Where are you going?” they were asked.

“We do not know where they (the soldiers) are going,” John answered simply, “but we are going to Heaven.”

When they reached their destination, they were confined and closely guarded for the night in a room off the courtyard of a spacious and abandoned Chinese home. John was tied with ropes to a bed post, but Betty was allowed to care for little Helen Priscilla.

The next morning, their outer clothing was removed and their hands tied tightly behind their backs. As they walked painfully along, the soldiers called out to any curious spectators to follow and see the execution of the foreigners. Outside the town, the doctor of the place, a Christian, called Mr. Chang, fell on his knees and pled earnestly for the missionaries’ release. But in vain. Still he pleaded until it was discovered that he, too, was a follower of Jesus. This discovery meant that he joined his young friends in laying down his life for the Master, for John and Betty soon experienced the worst that their enemies could do. In a few brief moments, earth, with its sorrow, toil and tears, was over, and Heaven had begun.
Most astonishingly, the life of their three-month-old daughter was preserved. Betty had left her on the bed in a sleeping bag and had provided some extra clothing to which she had pinned two five-dollar bills. For nearly thirty hours, the baby lay there alone and apparently forgotten. After the excitement had subsided, and all that was mortal of John and Betty had been laid to rest by Chinese Christians, a friend ventured into the house where the little family had spent their last night together. There, just as her mother had left her, unharmed, lay the “Miracle Baby”, as she later became known. Eventually after many difficulties and risking their own lives in the process, Evangelist Lo and his wife, who had found the baby, delivered her in perfect health to her mother’s parents who bestowed all the wealth their love possessed upon the orphan child.

Writing of the courage of these Chinese Christians, Betty’s father adds the following information:

“So remarkable were the courage and selflessness of Evangelist Lo and Mr. Chang that it is hard to believe that, only a few days earlier, both were rather uncertain in duty doing.

Evangelist Lo was timid and fearful, and Mr. Chang was rather unwilling to witness for the true and living God. But Betty and John had, last Autumn, sent out prayer requests for these ‘little ones in Christ’, and those prayers were wonderously answered in a Christ-like unselfishness and fervor of spirit and magnificent daring on the part of these two men that have thrilled the world.”

The martyrdom of the young missionaries struck a most responsive chord in the heart of Mrs. Howard Taylor, whose writings brought the work of China Inland Mission before the world in a most real sense. She felt led of God to write the story of their lives in a book she entitled “The Triumph of John and Betty Stam”. As a result, their consecration and devotion to God still sends out a fragrant and challenging influence.

Reprinted