Annie Dunn loved her church. She was the daughter of J. T. Dunn, an elder at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Under Spurgeon’s preaching, it was in the church that she came to hear the gospel of grace and love her Savior. Eventually, she professed her faith in Christ through baptism and joined the church. Now, as a member of the church, she participated in the ministries of the church. She joined a women’s Bible class. She gave generously to the work of the orphanage. And it was in the church prayer meetings that she heard about the growing work of China Inland Mission, under Hudson Taylor. There, she grew in her passion to see Christ’s name glorified among the lost.
Now, as a young woman, she was engaged to be married to a graduate of the Pastors’ College, Arthur Huntley, and together they were accepted to join Hudson Taylor and the work at China Inland Mission. They were commissioned by the church on August 5, 1889. The Sword and the Trowel gives an account of their commissioning service at a Monday night prayer meeting:
China next occupied our thoughts and prayers. In introducing the subject, the Pastor reminded us of Brother Stubbs, of Patna, who asked that, whenever we had rice on the table, we would pray for him; and said that it would be a good thing if we prayed for China every time we drank a cup of tea. He then referred to a letter received that morning from Brother Macoun, who left some months ago for China, and who begged earnestly for many more labourers for that great harvest-field. Mr. George Clarke, who has been labouring there for fourteen years, and who is shortly going back to his loved work, gave us some striking statistics to illustrate the fewness of the missionaries and the vastness of the population amongst which they labour… There was much more said at the meeting, for which we have not space; and, truly, it was good to be there. Before closing, the Pastor shook hands with Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, and their little boy, and Miss Dunn, the daughter of Elder J. T. Dunn, who is going out to labour in connection with the China Inland Mission, and to be married to our Brother Huntley; and after bidding them farewell, in the name of the whole assembly, commended them to the Lord in prayer.[1]
The engaged couple boarded a ship for Chin-kiang, China, with plans to be married after they were settled in China. On their arrival, they began the hard work of learning the language and culture. Arthur used his medical training to build relationships with locals. Annie began a Sunday school for children. In their short time with her, these five students grew to love their teacher.
But soon disaster struck. Annie came down with smallpox. Only eight months after her arrival, she was seriously ill, and there was little the doctors could do for her. Arthur records her last days in his diary.
She was suffering intensely, and longed to go. I prayed, “LORD Jesus, if it be Thy will to take dear Annie home, do so speedily.” “Amen,” she whispered fervently, “I want to go home.” … She was wonderfully thoughtful for those who attended to her. She knew I had watched by her all night, and said, “Arthur, you had better go to bed, you must be so tired.” And after a little she said, “Tell your dear mother I love her so much.” … Presently, she repeated each name in her family, father, mother, Alice, Alfred, Jessie, Willie, and the darling little ones, Charlie, Lizzie, Alfred, and Sarah.
“I would like to work with you, Arthur, but you will give me up, won’t you, dear?” Don’t cry. ‘Praise Him for all that is past, and trust Him for all that’s to come.’ ‘Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’” “Not lost,” I answered. “No,” she whispered.
“I hope you will not take this [the disease]. LORD Jesus, come quickly. I wish He would come; He’s a long time coming.”
…
“Are you in pain now?” I asked. “Yes, a great deal.”
“But are you resting in the Lord?” I continued. “Yes, and waiting,” She said.
“Are you sorry you ever came to China?” I asked.
“No, very glad; it’s just as near to heaven.”
…
Presently she said, “Darling mother, darling father, you’ll give me up for China and for JESUS, won’t you? Dear mother, dear father, don’t cry.” Her mind often reverted to her happy home, and the names, “father,” “mother,” often rested sacredly upon her lips.
“Don’t fret, Arthur,” she said. “I don’t think I shall,” I replied; “you can trust me with JESUS, can you not?” “I can trust JESUS with you,” she replied.[2]
Annie Dunn died of smallpox on May 17, 1890. She was buried the next day in the British Cemetery at Chin-kiang. One of her students “was deeply moved and wept sorrowfully,” laying a beautiful wreath at her grave.
The members of the Metropolitan Tabernacle grieved to hear the news. Spurgeon published the following announcement in The Sword and the Trowel, “Our esteemed elder, J. T. Dunn, and his family, have our sincere sympathy in the bereavement they have sustained through the death of his daughter, Annie. Less than a year ago she went out to China, as a missionary of the China Inland Mission, and now she is ‘for ever with the Lord.’”
Earlier that spring, Annie had written a letter back to her home church, which was read at their annual Pastors’ College Conference. In it, she gave a stirring charge to future pastors and missionaries:
It has been for years my happy privilege to attend some of the meetings, and although I should like, if it were possible, to do so again this year, day by day I grow increasingly thankful for the reason which prevents me from doing this, and being in my accustomed place at the Tabernacle on the Lord’s-day. I cannot describe to you what a blank it seemed when first cut off from all the happy associations, especially from your ministry, which has for so long been such a blessing to my soul. Before coming to China, I knew a little of the needs of the heathen; but had I ever realized how great were the darkness and degradation, my seat at the Tabernacle would long since have had another occupant. I am praying very earnestly that many of our members may, this year, be led to obey the command of our Lord, ‘Go ye into all the world’; and consecrate their lives to his service, and thus hasten the coming of his kingdom. Out of a church of over five thousand members, how few, comparatively speaking, have done this! Hundreds of souls, in this land alone, who have never heard the name of Jesus, are perishing daily.[3]
It had been hard for Annie to leave her spiritual family behind. Those first few months on the mission field were especially difficult. But when she saw “how great were the darkness and degradation” in China, she was glad she had left her seat at the Tabernacle and given her life to proclaim Christ to the perishing. As she lay dying, Arthur asked her, “Are you sorry you ever came to China?” “No, very glad,” was her answer, “it’s just as near to heaven.”
Annie’s letter was published in The Sword and the Trowel after her death, along with Spurgeon’s concluding charge, “Who will respond to the call that comes from our sister’s grave in China? … The Lord support the bereaved one, and make up to his church the many gaps which death continues to make!”
[1] The Sword and the Trowel, 1889, 531.
[2] China’s Millions, 1890, 117.
[3] The Sword and the Trowel, 1890, 462.