South and South Central Africa Part 25

Conclusion

I desire to protest against the unholy thirst for statistics; it is perfectly impossible to put into statistics the results of mission work.--Lord Selborne, Late High Commissioner for South Africa.

In the preceding pages it has been the aim to present some of the work done, as it has been our privilege to see it. Much more might be written about the progress of the work at Matopo, Mapani, and Mtyabezi Stations, for they have a number of excellent out-stations, manned by experienced and Spirit-filled natives, and are doing encouraging work; but that would be beyond the scope of this little volume. We must leave that for the able and efficient missionaries at those places and content ourselves with a summary of the work.

But first we desire to refer to the work at Johannesburg, for during the last few years some of our missionaries there have been laboring in connection with our Mission Board. Over four years ago Mr. and Mrs.

Isaac Lehman severed their connection with the other missionary bodies and began building up a separate work, and a little later began laboring under the auspices of the Church. They began the new work under difficulties, but they are persevering and hard workers, both in temporal and spiritual lines, and the work shows excellent results from their consecrated labors. Brother Lehman has worked hard to put up suitable buildings, and their station is now equipped with a good house and church. As I have not had the privilege of visiting that place since the opening of their new work, they were asked to give a statement of what is being done. This they did under date of August, 1914, as follows:

Our main or central station is at the City Deep Mine, where we reside. The Compound only a short distance from the mission at this place has over 4,000 native laborers in it at one time. This is a very promising mine, and has just lately been opened, and has an apparently long life before it under normal conditions. It will in time employ many more men as it keeps enlarging. We have open doors to this vast mult.i.tude of men coming from all parts of South Africa. There are many tribes represented and we can preach the Gospel to them; and we praise the Lord that some have been saved and are seeking to know more of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have four other mission stations besides this central station.

One is Florida Mission, where there is a nice number of baptized members and we believe a good work is being done. At the Goch Station the Lord has given some blessings and some souls have been added to the Church. At that place the mine has given us permission to apply to the government for a mission site, and the native brethren have already contributed a nice sum of money to put up a suitable church building. Praise the Lord! At the consolidated Langlaagte there is a good work going on; a number have been saved and united with the Church. We have had some blessed seasons at this place owned of G.o.d. The Bantjes has had its share of tests, but we praise G.o.d that souls have also, at this place, been added to the Church, and the work is progressing.

From all the stations, one main and four out-stations, fifty-seven souls have been baptized. We praise G.o.d for all these, and for a number who have heard G.o.d's call to them to give themselves to Jesus to work for Him and labor for the salvation of their own people through Jesus' precious blood. Thank G.o.d there is power in the blood to save any and all who will come.

There are a goodly number who are soon ready for baptism, and we are trying to do all we can to get them fully established in the deep truth of the Bible, a full and complete salvation, pardon cleansing, and the filling of the Holy Ghost. Some have taken a very bold stand for G.o.d, and are now preparing themselves for the Lord's work. Our desire and prayer is that we get a band of really consecrated, sanctified, Spirit-filled ones, who are willing to suffer the loss of all things for Jesus, and be made a living power to go out among their own people and help win them for Jesus.

Dear reader, will you pray with us for all these who are yet without the True Light, that they will soon have the privilege of hearing the glad news which is to all and for all? We have very good meetings in the large hospitals, where are many afflicted and dying. This is a good opportunity to give them the Word of G.o.d.

Isaac and Alice Lehman.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Brethren in Christ Cottage and Chapel at Johannesburg.]

Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Eyster have also been laboring in Johannesburg and have been valiant and consecrated messengers of the Cross. For several years they had charge of the Training School for Native Evangelists near Johannesburg, in connection with the Compound's Mission under Mr. A. W.

Baker. They have always been members of the Brethren's Church and several years ago concluded to sever their connection with the other mission and also labor in connection with our Mission Board. They secured a good opening at Boxburg, and with much self-sacrificing labor built house and church and opened an encouraging work. Souls were saved and some added to the Church. Then the labor troubles in Johannesburg caused the mines in the vicinity to close down and the work was checked.

We trust, however, that it is only a temporary check and that the work may move on under the blessing of G.o.d.

Nothing has yet been written about the last station opened, and this would be incomplete without reference being made to it. I refer to the one at Mandamabge, near Selukwe, Southern Rhodesia. Mr. and Mrs. Levi Doner had been stationed for several years at Mapani Mission and had done most excellent work there in the Master's cause. They, however, thought that that station was near enough to Matopo and Mtyabezi Missions and it could be left in charge of the native teacher, Nyamazana, so that they might be free to open another work in new territory. For this purpose Brother Doner, accompanied by Brother Frey, made an extensive tour among the natives, and he finally decided to locate at the above-named place, over 200 miles by wagon road from Matopo Mission.

In the latter part of August, 1911, Brother and Sister Doner, together with Brother Steckley and Sister Book, started for this place, and opened a work with every prospect of success. There were many natives surrounding them, who at once showed an interest in the work. They were there only about two months, however, before Brother Doner became sick and was called to lay down his life in the undertaking. From the time he had set foot on African soil, over ten years before, he had entered heart and soul into the work of the Lord and had labored continually with the exception of over a year's furlough in America. No labor was too arduous, no distance too great, no hards.h.i.+p feared, if thereby he might carry the Gospel to the people. Many long journeys he made by foot, by bicycle, by wagon, in exploring the country and in preaching the Gospel. Perhaps he was overzealous in the work at times, and if he had spared his strength more he might be still with us. Who knows? He gave the Gospel to many natives and helped many into the light. He certainly laid down his life in behalf of the Africans. While his body rests out in the wilds, far from other white people, we believe he is already enjoying some of the fruit of his labors.

Sister Sallie Doner, his wife, was obliged at that time to return to America on furlough. On account of some difficulty arising in reference to the location of the mission, it was finally decided to abandon the place. Sister Doner and Brother Steckley are now ably laboring in the interests of the work at Macha, and Sister Book at Mtyabezi.

There are now in connection with the African work twenty-one white missionaries, including those who are home on furlough, and thirty native teachers and evangelists. There have been over 300 natives baptized, and there are more than that number in the Inquirers' Cla.s.ses.

As the various out-schools are just being properly launched, the work may be expected to bear fruitage in geometrical ratio. Take for instance last year, 1913; there were 109 additions to the Church at the various missions. These figures are not large, and they indicate only a small proportion of the work really accomplished by the missionaries. As Brother Steigerwald says: "Now that the leaven has been put into the meal no one can stop it from expanding." Praise G.o.d for that!

We desire to express our appreciation of the English Government in aiding mission work and in making it possible for missionaries to labor unmolested in their colonies; also in suppressing many customs harmful to the natives, and which hinder the progress of the work. We rejoice also to know that the government, as well as the better cla.s.s of the general public, as they become more familiar with the work and aims of the missionary are realizing the benefit to the country and are showing their appreciation of the same.

The Church has come up n.o.bly to the help of the Lord's work, both by their prayers and means, so that all have been generously supported and all the stations of white workers have good, substantial brick houses and churches, and the workers have been well cared for. May the Lord abundantly reward the donors and the Foreign Mission Board, who have given the work their undivided support.

We rejoice that a beginning has been made, but it is only a beginning.

Only a very small portion of the great continent of Africa is covered by these pages, and that only imperfectly covered. The Lord has condescended to bless the work ever since its inception. It has never gone by leaps and bounds, but what was done has been solid and we hope lasting. We rejoice that we have been permitted to see natives emerge from the dense darkness of heathendom--how dark that is none but those who have lived among them can realize--and become beacon lights in their neighborhood, living witnesses of the truth that the Gospel of Christ "is the power of G.o.d unto salvation to every one that believeth,"

to the pagan African as well as to the enlightened European or American.

Many a time people have said to me, "The people in Africa are more eager to become Christians than those in America, are they not?" It seems to me that there is little difference in the people; if there is any difference in the results it is because of the difference in the methods employed. The missionary, as he goes to his field of labor, is after souls. That is his business; it is not a side issue. It is his business and he makes a business of it and uses business methods. He must begin at the bottom and learn to know his people and enter as far as he is able into their surroundings and their lives. He makes a study of them.

He knows from experience that the salvation of these precious ones has meant much travail of soul and deaths oft. He knows that some one has "filled up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ," in behalf of this part of the body of Christ. He knows they have been followed with anxious, solicitous eyes from the very first when they were infants in Christ, puny perhaps, and his heart was made glad, but with exceeding trembling lest the many pitfalls should entrap them before their eyes were really open to see or understand the danger. He knows some one has shed many bitter tears over the stumbling of some of these babies. He may now rejoice to see some grown to manhood, as it were, in Christ and being divinely used of Him in saving others.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. and Mrs. Isaac O. Lehman and Family and Some of Our Workers, Members and Enquirers. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 Are Satisfactorily Engaged in Work and in Preparation for the Work as Evangelists.]

The true missionary keeps at it. It is his central thought day after day as he teaches these dirty, careless ones about him to become cleanly and do their work properly, how he can lead them on to desire a clean life and seek for it. His last thought and prayer at night, as he lays his head on the pillow, is for guidance as to how to win these precious souls, and sometimes he is led, like his Master, to spend much of the night in prayer.

Some people, looking on from a distance, think there is a great deal of romance connected with mission work; that it is full of striking incidents and delightful adventures, and that it is a grand opportunity to see something of the world. On my first furlough home, ten years ago, a little niece gave a glowing account of a friend of her mother, and of the countries that friend had visited. In conclusion the child naively added, "She has traveled almost as much as a missionary." This child unwittingly voiced the opinion of many a grownup; for to some would-be missionaries the prospect of foreign travel occupies a large s.p.a.ce in their field of vision, but to the genuine missionary foreign travel is but incidental to mission life; it is the bridge over which he pa.s.ses to some obscure corner of the earth where he is hid away from the world's gaze and surrounded by an entirely different cla.s.s of people, of strange language and uncouth ways, often repulsive to the natural eye and to refined tastes. For months he may never see a white face, save those of his colleagues. He does not go with the expectation of finding a house already made to order and everything else he needs, but he is ready to go into the wilds, if needs be, and make a home for himself. He does not go just because he is willing to do certain things in the mission field; but he is willing and ready to do whatever he finds to do, and to go wherever the Lord tells him to go, and to stay as long as the Lord bids him stay.

There is, however, a fascination about mission work, as every one who is in the field will testify. Furloughs are taken because it is an absolute necessity for the missionary to go away for a time from the unhealthy climate and from the absorbing labors which sap the very vitality. But, when he is in his native land, the missionary feels that he is out of his element. He is out of touch with the business and interests which seem to engross the heart and soul of every one about him; and he is homesick to be back again to his field of labor and to see those dear dark faces. He feels that there is only one thing worth living for, and that is to lift up Christ among the heathen so that He may draw all men unto Himself. He feels that the time is short and that the "King's business requires haste," and that our Lord's return is imminent.

Again, as long as a person thinks he is making a _great sacrifice_ in leaving home, friends, and his business, and going as the Lord's messenger among the benighted of earth, he would better remain at home.

If he is really G.o.d-called, the day will come when he will realize something of the inestimable privilege of being His amba.s.sador to nations in darkness without any knowledge of the Light of Life. All earthly things will be lost sight of and his heart will burn within him to lift up Christ among the heathen. He will gladly go through anything, that the blessed Gospel may be proclaimed to the ends of the earth.

Some one may inquire, "What should I study to prepare me for the mission field?" A careful study of these pages will, we think, answer that question. But to sum it up we would say, anything, everything you can, both in school and out; one never knows until he reaches the field what he may meet with. The Bible of course, first, last, and always, and all the knowledge with it one can acquire; then too temporal work of various kinds, medicine, nursing, hygiene, farming, building, teaching, housekeeping, and mission methods. If one has acquired a fair knowledge of these and thinks he is well prepared, then let him be humble enough to acknowledge that he knows only the A B C's of mission work; and that when he has reached his field of labor, the Lord, and perhaps some of His messengers already in the field, will help him to put together into words the letters he has learned, and he may add to it day by day as the occasion may require. If one has this humility and willingness to adapt himself to the work, after reaching the field, it will supply much of his lack of knowledge along some lines.

My object in writing thus plainly is not to frighten any one of G.o.d's children from the work of the Lord; but rather to help each one carefully to count the cost, and to disabuse anyone's mind of false notions of mission work. Judging from the stability and perseverance of those already connected with the work, we have reasons to believe that all did count the cost; but the work is only begun, and we trust many more will come to swell the ranks and push on the work into the darker regions.

It has been a little over a century since the first missionaries began their work along the coast of South Africa; but it is only within the last half century that there has been much visible fruit of the work done. Even then the missionary labors have been chiefly along the coast of the continent and along the navigable rivers which are the natural highways into the interior. Much of Central Africa is still unpossessed.

In the report of the last Great Missionary Conference it was estimated that there are ninety millions of the population of Africa as yet untouched by the Gospel. Stupendous figures, indeed, to say nothing of the many millions whose knowledge of the Gospel is as yet very superficial!

We have already mentioned some of the difficulties in the way of reaching the people; the great expanse of country to be traversed, the deadliness of the climate, and the high cost of living, which in Africa exceeds that of any other country. Again, the many languages and dialects, 823 in number, together with the illiteracy of the people, are a serious handicap; but with G.o.d "all things are possible."

The present generation is beholding wonderful strides in opening the vast continent to commerce and civilization, and above all to Christianity. Railroads are rapidly being built all over the country, uniting the interior with the coast. At the present rate it probably will be a matter of only a very few years until Cape Town will be connected to Cairo by steam through the center of the continent. This central railway is soon to be linked with Benguella, on the west coast, which will form a more direct route into the interior. Twenty years ago Rhodesia had no railroads; in fact, it can scarcely be said there was a Rhodesia; for it was only in its formative period. Now it has 1,466 miles of railway owned and operated by the government, with an additional 204 miles extending to the seaport, Beira, on the east coast.

These are only a portion of what has been built in the country. North, south, east, and west other lines have been built.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Boxburg Mission Station. Built by Mr. Jesse Eyster.]

When one considers the vast amount of labor required, and the all-but insurmountable difficulties to be overcome in railroad building in Africa, the work already accomplished is little less than miraculous.

The Lord raised up men of large hearts as well as large means, to finance much of this. All the building material has to be carried long distances, and many of the ties and telegraph poles are of iron on account of the destructive white ants. The traveler can now take the train at Cape Town and travel to the border of Congo State, a distance by rail of 2,140 miles, for $75, second cla.s.s. He can have a comfortable compartment, furnished with all modern conveniences, and obtain his meals on the train at a very moderate cost. Freight rates are still high on account of the immense distance to be traversed and the small amount of goods required to supply Central Africa.

The railroads are fast changing conditions, helping to solve the question of gaining access to the people, and providing good homes and wholesome food for the missionaries. There are, however, many millions yet outside the railroad belt who are in need of the Gospel; but even these can be reached with much less difficulty than formerly.

The language question too is rapidly being solved, and great praise is due the n.o.ble army of men and women who have labored long and hard to reduce to writing the seemingly meaningless jargon which first greets their ears in going among the natives. Many languages have been reduced to writing by the missionaries, and the Scriptures have been translated into them. Grammars, dictionaries, and textbooks of various kinds have been written. This work, together with the various schools and the united labors of the missionaries, is aiding in reducing the number of languages. There are, however, many tribes which are yet without missionaries and without the Gospel in their language, and they are waiting for some one to say, "Here am I, send me." This is a task worthy of the greatest minds of the age; to reduce to writing an African language and to translate into it the Gospel which tells of G.o.d'S LOVE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, to those downtrodden, hag-ridden, demon-wors.h.i.+ping souls.

The time is opportune for spreading the Gospel in Africa; and if every child of G.o.d were willing to do his part or her part in the work, the present generation could see it carried to all tribes.

None of the difficulties in the way are insurmountable. When, the "Great Commission" was given it was backed up by the indisputable a.s.sertion, "ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. GO YE THEREFORE, ...

LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD. AMEN."