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“...Prayer for the New Year
Of the value of missions in Africa, a
quotation from the Report of “The Com-
mission to inquire into native laws and
customs,” appointed by the Cape Govern-
ment in 1881, will testify :
“ Among the most powerful (beneficent
forces) . . . are the various Christian mis-
sions. . . . The influence of those agencies,
in raising the natives both morally and
industrially in their standing as men, can
hardly be over-estimated.”
No one knows the part which will one
day be played by the awakened and edu-
cated races of Africa. Impartial investi-
gation of racial differences incline more
and more to adopt the position that under-
lying all superficial differences of colour,
and status of culture, there is a sub-
stratum of common humanity which
creates a potential equality. In the
treatment of Africa Westerners must ex-
hibit respect for human personality. Al-
ready there are negro or negroid painters,
musicians, novelists, botanists, mathema-
ticians and enginers who have...”
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“...by the wayside very ill, who had been
abandoned by the soldiers whom he had
served as cook. They got him to a temple
near by, but he soon died, and they had
to provide a coffin and bury him. Mr.
Goldsworthy continues :
“Another day a woman brought her three-
months-old baby and asked us to adopt it, as
she could not afford to keep it. Needless to
say we were not quite ready to do so, and
had politely to refuse, giving a little cash
for immediate needs. On yet another day a
woman called at the Mission house and
asked me if I could influence the mandarin
to have her husband, who was mad,
removed to the Yamen for detention until he
was better. It appeared that every day he
would beat his wife and his old mother,
giving them neither food nor money. I
appealed to the mandarin, but it was not
until I had sent to him several times that
the madman was actually removed and the
hearts of the wife and old mother made glad.
Another incident, which certainly has its
humorous aspect, was when the mandarin...”
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“...the human instrument being that
great heart, Francis Jewell—a man with
a manner and a banner. Truth came to
him through a rich personality, and from
that moment he never ceased to wonder
that “ God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son.” As with
Paul, so his missionary activity sprang
from the fount of a wondrous experience
of Christ in the heart. His was “a
mighty debt,” and he felt that however
hard he toiled, he could never repay it.
Born again through the ministry of a
home mission church, he retained his first
8...”
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“...The Late SamuebArnold
love and lengthened his gaze to the
regions beyond.
Besides the moral and spiritual enrich-
ment of his personality there was the
favourable environment. Packington
Street, in the days of Britannia Fields
(literally) wasi the scene of the labours of
the Rev. J. Maughan, a pioneer mission-
ary to Australia. My predecessor, the
Rev. William Eddon, received his com-
mission for China whilst ministering
there. Missions thus became the life-
breath of this little church tucked away
among tenement houses and standing as
a postern gate to declining Islington. It
sought to save those at its doors, and then
taught them’ enlarged service. In recent
years the success of this branch of the
work is largely owing to the leadership,
enterprise and organization of our friend.
He gave nobly of time and money him-
self ; he inspired others to follow him till
the advocacy and support of missions be-
came a constant, steady, prayerful out-
flow instead of an intermittent stream
stirred...”
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“...them-—yet life in these parts
is not entirely without incident. In the
early months of 1925 we had such a
famine as has not been known here be-
fore ; followed by the usual epidemic of
fever, until over ten thousand are reck-
oned to have died in and around Chao
T’ong. Then, twice during the last six
weeks, this city has been attacked by
large bands of brigands, a thing hardly
dreamed of hitherto, and now, it has
fallen to my lot to meet with an experi-
ence which is certainly unique in this
mission, and, I believe, as far as our
work in other provinces is concerned.
Last week-end, I went to Stone Gate-
way for the harvest festival, and on Tues-
day morning, left there with two Miao
to return to the city. As you know, the
stations are about twenty-five miles apart,
and the journey lies through country
which, whilst very beautiful, is at some
points very lonely. I met one or two people
on the road who said the way was clear,
and I was not a little surprised, therefore,
after going about eight...”
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“...Panama
hat had left with him. Except for these,
I did not mourn his departure. He was
conceited, inefficient—and in particular
puffed-up as to his English.”
He follows this thieving story
with one which proved the half-
wit of the boy. He could not
understand why boot-trees should
be put into the proper boots,
though both boots and trees
were marked R. and L., for
his special convenience.
A. M. does not stress the fact
that this was a “Christian ” boy :
he mentions it. He may have
been in a mission-school 15 days,
and expelled for such things as
he did in his new sphere. He
was “inefficient,” as illustrated by
the boots and boot-trees, which is
referred to almost as seriously as
the robbery. Why, in twenty
years, had he not employed a
“ Christian ” boy, with this ex-
ception ? Christianity is maligned
and sneered-at through this “tem-
porary ” and ignorant boy. To
one instance like this we can get
5,000 the other way.
We do not know the writer’s
name, nor do we wish to. “ A. M. ”
—“A man...”
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“...came
in to him at eventide, and lo, in her
mouth was an olive-leaf pluckt off; so
Noah knew that the waters were abated
from off the earth. And he stayed yet
other seven days, and sent forth the
dove ; and she returned not again unto
him any more.—Genesis 8: 6-12.
Bible Names in
Modern Syria.
Christofei G. Naish.
Last year the Friends’ Mission in
Syria had a calf, and in order to save
the trouble of looking after it, arranged
with a neighbour that he should keep it
for a year in return for a half share of
the calf. His name is Moses Isaiah.
Moses Isaiah took care of it for the
year. Wanting money more than the
calf, he sold back his half-share to the
Mission for £15.
Since that time the calf (now a cow}
has been, so to speak, at auction. It has
stood on the ground for inspection, ana!
intending purchasers have come to see it
and bid.
First Isaiah Joseph looked at it, but
having two good cows of his own didn’t
want it very badly.
Then David came and offered £27.
Then Solomon Gabriel offered...”
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“...Chairman ;
Dame Adelaide Anderson, Principal
Lady Inspector of Factories, Home
Office, 1897-1921 ; and Professor Soot-
hill, M.A., Oxford University.
“ Mendiland In his book, recently pub-
Memories.” lished under this title,
Rev. W. Vivian has made
a valuable contribution to our missionary
literature. It is valuable as a record of
the pioneer period of our Mendiland Mis-
sion, including the dark days of the rebel-
lion, which brought martyrdom to some
of the pioneers and nearly destroyed the
infant mission. Additional value arises
from the interesting account of the life
and customs of primitive people, before
they had been affected by the encroach-
ments of the civilised world. All the
more impressive becomes the contrast
created by the development of the Protec-
torate under British rule, by traversing
the country with railways and highways,
by introducing sane and safe administra-
Paramount Chiefs of Mendiland.
Saidu of Wunde. Amara of Jaiama. Pokawa of Bonga.
See also p. 183,1925. [Rev. w....”
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“...Mendi-
land Mission. The lapse of years has
not dimmed the vividness of his memo-
ries, nor diminished the intensity of his
missionary love for the Mendi people.
That love has given birth to a book suf-
fused with an enlightened compassion,
brightened by a humour which glints
around every scene, and charged with the
divinest purpose that can move the hearts
of men.
“ Lessons on Coincident with the ap-
onr West pearance of “Mendiland
Africa Memories,” our Young
District.” People’s Committee is
publishing, chiefly for
Sunday School workers, a booklet con-
taining four lessons on our West Africa
District, prepared by Miss G. Blumer.
With remarkable skill, Miss Blumer has
woven the story of the Mission upon the
dark background of African sorrows, set-
ting in contrast slavery and emancipation,
despair and hope. Freetown is shown
as an illustration not only of the British
power which liberated slaves, but also of
the Gospel-power which uplifted them.
The opening of the Mendi Mission and
the tragic...”
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“...door
for us to enter the chiefdoms which have
been allotted to our Church. Shall we
refuse to enter? For years we have
been marking time. The call comes now
to “Go forward.” Shall we be disobedi-
ent to the call? God forbid ! ”
I earnestly hope that every reader will
echo that “God forbid!” It is the rank
and file in our churches who ultimately
decide these questions of extension, for,
however eager the Committee may be to
advance, the advance is impossible with-
out the increase in money and mission-
aries. Our friends are invited to ponder
the situation here disclosed, in the light
of “Mendiland Memories,”* and if thev
are convinced that the opening is of God,
they will readily sustain the projected
advance with their gifts and prayers.
A- minister in the zenith of his powers
is required to lead this advance, in suc-
cession to Mr. Micklethwaite, and we are
hoping to hear from one who has heard
the call to this service.
Steadfastness The Nosu people in the
in West remote regions they oc-...”
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“...A Pilgrimage to the
Holy Land of China.
Miss LILY ARMITT.
I.
AST summer the wish of many years
was fulfilled. With a party of
missionaries I ascended T’ai Shan,
one of the five sacred mountains of China.
It is 5,068 feet above sea level, situated
60 miles south of Chi-Nan, capital of
Shantung.
Mr. Dwight Condo Baker, M.A., of the
American Methodist Mission, has just
written a book entitled “Tai Shan,” and
to the loan of the author’s copy I am in-
debted for much of the information re-
corded here.
My holiday home was half way, up the
mountain at the Foreign Settlement, most
of the cottages being built by the mis-
sionaries of Tai An, a city in the plain
below, from which the Pilgrim Road
commences, with its 6,000 steps, which
finally lead up through the Dragon’s
Gorge to the South Heavenly Gate. The
ascent can be made in a mountain-chair,
the back of which is a half circle of
wooden supports, and the seat a network
of string ; poles are strapped to the sides,
and two men, one at each end...”
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“...of missionary adventure.
A delicate reference to the grave affliction
which provided the opportunity “to give
the United Methodist Church an account
of its Mission in Mendiland,” quickens
our sympathy with the cause Mr. Vivian
represents, and arouses the same wonder
regarding his book as John Richard Green
expressed concerning his “ Short History'
of the English ■ People ”—that in such
days of physical infirmity he could ever
have written it at all. And yet, the book
is written in an engaging style, the most
lurid happenings being recounted with a
dignity and restraint which heighten their
impressiveness for all who have hearts to
understand. The history of the Colony,
and of our Mission, is outlined in a single
paragraph of the Introduction. Mendi-
land was a natural growth of
our original work in Sierra
Leone ; and, had our mission-
ary income been equal to our
opportunity, not even the
tragic events recorded in this
book could have hindered its
full development.
We have here a story which...”
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“...is the survival
of Paganism in a semi-civilized form ; the
second is the rapid inflooding of Islam.”
Mr. Vivian says that “the shining road
to the conversion of Mendiland to Christ ”
is not to make “black-white men,” but
to make “the acceptance of Christianity
consonant with the retention and enrich-
ment of every personal and racial idiosyn-
crasy.”
Would that “a Mr. Vivian ” would tell
a similar story of other mission fields !
This book is valuable in itself as an able
contribution to missionary propaganda.
It should also encourage the Denomina-
tion to develop the Mendi Mission on the
lines suggested, which are those recom-
mended in the Report of the Rev. Charles
Stedeford’s recent visit to West Africa.
The Churches of this District raise locally
one-third of their expenditure. Three
new chiefdoms have been assigned to us
for evangelization. Six European mis-
sionaries, and a further expenditure of
£1,000 a year, are required.*
Again our Publishing House has done
a great service for missions...”
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“...wherever we look in the wide white
fields, The Other One is within reach.
As the late R. C. Trench said :
“ I say to thee do thou repeat
To the first man thou mayest meet
In lane, highway, or open street,
That he and we and all men move
Under a canopy of love
As broad as the blue sky above.”
The Legion of
Venturers.
To the Rev. G. H. Kennedy and his
Comrades.*
My Dear Friends,
I THINK it is time to thank you again
for your interest in our West African
Mission. Your African brother
Christopher Venture is doing well, and
is very happy in the Mission at Yamandu.
Through your kindness, when I came out
this time, your President, Rev. G. H.
Kennedy, supplied me with a number of
toys which I distributed to the children.
They gave much pleasure. Christopher
was specially favoured. He had a me-
chanical model of a steamer, and if you
could have seen his face, when after
showing how it was worked, I handed it
to him, you would have been amply re-
paid for the sacrifice you make in sub-
scribing for his...”
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“...ignorance of the people to enrich
themselves. The child-like African heart
is longing for the revelation of God as
seen in the face of Jesus Christ, and if
that knowledge be imparted in childhood,
when the mind is keener to investigate
and more responsive to education than in
European children, wonderful indeed
would be the results. The perusal of
“ The Congo and its People ” should lead
to the development of work amongst the
children of Africa, as well as an enlarge-
ment of general interest in mission
enterprise.
“Among the Women of the Punjab ” is
an account of missionary work by means
of personal intercourse with the people of
India in a movable tent. Anything farther
removed from the once-cherished idea of
a missionary, with frock coat and tall
hat, preaching to crowds whilst standing
under a palm-tree, than the record of
humble and faithful service recorded in
this book can scarcely be imagined. Miss
Coombs, named Chhoti by the Hindoos,
and her Indian companion, Panchi, with
a woman named...”
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“...a hideous
image of the Yoruba god Esu, the Evil
One, to which passers-by used to throw
small pieces of silver in the hope of gain-
ing the god’s favour. The old woman
heard the gospel at an open-air service
and became a true Christian.
“I am too old now,” she often said, “to
learn much : I shall never read the book
with the wonderful words, but I pray the
good Father God may grant that my
Oyinka may learn to read and love it and
to do what it commands us.”
So. Oyinka came as a scholar to the
Mission Girls’ School and learned very
quickly. Her face was not beautiful, but
she had a sweet, unselfish disposition and
soon became a little Christian girl.
Christmas was drawing near, and it
was the custom in the little African vil-
lage for all Christians to bring to the
Church on Christmas morning some gift
for the Christ-child. They were all very
poor, and had to deny themselves in order
to give anything. Week by week they
laid by a few cowrie shells, the native
money, and tried each Christmas...”
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“...fruit until it drops from my
arms—into the arms of the others, over the top of the wall.
—Sherwood Anderson.
A Pilgrimage to the
Miss E. LILY ARMITT.
2.
Holy Land of China.
The Shrine of the Ancients—
In T’ai An City.
PILGRIMAGE to the sacred
Eastern Peak is not complete,
without a visit to the lower temple
of the god T’ai Shan, which stands
within the north gate of T’ai An city.
Such an opportunity came to me ; when
we decided to descend the mountain, and
spend a night in the American
Methodist Mission Compound,
iq order to hear a Russian
singer, Vasily Petrovick Ar-
noldi, who on journeying
northward alighted at T’ai An
to sing to the 1,000, or more,
Russian soldiers (Whites) who
are stationed there.
The famous T’ai Temple is
full of historical interest. The
ancient cypress trees of the
Han and Tang dynasties (25-
007 a.d.) the antique monu-
ments of Sung and Chin
(1127-1280) seen in the various
courtyards, make one feel the
reverence, the dignity and
wonder attached to such a
place. The temple...”
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“...bed-chamber of the idol. Within the
ruined temple sits the image of T’ai Shan
and his principal wife. The god was once
a splendid bronze statue, but is now turn-
ing green with oxidation from the rains
pouring upon it. The queen is in a worse
state, an ordinary wooden image ; two
secondary wives, the Eastern Duchess
and the Western Duchess are in better
condition. The workmen were in the
act of repairing the roofs, and they re-
Still ascending. [From Mrs. Butler's book, by fier-
A rest by the way. mission of author and publisher.
Holy Land of China
marked to me, “ When virtuous people
subscribed more money they would repair
the walls.”
An interesting visit was to The Hall of
the Library of Scripture, where is the
precious gift of the Emperor Ch’ien
Lung, presented in 1771. The priest led
us to an inner room, and opened a coffin-
like box, wherein lay an exquisite piece
of light green jade, more than three feet
in length and ten inches wide, carved in
the shape of a sceptre. The priest would
have...”
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“...women have be-
lieved in Christ, and the only Moham-
medan employed has recently declared
her desire to be a Christian. In the base-
ment I had a chat with the woman who
superintends the laundry. With a happy
countenance she testifies of the love and
help brought into her life through this
institute.
An interesting- peep at the English
S.P.G. Mission was afforded by a visit
to their Cathedral, and a bird’s-eye view
of the city obtained from the tower. They
have good schools for boys and girls,
and a deaconess has charge of the
women’s work. The Salvation Army has
recently entered this city ; there is room
for all in this most difficult of mission
fields.
(To be concluded.)
One of the 75 Courts of Justice. [JJZss Arniiit.
43...”
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“...treaties may have
upon the position of missionaries and
mission property.
Opening' New Our readers have been
Chiefdonis in informed that three Mendi
Mendilaixl. chiefdoms in Sierra Leone
were assigned for our
occupation by the United Christian Coun-
cil, and that our Superintendent, Rev.
W. S. Micklethwaite, had interviewed the
three Paramount Chiefs and had found
them favourable to the establishment of
missionary work among their people. On
account of the habit of the people to fol-
low the lead of their chief, great import-
ance attaches to the attitude he assumes.
I am happy to report that our Com-
mittee has sanctioned the planting of our
mission in each of the three new chief-
doms, Bonga, Jaiama and Wunde. See
p. 24 (Feb.) The sanction has been
cabled to Mr. Micklethwaite in order that
the Chiefs, who are awaiting our deci-
sion, may not be kept in suspense any
longer than necessary. It marks the
greatest advance our mission has made
in West Africa since Mr. Vivian first
penetrated...”
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