INGWENYA Mission, Bembesi, 19th October, 1938. My Dear Mr. McIntyre, Our Communion is now over and we had wonderful gatherings throughout. There were seventeen added to the church this quarter and that of itself made for great happiness among the people. The crowds on Sabbath were exceptionally large and during one period of the day we had to have three services going on at the same time as there was not room in any two buildings to hold the people. I think that I told you before that we hold a special day of prayer for the Holy Spirit each year. This meeting was held two weeks ago. While the service is held at Ingwenya, the people and officebearers gather from the out-stations. After a suitable chapter is read
the elders address the people. Prayer is offered between the addresses. The sermons are based on some aspect of the doctrine and the work of the Holy Spirit, with emphasis laid on sin against Him; the uselessness of all Christian work without Him and prayer for His presence.
From the addresses given two seem to linger in my mind and acting on the principle that, if one is to benefit by a good thing, one must share it, I pass on to you what I remember of them. Patrick Nzamo was the first to speak. Patrick is our oldest elder and our most forcible speaker. He delivers his sermon very much as one who was conveying a very serious message, that done his sermon ends. If Patrick speaks for thirty minutes he counts it long; generally, he says all he wants to say in twenty minutes. To begin with, he drew a solemn picture of the state of the unconverted caught in the rushing stream of time and by it carried away to eternity. The force of the river, the helplessness of those carried away, with Hell waiting a little way down the river to receive them, were descriptions made real by the downright earnestness of the speaker. Over against this sad and tremendous truth he placed the living members of the Church of Christ. As these are to be used by the Holy Spirit they are the only hope of those lost helpless ones. Soldiers he called them, placed in a line along the river bank with the great duty of living dangerously to save the lost. As he spoke of this army and what the Holy Spirit could do through it one felt that the case of the people in the river was not so hopeless after all.
There was a pause, then slowly and deliberately he proceeds: “Soldiers, yes, but what is the use of them if they are lying down like dead persons; you can call them soldiers only when you see them at the river’s bank amidst stress and danger seeking the salvation of the lost in the river. I grant that they are believers, that they will themselves never be lost. I grant that they wear the uniform of the King, that they look well fed and strong but we cannot call them soldiers until we see them doing soldier’s work. We have the cries of these lost in our ears yet
we live as if there were no river, no lost, no Hell, and as if it were not written in the Bible that we have this great duty to perform. And why? Why will we not do our duty? Why can we not do our duty? Just because the Holy Spirit is not dwelling in us in power. Our duty is down there in the low ground where the swift river flows, but we can never do our duty there until we visit the high ground first. Let us to the hill, to Calvary. Come with me as individuals, come with me as a church, let us go to Calvary there to plead on the ground of Christ’s death and resurrection the promised Spirit. One great reason why Christ keeps His church in the world is that it might be the means of saving the lost. But we cannot be a means without the Holy Spirit, without Him we are but dead carcasses wearing the uniform of the Prince of Life.”
The other address that impressed me most was given by Amos and was more doctrinal in its form. “We are here to-day,” he said, “to seek the Holy Spirit but we must remember that those who are born again have the Spirit given to them by Christ and He will never leave them; they can never be lost. So, if He has come to us once this way we never need to seek for Him again to give us the new birth. But He has a great work to do in the world and He has shown that He is to do this work through living souls, and He also reveals that we can and do grieve Him by sin. If He is not making use of us as we might expect then it is because He is grieved and He is grieved by our sins against Himself. We will never be right with Him until He shows us our sins and gives us repentance for them. So my message is simply this, feeling deeply that we have grieved Him let us with our faces on the ground ask Him how, when and where we have grieved Him? And when He teaches us that, let us without excuse confess with grief our sin to Him. He hates to be grieved from us; He loves to have those things which grieved Him done away with.” After addresses such as these one was not surprised to find, after service, a knot of four men together planning week-day services in the kraals round about Morven.
We feel very much for the Church in all the trouble she has been made to pass through these days. We pray and hope that the distraction encountered will not result in lowered contributions to the Mission. If this happens the enemy will succeed only too well in part of his plans in bringing about this trouble. Surely when the Lord is rising to call His redeemed from among these Africans it is no time for us to slacken in interest or effort. This has been a very trying year for us here as there was an almost complete failure of crops last year. This tells in everything. The price of mealie meal used to be from 10/- to 11/- a bag. This year it is up to 15/- and when you remember that we require about 200 bags for the Boarding School each year you will understand how burdened we have been. The shortage of crops has told too on our fees as we find it difficult to get these in. With all our hearts we acknowledge that any success we have had here is largely due to the prayers of our people at home. But the Lord’s cause requires our help in other ways. If we cannot see our way clear to increase our own contributions, we can at least pray that the Lord will open the hearts of those who can give more than they are in the habit of giving. I think that you would do well, not only to ask for prayer for the mission work, but that there may be an enlargement of heart towards that work. Let our people make this a matter of special prayer and we have no doubt what the result will be.
Mr. Fraser has entered into, and taken a firm hold of, all the school work here. His simple and direct manner of preaching makes his discourses easily understood by the children. Everywhere there are evidences that he is greatly loved by children and teachers. He is well and very happy in his work. We thank the Committee for sending him.
We received a sum of money from Mrs. Miller as part of a very handsome contribution from Edinburgh congregation towards the purchase of cloth. Thank Mrs. McIntyre and all these ladies who have helped in this matter. Warm regards, Yours sincerely, John Tallach.