By Rev. D. M. MACDONALD, Portree.
IT is when a business man surveys his position and takes stock of what he has that he knows exactly how his affairs are, so spiritually it is when we enquire into our condition as a people and nation that we shall know whether we are advancing in individual and national righteousness or not. In this report a brief survey is taken of our present condition morally and religiously. There will be presented in it some encouraging features, and also some discouraging ones.
Man is a responsible being and under obligation to obey the laws given him by his Maker. If he were living as he should he would live unto God and would have His glory in view in all that he did. It is by the lives men live that we can tell whether they are obeying the divine precepts or not. The prevalence of various forms of evil proves the indifference of many to the claims of God. One way of ascertaining the moral and religious condition of a people is to observe their attitude to the Lord’s Day and to the Gospel. In continental countries the Sabbath is ignored with the result that morality and religion are at a low ebb. Many in our own nation would like to introduce the Continental Sabbath but so far they have not altogether
succeeded. There is still a considerable section of our people who respect the Sabbath and have no desire to see it turned into a public holiday.
It is satisfactory to record that the excursion trips to Kyle of Lochalsh and Skye have ended in failure, the L.M.S. Railway Company having realised that these Sabbath-breaking journeys did not pay. The efforts made to stop them by threat of a boycott have succeeded and it is to be hoped that these unseemly trips shall not be repeated in the north. At present great interest is being taken in the bill now in the House of Commons proposing to permit the opening of Cinemas on Sabbath. It has passed its second reading by a small majority, but may yet be cast out or abandoned in Committee. Mr. Ian Macpherson, M.P., is to be congratulated on his splendid speech in defence of the Lord’s Day, perhaps, the best he ever delivered in the House of Commons, and which no doubt, helped to make this evil measure less heartily supported than it otherwise would have been. It is to be regretted that some who profess to serve Christ should actually be in favour of this bill and as a London minister well put it: “Men who wear the livery of Christ were doing the work of hell.” We are godless enough as it is but should this bill become law it will help multitudes on the downward road to perdition.
Sabbath concerts and Sabbath drinking are demoralising the young people of our large towns. Some workers who have tried to influence for good young lads have found their efforts made futile by concerts on the Lord’s Day and have had to confess that these entertainments handicapped them very much in their work.
It would appear that in country districts there is quite a demand for alcohol on the Day of Rest and in some of them according to statements made at a meeting of the British Women’s Temperance Association pandemonium reigned on the Sacred Day set apart for the public worship of God. This meeting deplored the fact that the sanctity and beautiful restfulness of the old world Scottish Sabbath was disappearing and it was.
up to the women to prevent complete demoralisation. No doubt the influence of women for good or evil has been great in every age, and if we had a number of Miriams, and Deborahs all over Scotland the Lord’s Day would be better kept than it is.
In a manifesto issued last winter by a number of ministers in England the admission is made that matters are coming to a very serious pass and while not agreeing with all that they say we note with satisfaction that they urge upon the people to realise the claims of the Sabbath. “It is obvious,” they say, “that from many causes obligatory Sabbath work for whole classes of the community is increasing; Sabbath is less and less a day of real rest for many who are not obliged to do work and least of all is it for multitudes of our people a day of return to God. The question is, how these dangerous tendencies are to be resisted. Our present and primary appeal is to the conscience and intelligence of the individual. The claim that we dedicate Sabbath specially to worship according to the practice of the Church from the first should need no justification for Christians save what is derived from apostolic authority and subsequent experience. There is literally nothing so much needed to-day as a renewal of the spirit of worship both individual and corporate for the reverent sense of God appears to be gravely weakened among us; and the spirit of worship cannot live without quiet reflection which again requires a day of rest from our ordinary work. Nothing, too, can be more mistaken than the idea that really recreative rest is to be found in rapid motion or constant excitement. If the reverent sense of God is to be retained we need not only cessation from week-day work but deliberate quietness and return to God. That is, we need Sabbath first of all, as a day of worship and of recreation of the spirit. It will be a bad day for Britain if the opening of Cinemas on Sabbath is legalised for there will then be movements in favour of every kind of amusement being allowed full scope and the way would be open for the demoralising Continental Sabbath with its negation of the spirit of worship and its thoroughly secularising effect on the mind.”
The laws protecting the Lord’s Day were passed because men recognised that a day set apart for the worship of God was an essential element in the well-being and health of the nation’s life. They were an admission that the greed of gain was so strong that apart from the law you cannot preserve a day from the invasion of those who wished to make their own personal profit at the expense of wellbeing of others. Irreligious, pleasure-loving and thoughtless men appear to be quite ignorant of the grounds upon which these laws came to exist and if they are removed the moral life of the nation will be reduced to a low standard which will re-act on all classes.
The means of grace are on the whole well attended by our people but in some parts there is a tendency among the young to neglect the morning service on Sabbath. We would urge upon them to make use of all their opportunities to hear the Word of God for “faith cometh by hearing.” There are various tendencies both in Church and State which prove that we are forsaking sound principles.
Some laws passed by Parliament contrary to God’s Word and their refusal to pass laws prohibiting trading and unnecessary work on the Lord’s Day prove this and the desire by some in the professing church to submit to the claims of Spiritism and even Romanism shows how ignorant they are of the saving and satisfying power of the doctrines of grace when made use of by the Holy Spirit to lead sinners to Christ.
During last winter in a meeting of the Church of Scotland Presbytery of Glasgow several reasons were advanced by one of the members for the appointment of a committee to consider how the ancient and honoured custom of spirit communion and the exercises of our spiritual gifts might be incorporated into the living activities of their churches. Fortunately, the motion was not carried but this movement appears to be gradually growing both in England and Scotland. It is surprising that educated and intelligent men should be so ready to believe in the pernicious system but such is the power of the god of this world that he can easily deceive those who are not well grounded
in the faith of the Gospel. It was stated that many ministers and members were believers in spirit communion, attend seances and have private meetings for communion with varying methods in their homes. They will tell you that they have seen or have had described to them personal friends, heard and recognised their voices, and got recognisable psychic photographs of them. Now we have no hesitation in saying that this is a downright hallucination from Satan. It is a survival of habits that were in existence long before Christianity began. The witch of Endor as recorded in 1st Samuel Chap. 28 is typical of the modern medium. Isaiah in Chap. 8 verse 19 shows the folly of this hoary heresy in these forcible words: “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead?” “What Christian,” one has asked, “who has learned from Paul and John the meaning of the blessed hope of everlasting life can feel any patience with dabblers in occultism, these neeromancers who offer to us in place of that hope an existence as poor and shadowy as that of Sheol or Homer’s Hades—a supposed revelation of a disembodied ghost!”
The position of spiritualists seemed to be that Christianity was incomplete without their testimony and unless a place was found for it in the Christian Church the Church would disappear. It is spiritualism that will eventually disappear for like all other unscriptural “isms” it shall be wiped off the face of the earth when the Gospel triumphs in every land. The Saviour never hinted to his followers that a message from the dead was desirable or good for them. If such were so He would have told them. On the contrary He said: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” His own resurrection is enough for us and no other witness beyond the veil can add to the assurance it gives His people.
We now come to a matter that has always exercised the minds of right thinking people in Scotland—abuse of strong drink.
The improvement in the sobriety of the nation is maintained according to those who are in a position to judge. This is very satisfactory and is certainly true of many localities. For instance in Lerwick a town of 5,000 inhabitants whose population is doubled during the herring fishing season, there were no women prisoners during 1930. Hundreds of women came north as fishworkers and in former times imprisonments were a matter of weekly occurrence. Indeed the ordinary prison accommodation was found insufficient and special cells were built. With the coming of No-Licence in 1921 these cells had not been in use while it was a very eloquent fact that a miscellaneous population should crowd the town for months and practically no increase in crime followed. In many other ways the improvement wrought by No-Licence was manifest and a new generation of law-abiding citizens was springing up, a generation that had never seen a public house, and was immune from that contagion.
There is still, however, plenty of room for improvement as a detailed analysis of the amount spent on drink will show. Last year the total expenditure on drink was about £288,000,000 and of that amount Scotland’s share would be about £26,000,000. When one bears in mind the large number of people who never touch drink one may have some idea of the enormous sum spent by drinkers on intoxicating liquor. It is quite obvious that we cannot afford to spend this enormous sum on drink even although much of the money goes into the National Exchequer, for the devastating return of poverty and misery from such expenditure not only for the spenders themselves in many cases but also for those for whom they were responsible was too dear a price to pay. Scotland’s drink bill is a heavy contribution to the forces which make for her weakness and shame. The amount per head spent last year in Scotland would be about £5 7/10. The Principal of an English University College in an address delivered some time ago said that there was no dispute in the realms of science as to the essential nature of alcohol. It was now admitted on all hands that alcohol was not a stimulant but
a narcotic drug. People liked to take things that were not good for them and even the medical profession could not stand against this indulgence of an acquired appetite. “He thought of all the foolish investments an individual could make it was the purchase of a bottle of whisky. A person paid about 12/6 for the bottle and what did he get? He got two tablespoonfuls of a narcotic drug a bottle of water flavoured with a little molasses and 6/3 worth of taxes. Did they ever hear of any sane man buying taxes, buying the privilege of paying a tax unnecessarily? In England they spent £3 12/- on drink for every £1 spent on bread; £5 6/9 for every £1 spent on war pensions; £5 8/ for every £1 spent on unemployment insurance; £6 8/ for every £1 spent on poor relief, and £20 12/6 for every £1 on voluntary hospitals. He believed that the economic crisis through which this country had passed and was passing called for as a mere act of statesmanship the reduction by all possible means of this great and indefensible waste.” One hopeful feature was that the whole subject of the drink traffic was being diligently investigated by physiologists, social students, moral philosophers and Royal Commissioners, with the result that it was being more and more seen that the national expenditure on drink was an act of folly from which the nation reaped incalculable harm.
Another evil that was eating into our vitals as a nation was gambling, which along with betting, was growing at an alarming rate. The attraction of gambling was exceedingly strong, and the practice was very dangerous. During the last few years the progress of this vice had thrown up two extraordinary developments. The first was, the appalling number of defalcation prosecutions involving huge losses to banks, municipalities, small and large industrial concerns and even to holiday and other clubs of the working classes. The second development was well illustrated in the recent Irish Free State lottery which as a large scale gamble speciously offered as an attraction the so-called opportunity of benefiting Dublin hospitals. This is somewhat like Satan appearing as an angel
of light to beguile the simple. The pill was finely sugar-coated to conceal the poison beneath. One of the noblest features of our public life is the splendid voluntary support of our Infirmaries and Hospitals. It is the one public service, perhaps, to which 90 per cent. of our people contribute annually. In the past this has been pure philanthropy but now there are hospitals eager to get money out of the national curse. In connection with the sweepstake organised on behalf of the Dublin hospitals £650,000 changed hands and of that large sum only just over one fifth, £131,724, went to the hospitals.
It is a Gospel precept that every man should work while he has the strength to do so. He is in a pitiable state when by some misfortune he cannot work for himself or others. Gambling is directly opposed to the duty of every man. It seeks to get by chance what ought to be got by work and so it discounts honest labour. For the two or three that may gain by it thousands lose and not a few lose their all. A well known Editor says: “It is a crowning disgrace for the British Isles that in a time of anxious national stress the most flaunted news of the day should be one of these wholesale senseless appeals to microscopic chance, and it is a far greater disgrace that the demoralising craze should be linked up with one of the purest forms of philanthropy. No good can come to any hospital by such an alliance with gambling, one of the most deplorable influences now working in the world.” The Committee would warn all, but especially the young, to shun betting and gambling as they would the plague.
Coming to Romanism we find that it aggressively pursues its way not only in Scotland but wherever it has any footing. There are signs, however, that in Roman Catholic nations the Papacy is losing ground and the Pope has good reason to become alarmed. In Italy the advancement of Protestantism and the freedom granted to all religious sects have caused impotent fulminations from the Vatican. To add to the discomfort there, the eldest son of the “Church”—the King of Spain—has been compelled to flee from his people and country because of
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profession and true doctrine. We need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit as a nation and as a people, for it is His work to lead sinners to Christ and to enable them to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world. If our people were living so, then we would be exalted with the righteousness that exalteth a nation and our prosperity would be great.
May our people be led to pray earnestly for the overthrow of every form of evil and the advancement of all those things that pertain to the glory of Christ.
Jewish Mission Report.
By Rev. DONALD URQUHART, Palestine.
I continued giving English lessons last summer to those who could come, the New Testament being the most important part of the teaching, in my estimation, although probably not many of the pupils would remind me of it if I omitted this branch of study. I gave no English lessons during August, and after that came the interruption of a series of festivals beginning with the Feast of Trumpets or Jewish New Year. Numbers of my pupils left Tel-Aviv for other parts of Palestine, and some left the country. While regretting to part with pupils, especially earnest ones, the advantage of teaching new groups from time to time is that more ground, so to speak, is covered with the seed. Various persons have asked for tuition in business correspondence and other subjects, but I draw the line when it comes to more than simply English. And at any rate I am, at best, only an amateurish kind of teacher. I told some who wanted to study Shakespeare with me that the English of our Authorised Version is good Elizabethan English and that the Old and New Testaments come before Shakespeare in importance. Several fellows were willing to study the New Testament exclusively with me, saying that they wished to learn all about the Christian religion. One young man in this
group came to study the Protestant religion, as he had already learned the Roman Catholic viewpoint from the “Frères” in Jerusalem. Before long he admitted at least that Scripture says more for Protestantism than the Church of Rome. With this group argument was more often than not the order of the day. They were red-hot arguers, and sometimes I felt it was more for love of argument than of true knowledge. One of them said he was convinced of much, but he could not believe that Jesus was the Messiah until a special sign was given him from Heaven. I told him how the Apostle Paul had had to deal with men of his type long ago, and that he referred to them in his first Epistle to the Corinthians when he wrote, “The Jews require a sign, but we preach Christ crucified.” I also quoted to him the words of the Lord as teaching that although an acquaintance came back from the abode of the dead to witness for the truth of divine revelation, we could not be persuaded to believe through that alone. I brought before him, and the other young people in the group, Gospel truths such as the need of our becoming like little children and yielding to, besides seeking, the teaching of the Spirit of God. I said, “You, like many, in Tel-Aviv, boast of being free. Your freedom adds to your responsibility. God, in His grace, offers you eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ, but you do not wish to accept this free offer, because you love the pleasures of the world and the flesh too much. The spirit is more important than the flesh, and the world to come more important than this world.” Then I had to tell them of the absolute necessity of being born again, not of the flesh or the will of man, but of God. But Oh, the veil upon their hearts! It is a great promise that—”Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.” Then shall come the true freedom—”Now the Lord is that Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Unbelief will add its “buts.” However, here is a decided “but” used by the Lord Himself which may be a kindler of hope—”Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Classes are only one means of bringing the Word to some of “the captives” of Tel-Aviv (see Ezekiel iii., 15), and, it must be confessed, a rather trying one if the attitude of the pupils is one of keenness only towards the language, while of indifference towards spiritual things. When the latter is not the case, teaching is a pleasure. It may be of interest to give briefly a few examples of other kinds of contact with the Jews possible. 1. On the shore one evening a bank clerk introduced me to a number of friends, and without much delay we entered upon a discussion about vital matters. They listened with interest to a simple description of the Gospel, and then came a bombardment of questions and objections, not rendered any simpler by their being entirely in Hebrew. Being men who had read a good deal, their questions covered a variety of problems, and as many Jews have a genius for quibbling and for introducing irrelevant subjects when the Gospel is brought too close, one of them even began speaking of Spiritualism and Transmigration of Souls. I endeavoured to impress on them the sin-hating nature of God and the need of salvation and so came to the Saviour Jesus Christ. When I left the shore to go home, some of them came with me to see where I stayed so that they might (as they did) visit me again. Alas, the poor fellows had arranged to go to a cinema and afterwards to a dance—thorns which choke the growth of the seed. I have many times conversed on the shore with Jews, but will give just one other example, this time with an individual. 2. I spoke with a young man at whose suggestion we went together walking and conversing beside the sea. I let him tell me about his forefathers who belonged to the Jewish sect known as Chassidim. Then I directed our conversation to Christian channels, and found him to be influenced by Rabbinical arguments against the Messiahship of Jesus. Later Jewish scholars have tried to explain away certain important Old Testament passages which were declared Messianic by Onkelos, Rashi and other Rabbinical authorities, because they are proofs that Jesus is Christ. We passages such as Genesis xlix., 10, undoubtedly prove that Messiah
Christians (i.e., those of us who are not Modernists) believe that came in the person of Jesus, but we cannot conceive the thick hedge of prejudice and unbelief surrounding the Jewish mind. This young man, I learned later, shared a room with another Jew of my acquaintance. They came together to visit me. I must now give one or two examples of contacts in the town. 3. An English Jew hailed me on Benjamin Street, saying: “I want you to meet these two gentlemen. One of them is a keen student of the Talmud.” I remarked, after exchanging the usual greetings that the Tanach (i.e., the Old Testament) is the Word of God and the Talmud only the words of men. The Talmudic student at once agreed, but one of the others said: “The Tanach is also the words of men.” I answered: “Yes, but they were inspired men—they were influenced by the Holy Spirit.” Then I went on to speak of the prophecies of those inspired men, and how the Messianic prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus. When we were parting, one of them quoted: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.” I said: “We must feed on Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.” He asked how one could do such a thing, and I replied: “In a spiritual sense, on His Person and what He has done for us.” After adding some words of explanation, we said to each other: “Shalom,” besides using the Hebrew equivalent of “au revoir.” 4. In Achad Haam Street I got into conversation with a journalist from Cairo. When I spoke in Hebrew, he told me French was the language he knew best, and so I had to try to remember some of the French I once thought I knew, and he helped me out with what he knew of English. He told me his parents lived in Paris, and when I spoke of religion, he said his mother was a Christian and his father had no religion, and he added: “I am an Atheist.” One of the questions he raised was the Trinity, which he thought meant three Gods and therefore polytheism. The latter being a common Jewish objection to Christianity, it added to my reasons for believing his father was a Jew, although not a religious one. He walked home with me, and after more conversation, I let him have a tract about “The Blood” which
attracted his attention. Back in Cairo, may he remember, and God bless.
- Going home after lunch one day, a clerk in an important Tel-Aviv bank joined me, saying he would like to see where I stayed, so that he might bring some friends next evening to have a discussion with me. Next evening seven came, all keen business people—five young men, one of whom was a lawyer, and two young women. After friendly greetings were exchanged and they were seated, I found myself speaking of the truths of God’s Word to an attentive audience. I spoke first of sin in its origin and continued influence over the seed of Adam, and then went on to show how God revealed to men that the way of salvation was through blood. I told them how the Mosaic sacrifices could be no more than types of Messiah’s perfect sacrifice; and now that the types have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we are called upon to rely upon Him alone for acceptance with God, who is an absolutely just and sin-hating Being. These and other things I said resulted in many questions being asked, and objections brought forward. One of them said that if Jesus were the Messiah, He ought to have been preceded by Elijah, and John the Baptist could not be Elijah, for he died, and Elijah could not die, as he was received up to heaven without tasting death. I said that John the Baptist was not actually Elijah, but he was given the spirit and power of Elijah. My questioner then asked: “Did not John the Baptist die?” and I answered, “Yes, he was killed by Herod.” “Then,” he said, “he could not have been even a copy of Elijah, for if so he would have continued deathless.” I then said that the Tanach foretold Elijah should come before Messiah, to prepare the way before Him, and not that he should be deathless. John fulfilled all that the inspired Prophets intimated Christ’s Forerunner should do. When I spoke of the work of Jesus Christ, the merit of His blood, and the invitation to accept Him individually, one said: “Why is it necessary that we have faith and accept Him? If God’s justice is satisfied is that not
enough?” I answered: “I have already said something about the Mosaic sacrifices and their typical nature. You know it was necessary that the offerer lay his hand on the head of the animal sacrificed, because otherwise it did not represent him. Similarly, it is necessary that we individually put the hand of faith on Jesus Christ.” He said: “I cannot, for I have not a hand of faith.” I told him it was God’s gift, and he was invited to ask it in prayer. A characteristic question from a man of business then was: “What will be the net profits if we accept Jesus?” I told him what they were, adding that they would begin to receive them in this world, but the best awaited us in the world to come. He asked: “Will only true Christians go to Gan-Eden (Heaven) and all the rest to Gehinnom (Hell)?” I replied: “Yes, the most righteous man that ever lived falls short if he have not Christ as his representative, for every member of the human race apart from Jesus has had sin in his nature.” Another then said: “In the Prophets we are told that when Messiah comes the Temple will be rebuilt. Is that not a proof that Jesus is not Messiah?” I asked him if he referred to the passage in Ezekiel. He answered in the affirmative, adding with a smile; “My name is Ezekiel.” Instead of attempting an exposition of this subject, I simply said: “How did the people of God worship Him, before there ever was a temple?” I also drew their attention to the verse in Jeremiah—”A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary (or temple)”. The latter verse interested them so much that, at their request, I showed it to them in the Hebrew Bible. Other subjects were discussed, and they said they would like to come again. But it may not be the lot of the same group to meet together again, through the changes and uncertainties of life.
- Several days ago another little group called on me for the first time, desiring a talk about Christianity. With these young
people I had to speak of the two natures of the Messiah and give reasons, besides showing the need of an atonement rendering complete and eternal satisfaction to Divine justice. Some of the truths seemed to attract them, but they of course had many questions and objections. One of them at last asked why so many Christians in Europe and Britain did not believe as I did, but had doubts as to the inspiration of this and the correctness of that and the trustworthiness of the other. He referred especially to a Christian writer who did not believe the Jews had really treated Jesus as the New Testament recorded. I told him there were enemies within the camp, and it was not enough to be a Christian in name. I said it seemed to me that a man who could write such things was Christian only in name—not in heart. People are not born Christians, but need to be born again in order to become Christians. As for the Jews’ treatment of Jesus, they fulfilled what was prophesied in the Psalms and the Prophets, and we are no better if we reject Him.
As Tel-Aviv is entirely Jewish (with few exceptions) it is in some ways unique. The Festivals such as Tabernacles, Purim and Passover, have great influence over the Jews of Palestine, and in Tel-Aviv they observe them as they can in no other place. One cannot avoid at times a feeling of dejection on seeing those abrogated “high days” observed so ardently—like dead bodies being dressed in carnival attire. While they cling to phantoms of the Ceremonial Law, they reject the all-sufficient Anti-type and Reality, Christ Jesus. I could not help thinking of the wrath of God on the eve of the Day of Atonement last September when I went down to the sea-shore where large numbers were sitting or lying on the sand. At first I thought they had fireworks, but when I got beyond the electric street-lights I saw a natural phenomenon. The sky overhead was clear and moon-lit, but towards the north there was what looked like fire and smoke out of which forks of lightning issued in rapid succession. Several told me that exactly the same thing
happened on the Eve of Day of Atonement previous year. One said to me: “Our fathers thought it was God, but we know better. Through science we understand what happened at Sinai, as they could not.” I said it was not simply what the fathers thought we had to go by, but the infallible Word of God, and when we oppose ourselves to His Word we are enemies to Himself. I said: “May it not be that what we see in the sky is a sign that God is righteously angry. Tomorrow is the Day of Atonement, but you have no atonement and nothing wherewith to turn away His anger.” I then spoke of the need of blood, and showed how, if we accept God’s offer, “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Another obstacle is their love of the world and the flesh. Things literal and temporal make more appeal for them than spiritual truths, especially truths believed in by the Nazarenes (as the Hebrew word by the Jews for Christians means). Their great need is that the Spirit of Truth convince them that the tawdry glitter of the painted world is vanity of vanities, and “man goeth to his long home.” When proud hearts are humbled in contrition before God, worldly pleasures and honours appear of little value. David and other great Jews and Israelites went very low in self-abasement before God, so why should their descendants deem it too humbling to approach the Most High as poor and needy suppliants? “The expectation of the poor shall not perish,” and “Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.” While the poor in spirit belittle themselves, they rejoice in prospect of the exaltation of their Lord and Saviour. “All kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him”—and the Jewish nation not least, when the Lord shall be glorified in their redemption. “Lord, how long?” is a question often in our minds.
A solitary worker on a field like this appreciates deeply the sympathetic interest of those who love God’s righteous cause. Their prayers are of inestimable value. My sincere thanks also to those who have helped me buy New Testaments, etc.
South African Mission Report.
By the Rev. JOHN TALLACH.
AS I sit down to give you some account of our work here the words: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins” seem to stand up before me; and with good reason too. For in face of very much unworthiness and sin the Lord has continued to dwell among us, and has given us many tokens of His favour and blessing during the past year. Since my last report many, very many things have happened which at first appear to be no more than the common-place of mission work but which, when looked at a second time, are unaccountable apart from the working of Him who is called the Wonderful. To His name be all glory. To ourselves we can take nothing but shame when we consider how we dealt with His love and kindness in the past year.
During the past year we made 25 visits in all, to our different schools and we found the attendances were well kept up in all schools with the exception of Morven. The total enrolment for all schools was 370, while grants from all sources were £205, which sum was the full amount claimed. At Ingwenya our full school-day is eleven hours. Three hours in the morning are given to herd boys, and eight hours are given to the day-school. Of this, four hours are given to secular work and four hours given to industrial work. The whole of the day’s work is divided between five teachers including myself. In industrial work we teach, Basketry, Needle-work, Laundry, Cookery, and House-keeping. This year I have added one hour per day to the morning school and this is devoted to instruction in Gardening. There are 25 boys at this work. Each boy has his own plot and is taught to grow such things as carrots, tomatoes, egg-plant, etc. They are very keen on this work and we further encourage them by giving them to take home whatever they are able to produce. We have extended the hours in the out-stations also and in some of them we teach a little industrial work. At both Lebeni and Induba the girls
are taught sewing and at Shangani the boys are taught gardening. The Bible is daily taught in all our schools and in addition to this the children have to commit to memory two long Psalms per year. We include in our Religious Instruction at Ingwenya some lessons on the ordinances and on Presbyterianism. No year passes without some of the girls coming forward to make a profession. Some years the number has been five, sometimes less. This year there were three, and I am thankful to observe that there are others who appear serious and thoughtful of spiritual things. Twice daily, worship is observed among the girls staying on the mission, and the girls are thus taught a habit that has been a blessing to many families. Among many missions to-day school-work is made to serve the place of the Gospel too often but we seek to guard against this and although the teachers here have so many classes (we had up to Standard 5 last year) and such a heavy time-table to work through daily, yet I am happy to say that they look on Bible teaching as we do—the most important thing for the children. I have heard them say: “For children to get some education without getting grace with it is bad for them and cannot be regarded as good.”
Since we began industrial work among the girls I have not heard of one girl going to another school out of this district with the exception of those who go away for teacher-training. The Native Department have now ruled that all Central Schools must have a qualified, full-time white teacher in charge, and as I am not qualified to teach and cannot be full-time owing to my having to visit out-stations, such a teacher must be got for Ingwenya School. According to this rule; if there is no white teacher in charge the school reverts to the status of a Kraal School, with the lower grants provided for a Kraal School, we will not be able to pay more than one teacher and consequently the industrial work will have to be dropped and our girls will require to go elsewhere for this kind of training. These girls are the future mothers of our Mission and on that account I think that it is highly desirable that they should
remain as long as possible under the influence of the Church. After his inspection of Ingwenya School last year the Inspector agreed to regard this school as still a Central School and he gave grants accordingly. He did this on the promise that a full-time qualified teacher would be forward for 1931. As no one has come forward to date we are anxious about this matter. It is our prayer that the Lord will put it into the heart of some one of our gracious teachers to undertake this work. I can think of no work that will bring such revenue of blessing to a teacher’s soul as the work of teaching those poor natives.
Owing to his having been in hospital for two months last year our student at Lovedale failed in his exam. and as there is a rule which prohibits another chance he of his own accord left Lovedale and went to Tsolo School of Agriculture to take a two-years’ course in agriculture and then wrote to me for approval of this step. I have already informed the Convener of the matter and he will no doubt have something to say on it. I have sent Mr. Radasi’s second boy, Edwin to a High School for the present. Personally I should very much desire to see one of Mr. Radasi’s boys educated with a view to future usefulness in mission work and with this in view I should very much like to know the Committee’s mind on the idea of sending Edwin to Scotland to be trained there. Looking before us; say ten years hence, I think, that if spared he would be very useful. He is a boy of excellent character and people tell me that he is more like his worthy father than any member of the family.
I enclose a statement of the teachers’ account for the current year. The contributions of the Deacon’s Court to this account is not as large as it might be but this year we will require to build school houses at both Lebeni and Induba as in both these places the buildings are in a bad state owing to the work of ants. We hope to build new places of raw bricks which will certainly be an improvement on the old mud and stick buildings. The Church at Ingwenya also requires painting and repairs.
We will make special collections for these but I fear that we will have to fall back on the Deacon’s Court for help.
In connection with purely Church matters we had the privilege of receiving 26 members last year. Our elders are very careful and they do not encourage people to come forward for membership until they are sure that such are fit persons to seek this privilege and on this account there are over 20 others who have not yet come forward but who are attending church with that intention. The Communion was kept four times at Ingwenya and twice at Shangani and twice at Murray Farm, and within the year there were 22 preaching visits. At Mennel’s Farm and Stephen’s Farm the people still gather under a tree but we have permission from the owners of these farms to build places of worship. All the communion services are well attended and the attendance on Communion Sabbaths has increased. We have over 100 people in one of the school rooms above the number that sits in the church on Communion day. People come as far as from Que Que and Gwelo. We have not at Que Que what we may call a regular preaching station but one of our members who left us to go and live at Gwelo cycles the 27 miles to Que Que Reserve and preaches there each Sabbath. The people turn out well to hear him and they are anxious for us to begin work among them and to take them on as a regular charge. Stephen Ilazo along with George Ilazo (elder) conduct service each Sabbath at their place near Que Que Station. So that each Sabbath the church is preaching the Gospel through twelve stations. These are, Ingwenya, Lebeni, Induba, Bembesi, Morven, Shangani, Murray’s Farm, Stephen’s, Mennel’s, Queen’s Kraal, Que Que, and Que Que Reserve.
As well as the activities above it is the habit of our elders and ourselves to go as often as possible to the heathen round about. Through head-men we tried to arrange services at different kraals each Sabbath but we did not find this a success as natives are Gospel-shy just like others and will not come to hear preaching. So now we go out asking the Lord to
prepare a congregation for us. We go to a district and begin at the first kraal we meet with. We may have one or six or even twenty at one kraal but the number personally dealt with within a day would sometimes make a fair congregation. On these occasions it is wonderful how the Lord prepares a congregation for us. One day it was a crowd gathered at a hut on the way to a beer-drink. After the short service one of the worst of them left the crowd and went straight across to the church, and for a few at least there was no beer drinking that day. Sabbath is the great day for beer-drinking as there is no work done on it. In getting at the people this way one cannot but observe how they often answer one’s questions very much as non-Christian people do at home. “I know that I am not right and that I do not live as Christian people live but I will turn to God some time,” is common. “What, need a new heart? I never heard of such a thing. I may have done wrong with my hands or feet but who ever heard of doing any harm to any one with one’s heart. No, my heart is all right, it is clean and when I die I will go straight up to God.” This with some heat. “No need to go to church, I can get God anywhere,” says another. But they are not left to these delusions as the missionary only finds these answers convenient doors to enter in by and to preach the truth of God. And although having to mourn the non-reception of the Gospel by many it is a matter of praise that a number of these visited do come to church and begin to sit under the hearing of the Gospel. When any such come to church it is pleasing to observe, on the close of the service, the readiness of members to take the new-comer aside and follow up what was heard in the church. One of our elders at Lebeni gets up regularly with the sun each Sabbath morning, and snatching a bite of food he makes off round the heathen kraals and speaks and reads and prays with them right on to eleven o’clock when he arrives at the meeting house where the people are sitting waiting for him to hold the regular service. Last Sabbath one of our oldest elders went by donkey-cart eighteen miles to preach to
people and returning the same day held a service at Induba on the way home. This quarter we are to have an ordination of deacons. After these are voted on by the people they will require to come to Ingwenya on five days to get instruction in the Confession of Faith as we do not think it right that they should be in ignorance of what they are to promise and believe. There is a Bible Class every Sabbath at all stations and we have a Sabbath School at Ingwenya. The Sabbath School is sometimes well attended and sometimes it is not. Mrs. Radasi helps in the Sabbath School. I believe that I am but stating what is simple fact when I say that some of these children know more of what we call the fundamental things of the Gospel than many a white professing person. This year the women’s class is under Mrs. McDonald. Mrs. Radasi presides and every meeting is begun by singing a Psalm and reading a portion of God’s word. The Christian women are encouraged to bring heathen women along with them and this some of them are forward to do. Our people rejoiced greatly on the arrival here of Mrs. McDonald, and a good number came along to greet her. If the Native part of the congregation rejoiced the Scottish part doubly rejoiced, and we felt thankful to the Lord for bringing her safely to Ingwenya. We trust that she will be a blessing to the people here. The people were all very sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Angus Fraser as they all have happy memories of his visit. At the last meeting the elders wished us to include in the minutes a note of their appreciation of his services to them and sorrow at his loss. I must not forget to mention the boon we have in the well. Nothing that I can write can express all that this means to us.
During the year we received gifts of money from Sabbath Schools in Portree, Raasay, Dumbarton, Stornoway, and I have to thank my many young friends for their kindness. If the sending of these gifts will help to lift their minds towards their black brothers and sisters they have in that a reward already.
We have, too, to thank the many ladies who have sent cloth through Mrs. Miller. If they saw but one native girl shivering in a July wind and then saw her clothed and happy they too would find a reward in that. Mrs. Miller cannot be thanked too warmly for what she has done in this. I pray that the comforts of the Gospel will abound towards all who in any way seek to help these poor people. I cannot say how much any such kind person gains but I am sure that such can lose nothing through their kindness.
Another year has passed and we find ourselves confronted with the same, though increased, tasks and with the same natural inability to cope with them. Let us from all parts of the Church come forward with heart and hand, let us gather round the task put in our hands by the Lord, let us look up anew to Him, bow our shoulders, wilfully and joyfully come under what He lays on us, move forward to the further establishing of His cause here. We have but short time to do it in as “here we have no continuing city.” Warm thanks to all friends far and near, “Brethren pray for us.”
South African Mission Medical Report.
By Rev. R. MACDONALD, M.B., Ch.B.
THE work of this Mission is largely confined to the Ntabes Induna Native Reserve and Fengo Location. The former is a tract of land about eight miles by six, while the latter comprises a much less area. The mean altitude of the whole district is well over 4,000 feet above sea level, and it is but sparsely covered with bush. Rivers are few, small, and for the greater part of the year they are without water except where there happen to be deep pools in the river bed. The rainfall compares well with that in other parts of the country and the sunshine is over 95 per cent. of possibility. Estimated population; upwards of 3,000 in the Reserve, upwards of 2,000
in the Fengo Location. The work has been carried on from Ingwenya where there is a Dispensary and a small hospital. Here outpatients are seen daily and a few have indoor treatment, while visits are made to the kraals as occasion demands.
Work was commenced on the hospital last year after the rainy season was over, but the plans as submitted to the Synod had to be greatly altered owing to shortage of bricks. It happened to rain in the month of May when the bricks were in the kiln ready for firing and the result was that 60 per cent. of the bricks were useless for building. All that it was found possible to build was one building divided into two rooms, one twelve feet by sixteen, fitted up as a dispensary, the other, sixteen by eighteen feet to be used as a sick ward. Both rooms are well lit. The building has an iron roof and the floors are made of concrete. A small kitchen and store have been also put up. The plans have been approved by Government and a grant of £12 will be made annually towards the upkeep of four beds.
Since the hospital was completed in October 15 persons have been treated as in-patients. Out-patients, 1,400. It will be seen that this number is less than were seen last year. There was a mild epidemic of whooping-cough during the summer months, a large part of the number of patients seen were children and the common complaints were diarrhoea, bronchitis, pneumonia, eye affections, burns, and minor injuries. Among adults the complaints were generally of the same nature as those enumerated in former reports. Malaria is very seldom met with; tuberculosis, while cases appear from time to time, does not appear to be on the increase, and although the number of patients seen at Ingwenya does not entitle one to form an opinion there is reason to believe that the incidence of syphilis among the Natives is relatively low, but there is great danger that the future will show an increase.
Shangani and Murray farm were each visited three times. There is a great amount of sickness at both these places. Malaria is rife at Shangani. Little can be done however in the limited time at our disposal on our visits to these places. Clinics
are held at which from twenty to fifty people attend and a few simple remedies are left with the teachers with directions as to how they are to be used.
I have dealt exclusively with the medical side of the work as the Rev. J. Tallach will deal with the spiritual side in his Report. Apart from the first work of a Mission, the preaching of the Gospel, and the result with God’s blessing, the saving of souls, there is an indirect result reflected in many ways and not least in the lessened incidence of disease. There can be no doubt that this Mission has been an influence for good in this part. The mode of living is improving, beer-drinking with all its attendant evils is noticeably on the decrease and this in part accounts for the smaller number of people attending the dispensary. Although the figures for last year seem to argue the contrary there is a greater readiness among the people to avail themselves of medical aid and lessened confidence in crude native remedies. There is a large mortality among infants due to ignorance of the first principles of hygiene, and the practical application of very crude ideas on the management of “labour.” An increasing number of women seek aid in their confinements and there is an increasing willingness to receive and act upon advice.
Other reasons which account for the fewer number of patients treated this year are the favourable climatic conditions and the fact that last year the harvest was good so that there was no want, and our freedom in the Providence of God from any serious epidemics. This year a series of simple lectures on elementary hygiene and child welfare are being given in connection with the weekly women’s meeting and as many women as possible will be induced to attend. There are many ailments which can be prevented only by the spreading of sound knowledge in this way.
About fifty visits have been made to kraals in the Reserve and its environs. The motor car has been used on these occasions. The horse which proved useful on occasions last year has become unfit for work. He was sent last September
to a neighbouring farmer who has considerable knowledge of horses and all possible was done for him but we are now recommended to have him destroyed as he is only getting worse.
I wish to thank Mrs. Miller and the friends who from time to time send out parcels of drugs, etc., the contents of these parcels are always well chosen and are highly appreciated. The number of Europeans at the Mission has been augmented by the arrival from Scotland of Miss Mathieson, who has become my wife. I wish to acknowledge the goodness of the Most High for all the good which He makes to pass before us.