Matopo Mission was only one little light in the surrounding darkness, and it was hoped that other stations might be opened in time. So after Brother and Sister Cress came, or as soon as they had some little knowledge of the language and of the work, they desired to open another station. After looking the country over, they felt led to a place up among the hills near the kraal of Buka, of whom mention was made earlier in these pages. There were a number of kraals in the immediate vicinity, and the location seemed a good one, except that it was somewhat near Matopo Mission. They decided to move out in November, and at that time they, together with the tent and supplies, were taken to their new station. Unfortunately a heavy rain came on while they were on the way and the ground was thoroughly soaked before they had an opportunity to pitch their tent. They concluded, however, to remain at their place and build. It was named Entabeni Mission.
The building progressed satisfactorily, and they held services on each Sunday for about two months or a little over. They felt encouraged in their work and the natives interested. At the Christmas holidays they came to spend the time with us, and we had a very enjoyable time with the natives. The third week in January, 1900, a messenger arrived to inform us that Sister Cress had been stricken with fever. A conveyance was immediately sent to the place to bring her to Matopo Mission, and by the time that reached their mission Brother Cress also was sick. Both were brought to the mission and made as comfortable as possible. At first no one considered their illness serious, for our party had thus far been enjoying good health since the work opened. Other complications set in in connection with Sister Cress' illness, and she gradually grew worse. For twenty-four hours she lay unconscious and then rallied and seemed quite bright. We were all present--Engles, Van Blunks, Sister Heise, Brother Lehman, and myself--when she rallied. She requested that prayer be offered for her recovery. This was done and we felt that she would gain strength, but it was not to be. In half an hour that sweet young life passed to be with God. This was February 8, 1900. All through her sickness she felt perfectly resigned to the Lord's will, whether for life or death.
We felt that we could not spare this saintly woman, so well fitted both by nature and by grace to shine for God. She had laid her all upon the altar for Africa, and often expressed herself that she wanted to spend her life in behalf of this people. She had been in Africa only nine and one-half months, yet she had entered heart and soul into the work of the Lord, and was rapidly acquiring the language, so that she could converse with the people. She had formed some of the women into a sewing class, uniting this work with religious instructions, and endearing herself to all with whom she came into contact. She loved the people and was willing and ready to undertake any kind of work that came to her.
She was especially gifted in prayer, and it was always an inspiration to the rest of us to listen to her heartfelt petition. Why the Lord thus early in her missionary career took her to Himself, we know not; but when the things of earth shall be revealed, when we shall know as we are known, then all will be clear.
Brethren Engle and Lehman made a coffin; we covered it within with white muslin and without with black cloth, and thus laid the body away. Mr.
Eyles, of Bulawayo, was interested in the mission and occasionally visited us and spoke to the natives, since he had good command of the Zulu language. On this occasion he consented to come out and preach the funeral sermon. The chief men of the people carried her to her last resting place beneath the Umkuni tree, and they mingled their tears with ours. The occasion was made more sad by the fact that the husband was still ill and unable to view the corpse or attend the funeral.
During the sickness of these two people we greatly appreciated the presence and help of Brother and Sister Van Blunk, who still lived near the mission. Both were very kind in assisting to care for the sick and also in the last sad rites. Shortly afterwards they moved to Bulawayo and made that the headquarters of their evangelistic work.
[Illustration: Elder Engle and Donkey Team at Matopo Mission.]
Brother Cress recovered from his illness, but concluded that it was best for him to return to America, and wrote the Board accordingly. He felt his loss keenly. The work in general resumed its normal condition until the last week in March, when our bishop and overseer, Elder Engle, became sick. He had been very busy with the work, and in his frequent trips to Bulawayo, sometimes in the rain, he may have exposed himself.
His condition did not seem serious, and he was not obliged to keep his bed continually. On April 2 he walked to a garden near by, and when he returned he again lay down. He ate heartily of the dinner prepared for him, after which his wife came to the dining-room and ate with us. At the close of our 3 P. M. dinner she went to her room, but returned at once and asked me to fill the hot water bottle and come over. I did so and found Brother Engle having a heavy chill and speaking the Zulu language rapidly, seemingly unconscious of our presence. We endeavored in every way to help him, but soon found that he was rapidly becoming paralyzed. Sister Heise and Brother Lehman were called and a consultation held. It was decided to send a messenger to the fort, ten miles away, and from there telephone to Bulawayo for a doctor. Brother Cress had left that day to go as far as the fort on his way to Bulawayo, and he was also to be informed.
All night we watched by the Elder's bedside, but there was nothing that could be done. Brother Cress arrived near noon the next day, but the doctor did not arrive in time. That was a dark time as he lay paralyzed and unconscious in the little mud hut he called home, far from his children, far from the comforts of civilization, with none of his family or relatives, save his devoted wife, by his side. As it became evident that the end was near, that heroic mother, who had been such a worthy companion in all his labors, stooped over and imprinted on his face a kiss for each of their seven sons in far-away America. At 5 P. M., April 3, he breathed his last. Thus, in less than two months from the date of Sister Cress' death, Elder Engle also was called home. The loss of our sister was great, but this seemed to be a still greater blow on the mission.
He was so absorbed in the work, and no sacrifice was too great, no labor too hard, for him to endure. Perhaps, if he had spared himself a little more, he might have been able to continue longer in the work. Who knows?
The language was difficult for one at his age, yet he was making heroic efforts to acquire it, and could make himself pretty well understood. We have seen him, after reading the Word, stand before the people, with the tears running down his face in his great love for them and in his desire to help them to Christ. And the natives knew that he loved them and they in turn loved him and greatly lamented his departure. The language of many of them might be summed up in that of one woman. As she stood by his coffin, weeping, she said:
"He was good to me. He gave me salt, he gave me calico. What shall we do without him?"
It seemed that his life work was finished. He had had the desire of his heart, in that he had been permitted to reach Africa and see a work started in the wilds. He had been privileged to see something of the travail of soul by beholding some step into the Kingdom. Now he had gone to hear the welcome message, "Well done, good and faithful servant ...
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
This time it was Brethren Cress and Lehman who made the coffin. There was no lumber on hand, but they removed some from the hut doors for the purpose. Again we covered it to contain the form of our elder. Mr. Eyles could not meet with us at this time, and the Van Blunks were away; but two of the officials from Fort Usher were present, and a number of natives, not so many, however, as at the previous time. No doubt they were becoming suspicious of this oft-repeated death. The white men present, together with some of the natives, carried the body to its last resting place beside Sister Cress. Brother Cress spoke in English to the white people present, while the natives were addressed by the writer from 2 Tim. 4: 7-8.
The devoted wife had been wonderfully sustained by a Higher Power through all this sad scene. She had been called here, far from her home and family, to lay away her husband, but she realized that she was not alone. When, however, the funeral was over, the effects of the shock and of the strain through which she had been passing were manifest. She too took her bed with the dread African fever.
[Illustration: MATOPO CEMETERY. Elder Jesse Engle. Mrs. Cress. Mrs. E.
Doner. Elder Jacob Engle at his father's grave and Elder John Sheets.]
The Seventh Day Adventist missionaries, who had been so kind to us when we first came to Bulawayo, sent letters of condolence as soon as they heard of our bereavement, and offered the services of their physician, should we need him. In this emergency we sent for him to come and see Mother Engle. He rode the fifty miles on horseback to come to minister to her and to give us instructions as to how to treat the disease. This was something which we greatly needed and appreciated, and it has been of great service to us in later years. He would accept no compensation for his long and tiresome journey. Such are the big hearts one finds in the interior of Africa. They are enlarged to take in more of the Spirit of the Master. All was done that could possibly be done for Mother Engle, so that she might gain her health sufficiently to return to America with Brother Cress. She continued to have relapses of the fever for three months, and it was not until July 19 that she was able to make the journey.
Brother Cress' stay of sixteen months in Africa had brought great loss to him, but the Lord had sustained him. We were sorry to lose him as well as Mother Engle in the work. She never felt called of herself to go as a missionary, but only to be with her husband. When he was led of the Lord to go forth, she most cheerfully bade farewell to her family and all that was dear to a mother's heart and went with her husband, neither of them knowing whether they would be permitted to see their family again. She was not merely a companion to him, but a most devoted helpmate, not only in all that can possibly mean in civilized lands; but larger still, in the heartaches, the weariness, the loneliness, and the discouragements that come to a missionary. How often the names of their loved ones would be spoken by these two! How they would linger over the letters that came, and yet never a word of complaining or regret that they had left all for this. When Elder Engle died we felt that we had lost a father; so, when she left for America, we realized that the mother and homemaker was gone.
Before their departure a most important event transpired. I refer to the marriage, on May 1, of Mr. Isaac Lehman and Miss Alice Heise, by Rev.
Van Blunk. This was to have taken place earlier, but was delayed by the sorrowful events through which we were passing. Even the day of the wedding was saddened by a most serious relapse of Mother Engle, and we felt quite anxious on her account. This was the first opportunity for the natives to see something of a Christian wedding, and we believe they were impressed with the difference between a Christian and a pagan marriage. Brother Lehman was a consecrated young man and had from the first taken hold of the work along all lines with zeal and readiness. He had also made rapid strides in the language. Sister Heise, too, ever since the opening of the mission, had been a most able and efficient worker, so that both were well equipped to do effectual service for the Master.
All of us accompanied Mother Engle and Brother Cress to Bulawayo, where they rested for a day and then took the train for Cape Town, while we returned to continue the work. For a time nine white workers had been at Matopo Mission, and in less than six months the number had been reduced to three. Those left, however, were not discouraged. May 23 of the same year one of them wrote to the _Evangelical Visitor_:
"He that keepeth thee will not slumber." This is the Father's promise to all His dear children, not only to you who are sheltered in Christian homes, but also to us who are in the wilds of Africa.
We have just as much faith in the promise today as when to outward appearances everything was more secure. Your hearts with ours have no doubt been torn by the sad messages which have crossed the waters during the few months just past, and some one may be even tempted to doubt whether it was the Lord's will for us to come to Africa. Beloved, does England doubt the outcome of the deadly conflict raging in South Africa because she has already lost thousands of men? Is her courage failing? No; far from it. Money and men are continually pouring into the country and soon the independence of two states will be a thing of the past. Shall we as Christian soldiers have less faith in the King of kings? Shall we give up the conflict because two have fallen by our side? No; not if all men forsake us, for with God we still have a majority. While our hearts feel bereft by the departure of our beloved colaborers, we still have confidence in our Great Captain, and we know that He never lost a battle.
CHAPTER NINE
The Battle Is not Yours, but God's
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.--Eph. 6: 13.
The missionary going among the heathen must realize that he is about to engage in a warfare, and that the conflict will be fierce and long. He is assailing the great enemy of souls in his stronghold. The fight is on continually and one must keep armed for battle. More important yet than this the missionary should remember that he is under orders and that the work is not his but the Lord's.
The loss of our fellow-soldiers was most keenly felt, and there were some severe tests to face. The work had become disorganized by the continued illness and the deaths, when all our energies had been needed in caring for those about us. Encouraging letters, however, came from the homeland and the Mission Board, so that we realized that prayers were being offered in our behalf and in behalf of the work. We also expected that reinforcements would be forthcoming in the Lord's own time. So, under the leadership of our Great Captain, the army was again set in array and the conflict continued.
We were pleased to note that the people stood by us nobly in this extremity, even though Satan had put forth every effort to defeat the work. Some who had started to follow the Lord saw that they had become indifferent and renewed their covenant. There were four boys who were staying at the mission at this time, and they came one evening and said they would like to have a talk. This was not so strange, as we often had little confidential chats with them. On this particular evening they came in and sat down. Then, without any preliminary remarks, Matshuba arose and made a complete confession of his past life. He then sat down and Kelenki arose and began to do the same. I said,
"Boys, if you desire we will call Brother and Sister Lehman, that they may hear likewise."
They replied, "Yes, Miss, do so, for we desire to confess everything and have all wiped away, and we do not want to repeat our wrongdoings, for we want to be ready when Jesus comes."
So one of them called the Lehmans, and beginning again they arose, one by one, and told of their past life. When each one had finished he would turn around and inquire of the rest if he had told everything. Three of them were baptized members, and they evidently had been having a meeting in their hut and became concerned about their condition. They had not been guilty of any new sins, but were in doubt as to their standing before God, and wanted pardon and cleansing. They had taken 1 John 1: 9 very literally. When the confessions were finished we all knelt in prayer; and after we had prayed, they too most earnestly besought the Lord that they might be set completely free from their past life. When they arose to their feet their faces were shining and they said "God had heard and answered."
Then, as they sat there, they told of their old lives and of the lives of the people about us, until we felt that we were just beginning to know the people among whom we were situated. Conditions which, up to that time, they had been timid of telling, for fear of their people, they now boldly and fearlessly exposed, and they seemed to be done once and forever with their heathen past. Our hearts went up in gratitude to the Father, and our eyes were opened more and more to see the real need of this people and the obstacles in their way of becoming Christians.
People reared in Christian homes, with an entire Bible which they can read from childhood, with the privileges of church and Sunday-school, with good literature and hymns and many other advantages which might be mentioned, cannot possibly, by any stretch of imagination, put themselves in the place of those who are deprived of all these; and not only that, but who, from infancy, have been in an atmosphere of ignorance and superstition, reeking with influences the most foul and loathsome imaginable. Then, too, is it to be wondered at that when people, who have been brought up amid surroundings the most helpful possible, spiritually, and the most conducive to growth in grace, grow lean in soul and backslide--I say is it to be wondered at that the Christians in heathen lands, in their desperate struggle against such adverse and degrading surroundings, sometimes relapse into heathendom?
Not only is it not to be wondered at, but it is positively surprising and a great cause for rejoicing among missionaries, that so many grasping hold of the Everlasting Arm do once and forever shake off the bog and filth of the bottomless pit and stand as monuments of His power to save to the uttermost.
During the dry season of 1900 an aggressive campaign against Satan and his followers among the rocks and strongholds was begun, for we felt that the Lord would have us press the battle to the gates. During the rainy seasons, when people are busy in their gardens, and when there is a great deal of sickness, both school and evangelistic work suffer, so that it is necessary to make the best use of the dry season. As soon as the crops were gathered the school at the mission increased in numbers and interest, and Brother and Sister Lehman opened a school at the village of Chief Hluganisa. They rode back and forth day by day, and when they were unable to go two of the boys were sent to teach. The attendance and interest there were encouraging.
What of this chief, who had so kindly received the missionaries two years before? It would be a pleasure to be able to report that he had opened his heart to accept Christ as his Savior, but such was not the case. He was very ready to receive the gifts of the white man, whether from officials, missionaries, or any one else. He was also quite willing that the school should be started in his village; for would not this make his people wiser and more able to secure the good things of the earth? But the white man's religion, he would none of it for himself. He was a most troublesome beggar from first to last. Elder Engle, had made him a present of a very good blanket, with which he was greatly pleased, but he seldom came to services. When he came to the mission it was always with the expectation of asking and receiving something.
One day he came to pay us sort of a state visit, and a little later his three wives followed in order of their rank. We were desirous of treating them all kindly after their long walk to pay us this visit, so Mother Engle concluded to give them bread and tea. A plate of bread, together with a quantity of tea and sugar, was placed before them. We expected, of course, that all would receive some. The chief appropriated everything; emptied all the sugar into the tea, drank all, and ate all the bread. When they started home the wives went first, the lowest in rank preceding, to prepare everything for their lord and master, who followed at his leisure. One day one of the missionaries, tried by his cupidity and avarice, gave him a straight talk. He did not return for some months after this, not until the funeral of Sister Cress. Until this day he continues to be a rank heathen, greedy, and superstitious, and a lover of wives and beer.
All three of us by this time were fairly well prepared in the language, and some of the boys were beginning to be helpful in evangelistic work.
Early in the season the Lehmans, with one of the men as guide, made a tour to the southeast of us in a section not yet visited. They reported an interesting and profitable trip and met the people from six different kraals. As it was a section of raw heathendom, they were surprised to find, at one of the kraals, a woman who joined heartily in the hymn sung and was familiar with the words. On inquiry they found that when a girl she had lived at the house of Rev. Thomas, one of the first missionaries of Matabeleland. He had a station at some distance north of Bulawayo, and his memory is much revered by those natives who knew him.
The brother and sister had the fortune, or misfortune, to be present at a beer drink. This is their way of getting a lot of work done: They make a quantity of beer; then call in their neighbors to help work, paying them with beer. It is surprising how much beer they can consume at such times. They often become quite boisterous and even intoxicated, and frequently quarrel and fight as a result of their debauch. On this occasion the men were friendly, but scarcely in a condition to receive the Gospel. The travelers returned tired, but rejoicing in the Lord because of another opportunity of sowing seed.
The life of a missionary is not full of exciting adventures and encouraging incidents. It is very ordinary at times and very crushing at others. The ups and downs would soon wear him out did he not take fast hold of God and, looking up by faith, keep saying to Him, "Lord, this is Thy work. Do Thou bear the burdens, the joys, and the sorrows that keep crowding thick and fast upon me, and let me be only Thy instrument and Thy weapon of warfare." I remember, during the first year, I at times felt I was not burdened enough for the souls about me, and once spent long hours of prayer, asking that the burden might rest more heavily. I retired to rest. The next day the Lord answered the prayer of His messenger. I thought it would crush me to the earth, but the lesson had been learned. He knows how much we can bear, and we should always say, "As Thou wilt."
In our visits among the people one day is much like another, but they must be made in order to keep in touch with them. August 17 I wrote as follows:
"One more day's work for Jesus, One less of life for me, But heaven is nearer and Christ is dearer, Than yesterday to me.
His life and light fill all my soul tonight."
This being Saturday, I arose early to go out among the people.
After taking some food, I started a little after sunrise with Sihlaba as guide. We went to visit the kraal of Siponka, about two miles distant. These people have been on my mind for some time.
They are good-hearted but veritable heathen, and care only for the good things of this life. They are entirely too indifferent to come either to school or church, although two, who were members, live here. The downward influence is too strong for even them, and seemingly they have done according to the proverb.
Early as it was in the morning, the people were nearly all away, but we found at home two men, some women, and boys and girls. There was an opportunity for giving the Gospel to them, and the Lord greatly helped in the presentation of His Word. They gradually became interested and seemed at least to have greater light. May the Lord send home the truth into their hearts!
Siyaya (one of the backslidden boys) went along with us to the home of Amuzeze (another member). Here there were a number of women, one man, and some young people. They were more willing than usual to listen, also more able to understand, and Amuzeze took part in prayer.
From there Siyaya also went along to Umvunzi's home. Poor boy! he followed us around, seemingly hungry for the Word, but helplessly overcome by the gross darkness surrounding him. At this last place there were only a few present. The men from all these kraals had gone a long distance to buy goats. Here the powers of darkness were so great that I could not shake off the feeling and have victory in speaking. I wonder what my spiritual status would be at the end of the year, if I were obliged to live long amid such surroundings; and yet I have Christ and His Spirit in my soul and much of His Word written in my heart, while these poor ones have only generations of paganism back of them.