THE MISSIONARY HERALD. VOL. LXV.-OCTOBER, 1868.- No. X. UMTWALUMI; NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA. BY REV. H. A. WILDER. THE cut is a view of the backside of the mission house, taken from a position south by east from it. In 1866 a severe famine prevailed in the district, and at the time the photograph was taken, six wagons, laden with corn, each drawn by twelve or fourteen oxen, having come from a distance of one hundred and thirty miles, had just arrived, the owners of which were waiting to dispose of the precious loads, by sale to the hungry people. On the extreme right of the picture, in the foreground, is seen the end of the workshop and engine-house, (for, through the kindness of the Colonial Governor, a beautiful steam-engine, for grinding corn and ginning cotton, was given to the station, and in the workshop the people are taught how to make repairs on agricultural implements, and to manufacture simple articles of furniture.) An old wheel of a turning-lathe lies against the wall, and in the central foreground lies a pile of wood prepared for the engine. The end of the house, in which is the study and dispensary, is seen on the right, and corresponding to it, on the left, but mostly hidden behind the trees, is the kitchen. The house is commodious, built of burnt bricks, of a bright-red color; is one story high, covered with thatch-grass, and surrounded on all sides with a veranda six feet wide. On the inside it is plastered with a tenacious mud, and papered or whitewashed. Commencing the Station. The Umtwalumi station was commenced in April, 1851. A plain was found about 75 miles southwest of Port Natal, in "the regions beyond" all other mission stations, a mile and a half long by half a mile wide, in the midst of a well-populated country, near where three tribes touched each other, and on this the missionary decided to pitch his tent and raise his Ebenezer. A beautiful river washes two sides of the plain, at a depth of 150 feet below its surface, which has already flowed forty miles from its source, at the base of lofty mountains, and which enters the sea seven miles distant, after dividing a table-land thirteen hundred feet high for a passage. Its waters are VOL. LXIV. pure as the chemist could have made them. Usually shallow, and presenting innumerable aspects of beauty, it is also sometimes swollen by rains, when it suddenly fills its rocky channel,-obstructions are swallowed up, trees uprooted, banks undermined and swept away, and animals—even birds, unable to rise— are borne on its careering waves to the sea. On all sides but one rise mountains, from 1,200 to 3,000 feet high, which, summer and winter, are covered with verdure, and are the happy abodes of animal life. Two hundred yards from this river was chosen the site for the future station, with earnest prayer that on that spot God would honor his own word, and that thence might go forth the good news to all the surrounding tribes. Four tribes were easily accessible. The people cared nothing for God, or his Son Jesus Christ, but seemed friendly to the missionary. The young men were willing, on being well paid for their unskilled services, to aid in erecting the buildings necessary for a house. Building. The first thing to be done was to take off the canvas which covered the wagon, and so place it on the ground as to constitute a shelter by night and a sitting-room by day. The men were induced to cut and bring from the forest poles and wattles, for the walls of the house, and the women to cut grass for thatching. The walls were made of sticks and mud, three and a half feet high, with an ample roof covering the whole, twenty-four feet square. the eleventh day, though the earth floor was still wet, the missionary was glad to enter it, to protect himself from a pelting storm of rain and hail; and he was merciful enough to take his horse with him into his new house. On This was but a temporary dwelling, and immediately energies were turned toward putting up a house of burned bricks. The bricks must be made by inexperienced hands, and the timber for the roof and finish must be sought in a forest forty miles distant, or that used which, at great cost, had been brought from over the sea. Little like a clergyman did the missionary appear as, dressed in frock, and covered from head to foot with clay, he moulded the bricks, or used the saw, the plane, and the trowel; but very thankful and satisfied he was, when, as the new year of 1852 dawned, he was in a comfortable dwelling, which bids fair to stand long after he is dead. It is only right to say, however, that the bricks were in part made by a white man, and burned and laid into walls by him. In its finishings, the house, though valuable and comfortable, bears many marks of which a skilled workman might well be ashamed. But building did not end when the dwelling-house was completed. A schoolhouse, a house in which school-boys and hired servants could eat and sleep, a stable and wagon-house, and a chapel, were all needed, and in due time were built. Last year, the old chapel having become dilapidated, a new one was built of burned bricks, stuccoed outside and whitewashed within, floored and seated, without calling on the Board for funds. Missionary Labor. For four years, commencing with October, 1853, there were two missionaries located at Umtwalumi, and they were years of more than doubly efficient labor. While one could attend to home affairs, the other could itinerate among the people, while the wife was not subject to the loneliness of ufter isolation in the midst of a barbarous people. One year, a select school for training native teachers was maintained at this station, after which it was removed back to Amanzimtote, on account of the more central position of the latter station. At first the people came in large numbers to listen to what the stranger could, with stammering lips, tell them. They listened with respectful attention, and as subsequent developments showed, understood much more than it was supposed they would. But the word preached did not profit those who heard. "It entered," they themselves confessed, "at one ear and passed out at the. other." It was six years before the first man inquired what he must do to be saved. A Favorable Omen. The first Sabbath after the arrival of the missionary, a large, poisonous serpent, which, Zacheus-like, had climbed a tree, nearly divided with the missionary the attention of the wild audience. As it gazed with apparent attention, and went away without any signs of displeasure at the unwonted doings, its appearance was regarded as rather a favorable omen—a message of peace from the ancestral spirits. Interest was excited by the things preached, many remained to ask questions, but none came to Christ. One young man, of marked ability, was so far touched that he wept at the story of the love of Jesus, and seemed on the point of becoming a Christian; but at the end of the six months for which he was engaged to work he left, and could never again be induced to live for any length of time at the station; because, as he said, he could not live there and not be a Christian.. First Fruits. Long years of apparent fruitlessness succeeded. Men were afraid to come to the station, or let their children live there, lest their hearts should receive the truth. At length two boys, who had long lived at the station, renounced heathenism, and professed to have repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Their conversion was followed by that of others. Some girls, who had fled from attempted forced marriages and been protected by the missionary, also professed to be believers. Six or eight, after proper probation and examination, were baptized. Progress-The Church. Thus the germ of a church was formed, into which up to the present time, there have been received thirty-three members who, by their daily life, give as good evidence of being true disciples as do the aggregate of church members in America. The church has been trained to self-reliance so far as supporting the Sabbath services and the prayer-meetings is concerned, and several of the young men are acceptable exhorters, preach with some ability in the chapel when the missionary is absent, and go out to the native kraals to instruct the heathen. For these services they ask no pay, nor do we think it wise to offer it. Three weekly prayer-meetings are sustained. Schools. A day-school- the teachers of which have received some part of their compensation from a fund set aside by the Colonial Government, for the improvement of the natives - has been in full operation for the last half dozen years, having on the books nearly seventy daily pupils. The daily attendance has, however, averaged only about thirty. These children are mostly from heathen kraals, where no motives are presented, by parents or friends, to induce them to attend. This school has been blessed with pious teachers selected by the missionary, and it is due to them that we here acknowledge their faithfulness and zeal, not only in communicating secular knowledge, but in endeavors to win souls to Christ. From this day-school three lads have gone to the trainingschool at Amanzimtote, two of whom are sons of important chiefs, for whose conversion we ask Christians to pray, and of whose future usefulness we have high hopes. Civilization. At the station there are now about two dozen houses, built in English style, inhabited by Christians and their families, in which may be found. a few of the conveniences of civilized life; such as tables, bedsteads, chairs, boxes, etc. Nearly 150 persons habitually clothe themselves in clean and respectable garments. In reviewing the history of the station, though not so much has been accomplished as has been wished and hoped, yet, comparing the condition of the people with what it was sixteen years ago, we exclaim with humble thankfulness, "What hath God wrought!" Glory be to his name and grace, forever and for ever. It is proper to add, that for several years the Colonial Government has made an annual grant of $500 in aid of an Industrial School at Umtwalumi, which has been under the care of an English mechanic, and in which many natives have been taught some of the simpler mechanic arts, in addition to the daily religious instruction imparted by the mission family. A SERMON ON TITHES, AT HARPOOT. BY BLIND HOHANNES - THE "Walking Concordance." IN the tenth chapter of his valuable book, "Ten Years on the Euphrates," Mr. Wheeler, of the Eastern Turkey mission, has given an account of the commencement of the movement for paying tithes in that mission field, in one of the poorest of their churches, under the influence of a blind native preacher, Hohannes (John), surnamed the "Concordance," on account of his wonderful readiness in quoting Scripture, by chapter and verse. Miss West, of Harpoot, recently sent to the editor of the Herald an abstract of a discourse which she had just heard from this blind preacher — a graduate of the Harpoot seminary —and the hope is expressed, in behalf of the missionaries there, that it may be published, and may do good in America. It will surely interest, and can hardly fail to benefit the thoughtful reader. The Miss West writes: "I wish you could have been present and seen, for yourself, how interested the people were in the delivery of the discourse. blindness of the preacher added to the interest. Saying-'We will read' such a chapter,' or 'hymn,' he would repeat the same, word for word. When he called upon the people to read, it was for their sake rather than his own; and when the reader had reached just the point he desired, he never failed to say 'stop,' that he might take it up just there. Doubtless many a more learned and talented man, among those educated by missionaries, would look with pity upon this poor preacher, who has little book-knowledge except of his blessed Bible; but oh, how far above them he stands in this respect! This one book is his theological library. It is his study, by day and by night, and he is really a walking concordance." The account given of the sermon is as follows: The preacher commenced his discourse by repeating that striking passage in Malachi: "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me: But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings," etc. He then, in few words, told us that he proposed to show from the Word of God, that the giving of a tenth to the Lord was a primitive institution, attended with great benefits and blessings to the givers, and perpetuated and enforced under the new dispensation no less than the old. 66 "Open your Bibles," he said, "at the 14th chapter of Genesis, and let some one read the 18th and 20th verses." Bibles were instantly opened all over the house, and the passage read, in clear tones, by one of the congregation. "Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek," said the preacher, "more than four hundred before the giving of the law to Moses : years Abraham, the father of the faithful,' whose children the Jews gloried in being, Abraham, whom even Moslems honor and call the blessed.'" "Now turn to the 28th chapter and read the 20th, 21st, and 22d verses.” Jacob's vow was read, concluding with the words: "And of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth to thee." He then rapidly drew the contrast between Jacob's going to Padan-aram alone, and in utter destitution and the return, with his flocks and herds, and camels, men-servants and maidservants; - for the man had increased exceedingly, in spite of the covetousness of Laban. "And now,” he said, "open at the 27th of Leviticus, and read the 30th verse. 'And all the tithe of the land is the Lord's," repeated the preacher; "nine-tenths for yourselves, but one tenth is holy unto the Lord.' Open at Numbers 18th, and read the 20th, 21st, 26th, 28th and 29th verses." This was done, and then Hohannes briefly commented upon each verse. He said the Levites, who ministered in the house of the Lord, were to have no part or inheritance in the land, for the tithes of the people were to be their inheritance; and of these tithes, they were to offer a tenth to the Lord, "even of all the best thereof!" "Read Deut. 14th, 22d; and 26th, 12th. See the abundant provision made, not only for the Levites, but also for the 'stranger, the fatherless and the widow.' Read also 2d Chron. 31: 4-10, where the people are described as obeying the command of God, and bringing in abundantly' of the 'increase of the land.' And the chief priest answered king Hezekiah, when he questioned him concerning the 'heaps,'-'Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty; for the Lord hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.' - "Now read Nehemiah 13: 10th, 13th, and 14th verses. Mark the contrast! The people no longer gave tithes ; the house of the Lord was desecrated, and the Levites had forsaken their sacred office, and fled, every one to his own FIELD!' And now," said the preacher, "we will turn to the new dispensation. Open at the 23d of Matthew and read the 23d verse: These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone,' are our blessed Saviour's words to the Scribes and Pharisees. Ye do well to pay tithes, it is your duty, - but ye ought also to do judgment, mercy and faith. Now turn to Luke 11: 42. Wo unto you Pharisees, for ye tithe all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.' Read Luke 3: 7-12. Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance,'" repeated the preacher. "John the Baptist was a connecting link between the Jewish and the Gospel dispensations, and he spake as he was moved by the Spirit of God,-Now also is the axe laid at the root of the tree.' 6 |