Photo] CHURCH COLLECTION AT WATHEN. [Rev. J. H. Weeks
The Collection consists of:--Tin of gunpowder, calabash of gunpowder, bottle of
kerosene, eggs, matches, gun caps, a plate, umbrella, mat,
cloth, francs, brass rods--in all worth about £3.
Nothing came amiss, no gift was too small and no article too mean to find its place among those free-will expressions of a people’s gratitude to God--for the poor gave to the point of self-sacrifice, and the comparatively rich gave in proportion to their wealth.
All through Saturday and Sunday every band of new arrivals gave in their offerings. Some had carried their heavy gifts--weighing from thirty to forty pounds--over hills, streams and swamps for three and four hours, and came up smilingly to unload themselves; and with shy, apologetic words they expressed themselves as sorry that the loads were not heavier, but that was all they had to bring.
Sunday with its various services passed all too quickly for those who had come such long distances to attend them. The early morning prayer-meeting was well supported. A native deacon conducted it, and very earnest were the prayers for a blessing on the missionary work that was so zealously maintained in all the districts, nor were other stations and missions forgotten before the throne of grace.
It was pathetic to hear their pleadings on behalf of relatives and friends still in the darkness of heathenism; and surely the heart of God has been very deeply moved by such prayers, for not a year passes without scores of conversions and additions to the Church.
The afternoon service was crowded, and although the building seated over seven hundred every place was occupied and the doors and windows were filled with eager listeners as a slim man of medium height, who had laboured among them for nearly fifteen years, preached freely and fluently on their privileges and duties as Christian men and women. In the evening a deacon-preacher took the service, and very eloquently did he enforce the lessons given in the afternoon that as redeemed men and women, ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, heirs of God’s eternal glory, it should be their gladsome duty to pass on the blessings they had received to those who were still ignorant of Christ’s salvation.
I ought not to forget the morning service that was conducted by a white lady--the wife of one of the missionaries, a woman of large experience in the work, of wide sympathies, and, from what I could hear among the natives, a woman much beloved by them all for her unstinted labours.
“Why does a white woman take a service every Sunday?” I once heard asked by a native in whose mental bank there were more sneers than kindly thoughts.
“Well,” replied a teacher who was sitting by, “the white men practise what they preach. They tell us to respect and reverence our wives, so they respect and reverence theirs; they teach us to treat our wives as equals, so they treat theirs as equals, hence they have arranged for a white woman to take one of the two principal services every Sunday. We have therefore always an example of what they inculcate that when God made woman He took a portion, not from the head of man to show that she should be over man, nor from the feet of man to show that she should be under man; but from the middle to teach that she should be equal to man--from near the heart to show that she should have his affection, and from under his arm to show she should have his protection. My white man told me that that was written by one of their famous teachers long ago. They would have that to be the keynote of our treatment of women as it is of theirs.”
Immediately after the service on Monday morning one of the white men mounted a table and began to sell the various gifts by auction to the highest bidders. The natives, both males and females, entered most heartily into the contest. The auctioneer knew the value of the different articles and was careful to let nothing go under price.