The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1914-08-14
FROM MANY LANDS
(By Jennie Hunt)

U 81
ing the one hundred years that have
since elapsed what were literally
"canibal islands" have been trans
| formed into one Of the great dominions
of the British Empire. In 10Y the
church missionary society took leave
Of the first missionaries. A passage
vas obtained for them in the trans
port ship, Ann, which sailed for sgd.
ncy, in August, 1909, and reached
Port jackson in the following Febru-
ary, There they took passage IN a
whaling ship, going to New Zealand,
and eventually arriving there IN De-
lcember, 1914, five years and three
| months after leaving England! An
other year and three months passed
before the society at home heard OF
the settlement being founded. For
eleven years there were no baptlsms,
and it was not until 1880 that the
first public baptismal service Tor
adults was held. Then followed the
marvellous movement which resulted
in almost the whole Maori nation be-
ing brought under Christian lnstruc-
ton and civilizing Influences, and
which led the first Bishop, George
Augustus Selwyn, on his arrival IN
his new diocese, in 1872, to write;
I'VE see here a whole nation of pa
gans converted to the faith"
One missionary says: Il have es-
tablished missionary trees all over the
country. A missionary tree is one
whose profits 20 entirely to missions.
A woman in Florida has an Orange
tree that helps to uplift the cGnibals
of New Guinea. A California nut
grower devotes "A walnut tree to the
spread Of Christianity in ZANZIBAR"
spread of Christianity in Zanzibar
Five cents given to missions will
buy and distribute one hundred stor
les of "The God You Ought to Know"
in heather lands.
Ten cents given to missions will
pay rent on "A building for one after
noon in which hundreds of children
across the seas may hear the Gospel
lesson in song and story.
Five cents given to missions will
pay for an evangelist to take u trip
among the country people in far
away China and furnish literature
for hundreds of his hearers.
Five dollars given to a mission will
thousands may here the gospel mes
sage.
Fifteen dollars given to missions
pays the salary for month Of ma
tive Christian evangelist who carries
the glad tidings to hundreds Of people
in their native tongue.
Fifty dollars given to missions will
pay the salary Of n graduate from
Princeton Seminary to 90 out among
his people and teach them the way,
the truth, the light.
A missionary relates the following
interesting story:
"a man and his wife came to this
to see me and announced that thew
wished to be baptized. Looking uD
my card index, found that this man
was received July |. 1912. Thus he
was one Of our earliest inquircrs 5v
mail, but nothing had been heard from
him for more than a year and half.
He told me that one of my assistants
had once called on him, and showed
me the card of the young man. On
l1quiring as to his faith, | found that
he really knew a good deal about the
gospel. | told him that being baptiz-
ed was too important and solemn n
thing to be done off hand, but that
would arrange to have someone go and
instruct him. Mr.. Otsubo, our ear
nest young preacher at Hill, fifteen
miles from the applicants home, I'M
dertook to do so, and mapped out
course of instructions in preparation
for baptism.
"a few weeks later Mr.. Otsubo
called and told me about his exper-
fences in going there. He travels
part of the way by rail, then by auto
mobile, and the last few miles on foot.
The place is one of the back country
districts in the hills.
"Arter he had been there two or
three times, the people got well
enough acquainted to tell him the
real reason why they had been to
Oita to see him. 1t appears that the
wlfc's brother fell i'll of some nervous
trouble. The doctors could do nothing
for him, and in spite of prayers at
various shrines, the use of charms,
etc, the patient got steadily worse.
AT last the wife, who up to that
time, had not approved of her hus-
bands leaning toward the Christian
religion, said: They say that the
Christian God is the one who made all
things. Do you suppose he could
heal this disease if we should ask
him? The husband thought there
was no harm in trying.
Neither Of them had ever been in
4 Christian meeting or had ever seen
anyone pray, so they did not know
very well how to go about it, but they
had read in the gospels about the |
Father in heaven, so they went out of
doors, looked up at the sky, and pray
ed earnestly for the recovery Of the |
sick man, making at the same time
a solemn vow that if their PRAYER
was answered they would 20 TO Oita |
and worship God at the Elseikwan
Tiny Office, which they seem to have
looked upon as in way Gods head |
quarters in Oita Ken--God grant that |
it may be so in truth.
Their proceedings sound very
naive. Some would call it supersti- |
tious or childish, but it was really an
important and solemn thing. AS
truly us Elijah on Mount Carmel |
these people were putting God to the |
test, to see whether He was different
from the other rods they knew Of
And God stood the test! The patient
a@aW II. ~