Chapter XIII: Appendix: I—chronological Table 409 (12)

As early as 1886 the North Africa Mission attempted to reach the Bedouin tribes of Northern Arabia in the vicinity of Homs. Mr. Samuel Van Tassel, a young Hollander, of New York, trained at Grattan Guinness’ Institute, went out under their direction and accompanied a Bedouin chief on his annual migration into the desert in 1890. He found good opportunities among the nomads for gospel-work, so that the door to him seemed “wide-open,” but Turkish official jealousy of all foreigners who have dealings with the Bedouin tribes, put an end to his work and compelled its abandonment. His experiences, however, as the first one who lived and worked for Christ among the nomads in the black tents of Kedar is valuable for the future. The door of access was not closed by the Bedouins themselves, but by the Turks. Mr. Van Tassel found the Arabs very friendly, and willing to hear the Bible read, especially the Old Testament. He found none of the fanaticism of the towns, and even persuaded the sheikhs to rest their caravans on the Sabbath day. It is interesting to note that the North Africa Mission was led to enter North Arabia through the representations of General Haig, then one of their council. At present they have no workers in Arabia, although that name still finds a place in their reports every month with the pathetic rehearsal:[141] “Northern Arabia is peopled by the Bedouin descendants of Ishmael; they are not bigoted Moslems, like the Syrians, but willing to be enlightened. This portion of the field is sadly in need of laborers.”

In 1898 the Christian and Missionary Alliance of New York again called attention to the needs of Northern Arabia through Mr. Forder, formerly of the Kerak mission. He attempted to enter into the interior, by way of Damascus, but met with an accident, which prevented the undertaking.

Before sketching the lives of the two great pioneer missionaries to Arabia, we must chronicle the appeal for the dark peninsula that came from the heart of the Dark Continent. Not only because this appeal belongs to the early dawn of Arabian missions, but because of its remarkable character and its author. Henry Martyn in 1811 wrote at Muscat, “there is a promise in reserve for the sons of Joktan”; Alexander Mackay, from Uganda in 1888, took up the strain, and, in closing his long plea for a mission to the Arabs of Muscat, wrote: “May it soon be said, ‘This day is salvation come to this house forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham.’”

This plea, written only two years before Mackay’s death, and dated, August, 1888, Usambiro, Central Africa, is a great missionary document for two reasons; it breathes the spirit of Christianity in showing love to one’s enemies and it points out the real remedy against the slave-trade. And yet Mackay accompanied his carefully written article with this modest letter: “I enclose a few lines on a subject which has been weighing on my mind for some time. I shall not be disappointed if you consign them to the waste-paper basket, and shall only be too glad if, on a better representation on the part of others, the subject be taken up and something definite be done for these poor Arabs, whom I respect, but who have given me much trouble in years past. The best way by which we can turn the edge of their opposition and convert their blasphemy into blessing is to do our utmost for their salvation.”[142]

In this article Mackay pleads for Arabia for Africa’s sake and asks that “Muscat, which is in more senses than one the key to Central Africa,” be occupied by a _strong_ mission. “I do not deny,” he writes, “that the task is difficult; and the men selected for work in Muscat must be endowed with no small measure of the Spirit of Jesus, besides possessing such linguistic ability as to be able to reach not only the ears, but the very _hearts_ of men.” He pleads for half a dozen men, the pick of the English universities, to make the venture in faith. His continual reason for the crying need of such a mission is the strong influence it would exert in Africa because of the Arab traders. “It is almost needless to say that the outlook in Africa will be considerably brightened by the establishment of a mission to the Arabs in Muscat.” “The Arabs have helped us often and have hindered us likewise. We owe them therefore a double debt, which, I can see no more affective way of paying than by at once establishing a strong mission at their very headquarters—Muscat itself.”

Mackay was not unaware of the great difficulties of work among Mohammedans and in Arabia; he calls it “a gigantic project” and terms Arabia “the cradle of Islam.” But his faith is so strong, that at the very beginning of his article he quotes the remarkable resolution of the Church Missionary Society passed on May 1st, 1888, regarding work for Mohammedans.[143]

The effect of Mackay’s pleading was that the veteran Bishop French took up the challenge and laid down his life at Muscat. That life has “such linguistic capacity as to be able,” evermore “to reach not only the ears but the very _hearts_ of men” in a way even far above the thought of Alexander Mackay of Uganda.

XXXI

ION KEITH FALCONER AND THE ADEN MISSION

“My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me to be a witness for me, that I have fought His battles, who now will be my rewarder.... So he passed over and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.”—_Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress._ (Death of Valiant for Truth.)

Ion Keith Falconer and Thomas Valpy French, both laid down their lives for Christ after a brief period of labor in the land they so dearly loved. Keith Falconer died at the age of thirty after having spent only _ten months_, all-told, on Arabian soil; Bishop French was sixty-six years old when he came to Muscat and lived only ninety-five days after his arrival. But both gave

“One crowded hour of glorious life,”

to the cause of Christ in Arabia and left behind them an influence, power and inspiration which

“Is worth an age without a name.”

Ion Grant Neville Keith Falconer,[144] the third son of the late Earl of Kintore, was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 5th of July, 1856. At thirteen years of age he went to Harrow to compete for an entrance scholarship and was successful. He was not a commonplace boy either in his ways of study or thoughts on religion. With a healthy ambition to excel and yet with a kindly modesty he made friends of those whom he surpassed and loved those who were his inferiors. Manliness, magnanimity, piety and unselfishness, rare traits in a lad, were in him conspicuous. He loved outdoor sports and excelled in athletics as well as in his studies. At twenty he was President of the London Bicycle Club and at twenty-two the champion racer in Great Britain.

One paragraph taken from the close of one of his letters gives us a glimpse of the boy at school and throws light on his future choice of a profession. It is dated July 16th, 1873: “ ... Charrington sent me a book yesterday which I have read. It is called _Following Fully_ ... about a man who works among the cholera people in London so hard that he at last succumbs and dies. But every page is full of Jesus Christ, so that I liked it. And I like Charrington because he is quite devoted to Him, and has really given up all for His glory. I must go and do the same soon: how I don’t know.” This same year he left Harrow, and, after spending a year with a tutor exclusively in mathematics, entered Cambridge. His intentions were at first to compete for honors in mathematics but after careful thought he changed his plans and began to read for honors in the Theological Tripos.

During his college days he also distinguished himself as a master in his two favorite pursuits, bicycling and shorthand. On the later subject he wrote the article in the Encyclopedia Britannica. He had a fine intellect, tremendous power of application and a genius for plodding. His knowledge of Hebrew was extraordinary; he wrote post-cards in that language to his professor on every conceivable subject, and translated the hymn, “Lead Kindly Light” as a pastime. No wonder that he received the highest honor in that language that Cambridge can give and passed with ease the Semitic languages examination at the close of his course.

But in all his studies and pastimes he did not cease to show that he was first of all a Christian and had the missionary spirit. By evangelistic work at Barnwell and Mile-End, alone and with his friend, Mr. F. N. Charrington, he labored to reach the poor and down-trodden. For the work in London he became at once treasurer and contributor of $10,000 and his work at Mile-End Road is held in loving remembrance by the present workers. Here doubtless it was that his thoughts first turned to the regions beyond. For in a letter dated June 12th, 1881, from Stepney Green, he writes: “It is overwhelming to think of the vastness of the harvest-field when compared with the indolence, indifference and unwillingness on the part of most so-called Christians, to become, even in a moderate degree, laborers in the same. I take the rebuke to myself. ... To enjoy the blessings and happiness God gives, and never to stretch out a helping hand to the poor and the wicked, is a most horrible thing. When we come to die, it will be awful for us, if we have to look back on a life spent purely on self, but, believe me, if we are to spend our life otherwise, we must make up our minds to be thought ‘odd’ and ‘eccentric’ and ‘unsocial,’ and to be sneered at and avoided.... The usual centre is SELF, the proper centre is GOD. If, therefore, one lives for God, one is _out of centre_ or _eccentric,_ with regard to the people who do not.”

After his final examination at Cambridge, he turned his whole attention to Arabic; why, he himself knew not, except that he loved the language; it was God’s plan in his life. To secure special advantages he went first to Leipzig in October, 1880, and afterward to Assiut, Egypt. The Semitic scholar was becoming an Arab and fell in love with the desert even then. He wrote from Assiut, after some months of study: “I am meditating a camel-ride in the desert. I mean to go from here to Luxor on a donkey, camping out every night, and from Luxor to Kossair, on the Red Sea, on a dromedary. ... I shall learn two things by doing this journey, Arabic and cooking.” An attack of fever prevented the journey, and Falconer returned to England. Even there his engrossing study was Arabic, in which he was now reading such difficult books as the Mo’allakat and Al Hariri; as he expressed it, “I expect to peg away at the Arabic dictionary till my last day.”

In March, 1884, he married Miss Gwendolen Bevan; they took a journey to Italy, and then settled at Cambridge, where Keith Falconer lectured and studied. In the spring of 1885 he published his Kalilah and Dimnah, translated from the Syriac, with notes; a lasting monument to his Semitic scholarship and an example of his wide general learning.[145]

Toward the end of the year 1884 his thoughts first began to be definitely drawn to the foreign mission field, but as yet without any special choice of field. A summary of the papers written on Arabia, by General Haig, for the _Church Missionary Intelligencer_ was published in _The Christian_, in February, 1885, and fell under the eyes of Keith Falconer. The idea of evangelizing Arabia took hold of him with Divine power. His whole soul answered, “Here am I, send me.” The immediate outcome was a request for an interview with General Haig, whom he accordingly met in London on February 21st, 1885, “to talk about Aden and Arabia.” He determined to go to Aden and see the field for himself. Only two questions did he stop to consider: First, as to the healthfulness of the place, and then whether he should go out as a free lance or should associate himself more or less closely with some existing society. Warmly attached to the Free Church of Scotland from his childhood, he met the Foreign Mission Committee of that church and his project was recognized by them. On October 7th he left, with his young wife, for Aden, and arrived there on October 28th. They remained until March 6th of the following spring.

The first missionary report of this pioneer in South Arabia indicates what he thought of the field; and why he decided to make Sheikh Othman, and not Aden, the centre of future work; it also sets forth the methods which Keith Falconer proposed to adopt for the evangelization of Arabia. The following extracts are of especial interest:

“The population of Aden is made up of (1) Arabs, all Moslems, mostly Sunnis of the Shafii sect; (2) Africans, mostly Somalis who are all Shafii Moslems; (3) Jews; (4) Natives of India, mostly Moslems, the rest being Hindus, a few Parsis, and a few Portuguese from Goa. In 1872, for every five Arabs there were less than three Somalis; but I am told that now they are numerically equal. The Arabs and Somalis together make up the great bulk—about four-fifths—of the whole. In 1872 the Jews numbered 1,435; they are now reckoned at more than 2,000. The Europeans, the garrison, and camp-followers number about 3,500. The climate of Aden is, for the tropics, unusually healthy. The port-surgeon, who has been here five years, assures me that a missionary need have no fear on the score of health. This is due to the scarcity of rain and vegetation, and to the constant sea-breezes. The summer heat is severe and depressing, but not unhealthy. There can be little doubt that Aden, from the fact of its being a British possession, from its geographical position, its political relations with the interior, its commerce with Yemen, its healthy climate, and its mixed Arab-Somali population, is, humanly speaking a good centre for Christian work among the Moslems of Arabia and Africa.

“The next question is, how and where precisely to begin? My own notion is to establish a school, industrial orphanage, and medical mission at Sheikh Othman. The children are far more hopeful than the adults, and the power to give medical aid would be not only very useful in Sheikh Othman, but invaluable in pushing into the interior. There are numbers of castaway Somali children in Aden whose parents are only too willing that they should be fed and cared for by others. These, as well as orphans, might be gathered and brought up in the faith of Christ, _nemine contradicente_. It would be necessary to teach the children to work with their hands, and I think that a carpenter or craftsman of some kind from home or from India should be on the mission staff. But the chief object of the institution would be to train native evangelists and teachers; and a part of their training should be _medical_. With a slight, rough-and-ready knowledge of medicine and surgery, they would find many doors open to them. In the school, reading by means of the Arabic Bible and Christian books, writing, and arithmetic would be taught to all; and English, historical geography, Euclid, algebra, and natural science to the cleverer children. A native teacher, procurable from Syria or Egypt, would be very valuable, and I think a necessity at first. If it were known in the interior that a competent medical man and surgeon resided in Sheikh Othman, the Arabs who now come to Aden for advice would stop short at our mission-house; and the surgeon would have considerable scope both in Sheikh Othman, El-Hautah, and the little country villages, not to speak of the opposite African country. Of course the treatment of surgical cases would involve the keeping of a few beds. The medical missionary should be a thoroughly qualified man, as natives often delay to come for advice until disease has become serious and complicated. The port-surgeon has impressed this upon me several times. It should be mentioned that the native assistant at the Sheikh Othman dispensary often finds that Arabs come to Sheikh Othman to be treated, and, deriving no benefit, refuse to go on to Aden, and return home. The institution should stand in a cultivated plot or garden. This would render it far more attractive, and would greatly benefit the children. It would be possible to arrange for this in Sheikh Othman, where there is plenty of water, and the soil is good; but not in Aden, where almost utter barrenness is everywhere found.

“My reasons, then, for perferring Sheikh Othman are:

“1. We should not be seriously competing with government institutions. In fact, I am told that the government would be glad to be relieved of the necessity of keeping up a dispensary at Sheikh Othman.

“2. The climate is fresher and less enervating than that of Aden. From its position it has the benefit of any sea-breeze which may blow, and the soil absorbs heat without giving it out again. On the other hand, in Aden, the high, black, cinder-like rocks often obstruct the breeze, store heat in the day, and give it out at night. Thus the nights in Sheikh Othman are markedly cooler than in Aden.

“3. There is abundance of water, and the soil is capable of cultivation—a fact proved by the two fine private gardens there, not to speak of the government garden. But at Aden the soil is utterly barren, and all water must be paid for. It is either condensed, or procured by an aqueduct, or from a well sunk 120 feet in the solid rock. The water from the latter is quite sweet, and sometimes handed round after dinner in wineglasses!

“4. I am told on the best authority that it would be very difficult to get a suitable site in Aden, whereas there are plenty in Sheikh Othman. Besides any number of building sites, two very large garden sites are vacant. The latter I have inspected, and the one I am recommended to take as having the best soil is admirably situated between the old village and the new settlement. It occupies the space between them. I can have the whole or the half of it _granted_ to me at a nominal quit-rent.

“5. Sheikh Othman is eight miles on the road to the interior, and so in closer contact with the tribes, and removed from the influence of the bad and unchristian example set by so many Europeans.

“On the other hand, it must be borne in mind that the population of Sheikh Othman—about 6,500—is comparatively small, though likely to increase somewhat; and that it is very shifting, not more than some 1,500 being permanently resident. The last objection, however, applies to Aden as well.”

In another portion of the same report, after telling of the importance of Aden as a missionary centre, he emphasizes the fact that “More than a quarter of a million camels, with their drivers, enter and leave Aden yearly with produce from all parts of Yemen. The great majority of these pass through Sheikh Othman, where they make a halt of several hours on the journey to Aden.” No one acquainted with Aden and its vicinity and reading Keith Falconer’s letters can fail to be struck with the fact that from the outset he had his plans made _for the interior_, and that Sheikh Othman was only the first stage which he intended to use as a base of operations. He wrote to General Haig about the same time as the date of his report: “I have made up my mind that the right place for me to settle at is Sheikh Othman, not Aden. This will leave Aden and Steamer Point open to the Church Missionary Society. Though I do not think that a medical missionary would have much scope in Aden, I think that a Bible and tract-room and preaching-hall might be started there.... I hope to visit Lahej soon, but fear I shall be unable to go to Sana. I should not know where to leave my wife. When I have a colleague at Sheikh Othman with a wife, the two ladies can be together while the husbands go to Sana and elsewhere. If the Church Missionary Society missionaries come here I trust we shall find ways and means of coöperating and helping one another.”

In February, 1886, Keith Falconer went with a Scotch military doctor to Lahej, the first large village beyond Sheikh Othman, in the middle of an oasis, and then governed by an independent “Sultan.” In March, having completed his preliminary survey of the field and decided on choice of a location, he sailed for England, not to tarry there, but to prepare for the final exodus to Arabia. “For,” says his biographer, “the soldier of the Cross had counted the cost, had weighed with the utmost care every risk and had taken his final resolve. The manner in which he told his friends this was very characteristic of the man ... who goes forth to the fight ready to spend and be spent in the cause of Christ.” In May he met the General Assembly of the Free Church and made his famous address on Mohammedanism and missions to Mohammedans. In order to begin the work at Aden, a second missionary, a medical man, was desired. Although the man was not yet found, Keith Falconer made the generous proposal to pay the sum of £300 ($1,500) annually to the Free Church for the new missionary’s salary. He had already offered to pay the expenses of himself and his wife, and had agreed to take upon himself the whole cost of the building of the mission-house. He laid on the missionary altar not only his talent of learning but that of money, and was in truth “an honorary missionary.”

The time between Keith Falconer’s arrival in England and his return to Arabia was crowded full of life and activity, but only the most important events can be narrated. He received the gratifying but altogether unexpected offer of the post of Lord Almoner’s professor of Arabic at Cambridge, which he accepted, becoming the successor of Edward H. Palmer and Robertson Smith. He prepared the lectures required, choosing for his subject “The Pilgrimage to Mecca.” He read all the books on the subject in many languages, even learning the Dutch grammar in order to understand a work in that language. He visited hospitals in search of an associate for Arabia. He selected his library and furniture to take to Aden and disposed of his house-lease. He acted as judge at the Young Men’s Christian Association Cycling Club races in Cambridge. He went to Glasgow to meet Dr. Stewart Cowen who was appointed his co-worker to Arabia. He tried to insure his life in favor of the mission-work at Mile-End; but while the insurance office declared him “First-Class,” they refused to grant the policy when they heard of his proposed place of residence. He gave several farewell addresses in Scotland and delivered his Cambridge lectures just on the eve of leaving for Arabia. All this work was crowded into six months’ time by the man who, like Napoleon, did not have the word _impossible_ in his vocabulary. How well the work was done is proved by his lectures, the article in the Encyclopedia and his farewell addresses. What could be finer and stronger than these last sentences from his farewell address at Glasgow which still ring with power:

“We have a great and imposing war-office, but a very small army ... while vast continents are shrouded in almost utter darkness, and hundreds of millions suffer the horrors of heathenism or of Islam, the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by Him to keep out of the foreign mission field.”

Dr. Cowen arrived at Aden on December 7th, 1886, and Keith Falconer a day later, by the Austrian steamship “Berenice.” He wrote, “We stopped at Jiddah, but to my great disappointment quarantine prevented me from going on shore. I gazed long at the hills which hid Mecca from us.”

Mrs. Keith Falconer arrived a fortnight later. But the new missionaries were unfortunate at the outset in obtaining a suitable dwelling. The stone bungalow, which they expected to occupy at Sheikh Othman until a mission-house was built, could not be rented; after considerable difficulty they managed to secure a large native hut, about forty feet square, which, with certain changes, appeared suitable for the emergency. A shed, erected by Keith Falconer, served them as a dispensary, and on January 11th, he wrote, “Our temporary quarters are very comfortable and the books look very nice.” Everything went well for a time and arrangements were made to begin building the mission-house. A tour was taken to Bir Achmed and the gospel was preached every day by word and work, although some of the party were down with fever nearly all the time.

Early in February, 1887, they were cheered by the visit of General Haig, returning from his Yemen journey; but very soon after things began for the first time to be clouded over. On February 10th, returning from a tour inland, Keith Falconer was seized with a high fever which continued for three days and then began to abate, but did not leave him entirely. Mrs. Keith Falconer also had a severe attack of fever, and both went for a change to Steamer Point for three weeks, after which they returned to their “hut” at Sheikh Othman. On May 1st, Keith Falconer wrote to his mother, “You will be sorry to hear that I have been down with yet another attack ... this makes my seventh attack. This rather miserable shanty, in which we are compelled to live, is largely the cause of our fevers ... we expect to begin living in the new house about June 1st, though it will not be finished then.” But this letter did not reach her until after the telegram had told the news that God had called His servant to Himself. On Tuesday, May 10th, after continued fevers and two restless nights, he went to sleep, and in the morning ... “one glance told all. He was lying on his back with eyes half open. The whole attitude and expression indicated a sudden and painless end, as if it had taken place during sleep, there being no indication whatever of his having tried to move or speak.” On the evening of the next day he was laid to rest, “In the cemetery at Aden by British officers and soldiers—fitting burial for a soldier of Christ, who, with armor on and courage undaunted, fell with face to the foe. The martyr of Aden had entered God’s Eden. And so Great Britain made her first offering—a costly sacrifice—to Arabia’s evangelization.”

Keith Falconer did not live long, but he lived long enough to do what he had purposed, (and to do it after God’s plan not his own) “_to call attention to Arabia_.” The workman fell but the work did not cease. The Free Church asked for one volunteer to step into his place, and thirteen of the graduating class of New College responded. By the story of Keith Falconer’s life ten thousand lives have been spiritually quickened to think of the foreign field and its claims. He, “being dead, yet speaketh,” and will continue to speak until Arabia is evangelized. Every future missionary to Arabia and every friend of missions who reads Falconer’s life will approve the appropriateness of the simple inscription on his grave at Aden:

TO
THE DEAR MEMORY OF
THE HON. ION KEITH FALCONER,
THIRD SON OF
THE EARL AND COUNTESS OF KINTORE,
WHO ENTERED INTO REST
AT SHEIKH OTHMAN, MAY 11, 1887,
AGED 30 YEARS.

“If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and, where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.”

The influence of Keith Falconer’s consecration was widely felt at the time of his death and has been felt ever since. His biography has become a missionary classic, and has passed through six editions. The Presbytery of the Scotch Church in Kafraria, South Africa, resolved in October, 1887, that “steps be taken to prepare a memoir of the late Hon. Ion Keith Falconer, to be printed in _Kafir_ as a tract for circulation among the native congregations with a view to impress them with an example of self-sacrifice.”

The mission at Sheikh Othman was continued. Through the generosity of Keith Falconer’s mother and widow stipends for two missionaries were guaranteed. Dr. Cowen returned to England, but Rev. W. R. W. Gardner and Dr. Alexander Patterson came to the field. For a time Mr. Matthew Lochhead, from the mission among the Kabyles in Morocco, also joined them. A school for rescued slaves was started, but the children’s health failing they were transferred to Lovedale in Africa. In 1893, Rev. J. C. Young, M. D., was sent out as a medical missionary to enforce the Rev. Mr. Gardner who with Mrs. Gardner was then alone; Dr. Paterson and Mr. Lochhead having left for reasons of health. Rev. and Mrs. Gardner went to Cairo in 1895, and the following year Dr. Young was joined by Dr. and Mrs. W. D. Miller. In 1898 Mrs. Miller died, and Dr. Miller returned home. At present the mission staff consists of Rev. Dr. Young and Dr. Morris, who joined the mission in 1898.

Despite these frequent changes and short periods of service, the Keith Falconer mission has not been at a standstill. Each of the faithful band used their special talent and individuality in removing somewhat from the vast mountain of Moslem prejudice and opposition “to make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” The immediate interior around Aden has been frequently visited; the mission dispensary is known for hundreds of miles beyond Sheikh Othman. We record with regret that Keith Falconer’s wish to go to Sana remains unfulfilled on the part of the mission. A school for boys has been started, and the small “shanty” for the sick has grown into a fully equipped mission dispensary, which treated over 17,800 out-patients in 1898. A much needed and most hopeful work among the soldiers is carried on in Steamer Point (Aden) and the Keith Falconer Memorial Church is filled every Sabbath with those who love to hear the old gospel.

XXXII

BISHOP FRENCH THE VETERAN MISSIONARY TO MUSCAT

If it was Keith Falconer’s life and death that sealed the missionary love of the church to Aden, it was the death of Thomas Valpy French[146] that turned many eyes to Muscat. Bishop French it was who signalized the completion of his fortieth year of missionary service by attacking, single handed, the seemingly impregnable fortress of Islam in Oman. He is called by Eugene Stock, “the most distinguished of all Church Missionary Society missionaries.”

We are tempted to describe this man’s early mission work in founding the Agra college and protecting the native Christians in the mutiny; his pioneer work in Derajat; his founding of the St. John Divinity School at Lahore; his controversies with the Mohammedans; and his manifold labors as the first Bishop of Lahore, but we can only chronicle here the closing years of his useful life. After forty years of “labors abundant” and “journeyings oft” he resigned his bishopric to travel among Arabic-speaking people and learn more of their language. He visited the Holy Land, Armenia, Bagdad and Tunis, everywhere diligently seeking to learn Arabic, and persuade the Moslems of the truth of Christianity. He became, as some one expressed it, a “Christian fakir” for the sake of the gospel and desired to end his life as he began it, in pioneer missionary-work.

As we have said it was Mackay of Uganda who riveted the bishop’s attention to Muscat. Such a plea from such lips could not but touch the heart of such a veteran. No one else came forward, so how could he refuse? He knew that age and infirmities were coming upon him, but he wanted to die a missionary to Mohammedans. He had, to use his own words, “an inexpressible desire” to preach to the Arabs. He was willing to begin the work on his own account with the hope that the Church Missionary Society would take it up.

What was the character of this lion-heart who dared to lift his grey head high and respond _alone_, to Mackay’s call for “half a dozen men, the pick of the English Universities to make the venture in faith”? One who was his friend and fellow-missionary for many years wrote: “To live with him was to drink in an atmosphere that was spiritually bracing. As the air of the Engadine is to the body, so was his intimacy to the soul. It was an education to be with him. To acquire anything approaching his sense of duty was alone worth a visit to India. He demanded implicit obedience from those whom he directed, and often the cost was considerable. If any were unwilling to face a risk, he fell grievously in the bishop’s estimation. There was nothing that he thought a man should not yield—home, or wife, or health—if God’s call was apparent. But then every one knew that he only asked of them what he himself had done, and was always doing. How shall I speak of his unworldliness? India is full of tales of this; of acts that often led to somewhat humorous results. There was no in season or out of season with him. He was always on his Master’s business. No biography, it is said, will be complete that does not show this side of his character. To outsiders frequently it seemed to lead him into inconsistencies. It did not seem incongruous for him to turn to the lady next to him, at a large luncheon party, and begin to discuss the heavenly Bride of Christ; neither was it strange when hymn-books were distributed at a large reception he held at Government House (kindly lent for the bishop’s sojourn there), and the evening party was closed with hymns and prayer.”

Rev. Robert Clark of the Punjab, Church Missionary Society, testifies: “When he first began his work in Agra, he studied about sixteen hours a day. He taught in his school, he preached in the bazaars, he instructed inquirers for baptism, he prepared catechists for ordination, he was engaged in writing books, at the same time that he was learning Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Sanscrit, and Hindi with munshis. Such excellence few can attain to, because few can safely follow in his steps in this respect. But all can copy his example of prayerful labor. When he spent his holidays in travels and in preaching excursions far and near, he showed us how to spend every hour of relaxation in the most profitable way. When he refused to possess even a very ordinary conveyance, because he thought that a missionary should go on foot, and declined to use anything but the most common furniture for his house, he set us an example of self-abnegation, and showed us what, in his opinion, should be the attitude of the missionary before the world. When he spent his earliest mornings with God, with his Hebrew Bible and Greek Testament before him, he often invited some friend to sit by him to share with him the rich thoughts which the Word of God suggested to his mind.”

This was the man who in solitary loneliness, without one friend to stand at his side, planted and upheld till death the banner of the cross where it had never been planted before. In the hottest season of the year, with a little tent and two servants he was preparing to push inland when death interposed and gave rest to the veteran of sixty-six years. “We fools accounted his life madness, but he is numbered among the children of God and his lot is among the saints.” (Wisdom of Solomon v. 4, 5.) Only Judas can “have indignation saying to what purpose is this waste?” This broken box of exceeding precious ointment has given fragrance to the whole world.

We will let Bishop French tell his own brief story of the work at Muscat, beginning with the time when we travelled together down the Red Sea both in quest of God’s plan for us in Arabia.[147]

_Near Aden, Jan. 22d, 1891._

“Boisterous winds and turbulent seas have racked my brain sorely, and I have seldom had such torture in this line. But we are close to the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, and hope to reach Aden some twelve hours hence. I should have been sorry to miss Hodeidah, where I had a long day (spite of difficulty of reaching it by _sambuca_ or small boat of broad and heavy build), returning to ship in the evening. I left my friends, Maitland and a young American missionary, and made my way straight out through a gate of one of the stout city walls, into the country beyond, where are palm-groves and some fairly imposing stuccoed country-houses of merchants and men of rank. Under an arcade (as the sun was to be feared) I got a little congregation together, some learned, others unlearned, and addressed them for over an hour, eliciting the opposition of one or two of the _ulumā_, or educated men. For the first time in this part of my journey, my mouth seemed a little opened and heart enlarged to witness for Christ, and a few seemed really struck and interested. I tried to get entrance into a mosque or two, as of old time into Afghan mosques with Gordon and others, but failed to find the proper Imams within. I secured the lower steps of a flight of steps leading up to the private residence of a high Turkish officer, in rich uniform, a general of army here, not knowing whose steps I was occupying. However, the old gentleman came down (as a Roman centurion in old time might have done) and took his seat, with a few others, on his own doorstep, and listened with singular docility and thankfulness, and begged my blessing on his office, and his fulfillment of its arduous duties. After first leave-taking, he sent down to me a beautiful walking-stick of lemon-wood, so I had to mount the steps to express my gratitude and acknowledgment of his singular courtesy and friendship. Then came a still more enthusiastic and affectionate leave-taking still, and warm kissing of hands, to Maitland’s astonishment. I certainly never experienced such kindness and friendship from any Turkish official before in any quarter. I trust the message may have struck his heart. Anyhow, he gladly accepted a copy of the whole Bible—this is one of the most bigoted of Arab cities.

“There was an excellent colporteur here this week, of the Bible Society, Stephanos, a Jewish convert, I believe, and excellent Arabic scholar. The Wali, or viceroy of the city, has forbidden his carrying Arabic Bibles into the interior, though the Hebrew ones for the Jews at Sennaa are passed, some six days, into the mountains. In Jidda itself, I had some small measure of encouragement, but not nearly so much as in Hodeidah, which has now outstripped Mocha as a thriving trade centre in those parts.”

_Muscat, Gulf of Oman,
February 13th, 1891._

“I arrived here on Sunday last with Mr. Maitland, of the Cambridge Delhi Mission, whom I met in Egypt, and who spends a few weeks for his health’s sake with me, perhaps until Easter. We did not like throwing ourselves on the British Consul here, as we thought it might embarrass him to entertain Christian missionaries on their first arrival here; and we had very great difficulty in finding even the meanest quarters for the first day or two, but are now in quarters in an adjoining village, more tolerable as regards necessary comforts, belonging to the American Consul, who is agent for a New York house of business. I have written to India for a Swiss-cottage tent, as a resource in case of no possible residence being available here, or anything approaching even the English village public-house, or Persian caravanserai. In the adjoining hills such a tent might give shelter during the hot weather, if the Arabs will tolerate the presence of a Christian missionary. “Of possibilities of entrance of a mission, I feel it would be premature to speak yet. We are pushing on our Arabic studies, and I am glad to find how much more intelligible my Arab teaching is than in Tunis and Egypt. I hope soon to find a Sheikh of some learning, to carry on translations in Arabic under his guidance, if life and health be spared. I feel most thankful to feel myself again in a definite temporary centre, at least of missionary effort. ‘Patience and long-suffering with joyfulness’ I would humbly and heartily desire to cultivate, as most appropriate to my present condition and circumstances. The British Consul, a very polite and courteous and high principled man, is hopeless as to any effect being produced on the Oman Arabs, and feels his position precludes him from making common cause with any effort for making proselytes among them. So when Maitland goes I shall be pretty lonely here, not for the first time, however, and I only pray that the loneliness may help me to realize more fully the blessed Presence which fills, strengthens, animates, and supports.”

His last letter written from Muscat to the Church Missionary Society is dated April 24th, 1891. A portion of it is as follows:

“Patience here, as elsewhere (and more than in most scenes I have visited), is a great prerequisite. I still live alone in a borrowed house, a spare one belonging to the American Consul here, and, rough as it is, it is amply sufficient for a missionary, and is in the heart of the town. I cannot get many—very few, indeed—to come to my house and read, which is naturally one of my great objects. They ask me into their shops and houses sometimes, to sit and discuss on the great question at issue between us and them, some Beluchees, mostly Arabs; and the latter I vastly prefer, and consider more hopeful. There are some Hindus in the crowded bazaars, but I see little of them—partly because of the noise of narrow streets and traffic, and partly because I do not wish to be tempted away from the Arabic. Most of the few Hindu traffickers living here understand Arabic.

“There is much outward observance of religious forms; there are crowds of mosques; rather a large proportion of educated men and women too; the latter take special interest in religious questions, and sometimes lead the opposition to the gospel. They have large girls’ schools and female teachers. There is a lepers’ village nigh at hand to the town. I occupied for the second time this morning a shed they have allotted me, well roofed over; and those poor lepers, men and women, gathered in fair numbers to listen. Chiefly, however, I reach the educated men by the roadside or in a house-portico, sometimes even in a mosque, which is to me a new experience. Still there is considerable shyness, occasionally bitter opposition; yet bright faces of welcome sometimes cheer me and help me on, and I am only surprised that so much is borne with. I have made special efforts to get into the mosques, but most often this is refused. The Moolahs and Muallims seem afraid of coming to help me on in my translations, or in encountering with me more difficult passages in the best classics. This has surprised and disconcerted me rather; but I have been saved in the main from anything like depression, and have had happy and comfortable proofs of the Saviour’s gracious Presence with me. The Psalms, as usual, seem most appropriate and answerable to the needs of such a pioneer and lonely work....

“If I can get no faithful servant and guide for the journey into the interior, well versed in dealing with Arabs and getting needful common supplies (I want but little), I may try Bahrein, or Hodeidah and Sennaa, and if that fails, the North of Africa again, in some highland; for without a house of our own the climate would be insufferable for me—at least, during the very hot months—and one’s work would be at a standstill. But I shall not give up, please God, even temporarily, my plans for the interior, unless, all avenues being closed, it would be sheer madness to attempt to carry them out.”

He never reached the interior, for he received a sunstroke on his way from Muscat to the neighboring village, Mattra, in an open boat. He was removed to the Consulate but scarcely regained consciousness except to utter a “God bless you” to the Consul, Colonel Mockler. He died on May 14th, 1891. The very manner of his death fulfilled, more than he ever thought, his own words in one of his letters from Muscat: “In memory of Henry Martyn’s pleadings for Arabia, Arabs and the Arabic, I seem almost trying at least to follow more directly in his footsteps and under his guidance, than even in Persia or India, however incalculable the distance at which the guided one follows the leader!”

The grave of Bishop French is in the bottom of a narrow ravine circled by black rocks and reached by boat, by rounding the rocky point to the south of Muscat. Here are many graves of sailors of the Royal marine and others who died on this burning and inhospitable coast. Here also rests the body of Rev. George E. Stone, the American Missionary, who was called home in the summer of 1899, after a short period of service.

IN MEMORY OF THOMAS VALPY FRENCH, BISHOP MISSIONARY.

Where Muscat fronts the Orient sun
’Twixt heaving sea and rocky steep,
His work of mercy scarce begun,
A saintly soul has fallen asleep:
Who comes to lift the Cross instead?
Who takes the standard from the dead?

Where, under India’s glowing sky,
Agra the proud, and strong Lahore,
Lift roof and gleaming dome on high,
His “seven-toned tongue” is heard no more:
Who comes to sound alarm instead?
Who takes the clarion from the dead?

Where white camps mark the Afghan’s bound,
From Indus to Suleiman’s range,
Through many a gorge and upland—sound
Tidings of joy divinely strange:
But there they miss his eager tread;
Who comes to toil then for the dead?

Where smile Cheltonian hills and dales,
Where stretches Erith down the shore
Of Thames, wood-fringed and fleck’d with sails,
His holy voice is heard no more
Is it for nothing he is dead?
Send forth your children in his stead!

Far from fair Oxford’s groves and towers,
Her scholar Bishop dies apart;
He blames the ease of cultured hours
In death’s still voice that shakes the heart.
Brave saint! for dark Arabia dead!
I go to fight the fight instead!

O Eastern-lover from the West!
Thou hast out-soared these prisoning bars;
Thy memory, on thy Master’s breast,
Uplifts us like the beckoning stars.
We follow now as thou hast led;
Baptize us, Saviour, for the dead!
—_Archdeacon A. E. Moule._

XXXIII

THE AMERICAN ARABIAN MISSION

“Our ultimate object is to occupy the interior of Arabia.”—_Plan of the Arabian Mission._

“To such an appeal there can be but one reply. The Dutch Reformed Church when it took up the mission originally commenced on an independent basis as the Arabian Mission, did so with full knowledge of the plans and purposes of its founders, which, as the very title of the mission shows, embraced nothing less than such a comprehensive scheme of evangelization as that above described.”—_Major-General F. T. Haig._

“It is not keeping expenses down, but keeping faith and enthusiasm up, that gives a clear balance sheet. Give the Church heroic leadership, place before it high ideals, keep it on the march for larger conquests, and the financial problem will take care of itself. If the Church sees that we are not going to trust God enough to venture upon any work for Him till we have the money in sight, it will probably adopt the same prudence in making contributions, and our good financiering will be with heavy loss of income.”—_The Christian Advocate._

“The Arabian Mission was organized August 1st, 1889, and its first missionary, Rev. James Cantine, sailed for the field October 16th of the same year. In order to trace the steps that led to the organization of this first American Mission to Arabia, we must go back a year earlier.

In the Theological Seminary of the Reformed (Dutch) Church at New Brunswick, New Jersey, the missionary spirit was especially active during the year 1888. This was fostered by members of the faculty who had a warm love for that work, by a missionary lectureship recently inaugurated, by the missionary alumni of the seminary, and by some of the students themselves who brought missions to the front. Among these students were James Cantine and Philip T. Phelps of the senior class, and Samuel M. Zwemer of the middle class, who had individually decided to work abroad, God willing, and who used to meet for prayer and consultation regarding the choice of a field of labor. The first meeting of this band was held on October 31st, 1888, and the topic discussed was, “what constitutes a call to the Foreign field?” After that they met almost every week, and gradually the idea took shape of banding themselves together to begin pioneer work in some one of the unoccupied fields. Tibet and Central Africa were mentioned; but their thoughts generally seemed to unite on some Arabic-speaking country especially Nubia or the upper Nile. The Seminary library was ransacked for information on these fields, without definite results. At the end of November the band decided to consult with their Hebrew and Arabic professor, Rev. J. G. Lansing, D. D., who, being of missionary parentage and full of the missionary passion, warmly welcomed their confidence and from that time became associated with them in their plans. After some time it was mutually agreed that God called them to pioneer work in some portion of the Mohammedan world in or adjacent to Arabia.

Over against this Divine call there appeared a great human difficulty: the fact that the church to which they belonged and owed allegiance conducted no missions in the Mohammedan world. The Mission Board of that church was already burdened with a debt of $35,000, and therefore it was improbable that they would establish such a work in addition to their other mission work. In spite of these obstacles, however, it was decided, February 11, 1899, to make formal application to the Board, and on May 23d the following plan was drawn up, and presented to the Board of Foreign Missions:

“We the undersigned desiring to engage in pioneer mission work in some Arabic-speaking country, and especially in behalf of Moslems and slaves, do at the outset recognize the following facts:

1. The great need and encouragement for this work at the present time.

2. The non-existence of such mission work under the supervision of our Board of Foreign Missions at the present time.

3. The fact that hitherto little has been done in the channels indicated.

4. The inability of our Board to inaugurate this work under its present status.

Therefore, that the object desired may be realized, we respectfully submit to the Board, and with their endorsement to the church at large, the following propositions:

1. The inauguration of this work at as early a time as possible.

2. The field to be Arabia, the upper Nile or any other field, subject to the statement of the preamble, that shall be deemed most advantageous, after due consideration.

3. The expenses of said mission to be met (_a_) by yearly subscriptions in amounts of from five to two hundred dollars; the subscribers of like amounts to constitute a syndicate with such organization as shall be deemed desirable; (_b_) by syndicates of such individuals, churches and organizations as shall undertake the support of individual missionaries, or contribute to such specific objects as shall be required by the mission.

4. These syndicates shall be formed and the financial pledges made payable for a term of five years.

5. At the expiration of this period of five years the mission shall pass under the direct supervision of our Board as in the case of our other missions. Should the Board still be financially unable, syndicates shall be re-formed and pledges re-taken.

6. In the meantime the mission shall be generally under the care of the Board ... through whose hands its funds shall pass.

7. The undersigned request the approval of the Board to this undertaking in general, and particularly in the matter of soliciting subscriptions.