CHAPTER XXVII. THE FINAL RESTING-PLACE. 'High failure, towering far o'er low success, Seemed never half so deathless, till he died.' ARTHUR WAUGH, Gordon in Africa. As we advance in holiness . . . we reach at last the mountain top, where the perfected spirit henceforth labours without weariness, nay, rather with joy and ecstasy, because now having tamed and conquered its unruly passions, and overcome itself and all created things, it dwells for ever blessed in the bosom of the Most High, and there, while sweetly labouring, takes its rest.'-LORENZO SCUPOLI. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow with them.'-Rev. xiv. 13 (R.V.). FROM the desolate and scorching sea-margin of Muttra, where the good bishop had not a single Christian face to look upon, the change is sudden to the crowded 'Strand' of our metropolis. On the north side, half-way between St. Mary's church and Charing Cross, Exeter Hall, with narrow frontage but far-reaching motto-Piλadeλpeîov—faces the constant throng of busy by-passers. On Tuesday, May 5, 1891, the Church Missionary Society was holding there its ninety-second anniversary. Those who would understand the mode and character of English missionary enterprise, and all the subtle links of sympathy that bind the solitary workers to the Church at home (inspiring those abroad with something of the force of numbers, ennobling those at home with something of the sense of a world-wide vocation), must picture to themselves the stirring scene. The meeting is always marked with some large measure of enthusiasm-enthusiasm in the best sense of that dreaded word. This year two circumstances had combined to give a special interest to the occasion. The controversy between the bishop in Jerusalem and the Society about their common work in Palestine was at its height, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had selected Bishop Blyth for the appointment, and to whom (with certain assessors) the points under discussion had been referred by the Society, had promised to be present and to speak. Bishop French had written from Muttra on April 24 to Mr. Eugene Stock : 'I am asking a special blessing for your May meetings and services. It has been sad, indeed, to hear of so many breakdowns in health in your staff, though not surprising. The archbishop will be at his best, I trust, and directed what to say for the glory of Christ, and the good of His Church, and the Society's highest interests.' The bishop was at this time still holding out his hands to the Society in vain, and was tempted to feel sore that he was not more readily supported after his many years of service. But though he was no longer officially connected with them, and could not feel entire sympathy with all their ways, his interest in their great work continued unabated, the bonds of mutual affection remained entirely unbroken, and mutual prayer and intercession resisted the intrusion of any thought of bitterness. While he in his far solitude remembered them, they too remembered him. There were some who, with the claims of the whole missionfield before them, felt that on grounds of missionary policy it was not right, when many doors were open wide without the men and means to enter them, to squander effort on a door that seemed but half-ajar; and there were others who -much as they might respect the bishop for his devoted character and labours-felt that it was not right for the Society on grounds of missionary principle to use the services of one who, as they thought, had drifted from true lines of Protestant observance. Still there were very many who would eagerly have helped him, and whatever causes paralysed prompt action, their feeling found expression on that day. The speech of Sir John Kennaway, the president, began with the startling announcement of the death of the Archbishop of York (Dr. Magee), who in the year 1866 had preached one of the noblest missionary sermons ever heard. Then, after some allusions to the topics touched in the report, and to the missionaries to be that day welcomed— 'household words are their names: Moule and Ashe and Caley' and to the joy of seeing Dr. Whipple, Bishop of Minnesota, and the great apostle of the Indians, whom the archbishop had brought with him as an unexpected guest, and who subsequently stirred the vast audience with words of apostolic force and fervency that breathed the love of Christ, the President continued: 'While we pledge ourselves to renewed exertion and effort, we desire to send forth a message of tender, strong sympathy, encouragement, and support to those of our brethren in distant lands who are holding the fort or carrying the war into the enemy's country a message which shall reach to the very heart of Central Africa, penetrate to the far shores of Hudson's Bay, to China, to Japan, to the very outposts of the Indian frontier, and cheer the heart of that grand old veteran, Thomas Valpy French, who, as you have heard, in the fortieth year of his missionary services unsupported so far as human help goes, is attacking the seemingly impregnable fortress of Islam in the eastern parts of Arabia, while stretching out his hands to the old Society which he has served and loved so long. . . . We are thinking of them, and praying that the Master whom they serve may stand by them in their battle against the powers of evil, and that God's Holy Spirit may in trial and difficulty be their ever-present guide and comforter. Dear friends, let us rise to-day to the height of our obligation, to the full sense of our responsibility. Our duty, no less than our privilege, is to "go in and possess the land," taking to ourselves the promise of God unto Joshua. The Lord thy God, He it is that doth go before thee. Be strong and of good courage. Fear not! He will not leave thee nor forsake thee.' In concluding he read a letter asking prayer for Canon Cadman, who was dangerously ill. ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY'S SPEECH 395 When the archbishop rose to move the first resolution. he at once won the heart of all who heard him by speaking of the double sorrow that had fallen on him since he had entered that room-the death of a warm friend and admired colleague with extraordinarily brilliant gifts of mind and speech, and the illness of one of his closest-loved and most affectionate chaplains. In a speech of much power, simplicity, and statesmanlike ability, he urged the need for more European workers, spoke of his thankfulness for the meeting (at Keswick) which lifted up its voice and suddenly said, 'You must send out a thousand more.' 'For the moral of the report,' he said, 'the first thing that strikes me as shining through it is the old football word "follow up." "Follow up" or you will not win the goal. We have to move up now really quickly.' He went on to speak of Uganda and its extraordinary interest, the martyr-boys, the scholar-chieftains, the (then) advancing British Company. 'I do not say I hope or I wish Bishop Tucker could go back to Africa with forty missionaries. I say that it will be an immense disappointment if he does not.' But perhaps the passage that excited most attention was that concerning the existing troubles in the Eastern missions, and here again the name of French was honourably mentioned. 'I have another thing to remark upon. It seems to me to rise out of the history both of the past and the present. We must help others to do what we cannot do ourselves. All we know of national characteristics and habits, all we know of the long education of the Mohammedans in their own religion-of the ability and zeal of the men who study and profess it, and the clearness with which they hold their own opinions and hate our religionall this, I am afraid, tells us that it will not be possible for the sons of Japhet themselves to convert the Mohammedan race. That work, I believe, must be done by their own blood and flesh -by other sons of Shem. It seems to rise out of that that it will be our duty to set reform on foot among the Oriental Churches, not to override them and dash ourselves to pieces against the strong rock of Mohammedanism, but to trust that by our own exertions and the exertions of others the spirit of reform, of the disintegration in superstition, of return to the Scriptures as the foundation of all knowledge, may be set on foot among those Oriental Churches, and we may see them themselves become the true apostles of the Mohammedan races. I believe that that will succeed without precipitancy; and there is no special fact which gives me more satisfaction than the fact that in this matter we shall be guided by the counsels of Bishop French.' He ended with a solemn reference to the great subject of the Lord's Ascension and return. 'I do think,' he said, 'that with all the things we are engaged in as a religious people, there is something of a silence in the present day in many pulpits and in many places about the Advent of our Lord. Yet it is for that we work, to that we press. To put it most simply, the doctrine of the Advent of our Lord is that it will come some time, and that it may come any time. Now, if we are sincere in believing either in our Lord's Ascension the subject of this season, or in His second coming which succeeds it, they ought to awe us into forbearance and into unity. Could we be discussing trifles if we verily saw our Lord either going or coming? And we ought to see Him if the eye of our faith is clear. The disciples were rebuked before His Ascension because they began to discuss when the kingdom of God should come. My dear friends, that was a far higher and nobler subject than many of those which we are discussing. . . . Let me take up the words of our president and say we pledge ourselves not merely to do all that we can to promote the Gospel, but we pledge ourselves to do nothing at home that shall hinder its progress. And so I commend to you this resolution, of which I will read the last part again, that it may sink into our ears and hearts. We are reminded of our Ascending Lord's command to His servants to be witnesses unto Him to the uttermost parts of the earth," and of "the certainty of His coming again in like manner"; we are asked to pray that "the whole expectant Church may be aroused to greater diligence in preparing His way."" 66 Such was the message of the archbishop in his own person, of Bishop French by his example and his influence upon this missionary anniversary. For while these things were going on in London, French was preparing to start-it may be actually starting-from Muttra to the little town of Sib, from whence he meant to penetrate to the interior, preparing the way of his Lord1. 1 There is a slight discrepancy in point of date. He himself wrote on April 26 that he was hoping to set out upon May 4 or 5. Captain Dyke, of H. M. S. Sphinx, supposed him to have started on the 4th; Mr. Mackirdy, whose house he occupied, upon the 5th; while Colonel Mockler |