Remarkable Mission Deliverances by W. C. Walston

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 5, 1910

Remarkable Mission Deliverances

By W. C. Walston

W. C. WALSTON

IN THE REVIEW AND HERALD of Dec. 23, 1909, I noticed, under the heading “Daily Providences in Mission Wilds,” some extracts taken from the book, “The Cobra’s Den,” written by the missionary, Dr. Jacob Chamberlain.

It may be interesting to the readers of the REVIEW to read of some of the experiences of the workers here at the Somabula Mission, in Africa.

One day when Elder F. B. Armitage was out in the forest with some of the native boys, he was making his way through a thick underbrush. His foot struck something which caused him to look down suddenly. What was his astonishment to see a large snake, about twelve feet long, and as thick as his arm. The monster sprang at his leg, and caught in its mouth the loose part of his trousers below the knee. A wild struggle ensued for a short time, but he succeeded in pulling away. Then, as the reptile endeavored to crawl away, he recovered sufficiently from his sudden fright to raise his gun and shoot it. The native boys came running up, and saw what had taken place, and said, “Teacher, if the snake had bitten you, you would never have lived to get home.”

At another time later, one night, there was a disturbance among some of the fowls roosting in a tree near the mission home, and Brother Armitage went out to investigate. He found there was something in the tree besides the fowls. He called for his gun and a light, and then discovered a large snake, about fourteen feet long, and nearly as thick as his leg, with its head up among the branches, while a part of its body rested on the ground. He raised his gun, fired at its head, and brought the robber down. Its skin was kept as a trophy for a long time.

Last year Brother C. L. Butterfield went to the shed where our fowls roost, to gather the eggs, and on reaching his hand into a box over his head, put it on something that did not feel like eggs. He stepped onto a box and looked into the nest, and there lay, all coiled up, a snake about nine feet in length, and quite large in size. Brother Butterfield took a long pole and a shotgun, and tipped the box onto the ground. When it struck the ground, the viper raised its head, and opened its mouth, nearly as large as my two hands. It then darted out at the back of the shed, and ran into the cattle kraal. The boys drove it out, and as it came out on my side, where I was waiting for it, I shot its head nearly off. We found it had swallowed raw eggs for breakfast, without breaking the shells.

A few months ago one of our boys was going into Gweelo with the mail. After crossing a small river about four miles from the mission, right in the path before him sat a lion. He stopped and looked at the lion, and it looked at him, neither knowing what was best to do. The lion concluded he had better give the right of way, and backed into the tall grass, and fled.

Only two weeks ago, while Mrs. Walston and I were sitting at our table, just before retiring, we looked up, and above our heads, on the window casing, we saw a snake gliding slowly down from between the cloth ceiling and the partition, only four feet from us. We sprang up, and it drew up out of sight. A few days afterward we discovered a venomous serpent about five feet long, just outside our door, in the passage, and I shot it. We think it was the same which had had quarters, a few days before, among the rafters, over our sleeping-room.

As I read of Dr. Chamberlain’s experiences, I could not help but think of some of the escapes which the workers here have had, and of the words of the Scripture, “He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

Gweelo, Rhodesia.