The Converted Native as an Evangelist
By Joel C. Rogers
[We can not vouch for the quotations below, neither do we understand that Brother Rogers does. How much the paper quoted has exaggerated, we do not know. We devoutly wish that all reported is true. God is able and willing to do more than we can ask or think. Ed. S. of T.] I HAVE read a report of a wonderful native meeting in Central Africa (North Nyasaland). Thousands of recent heathen were so moved by the Holy Spirit, according to report, that they — began to rise one after another to pray. Their prayers took the line of confession of secret sins. Voices were broken with emotion, and many were weeping aloud. Soon two, or three, or four would be praying at once, each apparently entirely unconscious of the other. Then suddenly there swept over the whole assembly a marvelous and awe-inspiring sound. It reminded the Europeans who were present of nothing else but "a mighty rushing wind." Two thousand five hundred people were praying aloud, confessing sin. In the afternoon, the women were sent to another place with the hope of better control of the great movement. The men's service proceeded quietly and with great solemnity until near the close. Again the same scenes broke out. Without warning, and suddenly, a vast emotion seemed to seize the audience, and the whole congregation was bowed, praying aloud. Among the mass of the people there was no appearance of excitement. The praying was subdued and solemn, and every man seemed irresistibly carried along. Sunday morning the service was in the open air, and over seven thousand persons were present. . . . Some men rose to pray. They prayed with a great emotion, and a wonderful wealth of thought and diction. Then suddenly there again fell the irresistible and universal movement. Hundreds of the heathen [the raw unconverted ones.—J. R.] who were present sat awed by what they saw. No one seemed to have any other explanation than that the Spirit of God had come among us. . . . The results so far have been entirely healthy. Sins have been confessed, old feuds forgiven, debts have been paid, indolent and dishonest habits have been renounced. . . . The supreme impression has been — and there were several Europeans present — one of solemn awe before a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God. The above is given somewhat at length, that the feeling of eye-witnesses might be retained as reported in the Nyasaland Times of September 15, 1910. The superintendent of that mission, than which none among modern missions has experienced more wonderful growth and conversions, says of the work: "It should be kept in mind that such scenes as these are the result of years of faithful, daily teaching, mostly all of which is done by converted native evangelists." Any one especially interested in the mission referred to may find a fuller report in the Missionary Review of the World, January, 1910, under the heading "What God Is Doing in Africa." What shall we do in Africa, in this time of God's power? Now we may secure to the standard of the great message scores of native evangelists, whom before long it may be impossible to touch with that high standard, "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." By the Lord's special blessing we now have 25 schools, 50 native teachers, about 1000 people enrolled. During the last school year 1,317 were on our records. While in perplexities many, and buffetings on every hand, God works on, and this gives us courage. JOEL C. ROGERS.
Malamulo Mission, Cholo, Nyasaland.