Part 16 (1/2)
And now let inal referred to above Accompanied by Robert Hood, Esq, J P, Victoria, I found my way to the enca, nor see us till we stood at the door of her hut She was clean and tidily dressed, as were also her dear little children, and appeared glad to see us She had just been reading the _Presbyterian Messenger_, and the Bible was lying at her elbow I said, ”Do you read the _Messenger_?”
She replied, ”Yes; I like to knohat is going on in the Church”
We found her to be a sensible and huion and serving God devotedly Next Sabbath she brought her husband, her children, and six blacks to church, all decently dressed, and they all listenedI said, ”Nora, they tell me you are a Christian I want to ask you a few questions about the blacks; and I hope that as a Christian you will speak the truth” Rather hurt at ht hand, and replied, ”I am a Christian I fear and serve the true God I always speak the truth”
Taking from my pocket the stone idols from the Islands, I inquired if her people had or worshi+pped things like these She replied, ”The 'doctors' have them”
”Have you a 'doctor' in your camp?” I asked She said, ”Yes, my uncle is the Sacred Man; but he is now far away from this”
”Has he the idols with him now?” I inquired She answered, ”No; they are left in my care”
I then said, ”Could you let us see them?”
She consulted certain representatives of the tribe ere at hand
They rose, and removed to a distance They had consented Mr Hood assured me that no fault would be found with her, as she was the real, or at least virtual head of the tribe Out of a larger bag she then dreo ss, and opened theht from the Islands I asked her to consult the ree to sell four or five of theht by them convince the white people that they had Gods of their own, and are, therefore, above the brutes of the field; the iven to their Sacred Man on his return This, also, after a tireed to I selected three of the objects, and paid the stipulated price And I have the recorded testimony of ”Robert Hood, J
P, Hexha on his honor all that I a
Mr Hood asked Nora how he had never heard of or seen these things before, living so long a about his house She replied, ”Long ago whiteto their idols Black fellows said, white ain! Suppose this white man not know all about them, he would not now see them No white men live now have seen what you have seen”
Thus it has been demonstrated on the spot, and in presence of the ines, before they saw the white invaders, were not ”brutes” incapable of knowing God, but hu after a God of some kind Nor do I believe that any tribe of e and custohtly interpreted, will not display their consciousness of the need of a God, and that Divine capacity of holding fellowshi+p with the Unseen Powers, of which the brutes are without one faintest trace
Poor, dear, Christian-hearted Nora! The Christ-spirit shi+nes forth un to save husband and children, enduring trials andover the degradation of thy people, and seeking to lift the theh Jesus Christ
CHAPTER LI
BACK TO SCOTLAND
EACH of ed my return to Scotland, chiefly to secure, if possible, lis, just arrived from Britain, where he had the Aneityuh the press, also zealously enforced this appeal
Constrained by what appeared to me the Voice of God, I sailed for London in the _Kosciusko_, an Aberdeen clipper, on the 17th May, 1863 Captain Stuart e ood Bishop Selwyn and tutor to his son, conducted along with lican and a Presbyterian Service We passed through a ood shi+p was perilously struck by lightning The men on deck were thrown violently down The copper in the bulwarks isted and ave me and I still retain When the ball of fire struck the shi+p, those of us sitting on chairs, screwed to the floor around the cabin table, felt as if she were plunging to the bottoain, a military man and a e between the cabins, the screws that held their seats having snapped asunder I, in grasping the table, gotjammed betwixt the seat and the table, and had to be carried to my berth All the men were attended to, and quickly recovered consciousness; and iood Captain, an elder of the Church, came to me, and said, ”Lead us in prayer, and let us thank the Lord for this most merciful deliverance; the shi+p is not on fire, and no one is seriously injured!”
Poor fellohether hastened on by this event I know not, but he struggled for three weeks thereafter in a fever, and it took our united care and love to pull hih The Lord, however, restored him; and we cast anchor safely in the East India Docks, at London, on 26th August, 1863, having been three months and ten days at sea from port to port
It was 530 P M e cast anchor, and the gates closed at 6 o'clock My little box was ready on deck The Custom House officers kindly passed me, and I was immediately on my way to Euston Square
Never before had I been within the Great City, and doubtless I could have enjoyed its palaces and 's business entrusted to me, ”required haste,” and I felt constrained to press forward, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left
At nine o'clock that evening, I left for Scotland by train Next , about the same hour, I reported las, the Convener of the Foreign Mission Committee of the Refored for aof said Committee, at earliest practicable date, that ht at once be laid before them
By the next train I was on my way to Dumfries, and thence by conveyance to my dear old home at Torthorwald There I had a Heavenly Welcome fro tears Five brief years only had elapsed, since I went forth fro bride; and now, alas! alas! that grave on Tanna held mother and son locked in each other's embrace till the Resurrection Day
Not less glowing, but , was my reception, a few days thereafter, at Coldstreaazed on the bereaved father and h Godly people, were conscious of a heart-break under that stroke, fro years they never fully rallied They ainst the Lord; but all the saan to faint and fail, even as our Divine Exemplar Hily bore