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.”