Some little missionaries came to Arabia a few years before any of the
American missionaries did, and have been coming ever since. Most of them
were born in a country not far from Arabia, and yet only one of them
visited Arabia before Mohammed was born. Although they never write reports
of their work in the papers, yet I have seen a few splendid little
accounts of their work written on tablets of flesh with tears for ink. It
is just because their work is done so much in secret and in out-of-the-way
places, that they are generally overlooked and often underestimated. They
receive only bare support and no salary, and get along in the most
self-denying way by fasting and living all together, packed like herring
in a dark, close room, except when they go out into the sunshine on their
journeys.
Most of them came out in the steerage of the big ships from London, but
none of them were seasick at all throughout the entire voyage. They do not
go about two and two unless it is that one of the old ones goes hand in
hand with a younger brother for support. Generally a score or more travel
together. They never complain of being tired or discouraged, and never get
fever or cholera, although I have talked and slept with them at Bahrein
when I had fever myself. Never yet has one of them died on a sick-bed,
although they often hide away and disappear for months. On one or two
occasions I have heard of a small company of them being burned at the
stake, but I was told that not a groan escaped from their lips, nor were
their companions frightened the least bit. With my own eyes I have seen
one or two of them torn asunder and trampled upon by those who hate Jesus
Christ and His kingdom and His little missionaries. Yet the only sound to
be heard was the blasphemies of their persecutors, who could not answer
them in any other way.
It is very strange indeed, that when once one or two of them get
acclimatised and learn the language, they are bound to their work by so
many tiny cords of love that they seldom fall apart from their work or
fall out one with the other. There are more than sixty different names and
ages among them, and yet they all have one family accent. Some of them are
medical missionaries and can soothe and heal even broken hearts and
prevent broken heads. There are two ladies among them, but they seldom go
about alone, and, especially in Arabia, the men do most of the preaching.
Most of them are evangelists or apostles and teachers. And their
enterprise and push! why one of them told me the other day that he wanted
_"to preach the gospel in the regions beyond"_ Mecca, and that even there
_"every knee should bow to Jesus."_ Why, you begin to see them everywhere
in the Persian Gulf and around Muscat and Aden. Last year a few of them
went to Jiddah with the pilgrims. They dress very plainly, but often in
bright Oriental colours (one just came in all in green); on one or two
occasions I have seen them wear gold when visiting a rich man, but there
was no pride about them, and they put on no airs in their talk.
[Illustration: MISSION HOUSE AT BUSRAH.]
How many are there of these little missionaries, do you ask? Over three
thousand eight hundred and forty visited and left the three stations of
the Arabian Mission in the Persian Gulf last year. But, as I told you,
they are _so_ modest that only a score of them perhaps sent in any account
of their work, and that even was sent through a third party by word of
mouth. I have heard it whispered that a faithful record of all their
journeys and speeches is kept, but that these are put on file to be
published all at once on a certain great day, when missionaries all get
their permanent discharge. What a quiet, patient, faithful, loving body of
workers they are. Even when it is very, very hot, and after a hard day's
work, they never get out of temper as other missionaries sometimes do when
in hot discussion with a bigoted Moslem. And yet how plainly they tell
the truth--they do not even fear a Turkish Pasha; but that is because they
have very cunningly all obtained a Turkish passport and a permit to preach
anywhere unmolested.
Of course, you have guessed my riddle, or else you will want to know what
these missionaries cost and why we do not employ more of them; and who
sent them out, and to what Board they are responsible; and who buys them
new clothes of leather and cloth; and what happens to them when their
backs are bent with age and their faces furrowed with care, and when only
they themselves can read their title clear?
I think no one will have to help you guess my riddle or tell you that the
four missionaries who go about the most are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
and that the two ladies are Esther and Ruth. Now you have guessed that the
Little Missionaries are the Books of the Bible. Do you know how many there
are? How many in the Old Testament? How many in the New Testament? Perhaps
some of you know the names of _all_ the sixty-six! But it is not enough to
know the names of these Books that we have called Little Missionaries. We
must know what is in them, we must know the message they bear to this
sinful and troubled world. And we must all do our part to send out this
blessed message of peace, comfort, and eternal life. It may not be your
work to go to Arabia, but yet you have a work to do of one kind or another
for Arabia. The Bible must be sent there. And now may I ask all the boys
and girls who read this to pray for the Little Missionaries? Pray that
they may go ahead and prepare the way of the Lord all over this dark
peninsula, from the palm groves of Busrah to the harbour of Aden, and from
the sea of Oman to the unholy cities,--Mecca and Medina.
"Jesus, tender Shepherd
Thou hast other sheep
Far away from shelter
Where dark shadows creep.
Seeking Saviour, bring them home
That they may no longer roam.
"Jesus, tender Shepherd
While Thou leadest me,
As Thy little helper
Faithful may I be.
Seeking others far and wide
Drawing lost ones to Thy side."