SCOTLAND'S FREE-WILL OFFERINGS.
RETURNING to Scotland, I settled down at my headquarters, the house of
my brother James in Glasgow; and thence began to open up the main line
of my operations, as the Lord day by day guided me. Having the aid of no
Committee, I cast myself on Minister after Minister and Church after
Church, calling here, writing there, and arranging for three meetings
every Sabbath, and one, if possible, every week-day, and drawing-room
meetings, wherever practicable, in the afternoons. My correspondence
grew to oppressive proportions, and kept me toiling at it every spare
moment from early morn till bedtime. Indeed, I never could have
overtaken it, had not my brother devoted many days and hours of precious
time, answering letters regarding arrangements issuing the "Share"
receipts for all moneys the moment they arrived, managing all my
transactions through the bank, and generally tackling and reducing the
heap of communications, and preventing me falling into hopeless arrears.
I printed, and circulated by post and otherwise, ten thousand copies of
a booklet, "Statement and Appeal,"--containing, besides my Victorian
Commission and my Glasgow address, a condensed epitome of the results of
the New Hebrides Mission and of the reasons for asking a new Steam
Auxiliary Ship. To this chiefly is due the fact, as well as to my
refusing to call for subscriptions, that the far greater portion of all
the money came to me by letter. On one day, though no doubt a little
exceptional, as many as seventy communications reached me by post; and
every one of these contained something for our fund-ranging from "a few
stamps," and "the widow's mite," through every variety of figure up to
the wealthy man's fifty or hundred pounds. I was particularly struck
with the number of times that I received £1, with such a note as, "From
a servant-girl that loves the Lord Jesus;" or "From a servant-girl that
prays for the conversion of the Heathen." Again and again I received
sums of five and ten shillings, with notes such as--"From a working-man
who loves his Bible;" or "From a working-man who prays for God's
blessing on you and work like yours every day in Family Worship." I
sometimes regret that the graphic, varied, and intensely interesting
notes and letters were not preserved; for by the close of my tour they
would have formed a wonderful volume of leaves from the human heart.
I also addressed every Religious Convention to which I was invited, or
to which I could secure access. The Perth Conference was made memorable
to me by my receiving the first large subscription for our Ship, and by
my making the acquaintance of a beautiful type of Christian merchant. At
the close of the meeting, at which I had the privilege of speaking, an
American gentleman introduced himself to me. We at once entered into
each other's confidence, as brothers in the Lord's service. I afterwards
learned that he had made a competency for himself and his family, though
only in the prime of life; and he still carried on a large and
flourishing business--but why? to devote _the whole profits_, year after
year, to the direct service of God and His cause among men? He gave me a
cheque for the largest single contribution with which the Lord had yet
cheered me. God, who knows me, sees that I have never coveted money for
myself or my family; but I did envy that Christian merchant the joy that
he had in having money, and having the heart to use it as a steward of
the Lord Jesus!
Thereafter I was invited to the annual Christian Conference at Dundee. A
most peculiar experience befell me there. Being asked to close the
forenoon meeting with prayer and the benediction, I offered prayer, and
then began, "May the love of God the Father--" but not another word
would come in English; everything was blank except the words in Aniwan,
for I had long begun to _think_ in the Native tongue, and after a dead
pause, and a painful silence, I had to wind up with a simple "Amen!" I
sat down wet with perspiration. It might have been wiser, as the
Chairman afterwards suggested, to have given them the blessing in
Aniwan, but I feared to set them alaughing by so strange a manifestation
of the "tongues." Worst of all, it had been announced that I was to
address them in the afternoon; but who would come to hear a Missionary
that stuck in the benediction? The event had its semi-comical aspect,
but it sent me to my knees during the interval in a very fever of
prayerful anxiety. A vast audience assembled, and if the Lord ever
manifestly used me in interesting His people in Missions, it was
certainly then and there. As I sat down, a devoted Free Church Elder
from Glasgow handed me his card, with "I. O. U. £100." This was my first
donation of a hundred pounds, and my heart was greatly cheered. I
praised the Lord, and warmly thanked His servant. A Something kept
sounding these words in my ears, "My thoughts are not as your thoughts;"
and also, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee."
During my address at that meeting three colored girls, not unlike our
Island girls, sat near the platform, and eagerly listened to me. At the
close, the youngest, apparently about twelve years of age, rose,
salaamed to me in Indian fashion, took four silver bangles from her arm,
and presented them to me, saying, "Padre, I want to take shares in your
Mission Ship by these bangles, for I have no money, and may the Lord
ever bless you!"
I replied, "Thank you, my dear child; I will not take your bangles, but
Jesus will accept your offering, and bless and reward you all the same."
As she still held them up to me, saying, "Padre, do receive them from
me, and may God ever bless you!" a lady, who had been seated beside her,
came up to me, and said, "Please, do take them, or the dear girl will
break her heart. She has offered them up to Jesus for your Mission
Ship."
I afterwards learned that the girls were orphans, whose parents died in
the famine; that the lady and her sister, daughters of a Missionary, had
adopted them to be trained as Zenana Missionaries, and that they
intended to return with them, and live and die to aid them in that
blessed work amongst the daughters of India. Oh, what a reward and joy
might many a lady who reads this page easily reap for herself in Time
and Eternity by a similar simple yet far-reaching service! Take action
when and where God points the way; wait for no one's guidance.
The most amazing variety characterize the gifts and the givers. One
donor sent me an anonymous note to this effect, "I have been curtailing
my expenses. The first £5 saved I enclose that you may invest it for me
in the Bank of Jesus. I am sure He gives the best interest, and the most
certain returns."
In Glasgow a lady called at my brother's house, saying, "Is the
Missionary at home? Can I see him alone? If not, I will call again."
Being asked into my room, she declined to be seated, but said, "I heard
you tell the story of your Mission in the City Hall, and I have been
praying for you ever since. I have called to give you my mite, but not
my name. God bless you. We shall meet in Heaven!" She handed me an
envelope, and was off almost before I could thank her. It was £49 in
bank-notes.
Another dear Christian friend carne to see me, and at the close of a
delightful conversation, said: "I have been thinking much about you
since I heard you in the Clark Hall, Paisley. I have come to give a
little bit of dirty paper for your Ship. God sent it to me, and I return
it to God through you with great pleasure." I thanked her warmly,
thinking it a pound, or five at the most; on opening it, after she was
gone, it turned out to be £100. I felt bowed down in humble
thankfulness, and pressed forward in the service of the Lord.