BALTIMORE MISSIONARY MEETING

Every alternating month the brethren in Baltimore have a Missionary meeting, devoted to a discussion of the various kinds of gospel labor occupying our brethren there. A good portion of the meeting is given to prayer.

The first gathering of this kind for 1928 was on Friday, Jan. 20th. Brethren J. Willies, H. W. Simmons, and the writer (all from the vicinity of New York), were invited to attend, and they made the most of a mid-winter visit to this beautiful city. It was a source of regret to our brother Captain Barlow of Newark, N. J., that he could not be present, but pressure of business kept him in New York. We give herein a brief account of what took place at this meeting:

HEBREW WORK

Brother Simmons of Brooklyn, N. Y., taking for his text, "To the Jew first," impressed upon all his hearers' a more definite and earnest work among the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." "A special blessing," said he, "is going to be theirs who have the Jew upon their hearts." The early preachers were commissioned of our Lord Himself to begin "at Jerusalem." They were to go to "all nations" too, but the Jew claimed their first service. Preaching to the Jews first always primes one up for work among Gentiles. He learned this by experience. Jewish work means trial, and in some cases persecution. He was once attacked by a young Jew during a street meeting. The lad destroyed his hat. The next day, meeting the preacher, he apologized, saying he "did not know just why he had done this." Then he took Brother S. to his father's store and presented him with a new hat. So with the persecution comes compensation. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee."

HOSPITAL WORK

From Brethren McIntyre and Croswell of Baltimore we learned of the wide-open door for the gospel in Bay-view Hospital. This is a city institution which houses 1638 patients, 600 of whom are bedridden. This building has a number of large open rooms where the patients spend the afternoon and receive visitors. Our brethren hold regular gospel services in these rooms every Lord's Day afternoon. Some times there are as many as 300 to whom ' the Word is given. During the summer months the patients are to be found in the open, upon benches, where opportunity is given for preaching. In addition to the large number of patients, there are at least 1000 visitors every Sunday. This presents a fine field for the young sisters with tracts in all languages. We were much impressed with the earnest and loving spirit these two brethren and their fellow-workers manifested in dealing with souls, for we went with them to this hospital on Lord's Day, the 22nd. "Lord, bless Thou the work of their hands!"

HARBOR WORK

Under the able leadership of our brother, Charles H. Anderson, the young brethren of Baltimore have launched forth into a very commendable effort among the seamen who come to that port. Since Sept. 21,1927, they have visited about 160 vessels, and the Lord has given them much blessing. Every Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine, they go down to the ships with tracts, Scripture portions and other good literature. They have had many fine openings with men and we were happy to listen to a report of this work.

Brother James Willies, of Staten Island, N. Y., who has been in the Harbor Work in New York since January, 1927, gave a very interesting talk on his work, which is principally among seamen who work on transatlantic liners running between New York and Europe. He told us of an engineer who said he was not quite sure of heaven, but believed if he could get baptized he would feel "pretty certain." Brother Willies faithfully asked this dear man, "Are you saved?" Then he went on to show how salvation came first, and baptism second, and the latter was not at all essential to our gaining heaven. Another instance was a young English apprentice who was being led away into Christian Science. Brother Willies dealt so effectively with him that the lad surrendered both the "Science" book and the doctrine. We were glad to meet this boy later in Brooklyn on the same steamer, and give him the right Book-a New Testament. One of the features of this meeting was the special season of prayer which intervened between the different speakers. The number who thus took part showed by their prayers the deep interest they had in the work of the Lord. The writer also mentioned incidents of his work among the seamen, and brother Anderson finished with a stirring closing word. May the Lord give us many more such meetings with His people!

R. A. West.

THE EVANGELIZATION OF MID-AFRICA

The middle belt of Africa has presented a difficult problem to evangelization.

Of the 1256 languages and dialects reported to be in the world, 843 are in Africa-523 distinct languages and 320 dialects.

Mr. W. J. Roome of the British and Foreign Bible Society showed the writer a map, which he had compiled after years of travel, of this middle belt extending from ten degrees north of the equator to ten degrees south. In this area was indicated 2500 separate tribes, and as this belt also represents the most densely populated section of Africa, it undoubtedly contains a majority of the 843 varieties of speech.

Of the 2500 tribes located, 500 represent fanatical Moslems living in the northern edge of this belt and just south of the great Sahara Desert. It is estimated that now only about 500 pagan tribes have been evangelized. This leaves about 1500 tribes to-day pagan in which very little, if any, work of evangelization has been done.

The work of Christian missions was begun there, some fifty years ago, in the individual tribal languages, which at that time was the only possible method. For uniformity the different organizations agreed arbitrarily to use the Italian alphabet, with its invariable vowel sounds, in reducing to writing the tribal tongues. .

This required enormous effort and great expenditure of time and money to give each tribe portions of the Word of God. But with the assumption of control of this great area by different European nations, principally Belgian, English, French, and German, they recruited their soldiers from the most virile tribe of good physique in the several provinces. These were almost invariably also the principal and most promising large tribe of the region. As these soldiers were distributed for police duty over a comparatively large area of each colony their language became generally known by all the other tribes and thus a common or so-called "trade" language developed, fostered and encouraged by the government.

This was a most desirable step from the evangelizing standpoint also. To-day with the systems of automobile roads covering the provinces, the consequent abolishing of the slavish porterage requirements and instead the encouragement of the natives to raise cotton and other exportable products, the problem of evangelization has thus changed to that of an unique opportunity. And an opportunity to be quickly grasped!

Also the governments are assuming complete control of the school systems and instruction must be only in the French language in French colonies, or in the French or trade language of the district in the Belgian Congo. The obvious solution then for rapid evangelization is by use of the trade language and preferably by the reduction of the trade languages to the French pronunciation for the Congo basin, as French is the official language of both Belgian Congo and French Equatorial Africa.

The trade languages of Bangala and Kingwana cover most of the unevangelized area of the Belgian Congo. The Kingwana is a dialect of Kiswahili, the trade language of British East Africa, and was brought to the Congo by the slave raiders. At the mouth of the Congo river is the Kikongo, and in the French Congo is the Sango or Yakoma, and in the west the Hausa language. With these few languages practically all of this belt of Mid-Africa can comparatively soon be evangelized. The whole Bible is available in Kikongo and Kiswahili. A good beginning has just been made of the New Testament in the Kingwana. Portions of the Bible are available in Bangala, Hausa and Sango.

From the writer's personal experience in using three of these trade languages it has been both amazing and precious to see how excellently the Word of Life can be expressed in these tongues. Not with the same brevity perhaps, but with the same thought and significance and are not the great lessons taught in God's Word by the simple things as wind, water, bread, birth, shepherding, servant, friend, light, etc., which every language contains! From the marvelous testimony of changed lives, earnest zeal for God and faithfulness to Him under severe persecution which I have observed among those who received God's message in the trade languages, I know that God has signally blessed this means.

With the realization of the startling fact that now ninety per cent of Africa has been reached by commercial efforts and only ten per cent has been touched by the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, will you not, dear reader, join in definite and earnest prayer that in this unparalled opportunity for evangelization God will lead you and others to have a definite part in the service of now making Christ known in this great pagan area of Mid-Africa? Guy M. Laird.

The above will serve to give some idea of the difficulties under which our dear brethren and sisters who have gone into this field are laboring.
Irumu, where Dr. Woodhams and those with him are located, is about two degrees north of the Equator, so right in the heart of the district described. The trade language there is Kingwana and Dr. Woodhams writes under date of Oct. 12th last:

"I appreciate your letter of July 25th and take pleasure in informing you that the fifty-seven packages of John's Gospel in Kingwana have been received and that this has been in the Lord's hand a great encouragement to us here in the testimony we seek by grace to carry on among these people. I can fully assure you of the welcome that this work done by brother Lowder received among us here. It has also been at a very opportune time. We would take it as an earnest from the Lord that this very generous number of copies which you have sent might be but an indication of what the Lord proposes to do among these people. In this faithfulness of brother Lowder to undertake this work, and in the cooperation and help which he received from yourself and others, we see the goodness of God toward these people who have so long been in darkness and without hope. Mercy is abounding toward them in these closing days of the day of grace and mercy. May the Lord's blessing be upon all who have thus in their devotion to our blessed Lord helped in this matter. And may you also join in prayer that we may be found faithful as His servants here and be given wisdom in the distribution and use of these copies.

I would say briefly that this is an excellent translation. I was myself working on the translation of John, but the work I had done does not compare with this work of brother Lowder. I shall gladly spend my time in what I am better able to do, and leave this to him.

I must also speak of the delight of the boys who have learned to read. This was their first book, for heretofore they had learned to read from the blackboard and charts, and you could not have found happier boys anywhere than these when they got their eyes on to a real book which they could call their own. And they were the envy of their whole village. The report that they could read, of course interested the older ones of their village, and so these gathered around to see if it was really true. And when reading is the fruit of such an enthusiasm it does not confine itself to "school hours" and "assignments," but instead they read at all hours.

But I must not mis-color the picture, for there is plenty of stolid indifference both to the gospel and to the opportunity for learning to read among these people. In fact, indifference and lack of response is the great characteristic of these natives. Yet we sow on, knowing that "our labor is not in vain in the Lord" because the "long-suffering of the Lord is salvation." Because the Lord has not yet cut this dispensation short with judgment we know that salvation is still offered to whosoever will, and we may preach the Lord Jesus Christ with corresponding confidence.

Irumu, Congo Beige. Dec. 1927.

We are all busy. The medical work is growing and is bringing in natives from all distances. We are operating regularly twice a week now, and yet cannot keep up with the cases. At present there are seven ahead awaiting their turn.

There has been real encouragement in the work here the last few months for which we thank God. Several have confessed the Lord's Name and we believe there has been reality. We have another young man now who wishes to undertake out-schools-Tambaki by name, and so he is starting in another direction from that of Mikairi. Mr. Searle has seen the headman and made arrangements for a school. We hope later he will have several in one district, as Mikairi now has. The night is close upon us, and now only is the day of opportunity in the Gospel.

We are now teaching some of the more earnest ones among those who have confessed the Lord's name the truth concerning the Lord's table. We had not felt they were ready for it before.

With much love in our Lord's Name,

R. C. Woodhams, M. D.

[Copies of Mr. Lowder's translation of the epistles to Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, in one book, have also been received by Dr. Wood-hams. The epistles to Thessalonians and Timothy, also of 1, 2, 3 John, have been translated, and will (D.V.) be published by Loizeaux Bros., as soon as possible. Mr. and Mrs. Lowder, who have spent many years in the African field, are at present detained in New York, chiefly because of Mrs. Lowder's poor health, but it is their joy to be still engaged in missionary work by doing this most valuable and necessary translation.]

Verdun, Que., Canada. Dear brother in Christ:- Feb. 25th,1928.

I am very grateful to the Lord and to His people for their practical fellowship in His work amongst the French Canadians.

As I wish to devote most of my time in reaching these people with the Gospel, I am taking a trip in order to start and establish work in different centers from where should it please our God, the Gospel may go out to the French.

Already, by the grace of God, systematical work has been started in Lachute, Verdun, and Ottawa, and now I am in Cumberland where there is a good prospect to work the villages around in the summer.

Should the Lord tarry, I hope to leave here for North Bay next Monday night to start work amongst the French and Italians, as well as the English. In North Bay of over 11,000 people 50% are Protestants and 50% Catholics. The Catholics are divided into 50% English, 35% French, and 15% Italians.

The villages near by are French, and consequently there is a large field for work for the Lord.

Though the work is at its beginning, there are many encouragements, and doors are being opened of the Lord.

I am aff'tly yours in Him,

Louis J. Germain.

Winslow, Ariz. Dear brother:- Feb. 25,1928.

The attitude of the Indians shows how the enemy will use every means to keep precious souls from turning to the Lord.

The Hopis seem to understand perfectly that to accept Christ involves a complete change in their lives, and most of them are not ready for it. "They love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil."

The Lagunas have a general idea that because they know the story of the cross and have accepted it as a matter of history, they are Christians. They say, "We all believe that," or, "All our Indians believe that." But there is no apparent change in their hearts. Can there be real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ when they go on regularly with their old heathen ceremonies, and regard them as so sacred that they are highly offended if a word is spoken against them? and when there is no desire whatever for communion with God, or fellowship with His people, or for the study of His Word? The Catholics are more bitterly opposed to the Word than any of the others. This, of course is not peculiar to these Indians, as all Roman Catholic peoples have the same prejudice against the open Book, but with the Indians still pagan at heart, it makes it all the more sad to have them fight against the gospel of God's grace.

But the Lord has given me much encouragement. There is really much more interest now, and it may be that the Lord is speaking to them, and that He will open their blind eyes and unstop their deaf ears. Surely we can count upon Him to bless His own precious holy Word. With affectionate greetings, I am,

Your sister in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Minnie Armerding.

Antwerp, Belgium. Dear brother:- Jan. 23rd, 1928.

During the past year the Gospel has been given out in more than thirty different languages here in Antwerp on the ships. There were a few that I could not reach because of not having anything in their own tongue, but most could read some other language, so that there were very few who could not be reached with the Gospel. It has always been a great joy to meet with Christians on the ships and to have fellowship with them over the things of the Lord. May the Lord bless the word spoken to individuals here and there, and also the gospel literature to the salvation of many precious souls. Close to nine hundred visits have been made in Antwerp during the past year, and over eight hundred ships visited. The number could easily have been doubled by another worker as many ships have escaped me because I could not go to the portion of the harbor where they were on time to reach them. With much love In Christ,

Jonas Eck.

Our sister Miss Annie E. Woof is sailing, D.V., from New York, on March 10. Her address will be as before, Pereira, Caldas, Colombia, S. A.