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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)
By J Du Plessis


PREFACE

SOME years before his death Dr. Andrew Murray is understood to have indicated the Rev. Professor Marais, of the Stellenbosch Theological Seminary, and the present writer, as persons to whom the preparation of his biography might be entrusted. After his decease, early in 1917, his executors definitely requested these gentlemen to undertake the duty. Professor Marais, however, while continuing to display the greatest interest in the progress of the biography, found his physical strength unequal to the task of collaboration; and it was left to the undersigned to carry through the work. That he has been able to complete it, in both the English and Dutch languages, is a matter for which he desires to give abundant thanks to God.

At the same time he is gravely conscious of many shortcomings. To portray the life and character of such an one as Andrew Murray, who lived uninterruptedly in a region so remote from our common unspiritual life, is a task which might well appal. And yet the trust could not well be declined ; and the writer has therefore endeavoured, though with many qualms and misgivings, to fulfil it to the best of his small ability. It has seemed to him that he could do no better than let Andrew Murray speak himself ; and a large portion of this volume will be found to consist of unpublished letters, or of articles that have been retrieved from the pages of religious journals and fugitive tracts.

Sincere acknowledgments for invaluable assistance are due to the Misses Murray, daughters of the subject of this Life, and especially to Miss Annie Murray, for placing at the author's disposal a mass of correspondence and other material, without which this Biography must have been very much more imperfect than it is. Similar acknowledgments must be made to Miss Charlotte Murray and Miss Ella Neethling, nieces of Dr. Murray, for the loan of letters and photographs in the possession of the families of the late Professor John Murray and the late Rev. J. H. Neethling respectively. And finally, heartfelt thanks are tendered to Mr. Charles Murray, M.A., late acting Superintendent-General of Education, Cape Province, for kindly reading through the bulk of the manuscript, and serving the author with most valuable criticisms and suggestions ; and to the Rev. D. S. B. Joubert, B.D., Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Cape Town, for the very elaborate Bibliography which enriches this work.

May the blessing of God Almighty attend the perusal of this Life, and may it send thousands to a fresh study of Andrew Murray’s writings, where they may learn the open secret of that faith-life in which God is all in all.

J. DU PLESSIS.
Stellenbosch,
25th July, 1919.














CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Physical configuration of South Africa—First colonization by the Dutch—Gradual increase of population and extension eastwards— Surrender of the Colony to the English—Substitution of English for Dutch as official language—Position of the Dutch Reformed Church—The three factors in the situation—The two white races of South Africa—Andrew Murray’s relation to both—Historical events during Andrew Murray’s lifetime—His sympathy with his people—General condition of South Africa in the middle of the nineteenth century.

CHAPTER 1 - Ancestry, Parentage and Birth

Paternal ancestry—Andrew Murray of Clatt—John Murray of Aberdeen—Family connexions in Scotland and Canada—Andrew Murray, the father—Letter of Dr. George Thom on ministers for South Africa—Appointment of Andrew Murray Sr.—His diary of the voyage to South Africa—Departure—Fellow-travellers—On the rocks at the Cape Verde Islands—Prolonged voyage—Arrival in Table Bay—Andrew Murray Sr. appointed minister of Graafi-Reinet—Description of the place—The parsonage—Andrew Murray’s marriage to Maria Susanna Stegmann—His attachment to the land and people of his adoption—His pastoral activity—Vis its of missionaries—Home life—The father's deep spirituality—The founding of new congregations—Reminiscences of the mother— Journeys to Cape Town—Birth of Andrew—His character as a child.

CHAPTER 2 - Seven Years in Scotland

Backward state of education at the Cape in the thirties—The Bible and School Commission—Departure of John and Andrew Murray for Scotland—The old Grammar School of Aberdeen—Letters of Andrew Murray Sr. to his sons—William C. Bums and the Scottish revivals—Bums’ preaching and its results—His labours at Aberdeen—Impression made upon Andrew Murray—Letter of Bums to John Murray—Events leading up to the Disruption of the Church of Scotland—Andrew Murray Sr. to his sons—Andrew Murray to his parents and sister—His decision to become a minister—His graduation at Marischal College—Andrew Murray Sr. to his sous on life in Holland.

CHAPTER 3 - Three Years of Preparation in Holland

Departure of John and Andrew Murray for Holland—Description of first meeting between them and N. H. de Graaf—Religious condition of Holland—The RSveil—Sechor Dabar—Eltheto—Comparison with the Methodists—The theological professors—Influence of C. W. Opzoomer—Andrew Murray’s conversion—Letter to his parents—Friends in Holland—Letter suggesting further study in Germany—John Murray on conditions in Holland—Arrival of Neethling, Hofmeyr and Faure from South Africa—Ordination of John and Andrew Murray at The Hague—Farewell meeting with the members of Seckor Dabar—Benefits of the sojourn in Holland —Arrival in Cape Town—Letter to his parents—Reunion with the family circle—Appointment to Bloemfontein.

CHAPTER 4 - Early Days at Bloemfontein

The Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa—Its dependence upon Holland—The Church Order of 1803—The Church’s Magna Charta—Dearth of ministers—The Great Trek—Fortunes of the emigrants—Proclamation of the Orange River Sovereignty—Battle of Boomplaats—Andrew Murray’s settlement in the charge of Bloemfontein—Visit to Mekuatling mission station—Induction of John Murray at Burgersdorp—Circumstances and nature of the work at Bloemfontein—Description of Bloemfontein in 1849— Unsatisfactory relations of farmers and natives—Andrew Murray’s labours and travels—First meeting of Legislative Council— Unrest on the frontier—Communion services—Foundation-stone of Riet River church laid—Murray’s extensive parish.

CHAPTER 5 - Across the Vaal

Importance of Murray’s first pastoral tour among the Transvaal emigrants—Visit to Mooi River—The “ Jerusalem Pilgrims ”— The Magaliesberg—A letter of invitation from Commandant Potgieter—Meeting with Andries Pretorius—Serious indisposition —Journey to Ohrigstad—Return to the Magaliesberg—Sitting of the Volksraad—Large attendances at services—Praying for the authorities—Return journey to Bloemfontein—Death of Deacon Coetzer—Continued unrest on the Basuto border—Arrival of teachers from Holland—Correspondence—Visitors—Narrow escape at Kaffir River—Visit to Graafl-Reinet and return—Preparations for a second journey to the Transvaal—Departure— Arrival at Mooi River—Visit to Suikerbosch Rand and Lydenburg —Great fatigue—Visit to the Warm Bath—Reach the Magaliesberg —Continued fatigue—Zwarte Ruggens—Morikwa—Andrew Murray put on trial—Schoonspruit—Arrival of Rev. D. van Velden, and induction at Winburg—Andrew Murray called to the Transvaal— The call declined.

CHAPTER 6 - Further Visits to the Emigrants

Third visit to the Transvaal—Native unrest—Disastrous battle at Viervoet—Andries Pretorius invited to restore order—Andrew Murray on the situation—His visit to Pretorius—Commissioners Hogge and Owen—The Sand River Convention—Fourth Transvaal visit—Neethling’s description of a service—Method of travel —Respect paid to the ministers—The Zoutpansberg emigrants—Services there—Commandant Hendrik Potgieter—Manifold labours—Visit to a farmer under sentence of death—Arrival in the Transvaal of Rev. D. van der HofE—His doings—His letter to Andrew Murray —Secession of Transvaal congregations from the Cape Church— Missive addressed to Rev. van Velden—His letter of rebuke and warning—Reasons for the Secession—Later history of the Transvaal congregations.

CHAPTER 7 - The Abandonment of the Sovereignty and the first European Visit

The Synod of 1852—Events in the Sovereignty—Battle of Berea— Decision of the British Government to abandon the Sovereignty— Meeting of people’s delegates at Bloemfontein—Account of J. M. Orpen—Resolutions passed—Dr. Frazer and Andrew Murray delegated to England—Further events in the Sovereignty—Convention of Bloemfontein signed and Orange Free State established— Proceedings of Messrs. Frazer and Murray in England—Preaching engagements of Andrew Murray—His visit to Holland—Meeting of the Ernst-en- Vrede party at Amsterdam—Visit to Scotland—Feeble health—Visits to water-cure establishments—Second visit to Holland. and visit to the Rhineland—Return to South Africa.

CHAPTER 8 - Last Years at Bloemfontein

Calls to Colesberg and Ladysmith—Regarding books and congregational questions—Founding of the Grey College—Marriage The Rutherfoord family—Quiet work at Bloemfontein—War between the Free State and the Basutos—Letter to H. E. Rutherfoord— Birth of a daughter—The Synod of 1857—The question of a theological seminary—Missionary expansion—Arrival in South Africa and doings of Rev. D. Postma—Murray’s first published book— Grey College questions—The Separatist movement in the Transvaal and at Bloemfontein—Murray’s attitude—Disapproval of the Presbytery—Calls to various congregations declined—Call from the congregation of Worcester accepted—Preparations for departure—Farewell to Bloemfontein.

CHAPTER 9 - The Worcester Pastorate and the Great Revival

Situation of Worcester—Its spiritual condition—The Worcester Conference—Andrew Murray on the proposed Conference—Dangers of the Church—Proceedings of the Conference—Resolutions passed —Murray’s speech in moving resolutions—The need of ministers and teachers—Dr. Robertson deputed to Europe—His letter from Holland—Success of his mission—Induction of Murray at Worcester—Commencement of a revival—Character of the movement— Description by Rev. J. C. de Vries—Extraordinary scenes—Professor Hofmeyr on the results of the revival—Emotional element— Moral changes effected—Extent of the movement—New zeal engendered—Testimony of Rev. C. Rabie—Spread of the revival— Home life at Worcester—Missionary journey to the Transvaal— Letters to wife and children—Stay at Paul Kruger’s—Spiritual experiences there—Commencement of Zoutpansberg and Rusten-burg missions—Literary labours.

CHAPTER 10 - The Struggle with the Civil Courts and the Extrusion of Liberalism

The "Liberal” movement in Holland and at the Cape The “Church Order” and the “Ordinance”—Synod of 1862 Wreck of the Waldensian—Description of the Synod by Rev. F. L. Cachet —Andrew Murray, moderator—Other leading members Elder Loedolff's objection—Orthodox and Liberal parties—Supreme Court judgment—Disruption of D. R. Church—Withdrawal of members affected by judgment—Rev. J. J. Kotz6 of Darling on the Catechism—A second Supreme Court case—Favourable judgment—Resolution to suspend Kotz6—Events in the Darling congregation—Meeting of Synodical Committee—Kotzb versus Murray_ Speech of the defendant—Murray complimented by Justice Bell— Adverse judgment—Principles on which it was based—Apparent victory of Liberalism—Case of Rev. T. F. Burgers—Burgers suspended—Burgers versus Murray—Judgment—Proceedings in the presbyteries—Continued litigation—Appeal to Privy Council— Murray deputed to England—Appeal fails—The Synod of 1867 and its immediate adjournment—Reasons for decline of Liberalism— Establishment by Rev. D. P. Faure of the " Free Protestant Church ”—His sermon in the Cape Town church—Gatherings in the Mutual Hall—Synod of 1870—Resolution adopted by the moderate party—Protest of the minority—Suppression of Liberalism in the D. R. Church.

CHAPTER 11 - The Cape Town Pastorate

Visit of Dr. Duff to South Africa—Andrew Murray to his father —Call and removal to Cape Town—Andrew Murray Sr. refused leave to preach by the consistory of Hanover—Murray's colleagues at Cape Town—Death of Andrew Murray, the father—Letter of Andrew Murray to his mother—Stay in Europe—Birth of a son—
Call to Marylebone Presbyterian Church—British sympathizers with the Liberal movement—D. P. Faure’s lectures—Murray’s discourses on “ Modern Unbelief ”—His lecture in the Commercial Exchange—Rev. G. W. Stegmann Jr. elected as Murray’s colleague —Secessions from the D. R. Church—Murray’s sermon—Strictures by D. P. Faure—Murray’s controversy with Kotz6 on the Canons of Dort—Home life in Cape Town—Children of the family—Sojourners under the Murrays' roof—Extent and need of the Cape Town congregation—Murray’s interest in young men—Y.M.C.A. founded—Proposals for union between the Anglican and D. R. Churches—-Bishop Gray’s views—Remarks thereon by Messrs. Murray, Faure and Robertson—Gray’s reply in Union of Churches —Failure of negotiations—Zahspiegeltjes—Literary work—The call to the pastorate of Wellington.

CHAPTER 12 - The Wellington Pastorate and the Huguenot Seminary

The Wagonmaker’s Valley—-Situation of Wellington—Problems of the new sphere of work—The Voluntary Question—Mission work— Departure of the two eldest daughters for Holland—Letters to the daughters at Zeist—Journey to Swellendam—On the study of Dutch—On Home Mission work—Death of two younger children—Birth of a son—Arrival of lady teachers from America—-Articles on Our Children—Appeal for girls to be trained as teachers—Study of Mary Lyon’s life—Papers on the subject—Huguenot Seminary founded—Circular on the school—Generosity of the Wellington congregation—Purchase of a site—Opening ceremony, 25 October, 1873—Formal commencement of classes, January, 1874—Mr. Murray’s tour of collection—His welcome home—Building extensions—Report on progress made—R. M. Ballantyne on the Huguenot Seminary.

CHAPTER 13 - Educational Undertakings and Visit to Europe and America

Popular education at the Cape—The task of the Dutch Reformed Church—Mr. Murray’s influence—A second collecting tour—Urgent letter on the need of more workers, as ministers, catechists and teachers—Moderator for the second time—Opening of the Mission Training Institute, October, 1877—Its objects described—Delegate to the first Pan-Presbyterian Council in Edinburgh—Aims of journey outlined—Visit to America—Lady teachers secured—Rev. George Ferguson and Mr. J. R. Whitton—Impressions of the Pan-Presbyterian Council—Professor Flint’s sermon—Public reception —Dr. Schafi on the Confessions—Professors Godet and Krafit—Drs. Cairns and Hodge—Paper by Dr. Duff on Missions—Conference on life and work—Sunday services—Drs. Patton and McCosh on Unbelief—The Spiritual Life—Closing meetings—Value of the Council—Conference at Inverness—Letter to his wife—Brief trip to Holland and Germany—Return to South Africa—Letter of a lady teacher on Mr. Murray’s tour—His welcome back to Wellington —Commencement of classes at the Training Institute—Paper on aims and needs of the institution—Training Institute versus Normal College—Growth of the Institute.

CHAPTER 14 - Conferences and Revivals

Intellectual dependence of South Africa upon Europe—Its religious dependence—Andrew Murray’s position and influence—Influence of the Holiness Movement—Mr. Murray on spiritual intercourse —The Colesberg Conference of 1879—-Criticism evoked—Reply of Mr. Murray—Strictures on his teaching in letter by “V.D.M.”—Mr. Murray’s defence—Influence on South Africa of the work of Moody and Sankey—Committee for special Gospel-preaching—Mr. Murray’s observations on the religious needs of the rural population —His paper on Special Services—Two months’ tour through the Midland districts—Glen Lynden and Adelaide—Spiritual results.

CHAPTER 15 - Two Years of Silence and the Question of Faith Healing

Mr. Murray suffers from a relaxed throat—Rest in the Karroo— Sojourn at Murraysburg—The Transvaal War of Independence—The feeling of nationality—Movements of his daughter Emmie Return to Wellington—Literary projects—Abide in Christ—Prof. John Murray in Europe, and his return to South Africa—Set-back in the condition of Mr. Murray's throat—Departure for England— Wm. Hazenberg on Faith Healing—Pastor Stockmaier on the same subject—At Bethshan Institute of Healing—Instruction by Stockmaier—Discussion with Boardman—And with Stockmaier— Cures effected by faith—Jezus de Geneesheer der Kranken— The principles of Faith Healing expounded—Later attitude of Mr. Murray—The case of Rev. P. F. Hugo—And of Rev. P. Stofberg— Cure of Miss McGill—Final remarks.

CHAPTER 16 - Andrew Murray as a Church Leader

Mr. Murray six times Moderator of Synod—His view of his task— His special qualifications—Powers of work—Ability and tact as chairman—Gifts of leadership—Interest in Sunday-school work— The aims of the Sunday-school defined—Establishment of the Bible and Prayer Union—The subject of prayer—The Andrew Murray Prayer Union—Controversy on the total abstinence question— Professor Hofmeyr’s attitude—Antagonism of the wine-farmers— The question in the Synod—Review of Rev. S. J. du Toit’s book, De Vrucht des Wijnstoks—End of the controversy—The union of the Dutch Reformed Churches—Mr. Murray’s share in the movement towards union—The Council of the Churches—Proposals for union—Parliamentary legislation—Rejection of the union proposals—Ministerial jubilee, 1898—Address presented—Mr. Murray’s reply.

CHAPTER 17 - Andrew Murray as a Missionary Statesman

Mr. Murray’s early interest in missions—His influence as missionary leader—Establishment of the Ministers’ Mission Union—Question of a new field of work—Letter of the executive—Commencement of work in Nyasaland by A. C. Murray and T. C. B. Vlok—The crisis of 1899 and call to prayer—The Anglo-Boer war and its influence —Transference of the Nyasa field to the Synod—The deficit of 1908, and the mission congresses—Mr. Murray on deputation work—Mr. Murray’s connexion with the Cape General Mission—Spencer Walton’s first visit to South Africa—Services in the Exhibition Building —Appreciation of Walton's work—Cape General Mission founded— Its objects—Holiness conventions—Inauguration of the South African Keswick—The new departure in Swaziland—Enlargement of the C.G.M. to the South Africa General Mission—New fields— Estimate of Mr. Murray’s influence hy A. A. Head—Mr. Murray’s writings on missionary subjects—The Key to the Missionary Problem —The four principles enunciated—Impression produced by the book—Results of the week of prayer for missions in South Africa— The Kingdom of God in South Africa—Prayer in missions.

CHAPTER 18 - Andrew Murray as an Educationalist

Early Interest in education—Baptismal Sunday—Founding of Grey College—Dr. Brill’s appreciation—Educational undertakings in the Western Province—Mary Lyon’s influence—The Huguenot Seminary and other girls’ schools—Teachers’ conference at Worcester—Institutions affiliated to the Huguenot Seminary—Good-now Hall—Address of Mr. Murray on education—Training Institute —Popular education for the rural districts—Circuit schools—Poor whites—Address at Fraternal Conference—Present position of "poor whites” question—The teaching of Dutch—Report of Committee on the question—The “ Taal Bond ”—Influence on Mr. Murray’s educational views of Thring’s Life—And of Spencer’s Sociology—Letter to his daughter—Degree of D.D. from Aberdeen University—And of Litt.D. from the University of the Cape of Good Hope—Dr. Walker on the graduation ceremony.

CHAPTER 19 - Andrew Murray as a South African Patriot

Andrew Murray’s love for his native land—His devotion to his'flock in the Free State and the Transvaal—Paper in the Catholic Presbyterian on The Church of the Transvaal—Chari Cilliers—Religious attitude of the Transvaal Boers—Their attitude towards the natives—Their spiritual life—History of the Transvaal—The Annexation of 1877—The Boers appeal to arms—Independence secured—Growth of the feeling of nationality in South Africa— Dangers of the situation—Kruger and Rhodes—The Jameson Raid —Embittered feelings—Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr—Commencement of hostilities—Mr. Murray’s papers in the South African News— His Appeal to the British People—His support of the Boer cause— Intercourse with Christian brethren uninterrupted—Views on the feeling of nationality—The Women’s Monument at Bloemfontein —Description of the ceremony of unveiling—Mr. Murray’s address on the occasion—Letter to Dr. D. F. Malan—Mr. Murray’s endeavours to heal ecclesiastical dissensions—Letter on the "national sentiment.”

CHAPTER 20 - Andrew Murray as a Spiritual Force

Impossibility of measuring Mr. Murray’s influence—His evangelistic labours—Preparation for meetings—Letters written on his tours —Conference at Somerset East—Visits to Dordrecht, Barkly East Lady Grey and Maraisburg—Overseas evangelists in South Africa' —Dr F. B Meyer’s appreciation—The Ten Days of Prayer observed by the D.R. Church—Andrew Murray’s influence as a writer —Visit to Europe and America in 1895—Appreciation by Rev. H. V. Taylor—Welcome at Exeter Hall—Addresses at Keswick—Rev. Evan H. Hopkins on bis message—[Visit to America—North- -field—Chicago—^Evangelistic services in Holland—Closing meetings in London—Description in The British Weekly—Mr. Murray’s account of bis spiritual growth—The influence of William Law—Law’s career and published works—Mysticism—Bernard of Clair-vaux—Meister Eckhart—The " Friends of God ”—Jacob Bohme— fObj ections to mysticism—Andrew Murray’s avoidance of the errors of mysticism—His estimate of Law’s weakness and strength— Wesley’s dispute with Law—Andrew Murray the reconciler of the views of both—Dr. Whyte on Andrew Murray's spiritual autobiography.

CHAPTER 21 - Andrew Murray as an Author

Early literary efforts, how occasioned—Books written at Worcester —Blijf in Jezus—Abide in Christ—The School of Prayer—Professor James Denney on The Holiest of All—How the books were written—The books of later years dictated—How the “ Pocket Companion ” series originated—Andrew Murray’s style—The eloquence of intense earnestness—Illustration from The Holiest of All— Methods of work—Periods of literary production—Messages delivered at critical junctures—The State of the Church and its influence—Translations into other tongues—Influence of bis books in China—The publisher of the German editions—Letters of correspondents on blessing received—Extracts from the letters—In Time of Trouble, say—Letter from Dr. Alexander Whyte—Mr. Murray’s reading—Influence of William Law—Mr. Murray’s interest in mysticism—Books on prayer—Projected writings—Quotations from books—Remarks on books read.

CHAPTER 22 - Andrew Murray’s Home Life

Life at Wellington—The Parsonage—Clairvaux—Mrs. Murray—Her activities and influence—The children—Death of Haldane Murray—The family hymn—Circular letter—A family re-union at Kalk Bay—Addresses on the beach and in the church—One-day conferences—Mr. Murray in the pulpit—A typical day described—A journey in his old age—Reminiscences at Graaff-Reinet, Bur-gersdorp and Bloemfontein—Cart journey to Rhodes—Goings and doings a year before the end—Details of Mr. Murray’s personal life —His sense of smell and colour—His love for children—Praying in his sleep—Outlined reply to Berlin professors—Sense of humour —Gift of illustration—"Sweet reasonableness”—Advice in difliculties—Pertinent sayings—Ability to speak the fitting word— Services in connexion with the death of Rev. William Murray.

CHAPTER 23 - Death, Funeral and Tributes


Last months—Last sick-bed—The end—Funeral ceremony—Tributes to the deceased—From Hon. J. X. Merriman—From the Cape Times—From Dr. F. C. Kolbe—From De Kerkbode on traits which characterized him—From Professor Marais on his wide in-ence, his writings, his philoiimia—The “ man of prayer ” and the “ man of affairs ”—His influence in South Africa—His influence v in the Christian world.

APPENDIX A

Chronological Outline of the Life of Andrew Murray. 519

APPENDIX B

- Bibliography of Andrew Murray’s published works chronologically arranged by D. S. B. Joubet.














The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Introduction

CENTRAL South Africa forms an immense plateau, covering nearly a million square miles, and situated at an average height of four thousand feet above the sea-level. Nature has provided access to this great table-land from the southern shores of the continent by three mighty steps—the coast-land, the Little Karroo, and the Great Karroo. The coastal region, lying under mountain ranges which intercept and condense the moisture arising from the ocean, rejoices in an abundant and regular rainfall. The Little Karroo is a very much drier area, but it can at least boast of rivers which even in the height of summer are never wholly destitute of running water. But the Great Karroo forms another and quite different feature in the geography and hydrography of South Africa. The Hottentot word karroo signifies dry, hard, barren, and this precisely is the nature of the forbidding plains which form the Great Karroo. These plains have been described as a country of mountains without summits, rivers without water, trees without shade, and herbage without verdure. They have exercised a marked influencei upon the history of South Africa and the character of its inhabitants. We shall strive in vain to understand the general movement of Cape history, the slow expansion northward and eastward, and the spirit of sturdy independence which animated the pioneer as he roamed ever further afield in the search for pasture, unless we picture clearly to ourselves these burning plains, bounded by distant blue mountains, shimmering in the hot sunshine, and covered with deceptive mirage. The Great Karroo was for generations the limit of habitable South Africa. To the colonist it was a boundary, a horizon and a challenge. It was the region of privation and thirst, of danger and disease, of wild beasts and wilder Bushmen. Beyond it lay a grass-covered country, with a rich soil and a plentiful water supply, eminently adapted to agricultural and pastoral pursuits. But as yet no white man had crossed the dreaded Karroo and looked upon that land of promise. More than a century elapsed after the first settlement of the Cape before an enterprising expedition, travelling along the west coast, reached the Great River, now known as the Orange, and yet another fifty years passed before the middle Orange was crossed, and the fertile regions of Central South Africa became known to Europeans.

It is important to remember that the Cape was for a century and a half a Dutch possession. When in 1652 Jan van Riebeek founded the earliest European settlement at the foot of Table Mountain, Holland was at the flood-tide of its political influence and commercial prosperity. The eighty years’ conflict with Spain had resulted in the complete triumph of the Dutch arms. Dutch admirals disputed with English the control of the English Channel, and a few years subsequent to van Riebeek’s arrival at the Cape a Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames and destroyed British men-of-war anchored in the Medway. The Dutch East India Company had acquired a practical monopoly of the sea-borne traffic with India and the East. And it was in order to provide a port of call for the outgoing and returning vessels of this Company that a township was established and a castle built at the Cape of Good Hope, under the name and title of “ the frontier fortress of India.”

It was only under the stress of circumstances and in consequence of the independent spirit of the colonists that the settlement was slowly extended beyond the narrow limits of the Cape peninsula. The East India Company itself had no desire or intention to colonise the country. All it wanted was a haven at which its fleets could recuperate for a week or two, and lay in fresh supplies of water, meat and vegetables.

But the class of men who found their way to the shores of South Africa had been nurtured amid the industrious life and the free institutions of Holland. They were ill content to toil for the Company upon the hard terms which the latter offered, and claimed the rights of free burghers. They crossed the downs by which the Cape peninsula is shut in, and moving ever further eastwards built up new communities at Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, Zwartland and Tulbagh, Swellendam and Graaff-Reinet. In 1688 the ranks of these free burghers were powerfully reinforced by the arrival of a number of Huguenot refugees, who, driven forth from their own fair France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, sought a new home in these southern climes. The French emigrds soon lost the use of their own language, which the Company forbade them to employ, and within two or three generations were completely merged in the colonists of Dutch or German descent. It has been calculated that towards the close of the eighteenth century the population of South Africa was composed, roughly speaking, of about one-half of Dutch blood, one-sixth of French, one-sixth of German, and the remainder of other nationalities. All these spoke a form of simplified Dutch known as Cape Dutch, which has lost almost all the inflectional endings of the Dutch of Holland, and in vocabulary exhibits many affinities with the Dutch of the seventeenth century.

During the wars which convulsed Europe at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century Holland and England were ranged on opposite sides. The days of the Dutch East India Company were already numbered, and the British Government, intent upon the control of the trade route to India, landed a body of troops at the Cape, and with very little difficulty secured the capitulation of the Dutch garrison and the surrender of the country to the English crown (1795). The first British occupation of the Cape lasted for eight years. Hostilities in Europe were then temporarily suspended by the Treaty of Amiens, which also provided that the Cape should be restored to the Netherlands, or, as it was then called, the Batavian Republic. Thus for three years South Africa fell again under Dutch rule, but in 1806 it was captured for the second time by an English force, and passed finally under the dominion of Great Britain. The claim of the latter to the rightful possession of the country rests partly upon conquest and partly upon purchase. By a convention signed in London in 1814 the British Sovereign agreed to return to the Prince of the Netherlands all colonies and settlements which had been wrested from Holland during the Napoleonic wars, excepting only the Cape of Good Hope and Demerara in South America, for which latter possessions the Prince of the Netherlands agreed to accept an indemnity of six million pounds sterling. The Cape colonists were not consulted when their destinies were disposed of, but, though they regretted the withdrawal of the friendly Batavian rule, they were for the most part indifferent to the form of government under which they lived, provided only their liberty of action remained unimpeded and no obnoxious taxes were imposed.

When the Cape of Good Hope passed into the hands of the British, the colonists were almost to a man a Dutch-speaking community. Out of the twenty-five thousand individuals who composed the population in 1805 there were not more than seventy or eighty British subjects. The earliest administrators under the English regime, by retaining the use of the Dutch language in Church and State, and reinstating as civil officials a number of men who had been in the service of the Batavian Republic, did much to reconcile the burghers to the change of government. Twenty years subsequently, however, a later Governor, Lord Charles Henry Somerset, decreed that the English language alone should be legal for all public documents and judicial proceedings—a measure which soon became a fertile cause of misunderstanding and resentment. There was apparently some reason for the change. Up to 1820 the only individuals of British descent resident in the Colony were the chief personages on the civil establishment, the naval staff at Simon’s Town, some Cape Town merchants, a certain number of missionaries, chiefly of the London Missionary Society, and a few hundred mechanics and labourers. But in that year immigration on an extensive scale was undertaken. The British Government voted a considerable sum of money for the settlement of suitable families in South Africa, and nearly five thousand emigrants of British birth were conveyed to the Cape, and received grants of land on the eastern border of the Colony. For these the use of the English language was indispensable ; but the old Dutch population, who still outnumbered the new-comers in the proportion of eight to one, counted it a serious grievance that they could no longer approach the Government through the medium of a language which had prevailed in the country for nigh on two centuries.

But though the language had been suppressed in the State, it still held its own in the Church. The forty thousand colonists who in 1820 retained the use of the Dutch language were without exception members of the Dutch Reformed Church. This Church occupied, during practically the whole of the nineteenth century, a unique and influential position in South Africa. For a long period it was in receipt of State support, its ministers being wholly or partially salaried from the public funds. As the Church of the Dutch-speaking colonists, the repository of their ancient traditions, the guardian of their cherished language, and the expression of the national strivings of a people to whom a share in the political life of the country was denied, it wielded a wide-spread and on the whole a salutary influence. We shall do well to grasp firmly these three important factors in the situation when Andrew Murray entered upon his life-task—a predominantly Dutch-speaking population, the Dutch language banished from Government offices and law courts, and the Dutch Reformed Church as the guardian of the language, and the outward and visible bond of union between the scattered elements of the Dutch population.

We find then, settled upon the soil of South Africa for good or ill, two white races, sprung originally from the same racial stock, animated by the same love of liberty, professing the same form of religion, but distinct in temperament and training, in political aims and national ideals, and separated above all by the insuperable barrier of language, which made their complete fusion an apparent impossibility. In the veins of Andrew Murray flowed the blood of both these races, and he was in a real sense the embddiment of the highest ideals both of the older Dutch and the newer British strains. It was his constant endeavour to promote a better understanding and a heartier good will between the two classes of colonists. For this he possessed special gifts. He spoke both languages with equal ease. He moved among both peoples with equal familiarity. He was large-hearted enough to sympathize with both sections in their attempts to live their own lives and shape their own destinies. He was broad-minded enough to recognize what was noble and praiseworthy in the aims and objects of either race. And he had discernment enough to see that the national ambitions of English and Dutch were not at bottom incompatible, and could be harmonized by the exercise of patience, forbearance and mutual regard.

Andrew Murray’s ministerial career, as the following pages will show, was cast in the most stirring and by far the most important period in the history of South Africa. His public life covered two-thirds of a century, when English and Dutch were feeling after their true position and part in the scheme of things South African, and consciously or unconsciously endeavouring to adjust their relations to each other. During these years the contest between the two racial ideals continued without intermission, sometimes in the form of mere passive suspicion and antagonism, but also rising sometimes to angry disputes and actual hostilities. When Andrew Murray was a boy of eight, a wide-spread emigration into Central South Africa commenced on the part of those Dutch colonists who were determined to throw off their allegiance to the British Crown. This remarkable movement, which is known as the Great Trek, led to the founding of the Boer republics north of the Orange and the Vaal rivers. A series of important events followed during the second half of the century. Representative institutions and responsible government were introduced into British South Africa. The discovery of diamonds on the borders of the Orange Free State and of gold in the Transvaal brought about an economic revolution in South Africa, and profoundly modified the course of its future history. The Transvaal in 1877 was surreptitiously annexed to Great Britain, but the stout burghers, rising in protest, won back their independence after a few short and sharp encounters with the British forces. The British South Africa Company (better known as the Chartered Company) was founded in 1889, and a vast territory to the north of the Transvaal, stretching right across the Zambesi as far as the Great Lakes of Central Africa, was secured to Great Britain by the foresight and enterprise of Cecil John Rhodes. Soon afterwards the inevitable and tragic conflict between Briton and Boer came to a climax. Envy of the wealth which had come to the Transvaal through its gold mines precipitated first the Jameson Raid,1 and then the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, which issued in the extinction of the republics. But when the union of the States of South Africa under the British flag was consummated in 1910, the Boer rose again to power, like the phoenix from its ashes, and obtained political control of the destinies of South Africa. And thus at present matters stand, the British being the possessors and nominal lords of the country, and the Boers its real masters.

It must not be assumed that Andrew Murray had a direct share in all the events and movements outlined above. He was first and foremost a servant of Jesus Christ, devoting himself heart and soul to spiritual labours for the welfare of the flock committed to his care. But it was impossible, for one who sympathized so deeply with the people among whom he lived and laboured, to remain indifferent to their social and national development. During the first years of his career, when he was the sole minister of a population scattered over an area considerably larger than that of Great Britain and Ireland, circumstances compelled him to take an active interest in civil affairs. There were at that time hardly any men of education and ability who were conversant with both the Dutch and English languages, and Andrew Murray, by virtue of his intellectual qualifications and high Christian character, wielded great influence with both sections of the community. In this manner he was forced, almost against his will, to enter the political arena, and once at least to engage in a political mission to England.1 But in later years and under altered conditions he stood more and more resolutely aloof from political life, and only on rare occasions, when some great national crisis seemed to call for a word of warning or appeal, did he venture to intervene in public affairs.

It but remains to describe in brief fashion the general situation when Andrew Murray’s career commenced. At the close of 1848 there occurred a brief pause in the history of the Cape Colony. The seventh Kaffir War had been concluded; the eighth and most serious was still concealed by the curtain of futurity. The grant of representative institutions was in the air, but the British Government had not as yet passed any definite promise to introduce them. The determined resistance protracted during the whole of 1849, to the scheme of making the Cape a penal settlement, had not yet , begun. Sir Harry Smith, Governor and High Commissioner, who had recently returned from a triumphal tour through South and Central South Africa, during which he had annexed fifty thousand square miles between the Orange and the Vaal to the Queen’s dominions,3 was at the height of his great popularity. The Cape Colony counted at this time some one hundred and twenty-five thousand white inhabitants, at least three-fourths of whom were Dutch-speaking. Across the Orange River, in the newly-annexed Orange River Sovereignty, were found about twelve thousand Dutch farmers, very half-heartedly attached to British rule; and beyond the Vaal River there lived another eight or ten thousand independent Boers, under a by no means stable form of republican government. These twenty thousand emigrants constituted Andrew Murray’s first parish.

The whole country already settled by white people was of vast extent. Between Cape Town, in the extreme west, and Graaff-Reinet, the most considerable town in the east, stretched a distance of five hundred miles; from Graaff-Reinet to Bloemfontein, the centre of Andrew Murray’s great parish, it was another three hundred miles. Three hundred miles further north lay Pretoria, subsequently the capital of the Transvaal Republic, which extended northward for yet another two hundred and fifty miles to the Zoutpansberg range. In all this great territory there was not, in 1848, a single mile of railroad. The immense distances had to be traversed, frequently over very indifferent roads and through flooded rivers, by the uncomfortable Cape cart, the roomier horse-waggon, or the slow-moving, springless ox-waggon. In such a country, trader such circumstances, and amongst primitive farmers, whom Sir Benjamin D’Urban, a former Cape Governor, once described as "a brave, patient, industrious, orderly and religious people,” Andrew Murray commenced his life-work.




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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter I

Ancestry, Parentage and Birth

A godly parentage is a costly boon. Its blessing not only rests upon the children of the first family, but has often been traced in many successive generations.—Andrew Murray.

THE paternal ancestors of Andrew Murray were Aberdeenshire fanners. His father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather all bore the name of Andrew Murray. The great-grandfather occupied the sheep-farm of Lofthills in the district of Buchan, which had been held by the family for several generations. These Murrays belonged for the most part to the Old Light Presbyterians (Auld Lichts), a Church which in the eighteenth century counted many godly people in its ranks. Of one of the old farmers of Lofthills, who was exceedingly deaf, it is told that he would wander about the hills of the sheep-farm, praying unconsciously aloud for his family and for his friends, and that almost all for whom this old saint used to intercede became in the end decided Christians. Andrew Murray of Lofthills married a certain Isabella Henderson, known as the “ Maiden of Yokie’s Hill,” whose family claimed descent from the famous seventeenth-century divine and reformer, Alexander Henderson, chief author of the "Solemn League and Covenant.”


Andrew Murray, the grandfather, being one of several sons, removed from Lofthills to the mill of Clatt, thus relinquishing sheep-farming for the humbler occupation of milling. Owing to the distress which was prevalent at the end of the eighteenth century in consequence of the Napoleonic wars, the family was frequently reduced to great straits, and the flour would then be carefully collected from the floor of the mill, in order to provide the hungry mouths of the children with bread. Andrew Murray of Clatt was nevertheless a man of considerable force of character, with an education beyond what was common at the time, and a reputed taste for poetry. Of his piety there was no question. When he lay upon his deathbed, he was overheard praying in the silence of the night for each of his children by name; and this so impressed the eldest son, John, then a lad of twelve, that he there and then decided to give himself to the work of the ministry. The father was a comparatively young man when he died in 1796, and he left his wife and children in sadly reduced circumstances, cherishing nevertheless the confident hope that his and their Gpd would not permit them to suffer want, but that his sons and daughters would yet lead honourable and useful Christian lives. His wife, Isobel Milne, was a woman of great beauty and sweetness of character. She survived her husband for twenty-six years, and saw her children grow to manhood and womanhood to fulfil all the cherished hopes and expectations of their departed father.

Among the children of Andrew Murray of Clatt were Anne, John, Elizabeth and Andrew. John, the eldest son, and uncle of the subject of these memoirs, succeeded by patient endeavour, and through the kindly aid of an unmarried uncle, in realizing his ambition to enter the sacred ministry. After a course of study at Marischal College, Aberdeen, he graduated M.A. in 1806, showing such aptitude for mathematics that he was offered a colonial professorship. He persisted, however, in his aim of becoming a preacher of the Gospel, passed through the divinity course at the university of Edinburgh, was licensed in due time, and then acted as tutor in the family of Sir James Nasmyth. After ordination he laboured for two years as an assistant minister in Dundee, and in 1816 was inducted to the influential charge of Trinity Chapel-of-Ease1 (now Trinity United Free Church) in Aberdeen. Twelve years later he became minister of the North Church in the same city, and this remained the scene of his labours so long as he was connected with the Church of the Establishment. At the Disruption, in 1843, John Murray was one of those who left the Established Church, and the Free North Church, which the seceding congregation erected for itself, was the first of Free Church edifices to arise in Aberdeen. For his distinguished services to the cause of religion and education, and as a testimony to the esteem in which he was held for his lofty Christian character, his Alma Mater conferred on him, in 1856, the degree of doctor of divinity, honoris causa. He died in 1861, and an obituary notice of the Free Church Record summed up his character thus : “ Calm, discriminating, scholarly and undemonstratively heroic, the veteran Murray of Aberdeen has gone to his grave as a shock of corn cometh in its season.”

The uncle who befriended John Murray also took to his home the younger sister, Elizabeth, who remained with her uncle until her marriage with Mr. Robertson, the Congregational minister of Crichie in Aberdeenshire. Mr. Robertson, by his first wife, was the great-grandfather of Professor Robertson Smith, of Aberdeen and Cambridge. Elizabeth Robertson died at an early age in Scotland, and her husband then emigrated with the children to Canada, becoming the ancestor of a large family of Robertsons whose names have become household words in the Colony across the Atlantic. One of the daughters, Margaret Murray Robertson, was the authoress of Christie Redfern’s Troubles and other stories of a religious tendency, which had a great vogue in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Great literary gifts were also developed by one of the grandsons, Charles W. Gordon, better known, under his pen-name of “Ralph Connor,” as the author of The Sky Pilot and many other tales which describe the life of the Great North-West.

The third Andrew Murray, father of the subject of this biography, was ten years younger than his brother John, to whose encouragement and assistance it was largely due that he was able to complete his studies, and to obtain the status of licentiate of the Church of Scotland. Young Andrew was anxious to become a missionary—a desire which was probably stimulated, if not aroused, by the earnest advocacy of his elder brother, who was a powerful pleader for missions at a time when the cause counted but few enthusiastic supporters. But the mother was very loth to part from her younger and favourite son, and professed to be in great fear that, if he became a missionary, he would infallibly be eaten by cannibals. Love for his mother and deference to her wishes led Andrew to refuse an offer to proceed to St. John’s, Newfoundland. But when in 1821 he received an invitation to the Cape, the need of that Colony seemed to be so urgent that he could not find it in his heart to dismiss the appeal, while the possibility of doing something on behalf of the natives, and thus taking a small share in the missionary enterprise, was an additional motive to consider this as a divine call.

The invitation to South Africa came about in the following way. The Rev. Dr. George Thom, Dutch Reformed minister of the congregation of Caledon in South Africa, was in Britain on furlough in 1821, when he was commissioned by the then Governor of the Cape, Lord Charles Somerset, to obtain young ministers to fill the vacant charges, and teachers to instruct the rising generation, in the southern Colony. Dr. Thom, who was fully alive to the needs of the country, lost no time in commencing his quest. One of the first men to offer was Andrew Murray, as Dr. Thom relates in the following letter, dated London, 8th January, 1821—

The Rev. George Thom to Lord Charles Henry Somerset.

My Lord,—I have the pleasure to state, for your Lordship’s information, that the Rev. Prof. MacGill of the University of Glasgow has replied to the letter addressed to him on the selection of some ministers of the Established Church of Scotland, and the Professor states that he will with much delight communicate with several young ministers, who are gentlemen of excellent private character, of good talents, and of known loyal principles. I am looking for a second letter.

In the meantime Prof. Bentley, of the King’s College, Aberdeen, hearing of the necessities of the Dutch colonists, and of the kind intentions of Government to supply their wants, has written me two letters, offering the services of the Rev. Andrew Murray, Master of Arts, a clergyman of about thirty years of age, of established character and of good abilities : the necessary testimonials from the professors of languages and of divinity in the University will be forwarded to me immediately.

I am much rejoiced that there is a prospect of having the wants of the Dutch colonial Churches supplied, and the more, as besides the charges of Somerset and Worcester being vacant, there is every human possibility that several old Churches will soon be left destitute of Christian instruction. By a letter from Cape Town I find that Mr. Fleck has been declared by the physicians unfit ever to preach again. Mr. [von] Manger also has been long afflicted with disease and is advanced in life, and several of the country ministers are aged, and the minister of Paarl was able to preach only a few times during eight or ten months. I have fully stated to the gentlemen everything connected with the Churches agreeable to the colonial Church regulations, and your Lordship’s opinion respecting spending a few months in Holland.

It is a subject of much gratification to me that your Lordship manifests so much paternal care for the advancement of religion in the Colony, and I am sure it will add much to the pleasure which the Colonists will feel on your Lordship’s return to assume again the government of the Colony, that you will be able to announce a speedy supply of good ministers for the Dutch Churches being at hand. . . .

When Andrew Murray received the South African appointment his mother lay upon her deathbed, and in order to spare her the children refrained from telling her of the younger son’s impending departure. When the hour of parting came, John, the elder brother, who was also at his dying mother’s bedside, accompanied Andrew to the highway where the Aberdeen coach passed. Here the brothers knelt in prayer to commend each other and their dear ones to God, and before they parted sang together, “ O God of Bethel, by whose hand Thy people still are fed.” It was a final farewell, for Andrew never revisited his native land.

From Scotland, after ordination by the Presbytery of Aberdeen, the young minister went to Holland, where he remained for ten months in order to acquire the Dutch language. He then returned to London, from where he was to sail for the Cape with Dr. Thom and the teachers which the latter had secured.Dr. Thom’s quest for ministers and teachers was wholly successful. He secured not only Andrew Murray, but also the Rev. Alexander Smith, who 1908 among some papers in the parsonage at Graaff-Reinet unearthed an old diary of Andrew Murray, which had lain undiscovered for more than eighty years. It runs to seventy pages of foolscap and contains a full account of the voyage, lasting from the 27th February to the 1st July, 1822, between London Docks and Table Bay. The narrative, in which Mr. Murray throughout speaks of himself in the third person, is so interesting a human document, that we venture to make the following extracts from it—

Extracts from the Journal of Andrew Murray the Elder.

Early in the year 1821 His Majesty's Government were pleased to appoint the Rev. Dr. Thom to provide some preachers and teachers in connexion with the Church of Scotland to go out to the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. After considerable trouble. Dr. Thom succeeded in engaging the Rev. Andrew Murray, preacher, of Aberdeen, as a clergyman for the Colony, and Messrs. Brown, Innes, Robertson and Dawson from Aberdeen, Mr. Rattray from Dundee, and Mr. Blair from Glasgow, as schoolmasters. In the beginning of February, 1822, Dr. Thom engaged a passage on board the brig Arethusa for the above-mentioned persons and those connected with them.

The Arethusa, a fine vessel of 180 tons burden, commanded by Captain Anderson, sailed from London Docks on Wednesday, 27th February, 1822,—Mr. and Mrs. Dawson on board. Mrs. Dawson, who had come on board a week previous to the vessel sailing, was safely delivered of a son on Saturday the 23rd. arrived in the Colony in 1823, and was stationed at Uitenhage; the Rev. William Ritchie Thomson, who afterwards became minister of Stockenstrom ; and three students who were still preparing for licence and ordination, namely, Henry Sutherland, Colin Fraser and George Morgan, in after years ministers at Worcester, Beaufort West and Somerset East respectively. Among the teachers engaged by Dr. Thom were James Rose Innes (afterwards Superintendent-General of Education), William Robertson (afterwards the Rev. Dr. Robertson of Swellendam and Cape Town), Archibald Brown, William Dawson, James Rattray and Robert Blair.

On Monday the 4th March it behoved the passengers who were to embark for Africa to bid a farewell to their dear friends in the metropolis. How noble soever the principles may be which actuate the preachers and teachers of Christianity in leaving their native shores, still, when they are called to take leave of their dear friends, and bid adieu to all those interesting scenes which had cheered their youthful years, they must feel much concerned.

On the morning of Monday the following individuals, after a pleasant passage on the steamboat, went on board the Arethusa—viz., Dr. and Mrs. Thom, their two children, Mrs. Dixie and two daughters, Miss Rose, Messrs. Murray, Brown, Innes, Dawson, Rattray, Robertson and Blair; Mrs. Rattray and two children, Mrs. Dawson and child, Mrs. Milne (the wife of a soldier) and a Mr. Bennet, bound for St. Helena —in all, twenty individuals. On the same afternoon the Arethusa sailed down the river for five or six miles, and there remained for the night, the Captain, Dr. Thom, and Mr. Murray being absent, the former being employed in settling some business, and the others taking leave of their dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Nisbet, whose hearts and house have ever been open to all such as wished to devote themselves to the service of their Redeemer in heathen lands.

On the morning of Tuesday weighed anchor at six o’clock ; during the day enjoyed a favourable gale, and reached the Downs on the evening of the same day. While riding in the Downs on the night between the 5th and the 6th the Arethusa, in common with other vessels, was overtaken by a heavy gale, which lasted till twelve o’clock on Tuesday [Wednesday ?]. Four vessels were torn from their anchors, one of which soon after foundered, but happily the Arethusa remained fast at her moorings. The vessel lost was a brig from St. Thomas. The crew fortunately were all saved, although their safety was effected at the expense of the life of one of the boatmen who came to afford assistance.

“Good God, on what a brittle thread hang everlasting things!”

On the 7th remained in the Downs. A strong gale continuing to blow from the west, arrangements were made among the passengers for occupying their time to best advantage. Every gentleman appeared anxious to umpt such measures as might be thought advantageous for promoting each other’s improvement in those branches of useful knowledge which might be calculated, by the divine blessing, to promote their usefulness.

It was a full month before the Arethusa was clear of the coasts of England. The passage of the Bay of Biscay was, as usual, a stormy one. When near the Cape Verde Islands the brig narrowly escaped disaster, as the following account shows—

Thursday 25th [April] came in sight of Cape Verde Islands. The former night drew up, in order to avoid danger of running foul of them, but Capt. Anderson thought that on this night he might safely continue his course during the night. The afternoon had been spent in contriving what should be bought in St. Jago. Mr. Brown and Mr. Murray laboured for some time to learn some Portuguese words which they expected to need on the following day. In the evening Dr. Thom favoured the party with a history of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Worship was conducted as usual, and about half-past nine o'clock Mr. Innes observed that it was time to go to bed. Dr. Thom said he would not in our situation go to bed without going on deck. Accordingly he went, when, a few minutes after, all the passengers were surprised to feel the vessel give a sudden forcible jolt against a rock. Mr. Murray observed that the stroke was certainly given upon a rock or fixed land.

All the passengers, on going on deck, heard the mate (whose attention to our perilous situation had been excited by Dr. Thom) cry out, "Captain Anderson, come! we are on land: the breakers are close to our lee bow.” An indescribable scene of confusion immediately took place, one crying that the breakers were on the bow, another roaring from the rigging that there was land or rock close upon our lee. The common sailors commenced crying—one saying that all was over ; another, we were fast, and could not stand out but a very few minutes ; while the mate cried, “Make no uproar, keep cool: let us prepare for meeting death like Scotchmen!”

Mr. Brown and Mr. Murray were able to go and assist the seamen to draw up or shorten sail; the rest of the gentlemen kept on the quarter deck, Dr. Thom giving orders for getting the boats in readiness. Dr. Thom wished Mr. Murray to go below and see what state the ladies were in. On going below he found them in as composed a state as could in similar circumstances be expected : nevertheless, a state more easily conceived than described. After engaging a few minutes in prayer, to plead the promise of God, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee,” he read part of the 91st Psalm. The Captain and the mate then came into the cabin. The former appeared to be, as it wete, in a state of intoxication (perhaps through surprise), being unable to say where we were, what was the matter, or whither we could turn for safety.

At length the vessel was gotten off the rocks, which were afterwards found to be on a long point of the island of Mayo, where several large East Indiamen had been lost. After some consultation it was agreed that Dr. Thom, Messrs. Innes, Robertson and Brown should remain some hours on deck, as they could not be expected to sleep in such circumstances. Mr. Murray went to bed at one o’clock and slept soundly till four, when he was roused to go on deck, the other gentlemen being about to go to rest. After many a long and anxious look day appeared. Is there anyone in the least conversant with maritime affairs, who can consider the situation of the Arethusa on the evening of the 25th, and not be convinced that nothing less than the special interposition of that God who never slumbers nor sleeps could have preserved either lives or property? Driving with full sail against a brisk wind, and driven thus with great velocity against a range of fixed rocks while neither captain nor mate kept outlook, none but that God we had just before been worshipping in a social capacity could have delivered us ; and He was graciously pleased to interpose in such a manner as to convince the most unthinking mind that He, and He alone, brought us deliverance. . . .

A few further extracts will show that the voyage, like most sea voyages at that time, was subject to all manner of contrary winds and vexatious delays—

Tuesday we were about 12 deg. 26 min. S. latitude and 33 deg. 26 min. W. longitude. Some doubting we might be further west in reality than the Captain had found us to be, it was thought advisable that some one should remain on deck during the greater part of the night, for fear of coming on the American coast. Mr. Murray stopped up till about three o’clock. In the course of the night he had an opportunity to speak to most of the seamen, one by one, on spiritual and eternal subjects. He was happy to find they generally paid more attention to these subjects than could well have been expected.

Wednesday we were glad to find that the wind had become so much more favourable that we could not only steer south, and thereby keep from increasing our western longitude, but could even get a little to the east, and thereby lessen it. At twelve o’clock found the latitude to be 15 deg. 29 min. south, and longitude about 31 deg. west. Most of the passengers began to wish much for a good breeze to hasten our pace and shorten the voyage.

Thursday the wind continued favourable, so that we were able to make a considerable distance of easting. In the evening had some amusement respecting the manners and customs of the Cape farmers. All seemed to enjoy the description Dr. Thom gave of the simplicity of their manners. This description reminded us of those ages when tyrant custom had not shackled man.

Saturday 25th [May] found ourselves in a complete calm ; could make no way. Such delays were calculated to try the patience of those who have been already long detained on a voyage. This day the health of Messrs. Murray and Dawson was drunk in a glass of wine, it being the day before their birthday. Certainly it is most pleasant to see so many harmoniously uniting in good wishes for each other. It is hoped that the above-mentioned individuals were not unconcerned about the misimprovement of their past years and about the better improvement of those which may come.

Friday the 7th [June] had to contend with contrary winds, tacking sometimes east, sometimes west, and so made no progress. The Captain now began to grudge expenses very much, and to speak of shortening our allowance of water.

Friday 14th.—The day was somewhat cloudy, the wind very strong ; went most of the day at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour. Towards the afternoon the wind blew very strong indeed, so that the Captain was obliged to shorten sail considerably, and to put [things] in the best state for the approaching storm. About twelve at night such an immense sea broke over the vessel as made some to think that she could scarcely recover her upright position. At four in the morning such a strong and sudden gust of wind sprung up that made us drift before it, although we had up little or no sail. An apprehension was entertained for a short time that the wind would carry away our masts. On the morning of Saturday were happy to find that no injury had been done. The God who preserves all who confide in Him graciously kept us from all evil, and gave us cause to exclaim, "Oh! that men would praise the Lord for His goodness!"

The arrival in Table Bay is chronicled as follows—

Sabbath 30th [June].—A fine day, a good breeze and great progress. In consequence of coming so near land, it was thought advisable that the gentlemen should take their turn in looking out for land ; consequently Dr. Thom and Mr. Blair sat up till two o’clock on Sabbath morning, when Mr. Murray and Mr. Robertson succeeded till daylight. The weather being good public worship was conducted on deck by Mr. Murray, who preached from 2 Corinthians, v. 21. Immediately after dinner the meeting commenced, when the 116th Psalm was spoken upon by most of the gentlemen, who, it is trusted, experienced feelings similar to the Psalmist when he reflected on the many mercies of God.

Monday, 1st, July 1822.—Messrs. Innes and Dawson had stopped on deck till two o’clock, when Messrs. Brown and Rattray succeeded till day. These informed us that we had gone at the rate of seven or eight knots an hour during the night. Our longitude about 17 deg. east; began to look anxiously for land, it being seventeen weeks to-day since coming on board at Gravesend. Enjoyed a fine, fair wind, but a very heavy sea. In the evening a prayer-meeting for the spread of the Gospel. Between twelve and one o’clock, while Dr. Thom and Mr. Murray were on deck, Mr. Burch ell cried out, "Land! land!” How overjoyed we were to see for certain that we were but a few miles from Table Mountain. Next morning set sail, after stopping for a few hours, and reached Table Bay.

A few days .after their arrival at Cape Town the Government Gazette contained a notice of Mr. Murray’s formal appointment to the charge of Graaff-Reinet, in succession to the Rev. A. Faure, who had been promoted to Cape Town. Mr. Murray seems to have proceeded immediately to his new sphere of work. The township of Graaff-Reinet, which was to be his home until the day of his death, had been established as early as 1786, and was named in honour of Governor van de Graaff and his wife, whose maiden name was Reinet. Many years elapsed before the village, which was situated in surroundings of great aridity, even began to deserve its designation of the “Gem of the Desert.” A few months after Mr. Murray’s settlement it was visited by the traveller George Thompson, who has left us the following impressions of Graaff-Reinet in 1823—

25th May.—This being Sunday, I attended divine service with the Landdrost’s family at the district church, and heard the Rev. Mr. Murray preach in Dutch to a numerous and attentive congregation. Mr. Murray, like all the late-appointed clergymen of the colonial establishment, is of the Church of Scotland, which in doctrine and discipline corresponds almost entirely with the Dutch Reformed communion.

26th to 29th May.—I spent these four days in Graafi-Reinet. The place is wonderfully improved since the days of Barrow, when it consisted merely of a few miserable mud and straw huts. It contains now about three hundred houses, almost all of which are neat and commodious brick edifices—many are elegant. The streets are wide, laid out at right angles, and planted with rows of lemon and orange trees, which thrive here luxuriantly, and give to the place a fresh and pleasing appearance. Each house has a large allotment of ground behind it, extending in some instances to several acres, which is richly cultivated, divided by quince, lemon or pomegranate hedges, and laid out in orchards, gardens and vineyards. These are all watered by a canal from the Sunday River, which branches out into a number of small channels, and each inhabitant receives his due portion at a regular hour. This canal has been greatly improved, or rather constructed anew on a much higher level, by the present Landdrost,2 who, by indefatigable exertion, and entirely at his own risk, has carried it along the front of a rocky precipice, and by these means gained a large addition of arable ground, and a more certain and abundant supply of water. I was not a little surprised to find that this arduous task had been accomplished without even the aid of blowing irons or gunpowder, merely by kindling large fires upon the rocks, and when they were well heated dashing buckets of water upon them.

The population of Graafi-Reinet, of all colours, amounts to about 1,800 souls. The town is built in a sort of basin, almost encircled by the deep channel of the Sunday River, and closely environed by an amphitheatre of steep rugged mountains. This position, and the arid quality of the red Karroo soil, render it oppressively hot in summer. At that season, however, the atmosphere is sometimes agitated and cooled by violent thunderstorms, accompanied by heavy rains. In winter the weather is frequently rather cold, owing to the elevated situation of the country just at the foot of the Snow Mountains ; but while I was there the air was delightfully temperate, and the sky cloudless and serene.

Mr. Murray was the sixth minister of Graaff-Reinet, and he found the congregation supplied with a suitable church in which to worship, and a roomy parsonage for the use of its pastor. The latter was to be his home for forty-five years and the birthplace of all his children, and it, therefore, merits some description. It was in every respect the finest residence in the village—far finer and more commodious than the Drostdij, in which the Landdrost (or Magistrate) officially resided. It stood in a side street at some little distance from the church, and boasted a spacious yard and outbuildings, with a large garden behind. One of the daughters of the manse has given us the following description—

Ascending by the stone steps we come to the front door, and entering, find ourselves in a large lobby or hall, called the Mein voorhuis, because there was a larger one [groot voorhuis) beyond—a spacious dining hall, with doors on all sides, leading into a smaller dining-room, bedrooms, etc. A part of the big hall was later on partitioned off, to give a more comfortable dining-room.

On the left side in front was the drawing-room, and on the right the study and another bedroom. The front stoep, and also the back stoep, were supported by arches, and underneath the whole house ran a series of rooms corresponding with those above. Some of these were often used as bedrooms when the house was full of visitors. They included the cellar, below the big dining-room, the hout-kamer (wood room), kalk-kamer (lime room), kaf-kamer (chaff room) and waggon house. But these arches, with passages beyond, seemed made on purpose for playing hide-and-seek, and often resounded with the voices of the merry, happy children.

From the back stoep, by two circular flights of steps, you went down to the garden. First, the flower garden, then an avenue of orange trees, with tall lilac bushes in between. At the side of the walk was the vineyard, and at the further end of the garden were fruit trees of all kinds, laden in summer time with such fruit as we have never tasted since, and to which the dear children were allowed to help themselves without stint, and regale also their companions who came to play with them. The other half of the garden was sown with oats for the minister’s horses, and there was a large plot of lucerne for the cow. On the further side of the lucerne was a row of choice fig trees, and beyond was the boundary wall.

In 1824, two years after his arrival at Graaff-Reinet, Mr. Murray went up to Cape Town in order to attend the meeting of Synod, and on that occasion first met the young lady who became his wife. She was Miss Maria Susanna Stegmann, eldest child of Johan Gotlob Stegihann and his wife Jacomina Sophia Hoppe, who were both of German descent. The mother of Johan Gotlob Stegmann was Sara Susanna Roux, whose great-grandfather, Paul Roux, was one of the Huguenot refugees, who were driven from France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and arrived at the Cape in 1688. Jacomina Sophia Hoppe, the maternal grandmother of the subject of these memoirs, was not of pure German descent, since her maternal grandparents bore the thoroughly Dutch names of Pieter Greeff and Jacomina van Deventer. From his mother’s side it is evident that many strains mingled in the blood of Andrew Murray—German, French Huguenot, and Calvinist Dutch, interfused to form a sturdy South African stock.

When Andrew Murray took to wife Maria Stegmann, the latter was but sixteen years of age, and had naturally received but a slight education, and that chiefly in the Dutch language. But her mind was alert, and her husband took delight in instructing her, reading with her such books as Rollin’s Ancient History and Hume’s History of England. The father-in-law, Mr. Stegmann, had apparently the greatest confidence in the piety of his son-in-law and the devotion of his daughter, for when his wife died and he was re-married to a Miss van Reenen, he sent his young son, Georg Wilhelm, to Graaff-Reinet that he might be under the home influence of Andrew and Maria Murray ; and when his second wife presented him with a son, the infant received the name of Johan Andrew, the latter name in honour of the minister of Graaff-Reinet. It is pleasant to be able to state that both these sons became preachers of the Gospel, Georg Wilhelm as minister of the Lutheran Church in Cape Town, and afterwards as pastor of the D. R. Church at Adelaide, and Johan Andrew as minister of Ceres. Georg Wilhelm, the “ Uncle William ” of later years, was a man of great sincerity and heartiness of character, and a famous revival preacher in days when special services and revivals were not much spoken of.

Andrew Murray the Scotsman soon identified himself completely with the land of his adoption. From the little volume of reminiscences, Unto Children’s Children, by one of his daughters, we take over the following lines concerning his life and the nature of his work at Graaff-Reinet—

He cast in his lot so whole-heartedly with his people that his children cannot remember ever hearing him express the wish to visit his native land. How happy he was among his people only his children, who grew up in the presence of that loving intercourse, can testify. Earnest, affectionate and sincere in all his relations, he never forfeited the respect and esteem accorded him by all. How often we have heard him say, "The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, and I have a goodly heritage.” His love for his people came out touchingly in an incident towards the close of his life. He was suffering from the effects of a, cold ; and on his leaving a certain farm a young man, who had waited on him very tenderly, brought a hot brick and placed it beneath his feet in the cart, whereupon he turned to his travelling companion and said, “Ik woon in het midden mijns volks ” (I dwell in the midst of my people).

His parish covered many hundreds of square miles. He established many new congregations, such as those of Aberdeen, Colesberg, Middel-burg and Murraysburg, and until these parishes were supplied with ministers of their own—and that was not easily done then—he remained their preacher and pastor. He had to undertake long journeys to these places, sometimes being from home for a fortnight at a time for this purpose. At every farmhouse along the road where the minister stopped for the night, he had scarcely dismounted from the large, springless horse-waggon, before the Bible would be produced and he was asked to conduct a service. He always insisted on all the servants and shepherds being brought in ; and, weary though he was, rejoiced at being able to break the bread of life to hungry souls. After the death of the Rev. John Evans, the large congregation of Cradock was also vacant for several years, and our father had to go there every quarter in order to administer the sacrament, holding services for three days—“Preparation" on Saturday, “Communion” on Sunday, with six tables of communicants to be successively addressed, and "Thanksgiving” on Monday. Added to this was the work of catechising, holding church meetings, attending to cases of discipline, celebrating marriages and baptizing infants. . . . Then there was huisbezoek or family visitation on the Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. This was not, as the name seems to imply, going to the houses : that was out of the question, as the people lived on farms, far apart from each other. The families were admitted in turn to the minister’s bedroom, which had to answer the purpose of study or vestry, and there they were seriously and affectionately exhorted, advised, encouraged or rebuked, as the case demanded.

Of the visits of the missionaries how much there is to tell! English, Scotch, French and German missionaries found it not only convenient, but most refreshing, to rest themselves and their wearied oxen on the long journey between Port Elizabeth and the interior (or on their way back on a visit to Europe) at the Graaff-Reinet parsonage. Men and animals found room in the spacious house and yard, the outrooms affording lodging for a whole host of Bechuana or Basuto drivers and leaders of oxen. The abundance of fruit made it like an oasis in the desert to the missionary children. The Paris Missionary Society presented Mr. Murray with a handsome timepiece in acknowledgment of the kindness shown to their missionaries.

How fresh in the minds of some of the children are still to-day the visits of Mr. Moffat and of Dr. Livingstone, who has since become so famous. One of us remembers seeing Dr. Livingstone come hurriedly into the dining-room, late for breakfast, triumphantly exhibiting a large hatchet, just to his mind, which he had purchased at the store of Heugh and Fleming. Some years later the children were called to listen while Papa read aloud letters he had received from the explorer, telling of his early journeys into the far interior, where he found tribes who manufactured rings and bracelets of gold. The children cherish lively recollections, too, of the earlier French missionaries—Pellissier, Holland, Casalis, Lemue, Lauga, Arbousset, Daumas—the first ones unmarried, but the later comers accompanied by their sprightly French wives. We wondered at hearing them talk so fast in an unknown tongue. A friend of missions. Major Malan, said long afterwards that it was the kindness shown to missionaries that had brought so large a blessing upon the minister’s family, adding, "For God pays back in kind.”

The chief characteristic of the household was reverence. We reverenced God’s name and God's day and God’s Word. The wife reverenced her husband ; the children reverenced their parents ; the servants reverenced their master and mistress. The children were trained in the ways of the Lord. They were taught to render obedience in such a way that they never seemed to know it. Their father’s word was law; from his decision there was no appeal; his wisdom was never questioned. It was almost curious to see the reverence with which the young men, after years of study in Europe, and themselves ministers, would bow to their father’s decision in every matter where they had asked his advice.

"Our father's conversations with his children were very instructive.

His sons remember rides with him upon which he told them many interesting things connected with natural history or geography. The occasions on which he spoke to his children about their souls were few but well chosen, and his words never failed to make an impression. It was generally on a Sabbath evening after family worship when the child came for a good-night kiss. “Well, dearie, have you given your heart to Christ yet?" or, “Will you not, before you go to bed to-night, give yourself to Jesus?” Or on a birthday he would say, “This is your birthday: are you born again?” One thing that impressed us particularly was that he expected that the elder children should interest themselves in the soul’s welfare of the younger ones. To a married daughter, visiting her old home, he said, “Have you spoken to the little girls about their souls yet? I wish you would do so." The children were encouraged to correspond freely with their elder brothers on the subject.

Many words of Scripture became engraven on the hearts of the children through hearing their father repeat them with great feeling and emphasis. Indeed, he has left them to us as a most precious legacy. The word of Christ did indeed dwell in him richly, and he taught and admonished us in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in his heart unto the Lord. Many a sweet verse has been imprinted on our minds and memories from hearing him repeat it half aloud to himself, as he walked up and down the great dining-room after supper. We have heard him say at such times, his face and manner betraying the deepest emotion—

“And when I’m to die, Lord, take me! I'll cry,
For Jesus has loved me, I cannot tell why’’—

and stopping in his walk he would say, addressing one of us, “Can you tell why?” and then go on with—

“But this I do find, we two are so joined He’ll not be in glory and leave me behind."

His own conversion had been associated with the hymn When I can read my title clear. He told his eldest daughter that, as a youth, being in great anxiety about his soul, he took that verse and spent a whole day in the woods, determined not to return home till his title was made clear to him.

As sacred as the memories of the Sunday evenings are those of the Friday evenings, which our father regularly devoted to praying for a revival. He would shut himself up in the study, and read accounts of former revivals in Scotland and other countries, and sometimes come out of his study with Gillie's Collection in his hand, to read us the story of the outpouring of the Spirit on the Kirk of Shotts or of the revivals in Kilsyth and Cambuslang. Once he read about a minister who had prayed for a revival for forty years before it came, and then he said, Ay, and that is longer than thirty-six. ’’ His children will never forget standing outside his study door, listening to the loud crying to God and pleading for an outpouring of His Holy Spirit.

He did not pray in vain. Many can still remember how, at the Conference at Worcester in i860, when the wave of blessing which had swept over America, Ireland, Scotland and England had just reached our shores, he quite broke down when he spoke of his great longing for a revival. Within a year of that date the blessing came to his own congregation. Who shall describe the joy of that husbandman who had so long waited patiently for the precious fruit, when his patience of hope was so richly rewarded! “I can imagine Papa’s joy,” wrote one of the children, who was away from home; “I think he must be saying with Simeon, Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” When this letter was read to him, the tears came into his eyes and he said, "It is just that.”

He had warm sympathy with every good work, by whoever begun and in whatever part of the world. He watched with great interest the progress of the Disruption in Scotland, and his enthusiasm was roused by looking at a facsimile of the signatures to the "Act of Separation and Deed of Demission." In every good cause he took the lead. Long before slavery was abolished he had espoused the cause of the slave. When upon his marriage, as was the custom of the time, a female slave was given to the bride to accompany her to her new home, the bridegroom gave the girl her liberty before she set out with them.

In the course of his ministry he founded no less than eight new congregations, selecting the site of the town, inducting elders and deacons, planning the building of the church, and so forth, until a minister could be called. Two towns, against his expressed wish, were named in honour of him—Murraysburg (after himself) and Aberdeen (after his birthplace). He always had a very strong feeling against remaining too long in the ministry and (as he expressed it) keeping out a younger and stronger man. Increasing ill-health led him to resign his charge at the age of seventy, and he had not long to wait before the Master took him home.

On one of his last journeys he took a chill, which aggravated his disease. During the last few weeks he kept his bed, and suffered much pain, but was always patient and cheerful. -On the last Sabbath of his life, when the elders came in after service to see him, he enquired about the sermon; and then, knowing probably that his end was near, he said solemnly, " I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him until that day, until that day.” As our mother had been up with him all night, she was persuaded to take a little rest in the next room. He followed her to the door with his eyes, and then repeated the verse—

“Jezus! uw verzoenend sterven Blijft het rustpunt van ons hart”

(Jesus! thine atoning dying Still remains my heart's relying.) When the watchers saw that he was soon to leave them, they called our mother; but just as she reached the bedside, he breathed his last.

Some further reminiscences of the mother must find a place in this biography. They are from the pen of the same daughter who has given us so touching a description of the father—

How can a child attempt to describe a mother, and especially such a mother ? To us she never seemed at all like anyone else ; she was just Mama. She taught us to read before we were old enough to be sent to school, and the hymns and verses which we learnt at her knee have remained in the memory for a lifetime. When our father was from home, Mama took upon herself the task of hearing the boys repeat their lessons before going to school. One of her sons still remembers how, when he grumbled at his difficult Latin lesson, Mama learned the lesson with him, and made him take the book while she repeated it, and so encouraged him.

On Sunday she taught us the Kort Begrip (Shorter Catechism). It is sweet to recall those Sundays. Such Sabbath-keeping has gone out of fashion. Children now would perhaps think it a weariness, yet we cannot rememher that we as children ever did. The day was strictly observed. On Saturday afternoon there was the usual cleaning up and sweeping about the house, and the children can all remember being sent down to the cellar to fetch potatoes for boiling, and raisins for the yellow rice that was a regular item in the Sunday dinner. The meat was either cooked on Saturday, or else so prepared that it could be easily warmed ; for on Sunday it was compulsory for every one to go to church, the nurse-girl and the baby only excepted. There was often a cold tart on Sunday. The fruit, that in summer always appeared on table three times a day, had been gathered on Saturday. A walk in the garden was of course allowed, and here and there a fruit might be gathered ; but no tree climbing and no fruit-picking on a large scale was permissible, as on other days.

Once a week or once a fortnight our mother would indulge in a visit to one of her friends. Let us try and describe this visit. Before school one of the daughters takes a message from Mama to Mrs. Elsie Zier-vogel or to Mrs. Berrange: ”If it is quite convenient, Mama asks permission (laat belet vragen) to visit you this afternoon.” If the lady had some engagement for the afternoon, she did not hesitate to say so; if not, the answer would be, "I shall be very happy to see your Mama this afternoon.” Our dinner was at noon, and between two and three Mama would be ready to go, taking her work with her in her reticule. Arrived at the friend’s she was ushered into the large cool parlour, in which the lady of the house sat ready to receive her visitor, with her work beside her. On the side-table stood a well-filled cake-basket, covered with a spotless white serviette, a small tray, holding two glass pots of konfijt (preserve) and a differently shaped glass bowl of clear water, in which were two small silver forks, for the purpose of conveying a portion of preserve to the saucer. At three tea was sent in, and the preserves served with it, and at five coffee and cake. After that the garden would be visited, the lady of the house usually having the care of the vegetables as well as the flowers. When the little daughters of the parsonage came home from school at four o’clock, they found their Sunday frocks and bonnets neatly laid out on the bed in their mother’s room; and dressed in these they set forth to join Mama at the house where she was visiting.

The event in the lives of the family was the visit, once in five years, to Cape Town, the metropolis, where the meeting of Synod was held. Oh ! those months of anticipation, those weeks of preparation ! There were the ten fine horses, the loan of some kind elders or deacons, kept in the stable to be fed up for the journey ; and the horse-waggon, which had long been standing unused in the waggon-house, brought out and cleaned and painted afresh. And when the team had to be tried, and the children obtained a drive through the streets, their enjoyment began. Then came the fitting into the waggon of the katel—a wooden frame filled in with wicker-work of cane, and hung inside, two feet above the floor of the waggon—which had to serve as seats by day and bed by night. Then the plat vaatjes (two flat water kegs) cleaned and filled, the larger with water, and the smaller with wine, which was needed for mixing with the almost stagnant water drawn from pools or halfdry fountains along the way through the Great Karroo. Driver and coachman were hired, whip and harness provided, and—last but not least—the tar-barrel, which we have almost forgotten, must be attached to a hook at the side. A bad look-out if it had been forgotten, and the wheels had caught fire ! It was a source of endless speculation to the children, what the actual danger of such a fatality was. Beneath the waggon was swung the rem-ketting (a large iron chain for locking the wheel in going down-hill): we were ignorant of brakes in those days. Behind hung the trap—a wooden platform designed to hold pots, kettle and gridiron.

All was now ready for the eventful morning of the start, when the finishing touches were given, the trunks skilfully stowed away beneath the katel, the bedding placed upon it, with extra blankets and pillows for the overflow members of the party to sleep on at night underneath the waggon. The kost-mandje (provision-basket)—covered and lined so as to exclude the dust, well stored with good things, and supplied with cutlery, crockery and table requisites—found a place behind. As this basket could not contain enough food for ten or twelve people for ten days, room had to be found for bags full of Boer biscuit, biltong (dried meat) and sausages. The side pockets were carefully fixed and arranged inside the tent of the waggon, and stocked with toilet apparatus, candles and matches, a Bible and hymn-book, some medicines, and ointment and bandages for possible casualties along the road.

Then came the supreme moment of starting, when the horses had been inspanned, and each traveller had taken his appointed seat. " Crack went the whip, round went the wheels, were never folks so glad ! ” The first stage of three hours (18 miles) ended all too soon, but then followed the delights of the first outspan and encampment in the veld, when each child went to gather an armful of sticks to help in lighting the fire and preparing the meal. These outspans were just a series of picnics, brimful of enjoyment for the happy children.

The journey from Graafi-Reinet to Cape Town occupied ten days. It was broken by the Sunday rest at some farm or village. Some nights were spent at hospitable farmhouses ; but in the Karroo the whole family lodged in and around the waggon. The morning start was usually made long before daylight, and just after sunrise we halted for breakfast. Family worship, night and morning, was never omitted. The hour of the first and the last stage was spent in singing. Those were days long before Sankey or Church Praise or even Bateman existed. Yet what a rich store we had, both in English and Dutch hymns ! We possessed the Dutch Psalms and Hymns, the Scotch Paraphrases, the Cottage Hymns and the Olney Hymns ; and, best of all, a little stock stored in the memory of what were called Slaven Gezangen (Slave Hymns), compiled for the use of native congregations, which were so simple and sweet that they were loved the most of all.

Mrs. Murray survived her husband for twenty-three years, and died at Graaff-Reinet in the old parsonage, which had then become the home of her son Charles and his family, in the eighty-first year of her life. During the time of her widowhood, so long as health and strength remained to her, she would travel about the country, sojourning now with this son or daughter and now with the other, but always returning to the Graaff-Reinet home. Her delight in her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren was only equalled by the affection and reverence with which they regarded her.

The first child born to this godly couple, Andrew and Maria Murray, on the 15th September, 1826, was a son, who received the name of John, after his mother’s father and his father’s brother. Andrew, the subj ect of this work, was the second son, born on the 9th May, 1828 ; and he was followed by William born in 1829, and Maria, the eldest daughter, born in 1831. Charles, the fourth son, arrived in 1833, and was followed by a little daughter, Jemima, who was only two years old when the two eldest sons were sent to Scotland for their education in 1838.

Of Andrew’s youth little is known. He and his brother John were always the closest of companions. John was quiet, thoughtful, studious, slow of speech, and gave early signs of the grace that was in him. Andrew was a boy of somewhat exuberant spirits, less quiet and less studious than his elder brother, but active of body, quick in thought and speech, of a retentive memory and able easily to assimilate knowledge. Not less earnest than his brother, and devout from childhood, he professed to date his conversion from a much later period, when he was already a student at the university of Utrecht. The two lads were in many respects a contrast. John was the true son of his father—silent, reserved, and cautious in word and act. Andrew reflected in his features and character the bright and eager disposition of his mother. In spite of this difference of temperament, or perhaps, because of it, the brothers cherished the highest affection and regard for each other. John frankly admired the talents of his younger brother who, though two years his junior, kept beside him through all their ten years of study; and Andrew revered John’s steadiness of character and sobriety of judgment, while he tried to emulate his industry and his methodical habits of work. The ties of affection and esteem which united the brothers endured throughout the years of their ministry, and were only dissolved by the death of John Murray at the age of fifty-six.

For convenience' sake a full family record is here appended:

Children of Andrew and Maria Murray.

1. John, born 1826 ; married in 1850 Maria Anna Ziervogel, born 1830. Issue: eleven children.

2. Andrew, born 1828; married in 1856 Emma Rutherfoord, born 1835. Issue: eight children.

3. William, born 1829 ; married in 1855 Elsabe Antoinette Gie, born 1836. Issue : ten children.

4. Maria, born 1831 ; married in 1852 to Johannes Henoch Neethling, born 1826. Issue : ten children.

5. Charles, born 1833 ; married in 1861 Amelia Jane Bailie, born 1844. Issue : thirteen children.

6. Jemima, born 1836; married in 1855 to Andries Adriaan Louw, born 1827. Issue : nine children.

7. Isabella, born 1839 ; married in 1861 to Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, born 1835. Issue : twelve children.

8. James, born 1843 (died unmarried).

9. George, born 1845 ; married in 1871 Catharina Johanna Louw, born 1852. Issue: sixteen children.

10. Helen, born 1849 (unmarried).

11. Eliza, born 1855 ; married in 1875 to Hendrik Ludolph Neethling, born 1845. Issue : two children

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 2

Seven Years in Scotland

There is such a thing as an atmosphere of belief. It is equally true that there is an atmosphere in which young men may best arrive at life decisions, and that atmosphere can best be generated in genuinely Christian homes. Unconsciously, in most cases, the child fulfils the desire of the parent’s heart.—John R. Mott.

IN the fourth decade of the nineteenth century the fortunes of popular education at the Cape were at their lowest ebb. The impetus imparted to the educational enterprise in 1822, when the able teachers secured by Dr. Thom commenced their labours, had died away. The salaries offered were so meagre that the majority of these men soon found spheres of work which provided better emoluments. Mr. Innes was appointed professor of mathematics at the South African College, and subsequently became the first Superintendent-General of Education, Mr. Robertson returned to Europe to qualify for the ministry of the D. R. Church, and some of the rest adopted other occupations. The condition of the public schools of the country sank lower and lower. While the population of the Colony in 1838 totalled about 100,000 whites, there were not more than twenty-three schools in receipt of a Government subsidy. The masters of these schools were paid £40 per annum from the public treasury, with an additional £5 for every ten pupils over the first twenty. On these terms qualified teachers were unprocurable, and those who came forward were able to teach little more than the three R’s. In some of the larger towns, like Graaff-Reinet and Cradock, enterprising parents, whose children required an education beyond that which the village school could supply, clubbed together to obtain a teacher who should instruct five-and-twenty pupils in Latin and mathematics, and all for the munificent salary of £120 per annum.

In Cape Town there were two institutions for higher education. These were the South African College, founded in 1829, and the school known as Tot Nut van’t Algemeen (Pro Bono Publico), the latter being at this time practically a feeder to the former. Among the farmer population of the country districts education was in the saddest condition of all. Sir John Herschel, the famous astronomer, who about this time drew up a memorandum on the state of education at the Cape which marked the dawn of a brighter day, reminded the Governor that schoolmaster was a term of reproach among the Boers. And no wonder ; for they were obliged to content themselves with the services of discharged soldiers, who tramped the country from farm to farm, but who were both intellectually and morally incompetent to impart even the most elementary instruction. Such was the state of affairs in the thirties. The oversight of educational concerns was entrusted to the Bible and School Commission, composed of a number of Cape Town clergymen representing the Dutch Reformed, Lutheran, Anglican and Scotch denominations, with a sprinkling of Government officials. These worthy men had little acquaintance with the real needs of the country, were sadly lacking [in initiative, and conducted their business for the most part on the laissez aller principle.

It was natural that Andrew Murray and his wife should be greatly exercised about the education of their two elder sons. The prospects were far from bright. There seemed to be small chance within the Colony for two lads of talent to secure an education which would fit them to play their parts in life. And so, after much thought and prayer, the parents arrived at the decision to send their sons to Scotland, placing them under the charge of the Rev. John Murray, in Aberdeen. This decision was reached, we may be sure, with heavy hearts, for the voyage from South Africa to Europe in those days was protracted and dangerous, and the severance from their beloved boys must needs be, at the best, for a long period of years.

Mr. and Mrs. Murray accompanied their sons to Port Elizabeth. Here, in July 1838, John and Andrew went on board the sailing vessel which was to convey them across the ocean. They were placed under the charge of the Rev. James Archbell and his wife, Wesleyan missionaries, who were proceeding home on furlough. Asked in after years what he could remember of the voyage to England, Andrew used to reply, “Nothing at all, except that Mrs. Archbell had a baby.” The sea voyage seems to have been moderately prosperous. The only complaint in which the father indulges is that, with the exception of a few lines by Mr. Archbell from St. Helena, he had no word from his absent sons until after the lapse of seven months, to a day, from their departure from Port Elizabeth.

The boys reached Aberdeen one day in the autumn of 1838, and on the very next morning their uncle John, who held strict Scotch views on the sin of idleness, took them over to the old Grammar School. This famous building has now wholly disappeared, and its site is occupied by a statue of General Gordon. The change from sunny South Africa to bleak and wintry Scotland, and the sudden introduction to new scenes, new masters and new companions, must have exercised a depressing influence upon the two lads, who were only ten and twelve years old respectively. Fortunately they were both studious, and the necessity for application -to their studies, coupled with the natural ambition to prove that Colonial lads were not utter savages, left them no time to yield to melancholy humours. The subject to which chief attention was paid was Latin, and though the brothers had enjoyed no other instruction than their father’s, they found that what they had acquired was quite equal to the average attainments of boys of their own age in Aberdeen.

Of the impression which the lads made upon the members of their uncle’s household we know hardly anything, beyond the reminiscences contained in the following lines by their cousin, Miss Isabella Murray, who confesses that she was less than a year old when Andrew became an inmate of their home—

He and his brother, when they arrived after a miserable voyage, were suffering from scurvy . . . and I have always thought with pity of the dear little fellow being entered at the Grammar School the first morning after his arrival. But he was very happy there, and had a great teacher in Dr. Melvin, of whom Professor David Masson has written so graphically. I cannot tell you anything remarkable of his early days with us. He was a bright, lovable boy, extremely obliging, and devoted to his brother John, to whom he owed much. John was studious and thoughtful beyond his years, and seemed weighted with a sense of responsibility, both on his own account and Andrew’s. Strange to say, when both boys sat for the entrance examination at Marischal College, it was the younger boy, then only thirteen, who gained a bursary. One remarkable thing I can tell you which applies to both boys,—with neither of them had their uncle and aunt even once to find fault during their eight years’ stay in our house, and this was due, we believed, to incessant prayer for them in the Graafi-Reinet home. We, the younger members of the family, looked on them as brothers, and were broken-hearted when they left us.

A good many letters, chiefly from the father to his sons, have been preserved from the Aberdeen period, and though they cast little light upon the circumstances under which the youths lived or the progress they made, a few extracts are here presented because of their general interest—

Rev. Andrew Murray to his sons John and Andrew.

Graaff-Reinet, 30th August, 1838.

My dear Boys,—I should have written to you before this time, had it not been that we have been expecting every post to hear something from you from St. Helena. You may both depend on it, though you are out of our sight you are seldom out of mind. We have been as it were following [you] with our fervent prayers that the God of the ocean may have been your Protector and your Guide, and we cherish the strong confidence they shall have been heard and answered. We trust also that you have not forgotten to cry to this God, “Thou art my Father, the Guide of my youth.”

You may sometimes think it hard that whilst so many young people you have known, and yet know, enjoy all the happiness of the paternal circle, you should have been sent so far from it. I trust, however, that you will ever remember that this has taken place for your own good. You know God has appointed me my station and my work here

You know also, had my affection for you so far B^yedw&h keep you here, you could never have seen or known the half of the good you are likely to see and know now. It will, however under the blessing of God, depend much on yourselves whether or not the step we have taken, shall be for your real benefit m this life and that which is to rejoice to think that your Uncle will not fail to put you in mind of these things. You must try to be always open and candid with him. You may think him sometimes rather too strict, but believe me he will always have your real good at heart. Do not then do or even plan anything you would not like him to know of. Whatever school he may see meet to send you to, believe it is for your good. Try to keep as far up in your classes as you possibly can. Prepare your tasks well in the evenings, and trust not too much to the mornings even when the lessons may be pretty easy.

Mr. Frames, whom you may have seen at Port Elizabeth, has been nominated to the Governor by the School Commission for the situation Mr. Blair had. Should he succeed, he knows little of Latin, so that he could not have helped you, had you remained. Mr. Faure and Mr. Robertson have both asked me for William, as they have Latin schools in Town and at Swellendam, but we do not like to part with him yet. Tell your Uncle that I have this day received his letter of the 22nd of May, and that I shall in common with many of my brethren ever feel grateful to him for his exertions in behalf of the interests of our Church in this case of Mr. Shand.

Now, my dear Boys, let us hear from you frequently, as everything about yourselves, your friends, your lodgings and your studies will be sure to prove very interesting to us, and many friends here will be enquiring about you. As it is near post time I must bid you both adieu, commending you daily to the care and keeping of our ever blessed and adorable Father in heaven.

Graaff-Reinet, 5th March, 1840.

My dear Boys,—Your long expected and very agreeable letter of the 7th November gave us all very great pleasure indeed. We were delighted to learn that John had gotten prizes, and that you, Andrew, stood so near to him. What gave me the greatest satisfaction was that you, John, seemed at least to take pleasure in communicating to us Andrew’s respectable appearance in his classes. I trust you will both continue to do your best, as these prizes are valuable as marking a certain standing in the class.

Nothing could afford me greater delight than to hear of those revivals of religion in the West of Scotland to which Andrew has alluded in your letter. It affords me joy to hear of any number of souls brought to Christ anywhere, and it would increase the joy to think, my dear Boys, that you, though young, begin to take some interest in such things.

You will see that one cause I write short this time is because your little brothers and sisters have taken up the space, and communicated some of those local and domestic things I might have mentioned. I rejoice that God so ordered it that you went to Aberdeen about the time you did, for as you now see yourselves, your time would have been lost here. . . .

Graaff-Reinet, 15th December, 1840.

My dear Boys,—We trust you continue to enjoy good health. We were a little uneasy to see from your letter of the 30th July that Andrew had not been very well when out at Clatt during the summer vacation. We trust, however, that he is now quite well. I was much pleased with your account of your trip. Bennachie and Tap o’ Noth put me in mind of my young days. When you have an opportunity give my compliments to those kind friends in the Garioch who were asking about me, and who showed you so much kindness. I trust, however, that such little excursions do not tend to take away your attention from your studies, but make you resume them with renewed alacrity. You must try beyond all things to serve and please God through our blessed Redeemer. Wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are paths of peace. The promise is, they who seek the Lord early shall find Him ; and oh ! blessed are all such as find Him. . . .

The revivals of religion in the West of Scotland, to which allusion was made in one of Andrew’s letters, were connected with the remarkable work of that young preacher and saint, William C. Bums. He was one of the earliest personalities to exercise spiritual influence over the youthful Andrew, and some account of his activities will, therefore, not be out of place. During his student years William Burns received a powerful impulse towards the mission field, and offered himself to the Mission Committee of the Church of Scotland as a missionary to India. By a providential chain of circumstances which he has himself described, he was for a time deflected from his original purpose, and led to devote himself to those evangelistic labours which resulted in such large blessing for Scotland,

Mr. McCheyne (he writes), about to set out for Palestine, wrote asking me to take his place at Dundee. I found myself unexpectedly free to do this, and being speedily licensed I entered on my duties in that memorable field. This was at the beginning of April [1839]. In the month of June or July I received the call that I had long looked for, being asked by the India committee to go to Poonah in the presidency of Bombay. My engagement at Dundee stood in the way of my at once complying, and another call which the Jewish committee ga.ve me to go to Aden in Arabia increased the difficulty. While asking guidance in regard to my duty I went to the communion at Kilsyth in July, when the Lord began to employ me in a way so remarkable for the awakening of sinners, that in returning to Dundee, and finding myself in the midst of a great spiritual awakening, I was obliged to make known to both committees that, while my views regarding missionary work remained unchanged, yet I found that I must for the time remain where I was, and fulfil the work which God was laying upon me with a mighty hand.

The marvellous influence which Mr. Burns wielded over the great congregations that gathered to hear him, and the wave of blessing which everywhere followed his ministrations, can be ascribed to no other agency than that of the Divine Spirit. With the exception of a voice of remarkable compass and power, he possessed few natural qualifications for popular preaching. His biographer says in this connexion—

Young, inexperienced, measured and slow of speech, gifted with no peculiar charm of poetry or sentiment or natural eloquence or winning sweetness, he bore so manifestly the seals of a divine commission, and carried about him withal such an awe of the divine presence and majesty, as to disarm criticism and constrain even careless hearts to receive him as the messenger of God. If his words were sometimes few, naked, unadorned, they were full of weight and power, and went home, as arrows directed by a sure aim, to the hearts and consciences of his hearers. Literally it might be said of him that his speech and his preaching were not with excellency of speech and man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. . . .

[When preaching at Kilsyth on the 23 rd July, 1839] his manner at first, and through nearly half of the discourse was, as usual, calm, deliberate, measured ; nor did he, I think, greatly diverge either in words or in sequence of thought from the line of the written discourse ; but there was about him throughout an awful solemnity, as if his soul was overshadowed by the very presence of Him in whose name he spoke ; and as he went on that presence seemed more and more to pass within him and to possess him, and to bear him along in a current of strong emotion, which was alike to himself and to his hearers irresistible. Appeal followed appeal in ever-increasing fervour and terrible energy, till at last, as he reached the climax of his argument, and vehemently urged his hearers to fight the battle that they might win the eternal prize, the words No cross, no crown pealed from his lips, not so much like a sentence of ordinary speech, as a shout in the thick of battle.

Writing a full year after the occurrences, Mr. Burns describes the effect of his preaching on that memorable day at Kilsyth in the following terms—

During the whole of the time that I was speaking the people listened with the most solemn and rivetted attention, and with many silent tears and inward groanings of the spirit; hut at the last their feelings became too strong for all ordinary restraints, and broke forth simultaneously in weeping and wailing, tears and groans, intermingled with shouts of joy and praise from some of the people of God. The appearance of a great part of the people from the pulpit gave me an awfully vivid picture of the state of the ungodly in the day of Christ's coming to judgment. Some were screaming out in agony; others, and among these strong men, fell to the ground as if they had been dead; and such was the general commotion, that after repeating for some time the most free and urgent invitations of the Lord to sinners, I was obliged to give out a psalm, which was soon joined in by a considerable number, our voices being mingled with the mourning groans of many prisoners sighing for deliverance.

In April, 1840, Mr. Burns began his labours in Aberdeen. He seems to have been, for a time at least, an inmate of the household of John Murray of the North Church during this period. It is on record that as a youth he received much help and edification from the preaching of Mr. John Murray, and his services to the Church of Christ in Aberdeen was a repayment, with added interest, of the debt of those early years. His personal influence, no less than his powerful preaching, left an indelible impression upon youths so susceptible to religious appeal as John and Andrew Murray. The younger brother, in particular, was accustomed in after years to trace back the first religious crisis of which he was conscious, and which he distinctly recalled to mind, to the solemn presence and the spiritual power of William C. Burns. He was permitted —a great honour for the lad of twelve—to carry to church the evangelist’s Bible and cloak, and he retained his life long a vivid memory of the deep voice, earnest manner and pointed appeals of the man through whose preaching so many thousands were brought from darkness into God’s marvellous light. Indeed, the impression made by William Burns upon the responsive youth was perhaps deeper and more permanent than Andrew Murray himself suspected. For the description of Mr. Burns’ pulpit manner and speech is largely applicable, differences of temperament being allowed for, to the preaching of his younger contemporary. Andrew Murray, too, was gifted with “no peculiar charm of poetry or sentiment or winning sweetness.” His words, like those of Burns, were " naked and unadorned,” but nevertheless “ full of weight and power.” But while with both there was no effort at oratorical display, there was that true eloquence which is born of impassioned earnestness and an intense realization of things spiritual and invisible.

The more equable character of John came under impressions which were as abiding as those made upon Andrew. It can hardly be doubted that the earnest-minded evangelist spoke to the two youths while sojourning under the same roof, beseeching them to yield themselves to Christ. But to John’s innate reserve it was easier to set down his doubts and difficulties on paper than to give them tongue in the presence of another. And this he did after the departure of Mr. Burns from Aberdeen. To his communication he received the following reply—

Rev. William C. Bums to John Murray.

“Forsake not the works of thine own hands.”—Psalm cxxxviii. 8.

Dundee, 13th January, 1841.

My dear Friend,—I was happy to receive your interesting letter, and I have been attempting in the all-prevailing name of Jesus to commend your soul in its present affecting case to the infinitely merciful and gracious Jehovah. Do not, I beseech you, give way to the secret thought that you are excusable in remaining in your present unrenewed state, or that there is the smallest possible hope of your being saved unless you are really born of the Holy Spirit, and reconciled to the Holy Jehovah by the atoning blood of His only-begotten Son. Search your heart, my dear fellow-sinner, and I am sure that you will find something which you are refusing to let go at the command of God, and look upon this secret reserve in your surrender to Him as the reason on account of which He seems for a time to overlook your case. He is a God of infinite holiness, and cannot look upon iniquity. If we regard iniquity in our heart the Lord -will not hear us. But if you are coming in sincerity of heart to Him through Jesus Christ, you will find Him to be a God of infinite mercy and loving-kindness, delighting in mercy and having no pleasure in the death of the sinner. Do not doubt, as your own wicked heart, under the power of Satan, would tempt you to do, that there is mercy for you if you will not willingly harden your heart against Jehovah’s voice of authority and love. He will make himself known to you in good time. Wait on Him. I can testify this to you from my own experience. Often do I think that God has forgotten me, but I find that afterwards He answers prayers which I have forgotten. Oh ! dear friend, be not tempted to put off to a more convenient season your entire consecration to Emmanuel. You are enjoying in Jehovah’s infinite and most undeserved mercy a convenient season at present; oh ! improve it, lest the great God should be provoked and swear in His wrath, ‘ You shall not enter into my rest.’ I will continue to pray for you, and I have hope in the Lord that I may be heard for His own glory. Jesus’ service and His presence are indeed sweet.

I am, dear John,

Your affectionate friend in the Lord Jesus,

Wm. C. Burns.

P.S.'—Show this to Andrew, whom it may also suit. I got his letter and shall answer it afterwards if the Lord will. Write me again.

It lies outside the scope of this biography to do more than merely indicate the extent of the spiritual impulse which Andrew Murray derived from Burns. As to the further labours of the latter in Aberdeen, it is sufficient to say that they were richly owned of God, and resulted in the conversion of large numbers of individuals, especially of young men and young women. Mr. Burns was countenanced and supported by several of the local ministers, among whom Mr. Murray of the North Church and Mr. Parker of the Bonaccord Church were prominent. “Both of these,” says Mr. Burns’ biographer, “loved and befriended the young evangelist with that peculiar and beautiful affection which one sometimes sees in those of more advanced years towards the young.” For an account of the subsequent evangelistic labours of Mr. Burns in Ireland and in Canada, and of his long and honourable career as missionary in China, the reader is referred to the interesting pages of the Memoir of the Rev. Wm. C. Burns, published by his brother, Professor Islay Burns, in 1870.

Meanwhile Scotland—ecclesiastical Scotland—was passing through stirring experiences. The Church of Scotland, or perhaps we should say rather the evangelical party in the Church of Scotland, was finding itself thwarted, and the decisions of its courts set aside, by the judgment of the civil tribunals of the country. In the famous Auchterarder case a majority of eight judges as against five laid down as dictum that the Established Church derived all its powers and authority from Parliament alone, and that since the law had conferred upon the Church its functions the law alone could define what those functions were. The spiritual independence of the Church was thus practically denied. It could pass no spiritual sentence which was not susceptible of appeal to, and rescission by, the law-courts of the land. Public opinion was stirred to its very depths over this question. The religious atmosphere was charged with electricity. Large numbers of ministers and laymen began to perceive that the conflict could have but one end, the rupture of the compact which bound the Church to the State. In this manner alone could the spiritual independence of the Church be vindicated and sustained. But such an act implied the renunciation of all temporal possessions—churches, colleges, lands, funds, endowments—which would remain the property of those who preferred to maintain their connexion with the State, and to surrender their spiritual independence. And so, at the commencement of the fifth decade, we find the “ evangelicals ” nerving themselves for the supreme sacrifice.

John Murray of the North Church was one of the keenest of the evangelical party, and his two nephews, young though they were, followed the phases of the conflict with the most eager interest. A letter written by John and Andrew on the 15th September, 1841, in which they asked their father various questions bearing on the relation of Church to State in South Africa, has not been preserved, but from Mr. Murray’s reply (dated 20th January, 1842) we learn the nature of their queries—

Rev. Andrew Murray to his sons John and Andrew.

I like your desire after information, but I must confess some of your queries could not be answered in a single letter; e.g. “Describe the Constitution of the D. R. Church in South Africa " is in a letter no easy task. This Church is Presbyterian, has its sessions, presbyteries and synod. New laws are about to be submitted to the first meeting of Synod in November next, in which it is proposed to have a General Assembly as a highest court of appeal in spiritual things The present Governor, Sir George Napier, has expressed himself inclined to give more latitude in this respect. You must know that when I came here we had no church courts ; we have as yet no tithes or other sources of income for our churches, and draw our salaries from the Colonial Treasury, which the Governor could not, but a British minister might at once withdraw from our whole church.

As to the case of intrusion at Somerset, or any other vacant church you suppose, I need hardly say what a Presbytery would be bound to do—for this reason, that a congregation in South Africa would never dream of seriously opposing the man the Governor nominated : such would be thought open rebellion in this Colony. I may, however, mention that the majority of ministers and elders in last Synod carried a proposal of giving congregations a right to call their own clergymen, subject to the approval of the Governor ; and every Governor has consulted more or less the feelings of the people. Sir George Grey intended giving Somerset to Dr. Roux or Mr. Borcherds, but on the memorials of churchwardens he gave the living to Mr. Pears, and sent Dr. Roux to Albany, where Mr. Pears was. . . .

You seem to think it about time that I should express myself as to what profession I should wish you to make a choice of. I think it will be time enough to do so by and by. As to what John hints as to his predilections for farming, I must say I once felt something similar. But to study the improved methods of agriculture practised in Scotland, and to come to South Africa, where in all inland districts nothing will grow without irrigation,—and on an extensive and expensive farm there is often only water for a garden, or for sowing two or three buckets of wheat—would be perfectly ridiculous. The only fanning succeeding here at present is sheep-farming, where a large capital is invested in fine woolled sheep, and the owner is on the spot and a practical farmer. A wool stapler (see Walker’s Dictionary) or wool merchant may soon do a good business. As for iron-founders, I see nothing for them to do here —there would be no demand for their work.

In short, I am fully of Aunt’s opinion. I should not like, after going from Graafi-Remet to Aberdeen and to College, to learn a business or trade I could have learned as well at the Cape of Good Hope. I should never wish you to think of the law, as our Bench and Bar and notaries are of such principles and morals, that I should tremble for any contact with them. Should you feel inclined to turn your attention to theology or medicine or mercantile pursuits, I have no doubt there will always be openings at the Cape, as well as at other places. If I were in your circumstances I should cast an eye towards the Indian Missions : there is something there worthy the ambitions of great minds. But even promoting the moral and religious improvement of the rising generation under Dr. Innes is something more worthy of having obtained a liberal education than turning the attention to any common handicraft. The College in Cape Town is not prospering as could have been wished or expected : the pupils are few in number, say forty. It is feared by some that Dr. Adamson acted very unadvisedly in giving up his situation in the Scotch Church. . . .

The following letter was written within a few days of the Disruption of the Scottish Church on the 18th May, 1843, and evinces something of the intense interest which Scotsmen all over the world displayed in the fortunes of the historic Church of the Establishment. Writing on the 4th May, 1843, Mr. Murray says—

Rev. Andrew Murray to his sons John and Andrew.

Through the goodness of our Heavenly Father we are all well, as also our friends in Cape Town. Willie wrote to you two or three months ago, giving you his simple but circumstantial account of our late journey to Cape Town. Andrew’s part of your last letter pleased me much, giving me a plain but clear statement of improvements in Aberdeen.

I am sorry you forgot to send me the number of the Witness giving an account of the grand Convocation of Non-intrusionists. I was last week, however, favoured with a number of the Banner from my brother, giving Sir J. Graham’s Reply, and an account of the congregational meeting in Aberdeen. Every interesting paper is read with avidity, not only by me, but by Mr. Paterson, the Government teacher, [Rev.] Mr. Reid of Colesberg, and others.

It is now time that I come to some of John’s questions. . . . The emancipated slaves cannot become small farmers here, as farms have become scarce and very dear. One in Uitvlugt, purchased some time ago for 5,000 rixdollars (or £375) was wished to be purchased for building a church. The people offered 16,000 rixdollars (or £1,200) for it, but in vain. Many of our late slaves are doing well as tradesmen, among others Damon is doing well as a mason.

The Colony is made to bear its own expenses, except, it may be, for the military establishment. The revenue arises from custom-house dues, a small land rent, and transfer dues, with something for licences for different things. I believe William told you our church has been vastly improved by a new roof, a new ceiling and a new pulpit. The inside has been painted and the outside plastered anew. We have been entering into an agreement with Mrs. Pears of Somerset to take

Maria for a year at least into her boarding-school, as Mrs. Wentworth cannot do much more for her. The terms are forty guineas per annum. . . .

The first of the letters of young Andrew which have survived larh-q a superscription, but was apparently written from Aberdeen in March or April of 1843. He writes upon a double sheet of letter-paper, which is adorned with a device representing some of the sights of Aberdeen. In the centre is Marischal College, a pile of buildings enclosing three sides of a quadrangle; and on either hand are engravings of the Aberdeen Market Cross and the Duke of Gordon’s Monument; the whole being the production of Samuel Maclean, 8, Union Street. The letter runs as follows—

Andrew Murray to his Parents.

My dear Papa and Mamma,—We wrote to Mr. Moffat, asking him if he would take a parcel, and received a very kind answer saying that they would be happy to do it, and that they had enquired for us at St. Andrews, but found that we were not there. We will send you very soon, which may perhaps reach you before this, a number of the Witness containing a copy of the letter which Sir James Graham has written in answer to the Memorial of the General Assembly. We send in the box Henry Martyn’s Journal, which Aunt thinks very highly of, and his Memoir to Mamma. Aunt has sent you a bag, and she would have written to Mamma, were it not that she has a very bad toothache, and also is very busy to-day. Also there is a mat which we bought at the sale, and also another which Margaret is sending you. The pictures of animals are to Isabella from Catherine. There is a profile of myself and John, which are thought pretty good likeness. They were done by ourselves. There are a great many loose things in the box, such as the Scottish Tract Society Magazine, and some of the tracts which are distributed once a month through the parish. They are paid by subscriptions. There are also copies of the pastoral address by the General Assembly for a national fast. There is a copy of the Memorial of the Convocation to Government, and their address to the people of Scotland. The cuffs are for Maria; only should they not fit her, perhaps they would fit Mamma. Perhaps you may receive another letter from us before this. Mrs. Moffat said in her letter that they were not sure whether they would Perhaps the present to the two youngest may not be very suitable, yet they were the best we could find. The presents are all from us both, and they are to be paid chiefly out of the bursary money, with which we are also to pay the book accounts.

I hope you will excuse this writing and the shortness of the letter, for the box must be nailed up immediately.

And believe me,

My dear Papa and Mamma,

Your ever affectionate son,

Andrew Murray.

P. S.—“Aunt Upton” is from Catherine to Jemima. The perforated card is for Maria to work in marks like the one sent.

Some letters written in the course of 1844 are appended, as they show what thoughts and pursuits were occupying the youth of sixteen— Andrew Murray to his Parents.

Aberdeen, nth April, 1844.

My dear Papa and Mamma,—We received yours of October 30th about the beginning of February, and as we had written a little before, we delayed answering it till we should see what our success might be at the end of the session. That success, however, has been very small: John has gotten the seventh prize in Mathematics.

The Rev. Mr. MacDonald of Blairgowrie has been here lately, collecting for a scheme for building five hundred schools, giving £100 to each, which, however, will not in all places wholly build the school. At a public meeting he held here £1,942 was subscribed, and at a second public meeting the amount announced as having been collected in three days was £3,533, to be paid in five years by instalments. He requires £50,000, and wants yet about £10,000, which will soon be raised, however, as he is a very good beggar. Great efforts are also making in England for education, the Independents having agreed to collect £100,000 to build schools in connexion with their Churches, and the Wesleyans are to raise the same.

We shall send you to-morrow the number of the Banner containing the account of the two Synods which have been held here. During the sitting of the Free Synod, meetings were held by some of the ministers with the Old Light Seceders of this district. The object was to ascertain the extent of their differences, and to see what likelihood there is of a junction ; which will not, however, take place soon. The chief ground of difference is, as I suppose you know, the binding obligation of the Covenants. One of these ministers, Mr. Gray of Brechin, wished me to remember him to you, and says that he remembers breakfasting with you. After the Synod was over last night, there was a meeting to hear from those ministers who had been sent in Deputations to England, an account of their proceedings. The amount received from England will be about £50,000—a considerable help. Some ministers have been sent to America, and a good deal will be gotten— about £10,000.

Puseyism is making great progress in England, and there is a considerable chance of there being another disruption there, but only about 2,000 ministers, I believe, will come out—a small proportion to the 500 of Scotland.

A proposal has been lately made, and will likely be carried into effect, of making a railway from the south to Aberdeen, which will be a great convenience.

April 17th.—I would have despatched this the day after the above date, had it not been that we were engaged writing in Mr. Wm. Brown's office; and I am not sorry for it, as we this morning received your two letters of January 25th. Aunt read to us part of your letter to Uncle, in which you spoke about our getting Hebrew, and Uncle had previously kindly offered to help us with it this summer. As I wish to answer the letter from William, etc., I shall conclude, but I shall try in the next letter, or the one after that, to state to you what are my views as to a profession. We have ordered for you a set of the Witness containing an account of the Free General Assembly which is to meet on the 18th May.

Aberdeen, 4th July, 1844.

My dear Papa,—Having become acquainted with Captain Allan, of the Mountain Maid, trading between this and the Cape, we with great pleasure avail ourselves of his kind offer to take a box, in order to send you a few books. We became acquainted with Captain A. thro’ Mr. Morgan of the Cape, who sent a message with him to Uncle. I hope you will accept of the Memoirs of Mr. McCheyne from me, as a token of my affection. We have sent to William his Travels, and his Life is written by his fellow-traveller and intimate friend, Mr. Bonar. John has sent you Hetherington’s History of the Church of Scotland, which I should think you will like, as it is brought down to the time of the Disruption, and contains the most important documents in regard to the Church. There is also in the box for you the Proceedings of the Assembly in regard to the state of religion, with the sermon preached before the Assembly by Mr. C. Brown, a brother of Mrs. Murray’s. We hope you received the signatures to the Deed of Demission we sent you a while ago. An additional sheet has been published, and if it come to Town in time to be put into the box, we shall send it. We have also sent a dozen large thin sheets of paper, so that William and the rest may have no excuse for not writing long letters, as these sheets being very thin are not charged double here.

The Free Church is prospering well beyond all expectation. Four hundred and seventy ministers came out at the time of the Disruption, and one hundred and thirteen have been ordained since, and there are more than one hundred additional charges to be supplied. The attendance at the Free Churches in Aberdeen, according to a report made by a magistrate, is about five times greater than that at the Established Churches, and two of the Est. Churches in which ministers are about to be settled average an attendance of only thirteen ! There is still considerable distress produced by the refusal of sites in some districts. The Duke of Sutherland, however, has given sites. . . .

There is a prospect, and even a considerable likelihood, of the Glasgow Missionary Society’s being adopted into the Foreign Mission Scheme of the Free Church. Any news as regards missions in Africa will be much prized by us. Have you, as a Church, any missions? Because I do not remember collections being made in the Church. Which do you think the best books on South Africa ? We have, or have read, Philip, Barrow, Vaillant and Boyce’s Notes.

Dr. and Mrs. Morrison of London were here lately on their way to Buchan, and will likely spend a few days here again on their return. Dr. M. is the first minister, not belonging to the Free Church, who has preached for Uncle. They wished to be remembered to you.

Uncle is keeping his health remarkably well, considering the amount of labour he goes through, as he preaches thrice every Sabbath, a thing very uncommon before the Disruption. Aunt is never very stout, and has been in the country for about a month lately. Our cousin Andrew, who has been in South America, is coming home, as the heat of the climate has hurt his health.

We shall ask Captain A. to put this letter into the post at Cape Town whenever he arrives at the Cape, so that we may get a parcel of letters from him when he returns.

Andrew Murray to his sister Maria.

Aberdeen, 4th July, 1844.

My dear Maria,—Though I have begun to write, yet I do not know what I have to tell you. After long thinking the only subject I can think of is to tell you something about my botanical studies. The class meets between eight and nine o’clock in the morning. We examine some plants that have been collected by the professor’s assistant the day before, by the Linnasan system, and hear a short lecture. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, but sometimes only on Wednesdays, we walk between seven and nine o’clock and collect plants. On Saturdays we take long walks, which occupy nearly the whole day. To-morrow (this is Friday) we are going to a place thirteen miles away : perhaps Papa may know it, N. Newburgh, at the mouth of the Ythan. We are to walk there and back ; so that, as we do not go the straight road, we will walk about thirty miles.

There are about six hundred different plants gotten in this neighbourhood, but none so pretty as those you will get. About twenty only of the forty students attending the class go these long excursions, and sometimes the people will not let them into the inns, thinking that they are strolling play-actors. At the end of the three months during which the class lasts we will take an excursion of a week, walking through the country amongst the hills in the west end of this county.

I hope you will write me a full account of your studies, and how you spend your time at Somerset.

At this time Mr. Murray was anxiously awaiting the decision of his two sons regarding the choice of a profession, and beginning to urge with greater insistency the claims of the Christian ministry. On the ist August, 1844, he writes as follows—

Rev. Andrew Murray to his sons John and Andrew.

I was duly favoured two weeks ago with Andrew’s letter of the nth and 17th April. I was much gratified by the news it contained respecting church schools in Scotland. I should, however, have liked that it had contained something more about yourselves, especially regarding your views as to what line of life you think of following after. Young men ought to be decided on that subject before they have nearly finished their course at College. I wrote to you on the 11th April on the subject, expressing my desire, should the Lord incline your hearts that way, that you should devote yourselves to His service and glory first, and then devote yourselves to the service of the sanctuary. As you have not only received said letter before this time, but I trust have also answered it, I am looking out with intense interest, as you may well conceive, to see what that answer may be. As I am daily entreating God to guide, direct and bless you, I feel a strong confidence that you have not been sent from Africa to Europe to obtain a liberal education, but for some truly worthy purpose.

It is very doubtful, should I be spared, that I shall have it in my power to give any of your brothers the advantages you have had. I trust you will see not to disappoint our expectations, and enter on avocations you might equally well have acquired here, without having ever left our shores. It has been lately proposed by our Governor to employ four additional clergymen in connexion with our Church ; but there are not so many at present unemployed in the Colony, and very few at present in Holland studying for our Church. I shall, however, endeavour to leave the matter in His hands who has thus far led us on. You will make the matter a subject of prayerful consideration.

Before this letter could have reached Aberdeen, Andrew had written to say that, after careful thought and prayer, he had decided to give himself to the work of preaching the Gospel. The letter in which he acquainted his parents with this momentous decision has unfortunately perished, but we still have the letter in which his father gives expression to his joy and gratitude at his son’s choice—

Rev. Andrew Murray to his son Andrew.

Graaff-Reinet, 1st November, 1844.

My dear Andrew,—I have been favoured this morning with yours of the 7th of September, and am surprised at having received it so soon. It must have come by a steamer. We have, of course, heard nothing as yet of the box you mention. I have now to congratulate you on your choice of a profession, and rejoice that the Lord has been pleased to incline your heart the way He has done. I trust, however, my dear Boy, that you have given your heart to Jesus Christ, to be His now and His for ever, to follow Him through good and through bad report.

The service in the Church in South Africa does not promise you much wealth nor ease in this world, but a field of usefulness as extensive as you could desire amongst a kind and indulgent people. I may now mention for your encouragement that I have for upwards of twenty-two years enjoyed much happiness in the work, and, I humbly trust, through the blessing of God have had some success in the same. You will also do well to remember that not a few pious students in divinity have been taken away before entering on their work, but where God has seen that it was in their heart to help to build Him a house, He has taken the will for the deed, and has taken them to Himself. If we seek to be prepared for death, that will be the best preparation for usefulness in life. I have not space to explain myself fully, but when you show this to Uncle he will do so.

I have just now seen the Rev. Mr. Berrangd, the minister of Maitland,1 who came lately from Holland. He assures me you may study divinity a year or two in the Free Church of Scotland, and then go for a year or two to Holland, as much for the Dutch as for theology, and get licence and ordination for the Church at the Cape by a Commission appointed for that purpose in The Hague.

The elder and more reflective John seems to have been longer in reaching the decision to become a minister. It was not that he had any difficulty in conceding the paramount claims of the Christian ministry, but rather that his scrupulous mind regarded those claims as too exalted for his devotion and his strength. But he, too, after some oscillation, determined to devote himself to theology, and to prepare for licence as a minister of Jesus Christ in South Africa. His uncle’s influence, in assisting him to this decision, was probably almost as strong as his father's; for John was always on terms of closer intimacy with Dr. John Murray than Andrew, though the latter was apparently the greater favourite with his aunt. In the spring of 1845 the brothers simultaneously passed their final examination in arts, and graduated M.A. at Marischal College, Andrew being then not quite seventeen years old. In the South African Commercial Advertiser of the 30th July, 1845, we read the following—

Marischal College and University, Aberdeen.

On Friday, the 4th of April, the degree of A.M. was conferred on several candidates after examination in the Evidences of Christianity, Latin, Greek, Natural History, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Moral Philosophy and Logic, during seven days, among whom were— Andrew Murray, Cape of Good Hope.

John Murray, Cape of Good Hope.

Of these candidates among the following were found entitled to honorable distinction, and in the following order of merit—

William Henderson, Aberdeen.

John Murray, Cape of Good Hope.

&c. &c. &c.

For an outline of the first book of the Tuscular Questions [Tusculan Disputations], with notes philosophical and critical—

John Murray, Cape of Good Hope.”

It had been decided that the brothers should take their theological course at the university of Utrecht in Holland. They had now been absent from South Africa for seven years, and had almost forgotten the tongue of their native land. It was, therefore, highly necessary for them to spend some years in the Netherlands, in order to perfect themselves in Dutch. When matters were in train for their departure for Holland, their father addressed the following letter to them, dated 23rd April, 1845— Rev. Andrew Murray to his sons John and Andrew.

It afforded your mother, myself and friends sincere pleasure to learn from your Uncle’s letter that you both seemed disposed to devote yourselves to the service of the sanctuary. As to John’s former conscientious scruples, or rather fears of entering on the preparation for so sacred an office, I expressed my views so fully in my former letters that I need not now state them again. Since you have now made up your minds for this blessed service, oh ! let me entreat you to lead watchful and prayerful lives, that you may be preserved from error in sentiment and from every deviation from the becoming line of conduct.

Whether this letter may find you in Aberdeen or in Holland is unknown to me. Allow me, however, to say that I liked Holland very much indeed. At first, being what the people termed an Engelschman, they overcharged me; but when I once knew a little of the language, and could enquire for myself, I lived cheap and comfortably. At Utrecht especially you can get two rooms, furnished, at a moderate rate, also your dinner sent from an eating-house, and the person who hires the rooms provides breakfast and supper, and brushes clothes, shoes, etc. I found this much cheaper and more comfortable than I had found boarding.

You may soon hear sentiments broached among the students, and even by professors, on theological subjects which may startle you, but be cautious in receiving them, by whatever names or number of names they may be supported. Try to act like the noble Bereans (Acts xvii. n). By studying your Bibles and your own hearts I doubt not, under the guidance of the blessed Spirit, you will be led into all truth. One temptation you will be exposed to through companionship is the use of Hollands (alias gin) and water, and smoking tobacco or cigars. Do resist both these abominable customs. If necessary at any time, entertain your friends with tea or coffee, which are both excellent in Holland. Do not be afraid to be singular in such things. ...

Whatever books may be recommended to you, be sure not to neglect the study of the Holy Scriptures. This must be a daily exercise, and must be attended to with humility and much prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Paley’s Natural Theology and Evidences, Horne’s Introduction and Witsius on the Covenants deserve to be studied. Get a copy of Egeling’s Nadenkende Christen and study it with prayer. . . . Mr. Faure writes me that the end of August is the time for being matriculated in the Hall at Utrecht.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 3

Three Years of Preparation in Holland

I had supposed that conversion was due to the operation of the Holy Spirit—a change wrought without the co-operation, almost without the knowledge, of the subject of it. Now I found that the pressure of divine grace on all human hearts is constant; God’s will to save is always there; Christ stands at the door of every one and knocks ; but the decisive point is where the will awakes, opens the door and lets Him in, responds to the infinite and universal love of God, yields to the steady though gentle insistence of redeeming grace.—R. F. Horton.

THE two brothers appear to have left Scotland in June, 1845, in order to prosecute their studies at the Academy of Utrecht.1 Holland was very much of a terra incognita at the time. The young men applied to Rabbi Duncan 2 for introductions to men of note in the theological world, but the famous professor of Hebrew confessed that he was acquainted with nobody in the Netherlands. Their uncle said that he would gladly accompany them and see them settled in their new sphere of work, but he felt that he would be of little service, since he knew but two individuals in Holland. And so the brothers had for the first time to make their own way and shape their own lives, without the advice or aid of interested friends.

They reached Utrecht towards the end of the first session, and shortly before the commencement of the summer vacation. A fellow-student, N. H. de Graaf, who subsequently became one of Andrew’s most intimate friends, has fortunately left us a vivid account of their appearance on the scene. It is necessary to premise, as will be pointed out more fully later on, that the rationalism which had infected Dutch theology was greatly deplored by a circle of earnest-minded men, to which belonged the poet Izaak da Costa and his close friend (like himself, a convert from Judaism) Abraham Capadose. These men would visit circles of pious people at various places, and give "readings” for edification on certain portions of Scripture. Mr. de Graaf’s reminiscences run as follows—

A Fair was being held in Utrecht, and it was an excessively busy time. And yet Utrecht was lonely, for the members of our circle were for the most part absent from town. At the house of Madame van Twijll van Serooskerken at the extremity of the new canal, near the plantation, Dr. Capadose was to hold a reading. I proceeded thither from my home in Booth Street. Arrived at St. Jan’s Churchyard, I saw two youths in somewhat strange garb walking ahead of me. Their countenances were cheerful, their demeanour unassuming. Was it possible that the two youthful strangers were visiting Utrecht to view the Fair ? That would be a pity. But no, they walked straight on, across the little Stammers Bridge, behind St. Pieter, along the new canal, yes, to the very end, and actually entered the house that was also my destination. There, at the entrance to the rooms, I found P. A. van Toorenenbergen talking to them in Latin. He introduced me to the two strangers. They were John and Andrew Murray, newly arrived from Aberdeen, in order to study here and become ministers at the Cape. What a surprise ! No Fair-trippers, then, but Cape brethren with Scotch blood. From that evening up till now, and for ever, we became friends and brothers.

During the early days of their sojourn we took them round as much as possible in order to show them the beautiful environs. Among these trips was a drive over the Amersfoort Hill. The view of Amersfoort from the hill-top was sure to strike them ! But how sadly we were disillusioned on halting, if you please, upon the very summit, to hear Andrew ask, "And where is now your hill?” “Where? . . . why, we are standing upon it this minute!” “Oh!” “I wonder,” so ran my thoughts, “whether they will find anything exalted in this country.”

Our first gathering for mutual edification took place on the following Sunday, when we met for tea at the rooms of P. A. van Toorenenbergen. Discussion was carried on in Latin, for the Murrays spoke only English and very imperfect Dutch, though John assured us, “As ik jong was, ik sprak de Hollandsch as de jongeling van de straat ” (When I was young I spoke the Dutch as the youth of the street). The reading and discussion of a portion of Scripture was in Latin as well, likewise the prayer. Whether the late Cicero and our still living Professor Bouman would have found our Latin classically pure, or even intelligible and endurable, is open to doubt. But it was sufficient that we understood each other.

It was well for the brothers that they found congenial Christian companionship so quickly. The religious condition of Holland was deplorable. A wave of rationalism originating in Germany had spread over the country. A latitudinarian spirit, fostered by the State, which sought to mediate between conflicting views, pervaded the universities (or, as they were then styled, academies). The pulpits were occupied by men who had to a large extent discarded evangelical doctrine. It is true they were bound, by their subscription to the formularies of the Dutch Reformed Church—the Netherlands Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of the Synod of Dort,—to preach the Calvinistic faith therein set forth; but the formula of subscription was ambiguous and was variously interpreted.Indeed, about a decade previously there had raged concerning this very question a violent controversy, the embers of which were not yet quenched. It was the great Quia—or—quatenus struggle between the orthodox party, who maintained that in subscribing to the formularies the signatory promised his adhesion because (quia) the doctrines they contained were in accordance with the Word of God, and the heterodox or liberal party, who maintained that subscription implied no more than concurrence in so far as (quatenus) the doctrines accorded with Scripture. “But little belief,” says a Dutch historian, “was still attached to the characteristic doctrines of the Church, and those which were preached were sadly diluted. The sermons of many breathed a spirit of rationalism and were merely enlargements of the theme ‘ De deugd, o ja, ik vind ze schoon ’ (How beautiful is virtue fair). The religious life of the community was feeble and lacking in vitality. Divine service was still attended, the sacraments celebrated, the functions of elders and deacons duly fulfilled, but for the rest religion was a Sunday concern without the least influence on heart and life. Conversion was an antiquated word. Faith denoted acquiescence in certain religious truths. The Holy Spirit appeared to have been replaced by the spirit of the age. The greatest tolerance was displayed towards all manner of strange views, and men of all schools made this ‘ broadmindedness ' their boast.” 1 Against this state of affairs an influential reaction set in which had its rise in Switzerland and was due^strangely enough, to the labours of two Scotch laymen, Robert and James Haldane. The spiritual condition of Switzerland was, if possible, even more deplorable than that of Holland. Moved with pity for the lifeless condition of the Church which had been founded by Calvin, the brothers Haldane visited Switzerland for the purpose of undertaking evangelistic work, and inaugurated a series of Bible readings for the theological students at Geneva. Among their most prominent converts and co-workers were Merle d’Aubigne, the learned historian of the Reformation, Frederic Monod, the eloquent preacher, and the saintly Cesar Malan. The influence of these men penetrated to the Netherlands, and kindled the expectations of those who grieved in secret over the decay of religion, and were hoping and praying for "seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.” The Revival movement in Holland, where it was known by its French name of Reveil, originated not in ecclesiastical but in literary circles, and was largely confined to the aristocratic and upper middle classes. Its leaders were Willem Bilderdijk, the chief Dutch poet of the nineteenth century, and his pupils Izaak da Costa and Abraham Capadose, both converts from Israel. More than twenty years before the arrival of the Murrays in Utrecht, da Costa had issued a powerful protest against the religious degeneracy of the times, which he entitled Grievances against the Spirit of the Age. So severe and unmeasured were his denunciations that a storm of indignation broke over his head. Preachers denounced him from their pulpits; lampoons and pamphlets innumerable were launched against him; scurrilous letters reached him anonymously through the post. His house had to be guarded by special police. Friends shunned his company or went over openly to the ranks of his enemies. But da Costa did not protest in vain. He gathered beside himself a few warm friends, of whom the most eminent was Groen van Prinsterer—jurist, historian and statesman. Da Costa and Groen, together with the philanthropist Heldring, the poet Nicolaas Beets, Dr. Capadose and others, formed the circle known as " Christian Friends,” whose gatherings in Amsterdam during the decade 1845 to 1854 kept alive the flame of religious fervour in Holland in the dark days of tepid orthodoxy and chill rationalism.

Under the influence of the Reveil some earnest-minded students at Utrecht founded in 1843 the Society known as Sechor Dcibar (Remember the Word), whose object and aim it was " to promote the study of the subjects required for the ministerial calling in the spirit of the Revival.” It was from the members of this band that the Murrays received so cordial a welcome. The five friends who had united to establish the new society were N. H. de Graaf, H. C. G. Schijvliet, D. Gilde-meester, P. A, van Toorenenbergen and J. A. Ruys. The meetings of Sechor Dabar were held once a week in rotation at the rooms of each member, who acted as host for the evening. The first three hours were devoted to study and to the discussion of theological subjects. At that time all university lectures, with the exception of those on Dutch literature, were delivered in Latin, and the Society therefore decided to employ that learned tongue in its ordinary discussions. At nine o'clock improvisations and orations were heard, while at ten the session for study ended and the rest of the evening was given over to social intercourse.

Both from motives of economy and for the sake of good example the members of Sechor Dabar resolved from the outset to avoid the use of wine and spirituous liquors, and to drink only coffee, tea and chocolate at their gatherings. This decision exposed them to the scorn and ridicule of their fellow-students, and the band was promptly dubbed the “Chocolate Club” and the “Prayer Club.” Dr. Vinke, the most respected professor of theology, was asked in class whether he disapproved of the use of wine at students’ gatherings; and his reply, that he saw no objection to one or two glasses for strengthening the voice, was quoted to rebuke and satirise the proceedings of the “ pious circle.” Men refused to sit next to them at lectures, or to rub shoulders with them in coming out of class.

If the attitude of the students towards Sechor Dabar was one of undisguised antipathy, that of the professors was hardly less discouraging. De Graaf says: “We could not boast of any great measure of sympathy from our professors. We must have appeared to them to be des enfants terribles,—too decided, too fanatical. From this you will also gather what impression they made upon us. This at least is certain, that we remained strangers to each other. It was the custom of the professors occasionally to invite those who had attained to the dignity of Candidates of Theology to deliver a popular lecture under the auspices of the Netherlands Bible Society; but to none of us was the honour ever accorded of receiving such an invitation.”

The members of Sechor Dabar devoted much of their time to religious and philanthropic work. On Sundays after the forenoon service they gathered the children of the poorest classes and instructed them in the truths of the Bible. De Graaf speaks of a number of working men who met in his rooms every Sabbath afternoon. The hours which other students gave to recreation were spent in district visiting, and in the endeavour to lead the poor and the outcast to Christ. There was also, as might have been expected, a zealous missionary spirit among the members of the society, and the Murrays were instrumental in the establishment of Eltheto,—a missionary band which met twice a month, and proved to be a plant of vigorous growth, which has been only recently incorporated in the Netherlands Christian Students' Association.

One can hardly help comparing the men of the Sechor Dabar with another far more famous circle of young men, who met in one of the rooms of Lincoln College, Oxford, more than one hundred years earlier. The leaders of this older band were also two brothers, John and Charles Wesley, and the principles which they professed, and by which they sought to guide their lives, show considerable resemblance to those upon which John and Andrew Murray acted. “ This was the problem which they discussed night after night,—By what rules ought a Christian to regulate his life ? They tried to map out for each week a sort of railway time-table, having a fixed and definite duty for every moment of the day ; and the revision and perfection of their time-tables occupied much of their evenings. As the rumour of what they were doing spread through the colleges, it appealed to the loose-living men around them as a tremendous joke. Dozens of nicknames were coined, but one young gentleman of Christ Church unearthed for them an old name which was destined to become historic. ‘Here is a new sect of Methodists,’ he sneered. In spite of obvious differences there were many points of similarity between the Oxford and the Utrecht circles. The latter did not, of course, issue in the establishment of a great branch of the Christian Church ; but in both we can trace the same spirit of intense earnestness, the same eagerness to live lives of Christian consistency, the same desire to make achievement correspond with profession, the same application to study, the same devotion to high ideals of duty expressing itself in works of mercy, and finally, the same exposure to ridicule and persecution from the side of their fellow-students. It would hardly be too much to say that the Murrays, and like-minded South Africans of the Sechor Dabar circle, were instrumental in saving the Dutch Reformed Church at the Cape from being engulfed by rationalism, and in powerfully promoting by their life and testimony the growth of vital evangelical religion in their fatherland.

The professors whose lectures John and Andrew attended were Bouman, Vinke and Royaards. Professor Bouman was widely known as one of the foremost Latinists of his age, and a stern opponent of the proposal to abolish Latin as medium of academical instruction. When in spite of his protests the movement gained ground, he solemnly warned its advocates that they would have to account for their actions at the last day. Beyond his familiarity with the tongue of Cicero, Bouman seems to have aroused but little enthusiasm. Of his learning there could be no doubt, but his lectures were of the dry-as-dust order. “The learned Bouman,” said Professor Lamers, a later occupant of an Utrecht chair, “may have occasionally, and with extreme caution, called our attention to critical difficulties in the text of the Old or the New Testament, but of questions of the higher criticism, which just then began to show a threatening front, we heard nothing.”

Professor Vinke inspired greater regard than his colleague the Latinist. John Murray spoke of him with respect, though without warmth. Prof. van Oosterzee, another of his students, was of opinion that “his clear, accurate and thoroughly evangelical unfolding of the doctrines of the faith, as well as his instruction in Practical Theology, was eminently adapted to train well qualified pastors and ministers for the congregations of the fatherland.” This may, however, have been merely the pious commendation of a brilliant student who would have learnt something from any professor, however undistinguished. Professor Royaards, famous for his subsequent studies in Canon Law, was best remembered among Cape students by the advice he gave John Murray, “not to allow the Sechor Dabar society to gain too great an influence over him, lest he should expose himself to the danger of fanaticism.” These were the men to whom the theological students looked for spiritual and intellectual enlightenment. " One learnt nothing from their lectures,” was the blunt avowal of one of the students of this period. And to the same effect Andrew Murray : " the lectures here are such that it is almost impossible to get any good from them.” This may have been due in part to the fact that the Latin language still ruled with undisputed sway, but there is no doubt that the professors took their tasks much too easily. “Their theology,” says Dr. van Gheel Gildemeester, "tasted of long Gouda pipes.”

There was among the professors another man who stood in a different category, and whose name was soon to be mentioned with doubt and positive alarm by orthodox thinkers. This was the eminent jurist and philosopher C. W. Opzoomer, who first drew general attention by an anonymous pamphlet, published while he was yet a student at Leyden, in refutation of da Costa’s Grievances. In 1846 Opzoomer was called to the chair of philosophy at Utrecht, where by his learning and eloquence he exercised a profound influence, and drew students from all parts of Holland. The Murrays, since they had completed their preparatory studies, did not require to attend his classes, but later arrivals from the Cape, such as Nicolaas Hofmeyr (subsequently Professor Hofmeyr), testified that they found in the lectures of Opzoomer an enthusiasm which was wholly lacking in his older colleagues. Orthodox students spoke of his class-room as the Dardanelles : they had to sail through it, but they found the passage both narrow and dangerous. Opzoomer was, in short, a rationalist,—or rather, since he was professor of philosophy, an empiricist,—and became one of the fathers of the tendency known in Holland as Liberalism or Modernism. His attitude towards revelation may be gauged by his assertion that “ there is no room for miracle, either in the series of natural phenomena or in the fabric of human existence : for every fact, whether in the realm of nature or in the world of humanity, some physical or human cause exists (though, perhaps, as yet unknown) which can account for it.”

Surrounded by intellectual influences such as these, it was well for the brothers that they found a circle of like-minded friends, and were enabled to take so decided a stand on the side of vital religion. On the other hand, the new intellectual atmosphere to which they were introduced, and the friction with minds that viewed Christian truth from another angle than theirs, caused them to scrutinise more closely the foundation upon which their faith in Christ rested. Students who leave the paternal roof to study abroad frequently sever their moorings and find themselves adrift upon sunless seas of doubt. Others, again, who have been reared in piety and nurtured on Bible truth, when thrown upon their own spiritual resources, find occasion amid the uncongenial surroundings for committing themselves anew to the grace of an all-sufficient Saviour. Thus it befell with Andrew Murray. At Utrecht he underwent the great change which he called his conversion, and which made him more definitely the Lord’s. He used to say that he could point to the very house, the very room, and of course the very date, when this change ensued. His conversion was no sudden upheaval, but it was a distinct and complete surrender to Christ and to His claims,—a clear-cut experience from which he dated a new era, and which lay at the back of all the preaching of later years. The news of this event was conveyed to his parents in the following letter—

Andrew Murray to his Parents.

Utrecht, 14th November, 1845.

My dear Parents,—It was with very great pleasure that I to-day (after having been out of town three days) received yours of 15th August, containing the announcement of the birth of another brother. And equal, I am sure, will be your delight when I tell you that I can communicate to you far gladder tidings, over which angels have rejoiced, that your son has been born again. It would be difficult for me to express what I feel on writing to you on this subject. Always hitherto in my letters, and even yet in my conversation, there has been stiffness in speaking about such things, and even now I hardly know how I shall write.

When I now look back to see how I have been brought to where I now am, I must acknowledge that I see nothing. “ He hath brought the blind by a way that he knew not, and led him in a path that he hath not known.” For the last two or three years there has been a process going on, a continual interchange of seasons of seriousness and then of forgetfulness, and then again of seriousness soon after. In this state I came here, and as you may well conceive there was little seriousness amid the bustle of coming away. After leaving [Scotland], however, there was an interval of seriousness during the three days we were at sea our departure from Aberdeen, the sea, recollections of the past, all were calculated to lead one to reflect. But after I came to Holland I think I was led to pray in earnest: more I cannot tell, for I know it not. "Whereas I was blind, now I see." I was long troubled with the idea that I must have some deep sight of my sins before I could be converted, and though I cannot yet say that I have had anything of that deep special sight into the guiltiness of sin which many people appear to have, yet I trust, and at present I feel as if I could say.

I am confident that as a sinner I have been Led to cast myself on Christ.

What can I say now, my dear Parents, but call on you to praise the Lord with me? "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases ; who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercy.” At present I am in a peaceful state. I cannot say that I have had any seasons of special joy, but I think that I enjoy a true confidence in God. Short, however, as my experience has been, I cannot say that it is always thus. Already have I felt my sins separating between me and my God, and then the miserable consequences, a sort of fear, and the wretched feeling of being held back in prayer by sin.

24th November.—In taking up my pen again, I have again to lament my inability to write on the great subject. Though I can say that my heart at present is warm, yet whenever I begin to write or speak, I fail. I sometimes think how glorious it will be when it shall be impossible to do anything but ascribe praise to Him that hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God. There certainly must be a great change in us before we shall be ready to do that.

Associated as they were with the Reveil and its principles the Murrays obtained ready access to many of the best families of Holland,1 such as the van Boetzelaars, the Herklots and the Waller-Oyens. They had frequent opportunities of visiting the homes of these friends, who were unwearied in their kindness to the strangers from South Africa. Andrew found his way at short intervals to Amersfoort, lying but a few miles east of Utrecht, and spent many pleasant hours under the roof of the parents of his friend Schijvliet. During the vacations the brothers went further afield. On one occasion they made the acquaintance of da Costa, and of Capadose “ just returned from Scotland, where he had taken part in the proceedings of the General Assembly of the Free Church.” They also spent a Sabbath at the village of Heemstede, near Haarlem, in order to listen to Dr. Nicolaas Beets, poet and preacher. “ We heard him with very great pleasure,” writes Andrew. “ He combines eloquence, poetry and true piety. I have not heard such sermons since I came to Holland,—especially a very searching one on the sixth commandment.” The following letter, written on the eve of his eighteenth birthday, gives some insight into his affairs, both spiritual and temporal— Andrew Murray to his Parents.

To-morrow will close a year which is certainly the most eventful in my life, a year in which I have been made to experience most abundantly that God is good to the soul that seeketh Him. And oh I what goodness it is when He himself implants in us the desire of seeking while we are enemies. I rather think that when I last wrote I gave an account of what I believed was my conversion, and, God be thanked, I still believe that it was His work. Since the letter I cannot say that I have always had as much enjoyment as before it, but still there has been much joy in the Lord, though, alas ! there has also been much sin.

. . . But through grace I have always been enabled to trust in Him who has begun the good work in me, and to believe that He will also perform what He has, out of His free love before I was born, begun. Oh I that I might receive grace to walk more holy before Him.

John has written both in this and former letters very fully as to public matters here: I shall try and tell something about domestic. In the last letter Papa says that he proposes sending two bills, of about {fio each, a year. We had calculated that we would need very nearly that a year on an average. I may state to you some of our principal expenses. House rent, with service—two very nice large rooms at a cheap rate, £15 a year. Dinner—about sevenpence each a day, £17 a year. Clothes—we are not very sure how much they will amount to. During the past year we have spent about £io, but we shall not need much for a considerable time to come. Bread—nearly 10s. a month. Books—we are not sure, perhaps £15 a year too. And then innumerable little sums which mount up—tea, sugar, lights, etc. At present we have no college fees. These will all have to be paid together at the end of the course.

As to our external circumstances here, they are very much the same. We still associate only with our own circle of students. If you see the number of the Free Church Missionary Record for April, you will see mention made of them and us. We meet at present every Friday evening for work from 5 J till 10, and then sup together from 10 till 12—very plainly, of course, bread and butter, cheese, and some sort of coffee. On Wednesdays we meet in a church for oratory, when one delivers a sermon, another speaks extempore, and a third reads a piece of poetry

all, of course, to accustom us a little to the work in which we expect and hope to be engaged. On Sabbath evenings we meet together for reading, singing and prayer, when one generally speaks over a chapter.

We have also begun a missionary society to meet twice a month for communicating missionary intelligence, and prayer for the extension of the kingdom of our God and His Christ; so that on the first Monday of the month we shall have the pleasant feeling of being engaged about the same time as you and thousands of God’s children throughout the whole world in supplicating for the outpouring of God’s Spirit on the world. Most of us also generally spend the Sabbath afternoon in visiting the wretched districts of the town and speaking to the people about their souls, and in teaching a few of their children in our rooms. Oh ! that all this may not remain there and go no further, but may God grant us His abundant blessing on our work and on our own souls.

There is a plan that I have to propose to Papa. I cannot say that I am sure that it will meet with his approbation, but I mention it thus early that he may think about it, and shall write more fully about it afterwards, and then Papa will perhaps be kind enough to give me an answer. In about two years from this date, which is all the time that it will be necessary for us to stay here, I shall be just twenty years old. The lectures here are such that it is almost impossible to get any good from hem. What would Papa say to my, or perhaps both of us, then going to Germany ? It would likely be to Halle, where there are a great many excellent (both in head and heart) professors, at the head of whom stands Tholuck, a pious man, professor of exegesis, who stands at the head of those who at the present time oppose the German neology —at least as to what concerns the New Testament. From living being cheaper in Germany than here, the expenses of the journey would be compensated for by the difference in the price of living. And about the same time the Kapenaren at Barmen would be going there, so that we would be able to live perhaps still cheaper. The reason that I have spoken of myself alone is that from the want of ministers at the Cape it would perhaps be necessary for John to come home immediately, and he would then be just about an age at which he could be ordained, while I think it very unlikely that in this stiff country where everything must happen according to the laws, they would ordain me so young (little more than twenty). It would, however, be of course a very great advantage for him too. You will say, my dear Father, that it is looking far forward. May God guide us in all our steps, and give us grace to do whatsoever our hand findeth to do with all our might.

Extracts from letters from John are here inserted for the additional light which they cast upon the general religious situation in Holland. John Murray to his Parents.

19th September, 1846.—I received Papa's letter of the 30th April this morning. It has certainly had a voyage of very unusual length. I am thankful again to hear of the Lord’s goodness resting on our dear home, and this goodness, too, not without some spiritual blessing, I trust.

Is your Seminary coming to anything yet? I know in a country like the Cape it is impossible to go on with the speed they do in Scotland, but I hope you will try to be clear of Holland as soon as possible, and educate for yourselves ministers, catechists and schoolmasters. At the Cape the Dutch people have a very wrong impression of Holland, as I learn from many circumstances, and particularly from what I hear from J. Neethling. He was a good deal connected with Uncle William [Stegmann], and the universal coldness that prevails here, as well as the want of an enlarged public spirit, even in pious people, contrasted with Uncle William’s fervency and energy, give him a very poor idea of this country. In fact, I am much more of a Dutchman, in principle, than he : he is almost ashamed of the name.

But about this country,—I am sure if the people in general, and the ministers too, knew of the doctrines taught here, at Leyden and Groningen particularly, of the contempt with which the most influential ministers (as those of large towns) talk of Dordtsche regtzinnigheid (Dordt orthodoxy),of their alteration of the words of the formulas, for instance that of baptism, they would have done with the relations they maintain with this country. Above all, I forgot to mention the scandalous morals of the theological students. I solemnly assure you the name of God is profaned in the theological class-rooms, even by the orthodox and respectable students ; nor do they lose character by being intoxicated now and then on some festive occasion, provided only it do not take place immediately before the proponents-examen (examination for licence). And in this I take no notice of grosser offences of which a few are guilty, who though destitute of character and notorious, still become ministers when they are ready.

2nd November.—As to my studies and classes I may say a few words, since Papa will be interested to hear of them, though I know not that I have anything new or interesting to communicate. We have now entered on the new study of Systematic Divinity. It is taught by Prof. Vinke, who has this year begun to teach it by the exposition of the Confessio Belgica. The precise motive which induced him to adopt this method I do not know, but I rather think it is in order to bring more prominently before the students the doctrines of the Reformed Church and of the Bible, in opposition to the heresies which are taught at Leyden and Groningen. On the score of soundness of doctrine, so far as I can judge from the little progress we have made in the treatment of the subject, I do not think there is any reason to complain. I have heard him preach now and then too, and have gotten the same impression from his preaching as his teaching. As a rule, however, his preaching does not satisfy me so well as that of other domine’s here, so I don’t go to hear him often. The rest of our club, Andrew included, never do it, and think me somewhat moderate in this and other respects. . . .

But about Dogmatics,—in private I am busy with a German system which I hope to master, but I read at the same time Calvin’s Institutes, and afterwards I hope to read Witsius’ Oeconomia Foederum. Such books as these two last scarcely any student uses nowadays. In truth it is laughable and sometimes contemptible to hear how people talk about de hoogte van den tijd (being up-to-date), etc. I must say I like the writings of the Germans very much for their depth of research and for their scientific way of treating every subject; but it is rather too bad to treat everything old with contempt, especially when the question is considered in a Christian point of view,—I mean, when you contrast the ancient doctrines with the unscriptural and sometimes blasphemous opinions which fill so large a part of the modern theology.

On the same sheet of paper as that which contains the preceding extract, Andrew adds the following lines—

Andrew Murray to his Parents.

I rather think that we also told you of a missionary society that we had erected, to read together a few missionary periodicals in English and German. We are now going to publish a missionary periodical in Dutch—sixteen pages monthly—consisting of extracts regarding the progress of the work of God throughout the whole world. The reason that we (there are eight of us) are going to do this is, that Holland is lamentably deficient in interest in the missionary work, and the two existing periodicals are rather spiritless, and confine themselves to rather small fields. I hope that the Lord will direct us in the management of it, and give His blessing.

All our other outward circumstances are very much the same. We have met with very kind friends. Amongst others I lodged at the end of the summer vacation with a young minister in Harderwijk, Dr. Taats, a fellow-student of Messrs. Krige and Albertyn. He is one of the pious and evangelical party, who, however assiduous in his parish work, yet unfortunately like most of the pious ministers in this country, leaves the public church affairs very much in the hands of those in whose possession they at present are—the moderate Liberals. This is the great subject of complaint of pious men like Dr. Capadose, who wish to see all the truly pious uniting themselves together. This is at length beginning to be the case, although to a much less extent than might be wished.

To Andrew’s request to be allowed to spend a year in Germany his father returned a circumspect reply. He admitted that a probationer could not as a rule be ordained before attaining the age of twenty-two years, but as a reason for immediate return to South Africa he urged that “there are spheres of usefulness here from the time one arrives, and one is gaining experience before he has all the responsibility of a congregation.” Perhaps Mr. Murray’s thoughts had even then turned to the great hinterland, which was to be Andrew’s first field of labour, for he adds: “The destitute state of the farmers beyond the Orange River is to be brought under the notice of the Synod. We have no unemployed labourers, except it may be a Mr. Reitz, of whom I hear nothing. It is thus very probable that two may be sent from our Presbytery to labour among them for some months, and to collect information as to their situation and necessities.”

The number of Cape students at Utrecht had in the meantime been increased by the arrival of Jan Neethling, Nicolaas Hofmeyr and Hendrik Faure. The first-named reached Holland in 1846, and the latter two in the following year. Their presence at Utrecht meant much to John and Andrew; for not only were they compatriots, who brought with them a fresh breath from the Southern home which the brothers had quitted eight years previously, but they held similar views on questions of personal religion, and helped to strengthen the ranks and extend the influence of Sechor Dabar. Writing of Nicolaas Hofmeyr, his biographer, Mr. J. D. Kestell, says: “ In addition to Faure, Hofmeyr had as close friends John and Andrew Murray, with whom, however, his intercourse was not at that time very prolonged, for the Murrays had already nearly completed their studies, and they left the Academy in the following year. In that short time, nevertheless, an indissoluble bond was established between them and Hofmeyr, as well as between these three and Jan Neethling.”

When the year 1848 dawned it brought the brothers within sight of the end of their studies. On the 18th March, Andrew writes to his parents— .

Andrew Murray to his Parents.

You can conceive that we are anxiously waiting for the letters from home which shall decide the question as to my next year. Although I still feel the necessity of staying, yet I can say that I am prepared for whatever shall be good, trusting that that gracious Father will guide us now, as He has hitherto so kindly led us, and believing that He knows what is best for His Church in that part of the vineyard where I desire to labour. My desire is to place myself in His hands, and He can use me even although I have not the advantage of an additional year’s stay in Europe,—perhaps even better than if I had such an additional stock of human wisdom, which so often proves nothing else than an obstruction in God’s way.

I say it is my wish to do this, for, alas! the general state of my mind is not so much a resting in faith in God’s leadings, but a certain indifference and contentedness as to the future, resulting from my natural character. What a blessed thing it would be if we could commit ourselves and all our cares to Him in faith, in that active, living faith that is really concerned in the future. I find that I so often mistake for faith a certain state of the mind which is content with the future from a sense, not of God’s fatherly care, but of God’s providence as something allied to fate,—an idea that I can’t help it, and that there is no use in troubling about it. Oh ! how different is that faith which arises from a soul really concerned in its own interests and in God’s glory, that sees and feels human aid insufficient and failing, and then flees to Him who is the strong refuge.

I am sure we have often been reaping the fruits of your believing prayers, whilst we were still unacquainted with true prayer, and I trust that we may still go on to experience what a blessing praying parents are. I must reproach myself, too, that I feel this so little, and that I so little seek in prayer those blessings for you, which we have so often received from you through this means. The Lord teach us to pray, and oh ! although I do not pray for it as I ought, may He grant you a rich answer to the many prayers you have offered for us in an abundant blessing for your own souls. I am sure there are no prayers which parents offer, of which the answer is more gratifying to their own souls, than those which they see answered in the conversion of their children. May a gracious God, who has so far richly blessed the family in the conversion of the four eldest, unite us all in those ties which are closer than those of earthly relationship, and make us one in Christ.

As John has stated, we do not know what our plans are after ioth May, as the decision depends upon Papa’s letters. On receipt of them we shall, of course, write immediately. At this moment we are naturally very busy. Yesterday we passed a tentamen (trial examination) with Professor Royaards, and to-day we were promised our certificates. Professor Bouman expressed himself quite satisfied with our conduct. So much for the external preparation. Our chief study for the examination is Dogmatical Divinity. The other branches are comparatively easy.

But I must bid you farewell for this time. Hoping soon to receive Papa’s letter, I shall postpone more extended communications on our plans till then. Remember us to all the family. What a meeting it will be at the end of the year ! Be assured, my dear Parents, of the sincere affection of your loving son.

It was customary at that time for young probationers proceeding abroad to receive ordination before setting out for their appointed spheres of work. This ordination was generally administered by a body of ministers styled De Commissie voor de Zaken der Protestantsche Kerken in Oost en West Indien (The Committee for the Interests of Protestant Churches in the East and West Indies), but known more familiarly, from its place of meeting, as De Haagsche Commissie (The Hague Committee). The difficulty of Andrew’s being under the regulation age had been in some way or other surmounted, and on the 9th of May, 1848—Andrew’s twentieth birthday—at The Hague, both brothers were solemnly consecrated and set aside for the work of God in South Africa.

We still possess, from the pen of N. H. de Graaf, a touching account of the farewell accorded to John and Andrew Murray on their departure from Utrecht. In his reminiscences of Sechor Dabar, from which we have already quoted, Mr. de Graaf says:—

The end of the first period [of the Society] was reached when the first Murrays left us. We had by that time received fresh accessions from the Cape—N. J. Hofmeyr, H. E. Faure and J. H. Neethling, and subsequently more Murrays and another Hofmeyr. Later on, the establishment of a Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch was the natural and blessed reason why no more Cape students came to attend the Utrecht Academy.

And now I have reached the day when John and Andrew Murray took their leave of us. An extract from a letter dated 3rd July, 1848, will give you a faithful account of what took place on that eventful day. The letter was written on the day after their departure to my fiancde, Johanna Elisabeth Pierson, who for the last thirty-five years has been my beloved wife and trusty colleague.

Yesterday, Sunday, the 3rd of July, we attended the Bnurtkerk, where Rev. Lucas Merens officiated. We felt the need of uniting once more in prayer and praise with so many whom we knew and who knew us. At 3 in the afternoon we met in the rooms of J. Drost—fifteen in number, the remaining three of our circle being absent from town. It was our united and fervent desire to show forth the Lord’s death at the Sacramental Table, and to declare our expectation of His return. For that purpose Drost had purchased a glass dish and glass bowl, which he retains to this day as memorials of our gathering.

Behold us then assembled, in deep earnestness, in peace and love, at the apartments of Jan Drost on the Marieplaats. John Murray led our devotions. "’k Zal eeuwig zingen van Gods goedertierenheen” (Evermore will I sing of God’s mercies)—that was our confession of faith, our strength for that day, our hope in the approaching separation. After prayer and the reading of a beautiful portion of the formula for the Lord’s Supper, we again raised our voices in confession and prayer: "Jezus, uw verzoenend steruen Blijft het rustpunt van ons hart ” (Jesus, in Thine atoning death Our heart confides and rests). Once again John Murray led us in prayer, and then we partook of the elements, and thus held communion with the body and blood of Christ, who died for our sins and was raised for our justification. We ate and drank, and were indeed strengthened and quickened. John then read Psalm clil. and Colossians iii., “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. ” After a prayer of thanksgiving, and united commendation of one another to God’s love and faithfulness, we sang Psalm cxxxiii, and received the benediction from our leader.

At 7 o’clock we met again in a roomy apartment in my father’s house. Since I was host, I opened the gathering with prayer and song, read a portion of Romans xvi. and some pages from Beets’ Stichtelijke Uren, after which we sang from the 43rd hymn, “Hoog, omhoog, het hart naar boven " (Raise your hearts on high, on high) We then had opportunity for private conversation, John and Andrew exchanging confidences with each one present in turn. Finally they stood there, one of them closely surrounded by half our number, and the other by the other half. At 9 o’clock we had supper, Andrew asking a blessing on our meal. At 10 o’clock we sang together portions of Psalm cxvi., after which I read Ephesians i. and ii., and spoke a few words on the passage. We then knelt down, and I had the privilege of leading in prayer, in which I expressed the gratitude which filled the hearts of us all for the inexpressibly precious blessings we had enjoyed, especially during the past three years ; and also for the blessings of this last day, when we were able to commend our beloved friends to the love of our God, with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning. We then united in singing Psalm cxxxiv., standing close round John and Andrew. We wept and embraced the brothers so dearly beloved. John then extended his hands over our heads: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”

At the front-door stood a faithful housemaid, who always attended on us when meetings were held at my home. On leaving, the brothers pressed a suitable douceur into her hand. "But, gentlemen,” she remonstrated, “am I the only one from whom you part this evening like a stranger?” “No, no,” they replied, "we look upon you as no stranger, and part from you as a sister.” "Well then, a sister receives no tip,” she said, and the money glided back into the hands of the friendly brothers. Outside, a carriage was waiting to take them to Vreeswijk. It was half-past ten. We went outside to refresh our spirits in the silent and beautiful night.

Thus ended Andrew’s connexion with Holland. The three years spent there had been a critical and formative period. The great change which he called his conversion, and for which God had been preparing him ever since solemn thoughts had been aroused within him by William Burns’ message, had been consummated here. His conviction that God had palled him to the ministry of the Gospel had been deepened. His assiduous studies and intercourse with others, as well as the companionship of his serious-minded brother, had imparted to him maturity of judgment and greater thoughtfulness of disposition. It is said that in early years Andrew was known for his exuberant spirits, and that the staid elder brother would often rebuke the younger with, “Andrew, you should not laugh so much; it is not good to laugh so much.” This was perhaps a survival of the old supposition that religion and joyousness are incompatible. But notwithstanding this natural gladness of heart, there can be no doubt of Andrew’s deep and constant seriousness from this period onward. His letters show that his mind was steadfastly set on things above, and bear evidence to that continual introspection and self-examination which produced such abundant reward in his gracious Christian character and his blessed and fruitful ministry.

We have no record of the homeward journey to South Africa. The brothers left Holland apparently in July, and reached the shores of Table Bay some time during the first half of November. They were accorded a hearty welcome back to their fatherland by relatives and friends alike. In Cape Town resided their grandparents Stegmann, as well as their maternal uncle, the Rev. George William Stegmann (“Uncle William”), a man of great energy, piety and evangelical fervour, who at that time was pastor of the coloured congregation worshipping at St. Stephen’s, Bree Street. The arrival of two young ministers from Europe was in those days an event of more than local importance. It was chronicled in Church magazines, referred to in the Press, and discussed in ecclesiastical circles throughout the country. At the time of which we are speaking it was also customary to invite a new arrival to occupy the pulpit of the Groote Kerk in the Heeren-gracht (now Adderley Street)—the oldest church building in South Africa—so that all might have the opportunity of seeing him and hearing him proclaim the Gospel. To these and other matters reference is made in the following letter, the first, apparently, which Andrew addressed to his parents after his return to his native shores.

Andrew Murray to his Parents.

Cape Town, 15th November, 1848.

My dearest Parents,—You will perhaps just at this moment have received the letter John sent ofi last week, and be rejoicing in the mercy of the Lord, who has brought us hitherto. Oh ! that I felt more what it is that we have enjoyed at the Lord's hands during the past ten years, which He has thus crowned with His goodness in granting us the long-looked-for consummation of our hopes. And it is certainly for good that some time will elapse before we meet, although it was to us a disappointment not to find you here, as we had been delighting ourselves with the thought of meeting you all here.

We have, of course, not yet made any plans as to our coming down. The letter we hope to receive from Papa next week will certainly contain directions for us how to act. As to one of us staying at Wynberg, I think I could agree to it were it necessary, but I hardly see the need of it; and without a very pressing call of duty, I think it would be almost doing violence to you, especially to Mamma’s feelings. . . . Should Papa, however, in his letter say that this appears to be a call of God, I think either of us is ready to stay. I almost suppose that it would fall to my share, as John will likely be placed long before me.

Papa certainly knows already that we heard from Mr. Faure that John will most likely be called to Burgersdorp, while I shall have to act as assistant until I am twenty-two; so that I am indulging the pleasant prospect of spending a year at least at home before taking sole charge of a parish. I do trust and pray that the Lord will prepare us for all that He has prepared for us, whether that be meeting or separation. . . .

I cannot say with what kindness we have been received here, not only by our dear Grandparents and other relations, but also by other friends. Especially is the interest which the people of God take in us quite bumhling, when I think how little they really know what I am.

Oh! that my soul were really brought to a sense of its own littleness by the overwhelming load of God’s mercies.

Uncle William won’t be in town till Saturday night: we both long very much to see him. On Sabbath John is to preach in the morning, at Wynberg, and on Sabbath week in the morning for Dr. Heyns in the Groote Kerk. I am to officiate there this Sabbath for Mr. Faure, and will likely in the afternoon or evening have to occupy the pulpit of St. Stephen’s. The reason of my preaching first in the Reformed Church is that my voice is stronger than that of John, and he would like me to try it first. My text is: “Wij prediken Christus, den Gekrui-sigde ” (“We preach Christ crucified”)—i Corinthians i. 23. May it be true! But I feel it very difficult not to preach myself, by attending too much to beauty of thought and language and feeling too little that God alone can teach me to preach. We are also half engaged to preach for Messrs. Morgan and Miller, if we are able. ... t

The invitation referred to above, to remain at Wynberg, was apparently a request to occupy the pulpit of that parish during the absence of the minister, the Rev. Philip Faure, who, together with Dr. Robertson, then minister of Swellendam, had departed on a prolonged tour to the emigrant farmers in the territories beyond the Orange and Vaal rivers. Mr. Murray, however, did not insist upon either of his sons acting at Wynberg, and, after a short stay in Cape Town, and visits to Stellenbosch and elsewhere, they embarked in the early days of December for Algoa Bay, where their father met them. They proceeded immediately to Graaff-Reinet, where a glad welcome and a joyful re-union with their mother and the other children (some of whom they had never seen) awaited them.

It is on record that Andrew was of so happy and playful a disposition that the younger brothers and sisters were enraptured with him. “Is Brother Andrew a minister?” they cried, “that can never be: he’s just like one of us!" But it was soon apparent that young Andrew was first and foremost a minister, a preacher of the eternal Gospel, and a ceaseless seeker after souls. On the Sabbath after their arrival the two sons of the manse occupied their father’s pulpit—with what feelings we may well imagine. Those who heard them were profoundly impressed, both with the earnestness and passion of the younger, and with the thoughtfulness and incisiveness of the elder. At the first communion following, the tables were administered by the father and the two sons in rotation. When it was Andrew’s turn to dispense the elements and deliver the customary brief address, he rose, closed his eyes, and for some moments seemed lost in meditation and prayer. An almost painful silence filled the building, and a hush of deep solemnity fell upon the great assemblage. When at length the youth—for he was little more than a youth—opened his mouth, the words which he uttered were so evidently sincere, so intense and so uplifting, that those who heard him, and had last seen him as a boy of ten, could scarce restrain their tears. It was manifest to all that in these two young men God had bestowed upon His Church in South Africa a gift of inestimable value, and that these sons of the Graaff-Reinet parsonage would, if spared, leave a deep impression upon their day and generation.

The hope which Andrew had cherished that he would be able to spend a year at home before assuming the responsibilities of an individual charge, was soon dispelled. During their stay in Cape Town the Governor, Sir Harry Smith, in whose hands all ecclesiastical preferments then lay, interviewed the brothers as to probable appointments. “You are the elder,” he said to John, “and therefore I shall give you the charge of Burgersdorp.” And then turning to Andrew he said, “And as you are the younger, I am afraid I shall have to send you to Bloemfontein.” The elder brother thus received what was considered the more eligible appointment to a congregation lying within the borders of the Cape Colony, while the younger had to content himself with a remote and unattractive parish beyond the Orange River. And thus Andrew became the first pastor of a territory nearly fifty thousand square miles in extent, and the first regular minister to live and labour among the voortrekkers.




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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 4

Early Days at Bloemfontein

Of all pathetic plights surely the most pathetic is that of a minister moving about this grim field of varied necessity, professing to be a physician, but carrying in his wallet no balms, no cordials, no caustics to meet the clamant needs of men. But of all privileged callings surely the most privileged is that of a Greatheart pacing the highways of life, carrying with him all that is needed by fainting, bruised and broken pilgrims, perfectly confident in “Him whom he has believed.”—J. H. Jowett.

BEFORE commencing the story of Andrew Murray’s life-long connexion with the Dutch Reformed Church, it would be well if we obtained a bird’s-eye view of the growth of that Church from the earliest times. The Dutch Reformed Church was planted in South Africa when the settlement was founded by Jan van Riebeek in 1652. For many years it had no resident minister, but sermons were preached and the sacraments administered by clergymen of the Church who passed the Cape in vessels voyaging to or from the East Indies. The first regular pastor, Johan van Arckel, arrived in the fourteenth year of the existence of the settlement. Twenty years later a second congregation was established at Stellenbosch, and since then the D. R. Church has gradually extended its boundaries, doubling its membership in, approximately, every two decades.

So long as Dutch rule continued, the congregations in South Africa were regarded as an integral portion of the D. R. Church in Holland, and in accordance with Presbyterian canon law they stood under the ecclesiastical control of the Presbytery of Amsterdam. The mother Church in the Netherlands supplied them with ministers, while the salaries of these officers were paid by a paternal Government. At the Cape there was no local effort, very little local interest, and, of course, no local control. Religion was severely unemotional and chiefly a matter of form, and it exercised but little vital influence over the everyday life of the population. Divine service was conducted on Sundays and on feast-days like Good Friday and Christmas Day, and being the most important social function of the week was regularly attended. The members of the kerkeraad or consistory—a body which regulated the temporal affairs of the congregation and exercised a limited discipline in matters spiritual—were appointed by the Governor, though he mostly acted on the recommendations of the local minister. This state of affairs prevailed for a century and a half. The Church was part of the civil establishment; ministers were Government servants whose names appeared upon the civil list; and congregations could exercise hardly the smallest spiritual functions without interference from an ecclesiastical court situated six thousand miles away.

Except for a short interregnum of three years (1803-1806) the Cape Colony has been under British domination for a century and a quarter. The cessation of Dutch rule implied ipso facto the severance of the tie which bound the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa to the Dutch Reformed Church of the Netherlands. When the articles of capitulation, which made the Cape a British possession, were signed by the last Dutch Governor, Sluysken, in 1795, they contained an express proviso that the religion established by law should be maintained. The short-lived Batavian Government, which succeeded the first British Administration in 1803, introduced a “Church Order” which contained inter alia the following clause: "An experiment is to be made whether it be possible and useful to hold a General Church Assembly every second year ... at which meeting there shall be present two political commissioners to represent the Government of the Colony these commissioners to have the right to suspend the decision of the meeting at any point, until they have ascertained the Governor's desire.” The British Administration, which reassumed the reins of government shortly afterwards, took over the above-mentioned “Church Order,” but the “experiment” appeared to be so unpromising that twenty years elapsed before the D. R. Church summoned up courage to act upon the suggestion made.

The first General Assembly, or Synod, consisting of representatives from the thirteen congregations which were then established, met in Cape Town in 1824 ; and subsequent Synods assembled regularly at the lapse of every five years. The presence of the political commissioners, however, was felt from the outset to be a restriction on free speech and action; and when, in 1842, one of the commissioners made use of his influence with the Governor to dissuade the latter from attaching his formal approval to the synodical decisions, the Synod recorded its emphatic protest against outside interference in ecclesiastical matters. The Governor, Sir George Napier, was a reasonable man. He declared his anxiety “ to free the Church from the trammels of secular interference in all spiritual or purely ecclesiastical matters and of substituting in all other matters, for the authority which he conceived to have been so undesirably continued in the Governor, the authority of the highest civil tribunal.” Governor Napier was as good as his word. In the following year a “Church Ordinance” was passed, which fully recognized the Church's right to frame and carry out her own regulations—under certain important provisos—without the necessity of securing the sanction of the Government. This document is the Magna Charta of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa; and though twenty years later it involved her in serious difficulties and prolonged litigation, it remains the chief landmark of her history—the sign and seal of the independence to which she attained after nearly two centuries of subordination and pupilage.

Though the Cape had now become, politically, a colony of the British Empire, it was still united by many interests, both ecclesiastical and linguistic, to Holland. For young colonials who had the inclination and possessed the means of studying for the sacred ministry practically the only course was to proceed to one of the academies of Holland. But such young men were few and far between. Occasionally a Hollander, who had qualified as minister of the Gospel, made his way to South Africa, and during the first quarter of the nineteenth century a few men who had come out in connexion with some missionary society or other found a more congenial and more fruitful field among the Dutch-speaking white population. The grievous dearth of clergymen and teachers led also to the quest of Dr. Thom, to which reference has been made in the first chapter—a quest which secured for the Cape Church the services of such excellent men as Andrew Murray, Smith, Sutherland and Fraser. But in spite of these accessions the scanty and irregular supply of ministers, wholly insufficient for its growing needs, greatly hampered the D. R. Church in its efforts at expansion.

Superficial expansion, and rapid expansion, there certainly was. For though South Africa, in the forties of last century, was not very populous, it was of vast extent. Congregations of the D. R. Church were found from Cape Town in the west to Burgersdorp and Stockenstrom on the eastern frontier, and from the shores of the Indian Ocean in the south to the banks of the Orange River in the north—an area of some one hundred and fifty thousand square miles. But this great area was nearly doubled by a great displacement of population which took place during the fourth and fifth decades of the century. Hundreds and thousands of farmers, members of the D. R. Church, in their dissatisfaction with British rule, emigrated with their wives and their children to the broad pastures of the territories north of the Orange River, now known as the Orange Free State, the Transvaal and Natal. To describe the motives which occasioned the Great Trek is beyond our present scope. Suffice it to say that it was not due, as one extreme view has represented, to the desire to achieve religious liberty : no people could enjoy greater freedom of worship than these pastoral Boers. Nor was it undertaken, as extremists on the other side aver, because the Boers were determined to uphold slavery, and could not enforce this resolve under the British flag : Pieter Retief, the chief emigrant leader, declared emphatically, “We shall take care that no one shall be held in a state of slavery.” Dissatisfaction at the losses which they had sustained in the frontier wars, and at the unjust way in which they had been defrauded of their share of compensation for their emancipated slaves; irritation at the nagging policy of the British Government, and at the “unjustifiable odium” cast upon them by interested missionaries and philanthropists; perhaps also the lure of the wilderness, coupled with a vague, innate desire for complete independence—all these were contributory motives. History has seldom witnessed a stranger or more moving spectacle than that of well-to-do farmers, some in the first flush of youth and others bending already under the weight of years, forsaking their farms and their homesteads, packing their families with all their household goods into the huge, unwieldy ox-waggon, driving their flocks and their herds before them, and trekking away into the distant, unknown interior. Judge the motives of the Great Trek as we may, we can hardly read without emotion the words with which Retief ends his manifesto of grievances:

“We are now leaving the fruitful land of our birth, in which we have suffered enormous losses and continual vexation, and are about to enter a strange and dangerous territory ; but we go with firm reliance on an all-seeing, just and merciful God, whom we shall always fear and humbly endeavour to obey.”

How to regard or control this mass movement on the part of Colonial farmers was a question which greatly perplexed the statesmen of the day. Governor Sir Benjamin D’Urban said that “ it seemed next to an impossibility to prevent persons passing out of the Colony by laws in force or by any that could be framed.” And Captain (afterwards Sir) Andries Stockenstrom declared to the inhabitants of Uitenhage that “ he was not aware of any law which prevented any of His Majesty’s subjects from leaving his dominions and settling in another country, and such a law, if it did exist, would be tyrannical and oppressive.” But whether the emigrants, by passing beyond the borders of the Colony, were ipso facto absolved from their allegiance to the British Crown, was quite another question, and it is just to say that both the Colonial and the Home Governments denied the right of the emigrants to draw this conclusion. As to the number of people who thus voluntarily expatriated themselves, we have the contemporary testimony of Captain Cornwallis Harris,1 who estimated them at between five and six thousand souls. Ten years later, in 1847, there were no less than two thousand families, or between ten and twelve thousand individuals, in the territory now known as the Orange Free State, and five years later Andrew Murray speaks of another “ten thousand souls” scattered in the regions to the north of the Vaal River.

Only the merest sketch is possible of the fortunes of the emigrants. Passing through the present Free State, their drift was in two main directions—northward to the country which soon became known as the Transvaal, and eastward, down the steep escarpment of the Drakensberg, into the fertile valleys of Natal. Here they came into collision with the Zulu potentate Dingaan, who in 1838 treacherously destroyed Retief and his party, while the latter were negotiating a treaty of peace with him; but in less than a twelvemonth he was overthrown by a commando of avenging Boers. In the Transvaal the emigrants were attacked by the Matabele chieftain Moselekatse, whom they defeated and compelled to withdraw to the distant north, where he established a new capital at Bulawayo, in the present Rhodesia. The hopes of the emigrants to be left in unmolested possession of Natal, with access to the sea-board, were soon dissipated; for an English force drove them out of Durban, and turned back the tide of emigration to the lofty table-lands of the Free State and the fruitful regions of the Transvaal.

The southern section of the emigrants, who had settled between the Orange and Vaal rivers, were the first to feel the long arm of the British Government reaching after them. Bickerings and disputes were unhappily frequent between the emigrants on the one side, and native chieftains like Moshesh, the Basuto leader, and Adam Kok, the Griqua captain, on the other side. The latter chieftain claimed sovereignty rights over the southern portion of what is now the Orange Free State, and these rights the emigrants refused to acknowledge. Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland, accordingly, determined to establish British rule over the disputed territory, which lay between the Orange and the Modder rivers. The township of Bloemfontein was founded, and Major Warden was settled there as British Resident, and entrusted with the difficult and delicate duty of maintaining order, restraining native aggression, and conciliating the emigrants ; and in the fulfilment of this task he was not wholly unsuccessful.

In the belief that the emigrants, at least those living south of the Vaal, were at length reconciled to British rule, Sir Harry Smith—one of the most eccentric and popular of Cape Governors—in 1848 proclaimed the Queen’s authority over the whole country between the Orange and Vaal rivers, and bestowed upon the territory thus annexed the title of the Orange River Sovereignty. But he had wholly misinterpreted the temper of the Boers. No sooner was his back turned than they rose in arms under the command of Andries Pretorius, ejected Major Warden and his insignificant little garrison from Bloemfontein, and demanded that the proclamation of British sovereignty should be withdrawn. Sir Harry Smith was nothing if not energetic. He issued orders for a strong body of troops to march to the banks of the Orange, and followed almost immediately afterwards to take command. A brief but sharp engagement occurred at Boomplaats, near the Riet River, on the 29th August, 1848. The Boers were defeated, and Pretorius was compelled to retire beyond the Vaal River. The Sovereignty Government was re-established, and Major Warden re-occupied Bloemfontein with a considerably augmented force of soldiers. Those Boers whose antipathy to the Queen’s rule was most inveterate followed Pretorius across the Vaal.

Such was the political aspect of affairs when Andrew Murray received his appointment as minister of Bloemfontein early in 1849.

The time had now arrived for young Murray’s introduction to the arduous duties of his vast parish. His farewell sermon to the congregation of Graaff-Reinet, preached on the 22nd April, 1849, was based upon the Apostolic Benediction. The next day witnessed the severance of the ties so recently re-united, which bound him to the old home. According to ecclesiastical law and ancient custom in South Africa, the congregation which presents a call to a probationer is responsible, in the event of the call being accepted, for the conveyance of the minister’s person and property to his new sphere of labour. In pursuance of this excellent practice the Bloemfontein folk had deputed Deacon Pretorius, with a capacious waggon drawn by a team of powerful horses, to fetch the young pastor at Graaff-Reinet, three hundred miles away.

Accompanied by his father, who was to introduce him to the congregations north of the Orange River, Andrew set out on the day following the farewell services. Fully sensible of the importance of the work he was about to undertake, the community at Graaff-Reinet endeavoured to do full honour to their youthful fellow-townsman. Fifty young men on horseback formed themselves into an escort, and conducted the travellers for some considerable distance on their way, thus testifying to the feelings of esteem with which they regarded both Andrew Murray the father and Andrew Murray the son.

The first Sunday was spent at a place called Zendelings-fontein, on the Riet River—fourteen miles from the present town of Fauresmith. Here a congregation had been established by the Revs. A. Murray, Sr., and P. K. Albertyn, on the occasion of their pastoral visitation in the summer of 1847-8. The autumn being already far advanced, the cold was intense, and many who intended being present on this auspicious occasion, found themselves prevented by the inclement weather. A paragraph from the scanty record of the proceedings informs us that on the forenoon of that Sabbath, Andrew Murray senior delivered the charge from the words: “And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a willing heart and with a perfect mind”; while Andrew Murray junior preached his introductory sermon from Romans xv. 29: “And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.”

The following Sunday (6th May) was fixed for his induction to the congregation at Bloemfontein, which was to be, for the next eleven years of his life, the central point from which radiated tireless activities and incessant journeyings to north and south and east and west. His coming to the chief scene of his labours had been awaited with the utmost eagerness. One of his future parishioners, writing some two months previously, gave expression to their expectations in the following terms—

It is very gratifying to learn from so many sources that the Rev. Mr. Murray is so worthy a gentleman, and moreover so well fitted for the sphere of work assigned him. He can rest assured that he will be welcomed in our midst in heartiest fashion. All the Boers whom I have recently met are rejoiced at the prospect of soon possessing a permanent minister. One of the best houses in Bloemfontein has been conditionally engaged for him. The foundation of the Church building had been laid, while building stones and baked bricks lie upon the site, in readiness for the arrival of the mason, for whom a conveyance has already been despatched.

With us in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa the presentation of a minister to the congregation which has called him is a simple but impressive ceremony. After the presiding Reinet and P. K. Albertyn of Zwartebergen and Elder B. Pienaar of Richmond ; and the second of Revs. Philip Faure of Wynberg and Wm. Robertson of Swellendam. and the minister has delivered his charge, the young incumbent is, summoned by name to appear before the pulpit, where he publicly takes upon himself vows of faithfulness to Almighty God, to truth as contained in the Bible and the confessions, and to the congregation to which he is about to minister. We may well suppose that it was not without feelings of deepest solemnity that Murray entered upon his new duties. In introducing his son the father preached from 2 Corinthians vi. 1, while the son, taking charge of the afternoon service, based his first discourse to his own congregation on Paul’s noble avowal: " We preach Christ crucified . . . Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God ” (1 Corinthians i. 23). At the conclusion of this service the father, preaching in English, directed words of counsel and encouragement to the British section of the inhabitants of Bloemfontein.

The subsequent movements of father and son on this memorable tour are described in letters which the latter wrote to the family circle at Graaff-Reinet. Three days after his induction at Bloemfontein he celebrated his twenty-first birthday, to which he makes a passing reference in the following letter from Winburg, dated nth May, 1849—

To his Mother.

I have now to resume the narrative of our journeyings. On Monday [7th May] after the sermon there was a good deal to do with the churchwardens, especially as to the building of the church, which, I am sorry to say, is not very far advanced. On Tuesday morning we left Bloemfontein for Winburg, which we reached on the evening of Wednesday— my own birthday. I much enjoyed the thought of so many friends remembering me at the throne of grace ; for I am sure many thought of me in Holland, as did Willie [his brother] on the ocean. Especially did I try to hold communion with those who were certainly speaking of us at home, and committing us to the care of a gracious God. And what a year I have to look back upon—God’s mercies following me from day to day, from my ordination at The Hague to my induction at Bloemfontein. I tried to remember some of the Lord’s chief mercies, although alas ! my poor soul too soon wearied of thanking and praising God. How much we lose by not making every gift of God a matter of praise. . . .

On arriving here on Wednesday evening we found that none of the people were to arrive before Saturday, since we had not been expected so soon, and so we resolved to pay a visit to the French mission station Mekuatling. We started on Thursday morning on horseback, and after a ride of 4½ hours reached Merumetzu, the Koranna station, where Mr. van Zoelen labours. He was much astonished to see Papa, as he had known nothing certain of our coming across the [Orange] River. He will have to labour under very discouraging circumstances, as the Korannas are incorrigibly idle, and cannot even be brought to blush on account of it. People speak of privations in my coming to Bloemfontein. When I rode away from Merumetzu I thought I had indeed reason to say, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places." Mr. van Zoelen says himself that he does not think he will stay there long.

After having spent an hour with him we rode 2} hours further, and reached the house of Mr. Daumas, where we found Mrs. Daumas and Mrs. Cochet at home. The two gentlemen had gone by a different road to Winburg, in the hope of seeing us there. We spent a very pleasant evening with Mrs. Daumas and Mrs. Cochet: the latter was nursing a baby three months old. Next morning we had an opportunity of seeing the station. Mr. Daumas has really done much. All sorts of fruit trees [are found] in the garden, which is large and well laid out. Some of the trees, especially the best apricots and peaches, are from stones which you gave Mr. Daumas. The chapel is very neat and substantial, and there are some two dozen well-built cottages belonging to the Christian natives.

After leaving Mekuatling early this morning, we fortunately met Messrs. Daumas and Cochet on the way, and had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with them at Mr. van Zoelen's. They were rather downcast at the dark prospects of the Mission. They daily fear the outbreak of war, as the chief of their station has robbed one of his neighbours of a large quantity of cattle. And the whole country will be mixed up with the matter, since all the chiefs have now sided with one party or the other. What they fear is not so much personal violence as the moral evil [that would be] caused by the war. Many of their members are led away to join in the war by the hope of gaining cattle, and they cannot so join in without conforming to heathenish ceremonies. The missionaries appeared to be indeed making the Lord their stay in the midst of their troubles.

12th May.—I was much afraid that it was a foolish thing for us to take such a long ride of fourteen hours, as I feared that Papa would be much knocked up. But he is as well as ever, and is just going to preach (Saturday afternoon at three). We this morning met again with Charlie [his brother], who has been spending ten days at Mr. Theron’s. The congregation will not be very large, as the weather is cold, and the intimations were not well circulated.

We shall very likely leave this on Monday, to spend Wednesday night at Bloemfontein, and then Sabbath in the neighbourhood of Smithfield. On the following Wednesday we hope to preach on the other side of the Caledon, and to reach Burgersdorp on the Friday or Saturday, if the Lord will. Should it at all be possible, I do trust, dear Mamma, that you will be able to come and meet us there.

A fortnight after the date of the above letter, father and son were at Burgersdorp for the induction of the elder brother, John Murray, having in the interval covered a distance of 175 miles. To Andrew Murray the father was again assigned the duty of installing a son as pastor of a large and important parish. Burgersdorp contained in those days—as indeed it still does—a religious element that declined to conform in all things to the ecclesiastical practices that commonly obtain in the D. R. Church of South Africa. They resembled in many respects those dour old Highland members of the Scottish Churches, who cling with stern devotion to ancient customs, refuse to sing aught but the Psalms of David, and abjure the organ as a “kist o’ whistles.” It may be that Mr. Murray, in his induction charge, endeavoured to win these conservative "Doppers” from their attitude of suspicious aloofness, for he discoursed upon the words: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls as they that must give account.”

At the introduction of Andrew to his charge in remote Bloemfontein, no clergyman other than his father was able to be present; but the settlement of John at Burgersdorp was signalized by the presence of four brother ministers—the Andrew Murrays, father and son, Rev. Taylor of Cradock and Rev. Pears of Somerset East. The chronicle of the event in the Church magazine Be Kerkbode is, as usual, bald to excess.“ The Rev. J. Murray preached his inaugural sermon in the afternoon [of Saturday, 26th May] from the words of 2 Corinthians v. 20. The church was completely filled; the attention was great. On the following morning the Lord’s Supper was administered, Rev. A. Murray, Jr., preaching in the forenoon, and Rev. J. Pears in the evening, in English. The Rev. A. Murray, Sr., meanwhile conducted a service, in a building specially devoted to that purpose, for the coloured people. On the Monday Rev. J. Taylor took his leave of the congregation, which for some time he has served in his capacity as ‘ consulent,’ with the words of Philippians i. 27; and on the following morning father and sons departed, returning each to his own sphere of toil.”

Andrew returned to Bloemfontein by the most direct route, accomplishing the 175-mile journey from Burgersdorp in three days—which must be considered as good travelling. Of his daily life in these early years some particulars have been preserved in a letter to his brother, dated Bloemfontein, 14th June, 1849—

To Rev. John Murray.

You certainly would ere this have heard from me, were it not that on arriving here I learnt that the post between Smithfield and Burgersdorp has ceased going, and we shall thus be obliged to avail ourselves of any opportunity which occurs. Since I left Burgersdorp all has been well. I arrived here, as I had hoped, on the Thursday evening, though I found it pretty hard riding in the short days, and the last day of the journey was so excessively cold, as we had a good deal of snow right in front of the cart. On arriving here I found everything pretty much as we had left it. I am still with Dr. Drury, and am very comfortable, except that I am not always sure of my privacy, as his medicines stand in the room which I occupy. The churchwardens have now conditionally bought an erf and house for ^400, which will be ready, it is hoped, in the course of a couple of months. It will be about one of the best houses in Bloemfontein, with three good rooms and pantry, and a large kitchen behind. I have gotten my servant boy from Winburg, and he pleases very well indeed. From Mr. Burger, who spent Sabbath the third here, I got a very good horse for £10, but he has run away  I had not my own servant at the time, and during the heavy rains I could get nobody to look after him. I trust that he will yet be found. Mr. Stuart rides every day, and I very often accompany him. For the present I have the use of one of Dr. Drury’s horses. My dinner I get sent me every day, at the very cheap rate of £1 per month, and though plain it has hitherto been very good. Almost everything can be got here, almost as cheaply as at Graaff-Reinet, so that as to externals I am very comfortable.

But to come to more important matters, you will be anxious to know something about the state of matters spiritual here. As to the Dutch congregation, I do not know much to say about them that I have not told you before. Last Sabbath I had a congregation of about seventy, and the preceding Sabbath of about 100. The former will, I suppose, be the average. I cannot describe what I felt on going for the first time into the schoolroom to commence my regular ministrations in the midst of this poor people. Now that I am getting a little settled down (for the former week, alas ! I did almost nothing), I trust that our gracious God is bringing me somewhat to feel the necessity of an intimate experimental soul-knowledge of the precious truth to be proclaimed, and, above all, of that one glorious central truth—the amazing wonder of the love of a crucified Jesus. Let us, my dear brother, seek to drink much at the fountain-head, to make the love of Christ the ground of a continual trust and hope and rejoicing. Then shall we know what to preach to perishing sinners. Then shall we also know how to preach, with the earnestness of a burning love that is straining every nerve to save souls from eternal perdition.

On Sabbath afternoon I had an English congregation of about seventy. This cannot be taken as a criterion, as nearly half of the men are away with Major Warden. I feel much more difficulty as to the English than the Dutch congregation as to the preaching, and still more as to the pastoral work. There are only two Dutch families in the village, and some thirty respectable English, besides a number of low English. I hope soon to call on all the families. The officers are all unmarried, rather wild (very often drunk), and two of them are living openly with coloured women. I trust that the Lord will give me special wisdom with regard to the English here. I hope next Saturday evening to begin a service for the blacks (there are about sixty of the Cape Corps here), at which there will of course also be an opportunity for the Dutch Boers to attend.

Mr. Stuart is very active in doing all he can to promote order here. He is very severe in court, some say by far too severe. He is very busy in improving Bloemfontein—making streets, furrows and bridges. He has four convicts at work, as well as a number of “drunken ladies," who have to clean the streets from nine to twelve. We may very likely soon have a Teetotal Society here. Next week we hope to begin subscriptions for a library (English and Dutch). With our newspaper we know not how to do, as it would be difficult to get a printer down without being able to secure him a livelihood.

Till the end of July I shall not have very much to do besides preparing for the pulpit, and I do hope that I shall be enabled to spend that time diligently in laying up store against the time when there will be very little opportunity for study. I shall also try to read a good deal of English. Mr. Stuart has the North British Review from Mr. Cameron, the Wesleyan missionary at Thaba Nchu. You can conceive what strange feelings were excited in me on receiving in this part of the world a few numbers of the Evangelische Kirchemeitung. I had the pleasure of seeiiig a good deal of Mr. Wuras, who spent three days here last week, and on his return home he sent them to me. . . . If you are writing to Meintjes about books from Holland, please order 100 copies of Zahn Bijbel Geschiedenis for me, and say that the works of C. Mel appear to be much in request here.

Bloemfontein in 1849 was exceedingly unlike the compact and neatly-built city which has since arisen on the rolling prairies of Central South Africa. According to the description of an old resident2 the town at that period was little more than a straggling hamlet, with houses scattered irregularly on both sides of a streamlet known as Bloemspruit. The original homestead, said to have been the property of a farmer named Brits, was contiguous to the spring from which the village took its name—Bloemfontein, Fountain of Flowers. Hard by the fountain stood the Government schoolroom, which until the erection of a permanent church building on the north side of Bloemspruit was the scene of Andrew Murray’s pulpit ministrations, and indeed the place at which all gatherings of the inhabitants, whether for civil or religious purposes, were necessarily held.

The Rev. J. J. Freeman, one of the secretaries of the London Missionary Society, who passed through Bloemfontein early in 1850, was by no means favourably impressed with the place. He says—

Bloemfontein, the seat of the Government in this Sovereignty, has nothing to recommend it in its natural features. The scenery is extremely uninteresting. There is no wood and little water. The plan of a town is laid out. The foundation of a church is laid. A courthouse and a prison exist. There are about forty or fifty tolerable houses built. There are a few stores and shops, a market-place with a bell to announce the time when sales take place, and a clerk of the market appointed. A good well has been sunk, and at forty feet depth a supply of water is found from six to nine feet. The inhabitants have wisely asked to be formed into a municipality, and their request has been granted. Here is also a fortress, a few cannon, part of a regiment, a major, one hundred Cape Mounted Rifles, and barracks, as the usual material of an improving community. There is also a Government school-house, but at the time of my visit without scholars or masters. Religious services are held there on Sunday. Mr. Murray, son of the Dutch clergyman of Graafi-Reinet, has received the appointment to the new Church. He diligently and laudably employs himself, during a great part of his time, in travelling among the emigrant farmers in the interior, and conducting religious services.

Bishop Gray, the first metropolitan of Cape Town, who touched at Bloemfontein, in the course of a visitation tour, in May, 1850, jots down the following impressions—

Bloemfontein is rapidly rising in importance. . . . Everything is of course in a very rough state. There is nothing remarkable in the situation of the village: it is defended by a rude fort mounted with four guns. ... In the evening I met Dr. Frazer and Mr. Murray, the zealous young Dutch minister, at dinner. He was placed here, I believe, when little more than twenty-one years of age, and has a very difficult place to fill, which he has done with great discretion.

Under the date Sunday, 5th May, Bishop Gray records that:—

at half-past one we had service in the school-house. The service lasted nearly three hours, and we encroached upon the time appointed for the Dutch service. There was not room in the building for many of the Dutch people, but they crowded round the doors and windows throughout the whole time. I counted nearly fifty of their waggons in the outskirts of the village.

The country around was as wild as the village was rough. The Sovereignty at that time was alive with game. Wildebeest, hartebeest, quagga, blesbuck, springbuck, ostriches, wild pigs, and hares roamed over the broad plains. Nor was there any lack of wild beasts. Leopards and wolves, jackals and wild dogs were frequently encountered, even in broad daylight, and constituted a formidable menace to the enterprising stock-farmer. Lions were found in the immediate vicinity of the township. In. a letter to his brother, written about this time, Murray makes significant mention of the fact that " last Friday the officers of the garrison shot nine lions about three hours (i.e. 18 miles) from here.” Collins informs us that in 1853 Major Kyle, the military commandant of Bloemfontein, bagged three full-grown lions, one male and two female ; while in the same year four officers on one occasion accounted for seven lions, one of which “made a desperate charge at Capt. Bates, nearly dragging him off his horse." The postmaster of Bloemfontein received special injunctions from Mr. Stuart, the Resident Magistrate, “not to despatch the mails for Colesberg later than 4 p.m., as lions still roamed at large in the immediate neighbourhood of the town.”

The relations which subsisted at this time between the farmers of the Sovereignty and their black neighbours were highly unsatisfactory. The frontier of Basutoland was in a condition of perpetual disquietude. Cattle-raiding was the order of the day. Native chiefs preyed upon the white man and upon each other. The rule of the strongest prevailed, and Major Warden, with a handful of soldiers at his disposal, was powerless to maintain order. The burning question was that of boundaries—boundaries between white and black, and boundaries between black and black. This question of the delimitation of territory was the occasion of disputes without end, and gave rise in the near future to events of the greatest moment. To the troubled state of matters on the Basuto border Murray makes reference in the following letter, dated 27th June, 1849—

To his Father.

From all accounts it appears that matters are wearing a very serious aspect among the Cafires. Moshesh and his people are very much dissatisfied with the line which is making, and declare that they cannot part with such a great piece of their country. It is feared that the disturbance between Moshesh and Sikonyella will give rise to a war between the former and the English. Moshesh has promised to deliver up the cattle taken by his people from Sikonyella within a fortnight, but nobody expects him to fulfil this promise. Major Warden had only about 130 men when dealing with him : they declare that they were very glad when they got away, as Moshesh had 15,000 men in the neighbourhood,—about 1,000 men on horseback and his own retinue. Of course the 300 men comprising the garrison here will be able to do nothing against such an enemy, as the Basutos are known never to fight during the daytime. It is also said that great numbers of Zulus are at present marching to join Moshesh. The farmers from the Caledon River also say that they would not be astonished if the Caffres very soon attacked them there, as they refuse to have anything like a line. I have heard that Mr. Cameron of Thaba Nchu and some of the other missionaries are already talking of removing. It is certainly very trying thus to see their labour destroyed.

Meanwhile the toils and travels of the young minister were being prosecuted with unabated ardour. His interest in the most benighted was as deep as in the most enlightened. He inaugurated a Sunday-school, a Bible class, a Temperance Society, and put forth efforts, which were not wholly unsuccessful, to reach even the degraded Hottentots and Bushmen. The following lines, dated 25th June, 1849, give some idea of the variety of his duties and the extent of his journeyings—

To his sister Maria.

How I wished yesterday that I had you here, or some of the other Sabbath-school teachers from Graafi-Reinet. We began our Sabbath-school, and had plenty of scholars but no teachers. Near this there is a place where all the Bushmen reside, and from there we had some two dozen grown-up people and as many children. Mr. Stuart has been taking great interest in these Kafierfontein people, and when I rode out there with him last week, I invited them to come to church. Accordingly they came, headed by their chief in a cast-off blue coat. The elder ones I took [as class]. It was really sad to see them. Some of the real old Bushmen could not understand a word of Dutch, and none of them knew much. I tried to make a beginning with teaching them some of the elements of Christian truth, and the first verse of the hymn “God heeft de wereld zoo bemind" (God so loved the world). In speaking of them Mr. Stuart always says, “He is able to save to the uttermost." And why should we then despair? May the Lord give grace to work in faith. We have a great lack of teachers. Mr. Stuart will most likely take the English Bible Class, with about twenty pupils ; Dr. Drury the English children who cannot read; and then we shall require one for a Dutch class, and another for the little native children. . . .

Left on Monday last for Schietmekaar on the Riet River, where I preached on Tuesday night, thrice on Wednesday and again on Thursday. Held also on Thursday a meeting with all the people to speak about building a church. They have hired the half of N. Jacobs' farm for 100 dollars per annum, and are going to erect a building, sixteen feet inside by eighty, at the cost of some 3,000 dollars (£225) A good many people were much opposed to spending so much money on a temporary place, but after the matter had been explained to them they were content. . . .

I am just starting with old Willem Pretorius to hold huisbezoek (pastoral visitation) to-morrow at the Commandant Erasmus’, at the opening of his house. On Thursday I am to hold huisbezoek at old Andries Erwee’s, and then to spend Sabbath at Winburg. ... I should like very much a very small feather-bed for travelling, that I can also use when I get lodgers here, and I see that I cannot do without a kostmandje (tiffin basket). The former could be packed into the latter. I hope my house will be ready in the course of a month.

An important event in the annals of the recently-established Sovereignty was the first session of the Legislative Council. This body had been called into being by a proclamation of the High Commissioner, Sir Harry Smith, and consisted of twelve Government nominees, presided over by the British Resident. The Council was to meet annually in Bloemfontein, and had power to frame laws binding upon all persons in the Sovereignty who did not fall under the jurisdiction of native chiefs. The first meeting of so august a body of men provoked considerable excitement in Bloemfontein. The non-official members of the Council were well-known farmers, and among them occurs the name of Andries Erwee, at whose farm Murray occasionally instituted huisbezoek and conducted divine service. The young minister, at that time the only clergyman in the Sovereignty, was asked to open the gathering with prayer. “ When I arrived here last Tuesday,” he writes to his father, “ I found the town filled with the members of our Legislative Council, and have thus myself been kept in a bustle the whole week. I was requested to open the Council by reading a prayer which had been sent down, and I did not feel at liberty to decline, though I felt some doubts. The meeting of Council was a very fair one, and was chiefly occupied with the estimates of the Sovereignty. On Andries Erwee’s saying that he could not swear allegiance to the Queen on account of the Convict Business,1 a strong resolution was passed against their introduction.”

The disquieting rumours which were rife in the countryside as to the menacing attitude of the Basuto acted as a disturbing influence on the movements of the young pastor. The programme of preaching and pastoral visitation which he had planned to carry out during the month of August had to be in part relinquished. It had been announced that a series of services, culminating in the administration of the Lord s Supper, would be held at a farm called Rietpoort, where stands the present village of Smithfield. This spot had been selected for the establishment of a new township, and the site having been duly surveyed, the authorities had arranged that on a specified date a number of erven (plots) would be put up to public auction. But Rietpoort lay practically on the boundary which was in dispute, and affairs assumed so threatening an outlook that both the sale and the services were perforce abandoned. To the home circle Andrew writes (Aug., 1849) on these and on sundry other matters as follows—

As I hinted, there will be no sale of erven and no service at Rietpoort. On Friday, the"27th July, the Korannas attacked Molitzani and Moshesh, took all the cattle of the former, and killed thirty-four of their people. Yesterday news was received that there has been another engagement near Platberg, in which a great many lives have been sacrificed. And from Smithfield Major Warden has received a letter stating that the Boers have been in several cases ordered across the Orange River by command of Moshesh.

John has not been here,1 owing most likely to some unforeseen hindrance, very possibly to old Piet Pelser’s being too frightened of the Caffres. As I wrote to you before, I have been away from Bloemfontein eleven days. I did not arrive here until Saturday afternoon, and had then to move into the Parsonage, of which only one room is yet ready ; and instead of preparing for Sabbath I had to begin unpacking my boxes, which had remained unopened till this time. On taking out the contents I was often reminded of the kindness of you all at home in putting in so many little things for my convenience. Everything was safe—of the crockery only one square dish broken.

The non-appearance of his brother from Burgersdorp to take part in the Nachtmaal services cast a heavy strain upon Andrew. His letters testify to the conscientious thoroughness with which he performed all his work. The catechisation of the young candidates for Church membership was a task which demanded the utmost care and patience. For a full week these young people were subjected to a thorough testing as to their knowledge of the Bible and the Catechism. Thereafter, in Murray’s own words, he "spent some four or five hours in speaking to each of the fifteen candidates personally, trying to ascertain his reasons for wishing to be received, and to discover the state of mind in which he was.” The minister then withdrew with the two elders, whose presence at the final confirmation is required by Church law, and the attainments and spiritual condition of each candidate in turn were patiently considered. Some were rejected on account of their defective knowledge; others whose knowledge was satisfactory were found wanting in earnestness. “By their own acknowledgment they had not yet sought to believe in Christ; or else, while saying that they believed in Christ, their answers showed that they did not even know what they said.” Ultimately, with the full concurrence of both elders, but two of the candidates were accepted.

The Communion services at Bloemfontein were four in number—two on the Saturday and two on the Sunday. At the Sunday morning service the Lord’s Supper was dispensed, and so large was the number of communicants that six tables had to be ministered to, each with appropriate hymn and address. Owing to the great attendance and the absence of a sufficiently commodious hall, these gatherings all took place under the open sky. July and August are windy months in Central South Africa, and Andrew records with gratitude the fact that though the wind blew strongly, he was able to conduct all the services without sensible strain or fatigue.

It must be remembered that Murray was not merely minister of Bloemfontein but consulent or acting minister of the adjoining parishes of Riet River (Fauresmith), Rietpoort (Smithfield) and Winburg. His preaching and parochial work took him in turn to each of these centres: with the exception of the last they could hardly as yet be designated townships. The distances from Bloemfontein to each of the three places are approximately 60, 90 and 60 miles. An important ceremony at Riet River now claimed his presence. This was the laying of the foundation-stone of the new church building. Mr. C. U. Stuart, the Magistrate, to whose sympathetic interest in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical Murray’s letters bear frequent witness, was invited to perform the function. Be Kerkbode (The Church Messenger) chronicles the event in its usual terse and unemotional fashion—

On the first of September at the Riet River, in the presence of a numerous concourse, Mr. Stuart laid the corner-stone of a church building for that congregation, which consists of at least 3,000 souls. Mr. Stuart delivered at this occasion a striking address, while the religious services of the congregation were conducted by the Rev. A. Murray, Jr., who also preached there on the following Sunday. From there he travelled vid Bloemfontein to Winburg and to the Valsch River, where he hoped to meet some of the people living beyond the Vaal River, in order to make arrangements for a visit to them, for the purpose of preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments.

The programme outlined above was carried out in the course of September. Though nominally in charge of the congregation of Bloemfontein, Murray’s parish was in reality the whole of the territory which was known subsequently as the Orange Free State, in which at the present day the D. R. Church has some sixty separate congregations. His September visitation tour carried him first to the Valsch River, in the neighbourhood of what is now the town of Kroonstad, thence to the Witte-bergen (Bethlehem), and thence still further eastwards towards the border of Natal, near the township of Harrismith, which had then been recently laid out. By the commencement of October he was back in Bloemfontein, from where he set out almost immediately for Graaff-Reinet, in order to attend the meeting of Presbytery, which was due to assemble on the 18th of that month.

After an absence of seven months, during which his life had been one of incessant joumeying and preaching, he found himself again under the parental roof. The physical rest, we may well conceive, was highly needful. The youth of twenty-one had already shouldered more than a man’s burden, and the question which engaged the anxious attention of his parents was whether the health of their strenuous son could endure the heavy strain which was being placed upon it. The rest indeed was all too short, lasting for less than a fortnight. During this brief breathing-space he enjoyed the singular privilege of baptizing a little sister, born on the 22nd September, who received the name of Helen. On the 11th November he is again in harness at Bloemfontein, and casting his eyes northward across the Vaal River, with intent to carry Gospel ministrations to the “regions beyond.” That the strain of the past months was already beginning to tell upon his otherwise sound constitution is evidenced by the somewhat ominous note struck in a letter to his father—

Monday morning, two o’clock [3rd December], Yesterday I had a rather large congregation of Dutch and a tolerable one of English, and even in the morning before I began I felt tired; for I really never have time to get quite uitgerust (thoroughly rested). I am not without my fears that I may be sadly knocked up before I get back, though I promise that I shall do all I can to spare myself, for I hear enough about it from all the good friends here. I trust that I shall be continually accompanied and supported by your prayers, my dearest father; and oh! I care little whether I have strength enough or no, if my own soul were but in a fitter state for commencing such a solemn work. Oh! for the anointing of the Spirit for my unclean lips, and His softening and enlightening and renewing grace for all who hear.—I am not able now to write particulars about all my plans: this I will do from Mooi River, where all our arrangements will be definitely made.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 5

Across the Vaal

I often know not what to think of the leadings of Providence, in how far it may have been in tender mercy to my own soul that I was prevented from going thither [as minister to the Transvaal] ; although the letters I sometimes receive make a very strange impression upon me. All the people, otherwise so divided, are united in fixing their choice upon me.—Andrew Murray.

THE visit which Murray paid to the emigrants across the Vaal River was brief in its duration, but momentous in its consequences. The whole tour lasted but little more than six weeks. He crossed the Vaal on the 7th December, 1849, and re-crossed it on his homeward journey on the 22nd January, 1850. During this period he must have covered, north of the Vaal River, a distance of some 800 miles, and that chiefly by ox-waggon. He preached at six different centres, conducting in all thirty-seven services ; he baptized 567 children ; and he admitted to membership 167 young people, being less than half the number of candidates that presented themselves.

The far-reaching results that flowed from this visit were of an importance out of all proportion to its length. There existed on the part of the emigrants across the Vaal a not unintelligible suspicion towards ministers of the D. R. Church of the Cape Colony, which was at that time strongly tinged with Erastianism. Its clergymen were appointed by the Governor ; their salaries were paid out of the public treasury ; and though a certain latitude was permitted them in the acceptance or refusal of calls to particular congregations, the formal approbation of the Governor was requisite if the call was to be sustained. These regulations obtained in the case of Andrew Murray, who had received his appointment as minister of Bloemfontein from Sir Harry Smith, and drew his stipend from the Colonial Treasurer. It was natural for the emigrant farmers, who had trekked to the far north in order to escape from British influence, to look askance at a young minister who held his sacred office through the grace of a British Colonial Governor. The importance of Murray’s first visit lay in the fact that it allayed the suspicions of the Boers, knit their hearts to the ardent young pastor who brought them the ministrations of grace, and evoked expressions of confidence1 in the Cape D. R. Church, and of a desire to remain in corporate ecclesiastical communion with that body.

Of the details of this tour of visitation we have happily full accounts, both in the Kerkbode, and in letters addressed by Murray to his father. We shall therefore let him tell the story in his own words, with but an occasional elucidatory comment.

To his Father.

Magaliesberg, 22nd December, 1849.

I should certainly ere this have begun to write some account of my journey, but have hitherto been prevented, I may say, by a press of business ; for the little spare time I have had has generally been on the road, when I could not conveniently sit down and write. I trust you received the hurried lines I sent you from Mooi River [now Potchef-stroom] in which I told you of my arrival there. I was received with the greatest friendliness and apparent confidence, though I believe there had been some doubts on the part of the Landdrost as to whether he would allow me to come, for fear of British influence. The congregation was large, but I found it very difficult to fix their attention, evidently from their long separation from the means of grace. I trust that some impression was produced, if I may judge from their talking about the sermons. On Monday I had sixty-five candidates for membership, of whom thirty-two were received; and I was really astonished at the way in which many could read. On Monday evening I held my last service, at which they were voorgesteld (presented).

On Tuesday morning we left for the Zwarte Ruggens, to the northwest of Mooi River. The Landdrost Lombaard took me out on horseback, and with him I had a good deal of conversation about the state of the country, especially of the Morikwa, whence he had just returned.

The second church-place ought to have been there, but for want of time it had been appointed on the borders of that district. It was expected that we should there have the largest congregation, but on our arrival (after three days' travelling in an ox-waggon) we found that the congregation was smaller than at Mooi River. The people in the Morikwa are most unsettled, and a few ringleaders lead them astray, especially in religious matters. The most of those who are waiting for the trek to Jerusalem are in that neighbourhood, and I was very sorry that my further arrangements prevented my going among them, though this perhaps was also the Lord’s doing, as they might possibly have turned me back.

On Friday I spoke the whole day to the parents of the children brought for baptism, and held a service in the evening. On Saturday morning and evening there was preparation, and between the services I spoke to the most of those who wished to partake of the Lord’s Supper, which was dispensed on the Sabbath, and of which some sixty partook. Many of these appeared to feel the solemnity of the occasion, while others, although I had tried to speak as plainly and faithfully as I could, gave too plain proofs that they came without the proper preparation. I trust, however, that the Lord was with some of us. I was very much pleased with Caspar Kruger, the deacon, from whose place I am writing, as the church is to be held here to-morrow. He says that he there first was enabled to rejoice in Christ, though long seeking after Him. It is the first time that he has partaken of the Sacrament. He acknowledges that he has long, through the obstinacy of his heart, rejected Christ.

On Wednesday we left for Gert Kruger’s, your friend. On the way we called on one of those who refuse to come to church. After a couple of hours’ conversation I left him, deeply grieved at the ignorance of these poor people [i.e. the “ Jerusalem pilgrims ”]. England is one of the horns of the beast, and of course those who receive her pay are made partakers of her sins. I hardly knew whether to weep or smile at some of his explanations of the prophecies and of Revelation, all tending to confirm their hope of being soon called to trek to Jerusalem. By the way, he for the moment quite puzzled me by showing me the kantteekening [marginal note of the Dutch version of the Bible] on Revelations xvii. 12, where all the countries of Europe are mentioned as being typified by the horns of the beast, except Holland,—and under it he included, of course, the true Africaners.2

In the afternoon I rode to Gert Kruger’s, where I was most warmly received. With him I had a great deal of conversation on the state of the country, from which, as well as from my own observation, I really think that the people are getting settled (though there are a few malcontent spirits here and there), and many are beginning to do very well indeed. Gert Kruger says he considers either John or myself their rightful possession from the promise you made at Mooi River. I really know not sometimes what to answer the people—they do so press me to come here. I must acknowledge that, were I not bound to Bloemfontein, which I have not the least desire to leave, I could not refuse their request. You may perhaps think that I have not sufficiently weighed the difficulties which present themselves here, but I think I feel them. The field is really ripe for the harvest, and many, many are longing for the preaching of the Word, though with others it is nothing but a desire for the sacraments.

Yesterday morning I arrived here at Caspar Kruger’s, after having crossed the Magaliesberg. The country along both sides of the mountain is really beautiful and very fertile. It is not so flat as about Mooi River and is beautifully wooded, with many fine streams. Fruits ripen early. The apricots are past, and I have been eating peaches, figs, apples and melons, and even a few grapes. I have also seen orange trees, well laden with fruit.

25th December.—Through the Lord’s goodness I can again record that I have been holpen thus far, and I trust that you have also been assisted in your labours on this occasion. I have been much with you in spirit, and I have tried to rejoice with you in the remembrance of this blessed day. On Friday evening I had my first service, and then two preparation services on Saturday, which, with speaking to the parents of more than eighty children who have been baptized, fatigued me a good deal before Sabbath came. The congregation was very large, so that the place prepared for the services had to be doubled in size, and this, with the open air, require a great deal of exertion to make them hear. On Sabbath I was very hoarse, but got on very well, and was enabled to preach and to serve four tables without my voice failing. When I came home, though I did not feel fatigued, I was so worn out that when I lay down for a few minutes I slept full three hours most soundly, and was quite refreshed for the evening service.

Yesterday morning we had service very early, after which I sat full ten hours in the aanneming (confirmation) with some eighty young people, of whom forty-two were received, and were this morning voor-gesteld (presented). The attention from the commencement was much better than at either of the former church-places, and some of the people appear to have received deep, might it but be saving, impressions. The interest manifested in the hearing of the Word was great, and from the earnestness with which some spoke about it I would hope that the Lord has been with us. I have to thank and praise the Lord that He has so supported me, body and soul, but still there is much to complain of—a hard, unfeeling and unbelieving heart, even in the midst of earnest preaching, and much self-confidence and pride. The way in which the people here treat me tends but too much to elevate me, even though I be unconscious of it. The impressions which appear to have been produced have made the people still more anxious that I should come here, and some of them have been pleading with me for hours that I should accept a call.

On Saturday two men arrived here with an ox-waggon from Zoutpans-berg, bearing a letter from the Commandant Potgieter. They beg me to come thither, as the poverty of many of the people will not allow them to travel thus far, and since it would not be safe to leave the frontier towards Moselekatse, where they are altogether unprotected. The distance—fourteen schoften to the north-east from here—alone prevented me from going. Potgieter asked me to appoint a time when some other minister, or else myself, should come to them, and I have fixed September. When the men heard that they could not be visited for such a time, they were in tears, as they had hoped I might go with them, and when they left again they could not speak. I hardly know what to say when the people begin to discourse about their spiritual destitution, and their desire after the Word. They plead their application to the Ring (Presbytery) two years ago, and Papa's promise to help them, and urge the situation of Bloemfontein between Mr. Reid and Mr. van Velden as a reason why they should have a minister here on the uithoek (far corner). Suppose another minister, say John Neethling, should refuse to come here, but be willing to take Bloemfontein, what would you think of my coming here ? Perhaps you say, Foolish boy ! but the way in which some of the people here plead really moves my heart. Many are in a fit state for receiving the seed of the Word. May the Lord in His mercy help them.

Mooi River, 11th January, 1850.

My last letter I concluded on Christmas Day, and I shall simply commence this letter by resuming the narrative from that date. From C. Kruger’s we travelled in a south-easterly direction, and after crossing the Magaliesberg we reached Andries Pretorius’, where we stopped for the night. He treated me with great kindness and made great professions of sorrow over the decay of religion in the land. I rode a considerable distance with him on horseback the next day, when he asked me if he might not come to the Lord’s Table, as he had so longed for it at the last church-place. I spoke as faithfully as I could; and he said that it really was his most earnest desire to serve the Lord, but acknowledged that he was living in enmity with Biihrmann the Hollander, and I am glad to say that he stayed away from the Table. He desired to be remembered to you, as also did his brothers Piet and Bart, the former of whom is very well spoken of here. I had also a good deal of conversation with A. Pretorius on political matters, but into this subject I shall not now enter. This much I can say, that there does not exist the least fear for another outbreak [of the Boers against the British], though there is a small war-party who are doing all they can to disturb the peace. Unfortunately they are but too much encouraged in secret by some parties in the Sovereignty, and even in the Riet River, who profess to be loyal British subjects. But I see I must not begin with this, or I shall not know where to end.

From Andries Pretorius’ we rode a small schoft to the farm of D. Erasmus, where church was to be held. Here I had the usual work, and though the congregation was not as large as at the former church-place, the number of children brought for baptism was much greater (125), as the people of these parts had not been able to attend the services of Messrs. Faure and Robertson. I had a service on Friday evening, two on Saturday, and on the Sabbath I dispensed the Lord's Supper. It sometimes makes me unhappy to think that I must preach God’s Holy Word with so little preparation, and though circumstances prevent my studying much, yet I might live much more in a state of mind which would be a continual preparation. Oh ! could I but more live in heaven, breathing the spirit of God’s Word, the Lord would abundantly make up the want of regular study.

After the service I was very unwell, and was advised not to preach again in the evening, which advice I followed. On Monday I had only a very short service, for the confirmation of those who had been admitted as members on Saturday, and for the baptism of the children. I had caught a severe cold from the continual draughts to which I was exposed, especially when coming heated out of church, and the cold was accompanied with rather severe fever. Immediately after service I had to ride on horseback for several hours, the waggon having gone on early in the morning, since the distance we had to travel to the next church-place did not allow of our losing any time.

During the week we journeyed nearly due east to the district of Ohrigstad. The town and neighbourhood have been abandoned, though exceedingly fertile, on account of the disease which has carried off so many victims during the last two years, and all the people have trekked out to the Hoogeveld (plateau), where the climate is as salubrious as can be wished. For the greater part of the way we travelled through a thickly-wooded country, very sparsely peopled, though we were able to spend every night on a farm. The church-place and its neighbourhood along the Hoogeveld is quite bare, and much cooler than a great part of the low country through which we had travelled. We reached our destination on Friday afternoon. New Year’s Day was spent in the desert. On that day we travelled eleven-and-a-half hours in order to reach a habitation, or else we would have had to spend the night in the veld, which is still infested with lions. During the whole of New Year’s Day I thought much of our dear home, and I am sure the absent members of the family also formed the subject of your conversation. How many and how great are the mercies which the Lord has granted to us since the beginning of 1849.

Valsch River, 25th January, 1850.

When I reached the church-place I was still very unwell, but was strengthened to do my work. The congregation was not very large, as the intimations had unfortunately not reached all the people. I baptized seventy-five children, and was told that there was a still larger number left unbaptized in this district. When we left the place on the Tuesday, I had for my fellow-traveller the far-famed Hollander Buhrmann. He is a plain Amsterdammer, who came out here to be a schoolmaster, and who has been compelled, perhaps not very unwillingly, to take part in political affairs. He occupies no office, though every place in the Government has been offered to him. He does good, I believe, in trying to keep the people at peace, but is rather permanlig (stuck-up), as the people say. He is religious, but I fear has not true piety. By some he is much looked up to, and by others despised and hated. I had much conversation with him on all sorts of subjects, political not excepted, of which I may afterwards communicate the results to you.

During the journey back from Ohrigstad district I was still unwell, and very weak, but recovered gradually ; so that by the end of the week, when we reached Magaliesberg, I was nearly quite well, though still weak and very much fallen off in flesh. I had purposely not intimated any service for Sabbath the 13th, that I might have a day of rest; and I am thankful that I did so, as I was much refreshed for the hard work at Mooi River. Unfortunately I did not enjoy so much quiet as I had hoped for, as there were two or three other families come to the place, and my companions always strove to be with me. (I did not mention that Caspar Kruger and Frans Schutte accompanied me for the whole j ourney.) I trust, however, that the day did not pass without a blessing for myself. On Monday we left, and spent the night at Gert Kruger’s, of whom I have formed a high opinion. He gave me a letter for you, on the subject, I believe, of my coming here. He feels very strongly on the matter, and I must say again that, were I not bound to Bloemfontein, I know where I should go. On Thursday afternoon, after having seen the Oog (source of river) in the morning, we reached Mooi River.

Monday the 21st was the day appointed for the sitting of the Volks-raad, and this brought a large number of people to Mooi River. There were above 400 waggons; and a very large place, which had been prepared and which could contain about 1,000 people, was not sufficient for more than the half. I was really astonished, when I rose in church on Sabbath morning, to see the multitude that was assembled. I preached on Friday and twice on Saturday, not without a blessing, I trust, though I cannot say that my own soul was in a very lively frame. I sometimes doubt whether it really be the Lord's assistance by which I am enabled to preach, or whether it be merely natural powers which, when excited, lead me to preach earnestly, and apparently with deep impression on the hearers.

On Sabbath I dispensed the Sacrament, and had by far too many communicants, though I had tried to set forth as faithfully as possible what Psalm xxiv. 4 represents as the way to God. My own heart was somewhat enlarged in speaking on the name Emmanuel, but I found that very few of the people are in a state to appreciate such subjects. What they want is knorren (scolding), and if that but produced any good effect, I would willingly hnoy; but I sometimes feel sad at the thought that the blessed Gospel of God’s love should be degraded to be nothing else than a schoolmaster to drive and threaten.

On Monday I preached on 1 John iv. 7, and tried to speak as plainly as possible on all the contention and enmity which prevails amongst them, especially in reference to the Raad, where disputes sometimes run very high. The meeting of the Raad had been postponed till Tuesday because of the service. Many professed to be very thankful, and I really think that a good feeling was produced, and that many felt the necessity of striving after peace and unity. In the evening I had another opportunity of speaking strongly on the same subject in my farewell address from Philippians i. 27. I dare not say otherwise than that I was much assisted from on high, both in body and spirit. The congregations were very large, and as the place for service was partly open, I had to exert myself very greatly, and on Monday was very hoarse. Yet I was so strengthened as to be well heard, and I have not felt my chest pained or even wearied. At ten that night I began with the church meeting, which lasted past midnight till two o’clock. Among other things they again asked me to come amongst them, and though I decidedly said that I did not see the least opening to do so, they insisted; and I believe they intend sending me a beroepschrift (letter of call), and also petitioning the Synod on the subject. May the Lord Himself in His mercy supply the needs of this poor destitute people !

There is one point on which I still wish to ask your opinion. I never prayed for the authorities, and of course the people observed it, and Wolmarans spoke to me about it. I felt it to be a delicate matter, and wished much to know how the preceding Commission [i.e. Messrs. Faure and Robertson] would have acted. I do not know myself what to think of the proceedings of the Boers against the English: in many respects they appear to me to be justifiable; but on this I hope to speak with you afterwards. Even supposing that they have done wrong, they appear to me to be of " the powers that be,” as they are now tolerated by Government; and as well as Paul could pray for all authorities, and for the Romans too, might I pray that the authorities may be ruled by the fear of God, and the Raad be enabled by His wisdom to do all for God's glory and the good of the people. I hope to receive from you a full statement of your opinion as to whether I have done right or wrong in this matter. I felt that I might be led to do it for popularity’s sake, and I prayed the Lord to preserve me from the same.

On Tuesday morning, after only two hours’ sleep during the night, I left on horseback ; and I must confess I felt the parting from some whom I had learnt to know well, and to whom I had become much attached. I rode with Elder Wolmarans to Jan Kok’s to baptize a child two days old ; but before we got there we were thoroughly drenched. Though I had no shift of clothes (the waggon being behind), and was obliged to let my clothes dry on horseback, I have felt no bad consequences, through God’s goodness. Elder Wolmarans, Andries Pretorius and many others desired to be remembered to you.

You may imagine how very strange and varied my feelings were on crossing the Vaal River again. I had passed over it hardly knowing whither I went and what might happen, and when I looked back at the Lord’s leading over the way, all the strength and assistance I had enjoyed, the blessing of which I had been the unworthy channel to not a few, I trust, and the measure of comfort with which He had enabled me to do the work;—and when I then thought on the little progress I myself had made in grace, on the want of true love to my fellow-sinners, on the hardness and indifference of my wicked heart, on the absence of that true heavenly-mindedness in which an ambassador of Christ ought to live, on all the pride and self-sufficiency with which I had taken to myself the glory which belongs to God alone—surely I had reason to glory and rejoice in God, and to weep in the dust at my own wickedness. How fatherly have not the dealings of my Covenant God been with me, how unchildlike my behaviour towards Him. Oh ! bless the Lord with me, my dearest father, and praise Him for all His loving-kindness and long-suffering, praying that the Lord Himself would pardon and renew me, that I may be fitted truly to glorify Him.

Bloemfontein, 11th February, 1850.

At length I have again reached my dwelling-place (for home I cannot call it), and shall try and finish my narrative. From the Vaal River I rode to old Daniel Cronje’s on the Rhenoster River, where I had service that Tuesday evening and twice on Wednesday. The number of people was very small, as many of them had been attracted to the services at Mooi River by the sitting of the Volksraad. On Thursday I took my departure for Valsch River, and after having again experienced God’s goodness in finding the Rhenoster River just low enough to get through (though it had been excessively full the night previous), reached the church-place on Friday morning. There was a very good congregation assembled, and though I felt rather unwell, I was helped to perform the usual Communion services on Saturday, Sabbath and Monday. On Tuesday I left again for Winburg, which I reached on Thursday.

You cannot imagine the excitement of the people at Winburg about the appointment of Mr. van Velden to Harrismith, and I cannot say with what astonishment and indignation I was filled on receiving the intelligence.5 Such unprincipled robbery ! Such debasing of Christ’s servants to be the servants of political speculation. Here there are 3,000 souls, many hungering and thirsting; there not thirty. But enough. The matter gives me much work in writing to Cape Town whilst I am anything but well. But the Lord will provide.

The continued prosperity of our journey was interrupted at Valsch River by a solemn stroke of the Lord’s hand. Deacon P. Coetzer died there on Tuesday, 29th January, after having been my companion in all our journeyings. He had been ill about fourteen days, and complained of pain in all his members, especially his back. Some say it is the Delagoa disease, but this I cannot believe, as we kept far from the district where it has hitherto prevailed. He died trusting in the Lord, and I believe truly one of those who will be for ever with Him in glory.

The tremendous strain which arduous journeys such as that which has been described cast upon the youth of twenty-one could not but tell upon his strength. He informs the home circle that on his arrival at Bloemfontein he was still “weak, thin and very pale." The recovery which he made from the serious illness which had assailed him across the Vaal awakens frequent expressions of gratitude towards God. "Many people say that Deacon Coetzer died of the Delagoa disease, to which so many have succumbed in the back part of the country beyond the Vaal. As I was unwell at the same time, and exhibited the same symptoms with which his illness began, the report was spread that I was suffering from the same malady On my arrival at Winburg I found the people so alarmed that they almost persuaded me that I had the Delagoa disease. Though I could not see any danger myself, yet I could not help thinking of death, and through the Lord’s goodness the fear of death was taken from me.”

The Sovereignty, especially along its south-eastern border, remained politically in a condition of perpetual disquietude. About this time a farmer named van Hansen was cruelly murdered, together with his wife, four children and two servants, by a party of Bushmen, who appeared at his door and demanded to be supplied with tobacco. The murderers were retainers of Poshuli, brother of Moshesh,—a robber-chieftain whose depredations kept the farmers of the vicinity in a continual ferment of anxiety. The untoward conditions prevailing on the frontier are referred to in letters written during the month of April, 1850—

After I parted from John I had a very pleasant ride to Adam Swane-poel’s. The number of waggons [of the folk who had assembled for service] was about forty, but that number was very unexpectedly diminished. After the morning service on Sabbath a message was brought to one of the farmers from his father-in-law, bidding him to come home immediately, whether his child was baptized or not, as all the people in the Koesbergen were going to trek. The message confirmed a report that had previously been spread, that the Cafire chief Basouli (Poshuli) had fortified Vechtkop, and that the Cafires had sent away their cattle, and appeared to be secretly preparing for war. At the close of the afternoon service nearly the half of the people left, and the minds of the remainder were very much disturbed. From the conversation I had with Mr. Vowe6 on Monday, I fear that there is truth in the report, and it is suspected that Basouli is aided in secret by some more powerful chiefs (Letsea,2 some say, or Moshesh), as he is too weak to attempt anything alone. I shall let you know as soon as anything more decided happens. May the Lord in His great mercy restore peace in these times, that His Word may have free course and be glorified.

Our three magistrates at the last Circuit Court sentenced five Bushmen to death for the murder of van Hansen and family, and one for the murder of a Cafire. All the six are in prison here. Saturday’s post brought the Governor’s confirmation of the sentence, which is to be carried out to-morrow week. We have a catechist here from Thaba Nchu to instruct them. Still, I shall try and do something for them through him, in order to prepare them for that awful moment. At their execution I cannot be present, as I have to leave on Monday after the sermon for Burgersdorp, and have church appointed on the way thither at Hendrik Snyman’s.

In spite, however, of disquieting rumours and occasional interruptions, Murray applied himself with assiduity to his parochial tasks. The instruction of the young was one of his chief cares. The dearth of qualified teachers in South Africa, as well as the grievous lack of ministers, was the cause of loud lament at each meeting of synod or presbytery. Teachers had to be imported from abroad, and those who arrived at these shores received immediate appointments. Towards the end of 1849 two Hollanders named van der Meer and Groenendaal landed at Cape Town from a Dutch ship, and were assigned by the Governor to those distant and needy fields, Bloemfontein and Riet River. Van der Meer was accompanied by his wife, and Murray relates that on his return from one of his numerous visitation tours he found this worthy couple installed in his parsonage,—robbing him of his privacy, but relieving his solitude and adding sensibly to his comfort. His church building, in the meanwhile, was making steady progress, and tenders were invited for the construction of a school-house, which it was proposed to erect by public subscription.

Correspondence of every description engrossed the most of his spare time. The burden of four parishes, and the pressing needs of the emigrants beyond the Vaal, lay heavy upon him, and occasioned much anxious thought and a heavy official correspondence. To the members of his family, and especially to his father, he writes with regularity and occasionally at great length. He exchanges letters with friends at the Cape, with parishioners like Andries Pretorius and Gert Kruger on the further side of the Vaal, and with men of the evangelical circle in Holland, like Dr. Capadose. Nor, even in these early days, was there any lack of visitors at Bloemfontein, for though remote the town was central, and highways radiated from it to every part of South Africa. Missionaries passed through with considerable frequency, among others Robert Moffat, the famous pioneer of missions to the Bechuana, the Rev. J. J. Freeman, Secretary of the London Missionary Society, and the Helmore family, whose later history forms so tragic a page in the annals of South African Missions. Bishop Gray of Cape Town, to whom reference has already been made, was a visitor in the winter of 1850. Murray mentions this visit in a letter to his brother—

We had the Bishop here last Sabbath. He wished me to tell you that he will most likely come to Burgersdorp from Cradock. I rode out with him for a distance of one-and-a-half hours (nine miles) on horseback last Tuesday, and had a little chat. He is exceedingly active, and will not rest till he has churches everywhere. I tried to probe him on Puseyism, but he says there is no such thing in the Colony, only different shades of opinion. ”The jealousy of the Dissenters, and the ignorance of others, is the cause of all the outcry.” I told him that if he sent a man of evangelical sentiments [to Bloemfontein], I would be delighted to welcome him as a brother.

Though Murray’s health seems to have gradually improved during the winter of 1850, he had no relief from incessant travelling, sometimes by horse-waggon or Cape cart, sometimes (as in the territory beyond the Vaal) by ox-waggon, frequently on horseback, exposed to biting cold in winter or tropical downpours in summer, and always over ill-made and ill-kept roads. Occasionally he was overtaken by some “moving accident by flood or field.” Of one of these he tells in a letter to his father—

I had a great deal of rain on the way back [from Smithfield], and was twice detained by spruiten (river-courses) being full. On Thursday I experienced the Lord’s gracious preservation at Kaffir River. You know the drift (ford) is very ugly, and the horses, though good, were unaccustomed to the water. We unharnessed two horses, and made the boy ride on one, to lead the waggon through. In the middle of the stream the rope broke, and the boy was obliged to make for the bank. Our leaders took fright at the noise of the water dashing against the stones, and turned round twice in the stream, so that they nearly broke the pole. While the coachman was engaged in putting the front horses straight, the right wheeler, who could not stand against the strength of the stream, fell right over the pole, and both he and the left wheeler so kicked and struggled as to completely free themselves of' the harness. With all this confusion the waggon had been swept from the paved roadway, and as the horses were powerless to draw it up-stream, were obliged to make for the nearest point of the bank, and there to outspan. We then sent to Bekerfontein for spades, dug a road for ourselves, and then obtained some mules from a waggon standing on the banks of the river, and so were drawn out. Through the great goodness of God we thus got through with no other loss but that of time, though the hind-harness was a little broken. I suppose that we were nearly half-an-hour in the river, with the water sometimes washing against the buikplank (floor) of the waggon. Oh ! for a heart to recognize God's goodness aright, and to feel more and more bound to His gracious love and service.

In the course of July Murray paid a brief visit to Graaff-Reinet, and was greatly refreshed by his intercourse with the home circle. The residents of his birthplace seem to have made much of him, for he refers to the period of excitement through which he passed, and to the marks of esteem which were accorded him. His stay was short, as usual, and on the 18th July we find him back at Bloemfontein, and writing to his parents in the following terms—

To his Parents.

Through the goodness of our gracious Heavenly Father, I arrived here in safety yesterday (Wednesday) evening, and take up my pen at the first leisure moment to do myself the pleasure of corresponding with you. The doormalkaar (confused) state in which I found the house, and the business with which I have already been assailed in regard to the building of the church, and all the other duties still awaiting me, drive my thoughts to the dear home I left, and from which I shall now so long be absent. Though my journey possess nothing very interesting, yet I shall begin my narrative from Tuesday morning. That day we had a long and not very pleasant ride against the wind, and reached Hendrik Ekkert's a little after sundown. We found him not at home, though he had told me that he expected to be back on Tuesday from Richmond ; and we were obliged to content ourselves with bedding on the rustbank 8 and on some chairs in the voorhuis,9 of which the old Englishman fortunately had the key. On Wednesday we had a much more pleasant ride, though we could not reach Willem Venter's owing to one of the horses getting sick, and spent the night at Wild-fontein with the van der Walts. During the day I was able to collect my thoughts after the excitement I had been in, and enjoyed almost more in the retrospect of the hours spent among the dearly-beloved members of the family at Graafi-Reinet, than when there. I tried to feel the exceeding privilege of loving each other in Jesus, and the greatness of the blessing granted us in the assurance that not even death, much less any short distance on this earth, can separate us from the love of Christ. . . .

On Thursday we rode further, and after having left my riding horse dying at Willem Venter's, reached Colesberg after noon, but too late for the post. I found Mr. Reid and family well, and rode on that evening to old Christian van der Walt’s. From him I heard a good deal about the Colesberg troubles. He says his reasons for signing the petition for the removal of Mr. Reid is the old business of the Gezangen and the Herderlijke Brief.10 The latter appears to lie very heavy on him, especially the obnoxious expression of "doorboren het hart van Gods kin-deren.” At the Sacrament in Colesberg there was only half a table of men [at Communion], and a few more of women, principally Seacow River people.

On Friday we crossed by the pont, though the river was very empty, and reached old Hendrik Snyman’s about two, whence I started immediately with him and the Viljoens for Henning Joubert’s, which we reached about ten at night, having ridden twelve hours that day. We outspanned for an hour at Mr. Pellissier’s, who enquired very kindly about you and expressed a longing to see you. On Saturday I rode to Smithfield, which I reached about three o'clock, and on enquiry I found that no post was to leave that week. We had a pretty good congregation there, though there were not many people from beyond Caledon. I feared much that we would have very unfavourable weather, but in this matter God's goodness also cared for us, and though I had to preach in tents in the open air, there was neither wind, rain nor excessive cold to disturb us. In addition to my Dutch services I had also an English service, which I have been requested to hold regularly when I come. The Dutch people were attentive, sometimes interested and impressed. Oh 1 for more evident marks of the Spirit’s presence and power. . . . The time I spent at Smithfield was very pleasant, and I was made very comfortable in their tent by the Viljoens. The new churchwardens, with whom I am on the whole very well pleased, were voorgesield. I am glad to be able to say that a beginning has been made with church building. We received several tenders, and accepted one for £325. I think I mentioned that the dimensions were sixty-five feet long, seventeen wide and ten high in the clear. After the people knew that a commencement was to be made they subscribed very liberally.

On Tuesday I left Rietpoort, and yesterday evening I arrived here, finding the house as I left it. Mr. Stuart has gone to Bethany, but is still my guest. So are the van der Meers, though they propose to go to-morrow into Drury’s house, which they have bought for £100. It was a very great disappointment to hear that the Helmores spent a week here during my absence, so that I have a second time missed the pleasure of seeing them. I found a very kind letter from Dr. Capadose awaiting me, and felt ashamed at this new memento of the affectionate interest with which many had looked on us in Holland. And when I think of the tokens of esteem so lately conferred in Graaff-Reinet on such an unworthy subject, I really feel humbled. Oh ! for the time when our souls shall praise the Lord aright for His mercies.

I also had a letter from Rev. van Velden which has put me sadly about. He says it will be impossible for him to be at Winburg before 15th October, and thus it would be the middle of November before we could start for the North, where we would just be in the unhealthiest of the season. This is, however, not all; but the disturbed state of the country there (according to the reports of the travellers) makes me anxious to go as soon as possible, if the preaching of the Word might not move them to peace and quiet. I have here been advised to go as soon as possible, but have not been able to decide, and trust that my God will make the way plain before me. I am a little anxious now, as September is not far off, and arrangements will require soon to be made. I shall anxiously await Papa’s answer as to whether I should still wait, or would be warranted to go alone. . . .

A day or two later he writes again to his parents—

As to the matter which occupies so much of my thoughts, I received a letter from Mr. Faure on Saturday saying that the Governor has asked him to let me know that my journey must be postponed till I receive further intelligence. I shall write to-day to Mr. Faure to try and get leave, for it appears to me a most abominable application of the starvation principle, to deprive them of the Gospel for their political offences, and what is more, to lay a whole people thus under the ban for the sins of a few. I am sure that the great majority are living in quiet and peace, and anxiously longing for the promised visit. I pray to be made willing to wait, and to do the will of Him who can say, "I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.”

Since writing the above I have received a letter from John’s neef (cousin)1 Buhrmann, requesting me in the name of the Volksraad to come over, and to make my arrangements so as to be at Mooi River at the time of the sitting of the Raad in October. May the Lord prepare a way for me and direct my steps.

His journey to the Vaal River emigrants was clearly costing him much anxious thought. The obstacles laid in his way were enough to have daunted a man who had laid the welfare of the Voortrekkers less deeply to heart. In addition to the adverse attitude of the Governor, and the unaccountable delay in the arrival of Rev. van Velden at Winburg, he was served at the last moment with a subpoena as witness in an important Court case. This threatened to throw his whole journeying programme out of gear. In those early years, when telegraph-lines had not yet penetrated to the Sovereignty, and mails were carried no further north then Bloemfontein, it was difficult to arrange itineraries, and arrangements once made must needs be scrupulously adhered to. Fortunately, the magistrate was amenable to reason, and authorized a private examination of Murray under oath, so that the latter was able to set out on his second visitation tour across the Vaal River on the 9th of October, having obtained ten weeks’ leave of absence for the purpose.

The story of this second tour we shall tell in his own words, derived partly from the account written for the Kerkbode, and partly from his more private letters to his parents.

After having conducted divine service at Valsch River, I arrived at Mooi River Town on Friday, the 16th October. There I was welcomed with the greatest joy by those who were present from various quarters for the session of the Raad, which had just that day come to a close.

I was soon convinced that this visit was well timed, for from all parts of the congregation the people streamed together, in numbers of certainly not less than 500, although many had been prevented from coming by the drought and the harvesting season. In the village itself I was pleasantly surprised at the sight of the walls of a roomy cruciform church, nearly ready to be roofed over. I could not but conclude that, in spite of much that is faulty, a truly great interest is here displayed in religious matters.

Though the church was still incomplete, we were able to make good use of it on this occasion, for canvas spread over the walls sheltered us from the sun. The only complaint was of lack of room, since the building was barely large enough to contain the whole audience. I noted great interest in all the services, though the excitement in connexion with the session of the Raad could not but have a detrimental influence ; for the feelings of many had been greatly disturbed. The preaching of the Word, nevertheless, was not unattended with blessing. More than one came to assure me how good he had found it, after having suffered want for so long, to experience satisfaction of soul in the Word of life. The usual services were held on Saturday, Sabbath and Monday. On the latter day seventy-four children were baptized and twenty-four young people confirmed and presented to the congregation.

At Mooi River the people immediately began again to speak to me about my coming hither, and I gave them the same answer, that were Bloemfontein but supplied, I would gladly come over. In the course of the journey' I have at times longed to labour here. Truly the harvest is great. I believe the churchwardens are going to send me a regular call, and also a petition to the Synodical Committee, signed by the people. This is not in the least my work, and I distinctly told them that I did not see the least possibility of leaving Bloemfontein, but advised them rather to call John Neethling.

On Tuesday morning we started for Suikerbosch Rand, and rode nine hours by ox-waggon north-eastward to the Gats Rand, where a small congregation was collected of those who could not come to the dorp. I preached that evening and next morning, and baptized eleven children. A woman was here brought to me to speak to, in distress about her salvation. I cannot imagine a more fearful case of a person under the power of Satan. She has already attempted some five or six times to take her own life. It appears that she was formerly very religious, but now she says she is lost,—and such perversity in condemning herself I never saw. When she hears of God’s grace or Christ’s mercy, it only increases her own misery ; for this, she says, will be her condemnation, that she refuses such mercy and her heart rejects such a God. When I came to her she begged of me with clasped hands not to speak to her, as she would have to answer for every word ; and when I offered to pray she burst into tears, saying that she would only mock God. Speaking to her one would think that she was in full possession of her reason, and she shows an intimate knowledge of the Bible. I really trembled at the power of Satan, and wondered at the goodness of God in not surrendering more of us, who abuse the day of grace, as she says she has done, to the terrors of His wrath.

Two days’ more travelling due east by ox-waggon brought us to the farm of Koos Smit, in the Suikerbosch Rand. This is a rather hilly district, healthy and fruitful, occupied by respectable and rather religious people, mostly from Beaufort and Zwarteberg (Prince Albert), among whom old David Jacobs has been the means of keeping alive a certain degree of religion. The congregation amounted to upwards of 200, and gave no reason to complain of inattention, though I felt humbled at the absence of the power of the Spirit with the Word. . . . We had services on Thursday and Friday night, on Saturday and Sabbath. Out of eleven candidates only two were received into membership, and thirty-eight children were baptized.

As the distance to Lydenburg was great we were obliged to travel on horseback through a bare and uninhabited country. The waggon was sent forward on Saturday in order to afford us lodging, and on Monday morning we started early and rode for about nine hours in a northeasterly direction. On Tuesday we went some ten hours further, over high flats with good water and grass, but without wood, and therefore not yet inhabited. On Tuesday night we reached the farm of Andries Spies, where church had been appointed for a few people in the neighbourhood, who were too far off to reach the other church-places. There was a small congregation of some fifty persons, to whom I preached thrice on the Wednesday, administering baptism also to eleven children. Thence we started early on Thursday morning, and after travelling fourteen hours we reached Lydenburg on Friday morning at about ten o'clock. About eight hours on this side of Lydenburg the appearance of the country suddenly changes, and I was quite taken by surprise on suddenly finding myself in the midst of high rugged mountains, and travelling on roads with which the Sneeuwberg roads can hardly be compared. It is a beautiful grass country with large streams of water, and is well supplied with the suikerbosch (protea). Lydenburg lies in a valley between two of these large mountain-ranges, the slopes of the Drakensberg, and is about four hours distant from the unhealthy country. Ohrigstad is about six hours to the north-east of Lydenburg, but is deserted. Though so near each other the climate of each is different. Places sometimes adjoin each other of which the one (the lower) is unhealthy, and the other quite safe. Lydenburg has only two families living there as yet, though Ohrigstad had some twenty large houses built, and a still larger number of residents.

I was hardly off-saddled before I had to begin my work, as we had to leave again early on Monday morning. Both on Friday and on Saturday I had to sit late with the work that had to be got through. The congregation was large and the people were very attentive, and I was enabled to preach in earnest, so that by Sabbath afternoon I was perfectly exhausted. I had seventy-nine applicants for membership, of whom forty-nine were received, and 109 children were baptized. I was here as elsewhere pressed on all sides, and even with tears, to come to this side of the River, and if not, at all events to pay them another visit. On my saying that I trusted they would soon have a visit from some other minister, an old friend of Papa’s, Andries Beetge, answered, “But is not a year too long a time for us to suffer hunger?” and I could give no answer in return.

On Monday morning a little after sunrise we were again in the saddle, as church had been appointed for some people, who could not come to Lydenburg, on the Tuesday morning at a place some ten hours distant. We would have been there in good time, had we not been detained by rain in the afternoon. Here, however, as elsewhere, we found such kind people that we were made quite comfortable, and next morning we proceeded the remaining two hours to the appointed farm, where a small congregation was waiting. To them I spoke a word of exhortation, at the close of which they expressed the intensest desire for a more frequent ministration of the means of grace. After service we rode five hours further, always due east, along the same road which I travelled last year when so unwell; and I could not but feel grateful for the strength granted on the present journey.

Next day we had ridden only a couple of hours when we were detained as the orders for conveyance had not reached the place, and I enjoyed a day of rest; but I only felt my fatigue and weariness so much that I was incapable of doing anything. As the time was too short for us to travel by the high-road, we were obliged to take a short-cut through uninhabited boschveld (bush country), where we slept in a waggon on Thursday night, and thence reached the Bath at the Waterberg on Friday mid day. In the course of our ride we saw the white and the black rhinoceros, camelopards (giraffes), and an elephant, besides a multitude of smaller game.

Schoonspruit, 2jth November, 1850.

My first sheet I wrote mostly at the Bath, and have since then been prevented by continual occupation from again writing. On our arrival at the Bath we found only some twelve waggons, standing in lager, on account of the Caffres, and heard that the people of the neighbourhood were all gone to another lager near Magaliesberg. Church had been appointed here for the Zoutpansberg (Potgieter) people, and I was glad on Saturday evening to see thirteen waggons, well-loaded, arrive from there—a distance of nine schoften. I had a letter from Potgieter, lamenting that I had not fulfilled the promise I had half made to go thither, and begging soon to have the privilege of the ordinances there, as more than half of the people had been prevented from coming. And need of it there certainly is, as was proved by the applicants for membership, for of twenty-five only two were received. I did not administer the sacraments here, but was enabled to set forth Christ for the free acceptance of a simple faith with almost more plainness and earnestness than elsewhere. ... I did not, however, feel that certain reliance on God which I wished. I saw clearly that faith is a fight, and at moments I laid hold of the Lord, but alas ! I am so little accustomed to crucify the flesh and really to believe, that I found it hard work, which will require much more strenuous effort, much more wrestling with God in private, than I have hitherto given. Oh ! may the Lord give me true faith. I feel now that this is a sad life of mine, and that it requires a person of much more spirituality and habitual intercourse with heaven than I have, to travel in this way, as there is so very seldom the regular opportunity for private devotion ; and there is really nothing that can be a substitute for intercourse with God. I preached on Saturday and Sabbath, and intended leaving on Monday, but we were detained by rain. I could not then resist the entreaties of people who had come so far to hold additional services on the Monday. Baptism was administered to thirty-six children. May the Lord but add His blessing.

Before leaving the Bath I may mention that it derives its name from a beautiful warm bath, which is highly prized for its medicinal virtues in cases of fever, wounds and weakness. The stream is much larger than that of Bufiels Vlei (Aliwal North), and hotter, but without the taste of gunpowder. On Tuesday morning we left the Bath early, and after riding four hours came to Pienaars River, which we found overflowing its banks, so as to be perfectly impassable. We rode some four hours up along the stream, and fortunately found the water run down, so that we could cross. In the evening we reached the lager, after having been eleven hours in the saddle. We heard that the Boers had had a fight with the Caffres, but from all I have been able to learn by the minutest enquiries from all parties, the blame does not appear to be on the side of the Boers.

At the lager they asked me to baptize their children as they would not be able to come to the church. I refused, as I thought the most might manage to come, and the lager was to break up next day. I felt too that they were wholly unprepared for the administration of such an holy ordinance, drinking and cursing having been but too much the order of the day. The lager people, I should say, were mostly from the Hakie-doorns, where none but the wild sort live. I do not know whether I did right, but it is to me a very difficult matter to administer the ordinance to those who are without any preparation, though it is also hard to refuse it. And this appears to me to be one great argument for the first available minister being sent hither, as the ordinance is so often profaned unknowingly, while the people of the Colony all have a better opportunity of being instructed in the matter.

On Wednesday we had again a ride of ten hours, which brought us to the house of Frans Schutte, on this side of the Magaliesberg. He had been my companion the whole way from Mooi River. We went to his farm in order to have a day of rest, though such a short rest made me feel my fatigue all the more, and I was unable to derive that profit which I had expected from a day of quiet. I was even too listless to take up a pen and write to my beloved parents. On Friday we rode a couple of hours to the new church-place and site of a village on the north side of the mountain. The position of the town is pretty, with the mountain behind and a large view in front. The woods are still rather dense on some sides, and there is no lack of water. Some seven or eight houses have been commenced, and the church building is considerably advanced—all in the hope of soon having a minister. It is a large building eighty-five feet by thirty, and the walls are to be sixteen feet high. The congregation was so large that the church could not contain all the people, and I had to exert myself so much to make all hear, that I was quite knocked up when I came to rest on Tuesday.

You know what I think of the Magaliesberg people. My favourable opinion was confirmed as regards many of them. Contrary to my own expectation I was greatly helped to preach with some measure of feeling, and though I know not whether impressions on the unconverted will be abiding, I do trust that the Lord will gather some there. Before leaving I had the satisfaction of seeing that some whom I believe to be truly God’s children had been edified and quickened by the ministration of His most unworthy servant. I felt greatly humbled when one man who had formerly spoken very despondingly said at parting, “I hope afterwards to have an opportunity of telling you what great things God has done for my soul.”

At Magaliesberg I had the usual services on Saturday, Sabbath and Monday : 109 children were baptized (one child of thirteen I was obliged to refuse), and of seventy-seven applicants for membership thirty were received. In the spare moments the people were continually recurring to the one topic in which they are so interested, the obtaining of a minister, and Frans Pretorius wished me to tell Papa that he is ready, if I come, to fulfil his promise, to leave his farm and to come and live in the village, in order to take care of me. The matter causes me much thought, and I hardly know how to come to a decision when I get the call. My own inclination would soon decide the matter, though I really cannot assign a reason for the liking I have taken. But still I would tremble at the thought of taking a single step without a clear conviction that it is the will of the Lord. Though I do not yet see in what way, I feel assured that God will not forsake the work of His own hands amongst this people. A faithful God must satisfy that desire for the Word which He Himself has excited.

The churchwardens pressed me to come again in April for a‘couple of Sabbaths, in order to open the churches at Mooi River and at Magalies-berg. When I promised to do my utmost to get Mr. van Velden or John to come at that time, they said that all the people wished myself to come. I do not write this from vanity, but to ask Papa for an opinion. The churchwardens continually urged as a strong reason for my going thither, the extraordinary unanimity of the people in calling for me, and I must confess that I was myself sometimes staggered by the urgency with which they invited me. This was especially the case in the Morikwa, whither I went for the first time, and where many on parting came to me with tears, to beg me to come again rather than send another. It occurred to me that it might be a token of God’s will in the matter, that the whole people, otherwise so divided, should unite so firmly in fixing their choice upon me, and will take no refusal. . . .

On Tuesday the 18th we left Magaliesberg by ox-waggon, and travelled a small schoft, to near the place in the Zwarte Ruggens where I had church last year. Here I got some of the oranges of the land, and really they were as large as I have ever seen. The other fruits are far advanced but not yet ripe. (At Magaliesberg the previous week I had already enjoyed several dishes of figs and apricots.) On Wednesday we rode for about six hours on horseback due west to the Morikwa, and next day had travelled some five hours, when we were suddenly and unexpectedly stopped within an hour of the church-place. We were informed that we would not be allowed to go further till I had given an account of myself. Though my churchwardens begged that I should be allowed to proceed at least as far as the church-place, they refused. I was thus detained a sort of prisoner. Fortunately the people in the house were very kind, though the master of the farm declined having family worship that evening, which we accordingly held in the tent of Gottfried Mocke. In the course of the evening Adriaan Stander in whose name we had been stopped, arrived, and from him we learnt that it had been done without his order or consent; but as a good many people were expected to be present next morning at my examination, he requested me to stay. Next day I took my seat upon the waggon-box, while some forty Boers stood round to put me on trial. A Brakel11 was brought forward, and all sorts of nonsensical demonstrations about the duty of coming out of Antichrist were urged, in order to prove that I could not be a true minister till I came out from under the English Government to this side of the Vaal River. Of course there was no arguing with such people, and after answering some of their questions I simply stated the object of my mission, and left them to enjoy an imaginary triumph. The greater part of the people were quite satisfied, and those who refused to come to the services were but few in number. I felt perfectly calm, but the two churchwardens from Maga-liesberg were exceedingly annoyed. We afterwards learnt that they fully intended to turn us back, in fact, a letter had been sent to the field-cornet, saying that he need not bring us. They would have succeeded too, had not Stander arrived with such a strong party.

It was Friday noon before we reached the church-place, on the farm of Hans Steyn. The district of the Morikwa is but small-—some three or four hours on horseback in diameter—but very thickly inhabited along the banks of the river, the farms being often not more than three thousand yards distant from one another. The country is nicely wooded, but rather too much confined between the hills, and therefore bedompig (hot and close). For the small space of ground there are many inhabitants, mostly of the restless sort. At church there was a pretty good attendance of upwards of 200, sixty-three children were baptized, and of thirty applicants fourteen were admitted as members. On account of the restless state of many of the people, I did not administer the Sacrament here, but preached three times on Sabbath. On Monday there was again a public dispute with the party of those who wish to go to Jerusalem. I was opposed to this, but some of the congregation demanded it, as a good many were sometimes shaken by the arguments adduced. The three heroes, Paul Roos, Stofiel de Wet and Jakob Erasmus, came forward, and immediately began to prove that England is a horn of the beast (Rev. xvii. 3), and that I could not be a true servant of Christ. They exposed their own ignorance most completely in their misconceptions of the kantteekeningen (marginal glosses), and all but their own party were satisfied with the folly of their assertions about the marks of the beast, etc. I need not repeat all the nonsense, I may almost say blasphemy, which they uttered. I was very sorry to see them going in fancied security and holiness on the way of destruction ; for they literally seek their salvation in their opposition to the Antichrist. May the Lord have mercy on them. Though the issue of the matter was quite satisfactory, I was very sorry that the meeting took place, as the attention of the people was completely drawn away from the solemn truths they had heard the preceding day, and which had produced some impression.

On Monday (25th Nov.), we started about mid-day on horseback, and rode till after dark in south-easterly direction, on our way to Schoon-spruit, where service had been intimated for Wednesday. We were misinformed as to the distance, and had thus to ride very hard. On Tuesday we were in the saddle by 4 a.m., and at 6 a.m. I held service for a congregation that had previously been appointed to meet us. Then we rode from 9 a.m. till dark to the first farm on Schoonspruit. We were disappointed in not finding horses there, and I was obliged to betake myself to an ox-waggon. Travelling all night, we reached the village at sunrise next morning. I was much wearied, and preached only twice that day and once the next to a congregation of tolerable size. I may mention that Schoonspruit runs nearly parallel with Mooi River, and the dorp [now Klerksdorp] is some five hours due west from Mooi River township [Potchefstroom]. On Thursday and Friday I proceeded by easy rides down along the Vaal River for some ten hours on horseback. On Saturday I had but a small congregation of some 150 persons, as most of the farmers of the neighbourhood had trekked on account of the drought. On Monday after service I crossed the River, and you may imagine that it was with peculiar feelings that I looked back at the way by which the Lord had led me, and the mercies which had been the unmingled portion of my cup.

Before Murray reached Bloemfontein on his homeward journey, he was able to welcome the Rev. D. van Velden as colleague in the pastoral work of the Sovereignty. Mr. van Velden was a Hollander, who after six years of work in a small parish in Belgium, accepted an invitation to come out to South Africa, and receive the appointment to the cure of Winburg. After a perilous sea-voyage from Cape Town, and a prolonged stay at Pietermaritzburg, he arrived at his destination in November, 1850, and on the 9th December following was formally inducted to the charge by Andrew Murray. The advent of van Velden set Murray free from the supervision of the two congregations of Winburg and Harrismith, though he remained consulent of Smithfield and Riet River, and continued moreover to look upon the Vaal River folk as his special care.

These emigrants spared no efforts to prevail on the young minister to throw in his lot with them. He was presented with a unanimous call to the pastorate of Potchefstroom, while a memorial with eleven hundred signatures was laid before the Synodical Committee of the D. R. Church, begging that body to use its influence to secure the acceptance of the call. The impression in Cape Town seems to have been that Murray would accede to this earnest invitation ; and the Kerkbode records that " it is not improbable that Bloemfontein will soon be vacant, seeing that the desire for this young pastor is so urgent, and those sheep can surely no longer be left without pasture.” It was natural that this pressing summons to a new sphere of work should cause Murray a prolonged and painful mental struggle. In a letter to his father he reverts at some length to this matter. As reasons for accepting the invitation he urges the marvellous unanimity of the call, the people’s evident attachment to his person, and their total spiritual destitution—"ten thousand souls given over to the world and the devil.” He believes that by a redistribution of work, Bloemfontein and the other congregations of the Sovereignty can be provided for. "Mr. van Velden could come here every second month, John could take Smithfield, and the minister of Colesberg could' easily take the Riet River under his charge.” He is convinced that the Vaal River people cannot be effectively served by periodical visits. “Commissions can only visit them irregularly: Mr. van Velden has a sickly wife and children, and he will not, I fear, be prepared to take such a journey very often.” He feels sure that Bloemfontein will not long remain yacant. "Sir Harry [the Governor] would use his influence, and the importance of the place would demand its being soon supplied.” But for the poor, destitute trekkers no one pleads. “What young minister would be willing to go across the Vaal River? I have been brought in the leading of Providence to take an especial interest in this people, which may not be excited in the heart of anyone else. God has now set before the Church an open door across the Vaal River, and if we enter not in, it may soon be shut.” He refers to the "anxiety with which Pretorius and others asked my advice, and the willingness they manifested in some cases to take it,” as proving that a minister, though committed to political neutrality, could exercise far-reaching influence in assisting to preserve peace and quiet. He then mentions the names of some friends who were in favour of his accepting the call, namely Mr. Stuart, the magistrate, Mr. Wuras, the German missionary of Bethany, and Mr. Moffat, Sr., afterwards Dr. Moffat. His letter concludes with the earnest prayer, "May the Lord direct my dear father in advising me, and may He give His poor servant the comfort of an assurance that he is doing His will.”

The letter in which his father replied to this appeal for advice has unfortunately not been preserved. But it is evident that the verdict of the home circle was adverse to his going to so distant and extensive a field of work. His mother feared that he would be overtaxing his powers in the effort to minister to "ten thousand souls” so widely scattered. His father believed that the Sovereignty had a prior claim upon his time and strength. To views so definitely expressed Andrew could not but yield a filial acquiescence, and on the 9th March, 1851, he announced, to the great joy of the Bloemfontein congregation that he had decided to remain among them.

There can be no question that in thus deciding Murray was guided by the Spirit of God, and that his continuance in the pastorate of Bloemfontein was not merely advantageous to the Church in the Sovereignty, but spiritually and physically beneficial to himself. One cannot but speculate, nevertheless, on what might have been the course of history, both political and ecclesiastical, in the Transvaal, had Andrew Murray at this time decided to settle among the emigrants as their pastor. He must from the first have assumed a commanding position and have, wielded widespread influence. Under such influence the suspicion with which many of them regarded English and other foreigners must have been allayed; missionaries and mission societies must have had freer access to the country, and have been accorded greater encouragement; the forces that made for disunion and disintegration among the emigrants must have been strongly counteracted; and the D. R. Church of the Cape Colony, to which these emigrants had always belonged, would have vindicated its right to their gratitude and loyal devotion, and would have left them less exposed to the invasion of unsympathetic sectaries from Holland.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 6

Further Visits to the Emigrants

It requires a person of much more spirituality and habitual intercourse with heaven than I have, to travel in this way, as there is so very seldom the regular opportunity for private devotion; and there is really nothing that can be a substitute for intercourse with God.— Andrew Murray.

MURRAY’S interest in the emigrant farmers being undiminished, he prepared in May, 1851, to cross the Vaal River for the third time. On this occasion he was accompanied by his brother John and the young wife of the latter. The visit was a hurried one and lasted less than four weeks. The only places visited were Potchefstroom and Rustenburg, where the newly-completed church edifices were duly dedicated to the service of God. As on former occasions large numbers flocked to the services, and the roomy churches were quite unable to contain the congregations. Loud were the laments which assailed Murray’s ear on the score of his refusal of their call. “ Are we to be always pastor less?” they cried, nor would they be comforted by the oft-repeated reminder, “The Lord will provide.”

The reason for so brief a tour is probably to be sought in the political situation. In every direction the horizon looked dark. The year 1851 was disastrous for the whole of South Africa. The Cape Colony had just been plunged into the Eighth Kaffir War—the longest, most sanguinary and most costly of its conflicts with the natives. Widespread unrest prevailed among native tribes in all parts of the country. The question of a boundary between the Basuto and their white neighbours was as far as ever from satisfactory settlement.

Matters wore indeed so threatening an aspect, that the British Resident felt himself compelled to summon all able bodied burghers to Bloemfontein for a punitive expedition against the Basuto chief.

The Boers of the Sovereignty, who believed that Major Warden would have been better advised to leave the native chiefs severely alone, and allow them to compose their own quarrels, made but a feeble response. Not more than 150 of the men who had been commandeered appeared upon the stated day. With these and 160 soldiers stationed at Bloemfontein, Major Warden proceeded towards Basutoland, being reinforced along the road by various native levies, numbering upwards of one thousand. At Viervoet, a mountain near the mission station of Mekuatling, this force sustained a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Basuto, and its scattered remnants were compelled to fall back upon Bloemfontein (30th June. 1851).

All efforts on the part of Major Warden to restore the prestige of the British name and British arms were without avail. The Boers could not be prevailed upon to form another commando and invite further defeats. The position in which the British Resident now found himself was unenviable in the extreme. Called to police a country as large as England, he found his authority practically limited by the bounds of the Bloemfontein commonage.

At this juncture the Boers in the Sovereignty who were still disaffected towards British rule, resolved upon a step which bordered on rebellion, and in less troublous times would certainly have been construed as such. They invited Andries Pretorius, still under sentence of outlawry, to cross the Vaal River and take upon himself the office of pacificator of the Sovereignty. They then proceeded to Moshesh, and on the 3rd September, 1851, concluded an agreement with him, by which he bound himself to leave the Boers and their possessions in peace, while they on their part promised to refrain from interference in tribal quarrels.

This sudden denouement in the political situation caused great excitement in Bloemfontein. Murray writes to his brother thereanent in the following terms—

Quite early on Saturday morning (27th September) Major Warden sent Mr. Allison 1 over to me to show me a letter from Andries Pretorius to the British Resident, informing him that he had been invited by Moshesh and the white inhabitants of the Sovereignty to come and act as mediator, and that he intended coming with nothing but the most peaceable intentions. The Maj or informed me of this because he wished to remove the 150 troops now at Winburg to this place, and wished me to assist him in getting waggons to bring Mr. van Velden also hither. As the removal of the troops would be the signal for general confusion, I went and urged the Major to leave the troops there. This matter is now not quite decided. I also saw two Boers, Linde and Vermaak,® who had been at Moshesh’s, and they gave me information about tbe state of matters at Winburg which amazed and distressed me. When they were at Moshesh’s there were some Boers begging the chief for a commando of Caffres to waylay and attack the troops who were on their way from Natal to this. You are aware that the more rebellious Boers have been instigating Molitzani to steal all the cattle of the adherents of the Government in Winburg district: they have been marked men. Those who are known as maatschappij men (men of the society) have had nothing stolen, or else everything returned as soon as they applied to Molitzani. Sikonyella, again, is the ally of the Government, and he has now begun stealing from the friends of Pretorius, who, of course, affirm that this is at the instigation of the Wessels’ and the Government people. A sad state of things truly!

Those farmers whose cattle have been stolen by Sikonyella have appealed to Andries Pretorius, together with large numbers of those in the Winburg district who are in any way dissatisfied with the Government. I believe that they sent on five different occasions to fetch him, but he has always refused. They have at length persuaded him to come. The consequence will be that he will so far mix himself with the enemies of the Government, that he will be obliged to assume a hostile position towards it, and will thus ensure vengeance on himself and his people. I do believe the man honestly intends to be a peacemaker. I see, however, that the rebel party on this side of the river have been flattering his ambition with the hope of getting a name if he succeed in acting as mediator.

But you will perhaps think that all this need not have excited me so much. I have, however, to tell you something more. I have resolved to go to the Vaal River, and try and get Pretorius to stay there. Do not think the matter a hasty resolution. I have thought and prayed much over it, and it appears my duty to try now to prevent what may be the cause of much bloodshed. The thought struck me on Saturday morning : what I heard from Linde and Vermaak made me doubt, and it was only this morning that I was able to decide. I was far from well yesterday. It will be very difficult to get horses; and I trust that my plans may in mercy be thwarted, if it be not the Lord’s will that I go. I feel the want of a friend on whose advice I can depend. Mr. Stuart is the only one, and he of course urges me to go.

The way was, however, opened, and Murray left for Mooi River, probably on the day following the writing of the above letter. A certain Adolph Coqui, a shopkeeper of Jewish-Belgian extraction, who was on his way thither, kindly gave Murray a seat in his cart; and thus journeying, with frequent detentions owing to heavy rain, he reached Potchefstroom on Saturday the 4th October. His mediation had the desired effect. Pretorius relinquished the idea of interfering in the affairs of the Sovereignty, and the disturbances which would have resulted from such a step were happily averted.

On that same day, and probably with Murray’s assistance, Pretorius addressed an important communication to Major Warden, expressing the desire of the Vaal River emigrants to enter into a lasting treaty of peace with the British Government. To this note the British Resident sent an amicable reply, stating that it lay beyond his province to arrange such a treaty as Pretorius proposed, but affirming his readiness to transmit to the High Commissioner any suggestions which the Boer leader might make. The British Government had by this time arrived at the tardy conclusion that it was futile work seeking to impose its rule over people who would have none of it. These views were shared by Sir Harry Smith, who accordingly appointed two Assistant Commissioners, Messrs. Hogge and Owen, to proceed to the Sovereignty, armed with large powers to settle matters generally.

The Commissioners reached Bloemfontein towards the close of 1851. One of their first acts was to issue a proclamation in the name of the High Commissioner, rescinding the sentence of outlawry passed on Pretorius, and withdrawing the offer of rewards for the apprehension of his proscribed followers. On the 3rd January, 1852, Murray writes—

The Commissioners have thought fit to take a good deal of my opinions on Transvaal matters, as well as on the state of things generally, and thus I often have an hour’s conversation with Major Hogge. You are aware that Pretorius has been pardoned. On the 16th instant it is intended to have a meeting a little beyond Sand River, for the Commissioners to receive twelve delegates from beyond the Vaal River. Major Hogge has requested me to be there to act as translator, as it is of consequence that they should have someone they understand well. I shall very likely go, as I feel that they might break upon some insignificant point, which a very little explanation might rectify.

From a letter to his brother it appears that Murray was able to carry out his intention to be present at this historical conference, at which the Transvaal people secured the acknowledgment of their independence. He left Bloemfontein on the 12th January, accompanied by his sister Maria, who, however, remained at Winburg while her brother proceeded on the further journey. There is, unfortunately, no extant account of his experiences and impressions at the conference. Suffice it to say that the meeting took place as arranged on the 16th January, and on the following day was signed the Sand River Convention, by which the British Government “ guaranteed to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of the British Government.” Thus closed an important chapter in the history of the Boer people, in which Murray played no insignificant part.

During the year 1852 there were two events in Murray’s career which stand out as of more than ordinary importance, his fourth visitation tour to the Transvaal, and his visit to Cape Town in order to attend the quinquennial2 meeting of the Church Synod. In the fourth tour to the north he covered more ground than on any previous occasion, his absence from Bloemfontein lasting just three months, from the ist March to the 3rd June. He was accompanied by his friend J. H. Neethling, minister of Prince Albert, whose companionship was a great relief to the inevitable monotony of ox-waggon travel, and to whose graphic pen we owe a very full description of the scenes and experiences they passed through. The route which they followed may be briefly described. Following the usual custom, they made directly for the village of Potchefstroom, on Mooi River ; then travelled eastwards to the Suikerbosch Rand, where the town of Heidelberg now stands; and from there journeyed in north-easterly direction to Lyden-burg. This was the course of Murray’s second tour, from which, however, they now proceeded to diverge. Bearing north for several days, they reached at length the most northerly settlement of whites then established in South Africa, that of the Potgieter party, in the Zoutpansbergen. From here they turned back, and travelling via the Warm Bath reached Rustenburg in the Magaliesberg Range; thence to the Morikwa (Marico) where the village of Zeerust has since arisen ; and from the Morikwa via Schoonspruit (now Klerksdorp) back to the Vaal River.

From the most interesting account of this extensive tour, across the length and breadth of the Transvaal, which Mr. Neethling has left us, we can make only a few extracts. The detention at Mooi River gives him the opportunity of offering us a vivid picture of what a religious gathering of Boers was like in by-gone days—

In the morning at 9 o’clock the congregation was assembled in the church—a building which is able to contain, in my estimation, some six hundred people. Every bit of space was occupied. The smallest empty spot was always large enough for a veldstoeltje, and no one objected to a little discomfort in the seating arrangements. With the exception of a wailing infant here and there, nothing disturbed the attention of the audience. The singing was powerful, the prayers unanimous. Every eye during the sermon was fixed upon the speaker; many a countenance bore witness to the most earnest attention. My brother’s preaching was simple, warm and sincere. The congregation understood him—that was plainly to be read in their faces.

At the close of the service each one takes up his veldstoeltje, places it under his arm, and proceeds to his tent. At the close of the series of services on Monday, the tents are quickly taken down, and within a brief space the last of the large number of waggons has borne its living freight away homewards. At one of the services ninety-seven children were baptized. By the carefulness of the churchwardens all the arrangements were carried out with an order and regularity which surpassed expectations. Very touchiifg did I find it when a couple of children presented their baptismal papers themselves. I cannot forget' the innocence which the face of one of them revealed. He was a blond child of some four years old. When he had handed me the paper containing his name, he closed his eyes, and awaited with sweet simplicity the sprinkling of the baptismal water.

Neither on this nor on any previous tours did ministers of the Gospel require to provide their own conveyances, or give themselves the least concern regarding travelling arrangements. These were the care of elders, deacons and friends generally. At no stage of the journey were Murray and Neethling without journeying companions. Murray indeed complains sometimes of the lack of privacy which he experienced. It was counted an honour to escort these servants of God for a day, two days, or even a week upon their journey. Beyond Suikerbosch Rand they had the company of the Rodolf family, in their own waggon, “to whom,” writes Neethling, “we owe heartiest thanks for a thousand kindnesses.” Commandant Frans Joubert and Field-comet Nel accompanied them a two days’ journey, as far as the ford of the Crocodile River, and displayed the most intense anxiety lest they should heedlessly venture into the unhealthy Zoutpansberg region. On leaving Rustenburg, at a later date, they had as guide and escort, Field-comet Paul Kmger, who in after years rose to eminence as President of the Transvaal Republic.

The start from Mooi River, and their further experiences on the road to Lydenburg, are thus described by Neethling—

Eight active oxen stand yoked before the waggon, and the journey in Transvaal territory commences. The immeasurable veld stretched before us. Zoutpansberg, the furthest point at which the courageous South African has ventured to settle, was the remotest place to which we desired to bear the seed of God’s Word. But what a distance ! Four weeks of almost incessant travel—of travel such as the ministers of our Church alone can compass, aided by the love of the congregation, with constant and rapid progress. I knew nothing of the country through which our journey lay. I knew only that we would sometimes travel for a whole week through territory quite uninhabited, or inhabited by Cafires only. I heard the valorous Boer make mention, with a show of respect, of the lion, which he sometimes calls the vuilbaard (dirty beard), but to which he cannot deny the crowning virtue of bravery. Not infrequently I listened to stories about the fierceness of the buffalo and the ill-temper of the rhinoceros, and those places were carefully described where animals like these would prove a menace to our journey. Then again I heard of an evil to be still more dreaded —the yellow fever, which demands the extremest circumspection.

After a wearying day’s journey we enjoyed many an hour of quiet rest, sitting around a bright and steady fire, or lying lengthwise in the soft grass. Each of our journeying companions knows what he has to do. The “sexton” at night time hands us the Book, and we express in brief devotions the gratitude which we feel towards God for His continual care. Thereafter I many an evening still lay talking to our fellow-travellers about hunting experiences and hair-breadth escapes ; and their narratives frequently gave me cause to marvel at the courage, strength and activity of the Dutch-African race, and as frequently to praise the love and goodness of a protecting God.

Our journey was rendered both speedy and pleasant by the great kindness of those farmers who dwelt along the road. This kindness must have been very noticeable, for it drew the attention even of April, the native who leads our oxen. I see him yet, sitting at the fireside, where I fell into conversation with him. Seated on the ground with his chin resting on his knees, he regarded us fixedly for a long time, and then remarked, in his broken Dutch, that we must surely be very great chiefs, since he everywhere observed the Boer bazen (masters) remove their hats', and invite us to enter their dwellings. Yes, long before we had arrived, a new span of oxen was already collected in the kraal, and as soon as we approached they were yoked to the waggon, and the master called out April, loop! (April, hasten!) The natives can find no explanation of this eager politeness, than on the supposition that we are great chiefs.

The respect shown to us as preachers of the Gospel makes an equally deep impression on the natives. On a former occasion my friend [i.e. Andrew Murray] was conducting services in this vicinity. A Cafire, who was no longer a stranger to the customs of white folk, observed him narrowly while preaching. Now, as everyone knows, my friend is not the quietest of preachers. The native understood not a single word, but recorded his impression of the scene in these words: "I never thought that the white men stood in such dread of their chiefs. Look at the young chief yonder (i.e. Murray). He points his finger at the people : they sit quiet. He threatens them : they sit quiet still. He storms and rages at them: they sit as quiet as death!”

In the northern and eastern portions of the Transvaal, which are quite cool and healthy during the dry winter months, malarial fever is exceedingly prevalent after the tropical summer rains. Even under modern conditions, when the prophylactic properties of quinine are known and utilized to the full, malaria claims many victims, and in those early [years the ravages of the disease were extremely severe. Such was the case in 1852. It was a deadly year, especially for those emigrants who had settled in the low-lying parts, and were shut in by lofty mountains. Murray had faithfully promised to visit the small community of trekkers who owned Potgieter as leader, and who had established themselves on the southern slopes of the Zoutpansberg Range. But the news spread southwards that the Potgieter party was suffering from repeated attacks of fever, and that several individuals had already succumbed. The young ministers were strongly advised not to adventure themselves into such unhealthy regions. They pointed out, however, that word had already been passed and arrangements made, and that they therefore felt bound to continue their journey. Their anxious friends then stipulated that, should the Zoutpansberg people fail to meet them, as arranged at the ford of the Crocodile River, or should it appear that the disease was still spreading, the travellers were not to proceed further northwards. To this stipulation Murray and Neethling agreed. But waggons and oxen were found waiting for them at the tryst, the malady appeared to be abating, and those sent to fetch them evinced such eagerness that, even had they desired to turn back, the pathetic condition, of the stricken community would have beckoned them forward.

After travelling almost uninterruptedly for eleven days from Lydenburg, they reached the Zoutpansbergen on the gth April, and were received with every manifestation of joy. The little band of emigrants had sustained heavy losses. Out of 150 souls, all told, twenty-four had fallen before the dread disease, and of these no less than eighteen were cut off within a fortnight. There was no home which was not plunged in mourning; and this circumstance, together with the fact that the majority of these isolated people had been without the ordinances of religion for many years, contributed to make the visit of the two pastors a solemn and searching time. “For the poor people of Zoutpansberg,” writes Murray, "it was a veritable feast, the very children rejoicing at they hardly knew what. Nine waggons accompanied us to the lager, and on arrival we found other fifty standing there. The knowledge of the candidates for membership was very considerable, and out of forty applicants twenty-four were accepted. Three children brought for baptism were over the age prescribed by Church law—two were nine years old, and one was thirteen—but forty were admitted to the solemn rite. We did not dispense the Lord’s Supper, on account of the state in which many of the people live, though I must confess that I was agreeably disappointed in not finding them so careless as was represented.” At Murray’s suggestion the congregation, having assembled on a certain evening for the purpose, followed a well-known apostolic precedent, and “ selected elders by show of hands.”1 After thus providing the community with (ruling) bishops and leaders, and commending them to the grace of God, the two travellers bade their friends farewell and turned their faces southwards.

In the course of the return journey they met, at the Warm Bath, Commandant Potgieter himself, who was there seeking rest and restoration from the malady to which, in less than a twelvemonth, he was to fall a victim. Murray describes him as “a very venerable-looking old mail,” and [Neethling’s picture is, "a man of tall stature and venerable countenance, wholly built to be a commander, though now somewhat bent under the weight of years and increasing physical weakness.” Potgieter professed his profound gratitude that God had at length answered his petitions, and had made possible this pastoral visit to his poor neglected people in the north.

From the full records of this tour we make but one more abbreviated extract. It is from a letter of Murray’s, describing their experiences in the Magaliesbergen. To his sister Maria.

On Friday [30th April] we entered the lower part of the Magaliesberg country, and though travelling through the least populated portion we soon found sad traces of the sickness. In a small patch of country behind the Mountain some thirty people had been carried off, and there were still a great many ill. I found many very deeply impressed under the chastening hand of God. We remained at Rustenburg for more than a week. After preaching thrice on Sabbath, we held services twice every week-day—once in the early morning and once in the evening. As John Neethling took the catechumens, I expected to have plenty of free time for myself. I was, however, disappointed. The continual friendly calls of the people, and regular visits to seven or eight sick folk, kept me uninterruptedly occupied. There were also several cases of people in apparent anxiety of soul, but groping in great darkness; and I felt it a privilege to have so much occasion for offering Jesus to individuals, although the evening often found me thoroughly worn out.

Two or three cases really refreshed me. One was that of a young woman who had lost her father and two of her little ones, and had herself been lying upon a long and painful sick-bed. The exceeding simplicity of her faith, and her childlike language with respect to death and heaven, edified me greatly. Another case was that of a young man whom I rode some eighteen miles to see. I found him seeking and apparently anxious. I tried especially to enforce the truth that Christ is ours by gift; that we have but to accept, to believe “He is mine,” and we are saved. After prayer I bade him good-bye, as we intended leaving very early next morning. In the evening he sent for me, and on my arrival said that he wished simply to say that he had found Christ. With great emphasis he repeated the words, "God has given Christ to me: I have found my Saviour.” He then expressed the wish to depart and to be delivered from this world of sin. When I last heard of him he was still living, but very weak.

At Mooi River I had to perform the painful duty of visiting a criminal, Pieterse, under sentence of death for murdering a neighbour. He has been sentenced after a trial by jury, and the sentence only waits for the confirmation of the Volksraad to be executed. Poor man, he appeared to deceive himself with some hope of pardon as a ground for postponing conversion.

The case referred to in the last paragraph is one of the most remarkable in the annals of justice in South Africa. Mr. Jacobus Stuart, who as one-time Secretary of the Volksraad had every means of knowing the facts, tells us that Pieterse had, in a bout of drunken frenzy, murdered his nephew Oosthui-zen. Seized with remorse, he had voluntarily surrendered himself to the Landdrost of Potchefstroom. This official, calling together his fellow-councillors forming the Heemraden, instituted a careful trial and found Pieterse guilty of murder. Sentence of death could by the law of the land only be passed by the Volksraad, and to this body the case was accordingly referred. What could they do? Drunkenness and subsequent remorse were mitigating circumstances, but they could not grant release from the divine law, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” The Volksraad therefore passed the death sentence. But who would carry it into execution? A gallows did not exist in the whole land. To entrust the execution of the sentence to an Englishman was undesirable, to entrust it to a native was impossible. The Field-cornets met together and decided that, as they were responsible for the maintenance of law and order, the execution of the condemned man was their duty. Lots were cast and three men were thus chosen to perform the dread act. Troops of friends visited Pieterse in his cell, to mourn with him, to comfort him and to pray for him. On the appointed day he took a friendly farewell of his judges, and it was a friend’s hand that inflicted upon him the last penalty of the law.

Murray returned to Bloemfontein in the beginning of June, 1852. Little though he thought it, this was the last pastoral visit he was destined to pay to the congregations across the Vaal River. By a singular conjunction of circumstances the ties which bound him to the Transvaal people were suddenly and finally severed. In describing briefly these circumstances it is necessary to anticipate somewhat the true order of events, but the reasons which henceforth barred Murray’s way to the north are best set forth at this stage.

In the month of November, 1852, there landed in South Africa a man who was to play a remarkable part in the ecclesiastical history of the Transvaal. This was the Rev. Dirk van der Hoff, a Hollander, who at the instance of a certain Professor1 Lauts came to South Africa with the definite object of ministering to the pastorless voortrekkers. A few weeks before his arrival the Synod of the D. R. Church was in session at Cape Town. On hearing that a young minister was shortly expected, to labour among the emigrants, the Synod pointed out that Professor Lauts held no authority to appoint ministers for the D. R. Church of South Africa, and that Mr. van der Hoff, before he could be recognized as pastor of Potchefstroom (or any other charge), would have to conform to the rules and regulations of the D. R. Church. The attention of van der Hoff was specially directed to two conditions upon which alone his appointment could be considered valid—he must, by signing the formularies of the D.jR. Church, indicate his adhesion to the doctrines which the Church held, and thus receive “legitimation” (as the technical expression runs), and he must have been regularly invited to Potchefstroom by a formal “letter of call” from the consistory of the congregation. These conditions van der Hoff, on his arrival, fulfilled, so that the call could be duly sustained.

It was near the end of May, 1853, before van der Hoff reached his destination. According to Presbyterian Church law a minister’s connexion with his congregation takes effect from the date of his being formally inducted or introduced by the brother minister who has been acting as pastor of the vacant congregation, and who in the D. R. Church is known as the consulent. Andrew Murray, who had visited Potchef-stroom on four different occasions, and who therefore stood towards that congregation in every sense in loco pastoris, was the acknowledged consulent of Potchefstroom. On him therefore devolved the duty of inducting van der Hoff, and the date for that ceremony was provisionally fixed for the 31st July,1853.

On the 15th June preceding, van der Hoff addressed the following letter to Murray—

I have to-day received a communication from the Landdrost and Heemraden of this congregation, in which I am informed that the joint Krijgsmad (War Council) has resolved, together with two members of the Volksraad, Messrs. S. Krieger and M. H. Pretorius, and at the earnest request of Elder Snyman of Rustenburg, “ to call together a general assembly on the second Monday of August, in order to discuss the question of Rev. van der Hoff’s induction.” They have also requested the Volksraad to hold its session at the same time, and have invited all consistories and all sensible people who are interested in the matter. On account of this action we request Your Reverence to postpone your visit somewhat longer.

We can imagine the amazement with which Murray, who had some inkling of what was going on behind the scenes, perused this document. The congregations in the Transvaal had been regarded from the first as forming part of the D. R. Church of Cape Colony; the ordinances of religion had been administered to them by clergymen of that Church; they had presented a practically unanimous call to a minister of that Church, Murray himself; at their own request they had recently been incorporated by Synodical decision (21st October, 1852) into the D. R. Church; their minister designate, Mr. van der Hoff, had just solemnly signified his assent to the doctrines and promised obedience to the laws of the said Church —and here were congregations and people preparing to cut the bonds which united them to the Church of their fathers.

At Rustenburg, on the 8th August, 1852, the Volksraad and the General Assembly, in separate session, arrived at resolutions of similar import, namely to sever their connexion with the D. R. Church of the Cape. The reasons adduced were two only: "(i) The conditions, or promises, of supplying us with ministers have not been fulfilled ; and (2) We cannot submit to the ecclesiastical laws of the D. R. Church of South Africa.” In this manner arose the separatist body known as “de Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk” of the Transvaal, so named in contradistinction to the historical Church from which it had broken away, viz. “ de Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk ”—both titles being precisely equivalent to “ the Dutch Reformed Church.”

Whether van der Hoff was ever legally inducted is doubtful. The question gave rise to considerable friction and heartburning, as the following letter testifies—

Potchefstroom, 8th September, 1853.

To the Rev. D. van Velden,

Winburg.

Rev. Sir,—A rumour is in circulation among us that you have said, in the presence of several individuals, that Mr. van der Hofi, minister here, must be inducted by Mr. Murray or yourself, and that, if no intimation as to the date of such induction were received from this side, Your Reverence would not leave it at that, but would come hither, uninvited, with Rev. Murray, and then would like to see if the induction would not be held. Now though we give no credence to those rumours, it might occur that Your Reverence (either alone or accompanied by Rev. Murray) could come hither with the aforesaid purpose, namely the induction of Rev. van der Hofi, minister here; and it is on this account that we must advise you to refrain from such a journey, which will be in vain, since the highest Church body and the highest political authority in these territories have decided that the induction shall not take place. The Rev. van der Hofi being a legally ordained minister of the Dutch Reformed Church (" Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk ’’), his presentation or induction is unnecessary. .

[Signed by] A. Smit,

G. V. Schoeman,

H. H. Lombard, Landdrost.

To this missive Mr. van Velden sent the following reply1—

Winburg, 14th September, 1853.

Dear Friends,—Your communication of the 8th inst. reached me the day before yesterday, and I would have replied by return post, but was prevented through being occupied all day with the examination of young people for confirmation.

In answer I must say that I was extremely surprised to see that you give response to what you do not believe. You speak of rumours. Well, of that there is no lack, and the most singular and extraordinary rumours frequently course through the country. To that category belongs also the rumour of which you make mention in your letter. You acted wisely in not giving credence to it, but your response to the same makes me fear that a certain amount of credence has nevertheless disturbed your minds. This makes me hasten to set you at ease.

With reference to the visit of my brother Murray, whom I saw recently, I do not believe that His Rev*, has the least intention of again visiting you. Your fear of such a visit I therefore believe to be quite groundless. It is true, he intended coming, because the congregations across the Vaal having made earnest application to belong (with the other congregations) to the Synod of our Church, brothers Murray and Neethling had secured the consent of the Synod to your application. Your congregations accordingly were added to the Presbytery of Trans-gariep (Trans-orange), and the Rev. A. Murray, as consulent of the Transvaal congregations, was to have inducted your minister. The information you now impart excites my astonishment. You have decided that your minister is not to be inducted, because His Reverence is a legally ordained minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. Very good. But are you not aware that in Holland every minister, even though he be already ordained, must nevertheless be presented by the consulent to every congregation in which he desires to labour ? Are you not aware that the same procedure has always been followed, and still obtains, in our D. R. Church in South Africa ?

So far as I am concerned, if I had been appointed as your minister, I would have acted as I actually did on coming to Winburg—I would have confined myself to preaching, and would have postponed the administration of the Sacraments until such time as I had been duly presented or inducted by the consulent of the congregation. For all that, when I arrived in South Africa I had already been eight years ordained. In your letter you speak of two bodies which are wholly unknown to me. First, you mention the highest Church Body. Now,

I know of no higher ecclesiastical authority among you than the consistories of the various congregations. Presbytery or Synod does not, so far as I know, exist across the Vaal. A very comfortable state, for there is now no tribunal whatever to try either a minister, should he transgress in doctrine or conduct, or a member of the consistory. And yet the danger of such transgression is great already and will become ever greater. In our days, too, we should remember Philippians iii.

Well, this is none of my business. If you wish for no ecclesiastical tribunal other than one which has jurisdiction over members of the congregation, but not over ministers and members of consistory, then I can only hope that things will move smoothly among you. For my part I desire, as honest man, as Christian, and as a servant of Him who will have all things done decently and in order, an ecclesiastical tribunal that there; may be a legal authority, in case any minister can be convicted of false doctrine or evil conduct. An honourable and faithful minister will never be afraid of such a tribunal. A minister who fears it is not a man whom I can trust. Enough. You speak of your highest Church Body. That Body decides as to the induction or non-induction of your minister, and your minister acquiesces—he who is himself chairman and head of your only Church Body, the consistory. Truly, I am not able to understand that. I shall place it in the category of things too high and wonderful for me.

You make mention, in your communication, of another body— namely, the highest political authority. What ! does political authority decide ecclesiastical matters for you? Poor Church, that must bow beneath the world. The Gospel of my Saviour does indeed teach me to reverence the powers that are ordained of God, and I desire to pray for them ; but the same Gospel forbids me absolutely to permit the Church of Christ to cringe to the world or worldly authority. That Church is free under her Head and King. That Church is exalted far above the world and the authority which the world wields. So far as I am concerned (in this matter I cannot speak for Brother Murray—he is well able to do that for himself), if I were consulent of your congregation, and had to come and induct your minister, I would have vouchsafed not a syllable in reply to a letter on ecclesiastical matters, in which your highest political authority had intervened. Finally, I pray for you with all my soul that the Lord of the Church would richly fill your country with orthodox, faithful and God-fearing ministers, that under their guidance and their instruction, sanctified to the heart by the Spirit of God, you may learn greatly to esteem ministers like the never-to-be-forgotten Murray ; for it is they whose case the Lord will judge. See I Thessalonians v. 12,13. May the Lord in mercy shield you from the judgments which might overtake you and your children because of the shameful abuse with which you have visited the minister of Bloemfontein. May He richly endow you with the spirit of humility, and of wise sagacity and circumspection, in order that you may be preserved from actions which might result in eternal detriment to yourselves and your poor descendants. Proverhs xii. 15 and xix. 20.

I have the honour to subscribe myself,

Your obedient servant and friend,

D. van Velden, V.D.M.

Enough has been said on Murray’s relations towards the Transvaal congregations to show that his was not the hand which severed the bonds that united him closely to the people beyond the river. The schism was due less to religious than to political motives. Ministers from Holland, though strangers to the customs and the vernacular speech of South Africa, were less objectionable to the Republicans than men of their own country and their own tongue, who owed allegiance to the British flag. Of this unsympathetic attitude towards ministers of the Cape Church the Hollander element took full advantage. It is difficult to determine how far the final decision to sever connexion with the Cape Synod was due to the influence of van der Hoff, and how far it resulted from the determination of the people themselves to achieve ecclesiastical as well as political independence.

Two matters, however, are perfectly clear. The first is this, that if the ecclesiastical schism was occasioned by political motives, it occasioned in its turn prolonged political dissensions. The evidence for this statement is unimpeachable. Dr. Theal, the South African historian, says: “The resolution that the Church of the Republic should be independent of the Synod of the Cape Colony was a question which divided the people into two factions, and was discussed with as much bitterness in 1857 as four years earlier. The ecclesiastical dispute brought on a change in the political condition of the country.” That this change was not for the better but for the worse is shown by the Transvaal historian, Mr. F. Lion Cachet, who observes: "The Transvalers were divided into two parties, not by questions of doctrine, but by a question of Church government. The ecclesiastical schism had the effect of both leading up to and hastening the political schism which followed shortly after. Lydenburg, which in matters ecclesiastical had renewed its connexion with the Cape Synod, was served by ministers who belonged to that Synod ; while the minister [van der Hoff] who was salaried out of the public funds and officially acknowledged by the Volksraad, received his congS from the Lydenburg congregation. . . . The meetings held did not always end peacefully. Excitement ran high, and the two chief parties, as yet but loosely united, were led forward from ecclesiastical to political disunion.”

Another point in this unhappy history stands out clearly. It is this, that though van der Hoff may not have been primarily responsible for the schism (as he always denied that he was), he nevertheless displayed the greatest activity in spreading it. At the so-called “General Assembly” at Rustenburg, which decided for separation from the Cape Synod, the consistory of Lydenburg was unrepresented, and it refused at first to identify itself with the separatist movement. Van der Hoff, however, succeeded in persuading the Lydenburgers to believe that the Cape Synod stood under the supervision of the British Government, that ministers of the Cape Church were obliged to take an oath of allegiance to the Queen, that Cape ecclesiastical law placed whites and blacks upon a footing of equality, and that no modifications in the Church’s laws and regulations would be granted to the congregations of the Transvaa ; and by these arguments he prevailed upon them to cast off their allegiance to the mother Church. But they soon repented of their ill-considered action, presented the disingenuous van der Hoff with his discharge from the office of consulent, and asked with much penitence to be re-admitted to communion with the Cape Church. Their prayer was granted. The grievances which van der Hoff had sought to create in their minds were shown to be without foundation. They were presently incorporated in the Presbytery of Transgariep (i.e. Orange River), and so re-united to the body from which they had temporarily seceded. And in this manner was the D. R. Church of South Africa re-established in the Transvaal territory, where it has not merely maintained itself until this day, but has steadily grown in numbers and influence, until now it holds the premier position among ecclesiastical bodies north of the Vaal.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 7

The Abandonment of the Sovereignty and the first European Visit

You would hardly think me the man for drawing up a protest, yet I have been busily engaged with Dr. Frazer in doing so.—Andrew Murray.

DURING the last three months of 1852 Murray was absent from the Sovereignty, attending the quinquennial meeting of the Synod of the Church in Cape Town. He journeyed via Graaff-Reinet and Prince Albert, and at the latter place, on the 3rd October, performed the induction ceremony of his friend and future brother-in-law, Rev. J. H. Neethling. The Synod remained in session from the 12th October to the 2nd November. This was his first attendance at a meeting of the highest assembly of his Church, and his consciousness of inexperience must have kept him silent upon many questions where his opinion was entitled to consideration. The matters which awakened his interest and brought him to his feet were principally three: the claims which the Transvaal congregations had to incorporate into the Synod ; the duty and privilege of entering into closer fraternal relations with the French Reformed Church, engaged in missionary work in Basutoland; and the urgent need of establishing a theological seminary in South Africa, in order to supply the Church with God-fearing and orthodox ministers. Young though he was, his words and earnest demeanour carried weight, and many of the older brethren must have thanked God for the accession to the ministry of men of the spiritual and intellectual force of the brothers Andrew and John Murray.

In the meantime momentous events were transpiring in the Sovereignty during the latter months of the fateful year 1852. Sir Harry Smith had been recalled. Towards the end of the year Sir George Cathcart, who followed him, succeeded in bringing to a close the costly and protracted Kaffir War, though peace was only formally concluded early in 1853. The Governor now turned his attention to the Orange River Sovereignty, recognizing as he did the crying necessity of restoring in that territory the prestige of British arms. In the month of November he crossed the Orange River at the head of a body of 2,500 troops, with a view to impressing the native tribes with a sense of his power and authority. The depredations which the turbulent natives had committed were enquired into, and the losses sustained by the farmers of the Sovereignty were assessed at £25,000. General Cathcart accordingly mulcted Moshesh, the Basuto chief, at whose door these depredations chiefly lay, in a fine of 10,000 head of cattle and 1,000 horses. On the stated day but a fraction of this fine was forthcoming, and an attack upon the Basuto stronghold, Thaba Bosiu, was therefore undertaken in the early hours of the 20th December. The Basutos offered unexpected and strenuous resistance, and the battle of the Berea Mountain almost resulted in'disaster to the British. The sagacious Moshesh was satisfied with redeeming his promise to “show his teeth,” and he therefore sent the British Commander a conciliatory letter, suing for peace; and Cathcart, now completely disillusioned as to the enemy’s strength and courage, was glad to get off so cheaply. Referring to these happenings, Murray writes from Bloemfontein on the 30th December as follows—

To Rev. John Murray.

Most of our poor townspeople will spend anything but a happy new year. All is doubt and uncertainty. The Governor has had a fight with Moshesh, in which the former was almost obliged to retreat, though he took some cattle. Immediately afterwards he concluded a peace— all the officers begging to go and punish the Basutos, and the officials, I believe, protesting. It is reported that Owen has resigned, but this is very doubtful. Everybody thinks it certain that he [Cathcart] intends sacrificing the Sovereignty. And meantime it is confidently expected that Moshesh will soon come to retake the cattle. I hardly know what to think of matters.

As Murray and others rightly saw, British rule in the Sovereignty was in articulo mortis. The battles of Viervoet and Berea were the writing on the wall. The authority of the Government had become so lamentably weak that there was no alternative between radically mending it and summarily ending it. Either the country must be policed by a body of troops large enough and powerful enough to compel the obedience of refractory tribes, or it must be entirely relinquished. The English ministry of the day chose the latter alternative. Early in 1852 Earl Grey, Colonial Minister in Lord John Russell's administration, had already written: "The ultimate abandonment of the Orange River Sovereignty should be a settled point in our policy.” The battle of Berea merely brought matters to a head, and expedited the carrying out of this policy.

The official selected as Special Commissioner to secure the withdrawal of British authority was Sir George Russell Clerk, a former Governor of Bombay. He arrived in Bloemfontein in August, 1853, to perform what proved to be a highly unpopular task. The abandonment of the Sovereignty was opposed by many (at the outset perhaps by the majority) in the territory itself—by English colonists, who had embarked a considerable amount of capital in the country, and saw their vested interests endangered; by anxious missionaries, who viewed a change of government with unconcealed dismay; and even by Boer settlers, who held that the British, after weakly suffering a state of chaos on the Basuto border, should at least reduce that chaos to order, before adopting a policy of scuttle.

The first action of the Commissioner was to summon a meeting of elected delegates from each of the five districts of the Sovereignty to meet at Bloemfontein on the 5th September, “in order to decide upon some form of self-government.”

Though not wholly unexpected, the decree of abandonment nevertheless fell upon the inhabitants as a bolt from the blue. “You have heard the news,” writes Murray to his brother on the 11th August, "the Sovereignty is given up. Sir George Clerk is preparing to break up all the establishments. A meeting of delegates is called for the 5th September, to decide upon the form of self-government to be adopted, and to take over the country. You can imagine in what a state of excitement everybody is. There appears to be no hope of any change, as the instructions are decided.” And again, a few days later: “Our Commissioner appears to be determined to go through with his instructions. My hope of the new government succeeding appears to diminish as the prospect comes nearer. We have reason to fear for the meeting of delegates: they will most likely be almost equally divided. Had we a good majority against the abandonment, we might hope to do something. At Fauresmith we got a good many to sign a protest against it. We hope that Sir George Clerk might perhaps see the necessity of referring the matter once more to England."

The meeting of delegates was held in the Dutch Reformed Church. It was a historical gathering. Murray had been requested to be one of the delegates for the district of Bloemfontein, but had declined nomination. From the description given by Mr. Joseph Millerd Orpen, who was present as one of the representatives of Harrismith, we take the following sentences—

There were ninety-five of us, including the field-cornets, and of these seventy-six were Dutch and nineteen English. The church in which we met was a big T-shaped building, with a pulpit on a low platform opposite the shank. It had a clay floor and no seats. A table which had stood in front of the platform was moved a little to the right. The delegates, with a crowd of spectators, stood, half filling the church.

When Sir George Clerk arrived, he was taken up to the little platform by the Rev. Andrew Murray, the young, eloquent, earnest and greatly respected clergyman of the Dutch congregation. . . Sir George's Commission was first read out in English and in Dutch. There was nothing about abandonment in it. It gave authority to administer government, and contained this injunction: "We do hereby require and enjoin you ... to take all such measures and do all such things as may lawfully and discreetly be done by you for settling the internal affairs of the Orange River Sovereignty, and for determining the disputes which exist among the natives and other inhabitants thereof, and for enabling the said inhabitants to establish peaceable and orderly government.”

After the reading of his Commission, Sir G. Clerk read an address to us, which directed us in Her Majesty’s name to prepare ourselves to take over the government of the territory whenever British jurisdiction should be withdrawn. Practically he advised us to elect a chairman at once, and then to draft the outlines of a republican constitution; and then, as the drought and the weather made it difficult to stay longer away from our homes, to appoint a Committee, which would remain in office till we could re-assemble, and would consult about details. On finishing his address he made the regulation three bows to the assembly, preparatory to retiring. At once a big babel of voices arose. A short, active delegate from the Witteberg skipped up on to the platform, and talked and gesticulated. Nobody could understand anybody else, till the Rev. A. Murray, who was still on the little platform, raised his hand demanding silence. He told us we should find tables and seats prepared for us there in the afternoon, when we could meet, elect a chairman and proceed to business.

We met accordingly, and found a T-shaped, four-foot-broad table, formed of planks on trestles, in the west end of the church, with forms, mostly of planks, placed around it. Mr. Murray kindly translated between us. When the votes for a chairman were counted, sixty fell to Dr. Frazer, who had been chairman of a similar meeting of delegates the preceding year. He accordingly took the chair, while Mr. Murray continued to give his kind assistance in translating. He sat or stood at Dr. Frazer’s right hand, and next to him on the right was Mr. J. H. Ford, who was elected secretary. Next to him was Mr. J. P. Hofiman, future first President of the Free State. Mr. Hofiman at once took a prominent part in the proceedings. He moved that the Commissioner’s address should be printed, and that we should adjourn till next day, Tuesday, 6th September, at 10 a.m. Halse seconded and the motion was carried.

Before dispersing the delegates took three important steps. First, they passed a unanimous resolution to forward to the Commissioner a protest against the decision of the British Government to abandon the country; secondly, they laid down in eleven propositions the conditions on which alone they would be willing to consider the question of self-government; and thirdly, they appointed a committee of twenty-five members to confer with Sir G. Clerk, strictly enjoining the said committee " to entertain no proposals for the formation of an independent government until these eleven points should have been adjusted by H.M. Commissioner to their entire satisfaction.” On the 8th September, when the delegates met for the last time, Murray wrote as follows—

The meeting passed ofi well beyond expectation. At its close yesterday they passed an address to Sir George Clerk, containing a protest against the whole measure,—although the patriot party did not know what they were doing. Everything is now left to a Committee, who have to correspond with Sir G. Clerk, eleven points of treaty having been decided upon to lay before him as conditions of capitulation.

The eleven points were these—

1. The settlement of the Griqua question with Adam Kok;
2. The adjustment of the boundary line between the Sovereignty and Moshesh;
3. Non-interference of the British Government between the inhabitants and natives
4. Non-molestation of the inhabitants by allies of the British Government or persons from beyond the Vaal;
5. Compensation to all who might be compelled to leave the country;
6. A share in the customs dues levied at Cape and Natal ports;
7. Absolution from allegiance to the British Crown ;
8. Settlement of disputes regarding farm boundaries ;
9. Cancellation of all existing treaties with native chiefs ;
10. Permission to purchase munitions of war and unimpeded transit from the coast;
11. Unlawfully imposed fines to be returned.

Having thus “done good business and made history in those three days”—the expression is Orpen’s—the delegates departed for their homes, leaving the conduct of further negotiations in the hands of the committee of twenty-five. This committee within a few days requested its chairman, Dr. A. J. Frazer, and the Rev. Andrew Murray to proceed to England as delegates, in order to lay before the Ministry an extensively-signed petition against abandonment. Under the date, 20th September, 1853, Murray writes thus—

To his Father.

In my last I expressed a wish that I might have a special interest in your prayers, as I might be in special need of guidance. What I then alluded to, but did not dare to mention because of its uncertainty, induces me now to write. The matter is this: two delegates are to be sent to England from the Sovereignty. Sir George Clerk appears to waver, and there is still hope that it may not be too late, as we have reason to believe that the decision of the Ministry was not so final as it was represented to be. An opinion has been very generally expressed that the minister of Bloemfontein ought to be one of these delegates, and in the course of a short time I may receive a requisition to that effect. You may imagine that there is much that is pleasing in the prospect, especially if the possibility of doing the country any good be held out. My own health would also plead for going. I have felt far from strong during the past four or five weeks, and Mrs. Schreiner has made me promise to write about it. A weakness in my back, legs and arms, with a sort of nervous trembling in my hands, make me believe that I would be the better of rest; and I had resolved to ask for three months’ leave of absence during the heat of summer. This object could now so well be obtained by the voyage to Europe and back.

I feel that there are very great dangers connected with going on such a mission. As regards my people, a growing interest in their welfare would not allow me easily to leave them, the object of so many prayers, without fear lest impressions made might be lost and promising blossoms all be destroyed. And personally I cannot conceal from myself the dangers I incur of losing, amidst excitement and bustle, any measure of quickening and enjoyment which the Lord has lately been granting me. However much there is to attract on the one hand, I hardly think my fears would allow me to accept. I do, however, believe that if I may go, my God will show me the way.

Murray ultimately accepted the nomination, and left Bloemfontein in the course of November for Graaff-Reinet, where he was joined by his fellow-delegate, Dr. Frazer. They proceeded immediately to Cape Town, where they were detained until the 21st January, 1854, when they sailed for England in the steamer Queen of the South. They arrived at their destination towards the end of February, and were granted an-audience with the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for the Colonies in the Aberdeen Ministry, on the 16th March. But before this matters had moved on with great swiftness in the Sovereignty, and this development of the situation we must now describe.

The procedure of the Special Commissioner, after the two delegates had taken their departure for England, is described from personal knowledge by Orpen—

In the meantime Sir George Clerk was using all the influence and pressure he could bring forward to induce the people to undertake an organized movement in opposition to the protest of the assembly of delegates. He made no public announcement, but we heard that he was telling the people that the resistance was futile, and that, if it was continued, he would at last hand over the government to any people who chose to accept it, or would simply withdraw, leaving us to do as we pleased. He travelled about, evidently with the purpose of making this widely known, and it was plain that he was anxious to hurry matters on in order to complete the abandonment before the deputation could cause serious embarrassment to the Ministry in England.

Besides the powerful influence which the Commissioner exercised, other forces were at work which strengthened what Murray had called “ the patriot party.” Adriaan Standera, strong republican, and one of the men who had been proscribed by the British Government after the battle of Boomplaats, returned to the Sovereignty from the Transvaal, and used every endeavour to induce the inhabitants to accept independence. The missionaries and their circle, in their antagonism to the abandonment policy, indulged in somewhat wild talk of the injustice of creating another Boer State to oppress the natives; and such talk could not but stiffen the backs of the republican party, while enfeebling the resistance of the loyalists to the threatened withdrawal. The result of all these influences was seen in the secession of several members of the Committee of Twenty-five, and among them was Mr. J. P. Hoffman.

At this stage the following notice was issued at the instance of the Commissioner—

Bloemfontein, 19th January, 1854. To the Commandants and Field-cornets.

It is hereby notified that those persons who, on the part of the inhabitants, are now prepared to discuss with Her Majesty’s Special Commissioner the terms on which the independent government of this territory will be transferred into their hands, will assemble at Bloemfontein on the 15th day of next month.

H. Lowen,

Civil Commissioner and Resident Magistrate.

On the 15th February there] was witnessed in Bloemfontein a curious and unique sight. Two antagonistic gatherings were held. The first was that of the republican party, presided over by Mr. Hoffman, professing to represent the majority of the inhabitants of the Sovereignty—as indeed, at this time they almost certainly did. The other was the Committee of Twenty-five, which, however, had been so much weakened by secession and by the absence of Dr. Frazer, that they mustered only thirteen—a sufficient number to constitute a quorum. The latter meeting immediately passed a resolution declaring themselves in permanent session as the only legally constituted representatives of the inhabitants. They had been commissioned, they maintained, by the assembly of delegates to treat with Sir G. Clerk in the matter of the eleven points, and to take no step in the direction of self-government until these points had been “adjusted to their entire satisfaction.” The Commissioner stigmatized this committee as the “obstructionists," and took the drastic step of serving them with a discharge, as the following notice testifies—

Residency, 11th. February, 1854.

To the Civil Commissioner of Bloemfontein.

Sir,—With reference to my circular of the gth August last, I am directed by Her Majesty's Special Commissioner to request you to make known to the inhabitants of your town and district that the assembly of delegates, then convened, having misconstrued and defeated the object for which it was called, is dissolved.

I have, etc.,

Henry Green,

British Resident.

The Committee thus summarily dismissed thereupon addressed to the Duke of Newcastle a protest against the action of the Commissioner, in which they expressed themselves in the following forcible language: “We declare the late acts of Her Majesty’s Special Commissioner, Sir George Russell Clerk, to be illegal, unconstitutional and in violation of the terms of Her Majesty’s Commission.” Sir George Clerk, having dissolved the Committee, now turned his attention to the body of men whom he recognized as representatives of the people. With them he was soon able to come to terms.

Meeting in secret conclave for some days in succession, they discussed the draft of a convention which should secure selfgovernment to the people living between the Orange and the Vaal. On the 23rd February the Convention of Bloemfontein was signed by Sir George Russell Clerk on the one part, and twenty-five representatives of the people on the other. It consisted of nine articles, and guaranteed in the fullest sense the independence of the country, "which independence shall ... be confirmed and ratified by an instrument . . . finally freeing them from their allegiance to the British Crown, and declaring them to all intents and purposes a free and independent people, and their Government to be considered and treated henceforth as a free and independent Government.”

By this Convention the Orange River Sovereignty was metamorphosed into the Orange Free State. The change of government was fortunately unaccompanied by bloodshed. We have Orpen’s authority for the statement that when once the abandonment was accomplished very few, if any, bitter feelings were cherished, except against Sir George Clerk himself and the Coalition Ministry. A provisional government was elected to serve until a permanent personnel could be appointed. Of this temporary administration Mr. J. P. Hoffman was president; Mr. Jacobus Groenendaal, the schoolmaster of Sannas Poort, acted as secretary; and five others were added as members of the Government. A land-drost was also appointed for each of the five districts of Bloemfontein, Winburg, Harrismith, Sannas Poort and Smithfield. The first Volksraad met in March, and organized the civil establishment upon a securer basis, and in the following May Josias Philip Hoffman was duly chosen by plebiscite as first State President. The little republic was thus fairly launched upon its new career.

While the inhabitants of the Orange River territory were making history in this fashion, their delegates, Messrs. Frazer and Murray, were vainly endeavouring to gain the ear of the Ministry, and to obtain some consideration for the views of the dissentient minority. But even before they set foot in England the Bloemfontein Convention had been signed, and the delegates found themselves facing a fait accompli, which the Ministry was glad to be done with, and positively disinclined to reconsider. Other matters were engaging the public attention, and in particular the Eastern question was already tending towards that crisis which was soon to issue in the Crimean War. The affairs of a handful of people in a comer of South Africa were too trivial to be worth much thought.

In a letter to his father, dated ioth April, 1854, Murray gives the following account of their doings—

As regards our mission here, on the 16th of March we had an interview with the Duke of Newcastle. He received us most kindly, but informed us that the matter was so far settled that he expected the first mail to bring him the report of the arrangements being completed, as final orders had been despatched in November last. We felt there was very little hope, and were almost prepared to give up the question, were it not for the fear of being afterwards accused of doing so little. On putting ourselves into communication with Mr. Adderley, he advised us to get a legal opinion as to the power of the Crown to abandon without consulting Parliament.

The question was brought up in the House of Commons on the 9th May—Murray’s twenty-sixth birthday—when Mr. C. B. Adderley2 moved an address to the Queen, asking for a reconsideration of the Order in Council by which British authority was withdrawn from the Orange River Sovereignty. One or two speakers on the Government benches, including the Attorney-General, replied to Adderley’s strictures, maintaining that the abandonment was both perfectly legal and wholly expedient. Not a single voice was raised in support of the motion, and the mover was therefore obliged to withdraw it. “The whole business,” writes Murray, “has given me a sad insight into political proceedings, and in fact every one says openly that not justice but expediency and party policy rule the day, except in some few matters where public feeling can be strongly stirred. In our case even friends said it was impossible [to get the abandonment cancelled], owing both to the insignificance of the matter (!) and the bad name the Cape has from its Caffre wars.”

During the period of his detention in London Murray fulfilled several preaching engagements. His fame as an earnest and deeply spiritual preacher was soon noised abroad, and led to a proposal which he esteemed a great honour. This was the invitation to occupy the pulpit of Surrey Chapel until such time as the Rev. Newman Hall, the new minister, could arrive. Owing partly to the demands on his time which his mission made, and partly to the unsatisfactory state of his health, Murray was obliged to decline, though he preached in the Chapel on the evening of the day on which the retiring minister took his farewell.

To his father he writes—

As to my engagements here, they are not so frequent as they might otherwise be, as wehaveoftento wait at home, to be ready for any official calls of duty. I have preached thrice for Dr. Morison, who suffers much from ill-health. I do not know what you will think of what happened last week. Surrey Chapel (Rowland Hill’s) has become vacant by the Rev. Mr. Sherman’s leaving. The Rev. Newman Hall, who is to succeed him, does not come for three months, and I have been applied to to take charge of it for May and June, with the offer of a parsonage, etc. I have, of course, declined the offer. Several other invitations to preach I have also declined. I suppose, however, that I shall be engaged about once every Sunday. I feel my general health much improving and my strength increasing greatly too, except in my arms and hands, where I generally still feel the old pains.

To his sister he writes a few weeks subsequently—

As regards my health I cannot speak very favourably, and you may imagine that I now long for rest. Perhaps I ought not to preach at all. I find it difficult to refuse altogether, and preaching is in fact most refreshing to myself. On Sunday evening, for instance, I preached at Surrey Chapel to a congregation of some 3,000 from the words: "I beheld, and lo! in the midst of the throne a Lamb, as it had been slain.’’ The subject has been most edifying to myself. All Monday I was enabled to rejoice in meditating on it, and amidst my engagements yesterday and to-day it has been most quickening still. I think the Lord gives me favour in the sight of the people [of Surrey Chapel], though my violent manner is much against me.

In the course of April he spent a brief ten days in Holland. The f ollowing is the account he gives—

To his Brother (Rev. J. Murray).

I left London on Wednesday the 12th, and reached Rotterdam safely towards the afternoon. As I intended staying only a week, I hurried on the same night to Amsterdam, after having spent a couple of hours very pleasantly with the Herklots. Many were the kind enquiries after yourself and all the friends. You cannoti magine how strange the feeling was when I found myself in Holland, the very smell of the houses recalling old impressions, and I was myself surprised to discover how strangely Dutch manners struck me. I arrived very late at Amsterdam, and early next morning was on my way to Mrs. Waller, where I breakfasted. I need not say that the welcome was warm and hearty. The children are so grown that I would hardly have recognized them. Mrs. Waller is still the same kind, motherly friend and open-hearted Christian.

By twelve noon I was in Utrecht, and soon found Charles’3 rooms, on the Oud Kerkhof, next to van Zutphen's, where Klaas 4 lived. He was not in, and I had half an hour’s quiet thought to look back on all the way the Lord had so strangely and so graciously led me. You may imagine how glad the meeting was. I immediately recognized in him the most extraordinary likeness to you,—an opinion which I found entertained by all of your friends ; and I had hardly sat down before he spoke of my likeness to dear Mamma. At first there was the strange feeling one sometimes has after long absence, a difficulty as to where to begin talking. In the course of the day I became acquainted with all the Kapenaren (Cape students). I know you will be glad to hear of them, and without judging I shall give you the general impression. De Smidt and Thomson have just done propaedeutica: they appear to have some talent and to be good students. In religion there is every desire after the one thing needful. They are serious Scotch students, and there may be more than this. I regret that the bustle of the visit prevented more private and individual intercourse. All the others appear to me to be well-inclined, and much might be hoped from good influence. Only Charles and Hofmeyr see van den Ham often, but I asked leave to introduce some of the others. De Smidt and Thomson will, of course, now avail themselves of his “theologisch gezelschap” once a week. I trust Beets, who goes to Utrecht early in June, may also exert much influence. . . .

On Saturday I called on van den Ham, where I had again a most warm reception. I was surprised to see how deeply the Cape beroep (call) had affected him. He and Beets had both been on the point of accepting. Had it not been for his father, I think we should have had van den Ham.5 We had much interesting conversation on the state of Holland. Christians appear to consider matters looking darker than I had expected. The possibility of afscheiding (separation) if Meyboom be forced upon Amsterdam (as will very likely be the case) is seriously talked of; and though the ministers would not yet go, they fear the consequences. The appointment of Ter Haar has been a sad proof of how entirely the orthodox party is shut out from the possibility of doing anything publicly for the Church. I called on Merens, but he did not know me. As it was Saturday evening, we were put off to a broodjs [equivalent to a " cup of tea "] for next week.

On Sabbath morning we had an excellent sermon from van den Ham; in the afternoon in the Jacobi from Bosken. I could at moments really fancy that I had not been a month out of Holland. Between the services I attended a nice, large Sahbath-school, where Charles assists, and in the evening all the Kapenaren met for prayer and reading. I was sorry to find that they did not do this in general, and that there were some doubts as to its possibility. A sermon from van Hoogstraten on Monday (Easter Monday) was very nice of its kind, and a visit to him afterwards was hearty, as he always is. Madame (his wife) has been far from well of late. I was surprised to find him a warm advocate for the Kweekschool [Theological Seminary] : if we could not succeed in getting professors [in Holland, he proposed] we should take two of our own Kapenaren. The evening we spent at Meur. van Boetselaar’s and I was not surprised at the affection with which Willie had spoken of them. At nine we went to a meeting of Eltheto, where I met Nicho.6 I had written to him to come, though he had to be at Amsterdam next day. We spent a pleasant evening in general conversation on the interests of our Redeemer's kingdom, especially in Africa.

On Tuesday evening there was to be a meeting at Amsterdam of some twenty ministers for ecclesiastical conference. Their motto is “Ernst en Vrede” [Earnestness and Peace], and their object the maintenance of Church rights and doctrines. At Nicho’s request I accompanied him and had no reason to regret it. We lodged at the Pierson’s—always diligent and energetic Christians, though I had still the same feeling of preference for Mrs. Waller. The meetings were most interesting,— Beets, van den Ham, van Oosterzee, Doedes, Heldring, J. J. van Toorenenbergen, Hasebroek and others taking part. What to do was the great question. “Combine more directly with the Groen party and the Amsterdam ultras for fear of a disruption.” But it was decided not to, because the standpoints were too different. Both had a mission which would be best accomplished independently of each other. A protest against the new Bijbelvertaiing [Bible Translation] was agreed to : also a petition in favour of the voice of the people being heard in the election of ministers and churchwardens; and a protest against the new onder-teekeningsformulier (formula for subscription). I was really delighted with the spirit of the meeting, as well as at the opportunity for observing different characters. On Wednesday I was asked to the dinner, which I enjoyed much too. They all appeared to feel that they may soon be placed in very difficult circumstances, and they fear much for the future of the Church.

On Thursday I saw Mr. Smith of Perth, Free Church Professor in the Amsterdam Seminary. I enjoyed the visit. There are some sixteen students, destined to be evangelists, though I fear the Free Church did not understand this when she took up the thing. The Thursday evening with Dr. Merens astonished me (and Charlie also), as we found all his sympathies were with the Russians. It was the same next day with old Bouman, who declared he would always pray for the victory of the cross over the crescent. When I saw him on Friday, he appeared to be haunted by some idea of my unfaithfulness at his colleges. Vinke was very hearty. Poor Mevr. Royaards is very much cut up at the thought of all the Kapenaren and their relation to her departed husband. Mevr. Schuyt had still a word for Scholten. We dined with van den Ham, and I think I surprised him by telling him all I thought of the relations of Boers and missionaries to each other.

On Monday I started for Rotterdam, in company with Th. Burgers. There we met Beelaerts, who certainly has the most unprejudiced and extensive views with regard to the Cape which I have yet met with. I forgot to mention that in Amsterdam I met with a Mr. Swart, who is extremely anxious to do something for the Cape. He is a member of the Amsterdam Committee. When I told him of my hesitancy to cooperate on account of laxity in life and doctrine on the part of those they have sent, he acknowledged the justice of what I said—he is a friend of Hasebroek—but observed, “Could we but find the men.” I am not without hope of getting some good men—if the Transvaal won't have them, then at all events for the Sovereignty.

On Tuesday morning we started for Middelburg. Taats’ welcome you can imagine. He is still quite the same, and happy in his labour. The call to the Cape cost him a bitter struggle: he only resigned on account of his parents, and would have liked none better than van Toorenenberg (you may not otherwise hear, and therefore this in private); and Toorenenberg has declined conditionally, but if he gets an official call, he will very likely accept. Everybody thinks he would do well. We dined with him at Vlissingen on Wednesday, and then started for London. . . .

During the whole of May Murray remained in London, endeavouring to obtain from the Colonial Office some concessions, by way of compensation, for the Sovereignty inhabitants who had been so unceremoniously absolved from their allegiance to the British Crown. He made use of the opportunity to attend some of the May meetings in Exeter Hall, but does not seem to have been very greatly impressed. “The speaking in general was inferior to what I should have expected. I fancied that under the excitement of a crowded audience of 5,000 attentive listeners, I myself could have been stirred to make a speech.” The Evangelical Alliance breakfast was the function which he declares to have found most interesting.

As soon as he could shake himself free from the claims of his mission, he departed for Scotland. The re-union with his uncle’s family in Aberdeen was a happy one. Both there and in Edinburgh he put forth efforts to find young men who would be willing to proceed to South Africa as ministers and teachers. But his endeavours were unavailing. His uncle, moreover, held out small hopes of success, for the Free Church had during the past two years supplied the colonies with some forty ministers, and was now herself threatened with a dearth of probationers. In Holland Murray fared no better in his quest: men of piety and orthodoxy, whose circumstances left them sufficiently untrammelled to go abroad, were few and far between; and those who were free were not always willing. The conviction, clear before, was rendered deeper and more urgent, that the only remedy for the state of ministerial destitution in South Africa was the establishment of a theological seminary of their own. And Murray’s strong desire to see such an institution arise was doubtless strengthened by his uncle’s keen interest in the recently sanctioned Free Church College at Aberdeen. “Uncle is all triumph at the last Assembly’s having sanctioned the Hall here. They appear to have gotten two admirable men as professors.”

The state of his health at this time gave him cause for the gravest concern. “I feel my strength so worn,” he writes, “that I do not believe that even perfect rest for three or four months would restore me, and a single summer in Africa would lay me prostrate. The doctor says that my whole system has been much more seriously affected than I have any idea of, and that prolonged rest is necessary to restoration. And even then the system will remain very weak, unless allowed time to gather strength. He disadvises my leaving England before the winter.” In accordance with medical advice he visited for several weeks a water-cure establishment at Ben Rhydding in Yorkshire, but the benefit to his health was discouragingly small. In September he crossed over to Holland, where he remained for about a month. The doctors, however, recommended another course of water-cure, which he took at Boppart on the Rhine. Writing from there to members of the home circle, he says—

You will all have been together, enjoying each other’s society, during the Presbytery week, and talking about your brother, and the prolongation of his stay until November, little thinking how much longer his absence is still to be. Here I am, trying a second water-cure establishment. In Holland I found I was still so far from strong, and so incapable of bearing the least excitement or exertion without fatigue, that I consulted a medical man, who positively advised me to stay over the winter in Europe, and thought that a few weeks’ continued trial of the cold-water cure might do me good. What I chiefly suffer from is the pain in the hands and arms. Half an hour’s lively conversation, or earnest application to anything that requires thinking, immediately makes itself felt there. I cannot even write a note without feeling the pain in my arms; and the pain in the arms is but the index of a general weakness in the nervous system: The doctor says that the whole constitution must be strengthened before the pain can be removed.

In November he was back in Holland, and there he remained until the middle of the following January, enjoying the kindly hospitality of a large circle of friends. From Utrecht he wrote a most interesting letter to his brother John, from which only the briefest extracts are possible—

To Rev. John Murray.

On my way down the Rhine I halted at Bonn, where I met a great many friends—amongst others Prof. Krafft, who remembered our visit in 1847. I spoke to him on the subject of getting young ministers. He said that, apart from the difficulty of getting Reformed candidates in general, the number of students had so decreased since 1848 that they were hardly able to supply their own wants. On my asking about the advisability of obtaining a German professor, he felt much interested in the matter, and went over the list of ministers and professors. We found only one he could at all recommend. I shall have some conversation with van den Ham about this, though I have no idea that it will be possible to get one to our mind.

I also dined with Prof. Bleek—you remember the squinting, fat little man. His son, a great philologist, is going out to Natal with Bishop Colenso to reduce the Zulu language to writing, as well as to study the other African languages. He went out with a large expedition last year, but was taken ill on the West Coast. You would hardly have thought that the dry commentator could have been so hearty and kind as the old gentleman was. . . .

As to church matters here in Holland, you know that the protests of the Amsterdam and Hague petitioners against Meyboom and Zaalberg were rejected by the Synodical Commission, while the Harderwijk Classis, which had also petitioned against the Amsterdam address, got a vermanmg (admonition) to mind their own business, and not disturb the peace of the Church. The Amsterdam adressanten have now issued a last protest, appealing to the judgment of the great day against the violence done to the Church. Ernsi-en-Vrede met last week and is to publish a more moderate address. Beets and the Nederlander (Groen) have been having a warm discussion, as the former had reprehended the too violent language of the Amsterdam address. Otherwise matters are quiet. . .'.

You will ere this have heard of the ill success of our calls for the professorships of the Seminary. I was surprised to hear how different people in Germany (Krafft, etc.) insisted on the necessity of a Seminary at the Cape, and also how little difficulty some of our friends here (especially van Hoogstraten) feel in two of our Cape ministers being chosen. You will undoubtedly ere this have heard that your own name has been mentioned in this connexion. It may be premature to say so, but should you be called I do pray that you may feel at liberty to accept. In fact, I hardly see how you could decline. What I have seen of the students here convinces me more and more of the necessity of the Seminary. From what I have looked at of the wetenschap (science) here, I feel how easy it would be for you to rub it up again. You would be surprised to see how familiar everything looks.

Early in 1855 Murray crossed the Channel, intending to leave London for South Africa almost immediately. The winter was, however, a severe one, and their vessel was detained by frosts until the 9th of March. The voyage commenced inauspiciously, and stress of weather compelled them to put into Plymouth; but when once they were clear of northern storms and mists they made satisfactory progress. Two young friends, a Hollander named Vels, and a South African, Albertus Stegmann, helped to relieve the monotony of the voyage, which lasted until the fourth week of May. His health by this time was greatly improved, though he still had to exercise great care, and avoid both over-exertion and over-excitement.

After a stay of some three or four weeks in Cape Town, he set out for Bloemfontein by way of Ladismith, Prince Albert and Graaff-Reinet. Of his welcome to the parental home and his brief stay there we have no record, but his father would appear to have accompanied him to Bloemfontein, where he arrived in the course of August, 1855, after an absence of one year and nine months. His fellow-delegate, Dr. Frazer, had remained permanently in England.1 It need hardly be said that the Bloemfontein folk welcomed their returning pastor with every demonstration of gratitude and affection. “I feel quite ashamed,” he writes, "at all the warmth of friendship and kindness with which I have been received, and I fit more easily into the Bloemfontein life than I had expected.” Regarding his health he is obliged to confess that “I was very much fatigued when Papa was here, and could hardly enjoy his society. Since his departure I have been resting more, and feel better and calmer than since landing.”

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 8

Last Years at Bloemfontein

I am persuaded that an unbiased retrospect over the past efforts of the Christian Churches to formulate the essence of their faith, though it must inevitably move one to a certain sadness that, in their quest after the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, their common Lord, they found it necessary to part so frequently and at times so widely from one another, may with equal justice move one to a feeling of pride and satisfaction that the quest has been so unremitting, so earnest, so conscientious, so fruitful in discovery, so rich in educative experience.— Professor William A. Curtis.

NOT only his own congregation at Bloemfontein, but the Church at large welcomed Murray back to South Africa. That he was not forgotten during nearly two years of absence is proved by the fact that two calls were presented to him—one from the congregation at Colesberg, while he was still in Europe, and one from the congregation of Ladysmith (Natal), shortly before his return to Bloemfontein. Both invitations he felt himself constrained to decline. About the time of his return he writes as follows on matters in general—

To Rev. John Murray.

I thank you sincerely for the assurance of your prayers, which will stir me up to remember you still more specially. Since Papa left there is little news. The Raad broke up to-day. The results of its deliberations are on the whole very satisfactory.

I am very thankful that I feel so well and comfortable. I was able yesterday to preach with more composure than I have ever yet done. I trust the course of sermons which I have announced on the Mosaic Worship will aid me in my endeavour to cultivate calmer habits in the pulpit. May the great secret of success in this matter—the quieting influence of God’s presence and peace—be mercifully vouchsafed.

In domestic matters everything is going on well. I feel wonderfully at home and enjoy the quiet. My hopes as to a possible restoration of my strength begin somewhat to revive. I yesterday received a letter from Henry Faure, enclosing a call from Ladysmith. What you write about the Kort Begrip (Shorter Heidelberg Catechism) I feel to be very tempting, and I have already been looking over my old manuscripts. I must, however, have some time to deliberate before I come to a decision. I see that I have written on the Old Testament as far as Jacob, and of the Peep of Day I have done twenty-six chapters. I long for your book: you must send it with Willie to Cape Town.

I much regret that I entirely forgot to send you any books with Papa. I shall try and avail myself of the first opportunity to do so. I can hardly advise you in the matter of ordering books from England or Holland. In Dutch I know of scarcely one of great value, except the translation of Vinet’s Homiletiek. Oosterzee’s Christologie will be too large. Some of my new English books I can send you for perusal, or recommend after having read them myself. You know the name of Trench. I have just ordered again Arnold’s Life. Get my copy of The Earnest Student from Graafi-Reinet. It combines deep Scotch piety with large and suggestive views of German theology. The Memoirs of the Haldanes you can get there too. Papa’s praise will ensure your reading it, nor will you regret it. The Memoirs of Harrington Evans and Nettleton are both excellent. They were also to come to Graafi-Reinet. Mention any books you have become acquainted with that you would recommend. I am in hopes of doing more in the way of reading than heretofore. . . .

Give me your advice on the following questions. Dr. Krause would feel a difficulty in answering the questions of the Baptismal service demanding the education of the child in the Reformed Faith. There can be no objection to baptizing the child privately and substituting a more general promise? I cannot feel at liberty to demand doopouders (godparents) from truly Christian parents. Another question. The Germans have felt a scruple in coming to the Lord’s Table, because they consider it a virtual confession of the Reformed Faith—equivalent to becoming members. They have asked me whether I would object to dispensing the Supper to them in a private room.

I had last week the opportunity of forwarding across the Vaal three intimations of our presbytery meeting. I also wrote to Lydenburg and Rustenburg in answer to their request to us to pay them a pastoral visit, saying that Neethling and I had spoken of it, and that we hoped that a deputation would be with them in April. I begged of them to let me know whether it was still desired by the people.

The meeting of the Presbytery of Transgariep (as the territory between the Orange and Vaal rivers was known) took place at Winburg in October of the same year. Judged by its far-reaching effects in after years, the most important matter brought to the notice of the Presbytery was an offer from Sir George Grey, Governor of the Cape Colony, to aid the young State in the establishment of a college for the instruction of youth and the training of men for the teaching profession. Sir George Grey proposed donating, from imperial funds at his disposal, a sum of money for this laudable purpose, and appointing the Presbytery as board of management to control the institution in accordance with the terms of a suitable trust-deed. It need hardly be said that this generous offer was gratefully accepted. Further action was entrusted to a committee of which Mr. Murray was the leading spirit. A week or two later he writes to his brother—

Your idea in regard to getting a headmaster for our school is exactly what I have proposed to the Governor. He has promised £1,500 to erect a building capable of containing thirty boarders. We have just bought three water erven (plots) for £300. It is a pity that one has a house on it: this makes it so dear. We are to get the plans from Cape Town.

This matter of a central educational institution came up also before the Volksraad, when the State President, Mr. J. N. Boshof, intimated that Sir George Grey had notified his readiness to increase his original gift to £4,500, so that, in addition to the sum required for the erection of a suitable building, the salary of the headmaster should be guaranteed from interest accruing. In less than a twelvemonth the preliminaries had been arranged, and on the 13th October, 1856, the ceremony of the laying of the foundation-stone of the Grey College was performed by President Boshof, amid the universal acclaim of the inhabitants of Bloemfontein. The first trustees of the College were Pres. Boshof, Rev. Andrew Murray and Mr. J. D. Griesel, elder of Bloemfontein. When the College was formally opened on the 27th January, 1859, a Dutch and an English teacher had been secured, but no headmaster had been as yet appointed ; and Mr, Murray undertook for a time the onerous duties of rector, which implied, however, in addition to general supervision, merely the control of the boarding department. This noble institution, second in point of age only to the South African College among the higher educational establishments of South Africa, has during the sixty years of its existence done a work of incalculable importance for the whole of the Orange Free State. And the Grey College is but a portion of the debt which South Africa owes to the sympathetic and practical interest of that great colonial statesman, Sir George Grey.

The year 1856 was notable for one of the momentous events of Murray’s life—his marriage. The lady who consented to become his bride was Miss Emma Rutherfoord, the daughter of an influential Cape Town merchant. Her father, Mr. Howson Edward Rutherfoord, emigrated to South Africa in the early part of the nineteenth century, and by his integrity and Christian principle soon acquired a high position in the esteem of the metropolitan community. He was an active member, and treasurer from its inception, of the “ Cape of Good Hope Society for aiding deserving Slaves and Slave-children to purchase their freedom,”—a philanthropic body established in 1828, to which belonged most of the prominent Capetonians, from the Governor, Sir Lowry Cole, downwards. In the Anti-convict Agitation of 1849 he played a prominent part, being one of the deputation which pressed the views of the inhabitants upon the Governor. When Cape Colony received the grant of representative institutions in 1854, he was returned by the electors of the Western Province as member of the first Legislative Council under the new provisions. The suburban home of the Rutherfoord family, 'first at Green Point and afterwards at Claremont, was noted for its generous hospitality to missionaries of every society and denomination.

Through the services of Dr. Philip, the well-known secretary of the London Missionary Society in Cape Town, Andrew Murray was introduced to this Christian home, and here, on the occasion of his return from England in 1855, he first met Miss Rutherfoord. During this visit nothing was arranged, but a correspondence was opened which led to another visit to Cape Town in May, 1856, and ultimately to their engagement. No very great time elapsed between the engagement and its happy consummation. A long postponement was not to be thought of, and as travel in those days was an expensive and wearying business, the bride-elect did not inflict upon her future husband the necessity of another pilgrimage from Bloemfontein to the Cape, but gave her consent to a speedy marriage.

The Rutherfoords were members of the Church of England, and the bridegroom was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, so that friendly discussions were necessary as to the place and the performance of the ceremony. All difficulties were happily solved by the decision that the marriage should take place in the Dutch Reformed church at Wynberg, that the service should be conducted in the English language, and that the officiating clergyman should be the bridegroom’s uncle, Rev. G. W. Stegmann, minister of the Lutheran Church of Cape Town. A honeymoon, in the accepted sense of the term, the young couple cannot be said to have had. They were married on Wednesday, 2nd July, passed the first night at Stellenbosch, thirty miles away, and the next at Ceres, seventy miles further on the homeward journey. Sunday, the 20th July, was spent at Graaff-Reinet, where the new sister was received with affectionate joy, not unmixed with curiosity. Towards the end of the month, apparently, he was back at Bloemfontein.

In comparison with the preceding period, the last four years of Murray’s sojourn at Bloemfontein were void of stirring incidents. His health was not yet such that he could engage with impunity in the toilsome and abundant labours of the early years. His duties as rector of the Grey College were not indeed heavy, being confined to general supervision, and the boarding of a number of pupils, but they nevertheless circumscribed his wanderings to his own parish, and journeys to distant congregations became comparatively infrequent. He secured greater leisure for study, and commenced those literary labours which assumed such proportions in later years. Towards the end of 1856 he writes as follows to his brother—

To Rev. John Murray.

John Neethling has passed this way. He enjoyed his journey to Natal extremely. His rencontre with van der Hofi was rather warm. The latter must have heard a good deal that was more plain than pleasant. The congregation of Lydenburg appears to be quite unanimous in its attachment to the Synod.

I exceedingly approve of your Leiddmad voor Zondagscholen (Manual for Sunday-schools). Give me either this to do, or Newman Hall’s Come to Jesus to translate. I will set about it immediately. I hesitate about at once beginning the composition of the Leiddraad from fear of your having done it already, as well as from the idea that you are so intimate with the Bible history that you can better judge of the proper portions to be selected. ... I would also say that if another edition of the Kinderbijbel be called for very soon, do not enlarge it. It would hardly be fair to the owners of the first edition. In using it, I shall have my eye on what I think might be improved.

I long much to see you : so does Emma : but I really do not know when I am to give Andries Louw and P. Roux a turn during their absence to the Presbytery meeting in Natal—probably on the 12th and the 19th October. But just then you will not be at home. I would hardly like to be out an additional Sunday in the Colony, as my professed (and indeed only real) reason for declining to attend the Natal Presbytery is my reluctance to leave my people.

Here matters are somewhat quiescent at present. I have no doubt in my own mind of Cox’s guilt—in fact, I think even Vels fears he murdered his wife, though not his children. I fear he will yet be let loose, as the irregularity of the first trial has rendered a second necessary, and general usage, as well as Colonial legal opinion^ considers this a most unusual step.

Our Raad meets in a month to settle matters with regard to Moshesh. 1 do not believe the war rumours. Boshof has strong views on the subject of the “ blacks ” and their perfidy. I have no idea what the Raad will do. I trust the quiet of the Colony will make them think before deciding on a war—also, the little taste of commando life in Witsie’s expedition.

We are just settling down. Emma likes the place, and gets on well with the Dutch people, barring her deficient language. She is very anxious to be useful: you suggest how ! We are very happy, and I trust very grateful.

In spite of the hopes expressed in the above letter the political horizon remained persistently overcast. Several years elapsed before the young State obtained sufficient security from outward menace to develop its own internal resources. The Basuto tribes remained a source of anxiety and danger. Moshesh was a wily diplomat. While professing peace and amity, he was surreptitiously fomenting rebellion. But his machinations were not unknown to Sir George Grey, whose secret agents informed him of Moshesh’s efforts to incite the Kaffir chiefs on the Eastern border. In 1858 war was declared by the Free State Volksraad. In connexion with the outbreak of hostilities Murray addressed the following letter to his father-in-law, Mr. H. E. Rutherfoord—

Andrew Murray to the Hon. H. E. Rutherfoord.

The object of my writing now is to ask your opinion on a very important question, whether it would not be possible to obtain the interference of the High Commissioner in this unfortunate war with Moshesh. The last few weeks have led me to reflect more deeply upon the fearful curse that any war is, upon the special iniquity attending, not so much this struggle itself, as the original cause of it, and upon the duty of England, as in my view answerable for that iniquity, to try and avert the war.

The cause of the war may be stated in very few words. Sir Harry Smith, in February, 1848, declared every man the owner of the ground he occupied at the time, and soon after gave instructions to have a boundary line made whereby all such ground should be marked off from the territory of Moshesh, as well as other chiefs. The line was made by Major Warden, and Moshesh’s assent was gained. English and Dutch farmers hold title-deeds from the English Government of all the farms up to that boundary line. When the country was abandoned, our Government received from England the State with the boundaries it then had, and engaged to respect all the title-deeds issued by the English Government. The ground within the above-mentioned boundary line of Moshesh—i.e. on our side of it—had never been cleared of Basutos, in consequence of which quarrels were continually arising, which again led to thieving. After repeated treating with Moshesh and vain engagements that he would return certain numbers of stolen cattle, the frontier people say that they cannot live on their farms, and demand protection. Our Government claims the disputed ground as ours, has its grant of them by the English Government to individual fanners, and to the State as a whole, to show, and considers it therefore its duty to fight for its injured subjects, who are kept from their farms by the people of Moshesh.

This is the state of the case on our side. If Moshesh be allowed to tell his story, it will, however, be evident that he must consider the war to be a most grievous injustice. He declares that he repeatedly arranged with Sir Harry Smith, and had his promise, that there should be no line, that he, after many vain protests, was compelled to give his assent to the boundary, that even after this the provisions in regard to the lands of his people on our side of the line were never fulfilled, that all the Queen’s Commissioners—Major Hogge, Mr. Owen, General Cathcart, Sir George Clerk—acknowledged the injustice of the boundary in question, and that now he is no longer bound by it, as the English Government have broken their part of the original contract by withdrawing from the country.

Now I cannot but think that all the blame of the war rests upon England. Upon high Christian principle our Government here cannot be justified, but upon the ordinary principles of worldly policy, I think perfectly. The question now arises whether it be not a special duty for England to endeavour to avert this war, or at least to prevent its continuance, and the still greater losses to Moshesh which will, I expect, be the result of it. I think it extremely probable that the war may continue for some time, and that a favourable opportunity might offer for the High Commissioner offering to arbitrate. I do not think the people would be unwilling to listen to this, though Mr. Boshof himself would not readily enter into such a scheme. The great body of the people, however, are not interested in the war, and soon begin to weary of it.

If you thought it possible to draw the Governor’s attention to it, I would he glad. When war comes so near, the thought becomes inexpressibly fearful of Christians slaying such numbers of poor heathen. Should you wish first to have more information you will find, in the little volume of the Argus Special Commissioner, History of the Basutos, the case of Moshesh well pleaded. The prejudice against the Boers is, of course, evident, and leads sometimes to misrepresentations.

To describe the campaign of 1858 in detail lies beyond the province of this biography. Suffice it to say that the Boers drove their adversaries back to their inaccessible mountain fastnesses, from which they refused to be dislodged. Swarms of Basuto light horsemen then descended upon the undefended portions of the State, destroying homesteads and driving off great herds of cattle. The report that their homes were being ravaged proved too much for the discipline of the Boer army, and the burghers desisted from besieging an impregnable mountain, saddled their horses, and took the shortest way back to their farms. In view of the possibility of a complete debacle, Pres. Boshof hastily called in Sir George Grey as mediator, and a peace was patched up. The war thus ended indecisively, and both parties felt that hostilities were bound to be renewed at no very distant period. Two more costly wars were waged between the Free State and the Basuto, and it was only by the annexation of Basutoland to the British Empire in 1868 that the question of the boundary between the two countries was finally laid to rest.

On the 20th April, 1857, a daughter was born to the family at the Bloemfontein parsonage. “I have to communicate to you,” writes Andrew to his brother John, “theglad tidings of the birth of a little daughter last Monday morning God has been very kind. Emma has suffered but little, and the babe is doing well.”

The great ecclesiastical event of 1857 was the quinquennial meeting of the Synod in Cape Town. The days of swift and easy railroad transit were still far distant, and the 700-mile journey demanded long and anxious preparation, especially since mother and babe were to be fellow-travellers. The Synod was due to open its sessions on the 13th October, so that the Murrays must have taken their departure from Bloemfontein before the end of September.

At this Synod certain far-reaching decisions were taken. One was the resolution to carry into immediate execution the project, mooted many years before, but always for some reason or other temporarily shelved, of establishing at Stellenbosch a theological seminary for the training of ministers. Another resolution that involved important consequences was the decision to inaugurate a vigorous forward policy in the missionary undertakings of the Church. In both these projects Andrew Murray had long been keenly interested : on behalf of both his voice was now raised in forceful pleading.

From the proposal to establish a theological seminary many of the older ministers expressed the strongest dissent. They were firmly of opinion that severance from Holland and the Dutch universities meant intellectual and spiritual loss, and that the ties which bound the Cape to the homeland should therefore not be relaxed but drawn more closely. In spite, however, of their opposition, the motion to proceed to the immediate erection in South Africa of a training college for the ministry was carried by a large majority. Since the attempt to obtain men from Holland had failed, the Synod resolved to elect two professors from its own personnel, and a plurality of votes indicated the Revs. G. W. A. van der Lingen and John Murray for the honour. The former of these declined the appointment, upon which the Rev. N. J. Hofmeyr was elected in his stead. Thus came into being, on the 3rd November, 1857,1 an institution which has been an inestimable blessing to the cause of Christ in South Africa.

The other mAtter of more than ordinary importance which engaged the attention of the Synod was the question of missions. The Committee for the Missionary Cause (Commissie voor het Zendelings Wezen), appointed from Synod to Synod, was at this time composed of several ministers of the older type. Their report showed that during the period 1852 to 1857 they had received ^1,050 in contributions to the missionary fund, had expended but £700, and had in hand a balance of £350. The members of the Committee were probably well pleased with their able and cautious administration of the funds entrusted to their care, but the younger ministers, among whom were Andrew Murray, J. H. Neethling and N. J. Hofmeyr, were little satisfied with the progress shown. They pleaded that the Synod should turn its gaze to the regions beyond, and commence a missionary undertaking on the further side of the Vaal River, “if possible on the confines of the congregation of Lydenburg.”

The Synod was sufficiently alive to its responsibility to fall in with the views propounded, and appointed as new Committee the young men above named, together with an older brother, Rev. P. K. Albertyn, to moderate youthful enthusiasm and inexperience. Andrew Murray was spared to see "a little one become a thousand,” and the resolution of 1857 bear glorious fruitage in the years to come.

Towards the end of his Bloemfontein period Murray was thrown into contact with a man who played a remarkable, if not always very laudable, part in the ecclesiastical history of South Africa. This was the Rev. Dirk Postma, a minister of the Separatist Reformed Church of Holland, who arrived at the Cape in 1858, commissioned by his Church to enquire into the condition of the Transvaal Boers, and to engage in mission work among the natives. At the Cape he met in friendly conference several of the most prominent ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church, such as Professors Murray and Hofmeyr, Dr. Abraham Faure, Rev. J. H. Neethling, and others, and then proceeded to Natal, enroute to the Transvaal. During his sojourn there he also made the acquaintance of the minister of Bloemfontein, as is evident from the following letter written by Andrew Murray on the 30th November, 1858.

T0 Professor John Murray.

You will have heard that I had a most prosperous and pleasant journey to Natal. I went at the request of the churchwardens of Winburg to try and get Postma as their minister. He declined giving me any positive answer till he had first spent some months across the Vaal. Then he would see whether he felt at liberty to join our Church. Though he has no objection to sing the hymns when officiating for us, he is not sure whether he could accept them altogether as obligatory. I spoke very seriously to him on the danger I thought there would be in his establishing a body of Separatists across the Vaal. I must confess I am not without very serious apprehensions as to the result of his mission.

Van Heyningen is afraid of Lydenburg. They have told him so much of its poverty and insecurity, that he would be glad of an opening to accept Winburg. I still think of calling Postma. What do you think of Martin? Huet’s company I enjoyed very much. We spent a fortnight together.

I was glad to see the advertisement of my book [Jezus de Kinder-vriend—Jesus the Friend of Children]. I would only wish my name left out of it. What do you think from your experience would be the time needed to get in the capital that has been laid out? You have never yet let me know what the printer's bill comes to. I would be sorry that you should suffer the least inconvenience in making my money arrangements. Only let me know betimes, and I will manage. Let me know too what impression the thing makes. You will be gratified to hear that Beelaerts writes that he uses your Kinderbijbel with much pleasure. He says: “It has caught the right tone.”

You can fancy how anxiously I look forward to my College prospects. I think of commencing about the middle of January with two teachers, one Dutch and one English. The whole thing is surrounded with special difficulties, and I feel I have need of special faith in undertaking the work and in dealing hereafter with the individual boys. I began it with the strong desire that to some of them at least it may be made the means of salvation.

About our teachers’ scheme Hofmeyr [of Colesberg] will have told you. I purpose ordering by this mail six more at a £60 salary, as I have hitherto done nothing for my own congregation. I am extremely anxious to avail myself of the Government allowance for itinerant schoolmasters. Religious education must, I think, become the watchword of our Church before we can expect abiding fruit on our labours. God forbid that I should limit the Holy One of Israel, or reject the lesson that He is teaching from America [in the great [revival], but still I think that in the ordinary course of things education is our hope.

On Postma’s arrival in the Transvaal the ecclesiastical situation underwent a rapid though not wholly unexpected transformation. Within two months of his appearance at Rustenburg he had seceded with three hundred members from the existing Church, and the Separatist movement had commenced in South Africa. The Transvaal Volksraad, which had already had a taste of the bitterness and strife engendered by religious dissensions, was greatly exercised over this secession, and invited ministers and representatives of all the Churches in the Transvaal to a general assembly to be held at Potchefstroom on the 26th of April, 1859, with a view to arriving at a modus vivendi and healing the breach. To this invitation reference is made in the following letter, dated Bloemfontein, 8th March, 1859.

To Professor John Murray.

The enclosed two letters I consider of importance enough to forward to you, with the request that you of the Stellenbosch triumvirate  will let me have your opinion as to what we ought to do. Ought we to decline going to the meeting at Potchefstroom? I cannot feel the very least sympathy in the prospect of co-operating with van der Hoff. And it may be just as well to prove to them the need there is of a union with the Synod. You will observe that the second Afgescheiden (Separatist) congregation will most likely be in Bloemfontein. Let me have your opinion, please, by return of post.

I have just received the first copy of the Kindervriend. I like it, but am disappointed that it is not more simple. It is to myself intensely interesting as containing the expression of what filled my mind some time ago. There are passages that I hardly believed that I myself had written.

Thanks for your last kind note, and the wish that I may soon be released from school duties. I hardly wish it. I feel deeply interested in the work, and do not think it will be too much for me, as long as I have no direct instruction to give. It is an experiment to try what influence can be exerted upon the boys by daily intercourse. Will the result be more encouraging than in preaching? Pray for me that the spirit of faith and love may possess me, that wisdom and diligence may be given me from on high for the work. Emma and I are both surprised that things go on so smoothly. Our number to-day is fourteen, with the prospect of four more at the end of the month.

The Volksraad had very fierce discussions on the subject of our annual grant, Hamelberg and Groenendaal trying to prove that the whole thing was to foster an exclusively English tendency. They, of course, wanted it exclusively Dutch. The Committee has told them that they can only abide by the Trust Deed, which puts the two languages on a footing of equality. The grant will most probably be withdrawn next year. I do not know that it will be any real loss, as it will free us from continual interference. If I saw any prospect of getting the fit man, I would immediately apply to Scotland.

Have you read English Hearts and Hands ? Such a simple narrative is worth gold in revealing the secret springs of persevering and successful labour in our holy work. We need more such love in all its warmth, its largeness of heart, its bright hopefulness, and we need more strong faith in the power of a love higher than our own.

The next stage in the movements of the Separatist party is described in a letter written from Bloemfontein on the ist May, 1859—

To Professor John Murray.

I forward by to-day’s post to Faure an account by Hofmeyr of the proceedings at Potchefstroom. After five days’ discussion they had agreed to receive Postma as minister of Rustenburg, leaving him at liberty to sing what he liked. His churchwardens were not present, and so he could give no answer to the proposals. Hofmeyr appeared to be keen as to the result: the resolutions taken appeared to have satisfied the Doppers present. I fear the whole thing is an illusion.

Postma has been at Venter’s since last Thursday evening, receiving signatures to the declaration of adhesion to the new Church. All my Doppers have joined. To-morrow elders are to be appointed, and the Sacrament is to be dispensed at Johannes van der Walt’s. Postma then goes to Burgersdorp with one of your deacons, who came to fetch him, viz. Andries Pretorius. Postma called on me in passing for five minutes, when I pressed him to stay. Venter said he would bring him on a visit this week, but I have a note from Postma saying that they cannot find time to come.

It certainly does appear strange that after an apparent consent to deliberations and measures for healing the breach across the Vaal he should now act thus. I believe that we have as yet very little idea of the influence the movement will have on the Church of the Colony. I sometimes think that it may do good that our monopoly is brought to an end. As to myself, the words have sometimes occurred very strongly,

"He will let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, which shall render Him the fruits in their season.’’ We have never been able, even when willing, to reach the real, stiff Dopper mind. Our language was strange to it: these new ministrations, possessing their confidence, may reach aearts that appear to us quite closed against the Gospel.

And what will the effect be on the voluntary question, when these people find themselves in the position of dissenters who have to contribute to the support of a State Church ? I look upon the whole thing as the direct work of Providence, and though I would have been anxious to open our church for psalm-singing congregations and ministers, yet as no opportunity for acting in the matter was afforded, I am content.

The large-hearted Christian charity which breathes in these lines was displayed on another occasion when Murray requested Mr. Postma to occupy the pulpit of his church—a proceeding which called forth the rebuke of the Presbytery of Transgariep, as the following extract from the minutes of the 13th October, 1859, shows—

The Chairman [Rev. A. A. Louw] submits for discussion the appearance of Rev. Postma, and his actions, especially in the congregation of Bloemfontein. He considers it necessary that the meeting shall not allow the matter to pass unnoticed, and therefore asks for information as to the attitude and action of the Consistory and the Minister of Bloemfontein, with reference to permission to Rev. Postma to occupy the pulpit. After a prolonged discussion, and the requisite information from the deputed elder of Bloemfontein, the Chairman submits the following resolution:

That in view of the actions of Rev. Postma, in view of the condition of our Church, and in view of the significance and influence of the act of the Consistory and Minister of Bloemfontein, the Presbytery feels itself compelled to disapprove of the neutral attitude of that Consistory in admitting Rev. Postma to the pulpit, as incautious and harmful.

At this time Andrew Murray was already recognized throughout the Church as a young minister of great ability and of exceptional earnestness and intensity of purpose. Many were the invitations which reached him to transfer his ministrations to another and more important sphere. In the course of 1858 he received calls to Robertson and to Prince Albert: on the departure of his brother John from Burgers-dorp, he was invited to the pastorate of that place, and on his first refusal the call was renewed. In 1859 the congregations of Victoria West and Pietermaritzburg addressed earnest appeals to him to take pity on their pastorless condition. But all these invitations he put from himself, chiefly for the reason mentioned in a letter to his brother four years earlier: " Tell Louw [minister at Fauresmith] that one consideration that led me to refuse Colesberg was the desire not to leave him alone in the Sovereignty.”

Towards the end of 1859, however, he was invited to the pastorate of Worcester, an important and growing township lying about a hundred miles east of Cape Town. This call stood in another category and pressed upon him with peculiar force. Worcester was an important educational centre; it lay within comparatively easy reach of the metropolis; it had been ministered to for thirty-five years by a worthy minister of the old school, and stood in need of firmer control and the infusion of greater energy. Considerations such as these led Murray to view the call as an indication of Providence that he ought now to relinquish the work at Bloemfontein, to which he had given eleven years of his life. The invitation was accordingly accepted, and arrangements entered into for assuming the responsibilities of the new cure in May of 1860.

The congregation of Bloemfontein heard of the decision of their beloved pastor with undisguised dismay. It was indeed a painful task to sever the many ties which bound people and pastor together. Mrs. Murray preceded her husband to the Colony, intending to spend some weeks with her parents, who purposed leaving for England in the near future. The last three months of Murray's stay were crowded with manifold activities. The teachers whom he had procured from Holland arrived at Bloemfontein in a batch, and had to be provided for and despatched to their respective spheres of work. He had to disengage himself from the many responsibilities which rested upon him as rector of the College. The Board was fortunately able to secure a successor in the person of the Rev. George Brown, who assumed duties as soon as Mr. Murray left. Above all, there loomed ever larger and nearer the heavy duty of taking leave of his sorrowing flock. "I think daily of Worcester,” he writes to his wife, "but there is a dark cloud to pass through before reaching it. The parting here hangs heavily upon me. I have more than once read Acts xx. and 1 Thessalonians ii., and mourned. That ‘ ye know' and ‘ ye are our witness, and GOD ’ I cannot use. There are many people I dare not look at, because I have been unfaithful.”

Murray preached his farewell sermon at Bloemfontein on the 28th April. The Bloemfontein community had previously given expression in tangible fashion to their sincere appreciation of his labours. Already in 1858, before there was any thought of his departure, the English section had presented him with a purse of £75 to mark their gratitude for the English services which for a long period, and at considerable selfsacrifice, he had conducted for them. The townsfolk took public leave of him at a tea-meeting held early in April, i860, and presented him with another gift of money, accompanied by an expression of personal esteem, and of profound regret that so many agencies which owed their existence to his efforts must henceforth be deprived of his fostering care.

And thus, amid tokens of the deepest grief, Andrew Murray relinquished the pastoral staff which he had assumed eleven years before. In spite of all the self-accusations which assailed him, his ministry in the Free State had been fruitful in the highest degree. The parish assigned him was far too extensive for any single individual, however energetic, however robust. Energy, and energy of the most spiritual type, Andrew Murray never spared ; and his physical strength he spent as freely— too freely, in fact, as the breakdown of 1854 proved. The results which flowed from his ministry were in every way remarkable. In after years the younger men who succeeded to his labours found in every part of the Free State men and women who had vivid and cherished recollections of “young Mr. Murray,” and who traced their conversion, or the impulse to a more consecrated life, to his powerful public preaching and his earnest individual exhortations.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 9

The Worcester Pastorate and the Great Revival

If such things are enthusiasm or the fruit of a distempered brain, let my brain be evermore possessed of that happy distemper ! If this be distraction, I pray God that the world of mankind may be seized with this benign, meek, beneficent, glorious distraction.—Jonathan Edwards.

THE congregation to which Mr. Murray was now called to minister in the providence of God formed a marked contrast to that which he had just quitted. The parish of Bloemfontein, at the time of Mr. Murray’s departure, possessed a superficial extent of not less than eighty miles from north to south and one hundred and twenty from east to west. The parish of Worcester was very much more circumscribed: on the east Mr. Murray was separated from his nearest ministerial neighbour at Robertson by only thirty miles, while the distance to his nearest colleague westwards, at Tulbagh, was very little more. Greater still was the contrast between the two congregations in outward aspect. The town of Bloemfontein has no running water, and even the district, though not devoid of rivers, owes hardly anything to irrigation, but depends for its fertility upon the rain and the dew. The district of Worcester, on the other hand, belongs to the best-watered portions of South Africa. When Governor Lord Charles Somerset, in 1819, selected the site for a new township, he did so with a keen eye to the possibilities of the situation. Worcester lies upon a broad plain with a gentle slope towards the Breede River, while a tributary of the latter, the Hex River, affords an unlimited supply of pure, fresh water. The main highway which connects the western districts with the south-east by way of the Breede River, and with the Great Karroo by the Hex River Pass, runs through the village. The visitor who treads its broad streets, shaded by oaks or lined by tall gum-trees, looks down long vistas that open out in every direction upon lofty blue mountains. A more complete contrast it would be hard to find between Worcester, with its smiling gardens and gurgling waters, and Bloemfontein, lying on the edge of a treeless, barren plain, and flanked only by low flat-topped kopjes.

The intellectual and spiritual condition, too, of the new pastorate differed greatly from that of the congregation which Mr. Murray had just left. Shortly after the foundation of the village of Worcester a congregation of the D. R. Church had been established, which in 1824 had been able to welcome its first pastor in the person of the Rev. Henry Sutherland, one of the Scotch clergymen who had been secured for South Africa by the efforts of Dr. Thom. Mr. Sutherland was a man of great piety and devotion, though he never succeeded in mastering the Dutch language, and confessed that he was better at prayer than at preaching. His influence, nevertheless, pervaded the congregation, which he served with great faithfulness for more than thirty-five years, and Worcester counted at this time not a few individuals whose religion, though somewhat formal and precise, was by no means lacking in earnestness and reality. Better educational conditions prevailed at Worcester than Bloemfontein, in spite of the Grey College, could boast of, and very few of the farmer lads and maidens grew up without having had a few years, or at the least a few months, of schooling. In the new congregation Mr. Murray’s flock was within easy reach. His parishioners were no longer stock farmers, owning many thousands of acres apiece, and dwelling upon farms which were sparsely scattered over a wide area, but agriculturists, whose farms, a couple of hundred acres in size, were situated within a few minutes’ drive of each other. It was to very different conditions and to a very different spiritual atmosphere that Mr. Murray came when he exchanged Bloemfontein for Worcester.

His settlement in the charge of Worcester synchronised with the holding of a Conference which, in its beneficent results for Church life and work, possesses for the historian of the D. R. Church an importance outweighing that of many Synods. The establishment of a Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch was the first effort of the D. R. Church to provide an indigenous ministry, and thus to stand, ecclesiastically, on its own feet. At the opening of that institution in November, 1859, the ministers present authorized the “ Stellenbosch triumvirate ” (Professors Murray and Hofmeyr and Rev. J. H. Neethling) to issue an invitation to members of all Christian Churches to attend a Conference at Worcester in the following April, in order to discuss great Church questions and burning problems like the following : missions, education, revivals, the sanctification of the Sabbath, intemperance, the Christian ministry, Christian literature, the public Press, etc. The programme was sufficiently ambitious, and only the most cursory examination of these great matters was felt to be possible; but it must be remembered that, owing to the immense distances and the imperfect means of travel, Christian conferences were as yet unknown in South Africa, while the signs of new life were only beginning to stir in the somewhat sluggish veins of the Chinch, which now sought to give expression to present needs and future hopes.

Mr. Murray at once grasped the significance of the proposed gathering, and in a letter to his brother, dated Bloemfontein, 19th January, i860, discussed some of the details with characteristic penetration—

To Professor John Murray.

I am still in doubts whether I would be able, and in fact whether it would be desirable, as Jan 1 suggests, to be inducted with the Conference. I was indeed delighted with the idea of it and the hope of being present, but I do not know whether its excitement would be a desirable time for having one’s spiritual vocation renewed; unless indeed we had faith to hope that it would be a time of God’s mighty power. I feel much the prevalence and the danger of carnal excitement, of the blood and heat of nature in spiritual work.

In regard to the Conference I have been anxious to say a few things, ist. Do you not almost think that in some points it would be more desirable to have it composed of ministers and members of the Dutch Church alone? This is what I had been led to expect from the first announcement of it in the Kerkbode. In Europe the individual action of the various Churches has been too strongly developed, and united labour is what is necessary to complete their efficiency. With our Church the need, I think, is a stronger individual development. We have no chance of competing with Churches in which the blood and power of a European life and organization circulates. We need to conquer the difficulties of our isolation and of the slow action of our Church courts. The prospect of this being done made me rejoice. But I must confess I do not see much that will result from a Conference of English-speaking missionaries and ourselves. Our people are still so separated from the English on the one side and the natives on the other, that you will find harmonious action to any great extent an impossibility. You know what a friend of the Alliance I am, but I do think that a first meeting like that at Worcester would issue in higher results, if confined at present to the friends of our Church.

2nd. In regard to the subjects to be brought forward, I think you must be very careful about the public treatment of them. The discussion, for instance, of the state of the Press will, I think, do more harm than good, unless your plans for a religious paper are well arranged, and you are sure of success. My opinion is that by private discussion you might succeed in fixing on a number of men to keep religious questions before the public through the medium of existing papers. But if you try and start an opposition to the Volksblad, many will stick to it without knowing why, and be led by it into more determined liberalism than it as yet advocates.

3rd. And now, what strikes me as one of the most needful points for deliberation, if not by the whole Conference then by our section of it, is the supply of ministers for our Church. Servaas [Dr. S. Hofmeyr] has told me what he has written on the subject in Elpis. I fear it will not be of much use. My idea is this, that we ought to realize in our Presbyterian system all the benefits of the Episcopal Church order. What we need is some man (call him an Agent) or some small Committee, at whose disposal funds ought to be placed by the liberality of a few friends of our Church, in order to enable him to get out men from Europe or America. Just think of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Pears in the Graaff-Reinet Presbytery, both above seventy, of five Free State and five Natal congregations vacant, and so on, and what is to become of our Church ? Were there an active man or Committee, would not the Burgersdorp congregation be induced to call a man like Callenbach, or the Aberdeen people to take a man from Scotland, whose expenses in Holland for six months could be borne by our Church here, if not by the Colonial Committee in Scotland?

I see great dangers arising from our want of ministers. On the one hand a secret feeling of dissatisfaction is unconsciously springing up and becoming strong against a Church that does not supply the wants of its members, as well as against individual ministers who venture to leave their parishes vacant, without the immediate prospect of a successor. People do not reason: they are led away by their feelings. They feel that there is blame somewhere, and a feeling of coldness arises towards the Church as impersonated in the clergy. I speak from what I have seen and heard in connexion with Hofmeyr’s and my own departure from the upper country. Now if we really acted in concert and energetically, we surely could get some ten or twelve ministers from Europe or America. And if our Church authorities are so constituted that they either will not or cannot act, let the Conference do it. Let men be appointed who have the confidence which you fear Huet has not, and through their instrumentality let us enter into correspondence with the Churches of Europe. If something be not done, and at once, many will be alienated from our Church, some in open membership, others in secret feeling.

And the other danger to which I was going to allude is almost greater. We retain the members of our Church, but supply them with poison. We compel orthodox churchwardens from very despair to call men whom they do not trust, but who will in course of time exercise a deadly influence upon them. Our conscience tells us that it is not a right state for Christ’s Church to be in, when the unclean in life and the unsound in faith are welcome, yea, are introduced by the Church to the people as fit to lead them to heaven, as worthy of their confidence and entitled to their obedience. And yet we know not how to secure the action of the Church in removing this fearful stain of guilt. Surely those of us who mourn the evil ought to do anything to save our own consciences and our Church, as well as our fellow-men, from such dangers.

So wide-spread was the interest which the Conference aroused, that the Volksblad despatched to Worcester a special reporter, from whose pen we have a very full account of what transpired on the 18th and 19th of April. This account was reprinted from the pages of that newspaper, and issued to the public in the shape of a royal octavo double-columned pamphlet of fifty-two pages. The attendance was representative of some twenty congregations, though it is noteworthy, to one who studies carefully the list of ministers who took part, how few of the fathers of the D. R. Church evinced their interest by being personally present. Only five of the older men attended the

Conference, while of the eleven younger ministers, seven were either sons or sons-in-law of the Rev. Andrew Murray, senior, who was himself there to represent the old guard. Among the prominent ministers and missionaries of denominations other than the D. R. Church, may be mentioned Dr. Adamson, formerly of the Scotch Church in Cape Town, Rev. Tindall of the Wesleyan Church, and Revs. Zahn and Esselen of the Rhenish Mission. The subjects, introduced by papers read to the gathering, and subsequently thrown open for discussion, consisted of the following : Revivals, introduced by Dr. Robertson, minister of Swellendam; Christian Philanthropy, by Rev. Ruytenbeek, missionary of Wynberg; Literature for the People, by Prof. Murray; The Hallowing of the Sabbath, by Dr. Abraham Faure (in absentia); Missions, by Dr. Philip Faure; Christian Governments, by Rev. de Smidt of Robertson; Y.M.C.A. Work, by Rev. Cachet, a young Dutch minister then labouring as missionary among the Mohammedans in Cape Town; and Education, by Rev. J. H. Neethling. Acting upon the advice given by Andrew Murray, the committee of arrangements had omitted from their programme the debatable question of the Public Press. On the evening preceding the Conference, as well as on both evenings during its session, were held largely attended prayer-meetings, which contributed in no small measure towards the maintenance of the spirit of brotherliness and high earnestness in the discussions.

Towards the end of the second day Andrew Murray, acting on the suggestion contained in his letter to his brother, proposed that the Conference should now terminate its proceedings, in order to allow the members of the Dutch Reformed section to discuss a matter of great urgency which appertained to them alone. Before the Conference as thus re-constituted he laid his proposals with reference to an immediate supply of ministers. They ran as follows—

1. That this meeting considers it desirable to depute a brother from its midst to Holland, Germany, Scotland, and if necessary America, in order to obtain the needful personnel to supply the lack of ministers missionaries ,and teachers.

2. That a Committee be appointed which shall carry this matter into execution. The Committee shall arouse interest . . . collect a fund of money . . . enter into correspondence with congregations and persons who desire assistance, and issue the necessary instructions to the deputy.

3. The meeting entrusts this mission to Dr. Robertson of Swellen-dam, and should he be unexpectedly prevented, the Committee is directed to find a substitute.

In moving this resolution Mr. Murray spoke as follows—

It is barely necessary to say anything in explanation of these proposals. But first, with reference to ministers—we have twenty-six vacant congregations. In addition, we have several congregations which will become vacant within the next three or four years. Ten of our ministers have already borne the labour and heat of the day, and have the right to demand assistance, while it is our duty to render that assistance. But where are we to find assistance? Can we devise no plan by which to supply the need? The reply may be, “Is there not a large number of Cape students in Europe whom we may soon expect here? May we not rely on the Theological Seminary, of which we have heard so much, and for which so much money has been collected?”

But when we consider the number of charges that are vacant, when we remember how largely the number of vacancies will increase during the next few years, and when we add the number of congregations that stand in urgent need of assistant ministers, we must be convinced that, even were the twenty students now in Europe immediately available, the existing need would not yet be supplied. And when these had received appointments the need would be doubly great. Up-country there is a crying need of ministers, which is on the increase. In the whole of the Free State there are but two ministers, while there are six vacant parishes and three centres at which new congregations will shortly be established. In all Natal there is only one minister, while six congregations likewise are pastorless. The government of Natal has made provision for the salary attached to three of these charges, and complains that they are not supplied. It is impossible for things to remain as they are. "What is the Reformed Church about that it sends us no men?” is the question asked. In the Free State the Volksraad has voted the salaries of five ministers at £275 each; and the question is repeated, "What is wrong with the Church that she takes no advantage of our offer?" From across the Vaal we hear the same complaint, "Of what use is it for us to be connected with the Dutch Reformed Church? We can get no ministers from her.” It surely is the vocation of the Church to concern itself with the matter, and to attempt to supply this demand.

Hitherto I have spoken only of ministers. The last Synod took a solemn decision to undertake a Foreign Mission. And not a moment too soon, too ; for there is great danger that we shall be left completely behind, while the country is being occupied by other missionary bodies.

In vain have we written to France, Germany, Switzerland and America for assistance in carrying out this project: no men can be found. We know that our mission work must be placed upon a better footing ; but how are we to do that unless we can find men for the work? Hence the idea of sending a brother to Europe and America to seek the needful personnel. It may be asked, "Will not our own young men, in whom the impulse to adopt the ministerial calling is so slight, be even more discouraged from following it?” He who puts a question like that knows very little of the existing need. Moreover, in this matter people act as they do in purchasing popular wares: the greater the demand, the greater the supply. The more ministers there are, the more villages will be established and congregations created, and the greater will be the demand for more ministers and more assistants.

It is hardly necessary for me to speak of teachers. When the question of education was discussed, the crying need for more facilities was pointed out. I see a chance of finding appointments within a twelvemonth for fifty teachers. I saw what happened in the case of five teachers who arrived but a very little while ago. People doubted whether I would find work for the five. As a matter of fact, they had hardly arrived, when I found situations for them ; and five more persons, who badly needed teachers, turned back disappointed. Some one to-day observed what a hoon it would be if Government were to find the salaries of a number of itinerant teachers. The Free State Government has acted nobly in this matter. The Volksraad has provided the salaries of twenty-five such teachers at /30 per annum (hear, hear). But the money remains lying in the treasury, for the men cannot be found.

The minister of Swellendam has remarked that our fellow-countrymen are hesitant about confiding in unknown persons. They want to act as they do when they purchase a horse or a sheep—look it carefully over first. When they have spoken three words with a new arrival, they are satisfied. One man is pleased with the stranger’s friendly manner, another with his fine appearance, another with his fluent speech, and so forth. As soon as they are here, matters soon adjust themselves. With reference to ministers, some congregations are willing to present a call in blank; but most congregations are afraid of calling an unknown man. They would like to see and hear him first, and they say, “Let him come to our country first and we will call him.” It is for this reason that we think it necessary to commission some one to visit Holland, and to bring out a number of ministers and missionaries; for we are convinced that they will soon receive appointments.

The resolution proposed by Mr. Murray was carried with enthusiasm, and the mover was appointed, together with Professor Hofmeyr and Elder J. A. le Sueur of Cape Town, as Committee to take action in accordance with the second clause of the motion. It was estimated that a sum of £2,500 would be necessary to cover the expenses of the delegate to Europe, as well as the passage-money to South Africa of the men whom he hoped to secure. The enterprise, it may be conceived, drew wide-spread attention, and Mr. Murray found himself busily employed in issuing appeals to the Church, visiting congregations, addressing gatherings, and, in general, in stimulating interest and calling forth financial support.

Dr. Robertson meanwhile signified his acceptance of the commission entrusted to him, and after a hearty public farewell in the Great Church in Cape Town, set sail for Europe in June, i860. On his arrival in Holland he found a serious religious situation, which, because of its direct bearing on developments in the near iuture in South Africa, is here described in his own words—

Dr. Robtrison to the Members of the Committee appointed by the Worcester Conference

Utrecht, 12th October, 1860.

Dear Brethren,—Nearly two months have now elapsed since my arrival here, and in the meantime I have come into contact with many people drawn from all circles, and have also had the opportunity of preaching at several places and to very large gatherings. I desire to convey to you unreservedly the impression which I have received during my stay in Holland, leaving it to you to make such use of it as you wish.

All Christians admit that the condition of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands is exceedingly parlous. Liberalism—for so the prevalent form of unbelief is called—has spread itself over the whole land, and seeks to rob the Church of Christ of its most cherished truths. The trinity, the divinity of Christ, the personality of the Spirit, the vicarious suffering of Christ, and naturally all that stands in closest connexion with these truths, are not merely denied but assailed. Miracles are declared to be impossible, and it is flatly denied that they ever happened, while everything that is said of the miraculous in Holy Scripture is declared to be legend or allegorical story. Yes, there are many who hold that the resurrection and the ascension of Christ are not facts, but that whatever is said of these events must also be accounted legendary. The eternity of punishment is, of course, also denied as in conflict with God’s goodness and love; and as for sin, it is looked upon as necessary, and therefore derived from God, or at least willed by Him.

I refrain from lengthy observations on these terrible errors, but feel bound to add that those who judge strictly and conscientiously are of opinion that, of the 1,400 or 1,500 ministers in Holland, only about one hundred can be looked upon as thoroughly orthodox; while others who judge more favourably think that they could find about two hundred. Is it to be marvelled at that under such circumstances I could secure but few orthodox ministers in Holland ? The congregations in general—let me say this to their honour—desire to have pious and orthodox clergymen. I should find little difficulty in obtaining ministers of liberal leanings for the Cape; but these I do not wish to accept. It would be in direct conflict with the trust committed to me, as well as with the declaration demanded by our Church of all ministers.

And there I cannot omit adding that not a few ministers have approached me and declared that they could not conscientiously sign the declaration which the Cape Church requires, and at the same time expressed their astonishment that certain clergymen now at the Cape, whose views when here were well known, have had the courage to do so. It is generally acknowledged here that no minister of liberal views who desires to act honestly can sign the declaration demanded at the Cape. The declaration submitted for signature in Holland amounts to nothing. A man can sign it, and still freely preach the greatest heresies. If our Cape Church is to remain orthodox and faithful to the confessions of the fathers, it ought to admit no ministers coming from Holland, whether they be South Africans or Hollanders, without previously instituting a serious examination into the faith that is in them, and obtaining from them a clear and unequivocal affirmation of their adhesion to the fundamental truths which our Dutch Reformed Church confesses.

Dr. Robertson’s mission was crowned with complete success. In Holland, indeed, he could obtain only two young ministers, Rev. G. van de Wall, who had emigrated to America some years previously, but who, arrested by Dr. Robertson’s appeal while on a visit to the homeland, now felt impelled to hearken to the urgent call from South Africa, and Rev. H. van Broekhuizen, the former’s brother-in-law. Turning to Scotland Dr. Robertson met immediately with a most encouraging response. Eight licentiates of the Free Church expressed their willingness to spend at least six months in Holland for the purpose of learning the language, and then proceeding to the Cape as pastors of congregations in the D. R. Communion. One of the number, Alexander McKidd, volunteered for service in the foreign mission field, and was one of the first two men to engage in mission work beyond the Vaal River, the other being Henri Gonin, a Swiss. In all, Dr. Robertson was able to secure for the D. R. Church the services of eleven ministers2 (out of the twelve he was commissioned to find), two of these being destined for the mission field. He also brought out two thoroughly qualified principals for the public schools at Murraysburg and Burgersdorp, at a salary of £300 per annum, and two private-school teachers for the parish of Glen Lynden, at salaries of from £80 to £100. He reported, moreover, that he could have found many more teachers of excellent character and qualifications, had any congregation definitely commissioned him to engage them. Four pious catechists from Holland completed the tale of Dr. Robertson’s acquisition of men to supply the many vacancies in needy South Africa. The wisdom of the resolution adopted by the Worcester Conference, and the wisdom of the choice of Dr. Robertson as deputy, were now clearly apparent. The men who came out in response to the appeal of the Cape Church proved in almost every case worthy of the trust reposed in them, and continued, some for a longer and some for a shorter period, but most of them for many years, to serve with the greatest fidelity and devotion the land and people of their adoption.

The induction of Mr. Murray to the pastorate of Worcester took place on Whitsunday, the 27th May, 1860. The charge was delivered by Professor Murray, who preached from Acts ii. 1, and the installation was conducted by Rev. R. Shand, consulent of the congregation. In the afternoon of the same day Mr. Murray delivered his inaugural sermon, preaching from 2 Corinthians iii. 8, " How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?” Great congregations attended these diets of worship, and many members of neighbouring parishes evinced their interest by being present. A feeling of deep earnestness prevailed. Great expectations were aroused that the Lord would richly own the ministry of His servant, who had that day assumed the pastor’s staff with solemn vows. Nor were these expectations disappointed; for, as we shall now see, a gracious God was preparing not the Worcester congregation only, but many others throughout the country, for remarkable manifestations of the power and vivifying influence of His Holy Spirit.

It was from the Worcester Conference that the first impulse went out which issued in a wide-spread and most blessed spiritual awakening in the D. R. Church. At that Conference the subject of revivals had been dealt with by Dr. Robertson, who in his paper recalled to mind the many occasions on which God had visited His Church with a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of prayer and supplication, and with a great revival of vital religion. He then put the question whether such a revival was not equally necessary in South Africa, and proceeded to state the conditions upon which alone God could be expected to revive His work in the midst of the years. An earnest discussion followed. The Conference listened with deepening interest to the account given by Dr. Adamson of the rise and progress of the revival which had recently visited America, and of the circumstances which fostered its growth and spread. These addresses made a deep impression on the Conference, and its individual members carried back to their homes a new sense of responsibility towards their neighbours, and of silent expectation that God would mercifully visit His people with fresh outpourings of His grace. .

The revival commenced in quiet fashion, and without the employment of any special agencies for rekindling the flame of spiritual life. The congregations which were most largely represented at the Conference were those in which the awakening of religious fervour was soonest apparent. Prayer-meetings showed increased attendances, and many new prayer-circles were established. The first congregations in which a true arousal became visible were those of Montagu and Worcester. A remarkable feature of the movement was that the awakening was not confined to towns, but showed itself powerfully even on remote farms, where men and women were suddenly seized with emotions to which they had been utter strangers a few weeks or even a few days before. In the Breede River ward of the Worcester congregation, several months previously, a weekly prayer-meeting had been instituted, in which, however, so little interest was displayed that the usual attendance was but three or four. But when the influences of God’s Spirit began to be felt, young and old, parents and children, white and coloured, flocked to the gathering, driven by a common impulse to cast themselves before God and utter their souls in cries of penitence. From Montagu came the following glad report: "On Sunday evening (22nd July) a prayer-meeting was conducted by Revs. Shand and de Smidt, when the spiritual fervour was so great that people complained that the meeting ended an hour too soon. A year ago prayer-meetings were unknown : now they are held daily, and sometimes as frequently as three times a day, and even among children. Some have doubted whether this be the work of God’s Spirit; but we have witnessed cases in which a man has come under strong conviction of sin, and on that account has suffered indescribable anguish, from which nothing was able to deliver him but prayer and simple faith in the expiatory sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The village of Worcester was powerfully affected by the rising tide of blessing, and, for a time at least, strange scenes were witnessed, which an outsider, unacquainted with the workings of the Spirit of God, would have called undiluted fanaticism. An eye-witness. Rev. J. C. de Vries, has left us the following account of what occurred at meetings at which he was present—

On a certain Sunday evening there were gathered in a little hall some sixty young people. I was leader of the meeting, which commenced with a hymn and a lesson from God’s Word, after which I engaged in prayer. After three or four others had (as was customary) given out a verse of a hymn and offered prayer, a coloured girl of about fifteen years of age, in service with a farmer from Hex River, rose at the back of the hall, and asked if she too might propose a hymn. At first I hesitated, not knowing what the meeting would think, but better thoughts prevailed and I replied, Yes. She gave out her hymn-verse and prayed in moving tones. While she was praying we heard as it were a sound in the distance, which came nearer and nearer, until the hall seemed to be shaken, and with one or two exceptions, the whole meeting began to pray, the majority in audible voice, but some in whispers. Nevertheless, the noise made by the concourse was deafening.

A feeling which I cannot describe took possession of me. Even now, forty-three years after these occurrences, the events of that never-to-be-forgotten night pass before my mind’s eye like a soul-stirring panorama. I feel again as I then felt, and I cannot refrain from pushing my chair backwards, and thanking the Lord fervently for His mighty deeds.

At that time Rev. A. Murray was minister of Worcester. He had preached that evening in the English language. When service was over an elder (Mr. Jan Rabie) passed the door of the hall, heard the noise, peeped in, and then hastened to call Mr. Murray, returning presently with him. Mr. Murray came forward to the table where I knelt praying, touched me, and made me understand that he wanted me to rise. He then asked me what had happened. I related everything to him. He then walked down the hall for some distance, and called out, as loudly as he could, People, silence ! But the praying continued. In the meantime I too kneeled down again. It seemed to me that if the Lord was coming to bless us, I should not be upon my feet but on my knees. Mr. Murray then called again aloud, People, I am your minister, sent jrom God, silence ! But there was no stopping the noise. No one heard him, but all continued praying and calling on God for mercy and pardon. Mr. Murray then returned to me, and told me to start the hymn-verse commencing “Help de ziel die raadloos schreit ” (Aid the soul that helpless cries). I did so, but the emotions were not quieted, and the meeting went on praying. Mr. Murray then prepared to depart, saying, “God is a God of order, and here everything is confusion.” With that he left the hall.

After that the prayer-meetings were held every evening. At the commencement there was generally great silence, but after the second or third prayer the whole hall was moved as before, and every one fell to praying. Sometimes the gathering continued till three in the morning. And even then many wished to remain longer, or returning homewards, went singing through the streets. The little hall was soon quite too small, and we were compelled to move to the school-building, which also was presently full to overflowing, as scores and hundreds of countryfolk streamed into the village.

On the first Saturday evening in the larger meeting-house Mr. Murray was the leader. He read a portion of Scripture, made a few observations on it, engaged in prayer, and then gave others the opportunity to prays During the prayer which followed on his I heard again the sound in the distance. It drew nearer and nearer, and on a sudden the whole gathering was praying. That evening a stranger had been standing at the door from the commencement, watching the proceedings. Mr. Murray descended from the platform, and moved up and down among the people, trying to quiet them. The stranger then tiptoed forwards from his position at the door, touched Mr. Murray gently, and said in English: “I think you are the minister of this congregation : be careful what you do, for it is the Spirit of God that is at work here. I have just come from America, and this is precisely what I witnessed there.”

One Saturday evening Hessie Bosman, who was afterwards married to Rev. McKidd, the missionary, came to the village. At that time she had a school in the Boschjesveld, and when she came to town she lodged with my parents. I said to her at once that she must not think of going to the prayer-meeting, as it would be too much for her in her weak state of health. She replied: "No, I must go, even if it should prove my death; for I have prayed so much for these meetings, and longed so much to take part, that I cannot remain away. No, come what may, I am going!” She attended, and was the third to engage in prayer that evening. While she was pouring out her heart the whole meeting broke forth into prayer, while she fell unconscious to the ground. I carried her out to the parsonage, where they were some time in bringing her round. That night she had to remain the guest of the parsonage, and next day she was herself again. Her later history, her marriage to Mr. McKidd, and her death in the mission-field, are well known. She is now rejoicing before the throne above.

The fruits of that revival were seen in the congregation for many years. They consisted, among others, in this, that fifty young men offered themselves for the ministry, and this happened in days when it was a difficult matter to find young men for the work of the ministry. May God in His mercy again visit South Africa as He did in those days.

When the revival had passed the stage of violent emotion and was running a calmer course, Professor Hofmeyr attempted, in an address to the South African Branch of the Evangelical Alliance, to describe the changes it had effected—changes which in many cases were little less than a revolution. Of the town of Montagu he remarked that the indifference with regard to religion, for which the place was formerly noted, had made way for a tone of seriousness which had imparted itself to the whole community. The appearance of the village had undergone a complete transformation. Even those who felt compelled to disapprove of certain features of the revival were obliged to confess that the general improvement in the conduct of the inhabitants within a few months was really wonderful. In the case of Wellington, again—the congregation with which Andrew Murray was to be so inseparably identified in future years—the consistory stated in its report to the presbytery that the parish had made greater moral and spiritual progress in the last few weeks than in the whole course of its history since its establishment. The same story was heard from the village of Calvinia, lying far away in the north-west. The local member of Parliament, writing thence to his wife, affirmed that he could find no words to express his sense of the marvellous change which had come over the inhabitants since his visit in the previous year.

In this revival, as indeed in all revivals, the strong emotional element discernible in the movement attracted many who were only superficially influenced. But that the leaders of the Church were alive to the reality of this danger is shown by the wise words of Professor Hofmeyr—

We cannot conceal our fear that not a few mistake the natural, sympathetic influence of one mind upon another for the immediate action of the Spirit of God. They join themselves to those who are really earnest in their religious aspirations, and imitate their conduct, but such imitation lasts only as long as the impression continues. To such the world will eagerly point, rejoiced to find another pretext for condemning a piety which is really Scriptural. We are greatly grieved at the self-deceit to which emotional people such as these are subject; but in the present state of human nature we can expect no revival which does not stand exposed to this danger.

However this may be, we thank the Lord that we have good reason to affirm that since the revival began many have been added to the Lord’s flock. Some of them lived in open sin : others, again, perhaps the majority, were men of unimpeachable character in the eyes of their fellow-men. In the light cast upon them and their actions by the Spirit of God they discovered the depth of their inward depravity, and the sad estrangement of their souls from God. In some cases the feeling of misery was for a time overwhelming, and this realization of their own uncleanness and of the transcendent holiness of God, was not, as a rule, the direct result of the preaching of God’s Word. There is a farmer whom I have known for years, a man of quiet and retiring disposition, who in company takes but little part in the general conversation. Two or three weeks ago he was suddenly seized with a feeling of terror when he thought of his sins. For a few days he was subject to a most violent inward struggle, which ended in a joyous and promising conversion. Shortly afterwards he was visited by some of his friends who knew nothing of the change of heart which he had undergone. They were greatly moved when this silent man began to speak to them, in deeply earnest manner and with searching look, of the old truths which through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit had become new to him.

The revival was not confined to one section of the community but affected all ranks without distinction of age or colour. A large portion of the blessing fell on the youth of the congregation. Many of them, who formerly were wholly given over to the pursuit of idle pleasures, came to conversion, and immediately engaged in serious labours for the betterment of their surroundings. They were stirred with feelings of intense sympathy towards their still unconverted relatives and friends. In a certain farmhouse a child who had come to conversion was overheard praying most fervently for the spiritual welfare of his parents, with the glad result that both father and mother yielded themselves to God. Of another young girl, whose heart had been won for Christ, her mother wrote that the marvellous change in the disposition and the conduct of her daughter was to her a divine gift of infinitely more value than all her earthly possessions.

Nor was the revival limited to the European section of the population. Numbers of natives living upon lonely farms as day-labourers, and counted very often as the offscourings of society, came under the influence of the vivifying Spirit. A farmer passing across the veld caught one day the sound of loud lamentation, as though some burdened soul were pouring out its griefs before God. He approached the spot from which the sounds issued, and great was his emotion on finding there a young Fingo girl, who was in the employment of his wife, wrestling with God in prayer for the forgiveness of her sins in the name of Jesus Christ. On returning home he inquired if she had previously exhibited any anxiety about the condition of her soul. His wife replied that the girl had asked her only the day before if Christ had died for her as well as for white people, and if she, too, could hope for pardon and peace.

The spiritual zeal engendered by the revival revealed itself most happily in endeavours to aid the extension of the Redeemer’s kingdom. In various congregations immediate steps were taken to establish auxiliary missionary societies. At Worcester a gift of £200 for missions and larger contributions towards the British and Foreign Bible Society, testified to the new spirit which animated the community. In Calvinia a villager gave up his comfortable home and betook himself to a “location” of half-breeds, in order to proclaim to these neglected beings the love of God in Christ; the local Christians making themselves responsible for the maintenance of preacher and family.

As to Mr. Murray’s direct share in promoting and guiding the revival movement, we have the testimony of Rev. C. Rabie, who writes as follows—

Mr. Murray arrived at Worcester just at the right time. The congregation had been faithfully served by old father Sutherland, but the religion of the majority was merely formal. Only one or two of the oldest members used to engage in prayer, nor was it permissible for women to take audible part in the prayer-meeting. No one would venture at that time to affirm that he was converted or regenerated : that was held to be great presumption. Mr. Murray’s share in [the earlier part of] the Conference of i860 was confined to a prayer, but it was a prayer so powerful and so moving that souls were instantly brought under deep conviction of sin, and we may safely say that the revival which ensued dated from that moment.

When Mr. Murray commenced his ministry on the 27th May with his sermon on " the Ministration of the Spirit,” there was a general movement among the dead bones. His preaching was in very deed in the ministration of the Spirit and of power. It was as though one of the prophets of old had risen from the dead. The subjects were conversion and faith : the appeals were couched in terms of deadly earnestness. Let me mention some of his texts. "What meanest thou, O sleeper? Rise and call upon thy God ” (Jonah i. 6). " He that believeth not shall be damned ”(Mark xvi. 16). At a sacramental service: “Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment?” (Matt, xxii. 12). His pulpit manner was very violent, and bookboard and Bible were soundly belaboured.

Mr. Murray was a man of power in his catechizations. I was one of those privileged to be confirmed by him. He carried his catechumens to the Bible, and made them read and explain it. When the class was over, two or three were directed to remain behind, in order that he might speak with them about the condition of their soul. These were moments never to be forgotten. Not a few date their spiritual birth from those talks. His pastoral visitation carried terror to the hearts of his parishioners. If his preaching was like thunderbolts from the summit of Sinai, what would personal rebuke be like ? People felt under the earnestness of his individual dealing that they were being ground to powder. On one occasion, at the close of a prayer-meeting, he proceeded to deal with each individual present. One lady, observing how her pastor drew nearer and nearer to where she sat, became gradually more and more uneasy, until, as Mr. Murray turned to her, she fell upon her knees, ejaculating, "O Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” This, however, I must add, that there is a wide cleft between the stem Mr. Murray of those days and the loving and gentle Mr. Murray whom we knew In later years.

The revival was not confined to the more privileged congregations of the west, but spread during the course of 1861 throughout the Central Karroo and beyond, visiting even congregations that were pastorless. Beaufort West, Murrays-burg, Graaff-Reinet, Lady Grey, Bloemfontein—all shared in greater or less measure in the rich spiritual harvests of this period of grace. Andrew Murray contributed in no small degree to the diffusion of the blessings of the revival. He was invited to be present at Conferences held at such widely-separated centres as Cape Town and Graaff-Reinet, and wherever he spoke the impression was immediate and profound. At the latter place, during the Conference of April, 1861, the closing service was assigned him, when he spoke from 2 Chronicles xv. 12, “They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul.” Of this sermon one who was present wrote :—"We refrain from offering any observations on this most impressive discourse. Much had been told us of the talents of the young preacher, whom we were privileged to hear for the first time, but our tense expectation was far surpassed. We cannot but reiterate the heartfelt conviction, to which one of the daily papers has given utterance, that it would be the greatest of blessings for the D. R. Church of South Africa if she possessed a dozen Andrew Murrays of Graaff-Reinet to give to the Church as many and such-like sons as he has given.”

Of Mr. Murray’s home-life at Worcester, one of his daughters gives the following recollections, which prove that he was not always so stern and unbending as his public utterances and his pastoral work would lead us to suppose—

One of my earliest recollections is of father pointing out, on a map of the Religions of the World which hung upon the wall, the position of the United States of America, where the Civil War was then raging, and saying to us, “They are fighting that the slaves may be free.” On winter evenings father would read to us Moffat's book, Rivers of Water in a dry Place, and at the description of adventures with lions, he would cause us great terror by imitating the roar of these beasts of prey. Frequently our evening would end with a wild romp on Tom Tiddler's ground. We were early taught to forgo our Sunday allowance of sugar, and to place a threepenny bit in the mission-box as the witness to, if not the result of, our act of self-denial.

Many missionaries stayed with us from time to time, whose names I have for the most part forgotten. Dr. Duff, the famous missionary from India, was one ; also Fr6doux, McKidd, Mr. and Mrs. Gonin and others. Of Mr. McKidd father used to tell the story of the first two Dutch words which he learnt, Beetje bidden (a little prayer). He would sometimes become impatient of the frequent interruptions which befell, and remarked to father, “Satan is trying to keep us from praying,” to which the reply was, “These interruptions come by God’s permission, and are intended to perfect Christian character.”

On summer afternoons father and mother would sometimes take us children for an outing up the hills, when we would be regaled on cake and coffee, and father would then set up a bottle, and teach us to throw at and hit it with stones. Occasionally he was absent on long journeys from home, and great were the excitement and the joy when he returned. Right well do I remember the early start, on a foggy morning, of the waggon and horses which took father and the Gonins away to the Transvaal, Mr. McKidd travelling, I believe, in another waggon.

The journey referred to in the previous sentence was undertaken during the months of April, May and June, 1862. As member of the Mission Board specially commissioned to further the interests of the Foreign Mission, Mr. Murray felt it incumbent upon himself to accompany Messrs. McKidd and Gonin to the scene of their labours beyond the Vaal. Matters were not yet in perfect train for the new enterprise. Beyond the general indication “north of the Vaal River, if possible on the confines of the congregation of Lydenburg,” the Synod had left no specific instructions as to the situation of the proposed field of labour. It was therefore necessary to view the country, decide upon the best site, and secure the permission of the Transvaal Government to engage in mission work. But while the Dutch Reformed Church was seeking missionaries among the young probationers of Scotland and Switzerland, another Mission, the Berlin Society, had established itself in the district of Lydenburg, and it was now necessary to seek a sphere of work elsewhere.

It is a far cry from Worcester to Rustenburg, where the search for a mission-held was to commence—nearly a thousand miles—but the journey was prosperous, and the mission party reached the fertile valley in the Magaliesberg towards the middle of May. Mr. Murray then proceeded to Pretoria, in order to confer with the members of the Executive Council resident at the capital. The latter granted the required permission, adding, however, the proviso that the consent of the native chief of a given district must be secured previously to the Mission being established there. Mr. Murray then returned to Rustenburg, and placed himself in communication with Paul Kruger, the famous State-president of after years, whom he describes to his wife as “ Boer Commandant, and great man of influence among the natives.” How the efforts to obtain the favour of the local great chief fell out is told by Mr. Murray in the following letter—

To his Wife

Rustenburg, 30th May.—We got here from Pretoria last Saturday evening, with the permission of the Uitvoerende Rpiad (Executive Council) to go on, and immediately sent off an express to the Commandant Kruger. He appointed Tuesday at the kraal of the chief Magato. When we met him there, the chief must needs see and consult his people first. They are so afraid of losing their many wives—this is almost all they have heard of the Gospel. On Thursday we went again to hear the decision. We were all full of the confident hope that we should witness the triumph of our King (it was Ascension Day) in the opening of the door here. When the large gathering of some forty petty chiefs was asked whether they would have the teacher, they all answered No. It was no slight disappointment to us, but it drove us out to celebrate our festival in faith, and the day with its service in the open veld will not soon be forgotten. We are now all uncertainty, waiting for God’s leading. We may be detained for some time, as the next chief we proposed going to is away hunting. We are thus kept waiting on the Lord—an exercise not easy, but I trust profitable.

In a letter to his children Mr. Murray describes the further experiences of the missionary prospectors—

To his Children.

You know we want to find a place where Mr. McKidd and Mr. Gonin can preach about Jesus, and for this we must ask the permission of the chief. One chief, Magato, had said No. So we went to another, who had such a funny name, Ramkok. We left Rustenburg on the Wednesday morning, and reached a Mr. Kruger on Thursday evening. He is a good, pious man. Perhaps Mamma has told you that some of the white people here do not wish the black people to be taught about Jesus. This is because they do not love Him themselves. But Mr. Kruger says that when God gave him a new heart, it was as if he wanted to tell everyone about Jesus’ love, and as if he wanted the birds and the trees and everything to help him praise his Saviour ; and so he could not bear that there should be any poor black people not knowing and loving the Saviour whom he loved.

When we got to Mr. Kruger's we found the house so very small, that we all stayed outside and lived in the open air beside our little waggon. God was so kind and gave us such nice weather, that we all said it was just as pleasant as living in the house. We had two places, each beside a bush; and we called the one our sitting-room and the other our diningroom. The dining-room was so arranged that the wind could not reach us, and when the sun rose in the morning, it just shone upon it, so that it was nice and warm. When the sun grew too hot, we went to our' sitting-room, a nice little bower, where the overhanging branches spread a pleasant shade. Mr. and Mrs. Gonin slept in the waggon, and all the rest of us in a large bed, which we made of some grass we had cut. It was so pleasant to wake in the morning as day was breaking, and to see the sunlight coming gently over the blue heavens.

On Friday morning Mr. Kruger sent a message to Ramkok to come and have a talk with us. He did not come till Sunday afternoon ; so we had two days to wait. It was just the day of Pentecost, and Papa preached in the morning and the afternoon. When Ramkok came after the afternoon service we hoped that God might make his heart willing to listen to the missionaries. We sat down to talk to him. He is a poor old heathen, with nothing on but an old soldier’s cloak. He did not look at all like a chief. With him were about twelve other chiefs, and we told them what we had come about. But, poor man, he did not want the missionaries. He was afraid he would have to leave his wickedness. We told him the Book would make him happy, but no, he was afraid and would have nothing to do with us.

. . . Papa is longing for his little darlings, but cannot say for certain when he will be able to come—perhaps about the middle of July. He hopes you will be very good indeed to Mamma, and very loving to each other ; and that when he comes each one of you will be able to say a little hymn and a little text. And I will see what Andrew 3 has learnt at school, and whether Emmie can sit still and hem a handkerchief, and how little Mary can thread beads. And even little Katie can learn a very little text, and little Boy must learn to laugh very prettily by the time Papa comes home.

The days spent at Paul Kruger’s farm were momentous for another reason, which Mr. Murray reveals in letters to his wife written on the return journey. Writing from Faure-smith at the end of June, he says—

To his Wife.

The two days of waiting before Whitsunday at Paul Kruger’s were not lost. It was during these days that I felt that which I wish I could retain and impart to you. The thought of the blessing of the indwelling Spirit appears so clear, the prospect of being filled with Him at moments so near, that I could almost feel sure we would yet attain this happiness. The wretchedness of the uncertain life we mostly lead, the certainty that it cannot be the Lord’s pleasure to withhold from His bride the full communion of His love, the glorious prospect of what we could be and do if truly filled with the Spirit of God,—all this combines to force one to be bold with God and say, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.”

I yesterday preached from the words, “Be filled with the Spirit,” and am only strengthened in the conviction that it is our calling just to take God’s Word setting forth what we are to be as it stands, and seek and expect it, even though we cannot exactly comprehend what it means. In all the experience of the blessings of the Gospel, the intellect must follow the heart and the life.

We did not forget on Saturday evening that it was, if I calculate aright, the anniversary of the beginning of the great revival movement. May the Lord now grant us His Spirit, that all who believe may be filled with His grace and become entirely His.

I have forgotten to mention that I am bringing you up another son, a boy of fourteen, from Mooi River, to study for the ministry. He is highly spoken of for talent and religious disposition. His name is Hermanus Bosman, and he is a relative of the Stellenbosch people of that name.

To bring to a conclusion the story of the search for a mission-held, it must suffice to say that the faith of the missionaries was severely trited. A full year passed before Mr. McKidd, who in the meantime had been united in marriage by Mr, Murray to Miss Hessie Bosman, received an invitation to settle in the vicinity of the Zoutpansberg Range. The invitation came from a tribe of natives known as the Buyses, who were the descendants of a notorious outlaw, Coenraad Buys, a man who during the latter years of the eighteenth century had fled to Kaffirland, and married a sister of the great Kaffir chief, Gaika. Here McKidd began his work with truly great devotion and assiduity. The climate, however, was pestilential. His station lay within a few miles of the site of the old Boer settlement where so many of the early voortrekkers, visited by Murray and Neethling in 1852, had been stricken to death. The McKidds arrived at the Zoutpansbergen in May, 1863 ; in May, 1864, Mrs. McKidd was carried off by fever ; in May, 1865, Mr. McKidd followed his wife to the grave. But though God buried His workers, He carried on His work through the instrumentality of Stephanus Hofmeyr, who was spared to labour with great success for a period of forty years. Mr. and Mrs. Gonin, the other two of the pioneer band, remained in the Rustenburg district, patiently waiting in quiet faith until it should please God to open the door. After nearly two years, which they spent in acquiring the native language, the farm of Paul Kruger was purchased by Mr. Gonin and the Bakhatla chief Gamajan jointly, and upon this farm the former commenced a mission which he continued successfully to prosecute until his death in 1911.

It was during the course of his ministry at Worcester that Mr. Murray issued, in the Dutch language, the earliest of those devotional manuals which have since been blessed to so many thousands in all parts of the world. His first published work was an illustrated life of Christ for children entitled Jezus de Kindervriend, which appeared while he was still at Bloemfontein, in August, 1858. The first of the books dating from the Worcester period was Wat zal toch dit kindeken wezen? (What manner of child shall this be?), the original of the English, The Children for Christ. The Dutch version was published in 1863, though the ideas which underlie it had been germinating in his mind for some years previously, as appears from the following letter, dated Boshof, ioth March, 1860—

To his Wife.

Did you ever observe the promise, as applicable to parents when God grants them children, "Whosoever receiveth a little child in my name receiveth ME?" If we only knew how to accept our children in His name, as given by Him, to be educated for Him, and, above all, as bringing a blessing to the home where they are rightly welcomed, how rich the reward would be! There would be not only the thousand lessons which they teach, and the joys they bring, but the reward of receiving Christ. I think constantly of our sweet little darlings What comfort it would bring, amid all regrets about lost opportunities, and defects apparently incurable, if one could leave children behind who have really profited by our experience, not “like their fathers a stiff, rebellious race." Surely this is obtainable, and instead of parental piety being diluted in the children—this is so often spoken of as what we must expect —each succeeding generation of a God-fearing family ought to rise higher and higher. This principle of progression is acknowledged in all worldly matters, and also in religion, so far as concerns its general effects on a nation or a large portion of society ; and surely a true faith in God, as the God of our seed also, should not be afraid to expect this for individual families. This subject of parental and domestic religion may be more closely connected with ministerial success than we think. Paul, at least, thought so, when he spoke of the necessity of a bishop’s knowing how to rule his own house well; and so did our Saviour, since in answer to the disciples' question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He replied, “He that is like a little child," and then, "He that receiveth the little ones in My name." The faith and the simplicity required for training children would perhaps be better training for the ministry than much that we consider makes a man “great.”

In 1864 was published. Blijf in Jezus (Abide in Christ), which appeared anonymously, and was thus reviewed in De Kerkbode: “The writer, a well-known minister of the South African Church, is exemplary as a sower of seed. He scatters beside all waters. Not merely by his earnest sermons on the Lord’s Day, his faithful exhortations to his flock, and his instruction of his catechumens, does he toil in the interests of the Kingdom of God, but also by his edifying writings. This booklet, which contains a meditation for each day of the month, aims at encouraging the friends and followers of Christ to follow steadfastly in the way of holiness, and will, we are convinced, be perused with much blessing by believers.”

The impulse which led to the writing of this booklet must be sought, of course, in the revival. Not only in Mr. Murray’s own congregation, but in many congregations throughout South Africa, there were large numbers of recent converts who needed instruction and guidance. This need was exactly supplied by Blijf in Jezus, which gave simple, pertinent and loving advice to all who were seeking a better experimental knowledge of the Christian life. By his books thus written in response to a personal and local need, Andrew Murray began to reach out to a larger circle of readers, who came with the lapse of years to look more and more confidently to him for inspiration and spiritual guidance.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 10

The Struggle with the Civil Courts and the Extrusion of Liberalism

The great interest which we are called upon to defend, which we should die in defence of, but which in these humane days we must live in the defence of, is the freedom of the Church of Christ to obey her Master only, according to her conscience, and not according to any other conscience than her own.—Robert Rainy.

The great defect of Liberal Christianity is that its conception of holiness is a frivolous one, or, what comes to the same thing, its conception of sin is a superficial one. In religious matters it is holiness which gives authority.

WE now approach a momentous epoch in the history of the D. R. Church in South Africa, during which Andrew Murray first assumes the leading role, which for more than forty years he continues to fill. The quinquennial Synod of the Church was due to assemble in Cape Town in October, 1862, and thoughtful minds had already recognized that the gathering was likely to prove a critical one in the history of the Church. Assaults were expected both upon the doctrine and the constitution of the Church. The doctrines of the faith were imperilled by the rise of the Rationalistic or “ Liberal ” Movement, which at this time was all-powerful in Holland, and exercised a subtle but profound influence over the minds of the young South African ministers who had received their theological training in the universities of the Netherlands. “ Liberal ” propaganda, moreover, were being sedulously carried on in South Africa, especially by anonymous contributors to a monthly journal, Ve Onder-zoeker, and by a section of the public Press of Cape Town. The constitution and government of the Church, on the other hand, were open to assault by virtue of its position as an Established Church, deriving its powers and legal authority from its connexion with the State. On this latter point a few words of explanation will not be out of place.

When in 1806 the Cape passed finally into the hands of the British Government, the articles of capitulation provided inter alia that “public worship, as at present in use, shall be maintained without alteration.” A "Church Order” promulgated by Commissary-General De Mist on behalf of the Batavian Republic was accordingly upheld and enforced by the new Government, which thereby undertook the financial support, and reserved to itself the right of appointment, of the ministers of the Church thus established by law. In 1843 the "Church Order” of De Mist was rescinded, and replaced by an “Ordinance,” which described the stipendiary support of the Government as voluntary and not compulsory, and by which larger liberties were accorded to the Church, and in particular the right to frame and enforce its own rules and regulations, without the necessity, hitherto obtaining, of previously securing the assent of the Government. This substitution of the “Ordinance” for the “Church Order” relieved, though it could not wholly remove, the disabilities under which a State Church must necessarily labour. We shall presently see into what dire troubles the Ordinance, even as amended, was soon to plunge the Church.

Summoned under circumstances such as those we have described, the meeting of the Synod of 1862 was awaited with tense expectation on the part of the general public, coupled with much anxious foreboding in the minds of the earnest few. The locale of assembly was the Great Church in Cape Town, and here, during the months of October and November, upwards of one hundred ministers and elders, representing some sixty-two congregations situated in Cape Colony and beyond, deliberated on questions affecting the welfare of the Church at large. Most of the members from congregations in the far east and north put in an appearance only after the Synod had been in session for several days. Their detention was due to one of the many dangers which encompass travellers by land and by sea. A considerable number of ministers and elders, all bound for the Synod in Cape Town, had embarked on board the steamship Waldensian, hoping thus to escape the long and wearisome journey by land. When in the neighbourhood of Cape Agulhas, the most southerly point of the African continent, the vessel ran upon a shelf of rock, and threatened soon to become a total wreck. The weather was fortunately calm, and a spot was discovered where a boat could be run? on to the beach with a certain measure of safety. The steamer was crowded with passengers, and the .whole night was spent in getting them ashore by boatloads. As dawn broke the last boatful, with the captain among its occupants, was landed without mishap. Not many minutes later a large wave was seen to strike the doomed vessel, which broke in two and immediately vanished from sight. When the rescued ministers and elders reached Cape Town and took their seats in the Synod, a wave of deep feeling passed over the assembly; and the Moderator called upon the Rev. Huet of Pietermaritzburg, one of those who had escaped from the wreck, to rise and describe the disaster to the brethren. This Mr. Huet did, and at the end of his recital, prayer was made and devout thanksgiving rendered to Almighty God for this marvellous deliverance from the jaws of death.

At the very commencement of the proceedings, the Synod signalised its sense of the grave importance of the issues which it was called to decide by electing as Moderator the most able and outstanding, of its younger members—the Rev. Andrew Murray, Jr. We fortunately possess a vivid description of this notable Synod, and of those who took the most prominent part in its deliberations, from the graphic pen of the Rev. F. Lion Cachet, from whose interesting volume Vijfiien Jaar in Zuid Afrika (Fifteen Years in South Africa) we take over the following—

Let me now introduce you to the Synod as it assembled in 1862. We enter the Great Church by a door which leads from the consistory-room, and—I see it in your countenance !—you admire the erection of your fathers, that large, airy, neat church building, which can contain three thousand hearers, and possesses a ceiling, sustained by no pillars, which stands in a class by itself. In front of the artistic pulpit, which rests upon carved lions, stands a platform upon which the members of the Moderamen have taken their seats. The Moderator, Rev. Andrew Murray, you recognize as a well-known and beloved brother. He studied in Holland, returned to the Colony while yet quite young, and after having served the Church of the Free State as minister of Bloemfontein during her most trying period, has now been stationed for some time at Worcester in the Colony. He is one of our youngest veterans, and the Synod honoured itself when it elected him as Moderator.

Next to him sits Dr. Philip Faure, the Assessor, one of those who fought in the Ten Days’ Campaign,1 and has been decorated with the cross. He has been for more than twenty-five years minister of Wyn-berg, near Cape Town. To the left of the Moderator sits Dr. Robertson, minister of Swellendam, a Scotsman by birth, an Africander by adoption, and thoroughly equal to the difficult office of Scriba Synodi (Clerk of Synod), which he has filled with honour for many years. Next to the Assessor is seated his brother, Dr. Abraham Faure, the Actuarius Synodi, the most influential man in the Church. Many members of Synod call him "father Faure,” and not a few have had reason, at some time or other, to wish that those great heavy eyebrows had contracted less suddenly, and those firm lips had uttered what had to be said in less ironical fashion. Honourably has the Actuarius served the Church, and honour has not been withheld from him. When the Synod is over, he purposes asking for demission on the score of his great age and his many bodily infirmities. Beside Dr. Robertson sits the Assistant Clerk, Rev. J. H. Hofmeyr of Murraysburg, who has studied at Utrecht. These men constitute our Moderamen, nor could the guidance of the gathering be entrusted to better hands.

And the meeting itself? It consists of fifty-three ministers and about the same number of elders—more than one hundred in all There, immediately in front of the Moderator, sits Rev. Andrew Murray, senior, who counts three sons and four sons-in-law as ministers and members of the Synod. Did you observe that when he rose a while ago to address the Moderator, his son, with the customary “Right Reverend Sir” the latter, too, rose, and remained standing until his father had finished speaking? Facing his father the “Right Reverend Gentleman” is a child. Alongside of Rev. Murray are seated the Revs. Smith, Thomson and Pears, old Scotsmen, who for twenty or thirty years have served the Church of the Colony, and who, like ourselves, have just been rescued from the Waldensian, which was wrecked upon the rocks at Struispunt. All honour to the English Government, through whose mediation men like these have become ministers in our Church, and all honour to the men who ministered with so much readiness and faithfulness to what were then border congregations.

Near the pulpit are seated our professors, N. J. Hofmeyr and John Murray, who, together with Rev. Neethling of Stellenbosch and Rev. Albertyn of Caledon (in addition to their other important duties) administer and control the missions of our Church in their capacity as members of the Synodical Mission Board. You already have some acquaintance with Rev. van der Lingen of Paarl; while with Rev. van Velden, a Hollander, and others you may become acquainted later on. Can you spare a moment more to look at our elders, some of whom have had to journey with their ministers for 700 or 900 miles by cart or by waggon, and have had to bid farewell to wife and child, to house and garden, for full three months, in order to attend the Synod. That surely amounts to something.

Why does so much excitement prevail in the gathering? Let me tell you. This morning at roll-call, when the Moderator called upon the minister of Pietermaritzburg to hand in his credentials, Elder LoedolfE of Malmesbury rose and protested against “the sitting in the Synod of deputies from congregations lying beyond the boundaries of the Cape Colony.” Hitherto it had been supposed that the Church was at liberty to extend itself beyond the Colony, and that extra-colonial congregations, although not under the political authority of the Colony, might yet remain under the spiritual authority of the Synod. But the ministers and elders from beyond the Orange River are almost all orthodox; wherefore the modems and liberals in the Colony flatter themselves that they will count a considerable majority in the Synod, if they are able to drive back the extra-colonials beyond the border.

"Liberals and Modems,” I hear you ask, “are they to be found at the Cape, too?” Certainly; thanks to the seed so freely scattered in Holland in the hearts of our Cape students—seed which has found, in the case of many, a soil well prepared for its reception. Liberals, half-Groningers and such-like we have had for a long time already at the Cape, and these have prepared the way for Modernism. The Cape Church has been sometimes described, but incorrectly described, as ultra-orthodox. What is here called orthodox-reformed would by no means be acknowledged as such in certain circles in Holland. Here we are, generally speaking, conjessional. The formularies of tire Reformed Church are accepted because they are in accord with the Word of God (the Bible). Christ is not merely the Son of God, but truly God. Faith is confessed in the Holy Spirit as a Person. But Election and Reprobation, the two articles of faith upon which so many orthodox people in Holland lay supreme stress, are not placed in the foreground by the Church of South Africa, and rightly so. . . . Some Cape students have gone to Holland as semi-liberals, and have returned to the Colony as thorough liberals or as modernists of full blood, while here they have been impatiently awaited and received with open arms by the "enlightened” and the “men of progress.”

The Rev. J. J. Kotz6, now minister at Darling, who sits yonder opposite to us, is the accredited leader, among the ministers, of the modernist party. Not far from him is seated Rev. T. Burgers of Hanover, more copious of speech than Kotz6, but lacking the latter’s dignity and learning. Rev. Naud6of Queenstown, and some other lesser lights among the ”enlightened,” sit scattered here and there (some of them alongside of truly orthodox brethren), and will soon take to flight or else resign their charges. At present, however, they have no such intentions. They arm themselves for battle against the “orthodox" and boast great things; and though they are devoid of the learning of some of the moderns of Holland, they make so much commotion that no one enquires too closely after their knowledge. Of modern elders there are not many in the Synod ; but some few there are. When it comes to voting, the orthodox party has a bare majority. You will allow, my friend, that this Synod, which is to witness a struggle between faith and unfaith—a life-and-death struggle such as can hardly take place in Holland, and a struggle resulting from the unbelief which is proclaimed as truth in Holland and in Dutch academies—is well worth a few moments’ attention.

The incident which, according to Cachet, occasioned such great excitement in the Synod,—that is, the protest registered by Elder Loedolff against the credentials of the Pietermaritzburg delegates—was the first move on the part of the Liberal party, and indicated their determination to dispute the right to a seat in the Synod of ministers and elders from beyond the confines of Cape Colony. The admission of extracolonial delegates, they held, was in conflict with the terms of the Ordinance of 1843, which was framed to define the rights and duties of a Church situated solely within the Colonial boundaries. The Synod, after giving serious consideration to the protest of Mr. Loedolff and to the grounds upon which it was based, refused to uphold it, but declared by a great majority that it considered itself to be legally constituted.

Defeated in the Church Assembly, the Liberals carried their case to the Civil Courts. Since the Civil Power had bestowed upon the Church an “Ordinance” to regulate its actions, it lay within the province of the Civil Courts to interpret that Ordinance, and to decide whether the Church was abiding by its provisions. A test case was accordingly introduced, in which Messrs. Loedolff and Smuts summoned before the Supreme Court of the Colony the Rev. Andrew Murray, as Moderator of Synod, and the Rev. A. A. Louw, as representing the extra-colonial congregation of Fauresmith, to show cause why a decision of the Synod of 1852, incorporating the congregations beyond the Vaal River in the Church of Cape Colony should not be declared null and void, and why the said Rev. A. A. Louw should not be declared incapable of sitting, deliberating and voting in the Synod of the D. R. Church. On the 26th of November the Court gave judgment in favour of the plaintiffs on the second claim, and declared that the Rev. A. A. Louw was not entitled to a seat in the Synod.

This judgment, though not wholly unexpected, caused the greatest consternation to the orthodox majority, and was hailed as a signal victory by the Liberals. For it excluded from the highest Assembly of the Church not merely the Rev. A. A. Louw, but all ministers and elders from beyond the Orange River, and by implication denied the Church the right of extending itself outside the limits of Cape Colony. Serious though this effect of the judgment was, it was by no means the worst of the evil. For the judgment cast grave doubts upon the legality of the proceedings of three distinct Synods—those of 1852, 1857, and 1862—since in each of these three Assemblies members had sat and voted who by the terms of the present pronouncement had no claim to a seat in the Synod. The 26th of November, 1862, must be regarded as the Disruption Day of the D. R. Church in South Africa, since the Order of Court rent the bonds which united the congregations of the north to the mother Church, and created a breach which remains unhealed to the present day.

In announcing to the Synod the terms of the judgment, the Moderator voiced the grief of the gathering at the decision which severed them from their brethren cm the distant frontiers, and before requesting the latter to withdraw, commended them in fervent prayer to God. The Revs. G. van de Wall of Bloemfontein and P. Huet of Pietermaritzburg then delivered brief valedictory addresses, whereupon the delegates from Trans-Orangia took their departure. Doubts were also ventilated as to the legality of the seats of the two professors from Stellenbosch, and rather than continue a tenure which appeared to be very uncertain, Messrs. John Murray and N. J. Hofmeyr voluntarily withdrew from the Synod. Thus purged and reduced by the order of the Court, the Synod sat down to deliberate as to the legality of its own proceedings and of those of the two previous Synods. The decision to which it came—the only decision to which it could come— was: “the Synod views all its resolutions as legal, so long as their illegality is not proven.”

So much for the first collision between the Church and the Civil Courts. In the meantime another and no less serious matter was engaging the attention of the Synod. From the very outset a breach between the orthodox and the modernist sections of the Synod was seen to be unavoidable. Matters came to a head in the following way. The Heidelberg Catechism—one of the three formularies to which the D. R. Church requires its ministers to subscribe—is divided into fifty-two sections, so devised in order that one section should be expounded on each Lord’s Day. The custom of preaching “on the Catechism” has always been enforced in the Cape Church. In answer to a question put, the Synod decreed that by preaching "on the Catechism” it understood an exposition of the Catechism and a defence of its doctrine on the ground of God’s Word. In the discussion which took place, the Rev. J. J. Kotze, minister of Darling, protested against being compelled to defend the language of the Catechism at all points; and declared in particular that the answer to Question 60, which affirms that man is “continually inclined to all evil,” comprised language which would not be fitting in the mouth of a heathen (unless he were a devil), far less in the mouth of a Christian. Were he to preach on that section of the interpret that Ordinance, and to decide whether the Church was abiding by its provisions. A test case was accordingly introduced, in which Messrs. Loedolff and Smuts summoned before the Supreme Court of the Colony the Rev. Andrew Murray, as Moderator of Synod, and the Rev. A. A. Louw, as representing the extra-colonial congregation of Fauresmith, to show cause why a decision of the Synod of 1852, incorporating the congregations beyond the Vaal River in the Church of Cape Colony should not be declared null and void, and why the said Rev. A. A. Louw should not be declared incapable of sitting, deliberating and voting in the Synod of the D. R. Church. On the 26th of November the Court gave judgment in favour of the plaintiffs on the second claim, and declared that the Rev. A. A. Louw was not entitled to a seat in the Synod.

This judgment, though not wholly unexpected, caused the greatest consternation to the orthodox majority, and was hailed as a signal victory by the Liberals. For it excluded from the highest Assembly of the Church not merely the Rev. A. A. Louw, but all ministers and elders from beyond the Orange River, and by implication denied the Church the right of extending itself outside the limits of Cape Colony. Serious though this effect of the judgment was, it was by no means the worst of the evil. For the judgment cast grave doubts upon the legality of the proceedings of three distinct Synods—those of 1852, 1857, and 1862—since in each of these three Assemblies members had sat and voted who by the terms of the present pronouncement had no claim to a seat in the Synod. The 26th of November, 1862, must be regarded as the Disruption Day of the D. R. Church in South Africa, since the Order of Court rent the bonds which united the congregations of the north to the mother Church, and created a breach which remains unhealed to the present day.

In announcing to the Synod the terms of the judgment, the Moderator voiced the grief of the gathering at the decision which severed them from their brethren on the distant frontiers, and before requesting the latter to withdraw, commended them in fervent prayer to God. The Revs. G. van de Wall of Bloemfontein and P. Huet of Pietermaritzburg then delivered brief valedictory addresses, whereupon the delegates from Trans-Orangia took their departure. Doubts were also ventilated as to the legality of the seats of the two professors from Stellenbosch, and rather than continue a tenure which appeared to be very uncertain, Messrs. John Murray and N. J. Hofmeyr voluntarily withdrew from the Synod. Thus purged and reduced by the order of the Court, the Synod sat down to deliberate as to the legality of its own proceedings and of those of the two previous Synods. The decision to which it came—the only decision to which it could come— was: “the Synod views all its resolutions as legal, so long as their illegality is not proven.”

So much for the first collision between the Church and the Civil Courts. In the meantime another and no less serious matter was engaging the attention of the Synod. From the very outset a breach between the orthodox and the modernist sections of the Synod was seen to be unavoidable. Matters came to a head in the following way. The Heidelberg Catechism—one of the three formularies to which the D. R. Church requires its ministers to subscribe—is divided into fifty-two sections, so devised in order that one section should be expounded on each Lord’s Day. The custom of preaching “on the Catechism” has always been enforced in the Cape Church. In answer to a question put, the Synod decreed that by preaching "on the Catechism” it understood an exposition of the Catechism and a defence of its doctrine on the ground of God’s Word. In the discussion which took place, the Rev. J. J. Kotze, minister of Darling, protested against being compelled to defend the language of the Catechism at all points; and declared in particular that the answer to Question 60, which affirms that man is “continually inclined to all evil,” comprised language which would not be fitting in the mouth of a heathen (unless he were a devil), far less in the mouth of a Christian. Were he to preach on that section of the and thus be deposed from his Ministry.” The resolution was voted on with great solemnity, and when the result had been announced the Moderator rose amid the profoundest silence, and spoke somewhat as follows—

If ever there was a moment when I could have desired that another were occupying my place, it is the present moment. We have now to proceed to the fulfilment of a most solemn duty—a task which, if I mistake not, has never yet been performed in the Church of South Africa. After long and prayerful deliberation the Synod has arrived at the conclusion that one of the brethren has been guilty of holding erroneous doctrine, and that he has been unfaithful to the solemn promise passed at his legitimation. In Christ’s name we are now about to deprive him for a time of the right which was bestowed upon him in the name of the Lord of the Church. Having been found guilty, he has been adjudged by the Synod as unworthy longer to fulfil his sacred office. It remains the bounden duty of each and of all to offer earnest and continual prayer that it may please the Lord to convince the erring brother of his error, and to visit him with the spirit of true penitence. It behoves us, moreover, one and all to humble ourselves before the Almighty in this solemn hour, and to remember the injunction of the Apostle, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

The Moderator thereupon pronounced the sentence as contained in the latter paragraphs of the resolution, and led the gathering in prayer. And so ended the first chapter of one of the most remarkable and painful incidents in the history of the D. R. Church in South Africa.

Since Kotze was under sentence of suspension, the congregation of Darling was to all intents and purposes a vacant charge, and the duty therefore devolved upon the Presbytery of Tulbagh (under which Darling fell) to make due provision for the fulfilment in that parish of the ministry of the Word and the sacraments. To each minister of the Presbytery were assigned certain Sabbaths, upon which he was instructed to visit Darling, in order to preach the Word and, if necessary, administer the sacraments. The trustees of the congregation of Darling, however, with a devotion worthy of a better cause, determined to stand boldly by their suspended minister, and addressed a letter to each of the presbyterial ministers, informing him that, should he appear at Darling, he would be refused access to the pulpit. To one minister only were they prepared to grant permission to officiate in their church, namely to the Rev. J. C. le Febre Moorrees, minister of Malmesbury, who was assumed to be in sympathy with the Liberal movement. When, in spite of this notification, Mr. Murray, as one of the ministers of the Tulbagh Presbytery, arrived at Darling on the 22nd November, he found the church door locked in his face. Endeavours to obtain another hall in which to preach were fruitless. He thereupon announced that divine service would be held at the house of his host, Mr. Basson, but at the appointed hour the congregation was found to consist only of the Basson family (who were present out of courtesy) and Mr. Jacob Cloete, a former member of the congregation of Wynberg. Cloete informed Mr. Murray that he was the sole member of the Darling congregation who approved of the action of the Synod in the Kotze case. Mr. Murray was compelled to forgo his intention of remaining in the parish of Darling for a couple of weeks, and paying pastoral visits from farm to farm ; and he returned to Worcester with the purpose of his mission unaccomplished..

Events now began to move with increasing momentum towards their appointed end. Mr. Kotze carried his case to the Civil Courts, with the claim that the decree of the Synod should be set aside as null and void. On the 19th April, 1864, was held a fateful meeting of the Synodical Committee, and since no retractation was received from Mr. Kotze, the full sentence of the Synod was put into force, and the suspended minister declared to be deposed from his office. Mr. Kotze, for his part, persisted in his refusal to withdraw or modify his words, and addressed to the Synodical Committee a letter, in which, after stating the reasons for the Court’s delay in hearing his case, he concludes with the following words—

I have earnestly considered the matter, and after due deliberation have arrived at the decision that, in case the Synodical Committee should enforce the instructions given to it by the Synod, I shall assume an attitude of open defiance towards the Synod’s sentence (however unwillingly I do so), and proceed as of old to exercise my ministry as the legal incumbent of Darling.

These words were no empty threat. On the ist May following Mr. Kotze did in fact resume his ministry, as though no sentence of suspension and deposition hung over him, and several months before his suit against the Synod had been heard and adjudicated upon by the Civil Courts.

The suit J. J. Kotze, minister of Darling, versus Andrew Murray, Jr., Moderator of Synod of the D. R. Church, came up for trial before the Supreme Court on the 23rd of August, 1864. The Bench was composed of Judges Bell, Cloete and Watermeyer,—the Chief Justice (Sir William Hodges) being absent at the time. The counsel for the plaintiff were the Attorney-General, Mr. William Porter, and Advocate P. J. Denyssen. Advocate Fred. S. Watermeyer, who had been briefed for the defence, was seized with a severe and (as it proved) fatal illness shortly before the trial commenced, and at very short notice, Mr. Murray was called upon to conduct his own defence. The plaintiff claimed nullification of the sentence of suspension and deposition passed upon him by the Synod on the following grounds:—(1) Because the Synod was not a court before which charges of unsoundness in doctrine or life could in the first instance be tried, but merely a court of appeal from sentences passed by the Presbytery; (2) because the Synod had not, in conducting the trial, observed the principles and usages which its own laws demanded as requisite for an impartial judicial examination; and (3) because the words employed by the plaintiff did not in point of fact assail the doctrines or formularies of the Church; but were such as, tested by the Word of God and by other portions of the formularies, the plaintiff was fully justified in employing. The plea of the defendant, on the other hand, was summed up under three heads. Under the first he denied the competency of the Court to decide whether the words of the plaintiff were in conflict with the doctrines of the Church or no; under the second he denied that judicial usages had not been observed nor judicial impartiality displayed by the Synod in the trial of the plaintiff; under the third, he claimed in re-convention that the Court should declare the sentence passed by the Synod to be legal and binding.

The whole of Tuesday, 23rd August, was occupied in listening to the pleas on both sides, and hearing the argument of the Attorney-General on behalf of the plaintiff. On Friday, the 26th August, the hearing of the case was continued, and in a court-room that was crowded to the doors with interested auditors, who were for the most part members of the D. R. Church, the presiding judge called on the Right Reverend Moderator of the Synod to argue the case for the defence. Mr. Murray then rose and commenced his speech with the following words—

My Lords,—It is not without a large measure of diffidence that I venture to appear before you. I address you under very unfavourable circumstances. The language which I most commonjy employ, and the subjects which constitute my usual study, are not the language and the studies which stand connected with the administration of justice among men. The style of debate of which in my present position I must make use is directed not solely to the intellect, but chiefly to the heart and to the inward emotional nature of mankind. I am therefore not without fear that I shall not be able to do justice to the important cause that has been placed in my hands. Circumstances have, however, left me no choice. Circumstances which it is hardly necessary for me to refer to in this Court, and which are deplored by all present as deeply as by myself, have deprived us of the invaluable services of our legal counsel. May God spare him for the good of this Court, of his country, and of the Church whose cause he has advocated in so noble a fashion. Under such circumstances I desire to appeal to the kindly forbearance of the Court, should my language or arguments not always be in accordance with the practice of a civil tribunal; while on the other hand I trust that nothing will escape my lips that is derogatory to the respect due to this Court, or that can dishonour the cause which has been entrusted to my poor defence.

The argument of the defendant lasted for four and a half hours—two hours in the morning and two and a half in the afternoon. At its conclusion Judge Bell complimented Mr. Murray in the following terms : “ There can be but one opinion as to the ability and conscientiousness with which you have pleaded your cause. Few advocates could have done it equally well.” To this encomium Mr. Porter, the Attorney-General, himself no mean orator, added further words of commendation, saying that he had listened with interest and admiration to the earnest and eloquent speech of his reverend friend.

Judgment was delivered on the 2nd of September, and was in favour of the plaintiff, with costs. As to the first reason put forward by the plaintiff in support of his claim, there was some difference of opinion between the judges, Justice Bell being of the opinion that the Synod was entitled to try Kotze’s case in the first instance, while Justice Cloete (and apparently also Justice Watermeyer, who delivered no judgment) were of the contrary opinion. But on both the other grounds adduced by the plaintiff the Court held that he had proved his claim, and that the rebutting arguments of the defendant had failed of their object. The sentence of the Synod was accordingly quashed, and Kotze re-instated in his rights and privileges as minister of Darling. The principles upon which this judgment was based were thus enunciated by Justice Cloete— justice, then on all these grounds judgment should be for the complainant in convention, and the claim in re-convention must be dismissed.

This then was the end of the great conflict which had agitated the public mind and stirred the deepest religious feelings of the Church for a period of nearly two years—a victory for the friends of Liberalism, and a flinging open of the floodgates, as it must have appeared, for the invasion of heterodoxy, unitarianism and blatant rationalism. There are victories, however, in which the victors suffer greater loss than the vanquished, and there are defeats from which the vanquished reap greater profit than the victors. The judgment of the Supreme Court, with the full report of the trial, were diligently studied by members of the D. R. Church throughout South Africa. Brochures and pamphlets on the burning subject of the day poured from the press. Interest in matters ecclesiastical was greatly stimulated. And in this manner public opinion was steadily educated to grasp the points of the real question at issue, and to distinguish clearly between the divergent and antagonistic principles of Liberalism on the one hand and Orthodoxy on the other.

The attention of the Church was now focused upon another important investigation, which, for a period at least, ran a parallel course to the Kotze case. This was the trial of the Rev. T. F. Burgers of Hanover for making use of expressions which were asserted to be at variance with the doctrines of the Church. Before the Synod of 1862 the Elder of Colesberg, Mr. P. J. Joubert, had formally charged Mr. Burgers with being “tainted with Rationalism”; and, more definitely, that he had on certain specified occasions denied the existence of a personal devil, the sinlessness of Christ’s human nature, the resurrection of the dead, and the personal existence of the soul after death. The examination of these charges not being concluded when the Synod adjourned in 1862, the Synod of 1863 continued the investigation, and ultimately appointed a Committee to meet at Hanover, and to take the depositions of the witnesses in whose presence the obnoxious expressions were alleged to have been employed. This Committee duly met on the 8th February, 1864, examined the necessary witnesses, and forwarded their evidence to the Synodical Committee, notifying at the same time both the complainant (Mr. Joubert) and the defendant (Mr. Burgers) that their written pleas must be sent to the Clerk of the Synodical Committee before a specified date.

On the 19th March the Synodical Committee assembled in Cape Town—it was the same meeting which proceeded to make absolute the sentence of deposition passed by the Synod on the Rev. J. J. Kotze—and deliberated on the pleadings and evidence submitted. As the result of these deliberations it found some of the expressions employed by Mr. Burgers on the points in question to be of dubious import, and demanded of him "a clear statement of what he believed with reference to the doctrines specified in the four points of accusation.” This “clear statement” Mr. Burgers declined to give, on the ground that the demand of the Synodical Committee was “out of order and repugnant to acknowledged principles of justice.” The Synodical Committee thereupon, on the 19th July, dismissing as unproven the third and fourth counts of the indictment, found Mr. Burgers guilty on the first and second charges, and passed upon him the following sentence: "That, since the Rev. T. F. Burgers has been guilty of denying both the personality of the devil and the sinlessness of Christ’s human nature, he be therefore suspended from his sacred ministry till the next meeting of the Synodical Committee in 1865, which will be prepared to relieve him of his suspension if he shall before 1st March, 1865, have forwarded to the Moderator an explanation of his views, and a retractation of the errors of which he has been found guilty, and shall testify his full assent to the doctrine of our Reformed Church as regards the two aforesaid points.”

Of this sentence of suspension Mr. Burgers took not the slightest notice, but continued, at the formal request of the Consistory of Hanover, to exercise his ministerial functions.

Not only did he ignore the sentence passed, but, immediately after the publication of the judgment of the Supreme Court, by which Kotze was re-instated in his rights and privileges as minister of Darling, he addressed a communication to the Rev. Andrew Murray, declaring his intention of carrying his case to the Supreme Court, unless Mr. Murray, as Chairman of the Synodical Committee, procured the rescission of the sentence passed by that body on the 19th July. To this Mr. Murray, as was to be expected, replied with a decisive non possumus.

The case T. F. Burgers versus Andrew Murray and others, as members of the Synodical Committee of the D. R. Church, was heard on the 26th May, 1865. The plaintiff was represented by the Attorney-General, Mr. Porter, assisted by Advocate Buchanan; and Mr. Murray appeared, as in the Kotze case, in his own defence. At the close of his argument on the preliminary exception, which runs to more than forty pages octavo in the printed report, Acting Chief Justice Bell spoke as follows—

Before I deliver my opinion on this case, I beg to offer to the reverend defendant an expression of my sense not only of the lucid way in which he brought forward his arguments on this portion of the case, but also of the tone and manner in which he addressed the Court—so very different from the pretensions he was sent here to maintain on the part of the Church. That tone and manner require from me a tribute of respect, which, if he will accept of it, I beg to offer him.

The plaintiff in this suit prayed that the sentence of the Synodical Committee might be declared void on certain grounds, of which the chief were the incompetency of the Synodical Committee as tribunal, the irregularity of the procedure and the insufficiency of the evidence. In the counter-plea of the defendants it was claimed that the D. R. Church possessed spiritual authority which was “beyond the control, cognizance and supervision of the Honourable the Supreme Court”; and that this authority was acknowledged by the ninth section of the Ordinance of 1843, which stated: “nor shall any action, suit or proceeding at law be instituted for the purpose of preventing any such judicatory [i.e. Church Court] from pronouncing, in the case of any scandal or offence which shall be brought before it and proved to its satisfaction, such spiritual censure as may be appointed by the said Church, or for the purpose of claiming any damages or relief in regard to such censure, if the same shall have been pronounced."

It will be observed that the defence in the Burgers case was similar to and yet different from that in the Kotze case. In the latter case the defendant denied the competency of the Supreme Court to decide on the interpretation of points of doctrine, on which, he maintained, it was solely for a Church Court to pronounce. In the Burgers case the position assumed towards the Civil Courts was a bolder one. The defence here came to grips with the civil power on the real matter at issue— the authority of a Secular Court to interfere at all with the proceedings and sentence of a Spiritual Court. The Supreme Court, however, dismissed the exception raised on the score of its competency, and denied that the D. R. Church, or any one of its Courts, possessed "inherent rights,” quoting the eighth section of the Ordinance, which provided "that no rule or regulation of the said [D. R.] Church shall have or possess any inherent power whatever to affect, in any way, the persons or properties of any person whomsoever.” The exception being dismissed, the decision of the Court on the main question was that the plaintiff must succeed, and the sentence of the Synodical Committee be set aside as null and void.

There were thus two ministers of the D. R. Church, placed under sentence of suspension and deposition by Church Courts, who had been restored to ministerial status and endowed with all their official rights and privileges by the highest Court of Law in the country. The result was dire confusion. For, first of all, when the Presbytery of Tulbagh assembled for its annual meeting in October, 1864, Mr. Kotze appeared upon the scene, and attempted to take his seat as representative of the congregation of Darling. The Presbytery, however, by an overwhelming majority, refused him permission to sit, affirming, with perfect justice, that it could take official cognizance of no authority other than the Synod, which had decreed Kotze’s deposition. Mr. Kotze thereupon obtained an interdict from the Supreme Court (dated 17th August, 1865) prohibiting the eleven members of Presbytery who had voted for his exclusion from questioning his right to take his seat. At its following meeting in October, 1865, the Presbytery again resolved, by a majority of 10 votes to 7, to abide by the sentence of the Synod and refuse admission to Mr. Kotze. The latter, relying upon the interdict of the Supreme Court, persisted in his refusal to leave the meeting unless removed by violence. Having arrived at this impasse, the Presbytery wisely resolved to adjourn sine die.

The same story was repeated in the case of Mr. Burgers. The Presbytery of Graaff-Reinet, to which the congregation of Hanover belonged, excluded Burgers by an almost unanimous vote from its meeting in October, 1865 ; and after a prolonged and unseemly wrangle, the latter withdrew under protest. After his departure the Presbytery took further action. Since Burgers was suspended, the congregation of Hanover was declared to be temporarily vacant, and the minister of the neighbouring parish of Richmond was appointed consulent, or acting minister. And when it appeared that certain members of the Consistory of Hanover—the names of Elders Visser and van Eeden were mentioned in this connexion—continued to recognize Mr. Burgers as minister, permitting him to preach and administer the sacraments, while refusing the same privileges to the Rev. Andrew Murray, senior, who had been requested' to visit the congregation in an official capacity, the Presbytery felt itself compelled to place Messrs. Visser and van Eeden under ecclesiastical censure. This step gave rise to another suit at law, in which the Church party was, as usual, worsted, and the interdict prayed for by Burgers cum suis was granted.

No sooner was this action over than Burgers was involved in further litigation. On the 21st June, 1866, he applied for an interdict to restrain the Presbytery of Graaff-Reinet from disputing his right to sit and vote as a member of that body. Three months slipped by before the Court delivered judgment on this question. It then appeared that the three judges were divided in opinion, Chief Justice Hodges holding that the plaintiff ought to fail in his action, because he had not appealed to the Synod before laying his suit in the Supreme Court, and Judges Cloete and Watermeyer holding that he was entitled to judgment in his favour, with the costs of the suit. The opinion of the majority was, of course, entered as the judgment of the Court.

Armed with this judgment Mr. Burgers appeared at the next meeting of the Presbytery of Graafi-Reinet, in order to vindicate his claim to the seat to which the mandate of the Court entitled him. But the Presbytery immediately decided to follow the example of the Presbytery of Tulbagh, and to adjourn until such time as the Synod itself should assemble, and instruct the distracted presbyteries as to the action they should pursue amid the welter of confusion created by the adverse decisions of the Courts at Law.

Matters were now rapidly approaching their final denouement. In April, 1866, the Synodical Committee decided to carry the case Burgers versus the Synodical Committee in dppeal to the Privy Council, and Mr. Murray was requested to proceed to England in his capacity as Moderator, in order to impart to counsel there certain necessary advice and information. On the 14th May following, Mr. Murray, together with his wife and children, embarked on the steamship Roman, in order to fulfil this mission. The grounds upon which the appeal was based were five : (a) The Civil Court has no jurisdiction in matters spiritual, (b) the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court conflicts with section nine of the Ordinance of 1843, (c) the Synod possesses jurisdiction in the first instance over its ministers, (d) the respondent (Burgers) has forfeited his right of protest by not objecting at the outset to the jurisdiction of the Synod, and (e) the judgment of the Supreme Court is not in accord with law and is therefore wrong.

Several months elapsed before the case came on for hearing and judgment was delivered. Finally, on the 6th February, 1867, Lord Westbury, Sir James Colvile and Sir Edward Campbell, on behalf of the Judicial Committee of- the Privy Council, gave judgment, in which they first declared (most incomprehensibly) that no appeal had been lodged on the score of the incompetency of the Supreme Court of Cape Colony to try the case (though the first two objections raised by the plea of the Synodical Committee expressly disputed that Court’s competency). On the main question the Judicial Committee found for the defendant Burgers, and mulcted the Synodical Committee in the costs of the action. The appeal had failed.

Such was the situation when the quinquennial Synod of 1867 assembled. It was opened by Mr. Murray as retiring Moderator, and after the preliminaries were over, the Rev. Dr. Philip Faure, minister of Wynberg, was elected as the new Moderator. It was, however, a short-lived gathering. The ministers of Darling and Hanover, both still under sentence of the Church Courts, took their seats among the assembled brethren. The Synod found itself upon the horns of a serious dilemma. It was morally unable to rescind the sentences passed upon the two erring brethren, and it was conscientiously unwilling to set at defiance the judgments of the Civil Courts. Mr. Murray, who had been elected to the office of Actuarius, and was consequently entrusted with the special care of all legal and documentary matters pertaining to the Synod, now rose to propose the following resolution (somewhat abbreviated)—

Seeing that it appears from the judgment of the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty’s Privy Council that the exception to the competency of the Supreme Court was not dealt with in appeal, and the confirmation of the judgment of the Supreme Court by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council therefore rests upon a misapprehension ;

Seeing that it is impossible for the Synod to arrive at a decision both reasoned and secure, so long as its relation to the Supreme Government is not perfectly clear, since it does not know whether the Judgment with the misapprehension attached to it will be enforced;

Seeing that the Synod conceives it to he in conflict with the reverence due to Her Majesty, not to give her the opportunity to correct such misapprehension, to listen to the claims of the Church, and to do her justice;

Seeing that finally it is not possible to arrive at a decision regarding the credentials of the representatives of Darling and Hanover before the above-mentioned relation shall have been defined and decided— the Synod decides to adjourn until greater light and relief shall have been received, and directs the Synodical Committee to summon it, as soon as the latter shall deem it desirable.

This unsatisfactory state of affairs continued for three years longer. Neither the Synod nor the Presbyteries of Tulbagh and Graaff-Reinet assembled during that long period. Frustrated by the Civil Courts, the Church had proved powerless to expel from its communion the two representatives of Liberalism upon whom sentence of suspension and deposition had been passed. The attempt to get the Judicial Committee to revise its judgment on the competency of the Cape Supreme Court failed. By no manner of means could Kotze and Burgers be ousted from their pastorates. At Darling, as we have seen, the congregation, almost to a man, stood staunchly by their pastor. At Hanover a large portion of the congregation seceded and established itself as a separate and independent charge, ministered to by an orthodox minister of their own choice.

In the course of these three years it became evident to the observant student of current opinion that the Liberal Movement had spent its force, at any rate so far as the D. R. Church was concerned. To this effect several causes contributed. The first was the exclusion from the Church of young ministers who held neologian views. This was secured by the institution of a colloquium doctum with the Board of Examiners, before all who desired legitimation as ministers of the Church must needs appear. This “ learned colloquy ” was originally an inquiry into the measure of theological knowledge which the candidate for licence possessed; but the Synod of 1862 enlarged its scope by enacting: “At the colloquium doctum a special enquiry shall be instituted as to the opinions on regeneration by the Holy Spirit and the personal experience of God's grace, and also as to fidelity to the doctrine of our Church, which the Synod desires to be understood as being indispensable requirements in all who offer themselves as ministers.” It was thus made impossible for the Unitarian and the rationalist, unless he violated the dictates of conscience and the principles of common honesty, to assent to the doctrines and subscribe to the formularies of the D. R. Church.

Again, the force of Liberalism within the Church was broken by the admission to the ministry, in increasing numbers, of young men who had undergone their training in the Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch, at the feet of those two eminent and devout professors, John Murray and Nicolaas Hofmeyr. Between 1862 and 1870 the ranks of the orthodox party in the Church were strengthened with between thirty and forty ministers, the majority of whom received appointments to Colonial congregations, though some went to serve the more needy Churches beyond the Orange and Vaal rivers. The Liberal party, which seemed so powerful and influential in the Synod of 1862, had shrunk to a shadow of its former self in 1870, and could muster on critical questions only eleven votes in a Synod of over one hundred members.

And, finally, the ranks of the Liberals were divided by the establishment in Cape Town of what was designated “The Free Protestant Church.” This body owed its origin to the Rev. David P. Faure, who after completing his theological studies at the university of Leiden, returned to the Cape in 1866. Shortly after his arrival Mr. Faure was invited by Dr. Heyns, first minister of the Cape Town congregation, to officiate in the Great Church in Adderley Street on a certain Sunday evening. Mr. Faure has given us, in his very interesting Autobiography, the following account of what transpired on that occasion—

In order to make it clear that I intended to preach the Religion of Jesus—though it would afterwards appear that I could not preach the Worship of Christ—I spoke on, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thine understanding: this is the first and great commandment. And the second, like unto it, is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” I am sure that there was not a single word in the sermon which need have given offence to anyone. Yet very serious offence was taken, and, of course, the heresy hunters were specially scandalized at what I did not say. Speaking of Jesus Christ without mentioning either His divinity or His blood, was considered an unpardonable outrage. This in itself was taken as ample proof of my hostility to the creed of the Church.

Quite contrary to the usual custom, when after the conclusion of the service I descended from the pulpit and went into the vestry, I was left there by myself. Neither Dr. Heyns nor his colleague, Dr. Robertson, nor any of the churchwardens entered the room. They remained in the church, and when it became clear to me that I was preventing them from reaching their hats, which were in the vestry, I left, and went home, thus relieving them from the necessity of spending the night in the church. Need I add that this was my last, as well as my first, sermon in any Dutch Reformed church in the city of Cape Town.

Finding admission to the D. R. Church barred by the colloquium doctum, and the congregations all on the side of orthodoxy, Mr. Faure decided to seek a sphere of labour outside the D. R. Church. "Even during the last years of my university life,” he writes, "it had become abundantly clear to me that, if I succeeded in obtaining a congregation at the Cape that was willing to accept me as its minister, it would have to be one outside my Mother Church.” He therefore gathered an audience in the Hall of the Mutual Life Assurance Society in the Cape metropolis, and to this audience he expounded Sunday after Sunday the doctrines of Unitarianism. The congregation thus assembled formed the nucleus of the “ Free Protestant Church,” which, though the numbers have greatly dwindled since Mr. Faure’s time, has continued in Cape Town down to the present day. This Church gradually absorbed those individuals who found the atmosphere of the D. R. Church uncongenial, and thus the conflict between Liberalism and Orthodoxy was transferred from the forum to the pulpit and the lecture-hall, and took the shape of controversy rather than of litigation.

A paragraph or two must suffice to bring to a close this narrative of the Eight Years’ Struggle with the Civil Courts. The principal question with which the Synod of 1870 was faced was this : how best to escape from the impasse in which it found itself in consequence of the contradictory judgments on Kotze and Burgers passed by the Church Courts and the Civil Courts respectively. There were, generally speaking, three streams of opinion. The first party said in effect, “Submit to the judgment of the Civil Power: you have acted irregularly and incurred censure; accept the situation, and pass on to the next question.” At the other extreme stood those who maintained, “Resist to the utmost every infringement of your rights by the Civil Power: uphold steadfastly the sentences of the Church Courts, and refuse to acknowledge Messrs. Kotze and Burgers as fellow-ministers of the D. R. Church.” A third party adopted a via media, and said, “Submit to the authority of the Civil Courts, but submit under protest: rescind of your own accord the sentences passed against Kotz6 and Burgers, and grant them leave to sit and vote.” A historic debate upon these proposals ensued. The Moderator’s table was covered with amendments, many of which were moved only to be quickly withdrawn, as the insuperable difficulties by which they were surrounded were perceived. The conviction grew that the choice lay between the opinions of the second and third parties above described. The party of resistance embodied its views in a proposal (moved by the Revs. A. I. Steytler and A. McGregor) which, after a preamble reciting the grounds upon which it rested, concluded as follows—

The Assembly is convinced that the reinstatement of a suspended minister on the strength of the judgment of a Civil Law-court is a practical surrender of the spiritual independence of the Church, for which our fathers sacrificed their all, and a practical departure from the conscientious conviction of the Church, which confesses (founding upon God’s Word) that only the Church Courts have been ordained by the Head of the Church for the purpose of ruling the Church and administering ecclesiastical discipline.

The more moderate party submitted a proposal of the following import, which was moved by the Revs. J. H. du Plessis and A. D. Liickhoff—

The Synod, called to decide whether it shall acknowledge the minister of Hanover as a member of this Assembly on the strength of the judgment of the Civil Court now submitted, declares :

(1) That, in accordance with the spirit of section eight of the Church Ordinance, it acknowledges the right of the Civil Court to enquire into an ecclesiastical sentence for the purpose of preventing damage to the person and property of the complainant;

(2) That it cannot grant the Civil Court the right of nullifying the spiritual effect of an ecclesiastical sentence, and of thus deciding on the spiritual status of the members and ministers of the Church;

(3) That, whatever the decisions of the judges may have been in this matter, it is of opinion that no real injustice has been done to the minister of Hanover by the ecclesiastical sentence;

(4) That nevertheless, under existing circumstances, rather than assume an attitude of defiance towards the Civil Court, or submit meekly to its judgments, the Synod decides voluntarily to rescind the ecclesiastical sentence in this matter, as it hereby does.

When the matter was brought to vote, no less than five resolutions were tabled, but only the above-named two secured any large measure of support. The former proposal was rejected by 74 votes to 29, and the latter resolution was then carried, but only by a majority of eight votes—52 as against 44. On the following day the Synod adopted a similar resolution, withdrawing its sentence against Kotze.

In the voting on this important question Mr. Murray gave his adherence to the rejected motion, and was found in opposition to the resolution which found favour with the majority of the Synod. The minority felt so strongly upon the subject that on the 2nd November they handed in the following protest—

The undersigned, who voted in the minority in the discussion on the Burgers case, hereby protest against the rejection of the proposal of the minister of Uitenhage [Rev. Steytler], which aimed at refusing a seat in this Synod to the minister of Hanover, . . on the following grounds :

Firstly, because in English law the principle is acknowledged that the Civil Court has to do solely with the temporal and not with the spiritual results of an ecclesiastical sentence, and the Court here, through disregard of this principle, has encroached upon the most precious rights of our Church ;

Secondly, because the doctrine of the independent judicial competency of the Church is a life-principle for us, as it was for our fathers, and the Church cannot disown it without endangering her dearest interests ;

Thirdly, because we fear that the reinstatement of a minister suspended for unsoundness in doctrine, even though this reinstatement results from an ecclesiastical resolution, will have the effect of allowing the Court to persist in the course it has adopted, permitting Unbelief to raise its head with greater boldness, and causing our testimony against error to lose much of its force.

This protest was signed by these ministers: R. Shand, A. I. Steytler, J. H. Neethling, H. son, Andrew Murray, A. McGregor, Chas. Murray, A. B. Daneel, E. de Beer, P. D. Rossouw, S. Hofmeyr, W. P. Rousseau, J. Roos, W. Robertson, Jr., W. P. de Villiers, A. H. Hofmeyr, J. S. Hauman, Geo. Murray, G. W. Stegmann, Jr., and Prof. N. J. Hofmeyr, sitting as Elder of Stellenbosch.

The apprehensions expressed in the last paragraph of the above protest were happily not realized. The two censured ministers, it is true, succeeded in maintaining their connexion with the Church. Mr. Kotze continued to fill the pastorate of Darling until compelled by age and increasing infirmity to resign his charge. Mr. Burgers remained minister of Hanover for two years longer, when he was elected President of the Transvaal, and severed his connexion with the D. R. Church. Of the other ministers within the Church who held Liberal views—and they were not many—some withdrew from a communion in which they felt themselves to be out of sympathy both with their ministerial brethren and with their own congregations, and others either openly renounced their Liberalism or approximated gradually to the doctrines of the Church. Writing in 1875 Mr. F. Lion Cachet—a well-informed observer—expresses himself as follows on the outcome of the long struggle—

At present the “moderns" are in a complete minority in our Church. Outside the Church they may extend themselves, but within the Church they have for the time being no say at all. Their shout of victory was raised too soon. They set about their destructive work in too highhanded a fashion, and took too little account of the power of the Truth which the Cape Church confesses and vindicates. Since 1870 they have no position in the Synod. They talk, and are allowed to talk, but small attention is paid to what they say. And this they find to be a deathblow.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 11

The Cape Town Pastorate

Merely to build schools and churches for the poor is to offer them stones for bread. There must be living, loving Christian workers, who, like Elisha of old, will take the dead into their arms, and prayerfully clasp them close until they come to life again.—Andrew Murray.

IN relating the full story of the conflict of the D. R. Church with the civil authorities, we have considerably outrun the chronological order of events. The commencement of the struggle saw Mr. Murray still fulfilling the duties of a country pastor; the close found him settled as one of the collegiate ministers of an urban congregation.

The year 1864 was the last of his pastorate at Worcester. To the outstanding events of that year belong a visit from the veteran Dr. Duff, who after more than thirty years’ labour in Calcutta, was returning to his homeland in order to occupy a responsible position in connexion with the Foreign Missions Board of the Free Church of Scotland. “What a noble old Scot he is,” writes Mrs. Murray, “so grand in his simplicity and humility, but in very delicate health, and quite unequal to any excitement. I greatly enjoyed his conversation. He is an exemplification of the doctrines of Quietism in action—if you understand what I mean. All those expressions of being dead to self and lost in God which one finds in Madame Guyon seem to be exemplified in his experience and life.”

In spite of physical weakness, Dr. Duff undertook a lengthy tour through South Africa, visiting mission fields and mission stations in various parts of the country, giving advice, especially on matters of native education, out of his wide experience, and imparting a stimulus to mission work which soon manifested itself in many directions. On his arrival in Cape Town a breakfast was held in his honour in the schoolroom adjoining St. Andrew’s (Presbyterian) Church. The chair was occupied by Dr. Abercrombie, the foremost of the Christian physicians of Cape Town, and among the guests was Bishop Tozer, of the Universities’ Mission, then just proceeding to undertake the duties of his extensive diocese in Central Africa. At this gathering Dr. Duff related how, thirty-four years previously, when on his first voyage to India, he had suffered shipwreck on Dassen Island, within fifty miles of Cape Town, and had been treated with the utmost kindness by Dr. Abercrombie, their present chairman, and Dr. Abraham Faure, minister of the D. R. Church. Three days after this meeting, on the 20th June, Dr. Duff sailed for Europe, to prosecute for fourteen years longer his work of kindling missionary zeal in the Churches of Scotland.

Few of Mr. Murray’s letters from the period which now occupies us still survive. His attention was engrossed, and his strength and time absorbed, by his duties as Moderator, and by the many anxious labours of that time of storm and stress. The letters which we possess are brief, and deal mostly with matters in connexion with the struggle with Free Thought. On the 26th May, 1864, he writes—

To his Father.

Accept with Mama of my sincere congratulations for your birthday. May God fulfil all your wishes and grant you your heart’s desires with regard to the year you are entering upon. May the light of the Home you are nearing shine more brightly than ever, and may the power of the world to come enable you to scatter larger blessings around you than heretofore. . . .

I would be glad of a perusal of Bates on Spiritual Perfection. I cannot say that I agree in everything with Upham and Madame Guyon. I approve of their books and recommend them, hecause I think they put our high privileges more clearly before us than is generally done, and thereby stir us to rise higher. The incorrectness of certain intellectual conceptions or expressions becomes a secondary matter, as long as we have God's Word to try and correct them by. Among the old writers I know on the subject, the chapter on union with Christ in Marshall On Sanctification pleases me most.

On Church matters I hardly know what to write. I suppose Burgers will take the same high tone that Kotze did, and refuse to give the required explanation. The opportunity afforded him to do so was entirely the suggestion of his friends. May the Lord guide our Church. What a sad thing the scarcity of ministers is. I felt it very much at Clanwilliam. There is Namaqualand, thirty-six hours [216 miles] off, with the salary of a minister guaranteed and a church built, but no minister to be had. Is there no prospect of more students from Graaff-Reinet?

On the 5th July, 1864, Mr. Murray was called to fill the vacancy in the joint pastorate of Cape Town occasioned by the retirement of the Rev. J. Spijker. For the first time in the history of the congregation, extending over a period of more than two hundred years, the minister was chosen by the vote of the accredited electors of the congregation itself. Heretofore the appointment had always been in the hands of the Government, and the fact that liberty of choice was now conceded in the oldest (and most conservative) congregation of the country was a signal proof of the changed order of things. Mr. Murray must have felt from the outset that the call could not be lightly set aside, and that, if stationed at Cape Town, the storm-centre of the prevailing troubles, he could more satisfactorily do battle for his Church’s cause. On the 21st July he writes—

To his Father.

I am sure I will have your sympathy during my present time of trial. As far as my own impressions go, and the advice of friends outside of Worcester, everything appears to point to Cape Town, but it is difficult really to bring my mind to say Yes. So much is implied in that little answer, by which I venture to undertake such a great work. I shall be glad of your special prayers that I may be kept from going, unless it be with very special preparation from on high.

You will perhaps ere this have received the announcement of our decision in the Burgers case, and have seen that you have to preach at Hanover on the first Sabbath of August. I remembered that it was your aanneming [confirmation], but it did not appear advisable that we should wait a week longer. And we did not like to depart from the order of the Presbyterial list [of congregations]. In the interests of the whole Church your aanneming could perhaps be postponed for once. All the members of the Synodical Committee were specially anxious that you should be the first to go. You are aware that there are many waverers, like the Vissers, for whom it is of great consequence that they should be kept right by the presence and advice of one whom they have long known and respected. May God give you grace and wisdom for the work.

In pursuance of the instructions of the Synodical Committee Mr. Murray, senior, proceeded to Hanover, with what result we saw in the previous chapter. The Consistory of Hanover, on the advice and at the instigation of Mr. Burgers, refused him leave to preach or baptize, and put upon him the ignominy of returning home with his mission unfulfilled. This action provoked the following letter from the son (dated nth August, 1864)—

To his Father.

Many thanks for your kind expressions of sympathy in the matter of the Cape Town call. You will have seen by the papers that I have accepted it. It is some comfort to me to think that I go in answer to many prayers, and that it may please God to use me as an instrument for the hearing of still more prayers, that are laid up before Him, for a blessing on that congregation. If God wills to bless, no instrument is too weak, and blessed it is to be the instrument which He condescends to use.

I received this evening Burgers’ announcement of his intention to proceed with his work, as well as a communication, signed by five churchwardens, saying that they had requested him to do so, and had written to you not to come. I sincerely pray that God may have given you wisdom and grace to act aright.

What do you think? Is it not our duty now to go to the Civil Court, in order to get possession of the buildings? The unfortunate churchwardens are deceived by all sorts of talk, and I think it would be our duty to give them proof positive that they are bound to obey us as to the buildings. I fear a great deal of mischief may be done by our allowing Burgers to take as long a time as he is doing to drag on his case.

I have not for a long time felt so excited at such conduct in an up-country herkeraad. It shows us how little independent religious principle there is amongst the mass of our people, and how Liberalism is gradually growing in power.

Mr. Murray’s Cape Town ministry commenced on the 10th November, 1864. His two colleagues, Dr. Abraham Faure and Dr. Heyns, were men who had grown grey in the service of the D. R. Church, the former having completed forty-two and the latter twenty-eight years of active work. With Dr. Faure, a man of the widest and most evangelical sympathies, Mr. Murray found himself in complete accord; but Dr. Faure had already attained the ripe age of sixty-eight, and was no longer equal to the tasks of former years. Dr. Heyns, on the other hand, belonged to the dignified school of ministers, who fulfilled their official duties with conscientious faithfulness, but had little energy or inclination for the aggressive work of a city pastorate. He was, moreover, professor of the Dutch language and literature at the South African College, as well as tutor in Hebrew—a position which still further circumscribed his utility as a pastor. Under circumstances such as these it is not to be wondered at that Mr. Murray found himself plunged into a round of multifarious duties which made heavy and ceaseless demands upon his strength. Of the nature of these varied activities more will be said presently.

Upon eighteen months of strenuous and uninterrupted toil followed a period of welcome relief, when, in obedience to the decision of the Synodical Committee, Mr. Murray proceeded to England in charge of the Church’s appeal to the Privy Council. He was accompanied by Mrs. Murray and the five children with whom their marriage had up to that date been blessed. They sailed from Table Bay in May, 1866, and one of the earliest letters which they must have received from the home circle conveyed the news of the death of the Rev. Andrew Murray, senior, who passed to his rest on the 24th of June following. Not many months previously he had obtained leave to retire, on the ground of age and growing weakness, after having faithfully served the Church for forty-three years. This sad event caused a grievous gap in the family circle, and Andrew Murray, junior, gives utterance to his feelings in the following letter, dated Tiverton, 20th August, 1866—

To his Mother.

The news of our dear father’s departure has just reached us. And you will not think it strange if I say that I could not weep. I felt that there was too much cause for thanksgiving. How indeed can we thank God aright for such a father, who has left us such a precious legacy in a holy life, so full of love to us and of labour in his Master’s work. May his example be doubly influential, now that we have him glorified with his Saviour. For he is still ours. I cannot express what I felt yesterday in church—we received the tidings on Saturday evening—at the thought of what his meeting with his Master must have been, and what his joy in the perfect rest of His presence. It must be a joy passing knowledge, to find and see One of whom the soul has been thinking for fifty years, for whom it has longed and thirsted, grieved and prayed, spoken and laboured—all at once to find Him, and to find everything it has said or felt or tasted in its most blessed moments but as a shadow compared with the inexpressible reality. What a joy, what a worship, what a love that must be when, with the veil of the flesh torn away, the ransomed spirit recovers itself from its death-struggle at the feet of Jesus.

Jesus, the very thought of Thee With sweetness fills the breast;

But sweeter far Thy face to see.

And in Thy presence rest:

I feel as if the thought of his being with the Lord, and having entered into his reward, should work with power to make us look with clearness and assurance to the time when we too shall receive our eternal inheritance. The Saviour who hath done it for him will do it for us. He is ours as well as his. It is this He longs to accomplish in us—to prepare us for. Surely we should give ourselves up afresh to Him, to live in the light and the hope of that blessed prospect. May God give all our dear father’s loved ones grace to do so.

And I feel confident that my dearest mother has tasted in abundant measure the comfort and support which the Saviour gives. Not but what there must be some dark and lonely hours ; but they will make the Saviour’s presence more precious, and help the more to lift the heart heavenward in the prospect of the eternal reunion. We cannot but be specially grateful for the kind Providence which has arranged for Charles taking Papa’s place,1 and keeping unchanged and sacred so many memories which otherwise would have been lost. May the God of our home still dwell there and abundantly bless. And I need hardly add that you must please accept of all the tokens of love and service which Charles gives as coming from us all. I could envy him the privilege of being the deputy of the rest to cherish and cheer her whom our dear father has left behind to us.

From Charles’ letter you will hear what our movements have been and what our prospects are. I feel almost doubly ashamed at having been in the midst of enjoyment, while others were not only working hard but sorrowing too ; but I can only hope, as I do expect, that it will be sealed of God as the means of greater bodily and spiritual strength.

The absence of the Murrays in Europe lasted for ten months, from May, 1866, to March, 1867. The reasons for so long a detention must be sought for in “the law’s delays”—the dilatoriness of the Judicial Committee first in hearing and then in giving judgment upon the case of Murray versus Burgers. The hearing took place on the 10th and 12th of November, the counsel for the appellant being Advocate Neil Campbell of the Scottish Bar and Sir Roundell Palmer, the Attorney-General, and judgment (adverse to the appellant) was only delivered on the 6th February, 1867. A member of the public who attended the hearing of the case wrote as follows : “Mr. Murray was, of course, present. His appearance I found to be exceedingly prepossessing; and after having read his address to the Cape Supreme Court, I think he would have pleaded his cause better than Mr. Campbell did. When the latter was half-way through his reply, Mr. Murray left the court.” The reason for Mr. Murray’s sudden departure in the midst of an important and engrossing trial is found by an examination of the domestic records. On the 10th of November Mrs. Murray presented her husband with a little son—the second son and sixth child—who was baptized with the name of Andrew Haldane.

Of Mr. Murray’s movements during his long sojourn we have no certain record. He preached apparently, with his usual fervour and with much acceptance, in several London churches ; and the impression made was such that it led some months subsequently to a call to the pastorate of the Maryle-bone Presbyterian Church,—an invitation which Mr. Murray felt compelled to decline. In October he attended a Conference held at Bath, and the powerful addresses which he delivered on that occasion were published in the November issue of Evangelical Christendom. He had also been deputed, together with the Rev. H. van Broekhuizen, to represent the D. R. Church at the annual gathering of the Evangelical Alliance at Amsterdam, but owing to the prevalence of cholera on the Continent the holding of this meeting was abandoned.

Immediately after the delivery of the judgment of the Judicial Committee Mr. Murray sailed from England, arriving in Cape Town on the 14th March, 1867. On the following Sunday he addressed his flock on the words of Exodus xviii.: "They asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent.” He returned to an atmosphere of heated, and sometimes acrimonious, controversy. In 1867 the Liberal Movement at the Cape was at the height of its power and influence. The Burgers case had drawn widespread attention and had found sympathizers even from beyond the boundaries of South Africa. Among those who contributed towards the legal expenses in which Mr. Burgers was involved we find the names of Bishop Colenso (himself just emerging triumphant from prolonged legal proceedings), Professor Benjamin Jowett of Oxford, and Professor Lewis Campbell of St. Andrews.

During Mr. Murray’s absence the Rev. D. P. Faure1 had arrived in South Africa ; and in the course of the month of August he inaugurated those meetings in the Mutual Hall which led to the establishment of the Free Protestant Church, as already described. In all these years the echoes of controversy were never silent. The Dutch Press of the day consisted of the three papers De Zuid-Afrikaan, Het Volksblad and De Volksvriend, and these newspapers were practically organs of the various forms of religious opinion. Not an issue appeared but contained an article or a letter on the subject which engrossed public attention to the almost total exclusion of all others.

The lectures of Mr. David Faure in the Mutual Hall dealt inter alia with the following subjects : Human Reason, the Old Testament, the New Testament, Miracles, Jesus Christ, the Atonement, Eternal Punishment; and expounded these great themes in strict accordance with approved rationalistic principles. When the series was concluded they were published in a volume bearing the title Modern Theology, and issued early in 1868. This was a direct challenge to the D. R. Church to examine the foundations and re-state the grounds of its faith, and this task was undertaken by Mr. Murray in a series of discourses preached in the Adderley Street church. The opening words of his first sermon, which, following Mr. Faure’s order, was on the “Human Reason,” were these—

The occasion for the delivery of the discourses of which this is the first is plain to you all. Every one knows what has been recently taking place. We imagined ourselves to be in the possession of a religion raised, beyond all doubt, of divine origin, whose truth and authority were proved and assured by divine signs. We felt ourselves at ease in the possession of complete truth. A little strife there might yet be concerning the meaning and correct expression of individual doctrines; we might still have to confess that we did not yet exhibit and experience their full force; but this was due to our own unfaithfulness;—the truth as such had been given us from heaven. And lo ! we suddenly hear a voice stating that we have deceived ourselves. And this voice is not, as in former times, that of enemies outside the Church and Christianity, who openly confess that it is their purpose to overturn both. Nor is it the voice of individuals within the Church, who are merely attacking jingle truths. It is the voice of those who, while assuring us that they are Christians, reject altogether the confession of the Christian Church, and preach to us a perfectly new Christianity. They tell us that what we have considered as the chief question is a matter of secondary importance ; that what we have confessed and preached as the essence of Christianity is but of temporary worth; that the doctrines upon which we insist are dross, and that they will reveal to us the fine gold, which the Church has possessed without recognizing. In accents of superiority and with invincible courage Modern Theology summons us to hearken and follow. Men’s minds are in a state of disturbance : no one can stand aloof from this struggle. And therefore we, too, desire to enquire, in this place of our religious gatherings, into what so closely affects our religion, whose destruction is so boldly announced. As confessors of the ancient Christianity, we wish to ask what this new doctrine has to say, in order to persuade us to forsake or to modify the faith of the fathers.

These discourses of Mr. Murray, delivered in Dutch on successive Monday evenings, traversed in detail the positions adopted by Mr. Faure in his Modern Theology. The following were the subjects of the thirteen lectures : the Human Reason, Revelation, the Old Testament, the New Testament, Miracles, the Resurrection, Jesus the Son of Man, Jesus Christ the Son of God, Man, the Atonement, Eternal Punishment, Prophecy, Truth and Error. Of the great ability displayed in these discourses there cannot be two opinions. Mr. Faure himself, whose writings were chiefly assailed, confesses that “ both as regards matter and manner Mr. Murray’s lectures were far superior to those previously referred to, and they represent the only serious attempt made to meet argument with argument.” The general attitude assumed was that of the apologetic of half a century ago, and in the foreword to the published lectures Mr. Murray expresses his indebtedness to Luthardt’s Fundamental and Saving Truths of Christianity. For the benefit of those who understood no Dutch, Mr. Murray also lectured in English in the Commercial Exchange, the Advertiser and Mail characterizing his utterance on that occasion as “keen in thought, scientific in treatment, and as profoundly philosophical in its essence as it was eloquent in expression.”

During Mr. Murray’s absence in England Dr. Abraham Faure resigned his charge and became emeritus. At the meeting of the combined consistory, held on the 18th February, 1867, in order to call a third minister, a petition was handed in, signed by 527 members out of a total of 3,000, praying the consistory to elect the Rev. J. J. Kotze, P. son, on the ground that “ the choice of the minister mentioned will greatly contribute towards removing the estrangement which has for some time existed between the consistory and a large portion of the congregation.” Needless to say, the petition could not be allowed : in accordance with Church law the election of office-bearers must be by ballot. But the number of signatures attached to the petition shows the strength to which the Liberal Movement had attained in the seventh decade of the century. After one or two fruitless calls, the congregation succeeded in securing as third minister Mr. Murray’s cousin, the Rev. G. W. Stegmann, Jr., a man of ability, great eloquence and wide culture.

The newly-established Free Thought Church drew to itself many members of Christian Churches who were dissatisfied with the old creeds, and wished, like the ancient Athenians, to tell or hear some new thing. Among those who notified the consistory of their intention to secede from the D. R. Church were the mother, sister, and two aunts of Mr. Faure. On the Sunday following this notification their names, according to law and custom, were announced from the pulpit; and Mr. Murray on this occasion delivered a sermon for which he was very sharply criticized by the Liberals. His discourse was based upon i John ii. 18-23. The words “ They went out from us, but they were not of us ” were applied by the preacher to the case of those who had given notice of their secession from the Church. In his special reference to what had occurred, he said, " We find some suddenly denying Christ who for forty or fifty years confessed and worshipped Him as the Son of God. We find some who formerly, when members of the consistory, led and edified the congregation, now labouring to secure a victory for unbelief. In spite of all this cry about deliverance from priestcraft, we find the teachings of a preacher accepted, solely because of attachment to his person, and by none as readily as by the so-called free-thinkers. In spite of the boast of independence of enquiry, there are proofs in all parts of the country that members of the same family, merely because a man is a son or a relative, readily accept all his utterances.”

Before delivering his sermon Mr. Murray had read, as the Old Testament lesson for the day, the passage from Deuteronomy xiii., where Israel is warned against false prophets. In his running comments he had remarked upon the false prophet, whose aim it was to seduce men from God (verses 1-5), upon the influence exercised by relatives and friends, through whose affection men might be led astray (verses 6-11), and upon the power of numbers to undermine men's allegiance to the one God (verses 12-18). In the course of the sermon he referred to the lesson in the following terms: “ Let me only remind you of the chapter read at the commencement, and of the various forms of temptation against which we are warned in those verses.”

These references to the seceders, and to the reasons of their withdrawal from the communion of the D. R. Church, were certainly pointed enough, nor is there any reason to deny that Mr. Murray felt deeply aggrieved at their superficial grasp of the truths of Christianity, and at the ease and light-heartedness with which they severed their connexion with the Church of their fathers. But the remarks which Mr. Faure permits himself on this occurrence are highly exaggerated and in some respects demonstrably false. “This incident,” he says, “enables the present generation to form some conception of— I will not say the excitement, but—the frenzy which had seized upon the defenders of the Faith. It is simply inconceivable that a man of the stamp of the Rev. Andrew Murray, who as Moderator of the Synod represented the D. R. Church,1 just as the Prime Minister represents the Government, could on such an occasion have read out to his congregation as a divine commandment that they should put me, the false prophet, to death, and that it was also their religious duty to stone the four unfaithful sisters with stones till they were dead!”  If there was "excitement amounting to frenzy,” it seems to have raged in the breast not of Mr. Murray, but of his opponents.

In 1871 Mr. Murray was involved in another long controversy with the Liberals, his antagonist on this occasion being none other than Rev. J. J. Kotze, who had accused him before the Synod of 1870 of departing from the doctrines of predestination as expounded in the Canons of the Synod of Dort. Mr. Kotze’s charges against Mr. Murray were specifically four. “You teach,” said Mr. Kotze, “(i) that it is a man’s own fault if he be lost, (2) that man is saved or lost by virtue of his own free will, (3) that man can voluntarily reject God’s love and render nugatory God’s efforts to lead him to conversion, and (4) that God desires the salvation of all, and has sent Jesus Christ into the world to secure salvation for all.” These doctrines he maintained to be in conflict with the explicit statements of the Canons. In successive issues of De Volksvriend Mr. Murray set himself to refute these charges. He rebutted the first by proving through quotations from the Canons themselves that they distinctly state that impenitent man’s final condemnation is due to his own fault. With reference to the second accusation he denied emphatically that he had anywhere taught that man is saved by his own free will and not by God’s grace, while pointing out at the same time that the Canons clearly safeguard the doctrine of the freedom of the will. As regards the third charge, Mr. Murray proved that the words employed by him were in full accord with the teachings of the Canons. The last charge was in some respects the most difficult to meet, but Mr. Murray demonstrated that the Canons are careful not to commit themselves to the doctrine of a limited atonement. “The fathers of Dort,” he said, “have refrained from anywhere stating that Christ died only for the elect, and much less have they ventured anywhere to assert that He did not die for all.” The aim and purpose of Mr. Kotze’s attack were obvious enough. He was far from being a defender of the ancient formularies. On the contrary, he had been condemned and sentenced by the Church for refusing adherence to one of its creeds. The object of his assault was to prove that not only he, the heretic Kotze, but Andrew Murray himself, sometime Moderator of Synod, and champion of orthodoxy, was guilty of divergence from the accepted doctrines of the Church. This he failed to prove—that much is certain. But even had he succeeded in showing that Mr. Murray’s utterances were in verbal (or even real) conflict with the statements of the Canons, still the difference in the attitude of the two men was infinite. Kotze had openly declared that he dissented from the doctrines of the Heidelberg Catechism, had repeatedly refused to retract, and had taken no trouble to conceal his contempt for all credos and formularies. Murray, on the other hand, keenly resented the imputation of disloyalty to the teachings of the creeds, and showed by word and act in what high esteem he held the formularies of the D. R. Church.

It is pleasant to escape from the din of controversy, and'to glance at the subject of these memoirs in his home life and congregational activities. His Cape Town home was situated in Kloof Street on the slopes of the Lion’s Head, and bore the name of Craig Cottage. It lay at that time upon the very outskirts of the city. The house fronted Table Bay, and the slope before the door had been levelled to form two terraces, occupied by a garden which contained a variety of fruit trees, as well as ornamental trees like the following : banyan, Jerusalem thorn, elephant’s foot, hibiscus, laurestinus, pomegranate, pepper and cypress. In our day electric trams rush past the door, and the noise and tumult of the city are never silent; but fifty years ago this abode, remote and yet accessible, must have been an ideal retreat for the hard-worked city minister. At the back of the house was a large green field, which sloped up towards Kloof Road, and was backed by dense fir plantations covering the lower declines of the Lion. To this open space the whole family would adjourn on Sunday afternoons, when the children would be examined by their father on the lessons of the day, or entertained with stories of missionary heroism. One of the sisters recalls the fact that they were the first to introduce the game of croquet into the Colony, and that Mrs. Murray’s sewing-machine was one of the earliest to be seen in Cape Town.

Before the close of Mr. Murray’s town ministry the number of children had increased to eight, five daughters and three sons. Besides their own children the Murrays frequently had other young people sojourning under their roof-tree. To Hermanus Bosman reference has already been made; Willem Joubert, afterwards minister at Uniondale and North Paarl, was for a brief space an inmate of their home; and Mr. Murray’s younger sister Ellie remained with them for eighteen months to prosecute her studies under Prof. Noble and Mrs. Wise. Another inmate was Frederick Kolbe, son of the Rev. F. W. Kolbe, a highly-respected missionary of the Rhenish Society. Young Kolbe was a lad of many parts, and great expectations were cherished concerning him, but he subsequently became a convert to Romanism, and has for many years past been associated with St. Mary’s (Roman Catholic) Cathedral in Cape Town as the Rev. Dr. Kolbe. His esteem for Mr. Murray, however, continued undiminished, and after the lapse of nearly fifty years he penned the following letter—

Rev. F. C. Kolbe, D.D. to Dr. Andrew Murray.

St. Mary’s, Cape Town, 8th June, 1915.

My dear Dr. Murray,—‘When I was leaving you on Saturday you spoke of its being "kind’’ in me to come. My voice being unfamiliar to you, I found it a little hard to make you hear, or I should have moved an amendment on the word at once. From the time, now more than forty years ago, when you opened to me your own beautiful home-life, with your personal kindliness and Mrs. Murray’s sweet and gracious motherliness, you planted in me a reverence, affection and gratitude which have never withered. Life has put barriers between us, but to me it is always a privilege and an honour to come and see you, and a keen pleasure. The word “ kind ” therefore, except in so far as kindness is part of pietas, was hardly the word to use. May God’s blessings enrich all your remaining days!

Ever yours gratefully,

F. C. Kolbe.

The congregation of Cape Town, to which Mr. Murray and his two colleagues ministered, was an immense one, consisting (according to figures supplied by the Church Almanac of 1868) of some 5,000 adherents and more than 3,000 communicant members. There were two church buildings,—the Groote Kerk (Great Church), which was situated in the chief thoroughfare of the city, Adderley Street, and the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), which faced Bree Street and lay nearer the residential quarter. The former building could seat three thousand, and the latter about one-third of that number. In these two churches the three ministers preached in rotation.

Mr. Murray realized very speedily that much more could be done and should be done for the less privileged classes who lived in the remoter localities of the city. Schools there already were—in the western quarter, near the New Church, and in the eastern suburb, at Papendorp (now Woodstock), as well as at Rogge Bay on the Dock Road; while in 1867 another church-cum-school building was erected in Hanover Street. At these various institutions from eight hundred to a thousand children of the poorer classes were under Christian instruction. Weekly services, conducted by one of the ministers or by a city missionary, were regularly held at these preaching stations, and thus the Gospel was brought to the doors of the common people.

But Mr. Murray did more than merely enlarge the scope of his own activities. He possessed in large measure the gift of inspiring others and setting them to work. Shortly after his arrival in Cape Town, a brief article appeared in the KerkboAe, which bears clear evidence of having come from his hand. Quoting from the Sunday Magazine, then under the editorship of the famous Dr. Guthrie, he endeavours to explain the principles upon which slum work was carried on in Edinburgh. Dr. Guthrie shows how, in order to fill a licensed bar, nothing more is necessary than to throw open the doors. The longing for drink impels people to enter. But it is different in the case of a church. It is not enough that the doors be flung wide open. The poor and the lost must be looked up and brought in. And this is something which, as Dr. Chalmers used to maintain, neither the minister nor the city missionary can do effectively. It is necessary that their labours be reinforced by the activity of a band of believing men and women, each with a small district containing so many (or rather so few) families as he or she is able to visit once a week without neglecting his ordinary duties. Merely to build schools and churches for the poor, is to offer them stones for bread. There must be living, loving Christian workers, who like Elisha of old, will take the dead into their arms, and prayerfully clasp them close until they come to life again. Is there not a wide field for such labour in Cape Town, and are there not men and women who will declare themselves ready to undertake it? God-grant it! ”

Mr. Murray’s interest as city pastor was quickly aroused in the spiritual and intellectual welfare of young men. He found on his arrival in Cape Town a Mutual Improvement Society already existing, which met in the old Town House on Greenmarket Square, and debated public questions in the English language. Of this Society he was elected president; and the biographer of the Hon. J. H. Hofmeyr ("Onze Jan”) tells that a famous discussion was waged between the president and Mr. Hofmeyr on the question whether gunpowder or the Press were the more potent in its influence for evil, on which occasion the latter gentleman, who indicted the Press, carried the majority with him.

Mr. Murray felt, however, the need of an agency to reach young men, established upon a broader basis and inspired by more definitely spiritual aims ; and in response to this need there was commenced, in August, 1865, the Young Men’s Christian Association, of which Mr. Murray became the first president. For some time the members of the Mutual Improvement Society stood aloof, but when after two years their leader, Mr. Hofmeyr, joined the Young Men's, they relinquished their independence, and formed the nucleus of the Mutual Improvement Section in the new Association. The meetings were held in the hall of the Mutual Life Association Society in Darling Street and many years elapsed before the Association was able to put up its present handsome and commodious premises in Long Street. Mr. Murray’s connexion with the Association was long and honourable. The confidence which the original members reposed in his abilities and their appreciation of his keen interest were shown by their twice re-electing him as president during his absence in England. On his return the Association accorded him a public welcome at a tea-meeting held on the 28th March, 1867.

The interesting address which Mr. Murray delivered on that occasion dealt largely with two matters which belonged to the burning questions of the day. The first was the growth of Ritualism in the Church of England, in discussing which Mr. Murray declared that, though he greatly deplored the increase of sacerdotal and ritualistic tendencies, he did not share the gloomy forebodings of those pessimists who maintained that England would soon be a Roman Catholic country. The other question upon which he touched was the position of Liberalism in Holland, in which connexion he recorded his conviction that the general condition was better than it was when he visited the country nine years previously, and that the tide of Liberalism which at one time threatened to sweep all before it, had passed its high-water mark and was now beginning to ebb.

In 1870 the Synods of both the Anglican and the Dutch Reformed Churches were in session, the former in June and the latter in October. This double event, in conjunction with the troubles in which both Churches had been recently involved, the Anglican Church in the Colenso case, and the D. R. Church in the Kotze-Burgers case, gave rise to an interchange of views on the Unity of Christendom. The Synod of the Church of the Province of South Africa, “deeply deploring the manifold evils . . . resulting from the divisions among Christians,” expressed itself as desirous of discussing with the authorities of other Communions “the principles upon which re-union in one visible body in Christ might be effected.” To these overtures the Synod of the D. R. Church replied by adopting a resolution, of which the more important paragraphs read as follows: “That the Synod especially rejoices in any sign of such nearer approximation in the case of the English Church, when it remembers the ecclesiastical inter-communion which existed, in the period immediately following the Reformation, between the English Church and the Protestant Churches of the Continent of Europe—an inter-communion of which the National Synod of Dort, in 1618 and 1619, saw a clear proof in the deputies of the English Church who took part in the proceedings of the Synod.” Furthermore, in appointing a Committee to enter into communication with the Bishops of the English Church, the Synod enjoined “ that this Committee, in such communications, shall have to consider the only basis of approximation and re-union—Holy Scripture,—and shall direct their attention, in the first place, to a unity of spirit as a preliminary to outward union, and to existing opportunities for common co-operation.”

The Committee thus appointed by the D. R. Synod consisted of the Moderator, the Actuarius and the Scriba of that body,— the Revs. P. E. Faure, A. Murray and Wm. Robertson,—who transmitted to Bishop Gray of the Anglican Church the resolution at which the Synod had arrived. In a letter, dated 31st May, 1871, Bishop Gray then endeavoured, as he put it, “to open out the great question” with some considerations which might serve as a basis for future discussion. After pointing out the general agreement of the two Churches on such points as the authority of Scripture, the use of a liturgy, the vindication of discipline, and the acceptance of creeds, he passed on to discuss "what sacrifices could or ought to be made on one side or the other to secure the great blessing of unity.” This gives him occasion to lay down as axiomatic that "there ought to be no compromise or surrender of what appears to either party fundamental truth clearly revealed of God.” “We are persuaded,” he continues, “that ours is the true and divine Order in Christ’s Church, with which we may neither part nor tamper,” and that “Episcopacy, in our meaning of the word, is ordained of God.” Recognizing this as the rock upon which all proposals for union were likely to be shipwrecked, the Bishop then endeavours to minimize the objections against this form of Church government, by the following statements— it became at a very early period the general rule of the Church throughout the world;

(3) It is wellnigh certain that the re-union of Christendom, which we believe that God will in His own good time bring to pass, cannot take place on any other platform;

(4) The leading Continental Reformers—Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin and others—would have willingly retained it. Your own divines, at Port, expressed their sorrow that they had from circumstances lost it.

On the 15th of August following the Committee of Three replied at length to the Bishop’s letter. The arguments for Episcopacy which had been advanced were one by one examined and refuted. Firstly, the Committee denied the proposition that “Episcopacy as distinguished from the parity of Ministers is lawful.” The “bishop” of the New Testament, they affirm, is no more than primus inter pares, and therefore Episcopacy as distinguished from the parity of Ministers has no warrant in Scripture. Secondly, they proceed by quotations from the writings of the Reformers to show that the latter never acknowledged the divine authority of the Bishop, but that for the sake of amity and concord they adopted the position laid down in the Schmalkald Articles, viz.: “If the Bishops would fulfil their office rightly, we might allow them, in the name of charity and peace, not of necessity, to ordain our Ministers.” They further deny that the Dort divines ever expressed regret at having lost Episcopacy, and finally they quote the principles laid down by Calvin in his Institutes as representing the views entertained universally by the Reformed Churches : “ In giving the names of Bishops, Presbyters and Pastors indiscriminately to those who govern Churches, I have done it on the authority of Scripture, which uses the words as synonymous.

. . . In each city the Presbyters selected one of their number to whom they gave the title Bishop, lest, as usually happens from equality, discussion should arise. The Bishop, however, was not so superior in honour and dignity as to have dominion over his colleagues ; but as it belongs to a president in an assembly to bring matters before them, collect their opinions, take precedence of others in consulting and advising, and execute what is decreed by common consent, so a Bishop held the same office in a meeting of Presbyters.”

As to the pretensions of the Anglican Church, as voiced by Bishop Gray, that it could surrender no portion of what it considered “ fundamental truth,” Messrs. Faure, Murray and Robertson express themselves in no uncertain fashion—

We confess that we can hardly see how the proposals submitted can be called proposals for union. We seek in vain, as we look forward to what would be found some fifty years hence as the result of what you propose, for any sign of the "United Episcopalian and Presbyterian Churches of South Africa.” We see an Episcopalian Church enlarged by the incorporation or absorption of a Presbyterian body. But we miss entirely in practice what has been so well expressed in theory. While on behalf of one of the contracting parties the following claims are put in, “Her divinely constituted Church Order shall not be tampered with"; "her Prayer-book cannot be parted with”; "our system of Synods is better suited to the wants of the Colony"; "I much doubt whether alteration in the language of such of our Articles as treat of Faith would be sanctioned”;—for the Presbyterian Church nothing less is suggested than that she should give up everything that now characterizes her, and simply merge her existence in another body. We think that further consideration will show that such proposals ensure their own rejection.

Bishop Gray replied to these arguments and criticisms in a long letter, which was published as a pamphlet of thirty-nine octavo pages under the title Union of Churches. In this reply he first labours to prove that Episcopacy, as an ecclesiastical system, cannot be dispensed with, for (a) there is “ no point upon which all schools of opinion in the Anglican Church are more nearly agreed,” and (b) the Continental Reformers repudiated not Episcopacy but the Papacy ; and Calvin, in particular, speaks with approbation of the system of the ancient Church, so that (adds the Bishop) “ I cannot but be thankful to find that the Church of the Province has so much support from so unlooked-for a quarter.” But, as if he was sensible of a lack of cogency in the arguments employed, the Bishop then has recourse to an ad hominem. “What has been the actual working,” he asks, “of the systems established and the principles laid down by the Continental Reformers as regards the countries to which their influence extended?” His answer is that “the general condition of Protestantism on the Continent is not satisfactory"; and in proof of this indictment he refers to Switzerland, where “the venerable Malan is living in schism from his brethren "; To France—“a cage of unclean birds, the hold of every foul spirit " ; to Holland and its “deplorable religious condition, 1,400 out of 1,500 preachers being Unitarians or Socinians”; and to Germany, whence “whatever of unbelief that has extended to England has been derived." “How are we to account for the decay of faith over these particular bodies? Is it not worth considering whether their state of separation from the ancient constitution and organization of the Church may not have somewhat to do with it? ” cries the Bishop. But to countries like Presbyterian Scotland, Nonconformist England and democratic America, to which presumably the influence of the "Continental Reformers" also extended, there is not a syllable of reference in this connexion.

As to the practical suggestion of the Dutch Reformed Committee that the clergy of both Churches should exchange pulpits and engage in acts of united prayer, it is swept haughtily aside with the observation: “To this I am constrained to reply that whatever it is that keeps us apart and forbids our becoming one Communion unfits us, in my estimation, to be at once safe and outspoken teachers of each other's people." Upon the whole incident of the union proposals the son and biographer of Bishop Gray offers this comment: “It was hardly possible to look for any real approach to union with a body who reject Episcopacy ; and as to what is called ‘ exchanging pulpits ’—priests of the Church lowering their office by preaching in dissenting places of worship, and inviting dissenters to preach to their people,—the Bishop did not consider that any advance towards real unity could ever be made by such unworthy compromises.”

With the temper and attitude displayed by Bishop Gray throughout the course of these negotiations no argument was possible, and the Committee, rather than continue a controversy which might engender heat but could cast no light, refrained from answering the last communication. Thus ended the first and last attempt to establish a rapprochement between the Dutch Reformed and the Anglican Churches in South Africa. In reporting the abortive result of the discussions to the Synod, the Committee expressed its opinion "that the Assembly had reason to congratulate itself upon the negotiations, since the D. R. Church had thereby given proof of its readiness to greet with joy every offer of the hand of friendship.”

In the Synod of 1870 Mr. Murray’s influence was unimpaired, in spite of the fact that his arguments failed to convince the majority that it was the Synod’s duty to disobey the judgment of the Civil Courts, and even though at a later stage his proposal that Parliament be petitioned to repeal the obnoxious Ordinance of 1843 was voted down. To the commanding position which he occupied witness is borne by his bitterest opponents. The writer of a series of satirical sketches entitled Zakspiegeltjes (Pocket Mirrors), which appeared during the Synodical meetings in that organ of undiluted Liberal opinion, Het Volksblad, draws the following picture—

First let me sketch the men of the ultra-orthodox party, who pose as watchmen on the walls of Zion. Under this category I begin with the Rev. A. Murray—a worthy leader. Eloquent, quick and talented, he has an acute mind and a clear judgment. He instantly divines the weak points of his opponents’ arguments, and knows how to assail them. He carries the meeting with him ; he is too clever for the most. He understands the art of making his ideas so attractive to the elders and the small minds among the ministers (who all look up with reverence to the Actuarius) that they very seldom venture to contradict Demosthenes, or, as another has called him, Apollos. It would be sacrilege to raise a voice against the Right Reverend the Actuarius, Andrew Murray. There is no member of the assembly who possesses more influence than Andrew Murray, and certainly there is no one among the conservatives who better deserves his influence. He is consistent, and consistency always demands respect.

In after years it was known that the writer of these Zakspiegeltjes was none other than the Rev. D. P. Faure.

During his Cape Town pastorate Mr. Murray began to devote himself more or less continuously to literary work. He commenced a series of devotional studies of the Fifty-first Psalm, which first saw the light as articles in the Kerkbode under the title, Zijt mij genadig (Be merciful unto me), and were subsequently published in book form as a manual for seekers. In 1868 in the same journal he commenced a series of papers on God’s Woord en de Dwaling (God’s Word and Error), which were, however, not carried very far. In the following year, when Dr. Abraham Faure was compelled through serious illness to intermit his labours of more than five-and-twenty years as editor of the Kerkbode, Mr. Murray undertook the onerous duty, which he continued to discharge for several years.

The unsatisfactory nature of the work in Cape Town, divided as it was by the collegiate system among three pastors, became increasingly apparent as the years went by. In July, 1871, Mr. Murray received a call to the congregation of Wellington, forty-five miles from Cape Town, and it immediately became a serious question whether he ought not, in spite of the claims of the metropolis, to accept this invitation to a new and independent charge. To his brother, who apparently tried to dissuade him from leaving Cape Town, he wrote as follows on 21st July, 1871—

To Professor Murray.

Thanks for your kind note. It shows how each one must at last decide for himself. Just the things which you would think insufficient for a decision are those which weigh with me. The first attraction is the state of the Wellington congregation. The second, a sphere of labour where I can have people, old and young, under my continuous personal influence. Perhaps it is my idiosyncrasy, but the feeling of distraction and pointlessness in preaching and in other labour grows upon me as I flounder about without a church to preach in, a congregation to labour among systematically, or the opportunity for regular aggressive work at those who stay away from Sunday services simply because they have never been taught better. As to your arguments, I cannot see that either Cape Town or Wellington throws much into the scale of a possibly more prolonged life. And though the possession of fixed property here looks, and I thought might be, an important consideration, it somehow does not appear to weigh. If it be His will that I go, He will provide in this matter. Nor does Willie Stegmann’s argument, Huet’s "ik ben onmisbaar" (I am indispensable)—the position of importance as representing the Church—appear to reach me. The whole thing is so very vague, and of course secondary. Your first work, your calling, is to be a pastor, and where you can be happy in this work thither you feel yourself drawn.

I do think that I have honestly and in childlike simplicity said to the Father that if He would have me stay here I am ready and willing. I have waited on purpose to see if from the side of the congregation here there might be what would indicate His will. But as yet I cannot say I see it. Pray that He would not leave me to my own devices. I dare not think that He will.

If you like, send this to Maria and to Professor Hofmeyr to read. I was half thinking of coming out to show you my notes of an answer to the Bishop.2 I wish you had business in Town to-morrow to bring you in.

In the course of the month of August Mr. Murray accepted the call, and on Thursday, the 21st of September, he was installed as minister of Wellington. The sermon on that occasion was delivered by Professor Hofmeyr from the words of Acts xiv. i, “And it came to pass that they so spake that a great multitude believed”; while Rev. G. van de Wall and Professor Murray also addressed brief words of welcome and encouragement to minister and congregation. Thus was Andrew Murray inducted to the charge with which he was connected as minister for thirty-four years, until his resignation in 1906, and Wellington now became the home in which he spent the remainder of his life.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 12

The Wellington Pastorate and the Huguenot Seminary

He wished to establish a school based on true principles. But in his mind these principles rested upon and grew out of what can only be described as a passionate conviction that education was, in a special sense, a work for God.—Edward Thring’s Biographer.

THE vale in which the town of Wellington is situated bore originally the name of Wagonmaker's Valley. It appears that about the middle of the eighteenth century, when “Father” Tulbagh ruled the Colony in true patriarchal style, an enterprising wagonmaker set up his anvil and forge at this spot, which all travellers from the distant, unknown north must needs pass in order to reach the capital. Hence the name “the Wagonmaker's Valley” During the course of the nineteenth century the valley of the Berg River, from the Paarl to Wellington, underwent rapid development. The two quiet villages awoke to new life and new activity. The clatter of mallets and the hum of machinery were heard, and busy workshops turned out in increasing quantities the waggons and Cape carts which were in so great demand by the farmers of the interior. At the present day the whole of the Berg River basin lying between the Drakenstein Range and the Paarl Mountain may be aptly called the Valley of the Wagonmakers.

At the time of Mr. Murray’s settlement Wellington must have been at the very acme of its material prosperity. It had been since November, 1863, the terminus of the railway from Cape Town, and the terminus it remained until 1875, when the line was extended as far as Ceres Road (now Wolseley).

All public and private conveyances, the light horse-waggon with its complement of passengers as well as the heavy transport waggon groaning under its weight of goods for the far interior, necessarily started from Wellington, or, when travelling in the opposite direction, made Wellington their objective. The road to the North led across the Draken-stein Mountains by the famous pass known, in honour of its engineer, as Bain’s Pass ; and from its summit the traveller looked down upon scenes of unrivalled beauty—waving cornfields, green vineyards, smiling orchards, old thatched homesteads with whitewashed walls, and beyond the village the gleaming waters of the Berg River, winding in and out among white sandy banks. “The picturesque town,” says a writer of later date, "has a most charming situation. To the east stands a range of lofty mountains, always rich in colour, and changing in the varying aspects of the day. Around, the land is covered with vineyards. Groves of fruit trees enclosing the pretty homes, arum lilies growing wild in great patches of purity, lilacs and peach trees aflame with colour, the exquisite freshness of the green foliage, the blue sky, brilliant sunshine, murmuring brooklets, combine to make one of the fairest of settings that mind of man can conceive.”

On assuming his duties as pastor of Wellington Mr. Murray found himself straightway immersed in a multitude of congregational problems and activities. The matters chiefly demanding attention were, the liquidation of the church debt, higher education and the training of teachers, local mission work, and the imminent introduction of the voluntary principle. This last matter demands a few words of explanation.

When the Batavian Government in 1806 surrendered the Cape to the English, the articles of capitulation (as has been already shown) imposed upon the new Government the duty “to maintain without alteration public worship as at present in use.” In fulfilment of this agreement the British Government for many years itself appointed ministers to the various congregations, and paid their salaries out of the Colonial treasury. But when for the Church Order of De Mist was substituted the famous Ordinance No. 3 of 1843, the Government was careful to explain that the financial support which it accorded the Dutch Reformed Church was purely voluntary. And as a matter of fact congregations established after (approximately) the year 1850 received no State support, since the Government speedily perceived that with the increase in the number of congregations, and the entrance of new denominations into South Africa, the stipends of the Colonial ministers were becoming a heavy drain upon the public purse. Twenty years later the number of congregations of all denominations had grown to more than four hundred, of which eighty received stipends amounting to £16,000, and the rest received nothing. This was felt to be not merely an anomaly, but an injustice; and a party of reform, at the head of which stood Mr. Saul Solomon, member of Parliament for Cape Town, began to agitate for what was known as the Voluntary Principle,— that is, the withdrawal of all State support, and the establishment of the congregations of each denomination upon the basis of the voluntary contributions of their members.

It cost the party of reform several years of strenuous toil before the principle—a very reasonable one—underlying their proposals was generally acknowledged. The arguments advanced by the stipendiary Churches were not based wholly on the impending loss of financial support. That alone was, they maintained, a matter of small import. “We have here to do,” wrote one minister, “with weightier interests than those that are purely monetary. The chief question with us may never be, ‘ Is it obligatory upon the Government— either on the ground of the conditions of capitulation or on any other ground—to provide for the support of our ministers? ’ The question is rather, ‘ Is the Government of this Colony to be a religious or an atheistic Government, is it to be Christian or heathen?' According to the Voluntary Principle, consistently applied, Government has no concern with Christianity as such: the religion of Mohammed has as much right to be heard in legislative matters as the religion of Christ; the Quran has an equal voice with the Bible.”

But in spite of arguments such as this, the pertinacity of Mr. Solomon gradually won over public opinion to his point of view. Year after year, notwithstanding defeats, session after session, he re-introduced his Bill, until in 1875 it passed both houses of the legislature and was placed upon the statute-book. No real injustice was done to any minister by the Bill. Ministers in receipt of Government stipends continued to draw them, and congregations which might have forfeited the grant through the death or departure of their minister were guaranteed the continuance of the subsidy for five years after the Bill became law. Mr. Murray, as one of those appointed under the old regime, drew his stipend during all the remaining years of his ministry; and even after his retirement continued to receive a portion of the pension due to him, from the public funds of the Colony.

In the pastoral work of his country congregation Mr. Murray introduced with the happiest results the method which he had employed in his Cape Town work, that, namely, of making mission work in the different wards of the parish the care of members of the congregation who were ready voluntarily to devote themselves to this labour of love. Though the Paris Evangelical Mission had been established in the Wagon-maker’s Valley since 1829, and was carrying on a great work among the descendants of the old slaves, there yet remained a large number of coloured people—day labourers, farm servants, household menials, herdsmen, and the like—who were still untouched by regular ministrations. Mr. Murray warmly interested himself in the spiritual condition of this neglected class, and sought to make some provision for their religious and their social needs. The manner in which he attacked this problem, and the success which attended his efforts to solve it, are thus described by a writer in the Kerkbode (13th July, 1872)—

As a result of the zealous labours of our minister, the number of coloured people who attend the Sunday-school in the Mission Hall on Sundays has now reached 120, with twelve teachers in rotation ; and in the evening school, which was commenced only a month ago, the number has risen to 200, old and young, with only eight teachers. May many more hearts be moved to render assistance in this most useful institution. In the out-districts of the congregation, too, our minister has so advanced matters that Sabbath-schools and evening schools for the coloured folk are held in almost every ward. May the Lord command His blessing on these labours!

In March, 1872, occurred the first separation in what had been hitherto an undivided family. Owing to the dearth of suitable high schools for girls in South Africa, the Murrays decided to send their two eldest daughters, aged fourteen and thirteen years respectively, to the Moravian Institution at Zeist in Holland. To these daughters, whose absence in Europe lasted for close on two years, the father wrote with regularity and at considerable length. A few of these letters are here reproduced, both for the little details which they impart about the home life of the Wellington Parsonage, and for the light which they cast upon the relations subsisting between father and children.

To his daughter Emmie.

How tenderly our hearts have been going out to you this morning, wondering where yon are and what you are feeling as you think of home. We have almost daily been following you on your travels, imagining where you would most likely be. . . . And now comes your birthday to remind you of home and of how we all will be thinking of you. Dearest child, we have been asking the Lord this morning, should you perhaps feel somewhat sad and desolate, to let you feel that He is near, and to give you a place near His own tender heart, so full of gentleness and love. May the blessed Lord Jesus indeed do it, and help you to begin the year with Him. And do you, my dear child, try to get and keep hold of the precious truth that there is no friend like Jesus, and that even when we feel naughty and foolish and sinful, He still loves us, and wants us to come to Him with all our troubles, that He may heal and comfort us.

How we shall be longing for your first letters from Zeist, to be able to form an idea of your mode of life. You must try and give us every particular about how you spend your time from hour to hour. Kitty wanted this morning specially to know whether you have a whole holiday on Saturday, or only a half-holiday, with another half-holiday on Wednesday. How are you allowed to spend them? Are all your walks in company, or may you go and wander in the woods alone? Tell us too what people you know and like. The gentleman who wrote to Mr. Huet that you would be welcome at his house is Mr. Oosterwijk Bruijn, who has a daughter at the School. Dr. Robertson told us that he knows them well, and that they are very kind people. Mrs. Oosterwijk Bruijn is of English descent. Tell us particularly about the children at the School, how many of them are English, and what they are like; also about your Sundays—are the services all in German, and do you profit by them? Tell us also what amount of time is devoted to Dutch.

We are getting on very comfortably here. The weather has during this month [April] been perfectly exquisite, and it has been quite an enjoyment to be out of doors. I have begun my gardening by trying to lay out paths. . . . Sometimes the thought comes to me how pleased I shall be when my children are back, and I can show them everything, and what a nice place I have succeeded in making of it.

When I was in Town last Mr. G. Myburgh asked me about Zeist, as he wanted perhaps to send Mary there. Ask the Director with my compliments please to send me half a dozen copies of their prospectus, both in Dutch and English, and an equal number of the Boys’ School, that I may be able to give information to people making enquiries. Miss Faure asked to be very kindly remembered to you. The Tennants were thinking of soon proceeding to Europe, but now that Parliament is sitting again there will be no idea of it for some months.

And now good-bye. Try to love the Lord Jesus much, and to live in the feeling of His nearness. I do pray that you and Mary may love each other very fervently, and be very gentle towards each other, true “helpers of each other’s joy,” as the Bible says.

To his daughter Mary.

You cannot think how fortunate we have been in getting our news of your arrival so speedily. How we have thanked God for His great kindness in arranging everything so comfortably for you, and in Aunt Mary’s plans fall in so nicely to suit your wants. We hope that by this time you are fairly settled to work at Zeist. We long very much to hear of your first beginnings there, and think the month very long that we must wait before we can hear from you. You must try to write a journal twice or three times a week: it will be the only way in which we can form an idea of how you spend your time. Even though some evenings you should only give an account of your day’s work—the classes you were in, the places you took, the books you used, and so on. And what I particularly want to know is how often you are allowed to see friends, and to whom you go.

I enclose a note to Mrs. Wallis. She lives a quarter of an hour’s walk from Zeist. I think you will have seen her before this, but at all events ask permission to walk over and take it to her. The note for Mr de Graaf of Amsterdam you must give to the Director or one of the teachers to post. He will probably come and see you some day.

Yesterday (loth May) was Papa’s birthday. We thought of how you would be thinking of us and of your usual morning work on my birthday of arranging the flowers and presents. Annie and Kitty gave me a nice cushion they had worked. Mama had ordered out a centre table for the study, but unfortunately the wrong one was sent. Mina gave me a nicely-worked text in golden beads with a gilt frame. The text I found very touching, because I know it comes from the heart of her mother and herself, and some of the other poor people to whom the work in Rogge Bay has been blessed,—“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” Much kindness was expressed on the occasion. When I returned thanks in church for all God’s mercies during the past year, I did not forget to mention His goodness in giving my children such a prosperous and happy arrival in England. May the prayers many people have offered for you be richly answered.

But yesterday was more than Papa’s birthday : it was Jesus’ corona-tion-day. O ! what joy for those who love Him to know that their Friend has been crowned with honour and glory, and clothed with all power in heaven and upon earth. I spoke much both yesterday and the previous Sunday of the blessedness of serving Jesus as the sure way to have His presence with us. I trust my dear Mary is trying to keep this one thought before her, that the value of education is to fit her for the service of the Lord Jesus, wherever He may have need of her hereafter.

To his daughters Emmie and Mary.

Mama will have written you that when your last letters arrived I was away at Swellendam, taking part in the induction of Mr. Muller. I had two of our churchwardens with me in a cart and four horses ; and we had a very pleasant trip by way of Worcester and Robertson, returning vid Genadendal and Caledon. In passing I saw Kitty and Annie at Worcester, and in coming back I brought with me Howson and Haldane, who had been at the Strand with their uncle John Neethling. Mama had been left at home with a very small party, as Miss McGill and Mina were both in Cape Town.

On reaching home I was delighted to hear that you were getting on happily. I hope that all the difficulties that trouble you will gradually smooth down. And remember that when difficulties won’t accommodate themselves to your wishes, there is nothing like your accommodating yourself to them. This is part of true wisdom, and in time takes away the unpleasantness. You refer to the fact that so much time is devoted to language and so little to literature. But if you think a little you will see that there is a good reason for this. Though spelling and grammar and the dull exercise of translation may not be very interesting, they are needful in more ways than one. For one thing, now at school is the only time to learn such things. The careful and exact application required at school is what you will not cultivate when you afterwards become your own teachers, whereas the easier and more pleasant paths of general literature can quite well be explored by yourselves alone afterwards. And then another thing,—the object of school life is not so much to impart a large amount of information, but to cultivate those powers by which you can afterwards gain information for yourself. And for the calling out of these powers, and the cultivation of the habit of application and careful thinking, those studies are useful in which the feeling of interest and pleasure appears to be sacrificed to a sense of duty. But you will understand this afterwards. When travelling up a hill last week, one of my companions was criticizing a road, and pointing out how much better it might have been made. When we got a little farther up the hill, we saw that he was wrong. People at the foot of a hill cannot understand the reason for all the windings of the road, but as they rise higher they discover them. You are just now only beginning to climb : follow in trust the path by which you are led : afterwards you will understand better than you do now.

So, too, with Dutch. In God’s providence you are a Dutch minister’s daughters, and may very possibly spend your days among Dutch people. Accept and use the opportunity God gives you for acquiring the language. It will render your stay in Holland all the more pleasant, and should your parents’ fond wishes ever be realized that you should be workers in the Lord’s vineyard, it will be of inestimable value to you. You need not fear of your English suffering. If it be needful and you desire it, we may arrange for your staying in England for some time before you return home. Write us full particulars of how far you are on with French, German and Dutch.

As to what you feel about Sunday the difficulty is greater. I want you to remember every Sunday morning that we are thinking of you, and praying the blessed Lord Jesus to help and comfort you during the day. We have done so and will do so still more earnestly. And if you are sometimes brought into difficulties by seeing true children of God indulging in conversation or other engagements which appear to you wrong, ask Jesus to help you to act up to the light of your conscience. If their conscience is not fully enlightened on the point, that may be an excuse for them, but cannot be for you. I am so anxious that you should have no want of nice Sabbath reading, that I wrote by this mail to Nisbet to send you a parcel at once. I have ordered some that you know already, that you may be able to lend them to others. I have for the same reason written to them to post you twelve of Bateman’s little hymn-book. Try and gather them on Sunday evening to join you in singing some of the old well-known tunes : they may prefer that to their ordinary conversation. Try and think, my dear little girls, that you are not too small to exercise influence. I think that when your uncle John and I went to Holland, though we were but very young, we did exercise some influence in this matter among our friends. Don t argue with others, and don t condemn them, but simply try to show that there is a way of being engaged in religious exercises all day without being sad or unhappy, and invite them to j oin you in such things as reading or singing. ...

From here you will have news enough from Mama and the children. I have been very much occupied with what we call our Home Mission work—in German they call it die innere Mission. We have been taking up our coloured people, arranging for Sunday and evening schools on the farms round about, under a strong feeling that a missionary never can reach our farm people properly, unless the masters be his helpers in his efforts to instruct the servants. We have received great encouragement in the willingness with which the white people have taken up the work, and the readiness with which the coloured folk attend the classes. I have great hopes that God may make it the means of bringing down a great blessing upon our congregation. Working for Him cannot be unblessed. Our people are going to put up a nice building at the bottom of our garden—the entrance just next to and in a line with Trengrove’s—for holding bazaars, working-parties and prayer-meetings. This is our first spring month, and everything is looking beautiful. . .

In 1872 Death twice entered the Parsonage at Wellington to shepherd home two of the lambs of the flock. These were not the first. In 1866, just before their departure for England, the Murrays had lost a little daughter of eight months old. But on this occasion two were taken from them in the course of the same year. Writing in October to tell the daughters of the passing of little Frances Helen, two and a half years of age, Mr. Murray pens these words of comfort and hope—

To his daughters Emmie and Mary.

My darling Children,—Your hearts will be very sad to hear the news which this mail brings you. And yet, not sad alone, I trust. For we have had so much comfort in seeing our precious little Fanny go from us, that we cannot but feel sure that He who has been with us will be with you too, and will let you see the bow He has set in the cloud —the bright light that our Precious Saviour has caused to shine even in the dark tomb.

Mama has written such a full account of all there is to tell about our little darling, that I do not think there is anything more for me to say. And I need not tell you how very beautiful and sweet is every memory we have of her. Since you left us she has been so very sweet, from early morning when she came tripping in to breakfast to say good-morning to Papa, and all through the day. How often she came to my room, just for a little play. Darling lamb, we shall see her again; and, as Mama said, we cannot refuse her to Jesus. Do you try too, my darling children, to say this. Hear Him asking whether you are willing that He should have her. And when you look at Him, and entrust her to

His love, give yourselves too, my dearest ones. We want Him to take not only her, but all of us, so that whether on earth or in heaven we may be one unbroken family, praising and serving and loving Him here in conflict, and there in victory and glory everlasting. . . .

With tenderest affection,

Your most loving Father.

In November of the following year a son was born to them, and of this glad event the father writes from Cape Town as follows (17th November, 1873)—

To his daughters Emmie and Mary.

How glad you will be to hear that God has given us another little one in the place of our dear Fanny and Willie. A little boy was born yesterday morning—a fine little fellow—and both mother and babe are very well. Our hearts are filled with gratitude and love.

We have still another blessing that has filled our hearts with gladness. On Saturday the two American ladies for. our Huguenot School at Wellington arrived here. The impression they make is most favourable. I am going out this afternoon with them to Wellington, to see about the building and the alterations that have to be made in it. It is quite wonderful what an interest has been awakened in our scheme for training ladies as teachers to work for Jesus. Just fancy, Aunt Ellie from Graafi-Reinet is going to stay for a year: Kitty Willie will probably come too: Miemie Neethling for certain. People say you ought to come also ; but as you are in Europe now, you must try and avail yourselves of the privileges Scotland may afford. May God implant deep in your hearts the desire to work for Him, and to seek the highest cultivation of all your powers with a view to being an instrument thoroughly furnished for God’s blessed work. I do not know what your musical powers may be, but in Scotland you must do your best with this. We shall need help in this direction at our Seminary.

We have had a very pleasant family gathering. On Thursday of last week we had my Mama and her ten children taken in a group. We do not yet know if it is at all successful. It was a pity that our number was not complete, as Uncle John had not come in. On Saturday we hope to have a Festival, like the one we had three years ago in the wood at Nooitgedacht near Stellenbosch.

Now, my dear children, I must conclude. I am writing in the midst of Synod business. We are not without anxieties about your change from Holland to Scotland, but we desire to leave everything in God’s hands. He has been so kind in other things that we do not doubt but that He will care for this too.

The reference in the above letter to “ the American ladies for our Huguenot School ” introduces us to the most important undertaking to which Mr. Murray put his hand in the early days of the Wellington pastorate. During the year 1872 he was giving serious thought to the old question of supplying the clamant need of more labourers in the Lord’s vineyard. The result to which his consideration of the subject led him was that the demand could only be met by going to the source whence the supply must be drawn, namely, the Christian homes of the country. In the Kerkbode of 1872 are to be found three papers entitled Onze Kinderen (Our Children), which, though unsigned, bear upon their face authentic marks of having come from Andrew Murray’s pen. In these articles, which afterwards circulated as tracts throughout the country, he makes an appeal, in his own irresistible fashion, to all Christian parents in the land, to consecrate their children to God's service, and thus assist in meeting the grave shortage of workers in the home and foreign field. From these epoch-making letters we venture to make a few extracts. After dwelling upon the urgent needs of the Church, and the responsibility which rests on all Christians to serve the cause of Christ with whatever strength and capacity they possess, he comes to the point in the following manner—

We wish just to impress upon your hearts that you can fulfil this duty best by offering your children for the service of Christ’s Church. Take the calling of the minister and the teacher. There are many who imagine that the Theological Seminary now abundantly supplies our needs, and that there is a danger of having more ministers than we can employ. This opinion is wholly groundless. We have at present only fourteen students in the Seminary, as against twenty last year. When we remember the calls that are now being issued by the vacant congregations of Rouxville, Bethulie, Bethlehem, Jansenville, Dutoitspan, Witzieshoek and Zoutpansberg, and the need for assistant ministers at Paarl and elsewhere, we must see that we are far from having a sufficient number of licentiates for the Church’s requirements. The members of our congregations ought to understand that the number of students in the Seminary is too small by half.

More than this. Those who think the matter over must own that it is not a good omen for the future of our Church that the higher education of our country should be almost wholly in the hands of persons who are not members of the D. R. Church, and even in some cases in the hands of non-Christians. In the course of time we shall feel the effects of this state of affairs. We should have such a large number of ministers that some could devote themselves to the work of teaching, and bear comparison, in respect of attainments and position, with those who come from Europe. This we cannot expect unless our believing Christians yield their children to the Lord’s service.

To this course I know that you will advance many objections. You have never known that it is your duty to consecrate your children to the service of the Gospel. You have always been satisfied with the usual excuse that one can serve God in every position in life. To every objection I have a simple answer—the Lord has a right to our children ; the Lord needs our children, and will Himself indicate to the believing soul which children He would have and can employ.

But, you say, suppose I have not the means. The gold and the silver are the Lord’s, and if you, dear parents, believingly offer your child to God, remember that He who accepts the sacrifice knows how to move the hearts of His people to find the necessary means. Poverty and inability, then, are no excuse for not presenting your children to the Lord. But how am I to act if my child has not the necessary abilities ? Even if that be the case, it is necessary for the parents to lay the matter before the Lord. " Not many wise ” is the rule of the Gospel. Should the child not be qualified to enter the ministry, our God, who has many offices in His holy temple-service, can make use of such an one as teacher or in another capacity. Hold fast to this one fact, that your child belongs to God, and that it remains your duty to ask, “Lord, hast Thou need of him?”

Perhaps your child is an only one. You long to see him continue the business in which you have yourself been engaged. You long to have him remain in the old home, to be the support and joy of your old age. Our God, you say, is no hard taskmaster, and will not demand this last sacrifice. No, God does not ask for more than your love deems Him worthy of : from a willing people He asks willing sacrifices. Therefore He stands before you, not to command, but waiting to know what impression His love has made upon you. He points to His only Son. For your sakes He spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up.

But, you plead, I have no sons,—the blessing which the Lord has bestowed upon me consists in daughters, and for them there is no place in the special service of God. In reply to this I desire first of all to say that even if there were no position in which woman could be specially employed in the service of God, nevertheless the consecration of your daughters to God can never be a vain and idle matter. The Lord has latterly shown that He can use women to perform great and important services for His Church; and if parents only will present their daughters to the Lord, He will know how to prepare a sphere of work for them—as intercessors for others, as labourers in His kingdom, in nursing the sick, or in caring for the poor. Parents who train their daughters with this end in view, in faith and prayer, will assuredly experience that their labour is not vain in the Lord.

There is, however, a special capacity in which women can labour for God, and because of its great importance I wish to say a word about it. I refer to the blessing and the utility of God-fearing lady-teachers. There is a great outcry, which is quite justifiable, on the dearth of lady-teachers in the towns and upon the farms of our land ; and many into whose hands is committed the instruction of our children, are not inspired by the love of God. At the same time there are many young women who, if they had but received some little instruction in this direction, would be a source of blessing and of joy, were they entrusted with the instruction of children. There are many, too, whose educational qualifications are sufficient, but who have never yet seriously considered the question, because their parents have never suggested it to them, of living and working for others. May the day soon dawn when not only those who regard teaching as a means of earning their daily bread will impart instruction to the young, but many of the young women of our Church will devote themselves to feeding the lambs, solely at the impulse of the love of Jesus.

During the Christmas vacation, which was spent at the seaside at Kalk Bay, Mr. Murray occupied himself in studying the life history and life work of Mary Lyon, the founder of the Ladies’ Seminary at Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts, U.S.A. The thoughts which were kindled by reading the life of this great educationalist were too precious to be kept to himself, and he therefore, as was his wont, at once set pen to paper, and wrote a series of articles entitled "Mary Lyon, and the Holyoke Girls’ School,” which were published in the Kerkbode at intervals during 1873. The opening words of the first article were these—

Discussions are just now afoot with reference to the establishment by the Church authorities of a Girls’ School in Cape Town, and not only so, but at various other centres attempts are being made to provide a training for our daughters. It is much to be desired that all such schools shall be actuated by the right spirit, so that our children may be won for our God and His Christ at the period of their greatest susceptibility to religious impressions.

Some time ago there was issued in England the biography of an American lady, Mary Lyon, who appears to have been a model of a Christian lady-teacher. She was marvellously successful in rousing her pupils to aim enthusiastically at uniting the highest intellectual development with the most decided piety. "First the kingdom of God, but after that—and after that most certainly—all science and knowledge," —such was her motto. To all who are interested in this question we recommend a perusal of Mary Lyon; or, Recollections of a Noble Woman.

Meanwhile I think it desirable to make a few extracts from her letters, with special reference to the manner in which she influenced the religious nature of her pupils. I am of opinion that every teacher who has laid this matter to heart will discover important suggestions which, with suitable modifications in accordance with capabilities and circumstances, may be safely followed. For the purpose of these extracts I make use, not of the above biography, but of a large work published some time back in America—Hitchcock: The Power of Christian Benevolence, illustrated in the Life and Labours of Mary Lyon (1851).

In relating the history of the founding of the famous Ladies’ Seminary at Mount Holyoke—the first institution of its kind in the United States for the higher education of women—Mr. Murray laid stress upon these principles by which Mary Lyon was guided: (1) the Seminary to be a strictly Christian institution, controlled by trustees who have in view the highest interests of the Church of Christ, and possessing as teachers women who are themselves inspired, and are able to inspire others, with a true missionary spirit; and (2) the domestic arrangements to be neat but simple, the household tasks to be performed by the pupils themselves, and the fees for board and instruction to be so low that girls of the middle class (hitherto debarred by the expense from obtaining higher education) shall receive instruction of equal quality with their more favoured sisters.

Mr Murray was not the man to rest satisfied with urging others to undertakings in which he would not himself engage. Eminently practical as he was, he was already evolving a scheme for the erection at Wellington of an institution similar to the historical Seminary of Mount Holyoke. He drew up a circular on the whole question, which in his estimation was the burning question of the hour, and invited the members of the Wellington congregation to discuss his proposals at a meeting to be held in the church on the 25th June. On that day the scheme was fairly launched, and the Huguenot Seminary, which was to exercise so beneficent and widespread an influence, was born. The circular (somewhat condensed) was of the following import—

The Huguenot School at Wellington.

At the commencement of our endeavours to establish this institution we think it desirable to set forth the reasons which have impelled us, the object which we aim at, and the principles to which with God’s help we hope to adhere, in founding this school. The chief consideration which has given birth to this undertaking is the need for efficient Christian instruction in our land. And in addition to the general dearth of capable teachers, it is clear to us that an institution in which young girls can be trained for educational work is absolutely indispensable.

To this was added the conviction, as a fruit of the preaching of God’s Word, that what we as a congregation have done for the kingdom of our Lord is as nothing in comparison with what we can and must do, and, we may almost say, in comparison with what we desire to do. There is no doubt in our mind that no labour in the interests of the kingdom of God will yield more glorious fruits than the work of an institution such as we propose. The acquaintance we have made, in the pages of the Kerkbode, with the life of Miss Lyon, and with her work at Mount Holyoke, has opened our eyes to the mighty and widespread influence for good which could be exercised by a school, founded in faith, for the training of lady-teachers as handmaidens of the kingdom. And no one can doubt but that the Church of South Africa stands in need of such teachers.

In addition to this another motive makes itself felt. In view of the possibility that only a small number of students may offer themselves in the beginning, we must acknowledge that a school for the training of lady-teachers alone would be attended with great expense. But by enlarging the scope of the school so as to make provision for the daughters of friends from the country and of parents from other districts of the Colony, and by uniting with that the instruction of our village girls, we shall be able to secure a first-class educational institution. In this manner we shall attain the aim of our school, while at the same time securing the best possible instruction for our local girls.

There is something else that encourages us to open this school. On the occasion of the Missionary Conference held here at Wellington last year, the desirability was expressed of raising some memorial in memory of the arrival on our coasts of those refugees who left home and friends for the sake of their Faith, in order to serve God here in liberty and in truth. And how can this purpose be better achieved than by establishing a school to their memory in these hallowed scenes, where the fugitive Huguenots first found rest, and first were enabled to serve God upon soil belonging to themselves? It is because we are confident that the Huguenot School at Wellington will help us to attain these sacred aims, that we now decide to arise and build. The God of heaven, He will prosper us.

It is our desire to have a building in which we can house thirty or forty girls, while at the same time we require school-rooms in which both they and the day-scholars can receive proper instruction. On our estimate we shall require a sum of not less than £2,000. As soon as £1,000 has been subscribed by this congregation, we shall feel free to commence with our undertaking. Nor have we any doubt that many friends from elsewhere will send us assistance, both on account of those dear forefathers whom God so greatly blessed, and on account of our descendants, who must be trained for Him. We are persuaded that support will be forthcoming for this institution from those in whose veins flows the blood of martyrs, and from those whose motive is love to the Lord Jesus and love to the children of this country ; and that the school erected with funds thus supplied will with the divine help be a source of blessing to the whole land.

What the Lord Himself has already done for us in this matter is an earnest of His further aid, and encourages us in the hope that He will open the hearts of His children for this cause. In reply to letters that were addressed to the Mount Holyoke Seminary nearly eight months ago, asking for a lady-teacher for this institution, we have lately received news that the request had awakened great interest, and was being taken into serious and prayerful consideration. And just the other day we learnt that two graduates of Holyoke have expressed their willingness to come over to us, both of them being considered as highly qualified for the work. The Directors of the Holyoke Seminary were of opinion that for such an important undertaking it was not wise to send only one, and they therefore offered us the services of two. This offer we have gladly accepted. And since the Lord has thus provided for our needs, and has moved the hearts of His children in America to interest and to prayer, we cannot but be filled with courage and thankfulness. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth us!

It need hardly be said that, under the inspiration and earnestness of their pastor, the members of the Wellington congregation responded heartily to this appeal. Not only was the scheme approved, but before the meeting separated the sum of £500 was subscribed. Within a few days this amount was increased to £800, and four months later Mr. Murray was able to report that the minimum amount agreed upon had been passed, and that the Wellington community had contributed the sum of £1,150. The further course of events is described in a second circular to the congregation, issued by Mr. Murray on the 25th October, from which we extract the following—

As soon as we saw that we should not lack for money, we interested ourselves in endeavouring to procure the necessary buildings. In this matter also we cannot but acknowledge the Lord’s unmistakable guidance. Many were greatly averse to building in this expensive time, and the Committee therefore attempted to secure a suitable property by purchase. But the building about which all were agreed that it was adapted to our needs was not procurable. The majority then decided to purchase the next best property, and negotiations were nearly completed when this offer also fell through. The Committee then returned to the original project of putting up the needful buildings, and was making all arrangements with plans and specifications, when the property we desired to have was unexpectedly offered to us. After brief negotiations we found ourselves in possession of the property of Mr. Schoch, which formerly belonged to Dr. Addey, for the sum of £1,600 buildings and ground to be handed over to us on the 24th October.

In the meantime we have new reason for gratitude in the advices which have reached us concerning our lady-teachers from Holyoke, Misses Ferguson and Bliss. The testimonies which we have received have filled us with confidence that they are the very persons we need for our institution, both as regards piety and culture, and especially as regards their ability to undertake the control and training of future teachers, so as to form them for the sacred art of influencing the children of our country. They were preparing to leave America on the 20th of September, and England on the 15th of October, and we hope to have them with us on the 15th of November ; so that we may confidently announce the opening of our school for the second week of January, 1874.

The whole of the circular, from which the above extract is taken, was publicly read at a great gathering of friends and supporters of the institution, held on the 25th October. The Synod of 1873 was then in session, and as a large number of well-wishers had expressed their intention of being present, a special train was chartered to convey them from Cape Town to Wellington. The Kerkbode, which is our chief source of information on all matters pertaining to Church and school, gives us the following account of the proceedings—

The Huguenot School at Wellington.—The building in which this institution for the training of young ladies, and especially of lady-teachers, is to be established, was opened with great solemnity on the 25th October. The special train brought over a very large concourse of visitors, among whom were to be found almost all the members of the Synod, while from all parts interested friends arrived in private vehicles. At two o'clock the guests assembled on the open space behind the school-building. Dr. P. E. Faure, Moderator of Synod, opened the proceedings with a short votum, read a portion from the Psalms, gave out a hymn, and then commended the institution to God’s gracious care in a sincere and heartfelt prayer. Rev. A. Murray thereupon read forth the circular which has already appeared in the Kerkbode. The friends present then dispersed in order to partake of refreshments and view the building and grounds. The property is well known. It was formerly the residence of the late Dr. Addey, and then passed into the hands of the Anabaptists, from whom the D. R. congregation of Wellington has purchased it for £1,600, though another £800 will be required to fit it for the purpose for which it is to be used. The chief building is large, airy and well-built. The lower storey will be arranged as schoolrooms, and the upper storey will serve as bedrooms for the pupils, of whom a large number can be accommodated.

After the visitors had re-assembled, Professor Hofmeyr delivered an inaugural discourse, in which he described the institution as a sign of the times, and an encouraging indication that the Church had awakened to a sense of its heavy responsibility towards the daughters of the congregation. These young girls would now have the opportunity of obtaining an education adapted to the needs of the day, and, if they desired it, the opportunity of learning how to impart their attainments to others. Several other speakers uttered words of congratulation and encouragement—the Revs. Stegmann, senior, du Flessis, Charles Murray, Geo. Morgan, Steytler, J. H. Hofmeyr, Dr. Robertson, Luckhofi and Fraser —whose addresses were eminently suited to the occasion. Rev. Morgan exhibited a relic of the old Huguenots, namely, a piece of the wall of the original building which had served as church and school for the first French fugitives at French Hoek. After all who desired to do so had spoken, Mr. Murray, in the name of the congregation of Wellington, returned thanks to the visitors for the interest they had displayed ; to which compliment Dr. Faure replied by thanking congregation, consistory and minister for the pleasure which the proceedings had afforded them, and the hospitality which they had enjoyed. Rev. A. A. Louw then closed the celebration with prayer.

The formal opening of the Seminary took place on the 19th of January, 1874, in the presence of a large and appreciative assemblage of people. In his address on this occasion Mr. Murray dwelt upon the special blessings which had attended the inauguration of the new undertaking, not the least of which was the large number of girls who had intimated their intention to enter the institution. From all parts of the country young ladies, who in most cases had already passed the ordinary educational standards, were arriving at Wellington in order to qualify as teachers, and thus to fit themselves for work in some corner of the Lord’s vineyard. Though the main building of their Seminary could accommodate forty boarders, they had accepted the applications of no less than fifty-four young ladies, who had come from such widely-distant centres as Cape Town, Durban, Philadelphia, Malmesbury, Riebeek West, Paarl, Stellenbosch, French Hoek, Villiersdorp, Worcester, Beaufort West, Richmond, Graaff-Reinet, Middelburg and Somerset East. As the present accommodation was utterly inadequate, a wing would h„.^ to be immediately added to the existing building. In order to raise the funds necessary to effect this extension and to extinguish the debt still resting upon the institution, he proposed undertaking a tour of some months’ duration, to lay the cause of Christian normal education before the various congregations of the Colony. Such in brief were the contents of Mr. Murray’s pronouncement at the opening ceremony.

The collecting tour, upon which he started on the 16th February, lasted for full four months, and was successful beyond his most sanguine expectations. He was able to visit some thirty congregations, and the net result of his efforts was the sum of £2,300 for the Seminary. This was most encouraging. And yet, as Mr. Murray was careful to point out, the financial proceeds were not the most satisfactory fruit of his journey. He counted it an inexpressible privilege to have had the opportunity of pleading the cause of Christian education before members of the D. R. Church in all parts of the country, to have been assured time and again of their hearty approbation and goodwill, and to have found thirty young men and an even greater number of young women ready and eager to be trained for the work of instructing the rising generation. These were results upon which he laid much heavier stress, and for which he rendered much more abundant thanks to God.

Mr. Murray’s return from this successful tour was the occasion for a signal outburst of gratitude and affection on the part of his congregation. Even the brief chronicle of this event in the pages of the Kerkbode cannot wholly conceal the joy and enthusiasm with which the devoted people welcomed back their beloved pastor—

Our respected minister returned home on Friday last, after an absence of four months. Shortly after midday vehicles, numbering in all more than one hundred, began to roll from all quarters towards Bain’s Kloof, and at half-past one a large crowd had already assembled. Precisely at two o’clock the reverend gentleman made his appearance, accompanied by some of the churchwardens who had proceeded still further to meet him. As soon as Mr. Murray had descended from the cart, the assemblage sang Dat’s Heeren zegen op u daal (God’s blessing rest upon your head), after which the Rev. S. J. du Toit, the assistant minister, presented him with an extensively-signed address from his flock, and handed him a purse of £50 on behalf of the sisters of the congregation. In replying to this address Mr. Murray appeared to be much affected, and asked the friends to kneel down while Mr. du Toit offered prayer, after which he himself poured out his heart in a most sincere and touching manner, thanking God for the protection, assistance and blessing which he had experienced on his journey. Two other addresses, from the scholars of the Blauw-vallei and Boven-vallei schools respectively, were also presented, upon which the cavalcade proceeded towards the village. At the entrance to the parsonage an arch of honour had been erected, around which were grouped the young ladies of the Huguenot Seminary and the pupils of the other local schools. The school-children welcomed Mr. Murray with a hymn, while the Seminary ladies offered an address, to which he replied in feeling terms. One of the young ladies carried a flag with the motto Hosanna, and the banner of another breathed the prayer God bless our pastor. Mr. Murray’s dwelling was decorated about the doors with garlands and flowers, and with the motto Welcome home, which was worked in orange blossoms and can only be described as exquisite. The cart and horses with which Mr. Murray performed his journey were subsequently sold for £go, and this amount was also handed over to him as a mark of gratitude and esteem.

The rapid increase in the number of pupils made imperative, not merely the addition of a new wing, but the erection of a new building. In November, 1874, the foundation of a second edifice was laid, which was ready for occupation in the following year. On Tuesday, the 27th July, 1875, a concourse of nearly two thousand people at the Seminary grounds participated in a ceremony which marked another stage in the remarkable growth of this institution. Seven ministerial colleagues testified by their presence on that occasion to their appreciation of Mr. Murray’s efforts on behalf of education, while congratulatory letters and telegrams were received from many others whom circumstances prevented from being personally present. The report of the Committee—drawn up, beyond doubt, by Mr, Murray’s own hand—contains the following paragraphs—

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake. For the fifth time we may to-day invite our friends to gather with us around this text from the Word of God, and to honour the Lord with reverence and trust in the work which we have had to perform for Him. The first occasion was the 25th of June, 1873, when, in laying our projects before you at our first meeting in the church, we selected this text as motto. Next, on the 25th October, when, at the time when the Synod was in session in Cape Town, we took possession of the property we had purchased, in the presence of so many ministers of our Church. Three months later, in January, 1874, we were privileged to meet again, to dedicate our first building and to commence our educational labours. Nine months subsequently, in November, 1874, we assembled again to laythe foundation of our new building. And to-day, by the good hand of our God over us, we may unite with our friends in taking possession of the new buildings in the name of the Lord, and solemnly dedicating them to Him, while undertaking in His strength the work which must be accomplished.

Inclusive of £500 paid for the additional piece of ground purchased, the two buildings and the properties on which they stand have cost us the sum of £7,500, of which £3,500 is a debt which has still to be paid off. Only last Sunday our minister appealed to the congregation to increase its great gift for this cause. When there was nothing to be seen, and everything was, humanly speaking, a matter of extreme uncertainty, the congregation had contributed, as an act of faith, £1,000 for the first building; and now that the Lord had so abundantly blessed the work as to give us a second building, would the congregation not double its gifts, and raise its subscription to £2,000? The gift of gratitude at the consummation ought not to be less than the gift of faith at the commencement of the undertaking.

Another blessing which we should have in remembrance is God’s gracious provision for our need of teachers. A few days after the laying of the foundation-stone of our new building we were able to welcome our third and fourth lady-teachers from America—Miss Wells and Miss Bailey—who were to stand at the head of our primary department; and a month or two later we welcomed Miss Spijker from Holland, to undertake instruction in the Dutch language. Owing to the experience gained by Miss Bliss during the last eighteen months, it was deemed better that she should have the supervision of the primary department ; so that we noV have Miss Ferguson and Miss Wells, with Miss Spijker, in the new building with the supervision of fifty secondary scholars, and Miss Bliss and Miss Bailey in command of the primary department, with forty pupils under their charge. More than ever before do we now understand that the most precious gifts which the exalted Lord bestows upon His Church consist in persons whom He has prepared and condescends to use in the service of His kingdom. May we learn to ask these from Him in prayer whenever the need for such fellow-labourers arises.

For the scholars whom He has sent us we must thank God as much as for the teachers. In our second circular of October, 1873, we stated: “It is our desire to have from the very outset a class of young women who have already left school, or who have taught in small schools before, and who wish to be instructed for a year or more in the art of teaching and moulding the young.” We gratefully bear witness that the Lord has richly fulfilled this desire, and has supplied us with a number of pupil-teachers to whose co-operation this establishment is greatly indebted. They have assisted in giving the right tone to the institution, and so in stamping upon it for the future the character which we are eager to see it bear.

In conclusion we must still make mention of something of which it is most difficult to speak, and which yet yields us the greatest material for gratitude, and that is the blessing—a blessing for all eternity—with which the Lord has gladdened our hearts. This alone we feel constrained to say, that the Spirit of God has dwelt under our roof from the very commencement, and that many who came to us without knowing Jesus, have here learnt to know and love Him, while those who knew Him before have learnt to recognize how blessed a thing it is to consecrate the heart to Him entirely. We can hardly give utterance to the feelings which master us when we think of God’s goodness in this matter. We can only make this appeal to you, Friends, let us magnify the Lord together, and together let us exalt His holy name.

So successful an undertaking as the Huguenot Seminary naturally attracted widespread attention, and visitors from all parts found their way to Wellington in order to study the methods of Christian instruction and normal training there in vogue. Among the overseas visitors who called there in the course of 1876 was that famous writer of boys’ books, Mr. R. M. Ballantyne, who in his Six Months at the Cape has left us the following impressions of his visit—

At Wellington stands the Huguenot Seminary, founded by the Rev. Andrew Murray, brother of the professor at Stellenbosch. It is so named because of being situated in a district of South Africa which was originally peopled by French refugees. Although there is, I understand, to be a theological department ere long for the training of young men for the ministry, this seminary is at present chiefly devoted to girls.

The design of the seminary is to give its pupils a sound education, and at the same time so to mould and form the character that the young ladies may-go out with an earnest purpose in life, and thus be the better fitted for any sphere to which God in His providence may call them. So says the prospectus of 1875. It also sets forth that another design is to train teachers who may go out to meet, in some measure, the pressing wants of the country. Assuredly these pressing wants will be met, and that speedily, for common sense is the prevailing characteristic in the management, and “faith that worketh by love" seemed to me to be the prevailing power among teachers and pupils. There is much talk in Great Britain just now about the higher education of women. Let those who talk come out to South Africa, and they shall see their pet schemes carried out and in full swing at Wellington.

It chanced to be examination day—the last day of the session—when I arrived, so that I had a good opportunity of seeing and hearing the results of the year's course. The teachers—nearly all of them American ladies brought over, as I understood it, expressly to apply their system —were seated in a row in front of the class. Order and method prevailed everywhere; teachers and pupils knew their duty thoroughly. There was no ordering, no loud and authoritative commanding. It was not necessary. A nod from the principal, Miss Ferguson, or a quiet remark, was sufficient to set the machinery in motion. The pupils acted with the quietness and precision of soldiers, but without their stiffness. Let it not be supposed that the system involved rigidity. The girls were as natural, graceful and unconstrained as one could wish them to be. I cannot go into the minutiae of that examination. Suffice it to say that I recognized the same wise, common-sense elements at Wellington that had aroused my admiration at Stellenbosch ; but there was more to be seen and heard at Wellington, because there, as I have said, was the training of teachers, and the examination to which they were subjected was very severe. They were not only questioned closely on, as it appeared to me, almost the entire circle of human knowledge—including in their course algebra, geography, history, botany, rhetoric, natural philosophy, astronomy, geology, mental philosophy, analysis, composition, French, Latin, German, moral philosophy, essays, and the study of the Bible—but were also made to explain how they would proceed to teach children committed to their care, and to give their reasons for the methods adopted. But the beauty of this system became more apparent to me when I was told that these same girls (of whom there are above ninety in the two establishments) had to cook their own dinners, and make their own beds, and, in short, perform all the domestic duties of the households, except the “dirty work,” for which latter only one indoor servant was retained for each house. And yet these girls’ hands were soft, white and lady-like, and their fingers taper, and with these same fingers some of them paint beautifully, and many play the piano with considerable taste and power.

I saw these girls afterwards out in their garden, chatting and laughing heartily under the apricot trees, eating the golden fruit—think of that, apricots in December !—and afterwards I saw them at their tea-table eating bread and not butter—no, the heat, or something else, rendered that commodity scarce at the time in the Huguenot Seminary—eating bread and sheep’s-tail fat! I tried it myself, and can pronounce it good and wholesome, though I am not sure that I found it palatable. After tea I saw them quietly collecting and washing the cups and saucers, and as I looked at their busy hands and pretty faces and healthy, graceful figures, and reflected that they had been assembled there from every district of the country, and would in process of time be scattered back to the regions whence they came, to become loving and learned centres of Christian influence, I fell into a meditative mood. I thought of Lord Carnarvon and Mr. Froude, and the Molteno Government and the Paterson opposition. I pondered the fierce battle of the Outs and the Ins, with their incomprehensible differences and their divergencies of opinion and sentiment. Then I reflected that with all their differences these various men and bodies seemed to be united and agreed in at least one opinion and on one point, namely, that there is a great and grand future in store for South Africa.

Awaking from my reverie I said to myself, "Yes, you are right; and here, methinks, in this seminary you have the seed being planted and watered which shall one day cover this land with ripe and rich fruit, and which will tend powerfully to bring about that great future. For these girls will one day guide your sons to the loftiest heights of physical, mental and moral philosophy, and your daughters into the widest spheres of woman’s vocation, and your servants to the profoundest depths of domestic economy,—and that not merely because knowledge is pleasant in itself and profitable alike to individuals and to communities, but because of their love for the dear Saviour, who has redeemed them from the power of ignorance as well as of sin, and whose blessed teachings form the groundwork of whatever superstructure may be raised at the Huguenot Seminary of Wellington.”

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 13

Educational Undertakings and Visit to Europe and America

All alike will find in him an example of some of the attributes which in every age of the world distinguish the true teacher from the empiric and the hireling—a deep love of knowledge for its own sake, a faith in its value as one of the most potent instruments of moral culture, insight into the nature and the temptations of boyhood, profound sympathy with every form of childish weakness except sin, belief in the boundless possibilities for good which lie yet undeveloped in even the most unpromising scholar, skill and brightness in communicating knowledge and in attracting the co-operation of learners, and, above all, an abiding sense of the responsibility attaching to an office in which the teacher has it in his power to make or mar the image of God, and to advance or retard the spiritual improvement of the coming race.—Sir Joshua Fitch on Thomas Arnold.

DURING the sixties of the nineteenth century the subject which chiefly absorbed attention was the battle with Liberalism, but in the following decade the most insistent question was that of popular education. Previous to the year 1865 education in the Colony was wholly a Government concern. The duty devolved upon the Superintendent-General of Education and his departmental subordinates to establish, staff and subsidize the public schools of the country. Each school was a Government institution and each teacher a Government official. Pupils in the lower standards received instruction gratis, while for those attending the higher classes the fees amounted to no more than four pounds sterling per annum. Under this arrangement public interest in education languished. There was no link to unite the school and the people : the latter bore no responsibility for the school and exercised no control over it: and a system which thus supplied all wants while requiring no co-operation was little calculated to arrest attention and stimulate interest. In 1865, however, a salutary change was effected in the regulations, by which the system of education was popularized, and the control of the schools was vested in school-committees, elected by popular vote, and entrusted with the duty of appointing teachers and finding the half of their salaries, the other moiety being contributed by Government. Education thus became in the truest sense popular—the concern of the people themselves.

Free institutions, however, imply free and independent minds that can rightly use and apply them. Public opinion, especially in the more distant and neglected parts of the country, was not yet alive to the necessity of popular and universal education. The bulk of the population in the country districts belonged to the D. R. Church, which therefore was charged with the duty of awakening and informing the mind of the people on this vital question. To this task the Church had from the very commencement addressed itself by endeavouring to secure a multiplication of schools and an increase of educational facilities. For every presbytery there was a recognized inspector of schools, whose duty it was to visit and inspect each school in his circuit, and report his findings to the presbytery at its annual meeting. At each successive meeting of the Synod educational questions became more and more prominent. In 1870 the agenda contained but five motions bearing on education, whereas in 1873 there were no less than eighteen; and the difference indicates the new emphasis placed upon scholastic concerns.

But in addition to the official decisions of the Synod a more personal and more persistent force was needed to arouse the Christian public to a sense of its responsibility towards the rising generation. More than in any other single individual this force was personified in Mr. Murray. During the eighth decade of the century he was the moving spirit of a practical endeavour to bring the privileges of education within the reach of the poorest as well as the wealthiest classes of the community. The successful inauguration, in the face of many doubts and difficulties, of so important an undertaking as the Huguenot Seminary demonstrated the feasibility of establishing, in other parts of the country, similar institutions for the education of young women and the training of lady-teachers. Within the next three or four years there arose the following schools, which in most cases were avowedly modelled on the lines of the Wellington institution :—the Bloemhof Seminary at Stellenbosch, the Midland Seminary at Graaff-Reinet, the Ladies’ Seminary at Worcester, the Eunice Girls’ Institute at Bloemfontein, the Girls’ School at Paarl, the Rockland Seminary at Cradock and the Bellevue Seminary at Somerset East.

Early in 1876 Mr. Murray undertook a second tour for the purpose of collecting funds for the Huguenot Seminary. This tour, which lasted only seven weeks, was not so extensive nor so successful financially as that of 1874, but it intensified certain convictions which he had long cherished, and drew from him the following burning words on the urgent need for more labourers in the Lord’s harvest-held—

In my last letter, concerning the need of missionaries, I promised to discuss in a second letter the provision which should be made for the existing need. A collecting-tour of seven weeks’ duration has somewhat delayed the fulfilment of this promise, but what I have seen and experienced in the meantime has strengthened my conviction of the urgency of our necessities, and of our calling to arise in God’s name and endeavour to supply them. In order to attain this object we must, it appears to me, direct our attention to these points:

First, we must give ourselves to a deeper realization of this need, and to laying it upon the heart of our congregations. It is but human nature to rest satisfied with a defect which cannot be immediately remedied, and custom soon makes us oblivious to its existence. We consider that it has always been so and must remain so, and that there is little likelihood of its ever being otherwise. It is, however, the calling of those whom God has appointed watchers on His walls, to enquire earnestly into every need, to make it plain to the congregation, to show how unsatisfactory is the state of affairs, and so to prepare the way for a change. Let me briefly give my impressions of the need as they have been made upon me by my last journey.

I was at Calvinia on the occasion of their last communion. The attendance was not very large. The people there have already accustomed themselves to the thought of one great communion-festival annually, and for many this is the only attendance they put in at church in the course of the year. It can hardly be otherwise. Among the new churchwardens who were inducted when I was there, was an elder whose home was 120 miles distant, and a deacon who lived 180 miles away. Among the young people confirmed was a young girl who was in church last when she was baptized, and she was the daughter of parents who were by no means indifferent to religion.

From Calvinia I went to Carnarvon. There, too, I found a congregation some members of which live 120 miles from the village. At Fraser-burg it was the same : there were cases of members of the congregation who during their whole life had never yet set foot in the village church. In conversations with others on my journey I discovered that it is frequently the case that when families live forty-five or fifty miles away from the township, they seldom think of attending church more than once a quarter, at the communion season. And when we remember the hindrances that arise, owing to drought the one year, and floods the next, as well as occasional sickness, we can understand how seldom the majority have the opportunity of listening to the preaching of the Word. At Sutherland I found that after the congregation had been vacant for three years, and had issued I don’t know how many calls to no purpose, they have recently obtained a minister; but only at the expense of Kroonstad, a congregation counting 2,500 members, which must now also remain vacant for who knows how many months. So much for the need for more ministers.

Nor is it only ministers we need. I am convinced that in those extensive parishes we must employ another class of workers. There are, as we know, workers known as catechists in the Church of England. The time has arrived when we must supply our ministers with “helps," who can preach God’s Word in the distant parts of the congregation, while remaining under the minister’s supervision. To my mind we should have teachers who are at the same time religious instructors or catechists—men who are at home in the Bible, and are able to lead the service at a distant outpost. Let us take a leaf out of the book of the traders, who are far from satisfied -with having a store in the village, but also put up their little shops in the distant wards. Nor does even that satisfy them, but their wares are conveyed by waggon and cart to the very doors of prospective customers, and people are enticed and begged to make their purchases. "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.”

And what shall I say of my experience with reference to teachers ? This alone, that I have been convinced anew that all our toil for the benefit of the grown-ups will effect little, unless we win the hearts of the children for God's Word ; and that the vast majority of the children of our land is not under the guidance of God-fearing teachers. May God lay this need heavy upon our hearts, and open our eyes to the heart-rending sight of children—whose is the Kingdom, who are beloved of Jesus, and whose hearts are tender and open for Him—confided for years to the influence and the instruction of worldly teachers.

But I must hasten. Granted that we sufficiently realize this need, our first duty then is to pray. When the Son of God saw the multitudes as sheep without a shepherd, and was moved with compassion, He knew of no other course than to implore the disciples, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth labourers into His harvest." It is not a matter which we should just touch upon in our prayers amid a number of other petitions: we must make it a question which we definitely bring before the Lord, and in which we wait for an answer and for speedy relief. It is a sad sight to see an immense harvest, a glorious acreage of ripe wheat, without sufficient labourers to reap it. At times it appears to me that the need of the heathen world is not so great as the need of our Christian population, where we frequently find both old and young not unwilling to be gathered in for the Saviour, but where there can be no ingathering because there are no reapers. O, let us beseech the Lord to prepare and to thrust out labourers by His Holy Spirit!

When our heart realizes the need, our eyes will also be opened to the work that must be done. The open eye will seek and find the children who must be trained for work in this great harvest-field. It cannot be that there are not young people enough in this country for the work of the Lord. There are, and we must see that we find them. The cry for more labourers must be heard from every pulpit, until even the children come to understand that it is the Son of God Himself who is summoning them to labour for Him. When we have the children, we must also find the homes where they can be trained for His service. The boarding-school can yet become a wonderful and glorious means for the training of workers. Hitherto the chief object has been the intellectual development of the child. But when our eyes are open to our real needs we shall understand that what we want is teachers who, in addition to a complete secular education, have also passed through a course in theology and above all in the study of the Scriptures. We must not consider it sufficient if we find a person who is merely pious and desirous to work for Christ. The minister has to be trained in his work as pastor, and the teacher requires instruction as well, if he is to labour in the interests of the Kingdom. For this purpose we need the right sort of principals to stand at the head of such schools, where for four or five years their object will be to train and inspire young people for God’s service.

Men like these are difficult to find ; but I am firmly convinced that if God has implanted the desire, He will not put us to shame when we pray earnestly and believingly for them. And we should make arrangements for receiving the poorest children in these homes, if there be only sufficient desire and ability on their part. The Church must make itself responsible for the education, and if necessary for the support during their time of study, of those committed to its care for training. .

But where is all the money to come from ? My brothers, if this is God’s work, He surely has enough money to dispense. When He has opened heart and mouth and eye, He will not leave the hands closed. One cannot lay to the charge of the congregations of this land that they are unwilling to give. When a matter is made plain to them they give willingly. If our ministers will but meditate deeply on this great need, and on God’s plan for fulfilling it, and if they will but, under the impulse of God’s Spirit and God’s love, show the congregations how to prepare the way that His Word may have free course, then there need really he no fear on the score of money. It is God’s part to care for the money, and ours to discover what the will of the Lord is, and what work we ought to perform for Him, and then in faith to begin it.

There, brothers, you have a brief and feeble statement of what lay heavy on my heart. To find children in great numbers for the Lord’s work, and then to train them and send them forth—that must be a matter of believing prayer and toil, far more than it has hitherto been. May I ask the brethren most earnestly to beseech the Lord to grant us His blessing and His aid in this great undertaking.

It was as a tribute to Mr. Murray’s unwearied efforts in the cause of education, no less than to his gifts of leadership and his supreme spiritual influence, that the Synod of 1876 elected him as Moderator for the second time. One of the most important resolutions of this Synod had in view the establishment of a normal college for the training of teachers. Thanks to the insistence of Mr. Murray and other like-minded ministers, the necessity for such an institution was acknowledged by all, and the resolution was arrived at by a unanimous vote. On the question as to where the new school should be erected there was considerable divergence of opinion, and it was only by a narrow majority that the claims of Cape Town were recognized as preponderant. Mr. Murray was appointed one of the original board of curators, and a member of the board he remained until his retirement from the active service of the ministry in 1906.1

In the meantime Mr. Murray, whose eager mind was generally in advance of official decisions and the cautious movement of synods and Church committees, was already laying his plan for the training of missionaries and missionary teachers. These plans eventually crystallized in the establishment of the Mission Training Institute, which was opened at Wellington in October, 1877. Of the commencement of this undertaking we have the following account, written in February, 1876—

The Lord has laid upon our heart the desire to establish a school for the training of labourers for His Kingdom. After corresponding for more than a year on this matter, we have now the prospect of obtaining the right man to stand at the head of our proposed institute. We made many vain endeavours to find a suitable principal, before the Rev. George Ferguson, brother of Miss Ferguson of the Huguenot Seminary, accepted our invitation to come over to us. We hope to have him in our midst before the middle of next year. According to the testimony of men in America who are able to judge, he appears to be the right man to carry our plans to fruition. Nor is our confidence wholly placed upon their judgment ; for we believe that the God from whom we have asked him in prayer, has guided us to the man whom He Himself has destined for the work.

The objects we aim at in the establishment of this institution are these : there are young men who wish to engage in the work of the Lord, but who have no time, no aptitude or no strong desire to pay much attention to ancient languages or mathematics. For these there should be provided the opportunity to obtain a thorough Biblical and general training, so that they can take their places in the Church and in society both honourably and profitably. While we do not exclude the study of ancient languages, it will be our aim, without entering into competition with existing institutions, to afford young men who are no longer in their early youth the chance of obtaining a good general education through the medium of both English and Dutch. In addition to this it will be our endeavour to have the whole of our home inspired with the one thought of consecration to God and to His service, so that by His blessing this idea may become the chief aim of all the training.

We desire also to establish matters on so reasonable and simple a footing that youths in poor circumstances shall have access to all the privileges of a good boarding-school. We also wish to offer to those who are already engaged in God’s service—as ministers, missionaries or teachers—the opportunity of having their children educated for the same blessed service at the lowest possible price. In order to attain these objects we require a home in which provision can be made for forty or fifty boarders. For the whole project we shall need a sum of £4,000 or £5,000. It is a very large amount, but the conviction that it is the Lord’s will that this institution shall be established is sufficient assurance that He will supply all our needs.

Early in 1876 Mr. Murray was appointed by the Synodical Committee as the official delegate of the D. R. Church to the first Council of Presbyterian Churches, which was to have met in Edinburgh in the course of that year. The meeting was, however, postponed until 1877, and Mr. Murray was accordingly able to attend it in his capacity as Moderator of Synod. He left Cape Town on the 4th of April in the steamship African, while his brother Charles sailed a few days later and joined him in London. In a series of letters to the Kerkbode Mr. Murray has given us a reasonably full account of his doings and experiences on this journey. The objects with which it was undertaken he describes as follows—

There are three matters which will specially engage my attention, and in respect of which I trust the tour will not have been undertaken in vain. These three things are the condition of the Church, education, and the state of the spiritual life in the countries which I am about to visit. The condition of the Church is the first matter into which I have to enquire. So much is clear ; for the real purpose of my visit is to represent our Church at the Pan-Presbyterian Council. [Mr. Murray here enlarged upon the meaning of Presbyterianism and the objects of the Council.]

The second matter with which I shall concern myself is education. On this question I need not enter into details. The educational work of our Church is only in its first beginnings. Hitherto we have been so occupied in merely seeking to find the needful teachers, that great educational questions such as are being discussed in Europe have not yet been under consideration with us. I trust that closer acquaintance with what is being done in the sphere of education in Europe and America will prove fruitful for the work that is being done in our own land. . . . This has reference especially to our Normal College. I hope that, wherever opportunity offers, I shall make use of my eyes and ears, on my own behalf and on behalf of the Church, to take cognizance of what is being done to train teachers for a profession upon which admittedly both Church and society are so greatly dependent.

Then I also mentioned the spiritual life of the Churches. There is nothing for which I so greatly long as the opportunity of coming into contact with some of the men whom God has lately raised up as witnesses to what He is able to do for His children. I hope very much to be enabled to pass some days at a place where Moody and Sankey are labouring. Grey-headed ministers in England and Scotland have acknowledged how much they have learnt from these men. And there are other evangelists, who have not exactly received a ministerial training, but whose enthusiasm and gifts have in many instances been highly instructive to those who are engaged in the regular ministry of the Word.

There is, however, another kind of labour for which God has lately raised up chosen instruments. It consists not in the endeavour to bring in those who are without the fold, but in the endeavour to lead those who are within to a deeper comprehension of Christian truth and privilege. If there is one thing which the Church needs, it is labour directed to this end. The more we study as Christians the state of the Church of Christ on earth, the more is conviction strengthened that it does not answer to its holy calling. Hence the powerlessness of the Church against unbelief and semi-belief and superstition, against worldliness and sin and heathenism. The power of faith, the power of prayer, the power of the Holy Spirit, are all too greatly lacking. God's children in the first place require a revival—a new revelation by the Holy Spirit of what is the hope of their calling, of what God does indeed expect from them, and of the life of power and consecration, of joy and fruitfulness, which God has prepared for them in Christ. . . .

My experiences from stage to stage of the journey I hope to describe from time to time. There is not much to be said about the voyage thus far. Hitherto all has been prosperous. We hope to reach Madeira this afternoon. On board I have had complete rest on Sundays. We have as passenger a clergyman of the Church of England. Before the first Sunday he came and informed me that, since almost all the passengers belonged to his Church, he thought it was his duty to take all the services. I replied that if the passengers concurred in this arrangement, I, too, would be satisfied. My continual prayer is that God’s richest blessing may rest upon my congregation and upon the whole Church.

Mr. Murray arrived in London on the last day of April, and proceeded almost immediately to Edinburgh, charged as he was with the duty of finding professors for the Normal College. He found the ministers whom he had come to consult very much preoccupied with the meetings of the Assemblies of the two Scottish Churches, and was obliged to return to London without having accomplished much. Joined in London by his brother Charles, he embarked at Liverpool on the Bothnia on the 12th of May, and after a prosperous voyage reached New York on the 22nd of the month. The chief object of the visit to America was the quest for teachers, and, above all, of lady-teachers for the Huguenot Seminary and its daughter-institutions. There is no need to go into the details of the tour, and Mr. Murray has summed up its results in one of his communications to the Kerkbode—

With reference to our five weeks’ visit to America I send you the following. Though we greatly regretted that our stay in that country was so brief, every day was full of pleasure and utility. The acquaintance which we made with the educational system, with the Sunday-schools, with the religious life, and especially with the revival under Mr. Moody’s labour, and notably with the Dutch Reformed Church of America, have all yielded us much food for thought, and I hope at a later stage to convey to you some of the impressions made.

Our visit to the Mount Holyoke Seminary was far from being a disappointment. What we saw there, and the manner in which intellectual development is combined with absolute consecration of all talents and knowledge to the service of Christ, gave us new cause for gratitude to God that He had led u s to this institution for the principals of our seminaries, and that those whom He had sent over to us were so eminently suitable to transplant the whole system to our shores.

We did not meet with as much success as we hoped in our requests for more ladies from here. Many who applied to be accepted had not yet had so much experience that we were sufficiently assured that they would answer our purpose. And, above all, the number of old students of Mount Holyoke who were able to come was not as large as we had hoped. But it was a great joy to learn on our arrival that one of the teachers who had already seen twelve years of service in that Seminary, and whose work was held in high esteem, had offered to go to Pretoria, in order to accede to the request of Rev. Bosman, and establish a ladies’ seminary there. After what I have seen of her and heard about her, I am convinced that she will be a great acquisition for the Transvaal. Together with other lady-teachers, for Swellendam and Beaufort West, she will meet us in London, and will sail with us from Southampton on the 30th of August.

At the head of the company will be Rev. George Ferguson, who remained in America in order to obtain from myself the last instructions as to the work he is about to undertake. All that I have heard, both in America and in Scotland, concerning the missionary enterprise, has wrought in me a deeper conviction that our Church has been planted by God in South Africa with the purpose of bringing the Gospel to the heathen of the Continent of Africa ; and that, if this work is to be done, we must have an institution where our sons can be trained to fulfil it. . . .

On my return to Edinburgh I was rejoiced to hear that a principal had been found for our Normal College. Professors Blaikie and Calder-wood cherished no doubts but that Mr. Whitton was the right man. He had been trained in a normal college, had had three years’ experience as assistant in a normal college in England, had acted for fifteen months as assistant inspector of schools for a district of Scotland, and was provided with the best testimonials as to the manner in which he had acquitted himself in these various situations. This seems to us to be a sufficient guarantee that he is fully equipped with a wide knowledge of everything pertaining to education. Having in the meantime heard from the curators in South Africa that all arrangements were not yet complete in connexion with the buildings, I agreed with Mr. Whitton that he should only commence his work in January next; and to this he readily assented, as it would enable him to complete his year of service at Melrose.

Mr. Murray gave his impressions of the great meetings of the Presbyterian Council in two long papers, of which we here offer an abbreviated version—

In addressing myself to the task of giving a short account of the Council of Edinburgh, I realize how difficult it is accurately to describe what was really the main thing—the spirit, the tone, the general feeling, and even the enthusiasm which prevailed. I can only attempt a brief review of the proceedings.

The opening meeting was held in St. Giles’ Church—the church in which John Knox used to preach in former days. Professor Flint, of the Established Church of Scotland, delivered a discourse on Christian unity, based upon John xvii. 20, 21. He pointed out that this unity is a spiritual unity, which actually prevails ; that the existence of separate denominations, due to differences of speech and nationality, cannot annul it; and that this virtual unity must be brought into more constant exercise by more frequent inter-communion with each other, and by the spirit of forbearance and love, in which we ought to bear with one another’s differences of opinion.

In the evening a great reception was given to the delegates by the inhabitants of Edinburgh. In the hall of a large museum in connexion with the University—a hall some 300 feet in length and 80 feet high —there were assembled five thousand people. The members of the Council were presented to the Lord Provost, as representative of the city, and where opportunity offered, were also introduced to prominent citizens. After that, as many as could find room attended a meeting in a neighbouring auditorium, where addresses of welcome were delivered, and acknowledgments made by speakers from different countries.

On Wednesday, 4th July, the actual work of the Council commenced. This was the only day which was directly devoted to the discussion of Presbyterian principles. We began at the foundation. In the constitution of the Council it was laid down that the consensus of the confessions of the various Reformed Churches was to be considered the basis upon which the Council was united. The discussion on this question was opened by the well-known Dr. Schaff, a Swiss by birth, a Scot by education, and for more than thirty years a professor in America. He introduced the question in a most excellent paper. He first reminded his hearers how, more than three hundred years ago (in 1562), Cranmer had issued an invitation to Calvin, Melanchthon and other Continental divines, to assemble and draw up a united confession for the Reformed Churches ; and how Calvin had replied that for such a purpose he would be willing to cross not one, but ten seas, and how they should consider no trouble too great to bring about such a union on the basis of truth. Political events, however, prevented the proposed gathering; but the proposal itself proved how greatly the Reformers felt the need of credal union. A general confession or formulary which should unite all Churches he did not think possible under present circumstances. Such confessions cannot be drawn up to order. They must, if they are to have any spark of vitality, be the fruit of deep religious convictions bom in a time of struggle for the faith. Theology cannot produce them. They demand a religious enthusiasm which is equal to any sacrifice and which does not shrink from death itself. They are acts of faith—the result of higher inspiration. In the meantime we have the best kind of unity—the unity of spiritual life, of faith and of love which binds us to Christ and to those who are Christ’s.

Professor Godet, who followed, emphasized the fact that, as in the time of the Reformers the truths of election and salvation through faith had to be confessed and defended against the Church of Rome, so in our day the person and the divinity of Christ have to be confessed and defended against modern error. After this address a paper composed by Professor Krafft of Bonn was read, which gave a representation of reformed doctrine as held by Reformed Churches in all parts of the world. From the discussion which ensued it appeared that both the American and the Scottish delegates were eager to maintain the authority of the confessions. When one of the Scotch professors of somewhat modem tendency rose on a subsequent day, and spoke of the desirability of altering the confessions, the whole meeting instantly gave expression to its disapproval of his utterances.

In the afternoon a paper by the revered Dr. Cairns was read on the Principles of Presbyterianism, in which it was pointed out that Presby-terianism fostered true liberty—the union of the rights of the congregation with the authority of the ministers—and that, standing as it did midway between the episcopal and the congregationalist systems, it was best fitted to unite the advantages of both. Dr. Alexander Hodge, lately appointed as successor to his father, the famous Dr. Charles Hodge of Princeton, discussed Presbyterianism in connexion with the tendencies and needs of the present age. The same force in the Reformed Churches, he said, which in former ages had opposed tyranny in Church and State, must now do battle against the modem enemy— the lawlessness which defied all authority, and exalted man and nature above all things. . . .

As I listened to the various speakers my thoughts went back to what had happened when I visited England ten years previously. When present on one occasion at the laying of the foundation-stone of a Congregational church I listened to one of their professors, Dr. Vaughan,. expounding the scriptural origin of their system of Church government. He spoke with such certainty and conviction, that one almost felt that he was right, and that no flaw could be found in his argument. Shortly afterwards I heard one of the most famous preachers of the Episcopal Church, Dr. Goulburn, maintain that at the time of the Reformation the Church of England alone both established purity of doctrine and remained within the apostolic succession. At the time I said to myself. Now I have still to hear a Presbyterian. I had now enjoyed the opportunity of listening to more than one Presbyterian, and I believe that even in Presbyterian Scotland many must have been both astonished and strengthened at hearing the scriptural principles of Church government expounded and stated in so clear and conclusive a fashion. . . .

The fourth day was devoted to discussions on the subject of Missions. Letters were read from the German professors Dorner of Berlin, Lechler of Leipzig, Riggenbach of Basel, Christlieb of Bonn, Ebrard of Erlangen, and Dr. Herzog, expressing,their concurrence with the objects of the Council and their regret at not being able to attend. After that, a long paper was read from the pen of Dr. Duff, the prince of modern missionaries, who was to have led the discussion, but was prevented by illness. Speaking as one of the prophets of old, he said that he wished to bear witness to one matter especially, namely, that Missions are not one of the activities of the Church, but the only object for which it exists. "I wish,” he said, "to take the highest possible scriptural ground with reference to the sole and supreme duty of the Church of Christ to devote all its strength to this cause. With the exception of the brief apostolic age, there has been no period in the history of the Church when this has been actually done—to the great shame of the Church and the unspeakable loss of this poor world. Holding this conviction—a conviction that has been gathering strength during these forty years—you will not take it amiss in me, standing as I do upon the verge of the eternal world, when I give expression to my immovable assurance that unless and until this supreme duty is more deeply felt, more powerfully realized, and more implicitly obeyed, not only by individual believers but by the Church at large, we are only playing at missions, deceiving our own selves, slighting the command of our blessed King, and expending in all manner of fruitless struggle the powers, the means and the abilities which should be devoted with undivided enthusiasm to the spiritual subjugation of the nations.” . . .

On the Saturday there was no official meeting of the Council. But in the morning a conference on life and work was held for members of the various congregations. After that there was a general communion, conducted by Dr. Herdman of the Established Church, Dr. Moody Stuart of the Free Church and Dr. Ker of the U. P. Church. Both these meetings were a real refreshment to me. My only regret was that just these two meetings, which dealt specially with the spiritual life, were held on a day when few of the regular members of the Council could be present. This gives me occasion to make an observation—and it is my only unfavourable one—with reference to the Council. The same observation has frequently been made on our own Synodical meetings. When a large number of God’s servants meet in order to consult about the interests of His Kingdom, and about the work they have to perform in connexion with it, one would expect that their first felt need would be to place themselves as servants in the presence of their Lord, and while they wait there in worship and faith, to experience the renewal of those spiritual powers upon which everything depends. And yet it so frequently happens that in ecclesiastical and theological gatherings the so-called ordinary business occupies the first place, while hardly any time can be found for spiritual matters. And though we listened with great pleasure to what was said about the exercise of the spirit of love, about faithfulness to the doctrine of the Church, and about the earnestness displayed in the Council, more than one of us felt this great lack. I have no doubt that this lack will make itself felt even more in the future, so that when those who exercise “ the ministry of the Spirit " assemble, the great blessing of their intercourse will be found in a more living confession and exercise of the faith which is their only strength, in union with their Lord, and in the increase of the gifts and graces of His Spirit.

Sunday was a great day for the church-going population of Edinburgh. There was hardly a single pulpit which was not occupied by a stranger, and next morning the daily Press contained a summary of many of the sermons delivered. Arrangements had also been made for ministers of the Established and Free Churches, between which hitherto there had been but little exchange of pulpits, to preach in one another’s churches, and so testify to the desire for closer union.

On Monday the subject on which attention was focused was unbeliej. It was both felt and affirmed, in view of the influence of an unbelieving science and literature, that the Church of Christ must consider it as one of the most momentous problems which demand solution, how so to preach the Gospel as to satisfy the highest needs of thought and knowledge. The first paper was that of Dr. Patton, professor at Chicago—a man who, though previously but little known, at once covered himself with great honour. He showed in striking manner the different forms which unbelief assumes, and the different causes from which it arises, and then pointed out what the Church should do to meet it, and what results might be expected or not expected from the contest. Dr. McCosh of Princeton followed. In answer to the question what attitude the Christian ought to assume towards the science of our age, he spoke very boldly of the impossibility of contradiction between the truth which God revealed in nature and the truth which He revealed in Scripture. Christians could safely leave physical science to go as far as possible in its discoveries, in the assurance that what was really taught by nature (as distinct from the suppositions and deductions of scientists) would ultimately serve to corroborate the Word of God, even if some popular conceptions required modification. This paper, too, was followed with marked attention. A discussion now ensued, in which the speech of Professor Flint was particularly excellent. He showed in how far the Church was responsible for the unbelief of the world, and pointed out the means by which scientific unbelief could be best refuted. Professor Cairns then still emphasized the point that the causes of unbelief were chiefly of a moral and spiritual nature, having their home in man’s heart, and being removable only by the grace of God. ...

The afternoon was devoted to the subject of the Spiritual Life— helps and hindrances. On the first portion an address was delivered by Theodore Monod of Paris. After he had spoken, two further papers were read, on the Sanctification of the Sabbath and on Drunkenness It soon became plain that the time was too short for the satisfactory discussion of so many subjects. Some of the delegates from a distance subsequently gave an account in brief of the condition of their Churches. Among the latter was Rev. C. Fraser of Philippolis (Orange Free State, who was listened to with much interest, especially by the American delegates. During our visit to America we had heard repeated references to the great exhibition in Philadelphia, at which an exhibit from the Free State had attracted particular attention. This was the reason why the delegates from across the Atlantic listened with so much eagerness to communications concerning a country of which they otherwise knew very little.

The closing meeting of the Council was held on the Tuesday evening (ioth July). An address to the Queen was first read and approved. In this address it was stated inter alia that the Council consisted of 333 members, representing 21,443 congregations, with 19,040 ministers. After this matter had been disposed of a resolution was passed giving expression to the Council’s unfeigned gratitude to God for the opportunity of meeting with one another in such a spirit of brotherly concord, and for the new encouragement which had thus been imparted to the Churches to carry out with greater energy than ever the great task committed to them. A series of addresses followed, after which the last words were spoken by Dr. Oswald Dykes of London, who said: "Four hundred years ago the first of the Reformed Churches represented here to-day, I mean the Bohemian Church, emerged from the darkness which had overspread Christendom. And now for the first time in all that long period the Reformed Churches may meet at this place. How far do they extend to-day, and how wide is the area that has been represented here ! And yet this Council, though representing so wide an area, has to my mind been too narrow to be representative of all those bodies in Christendom which are essentially one with us. And what are to be the results that flow from this Council? Friends and foes will wait expectantly to see whether the fruits of our new Alliance will be such as to justify its existence. Our Alliance will not live, and will not deserve to live, unless it leads to worthy activity. We wait to see to what extent this Alliance will assist in strengthening weak Churches, in gently drawing closer the bond of intercourse between brothers who are separated, in contributing to the solution of difficult problems, and in helping all Churches to profit by the experience of some of the more privileged bodies. There can be no real co-operation before we are truly united in friendship and love. And the only way to united action is that we shall become better acquainted with each other, and shall foster a spirit of mutual love and confidence. In this manner the way will be paved, gradually if not all at once, for a more real unity, more hearty co-operation, and such a consolidation of the divided forces of the Church of Christ as shall give abundant proof that our gathering has not been without avail.” The address of Dr. Dykes was listened to with the greatest attention and silence, and formed a worthy close to a historic gathering.

The quotations which I have made from the last address constitute a sufficient answer to the question which is sometimes put me as to the real use of this meeting of the Council. I believe in the communion of saints, and am firmly convinced that such an exercise of Christian fellowship carries rich blessing with it. The power and the courage of the individual soldier depends largely, not merely on the confidence which he places in his general, but upon the power and the faithfulness of the army to which he belongs. Everything that strengthens this conviction in him, increases the qualities which are indispensable in an army that is to overcome—namely, enthusiasm and courage. In the Church of Christ we have not merely “one Spirit” but “one body,” and everything that tends to emphasize the unity of the body brings a blessing with it. The enduring blessing of the Council will be experienced, not in any undertaking in which the Council itself may engage, but in the spirit which the Churches that have been represented on it display towards each other in the work they are accomplishing for God.

Mr. Murray had undertaken to be present and to speak at a Conference at Inverness, which was to be held very shortly after the close of the Pan-Presbyterian Council. Of this Conference we still have the following programme—

CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE AT INVERNESS (17TH to 19TH July, 1877).

Subject: The Christian Life.

First Day—The New Creation—“Ye must be born again." Chairman—Rev. Dr. McCosh ; Opener—Rev. A. Murray, Cape Town.

Second Day—The New Service—“Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Chairman—Rev. Dr. Cairns ; Opener—Rev. Dr. Moore.

Third Day—The New Power—“I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Chairman—Earl of Cavan ; Opener—Rev. Dr. Cairns.

In the afternoon sessions the following subjects were treated : Sabbath Schools and Family Religion, Temperance, and Missions ; and the programme announced that "the following ministers are also expected to take part: Rev. Dr. van Dyke, New York; Rev. Dr. Cunningham, Wheeling; Rev. J. W. Lupton, Tennessee; Rev. Colin Fraser, Orange Free State; Rev. Charles Murray, Cape of Good Hope, etc.

Mr Murray’s own impressions of this Conference are to be found in the following letter—

To his Wife.

My last was from Inverness, just as the Conference was commencing. It was a very good time. The attendance was not as large as I could have wished, but I think the Master was present. The subjects for the mornings, "The New Creation,” "The New Service,” “The New Power,” were quite in the line of the higher life, but the most of the speakers kept to the old elementary truths. Nevertheless the pervading spirit was good. In what I saw and heard and said myself I was much refreshed.

In the house in which I was staying (with an elder of the Free Church), and in intercourse with other laymen I could notice very distinctly the influence of Mr. Moody’s work. There is much more readiness to talk out, and much more warmth. I had noticed it in Edinburgh too, that the whole religious tone of Scotland has been lifted up and brightened most remarkably. I do praise God for it. Then, too, there is much earnest work being done, though I get the impression in many places that the activity and joy of work is regarded too much as the essence of religion. And I see that when I try to speak of the deeper and inner life, many are glad to listen, and confess to a want.

For myself I have learnt this lesson, that it will not do to press too much on the one side of holiness and communion with Jesus, without the other side of work. There is no joy like that over repentant sinners, no communion closer than “ Go into all the world and teach—and lo ! I am with you.” And yet the joy of work and of revival is not enough. God’s children must be led into the secret of the possibility of unbroken communion with Jesus personally. But we may ask and trust Him who has visited Scotland so wonderfully in the one thing to lead His people on in the other. I cannot say how I have been impressed with the need of the union of these two matters, work and communion. Charles says it is what I have spoken on all along at the Cape, and yet it appears to me like something quite new.

One thing that brought it out very clearly was this. On the Wednesday afternoon I drove out to Cromarty, twenty miles away, to see Mr. Russell’s (of Cape Town) mother and brother. I went with an elder of the latter’s, a Mr. Middleton—a farmer, and a most interesting man. We drove through a beautiful country. My companion reminded me in many things of some of our best farmer elders at the Cape. He had been a great worker in Mr. Moody’s time, sending in cartloads of servants twenty miles far to attend the meetings. Shortly afterwards ten of those belonging to his farm were admitted as communicant members of the congregation. He still keeps up a weekly meeting for them. It was most interesting to see how with him work was identified with the Christian life, and as it appeared to me in a most healthy way. And I felt that in high revival times God’s children would get much of the thing itself—entire consecration—without its just being put forward as a theory. Nevertheless I was as deeply impressed as ever with the fact that the Church does need instruction and reviving as to the permanent maintenance of her communion with and her abiding in her Lord.

Before returning to South Africa Mr. Murray found time for a brief trip to Holland and Germany, visiting old acquaintances at Amsterdam and Utrecht, and obtaining some insight, at a Missionsfest at Elberfeld, into German Christianity. He embarked for home, together with his brother and a number of teachers, on the Nyanza, which sailed at the end of August, and reached Wellington on the 24th September— six years to a day from the date of his induction as pastor of the congregation. One of the lady-teachers who came out with him on this voyage tells the following in connexion with the visit to America and the passage out to South Africa—

In 1877 Rev. Andrew Murray and his brother Rev. Charles Murray visited the United States with the special object of arousing interest in the educational work which was being undertaken in South Africa. They addressed the professors and students of various colleges, receiving in every case a very hearty welcome. So many were the invitations that poured in upon them to visit these institutions that they frequently had to separate and proceed each to a different college. I remember that my brother, who was a student in Amherst College, wrote home to tell us that the Rev. Charles Murray had addressed the students there, and that he had won their attention at the outset by his introductory words, "You must please understand that I am not the Mr. Murray; I am the other Mr. Murray.”

During their short stay in America they were successful in obtaining ten1 lady-teachers for girls’ schools in Wellington, Stellenbosch, Worcester, Swellendam, Beaufort West, Graaff-Reinet and Pretoria. The Rev. George Ferguson was also secured in order to take charge of the Mission Institute to be commenced at Wellington. The whole party, who sailed together from England for South Africa, included another minister and his wife, and some other teachers, among whom was Mr. Stucki, the author of Stucki’s Dutch Grammar.

Soon after the voyage began Mr. Murray proposed a daily class for the study of Dutch, with himself and Mr. Stucki as teachers on alternate days. So excellent was the instruction imparted, and so great the enthusiasm aroused, that after the voyage was over two at least of the learners were able to undertake a correspondence in Dutch, and for some time continued to exchange letters in that language.

Mr. Murray used to spend most of his time on the voyage in a quiet comer of the deck, absorbed in a book; but we soon discovered that he was quite ready at any time to put down his book for a helpful chat with anyone who desired it. Some of those little talks will never be forgotten. Mr. Murray continued to manifest his interest in the teachers he had brought out even after they had all been dispersed to their different spheres of work. It was very pleasant to observe the affection that existed between Mr. Murray and his brother, and their evident enjoyment in recalling the experiences of their boyhood, and in discussing, as they walked up and down the deck, their plans for future work.

The consistory and congregation of Wellington accorded their pastor a most hearty welcome on his return from his overseas mission. A large number of vehicles escorted him from the railway-station to the parsonage, where an arch welcome, adorned with flowers and bunting, gave a joyous and festal aspect to the scene. The pupils of the Seminary and the local schools greeted him with song, the consistory presented an address, and the congregation testified to its love and esteem with a well-filled purse. His reply to all these greetings was contained in the sermon which he preached on the following Sunday, and which was based on Romans xv. 29-32, “I am sure that I come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ; and I beseech you that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.” In this discourse he dwelt first upon what the congregation may expect from the minister, and then upon what the minister is entitled to expect from the congregation, encouraging his flock to praise God with him for blessings already experienced, and to continue in intercession on behalf of himself and of each other.

During the first few months after his home-coming Mr. Murray found “ head and hands fully occupied with work." Huguenot Seminary affairs to be discussed, the Training Institute to be started on its career, the new teachers to be apportioned to their several schools, congregational work to be resumed, and the larger activities in connexion with the Church in general to be re-commenced—this was the programme sufficiently heavy to tax the strength of any man. But Mr. Murray was at the height of his powers of body and brain, while his clear and ready mind and quick grasp of guiding principles enabled him to perform with ease duties which would have overwhelmed a smaller main.

The Training Institute was commenced with only ten boarders, of whom two were entered as mission students and one as a normal student. It was the day of small things, and the undertaking was in the truest sense of the words a work of faith. Lack of funds was from the outset the most crippling factor in the situation. The Institute was designed for the instruction and training, as teachers or missionaries, of young men who possessed but little of this world's goods ; and from all parts of the country came applications for admission, accompanied almost always by the candid confession, I have nothing to pay. Mr. Murray put this primary fact clearly before the public in the following statement concerning the aims and needs of the Training Institute—

Those who wish to devote themselves to mission work have not in most cases the means to defray the expenses of their education, and the same is true of prospective teachers. But the Church which finds and sends us the young men required, will surely gladly bear the expense of their education. There are many in our country who utter the prayer, "Thrust forth labourers into Thy harvest.” The ties with which God has united them to home or work prevent them from going personally to the heathen world. Is it not their duty and privilege to supply the funds needed for training and equipping others to go as their substitutes ? When we find poor parents giving their children for the great cause, and poor children giving themselves, it should be a matter of chief concern for us who remain at home, and who are blessed with means, to see to it that gifts for their support are not lacking.

Two years ago I issued a pamphlet called Labourers for the Harvest, in which I mentioned the sum of £3,000 as needful for the buildings which the Training Institute would require. There is room enough for our requirements in the building which we have rented for our Institute, and therefore we shall not think of building for the present. I also spoke of the need of a fund from the interest of which young men could receive their training as teacher or missionary, and I stated that we should join in asking the Lord for £3,000 for this purpose. Shortly afterwards I received a letter from a sister in one of our up-country congregations, proposing that the amount should be raised by 120 subscriptions of £25 each, and offering £23 on those conditions. I mention this suggestion, as there may be others to whom it appeals. I have already received two other subscriptions for the same amount. In this matter of gold and silver I desire to wait upon the Lord, that He may give me wisdom to ask at the right time and in the right manner. His cause has need of money, and at the same time it does not need to become a begging cause. He can teach His servants to ask with glad rejoicing, and He can teach His people to give with glad rejoicing.

Furthermore, this undertaking is urgently commended to the intercession of God’s people. Observation and experience during my recent journey have convinced me more deeply than ever of the need for more abundant prayer in all our labour for the Kingdom. The work is not ours, but God’s. It is His will that we shall unceasingly hand it over to Him, and obtain wisdom and strength to perform it in accordance not with our wishes but with His purposes. Luther said on one occasion :

There is nothing that is right, but it must be kept right by prayer ; and there is nothing wrong that can be set right, but it must be rectified by prayer ; and there is nothing wrong that cannot be rectified, but it must be endured by prayer.” We therefore request all friends of the precious missionary cause to help us with their prayers. Ask God to send us the right young men, to make the teachers a source of great blessing, and abundantly to bless our whole institution with His Spirit. And may He strengthen us all, that our faith fail not!

There were some persons about this time who made it a matter of reproach, or at least of criticism, that Mr. Murray had started a Training Institute of his own at Wellington, which would necessarily enter into competition with the official undertaking of the Church, the Normal College at Cape Town. To these strictures Mr. Murray at once replied in a letter to the Z-uid Afrikaan, in which he laid stress chiefly on two points—that the Wellington Institute was to be looked upon as a feeder of the more advanced Normal College, and that the former institution aimed also at training missionaries, which the Normal College did not.

No student (he writes) is admitted to the Normal College before he has attained the age of at least sixteen or seventeen, and has passed the teachers’ examination, as instituted by the Church or the Government. Our work in the Training School is to prepare students for the entrance examination to the Normal College. Out of seven pupils in our institution who are preparing themselves to go out as teachers, there is not at present a single one who is qualified to enter the Normal College.

Moreover, we are doing work which the Normal College cannot do. The latter institution aims at training teachers for the first-class and second-class schools in our towns and villages, so that we shall not be under the necessity of importing men from abroad. It will be a long time before the College can supply this need. Very few of its students will be available for the needs of the country schools, which require teachers by the hundred. If all our talk about more schools is not to remain mere talk, we require even more institutions, where intending teachers can be assisted to pass the elementary teachers’ examination.

Then, again, our Training School is intended not merely for teachers, but for missionaries. I consider it a matter of great importance that our young South African Christians should be trained as missionaries. It is needful for many reasons. Our Church should have its due share in carrying out the last command of the Master to preach the Gospel to every creature. The children of our country can better understand and maintain the relation between white and coloured in this land than can strangers. There are many young men who feel a spiritual compulsion to engage in this work, but for whom there is no institution at which they can receive the necessary training. These are reasons sufficient for the existence of our Institute.

It is surely time that we should bid farewell to the fear that we shall soon have too many workers for the Lord’s vineyard. A few years ago there were men who asked, What is to become of all the students who issue from our Theological Seminary ? They now realize that it was a foolish question. We need not fewer but more ministers. It was the same with the girls’ schools. Five years ago I was member of the board of managers of the Good Hope Seminary in Cape Town. When we announced the opening of the Huguenot Seminary, one of the ministers of the presbytery gave expression in strong terms to his surprise that a member of the board of the Cape Town institution could endeavour to break down the work which that board was doing, by competing instead of co-operating with the Good Hope School. And what does the outcome prove? I hear that the Good Hope Seminary, with room for thirty-six boarders, is quite full. The Huguenot Seminary, which commenced with accommodation for forty boarders, has now been enlarged to take in eighty. Schools that were established still earlier, such as the Rhenish Institute at Stellenbosch and Mr. de Villiers’ Girls’ School at the Paarl, are fuller than they were before, and other establishments, like the Bloemhof Seminary at Stellenbosch, have also reached their full complement. There is more educational work to be done throughout the country than we think. The more institutions we have like our Training Institute, the better will be the supply of material for the Normal School to fashion into qualified teachers.

The progress of the Training Institute during the next four or five years can be described in few words. The increase in the number of students preparing for the vocation of missionary made it necessary to obtain further assistance as regards instruction in theological subjects, and Mr Ferguson accordingly received a coadjutor in the person of the Rev. J. C. Pauw, pastor of the local mission congregation. The Synod of 1880 gave considerable attention to the pressing question of more labourers for the home and foreign mission fields, and appointed a committee to enquire into the work done at the Wellington Training School—an institution that was wholly the fruit of Mr. Murray’s individual initiative. This committee, whose report was exceedingly favourable, continued to exist as a Committee of Supervision, and became the connecting link which united the Training Institute to the Synod of the D. R. Church.

In the meantime the temporary premises in which the work had been begun had grown too small for the needs of the institution. The question of permanent buildings was again mooted, and the only difficulty was that of finding the necessary funds. This need was met in the following manner. In 1881 Mr. Murray was compelled, because of throat trouble, to intermit his pastoral and preaching labours and to seek for restoration in the drier climate of the Karroo. On his return with improved health to his congregation, a service of thanksgiving was held, both on account of Mr. Murray’s partial restoration and on account of the end of the Transvaal War of Independence and the breaking up of a great drought. In token of the reality of its gratitude the congregation resolved to raise money for a building fund for the Training Institute, and within a few months the sum of £2,000 was collected. Encouraged by this display of practical interest, the Institute trustees drew up plans for a commodious edifice, with lecture rooms and boarding department, which was opened with great acclaim on the 14th of May, 1883. The report of the trustees on that occasion stated that the site had been purchased for £1,000, while the building had cost the sum of £3,500. On the other side of the balance sheet it was shown that the congregation had contributed some £2,700 ; and though that left them with a considerable debt, they cherished a confident hope of being able to reduce the amount still owing from year to year. And as a matter of fact the debt was reduced to £1,500 by the end of the year. The closing words of the report were—

The completion of this undertaking has aroused joy and gratitude. The question remains whether the internal work of the institution will answer to the expectations kindled by its external aspect. Will the dedication of this house to the service of God carry with it the dedication of the large number of youths from all parts of the country who will find a home in it? Will the Institute really become a source of blessing for country and for Church? These questions have driven us to more prayer and greater confidence in God as our only strength. It is the season of Pentecost. The King desires to bestow His Spirit upon us in richest measure. To you is the promise and to your children and to all who are afar off. It is the promise of blessing upon our children, and of blessing upon the training for service of those who will labour among them that are afar ofi. In this hope we take possession of the new edifice and dedicate it to the Lord, for His work and to His glory.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 14

Conferences and Revivals

I want you to remember what a difference there is between Perfection and Perfectionism. The former is a Bible truth : the latter may or may not be a human perversion of that truth. I fear much that many, in their horror of Perfectionism, reject Perfection too. Andrew Murray.

From the day of Pentecost downwards revivals of religion, as a matter of history, have had far more influence on the theology of the Church than historians of dogma have recognized.-—P. Carnegie Simpson.

IN South Africa until well past the middle of the nineteenth century, young men who desired to follow the learned professions, as barristers or doctors, ministers or teachers, could only qualify themselves for their chosen career by prosecuting their studies in European universities. The intellectual life of the community was almost exclusively nourished on books and magazines written by the thinkers of Britain, America and the Continent of Europe. A young people like the colonists of the Cape, just awakened to self-realization, and only commencing to exercise its newly-acquired powers of self-government, is especially sensitive to impressions from without. The seventh and eighth decades of the nineteenth century were formative years for the South African people. The public mind was engaged in grappling with great political questions like confederation and native policy, and with important social problems such as education for the masses and the suppression of drunkenness and vice. Everywhere could be discerned the signs of awakening life. And in consciously feeling their way to a solution of the problems that confronted them, the colonists were unconsciously influenced by the spirit of the age as it revealed itself in the intellectual atmosphere of Europe and America.

In like manner the religious life of the Cape was profoundly influenced by that of the mother-countries whence its population had been originally drawn. In reviewing the condition of religion the most important factor to be considered is undoubtedly the Dutch Reformed Church. The census of 1875 shows that the D. R. Church counted in that year three times as many members as all other Protestant bodies combined (143,000 as against 47,500), and as it formed a compact body, representing the Dutch-speaking section of the population, it wielded by far the most powerful spiritual influence. Under the old regime—a relic of the days of “ John Company ” —the Church showed little vitality ; but after it* succeeded in freeing itself from the fetters of Government patronage and interposition, it began to engage in new activities. It was, of course, still influenced by the rise and fall of spiritual life in the Churches of the northern hemisphere. When the older churches enjoyed seasons of refreshment from the Lord, the D. R. Church shared in the blessing and was likewise visited with gracious revivals. And when under the balefuj blast of rationalism the home Churches languished, the colonial Church was threatened with a corresponding enfeeblement of its spiritual strength. This dependence of the daughter church upon the mother-churches of Holland and Scotland was not merely a faint Limitation of their virtues and their vigour. It was rather an instance of the working of the law of solidarity, and an exemplification of the truth that "whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” The D. R. Church gave forth no mere indistinct echo of truths voiced elsewhere: it possessed its own school of prophets, to which it was given to proclaim divine truth in authoritative accents, and of this school Andrew Murray was the chief and most honoured teacher. We. have had glimpses of the way along which he was led to an appreciation of the truths of what was called the “Higher, Life,” It is sufficient to recall the remarkable experience which he passed through when detained at Paul Kruger’s farm in the Magaliesberg, concerning which he wrote: “The thought of the blessing of the indwelling Spirit appears so clear, the prospect of being filled with Him at moments so near, that I almost feel sure we would yet attain this happiness. The wretchedness of the uncertain life we mostly lead, the certainty that it cannot be the Lord’s pleasure to withhold from His bride the full communion of His love, the glorious prospect of what we could be and do if truly filled with the Spirit of God,—all this combines to force one to be bold with God and say, ‘I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me.’"

Mr. Murray had made great advances since 1862 in his practical experience of, and teaching concerning, the life of sanctification. During his visit to Scotland in 1877 he frequently deplored the fact that so few ministers had advanced beyond the preaching of elementary truths, and that Christians in general were “terribly afraid of perfectionism.” In South Africa he felt himself more and more constrained to urge upon his ministerial brethren the duty and privilege of entire consecration. In 1876, under the stimulus of the Oxford 1 Holiness Movement which is connected with the name of Pearsall Smith, conferences were held in various towns of South Africa— L at Cape Town (attended among others by Major Malan), at Tulbagh, at Piquetberg, at Adelaide, and elsewhere—which' had for their object, not merely the conversion of the unconverted, but the deepening of the spiritual life of believers.

In some cases special conferences were held for ministers, either separately from or concurrently with revival services in individual congregations. A typical conference of this kind, from which great blessing flowed, took place at Coles-berg in 1879. The invitation which Mr. Murray issued to his brethren on this occasion contained the following sentences to indicate the object and scope of the gathering—

The need for gatherings such as this is generally acknowledged. When brother ministers meet each other at ecclesiastical meetings and ceremonies, it is exceedingly difficult to devote more than a couple of hours to brotherly intercourse. The minister of the Word of God, however, has very special need of hearing words of cheer and encouragement, in view of his high calling, the awful responsibility resting upon him, and the heavenly provision of grace and strength for all his labours. Opportunities for such meetings are few and far between in our land with its great distances. In the Western Province we have been able to meet once and again, and never without carrying home a great blessing.

The blessing consists not merely in the interchange of thought. It is a well-known fact that in proportion as the unity of the body is exhibited and fostered in love and fellowship, the unity of the Spirit is also experienced more powerfully. Where the Spirit of God is found working with power, visions are instantaneously obtained which otherwise would only have come after the lapse of years, and we are strengthened to acts of faith and consecration for which we have longed, and longed in vain, for many months past. That is because the Lord has said, " Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them.” Solitude, however indispensable, is not sufficient. "God speaks to companies of men as He never speaks to solitary watchers or students ; there is a fuller tone, an intenser fervour, in pentecostal revelations than in personal communion, and, as we ourselves know, there is a keener joyin sympathy than can be realized in the devoutest solitude.”

The Colesberg Conference was attended by sixteen ministers, which for those days, when near neighbours were sixty or a hundred miles distant from each other, and the only means of travel was a cart and horses, must be considered as exceedingly encouraging. The portion of Scripture which Mr. Murray read at the opening meeting became the subject of the whole conference—John xx. 19-23. In meditating on the words Then were the disciples glad, the question was propounded whether this joy is an enduring joy. One brother affirmed that when a Christian has been unfaithful, and conscience arises to accuse him, this joy cannot endure. To this Mr. Murray made reply that it is possible instantly to confess this unfaithfulness, to claim the power of Christ’s atonement, and so to recover the joy that has been lost. Many of the brethren present still ventured to doubt whether such a life of faith, and such undisturbed peace and joy, were really attainable, and asked whether this was not an ideal that could not be realized on this side of the grave. It was a great encouragement to all when one of the older ministers present, Rev. du Plessis of Cradock, pointed out that even saints of the old covenant knew by experience something of this life of faith, and thereupon read out the metrical version of Psalm lxxxix. 15, 16: “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance: in Thy name shall they rejoice all the day.” While these verses were being read, so our informant tells us, "it became clear to us that this life of faith, although high, was already known to the saints under the old dispensation, and therefore must surely be attainable by saints under the new. The realization of this truth led to more prayer.”

The Colesberg Conference, as we have said, was merely typical of other similar gatherings, and the above account has been quoted in order to lead up to the acknowledgment that Mr. Murray’s teachings about the higher Christian life were subjected to close scrutiny, even by men who were in fullest sympathy with his aims, and did not secure immediate or universal approval. Shortly after the close of this Conference a letter signed “K” appeared in the Kerkbode, which was of the following import—

To Brother C.

Dear Brother,—I cannot refrain from expressing my joy at the report concerning your congregation which you have laid before the Presbytery ; and at the report not only of your congregation, but also of others, couched in the same strain, which tell of the work of God’s grace in your midst. The glad sound of those reports was sweet and refreshing music in my ears. You have done well in not maintaining silence and keeping everything for yourself. Now your report reaches the whole Church and carries a blessing wherever it is read.

I have also perused with great interest the account in the Kerkbode of the Ministers’ Conference at Colesberg, at which you, too, were present. How gladly I would have been one of yonr number. The great distance was the reason which prevented me from being there, and from being edified as you were. I understand that you have both learned much and enjoyed much; and therefore I turn to you with a difficulty I have experienced with reference to a matter on which the brethren there seemed to be agreed. It is the question of the abiding joy whjch children of God can reach and maintain even after having been unfaithful. Instantaneous confession of unfaithfulness followed by an immediate return of the experience of joy!? Substitute for the word unfaithfulness a definite sin. Take for example Peter’s case as described in Galatians ii. 11-14. Peter had played the hypocrite; he had seduced Barnabas and others; he had grieved Paul and given ofience to those who were weak in the faith. What then? Suppose him to have instantaneously confessed his sin to the Lord, and to have recovered his joy. Does that immediately remove the grief and the ofience to which his action has given rise? I cannot think so.

Take a common case. A Christian owes a shopkeeper money on account, and promises to settle on a certain day, but does not keep his promise, and for a long time says not a word about the matter. The name and the cause of Christ suffer grievous dishonour, and Christians in general are calumniated. And are we to believe that the person who is the cause of all this is living in the experience of abiding joy? My own opinion of the matter is that there can be no question of joy before atonement has been claimed and appropriated ; and that this cannot take place before the ofience has been removed and reparation made. I can only expect to recover the joy of God’s salvation after the brother has been reconciled whom I have offended and grieved by my sin. I write this because, in spite of all the good results which flow from Ministers’ Conferences and special services—at which I rejoice with you—this matter has caused me much concern and anxiety.

To this letter Mr. Murray replied—

Dear Brother K,—It seems to me that you do not distinguish carefully between the unfaithfulness of which we spoke at the Conference and the definite sin of which you speak. There is no one who will not agree with you that if I fail to pay my account and utter no word of explanation, there can be no joy in the Lord. Sin must be confessed, not only to God, but also to my fellow-man against whom I have sinned. So in the case of Peter. After the public transgression a public return was necessary to the truth which he had denied. Then only, but then also immediately, there could be restoration to the full enjoyment of God’s favour.

But we were speaking of something very different, of something that is much more difficult for the man who is seeking to abide in the joy of the Lord. Even an unconverted man knows that he must act honestly, and pay his bills, and avoid all hypocritical dealings. And for the Christian these duties are imperative and indispensable. But even believers under the old dispensation had already learnt to “walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.’" The piety of the New Testament demands something higher and more glorious. Over and above the blameless walk, which is the preparation for it, the New Testament desires to free us from the spirit of bondage to fear, and to elevate us to the glorious liberty of the children of God, in which we shall rejoice all the day in the love and fellowship of the Father. It was of this walk that we spoke at the Conference.

One of the brethren, who knew through grace how great was the importance of a conscientious walk, complained that what disturbed the enduring joy in his life and appeared to make it impossible, was the unfaithfulness of his daily life—in the practice of private prayer, in purity and concentration of mind, and in the fulfilment of official duties. Even when preserved by God’s grace from definite sin, the list of daily shortcomings appeared to him to be so great, that so long as conscience was alive and active there was no possibility of experiencing uninterrupted joy for a single day. It was in this connexion that the observation was made that there is a glorious provision for the man who really yields himself to remain constantly in the light and love of the Lord. On the one hand the Christian must trust in the Lord Jesus to make him faithful (Jer. xxxii. 40), that is, to keep him ; and on the other hand, at the instant that he is conscious of shortcoming, due to lack of watchfulness or other causes, he may at once obtain and become conscious of forgiveness and restoration to the peace and the love of the Lord.

In some cases very much sharper criticisms than the above were levelled at the doctrines which Mr. Murray preached, and the congregation to which he ministered was closely observed, in order to discover whether the higher teaching was exemplified in higher conduct. And if the slightest discordance arose between profession and practice, there were critics enough to remark it and foes enough to denounce it. On one occasion the consistory of Wellington arranged for two meetings of the members of the congregation to be held on the same day—a forenoon meeting to discuss the raising of a sustentation fund for the minister’s salary, and an afternoon conference to consider the subject of the higher spiritual life. A report of this double gathering appeared in one of the secular papers, and provoked the following letter from a person signing himself "V. D. M.”—

To Rev. A. Murray.

Dear Brother,—I have read with much interest the report, appearing in the Zuid Afrikaan of June 29 last, of the Sustentation Meeting and Congregational Conference. In that report there was much at which I rejoiced ; but I wish also to mention what failed to please me. The “higher spiritual life” is a matter to which the attention of your congregation has been for so long drawn, that we may reasonably expect to see some of its fruits. But I observe that you have to toil as much as any other minister in order to raise money. I am no opponent of the “ higher spiritual life." By God’s grace I know something of it, and I cry to the Lord continually to bring me and all God’s children to the full enjoyment of what Christ has secured for His own. Not long ago I heard that you had expressed your belief that there were many in your congregation who had reached full surrender or complete consecration. I must honestly confess that my observation leads me to conclude that there may be higher spiritual talk combined with lower spiritual conduct.

According to the report, the meeting on the sustentation fund was to commence at 9. But the old story repeats itself—people are slow at attending a meeting where money matters are to be discussed. At 9.30 there are only forty members in the church. The bell is rung a second time. Now there are about one hundred members present, out of a total membership of one thousand and fifty. This is precisely what we all experience in our own parishes—the most religious members are the last to attend meetings like this, and when they do come they occupy the backmost pews. You express your desire to see a sum of ^1,500 raised, but are in doubts whether the project is feasible. A couple of members wish the matter to be postponed for certain reasons, one being “because there is no fear that their minister will leave them,” and another, “because such lean people do not die soon.” The same brother who spoke thus said at the afternoon gathering that he had some three months ago surrendered himself unreservedly to God. One brother offered to give £40 on condition that five others did the same, but after a good deal of discussion no one came forward. The end of the matter was—just as it usually is with us also—that it was decided to issue subscription lists, and to take them round from house to house. So ends the Sustentation Meeting.

Now what about the Congregational Conference? “On this occasion,” runs the report, “there was a much better attendance of the congregation than in the forenoon.” The first speaker is the brother who threw cold water on your scheme at the forenoon meeting. Of other speakers there is no lack. Unconditional surrender, full consecration, the rest of faith are household words. The conference of the afternoon is as highly spiritual as the sustentation meeting of the forenoon was highly unspiritual. I thank God that members of our congregations are beginning to use such language, and to show that they have some experimental knowledge of these matters. But are the happenings of the day satisfactory? How greatly could I have desired that the morning gathering had been other than it was, and had been in more complete harmony with the proceedings of the afternoon. A writer has somewhere said, “Christians should be like fig-trees, which show fruit first and leaves afterwards."

In his Sword and Trowel for December, 1875, Spurgeon raises a warning voice against the sham and mock spirituality which will not hear of money or of any secular work in connexion with religion. ... Is it not urgently necessary that Christians should understand that “complete consecration’’ includes our purses? I have noticed with great grief that some of the most pious members of my congregation are the most covetous, so that I was once compelled to say to one of them, “If all converted persons were as covetous as you are, I could wish that my congregation would rather remain unconverted.” Yes, it seems that in our country the prevailing sin of God’s people is covetousness, and I feel that we ministers are not faithful enough in attacking and eradicating this evil. Christians ought to know that they can never become so pious as to find meetings held for the purpose of collecting money unedifying gatherings, from which it were better they stayed away. Is it not time for us all to undertake a crusade against this evil in our congregations?

Mr. Murray was not long in replying to the remarks contained in this letter. The following issue of the Kerkbode contained his answer, which was couched in these terms—

To V.D.M.—Money and Religion.

Dear Brother,—I have read with attention your letter in the Kerkbode of the 3rd August. As my silence would probably lead to wrong conclusions, I wish briefly to reply to you on the chief point at issue. And first I want to say frankly that your judgment on my congregation, and on other congregations of our country, is anything but generous or even truthful. You write thus concerning the Sustenta-tion Meeting, “Just what we all experience in our own parishes—the most religious members are the last to attend meetings like this, and when they do come they occupy the backmost pews.” I thank God that I may affirm that this is not true of the congregations of our Church known to me, nor is it true of Wellington. At each collection that is held here I can as a rule count on the most devout people to be the most generous givers.

You think it is a bad sign that only one hundred out of a thousand members attended the meeting. I do not. I stated that day that I considered the attendance satisfactory. One thousand members gives us only three hundred who are heads of households. Consider how many of these are without means, how many live at a distance from the village, and how many are engaged in avocations which prevented their attendance, and you will agree that an attendance of one hundred male members to discuss the monetary question is assuredly no sign of disinclination or covetousness.

As to the brother who suggested at the forenoon meeting to have the matter postponed, and spoke in the afternoon of full consecration, you are in error : they were two persons of the same name. Even if it were otherwise, I cannot see how one should not have the right of suggesting the postponement of a collection without being suspected of covetousness. The meeting, you say further, would not accept the proposal of the consistory to raise £1,500. But this surely is insufficient ground for a charge of covetousness. I myself told the consistory that I considered £1,500 too high an amount, and wished them to limit the proposal to £1,000. When a sum of money is to be raised there should be not merely Christian readiness to contribute, but positive enthusiasm for the cause for which the money is asked ; and nothing assists this enthusiasm more than the feeling that there is immediate need. But in the case of our sustentation fund the money will probably only be required five or ten years hence ; and therefore one need not be surprised that, at a time when money is not abundant, the congregation should only have contributed £600 as its first instalment—this being approximately the amount subscribed.

Let me come to something of greater importance. You have chosen the congregation of Wellington as an instance of the ruling sin of covetousness, because some among us profess to have wholly consecrated themselves to God. You demand that those who make such a profession should prove by their lives that their consecration is sincere. This demand is perfectly just. And it is a joy to me to be able to state that if you could look through our subscription lists you would find that the brethren who speak of complete consecration are always —each according to his means—our most willing and most generous givers.

Finally you write, "I have noticed with great grief that some of the most pious members of my congregation are the most covetous.” Brother, I find it difficult to conceive where your congregation is situated. “ Some of the most pious are the most covetous!” I call that no piety. A pious miser !—it is like speaking of a pious idolater.

I find it equally impossible to acquiesce in your estimate of covetousness as the ruling sin of our people. I have served in more than one congregation. I have collected money in about the half of the congregations of our Church. I have taken note of what is being done for church and school and missions, and I cannot subscribe to your verdict. My experience is that, when the cause advocated has been carefully laid before the people, and the true motive for generosity has been explained from God’s Word, our congregations are far from unwilling to contribute.

Does this imply that I am satisfied with the present measure of Christian liberality? This is quite a different question from the question whether I consider covetousness to be the besetting sin of God’s people and of this land. And to this question I answer, By no means. There is lacking in God’s children a real spiritual insight into the calling and the ability to live wholly for the Kingdom, and a resolve truly to assign to it and to its interests the first place in their lives.

In the Church of Christ there are only too many, even among true children of God, who hold their money with so close a grasp that it cannot be got from them without a wrench ; and who are often glad— though they would not admit it—of an excuse to refrain from giving,, or who give at the impulse of motives that are not acceptable with God.

And how is this condition of things to be remedied? I cannot approve of your proposal to preach a crusade against covetousness, not merely because I do not share your opinion about the prevalence of covetousness, but because such a crusade will effect nothing. No, brother, there is a more excellent way. The fire of the Holy Spirit can melt even gold; and the Church founded at Pentecost gave joyfully of its gold and its possessions to the cause of the Lord. Let what is called the higher spiritual life—I prefer calling it the life of faith—let this life of the Holy Spirit but become a powerful force in the Church, and through the illumination of the Scriptures more light will be shed on the consecration of all that we possess to God’s service. A man is ready enough to sacrifice his money for that which his heart lives for. Our congregations are willing to follow the lead of their ministers. Let the latter endeavour to bear witness to the glorious calling and the sufficiency of grace for a life of consecration, and the blessing will not be lacking. And while there is much that should be different, we desire to thank God for whatever good there is. We wish to thank Him that proportionately to the measure of spiritual life which we enjoy, there is true and great liberality. We wish to thank Him for the glorious indications He has granted us that He is about to lead His children in this country to a glad and powerful life of faith, such as the most of us have never yet experienced. And we wish gratefully to cherish the hope that in this life of faith there will be revealed such a power, that the upright will be enabled to perform all that the Father makes known by His Word and Spirit as His divine will.

The evangelistic campaigns of the American revivalists, Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey, form one of the most remarkable religious movements of the nineteenth century, or indeed of any century of the Christian era. Here were-two men crossing the Atlantic to Great Britain, unknown, unlearned in theology, unarmed with credentials, and yet resolved, in the power of God’s grace, to proclaim a free Gospel and summon men everywhere to an immediate surrender to Jesus Christ. And these two simple laymen did truly “ turn the world upside down," drawing immense crowds, securing thousands of converts, strengthening the faith of believers, building up the Churches, and, most remarkable of all, conciliating all prejudices against their persons and their methods of work, and winning the support, the esteem and the friendship of men as widely diverse in character as Dr. R. W. Dale and Professor Henry Drummond, Lord Cairns and Charles Spurgeon, Principal Fairbairn and the Earl of Shaftesbury.

Nor was the marvellous influence of Moody’s preaching confined to the lands which he visited. The searching and hopeful work which he performed set in motion a spiritual force which broke in waves of blessing on distant shores. The story of what God had wrought in the cities of Great Britain and America spread to other lands, kindling new expectations, stimulating to new consecration, and leading God’s people everywhere to new intercession on behalf of [ their own Church and their own country. It is noteworthy how many articles in the Kerkbode are devoted, during 1874 and subsequent years, to personal details concerning the American evangelists and to descriptions of their meetings and methods and of the extraordinary results that flowed '.from them. Ministers lately returned from a visit to Europe gave accounts of what they had witnessed and shared in, and their recital imparted a new warmth and glow to Christian hearts, and led in many instances to a new and blessed ingathering into the Saviour’s fold. In this manner revivals broke out in Swellendam, Montagu, Wellington, Cape Town and Stellenbosch, a chief characteristic of which was the large number of young people who decided for Christ. The Synod of 1876 devoted much time and earnest attention to the question of special services, and appointed a “ Committee for Special Gospel-preaching,” with instructions to arrange a series of evangelistic services in various congregations throughout the country. This Committee requested Mr. Murray and Dr. S. Hofmeyr, minister of Montagu, to undertake special campaigns, and prevailed upon their respective consistories to set them free for some months in order to engage in this important work.

To Mr. Murray himself the need for such special efforts had long since been clear and urgent. During his seven weeks’ tour in 1876 he was deeply impressed with the possibilities for evangelistic work, and from Carnarvon he penned the following lines—

To his Wife.

The more I travel, the more I see that the great need of our Church is evangelists. And though I cannot in the least see how it would be possible to give up Wellington, or to arrange for long absences, it does almost appear wrong not to undertake the work when one knows that there are hundreds waiting to be brought in. It appears terrible to let them go on in darkness and indecision when they are willing to be helped. I have been much struck in reading the Notes of Exodus by the words of God to Pharaoh, "Let my people go that they may serve Me.” He does hear the cry and the sighing of thousands of seeking ones, and wants His servants to lead them out of bondage. And how can I help saying that if He would use me I should consider the honour only too high. It is so sad to preach one or two earnest evangelistic sermons, to see impressions made, and to have to depart feeling sure that if one could devote a little more time and undivided attention to the work, souls would come to light and joy.

A few days later he writes from Meirings Poort—

To his Wife.

In the solitude of last night and this morning I thought a great deal of “the backside of the desert ” (Exod. iii. 1). The Let my people go is continually before me. In travelling the last three or four days I have met ever so many people who appear willing to accept Christ, but have not the needful knowledge or help. I have felt so deeply that if one had a divine enthusiasm, the warmth of faith and love, to compel them to come in, one might be a blessing from home to home. I have this day sought to lay myself afresh upon the altar, and to look to the great High Priest presenting me to the Father—an acceptable and accepted sacrifice. How, I know not fully. The want, the universal want, of a dealing with souls in the fervency and joy of a living faith rests heavy on me. But whether there is any prospect of my doing the work I cannot say. Or whether, by training workers, teachers and missionaries, the Lord will permit me to do more, I know not. But it is sad to see souls by multitudes seeking and not finding, sighing and not helped, apparently because there is none to show them the way of the Lord. Oh ! why should not our hearts be verily filled to overflowing with that love which wrestles for souls unto the death.

Before embarking on his first evangelistic tour in 1879, Mr. Murray set forth, in a paper published in the Kerkbode, the reasons for such special preaching and the conditions upon which successful results depend. It ran as follows—

SPECIAL SERVICES.

Special services are to be held at the present time in several congregations. In order to remove all misunderstanding, secure the interest and co-operation of all true Christians, and encourage everybody to due expectation and preparation, attention is called to the following points :

No new Gospel is preached at these special services. We proclaim the old but ever new tidings of great joy. The reasons why this preaching goes by the name of “special services” are these—

(1) A special time is set aside to preach solely the message of conversion and faith, and to insist on the immediate acceptance of the Lord Jesus as Saviour. We are all acquainted with the proverb, “What can be done at any time is often never done at all.” A difficult or unpleasant task is easily postponed. It is a great assistance to have a time fixed for the performance ; and when the hour arrives the thought immediately suggests itself to do it now. It is time at every moment to repent and believe. But there are times when the minister seeks to insist with special earnestness upon to-day and now. The purpose of special services is nothing else than to shout this now in the sinner's ears. In the usual services the minister must necessarily change his subject from time to time. But when there is a special time to preach one message with emphasis and power; when the believers of the congregation combine to render assistance by prayer and co-operation ; when other ministers visit the congregation with the definite object of speaking on this one subject; and when a series of services are devoted to this one aim,—then God’s grace often makes use of all this as a means to awaken in the heart of the unconverted man or woman the feeling, “It is time for me to repent, and to repent now."

(2) Continuity is a characteristic of special services. In the regular preaching of the Word the subject to which attention is directed alters continually, and after Sunday comes the week with all its distractions. By next Sunday the impressions made have vanished. But when a series of services is held, the anxious soul is helped from step to step— his doubts removed, his objections refuted, and the worthlessness of his excuses exposed. The continuous repetition of the summons to repentance and faith thus leads the sinner to the point at which he feels that there is no escape from an immediate decision.

(3) The influence of fellowship with others is also of great importance at such a time. This fact is grounded in our human nature: whatever I do in company with others, I do more easily than alone. When I learn that others are concerned about their spiritual state, I begin to examine myself. And when those who are seeking salvation know that the children of God are specially praying for them, it inspires them with courage to confess that they are seeking Christ and would confide themselves to Him. Ministers and believers are not always exclusively concerned for the unconverted, for there is other work that they must perform. But at a time like this they lay aside their other duties and confine themselves to this one thing. All these considerations comhine to make the indifferent thoughtful and the anxious doubly earnest.

(4) Personal intercourse at a time like this is an important factor. There is not merely a simpler and clearer preaching than usual, but there are meetings after the service for personal talk. Ministers and older Christians are ready there to meet all enquirers individually, to listen to their difficulties and to encourage them to a decision. More than this : Christians at such times have more courage to visit private houses, to talk to individuals, and to bear witness to what Christ has done for themselves. All the powers of the congregation are thus united to persuade men by every means to believe and be saved.

Thus far we have considered special services from the human side. Let us now ask what the conditions are for them to be a source of lasting blessing.

1. Much depends upon the preparation. All congregations are not prepared in equal measure. There are congregations in which long-continued and earnest preaching has awakened in men’s hearts the sense that they are lost, and the desire and longing to he saved ; and where children and young people have received a religious instruction in the truths of the Gospel, and know that they must seek salvation. Such congregations form a prepared soil. Preparation is necessary above all on the part of God’s children. If both the minister and believers generally are really concerned about the condition of the unconverted and sigh to God for them; if they intercede daily with God to effect a change; if they meditate and speak about the matter, and devise methods by which souls can he led to the Lord Jesus,—then this is an omen and prophecy of blessing.

2. Much depends upon the fellowship and co-operation of believers. At such times of special effort believers must be brought to recognize how greatly they are themselves to hlame for the unconverted state in which so many live. If their own confession of Christ were clearer, more joyful and more fervent, if their conduct were holier, humbler and more loving, if their consecration to Jesus and to the work of soul-seeking were more undivided and sincere, then assuredly many more would have come to conversion. The work of seeking to lead men to conversion is too often assigned to ministers alone, but at a time of special services all Christians can be encouraged to take their share. There is something contagious in earnestness and zeal. When the unconverted observe that the people of God are deeply moved concerning their condition, and full of hope and confidence that they can be saved, it exercises a mighty influence to lead them to faith and to rest.

3. Everything depends upon the Spirit of God, and the measure of faith in which His power is entreated and expected. To all believers in a congregation where special services are to be held the call should be addressed, “ Men and brethren, pray in faith. The work is great. Lift up your hearts to behold in faith God’s almighty power. Present yourselves to Jesus Christ for His work, that He may gird you about with His Holy Spirit. Cry to Him to fulfil His promise, ‘ I will send you another Comforter, and when He is come He will convince the world, of sin.’ Think of all His wonders of old. Call aloud and say, ‘ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord ; awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old.’ Speak to one another of His glorious acts to His people of Israel and to His Church since the day of Pentecost. Encourage each other to expect great things. Continue steadfastly in secret and in united prayer. Call and keep not silence—in deep humility, with sincere confession of sin, with confidence and with complete assurance—and see if He will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing so that there shall not be room enough to receive it. O brothers ! God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Open your hearts to a steadfast and large faith in His power. ‘ I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt; open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.’”

Mr. Murray’s tour, on which he was accompanied by two laymen, members of his Wellington consistory, lasted for two months and comprised the congregations of Murrays-burg, Hanover, Philipstown, Colesberg, Philippolis, Edenburg, Steynsburg, Middelburg, Adelaide and Graaff-Reinet. A few letters from this period still survive and may be partially reproduced here—

To his Wife.

Middelburg, 29 August, 1879.—Wearrived here an hour ago, and were glad to get our letters. As the post leaves almost immediately there is not much time for writing. At Edenburg our work was more difficult than it had been. I think worldly prospects, and the idea strongly adhered to, that assurance is not possible or else not needed, were the chief hindrances. But the Lord gave a blessing, and many who are not yet in the light got thoroughly aroused. Olivier was there too, and goes in heartily for the work : I think that he will prove a successful worker in this line. It was interesting to see some old friends. The two elders, Schalk van der Merwe and Caspar van Zijl, were both boys when I went to the Free State in 1849. We regularly take the first two days for the unconverted or anxious and the third day for believers. I think this will prepare the way for great good in the future. I pray God most earnestly that the visit to Edenburg may be the opening of a door of eventual access to the Free State.

Tuesday to Bethulie, where I had a large congregation in the evening. Wednesday another nine hours’ drive to Steynsburg, where there was a large concourse of people waiting. Rossouw’s work has been much blessed. Had four good services and several most interesting cases. I have pressed Rossouw very much to come to Graaff-Reinet, as help will be needed with the afterwork. Came on here—another eight hours’ drive. Expect Mr. du Plessis this evening, and I do not doubt there will be blessing, as the congregation has been prepared by last year’s special services.

It is certainly an unspeakable privilege to be occupied day by day with such work, and especially to be speaking to believers on their privileges—God’s fatherly love and the promised abiding presence of Jesus. Yesterday at Steynsburg I told of how little Fanny used to come to the study door, and how I rose to open to her, and rejoiced to see her. So, too, the Father longs to have us dwelling in His love.

To his Children.

Glen Lynden, nth September, 1879.—As I do not know to which of you specially to write, I write to all. I have been much interested in this place. You have read of Thomas Pringle, the poet, and of his three brothers, Scotch emigrants, who came out to the Colony more than fifty years ago. They settled about six miles higher up the river than where the church from which I am writing stands. The place is a most extraordinary one. You ride for more than an hour in among the mountains, along the gorge through which flows the Baviaans River—most appropriate name, for the place looks only fit for baboons, —and then come on an opening hardly wide enough for a little garden and a few houses. Here Mr. Welsh lived and preached for many years in a most extraordinary little church, built of stones, very small and with an exceedingly low roof. Outside against the stones of the wall Uncle William Stegmann showed me the marks of bullets fired in 1850, when the Kaffirs and rebel Hottentots attacked the people who had gathered in the building for protection. Since Uncle came here, Adelaide has become the village and centre of the congregation. When I asked one of the Pringles, sons of the old people, what had brought their fathers to such a spot, when there was still so much open country and ^better land available, his reply was that the Government of the day was afraid of them, and wanted to put them where they would be kept quiet. At that time the gorge was the haunt of lions and Bushmen. The sons are still very quiet, Scotch-looking men.

There was a good attendance here, though not very large, as a good many from the neighbourhood proposed going to the services at Adelaide. When Dr. Hofmeyr was at Adelaide three years ago, the revival was carried over to Glen Lynden by some young people, and broke out with great power. At our first meeting on Tuesday evening the number of persons who remained behind as God’s children was larger proportionately than at any place we have visited. On the Wednesday I had four services—one for the English-speaking people. Uncle William was bright and happy, moving about among his people. He is indefatigable as doctor, too, in this neighbourhood.

Adelaide, 13th September.—Came on here on Thursday by way of Bedford, one of the prettiest spots I know. Spent half an hour with Mr. Solomon, an old friend of Philippolis times. The drive to Adelaide quite excited the enthusiasm of my two travelling companions, who had never seen or expected such a sight—the whole country studded with trees, giving it a park-like aspect. Here we are a larger party than we expected to be—Uncle John and Aunt Bella [Hofmeyr], Mr. du Plessis, Mr. A. Faure, Mr. Roos, and their wives, and Mr. de Villiers from Tarkastad. We propose staying over on Monday and having a ministerial conference. The attendance is good, but one feels that the congregation here is not so religious as in most places we have been. The effect of former years of neglect, and the intercourse with superficial English civilization, have made themselves felt. But we are waiting on God for His blessing and His power.

The spiritual results of this series of services were great and permanent, as may be felt in the tone and language of the reports submitted to the presbyteries towards the end of the year. The Consistory of Hanover, for example,' stated that there was a specially blessed work among the children and young people, not merely in the village but in the wards of the congregation, and that the young men and young women of the town had commenced a weekly prayer-meeting at which the greatest earnestness was manifested. The Colesberg report said among other things: “ When it was known that the minister of Wellington would visit us in order to hold a series of special meetings, the cry of God’s people for a blessing became more fervent than before. And indeed we have cause to shout, ‘ The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.’ Believers have been quickened and strengthened. The indifferent have been aroused and, as we trust, brought to Christ. Youth and age rejoice together in a new-found salvation.”

From the testimony of the Consistory of Graaff-Reinet we extract the following—

Towards the end of September special services were held here by the ministers of Wellington, Murraysburg (Louw) and Steynsburg (Rossouw). The congregation was prepared for their coming and had prayed much for a rich blessing. The services lasted four days. The attendance was large beyond expectations, the interest sustained, the blessing distinct and glorious. The people of God have received a heavenly refreshment, and many an one can say, "I have been anointed with fresh oil.” The language of complaint and doubt has made way for the grateful speech of assurance and faith. Even more noticeable is the blessing in the case of the many who have surrendered themselves to the Lord, and have had the glorious experience that He in no wise casts out those that come unto Him. Many have solemnly promised to confess Him with mouth and heart, and to thank Him unceasingly for the salvation He has wrought. Our God has proved again that He is the Hearer of prayer. The good work is still proceeding quietly in our midst. We expect more blessing. The river of God is full of water.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 15

Two Years of Silence and the Question of Faith Healing

When, the Church understands that the body also shares in the redemption effected by Christ, by which it may be restored to its original destiny, and become the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit, to serve as His fit instrument and to be sanctified by His presence,—then the Church will also recognize the place which Divine Healing has in the Bible and in the counsels of God.—Andrew Murray.

IT may have been in consequence of the heavy strain cast upon him by the continuous travelling and preaching of the evangelistic tour, that Mr. Murray began, towards the end of 1879, to suffer from a relaxed throat, which interrupted his regular ministrations and imposed upon him a silence lasting, with occasional recoveries, for more than two years. Early in 1880 we find him under the roof of his brother-in-law, Mr. F. F. Rutherfoord, at Mowbray, seeking to escape from the kind enquiries of visitors and friends, and to shield his throat from the unkind westerly breezes. All through the year his throat seems to have continued in an unsatisfactory condition. Important conferences were held at Montagu and at Worcester, where, though present in spirit, he could only deliver his message through the medium of papers which were read to the assembled brethren. In October the Synod met in Cape Town, but though the duty of formally opening the gathering fell to him as retiring Moderator, he was unable to officiate, and the inaugural ceremony was performed by Dr. Philip Faure, the Assessor. The minutes, however, inform us that on the motion of the minister of Cradock the whole gathering by rising expressed its gratitude to the retiring Moderator, and its sincere regret that a weakness of the throat prevented him from taking active part, as heretofore, in its proceedings.

During the early months of 1881 Mr. Murray spent several weeks in the Karroo, in the hope that the dry climate, and treatment at the hands of a doctor of special qualifications, might effect a cure. It was in many respects an anxious time. The Transvaal War of Independence had just broken out, and the eldest daughter, Emmie, was teaching in Pretoria, while a sister, Eliza, the wife of the Rev. Hendrik Neethling, and a brother, James, were residing in the Transvaal, within thirty miles of Majuba Mountain.1 In spite of all anxieties Mr. Murray employed his time in writing diligently for De Christen, the journal which from the commencement of 1880 (though only for a short period) supplanted the Kerkbode, and in issuing tracts and booklets of a devotional nature. A few extracts from letters dating from this period will give some idea of the direction of his thoughts and of the tasks which occupied his time of enforced leisure—

To his Wife.

Murraysburg, 28th January, 1881.—On my arrival here I saw the doctor at once. He says he can say nothing positive. He must try for a fortnight and see what effect his applications have, and then he will be able to give an opinion as to what he thinks of a cure. I have to see him once every day to have the throat washed, and morning and evening I have to inhale for ten minutes the steam from boiling water, with something mixed into it. I am to take a regular walk in the morning before breakfast, and to speak as little as possible. This last injunction has been made known to all friends, so that I can keep quite quiet. I spend the greater part of the day alone, either in my room or in the garden. . . .

As I have brought no work with me I have begun making notes on the daily readings of our Union.2 Whether I ever use them or not, they are profitable to myself. In reading I feel how difficult it must be for people of little intelligence to understand and profit by what is found in the prophets. So I have commenced these notes, which with the co-operation of others may perhaps some day come to something. . . .

Murraysburg, 15th February, 1881.—Mima [his sister, wife of the Rev. A. A. Louw] is very much concerned about my being so solitary in my room, but I enjoy the quiet and have not yet found time hanging heavy upon me. I have not done very much reading, but a good deal of study. For practical reading I have taken up again some old books, McCheyne’s Life and Tersteegen—both very beautiful and profitable. A letter in the former has led my thoughts a good deal to the question of God’s purpose with this long silence. You know what I have said about the two views of affliction, the one always seeing in it chastisement for sin, the other regarding it in the light of kindness and love. And you know what very great kindness I have felt it, to have such a time for the renewal of bodily strength, and of mental quiet and refreshment for the work before me. The thought has come whether I might not be in danger of overlooking the former aspect. I have been asking the Lord to show me what specially there is that He wants changed. The general answer is a very easy one, and yet it is difficult to realize at once distinctly where and how the change is to come. What is needed is a more spiritual life, more of the power of the Holy Ghost, in the life first and then in the preaching. And yet it looks as if one’s life is very much of a settled thing, and as if there is not much prospect of one’s being lifted to a difierent platform. If the Holy Spirit were to come in great power to search out and expose either individual failings or the general low state of devotion in the soul, this would be the first step towards forsaking what is behind. Let us pray earnestly that our gracious God would search and try us and see whether there be any evil way in us. . . .

From Murraysburg he paid a visit to the old home at Graaff-Reinet, and greatly enjoyed the stay with his brother Charles. The latter sent a paragraph to De Christen which caused considerable uneasiness and anxiety to the Wellington circles. It ran as follows: “The minister of Wellington is at Graaff-Reinet at present. The condition of his throat shows no improvement. He speaks as little as possible and that little as softly as possible.” Mrs. Murray evidently voiced the concern of the congregation at this doleful report, and received the following lines in reply—

To his Wife.

Murraysburg, 12th March, 1881.—I am so sorry that you should have been troubled by Charles’ notice in De Christen. I cannot say that it struck me, for it just said what is the fact. I am under orders to use the voice as little as possible, and therefore I speak little and in a low voice. When people here ask me if I feel better I never say Yes, for I feel no difference. You know I have never written anything about being or feeling better. I have only said that the doctor gives hopes of complete restoration in three months, though not to full work again. I do not like to tease him with questions, and therefore have not asked, since returning from Graaff-Reinet, what he thinks of the probable time still needed. In the course of next week I may do so. Because I said the doctor has good hopes, people say I am better, but a little reflection shows the difference. Be restful, whatever you hear; and be sure I write you all there is to say.

Murraysburg, 13th March, 1881.—There is nothing very special to report from here. I only saw a notice of four lines about Manus [Rev. H. S. Bosman of Pretoria] and Emmie in the Zuid Afrikaan. If you have no news when this reaches you, I would write to Mrs. Faure. I think that if she has no letters herself, she will have enquired where that notice came from. By this time the decision has taken place as to the result of the armistice. God grant it may be peace. Did you read, in the Zuid Afrikaan of the 8th or 10th instant, a piece of Dutch poetry by Ter Haar—an appeal to Gladstone? I think it was well done. . . .

I am enjoying my time for writing. I think I told you of a little book I am engaged on, concerning following Christ, and in between another tract for our Scripture Union. If the Union is to be kept up, there must be communication between the members mutually: they must feel that they are not forgotten. The former subject interests me deeply. May God give me the right words, "words which the Holy Ghost teachetk,” to set forth as a living picture the Christ we are to be dke. If we could only study it as we study the pictures of the Masters, until we see the beauty of every trait of His character ! This would make us long to be like Him.

Murraysburg, 16th March, 1881.—When I saw the doctor to-day, I was a little bit surprised to hear him say that by the end of next week the treatment would be at an end. It would not be advisable, he said, to continue the application of the silver nitrate, and after that there was nothing needed but care and the gentle and gradual exercise of the voice. I almost feel as if I would prefer waiting a couple of months longer to have a complete cure before beginning again. But he does not appear to encourage this idea. He says I must begin preaching by reading or speaking aloud in a room, and so go on to short addresses slowly uttered. All the same I want very much to stay here a week or two longer, to see how the throat gets on when I begin to speak.

We are longing for confirmation of the news of peace. The Lord grant it may be true and a sure peace. I have offered myself to Him if ever He sees fit to use me for the Transvaal (once they have quieted down), to take them the special message of His saving love. But that cannot be soon, both for their sakes and mine. . . .

Murraysburg, 26th March, 1881.—We have just received the tidings of peace. I do bless God for it. I had begun to fear it would be difficult to agree on terms which both parties would think would satisfy their honour. I do pray God the arrangements may be permanent. Now of course Emmie can come away. But there will be the new difficulty of whether they will be willing to leave just as they can commence their work again. I would not wonder if Manus persuaded them to stay. At all events, there is every prospect of our hearing soon now. Dear child ! I long to know what this three months’ imprisonment and inactivity will have been to her.

I have just read a little tract, Ons Land en ores Volk, published at the Paarl. I should not wonder if Mr. J. de Villiers were the writer. It is worth reading to see how strongly the feeling of nationality is asserting itself and mingling with the religious sentiment of the people. One hardly knows what to say of it. That there has been much that is unholy and evil in the anti-English sentiments which helped to stir up this movement is true. And yet there are in it elements of good which must be nourished. A more strongly developed national life in our half-slumbering Dutch population will afford a more vigorous stock for the Christian life to be grafted on. If we cannot influence the movement directly, we must try and put in abundantly the salt which can save it from corruption.

I have been getting on quite nicely with my writing. Strange that I marked out, in that manuscript book you sent me, the plan of a book some ten or twelve years ago, and that it should all at once flow from the pen so easily. Writing makes me wonder at our slowness of growth. How little the example of Christ is our real law and rule. Even the question hanging above the mantelpiece in our bedroom, “ What would Jesus do ? " does not give the real help. It requires spiritual insight to be able to answer that question. His own Spirit alone, working in fellowship with Himself, can give such an answer as will really influence us, so that the thought of what Jesus would do becomes a power compelling us to do it.

Murraysburg, 12th April, 1881.—I preached yesterday for twenty-five minutes, and the doctor says it has done me no harm. There is still a huskiness about the throat, which he says will wear off with the use of the voice. My text was 1 John ii. 6, “Abiding in Him, walking like Him.” Let us bless the Lord for again permitting me to preach Christ, and pray that it may henceforth be in the power of the Hdy Ghost. . . .

Mr. Murray’s strong sense of duty is apparent from his letters to his daughter Emmie, who, after having been confined in Pretoria during the war, was at length free to return home. He had assured himself that she was quite well and had suffered no privations during her incarceration, and his sympathy was at once aroused for Mr. Bosman and the school, which would suffer by her departure. He writes on this and cognate matters as follows—

To his daughter Emmie.

We were delighted to hear from you from Heilbron. Do send us your journals at once—we surely can pay the postage—we are longing to know all about your long confinement. Now that peace is arranged and school has begun again, I think it far best you should return at once [to Pretoria]. We are deeply grateful to hear you are so well, and hope you may still long feel the benefit of the enforced holiday. At whose expense were you kept in the fort? Did Government provide all who were there with rations ? And had your party still to do their own cooking?

From your last I see that your heart begins to long for home, and that you find it difficult, amid all the rumours that surround you, to look brightly towards your work at Pretoria. As far as I can see, you need not trouble yourself about the rumours. I have a strong hope that the God who so unexpectedly intervened to give peace will perfect what He has begun and give a lasting settlement of what now appears so difficult. You must not forget that all the English, who want the British Government to stay, will do their utmost to agitate and stir up strong feeling, so as to make it appear impossible for the Government to leave the country. Do not be too much disturbed by the rumours, and if the school be really going on, go back to it by all means at the earliest opportunity that can be found. The place of our work is to us the safest and the best. And if once you could get back to that, I think you would find it more easy to forgo the pleasant thoughts of visiting home again. You say you do not know whether Manus needs you, because he has the two Misses Faure. But Catherine said positively that she was not going to teach: her health was not good, and she was only going for a year to rest. At all events there will be work enough waiting for you, even should they be partially engaged. . . .

Towards the end of April Mr. Murray returned to Wellington with health somewhat improved, after an absence of three months. The services of Pentecost gave him the opportunity of pleading a cause which lay near to his heart—that of missions—and of appealing to the congregation to show its gratitude for his restoration by gifts for the work in general and for the Institute at which future missionaries were being trained. The result of his appeal, as we saw in the former chapter, was that the sum of £2,000 was subscribed, and that the trustees were encouraged to undertake the erection of permanent buildings for the Training Institute. During the latter hqlf of 1881 Mr. Murray’s throat seemed to be making gradual progress towards complete recovery. He preached continually, and his discourses, to judge by those which were published at frequent intervals in De Christen, were by no means brief. He was also busily engaged during these months in completing his new Dutch book, Gelijk Jezus (the original of Like Christ), and in issuing his first venture in the English language. Abide in Christ, which had already seen the light in Dutch dress, under the title Blijf in Jezus.

His brother John had been spending several months in Europe in the quest of health, and Andrew writes to him under date 5th December, 1881—

To Professor John Murray.

I was glad to hear from Margaret [the Professor's daughter] last week that you were the better for an operation. I shall be glad of a line some time to get an idea of your whereabouts—medically. What do the doctors say of the time that may be needed for your restoration and the prospects of an entire return of health? You know that many are anxious to hear, and we have hitherto only just said that you were getting on well.

Margaret says you all enjoyed Aberdeen. If writing be not a burden, I should be glad to have your impressions of the place where we spent so much time together, and of the cousins. I wrote you a letter a couple of months ago addressed to their care, but I do not know if you ever received it. In it I told you that Nisbets were to publish my Abide in Christ, and that I had said that, as you knew my handwriting, they might let you have a last revise. If you did not receive it, could you please place yourself into communication with them, saying if you can do it. By all means say so, only let them know, as they may be delaying publication until they hear from you.

You must be sure and go to Holland. Huet would like to have your address. Write to him at Goes, stating where you are. All the Church news from here I suppose you already know from De Christen. Retief has accepted Moorreesburg and Marais, Goudini. I fear the more distant congregations are waiting to call until it will be too late. S. J. du Toit goes to the Transvaal, and this day week a call is to be issued by the Consistory of North Paarl. It is said the one party wants Chari du Toit. The other appears hardly to know where to turn. A. A. Louw and A. D. Liickhoff are mentioned.

I have begun a rather large undertaking in issuing a prospectus for subscribers to Ddchsels Bijbelverklaring in eight volumes at £5. I hardly know how it will take, though some of our ministers are heartily in favour of the scheme. My throat is decidedly improving. The last three Sundays I have been preaching in good tone and length, and have not suffered. We have unusually moist westerly winds, which I think keep me back somewhat.

Some weeks later he writes again as follows—

To Professor John Murray.

I ought ere this to have written to say. Welcome back! And though the reception the Cape has given you has not been a very friendly one,1 the delay will make your restoration to us all the more acceptable when it does come. And the stay at Saldanha Bay may possibly be what was needed to give you a little more rest before beginning your work again. I trust the heat will not be such as it is here, and that the visit may have so much of a pleasant picnic life as not to be quite unbearable.

My throat was improving, but got put back, partly by a cold taken at Moorreesburg on the occasion of the induction of Retief, and partly owing to the strain of the New Year and prayer-week services.

Thanks for your hints on my English style in Abide in Christ, of which I have now received a parcel from Nisbets. There are a good many misprints still—e.g., strangulation for stagnation—but this cannot now be helped. I feel a little nervous about my debut in English.

Mahan’s Baptism of the Spirit I have read with profit. It is a pity that he insists so on his extraordinary exegesis "after that ye believed ye were sealed”; which the Revised Version could have taught him to be entirely wrong—“having believed ye were sealed.” But the book does one good. It is strange how deep-seated our feeling is that to be full of the Holy Ghost is something extraordinary, and how little we accept what is surely true—to live well-pleasing to God day by day.

The set-back in the condition of his throat to which Mr. Murray refers proved to be a somewhat serious relapse, so serious, indeed, that his consistory threw out the suggestion that he should undertake a tour to Europe for a complete change of air and scene, and in order to consult the best medical opinion. Mr. Murray at once fell in with the suggestionf arrangements were made for an absence extending over some months, and in May of 1882, he sailed from Table Bay, accompanied by Mrs. Murray. A few days before their departure an interesting ceremony took place at Wellington, namely, the laying of the foundation-stone of the new Training Institute. The part taken by Mr. Murray in the proceedings was little more than formal. The stone was laid by Professor Hofmeyr, who also delivered the address of the day, laying stress on the meaning of this new departure, and of the blessing which the Institute was destined to be for the Church and the Kingdom.

Before his departure for Europe Mr. Murray’s attention had been already drawn to the question of healing by faith. He had perused, though without any decided conviction, a book on the subject by an American, Dr. Boardman, entitled The Lord thy Healer. Teachings concerning faith healing had also been spread at the Cape by a certain Rev. Willem Hazen-berg, who after having passed through a course of theology at Kampen, the seminary of the Separatist Dutch Reformed Church in Holland, had found his way to America, and from there to South Africa. Hazenberg had interested himself in work among the Mohammedans in Cape Town, but disheartened by the indifferent success achieved, had turned his attention to the cure of disease by the exercise of faith. In two letters to De Christen he propounded the following four theses, for which he professed to find Scriptural ground: (1) the diseases of believers must be regarded as judgments of God, (2) God desires to remove instantly the diseases from which believers suffer, (3) this removal of disease is secured by believing prayer, and (4) the prayer which is efficacious in removing such diseases may be that of believing intercessors. These positions of Hazenberg were not left unchallenged, and exception was taken in particular to the first statement that disease in the believer was necessarily a judgment on sin; but the new doctrines found their way to many homes, and Hazenberg was in great demand in all parts of the country to lay his hands upon the sick and pray for their recovery.

The attitude which Mr. Murray adopted towards faith healing is best set forth in his own words. From Europe he addressed to his congregation a series of letters, two of which treat directly of the subject, and explain the steps by which he was led to adopt for himself this method of dealing with disease. On the 20th September, 1882, he writes— To his Congregation at Wellington.

Let me now relate to you a few of my experiences in Europe. Let me begin with the restoration of my health, since that was the chief object with which you sent me hither. I wish to tell you something about the way by which the Lord has led me in this matter.

At the Cape I had already frequently given thought to James v. 14-16, —“the prayer of faith Shall heal the sick "—and in union with others I had already made this matter of faith healing a subject of intercession. What I had read concerning the work of Dorothea Triidel and Dr. Cullis had removed from my mind all doubts but that the Lord even yet bestows healing on the prayer of faith. And yet it was as though I could not reach that faith. When I resolved upon the trip to Europe I felt that it would be a serious question for me whether I should place myself under the treatment of a physician, or should turn to those who appear to have received this gift of healing from the Lord. I thought that I would have time on board to think over this question and come to a decision.

How it happened I do not know, but on the voyage my attention was not directed to the matter in any especial degree : I could only beseech the Lord to guide me. The man whom I desired particularly to see was Pastor Stockmaier, whom I had learnt to know in Switzerland five „ years earlier as a truly spiritual man, of strong faith, and who now stood at the head of an institute for faith healing. But I did not expect to meet him before I goi fb Switzerland. And so it happened that, having received no clear guidance, I placed myself the day after my arrival in the hands of a famous London physician, Dr. Kidd. He prescribed a few medicines for me to use and sent me to a cold-water establishment in the vicinity of London, with directions that I should call on him from time to time. The following week was appointed for the Mildmay Conference, which was to last for three days, and I obtained permission to attend it.

At this Conference, just a week after our arrival in London, I heard„ that Mr. Stockmaier was also present. I called on him and discussed my throat trouble with him. In the course of our discussion I said that I, too, had wanted to make use of James v. 14, but that it seemed to me that I could not reach that faith. Perhaps that was due to the secret doubt I cherished that it was certainly God’s will that I should be healed. Would it not conduce in greater measure to His glory if I remained silent, and served God in some other capacity? Surely suffering and trial are means of grace which God employs to sanctify His people.

Mr. Stockmaier replied: “You are still fettered by the customary views of Christians about suffering. Observe how carefully James distinguishes in verses 13 and 14 between suffering and disease. Of suffering he says, Is any among you afflicted (or suffering), let him pray—for patience (Jas. i. 2-5, 12). But then again, Is any sick among you . . . the prayer of faith shall save the sick. There is no unconditional promise that suffering, arising from the many temptations and trials of life, will be taken away; but there is such a promise in the case of sickness.” I was obliged to admit this, and subsequently I thought that I understood the matter still better. There is no promise of complete deliverance from that suffering that comes upon the Christian from the world without—it must serve to bless and sanctify him. But it is different with disease, which has its seat within the body, and not outside of it. The body has been redeemed ; the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit; and, for the believer who can accept it, the Lord is ready to reveal even in the case of the body His mighty power to deliver from the dominion of sin.

Mr. Stockmaier invited me to attend, in the course of the following week, the meetings of Dr. Boardman, writer of The Higher Christian ijiLife, on the subject of faith healing. Shortly before my departure from the Cape I had perused Dr. Boardman’s other work The Lord thy Healer. but it left no special impreillon, perhaps because in my opinion he built too exclusively upon the Old Testament. I now learnt that only a few months before an institute for faith healing had been opened in London under his supervision. This institute I visited in the following week, when everything became clearer to me and I decided to ask if I could not be received as an inmate. The reply was that there would be a vacancy in the course of a few days, when I would be welcome.

I entered the institute three weeks after our arrival in London, and remained in it for another three weeks. It would be difficult to describe how much instruction and blessing I obtained during those weeks. The matron was of the same name as ourselves—Miss Murray. Morning by morning the sixteen or eighteen inmates were assembled around the Word of God, and instructed as to what there still remained in themselves to prevent them from appropriating the promise, and what there was in Scripture to encourage them to faith and to complete surrender.

I cannot remember that I have ever listened to expositions of the Word of God in which greater simplicity and a more glorious spirit of faith were revealed, combined with heart-searching application of God demand to surrender everything to Him.

But why was it necessary to enter a Home, and to remain there for so long a time ? Is not the prayer of faith the matter of a moment, just like the imposition of hands or the anointing with oil of which James speaks? Quite true. Yet in most cases time is needful in order to leam what God's Word promises, and rightly to understand what the cause and purpose of the disease really are, and which are the conditions and what the meaning of healing. The stay in such a Home, with all its surroundings, helps to make this matter plain, and to strengthen faith.

When Mr. Stockmaier prayed with me the first time, he made use of the expression which occurs in x Corinthians xi. 31, 32, saying, "Lord, teach him to judge himself, that he may no longer be judged or chastened.” In that whole passage we find the main thoughts concerning sickness and cure. Disease is a chastisement, because God judges us in love so that we may not be condemned with the world. If we judge ourselves in such manner as to discover the reason for which we are being chastised, then, so soon as the reason for chastisement is removed, the chastisement itself is no longer necessary. The disease was designed to bring us to complete severance from what God disapproved of in our life, and when the Lord has attained this purpose, the disease itself may be removed. It is not necessary for me to say that God judges us sometimes (though not always) for some definite sin. This may be lack of complete consecration, the assertion of one’s own will, confidence in one’s own strength in performing the Lord’s work, a forsaking of the first love and tenderness in the walk with God, or the absence of that gentleness which desires to follow only the leading of the Spirit of God.

It is difficult to express what a sight we sometimes obtain of the unutterable tenderness and sanctity of the surrender to which we are called when we beseech the Lord for healing by faith. It fills the soul with holy fear and reverence when we ask the Lord truly to impart to the body the eternal youth of His heavenly life, and when we express our readiness to receive the Holy Spirit in order to infuse health into the body which He inhabits, and our readiness to live every day in complete dependence upon the Lord for our bodily welfare. We learn to understand how complete the surrender of the body to the Lord must be, down to the very smallest particulars, and how the Lord, in thus giving and preserving health by faith, is really effecting the most intimate union with Himself.

When faith healing is regarded from this point of view, one of the chief objections against it is removed. We are so apt to think that the disease and the chastisement bring us the blessing, that the thought hardly finds an entrance that the recovery from disease may bring even greater blessing. And if the recovery consists in nothing but the removal of the disease, our view of the matter would be justified. But if the disease is only removable after its cause has been discovered and removed, and after a closer contact with the living Lord, and a more complete union of the body with Him, then we can understand that such a recovery brings infinitely greater blessing to the soul than the disease could convey.

I must bring this letter to a close. I write from the home of our brother Faure at Doesburg [Holland]. We think of remaining here another fortnight, and still adhere to the intention of leaving for the Cape on the 19th of October next.

The following was Mr. Murray’s second letter on the subject of faith healing —

To his Congregation at Wellington.

I was obliged to end my former letter on faith healing without having said everything I wanted to, and therefore I write again on the same matter.

One of the first things that struck me as being in conflict with my expectations was that in most cases slow progress is made with the healing process. I thought, and others have expressed the same opinion, that if healing is an act of God’s almighty power, there can be no reason why it should not be perfected at once. This point I discussed with Dr. Boardman and others, whose reply was somewhat as follows—

“First of all, experience has taught that at the present time most cases of healing are subject to this rule ; so that, even though we cannot understand why it should be so, we have merely to observe what God actually does. Then, too, we have to notice that this gradual recovery stands in close connexion with learning to trust in the Lord and to continue in constant dependence upon Him. It is as though the Lord, by this slow and gradual process, is educating His child to the increasing exercise of faith, and to a continuance in communion with Himself.”

This leads me to tell of one of the most important lessons which have learnt. When I arrived at the Home my mind was chiefly set on the healing : faith was a secondary consideration, which was to be employed simply as a means to healing. But I soon discovered that God’s first purpose was to develop faith, and that healing was a secondary question. God’s purpose with us, as with Abraham, is first of all to make us true believers. Disease and cure, to His mind, derive their importance from the fact that they can awaken in us a stronger faith. Faith, again, is of value in His eyes, not merely as the means by which we obtain a blessing, but especially as the pathway to a fuller fellowship with Himself and a fuller dependence upon His power. And if there be simple souls, who with child-like faith cast themselves wholly upon the Lord, recovery sometimes comes to them at once. But if there be those whose minds must be .brought to believe by the way of reason and conviction, the Spirit of God must, as it were, bear patiently with their needs and take time to teach them fully the lesson of faith, so that they may obtain not only the blessing of healing by faith, but the much greater blessing of a closer union by faith with their Lord.

I subsequently discussed this subject with Mr. Stockmaier, who stands at the head of a faith healing establishment at Hauptwal in Switzerland, He told me how at one time he was wholly incapacitated from preaching by an affection of the head, and that even after he had accepted the truth of healing by the exercise of faith, the trouble in no wise disappeared immediately. For more than two years the head affection continued, and yet he was always able to perform his work m the power of fellowship with the Lord by faith. He was led at this time, as though in leading-strings (he also used the expression, like a dog at the end of a chain), and he assured me that he would not for all the world have lost what he learnt during those two years. An immediate cure would never have brought him the same blessing. He counted it a great privilege that God took him so completely in hand, in order to preserve him in continual fellowship with Himself by means of the body, and the daily bestowal upon it of supernatural power.

At first I could not entirely assent to this view of the matter. I asked Dr. Boardman if it would not be a much more powerful proof, both for His children and for the world at large, that God hears and answers prayer, if the cure of disease were instantaneous and complete. I said that if I could write to my congregation that I had wholly recovered my voice as at the first, the thanksgiving would be more abundant to the glory of God. Would it not also be for the greater glory of God if I desired of Him this instantaneous restoration? His answer was, “The Lord knows better than you or your congregation what is for His greater glory. Leave it to Him to care for His own glory. Your duty is to hold fast to Him as your Healer, in whom you already have the healing of your malady, and He will enable you, in such manner as He sees fit, to perform all your work.” In this point of view I was able, ultimately, wholly to acquiesce.

So we see that in faith healing there is the same contrast as in the spiritual life between feeling and believing. The body must be brought under the same law of faith as the mind : it has been redeemed, and it is now possessed by the Holy Ghost, in quite the same way as our spiritual man. This idea is founded upon the expression which Matthew the evangelist quotes from Isaiah, “He healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses ” (Matt. viii. 17). In the well-known fifty-third of Isaiah sins and sicknesses are placed alongside of each other in a very remarkable way, and are borne together by Him in the suffering of which the chapter speaks. By bearing both He overcame them both, and received power to deliver from their sway. We have severed the one from the other, and have accepted the redemption of the soul from sin as the fruit of Christ’s sufferings, but without regarding the deliverance of the body from disease as in like manner the fruit of His sufferings. The faith which says, “He has borne my sins to free me from them,” must also learn to say, “He has carried my sicknesses in order to deliver me from them also.” In the world there will be trial and affliction and temptation in abundance, from which the believer must expect no deliverance; but from the disease of the body there can be deliverance through the Spirit who dwells in the body as His temple.

Very noteworthy was the manner in which faith in the words quoted from Isaiah effected the cure of a sick girl a few weeks before I visited the Bethshan Home. She had suffered for years from a variety of diseases, epilepsy among the rest. Several doctors declared that nothing could be done for her. She was carried into the prayer-meeting, and lay half unconscious on a sofa. Prayer was offered on her behalf. Shortly afterwards she suddenly rose and said, "If He has borne my sicknesses, I need not carry them any longer.” And within a short time she was completely cured. She subsequently related how it seemed to her that she heard a command to rise. The thought then intruded, "But I can’t rise: I shall fall.” In answer she seemed to hear, “Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses,” and she accordingly arose and advanced to the table standing in the midst. On subsequent occasions I more than once heard her bear witness, with great joy depicted on her countenance, to what the Lord had done for her.

Only yesterday I heard from a brother who has just arrived from Switzerland of a similar case,—that of a girl who was so weak with consumption that she could not be moved to a warmer climate for the winter, as the doctor desired. She heard from Mr. Stockmaier of the possibility of being cured by faith. One night she seemed to see very clearly how the Lord had given His body for her body, just as for her soul He had poured out His soul unto death. It seemed to her that she actually beheld the Lord giving His body for her health and cure. Next morning, to the amazement of every one, she got up out of bed, and now is spreading great blessing by holding women’s meetings.

From these brief accounts you will perceive that faith healing has a much higher aim than the mere deliverance of the body from certain maladies: it points the road of holiness and full consecration which God would have us follow. The question has arisen in my mind whether I may not perhaps possess the gift, and have the vocation, to devote myself, for a time at least, to this work. I notice in those who are engaged in this labour that they must give almost all their time and strength to it. In this manner only does faith acquire sufficient vitality and strength to enable them to wrestle courageously with all the doubts and difficulties of their patients. I spent last Sunday week at M&nne-dorf, where Dorothea Triidel laboured-with so much-blessing. Her successor is Samuel Zeller, and I found the opportunity of discussing this point with him. He acknowledged that it was not the vocation of every one who had been cured by faith to devote himself to the task of healing others. In this matter he said that one must wait for God’s guidance, who would assign to each his work according to his ability. For some he acknowledged that the ordinary ministry of the Gospel might be a higher vocation. But he expressed the opinion that, if the Church were to flourish as in the earliest ages, and the leaders in the congregation were again to be characterized by true spirituality, the gift of healing would be found very much more frequently ; and that this would be the case especially in the ministers of the Gospel, who would thus find a powerful recommendation for their work in rescuing the lost and in securing the sanctification of the children of God. May the Lord in His own good time grant this ! Help me to pray that He would give me grace to preserve faithfully and use rightly the blessing which He has entrusted to me.

I close with the prayer for God’s richest blessings upon my congregation, and upon our approaching reunion, as well as upon His whole Church in South Africa.

The subject of faith healing continued to engross Mr. Murray’s attention for several yeirs after his return to South Africa. In 1884 he published, in Dutch, a small duodecimo volume of 183 pages, entitled Jezus de Geneesheer der Kranken (Jesus the Physician of the Sick), in which he developed his teachings concerning healing by faith, and endeavoured to show their Scriptural basis. He described his booklet as “a personal testimony of my faith,” and reminded his readers that, after having been unable to perform his ordinary duties for more than two years, he obtained the healing of his affection through the divine mercy, and in answer to the prayers of those who recognized that God is the healer of His people. He acknowledges in his preface that many objections may be levelled at the doctrine of faith healing to which no satisfactory answer can at present be found. But he states that his aim is not so much to meet objections as to attempt an exposition of what Scripture teaches on the subject. “ I do not expect as much blessing from the removal of difficulties as from the power of the Word itself. There are upright Christians who are willing, even though these truths conflict with all their views, to submit themselves implicitly to the instruction of God’s Word ; and it is my firm hope that the indication of what Scripture teaches will bring light and blessing to such souls.” In an introductory chapter he outlines the contents of the little volume as follows—

FAITH HEALING—BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION.

Are not these glad tidings that reach us from different quarters, that the Lord is again making Himself known to His people, as of old, by the name The Lord thy Healer ? The number of witnesses daily increases who can affirm from their own experience that there is still truth in the promise, “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” Hearts are filled withthe glad expectation that this is merely a sign that the Lord is in the midst of His people, in order to bless them with His presence and with the fulness of His Spirit.

The Church has grown so unaccustomed to this action of the Spirit in curing the body, she has for so long ascribed the loss of this gift to the counsel of God rather than to her own unfaith, she has so persistently overlooked all the utterances of Scripture on the subject, or has explained them from the viewpoint of her own feeble life, that the truth has remained hidden even from the eyes of many pious expositors and theologians. It is the purpose of this little book to enquire what Scripture has to say on this matter . . . and in this introduction are adduced from the Bible the chief reasons why we believe in Jesus as the Physician of the sick, and then the main conditions upon which a sick person may obtain health from the Lord.

I. The Grounds for Faith in Jesus as the Physician of the Sick.

1. Because God’s Word expressly promises the cure of the sick by faith. "The prayer of faith shall save the sick ” (Jas. v. 15). “ They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover ” (Mark xvi. 18).

2. Because the Lord Jesus, our Surety, has borne our sicknesses as well as our sins in His body. "Surely He hath borne our griefs” (margin sicknesses) (Isa. liii. 4). "Himself bare our sicknesses ” (Matt. viii. 17).

3. Because Jesus has shown that it is His work no less than His desire to heal diseases as well as to forgive sins. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, preaching the gospel . . . and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease ” (Matt. iv. 23). “Jesus said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee . . . arise, take up thy bed and go into thine house ” (Matt. ix. 2, 6).

4. Because Jesus commanded and empowered His disciples both to preach the Gospel and to heal the sick. “Then called He His twelve disciples together . . . and sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick ” (Luke ix. 1,2). See also Luke x. 9 and Mark xvi. 15,18.

5. Because this is part of the work for which the Holy Spirit was given and has come down from heaven. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit ... to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit " (1 Cor. xii. 4, 9). See also Acts iv. 30, 31 ; v. 15 ; xiv. 3 ; xix. 11, 12 ; xxviii. 8, 9.

6. Because the apostles preached healing as a part of the salvation by faith in Jesus. "By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth doth this man stand here before you whole . . . neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved ” (Acts iv. 10, 12. See also Acts iii. 16).

7. Because our body also is delivered from the power of Satan, and because the Holy Spirit reveals His power even in the body. " Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Cor. vi. 19).

8. Because the healing of the body and the hallowing of the soul are very closely connected, and because in union with each other they enable us fully to know and glorify Jesus. “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God I will put none of these diseases upon thee, for I am the Lord that healeth thee ” (Exod. xv. 26). See also Psalm cii. 3; John ix. 38.

9. Because the Church must expect great outpourings of the Spirit in these days, and may reckon upon this gift likewise. “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring ” (Isa. xliv. 3). Pentecost was but a commencement; the promise is “over all flesh." Now that the Lord is beginning to bestow His Spirit, we may certainly expect a new manifestation of His wondrous power.

What has here been touched upon may seem strange to many readers, hut it is further explained in this little book. To each one, however, who is ready to accept these promises of God, we now give brief indications of the manner in which the believing sick may obtain healing from their Lord.

II. The Rules for Faith Healing.

1. Let the Word of God be your guide in this matter. Faith can build upon nothing other than the Word of the living God. The instruction and the encouragement which God’s children give are of great value, but if you found upon the word of men, men may also soon cause you to doubt. God’s Word commands us to seek the imposition of hands or the intercessory prayer of His believing people : this is needful and brings a great blessing. But our confidence is not to be built upon them, but upon the Word of God. In that case, too, we will betake ourselves to the Lord straightway, if there should be no true believers at hand. Seek to know what God Himself speaks to you in His Word. You have here to do with God Himself, who says, I am the Lord thy Healer.

2. Understand that sickness, is a chastisement on account of sin. God makes use of the disease as a rod of correction, in order to discover to us our sin and to draw us to Himself (1 Cor. xi. 30—32). In times of sickness we must suffer the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, and so we must discover, confess and renounce our sins. When sin has been confessed and forsaken, the Lord is able to remove the chastisement. He chastises only until His purpose has been attained. When sin has been confessed and renounced, forgiveness and the cure of the disease can follow at the same time.

3. Be assured, upon the strength of God’s Word and God’s promises that it is the will of God to heal you. Unless I am firmly persuaded that something is the will of God, I cannot pray for it in full assurance of faith. I may indeed trust that God will do what is good and right, but I cannot pray the prayer of faith. We are so accustomed to think that we cannot know the will of God with reference to the removal of disease, that we do not believe His promise concerning it. Seek to obtain an insight into what the Word promises—what it says about the work and the person of Jesus as Physician, and about the new life of the Holy Spirit as affecting the body not less than the soul—and you will obtain the assurance that the healing power of Jesus will restore health to your body.

4. Accept by an act of faith the Lord fesus as your Physician, submit your body to Him, and claim healing for yourself. Everything is as much a matter of faith as with the forgiveness of sins. The sinner accepts Jesus, surrenders his soul and all his sins to Him, and, upon the ground of God’s Word, claims by faith the forgiveness of sins. Just so with faith healing. Though the sinner feels no change and finds no light in his heart, he says, Upon God’s Word I know that forgiveness is mine. So, too, the sick one says, I have confessed and renounced my sin ; Jesus has pardoned me ; He who pardons is also He who heals; believing in Him I say, I have the healing; by faith I see that healing granted me in heaven in my Jesus, and commence to sing "Bless the Lord, O my soul, who healeth all thy diseases.”

5. Exercise your faith. "Stretch forth thine hand.” "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” So Jesus commanded the sick. He who believes that he is healed, even though he may feel no better, must exercise his will and commence to act as one who realizes that health is beginning to return. Do this in confidence in Christ’s word, with the eye of faith upon Him, to His glory, and you will not be disappointed.

6. Do not be surprised if your faith is tested. Health by faith is an inseparable part of the life of faith, and therefore here, too, faith must be strengthened by being tested. Do not be astonished if the disease does not immediately take a turn for the better. And if after some improvement the disease grows worse, do not imagine that it is all a mistake. If restoration to health is longer in coming than you expect, do not be discouraged. These trials are indications that Satan is unwilling to relinquish his power over your body (see Mark ix. 26), but also a proof that God is willing to strengthen you to be healed wholly and solely by faith in Jesus.

7. Dedicate yourself now, in the power of your Lord, to a new life of faith.—This health, this new power, is something exceedingly sacred, This new life is none other than the Holy Spirit in the body. Your body is not your own any longer. You have no rights over it. Walk in tender obedience to the voice of the Spirit. Healing and sanctification are closely united. Let your motto for every day be, with quite new emphasis, " The body for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

8. Be a witness for Him who heals you. Do not speak much to those who do not understand you. Do not argue with those who have no longing for the Physician. Rather offer yourself to the Lord to acquaint those whom He may bring to you with His glory. Be not ashamed to testify, as a witness to the faith who knows what he says. Above all, work for Jesus with your renewed strength, and bring poor sinners to the Saviour. Follow Jesus as one who has been healed, and glorify God.

These are the main outlines of the doctrine of faith healing, as we have attempted to explain them from Scripture. May it please the Lord to open the eyes of His believing people, by His Holy Spirit, that they may see His glory and by the Spirit’s quiet power to reveal in their hearts His great name. The Lord thy Healer.

Mr. Murray apparently never receded from the position which he took up towards faith healing in Jezus de Geneesheer der Kranken. The book was circulated in America under the title Divine Healing, and a translation in French, Jesus guerit les malades, also saw the light, but the Dutch version, after the first edition was exhausted, was never reprinted. He no doubt felt with increasing force the difficulties urged against the doctrine. Several cases occurred in which faith was exercised and all the conditions of healing seemed to be completely fulfilled, where yet the disease refused to yield to prayer, and the death of the sick one ensued. The earliest case of this nature was that of the Rev. Pieter F. Hugo, who was married to a niece of Mr. Murray, and was therefore the object of especial sympathy and prayer. Mr. Hugo developed symptoms of consumption, which compelled him to suspend his pastoral labours and threatened to terminate fatally. Leaving his congregation in the Eastern Province he proceeded to Paarl, where he could enjoy the rest and comfort of his mother's home and also be within easy reach of Mr. Murray’s influence. For a time there appeared to be clear improvement, and Mr. Hugo, who was a truly pious and devoted man, was firm in the faith that he would recover. Acting iu accordance with the principle of considering himself as already healed, he undertook a long journey to Middelburg in the Central Karroo, in order to attend a ministerial conference, at which Mr. Murray was also to be present.

Mr. Murray’s bulletins on the state of the patient’s health show how carefully he was watching the case. “P. Hugo did not cough as much as at home, so he says, and was not overtired.” “P. H. is still wonderfully well, considering the distance travelled. The Lord be praised.” “P. Hugo stood the two days’ hard driving—over ten hours [sixty miles] yesterday—better than I thought, as far as fatigue is concerned. He slept very well the last two nights, though he coughs a good deal. I think this may be owing to the dust in travelling ’’ Mr. Hugo accomplished the return journey to Paarl in safety, and then began rapidly to weaken. One evening he complained of a feeling of utter weariness, retired to his room, and shortly afterwards breathed his last. His death occurred within a month of his visit to Middelburg, and on the very day when the new building of the Training Institute was opened at Wellington. His decease was a great blow to Mr. Murray, who had cherished the most confident expectation of his nephew’s recovery.

A similar instance occurred more than twenty years later. An exceedingly earnest and capable young missionary, Rev. Pieter Stofberg, was seized with an internal malady which three doctors declared must prove fatal. A general request was issued for intercession, and by many individual friends and Christian circles prayer was made without ceasing unto God for him. Mr. Murray himself, accompanied by his colleague, Rev. J. R. Albertyn, proceeded to Robertson, where the sick man lay, in order to lay his hands on him and pray for him. A distinct improvement was at first noticeable. A few days later the following message was received from Robertson and made public : “As the Lord has laid the condition of our sick brother on the hearts of His people elsewhere, so, to, the spirit of prayer has been shed upon many at this place. Though matters seem to be, humanly speaking, wholly unfavourable, we have laid hold on God in prayer, and expect a complete recovery. With marvellous calmness, rest and peace, and in childlike faith Brother Stofberg rests assured that the Lord is engaged in healing him. May God’s great name be at this time more and more glorified by His children ! ” Yet notwithstanding the fervent prayers which ascended to heaven on his behalf Mr. Stofberg died within three weeks, and the faith of many who were awaiting news of his restoration was grievously staggered. Mr. Murray ascribed this failure of faith and prayer to effect the recovery of the sick man to the low state of the Church, which had neither truly apprehended the truth nor exercised the faith that is able to save and to heal.

Nearer home Mr. Murray’s application of the doctrine of faith healing to individual cases was followed by much blessing and success. When he and Mrs. Murray sailed for Europe in 1882, they left their younger children under the charge of an old friend of the family, Miss McGill. On their return they found this lady seriously ill. She met them with the words, “I have lived just long enough to deliver up my charge to you again.” Mr. Murray immediately replied, “By no means : though doctors despair, there is hope and recovery in the Lord who heals us.” He then explained to her the principles of faith healing, and offered earnest prayer for her restoration. Miss McGill rapidly recovered strength, rose up from her sick-bed, and was spared to labour for many years in connexion with the Young Women’s Christian Association in Cape Town.

In the case of his own bodily health Mr. Murray continued for many years to follow the principles of faith healing. In 1893, when travelling in Natal on one of his evangelistic' tours, the cart in which he was journeying was upset, and he sustained severe injuries to his arm and his back. But in spite of this accident he determined to carry out his programme, and in this determination he succeeded, though at first he had to be assisted into the pulpit. On these prolonged tours his throat still caused him occasional trouble, but he insisted on fulfilling all his engagements, “looking to the Lord for healing,” and when he reached home his throat was generally better rather than worse. When peace was declared at the close of the Anglo-Boer War in 1902, he found himself very much in need of rest after the continuous strain of three years of toil and anxiety, and undertook another trip to Europe, where he consulted medical men both in London and in Switzerland. After the death of Mrs. Murray, who was like himself strongly convinced of the truth of faith healing, he regularly consulted a doctor, mainly in order to please his children ; and when confined, as he sometimes was, to a sick-bed, no patient could be more obedient to instructions, more cheerful in demeanour, or more grateful for the least attention.

These facts prove clearly that towards the end of his life.

Mr. Murray did not give the same prominence to faith healing as in the years immediately following his stay at the Bethshan Institute of Healing. It cannot be said that he relinquished the views he held in 1883, but he came to acknowledge that faith healing was not for every one, but only for those choice spirits who are so simple and steadfast in faith, and so completely detached from the world, as to be able sincerely and unreservedly to place themselves in God’s hands. Some of the views set forth on this question of faith healing, as for example the assertion that suffering, even in the believer, is due to some special sin, can hardly be regarded as true to Scripture or to experience, and were probably not insisted on by Mr. Murray in later years. In the fervency with which he both preached and practised the doctrines of healing by faith, we have an instance of that intensity of conviction which characterized him, and led him at times to lay such exclusive stress on certain aspects of the truth as almost to overbear, without removing, the doubts which other minds expressed and the difficulties which weaker wills encountered.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 16

Andrew Murray as a Church Leader

To revive in the Church a fuller consciousness of its mysterious dignity, and a truer conception of its great purpose ; to re-kindle the faith that Christ not only guides His Church and watches over it, but is actually present in the midst of it,—this seemed to him at that time the one task to which he had been set.—From the Biography of R. W. Dale.

THE unique position which Andrew Murray occupied in the Dutch Reformed Church is clearly apparent from the fact that he was six times chosen as Moderator of Synod,—the Synod being the equivalent in South Africa of the General Assemblies of the Scottish Churches. His first election to this honourable and responsible position took place in 1862, when the Church was engaged in a life and death struggle with Liberalism, supported by the secular powers. This episode has been described in Chapter X. At the two subsequent Synods, those of 1867 and 1873, the choice of a Moderator fell upon the Rev. Dr. Philip Faure. This certainly did not betoken any lack of confidence in Mr. Murray, nor did it cast any reflection, even by implication, upon his great ability as occupant of the moderatorial chair. It was due perhaps to the feeling that he had identified himself somewhat markedly with one of the parties in the Church, and that moderator of more neutral tint was desirable in order to maintain the balance, and bring about, if possible, the reconciliation of divergent interests. Dr. Philip Faure, dignified, able, conciliatory, and yet a staunch supporter of the doctrinal standards of the Church, was such a man. He is the only Church leader who can even compare with Mr. Murray in the tenure of the moderatorship, having occupied the chair at four different Synods.

From 1876 and onwards Mr. Murray was regularly chosen as Moderator by each successive Synod, with the sole exception of that of 1880, when he was suffering from relaxation of the throat, and was unable to fulfil the onerous duties of the office. In 1897, when in his seventieth year, he definitely declared that if elected he should decline to accept the nomination, and the choice thereupon fell on his brother-in-law, the Rev. J. H. Hofmeyr, who was also re-elected at the following Synod in 1903. These were the last two assemblies which Mr. Murray attended, for before the following Synod met in 1906 he had become an emeritus minister. He himself was far from expecting that such repeated honours would fall to his share, for though he knew that he had a distinct message for the Church, he was uncertain as to the measure of confidence which his teachings and his attitude on ecclesiastical questions in general inspired. On the 9th October, 1883, he writes to his wife: “To my utter amazement I am Moderator again. How or why, I know not. May the Lord give me grace to act so that any influence I have to exert may be for His glory, and to testify for a religion that is higher than organization and work.”

It was customary at that time to invite the Governor, the chief civil functionaries, and the ministers of other Christian denominations to be present at the formal opening of the Synod, and on such occasions Mr. Murray’s bilingualism stood him in good stead. At the conclusion of his inaugural sermon he would address the Governor in English, assuring him of the Church’s loyalty to the throne, and of her desire to support the Government in its endeavours to promote the well-being of land and people. Turning next to the representatives of the other religious bodies, he would dwell upon the fundamental agreement which underlay their superficial differences, invite to closer union and co-operation, and end upon a solemn note by summoning each and all to a renewed consecration of themselves and their charges to the service of the common Master.

In his conduct of the proceedings of Synod Mr. Murray displayed qualities which would have commanded respect and admiration in any chairman. He possessed firmness without obstinacy, tolerance without compliancy, and impartiality without indecision. While resolute to uphold the dignity of the chair, he was courteous and tactful in public and readily accessible in private. Among his most outstanding qualifications for the office he was called to fulfil were his remarkable insight into the true bearing of the subject under discussion and his rapid decision as to the best course to pursue. As the words quoted above will suggest, he was no stickler for the letter of the law, while at the same time he evinced a thorough knowledge of ecclesiastical procedure, and perfect loyalty to the regulations of the Church and the decisions of the Synod.

A fellow-minister who was closely associated with him in the work of the Synod has given the following instance of Mr. Murray’s ready insight into complicated questions. A matter affecting a difficult point of Church law had been introduced, and the Synod, finding itself unable to reach a decision, appointed a small committee, of which Mr. Murray was a member, to suggest a feasible solution—their report to be considered at the afternoon session. The time was brief, and the committee resolved to meet an hour before the afternoon sederunt. At the appointed hour, however, only one member of the committee had arrived. The minutes passed. One or two more put in an appearance, and entered upon a desultory discussion of the matter laid before them. It wanted but twelve minutes to the hour when Mr. Murray hurried in.

I am sorry, brethren, that I could not be here sooner; but I hope you have the report ready for me to sign.” No, was the reply, we have been waiting for your arrival. However, as there is no time to discuss the question now, we shalhhave to request the Synod to postpone the consideration of our report.”

"Not at all,” said Mr. Murray, “there are still twelve minutes, which are all that we require.” And turning to the youngest committee-member he asked: “Can you write quickly? then take a pen and write to my dictation.”

Within the twelve minutes he had dictated a luminous report, setting forth the nature of the issues and suggesting the procedure that should be followed. His fellow-members agreed that the report could not be bettered. It was signed forthwith, presented to the Synod, and adopted by that body as a solution in every way satisfactory.

It need hardly be said that Mr. Murray displayed great tact in guiding the discussions, by no means always academical, which took place in the Assembly. His knowledge of human nature was unsurpassed, as was to be expected of one who had performed more journeys, backward and forward across the face of the country, and had been thrown into closer contact with men of all classes and all colours, than any other minister in the Church. He knew how to intervene in a debate at the psychological moment, and to suggest that a matter which was exciting strong feelings, or which needed to have more light cast upon it, should be referred to a committee for consideration and report. In the appointment of committees he exercised great wisdom and the strictest impartiality. It was seldom indeed that a ruling given by him as chairman, or an appointment made, was challenged by any member of the Synod. His personality and lofty Christian character inspired at all times the utmost regard and confidence. So great were the love and esteem in which he was held that on one occasion the Synod, creating a precedent which has never since been followed, presented him with a golden watch and chain, as a mark of its appreciation of his ability and devotion to duty in the moderatorial chair.

Andrew Murray was not merely a capable Moderator of Synod. He was a great Church statesman. He possessed all the qualifications for true and effective leadership. He recognized both the strength and the weakness of the Church which he served. He divined with infallible precision the ailments from which it suffered, and laboured to remove or ameliorate them. He knew also what the Church was capable of, and strove to call forth and strengthen the powers which still slumbered unutilized. In almost all new developments he not merely took the initiative but also supplied the driving force. He was the acknowledged leader in any committee on which he sat, being possessed of a mind which firmly grasped the largest issues without neglecting the smallest minutiae. His knowledge of details was truly marvellous, and the writer of these lines, who was associated with him on more than one board, had frequent cause to remark that Mr. Murray’s acquaintance with any given subject under consideration was equal to that of all the other members combined.

We may take as an instance of his active interest in all that appertained to the welfare of the Church his endeavours on behalf of Sunday-schools and the Sunday-school movement. In October, 1884, he was chairman of an influential conference, called by the Sunday-school Union of South Africa, and attended by ministers and Sunday-school teachers of various denominations. This conference, which was held at the Paarl, lasted three days, and was characterized by great enthusiasm and earnestness. No sooner was the gathering over, than Mr. Murray set himself to spread the spirit of the conference by means of a circular letter, which was forwarded to every Sunday-school and every Sunday-school teacher in South Africa. In this letter, under the guise of reporting the proceedings of the conference, he set forth in pointed language the purpose and the methods of Sunday-school work. We venture to give the following abbreviated version—

THE AIMS OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL.

1. From the very commencement [of the Conference] the distinction was emphasized between what belongs to the outward'organization of the Sunday-school and the inward living power with which the whole work should be infused. Wherever there is life, we have a body that must serve the spirit and a spirit that inspires and directs the body. The best machinery is powerless unless the steam that must set it in motion be present. But the greatest steam-power is rendered futile unless the machinery is in forking order. The arrangement, the conduct and the instruction of the Sunday-school must be in accordance with the best principles, in order that the work of God’s grace be not hindered. But on the other hand, we may not let outward prosperity betray us into forgetfulness of the truth that all blessing flows solely from the powerful influence of God’s Holy Spirit.

2. The work of the Sunday-school was defined as instruction in the Word of God—not in books founded on the Word, but in the Word itself. No greater blessing can be bestowed upon the child for his journey through life than to teach him to know and love and use his Bible. For this end it is indispensable that he shall not merely assimilate general truths and facts, but that he shall memorize the very words of Scripture.

3. The aim of the Sunday-school is nothing less than the conversion of the child. To impart religious instruction, to assist children to hallow and love the Sabbath, to draw heart and mind away from earth and set them on things above—all this is important, but it is not what we must really aim at. The child must be brought to Jesus. "My whole class for Jesus” must be the motto and the aim of each teacher.

4. Even this is not all. The child who has given his heart to Christ is still weak in faith. At home he may possibly find little encouragement in his Christian life, and during the week he may be exposed to distraction and temptation. The Sunday-school is often the only place where he can obtain guidance, instruction and encouragement for the new life in Christ. Nor may the child be left in ignorance of his calling to work for Christ. He must be constantly encouraged to engage in missionary effort—taking that expression in its broadest interpretation.

5. In order that the Sunday-school shall attain this twofold purpose —the conversion and the Christian training of the children—the first requisite is a converted teacher. No previous conference has laid greater stress on this demand—the teacher must himself know the Lord before he can lead his class to that knowledge. An unconverted Sunday-school teacher, so said one of the speakers, is an anomaly. Nor must he be converted merely, he must be a wholly consecrated Christian. Let us search for such teachers, let us pray for them, let us endeavour to provide and to train them. The Lord will supply them for the sake of His lambs.

6. Further requisites for an effective Sunday-school are: the right man as superintendent, the man who lives for his school, and seeks to inspire and unite all his fellow-workers ;—the regular visitation of the children in their homes by the teachers;—the weekly gathering of teachers for preparation and prayer;—the co-operation of parents with teachers;—the interest and intercession of the congregation, which must realize how great is the blessing which flows from the Sunday-school, and how integral a part of the Church organization it forms.

7. Another fruitful suggestion was the extension of the Sunday-school to other portions of our land. The Sunday-school teachers of each village should constitute themselves into a committee for the multiplication of Sunday-schools in the wards of the several congregations. There should be no child in the country who does not know that one hour of each Lord’s Day is devoted exclusively to himself. Christian, who may read this, see around you if there are not perchance some who need your assistance in a Sunday-school. Offer yourself to God for this work. He is a Master who can bless the feeble effort, and who bestows a rich reward upon the work of faith.

In 1883 Mr. Murray inaugurated a prayer circle which has proved of incalculable blessing to Dutch-speaking South Africa. This was the Bible and Prayer Union (Bijbel en Bid Vereeniging). The chief aim of this Union was to induce the members of the Church to undertake a course of consecutive daily Bible readings. For this purpose an almanac was issued, which indicated the portions to be read, and also suggested subjects for daily intercession. As the number of members increased, each of whom paid an annual subscription of one shilling, it became possible to enlarge the scope of the Union. Not only the almanac, but an instructive and edifying book of 200 or 300 pages, and an ornamental wall-text, were issued year by year. From small beginnings the Union soon assumed such dimensions that Mr. Murray, in 1885, handed over the secretaryship to the Rev. J. J. T. Marquard, who for some months had been his assistant at Wellington. Under Mr. Marquard’s fostering care the Union grew until it counted a membership of twenty thousand. The books distributed by the Union included translations or adaptations of English and Dutch works, original works on home and foreign missions, South African classics such as the Life of M. C. Vos, and other books of an edifying nature. They were eagerly welcomed in all South African homes, and have done much to kindle a taste for reading among the pastoral population of the Cape.

The subject of prayer was one which early engaged Mr. Murray’s serious attention, as his many books on Prayer

sufficiently attest. In 1884 his mind was particularly occupied with this great question. At the induction service of a young brother (Rev. G. F. Marais) he delivered the charge, taking as his theme The Pastor as man of Prayer. At a conference of ministers held at George the subject was again Prayer, when Mr. Murray preached a powerful sermon from Isaiah lxi. 6, on the Priestly Prayer-life. In concluding this sermon he appealed to his brethren in solemn fashion to join with him in the following confession—

(1) I believe in the holy priesthood of God’s people, and that I too am a priest, with authority to approach Him as intercessor, and to obtain by prevailing prayer a blessing for those who are perishing around me.

(2) I believe in the power of the precious blood to remove everything by which my confidence is impaired, and to cause me to draw near in full assurance of faith that my prayer is accepted.

(3) I believe in the unction of that Spirit who daily streams forth to me from my High Priest to sanctify me, to fill me with the sense of my priestly calling and with love to souls, to teach me what I ought to pray, and to strengthen me in persevering and believing prayer.

(4) I believe that, as the Lord Jesus Himself is my life, so He will be surety for my prayer-life, and will unite me to Himself as sharer in His holy work of intercession.

(5) In this faith I dedicate myself anew to God, in order to approach Him as one of His anointed priests to lay before Him in prayer the deep need of the world, and in His name to call down blessings upon it. Hereunto may God help me!

Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory fi/nd dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

As the outcome of much meditation and strenuous thought he published in 1885 a volume called De School des Gebeds, which became known to English readers under the title, With Christ in the School of Prayer. Towards the end of his life his thoughts were directed to this subject more continuously than at any previous period. He entered into correspondence with Rev. W. A. Cornaby of China, author of Prayer and the Human Problem. He wrote a preface to Mr. Granger Fleming’s The Dynamic of All-Prayer. He issued in Dutch many appeals for more fervent prayer and for more time to be devoted to prayer. A volume of sermons by a well-known preacher of the day was once placed before him, when he eagerly scanned the table of contents. “There is not a single sermon on Prayer,” he said, with an air of deep disappointment, and set the book aside as one which could have no interest for him. One of his last acts was the establishment of an Intercessory Union of such Christians as would bind themselves to devote not less than fifteen minutes daily to intercession on behalf of others, and for the progress of the cause of God throughout the world. This Union has since his demise received the name of the “ Andrew Murray Prayer Union,” and will, it is hoped, be a lasting memorial to his profound influence as a man of prayer, and his earnest advocacy of the place and power of prayer in the scheme of redemption.

During the eighties of last century the D. R. Church was greatly agitated by a heated controversy over the total abstinence movement. The question unhappily assumed from the outset a pronouncedly personal character. This was due to the fact that the movement was championed by Professor Hofmeyr of Stellenbosch—a man justly revered for his talents, his eloquence and his piety. The first impulse which he received towards an active interest in the cause of temperance came, strangely enough, from Andrew Murray. In 1877 a handsome hall for the use of the Stellenbosch Young Men’s Christian Association was opened by Mr. Murray, on which occasion he related his experiences as to the progress which the temperance movement was making in America. The use of strong drink was gradually disappearing from Christian circles, and Young Men’s Christian Associations were putting forth great efforts to combat the drink evil and promote the cause of total abstinence : and such, added Mr. Murray by way of application, should be the endeavour of societies of Christian young men everywhere.

Acting upon this suggestion, Professor Hofmeyr established a Total Abstinence Society, pleaded the matter he had laid to heart from many pulpits, and sought by means of numerous pamphlets and letters to the Press to awaken the Christian conscience on this urgent question. He maintained that it was the duty of every Christian to deny himself, and to drink no wine nor do any other thing whereby the weaker brother is offended or made to stumble; nay more, that " alcohol is a poison, and that therefore, according to the will of God, its use is forbidden to the healthy human being.”

His attitude aroused a storm of protest. The farmers of the Stellenbosch district, engaged almost exclusively in the production of wine, averred that he was condemning an industry sanctioned by ancient usage, and introduced in South Africa by pious Huguenots who had fled hither to escape the fires of persecution. They insisted on the fact—which could not, indeed, be gainsaid—that the wine-farmers as a class were earnest, God-fearing men, staunch upholders of the Church of their fathers, and liberal in their support of foreign missions and home philanthropies. They pointed out that the Theological Seminary itself, of which Mr. Hofmeyr was senior professor, had been originally erected and was largely maintained by the contributions of wine-farmers; and threatened the withdrawal of their support unless all abstinence propaganda were relinquished. But Professor Hofmeyr stood firm. Feeling ran so high that many absented themselves from divine service when it was known that the Professor would occupy the pulpit; and their opposition so worked upon the latter that for a time he voluntarily resigned the right, accorded to him as professor of theology, of preaching from the Stellenbosch pulpit and dispensing the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to the Stellenbosch congregation.

The whole question of abstinence came up for discussion at the Synods of 1883 and 1886. Interest was at fever heat. Questions, petitions, proposals, overtures covered the Moderator’s table. At the Synod of 1886 the discussion lasted for three days. Mr. Murray’s sympathies were strongly on the side of abstinence, but he occupied the chair, and was therefore bound to exercise strict impartiality and to moderate between conflicting views. His position as minister of Wellington and representative of that congregation in the assembly; no less than his position as Moderator, was an exceedingly difficult one. The district of Wellington, like that of Stellenbosch, was for the most part a wine-producing area. The most faithful and pious members of his flock were wine-farmers. It was their money that had built both church and parsonage, both hall and school. Unconditionally to condemn the industry which they pursued, would be to wound their tenderest susceptibilities, and to disturb and perhaps destroy the confidence which they had hitherto reposed in their beloved pastor. The decision at which the Synod of 1883 arrived, and in which Mr. Murray acquiesced (though he wished it were more strongly worded), was of the nature of a compromise. It ran as follows—

1. Wine is a good gift of God, to be received with gratitude and to be used to His glory.

2. Scripture nevertheless teaches us that the Christian is at liberty to refrain from the use of such gifts, where such self-denial is exercised in the spirit of holiness, out of love to others, or to protect oneself against temptation to sin.

3. Experience has taught us that for those, who are enslaved to drink, or are in danger of becoming so enslaved, total abstinence is one of the most powerful means of protection; and for this reason such persons should be encouraged to undertake it.

4. For those who think that by their abstinence they can encourage and strengthen the weak it is permissible voluntarily to bind themselves to help such weaker brethren by their example and in the fellowship of love.

5. It must be emphasized that, as there is no salvation without faith in the Lord Jesus, so, too, Biblical Temperance Societies only possess value for eternity in so far as they seek to pave the way for the preaching of the Gospel, and aim at leading their members not merely to a temperate but to a truly godly life.

6. For this purpose it is permissible to enter into a mutual undertaking to abstain, with God’s help, from the use of all intoxicating drinks, and to put forth every endeavour to oppose the abuse of strong drink on the part of others.1

Mr. Murray was unable to agree in all points with the position assumed by Professor Hofmeyr. The latter attempted to prove that the Bible not merely permits but enjoins abstinence from the use of wine, and Mr. Murray believed that this was going beyond the letter of Scripture. But if he expressed a modified dissent from some of the views held by Professor Hofmeyr, he dissociated himself in the most absolute way from the views of those who stood at the other extreme. The protagonist of the anti-abstinence party was the Rev. S. J. du Toit, who for some years had been pastor of the D. R. Church at North Paarl, but-had severed his connexion with the Church and was then engaged in literary labours. Mr. du Toit gave expression to his views in a volume entitled De Vrucht des Wijnstoks (The Fruit of the Vine), which was reviewed in De Kerkbode of 19th March, 1886. The review is unsigned, but internal evidence points pretty clearly to Mr. Murray as the writer. In this paper he controverts the chief arguments advanced against total abstinence—

The author of De Vrucht des Wijnstoks commences with a wrong representation of the matter at issue. “Abstainers condemn not merely the abuse but the use of wine. According to their views no one may either use wine himself or offer it to others.” This representation is wholly false. Only some abstainers assume this position. The majority hold that abstinence is not commanded but recommended (niet bevolen maar aanbevolen) as an act of voluntary self-denial. . . . Further, the author attempts to prove that Scripture commands the use of wine. Moderate drinkers as well as abstainers will demur to this. That the use of wine is sometimes commanded in the Bible is true, nor is it to be denied that the use of wine is regarded as permissible; but the text which our author quotes, "Drink no longer only water, but use a little wine ” is very far from proving his contention. It is in fact a strong proof that there is no general commandment to use wine; for else Paul would have rebuked Timothy for not doing what God had commanded. . . .

The position adopted in De Vrucht des Wijnstoks on the method of combating drunkenness will hardly approve itself even to moderate drinkers. "Make an intemperate man temperate without the renewal of the heart, and you have merely provided Antichrist with a fit instrument.” In other words, we may only labour for the recovery of the drunkard by the preaching of regeneration : there is no hope of getting him sober without conversion. This is a very evil doctrine. Temperance is a social virtue of great value. The drunkard makes havoc of his own life and of that of his children. He is nothing but a burden and a loss to society, because he does not perform his share of work for the benefit of the community. His example is infectious, and he leads others into the way of evil. This alone should make us eager to cure him from his drunken habits. Furthermore, it is not a matter of indifference to God whether an unconverted man remains a drunkard or forsakes his drunkenness. Mr. du Toit thinks it better to leave him in his drunkenness until he is converted. We act very differently with regard to other sins. If my child or my friend is a liar or a thief, I put forth every effort to persuade him to forsake these sins, even before he is converted. Many are engaged in the conflict with drunkenness for the purpose of furthering the Gospel, so that the poor confused drunkard may recover his wits sufficiently to listen to the call of God’s Word.

For some years the question of abstinence continued to be hotly debated in the public Press, and as is usual in such cases the contest evoked more heat than light. Eventually, however, the embers of controversy died down, and both sides began to assume a more tolerant attitude. Christian wine-farmers came to acknowledge that the advocates of temperance were not actuated by any motives of hostility towards themselves personally, but held strong convictions as to the necessity of combating the drink evil by more effective means than words of encouragement and warning. And abstainers learnt to make allowances for the attitude of Christian men who believed that wine-farming was a legitimate industry, and who urged with a measure of truth that, if their vineyards were uprooted, no other means were left by which they could derive subsistence from their scanty acres and unproductive soil. The Synod of the Church, too, made its voice heard with increasing urgency on the side of temperance. In 1915 a strong resolution was adopted, petitioning the Government to introduce legislation with a view to securing stringent restriction, and in some cases absolute prohibition, of the sale of drink to natives and the coloured classes, and demanding an extension of the principle of local option and the introduction of the ballot in the election of members of licensing boards. That this resolution was adopted by the Synod with practical unanimity is a sufficient proof of the distance travelled since the years 1883 and 1886.

The union of the D. R. Churches belonging to the four provinces of South Africa was a question which greatly interested Mr. Murray. It could hardly be otherwise, since the first eleven years of his ministry had been spent in self-denying labours among the farmer populations of the northern territories. He had witnessed the establishment and the growth, in the Orange Free State, the Transvaal and Natal, of autonomous Churches, which were separated from the mother Church of the Cape and from each other by political boundaries only. But when, after the Anglo-Boer war, these boundaries were obliterated, and the several States were reconstituted as provinces of the Union of South Africa, the unification of the Churches became a scheme of practical politics. It was but fitting that the first step in the direction of closer union should be taken on the initiative of Andrew Murray.

At the Synod of 1903—the first which was held after the conclusion of peace—he tabled a motion, in conjunction with his colleague, the Rev. J. R. Albertyn, “that the Synod do appoint a Committee to confer with the Churches of the Orange River Colony, the Transvaal and Natal, in order to ascertain upon what basis a union can be established.” In speaking to this motion Mr. Murray pointed out that two kinds of unification were possible, an organic union, by which all the Churches should become one body and hold all their properties and funds in common, and a federal union, which would secure joint action only, leaving to each Church its autonomy and its material possessions. He declared himself to be in favour of organic union; and though the Synod did not then seem prepared to follow him so far, the motion for the appointment of a committee of conference was carried by a unanimous vote.

The Conference on Union, in the proceedings of which Mr Murray took an active part, was held at Colesberg in the month of October, 1905. It was then resolved to lay before the various Synods proposals for a federal union, under which each Synod should retain its own legislative and administrative authority, while the visible unity of the federated bodies was to be represented by a Council of the Churches {Raad, der Kerken), the decisions of which, however, were not to be binding on any Church until approved by the Synod of that Church. In the establishment of this federal union and the creation of a Council of the Churches the four Synods concurred with not a single dissentient voice; and one of the first acts of the Council thus called into being was to declare that the federal bond was after all a very inadequate expression of the real and fundamental unity of the four bodies, and that they should immediately advance towards the realization of an organic union. Mr. Murray had by this time retired from the ranks of active ministers and could take no further part in the proceedings for union; but the principles which he had expounded in his address to the Synod in 1903 were clearly seen to point towards organic union as their only practical and logical conclusion.

In 1909 the proposals for union, devised by the Council of the Churches, were laid before the various Synods. They comprised five paragraphs. The first summed up the reasons for union ; the second provided that the United Church should bear the historic title “The Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa”; the third dealt with the funds of the Churches which it was proposed to merge into one; the fourth suggested a working solution of the vexed question of the so-called “equality” of native Church-members with white; and the fifth indicated the parliamentary legislation which would be needed in order to give the proposed union legal right and authority.

These weighty proposals were debated in the different assemblies with great earnestness, dignity and enthusiasm. It was abundantly recognized that an epoch had been reached in the history of the D. R. Churches of South Africa. A corporate unity, which formerly was a wholly unrealizable ideal, was now within reach, and the approaching union of the provinces of South Africa acted as a strong incentive to the Churches to keep pace with the political movement. In the Synods of the Transvaal and Natal the proposals were unanimously adopted. In the Free State Synod there was a small minority, and in the Cape Synod a large minority against the scheme, the former declaring that "the time had not yet come for the union of the D. R. Churches of South Africa,” and the latter desiring that “the matter be referred back to the Council of the Churches for further enquiry into the questions of the Church’s name and the right of coloured members.”

*The proposals having passed all four Synods, the way was open to approach Parliament for the necessary legislation. In the session of 1911 an “enabling Bill ” was placed upon the statute-book as Act No. 23 of 1911. It empowered the Synods of the four Churches to enter into an organic union after a certain procedure had been iollowed and certain conditions had been observed. These conditions were by no means easy. They provided, it ter alia, that at least three-fourths of the members of each and every Kerkeraad (Consistory) belonging to either of the four Churches should record their votes for the proposed amalgamation. There were at that time some 250 established congregations in the four provinces, and each Kerkeraad would consist on an average of not less than ten members. At least two thousand five hundred churchwardens, accordingly, many of whom knew very little about the history of the union movement and anticipated small advantage from it, would be called upon to vote in the matter. It was to be expected that if but the smallest doubt arose in their minds—and such doubts were more easily kindled than allayed—they would cast their vote for the retention of the status quo.

These anticipations were unhappily realized. The decisions of the consistories were taken during the first half of 1912. The result was surprising. In the Cape Church, where the Synodical voting had shown only a narrow majority for union, the consistories accorded the measure considerable support, although that support fell far short of the requisite three-fourths majority. In the Free State Church, on the other hand, whose Synod numbered but a few opponents of union, the consistories vetoed the proposals by a large majority. Similarly in the Transvaal the consistories refused to follow the lead of their Synod, which had unanimously declared for union, and recorded an equally decided adverse vote.

Thus were shattered the expectations of attaining to corporate unity in the lifetime of the present generation. One disappointed member of the D. R. Church wrote to the Kerkbode: “I still cherish the feeble hope that union will some day be consummated, and that our revered father Andrew Murray, who fifty years ago witnessed the disruption of our beloved Church,1 may yet enjoy the privilege of seeing the Church united before his death.” This pious hope was likewise doomed to disappointment, and Andrew Murray passed away without beholding what he had so ardently longed for—the re-union of Churches one in faith and doctrine, one in government and discipline, and one in speech and nationality.

The high regard in which Mr. Murray was held by the Church which he served was signally manifested on the occasion of his ministerial jubilee. The 9th of May, 1898, when Mr. Murray celebrated his seventieth birthday and the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination, fell upon a Sunday. The weather, unfortunately, was unpropitious, and rain fell in torrents, so that the diets of worship were but poorly attended by the country congregation, who are conveyed to church by the pony trap and the Cape cart. The sermon was preached by Professor Hofmeyr, who expressed the hope that the jubilee celebrations of their pastor might form the commencement of a new epoch for the members of the Wellington congregation. On the following day, though the weather continued inclement, a large number of ministers assembled to do honour to Mr. and Mrs. Murray, and, among other festivities, an address was presented, accompanied by a gift of study furniture. The address ran as follows—

Wellington, 9th May, 1898.

Right Reverend Sir, Highly-Honoured Brother,—

This day, which for you is so rich in memories of God's love and faithfulness, constrains us also to assure you, in the name of your fellow-ministers in the whole of our Church in South Africa, of our sympathetic association with you in your joy and gratitude. While, as you look back upon a life of rich and blessed experiences, you readily appropriate the words of the psalmist, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever,” we, too, desire gratefully to acknowledge God’s mercies towards you.

We may not, on this festive occasion, forget what the Lord has bestowed upon His Church in you during the half-century that has elapsed since your ordination, not only for the congregations of Bloemfontein, Worcester, Cape Town and Wellington, which have successively enjoyed the privilege of your faithful and blessed ministry, but for the Church in general, without as well as within this Colony.

The visits which during the first years of your Gospel ministrations you paid to those of our co-religionists who had emigrated northwards, your special Gospel services of later years in almost all the congregations of our Church, in the Colony and beyond, your labours even in foreign lands, especially in England, Scotland, Holland and America, in the way of sermons and convention addresses—all bear witness to the extent of your toil in the great vineyard of the Lord. And then we have not even mentioned the still wider circle, in which you have promoted the interests of the Divine Kingdom and served your great Master, by means of your writings.

We call to mind, likewise, the services you rendered to our Church in days of struggle and difficulty, when you pleaded her interests with the utmost ability not merely in ecclesiastical assemblies, but before the tribunals of the land, and even before Her Majesty’s Privy Council in England. We remember also your able guidance as moderator of the highest Assembly of our Church at six of her Synods; your zealous labours as chairman or member of many different committees in connexion with Church institutions ; and all that you have been enabled, by the Divine blessing, to do by way of establishing institutions where our young men can be trained as missionaries and our young maidens as teachers, as well as for the cause of education generally.

With you and for you we bless the Lord, who has bestowed on you wisdom and strength for all these undertakings, and who has crowned your many-sided labours with such abundant blessing. To Him be ascribed all the honour! . . . We pray that the Lord may long spare you to continue these labours; that He would grant you health and strength for your advancing years; and that at the eventide of your life it may be light.

The proceedings of the third day may be briefly described in words drawn from the Huguenot Seminary Annual:— "All the teachers of the district were invited to meet Mr. and Mrs. Murray at tea on Tuesday, and they with a few friends sat down to the number of one hundred. There was a wonderful charm in the spontaneity of the tribute laid at Mr. Murray’s feet. More than one said, ‘ I am what I am because of Mr. Murray’s interest in me.’ The gathering of the scholars, over a thousand strong, marked a gala day. They marched in procession, with banners flying, to the Dutch Church. The young people had embowered an open carriage with flowers, and in this Mr. and Mrs. Murray sat at the Parsonage gate, watching the procession, each section giving them the Chatauqua salute as they passed. When he entered the church, all stood, and there was a wonderful fluttering of handkerchiefs in greeting from the different schools. It was a beautiful gathering up of Mr. Murray’s loving interest in the young people.”

During the birthday week more than two hundred telegrams of congratulation were received from all parts of the country —from the Governor, the Prime Minister, the Colonial Secretary, the Commissioner for Agriculture, and other prominent public men, from ministers and missionaries, from teachers and farmers, from old and young, who desired to give expression to their feelings of esteem and gratitude towards one who had exercised an influence so wide and so beneficent.

In the response which Mr. Murray made to the congratulatory address, he uttered the feelings which filled his mind on receiving these marks of joy and devotion. Two thoughts, he said, held possession of his heart—the one was gratitude to God and to his friends for all their love, and the other was the desire to speak a word to the glory of God. After the expression of heartfelt thanks to the brethren, both present and absent, who had conspired to honour him, he said that he wished to impress upon his fellow-ministers the truth that God has a work for every one and desires to use each individual. God’s schemes for us are much greater than we have any conception of. This had been his experience. At Bloemfontein, his first love, where he had laboured with all his soul and strength, the Lord so ordained it that when he had overstrained himself, he was deputed to England by a committee in the Free State, and thus secured several months of needful rest. At Worcester his arrival coincided with a powerful manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s working in the congregation, and he shared in the blessings of that revival. There, too, he composed for the edification of believers his book, Blijf in Jezus (Abide in Jesus). The years of his ministry in Cape Town were a time of stress and strain, during which God kindled in him the desire to write and preach against the prevailing unbelief. At Wellington the way was opened for founding the existing educational institutions; while the perusal of accounts of Mr. Moody's labours encouraged him to hold special services, for which purpose the Wellington congregation generously set him free for several weeks year after year. During the years of his ministry God had given him an insight into the needs and weaknesses of the Church, an insight also, on that very account, into his own weaknesses. He asked earnestly for the intercession of God’s people, that it might please the Lord to teach him what he must yet speak and write, and what he dare confidently ask and expect from God.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 17

Andrew Murray as a Missionary Statesman

It was said of the late Keith Falconer, by one of his instructors, that he approached the world of ideas as great observers approach the world of nature—with wonder, with reverence, and with humility. In some such spirit must the pastor approach the study of missions.—A. Woodruff Halsey.

WHEN Andrew Murray commenced his ministry in South Africa in 1848 the modern missionary era was half a century old. In the course of those fifty years some twelve or fourteen missionary societies had established themselves at the Cape. Missionary travellers, on their journeys back and forward between the coast and the interior, were frequent visitors at Graaff-Reinet, and their visits stimulated in the children of the manse that interest in mission work which had been already kindled by their parents. Of this deep interest we have proof in Andrew Murray’s letters to the home circle from Scotland and Holland, and in the establishment of the Eltheto Society, in which he and his brother John took so prominent a part. Even during the strenuous years at Bloemfontein, when his strength was severely taxed in the arduous task of building up a Church among the early pioneers, his interest in missions and his active sympathy with missionaries of all denominations never slackened.

When the Synod of 1857 took the bold step of deciding to commence its own “ foreign mission,” Andrew Murray became a member of the Committee appointed to launch the new undertaking, and he remained a member of that Committee re-constituted in 1903 as the General Mission Committee—until his retirement in 1906. He thus continued for half a century to guide the mission policy of the D. R. Church, while during almost the whole of that period his two colleagues on the original board, J. H. Neethling and N. J. Hofmeyr, shared the burden of administration and responsibility. His journey to the Transvaal in 1862, in search of spheres of work for Messrs. Gonin and McKidd has been described in an earlier chapter.1 But though the first missionaries were appointed and duly assigned to their respective fields of labour, the foreign missionary enterprise of the Church remained for many years a plant of slow growth. The dearth of ministers for European congregations and the lack of a special training institution for missionaries were retarding influences. The latter Institution came into being in 1877, but for a long time it was barely able to cope with the urgent needs of the congregations of the Home Mission, and no men were available for the foreign field.

A more vigorous life began to stir in the Foreign Mission of the D. R. Church during the ninth decade of the last century. This was largely due to two causes—the opening of fresh fields in Nyasaland and in Mashonaland, to which we shall presently advert, and the fact that ministers became more actively interested in missions, and that the sons of ministers came forward in larger numbers to offer themselves for service in new and distant fields. During the thirty years between 1886 and 1916, out of a total of some seventy who enlisted, no less than twenty-one young men, sons of ministers and missionaries, entered the foreign mission field, and of this number fifteen belonged to the Murray family. Of Andrew Murray’s own children his second daughter, Mary, and his sons John and Charles gave themselves to mission work, and were stationed in Bechuanaland, the Transvaal and Nyasaland respectively.

From a missionary point of view the year 1886 was a notable one in the history of the D. R. Church, because of the remarkable increase of interest in missions on the part of the ministers of the Church. The Rev. Samuel P. Helm, who for four years had been the devoted and beloved pastor of the congregation at Britstown, resigned his charge in order to proceed to the Zoutpansberg as missionary. Andrew C. Murray, Mr. Murray’s nephew, a student who had just completed his course of studies at the Stellenbosch Theological Seminary, announced his intention of engaging in mission work, preferably in a distant and unoccupied field. To Mr. Murray’s initiative was due the erection, on the nth November, 1886, of the Ministers’ Mission Union (Predikanten Zending Vereeniging), the members of which undertook to contribute from their own purses sums varying from £5 to £20 per annum. Of this Union Mr. Murray was the Ufelong chairman, and Rev. G. F. Marais the first secretary. The original membership consisted of forty brethren, who promised £300 in annual contributions. The establishment of the Ministers’ Mission Union marks the inauguration of a new and vigorous era in the history of D. R. Church missions.

The Executive Committee of this Union accepted the services of Andrew C. Murray, who after a brief course of medicine at Edinburgh University, was ready to start for the field in 1888. The question now arose as to the sphere of work to which he should be allocated : should it be an old one or a new, should it be near or distant? The Executive instituted enquiries in various directions, asking also the advice of the Rev. Stefanus Hofmeyr, who had already fulfilled more than twenty years of service as missionary in the Zoutpansberg, as to the possibility of new openings in the Transvaal. Its findings are summed up in a report which possesses considerable historical interest—

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE MINISTERS’ MISSION UNION.

The Committee met at Wellington on Tuesday the 19th July, and on its behalf the undersigned desire to put you in possession of the following facts—

The account current was produced, from which it appeared that fifty-two ministers had promised an amount aggregating ^360, while several others had given the promise of co-operation, without specifying the amount of their aid.

The Committee was of opinion that it is time to suggest to the members of the Union a possible sphere of work. We had before us a map of the Transvaal with the openings in that territory, and also a map of the country to the west of Lake Nyasa, where a field of labour is offered us by the Free Church of Scotland. Note was made, too, of a letter from the theological candidate Andrew Murray, Charles’ son, who is now further preparing himself in Edinburgh for mission work, in which he gives expression to his readiness to undertake the work on Lake Nyasa.

There was much that could be urged in favour of a sphere of work in the Transvaal. Our Mission there has need of reinforcement. A missionary sent out by our Ministers’ Union would find great support in the brethren now working there, and would in turn be able to render them valuable assistance. It is not desirable to divide or weaken our powers, or to commence work at distant points without the prospect of being able to prosecute it effectively. In spite of these considerations, however, the Executive Committee has decided to recommend that our Union shall undertake work on the shores of Lake Nyasa, and for the following reasons—

1. The extent of the field.—.The sphere offered us by the Free Church is hundreds of miles in extent. From Bandawe, a station of the Free Church on the west coast of the Lake, it is a distance of three hundred miles westward to Lake Bangweolo, from where it is two hundred and fifty more to Makuru, the station of Mr. Araot—the first mission one reaches after travelling more than five hundred miles. In the Transvaal, on the other hand, the openings are few. The sphere of work at Molep, where Brother Helm will perhaps be stationed, contains no more than 3,000 souls, and every one of these can, if so minded, hear the Word of God from native evangelists. In the country of Malitzi evangelists are also at work, likewise a German missionary, while the station of Brother Hofmeyr is not far ofi. The Gospel is by no means beyond their reach. But on the shores of Lake Nyasa we should participate in the great work of preaching Christ to those who have never heard of Him.

2. The arousal of greater interest.—Our congregations are tolerably well acquainted with the particulars of mission work in the Transvaal, while a mission undertaken at such a distance will bring us into contact with a new heathenism, wholly outside the influence of Christianity. New difficulties will arise. The whole work will have to be arranged upon a new scale, and we shall learn how great the kingdom of Satan is, and how small in proportion is the work which is being done for the Kingdom of God. Our views will be enlarged as to the extent of the need and the nature of the work that must be undertaken. This must of necessity have a beneficial effect upon our interest, our enthusiasm, our prayers and our faith.

3. The remarkable opening.—We should not venture to recommend that a single missionary be sent to a new sphere of work situated at such a distance, were it not that the Free Church of Scotland is prepared to receive him as a brother in the midst of its missionaries, as though he were one of them. There he would be our missionary, and at the same time enjoy the support and the advice of the brethren around him. Further arrangements would be made only after we have decided to enter into relations with the Free Church. In his journey to his new field, too, our missionary would have the advantage of the steamers and other means of communication which the Scotch Mission at the Lake employs.

To the opportunity which thus offers in the providence of God must be added the fact that our young brother feels a strong desire towards this work and offers himself for it. Should we decide that it is advisable to send two men to the Transvaal first, it may happen that we shall not be able to find anyone later on who would be willing to proceed to the distant field. Or the field may have been occupied by some other body, and we should be too late, and perhaps not soon find so suitable an opening for our weak forces. We are of opinion that we could very well send an artisan missionary with our brother, in order to assist him on his station and afford him the needful companionship.

The Committee requests each member of the Union to take this matter into prayerful consideration. Let us ask the Lord to give us a wise and understanding heart in this question, that we may know His will and have faith and strength to follow where He leads.

On behalf of the Committee,

Andrew Murray, Chairman.

G. F. Marais, Secretary

No objection was raised by the members of the Ministers’ Mission Union to the proposals put forth by the Committee, and A. C. Murray duly sailed for the Central African field in the course of 1888. He was joined in the foUowing year by T. C. B. Vlok, and these two pioneers, who established themselves on the west coast of Lake Nyasa, at a place called Mvera, were the founders of the Nyasa Mission of the D. R. Church, which has since become one of the most successful of African missionary enterprises. Over the fortunes of this young mission Mr. Murray watched with the closest and most prayerful interest. Almost every suggestion of extension and improvement, in the early years at any rate, came from his prescient and practical mind. At th& end of five years the workers of this Mission totalled seven, and in 1899 their number had risen to fourteen.

The latter year was one of crucial importance in the history of the Nyasa Mission. Doors were opening on every hand. In whichever direction they journeyed, the missionaries in their itinerations found the natives eager to listen to the Word. Even at distant villages audiences of five hundred were no uncommon sight. The schools were crowded with children ready for instruction. The workers were in great danger of overtaxing their strength in their efforts to cope with the rapid expansion of the work. A. C. Murray wrote to the Committee at home : “You have been praying that God would open the door of the Word. That is no longer necessary. There are so many open doors that we are thrown into a condition of great perplexity.”

Mr. Murray instantly grasped the importance of this crisis and summoned a meeting of the Committee, which was held according to custom in the study of his home, Clairvaux, at Wellington. Much time was given to prayer, and the situation in Nyasaland was then carefully reviewed. The necessity for an immediate increase in the number of the staff was patent to all, and the question was really one of men and means. At Mr. Murray’s instance a circular of the following import was drawn up and despatched to all supporters of the Mission—

To Friends and Supporters of the Nyasaland Mission.

Dear Friends,—We are in special need of your assistance in prayer. The call for more workers is most insistent. The need for more money to continue and extend the work makes itself continually felt. Moreover, there is greater need for powerful workings of the Spirit of God, since congregations are being formed in the mission field.

We therefore invite you all to set aside a portion of your time, though it were but half an hour, on Ascension Day, the nth of May, 1899, in order to invoke the Lord’s assistance. Pray specially :

1. That the Lord through His Holy Spirit would so graciously work in the hearts of His children that more labourers may offer themselves, and that His people may come forward willingly in order to render the cause powerful support in the spirit of true self-denial.

2. That the Lord would fill with His Holy Spirit all our missionaries, with the evangelists, teachers and converts in Nyasaland.

3. That in the course of the next five years the work may be at least doubled.

If we pray uprightly, asking at the same time what God would have us to do, the blessing both for ourselves and for Nyasaland will be sure.

In the name of the Committee of the Ministers’ Mission Union,

Andrew Murray.
J. R. Albertyn.
J. du Plessis.

Not many months after the issue of this circular the Boer War broke out, and the public mind was wholly engrossed by the struggle of the two Republics to maintain their independence. The possibility seemed exceedingly small that sufficient enthusiasm and support could be elicited to send the needed reinforcements to Nyasaland. But the unexpected happened. So far from diminishing, mission interest steadily increased. Gifts of money, frequently from unsuspected sources, and sometimes in comparatively large amounts, streamed into the treasury. The sympathy which had been awakened in the hearts of the Dutch-speaking public for those who were sufferers through the war, was extended to every form of philanthropic activity, and not the least to the missionary cause. And, best of all, young men of ability and true devotion offered themselves in larger numbers for foreign work. At the lapse of only four years from the issue of the circular of 1899, the Committee tasted the joy of being able to report that the number of workers had already doubled itself. During the troublous period between 1899 and 1903 no less than fourteen new labourers were despatched to Nyasaland.

The work in that field had now assumed such dimensions that it was found advisable to hand it over to the Synod, in order that it might be brought into line with the undertakings of the Church in other spheres, and controlled by a central committee. The appointment of this General Mission Committee was the work of the Synod of 1903—the last in which Andrew Murray took part. In the discussions and arrangements for the creation of this central board, Mr. Murray took an active interest, and when it was finally established he was appointed chairman, which position he held until his retirement in 1906.

In 1908 the growing mission work of the Church was faced with a grave deficit. The General Mission Committee issued a request for universal prayer on Pentecost Sunday, the 7th June, and this request met with a hearty response in almost all the congregations of the D. R. Church. Preaching at Wellington on that day, Mr. Murray delivered a notable sermon, based on Exodus xiv. 15, in which he impressed upon the congregation the urgency of the crisis through which the foreign missionary enterprise was passing. Three days later the Consistory of Wellington resolved to invite delegates from far and near to attend a Congress for the discussion of the issues which had been laid before them. This Congress, which exercised a far-reaching influence, assembled at Wellington in August, 1908. The interest was great; the addresses were thoughtful and stirring; the results were momentous. A Laymen’s Missionary Union was established, and its first Committee elected; the sum of £700 was immediately subscribed towards wiping out the deficit; and the delegates bound themselves to active efforts, not merely for the speedy extinction of the debt, but for the collection of a further sum of £2,500 for the extension of the work in the foreign field. Nor was this all. The most remarkable result of the Congress was the inauguration of what was called, not inaptly, a Missionary Crusade, in the prosecution bf which representative ministers visited large centres in every part of the country, and conducted congresses similar to that at Wellington, for the purpose of kindling missionary zeal. Mr. Murray was again the man from whom proceeded the fruitful suggestion of thus widening the basis of missionary interest, and it was upon his shoulders also that the task chiefly devolved of carrying the scheme to fruition.

The first series of congresses, held at places so far asunder as Klerksdorp and Johannesburg in the Transvaal, Bloemfontein in the Free State, and Cradock, Oudtshoorn and Beaufort West in the Cape Colony, aroused widespread interest, and resulted in the complete extinction of the debt. Congregations which had been indifferent or even antagonistic towards mission work underwent in many cases a complete transformation, and became ardent supporters of the cause. Not a few undertook to salary their own representative in the field. Contributions were suddenly doubled, trebled or quadrupled. Early in 1909 the General Mission Secretary reported that £4,000 of the £5,000 which was originally aimed at had already been found. When the campaign closed no less a sum than £10,000 had been raised for missionary extension.

Mr. Murray was the only one of the deputies who took part in each of the conferences held at the above-mentioned towns. One admirer wrote of him : “ Our old father and leader, Mr. Murray, fills us continually with new astonishment and admiration. He is sometimes weary but never discouraged. The lion’s share of the work falls to him. And though his strength has somewhat decreased, the old fire burns with undiminished glow.” There was sufficient cause to be concerned about his health, for he had already passed the fourscore years which in the prayer of Moses the man of God are assigned to mankind “ by reason of strength.” Nevertheless, he bore all the vicissitudes of travel, and all the strain of six successive conferences, not only without apparent fatigue but with positive zest, and when he alighted from the train at Wellington he was in better health than when he had set out, and was already evolving plans for a second series of conferences at centres as yet unvisited.

No estimate of Mr. Murray’s influence as a leader of missionary thought and enterprise would be complete that did not take account of his intimate and lifelong connexion with the South Africa General Mission. The commencement of this undertaking occurred on the following wise. When in 1882 Mr. Murray was visiting England in search of health, he met at Keswick a young man of twenty-three named Spencer Walton. Walton had made a voyage to South

Africa as a youth, and was now seriously considering the question of giving himself wholly to mission work in the sub-continent. Mr. Murray gave him the assurance that if he felt called to labour in that field, he would receive the heartiest welcome from himself and from Christians generally. For a long time the project lay germinating in Walton’s mind. Five years later Mrs. Osborne, a lady who was engaged in Christian work among the soldiers and sailors in South Africa, heard Walton speak at a convention at Leamington, and acting on a sudden inspiration penned a letter in which she asked him to come as missioner to the Cape. After careful consideration, and consultation with several evangelical leaders, Walton accepted this invitation, and sailed for Cape Town in 1888.

He was welcomed on his arrival by Mr. Murray (whose son, Haldane, had been his fellow-voyager), by Mrs. Osborne, and by a large number of evangelical ministers and Christian friends. A series of gatherings, for which, under the influence of Mr. Murray and other earnest workers, long and prayerful preparation had been made, was held in Cape Town. They were attended with most remarkable results. The Y.M.C.A. Hall, in which the preliminary meetings were held, was found to be too small, and the Metropolitan Wesleyan Church was secured. The Church was soon crowded out, and an adjournment was made to the Exhibition Building, seating two thousand, which for many successive nights was crowded to overflowing. It was a common thing for Mr. Walton to appear upon the platform, and cry out, with his ringing voice and smiling face, “ Fill up the centre chairs, dear friends; we shall need every seat to-night.” The whole city was greatly stirred, and many dated their conversion from that time of spiritual ingathering. Christians of every denomination were strengthened in their faith, and stimulated to a life of greater consecration to Christ and to the service of their fellow-men. When the Cape Town campaign came to an end, Mr. Walton was presented, by a few enthusiastic friends, with an address couched in the following quaint language—

Dear Sir,—We, the undersigned, representing various sections of Christ’s Church, avail ourselves of this opportunity, and in approaching you thus would, whilst having anticipated (prior to your arrival in our midst) by the fame which had preceded you in connexion with work you had been engaged in for our common Lord and Saviour in England and elsewhere, express our gratitude that you have been instrumental (under God) in giving an impetus to Christians to continue in the blessed course they had already pursued.

Your indefatigableness and general winsomeness in the method of conducting the mission, carried out with such power, lucidness, and earnest touching appeals to the backslider, and those who had erstwhile lived in estrangement to God, we rejoice to say has resulted with marvellous spiritual success. Many have been the trophies. We can only attribute the success which has attended your mission as having involved on your part much communion and secret prayer and wrestling with God. We feel convinced that you have laboured hard for the spiritual welfare of the large and eager throngs who gathered nightly and afternoons to listen to your admonitions, and that you were constrained by love for the Master. . . .

We hailed with pleasure your intimation that you would in all probability revisit our shores. Should you again in future years come into our midst, be assured our heartiest welcome will be extended to you. Should an all-wise Providence determine otherwise, we hereby give expression to a wish that the closing days of your earthly life may be much of that peace which passeth all understanding, and that you may have the Master’s assurance, Well done, good and faithful servant!

From this preliminary visit Mr. Walton returned to England towards the end of the year. He was now fully assured of a distinct call to South Africa, and began to devise plans for establishing an organized mission. The fact that Mr. Murray countenanced the proposed undertaking proved to be an invaluable aid in securing the interest and co-operation of friends in England. Writing to The Christian Mr. Murray gave the following expression to his views—

We do bless God that He has put into the heart of His servant the thought of giving himself entirely to South Africa, and we are looking forward to much blessing if the purpose be realized. I believe there are wonderful openings for evangelistic work, both in the large new centres such as Kimberley and Johannesburg, and in all our colonial towns. There is hardly a place where one or more ministers will not be found who will rejoice to have a visit from time to time from one so fitted to help in rousing believers and in gathering in those who are outside. And if the prospect be realized that Cape Town should at the same time be made the centre of home mission work, whence other towns might be helped and guided, a work might be accomplished of which it is difficult to calculate the consequence. We shall wait upon God to remove every difficulty out of the way, and trust that our brethren in England will help Mr. Spencer Walton forward in prayer in the work he hopes to undertake.

The new undertaking soon took shape, and in March, 1889, was established the Cape General Mission, with a managing Council in London, and Mr. Walton as Director in South Africa. In the following August the first party of six workers left for the field. From Mr. Murray’s letter it will be gathered that the aim of the Mission was primarily to engage in Christian work among the white population of South Africa, large numbers of which, especially in the more populous centres, lec irreligious and ungodly lives, and appeared to be beyond the reach of ordinary Church effort. The Cape General Mission was first of all firmly planted in Cape Town, where, not many months after the arrival of the first party, the foundation-stone of a suitable hall for meetings was laid. This ceremony was performed by Mr. Murray, who from the inception of the Mission held the position of President of the South African Council, which office he continued to fill to the end of his life. The language employed by him on this occasion shows clearly that at this stage the Mission was only feeling its way, and had not yet adopted a distinct line of policy. He said in effect—

The present building occupies a different position from the existing churches and chapels. Those represent the various sections of Christ’s Church in this Colony, but this building will be a link with the old country. This marks an advance. Before the Cape General Mission had its own home it was like a bird on the wing; now it has settled amongst us. While the hall will not interfere with the work of any existing organization, it will be the centre of the labours of the Cape General Mission—an English Mission to meet some of the needs of South Africa.

It was not long, however, before the new Mission began to find its feet. As it endeavoured to do the duty which lay nearest at hand, its further duties became clearer. The objects which it aimed at were gradually defined as three: first, to set before believers a more exalted standard of Christian life, and to encourage them to strive after its realization ; second, to engage in evangelistic work among the neglected and lapsed classes in the larger towns ; and third, to undertake directly foreign mission work among the natives in fields unentered or insufficiently occupied. It need hardly be said that Mr. Murray was heartily at one with the members of the Cape General Mission in each of the aims to which their efforts were directed, nor can it be doubted that he rendered material assistance in aiding them to define those aims, both to themselves and to the constituency from which they drew their support.

In pursuance of the first object mentioned above the Cape General Mission organized a number of “Holiness Conventions” One of these was held at Johannesburg in the early days of its existence. Though the Mission had but recently established itself, a suitable hall had already been built, and in this Mr. Murray conducted the meetings, at which, as one of his co-workers put it, “crowded audiences not only listened to addresses on consecration, but many transacted the Solemn Deed and Covenant by dedicating their all to God.” Another of these conventions for the deepening of spiritual life assembled in 1896 at Durban, Natal. The subject was Absolute Surrender, and Mr. Murray was once again the most prominent speaker. To this convention large numbers of Natal residents, both Dutch and English, found their way, the Dutch coming, according to the fashion of the land, in their ox-waggons, and camping out in Victoria Park. The meetings of ministers and missionaries, at which questions on the higher life were put and answered, formed a special and very successful feature of these gatherings.

To Mr. Walton, in conjunction with Mr. Murray, was due the inauguration of the annual convention at Wellington which has since been known as the South African Keswick. Mr. Murray speaks of Walton’s share in founding this Convention in these words: “At the commencement it was specially in conventions that he was used of God to help many Christians to see what a true life of consecration ought to be, and to understand how it could be received through simple faith with a whole-hearted consecration. We owe it specially to him that the S. A. Keswick at Wellington was commenced, and that all the powers of the workers by whom he was surrounded were concentrated on the work that was done there. Eternity alone can reveal what we owe, in our [Wellington] schools too, to the blessed truth of a life of full devotion to Jesus Christ.”

In striving to attain the first and second objects of its establishment—the uplifting of Christians and the ingathering of those outside the fold—the Cape General Mission was confining its efforts to people of European descent. The Mission proved itself to be “in labours abundant” on behalf of soldiers, sailors, railway employees, and the poor, the lapsed and the outcast generally. But its secondary aim, that of reaching out to the masses of unevangelized heathen, was never lost sight of. Within two years of its humble beginnings in Cape Town, it was able to despatch its first true missionary to a people wholly steeped in ignorance, superstition and vice. The field selected for this new departure in policy was Swaziland, and the story of how it came to be thus selected is deeply interesting.

Swaziland, which adjoins Zululand on the east, is peopled by patives who are closely allied to the Zulus by blood, and resemble them also in. pride of race and in warlike prowess. From a missionary point of view it was at that time one of the neediest of South African fields. Earlier attempts, undertaken successively by the Wesleyan and Berlin Societies, to plant the Gospel amid this promising tribe, had met with disappointment and disaster. When the Cape General Mission entered Swaziland in 1891, only three emissaries of the Cross had gained a precarious footing in that populous area—a Church of England missionary, a Wesleyan native minister and a Salvation Army captain.

Poring over the map of Africa during his return voyage to England in 1888, Mr. Walton’s eyes fell upon this neglected and dark spot, and placing his finger upon it he breathed the prayer Swaziland for Christ. His prayer was strangely answered. On sailing for South Africa in the following year he was accompanied by his young wife, who had been Miss Kathleen Dixon. Six months later he tasted the bitterness of having to consign her to an early grave. But she, too, had learnt to pray for Swaziland; and when sympathetic friends collected a small fund in order to commemorate her brief career, Mr. Murray suggested that no more suitable memorial could be devised than the establishment of a mission in the country which had drawn to itself her thoughts and prayers. Thus arose Bethany, the first of the mission stations erected by the Cape General Mission in the country of the Swazis.

But the Swaziland Mission was only a commencement. Other districts were soon entered. The Cape General Mission, which in absorbing the South-East Africa Evangelistic Mission in 1894, emerged as the South Africa General Mission, speedily found the scope of its missionary operations immensely enlarged. New ground was broken in Zululand, in Tembuland, in Pondoland, in Bomvanaland; among the Indian coolies of Natal; among the Shangaans of Gazaland, the A-nyanja of Nyasaland and the Va-kaonde of Northern Rhodesia. “How wonderfully the missionary spirit has grown,” writes Dr. Andrew Murray in 1914, "and the work among the heathen extended during these past years. And what a blessing the Mission has brought in time past to many Christians in England and Scotland, as they helped to put missionary sacrifice on the true level—a personal devotion to a living, loving Savour.”

As for the contribution of Mr. Murray himself towards the success achieved, we can do no better than to quote the following tribute paid to his memory by Mr. Albert A. Head, Chairman of the British Council—

Since 1888, when Mr. Spencer Walton, the founder of the South Africa General Mission, first went to the Cape Colony, Dr. Murray has been the tried and faithful friend of the Councils and their staffs, of the workers and their work, of the native Christians and their evangelizing efforts, of the schools and their pupils, indeed of the whole community working under the administration of the South Africa General Mission. His interest in all details and developments and advances was ever to be reckoned upon, and his prayerful co-operation was assured. Whenever we were in doubt as to which of two ways it were well for us to take, we would in the early days as naturally ask Dr. Murray for advice as a child would ask his father, and indeed at all times when extension of the work appeared desirable, we might be sure of his presence and his word of power in ministry at our meetings and in advocacy of our cause.

Though the chief aim of Mr. Murray’s numerous writings is the edification of believers, we possess a few which deal more directly with the subject of missions. They prove to us, if proof were necessary, how deep and intelligent and constant was his interest in the missionary enterprise. When arrangements were afoot for the holding of an Ecumenical Missionary Conference in New York in 1900, he was urgently invited to be one of the speakers. The Anglo-Boer War had just broken out, and he did not feel at liberty to leave his native shores at such a critical juncture. But the committee of arrangements were very loth to take a denial, and they approached him a second time through Mr. D. L. Moody, repeating the invitation and laying greater stress upon its urgency. Mr. Murray was again compelled to decline, but the invitation turned the current of his thoughts strongly in the direction of the coming Conference. He began to ask himself whether, had he been able to attend, there was any special message which he was under compulsion to deliver. As he mused the fire burned. When the report of the Conference reached him, it broke out into a bright flame, and the result was The Key to the Missionary Problem—a book of great intensity, which sounded forth a rousing and solemn call to new activity, fresh consecration and more abundant prayer for the cause of missions.

Note.—As a tribute to the memory of Mr. Murray the Council of the S.A.G.M. has resolved to inaugurate a new mission, the Andrew Murray Memorial Mission, in^Portuguese West Africa.

Mr. Murray describes the eagerness with which he perused the Report in order to discover what solution the Conference proposed of the problem, how the moral and spiritual energies reservoired in the Church of Christ can best be released for a vigorous and effective missionary offensive. “I found,” he says, “many important suggestions as to how the interest in missions may be increased. But, if I may venture to say it, the root evil, the real cause of so much lack of interest, and the way in which that evil should be met, was hardly dealt with. While indirectly and implicitly it was admitted that there was something wrong with the greater part of professing Christians, the real seriousness and sinfulness of the neglect of our Lord’s command, and the problem as to what the missionary societies could do to effect a change, certainly did not take that prominent place which I thought they deserved.”

He then proceeds to enforce the real message of his book, which he sums up in the following four principles: “That missions are the chief end of the Church. That the chief end of the ministry is to guide the Church in this work and fit her for it. That the chief end of preaching ought to be to train the congregation to take its part in helping the Church to fulfil her destiny. And that the chief end of every minister in this connexion ought to be to seek grace to fit himself thoroughly for this work.” Again and again he returns, in the course of his appeal, to what may be designated the keynote of the volume :—the missionary problem is a personal one ; every believer is a soul-winner; every minister holds office under the Great Commission ; the missionary enterprise is the work not merely of all but of each. Finally, under a deep sense of the solemn importance of the crisis which faces the Church at the opening of the twentieth century, he concludes with these burning words—

Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures. The discovery of an imminent danger justifies exceptional changes, and men willingly approve and submit to the inconvenience. The state of the Church, the need of the world, the command of Christ, appear to me to call for very special efforts. The urgency of the case is extreme. There is no time to be lost. Our Master wishes every human being without delay to know of His having come into the world to save him. Let not the enthusiasm of our watchword In this Generation deceive us. It may make us content that meantime the thirty million a year who are passing away in darkness should not know Him. It may deceive us with the idea that it is certainly going to be done. But it is most certainly not going to be done if the Church remains on her present level. The one deep impression the Report of the Conference leaves is that, unless pastors and members labour and pray with an entirely new devotion, the work cannot possibly be accomplished. It is so large, it is so difficult, it needs such an interposition of Divine power, that, unless the Church return to the pentecostal life of her first love, it cannot and will not be done. I say again, the urgency of the case is extreme. No sacrifice can be too great if we can only get the Church, or the more earnest part of it, to take time and wait unitedly before the Throne of God, to review her position, to confess her shortcoming, to claim God’s promise of power, and to consecrate her all to His service.

The Key to the Missionary Problem produced an immediate and marked impression.

Dr. Moule, Bishop of Durham, wrote of it: “With all my heart I commend this volume to the perusal, the thought, and the prayers of all ministers of Christ and His flock. It is an appeal to the inmost soul of the Pastor, and at the same time a suggestion for the most practical possible application of his activities. The great Christian who writes it puts his main propositions with an urgency which, just here and there, as it seems to me, invites the recollection of other sides of truth. His contention that the missionary enterprise of the Church is its supreme call seems in places to become an assertion that it is its one real call. But no deep-sighted reader will really mistake those places. And every reader who has indeed his eyes towards the will of God, will rise from the perusal, or rather kneel down after it, asking, Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?”

Dr. Horton of Hampstead said: “Six weeks ago I brought Andrew Murray’s book before my Church, and they have bought and read about a hundred copies. I fervently trust that every minister will read it, for he makes it clear that the Key to the Missionary Problem is in the hand of the ministers: they open and no man can shut; they keep shut and no man can open. But I want the people to read it too, because it seems to me the most inspiring and inspired book written in 1901—the true note of a new century.” To the same effect wrote Dr. Alexander Maclaren: “I hope that Mr. Murray’s heart-searching book may be widely read and prayerfully pondered. It is the Key to the Missionary Problem indeed, but it is also the key to most of our problems, and points to the only cure for all our weaknesses.” And Dr. F. B. Meyer added his testimony in the following terms : “Of all books that I have ever read on the call of our Lord to the Evangelization of the world, this appeal by the beloved Andrew Murray must stand in the front rank, if not first. My heart has been deeply moved by it, and I propose to read large portions of it to my people. If it were only read universally throughout our churches, by ministers and people alike, I believe it would lead to one of the greatest revivals of missionary enthusiasm that the world has ever known.”

An anonymous letter in De Kerkbode, signed V. D. M., bore the following testimony to the impression which the book made in South Africa—

Next to the man who writes me a good book I place the man who recommends me a good book. A booklet came into my hands recently, entitled The Key to the Missionary Problem. The writer is the well-known minister of Wellington. When I had read it I thanked the Lord for it, though it condemned me grievously. I also prayed that the Lord would direct its distribution and make its perusal a blessing to thousands. It will yield matter for addresses at missionary prayer-meetings very much more glowing than those of last month and the month before. Nor is it a book for the minister only, but for all who take even a slight interest in the advance of God's Kingdom. I know of no better means of kindling increased interest in the extension of that Kingdom than the circulation of this work. Followers of Jesus who read it and do not thereafter pray in a different manner to what they did before, must have a different spiritual constitution from that of the writer of these lines.

It is much to be regretted that the suggestion thrown out by Mr. Murray in the last few pages of The Key to the Missionary Problem was not acted upon. He proposed that the subjects for the week of Prayer, issued by the Council of the Evangelical Alliance for January, 1902, should deal exclusively with the relation of the Church to the Great Commission. The Alliance Council, however, did not feel at liberty to assign the whole week to this one subject, and decided merely to invite Christians to set aside a portion of time each day for the purpose of special intercession in behalf of missions. Had Mr. Murray’s suggestion been followed out, there can be no doubt that a wonderful accession of missionary fervour throughout Christendom would have been the result. As it was, his proposal was adopted and carried out only in South Africa. The results were very striking. In the course of 1902 the Boer War ended. With the proclamation of peace Boer prisoners began to return from the various military camps in which they had been incarcerated in India and Ceylon, on St. Helena and on the Bermudas; and it was found that more than one hundred and fifty young men, who had accepted Christ as their Lord and Master, now declared themselves ready to go forth, after the necessary preparation, and labour for the conversion of the heathen of Africa. A special institution was founded early in 1903 for their reception and training, and the Boer Missionary Institute at Worcester may be regarded as at any rate an indirect result of the concert of prayer to which the Dutch Reformed Church was roused through the influence of The Key to the Missionary Problem.

In 1906 Mr. Murray published a booklet which made no such stirring appeal as the volume just mentioned, but which must have cost him infinite pains to compile. It is a small quarto pamphlet of only forty pages, entitled The Kingdom of God in South Africa : a Brief Survey of Missions South of the Zambesi. In his preface Mr. Murray describes the purpose and aim of this work. “The need has long been felt of a little book in which the work of the different Societies labouring for the extension of Christ’s Kingdom could be set forth in such a way as to make every worker acquainted with his fellow-labourers in the Lord's harvest-field. The compiler of this survey has felt how difficult it is to give all the information that is needed, or, in a first attempt, to secure the desired accuracy; but he felt sure that, if once a beginning could be made, the way would be prepared for a more perfect and complete treatment of the subject. As we all meet within the pages of this little book, we shall know each other better, . . . and where we thought that we had reason to criticise or disapprove of the spirit or the method of our brother, closer knowledge of his work, and the remembrance that our Lord is with him, will stir our hearts to that forbearance and love which will make our prayer fervent and effectual.”

In this booklet Mr. Murray describes briefly, upon the one page, the work of each of the thirty-one Societies labouring in the sub-continent, with valuable statistical tables of results on the opposite page. Scattered throughout the pamphlet are rich thoughts on such subjects as : A Missionary Church, A Missionary Ministry, The Evangelistic Note, Education in the Mission Field, Spiritual Results. The booklet ends, as Mr. Murray’s writings at this period of his life almost invariably do, with a Call to Prayer, in which, after referring to the influence of prayer on the missionary enterprise from the Cambuslang revival in 1742, down through George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards and William Carey to the present day, he concludes—

Prayer is the life of missions. Continual, believing prayer is the secret of vitality and fruitfulness in mission work. The God of missions is the God of prayer : the work of missions is above everything a work of prayer. God has taught us, in the history of the missionary revival, that it was as the answer to half a century of prayer for the outpouring of His Spirit that the awakening came. God calls us now again to unite in fervent and unceasing prayer for the power of His Spirit in the home Churches, if our missionary enterprise is to be carried on under spiritual conditions of the highest force. . . . Brethren ! let us pray in the spirit of faith and joy and love. “Continue in one accord.” "God, even our own God, will bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.”

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 18

Andrew Murray as an Educationalist

Religious education must, I think, become the watchword of our Church before we can expect abiding fruit on our labours. God forbid that I should limit the Holy One of Israel, but still I think that in the ordinary course of things education is our only hope.—Andrew Murray (in 1859).

WHEN on one occasion Mr. Murray was asked what first awakened his interest in education, his reply was in effect the following: “I think I can tell how it came about. It was certainly not due to my ministerial training or to anything I had learnt before I commenced my active ministry. When I received my appointment to Bloemfontein in 1849, I was at the same time put in charge of the four other congregations which had then been established in the Free State. The care of these distant parishes implied incessant travelling. I was not able to visit some neighbourhoods more than twice or thrice in the course of a year. At the immense gatherings on such occasions I frequently had as many as fifty or sixty children to baptize. My father had taught me the necessity of saying a few words to the parents of every child presented for baptism, explaining to them the meaning of the sacred ordinance, its privileges and its obligations. I soon saw how feeble a conception parents in general had of the true meaning of the rite, and how great the blessing would be if they realized more fully what God meant Christian nurture to be. This led me, on all the occasions when I was called to baptize children, to preach baptism sermons, in which I tried to direct and encourage parents to be faithful to their baptismal vows. This was the course which I also pursued on my journeys in the Transvaal, to which during two successive years I paid two visits of six weeks’ duration, baptizing on each tour more than six hundred children.”

On his settlement in the pastorate of Worcester, Mr. Murray introduced the baptismal Sunday—an observance which is widely followed in South Africa. Once a month either the forenoon or the afternoon diet of worship is set aside for the baptism of children, and the pastor has the opportunity of speaking specially on the rights, the privileges and the duties of Christian parentage. From these addresses at Worcester grew the booklet which Mr. Murray published under the title of Wat zal toch dit kindeke wezen? Many years later it saw the light in an English dress under the title, The Children for Christ. To these publications reference has already been made at the close of the chapter on the Worcester Pastorate.

We learnt in Chapter VIII how Mr. Murray came to be connected with the establishnent of the Grey College at Bloemfontein. But a line is necessary to show how he and Mrs. Murray were led to undertake the onerous duty of providing a home for the first boarders who came to attend the College. On one occasion Mr. Murray heard his old friend Mrs. Allison, wife of one of the Wesleyan missionaries, tell of her experiences in providing a boarding-school for native girls. All the girls whom she and her husband had received into their home for Christian training had in course of time come to conversion. This simple narration suggested quite new possibilities to Mr. Murray. Hitherto he had looked upon boarding-schools in the nature of necessary evils. They might be needful, he thought, in some cases, but for the vast majority of children it were far better if they could receive their education without leaving their parents’ home. He now realized that a boarding-school, under Christian influence, might become a nursery of Christian character. It was this consideration that led him to offer the services of himself and Mrs. Murray to the Committee of the Grey College, and that led to his appointment as first rector of that Institution. They had their reward in the knowledge that, in spite of their brief tenure of the position, several of the lads entrusted to their care took a decided stand for Christ.

In the Grey University College Magazine for 1917, Dr. Brill, for many years the highly-respected rector of the College, has given us an appreciative account of Andrew Murray’s connexion with the Free State and the Grey College. He concludes his account with the following words—

It is not the intention of the writer of these lines to follow Mr. Murray in his lengthy labours as pastor and minister in the Church of the Cape Colony. Most people will find the centre of gravity of his beneficent life-work in his achievements there. But for Free-staters, and above all for those who are connected in any way with Grey College, as directors, teachers, past or present students, the eleven years, from the commencement of 1849 to the end of 1859, will always be his most interesting period. For during those years, and as a consequence in no small degree of his faith and his consecration, the foundations were laid of the Dutch Reformed Church in this country, and those of the Grey College likewise. That is why Andrew Murray’s name, together with that of Sir George Grey, will be held in honour by our College as long as it exists. To have had two such men at the head of the history of our school will, we hope, always be looked upon, not only as a great privilege, but as an inspiration for the future.

It is not necessary to do more than refer the reader to what has been said already in former chapters as to Mr. Murray’s connexion with two important educational institutions in Cape Town: the Good Hope Seminary for young ladies, and the Normal College for the training of teachers. The former school was established in pursuance of a resolution taken in 1872 by the Presbytery of Cape Town, and Mr. Murray, who was a warm advocate of the scheme, was appointed as one of the original board of managers. This position, however, he soon resigned, as he found it difficult, owing to his removal to Wellington, to put in regular attendances at the meetings of the Board. His long and honourable connexion with the Normal College, the first rector of which (Mr. J. D. Whitton).

The story of the origin of the Huguenot Seminary has also been previously related, but a few interesting facts may be added. Shortly’ after Mr. Murray’s settlement at Wellington the mistress of the only girls’ school in the place signified her intention of relinquishing her work, and offered to hand over her school to Mr. Murray. The effort to find a suitable successor led to greater issues than anyone at the time anticipated. Mr. Murray had become acquainted with the biography of Mary Lyon of the Mt. Holyoke Seminary through the instrumentality of Miss Catherine Elliot, a friend of Mrs. Murray’s. The impression left upon his mind by the perusal of that work is best conveyed in words employed by him on the occasion of his seventieth birthday—

In answer to a question put to me, I have thought over and put down the names of some twelve men who, either personally or by their books, have most influenced me, and to the list I feel compelled to add the name of one woman—Mary Lyon. Let me here tell, for the sake of the many who are not acquainted with the life of that noble woman, what it is that she taught me. For I have frequently been asked how it was that I, with my close connexion with Scotland, was led to go not there, but to the United States, for teachers. My answer to that question gives me the opportunity of explaining what the Mt. Holyoke system, as developed by Mary Lyon, really is.

The first thing that struck me was the wonderful way in which she gave the head, the heart and the hand an equal place in her training. At a time when there was in the United States not a single college or school for women, she insisted that it was necessary that such provision should be made, and that, in order to enable them to fulfil their life-tasks aright, women should receive the best possible intellectual training. More than this,—she believed that the cultivation of a truly moral and religious character was a matter of the first importance. While she aimed at the highest mental culture for her pupils, and succeeded in implanting it, she could not rest content until they had learnt to seek first the Kingdom of God, and to devote themselves loyally to Christ and to His service. To attain this purpose she laboured as definitely as to secure the literary success of her institution. With these lofty aims for the head and for the heart she combined in remarkable fashion the culture of the hand. She had known what narrow circumstances at home were, and had been obliged to earn money in order to defray her own education. She therefore held domestic work in high honour, not merely as a duty to be voluntarily accepted, but as a means of developing the whole woman, as a relaxation from mental fatigue, and as an exercise in the virtues of self-reliance and true independence.

With these general principles were combined other elements that appeared to me to go far in providing an ideal education. One of these was her inflexible sense of duty. On her tombstone I read the words uttered by her at a time when dangerous illness prevailed in her little community: "I fear only one thing in the world, that I should fail of knowing my duty; or knowing, should fail of doing it.” She succeeded in the most marvellous way in breathing this spirit into her pupils. Not to ask what is pleasant, but to be ready gladly and instantly to do what is right, was the disposition which she fostered. Another of her favourite lessons was, “ Order is heaven’s first law,” and she sought to explain to her girls how that which forms the beauty of the world alone can give beauty and stability to the likeness in which we form ourselves. Asked on one occasion whether she trained missionaries or teachers, she replied, “I train women.” She believed that the spirit of self-sacrifice which she strove to inculcate was as much needed in the home as on the mission-field, and that where that spirit prevailed there would be no lack of labourers for the regions beyond. The result has been that while Mary Lyon did not set out with the purpose of training missionaries, no institution has produced as many as the Mt. Holyoke Seminary.

Mr. Murray’s application to the principal of the Mt. Holyoke Seminary to supply him with a teacher for the school at Wellington, the arrival of Misses Ferguson and Bliss, and the commencement of the Huguenot Seminary, have been described elsewhere in this volume. Nor is there any need to enlarge again upon the rapid growth of the new undertaking. Similar institutions began to arise in various parts of South Africa. In 1874 the Rev. J. H. Neethling wrote on behalf of the Committee of the Girls’ School at Stellenbosch, requesting Mr. Murray to procure them a teacher from America. Another graduate of Mt. Holyoke, Miss H. Juliette Gilson, responded to this call, and was for several years the efficient and greatly respected principal of the Bloemhof Seminary. In 1875 the Ladies’ Seminary at Worcester forwarded a similar request to the United States, and before the end of the year the Committee were able to welcome the Misses Smith, two devoted sisters, who identified themselves most intimately with a work of great promise at Worcester. In 1876 the Midland Seminary was opened at Graaff-Reinet, with Miss Helen Murray, Mr. Murray’s younger sister (a former Huguenot Seminary pupil), as lady principal. Miss Murray was spared to labour for some forty years at the training of the young mothers of the vast parish of Graaff-Reinet, and the beneficent influence which has proceeded from the Midland Seminary has been incalculable. Such were some of the institutions which arose as the result, in part at any rate, of the impulse which Mr. Murray derived from the study of Mary Lyon’s life.

At the dedication of the Seminary building at Worcester, early in 1876, a gathering of teachers was held over which Mr. Murray presided. In his remarks as chairman he dwelt upon the pressing educational requirements of the country and of the necessity of comprising those requirements in one complete purview. He had been recently touring the country districts in the interests of the Huguenot Seminary, and had gained one or two outstanding impressions. One was, the crying need of the country for more schools and for suitable teachers. In the country areas it was almost impossible to secure qualified teachers. On a rough computation he estimated that the Cape Colony alone needed at once some four hundred teachers. As for the existing training institutions, it would be many years before they would be able to cope with the demand. Another impression was, that though there were some good schools, especially boys’ schools, very few teachers realized the importance of making Christian character their first and chiefest aim. Many teachers freely confessed that hitherto they had always given the first place to their intellectual work, and had regarded the formation of character as a subordinate concern, belonging to the domain of the parents, the minister and the Sunday-school teacher.

Mr. Murray succeeded at this conference in imparting to his hearers a larger outlook. They began to understand that they were not individual teachers merely, connected with isolated institutions, but that they had set their hands to a task which embraced the whole country and populace.

The teachers present undertook to write home to such friends as they knew were interested in South Africa, emphasizing the needs of the sub-continent and asking for suitable reinforcements to the ranks of teachers.

In the following year (1877) it so fell out that Mr. Murray was appointed delegate to the meeting of the Pan-Presbyterian Council, and undertook at the same time the quest for teachers in America, which has been described in Chapter XIII. He returned from America, as we have seen, bringing with him not merely a principal for the Training School for Missionaries, but no less than fourteen new lady workers, who were speedily assigned to schools in various parts of the country. The Huguenot Seminary meanwhile continued to grow. In 1889 Mr. and Mrs. J. S. de Villiers, founders of a young ladies’ academy at Paarl which had enjoyed great and deserved popularity, suggested that the Trustees of the Huguenot Seminary should take over their school and run it as a branch institution. At Mr. Murray’s instance the Seminary Board declared its willingness to accept this additional trust, and teachers were detached from the Seminary staff in order to assume the fresh responsibilities which had thus unexpectedly arisen. Not long afterwards another branch seminary was opened at Bethlehem in the Orange Free State, and presently the little colony of Natal, not to be behindhand, requested the same privilege, with the result that a third daughter seminary was planted in the village of Greytown.

At Wellington a building containing a large hall for meetings and a number of apartments for class work was formally opened in 1886, in the presence of a representative audience. It received the name of Goodnow Hall, after the munificent friend in America who had borne the chief share of its cost. From time to time more buildings were added, while in 1898, on the occasion of the silver jubilee of the Seminary, was opened Cummings Hall, the first building of what in this year blossomed out into the Huguenot College. The celebrations in connexion with this important event in the history of the institution merit a somewhat fuller description. On Saturday the 17th December, at half-past ten in the forenoon, a procession of some six hundred present and past pupils wended its way to the Dutch Reformed Church, where a large assemblage of guests and friends had foregathered to do honour to the occasion. After the congregation had sung the well-known hymn, 0 God of Bethel, and prayer had been offered, Mr. Murray read the 145th Psalm, remarking that the keynote of the festival was Praise to God. He then proceeded to deliver an address, of which the following is the brief summary—

They had already uttered their thanks to Almighty God for the gracious guidance and providence of the past. He now wished to offer congratulations, first of all to Miss Ferguson and Miss Bliss, who witnessed to-day the consummation of a quarter of a century of labour. Words could not convey the feelings which possessed him as he thought of what God had wrought through them for the Institution with which they were so inseparably connected. Next, he wished to congratulate the young ladies, past and present pupils of the Seminary, on the privilege they had of celehrating this festival with them, when they would learn how things stood to-day, what had been done in the past, and what they hoped to accomplish in the future. He trusted that their share of the feast would be that they would be inspired with greater zeal for the cause of education. Finally, he desired to congratulate himself and his fellow-trustees. God had imposed a trust upon them, but He had also enabled them to fulfil that trust. In reviewing the past he was confident that the experiences which they had passed through and the blessings which they had enjoyed would kindle in them fresh energy, and would fit them for assuming greater responsibilities in the future.

He wished to speak of the wonderful union of the human and the Divine in education. Whatever good they had done or might yet do, it was to God that the honour was due. And yet God had need of human minds as His instruments. There was indeed no miracle about this union of the human and the Divine. He could hardly find words enough to express the divine nobility of the teacher’s work. His true office was to ennoble the purposes of life, to enlighten young men and young women as to the power and value of self-control, and to teach them to live a life worthy of themselves and of God. The office of a teacher was in some respects higher and more important than that of a minister, for to his care was confided, at a very early age, the young mind almost fresh from its Creator, to be influenced and fashioned. They should rid themselves entirely of the idea that education lay in cramming and in the multiplicity of examinations. All knowledge and its application should be subservient to the formation of character, the training of the will, and the drawing out of all the nobler qualities of their being. The mere acquisition of knowledge availed little if it left the man himself, the inward man, undeveloped. The real succeed of their country depended not upon its mineral or its agricultural wealth, but upon its men and its women, and if they wished their country to be great they should see to it that their men and women were a superior race. Let them believe that it lay in the power of education to make them truthful and upright, and to draw out and develop what was best and noblest in them.

They needed, therefore, the very best minds for the teaching profession. Second-rate men and women could be spared for other professions, but the teaching profession had a right to the very best. Teachers were fellow-labourers with God. Let them therefore bless God for the part which man could take in the matter of education, and let them strive to realize that no educational efforts achieved their purpose unless the youth were trained for God and for eternity. The strength of the Seminary lay in its boarding establishments. There was a time when, with many others, he thought that boarding-schools were a necessary evil, but he had changed his mind. Herbert Spencer said somewhere that future generations would stand astonished at the fact that in our enlightened age men and women had never been instructed in the art of training their children aright. Boarding-schools, Christian boarding-schools, had the opportunity of remedying that defect. Even Government acknowledged that a home could not exist without religion, and hence they were encouraged to make the training in their boarding establishments as religious as possible.

In concluding an eloquent and most impressive address, he bade his audience have unbounded confidence in God, who would enable them to do even greater things in the future than in the past. He often meditated on the future of South Africa, with its infinite possibilities, its untold mineral wealth, and the unceasing influx of a new population, and asked himself. What can T do for my country ? The best they could do was to get hold of the youth of the land and implant in their hearts the fear of God. An even better thing they could do was to train the youth to train others in the fear of God.

The establishment and growth of the Training Institute for missionaries have been described in earlier pages. This institution, to a greater degree perhaps than even the Huguenot Seminary, was Mr. Murray’s own creation and care. The Wellington congregation supported him in the most generous manner, especially in contributing the capital amounts required for the purchase of ground and the erection of buildings, but for many years the deficits on the working expenses were largely met from his own slender purse. In 1903 the Institute passed into the hands of the D.R. Synod, when the following resolution was unanimously adopted by that body in session—

The Synod expresses its cordial appreciation of the work performed for the Church, during upwards of a quarter of a century, by the revered first minister of Wellington and his collaborators, in the training of missionaries. It accepts the gift [of the Training Institute], which has cost more than £5,000, and is offered to the Synod unencumbered by debt, with sincere thanks to the Lord and the donors. It will continue to regard the Institute as a training-school for future missionaries of our Church, and proposes to issue a call in the Pastoral Letter to the various congregations to assume this new responsibility with alacrity, and to contribute liberally towards its support and extension. . . . should the Institute at any later period no longer be needed as a training seminary for missionaries, the sum of ^5,000 will be refunded to the congregation of Wellington.

Under the regime the Institute continued to prosper. The need for more accommodation was met in 1905 by the erection of the Murray Jubilee Hall, which was dedicated on Mr. Murray’s birthday, the 9th May, and supplied the urgent need of a hall for general meetings and efficient class-rooms for daily instruction. After Mr. Ferguson’s death in 1896 the work was carried on by the Revs. J. C. Pauw, C. T. Wood and G. F. Marais, and it is now being continued in the same spirit by the Revs. J. Rabie and H. T. Gonin. Since its inception no less than two hundred students have passed through the course, the vast majority being now in the employ of the D. R. Church, in its home and foreign mission fields.

Mr. Murray’s interest in popular education for the rural districts was born of his intimate knowledge of their necessities. His many travels up and down the country had given him a unique acquaintance with the conditions under which a large proportion of country children grew to manhood and womanhood. There were extensive areas in the Colony which lay remote from villages and village schools—areas which were sparsely populated by a class of impoverished farmers, who were often without education themselves, and without the ability or the desire to secure education for their children. The then Superintendent-General of Education, Dr. Langham Dale, to whom the cause of education at the Cape owes a heavy debt of gratitude, expressed great concern at this state of affairs, and proposed to apply to Parliament for a sum of money to enable him to introduce a system of Circuit Schools. Mr. Murray rendered him invaluable aid in bringing the proposed schools to the notice of the ministers of the D. R. Church. Writing to the Kerkbode on 6th June, 1888, he says—

Dr. Dale asserts that he is strongly convinced that, unless provision is made for the mental development of the children of our people, they will be thrust completely into the background by those who are now flocking from other countries to our gold-fields. One of the recent steamers brought to our shores more than fifty young men. Dr. Dale wishes therefore to make an attempt at supplying the educational needs of the rural population, and considers it advisable that he should be at liberty to ascertain by experiment how this purpose can be best achieved. His scheme is this. He proposes to make a grant of from £60 to £100 per annum for a circuit teacher for a given ward. This teacher may work at a single farm, or at two or three farms, in the course of a year. The parents have only to provide an adequate schoolroom and the teacher’s lodging, but need contribute nothing towards supplementing his salary. The minimum number of children is to be twenty.

What Dr. Dale now asks is that ministers who believe that there is an opening for such schools in their congregations will advise him of the fact as speedily as possible. He will be glad, too, to receive any suggestions as to the modification of his scheme, in the direction, it may be, of a reduced grant in the case of a smaller number of pupils. I am convinced that there are districts where large numbers of poor children can by these means be assisted to the education which they so much need, and I have no doubt that there will be many applications for circuit schools, and even many applications for placing under the new system existing schools that cannot pay their way.

The system of Circuit Schools outlined above was shortly afterwards introduced into remote and sparsely-populated areas. It differed from the existing system in that these circuit schools received a very much larger measure of Government support. This support was rendered, not on the £ for £ principle, which prevailed in other public schools, but on the understanding that the State should contribute the whole of the teacher's salary, the local authorities being responsible only for his board and lodgings. The name of circuit school was soon changed to that of poor school, for the idea of shifting the school from farm to farm was found to be to a great extent impracticable, and schools once established obtained a certain fixity of tenure. These poor schools had considerable vogue in the north-western districts of the Cape Colony, and were only done away with by the provisions of the School Board Acts of a later date, which transformed the whole Cape educational system, and changed all existing poor schools and extra-aided schools into ordinary public schools.

Intimately connected with the problem of education for the rural districts is the problem of the “ poor whites. The latter question first came into prominence during the last decade of the nineteenth century. A leading politician1 had drawn attention to the ominous increase of a class of indigent white people who had been trained to no trade» appeared to possess no regular means of subsistence, and threatened to become a burden and a danger to the community. The existence of “poor whites” of this class was admitted, and the Synod of 1894 discussed with great earnestness the means and methods of improving their condition and providing them with suitable employment. As Moderator of Synod, Mr. Murray naturally took no part in the discussion, but at a Fraternal Conference held during the synodical sessions he evinced his deep interest in the matter under debate by an incisive speech on the necessity of going after the non-church-going classes and bringing them into touch with the Church.

He was convinced (he said) that hundreds of Church members never visit the church. On this matter he had dwelt repeatedly when travelling through the country. At each sacramental season the same Church members appear at the Lord’s Table, but they form a mere section of the congregation. Very little more than half of the actual membership is found attending the Church services, many of these not more than twice or thrice annually. Can a healthy Christian life arise under such conditions? And is not this precisely one of the causes which promote the gradual degeneration of the whites? On the banks of the Orange River are to be found many of our people who are not “poor whites” yet, but who are sinking rapidly to that condition, and this decline is going on silently but steadily. Unless we take cognizance of this fact, we shall never rouse ourselves to do our work thoroughly. Our reports on the state of religion in our various congregations are far too rosy.

Our people are passing through a transitional stage. There is an immense influx of foreign elements, with results that are frequently disastrous. But in spite of this our reports are always optimistic. We know that the Lord had reason to complain of the religious condition of the Churches of Asia Minor. What would He say of our Church? Wellington is supposed to be a church-going congregation, and yet in certain corners of the parish men and women have been discovered who never attend divine worship : and if this is the case in Wellington, how much more serious must the state of affairs be in country congregations of wide extent. Let us encourage each other to adopt new methods and set in motion new forces. The unutilized powers of the congregation must be harnessed. Elders and deacons need not remain seated in church only, they must get to work. The question had been put to him whether we could not get our young people interested in the kind of work which the Salvation Army does. Our Church has not yet engaged in that kind of spiritual work, but it ought to. Let every minister and every consistory endeavour to rouse to action the gifts and powers that lie slumbering in the members of the congregation, for unless this is done the Church can never overtake its responsibilities.

During the quarter of a century that has elapsed since 1894 much has been attempted on behalf of the indigent white element. Industrial schools have been established at various centres throughout the country, labour colonies have arisen in the different provinces of the Union, and the system of popular education has been so extended as to provide for the instruction of the poorest children in special institutions. While the Church has generally indicated the methods to be employed, and has taken the lead in active effort, it has been loyally seconded by the Government. Indeed, without the liberal grants-in-aid voted by Parliament or supplied by the Education Department, the efforts of the Church or of individual philanthropists would have met with but little success. But in spite of every earnest attempt to solve the problem, the “poor white” question remains one of the burning economic questions of South Africa. In large mining centres like Johannesburg and Kimberley the class of indigent whites shows no sign of diminution, while the moral degeneracy to which it is liable is apparent from the increasing number of convictions secured against members of this class of Europeans for the illicit sale of liquor to natives.

Mr. Murray displayed the greatest possible interest in the movement which arose during the latter years of the last century for securing a larger place in the school curriculum for the teaching of Dutch. Theoretically, so far as the letter of the law was concerned, any school committee was at liberty to choose its own medium of instruction, but as a matter of practice the English language was the only medium employed. There were very few teachers who were able to impart instruction in both languages, the normal training of teachers at the recognized institutions was confined to English, school inspectors performed their work in English, and even should a school committee succeed in overcoming these wellnigh insuperable obstacles, it was faced with the lack of suitable school-books in any other language than English. Under circumstances such as these it is no wonder that interest in the Dutch language and literature languished. This was keenly felt by Mr. Murray, who therefore gave notice of the following motion to the Synod of 1890:—“That the Synod do appoint a committee to advise as to the means to be employed in order to satisfy the desire for better provision for the teaching of Dutch in the public schools.”

When the Synod assembled, Mr. Murray was elected Moderator, and he had accordingly to abstain from taking part ex officio in the discussion on this question, but his motion was immediately adopted. The report which the committee thus appointed brought in forms a valuable landmark in the history of the Dutch question in South Africa. It was debated by the Synod in two successive sessions and adopted with remarkable unanimity. The paragraphs of greatest importance are these—

1. Your Committee considers it a great gain that the article in the Education Ordinance which provided that English should be the medium of instruction has now been rescinded, so that school committees are at liberty to decide what the medium shall be. One of the chief difficulties has thus been removed.

2. Your Committee draws the attention of the Synod to what it believes to be a sound pedagogic principle, namely, that beginners should receive instruction in their mother-tongue, as is the case in other bilingual countries.

3. Inspectors of those schools in which instruction is imparted in both languages should be able to examine in both languages, . . .

9. In all our schools certain subjects, especially history, sacred and profane, and descriptive geography, should be taught through the medium of Dutch.

10. In all examinations questions on the Dutch language should be couched in Dutch, though the candidate should be at liberty to answer them in English, if preferred.

Your Committee cannot refrain from pointing out to the Synod that, owing partly to the dearth of teachers who have an adequate knowledge of both languages, and partly to misapprehension or lack of interest among our people, much will still have to be done before the language of the Church attains to that place in our schools to which, as the tongue of the majority of the population, it is entitled. Your Committee therefore regards it as indispensable that the Synod should use its powerful influence in rousing our people to greater zeal in promoting the study of the mother-speech, and to a deeper sense of the great importance of this matter with reference to the welfare of our Church and the history of our people. If this sense is not kindled and kept alive, all our efforts will fail, and all we attempt to effect an alteration in our schools and our examination system will be fruitless.

During the following twenty years the gradual acknowledgment of the rights of the Dutch language proceeded apace. At the very time when the Synod had the subject under discussion and passed the resolution quoted above, a congress was held in Cape Town which issued in the erection of the Taal Bond (Language Union)—a body which had for its objects the encouragement of the study of Dutch, and the vindication of the rights of that language in school, in society, and in public life generally. This Bond owed its existence mainly to the efforts of the Hon. J. H. Hofmeyr, than whom the Dutch language has had no stauncher advocate in South Africa. Its rights had been secured in Parliament as early as 1882, and in the years following upon 1890 they were successively acknowledged in the public schools, the university examinations, the civil service and the law courts. Finally, in 1910, when the union of the states of South Africa was consummated, the 137th article of the Act of Union provided that “both the English and Dutch languages shall be official languages of the Union,” and thus the long endeavour to obtain complete recognition for the mother-tongue of the greater part of the population was crowned with ultimate success.

For many suggestions as to the nature and methods of Christian education Mr. Murray was indebted to The Life and Letters of Edward Thring—a book which he was never weary of recommending both to teachers generally and to his fellow-ministers. He used to say that Thring had taught him the important lesson, which was as valuable for the minister as for the teacher, “that the most backward pupil has as much claim upon the teacher’s earnest attention as the cleverest.” To elucidate this truth he gives the following account of Thring’s educational experiences—

Edward Thring, one of the greatest schoolmasters in England during the nineteenth century, was educated at Eton, a famous English public school. When he left that institution, he was dux of the school in his studies and captain of the school sports. He had no reason to complain of what the school had done for him personally. But he was under a deep impression of the injustice continually done to other boys. He saw that great attention was paid to clever youths, so that when they went to the University they secured the first prizes, and so upheld the honour of the school. But very little trouble was taken with the lower divisions and with the greater portion of the pupils, and each one was allowed to study as much or as little as he pleased. He considered that this conduct was not honest towards the parents of the lads, who naturally expected that every pupil would receive an equal amount of care.

After he had become a clergyman, and had been appointed curate in a certain parish, it fell to him to teach a school of children of the labouring classes, who were for the most part very dull. With his university training he found it a difficult matter to discover the key to the mind and heart of these children. But he came to the conclusion that the poorer the material the greater the skill of the workman who could make something of it, and that if he could make no success of his task the fault and shame would be his own. This thought inspired him with courage to continue. And when in subsequent years he stood at the head of a great public school, he often insisted that his success was due to the principle that he had brought with him from Eton, namely, that the weakest pupil has the same claim upon the teacher’s care as the quickest, and to the opportunity which the indigent school had afforded him of putting his principle into practice.

Another writer to whom Mr. Murray acknowledged his indebtedness for valuable pedagogic principles stands at the opposite extreme from Edward Thring. It is Herbert Spencer. The Rev. B. P. J. Marchand once related that on a certain occasion he was journeying overland in the same cart as Mr. Murray, when at a convenient spot they outspanned to rest the horses. During the halt a discussion arose on some point in connexion with education. To enforce his arguments Mr. Murray fetched his travelling bag from the cart, opened it, and produced a copy of Spencer’s Sociology. "I am busy writing something on the education of our children,” he said in explanation, “ and with a view to that I am studying this book.” The volume which subsequently appeared from Mr. Murray’s pen was entitled The Children for Christ.

The following letter to one of his daughters who was engaged in teaching is of great interest as revealing Mr. Murray’s conception of the moral and spiritual aspects of the teacher’s task—

To his daughter Kitty.

I was interested in your letter on character building, and will give you some of my thoughts. To my mind the foundation trait ought to be trustworthiness. If a foundation is not trustworthy, the whole house may fall. If a chair is not trustworthy, I cannot sit upon it in safety. Rouse the thought that both God and your fellow-men expect you to be real and true and whole-hearted in everything you do, and in fulfilling every promise you make. When Miss Ferguson and Miss Bliss came out they brought the word reliable with them. I learnt its meaning from them.

Along with this cultivate the sense of personality : I am some one with a character that exercises influence, on whom much depends. This may of course lead to self-importance. But in the Christian life a strong personality may be accompanied by a deep sense of humility in the feeling that we owe everything to God. I am sending you a book on Prayer, in which the thought of the power of personality with God is very strongly put. You will also note how frequently the epithets are used intense, heroic, whole-hearted, etc. It gives the impression of being what God wants us to be, both with God and with man.

In this connexion study the thought of how little Christians put that intensity and determination into their religion which they put into their daily life. If there were in every congregation people simply determined on knowing God’s will and doing it—in very deed set upon it— how much more the Word of God would profit them. I suppose you have seen the definition of character as a perfectly fashioned will. Try and get clear in your own mind and in the mind of your pupils the blessing and the power of a will always ready for God’s will. Thy will be done, whether it be in the Lord’s Prayer or in Gethsemane, is the highest expression for a heavenly life and a Christ-like life upon the earth. That will make true character. . . . The Lord bless you with the souls you are moulding for time and for eternity, for Africa and for heaven.

Mr. Murray’s great services to the cause of religion and education were recognized by the governing bodies of two universities. In 1898 his Alma Mater, the University of Aberdeen, conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.D., as an acknowledgment of the widespread influence which he wielded by his many books on theological and devotional themes. Nine years later, in 1907, he was similarly honoured by the University of the Cape of Good Hope, which bestowed on him the degree of Litt.D. honoris causa. In presenting Dr. Murray for the degree Mr. Advocate Searle, K.C., said, inter alia—

Dr. Murray is known throughout South Africa as a preacher of great intellectual power and spiritual insight; and his works, translated into many foreign languages, have received a wide recognition in Europe and America. Through a ministry extending over nearly sixty years Dr. Murray has been an earnest advocate of that system of national education in which the work of the public school is strengthened by the influence of the well-regulated school-home. During his ministry in Bloemfontein, and largely through his influence, the Grey College was founded ; and to his arduous ministerial duties he added for a time the duty of resident head^of the college. During his residence in Cape Town Dr. Murray assisted in founding the Young Men’s Christian Association, and was chosen its first president. His ministry at Wellington has been identified with educational work in many forms. Through his exertions the Huguenot Seminary at Wellington was founded in 1873 : and this has been the model of most of the large boarding-schools for girls in South Africa. Twenty-five years later the Huguenot College was recognized as an arts department for the education of women students. Side by side with the Huguenot College and Seminary there have been developed, under Dr. Murray’s auspices, a. high school for boys, a training institute for missionary teachers, and a training college for teachers for public schools. The Dutch Reformed Church, recognizing the high theological and administrative gifts of Dr. Murray, has paid him the unprecedented honour of electing him to the chair of Moderator in six synods. His own university of Aberdeen has conferred on him its degree of Doctor of Divinity. Through his counsel and example in the work of national education in South Africa Dr. Murray has contributed in no ordinary measure to prepare the foundations on which the work of this University must rest. The University desires that the name of so distinguished a South African as Dr. Murray may be connected permanently with its history, and I therefore ask you, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, to confer upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature.

As to the manner in which the University congregation welcomed the venerable honorary graduate, we have the following interesting letter from Professor Walker of Stellenbosch to Mrs. Neethling, Dr. Murray’s sister—

Dear Mrs. Neethling,—Your daughter, when visiting here this afternoon, told Mrs. Walker that you are going to question Dr. Murray next time you see him as to his reasons for mixing with such childish or worldly displays as “capping’’ ceremonies.

I think if you had seen the whole assembly rise to its feet when Dr. Murray came forward, and listen respectfully while the “brief” was read of the reasons why the University Council wished to have his name permanently enrolled on their list of distinguished South Africans, you could not have felt that the ceremony was frivolous. I can well believe that more than one of the young graduates felt the honour and responsibility of their own degree all the more because they were receiving it in such distinguished companionship. And older members of the audience felt glad to be permitted to join in the Well done which was the silent agreement of all hearts there. I feel sure I can speak for many intimately connected with the University, who felt that our work had been honoured by Dr. Murray consenting to unite himself with us. I can’t say how other people were looking at the moment; my own eyes were filled with tears. I think a very precious memory has been added to the history of the University by Saturday’s ceremony.

I am very anxious to win your approval to the course Dr. Murray took in accepting the honorary degree. I was the one who proposed Dr. Murray’s name for the degree in the Honorary Degrees Committee, and it fell to me to prepare the "brief” stating the grounds for conferring the degree. I was more than half afraid that Dr. Murray might have a feeling like his sister’s on the subject; but I did not venture (though sorely tempted) to write a word to him on the subject. It was a gleam of encouragement to me, when the Dutch Reformed Synod received the intimation of the honorary degree to be conferred with marked cordiality ; and I was delighted to hear Dr. Murray’s own letter of acceptance read at the last meeting of the University Council, just a week before Degree Day.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 19

Andrew Murray as a South African Patriot

The two races that are being mingled and have to be united in this country, are not learning, as fast as one might wish, to understand, and to bear with and honour one another. And yet they have been bound together for better or worse. Every institution that helps in the slow, silent work of welding together the apparently uncongenial elements of our society, is doing good service to the country.—Andrew Murray.

IF, as Lord Acton says, “exile is the nursery of nationality,” it is not difficult to understand how Andrew Murray, after an absence in Europe which lasted from his eleventh until his twenty-first year, returned to South Africa with an intensified, and not with an enfeebled, love for his native land. He must have welcomed the great opportunity afforded him of ministering to the needs of his fellow-countrymen in the far north, and we know that he exerted himself to utilize it to the full, and that he seriously injured his constitution in the effort. To the congregations in the Free State and the Transvaal, whose pastor he was for eleven years, he was united by the closest bonds of affection and interest. The letters which date from that period breathe a spirit of whole-hearted devotion to the souls committed to his charge. When the congregations of the Transvaal presented him with a unanimous and urgent call to throw in his lot with them, he declared, in refusing the invitation—

Do not think that I consider the difficulties, the self-sacrifice or the self-denial to be too great a demand upon me : I trust that I am ready to do and suffer anything for the name of Christ. No, brethren, these considerations have not moved me to decline your call, but only the consciousness that I dare not leave my own flock without the prospect of their finding another minister. ... It has been no easy task, brethren, to arrive at this decision, for my heart is still very closely united to you in love, and the tears and prayers with which so many of you have sought to move and encourage me to come over to you, are frequently in my thoughts. Be assured that you will continually have a place in my feeble prayers before the throne, while I trust that the Lord Himself will yet point out the way by which provision may be made for your most urgent necessities.

The warm interest which Mr. Murray felt towards the inhabitants of the republics of the north continued even after he had ceased to be their minister. He rejoiced at every opportunity for casting more light upon the past history and present conditions of the oft-maligned Transvaal Boers, and was always ready to set pen to paper in their defence. In the Catholic Presbyterian for November, 1879, there appeared an article on The Church of the Transvaal, by a Cape Minister, which is beyond question Andrew Murray’s work. A few paragraphs from this paper, written when the difficulties between the Transvaal people and the British Government were coming to a head, will show the manner in which he proceeded to enlighten the prevalent ignorance concerning the Boers—

The interest excited by the annexation of the Transvaal will, perhaps, secure for its Church history an attention which it otherwise could hardly have expected. And a glimpse at the religious side of the Boer’s character may possibly be something new to those who have only heard of him as the enemy of the Englishman and the native, while it cannot fail to gratify all who are large-hearted enough to believe and rejoice that, in every nation, God hath those who fear Him and work righteousness and are accepted with Him. . . .

Among the thousands who left the Colony [in the Great Trek] there were not a few who were earnestly religious men, and the most carried with them some respect for religion. According to the custom of the .Dutch Church, almost all who had reached the age of sixteen or eighteen had been admitted members of the Church. The preparation for admission to membership had been the great means of keeping alive, in a scattered population in the Colony, the desire to be able to understand the Bible and attain the needful religious knowledge. Many had been living, at that time, fifty and eighty miles from a church, and could barely attend a religious service more than once or twice a year. Among the thousands of waggons that crossed the Orange River, there were but few that did not carry the Bible and hymn-book. In very many of their encampments, as they moved along, the Sabbath was observed and religious services held. And in not a few of the tents the daily voice of praise could be heard at morning and evening worship.

But there were among them some who would have been marked men anywhere, whose religious character was only deepened by the difficulties they had to contend with, and who felt how much depended on them if religion was not to be lost among the thousands who were moving out into the wilderness without a shepherd. One of these men I knew well, Chari Cilliers. When at a meeting of Synod in Cape Town, in 1862, he took his seat as an elder from the Free State, he and two or three of the old emigrant farmers from Natal made their weight felt at once. Well do I remember how, as I rode with him on my first visit to the Transvaal, he told me the terrible story of their first encounter with the Zulus, and especially of that memorable Sunday when there appeared to be no help with man, and they cried to God for deliverance. On the morning of that holy day, as they saw the thousands of Zulus gather round them, he stood up on the front of his waggon, Bible in hand ; and, calling those who were preparing for battle around, he asked them whether, if God were that day to save them, they would indeed serve Him and be His people, and vow ever to observe that day in remembrance of God’s mercy. And then, standing there with uncovered head, he led the people in prayer, and covenanted with God that, if He would save them from the hands of the heathen, the Lord should be their God. For more than thirty years afterwards that day was never forgotten by him, but spent as a day of prayer, confessing the sins of the people and asking for the blessing of the Spirit.1 And often he would gather others around him, long after he had left Natal for the Free State, to remind them that they were a covenant people whom God had delivered from the heathen no less truly than Israel of old.

In one respect the Christianity [of these men] could not, perhaps, have passed muster. Calvinistic Presbyterianism has always been specially fond of the Old Testament. It finds there, in the distinct manifestations of the sovereignty and the righteousness of God, the everlasting foundations on which New Testament grace can alone securely rest. Its theology has perhaps not yet fully apprehended and expressed the real difference between the Life of the new dispensation of the Spirit and the Shadow of the time of preparation. And its piety has often had more in it of the Old Testament type, with its bondage and its darkness, than of the New. It will be no wonder, then, if we find these comparatively illiterate though God-fearing men not able to distinguish very clearly between the relation of Israel to the heathen in

Canaan, and their own to the savages by whom they saw themselves surrounded. It will not appear strange that they thought that, in going forth to conquer them and possess their land, they were extending Christianity.

And yet many of them were most willing to have the heathen taught. The difficulties which have more than once arisen with missionaries have not always had their origin in the refusal to allow the black man to be taught, but in the political interest from which it is impossible to separate mission work. There have always been among missionaries, as well as among Europeans generally, two policies with regard to the black man. The one makes liberty and equality its watchword, and seeks, politically and religiously, to put him on a level with the white man. With the other party subjection and discipline are the ruling idea : the native races are like children who have not yet attained their majority, for whom there must be a special legislation and training before they are fit to take the place of free men. Generally speaking, the tendency of English missionaries has been towards the former policy, while their German brethren have been much more the supporters of authority. It will be easily understood that the Boer sides with the latter, and that unpleasant collisions with missionaries (as in the case of Livingstone himself) are to be attributed, not to simple hatred of the missionary and his work, but to questions of nationality and of policy with which they have been identified, especially in the minds of men not accustomed to discriminate carefully. Not long after the difficulties in the Transvaal with Livingstone, and the expulsion from there of the two missionaries Edwards and Inglis, the Boer Government gave every encouragement to German missionaries, and their relation to them has been almost entirely free from difficulty. . . .

What of the Divine life in the Churches [of the Transvaal] ? I fear that the account cannot be called very favourable. Ministers and earnest Christian men unite in saying that the unrest and excitement which the want of quiet rule has caused, and which through the events of the last few years has grown into discontent and bitterness, have left their mark on the people. There are some districts in which the prevailing tone of religion is higher than in most. One of these, regarded as having been the most neglected, has been the scene of a very powerful revival during the last two years, through the labours of a missionary to the natives in connexion with the Dutch Reformed Church, himself brought up among the farmers of the Colony, and understanding how to reach them. One result of his work has been this, that three young sons of the Transvaal have offered themselves for mission work. Amid the disturbances of a land like this the Scripture command to pray for rulers, that we may have a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness,” acquires a new meaning. . . . Visitors have often expressed their surprise that in the midst of his wanderings and troubles the African farmer has not retrograded more rapidly. His natural conservatism, and the tenacity with which his religious traditions are maintained, encourage us to trust that, when present political troubles are over and the hoped for time of restored peace has come, it will be found that a time of blessing will come for the people too.

Thus I have introduced the Presbyterian Boers of the Transvaal to their brethren throughout the world. There have been witnesses enough to bring up a report of the evil there is in the land ; it has been my privilege to tell of the good there is, and the good we hope for. Let every Christian give tl^m a cordial welcome to their place in the Church Catholic, and, amid the present troubles, a large share of sympathy and prayer. God is able to raise them up, and even from among them to take pioneers in the work of winning Africa for Christ.

The reference in the above paper to the annexation of the Transvaal renders necessary a brief recapitulation of the historical and political situation. In 1877, after five-and-twenty years of republican government, the Transvaal was annexed to the British Crown, and British troops occupied Pretoria. The alleged reason for this action, which was in clear opposition to the wishes of the vast majority of the population,2 was that the Boers were unable to defend themselves against the menace of the native tribes within their borders, and that this weakness jeopardized the supremacy of the white race in the whole of South Africa. The Dutchspeaking section of the Republic, who formed at least nine-tenths of the whole, adopted immediately an attitude of passive resistance. Two deputations, of each of which Mr. Paul Kruger, the future President of the Transvaal, was a member, laid the grievances of the burghers before the English Government, demanding that the annexation should be cancelled and the Sand River Convention3 upheld. But the Government, misinformed by its representatives in South Africa, refused to believe that the deputations interpreted the views of the majority. The Boers therefore adopted measures which none could misinterpret. At a great meeting held at Paardekraal, near Krugersdorp, in 1880, they solemnly resolved to maintain their cause by an appeal to arms. The flag of the Republic was hoisted on Dingaan’s Day (16th December), and Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius and Joubert were appointed a triumvirate for the conduct of affairs. The issue of the brief conflict is well known. The British forces suffered a series of disasters, which culminated in the defeat on Majuba Mountain, where the commander-in-chief, General Sir George Colley, fell. Less than three months after the outbreak of hostilities an armistice was arranged. Peace was concluded shortly afterwards, on the 21st March, 1881, and in the following August was signed the Convention of Pretoria, which restored to the Boers their cherished independence, subject to certain restrictions, implying the suzerainty of the British Sovereign.1

The troubles through which the Transvaal people were passing, and their unwearied efforts after independence, were followed with sympathetic interest by their kindred in the Cape Colony. A Memorial was extensively signed, humbly entreating the Queen to withdraw the obnoxious proclamation by which the Transvaal was deprived of its independence —“the prospects of a cordial union between the several states of South Africa having been greatly interfered with by a measure tenaing to alienate from Your Majesty’s Government the minds both of the inhabitants of the Republics and of a large number of Cape Colonists.” It is not certain that Mr. Murray put his signature to the above or any similar memorial: he was naturally averse from participation in any course of action which had the semblance of party politics. But his contribution to the Catholic Presbyterian is sufficient evidence that his sympathies were strongly on the side of the Boers. In this connexion the letters which he wrote

This suzerainty was reduced, to a minimum, if not wholly renounced, by the Convention of London in 1884, by which (in the words of the Earl of Derby the then Secretary of State for the Colonies) the Transvaal administration “was left free to govern the country without interference, and to conduct its diplomatic correspondence and shape its foreign policy, subject only to the requirement that any treaty with a foreign State should not have effect without the approval of the Queen.’'

Specially interesting is the letter dated 26th March, 1881, in which he realizes “how strongly the feeling of nationality is asserting itself and mingling with the religious sentiment of the people.” Of this feeling he declares that “ there are in it elements of good which must be nourished: a more strongly developed national life in our half-slumbering Dutch population will afford a more vigorous stock for the Christian life to be grafted on.”

The “feeling of nationality” to which Mr. Murray makes reference was to assert itself much more powerfully in subsequent years, and its rapid growth was due to a series of events by which the ideals of the Dutch-speaking and English-speaking sections of the population were thrown into sharp antagonism. The discovery in the Transvaal of rich gold-bearing reefs, situated within fifty miles of Pretoria, effected a complete change in the economic and political outlook of that republic of primitive farmers. From being one of the poorest of states it suddenly awoke to find itself wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of avarice. A new population was drawn to the country. Johannesburg, the golden city, sprang up as if by magic. The prices of commodities rose to unknown figures, and the agricultural community grew rich at one bound. The State reaped huge profits from the sale of public lands, from the imposition of new taxes, and from the grant of monopolies and concessions. In 1877 the Transvaal was on the verge of bankruptcy; fifteen years later it was rolling in wealth.

This sudden access of prosperity was viewed by thoughtful minds with the gravest concern. It brought face to face in the same state two sections of people who were in almost every respect the antipodes of each other. The one section consisted of the old burghers—animated by beliefs and instincts belonging to the seventeenth rather than the nineteenth century, conservative in religion and social habits, N suspicious of foreigners, and jealous to a degree of their independence and their Apolitical power. The other section was composed of the men whose enterprise had brought to light the hidden riches of the country and developed its unsuspected resources, whose contributions in rates and taxes had beautified cities, built railroads and subsidized public works, and to whose energy was due the transformation of a simple pastoral people into an organized modern state, but who nevertheless found themselves excluded from a share in the government, and denied representation in the legislature of the land. The situation was pregnant with difficulty and danger.

The men who at this time controlled the destinies of South Africa were also exact opposites. In the Transvaal the chief political power was vested in Paul Kruger, four times President of the Republic, one of the most notable and typical of South African statesmen—shrewd, unlettered, suspicious, humorous, religious and reactionary. The hope of the party of reform was centred in Cecil Rhodes, Premier of the Cape Colony, who had succeeded in uniting the Dutch and the English parties in the colony, and who stood at the head of a ministry which was apparently as stable as any that ever held office in South Africa. Kruger was slow, cautious, dour, and in many respects intractable. Rhodes was genial, optimistic, ambitious : he had amalgamated the Kimberley mines, established the Chartered Company, created a new world in Central Africa which bore the name of Rhodesia in his honour, reconciled divergent colonial interests; and now he was Prime Minister of the Cape. Surely he could manage to conciliate the “old man” of the Transvaal! But Rhodes had not sufficient patience to play the waiting game. He made a false move which sealed his fate, and, as Sir Hercules Robinson1 said, “ threw back the cause of civilization in South Africa twenty-five years.” That false move was the Jameson Raid.

On the 29th December, 1895, Dr. Jameson, administrator of Rhodesia, crossed the western Transvaal border at the head of five hundred troopers, with the purpose of effecting a junction with insurgents at Johannesburg, and by a coup d’etat subverting the government. At the news of this invasion of their country by a band of raiders the Boers sprang to arms. On the 2nd January, 1896, the invaders were surrounded near Krugersdorp and compelled to surrender. The incipient rebellion in Johannesburg was speedily quelled. The members of the “ Reform Committee ” who had engineered the insurrection were arraigned for high treason, and sentenced to terms of imprisonment and heavy pecuniary penalties. Dr. Jameson and his officers were handed over for punishment to the British Government; but the easy sentences which were imposed, and the glorification of their indefensible and insensate action by a portion of the English and colonial Press, fomented the suspicions of the Transvaal people that their independence would sooner or later be again assailed, and that duty to their country called them to prepare for the inevitable conflict. In the Cape Colony Mr. Rhodes, whose connivance at the acts of his subordinate could not be gainsaid, lost at one stroke the confidence and support of the Dutch, and was compelled to resign. Far from showing signs of repentance, he boasted that his career was only beginning; but the logic of events and the nemesis of history belied his boast, and after the Jameson Raid he was no longer the leader of a people, but only the leader of a party.

These regrettable events tended, as may be imagined, to accentuate the cleavage between English and Dutch. Among Dutch-speaking South Africans, whether they lived under a republican or under the imperial flag, the feeling of a common nationality grew with the rapidity of Jonah’s gourd. Cape Colonists who in former years had not been backward in voicing their grievances against President Kruger’s illiberal franchise, his unjust tariffs, his iniquitous monopolies, and his maladministration generally, now ceased their grumbling and closed their ranks, saying, “Blood is thicker than water.”

The record of the three years which stretch between the Jameson Raid and the Anglo-Boer War is a sad one. It was a time of profound and growing suspicion, which even the wisest statesmanship could not allay. It was a period during which racial antipathies were aggravated and party passions systematically inflamed. Politically, it was a time of mistakes and misunderstandings, of reproaches and mutual recriminations, of dogged obstinacy on the one hand and lofty contempt on the other, which made the attempt to compose existing differences an almost hopeless task.

No man did more in those troublous days than Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr1 to bring about a better understanding. Now he urged upon Sir Afred Milner,4 as representing Her Majesty’s Government, the necessity of a friendly conference. Again, he warned Mr. Kruger to adopt a more conciliatory tone, employing a metaphor which to the President’s mind would carry more weight than an argument: “ When you make a salad, be sparing with pepper and vinegar, but liberal with oil.” He was valiantly seconded by the Free State Government, which brought its powerful influence to bear upon Kruger to induce him to grant the reforms which were demanded. But all efforts at reconciliation were vain because of the mutual distrust with which each party had for the other. Inveterate suspicion on the one and imperious diplomacy on the other were the chief factors of the situation. And so, during the latter half of 1899, the country drifted steadily towards the final catastrophe. British troops were massed on the Transvaal borders, and when the republican Government asked the reason, Sir Alfred Milner replied that they were there “for all eventualities.” Without waiting to be attacked, the Transvaal Government on the 11th October, 1899, declared war, and thus a conflagration was kindled which for two and a half years devasted South Africa, and laid the two Boer republics in ruins.

The situation just before the outbreak of hostilities was so critical, that Mr. Murray, in the vain hope of yet averting the supreme calamity, broke the silence which he habitually observed on political questions in a series of articles which were published in the South African News. The articles were intended to be six in number, but only three had appeared when the final rupture occurred, after which it was considered inadvisable and useless to continue publishing what was so diametrically opposed to the policy of the Imperial Government. The papers which saw the light dealt with “Transvaal Independence”—a review of the steps by which the Boer Republic had asserted its right to self-government; “The Jameson Raid”—an exposure of the “duplicity and treachery” which led to that attack upon Transvaal liberties; and “Uitlander Grievances,”—with respect to which Mr. Murray maintained that “England has no right to say whether the franchise shall be a five or a seven years’ one.” A few days before the declaration of war he also wrote an impassioned appeal for peace, which is here taken over in full because of its value as the expression of the sentiments of Dutch-speaking South Africa—

As the oldest minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, as one known, and sometimes even misjudged by my own people, for my loyalty to British interests, as one not unknown in England as a teacher and a worker in the service of God and humanity, I venture, at the urgent request of many in this country, to make this appeal for peace.

I implore the rulers and people of the greatest Christian nation in the world not to make war on the youngest and smallest of its free States.

What is it that makes war necessary?

Not the suzerainty of the Queen. The Transvaal maintain that the suzerainty of the Convention of 1881 was set aside by that of 1884. English lawyers of note are of the same opinion. The Transvaal has asked for the settlement of the question, but never said that it makes it a matter of war. Apart from this, even if the suzerainty exists, its meaning is too vague to need bloodshed for its maintenance.

British supremacy and paramountcy in South Africa are not the cause of the war. These were not sacrificed when the independence of the Republic was granted, and have not been denied.

The franchise is not the cause of the war. A seven years’ franchise has been given. A five years’ franchise was being arranged for, when, owing to new demands, it was withdrawn.

The one cause of the war is the independence of the Republic. It refuses to be dictated to in internal affairs. It is willing to allow discussion and friendly counsel, has proved itself ready to act on it, and consented to a joint commission of enquiry. The one object of the originators of the agitation which has led to the war is to destroy the independence of the Republic, either by gradually giving Uitlanders a preponderating influence, or making it a British Colony.

England’s desire to be just and generous in South Africa has frequently been defeated by a lack of the power to understand the Dutch Boer, the strength of his love of liberty, or the need of sympathy with his aspirations to realize his difficulties and win his confidence. It was owing to this that the annexation so utterly failed, and led to such disaster. It was in the same spirit that the Raid was undertaken, leading to greater disaster in the bitterness and hostility that has been so intensified. It is to the same disposition that this war owes its origin ; it can lead to nothing but still more terrible disaster and ruin, both to South Africa and the Empire.

More than one serious mistake has already been made. We have reason to know that the English Government was led to believe that President Kruger would yield, and that there would be no war; that the Orange Free State would keep out of the war; and that it would be possible to secure the co-operation of the Dutch inhabitants of the Colony. And so the Government adopted a threatening tone, and spoke of an ultimatum before it was ready, and so gave the Republic cause and opportunity to begin the war, while Natal, Mafeking and Kimberley are insufficiently defended. Any day may bring the tidings that war has broken out. If disaster comes at the opening of the campaign, there is no reason to think that such disaster will be the last or the worst.

On behalf of a hundred thousand of the Dutch-speaking people of our Church in this Colony, I implore the British people to pause and adopt af-different policy. I ask whether the nation which in the whole world makes the loudest boast of its liberty, and what it has done for liberty, ought not to consider the liberty of the Republic as sacred and inviolable as its own, and to make this the basis of all its negotiations? Give the Republic the generous assurance of this. Do not meet it with dictation or threats, which have so signally failed. The Boer mind, which resists intimidation, can be reached by reason and conciliation,

(1) Let the threatening of war be withdrawn, and proposals be made to return to a peace footing. (2) Let the suzerainty of the Queen and the independence of the Republic be left as settled by the Conventions. (3) Let a Joint Commission enquire into the Uitlander grievances, and take time—months, if need be—to find a way out of the difficulties with which the whole relationship of the two races is beset. (4) Let England and the Republic offer each other the hand of friendship, and the assurance that they desire to meet and act in the spirit of conciliation and mutual confidence.

I make bold to undertake that the decision of such a Joint Commission would receive the support of every South African who now condemns the war as needless and unrighteous.

The horrors of war are too terrible ; the sin and shame of war are too great; the folly of war is too monstrous; the penalty of war is altogether too awful for England to inflict it on this country.

I believe with my whole heart that in many respects Britain is the noblest, the most Christian nation in the world, its greatest power for good or evil. I cannot believe that the English Cabinet, if it had not been misled by one-sided and false representations as to the necessity, the duration, the results of the war, would ever have threatened it. I cannot believe that the British people will give its sanction to a war that, even if England conquers, can end in nothing but the extinction of two free Republics, in the extermination of tens of thousands of men who are determined to die for their liberty, in the alienation of our whole people, and the perpetuation of race-hatred for generations to come.

Once again I beseech the Christian people of Great Britain to rouse themselves, and to say, “This war shall not be.” Let every lover of peace make his voice heard. And let every one who knows how to make his voice heard in Heaven above, join us in one unceasing supplication to God that peace may be restored. There are thousands of God-fearing people in this land praying without ceasing for peace. I call upon all God’s children: Kneel down beside us, present yourselves as one with us, and see if our God may not even yet send deliverance. As the British Parliament assembles next week, we will join with you in the fervent supplication that He in whose hands all hearts are may guide them to know and do His will.

Among the Chauvinists Mr. Murray’s attitude towards the war policy provoked the greatest resentment and anger. The more violent section of the English colonial Press heaped abuse upon his head, and flung at him many opprobrious epithets, of which “PecksnifAan humbug ” and "lying priest” may be taken as extreme examples. In Great Britain, except among the staunch little circle of “pro-Boers,” his appeal fell upon deaf ears; but in America, where his three papers on the situation were issued in pamphlet form,5 his words won a large measure of sympathy for the Boer cause. That cause had Mr. Murray’s ardent support to its very last gasp. In the later stages of the war, when British troops held possession of all the railways and almost all the towns, and the Boers were only able to continue the unequal contest by engaging in guerilla warfare, he still held them justified in fighting to the bitter end. More than one deputation was despatched to the Boer leaders in order to persuade them to lay down their arms, but the effort was vain. A journal of the day contains the following plaintive paragraph: "The report of the Peace Envoys shows that the mission was an entire failure. The Rev. Dr. Murray was immovable in declining to do anything unless the British Government acknowledged the independence of the Republics. The other Dutch ministers, the report says, simply piped after Dr. Murray.”

It need hardly be said that Mr. Murray’s intercourse with like-minded Christian brethren, even when their views differed from his own, remained undisturbed during the sad years when war was raging. In 1900 he issued, in conjunction with ministers of the Anglican and other denominations, a call to prayer, in which Christians were invited to unite in asking— peacemakers, and that a spirit of gentleness, forbearance and brotherly love may be shed abroad in all hearts by the Holy Ghost.

If the “feeling of nationality" had been fostered by the events of former years, it was fanned to a bright flame by the losses and sufferings of the three years’ war. In the fire of that great ordeal Dutch-speaking South Africa was welded together as it had never been before. Independence was gone, but the instinct of nationality sought expression in the determination to secure for the Dutch language perfect equality with the English, in a new devotion—perhaps more formal than vital—to the Dutch Reformed Church, and in a settled endeavour to strengthen the national feeling by diligent research into the past, the encouragement of literary efforts in Cape Dutch, and closer union for social ends and political purposes. There were some South Africans who feared that the movement was going too far in cutting itself loose from English influences and the study of English institutions and literature. Mr. Murray’s views on this subject are briefly stated in a letter, dated 25th November, 1907—

To one of his Daughters.

I was interested in your letter, telling of your philanthropic plans to help cure our people of any wrong thoughts in regard to their future. I fear that you will find that your efforts will be unavailing. Let me give you my reasons for saying this.

The love of language and country is an instinct implanted by nature and of almost inconceivable strength. When the Dutch movement began twenty-five years ago, I thought it was an attempt to attain the impossible. Time has cured me of this. If one sees clearly that the thing is a sentiment, a thing of the heart, inbred and vital, one will understand that you can't overcome it by argument. Your arguments may satisfy yourself, but will not convince the others.

I can quite understand that they think that it is just the cultivation of this national spirit that will help to give backbone and a sense of independence. As long as our people were accustomed to regard themselves as of an inferior stamp, their great aim was to rise by becoming as English as possible. If our grown-up people feel that their right to their language and nationality is just as sacred as that of the English, the consciousness will be awakened in them that they are on a level, in that respect, with any other nation.

Anyone who really wants to work for them must respect this feeling and try to help them to cultivate the highest possible standard of national character. The instinct of self-preservation will have two effects. The one is to maintain the national character ; the other to maintain their place in the march of progress. This will teach them the indispensable need of English in business and politics.

These are a few loose thoughts. Let me hear what impression they make on you. Let us ask God to use us for the welfare of the people who belong to us.

The chief memorial which Africander1 sentiment has raised to the victims of the war is the Women's Monument at Bloemfontein. For it was, alas ! the women and children upon whom the brunt of the war fell. During the latter stages of the conflict, the British commander-in-chief directed that the women and children should be removed from the farms and smaller townships, and be brought together in so-called “concentration camps,” where (it was affirmed) they could be properly cared for, and yet be prevented from holding communication with the Boers who still kept the field. The intention may have been good, but it was carried out in a hopelessly incompetent manner. Sickly women and children of tender years were housed in canvas tents, and exposed to heat and blinding dust by day and to biting cold at nights. Rationing was irregular and often insufficient ; overcrowding was the rule ; sanitary arrangements were sadly defective: of comfort and decency there was little to be seen. When sickness broke out, it was discovered that there were few doctors or none at all, and no trained nurses, no medicines and comforts, no hospital accommodation. Measles and other infectious diseases laid hold upon the crowded camps and carried off thousands. Enteric claimed its victims by the hundreds. Day after day funeral corteges wended their tearful way to the little cemetery—a space railed off in a corner of the camp by barbed-wire fencing. • Before the concentration camps were broken up, more than twenty-five thousand women and children had died, while the total of men who fell, by wounds or by disease, did not even reach four thousand.

In memory of the mothers and the children who thus gave their lives for their country there was erected at Bloemfontein, chiefly through the untiring efforts of ex-President Steyn, a monument in the form of an obelisk, one hundred and twenty feet in height, with bronze reliefs at the foot, representing the privations and sufferings endured by the women of the Republics. This monument was unveiled in December 1913, and the ceremony drew prominent men from all parts of the Union. Of the actual scene we have the following description by an eye-witness :—

While the procession approached, minute guns were fired. At the site was visible a dense mass of living humanity, seated upon the surrounding kopjes : there were present, according to the best estimates, some twenty thousand people. After General Botha, General Hertzog, Senator Reitz, and several ministers and other personages had seated themselves at the foot of the monument, President Steyn was led in, accompanied by his wife. How the heart of the assemblage was touched to see him enter with such feeble step ! Immediately after him came Dr. Andrew Murray, leaning on the arm of Mr. Gordon Fraser. Shall we say what feelings stirred within us as we looked upon these two figures? We cannot. This only let us set down—our two great men, each the first in his own sphere ! . . .

During the proceedings the heavens were pleasantly overclouded, but later on the sun began to shoot down its burning rays upon the mighty gathering. Dr. Murray looked on silently, while every now and again the Rev. J. M. Louw handed him a scrap of paper from which he learnt what was being said.3 It was General deWet, no other, who extended an umbrella over the head of the revered octogenarian. "Who is the good friend who is so kindly holding the umbrella above me?” "General de Wet,” was the reply. On Dr. Murray's expressing his hearty thanks for the friendly service, "it is an honour worth paying for,” said de Wet.

Mr. Murray’s contribution to the proceedings consisted in a brief address in the church of the congregation as whose first minister he had been installed sixty-four years previously. The informant whom we have already quoted describes his appearance and message in these terms—

His voice, stronger even in the speaker’s old age than that of most preachers—how it reminds us of the days when it made us tremble as he spoke of death and eternity !—still possesses the power of penetrating to the very depths of the soul. But the power it now wields is of a different nature, as [anyone will understand when we set down the opening words of his address : “We are assembled here to celebraee the festival of love—suffering, intercessory, benedictory, all-conquering love. The monument which is to be unveiled to-day is the monument of love.” He then spoke of the sufferings endured in the camps, and asked what could have been the Divine purpose of it all. God’s object was to lead souls through suffering to love. And that suffering brought them also to their knees. Many persons entered those camps not knowing what prayer was, and there learnt the secret. . . . The speaker also pointed to the danger which at present existed of dissension and schism among our people. What could prevent that? Only love. “Let us go to the monument,” he said, “with the words, I yield myself to God, in the desire to seek not mine own. Let us go under the banner of God’s love—suffering, praying, blessing, overcoming.”

The dissensions against which Mr. Murray raised his voice in warning came to a head not many months later, and Dutch South Africa was split up into two antagonistic sections. A Dutch Reformed minister, Dr. D. F. Malan, resigned his charge in order to devote himself to a political career. In a speech on one occasion he made use of language which called forth an immediate protest on the part of Mr. Murray. "If the dissensions which divide our people are not healed,” said Dr. Malan, "I cannot see how our Church can in the long run remain united. There is a tendency in members of the same Church to unite, not merely in confession and belief, but also in political views.” The attitude expressed by these words was rebuked by Mr. Murray in a forcible letter, of which the following sentences give the gist— within it two parties with different political convictions. The Church surely is a spiritual body, specially created by the Lord with the purpose of uniting, in the power of a supernatural love which derives its strength from Christ through the Holy Spirit, all His members, drawn even from nations which may have hated and despised one another. Paul gave expression more than once to the thought: “In the new man there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision. Barbarian and Scythian, bondman and freeman; but Christ is all and in all."

Differences of opinion are not in themselves sinful. They are the result of differences of temperament, of education, of environment. In every nation there is found the distinction between Conservatives and Liberals, between the men who seek safety in the retention of what is old and approved, and the men who look for salvation in what is new. Such differences of insight are indispensable for the well-being of a people. Friction helps to sharpen the mind, so that each party contributes its own share towards the ultimate issue of the conflict. It is not the difference of viewpoint, but the sin of self-will and lovelessness that yields the bitter fruit in which dissension and hatred are revealed.

Our Church has, I think, acted wisely in always seeking to emphasize that it was not her calling, nor yet that of her ministers as such, to engage in politics. One may ask then, But ought not religion to exercise influence upon politics, and so upon everything that can be of service to society and to humanity ? Undoubtedly ; but in a quite different manner. It is the calling of the Church to educate her members to take their due share as burghers of the State. She does this by teaching them to walk in the fear of God, by assisting them to shape a character that above all things is steadfast in its obedience to God’s will, and in that love which lives not for itself but for its fellow-men. There is a wide gulf between the conception that the Church must directly teach her members which political views are the right ones, and the thought that she must assist them to apply to practical life the great principles of the Word of God. [As regards present dissensions] the Church must allow the voice of God to be heard above all the roaring of the waters : “ Love one another, forbearing one another in love ; as Christ hath forgiven you, even so do ye likewise.” If the Church is faithful to this duty it will be impossible that there should be any thought of disruption because of political differences.

In conclusion, we shall find an answer to many questions in the word of our Lord, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s. Render to the King, to the Government, to national feeling, to politics, the things that are theirs. And render to God what is due to Him—dominion over His Church, the unity and love of His children, and the consecration of the Church and her ministers in the endeavour to know aright and duly to fulfil His will.

In private as well as in public Mr. Murray’s influence was always enlisted in the interests of peace and concord. When approached for advice by those who were passing through circumstances of strife and disunion, he was unwearied in recommending the more excellent way of composing differences—by the exercise of forbearance and brotherly love. A few years since the consistory of a certain Dutch Reformed congregation in the south-west of the Cape Province resolved upon discontinuing a series of services which had been conducted in the English language for half a century. This resolution evoked the most strenuous opposition on the part of the English-speaking members of the congregation, and of all who were in sympathy with English ideals. The consistory maintained that the need for English services was less urgent than in former years, and that the necessity of providing a double series of services, two Sabbath-schools, and a twofold administration, of Holy Communion, cast too heavy a burden upon the ministers. The aggrieved parties replied that the real reason was merely the recent growth of Dutch sentiment, and that the interests of God’s Kingdom were being subordinated to the interests of language and nationality.

One of those who belonged to the protesting section, an ex-elder of unimpeachable character, addressed a communication to Mr. Murray on the question, and elicited the following reply— me have failed. In the struggle we have done our utmost, but without success. What shall we do now? Persevere and fight on? Allow the separation between us and the other party to continue and perhaps grow worse? Go on, and allow the two parties in the congregation to be cold and distant to each other, and so encourage the spirit of partisanship and mutual distrust?

Or, shall we not honestly say—We did our best to assert our rights, and to gain what we thought would be a blessing to the congregation. The other party has been stronger and more successful: we have suffered a defeat. Would it not be best for us to say,—we have done our utmost, we have prayed for help, we have failed. Had we not better accept our disappointment as something God has allowed, and in regard to which there is no likelihood of a change?

To the spirit of the world it is a great humiliation to acknowledge a defeat, but not to the child of God. Our first object is that love may be restored. We are going to say to our brethren—We have no wish to dispute about the matter any more ; we give you the assurance of our hearty love ; we are anxious that the breach should be healed, and that we should all work together in carrying out the wishes of the kerheraad and the ministers in caring for the souls. A kerkeraad has its authority from God, even though the men who constitute it may not be perfect. Let us forget our differences. Let us spend the time we have given to prayer about this trouble in the great work of praying for the spirit of unity and love among God’s children, and the power of the Spirit on the congregation. The meek and lowly Christ will accept of our desire to be meek and lowly too. And who knows but that in answer to a union of love and united prayer God may give a rich blessing.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 20

Andrew Murray as a Spiritual Force

It is useful to have spiritual teachers; and if they be wise, it is wise to learn reverently from them ; but their lessons have not been successful until the learner has gained an eye for seeing the truth, and believes no longer because of his teacher’s word, but because he has an anointing from the Holy One, and knoweth all things.—F. W. Newman.

TO estimate the spiritual influence which Andrew Murray exercised upon his day and generation is not only a difficult but an impossible task. The influences which radiate from us, attracting some and repelling others, but always moulding their characters and shaping their destinies, are so subtle and mysterious as to defy our analysis. This is supremely true of spiritual influences, which proceed from that Divine Spirit of whom it was spoken: “The Spirit breatheth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth.” There are no human scales in which the character and work of Andrew Murray can be weighed and estimated.: they are in their nature imponderable. He was not a voice alone, but a force ; he created not merely an influence, but an atmosphere. In the land of his birth he impressed himself upon all who had intercourse with him, and there were but few who did not at some time or other either meet him or hear him preach. Upon his colleagues in the ministry his personality made the deepest possible impression. Young ministers and students of divinity found in his evangelistic labours, in which they were frequently permitted to share, a training in practical and pastoral theology which no college professor could bestow. In all religious gatherings he was the acknowledged leader. His advice was sought, his wishes respected, and his opinions deferred to1 by men of all ages and of every degree of social standing. The secret of his influence lay in his lofty Christian character and in the irresistible power which revealed itself in all he said and did. For he was, above everything, the man of prayer. He held constant communion with the Unseen. His spiritual life was fed and nourished from the springs which are invisible and eternal.

The ninth decade of last century was the most prolific in evangelistic toil of Mr. Murray’s whole career. Dining the twelve years from 1879 to 1891, he engaged in no less than seven evangelistic campaigns in all parts of South Africa. ‘Some of these lasted but a few weeks, but many extended over several successive months. The consistory and congregation of Wellington, recognizing the urgent need of the Church and the special gifts of their beloved pastor, readily granted him leave of absence for these revival services. The arrangements for the meetings were the subject of careful thought. Mr. Murray was accustomed to insist strongly on the previous preparation of the soil. He instructed the minister of the congregation he was about to visit how best to kindle large expectations, and so to provide an audience that was both psychologically and spiritually ripe for the reception of Divine Truth. Christians were urged to continuous and believing prayer for an individual and a general blessing. The Church at large was invited to join in fervent supplication that it might please God to grant a rich harvest of souls. Nor were the prosaic details of travel, the stages of the journey, the number and the length of the meetings, beneath his notice. He had much of the saneness and tact, combined with a thorough grasp of detail, which characterized the late Mr. D. L. Moody.

Wherever he journeyed there were prejudices to be removed, difficulties to be smoothed away, ignorance to be dispelled, and coldness and diffidence to be overcome. He had to do frequently with ministers who were not averse to "special services,” but feared that the “after-meetings" formed an undesirable feature. "I tell them," wrote Mr. Murray, "that it would be breaking off the point of the arrow. Imagine a Salvation Army meeting without a penitent form! ” In spite, however, of superficial differences, his fellow-ministers, in almost every case, received him gladly and accorded him the heartiest sympathy and co-operation ; while the audiences, if sometimes unenlightened, listened always with the most respectful and earnest attention.

In a previous chapter1 some account has been given of Mr. Murray’s earliest evangelistic tour. The following extracts from letters to his wife, written during one of his later campaigns, will convey to the reader a clear impression of the nature of his journeyings, the thoughts and prayers which engrossed his attention, the measure of success which attended his efforts, and the alert mind which he maintained towards the thousand and one interests centring in himself :—

From Somerset East during the Ministers’ Conference {April, 1891)

I thank God for your time at the seaside with Mary, and trust it will be a real blessing to her. And what you long for for yourself He will give and is giving. I think you will find the last part of The Quiet in the Land very helpful. It has a very great attraction for me. I can read Tersteegen over and over again. It is as if it was just what was needed as the application of the Epistle to the Hebrews—the Holy Place to which we have access, the place in which we are already, is the innermost sanctuary of the Presence and the Heart and the Love of God.

Our Conference began well—twenty-two ministers, some very earnest. This morning we had the second chapter [of Hebrews] : He calls us brethren. The place and weather are very beautiful. I have not much time to write to-day.

Now as to business: 1. In the second shelf from above of my bookcase, right-hand side, there is a German book bound in black linen, Oetinger, Hebrder-brief. Please send it to me by post addressed to Cradock. 2. Say to Kitty it is all right about the cheque deposited, but the second halves of the bills for Europe must be kept and not sent on. 3. The letter from Mr. Howell was about my ticket and must be sent on here. 4. Send on the British Weekly to me every week by post. 5. I am afraid there was something wrong about the post at Tarkastad, so I asked Kitty if she addressed any letters there. Was there nothing from England? 6. Send to Mr. R. L. Webb, Somerset East, 20 Zijtmij genadig, 20 Waarom gelooft gij niet? 20 Blijf in Jezus,1 in one strong parcel, care of Mitchell’s postcart, Cookhouse Station. ,

My love to the children. Kind remembrances to all. The blessed presence of our God, opened to us in Jesus Christ, be your and my portion.

Written during tour in the Eastern Districts (May, 1891).

Dordrecht, 2nd May.—We left Cradock on Thursday morning, and were here on Friday at 5 p.m., after a rattling drive of twenty hours. Our first meeting last night was very good, and both P.D.R.'s and I feel a great difference between Tarkastad and this. The shaking there has been very real, but at first we felt like speaking against a dead wall. Here there appears much more openness. We are expecting large blessing.

The climate here is delicious, reminding me of the Free State. I was wrong : it was not Oetinger but Steinhofer on Hebrews in German that I want—a small octavo volume in black cloth cover, in the second shelf from the top of the right-hand side of my large bookcase.

I pray the Lord to give you the healing you need for the body, and further, grace to help in every time of need. Oh! that we may know our great High Priest aright—His tenderness, His heavenly presence with us, and the power of the endless life in which He ministers.

My love to all, Kitty and Annie, John and Charles. We purpose leaving this on Tuesday morning, and going through in one day to Barkly East. May our God supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Dordrecht, 4th May.—Please send to Rev. W. Alheit, Dordrecht, 20 Zijt mij genadig, 20 Waarom gelooft gij niet ? Immediately on receipt of this, please, so as to reach here on Friday, in time for his nachtmaal on the 17th. Post early on Monday, well done up.

10 p.m.—Your note of 27th April just received. I enclose Mr. Hazenberg’s post order signed. I am glad about the ministers recalling their letter. God bless Mr. Walton. I had meant to write to Mr. Roux, but have had no time. Gerard is well and bright. My kind regards to him and all friends. Thank du Plessis for his note: an elder of his was here. There is some chance of our going down to Elliot for services on Tuesday next. '

Our services here are over. Deep feeling with many, and open confession with some. We praise God. At the Conference at Somerset East I had hard work, doing most of the talking, but the change here has so set me up that I hardly feel tired. He gives strength. Your extract from Tersteegen is very beautiful. There is in his words and in those of the Friends of God a wonderful depth and power. I feel one needs time to get more of God into our life and work. The Lord teach us.

We are off to-morrow for Barkly, where we hope to be in the evening. It is raining, and this may detain us. Much love to the children and yourself.

Barkly East, 13th May.—Give the enclosed note to Miss Ferguson, and see if she has a teacher for Mrs. van Schalkwijk. Send to Rev. H. Muller, Barkly East, xo Zijt mij genadig, 10 Waarorn gelooft gij niet? and to Kerkeraad, Venterstad, 20 Zijt mij genadig and 20 Waarom gelooft gij niet?

Lady Grey, 15th May.—Came on here yesterday. But such roads— truly like the Transvaal! This morning, on awakening, I for the first time felt tired. But it is all right now. What a sad sight, the home here! The father left with ten children, ten motherless children, the youngest only three. The eldest daughter is now better, but still weak in health. The second daughter is the only mother, caring for all. Miss Piton, our graduate, is in the home, and acts as auntie—a great comfort to them.

Services began this afternoon in pouring rain. I am humbly asking the Father to command it to cease. That letter from America is interesting, but very solemn to myself. I am trusting for the full revelation of Christ in the heart, in a peace and rest never for a moment disturbed. The high-priesthood of Hebrews and the power of an endless life are very precious. I have begun writing a Dutch book on Hebrews, which I look to God to bless very much.

Maraisburg, 28th May.—Our Monday morning meeting [at Molteno] was something very beautiful. Testimonies in abundance, and very clear, of blessing received by people who had long feared the Lord, but had not known what salvation by faith was. And some twenty confessions of conversion.

Monday afternoon to Sterkstroom, for that evening and Tuesday. Had some clear cases of entrance into light and joy. Returned to Molteno yesterday : a number of people came up again. Mrs. Marais very warm—a young girls’ prayer-meeting started, a boys’ prayer-meeting too. A parting service at 6 p.m. in the church, and at 7.30 a large English service in the Wesleyan chapel.

Danie Marchand came yesterday to accompany me here. Along the road, much proof of God’s blessing on the services, and so many testimonies to the effect: “I thought I must be, or get, or do something, and now I see it was all wrong. I now trust the living Jesus.” The joy is great in many hearts. I meet many who are the fruit of former special services. To-day three. First, a man: “Oh! I saw you at Colesberg, where I got the light.” Then a woman: “Do you remember speaking to my daughter in the vestry at Cradock, and giving her the text I am with you alway? She died so brightly three years afterwards.” Then a young woman: “Do you remember at Steynsburg asking the people in a prayer to give themselves wholly to God? I was a child, and did it.” So the Lord proves the work is not in vain. To His name be the praise.

Mr. Murray’s broad Christian charity revealed itself in many ways, and was especially noticeable in the generous welcome which he extended to other evangelists who from time to time visited these shores. One of the earliest of these visitors from overseas was Henry Varley, who in 1886 conducted a series of remarkable meetings in the chief towns of South Africa. Upon Mr. Varley followed at short intervals a number of missioners, among whom may be mentioned George C. Grubb, Spencer Walton, John McNeill, Mark Guy Pearse, Gelson Gregson, Charles Inwood, Gipsy Smith, Donald Fraser, John R. Mott, and F. B. Meyer. When these men landed in Table Bay, Mr. Murray was among the first to bid them welcome, and to lend the weight of his influence and authority to their undertaking. Many of them might have found the doors of the Dutch Reformed Churches closed against them— for the South African Dutch as a people and as a Church are averse from nieuwigheden (novelties)—were it not that the Moderator had given them his countenance and benediction. In the case of all these devoted men there can be no doubt that the sympathy, the constant interest, and the fervent prayers of Mr. Murray formed, under God, a large element in any success which may have attended their mission. Dr. F. B. Meyer, one of the most recent of these visitors, makes the following acknowledgment in A Winter in South Africa (1908) :—

From the first the ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church showed me much Christian courtesy. . . . All were prepared to accept the lead given by the venerable Dr. Andrew Murray, who came from Wellington on purpose to attend the meetings [in Cape Town], and took part in prayer and benediction. I can never forget or repay his kindness. On a future page I hope to allude at length to the influence of this saintly man upon his Church. It is enough to say here that, notwithstanding his eighty years, his intellect is as bright and his natural force almost as vigorous as when he visited England fifteen yeats ago. He is honoured and loved throughout the Church of which he is the recognized father and leader, and beyond. It was of untold help, therefore, that my earliest meetings should receive his endorsement and his blessing.

During the great revival of i860, which has been described in a former chapter, an earnest-minded minister of the D. R. Church, the Rev. van der Lingen of Paarl, proposed that in future the ten days between Ascension and Pentecost should be observed in the same manner as the first disciples did, namely by “continuing steadfastly in prayer” for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The suggestion was readily adopted, and the number of congregations and prayer-circles taking part in the movement grew slowly greater. In 1867, Mr. Murray published in the Kerkbode a series of ten brief meditations for the Whitsuntide gatherings. This was the precursor of many similar subject-outlines, which were prepared annually, and of which several were expanded into devotional manuals and issued in the Dutch and English languages. The custom, which Mr. Murray thus encouraged and aided, of holding meetings for prayer from Ascension Day to Whit-Sunday, has been of inestimable blessing to the D. R. Church. Year after year reports appear in the columns of the denominational paper, from ministers and congregations in all parts of South Africa, describing the blessing which has attended the observance of the ten days of prayer in the quickening of believers and the regeneration of the unconverted. It is surely not the least of the spiritual benefits which Andrew Murray conferred upon his Church, that he assisted her in establishing and continuing a usage to which she owes so much of her religious vitality and missionary fervour.

Beyond South Africa Mr. Murray’s influence has been, probably, greater than that of any other contemporary devotional writer. Of his first essay in English authorship we have already spoken,1 while fuller reference to the many books which flowed from his pen is reserved for a future chapter.2 Abide in Christ, his first English venture, appeared in 1882, and in 1888 were published Holy in Christ and The Spirit of Christ, which (together with The Holiest of All) represent the high-water mark of his literary and theological achievements. Between the above-mentioned dates he had found his audience, for when The Spirit of Christ was issued his first work had already reached its fifty-third thousand. His readers, counted by tens of thousands, were scattered all over the globe. Evangelical circles in England and America recognized in him a Christian teacher who spoke with authority, and not as one of the common scribes. His growing spiritual influence led to his being invited, in 1895, to visit. v England for the purpose of delivering addresses at the Reswick and other conventions. Mr. Murray was suitably introduced to the Christian public of Great Britain in a paper by the Rev. H. V. Taylor, which appeared, together with a portrait, in the British Weekly of 6th December, 1894, and from which we take over the following paragraphs :—

Andrew Murray, if any man, may justly claim the title of catholic, for his sympathies are unfailingly given to each one who loves the Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth. “We are Christians first and Dutch Reformed afterwards,” he said with vehemence when addressing the delegates from other Churches who came to the opening of the recent Synod. And this saying gives the note of his life. He desires to be known as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus simply, and he seems to examine every one he meets for the Christian element in him. That is the impression left on the mind when one is in conversation with him. His keen, yearning look appears to scan the face of his interlocutor for the witness of the Christ-life there, and to plead above all things for loyalty to the one Master. You cannot help saying to yourself, “ This man wants me to belong to Jesus Christ.” No one who has talked with him, even on casual themes, can forget that wistful glance.

He is, I suppose, well known to most readers of religious literature by his devotional books, notably Abide in Christ. His nature is profoundly devotional; he carries with him the atmosphere of prayer. He seems always wrapped about with a mantle of adoration. When preaching or conducting a service, his whole being is thrown into the task, and he glows with a fervency of spirit which it seems impossible for human flesh to sustain. At times he startles and overwhelms the listeners. Earnestness and power of the electric sort stream from him, and affect alike the large audience or the quiet circle gathered round him. In his slight, spent frame, of middle height, he carries in repose a volcanic energy which, when he is roused, bursts its barriers and sweeps all before it. Then his form quivers and dilates, the lips tremble, the features work, the eyes spasmodically open and close, as from the white-hot furnace of his spirit he pours the molten torrent of his unstudied eloquence. The thin face and almost emaciated body are transfigured and illumined. The staid, venerable minister of the nineteenth century, with the sober, clerical garb and stiff white tie, which is de rigueur among the Dutch clergy, disappears, and an old Hebrew prophet stands before us—another Isaiah with his glowing imagery, a second Hosea with his plaintive, yearning appeals. Audiences bend before the sweeping rain of his words like willows before a gale. The heart within the hearer is bowed, and the intellect awed. Andrew Murray’s oratory is of that kind for which men willingly go into captivity.

His disposition is mystical, with, as in the best of mystics, the religious thought clothing a strong and fearless nature. No man can study his face without being struck by the inwardness of the deep-set grey eyes. Even when one gets to hand-grips with him in closeness of intercourse, one is conscious of the great part that remains unexpressed, the spiritual Hinterland which extends far beyond the visible shore. There is ever and anon the suggestion of great strength held in reserve. A student of character cannot help the conviction that if the old days of persecution were to return, Andrew Murray would go to the stake as cheerfully as he steps up to the Moderator’s chair.

Mr. Murray left for Europe, accompanied by Mrs. Murray, by the steamship Norman on the 8th of May, 1895. Only the chief incidents of this journey, which comprised England, America, Holland, and Scotland, can be chronicled. At Exeter Hall, on his arrival, he was welcomed at a public breakfast, when he seized the occasion to impress upon the friends who had invited him the necessity of expecting all from God alone. In connexion with the Guildford Convention, shortly afterwards, he delivered four addresses and preached twice on the Sunday. At the Mildmay Conference he spoke thrice and administered the Lord’s Supper to a great gathering of fourteen hundred communicants. In the month of July he visited Keswick, where he was one of the principal speakers. Of the memorable and indelible impression which he produced, the Rev. Evan H. Hopkins, editor of the Life of Faith, speaks in these terms :—

The main feature of this [twenty-first] Convention has been the presence of our beloved brother, the Rev. Andrew Murray of South Africa, whose addresses have come home to so many with peculiar power. . . . As message after message was enforced by one who has evidently been the marked minister of God this time, it seemed as if none could escape, as if none could choose but let Christ Himself, in the power of His living Spirit, be the One to live, although the cost was our taking the place of death. ... As this was dwelt on more and more deeply as the days went on, especially at the solemn evening meetings, there came over some of us a memory of Keswick in-1879, when an awe of God fell upon the whole assembly in a way the writer has never seen equalled. . . .

That was in the days when Keswick was looked on askance, and darkly ; when those who gathered had to let their reputation die by daring to attend. Oh, that God may grant that in these days when no such slur attaches to the thought of coming, there may be not less deep work done. Surely we may hope that God means it so, when in the stillness and isolation (as to Christian intercourse such as we have) of a South African sphere, He so prepares and fits a servant of His, that when He calls him to join a group of those who have been living for years in the fullness and richness of constant brotherly communion and intercourse, spiritual and intellectual, they should find not only a oneness of heart and a unity of teaching, but one who can so teach that they willingly and gratefully gather round to listen.

One address stands out beyond all others. It was on The Way to the Higher Life, as shown in the petition of the two sons of Zebedee, “ Grant us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left hand, in Thy glory.” What they asked was a good thing, a glorious thing. Their petition summed up three things which are the longing of the heart that craves to be lifted from the lower level of Christian life to a higher, for it asked nearness to Jesus, likeness to Jesus, power for Jesus. There was nothing wrong in the request: what was wrong was the spirit, and what was wanting was the understanding of what it involved. And He met it by asking them: “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?” The answer to it means death. Are ye able? And they said, We are able. Will you say it? We are able : we want that higher level—that life which abides in the will of Jesus, which ignores the self-life? And His answer was, Ye shall indeed.

From England Mr. and Mrs. Murray, at the urgent invitation of Mr. D. L. Moody, crossed over to America. The chief overseas visitors at the Northfield Conference on this occasion were the Revs. Webb-Peploe and Andrew Murray. For a full fortnight Mr. Murray conducted the morning sessions, speaking solely on the one subject in which he was then absorbed—the feeble and sickly religious life of the Churches. Not less than four hundred ministers attended this gathering, and large numbers, including Mr. Moody himself, testified to having derived great benefit and blessing from the message delivered. From Northfield his itinerary led him to Chicago, where he spoke twice daily at a five-day convention. The Murrays then recrossed the Atlantic, and in the month of October a remarkable succession of gatherings took place in Holland. We may imagine the feelings with which Mr. Murray addressed a huge concourse of two thousand people in the Cathedral at Utrecht, when he stood on the very pulpit before which, at his confirmation fifty years previously, he had made public profession of his faith in Christ. Not only at Utrecht, but at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, The Hague, Groningen, and other cities, multitudes flocked to his services, and a time of deep earnestness and real spiritual awakening was experienced. Before his departure a pressing request, to which he found it impossible to accede, was laid before him by the missionary authorities, to visit the mission fields of the Dutch Churches in India and the East. After a brief visit to Scotland, and successful gatherings at Aberdeen and elsewhere, Mr. Murray journeyed to London, where the closing meetings of the evangelistic tour were held. Of this last series of meetings, which stood in connexion with the Presbyterian Church of England, we have the following contemporaneous account, drawn from the columns of the British Weekly (28th November, 1895) :—

The Convention “for the promotion and strengthening of spiritual life” which met in Regent Square Church and Exeter Hall on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week, was in every respect a success. The Rev. Andrew Murray was the principal speaker at all the meetings. The Moderator of Synod, the Rev. S. R. Macphail, M.A., of Liverpool, and the Rev. G. H. C. Macgregor, M.A., of Notting Hill, also gave addresses. The opening meeting of the series and the day meetings were held in Regent Square Church. The evening meetings on Thursday and Friday took place in Exeter Hall. Ministers and office-bearers of the Church were present in large numbers on each occasion.

It is no slight undertaking to make seven speeches, each of about an hour in length, within three days. This was Mr. Murray’s task. He has been addressing numerous meetings of the same character within the last few weeks, and everywhere the people liave gathered in crowds to hear him. His discourses are delivered without the use of manuscript or notes. The aim of the Convention was a limited and specific one, and Mr. Murray’s power lies in the proclamation of a specific message— " how sooner and more completely,” to quote the Rev. S. R. Macphail, " we can not only believe in, but have a full realization of our completeness in Christ Jesus.” Perhaps the most striking and profoundly spiritual of Mr. Murray’s addresses was that delivered on Friday morning from the words, “Kept by the power of God through faith.” "The keeping of God,” he said in the course of his sermon, “is an omnipotent keeping. I want to get linked with the Omnipotent One. Why is it that we, the children of Pentecost, know so little of what it is to walk step by step with Almighty God? I can experience the power and goodness of God only so far as I am in fellowship with Him. Omnipotence was needed to create the smallest thing, and Omnipotence is needed to keep the smallest thing. You must learn to know and trust Omnipotence. A godly life is a life full of God. This keeping is continuous and unbroken. All life is an unbroken continuity, and the life of God is His Almighty power working in us. Let us make God’s Omnipotence the measure of our expectation." The words in italics are a prominent and characteristic part of Mr. Murray’s teaching.

"We must take God at His word and return to the rapture and fire of the first Apostleship”—this sentence expresses the spirit and quintessence of Mr. Murray’s teaching. He seeks to restore to their original fulness of meaning the precepts and sayings of the early Apostles. “The object of the Convention," he said, "is to ask the question, Are we living up to the privileges of our high calling?” In one of his addresses Mr. Murray said, " God will put no difference between the Church of the first days and us. The power that is working in you is the same power that raised Christ from the dead.”

Dr. Newman Hall, the Rev. F. B. Meyer, and the Rev. Thomas Spurgeon were present, and took some part at the meetings of the Convention. The two great meetings at Exeter Hall, at which more than two thousand people were present, were the most successful of the series. They were announced to begin at seven, but after half-past six it was difficult to get a seat. The interval of waiting was spent in the singing of hymns. The only speakers besides Mr. Murray who addressed these gatherings were, as has been said, the Rev. S. R. Macphail and the Rev. G. H. C. Macgregor. Both were brief, and both made a good impression. Mr. Murray, who has now brought to a close his series of services in this country, will shortly return to Africa.

At Keswick, in response to a request on the part of Christian friends, Mr. Murray gave some account of his spiritual growth, from which we venture to extract the essential portion. In this connexion reference should be made to what has been related as to his experiences in the Transvaal in 1862,1 and the passionate desire and longing, to which he gave utterance, for a life wholly filled and controlled by the Spirit of God. At Keswick he said in substance :—

Some of you have heard how I have pressed upon you the two stages in the Christian life, and the step from the one to the other. The first ten years of my spiritual life were manifestly spent on the lower stage. I was a minister, I may say, as zealous and as earnest and as happy in my work as anyone, as far as love of the work was concerned. Yet, all the time, there was burning in my heart a dissatisfaction and restlessness inexpressible. What was the reason? I had never learnt with all my theology that obedience was possible. My justification was as clear as noonday. I knew the hour in which I received from God the joy of pardon. I remember in my little room at Bloemfontein how I used to sit and think, What is the matter? Here I am, knowing that God has justified me in the blood of Christ, but I have no power for service. My thoughts, my words, my actions, my unfaithfulness—everything troubled me. Though all around thought me one of the most earnest of men, my life was one of deep dissatisfaction. I struggled and prayed as best I could.

One day I was talking with a ifiissionary. I do not think that he knew much of the power of sanctification himself—he would have admitted it. When we were talking and he saw my earnestness he said, “Brother, remember that when God puts a desire into your heart, He will fulfil it.” That helped me; I thought of it a hundred times. I want to say the same to you, who are plunging about and struggling in the quagmire of helplessness and doubt. The desire that God puts into your heart He will fulfil.

I was greatly helped about this time by reading a book called Parables from Nature. One of these parables represents that after the creation of the earth, on a certain day, a number of crickets met. One of them began, saying, “Oh, I feel so happy. For a time I was creeping about looking for a place where to stay, but I could not find the place that suited me. At last I got in behind the bark of an old tree, and it seemed as though the place were just fitted for me, I felt so comfortable there.” Another said, “I was there for a time, but it would not fit me”—that was a grass cricket. “But at last I got on to a high stalk of grass, and as I clung there and swung there, in the wind and the air, I felt that that was the place made for me.” Then a third cricket said, “Well, I have tried the bark of the old tree, and I have tried the grass, but God has made no place for me, and I feel unhappy.” Then the old mother-cricket said, “My child, do not speak that way. Your Creator never made anyone without preparing a place for him. Wait, and you will find it in due time.” Some time after these same crickets met together again and got to talking. The old mother said, "Now, my child, what say you?” The cricket replied, "Yes, what you said is true. You know those strange people who have come here. They built a house, and in their house they had a fire ; and, you know, when I got into the corner of the hearth near the fire I felt so warm, that I knew that was the place God made for me.”

That little parable helped me wonderfully, and I pass it on to you. If any are saying that God has not got a place for them, let them trust God, and wait, and He will help you, and show you what is your place. So the Lord led me till in His great mercy I had been eleven or twelve years in Bloemfontein. Then He brought me to another congregation in Worcester, about the time when God’s Holy Spirit was being poured out in America, Scotland, and Ireland. In i860, when I had been six months in the congregation, God poured out His Spirit there in connexion with my preaching, especially as I was moving about in the country, and a very unspeakable blessing came to me. The first Dutch edition of my book Abide in Christ was written at that time. I would like you to understand that a minister or a Christian author may often be led to say more than he has experienced. I had not then experienced all that I wrote of ; I cannot say that I experience it all perfectly even now.

Well, God helped me, and for seven or eight years I went on, always enquiring and seeking, and always getting. Then came, about 1870, the great Holiness Movement. The letters that appeared in The Revival [now The Christian] touched my heart; and I was in close fellowship with what took place at Oxford and Brighton, and it all helped me. Perhaps if I were to talk of consecration I might tell you of an evening there in my own study in Cape Town. Yet I cannot say that that was my deliverance, for I was still struggling. Later on, my mind became much exercised about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and I gave myself to God as perfectly as I could to receive the baptism of the Spirit. Yet there was failure ; God forgive it. It was somehow as if I could not get what I wanted. Through all these stumblings God led me, without any very special experience that I can point to ; but as I look back I do believe now that He was giving me more and more of His blessed Spirit, had I but known it better.

I can help you more, perhaps, by speaking, not of any marked experience, but by telling very simply what I think God has given me now, in contrast to the first ten years of my Christian life. In the first place,

I have learnt to place myself before God every day, as a vessel to be filled with His Holy Spirit. He has filled me with the blessed assurance that He, as the everlasting God, has guaranteed His own work in me.

If there is one lesson that I am learning day by day, it is this : that it is God who worketh all in all. Oh, that I could help any brother or sister to realize this! I was once preaching, and a lady came to talk with me. She was a very pious woman, and I asked her, “How are you going on?” Her answer was, "Oh, just the way it always is, sometimes light and sometimes dark." " My dear sister, where is that in the Bible?” She said, "We have day and night in nature, and just so it is in our souls.” “No, no; in the Bible we read, Your sun shall no more go down." Let me believe that I am God's child, and that the Father in Christ, through the Holy Ghost, has set His love upon me, and that I may abide in His presence, not frequently, but unceasingly.

You will ask me. Are you satisfied? Have you got all you want? God forbid. With the deepest feeling of my soul I can say that I am satisfied with Jesus now ; but there is also the consciousness of how much fuller the revelation can be of the exceeding abundance of His grace. Let us never hesitate to say, This is only the beginning. When we are brought into the holiest of all, we are only beginning to take our right position with the Father.

Shortly before his visit to England in 1895, Mr. Murray had fallen under the potent spell of William Law, the famous non-juror and mystic of the eighteenth century. Law was in every sense a remarkable man. He was a powerful controversialist, and in one of his treatises against the Deists he anticipated to a large extent the famous argument elaborated by Bishop Butler in his Analogy of Religion to the Constitution and Course of Nature. He was the author of many books of practical divinity, the most famous of which, A Serious Call to a devout and holy Life (1728), not only exercised a profound and lasting influence on the men of the Evangelical Revival—the Wesleys, Whitefield, Venn, Adam, and others— but by its serious style evoked the enthusiasm of men of such different temperaments as Samuel Johnson and Edward Gibbon. In his later years he became a follower of the German mystic, Jacob Bohme, whom he calls “ that heavenly illuminated and blessed man, Jacob Behmen,” and to the study and exposition of whose works he gave the remaining years of his life. Those years were spent at a little village in Northamptonshire, where he dwelt with two like-minded ladies, devoting all his time to devotion, study, and the exercise of Christian charity. The united incomes of his two companions amounted, it is said, to £3,000 per annum, and almost the whole of this sum was spent in the establishment and upkeep of schools, almshouses, and charitable foundations.

The works written by William Law during the latter portion of this life—especially The Spirit of Prayer, The Spirit of Love, and An affectionate Address to the Clergy—give him an unchallenged place as the chief of the English mystics; and it is the mystical element in his teaching which has proved to be such an irresistible attraction to minds like those of Andrew Murray. To define mysticism is not an easy matter. The English language has but one word mysticism to express two different conceptions, which we find represented in German and Dutch by the words Mystizismus, mysticisme and Mystik, mystiek. The former expression denotes the cult of the hidden and mysterious in religion, and under it we include pursuits like theosophy and spiritualism. The latter is mysticism in the true and Christian sense of the word, and stands for the immediate experience of and intercourse with the Divine. All vital religion is at bottom mysticism, which, as its etymology implies, has to do with that which is mysterious, incomprehensible, and incommunicable. Religion is rooted in personal experience, and man's deepest experiences, like the heart’s hidden grief and joy, are something with which a stranger intermeddleth not. St. John has been called the mystic par excellence of the New Testament, but it is equally true to say that the apostles Paul and Peter, or the Psalmists of the old dispensation, were mystics. Utterances like the following are expressions of the mystical spirit: “I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me, and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me"; "Whom not having seen ye love, on whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory”; “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him”; “Nevertheless I am continually with Thee,—whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee; God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” Mysticism in its religious and practical, as distinguished from its philosophical and speculative aspect, may be defined as the endeavour of the human spirit to rise to the blessedness of immediate and uninterrupted communion with God.

The history of Christian mysticism has been a strange and chequered one. In its practical form4 it derives from the Middle Ages. It was essentially a reaction from the formal and dogmatical theology of the scholastics. One of the earliest theologians who was also a writer on mysticism was Bernard of Clairvaux—a favourite historical character with Andrew Murray, who called his home at Wellington after the famous abbey which Bernard founded in the plains of Champagne. In common with the mystics of an earlier date, St. Bernard dwells on the three stages through which the soul must pass before it reaches the ecstatic vision of God— purification, illumination, contemplation. In order to attain to this ecstatic vision it is necessary for the seeker to lose himself in God, and merge his own individuality in that of the Eternal One. “As air filled with sunlight is transformed into the same brightness, so that it does not so much appear to be illuminated as to be light itself—so must all feeling towards the Holy One be self-dissolved in unspeakable wise, and wholly transfused into the will of God. For how shall God be all in all if anything of man remains in man ? ” The practical result of the teaching and example of men like Bernard of Clairvaux was to give a mighty stimulus to asceticism. If God was to be found only through the contemplative life and the ecstatic vision, it followed that those who sought after the mystic union with Him must resolutely withdraw from the world, and give themselves to prayer and fasting and rigid austerity.

The mystics of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have been called the forerunners of the Reformation. And such in a sense they were. They represent a revolt from the worldliness of the Church, and a protest against the licentious and scandalous lives of the mass of the clergy. The chief mystics of that period were Germans. Germany, indeed has always afforded a fertile soil for mystical teaching. The contemplative life, the introspective gaze, the absorption in supra-sensual and eternal things, seem to have exercised at all times a peculiar fascination over the speculative Teutonic intellect. Meister Eckhart of Cologne is a typical German mystic. He reverted to the philosophical mysticism of the early Christian centmees, and sought to give a profounder and more spiritual signification to the doctrines of the Church ; but the issue of his teaching was, in effect, to minimise the historical truths of the Christian revelation, and to substitute speculative for Scriptural doctrine.

A much nobler type of mystic is found in the Friends of God—an association of earnest men who banded themselves together for the promotion of a closer intercourse with God. These men lived truly holy and devoted lives, though they too indulged sometimes in those extravagances which seem to have been inseparable from the religion of that age. Johanp Tauler, a famous Strassburg preacher, instead of delivering on one occasion the expected sermon, broke out in a storm of sighs and prayers while in the pulpit, and had to be debarred from preaching by the brethren of his order. Nicolas of Basle left his bride in tears at the altar, and declared that he could not marry her, since he was already and irrevocably espoused to Christ. Henry Suso and Merswin the wealthy banker enfeebled their bodies and shortened their lives by the severe austerities which they practised. Yet these Friends of God exercised a widespread and most wholesome influence on the religious life of their day. That famous book Theologia Germanica, which together with Tauler’s sermons contributed so powerfully towards Luther’s emancipation from the bondage of scholasticism, proceeded from this circle of Friends.

Among Protestant mystics the greatest beyond all doubt is Jacob Bfihme. He was wholly unlearned in the theology of the schools, a shoemaker by trade, a thinker and a genius by nature. Most unfortunately Bohme imbibed in large draughts the astrological and theosophical speculations of Paracelsus—alchemist, physician, philosopher, charlatan— and consequently the terminology in which he presents his thoughts is obscure and even repellent. Such expressions as “solution, purification and re-fixation,” “ens of the Fire-source and ens of the Light-source,” “bi-une being and magical propagation,” may have all the attraction of obscurity for some minds, but fill the reader who is in search of edification with despair. Stated in briefest possible compass, Bohme’s system is the following : the invisible and eternal universe, which lies behind the temporal and visible is composed of two root-principles, darkness and light. God is the light-principle, and Lucifer, the Fallen Spirit, is the principle of darkness. These two principles are present in every man, and his destiny is determined by his choice of principle. The light-principle, or love principle, has its fullest revelation in the incarnation and death of Christ. Salvation is not the adhesion to any creed, nor the performance of any good works or heavy penances. Nor does it consist in membership in any visible Church, but only in the inward heart-union with the eternal love-principle, God. Salvation is the life of God brought to a personal, conscious expression in the individual men. And through the power of this new and divine life we can—to use Bohme’s terminology—put the self-will into the hiddenness [i.e. the subconscious self], and live in the meekness in which Christ habitually lived.

Enough has been said to show the general trend and teaching of mysticism. So long as it remains an attitude of mind and heart—the silent waiting upon God—it cannot be too highly esteemed as the greatest desideratum and the best corrective of our feverish age. But as systematized and expounded by its foremost representatives, Bohme and Law, mysticism lies open to the gravest objections. These objections may be summed up under the following counts: mysticism depreciates the value of Scripture, denies the imputation theory of the atonement, minimizes the worth of the Church as a visible divine institution, rejects the doctrine of the Divine Sovereignty in election and predestination, and reveals a marked pantheistic tendency.

As to its doctrine of Scripture we need only refer to the emphasis which George Fox and the Quakers generally attach to the "inner light,” which is placed on an equality with, if not actually exalted above, the Word of God. And even Law, the most scriptural of the mystics, maintains that “the Scriptures can go no further than to be a true history; they cannot give to the reader of them the possession, the sensibility and enjoyment of that which they relate.” Furthermore, Law repudiates the ordinary doctrine of the atonement, what he calls the "debtor and creditor scheme,” and teaches that atonement consists in the restoration within us of a harmony that has been disturbed, and not in the imputation to us of the merit of Another. No less decided is his repudiation of current ecclesiological doctrine: "Away with the tedious volumes on Church unity, Church power and Church salvation. Ask neither a Council of Trent, nor a Synod of Dort, nor an Assembly of Divines, for a definition of the Church. The true Church is nowhere but in the new creature, that henceforth sinneth not, nor is any longer a servant to sin.” So too Law rejects the doctrine of God’s predestinating Sovereignty. There is, indeed, no room in the mystical creed for conceptions such as election and reprobation. “ Consider the Deity to be'the greatest love, the greatest meekness, the greatest sweetness, the eternal unchanging will to be a good and a blessing to every creature ; and that all the misery, darkness and death of fallen angels and fallen men consist in their having lost their likeness to this divine nature.” Finally,—the pantheistic trend of mystical thought is far more definite in Bohme than in Law : indeed, the former is known as " the Christian pantheist,” and his speculations form the basis, to some extent, of the systems of modern pantheistic philosophers like Schelling and Hegel. Law is less speculative than Bohme, and adheres more closely to Scripture, but his denial of an objective salvation, grounded solely in God’s eternal counsel and sovereign will, leads him to statements like the following: “Therefore the righteous and holy law, that is so because it never changes its goodwill and work towards man, can truly say of itself these two contrary things, I create good and I create evil, without the least contradiction. In the like truth, and from the same ground, it must be said that happiness and misery, tenderness and hardness of heart, life and death, are from God, or because God is that which He is, in and to the birth and the life of man.”

It need hardly be said that Andrew Murray, while laying stress on the supreme message of mysticism—the necessity for union with the Divine—avoided the errors to which it is prone. His training in evangelical and reformed theology was so thorough, and his study of Scripture was so close and continuous, as to prevent him from being led astray into the byways of mystical speculation. The most that can be laid to his charge is that he occasionally imitates Law in what Professor James Denney called “a pragmatical positiveness of arguing, in matters in which the reader is indifferent to logic, because he disputes the author’s premises.” Sane and balanced as were all Andrew Murray’s judgments in the affairs of practical life, he was frequently betrayed, owing to the clearness with which he saw and the intensity with which he felt things spiritual, into the use of language which, as Bishop Moule so courteously expressed it in another connexion, "invites the recollection of other sides of truth.”

That he was well aware of and dissociated himself from Law s unorthodoxy, is clear from the prefaces to his volumes of extracts, Wholly for God and The Power of the Spirit. In his Introduction to the latter, he says:—

In publishing a new volume of Law’s works, I owe a word of explanation to the Christian public, and all the more because some with whom I feel closely united have expressed their doubt of the wisdom of giving greater currency to the writings of an author who differs markedly in some points from what we hold to be fundamental doctrines of the evangelical faith. ... It is because I believe his teaching to supply what many are looking for, that I venture to recommend it. I do so in the confidence that no one will think that I have done so because I consider the truths he denies matters of minor importance, or have any sympathy with his views.

Perhaps it may be well that I state the point of view from which I regard the matter. In all our thoughts of God we look at Him in a twofold light: either as dwelling above us and without us, Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge, or as dwelling and working within us by His Spirit. In redemption the two aspects find their expression in the two great doctrines of justification and regeneration. In the former, God is regarded as Judge, as separate from us, as much against us in law and occupying very much the same relation as any judge on earth towards the accused he sentences. In justification, grace forgives and accepts. In regeneration, the work of redemption is regarded from an entirely different point of view. Sin is death, the loss of the divine life ; grace is seen as the new life implanted by the Holy Spirit, and by Him maintained in the soul.

It is seldom given to any human mind to hold two sides of truth with equal clearness ; and it has often happened that where one side of truth has laid powerful hold, another aspect has been neglected or denied. This was very markedly the case with William Law. The truth of God’s inworking in regeneration, not only as the act of grace by which the divine life is imparted, but in the unceasing maintenance of that life by the working of the indwelling Spirit, so filled his whole soul, that for other truths which did not appear to harmonize with this he had no eye or heart.

Law's obsession with the mystical aspect of the Divine redemption was the ground of the dispute which, in 1738 arose between him and Wesley. The difference between them was largely one of temperament. Law was the studious philosopher, Wesley the practical divine ; Law was the recluse, Wesley the man of tireless activity; Law was naturally pessimistic, Wesley was “never in low spirits for a quarter of an hour.” Law was a quietist, who daily “prostrated himself body and soul, in abysmal silence, before the interior central throne of the divine revelation.” Wesley, on the other hand, was “the most elastic, wiry and invulnerable of men,” and to his sunny and active disposition mysticism seemed simple folly. But though he rejected Law’s mysticism, Wesley was keenly responsive to his moral teaching.

There was much in Law’s earlier writings that stamped itself indelibly upon Wesley’s mind and life, so that, towards the end of his life, he speaks of the Serious Call as "a treatise which will hardly be excelled, if it be equalled, in the English tongue, either for beauty of expression or for justice and depth of thought.”

Wesley had been an earnest preacher of the Gospel for thirteen years before he passed through that memorable experience at the Aldersgate Street meeting, whem his heart was "strangely warmed,” and he was led to trust in Christ, and Christ alone, for full salvation. A few days before this momentous event he wrote a severe letter to Law, reproaching him for never having set before him the way of salvation in all its simplicity. “Under the heavy yoke of the law,” he says, "I might have groaned till death, had not a holy man, to whom God lately directed me, upon my complaining thereof, answered at once, Believe, and thou shalt be saved. Now sir, suffer me to ask, How will you answer it to our common Lord that you never gave me this advice? Why did I scarce ever hear you name the Name of Christ ? never so as to ground anything upon faith in His blood ? Who is this who is laying another foundation ? ” There is no doubt that Wesley was right, and that Law does not give us, and from the nature of his system cannot give us, a dear objective presentation of the atonement wrought by Christ, such as is expressed in the words :—

Bearing shame and scoffing rude In my place condemned He stood, Sealed my pardon with His blood : Hallelujah !

Had Andrew Murray lived in the first half of the eighteenth century instead of the second half of the nineteenth, he might have reconciled Wesley and Law. For he partook of the temperament of both. He resembled Wesley in his practical bent, unwearied activity and ceaseless evangelistic journey-ings. Like Wesley he delighted in preaching, like him he preached the simple Gospel of repentance and faith, and like him he believed in a present, immediate salvation. The fact that he had to do, like Wesley, with simple folk, furnished with very little book learning, to whom the way of salvation must be made exceedingly plain, kept Andrew Murray in close contact with the fundamental truths of the Christian redemption. And, on the other hand, he was a spirit akin to Law. Without possessing or claiming the intellectual range and moral force which are so strikingly manifest in all that Law writes, he reveals the same spiritual intensity, the same ability to pass beyond outward appearances and grapple with the invisible reality, the same concentrated gaze upon the things that lie behind the veil, and a far more burning desire to have others share in the beatific vision of the Unseen One, and in the glorious experience of union with Him in His eternal love and goodness. “Happy man!” cries Dr. Alexander Whyte in a letter to Andrew Murray, "happy man! you have been chosen and ordained of God to go to the heart of things.”

The mention of Dr. Whyte’s name recalls the fact that he was intensely anxious that Mr. Murray should give to the world an autobiography of his spiritual experiences, and especially of his experiences as a man of prayer. It was the one piece of literature, so Dr. Whyte said, that he wished to read before he passed away. In such a volume all the influence of Mr. Murray's writings could be gathered up, and many persons who had not yet been introduced to his works on prayer would by it be attracted to this great subject, while those who already knew and loved his works would turn to them with fresh delight and inspiration after reading the story of his inner life. Dr. Whyte reverted to this matter again and again, and even sent his publisher a characteristic suggestion for a suitable announcement of the hoped-for book, as follows :—

GRACE ABOUNDING AGAIN:
THE SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW MURRAY.

In Preparation

The question of writing an autobiography was more than once broached to Mr. Murray, but he always declined to listen to the suggestion, on the plea that his spiritual experiences were not sufficiently clear-cut. On one occasion his daughter returned to the subject while he was selecting quotations from Law for his booklet The Secret of Inspiration. “Well,” he said, “if I could pass through Law’s experiences, I might be persuaded to set down something, but not otherwise.” When it was suggested to him that his experiences may have been equally deep and vivid, though not along the same lines as Law’s, he shook his head and said, "No, my child, God has been very gracious to me; but in this matter I must have something more to go upon before I can venture to write.” In this attitude of humble self-depreciation he persevered to the end.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 21

Andrew Murray as an Author

A noble man with the gift of utterance, one who is true to the soul of things and in inspired accord with it, and armed with its holy sympathies, and filled with its resistless persuasions, can put himself into the mind of a thousand.—Phillips Brooks.

IN previous chapters of this biography occasional reference has been made to the beginnings of Andrew Murray’s activities as a writer. His earliest literary work was no mere parergon, inspired by the desire to influence a wider audience. It stood in close and vital connexion with his pastoral labours, and aimed at rendering practical daily aid to members of his congregation, most of whom, spending their days on lonely farms fifty or a hundred miles away from Bloemfontein, were able to attend the ministrations of grace at rare intervals only. His first published books dealt with the urgent question of the training of children. Nothing can have impressed the young minister on his journeys among the voortrekkers as deeply as the large numbers of infants presented for baptism. The Boers are a healthy and prolific race. Families of a dozen or more are common, and mothers are occasionally met with who have borne twenty or twenty-four children. The task of Christian mothers, upon whom devolves the duty of inculcating the first principles of morality and teaching the simplest truths of religion, is assuredly no easy one. Mr. Murray’s first book was designed to assist the mothers of his flock in the performance of this duty by providing a Life of Christ in language adapted to the comprehension of the child. It appeared in 1858 as an illustrated quarto volume under the title Jezus de Kindervriend. Many months must have elapsed, in those days of imperfect communication, between the despatch of the manuscript to Europe and the arrival of the printed book. “I am disappointed,” writes Mr. Murray, “that it is not more simple. It is to myself intensely interesting as containing the expression of what filled my mind some time ago. There are passages that I hardly believed that I myself had written.” Jezus de Kindervriend supplied a felt need and was eagerly welcomed, but it remains one of the few books of Andrew Murray which were never translated into English, in which language there exist, happily, many excellent Lives of Christ for children.

The second work which flowed from Mr. Murray's pen was Wat zal toch dit Kindeke wezen? (What manner of Child shall this be ?) It was printed in Cape Town and published in 1863 as a little duodecimo volume with red cardboard cover, and consisted, as the sub-title indicated, of “ meditations for believing parents on the birth and baptism of their children.” In this booklet the author first adopted the method, which he adhered to in most of his subsequent works, of dividing his matter into thirty-one short pieces to correspond with the days of the month. In an interesting preface to a new edition of this work in 1911, Mr. Murray tells us that the first issue occurred while he was minister of Worcester. Several editions of the booklet were then published in Holland, after which it went out of print for many years, having been largely superseded by its English counterpart, The Children for Christ. in which the number of chapters was increased to fifty-two, to form a year’s Sunday reading. The meditations contained in Wat zal toch dit Kindeke wezen? were the gist of baptismal addresses which the author had delivered during his journey-ings through the country while yet minister of Bloemfontein.

When I was still the only minister of the Free State (he writes), I frequently had to baptize forty or fifty children each Sunday on my visits to the various congregations. In the course of my first journey to the Transvaal in 1849 I christened six hundred infants in six weeks’ time, and in the following year he same number received the ordinance.

My father had taught me to act as he did when he paid a pastoral visit to a congregation. To parents who applied for the administration of baptism to their children he always addressed a few words on the meaning, the sacredness, and the implications of the baptismal ceremony. When travelling in the Transvaal I had to keep the register of baptisms myself. We often had nothing more than a tent or a tiny room, which could not contain more than the parents of four or five infants. Yet I endeavoured to speak a few earnest words to each couple. This led me to the practice of preaching a baptismal sermon at each administration of the sacrament, in order to arouse parents to the solemnity of their promises and the need of fervent prayer if they would count on a blessing both for themselves and for their children.

The next booklet to appear from the press was another duodecimo volume, Blijf in Jezus. It saw the light in 1864, and eighteen years later formed Andrew Murray’s introduction to a host of English readers whose number is still increasing, under the title Abide in Christ. When Mr. Murray was on a visit to Worcester in 1898, on the occasion of a Christian Endeavour Conference, he stood in the study of the old Dutch parsonage and said, “ This is the room in which I wrote Blijf in Jezus more than thirty years ago.” The chief object of this manual was to foster and guide the Christian life of the numerous converts who had been gathered in as a blessed result of the revival of i860 and subsequent years. It was followed by a devotional manual for seekers, which first appeared in De Kerkbode as a series of meditations on the fifty-first psalm, and was afterwards issued in book form as Zijt mij genadig (Be merciful unto me). Several other books in Dutch followed during the ensuing years, many of which were reprints of devotional articles contributed to De Kerk bode, though some were composed during the spare moments^ few at best, of his evangelistic journeys.

Abide in Christ, his first English venture, was published by Messrs. Nisbet in 1882, and Mr. Murray very modestly introduced himself to the Christian public as "A. M.” To his brother he wrote, “I feel a little nervous about my debut in English.” The secret of authorship was soon divulged. “This excellent work,” said a prominent Presbyterian journal, “is by a well-known and esteemed minister at the Cape.”

Andrew Murray found his audience almost immediately. Within four years more than forty thousand copies of Abide in Christ had been sold. The companion volume and sequel, Like Christ, an English reproduction of the Dutch booklet Gelijk Jezus, was issued in 1884, and two years later it had already reached its nineteenth thousand. In 1886 appeared With Christ in the School of Prayer—a. book which has enjoyed a wide circulation, especially in America. When the Dutch original was published, a brother-minister of Andrew Murray wrote : “Oh, why did not the author give us this book twenty-five years ago? Would that I might have read a quarter of a century back what I only now read ! The School of Prayer is a perfect treasury, and had the honoured writer published nothing else, our country would have owed him a great debt of gratitude.” Mr. Murray was now finally embarked upon his career as a devotional writer. His name was widely known, and new books from his pen were awaited with great eagerness. The next book in English was The Children for Christ, to which reference has been made already. In the years 1887 and 1888 he wrote Holy in Christ and The Spirit of Christ,—books which give evidence of close theological study as well as of warm evangelical fervour. An important addition to Mr. Murray’s published works was made in 1895 by the issue of The Holiest of All, an exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which drew the following commendatory notice from Professor James Denney :—

The interest in the Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the religious signs of the times. Commentaries upon it multiply, severely truthful, like Dr. Davidson's, verbally precise, like Dr. Vaughan’s; theological, like Dr. Edwards'; not to mention Westcott, Rendall, and many more. But this exposition of Mr. Murray’s distinctly fills a place of its own. It is a true exposition, not a piece of arbitrary moralizing on a sacred text. But it is also a true book of devotion. The writer is as devoid of any interest in the Epistle, but the practical religious interest, as one could imagine any writer to be. He believes there are numbers in the Christain Church to-day “whose experience corresponds exactly with that which the Epistle pictures and seeks to meet," and he writes for them. In one sense this is impossible, for history does not repeat itself; but let anyone who doubts its substantial truth read fifty pages of Mr. Murray’s book, and he will see cause to qualify his opinion. ... It is characteristic of his practical interest in religion that he everywhere lays stress on the living Saviour. The knowledge of Jesus in His heavenly glory and His saving power (the italics are the author’s)—it is this, he says, our Churches need. And he shows the space this filled in the Christian mind of the first days by printing in red, in his interesting analysis of the Epistle, all the texts referring to the heavenly place and work of our Lord. The circulation of a book like this can do nothing but good.

With regard to the genesis of the most of Andrew Murray’s books, it is exceedingly interesting to note the unpremeditated manner in which they were conceived and produced. The School of Prayer was the outcome of a ministerial conference at George on the subject of prayer, where the thought took so mighty a hold on Mr. Murray that he prepared the volume while travelling from town to town for special services. In the same manner was written Het Nieuwe Leven, subsequently translated into English by the Rev. J. P. Lilley under the title of The New Life. To another conference held at Somerset East in 1891 was due the inception of The Holiest of All. The lessons of the Epistle to the Hebrews formed the subject of study at that gathering, and the truths which opened out were so profound and illuminating that the first chapters of a new work, Ziende op Jezus (Looking unto Jesus), were composed in the quiet intervals of the ensuing evangelistic tour. At Wellington, where Mr. Murray’s home was surrounded on every side by smiling vineyards, he derived the most precious lessons on the believer’s union with Christ from an old vine stump, which lay upon his study table during the summer of 1898. Out of the contemplation of this shapeless brown stump grew The Mystery of the True Vine, which was dedicated to the members of the Society for Christian Endeavour throughout the world; while rich gleanings were collected in a supplementary volume, The Fruit of the Vine. Another booklet, Be Perfect, was commenced at the Murrays’ favourite watering-place, Kalk Bay, on the last day of their annual vacation. Preparations for departure were in full swing, while Mr. Murray, undisturbed by the bustle and confusion, sat contentedly at the window overlooking the sea, commencing the first chapter of a fresh message which he had been commissioned to deliver.

After his retirement from the active pastorate in 1906, Mr. Murray gave himself much more continuously to the writing of books and pamphlets. His alert mind would be repeatedly stimulated, by something he had read or experienced, to set forth in print some new aspect of divine truth. One Good Friday morning, as they returned from church, he said to his daughter Annie, who during the latter years of his life acted as his amanuensis, “I must begin a new book”; and immediately dictated the titles of twenty chapters for a booklet on De Lie/de (Love). Occasionally the chapters would be written first, and the title supplied afterwards; but usually the headings were ready before pen touched paper. Two or three years before his death he attended “ one-day conferences ” held at the villages of Caledon and Villiersdorp, and after a week of considerable strain reached home on the Thursday afternoon. On the following morning he said to his daughter, almost apologetically: “I am sorry, but as a result of my visit to Caledon I must commence a new work”; and two chapters and eight chapter-headings were completed the same forenoon. Some days later he observed at breakfast : "I did not sleep very well, so during my waking hours I composed three chapters for a little volume on Christus ons Leven” (Christ our Life); and the three chapters were committed to paper without delay. He used to say, in his humorous manner, that he was like a hen about to lay an egg : he was restless and unhappy until he had got the burden of his message off his mind. When a book was finished, he liked to have it forwarded at once to the printer. Before the copy was made up and despatched he often said to his daughter: “Now just a word of humble thanksgiving first.” Then heads were bowed over the study table, while he prayed: "Lord, we have been endeavouring to instruct others; may we ourselves learn the truths Thou seekest to impart; and do Thou richly bless this book to all its readers. Amen.”

One day in September, 1912, Mr. Murray received a visit from his nephew, Rev. A. A. Louw, when the latter drew from his pocket a tiny volume entitled Uwe Zon (Thy Sun), and remarked how convenient it was to have such a diminutive book to carry about and read at odd moments—on the cart, in the train, at the railway station, anywhere and everywhere. The idea struck Mr. Murray as an excellent one, and, allowing no paralysing interval to elapse between conception and execution, he began at once to compose the first of a series of booklets for the vest pocket.1 During the following five years, until a serious illness intervened in 1916, twelve of these zakboekjes (pocket manuals) were written and printed, five translated into English, forming the "Pocket Companion” series, and several others commenced but left uncompleted at his death. Mr. Murray has conferred no greater boon upon the Christian public than the issue of these manuals of devotion. They are delightfully small and portable, the daily meditations are brief and to the point,, they contain the cream of his mystical teaching, and they are written out of the rich fullness of his unrivalled experience concerning the spiritual needs of God’s people.

A word or two is necessary on Andrew Murray’s style, which, it must be confessed, is a poor one, both in English and Dutch. English readers have ascribed his bad English to the fact that he wrote in Dutch; Dutch readers have ascribed his bad Dutch to the fact that he thought in English. In truth, his defects of style were equally apparent in both Dutch and English ; and the absence of all charm of expression betrayed itself in translations into other languages as well. A letter is extant from a cultured reader of a French version of one of his works, regretting that the language was such as to repel rather than attract readers. Mr. Murray was perfectly aware of his linguistic shortcomings. One of his earliest letters, dating from the Bloemfontein period, contains a lament over “my miserable deficiency in composition”; and to his daughter and amanuensis he would say, in later years: “My child, I have no style, or only a very bad style." On one occasion, when he had just completed some expository work, he observed: ‘‘I am deeply grateful that I have managed to finish these two articles on Ephesians in three days. But I shall have to write it all over again. My style is not what it should be—far too prolix.” On his daughter’s remonstrating, he rejoined: “Well, you just read Charles Fox on The Spiritual Grasp of the Epistles, and you will see the difference. With him, every word means something.”

But while Mr. Murray was by no means insensible to beauty of style in others, he seems to have made no sustained effort to perfect his own. The intensity with which he felt the burden laid upon his heart, and the urgency with which he sought to deliver his message and fulfil his solemn trust, made him in a sense indifferent to the form which that message assumed. At one time he set himself deliberately, it would almost appear, to resist the temptation to clothe his thoughts in fine language. “ I feel it very difficult not to preach myself,” he writes to his parents in 1848, “ by attending too much to beauty of thought and language, and feeling too little that God alone can teach me to preach.” This attitude was probably a natural reaction from the tendency which he observed in Holland, on the part of men who had surrendered the essentials of Christian truth, to deliver from the pulpit moral essays in language of great sweetness and purity, and thus to set before their flock husks for wheat and stones for bread.

On the other hand, his style possesses the strength and eloquence which are born of deep earnestness, and of a sense of the solemnity of the issues presented to men’s minds and consciences. An intensity of purpose and appeal, such as almost every page of Mr. Murray’s writings reveals, can never fail of that true eloquence which stirs men to their very depths. In the possession of a style of writing which moves the emotions, searches the conscience, and winnows sins and shortcomings, Andrew Murray is surely without compeer in this generation. Let us take, by way of illustration, his comments on the word To-day in The Holiest of All:—

To-day!—it is a word of wonderful promise. It tells that To-day, this very moment, the wondrous love of God is for thee—is even now waiting to be poured out into thy heart; that To-day all that Christ has done, and is even now doing in heaven, and is able to do within thee, is within thy reach. To-day the Holy Ghost, in whom there is the power to know and claim and enjoy all that the Father and the Son are waiting to bestow, is within thee—sufficient for every need, equal to every emergency. With every call we find in our Bible to full and entire surrender; with every promise we read of grace for the supply of temporal and spiritual need; with every prayer we breathe, and every longing that rules in our heart, there is the Spirit of promise whispering. To-day. Even as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day.

To-day !—it is a word of solemn command. It is not here a question of some higher privilege which you are free to accept or reject. It is not left to your choice, O believer, whether you will receive the fullness of blessing the Holy Spirit offers. That To-day of the Holy Ghost brings you under the most solemn obligation to respond to God’s call and to say, Yes, to-day. Lord, complete and immediate submission to all Thy will, and a perfect trust in all Thy grace.

To-day!—a word too of earnest warning. There is nothing so hardening as delay. When God speaks to us He asks for a tender heart, open to the whispers of His voice of love. The believer who answers the To-day of the Holy Ghost with the To-morrow of some more convenient season, knows not how he is hardening his heart. The delay, instead of making the surrender, in obedience and faith, easy, makes it more difficult. It closes the heart for to-day against the Comforter, and cuts off all hope and power of growth. O believer, even as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day, so when you hear His voice open the heart in great tenderness to listen and obey. Obedience to the Spirit’s To-day is your only certainty of power and blessing.

His methods of work during the latter years of his life are thus described by his daughter : “He sits up very straight in his study chair, and dictates in a loud, clear voice, as though he were actually addressing his audience. His hours of work are usually from 9 or 10 till 11 in the forenoon, during which time two or three chapters of a book are completed. He is very particular about punctuation, and always says: "New paragraph,” pointing with long, slender finger to the exact spot on the paper where the new line must commence, "full-stop,” “comma,” "colon,” “semi-colon,” as the sense may require. Should his secretary perpetrate some mistake or other in spelling, he would make some playful remark like: "You will have to go back to the kindergarten, you know.” At n o’clock he would say: "Now give me ten minutes’ rest; or no, let us write some letters for a change.” Then half a dozen letters would be quickly dictated, in reply to requests for prayer for healing, for the conversion of unconverted relations, for the deliverance of friends addicted to drink, or, it might be, business letters. Occasionally a letter would be dictated for the Kerkbode on the state of the Church, or for the public Press on some matter affecting the country. The manuscript of a new book was often kept inside the pages of an illustrated annual. " Now bring me Father Christmas,” he would say, and the manuscript pages of one of the Pocket Companion series would be produced from the covers of the journal which had shielded them from harm. When recovering from an illness, he often wrote in bed. He always dictated in a tone of great earnestness, and was specially anxious to get a great deal into a page. "Write closer, closer,” he often repeated. When near the end of the foolscap page, he said: “Now the last four lines for a prayer”; and then he would fold his hands, close his eyes, and actually pray the prayer which ended the written meditation.

Whether Andrew Murray's literary career can be divided into distinct periods is open to doubt. It cannot be truthfully said that he passed through clearly defined stages of spiritual growth, which can be traced in his published writings. The reader of his earliest volumes is impressed by the maturity of thought and experience which they reveal. All the teachings of his later lifetime are present, though he does not as yet bring out their full implication with the force and intensity that characterize his more recent works. This intensity is noticeable in the way in which he emphasizes and underscores and prints in black type words and sentences which he counts important. No one who compares a page of Abide in Christ or Holy in Christ with a page of The Holiest of All or The Key to the Missionary Problem can fail to be struck with this marked difference. Thus, though all the truths which Mr. Murray proclaimed so persuasively were present from the very outset, the emphasis which he placed upon them varied in the course of time. His first writings had chiefly in view the edification of believers—their building-up in faith and love and prayer. To this class belong Abide in Christ, Like Christ, The New Life, and many others. During the next period, commencing with the publication in 1888 of Holy in Christ, he dwells with greater persistency bn the subject of sanctification. This period may be subdivided into two by the year 1894—the stage when he was not yet acquainted with Law’s writings, and the stage when he had fallen under the influence of that great mystic. The final period, characterized by the stress which he lays on the weighty subject of intercessory prayer, we may regard as ushered in by the appearance in 1911 of The State of the Church—a Plea for more Prayer. It must be observed, however, that the dividing lines are vague and blurred. Books on prayer were published during the " Sanctification ” period, and books on both sanctification and prayer during the first or " Edification ” period. But, speaking generally, if we regard the subjects which chiefly engrossed the author’s attention, the classification stands as suggested above.

To a greater extent than almost any other religious writer of our age Mr. Murray possessed the insight and the authority of one of the prophets of olden time. At critical moments in the history of the Church he never failed to raise his voice and to direct attention to the real issues. Those who are intimate with his career in South Africa will agree that there was no man who could rise to a great occasion like Andrew Murray. He possessed the gift of speaking, at the right season, the right and just word, of opening up the larger view and kindling the nobler emotions. This gift he exercised in his writings also. In 1896 a leading article in the British Weekly originated an interesting discussion on the Dearth of Conversions. This was a subject which made instant appeal to earnest soul-seekers like D. L. Moody and Andrew Murray. The latter contributed to the Life of Faith four papers on the question that had been raised. He deals first of all with the alleged reasons for the grievous state of affairs—the influence of the Higher Criticism, the prevalent literary culture, the lack of evangelical sermons, and so forth ; and then, with his usual point and force, he indicates the real cause : “ the dearth of conversions can be owing to nothing but the lack of the power of the Holy Spirit.” There is no one who/ reads Mr. Murray’s papers—which were published in pamphlet form by Messrs. Marshall—but feels instinctively that his intervention raised the discussion to a higher level, and that his diagnosis of the evil went behind superficial symptoms and reached ultimate causes.

When The Key to the Missionary Problem and The State of the Church appeared in 1901 and 1911 respectively, leaders of the Christian Church recognized that these books were more than mere publications : their issue constituted events in the history of the Church of our days. Of the former book and the impression which it produced we have already spoken in the chapter on Andrew Murray as a Missionary Statesman. The State of the Church was an outcome of the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference. When the nine volumes containing the reports of that great gathering were published, no one scanned them with more eager interest than Mr. Murray. "To which volume, do you think, did I turn first?” he once asked the present writer. “To the volume on Carrying the Gospel, I suppose,” was the reply. “Not at all,” said Mr. Murray; "what interested me first and foremost was The Home Base.” It was the perusal of this sixth volume of “Edinburgh 1910” that inspired The State of the Church, with its trumpet-call to “ seven times more prayer.” “Sevenfold is the sign of the burning furnace seven times heated. It is in the new intensity of the prayer of those who already pray that our hope lies.”

In South Africa the message of The State of the Church laid powerful hold upon the most earnest minds in the Dutch Reformed Church. Professor de Vos, of the Stellenbosch Theological Seminary, addressed an open letter to his fellow-ministers, acknowledging and deploring the Church's lack of spiritual power, and suggesting that they should meet together and in God’s presence seek to trace this weakness to its source. A conference, attended by more than two hundred ministers, missionaries, and theological students, was held in April, 1912. Mr. Murray, who of course was present, tells us that:—

The Lord graciously so ordered it that we were gradually led to the sin of prayerlessness, as one of the deepest roots of the evil. No one could plead himself free from this. Nothing so reveals the defective spiritual life in minister and congregation as the lack of believing and unceasing prayer. When once the spirit of confession began to prevail, the question arose as to whether it would be indeed possible to expect to gain the victory over all that had in the past hindered our prayer-life. Such confessions gradually led to the great truth that the only power for a new prayer-life is to be found in an entirely new relation to our blessed Saviour. Before we parted many were able to testify that they were returning with new light and new hope, to find in Jesus Christ strength for a new prayer-life.

Through his writings Mr. Murray has reached a world-wide audience. His books have been translated into most European and not a few Eastern languages. Thus they have circulated not only in the languages in which they originally saw the light—Dutch and English—but also in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Russian, Yiddish, Arabic, Armenian, Telugu, Malayalam, Japanese, and Chinese. As to the influence which they have exercised in China, the Rev. Donald McGillivray, of the Christian Literature Society for China, writes :—

A good many years ago I was travelling in the interior, and came to a missionary’s home. She very soon informed me that she had made a discovery. She said that for some years she had had some of Andrew Murray’s books on her bookshelf, but had not read them. Lately, however, she was moved to take one down, and it revealed to her the blessedness of being filled with the Spirit. From that time I also began to read his books. The Spirit of Christ in particular brought great blessing to myself and to the Chinese, to whom I passed on its message. Some years afterwards I was called to Shanghai to do literary work in connextion with the Christian Literature Society. One of the first books which I translated was Andrew Murray’s Spirit of Christ. The book passed through many editions, and we often heard of the good it was doing. In one city a revival broke out through the book: in another case a' pastor preached on it Sunday by Sunday, taking a chapter each Sunday as subject.

The Ministry of Intercession also was a blessing to China. The Prayer-cycle at the end was adapted and translated for use in China, especially in the mission of the Canadian Presbyterian Church. With Christ in the School of Prayer has lately been issued by our Society, and there may be other works of his which have also been translated into Chinese. I have no doubt Dr. Murray’s books have been rendered into many languages, but I thought that his influence upon China should be mentioned in his Life.

Mr. Murray’s works frequently appeared in other languages without his knowledge or previous permission, and he derived, of course, no pecuniary benefit from them. Indeed, the cases were wholly exceptional where translations brought him any gain. Leave to render any of his writings into another language, when asked, was freely and gladly given. Of the works which appeared in German dress the majority were published by Ernst Rottger, at Kassel. When in Switzerland in 1903 Mr. Murray got into touch with this gentleman, and stayed for some days with his family, who were earnest Christian people. Herr Rottger gave a most interesting account of how Mr. Murray had influenced his life. As a young man he read The Children for Christ, and from that book he obtained a conception of what a Christian home might be and ought to be. He then sought in marriage the hand of a young Christian maiden with whom he was acquainted, and who had spent some time in England. She agreed to become his wife; they were married; “and in this way,” so he concluded, "Mr. Murray helped me to find a life-partner and found a Christian home.”

Of the' blessing which Mr. Murray's writings have brought to the thousands, the tens of thousands, and the hundreds of thousands who have purchased and presumably read them, it is impossible to speak. Scores of letters have been preserved, from correspondents all over the world, expressing the deep gratitude of the writers for spiritual benefit derived from the study of Mr. Murray’s volumes. The author of these lines has personally examined some one hundred and fifty such letters, and their perusal has produced an overwhelming impression of the blessed ministry which Andrew Murray exercised by the use of his fertile and tireless pen. Unknown persons in every quarter of the globe hail him as their spiritual father, and ascribe whatever growth their Christian life has undergone to the influence of his priceless devotional works. “What I owe to you eternity alone will reveal,” is the language of a lady in New South Wales ; and her testimony can be paralleled by that of correspondents from the United States and Canada, Great Britain and the Continent, Holland and South Africa, India, China, and Australasia. Many of the letters contain not merely the expression of gratitude but prefer requests of various nature. There are first of all numerous requests for intercession : prayer is asked for the conversion of beloved children, for the healing of sick relatives, for the rescue of friends from doubt or from drink, for congregational and mission work, for philanthropic and literary undertakings. There are the inevitable requests for autographs. Some letters beg for a donation towards some Christian enterprise or other. One letter from an Armenian asks for a subsidy in order to publish a translation of one of Mr. Murray’s works. But all the- letters testify to the love and esteem which a great reading constituency, scattered over the whole earth, bear towards the saintly man who has endeavoured to lead them into paths of righteousness and true holiness.

Only a small selection, taken almost at random, is here given from letters which have escaped destruction:—

A gentleman in India writes:—

I am now seventy years of age. It is more than thirty years since I first read Abide in Christ; and after that The Spirit of Christ gave me a vision which made everything in life different.

A lady in America, a worker among the negroes in the Southern States, says :—

I just want humbly and with all my heart to thank you for all you have done for me, and also to ask you to take to God in your prayer-hour the enclosed card, bearing my name and place of service.

A minister in Canada testifies:—

The State of the Church has so helped me that I cannot refrain from sending you a word of heartfelt thanks. If that book only does for other ministers what it has done for me, then you have not written in vain.

A young Dutch lady writes:—

When I was seventeen years of age you delivered some addresses here in Haarlem (Holland), which made a deep impression. I was subsequently converted by reading your booklet Not my Will.

A girl from the South of France sends the following message :

I hope you will excuse me for the liberty I take to write to you in my bad English. Gratefulness is my only motive. I possess since last year your dear book of Abide in Christ, translated in French. I cannot tell you how many times I have read it over and how much good it has done me.

A lady in England, expressing thanks for the blessing derived from With Christ in the School of Prayer, prefaces her letter of appreciation by quoting some words from a paper entitled The Blessing of a Book, viz.: “He had to live deeply in order to write helpfully. Some recognition of the help we have gotten from him is due to him.”

A gentleman in Ireland says :—

I have read all, or nearly all, your books, some of them twelve times. Next to the Bible, they have been more helpful to me than any books I have ever read. Humility and Waiting on God are the two that have helped me most.

A native of Basutoland, South Africa, affirms, in sentences which will raise a smile, that he has learnt the following lessons from Mr. Murray’s works :—

A native Christian in South India commences his letter thus:—

Most venerable and dear Sir,—I have been for the last one year studying your book Abide in Christ with great interest and earnestness. The book has been really a blessing to me. I came to understand what abiding in Christ actually was only after coming across your valuable work.

A gentleman from Somersetshire, into whose hands The Key to the Missionary Problem had fallen, writes:—

I have been greatly profited by reading your book on Missions, and I cannot help thinking that some effort should be made to bring it to the notice of every member of the various Churches. I respectfully suggest the issue of a million copies (to start with) at one penny each !

The wife of an Australian minister relates the following :—

Now, as for so many years past, your books, beloved Father in God, are next to God's Word my very greatest spiritual help. Only lately a lady, living two hundred miles from Sydney, sent down for a copy of your book Absolute Surrender. I had two copies, brought from England, and immediately posted her one. I have since heard how the book is lent from house to house, direct spiritual blessing following in many cases. I have now made arrangements with a bookseller to get me everything you write as it comes out.

A pastor in the United States writes:—

I have long wished to write to you to express, however feebly, my sense of gratitude for good received, under God, from your books. While we have not met in the flesh, yet I somehow feel that I know you from frequent meetings at a common mercy-seat, and from becoming so familiar with your mind and spirit through years of study given to your various books.

A gentleman writing from New Jersey, U.S.A., says:—

Some time ago I got a copy of your book entitled Waiting on God. It interested me very much, and I have been over it once or twice with great profit. It has been my habit for the past few years, at the end of^the year, to send to a number of my friends in the Foreign Field and in England a book as a Christmas greeting. It occurred to me that you would be interested to know that I distributed something like fifty copies of Waiting on God, and asked my friends to begin on ist January to read it with me. I sent the book to Madeira, England, Scotland, North Africa, East Africa, Syria, India, China, Japan, and also to friends in this country. I want to take this opportunity of thanking you for what you have done for me and allowed me to do for my friends.

" Nowhere can I recall such a fine bit of Christian philosophy as is concentrated in this card, under the heading In Time of Trouble say," so writes an enthusiastic American correspondent, and his words invite the story of how the card originated. When Mr. Murray visited England in 1895, as described in the previous chapter, he was suffering from a weak back, the result of an accident in Natal some years previously, when he was thrown violently out of a capsizing cart. He was due to speak one evening at Exeter Hall, and it seemed as though he would be unable to fulfil his engagement. Some expressions he had employed, too, had given offence and provoked hostile criticism, so that mental suffering was superinduced on physical. When his sympathetic hostess, Mrs. Head, brought him his breakfast, she informed him that a lady had called in sore trouble, and anxious for a word of advice. “ Well, just give her this, that I have been writing down for myself,” said Mr. Murray ; “ it may be that she will find it helpful.” And he handed Mrs. Head a sheet of paper containing these fines :—

First : He brought me here; it is by His will I am in this strait place : in that I will rest.

Next: He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child.

Then : He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the giace He means to bestow.

Last : In His good time He can bring me out again—how and when He knows. ,

SAY : I am here—

1. By God’s appointment. 3. Under His training.

2. In His keeping. 4. For His time.

Psalm 1. 15. Andrew Murray.

This message for the day of adversity seemed to be so timely, that interested friends had it printed on a coloured card, and distributed in large numbers. They had the satisfaction of knowing that it carried a rich blessing to many hearts and homes.

The following letter, addressed to Mr. Murray in the early days by one who occupies such an honourable position in the Church of Christ as Dr. Whyte of Free St. George’s, must find a place among these extracts:—

Bonskeid, Pitlochrie, N.B.

Sabbath afternoon.

Dear Mr. Murray,—

I have been spending a New Year week out of Edinburgh and up in this beautiful spot, sanctified for me by generations of praying progenitors. I have read a good deal during last week; but nothing half so good as your With Christ. I have read in criticism and in theology; but your book goes to the joints and the marrow of things. You are a much honoured man : how much only the day will declare. The other books I have been reading are all able and good in their way ; but they are spent on the surface of things. Happy man ! you have been chosen and ordained of God to go to the heart of things. I have been sorely rebuked, but also much directed and encouraged by your With Christ. Thank you devoutly and warmly this Sabbath afternoon. I am to send your book to some of my friends on my return to Town to-morrow.

With high and warm regard,

Alexander Whyte.

Though there have been significant exceptions, the writers of books have also been, in most cases, diligent readers' of books. This was certainly the case with Andrew Murray. When asked to mention the authors who influenced him in his earliest years, he used to say that hey was too busy, at Aberdeen and Utrecht, in studying English, Dutch, and German, to do much general reading. In his uncle’s Scotch home he found himself, fortunately, in a reading atmosphere, for the manse was well supplied with Church magazines, missionary periodicals, theological and devotional books, and works of general literature. Of missionary biographies he could remember the lives of John Williams and Robert Moffat,1 and the pleasure and inspiration which their perusal imparted.

The strenuous years at Bloemfontein left small leisure for the study of books, which were then both scarce and dear, but his correspondence shows that periodicals like the North British Review and the Evangelische Kirchenzeitung were keeping him in touch with the life and thought of Europe. In his letter to John Murray, quoted at the commencement of Chapter VIII, he expresses the hope of being able to “do more in the way of reading than heretofore”; and the works he mentions evince a distinct and happy inclination towards those most stimulating of all books—biographies. “Novels,” says his daughter, “he could not and would not read, but biographies were his delight.” His bookshelves were crowded with many Lives, beginning with those of Mary Lyon and Fidelia Fiske, which greatly moulded all his educational work. The Life and Letters of Edward Thring and Skrine’s Pastor Agnorum, as well as the life of that remarkable and eccentric man, Almond of Loretto, were given, loaned, or recommended to scores of teachers. In later years he acquired and studied the lives#of Hannah Pipe and Dorothea Beale. Other favourite biographies were those of George Fox, David Brainerd, John Wesley, William Burns, Andrew Bonar, George Muller, D. L. Moody, and Hudson Taylor. To the lives of the educationalists mentioned above must be added the works of Comenius, Pestalozzi, Froebel, and Herbert Spencer,—writers who all assisted in greater or less degree in shaping his views on the principles and practice of education.

In enumerating Andrew Murray's book friends during the last twenty years of his life, there is one writer who occupies a place of pre-eminence—William Law. “ The more I read his writings,” says Mr. Murray, “ the more I am impressed by his insight, range, and power. I marvel how it is that he has not been assigned a far higher place than he actually holds. For fine observation of the human heart there is surely no one like him among English writers.” Mr. Murray possessed the Works of William Law in the nine-volume edition published in London in 1762. The tracts to which he was specially drawn were An Address to the Clergy, The Spirit of Christ, The Spirit of Love, A Serious Call, and Christian Perfection. These were read, re-read, and underscored, in token of his appreciation of the inestimable worth of their teachings. This deep appreciation was even more strikingly proved by the fact that he edited no less than six volumes of selections from Law’s writings, viz. : Wholly for God, The Power of the Spirit, The Divine Indwelling, Dying to Self, and two little booklets in the “ Pocket Companion ” series, one in English (The Secret of Inspiration) and one in Dutch {God inons). Dr. Alexander Whyte’s volume, William Law, Non-juror and Mystic, found its way to the bookshelf at Clairvaux as soon as it was published, and Mr. Murray acknowledged the service which it had rendered him in the following words: “With many others I owe Dr. Whyte a debt of gratitude for this introduction to one of the most powerful and suggestive writers on the Christian life it has been my privilege to become acquainted with.”

When asked on one occasion how he came to be interested in mysticism, Mr. Murray replied that his attention was directed to it by the writings of the German theologian J. T. Beck, from which he was led on to study the works of other mystics. He greatly prized the Theologia Germanica, with its unknown voice from the past and its preface by Luther. A fresh copy of this work was ordered from England in 1916, and it was one of the last books that he read and pencil-marked. Ruysbroeck and Madame Guyon, as well as Dora Greenwell of the moderns, were among his chief friends. He greatly admired Catherine of Siena and Santa Teresa, of whom he possessed several Lives. Vaughan’s Hours with the Mystics was in the Wellington home for many years, until it was finally despatched to Nyasaland to be added to the missionaries’ library at Mvera. He greatly valued also The Quiet in the Land and Three Friends of God by Frances Bevan, with whom he carried on some correspondence. All that Dr. Whyte wrote or edited was welcome—The Apostle Paul, and the appreciations of Lancelot Andrewes, Santa Teresa, Sir Thomas Browne, Jacob Behmen, Bishop Butler, Father John, Samuel Rutherford,,, and H. Newman. Among more recent books he was an admirer of Amiel's Journal Intime, and delighted also in the writings of Charles Wagner and Pastor Stockmaier; P. T. Forsyth, A. E. Garvie, and W. M. Clow; Bishop Handley Moule and Dr. J. R. Mott; and the German professors Harnack and Eucken.

Books on prayer accumulated rapidly during the last years. He was very full of this subject, and when he discovered any work which brought him spiritual benefit, he wanted others to share in the privilege and profit. Such was the case with Cornaby’s Prayer and, the Human Problem, of which he despatched numerous copies, specially marked, to various friends. With this writer, a missionary in China, he had considerable correspondence on the question of prayer and the establishment of prayer-circles. Bounds’ Power through Prayer was another book which impressed him, and for Granger Fleming’s The Dynamic of All-Prayer he wrote a recommendatory preface.

Mr. Murray left several projected works incomplete at his death. He was greatly interested, in connexion with the missionary problem, in Zinzendorf and the Moravian Brethren, and wished to publish in Dutch a life of Zinzendorf for the benefit of his readers in South Africa. For this purpose he collected, in addition to Hamilton’s History of the Moravian Church and Hutton’s briefer work, quite a number of lives of Zinzendorf in German, which language he read with ease and pleasure. But the book was never completed; and this too was the lot which befell an elementary treatise on education, also planned in Dutch. Better fortune has attended a work on The Inner Life of St. Paul, for which he bought and borrowed many studies of the great apostle. A work on St. Paul, by a man of Andrew Murray’s spiritual insight, should prove to be no small boon for the Christian Church; and happily it was nearly completed when he died, and will probably see the light in due course.

New books and periodicals from England were constantly arriving at Clairvaux. Mr. Murray would read aloud at meal-times passages which had struck him as memorable. In this way the members of the family heard many of Tersteegen’s poems, such as Ambassadors for Christ, Bands of Love, and a poem on Acts xxvi. 16, commencing:—

Mine the mighty ordination Of the pierced hands,—verses which were associated with the ordination, in 1894, of his nephew, Rev. W. H. Murray, as missionary to Nyasaland. When the books of Charles Wagner were being generally read and discussed, he quoted from The Simple Life—

I love life and humanity under all their wholesome, sincere forms, in all their griefs and their hopes, and even in all the tempest of thought and deed. Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.

The thought expressed by Wagner on the beautiful and mellowing influence of an old person on the inmates of a home greatly impressed him :—

Mercifully there is Grandmother’s room. Through many toils and much suffering she has come to meet things with the calm assurance which life brings to men and women of high thinking and large heart.

From Pastor Agnorum he quoted:—

I shall relate, not of what I have done, but of what I have failed to do; the duty discerned, not achieved.

Mr. Murray had a way of writing quotations and moral axioms on little cards for future use. Here is one which was inscribed on a shop-ticket taken from a dressing-gown, and hung for years from the study mantelpiece :—

Live in that which should be, and you will transform that which is.

After reading Herrmann’s Communion of the Christian with God, he repeated the following sentence from that work: “ A heavenly life is not incompatible with our earthly work.” At the breakfast-table he discoursed on German theology, and on the attitude of the school of Ritschl, to which Herrmann belongs. Dogma or doctrine is of no account; the centre of Christianity is the historical Christ, in His life and practice. When conducting the morning devotions he prayed " that we may realize the love of Christ, more tender, infinite, deep, and true than any earthly love, however tender.” Mr. Murray’s admiration of the gifts bestowed on other men, and his enthusiasm for what he found admirable in their life or work, were unbounded. On receiving a copy of Coil-lard of the Zambesi, he sent a few lines of thanks to the authoress, Miss Mackintosh, saying among other things: “Though I had long known and loved and honoured Mr. Coillard, whom we more than once were privileged in having as our guest, the first chapter on his ancestry, his up-bringing, his call to mission work, and his devotedness to his life-task, made me feel as if I had entertained an angel unawares ... It is wonderful how the written page can give back the spirit of a man with all its heroic influences.”

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 22

Andrew Murray’s Home Life

How little I know of you and of the inmost history of your soul. And that is our real history, though we so often attach weight to external circumstances and events. And how little of that deeper biography can be communicated in words. Life is too high and real and spiritual for even our highest conceptions to apprehend, or our best expressions to grasp.—Andrew Murray {to his sister Maria).

WELLINGTON was for forty-six years the scene of Mr. Murray’s labours. To the readers of his books, as to the present generation of South Africans, he has never been otherwise known than as “ Andrew Murray of Wellington.” In this village he dwelt successively in two different homes. The first, which he occupied for twenty-one years, was the old Parsonage—a large double-storied building on Church Street, surrounded by its own grounds, gardens, and outbuildings, and situated in close proximity to the Dutch church, but without any view of the surrounding mountains, which are concealed behind leafy oaks and tall fir trees. In 1892 the Rev. J. R. Albertyn joined Mr. Murray as colleague in the pastorate, and the Murray family vacated the Parsonage to the new-comers and removed to Clairvaux, a residence which had been erected on a portion of ground belonging to the Training Institute. Here Mr. Murray spent the remaining years of his life. Clairvaux cannot boast such spacious grounds as the Parsonage, being flanked on one side by the Institute buildings, and on the other by Sunnyside, a hostel originally intended for students of the Training School. But its site is nevertheless greatly superior. Situated on a ridge above a little valley, it overlooks smiling gardens and broad green vineyards, with a background of low hills bedecked with waving cornfields and dotted with old oak-embowered Dutch homesteads. The house is girt about on the sunny north with a broad stoep, and on this stoep, when the weather was kind, Mr. Murray used to receive his visitors, transact his business, and write his books. He never wearied of the outlook—to the right, the lofty Drakenstein mountains, snow-capped in winter, on which the westering sun would cast the most marvellous colours, from pale blue to rich purple and flaming red ; before, the view which has just been described; to the left, the long hill-slopes reaching down to the Berg River. It is a quiet pastoral scene, remote from the dusty highways of life. The throb of the restless world is audible, but restlessness is unknown in this retreat of peace. The whistle of a distant train or the rattle of a passing vehicle may occasionally break the silence, but cannot disturb the settled quiet, of this home among the vineyards.

In his wife Mr. Murray possessed a true life-partner—an affectionate wife, a faithful mother, one who was in closest sympathy with his work and aims, and who gladly shared the burden of his congregational toil. When they came to Wellington in 1871 their children numbered nine: the two youngest died in the following year, but in 1873 another son, the last of the family, was bom. Owing to the father’s prolonged absences from home on ^evangelistic errands, the training of these children devolved to a large extent upon Mrs. Murray; and she acquitted herself of her task with exemplary devotion, earning the lasting gratitude and deep affection of all her sons and daughters. So long as life endured her zeal in the service of the Master never slackened. To her work in Bloemfontein, especially in connexion with Mr. Murray’s rectorship of the Grey College, we have already referred. During the revival of i860 she instituted a ladies' prayer-meeting at Worcester which has been continued down to the present day. She was the first to introduce children’s work-circles for the missionary cause, both at Worcester and in Cape Town. On behalf of Sunday-school work her efforts were untiring. As her children grew up and set her free from domestic duties, the sphere of her activities was enlarged. At Wellington the Huguenot Seminary, the Mission Training Institute, and Friedenheim—a training school for women workers—owe much to her fostering care. In 1898, chiefly on her initiative, an industrial school for poor white girls was opened, which supplied a felt need and achieved a large measure of success. Mrs. Murray was also president, from its inception, of the Vrouwen Zending Bond (Women’s Missionary Union), and much of the marvellous growth and wide influence of this society may be traced to her unceasing interest and wise counsels. She suffered greatly from rheumatism in her later years. Towards the end of 1904 an unusually severe attack supervened, and she was compelled to keep her bed, though no serious results were apprehended. Suddenly she grew weaker. The end came on the 2nd January, 1905, while her husband was praying and her four daughters kneeling at her bedside. She passed away, sincerely mourned by all who knew and loved her, leaving to us an inspiring example of piety, patience, gentleness, Christian grace, and whole-hearted devotion to Jesus Christ the Lord.

As to the harmonious and affectionate relationship which existed between Mr. Murray and his wife, we have the testimony of Frederick (afterwards Dr.) Kolbe, who was for some time an inmate of their home while the Murrays were yet in Cape Town. “I hope,” writes Dr. Kolbe, “that Mr. and Mrs. Murray knew by instinct how I loved them, but I never could tell them. All I know is that if either of them had asked me to put my hand in the fire for them, I would have done it. That was the time I saw Andrew Murray at the closest possible quarters. I may have been shy, but I certainly was observant. He was a very highly strung man. His preaching was so enthusiastic, his gesticulation so unrestrained, that he was wearing himself out, and the doctor ordered him to sit while preaching ; so he had a special stool made for Anreith's great pulpit in order to obey the doctor without letting everybody know. Now, such an output of nervous energy (and he was a frequent preacher) might well mean some reaction at home—some irritation with his wife, some unevenness towards his children, some caprice towards the stranger within his gates. But no, I never knew him thrown off his balance. His harmony with Mrs. Murray was perhaps easy; she was such a gracious, wifely, motherly person, that not to be in harmony with her would be self-condemnation—but he never did condemn himself. He was solid gold all through.”

Eight children of Andrew and Emma Murray, four daughters and four sons, arrived at maturity. The first to be called home, at the early age of twenty-three, was Howson Ruther-foord, the eldest son, a lad of staunch Christian principles. He was not a robust youth, and, being unable to continue his studies, entered the business of his uncle, Mr. F. F. Rutherfoord, in Cape Town, where he died unexpectedly in 1885, while his parents were absent in the Transvaal. Emmie, the eldest daughter, was for many years an enthusiastic worker in Cape Town in connexion with the Salvation Army, in which she reached the rank of staff-captain. In 1902 she severed her alliance with the Army in order to assume the direction of the Magdalena House, an institution erected for the rescue of young girls and unfortunate women, in which capacity she has rendered invaluable services to the Church and to the community generally. Mary, the second daughter, entered the mission-field, and was for many years associated with missionary work among the Sechuana-speaking Bakhatla, first at Sauls Poort and then at Mochudi. The third daughter, Catherine Margaret (Kitty) devoted herself to educational work, and occupied important positions, first as principal of the Branch Huguenot Seminary at Bethlehem, and subsequently at Graaff-Reinet. The youngest daughter J Annie, was for the last twenty years of his life Mr. Murray’s faithful and zealous private secretary; and it is to her friendly aid and generous loan of material that the present writer is indebted for thie details of Mr. Murray’s home life which are presented in the last chapters of this volume. Two of the sons, J ohn and Charles, fulfilled the desires of their parents’ hearts by becoming missionaries—the former among the Basuto of the northern Transvaal, and the latter among the natives of Nyasaland, until the health of his wife (who died in 1913) compelled his withdrawal from that malarial climate. Charles then became minister of Rossville (Rhodes) in the Cape Province, but afterwards again took service, though only for a time, as missionary at Mochudi in British Bechuanaland.

Another son, Andrew Haldane, senior to the two just mentioned, possessed a strikingly thoughtful and independent mind and very considerable intellectual ability. After-graduating B.A. at the South African College, he became a student of Christ’s College, Cambridge, returning to the Cape to pass his examination for the degree of M.A. After some years of successful teaching he was appointed inspector of schools, which office he fulfilled with great diligence and devotion. Subsequently, however, he decided to devote himself to farming, and settled down in the Graaff-Reinet district, becoming a highly-respected member of the community, and representing, for some time, the division of Alice in the House of Assembly. When the Great War broke out, he volunteered as a private for the campaign in East Africa, rose to be lieutenant, and was killed in action, in 1916, in an attempt to save the life of a wounded fellow-countryman. A -wife and three children were left to mourn the death of a noble husband and father at the age of fifty years.

The Murray family form a well-defined clan in South Africa. This is due, in large part, to Mr. Murray’s endeavours to bind the various members together in affection, in mutual esteem, and in the service and love of God. It is he who suggested that the different members of the family should intercede for each other every Sunday evening, and sing the hymn associated with their father’s departure from Scotland—0 God of Bethel, by whose hand Thy people still are fed. He also tried to inaugurate a circular letter, in which the heads of each family should give accounts of their children—of their character, tastes, studies, and religious attitude. The experiment does not, however, seem to have been a great success. One such letter, written in 1875, is extant, but it lacks what we most desire to read—the remarks of Mr. Murray himself. The writers are the brothers William, Charles, and George Murray, with their brothers-in-law, J. H. Hofmeyr and A. A. Louw— all of them ministers of the Gospel. The last-named commences his observations thus:—“I did not receive the circular letter till the 10th, and was compelled to postpone my reply till to-day (16th), because I could not, or could only with the utmost difficulty, decipher the script of my brothers (notably of Wellington and Worcester). At first I laid the letter aside in despair. To-day, with the aid of a pair of spectacles and Mima, I have made out enough to be able to start writing. May I beg of the brothers to write me as little Sanscrit as possible?" At the end of his letter Mr. Louw asks the pertinent question: "When will the first children of our ministers and [theological] professors emerge from the shade of the Stellenbosch oak trees as missionaries and teachers? Shall we not begin to reflect that, while on occasion we preach so powerfully, speak so movingly, and write so persuasively on the duty of parents to dedicate their children to the Lord, we ourselves never come forward with our own children ? ” These words bore fruit, and in later years we find the children of the parsonages—with the Murray clan at their head— offering themselves in increasing numbers for the mission-field and the schoolmaster’s desk..

The thought of a great family gathering, which should bring together as many as possible of the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the old Graaff-Reinet home, suggested itself at various times to different members of the circle of sons and daughters. One reunion of this nature was held in 1906, of which we here transcribe, with some abbreviation and alteration, the account written by one of the nephews :—

Thanks to Uncle Andrew and Aunt Maria [Mrs. J. H. Neethling], a family gachering, though on a much smaller scale than at one time planned, did eventually take place on the beach at Kalk Bay on the ioth November, 1906. There were present—

Uncle Andrew, 3 children, 2 grandchildren .... 6
Aunt Maria Neethling, 5 children, 5 grandchildren . . .11
Uncle John and Aunt Bella Hofmeyr, 4 children, 3 grandchildren 9
Uncle George and Aunt Kitty Murray, 6 children . . .8
Of Uncle John Murray’s family, 6 children, 18 grandchildren . 24
Of Uncle Willie Murray’s family, 3 children, 5 grandchildren . 8
Of Aunt Jemima Louw’s family, 1 child . . . . 1
Of Uncle Charles Murray’s family, 1 child . . . .1
Total . 68

The party reached Kalk Bay at eleven in the forenoon, and after mutual greetings gathered round the six veterans, and seating themselves on the sand and the rocks, sang, at Uncle Andrew’s request, O God of Bethel, by whose hand. After prayer by Uncle George, Uncle Andrew told us how the thought of a reunion of the members of the family had for long filled the hearts of some of them. They missed there some who were already in heaven, and the fragrant remembrance of their departed dear ones made their hearts very tender. They missed others who were still on earth, but who could not gather with them that day ; but at the presence of all who had been able to attend they greatly rejoiced. In speaking of God’s great goodness Uncle Andrew said, “Our father came to this country a solitary man, and God has made him a great host.” Aunt Maria, Aunt Bella, and Uncle Andrew then gave us details of the history of our Scottish forbears, describing in particular the departure of our grandfather from Scotland. Aunt Maria then said she would like to give us a text: “This God is our God for ever and ever : He will be our guide even unto death” (Ps. lxxxiv. 14). In repeating these words so that all should hear, Uncle Andrew said we might add, "God, even our own God, shall bless us; God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him ” (Ps. lxvii. 6).

At this point our little meeting broke up for lunch, after which the boys of the third and fourth generation played paarderuiter,* while the girls betook themselves to the pools and the rocks. At the close of our picnic we were photographed, and then we adjourned to the Kalk Bay church, where we sang together Prijs den Heer met blijde galmen (Psalm cxlvi.). Uncle Andrew then requested all the children to stand, while in simple language he explained to them the reason which had brought us to Kalk Bay that day. It was that we might thank God for the past, and unite in the resolution to love Him and love each other better in the future. Uncle John Hofmeyr said that we had indeed cause to praise God : of all Papa Murray’s grandchildren there was not one of whom we had reason to be ashamed. The most of them were serving God in various capacities, many as ordained ministers of the Gospel. But the thought that filled his heart was this,—it was the day of the fourth generation : would they too choose the God of their fathers as their God ? This thought was re-echoed by Uncle George, who reminded the rising generation of the terrible need of ministers, missionaries, and teachers, and asked who was going to respond to the call. They would not play football less successfully for choosing to serve God.

Andrew Charles Murray [a nephew] spoke on Noblesse oblige, which he translated freely, Privileges bring obligations. We were very highly privileged in being heirs to the prayers of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, but this privilege imposed the obligation that we in turn should pray for our children. These children might change their names by marriage, they might go to the ends of the earth, but they could not escape from the mark placed upon them, for in their veins flowed the blood of generations of praying ancestors. He made a special appeal to the sons of the fourth generation to consecrate their lives to God’s service in the ministry or the mission-field. "Remember that upon you there rests a very special obligation to do so, and that God has an exceptional claim on those who are sprung from such godly forefathers."

No man could be more generous than Mr. Murray—even in his old age—in the way of responding to the invitations which reached him from far and near to conduct special services or fulfil preaching engagements. It was only under the stress of positive ill-health, or in obedience to the orders of his medical attendant, that he was sometimes compelled to decline these urgent requests. And indeed, as will be shown in the sequel of this chapter, few ministers of God have exercised so busy and beneficent a ministry in advanced old age as Mr. Murray. Towards the end of his life his interest was awakened in a scheme of One-day Conferences, suggested to him, apparently, by something written by the Rev. Cyril Bardsley of the Church Missionary Society. His powers were too feeble to make it possible for him to undertake a series of g atherings, but he was well able to attend a conference of two or three sessions, lasting but a single day. No sooner did the thought find a lodgment in his mind than he issued a leaflet (in Dutch) of the following import:—

Many a minister feels the need of getting into touch from time to time with the members of his congregation, in order to learn their views concerning the spiritual life in their own parish and in the Church at large. The suggestion has been made of meeting occasionally, on a week-day or a Sunday, for the purpose of holding a conference lasting only one day, at which the minister might have the presence and assistance of one or more brethren. Subjects like the following might be submitted for discussion—

1. The true life of grace which God expects of us—what it is, and whether it is possible.

2. The state of the spiritual life of the Church in general—why it is so unsatisfactory, and why the shame of this condition is so little felt.

3. The chief hindrances to a fuller life—absence of a sense of our own powerlessness and of our absolute dependence upon God.

4. Inward personal intercourse with the Lord Jesus as absolutely indispensable.

5. Faithfulness in the study of the Word and the practice of prayer.

6. Personal appropriation of the Holy Spirit as the Indwelling One, to possess us wholly and lead us daily.

7. The calling of the whole Church and of each individual member to witness for Christ and lead souls to Him.

8. Missions as a proof of sincere love to Jesus Christ, and of the desire that all men may become acquainted with Him.

If such a conference be held after much prayer, and in the expectation that the Lord will mightily work through His Spirit, it will contribute towards arousing, in the heart of both minister and congregation, a new and clear conception of what their common aim and endeavour ought to be, and will encourage them to pray more definitely for what God will so surely bestow.

The suggestion was favourably received, and several conferences of this kind were held—at Paarl, Stellenbosch, Riebeek West, Caledon, Villiersdorp, Porterville, and elsewhere. Mr. Murray’s journey to and from Riebeek West, a village some twenty miles from Wellington, where a One-day Conference was held on the 9th and 10th of June, 1916, was accomplished in pouring rain, which continued on the Sunday, the nth of June. He had promised to officiate for the Rev. D. G. Malan, his successor in the Wellington pastorate, and in spite of the inclemency of the weather he carried out his intention, preaching to a small congregation—for the last time, as it proved—from Galatians iv. 6, his two points being: (a) What the Holy

Spirit expects from us, and (b) What we may expect from the Holy Spirit.

His appearance in the pulpit during these last years is well described by a Johannesburg minister who attended the South African Keswick in 1908 :—

The most impressive service of the day, he writes, was the afternoon meeting in the large Dutch Reformed church. The praise was led by a well-known townsman, Mr. Dirk de Villiers. The church, which was built in 1840, was crowded with an audience of at least a thousand persons, chiefly young men and young women. This is Andrew Murray’s church, where for thirty years this famous minister exercised his remarkable influence over the Dutch Christians of South Africa. In the evening, when the congregation was still larger, Andrew Murray was present himself. When the opening notes of the organ had died away, a third minister stole feebly into the rostrum where the other two were seated, and commenced the service with prayer. We felt as though a benediction fell upon us as we listened to his prayer. But how frail he seemed ! A thin, lined face, spare form, long grey hair, and attenuated hands grasping the red ve\vet cushion in front. It was a pathetic picture—the picture of a prophet of a past generation. During that evening, and at each service through the Convention when Dr. Murray took some part in the proceedings, he seemed to overcome his weakness, and he amazed us with his fire and energy.

From diaries kept by his youngest daughter we are able to obtain the following glimpse of a typical day (8th July, 1908) when Mr Murray had reached the age of eighty:—

Before breakfast—where he usually made his appearance before the sun was visible over the mountain-tops—he stood gazing fixedly out of the window to see the sun rise over Groenberg. “Now I know the exact spot," he said. At family prayer he used these expressions: “We have just seen the sun rise. It is the evidence of Thine almighty Power. It is the work of Thine Omnipotence. In all nature around us Thy power is working patiently and persistently. May it work with like power in our hearts, taking away all sin and self-sufficiency, all pride and self-exaltation.” At half-past nine we set to work on Ephesians, and he began to dictate the chapter “In the Heavenly Places.” The day being calm and fine, father sat outside orf the stoep with a rug over his knees, enjoying the bright sunshine. Presently he descried our old coloured gardener April, aged eighty, with a large bag of forage on his back. “Dear old man,” was father’s comment, “he is faithfulness itself.” (April predeceased father by a few months.)

A telegram was then delivered, informing us that Mrs. Searle [a faithful worker in the South Africa General Mission] was lying seriously ill in Tembuland. “Let us stop a few minutes,” said father, “and pray for her”; and immediately commenced: “O Lord, let Thy presence fill the sick-chamber with Thy comfort and peace, and if it be Thy will, grant speedy and complete restoration." The dictation was resumed and a few more pages completed, when a note arrived from Rev. Albertyn, saying that Amy Luckhofi [the daughter of a beloved ministerial colleague] had died suddenly, and that he purposed going to the funeral. So a message of love and sympathy was quickly written down and despatched with Mr. Albertyn. At half-past ten a prayer-meeting of local ministers was held in the study, to intercede for the approaching Missionary Congress.1 When this was over, the English mail had arrived with letters, books, and periodicals—among the latter the ever-welcome British Weekly. Father next had a few kind words with two young ladies who were having eleven o’clock tea with us. To one of them, who was about to get married, he said, "God bless you, my child; you will need a great deal of prayer to be able to discharge the onerous duties of a minister’s wife.” A letter was next despatched to Haldane [at that time member of Parliament], to see if he could obtain concession fares for visitors to the annual “Keswick” Convention; and another letter to Charlie, with advice as to accepting the call to Rossville.

At one o’clock we adjourned for dinner, when the books which had just arrived were exhibited—always a keen pleasure to father. On this occasion it was Amy Carmichael’s Overweights of Joy, and a large volume on Santa Teresa by Mrs. Grahame. Father was much pleased with the latter, read out the dedication, and quoted the Teresian vow: "I have made a vow never to ofiend God in the smallest matter.” He recommended me to read the volume, and when I made some demur, saying, “I suppose I shall not read it all,” he replied, "That is not necessary ; you know how to get at the best of it.” He then advised me to read Dr. Whyte's appreciation of S. Teresa, and to compare it with Professor James’s account in The Varieties of Religious Experience.

After a short nap, we continued writing on the sunny stoep for an hour. When the article of six foolscap pages was finished, father said, "I am deeply grateful that we have been able to complete this work: but it will all have to be done over again.” Somewhat later Mrs. Albertyn came over for a talk and advice on matters in connexion with the Vrouwen Zending Bond (Women’s Missionary Union). Father was always a ready and most sympathetic listener, while his suggestions were invaluable. Up to the very end of life his interest in everything was intense—in his work, in the visitors who called, and in the quiet beauty of nature. "Do look at the exquisite green of those trees," he would frequently cry. At the close of the day’s work he would take all the physical exercise in which he could indulge in those years of increasing bodily infirmity—two turns along the road in front of Sunny-side on the arm of one of his daughters.

From the same diaries we derive the following (abridged) account of a journey undertaken between the 3rd November, 1913, and the 20th January, 1914, when Mr. Murray was in his eighty-sixth year :—

3rd November.—By rail to Oudtshoom, for the annual meetings of the Mannen Zending Bond (Laymen’s Missionary Union). Father in the chair for three sessions daily during the three days’ conference—A. C. Murray acting as interpreter of the speeches which he could not hear. Next, some days were spent at De Hoop, Uncle George’s parish, where father again preached. From there we travelled by rail to Graaff-Reinet for a conference, father taking the Sunday services (23rd Nov.), and preaching in the evening from 2 Chronicles xv. 12—on which text, as he reminded his hearers, he had discoursed at a similar conference in the same place fifty-two years previously. After a few days at Broe-derstroom [his son’s farm] we journeyed by motor-car to Murraysburg (61 miles), father indulging in various reminiscences along the way. He pointed out the farm "Voetpad,” at which he and mother had stayed when he brought her from Bloemfontein on a trip to Cape Town sixty years ago. ’ I got a fine span [i.e. team] of mules there,” said father. On the afternoon of our arrival at Murraysburg father dictated in the parsonage garden the titles of twenty chapters of a new book to be called The Return to Pentecost, as well as the matter of the first chapter on ”The Cross and the Spirit.” This volume was never published in its original form.

From Murraysburg we returned to Graaff-Reinet the following week, travelling from there to Middelburg, where father took several services, including two on the Sunday. Next morning a telegram arrived from Bloemfontein, inviting father to speak at the ceremony of the unveiling of the Women’s Monument on the 16th December. Father immediately turned to A. F. Louw [his nephew], whom he suspected, not without reason, of having inspired the invitation, and asked, "Do you know a text in the Bible : The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau?" The invitation was, however, accepted. We next journeyed to Burgersdorp for the opening of the new church there —a ceremony which father had promised to perform. The Rev. Postma kindly took us for a motor-car drive to Dreunberg, and on the way there father told us a story of that talented and original preacher, Rev. Pierre Hugt. Mr. Huet had recently arrived in South Africa from Holland, and, the charge of Burgersdorp having become vacant through Uncle John Murray’s appointment to the Stellenbosch Theological Seminary, he was requested to supply the pulpit for some weeks. Huet, however, was not yet ordained, and when some foolish people who wanted their children christened began to insist that he should administer the sacrament of baptism, he made his position clear, once for all, by preaching from the text: “ Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel ” (i Cor. i. 17).

On Sunday, 14th December, at midnight we left Burgersdorp, reaching Bloemfontein at 10 o’clock the next morning. Father preached the same evening, and on the Tuesday morning delivered his address on Love. [For a further description of the events of this momentous day the reader is referred to Chapter XIX, p. 431.] At five o’clock the same afternoon Mr. Arthur Fichardt took father, Aunt Bella, and myself for a drive by motor-car round Hospital Hill. In visiting the pile of buildings which mark the site of the present Grey College, we touched at Andrew Murray House, and saw in the hall an enlarged daguerreotype of father, which seemed to us a very good likeness. We then drove to the National Museum, father’s old church—a long building with four small windows, the pulpit having been at the one end. Father himself was unable to get out of the motor, but was keenly interested, and insisted that we should see everything. “Bloemfontein,” he reminded us, “was my first love.” As we drove past a certain kopje, he called to mind a conversation he had had with Aunt Maria, in the days when she kept house for him before his marriage, concerning Madame Guyon, the beauties of nature, and other subjects.

We left Bloemfontein at night on the 17th December, and from the railway carriage father pointed out to me, next day, the kopjes behind which the battle of Boomplaats was fought between the Boers and the forces under Sir Harry Smith in 1848. Reached Aliwal North on Thursday evening, and Motkop (by rail) at 6 p.m. on Friday. A spider 1 and four horses took us on the same night to the farm Glen Avon, where we arrived at 9.30 p.m. It was amusing, here as elsewhere, to hear the conversation between father and our host as to the hour of starting next morning. The host imagines that such an old man cannot possibly be expected to rise early, but father details stories of journeying in the olden days, insists upon an early start, and is invariably ready first of all. We breakfasted at Barkly East, dined at Moshesh’s Ford, and, after a journey through extremely mountainous country, reached Rhodes (alias Rossville, my brother Charlie’s parish) at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday. On Sunday father preached twice, and also took the services on Christmas Day and Old Year’s Day.

On the 6th January, 1914, we left again for Barkly, where father conducted services on the Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Friday night was spent at Mr. Potgieter’s farm near Motkop : during our journey thither a cold wind blew, with frost threatening. We reached Lady Grey on Saturday, and on Sunday father preached both morning and evening and addressed the members of the Mannen and Vrouwen Zending Bond as well. On Tuesday we left Lady Grey for Rosmead, from where A. F. Louw took us by motor to Middelburg town. On the Thursday following we arrived at George, where father conducted services each evening and communion services on Sunday. There was a large house-party of young teachers, to whom father told the story of the Marico Boers who said that they wished to trek to Jerusalem, and who identified the English people (and therefore father himself) with the Antichrist. From George we returned to Wellington, reaching home on Tuesday the 20th January.

Miss Annie Murray’s diaries also give us some conception of Mr. Murray’s manifold activities a year before the end, when he was already nearing his eighty-eighth (and last) birthday—

Father was very active during the latter part of 1915. He attended the reunion of students and past students of the Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch in October. On the 28th he was present at a meeting of the Vrouwen Zending Bond at Wellington, giving a message of encouragement to the members of the new directorate on the words Give ye them to eat. As he had just completed a new booklet, De Genade-troon (The Throne of Grace), he promised to send a copy to each member of the Women’s Missionary Union, including those in the Free State and the Transvaal. The 3rd of November was set apart by the Synod, then in session at Cape Town, as a Day for Missions ; and father was present by’request, gave an address to the assembled brethren, and afterwards had his photograph taken in the pulpit of the Dutch Reformed church. Returning from Cape Town on the Saturday following, he went straight to Worcester for the Missionary Festival, and also preached twice on the Sunday. The 15th November was the anniversary of the arrival at Wellington of Misses Ferguson and Bliss, forty-two years previously, and father therefore addressed all the pupils of the Huguenot College and Seminary in the Goodnow Hall, speaking from the text, “ The memory of Thy great goodness ” (Ps. cxlv. 7). He referred in his remarks to Mary Lyon, the study of whose life had first suggested the establishment of the Seminary, and to Elise Sandes, of whose biography father gave away a large number of copies, with a special recommendation by himself pasted on the front cover.

Sunday, 5th December.—At 4 p.m. father attended a Christian Endeavour meeting in Goodnow Hall, and spoke to the young teachers who were leaving at the end of the year, taking down the names of fifty as members of the Teachers’ Christian Union. At this time he was working hard at two of his Pocket Companion booklets, Het Kruis van Christus and De Heilige Geest. He was much interested, too, in the scheme of One-day Conferences, and got out a leaflet with suggestions on the subject. On Sunday, 12th, he spoke at the communion service from Revelation iv. 6, and wrote an article on mysticism. The 16th December was Dingaan’s Day, which father spent in the wood adjoining the Institute with members of the congregation. He spoke on the subject of prayer, mentioning in that connexion the voortrekkers Chari Cilliers and Pieter Retief. On Christmas Day father preached at the Paarl for Rev. Joubert, speaking also twice at the communion table. Rev. Meiring invited him to deliver a thanksgiving sermon on Old Year’s Eve, but he replied that he preferred to speak on the confession of sin, and referred to a sermon which when a student, seventy-one years ago, he had heard Professor van Oosterzee- preach at Rotterdam from the text, " I will arise and go to my father." That sermon, on that occasion, had left a permanent impression upon him.

3rd January, 1916.—Father received a booklet, The Forgotten Friend, by Mrs. A. A. Head, and in response to its message wanted to write at once on "the sin of prayerlessness.” On 5th January he accordingly began The Supreme Need, in which he makes some reference to the Perpetual Prayer Calendar. Writing extracts from William Law for his Dutch booklet God in Ons. On Saturday, 8th, he received a visit from a distant cousin, W. R. Bums, with whom he had a most interesting talk about people in Scotland. Mr. Bums gave him a volume entitled The Chalmers and Burns Roll of Honour, containing the names of some one hundred relatives engaged in fighting. Father spoke sympathetically of the Chapman and Alexander mission, but expressed himself as sceptical of a national revival. He ordered a number of copies of Bardsley’s Studies in Revival, to give away to brother ministers. The month of February was spent at our usual seaside resort, Kalk Bay. Father was busy making extracts from Law for his Secret of Inspiration. He preached one Sunday morning in Dutch and one evening in English. It was a difficult matter getting him to and from the church in his Bath-chair, as the sand is very heavy.

4th March.—Back at Wellington. About sixty members of Parliament were served with tea in the grounds of the Huguenot College. Father went down in a motor-car, and ma.de a short speech with something of his old fire on the subject of education, referring again to Mary Lyon and encouraging his hearers to a larger beneficence. His remarks were much appreciated and loudly cheered. On 12th March he proceeded to Paarl to preach for Rev. Meiring, and during the week paid visits of consolation to bereaved families in the Boven Vlei [near Wellington]. 20th March.—Monthly prayer-meeting of teachers at the College addressed from the words, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work also.” 23rd March.—Spent an hour at the Parsonage in celebration of Rev. Malan’s birthday, and spoke a word of congratulation. 27th inst.—Finished manuscript of God in Ons, and despatched it to Stellenbosch to be printed. 28th.—Wrote an article for the meeting of the Women’s Missionary Union at Ladybrand on Wat de Zending kost (What Missions cost) ; also, by request from England, an article for Mr. Davis on a Bible Success Band.

4th April.—At breakfast father quoted from the Prayer Calendar which he used daily, "Carelessness about the friendship of Christ the crying sin of the Church.” Remarked further, "But for the cultivation of such a friendship you need time.” And then, pointing to a plate of bread on the table, "You could not have that plateful of bread without taking time to prepare the dough and bake the loaf. Everything we do needs time, and most of all does the exercise of fellowship with God demand it.” At noon he had a few words of prayer with the Nienabers and other friends who had dropped in. He seldom let a visitor go without offering a brief intercessory prayer, either in the study or on the stoep. 6th April.—Letter dictated to the Wesleyan Methodists on the occasion of their Tercentenary, and sent through Mr. Middlemiss. 16th.—Preached in the Dutch church. 23rd.—Spoke at Communion. Took English service in the Goodnow Hall in the evening. 26th.— Reception of Lord and Lady Buxton in the Goodnow Hall: father spoke a few words of welcome. In the afternoon by motor to Paarl to open the meeting of the Laymen’s Missionary Union. Spoke several times during the Conference, and preached in the forenoon of the following Sunday.

4th May.—To Stellenbosch for the induction of Rev. J. du Plessis as Professor at the Theological Seminary. Attended a One-day Conference held at the same time. 9th May.—His eighty-eighth birthday. Many visitors and a large party of relatives to dinner. In the afternoon he gave reminiscences of his experiences in Scotland and Holland and at Bloemfontein and Worcester. In response to some two hundred birthday greetings by letter and telegram he distributed an equal number of his booklet, just published, God in Ons. Commenced reading the life of Adele Kamm, a young Swiss invalid, with which he was much struck. He at once began to write a new volume of the Pocket Companion series on the subject suggested, calling it De Blijdschap (Joy). Eighteen chapters were finished. The day after his birthday he dictated three chapters of Eendracht maakt Macht (Union is strength). 15th.—Teachers’ prayer-meeting at the College. Quoted from Ma Slessor, "Doing is easier than praying.” Saw many fripnds and entertained several guests—Rev. and Mrs. A. F. Louw for a day and a night; Mr. and Mrs. Oswin Bull ; Rev. and Mrs. Walter Searle, on their way from England, for a week-end; two nurses from the United States, on their way to Nyasaland ; and Rev. and Mrs. Maisey, also missionaries from Nyasaland.

9th June.—With father to Riebeek West by motor, in pouring rain and over wet roads. Service in the evening ; also next day (Saturday) in the forenoon and again at 2 p.m., and then back to Wellington, where father had promised to conduct service next day. nth.—Raining heavily. This was father’s last sermon in his old church, before a very small congregation. 16th to 22nd.—Father’s last'joumey—to Somerset West, Caledon, Villiersdorp, and Worcester. My sister Kitty accompanied him. On his return he said  “As a result of my visit to Caledon I must begin a new book; I can’t help it.” So a half-used examination-book of one of the grandsons was fetched, and he dictated eight headings and two chapters for a booklet De Opwekking (The Revival). 30th.—Mr. Bull brought out Mr. Roome of Belfast, Editorial Secretary of the Sudan United Mission, and a meeting was arranged on the stoep for a few interested friends. Mr. Roome told us that he owed his consecration to the work of God to the reading of Abide in Christ and With Christ in the School of Prayer, thirty years ago. Writing Christus ons Leven (Christ our Life) and also a paper on Ma Slessor for the Kerkbode.

26th July.—Father preached the ordination sermon of Dr. van der Westhuizen, who was inducted as minister of North Paarl. Continued writing his booklet Christus ons Leven, intending to have it ready for the One-day Conferences arranged to be held at Hopefield and Darling, which he hoped to attend. 20th August (Sunday).—Father seemed in his usual health, and went to church. At dinner he asked us to tell him the gist of the sermon which Rev. Rabie had preached, of which he had heard nothing. In the evening he felt indisposed, and retired early. The next day the doctor was fetched, who said that father was suffering from a slight attack of influenza and bronchitis. He never really regained strength again.

A few further details, thrown together in a somewhat disconnected manner, may serve to bring Mr. Murray’s personality more vividly before the reader's eye. In person he was of medium height, with spare form, thin grey beard, hair that hung in great locks about his neck, and deep, mystic, hazel eyes. Until an accident in Natal permanently injured his spine, his bearing was upright, his gait rapid, and his frame so wiry that it could endure the greatest strain which circumstances or arduous toil could impose. His voice, even in old age, was full and resonant, and there was something peculiarly sincere and engaging in the heartiness of his greeting. “ A hearty welcome,” were his words to the present writer on the occasion of some conference or other at Wellington; “ welcome for the Master’s sake, and welcome for your father's sake, and welcome for your own sake.” He possessed an exceedingly tenacious memory, not merely for facts set down in books, but for matters which had come under his own observation or had been imparted to him in conversation. He was very careful of the minutiae which are so frequently neglected by many people who are supposed to be busied with affairs of moment—regularity in the hours of work, care in the arrangements for travel, faithfulness in replying to letters, punctuality in keeping appointments and settling accounts. He was exceedingly considerate of the feelings of others, and very attentive to the wants of guests and fellow-travellers. A large party of ladies once visited Clairvaux, bestowing their umbrellas in various racks and corners. Mr. Murray observed one lady depositing hers in an unusual place, and when at the end of the meeting she began searching high and low for the missing article, said, “ Madam, did you not place it for security in yonder corner? ”

He possessed a keen sense of smell. In the garden at Clairvaux grows a rose bush of the Souvenir de Malmaison variety. Whenever a rose from this bush was presented to him, he would smell it and say, “How that carries me back to Bloemfontein, where a similar rose tree stood in my garden! ” In his own case, he used to say, the sense of smell had wonderful powers of association, and brought back in the most vivid fashion distant memories and scenes. The smell of the purple lilac awakened recollections of Scotland and of his boyhood in his uncle’s home at Aberdeen; and a Scottish friend in Wellington (Mrs. Harvie), knowing of this, would keep him supplied with lilac flowers so long as they were in bloom. He loved, too, a big heliotrope bush which grew before the door, and when a vase full of violets was placed upon his study table, he would frequently lift it and draw a long whiff with evident enjoyment of the rich perfume. Bright colours also pleased his eye. He never tired of a gorgeous red hibiscus, two trees of which stood below the stoep in almost constant bloom. The brilliant green of the oak forests in early spring, the play of light and shade upon the mountains, and the changing hues of sunset, were a source of endless delight.

Mr. Murray loved children, and they returned his affection. When he visited Switzerland with his family in 1903, there were staying with them in the same hotel a Scotch lady and her little son Alec, aged five. Shortly afterwards Mr. Murray met with a serious accident in a London street, and had to be conveyed to a hospital. When Alec’s mother told him of this mishap, he asked her to enclose in her letter to Mr. Murray a pressed pink, “because flowers are so comforting." Little Alec grew to manhood, and laid down his life on the fields of Flanders in September 1916, not many months before his “friend" Mr. Murray passed to his rest.

The children of nephews and nieces who visited Clairvaux from time to time always called Mr. Murray Grandpa (or Oupa, if they spoke Dutch). The smaller ones were particularly attracted by his walking-stick—a stout ebony staff, made in the Boer prisoners’ camp in Ceylon. With this black rod Grandpa would playfully poke at the little ones, and when it was not required for its primary purpose he would indulgently allow them to use it as a hobby-horse. Three grandsons, the sons of John Murray, spent ten years of their life at Clairvaux for their education. Their one great regret was that when Grandpa died they were away for the holidays, and could not say good-bye to him nor attend his funeral. Mr. Murray was deeply interested in the progress of the war. When the campaign in German South-West Africa commenced he procured a map, and got his grandson Paul to mark on it the lines of railway, the position of the most important places, and all the stages of the conflict.

During the war years his daughters often heard him praying aloud in the middle of the night. They once overheard him offer a long and beautiful prayer for peace, in which he made petition for the rulers of the nations, and for all the powers at strife with one another. Next morning at breakfast he related the dream of which this prayer formed a part. He was journeying by cart when a certain magistrate met him, and asked him to engage in prayer. He accordingly descended from the cart, and though a gale of wind was raging, they presently found a sheltered spot in which to pray. He then offered the prayer which his daughters had listened to. When he awoke, so he said, it all seemed so very real that he imagined the magistrate was still in the bedroom with him.

Immediately after the outbreak of hostilities, it will be remembered, a number of German professors and ministers of religion issued a manifesto, justifying the action of the German Government in declaring war. A copy of this manifesto was sent to Mr. Murray, and the latter prepared a reply —never forwarded—which breathes a spirit of true Christian charity, and may conveniently be inserted here :—

Wellington, 4th October, 1914.

To the Brethren who sent from Berlin a letter to “The Evangelical Christians abroad.”

Beloved Brethren,—I am in receipt of your letter of August, and desire to send an answer, expressing the deep and divine unity in which God’s children in the nations that now are at war know that they are the members of one body in Christ Jesus.

In regard to the contents of your letter there will of course be very great differences. But this is not the time or occasion for entering upon them. It is our great duty as beloved in Christ Jesus to love each other through all the misunderstandings and estrangement that a war causes.

You speak of the fellowship and co-operation inaugurated in the Edinburgh Conference, for which you and others have since that time been striving so earnestly. As far as that union was human, it will not be able to stand the strain of the war, with all the bitterness that it rouses in human nature, but as far as it was a unity in the power of the Holy Spirit, uniting us closer to each other in the person of Jesus Christ, there is in it a divine life and energy that surmounts every difficulty that endeavours to break it.

And my one object in writing these lines is to send you my brotherly greetings in Christ Jesus. The members of the body of Jesus Christ, whether in Germany or in England, are bound together in the love of God, in the mighty love of Calvary, in the love of the eternal Spirit. For a moment national or personal differences may stir up unholy feelings, but the moment we return again into the secret of God’s presence and hide ourselves under the shadow of His wings, we are brought back to the place where we are really one, and where our love and prayer pours itself forth on behalf of all who are one in Christ Jesus.

Accept the assurance of my continual daily prayer that God may help me and you, dear Brethren, and all who are apparently utterly separated from each other by the war, ever to take our refuge in the High-priestly prayer of our beloved Saviour, and in the power of His grace to pray, in the fulness of faith and love, with our Lord Jesus : “ Father, that they may all be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee—I in them and Thou in Me—that they may be one even as We are one, that they may be made perfect in one.”

In this love,

Ever yours most faithfully,

Andrew Murray.

A page or two must be reserved for recording some of Mr. Murray’s characteristic sayings. He had a strong sense of humour, which, though kept severely in restraint by his intense earnestness, would nevertheless break out at unexpected moments. When occupying the moderatorial chair at successive synods he experienced occasional difficulty— what chairman does not ?—in calming an excited assembly; and it was at such times that the reasonableness and ready wit of his rulings exercised a moderating and cooling influence on the heat of debate. Towards his younger colleagues his attitude was one of invariable courtesy and kindly forbearance. His prolonged absences from Wellington on evangelistic duty made it imperative to secure from time to time the services of an assistant minister. One young probationer, on being invited to fill this honourable post, replied—with something of the impertinence, if also with something of the ingenuousness, of youth—that he was afraid he might not be able to agree in everything with Mr. Murray; upon which the latter wrote back: "Come! in everything in which you cannot agree with me, I will agree with you.” He had an extraordinary gift of apt and striking illustration. The writer remembers a series of gospel meetings at a village in the Free State, in which Mr. Murray took the leading part. The gatherings had closed on the Sunday evening with a solemn thanksgiving service ; but Mr. Murray ascertained that many of the country people would be unable to leave for their farms before the afternoon of the next day, and he therefore announced a “testimony meeting” for the Monday forenoon. At this meeting he first read a portion of Ephesians v., and then put the startling question, “ What is the first sign of a man’s having taken too much wine?” After a pause, he replied to his own question by saying, Talkativeness “ And now,” he continued, “ what should be the first sign of a man’s having received a blessing at this convention ? Why, talkativeness—not a convivial, but a spiritual talkativeness. For that is what the Apostle says, Be not drunken in wine, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking one to another"

Mr. Walter Searle relates that, in the course of a religious conference which Mr. Murray was conducting in Natal, a certain speaker protested against the extravagant language employed by some people who attended "holiness conventions.” To the speaker’s strictures Mr. Murray replied somewhat as follows :—"Yes, some sincere and godly people, in the overflowing fullness of their experience of a new truth, may not always express themselves wisely; but we must not reject the experience because of the vagaries which may accompany it. It reminds me of the olden days when we used to travel by ox-waggon. At the end of the day’s journey the first thing to be done was to light the fire, boil the water and put in the meat. While we watched the cooking process we saw the scum rise to the surface. That we skimmed off and threw away, but the meat we did not throw away.” Mr. Murray’s opinions and actions in everyday matters were characterized at all times by “sweet reasonableness.” Himself a tireless worker, he had nevertheless the greatest consideration for those whose physical energies were less robust than his own. To his daughter Emmie, then engaged in exacting social labours in Cape Town, he once wrote:— “Mamma writes about your needing money for cabs. By all means, my child, take a cab for yourself or your fellow-workers. Why should we exhaust ourselves in doing what a horse can do? Let the sparing of the physical fatigue fit us the more for the spiritual work. I enclose £5 for you to use in this way.” In a similar strain he cautions his brother, Professor John Murray, against his failure to take the needful relaxation from incessant toil:—”You say you rest most comfortably at home. But there is nothing more needful for restoring exhausted powers than a certain measure of excitement, to stimulate the action of the vital powers. The surroundings of home have too little excitement, and too much temptation to the ordinary routine of thinking and

This brother, to whom he was devotedly attached, died somewhat unexpectedly at the end of 1882, leaving a gap in Mr. Murray’s life which was never filled. Mr. Murray’s advice on most matters was received by his friends and disciples with unquestioning confidence. To one who came to him in great distress over false reports, his reply was to quote Psalm xxxi. 20 : " Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.” Another friend resented very strongly some damaging criticisms that had been levelled against a published address of Mr. Murray’s, and chivalrously prepared a vindication, which he read to Mr. Murray, asking at the same time his advice about publishing it. “Do you think this reply will convince our critie?” asked Mr. Murray. “No, I don’t suppose it will.” "Then what will be the use of publishing it? It will only lead to further controversy, from which nothing will be gained.”

A fellow-worker with him in the interests of a cause to which both were devoted said once with a deep sigh, “But ah! our wants are so many.” "So much the better,” was the unexpected reply: "when we cease to want, we cease to live.” On one occasion a Christian gentleman had a matter of business to discuss with Mr. Murray, from whose lips he had a few minutes before heard a most earnest spiritual address. He was exceedingly surprised to find Mr. Murray so keenly attentive to the matter in hand, examining into all the details of the business with the greatest care and acumen. “How can you manage, Sir,” he asked, "to turn with such ease from spiritual exhortation to practical business detail?” "Why,” said Mr. Murray, "surely this is the Master’s business as well as the other.”

At the celebration of his last birthday in 1916, Mr. Murray spoke of the lameness and deafness of his latter years as a kindly dispensation of God’s Providence. God had shut him out from the life of ceaseless activity which he led in former years, and had shut him in to a life of greater quiet, in which he could give more time to meditation and prayer. In the silence and the solitude precious messages had come to him, which he had endeavoured to pass on to others. His closing exhortation, on this last earthly birthday was: "Child of God, let your Father lead you. Think not of what you can do, but of what God can do in you and through you.”

In his ability to suit the word to the occasion Mr. Murray had no peer in the ranks of the ministers of his Church. Reference has been made on earlier pages to the text from which he preached on his return from a visit to England: “They asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent ” (Exodus xviii. 7); and to his sermon at the great Missionary Congress of 1908 from the text: “Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward’’ (Exodus xiv. 15). During the Anglo-Boer War he was permitted to visit the thousands of Boer prisoners of war in the camp at Simon’s Town, when he utilized the opportunity to preach a most appropriate sermon on: “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name” (Psalm cxlii. 7). Perhaps the most striking instance of the right and fitting word is to be found in the sermons delivered at Worcester in connexion with the death of his beloved brother, Rev. William Murray. Mr. Murray, who had journeyed to Worcester to visit his dying brother, agreed to take the Sunday service, and chose as his text the words of Joseph: “I die, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob ” (Genesis 1. 24). As the last hymn of this solemn and touching service was being sung, a message was conveyed to the pulpit that William Murray had passed away. At the funeral, on the following Wednesday, Mr. Murray continued the same train of thought by preaching from Joshua i.: "Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan unto the land which I do give unto the children of Israel.” The impression produced upon the sorrowing congregation of Worcester by these two moving sermons—the former pastor delivering his solemn message over the grave of his dead successor and brother—was overwhelming.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Chapter 23

Death, Funeral and Tributes

Believe me, a life lived in earnest does not die; it goes on for ever. —Edward Thring.

Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise:
In all His words most wonderful;
Most sure in all His ways.

J. H. Newman.

THE story of the last months of Andrew Murray’s earthly course can he told in few words. During the August of 1916 he contracted the heavy cold with concomitant bronchitis, from which he never recovered. On the 16th September a grievous loss befell the family at Clairvaux, and the nearer circle at Graaff-Reinet, in the death of the eldest son, Lieut. A. Haldane Murray, in an action fought in East Africa. For some weeks the evil news was kept from the aged father, and when at length the tidings were communicated he bore them with Christian resignation and fortitude. But there can be no doubt that the passing of this beloved son cast a burden of grief upon Mr. Murray’s heart, and served to hasten the inevitable end. Towards the close of October, however, he seemed to regain a little of his lost strength, and was able to take a short drive by motor-car. Arrangements were then made for his removal to Kalk Bay, his favourite seaside resort, where the month of November was spent. But recovery was a slow process, and it was greatly retarded by the exceptional heat of that summer. When Mr. Murray returned to Wellington he was heard lamenting that he was still unable to resume his writing. The oppressive heat of Wellington was doubly trying after the fresh breezes of Kalk Bay, and it soon became evident that his strength was sagging. A brief paragraph in the Kerkbode of nth January, 1917, gave these details:—

The following communication has reached us concerning that old and revered servant of God, Dr. A. Murray. He continues weak, though his heart is still fairly strong, and he is generally up each day. The great heat affects him unfavourably. His mind is not always perfectly clear, and in his wanderings he appears to be always occupied with his fellow-ministers, asking them repeatedly to give themselves to more prayer. Talking in a lucid interval of the past year, he said that it was full of answers to prayer, and of grace vouchsafed for days of need and trial, but on the other hand it testified to a wealth of unappropriated grace which we had not obtained because of our lack of prayer. He dwells frequently upon the necessity of taking more time to contemplate the wonderful love and grace of God, of which we have so feeble a conception. The condition of our people weighs heavily upon him, and impelled him to cry one night, "Pray, pray, pray, that our people may be strong in righteousness." On another occasion he said, “We are perishing through selfishness. What we need is men who will really sacrifice themselves for the cause of education, and wifi so devote themselves to the poor that the problem of the ‘ poor whites ’ will be solved."

It was plain that the end could not be far off. At one time the invalid imagined that he was in a steamer voyaging over stormy seas, for he turned to one of his daughters and said, “ The wind is blowing a gale and the tempest is raging: I think you must ask the captain to put into the nearest port.” His voyage had been a long one, and not free from heavy storms; but he was nearing the harbour, and quiet water lay ahead. He entered into rest on Thursday evening, the 18th January, 1917. Of him who during his life was pre-eminently a man of prayer it may be truly said that he died praying. In his last moments, so we are informed, he fell to praying, magnifying the Lord’s goodness and glory and grace, and rejoicing aloud in the God of his salvation. The current of spiritual life, which had flowed out in prayer during all his earthly days, set in the same direction still when his faculties were overclouded at the approach of death.

At the very last, when the members of the family were grouped around the bedside in silent expectation of the end, they observed his forehead contracting—as was customary with him when he closed his eyes to pray—and waited for the words of praise or intercession which should issue from his trembling lips. But the voice was silent for ever. The contraction of the forehead was his last perceptible movement. He was gone—praying!

The following details of the funeral obsequies, which took place on Saturday, 20th January, is taken from the columns of the daily press. The last honours were paid to the memory of the saintly Dr. Andrew Murray amid many manifestations of the sorrow of the people in whose midst he had lived and laboured for more than forty-five years. Shops and places of business were closed, and all Wellington assembled in the great church of the Dutch Reformed community to testify to their veneration for the man of God whose praise was in all the Churches of Christendom. The members of the family and their intimate friends gathered first at Clairvaux, the home of the deceased, where the Rev. Andrew McGregor, an old and valued colleague and friend, offered prayer. Shortly after four o’clock the cortege left for the church, where a silent and sorrowful multitude sat waiting. The service was conducted by Rev. D. G. Malan, the local pastor, who led in prayer ; Prof. P. J. G. de Vos, who delivered the funeral address; Rev. J. R. Albertyn, who described the work and influence of the deceased as Church leader ; and Rev. D. S. Botha, who offered the closing prayer. The ceremony at the graveside was performed by Rev. C. H. Radloff. The burial took place in the churchyard surrounding the Dutch Reformed church, the grave being immediately to the right of the main entrance. During the service the coffin rested upon supports in front of the pulpit; and as the bearers entered and left the building the organist rendered the Lachrymosa from the Requiem, and the Dead March from Saul. The impressive proceedings were attended by some sixty ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church as well as by prominent citizens from many surrounding towns, and telegrams of condolence were received from all parts of the country, and from the highest officials of the land. The Archbishop of Cape Town sent a special message of sympathy, expressing, in the name of the Church of the Province of South Africa, his sorrow at the death of Dr. Murray, and his profound thankfulness for the life and work of one who had approved himself as so true and faithful a servant of God.

Andrew Murray's death was the signal for a spontaneous outburst of gratitude and affection, and tributes both public and private to his great life-work and exalted Christian character flowed from men of all classes and in all departments of life. Only a few extracts are possible from the large number of appreciations which were received by letter or appeared in the public press. The Hon. John X. Merriman, P.C., the Nestor of Cape politicians, wrote :—

I am afraid that I am in no sense either competent or worthy to write an appreciation of that man of God, Andrew Murray. How far was he removed in thought and feeling from us worldlings, especially from the political variety. He belonged to another world from onrs. 'For him “the vision splendid” had never died away, or faded into the light of common day.

If ever there was a dweller in the household of faith, it was Andrew Murray. Born and nurtured in that grim faith which makes men strong rather than lovable, nothing could dry up that fountain of love which was the very soul of Andrew Murray’s being. It was given to him, a Calvinist, to write books of devotion that met with the highest commendation at the hands of the most High Church Anglican Bishops —books which have been a source of consolation and comfort to many weary souls in travail, in many lands and of many creeds. . . .

My own personal intercourse with him was small and infrequent. I admired and respected from afar. But on those occasions when we were brought into contact, and still more on those when he honoured me with his correspondence, it was one of my highest rewards to feel that I had the approval of that good man. He is gone, and his departure severs a link with the past. Well for us all would it be if we could bury in his grave that racial bitterness and social discord against which his whole life was a protest. That would be a tribute to his memory worthy of the man and of his spotless and self-denying career.

After the politician we may let the journalist speak. The editor of the Cape Times said:—

Dr. Murray had a severe illness a few months ago which, especially at so advanced an age, only a man of quite extraordinary vitality could have survived. As it was, he pulled through, and came back from the Valley of the Shadow with all his faculties unimpaired,1 and with the same cheerful serenity and wide sweep of intellectual and social interest which distinguished him throughout his long and selfless life. At the end the summons to the venerable old man seems to have been sudden, but it was a summons for which, however and whenever it came, no mortal was ever better prepared. Deeply versed in theology, a pillar of the Dutch Reformed Church for more than half a century, a most impressive preacher, a powerful apostle of missions, a sane and liberal educationist, a friend of science—for “are not the thoughts of science God’s thoughts?" as he once said in opening the chemical laboratory at the Wellington College—an unostentatious helper in all good works,—there was something more than all these things in Andrew Murray which lifted him above all eminent South Africans of his day and generation, something which is perhaps most significantly summed up by saying that if ever there was a saint on South African earth, it was he. For ourselves, in the little we were privileged to come in contact with him, he seemed more than any ecclesiastic we ever met to radiate a justification for Ruskin’s hope of “ a Christian Church which shall depend neither on ignorance for its continuance nor on controversy for its progress, but shall reign at once in light and love.”

Men of other creeds and denominations were not backward in the expression of their reverence for the character and teachings of the departed father. The Rev. Dr. Kolbe, of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, in the course of a noble tribute in The Cape, said:—

The name of Andrew Murray is graven with an iron pen and lead on the rock of South African history, and there it will stand for ever. But it is also written in softer characters on the hearts of many, and in that gentler form of survival it will endure far beyond the ordinary lot of human names. I have known only one unkind word ever said of him, and that was (strange to say) in the Synod of his own Church. He had written a piece of advice (never mind what: it was his, and it was wise), and one member, not liking it, said that Dr. Murray was growing old. Old ! Of course he was, but with an age more full of honour than of years, and more full of wisdom than of honour. I wonder the whole Synod did not rise and cry shame : perhaps it did, but the fact was not recorded. No: age brings no mental or spiritual loss to such a man. A man who in public or in private consistently follows the highest ideals

never weakens at the end : bodily ailments he will have, which do but draw our hearts to him, but his soul will always burn clear. "The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” . . .

When I came back from Europe, of course, he did not like my change to Catholicism; but I went to him, and we both spoke frankly. There was no quarrel. There was no bitterness in Andrew Murray : his nature was sweet to the core. And as I brought to him all the old affectionate reverence and gratitude, there could be no strife. They say it takes two to make a quarrel: here there wasn’t one. Of course, our paths lay apart. I could not in any way, however humbly, join my activities to his—such separations are among the sacrifices of life; but it has always been a gladness to me that no cloud ever arose between us. He is gone now, and I do not think I am saying anything derogatory to the present generation if I say he has not left his equal behind. . . .

Andrew Murray lived his full time and more. He is an ideal instance of Aristotle’s famous definition of happiness : ’’The fullest exercise of our highest energies in a congenial medium to the proportioned end.” He had no more to give us: we had no more to give him. There was no mid-autumn spoiling of the crop: but the whole matured harvest fully gathered in without shortcoming and without loss. And what a harvest!

From a just and generous appreciation by the editor of De Kerkbode (Rev. G. S. Malan) we select the following attempt to delineate some traits in Andrew Murray’s manysided character:—

In summing up the chief characteristics of the image of goodness which he presented we think first of all of the passionate earnestness which filled his soul. This impressed every one—those most of all who came into closest contact with him. At all times, and in everything he did, there glowed the fire of this deep earnestness. His calling and responsibility—both as a Christian in private life and as a servant of God in the interests of the Kingdom—were to him matters of the holiest moment, which he strove to perform with all the strength of his being. He seemed to live continually, though unconsciously, under the constraint of the searching words of the Preacher: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no device nor work nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest.” His was an earnestness which half affrighted and half repelled ; but all who knew the tender soul and humble heart that beat within him, were speedily arrested and overcome by it.

A second trait which characterized him was his lofty nobility of character. Who ever discovered anything low or mean or ignoble in his conduct ? Who ever heard him mingle in the idle talk that gloats over the faults and defects and sins of another ? Who did not feel instinctively in his presence that he had to do with one who led an exalted life, was occupied with exalted matters, cherished exalted ideals, and exercised an elevating influence? His life exemplified, in a greater degree than any other we have known, the apostolic precept: "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there he any praise, think on these things." In this connexion we call to mind his courtesy—that kindly and cultured bearing towards all, even his inferiors, which proclaimed him the perfect Christian gentleman; his humility—which led him to treat with innate respect the person and the opinions of another, and withheld him, in spite of his pre-eminent gifts, from exercising the temper of a tyrant; his unselfishness—by virtue of which he spent himself, silently and uncomplainingly, in acts of selfsacrifice for others ; his love—always ready to see what was best in others, bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things. We remember, too, his sincerity, his fidelity, his perfect rectitude—which dispelled every doubt that his word could be implicitly relied on, or that he would fulfil his duty at all hazards ; and which made it impossible that he could ever over-reach another or inflict on any man a malicious wound. His courageous faithfulness to the truth and to his own conscientious convictions procured him many adversaries, but never, to our knowledge, did he make a single personal enemy through any lack of Christian courtesy.

Another trait of character may be mentioned—his absolute devotion to his calling and his work. He had laid himself upon God’s altar, body, soul, and spirit, with all his gifts and talents, with all his time and strength and possessions. He had no worldly by-ends : he knew no personal ambition. Everything was placed at the service of his Saviour. He was always and everywhere, first and foremost, a minister of the Gospel, who had consecrated himself wholly to this high calling, and regarded the ministry as his greatest honour and privilege. He could truly take as his own the words of St. Paul to the Ephesian elders: “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God."

Another fine appreciation, which was published some months before Dr. Murray passed away, is from the pen of Dr. J. I. Marais, Professor at the Stellenbosch Theological Seminary, who was closely associated with Dr. Murray in many ecclesiastical and social undertakings, and therefore speaks from an intimate knowledge. Professor Marais wrote:—

Emerson has said somewhere: "Every man is a cause, a country and an age. . . . All history resolves itself very easily into the biography of a few stout and earnest persons.” These words may fitly be applied to Dr. Andrew Murray ; for few men in South Africa have had an influence more wide-spreading than he, few have left such an impress upon their time and their generation. That influence has been extensive as well as intensive. The Dutch Reformed Church, which claims him as her own, and to which his best energies have been devoted for many years, has felt the intensiveness of that influence, has been, and still is, under the spell of his wonderful personality. There is hardly an institution—ecclesiastical, educational, philanthropic, religious—within the purview of the Dutch Reformed Church, which has not benefited by his advice, or received a strong impulse from his prayers; few of these institutions have not been initiated by him. For his sympathies are wide as his religious life is deep. Even in feeble old age, with a body bent and frail, he takes the keenest interest in whatever good is done or attempted by the Church of his fathers, or the Church of God in any comer of the globe. With Wesley he might say, "The world is my parish."

Hence in his devotional works—and they are many—he appeals to thousands and tens, if not hundreds, of thousands. These books were written with a purpose : in them he discusses the highest problems of religious life, with a simplicity which the most immature Christian can appreciate, and the trained theologian would wish to emulate. They are appeals to the heart; because with Vinet he believes that “the heart has reasons whereof the intellect knows nothing.” And yet they are not the utterances of mere high-strung emotion, but the reasoned discussion of subjects to which many a theological treatise has been devoted. They embody a theology which is the result of extensive reading and of long-continued, prayerful meditation. The name of the author comes with a benediction, his words are an inspiration, to many a Dutch and English home in South Africa.

And yet Andrew Murray has never sought fame. Apparently he is a man without ambition—except perhaps the ambition so characteristic of St. Paul, the philotimia "to preach the Gospel” and to be "well-pleasing to God.” He was, and is, essentially a preacher. In the days of his prime, his appeals have stirred thousands; for his influence in the pulpit was magnetic. His tremendous earnestness has swayed men’s minds as the wind sways the cornfield. Bilingual, with a thorough command of both English and Dutch, he was at home on many a platform, whether in South Africa or Holland or England or America. Set speeches he has never delivered ; an oration from his lips would be an anomaly and an impossibility. He was, and is, as he professes to be, a minister of the Gospel; and in no other capacity has he ever appeared before the public.

No one can understand Andrew Murray without reckoning with two things. He is essentially “a man of prayer,” and at the same time “a man of affairs.” The eternal world is to him an intense reality, not a matter of speculation : things spiritual in his case dominate the temporal. The "new life,” which in his books is discussed in various ways, is developed by prayer, which to Andrew Murray means unbroken communion with the Unseen, intercession for others, fellowship in feeling and suffering with the Church of God in all portions of the globe. On the subject of prayer he has written repeatedly ; and book after book was welcomed. For every new book on the subject was fresh and stimulating, and not a mere repetition of the preceding volume. "The sense of the eternal,” it has been said, “is the great lack of the Church to-day.” This Andrew Murray believes. Hence he insists on the message: "Pray, brethren, pray.” He is essentially a mystic. Life for him means simply activity “ permeated and purified by the sense of the Eternal Presence—as the peasants in Alpine villages live in the presence of mighty mountain ranges, lightening in the morning and evening glow, or growing solemn and terrible as thunder broods on their summits.”

But Andrew Murray is not a mere anchorite, a mystic dreamer of dreams, whose "other-worldliness” lies beyond the influence of earthly stress and strain. He is essentially a man of action. At eighty-eight years of age the keenness of his intellect and his amazing vitality are a marvel to his friends. The joie de vivre is his in the truest sense of the term. He feels that he has a mission given him by God, a task to be performed, a message still to proclaim, a book or two still to be written Some years ago a friend approached him with the request, “Will you not give us some of your reminiscences?” The answer was characteristic: "I have far better things to do than to talk and write about myself.”

Enough has been said. This is not a biographical sketch. Biography comes in due order, when life’s last chapter has been written, and the man himself is but a memory, and to many a mere name. Andrew Murray is still with us; a mystic, a prophet, and withal a humble-minded follower of the Master he has served for all these years. His has been a full life. In 1849, a mere lad in appearance, he went to Bloemfontein as a pioneer. In 1916, frail in body, keen in spirit, he is still planning, praying, prophesying, inspiring. A man is immortal as long as God has a task for him to fulfil.

To estimate Andrew Murray’s influence is a task beyond our powers. His name will not bulk largely in the political history of the country, which is so richly interlarded with the names not only of great statesmen and sagacious leaders, but of orators, publicists, capitalists, officials, and politicians of varying shades of opinion and varying degrees of capacity. But he has left, nevertheless, an indelible impress upon the character of the South African people. During the eighties and nineties of the last century, his tireless journeys as Gospel-preacher brought him into personal contact with every minister and almost every congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church. The other Free Churches of the land, too, were always glad to welcome him to their pulpits, while clergymen of the evangelical section of the Anglican Church enjoyed fraternal intercourse with him on many a common platform. In this way the influence of Andrew Murray's rich and intense personality permeated the whole South African community, recalling men and women from vain delights to the contemplation and pursuit of the highest ideals in their public and their private life. He was a great, an inestimable gift of God to the people of this land—the greatest in our whole history : nor can we conceive that Divine Providence has any greater gift to bestow upon us in the years to come.

The influence which radiated from Andrew Murray was all-pervasive. Many Christians would, almost unconsciously, translate the law of virtue from the abstract into the concrete by asking, “What would Mr. Murray say ? What would Mr. Murray do?” The intensity of his convictions led him at times to put his case with an emphasis—an over-emphasis —which gave rise to misunderstanding, and his statements were frequently challenged; but no one ever ventured to challenge his motives or censure his conduct. These lay beyond the reach of criticism. He thus became a moral standard by which men set and measured their lives—a standard not enshrined in ethical maxim or religious precept, but incarnated in a living and breathing personality. We all felt that Andrew Murray could say, without hypocrisy and without incongruity: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

Of his influence upon the Christian world at large it ill becomes the present writer to speak. That influence can be far more justly estimated by those who are in closer touch with the spiritual life of the Churches. In this volume a few testimonies only have been recorded from men and women who found in Andrew Murray’s books a guidance and a stimulus, an inspiration and a joy, which no other devotional writings could impart. But these testimonies tell us hardly anything of the rich blessings disseminated throughout the world, in many Christian homes, from many Christian pulpits, in cottages and in castles, among care-burdened souls in great cities and weary workers in distant mission-fields, by the consecrated pen of this South African saint. Everywhere, to the remotest bounds of our globe, a great host of Andrew Murray's spiritual children will rise up and call him blessed.

And being dead, he speaketh yet. For we cannot imagine a time when Andrew Murray’s words will have spent their force, and will be consigned to that oblivion which has overtaken the writings of so many authors who were famous in their day and generation. The issues with which he deals are eternal issues : the manner in which he deals with these issues is characterized by a sane and sanctified common sense: the spirit which breathes through all is that of a tender and yearning love. Is it too much to prophesy that Andrew Murray’s works will take their place upon our bookshelves next to Augustine and a Kempis and Lancelot Andrewes and William Law, and will continue to establish the faith and kindle the love and reinforce the purposes of unborn generations of the children of God?

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Appendix A

CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF ANDREW


1828.
Birth at Graaff-Reinet (9th May).

1838 (cat. 10).
Departure of John and Andrew Murray for Scotland.

1840 {at. 12).
Revival services of William C. Bums at Aberdeen.

1843 {at. 15).
Disruption of the Church of Scotland and establishment of the Free Church of Scotland.

1845 {at. 17).
Graduates M.A. at Aberdeen (April).
Departure in June for Holland—conversion at Utrecht.

1848 (at. 20).
On his twentieth birthday (9th May) ordained at The Hague. Departure for South Africa.

1849 2I)-Inducted at Bloemfontein (6th May).
First pastoral visit to the Transvaal (Dec. 1849-Jan. 1850).

1850 {at. 22).
Second pastoral visit to the Transvaal (Oct.-Nov.).
Call to the Transvaal declined.

1851 {at. 23).
Third pastoral visit to the Transvaal, with John Murray (May). Visit to Potchefstroom to interview Andries Pretorius (Oct.).

1852 {at. 24).
Present at the Sand River Convention (Jan.).
Fourth pastoral visit to the Transvaal, with J. H. Neethling (Mar.-June).
To Cape Town for meeting of Synod.

1853 (at. 25).
National delegates meet at Bloemfontein re proposed abandonment of the Sovereignty. Dr. Frazer and Murray sent as delegates to England.

1854
First visit (after study years) to Europe.

1855 (at. 27).
Return to South Africa—calls to Colesberg and Ladysmith (Natal) declined.

1856 (at. 28).
Marriage to Miss Emma Rutherfoord.
Foundation stone of Grey College laid.

1857 at 29).
Birth of a daughter.
Meeting of Synod in Cape Town—appointed member of Mission Committee.

1858 (at. 30).
Commencement of literary labours—publication of Jezus de Kin-dervriend.

1859 (at 31).
Opening of Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch, with John Murray (brother) as senior professor.
Call to Worcester.

1860 (at. 32).
Departure from Bloemfontein and settlement at Worcester. Conference at Worcester—delegation of Dr. Robertson to Europe in quest of ministers and teachers.
Commencement of a great revival.

1862 (at. 34).
Visit to the Transvaal in the interests of mission work.
Meeting of Synod—Andrew Murray moderator—commencement of the struggle with the Civil Courts and with Liberalism. Disruption of the D.R. Church through a judgment of the Supreme Court (26th Nov.).

1864 (at. 36).
Visit of Dr. Duff to South Africa.
Call to Cape Town, and settlement there.
Defendant in the Supreme Court case Kotze v. Murray.

1865 (at. 37).
Defendant in the Supreme Court case Burgers v. Murray and others.

1866 (at. 38).
Second visit to Europe—appeal to Privy Council.
Death of his father.

1867 (et. 39).
Return to South Africa.
Meeting of Synod, adjourned to 1870.

1868 {at. 40).
Lectures on Het Moderne Ongeloof (Modem Unbelief).

1870 (at. 42).
Meeting of Synod, and end of conflict with Civil Courts—question of closer union with Anglicans.

1871 (at. 43).
Call to Wellington and settlement there.

1873 (at. 45).
Meeting of Synod.
Huguenot Seminary founded—arrival of Misses Ferguson and Bliss.

1874 (at. 46).
Formal opening of Huguenot Seminary—first collection tour for the institution.

1876 (at. 48).
Second collecting tour for the Huguenot Seminary.
Meeting of Synod—Andrew Murray moderator for the second time.

1877 (at 49)-Third visit to Europe, and visit to America.
Pan-Presbyterian Council in Edinburgh.
Founding of Mission Training Institute at Wellington, with Rev. Geo. Ferguson as principal.

1879 (at. 51).
First evangelistic tour—ministers' conference at Colesberg.

1880 (at. 52).
Affection of the throat, occasioning a two years' silence. Commencement of the Boer War of Independence (concluded March, 1881).

1882 (at. 54).
Third visit to Europe—stay at Bethshan Home of Healing. k Death of his brother, Professor John Murray.
Publication of first English book, Abide in Christ.

1883 (at. 55).
Establishment of Bijbel en Bid Vereeniging (Bible and Prayer Union).
Meeting of Synod—Andrew Murray moderator for the third time. Commencement of Total Abstinence question.

1884 (at. 56).
Conference at George—revival at Wellington.
Opening of Y.M.C.A. Buildings, Cape Town.
Second evangelistic tour, 1884-5, to eastern districts, Orange Free State and Transvaal.

1885 (at. 57).
Death of his son, Howson Rutherfoord Murray.
Conference at Cradock.

1886 (at. 58).
Visit to South Africa of Henry Varley.
Third evangelistic tour (south-western districts).
Meeting of Synod—Andrew Murray moderator for the fourth time. Goodnow Hall opened.
Predikanten Zending Vereeniging (Ministers' Mission Union) established.

1887 (at. 59).
Fourth evangelistic tour (Natal, Transvaal, Orange Free State).

1888 (at. 60).
Fifth evangelistic tour (eastern districts)—Conference at Bethulie. Visit to South Africa of W. Spencer Walton.
Publication of Holy in Christ and The Spirit of Christ.

1889 (at. 61).
Establishment of the Cape General Mission.
Death of his mother.

1890 (at. 62).
Jubilee of the Wellington congregation.
Sixth evangelistic tour (Namaqualand).
Death of his cousin, Rev. G. W. Stegmann, Jr.
Meeting of Synod—Andrew Murray moderator for the fifth time.

1891 (at. 63).
Ministers' Conference at Somerset East.
Seventh evangelistic tour (north-eastern districts .
Visit with Spencer Walton to Swaziland.

1892 (at. 64).
Rev. J. R. Albertyn appointed second minister of Wellington and colleague of Andrew Murray.

1893 (at. 65).
Conference at Stellenbosch re Poor Whites, The Church struggle in the Transvaal.

1894 (at. 66).
Cape General Mission reorganized as The South Africa General Mission.
Visits to South Africa of John McNeill and of Gelson Gregson. Publication of Wholly for God.
Meeting of Synod—Andrew Murray moderator for the sixth time.

1895 (at. 67).
Fourth visit to Europe and second to America—addresses at Keswick and at other conventions.

1896 (at. 68).
Jameson Raid.
Ministers' Conference at Stellenbosch.
Death of the Rev. George Ferguson.
Visits to South Africa of Mark Guy Pearse and of Donald Fraser and L. Wishard.

1897 (at. 69).
Eighth evangelistic tour (Transvaal and Orange Free State)— Conferences at Durban, Maritzburg, and Port Elizabeth. Meeting of Synod—Rev. J. H. Hofmeyr (brother-in-law) moderator.

1898 (at. 70).
John Neethling Murray (son) ordained as missionary.
Girls' industrial school established at Wellington.
Ministerial Jubilee of Andrew Murray.
D.D. degree from Aberdeen University.
Huguenot College established.

1899 (at. 71).
Foundation stone of Huguenot Memorial Building, Cape Town, laid.
Outbreak of Anglo-Boer War, lasting till 1902.

1902 (at. 74).
Fifth visit to Europe, lasting until July, rgo3.

1903 (at. 75).
Accident in London.
Meeting of Synod (the last attended by Andrew Murray).

1904 {at. 76).
Death of the Rev. J. H. Neethling.
Ninth evangelistic tour (Transvaal).

1903 {at. 77).
Death of Mrs. Murray.
Opening of renewed buildings of Theological Seminary and Ministers' Conference at Stellenbosch.

1906 {at. 78).
Retirement from active ministry, after 38 years' service.
Visit to South Africa of John R. Mott.
Meeting of Synod.

1907. (at. 79).
Receives degree of Litt.D. from University of the Cape of Good Hope.

1908 {at. 80).
Missionary Congress at Wellington, and further Congresses at Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, etc.
Visit to South Africa of F. B. Meyer.

1909 {at. 81).
Missionary congresses at various centres.
Death of Professor Hofmeyr.
Meeting of Synod.

1910 {at. 82).
Conferences at Beaufort West, Aliwal North, etc.
World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1911 {at. 83).
Publication of The State of the Church.

1912 {at. 84).
'Ministers' Conference at Stellenbosch.
Abortive attempt at union of Dutch Reformed Churches of South Africa.

1913 {at. 85).
Unveils statue to Professors Murray and Hofmeyr at Stellenbosch. Laymen's Missionary Conference at Oudtshoom—preaching visits to Graaff-Reinet and other towns.
Unveiling of Women's Monument at Bloemfontein.

1914 (at. 86).
Preaching visits to Sterkstroom, Somerset East, Queenstown, etc.

1916 (at. 88).
Death in action of A. Haldane Murray (son) in East Africa.

1917.
18th January. Death at Wellington at the age of 88 years and 8 months.

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The Life of Andrew Murray (South Africa)

Appendix B

Bibliography of Andrew Murray's published works - click here

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