Heroines of the Cross

HEROINES

OF THE CROSS

40 Beansburn, Kilmarnock, Scotland

MRS JUDSON AT THE PRISON GATES

EPUB ISBN: 9781909803145

Also Available in print ISBN: 9781907731723

Copyright © 2012 by John Ritchie Ltd.

40 Beansburn, Kilmarnock, Scotland

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Contents

Heroines Of The Cross

The First Woman Missionary — Mrs. Judson In Burmah

A Widow's Work - Mrs. Thompson In Syria

The Children For Christ - Fidelia Fiske In Persia

Sitt Mariam - Mary Louisa Whately In Egypt

A Mother In Israel - Mrs. Gobat In Abyssinia And Palestine

Fifty Years In The Mission Field — Mrs. Moffat In South Africa

The White Mother - Mrs. Hinderer In Yoruba

In Trials Often - Mrs. Wakefield In East Africa

Among The Cannibals - Women's Work In The South Seas

The Sole Survivor - Mrs. Jones In The West Indies

Mission Work In Tents — Mrs. Gilmour In Mongolia

The Chieftainess — Mrs. Wilkinson Among The Zulus

The Martyrs Of Ku-cheng — Mrs. Stewart In China

The Story Of Pandita Ramabai: The Friend Of India's Widows And Orphans

Mary Slessor Of Calabar

CHAPTER I.

GO ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." It is more than eighteen hundred years since these words were spoken, and in them we find the warrant for the attempts which have been made to evangelise the world. They form the God-given charter of missionary enterprise. In obedience to that Divine command, men and women have gone out into distant lands to carry the glad tidings of salvation to the heathen. In the performance of their mission they have shown, not only to savage and idolatrous races abroad, but also to their civilised and Christian brethren at home, a spirit of heroism for which no other field of human effort can supply a parallel.

The pages of missionary history literally sparkle with romance, and there is none so brilliant as that which tells of woman’s work. Yet it is only within comparatively recent times that woman has had justice done to her work in the mission-field. She was at one time simply a missionary’s wife. She shared his labours, his dangers and privations, and bore burdens of which he knew not the weight; but her part in his success was not recognised.

A writer says: The missionaries’ wives do as much of the work as they can, but they often do it at the expense of health—if not of life. Try it at home. Lay out here such work as is done there. Let a man be pastor of a church, and let the minister’s wife—with her home, her children, her uncounted cares, and her imperfect health—be the chief teacher of the day-school of the neighbourhood. Let the minister’s house be the apothecary’s shop for the country round. Let the minister’s wife help in teaching on the Sabbath; and let her travel with him, sometimes, making not pastoral calls but visitations to churches far remote; or, if she cannot go with him, let her have the charge of affairs while he is away. Try such an experiment. Call a minister with the understanding that such work shall devolve on his wife. Conceive, if you can, that such an arrangement is fairly entered into, and common humanity will quickly ask whether someone else could not be provided to do part of the work. The experiment is being tried again and again in Asia, in Africa, and in other of the dark regions of the earth.

It has been argued that woman has no rightful place in the mission-field and that her persistence in such ardous work entails a needless loss of life. This theory is, however, without the support of facts, and those who advance it show gross ignorance of the subject. Indeed, if it were not for women, missions would be deprived of fully half their value. In Eastern countries, where the women are kept in the strictest seclusion, and are never permitted to look on the face of a man other than that of their husband and his younger brothers, women missionaries are an absolute necessity to the furtherance of the gospel. More than that, it is only through them that proper medical aid can be obtained in times of sickness.

IN AN INDIAN ZENANA

In India, and other parts of the East, the women’s section of the house is called the zenana, a word which means the place of the women. To this part of a house male visitors are not admitted; and even in cases of serious illness it is a rare thing for a medical man to see a sick woman. As a rule, he must form his opinion of a case from the reports of others, and sick ladies are entirely at the mercy of female quacks, whose practice is based on tradition and superstition. Sometimes the doctor is permitted to speak to a patient from behind a curtain; and instances have been known of women putting their tongues through a slit in the curtain, so that he might judge of their condition.

The seclusion of women in zenanas has given rise to a special form of mission work which is only undertaken by women. Lady missionaries obtain admission to the zenanas, and impart religious instruction to native women in their own homes which may not be given in public, and under no circumstances by a man. In this way they hope to at length overcome the bigotry, founded on ignorance, which has its chief stronghold in the homes of the people.

Lady missionaries are constantly being sent out from Europe and America, and as many as possible are engaged who have studied medicine, and are qualified to act as medical women. These mission workers are able to attend to the bodily ailments of the poor creatures whom they are trying to lead to Christ.

An association named the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission has taken up this great work, and in spite of the customs and prejudices of the Hindus, it has made considerable progress. Only through the spread of Christianity can the condition of women in India be improved, and in no other way can the women be reached except by women.

Even in savage countries the natives are more willing to receive a missionary if he is accompanied by his wife. How nobly these devoted wives have laboured for the conversion of the heathen, how steadfast they have endured, and in how heroic a manner they have died, is told in the following pages. They have not lived in vain, neither have they laboured in vain. In many a distant home there are to-day Christian mothers who through their teaching are leading their children into the way of peace.

The names of these Heroines of the Cross will ever be held in honour, and may their example point the path of duty to others till the coming of that glorious time when all shall know the Lord, from the least even to the greatest.

CHAPTER II.

THE FIRST WOMAN MISSIONARY—MRS. JUDSON IN BURMAH.

TO America belongs the honour of having set the example to the world in sending women earth; and to Mrs. Ann Judson belongs the proud as missionaries into the dark places of the distinction of having been the first to brave the unknown perils of a heathen land, and carry the gospel to her sisters afar off. very restless disposition. Fond of gaiety and change, name was Hasseltine. As a girl she displayed a chusetts, on the 22nd of December 1789. Her family She was born at Bradford, in the State of Massa–she gave little if any heed to religious matters. For Strictures on Female Education arrested her attention. In her seventeenth year a sentence in Hannah Moore’s anxious thought relative to the salvation of my soul. two or three years, she says, I scarcely felt an but her resolution was like the house, built on the on her mind. She determined to lead a religious life, she liveth, and the words made a great impression She read, She that liveth in pleasure is dead while sand, which was speedily swept away.

For some time longer she continued in her pursuit of pleasure, but the Spirit of God was now operating on her mind; she lost all relish for amusements, felt melancholy and dejected; and the solemn truth that she must obtain a new heart or perish for ever lay with weight on her thoughts. After many trials, she became at last a new creature in Christ Jesus. Her time was now taken up with teaching, and she also began to take an interest in missionary work. It is recorded that she set apart a portion of each day to pray for the conversion of the heathen.

Shortly after this she made the acquaintance of a young student named Judson, who was preparing for mission work in India, and when he asked her to accompany him as his wife, to assist him in his work, she gladly agreed, subject to the approval of her parents. This was obtained, and they were married on the 5th of February. Two weeks later they set out from Salem, bound for Calcutta, where they arrived on the 18th of June 1812.

Within a fortnight after their arrival, however, they received an order from the East India Company to quit the country without delay. In vain they pleaded to be allowed to remain, expressing their willingness to settle in any district which might be assigned to them. The order was repeated with greater firmness, and they had no alternative but to obey.

They then took passage in an old and unseaworthy native boat for Burmah. Storms were frequent, and many a time they despaired of reaching their destina- tion; but at length they landed at Rangoon, on the 13th of July, 1813. At this time the city numbered forty thousand inhabitants, wholly given over to idolatry.

Hitherto, all attempts to bring the natives to a knowledge of the truth had ended in failure, and it was with very mixed feelings that Mr. and Mrs. Judson settled down among them.

Their first duty was to learn the language. This was a most difficult task, for there were no grammars or dictionaries, and the Burman whom they employed to teach them knew not a word of English. The difficulty was got over by pointing at things to which the teacher then gave the name. The word was committed to memory, and thus a vocabulary was formed. After six months’ persevering study they had mastered enough of the language to make themselves understood by the natives. But their day of trouble was not yet over. Mrs. Judson fell ill, and had to remove to Madras for rest and change, her eldest child died, and there were many disappointments in their work.

Towards the close of the year 1816 two additional missionaries—Mr. and Mrs. Hough—came to their aid. Hough was a printer, and he brought with him a press and type. The arrival of this apparatus v/as very welcome. Judson had found that the majority of the Burmese were able to read, and anything which came to them in writing received more consideration than when it was spoken. He therefore wrote two tracts in their language, which he now had printed and distributed throughout the district.

Mrs. Judson was at this time actively at work among those of her own sex. On Sunday she gathered round her a number of women and girls and read the Scriptures to them. They appeared to be deeply interested and anxious to hear about God; but their goodness was like the morning cloud which soon passeth away. Four children, however, committed the catechism to memory, and took delight in often repeating it to one another.

Another year of toil and hardship was added to those already gone, before any serious inquiries came to be taught about the new religion. Then secretly, by night, came a young man named Moung