Expounds on the supremacy and unchangeable nature of Jesus Christ, drawing heavily from the Epistle to the Hebrews. It contrasts Christ's divine attributes with the transient nature of creation and human institutions, emphasizing His role as God, the creator, sustainer, and ultimate end of all things. The message highlights Christ's superiority over angels, prophets, Moses, and the Levitical priesthood, underscoring His perfect atonement and eternal priesthood. It concludes by urging believers to trust in this unchanging Savior amidst the world's flux and to share His gospel, drawing a parallel to the ongoing mission work among the Zulu people.
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I'm very pleased to be here tonight together with Mrs. Ferguson in order to bring you some report about our work for the Lord among the Zulus. That's a real illustration of dropping your voice. I want to turn you for a little while to the first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Chapter one of the Epistle to the Hebrews, beginning at verse one. God, who at times and in diverse manners, spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world, who being the brightness of his glory, in the express amidst of his persons, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sin, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angel, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
For unto which of the angel said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he said, and let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angel, she says, who maketh his angel spirits, and his ministers, a flame of fire. But under the sun, she says, thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
And... Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. And they also, what told, is thus a garment, and as a verse just shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy deer shall not fail. But to which of the angel said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, and till I make thine enemies thy footstool, Are they not all ministering spirit? Set forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Chapter thirteen, at verse seven.
Remember then which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. The epistle to the Hebrews has been called the fifth Gospel. In the first four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we find portrayed the moral glory and the earthly walk of our Lord Jesus Christ. But in this epistle, the epistle to the Hebrews, there is unfolded for us the spiritual perfection of our Lord Jesus and his heavenly ministry.
The epistle to the Hebrews stands in great contrast to the epistle to the Romans. In the epistle to the Romans we find man as a sinner standing at the judgment bar of God and he can't get out, he can't get free. In the epistle to the Hebrews man is outside a temple, God temple and because of his sin he can't get in. But in the epistle to the Romans where he's in court and can't get out the advocate steps forward and presents his nail-pifted hand as evidence of the fact that he has laid down his life blood in order to free this man from the judgment of God, that he himself has borne that judgment and by virtue of that sacrifice, pardon is given to the man and he is set free and he goes out free, justified.
In the epistle to the Hebrews, Again, the papal hands are presented, showing that all defilement has been taken away, the man's sin has been fared, and his guilt has been atoned for, and the doors are wide open, and he is brought inside. But in the epistles of the Hebrews, we find that the Jewish believers at this time were troubled because of the persecution they suffered in relation to Jesus Christ. Everything seemed to men with them to be utterly strange. The first block of their faith had passed, and now they were having to endure much because of their personal faith in our Lord Jesus.
And so for that reason the Apostle writes this epistle in order to show to them the glories and the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you can think through with me through the epistle to the Hebrews, here we find that in every aspect And to listen to all that the Jews took pride in, the Lord Jesus Christ is greater. Right from the very beginning, he speaks, God who at sundry times. The apostle doesn't predicate his own name there, because it's going to present a higher apostle, the apostle of our profession, even Jesus Christ. God who at sundry times and in diverse manners, speaks in time passed unto the fathers by the prophets.
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. So he brings a contrast to us right at the very beginning, the Fathers and the Prophets. What the Prophets had said was only fragmentary, but what is said in the Son is complete. What the Prophets had said was temporary, but what was said in the Son was eternal. What was said by the Prophets was preparatory, but what God was saying in his Son was absolute. and final so that right at the very beginning he lifts up the person of the Lord Jesus and shows him to be greater than the prophet and then he goes on to say he has obtained a far more excellent name than that of the angels and throughout the rest of the chapter in chapter one that we read together we find him going from Sam to Sam and take seven Sam and from these Sam he quotes certain references with regards to the angels and with regards to the Son of God unto which of the angels said ye at any time, thou art my Son.
This day have I begotten thee. Taken from Psalm II. And had we time to examine these references, you would find Psalm II, Psalm eighty-nine, Psalm ninety-seven, Psalm forty-five, Psalm one hundred and two, and Psalm one hundred and ten, and Psalm one hundred and four, seven Psalms. And he brings out the glories of the person of Christ, having obtained a far more excellent name than the angel. Starting into chapter two, he takes from Psalm eight the fact that God had given to Adam the authority and dominion of the earth and said that these things were to be under history and all things to be brought in subjection to him.
But he brings out the fight that because of sin, things are not in subjection to Adam. But he says, we see Jesus, who from the suffering of death was crowned with glory and honor. He was made man. He was made a little lower than the angels. And by him, death has been conquered and vanquished. And all who fear death have been brought into liberty and life by virtue of the last. In chapter three, he speaks of Moses. He says, Moses was a servant of God's house, but Christ is a son over God's house.
Whose house are we? We hold back the confidence of our hope unto the end. He is greater than angels, than prophets, than Adam, than Moses. In chapter four, he speaks of the children of Israel entering the rest. But it says if Joshua had given them rest, there would have been no necessity to speak of another rest, saying, Today, if you will hearken unto me, if you will heed my voice, harden not your heart, and then speak of a rest into which he is bringing the believer today, not through Joshua into the rest of the land of Canaan, but that rest, that sabbatic rest in the person of Christ.
who said, Come unto me all, ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. In chapters five, six, and seven, he speaks of the priesthood, the ironic priesthood, how that he was appointed of God, and how that by the oath of God he was confirmed to be the priest in a earthly fashion. But he says, Our priest is after a different order, is after the order of Melchizedek. These priests couldn't continue by reason of death, but he, after the power of an endless life, is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lived, to make intercession for them.
He has an unchangeable preaching. In chapter nine he speaks of the sacrifice and shows that even in the day of atonement, because of the people being kept from the holy of holies, and only the high priest being allowed to enter and they having to stay outside until he appeared again. He says the Holy Ghost was indicating the fact that the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. Why? Because the real sacrifice to make possible our entrance into the holiest has not yet been made. And so the holiest was closed because the sacrifice was not sufficient to take away sins. But he says...
The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offer themselves with a spark to God, purge your conscience from dead work to serve the living and true God? And shows the eternal value of the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so on to the eighteen verse of chapter ten. He's dealing with the fact of these varied aspects of doctrine and showing in every case the superiority and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. When it comes to the practical side of the epistle, in chapter eleven he touches the matter of faith.
In chapter twelve the matter of hope. In chapter thirteen the matter of love. As to faith these believers among the Jews at that time felt that faith was something new. It was a new principle. They have been accustomed to seeing everything. But the Apostle shows to them that faith has been the energizing force in the lives of God's people right from the very beginning. And so there in chapter eleven, he says, by faith we understand that the worlds were made by the word of God and takes us right back to creation. Then he comes into the antediluvian period and says, by faith Abel and by faith Enoch and by faith Noah.
Right away there, says the Apostle, faith was the energizing force of the lives of those that preach God because without faith it is impossible to preach God. After the flood, he brings us to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Sarah. And there in the patriarchal period, he shows that faith is the living vital force of spiritual life. Then he brings us into the land of Egypt, speaking of the parents of Moses that hid. Moses when he was three months old and seven things about Moses in the land of Egypt whereby his faith overcame as seeing him who is invisible and then he brings us into the land and says that by faith the walls of Jericho fell down and by faith Rahab was saved because she sent away the messengers with peace and received the spies and sent them away with peace And then it brings us into the period of the judges.
Time we fail to tell of Barak and Samson and Jesse and Gideon. And then it brings us into the time of the king and speaks of David. And then into the times of the prophet and speaks of Samuel. And then into the times of the captivity when there were the three men who quenched the violence of fire by virtue of their faith. And of Daniel who stopped the mouths of lions. He brings us into the period of the Maccabees when they fought so nobly against the Syrians to retain their independence in the land of Palestine. And then finally to the period of John the Baptist who was in the desert.
And all of these, says the Apostles, were characterized by the strength of the faith and by their faith they, through his God. Coming into chapter twelve, he speaks of the kingdom. Didn't these Jews long for a kingdom? Well, says the apostle, we haven't come to Mount Zion. We have come to the heavenly Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. We are linked with a new body for a new kingdom. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom, he says, let us have reverence and serve God with fear, knowing that the time will come when everything will be shaken. But there will be established a kingdom that can never be shaken.
Stretching the fact of hope. And chapter thirteen begins, let brotherly love continue. And so he brings before these believers the tremendous superiority of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter one and in chapter thirteen he says there is one great feature, and it is this I would stress, the unchangeableness of Christ. Because he brings you up before us here his glories, the glories of the Son of God, and what glories they are. Here he says, he has spoken unto us in his Son, by whom he created the world, who has made the air of all things.
That is his divine appointment. Then there's his creative accomplishment, by whom also he made the world. Then there's his divine agreement, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. And then there's his universal administration. he upholds all things by the word of his father. And then there's his sufficient atonement, when he had by himself heard their sins. And then there's his kingly accession, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty and I, and finally his superior authority, being made so much better than the angel, having obtained a more excellent name than they.
and in quick succession with every praise, he stresses our Lord's divine appointment, his creative accomplishment, his divine agreement, his universal administration, his sufficient atonement, his kingly accession, and his superior authority. What a sign. And as we look at these statements, we discover that Christ is before all history because he is God. God who at hundred times long before the earth was created, and when it was speaking through his servants of practice, Christ in the person of God. He is before all history.
He is also the beginning of all history. He made the world. And he is the center of all history. He upholds all things by the word of his power. And he is the end of all history because he is the heir of all history. And so the person of Christ has brought before us in so many wonderful aspects, showing the unchangeable nature of his character. Towards the end of that chapter, if it's a comparison, or shall I say, a contrast with creation, taken from Psalm one hundred and two. And in these verses from ten to twelve, if you cast your eye upon them, you find that by pines the personal pronoun thou or thy is used.
He says, and thou, Lord. That's his superiority. He says, in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens and the works of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou remaineth. Thou, Lord. Thou remaineth. That's his eternity. They shall perish. Thou shalt hold them up. That's his ability. But thou art the same. That's his immutability. Thy years shall not fail. That's his eternal perpetuity.
So that his superiority, eternity, ability, immutability, and eternal perpetuity brought out in contrast to the fading character of all that is in our present creation. What a wonderfully glorious Savior. And the thing is this, that he says here in chapter one, thou art the same. And it's here that he's making the contrast with all these things that have to do with creation and the work of God. In other words, he's stressing the immutability of his deity. But when you come to chapter thirteen, he says, remember then that had the rule over you.
who speak unto you the word of God. Consider the end of their conversation. And what was it? Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. So that here in chapter one, he's stressing his deity. In chapter thirteen, he's speaking of his humanity, comparing him with the leaders and the shepherds and the guides and the elders. The end of whose conversation and the project of whose life was Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. They're not the same, says chapter one. Jesus Christ the same, says chapter thirteen.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, says chapter thirteen. Chapter one says in the beginning, that was yesterday. The same yesterday and today, chapter one says. Thou remainest. There's never any change in him. He's still the same today. The same yesterday and today and forever, says chapter thirteen. But chapter one has already said, Thy year shall not fail. There'll never be any change in him. So Jesus Christ, thou art the same, the same, in the beginning, yesterday.
Thou remainest today. Thy year shall not fail, though the same forever. What a character. Amidst all the chains and decay in every institution and nation and generation, society, every phase of human life, above them all, Jesus Christ our Lord, remains the same. There's no fading of His glory. There's no waning of His love. There's no sapping of His strength. There's no dwindling of His resources. There's no failure in his care. There's no faltering in his guidance. There's no error in his wisdom. What a character. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
And what a contrast. Such a character leads me to compare. But when I compare, I discover only contrast. Change and decay, we think. And all around I see. O thou who changest not, abide with me. And change and decay mark every phase in human life. Some changes are volcanic. Some are sudden. Some are revolutionary. Some are progressive. Phases of life are encircled. First there's discovery. Then there's development. Then there's decline. Then there's decay. And then there's disappearance. It's true whether you're speaking of politics.
or industry, or commerce, or science, or transport, or building, or fashion, or communication, all the world is a stage. And men and their institutions are only players. But in contrast, Jesus Christ, the unchanging Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. The changes in human life and human society make no change in him. He knows they're all coming. And there are times when he had to intervene. And I believe that he intervenes in human life, in human society, in human affairs, even at the present time.
Because in this world of ours, in spite of all the failure and sin and tumult and turmoil all around us, there are divine moral balances that keep things in a proper perspective. What a comfort. What a character. What a contrast. What a comfort. Do we know this unchanging Savior? I wonder if there's anyone here tonight, and you've never come face to face with this one. You've never realized that this one, upon whom the Word of God places so many glories, wonderful glories for time and eternity, is the one that died upon Calvary's cross, and he's the same today.
The love that he manifested at Calvary, and when he died and shed his blood, is the love that goes out to every seeking sin of the day, and he'll receive him and forgive him. What he did to the heirs and the woman of Samaria and Nicodemus and to the disciples and to so many others yesterday, that's what he's doing today. And he'll do that until he returns again in glory. There is opportunity for any here tonight to trust in this unchanging Savior. And we who are Christians, we can depend upon it. that that love and that grace and strength that he manifested yesterday is just as abundant today.
There has never been anything in the idea of exhaustibility with regard to his resources. They are just the same because he is the same. And he wonderfully ministers to every believer's need. My grace is sufficient for thee. He is able to make all great abound to argue that ye always having all sufficiency. in all things may abound unto every good work. Therefore, fellow believer tonight, fearing perhaps that friends have forsaken you, or that the Lord may have forgotten you, remember this, you may cast your care upon him, for he cares for you.
There will never be any dwindling of his love or power or resources of grace. It is just the same yesterday, today and forever. May that say, you'll be more affectionately adored by every believer here tonight. And if there'll be one that doesn't know him, trust him, and you'll prove how wonderfully unchangeable and powerful he is. Our work among the Zulu people in Natal and Zulaland, we have been there for over forty years. We have seen many changes in the work, and I want to show you by means of the pictures tonight, as we go through them steadily, is presented as a kind of story, because I want to give you a tour of our work among the Zulu people.
And if we have the light down, we can make a beginning. I think we are well aware of the term Christian missions in many lands. Our missionaries are helped by CMML as it operates in New York. And so throughout the different parts of the world, we are carrying on the work commended by the various assemblies. Here in South Africa, down in the southern part of the continent where we are, Rhodesia, Zambia, Zaire, Angola, Tanzania, the Chad, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
All over the continents of Africa are the Lord's servants laboring in the different parts of this great continent. We take you tonight to South Africa, a country of four provinces, the Cape, Orange Free State, Transvaal, and Natal and Zuliland are one province. Our particular work is in the southern part. Here is the city of Durban. Inland is the city of Piedemaritzburg. Coming down the coast you come to Port Hepsun, and inland, first of all, you come to Murchison Mission Hospital, then inland still Mansfield Mission Station, and further inland still Elam Mission Station. Over the border, among the Pondos, also our brethren are laboring.
But all around here in this section is the particular part where our work is carried on. If you came to our country tonight, we're getting into the winter season, just as you're getting into your summer season. And here you would find our hills just like this, rather there because of it being winter. But across the hills, you find the crawls of the people, K-R-A-A-L, their homes with five or six huts or three huts or two huts. whatever it might be, according to the size of the family. Again, if you travel through our field, coming along this Tarmacadem Road, you see again the homes of the people, being small or large, all depending on the size of the family, and very often upon the fact whether the man has more than one wife, for polygamy is part of Zulu culture.
Continuing on, right through, away to the horizon, you see the mission station on the hilltop. the chapel and the school and our home. Notice the homes of the people in close proximity to the mission station itself. If you were to come by train, you would come by this tunerville trolley running on a narrow gauge of only two feet, driven by steam and going along there at about ten to fifteen miles an hour. But this is the train that brings the goods and other things to our station. Our station, our railroad station is about five miles from Elam where it is called Nmabeni. Did you hear the Zulu click?
Nmabeni. In our language there are four clicks. One is made by putting the tongue behind the teeth. And the second like a cock coming out of a bottle. And the third like saying G up to a horse. And the fourth instead of sucking that in you explode it out. Now these are the four clicks in the language. Just let me sing you a chorus to illustrate how they come in. The chorus, build on the rock, the rock that ever stands, goes like this. Did you hear the click?
Our word for one of our outstations is Engling Mallow. A women's conference is an England motelah. One which air cotton is Ukukhaibula. Conversation is Ukukha. The word for truth is Ikkhaniso. The word to boil water is Ukutkutim. And so that it is, these clips coming in different parts, different words of the language. And so here then is our station to which our goods come. Continuing along the highway, you come to the turn off to the mission, and soon you come right on to the mission station itself. Mrs. Ferguson and I would welcome you there and take you into our home. Our home built in the early part of this century, but we have changed it and renovated it to make it more livable and suitable for our different special age.
And then all around are all kinds of flowers. Natal is called the Garden Province of South Africa, so that we have all kinds of flowers. in the province of Natal. And it's the botanist delight to see all the types of flowers there. Together with us are Mr. and Mrs. George Butcher, commended from Toronto, Canada. Here are Kim and Eric, the two children. And with us also is Miss Edith Mears of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the nurse. There she is in her office with her files and records and so on. Just a little away from the house is the church and the school. One became, first of all, the school was held in the chapel, much to the detriment of the chapel furniture and the chapel appearance.
Because when you have over five hundred children running around and all in the one great big building, it's quite a task to keep the place neat and tidy. We were glad when the Lord enabled us to build this proper school, so that we were able to renovate the building and make it suitable for assembly purposes only. Right above my head there on the new platform is the text in Zulu. and to him who loved us and loosed us from our sins in his own blood. It's a delight to see the chapel filled on Sunday, the older women sitting on this side, the younger women and the children in the center, and the men along this side. Men and women never sit together among the Zulus, not even in their hut.
It's a part of their Zulu culture to be separated along that line. Here we are saying goodbye to some of the believers as they go up on the Lord's day. Notice how well they are dressed. You'll see the difference between them and the heathen ones, the heathen people, a little later. Now look at our country again. Notice how the hut and the homes have been built on the hillside and our schools and chapels have been built likewise. That's a winter scene. It's a bit more pretty in the summertime with the fields coming on and the grass and so on, making a very pleasant aspect. But the government has undertaken a new policy to take the people away from the hillsides and to build them up in villages.
Because of the increase of the population and the demand for more food, a policy of this nature is necessary. Just what effect it's going to have on our work, we are not yet aware. But this is the policy now in vogue. Here again our hills. Going down hills like this on a wet day can be quite a task. going right away down into the valley and a way up the other side. When you come to the other side, a way down there is the river, wending its way to the Indian Ocean. Over these hills and valleys with the homes of the people inside the bush have gone often on horseback and on foot, ministering the word to the believer and preaching the gospel.
Now look at the crawl a little more closely. The walls are built of mud and the satch of goats for the roof. They have been doing the reaping, and there is their corn, up on these vessels to keep it from the rat and also to dry, ready for shelling. The animals are in close proximity to the homes of the people. It's not uncommon for us to have a meeting with a calf tied at the side of the door to keep it away from the mother cow so that the people can get the milk. And chickens and goats and dogs wander in and out of the meeting. But there it is, we just carry on, and here are just some of the crawl scenes. The mother pig with her piglet and the people and the huts and the chickens and so on, just as you see them as we go around.
Here's a big crowd of geese. They make a terrific noise if you approach. Now here is a large crawl where the husband is more than one wife, and the same in the next picture, indicating the size of a Zulu crawl at times. This man is a prosperous African farmer with one or two hundred acres of farm, but he has quite a large family and on his farm he gave us a site on which to build a small chapel for the assembly in that area. The children, they don't have very much, but what they have they can enjoy. And it's quite a delight to see the children playing so happily as you move among the calls.
Now here are two heathen women. They have been to the store buying grain. But notice they are wearing thin skirts. These are given by their husbands at the time of their wedding and are designed to last them all their married life. Then here you find around their neck are charms and beadwork. This woman's face has been smeared with mud. Their hair is matted with clay and with mud and with string. And that's typical of the people as you find them just among their homes. Here they are in a close-up form. Notice the things around their neck. It's always amazing to us to find how happy they are outwardly because their lives are staked in superstition and fear and witchcraft.
Here's a, he's in woman making beer. It's more a food than a drink, but when the people are going to have a beer drink, the evangelist gathers the Christians together and goes down to witness in the gospel before they get too far in their celebration. Here again, a typical scene in the crowd where the woman is cutting her corn. the skin skirt and the armlet, the matted hair and the various other features that you see at any time as you visit among the crawls and sit down and talk to them about their need of Christ. The women do the hard work, as you have seen that they don't have much bush in certain parts, and so they go and work for the white farmer in order to get these loads of firewood.
Now some of these loads weigh up to about two hundred pounds. And there they are, they have a lovely straight gate because of carrying everything on their head. That's quite a heavy work. Here again, a picture we took on our way to an outstation. The skin skirt and all this beadwork was designed and all these designs can be a special message. Notice again the matted hair and here is a snuff spoon sticking out of this woman's hair. A Zulu bride, all ready for the great day. Notice the beadwork again and the special hairdo. Now the men take care of the cattle. They are not very robust cattle because they go in for numbers rather than quality.
And I caught this picture as they were pulling the sled across the road. I knew they were going to get satching grass. So I got the picture as they came back. There's the load of satching grass, being taken to one of the crawl sites for the satching of one of the hats. When they build their hats, They cut the sods from the soil, build them up in this fashion, and then the women take mud, smear it outside and inside. Then the roof is placed in position and trimmed. And then the man that does the fetching comes along and fetches the roof just as you see it there. Now a hut like this will last about five to seven years. And into the home just like this, we go with the message of the gospel.
There are times when, because of the heathen people's reluctance to come to the chapel, we go to them in their homes. And periodically we have what is called a gospel trek. The evangelists and the brethren and some of the women, we go from home to home along the hillside, singing the gospel, going into each home. And whether we find only one or many, the gospel is preached and we pass on to the next. Sometimes, if the hut is too small for the service, We simply hold it outside. This man at the end of the meeting made a profession of faith in Christ, and here you see me with my hand on his shoulder, giving him a word of counsel as to what it means to be a believer in our Lord Jesus.
Now besides the work among the calls, we have work in the schools. The government took over African education in But we are in no way restricted with our teaching of the scriptures among the children and wherever we want to go. So that in the primary school and in the secondary school, I have liberty for the teaching of the scriptures. Here is the secondary school, not very far from the mission station, where over two hundred young people are there, and I have four classes weekly amongst these young people. During the holidays, we have a holiday Bible school, something like a DVBS. And in the local chapel, the children of that area gather day by day in the forenoon.
They go inside and hear the hour with the text for the day and just sitting in their place ready to learn whatever is being given them that day. Then at Elam, very often we have special functions, one of which is the closing of school, when the children give a program of recitation and singing. And here you find me carrying on with a message, probably teaching a chorus or something, and there they are. At that time, because of so many hundred children in the school itself, and all their parents and friends coming, there are hundreds of people gathered around the mission station, a splendid opportunity for the presentation of the message. Then we have several Sunday schools. Here is one where the children are waiting for our coming.
The Sunday schools go in every Sunday morning at half past seven. We have a program of going through the Bible stories. in five years. And every year we teach twelve new gospel verses. And it's a delight at the end of the year to listen to the children, recite these verses, chapter and verse, as they have learned them over the year. They go inside, and there are a crowd at this side, and another look at the other side. The African teacher teaches the lesson. We go among the Sunday schools, Sunday by Sunday, in order to see the progress being made. Where we don't have a chapel, a Christian will lend his us for the use of the Sunday school. And here you find some of the children attending one such Sunday school.
Now in the building up of the believers, the evangelists have the regular work week by week in meetings and ministry, but every three months we conduct a three-day Bible conference. In our area we have twenty-two assemblies. Each assembly takes its turn for the conference. And so the believers from the other assemblies gather together and, for the three days, fellowship and ministry and joy. Here's another of our chapels. Here are the people sitting outside, listening to some of the girls, a choir, singing just before the ministry of the word begins. Another way among the hills, our brother George Butcher here is ministering the word.
Sometimes the services are held outside because of the heat and because of the congestion. Here is another of our assemblies built of brick. When we went out to the field, first of all, the buildings were built of mud and waddle and satch, many of them coming apart. The believers came and asked, time by time, for better buildings. And we followed this scheme that the believers themselves would give of their meager means what they could. And then as the Lord supplied the balance to us, we were able to erect these buildings. Some were built of brick. some of concrete blocks, and some of dried brick. But there they are, this one built of brick. It's a large building.
It has an assembly of about two hundred in fellowship. Here is another, two of the evangelists discussing some points in the scripture. And this is one being built of sun-dried brick. This is where the assembly met before. You can understand the desire for a proper building. I made the mold, and the believers make these bricks. Now it's not only the men that work, but the women work as well. And they go back and forward to the river, carrying water for mixing concrete, if we have a concrete base, or for mixing the mud to make these bricks. Around the back of the hut here are hundreds of them drying in preparation for the day we shall start to build. This is the last building that we erected before we came and followed.
And that sun-dried brick, there it is, all built up, plastered with cement, an iron roof and steel windows and made an attractive little chapel for the people. Here they are beginning to gather for the services. You notice it's the winter time with the cattle in the raked fields getting what they can from the corn stalks. It was a cold day when we opened that building. That's why we have our overcoats here. This young man is reading the scriptures. And then we invited our brother Bas Manik and his wife to come for the day so that he could minister the word, open the building officially, and then minister the word inside. Here is our brother Manik and his wife Edna and his three boys.
They minister the word after we went inside and we had a splendid day. But then there are places where we don't have a chapel and the Sahat is too small for the gathering of the believers. We simply sit outside and set up the table outside and here are the people gathering together ready for the Lord's Supper. Meet the evangelists. This is Joseph, the oldest evangelist, and Albert and Simon and Elliot, Kephas and Johnson and Thomas. Thomas is the evangelist at Elam. He is a real leader and a real shepherd, able in the preaching of the gospel and in the teaching of the Word of God. Speaking of Joseph again, he has been in the work over fifty years.
What a wonderful work he has done. One of his sons is Zebulon by name. He came to the Ilam school as a boy and then went on for teacher training and was posted back to Ilam as head teacher. While he was at Ilam over several years, he studied by correspondents under the University of South Africa to get his BA degree in English and in history. Now he studied in one of these huts in the light of a smoky kerosene lamp. But he finally managed it. And when he gained his degree, He was promoted to be an inspector of schools, then to be a supervisor, and since we have come home, we have learned that he's been promoted higher still.
But in spite of all his advance in his education, he remains a happy and a humble and an earnest elder in the local assembly where he meets. Every July at Elam, we have what we call our Bible Week. The brethren come together for a week of intensive Bible study, two sessions in the morning, one in the afternoon, and a sunset gospel service. These Bible studies are followed by discussion periods so that they're at liberty to ask their questions. Now here's the group that came last year when we held the Bible Week just before we left. The year before, here is the group. And you can see different men, everyone coming with his Bible, eager to learn more about the scriptures.
One of the missionaries generally takes the minister together with one of the African brethren. And here is our brother Ken Fleming. from Seattle, Washington, ministering the word on the journeys of the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan with the spiritual import. Then we have the dispensary on the station where you meet Edith Maris from Grand Rapids and two trained African nurses. They care for the sick folks as they come day by day, sometimes many, sometimes few. But there they are as they sit outside in the sunshine waiting for attention. Sometimes a service has begun to begin today, and then the work begins. Various types of clinics are held.
Baby clinics, TV clinics, VE clinics, various other types of clinics. And there are these women laboring faithfully among the state. And the gospel is proclaimed by message and by trite and by personal testimony. And many come to hear the gospel as this seasoned woman, a witch, by the way. You can tell that by the chicken feathers at the front of her hair. and the dried gallbladder of a goat at the back. It's the dried gallbladder of the goat whose warm blood she had to drink before it was initiated into the sphere of witchcraft. There's a part of the goat's skin at her dress.
Notice the chicken bone in the child's neck given by the witch doctor to keep away the influence of evil spirits. And there they come, in all kinds and conditions, and how glad we are that they receive the word of the Gospel. Here's a common maladies. The children pull water over the leg. They'll get you near the fire. And they come with serious burns. Again, here are twins that Miss Mirith treated. The mother was a great one for knitting. She knitted these two punches for the children and their hats. And then when they were well, they brought these knitted table mats to give to Miss Mirith an appreciation of their being healed. Here is a more pitiable case. This is malnutrition.
There are certain parts of the tribes among the Zulus that do not believe in feeding their children either from the breast or milk. Consequently, they are given a weak solution of sugar and water and bread, and this is the result. TB is very ripe among the Zulu people, and it's a constant fight on the part of the government and the medical work to try and keep it at bay. This is one of the causes. A child in this condition has to be sent to Murchison Mission Hospital for treatment. But there at Elam, we are encouraged to have baby clinics. Every Monday and Friday, about a hundred and twenty women and their babies come for powdered milk, supplied by the government and other firms to try and eliminate this terrible disease.
The children are registered. They are weighed upon the scale. And when Ms. Muir is satisfied that they are making progress, the mother is given the powdered milk. And this is a great help to the people because of it being given at such low rates. It's not wise to give it out for nothing. Here is a man that came to the dispensary on his own ambulance, drawn by two options, a mattress on the sled, and there he came, unable to walk, and came for treatment and for care. This man, his wife, broke her leg. He came and borrowed the wheelbarrow so he could feel her to the dispensary for treatment. Of course, in a case like this, where it has to be set, the case has to be sent down to Murchison Mission Hospital.
Murchison Mission Hospital is thirty-two miles from Elam. The ambulance comes back and forward for different cases, both to Mansfield and to Elam. Here is Dr. Fisher ministering the word to a number of the patients. Some of the patients are going down in the ambulance for treatments at Murchison, as, for example, this boy to get the cast off his leg. others to be examined for TB and other diseases. Then when young people or any of them trust the Savior, they are brought into what we call the class for baptism, where they are taught the simple fundamental facts of their salvation and the meaning of baptism and the meaning of the Lord's Supper.
At the conference on Saturday afternoon, these new converts are baptized. Here you find Thomas ministering the word as we sit on the grass just near the stream. When the ministry is over, the candidates come down to the river, and one by one their names are called, and each one is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost. You notice the water. This was the winter time, and we had to dam up the stream in order to get enough water for the baptism. It's not very attractive, but this is some of the streams in which we have to baptize the believers. Now the baptism indicates that the believer has faced up and has endured the early trials that follow his testimony or her testimony as a believer in Christ.
And so the assembly is satisfied that they should be baptized. When the service is over, the people went their way back again to the chapel for further ministry and the cattle take over after we have gone from the stream. The women do the cooking at these conferences, two main meals a day, and it's a great delight to them of each assembly to continue this work with their pots and their firewood, saying to the care and the nourishment of the people at the conference. But they have their own conference, and we, quarter by quarter, they meet at one of the outstations, and here is Mrs. Ferguson ministering the work. What a difference in their appearance from these heathen women you saw a short time ago.
The Gospel makes a difference outwardly as well as inwardly. Now, some of you know Mr. Edwin Gibbs or did know him. He is now with the Lord at Mansfield Mission Station, where Mr. and Mrs. Busmanek and their children are, together with them as Mrs. Gibbs, seventy-nine years of age, little troubled with arthritis, but nevertheless carrying on, together with Miss Anne Price from England, who is the nurse, and Miss... Murray from Penticton in Canada, who is a teacher. They're the staff at Mansfield. Then in Peter Maritzburg, or Mark and Joan Levin Good, they carry on the work among the colored people. The colored people in South Africa are not the Africans, they are those who are the descendants of mixed race.
They have a fine assembly in Peter Maritzburg, and together with that work, Mark and Joan Levin Good take care of the Emmaus Bible School correspondence courses. Here are some that have been translated into Zulu, and over twenty thousand have been distributed throughout Natal and Zulaland. Farther to the north of us is our brother Fellingham from England, who carries on a printing work, printing booklets and a magazine for the help of African believers. This one's on the warfare of the believer, the greatness of Christ. This is a hymn book, God's Way of Salvation, the True Church, Questions and Answers, Satan... and his work, Questions and Answers, Pilgrim's Progress, and a series of matters that affect the believer in his walking testimony.
But farther to the south is the Evangelical Mission Press, where brethren from Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa labor in the production of these gospel tribes, printed in the various African languages. The missionary sends down the script, and our brethren prepare it in this fashion. Now come to Merchison. They carry on the wide medical work, but they also have assembly work. And not long ago, this new assembly hall was built. It was begun by the matron of the hospital having a Sunday school. A number of the children trusted the Lord. They went on for the Lord, and the evangelist saw it was wise to begin an assembly.
But they only met in a hut. Ultimately, this building was erected. This woman here is one of the first converts of that assembly. We had the privilege of ministering the word at the opening of the hall. We are outside for a praise meeting and then Mrs. Ferguson turned the key in the door and we went in for the dedication service. Giving you a little idea of the start of an assembly and building it up and having it consolidated in whatever district it has begun. Here is the complex of the buildings of Murchison Mission Hospital. Murchison Mission Hospital was begun in Under Dr. Barton and two nursing sisters, they had a wood and iron building with only two wards.
But in the course of the years, this development has taken place with various kinds of wards for various diseases. There are one hundred and ninety-eight beds. That means there are two hundred and fifty patients, because we always have more patients than we have room. Here is the entrance to the hospital under this avenue of fan trees. We took a picture of the nursing staff and the maids just outside the African staff with one or two of the missionaries. But meet the missionaries themselves. They're not all here. Here is Dr. Terry Gilpin, commended from Ireland. He's the medical superintendent. Ms. Jeanette Main, commended from South Africa. Ms.
Ruth Stevens, commended from New Zealand. Ms. Bonte Ferguson, commended from Inverness in Scotland. And Ms. Alex Huck, commended from Belfast in Ireland. This is a student doctor doing observation work. Mr. Cameron commended from Johannesburg, and these other sisters commended from various places comprise the office staff. Besides Dr. Gilpin is Dr. Norman Beer and Dr. Paul Bromley. And then there are the practical missionaries, Mr. Green, Mr. Slocom, and Mr. John Farr. And so there's quite a staff at Merchison Mission Hospital, and it makes quite a company, especially when we have our own meetings together in fellowship and for Ministry of the World.
Here at Dr. Norman Beer, he has been ill for some time and needs our prayers for his recovery. Dr. Gopin was one of the nurses ministering to one of the female patients. Notice how the beds are close together and the sunlight streaming in. South Africa is blessed with ninety percent of the year in sunshine. a native nurse who was trained at Murchison, went on to full the training and now has quite a responsible position in the hospital. The matron attaching a drip to one of the female patients. The children of our petiable and some of their sicknesses, some of them could be avoided, but because of the conditions of the people and the conditions of their homes, consequently the children suffer.
Here is a little child. with oxygen being given to it and other attachments to it, to its face and head. And here is the sister, the matron, and one of the nurses discussing its chart. Its little hands are tied at its side so that it doesn't pull the attachments from its head. And here they are, their little cuts, all side by side. being weighed and then the mother will get powdered milk. Miss Maine was her charge in the children's war. The maternity work, the Zulu mothers are getting more accustomed to coming to hospital for the delivery of their babies.
Far better than the cruel and the crude methods. They have to endure in their own homes. We are so glad that they do come to the hospital. One of the incubators, these are always in use. And this is a resuscitation machine, a very expensive machine, but John Farr took the measurements of one and then came back to Murchison and made one at less than half the cost. Here it is in operation with the matron attending to one of the newborn children, a resuscitation machine. This man was a typical healing when he came to hospital, but the gospel is preached morning and evening, and his heart and conscience were touched, and he turned to the Savior.
and is now a Christian. There are so many of the patients and so many of the nurses as they come to Murchison, hear the gospel and leave, knowing the Lord as Saviour. The operating theatre with Alex Hook applying the anesthetic before the operation. We have our own lab at Murchison with African technicians dealing with the various specimens and the work of a lab. Then in the QB section, Many of the patients are able to be outside enjoying the sunshine. And here are the number of the women engaged in occupational therapy. They are knitting and weaving and sewing and so on.
Then the children are allowed out too. The small children just play around. But for the older children, especially those who are from six months and more in the hospital, school is organized. These children enjoy it when we go down and have a chance to play with them for a little while. Gathering together something like this, and maybe having to follow the lead. As they go like this, they never can do anything like this without singing at the top of their voices. I wish you could hear them sing. They have wonderful harmony in their voices. The matron, she also has to do with the enrolling of the native nurses. These nurses come for a two and a half year course. In the operation of the course, there they are in one of the classes in Anatomy.
But at the end of their course the great day comes for graduation. And they stand on the platform at a certain part of the service, holding a candle, representing Florence Nightingale, the lady with the lamp. And there they are ready now to repeat the Florence Nightingale oath, that oath that all nurses take at the beginning of their career. The lights are dimmed and in the light of the candle the nurses repeat the oath. As I say many of these nurses, came to the hospital not knowing the Savior, but find him at the hospital, and so are more dedicated in their work as Christian nurses. The latest addition to Murchison is the daughter of Mr. Fred McKenzie, the chairman of CMML, Mildred.
At present she is taking a midwifery course in Peter Marysburg, and will soon be at Murchison teaching the African nurses midwifery. Recently a new chapel was built. definitely necessary because of the development of the work. Attached to it, a kitchen and other rooms, and also a bookstore for the distribution of Christian literature among the natives and the patients. The rear of the chapel. On the days that the chapel was opened, I gave a resume of the history of Murchison Mission Hospital. At that time, Mr. Stanford, the evangelist from England was in South Africa, conducting evangelistic campaigns.
We invited him to come to Martisan and to give the message of dedication, which he did. Above our heads here is the text, Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every Sunday and on other days that chapel is filled with patience listening to the gospel. On one occasion when I was present, using my usual method of flannel graph and blackboard, there I am giving the chalk. And the people hear the gospel. And God blesses the message to the salvation of patients and nurses. Now, as we close, just a quick look at Durban. Durban is a lovely seaside resort on the east coast, a tourist attraction.
You can see all the different hotels and so on as they overlook the Indian Ocean. And the residences of the people of the city. It's a city of about seven hundred and fifty thousand. To the north and south of the city are the African reserves or the places where the urban African are south. Before these places were built, the Africans lived in shacks, built of corrugated iron and tin and so on. But the government has cleared away these slums and put up these buildings with proper sanitation and water and lighting and so on. Now in these areas there are five assemblies. Mr. and Mrs. Ken Fleming from Seattle, Washington labour amongst these people in the Durban area.
Here is one of the chapels, nicely built, as you can see, and these are the children of the Sunday School outside. Inside the building, the people are gathered together, stirring up the building, the women in their section, and the men all down their section. Above the evangelist's head is the text, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved. So friends, that's a resume of our work in the southern part of Natal among the Zulu people. Not long ago, coming along the highway, I saw the approach of this hail storm. We get terrible hail storms there, and I saw it approaching, covering the hills that once were bathed in sunlight.
I quickly got my camera and took the picture. Because this picture presents Africa as it is today, a country of storms and sunshine. Storms because of independence and politics, communism sweeping in both the Chinese and the Soviet brands. And so there are these storms, some of which are brewing with greater force than ever. We pray that God may privilege the country to have more of the sunshine, so that into these homes we may go with the message of the gospel, so that the sunshine, the light and liberty of the gospel, may be brought into their hearts and into their homes. because it's only by the preaching of the gospel and the teaching of the Word of God that these people may be brought from darkness to light.
And this is the program being carried on at the present time. And I would commend to you tonight not only the missionaries who are laboring throughout the continent, but the national Christians, that God may give them grace to stand firm, loyal to the Word of God and loyal to the person of Christ. Because of the ecumenicalism, and because of governments interfering more in the administration of church affairs, it's becoming more important that the Christians be stabilized and strengthened so that they may stand firm for their faith in loyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ. I commend them then to your prayers. Shall we pray? Our God and Father, we give thee thanks again for the blessing of thy word in the continent of Africa.
And we pray that in these troubled days, Thou will bless thy word, and bless thy servants, and bless above all the African Christians, that they may be able to stand firm for their faith, that in spite of opposition and obstacles and trials, they may be able to be confirmed in their faith in Christ. May the Word of God have free course and be glorified throughout the continent. We thank you for this meeting tonight, for the number present to show their interest in the work of missions abroad. Bless this assembly in all its own gospel outreach and in those who have gone from the ranks to different parts of the world to preach the gospel. Grant thy blessing, we pray upon them at this time.
Now, Father, we ask that thou will part us with thy blessing. This we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.