PAM. SEftM. The Pentecost on the Congo. STENOGRAPHIC REPORT ADDRESS BY Rev. Henrv Richards, MISSIONARY, OF THE American Baptist Missionary Union, AT BANZA MANTEKE, AFRICA. Rev. Henry Richards'wenEfrom England to Africa as a Mis- sionary of the Livingston Inland Mission in 1879. He established a Station at Banza Manteke, one hundred and fifty miles up from the mouth of the Congo, and ten miles South of that River. He labored there seven years before the first native was converted. Meanwhile, the Mission, by its own voluntary proffer, had been transferred to the American Baptist Missionary Union. Mr. Richards came to us with the Mission, and continued his great work at Banza Manteke under the new auspices. He is now the Pastor of a large Baptist Church there and the only apostle of the Lord Jesus in the wide region roundabout. A year or more ago Mr. and Mrs. Richards returned to England for rest, for they were worn by the excesive labors of years. By request of the Executive Committee of the Missionary Union Mr. Richards came to our country to tell the wonderful story of the Lord’s work in the Congo to our people. He has spoken well nigh a hundred times in different sections of our land and to the great delight and profit of our churches. From a great many, East and West, the request has come that the inspiring address might appear in print, “ verbatim et literatim.” The cry for it has been heard. The dear missionary, honored of God and loved by American Bap- tists, will in a few weeks be again at Banza Manteke to take up the work which he was obliged to leave to another for the while, but we who heard him, and thousands who did not, will read his marvellous story, and follow him with our prayers. A. H. Burungham. Times Building , New York, Feb. 15, 1891. “God is love,’’ and if He is love He cannot help loving ; and • He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son ” to die for it ; and after the Son died to accomplish the work of re- demption. After He had risen again, and “ brought life and im- mortality to light,” He said to His disciples : “ Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” He means to establish a kingdom which is to be universal and eternal. Some- times as one looks abroad on the earth and knows how heathendom is increasing faster than Christianity, one’s heart is apt to sink ; still the promise is “the kingdoms of this earth are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” It is encouraging to read such promises as we have given us in God’s word twenty-four centuries ago. Such promises as we have in the book of Daniel. “ And there was given unto Him dominion, and glory, and a king- dom ; that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him ; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that shall not be destroyed.” “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the -whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all do- minions shall serve and obey Him.” The early disciples of Christ could not understand that the kingdom of Christ was not to be a temporal kingdom. After speaking to them for forty days concern- ing the kingdom they said to Him : “ Wilt thou restore the king- dom to Israel ? ” They could not think that this kingdom was to be for any but Israel, and so Christ said that “ it was not for them to know of the times and seasons.” I cannot make you under- stand this kingdom now, but “ when the Holy Spirit is come upon you,” you will understand that the kingdom is to be a spiritual kingdom ; not for the Jews alone, but for the whole world. After the day of Pentecost Peter seems to understand much better than before ; his mind and heart seem broadened, and he can say that “the promise is to you and your children and all that are afar off,” and God taught Peter this lesson by sending him to Cornelius ; but even after this he did not appear to get over the old Jewish idea, and God raised up a special apostle to preach especially to the Gentiles. There seems to be a good deal of that Jewish spirit about us. There is no doubt but that God took the privilege of preach- 4 ing the gospel away from the Jews because they refused to do it, and gave it to the Gentiles of Europe and America, and has open- ed up the world to them, and if they do not give the world the gospel, no doubt God will raise up some other race and take that privilege of preaching from them. I suppose that, however, God will not hold us responsible for not preaching to a people unknown to us. Africa has been called the “ Dark Continent ” because it was unknown to us ; because it was unknown to geographers, except a few parts of it on the borders ; but from a geographical stand- point it can no longer be called the “Dark Continent.” There are probably a few places where a missionary could not go and settle down among the people and preach the gospel, but it is still, morally and spiritually, the “ Dark Continent.” Stanley tells us that he travelled from Zanzibar around the lakes and down the Congo to Bauana for one thousand days, ex- cept one, and though many thousands of people passed before him every day, he did not find one that kne'w the Lord Jesus Christ, or knew that there was salvation provided for man. Then it was that some Christians began to think that it was time that these people should know of Christ, and a mission was started in 1878. The reason why this region was unknown for so long, probably most of you know ; that it was owing to the formation of the continent, which has been compared to a saucer turned upside down, necessitating in its rivers fierce rapids and huge cataracts. The Congo is no exception to this rule. Although the mouth of the Congo has been known for more than four hundred years, yet no more than one hundred miles had been known until Stanley came down. Large expeditions had been sent out to explore that region, but had failed to do so. The river is only navigable for one hun- dred miles from the mouth. Then you get two hundred miles of cataracts, from Yellala to Stanley Pool. No steamer could asceud those cataracts, and as one leaves the river, other difficulties at once meet him. There are no roads, simply narrow paths, leading from village to village, through long grass growing from six to eighth feet high, over mountains and hills, down through valleys aud deep ravines, across rivers and streams, through woods and over rocks in endless variety. There were no means of transpor- tation; no wagons, no beasts of burden, and 110 native porters that we could obtain at that time. Besides, the climate is very danger- ous. Two missionaries, however, were sent out in 1879 with a few cases of provisions and a few supplies for barter, to penetrate this 5 region from Yellala to Stanley Pool. Two missionaries were ex- j pected to (lo wliat large expeditions had failed to do. Everything J must be taken ; provisions, barter goods, such as calico, spoons, I plates, etc., as there is no money currency. You must also take your own tents, furniture, medicine, and everything eventually necessary, as there are no hotels in that region. These missiona- ries did not, however, get as far as Stanley Pool, but they did well, and got as far as a place called Palabal a. about four or five miles south 6f the Congo River and about ten miles above the first cata- ract, and they established a station there on the hills about sixteen hundred feet high. In 1879 I was ser *t ou t with some others to try to get to Stan- ley Pool, if possible or at least get beyond Palabala forty or fifty miles, and to establish a station, hoping in this way to establish a chain of stations, and so to reach Stanley Pool. The idea was to get to Stanley Pool and establish a station there, and put a steamer on the upper Congo, and preach the gospel to the people ; but this undertaking was much more difficult than at first expected. It took many years before we were established at Stanley Pool and many precious lives were laid down. Why the people of the cata- ract region and the lower Congo should be counted as unworthy of the gospel, I never could understand. It seemed a mania at that time to get to Stanley Pool, but now there are two mission steam- ers plying on the upper Congo, and there will soon be another ; but there are comparatively few stations there. The missionaries are not forthcoming, and while we are delaying difficulties are arising j, traders and others are going into the interior, and they do a great deal more harm, I think, to the missionary cause than they do good. Probably gin and rum, powder and guns will soon be pouring into the country', notwithstanding the law to prohibit drink where it has not already been introduced. It has already been introduced on the coast, and what is to prevent native traders from using this railroad, which is being built to connect the lower and upper Congo, to bring these things into the interior ? The peopl.e are born traders, and take things from market to market. Native markets are established all over the country', and long be- fore the white man had ever been there guns, powder and other things had found their way into the interior. The difficulties of transport were enormous. The first two missionaries obtained Kroo-boys from the Kroo coast. As they were only engaged for one year their fare had to be paid down and up, and this was rather expensive to use them as porters, and so 6 our Society said, “Why not try donkeys? They are very hardy animals.” So we got five or six donkeys from the island of Tene- riffe, as that was a warm climate, and we thought donkeys from there could probably stand the climate of Africa better than if we got them from a colder climate. Our donkeys were landed at a place called Masuka. We had to make our own saddles of canvas that we had with us, and we loaded up our donkeys and started off for Palabala, a distance of fifteen miles. This road had never been travelled before by a white man, but as the only trader there prom- ised us a guide, we did not think it would be at all difficult to find our way there. Well, we started off in good style and it seemed quite a success. Presently our path led down to a stream of water. At the bottom of the stream were rocks and boulders and large stones, which made the stream very difficult to ford, never intended evidently for donkeys or anybody else to cross. The first donkeys crossed all right, and then it came to my donkey, and it refused to go across. I gently encouraged it with a little strap I had, and it gave a spring and jumped right into the middle of the stream. The water was about three feet deep, and when it got in it did not • go right across, as I expected it would, but quietly sat down in the middle of the stream, bales and all. The donkey seemed to say, “ Well, now, this is a very hot day ; this water is deliciously cool ; why not let me alone ? ” We urged it, but it refused to move, and we had to take a bath ourselves. We got in the water and took the bales off and got the donkey out and started off on the other side. Then the path began to lead up the hill, and the bales began to slip back, and we had to fix them from time to time to keep them from slipping back. This made it very tiresome : but at last we got to the top of the hill. And then the path began to lead down a very steep hill, and the bales would persist in going forward until they reached the donkey’s neck, and then it would hold down its head, and the bales would, of course, go over. At last the sun began to go down, and the twilight is very short, and we began to think it was time to put up for the night. We put up our tents, but as the distance, which we had expected to go, was only fifteen miles, we had made very little provision for the journey. The other missionary spread out his blankets and soon he fell asleep. I knew there were scorpions, snakes and jiggars, and I did not care to sleep with them as companions ; so I spread out my blankets on the bales and boxes, and put a blanket on the top, which looked very comfortable ; but when I stretched myself out on it I found that the edges of the boxes were not at all soft, so I preferred to 7 sit up, as I had never slept out of a bed before. The next morning we started ofT again, and the path led along the side of a very pre- cipitous hill. The path being very narrow, I trembled for the safety of the donkeys, believing that if they fell they would cer- tainly be killed. Presently my donkey lost its footing and fell, and began to roll down the side of the hill. I was obliged to let go the rope, and then it began to roll faster and faster down through the grass, and all I could see flying through the air were hoofs and bales, faster and faster until suddenly stopped by a tree that was growing out of the side of the hill. We went down ex- pecting to find the donkey dead, if not in pieces, but found that it was still breathing. We got the bales ofT and got them up. After much hard work we succeeded in pulling and hauling the donkey j out on the path, and we put the bales on the donkey’s back and off j we started again. It did not seem to be injured at all. We got on this way until we reached Palabala on the fifth day, a distance of fifteen miles. We had learned much from this, our first travelling in Africa, and made preparations to start off into the interior to- ward Stanley Pool. No one knew what was on before. No one had ever been that way, and we got about fifty or sixty miles be- yond Palabala at a place called Riverlee. The path appeared to end and there seemed to be a ferry, but no canoes or boats could be seen which we could engage to take us across. Our provisions and cloth were nearly finished, and the other two missionaries thought that we had better return. We got back about ten miles from the river to a place called Ban/a Manteke, and as there were a good many villages about there and the people looked rather friendly, I thought it a good place to establish a station, and I could not see the use of returning to Palabala, as I had agreed to establish a station beyond, if possible. As we only had one tent we built a hut in two days out of the long grass growing there, and in September, 1879, I found myself alone among those people and entirely unknown to me. I knew nothing of their customs nor their language. They might have been cannibals ; they might have eaten me up, for I knew when darkness came on I began to feel lonely and : thought of those I had left behind. I tried hard to banish such thoughts, and said to myself, I have given myself to missionary work and must settle down and make my home here. I at once began to try to study the people and found it very difficult as I could not understand their language. It is very difficult to find out the customs and beliefs of the heathen. You might live there 8 I ( \ I for twenty years and know very little about them. There aJe some things which you will soon find out without any difficulty whatever. The people there appear to suffer from a disease called kleptomania. They would soon relieve you from the care of your things if you would allow them. I would wash my hands outside my hut, and they would think soap a very nice thing to wash with, and as I turned round and left it it was gone and everything else that you left about. I would look into their faces and accuse them of stealing and taking my thiugs, and they would look innocently into mine and deny it and not even blush. I soon found out that they were unable to speak the truth, and that they considered it quite a compliment to be called a liar. The greatest difficulty to begin with was the language. I had at once to begin, as I had two kroo boys with me for whom I had to provide food and I had to barter. As I could not talk I would hold up a piece of cloth and look at the potatoes and fowls, and they would nod assent. They would take possession of the cloth and I would take the potatoes and fowls. I went on in this way for some time and found that this would not do, but must in some way get hold of the language. They had no dictionaries nor gram- mars, nor books nor literature. No white man had ever acquired the language. I got a note book and placed it outside of my hut on a little table, or rather box, and determined to write down everything I could hear, phonetically, and write down what I thought it meant, until I got quite a number of words, phrases and sentences. I at once began to use them. Although the peo- ple would laugh at my pronunciations and the way I put the words together. I did not mind that. I found it very difficult to get hold of some words. I tried to get hold of the word “mother,” as I saw that there was great affection between the mothers and the children. At last I got hold of a word which I thought meant mother. The word was “ukuluntu” which I afterwards found meant a full grown man, and I was about as near as this in many other words. For instance, I was about three months in getting the word for “yesterday.” At last I began to try to get hold of the grammar of the language. This I found difficult. For instance, I began with the nouns and wanted to get the plurals and, of course, expected to see the change at the end of the word, but never could hear any. I wound hear “dinkondo” (plantain) but I wanted to say plantains. At last I heard a man say “moukondo,” and I said that is the plural, “di,” singular, “ma,” plural. Then I hear "nsusu” (fowl), and I thought the plural would be “maususu,” and 9 I would say “ niansusu,” and they would laugh and say, “ not so, but “zinsusu.” Then I got hold of the word “muntu” and I ex- pected - that the plural would be “ manmuntu,’"’ but no, it was “antu.” Sol went on and found that there were sixteen classes of nouns. The noun is the governing word in the sentence. Nouns have prefixes which go right through the sentence. This is what is called the alliterative concord. For instance, it might be 1 illustrated by the word *' fiiisusu,” a little fowl. “ Finsu fiame fiafiua finabudianya masanya,” (the little fowl of mine there eats corn). Then after a time I began to try to get hold of some preposi- tions. I got hold to the word “ vonda,” to kill, but I wanted to say “kill forme,” but I could not get hold of the word “for.” About this time I heard the word “ vondila” ; by this I found that “ ila” was used instead of for. “ Ila” by itself, of course, meant nothing, but connected with the verb meant “for.” “Vondila” to kill for. Then I heard the word “ vondisa.” “ Isa” was the cau- sitive, “vondisa” to cause to kill. Then I heard “vondisila,” which I found meant to cause to kill for. “Isa” is the causitive and “ila” the applied form. The fowls were fighting and I heard them say “ zinsusu zinabuvondasana,” the fowls are killing each other. We called that the reciprocal form. I went on in that way until I found that there were seventeen different classes of verbs. There are also very many tenses, besides the ordinary tenses, pres- ent, past and future, which have specific forms. For instance, “ Npondilenyi,” which is from “vonda,” means I killed this morning; “ nyiavondila,” I killed yesterday. From these stems you can form nouns. “Tonda,” to thank ; “tondula” is the re- versitive form of the verb, which would mean to be unthankful or ungrateful. From this word you could form the noun “ lutondu- la,” ingratitude, and in this way we have very expressive nouns. “ Zola” to love ; “ zolasana” to love each other, which is the re- ciprocal form ; and from this you can form the noun “luzolasunu, ” a loving of each other. So you will see that this language is not, as some suppose, a mere jargon, but it is a beautiful language, very euphonious and flowing, with numerous inflexions. It is very expressive and you can express almost any thought you wish. When this language is once known it is very easy to preach, and translate the scriptures into it. I think that if some of our best linguists were to try to form a perfect language they could not do better that follow the Congo language. The language seems to be altogether superior to the people, and there must have been a time 10 when they were in a high state of civilization, but have somehow, or by some means degenerated. The great Bantu languages, spoken from about six degrees north of the equator down to the Cape evidently ruled and belonged to one people. The language spoken in Zanzibar is related to our Banza Manteke, as many of the words are identical and the construction of the language is very much the same. The word “Nzain Nzambebizi ” is the same as used in Victoria Nza and Albert Nza and Nyazsa and Tag- anika. The native word for the Congo River is not Congo, but “Nzadi.” “Nbizi,” a fish, “nza” a river and “Zambesi,” a fish- river. After being able to use the langage a little, I began to try to find out the customs, superstitions and religion of the people, I asked them who made the sun, the moon, the stars, the plantains and potatoes and everything else, and they said, “Nzambi.” I asked them where “Nzambi” lived, and they said in the heavens. One said that when it thundered that “ Nzambi” was boiling his pot. So they know there is a great creator. Then I asked them why they did not worship “ Nzambi,” but no, they did not think he was a good God and. they did not thank him. He did not con- cern himself abcut them ; he was too far away, They were as Paul described the heathen in the first chapter of Romans (ver. 19 : 25). They have little images cut out of wood like themselves, bird’s heads and bird’s beaks and bird’s claws ; snake’s heads and snake’s eggs ; little wooden images cut out like animals ; these are their gods, or their charms. In them they trust for protection, for protection from harm, from sickness and death, and misfortune, but they never expect to receive any blessings from them. The idea is to keep away the power of witchcraft or evil spirits. They believe sickness and death, and all misfortnne, due to witchcraft. If there were no witches there would be no sickness and death. They have charms to counteract the power of the witchcraft. They have witch doctors which they call “Zinganga.” For instance, if a person is sick, they send for the zinganga. He comes wfith a great many incantations and tries to drive the devil out, but he does not often succeed, and then if the one who is sick does not get better, they have what is called “ vintula moyu ” (returning life), and the zinganga comes and performs more incantations, and then the}' take up the sick person and throw him violently to and fro to return life, and often they drive out the little life there is. At other times the zinganga is sent for and he points out the witch, and this person has to take poison. He will of course often protest and say 11 that he does not bewitch any one, and has no desire to do so, nevertheless, he must come and take the poison. If lie vomits it, they say that he is innocent, and if it kills him, he is guilty. In the case of the death of a prominent man, especially a chief, they do not do this, but the zinganga points out a man and he is taken to a hill top and sometimes they shoot him, sometimes they cut his throat and sometimes they burn him. No doubt thousands of innocent people in Africa are slaughtered daily. Travellers and others passing through the country and seeing these things pro- nounce these people to be very cruel and barbarous, delighting in shedding of blood, and sometimes imagine that they have seen cannibals ; but I do not believe the African is by any means natu- rally a cruel man. I believe the Anglo-Saxon to be naturally Jar more cruel and brutal than the African. When graceless white men go away from all the restraints of society, from public opin- ion, from the salt of the earth, from the indirect influences of Christianity, they seem to become demons. I have seen more brutal things done by one white man in one day than I have ever seen done among the Africans all the time I have lived among them. It is not from cruelty that the Africans poison and kill each other in the way described, but it is because they believe those persons condemned by the zinganga to be guilty as we do when persons are condemned by a judge and jury in a court of justice. After a time I began to try to show them that sickness and death and all our misfortunes w T ere not due to witchcraft, but to sin. So I began to give them an account of the creation and the fall, as we have in Genesis ; to show them that w r e inherited sin from our first parents and through sin death and sickness and all our woes come. I began to try to show them that God was not only a great creator and all powerful, but was also kind and loving. I remember one day I was trying to show them that God is good, and one man said to me, “ Is that so ?” We have an insect called the jigger, introduced in the Congo about fifty years ago from Brazil, but is now spread over the whole Congo region. In ap- pearance it is very much like a small flea, almost microscopical. It gets in under the toe-nails, or into any hard place in the bottom of the foot, or almost anywhere where it can find a home, but es- pecially under the nails. There they make a little bag about the size of a pea and this bag is filled with jigger eggs, and if not taken out they go on making these bags until a person will lose the toe if they are not removed. It is quite a common thing to come across natives with one or two toes gone from their feet. It 12 is no doubt the greatest pest that we have in the Congo. As I was trying to tell this native that God was good, he said to me, “ You say God is good,” and he pointed to the ground, and said, “ Who made the jigger?” They would ask questions that were not easily answered. Sometimes I could answer these questions to their satisfaction, but not always to my own. I went on this way, teaching them abont the creation, the fall, the flood, and giving them some account of the children of Israel, thinking it was ne- cessary to give them some idea of the Old Testament before com- mencing with the New. I continued this until I had been in Af- rica four years. During that time I had suffered much with fever. When I first went to Banza Manteke I had it every three weeks, and the hardships of this pioneer work had reduced me so much tliSt I was obliged to return home for rest. The people were just as much heathen as when I went there ; I saw no change whatever. Just as I was thinking of returning again to Congo, there was one thing that troubled me very much, and that was that the Congo people did not feel themselves to be sinners. I mentioned this to a prominent Christian worker who had great experience in mission work, and said I did not see how I could preach a Saviour uutil they felt themselves sinners. I was advised to go back and preach the law. “ You know it is the law that convinces of sin aud I thought to myself, well, no doubt that is so. On reaching Banza Manteke, the first thing I did was to translate the Ten Command- ments, and began to read and expound them to the people. I asked them after I had finished reading them if they thought they were good, aud they always assented that they were very good, and I would ask them if they had kept these laws, and they would all say “Yes.” God says, “Thou shalt have no other Gods but me ; thou shalt not make any idols.” “ You do not worship God and you make idols ; how do you say that you keep these commandments ? ” They would answer, “We do.” I would say that we had all sinned and broken these laws, and they would say, “ The white man may be a sinner ; the people on the top may be sinners ; aud those below may be sinners ; but we are not.” One day there was a man in the company that I was speaking to who had stolen from me, and I thought I would test him at the risk of getting myself into trouble. I said to this man, “ Thou shalt not steal. Have you kept that commandment? ” He said, “Yes.” I said, “ How about that hammock you stole from me?” “ You do not call that stealing, do you? I only took it away.” “ How about the peanuts we caught you taking out of the 13 house?” He became very indignant and said, ‘‘The white man has called me a thief before these people. He has disgraced inyj character and mined my reputation.” And he turned away from , me in disgust. This confirmed me in my opinion that the people I had no consciences. I went on in this way for six years, and the people were no better than when I first went there, as far as I could see. They went on with the poison giving and the disgusting night i dances, and did not seem one whit better than when I first saw them. I had lived a long time among these people, and sometimes | my heart would almost faint to see the little progress that had been • made. I began to think that it was almost hopeless to expect the old people to become converted, and so thought it best to work among the young. Travellers said that missionaries were out of place in the Congo. Possibly after one or two hundred years of civilizing they might be able to understand what we wish to teach them, but at present they were utterly incapable of comprehending such mental things as we taught. This did not in any way strengthen our faith. At this time my wife was with me, and worked hard among the women and children trying to bring them to Christ. She became very ill and was obliged to go home. She was so ill that she had to be carried on board the ship, but was quite willing to go alone among strangers from Congo to England, and that I should stay and work, as she was very anxious that the work should go on. I think she sliowed herself quite as brave as Stanley. After she left I became very ill. I had an attack of bilious hemorrhagic fever, which is a very fatal form, and has carried off many of our missionaries, and it nearly carried me off. I began to think very seriously about my past experience. No one could tell what we first missionaries passed through. I believe that if it were all written down few would believe it. I l>egan to think, now what is this all for. Probably my wife will die on her way home and I perhaps shall die here. The people are no better at Banza Man- teke than they were six years ago. The only difference was that they seemed to r espect me more. They look upon the white man as a demon, but by relieving them with medicine and protecting them from the white men who passed through their country and tried to impose upon them, I gained their respect. One time when there was war between our people and the people of another tribe I got up and walked between the two parties, and they stopped fighting, and the next day they came and thanked me, and said that they would have been crying over their friends if I had not stopped them, as their people were related, but otherwise the 14 people were just as heathen as ever. Being weak and unable to preach I began to study the scriptures, and to feel there was some mistake in rny preaching. In the early days souls were converted, why not now ? Is the gospel less powerful now than then ? If heathen then turned from dumb idols to serve the living God, why should not these people in Banza Manteke do the same ? In study- ing the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles I began to see my mistake ; especially in reading the last great commission. It does not say, “ Go ye into all the world and preach Law, or Moses, or Judaism,” but “ Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.” The gospel is not law. What does the Lord Jesus mean when He * says, “Not to put new wine into old bottle skins, because the wine will burst the skins ” ? What does he mean here except that you must not mix up my gospel with Judaism? The gospel is not law. Law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So I determined that I would preach the gospel. This is what I found the early disciples did. They did not preach law. Peter accuses the people of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ five times in four chapters. There was another thing that struck me very much in reading the end of Luke and the first of the Acts. It is said that they were not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait until they were endued with power from on high. This seems very strange, as they had Tteen preachers throughout Palestine. They had cast out devils, cured the sick, but now they were to get a new power, and I began to think seri- ously that I had not this power, and began to cry out for it. I know this point is discussed iu these days. One prominent man says that the Holy Ghost was given on the Day of Pentecost, and that we have no more right to ask for a fresh enduement than to ask Christ to come back and die again. I believe that this is so ; that the Spirit is still in the world. It is said that when a man becomes a Christian he has the Holy Spirit, and there is no more to accept. There seems to me to be a difference between a man being simply a Christian and having this power from on high for service, for we read that Philip after the Day of Pentecost went to Samaria and preached and many believed and were baptized. They were Christians ; they were Baptists. You could not keep them away from the Lord's table ; and yet we read that Peter and John went down and prayed that they might receive the Holy Spirit,