HIS HAND ON THE Plow.
IT venerate the man whose heart is warm,
Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose lite
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof
That he is honest in the sacred cause.”
IT has been often said that “the blood of the t martyrs is the seed of the Church." The saying is admirably applicable to Hannington. The story of the tragic death of Lieut. Shergold Smith and Mr. T. O'Neill (two brave members of the Uganda mission of April, 1876), quickened Hannington's desire to become a missionary into newness of life. For three or four years the thought of offering himself had been growing within him. He hesitated to do so because he felt his own unworthiness. During that period he attended several foreign missionary meetings, and preached sermons in support of the same cause. He came gradually to the conviction that God was calling him to the accomplishment of work amongst the heathen.
Lieutenant Smith and Mr. O'Neill met their death some time about the end of 1887. The pathetic story arrived in England early in the following year. In February, 1882, Hannington mentioned his desire to Mr. Cyril Gordon, and a day or two afterward he received a letter from Mr. Wigram, the Hon. Secretary a the C.M.S., offering him a commission abroad. Hannington regarded this as a direct answer to his repeated prayers. Several interviews followed between him and various leaders of the society. The Medical Board passed him with the statement "You are fit to go anywhere." He was overjoyed, and on the 23rd of February, 1882, he definitely offered himself for the Nyanza Mission for a period of not more than five years, on the condition that the Society would supply his place at Hurstpierpoint. Not only did he offer himself without stipend, but he offered £50 towards his outfit, and £ 100 per annum towards his traveling expenses.
At that time he had a wife and three children whom he tenderly loved. It was on their account that he limited his offer of service to five years. What a struggle he had to drag himself away from them, and from his work at Hurstpierpoint! Everyone loved him. Many of them tried to dissuade him from going to Africa. No, he had placed his hand on the plow and he would not turn back. He felt convinced that God's hand was beckoning him onward and he did not hesitate for a moment. The parting from his congregation, and from his wife and children, was full of pathetic incidents that lived in his memory until the end.
Hannington recognized and prayerfully accepted the great responsibilities connected with the position he had taken up. In one of the last sermons he delivered in England, he said: "I should not dare to stand up before you if I believed that I were going out to find work for myself. I firmly believe that I have been sent forth by God. From the beginning I have placed the matter in the hands of God. I dare not weigh my own motives or fathom my own heart, but I ask God to guide me by His Holy Spirit. I pray that if God will not go with me He will not let me go." This was the trustful spirit in which he accepted the call. He left luxury, happiness, everything that the world calls dear, for the sake of fulfilling what he firmly believed was his God-given duty. He was not the man to shrink or turn back when he had once made up his mind, or when his heart had told him that he ought to do a certain work.
At the time Hannington was accepted, Mackay and O'Flaherty were alone at Rubaga. They had sown the precious seed in patience, and hopefully they were anticipating blessed results. The Missionary Society at home determined to reinforce these heroes. Hannington was placed in charge of the reinforcing party, which consisted of the Revs. R. P. Ashe, J. Blackburn, Cyril Gordon, W. J. Edmonds, and an artisan, Mr. C. Wise. A service to bid God-speed to the missionaries was held on the 16th May. 1882, at St James' Hall, Paddington, and on the following day they embarked on the steamship Quetta. Amongst their fellow passengers were ten missionaries of the London Society who were journeying to Lake Tanganyika.
After an uneventful voyage they sighted Zanzibar on the 19th June. Here they had a busy time preparing for the long journey which has baffled and repulsed so many brave and noble men, who cheerfully gave up their lives in their efforts to carry the Gospel to the heathen. That journey was full of a melancholy interest. They were soon brought face to face with dangers which often threatened the total destruction of the whole company. On one occasion their camp narrowly escaped destruction by fire. As early as the 17th July fever broke out and laid nearly all aside. Hannington was the worst sufferer. He was hardly ever free from the deadly symptoms. But he bore his sufferings with heroic fortitude. He struggled on, ever cheerful, ever doing his utmost to assist his afflicted brothers, and to encourage them in their terrible privations.
On the 21st they reached the mission station at Mamboia. At Mpwapwa Hannington again narrowly escaped an awful death, but God was his guard, his shield.
The party suffered much in passing through the dense forest which lies on the road to Khambe. On the 6th August the indefatigable leader was again in the dreadful throes of fever. Bravely they struggled on through a parched land which was infested with wild beasts of almost every description, and Uyui was reached on September 4th. For ten days Hannington lay in almost momentary expectation of death. So ill was he that he was left behind in charge of Mr. Gordon, and the others marched on.
Owing to difficulties with some of the tribes the caravan afterward returned to Uyui. Hannington was so much better that he determined to push on with his companions towards Nyanza, but was still so weak that he had to be carried in a hammock for a long distance. But on he went. He reached the borders of the great lake at last; but fever and dysentery had worked their cruel will upon him. To use his own dismal phrase, "he was done." His body was racked with agony. His companions insisted upon his return to the coast. Tenaciously he struggled against the proposition; but the conviction gradually dawned upon him that though he had beheld the Promised Land he could not enter in. The moment of his turning was full of pathos. His brave heart was almost broken with disappointment. Though he consented to return, he never expected to reach the coast, never expected to see England, and the dear ones, again. But God's providence watched over him. The return journey was almost as terrible as the outward journey.
The others pushed on, and one of them, Mr. Ashe, labored with Mackay for several years in Uganda. Hannington's successful return journey was a miracle of grace. He reached Saadaui on the 8th May, 1883, and on the 12th left Zanzibar for England.
Though in turning back he only accepted the inevitable, he never fully forgave himself. "Forgive the one that turned back," was the plaintive appeal he wrote soon after he reached home. But there was something more than disappointment in his heart. There was a prayerful resolve never to rest until he had redeemed himself—until he had carried the Gospel right into Uganda—until he had again shaken hands with the brave men who had, fearless of their own safety, struggled on to the goal.