October 1931
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
446
EXPLORING ABYSSINIA . . . By T. A. LAMBIE, * Owings Mills, Md.
Geologists tell* us that the Rift Valley is the greatest example of geologic faulting, or slipping of the earth’s crust, in all the world. Evidence of this can be seen in many places. And the end is not yet, for near the north ern end of this rift, another division will one day appear when our blessed Lord returns, as foretold in Zechariah 14 ;4 ; “And the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”
ot long ago , the attention of the whole world was focussed upon Ethiopia, when the emperor, Heila Selassie, was crowned in the presence of representatives of seventeen major powers and an assem bled multitude of hundreds of thousands of nobility, priests, soldiers, and commoners of that ancient, although little-known kingdom. The emperor claims lineal descent from the Queen of Sheba, or Shoa (the name of a pro vince in Abyssinia), and Solomon; and the claim seems to be well founded in fact. Last year, with Rev. and Mrs.
George Rhoad and their son, George Jr., the author took a long journey through southern Abyssinia, or Ethiopia. As Christians, our interest in Ethiopia seems to center in the Ethiopian eunuch, to whom Philip preached Jesus on the Gaza road, and in what he ac complished when he returned to his own land. But the kind of Christianity which Abyssinia has is v e r y different from that which the eunuch em braced. It is that Coptic va riety which is different from any other sort, unless it be the Greek orthodox. Its adherents pray to saints and angels, and their religion is one of ceremon ies rather than of repentance and the washing of regeneration. Our mission work, however,
T ribes W ithout C hrist At times, our trail led along the edge of terrifying preci pices. At other times, it wound through rough, rocky country, useful only for grazing. But wherever the land was suitable, for human habitation, there we found a large native population composed of several different tribes—among none of which was any mission work being carried on. High up in the mountains, as well as in a hun dred sequestered valleys, we found hundreds of waiting hearts, “without hope and with out God in the world.” How we longed for the pen of a ready scribe to graphically por tray the pathetic state of these gospelless tribes! Oh, that the
EMPEROR HEILA SELASSIE RIDING IN CARRIAGE AFTER CORONATION.
church of Jesus Christ would bestir itself to do some thing for these “other sheep.” Beautiful, indeed, upon the mountains will be the feet of the first heralds of the cross to Baroda and Gamo, to Boran and Konso! At Konso, within walled villages, a large population is found. There, living on terrace-covered hills, are people who have never seen a white man and have never heard the story of redeeming grace. Our hearts burned within us as we went through the crowded market place. Here were evil-faced Mohammedan salt traders from Italian Somaliland, or Jubaland, a couple of hundred miles away. Yonder were men from Addis Ababa, five weeks’ jour ney away. Before me was a bold-faced young woman who impudently offered to be my wife. Everywhere there were the half-clothed natives who hung like vultures over the scores or more of oxen which had been slaughtered according to the bloody rites of the Konsos. We longed to tell them of the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. But we could not speak a word of their language! To them no messenger has ever gone with the gospel. Vividly the truth came home to u s : How unlike the Master are most of us who bear His name! He was moved with compassion when He saw the hungry thou sands without bread. He wept over Jerusalem. His heart [Continued on page 447]
has been not among these, but among the heathen and Mohammedan peoples of the south, to whom the journey which I shall attempt to describe was made. O ver H ill and P lain w ith the G ospel Much time was spent in preparation for the trip—get ting the pack saddles ready and the loads made up in such a way that each mule would have for its burden two bun dles whose weight would not vary more than two pounds, and trying not to leave behind anything that would be needed on such a long trek. Our start was not made from Addis Ababa, the capital city, as one would suppose, but from Wallamo, situated two weeks’ journey to the south, where we have a large mission station. From this point we could see, lying far to the south, the blue waters of Regina Margharita, or Queen Margaret, a large lake named by the Italian explorers who discovered it two years ago. With Lake Chamo, a little lake at its southern extremity, Regina Margharita broadens out to cover many miles, bounded on the east and west by lofty mountains, some of which are almost as high as Pikes Peak. For over two weeks, as we wended our way steadily southward through the mountains, we were able to catch occasional glimpses of those azure depths which form a part of the great Rift Valley. ♦Field Director, Abyssinian Frontiers Mission.
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