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aftter th e convention above-mentioned, he visited one of th e large compounds and spoke to th e natives he managed to get together, and invited them to su r rend er to Christ th e re and then. A few responded and k n e lt, round him ; one of them lifting up his tear-stained face, cried ou t to him in Zulu: “ Oh Teacher, why don’t you come and help us? You und erstand our language; you understand us; we are here like sheep w ithou t a shepherd; th e tem p ta tions are terrib le! Come and be our helper.’’ A few Sundays afterw ard s he paid ano th er visit to th e same Com pound, and a larg er num ber of penitents came out, perhaps tw enty: a sim ilar cry was raised by them— “Come and help u s!” And feeling th is to be a call of God, he decided to devote him self and his substance to th is work. F o r 21 years Mr. B aker continued to be Hon o rary D irector of th e Mission he then founded and from th e beginning God’s blessing has been upon th e work. Sev era l Europeans fe lt th e call of God to come to Mr. B ak er’s assistance from tim e to tim e to labour w ith him , and a body of Evangelists (men who were converted in th e Mission) has been raised up and is doing splendid work among th e ir fellow countrymen. There is now a band of th ree European Sup erintendents, and over tw enty Native Evangelists w orking in th e compounds belonging to th e m ines around Joh an nesburg, as well as outposts of th e Mission in B ritish E ast Africa, N atal and Gazalandj. The th re e European M issionaries and th e ir devoted wives: Mr. and Mrs. L. A. McDougall, Mr. and Mrs. Andersen and Mr. and Mrs. W. J. K err, have spent many years of self- denying service in th e Mission. They had no worldly goods to bestow, bu t freely and successfully and in much joy they have consecrated themselves to th is work. Mr. B aker has spent upw ards of tw enty thousand pounds sterling o f his own substance on th e Mission, and as
long as he was in . sole control, he felt unable to appeal to others. Finding, however, th a t th e work was getting beyond him, abou t two years ago he approached som e, friends in Joh annes burg, among whom was Mr. F ra n k Huskisson, who for so long was honor ably connected w ith th e South African General Mission, and afte r much though t and prayer, a council was formed w ith Mr. Huskisson as chair man, into whose hands Mr. B aker com m itted th e Mission w ith all its affairs, he him self simply retain ing a position on th e council and acting as Honorary Evangelist for the Mission in the com pounds. Since th e beginning, over 5,000 na tives, mostly men, have been baptised, b u t the Mission has sought quality ra th e r th a n quantity, and has insisted upon its converts abandoning entirely the use of alcohol and narcotics; upon th e necessity of restitu tio n where th is was possible: and num erous are the cases in which such restitu tio n has been made. I t h as also sought to strongly impress upon its converts tb e fact th a t they were saved to become saviours of others, and so a sp irit of earn est evan gelism has been begotten and developed among these men. The Council of the Mission consists of ten men draw n from th e various Evangelical churches of Johannesburg. Rev. Canon Berry, M. A., of Christ Church is vice-chairman; Mr. A. P ark A lexander, Hon. T reasu rer, and Rev. W illiam M. Douglas, B. A., is giving his services freely as Hon. Secretary. The Council does not prom ise any fixed allowance to its workers, b u t dis trib u tes among them , as God’s people m ake it possible, the means necessary for th e ir support. I t is almost impos sible to over-state eith er th e needs or possibilities of th is work. The calls for extension are strong and loud, bu t workers and means are necessary if these calls are to be regarded. The Hon. Secretary will gladly send a
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