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Spring 1951 ^H aven, 9^ No. 223 The Arabian Mission

REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA 156 Fifth Ave., New York 10, N. Y. Officers of the Board of Foreign Missions Rev. Richard P. Mallery, President F. M. Potter, D. D., Secretary and Treasurer Rev. L. J. Shafer, Litt. D., Secretary Miss Ruth Ransom, Secretary MISSIONARIES Rev. S. M. Zwemer, D. D. 33 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C. Emeritus Mrs. F. J. Barny 89-01 212th Street Emeritus Queens Village, N.Y. Miss J. A. Scardefield 16 S. Lake St., Emeritus Orlando, Florida Dr. C. S. G. Mylrea Kodaikanal, S. India Emeritus Mrs. May DeP. Thoms 24 E. Ninth St. Emeritus Holland, Mich. Rev. and Mrs. D. Dykstra Muscat, Arabia Evangelistic Work Rev. and Mrs. G. J . Pennings Amarah, Iraq Evangelistic Work Dr. and Mrs. P. W. Harrison 26 Jackson Street Emeritus Berea, Kentucky Mrs. John Van Ess Basrah, Iraq Evangelistic Work Rev. and Mrs. G. D. Van Peursem North Branch, N. J. Emeritus Miss Charlotte B. Kellien Basrah, Iraq Educational Work Miss Ruth Jackson Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Educational Work Miss Rachel Jackson Basrah, Iraq Educational Work Miss Cornelia Dalenberg 156 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C. On Furlough Rev. and Mrs. G. Gosselink 156 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C. On Furlough '“Rev. and Mrs. B. D. Hakken Baghdad, Iraq Educational Work Rev. and Mrs. G. E. De Jong Kuwait, Arabia Evangelistic Work Dr. and Mrs. W. Harold Storm Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Medical Work Dr. and Mrs. W. Wells Thoms Muscat, Arabia Medical Work Mrs. Mary Bruins Allison, M. D. 156 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C. On Furlough Dr. and Mrs. L. R. Scudder Kuwait, Arabia Medical Work Dr. and Mrs. G. H. Nykerk Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Medical Work Rev. and Mrs. Harry J. Almond Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Educational Work Rev. and Mrs. E. M. Luidens 9 Seminary Place On Furlough New Brunswick, N. J Rev. and Mrs. J. R. Kapenga Pendle Hill On Furlough Wallingford, Pa. Miss Jeanette H. Boersma 156 Fifth Ave., N.Y.C. On Furlough Dr. and Mrs. M. M. Heusinkveld Amarah, Iraq Medical Work Rev. and Mrs. G. Jacob Holler, Jr. Amarah, Iraq Evan, and Med. Miss Hazel M. Wood Amarah, Iraq Medical Work Miss Eunice Post Kuwait, Arabia Language Study Rev. and Mrs. Harvey Staal Bahrain, Pers. Gulf Language Study Miss Alice G. Van Kempen Kuwait, Arabia Language Study Miss Christine A. Voss Kuwait, Arabia Language Study Miss Ruth G. Young Kuwait, Arabia Language Study Mr. John F. De Vries Basrah, Iraq Educational Work Rev. and Mrs. Allen B. Cook 4644 Wentworth Blvd. Service Completed Indianapolis, Ind.

Add American Mission to all addresses in Arabia. Air mail service is available at twenty-five cents for each half ounce. Sea mail functions but is subject to delays; the rates are five cents for the first ounce and three cents for each additional ounce. A special air mail sheet, stamped, may be obtained from the post office for 10fi, no enclosures. ♦Members of the United Mission in Mesopotamia in which we cooperate with the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. A rabia C allin g Missionary News and Letters Published Quarterly

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION AMONG THE FRIENDS OF THE ARABIAN MISSION

Mnual Keport for 1950

NEGLECTED ARABIA CALLING “There’s a land long since neglected, There’s a people still rejected, But of truth and grace elected In His love for them.” Yes,, truly neglected was Arabia as a mission field in 1889 when this hymn was first sung by four men who were ready to dedicate their lives to occupy and to evangelize this long neglected land. And now, sixty-one years and ninety-four missionaries later, the question arises whether we are still justified in calling this a neglected people. Of the ninety-four missionaries appointed during these years nineteen have died and thirty-eight have retired or otherwise left the field. This leaves thirty-seven in active service, of whom six were on furlough during the year, and six others were studying the language. This re­ duced the number still further to twenty-five actively engaged in missionary work on the field. How much ground did these twenty-five missionaries have to cover? If we superimpose the map of Arabia on the eastern third of that of the United States we get a fairly comprehensive view of what is being done and what is left undone. Arabia would approximately cover the United States from the Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. In this area live from five to eight million people, more than half of them along the coasts, and the balance scattered in oases south of the Great Lakes. Up in Maine would be Amarah, our northernmost station, a good- sized city with a large and populous countryside, stretching for more than a hundred miles in each direction. Four missionaries carried the responsibility in this large area of bringing the Gospel message to the Arabs living in the towns, the villages and the marshes. Somewhere in Massachusetts we would find Basrah, our oldest mission station. It lies along the fertile and thickly populated lower reaches of the combined Tigris and Euphrates. Five missionaries labored here last year, a pitifully inadequate force for even the im­ mediate population of the city, to say nothing of all the teeming thousands living along the canals that intersect the date gardens. 4 ARABIA CALLING

Kuwait would be somewhere in New Jersey. It is located between the desert and the sea. Looking from the mission hospital one can ob­ serve a sea front lined for miles with sail boats that make annual voyages to East Africa and to India. Looking in the other direction one can see the limitless desert whence come the caravans from the storied oases of central and western Arabia. Though these caravans are being rapidly replaced by cars and airplanes, and though the oil fields have drawn away from the sea many of the “sons of Sinbad,” this has only served to make the place more populous and more im­ portant. This year five missionaries served this area and were more than busy without going far afield from the town itself.

Along the Tigris River near Basrah

If anyone thinks that these three mission stations crowd each other too much he will feel relieved to know that the next center for mission work is three hundred miles to the south on the Bahrain Islands, somewhere on the coast of South Carolina. Famous for ages because of the pearl fisheries, Bahrain now has a new importance because of the oil wells on and near the islands. It is fast becoming the metrop­ olis of the Persian Gulf. In this strategic center seven full-time mission­ aries were at work during the year, spreading themselves over hun­ dreds of square miles and going everywhere healing the sick and preaching the Gospel. From this station we travel six hundred miles farther south till somewhere in Florida we come to Muscat. This is the capital of the province of Oman which stretches along the coast of the Indian Ocean for many hundreds of miles and inland to the sandy stretches of the famous “Empty Quarter" of Central Arabia. This year four missionaries labored among the million and a half to two million in­ ARABIA CALLING habitants of this province and naturally reached only a small pro­ portion of them. Muscat is the southernmost station of the Arabian Mission, but thirteen hundred miles to the west at Aden, located on our United States map somewhere in Texas, is a small group of mis­ sionaries from European countries. With these five evangelistic centers scattered along the Atlantic seaboard, would we dare to call the eastern United States occupied? Or would we consider it neglected? And shall we not strongly beseech the Lord to send out more missionaries to Arabia before the many open doors now gradually closing shall be securely barred against us? The year’s reports speak of many instances where the usual freedom to preach the Gospel is being strongly curtailed. Yet, these are people who share in the promise made to Abraham, “As for Ishmael I have heard thee, behold I have blessed him.’’ Shall we continue to fail in bringing them the message of “His love for them’’? “Softer than their night wind’s fleeting, Richer than their starry tenting, Stronger than their sands' protecting Is His love for them.’’ No one can read the reports for this year without being impressed by the great labor of love that has been devoted to the task of bring­ ing the Gospel message to the minds and the hearts of the Arabs. The hospitals have been full to overflowing, the schools have taken all the pupils that the teaching staff can handle, and the evangelists have preached the Word in season and out of season. All of these means look toward the supreme end of setting forth Jesus as the Saviour from sin. Another year of devoted service has been added to that rich de­ posit that was established by those who in years gone by gave their last full measure of devotion. It is the unobtrusive yet all-pervading love of Christ that constrains us, that impels us to the works of mercy day by day and the nightly vigils by the sick, that gives patience to lead the mind of youth along the weary road of gaining knowledge, that gives grace to repeat unendingly the old, old story of Jesus and His love. How wonderful it is to enjoy the cool and gentle breezes of the desert night after suffering the hot blasts of the day How marvelous to watch the myriads of stars that seem to be so much nearer in the desert sky. Yet the love that constrains us is more refreshing and more marvelous than the sum of all the beauties of a desert night. How strong the sands have been in isolating the heart of Arabia! “Dwell deep’’ shouted Jeremiah to the inhabitants of Dedan. The Arabs' safety has been to dwell deep in their deserts and their moun­ tains. But the love of Christ is stronger and has constrained His messengers to seek them out whether they lived in their distant oases or in their rocky fastnesses, or whether they were still among Isaiah’s “traveling companies of Dedanim.’’ But how wide are the desert spaces and how many the traveling companies in comparison with the few missionaries who have time and opportunity to “bring water to him that is thirsty.’’ In Iraq one of 6 ARABIA CALLING our former mission stations has this year not been visited either by a missionary or by one of our colporteurs, and countless villages along the rivers and in the marshes have seen no messenger of Christ for many a year. No tours have been made from Kuwait into the interior. Cars, planes, oil pipes across the desert, but there is not sufficient missionary personnel to carry the Word by the new means of trans­ portation. Farther south intensive touring was done in Qatar and in the province opposite the Bahrain Islands. In the Oman field also considerable touring was done during the year, but here again the amount of touring was limited because of lack of personnel. In this area the doors are still open for both evangelistic and medical workers, and these doors should be continually utilized before they are closed

Mrs. Edwin Luidens teaching Arab women oj Bahrain or the opportunities become limited. In the Muscat area there is a famous old fort with huge teakwood doors, twelve feet wide and twenty feet high. These doors used to be wide open in the days of peace and prosperity. But now they are closed except for a small opening just large enough for a man to crawl through. That is an eloquent picture of the passing of many of our missionary oppor­ tunities because they were not utilized when offered. May we not wait till even the small openings shall be closed against us. “To the hosts of Islam’s leading, To the slave in bondage bleeding, To the desert dweller pleading, Bring His love to them.” ARABIA CALLING 7

No one can hear the call to prayer that is given five times a day all over the Moslem world without realizing the hold that this religion has on the innumerable host of its followers. No one can watch a Moslem at his daily prayers without thinking of the millions who stand all over the world in concentric circles about the town of Mecca in western Arabia. And in the center of this world-wide company of fanatical believers is the work of the Arabian Mission, so that even in this “cradle of Islam" the Gospel message is sounded forth, not only five times a day, but many times a day. Yes, and there still are slaves in Arabia, especially in the south. Muscat ranked second only to Mecca as a center of the slave trade as it flourished in earlier days. It was the light of the Gospel that shone in these dark lands and drove out the slave trade and the slave mar­ kets. But the evil still persists. Not long ago the son of one of our converts was kidnaped and sold and resold into slavery till he was rescued by his Muscat friends and set at liberty by the British consul at Bahrain. And a larger number of boys and women are annually kidnaped from Persia, Beluchistan, the Caucasus and Armenia and sold in A rabia into slavery or w-orse. O nly to a few of these who are “bleeding in bondage’’ the Gospel of His love came to set them free, if not from the bondage of men, then from the bondage of Satan. There is much more dissatisfaction with the old order of things than the pronouncements of Moslem governments would lead us to think, and there still devolves upon us the spiritual equivalent of Isaiah 21: 14, for who but we have the w’ater of life and the bread of heaven. Many of the year's reports speak of yearning and longing souls who are anxious to hear the story of Jesus which only we can tell them. Here comes to mind the experience of one of our missionaries who was sitting by the roadside reading her Gospel. An elderly Arab came up and voiced aloud the Mohammedan belief, “Jesus was not crucified.“ The missionary asked him if he would like to have her read to him from her Gospel. He said he would like to hear the read­ ing. After a while she turned to the story of the crucifixion, and be­ fore long tears were streaming down the Arab’s furrowed face at the pathos and the truth of the crucifixion story was brought home to him. His first remark only showed the depth of his longing for light in the darkness. “Through the promise on God's pages, Through His wrork in history’s stages, Through the cross that crowns the ages Show His love to them.” There is no mission field so rich in God s promises as is the land and people of Arabia. If we should eliminate from the Bible all the promises and the prophecies that cluster around the words Ishmael, Dedan, Kedar, Seba, Scheba, the desert and its oases, we would rob the Bible of great and precious promises, and w-e would blot out of our Book some of the most beautiful imagery used to depict the glorious reign of the coming Saviour of Arabia and of the world. And these promises have carried the Mission forward another year. In spite of 8 ARABIA CALLING

Dr. L. R. Scudder and an Arab patient opposition from those in places of power and in spite of the ever present fanaticism on the part of many, the message of salvation has been preached and exemplified in many ways and in divers manners. The Lord still works in His mysterious way to bring about the setting for­ ward of His Kingdom, for also the rulers of Arabia are in His hands “as the water brooks in the south." Inspiring all the workers and leading them on to greater and greater endeavor rises the Cross of Christ. In spite of, and possibly because of, the Moslem’s constant denial of the crucifixion, the message of the crucified Saviour has continued to be the theme of all our preaching and teaching so that before their eyes “Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among them.” Few sights are so impressive as to see a stately Arab coming out of his house or hut or tent, wearing a long flowing garment of spotless white. But often these robes become soiled and sullied until eventually they become repulsive. Then how wonderful to think of the time when among the countless number before the throne of God there will be many from among the tribes of Arabia who will be wearing white robes that will never again become soiled because they have washed those robes and “made them white in the blood of the lamb.” Our theme and our encouragement shall ever be “the cross that crowns the ages.” “With the prayer that availeth, With the power that still prevaileth, With the love that never faileth Tell His love to them.” The reports for the year stress the recourse to prayer and inter­ cession for the work of the Kingdom in general and for special needs and emergencies. And there is the knowledge of the large and con­ tinuous volume of intercession by individuals and by the church at home. The workers on the field realize how weak and insufficient they are over against the entrenched forces that oppose them and feel they have “no power against so great a host." If we did in our ARABIA CALLING 9 own strength confide our striving would be losing. But our strength is in the Lord, His presence has gone with us, His Spirit has led us and His word has taught us. There are many new forces working against us. There is an awakening nationalism, tied in with a resur­ gence of religious fervor, both real and affected. The Palestine ques­ tion has by no means been resolved in the minds of the Arabs and of their co-religionists everywhere, and that question is ever ready for use in stirring up fanaticism and bigotry. We need all the power that prayer can release for those of whom Jesus spoke when He said, “This kind goeth not forth except by prayer and fasting.’’ The love that never fails constrained us to labor on, to spend and be spent and to wait with patience like the husbandman for the fruit that is to be. To encourage us there is the ever recurring evidence of the great love and devotion of those who have gone before. Here are graves of those who loved and labored till all their strength was gone. There are graves of those whose love early brought them to this inhospitable land to lay down their youthful lives for the land and its people. Again there are smaller graves of children offered up with prayer and resignation and the sure faith that the Lord had need of them. As one epitaph on a child’s grave testifies: “Worthy is the Lamb to receive . . . riches.’’ Their love and their labor abides and we of the present generation of missionaries have entered into their labors and reap where they have sown. “We feebly struggle, they in glory shine.’’

Captain and first mate oj a large sailing vessel 10 ARABIA CALLING

“Till the desert's sons, now aliens, Till its tribes and their dominions, Till Arabia’s raptured millions Praise His love of them.’’ As there were Arabs present at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, so there will be Arabs present when the scene depicted in Revelation 7 is no longer a vision but has become a reality. The inhabitants of the great Arabian Peninsula will help to swell the multitude which no man can number out of every tribe and tongue and people, and will join in the singing of the song of Moses and the Lamb in the real “Language of the Angels.” All through the years of our missionary endeavor there have been those who have not held their life dear but came out from among their fellows and traveled this new way, sometimes alone and sometimes in company with others. There have been those who re­ mained in the class of seekers, but we also believe that among these many have found salvation in Christ. Others can best be described in the words of the hymn, “Finding, following, keeping, struggling,” and we also have reason to believe that they have received the bless­ ing of life eternal. Some have been suddenly removed from life's scene while they were inquiring after the truth, as was one who this year died in Muscat of accidental burns. She was a believer and our Christian group had her Christian burial in the Moslem cemetery because it was near. When the great day comes when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God she will be one of many in Moslem cemeteries that shall hear and live, and shall come forth into the resurrection of life. During this last year of the half century four individuals have been added to the Church of Christ in Arabia. One is a baptized child of the church who became a communicant member and three made public confession of their faith, were baptized and received into full communion. We all join with heart and soul in the prayer of one of our Christians that each convert may become ten, each ten a hundred, and so on in geometrical progression till in every deed “Arabia’s raptured millions, its tribes and their dominions, praise His love of them.”

Frederick $. flaw y A MAN WITH ELEVEN TALENTS

(On the 26th of March, 1951, the Rev. Frederick J . Barny passed away at his home in Queens Village, N. Y Here follows a tribute to him written by Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer, a friend of long standing.)

Returning from the funeral of Rev. Frederick J. Barny and medi­ tating on our long friendship and his long service, I read the parable of The Faithful Steward (Matt. 25:21 and 28) and realized for the first time that the faithful steward of five talents had eleven on the ARABIA CALLING 11

Day of Reckoning. Not only was he "made ruler over many things and entered into the joy of the Lord" but having gained five talents by fidelity, he received the extra talent of the unfaithful servant as reward! Such a steward was Barny of the Arabian Mission. Born at Basel, Switzerland, in 1873, educated in America, he was among the early pioneers in Arabia and served at all of the stations for over forty years. He was an evangelist, a teacher, a scholar in Arabic, and an all-round useful missionary, fitted for a pioneer task. As a Christian, he had five peculiar and rare talents given of God and for which all who knew him loved him: Goodness, Faithfulness, Wisdom, Patience and Humility. These are not common virtues, nor do they grow luxuriantly in an atmosphere of fanaticism, ignorance, religious pride and prejudice, such as Islam then offered. The garden of his soul was watered by hidden springs. His genial goodness was proverbial. The Arabs called him "rajul tayyib" — a good man. His faithfulness in moving from station to station with no certain dwelling place was one of the trials he and Mrs. Barny met cheerfully. His wisdom in dealing with Arabs was based upon his thorough knowledge of their language and creed. He knew' Islam to a remarkable degree and read Moslem theology In addition to articles for Neglected Arabia of w-hich he was editor for many years, he wrote, with Alfred DeWitt Mason, a History of the Arabian Mission. F o r The Moslem World he wrote five penetrative articles on Islamic theology (1919-1924). The last one was on the Moslem idea of knowledge ('llm) based on A1 ghazali. In the heat of Muscat (and the warmth of his soul) he translated the entire Heidel­ berg Catechism into Arabic. But it never had the circulation it deserved. His patience w^as both innate Occidental and acquired Oriental patience. The stolid patience of enduring without provocation, and the active patience of perseverance in a task seemingly impossible. His face was always set to the goal and he never flinched. His humility of manner and life was unassumed, but evident in words and deeds. For over half a century I have known him. I was present at his ordination in 1897 at the Marble Collegiate Church, with him at his marriage in Karachi, India, in 1898, and also at his golden wedding anniversary in 1948 in Long Island. And now' he has fallen asleep. The Mission has lost a great warrior and the Church an exemplary steward. He met his Lord and had gained five talents. “Saying Lord Thou deliveredst unto me five talents; behold I have gained beside them five talents more.” And we can hear the Lord saying: Give him the one talent more, and to the man of eleven talents, he says: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter now' into the joy of thy Lord.’’ Personalia

Dr. and Mrs. Donald Bosch, who were preparing to go to China, are expected to join the Arabian Mission in the autumn. Recently Dr. Bosch was honored by the Junior Chamber of Commerce of New­ ark, New Jersey, as the city’s outstanding young man of 1950, because of his research on the subject of blood plasma. They will be stationed at Amarah for language study. Dr. and Mrs. Storm have recently gone on a tour with Dr. Lome Brown of the Southern Baptist Mission. They have been exploring the possibility of undertaking work in the Hadhramaut.

Rev. and Mrs. Allen B. Cook have completed their assignment working among the personnel of the oil companies in and around Bahrain. They left Beirut April 10 on the S. S. Excambion, arriving May 2 in New York. Mr. Cook will resume his work as pastor of an Indianapolis church. Others returning to the United States are Miss Cornelia Dalenberg and Miss Rachel Jackson. They leave England on July 24 on the S. S. De Grasse. Rev. and Mrs. Gerrit J. Pennings, who are retiring, are flying from Amarah because of the poor health of Mrs. Pennings. Landing in Boston May 10 they will go directly to Nova Scotia where they will establish residence with Mrs. Pennings’ family. Dr. and Mrs. Lewis Scudder plan to arrive in the United States from Kuwait in Ju n e. David De Jong and Peter and Norman Thoms arrive from Muscat in June or July to attend school in the United States. Rev. Fred J. Barny, who went out to Arabia in 1897, died at his home in Queens Village, N. Y., March 26. After sustaining a second stroke which seemed not too severe, he was resting in his chair when he quietly slipped away. His daughter, Esther Barny Ames, a medi­ cal doctor, had spent some time with her parents before and after Christmas. About a month before Mr. Barny’s death she and her husband took a trip to California and were on their way back when they received the news. Mrs. Ames was herself for many years a missionary of the Board in Arabia and still lives there because of her husband’s business. Unless other arrangements are made Mrs. Barny will continue to live in their Long Island home with her son, Fred, Jr. Although Mr. Barny had not been in the Board rooms to any great extent the last few years, his gentle spirit will be remembered by many. For some time he worked in the Board of Foreign Missions, edited this little paper when it was called Neglected Arabia and kept the accounts for Mountain Rest, the missionary home. Rev. and Mrs. Jay Kapenga and their two children return to the Arabian Mission May 16.

FRlESEM A BROS. PRINTING CO. DETROIT. MICH., U. S. A.