CpB D6215W Cl)e Hi&tat? of lift ([Init)et0itp of fi^otti) Carolina Collection of j|3ottt) Catolintana %f)iS book toast pteoenteb it jlarg jFatson itxim ulllp Hitfip Wip Alttiaga HpIjjpJ* AniJ Nmr IKtttiimb Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill https://archive.org/details/memorialofmaryfaOOu MARY FAISON DIXON Born at Woodlawn, North Carolina, U. S. A., December 31, 1853. Entered the Glory from Kuling, China, 11.55 a. m., Sunday, August 6, 1922 C O The Wife Who Always Helped and Never Hindered OF MARY FAISON DIXON Wife of Amzi Clarence Dixon Who Entered the Glory from Kuling, China August 6, 1922 PUBLISHED BY OOD LITERATURE DEPARTMENT OF NIVERSITY BAPTIST CHURCH N. Charles and Greenway, North of Thirty-fourth Street Baltimore, Md , U. S. A. WITH COMPLIMENTS OF (A. (E. ^txon \ REV. 14: 13. CONTENTS PAGE Shadow and Light, by A. C. Dixon. 7 Letter from Mrs. D. F. Stamps. 15 Address by Mrs. Alice Elise Cooper. 24 Address by Miss Edith Davis... 29 Address by Rev. D. F. Stx\mps. 36 Address by Dr. A. C. Dixon. 42 Tributes by Chinese Christians. 50 Extracts from Letters of Condolence. . 55 A Gift from God, Tribute by Mrs. W. R. Nimmo .'. 58 . ir. /V. V3. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Mary Faison Dixon . Frontispiece The Postgraduate . Mother and Child . With the Grandchildren . God’s Acre on Kuling Mountain . Platform of Kuling Church At Memorial Service . The Grave . PAGE 9 17 25 33 45 5T A Sunset from Kuling Mountain 59 atib IGigljt By A. C. DIXON After two of the happiest months in a happy married life of more than forty years, wife and 1 were on the Yangtze river steamer en route to Killing, to fill a two-weeks’ lecture engagement before several missionary conferences. At mid¬ night she was taken suddenly ill with nausea. I was not alarmed, because I thought it was an attack of biliousness to which she was subject at times, and from which she usually recovered in a few hours. When the boat reached Kiukiang, where we disembarked for Killing, Doctor Jones kindly took her to his own house, and was so sat¬ isfied with her normal pulse and general condition that he did not even take her temperature. The day was the hottest we had felt in China, but she slept on a sofa under a punka fan, as if she were resting well after a sleepless night. I was think¬ ing of leaving her there and going up the moun¬ tain to Killing, that I might fill my evening en¬ gagement. But about three-thirty p. m. her fever 7 suddenly rose to 105°, and she became uncon¬ scious. Two Portuguese nurses came from a near-by hospital, and by skilful treatment in a few minutes reduced the fever to 103°, and so restored consciousness that she could respond to my appeal for recognition by a gentle pressure of the hand. Doctor Perkins, who was summoned by Doctor Jones, thought that it was cholera, as cholera was prevalent in Kiukiang, and the symp¬ toms were similar to those he had been treating. Doctor Jones did not agree with this diagnosis, but both of them insisted that she should be re¬ moved at once to a hospital on the top of Killing mountain. Within less than an hour her body was on a stretcher, carried by coolies, then on a barge up the river, then in an automobile across the plain, and again borne by coolies seven miles up the mountain. The mountain air so revived her that she talked to the nurse about the flowers by the wayside. Next morning her temperature was normal, and we thought the worst was over, though she still seemed to be in a semicomatose condition; but, when aroused, she was quite herself. I took her a beautiful tiger-lily, and told her that it grew wild in the woods. She looked at it with a pleased expression, as she said, ‘‘ I want to see them in the woods,” and then seemed to fall asleep. On Thursday morning the fever had re- 8 THE POSTGRADUATE In a Baltimore College turnecl, but still, when aroused, she was mentally alert and we had a little prayer together. Friday morning, I brought a batch of letters from the children, and, after I had aroused her, asked if I should read them to her. She looked at them lovingly and said, '' Not now,” evidently meaning that she would doubtless be better soon, and we could enjoy them together. “ Not now ” were the last words I heard from her lips, for the nurse recpiested me not to arouse her any more that day, and next morning, Saturday, meningitis had de¬ veloped, and she was perfectly unconscious. Sunday morning it was evident that she was almost home: and, as eleven o’clock approached, Doctor Barrie insisted that I should go to the church and deliver my message to the eleven hun¬ dred people who were waiting. Knowing what she would wish me to do, I went and, while I was preaching, she entered the glory at eleven-fifty- five. During my sermon I had at one time such a consciousness of her presence that for a few moments my mind could rest only upon her, and I had to struggle back to the line of thought I was pursuing. Explain it as you will, there has come to me the pleasing fancy that she asked the angel who came for her spirit, to let her come by the church and give me a final farewell, before going to be with the Lord. Idle Memorial Service, with the pulpit and platform covered with wildflowers, which the kind, sympathetic missionaries had gathered from the mountainsides, and the loving words of ap¬ preciation spoken by Chairman Wilson, Mrs. Cooper, Miss Davis, and Mr. Stamps, was like a bit of heaven draped in mourning. There was, at least, one broken-hearted man who sat there in the dark gazing at the stars, and looking to¬ ward the East for the sunrise, when ‘‘ They that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” To him the blackest cloud that had ever come into his life was spanned by the most l)eautiful rainbow he had ever seen. The day of the funeral was dark and threaten¬ ing. The clouds covered the mountain and shut off every ray of the sun. But, as we stood around the grave beside the mound of flowers which loving hands had brought, the sun in the west broke out, scattered the clouds, and gave us a most glorious sunset. It looked as if the colors from the mound of flowers had been caught up and spread upon the clouds, multiplied a thou¬ sandfold, God’s bouquet sent to the funeral of the one who loved Him and every beautiful thing he had made with all her heart. As we stood with our faces bathed in the light of this glory from heaven, the Chinese sang and sang again in their mother tongue The Sweet By and By.” Ting Li Mei, the Chinese evangelist, poured out his heart in prayer; Mr. Wilson led in English to the throne of Grace; Miss Flower sang; Or if on joyful wing Cleaving the sky, Sun, moon and stars forgot, Upward I fly, Still all my song shall he. Nearer, my God, to thee. Nearer to thee. And we listened to the reading of these words of hope from First Thessalonians 4 : 13-18: I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not go before them that are asleep; for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Where¬ fore comfort one another with these words. My heart was comforted and ‘‘ strangely warmed,” as I thought that before leaving this mountaintop, the Lord may come with greater glory than this setting sun, and the precious body we have covered with earth and flowers may come forth in resurrection beauty, and the family re- union we had been planning on our return to America may take place with the Lord in the air; and so shall we be ever with the Lord ” and her. On a dark Sunday morning in City Temple, London, Dr. Joseph Parker said: “ I have been in Switzerland this morning, beholding the sun¬ rise from the top of Mount Rigi and the sunset upon the Matterhorn. Why should a man live in a London fog when he can live amid the glories of Switzerland ? ” He had been to Switzerland the summer before, and this was his striking way of saying that the memory of its glorious sunrises and sunsets made him forget the fog which envel¬ oped him and his people in London. Through all the fogs of the future I shall carry in mind and heart that Monday evening, August 7, 1922, when, as I stood in “ God’s Acre ” on Killing mountain, China, surrounded by loving, sympathetic friends, the sun burst through the clouds, and painted them in colors worthy of heaven, suggesting the Greater Glory that is to come. 14 Hfttpr frnm Mva, 0. Iff. MISSIONARY OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION AT CHINKIANG, CHINA, TO THE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE WOMAN’S MISSIONARY UNION Kuling, China, Aug. 7, 1922. My dear Miss Mallory : For a long time I have been planning to write you and tell you something of the work among the Chinese women in our station, Chinkiang, but I will wait till I go back to the station for that. For now, while spending my vacation in Kuling, I have something different to tell you that I think the women of the Southern Baptist churches will be deeply interested in. On yester¬ day morning, here in this lovely mountain resort in the heart of China, Mrs. Mary Faison Dixon, wife of Dr. A. C. Dixon, fell asleep in Jesus. The circumstances surrounding her death form such a beautiful witness for Jesus that I am writing you about it. Then, too, I am sure that Mrs. Dixon held a large place in the hearts of the members of the Ahiman’s Missionary Union, so that they will wish to know the details of her death. Doctor and Mrs. Dixon landed in China the latter part of June, having come out to China for a series of conferences at several of the for¬ eign summer resort places, under the Stuart Evangelistic Fund. From Shanghai they went first to North China for a conference at the sea¬ side resort, Peiteiho. On last Tuesday we ex¬ pected them to reach Kuling in time for Doctor Dixon to begin a series of sermons here Wednes¬ day at the regular yearly Kuling Conference. But when they left the boat at Kiukiang (four¬ teen miles away, at the foot of the mountains, on the Yangtze River) word came to us that Mrs. Dixon had become suddenly ill and was unable to come on to Kuling. The trip from Kiukiang to Kuling is made overland, seven miles by auto¬ mobile, and the last seven miles up the mountain in sedan-chairs carried by coolies. As Kiukiang, down in the plains, is extremely hot in the sum¬ mer, an effort was made to bring Mrs. Dixon up the mountain Wednesday afternoon; she made the trip on a stretcher, being unconscious most of the way. After three days, her illness was pro¬ nounced meningitis, with serious complications. In spite of the gravity of her condition. Doctor Dixon bravely began the conference Thursday morning, and continued during the week, preach- MOTHER AND CHILD n r'r' X. •kt- • . Ifc^ '■'* ' ^ T. - 1 -^. ^ "iliv f ' ■ ' ■■ • V?'’lt;-i*^^ S'*?’ S®ia,i.^iM'‘^-.*4^'>>4i - '9. ■-?>■ ".^ j^ jgHW aana^ KBga^ -» --5^*? . ' t—'—»*:.- • -^-li>> ;-•* » * .' ■•'^ v)'-^ * V " ■* '"' _.'' *’■;«? ~ . ? ♦ V' ing both morning and afternoon most powerful and searching sermons. Each day from four to five hundred missionaries, who gathered to hear him in the foreign church building here, lingered after the service to pray that God would lay his healing hand upon Mrs. Dixon, that she might be spared for further service for Him here. Some of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard were those that went up to God in those meetings. On Sunday morning her condition was more grave than ever, and we hardly hoped that Doctor Dixon would come before us. He had announced his Sunday subject beforehand on “ Why I am a Christian ” from an antichristian view-point, and the house was packed with foreigners and Chi¬ nese to hear God’s message. As Doctor Dixon entered the pulpit, he told us that Mrs. Dixon’s greatest desire was to witness for Christ, and that, if she were conscious that morning, he knew that she would want him to deliver God’s message that day, and so, by God’s help, he would preach to us as he had announced. I shall never forget that sermon—a wonderful, powerful stand for Christ. In the very midst of such a trying time he was pouring his very soul into the message. At fifteen minutes past twelve he concluded with a beautiful picture of the Christian whose work was over, lifting anchor in the land-locked harbor and sailing out into the TO full ocean of God’s love forever. And then he turned to the venerable leader of the Conference, Doctor Wilson, to lead in prayer. As we bowed (jur heads, loving friends led Doctor Dixon away, and the minister began to pray for the loved ones of her who had, within the last few minutes, lifted anchor and sailed away to God. Our hearts almost stood still during that prayer, and I had a feeling that we were witnessing something that was rare and more beautiful than any experience I had ever had before. When the prayer was ended, we were told that Mrs. Dixon had passed away quietly at hve minutes to twelve. Then Miss Flower, a missionary with a God-given voice of beauty, arose and sang that victorious song “ Open the gates ” that ends with that triumphant thrill “ I know that my Redeemer liveth.” I have never experienced anything like that service. Such a powerful sermon, and then, by himself more than by any word or action, Doctor Dixon’s beautiful witness for Christ in that try¬ ing hour. Instead of a grief-stricken audience, I think every one left the church with an uplifted, exultant feeling, triumphant over grief and sor¬ row, secure in the glorious knowledge that “ my Redeemer liveth.” And since yesterday, we have continued to feel that way, as if we have been })ermitted a closer insight into God’s power and have felt a wonderful, soul-stirring experience. 20 1- hat afternoon there was held a memorial ser¬ vice for her at the church. There were three people who spoke: Mrs. Cooper, of Killing, who had known her in England while Doctor Dixon was pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London; a lady who had been traveling with Doctor and Mrs. Dixon since they landed in China, and who had come to know her intimately in the meetings out here ; and Mr. Stamps who represented the Baptists at Killing, and who told of Mrs. Dixon’s Christian work in America, espe¬ cially of her work for missions and her interest in the beginnings of the Woman’s Missionary Union. The funeral service was held this afternoon, the hrst part in the Killing Church. The mem¬ bers of the Baptist Missions here, both Northern and Southern, had charge of decorating the church. Such a wealth of exquisite wildflowers these mountains yield ! In front of a background of beautiful, feathery bamboo, were banked hun¬ dreds of glorious flowers, among them the lovely Killing lilies that grow wild on the hills here, but are like our beautiful Easter lilies at home, white and pure, on tall stalks four and five feet high with as many as five or six lilies on one stem. I think they must be the same kind of lilies as those that Jesus spoke of in the Palestine fields, more beautiful than Solomon in all his glory. Among the tiowers, too, were the pale pink lotus flowers that Mrs. Dixon had been so much attracted to. The transepts on either side of the church were filled with Chinese Christians, and the songs that were sung were in English and Chinese. After a short message by Doctor Wilson, a Chinese minister made a most beautiful tribute, first in Chinese and then in English. Then Doctor Dixon, himself, calmly and quietly, told us some¬ thing of the lovely Christian character of her ‘‘whom not having seen, we loved.” We were so glad to hear of her beautiful life, and I think, also, that it was a comfort to Doctor Dixon, so far from his family and loved ones, to speak of her to us since we had not had the joy of know¬ ing her. It was surely a lasting example to our Chinese friends of the power of God to strengthen and comfort his servants in times of sorrow. I wish you could see the beautiful “ God’s Acre ” here in the mountains of Killing in the heart of China, where Mrs. Dixon’s body was laid to rest on a beautiful hillside, nearly four thousand feet above sea-level, facing the west as the sun was setting in a glorious sky, behind the mountains. After Scripture reading by Doctor Wilson, Rev. Ting Li Mei made a most beautiful prayer in Chinese, and while the grave was being covered with flowers, a lady sang that one verse: 22 1 here let the way appeal, Steps unto heaven - Then Doctor Dixon opened his Bible and read some verses from the fourth chapter of First Thessalonians. As the day had been cloudy, we were afraid that there would not be a pretty sunset, but just as the service began the western sky cleared, and through a sudden little shower of rain that lasted not more than one minute, the sun burst forth as a smile through tears. From then until the dark came, the western sky was gorgeous. I do not think Doctor and Mrs. Dixon could have brought a more beautiful message to Killing or a greater witness for Christ than this quiet passing of a sweet and lovely woman, and the marvelous Christian strength and faith of her husband in his sorrow. As one of the Chinese pastors said, she came to minister to the Chinese and in her death as in her life she has indeed ministered to them, and we will all, foreigners and Chinese, hold this little spot in the heart of China sacred to her memory. And now, more than ever, will her family and her friends turn their thoughts to this great land, since it marks her last resting-place. 23 AbJirwa By Mrs. ALICE ELISE COOPER Of the Wesleyan Mission, Kuling My friendship with Mrs. Dixon began in En¬ gland during the war, and during that period of the war wdien the German air-raids over London caused all who could do so to seek shelter else¬ where. We were both needing medical care, and for months we lived together in the same house and sat side by side at table in a small sanatorium on the Surrey Hills. It was here that I grew to love and admire the gracious Christian lady who always put the comfort and well-being of others liefore her own. During those months of conva¬ lescence we had many walks and talks on the hillsides, and I greatly appreciated her hel])ful companionshi]), and found much blessing in the fellowship with so great and beautiful a spirit. Mrs. Dixon was a mellowed Christian, and a vvide reader on many subjects and a great lover of books. She had a well-balanced mind, a sane judgment, a broad outlook on life, and an intense 24 WITH THE GRANDCHILDREN h JM ^ A ' *■ T JrwaoW'*^'^ *• *'fj *• . "^ ' , .^IbH ,- > fcj fv! ‘4' U . .4;v-t#=^'’- ';3fi -^v ■■ ' vrf*^i'' V'' ■‘•' ■•: XiShi'isaM —I am glad it is I, not you.” All the early part of her illness, while I was with her, there was not a word of complaint, not a moan, only of gratitude for the little that could be done to relieve her. A few weeks ago I heard a story that I be¬ lieve is true. We have all heard of Feng Yu Hsiang, General Feng, the Christian general. We know of his power with God, of his Christian tes¬ timony. He has been a Christian only a few years, but away back twenty-two years ago, dur¬ ing the Boxer times, his conversion began. He was only a hanger-on of the soldiers, and one day in Pao Ting Fu he saw a foreign missionary car¬ ried out from the school and told that she was to be beheaded. She plead for her pupils, gladly laying down her life if only they could be spared. He marvelled at her bravery. He wondered that she did not speak of herself. For years the inci¬ dent stayed in his mind and heart. When later he became a Christian, as the Way was explained to him, he knew that away back there the Lord had laid his hand on him for salvation. I believe that there are those in this country who will have heard of dear Mrs. Dixon and of her life laid down out here, that a message of Him may be given, who will some day point back to this hour and to this summer as the time when the Lord called them, and they were wooed back to Him. A^I^irf00 By Rev. D. F. STAMPS Of the Southern Baptist Convention It has fallen to my lot to speak of the work which probably was dearest to Mrs. Dixon’s heart except her devotion to her husband. I refer to her work in connection with the Woman’s Mis¬ sionary Union auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention. We are thinking today of the great event that has come into the life of this community. This is a great day and will have great influence upon the mission work in this important land. Fur¬ thermore, it will be felt in all parts of the world. But the event of this day is not the only big thing which she had a part in making. In the early part of her husband’s ministry she saw the need and place of woman’s work in the life of the churches, and so set herself to the task of creating interest among the people and especially the women on this timely work of the women. Doctor Dixon was pastor of the Immanuel 36 Baptist Church, Baltimore, at that time. Here the burden of the work which the women are called to do fell heavily upon her heart, and under the guiding of the Holy Spirit she laid her appeal before her husband and persuaded him to present the cause to the meeting of the Association. Doc¬ tor Dixon made the appeal and received an offer¬ ing which amounted to one hundred and fifty dollars, one hundred of which came from one member in his own church. In later years, after the organization of the Woman’s Missionary Union, the fund of $150 was set aside as a trust fund, not to be drawn upon. So we can truly say that Mrs. Dixon was the mother of the Woman’s Missionary Union, speaking in human terms. You may be interested to know how this or¬ ganization has grown since its beginning in Balti¬ more. I have the report of the woman’s work for the past year which came into my hands a few days ago. It shows a marvelous growth. The various societies and young people’s auxil¬ iaries now number 20,878, and the contributions reported for the past thirty-four years from all sources of the woman’s work total the sum of $14,777,209.20. The past year alone shows that over three million dollars were raised. The be¬ ginning of such a large work in the kingdom was no small effort. Doctor Dixon was called to serve in other fields, and his devoted wife was happy to follow the leading of the Lord in their places of service. After years of pastoral work in the North and the eight memorable years at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, Mrs. Dixon was greatly pleased at the opportunity afforded by their re¬ turn to Baltimore, to do service for the women of the South. It was her deep purpose in the trip to China and the Far East with her husband to study the woman’s work out here and the mission problems, so that she might go back home pre¬ pared to render helpful service to the organiza¬ tion which was conceived and born in her own heart years ago. This spirit to me is the mark of a noble servant of Christ. She was always young in spirit and service, and looking for¬ ward to the great fields that are white unto harvest. She was called up higher while in the midst of service here below. What a happy transition! Please permit me to say a word further about Mrs. Dixon. As the former speakers have said, she was retiring in her work, and deeply devoted to her husband in his ministry. The Lord di¬ rected her life and gave her the faculty to see the great power of two lives truly united and set on the same tasks. Tier cowork with Doctor Dixon made his efforts richer, and she found herself anew in this noble devotion. 38 At the time Doctor Dixon was preparing to leave London, he received many offers from lec¬ ture bureaus, and chautauquas, and from other sources which were very flattering from the view¬ point of money, but Mrs. Dixon did not feel that it was wise for her husband to yield to these mer¬ cenary lurings. So she made it easier for her husband to decide to remain in the pastoral ser¬ vice. Her life was deeply consecrated to her Lord. The one great thing that seems to stand out clearly in the life of this beloved saint is felt and seen in her loyalty to the work of her worthy husband. At the very last day in Killing her fatal illness did not prevent her husband from speaking a message for the Christ. Her prayer first was not to hinder, and afterwards she prayed to be a positive help in her visit to China. This noble prayer was answered in her going to be with Jesus in service, here in Killing, August 6, 1922. The whole life of Mrs. Dixon seemed to point to this day. Her simple and deep faith in Christ Jesus as Saviour and Lord is refreshing and a testimony to grip other hearts. Her last talk was made from Paul’s letter to Titus, 3 : 4-8. In these verses she found the whole of the gospel message in simple form, and often used it as the foundation for her talks to missionary societies. 39 I This Scripture becomes real life and testimony in the events of this day. Doctor Dixon spoke this morning on the sub¬ ject: “Why I Am a Christian, from the Anti¬ christian View-point, or the Reasonableness of Christianity.” It was a masterful sermon! Dur¬ ing the preaching of this sermon this noble woman passed to her reward with Christ. It seems to me that this is the greatest living testi¬ mony to the truth of the gospel that I have ever felt or seen. Here in Ruling with so many mis¬ sionaries and Chinese Christians, in the center of China at a time when missionary methods and plans are taking new form, when a nation is being born—here, I say, we have witnessed the great¬ est living testimony to the Christ that I have ever seen. What is this testimony? It is simply this, that Christ is what the Bible claims Him to be, the Son of God who came to earth and died to save men from sin. It is by the grace of God that we are saved, and there is salvation in no other name. The setting of this day’s testimony to the truth of the Bible, the authority of Jesus, and the work of the Holy Spirit, is nothing less than the hand of God writing living words to us who are here, and to this whole nation. It is certainly not the planning of man, or the coincidence of events. Mrs. Dixon’s towering faith in the Bible as God’s 40 revelation to men, in Jesus Christ as the Father’s only begotten Son, and in the Holy Spirit as the Leader and Comforter, together with her hus¬ band’s convincing words as to belief and trust in Christ as Saviour and Lord, and the sealing fact of her death in the midst of the sermon, all work together as irrefutable and challenging wit¬ ness to the salvation in Jesus Christ. What faith! What peace and reconciliation! It is found only in this spiritual conception of Jesus as Lord. 41 AJihrpaB By Dr. a. C. DIXON As I lay awake in the early morning, my mind ran back into the past, and the impression came to me that it might be fitting for me to tell you something of her for whom you have been pray¬ ing so sympathetically and earnestly. Her maiden name was Mary Faison; of h^rench Huguenot descent, an ancestry in which she took great delight. She was born on a South¬ ern plantation in North Carolina amid quiet, rural, and cultured surroundings. Her father was a godly deacon in a Baptist church, and her mother a saintly woman, in perfect sympathy with her husband in the Master’s work. Her tutor in girlhood was Dr. William Hooper, one of the most learned men in America, who lived in the Faison home and cultivated in the children a love for the best literature and placed before them high ideals in life. Mary Faison graduated from the Woman’s College in Wilson, North Carolina, of which Dr. 42 DeBerniere Hooper, son of Dr. William Hooper, was president, and then, after the Southern style, took a course in a Baltimore college, the object of which was to fit young ladies for entering society. But the ideals of worldly society had no attrac¬ tion for her, and, after returning home, she soon went to her pastor, when there was no special revival in progress, and told him that she wished to make public confession of Christ by being bap¬ tized and uniting with the church. Some of her worldly friends were surprised, if not shocked, by this, but they knew that she was sincere and re¬ spected her convictions. This event marked the beginning of a life of consecration, beautiful in its single purpose of whole-hearted devotion to Christ and his cause. In her early womanhood Mary Faison became a semi-invalid through lifting a too heavy weight, and severe bodily pain was her daily portion. :\fter trying all physicians within reach and get¬ ting no relief, she prayerfully decided to accept the limitations of her condition and devote her¬ self, as best she could, to teaching, beginning with her two little brothers at home. From the day of that decision she began to improve in health, and in a short time was completely restored. With this restored health she began with great enthu¬ siasm to prepare herself for her life-work as a 43 teacher; and the first time I ever met her was while she was on her way to a summer normal training-school at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the seat of the State University, where I was at the time pastor of the Village Baptist Church. The day was hot, and a company of us were on a stage-coach rattling over a rather rough road. The question was raised among the pas¬ sengers as to whether women ought to speak in public, suggested by the fact that a noted woman lecturer from New York was to be among the teachers of the normal training-school. Among the debaters of this question was a young woman, whose quiet, yet vivacious manner and intelligent reasons attracted my attention. She seemed to have a mind of her own with the courage of her convictions; and, when I looked into her face, there was a beauty with a charm of personality that fascinated me. As I cultivated her acquain¬ tance during the weeks that followed, I found that she was more conversant than I with the best literature, and her ideals of life were deeply spiritual. She loved Christ, the Bible, and the church. It did not take me long to decide that she was just the one I needed for a wife, and, after her return home, I went down to see her with a pro¬ posal of marriage, which was promptly rejected, because it seemed to interfere with her recent vow 44 of consecration to the work of teaching. How¬ ever, I was encouraged by her permission to visit her again some time, should I feel inclined to do so; and, after several visits, I was one day made very happy by her consent to become my wife. I believe she did so because she became convinced that she might serve the Lord Jesus Christ better as the wife of a preacher whom she had learned to love and trust, than as a teacher. While on our bridal tour through the moun¬ tains of North Carolina she said to me in a spirit of happy banter, “ I expect to see you in Spur¬ geon’s pulpit some day.” But when this pleasant remark proved to be a prophecy, and the call had come to the pastorate of the London Tabernacle, she shrank from the heavy weight of responsi¬ bility which it would impose upon both of us, and was very loath to leave our comfortable home in Chicago. But she said, Husband, I promised God that I would never try to influence you as to your fields of labor, and I am ready to go with you anywhere in the world.” She believed that, as pastor’s wife, she ought not to be at the head of any organization in the church, but belong to all and thus seek to help all. The great wisdom of this became very apparent. Her life motto was ‘‘ Always help and never HINDER,” and I can bear testimony to the fact that through these more than forty years in which 47 there were many testings she lived up to that motto without a single exception. She always helped and never hindered. If she ever had an enemy, I never heard of it. The poor and the rich, the old and the young, the servant and the mistress were all her friends. She was modest as the violet, and, when urged to make herself prominent, she would laughingly reply, “ My only ambition is to be the unknown wife of a well-known husband,” declaring that her ideal woman was described by Solomon in Proverbs 31 : 23, Her husband is known in the gates.” Pure in thought and life as the falling snow, vulgarity and coarseness could not live in her presence. Her faith in Christ and the Bible was so simple and stedfast that she could not under¬ stand, and you could not explain to her, how any one who claims to be a Christian could call in question any fundamental of the Christian faith. Her breath was prayer and praise. She was a lover of learning and spent many of her spare hours in the British Museum studying the relics of antiquity and listening to lectures on archaeol¬ ogy. She was a little encyclopedia on flowers, specially the wildflowers of the woods and the wayside. Her favorite poem was “ Milton's Paradise Lost ” and “ Paradise Regained ”; a quaint little copy of which she carried with her on our honeymoon, which we read together and 48 agreed that the latter half was being fulfilled in our lives. Her favorite religious author was Andrew Murray, one of whose little volumes, ‘‘ The Spirit of Christ,” she was carrying through China. Years ago at Northfield she received great blessing from his preaching. Her favorite book of sermons was “ Our Best Moods,” by Dr. David Gregg, a copy of which she had well-nigh worn out by much reading and lending. Her ideal American citizen was Theo¬ dore Roosevelt, because he was in the habit of doing things. She was a lover of good people, in all our pas¬ torates seeking the fellowship and comradeship only of those with high spiritual ideals. She reveled in the deep things of God and sought to entice all she influenced to a higher level of spir¬ itual experience, though she never professed for herself any high experience. If she had a fault, it was self-depreciation, and her husband was such a part of her very being that any imperfec¬ tion of his gave her no little pain, and her gentle, loving, tactful criticisms were of more value to him than all the instruction he received in college and theological seminary. The highest ambi¬ tion of his life today is to love her Ghrist as she loved Him, believe her Bible as she believed it, and be filled by the Holy Spirit whom she trusted for guidance and power. 49 ®rtbutf0 bg OIl|rtaltana At the last meeting of the Chinese Conference a man stood to pray. Many had spoken their thanks for the Conference, for the different mes¬ sages that had been given, and many had spoken of the “ meat ” they had had through the ministry of Doctor Dixon. (Anything less than “ meat ” ' the Chinese refer to as ‘‘bones,” lacking life.) This man thanked the Father for “ the grace of God which is upon Doctor Dixon. He has taken '• his sorrow and has wrapped it up in Jesus. We have seen the sorrow, but when we have seen the sorrow we have had a sight of Jesus. It takes grace to reveal Jesus. He has taken his sorrowi and has given it into the hands of Jesus, and when we have seen the sorrow we have seen the power of Jesus to keep. It takes grace to reveal the power of God. We have seen the face of Jesus and the power of Jesus through the grace of God upon this servant of His.” .\ very successful pastor stood to say: “A disciple should not have jealousy in his heart. I have jealousy. 1 think it is a good kind of 50 THE GRAVE Covered With Wildfiowers •mm jealousy. 1 am jealous of the power of message through Doctor Dixon, but I have a bigger jealousy in my heart. I am jealous of the peace that he has shown when God has left him without his wife in a strange land. If Doctor Dixon’s messages are true and if the Bible is true, God will heal my troubles as he has his, and I will have peace because I have God.” Another man said: “ When my wife died I revealed no miracle of God through my message or in my face. I found the Cross hard to preach. X^ow I know why. All suffering seemed cruel of God. N^ow I know it is the love of God.” One of the women who spoke used a very dear - to - the - Chinese - heart expression : “ Mrs. Dixon has by her death and her burial in this country of ours ‘ chiming ’ among our people. She has written her name among our people as a citizen in the heavenly kingdom. She is one with the Chinese members of the Body of Christ. We know she loves us because we can see that he does. Who but one who loves would serve as he does ? ” A missionary was overheard to say: “ Why, it seems as though we all knew Mrs. Dixon. I can t believe we haven’t seen her. She and Doctor Dixon belong to Killing, as though they had always been here.” From one and another the word has come of how marvelously (loci has honored the testimony that has been given and the message that has been lived before us here at Killing, in individual lives. I have written these above, just to give you a bit of what the Chinese friends would have loved to say directly to you had it been possible. 54 iExtrarla from Idrttrra of (EonJiolrnrr It seems to us ehildren very l)eautifiil that Mother rests in China among' the missionaries she loved and helped all her life. I know of no more appropriate spot for her last resting-place. It seems to me one that she would have chosen herself. And there will always be friends near by. We must return there some day. It will mean much to the grandchildren to think of Grandma being with the missionaries. She was always such an understanding person and so easy to confide in. I loved her simplicity and genuineness. I have never known any one to embody these virtues more perfectly. She was a Alother of the old school, and theie is no better kind. Hers was a magnificent life, unworldly in its spiritual beauty, and death to her could only bring peace with victory. 55 In her death no less than in her life, Mrs. Dixon has borne a lasting witness to the love of God as it is in Christ Jesus; and this testimony will bear fruit in the future life of the Christian Church in China as our Chinese friends and we come more fully to appreciate its true meaning. No words that I can use can begin to express our appreciation of the worth and work of your sainted and now glorified wife. Wherever she was, her presence was a benediction. None knew her but to love her, None named her but to praise. She was such a dear child of God, and both my wife and I have been greatly helped by her beau¬ tiful character and sympathy. She was a particularly lovable as well as strong character. She was so gracious, so wise, so unassumingly godly and good. And now she is with Christ, which is far better. One of the most inspiring expressions for our work out here that I ever heard was spoken by your wife in a conversation at the Missionary Home in Shanghai. 56 Mrs. Dixon was a remarkable woman. 1 had a very deep and special kind of admiration for her. She was sincerity itself. Her goodness was so true, so honest, so direct that I always stood almost in awe of her, as of any one incapable of insincerity. Her probity would have been severe, if she had not been so kind and sweet. Then she had such extraordinary common sense. Her judgment was intuitively correct, her counsel always valuable. She could have sat for the por¬ trait of Proverbs 31 : 10-31. She was the bal¬ ance-wheel of the watch, the governor of the engine. Sensible and sensitive, sweet yet strong, spiritual yet practical, loving yet firm, retiring and thoughtful, cherishing her own, yet unself¬ ishly giving them to the service of others. She was a rare, remarkable, loving woman. Her memory remains a choice heritage. I am sure there never lived a finer character than she was, and the most outstanding feature in her character was that she was just to every one, whether she admired them or not. She was sorry for those who had gone wrong, and did not criti¬ cize them. 57 A from (Soil Tribute by Mrs. W. R. NIMMO Apprucichiiig a letter-box one inorning many years ago in the eity of Baltimore I came face to face with the wife of the new pastor of the then Immanuel Baptist Church, Rev. A. C. Dixon, hlie letters went into the box together, followed by a laughing recognition and a short conversa¬ tion. This was the beginning of a friend¬ ship as true and tender as this earth ever knew—a friendship that proved to be one of the greatest blessings of my life. Circum¬ stances often* separated us, but the heart-tie held, and love for Mrs. Dixon became as natural as breathing. In the early days of the Woman’s Missionary Union in Maryland, which Mrs. Dixon was so largely instrumental in organizing, we wrought together. Her deep interest in missions and her love for missionaries were an inspiration in my life and in the lives of many others. Anything I have been able to do in carrying forward the 58 A SUNSET From Kuling Mountain, China Great Commission I owe, under God, to her influence. In the many experiences which came into her life her Christian courage never failed. These experiences became as open doors through which she passed into the sorrows of other lives and comforted them by the comfort wherewith ‘ she was ’ comforted of God.” Once on speaking to her of prayer she said, “ My every breath is a prayer.’ At another time when we were speak¬ ing of the weariness of sleepless hours she said, “ When I cannot sleep I use the time praying for my family, friends, and the missionaries.” From such intimacy with Christ came Mrs. Dixon ’s gift of consolation in the sorrows of others. Mrs. Dixon went home from among the missionaries she loved so well, and it might be said of China that She made the grass greener even here . . . with her grave. In the lives of those who knew Mrs. Dixon well she has left the memory of a stedfast Christian faith, of great personal charm, and of a cultured mind. Added to these qualities was the saving grace of a keen sense of humor and one of the merriest laughs I ever heard. Her life was good and strong and true and has fitted her for the full enjoyment of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Lord, grant me if thou wilt To slip away As slips the night Into the dawning day. So soft That e’en the watchers, watching Cannot say Here ends the night And here begins the day ; But only know The night’s thy night. The day thy day. .. i * yj p a UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 00034008494 FOR USE ONLY IN THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION Form No. A-368, Rev. 8/95