JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
From Photosraph by Hanna, Queen Street, Auckland. 
 
 
Joseph Sidney Hill 
 
 FIRST BISHOP 
 IN WESTERN- EQUATORIAL AFRICA 
 
 BY 
 
 ROSE E. FAULKNER 
 
 Author of "^ Portrait from God's Picture Gallery," " Temperance in the 
 Light of the Cross," etc. 
 
 SEith an intr^bttftion 
 BY THE RIGHT REV. BISHOP STUART 
 
 {Late of Waiapu) 
 
 LONDON 
 
 H. R. ALLENSON 
 
 30, PATERNOSTER ROW 
 
 1895 
 
LOAN STACK 
 
 Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. 
 
H56Fs 
 
 3for all wbo- love ant) bonour 
 
 " Those whom the Spirt fs dread vocation severs 
 
 To lead the vanguard of Christ's conquering host; 
 Whose toilsome yea7's are spent in brave endeavours 
 To bear His saving Name from coast to coast; — 
 
 " Those whose bright faith makes feeble hearts grow stronger , 
 And sends fresh warriors to the great campaign^ 
 Bids the lone convert feel estranged no longer, 
 And wins the sundered to be one again" — 
 
 THIS STORY OF ONE 
 
 WELL DESCRIBED IN THESE LINES IS WRITTEN 
 
 IN THE HOPE THAT IT MAY PROVE TO SOME 
 
 AS A TRUMPET CALL. 
 
 870 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 1 7 
 
 II. FIRST VISIT TO AFRICA 2g 
 
 III. WORK AMONG THE MAORIS AND COLONISTS . 4I 
 
 IV. WORK IN THE WAIROA 57 
 
 V. WORK IN AUCKLAND 7 1 
 
 VI. WORK IN AUCKLAND {continued) ... 87 
 
 VII. HOME MISSION WORK Ill 
 
 VIII. AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS . . . • 125 
 
 IX. CONSECRATION, AND DEPUTATION WORK . . 149 
 
 X. SAFE HOME IN PORT 169 
 
 APPENDIX 189 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS BY — 
 
 ROSE E. FAULKNER I94 
 
 W. HAY M. H. AITKEN . " . . . . 198 
 
 EUGENE STOCK 214 
 
 CLEANSING AN ADDRESS BY BISHOP HILL . 202 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 is 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 HAVING been asked to write some reminis- 
 cences of Bishop Hill during the period of 
 his missionary labours in New Zealand, I thankfully 
 avail myself of the opportunity of bearing testimony 
 to his singleness of aim and high standard of devoted- 
 ness'during all those years that I enjoyed his intimate 
 friendship. His most marked characteristic was what 
 has been happily said of another — "an incorrigible 
 unselfishness." He would spare himself no trouble or 
 pains to be of service to others, and be ever ready to 
 take the lowest room and eager to choose the heaviest 
 end of the stick, so that he might relieve another of 
 its weight. " Bear ye one another's burdens, and so 
 fulfil the law of Christ," was a rule he continuously 
 exemplified. Many instances of this unselfishness 
 occur to my recollection in the years he served in my 
 
 own diocese of Waiapu, and subsequently during the 
 
 II 
 
12 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 latter portion of the time he spent in New Zealand, 
 when engaged in Home Mission work in the diocese 
 of Auckland. As a natural result of his ready and 
 active sympathy, he was continually resorted to by 
 the distressed in mind, body, and estate, who ever 
 found that he had an ear to listen, a heart to feel, and 
 a hand to help. He had versatility of talent in a 
 remarkable degree, and this, combined with his wide 
 sympathy, enabled him to take up 'with untiring 
 energy and success many different branches of work. 
 I have often heard him described in Colonial phrase 
 as "a good all-round man." These natural endow- 
 ments of character proved of eminent service in the 
 Home Mission work, which in a large bustling city 
 like Auckland brought him into contact with all sorts 
 and conditions of men. It was there in the crowds 
 that gathered in the old Opera House, now the City 
 Hall, on a Sunday night, that I have listened to some 
 of his most pathetic appeals, adapting the old, old 
 story of the Cross, by various telling illustrations and 
 anecdotes, to the mixed multitudes of careworn men 
 and women, many of whom were strangers to the 
 inside of any ordinary place of worship. 
 
 Sunday, with its regularly recurring four services, 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 was no day of physical or mental rest to him, for in 
 the morning was his service at Mount Eden Gaol, in 
 which, as Honorary Chaplain, he took so keen an 
 interest ; at 11 a.m. a Church Service at Remuera, a 
 suburb some miles distant ; at 3 p.m. his lecture on 
 Christian doctrine at the Young Men's Christian 
 Association Rooms, and the Theatre Service at night. 
 It was at these afternoon lectures that he was to be 
 heard; at his intellectual best The Y.M.C.A. Hall, 
 the erection of which, with the commodious premises 
 of which it formed part, was due to his energy and 
 enterprise, was a spacious and admirably arranged 
 room for .public meetings. In the body of the hall 
 and gallery were placed five hundred chairs, and on 
 the wide platform was room for an orchestra and 
 speakers. These Sunday afternoon lectures were 
 specially designed for the instruction of truth-seeking 
 inquirers, and for the answering of objections to the 
 Christian faith. Many subjects of social and religious 
 importance were discussed. Those who were troubled 
 with doubts or difficulties were invited to send in 
 previously written questions, which the lecturer would 
 answer so far as he could. These questions were not 
 always, as may well be imagined, the expressions of 
 
14 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 "honest doubt," but put on purpose to embarrass and 
 harass the lecturer ; but his ready and apt replies 
 turned the tables on the questioners, and his unfailing 
 good-humour and unruffled temper pleased and pro- 
 pitiated, even when he failed to convince and to 
 silence. I have listened to many able and distin- 
 guished missionaries, who excelled in bazaar preach- 
 ing, arguing with those who encountered them in the 
 market-place, but I do not remember ever hearing 
 anything better than J. S. Hill's dexterous and ready 
 replies, or to have witnessed a more imperturbable 
 temper than his. The promise so comforting to every 
 missionary was fulfilled to him : " Thou shalt hide 
 them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride of 
 man ; Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion 
 from the strife of tongues " (Psalm xxxi. 20). Many 
 were the touching testimonies to the esteem in which 
 he was held by all classes of the Auckland public, 
 when he was about to leave them to return to Eng- 
 land. And deep and widespread was the feeling of a 
 sad personal loss which pervaded the community to 
 which he and his like-minded wife had so greatly en- 
 deared themselves by their abounding in every good 
 word and work when the sad tidings reached Auck- 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 land that Bishop and Mrs. Hill had died on their way 
 to the Niger. I was myself in the northern capital 
 when the cablegram was received, and can vividly 
 recall the universal mourning it caused. " Lovely 
 and pleasant in their lives, and in death they were not 
 divided," were the words and the thought that seemed 
 to express the universal feeling. Our veteran mission- 
 ary — nowalso gone home — the Venerable Dr. Maunsell, 
 met me at his door when he had just heard of the 
 sad event. We exchanged our greetings of sym- 
 pathetic grief, and then, with a bright look upward, 
 the aged saint spoke a word of comfort that I felt 
 indeed was fitly spoken then : " God will work His 
 own zvork i^i His own way." 
 
 To that we say Amen, and would only add, " The 
 will of the Lord be done " ! 
 
 EDWARD C. STUART, 
 
 Bishop. 
 Batoum, 
 
 September 2^th, 1894. 
 En Route for Persia, 
 
CHAPTER I 
 BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 
 
' First the bladerST. Mark iv. 28. 
 
 ' What sages would have died to learn 
 Now taught by cottage dames r 
 
 Keble. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 
 
 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL was born on Decem- 
 ber 1st, 1 85 1, at the village of Barnack, near 
 Stamford. Very little is known of his early 
 years ; but the meagre outline of his childhood is con- 
 sistent with, if it does not suggest, its later develop- 
 ment. He sprang from the people — from that sturdy, 
 independent. God-fearing peasantry which is the 
 backbone of the English race. His father was a 
 builder, and so too was the son in the higher branches 
 of constructive policy and spiritual edification. Of 
 Henry Hill nothing is known, for he died through 
 an accident at the early age of twenty-five. But 
 he committed the charge of his fatherless boy and 
 girl to his own saintly mother, of whom doubtless 
 he was the worthy child. A pleasant picture is 
 drawn for us of those days of childhood. The 
 grandmother, who had opened her heart and home 
 to the young widow and her children, was a woman 
 of sterling piety who lived upon her Bible. She 
 
 19 
 
20 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 took personal supervision of this part, at least, of 
 her little grandson's studies ; and, during his sojourn 
 under her roof, a period covering the most important 
 years as far as impressions are concerned — from three 
 to nine — the foundations were laid, and deeply laid, 
 of that scriptural knowledge which in after years 
 made him such a real teacher. But more than this. 
 Many a divine has been early instructed in the 
 Word of God, and has become narrow, bigoted, 
 dogmatic. This old grandmother might have been 
 of the severe, puritanical type, and the Bible might 
 have been associated in her grandson's mind with 
 long, weary tasks, with punishment lessons and 
 gloomy Sundays. Far otherwise does the sweet, 
 genial personality strike us as she stands out in 
 the memory of the very few who can speak of those 
 days of childhood. We do not gather that the little 
 Joseph was spoilt, but there is no doubt his early 
 years were very free and happy. A bright, winning, 
 manly boy, with a hearty, ringing laugh, passing the 
 greater part of his time in play in the old-fashioned 
 garden attached to his grandmother's home, leading 
 his little sister into all kinds of mischievous pranks 
 no doubt, yet always generous, truthful, affectionate 
 — such is the picture of Joseph Hill, which we, who 
 knew and loved him later in life, feel to be a true 
 portrait. No dwarfed and stunted childhood could 
 have developed into the virile ripeness we knew. 
 The merry laugh — we hear it still — it was always a 
 boyish laugh — no cares could dim, no sorrows quench 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 21 
 
 the fountain of pure gladness in that most wholesome 
 nature. 
 
 The anecdotes of his boyhood are few ; such as 
 there are all bear witness to the same characteristics. 
 When quite a little fellow he became embroiled in 
 a fight with a boy much older and bigger ; it was 
 in the defence of his little sister, whom the bully 
 had teased and run off with her hat. Little Joseph 
 sprang at the aggressor without a moment's hesita- 
 tion, and would have probably got the worst of it 
 had not a gentleman who was passing separated 
 the boys ; and naturally enough, hearing the story, 
 he applauded the little champion. 
 
 The grandmother kept bees, which the children 
 were never tired of watching. One day they were 
 very much interested in noticing how the worker bees, 
 attacked, we may suppose, like other creatures, with 
 an occasional fit of idleness, refused to leave the hive, 
 though driven out again and again by the drones. 
 Little Joseph's patience becoming exhausted, he got 
 a stick, and, putting it in the hive, stirred up the 
 lazy bees. The result can be imagined ; the child 
 was fearfully stung, and ever after was the object of 
 their attacks. But he did not cease to visit them, 
 and would supply them with water, putting moss 
 and ferns in the plates lest they should drown 
 themselves ! 
 
 Only for a brief season may wc think of him in 
 that bright country home, among the old-fashioned 
 flowers that the bees love, climbing the trees where 
 
JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 birds had made their lofty home, earning many a 
 tumble (once a broken collar-bone), and perhaps 
 many a scolding— and then the scene changes. 
 
 At nine years of age it became necessary for the 
 widow's son to be set in the way of earning his 
 living, and a friend of the family procured his ad- 
 mission to the Orphan Working Sghool at Haverstock 
 Hill, London. The change must have been great to 
 the country child brought up by womenkind ; but 
 he brought to the ordeal fixed principles, ambition, 
 and industry. No record remains of his school life ; 
 we only know that he passed through it unscathed, 
 and rose to be head of the school. 
 
 At fourteen Joseph Hill was apprenticed to a 
 trade, and took every opportunity of pursuing his 
 studies. At this epoch we hear of his first friend- 
 ships. He became deeply attached to a young 
 man of the name of Sidney, whose name he adopted 
 in addition to his own from the time of his con- 
 firmation. The early death of this young friend 
 was one of the determinating influences in his 
 career. But it was the Rev. Alexander Burton, of 
 Trinity Church, Southampton, to whom * belongs 
 the honour of having discerned the latent possi- 
 bilities in young Hill, and of fostering his love of 
 learning and desire to improve himself. Mr. Burton 
 personally directed and assisted him in his studies. 
 These combined influences stimulated the desire, 
 doubtless implanted long before by his grandmother, 
 who was intensely interested in missionary work, to 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 23 
 
 devote his life and powers to carrying the Gospel 
 to the heathen. 
 
 At this time the orphan lad had no home. An 
 uncle with whom he had been in the habit of spend- 
 ing his school holidays was dead, and his mother was 
 living as housekeeper in a family. One day she 
 was startled by receiving a letter from her son, 
 informing her of his earnest wish to be a missionary, 
 and also telling her that if he could pass one more 
 examination he would be able to enter the C.M.S. 
 Preparatory Home at Reading. 
 
 It was a heavy blow. " He was the only son of 
 his mother, and she was a widow " ; yet she could 
 not refuse her consent. She took refuge in the 
 difficulty of the examination, and, assuring herself 
 that he could not pass it, promised not to oppose 
 his wishes. 
 
 He did pass, and in 1872 he entered at Reading. 
 Two years later he began his final course of train- 
 ing at the Church Missionary College, Islington, 
 under the Rev. W. H. Barlow. 
 
 During all these years there had been a steady 
 growth in the Divine life, a constant response to 
 the Holy Spirit's teaching, a conscious appropria- 
 tion of grace. 
 
 No one preached conversion more clearly or 
 forcibly than Bishop Hill ; but he never re- 
 membered any marked crisis in his own spiritual 
 history. He had early learnt that wisdom's ways 
 are ways of pleasantness, and as he grew up his 
 
24 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 heart, like an opening flower, expanded Godvvards, 
 so that it may be truly said of him, that as he 
 grew in years he grew in grace. 
 
 It was during those years at Islington that he 
 began the evangelistic work for which he was 
 specially fitted, and in which he was all his life 
 used by God to a remarkable degree. In ministra- 
 tions to the sick and suffering he first met her who 
 was destined to be henceforth the partner of his 
 life of service, for which she was already prepared 
 by the willing choice of her youth. 
 
 Joseph Hill's ordination took place on St. Bar- 
 nabas' Day, 1876, at St. Paul's Cathedral. Among 
 the deacons ordained at the same time was Robert 
 Warren Stewart, also subsequently distinguished in 
 missionary work. The two young men were at 
 Islington together, and there formed a life-long 
 friendship. 
 
 Events now crowd thickly in our young mis- 
 sionary's life. On July 4th of the same year came 
 his dismissal, with that of other missionaries, for 
 Africa, and on July 31st his marriage with Lucilla 
 Leachman, who faithfully shared his labours and 
 sufferings, and died within a few hours of her 
 beloved husband. 
 
 The course of true love had not run quite 
 smoothly for the young couple. There had been 
 some natural opposition on the part of the bride's 
 family, both on account of disparity of social position 
 and also from the dangers of the missionary calling. 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 25 
 
 To remove misunderstanding about the latter 
 Joseph Hiir wrote the following letter to the Rev. 
 F. Leachman, her brother : — 
 
 " C.M.S. College, Islington, 
 
 ''May Wi, 1876. 
 
 " Dear Sir,— 
 
 "... I am fully alive to all the objections that 
 may naturally arise from the work before us, the trials 
 of parting, etc., the dangers and difficulties of every mis- 
 sionary of the Cross, but the only point necessary to my 
 mind is, first, entire and whole-hearted devotedness to ovr 
 blessed Lord, and then for one another. I think, in fact 
 know, this exists. We are both children of God, heirs 
 of God, and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus. Washed in 
 the Blood of the Lamb and having already the seal of 
 our redemption and adoption within ourselves, constrained 
 by the love of Christ we cannot live unto ourselves, but 
 must live unto Him that hath died for us. Being called 
 of God to be an ambassador for Christ to the perishing 
 souls in heathendom, I dare not, I would not if I could, 
 do other than go forward, trusting His Almighty power 
 to be our strength in our perfect weakness. I can offer her 
 no social distinction, no exalted worldly position, no wealth 
 or worldly honour, nothing but a true, warm, loving heart, 
 and that she knows full well I wholly give her. . . . 
 
 "I conclude from your letter that whatever may have 
 been your first impressions in regard to our engagement, 
 whatever your objections, all is so far right that you con- 
 sider it a bona-fide engagement now. I have only one 
 word to add, and that is, I am sure you will never live to 
 rue the day when you gave up your sister to the highest 
 and most glorious work under heaven. If, instead of 
 looking at the difficulties and trial of parting, you just give 
 
26 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 her entirely into the Lord's hands, and trust Him to keep 
 her, all will be well. 
 
 "Asking a very special interest in your prayers at this 
 important season, and trusting that, whatever may be in 
 the future, we all, both yours and mine, may be found 
 among that glorious and joyous throng wearing crowns 
 decked with many a gem, to be with Him who has already 
 washed us in His Blood, where there is neither marrying 
 nor giving in marriage, neither sorrow nor pain, and where 
 parting is unknown, 
 
 " Believe me, 
 
 " Yours very affectionately, 
 
 "Joseph Hill." 
 
 On June 20th the Rev. Henry Wright sent a warm 
 letter, conveying the Committee's sanction of the 
 marriage, which took place on July 31st at St. Mary's, 
 Islington. 
 
 A month before their wedding, Mr. Hill and Miss 
 Leachman had attended the Mildmay Conference 
 together, and they were anxious that their honeymoon 
 should be spent at Keswick ; so the wedding took 
 place at eight o'clock in the morning, and at eleven 
 the bride and bridegroom were in the train, speeding 
 northwards. Surely no bride ever entered with more 
 chastened feelings on the halcyon days of early 
 married life. Thus she writes to her brother : — 
 
 " . . . M. and F. seem anxious about my future, but I 
 am so sure that the whole thing is in my Heavenly Father's 
 hands that I am at perfect rest about it all ; my happiness 
 depends on Him, not on Joseph Hill, so I have not a fear. 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 27 
 
 I can only feel it a tremendous privilege to be sent out to 
 teach the dear little black chicks. Whenever death comes, 
 it will be to me only (as some one so beautifully said) ' a 
 rough messenger sent to call me home.' Human friends 
 may fail, God never can. The only dark spot about it is 
 leaving the dear ones in England." 
 
 Truly the Heavenly Father was early preparing 
 His child, and her willingness to meet death for the 
 " tremendous privilege " of work in Africa was yet to 
 be put to a triumphant test. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 FIRST VISIT TO AFRICA 
 
" First the blade, then the ear'' — St. Mark iv. 28. 
 
 ^^ Most happy is he who in his youth gives himself up to this 
 guidance {of the Heavenly Friend), for he alone in this life can 
 realise the fulness of the Divine scheme and plan. From the 
 moment of his birth the love aiid will of God has surrounded 
 such an one. He begins with yeveats, the birth of all things by 
 the breath of God; he ends with the riXos Kvplov, the finished 
 purpose of the will of the Lord" — J. H. Shorthouse. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 FIRST VISIT TO AFRICA 
 
 ON October 14th, 1876, the little party of mis- 
 sionaries left Liverpool in the Bonny, and 
 thus the first experiences were recorded : — 
 
 " My own Dearest Mother, — 
 
 " We have now been six days out at sea, and passed 
 the worst part of our journey. On Sunday we had no ser- 
 vice ; all felt the effect of the roll, and during the night the 
 wind was anything but pleasant. All the time I could but 
 think of that one passage, ' He holdeth the sea in the 
 hollow of His hand,' and prayed that He who said, ' Peace, 
 be still,' would keep us in perfect peace. In fact I made up 
 a short sermon on those words in case I had to preach. 
 There is one little black girl on board, with a sharp but 
 interesting face. . . . The Lord is able to keep us both. 
 He will not leave us comfortless, but will give us the Spirit 
 of comfort. May God Himself take care of and bless you. 
 With best love, 
 
 " Your ever loving children, 
 
 "Joseph and Lucilla." 
 
 This Uttle African girl was adopted by Mrs. Hill, 
 
32 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 and afterwards educated in England, An account 
 of her has been published. 
 
 The next letter is from Fourah Bay, Sierra Leone : 
 
 "... The scenery is so lovely here ; we are sitting in 
 the verandah of the Fourah Bay Institution. The Mountains 
 of the Moon, which stretch right across Central Africa and 
 end at Sierra Leone, are in the background, and in the fore- 
 ground are two immense cotton trees and a large number of 
 cocoanut palms. On our right and left is Fourah Bay, for 
 this Institution is on a point of land stretching out into the 
 sea, and just a little way out is the Bonny. 
 
 " Mr. Sunter, whom you will remember, was astonished 
 beyond expression to see Miss Leachman, as he calls me, 
 on the West Coast. He has been so kind, and made us so 
 welcome. After board ship one does appreciate the large 
 airy bedrooms, good food, delicious tea, nice bath with 
 plenty of water. Then the beautiful flowers and lovely 
 scenery ! It really is a treat after a fortnight's sea-sickness. 
 Mr. Sunter keeps saying what a treat it is to have English 
 people, and this when he is taking the place of six men ! 
 It is, however, vacation time with his own students. We 
 have just had prayers ; the remaining students all came in, 
 with their gowns on : such a fine set of men. The grounds 
 of the College extend down to the sea, and they have built 
 a stone w^all, so that the sharks can be kept out when the 
 water comes in, and it forms a large basin for bathing. You 
 can, however, only bathe at high water. Freetown, where 
 we landed, is about two miles off. Mr. Sunter took us to 
 the Mission House ; the women in chairs something like 
 bath-chairs, as it is not wise for women to walk at first. 
 The streets of Freetown are very wide, with grass growing 
 pretty well all over them. There is just a beaten footpath, 
 and the ground is very uneven, with a number of half- 
 
FIRST VISIT TO AFRICA 33 
 
 Starved looking pigs and dogs lying about. The streets 
 swarm with people, almost entirely natives, most of them 
 looking really picturesque in their different native dresses. 
 
 "The Bonny will be sailing again at nine, so I must 
 hastily close. . . ." 
 
 We next find our missionaries at Leke, a station 
 sixty miles east of Lagos. Their house in the mis- 
 sion compound was built about eleven feet above 
 the ground, the space underneath being boarded and 
 used as a store-room. The house consisted of five 
 rooms, with piazzas and doors always wide open ; 
 for the life of a missionary in Africa, as in China, 
 is a public life, and subject to invasion from all 
 causes — from spiritual inquiry to coming to see the 
 time of day ! The roof was thatched with palm 
 leaves, which were found to be cooler than felt or 
 iron. In the compound were also the schoolmaster's 
 cottage, the kitchen, and a hut for the " boys " to 
 sleep in. 
 
 Here there seemed every prospect of a happy 
 work, but it was not to be. On the morning of 
 November 22nd, about six o'clock, Mrs. Hill per- 
 suaded her husband to take a dip in the sea, neither 
 being aware of the danger from the surf. A few 
 minutes afterwards she heard a cry, and saw from 
 the verandah that he was out of his depth, and, with 
 his arm thrown up, was crying aloud for help. One 
 can picture the agony of the young wife as she 
 rushed frantically for assistance. The veteran mis- 
 sionary Mr. Hinderer was with them, and, though 
 
 3 
 
34 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 ill and suffering, he hastened to the Commandant's 
 house close by and got a number of Gold Coast men 
 who happened to be there — strong men and splendid 
 swimmers. Meanwhile the young missionary was 
 battling alone in the surf; and, as moment after 
 moment passed, each seeming like an hour, and 
 strength grew weaker, he realised for the first time 
 the imminence of death. Often has he described 
 the awfulness of that brief waiting time, and its 
 deeper experiences coloured his after-view of the 
 unseen world. Often in his subsequent career he 
 stood face to face with the last enemy, but the 
 horror of death was past. It was twenty minutes 
 before the brave rescuers were able to reach him 
 and bring him safe to shore ; and even then the 
 agonised wife, praying at his bedside, could hardly 
 believe that his life would be spared. It is said 
 that the native who brought him in had sworn to 
 take the life of the first white man he should meet ! 
 But it was not " in perils by water " that that young 
 life was to be forfeited. Nevertheless the fright 
 brought on fever with both. Old Mr. Hinderer 
 was ill himself and unable to nurse them, and the 
 natives were little help. Not understanding English 
 and unable to prepare English food, they made poor 
 nurses, and our young missionaries' first experiences 
 of African fever were by no means pleasant. The 
 natives meant well by them ; we find them on the 
 Sunday after the accident standing up in Church 
 after the service and "saluting" them for coming 
 
FIRST VISIT TO AFRICA 35 
 
 to Africa with many a hearty good wish for spared 
 lives and health. 
 
 Christmas came to find Mr. Hill again in bed 
 with fever, and his wife alone with him, the native 
 assistants having gone out for the day. 
 
 "Suddenly a number of Kru boys and canoe-men came 
 into the compound, all half-drunk, and danced and shouted 
 and threw each other down in the sand, and were acting 
 like madmen. . , . Two of them walked up into our 
 sitting-room, and demanded money or brandy. I was 
 unwilling to disturb Sidney, but they would not go for 
 my asking, so I had to call him. Meanwhile more had 
 come into the compound, and, as they bear a very bad 
 character, it was unpleasant, to use the mildest term. 
 However, Sidney sent me into the bedroom, and then 
 peremptorily ordered them off, telling them he would not 
 give them a penny, however long they waited. They did 
 wait some time ; but, finding Sidney determined, they left, 
 and went into the Commandant's house, where his black 
 woman treated them with a warm welcome. . . ." 
 
 We next find Mr. and Mrs. Hill entertaining a 
 little party of natives — apparently a New Year's 
 feast. There were speeches on both sides, the young 
 missionary, with characteristic frankness, returning 
 the compliments of his black friends with some 
 very plain speech about the besetting sins of Africa. 
 Fifty had asked for baptism ; but there was gross 
 sin to be dealt with before he could entertain the 
 application even of the most urgent. 
 
 The condition of things even in the Church itself 
 
36 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 was far from satisfactory. Baptised Christians, even' 
 Sunday School teachers, were found to be living in 
 open sin ; and these men, being well off and in 
 good positions, were difficult to attack. Bishop 
 Crowther, who a few years before had given such 
 a sanguine description in England, expressing a 
 hope that the Native Church would soon be able 
 to dispense with the help of missionaries from 
 England, was beginning to find out his mistake, 
 and was about to apply to the Church Missionary 
 Society for English pastors for the Niger, where 
 then there were only natiyes. The prospect was 
 one of, at least, difficulty and trouble ; yet the 
 following letter — one of, alas ! the very few of Mr. 
 Hill's own that are extant — only breathes a spirit of 
 cheerful hope : — 
 
 " Leke, February i^th, 1S77. 
 
 " My own Darling Mother, — 
 
 "... The work here is very inviting ; the people 
 thirst for the Gospel in some parts. It is all so new to 
 them, many never having heard of there being any future. 
 Just imagine a man's surprise at hearing it for the first 
 time. You have to tell him again and again, and he still 
 doubts if you mean it. Next Sunday I intend baptising 
 eight or ten who are real Christians — the first in this part 
 of the country. Is it not a privilege? I am just building 
 a schoolmaster's house. Besides seeing after the building 
 I have to teach the native teachers, and this requires much 
 study. I have to look after one native ordained missionary, 
 three training for ordination, and four Scripture readers, 
 pay them, etc. It all takes up a good deal of time. In 
 
FIRST VISIT TO AFRICA 37 
 
 the house we often have to do the cooking. When Loo 
 is ill you might see me with our cook, showing him how 
 to make a sago pudding, then buying fish of a native 
 woman, who asks for half a crown and will take ninepence ! 
 Then there are the sick ones to attend to and some who 
 fall away to bring back again. All this, with an ordinary 
 clergyman's work in England for the Sunday, and classes 
 for baptism and confirmation, forms part of our daily work 
 for the Master. 
 
 " Your loving boy, 
 
 " Joseph." 
 
 It is sad to read the postscript to this letter, 
 " Louie is still very sick." It prepares us for the 
 next letter, announcing the move to Lagos. 
 
 "... I was getting very weak in Leke," Mrs. Hill writes 
 to her sister, " and Mr. Braithwaite did not think I should 
 recover because I could rarely keep my food down. Then 
 Sidney got anxious about me, and when he was down at 
 the same time, Mr. Braithwaite wrote to Mr. Maser. The 
 kind old man came himself all the way from Lagos, 
 bringing another canoe with him to fetch us away. We 
 all left Leke on Thursday, and arrived in this cosy home 
 on Saturday. I am having every kindness and attention 
 and good nursing here. But Dr. King says that I am 
 in a very weak state of health, and that I shall have to 
 remain here many weeks." 
 
 Three weeks later the doctor sent in a certificate 
 to the Finance Committee stating that both Mr. 
 and Mrs. Hill must return to* England. The former 
 was even worse at Lagos than he had been at Leke. 
 On March 19th a little boy was born, who only 
 
18 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 survived his birth a few hours, and Mrs. Hill was 
 so dangerously ill that her recovery was scarcely 
 expected. However, after a lapse of fourteen days 
 she was able to embark on the S.S. Africa. Her 
 sister had gone to Liverpool to meet the preceding 
 boat, and her anxiety was extreme when it arrived 
 without the expected travellers. Two days after 
 she returned home to find a telegram explaining 
 the delay. 
 
 The sea voyage was very beneficial to both, and 
 they arrived in England looking and feeling quite 
 restored to health. The Church Missionary Society, 
 however, wished Mr. Hill to take two months' entire 
 rest, and of that summer we have no record. Offers 
 of curacies poured in ; the two most attractive posts 
 were the sole charge of the Rev. Melville Pym's 
 parish during his winter mission in India, and the 
 curacy of Holy Trinity, Richmond, under the Rev. 
 Evan Hopkins. The latter carried the day, and in 
 the autumn they settled down there to a time of 
 hard but happy work, upon which Mr. Hill always 
 looked back with the warmest interest. One of 
 their fellow-labourers in Richmond was Miss Maud 
 Grimston, afterwards herself a missionary and a 
 missionary's wife. She writes thus of that time : — 
 
 "To myself, personally, he was a great blessing, and 
 the * inspiration ' of his life follows me still ; his was a 
 life on fire for God and souls, and which looked far 
 beyond the one little corner of work, to the great harvest 
 field of the world — specially to his dear Africa. God 
 
FIRST VISIT TO AFRICA 39 
 
 had already called me to foreign mission work ; but his 
 words and example added fuel to the flame, and drew 
 one so much closer to the Lord Jesus, that one could 
 only /ong to leave all and follow Him. Bishop Hill used 
 sometimes to join with us (the Christian working-men and 
 me) on Sunday mornings in a small prayer meeting we had 
 at the coffee-room, before going out to distribute tracts 
 over the parish, and his bright cheery words pressed us 
 on. He also began an early prayer meeting at the church, 
 from seven to eight o'clock on Sunday mornings, for 
 workers ; and though very few attended, yet, judging by 
 myself, it seemed to seal the day for God ; the meeting 
 with Him that early morning hour is one of the happy 
 recollections of those Richmond Sundays. The Bishop 
 had a very interesting Bible Reading on Prophecy at 
 his house, as the coming of the Lord was a * blessed hope ' 
 to both him and Mrs. Hill. I have not spoken of her, 
 but I dearly loved her ; she was always full of sympathy 
 and sound judgment, and I valued her friendship very 
 highly." 
 
 This was one of the friendships in which his 
 life was rich ; another was that with his vica!*, the 
 Rev. Evan Hopkins, which, unimpaired by time 
 and distance, was happily renewed on Joseph Hill's 
 return from New Zealand. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 WORK AMONG THE MAORIS AND COLONISTS 
 
" Measure thy life by loss, instead of gain. 
 Not by the wine drunk, but the wine poured out, 
 For Love's strength standeth in Love's sacrifice ; 
 A nd whoso suffers most, has most to give." 
 
 H. Hamilton King. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 WORK AMONG THE MAORIS AND COLONISTS 
 
 ^ 
 
 MISSIONARY work during this busy winter 
 had only been in abeyance. Mr. Hill still 
 belonged to the Church Missionary Society, and in 
 July 1878 they decided to send him to New Zealand 
 the same autumn. The Committee had received a 
 special request from the Rev. T. S. Grace at Tauranga 
 to send out a man or men to evangelise the " King " 
 natives (especially the Waikatos), a brave and noble 
 tribe who had been alienated from British rule by the 
 disastrous war, and as a consequence would not sell 
 their land or tolerate settlers among them. Mr. Grace 
 thought if a fresh missionary came who had had 
 nothing to do with the war, but should simply go and 
 live at Taupo, and work from that place as a centre, the 
 tribe might gradually be won. But in this matter 
 both parties fell into the very uncommon error of too 
 great promptitude. Mr. Grace finding his mistake, 
 the Waikato district within the confiscated boundary 
 not yet being open to Europeans, wrote to undo his 
 request, but too late ; the missionaries were already 
 
 43 
 
44 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 on their way. This fact will explain much that 
 follows, and show how from the first Mr. Hill's path 
 in New Zealand was fraught with difficulty and very 
 special need of guidance. 
 
 On September 27th he left England, accompanied 
 by his wife and sister-in-law, and arrived in Auckland 
 the middle of November. After two days' rest they 
 started again in the Taranaki, expecting to reach 
 Tauranga by six o'clock the next day. It was very 
 hot, the beginning of the New Zealand summer, and 
 the little party stayed on deck all night, lying down 
 but getting little sleep. A thick fog came on in the 
 morning, and at nine o'clock they could not see 
 twenty yards. The coast in that part is very dan- 
 gerous on account of hidden rocks even in daylight, 
 and in a fog, of course, the peril is greatly increased. 
 
 '' Suddenly," writes Miss Leachman, "the Captain rushed 
 to the wheel. . . . We saw some white foam, and with a 
 tremendous jerk dashed on a huge rock in front of us. For 
 a moment I felt anxious, thinking all was over, but my con- 
 fidence in God never forsook me. The others, Sidney and 
 Loo, were so calm and composed that my fears were speed- 
 ily hushed. The boats were lowered as speedily as possible, 
 but it seemed ages before they got them into the water." 
 
 • Then the usual scene ensued, which makes a ship- 
 wreck on a British vessel something near akin to the 
 sublime. Only two or three steerage passengers gave 
 any trouble ; they would, with frightful oaths, have 
 forced themselves into the boats, but the Captain kept 
 
WORK AMONG THE MAORIS AND COLONISTS 45 
 
 them back, and all the rest behaved admirably. While 
 the water poured into the engine-room, three boats 
 were filled with women, rowed round to the other side 
 of the rocky island on which they had struck, and 
 brought back for a fresh freight. We can picture the 
 anxiety of those trembling women, \f aiting in the dim 
 light on that inhospitable shore for husband and 
 father to join them, fearing lest the ship should 
 certainly go down before all were rescued ; scanning 
 boat-load after boat-load, and turning away sick with 
 suspense when the loved ones were still missing. This 
 ordeal lasted the longest for our friends, for the two 
 clergymen, Mr. Hill and Mr. Goodyear, were, of 
 course, the last to leave the vessel. 
 
 All that long, dreary day they waited on the rock. 
 It was infested with lizards, which proved very trou- 
 blesome ; but, worse still, some of the men became 
 intoxicated with the liquor they had access to. But 
 a boat had been despatched to Tauranga, and about 
 five o'clock in the afternoon a small steamer came to 
 their relief and brought them to their destination. 
 
 No one who does not know New Zealand can 
 imagine the charm of a country township such as 
 Tauranga, with its pure light air, its lovely scenery, 
 mountain, lake, and sea, and its abundant vegetation. 
 Apples, plums, peaches, raspberries, damsons, lemons, 
 etc., were all growing in the garden. It was a new 
 life, and for a time a pleasant one. True, the young 
 ardent missionary yearned to preach, but he was well 
 occupied in beginning the study of Maori, giving 
 
46 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 some help in carpentering, and learning to ride, an 
 absolutely necessary accomplishment in that part of 
 the world. Meanwhile he waited to know his ultimate 
 destination, as the C.M.S. had left it in the hands of 
 the Bishop of Waiapu to arrange where he should 
 be for the next' year or two till Taupo should be 
 open. 
 
 With the new year (1879) we find them settled in a 
 cottage of their own in Auckland. It was a time of 
 much proving to the young missionary. He had gone 
 to New Zealand, sent, as he believed, by God to win 
 the Maoris for Christ. He had found nothing but 
 opposition and difficulty. The missionary who had 
 been the means of bringing him out, though person- 
 ally most kind and hospitable, was not slow to let him 
 know that he was not wanted in that part of the mis- 
 sion field. There were only three native students to 
 teach. In fact the reception that the rocky shore had 
 given to their vessel was an apt illustration of what 
 they had spiritually to experience. In a letter written 
 long after to the Rev. C. Fenn, containing a retrospect 
 of this period, Mr. Hill says, " I was almost broken- 
 hearted at the reception we received." We shall 
 remember these words when, in the last chapter of 
 his life, we see how for the last time his tender heart 
 was wounded in a similar manner " in the house of his 
 friends," before he went to be comforted for ever by 
 the once rejected Saviour. 
 
 While thus torn by doubt and disappointment, 
 the telegram had come desiring him to return to 
 
WORK AMONG THE MAORIS AND COLONISTS 47 
 
 Auckland, and immediately he plunged into work 
 of all kinds. 
 
 He took temporary duty at St. Matthew's Church, 
 threw himself heartily into the work of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association, preaching in the theatre, 
 etc. The incumbent of St. Matthew's, who had gone 
 home on account of health, having subsequently 
 resigned the charge, about six hundred of the 
 parishioners signed a petition to the Bishop and 
 the nominators, praying for Mr. Hill's appointment. 
 
 The Bishop of Waiapu, his chief friend and ad- 
 viser, did not approve of this, and Dr. Maunsell, an 
 influential clergyman of Auckland, assured him that 
 if he took up work in the Colonial Church he would 
 be spoilt as a missionary to the Maoris. On the 
 other hand, he felt he was not making progress in the 
 language, and he knew that his work in Auckland 
 was being owned and blessed by God. A further 
 inducement to a settled life came on February 28th 
 in the gift of a baby girl, christened in recognition 
 of the parents' gratitude, Edith Theodora = beloved 
 gift of God. But in spite of all he stuck to hia 
 commission. With the fine sense of honour that 
 characterised him he declined the comfortable pro- 
 vision, the familiar routine of work, the home-life in 
 a cultivated centre, and set himself to wait the call 
 back into the wilderness. Rather perhaps to his 
 surprise and a little to his mortification, the Com- 
 mittee at home expressed themselves as perfectly 
 willing to set him free for this parochial work, 
 
48 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 provided that Bishop Stuart had no suitable sphere 
 of Maori work to offer ; but (to quote his own words) 
 " I felt it impossible then to give up a work to which 
 I had consecrated my life." 
 
 It was doubtless a relief to throw off for a time 
 all these agitating pros and cons, and start with 
 Bishop Stuart for a month's tour among the Maori 
 settlements. They left Auckland on March 31st, 
 and went first to Tauranga, and thence by steamer to 
 Gisborne and Napier. These are flourishing Colonial 
 towns ; but at Napier they proceeded on horseback 
 to Taupo, the headquarters of the unfriendly Kingite 
 tribes. On the very day that Mr. Hill was preaching 
 here to Maoris, the veteran missionary at Tauranga, 
 Mr. Grace, was called up higher. The result of 
 nearly seven weeks' diligent visiting convinced the 
 Bishop that Taupo was not yet ready for a resident 
 missionary, and they set their faces homeward. 
 
 In August 1879 Mr. and Mrs. Hill left Auckland, 
 having been appointed by Bishop Stuart to the charge 
 of the Wairoa in Hawke's Bay. They had greatly 
 endeared themselves to the Auckland people, and 
 there was great regret at their departure. A letter 
 of warm thanks from the President and Secretaries 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association contains 
 the following sentences : — 
 
 " Having on your arrival amongst us identified yourself 
 with the Association as a member, and at once entered 
 with zeal into its work, no expenditure of time or 
 strength has seemed to you too great in the interest of 
 
WORK AMONG THE MAORIS AND COLONISTS 49 
 
 the Association, especially in connection with its evangelistic 
 work. We join you in heartfelt thanksgiving to our loving 
 Lord for the success which has attended those labours." 
 
 The Bishop writes as follows : — 
 
 " Bishop's Court, Auckland, 
 ''August i^th, 1879. 
 " My Dear Mr. Hill, — 
 
 "As you are going to leave Auckland to-day, I 
 write to thank you for your kind and very efficient ministra- 
 tions to the prisoners in the Auckland Gaol. I consider the 
 Sunday services there among the most important in the 
 diocese, and cannot doubt that there, if anywhere, our 
 ' manifestations of the Spirit ' will be blessed by God ' to 
 profit withal.' Besides the prisoners in the gaol, there are 
 many of our Auckland people who feel grateful to you, and 
 will hear with real interest of the progress of your work 
 in Hawke's Bay. That you may be the means whereby 
 many souls are won to the Saviour, and are confirmed 
 in the faith, in the wide and most interesting field of labour 
 to which you are now called, is the earnest prayer of 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " W. G. Auckland. 
 "The Rev. J. S. Hill." 
 
 The little party did not go straight to their new home. 
 They first went to Gisborne, and then to Napier, 
 to stay with the Bishop ; and during this interval 
 Mr. Hill was examined for and admitted to priest's 
 orders. " The Bishop," his wife notes, " seemed 
 very pleased with his papers." 
 
 The new sphere embraced all that the ardent soul 
 of J. S. Hill could wish in the way of opportunity for 
 work. There were about three hundred Europeans 
 
 4 
 
so JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 to minister to, and a large number of Maori pahs, 
 or settlements, in the neighbourhood. The resident 
 magistrate, Mr. Baker, was a Christian man, son of 
 a well-known clergyman in New Zealand, and he 
 undertook to interpret to the Maoris. This kind 
 offer was not, as it proved, altogether wise, as it 
 prevented Mr. Hill from being forced into acquiring 
 the language. 
 
 " The house," Mrs. Hill writes, " stands in a paddock 
 of four acres. The rooms are small, but cosy, and there 
 are seven of them. . . . M. (Miss Leachman) employs 
 her time in teaching the Maori boys and girls, but finds 
 them an erratic lot. Miss Williams had given her good 
 help with the Maori tongue while at Napier. . . ." 
 
 The Maoris are a fine, intelligent race, but their 
 contact with civilisation has greatly tended to their 
 degeneration. Justice required that we should pro- 
 vide for their wants when we were fast crowding 
 them out of their lands, but it is obvious enough 
 that half-savage people, when they can get all they 
 want without trouble, will lapse into old vices and 
 easily acquire new ones. Peace and plenty are not 
 unmixed blessings. 
 
 They are exempt from many local rates, and when 
 the death of a chief, or other public event, causes 
 a large number to travel together, the Government 
 allows them to have free passes, or sends a special 
 steamer to carry them to their destination. Mrs. 
 Hill records an instance of the way in which they 
 
IVORK AMONG THE MAORIS AND COLONISTS 51 
 
 regard every kindness as a right. One day, while 
 she was busy in her kitchen, a Maori came to ask 
 for medicine. She did not answer him immediately, 
 whereupon he went round the house, walked in at 
 the back door, straight into the kitchen, and in 
 a surly tone demanded food as well as medicine. 
 The servant brought him a good meal, consisting 
 of a large plate of meat, a third of a loaf of bread, 
 and a large cup of cocoa. He glared at her, and 
 said angrily, " He mea paku " (too little). However 
 Mrs. Hill did not lose her presence of mind, but 
 nodding to him said, " All right, my friend, that's 
 all you'll get ! " So he ate it all up, and then 
 demanded writing-paper, envelopes, and vinegar, with 
 which mixed goods he at length consented to depart. 
 
 Time is nothing to a Maori. When Mr. Hill 
 invited some of the chiefs to meet the Bishop on 
 a certain occasion, at dinner^ six of them arrived 
 at 7.30 a.m., and waited patiently. At the appointed 
 hour there were twenty-one instead of the original 
 nine — rather a strain on the resources of the Mission 
 House, but they got enough to eat, leaving nothing, 
 however, for the family themselves. 
 
 The following letter will give some idea of the 
 kind of life that colonial bishops and clergy often 
 have to live : — 
 
 "The Parsonage, Wairoa, 
 ''March 22nd, 1880. 
 
 " When I last wrote to you Sidney was away at Gisborne. 
 The Bishop being anxious to get back, they started early 
 
52 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 on the Tuesday morning in a gentle rain, hoping it would 
 turn out fine. Instead of that it kept on, and got worse 
 and worse, and when they reached Reniga, the (Hauhau) 
 Maori settlement, half-way from Gisborne, they were both 
 drenched to the skin. This was at six o'clock in the 
 evening. To their dismay the Maoris told them they 
 could not give them a single blanket, nor any fire, and 
 scarcely any food. It would have been madness to stay 
 under the circumstances, and so they came on, and arrived 
 here at 2.30 in the middle of the night, having been 
 eighteen hours in the saddle in a heavy rain." 
 
 Mr. Hill has often spoken with great interest of 
 the work that he was occasionally able to do in 
 settling Maori disputes. 
 
 They showed great reverence for the Bible, from 
 which he always read to them. On one occasion 
 a dispute had arisen about some land, a landmark 
 having been tampered with. He was sent for to 
 arbitrate, and taking his Bible he read them the 
 curses in Deut. xxvii., purposely omitting the 
 seventeenth verse. They were much impressed, 
 murmuring, " Amen," and " Very good." Then he 
 summed up by solemnly reading, " Cursed is he that 
 removeth his neighbour's landmark." The guilty 
 persons were convicted, and the land restored. 
 
 Another time he settled a dispute by reading the 
 story of Solomon's judgment on the living child, to 
 which the circumstances bore some resemblance. 
 
 In the letter last quoted Mrs. Hill says : — 
 
 " To-day Sidney has gone on a difficult little journey 
 
IVORK AMONG THE MAORIS AND COLONISTS 53 
 
 to Nuhaka, about twenty miles or more from here. Two 
 tribes of natives have been quarrelHng there for some time 
 past over some land, and they intended either to-day or 
 to-morrow to settle it by fighting. A few of the Maoris 
 sent a message to S. to ask him if he would go and try 
 to prevent fighting. So he and Mr. Baker started early 
 this morning, and will not return until to-morrow night, 
 if then. I felt anxious about him, as he will have to sleep 
 in a wretched Maori whare, but he said to me in his 
 cheerful way, 'The path of duty is the path of safety,' 
 and certain it is that he is safe in God's mighty keeping 
 and love. . . ." 
 
 The work among the Europeans was full of 
 difificulty and discouragement. When one reads 
 that the congregation was mostly composed of 
 drunkards and infidels, and that there was not a man 
 to stand by him, one can fancy that the contrast to 
 the help and sympathy experienced at Auckland 
 must have been very great. There were seven 
 vestrymen and two churchwardens, but none of 
 them were Communicants. If money was wanted 
 for the church, the old plan had been to raise it 
 by means of a concert, with a dance at the close. 
 No wonder they found the people at the Parsonage 
 too particular ! 
 
 Mr. Hill tried to teach them in every possible 
 way. He had studied medicine at College, and had 
 a great aptitude for it. He now purchased some 
 first-rate medical and surgical books and a thoroughly 
 good medicine chest, and set to work in right good 
 earnest. At all hours of the night or day he was 
 
54 JOSEPH SWi\EY HILL 
 
 at the disposal of the settlers, who sent for him 
 without scruple. 
 
 He was always most uncompromising in rebuking 
 sin, and this attendance at sick and dying beds gave 
 him spiritual access which he never could have ac- 
 quired in any other way, and his Gospel preaching 
 on these occasions was probably more blessed with 
 results than his plain preaching in church to 
 people who in health and strength did not fear his 
 warnings. 
 
 He continued his work among the sick until a 
 new resident doctor came, and then, with his cha- 
 racteristic generosity, he made him a present of his 
 chest of valuable drugs, because he said it would 
 be unfair to give them away when the doctor had 
 to make his living. 
 
 How he wrestled for souls in long hours when 
 he sat beside his patient ; how he suffered when a 
 child died notwithstanding all his care, or, worse 
 still, when an apparent penitent relapsed into sin 
 on recovery, is only known to Him who went out 
 to seek and to save the lost. There were bright 
 gleams in this work : as when on one occasion he 
 was sent for in the middle of the night to see a 
 baby with croup, five or six miles off — a '* nasty " 
 ride in the dark ; for he had the joy of comforting 
 a mother in a dreadful state of anxiety, and pulling 
 the baby through. 
 
 The schools took up a great deal of his time 
 and thoughts, and on one occasion, when the 
 
IVORK AMONG THE MAORIS AND COLONISTS 55 
 
 Government schoolmistress fell ill, Miss Leachman 
 and he took the whole work upon themselves, rather 
 • than allow the school to be closed. 
 
 Another method that he adopted to interest the 
 young people was by giving lectures on popular 
 scientific subjects. It is most characteristic of him 
 that, when an Easter offering of over twenty-two 
 pounds had been raised for him, he spent nearly 
 the whole of it in apparatus for his lectures on 
 electricity. 
 
 With all this he did not neglect the physical side 
 of Christian life. He started a cricket and football 
 club, and was captain of both, as he had been at 
 College. He was a reckless rider, and his boyish 
 love of fun, which the hardest experiences of life 
 never could dim, led him sometimes astray, as when 
 he once allowed himself to be allured into a race 
 which led to his breaking his collar-bone. He was 
 riding with his sister-in-law. A friend had taken 
 the children and Mrs. Hill into the country to have 
 a day's outing and get fruit for jam. He had been 
 delayed by school work, and, mounted on a new 
 horse, he was making up for lost time, when he 
 was overtaken by two of the town boys, who de- 
 preciated his new purchase, and challenged him to 
 prove which of their steeds was superior: Our 
 friend, put on his mettle, set off at a breakneck 
 pace. Presently Miss Leachman, riding behind, came 
 up to his horse without rider or saddle. It had been 
 carelessly saddled by their boy, and the one girth 
 
56 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 had given way. Happily the accident was not 
 very serious. 
 
 All these many-sided interests and occupations 
 were not allowed to interfere with the constant 
 spiritual work, both at the Wairoa and other places, 
 with which these years were filled, and of which 
 we will speak more at length in another chapter. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 WORK IN THE WAIROA 
 
Not stirring words ^ nor gallant deeds alone ^ 
 Plain, patient work fulfilled that length of life , 
 Duty, not glory — service, not a throne — 
 Inspired his efforts, set for him the strife." 
 
 Clough. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 WORK IN THE WAIROA 
 
 MISSIONS — we need not explain the special 
 application of that very useful word — were 
 not so common fifteen years ago as they are now. 
 In a new country, where life is for the most part 
 hard, any change is welcome, and there is never 
 any difficulty in getting an audience. Although 
 Mr. Hill always threw himself with ardour into any- 
 thing that he undertook — for it was not in his nature 
 to do things by halves — it was especially in a mission 
 that he found the freest scope for his powers and 
 energy. His versatile gifts enabled him to carry out 
 everything that came to him to do, and to carry it 
 out well ; but he was par excellence an evangelist. 
 His success lay in his own firm belief in the Gospel 
 he preached to change lives as well as hearts. His 
 style and manner improved markedly as time went 
 on ; but from the first his plain, straightforward 
 preaching was blessed with definite results wherever 
 he went. Up to the time that he left England in 
 November 1893 — never, alas! to return — a mission 
 
 59 
 
6o JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 never failed to cheer him, even when most careworn 
 and depressed. 
 
 In May 1880 he accompanied the Bishop of 
 Waiapu on a mission to the town of Waipukurau, 
 leaving Mr. Goodyear, who was afterwards as- 
 sociated with him in the work, in charge of the 
 Wairoa. It was a most successful time. He had 
 Bible readings every morning, evangelistic services 
 every evening, and some also at the hospital. 
 Numbers of letters poured in testifying to definite 
 blessing received. One gentleman said Waipukurau 
 was quite a changed place since the mission. The 
 young missioner was always very strong upon re- 
 stitution and practical proofs of blessing received, 
 and he had on this occasion a very cheering instance 
 of the fruits of his teaching. A young man who 
 came to the services was led to see that the occu- 
 pation in which he was engaged was not one that 
 he could continue to the glory of God, and he 
 decided to give it up, although it was for him the 
 loss of a good situation of ;^200 a year. After the 
 mission we find that the charge of Waipukurau was 
 suggested to Mr. Hill, but declined. The following 
 letter from a lady in the vicinity will show that 
 there was good after-work to the mission. After 
 speaking of some cards of memorial, she says : — 
 
 " I trust the best remembrance will be the love of Christ 
 shed abroad in their hearts, constraining them to live not 
 to themselves, but to Him who 'loved them and gave 
 Himself for them.' While writing this, it has struck me, 
 
tVORK IN THE WAIROA 6\ 
 
 Why should I speak only in the third person ? It is not 
 only the new recruits enlisted under the banner of the 
 Cross who have to thank our Father for last week's privileges. 
 What ' times of refreshing ' these services have been to the 
 older soldiers ! It is so cheering to go from house to 
 house and hear how the ' old, old story ' has come home 
 with new power to the hearts of the Lord's own people. 
 At one time we had far too much distrust and suspicion 
 between Churchmen and Presbyterians ; now it has all dis- 
 appeared. There seems a great wish for the establishment 
 
 of a weekly prayer meeting (at the Parsonage if Mr. S 
 
 cannot come out at night), where all shall meet on the 
 common ground of love to our Redeemer. I hope it 
 will be carried out. 
 
 " Miss D and Miss G will accompany Mr. S 
 
 on Thursday to the hospital ; and there is a project talked 
 of too for Sunday, that after school three or four of the 
 young people shall go and sing at the hospital. This plan 
 originated with the G.s ; they tried it before the mission 
 services, and hope to make it a regular engagement now. 
 You will, I know, pray that we may all ' grow in grace ' ; 
 and you may be sure you will be long remembered in 
 prayer. . . ." 
 
 That autumn a pleasant little event occurred to 
 bring further cheer to the little party at Wairoa 
 Parsonage. Mr. Tonga from Birmingham, so well 
 known now in connection with the C.E.Z.S., came 
 to New Zealand on a voyage for his health. 
 Meeting Mr. Baker at Wellington, he was persuaded 
 to go on to the Wairoa to see the work among 
 the Maoris. So, accompanied by his wife and sister- 
 in-law, he arrived at the Hills' house, to their great 
 
62 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 delight. Three horses having been borrowed for 
 their use, many pleasant spring days (it was then 
 September) were spent in visits to the Maori settle- 
 ments, either by horse or boat. 
 
 The next event in our friend's life was the birth 
 of another little girl in November. 
 
 In the beginning of December Mr. Hill went to 
 Auckland to hold a special mission, and, as usiial, 
 his work there was so blessed that it drew forth 
 the following letter. We insert it here ; for, though 
 he could not at that time accept the offer, it opened 
 the way for the arrangement which afterwards secured 
 his services for Auckland. 
 
 "Auckland, December 22nd, 1880. 
 
 " My Dear Brother, — 
 
 " Since you left Auckland a few friends, who think 
 there is a good field in Auckland for the exercise of your 
 special qualifications in the Master's service, have con- 
 ferred together, and, after careful consideration and prayer, 
 concluded to address you a letter expressive of their 
 views, and I was requested to be the writer." 
 
 After a few remarks the letter proceeds with the 
 following offer : — 
 
 " That you be engaged for twelve months for evangelistic 
 work in Auckland and its neighbourhood, such as the 
 holding of special services, church missions, and city mis- 
 sion work, at a guaranteed salary, the matter to be managed 
 by a representative committee. After receiving your reply, 
 if at all favourable, we propose to bring the matter before 
 the Y.M.C.A. committee (as all denominations are there 
 
WORK IN THE WAIROA 63 
 
 represented) for advice as to the formation of the working 
 committee, but not that the work shall be directly under 
 the control of the Y.M.C.A., or be any charge upon its 
 funds ; but its organisation would in many ways be useful 
 in connection with such a work as is now contemplated. 
 We have no desire to suggest anything that would place 
 you in an awkward position with reference to the Church 
 to which you belong, but we imagine that what we pro- 
 pose will be perfectly consistent with the position you hold 
 as a minister of that Church. If not, of course you will not 
 hesitate at once to say so. Our sole object and desire is 
 that souls may be saved and our Redeemer glorified ; and, 
 if what has been put into our hearts is of the Lord, we 
 doubt not it will be so made clear to you, and if not we 
 trust it will be made equally plain. With our united prayers 
 that you may be guided by the Divine Spirit to a right 
 decision, 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Mr. Hill, 
 
 *' Yours in Christ, 
 
 "Thomas B . 
 
 *' In your reply please be as full and free as possible, 
 keeping back nothing you have on your mind to write." 
 
 This letter shows how thoroughly the young 
 missionary's evangelistic work had been appreciated 
 by earnest people in Auckland. Indeed nothing is 
 more remarkable in the Colonies than the earnest 
 effort that godly men are ever making for the good 
 of their countrymen. Sin abounded in Auckland, 
 as in other new cities to which drift evil-doers from 
 all countries. The class that " makes haste to be 
 rich " were of course, as ever, indifferent to religion. 
 But the energy and " go " to be found in perfection 
 
64 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 in colonists were conspicuous also in Christian 
 workers. When one considers that all Churches are 
 voluntary, and, as far as means go, on the same 
 footing, it is astonishing to note the rapidity of 
 church-building, the number of denominations ably 
 represented, the organisations at work and liberally 
 supported in a town Hke Auckland, which has 
 passed through such terrible financial depression. 
 Mrs. Hill writes, March i8th, 1881 :— 
 
 " Sidney is off on horseback to see some patients. He has 
 had many bad cases lately. In reference to one of these 
 the doctor at the Napier Hospital wrote to him : ' I 
 conclude you must at some time have studied medicine; 
 at all events the patient has to thank you for a very 
 correct appreciation and treatment of his disease.' I am 
 afraid you will feel sorry when I tell you that he has 
 finally declined the living of Waipukurau. It was rather 
 difficult for him to refuse, as the dear Bishop put it as a 
 personal favour to himself The truth is Sidney is cut out 
 for an evangelist. A dear saintly lady told Sidney he ought 
 not to go to Waipukurau, and he ought not to stay here 
 much longer; she said he ought to be working as an 
 evangelist, or be in a city where he would have hundreds 
 to preach to, instead of twenty or thirty people. The 
 Bishop has asked him to go and hold an eight days' 
 mission at Taradale in three weeks' time, so he will be 
 away again soon. As soon as the people heard of his 
 leaving they said they would not let him go. One of the 
 
 settlers, Mr. P , called on me about it. He said that 
 
 Sidney s living here had raised the value of land all over 
 the district. I told him that money had nothing whatever 
 to do with it." 
 
WORK IN THE IVAIROA 65 
 
 '' April i^th, 1 88 1. 
 
 " Sidney has lost one patient of acute bronchitis, a dear 
 little boy seven years old. He was with little Edwin for 
 hours each day he was ill, and when he died he died 
 in Sidney's arms, alone, for his mother was so terrified 
 she left the room. She told Sidney she was perfectly 
 satisfied that everything was done that could be done, but 
 Sidney felt his death dreadfully and could hardly get through 
 the funeral service. All the Sunday School children went 
 (it was Sunday afternoon), and all Wairoa was there. He 
 spoke a few words on the text, ' Is it well with the child ? 
 and she answered. It is well.' 
 
 " Sidney is now at Taradale hoWing a mission, which we 
 hear is a very successful one. This sort of work always 
 cheers him up so tremendously, and I cannot wonder, for 
 he is so much blessed. A short time ago he received 
 a most touching note from a clergyman who had beef) 
 blessed in his services held in Auckland just before 
 Christmas. The clergyman had got to be quite without 
 hope either as regards this world or the next. He went 
 by chance to one of the mission services, and he said 
 Sidney's address sent through his whole being such a thrill 
 of hope as he had not experienced for years. . . . He was 
 so completely overcome that evening that he said he could 
 not possibly speak to Sidney, much as he longed to do 
 so and to get a grasp of his hand." 
 
 We read that winter of endless journeyings all 
 over the country, preaching, lecturing, visiting the 
 sick, etc. Sometimes there was a droll recognition 
 of his varied powers and opportunities, as in the 
 following item of news : " The Government have 
 sent to Sidney asking him to vaccinate the Maoris 
 at 2s. 6d, a head ! " 
 
 5 
 
66 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 The beginning of a new year was marked with 
 another accident, not to himself, but to the Bishop. 
 Mrs. Hill thus relates it : — 
 
 "On February 25th the Bishop arrived here overland with 
 his daughter. His horse had died, and he had to look out 
 for another. Eventually he offered to buy Sidney's — the 
 new bay. Sidney insisted on getting on the animal to try 
 him before the Bishop did so. The horse bucked with him, 
 but he kept his seat, and then gently got off and brought 
 Bob back, saying he would not allow the Bishop or any 
 of us to get on him, as he saw he was unsafe. The Bishop, 
 however, did, and the instant he got outside the gate, Bob 
 bucked, and bucked, and bucked again, and then managed 
 to dash him off against the fence. For a moment we 
 thought he must have been killed, but he got up and 
 came into the house. The doctor was sent for, and said 
 the Bishop's collar-bone was broken." 
 
 This was on March 4th. The next day Mr. 
 Goodyear was ordained priest, for although the 
 Bishop was all strapped up and suffering much 
 pain, he insisted on holding the service. 
 
 For some time Mr. Hill had been contemplating 
 a change of work, and now that his coadjutor was 
 in priest's orders, there was no reason why he should 
 not be left in charge of the Wairoa. 
 
 The Vicar of Gisborne had left his living for three 
 months (ending in his resignation), and the Bishop 
 wished Mr. Hill to go and officiate there. Gisborne 
 was called Poverty Bay by Captain Cook, because 
 when he landed there he could get nothing from 
 
WORK IN THE WAIROA 67 
 
 the natives — no food, nor even roots — and was obliged 
 in consequence to sail away. It is an inappropriate 
 name for such a fertile district. The town consists 
 chiefly of one long and very wide street, well planted 
 with trees. The buildings were sparsely scattered 
 along it then ; no doubt it has filled up in the 
 course of twelve years, but even in 1882 there were 
 3,000 inhabitants. The parish was in an unhappy 
 and divided state, and the new pastor did not find 
 it a bed of roses. But it was his nature to triumph 
 over difficulties, and his kindly, loving disposition 
 could not fail to bring peace, even when he felt it 
 his duty to preach judgment. 
 
 There were great lamentations in the Wairoa, yet 
 his last sermon was not a message of comfort to the 
 faithful in his congregation, but addressed to sceptics, 
 for a large number calling themselves so attended 
 church to pass the time. The church was full, and 
 the sermon made a deep impression. The next day 
 it was talked of all over the town. One -man 
 remarked to Mrs. Hill, " We never miss the water 
 till the well runs dry." There was only one class 
 of persons who did not regret Mr. Hill, and that 
 was the publicans. 
 
 The people in Wairoa and the neighbourhood sent 
 him a testimonial. It is amusing, but not surprising, 
 to hear that it was followed after some time by a 
 telegram to know if it had been received. It was so 
 like him to be deeply touched and gratified at the 
 kindness, but quite to forget to acknowledge it. 
 
68 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 Mrs. Hill writes from Gisborne : — 
 
 "We have a tiny little house here, but so bright and 
 clean ; too small, however, to have a servant living in the 
 
 house. Mr. A. B has lent Sidney such a nice horse. 
 
 It seems riding is inevitable here, as the settlers live such a 
 long distance from each other. He holds a service three 
 Sunday afternoons at Makaraka, a town about six miles off, 
 and the fourth Sunday at Osborne, twelve miles off. . . . 
 Sidney is now in the full swing of heavy work. For the 
 last fortnight he has preached or given addresses every 
 night, and three full services generally on Sunday, the 
 afternoon service involving a long ride." 
 
 Once more an effort was made to secure Mr. Hill's 
 permanent services, but he had now fully made up his 
 mind that God was calling him to evangelistic work, 
 and he felt he should be more useful in a large centre 
 than in a small parish where he would have the 
 addition of pastoral work. He had not come to this 
 decision without pain. It was natural that the Bishop 
 should like to have him in parochial work in his own 
 diocese. Wherever he went for missions he was 
 loved by all classes except the idle and the vicious. 
 Men such as are found in colonial life, hard-headed, 
 plain-speaking folk, appreciated his thorough manli- 
 ness, his entire absence of " the fear of man that 
 bringeth a snare." They liked a man who dared 
 rebuke their sins, and yet who was always willing to 
 help them and identify himself with their interests. 
 He was never quite happy in the work among the 
 Maoris. He had not had-^a fair chance to master the 
 
tVORK IN THE WAlROA 6^ 
 
 language, and the want of it fettered him. In one 
 letter he who never complained of any suffering of his 
 own hints that the constant riding and exposure were 
 developing a weakness contracted in West Africa — a 
 sufficient reason in itself for a change of occupation. 
 Yet he would never have given up the Maori work if 
 his Committee at home had not encouraged him to do 
 so. But all difficulties being at last removed, he left 
 Gisborne at the close of the year 1882, and entered 
 upon the work at Auckland which has made his name 
 a household word in that populous and important 
 city. Among the many welcomes he received none 
 was of more importance to him as a clergyman than 
 the following genial note from the Bishop of Auck- 
 land : — 
 
 " October 31^/, 1882. 
 " Dear Mr. Hill, — 
 
 " I have received your letter of the 28th, and am 
 very glad to hear that you are coming to Auckland, to care 
 especially for those not attending any regular services. You 
 will have my most cordial sympathy and support in this 
 work, than which there is none more important or more 
 honourable. Kindly let me know how soon we may 
 expect you. 
 
 - " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " W. G. Auckland." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 IVORJC IN AUCKLAND 
 
^^ First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the 
 ear." — St. Mark iv. 28. 
 
 " Goodness is always soundness, and we must not endure to be 
 contented with any standard of goodness which does not give 
 proof of its health ; and this it does only when it is cheerful, 
 vigorous, elastic, free, hearty, hopeful, springing, gracious, de- 
 lightful, beautiful, and strong" — Canon Scott-Holland. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 IVORK IN AUCKLAND 
 
 AT the close of the last decade, after the great 
 depression in Auckland, there were so many 
 houses to let that some streets had quite a deserted 
 look ; but it was not so in 1883, and it was some 
 time before the continued efforts of friends could 
 find a suitable house for the little household from 
 Gisborne. At length, however, one was found which 
 gave great satisfaction. It was situated on high 
 ground, and could be reached in about ten minutes 
 from the city. 
 
 Mr. Hill began work by taking the charge of a 
 large church while the incumbent was absent at the 
 General Synod. He then went to take a mission at 
 Cambridge, which was marked by decided blessing, 
 and sent him back to Auckland much cheered. A 
 few months afterwards we find him in the same 
 neighbourhood in similar work. When in Auckland 
 the routine of daily work included the following 
 engagements : — 
 
 Monday morning : Ministers' prayer meeting. 
 73 
 
74 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 Tuesday : meeting for young men, sometimes social, 
 sometimes a Bible reading. 
 
 Wednesday : a noonday prayer meeting for busi- 
 ness men, and every alternate Wednesday evening 
 a Bible class at Remuera (a suburb). 
 
 Thursday : an evangelistic service at the Y.M.C.A. 
 
 Friday : a large Bible class for ladies, and in the 
 evening another at Parnell. 
 
 Sunday : a Bible class for young men, in addition 
 to (generally) three services in Church. 
 
 Besides all this he was continually being called 
 upon to give lectures and addresses, and to help in 
 every good work. The homely remark, " There's not 
 a lazy bone in Mr. Hill's body," was indeed literally 
 true. It was his joy to serve. With all his outside 
 engagements he gave much time to study, and one 
 marvels at the amount of information, social, political, 
 and scientific, which he literally poured out in his 
 lectures. In the Colonies, if a man is to have in- 
 fluence, he must be in the stream of all that is going 
 on ; a mere scholar, still less a recluse, would have 
 no chance. There was much in the vigorous life 
 of the young country which commended itself to 
 the ardent spirit of Joseph Hill. He liked the 
 simplicity and freedom of manners, the absence of 
 humbug and cant, the readiness to give and take ; 
 and he made friends on all sides and among all 
 sorts and conditions of men. His quick perceptions 
 showed him the great need there was of some one to 
 guide the opinions of the young men on political 
 
WORK IN AUCKLAND 75 
 
 and social questions. His own mind was by no 
 means made up on these subjects, but he, though 
 often carried a Httle far by enthusiasm, never 
 wandered out of the way in judgment, because he 
 always applied the rule and plummet of the Word 
 of God to every line of thought. At one time he 
 lectured a great deal on temperance, and went very 
 carefully into the scientific side of the question, 
 giving the analyses of different drinks and over- 
 whelming his audiences with the fierceness of his 
 indictments against alcohol. Time and experience 
 considerably modified his views on this subject, and 
 he held in his later years the usefulness of alcoholic 
 drinks under certain conditions, though doubtless 
 he never abandoned as a principle the advisability 
 of total abstinence from the Christian point of view 
 " for the present distress." 
 
 Drink has been so terrible an enemy to Colonial 
 progress that it is hardly to be wondered at that 
 any earnest man should be carried to extremes in 
 fighting so deadly and persistent a foe. 
 
 The land question was another subject that in- 
 terested him. He studied Henry George, and had 
 the boldness to point out in public what he believed 
 to be some of his fallacies. He had to a remarkable 
 degree the courage of his opinions. In a society 
 where nothing can be done in a corner, where every 
 word uttered in public is reported in the daily papers 
 and commented on with the utmost freedom, where 
 paper warfare is continually waged and an untimely 
 
76 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 word will make a man unpopular, it requires no 
 little courage to maintain what a man believes to 
 be true even when it is diametrically opposed to 
 the public opinion of the moment. Yet that courage 
 was possessed by Mr. Hill, and it speaks well for 
 the common sense of Auckland that, even when his 
 statements took their breath away by their very 
 audacity, their respect and admiration never failed. 
 He allowed free discussion after his lectures ; and 
 his rare tact and kindliness managed the roughest 
 opponents. Christian evidences were among his 
 subjects, and many sceptics with whom he patiently 
 argued will be found among the jewels on his 
 crown. 
 
 In these efforts for the public good, as well as 
 in his directly spiritual work, the busy months flew 
 by. Early in 1884 we find him returning for a 
 month to his old parish of Gisborne at the request 
 of the Bishop. 
 
 "As soon as it was known in Gisborne," writes Mrs. 
 Hill, " that Sidney was going there, with the usual Colonial 
 hospitality he had four telegrams from different friends 
 
 asking him to stay at their houses. But he and Mr. B 
 
 had been longing to see eaqh other all the year, so 
 Whakawhitua was his choice. We were all asked to go, 
 but we had already accepted an invitation to go and stay 
 at Bishopscourt with Edith. . . . 
 
 " It was so nice having the Stuarts here ; on Christmas 
 Day the Bishop took a service on board a man-of-war." 
 
WORK IN AUCKLAND 77 
 
 '' April loih, 1884. 
 " Next Monday Sidney is going to Tauranga to hold an 
 eight days' mission there. The Bishop has been preparing 
 for it for some time past. Afterwards he is to ride with him 
 through the Taupo district, then to Napier to hold a 
 mission there the last week of June or first in July at 
 the Spit, that being the busy part of Napier." 
 
 ''May ith, 1884. 
 
 " The mission at Tauranga was a decided success. Just 
 as Sidney was going to the steamer a man in uniform rode 
 up and said he wished to tell him that the services had been 
 blessed to one of his own family. The man could hardly 
 speak for crying. And the Bishop writes word that there 
 have been others gathered in as the fruit of the mission. 
 
 " I went with Mr. and Mrs. A. B to the Hot 
 
 Lakes and Pink and White Terraces — the most wonderful 
 sight I ever beheld. I was so dreadfully sorry that Sidney 
 could not go with us ; in fact he could have gone, but 
 he never will go out pleasuring unless there is absolutely 
 no work to be done." 
 
 We refer our readers for an admirable description 
 of these v^onders of nature, so soon to be over- 
 whelmed by earthquake, to Mr. Froude's "Oceana." 
 
 " Auckland, /««^ lyd, 1884. 
 " My own Darling Mother, — 
 
 *' It is a very long time since you had a line from 
 
 me, and though L- writes every mail, you say that 
 
 does not do for me. Well, dear mother, I hope you will 
 not think I ^ have one spark the less love because I do 
 
 not write; L "seems to keep you so well posted up 
 
 in everything. Since last mail I have been to a place 
 some thirty miles from here called Bombay. We had 
 
78 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 four days' services in the church, and I gave a Bible 
 reading every day. The church was full every night, and 
 not sitting room the last night. Bombay is very English, 
 the people very like those in a country village in England. 
 No public-house here ! . . . 
 
 " It is a long time since I was in R ; but I can, 
 
 and do often, see the place in my mind's eye, and go back 
 to the time when I was quite a boy. I have had some 
 few changes since then, seen something of this world, 
 and learnt an immense deal concerning that to come. A 
 good many ups and downs since I first asked you, dear 
 mother, if I might go out as a missionary. Grandmother 
 gone to be with Jesus. . . . 
 
 *' If you knew all the blessings one has enjoyed in one's 
 own soul and shared with others since that day, I am 
 sure you would not say nay if it all had to come again 
 with all its trials. How blessed it is to look back and 
 thus feel all has been well ! His smile is worth it all. What 
 rest, peace, and joy there is in His love ! Just to lean 
 upon Him, moment by moment, and to know all things 
 work together for good ! With very much love from all 
 of us, and most from me, 
 
 "Believe me, my own dear mother, 
 
 "Your loving son, 
 
 "Joseph." 
 
 On June 24th Mrs. Hill writes : — 
 
 " We have had our house full of visitors. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Brown, with their sister and little girl, were with us for 
 three weeks; and while they were here Bishop and Miss 
 Stuart came for three days, on their way to the Bay of 
 Islands. The Bishop helped at all the services. He 
 preached in the theatre the Sunday before last; it was 
 densely packed, and he gave them a full clear Gospel, 
 
JVORK IN AUCKLAND 79 
 
 and said what a treat it was to preach to such eager 
 listeners." 
 
 This winter Mr. Hill gave a great many lectures, 
 gathering large audiences of young men. His 
 subjects were varied. Some on natural history, 
 illustrated by limelight, proved very attractive. 
 
 A little later we read : — 
 
 " Sidney has donned the blue ribbon ; he did it because 
 he has a very wide and strong influence amongst men in 
 Auckland, and many of them said they would not join 
 the Blue Ribbon Army because they did not wish to be 
 better than Mr. Hill ! " 
 
 Here is a touch which brings out the warm, 
 affectionate character of the man : — 
 
 " M and T and the children have been staying 
 
 at the Ocean Beach, Whangerui Heads, for three weeks, 
 and a most delightful place it is. We returned rather 
 sooner than we meant to do, because Sidney wrote such 
 a fearfully doleful, dismal letter about the wretchedness 
 of being alone. He waited on the wharf all night for 
 us. The steamer was due at 12, and did not arrive 
 till 4 a.m." 
 
 The principal event of 1885 was a visit to Australia 
 for the purpose of holding a mission in St. Philip's 
 Church, Sydney. It was a time of refreshing in 
 every sense, both to mind and body. Tokens that 
 the Holy Spirit had accompanied the word preached 
 were not wanting in changed hearts and lives. The 
 
8o JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 Bishop of Sydney, in asking him to give one of 
 the addresses at the Thanksgiving Service at the 
 cathedral, said he " thanked God for the blessing 
 that had attended the mission at St. Philip's." 
 
 The beginning of 1886 was marked by a great 
 event in the little world of Auckland. The General 
 Synod, which is held every three years in a different 
 diocese, met this year at Auckland, an event which 
 only occurs once in eighteen years. The opportunity 
 was taken for laying the foundation stone of the new 
 buildings of the Young Men's Christian Association. 
 Bishop Barry, of Sydney, performed the ceremony, 
 and made a splendid speech. There were seven 
 bishops present, so in this case at least the Y.M.C.A. 
 had good episcopal sanction ! The twin agency, 
 the Y.W.C.A., flourished also in Auckland (and we 
 are glad to know still flourishes). Mrs. Hill, aided 
 by her sister as President, did firstrate work for 
 years among the young women. 
 
 But our ardent worker began to show signs that 
 he was trading too much on his fine constitution 
 and strong brain. Sitting up till two or three 
 o'clock in the morning at hard study, and some- 
 times a whole night (to prepare for his lectures on 
 infidelity), is not the way to preserve health, and 
 in April 1886 he became ill with intense neuralgia 
 and indigestion, which his doctor attributed to 
 overwork. Yet he would not give in, and went to 
 his class when quite unfit. One Sunday he preached 
 five times, not an uncommon thing. " His class was 
 
WORK IN AUCKLAND 81 
 
 crammed in the afternoon, and a lady who was there 
 (ladies were admitted to the gallery only) said that 
 the moment he had finished the infidels set on him 
 like a pack of fiends. She was so frightened that 
 she was obliged to come out." 
 
 Yet when he was ill Mrs. Hill writes : — 
 
 " The infidel friends were very kind to him that day 
 they are getting, many of them, very fond of him. They 
 often say such blasphemous, horrible things, but he never 
 loses his temper, and they respect him for it." 
 
 A friend who resided in Auckland at this time 
 thus describes that particular branch of work : — 
 
 " Among the many services which Bishop Hill rendered 
 to Auckland, perhaps in some respects the greatest was 
 the manly way in which he foiled and successfully fought 
 the forces of Free-thought and Atheism which were in great 
 activity about the time he came into our midst. A suc- 
 cession of peripatetic lecturers had fanned the rationalistic 
 spirit, and had heartened the opponents of Christianity 
 so much that a large and vigorous society was enrolled, 
 largely attended Sunday lectures were given, and a 
 weekly paper was established to propagate their views. 
 Many an able sermon was preached in the churches to 
 counteract such teaching, but the challenge to come 
 to public discussion on the platform was unanswered. 
 The result was that the faith of many, especially among 
 the young men of the city, was greatly imperilled. Mr. 
 Hill, seeing the urgency of the case, did not hesitnte to 
 go into the thick of the fight, and publicly discuss the 
 questions in debate. No one who attended tne long 
 series of Sunday afternoon lectures which he delivered 
 
 6 
 
82 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 in the Y.M.C.A. hall in defence of the Christian faith 
 can ever forget the effect which they produced upon the 
 hundreds of young men who attended. Each lecture 
 showed a complete mastery of the subject and a skilful 
 marshalling of arguments, and in the discussion with his 
 opponents which invariably followed each lecture his alert- 
 ness of mind and ready repartee stood him in good stead. 
 
 "But there was something more than intellectual gifts, 
 splendid though they were, which contributed to his success. 
 There was the intense earnestness of the man, and the 
 transparent sincerity of his own faith in the truth for which 
 he battled, and above all there was his loving, sympathetic 
 nature, which never showed to better advantage than in 
 his attitude towards the honest doubter. His influence 
 soon began to tell, and more than one who had been 
 prominently connected with the Rationalistic Association, 
 and who had at first come to these meetings ' to scoff) 
 remained to pray ' ; and the people generally, and especi- 
 ally the young men, were established in their faith. Within 
 a very short time the Rationalistic Society dwindled rapidly, 
 their weekly meetings were discontinued, and their journal 
 became defunct. 
 
 " Such is an outline — a very imperfect one, I am 
 conscious — of an imperishable service which the dearly 
 beloved and greatly lamented Bishop rendered to the 
 people of Auckland, and for which, as for so much else, 
 they will ever gratefully cherish his memory." 
 
 In June of this year occurred the great catastrophe 
 in the Lake district, v^^ith great loss of life and 
 property. Mr. Hill v^as alarmed for the safety of 
 his friend Mr. Goodyear, who had the charge of 
 the Rotorua district, but a telegram assured him 
 of his safety. 
 
IVORK IN AUCKLAND S^ 
 
 A thorough change being necessary for all the 
 family, Mrs. Hill took her children to a quiet farm- 
 house in the country, and her husband started for 
 a tour of united work and pleasure in Australia. 
 He was absent seven weeks. One of his kind friends 
 in Auckland presented him with a first-class ticket 
 for the journey, and another with a sum of money for 
 expenses, so he went off like a schoolboy for his 
 holidays. • 
 
 He thus records his experiences : — 
 
 "Auckland, September i^th, 1886. 
 "My darling Edith has been talking to me about not 
 writing to you, dearest mother ; so just a word. I have 
 been from home seven weeks in Sydney, Melbourne, and 
 Ballarat, and had wonderful blessing in every place. 
 God has been so very good to us all. With warmest love, 
 
 " Your loving boy, 
 
 " Sidney." 
 
 In September Mrs. Hill writes : — 
 
 " Sidney is very busy now about the Y.M.C.A. new 
 building. He is in committee day after day about it. 
 He will be glad when it is all over, as he has so much 
 responsibility with regard to it all." 
 
 ^^ December \th. 
 
 "The Rev. H. Langley, from Melbourne, has been 
 with us during the last three weeks. We were so sorry 
 to lose him. He had a most successful mission at 
 the Y.M.C.A. A large number of people were gready 
 helped, and many really converted to God. Sidney has 
 not been so overworked lately. He superintended every- 
 thing in regard to the Y.M.C.A. building itself He bought 
 
H JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 all the furniture, sent to England for the linoleum, and 
 to Sydney for the tesselated pavement. It all proved 
 a success — furnishing and everything. Every one was 
 pleased with the entire building. The Y.W.C.A. have 
 taken an entire floor, for which they pay ;^84 a year. 
 The girls are delighted, and we have over a hundred of 
 them in to lunch every day. Sidney lets them go up to 
 the gymnasium and have games." 
 
 The visit to Australia which we have recorded 
 above resulted in an urgent request from the Bishop 
 of Ballarat to take charge of an important parish 
 in that city. The negotiation had to be done by 
 cablegram, and left Mr. Hill very little time for 
 reflection. Many things pointed towards acceptance. 
 Ballarat is a very healthy city, standing high, with a 
 much colder and more bracing climate than Auckland. 
 The concentration of work would have been in some 
 ways a rest to him, for his ardent temperament led 
 him to take an active part in everything in Auckland 
 that came in his way and awakened his interest, and 
 the pressure on all sides was sometimes more than 
 his strength could bear. Earnestly and solemnly 
 the little family laid the matter before the Lord. 
 Only to know and then to do His will was ever their 
 one aim. The result was that the offer was rejected. 
 " He felt he could not honourably leave all the work 
 he has here and his friends so very suddenly." This 
 is his wife's sole comment on the decision. No 
 thought of worldly advantage or consideration for 
 their own weal ever seems to have swayed their 
 
WORK IN AUCKLAND 85 
 
 judgment for a moment. Honour was as strong a 
 principle with Joseph Hill as with any knight of 
 old. Commoner though he was, noblesse oblige was 
 the motto of his life. 
 
 Bishop Thornton renewed the attack a little later, 
 but without success. In the beginning of 1887 
 Mr. Hill was much tried by a sad event in connection 
 with his prison work. It is so interesting that it will 
 be given in detail in the next chapter. A change of 
 thought and scene became necessary, and the whole 
 party moved to Tauranga, where the Bishop had lent 
 them his house. 
 
 " While here," writes Mrs. Hill, " Mr. Goodyear came 
 and took us all to Maketu for a week. It was so amusing 
 to be amongst the natives once more, and there are so 
 many there. There was a large meeting and feasting of 
 Hauhaus while we were there ; they are not friendly to 
 Europeans. (The Hauhaus fell back from Christianity, and 
 have a sort of mixed religion, in some respects akin to 
 Mahometanism.) Sidney went to them every day, and one 
 day he put up his large Tabernacle pictures in their chief 
 whare, and invited them to come and hear them explained. 
 They came till the whare was packed, but they did not like 
 it, and after listening for about half an hour, more than 
 half of them got up and went out. It was such a singular 
 scene, as very few had on English clothes, and twenty or 
 thirty were lying full length on the ground asleep, or 
 pretending to be." 
 
 Only once more did Mr. Hill visit his Maori friends, 
 and of that last visit in 1889 we have no special 
 record. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 WORK IN AUCKLAND {Continued) 
 
" It is best indeed 
 To spend ourselves upon the general good ; 
 And oft misunderstood, 
 
 To strive to lift the knees and limbs that bleed ; 
 This is the best, the fullest meed. 
 Let ignorance assail or hatred sneer, 
 Who loves his race he shall not fear ; 
 He suffers not for long. 
 
 Who doth his soul possess in loving, and grows strong" 
 
 Lewis Morris. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 WORK IN AUCKLAND {Continued) 
 
 NO record of J. S. Hill's work in Auckland would 
 be complete without some account of the 
 marvellous blessing vouchsafed to his labours in the 
 prison. We have seen how he began work there 
 when first he came to New Zealand, and he gladly 
 resumed it on his return to Auckland when he became 
 Prison Chaplain. It is matter for sincere regret that 
 there is no account of his ministrations. There was 
 no branch of the Master's service for which he was 
 better fitted. The absence of all conventionality, the 
 Christ-like love for sinners, the absolute faith in his 
 message and reality in delivering it, the sympathy and 
 brotherliness of his manner, which overflowed his kind 
 eyes and rang out in every word of his tender voice — 
 all these things specially qualified him to deal with 
 the outcasts of society. The most degraded know a 
 true man when they see him, and as such the Auck- 
 land prisoners recognised and trusted him. The work 
 he did in the gaol was solid work. No sham repent- 
 ances passed muster with him. Though endued with 
 
 89 
 
90 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 the charity that " believeth all things," he was gifted 
 too with a discerning of spirits which enabled him to 
 detect hypocrisy and unmask deceit. In all branches 
 of mission work, and among all classes, his special 
 power as a physician of souls lay in the fact that he 
 never healed a spiritual hurt slightly. There were those 
 who thought him too severe and uncompromising ; he 
 was never accused of superficiality. To him sin was 
 Sin, whether in the fashionable young lady or in the 
 criminal under sentence of death. Sin must be ac- 
 knowledged and dealt with before the message of 
 pardon and peace could be offered. In a corrupt 
 society he preached scathingly against the besetting 
 sins of the community ; in a prison, where wrong-doing 
 was already reaping its reward, he could afford to be 
 more compassionate. The character in fiction of 
 which he most reminded one was Mr. Eden in " Never 
 Too Late to Mend." The persistent running to earth 
 of evil-doing, with indifference to personal conse- 
 quences, so well described in the elder man, were as 
 conspicuous in Mr. Hill as was his brotherly love. 
 The blessing of his ministrations was not confined to 
 the prisoners, but the gaolers shared it ; more than one 
 has reason to thank God for his memory. The follow- 
 ing touching story may serve as a sample of many 
 others written otherwhere. It was taken down from 
 his own lips, and if in any way it contradicts the 
 current accounts, we would observe that it was his 
 view, founded on the confessions of the prisoners, 
 and is not intended in any way to reflect on the 
 
WORK IN AUCKLAND 91 
 
 conclusions of judge and jury, acting on outside 
 evidence. 
 
 C was mate of a vessel which traded between 
 
 Auckland and the neighbouring islands. On one of 
 these there lived a man with his family, for whom 
 
 C used to do commissions, bringing him stores, 
 
 etc. The poor lad became engaged to this man's 
 daughter, and she came over from her island home to 
 Auckland to be married ; but just before the wedding 
 she eloped with another man. After a time her lover 
 
 deserted her, and C , who was devotedly attached 
 
 to her, followed her to her home, to which he heard 
 she had returned. He forgave her, and again the day 
 was fixed for their marriage. But either the girl was 
 thoroughly unprincipled or the victim of some de- 
 signing villain, for again and again she was missing, and 
 
 at last C lost patience, and, priming himself with 
 
 drink, went out swearing to get her. He got into a 
 row with a policeman and knocked him down, for 
 which he was sentenced to three months' imprison- 
 ment. While he was working out this punishment 
 the girl he loved married another man. Then the 
 
 tragedy began in earnest. C made a plot with 
 
 the assistance of his friend P , a larrikin lad of 
 
 the same stamp, to carry off the girl to South 
 America. They stocked their boat with provisions 
 for some time, each man took a revolver and a rope, 
 and then they landed on the island. One was to cover 
 the girl with a pistol, the other to seize and carry 
 her off. But, unfortunately, as they approached the 
 
92 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 father saw them, and noticed that C was carrying 
 
 a revolver. Taking it for granted that he had come 
 for revenge, he seized the intruder by the throat. 
 
 P , anxious about his friend, fired into the air to 
 
 frighten him ; but finding it had no effect he fired 
 again, this time hitting him on the cheek and causing 
 a great flow of blood. This caused him to loose his 
 
 hold on C , and seeing him drop the foolish young 
 
 fellow concluded he was killed, and finished his deadly 
 work with yet another shot. Then both turned to 
 look for the girl, but she had escaped into the scrub 
 through a window, so they returned to the boat and 
 set sail for Sydney. Arrived there they went up- 
 country, and might have escaped altogether, but they 
 were both so miserable that they gave themselves up. 
 One policeman, unarmed, brought them forty miles, 
 they still carrying their revolvers. And so they were 
 
 conducted back to Auckland for their trial. P 
 
 pleaded not guilty by the advice of his lawyer. 
 C said nothing, though he might have in- 
 criminated his companion. There was a lot of 
 counter-swearing, and in the end both were con- 
 demned to death. It was at this stage that Mr. Hill, 
 as Prison Chaplain, went to visit them. 
 
 " He could get nothing out of C— < — , who was an utterly 
 ' ignorant man, without any knowledge whatever of the most 
 
 elementary truths. P was different ; he had been in 
 
 a Church Sunday School, and was tolerably well taught. 
 ' He grinned all over,' as the Chaplain graphically de- 
 scribed it, and was quite defiant. ' I read the 32nd Psalm 
 
WORK IN AUCKLAND 93 
 
 to him, and spoke of the necessity of confession and the 
 blessing of forgiveness. Then I asked him if he knew the 
 Lord's Prayer. " Oh, yes ! " « Will you say it ? " No, he 
 couldn't do that. I said, " Then I will pray for you." I 
 knelt and prayed. As I finished, before I could get up, he 
 
 threw his arms round my neck and cried, " I killed T ." 
 
 Struggling with my emotion, I said, " Will you tell C 
 
 that ? " " Oh no, you tell him." I said a little about the 
 
 necessity of confession, and then I fetched C . The 
 
 two young men fell into one another's arms and sobbed like 
 
 children. They had not spoken to one another since P 
 
 had pleaded not guilty. The lawyers had pitted one against 
 the other, each wanting, of course, to get his client off, and 
 had saved neither. From that day I began to visit them 
 daily, spending the whole morning with them. I had to 
 
 begin at the very beginning with C , who scarcely knew 
 
 the name of Jesus, and nothing of His story. I told him 
 the history of the Bible simply, a little more from day to 
 day, leaving him a chapter to read and think about, such as 
 Luke XV. One day I had been explaining the sacrifices 
 pointing to Christ. The next morning he met me with " I 
 can't get hold of the meaning of those sacrifices, sir, at all." 
 So I fetched in White's book (on the Tabernacle), and 
 showed him the pictures, especially the scapegoat. " Leave 
 me this book," he said. The following day I found that 
 the two prisoners, two warders, and the head gaoler 
 had spent the whole night in his cell reading. All were 
 in tears. They met me with "Jesus was the Lamb of 
 God ! " '" 
 
 From that time the growth in grace v^as marvellous. 
 Mr. Hill, at their request, went to see the widow of 
 the murdered man, and ask her forgiveness. The 
 execution was indeed a touching scene. There was 
 
94 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 not a dry eye. Mr. Hill repeated the hymn " Jesu, 
 Lover of my soul," as they walked calmly and firmly 
 by his side to the scaffold, and after their faces were 
 
 covered he heard them repeating it. Poor P 's 
 
 last words, as he grasped the hand of the man who 
 had brought light and peace to him, were : " Mr. Hill, 
 when yoAi cross over there will, at all events, be one 
 man watching for you on the other side." 
 
 This story is only one instance of the influence 
 for good exerted by this faithful servant over the 
 worst of criminals. And he strove also for their 
 best temporal interests. He found that the letters 
 from prisoners always went out with the gaol mark 
 upon them. This of course was very prejudicial to 
 the relatives, who must have felt the obloquy of 
 having the disgrace of husband or son thus made 
 public. Mr. Hill brought up this subject in his 
 usual vigorous style when lecturing on the " Ad- 
 ministration of Justice." His remarks were tele- 
 graphed to Wellington when the House was sitting. 
 A member brought the subject forward, with the 
 result that the practice was at once altered. 
 
 He was also intensely interested in the treatment 
 of juvenile offenders, and never ceased to inveigh 
 against the arrangement whereby children under ten 
 were confined with hardened criminals. In his fare- 
 well address, when he was responding to the kind 
 and complimentary remarks of the Aucklanders, he 
 brought forward this subject again, and urged it on 
 the citizens as a matter demanding prompt reform- 
 
n^ORK IN AUCKLAND 95 
 
 We do not know whether his burning words led to 
 any change in the law. 
 
 Hospitality in the Colonies is apt to be imposed 
 upon, and the Hills did not escape the deception 
 often practised on kind-hearted people. There was 
 one flagrant case of a young man who came to 
 them from Napier, where he had been generously 
 entertained. He said he was on the look-out for a 
 situation, but in the meantime was starving. The 
 best the house afforded was of course put before 
 him, but he did not appear to have much appetite. 
 The next day brought the landlord of one of the 
 hotels with two cheques, one of which purported to . 
 be signed by Mr. Hill, the other by the Bishop 
 of Waiapu. Needless to say, both were forgeries. 
 He was sentenced to twelve months' imprison- 
 ment, of which Mr. Hill made good use, and there 
 is reason to hope that he eventually started on 
 a fresh life. The curious thing about the story 
 was that this young man warned his hosts at Napier 
 of a lady, also a stranger from England, staying in 
 their house, denouncing her as an impostor, in which 
 he proved the truth of the adage, " Set a thief to 
 catch a thief," for his opinion was a correct one. 
 
 In May 1887 the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen 
 paid a visit to Auckland, and gave, at Mr. Hill's 
 request, addresses to the young men and young 
 women respectively. Lord Aberdeen also gave what 
 was characterised as "a splendid address" at the 
 theatre service on Sunday night. Their sympathy 
 
96 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 and interest were a source of cheer to the busy 
 workers. Mr. Jiill found that, as a leader of thought, 
 he was obliged to grapple with the politics of the 
 Colony ; but this was never to advance party in- 
 terests, but to keep public opinion straight on moral 
 points. Infidelity had penetrated to high places, and, 
 as a general election was pending, it was a critical 
 moment for the upholders of truth. The working- 
 men were getting to repose such confidence in him 
 that they sent him a deputation to ask if he would 
 represent them in Parliament ! 
 
 In the meantime he kept up the interest of the 
 young people in physical development ; and, acting 
 on the old adage that example is better than precept, 
 joined their football on Saturday afternoon. The 
 following amusing comment is perhaps worth inser- 
 tion : — 
 
 " A clergyman and a footballer are not frequently dis- 
 covered to be one and the same individual^ and it was 
 with some measure of surprise, and also of pleasure, I 
 must admit, that on Saturday afternoon last I came across 
 a representative of the pulpit actively engaged in a football 
 match. Probably there is only one person in Auckland 
 who would have placed himself in such a position — and 
 more's the pity — and the ' reverend ' gentleman in question 
 is the Rev. J. S. Hill. He has done a heap of good for 
 the young men of Auckland by associating with them in 
 whatever they may desire to engage in, so long as it is 
 morally right and physically useful, and his entrance into 
 the football field has already had excellent results. He has 
 inaugurated the ' Association ' game to take the place of 
 
n^ORK IN AUCKLAND 97 
 
 the rough-and-tumble * Rugby,' and the effect is much ap- 
 preciated by all who have witnessed the new club matches. 
 The 'Association' game, as played by the Rev. Mr. Hill's 
 club and the warehousemen, was most orderly throughout, 
 and I did not hear a cross word or an improper expression 
 used from first to last. And there was, Mr. Hill right in 
 the thick of it, actually as enthusiastic as the most youthful 
 of those engaged in the match, dressed in his white cricket- 
 ing shirt, white knickers, and black stockings and shoes, 
 watching every movement, kicking, dodging, and running, 
 and evidently making thorough enjoyment for himself as 
 well as for others. And he had to preach on the following 
 day — for it was the Sabbath — and he did ; and he preached 
 well too, and he had none the fewer listeners because he 
 had played a good game of football on the Saturday after- 
 noon. Now, I want to suggest that the Rev. Mr. Hill 
 should extend his praiseworthy operations, and get some 
 of his long-faced brethren of the pulpit out in the field 
 occasionally ; for it would do them a world of good, and 
 probably give their sermons a more effective force than 
 ever was known before." 
 
 The writer of this letter forgot perhaps that 
 Mr. Hill was President of the Y.M.C.A., and in 
 that capacity felt himself bound to direct the sports 
 of the young men — an obligation not certainly laid 
 equally on all clergymen — but it was one of the 
 things that made him powerful for good in Auckland, 
 and therefore in his case to be commended, though 
 not indiscriminately imitated. 
 
 Another visit to Australia in 1888 is thus chronicled 
 by Mrs. Hill :- 
 
 "S and M left on April loth for Sydney. 
 
 7 
 
98 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 Splendid weather all the. way. I feel so dull without them, 
 but oh what an intense comfort to know that our Father- 
 God orders all things for us ! I have a dear friend staying 
 with me. . . . 
 
 " The mission at Ballarat was very encouraging. When 
 they returned to Melbourne the Sydney Y.M.C. A. wired to 
 him to ask him to take a mission there for ten days, 
 
 beginning May nth; so he went, leaving M in 
 
 Melbourne. I have just had letters from Sydney telling 
 me the mission there was most encouraging, more so even 
 than the one in Ballarat. On one evening large numbers 
 of men received blessing, and many came to him saying 
 that they had been blessed in attending his Bible class 
 in Auckland; he wrote overflowing with joy. They are 
 leaving Melbourne to-morrow or Wednesday for the Bluff, 
 where they are due on the 29th. He will begin at once 
 a mission at Dunedin." 
 
 This beautiful city contains a large Scotch colony, 
 hard-headed practical men. The Prestyterian element 
 is very strong. Christian v^ork of all kinds is ener- 
 getically carried on, but somewhat in grooves. Just 
 the place v^hich needed and would profit by such 
 a shaking as Mr. Hill's preaching would give it. 
 
 We do not often insert newspaper comments, but 
 the following just embodies the essence of his mission 
 preaching : — 
 
 " We are at present enjoying a visit from the earnest 
 evangelist the Rev. J. S. Hill, from Auckland. Mr. Hill 
 speaks with great plainness and simplicity ; his clear voice 
 and pleading pathos in telling the story of God's love to 
 man secure for him a willing ear and an anxious heart 
 in his audiences. He speaks as one who is full of his 
 
IVORK IN AUCKLAND 99 
 
 momentous yet joyous message from God to man. At 
 the outset of his addresses he sets up the mental picture 
 of Jesus the Saviour of sinners, and never permits the 
 eyes to wander away from the sacrificial Victim. He tells 
 Christians that what they want is not so much * more faith ' 
 as * more fact.' They want more of the facts of Jesus ; 
 and while he keeps those facts ever issuing from a heart 
 full of their power, he convinces sinners of the importance 
 of those facts for their eternal salvation. The meetings 
 which have been held have proved rich in Divine blessing 
 to God's people, and the power of the Spirit is evident 
 among those who formerly were indifferent to the Gospel 
 news." 
 
 Once more the busy routine began at Auckland. 
 At this time Mr. Hill was holding five services on 
 Sunday. He began with the Prison at 9 a.m. Then 
 morning service at a little church at the suburb of 
 Remuera, the charge of which gave him an ecclesi- 
 astical status while he freely carried on his evangelistic 
 and other labours. The men's Bible class was at 
 three. At that time he was taking evening service 
 at a town church, and the day's work concluded 
 with the theatre at eight. 
 
 But work was his element. He was perfectly 
 satisfied so long as he could see signs that it was 
 owned of God. 
 
 " My own darling mother," he writes in September, "my 
 work just now is most encouraging. The mission to Sydney 
 and Ballarat was a very successful one; then returning 
 South we had a grand work at Dunedin. Next month 
 1 am going to Nelson and Blenheim. Pastor MuUer has 
 
loo JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 been here ; he is a fine specimen of a thorough Christian 
 man, and his Hfe's testimony is most useful in a place 
 like this. I believe all the signs of the coming again of 
 Christ are manifesting themselves. The constant rumours 
 of wars, the earthquakes, the failing of men's hearts because 
 of fear, and in thousands of ways it seems to me the world 
 is fast ripening for the coming end of the dispensation. 
 
 "... My stay here is very uncertain, and before long 
 I think we must try and get back to England, but the 
 climate might not suit the little darlings." 
 
 Almost immediately after writing these last words 
 which betray the father's heart, during his absence 
 at Blenheim, the " little darlings " were attacked by 
 scarlet fever. Then followed the news of the Rev. 
 F. J. Leachman's death, so it was a sad time for 
 Mrs. Hill and her sister. The longing for home 
 began to be intensely felt, and no doubt expressed, 
 as a rumour soon spread that they were going away. 
 One lady lay awake all night after she heard it, 
 another went so far as to pray that something might 
 happen to prevent it, and there was real distress 
 among their countless friends at the prospect of 
 losing them. However, they could not let their 
 house, so for the time the matter dropped. 
 
 A time of mutual cheer resulted from the visit of 
 a lady from the old country in connection with the 
 Y.W.C.A. She held a week's mission among the 
 young women, and, though the weather was bad, 
 the attendance kept up well, and much spiritual 
 result followed and a life-long friendship. 
 
WORK IN AUCKLAND loi 
 
 Very pleasant are the memories of this glimpse 
 at the busy happy home-life in Park Avenue. Mr. 
 Hill had collected a large library ; he was a man 
 who appreciated books in the fullest sense of the 
 word. He read and assimilated quickly, and the 
 pleasure of getting a new listener who shared his 
 passion was very great. He would often bring a 
 volume of Westcott to table, and read passage after 
 passage that delighted him, sometimes to the despair 
 of his womenfolk. 
 
 One night at the little suburban church where 
 he was then officiating he gave out the Communion 
 hymn, " And now, O Father," after the service. As 
 he was walking home with his friend, she asked 
 him why he chose it when there was no celebration. 
 " Oh," he exclaimed, in his eager way, " it is my 
 favourite hymn ; it is always spiritually true ! " 
 
 Yes, to him the presence of the Lord was an 
 abiding reality. 
 
 In November the Government sent a telegram 
 to Mr. Hill, asking him to sit on a Commission to 
 inquire into the sweating system of New Zealand. 
 It may seem strange to English people that there 
 should be such an evil in a young Colony, but, alas ! 
 the abuses of civilisation spread faster than its 
 blessings. It was a kind of work for which Mr. 
 Hill was eminently fitted. He was very quick at 
 tracking out whatever he wanted to know ; he would 
 have thrown himself heart and soul and strength 
 into any enterprise which promised deliverance to 
 
I02 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 the oppressed. The terms offered were liberal ; 
 but no consideration would move him to fall short 
 in the work he had undertaken, and finding the 
 two incompatible, he reluctantly declined the honour. 
 
 So for a few months more the round of work 
 went on. "Sidney works like a galley slave," says 
 his wife. 
 
 The Pillar of Cloud lifted before a breakdown 
 came. 
 
 All arrangements having been satisfactorily made, 
 passage was taken on the Mariposa^ which was 
 to leave Auckland on March 24th, 1890, for San 
 Francisco ; the journey through America being 
 chosen on account of relatives there whom they 
 wished to visit. Besides this inducement, Mr. Hill 
 wished to visit American prisons, in which he was 
 facilitated by the kind offices of the New Zealand 
 Government. 
 
 Nothing now remained but farewells, and these 
 were no light matter in this case. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hill were not leaving one congregation. They 
 were in a unique position. They belonged to the 
 whole city, and it is no exaggeration to say that 
 the whole city mourned at their departure. However, 
 so convinced were the Aucklanders that Mr. Hill 
 had become one of themselves, that they cherished 
 more than hope that he would return. They let 
 him go, laden with their blessings, wafted by their 
 prayers, but it was on furlough. Warm and affec- 
 tionate addresses flowed in from all classes — the 
 
WORK IN AUCKLAND 103 
 
 Church of England clergy, the Ministers' Association 
 the Young Men's Christian Association, and the 
 prisoners at the gaol, the last a touching testimony 
 to one who had ever acted on the beautiful motto 
 of the saintly Dr. Guepin, " Aux plus d^sherites, le 
 plus d'amour." 
 
 At the representative farewell meeting at the 
 City Hall, the following testimony, among many 
 others, was^ given to the prison work by Archdeacon 
 Dudley : — 
 
 "As in other departments," the speaker said, "he had 
 done his work thoroughly in connection with the Mount 
 Eden Gaol. He had spoken so plainly to the prisoners 
 that their hearts quailed within them, and yet there was 
 not one of them that did not love him. He (the speaker) 
 had had a visit from three officers of that institution with 
 a very respectable sum of money as a contribution to the 
 testimonial to be presented to their friend. One of these 
 officers said Mr. Hill had lightened their labours immensely 
 by making the prisoners more amenable to discipline. He 
 had diminished crime in the gaol to an enormous extent. 
 Only those who knew what prisoners were knew what an 
 amount of personal and social sin could be perpetrated 
 in an institution of that kind. These officers testified that 
 with God's blessing the prisoners were profoundly affected, 
 and altogether changed in general demeanour, language, 
 and spirit through Mr. Hill's influence." 
 
 Among the public comments on his career the 
 following remarks from an outsider are much to the 
 point ; — 
 
104 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 " He took up an exposed position from the first. He did 
 not entrench himself in the pulpit, and content himself 
 with being merely orthodox. He saw that the working 
 classes, comprising many thoughtful men, did not attend 
 the regular services of the Church. There are far more 
 deep-thinking men amongst the best of our operative 
 classes than amongst the class socially above them — the 
 shopkeeping and mercantile class ; and yet these intelligent 
 working-men seldom go to church. Mr. Hill saw this, 
 and he has done something to bring them back. He has 
 honestly striven to follow them up ; he has studied the 
 questions which they study, and has entered into everything 
 which interested them." 
 
 So the last day came, and a crowd accompanied 
 them to the ship. The purser remarked, "There 
 couldn't have been more to see the Prince of Wales 
 off!" but to our mind it was more like the beloved 
 Apostle's departure from Tyre. As the steamer put 
 off from shore the hymn arose, " God be with you 
 till we meet again," but it was broken by the sobs 
 of the singers. One chapter of life's work was closed. 
 Little did any of those who mourned the removal 
 of their friend and teacher to another sphere of 
 labour realise the full significance of those words 
 " till we meet again." They hoped for and con- 
 fidently expected an earthly reunion. In four short 
 years the news was flashed to that shore, "Bishop 
 and Mrs. Hill dead'' Then indeed was there 
 lamentation. He had left them in such health 
 and strength, with such fair promise of coming 
 years. Could it be that that active brain was 
 
WORK IN AUCKLAND 105 
 
 Stilled for ever, that that loving heart had ceased 
 to beat? 
 
 The valued General Secretary of the Y.M.C.A., 
 Mr. Brakenrig, writes : — 
 
 " The news caused a profound sensation in Auckland ; the 
 place was stirred as one never saw it before. Passing up 
 Queen Street, I was stopped continually by those one 
 little thought had been influenced by our beloved brother's 
 words. A constable came to me with tears running down 
 his cheeks : * Can it be true, sir, the sad news we read in the 
 paper ? I cannot tell you what I owe to him ; he led me 
 to the Saviour.' You will understand so well the earnest 
 inquiries made to me, by all sorts of people, knowing how 
 much one was connected with the beloved one when he 
 laboured so devotedly here. . . . Many who to our eyes 
 have been careless and indifferent have shown that the good 
 seed of the Kingdom had been received through the loving, 
 earnest words of our beloved friends when here, and much 
 blessed fruit will yet be borne to the praise and glory of 
 the Master's name." 
 
 The work of the Holy Ghost in human souls is so 
 sacred a theme that one shrinks from saying much 
 about it ; yet in closing the work of our brother in 
 Auckland it may be well to give one or two instances 
 of what is meant by the " blessing " which is so often 
 spoken of as the result of his missions. He aimed 
 simply and directly at bringing souls into contact 
 with a personal, living Saviour. Some words of his 
 own in an invitation letter to a children's mission are 
 so apposite that they may well be quoted here : — 
 
io6 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 " In one of our cathedrals there is a beautiful piece of 
 work in which some one is holding up the wounded hand 
 of Jesus. I just desire to do that, and we do pray that you 
 will place your hand in His, and let Him from this mission 
 time henceforth lead you."' 
 
 Here are a few sentences from a letter received from 
 one who had heard his preaching in Auckland : — 
 
 " God Almighty bless you. If it is any satisfaction to 
 you — and I am sure it is — you have been the instrument 
 in God's hand of bringing me to the foot of the Cross. 
 Oh ! the love I bear to you, next my Saviour, no one can 
 tell. ... I pray for you night and morning. I should like 
 to speak with you, and shake you by the hand, and thank 
 you personally. . . . Thanks be to God, I have found my 
 Jesus, and you have been the instrument." 
 
 There is a simplicity and ring of reality about this 
 letter that could not fail to strike the most prejudiced, 
 and it is only a specimen of those which God's 
 honoured servant was privileged to receive. To 
 one of his mission services came from curiosity a lady 
 in an influential position in her neighbourhood, fond 
 of races, balls, and all devices to kill time, but utterly 
 ignorant of the claims of God. She was interested, 
 and when a mission began near her home, she 
 resolved to attend it. One night Mr. Hill was aroused 
 from his sleep by a request to go and see what help 
 he could give to a distressed soul. Her husband had 
 sat up with her till four o'clock, both of them searching 
 the Bible and trying to find how they might " get 
 
WORK IN AUCKLAND 107 
 
 right with God." Unable to calm her, he had sent 
 for the mission preacher three miles off. " He of 
 course went at once, and after praying with them 
 both, he explained the glorious Gospel once more, 
 and it pleased God before daylight to give her a full 
 deep joy, . . . resting on Christ so simply." 
 
 This lady's testimony among her friends was used 
 by God to His glory in them also. 
 
 Another deeply interesting instance of the blessing 
 attending his preaching is found in the case of a 
 young man who saw him first when he landed from 
 the steamer which was wrecked near Tauranga. He 
 was pointed out to him as the " plucky parson " who, 
 with one of the ship's cabin boys, had, at considerable 
 personal risk, succeeded in saving much of the 
 passengers' luggage. 
 
 " I was," he says, " at this time principally struck by his 
 extreme activity and his utter forgetfulness of self. While 
 others were knocked up with spending several hours on 
 the rocks in the sun, and then several more hours cramped 
 up in the ship's boats, this young clergyman bounded 
 about looking after his own and others' property, as only a 
 real athlete can do. . . . The more I got to know him, the 
 more strong did his influence over me become. A Gospel 
 address on John vi. 37, 'Him that cometh unto Me I will 
 in no wise cast out,' decided me. I wrote to the Bishop 
 and told him that under God he had been the means of my 
 conversion to God. He was then just starting on a mission 
 to the South Island and Australia, and probably got my 
 letter as he went on board the steamer. I shall never 
 forget my first meeting with him on his return. Such 
 
io8 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 meetings are too personal, too sacred, to put down on 
 paper." 
 
 This young man followed him into the mission 
 field. Bishop Stuart remarks that he was constantly 
 meeting with men who had, in a similar manner, 
 received a message of life from his lips. 
 
 One cannot help lingering over the loving reminis- 
 cences of such a life of constant testimony and service. 
 There were with him no business hours. He was 
 always on duty. He would over and over again leave a 
 meal out of his day to rush down to the wharf just to 
 say good-bye to some poor creature out of gaol for 
 whom he had obtained a passage to another Colony, 
 where he could begin life afresh. 
 
 Afterwards, when going to Africa, a quartermaster 
 came up and saluted the Bishop. Some of the party 
 began questioning the man as to where he had met 
 Dr. Hill, but the latter stopped them, saying, " Surely 
 IVe knocked about the world enough for this man to 
 have rubbed up against me somewhere." Afterwards 
 the Bishop explained, " with a merry twinkle in his 
 eye," that their last meeting had been outside 
 Auckland Gaol. 
 
 One striking incident, illustrating how closely he 
 kept to his heavenly Master, will fitly close this 
 chapter. 
 
 When in Poverty Bay he became acquainted with 
 a man who had a run in the neighbourhood, and who 
 bore an exceedingly bad character. He was on one 
 
IVORK IN AUCKLAND 109 
 
 occasion strongly impressed with a feeling that he 
 
 must go and see this man, whom we will call K . 
 
 It was Saturday morning, and he was preparing his 
 sermon for Sunday. He tried to collect his thoughts, 
 but again and again the impression returned, Go and 
 
 see K . At last he felt it was the voice of God, 
 
 and he went and told his wife. She asked in some 
 surprise, "What are you going to see that man 
 for ? " He could not tell, he was being sent. On the 
 
 way he called on his friend Mr. A. B , and found 
 
 his horse saddled at the door. When Mr. Hill ex- 
 plained to his friend that he wanted his company on 
 his errand, to the astonishment of both it came out 
 
 that the same impression had been on Mr. A. B 's 
 
 mind, to the extent that he had saddled his horse, 
 intending to ride over. 
 
 They found K at home, and had a long and 
 
 earnest talk with him. At first he listened quietly, 
 but afterwards grew angry and almost drove them 
 from his house. The messengers of mercy returned 
 sadly enough, yet conscious that they had done 
 their duty. 
 
 T/ia^ night K , riding home half-drunk, was 
 
 thrown from his horse, and taken up dead ! How 
 solemnly this story illustrates the words of the 
 Prophet : " If thou warn the wicked, and he turn 
 not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, 
 he shall die in his iniquity ; but thou hast delivered 
 thy soul." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 HOME MISSION WORK 
 
'Blending their souls' sublimest needs 
 
 With tasks of every day, 
 They went about their gravest deeds 
 As noble boys at play."— Lord Houghton. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 HOME MISSION WORK 
 
 "San Francisco, 
 
 ''April 1890. 
 
 " T "X TE landed here April i6th. The night before was 
 VV so rough that I hardly expected we should. 
 The ship had not enough cargo on, and the consequence 
 was that in the gale she rolled most heavily, and kept on 
 shipping seas so much that they had trouble to keep the 
 engine-fires alight. However, here we are in a most com- 
 fortable hotel. It is a most irreligious place. On Sunday 
 all the i theatres and most of the shops are open, and the 
 people go by tram and train to the park, where a splendid 
 band plays. But what to my mind is worst of all is that all 
 the churches and chapels have secular lectures at the Sunday 
 evening services, to try and attract the people, as well as 
 paid singers, and wind instruments are used at some of the 
 services. 
 
 " Travelling through America will be good for S., and he 
 will make good use of it. He has gone now to visit the 
 prison. . . ." 
 
 We could wish that the travellers had recorded their 
 impressions of Salt Lake City, where they stayed two 
 days, but we have only a rapid itinerary, showing that 
 
 "3 8 
 
114 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 they stayed a night or two en route all the way, 
 extending it to a week at Denver, till they reached 
 New York, where they remained three weeks, finally 
 embarking for home on the S.S. Servia. 
 
 One can imagine the joyful return after twelve 
 years' absence, chastened as it necessarily was by 
 finding some vacant places in the circle of relations 
 and friends. But Joseph Hill had his mother still, 
 and to her he hastened. For some time the family 
 made Brighton, where she joined them, their head- 
 quarters. But rest did not mean idleness, and in 
 December of the same year Mr. Hill began mission 
 work in connection with the Rev. W. Hay Aitken, in 
 the Church Parochial Mission Society. It was a 
 most happy time ; he was thoroughly in his element. 
 He was a successful missioner in the best and fullest 
 sense of the word. He had no stereotyped methods 
 in after meetings, and was always willing to adopt 
 suggestions even from his workers. He could never 
 do anything in a crowded inquiry room, and always 
 tried to get a perfectly quiet place in which to deal 
 with an anxious soul. It has already been noticed 
 that he was singularly gifted with discerning of spirits. 
 Sometimes he would pass from one to another in a 
 church and set them praying, but would not stop and 
 talk to any till he was fully convinced that the right 
 moment had come, and then he would stay any length 
 of time. The girls he would always turn over to the 
 lady workers. His addresses delivered at weekly 
 celebrations during a mission were profoundly beauti- 
 
HOME MISSION WORK 115 
 
 ful, one may say unequalled for intense spirituality 
 and lofty aim. But his fulness of thought often 
 obscured his meaning, and led to a paradoxical style, 
 which was occasionally misunderstood. Though not 
 a student of poetry, there was a poetical side to his 
 mind, which helped him much (as it always helps) in 
 dealing'^with mere party questions. He liked to look 
 round a question, and the result was, on disputed 
 points, a grand tolerance and a little vagueness. 
 Firmly rooted in the great foundation truths of the 
 Faith, he could afford to sympathise with many who 
 held widely divergent views on minor points. Sym- 
 pathy was with him nothing less than a passion, and 
 he loved to find an answering chord in a dead writer 
 as in a living friend. His education had been deficient 
 on the imaginative side, and his life had been too 
 sternly practical. When once urged by an enthusi- 
 astic friend to the study of Browning, he laughed, 
 and said life was too short for poetry. Yet at that 
 time he was tearing through (no other expression so 
 well conveys his reading) every treatise on ethics 
 which came across him. He was very fond of talking 
 out a subject which interested him, especially at 
 night, and ^ould never be got to see the necessity of 
 going to bed ! He had to be driven to his rest. 
 When he got a listener who really understood him, 
 he unlocked his innermost heart. He was no longer 
 practical ; one learnt the mystical side of his nature. 
 But this never came out except to one who could 
 enter into it. 
 
u6 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 During this period of direct mission work, while he 
 was engaged in what he loved best and was most 
 successful in, his mind was being drawn in a remark- 
 able way back to the mission field. The coming of 
 the Lord largely occupied his thoughts, and the need 
 to be up and doing continually pressed him forward. 
 In an earnest conversation with a few intimate friends 
 at Keswick, in August 1 891, he tried to express his 
 views on the evangelisation of the world. He did not 
 agree with the self-reproach with which some Christians 
 regard the history of foreign missions, blaming the 
 Church for her inaction during the centuries between 
 the evangelisation of Europe and the inauguration of 
 the modern movement. He loved rather to see the 
 Divine Government at work in times and seasons, 
 and to watch with solemn joy the unlocking of door 
 after door for the messengers of Christ to go and 
 possess the lands of His inheritance. He felt that 
 the modern preaching of a mission crusade laid too 
 much stress on human effort and made too little 
 account of the Divine purposes. He deprecated the 
 rush to the mission field of untrained, inexperienced 
 workers, acting on the mere cry that " the heathen 
 are perishing." We who knew his enthusiastic nature 
 were a little startled at what seemed like a change of 
 view, but there was no ground for fear. He was only 
 working his way towards a clear reason for laying 
 down his life. He who was so impulsive was resolved 
 that the sacrifice should be laid upon no mere im- 
 pulse, but upon a solemn conviction ; and that con- 
 
HOME MISSION WORK 117 
 
 viction was given to him. When he offered himself 
 for Africa it was because he believed that God wanted 
 him there, because he saw clearly that that great 
 continent was being given bit by bit into English 
 hands for Christ's own great purpose of salvation. 
 
 The story of the West Coast, with all its quenched 
 efforts, its martyrs' graves, was to him a solemn 
 inspiration. Underneath it all, too, came the voice 
 of his early youth, calling him back to the land of 
 his first choice. Very dear to him was the Society 
 that had trained and sent him forth. He felt his 
 God-given power to grapple with difficulties, to unite 
 by the display and exercise of love discordant 
 elements. 
 
 And with his conscious, ever-deepening, ever- 
 intensified personal sense of Pardoning Grace grew 
 the memory, so early stamped on his heart, of the 
 awful nameless sins of heathendom. To him they 
 were not the taint of savage nature, they were 
 affronts to the holiness and forbearance of God. 
 He could never grow accustomed to devil worship, 
 with all its lustful horrors. The degradation of 
 Ignorance did not only awaken in him pity and 
 helpfulness, it bowed him like a prophet of old 
 in agony of soul before His outraged Lord. 
 
 After his acceptance by the Church Missionary 
 Society he preached as never before, with an eager 
 longing to provoke interest in the languid souls 
 of prosperous, respectable, easy-going Christians in 
 winning Africa for Christ. 
 
ii8 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 jt 
 
 The Hills were then living in Park Lane, Stoke 
 Newington. Immediately opposite their house was 
 the garden of the " Willows," the well-known train- 
 ing home of the missionary candidates of C.M.S., 
 Zenana, and other Societies, and also of Mildmay 
 Deaconesses. Mr. Hill was deeply attached to Mrs. 
 Pennefather, the beloved foundress and head of the 
 extensive work carried on at Mildmay Park, and 
 he had dear and intimate friends in that busy hive, 
 so that there was seldom a day when he was at 
 home that he did not pass through the " Compound," 
 as the enclosure containing the various institutions 
 is familiarly called. Occasionally, too, his voice 
 was heard in the large Conference Hall in Sunday 
 evening evangelistic services. But he was not 
 often suffered to remain at home. So many were 
 his engagements that he often spent his nights in 
 the train. Then came the Committees, fraught with 
 intense interest to the little home circle, as appears 
 in the following letter by Mrs. Hill : — 
 
 "From February 8th to the 22nd he was at Guildford, 
 assisting Mr. Aitken. From March ist to 15th at Streat- 
 ham Common. From the 22nd to 29th at Fairlight (near 
 Hastings), where he was over a fortnight, and where I 
 stayed also from the Thursday week. It was wet every 
 day, and yet the mission, I am sure, was far from a failure ; 
 in fact the Vicar and his wife were greatly cheered by 
 it. There is no village, and all the parishioners are 
 scattered about, but the Vicar used to send a large waggon 
 to fetch the old and infirm up to the services. The whole 
 family did all they could to make the mission a success, 
 
tiOME MISSION WORK li$ 
 
 and I feel sure the results will be lasting. One of their 
 own servants was converted during the time, and several 
 other cases we heard of. 
 
 " But about Africa. He has to go before the Committee 
 next Thursday at twelve, when his case will, I suppose, 
 
 be settled. M is dreadfully down about it, as she 
 
 says we are certain to be sent. Of course it is probable. 
 At the same time I am certain if God sends us to Africa 
 He will take care — of course He will — of my darlings ; and 
 though I cannot trust myself to think of the separation, I 
 can trust Him with it all. 
 
 " When Sidney came home from Fairlight he had to go 
 that same day to Maidstone, and home by one o'clock a.m. 
 On April 7th he is going to Wolverhampton for a week, 
 and the following Saturday to Bath for a fortnight. Since 
 being at Fairlight he has been to Boston, where the kind 
 and good Canon Blenkin cheered him up so much — not 
 so much from the good he had himself been able to do, 
 as from the good he received from the dear old man." 
 
 This was one of those seasons of Christian inter- 
 course with men of higher scholarship and wider 
 culture to which Bishop Hill always looked back 
 with such pleasure. He constantly quoted Canon 
 Blenkin, and when he met him for the last time at 
 Keswick, it was with the feelings of a son, to judge 
 by the warmth of the greeting. The elder saint 
 preceded him to Paradise. 
 
 Of these missions the record is in heaven. Joseph 
 Hill's powers as a missioner were not greater than 
 many another who is labouring for God and souls in 
 that most blessed " line of things." But those who 
 knew and loved him, and many who only had the 
 
l20 JOSEPH SIDNEY tilLl 
 
 privilege of hearing him in the pulpit, will do more 
 than pardon us for lingering over this part of his 
 ministry — they will expect it of us. 
 
 A clergyman's wife, writing of a mission in her 
 husband's parish, says : — 
 
 " Winning to Christ by his very loving manner, Mr. Hill 
 was specially attractive to simple folk. As one said to me, 
 'You feel you can't help but be sorry for your sins, he 
 speaks so lovingly.' Our servants would have done any- 
 thing for him. Whole households of servants received 
 memorial cards at the close of the mission." 
 
 This friend speaks of the beauty of his character in 
 the home, " where his humility and gentleness shone 
 very brightly." And she adds : " Independent testi- 
 mony comes back to us from Lagos of the happy 
 influence which he and Mrs. Hill had during their 
 brief career among official circles there." It is often 
 said of teachers it is as well not to know them too 
 closely. The opposite is strictly true of Bishop Hill : 
 the nearer one came to him, the better one loved and 
 admired him. His faults were all on the surface ; he 
 was sound to the core. 
 
 The Rev. W. Hay Aitken, writing of the time when 
 Mr. Hill was his helper in mission work, says : — 
 
 '' There was an air of intense reality about all his minis- 
 trations which impressed me very profoundly ; at the same 
 time there was no constrained mannerism, no affectation of 
 sanctimoniousness. No one could be brighter or more full 
 of innocent mirth than he." 
 
HOME MISSION WORK !2i 
 
 The time was now approaching for that solemn 
 crisis in his life's work which was to bring him so soon 
 to his rest. 
 
 Everybody has heard of the Nile Delta, but the 
 Niger Delta is not such a familiar region ; yet it has 
 played its part for a long time in Missionary history. 
 Extending one hundred and twenty miles along the 
 coast, the many towns on the river branches carry on 
 a brisk trade in palm oil with the Royal Niger Com- 
 pany, which has factories and steamers for this pur- 
 pose. Here Bishop Crowther established several 
 mission stations, and as his diocese embraced the whole 
 river, there was also work going on on the Lower 
 and Upper Niger. It was only a year before his 
 death that Mr. Graham Wilmot Brooke and the Rev. 
 J. A. Robinson visited the Upper Niger Mission, and 
 established themselves at Lokoja. But death and 
 sickness soon broke up the little party of missionaries ; 
 the leaders rest in the Africa for which they gave their 
 lives, and the others returned home. After the death 
 of the Bishop trouble arose, some of the Delta congre- 
 gations separating themselves from the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society and forming what is known as the 
 Niger Delta Pastorate. It became necessary to 
 appoint a successor, and both in Africa and England 
 there was a strong difference of opinion, some feeling 
 that another African Bishop should be appointed, 
 others convinced that a work that had proved too 
 much for the supervision of an able man like Bishop 
 Crowther was best, for the present, entrusted to an 
 
122 Joseph Sidney hill 
 
 Englishman. The difficulty was overcome by Joseph 
 Hill, who had already been designated for that field 
 as a missionary, being sent out as the Archbishop's 
 Commissary and Bishop Designate in Western Equa- 
 torial Africa, with instructions to select two earnest 
 and godly men to be consecrated with him as Assist- 
 ant-Bishops. Naturally these arrangements took much 
 time and thought, and he was continually in the com- 
 mittee room at Salisbury Square, until, after a period 
 of anxiety and suspense to all concerned, we read : — 
 
 " Sidney has at last had an interview with the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, who is very strong indeed about having a 
 native Bishop as well as an English one. . . . He proposes 
 that Sidney should go very soon to have a look round and 
 try and find two native men who could be consecrated with 
 him as Assistant-Bishops, Sidney to be Bishop Designate 
 until they can come to England, and all be consecrated 
 together. Sidney is to submit the Archbishop's proposals to 
 the C.M.S. Committee." 
 
 On July 23rd the Archbishop and the Bishop of 
 London met Mr. Wigram at the House of Lords, and 
 it was finally decided that Mr. Hill should go for six 
 months as the Archbishop's Commissary. The delay 
 was a relief to the Bishop Designate. He busied 
 himself in working out his plans for the Niger Mission, 
 and took a much needed rest at Keswick as the guest 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Wigram. 
 
 Mrs. Hill writes, September 7th : — 
 
 "We leave Euston Square Station for Liverpool on 
 Friday, at 10.5. The Boma sails at 10 o'clock on Saturday 
 
HOME MISSION 1V0RK I23 
 
 morning. The good-byes are to be said at Euston. Sidney 
 is to spend a long evening with the Archbishop to-morrow ; 
 he very much wished him to stay a night or two, and wrote 
 twice to that eijfect himself, but being so near the date of 
 sailing Sidney felt he could not stay. 
 
 " He preached at Great Yarmouth on Sunday morning 
 and evening, and that big church, the largest in England, 
 was crammed. . . . 
 
 " He has had another interesting offer for the Niger from 
 a lady at Mildmay. She prayed that if the Lord would 
 have her go Sidney might speak to her personally about it, 
 and he did that very day, I know you will think of us on 
 Friday ; it will be a bitter parting, and yet we have many 
 great encouragements." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 
 
A wealth of love and prayer behind, 
 
 Far-reachtng hope before, 
 The sejvants of the Lord go forth 
 
 To seek the foreign shore ; 
 A nd wheresoever their footsteps move 
 
 That hope makes sweet the air ; 
 And all the path is paved with love, 
 
 A nd canopied with prayer." 
 
 Sarah G, Stock. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN^ YEARS 
 
 " Bay of Biscay, September i2,th, 1892. 
 
 MY DARLINGS — 
 " We are making straight for Grand Canary, 
 where father hopes to meet Dr. Battersby, who is on his 
 way home. You will be glad to hear that we are having 
 a most lovely passage, which I cannot help putting down 
 to a httle sentence I heard a good many times before 
 coming away, ' Please let them have a smooth passage.' 
 Well, do you know, the old Biscay is more like a duckpond, 
 only the very slightest roll, so that it is as enjoyable as 
 a sea-life can be under the circumstances. This ship is 
 a steady-going old thing, with none of the modern improve- ' 
 ments — none of your electric light, but those little oil lamps, 
 so that we were very glad of the nightlights father brought, 
 which gave far more light and no smell. The food, too, 
 is not of the best ; yesterday we were several of us feeling 
 queer, and the bill of fare was : salt boiled beef, roast pork 
 and roast duck, and ox-tail stewed; then the sweets, 
 rhubarb pie, cabinet pudding, and Banbury cakes ! How- 
 ever, I have only missed one meal, and that was from being 
 kept too long waiting. Our cabin is a particularly nice 
 one, amidships. The port can be open in the roughest 
 
 127 
 
128 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 weather, because there is a passage-way beyond it, and 
 this will be a great advantage in the tropics. The ship 
 is not so big as the Mariposa^ of immortal memory. We 
 have twenty-six male passengers and four ladies altogether ; 
 but the saloon passengers are gentlemen, and very different 
 from those who went out in the Bonny sixteen years ago. 
 Most of the passengers leave the ship at Sierra Leone, but 
 father is not quite decided whether he will stay there 
 or go straight on to Lagos. . . . 
 
 " I hope all the rabbits and mice, tortoises and fowls, 
 are well, and dear old Scipio, as well as Auntie's 'foxie.' 
 It goes without saying that we think so much of you ali, 
 and wonder what you are doing." 
 
 Three days after one of the loving father's own 
 letters was typewritten. 
 
 "S.S. 'Boma/ just off Grand Canary, 
 
 ' ' September 1 6th , 1 892 . 
 
 " My Sweetest, Darling Pets, — 
 
 " So often have your brave yet pained and troubled 
 little faces come to my mind, just as I saw them on leaving 
 the station at Euston. Sometimes it is in the night, when 
 I am not able to sleep, and then a vision of you all comes 
 to me as I look into the deep blue sea when alone on 
 deck. My poor heart has never had so great a trial as 
 this sad parting from my loved ones at home. May the 
 One who gave up all for us give to you and to us His 
 blessed love to bind our hearts to His dear self, so that 
 in Him we may feel we are never far away, but always 
 near. I am quite sure you have both just put us into His 
 loving arms to keep for you until we meet again, and 
 in those arms we are safe, and so are you, my precious 
 darlings. 
 
AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 129 
 
 *'We have been to-day thinking of you going back 
 to school, and wondering if you are going to try and be 
 first as many times as last term, and if you will miss us 
 quite as much when at your daily lessons. I remember 
 a story of a little boy who used to say when he had 
 anything very hard to do, ' Only a little at a time.' If it 
 was raining he would say, ' Only a few drops at a time ' ; 
 and if he had to cut up a large bundle of sticks he would 
 say, * Only a stick at a time/ and then the thing he had 
 to do did not seem so hard. Could not you think of 
 our being away as only a day at a time, and then it 
 will so soon be gone ? Now, my darlings, do all you can 
 to make Auntie as happy as possible, and be good little 
 girls, trying to please everybody, not forgetting the loving 
 Lord Jesus. With our deepest love, 
 
 " Ever your loving old 
 
 "Dad." 
 
 The party arrived at Sierra Leone on September 
 23rd, where they were met by Dr. Harford-Battersby, 
 who had remained behind on purpose to welcome 
 them. They went to Bishopscourt, but Bishop Ingham 
 was at that time absent. Mrs. Hill writes of the 
 extreme loveliness of Sierra Leone seen in the early 
 morning light. They were much delighted with the 
 new Cottage Hospital— 
 
 " A really splendid building for the place, with two such 
 nice nurses, dressed just like the Mild/nay deaconesses, 
 Miss Griffin and Sister Dorothy. They have a. litde 
 meeting for the men who come for medicine every morning, 
 at a quarter to eight, lasting about twenty minutes. Already 
 so many poor Africans take advantage of the medical help 
 that they are obliged to admit them by ticket, and 
 
 9 
 
130 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 after a certain number simply from want of time. It was 
 a great boon to them to have Dr. Battersby, whom they 
 have persuaded to stay another week." 
 
 Very refreshing after board ship were the comforts 
 of Bishopscourt, and the black attendants delighted 
 them with a grand display of flowers on the table — 
 oleanders, roses, lovely white and scarlet lilies, and 
 Cape jasmine. Humming birds and butterflies were 
 in abundance, the latter so lovely and rare that 
 specimens sometimes sell for five pounds. 
 
 A visit to the Annie Walsh Memorial School was 
 a great refreshment to Mrs. Hill ; only ladies who 
 have known what it is to arrive weary in a foreign 
 land after having been pent up on board a not 
 first-class steamer can enter into the feeling with 
 which she describes her visit : — 
 
 " The ladies there are so nice. The moment we arrived 
 Miss Dunkley opened the door to us herself, and had 
 afternoon tea in, and it was altogether quite a little taste 
 of home. Their drawing-room was more like an English 
 one than anything I have seen in Africa yet — all very 
 simple, but so beautifully clean and tastily arranged, and 
 the whole of the house was in keeping. After we had 
 sat for some time and admired their view, verandah, trees, 
 flowers, etc., we went into the schoolroom, where we 
 found about fifty native girls, all very clean and tidy and 
 Dright-looking. Sidney gave them a short address, >vith 
 several anecdotes^ which they evidently appreciated." 
 
 Bishop Hill, as he was now called in Africa, 
 preached three times at the cathedral, — aheavy day's 
 
AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 131 
 
 work for the tropics. But it must have been in- 
 spiring to be preaching to thirteen hundred Africans, 
 and to look down on that sea of black faces listening 
 intently to the " old, old story." 
 
 But what a contrast to the decorous Sunday walk 
 to church in England was the procession of old 
 bath chairs, pulled and pushed by stalwart natives 
 at their utmost speed — one nearly overturned in the 
 gutter, others driven up against one another, all 
 jolted and bumped abominably ! 
 
 Yet Mrs. Hill has time to admire the little 
 children, " mostly naked, or with a short skirt or 
 handkerchief half covering their dear little shiny 
 bodies." The Bishop had a kind of palanquin, but 
 having tried it he preferred the bath chair ! 
 
 Mrs. Hill gives such an interesting description of 
 their further voyage that we give it as it stands in 
 one of her circular letters. 
 
 " Our journey from Sierra Leone, which we left at 6 p.m. 
 on Monday, has not been so pleasant as before. Owing 
 probably to the damp heat, the meat and all the food on 
 board is not nearly so good as it was, and from the large 
 amount of cargo which was landed at Sierra Leone, Grand 
 Bassam, and other places, the Boma is much higher out 
 of the water, and rolls more. We have a large number 
 of natives on board, chiefly ' Kru boys,' whom the Captain 
 takes along the coast for any trader who needs native 
 servants or labourers, and he gets 5^. per head for supplying 
 them — a kind of Registry Office ! They eat only rice 
 twice a day; a good many are really boys about 12 or 14, 
 and have such bright faces. I do so love African children. 
 
132 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 But about 27 of the men work the ship. We have called 
 at so many places since leaving Sierra Leone, for the Boma 
 is like a big shop, and calls at the towns where they are 
 in need of supplies of food or coal, which they can tell 
 in a moment by flag signals. But at Cape Coast Castle, 
 where the traders were expecting a heavy cargo, the 
 Governor had ordered all vessels to be quarantined and 
 nothing landed, so we had again, as at Grand Canary, 
 to go through the farce of passengers and crew all being 
 examined by a medical man sent on board for that purpose. 
 Even so we were sent on to Accra, and have had to return 
 here (Cape Coast Castle) again, which is a clear loss of 
 24 hours, and will prevent our getting to Lagos on 
 Saturday. On Sunday morning early we were at Grand 
 Bassam, where they landed 750 kegs of gunpowder ; the 
 crane working at it awoke me, and it gave me such an awful 
 sense of shame that with every steamer (and they come 
 along oftener than once a week, year in, year out) there 
 is a practical denial of God in the cargoes they land of 
 firearms, powder, rum, etc., and in the lives of the traders, 
 who come by dozens in every ship, and are willing to 
 risk their lives for mo?iey, while such a miserable few 
 come along to give these poor natives the message of 
 God's love to them. Sunday is the busiest day on board 
 these steamers. We had only a tiny congregation last 
 Sunday, because we called at another town and landed 
 more powder. The Captain brought 2,000 kegs of it ! 
 They are landing goods all day, and nearly every day, 
 and travel at night. The boats come out in dozens, each 
 one with 12 natives paddling (6 each side) and one more 
 to steer. The paddles they use are so like a bird's claw 
 in shape, with three long talons, and they paddle with 
 such precision, that it looks at a little distance just like 
 ome huge bird coming. Their only dress is a large 
 
AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 133 
 
 handkerchief tied round the middle of the body, but their 
 skins are so shiny, and being black, one does not notice 
 the small amount of clothing. It is really wonderful that 
 there are not many serious accidents in putting the cargo 
 on the boats ; for instance, dozens of heavy casks of 
 coal, each a great weight, they send over the side of the 
 Bonia by the crane into these small boats with 13 natives 
 in each, but the waves lift the boat up many feet, and 
 then down again, and they have to guess just the right 
 moment to let the cask drop, for it would be instant death 
 if it fell on any man, even an African; but they are always 
 on the alert, and jump overboard the moment there is 
 danger. Often each day there are several natives swimming 
 about to avoid the heavy casks and cases coming on their 
 heads. Yesterday I saw three get a knock that I am 
 sure would have injured an Englishman, but their skulls 
 are thicker and their bodies very powerful. We have 
 several native passengers in the saloon now — one who 
 landed this morning was a very wealthy old gentleman 
 with a number of servants. . . . They landed him by the 
 crane in a basket — one of those numberless little absurd 
 things that one sees in Africa that cause us to laugh almost 
 to tears. He waved his mushroom hat as he was going 
 down ! 
 
 " QuETTAH, October yth 
 " The Captain tells us that we shall be in Lagos to- 
 morrow; he is missing one or two ports in order to do 
 so. . . . It will be so lovely to spend a quiet Sunday on 
 shore. Quettah is famous for ducks, geese, and fowls, 
 besides tomatoes, etc. ; and the canoes have just come 
 alongside and the natives scrambled up by dozens like 
 monkeys, each carrying a heap of birds strung together on 
 their shoulders, and are all clamouring round the chief 
 steward and cook, who are purchasing. It seems a clean, 
 
134 JOSEPH SIDNEY HllL 
 
 lively little place; there are more people on the sandy 
 shore than at any place we have called at, but it is a 
 slave coast. 
 
 '• C.M.S., Lagos, 
 
 " Monday, October loth. 
 
 " We landed about 1.30 on Saturday; a branch steamer 
 came to the Lagos roads for us, as it is utterly unsafe for 
 a small boat to cross the bar — and yet the ocean steamers 
 cannot get in. The bar on Saturday was unusually 
 smooth; I was so thankful for it, for it was not smooth 
 at sea, and going from the Boma to the branch steamer 
 in the little rowing boat, it was very rough. We were 
 let down by the crane in arm-chairs ; ... it is a very 
 uncomfortable experience, but only lasts about half a 
 minute. On the bar there was a steamer that was wrecked 
 on it two months ago ; they cannot lift it or attempt to 
 do so, because the bar is such a dangerous one. No lives 
 were lost, for they had only recently subscribed for a life- 
 boat, and she saved the sixty or more people on board. 
 As we passed Christ Church here, Mr. Tugwell and 
 Mr. Dods were waiting at the wharf, and soon Mr. Vernall 
 came along; the ladies, four in number, met us at the 
 house, and gave us a hearty welcome. Mr. Tugwell is 
 the secretary here, and occupies the place and position 
 old Mr. Maser had ; but as he is an unmarried man, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Dods are keeping house for him just now, 
 and he boards with them pro tem.^ as we are doing. You 
 may remember seeing them dismissed about May from 
 Salisbury Square. They were appointed to Abeokuta, but 
 the way is blocked, and has been for some months, owing 
 to some tribal war, so they cannot get in there, and for 
 the same reason Mr. Buckley Wood cannot get away- 
 Sidney had written to ask Mr. Wood to meet him here, 
 but this is impossible. Mr. and Mrs. Vernall are at the 
 
AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 135 
 
 Training Institution just behind this house, and Miss 
 Thomas and Miss Goodall are in charge of the Female 
 Training Institution, which is just at the side of this 
 mission house. . . . 
 
 "Sidney preached at Christ Church, which stands 
 in the mission compound, yesterday morning, but the 
 congregation had fallen off from what it was sixteen 
 years ago. In the evening Mr. Dods preached, and 
 in the afternoon Mr. Tugwell had a little service for 
 children at four o'clock. Lagos has improved so very 
 much since we were here in 1876 that I should hardly 
 have recognised it. The township is far handsomer and 
 the houses much better built than at Sierra Leone, but, 
 of course, it lacks the lovely mountain scenery of the 
 latter. . . . One little arrangement amuses me, which is 
 that a little before six in the morning there is a knock 
 at our bedroom door, and two boys come in, one a big 
 boy, the other about twelve, and they sweep the room 
 and put it straight just as a housemaid would do at eleven 
 o'clock at home. Sidney makes use of the opportunity 
 to learn a little Yoruba ; he asks the names of everything 
 they touch, and repeats it after them several times. They 
 are such nice boys. There has one most encouraging 
 incident just occurred : a chief from the interior has heard 
 in some way of missionaries and their teaching, and he 
 has come down to Lagos with a number of his people 
 to learn all about it ; he comes to every service or meeting 
 of any kind that they have ; he is such a tall fine man, 
 with such a very intelligent face. He comes to the mission 
 house very often, and is just now talking to Sidney ; they 
 get one of the house boys, of whom there are eight, to 
 interpret. It seems to me so much more hopeful to try 
 and teach a native of this stamp the Gospel, because they 
 have not been demoralised by contact with Europeans, 
 
136 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 like the coast natives. There is not a European thread 
 about this man : he has a flowing country cloth of bright 
 yellow ; a very big hat with broad brims and long streamers 
 of several colours, tied up at both sides ; a bracelet and 
 necklace, all of African make. I need hardly say to some 
 of you dear home-folks, Pray for him, for I am sure you 
 will, and am equally — nay, more sure — that God will answer 
 the prayer. One cheering piece of news we heard this 
 morning, that the Babalao who was converted at Leke in 
 1877 ^^^ took the name at his baptism of Joseph Sidney 
 is now a recognised teacher there, and, in fact, just now 
 the only preacher they have, for I.eke has been quite given 
 up by all the Europeans ; the traders have all left. 
 
 " We are having the most lovely weather. The rains are 
 not over ; the consequence is we have such a beautiful air, 
 although, of course, it is warm, but the breeze is delightful. 
 We are all in splendid health, and Sidney is just now sur- 
 rounded by a company of natives, as well as the English 
 missionaries, and is making them all laugh heartily, which 
 indicates that he is not very depressed." 
 
 Meanwhile the work went on apace. Mrs. Hill 
 was kept very busy typewriting for her husband, 
 and learning Yoruba. Then Miss Goodall became 
 ill, and Miss Warner went into the Female Institu- 
 tion to teach, while Mrs. Hill undertook the finishing- 
 off of the needlework, in view of a Government 
 Inspection. 
 
 There is many a warm mention of Mr. Tugwell 
 (now Bishop) in the home letters, and he was a 
 great comfort to Bishop Hill at that time. 
 
 The following account of their visit to Igannui, 
 on the mainland, is so interesting that we will quote 
 
AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 137 
 
 it in extenso. After waiting a long time past the 
 appointed hour for their canoe, Mrs. Hill writes : — 
 
 " However we went, and we were most thankful we did 
 so, for, besides spending a most pleasant day, Sidney and 
 Mr. Dods had two or three opportunities of preaching the 
 old, old story. 
 
 " After being in the canoe an hour and a half, we 
 landed up such a pretty creek, where the wild flowers 
 were so lovely. It was a good hour's walk to Igannui 
 through the bush, and we passed such quantities of 
 bananas, pine-apples, and cocoanuts growing wild, and 
 also, what I had never seen before, the cocoa-tree, with 
 the nuts on it nearly ripe. At Igannui Mr. Braithwaite, 
 the African Catechist (who was at Leke when we were 
 there in 1876-7) was expecting us, and had prepared a 
 room where we could rest and dine — in fact he gave us 
 possession of his house for the day. While we had 
 breakfast (we had taken our own food, as these Africans 
 are very poor) he rang the bell and gathered in his little 
 church, which is also the schoolroom, a congregation of 
 about sixty to seventy adults and thirty or more children. 
 
 " The building is of mud, thatched with palm-leaves, etc., 
 but fairly solid, having however open sides instead of 
 windows. Sidney gave the first address, telling them how 
 his life had been saved by an African, and that he loved 
 their people. They listened so intently while both he 
 and Mr. Dods gave them the Gospel message, Mr. Braith- 
 waite acting as interpreter — and a very good one he is. 
 After the meeting was over, Mr. Dods, who had brought 
 his camera, photographed some of them. It was a most 
 amusing scene, for they nearly all wanted to be taken, 
 though they did not understand it a bit; but Mr. Dods 
 particularly wanted to photograph the church, only he 
 
138 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 could not get the people out of the way. Numbers of 
 them wanted to look through under the velveteen cloth, 
 which they did, and laughed so heartily when they found 
 the people upside down. The children were so pretty, 
 but they seemed to think they ought to be clothed before 
 English visitors, and they pulled on old shirts, etc., which, 
 being all in rags, did not look half so well as their natural 
 clothing — their own ebony skins. 
 
 "While at Igannui I watched some babies being fed, 
 and it is so peculiar, being universal through Africa. I will 
 try to describe it. The mother lays the baby across her 
 knees, with its head hanging over one side ; she has beside 
 her a calabash full of clean water, and a small one with the 
 food in ; it looked like very thin clear starch. She pours 
 the food into her right hand, and, putting it under the 
 baby's mouth, pours it down, and they are so used to 
 the process that scarcely a drop is lost ; then she shakes 
 the baby's head to make sure it has swallowed it. Then 
 she dips her hand into the clean water, and begins again. 
 It was so extraordinary that I watched in utter astonishment. 
 Baby sometimes kicks, screams, and resists, but all to no 
 purpose : it is feeding-time, and the food must go down. 
 Even the youngest baby has a bracelet on its wrist, and 
 most of them wear necklaces or a string of beads round the 
 body, and this is quite full-dress until they are eight or nine 
 years old. Mrs. Dods (who is very pale and has a very 
 white hand) induced a little black boy to shake hands with 
 her ; he cried with fright before he did it, and when it was 
 done ran away, looking at his hand to see if the white 
 came off ! " 
 
 The hospitable people loaded them with fruit 
 and a pair of fowls, and they went home, preaching 
 on the way, and trying to reach the canoe-men, not 
 
ApRiCA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 139 
 
 able to bear the thought that those who toiled for 
 their Christian visitors should be outside, alien to 
 the commonwealth of God's people. 
 
 Shortly after Mrs. Hill had the anxiety of tending 
 Miss Warner in her first attack of fever, but fortu- 
 nately it passed off without bad results. 
 
 It is not our purpose in this brief memoir to 
 give any account of the troublous times through 
 which the Church in West Africa was now passing. 
 It is enough to say that Bishop Hill went out 
 with the confidence of the Archbishop and of the 
 Society, and that he fully and admirably fulfilled 
 his commission. His task was one of extreme 
 difficulty, requiring the utmost delicacy and tact, 
 but those sterling qualities which had characterised 
 him all his life did not fail him when he needed 
 them most. Truth and love were wonderfully 
 blended in his character ; he knew to a remarkable 
 degree how to "be sincere in love." He never 
 trimmed to please anybody, and so he succeeded 
 in keeping the respect of all. Yet there were 
 moments of depression, and in his report to the 
 Archbishop he begs to be allowed to retire from 
 the destined bishopric, his real reason being that, not 
 having seen in everything with his Society at home, 
 they might prefer not to confirm the nomination. 
 
 In the midst of all the anxiety and constant patient 
 work that the affairs of the mission required came a 
 terrible blow — the death of his mother. On December 
 8th Mrs. Hill writes :— 
 
140 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 " Last night the Enghsh mail came, and before it came I 
 had a presentiment of sorrow. Poor old Sid ! you would 
 have pitied him if you had seen him read the first lines. I 
 can hardly realise that our mother is gone. She was a most 
 true friend, and always acted like a mother to me, and I 
 loved her very, very dearly. She was the most self- 
 sacrificing woman I have ever known, and I never knew her 
 to do a mean thing or speak an unkind word of any one : in 
 fact, to me her character was almost unique in its Christ- 
 likeness. . . . Sidney says it has taken an inspiration out of 
 his life, and I am sure it is true. No one rejoiced more 
 than that devoted mother when her ' boy ' was encouraged 
 in his work. But for her it is far better, and it is another 
 link to the * Home over there.' " 
 
 Mr. Bennet, who had been holding the fort in 
 Onitsha, was now with them. He was on his way 
 home on furlough, but finding of how much use he 
 might be to the Bishop through his knowledge of Ibo, 
 and for other reasons, he, with a true missionary 
 spirit, resolved to turn back with them, and defer his 
 holiday. 
 
 " S.S. ' ROQUETTE,' IN THE LaGOS RoADS, 
 
 " Christmas Eve, 1892. 
 " My Dearest M., — 
 
 " I sent you a hurried note on Wednesday, for we 
 were so pressed with all the copying and typewriting Sidney 
 gave us to do. For the past week he kept the whole six of 
 us employed till late in the evening, so that our English 
 letters got rather neglected. The chief part of his work is 
 done now, ending up with the Archbishop's report, and the 
 traveUing on the river itself begins. This is quite a typical 
 part of it : we were rushed off from Lagos in a tremendous 
 
AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 141 
 
 hurry, having at the last moment to get ready in half an 
 hour or less ; crossed the bar to the big steamer — a process 
 which completely upset poor E.-r-and here we are still, and 
 here we are likely to be till Monday ! four days at anchor 
 on board ship before we start away, and when we do start 
 they take ten days going a distance they could do easily in 
 twenty-four hours' steady steam ! I need hardly say it is 
 trying to one's patience ; but all the mission people say that 
 Africa seems to have been invented to teach one patience. 
 However, we were all so weary with the work and heat of 
 the past week that we do not much mind the delay here. 
 Rest is so sweet. We are only just outside Lagos Bay, and 
 can see the beach houses quite clearly. It would be well 
 if we could fly over to spend Christmas Day at the ram- 
 shackle old hut of the C.M.S., but E. says nothing will 
 tempt her to cross the bar again. There was a great deal 
 of sickness in Lagos when we left, and there had been 
 several deaths. ..." 
 
 At last they were on the way again for Onitsha, 
 the goal of the journey for some of them. It is 
 a station that has been occupied many years, and 
 has had a flow and ebb in its spiritual life like 
 many other places in Africa ; but the great mass 
 of its heathenism seems yet unreached. 
 
 On the way they stopped at Warri, a name almost 
 unknown in England, yet boasting a British Consul, 
 This gentleman kindly entertained the missionaries, 
 and told them that he had walked for four hours 
 from the Consulate inland, and it was one long 
 street of dense population. He begged for some 
 one to be sent to those tens of thousands. His 
 
142 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 last words to them were, " Well, Bishop, I hope 
 you will do something for us before long ; you 
 really ought." Then they wandered into the bush, 
 gathering exquisite flowers, and lost themselves, 
 arriving at a strange village, where when the people 
 caught sight of a white woman they raised a whoop, 
 and they were soon surrounded by a great crowd, 
 all pleasant and friendly. The Bishop was deeply 
 moved ; like his Master " he had compassion on the 
 multitudes, because they were as sheep having no 
 shepherd." And he resolved to make a great 
 effort to send a teacher to a place so ready and so 
 needing. 
 
 White women were a great novelty in these parts, 
 for all the steamers do not call in at the creeks. 
 In one little port there was a ludicrous scene : the 
 natives came in shoals alongside to look at Mrs. Hill 
 and her two companions. One of them went to 
 the side of the ship without thinking, and shortly 
 afterwards Mrs. Hill ; the natives thought it must 
 be the same person, and could not be made to 
 believe that there were two, till the chief steward 
 asked them to stand side by side, when the excite- 
 ment became intense. 
 
 And thus the last days of the old year glided 
 away on African waters, and the new found them 
 on the river being conveyed in the Royal Niger 
 Company's steamer Boussa to Onitsha, where they 
 arrived on January 7th. The Christian population 
 came out to meet them, at the river side, and accom- 
 
AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 143 
 
 panied them to the mission houses, to which they 
 walked, though it was the middle of the day and more 
 than a mile's distance. The people sang the old 
 hymn — 
 
 '* Through the love of God our Saviour 
 All, all is well." 
 
 Among other queer things at Onitsha is the current 
 coin, which is tobacco. It was startling at first 
 to find a keg of it at the Mission House, but it 
 soon proved not to be for the consumption of the 
 missionaries, but for purposes of barter ! 
 
 They arrived in the unhealthy season ; one of 
 the Roman Catholic Sisters died the day after, and 
 then a man in the C.M.S. compound was taken ill. 
 Mr. Proctor, who had taken Mr. Bennet's place 
 and had consequently been alone the last few weeks, 
 had had fever badly, but he spoke highly of the 
 kindness and attention of the natives and the neigh- 
 bourliness of the Roman Catholic priest, who had been 
 three times to see him. They were now a party 
 of seven, a larger contingent than the Society had 
 ever been able to place there before in the history 
 of the mission. 
 
 Very soon the chiefs began to "call." On such 
 an occasion an important ceremony had to be gone 
 through, the dividing of the Kola nut. The host 
 or hostess brings it out on a plate, and the chief 
 cracks it and chews a piece, after which all present 
 take their share. The women were so delighted 
 
144 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 to see the white faces that they kissed one another 
 in token of joy ! The natives soon began to crowd 
 in for medicine ; they would sit about the verandah 
 and watch everything, so that privacy and much 
 writing were impossible. 
 
 The Bishop went to Asaba, as it was under 
 consideration to remove the headquarters of the 
 mission there, and he wished to see some land 
 there. Mrs. Hill accompanied him, and they had 
 the joy of finding twenty-two adult candidates for 
 baptism and eight children. The first man who 
 came forward was a king ! 
 
 Next we read of Mrs. Hill and Miss F — ^ going 
 to see a convert who had just given birth to twins. 
 She was in a small room like a Chinese opium-den, 
 with a huge wood fire burning in the middle ! 
 
 It is disappointing to find that the old cruel 
 superstition about twins still lingers. It is thought 
 to be such a terrible disgrace for a woman to bear 
 twins that they are never allowed to live. If the 
 mother keeps them they inevitably disappear. The 
 missionaries here sometimes try to rear them, but 
 not apparently with any great success. At one time 
 the mother's life was not safe. Now they have only 
 to bear scorn and unkindness, for superstitions die 
 hard. Mrs. Hill paid for the support of these babies, 
 threatening to withdraw her weekly allowance if 
 either of them died. 
 
 No sooner had the Bishop gone to Lokoja than 
 Mrs. Hill had two of the party on her hands with 
 
AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 145 
 
 fever. It was a very anxious time, but long practice 
 had given her the habit of "casting her care," and 
 she was carried through, not only in patience, but 
 cheerfulness. Yet it must have been a terrible 
 strain, for she could not get at her husband ; and 
 the ladies' little house being in another part of the 
 compound, she was kept continually going from one 
 house to the other day and night. And to cross 
 an African compound by night is no pleasant trip. 
 It means very careful picking the way and holding 
 up the skirts to avoid the swarms of ants that you 
 do not want to attach to your person or to bring 
 into your house. 
 
 Food is always more or less of a difficulty in 
 these regions. Bread and water is a proverbial 
 expression for privation ; but what if we could get 
 neither bread nor water ? All the water at Onitsha 
 had to be brought a mile by bearers, so they had 
 to be economical, and could not afford themselves 
 baths, which are almost a necessity in the tropics, 
 though they found Turkish baths a good substitute. 
 And as for bread, Mrs. Hill says pathetically : " For 
 three or four days I have not seen bread of any 
 kind, and it is so difficult to eat bacon with very 
 hard cabin biscuits ! " But little do true-hearted 
 missionaries reck of such things. 
 
 The Bishop's occupations at Onitsha were multi- 
 farious — from surveying in the woods to cooking in 
 the kitchen. For some time he was head cook, 
 
 and the lady missionaries worked under him. The 
 
 10 
 
146 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 heathen all loved him, for he had always a kind 
 word for them, and was ready to do anything for 
 them. Once an old heathen chief sent him his huge 
 variegated umbrella to mend, and the Bishop spent 
 a whole evening mastering the job, and returned it 
 whole, much to the delight of its owner. They 
 called him their father, and mourned him long and 
 sincerely. 
 
 Before leaving Onitsha the Bishop invited the 
 native pastors or schoolmasters from different ports 
 to meet for three days' services ; and, as they could 
 not be accommodated in the mission compound, he 
 paid the expenses both of them and their wives. 
 It was a most refreshing time to the missionaries, 
 for it was the only time they had the comfort of 
 hearing the services in English. 
 
 In February the Bishop and Mrs. Hill started on 
 the return journey. They stayed at Akassa, New 
 Calabar, Brass, and Bonny on the way, and the 
 Bishop had much to try him, yet in speaking of 
 that time afterwards he was able to tell of wonder- 
 ful answers to prayer, and upholding grace under 
 difficult circumstances. 
 
 As for the voyage, the heat was almost unbearable, 
 for the Boussa stuck on a sandbank the first Sunday, 
 and of course it is much more difficult to endure 
 the sun when the vessel is not moving. Here 
 Mrs. Hill found a little bit of ministry to keep her 
 going. There were a Roman Catholic priest and 
 a Sister on board, and the latter was taken with 
 
AFRICA AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS 147 
 
 fever. They had no medicine, and no wraps of 
 any sort, and the poor woman would have fared 
 badly had she not fallen into such kindly hands. It 
 appears that great numbers of Roman Catholics 
 die on African stations, for so little is done for 
 their comfort. 
 
 At Lagos the Bishop met Rev. H. H. Dobinson 
 and Rev. Melville Jones, with whom he was glad 
 to confer before returning home, and then they 
 gladly set their faces towards England, though the 
 joy was chastened by the thought of the loving 
 mother who was no longer there to welcome 
 them. 
 
 Some visible fruit of the Bishop's visit was shown 
 in his being accompanied home by two earnest and 
 devoted native clergymen, whom he had selected 
 to present to the Archbishop as suitable for the 
 office of Assistant-Bishops. 
 
 The Rev. Isaac Oluwole was the child of Christian 
 parents at Abeokuta. He was educated there and 
 at Lagos, and afterwards at Fouiah Bay College, 
 Sierra Leone, where he was among the first three 
 who graduated in connection with Durham Univer- 
 sity. He has filled many posts in C.M.S. work, 
 and was Master of the grammar school at Lagos, 
 at the same time ministering at St. Peter's Church, 
 where he won the respect and confidence of Bishop 
 Hill. 
 
 The Rev. Charles Phillips has a more romantic 
 history, for his father was one of the rescued slaves 
 
148 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 brought to Freetown by a British man-of-war. He 
 also has been engaged both in pastoral and educa- 
 tional work, and both have been for several years 
 in priest's orders, and are men of experience and 
 devotion. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 CONSECRATION, AND DEPUTATION WORK 
 
'^ Be to the flock of Christ 
 
 a shepherd^ not a wolf; 
 
 feed them, devour them not. 
 
 Hold Mp the weak, 
 
 heal the sick, 
 
 bind up the broken, 
 
 bring again the outcasts, 
 
 seek the lost. 
 
 Be so merciful 
 
 that you be not too remiss ; 
 
 so minister discipline 
 that you forget not mercy." 
 
 From the "Consecration of Bishops," 
 Book of Common Prayer. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 CONSECRATION, AND DEPUTATION WORK 
 
 LITTLE remains to be told, for the few events, 
 important though they were, between the return 
 home and the final departure, stand out from a back- 
 ground of incessant, and, in some aspects, monotonous 
 work. There was the visit to Durham, when the three 
 Bishops received their Doctor's degree and enjoyed 
 intercourse with Bishop Westcott, of whose writings 
 Bishop Hill had the profoundest admiration, and 
 whom he rejoiced to have the privilege of knowing. 
 
 The mere list of places visited on deputation nearly 
 takes away one's breath. He held meetings and 
 preached sermons in forty-four cities and large towns, 
 beside a great many in London and the neighbour- 
 hood. Though intensely longing to see more of his 
 children, whom he was so soon to leave behind, he 
 never refused an invitation where it was possible to 
 accept it, looking upon every opportunity to make 
 known the needs of Africa as a sacred trust for which 
 he was responsible ; and well, indeed, did he fulfil it ! 
 
 On St. Peter's Day the consecration took place of 
 151 
 
152 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 the three Bishops for Africa and the new Bishop of 
 Norwich. No one who was present in the grand 
 Cathedral of our Metropolis will ever forget the dignity 
 and solemnity of that service. There are times when 
 the reality of the union in the one Body forces itself 
 in a special manner upon us, and this was one of them. 
 The sight of the two earnest and devout brethren from 
 Western Africa, so soon to be admitted to the highest 
 Order in the Church, helped one to realise how all 
 barriers of race and colour break down in Him in 
 whom " there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision 
 nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor 
 free." The Chancel, densely packed with reverent 
 worshippers, re-echoed to the strains of loveliest 
 music exalting Him who on His cross and from His 
 throne has drawn and is drawing souls unto Himself 
 from every nation under heaven. The beautiful 
 pathetic voice of the Archbishop of Canterbury was 
 in itself music. Then there was the impressive sermon 
 by the Bishop of St. Andrews on the words, "Jesus 
 Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." It 
 was remarkable not only for the force of its language 
 and the beauty of its thoughts, but for the counsels 
 so lovingly given and so specially applicable to the 
 need of the African Bishops. When he spoke of 
 never receiving their clergy without a prayer, nor 
 sending them away without a blessing, one felt how that 
 one counsel, honestly carried out, would spiritualise 
 the relation between the Bishops and the pastors 
 under them. 
 
CONSECRATION, AND DEPUTATION WORK 153 
 
 " God only knows," he said in conclusion, and the words 
 have a ring of prophecy about them now, " how you shall be 
 led into the deep valley of Gethsemane, into the darkness 
 of Calvary ; God only knows when and how in your lonely 
 chamber — over-tired, over-wrought, in this busy, hurrying 
 age — Satan shall darken every experience of your life and 
 no voice rise but this, ' My God, my God, why hast Thou 
 forsaken me ? ' God knows, my brethren, but Jesus Christ 
 is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, whatever that 
 ' for ever ' may import. Only be still, be quiet ; never, never 
 forget to have a quiet hour ; never, if matters have taken 
 it from you in the week, fail to have a quiet day. Believe 
 Christ will govern the Church better than you can govern 
 it, and that your way of furthering the kingdom of Christ is 
 to let Him take you, as He takes you to-day, to be a star 
 in His right hand, to be guided by His eye ; and that that 
 can only be when you are alone with Him, and you com- 
 mune with your own heart, and are still. God will keep 
 you and make you more than conquerors in the power of 
 that Christ who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." 
 
 A very large number gathered at the Holy Table, 
 where the new Bishops assisted the Bishops of 
 Oxford and St Albans. 
 
 After his consecration, engagements crowded thick 
 and fast into the few weeks that Bishop Hill would 
 fain have given to children and friends. But duty 
 came ever first with him. It is easy to be wise 
 after the event ; one wonders whether it would have 
 been possible to hold him back, whether that sad 
 verdict might have been averted, repeated so often 
 by one and another who was with him at the last, 
 " Bishop Hill came out thoroughly over-worked." 
 
154 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 Has not the Christian Church something yet to learn 
 about the care and preservation of bodily health 
 and strength ? 
 
 There was much to interest and comfort the 
 Bishop's large warm heart in the visits he paid, often 
 hurriedly, on deputation work. Writing of his visit 
 to B., near a large sea-port, the clergyman's wife 
 who entertained him says : — 
 
 " His visit was a time of blessing to all in the house. 
 He was so bright, and seemed so very near the Master. 
 I so well remember when, after a tiring day, and having 
 addressed two crowded meetings, he gathered us for 
 family prayer. That prayer was one never to be forgotten. 
 He seemed to forget no one, and no country or class. 
 When saying good-bye to our coachman he shook his 
 hand heartily and said, ' If we don't meet again here we 
 shall in the glory.' The coachman said he never felt any 
 one's death so much, and we find so many in the village 
 felt as though a near relative had gone, so closely did he 
 twine himself round all our hearts. My little boys always 
 prayed for him daily, and were so fond of him." 
 
 It was very sweet to the Bishop to know of these 
 children's prayer ; he more than once alluded to it 
 with pleasure. 
 
 Much was written at the time of the Bishop's 
 clearly defined policy for West African Missions, so 
 for the benefit of those who did not enter into the 
 question it may be as well to give a few outlines 
 of his hopes for the future of the Church there. He 
 was very profoundly impressed with the claims of 
 
CONSECRATION, AND DEPUTATION WORK 155 
 
 the natives and the duty of doing justice to them. 
 He thought it unfair and ill-judged to compare 
 them with English congregations, a very common 
 fault arising from the tendency to ignore history. 
 As he argued, they are to be judged by what they 
 are, contrasted with what they were. And when 
 one thinks of the centuries of enlightenment we in 
 England have had, it is rather for us to hide our 
 faces in the dust, than to disparage the moral attain- 
 ments of a race that was in some parts cannibal 
 yesterday. 
 
 He did not think that conformity to native ways 
 in dress and in food was desirable. The native 
 dress in the Soudan he regarded as connected with 
 Mohammedan religion — indeed identified with it. 
 As for the native food, it was all very well, if not 
 cooked in native fashion. 
 
 Geographically his plan was to attack the Soudan 
 from two points — Yoruba and the Niger. Beyond 
 Abeokuta is a large native town called Oyo. This 
 is our most northern station, and the Bishop wanted 
 to make it a centre. He had already in his mind a 
 well-known native clergyman whom he hoped to send 
 there. Nowadays it is no surprise to hear of a town 
 of 300,000 inhabitants right in the middle of Africa ; 
 such is Illorin, and the Bishop longed to take it in the 
 name of the Lord, and let the Gospel be its first 
 introduction to European civilisation, there being no 
 trade there yet Will it be done? It needs men 
 and money. 
 
156 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 From the Niger side Lokoja would still be the 
 centre for the Hausa country. 
 
 It was very near the Bishop's heart to have a 
 training home at Onitsha under his own direction 
 for native agents and their wives, and also to build 
 there a hospital as the centre of medical mission 
 work. And then he was very anxious for a steamer, 
 for he very reasonably thought that the mistakes 
 made in relation to the Henry Venn might be 
 avoided, or what is the meaning of learning by 
 experience? It could be built at a much less 
 expense, and the cost of keeping it up would be 
 little more than is paid to the Royal Niger Company 
 for the accommodation in their steamers. 
 
 The Bishop spoke of these things constantly at the 
 last before leaving England. He hoped that money 
 would flow in and men be called out as soon as 
 the real wants of this corner of the Dark Continent 
 were made known. He talked and prayed and 
 thought and preached Africa, and Africa only. 
 
 A friend has supplied us with the following in- 
 teresting account of the Bishop as " Deputation," 
 which comes in appropriately here : — 
 
 " How many links of sacred friendship supporters 
 of the C.M.S. can date from the first visits of those 
 who have come beneath their roof, representing this 
 great Church Society for the evangelisation of the 
 world ! With what anxious feelings we have often 
 awaited the arrival of an unknown ' deputation ' ! 
 
CONSECRATION, AND DEPUTATION IVORK 157 
 
 We have wondered whether he would inspire and 
 strengthen our weak faith ; whether God's fire 
 would characterise his missionary utterances, thus 
 setting our hearts aglow for the needs of a perishing 
 world. Many, very many, * deputations ' have come 
 and gone, leaving with us holier aspirations and 
 quickened zeal. None more truly than the Rev. J. S. 
 Hill, who first visited us as a C.M.S. * deputation' 
 on May i6th, 1892. He arrived unexpectedly in the 
 early morning, and was by mistake shown into a 
 room where I was busily preparing for a Parish 
 Sale. His bright, genial greeting made me at home 
 with him at once, and instinctively I experienced 
 that feeling of trust which ever comes to us in the 
 presence of the good and true. His ready helpful- 
 ness soon manifested itself, and in a short time he 
 was carrying the heavy boxes of work downstairs, 
 ready as he always was to help one just in the way 
 most needed at the time. If only 'deputations' 
 knew the joy and gladness they carry with them 
 when they bring God's sunshine in their hearts 
 and faces as Mr. Hill did, those who receive them 
 would more often find that they 'have entertained 
 angels unawares.' Everywhere he won hearts in his 
 deputation work by his hearty, loving manner. My 
 first impression of his character was his breadth of 
 sympathy, an impression that deepened as our friend- 
 ship grew. He was very forbearing in his judgments 
 of others, and tolerant to those who viewed things 
 from different standpoints. How singularly he made 
 
158 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 the joys and sorrows of his friends his own ! He 
 ever spake the truth and nothing but the truth to 
 them, but it was so mingled with love that it always 
 helped and strengthened them to remedy that which 
 was lacking in their character or experience. He 
 helped to dispel their doubts and clear away their 
 mists of difficulty where others would perhaps only 
 have rebuked the doubt. 
 
 " We soon found out that Africa's great needs lay 
 very near his heart. How he rejoiced at the prospect 
 of going there again, where, as he said, the greatest 
 triumphs of the devil had taken place, and where, 
 he believed, would be the greatest triumphs of the 
 Cross ! He was praying earnestly at that time that 
 the C.M.S. might be guided in the choice of a Bishop 
 for West Africa. How very far from his own 
 thoughts it was that he himself would be called 
 to this high and holy office ! 
 
 " After a few short weeks he was with us again 
 for our C.M.S. anniversary. His sermons and ad- 
 dresses were alike characterised by freshness and 
 vigour of thought rarely met with in these days of 
 stereotyped phrases and conventional modes of ex- 
 pression. He spoke to the hearts of his audience, 
 never once over their heads. In the evening meeting 
 his own heart seemed overflowing with the needs of 
 the world, and he said he felt as Dr. Moffat did, when 
 speaking at a large meeting, when he could only 
 say again and again : ' It's a glorious work, it's a 
 glorious work — co-workers with God ! ' He described 
 
CONSECRATION, AND DEPUTATION WORK 159 
 
 most graphically the incident when he was saved 
 from drowning during his first visit to Africa. As 
 he was floating on the water he thought of those 
 praying at home, and it strengthened him. Years 
 after he heard from that devoted servant of Christ, 
 the late Major Malan, that at a certain hour every 
 day he had borne him up in prayer. Mr. Hill said 
 he could not help wondering if Major Malan's prayer 
 had not been a link in the chain of his preservation. 
 His closing words were intensely earnest : ' Beloved 
 friends, I am going out to Africa again because there 
 are 20,000,000 in the Soudan who have never heard 
 the Gospel. Most thankful shall I be for your prayers. 
 Pray for me! From that time numberless prayers 
 went up for him in this parish. (On his last visit 
 in September 1893 1 overheard a working man say, 
 as he wrung his hand, in parting, ' Good-bye, sir ; 
 you've left a prayer-book in our hearts ! ') 
 
 In August of the same year he came to us at 
 Bournemouth, where we were staying, and gave a 
 missionary address at St. John's, Boscombe. It was 
 an intensely solemn appeal for Africa's crying needs. 
 In this address he told how when a young man 
 he visited the Rev. J. N. Darby (who, whatever his 
 mistakes, was a most saintly man). He was lying 
 on a sick-bed not expecting to recover, and he said 
 to him words which made a deep impression : 
 * Young man, live in the heavenlies. Begin there; 
 I am ending there.' 
 
 " Again it was our privilege to welcome him at 
 
l6o JOSEPH SIDNEY HtLL 
 
 our annual C.M.S. gathering in June 1893, ^"d we 
 saw the needs of Africa were burnt more deeply 
 still into his heart. At our preparatory missionary 
 prayer meeting he spoke stirring words on obedience 
 the test of discipleship. On Sunday he pleaded with 
 burning earnestness for the millions of souls soon 
 to be committed to his charge, as he was now 
 appointed Bishop in Western Equatorial Africa. 
 ' The activities of God's love for the world cannot 
 be quenched, but are we rising to our privilege as 
 co-workers with Him for the salvation of souls ? ' 
 
 " Once again he visited us, in September, spending 
 ten days under our roof. Every member of our 
 family and household loved him, and he soon won 
 the hearts of all our parishioners. 
 
 " He had since his last visit been consecrated to 
 the high and holy office of a Bishop in the Church 
 of God, but he was clothed more than ever with 
 humility, ready at all times and in all ways to be 
 the 'servant of all.' This visit brought salvation to 
 the one unconverted member of our household. 
 
 "At this time our Annual Conference for the 
 deepening of the spiritual life was being held. He 
 preached the Conference sermon ; it was felt to be 
 one of the most powerful and comprehensive he 
 had ever preached. The subject was John iii. 34. 
 The last words on his private notes for this sermon 
 are : ' Broken-heartedness. Been up all nigJit! Surely 
 this was the secret of its striking power. May God 
 give us such compassion for the sins of the world ! 
 
From Photograph by Clarke, Bury St. Edmunds.} 
 
 
Consecration, and deputation work i6i 
 
 " Throughout the Conference God used him mightily. 
 To Church people and Nonconformists alike his 
 message was * in demonstration of the Spirit and 
 of power.' 
 
 " On the last Sunday morning a large number of 
 working men belonging to various denominations 
 attended the service in our church to hear him — a 
 witness truly to his catholicity of spirit, which drew 
 people of all shades of thought around him. The 
 next time this same body of men attended the service, 
 it was as a token of respect to his memory, on that 
 first Sunday after the Epiphany when the sad news 
 reached us from the West Coast of his home-call. 
 
 "Through these last days of fellowship he was 
 more than ever a sweet savour of Christ. He 
 was ever ready to do a kindly act for any one. 
 The day-school teachers were anxious to attend the 
 Conference missionary meeting ; the Bishop heard 
 this, and went himself to ask if the time might be 
 given them. His addresses during the Conference 
 were singularly helpful, specially one on * Cleansing.' 
 How many incidents live in our hearts of kindly 
 deeds prompted by his loving thoughtfulness ! He 
 was very anxious that a clergyman whom he loved 
 should attend the Keswick Convention. We heard 
 after his death that he said to a mutual friend : 
 ' How can we manage it ? Do you think it would 
 be easier for him if I stayed away from the 
 Convention and took his duty ? ' 
 
 " Many testimonies could be given from this parish 
 
 II 
 
1^2 JOSEPH SibNEY HILL 
 
 and neighbourhood of the manifold way in which 
 Bishop Hill was used to old and young, to rich 
 and poor alike. He felt strongly and impressed on 
 others the sacred nature of opportunity. I can 
 never forget his faithful word to one who felt 
 she had lost an opportunity of witnessing for Christ. 
 In his outspoken way he said : ' That opportunity 
 will never come to you. An opportunity given and 
 lost is never, never given back again.' Whenever 
 he visited us he talked, as was his wont, for hours 
 at night. Latterly he pleaded with impassioned 
 earnestness the claims of those who have never 
 heard the Gospel. . . . He besought with tears that 
 the tent pegs might be loosened and the stakes set 
 less firmly in the ground. One present then heard 
 through this faithful ambassador of the Cross his 
 own call ' to launch out yet further into the deep 
 and let down his net for a draught ' in the regions 
 beyond. He knew well that going to Africa meant the 
 possibility of a life laid down. Yet for that land he 
 was as ready to die as live, should the Lord so call. 
 Even before going out in 1892 he said to me of himself 
 and dear Mrs. Hill: *We are both going to a 
 deadly climate ; one or both of us may fall.' I said 
 I could not bear to think of such a possibility. 
 With a bright smile, though tears were in his eyes, 
 he said cheerfully, 'That's all right,' and soon his 
 merry ringing laugh was heard again. 
 
 " On All Saints' Day, after the Gleaners' Anniversary, 
 we bade farewell to the Bishop and Mrs. Hill, 'until 
 
CONSECRATION, AND DEPUTATION WORK 163 
 
 the day break and the shadows flee away.' During 
 that meeting Mrs. Hill gave me her last message, 
 * He that loseth His life for My sake shall find it' 
 I thank God I had the privilege of her friendship 
 as well as the Bishop's. She was one of the most 
 sensible, unselfish women I have ever met. Very 
 practical, yet withal so loving and humble, she, 
 like the Bishop, had wonderful powers of sympathy, 
 and so ably undertook his correspondence. 
 
 "The following letter she wrote to me on Mrs. 
 Douglas Hooper's death, at Jilore, seems strangely 
 appropriate now, and has an added meaning of 
 comfort and strength : — 
 
 " ' I feel afraid of writing to you, for human sympathy 
 does seem so feeble in the presence of a great sorrow like 
 yours; and sometimes it almost seems like an intrusion 
 into one's innermost being that feels harsh and unwelcome. 
 But I can only assure you that I do pray that the " God of 
 ail comfort " may speak to your heart in such a way that 
 you may very soon be able to praise Him that the dear 
 one is in His bright presence, and that from lacking this 
 *' nether spring " you have drunk much deeper from the 
 " upper spring." A big sorrow, I think, always does this 
 for the children of the King. Of course to our vision it 
 seems sometimes as if those most needed were taken away ; 
 but our Father makes no mistakes, and this home-call of 
 Edith Douglas Hooper certainly means for her joy, of which 
 we can have no conception till we too are in the immediate 
 presence of the King; while for her friends left behind, 
 I believe it will be just the Good Shepherd leading them 
 through the narrow lonely path that He may bring them 
 out into a wealthy place. 
 
l64 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 " * Oh ! dear , He has done it, and you can trust 
 
 Him. 
 
 li < u Praise God the Shepherd is so sweet ! 
 Praise God the country is so fair ! 
 We could not hold them from His feet, 
 We can but haste to meet them there ! " 
 
 " * With heartfelt love and sympathy, 
 
 " ' Ever yours in Him, 
 
 " ' Lucy Hill.' " 
 
 This letter, which fitly closes Mrs. 's account, 
 
 is a beautiful pendant to the one Mrs. Hill wrote on 
 her marriage, in which she expressed her willingness 
 to die, if God so willed it, for Africa. From first to 
 last she was thoroughly sincere and consistent in her 
 devotion, and the pain of loss to those who loved 
 them both so well is often alleviated by the thought 
 of the " readiness to be offered " which characterised 
 husband and wife alike. 
 
 Well do we recall those sunny September days 
 
 at S , enjoying a fulness of intercourse with our 
 
 beloved friend which could not in the course of our 
 busy lives be often attained. One day he rowed a 
 few friends on the beautiful river, and Mr. and 
 Mrs. Binns, of East Africa, were of the party. It 
 was one of those days that stand out in golden light 
 amid the thickly gathering shadows of life. The 
 calm full river, the lovely landscape crowned with 
 the Cathedral spire, the happy chastened talk of those 
 men who were going to travel soon on rivers and 
 through country haunted by fever and befouled with 
 
CONSECRATION, AND DEPUTATION WORK 165 
 
 sin and idolatry, — yet how little we realised " it is 
 the last time!" 
 
 On the last Sunday the Bishop preached in the 
 afternoon in the Cathedral * to a vast crowd. It 
 was another fervid appeal to come and die for 
 Africa. Most of the party then gathered together 
 
 at F Rectory came up to London a few 
 
 days after to be present at the dismissal meetings. 
 We gathered together at St. Bride's round the 
 Holy Table. Friends from all parts had made an 
 effort to be present that day. No one who heard 
 the Bishop's sermon on "The Fellowship of His 
 Sufferings" will ever forget it. No notes, however 
 full, can give any adequate idea of the power he 
 had of swaying an audience. It was the intense 
 reality, the baring of his heart, the force of his 
 convictions, which made men listen almost in awe 
 as he poured out his message. There was a young 
 man there that day who was in the midst of as 
 successful a career as heart could desire. He had 
 taken two scholarships, and passed brilliantly into 
 Oxford. He was being spoken of as likely to make 
 a mark in the literary world in the near future. Of 
 godly parentage and personally religious, life was 
 yet very attractive ; but as Bishop Hill lifted up the 
 Cross of shame, and the light from heaven fell on 
 the self-sacrificing King of Glory, he began to see 
 something of the beauty of following the Lord fully, 
 
 * Salisbury, 
 
1 66 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 of laying all his gifts and powers at the pierced 
 feet. " He was not disobedient to the heavenly 
 vision." He is now going forth as a missionary to 
 India. 
 
 This is only one special instance of the effect of 
 his burning words. Though he sometimes expressed 
 himself disappointed that he had not obtained all 
 the men whom he had pleaded for, seed was sown 
 which perhaps will bear fruit in a later generation ; 
 and to how many his sermons were an inspiration 
 for the self-sacrifice of daily life ! 
 
 A lady who had gone to the Keswick Convention 
 on one occasion, very heavily laden, remarked with 
 tears of gratitude : — 
 
 " My message came on the last Sunday. I was walking 
 sadly hom.e to my lodgings in the evening ; my way lay past 
 the big tent. I heard a voice I did not know, and I waited 
 a moment to listen. I shall never forget it, I was riveted 
 to the spot. The love of God seemed to come to me in 
 a new light as that yearning passionate voice poured out its 
 eager pleadings with sinners 'to look unto Him and be 
 saved.' I did not know till afterwards that the preacher 
 was Bishop Hill." 
 
 On All Saints' Day Bishop Hill, as Gleaners' 
 " Own Missionary," presided at the Gleaners' Union 
 Meeting in Exeter Hall, to which allusion has 
 already been made. He gave some interesting facts 
 of the response that had been made to the needs 
 of the Niger Mission. When he went down to 
 Exeter, a clergyman who had intended to give ;^250 
 
CONSECRATION, AND DEPUTATION WORK 167 
 
 to build a Mission Church, after hearing the Bishop 
 offered to double the amount. It happened that 
 Bishop Hill had just had a letter from Mr. Dobinson 
 asking him if he could raise ;^500 for a new church 
 at Onitsha. Thus he had the exact sum. Mrs. 
 Bishop's (Isabella Bird's) wonderfully touching ad- 
 dress, which she rose from a sick-bed to give, has 
 been so extensively circulated that we need only 
 allude to it here. It made a profound impression. 
 None in that vast gathering will surely ever forget 
 the parting words of the Chairman compressed into 
 the last three minutes. He said : — 
 
 " I have three words to leave with you, an inspiration, 
 Si fellow ship ^ a sacrifice. I knew one most powerful preacher, 
 one who had been much used of God in the salvation of 
 souls, and whenever you heard that man preach you would 
 often discover that just as he looked down at what you 
 would think to be notes, he seemed to get some fresh 
 inspiration. And if you were to go and look at those notes 
 you would see just one word, Jesus. I want you, beloved 
 Gleaners, to get a fresh inspiration to-night from that loving 
 one, Jesus. Look upon Him that you may get a fresh 
 inspiration for this year's service. And then, a felloivship. 
 I do not know if you have ever read the remarkable passage 
 in the Life of Henry Martyn, in which he gives an account 
 of how he spent a night in agonising sorrow, which was the 
 result of a thought coming to his mind of the value of a 
 soul to God. He began to think of the various outcasts 
 in India as being quite as dear to God as the kings of 
 Britain. And that night he spent in prayer, in tears, in 
 sorrow over souls. Beloved Gleaners, I pray God that this 
 year you may know something of the fellowship with the 
 
i68 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ in His sorrow for souls. And now 
 that other word, sacrifice. A noble youth of Rome, who 
 discovered the riches of God's grace in Christ, and became 
 a follower of the Lord, went to Hermas with a desire. 
 * What,' said he, ' can I do in return for such love as this ? ' 
 Hermas took out the noble young fellow and showed him 
 something of the sin of Rome, and as he pointed out here 
 and there something of the need of its souls, he said : 
 ' Here you will find an altar, and there become the sacrifice.' 
 Look upon the fields, white unto the harvest. Look upon 
 the millions that are without Christ in the world to-night 
 in their awful sin, and you will find an altar, and may God 
 help you, beloved Gleaners, to be a sacrifice." 
 
 Thus he went forth to sacrifice, but what a glad 
 sacrifice it was ! Amid all the desperately hard work 
 of those last weeks he maintained his boyish spirits. 
 He perfectly exemplified the paradox, " Sorrowful yet 
 always rejoicing." A highly characteristic incident 
 comes from the Archbishop. When he and his two 
 native colleagues were leaving Addington, and good- 
 byes had been said, Bishop Hill turned round and 
 said : " There's only one thing 1 regret ; I've got the 
 men I wanted, and I've got the money I wanted, but 
 I did want to snowball these two fellows ! " 
 
CHAPTER X 
 SAFE HOME IN PORT 
 
" And oh / if any think this story sad, 
 The pity is for them, who yet must learn 
 What Life is, — and what Death ; and to those souls 
 Who read both only in the pure, white light 
 Where God abides and teaches, those who fix 
 Their eager gaze tipon the things not seen, 
 I ivhisper, ' See, this picture is not Death, 
 But risen Life, another hero-face 
 Stamped with high victory before he fell 
 Triumphant where he fail' d, crown d on his Cross, 
 And like his L^ord, self-sentenced to his doom' " 
 
 Eleanor Furske 
 
CHAPTER X 
 SAFE HOME IN PORT 
 
 AT last the final start was made. On November 
 2 1st, 1893, the large party of missionaries 
 met at Liverpool and embarked next day on 
 board the Batanga. The morning was so stormy 
 that there was a doubt whether she could start, 
 and although she got out, the pilot was carried in 
 ^o Milford Haven, it being impossible to land him 
 at the usual place. Better weather soon prevailed, 
 and as the passengers and missionaries ventured 
 on deck next day, the kind helpfulness of Bishop 
 and Mrs. Hill began to be, as it ever was, con- 
 spicuous, giving up their chairs, choosing the least 
 comfortable quarters, making friends with every 
 one. " Their tenderness and watchfulness never 
 flagged," writes one who was present, "and not one 
 of the large missionary party was left out in the 
 cold." 
 
 Then began a time of spiritual teaching and valu- 
 able technical instruction, on which the survivors 
 look back with lively gratitude. Every day the 
 
 171 
 
172 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 missionary party met in some quiet part of the 
 deck where they would not disturb others, and the 
 Bishop conducted a Bible reading with them, taking 
 chiefly the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which 
 he looked upon as the missionary's vade-mecum, 
 both on questions of personal holiness and those 
 which arise from contact with the heathen. All 
 were encouraged to ask questions, and when the 
 allotted hour was over the Bishop was generally 
 to be seen leaning over the bulwarks in earnest talk 
 with one or other of the young clergy, discussing 
 some point that had arisen during the reading. 
 How they valued a quiet talk with him, con- 
 scious that when the busy missionary life in Africa 
 had once begun such opportunities would rarely 
 occur ! 
 
 The Sunday services were unique, inasmuch as 
 the congregation was ministered to by two Bishops, 
 one of them a native (Bishop Phillips had gone on 
 before). The passengers, ship's officers, and crew 
 were all eager in their attendance. In the morning 
 the Holy Communion was administered. There 
 was a Bible reading at three, and in the evening 
 an important service was held for the sailors in their 
 own quarters, to which many others found their 
 way and listened unobserved. The monotony of 
 the voyage was first broken by a visit to Grand 
 Canary, where the missionaries spent a long day. 
 The Bishop was the merriest of the party, but it 
 was observed that in the evening he seemed much 
 
SAi^E HOME IN PORT 173 
 
 exhausted. From thence the telegram was sent 
 to the C.M.S. at home, announcing all well, which 
 filled so many hearts in England with thankfulness 
 and joy. 
 
 We extract from one of the Bishop's rare letters, 
 posted here to his children : — 
 
 " ... We very, very often are talking of you both, and 
 if your little ears burn you may be sure old Dad is talking 
 of you. It has been a very great help and comfort to us 
 to feel you are so brave and good about it all. You may 
 be quite certain of this, that the loving Lord and Saviour 
 will make up to you in His love, and His care, and His 
 blessing, all the loving sacrifice you make for Him. Is 
 it not lovely to think of our having such a nice passage, 
 the wind fair all the way, and so calm, when it has been 
 so rough before, and so many have suffered ? It is quite 
 like summer-time — so warm, so bright — and we are just 
 going to land for an hour or so. Mother was saying this 
 morning it would be such a nice trip for you to come and 
 meet us with darling old Auntie — you, I am sure, would 
 enjoy it to-day — and we could, perhaps, manage to have a 
 month together here before the many meetings, which take 
 away father so much from home. My darlings, I want you 
 to be very, very dear loving treasures to Auntie. I want 
 you to keep very near to the side of Jesus all the time. 
 Just have the joy of pleasing Him in everything, and don't 
 think you need wait until you are older, but begin now 
 to so try and serve the Lord that you may have many, 
 very many jewels in your crown by-and-by. Pray for dear 
 mother and father, and remember the Lord Jesus has 
 always answered your prayers. And don't forget that to be 
 what the Lord Jesus wants you to be is even better than 
 serving Him. Now, darlings, the Lord be with you and 
 
174 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 keep you, both in body and soul, and make your peace and 
 joy to be in Himself more and more. With our very, very 
 warmest love, 
 
 " Your own loving 
 
 " Dad." 
 
 The next letter has a special interest, inasmuch as 
 it was the last ever penned to his children. After his 
 arrival at Lagos, Mrs. Hill says, " Sidney is entirely 
 occupied in African affairs " : — 
 
 " S.S. ' Batanga,' Dece?nber sth, 1893. 
 
 "My own Darling Pets, — 
 
 " I have been thinking that it will be very near 
 Christmas by the time this gets home ; so I must first wish 
 you both a very, very happy Christmas. When I was a boy I 
 don't think I liked Christmas as much as I do now, because 
 it means so much more to me. I used to like Good Friday 
 and Easter, because it told me of His death and His love 
 for me ; but now I sometimes think it was His birth as Man 
 made Him known to us as we know Him now. I hope you 
 will see what a wonderful gift He is. God's Christmas gift 
 is Jesus. 
 
 '* You know since I have been on board it has been my 
 birthday, and the Captain had quite a nice tea arranged for 
 me. Was it not kind ? Everybody on board has been so 
 very good to us, so friendly, and we have been so happy 
 together in our work and in our prospects of work. I often 
 wish you could be with us. I have seen some fish this 
 time we have never seen before. . . . Though it is very hot 
 to-night, yet I don't think I feel it so much as some of th^em. 
 . . . Mother is doing Mr. Wigram's letter (typing) — a long 
 one I have written upon the training of agents for the mission 
 
SAFE HOME IN PORT 175 
 
 field. I wonder when you both will be ready for training, 
 and able to come out with us. Mother is so much better, 
 I think, and I do hope she will keep well all the time. 
 Now, my precious pets, I do hope all is going on well with 
 you. I suppose we shall not hear a word from you for 
 another month, so until then we shall not know how any of 
 you are. May the loving Lord keep you both and dearest 
 Auntie in His holy keeping ! Keep yourselves in His 
 love. Remember how much more He can do for you 
 than any one else, and how very, very near He is to you, 
 and try — oh ! do, my precious darlings, try — to please Him 
 in everything. With our very, very best love to you and 
 Auntie, 
 
 " Your ever-loving old 
 
 " Dad." 
 
 On December 6th they reached Sierra Leone, and 
 on landing went straight to Canon Taylor Smith's 
 house, where they found that a missionary meeting 
 had been arranged in the Wilberforce Memorial Hall 
 to welcome them. As soon as the BatangcHs gun 
 fired, the bellman was sent round to gather the 
 people together, and the hall was soon crammed 
 with people, scarcely a white face to be seen among 
 them. 
 
 All the missionaries were on the platform, opposite 
 which they read, in large letters, " The Church of 
 Sierra Leone greets you." It was an inspiring sight, 
 and it must have been well calculated to cheer the 
 hearts of those who had left all to carry the name 
 of Christ to the Dark Continent to hear those five 
 hundred voices joining in the grand old hymns "Jesus 
 
176 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 shall reign " and " All hail the power of Jesu's 
 name." 
 
 At Sierra Leone two of the party were left — 
 Mr. Alvarez to help in work at Fourah Bay College, 
 and Miss Thornewell. The rest soon went on board 
 again, taking back with them Bishop Phillips and 
 Mr. Tugwell, who had preceded them to Sierra 
 Leone. To this Bishop Hill had looked forward 
 with great delight, saying when a little anxious on 
 one occasion, " It will be all right when Tugwell 
 comes." 
 
 Everything was done by the missionaries to give 
 pleasure to their fellow-passengers, and they took 
 care to partake without grudging in their innocent 
 amusements. They joined in two concerts, and twice 
 the Bishop illustrated a story with his magic lantern. 
 At the last of these entertainments there was very 
 hearty cheering and expressions of thanks to the one 
 whom all felt had contributed so much to the comfort 
 and pleasure of the voyage. 
 
 And so the last Sunday came round. Bishop 
 Oluwole preached by special request in the morning, 
 and in the evening Bishop Hill gave his parting word. 
 Miss Maxwell says : — 
 
 " I don't remember the text, but can never forget his 
 glowing words as he told of the preciousness of his Lord and 
 besought each one to know Him and love Him, saying there 
 was something in Him too wonderful and beautiful for 
 words to describe — that if we only saw it no pleading would 
 be needed, but that to know it we must appropriate Him." 
 
Frotn Pholograph by T. C. Turner & Co., lo, Barnsbury Park, N.\ 
 
 
 
SAFE HOME IN PORT 177 
 
 The following Tuesday they reached the bar out- 
 side Lagos. All were sorry to leave the Batanga and 
 their kind Captain. As the good-byes were being 
 said he remarked to Mrs. Hill, who was one of the 
 last to leave, " Well, this is the most precious load 
 that has ever landed at one time at Lagos." 
 
 The method of landing would not commend itself 
 generally to ladies. They were lowered in barrels 
 into a canoe, and again hoisted in the same way from 
 the canoe to the steamer which was waiting to carry 
 them in — a process which must have taken some time, 
 one would think. 
 
 How wonderful that welcome must have seemed 
 to those arriving in Africa for the first time ! What 
 high hopes, what fulfilled aspirations were theirs ! In 
 all ages no doubt missionaries have felt the same. 
 As they stood up and sang " All hail the power of 
 Jesu's name," an echo came to them over the dividing 
 waters, and every moment they descried more clearly 
 the figures on the beach, until they realised that they 
 were only one part of a mighty congregation uniting 
 together, black and white, in the exaltation of their 
 common Lord. 
 
 But behind this outward unity there was a back- 
 ground of disaffection which soon made itself felt. 
 The Assistant-Bishops did not receive the warm 
 welcome which Bishop Hill had hoped for, and he 
 was keenly disappointed to find questions re-opening 
 which he thought he had left closed. It would be a 
 grave mistake were we to enter now on these subjects 
 
 12 
 
178 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 of disagreement in these pages ; yet it is impossible 
 to represent truthfully the condition of mind and 
 body which made the Bishop so ready a prey to fever, 
 without alluding to the depressing influences which 
 produced that condition. The man who perhaps 
 knew best says that the cold reception and unfriendly 
 attitude of some "preyed upon his sensitive mind 
 and distressed and broke his loving heart." Such 
 language may be, indeed, the hyperbole of affection, 
 but there can be no doubt about the pain and 
 disappointment he felt. Physically he was in a 
 worn-out condition ; he had been working incessantly 
 in England up to the last minute, as we have seen, 
 and he missed the potent stimulus of thorough 
 sympathy and co-operation which he had joyfully 
 anticipated. 
 
 There was, however, a ray of comfort in the cordial 
 relations between himself and Bishop Ingham, with 
 whom he had much business to transact. There is 
 something touching in the following sentences, which 
 occur in a letter from a home-going missionary whom 
 he and Mrs. Hill accompanied across the bar. She 
 was anxious about his health and told him so, and 
 what she elicited in reply 
 
 " did not tend," she writes, " to allay my anxiety. I said 
 what I could in remonstrance, and he told me he had 
 just been to breakfast with Bishop Ingham, and spoke of 
 his calm way of facing difficulties and of the sunshine 
 he threw on them, and he added, ' He has been such 
 a help and comfort to me.' He had gone to breakfast 
 
SAFE HOME IN PORT 179 
 
 feeling very depressed, but Bishop's Ingham's fellowship 
 and the prayer they had had together had done him so 
 much good. And he concluded, 'And now I am as 
 lively as a sand-boy.' I can hear his ringing laugh as he 
 said it." 
 
 How characteristic is this little incident ! No 
 one was ever more susceptible to sympathy, as 
 no one was more capable of giving it. One looks 
 with pleasure on the picture of the two Bishops 
 meeting in that spiritual wilderness, like David 
 and Jonathan in the wood (meeting but to part 
 for ever !), to strengthen one another's hands in 
 God. 
 
 He was, of course, kept busy from the moment he 
 landed. We pass from stormy meetings where he 
 patiently strove to set things right that had gone 
 wrong again, and notice with pleasure his first 
 Confirmation on Christmas Eve, then the services 
 on Christmas Day, on both of which occasions the 
 Bishop preached. 
 
 Then came the last Sunday, when in the evening 
 he preached a powerful sermon on the text, " Died 
 Abner as a fool dieth," the subject being " three 
 lives " — a wasted life, a disappointing life, a worth- 
 less life. And he pleaded earnestly with the 
 young men present not to disappoint the Lord's 
 expectations of them, but to begin with that new 
 year to live such lives as might be worthy of Him. 
 It was ev?r a favourite theme with him, the im- 
 portance of the gift of life, the baseness and ingrati- 
 
i8o JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 tude of frittering it away or misusing it. We cannot 
 believe that his last appeal was without fruit. And 
 so the Old Year passed away and a New Year 
 dawned which to six of .the mission party was to 
 have no ending, but to merge into the days of 
 eternity. 
 
 Mrs. Hill's last letters are dated December 30th, with 
 a postscript of January ist Full of loving counsel to 
 her children about little matters of health, such things 
 as occupy a mother's thoughts, they mention little 
 inconveniences — a passing cloud of locusts which 
 had left the country bare when they swept by, 
 prickly heat in her eyes which made writing some- / 
 what painful — but no hint of coming disaster, no 
 foreshadowing of the silence never more to be broken 
 " till Jesus comes." 
 
 In her letter to her sister almost the last words 
 are the text of a sermon of Bishop Oluwole's before 
 he started for Abeokuta, " To me to live is Christ." 
 A week later we know she could finish the verse 
 from blessed experience. 
 
 They all went to early service on that New 
 Year's morning, and then the Bishop set off to 
 visit a young Scotchman in the hospital who was 
 dangerously ill. In the meantime there was a report 
 that the steamer by which they hoped to go on to 
 Onitsha was in the roads. It turned out that she 
 was not able to take them, but in any case they 
 could not have gone, for Mrs. Hill adds : " Almost 
 at the same moment 1 found Sister's hands and 
 
SAFE HOME IN PORT i8i 
 
 feet were icy cold, and saw in a moment she 
 was * in ' for fever." This was the beginning. 
 Miss Maxwell (known to the mission party, as at 
 Mildmay, as Sister Louisa) was the first attacked 
 and the only one who recovered of the Niger 
 party. 
 
 The Bishop then had his last interview with 
 Dr. Oluwole, who was starting for an episcopal 
 tour in the Yoruba district. The latter remarked 
 that he looked tired and worried, but he entered 
 fully, as was his wont, into the plans for the work, 
 which included careful consideration of candidates 
 for ordination. 
 
 In the evening of the same day the Bishop became 
 ill, and soon afterwards his wife. 
 
 Sister Louisa was moved over to the Girls' Seminary 
 to make room for the invalids, and then began the 
 fight of Love with Death, " I do not fear because 
 of the fever," said the Doctor, as he examined the 
 Bishop, "but I think very seriously of the state 
 of his heart." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Vernall were unremitting in their 
 care of the patients. (Alas ! tkei'r case was harder, 
 for Death separated them?) The young clergy were 
 in and out, full of solicitude and anxiety to be of 
 help. And so the sad days of that fatal week passed 
 by. The Bishop spoke little, but in delirium he 
 pleaded earnestly with souls. 
 
 " Ask — that young man if — there is any reason 
 why — he should not take Christ as his Saviour," 
 
1^2 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 he once exclaimed eagerly. The ruling passion, 
 strong in death, asserted itself. 
 
 The last words exchanged between husband and 
 wife were on Thursday night, when the Bishop said, 
 " I am going Home." Mrs. Hill heard him, and 
 at once replied, " Yes, we are going Home." 
 
 His sufferings were intense. 
 
 On Friday morning he tried to say, " Pray," 
 and as Mr. Vernall knelt by his side and prayed 
 briefly that he might realise the presence and 
 peace and rest of Jesus, and that the Great 
 Physician would lay His hand upon him, he tried 
 with difficulty to clasp his hand, and to say, 
 " Amen." Very soon the prayer was answered. 
 The Great Physician laid so strong a hand upon 
 him that he could not choose but follow Him right 
 through the dark valley, and 
 
 " Where beyond these voices there is Peace." 
 
 This was Friday afternoon. Mrs. Hill still lay 
 unconscious. Mr. Tugwell, in the long and inter- 
 esting account from which these details are taken, 
 draws a beautiful picture, which we who mourn would 
 retain in our memories : — 
 
 " As I write the light of my lamp falls through the open 
 doorway upon the sleeping, restful form of the Bishop, 
 robed in his rochet by the loving hands of Bishop Phillips. 
 Since his death a beautiful smile has lit up his otherwise 
 haggard features." 
 
SAFE HOME IN PORT 183 
 
 Mrs. Hill never knew her loss : her call came a little 
 after midnight. They kept their Epiphany Feast 
 together in the presence of the Lord. 
 
 When Mr. Tugwell opened the visitors' book a 
 day or two after, to make a note of the date of 
 their departure to be with Christ, he found 
 the Bishop's text under his name had been Rom. 
 viii. 38, 39, and Mrs. Hill had written in full : 
 " Whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall 
 find itr 
 
 At 4 p.m. (Saturday, January 6th, 1894) they were 
 carried into Christ Church, where the first part of 
 the funeral service was read. Bishop Phillips, Rev. 
 H. Tugwell (now Bishop), Archdeacon Johnson, and 
 several clergy, both native and of the mission 
 party, being present, and a vast congregation filled 
 the church and surrounded the grave. They sang 
 in church, " For all Thy saints who from their 
 labours rest," and " How sweet the hour ; " while at 
 the graveside, 
 
 " Hush ! blessed are the dead, 
 In Jesu's arms who rest," 
 
 Stilled the lamentations of the warm-hearted people, 
 to whom the loss of the Bishop was so sudden and 
 so strange. 
 
 *• Jesus, Lord of Glory, as we breast the tide, 
 Whisper Thou the story of the other side ; 
 Where the saints are casting crowns before Thy leet, 
 Safe for everlasting, in Thyself complete ! " 
 
184 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 Unfortunately, there could not be communication 
 with Onitsha, as the wire to Akassa was broken. So 
 the two who were waiting there, Mr. Dobinson and 
 Mr. Wilson, with the lady workers, had nothing to 
 break the force of the blow when, instead of six whom 
 they were expecting, the Bishop at their head, the 
 news came that only one of the party was on his way. 
 The distress was very great in the compound and out 
 of it. The chiefs were coming in constantly with 
 their lamentations and expressions of sympathy, 
 while the wailing in the neighbourhood was some- 
 thing terrible to hear. The poor natives could only 
 realise that their friend and father was not coming 
 back to them, and they were inconsolable. 
 
 The Bishop's boy, Samuel, expressed no doubt the 
 feelings of many in the following touching letter, 
 which we transcribe just as it stands, feeling that it 
 will be interesting to all who love the African. 
 
 The date is, of course, a mistake. 
 
 " It was on February that we receive the sad, sad news, 
 which tells us that our dear Bishop and his wife were dead 
 at Lagos when coming to us here on the Niger. We have 
 been looking out for them in a very happy way ; but at last 
 we failed. The same day that we receive the sad news is 
 the day that we expect to see him in the mission station at 
 Onitsha. But when we receive the very sad news, we faint. 
 It is a very marvellous thing in our eyes, but God knows 
 the better way of doing His 7vork.^^ (So the poor negro boy 
 and the aged New Zealand Archdeacon had come to the 
 same conclusion. See Introduction.) '' The Bishop, as 
 far as I can judge, is a man who has much power in God's 
 
SAFE HOME IN PORT 185 
 
 work, and when preaching he is very desirous to people to 
 understand him. The one that I am speaking (of) is just 
 for a month and half, which he stays at Onitsha, January 
 and February 1893. He laboured night and day as I see, 
 having no time to rest. The chiefs of our country are seen 
 every day in the mission station, and he settles many 
 palavers for them, and they calls him the peacemaker. I, 
 the same boy which is saying all these things, was his boy 
 when he first came. I am an African boy, Onitsha on the 
 Niger boy; he is very kind to everybody, great and small. Any 
 time he asks any one to do something, he begins with, Will 
 you ? Everybody on the Niger loves him. He has done 
 a great deal of work here. When he is coming, everything 
 is kept till the Bishop comes. I believe he wants to make 
 the mission here a very good one ; I have heard and read 
 how he tried very hard in England to work for us. But 
 now God has taken him to be with Him. This is the Lord's 
 doing, it is marvellous in our eyes. His wife, too, is very 
 loving and gentle ; both were loving in their lives, and in 
 their death they were not divided. I must end here. If 
 I had been with him a long time, I would have said many 
 things about his kindness. But one thing I know, he is full 
 of kindness to everybody. 
 
 "Samuel C. Obuyanwulu.'' 
 
 This boy had written a most touching letter to the 
 Bishop when he was in England, entreating him to 
 send him where he would be able to learn more, 
 "whether in England or elsewhere, that I may be 
 taught how to labour in the Lord's plenteous harvest. 
 Why I tell you so quick is because I want it to be 
 easier for you when you come back again ; so that 
 when I grow up I will be able to work and live for 
 
1 86 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." His postscript is : " May God 
 help you in all your works ; may He bless you and 
 lead you with His Holy Spirit. Amen." 
 
 We have said that only one man of the Niger party 
 reached Onitsha. Messrs. Sealey and Matthias died 
 on the way up. The latter was ordained by Bishop 
 Hill in October at St. Paul's, Onslow Square. A 
 tender regard existed between them, and he felt the 
 Bishop's loss keenly, yet so truly did he recognise the 
 will of God to be " good, and acceptable, and perfect " 
 that he was able to sign the letter of mournful details 
 which he wrote from Lagos, " Yours joyfully in 
 HimP The child of earnest Christian parents, he early 
 consecrated a vigorous youth of rare promise to the 
 highest service. He had worked for three or four 
 years at St. Paul's, Onslow Square, and at Cambridge, 
 while reading for his degree. The last Sunday before 
 leaving England he had preached in the mission- 
 room connected with St. Paul's from the words : " I 
 am now ready to be offered, and the time of my 
 departure is at hand " ; and in an unfinished private 
 letter written from Lagos he had written : " I want 
 to be just willing to be anything as long as His name 
 may be glorified in my body, whether by life or by 
 death." He died in the Forcados river, and they 
 carried his body some way up the country to the 
 compound of a European who kindly offered this 
 last resting-place that he might not lie surrounded 
 by the heathen. 
 
 Well might the lonely brother missionary left 
 
SAFE HOME IN PORT 187 
 
 behind have expressed himself in Trench's beautiful 
 words : — 
 
 " Brief words we read of faith and prayer, 
 Beside that hasty grave, 
 Then turned away and left him there, 
 The gentle and the brave. 
 
 " And, comforted, I praised the grace 
 Which him had led to be 
 An early seeker of that Face 
 Which he should early see." 
 
 Mr. Sealey died a little later on, and was buried at 
 Warn, where the Bishop had been importuned to 
 leave a missionary. Thus the Church took possession 
 for Christ ! 
 
APPENDIX 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 WE reprint, by permission, from the Life of Faith 
 and the Record^ papers written by intimate 
 friends in the first flush of bereavement, because they 
 sparkle with personal touches ; and to them we append 
 notes of an address by the Bishop himself One 
 lingers lovingly among the mass of skeleton sermons 
 which he left behind ; but they are so truly skeleton 
 that it would be impossible to reproduce them. The 
 address given was taken down at the time, but 
 contains little more than headings ; but it gives an 
 idea of the real practical way in which he dealt 
 with spiritual subjects. There was no " legal fiction " 
 about salvation in his presentation of it. He pro- 
 claimed real deliverance from sin ; therefore souls in 
 earnest welcomed his teaching. 
 
 Reminiscences of a Missionary from the. 
 Niger. 
 
 We first met at Lagos in 1892. His greeting was, 
 " How are you, dear brother ? " accompanied with that 
 bright smile of his, and a cordial handshake. 
 
 191 
 
192 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 The first thing I noticed was, that he was so 
 fatherly and genial, especially to all the missionaries, 
 ever thinking of the comfort and welfare of others. 
 If any of us were not quite up to the mark, out 
 would come the medicine chest, and we should be 
 promptly doctored ; and, I must add, with remarkable 
 success. Another thing was his utter contempt for 
 conventionalities. 
 
 He was the life and brightness of our party ; his 
 hearty laugh would peal out above all the rest. His 
 loving, affectionate way won all our hearts, and we 
 were delighted to serve him. Mrs. Hill, although 
 quieter in manner, was equally loved by us all. She 
 and her husband were essentially one in everything. 
 They were pre-eminently " given to hospitality," and 
 were never so glad as when surrounded by a happy 
 circle of friends. But that which I appreciated more 
 than all was the total absence of that rather stiff 
 and proper English propriety. They were delight- 
 fully informal and real in all their intercourse with 
 others. 
 
 I was also impressed by the real courtesy and 
 gentleness with which he treated any African visitor. 
 Nothing in his manner or demeanour would remind 
 them that they were members of another race. If 
 anything, with them he was slightly more punctilious 
 than with Europeans, to avoid wounding their sus- 
 ceptibilities. It was simply wonderful how soon he 
 seemed to win their love and confidence. Those 
 who bitterly opposed his policy could not withstand 
 
APPENDIX 193 
 
 the charm of his manner and presence. Yet beneath 
 all this real kindness and courtesy of demeanour they 
 knew that on a point of principle he would stand 
 like a rock. He was ever ready to stand up for 
 the oppressed ; and on one occasion, at least, came 
 into very sharp collision with the " powers that be ' ' 
 on a question in which he thought the natives had 
 not got fair play. 
 
 He was a first-rate cook, and very frequently 
 cooked our dinner at Onitsha, bringing the dishes 
 and putting them on the table amid a continual 
 stream of happy, innocent fun. Nothing came amiss 
 — marking out sites, planning buildings, climbing a 
 tree to survey the country, writing, reading, preach- 
 ing, doctoring ; he was, indeed, prepared unto every 
 good work. 
 
 He lived in a little mud cottage, and seemed 
 perfectly happy and contented while there, although 
 he made it his first business to see that proper dwell- 
 ing-houses were sent out for the hew missionaries. 
 
 We all told him our secrets, and consulted him 
 about our private affairs. He would listen with 
 earnest sympathy, and spared himself no trouble to 
 help us out of any difficulty — spiritual or temporal. 
 On one occasion, when I was much exercised upon 
 a question upon which I asked his advice, he got 
 out of bed — we were both sleeping on deck — and 
 paced the deck with me for at least a couple of 
 hours. 
 
 He was a keen observer, and formed very rapid 
 
 13 
 
194 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 judgments on the character of people with whom 
 he came in contact. Where he trusted, he trusted 
 implicitly. 
 
 Both the Bishop and Mrs. Hill's one thought 
 seemed to be to minister to others — in any and 
 every way. I remember going with him to visit a 
 poor sick woman at Onitsha. How tenderly he 
 tried to help her, and how trustfully she resigned 
 herself to him, recognising in the look and touch 
 that universal language of love. 
 
 Personal Recollections of the late 
 Blshop Hill. 
 
 It is impossible to think of our friend as dead. 
 Such a bright, vivid personality as his always sug- 
 gests life — fulness of life ; and we who mourn him 
 at home, and did not see the fever overcome that 
 ?-trong physical frame, can only feel that mortality is 
 swallowed up of life. 
 
 I remember when I first met him at Melbourne, 
 and afterwards spent some time with him and dear 
 Mrs. Hill in their happy home at Auckland, being 
 struck with the rare combinations in his character. 
 I keenly regretted leaving him in that narrow 
 sphere where he was then working. No doubt his 
 mental powers were being trained by contact with 
 the quick-witted, practical colonists. His Sunday 
 afternoon lectures to young men were crowded by 
 eager listeners, and his choice of subjects was of 
 
APPENDIX 195 
 
 the widest, embracing many social and intellectual 
 questions of the day. 
 
 It was then, probably, that he acquired that habit 
 of rapid and assimilative reading for which he was 
 really remarkable. Like many omnivorous readers, 
 he used to sit up very late at night, and would read 
 steadily through at a sitting any new book that 
 interested him. He was a delightful companion, a 
 talker who could never weary or bore ; there was 
 such a freshness and originality in his way of looking 
 at every question. There was nothing he liked better 
 than to open out on some social or theological 
 problem to a sympathetic listener. He was never 
 afraid of paradox, and sometimes made the mistake 
 of saying to an audience what should only have 
 been said to one or two with whom he was intimate, 
 thus causing himself to be misunderstood. His own 
 nature was so generous that he expected generous 
 treatment from others, even in criticism, and was 
 bitterly disappointed when he found some word of 
 his had hit the wrong mark through a want of 
 understanding of the speaker's motives. But how 
 is it possible to write adequately of one so all-round 
 as he was — so practical and full of common sense, 
 yet so intensely spiritually minded, so stern in his 
 views of right, yet tender and sensitive as a woman 
 — easily wounded, yet withal thoroughly manly and 
 self-reliant ? 
 
 His success in the administrative and organising 
 work which fell to him in West Africa was due to that 
 
196 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 grasp of the question which has been well called in 
 the Times notice statesmanlike ; and that grasp was 
 the result of a varied training, a conscientious impar- 
 tiality in weighing and sifting facts and evidence, a 
 habit, when once he saw a thing clearly, of going 
 straight to the mark, and above all, a childlike reliance 
 on the guidance of the Holy Ghost. I know of in- 
 stances where this guidance was singularly marked 
 and clear, but such confidences are sacred ground. 
 
 God used our beloved brother in many ways, but 
 he was pre-eminently a winner of souls. To know him 
 at his best and happiest it was necessary to go through 
 a mission with him. No one had a more wonderful 
 record of remarkable conversions. His experiences 
 as a prison chaplain in New Zealand among murder- 
 ers and convicts of all sorts have often strengthened 
 my faith when depressed at the rejection of the Gos- 
 pel. Lately his earnest pleading with sinners rather 
 gave place to pleadings with the people of God for 
 the souls in Africa ; but the ultimate object was the 
 same. His success in both cases surely lay in the fact 
 that his love for souls was ever dominated and inspired 
 by a higher love — his love for the Saviour of souls. 
 With what glowing words he tried to stir the apathetic 
 during those last weeks at home ! How he thrilled us 
 as he called upon men and women to come and die 
 for Africa ! 
 
 He preached as one with a message, and so his 
 sermons were always original and forceful. I think it 
 may be confidently asserted that no one ever slept 
 
APPENDIX 197 
 
 through one. Yet his preaching was very unequal. 
 It was impossible that it should be otherwise, for with 
 such a sympathetic nature he was of course keenly 
 susceptible to his surroundings. He never used a 
 stereotyped phrase ; every word was struck off the 
 anvil of his heart. 
 
 There was nothing narrow in our brother's theology ; 
 he seemed to have a happy knack of embracing all 
 that was beautiful and helpful from whatever source 
 it came. His own grip of vital truth was too tenacious 
 to make him fear to look at all sides, aye, and to 
 stretch out helpful hands to those in mist and doubt. 
 
 No sketch of him would be accurate which did not 
 give prominence to his strong hold upon the " blessed 
 hope " as a life power. I happened one day to come 
 into a friend's room, and found him in earnest con- 
 verse with a godly doctor, an " exclusive." When Mr. 
 Hill (it was before he was Bishop) had gone, the doc- 
 tor said to me, with great satisfaction, " That young 
 man has got the right thing in him," and much more 
 to the same effect. No two men could have been 
 more widely divergent on most points, yet they be- 
 came great friends on the ground of their common 
 faith in a coming Saviour. 
 
 One last word on Bishop Hill as a friend. He had 
 every quality that goes to make the ideal friend — 
 rarest constancy, true insight into character, unflinch- 
 ing faithfulness (I seem to hear his earnest voice say- 
 ing so emphatically, " You're wrong ! "), combined with 
 the utmost tenderness and consideration, and a child- 
 
198 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 like humbleness when he recognised a superior mind ; 
 indeed, the beautiful, but now somewhat rare, quality 
 of admiration was one of his most charming character- 
 istics. Latterly, circumstances brought him into 
 contact with some of the greatest minds in the Church, 
 and he loved to talk in the unrestrained intercourse of 
 friendship of his appreciation of this privilege. Gener- 
 osity is a poor word to express the " abandon " of his 
 affection. When he loved, it meant that he placed 
 himself and all that he had at the disposal of his friend. 
 Those who could call him by this hallowed name 
 know that he cannot be replaced. 
 
 I cannot conclude this little sketch with words more 
 beautiful and fitting than those of the Abbe Perreyve 
 in his funeral oration over the younger Ampere : — " I 
 do not fear to recall his beloved face, even in Thy 
 presence, O Jesus ! for Thou wert in Thy mortal days 
 an incomparable Friend ! " 
 
 R. E. F. 
 
 Joseph Sidney Hill, Bishop. 
 
 I first met Bishop Hill in the autumn of 1890, after 
 a service in a City church, in which I had addressed 
 a gathering of young men. He was introduced to 
 me, if I remember right, by Mr. Barlow of Islington. 
 He interested me much with his account of mission 
 work in Australia, and, finding that he was for the 
 moment without any definite employment, and would 
 like to know more of mission work in England, I 
 
APPENDIX 199 
 
 invited him to a conference which was to be held the 
 following week at Roxeth, Harrow. There I think 
 that all the brethren present were struck by the 
 spirituality and fervour of his remarks. I felt so 
 much drawn to him myself that I sounded him about 
 undertaking work in connection with the Church 
 Parochial Mission Society, and to this he was subse- 
 quently appointed, at a salary that was little more 
 than nominal. I had the great advantage of his assist- 
 ance in four of my subsequent missions, when he took 
 the work amongst the children and in other ways 
 afforded valuable help. With the children he was 
 particularly happy, and always succeeded in interest- 
 ing them greatly ; and I believe that many young 
 hearts were won for the Lord while he thus worked 
 for us. But happy as his connection with us was, he 
 never concealed from me that he regarded it as only 
 temporary in its character, and as a matter of fact it 
 only lasted about a year. 
 
 It was in December 1891, during a revisit that I 
 made in his company to St. Luke's, Wolverhampton, 
 just a year after our happy united work there in the 
 general Wolverhampton Mission, that he confided to 
 me the fact that he had offered himself to the C.M.S. 
 in the hope of being of some use in restoring harmony 
 in that very disturbed mission on the Niger. I vividly 
 recall the solemn way in which he spoke of the pos- 
 sible and even probable result of his offer. He had 
 been so very near death before, owing to the effect of 
 the climate on his constitution, that he seemed to 
 
200 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 have almost a presentiment that his mission would be 
 his death. Yet, like a true Christian hero, he allowed 
 no such consideration to move him ; neither did he 
 count his life dear, so long as he might be of some 
 service to the cause that lay so near to his heart. So 
 profound an impression did his words and his manner 
 make upon me that when I heard subsequently of 
 Bishop Crowther's death, one of the first thoughts 
 that occurred to me was the hope that he might be 
 appointed as his successor, chiefly because I thought 
 that thus what I had learned to regard as a very 
 valuable life might be spared. For he had given me 
 to understand that he thought the chief danger for his 
 health lay in the fact that his work would probably 
 lie in the interior, where the pestilential marshes and 
 the extreme roughness of the life would be likely to 
 try him severely. I remember his saying that he did 
 not think that he should run any very serious risk in 
 the part of the country where Bishop Crowther at 
 that time resided. So when I heard of his nomination 
 for the bishopric I greatly rejoiced, regarding it as a 
 reprieve for my dear friend. Alas ! how little did I 
 think that this expectation was to be falsified within 
 the first few weeks of his assumption of his episcopal 
 functions ! But I shall never forget the calm and un- 
 ostentatious way in which he deliberately faced the 
 probability of an early death, laying, without a mur- 
 mur or a regret, his all upon the altar. I should, 
 perhaps, mention, as a somewhat remarkable coinci- 
 dence, that just at this time, when there was no 
 
APPENDIX 201 
 
 thought of a vacancy in that remote diocese, about 
 a week after he had offered himself to the C.M.S. 
 for the Niger, he was sounded about a bishopric 
 in a much more sahibrious and attractive part of the 
 world, where he might have escaped from all appre- 
 hensions as to probable injury to his health ; but he 
 had offered himself to God for work that promised 
 plenty of difficulty and hardship, and probably much 
 worry and annoyance, and, having put his hand to 
 the plough, he would not look back. 
 
 Recollections crowd in upon my mind as I thus 
 write of my dear departed friend. I think of his 
 bright face and his genial smile, of his quick and ready 
 sympathy and his capacity of encouragement. Humble 
 and modest to the last degree, there was yet a latent 
 power in the man, which had already begun to work 
 itself to the surface in his all too brief episcopate. 
 To know him was to love him, but to know him 
 better was both to love and admire him ; and the 
 admiration would, I am persuaded, have been very 
 generally felt had it pleased the inscrutable provi- 
 dence of God to spare him to his diocese for even a 
 few years. But God knows best ! That dear face is 
 no longer to carry its witness of inward peace and joy 
 to careworn, sorrowing sinners ; and that voice, so 
 full of earnest feeling, no longer to plead with human 
 ears and hearts. But the sacrifice has not been made 
 in vain. There is seed sown in that freshly-closed 
 tomb with its double burden, where he and his dear 
 wife, lovely and pleasant in their lives, in their death 
 
202 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 are not divided, that will carry its harvest in that far 
 land some future day, when possibly the story of his 
 brief episcopate is almost forgotten. I cannot help 
 recalling to-day the text from which I spoke to young 
 men in the city on the evening of the very day on 
 which I had made his acquaintance : " To what pur- 
 pose is this v/aste ? " Christ alone knows the full 
 answer to that question ; but as the house was filled 
 with the odour of that ointment then, so is the 
 Christian world to-day redolent with the fragrance of 
 such sacrificed lives. Pericles was right when he said, 
 " Of noble men every nation is the monumental tomb," 
 and the Church of Christ may equally say that each 
 successful mission, each race or tribe or community 
 brought from heathen darkness into the light of the 
 Gospel day, is an eternal monument to the men who, 
 either by their martyr-like lives or by their martyr- 
 like deaths, have contributed to the bringing about of 
 this blessed result. 
 
 W. Hay M. H. Aitken. 
 
 CLEANSING. 
 
 By the late Bishop Hill. 
 
 "And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up, wherefore liest 
 thou thus upon thy face? " (Joshua vii. lo, ii). 
 
 Beloved brethren, I want first of all to impress upon 
 my own self and yourselves this fact — that there are 
 infinite possibilities of a holy life in the power of the 
 
APPENDIX 203 
 
 Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and of God the Holy- 
 Ghost. If we are not holy, it is not God's fault ; if 
 we are not free from sin and sin's power, it is not 
 God's fault. 
 
 Now there is something Joshua must do if Israel 
 would be cleansed from their sin, and if they would 
 have the victory. They must put away from them- 
 selves the accursed thing. Now I know nothing about 
 your lives, but I want you to see this — if your life is 
 a life of failure, of bondage to sin, of continual confes- 
 sion of committed sins, that it is no use your asking 
 God's forgiveness for your sins to-day, and then to- 
 morrow to do the same thing. By doing so you are 
 making use of the Lord Jesus Christ's sacrifice in 
 such a way as to make it a stumbling-block in your 
 own lives. 
 
 It was never intended that that one and all-sufficient 
 sacrifice for sin should warrant a sort of personal 
 indulgence in personal sin. Now we want to deal 
 with ourselves thoroughly, and I ask you whether it 
 is not true that you have found it easy to sin because 
 you knew there was an easy way to get forgiveness ? 
 (See Psalm li. 2.) 
 
 Do you want to be thoroughly cleansed in God's 
 sight ? I remember a remark made not long ago by 
 a devoted brother. Some one asked a question as to 
 the possibilities of holiness, and he answered in one 
 brief sentence (which I want to impress upon you) 
 something like this, " You can be just as holy as j^ou 
 like to be." 
 
204 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 I want you to see that holiness is utterly impossible 
 apart from God, and that it is utterly impossible in us 
 apart from ourselves. 
 
 Cleansing from Sin. 
 
 There are different ways of being cleansed from sin, 
 and I want to bring this subject before you. Some 
 say it is all in one text, and yet they use that text in 
 the wrong way. You know the passage in i John i. 
 17 : '' If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we 
 have fellowship one with another ; and the blood of 
 Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." Now 
 I want you to deal with this passage in connection 
 with the one I have just read, where you find God 
 saying to Joshua, " Get up." It is not on your knees 
 that this question is to be dealt with. " Get up," and 
 put that accursed thing away ; and then Israel can be 
 cleansed. 
 
 Cleansing by Blood. 
 
 I am afraid we often speak of the blood in this 
 way : we look upon our sins as though they were 
 recorded upon a slate, and we think that the action of 
 the blood can wash and blot them out. 
 
 There is another thing you must do before that 
 takes place. It is perfectly true that God will do 
 that, but He only blots away sin when He sees that 
 condition of the soul which permits Him to do so. 
 
APPENDIX 205 
 
 Do you know that you cannot forgive your child just 
 when you like ? You have no business to uncon- 
 ditionally forgive your child when you know that he 
 has done wrong. There is some moral condition on 
 which that child must approach you, and' then, and 
 only then, can you forgive him. I want to impress 
 upon you this fact — that the Lord Jesus Christ 
 Himself is the one and all-sufficient Sacrifice. How 
 did the Jew become a partaker of the blessings of a 
 sacrifice ? By identification. When the Jew put his 
 sin upon the lamb, when the priest put his sin on the 
 lamb, when he confessed his sin before the people upon 
 the lamb, that lamb was identified with himself 
 Now, " He who knew no sin was made sin for us." 
 We become righteous by identification with His 
 righteousness. But what does it mean ? That is the 
 point. 
 
 I want to be quite plain. There was no such thing 
 in Israel as forgiveness by blood, or cleansing by 
 blood, without the use of the knife. Without shedding 
 of blood there was no remission, and there is no such 
 thing as forgiveness of sin in your soul, without that 
 action of the knife, without your dying to sin. If you 
 imagine that, by going on your knees and asking God 
 to forgive you your sin, whilst at the same time you 
 are determined to continue in it, I tell you, in God's 
 name, you get up from your knees more condemned 
 than if you had never heard the gospel. I believe 
 one of the curses of the day is the claptrap preaching 
 of forgiveness that does not change the moral life. 
 
2o6 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 So subtle is the power of Satan that I believe there 
 are hundreds of Christians who indulge in sin because 
 they think they can get a cheap forgiveness. God 
 will not thus be mocked. 
 
 When God sees a man as before Him dealing with 
 sin and turning his back upon it, and looking to Him 
 for mercy through Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness. 
 There is no such thing as forgiveness apart from 
 crucifixion of sin. Salvation is through a crucified 
 Saviour, and the condition of your salvation is that 
 you be crucified with Christ ; or, in other words, the 
 cleansing by blood is yours on condition of your death 
 to sin. God cannot die to sin for you ; you must die 
 for yourself. He can meet your guilt by means of the 
 Substitute, but the death is an experience that you 
 yourself must voluntarily accept, and in doing so you 
 cut yourself from sin. 
 
 Cleansing by Restitution. 
 
 Turn to Leviticus vi. 1-5. I had a little boy in my 
 class who stole my pencil. Suppose that boy knelt 
 and asked forgiveness for having stolen that pencil, 
 and yet kept the pencil in his pocket, do you think 
 God would forgive him ? What must he do ? He 
 must restore the thing that he has stolen. If you 
 have told a person an untruth, what must you do ? 
 You must go and tell that person the truth, if you 
 want forgiveness. In your business life you have 
 taken advantage of another, and deceived your neigh- 
 
APPENDIX 207 
 
 bour, and you want forgiveness : how are you going to 
 get it ? Kneel down and ask for it ? Yes, but go 
 first and make restitution, my brother. Until we get 
 some righteous idea of God's dealing with our souls 
 we are not likely to be very righteous in our conduct 
 towards others. 
 
 There are men who wonder why they have not 
 power with God. There is a thick cloud between 
 God and them. Until that question of sin has been 
 dealt with, believe me, though your soul may be 
 saved, and you may get to heaven, you will get there 
 alone. Oh ! our God is a holy God, and a righteous 
 God. I have come across people who have talked so 
 flippantly about these things, and I have known these 
 very people in their business to be guilty of trans- 
 actions that most of the world would be ashamed of 
 If you have told a lie to anyone, tell them you told a 
 lie. Go yourself and tell them : God will not go — you 
 must. I was preaching at a church one day when the 
 curate brought me a letter which he had received 
 from his father. He had written to his father and 
 confessed a lie which he had told him when a boy, 
 and had got forgiveness. *' Now," he said, " I know 
 what real peace is." 
 
 Cleansing by the Water of Separation. 
 
 See Numbers xix. 9 — " And it shall be kept ... for 
 a water of separation : it is a purification for sin ; " 
 and associate with it John xiii. 10 to 14. How many 
 of you understand the washing of one another's feet ? 
 
208 • JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 What is it ? 
 
 " Wash ye one another's feet." If you study 
 Numbers xix. you will find that there was a kind of 
 defilement that takes place by coming in contact 
 with sin. Suppose you are employed in a shop, 
 warehouse, or manufactory where there are a great 
 number of ungodly people you are forced to come 
 in contact with every day. You may go into the 
 warehouse or workshop in the morning, and say to 
 yourselves, " Thank God for His blessed truths. I am 
 washed, cleansed, and sanctified." But before you 
 have been there many minutes perhaps an oath is 
 uttered, perhaps vulgar words are used, perhaps you 
 are chaffed. Does that have any effect upon you ? 
 It has — an effect that may be put all right by the 
 Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We in the mission field 
 who come in contact with the heathen, with the dark- 
 ness and demon worship, know that there is an effect 
 produced upon the soul. Sometimes it brings us in 
 humbleness before God. If you are defiled there is a 
 way of getting rid of that defilement. Just as we 
 get defiled with evil, so we get restored and brought 
 back again when, by the blessedness of fellowship, we 
 are brought in close contact with true believers. 
 
 Cleansing by the Washing of Water by the 
 Word. 
 
 If you will turn to Ephesians v. 26, you will 
 find another cleansing : " That He might sanctify 
 and cleanse it with the washing of water by the 
 
APPENDIX 2Q9 
 
 Word." What does that mean ? If you look at 
 2 Corinthians you will find that when Moses was 
 with God the mind of God was reflected in his coun- 
 tenance. His heart felt it and his face showed it. 
 
 The glory of God must manifest itself. The Word 
 of God transforms the mind. The mind is led cap- 
 tive to the mind of Christ until your own thoughts 
 are changed into God's thoughts, and your mind into 
 God's mind. The mind is brought into captivity by 
 the washing (of the water of the Word of God). 
 
 Cleansing by Fire. 
 
 See Isaiah vi. 6 — " Then flew one of the Seraphims 
 unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had 
 taken with the tongs from off the altar ; and he laid 
 it on my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy 
 lips ; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is 
 purged." Also Luke iii. i6 — "I indeed baptize you 
 with water, but . . . He shall baptize you with the 
 Holy Ghost and with fire." 
 
 Fire purges away the dross. The action of fire 
 upon the soul is this : it raises the standard of 
 holiness by putting into the mind God's standard of 
 holiness. It is only when God's ways are put in place 
 of our ways that we are purged with fire, and the pure 
 mind comes out in our lives. 
 
 14 
 
210 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 Cleansing by Purging. 
 
 Look at John xv. 2 — " Every branch in Me that 
 beareth not fruit He taketh away ; and every branch 
 that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring 
 forth more fruit." 
 
 I knew a gentleman in London who used to be 
 a Methodist class-leader. After a time he became a 
 wealthy man, and joined a fashionable church. His 
 wealth after a time seemed to cut out the very 
 spiritual part of his soul. Now we find him walking 
 the streets of London a pauper. 
 
 What a purging that soul needed ! The sap is 
 the source of the fruit, and the pruning takes place 
 that the sap may be more effectual in producing fruit. 
 
 Cleansing by Satan. 
 
 I Tim. i. 20, and i Corinthians v. 5 — " Delivered 
 unto Satan." " To deliver such an one unto Satan for 
 the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be 
 saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Oh, my 
 brothers ! this is an awful thought. If God cannot 
 cleanse you by the water of separation, by fire, and by 
 purging, there will be the pangs of the chastisement of 
 the devil. You must be cleansed. He must present 
 you. You must be spotless. If one thing will not 
 do it another must. If we are not cleansed we must 
 turn and be amended. There is a sort of thing that 
 passes muster as an ideal of cleansing : but is your 
 soul cleansed as God intended ? Is it up to the 
 
APPENDIX 211 
 
 standard of God's truth ? Is it pure ? You had 
 better die than sin. You had better die than be dis- 
 honest in that business of yours. I pray you bring 
 your life to the test of God's truth. Is it clean in 
 God's sight? If not, whose fault is it? It is not 
 God's fault. There is the Cross ; there is the life ; 
 there is the gift of the Holy Spirit of God. The 
 Spirit's work is to sanctify you, to make you like 
 Christ ; and the only question is, will you take Christ ? 
 Keep your eye on Him, and you will never find 
 yourself in hopeless despair. 
 
 1 ask you, are you cleansed ? Deal with just that 
 thing. If it is a bad temper you have got, if it is a 
 habit of exaggeration, if you are just a little careless 
 with regard to what you consider trifles, if you have a 
 little secret indulgence, if you are vain, or if you are 
 proud, just bring it all to the light, just bring it to 
 Jesus. Then you will find a joy and a gladness that 
 will fill your soul. It will be like unto a well of water 
 springing up in the fulness of life. 
 
 Here are a few pungent sentences from Bishop 
 Hill's address to the student volunteers on soul 
 winning. 
 
 " Love.—Tho, first essential of all spiritual work, the 
 greatest of all gifts, is love — not our love to God, 
 but the love of God in us (i Cor. xiii.). There is 
 such a condition of soul in which we can be a 
 possessor of God's love for souls, and we can love 
 
212 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 the heathen with something of the same love as our 
 Lord Himself. I don't believe that any one is used 
 to the salvation of souls who has not this gift of 
 love. There are many here who are fully developed 
 in the intellectual side of their nature ; but there is this 
 other thing which is so necessary. There is nothing 
 that touches another man so much as sympathy. 
 
 " Broken-heartedness. — The man that is going to be 
 a soul winner must be a broken-hearted man. We 
 may reap what other men have sown, but we won't 
 both sow and reap ourselves unless we have a 
 broken heart. There was a time when I was not 
 used for the salvation of souls, because I got under 
 the influence of the theories of the day in reference 
 to the condition of the lost hereafter. I began to 
 think there was some way by which God would 
 bring men out of eternal darkness, and that sapped 
 all the earnestness out of me ; and until I began 
 to know about weeping over the lost as Jesus wept 
 over a lost city I was no use. We want to keep 
 before us this — that men are perishing, and that 
 they are lost to God. It is a loss to God, not only 
 to the soul. 
 
 " Waiting on God (Luke xxiv. 49). — The only way 
 in which you can be positive that the message you 
 are going to give will result in the salvation of 
 souls is, when you have tarried and waited until 
 God Himself has given you the message. Tarry 
 
APPENDIX 213 
 
 ye until God has fitted, qualified, equipped you for 
 what you have to do. Don't go to a meeting and 
 talk to souls until first you have talked to God, 
 and God has talked to you. The man most used 
 is just the man who has realised God's grace in 
 pardoning him. 
 
 " Prompt Obedience (Acts viii. 26). — Prompt 
 obedience to the Spirit of God is a most essential 
 thing in soul winning. 
 
 " Faith. — ' I am not ashamed of the Gospel of 
 Christ.' Believe in the efficacy of the blood to save, 
 and believe in the power of the Word of God just 
 to do what God has promised it shall do. In dealing 
 privately with souls, if you have not the most perfect 
 confidence in the Word, it is detected by the soul 
 with whom you are dealing. 
 
 ^^ Decision. — Here comes the sphere of prayer. 
 Decision is something you had better not interfere 
 with too much. Let God do it, not you. There 
 is a little value in brains in evangelistic work. To 
 be clear and not to muddle up the soul is of 
 tremendous value. In other words, don't be in a 
 hurry, take a little time. Don't rush the poor soul 
 through, and don't get him excited. I have had 
 to say to an excitable man. Sit quite still, and don't 
 say a word. Always get a man to do something. 
 Don't leave him where he was. Bring him a little 
 way, and if need be let him come again." 
 
214 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 The following testimony from Mr. Eugene Stock 
 we gladly insert, regretting that it arrive^ too late 
 to be incorporated earlier in the book : — 
 
 Bishop Hill and the C.M.S. 
 
 It may be frankly acknowledged that the sug- 
 gestion, first made by Mr. Aitken, that J. S. Hill 
 should be nominated to the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury for the bishopric vacant by the death of 
 Samuel Crowther, came as a surprise to us. But this 
 was because we did not know the man then. Some 
 of us remembered him as a very fervent, but (from 
 the point of view of a grave Committee) somewhat 
 volatile, student at the Church Missionary College 
 sixteen years before, and also as a missionary to 
 Africa who had quickly broken down in the in- 
 sidious climate of the West Coast ; but that he 
 should be a bishop, and, especially, a bishop in 
 West Africa, was an unlooked-for proposal indeed. 
 But when the suggestion was made, he had already 
 offered himself for the Niger Mission, and had been 
 accepted by the Society. This should never be 
 forgotten. Hill's return to the land where he had 
 long ago broken down was not because a bishopric 
 was offered him. His desire was to go back to 
 the field of his earliest efforts in the capacity of a 
 simple missionary. It was a trying time on the 
 Niger: Bishop Crowther was in feeble health; 
 Robinson was dead ; Graham Brooke was alone 
 at Lokoja ; and many leading African Christians 
 
APPENDIX 215 
 
 were dissatisfied with the Society's recent course of 
 action. Hill longed to be the bearer of an olive- 
 branch. He united the highest standard of spiritu- 
 ality with a singularly forbearing spirit ; like his 
 Divine Master, he hated sin and loved the sinner ; 
 and he thought he might be used of God to heal 
 wounds which were none the less painful because 
 they had been thought to be necessary. Then 
 came the news of Bishop Crowther's death, and 
 then of Graham Brooke's. The C.M.S. Committee 
 took the best step possible to ascertain Hill's fitness 
 for the bishopric by writing out to New Zealand 
 to inquire of their old and honoured friend, himself 
 once a missionary in India, Bishop Stuart of Waiapu. 
 The testimony received in reply was decisive ; and 
 closer personal intercourse with Hill himself resulted 
 in a general feeling, " Can we find such an one as 
 this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is ? " 
 His name was submitted to the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury ; and the Archbishop at once perceived 
 in him the wisdom and the devotion so indispens- 
 able for such a bishopric. It was the Primate's own 
 suggestion that he should go out first on a temporary 
 visit as Bishop Designate and Archbishop's Com- 
 missary ; and the remarkable sagacity and tact 
 which he manifested while executing this special 
 commission proved to all that God had graciously 
 led the Society to the right man for the vacant see. 
 
 I myself was absent in Australasia all this time. 
 In New Zealand I constantly heard of Hill's name 
 
2i6 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 and influence, and met some who avowed that they 
 owed their conversion, under God, to him. 1 re- 
 turned to England just at the same time that he 
 returned from his temporary visit to West Africa 
 in April 1893. On the 25th of that month he met 
 the " Group Committee " which specially supervises 
 the C.M.S. African Missions. From 11 a.m. to 
 5 p.m. they sat, in close and careful and prayerful 
 consideration of the many difficult problems con- 
 nected with the position at the time in West Africa 
 Never shall I forget the patience and thoughtfulness 
 and wisdom with which Hill discussed the various 
 questions. It was a new revelation to me. I had 
 known him only as a fervent evangelist. I now 
 saw him as a statesman. As the hours went by, 
 I could only mentally exclaim, " Thank God for 
 such a man ! " 
 
 Many other reminiscences might be given, both 
 of his work in Committees and of the more con- 
 genial work of pleading for Africa in meeting after 
 meeting in all parts of England. At the Keswick 
 Convention of that year, which he attended with 
 his two African Assistant-Bishops, three weeks after 
 the consecration, his humility, and the total absence 
 in him of self, were a lesson to us all. He took 
 no prominent part ; but he went in and out among 
 the " student volunteers," and was the cheeriest and 
 brightest in their camp. He would not speak at 
 the great Saturday missionary meeting, but asked 
 that Bishop Oluwole might be put up instead. But 
 
APPENDIX 217 
 
 he offered the concluding prayer at that wonderful 
 gathering, and seemed to take us all, as it were, 
 by the hand, and lead us close up to the throne 
 of God. 
 
 The Gleaners' Union Anniversary on November ist, 
 at which Bishop Hill presided, is referred to in the 
 foregoing pages. It was memorable for Mrs. Bishop's 
 great speech, which, in print, has ever since been 
 circulating literally by hundreds of thousands. Her 
 concluding words were, " May He touch all our hearts 
 with the spirit of self-sacrifice, and with the inspiration 
 of that love of His, which, when He came to redeem 
 the world, kept nothing- backT It was in sympathy 
 with those words that the Bishop gave, at the end, 
 his last message to a great London audience— ^that 
 solemn message which is printed on a preceding page. 
 But between Mrs. Bishop's speech and his there came 
 two others, one by a kindred spirit, the Rev, H. B. 
 Macartney, of Melbourne, and the other by a young 
 aspirant for missionary service, the Rev. W. A. C. 
 Fremantle. Although Fremantle was only allowed 
 twelve minutes, I pulled him down before they were 
 over, in order to give Bishop Hill time for his last 
 words. We little thought that by the time the next 
 Gleaners' Anniversary came round, both the young 
 Oxford man and the new Bishop would receive their 
 call to the presence of the Lord. Dear Fremantle, 
 too, " kept nothing back." He gave up much, a wide 
 circle of influential friends and the highest prospects 
 of usefulness, to go forth at the Lord's command ; 
 
2i8 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 and the Lord called him home exactly a year after 
 that memorable meeting. 
 
 Then came the touching farewell at Euston, father 
 and mother tenderly embracing the two young 
 daughters left behind ; and as the Liverpool train 
 moved away, our hopes rose high for the Missions in 
 West Africa. Six weeks passed away ; Christmas 
 came and went; the new year 1894 opened; and 
 then, on the Epiphany, Saturday, January 6th, came 
 the crushing telegram, " Bishop Hill and Mrs. Hill 
 at restr Rarely have the C.M.S. Committee been so 
 moved as when the solemn tidings were officially com- 
 municated to them at their meeting on the following 
 Tuesday. After united prayer led by the Rev. C. G. 
 Baskerville (who himself has given a son to Africa), 
 the following minute was adopted unanimously : — 
 
 "In deepest sorrow, and with fullest trust in Him that 
 death all things well, the Committee receive the intelligence 
 of the home call of the Right Rev. Joseph Sidney Hill, 
 D.D., Bishop in Western Equatorial Africa, and of Mrs. 
 Hill, which occurred just as the Bishop was entering on 
 the peculiarly difficult and responsible duties of the office 
 for the fulfilment of which he appeared to be singularly 
 gifted and prepared of God. 
 
 " He went out with a clearly defined and statesman-like 
 policy, and with loving desire for the development of the 
 Church under African leaders. 
 
 " Mr. Hill received at the Church Missionary College 
 his training for the mission field, and was ordained and 
 appointed to Lagos, whither he went out with Mrs. Hill in 
 the year 1876, but was speedily invalided home. 
 
APPENDIX 219 
 
 "In 1878 he was transferred to the New Zealand Mis- 
 sion, and in 1882 resigned his connection with the Society, 
 important evangelistic work amongst English-speaking 
 people having cJpened up before him there. 
 
 " In New Zealand he developed, in marked degree, 
 powers of organisation and influence. With much gentle- 
 ness he combined unusual strength of character and strict 
 conscientiousness, while his great power of sympathy, and 
 his judicious tact, won the affection and confidence of those 
 who had the privilege of knowing him. 
 
 " After his return to England, Mr. Hill was accepted by 
 the Society^ for work on the Niger in November 1891, and 
 was appointed Director of the whole of the Niger Mission. 
 In the following May, before he had entered on his onerous 
 charge, he was nominated to the Niger bishopric. At the 
 desire of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who accepted the 
 nomination, Mr. Hill went out in the first instance before 
 consecration ; his Grace appointed him his Commissary, and 
 desired that on his return from a visit of inspection and 
 inquiry he should report on the condition of things in the 
 Niger Churches, with a special view to determine the cha- 
 racter of the Episcopal supervision to be adopted there. 
 During this visit his resourcefulness acquired in Colonial 
 life was markedly manifest. 
 
 " The outcome of this visit, and of the report brought 
 home by Mr. Hiil, was his consecration, on St. Peter's Day, 
 June 29th, 1893, at St. Paul's Cathedral, as Bishop in 
 Western Equatorial Africa. At the same time the two 
 African clergymen, the Rev. Isaac Oluwole and the Rev. 
 Chas. Phillips, were, on his recommendation, consecrated 
 as his assistants. 
 
 " In Mrs. Hill, whose missionary zeal equalled that of her 
 husband, the female workers on the Niger were looking for- 
 ward to welcome a truly valuable, efficient, and sympathetic 
 counsellor and guide, 
 
JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 " That persons apparently possessing so unique equipment 
 for a unique work should have been suddenly called away, 
 is one of those mysteries the full solution of which the Great 
 Day alone will make clear. 
 
 '* The Committee would humbly pray for themselves, and 
 for the missionaries, and for the African Christians in the 
 wide area bereft of the Episcopal supervision of their dear 
 friend, that this sore bereavement may result in such an 
 increase of mutual sympathy, such an establishment of 
 mutual confidence, and such a growing sense of dependence 
 on the Great Head of the Church, as they doubt not it is 
 designed under the teaching of God the Ho]^ Spirit to 
 produce. 
 
 "They humbly depend on God the Holy Spirit for 
 needed grace and guidance in view of the many questions 
 which will now have to be met regarding the future super- 
 vision of the work. 
 
 " They put on record their affectionate and sincere sym- 
 pathy for the two young daughters thus sadly bereft of their 
 parents, and would commit them with confiding trust to the 
 sure mercies of the Father of the fatherless. 
 
 *' The Committee desire that a copy of this minute be 
 sent to the members of the family, and that they be assured 
 of the Committee's sincere and prayerful sympathy with 
 them, and especially with Miss Leachman, the devoted sister 
 of Mrs. Hill, to whom the charge of the children was com • 
 mitted." 
 
 The following letter from the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury was read at the meeting : — 
 
 " Addington Park, Cyloydo^, January Wi, 1894. 
 " My dear Mr. Wigram, — 
 
 " I feel indeed utterly stricken by this terrible news 
 from Lagos. So much arrangement and dehberation and 
 
APPENDIX 221 
 
 work on the part of so many earnest minds seems utterly 
 lost — but Kar avOpiDTTov Xcyw. That is the comfort and 
 strength. We shall see God bring some new force out of 
 our defeat, and accomplish all in His own way. We merely 
 are dumb at the mysteriousness of the bar in what seemed 
 His working. . . . Those poor children ! 
 
 " Ever yours sincerely, 
 
 "E. Cantuar." 
 
 But the Lord's mysterious dealings were not yet 
 finished. Telegram after telegram arrived announcing 
 further deaths. Edgar Mathias (a Cambridge man 
 ordained by Bishop Hill himself), James Vernall, 
 Florence Mansbridge, A. E. Sealey, one after another 
 were called away ; Miss Maxwell was invalided home 
 (though she has since bravely gone out again) ; and 
 Bishop Hill's Niger party was reduced to one man, 
 the Rev. C. E. Watney. " What I do thou knowest 
 not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." But one 
 thing we do know even now — know without a doubt : 
 and that is, GOD IS LOVE ! 
 
 E. S. 
 
 Letters poured in from every quarter bearing 
 grateful testimony to Bishop Hill's character and 
 work. One strain runs through them all, best ex- 
 pressed by Bishop Oluwole in one pregnant sentence : 
 " My acquaintanceship with him was a school of love, 
 kindness, devotion, and thorough unselfishness. May I 
 not have learnt the lesson in vain ! " 
 
222 JOSEPH SIDNEY HILL 
 
 This is Africa's testimony to the man who bore 
 her in his heart. May this brief record of his Hfe 
 be to many as a handbook in that " school of love" 
 
 The last word shall be spoken by a Gleaner about 
 the " Gleaners' own Missionary." The poem closes 
 with a question ; shall the immediate and practical 
 result of reading this brief story of a true and full 
 life be to furnish an answer ? 
 
 In Memoriam: J. S. H. and L. H. 
 
 " When the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore. 
 
 — St. John xxi. 4. 
 
 He has toiled for his Master nobly 
 
 On the far-off foreign strand ; 
 Patiently joining the broken nets 
 
 With a skilled and loving hand. 
 Now let him fling them far and wide 
 O'er Afric's dark and surging tide. 
 
 So they sped him forth rejoicing, 
 
 The friends who loved him best — 
 The right man to the right place sent ! 
 
 Trust God with all the rest. 
 And his wife will take the true wife's part — 
 Strengthen his hands and cheer his heart. 
 
 They gave him the " fisher's coat," 
 
 Garb of a calling high, 
 With holy consecrating prayers, 
 
 In the Minster solemnly. 
 Did no ear catch a whispered word ? — 
 "He girds it on to meet his Lord ! " 
 
APPENDIX 223 
 
 Farewell to the shores of England ! 
 
 They fade with the day's last beam ; 
 And Afric's coast lies faintly blue 
 
 In the misty morning gleam. 
 See 1 Who stands there in the twilight dim ? 
 It is One who waits, and waits for him. 
 
 They knew not that it was Jesus 
 
 Watching and waiting there ; 
 But Faith has eagle eyes to see, 
 
 And love is quick to hear. 
 Those listening hearts have caught the word — 
 Their eyes have seen — " It is the Lord." 
 
 They have braved the dark, cold death-wave, 
 They are nearing the shining strand, 
 
 The Master, Whom they haste to meet. 
 Holds fast each trembhng hand. 
 
 Passed, from life's tossing, troubled sea, 
 
 To the fair, firm shore of Eternity. 
 
 But the nets — Oh ! who shall grasp them 
 
 And fling them out again ? 
 Oh ! who will toil in those v/aters dim, 
 
 Fishing for souls of men ; 
 To draw them in, a freight unpriced. 
 And lay them at the Feet of Christ ? 
 
 February i6th, 1894. M. M. 
 
 Frinted by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. 
 
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