I have tried to tell you in the preceding chapters what the Dyaks of Borneo are like, how they live, and what their religious ideas are. It is sad to think of them living in constant fear of evil spirits, and believing in such things as the omens of birds. All Christians must wish these people to be taught about God. Christ came to earth to teach us the Truths of the Gospel, and before He returned to Heaven, He told His disciples, and, through His disciples, all Christians: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." In obedience to this command, missionaries have gone out to Borneo, and many people in England, who are not able to go out to Borneo themselves, help in the good work by subscribing money to the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," which sends missionaries to Borneo. Many of these missionaries live up-country at some mission station far from the town. Here there is a mission house where the missionary lives, a church where regular services are held, and a school house where boys live and are taught.

As many of the long Dyak village houses are built at great distances from each other, the missionary, who wishes to do good work among the Dyaks, must not always live at his mission house, but must travel from house to house. Only by visiting distant villages, and living with the Dyaks as their guest, can the missionary learn to understand the people.

Let me tell you a missionary story. A missionary in Borneo visited a Dyak village house to teach the people there about God and our Lord Jesus Christ. A crowd of men, women and children listened to him, and many a long evening did the missionary spend, sitting on a mat in the long public verandah of the Dyak house, and teaching those poor ignorant people. A Dyak boy present asked the missionary if he might go back with him to his school. The parents gave their consent, and the little boy accompanied the missionary on his return to his mission house, and attended the mission school. There, with other children, the boy was taught the Truths of the Christian Religion. After being in school for a few years, this boy returned to his Dyak home.

Years passed. The boy did not forget what he had been taught at school. He saw the Dyaks among whom he lived, ruled by a fear of evil spirits, and carrying out many superstitious ceremonies, which he knew must be displeasing to God. As he grew older, he felt sad to think of the ignorance of his relatives and friends, and of the Dyaks in other villages. So he went back to the missionary and asked that he should be taught more, so that, later on, he might teach his own people, and bring some of them into God's Kingdom.

This is a true story of what has happened more than once in Borneo. A boy learns about God in some up-country mission school, and on his return to his Dyak home, is sorry to see the ignorance of his people, and asks to be taught more, so that he may become a Catechist and carry God's Truth to them.

When the seed is sown, it lies in the ground, and God sends the sunshine and the rain to make it grow. So the Good Seed of the Word of God is sown in the hearts of the Dyaks in Borneo, and we pray the Great Giver of the Water of Life to refresh it with His Life-giving Holy Spirit. Some seeds fall on the wayside, and the birds of the air devour them; some fall on a rock, and are scorched by the heat of the sun; some fall among thorns, and are choked; but, thank God, some fall on good ground and bring forth good fruit.

The Good Seed of God's Word is being sown among the old and young in Borneo. Will you not take a share in that good work?

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.