Page 77 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

• i
6 NEGLECTED ARABIA

was struck down by the bullet of the fanatic.' It was a letter brimming
with love, joy and enthusiasm, characteristic of the author. For Henry
Bilkert was of the type which is preeminently suited for missionary service.
In his person he combined the valuable traits of an unfailing good nature,
a delightful sense of humor, a love of sociability, and the best sort of op­
timism, which while it realized the many difficulties of our work in Arabia,
difficulties, both spiritual and material, the difficulties of reaching the Arab
heart and the difficulties of carrying on the work with funds greatly inade- \
<|imu< in ilu: lin'd* iih Ik* hiiw iIkmii, yvI'iimmI hi let llicao dillinillir* damn him,
Inn |iinked ntcudily forward lulu the fulum fully pcrsianlcd that wlmt Coil .j
had promised, I le was able to perform. I le was one of those steadfast un- ;
movable men, always abounding in the work of the Lord and we may rest
assured that his labor was not in vain in the Lord. Henry Bilkert com­
bined the pen of a ready writer with a considerable amount of executive
ability, backed with an excellent working knowledge of our problems both
on the field and at home. In fact, he was remarkably familiar with the
work of the churches at home, reading his church papers with his tenacious
memory fixed upon what he read, knowing the strength and the weakness,
of the church, proud of the former and somewhat impatient of the latter.
He had grown up in the Dutch Church and was one of its most loyal sons.
Its history and traditions were in his very bones and he had an apprecia­
tive interest and a keen realization of all its activities everywhere, weighing .
all, analyzing all. Behind all this enthusiasm for the church at home lay
his unquenchable zeal for the cause of Christ across the seas. He longed
to see the Church put its whole weight behind its foreign missionary en-
terprise. He compared ‘‘things as they are” with “things as they might be”
and prayed constantly that the Church might lay at the feet of the Master
an ever greater and greater proportion of the fruits of its unparalleled
prosperity. It was these qualities that particularly fitted him for the office
of Secretary to the Mission, a position which he has filled with conspicu­
ous ability, in fact, it is perhaps not too much to say that his secretarial ;
letters set a new standard in the history of the mission for their breadth of
statesmanship and power of analysis. Some of his letters are models of
what such communications should be. It was simply heart-breaking to
realize that we have lost him. He had become well nigh indispensable, in­
deed, at the moment there is no one to take his place. One of our junior
men with but eleven years of experience in the field behind him, with | }
brilliant career opening out before him, he was a man of very great prumiic A
His eleven years, covering as they did, Bahrain, Amarah, Baghdad and ^
Basrah, had given him a first-hand knowledge of the inner life of four out - *
of seven of our stations. The work of each station differs from its fellowi '
and his varied duties were a training of great value. He handled the Arabic
language well and his sermons to Arabs were a delight to listen to. H *
watched the supply of new literature for Arabs as it became available from ^
Cairo and Beyrout, so that the Basrah Book Shop was always up to da»*
in every way. He taught the Way of Life in the Basrah Boys* SchoolT/J t j
there must be many a boy who carries perhaps deep down in his heart ‘
impress of his message. The first time I ever met Henry Bilkert wai m
Hope College in 1913. I had addressed the students on Islam and tk| M
Koran and he was one of a small group of students who came up after tfcj