Dan Crawford of Luanza

Dan Crawford [1870-1926] was a Scottish Missionary to Luanza  – in what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo. My thanks to Redcliffe College for providing me with a copy of the book to scan. This title is now in the Public Domain.

James J. Ellis [1853-?], Dan Crawford of Luanza. 37 Years Missionary Work in Darkest Africa. Kilmarnock: John Ritchie / London: Hulbert Publishing Co. Ltd., [1927]. Hbk. pp.160. [Click to download the complete book in PDF]

Contents

Foreword

1. The Man Who Stepped Over the Line
2. The Lands He Sought to Conquer
3. The People He Learned to Love
4. The March Through the Robbers’ Dens
5. The White Slaves; and a king Half Pig and Half and Half Wolf
6. The City Built Above the Water
7. The Work that Never Ceased and Never Failed
8. A Visit to Livingstone’s Grave and What Came of It
9. Extracts From Mr. Crawford’s Diary
10. In God’s Hand and There All is Well
11. A Visit to Luanza, by Fred Elliott

Chapter 1

John Angel James, who wrote an excellent book called The Anxious Enquirer, was a man who, serious and earnest always, had ever a laugh handy. While travelling on the railway a friend heard some passengers say of this good Christian: “Well, there’s a light-hearted man.”

Long before, in the days of the Commonwealth, there lived Thomas Fuller, the Christian historian. Of him it was said: “True humour was the very life of him. It was always present, like a latent electricity, and was ever likely to break forth into the lightning of wit.”

Mr Daniel Crawford was, indeed, a light-hearted man, and perhaps the capacity for appreciating the funny side of things was natural to him. A level-headed, keen man of business, he was always ready to flash out a pun; indeed, it appeared as if the impulse to do so was irresistible. C. H. Spurgeon, Mr Williams tells us, “found in his garden a source of unceasing delight.

I think he knew every single plant and flower his conservatories contained. ‘Look,’ he would say, ‘is not that exquisite? Look at the veins and colours in these leaves; don’t you think God has put His own thoughts into them? This plant, for instance, has His laughable thoughts; this His loving thoughts; and this His serious ones; all nature is full of God. His creation speaks of Him and for Him.’ We went into the vinery one day, when the tree was in full leaf. [Continue reading]