Story of James Gilmour and the Mongol Mission

Mary Bryson’s account of the life and work of James Gilmour [1843-1891] among the Mongols. My thanks to Redcliffe College for providing me with a copy to scan. This book is in the Public Domain.

Mary Isabella Bryson [?-1913], The Story of James Gilmour and the Mongol Mission. London: The Sunday School Union, [1928]. Hbk. pp.144. [Click to download complete book in PDF]

Contents

1. A Forgotten Land
2. The Call to Service
3. The Massacre of Tientsin
4. Through the Desert of Gobi
5. The Sheep Without a Shepherd
6. Plans For Work
7. A Missionary’s Romance
8. Enduring Hardness
9. The Daily Task
10. The First-Fruits of a Coming Harvest
11. The Discipline of Sorrow
12. “In Weariness and Painfulness, In Watchings Often”
13. The Last Sight of Home
14. Glimpses of Inner Life
15. The Patient Sower of the Heavenly Seed
16. The Dawn of Eternity

Preface

The accompanying pages are the result of an attempt to sketch the life of James Gilmour from the standpoint of his fellow-workers in the North China mission field.

The book is not an abridgment of any former work, but consists principally of the writer’s personal reminiscences, and extracts from letters written by Mr. Gilmour to herself and her husband. For other letters she is indebted to Dr. Roberts, for a time Gilmour’s colleague in the Mongolian work. Some of the recollections of the Rev. G. Owen given at a memorial service held ill Peking are also included.

From the pages of the Chinese Recorder, to which journal Gilmour was for many years a constant contributor, some of the incidents of the missionary work on the Mongol plain have been taken, and some of the letters he sent to the Chronicle of the London Missionary Society have also been included.

Gilmour was a man most loved and honoured by those who knew him best. To fellow-workers his life was ever an inspiration, and the Mongols among whom he lived and worked so long, received the news of his death with a sense of personal loss. [Continue reading]