A cablegram received from the field conveyed to us the sad intelligence of the death of our Brother Jacob C. Wall, who departed to be with his Lord on March 9, 1911. Our beloved brother went to Africa in the outgoing party of missionaries in November of last year; and was taken from his earthly home to his heavenly home, within a short time after arriving at Nasa, German East Africa (now Tanzania.) We bow in humble adoration and submission to Him who is too wise to make any mistakes; rejoicing in our brother's promotion to be "with Christ," which is far better; "praying God's grace to be with the loved ones whom he had left int he home land, and with those who are dear to him on the field. We are glad that he was able to lay down his life in his chosen field of labor, even though his sojourn there was so brief, rather than to selfishly have spent his days for his own pleasure in his native land. We trust that God in his infinite grace may raise up others to take his place in that dark land, which has no light. Our brother has gone home to glory, but there are millions who are dying there without hope and without God. Will our friends pray with is, that others may fill up the ranks and take up the work which he has laid down. We feel at liberty to give herewith some of the letters received from the field because of the glorious trust and sustaining power of the Lord. The testimony is sacred. We feel that it will be so to our readers as well as to ourselves; and it is published only as a testimony to Him whose we are and Whom we serve. We give first of all the touching testimony of the noble girl to whom he was engaged to be married, and who was with him in the last moments of his life.
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"What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter." 1 John 13:7
"The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job 1:21
"God is love" and all His ways are love; so His dealings have been with me, and I know his tender heart is throbbing for me now. He has taken my dearest treasure on earth to be with Him. God alone knows what he meant to me, and what a deep cut it became in my heart when he left; but I am so glad that he is resting. He has gone to his Lord, whom he loved and served with undivided heart. I know that he has heard, or will hear those words from the master, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
"Again we are brought to see that God's ways are not our ways nor His thoughts our thoughts. Jacob Wall has lived and prayed for Africa ever since he became a Christian, and in spite of all the obstacles which seemed to arise, his faith in God never wavered. He knew that God had called him to this field and he was so happy in being here. I will not attempt to say much about his illness, as dear sister Sywulka in her kindness I think will do that. Only right from the beginning he called me to his bedside and almost weepingly said, 'I do not want to go home yet.' I said that I did not think that he was going home now, but if it were God's will, would he not be willing to go. 'Yes,' he said, 'only I think it will be so hard for you, Thilda.' I said that I knew it would, but if it were God's will He would give me sufficient grace for the trial.
"Does it not seem strange that he was not permitted to work for the salvation of these lost souls, who needs God's gospel so sorely? However, we do know that God makes no mistakes.
"He fell asleep so sweetly yesterday morning. No sign of pain of any kind. In a few short hours his face seemed so transformed; it was so
beautiful; I never in my life saw such a picture of perfect,
perfect peace; such peace as the Lord Himself only is As I stood there watching and studying his face, all mourning and sorrow gave way for a wonderful peace, joy, and thanksgiving for the heavenly rest he was enjoying. I shall need your prayers more and more continually. Pray that Isaiah 50:7,10 may be a truth to me. I came to Africa to serve God and because He wanted me to, and now I do wish with all my heart to be every bit of what God wanted me to be here.
"My desire for heaven will be greater than ever, but I, too, do not want to be longing for Heaven because of Mr. Wall; but because of Jesus who loves me much better that he ever could. I want to serve Him here in faithfulness and bring as many of these souls with me as I can.
"Do not think that I am sorry that I came to Africa. I am not. God has laid Africa very definitely on my heart since about fourteen years of age, and I am sure that He has work for me to do here, or rather that He will do through me.
"Now I must close, thanking you for your kindness toward us. the few words that you said to me and Mr. Wall on the steamer have meant much to me. God bless you. Mr. Wall said so many times the last days, 'The Lord will soon come,' 'I wish the Lord would come, then will this great evil be put to a stop,' etc. May we labor and pray as never before for lost souls and thereby hasten His blessed coming. he also said 'God is going to do marvelous things in this land within the next thirty years, well (pausing a while) within a very few years.' I believe it is true.
"May the Lord send out many more Spirit-filled workers! God grant it! It pays to come out here if only to die. MR. WALL SAID BEFORE LEAVING HOME, in speaking of another missionary who died in a short time: "I WOULD RATHER GO TO AFRICA IF ONLY TO DIE, THAN TO GIVE UP AND NOT GO, BECAUSE I KNOW THAT I AM DOING THE WILL OF GOD.'
"Peace be over his memory and may it serve as great a blessing to you all as it does to me.
"A daughter who covets your prayers very much. Lovingly yours,
Thilda O. Jacobson
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We quote also from Mrs. Emil Sywulka, a trained nurse who helped to care for him during his illness. She speaks of the illness that came upon him thirteen days after he had reached Nasa, and after describing his conditions for several days in which he grew worse, until he passed away on the 9th of March, says: "He was prayed for and annointed according to Scripture and his request. God answered our prayer in His own wise way - raising him from earth to heaven - from mortality to immortality. There is a break in our ranks which we feel most keenly. God grant that the open space may be filled, not by units but by scores and hundreds. The need is so great. Especially do we need a physician here. I am only a trained nurse. We believe that our Father wanted our brother's obedience only for Africa; his service above. We buried him at eventide, at the setting of the sun, with his face toward the west, THE GREAT UNOCCUPIED FIELDS BEYOND WITH MILLIONS GOING DOWN TO CHRISTLESS GRAVES. HE IS AT REST UNTIL HE (JESUS) COMES."
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Mr. Riebe writes: "Mr. Wall complained about much weariness while at the conference in Kijabe, but it was not thought that anything serious was the matter until they were startled at the news of his death. He quotes from the letter from Mrs. Sywulka, 'We sang Halleluiah for the cross, we shall never suffer loss.' When we look for the last time at the earthly tabernacle of our brother, and so indeed do we feel. It was his going Home. I wanted to say his -coronation day- and we somehow rejoiced through tears. Our prayers of yesterday were full of praise. May this mean to you as it does to us, a new sense of dependence upon God, together with a renewed consecration to His service, and to Him whom we love."
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The following letter from Mrs. Josephine Hope Westervelt is also given:
Dear Mr. Hurlburt,
I thought I would add just a word more since hearing of Mr. Wall's death. We had learned to love and appreciate him much because of our close companionship on board the steamer. Always kind, gentle, willing to serve, he never seemed out of sorts no matter what came. Day after day we would hear his voice in song on the boat, and he always got up early in the morning and was on deck spending the time with his Lord. He was quiet most of the time, but the times when he did talk most were when he talked of the Lord, and we were impressed over and over again that was all he cared for, to be in his Lord's will and the he gave willing service. So often in England and elsewhere those who met him were impressed with his earnestness and spoke of it, saying that they knew of a certainty that there was a strong, faithful missionary on the way to his work.
How much of heart-ache he leaves behind, how much of joy he has entered into. We cannot know why he went home, we only know that God must have loved him dearly to have called him from the work that needed him so much, to come up higher to be with Him.
He has gone Home to be with God whom he loved so dearly and talked so earnestly of. The longing for Christ's return was a burning desire in his life, he could not hide. Yours in Him,
Josephine Westervelt
Taken from the Mennonite Newsletter
Hearing and Doing, April/June, 1911
~~Thank you to Lydia Wiebe Reimer and Rosalie Reimer Carter for sharing this.~~
