JOSEPH KESWA has been for some years working as an Evangelist at Ekuza, one of the outstations of Elim, Natal. He is a very tall, fine man in appearance. Recently I asked him for the story of how God saved him and when. He had shown the very large kraal in which he was born, the Keswa kraal proper; now he commenced his story by saying that there is today in that kraal great opposition to the Gospel; so at the time of his youth. His father determined that there should be no Christian in that large kraal. But somehow from quite early days Keswa’s heart turned Godwards. He thought over things he had heard Christians say. He dreamed often of these matters; he dreamed that he was a Christian and going with others to a meeting. More wonderful still he actually dreamed that he saw the Crucifixion; and said seriously, “I shall never forget.” I asked whether at that time he had ever seen a picture of that greatest event. He said emphatically, “No, never.” As I questioned him further, he said that he had heard the Christians speak about the death of Jesus, when they had arrived at some other kraal where he had happened to be, but in his kraal the father absolutely refused that the Christians should come and preach. Keswa married a heathen and for some time settled in the home kraal, but still thoughts of God came often to his heart, and longings to know these things. He bought a Zulu Reader and learned to read; then he bought a Testament and read it. “Oh,” he said, with feeling, “How that book showed me that I was a sinner.”
“It was now considered time that Joseph should start a separate home for himself so he chose the site of his present beautiful home, and began to build. About that time his wife turned to the Lord (when away from home and came back as a Christian). One day as they were bringing material for building the huts, one of the oxen which was used to draw the sledge, turned restive and was very troublesome, when Joseph and his brother tried to secure the yoke from its neck. The brother let go and sprang aside, but Joseph had his mouth badly torn by the infuriated beast. He describes his lips almost hanging and severed from his face. Moreover he was knocked down and trampled upon. He seemed to lose consciousness for a time, and then he aroused to hear many people around him, and all expressing great horror; then he found out the condition of his mouth. After he had been taken up to his father’s home, they bound up the wounds washing them with permanganate of potash; no English doctor’s help was sought; it seemed to us a marvel that he got well. During his illness Mr. Pugh’s dear Evangelist, Aaron, was called to see him together with Jonah, our present Evangelist at Elim, then but a lad. Aaron, who was ever seeking souls, asked permission to pray with the suffering young man; it was refused and his father told the Christians to go. “Oh,” said Joseph, “how sad my heart was, how I longed for them to pray to God for me,” but his father was obdurate.
When he was better, and his own kraal finished, he removed there. One afternoon he saw Aaron and Jonah coming along, returning from preaching in some kraals, “I called and I beckoned them with all my might,” he said, so back they came and into the house. No irate father was there to forbid, and was not Joseph master in his own house and able to do as he wished? Aaron talked till long after sunset, “Oh how sweet it was to my heart,” said Joseph. Aaron made the Gospel so clear and the meaning of the death of Christ, and how it affected Joseph Keswa. He drank in the message longingly. “Never, never shall I forget the joy of that evening,” he said. The next Sunday Joseph accompanied his wife to a meeting, and stood up and confessed himself a believer; great has been his joy ever since. Now he is working that district earnestly seeking to bring people to the Lord. Joseph Keswa and his wife are such a happy pair and they have six children to be brought up for the Lord. May all be His as we heard the father earnestly praying they might be. A story like this shows how God makes a way for the one who really wants to be a Christian. The seeking sinner and the seeking Saviour meet.
Frances Geyden Roberts.