Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/136

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DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN

after two years joined Mr Fox at Durham. Already his heart had turned to the land where men seem to have fallen the lowest, and most need the help of Christian hands; but reasons in which he could not but acquiesce prevented his going to Africa. After the deaths of Bishops Hannington and Parker in Eastern Equatorial Africa the call came to this earnest young clergyman to succeed to the perilous post, and he was consecrated Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa in 1890. There is nothing more remarkable in the history of missions than the progress in Uganda.




“If I had felt thirty-five years ago as I feel now with regard to missionary work, I should not be here. Perhaps not alive—certainly not at home.” Thus remarked Mr Fox at an interview last autumn at the C.M.S. headquarters in Salisbury Square.

“But how do you account for the missionary zeal in your case?”

“Well, I frankly confess that in my early life I had no missionary leanings at all. I began life in another profession. From causes to which I need not refer, the whole spirit and course of my life were changed. I lived a good deal with an uncle who was deeply interested in missions. He undoubtedly influenced me; but I do not doubt that, under God, I owe most to the prayers of my father and mother, who had both died in my childhood.”