#14 in a series on the life of William Borden, the millionaire missionary who died en route to China's Gansu Province, adapted from his biography (BordenofYale.com, January 1, 2024).
Borden had a great opportunity to learn the spoken language and connect with the life of the people in the home of the Syrian friends with whom he boarded.
From a letter written by Mr. Gamil B. Hassoon, the father of the native household in which Borden resided for merely a few months, we may almost see him with their eyes:
It is beyond power to describe his great zeal and diligence in studying the difficult Arabic language. But though he was so absorbed, so fond, and so overwhelmed with his studies, he did not make Arabic his only aim. He looked to what was higher and nobler, and appointed a large portion of his time for reading the sacred Scriptures. His Bibles, and he had many of them, were all visited by his eyes. Many were the remarks on their margins made in his handwriting, and the texts underlined, which showed that he had chosen them and probably put them into memory. His reading the Scriptures was not in the order of a daily duty. He read them because he loved them.
His life and deeds agreed to what he read. He loved everybody; and as a rule, when you find one who loves like that you may be sure of his love for God. . . . In a conversation I had with him I found that he loved the YMCA with a wonderful love, and when our talk turned on the Arabic branch, his love for this seemed not less than for the other. I knew from him that he wanted to strengthen the Arabic branch by all the power he could, financially, morally, and mentally, so that it might attain a level with the greatest European associations, and surpass them if possible. Many times he expressed to me his pleasure in the progress this branch had taken in the short time since it was organized, despite all obstacles.
His love for the Orient and Orientals was a profound, true love. He was very pleased with many of our noble habits that he had not experienced before. He was very kindly sociable in our society, and in a few days, not exceeding the number of the fingers of one hand, he became one of us – Orientalist, with the full meaning of the word. He loved to communicate and mix himself up with us and we with him, preferring to change his long-accustomed habits and acquire our ways, so that he might prepare himself for what would agree with the taste of Orientals among whom he hoped to live. . . . The kindness and sociability God endowed him with were very great.
He denied himself, and had a special motto written on a paper in his pocket: “My Lord, enable me to conquer my will and overcome my desires.” And he had another motto: “Not my will, but thine, be done.” . . .
What impressed me most was his strong faith. He did not think that there was anything impossible to do in the service of the Lord. In the books he and I read, we found that it is nearly impossible to enter into Tibet or Afghanistan in order to bring the gospel to the Muslims there. But that fact was not to shake his faith. And he went further, believing that it is most possible that the gospel shall in a few years be preached in Mecca, the center of Islam itself. He loved to be where the fight is hottest. . . . The unoccupied fields of the Muslim world were his target, and all the time he was preparing himself for the evangelization of such fields. . . .
He was very fond of Muslims. Once he came home with a very pleased face.
“What is it that makes you look so happy?” I asked.
He had met, he said, two Azhar sheikhs, and stopped them by the way. They spoke to him in Arabic, something he could not understand. But he did all he could, and led them a long distance to Dr. Zwemer’s house. Showing them the house, he said, “Koll yom gomad” (“every Friday”). And he spent with them fifteen minutes by the roadside, using the few Arabic words he knew.
I asked him to repeat the Arabic he used, and we had great fun with it! But it was good enough to make those men understand that he wanted to gain them for Christ, and they parted with peace. To my full belief they went to Dr. Zwemer’s on Friday. . . .
William had a winning look and an attractive spirit. He was meek and kind. My love for him is very great, and I remember every movement of his. . . . Although he was a rich man, he denied himself the privileges of rich people, and lived as simply as any missionary could live. He was following the footsteps of Jesus.
Once a friend said to me, “Your guest is a millionaire.”
“I do not know anything about his dollars,” I replied. When I came in, I told Mr. Borden what I heard, but he did not confirm it.
“People often mistake us,” he said truthfully, “for the [Borden milk company].”
This put me into an opinion that he was not so rich, and I kept on treating him as a brother, not as to please a millionaire. I am sure he liked it that way. He was perfectly at home with that poor family of mine, and we lived together with great peace and love.