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Humanly speaking it was a disappointment to all that during this time brother Faulknor took ill, an illness that weakened him and made him susceptible to one of the native diseases. From this malady he suffered greately but was tenderly nursed by his co-worker. Finally, deplorable as it may seem to man, he was forced to leave Africa. How difficult under such circumstances to say, "The will of the Lord be done."
After some recuperation in the Old Land, he sailed for America and settled at Pomona, [[California]]. He continued for a number of years to give himself wholeheartedly to the service of the gospel, particularly on the West Coast, but on May 30, 1908, the Lord called him home. The immediate cause of his death was a tumor on the brain. It is recorded by some of his colleagues that his beloved and esteemed servant of the Lord left behind him in Britain, [[Canada]], Africa and the [[United States]], a very sweet savor of Christ. How true! Man proposes, but God disposes!
While the assembly was still meeting in the Larkin Hall at the corner of John and King Streets, the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Duff was performed. It is regrettable that the date of this happy occasion is not known. Shortly after their marriage this young couple felt called of God to go to China with the gospel. The records available of the period of time they spent there are very scanty, but it is known that they arrived in that needy country some time late in 1891. There is also published evidence that Miss Annie L. Lucas went with them. Probably here exercise was stimulated by the example of Mr. and Mrs. Duff.
There are difficulties in tracing any communication from them back to friends in Hamilton. Notwithstanding, there are a few letters from them in the only assembly missionary magazine of that time, ''Echoes of Service''.
Henry Fletcher was born in Hamilton in 1895. His mother was a devout Christian and brought him and the other members of her family up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. As a result of her prayers and influence, he was saved when he was 13 years of age.
Henry grew up in the MacNab Street Assembly where he enjoyed the fellowship of saints and joined in the many activities. He taught a Sunday School class, distributed Christian literature and engaged in open-air work in the small towns and villages surrounding Hamilton.
In later years he used to relate how he responded to the urgings of the Lord in regard to Christian service in the foreign field:
"I had much interest in [[Venezuela]] for I knew of the labors of such brethren as Mitchell, Crane, Adams, Johnston and others." He also used to assert quite forcefully: "A point in life was eventually reached when in my bedroom before the Lord a complete surrender was made. Although I felt poor, weak and worthless in myself, I was ready for any service He might indicate."
In 1916 Henry was commended to the work of the Lord by the assembly on MacNab Street. He went immediately to Venezuela and four years later married Miss Agnes Renwick of Galt, [[Ontario]]. Together they labored to spread the gospel and founded assemblies in Duaca and Valencia.
About 1929 our brother became exercised about the deep spiritual need of [[Puerto Rico]]. Consequently the Fletchers moved there in 1930. Through their effort the assembly in San Turce was established and a small hall was built. The Fletchers remained there until 1941 when because of health they were forced to return to [[Canada]], brother Fletcher continued to serve the Lord and the beloved people in Canada and the United States until he was called to higher service on May 17, 1968.
The appropriateness making mention of Donald Cox in this section of the assembly history must be obvious to all. True, he has not gone abroad to a distant land, but he and his family had to learn another language, French. They had also to master, at least to a considerable degree, another culture; this can be very difficult for some. While [[Quebec][] is neighbor to [[Ontario]], it presents some of the problems of a foreign country to one who knows only the English language and culture.
In 1958 Donald Cox was commended to the work of the Lord in Quebec jointly by the assemblies in MacNab Street, Hamilton, Ontario, and [[Palos Hills Christian Assembly, IL|86th Street]], Chicago, [[Illinois]], U.S.A. For fourteen years our brother has diligently served the Lord in Drummondville. After these many years in that city, our brother became exercised before the Lord to move to the Gaspe Peninsula. He now lives in Ste-Anne-des-Monts, Gaspe Nord, [[Quebec]]. This is some four hundred miles north of his former home. In this northern area there is ample scope for pioneering. There are numerous towns and villages surrounding Ste-Anne-des-Monts, and in these some contacts have been made through radio and television ministry. A deep concern of our brother is that there are no French assemblies throughout the Gaspe Peninsula.
==Chapter Seven - "Messengers of the Churches"==
"They are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ. Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love" (II Cor. 8:23-24).
That the Lord has sustained the MacNab assembly by efficient administration and by the ministry of spiritual gifts, which he has developed locally, has been fully demonstrated. He also has supplemented these services and ministries by using other servants of Christ who, from elsewhere, have taken up residence in the Hamilton area. These beloved brethren, although establishing their homes in the City, continued their itinerant ministry among the assemblies in [[Canada]] and the [[United States]].
One of the earliest of these, if not the earliest, was Joseph Douglas. This brother was born in Limivady, [[Northern Ireland|Ireland]], on July 13, 1869. In youth, before God saved him, he was pursuing the necessary education to become an attorney at law, but he eventually dismissed this objective and immigrated to the [[United States]] where he took up residence in Detroit, [[Michigan]]. There he learned from [[Thomas Donald William Muir|T.D.W. Muir]] the ways of the Lord more perfectly and some years later was commended to full time work for God by the [[Central Gospel Hall, Detroit, MI|Central Assembly]], Detroit. He was not very robust, but when cautioned by the doctor to take things more easily, he replied, "How can I when there is so much to do?" he literally wore himself out in the service of the Lord.
From Detroit he moved to Newbury, [[Ontario]], and from there to Hamilton where his presence and ministry were a benefit to the MacNab Assembly. Because of the condition of Mrs. Douglas' health, he was forced to move back to Detroit so that his wife, who suffered from severe paralysis, might be with her sisters. Although he was probably only two years in Hamilton, he became well known and greatly loved and highly respected. While visiting back in Newbury, he contracted pneumonia and passed home to be with the Lord on November 28, 1904, at 36 years of age. In the copy of ''Our Record'' for the month that followed, [[Thomas Donald William Muir|T.D.W. Muir]] wrote in the obituary: "Another of those who can be so ill be spared has gone from us, to be with the Lord... The family took the remains to Hamilton for burial, where brethren D. Munro and W.P. Douglas (no relative) spoke the word." Among the church notices in the Hamilton Herald, April 18, 1914, a newspaper long since discontinued, there is an insertion which reads: "Christians gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ meet at the Gospel Hall, 140 MacNab Street North. Lord's Day: Breaking of Bread, 11:00 a.m., Sunday School and Bible Class, 2:45 p.m. Mr. Robert McCrory from Ulster and Mr. George Duncan from Cleveland will preach at 3:45 and 7:00 p.m." This apparently was the announcement of brother McCrory's first visit to the City, he later adopted as his home. He had immigrated to [[Canada]] in 1910, but in 1914 moved from the Maritime Provinces to Hamilton. There he resided until 1961 when, after the passing of his wife, he returned to Ireland. There he went home to be with the Lord in October, 1964. It was written of him: "He was a man of the Book and ever sought to expound its meaning. When conflicting influences would have divided, and in some parts did, the assemblies, he firmly attested to the supreme authority of the Holy Scriptures in ALL MATTERS OF church administration. When amillenarian doctrine was being propagated among some of the assemblies, distressing the minds of God's people, his clear teaching on the doctrine of the imminent return of the Lord preserved in many hearts the living hope of the soon return of the heavenly bridgegroom." Brother David Kirk a fellow-countryman of Robert McCrory, also started his service in Canada in the Maritime Provinces, but eventually moved to Hamilton, [[Ontario]]. He was on a visit to Ireland at the time of brother McCrory's final illness and death. Brother Kirk was able to visit him and along with Robert Wright formerly of Japan, he conducted the funeral services. Brother Kirk was reared in Belfast, [[Northern Ireland|Ireland]], and as a youth found all the needs of his heart in the Ebenezer Assembly of that City. In it he was saved, baptized, received into church fellowship, and from that assembly in August of 1931, he was commended, in a full time capacity to the work of the Lord in [[Canada]]. He lived and labored from the time of his arrival until 1942 principally in the Maritime Provinces, but that year he moved to Stirling, Ontario. During the years he lived there his service for the Lord expanded to a wider sphere of ministry. Finally, in 1948, our brother came and settled in Hamilton, and ever since has been in intimate fellowship in the MacNab, now the West Fifth Assembly. His presence and his ministry are a blessing to the saints in the assembly. It is appropriate that brother Donald Moffatt be mentioned in this chapter. He has given many years of his life to the dissemination of the truth of God. He labored for years in [[Newfoundland]], Canada, and while there founded the radio broadcast, ''Family bible Hour''. This broadcast, of which he is still a director, today is heard in many parts of the world. It has brought life and instruction to large numbers of listeners, both saved and unsaved. After brother Moffatt left [[Newfoundland]], he spent some years on the Pacific Coast preaching the gospel and ministering God's Word among the assemblies. Eventually he returned east and settled in Hamilton, making MacNab Assembly his home. Although now engaged in secular business, he still spends much time in ministry among assemblies and at conferences. He faithfully serves the [[West Fifth Bible Chapel, Hamilton, ON|West Fifth Assembly]] with other elders seeking to shepherd the flock of God within which he has located. ==Chapter Eight - "Gather Together"==