STORY OF HEROISM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19748, 22 September 1927, Page 12

STORY OF HEROISM.

BLIND MAN'S COURAGE. MISSION IN HEATHEN LANDS. The story of a courageous blind man and cripple, who founded a mission for the bfiad in heathen lands, was told by the Rev. W. J. Sinclair, who is himself blind, at a meeting in St. Mary's Hall last evening. " The life of Robert A. Byers is one of the most interesting and stimulating yet pathetic stories in connection with missions," said Mr. Sinclair. " When nearly 20 he was stricken with complete paralysis, which deprived him of the use of practically every bodily organ. He was unable to do anything for himself. Later he became totally blind, and partially deaf." One might wonder what a man in such a plight could hnd in life, said Mr. Sinclair. Ho was a man of very energetic brain, and his one great and unselfish desire was to help those whom he believed to be worse off than himself. Byers had an unswerving faith in God, believing unquestionably in Him as a prayerhearing and a prayer-answering God. One of the surest answers to the power of prayer in these days of scepticism and unbelief was the life and testimony of Robert Byers. " One of his few friends read to him a tract concerning India's blind," said Mr. Sinclair, "That day ho saw * vision of the wretchedness and helplessness of the blind in heathen lands, and immediately wrote to all the poople he knew in tfie world, numbering ten, asking them to join a birthday band to holp these poor people of the East In this way he established the b*gjnni-ig of what is now known as the Mission to the Blind in Heathen and Bible Lands." From small beginnings the work steadily grew until no corner of the mission fi?ld waa too remote to hear the name of Robert Byers,