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"These young men represent the first stage towards baptism. On a Sunday morning, these young men stood up and took these solemn vows upon them before all men:- ❧ 1. I promise to learn about God, and to follow Jesus Christ. ❧ 2. I promise to give up the old life with it's superstitious practices & it’s evil dances. ❧ 3. I promise to marry only one wife. ❧ 4. I promise to give of my substance to God. ❧ It is no light thing for a young Kikuyu lad to take such vows upon him: it is a deliberate turning of his back on all that he would naturally look forward to, - the period of licentious youth (2) and the time of wealth, position, and power, form the number of his wives and children (3): he refuses the first and by promising to marry only wife, he condemns himself for ever to be a poor man, in the eyes of his own people. Having taken these vows upon him, he is admitted into the Catechumens class, in which for a period of two years he is taught: at the end of that time if his life is a truly Christian one, he is admitted by baptism into the Church of Christ." Group portraits of young men about to be baptised. ❧ "This Lecture was prepared by Dr J.W. Arthur in October 1911 on his voyage to Mombasa. The set of slides is the gift to the Kikuyu Mission of the Young Peoples Meeting at the Burgh Hall, Hillhead, of which he was for many years a member." A green folder marked 'Kikuyu' and containing lecture notes and relevant photographs to accompany lantern slides.
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