“But here, too, a difficulty arises. The female children are contracted away—are sold, in fact—by their parents while they are yet very young, often while they are infants; and if the missionary would procure them for his schools, he must pay the dower—some fifteen or twenty dollars.
“But our missionary finds that the whole social and domestic organization of these people is opposed to the pure, chaste, and comely spirit of the Gospel, and that, to succeed in this holy work, it must not only be changed, but revolutionized—upturned from the very foundation. Is there no difficulty here? Are habits and customs, so long established and so deeply rooted, to be given up without a struggle? The native people, both men and women, go almost stark naked, and they love to go so—and are not abashed in the presence of people better dressed; they eat with their hands, and dip, and pull, and tear, with as little ceremony and as little decency as monkeys, and they love to eat so; they sleep on the bare ground, or on mats spread on the ground, and they love to sleep so; the men hunt or fish, or lounge about their huts, and smoke their pipes, and chat, and sleep, while their wives, alias their slaves, tend and cut and house their rice—cut and carry home their wood—make their fires, fetch their water, get out their rice, and prepare their ‘chop,’—and all, even the women, love to have it so. And to all the remonstrances of the missionary, they oppose this simple and all-settling reply. ‘This be countryman’s fash.’ They seem incapable of conceiving that your fash is better than theirs, or that theirs is at all defective. Your fash, they will admit, may be better for you, but theirs is better for them. So the natives of Cape Palmas have lived, in the very midst of the colonists, for some twenty years, and they are the same people still, with almost no visible change.”
The Bishop next notices their superstitions and idolatries, and the evils connected with their belief in witchcraft; and says, that though, by the influence of the colony and missions, their confidence is, in some places, being shaken in some of them; they generally even yet think you a fool, and pity you, if you venture to hint that there is nothing in them. But we must not quote him farther than to include his closing remarks:
“But what! Do you then think that there is no hope for these heathen, or that we should give up all hopes directed to that end? Not I, indeed. Very far from it. I would rather reiterate the noble saying of the sainted Cox: ‘Though a thousand fall even, in this attempt, yet let not Africa be given up.’ I mention these things to show, that there are solid reasons why our brethren in Africa have accomplished so little; and also to show, that the Churches at home must, in this work particularly, exercise the patience of faith and the labor of love. We must still pound the rock, even though it is hard, and our mallets be but of wood. It will break one day.”
Our inquiries into the condition of the Missions among the natives, where civil government exerts no influence, must now be closed. The state of things is about this: The chiefs, ambitious of distinction and avaricious, often favor the settlement of missionaries, on account of the consequence it gives them, or from mercenary motives; the division of the population into small tribes, and their marauding dispositions, leads to frequent wars; the tyranny of the chiefs, and their fear of losing their influence, often leads them, after having admitted the missionary, to oppose his work and deter their people from attending his preaching; the existence of slavery and hereditary chieftainism, leaves the mass of the population incapable of independent action; the ignorance of barbarism, overshadowing their minds, renders them incapable of comprehending moral truth; the superstitions of ages are not to be given up, readily, for a religion they can not comprehend; the custom of receiving dashes, tends to prejudice the native against the missionary; and, above all, the practice of polygamy, ministering to the indolence and sensuality of the men, and reducing the women to the condition of slaves, stands as a wall of adamant in the way of the progress of the Gospel.
These are the more prominent barriers to the success of missions in Africa, where civil government exerts no power, and the influence of Christian society is not felt.
It will not be improper here, to pause and observe, that there seems to be a marked difference between the agencies necessary to secure success in propagating the Gospel among an Asiatic and an African population. Both, it must be remembered, are heathen; but the minds of the one are enlightened, of the other barbarous. In Asia, where a knowledge of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and the mechanical and fine arts prevail, the mental culture of the people renders them accessible to the Gospel. Many of them can comprehend its truths, when heard from the lips of the preacher, or when read in the printed Scriptures. For this reason, some of the prominent missions in India have relied upon the preaching of the word, as their principal agency; while circulating the Scriptures and teaching the youth, have been employed only as auxiliaries. Others have relied mainly upon the multiplication of facilities for educating the youth; while spreading the printed word, and employing the foreign preacher, have been considered as secondary matters—the chief hope being in the preparation of a native ministry, who should ultimately enter largely upon that work. Others, again, have combined all these agencies, as means which God has blessed in the conversion of sinful men. The whole of these systems have been successful in Asia, and their supporters, respectively, see but little cause for changing their measures.
But in Africa, and among the North American Indians, where the intellectual faculties of the population are shrouded in the darkness of barbarism,[[49]] the preaching of the word, in the commencement of a mission, has been but rarely successful in producing conversions; while the total ignorance of letters among these people, has rendered the circulation of the Scriptures useless. Christian missionaries, therefore, in attempting to introduce the Gospel among the Indians or Africans, have been forced to rely upon the education of youth as the means of success.
But whether in North America, Africa or Asia—whether converted while training in the schools, or under the reading or preaching of the word—the multiplication of native agents to take part in the work, greatly promotes the progress of the Gospel. So well is this now understood, that the preparation of native teachers and preachers, has become the chief aim of all missions to the heathen; and the persistence in one or the other of the systems of operations to which we have referred, is due to the importance they respectively attach to an educated ministry.
While, however, teaching, reading, and preaching, are the chief instrumentalities for the conversion of the world; the progress of the Gospel, everywhere, is greatly accelerated by the presence of a Christian population, whose example aids in overturning the customs and superstitions of the people, and commends the religion of Christ to their confidence. As a mission, then, adds to the number of its converts, or receives additions of civilized emigrants, its ability of becoming more and more aggressive is increased, and its powers of progression multiplied.