The sums appropriated to sustain this mission were, for 1851, $22,000; for 1852, $26,000; for 1853, $32,957; and for 1854, $32,957. This liberality is sufficiently expressive of the confidence of the Methodist Church in Liberia. The Report of the Board of Managers, for 1851, says:
“All eyes are now turned toward this New Republic on the Western coast of Africa, as the star of hope to the colored people, both bond and free, in the United States. The Republic is establishing and extending itself; and its Christian population is in direct contact with the natives, both Pagans and Mohammedans. Thus the Republic has, indirectly, a powerful missionary influence, and its moral and religious condition is a matter of grave concern to the Church. Hence, the Protestant Christian missions in Liberia, are essential to the stability and prosperity of the Republic; and the stability and prosperity of the Republic are necessary to the protection and action of the missions. It will thus appear, (concludes the Report,) that the Christian education of the people, is the legitimate work of the missions.”
Governed by these considerations, the Methodists have erected a seminary building, in Monrovia, at a cost of $10,000, which is now affording instruction to youth in the higher departments of science and literature.
The Report for 1853,[[7]] speaks still more encouragingly of the mission in Liberia. It says:
“The value of this mission is, perhaps, inconceivable: it not only dispenses the word of life to the people, but it contributes largely to the maintenance of good morals and good order in the Republic, and thus strengthens and assists in preserving the State. In this way it indirectly contributes to make the Republic of Liberia a steady light, beckoning the free colored people of this country to a land where they can be truly free and equal, and where only they can be truly men and govern themselves. The mission is thus assisting the State to give a triumphant answer to our Southern States when they ask, If we set the slave population at liberty, where can they go and be free and prosperous? This is a result of immense value. It probably contains the solution of the question of American slavery—that great mystery of iniquity which dims the otherwise resplendent light of our glorious Republic. And yet, further, this African mission in the Republic of Liberia is a steady and shining light to the western portions of Africa, where now reign the most degrading, cruel, and destructive superstitions to be found in the world. Until within a quarter of a century past, many thousands of human victims have been sacrificed annually, in their cruel and dark religious rites, within sight of the coast; and not very far removed from the coast these sacrifices still continue, to an extent of which it makes one shudder to think, much less to behold. Can the Church waver in her support of such a mission on the Western coast of Africa? She will not.”
By order of the General Conference, Bishop Scott made an official visit to Liberia, at the close of 1852, and returned in April, 1853—having spent seventy days in the Colonies. He represents the spiritual condition of the Mission as, generally, healthy and prosperous; and the work as going steadily onward. In relation to the civil and social condition of the Colony, the Bishop bears the following testimony:
“The government of the Republic of Liberia, which is formed on the model of our own, and is wholly in the hands of colored men, seems to be exceedingly well administered. I never saw so orderly a people. I saw but one intoxicated colonist while in the country, and I heard not one profane word. The Sabbath is kept with singular strictness, and the churches crowded with attentive and orderly worshipers.”[[8]]
But, as regards the missions among the natives, the Bishop says, very little indeed has been done—much less than the friends of the mission seem to have good reason to expect—much less than he himself expected. The result of his inquiries is by no means flattering, and he felt, and feared that the Board would feel, disappointed. These results, however, he says, are not due to any want of faithfulness on the part of the missionaries; as other denominations have not been more successful—perhaps not quite so much so—but are the result of the peculiar condition of the native population. These peculiarities will be noticed under the head of the native missions.
The American Baptist Missionary Union, commenced its mission in Liberia, in 1822, under the care of the Rev. Lot Carey and the Rev. Collin Teage; who had been ordained to the ministry, in Richmond, Virginia, January, 1821. They were both colored men, and possessed of much intelligence and energy. They commenced their labors in Monrovia, in the infant colony of Liberia, and founded a Church during the first year. Lot Carey was chosen pastor of the Church, and Mr. Teage removed for a time to Sierra Leone. “In the performance of his duties as a missionary, Mr. Carey evinced remarkable energy and faithfulness. He was born a slave in Virginia, but many years before leaving Richmond he had purchased his freedom and that of his two children, and had acquired the rudiments of a superior education, and proved himself worthy of the highest trusts in the business with which he was charged. On the pestilential shores of Africa he soon found occasion for all the knowledge he had acquired, both among his fellow emigrants and the rude barbarians from the interior with whom they became associated. By his acquaintance with medicine, he healed their maladies; by his sagacity in civil affairs, he settled their disputes and aided in the organization of their infant society; and by his earnestness and power as a preacher, he commended the Gospel to their hearts and consciences with unusual success.”[[9]]
In 1825, the Rev. Calvin Holton, a white man, went out as a missionary, but died almost immediately after his arrival. “The mission continued to be sustained by Mr. Carey, with the aid of two or three pious assistants from among the emigrants. The resources by which it was kept alive were supplied almost entirely by his own efforts, as the funds which were furnished by the Board were of necessity at this time exceedingly limited. The labors of the mission were bestowed upon the emigrant colonists, and also, as far as possible, upon the natives of the country, who had either been rescued from slave-ships and settled upon the coast, or had voluntarily come in from the neighboring wilderness to join the colonies of their more civilized brethren. Mr. Carey in this manner preached and maintained schools at Monrovia, and also at Grand Cape Mount, among the Veys, one of the most powerful and intelligent of the tribes on the coast. At these and other settlements he was the life and soul of nearly all the religious efforts and operations that were carried on. He preached several times every week, superintended schools both for religious and secular instruction,—in some of which he taught himself,—traveled from one settlement to another, and watched with constant vigilance and unremitting care over all the spiritual and the social interests of the colonists.