Congo life and folklore

by John H. Weeks

The bids were in brass rods, and the rivalry for possession of the different articles was very keen. Jokes were cracked, repartees were exchanged, innocent pleasantries were indulged in, and amid much laughter one lot after another was knocked down to the successful bidders. It was a vivacious scene composed of both sexes of all ages, dressed in variegated colours, topped by smiling, black faces, and white, gleaming teeth.

The white men took it in turns to act as auctioneers, and at the close of the sale it was found that the total sum received for the local missionary work, i. e. for the support of native teachers, amounted to 82,095 brass rods (= £34 3s. 6d.). Everybody was pleased, and that night they sung most heartily, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.” And thus ended the matondo, or harvest thanksgiving festival.

Soon after the final service the natives were bidding each other “good-bye,” and on the road again, with their faces turned homeward. How safe the roads are compared with the bad, old days! Then natives went armed with guns and other weapons of defence, now they travel with nothing but their hymn-books and New Testaments for days without fear of molestation; woe then to the individual who left his party, for he (or she) was pounced upon by thievish rascals, and was never heard of again; then men and women, boys and girls were captured on the slightest pretext, and even for penny and two-penny debts, and were sold to end their days in distant, cruel and unremitting toil as slaves; now boys and girls take long journeys in unmolested safety. The Gospel has taught the people that God cares for them, hence they are caring more for each other; that He loves them, and thus they are coming to love one another.

How selfish they used to be! How they grabbed at everything that came in their way, and held fast to every article they could put their fingers upon! How generously they now gave out of their comparative poverty, that the message of God that had transformed their lives, given them peace now, and hope for the great hereafter, might be proclaimed to others, that they also might share the same peace and possess the same buoyant, eternal hope. Then their neighbours were their own kith and kin only--members of their own families, and they did not hesitate to cheat, oppress, enslave or kill any one outside the family to benefit themselves; now they have discovered that their neighbours are the members of all families, clans and tribes under the sun, and with all the energy of their renewed natures they are trying to put into daily practice the golden rule: Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Then they stole, lied, swindled and broke every law of man and God that they might die wealthy and have a grand funeral that should be the talk of the countryside; now they walk many a weary mile, cross many a difficult stream, wade many a nasty swamp, to preach the news of God’s great salvation, and give generously of their substance to support teachers. How marvellous are the workings of God’s grace in the hearts of whilom savages!

Mikula, my owner, and his party arrived home all the stronger in their Christian faith for the service they had attended; and more determined, by consecrated lives, by kindly actions, and by trying to live the life of Jesus Christ in word and daily deed, to win their heathen neighbours to the better life. At the station they had heard that there were more than fifteen hundred members belonging to their beloved Wathen Church. Fifteen hundred! a large number indeed! They would have sung the Hallelujah Chorus if they had known it. Yet how few fifteen hundred seemed among the thousands upon thousands in these large districts still outside the Church.

There was, however, a growing Christian sentiment, and a better-informed conscience manifesting themselves through the whole district, even among the heathen; and these are resulting in a keener perception of right and wrong. These are assets that should be placed to the credit of the Church, and promise well for its numerical and spiritual prosperity in the near future.

Had there been any laxity in receiving candidates into the Church the numbers could have easily been quadrupled; but the greatest care was exercised, and the strictest investigations made over every application for Church membership. It was quite possible to impose upon the white teachers, who could not possibly live in a hundred villages and towns at once; but the candidate could not deceive his Christian neighbours who are jealous of the honour of the Church, and who recognize that a pure Church of true men and women means a strong and an aggressive Church; whereas a membership of hypocrites would bring upon them the contemptuous scorn of their heathen neighbours, and would result in a weak, emasculated, stagnant Church worthy only of ridicule and extinction.

The natives live open lives in their villages, making their fires in the streets, cooking their food and eating it in the open, talking, working and living such unsecluded lives that in a village everybody knows everything about everybody else and a little more besides--there is no hiding any fact of life from one another, hence when the name of a candidate for Church fellowship is submitted there are sure to be present some who know the life the candidate is living in his or her town.

One evening, when my owner, Mikula, and his wife were sitting at their fire, a stranger from a distant village greeted them, and told the deacon that he had come to converse with him about “God’s palaver.” Continuing, he said: “I have heard the evangelists preach in the different villages I have been visiting, about the Saviour Jesus Christ; and I have listened to the white men more than once, and my heart is standing up with fear, because I have sinned greatly against God and broken all His commandments. When I think of my many sins and that God will surely punish me for them, I cannot sleep at night. Tell me more about Jesus, the Saviour.” And a look of intense longing came into the eyes of the inquirer.

Mikula unfolded to him clearly and fully God’s way of salvation. He read passage after passage from the New Testament to enforce every statement he made; and Mikula’s wife aided him by holding a candle in one hand and shading it with the other that the light might fall on the sacred page, and occasionally she recalled to her husband’s mind such scriptures as would help their visitor.