147,000,000 permeated with atheism—from Buddhism.
256,000,000 chained to a dead past—from Confucianism.
175,000,000 under the spell of Fatalism—from Mohammedanism.
200,000,000 sitting in darkness—from Paganism.”[108]
Let us try to realize that each unit of these vast figures stands for a life that was once an innocent little child, born into conditions or surroundings similar to those of which we have been studying in this book. Think of the future tragedies that may be averted if each little child today is redeemed and begins to work for Christ. What a slave boy accomplished. Why should there not be thousands of averted or transformed tragedies like those surrounding the life of the little black boy, born in 1806 on the West Coast of Africa? Because of certain peculiar circumstances at his birth it was prophesied that he was not to be a devotee of any idol, but one “celebrated and distinguished to serve the great and highest God.” At one time when the house of his prosperous father caught fire, the little boy rushed in and saved the idols. Whereupon it was commonly said,—“This child will be a great worshiper of the gods; he will one day restore the gods to our nation.”
When the child was about fifteen, a raid was made upon the village by Mohammedans, and a large number of women and children were led away captive with ropes around their necks, young Ajayi and his mother and grandmother among the number. Sold from one person to another, often bartered for rum or tobacco, he finally fell into the hands of Portuguese traders. He and his fellow slaves were rescued by an English man-of-war from the Portuguese vessel, and he was educated by the Church Missionary Society. He became a school-master, then preacher, and finally Bishop of the native Church on the Niger. Fourah Bay College, where he pursued a part of his studies, was founded as a result of the conviction forced upon the Church Missionary Society that, if Africa were to be evangelized, it must be done chiefly through native agency, because of the devastating effects of the climate on foreigners. In other words, Christ needs the children of Africa, to be trained for Him in places where no one else in the wide world can accomplish the task.
The Hope of Africa
A West African Baby
