A Group of Fang Boys, Africa
On the beautiful white monument, erected over the grave in Lagos, Sierra Leone, can be read these words that give a brief outline of the noble life work of the little slave boy whom some one thought worth saving and training for Christian service.
Sacred to the memory of
THE RIGHT REV. SAMUEL AJAYI CROWTHER, D.D.
A Native of Osogun, in the Yoruba Country;
A Recaptured and Liberated Slave;
The First Student in the Church Missionary Society’s College,
At Fourah Bay, Sierra Leone;
Ordained in England by the Bishop of London, June 11th, 1843;
The First Native Clergyman of the Church of England in West Africa,
Consecrated Bishop, June 29th, 1864.
A Faithful, Earnest, and Devoted Missionary in Connection
With the Church Missionary Society for 62 Years,
At Sierra Leone, in the Timini and Yoruba Countries
And in the Niger Territory;
He Accompanied the First Royal Niger Expedition in 1841;
Was a joint founder with others of the Yoruba Mission in 1845,
And Founder of the Niger Mission in 1857;
And of the Self-Supporting Niger Delta Pastorale in 1891.
He fell asleep in Jesus at Lagos, on the 31st December, 1891,
Aged about 89 Years.
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant, ... Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Matt. 25:5.
“Redeemed by His Blood.”[109]
Trained native workers necessary.
Our story of The Child will not be complete unless we pay close attention to one of the great fundamental policies of Christian missions,—alluded to above,—that the work of world evangelization must be accomplished chiefly through trained natives of the countries where the Gospel is not known. And these agents, in order to be most efficient and successful should be won to Christ in early life. The methods used by Bishop Selwyn in the New Hebrides were so successful and interesting and illustrate this point so thoroughly that it will pay us to study them.
Methods of Bishop Selwyn in the Pacific Islands.