About a fortnight before the date we had originally fixed for the opening of our new church, we found we should have to take down the south gable, as it had been built off the plumb, while we were away on our holiday. A hurricane had so shaken the roof that we found the gable was giving, and would have to be taken down and rebuilt. We put off the opening services for a month. We took off a third part of the roof, took down the gable, made 40,000 bricks, put it up again, plastered it outside and in, whitewashed the inside, reroofed the part we had removed, and did all in five weeks. Nearly all the work was done by our own people, who in addition provided all the material, while an entire set of new mats for the floor was provided by the women.
Our people came out very clean and tidy for the opening services, and some of them ‘braw’ even. Their singing was very much admired; for although we had no ‘kist o’ whistles’ to lead the singing, as our people made good use of the organs God had given them our singing was always hearty, and if not always quite as correct and harmonious as it might have been, there was always soul in it, and all joined in the service of song.
Our friend, the late Joseph Sewell, of the Friends’ Mission, came to see us that year, and to spend a few days at our station previous to his retirement from the Madagascar Mission. He took my Saturday morning class for pastors and local preachers; and had a long talk with them on the subject of slavery, a subject on which ‘Friends’ have always been ‘sound.’ The following Saturday morning, as I also wished to have a talk with them on the same subject, I asked what Mr. Sewell had been talking to them about the previous Saturday morning, and they answered, ‘Slavery.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘and what is your opinion of what he had to say on that subject?’ ‘Well, sir,’ they said, ‘we cannot see slavery in the light that you white men see it.’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t suppose you can, or you would have done with it at once.’
As I wished to present slavery to them in the strongest and most repulsive light I could, I asked them: ‘Supposing Jesus Christ were in the market on sale for thirty dollars—“thirty pieces of silver”—would you buy Him?’ ‘No, sir,’ they answered; ‘how can you ask such a question?’ I replied that I had a purpose in asking it, and said again: ‘Suppose He were in your possession as a slave, would you sell Him for thirty dollars?’ ‘No,’ they said, ‘most certainly not, that would be as bad as Judas Iscariot.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘perhaps it would, I just wanted to know your opinion on the point. Then you would neither buy Him nor sell Him, even if you could,’ I said. ‘Most certainly not,’ they all answered. ‘Well,’ I continued, ‘we have a good many church members here at Fìhàonana who are slaves; now if they are true members of the church, they are members of the mystical body of our Lord Jesus Christ, are they not, and sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty?’ ‘Yes,’ they answered, ‘that is quite correct.’ ‘Well,’ I added, ‘do you remember reading, or hearing read from the New Testament, that one day, while Jesus Christ was teaching, His mother and His brethren came and wished to speak with Him, and some one told Him, when He said: “Who is My mother, and who are My brethren? Those who do the will of My Father Who is in Heaven.”’ They said they remembered the incident. ‘Well,’ I continued, ‘while it is quite true, and never to be forgotten, that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God in a sense that no created being can ever be, still, if those slaves who are members of the church are true members, they are sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, and brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus, by His own showing; so that while you keep on buying and selling them, you are really buying and selling the sons and daughters of God, and the brothers and sisters of the Son of God, and it seems to me to be going but one step further to sell Himself!’
‘Well, sir,’ they said, ‘we certainly never saw it in that light; for it was never put to us in that way before.’ ‘Well, but,’ I added, ‘don’t you see and admit, that it may be looked at in this way?’ They answered that they did, and then there was silence for some time, which was broken by one of them asking: ‘Well, sir, how would this do? Set all the children of God free; but the children of the devil, keep them in slavery as long as they live!’
‘Well,’ I answered, ‘by that plan you would get rid of the difficulty and be clear of the guilt of buying and selling the sons and daughters of the Almighty, and the brothers and sisters of His Son; but don’t you see, that you would not get rid of all the difficulties even by that plan, in fact, you would only remove them a step. You remember God said: “Let Us make man in Our own image after Our likeness ... So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” And so you see, you would not quite get rid of all the difficulties, as you would still be buying and selling men and women created in the image of God, and also desecrating that humanity which has been sanctified by the Son of God tabernacling in it.’
‘It’s of very little use,’ they said, ‘arguing with you white men on the subject of slavery. You have always an answer ready for everything we may advance in support of it, and we always get the worst of the argument; and so we may just as well give in now; for we are certain to be beaten in the end.’ ‘You have a very bad cause to defend,’ I said, ‘and although “Good men may be connected with a bad cause, good men can never make a bad cause good.” Your cause is thoroughly bad. It is rotten to the core, and the sooner you cut all connexion with slavery—as you will have to do some day—the better it will be for yourselves and everybody else.’ ‘Well, sir,’ they said, ‘that may be quite true, but it will require a great deal of the grace of God to enable us to see slavery in the light that you white men see it, and cut all connexion with it.’ ‘Very likely,’ I answered: ‘for it took a great deal of the grace of God to enable our forefathers to see slavery in its true light.’
The state of the churches that year, and the causes which affected them, had also a detrimental effect on the schools; for with the exception of the four schools connected with the four principal churches and a few others, the majority had made but little progress, as we found at the annual examination. The four schools mentioned had trained teachers, who had not been disturbed in their work; whereas other schools had poor teachers, who had been very much disturbed, and hence had got very little teaching done. Still, at the annual examination, I was surprised with the progress that had been made, notwithstanding all hindrances; and especially with the work done in the four principal schools. Where-ever I went to preach, I made a point of catechizing the children for an hour the first thing on Sabbath mornings. There were many and great advantages in following this plan. It not only benefited the children, but the adults also. They heard the questions, the answers, and the explanations; and learned something in spite of themselves.
It was very cheering and refreshing to find that the schools had made such progress, especially in Bible knowledge. I had sent six of my best lads to the normal school at the capital for two years’ training; and as that class of teachers increased our schools improved. For trained teachers our people were quite prepared to pay, when they would not pay for trained evangelists. They could see sooner the results of the teachers’ work in the progress of their children than discern improvements in themselves.
Except here and there, at advanced central stations, trained evangelists were not needed, and the people would not pay for their services. Their own pastors and local preachers were quite equal to the spiritual and intellectual wants of their churches. These country pastors were rapidly improving in knowledge of all kinds, by their attendance at the Bible-classes, by reading the Monthly, and commentaries. They got no salary, so that even the poorest churches could avail themselves of their services. The great want was trained godly teachers; for our hopes for the future of the churches, the district, and the country were based upon the work of the schools, more than even on the churches themselves.