THE CALL TO THE ASSOCIATION.
REV. H. M. LADD, WALTON, N. Y.
One need not be a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, to be able to predict that the world’s great enterprises of the next century will take hold upon Africa. Already the earnest gaze of the civilized world is fixed upon that opening continent. The spirit of discovery and of commerce have pushed their way into the very heart of its mysterious jungles. Its borders are all alive with the enterprise of nations. Vast preparations are making to open up its wonderful resources, and to find a mart for the products of civilized industry. Truly, as the great French poet has said, “In the nineteenth century the white has made a man out of the black. In the twentieth century Europe will make a world out of Africa.”
The great question is, Shall Christianity keep abreast of this advancing host? Shall the seeds of the Gospel of light be sown broadcast through this dark continent, before the tramping feet of commerce have trodden down its soil into the hardened footpaths of sin? The call of God is emphatic. He has opened a door which no man can shut. That call rests in a peculiar manner upon this Association. It has not been optional with you whether you should enter Africa. The hand of God, manifested in the peculiar circumstances attending the Amistad capture, sent you to Africa. That hand has kept you there; and to-day you are not seeking for yourselves a way up the Nile and into the heart of Central Africa; you are invited there, you are urged there, you are sent there. It will be a great undertaking to go, but it will be a greater mistake not to go. The generous offer of Mr. Arthington, the importance of the field, its unoccupied condition, its easy accessibility, the pledge of needed funds, the fact that it lies right in the very heart of that region cursed by the slave-trade not yet abolished, make it obligatory upon this Association to accept the responsibility and speed forward the work.
But this is not all. Not only do we hear the call of God resting in a peculiar manner upon this Association, heard especially in its earlier and later history, but this Association is peculiarly fitted for the work. It holds in its hands, as the gift of God, a peculiar power. We in this country are just beginning to spell out the true lessons, the real meaning of slavery on our soil. This Association, more than any other under God, has been our teacher. It has shown us what the educated black man, with even his limited facilities, can do; and now it has grasped, and proposes to carry out, a distinctive idea—negroes for negro land. Mr. President, is it too much to say, that, in this distinctive idea, so satisfactorily demonstrated already in the history of African missions, we recognize the star of hope for Africa? Is it not the solution of many a difficulty? We need not refer here to the stimulating reflex influence of this new policy upon the Christian colored people of the South. That it will be great, no one can doubt. But what is to be the future of Africa, as it is dotted over here and there where no white man can live, with these abiding centres of a Christian civilization? What is to prevent the establishment of these points of light throughout that benighted region, until, like the stars of Heaven, they shall flood the dark continent with a galaxy of light, growing brighter and brighter until the day dawn and the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings?
To this end we are called of God to sacrifice, to labor and to pray. The wise plans which this Association have devised give every assurance of success. Not at once, perhaps. We must not expect too much at once, but in the fullness of time. To say that there are not great obstacles in the way, would be to close our eyes to the truth. There are obstacles; but what are obstacles when God is with us? He has not forgotten Africa. That continent, which holds nearly one-sixth of the human race and is equal in area to all Europe and North America combined, was surely included in that great command, “Go ye into all the world and disciple all nations.” The promises—are they not ours? Will He not be with us alway, yes, even unto the end of the world? Is not the final victory assured, even that victory that overcometh the world—our faith? Are we not taught to pray, “Thy kingdom come”? Surely God’s will is yet to be done on earth as it is in Heaven, and these nations are yet to become the nations whose God is the Lord. The day shall come. It may be ages from this time—but to the thought of God, and to the life of humanity, ages are but days—when Ethiopia shall not stretch out her hands in vain.
Let us, then, go confidently forward in the line which God has marked out for us. Let us help the Freedman of the South to fulfil his destiny. His bondage over, having safely passed through the Red Sea of blood, and been brought forward by the pillars of cloud and of fire, let us now open to him the land of his fathers, and bid him enter it to drive out the strange gods, and to proclaim the unsearchable love of our God.
Oh, then, speak unto this children of Israel that they go forward, and songs of thanksgiving shall arise from the groaning heart of Africa.