CHRISTIAN FRIENDS IN our Quarterly Paper this time two years ago you no doubt remember reading an account of two young men, who were led by God's good providence from a town in Africa, named Sokotu, to England, where they learnt to know the true God, and Jesus Christ His Son. You will recollect the picture containing their portraits. One of them remained in England, to help our Missionaries in translating "book" into their language. The other returned as a teacher to his countrymen. You remember how anxious he was to take the word of God with him, saying that the Bible was the only book which could do Africa_good. "When I was still in my country," he said, "I heard the people say, that, seven or ten years hence, white men will come, who do not buy slaves, but bring 'book' with them to make us wise and good." Now the picture on the first page shows you how this good wish is being accomplished. In the background we see the mighty river Niger, as it appears at the Confluence that is, the point at which its two great branches meet, and flow in one stream to the sea. In the front stand some of our native Catechists from Sierra Leone, showing "the book" to these poor heathen and Mohammedans. How their hearts must have leapt for joy to be allowed to bear so precious a burden to their sable brethren, and how rejoiced must these poor heathen, too, have been to see with their own eyes the book which was to make them wise and good! They used to gaze on it, we are told, with astonishment, often giving vent to their feelings in such words as these " My father never saw what I have seen to day. Oh, if my father had been alive, he would have sent for you!" They used to question the native preachers about it-"Which way did the book you held yesterday come from? Did it drop directly from the clouds? Ah, plenty words you said, just as if you had been in my town, and seen the people there." And no wonder, Christian Friends, for is not the Book the word of the all-seeing God? But you will wish to know how we have heard any thing more about the people who live on that noble and beautiful river. We will dismiss our picture and tell you. Two of our Missionaries, who accompanied an expedition up the Niger in 1857, have published a book, in which they give us an account of their reception among the natives. This book is very curious and interesting. For who are the writers? They are both black men, both clergymen, yes, and both Missio naries: they have learned the way of truth themselves, and they are now devoted to the work of proclaiming it among their own people. One is our old friend, the Rev. Samuel Crowther; the other a younger native minister, the Rev. J. C. Taylor. This expedition was planned by an English merchant, and supported by Her Majesty's Government. Its object was to explore the river, and to endeavour to establish trade with the Africans, in hope of putting a stop to the dreadful slave-trade which desolates their country. The following passage shows how the hearts of our two negro Missionaries burned within them as they passed along the noble river and gazed on its waters. It is an extract from their Journal, dated July 24 1857.-" About half-past 2 P.M.," one of them writes, "we resumed our journey for Onitsha. As we steamed along, I gazed upon the river, and cannot but draw this reflection upon it. It is a noble and exquisitely beautiful river, and richly fringed with fruit-bearing and other trees, some of them of gigantic growth. The interior on either side of the river is one mass of dense tangled forests, which no feet have ever penetrated. The beautiful plan tain trees, with their splendid foliage and nodding bunches of fruit, the different species of birds with gaudy plumage flitting across the river, warbling their songs of gratitude to God their Maker, and the peacefully-running streams joining the main river-all conspire to form a scene of a delightful description. 66 Mighty River! mayest thou be an emblem of those heavenly blessings which shall ere long water the spiritually-barren deserts of Central Africa, and cause them to rejoice and blossom as the rose !" Yes, there is real need of the Gospel there. The misery of the people under the oppression of their barbarous customs soon filled our Missionary travellers with other thoughts, and excited their deep compassion. The following are a few of the scenes they witnessed. At one place they found a poor harmless woman, a slave, who was on the point of being killed as a sacrifice, in honour of a man who had died six months before. Happily they succeeded in rescuing her. At another they had a painful example of the unfeeling cruelty of heathenism. In Africa children are sometimes born, as in England, with white hair and red eyes. Instead of pitying any natural infirmities, the people seem to regard them as a mark of God's anger. How did the hearts of our Missionaries bleed to hear of the horrible death to which such a little boy had been put, having been offered in sacrifice as a peace-offering to settle a dispute between two neighbouring towns! They had known the poor little fellow on their former visit, and now heard that he had had his hands and feet pulled out of joint, and was then thrown alive into a pit prepared for him, over which a large pot was placed. Here he perished miserably, after suffering agony for three or four days. What a scene, again, is this which Mr. Crowther describes "As the boat was getting ready, we observed a poor Nupi woman kneeling close by on the bank in deep grief, which she now and then gave vent to with heavy sobs. Before we had time to take sufficient notice of her, one of Abd Al Kader's followers, with the greediness of a wolf, snatched a plantain out of her hand-the remainder of the little provision she had prepared for herself and the child at home. On seeing this we felt very indignant at his base conduct, took the plantain from him, and made bitter complaint to the chief against this act of oppression. It was then found out that a calabash full of corn-flour had been previously taken away from her by one of the soldiers, which was the cause of her excessive grief." The poor woman was thus plundered of all she possessed. "The chief was in the utmost confusion,' says Mr. Crowther, "when I seriously told him that God would plead the cause of the oppressed. Surely these poor creatures want the loving Gospel of Christ, to teach them to be tenderhearted and kind, and to wean them from their cruel practices. The slavetrade is the great curse of the country. Whole villages are laid in ruins, and whole families carried to be sold as slaves." The women have a very hard life; they are compelled to maintain their children themselves, till they are old enough to be of use to their parents. They grind the corn till late at night, beginning again early in the morning, prepare the flour, hawk it about from house to house, and provide their husbands with food from it. It is no wonder that they are soon worn out, and a woman of thirty years old looks like one of forty. When the poor things lose their children by death or slavery and a mother's love is of the same nature all over the world-they have no hope for the future for them. "I tried," says our native Missionary on of a mother who had lost her daughter, one such occasion, "to soothe the sorrows and directed her to trust in God, for what He does now is for our good. I listened to her sorrowful tale with an aching heart." Poor things! They were astonished to meet with such kindness. "Truly," they said, "these strangers who come to our country are true men; they can feel for everybody, and show us what is right, and how to bear trials." O how thankful such descriptions make us feel, that our lot has been cast in happy England, where we may love our children, and work for them without fear of their being carried away from us into slavery; where we may "6 our habitations" in peace, "L none making us afraid," and may finally look forward to a home in the heaven of heavens. visit Let us not, then, forget these poor It is interesting to read the manner in which the native Missionaries instruct their heathen countrymen. Here is a lesson on the Sabbath "I had several visitors to-day, but I told them it was the Christian Sabbath, in which we rest from all worldly transactions; that the day is entirely devoted to God's service. "While speaking with the first party, the company of drummers and fifers made their appearance, sent by the chief to do me honour on the occasion of the feast. I called the son of the chief, and thanked him for his good intentions to do me honour; but said that to-day was the Christian Sabbath, on which we rest, not only from worldly labour, but from all amusements also, as using it for such purposes would be robbing God of the day He claimed for Himself. "To carry the subject deep into their thoughts, I asked,What would you think of a son, to whom the father gave one voice, 'He would be ungrat Here again our native Missi speaking of the folly of using ch "The assistance," as he tells u the chief particularly requested was, that I would give him cha assist and defend him against h bles. I sympathized very muc him, but assured him there was else worth depending upon but G showed him my hands and neck I never used charms, and told never should, because there is n to be had from them. I then raged him to look up to God for he he went away much relieved in mi That such teaching is eagerly re is evident. Mr. Taylor says Deep attention is paid to the of life. The people seem to hang our lips, and suck out the word of 1 truth, and some of them heaved a of grateful feeling, saying, 'True fathers saw not such a glorious day We have no room for more extracts from this interesting narrative Christian Mission from Africans to Africans. But we will, at least, ask to bid our negro friends God-speed, and bear them on your hearts before in prayer. The joyful farewell pronounced by an old African Christia one of them when he first went from Sierra Leone to preach to his co trymen on the Niger, expresses much of what we would say to them to "An old man," writes the Rev. J. C. Taylor, "whom I had known a communicant from my boyhood, was standing in my parlour before young men, and those who were present at the prayer-meeting which kept during the night. He raised his worn-out countenance to heav and burst out with the following expression of joy-Thank God! tha God! Go, my son, and tell the happy news to the heathen. Oh! is F word true, that our children, too, can go out like white men, and prea the Gospel? If any one had told us this word in bygone years, who wou have believed it? Lord, send plenty of our children more! Go, do n fear people will talk plenty word, and say they will kill you, they w eat you. The Bible says, The hairs of your head are all numbered. A who can thank the Church Missionary Society? who can pay them fo their goodness to poor Africans? No man on earth-none but God.'" How great an honour is put upon us, Christian friends, in being allowe to help forward such a work as this. You see how blessed the Africa feels it to be to receive the Gospel. Remember the words of the Lor Jesus, how He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Subscribers and Collectors of one penny a week are entitled to a copy of this Paper free. W. M. Watts, Crown Court, Temple Bar. |