MOTHIBI'S CONVERSION. THE BASUTO MISSION. In the afternoon of the following sabbath, one hundred and fifty members united in commemorating the dying love of Him who had redeemed them by his blood, and brought them, by his providence and grace, from tribes-some very distant-to participate in the heavenly banquet. Many, with eyes suffused with tears, compared their present happy condition with the ignorance and degradation from which they had been graciously delivered. The church has since increased to two hundred and thirty. Mothibi, the chief of the Batlapis, had long turned a deaf ear to the invitations of the gospel, and his declining years and fading faculties led us to fear that he was following some of his contemporaries who had died without hope, after having possessed abundant means of becoming wise unto salvation. By a letter, however, lately received from Mr. Edwards, we have the following delightful intelligence, which cannot fail to proclaim to all the potency of the everlasting gospel to one who was truly subdued by it in the eleventh hour. Two of his sons, with their wives, were already members of the church; and Mahuto, his wife, was some years ago baptized by the Griqua missionaries. "Mothibi, our old king, feeble from age, stood forth with others to make a public profession of his faith, by being baptized. He has for some time been reckoned among the dead; his people viewing him as one of the past generation. I had heard, a few months before he last visited us, that he was becoming much concerned about the state of his soul, and could no longer conceal his fears, which only increased the longer he kept silent. being quite overwhelmed, he made known his alarm to the believers, and requested their counsel and sympathy. Morisanyane, the native reader at his residence, was made useful to him. Mothibi at length urgently entreated his sons to take him to Kuruman, to see his own missionaries :' immediately on his arrival, he bent his feeble steps to the mission-house. Never before, I believe, did he visit a missionary with so much anxiety and diffidence. I found him not inclined to speak much, but rather to hear what might be said to him. He said, however, that he had come to speak about his soul-that he was an old man, great from age, but without understanding; there is nothing left,' he exclaimed, but my old bones and withered skin; I heard " the word" from the beginning (twenty-five years ago,) but never understood, and now have no rest night nor day; my soul is sorrowful, and burning with anguish; my heart is sick, and rises into my throat; my mind is dark, and my memory cannot retain the good word; but though it forsakes me, it does me good; it leaves something behind in my soul, which I cannot explain, but which causes me to hope. I wish to cast myself at the feet of Jesus the Son of God, in hope and expectation that he will have mercy on me. I feel that it will be my wisdom to sit at the feet of believers, who are grown to manhood in knowledge, to be ever instructed by them in the paths of duty and salvation.' "On inquiring among those who had observed him of late, I found that they all thought favourably of him, for they had seen him weep repeatedly over 159 | his sins, and his lost state as a sinner. He expressed ardent desires to live and die at the feet of Christ, and to be united to his people; and there being no scriptural objection, he was proposed, and received by the church in this place. Though the rightful chief of twenty thousand Bechuanas, Mothibi stood with as much humility, as others of his people beside him, whom he formerly considered as his servants' or 'dogs,' to receive the ordinance of baptism. He may not be a bright star among the believers, but if enabled to follow up his desire, to live and die at the feet of Jesus,' though he go halting the few remaining days of his life, he will be at last received to glory, a monument of what grace can do even in the eleventh hour." 66 In reference to this pleasing event, Mr. Hamilton remarks, Things are now coming to close quarters. The surrounding heathen chiefs are in a state of consternation, at the father of their cause embracing the faith, and becoming a little child in the kingdom of God: and on being assured that this is really the case, shake their heads as mournfully as if he were dead." It is a remarkable fact, that some of the heathen chiefs, upwards of one hundred miles distant, are opposed to the introduction of the gospel among their people, though they view missionaries as their benefactors, receive them with civility, and attend upon their ministry; when, at the same time, those of more distant tribes are anxiously desiring to have missionaries both for themselves and their people. To us this is not at all surprising, the latter being sensible only of the temporal benefits enjoyed by those who have received the gospel, but comparatively ignorant of the strict requirements of the word of God; while such as live nearer, and have mingled with Christians, often have the enmity of their carnal hearts aroused by witnessing the havoc it makes among their heathenish customs and darling sins, without having tasted the blessedness of being turned from them to serve the living God.* CHAPTER XXXIII. The Basuto Mission-The speech of Mosheshe-Extended operations-Omnipotence of the Gospel-Hope for Africa -The Niger expedition-The duty of the Church of Christ -Anticipated results-Potency of the Scriptures-Agreeable surprise-Christian hospitality. HAVING already exceeded the limits of the present work, the author feels it necessary to confine the different subjects on which he intended to dilate within a very narrow compass. It is with the greatest satisfaction he refers to the French and Wesleyan brethren in the Basuto country, southeast of the Kuruman, whose labours have been abundantly blessed, not only in that district, but to the borders of the colony. Mosheshe, king of the Basutos, had long desired to receive a missionary, in order to procure for his subjects those advantages which he had heard other tribes had derived from the residence of a missionary among them. After long reflection, in 1833, he sent two sionaries, has lately gone into the interior, with the prospect of Mr. Edwards, accompanied by one of the younger miscommencing a mission among the Bakone tribes. 160 MOSHESHE'S SPEECH.-EXTENDED OPERATIONS. Who can understand this? Who ever knew how the heat of the hen produced the chicken in the egg. This is incomprehensible to us, yet we do not deny the fact. Let us do like the hen. Let us place these truths in our hearts, as the hen does the eggs under her wings; let us sit upon them, and take the same pains, and something new will come of them." Mosheshe's son is a convert, and several have been admitted into church fellowship. In 1840 they had a large number of candidates. "Thus," they write," the hope of the missionary has not been deceived; for under the influence of Christianity there has been effected a sensible amelioration in the mind, character, and manners of the natives." Nor can we overlook the remarkable successes which have crowned the labours of Messrs. Rolland and Pellissier, of the same Society, located among the Bechuanas of the Caledon River. hundred oxen to some of his servants, ordering | them to go and find the great chief of the white people, and obtain from him, in exchange for the cattle, men capable of instructing his subjects. His servants obeyed; but, after a few days' march, they fell in with some Corannas, who deprived them of their cattle. This adverse circumstance did not discourage Mosheshe; for, having heard that a Griqua from our missionary station at Philippolis was hunting in his dominions, he sent for him, inquired respecting the object and labours of the missionaries, and entreated the stranger's assistance in the accomplishment of his wishes. This was promised; and on the Griqua's return to Philippolis, he related the affair to his missionary; and it is worthy of remark, that just at this juncture three missionaries from the Paris Society arrived at the station. They were on their way to the Bechuanas beyond the Kuruman; but, on learning this circumstance, they could not but consider it as an unequivocal call, which they were bound to The Wesleyans had laboured among the Baroobey. That was a part of the country which had longs alternately at Makuase, Platberg, and Boobeen but little traversed by Europeans, and had chap, on the Yellow River, and eventually rebeen made the theatre of crime and bloodshed by moved with their people to the Newlands, in the the Bergenaars. The brethren arrived in July, country of the Basutos. Among the Barolongs, 1833, when Mosheshe gave them a most friendly Basutos, Mantatees, and Corannas, they have reception, and assisted in selecting a suitable spot flourishing stations, and the divine blessing evifor a mission station, which they called Morija. | dently rests upon their labours. Chapels have been Messrs. Casalis, Arbousset, and Gosselin, com- erected at all the principal places. A printing menced this important mission, and they now exert press is in operation, the work of civilization is adan influence over at least twelve thousand souls. vancing, and youths are under tuition for native Public worship is well attended, and the Sabbath agency, on which subjects copious information is punctually observed, by those of the people who before the public. make a profession of the Christian religion. The It is impossible to look to the noble band of unremitting and self-denying labours of these Church, Wesleyan, and Baptist missionaries, on the valuable men have been remarkably blessed, and west coast, without being compelled to acknowledge their hands have been strengthened by additianal the special blessing from on high which has rested labourers from the same Society. They have trans-upon their labours; and to admire the zeal of these lated portions of the word of life into the native language. The influence exerted by Mosheshe over the minds of the people has been a most effective auxiliary to the labours of our brethren. The following remarks, in a speech of his, taken from the journal of J. Backhouse, Esq., who himself heard it, will show that he is a man of considerable talent: "Rejoice, you Makare and Mokatchani! you rulers of cities, rejoice! We have all reason to rejoice on account of the news we have heard. There are a great many sayings among men. Among them some are true, and some are false; but the false have remained with us, and multiplied; therefore we ought to pick up carefully the truths we hear, lest they should be lost in the rubbish of lies. We are told that we have all been created by one Being, and that we all spring from one man. Sin entered man's heart when he ate the forbidden fruit, and we have got sin from him. These men say that they have sinned; and what is sin in them is sin in us, because we come from one stock, and their hearts and ours are one thing. Ye Makare have heard these words, and you say they are lies. If these words do not conquer, the fault will lie with you. You say you will not believe what you do not understand. Look at an egg! If a man break it, there comes only a watery and yellow substance out of it; but if it be placed under the wings of a fowl, there comes a living thing from it. men of God, who, with their lives in their hands, venture on those pestiferous shores. The result of their truly self-denying labours at once solves the problem: it is now demonstrated that the gospel can transform these aceldamas, these dens of crime, weeping and woe, into abodes of purity, happiness, and love. I leave these details of missionary labour to the judgment of the reader, who must now be in some measure acquainted with the character and extent of the operations of the London Missionary Society, as well as those of others, on behalf of the greatly injured and still suffering tribes of Southern Africa. From what has been stated, it must be evident, that if the tribes which still survive the devastations to which they have been exposed, are to be saved from annihilation, it must be by the diffusion of the gospel. It is omnipotent; and if we had only a tithe of the money which is expended on the defence of our colonies against incursions of barbarous nations, we could adopt those means which, under the promised blessing of Him who holdeth the reins of universal sway, and who willeth that all should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved, would bring them under the reign of the Prince of Peace. And melancholy as is the past history of Africa, we are fully warranted to anticipate that the warlike and savage tribes of that immense continent will ere long present a scene, in the intelligence, holiness, and happiness of its regenerated HOPE FOR AFRICA.-DUTY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 161 nations, which will far exceed the most sanguine | gotten at the foot of the British throne, and that it expectations of those who have laboured, and are has pledged itself to encourage every project calcustill labouring, in behalf of her afflicted children. lated to bring about the anticipated event, when If we bring within the mind's view the history of Ethiopia will stretch forth her hands unto God. that vast portion of our earth,-to only one speck This subject has occupied the attention of the noon the surface of which the author has been direct- blest minds in our kingdom, and the excellent of ing the attention of the reader,-can we refrain the earth are generally agreed that, in order to from exclaiming, O Africa! how vast, how over- civilize we must evangelize Africa. Nothing can whelming thy burthen! How numberless thy be more to the point than the following extract wrongs, the prey of fiendish men,-the world's from the valuable work on the Slave Trade, and its great mart of rapine, bondage, blood, and murder! Remedy, by Sir T. F. Buxton, who has so long On no part of earth's surface, in no state or condi- laboured with intense interest to alleviate the sad tion of mankind, can we find a parallel to thy woes! condition of untutored minds, and to eradicate Thy skies have been obscured with smoke of towns "that gigantic and accursed tree which for ages in flames!-thy lovely landscapes and sunny groves has nourished beneath its shadow lamentations, transformed to lions' dens !-thy burning deserts mourning, and woe." "Nationally and religiously bedewed with the agonizing tears of bereaved mo- the duty is plain," continues that great philanthrothers!--and thy winds have re-echoed back to thy pist; "we have been put in trust with Christianity; blood-stained soil the orphan's cry, the widow's wail! we have been the depositaries of a pure and holy There is yet hope for Africa. The deep groan faith, which inculcates the most expanded benevoof her untold sorrows has been responded to by the lence; and yet have not only neglected, as a nation, sympathies of the British heart. Her almost to confer upon Africa any real benefit, but have inboundless plains have invited the enterprise of na- fiicted upon it a positive evil. Covetousness has tions; a vast amount of property has been expended, dimmed our moral perceptions of duty, and paand a still greater sacrifice of life and talent has ralysed our efforts during many generations; and been made, to heal her bleeding wounds; but are now that the nation has awakened from its lethargy, these to suffice, or have we paid the debt we owe? it is high time to act up to the principles of our Are we, on slight discouragement, to abandon the religion. noble project of Africa's salvation? Have all the energies which have been employed been spent in vain? Surely not. They have been the develop ments of moral worth, the results of Christian philanthropy. We have thereby become better acquainted with her real condition, more conversant with her wrongs, and more convinced that it is to the everlasting gospel we must look, as the instrument to chase away the mass of darkness brooding on her bosom. Yes, her unknown regions must be explored by the messengers of the churches, and her vast moral wastes must be watered by the streams of life. The truth of God is the grand engine by which the demon of slavery will be repelled from her shores, and her sable sons and daughters made to sit under their own vine and fig-tree,when her ransomed millions shall reiterate from shore to shore her jubilee. Yes, even now thy beams "Africa still lies in her blood. She wants our missionaries, our schoolmasters, our Bibles-all the machinery we possess, for ameliorating her wretched condition. Shall we with a remedy that may safely be applied, neglect to heal her wounds? Shall we, on whom the lamp of life shines, refuse to disperse her darkness? "If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercies; we must awake to the duty, amidst every difficulty, of freely and liberally distributing to others those rich and abundant blessings which have been entrusted to us. 66 Missionaries find less difficulty than any other class of persons, perhaps, in winning the confidence of the native tribes. The secret of their success is the spirit of fair dealing, and the manifestation of upright and benevolent intentions which they carry with them. These speak to all men, but especially to the uncivilized, in a language which they accurately comprehend, and to which they freely respond." These principles speak for themselves, and they ought to speak; for the destinies of unborn millions, as well as the millions who now exist, are at stake. To rescue Africa from the abyss of misery in which she has been plunged, as the same able advocate writes, "Let missionaries and schoolmasters, the plough and the spade, go together, and agriculture will flourish, the avenues of legitimate commerce will be opened, confidence between man and man will be inspired, whilst civilization will advance as the natural effect, and Christianity operate as the proximate cause of the happy change." The preceding chapters show what has been accomplished among the tribes in the southern portions of this vast continent. What now remains to be done, but to go up and take possession of the land? The means have been described, and our prospects are inviting; avenues have been opened up; translations of the word of God have been M 162 POTENCY OF THE SCRIPTURES.-CHRISTIAN HOSPITALITY. made into different languages; a native agency is in operation. The once enslaved negroes of the slave-cultured islands of the west, unmanacled, and freemen in the Lord, are now ready to go and proclaim the liberty of the gospel to their captive brethren, while creation is groaning for her redemption. We are warranted to expect, from what has already occurred, great and glorious results, as the consequence of the simple distribution of scriptural truth, and the influence of that truth in connexion with native agency. When only the gospel of Luke was printed in the language, and the first edition of Scripture Lessons had been put into the hands of the natives, Mr. Hughes, writing to the author from an out station, made the following striking remarks: "The good work here is making progress. What has been accomplished by feeble means (in our eyes) makes me exclaim, What hath God wrought!' The sword of the Spirit is truly in unskilled hands, but it hath shown itself two-edged. Its success here is evidently not owing to the hand that wields it, but to its own native power and destination from above. Jesus and the apostles teach here without any human infirmity intruding between them and the hearts of the hearers. The great principles of the Bible Society are exemplified here, the simple reading and study of the Bible alone will convert the world. The missionary's work is to gain for it admission and attention, and then let it speak for itself. The simplicity of means in connexion with the greatness of the effect, is quite in character with its Divine Author. To Him be all the praise." The vast importance of having the Scriptures in the language of the natives, will be seen when we look on the scattered towns and hamlets which stud the interior, over which one language, with slight variations, is spoken as far as the Equator. When taught to read they have in their hands the means not only of recovering them from their natural darkness, but of keeping the lamp of life burning even amidst comparatively desert gloom. In one of my early journeys with some of my companions, we came to a heathen village on the banks of the Orange River, between Namaqua-land and the Griqua country. We had travelled far, and were hungry, thirsty, and fatigued. From the fear of being exposed to lions, we preferred remaining at the village to proceeding during the night. The people at the village rather roughly directed us to halt at a distance. We asked water, but they would not supply it. I offered the three or four buttons which still remained on my jacket for a little milk; this also was refused. We had the prospect of another hungry night at a distance from water, though within sight of the river. We found it Since the author arrived in England, he has been enabled, by the munificence of the British and Foreign Bible Society, to carry through the press a translation of the New Testament and the Psalms in the Sechuana language, some thousands of which have been sent out to the interior of Southern Africa, to supply the increasing wants of a people rapidly acquiring the art of reading; thousands of them being able already to read in their own language the wonderful works of God. A large edition of the Scripture Lessons has also been printed, the whole expense of which has been defrayed by a number of the Society of Friends. Numerous elementary works and tracts have emanated from printing presses in the Bechuana country. difficult to reconcile ourselves to our lot, for in addition to repeated rebuffs, the manner of the villagers excited suspicion. When twilight drew on, a woman approached from the height beyond which the village lay. She bore on her head a bundle of wood, and had a vessel of milk in her hand. The latter, without opening her lips, she handed to us, laid down the wood, and returned to the village. A second time she approached with a cooking vessel on her head, and a leg of mutton in one hand, and water in the other. She sat down without saying a word, prepared the fire, and put on the meat. We asked her again and again who she was. She remained silent till affectionately entreated to give us a reason for such unlooked for kindness to strangers. The solitary tear stole down her sable cheek, when she replied, "I love Him whose servant you are, and surely it is my duty to give you a cup of cold water in his name. My heart is full, therefore I cannot speak the joy I feel to see you in this outof-the-world place." On learning a little of her history, and that she was a solitary light burning in a dark place, I asked her how she kept up the life of God in her soul in the entire absence of the communion of saints. She drew from her bosom a copy of the Dutch New Testament, which she had received from Mr. Helm when in his school some years previous, before she had been compelled by her connexions to retire to her present seclusion. "This," she said, "is the fountain whence I drink ; this is the oil which makes my lamp burn." I looked on the precious relic, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the reader may conceive how I felt and my believing companions with me, when we met with this disciple, and mingled our sympathies and prayers together at the throne of our heavenly Father. GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD WILL TO MEN! INDEX. Aaron Josephs, 129 Africa, its general history, 1; appeal in behalf of, 101, 161 Africaner, David and Jacobus, 30 Albrechts, their mission to Namaqua-land, 18, 20 Campbell, Rev. J., his interview with Africaner, 48; second Cape of Good Hope, the policy of its government towards the Choaing, visited by the author, 119 Clock, anecdote of, 88 Clothing, the missionary's, 40 Conversion, remarkable instances of, 118, 132, 149, 150 Albrecht, Mrs., her devotedness to the cause of missions, 23; Cowan, Dr., and Captain Denovan, their expedition to the Albrecht, Christian, his character and death, 24 Archbell, Mr. and Mrs., their visit to the Kuruman station, Author, the, his interview with Africaner, and first missionary Baboons, the author surrounded with, 43 Backhouse, James, Esq., extract from his journal, 160 Barker, Mr., appointed to Lithako, 61 Barolong tribe, visited by the author, 101; attacked by Man- Bechuanas, their geographical position, 4; first visited by the Berends, their war with Africaner, 21, 22; their brave and Berend Berend, his attack upon Moselekatse, 148 Bethelsdorp, its commencement as a missionary station, 10 Brownlee, Mr., his labours amongst the Kafirs, 13 Burchell, Dr., his travels in the country of the Bechuanas, 60 Bushmen, their origin and history, 2-4; first mission amongst Buxton, Sir T. F., extract from, 161 Bechuana country, 60 Crow, instinct of, 41 Cruelty of natives to their aged parents, 35, 36; to their wives, Damara tribes, their geographical position, 5 Dogs, wild; their pursuit of game, 89 Dundas, General, his encouragement of the mission to the Dutch farmers, their hospitality, 47 Ebner, Mr., his labours at the Namaqua mission, 25; his dis- Edmonds, Mr., his sojourn in Kafir-land, 6; his departure for Edwards, Mr., his connexion with the Bechuanas, 57 Helm, Mr., his mission to the Griquas, 53 Honey, poisonous effects of, 32 Hottentots, their origin, 1, 2; their opposition to the first mis- Hottentot woman, opposition of, and happy death, 79, 80 Idolatry, unknown in Africa, 64, 67-75 Itinerating, method of, 38, 39 |