Undenoniinational 
 
 ies 
 
 for the 
 
 Sunday School 
 
 SECOND SERIES 
 
 MISSIONARY HEROES TO THE 
 INDIANS 
 
 MISSIONARY HEROES TO THE 
 AFRICANS 
 
 Senior Grade 
 
 Missionary Stud 
 
LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 Presented by ' ; 
 
 Division.... a....: ■ 
 
 Section ~ . - 
 
 -■i 
 
 ScB 
 
UNDENOMINATIONAL 
 
 MISSIONARY STUDIES 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 SUNDAY SCHOOU^ 
 
 Second Series ! 0. 
 
 I 
 
 \ >. 
 v ' ‘ ■ 
 
 MISSIONARY HEROES TO THE 
 INDIANS 
 
 MISSIONARY HEROES TO THE 
 AFRICANS 
 
 Senior Grade 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 George Harvey Trull 
 
 Assistant Minister Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church 
 New York City 
 
 The Sunday School Times Company 
 Philadelphia, Pa, 
 
Copyright, 1906 
 
 By George Harvey Trull. 
 
 Single copies, twenty cents, postpaid. 
 
 Ten copies, fifteen cents each; fifty copies, ten cents each; carriage extra. 
 More than fifty copies, special prices on application to 
 The Sunday School Times Company, 
 
 1031 Walnut St., Philadelphia. 
 
Intro&uctorie motes 
 
 T he fourfold purpose of the Sunday-school is Instruction, 
 Salvation, Edification and Training for Service. In none 
 of these respects can the Sunday-school discharge its full 
 duty, unless it gives to its members an intelligent, compre- 
 hensive knowledge of the missionary movements of the whole 
 world : “No information — no inspiration.” The greatest 
 need to-day in Sunday-school work is this very thing, and 
 these Studies will help to solve the problem. To see the 
 world through the eyes of Jesus Christ will put life into any 
 Church or Sunday-school or individual. Some way must be 
 found in all of our Sunday-schools to lay the foundation for 
 missionary studies. We are rejoiced that there is more in- 
 terest in this matter to-day than ever in the past, and upon 
 its proper solution depends the success of the Church of God 
 at home and abroad. These Studies are admirably adapted 
 to the purpose for which they are intended, and should be 
 welcomed heartily by all Pastors, Superintendents and 
 Sunday-school Workers everywhere. 
 
 Marion Lawrance, 
 
 General Secretary 
 
 International Sunday School Association, 
 
 N ext to the conversion of scholars in our Sunday-schools 
 lies their development in Christian service. In this line 
 there is no instruction more important than that of the 
 privilege and duty of sending the “Glad Tidings” around the 
 world. Of course this means missionary work. 
 
 The following Studies have been carefully prepared with 
 a view of imparting intelligence and enthusiasm to Sunday- 
 school scholars in the carrying on of aggressive missionary 
 
 3 
 
enterprise. They are to be highly commended to all those 
 teachers who truly pray “Thy kingdom come.” Prayer and 
 practice should coincide, and these Studies are intended to 
 give practical outcome to the prayer which we all so often 
 offer. 
 
 I can truly say that the work done by the Rev. G. H. 
 Trull is of a very high order. The themes are interestingly 
 put, and the questions admirably adapted to guide both 
 teacher and scholar in the study of this most important topic. 
 Nothing but good can result from the use of these Studies 
 as supplementary work in our Sunday-schools. 
 
 A. F. SCHAtJFFLER, 
 
 Secretary International Lesson Committee. 
 
 AST year the first series of Home Mission Studies for the 
 
 1—# Sunday-school was issued by the Home and Foreign 
 Boards of Missions. The sale of the books was of such a kind 
 that we rejoice that a second series has been prepared for 
 the second year. We are greatly encouraged to believe that 
 Sunday-schools are more and more to give a larger place to 
 the study of world-wide missions. Good ammunition has 
 been provided in these Studies, and classes will do well to 
 follow the leadings as they are taken into the destitute and 
 waste places of this country and throughout the world. 
 
 John Willis Baer, 
 
 Former Secretary Board of Home Missions. 
 
 * ‘ O EE that stately tree on the beach, standing alone in 
 
 0 all its grandeur?” said the Captain of the good ship 
 “Sekondi” as she ploughed through the quiet waters of the 
 South Atlantic, off the coast of Angola. “It was at that 
 point,” he continued, “that David Livingstone stood after 
 his long journey across the Dark Continent, and looked out 
 westward on the broad expanse of waters.” 
 
 1 know not by whom this tree was planted or how much 
 truth there is in the story. One thing, however, is certain. 
 The name of Livingstone is still potent everywhere in Africa. 
 
 4 
 
When the great French missionary, Frangois Coillard, came 
 to the confluence of the Chobe and Zambesi rivers, he found 
 that the principal ford was guarded by three Barotsi chiefs. 
 No one could cross the ferry without their permission. As 
 soon, however, as he made known that he was a missionary 
 and a friend of Livingstone, all difficulty was removed. 
 Coillard writes that “Livingstone has left the name of mis- 
 sionary in such high honor, that my character as such was a 
 
 sufficient passport In Europe people admired the 
 
 intrepid traveler, but one must come here where he has 
 lived to admire the man. If some travelers have engraved 
 their names on the rocks and tree trunks, he has engraved 
 his in the very hearts of the heathen population of Central 
 Africa.” 
 
 But the influence of Livingstone extends far beyond the 
 Continent of Africa. The young men and women of the past 
 generation were fired with the story of Henry M. Stanley’s 
 long journey in search of the great missionary in the heart 
 of Africa. A quarter of a century ago, it was an inspiration 
 to many of us who have now reached mid-life to read the 
 narrative of the fearless Stanley, and note the wondrous 
 power which this man of God exercised upon him as they 
 two talked over the woes of Africa. Livingstone did not 
 preach to Stanley. No church service was held, no direct 
 appeal made, but the steady and silent influence of a life of 
 such heroic mold left its indelible impress upon the mind and 
 heart and soul of the adventurous newspaper correspondent. 
 
 In the rooms of the Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel in London is a huge log, brought by one of their 
 representatives from Chitambo, near Lake Bangweolo, 
 Central Africa. This log is a part of the mvula tree under 
 which the faithful servants of Livingstone buried his heart, 
 while they carried his mortal body to the coast, whence it 
 was sent to England and buried in Westminster Abbey. Only 
 a portion of a tree, but how sacred to thousands of students 
 of Missions, because underneath its shade lay the heart of 
 Africa’s great deliverer! 
 
 No higher ideal could be kept before the scholars of our 
 Sunday-schools to-day than the lives of Livingstone and 
 
 5 
 
Moffat, Mackay and Crowther and the other illustrious 
 names in Africa’s Missionary Hall of Fame. The aim of this 
 little text-book is to present in a simple way the story of 
 these masterful lives consecrated to the service of Christ 
 in Darkest Africa. 
 
 The limited time at the disposal of the Sunday-school 
 teacher easily furnishes an excuse to neglect mission study. 
 It is the testimony, however, of all who have made use of 
 such Studies, that the blessing which comes more than repays 
 the extra effort put forth to implant in ' the heart of the 
 scholar even a faint idea of the royal character of the men of 
 God who devoted their lives to the evangelization of the 
 Dark Continent. 
 
 The time is not far distant when a complete set of mission 
 text-books for the Sunday-school will be the necessary equip- 
 ment of every well-ordered School. We trust that this little 
 volume of Mr. Trull’s is the forerunner of a long series which 
 will open to the youth of the Church the storied treasures of 
 missionary literature and life. 
 
 A. W. Halsey, 
 
 Secretary Board of Foreign Missions. 
 
 6 
 
fftreface 
 
 W ITH a firm belief that the Sunday-school is the place for 
 systematic and thorough missionary instruction, the 
 Missionary Committee of the Fifth Avenue Presby- 
 terian Church, New York, for the third successive year, has 
 prepared a series of Mission Studies for use in its own School. 
 As the first series, issued about a year ago, received a wider 
 circulation through its publication, the following Studies, for 
 use during the current year, are put in this text-book form, 
 with the hope that they may be of service to other Schools 
 who desire to give Missions a place in the Sunday-school 
 curriculum. They are issued in two grades, this book for 
 Seniors and another for Juniors and Intermediates, both cov- 
 ering the same general topics, so that the two books can be 
 used jointly at the same time in the different grades of the 
 School. Both Home and Foreign Missions are treated, as 
 the one is incomplete without the other. 
 
 The Studies are meant to be used as Supplemental Work, 
 and should not take the place of the regular Bible lesson of 
 the day. Fifteen minutes should be devoted to them in the 
 class, a copy of the book being in the hands of each scholar 
 during the preceding week, for home preparation. This is 
 essential if good results are to be obtained, and the price of 
 the book has been made so low that this is possible. By fol- 
 lowing some of the suggested reading noted at the close of 
 the several Studies, the teachers will be enabled to make the 
 missionary period bright, crisp and attractive. 
 
 The Studies can be used on consecutive Sundays or once a 
 month, as is deemed best by each School. If monthly, it is 
 suggested that the closing exercises of the School should be 
 devoted to the missionary topic of the day, thus deepening 
 still more the impressions made in the classes. Especial 
 
 7 
 
attention is called to the fact that these Studies are not de- 
 nominational in any sense, hence they are adapted for use in 
 any School. 
 
 With the prayer that they may arouse and quicken an in- 
 terest in the great cause of Missions, they are herewith sent 
 forth. 
 
 May L. Moorehead, 
 
 Ruth G. Winant, 
 
 Marie H. Winkhaus, 
 
 George H. Trule, Supt. 
 
 Missionary Committee 
 
 New York, February i, 1906. 
 
 8 
 
Contents 
 
 Study I. 
 
 John Eliot II 
 
 BY GEORGE H. TRULL. 
 
 Study II. 
 
 David Brainerd 23 
 
 BY GEORGE H. TRULL. 
 
 Study III. 
 
 Marcus Whitman 31 
 
 BY MARIE H. WINKHAUS. 
 
 Study IV. 
 
 Egerton R. Young 43 
 
 BY MARIE H. WINKHAUS. 
 
 Study V. 
 
 The Dark Continent 52 
 
 BY RUTH G. WINANT. 
 
 Study VI. 
 
 Robert Moffat 59 
 
 BY MAY L. MOOREHEAD. 
 
 Study VII. 
 
 Samuel Adjai Crowther 66 
 
 BY RUTH G. WINANT. 
 
 9 
 
Study VIII. 
 
 David Livingstone 74 
 
 BY GEORGB H. TRULB. 
 
 Study IX. 
 
 Alexander M. Mackay 87 
 
 BY GEORGE H. TRULE. 
 
 Study X. 
 
 Modern Africa ! 100 
 
 BY MAY L. MOOREHEAD. 
 
 10 
 
I 
 
 STUDY I. 
 
 3obn EHot 
 
 1604>»1690 
 
 CBlissionari^ IHeroes to tbe Inbians 
 
 Prayer and pains through faith in Jesus Christ will do 
 anything ” — From Eliot's Indian Grammar. 
 
 England in Seventeenth Century. 
 
 In the year 1604 there was bom, in a small village 
 twenty-five miles north of Eondon, a boy who was 
 destined to become the representative missionary of 
 the seventeenth century. He was to become the 
 apostle to the North American Indians. He was born 
 at a time when in England there was little or no 
 interest in the subject of Missions. It was the year 
 after the great Queen Elizabeth had died, and Pro- 
 testantism was not a century old. The Reformers 
 had been bitterly persecuted by the Catholics, especi- 
 ally in the reign of Bloody Mary. But the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church of England in its treatment of the 
 Dissenters was, if less bitter in its form of persecution 
 than the Catholics, yet none the less determined to 
 oppress all who would not conform to the established 
 Church. The choice of Non-Conformists lay between 
 leaving the country or being whipped, branded, pil- 
 
 II 
 
loriecl, or having the nostrils slit and ears mutilated. 
 The natural result was that hundreds emigrated to 
 America. God used this persecution to send many 
 of England’s best sons to the New World, and thus 
 North America, instead of becoming a Spanish or 
 French territory, was saved for Protestantism by 
 Pilgrims and Puritans. It was in such a time that 
 Eliot grew up. 
 
 EarIvY EiF^ AND Conversion. 
 
 Little is known of his early history. His parents 
 were godly people and were careful to surround their 
 son with helpful Christian influences. He was a hard 
 student, and at the age of eighteen graduated from 
 Cambridge University. He had a special fondness 
 for language study, and this was of great value to 
 him later in his learning the Indian tongue after he 
 had gone to America. After his graduation he was 
 a teacher in the school of Thomas Hooker, who later 
 in America became so well known. 
 
 There is no record of the time of Eliot’s conver- 
 sion, but it was in the home of Thomas Hooker that 
 his spiritual life was deepened, and that he deter- 
 mined to give himself to the ministry. 
 
 Reaches America. 
 
 It was in 1631 that he reached Boston, just eleven 
 years after the Pilgrims had landed on Plymouth 
 Rock. He was then twenty-seven years old, and full 
 of zeal and vigor. After filling the pulpit of the Bos- 
 ton Church for a year during the absence of the 
 pastor in England, Eliot removed a few miles away to 
 Roxbury, which was to be the scene of his lifelong 
 
 12 
 
labors. He was pastor of the Roxbury Church for 
 fifty-nine years, until his death. It must be remem- 
 bered that all of his missionary work among the 
 Indians was carried on in connection with his pas- 
 torate, and his labors for the Red Men have gained 
 him the title of the “Apostle to the Indians.” It is 
 for his work among them rather than for anything 
 else that his name is memorable, although he exer- 
 cised a wide influence in all the affairs of the Colony. 
 
 Labors Among the Indians. 
 
 Shortly after the Pilgrims landed, some efforts had 
 been made to reach the Indians with the gospel, but 
 little had been accomplished. With ten or twelve 
 thousand of them in the Colony, Eliot came into more 
 or less close contact with many, and was deeply 
 impressed with a sense of their spiritual needs. 
 When the General Court of Massachusetts in 1646 
 passed an order to send the gospel to the Indians, 
 this impression of Eliot’s was deepened, and he re- 
 solved to aid in the work himself. It was a duty 
 resting upon him not only as a Christian minister, 
 but also as a settler under the charter which enjoined 
 this very thing. On the seal of the Massachusetts 
 Colony was the picture of an Indian saying: “Come 
 over and help us.” 
 
 Though pressed with many pastoral duties, Eliot 
 determined to devote all the time possible to the 
 Indians. For quite a while he had been studying 
 their language, bringing into his own home one of 
 the Red Men, through whose help he made rapid 
 progress. 
 
 Without grammar or dictionary, he learned the 
 
 13 
 
Indians’ language by noting carefully the spoken 
 words, and truly as any explorer did he open up to 
 these Red Men of the forest communication with the 
 outside world. 
 
 Translations. 
 
 He first translated the Ten Commandments, Lord's 
 Prayer and some Scripture passages, and later 
 brought his energies to the translation of the whole 
 Bible into the Indian tongue. The New Testament 
 was completed in i66i, just fifty years after the pub- 
 lication of our authorized King James version. In 
 1663 the Old Testament was finished. Few persons 
 to-day realize what a tremendous task this was. Says 
 Dr. Thompson : “Here is John Eliot, amidst primeval 
 forests and all the privations and solitude of early 
 Colonial life, with parochial labors quite sufficient, 
 slightly cheered by social aid, mastering the language 
 of a barbarous people that did not possess a vestige 
 of literature, even to the amount of an uncouth song. 
 Into that vehicle, not so much of thought as of savage 
 wants, he transfuses the wealth of God’s Word . . . 
 Rare perseverance did Eliot exhibit. During the 
 first thousand years of our era the Bible was trans- 
 lated into only ten different languages, the rate being 
 one for every century. Yet none of them furnishes 
 probably so much to admire in the faith and industry 
 of one man triumphing over difficulties.” “Eliot’s 
 translation was indeed the first instance in which the 
 entire Bible was ever given to a barbarous people as 
 a means of their conversion. Columbus made known 
 to the Old World the greatest of geographical dis- 
 coveries ; to the New World, Eliot gave the greatest 
 
 14 
 
of treasures possessed by the Old.” It is a note- 
 worthy fact that the very iirst Bible ever printed in 
 America was this translation of Eliot’s, and that it 
 was in the native Indian tongue. There is probably 
 no person living to-day who can read this Bible, the 
 language in which it is written no longer being 
 spoken by any tribe of Indians. 
 
 Religion oe the Indians. 
 
 Let us pause to inquire what were some of the 
 religious beliefs held by the Indians of Eliot’s day. 
 They believed in the Great Spirit as the supreme being 
 who dwelt far off in the heavens toward the setting 
 sun, and recognized also an opposing evil power. 
 They believed, too, in the existence of many lesser 
 spirits. Everything in nature had its spirit. There 
 was the spirit in the storm, in the lake, in the river, in 
 the trees, etc. If any strange occurrence took place, 
 it was regarded as the work of a spirit. They be- 
 lieved, too, in life after death, and that one’s condition 
 there of happiness or unhappiness depended on the 
 manner of life while here on earth. The Dakotas 
 think that the road to the ‘‘happy hunting grounds” 
 is over a rock with an edge as sharp as a knife, on 
 which only the good can keep their footing. The 
 wicked fall off and descend to the region of the Evil 
 Spirit. 
 
 Prayer and fasting are also observed among the 
 Dakotas. On his eighth birthday, every boy must 
 go out on a hilltop alone and spend the day fasting 
 and in communion with the Great Spirit. At inter- 
 vals he will exclaim, “O Wakondab, have pity on me 
 
 15 
 
and make me a great man !” At the age of sixteen 
 this period of fasting and meditation lasts for two 
 days, and at eighteen years for four days. 
 
 The Indians also have their days of Thanksgiving 
 and of special sacrifices. The following story is told 
 of an old Indian Chief who had recovered from a long 
 illness. Coming out of his wigwam and building a 
 fire before his door, he put upon it his single leaf of 
 tobacco. Then he bowed his head and prayed thus: 
 ‘‘O Great Spirit, this is my last leaf of tobacco, and 
 I know not where I shall get another. Thou know- 
 est how fond I am of tobacco, but I freely give this 
 last leaf to thee, and I thank thee for restoring me 
 to health once more.’^ 
 
 It was in the same year that the order had gone 
 forth from the Colonial Council regarding the giving 
 of the gospel to the Indians (1646) that Eliot 
 preached to them his first sermon. It is memorable 
 because it was the first sermon delivered in the na- 
 tive tongue on North American soil by a Protestant 
 minister. The service was held on October 28, 1646, 
 in the wigwam of Waban, one of the Chiefs. The 
 text was Ezekiel 37 : 9, 10, and the sermon lasted for 
 an hour and a quarter, but held the interest of the 
 audience to the end. Then the Indians asked many 
 questions. Here are some of them : 
 
 How they might be brought to knozv Jesus Christ? 
 
 Whether God coidd understand prayers in the Indian 
 language? 
 
 Whether there was ever a time when the English 
 were as ignorant of divine things as themselves? 
 
 How came the world so full of people if they were all 
 once drowned in the Flood? 
 
 16 
 
Community LiF^. 
 
 Eliot was anxious not only that the Indians should 
 receive spiritual instruction, but that they might 
 adopt the modes of civilized life and dwell in a com- 
 munity of their own. The laws of this community 
 were to be framed on a Scriptural basis. A grant of 
 land was obtained, and the name chosen for the set- 
 tlement was Nonantum, which means ^Tejoicing.’^ 
 The Indians laid off their town and built their own 
 homes. They raised produce for market which they 
 sold to the white men, and thus was established the 
 first settlement of ^‘Praying Indians,^’ as these con- 
 verts to Christianity were called. 
 
 Eliot labored with untiring zeal and great patience, 
 ever seeking to improve the moral and social condi- 
 tion of the Red Men. He laid the matter of minister- 
 ing to them upon the hearts and consciences of his 
 fellow-ministers in other parishes also, with the result 
 that additional bands of Praying Indians were 
 formed, and communities were established at Nepon- 
 set, Concord, Natick, Martha's Vineyard and else- 
 where. 
 
 Opposition. 
 
 As time went on Eliot met with much opposition 
 in his missionary labors, both from disaffected 
 Indians and unsympathetic whites. The Sachems or 
 Chiefs and the pow-wows were jealous of the grow- 
 ing influence of Christianity, and felt that as its 
 power grew their own correspondingly weakened. 
 ^‘Neither in the splendid palace nor in the cabins 
 of the forest is man willing to resign arbi- 
 trary power so long as he can hold it. The Sachems 
 
 i; 
 
could not look with complacency or indifference on 
 the inroads of a religion, the effect of which was 
 to bring their authority within some just limits and 
 under some reasonable principles.’’ The pow-wows, 
 too, felt a grievance when the Christian Indians no 
 longer would believe in their supposed supernatural 
 power nor be in servile dread of them. Neither 
 Sachem nor pow-wow was willing to give up his 
 authority over his followers without a struggle, and 
 consequently many of the Praying Indians suffered 
 taunts, ridicule, and even tortures and death for their 
 new-found faith. Eliot also was threatened, but he 
 went right on with his work, replying : “I am engaged 
 in the work of God, and God is with me. I fear not 
 all the Sachems in the country. I shall go on in my 
 work, and do you touch me if you dare.” 
 
 Among the whites, too, there were those who 
 spoke disparagingly of the missionary’s labors, and 
 who circulated false reports in England that the 
 work was of little value, and that it was merely a 
 money-making scheme, that no Indians had been nor 
 could be converted. 
 
 A Native Ministry. 
 
 But the facts disproved these slanders, and the 
 work prospered. Eliot saw that one of the most 
 effective ways of reaching the Indians would be 
 through native teachers and evangelists. He there- 
 fore spent a good deal of time in training those who 
 were fitted for such work, and sent them out from 
 time to time to other tribes. Their efforts met with 
 more or less success, and Eliot’s heart was cheered by 
 the progress that was made. While opposed by some, 
 
 i8 
 
as we have seen, he was, on the other hand, regarded 
 with deep respect and real affection by many others ; 
 for even the savages could appreciate the heroic and 
 self-denying labor of this man of God in his ministry 
 to them. 
 
 King Phiup’s War. 
 
 Unhappily, Eliot’s last days were saddened by the 
 harm to his work that resulted from the outbreak of 
 the war with Philip the Narragansett Chief. The 
 Christian Indians, whose loyalty in most cases to the 
 English was unquestioned, were yet treated with 
 great injustice by the whites, and suspected of being 
 secret allies of the hostile Indians and ready at any 
 moment to join them openly. They suffered, too, at 
 the hands of Philip, for he regarded them, on account 
 of their Christianity, as favorable to the English. As 
 the war continued and every sort of outrage was 
 suffered by the Colonists, popular feeling against all 
 the Indians rose to such a pitch that no distinction 
 was made in their minds between the hostile and 
 Christian Indians. The settlements of the latter were 
 broken up and they suffered many hardships, never 
 fully recovering from the losses sustained at this time. 
 
 Eliot’s Abiding Work. 
 
 Some have questioned the abiding character of 
 Eliot’s work because of the scattering of many of the 
 Indians, and their gradual dying out. But many of 
 those to whom he ministered were brought out of 
 darkness into light, and as a result of his missionary 
 zeal and his writings Christians were aroused both in 
 this country and in England. When Eliot first began 
 
 19 
 
his work among the Indians in 1646, where was not a 
 single Protestant missionary society in all the world. 
 Says Dr. Thompson : “The noteworthy rise of for- 
 eign missionary zeal within the last one hundred years 
 is an outgrowth in no small measure of what was done 
 for the pagan people of Massachusetts by Eliot and 
 his co-laborers and immediate successors. The Ameri- 
 can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 
 which has sent out more than two thousand mission- 
 aries, is a century plant whose seed was dropped by 
 the Apostle to the Indians among the hills of 
 Natick.’" 
 
 Eliot’s Character and Death. 
 
 As to the personal traits of this Apostle to the Red 
 Men little need be added to what has already been 
 stated. He was a humble follower of Christ, imbued 
 with a passion for souls, untiring in energy and faith- 
 ful until death. In all his service to the Red Men he 
 was careful to neglect no duty to his Roxbury church. 
 The members there were glad to share the services of 
 their minister with the men of the forest. Eliot lived 
 past fourscore years, and was vigorous until almost 
 the last. He still brought forth fruit in old age, giv- 
 ing spiritual instruction to the Negro slaves of the 
 Colonists who came to him in his own home. He also 
 taught a poor blind lad. At the last public service he 
 attended he preached on the 83d Psalm. As his end 
 drew near, some one asked him how he felt. He 
 replied : “Alas ! I have lost everything : my under- 
 standing leaves me, my memory fails me, my utter- 
 ance fails me, but I thank God my charity holds out 
 still. I find that rather grows than fails.” On the 
 
 20 
 
20th day of May, 1690, aged eighty-six years, John 
 Eliot went to his reward in Heaven. 
 
 “His youth was innocent; his riper age 
 
 Marked with some act of goodness every day; 
 
 And watched by eyes that loved him, calm and safe 
 Faded his last declining years away. 
 
 Cheerful he gave his being up and went 
 To share the holy rest that waits a life well-spent.” 
 
 Questions. 
 
 1. What was the state of the church in England in 
 
 the seventeenth century? 
 
 2. Trace the relation between the Protestantism of 
 
 New England and persecution in England? 
 
 3. What evidence is there that the Colonists had any 
 
 concern for the spiritual welfare of the 
 Indians ? 
 
 4. When did Eliot begin his labors among the Red 
 
 Men, and what were some of his difficulties ? 
 
 5. What was the first Bible ever printed in America? 
 
 When and by whom? 
 
 6. Was there anything in common between the reli- 
 
 gious beliefs of the Indians and Christianity? 
 
 7. Why do you think Eliot chose the text that he 
 
 did for his first sermon to the Indians? 
 
 8. What influence has Eliot had on present day 
 
 Missions ? 
 
 Books for Teachers Before Teaching this 
 Study. 
 
 Sparks’ “American Biographies”— Eliot. 
 Thompson’s “Protestant Missions,” Chap. 4. 
 
 21 
 
Creegan’s “Pioneer Missionaries of the Church/’ 
 “A Century of Dishonor,” by H. H. Jackson. 
 
 Books for Scholars. 
 
 “Indian Boyhood,” by Charles A. Eastman (Native 
 Indian). 
 
 “Indian Story and Song,” by Miss Alice Fletcher. 
 “The Legends of the Iroquois,” by W. W. Canfield. 
 
 22 
 
STUDY II. 
 
 Davit) Kraincrt) 
 
 1718-1747 
 
 nii60lonats IHctocs to tbc Hubiano 
 
 His Life Ambition — long for God and a conformity to 
 His will, in inward purity and holiness, ten thousand times 
 more than anything else here below” 
 
 “Oh, that I could be a dame of dre in the service of my 
 God!” 
 
 His Dying Statement — “I declare, now I am dying, I 
 would not have spent my life otherwise for the whole world” 
 
 Jonathan Edwards' Eulogy — “In Brainerd's whole course 
 he acted as one who had indeed sold all for Christ, had en- 
 tirely devoted himself to God, Had made His glory his highest 
 end, and was fully determined to spend his whole time and 
 strength in His service.” 
 
 The influence of a life is not confined wholly to its 
 own generation. The good and also the evil that men 
 do live after them. What was said of Abel is true of 
 every other righteous man: "‘He being dead, yet 
 speaketh.^^ Of David Brainerd this is pre-eminently 
 true. Many who have read of his zeal and consecra- 
 tion have themselves been led to lives of deep devo- 
 tion. Brief indeed was his ministry, not quite five 
 years from the time that he Was appointed a mission- 
 
 23 
 
ary to the Indians until his death, and but three years 
 from the occasion of his ordination. But they were 
 years filled with unceasing toil and burning zeal, so 
 that few other missionaries, if any, since apostolic 
 days have done so much in so short a time. 
 
 Characte:ristics. 
 
 Brainerd was a man whose life, in the fullest sense 
 was consecrated to God. He lived for God’s glory, 
 and the doing of the divine will was his chief and only 
 concern. Like his great predecessor Paul, he “held 
 not his life of any account, as dear unto himself, if 
 so be that he might accomplish his course and the 
 ministry which he had received from the Lord Jesus 
 to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Brainerd’s 
 zeal for souls was so passionate that he would spend 
 whole days and nights in fasting and prayer in the 
 solitude of the forest, pleading with God for the con- 
 version of the Indians, and he would brave any danger 
 and endure any hardship if only he might tell men of 
 the love of God and of their need of Christ. Great 
 purity of life also marked his character. James’ con- 
 ception of pure and undefiled religion was exemplified 
 in him, for he kept himself unspotted from the world. 
 
 Birth and Hardy Life. 
 
 David Brainerd was born in Haddam, Connecticut, 
 April 2oth, 1718. His father was a prominent man 
 in the community, being a member of the Colonial 
 Council. On his mother’s side, he was a descendant 
 of several Puritan ministers. When David was very 
 young his father died, and he was but thirteen when 
 his mother passed away. As a child he was not very 
 
 24 
 
strong physically, and the exposures and hardships 
 which he endured as a missionary undoubtedly hast- 
 ened his early death. He was of a quiet, reserved 
 disposition, and before he became a Christian he 
 went through many spiritual struggles. 
 
 As a child he was religiously inclined, and gave a 
 good deal of thought as he grew older to the question 
 of his salvation. At first he had an idea that this was 
 to be secured by winning God’s favor through his own 
 good deeds, and through good feelings, and not until 
 he was twenty-one did he come to see that no works 
 of righteousness of his own could save him, but Christ 
 alone. Though leading an outwardly blameless life, 
 when once conviction of sin came to him it was in- 
 tense. He says : ‘T see myself infinitely vile and un- 
 worthy ... an unfathomable abyss of desperate 
 wickedness in myself.” But he saw also the infinite 
 love of God and Christ as his Saviour, and his soul 
 was filled with joy unspeakable. 
 
 PrE^PARATION POR THP MINISTRY. 
 
 Even before his clear conversion, Brainerd had 
 been looking forward to the ministry as his lifework, 
 and as his religious life deepened this became a fixed 
 determination. He prepared to go to Yale, and 
 entered in 1739. It was during his Junior year that 
 there was a great revival in the college, and Brainerd 
 was engaged in it with others of his fellow-students. 
 One afternoon they had been holding a little prayer 
 service in which one of the tutors of the college, Mr. 
 Whittelsy, had taken part. After he had left the room 
 some one asked Brainerd his opinion of the tutor. 
 He replied : “He has no more grace than this chair.” 
 
 25 
 
The remark was overheard by some one outside and 
 repeated to the Rector of the college. For this com- 
 ment made in private, Brainerd was called on to make 
 public confession and apology. This he refused to do, 
 and he was expelled. He felt the disgrace keenly, but 
 no resentment towards those who exhibited so little 
 real grace in their treatment of him. He continued 
 his studies outside the college, and shortly afterwards 
 began special training for the ministry. The needs 
 of the heathen world pressed sorely upon him at this 
 time. “Oh, that God would bring in great numbers 
 of them to Jesus Christ! I cannot but hope that I 
 shall see that glorious day.^’ This hope was indeed 
 to be realized, and he himself was to have a share in 
 its accomplishment. 
 
 Appointment as a Missionary. 
 
 Nine years before Brainerd was bom there was or- 
 ganized in Scotland, in 1709, the Society for the Prop- 
 agation of Christian Knowledge. This was the first 
 Protestant missionary society that ever existed in 
 Scotland, and it was organized chiefly for the purpose 
 of sending the gospel to the Indians of North Amer- 
 ica. Missionaries were sent to Florida, Georgia and 
 to New England. It was about 1740 when the needs 
 of the Indians in New York, New Jersey, Delaware 
 and Pennsylvania were brought to the Society's 
 attention. In response to the appeal, it was resolved 
 to send two missionaries to them. Azariah Horton 
 was one, and he labored in the eastern part of Long 
 Island. David Brainerd was the other, and he 
 received his appointment when he was twenty-four 
 years of age. 
 
 26 
 
At Kaunaumeek. 
 
 He began his missionary career at Kaunaumeek, a 
 place about midway between Albany and Stockbridge, 
 Massachusetts. Those were pioneer days indeed, with 
 great hardships to be endured. Comforts were few. 
 Brainerd built a cabin right in the depth of the forest, 
 so as to be near the Indians, even though he thus 
 shut himself off from all English settlements. He 
 had to send or go fifteen miles to get all the bread he 
 ate. Sometimes, if he secured a considerable quan- 
 tity, it would be mouldy or sour before he could eat it. 
 At other times he would have none at all for several 
 days. But these things did not make him discon- 
 tented. He was quite willing to endure hardships and 
 trials. “I scarce think of them,’’ he writes, ‘'or 
 hardly observe that I am not entertained in the most 
 sumptuous manner,” and again he said that he blessed 
 God as much for his present circumstances as if he 
 had been a king. Who but a man of intense zeal for 
 the salvation of his fellow-men would have rejoiced 
 in such conditions, making no word of complaint? 
 Like Paul before him, Brainerd had learned in what- 
 soever state he was therein to be content. 
 
 Forks or the Delaware. 
 
 After a year with the Indians at Kaunaumeek, he 
 went to labor among others at the forks of the Dela- 
 ware, near the present site of Easton, Pa. He had 
 calls from important churches at this time, and the 
 choice lay between the congenial surroundings of 
 cultured people and the companionship of heathen 
 in the forest. Friends tried to persuade him to go to 
 the former, but he chose the latter without hesitation. 
 
 27 
 
God had called him to the Red Men, in all their degra- 
 dation, superstition and need, and to them he would 
 devote his life. He testified that nothing seemed to 
 be of any considerable importance, except holiness of 
 heart and life and the conversion of the heathen to 
 God. That the Indians to whom he went were grossly 
 ignorant and idolatrous and in dire need of the gospel 
 is readily seen from his description of his contact with 
 them. He tells how on one occasion nearly a hundred 
 of them danced around a large fire in which the fat of 
 ten deer was being burned. Their shouts and yells 
 could be heard two miles away. All night long they 
 kept it up, and towards morning feasted on the flesh 
 of the deer they had sacrificed. 
 
 With this tribe of Indians on the Susquehanna 
 river, Brainerd seemed to accomplish nothing. It 
 discouraged him greatly, for he yearned that all with 
 whom he came in contact might become Christians. 
 He was disheartened, too, by the lives of the white 
 settlers, many of whom gave the Indians liquor and 
 did all that they could to hinder the missionary’s 
 work. They spoke of him as a knave and impostor 
 whose real aim was to secure the selling of the 
 Indians into slavery, the one thing that the freedom- 
 loving Red Man feared above all others. Time, 
 however, proved the falsity of these slanders. 
 
 At Crosswicks. 
 
 One other place of Brainerd’s labor must be men- 
 tioned, Crosswicks, in New Jersey, not far from the 
 present town of Cranbury. Here Brainerd labored 
 among the Delawares. He speaks of them as indo- 
 lent and slothful and without ambition. “Not one 
 
 28 
 
in a thousand of them/’ he adds, ‘^has the spirit of a 
 man.” To arouse ambition in such lives and to make 
 them industrious and God-fearing was Brainerd’s de- 
 sire, and with many of them his efforts were success- 
 ful. After many months of labor a most gracious 
 revival broke out. After one of his sermons, there 
 were scarcely three in forty who could refrain from 
 tears and bitter cries. 
 
 “The power of God seemed to descend upon the 
 assembly ‘like a mighty rushing wind’ and with an 
 astonishing energy bore down all before it. I stood 
 amazed at the influence which seemed to seize the 
 audience almost universally,” he wrote in his journal, 
 “and could compare it to nothing more aptly than 
 the irresistible force of a mighty torrent or swelling 
 deluge, that with its insupportable weight and pres- 
 sure bears down and sweeps before it whatever comes 
 in its way. Almost all persons of all ages were bowed 
 down with concern together, and scarcely one was 
 able to withstand the shock of this surprising opera- 
 tion.” 
 
 These marvelous results of the Spirit’s work pro- 
 foundly impressed Brainerd, and filled him with 
 thanksgiving to God. They were but the answers 
 to his prevailing prayers, and God honored His ser- 
 vant by permitting him to see this great revival ere 
 his work should cease. 
 
 C1.0SING Days. 
 
 We have said that Brainerd was not robust. The 
 unceasing labors and many privations which he en- 
 dured gradually began to tell upon his strength. 
 Entries in his diary speak of “no appetite,” “distress- 
 
 29 
 
ing weakness,” ‘"extreme faintness,” “full of pain,” “a 
 cold sweat all night,” “violent fever.” 
 
 In the fall of 1746, he decided to visit friends in 
 New England, but it was the following spring before 
 he finally arrived. He spent a couple of months in 
 Boston, and so weak had he become that his friends 
 despaired of his life. He rallied slightly and was able 
 to reach the home of Jonathan Edwards, in North- 
 ampton, where he lingered between life and death for 
 several weeks. He was tenderly nursed by President 
 Edwards’ daughter Jerusha to whom he was engaged 
 to be married. These closing days were filled with 
 thoughts of others, and in loving testimony of God’s 
 goodness to him. Quietly, on the 9th of October, 
 1747, David Brainerd passed from earth to the pres- 
 ence of his Lord. He had finished his course, and 
 had gloriously done the work given him to do. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 1. What was Brainerd’s ambition in life, and what 
 
 eflforts did he make to attain it ? 
 
 2. Tell of his home and early life. 
 
 3. Why was he expelled from Yale College? 
 
 4. Mention some incidents in his life which prove his 
 
 consecration to God. 
 
 5. What traits of his character do you consider 
 
 strongest? Which most worthy of imitation? 
 
 Books eor Teachers and Schoears. 
 
 “Life of David Brainerd,” by Jesse Page. 
 Brainerd’s “Memoirs,” by Sherwood. 
 
 “Protestant Missions,” by Thompson, Chap. 6. 
 “Pioneer Missionaries of the Church,” by Creegan. 
 
 30 
 
STUDY III. 
 
 (g)arcu0 TRIlbttman 
 
 1802-1847 
 
 {llld6ionains Kecoed to tbe InMano 
 
 “Never did missionary go forth to the held of his labors 
 animated by a nobler purpose, or devote himself to his task 
 with more earnestness and sincerity, than this meek and 
 Christian man” 
 
 “Emphatically, a patriot without guile, a Christian whose 
 faith was measured by his works; who counted not his life 
 dear unto him if he might but do good to his fellow-beings, 
 white or red” 
 
 The Oregon Country. 
 
 Marcus Whitman’s work as a patriot was so closely 
 allied to his work as a missionary that it is impossible 
 to get a full and clear conception of his labors in the 
 West, without taking a short preview of the political 
 and religious conditions of Oregon before his first 
 journey. Oregon at the beginning of the nine- 
 teenth century was a country including within its 
 boundaries the States now called Oregon, Washington, 
 and Idaho, as well as the western part of Montana 
 and the southwestern part of Wyoming. This coun- 
 try belonged to neither America nor Great Britain, 
 but each one made some claims upon it. Each one 
 also had some interests in it, as for instance their fur 
 
 31 
 
trading stations. The English fur trading company 
 was called the Hudson Bay Company, and was of 
 great importance in the history of Oregon, as w'e shall 
 see later. Oregon was inhabited by Indians, and few 
 white people realized the value of this wonderful land. 
 Some white people had been there, however, years 
 before, having been sent by the Government to ex- 
 plore the country, and these men, -with their strange 
 clothing and their wonderful firearms, had made a 
 deep impression on the minds of the Red Men, especi- 
 ally those of the Nez Perce and Flathead tribes. 
 
 But the thing that had made the deepest impres- 
 sion of all was the wonderful book which they pos- 
 sessed, which taught them how to live on this earth so 
 as to be sure of reaching the happy hunting grounds 
 hereafter. Surely this “Book of Heaven” was a 
 great treasure, worth seeking and gaining possession 
 of. In 1832, a Council fire was held, and as a result 
 a delegation of four men was sent East to procure the 
 coveted Book. They came to St. Louis and were 
 gladly welcomed by the city officials who were Ro- 
 man Catholics. They were honored and feasted 
 and kindly treated, and yet the one thing that they 
 sought was withheld. Listen to the story in the yery 
 words of one of the Indians : “My people sent me to 
 get the white man’s Book of Heaven. You took me 
 where you allow your women to dance as we do not 
 ours, and the Book was not there. You took me 
 where they worship the Great Spirit with candles, 
 and the Book was not there. You showed me images 
 of the good spirits and pictures of the good land be- 
 yond, but the Book was not among them to tell us the 
 way. I am going back the long sad trail to my people 
 
 32 
 
of the dark land. You make my feet heavy with gifts 
 and my moccasins will grow old in carrying them, 
 yet the Book was not among them. When I tell my 
 poor blind people after one more snow, in the big 
 Council, that I did not bring the Book, no word will 
 be spoken by our old men or by our young braves. 
 One by one they will rise up and go out in silence. 
 My people will die in darkness, and they will go on the 
 long path to other hunting grounds. No white man 
 will go with them, and no white man’s Book to 
 make the way plain. I have no more words.” This 
 speech, of which we have quoted only a part, was 
 printed and circulated by one who was interested in 
 Missions, and as a result missionaries were soon sent 
 West to take the message of the Gospel to these 
 seekers after the light. But the first missionaries did 
 not approve of the region of the Nez Perces and Flat- 
 heads for a station, and once more they were passed 
 by while the missionaries chose another location. 
 
 Whitman’s Early Life. 
 
 But such earnest seeking after truth was not to be 
 unheeded, and during these dark years God was pre- 
 paring for Himself a messenger to do His work. In 
 1802, in the little village of Rushville, New York, 
 Marcus Whitman was born. His boyhood was spent 
 in a pioneer home, surrounded by no luxuries ; even 
 the comforts of life were wanting. Still, in these 
 very privations may be seen the hand of God fitting 
 the boy for the great work of the man, who in his later 
 life was to endure almost unbearable hardships. 
 Owing to the death of his father, he was obliged to 
 help his mother from the time that he was only eight 
 
 33 
 
years old. Even at this early age he was fond of ad- 
 venture and exploration, but was also a careful reader 
 and student of the Bible. At twenty-two he made 
 public confession of his faith, having been converted 
 some years before during a revival season. He re- 
 ceived a good common school education, and intended 
 to study for the ministry, but some physical ailment 
 led him to take up the study of -medicine instead. 
 For four years he practiced in Canada, and expected 
 to continue upon his return home. His plans, how- 
 ever, were changed, and he became his brother's 
 partner in a saw mill. This, too, was evidently part 
 of God’s plan, in further preparation for a life of prac- 
 tical usefulness. 
 
 Starts Westward. 
 
 About this time the Rev. Samuel Parker, an earn- 
 est preacher, was roused by the story of the disap- 
 pointed Red Men, and, being filled with a longing to 
 help them, he offered his services to the Board of 
 Home Missions, enlisted Marcus Whitman in the 
 cause, and with him started to explore the region. 
 After a long and wearisome journey they reached 
 the Nez Perce and Flathead tribes, who were over- 
 joyed to see these ‘‘men near to God,” as they called 
 the missionaries. Parker and Whitman both decided 
 that here was a desirable place for a mission station, 
 and in order not to lose any time. Whitman turned 
 back to find new associates, while Parker went on. 
 While in the East, Whitman married Miss Prentiss 
 (1836), and soon this young bridal couple, accom- 
 panied by Mr. and Mrs. Spalding, also only recently 
 married, started out on a double wedding journey 
 
 34 
 
across the United States. They traveled with the 
 fur trading company's caravan, taking with them a 
 full supply of things which would be needed in a place 
 several hundred miles from civilization — e. g., 
 material for a blacksmith's shop, plow, seeds and 
 clothing for two years. At Council Bluffs it was 
 necessary to leave all wagons behind, and everything 
 had to be put on pack animals. Whitman, however, 
 insisted on at least attempting to take with him a 
 small light cart for his wife. His success in taking 
 this across the Rockies was used some years later 
 as most important evidence of the fact that the Rocky 
 Mountains were not impassable, and that Oregon 
 could be reached by caravans from the East. When 
 they reached their destination they were gladly wel- 
 comed, especially by pioneers who had not seen a 
 white woman for several years. Whitman now started 
 a station at Waiilatpu, while Spalding went to Lapwai. 
 
 Settlement at Waiilatpu. 
 
 Let us see what Whitman's labors among the 
 Indians included. Besides giving instruction in the 
 Word of God, which was the first and main object of 
 his trip to the West, he also taught them how to make 
 and keep their homes clean and pure, how to sow and 
 plant, and to reap their own crops and become thrifty 
 farmers. He attended all their sick, and the children 
 were brought into a school which was taught by Mrs. 
 Whitman. After three years of life in the West, in 
 1839, Whitman had built, near the two little houses 
 which were the beginning of the station, a house 
 18x62 feet, a grist mill, and two other buildings. He 
 also had two hundred acres of land under cultivation, 
 
 35 
 
and was getting good crops. As all this was done 
 with the help of his wife alone, except for some little 
 help of a fellow-missionary at intervals, we may 
 imagine the wonderful energy and industry of the 
 man. Success crowned his efforts, and those of his 
 fellow-missionaries among the Indians. Scores of 
 families settled near the mission stations and showed 
 great eagerness for instruction. They learned many 
 useful arts and how to till the ground and evinced 
 great interest in Christianity. This was regarded 
 with great disfavor by the Hudson Bay Company, for 
 its policy was to keep the Indians ignorant. Sir 
 Edward Fitzgerald, speaking of it, said : “The Hudson 
 Bay Company has entailed misery and destruction 
 upon thousands throughout the country, which is 
 withering under its curse. ... It has stopped the 
 extension of civilization, and has excluded the light 
 of religious truth.” 
 
 Policy thl Hudson Bay Company. 
 
 Being an interested observer of political affairs. 
 Whitman soon saw that the Hudson Bay Company 
 was not trying merely to secure its own interests, but 
 was also doing all it could to decrease the power of 
 American missionaries, who at that time were all 
 Protestants. Jesuit priests were sent among the 
 Indians, who told them that the religion taught by 
 Protestants was false. They did all in their power 
 to undermine Dr. Whitman’s work, and were careful 
 to withhold all instruction and training which would 
 lead to the Indians becoming independent of the 
 white men. Reports were circulated in the East that 
 Oregon could not be reached; that it was impossible 
 
 36 
 
for women and children to cross the Rockies, and as 
 a result many who would have come from the Eastern 
 States were frightened back. 
 
 As time went on. Whitman became thoroughly con- 
 vinced that the purpose of the Hudson Bay Company 
 was to bring Oregon under the absolute control of 
 Great Britain, which would mean, too, the dominating 
 influence of Roman Catholicism. While on a visit to 
 ,Fort Walla Walla, he heard news which stirred his 
 patriotic soul. ^‘There were present at a dinner offi- 
 cers of the fort, employees of the company, and a 
 few Jesuit priests. During the dinner a messenger 
 came, saying that immigrants from the Red River 
 country had crossed the mountains, and had reached 
 Fort Colville on the Columbia. Nearly all present 
 received this news enthusiastically. One priest rose 
 to his feet and shouted : ‘Hurrah for Oregon ! Amer- 
 ica is too late! We have got the country!’ In the 
 judgment of Dr. Whitman, the hour for action had 
 arrived.” He felt that America must be made to 
 see the value of Oregon and that it must be saved to 
 the Union, and that these Indians who had grown 
 so dear to him must be given the proper teaching and 
 training. 
 
 Whitman’s Patriotic Rid^. 
 
 To bring all this about some one must go to Wash- 
 ington to confer with the President and secure gov- 
 ernment protection for American citizens. It was a 
 journey of four or five months, and must therefore be 
 begun at once. Such a trip at this time of year had 
 untold dangers, for the first snows were already falling 
 and the trip would last through the worst part of the 
 
 37 
 
winter. However, Whitman was not to be daunted. 
 Taking one companion and a guide, he started on his 
 trip of 3,000 miles. 
 
 “Listen, my children, and you shall hear 
 Of a hero’s ride that saved a State. 
 
 A midnight ride? Nay, child, for a year 
 
 He rode with the message that could not wait. 
 
 Eighteen hundred and forty-two; 
 
 No railroad then had gone crashing through 
 To the Western coast; not a telegraph wire 
 Had guided there the electric fire; 
 
 But a fire burned in one strong man’s breast 
 
 For a beacon-light. You shall hear the rest.” 
 
 After ten days of traveling he reached Fort Hall, 
 where he was told of a war going on between the 
 Pawnees and the Sioux, which made the usual route 
 impossible. But again he refused to be turned back 
 and resolutely changed his course, turning south by 
 way of Santa Fe, adding nearly i,ooo miles to his 
 journey. Indians, wild beasts and snow-storms were 
 encountered. In one of these storms the travelers 
 lost their way, and were saved only by the instinct of 
 one of the mules, which guided them back to camp. 
 Another time they came to a river which was frozen 
 a third of the way across on either side, with a rapid 
 current 150 or 200 yards wide in the middle. But 
 even this was not too much for Whitman, and with- 
 out hesitation he plunged into the icy water and 
 swam across, while his companions followed. After 
 being compelled to rest for two weeks at Fort Taos, 
 he reached Washington in March, 1843, with both 
 hands and feet badly frozen. Disregarding his own 
 discomfort, he immediately sought an interview with 
 Daniel Webster, the Secretary of State. Both Web- 
 
 38 
 
ster and President Tyler considered Oregon too far 
 away for settlers to reach, and consequently of no 
 value to the United States. But Whitman argued 
 his case not only before them, but also before Sena- 
 tors and Representatives, saying he had crossed the 
 Rockies four times, had taken a wagon across seven 
 years before, and intended taking a large company to 
 Oregon in the spring. He also told of the excellent 
 soil and healthful climate. Finally the President 
 gave his decision: Whitman’s missionary character 
 was sufficient proof of his honesty and sincerity ; 
 therefore, if he could establish a wagon road across 
 the Rockies, President Tyler would use his influence 
 to hold Oregon for the United States. Whitman 
 felt sure that with God’s help he would succeed. In 
 May he started for the West once more, taking with 
 him nearly i,ooo persons, 120 wagons, about 700 
 oxen and nearly 800 loose cattle. Many of these 
 people had been planning to settle in the West, and 
 Whitman’s timely visit East, his addresses, pamphlets 
 and newspaper articles in regard to the opportunities 
 in Oregon, together with his promise of guidance, 
 decided them. After many toils and dangers, they 
 finally reached their destination. 
 
 Oregon Saved eor the Union. 
 
 In the meantime, while Dr. Whitman was in the 
 East, a provisional government had been set up in 
 Oregon by the settlers already there. It was a con- 
 test between the Americans, of whom there were fifty- 
 two, and the English and Hudson Bay Company men, 
 of whom there were fifty. ‘Tt was voted to choose 
 officers and a committee of nine persons to draft a 
 
 39 
 
code of laws. The American party had triumphed, 
 but the vote was so close and the two parties so 
 evenly divided that it was considered politic to do as 
 little as possible until further immigration should in- 
 crease their numbers.” This increase came with the 
 settlers brought out by Dr. Whitman, and the 
 American majority then became so great that the 
 Hudson Bay Company withdrew from the field and 
 Oregon was saved to the Union. 
 
 Sl/AIN BY EnEMIEJS. 
 
 But during Whitman’s absence, rumors and re- 
 ports had been spread among the Indians to the effect 
 that a great company of white people were coming, 
 under his guidance, to take away their lands. These 
 reports made them very suspicious and distrustful. 
 The grist-mill at one of the mission stations was set 
 on fire and burned and growing disaffection was 
 apparent. As time went on this distrust on the part 
 of the Indians became more widespread. Being very 
 superstitious, they readily believed a story that was 
 circulated to the effect that Dr. Whitman was poison- 
 ing them, as large numbers died from an epidemic of 
 measles. Yet Dr. Whitman labored on, teaching 
 them the story of Christ, healing their sick, and show- 
 ing towards them that love of God which filled his 
 own heart to overflowing. It soon became apparent 
 that some conspiracy was being formed. The days 
 from November 29th to December 6th, 1847, were 
 days of horror and crime in Oregon. A terrific mas- 
 sacre took place in which fourteen were killed and 
 most of the others were taken prisoners and sub- 
 jected to most fearful outrages and tortures. Among 
 
 40 
 
the murdered were Whitman and his wife; indeed, 
 Whitman was the first of all to fall, killed by those 
 to whom he had devoted his whole life. The night 
 before he was killed, anticipating his probable mas- 
 sacre, he said to Mr. Spalding, '‘My death may do as 
 much good to Oregon as my life can.’’ 
 
 Whitman’s Intluj^nce. 
 
 But although Whitman’s active service was thus 
 tragically brought to a close after eleven short years, 
 the service which he rendered to God and to the Uni- 
 ted States did not stop there. “Let it not be for- 
 gotten that our republic is indebted to the enlightened 
 patriotism of Marcus Whitman, who heroically defied 
 the dangers of a winter journey across the continent, 
 and by the communication of important facts to our 
 Government prevented the cession of a large portion 
 of our Pacific domain to Great Britain.” 
 
 Questions. 
 
 1. Contrast Oregon one hundred years ago and to- 
 
 day, geographically, politically, industrially 
 and commercially. 
 
 2. How was it secured to the United States? 
 
 3. What traits of character were required in a mis- 
 
 sionary to the Oregon country, and which of 
 these did Whitman possess? 
 
 4. Describe Whitman’s life among the Indians. 
 
 5. What motives led to his ride to Washington? 
 
 6. How do you think our country can best pay its 
 
 obligation to the missionary Marcus Whit- 
 man? 
 
 41 
 
Books. 
 
 “The Story of Marcus Whitman,” by J. G. Craig- 
 head. 
 
 “How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon,” by Nixon. 
 “Marcus Whitman and the Early Days of Ore- 
 gon,” by William A. Mowry. 
 
 “The Oregon Trail,” by Parkman. 
 
 “Whitman’s Ride,” by O. W. Nixon. 
 
 “Great Missionaries of the Church,” by Creegan, 
 Chap. 21. 
 
 42 
 
STUDY IV. 
 
 ■Rev. Cgerton TR. l^ouns 
 
 1840 «» 
 
 faiisstonatis Weroes to tbe Indians 
 
 No clearer idea of a missionary's work among the 
 Indians can be obtained than from the description 
 given by Mr. Young in his many books on his life 
 among the Red Men. These books are full of inter- 
 esting and amusing stories of Indian life, manners 
 and customs, and provoke many a smile at their queer 
 ways, as well as sympathy for their ignorance, ad- 
 miration for the missionary’s long suffering and per- 
 severance, and joy for each and every one of his 
 triumphs. 
 
 Boyhood and Education. 
 
 Egerton R. Young was born in 1840 in the Prov- 
 ince of Ontario, Canada. His father, William Young, 
 was a minister, and his mother’s father, the Rev. 
 Solomon Waldron, was a missionary to the Indians. 
 Mr. Young was educated in the common schools of 
 Ontario until he was sixteen, when he began to 
 support himself by teaching school. The money he 
 thus earned he used to complete his own education, 
 and graduated from the Normal School in Toronto 
 
 43 
 
with highest honors. He first intended studying 
 medicine, but changed his plans and eventually 
 entered the ministry. 
 
 Call to thl Mission Field. 
 
 In 1868 when he was pastor of a church in Hamil- 
 ton, there suddenly came to him a call from the 
 Board to go out among the Indians as a missionary. 
 It was the more unexpected as Mr. Young had never 
 volunteered nor even expressed any intention of at 
 any time entering the mission field. Moreover, it 
 came in the midst of a revival season, and he was 
 earnestly urged by his congregation to stay and con- 
 tinue the wonderful work in which he was even then 
 engaged. Mr. Young, however, after laying the 
 matter before the Lord, decided it was the call of God, 
 and therefore not to be disregarded. Accordingly 
 he accepted the proposition, and was assigned the 
 post at Norway House, in the region of Lake Winni- 
 peg. Here he and his wife arrived only six months 
 after receiving the call, and immediately entered 
 heart and soul into the work before them. 
 
 At Work Among the Indians. 
 
 Mr. Young found among these Indians both pagans 
 and converts, for he was not the first missionary to 
 visit this region. Indeed, a goodly number of these 
 people had copies of the Bible, printed in their own 
 language in the wonderful syllabic characters in- 
 vented by the Rev. James Evans in 1840. Each of 
 these characters stands for a syllable, and they are 
 therefore more rapidly and more easily learned by 
 the Indians than the regular alphabet. Great was 
 
 44 
 
the joy of these men and women to be able to wel- 
 come one who would explain to them more fully the 
 meaning of this wonderful book which they were so 
 fond of reading. They had also learned some hymns, 
 and Mr. Young’s heart was gladdened when, of an 
 evening above the shouts and yells from the con- 
 jurers’ tents could be heard the sweet notes of some 
 beautiful Christian hymn from the home of one of 
 the converts. 
 
 Each Sunday three services were held. In the 
 morning the Sunday-school, followed by a public 
 service in English, attended by men of the Hudson 
 Bay Company as well as by Indians. In the after- 
 noon “the Indians’ own service,” which was con- 
 ducted in their own language and especially for them. 
 All of these services were well attended and Mr. 
 Young found the Indians very reverent and attentive. 
 One day the service was interrupted by the entrance 
 of a shouting pagan Indian, who, as he was not op- 
 posed, after a while grew calm, sat down, smoked and 
 listened. Had it not been for the toleration shown 
 by his congregation, Mr. Young would not have per- 
 mitted such an interruption, but his people thus 
 explained it afterwards : “Such were we once, as 
 ignorant as he is now. Let us have patience with 
 him, and perhaps he too will soon decide to give his 
 heart to God. Let him alone ; he will get quiet when 
 he gets the light.” 
 
 In^luhnc^ o:p Christianity on Indian Character. 
 
 The love and kindness which the Christian Indians 
 exhibit toward the unconverted ones, in their anxiety 
 to bring into these dark lives the light and peace 
 
 45 
 
which has entered their own, are more than touching. 
 It is a particular matter of wonder when we consider 
 the Indian character. One of the main features is 
 their rigid self-control under all circumstances. Not 
 a sign of surprise must be apparent even at the most 
 startling occurrence. No great joy or even sorrow 
 must be shown in the expression of the face. Even 
 while being tortured, an Indian will sometimes taunt 
 and scoff at his enemies and laugh in derision at their 
 apparently futile attempts to make him suffer. This 
 gravity and self-control does away with all signs of 
 love and affection, even in the home, no matter how 
 fond or proud a man may be of his children. The 
 wife is never regarded as anything but a slave, and 
 has no claim on her husband’s affection. Courtesy 
 to a woman marks a man as a slave and a fool. Here 
 is felt the wonderful influence of Christianity. A 
 man who, in his ignorance, has abused his wife all his 
 life, now cares for her tenderly. In one instance, 
 two strong Indians who had scarcely touched their 
 old mother for years except to push her into her 
 comer, or even beat her when angry, now carried 
 her tenderly to church in their arms, that she too 
 might enjoy the service. Woman is at last given 
 her rightful position in the home. 
 
 The Curse oe Liquor. 
 
 The greatest curse among the Indians is the 
 “White Man’s fire-water,” as brandy, whisky, rum, 
 etc., are called. No race becomes more infatuated 
 with the taste than does the Indian. Once he gets 
 a drop of it, his thirst is absolutely insatiable. An 
 intoxicated Indian is a fiend incarnate ; all his bad and 
 
 46 
 
savage qualities are brought out. Cruelty of all 
 kinds, and even murder, is the result of their 
 drunken revelries, and many an Indian causes his 
 own death by wrecking his constitution to satisfy this 
 awful craving. It is one of the worst blots on the 
 white man’s character that the fur traders use this 
 as a means of dulling the wits of the Indians so as to 
 be able to drive better bargains with them, and thus 
 introduce this curse into their homes. One Indian 
 actually said that it was better to be at war with the 
 white people than to accept their friendship and their 
 drink, for this fire-water had killed more of their 
 men in years of peace than they had lost when at 
 war. For this reason Mr. Young made all of his 
 churches total abstinence societies, and again and 
 again had reason to see that in doing so he acted 
 wisely. 
 
 ON THE Frontier. 
 
 His mode of traveling was not an easy one, and 
 many and varied were the adventures he had on his 
 trips. As long as the rivers and lakes were not frozen 
 canoes were used. But the true hardships set in 
 when winter came. Then canoes were exchanged 
 for dog-sleds. After traveling all day, running along- 
 side of their dog-trains, Mr. Young and his Indian 
 guides would camp for the night. 
 
 A fire was built, the fish thawed out for the dogs, 
 and sometimes meat for the men, some tea made, 
 and supper was ready. The necessity of repeatedly 
 thawing out the meat during the course of one meal 
 and the freezing of the tea in the cups were common 
 occurrences in that climate. Then again, although 
 
 47 
 
heedless at first of the Indians’ warnings, Mr. Young 
 soon found the wisdom of following his guides’ ad- 
 vice, and sleeping with not so much as a finger or 
 the end of his nose uncovered. There is great dan- 
 ger of freezing to death, and there are also the 
 dangers of snow-blindness and of being lost in a 
 blizzard. Such cold and such hardships the traders 
 are willing to brave for the sake of gaining money. 
 They even outnumber the missionaries, and yet how 
 much greater is the gain of one soul for Christ than 
 all their wealth! 
 
 An Indian Conjurer. 
 
 It is a pity that each station could be visited only 
 twice a year, and although these meetings of mission- 
 ary and people were generally joyful, Mr. Young 
 sometimes encountered some very sad incidents. At 
 one station there was a very old man who, although 
 originally a conjurer held in deadly fear by all his 
 people, became a most earnest and devoted Christian. 
 He would follow Mr. Young about, listening to his 
 every word, even appearing next to him sometimes 
 when Mr. Young knelt down to say his prayers at 
 night, and asking him to “pray out loud and in the 
 Indian language, so that old Indian could understand 
 too.” On one of his visits Mr. Young missed this 
 old man, and, upon inquiring about him, heard this 
 sad story: The old Indian had died wishing for the 
 missionary, who had brought him so much joy, com- 
 fort and peace. The man of God had told him many 
 wonderful things, but his aged mind was too feeble 
 for him to remember. And so, while urging all those 
 about him to listen to the missionary when he came 
 
 48 
 
a^ain, and accept the wonderful truths which he 
 spake, the old Indian died, “as his fathers had died 
 before him,” beating his conjurer’s drum and looking 
 at his medicine bag. Twice a year ! How. much it 
 means to those who are struggling in the dark, and 
 yet how pitifully little and insufficient it is proved to 
 be by such incidents as this! 
 
 A Seekkr Aeter Truth, 
 
 Again, listen to this seeker after truth who offered 
 the following explanation to Mr, Young for his rea- 
 son for worshiping idols: “Missionary, the Indian’s 
 mind is dark, and he cannot grasp the unseen. He 
 hears the Great Spirit’s voice in the thunder and 
 storms. He sees the evidence of His existence all 
 around, but neither he nor his fathers have ever seen 
 the Great Spirit or anyone who has ; and so he does 
 not know what He looks like. But man is the high- 
 est creature that he knows of, and so he makes his 
 idols like a man and calls it his 'manitou.’ We only 
 worship them because we do not know what the 
 Great Spirit looks like, but these we can understand.” 
 Compare with this Philip’s request: “Show us the 
 Father and it sufficeth us.” Are the two demands so 
 very different? And shall we not show such men as 
 this Indian the way to the Father whom they so long 
 to know? How can we answer such an accusation 
 as that of one Indian to whom Mr. Young had just 
 explained the wonder of Christian brotherhood: 
 “Well, I do not want to be rude, but it does seem to 
 me that you, my white brother, have been a long 
 time in coming with that great Book and its won- 
 derful story to tell it to your red brothers in the 
 
 49 
 
woods.’^ It is a sad truth, and one which each one 
 of us should do his share to correct and help do away 
 with. 
 
 After several years of incessant toil among these 
 interesting people, Mr. Young was obliged to leave 
 the field, owing to his wife’s ill health and the need 
 of education for his children. For some years he 
 served as pastor of different churches, but there 
 came a call from England and the United States to 
 tell the story of his life, and Mr. Young, in whose 
 heart still burned the Indians’ pleas and cries for 
 light, took this opportunity to try to enlist the sym- 
 pathy and help of the world. Since then he has been 
 traveling about, lecturing and preaching, stirring 
 thousands with his thrilling tales about the Indians. 
 May God grant that as a result of his labors many 
 more may be sent into this needy harvest! 
 
 Questions. 
 
 1. Where was Mr. Young when he decided to go to 
 
 the Mission field, and what led him to do so? 
 
 2. How was he received by the Indians ? 
 
 3. If you had accompanied Mr. Young on some of his 
 
 missionary tours, what would have been the 
 mode of travel and what supplies would you 
 have taken? 
 
 4. What traits of Indian character would you com- 
 
 mend, and which condemn? 
 
 5. Mention some incidents which prove the Indians’ 
 
 interest in religion. 
 
 Interesting Books by Dr. E. R. Young. 
 “With My Dogs in the Northland.” 
 
 “By Canoe and Dog Train.” 
 
 50 
 
‘‘On the Indian Trail/’ 
 
 "‘Three Boys in the Wild North Land/’ 
 
 “Stories from Indian Wigwams and Northern 
 Camp Fires.” 
 
 “Oowikapun.” 
 
 5 ! 
 
STUDY V. 
 
 tEbe 2)arli (Tontlnent 
 
 nuisstonans Zeroes to tbe micans 
 
 When Stanley returned a few years ago from his 
 famous expedition and wrote “In Darkest Africa/' all 
 the world knew why he so spoke of this great conti- 
 nent. It is black primarily because of the degrada- 
 tion of its inhabitants, for upon them the light of the 
 gospel has not yet fully shone. Witchcraft, slavery, 
 plunder, murder, cruelty, ignorance, have long held 
 sway, and in her distress, Ethiopia is stretching out 
 her hands to God. As truly as the man from Mace- 
 donia, does Africa's need cry out to the Christian 
 Church of to-day : “Come over and help us." 
 
 Size. 
 
 Africa is second only to Asia in size, and three 
 times larger than Europe. Its centre is eleven hun- 
 dred miles inland. “Two persons might live well 
 within the borders of the Soudan, and yet be farther 
 apart than London is from Khartoum." 
 
 “Africa may be regarded as a plateau of moderate 
 elevation, its mean altitude being about two thousand 
 feet above sea level. Tt is the most tropical country 
 in the world.' The most humid region lies around 
 the Niger delta, while the driest place is the Sahara, 
 
 52 
 
which, contrary to common belief, is not all sand. 
 In it are found plateaus and mountains and desert 
 country, dotted here and there with oases. Only 
 one-ninth of the desert is sand.’' 
 
 Material Resources. 
 
 Nature has made Africa almost if not quite the 
 richest of the continents. Ivory has formerly been 
 plentiful. The Kimberley diamond mines are too 
 well known to need any comment, while the gold 
 fields are almost as far-famed. Coal, copper and 
 iron abound, and rubber is one of the chief exports. 
 Not all of these products are found in any one place. 
 ‘‘Africa is a land of extreme contradictions. In one 
 region will be found valueless reeds, and in another 
 mines of incalculable wealth.” 
 
 Antiquity. 
 
 The Dark Continent’s history dates back to the 
 days when Abram fled from Canaan to Eg^^pt to 
 escape famine, more than 2,000 years before Christ. 
 (Gen. 12: 10.) That it possessed vast libraries cen- 
 turies before the Christian era has been proved by 
 recent excavations; libraries gathered when the West 
 was unknown and undreamed of, and the Grecian and 
 Roman Empires were yet unborn. Africa was the 
 seat of the world’s learning. Herodotus, Eratos- 
 thenes and other great thinkers she counted among 
 her scholars. 
 
 Early Christianity in Aerica. 
 
 The early Christian Church was not slow to realize 
 Africa’s commanding position because of her intellec- 
 ts 
 
tual attainments, and sought to, and indeed did, plant 
 herself in her midst. This African Church, which 
 continued for a period of six or seven hundred years, 
 probably began with the conversion of certain “dwell- 
 ers in Egypt,’' who heard Peter’s sermon on the day 
 of Pentecost. (Acts 2: 10.) 
 
 At the time of Christ’s birth and for many years 
 thereafter Rome was the mistress of the world, and 
 Egypt as well as Palestine was a Roman province. 
 As Christianity increased, pagan Rome began sys- 
 tematic persecution. It was bitter in Africa, as there 
 the Church was especially strong. Martyrs there 
 were for the faith in those days, persecution but in- 
 tensifying the Church’s zeal and fidelity. 
 
 Intellectually the Church during these early cen- 
 turies was marvelously strong, for such men as 
 Clement, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian and Augustine 
 were among her representatives. Her missionary zeal 
 was intense, between nine and fifteen hundred 
 churches flourishing in North Africa alone during 
 this period. Had the good work continued which 
 was thus begun, there would be to-day no “dark” con- 
 tinent with 200,000,000 pagans and Mohammedans 
 living without any knowledge of the Saviour, and 
 dying at the rate of 15,000 each day, with no hope 
 beyond the grave. 
 
 Church’s Decay — Mohammedanism. 
 
 Very naturally the question is asked as to the cause 
 of this changed condition. It is easily answered. It 
 was not persecution from without, but influences 
 from within that caused the Church’s downfall. In- 
 stead of expending her strength and effort in evan- 
 
 54 
 
gelism, the Church concerned herself rather with 
 endless doctrinal disputes and discussions. She was 
 rent asunder by schisms and grew cold and indiffer- 
 ent. As a natural result, missionary fervor died. 
 
 Growing colder and more indifferent as the years 
 passed by, Africa presented a capital field for the 
 Mohammedan missionaries. Early in the seventh 
 century Mohammedanism began what she hoped 
 would be the conquest of the world. Fanatical proph- 
 ets of the false faith entered Africa under the leader- 
 ship of Akbah, and while it took centuries to com- 
 pletely depose Christianity — with a perseverance that 
 would do credit to the followers of our Lord — they 
 persevered and won, and North Africa became one of 
 the strongholds of Islam. 
 
 Some: Comparisons. 
 
 Attention has been called to Africans immensity, 
 natural resources, antiquity and learning. Consider 
 now some contrasts. 
 
 Africa is immense, geographically speaking, but the 
 Africa controlled by the African occupies only one 
 twenty-third of the area of the entire continent; that 
 is, but 500,000 out of its 11,500,000 square miles. The 
 story of the country’s colonization is that of a 
 '‘colossal game of grab.” 
 
 Africa is rich, and yet Africa is to-day the poorest 
 spot in the world, save parts of India. The ore val- 
 ued so highly by Europeans and Americans is little 
 thought of by their dusky brothers, who prefer the 
 glitter of a handful of colored beads to the lump of 
 reddish gold. Ignorance and inadequate machinery 
 make the working of rich mines impracticable if not 
 
 55 
 
impossible to the natives, and fertile Africa is often 
 for them famished Africa. 
 
 Again, Africa is ancient, yet it is equally true that 
 Africa is the last discovered continent. Re-discovered 
 it were better to say. Up to 1850, with the exception 
 of the Mediterranean coast, Africa was an unlocked 
 continent, concerning which were written these lines : 
 
 “Geographers in Africa’s maps 
 Put savage beasts to fill up gaps. 
 
 And o’er inhabitable downs 
 
 Put elephants for want of towns.” 
 
 Exploration may be said not to have been success- 
 fully undertaken until the middle of the nineteenth 
 century, when Livingstone, Speke, Burton, Grant, 
 Cameron and Stanley went out, to whose faith and 
 fearlessness the world owes a continent. 
 
 Africa is a land of learning. The tense needs to 
 be changed, for to-day, among the pagans, not one 
 adult in 2,100 can read. Among the Mohammedans 
 ignorance is not quite so dense. 
 
 One more comparison. We saw, because of the 
 gospePs progress in the early Christian centuries, 
 Africa light; we now see it dark. No pen can de- 
 pict its blackness, no literary powers paint the horror 
 of its night. Take from your life God, so that you 
 have no one upon whom to lean. Having done this, 
 remember you cannot pray. See in every catas- 
 trophe which befalls you the working of some evil 
 spirit whom a charm worn around your neck has 
 failed to propitiate, and then you would have but a 
 suggestion of the darkness of the average African 
 mind. ‘Tn a fearfully real sense, to the African, the 
 
 56 
 
^things which are seen are temporal, and the things 
 which are not seen are eternal/ His terror is the 
 environment of evil spirits, peopling the air, hiding 
 in the trees, whispering in the wavelets of the stream, 
 seated on the crest of every hill, and lurking in the 
 rank grasses of the plain. * * * We have only 
 
 to add that these satanic agencies are all accredited 
 with a vindictive hatred to the human race, to com- 
 plete the picture of unspeakable horror that crouches 
 like a nightmare upon the hearts of the African 
 people.’’ 
 
 ^‘Even in districts where Mohammedanism has the 
 firmest hold, it has not superseded, but rather grafted 
 itself upon the superstitious demon worship of the 
 natives.” 
 
 Christianity, in the days of long ago, lost her 
 chance, and Mohammedanism has proved itself an 
 utter failure, not in winning converts, but in changing 
 lives. The Mohammedan is, if the truth were told, 
 a heathen with the polish and veneer of Islam grafted 
 upon his superstitious nature. To-day there comes 
 to the Church another chance, another opportunity 
 to win, if we but will, this mighty continent for 
 Christ. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 1. Why is Africa called “the Dark Continent”? 
 
 2. Should you travel from north to south what kind 
 
 of region would you traverse, and what nat- 
 ural resources of the country would you con- 
 sider valuable ? 
 
 3. In view of Africa’s ancient history, and early intro- 
 
 duction of Christianity, how do you account 
 for her present heathenism ? 
 
 57 
 
4- What is the Church’s present opportunity and ob- 
 ligation ? 
 
 5. Along what lines does Africa need development, 
 and how can it best be accomplished? 
 Ii^TER^sTiNG Books for Scholars. 
 “Tropical Africa,” by Prof. Henry W. Drummond. 
 “Fetichism in West Africa,” by- Robert Nassau, 
 D.D. 
 
 Books for Teachers Before Teaching This 
 Study. 
 
 “Dawn in the Dark Continent,” by James Stewart, 
 D.D., M.D. 
 
 “Tropical Africa,” by Prof. Henry Drummond. 
 “Islam in Africa,” by Atterbury. 
 
 “In Darkest Africa,” by Henry M. Stanley. 
 “Fetichism in West Africa,” by Robert Nassau, 
 D.D. 
 
 “Travel in West Africa,” by Mary H. Kingsley. 
 
 58 
 
STUDY VI. 
 
 IRobcrt nnoffat 
 
 1795^1883 
 
 fBltBsionar^ IHctoes to tbe Btricana 
 Bmong tbe :83ecbuanaa ot South Btrica 
 
 ‘'Oh, that I had a thousand lives and a thousand bodies: all 
 of them should he devoted to no other employment but to 
 preach Christ to these degraded, despised and yet beloved 
 mortals /* — Robert Moffat. 
 
 One of the first missionaries to the Dark Continent 
 was Robert Moffat, who went to South Africa in the 
 days of the early pioneers. At that time Africa was 
 regarded as the land from which ‘'no man returned.” 
 It seemed like going to certain death, but Moffat did 
 not flinch, for in his heart was a burning desire to 
 make Christ known to the pagan Africans. 
 
 Early Training. 
 
 Frugality marked the simple Scotch home of his 
 parents at Ormiston, and from his infancy Robert 
 was accustomed to doing without luxuries. Some- 
 times even the necessities were denied, but, above all, 
 good Christian influences surrounded him. A Shorter 
 Catechism with the alphabet on the title-page was his 
 first text-book, and a six-months’ term at the village 
 
 59 
 
school prepared him to earn his own living at an age 
 when girls and boys in America would just be begin- 
 ning really to study. While at school he developed 
 the faculty of learning to do well everything that he 
 undertook, and this was of great value to him years 
 afterwards in Africa. 
 
 When but a lad he went to sea for. a short time, but 
 tiring of a sailor’s life, he became a gardener’s assist- 
 ant. Realizing for the first time his lack of educa- 
 tion, every minute that could be spared from his 
 flowers went to study, and he could be found early 
 and late poring over his books. 
 
 Possibly the strongest factor in Moflfat’s life was 
 the influence that his pious mother exerted. Often, 
 in the long winter evenings when the family were 
 gathered around the log fire, she would tell stones 
 of missionaries in far-away lands. Little did she then 
 realize that one of her own children would himself 
 one day become a missionary. 
 
 While employed at High Leigh as a gardener, Rob- 
 ert Moffat went one afternoon to a village some six 
 miles distant. While crossing a country bridge he 
 noticed a sign, and on reading it discovered that it 
 was the announcement of a missionary meeting. At 
 once all the missionary stories of his childhood days 
 came rushing to his mind, and with them the thought. 
 Why should not I be a missionar}^? The decision 
 was made then and there. 
 
 Preparation. 
 
 Friends became interested in him, a better position 
 was obtained on a Mr. Smith’s place— a gentleman 
 filled with missionary zeal, and whose daughter, Mary, 
 
 6o 
 
was afterwards married to Moffat. After years of 
 preparation and many disappointments, he was finally 
 accepted by the London Missionary Society for work 
 in the South Sea Islands, but it was afterwards de- 
 cided to send him to Africa. The voyage to Cape 
 Town was not without dangers, and after eighty-six 
 days, Moffat and his fellow-missionaries were glad to 
 land in the country upon whose future he was to have 
 such powerful influence. 
 
 Work in Africa. 
 
 Moffat brought a tremendous enthusiasm to his 
 work. An early training had fitted him to endure 
 hardships and to suffer privations. By his general 
 knowledge he was as capable of turning blacksmith 
 to repair a broken wagon, as of pleasing the Boers, 
 through whose property he had to travel, by convers- 
 ing with them in their own language or amusing them 
 by playing on his violin. Many a time its strains were 
 to echo plaintively through the desert regions of his 
 future home. 
 
 Afrikaner's Kraal. 
 
 Due north from Cape Town over stones and burn- 
 ing sands, into parts where there was no water for 
 either man or beast, for four months Moffat traveled, 
 and arrived at last at his destination. This circle of 
 grass-mat huts was presided over by Afrikaner, a 
 chief of the Bechuana tribe, whose very name struck 
 terror into the natives’ hearts. A bounty was even 
 then placed on his head by the English Government 
 for the numerous crimes he had committed. When 
 the Boer farmers heard that Moffat was going to 
 
 6i 
 
Afrikaner's village they tried to dissuade him, telling 
 him that the chief would make a drum out of his 
 skin and would make a drinking cup out of his skull. 
 But the brave missionary was not to be thus fright- 
 ened. It was the inhuman treatment that Afrikaner 
 had received at the hands of the Boers that made 
 him an outlaw. He had been employed by one of 
 them, but had been so cruelly and unjustly treated 
 that he killed his master and fled to the mountains. 
 The Boers did not regard the natives as human 
 beings, and when Moffat on his journey stopped over 
 night at a Dutch farmer’s home and requested that 
 the native servants should be called in for family 
 worship, the farmer replied, “What ! Call the Hotten- 
 tots? You might as well gather the baboons from 
 the mountains.” Moffat read the account from the 
 Gospel that even the dogs secured the crumbs from 
 the master’s table, and the farmer, stopping him, 
 called in the servants as at first requested. 
 
 Resuming his journey, in due time Moffat reached 
 Afrikaner’s village. Something about the mission- 
 ary’s manner attracted the robber chief, and from the 
 first they were friends. As proof of it, Afrikaner 
 presented Moffat with a house made in less than half 
 an hour from leaves and grass mats by the women of 
 the tribe. 
 
 Manners and Customs oe the Bechuanas. 
 
 Like the Hottentots and all the South African 
 tribes, the Bechuanas were exceedingly fond of orna- 
 ments made from stones, shells and bits of brass. In 
 fact, they wore little else. The women were the 
 workers in the tribe, doing their own and also “a 
 
 62 
 
man’s work.” They carried heavy burdens, cared 
 for the crops, and built the houses, for the perma- 
 nent houses were built around a central pole, tent 
 fashion. 
 
 Heartlessly, the old and helpless among them were 
 put in lonely places to die of starvation. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Moffat rescued two little girls from being buried 
 alive with their dead mothers, according to another 
 well established tribal custom. 
 
 They believed in all kinds of witchcraft, and many 
 an unfortunate has suffered tortures as a supposed 
 witch. It was the surest and easiest way of getting 
 rid of an enemy; it being only necessary to accuse 
 him of being a witch. 
 
 Above everything else, they were under the influ- 
 ence of their Rain-makers. Besides their supposed 
 power, these men were their doctors, their prophets, 
 and they alone were supposed to be able to rid them 
 of the power of the witches. Cattle were sacrificed to 
 them, and they were reverenced like gods. These 
 Rain-makers were the greatest enemies of the mis- 
 sionaries. If their arts and predictions failed, and 
 the hot sun shone, instead of the longed-for rain that 
 they had been brought to make, the blame was laid 
 on the presence of the missionary, on something he 
 had said or done, or even on something in his house. 
 
 Nine Years Without a Convert. 
 
 It is almost impossible to picture the struggle 
 Moffat had against these and other difficulties, and 
 yet he kept on. Tribal wars constantly kept his vil- 
 lage in an uproar. There was no written language, 
 and it was difficult to get a capable interpreter. 
 
 63 
 
Added to these were sickness and death in his own 
 family and the discouragement felt at home because 
 no appreciable progress was made. Yet for nine 
 years Moflfat worked and waited patiently and in 
 faith for spiritual results. Then, like a whirlwind, 
 the change came and swept everything before it. 
 The whole village was transformed. Men and women 
 everywhere were asking: “What must we do to be 
 saved ?” The little chapel was too small for the con- 
 gregation, a new one was built, then a school-house, 
 and then new houses for themselves, which they fur- 
 nished with chairs and tables, things unknown to 
 them before. 
 
 Away north of Kuruman the news of the changes 
 spread, and Mosilikatse, the “Lion’s Paw” and the 
 “Napoleon of the Desert,” heard, and sent two war- 
 riors to see if it were true and to invite Moffat to 
 visit them. With true missionary spirit he went, and 
 this journey over unknown ways was the first of the 
 long series of missionary travels that afterwards 
 made Livingstone famous. Indeed, it is due to Mof- 
 fat’s influence that Livingstone gave his life to 
 Africa. Possibly Moffat’s greatest work was the 
 translating of the Scriptures into the language of the 
 Bechuanas. It was the labor of years, for first it 
 had to be reduced to written characters, and to-day 
 Moflfat’s translation is still used in South Africa. 
 
 Truly of his work it can be said: “One shall sow 
 and another reap.” A glance at South Africa will 
 prove that. 
 
 “A journey to Kuruman to-day would take you 
 over well-laid roads. There would be no fording of 
 rivers or being rafted over them, for well-constructed 
 
 64 
 
bridges (one magnificent one over the Orange River) 
 may now be found, and where once the lion roamed 
 in bold freedom, you would find neat towns, you 
 would find the land abounding in peace and plenty, 
 and the light of the ‘Sun of Righteousness’ shining 
 in many places,” and all this largely due to the efforts 
 of Robert Moffat. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 1. What remarkable circumstance led to Mofi^at’s 
 
 decision to become a missionary ? What influ- 
 ences had preceded this? 
 
 2. Among what tribe did he labor in South Africa? 
 
 3. What was the attitude of the Boers towards the 
 
 natives ? 
 
 4. If you had gone with Moffat as a missionary, what 
 
 social and religious customs would you have 
 wished to change? 
 
 5. If you had been a native African wife, what in 
 
 your condition would you have liked remedied? 
 
 6. In view of Moffat’s experience, should mission- 
 
 aries be discouraged if immediate results of 
 their labors are not always seen? 
 
 7. What do you consider Moffat’s greatest work in 
 
 Africa, and why? 
 
 Interesting Books eor Scholars and Teachers. 
 “Life of Robert Moffat,” by D. J. Deane. 
 
 “Live of Mary and Robert Moffat,” by their Son. 
 “Great Missionaries of the Church,” Creegan, chap. 
 19. 
 
 6s 
 
STUDY VII. 
 
 Samuel H&jai Crowtbcr 
 
 1809^1892 
 
 fBllsstonars Wetoce to tbe atdcans 
 Hlattvc :©i0bop of tbc Wiser, mest Sfrica 
 
 Need oe a Native Ministry. 
 
 We turn now in our study from South Africa to the 
 region of the Niger, West Africa. Many of the Mis- 
 sion Boards have, after a few years’ labor, abandoned 
 this field because of the deadly climate. “Between 
 1804 and 1824, fifty-three missionaries laid down 
 their lives in Sierra Leone.” The question therefore 
 is: How is the Dark Continent to be evangelized? 
 Experience teaches the great value and need of a 
 native ministry. 
 
 The Horrors oe the Slave Trade. 
 
 Samuel Adjai Crowther, born in the darkness of 
 heathenism and sold into slavery, became Bishop of 
 West Africa. In his native home Crowther was 
 known as Adjai. He was bom in the Yoruba coun- 
 try, in West Africa, in 1809. He grew up in the 
 midst of superstition and witchcraft. His home was 
 a rude hut, and with the other children of the village 
 he lived a free and happy life. One day this happi- 
 
ness was marred by the appearance of the slave deal- 
 ers. These men have been the curse of a large part 
 of Africa for centuries. Their trail throughout the 
 country is traced by the bleaching skeletons of their 
 victims. Of the hundred thousand driven annually 
 from their homes thousands perished by the way. 
 The horrors of the slave ship also were unspeakable. 
 A full-grown man was allowed on board a space 
 sixteen inches in width, three feet three inches in 
 height, and five feet eight inches in length. These 
 quarters were never any larger. This was a “crime, 
 not commerce.” The only exercise the wretched 
 creatures had consisted in jumping a specific number 
 of times as high as their chains would permit. Slavery 
 had been the nightmare of Africa for two centuries. 
 
 England and the Slave Trade. 
 
 Since early in the sixteenth century Great Britain 
 had been importing slaves from Africa, apparently 
 unconscious of the great wrong of the trade. She 
 was ignorant, too, of the methods used by her own 
 slave ships, and of the manner in which the Negroes 
 were taken from the interior to the coast under the 
 charge of native or Arab slave-drivers. Stories of 
 cruelty began to leak out, and William Pitt made an 
 eloquent plea in the House of Commons in 1792. 
 “Why ought the slave trade be abolished? Because 
 it is an incurable injustice. ... I know of no evil 
 that ever existed, nor can imagine any one to exist, 
 worse than the tearing of eighty thousand persons 
 annually from their native land by a combination 
 of the most civilized nations, especially by that nation 
 which calls herself the most free and happy of them 
 
 67 
 
all.” Think you, as you read these words, that the 
 Englishman bowed low with shame as he thought of 
 what he had been doing, and had been permitting to 
 be done? Not so. Pitt died, and New Year bells 
 rang fifteen times before the bill for abolition was 
 passed. In 1807, Wilberforce made his first motion 
 in Parliament for the abolition of the slave trade, 
 and it was enacted that after the following March no 
 slave should be imported into the British dominions. 
 In the same year also an act was passed by Congress 
 forbidding the importing of slaves into the United 
 States, 
 
 While Great Britain ceased to buy slaves, she held 
 until 1834 all those purchased prior to 1807. The 
 United States, to its shame, let it be said, did not until 
 1863, by President Lincoln’s Proclamation, emanci- 
 pate her bondmen. 
 
 It is to Great Britain’s credit that, once convicted 
 of her error, she did whatever lay in her power to 
 right the wrong unwittingly done. Not only so, but 
 she endeavored to keep other nations from the traf- 
 fic and so successful were her eflPorts in this direction 
 that by 1819, Holland, France and Sweden abolished 
 the trade. Her method consisted in keeping a sharp 
 lookout off the African coasts, especially the western. 
 In 1821, while cruising on the Atlantic, H. M. S. 
 Myrmidon and another steamer sighted two slave 
 ships making away with their precious cargo. The 
 British boats gave chase, captured the slavers, and 
 took the slaves aboard with the intention of liberating 
 them. Both ships made for Sierra Leone. One was 
 lost with all on board; the second, the Myrmidon, 
 came safe into port at Bathurst. 
 
 68 
 
Crowthkr Rescued erom the Slave Ship. 
 
 Among the slaves on board this ship was Adjai. 
 An English minister heard his story, and offered to 
 pay his tuition in a mission school at Freetown. 
 Here, by persistent hard work, Crowther steadily 
 advanced until he became one of the teachers. It 
 was during his stay here that he accepted Christ as 
 his Saviour. He was baptized on December nth, 
 1825, taking, in addition to his own, the name of 
 the Englishman who paid for his education, Samuel 
 Crowther. He was thereafter known as Samuel 
 Adjai Crowther. 
 
 Visits England. 
 
 In 1826 he was taken by friends to England. Here 
 for a year he had the benefit of being in an English 
 school, and during this time learned a great deal 
 about English manners and customs. Returning to 
 Africa in 1827, he entered the Industrial Boarding 
 School of the Church Missionary Society. This in- 
 stitution has since become one of the leading col- 
 leges of Africa. It is known as the '‘Fourah Bay 
 College.’’ 
 
 Decides to Become a Missionary. 
 
 While here Crowther decided to become a mission- 
 ary to his own people. In 1830 he was appointed 
 from the College to the care of a school at Regent’s 
 Town. After two years of faithful service, he was 
 appointed to a larger sphere of influence at Welling- 
 ton, to-day the centre of the Rev. Andrew Murray’s 
 magnificent work. His successful career in South 
 Africa led later to his appointment as principal of the 
 Fourah Bay College. 
 
 69 
 
Expi<oration op the Niger. 
 
 In 1841 England proposed an exploration of the 
 Niger River. Prince Albert heartily favored it, feel- 
 ing that such an expedition would do much toward 
 the putting down of the slave trade, and would also 
 open a new field for commerce. The Church Mis- 
 sionary Society, seeing here an opportunity to take 
 the gospel to the African people, asked permission 
 to put two missionaries on board the vessels. The 
 request was granted, and a minister and a layman 
 were appointed, the Rev. Frederick Schon and Samuel 
 Crowther. Many perils were encountered on the way. 
 In some places the natives were friendly, in others 
 hostile if they could not procure rum and “tabac” 
 from the white men. 
 
 Everywhere Crowther found spiritual darkness. 
 Writing of it he said: '‘Not more than two furlongs 
 from us are people who know no Heaven and fear no 
 hell, who are strangers from the covenant of promise, 
 having no hope and without God in the world.” 
 
 A native fever, dangerous tO- the black men, almost 
 fatal to Englishmen, began to take one and another 
 from the crew. The flag of the vessel flew at half- 
 mast every day until the ocean was reached on the 
 return journey. 
 
 Ordained to the Ministry. 
 
 Throughout this expedition Crowther had tended 
 the sick and dying, not only doing what lay in his 
 power to alleviate physical suffering, but whenever an 
 opportunity presented itself telling the Old, Old Story 
 to men who, while they came from a land nominally 
 Christian, and many of them from Christian homes, 
 
 70 
 
had forgotten in their rough, seafaring life the truths 
 taught them in the years gone by. Mr. Schon, 
 noticing Crowther’s ability, wrote to the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society, recommending that he be prepared 
 for ordination. He was called to England, where 
 he studied for a year at the “Highbury Missionary 
 College.” He was ordained on June nth, 1843. 
 Returning to Africa in December, 1843, Crowther 
 went at once to the Yoruba country, from which place 
 he had been taken a slave twenty-two years before. 
 During that time three hundred towns had been 
 destroyed to supply slaves for the market, and the 
 people, left utterly heartbroken, were only too glad 
 to hear the message which he had come to bring. 
 
 A JoYFuiy Reunion. 
 
 In 1846, while preaching one day at Abeokuta, he 
 noticed an old woman who seemed to be listening 
 most intently. Slavery had written its lines in her 
 furrowed brow, and her face was so sad that Crow- 
 ther determined to speak to her after the service and 
 bring, if he could, a ray of joy into her sad life. 
 Going to her, he asked her if he could help her. 
 Slowly he drew from her the story of her life. At 
 the close of the account a strange hope thrilled in 
 Crowther's breast, and he scanned earnestly the face 
 before him. The old woman continued : “My great- 
 est sorrow was the loss of my little boy, who was 
 torn from me when he was about eleven years old.” 
 
 “What,” he asked, “did you call this lad?” 
 
 “Adjai,” she answered, “I called him Adjai.” 
 Great was the joy in Crowther^s heart. Throughout 
 the many years of the separation he had prayed for 
 
 71 
 
his mother, and had longed that, if she were still alive, 
 he might see her. Not only had his prayer been 
 answered, but he had the added joy of leading his 
 mother to Jesus Christ. 
 
 A Mission Established. 
 
 In 1857, in the judgment of the Church Missionary 
 Society, the time was thought ripe to establish a 
 Niger Christian Mission. Crowther and six other 
 workers manned a mission boat called the “Day- 
 spring.” They stopped at many of the towns visited 
 on the first expedition, and found many glad to re- 
 ceive them, and eager to hear more of what Crow- 
 ther had told them fifteen years before. Arriving at 
 Rabbah, the vessel struck a rock and was lost. Con- 
 sequently Crowther stayed a considerable time in the 
 vicinity of Rabbah. Here he founded the Onitsha 
 Mission and several out-stations in places which he 
 w^ould probably never have visited but for this seem- 
 ing mishap. 
 
 Appointed Bishop. 
 
 In 1864 it became necessary to appoint a new 
 Bishop of West Africa, as Bishop Weeks had died. 
 No one seemed so well fitted for this high and re- 
 sponsible office as Samuel Adjai Crowther, the native 
 teacher and preacher who had once been a slave. He 
 was again called back to England and consecrated 
 in Canterbury Cathedral as the first native Bishop of 
 the Niger. 
 
 Returning to Africa, he began work in the darkest 
 spot of the Dark Continent, the Delta region. Not 
 only did superstition have full sway here, but can- 
 nibalism with all its degrading rites was practiced. 
 
 72 
 
Crowther established a mission, resulting in the con- 
 version and changed lives of hundreds of natives. 
 For many years he served faithfully as an ambassador 
 of Jesus Christ. In 1892 he died, leaving West Africa 
 to mourn a noble life. He was one of her own sons, 
 and is a notable example of what, by God’s grace, the 
 African can do for Africa. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 1. State the advantages of a native ministry for 
 
 Africa. 
 
 2. Describe the horrors of the slave trade and Eng- 
 
 land’s attitude. 
 
 3. How did Crowther receive his name? 
 
 4. In what sort of missionary work did he first en- 
 
 gage? 
 
 5. What led to his ordination to the ministry? 
 
 6. How long did he serve as Bishop of West Africa? 
 
 7. In view of the possibility of there being in Africa 
 
 to-day other natives as capable as Crowther, 
 what is the Church’s immediate duty? 
 
 Interesting Books eor Scholars. 
 
 “Samuel Crowther,” by Jesse Page. 
 
 “A Miracle of African Missions,” by John Bell and 
 Mary Bird. 
 
 Books eor Teachers Before Teaching this 
 Study. 
 
 “Memoirs on Slavery,” by Chancellor Harper. 
 “Christus Liberator,” by Ellen C. Parsons. 
 
 “Africa Waiting,” by D. M. Thornton (Chap. 7). 
 “Story of Africa and Its Explorers,” by R. Brown 
 (Vol. I, Chap. 3). 
 
 73 
 
STUDY VIII. 
 
 Davit) Xivingstone 
 
 1813^1873 
 
 Jullsatonans Bcroes to tbe Bfrtcano 
 tuliosionans Biploret in Central Bfrlca 
 
 *'The end of the geographical feat is only the beginning of 
 the enterprise /’ — Livingstone. 
 
 “Providence seems to call me to the regions beyond. I zvill 
 go, no matter who opposes .” — Livingstone (when beginning 
 his work of exploration). 
 
 “Nothing earthly will make me give up my work in despair. 
 I encourage myself in the Lord my God and go forward.”—^ 
 Livingstone (written five weeks before his death). 
 
 On the 8th of December, 1840, there set sail from 
 England for South Africa a stalwart young man with 
 broad shoulders, deep chest and fine physique. If 
 you had talked with him you would have been won 
 at once by his genial personality. You would have 
 realized too that he was a man with a purpose. Per- 
 haps you might have thought he was going to ‘South 
 Africa as an adventurer or prospector, and in a way 
 he was. His life in the Dark Continent was to be full 
 of adventure, while prospecting not for gold but for 
 
 74 
 
souls. His powers were yet untried and few persons, 
 if any, realized his abilities. Some thought he was 
 intellectually unfit to go to China or India as a mis- 
 sionary, and that Africa was probably the best place 
 for him after all. It was best, because God had 
 chosen this quiet, unassuming young man for the 
 Dark Continent, and ere he should finish his work 
 the whole world was to be amazed at what he had 
 accomplished. Minister, physician, traveler, explorer, 
 David Livingstone is perhaps the best known of all 
 the missionaries who have ever gone to Africa. 
 
 Early Li^K. 
 
 He was born at Blantyre, a village on the Clyde, 
 eight miles above Glasgow, on March 19, 1813. His 
 parents were earnest Christians but very poor, as the 
 business of tea merchant in which the father was 
 engaged was not very lucrative. As soon as the 
 children were old enough to help they secured em- 
 ployment, and David when but ten years of age was 
 at work in the cotton mill from six in the morning 
 until eight at night. 
 
 His father was fond of books, most of which were 
 of a religious character, and in his journeys through 
 the country from place to place he carried with him 
 tracts as well as tea, and distributed them far and 
 wide. He was thus in a sense a home missionary, 
 and little did he then know that his son David at 
 home was to become one of the most famous foreign 
 missionaries of the nineteenth century. David in- 
 herited his father’s love of reading, but he did not 
 care always for the same kind. Books of science and 
 travel interested him most. 
 
 75 
 
Conversion. 
 
 When about twelve years old he was interested in 
 religion, but thought that he must wait for some 
 startling change in his life before he could be a 
 Christian. But when he was about twenty, he read 
 Dr. Dick’s “Philosophy of a Future State,” and 
 learned of God’s love in Christ, and from that time 
 dates his assurance of salvation. At once he re- 
 solved to devote his life to the help of his fellow-men. 
 He became interested in missions through the read- 
 ing of the life of Henry Martyn and of other mis- 
 sionaries, and when one day he came across an appeal 
 on behalf of China, written by Dr. Charles Gutzlaff, 
 his mind was made up to become a missionary. He 
 began the study of theology and of medicine, and 
 after due preparation received his commission to 
 Africa from the London Missionary Society. The 
 day he left home to sail for the Dark Continent he 
 had family worship and read the I 2 ist and 135th 
 Psalms. 
 
 Arrives in Africa. 
 
 After a voyage of five months he arrived at Cape 
 Town, in the southern part of the continent. His 
 destination was Kuruman, in Bechuanaland, some 
 seven hundred miles north, and the station estab- 
 lished by Robert Moffat thirty years before. After 
 remaining at Kuruman a short time, he set out for 
 Mabotsa, two hundred miles beyond, and there he 
 established a new station. It was there he had an 
 experience that nearly cut short his career. Having 
 shot a lion he was attacked by the animal, who caught 
 him by the shoulder and shook him as a dog does a 
 
 76 
 
rat. Describing the encounter afterwards he said: 
 *‘The shock produced a stupor similar to that which 
 seems to be felt by a mouse after the first grip of 
 the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which 
 there was no sense of pain or feeling of terror, 
 though I was quite conscious of all that was happen- 
 ing. This placidity is probably produced in all ani- 
 mals killed by the carnivora ; and if so, is a merciful 
 provision of the Creator for lessening the pain of 
 death.’^ A friend asked him what his thoughts were 
 when he was in the lion’s clutches, and Livingstone 
 replied, “I was thinking what part of me he would 
 eat first.” The year following this incident Living- 
 stone married Mary, the daughter of Robert Moffat. 
 
 A Strange Suggestion. 
 
 Difficulty arising because of the jealousy of a fel- 
 low missionary at Mabotsa, Livingstone resolved to 
 leave all the work under the control of his colleague, 
 while he and his family set out to establish a new 
 home farther north. He decided to locate at Chon- 
 uane among the Bakwain tribe, whose chief was 
 Sechele. The latter was very glad to have Living- 
 stone come among his people. He was eager to learn 
 all that he could from the white man, and soon 
 showed a deep interest in Christianity. At first, how- 
 ever, he failed to understand its spirit. Being used 
 to obedience from his subjects and desirous of pleas- 
 ing Livingstone, he suggested an effective method 
 of securing converts to Christianity. “Do you imag- 
 ine these people will ever believe by your merely 
 talking to them ? I can make them do nothing except 
 by thrashing them, and if you like I shall call my 
 
 77 
 
head men, and with our whips of rhinoceros hide we 
 will soon make them all believe together/^ Needless 
 to say, Livingstone did not agree to this suggestion. 
 
 Hostility of the Boers. 
 
 On account of a long continued drought he was 
 unable to remain at Chonuane, and the whole tribe of 
 the Bakwains under his guidance went to a place 
 forty miles northwest to Kolobeng. Here Living- 
 stone erected a new house for himself and family 
 and they remained for three years. But the drought 
 followed them here, and eventually another move 
 became necessary. 
 
 While at Kolobeng, Livingstone encountered much 
 trouble from the Boers. Their attitude toward all 
 missionary eflfort to benefit the Africans was one of 
 implacable opposition. They themselves regarded the 
 natives as cattle, without any souls, and treated 
 them most brutally. The gospel, which they pro- 
 fessed to prize so highly, they denied to their black 
 slaves. Their power in South Africa was very great, 
 and they finally succeeded in driving Livingstone 
 from Bechuanaland altogether. One day they made 
 a raid upon Kolobeng when Livingstone was away, 
 killed many of the natives and captured two hundred 
 of the mission school children for slaves. Living- 
 stone’s house they completely destroyed, stole what 
 furniture they did not smash, as well as provisions 
 and tools, tore the leaves out of all his books and 
 broke all his bottles of medicine. They then went 
 off to worship God and attend church. ^T wonder 
 what the Peace Society would do with these wor- 
 thies?” wrote Livingstone. ‘"They are Christians.'^ 
 
 78 
 
Begins Work or Exploration. 
 
 After several years in Africa, Livingstone became 
 firmly convinced that the only way for Christianity 
 to become securely established would be by the plant- 
 ing of a chain of mission stations all through the 
 interior. “It was useless, he found, for a missionary 
 to settle down on his little maize patch to the instruc- 
 tion of a handful of blacks, when the unnumbered 
 millions around and beyond were kept in a state of 
 constant fear and unrest by the raids of the slaver, 
 and degraded by participation in the traffic. A 
 missionary might be ever so zealous, but the work of 
 years might be swept away in a day by a passing 
 wave of the slave-terror, or by war, famine or pesti- 
 lence, which are the inevitable accompaniments of 
 the trade. Christianity could never take firm root 
 in such a soil. He was convinced that the ground 
 must first be prepared by the suppression of the slave 
 trade and the introduction of lawful commerce.” 
 
 The difficulties that he encountered at Chonuane 
 and at Kolobeng from drought and from the Boers 
 proved to be God’s method of launching Livingstone 
 upon his great career of missionary exploration, in 
 an endeavor to open up the interior of the Dark Con- 
 tinent to the gospel. From Kolobeng he crossed the 
 great Kalahari Desert, a trackless torrid waste of 600 
 miles, in an effort to reach the tribes that lay to the 
 north. In this and a subsequent journey he dis- 
 covered Lake Ngami and the Zambesi river. Ex- 
 perience proved that he could not take his family 
 with him on such rigorous trips, so it was decided that 
 they should return to England, while he should bend 
 every energy to find a way from the interior to the 
 
 79 
 
east or west coasts. Accompanying his wife and 
 children to Cape Town, a journey of more than 1500 
 miles, he reluctantly bade them good-bye. Nearly 
 five years were to elapse before he should look on 
 their faces again. 
 
 Cape Town to Loanda and Across the Conti- 
 nent. 
 
 He then retraced his steps northward for a thou- 
 sand miles to Kolobeng, again crossed the Kalahari 
 Desert to Linyanti in the heart of Africa, whence he 
 planned to find a way either to the east or the west 
 coast. With but twenty-seven followers of the Maka- 
 lolo tribe, he set out for the west on a journey of 
 fifteen hundred miles, through regions never before 
 traveled by a white man. Many were the dangers 
 encountered; unfriendly natives harassed him and 
 thirty attacks of fever brought him to a state of ex- 
 treme weakness. Once his men, having become 
 utterly disheartened, resolved to give up the expedi- 
 tion. Then was prayer wondrously answered, as 
 Livingstone in an agony of spirit besought God for 
 help, and one after another of the men came to him 
 and told him they would remain faithful. After in- 
 credible hardships, Loanda, on the shores of the 
 Atlantic, was reached on May 31, 1854. 
 
 While here Livingstone had the opportunity of 
 returning to England, but refused to go because of 
 his promise, made to his men at the beginning of the 
 journey, to take them back home again. But for this, 
 there was every reason for him to go to England. 
 Physically he was a wreck of his former self, for 
 thirteen years in Africa, and especially the hardships 
 
 80 
 
of the past few months, had reduced him to almost a 
 skeleton. Then too he had just accomplished a feat 
 never before performed by a white man. However 
 strong the temptation to return to home and loved 
 ones, Livingstone determined to retrace his steps with 
 the Makalolo ; and more than this, he resolved to con- 
 tinue his journey directly across the continent to the 
 cast coast, to discover if a way for trade with the in- 
 terior might thus be established from the east. He 
 was convinced that it was impossible from the west 
 or from the south. After several months' weary 
 march he reached, without the loss of a man, Lin- 
 yanti, whence he had set out nearly two years before. 
 
 After a short rest Livingstone was again on his 
 way, November 3, 1855, bound for the east coast. 
 Following the Zambesi river he came upon what the 
 natives called “Sounding Smoke," but which he 
 named Victoria Falls in honor of the Queen. It is 
 the most beautiful waterfall in Africa, grander than 
 Niagara, and to-day can be viewed from a modem 
 railroad bridge on the line from Cairo to the Cape. 
 The Zambesi is a mile wide at the falls, where it 
 dashes to the rocks three hundred feet below. 
 
 On the first part of his journey he passed through 
 a friendly region, but later met much opposition from 
 hostile tribes. At one point there was imminent 
 danger of the complete annihilation of his party. 
 Again did this man of prayer plead God's promises, 
 and turning to his Bible he read, “Go ye therefore 
 and teach all nations ; . . , teaching them to ob- 
 
 serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you : 
 and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
 the world." “It is the word of a gentleman of the 
 
 81 
 
most sacred and strictest honor; and there is an end 
 on’t/* So saying he lay down to rest p>eacefully, and 
 the next day succeeded in getting all of his men 
 across the river unharmed. In May, 1856, he reached 
 Quilimane on the east coast. He had crossed the 
 continent. 
 
 Returns to England. 
 
 Shortly afterwards he returned to England, where 
 he received a most enthusiastic reception. When he 
 sailed for Africa sixteen years before he was practi- 
 cally unknown. But now he was hailed as a hero by 
 the nation, and the Universities bestowed degrees 
 and honors upon him. These attentions were rather 
 irksome to Livingstone. He delighted not in the 
 praise of men, and made it a rule never to read any- 
 thing written in his praise. He went from place to 
 place telling of Africa and its needs, and succeeded 
 in arousing great interest in the Dark Continent. 
 
 Second Expedition. 
 
 After two years in England it was arranged that 
 he should return to Africa, at the head of a Govern- 
 ment expedition, to explore farther the Zambesi 
 river. In 1858 he set out, Mrs. Livingstone and their 
 youngest child accompanying him. The two latter 
 he left at Cape Town for a time, but Mrs. Livingstone 
 joined him later. She was attacked with fever, 
 however, and after a brief illness passed away. This 
 was a great blow to the now lonely missionary. 
 Though he discovered Lakes Nyassa and Shiwra, 
 this expedition was on the whole most disastrous. 
 A mission station which was founded by reinforce- 
 
 82 
 
ments from England was abandoned and several of 
 the missionaries died. Then that which nearly over- 
 whelmed him was the fact that following closely upon 
 his explorations were the iniquitous Portuguese slave 
 dealers, who brought devastation and death where- 
 ever they went. After six years spent in arduous 
 exploration he again returned to England, to con- 
 demn more strongly than ever the horrors of the 
 slave trade. 
 
 Third Expedition. 
 
 In about a year he was again on his way to the 
 Dark Continent, this time under the auspices of the 
 Royal Geographical Society, and his aim was to dis- 
 cover if possible the sources of the Nile or the Congo. 
 This was to be his last expedition, covering a period 
 of seven years. It is really pathetic to read of the 
 struggles and disappointments and sufferings that he 
 endured so uncomplainingly. It must never be for- 
 gotten that all this work of exploration was in the 
 interests of missions and the extension of the King- 
 dom of Christ. Looking forward to this last expedi- 
 tion, he said that he was exhilarated by the thought 
 of another trip into the interior, and that “when one 
 travels with the specific object in view of amelior- 
 ating the condition of the natives, every act is 
 ennobled.’^ It was always as a missionary, and not 
 merely as an explorer bent on geographical discov- 
 eries, that David Livingstone spent thirteen of his 
 twenty-eight years in Africa. Several years passed 
 by and for months the outside world had heard noth- 
 ing of him. Many persons thought him dead, but 
 there was one who did not, Mr. James Gordon Ben- 
 nett, of the New York Herald. 
 
 83 
 
Stanley Finds Livingstone. 
 
 Being in Paris, he summoned there one of the 
 Herald's war correspondents, Henry M. Stanley. 
 When they met Mr. Bennett said, “I have important 
 business on hand for you. Where do you think 
 Livingstone is?” ‘1 really do not know, sir,” replied 
 Stanley. ‘'Do you think he is alive?” “He may be, 
 and he may not be.” “Well, I think he is alive, and 
 that he can be found, and I am going to send you 
 to find him,” said Mr. Bennett. “What!” said 
 Stanley, “do you really think I can find Dr. Living- 
 stone? Do you mean me to go to Central Africa?” 
 “Yes, I mean that you shall go, and find him wher- 
 ever you may hear that he is, and get what news 
 you can of him. Of course, you will act according 
 to your own plans, and do what you think best — 
 hut -find Livingstone^* 
 
 Months passed, but on October 28, 1871, Stanley 
 and Livingstone met face to face on the shores of 
 Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa. Approaching 
 Livingstone, Stanley said, “I thank God, Doctor, I 
 have been permitted to see you,” and the missionary 
 replied, “I feel thankful that I am here to welcome 
 you.” 
 
 Stanley used every argument possible to induce 
 Livingstone to return to England with him, but the 
 heroic explorer would not consent to do so while his 
 work of discovering the sources of Nile or Congo was 
 yet undone. Four months these men spent together 
 and then they parted, Livingstone never to look upon 
 the face of a white man again. On his birthday, a 
 year before he died, and Just after Stanley left him, 
 he writes in his diary: “My Jesus, my King, my 
 
 84 
 
Life, my All ! I again dedicate my whole self to Thee. 
 Accept me and grant, O gracious Father, that ere this 
 year is gone I may finish my task. In Jesus’ name I 
 ask it. Amen.” 
 
 On May 4, 1873, in a rude hut on the shores of 
 Lake Bangweolo, his servants found him dead. He 
 was on his knees. His devoted negro followers were 
 overcome with grief, and then and there determined 
 to take his body to the coast. This they did through 
 many difficulties and dangers, and on April 18, 1874, 
 the mortal remains of David Livingstone were placed 
 in Westminster Abbey, and England mourned for 
 one of her noblest and most heroic sons. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 1. What influences led Livingstone to become a mis- 
 
 sionary ? 
 
 2. What circumstances influenced him to begin his 
 
 work of exploration? 
 
 3. What was his aim as a missionary explorer? 
 
 4. In how many expeditions did he engage, and what 
 
 was the purpose of each? 
 
 5. Mention three striking traits of his character. 
 
 6. Why is he regarded as one of the greatest mission- 
 
 aries of the 19th century? 
 
 Books for Scholars. 
 
 “David Livingstone,” by T. Banks Maclachlan. 
 “David Livingstone,” by Thomas Hughes. 
 
 Books for Teachers. 
 
 “The Personal Life of David Livingstone,” by W. 
 G. Blaikie. 
 
 85 
 
“David Livingstone: His Labors and His Legacy,” 
 by Arthur Montefiore. 
 
 “Missionary Travels and Researches in South 
 Africa.” 
 
 “Livingstone’s Last Journals,” by David Living- 
 stone. 
 
 “Tropical Africa,” by Henry Drummond. 
 
 86 
 
STUDY IX. 
 
 aieian&er flU. finacfta? 
 
 1849^1890 
 
 misslonans Kcroea to tbe atricans 
 Inbuatrtal IHisaionat^ in Central Baat Btrica 
 
 *'Am I not here the link between dying man and the dying 
 Christ ?’' — Mackay. 
 
 ‘*Is it at all likely that eight Englishmen should start for 
 Central Africa, and all be alive six months after? One of us 
 at least— At may he I — will surely fall before that. But what 
 I want to say is this: When the news comes, do not be cast 
 down, but send someone else immediately to take the vacant 
 place .” — Mackay. 
 
 *'It is not to make money that I believe a Christian should 
 live. Christ said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to re- 
 ceive!’ And the noblest thing a man can do is just humbly to 
 receive, and then go amongst others and give. Many a better 
 man than I has gone to heathen countries before now; why 
 should not I go too ?” — Mackay. 
 
 The Country. 
 
 We turn now in our study to Uganda, a region 
 lying in Central Africa, its shores bordering the 
 northwestern part of Lake Victoria Nyanza. It is a 
 country with a delightful climate, ranging from 6o to 
 
8o degrees F. It lies just south of the equator, and 
 contains about 70,000 square miles and one and a half 
 to two million inhabitants. Rain is abundant, fall- 
 ing nearly every night, and thunder storms are of 
 daily occurrence in the rainy season. Plantains are 
 plentiful and form the chief article of food. The soil 
 is so rich that it is capable of producing almost any- 
 thing. Cotton, coffee, tobacco and sweet potatoes 
 are raised, and there is a great supply of iron and 
 other minerals. The country is undulating, consist- 
 ing of hills and hollows. In the latter there are 
 usually swamps in which grow rank grasses and reeds, 
 which afford shelter for many kinds of snakes and 
 wild animals. 
 
 The People. 
 
 The people of Uganda cannot be called barbarous, 
 as that term is usually understood, nor are they 
 wholly civilized. They are bright and intelligent and 
 eager to learn, and are by far the most advanced of 
 any race in Central Africa. In Mackay^s day they 
 were exceedingly superstitious, however, as is com- 
 mon among natives in heathen lands. They believed 
 in many gods, every phenomenon in nature having 
 its own god, as, for example, the storm, thunder, 
 lightning, famine, earthquake, etc., while any particu- 
 lar thing, such as a strangely shaped rock or tree, 
 was supposed to be a god. Snakes and parrots were 
 also worshiped. There was great confusion as to the 
 relative power of these various gods, but all needed 
 to be propitiated by offerings, lest they should bring 
 evil and bad luck. Everywhere upon the doors of 
 the native houses charms were hung, and “a native 
 
 88 
 
would not think of venturing out of doors in the 
 morning until he first threw out a bell-shaped charm 
 made of grass and covered with bark-cloth. This 
 is kept at the back of the door, and at dawn whoever 
 first gets up opens this door and throws out the ball, 
 saying, ‘Here, Spirit, this is yours.’ ” 
 
 While we have said that the people of Uganda 
 were not exactly barbarous, they had many cruel 
 practices. Human life was considered of little value, 
 and the King had absolute power of life and death 
 over his subjects. For the slightest ofifense great tor- 
 ture or death was inflicted, and it was not uncommon 
 for hundreds of innocent victims to be slain by royal 
 command, as a display of sovereign power or caprice. 
 
 A Missionary Enginejer. 
 
 It was to such a country and among such people 
 that Alexander Mackay, the young Scotch civil engi- 
 neer, went as an industrial missionary in the year 
 1876. He was not an ordained minister, but a mis- 
 sionary none the less, and just the man needed for 
 the place to which he went. In a most wonderful 
 way was he fitted by his talents and training for work 
 among the superstitious people of Uganda. His skill 
 in the use of tools and machinery was regarded as 
 nothing short of miraculous by the natives, who with 
 open-eyed amazement crowded at times his black- 
 smith shop to see the bellows and to watch him at his 
 work. His grindstone was a never-failing source of 
 interest and of wonder, as they could not understand 
 how the wheels went round. The natives got the 
 idea that there was nothing that Mackay could not 
 do, and if he did not make at once some article on 
 
 89 
 
demand, such as needle or fish-hook, they attributed 
 it to his unwillingness to serve them. 
 
 Mtksa’s Request. 
 
 When Mackay arrived in Uganda, King Mtesa was 
 on the throne. He had been visited by Stanley, and 
 he told the great explorer that he desired white men 
 to be sent to him to instruct his people. After Stan- 
 ley returned to England he made known Mtesa’s 
 request, which was a challenge to the Christian 
 Church to meet the need. It was met by the Church 
 Missionary Society sending out eight men ; but after 
 two and one-half years of travel, Mackay and one 
 companion were the only ones to reach Mtesa’s cap- 
 ital. Of the others, two had died of fever, two had 
 been killed by the natives, and two had returned to 
 England. 
 
 Before going further, let us turn back to the early 
 life and home of Mackay and see the Providential 
 leading that took him to Africa. 
 
 He was the son of a Free Church minister in Scot- 
 land, and was born on the 13th of October, 1849, 
 a very obscure little village by the name of Rhynie. 
 His father was a highly educated man and deeply 
 interested in the progress of the Kingdom, both at 
 home and abroad. In fact, the very day that Alex- 
 ander was born he was studying the map of Africa, 
 and remarked to the family servant: ^'The Gospel 
 banner will yet be planted in the heart of this con- 
 tinent, although not likely in your day or mine.” 
 “But maybe it’ll be in your son’s, sir, and wha will 
 say he’ll nae hae a han’ in it?” She spoke more truly 
 than she knew, for twenty-seven years later the babe 
 
 90 
 
she held in her arms was on his way to the Dark 
 Continent with the message of salvation. 
 
 Home Influences. 
 
 As the lad grew he displayed remarkable talents 
 and ability. He was the constant companion of his 
 father, from whom he learned much. It was to his 
 mother, however, that he owed his peculiar interest 
 in missions, for, as a child, she would reward his 
 recitation of the Catechism and Bible Lesson by tell- 
 ing him a missionary story, which Alexander was 
 always eager to hear. Sometimes when she was 
 through, he would ask her what field she thought 
 most important. Her reply would be that all were 
 important and needy, and that Christ had died for 
 all, but that at that time Africa was claiming particu- 
 lar attention. “Would you like me to go as a mis- 
 sionary to Africa some day?” the boy would ask. 
 “If God prepares you for it, my boy, but not unless.” 
 
 Natural Talents. 
 
 But God was preparing him for it, and all the edu- 
 cation he acquired in his youth was to be turned to 
 good account later in Africa. Mentally he was un- 
 usually bright, for at three years of age he could read 
 the New Testament with ease, and at seven he en- 
 joyed such works as “Paradise Lost” and Gibbon's 
 “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” He was 
 naturally fond of machinery, and he spent most of 
 his spare time in the mill, carpenter shop, gas works 
 or blacksmith shop, watching the work that was being 
 done. He thought it worth while to walk four miles 
 each way just to see the locomotive as it stopped for 
 
 91 
 
a few minutes at the nearest railroad station. His 
 parents earnestly hoped that he would become a min- 
 ister, but his tastes were for an engineering course 
 at the University. This choice was not denied him, 
 and after completing his work in Edinburgh he went 
 to Berlin to continue his studies. Here he came in 
 contact with many who tried to weaken his faith in 
 Christianity, but he had been too well grounded in 
 its principles to be easily shaken. Having grown up 
 in a Christian home, and surrounded with godly 
 influences, it was natural for him to accept the belief 
 of his parents. His clear-cut conversion dates, how- 
 ever, from the period immediately following his 
 mother’s death, when he was sixteen years old. Her 
 departure he felt very keenly. Her dying message 
 to him, and strictly followed, was to search the Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 Missionary Decision. 
 
 As might be expected, Mackay showed marked 
 ability in his chosen profession, and a promising and 
 lucrative career was opening up before him. But 
 within six weeks of the time he had left home for Ger- 
 many he had heard another call — that of God to the 
 mission field. It was through his sister that he re- 
 ceived an account of an address delivered by Dr. 
 Bums Thomson from Madagascar. In the address 
 there had been a call for medical missionaries to go to 
 Madagascar. Though not a physician, he was willing 
 to go as an engineer, and as such he offered himself 
 for the work. The way did not seem to open at once, 
 so he responded to an appeal of the Church Mission- 
 ary Society made in April, 1875, for a lay superin- 
 
 92 
 
tendent for a mission station at Mombasa, in East 
 Africa. But this position was filled when his letter 
 was received. In September of this same year he 
 had a very flattering offer from the firm with which 
 he was connected in Berlin to accept a very remunera- 
 tive position in Moscow, but he refused, believing that 
 God would provide the way for him to go to the for- 
 eign field eventually. Faith and patience were to be 
 tested but a few months longer. 
 
 Starts for Uganda. 
 
 About this time Stanley’s letter appeared in the 
 Daily Telegraph challenging Christendom to send 
 missionaries to Mtesa in Uganda. Mackay was one 
 of the first to offer his services for this work, and in 
 January, 1876, he received notice from the Church 
 Missionary Society of his appointment to this field. 
 The following April he sailed with seven other com- 
 panions for Africa, the youngest of them all, and 
 “destined in the short space of three years to be the 
 only representative in Africa of that original band.” 
 Before they left for their station, a farewell service 
 was held in the rooms of the Church Missionary So- 
 ciety. It was not marked by anything extraordinary. 
 Very quietly each one of the five prospective mis- 
 sionaries (for three had already gone) gave a parting 
 message. Mackay was the last one called upon to 
 speak. This was what he said in substance : “ 'There 
 is one thing which I want to say. I want to remind 
 the Committee that within six months they will 
 probably hear that one of us is dead.’ The words 
 were startling, and there was a silence that might be 
 
 93 
 
felt. Then he went on: ‘Yes, is it at all likely that 
 eight Englishmen should start for Central Africa, and 
 all be alive six months after? One of us at least~it 
 may be I — will surely fall before that. But,’ he 
 added, ‘what I want to say is this : When that news 
 comes, do not be cast down, but send someone else 
 immediately to take the vacant place.’ ” In this spirit 
 of devotion the little band of heroes went forth. It 
 was November, 1878, before Mackay and his fellow- 
 missionary, Wilson, reached Uganda and Mtesa’s 
 capital. The king received them cordially and was 
 delighted to hear of the wonders of Western science. 
 A description of railroads, steamships, telegraph and 
 telephone greatly interested him. A magic lantern 
 exhibition showing pictures of animals and scenes 
 outside Uganda quite surpassed all his expectations. 
 He was glad to have Mackay with him, because of his 
 wonderful skill as a worker in metal and because of 
 the practical use he was to him. He showed, too, to 
 a certain extent, an interest in Christianity, and many 
 times did Mackay conduct services at the court. 
 Mtesa even claimed to be a Christian, but he was 
 greatly perplexed by the conflicting statements of 
 Mohammedan slave dealers and by the teachings of 
 Roman Catholic missionaries, both of whom opposed 
 Mackay very bitterly. The power, too, of heathen 
 superstition, in which he had grown up, especially 
 when he became ill and resorted to a sorcerer, all 
 counteracted Mackay’s faithful Christian teachings. 
 So strong became this opposition to Christianity that 
 scores of martyrs perished, and thousands of innocent 
 natives who were not Christians were slain in the 
 hope that thus the King might be cured of a disease 
 
 94 
 
from which he was suffering. These facts seem to 
 disprove very fully Mtesa’s claims to be a Christian. 
 At first he showed considerable interest in the teach- 
 ings of the New Testament, learned to read, and 
 commanded his people also to learn, and Mackay 
 seemed hopeful of his professed conversion. But 
 subsequent events seemed to show that Mtesa lived 
 and died a heathen. 
 
 DlI^FlCULTlES. 
 
 Can you imagine the difficulties under which Mac- 
 kay labored? First, there was the one of inability 
 to speak the language properly, and, depending upon 
 an interpreter, he found that frequently he gave a 
 meaning that Mackay did not mean to convey at all. 
 Then there were the Mohammedan slave dealers, 
 Arabs who violently opposed all teachings of Chris- 
 tianity, and the Catholic missionaries who did all 
 in their power to undermine Mackay’s Protestantism. 
 These things, as time went on, with the growing dis- 
 affection of Mtesa, brought Mackay^s life into great 
 danger. The tide ebbed and flowed ; now the people 
 seemed willing to hear the gospel, again they would 
 refuse. “One day they listen, and another day they 
 say: ‘We want none of your teachings. We have a 
 religion of our own wffiich we like better than the 
 white man’s religion. If you want to teach us any- 
 thing, show us how to make gunpowder and guns, 
 and we will give you land and slaves.’ One day we 
 are friends, the next day the enchanters prevail and 
 we are condemned as the cause of all drought and 
 disease.” 
 
 95 
 
Witchcraft Outdone. 
 
 Mackay tells an experience one day when he tried 
 to prove to the natives the worthlessness of their 
 charms. Having bought a very powerful one, he 
 asked them what was in it. “The lubare, some said ; 
 while others said they believed it all a lie, and that 
 there was no lubare (or spirit) in the thing. ‘Will it 
 burn?' I asked. ‘Oh, no, the lubare does not burn.' 
 ‘Is not this charm mine? Did I not buy it?' ‘Yes, 
 it is yours,' they all said. ‘Then I can do with it what 
 I like?' ‘Oh, yes.' ‘Very good,' I replied. So, tak- 
 ing out of my pocket a small lens, I made fire in a 
 moment with the sun's rays, and, bidding my little boy 
 gather a bundle of dry wood, of which there was 
 any amount lying on the beach, I soon had a brilliant 
 blaze. ‘Can your great witches make fire out of the 
 sun as I have done?' I asked. ‘No; no.' ‘Then, you 
 see, I am cleverer than these gods whom you wor- 
 ship.' ‘Yes, you make magic,' they said. ‘Well, you 
 say there is magic in this charm which I have 
 bought?' ‘Yes.' ‘Well, let us see ?' So, putting the 
 great charm into the heart of the fire, it was reduced 
 to ashes in a few moments, half of the bystanders 
 running away in horror, the rest standing round, hop-, 
 ing every moment that some terrible judgment would 
 come upon me for my sacrilege. ‘Now the devil is 
 dead,' I said, ‘and you all see that I have told you 
 true, and there is no saving power in charms, and 
 that God alone can save us.' ‘You are a god,' some 
 said; while others said, ‘You are the devil.' They 
 have the two words, but they fear and worship the 
 devil only." 
 
 96 
 
A Ne^w King — Persecution. 
 
 In October, 1884, Mtesa died, and was succeeded 
 by his son Mwanga, a weak but vicious man. Most 
 cruel persecution of the native Christians followed. 
 Hundreds were killed and finally Mackay had to 
 abandon the mission temporarily, crossing Lake 
 Victoria Nyanza to the southern shore. Here he 
 met Stanley, and so impressed him that that noted 
 explorer said of him “that he was the greatest mis- 
 sionary, next to Livingstone, that he had ever met.” 
 Stanley tried to persuade him to return to England, 
 but Mackay refused to go until someone should be 
 sent to take his place. “Stanley and his party came 
 home to European platforms and royal receptions ; 
 the lonely missionary went to the palace of the King 
 of Kings.” His last message was written home on 
 January the 2d, 1890; in it he said: “You sons of 
 England, here is a field for your energies. Bring 
 with you your highest education and your greatest 
 talents; you will find scope for the exercise of them 
 all. You men of God, who have resolved to devote 
 your lives to the cure of the souls of men, here is the 
 proper field for you. It is not to win numbers to a 
 church, but to win men to the Saviour, and who 
 otherwise will be lost, that I entreat you to leave your 
 work at home to the many who are ready to under- 
 take it, and to come forth yourselves to reap this 
 field now white to the harvest. Rome is rushing in 
 with her salvation by sacraments and a religion of 
 carnal ordinances. We want men who will preach 
 Jesus and the resurrection. ^God is a Spirit,’ and let 
 him who believes that throw up every other consid- 
 
 97 
 
e ration and come forth to teach these people to wor- 
 ship him in spirit and in truth.” 
 
 The Harvest. 
 
 On February 8th, 1890, Mackay succumbed to 
 African fever after four days’ illness. Some would 
 count his life in Africa a failure, terminating as it did 
 with the bitter persecution and cruel death of his 
 converts, and in his being driven from Uganda across 
 the lake to die ; but seeming failure has been changed 
 to glorious success. To-day the British flag floats 
 over Uganda, a railroad runs from the coast to the 
 former mission station, and in this territory, once red 
 with martyrs’ blood, are hundreds of self-supporting 
 churches and thousands of native workers and evan- 
 gelists supported by the native church. Thousands 
 of copies of the New Testament have been circulated. 
 Mackay labored five years before a single convert was 
 baptized, in 1882, but now there are over 30,000 in the 
 membership of the church, and 4,000 of them were 
 converted in a single year. We can but exclaim: 
 What hath God wrought! 
 
 Questions. 
 
 1. Locate Uganda. How can it be most easily reached 
 
 to-day ? 
 
 2. If you had $10,000 to invest in a business venture 
 
 in Uganda, what natural resources or products 
 would you seek to develop? 
 
 3. Trace all of the things in Mackay’s life that influ- 
 
 enced him to become a missionary. 
 
 4. With such traits of character as he displayed on 
 
 the mission field, do you think he would have 
 98 
 
had a successful career as a civil engineer at 
 home? 
 
 5. Do you think he did right or wrong in going to 
 
 Uganda? State reasons. 
 
 6. From what three sources did he meet opposition 
 
 to his work in Uganda? 
 
 7. Contrast the conditions of Uganda at the time of 
 
 Mackay's death with those of to-day. 
 
 Books. 
 
 “Mackay of Uganda/’ by his Sister. 
 
 “The Story of Mackay of Uganda,” by his Sister. 
 “Two Kings of Uganda.” 
 
 “The Price of Africa” (Chap. IV). 
 
 99 
 
STUDY X. 
 
 afdca 
 
 (llid0ionars J^ctoce to tbe Btricano 
 
 Progress in Aerica. 
 
 With notices similar to the following from the New 
 York Sun of September 13th, 1905, that ‘‘Livingstone 
 Island in the Zambesi is becoming a popular summer 
 resort/’ one’s idea of Central Africa as a wilderness 
 of forests receives a sudden shock, and we are pre- 
 pared to hear of the populous cities of the South, 
 and its centres of commerce on the coast and along 
 the numerous rivers of the interior. 
 
 A remarkable feat of engineering is the construc- 
 tion of the proposed railroad from Cairo to Cape 
 Town. More than twenty-eight hundred miles are 
 now completed, and before long a journey that once 
 would have been impossible because of the dangers of 
 the way, will be possible in all the comforts of a mod- 
 ern railroad train. 
 
 Everything about Africa seems to be on a large 
 scale — the size of its deserts, the length of its rivers, 
 the remarkable differences of its climate ; and propor- 
 tionate even to this gigantic scale has been its recent 
 development. The Pyramids of Egypt saw the old 
 civilization disappear, and through long ages of Mos- 
 lem rule they have waited for the dawn that came in 
 
 100 
 
the English sovereignty. South Africa had felt the 
 benefit; but why did it skip the desert regions of 
 Nubia and the Soudan and leave them in the black 
 night of Mohammedanism? 
 
 Little did these countless tribes dream, in their vil- 
 lages of mud walls, grass roofs and low doors, of 
 the sudden awakening that was coming to them. 
 Places that had never seen a white man were to be 
 filled with them, and still to-day in the heart of Africa 
 numerous tribes have never been reached by a for- 
 eigner. 
 
 Four things, however, have directly contributed to 
 the recent development of “parts” of Africa : 
 
 I. Missionary effort. 
 
 II. Exploration. 
 
 III. The discovery of its great mineral wealth. 
 
 IV. Partition of the Continent among European 
 
 Powers. 
 
 1. Missionary Effort. 
 
 Since the days of Moffat, the missionaries who 
 have gone to Africa have been countless. No other 
 land presented such dangers from wild animals, fierce 
 natives and deadly diseases, and yet in no place in the 
 world was the need greater. Frequently a mission- 
 ary lived only a month or two after reaching the 
 station, and others labored long and faithfully. Surely 
 from the soil so rich with the blood of martyrs 
 since the days of Augustine, we must expect a har- 
 vest that will make the angels rejoice. These early 
 missionaries were really the pioneer explorers of 
 Africa, and took no small part in opening up the 
 country as they passed to and fro from their mission 
 
 lOI 
 
stations. Paths were made through untrodden for- 
 ests, and roads finally connected out-stations to the 
 main mission. 
 
 II. Exploration. 
 
 One of the first definite expeditions into unknown 
 Africa was led by Mungo Park in 1797 to find the 
 sources of the Niger. Since then the unsolved geo- 
 graphical problems have attracted explorers. Many 
 went, few returned, and yet all helped to open up the 
 Continent. More successful than any other one 
 explorer was Livingstone, followed by Stanley and 
 Cameron, and it is to them that we owe our present 
 knowledge of the Dark Continent. 
 
 III. Discovery op Mineral Wealth. 
 
 Closely following the explorations in South Africa 
 was a discovery of valuable gold mines. Men flocked 
 in thousands to Cape Colony and invested capital 
 there, disproving the old theory that Africa was the 
 poorest of the Continents, a region of sand and rocks, 
 of deserts and vast forests ; instead, she is rich in 
 gold, diamonds, coal, copper and iron. New discov- 
 eries are constantly being made. 
 
 IV. Partition Among European Powers. 
 
 But most important in the sudden development of 
 Africa was its partition among European Powers. 
 
 Except in outline and general features, the Africa 
 of to-day bears little resemblance to the Africa of 
 1848. These changes are due to exploration and the 
 European greed for territory. 
 
 In the eighteenth century the civilized world was 
 engaged, someone has said, in stealing Africans from 
 Africa, while in the nineteenth it has been stealing 
 
 102 
 
Africa from the Africans. A glance at the map will 
 show how ten out of the eleven and a half million 
 square miles just passed out of the natives’ hands 
 into so-called “spheres of influence.” 
 
 Early in 1884, Germany hoisted her flag in South- 
 west Africa, and took possession of territory to 
 which she had little or no claim. Not satisfied here, 
 she repeated it in Zanzibar. England felt that she 
 had the stronger claim, but did not press it, so she 
 lost Namaqualand. 
 
 Each Power endeavored to secure as large an area 
 as possible on certain grounds or claims, regardless 
 of the natives’ rights to the land that they and their 
 forefathers had held for centuries. Early occupation, 
 exploration, missionary effort, possession of adjoin- 
 ing territory, or merely the hoisting of a flag were 
 considered sufficient grounds to claim large areas. 
 So Africa was partitioned as follows; not, however, 
 without many international disputes. 
 
 To France: 3,300,000 square miles, including her 
 possessions on the Mediterranean, Algiers, Tripoli 
 and Madagascar. This is the largest, if not the 
 richest, of the “shares,” for it includes the Sahara. A 
 total population of 27,000,000. 
 
 To England: Colonies on the west and south 
 coasts. Over the healthiest parts of Africa the Union 
 Jack floats. 2,500,000 square miles form a valuable 
 possession, with rich mines and fine opportunities for 
 colonization. Population, 40,000,000. 
 
 To Belgium: The right of the Congo Free State, 
 originally planned for free trading, and now one of 
 Belgium’s richest possessions, with an area of 900,000 
 square miles. Population of 1 6,000,00a 
 
 103 
 
To Germany: Possibly in punishment for her great 
 greed, her possessions in East, Southwest and West 
 Africa are far from rich, and because of the un- 
 healthiness of the coast are not practicable for colo- 
 nization. Area is 925,000 square miles, and the popu- 
 lation 6,000,000. 
 
 To Portugal, Italy and Spain went 1,500,000 square 
 miles of territory, with a population of 6,000,000. 
 When you count in the Turkish possessions in the 
 north and the two native states of Morocco and 
 Central Soudan, the total area of eleven and one-half 
 millions is accounted for. 
 
 But back of this political division was God’s divine 
 purpose in the partition of Africa for missionary ends 
 and consequences, that the so-called Christian nations 
 of the world might share not only in the civilization 
 but in its Christianization. Representing these 
 nations there are in Africa to-day about 347 mis- 
 sionaries, who, with the aid of 4,507 helpers, are 
 preaching Christ to the millions who have never 
 heard of him. In 2,712 churches, 132,280 com- 
 municants are gathered each Sunday to use Bibles 
 printed in one hundred and twelve different lan- 
 guages. This was the missionary’s first work — to 
 reduce the language to a written form, and some- 
 times even to create a language. Schools, colleges 
 and hospitals further prove that Africa is a field 
 worthy of the best sowing. 
 
 Possibly the greatest triumph of Christian influence 
 was the abolishing of the slave trade, and in Zanzibar 
 a cathedral rises on the very spot where the old slave 
 market stood. 
 
 Thus, in ways unseen, the Spirit of God is working 
 104 
 
in Africa, and mission stations like the influential 
 Nyanda, Blantyre and Livingstonia prove that the 
 only way to lift an African out of darkness and super- 
 stition is to tell him of the Light of the World. 
 
 Africa’s future is being made now. It is in the 
 hands of the Christians of the world. What are you 
 doing in its regard ? 
 
 Questions. 
 
 1. Mention four things that have chiefly aided the 
 
 development of Africa. 
 
 2. Which of these was first? 
 
 3. Do the spheres of influence held by the European 
 
 Powers impose any obligations on them to the 
 natives? What? 
 
 4. Which nation, do you think, holds the most stra- 
 
 tegic position as far as missionary work is 
 concerned ? 
 
 Books kor Teiach^rs B^ror^ Ticking this 
 Study. 
 
 '^Africa Waiting” (pp. 130-138), by Thornton. 
 ^Tartition of Africa,” by Keltic. 
 
 ^'Sketches from the Dark Continent” (Chaps. I 
 and 3), by Hotchkiss. 
 
 *'Dawn in the Dark Continent,” by Stewart. 
 
 ‘^The Development of Africa,” by White. 
 
 Books for Scholars. 
 
 “Africa for Juniors” (Chap. 6), by Crowell. 
 “Daybreak in North Africa,” by Haig. 
 
 “Dawn in the Dark Continent,” by Stewart. 
 
 105 
 
Significant Resolutions 
 
 PASSED BY 
 
 The Editorial Association 
 
 IN CONNECTION WITH 
 
 THE TORONTO CONVENTION, 1905 
 
 ■ or THE 
 
 International Sunday School 
 Association 
 
 (1) That the Sunday School papers of the country bring 
 before the attention of the Christian public the great field of 
 Stmday School work as the natural and logical place for 
 instruction in Home and Foreign Missions. 
 
 (2) That the question of Missions in the Stmday School 
 be given a place on the programs of all missionary institutes, 
 conventions and summer schools wherever possible through- 
 out the country. 
 
 (3) That the aid of the Sunday School Boards and the 
 societies of the various denominations be enlisted in a sys- 
 tematic effort to bring before every Sunday School superin- 
 tendent in the country the possibility, practicability and 
 necessity of the study of Missions in the Stmday Schools. 
 
 (4) That courses of instruction be prepared in both Home 
 and Foreign Missions, aimed to instruct and interest the 
 scholars, and to lead them to some definite missionary 
 activity. 
 
 (5) That this missionary instruction be made a part of the 
 regular supplemental work in every School, unless otherwise 
 adequately provided for. 
 
 (6) That suitable and inexpensive books be prepared in 
 different grades, which shall be put in the hands of every 
 pupil, so that thorough home perparation be made possible. 
 
BOOKS FOR UNDENOMINATIONAL MISSION STUDY 
 
 MISSIONARY STUDIES FOR THE 
 SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 By Georgs Harvey Trull 
 
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 The six Studies indude : 
 
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 Foreigners in the United States. 
 
 William Carey, Educator---lNDiA. 
 
 David Livingstone, Explorer—ArRicA. 
 
 John G. Paton, Evan^list^ — ^T he New Hebrides. 
 
 John K. Mackenzie, Physician-— China. 
 
 Mr. John Willis Baer says of them : 
 
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 teacher and superintendent will do well to give careful he^ to Mr. Trull's 
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 MISSIONARY STUDIES FOR THE 
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 IdissioNARY Heroes to the Iiuoians. 
 
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 Great Missionaries to the Red Men. 
 
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 and treatment, and are therefore adapted for use in any School. They do 
 not present denominational Missions, but the world-wide work with which 
 every Christian should be familiar. 
 
 UNDENOMINATIONAL MISSIONARY 
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 Edited by George Harvey Trull 
 Third Series in Two Grades 
 
 One book for use in the Senior Grade of the Sunday School. The other 
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