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Professor T.F. Mcllwraith
IT
CHEIb .AN ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFHICA.
KKV. WILLIAM TAYLOIC.
CHRISTIAN ADVENTURES
SOUTH AFRICA.
KEY. WILLIAM TAYLOR,
OF THE INDIAN MISSION CONFERENCE.
AUTHOR OF
CALIFORNIA LIFE ILLUSTRATED," "ADDRESS TO YOUNG AMERICA
" SEVEN YEARS STREET-PREACHING IN SAN FRANCISCO,"
" RECONCILIATION: OR, HOTV TO BE SAVED,"
"THE MODEL PREACHER," ETC.
"St. Paul declared particularly what things God had wrought among th Gentila*
by his ministry. And when they heard it they glorified the Lord." fc. LUK .
ELEVENTH THOUSAND.
NELSON & PHILLIPS, 805, BKOADWAY.
1877.
3555
)877
794686
HazeD, Watson, ami Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury.
Ill
PEEFACE.
numerous facts and incidents contained in.
this volume are illustrative, first, of the history,
extent, resources, population, and varied life of South
Africa ; and second, of Christian adventures in
South Africa, in great variety, through a period of
fifty years, but especially of the recent great work
of God in Cape Colony, Kaffraria, and Natal. I had
no " guide books " from which to copy, but derived
my facts from their original sources. I am in
debted for some historical matter to Wilmofs Essay
on the " Rise, Progress, and Present Condition of
Cape Colony/ and to Rev. Wm. Shaw s very inter-
?1 PREFACB
esting workj The Story of my Mission, and for statis
tical matter to the Colonial Blue Books, but the
mass of my facts and incidents are fresh from their
original life sources, accompanied by the names of
their living actors and observers.
THE AUTHOR
London, November 30M, 1867.
INTRODUCTION.
1. As this interesting and remarkable narrative
will probably be read by many who are but partially
informed respecting Christian Missions in South
Africa, it appears desirable to state, that, within
and beyond Cape Colony and Natal, four of the prin
cipal English Missionary Societies, one American,
two Scotch, and five Foreign Societies, occupy
among them about two hundred and twenty-four
principal Stations, and employ above two hundred
and seventy European Missionaries, besides Nstire
Viii UTTRODUCTION.
Assistants. This appears to be a large supply of
Ministerial Agency to meet the spiritual wants of a
population not exceeding by the highest calculation
much more than a million of souls ; and contrasts
strangely with the disproportionate number of Mission
aries labouring in India and China ; but, on the other
hand, it must be kept in mind that this population
is widely scattered over an area of more than a mil
lion of square miles : rendering a larger amount ol
agency necessary than where the population is more
dense ; and, further, that many of the Missionaries,
acting as Pastors of European and native congregations
in the Cape and Natal Colonies, as well as in the two
Dutch Republics, are, to a great extent, supported
by local resources. The leading Societies have, of
late years, been paying special attention to the train
ing of a native ministry, and with some measure of
success. Meanwhile, the languages of South Africa
have been mastered : grammars and dictionaries com
piled : and translations of the "Word of God and of
other books have been executed with considerable
ability. A small reading population has been called
into existence, and the civilizing influences of Chris
tianity have been widely spread. The Wesleyan
INTRODUCTION. x
Mission, with which Mr. Taylor came most in
contact, occupies fifty-three Stations, employs
sixty- one Missionaries, and reports ten thousand one
hundred and eight church members. It is calculated
that nearly sixty thousand persons, including members
and scholars, are regular attendants on the public
ministry of the Missionaries of this Society. Other
Societies have equal reason, in the retrospect of their
labours, to thank God fc^ the measure of success
vouchsafed to them, and to take courage for the
future.
2. Compared with the accounts of the success of
Homish Missionaries in pagan lands, the results of
Protestant Missions appear to disadvantage. But
Popery is satisfied with conformity to forms and
ceremonies. The administration of baptism and a
professed assent to the creeds of the Church, are its
main conditions of membership ; while Protestant
Missionaries are not satisfied without a reasonable
proof of genuine sincerity, and of the beginnings at
least of a spiritual work. It is possible that they err
on the side of scrupulousness, by requiring a higher
degree of knowledge and of moral progress before
baptism than is absolutely necessary ; but this is an
X INTRODUCTION
error on the right side. The increase of the churches
in heathendom must, under such circumstances, be
very slow in the beginning ; but we must not judge
of the success of such Missions by the paucity of
genuine converts. This habit of "numbering the
people," which was David s sin of vanity and self-
confidence, when applied to modern Missions, is a
temptation to certain minds to despair. We forget
the " upper room " and that " the number of names
together were about one hundred and twenty/
(Acts i. 13-15.) Spiritual influence cannot be repre
sented in figures. It baffles our arithmetic. Half
a century or more of preparation and labour may
present few converts in response to our eager inquiry
for results ; and then we are in danger of crying in
unbelief, " Can these dry bones live ? " At such a
crisis it frequently occurs, that some man of God is
raised up " to prophesy upon the bones, and to cry
unto them, 0, ye dry bones, hear the word of
the Lord ; " and thus " a noise " and " a shaking/
followed by the breath of the Spirit infusing spiritual
life into those who had been spiritually dead.
(Ezek. xxxvii.) In this mode of procedure, God
vindicates His sovereignty, teaching us the t " neither
INTRODUCTION. XI
is he that planteth anything, nor he that water eth :
but God that giveth the increase." (1 Cor. i. 37.)
3. It is no disparagement of Mr. Taylor s ser
vices, to apply to him the words addressed by our
blessed Saviour to the disciples " And herein is that
saying true, One soweth and another reapeth. I
sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no la
bour : other men laboured ; and ye are entered into
their labours. " (John iv. 37, 38.) The toilsome
and perhaps thankless labours of more than one race
of Missionaries had prepared the people to under
stand and receive good from the ministry of this
honoured servant of God, and to God alone be as
cribed all the glory. It is pleasing to observe the
cordial reception given by the Missionaries to this
stranger from afar, and their no less hearty rejoicing
over the results of his ministry. All human littlenesses
disappeared in the presence of these spiritual mani
festations, which solemnly testified that Jehovah -
Christ was passing by ; " forgiving iniquity, trans
gression, and sin." (Exodus xxxiv. 7.) Mr. Taylor s
unassuming manners, together with his scrupulous
delicacy in abstaining from interfering in matters
properly the exclusive business of the pastors and
Xll INTRODUCTION.
church, officers, contributed, no doubt, materially to
the ready acceptance and grateful acknowledgment
of his services. Ministers in general, honoured the
gift of God in him, manifesting, on this occasion, the
enlarged sympathy of the great Jewish legislator,
when he said : " Would God that all the Lord s
people \vere prophets, and that the Lord would put
His Spirit upon them." (Exodus xi. 29).
4. No one can read the Notices of the Wesley an
Methodist Missionary Society from October 1866, to
November 1867, and the Annual Report for 1866,
without being convinced, that, a great and glorious
revival of religion has taken place in South Africa,
among Europeans and natives, and not only among the
Methodist Societies, but also among other religious
bodies. The native work has partaken largely of
this blessed outpouring of the Spirit. Whilst be
lievers have been strengthened and confirmed, the
careless have been quickened, sinners have been con
vinced of sin, and have found peace with God. The
extraordinary nature of the work, the power which
attended the preaching, and its immediate results,
seem to have affected even the heathen mind. It
appeared as if God were speaking to them in the
INTRODUCTION. Xlll
words of the prophet : " Behold ye among the heathen,
and regard and wonder marvellously : for I will
work a work in your days, which ye will not believe,
though it be told you." (Habakkuk i. 5.) Bevivals
of religion were not unknown in South Africa, but
hitherto they had been of a local character ; this was
more general, and, is we trust but the beginning of
a great spiritual work which shall go on until the
most distant tribes and nations partake of the bless
ing. South Africa is one of the most accessible
gates of entrance into a large portion of the conti
nent. The prospect of extensive usefulness in regions
far beyond our present field, we regard as the justi-
cation of our large outlay on the comparatively
small population of the Colony and its adjacent
territory. Such were the views and the hopes of the
two great and good men who were the pioneers
of Wesleyan Missions in South Africa. They knew
that in their very nature they must be aggressive,
and that the Colonial and Frontier Stations were to
be regarded but as stepping-stones to the regions
beyond. BARNABAS SHAW has gone to his reward.
WILLIAM SHAW happily yet lives to rejoice in the
" showers of blessing " which have been poured out
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PROVIDENTIAL MISSION TO SOUTH AFRICA.
PW
The author leaves California. Labours as an evangelist in
most of the United States and Canadas. Visits England,
Ireland, Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt. Labours nearly
three years in the Australias, New Zealand, and Tasma
nia. Dr. James Brown. Dr. A. Moffatt. Author s trip
to "Wallaroo. Rev Mr. Flockhart. Startling telegram.
Glad tidings. Rev. Mr. Caldwell. Uis undying energy.
His death. His widow. Rev. C. T. Newman. Evil
tidings. Church opening at the " Moonta." Hasty re
treat. Voyage to Sydney. Author meets his family.
Touching scenes. Watches a sick son at the gates of
death for many weary weeks. Returns to South Australia.
Sails for the Cape of Good Hope. Rev. James Calvert.
Safe arrival. Parkes Hotel. Rev. John Thomas. Rev.
Samuel Hardey - .... l-ll
CHAPTER IL
GAPE COLONY.
Synoptical History of the Colony. Population. The Dutch.
The English. The Malays. The Hottentots and Bas-
ards. The Kaffirs. The Fingoes. Government of the
Colony 12-2*
11 CONTENTS.
Fage
CHAPTER in.
GAPE TOWN.
Its topography, surrounding scenery. Population. Insti
tutions. Churches. Sir George Grey. Rev. A. Murray,
Junior. Historic reminiscences. Henry Reed, Esq. His
Malay boatman. His detention in Cape Town. His ad
ventures in Small-pox Hospital. Mrs. Gunn s boarding-
house. Reed s interview with Rev. Mr. Hodgson. The
native Christian hero and the lion. Author s first Sab
bath in Cape Town. Sunday-school Anniversary. Mr.
Filmer s speech. Special services in Cape Town, and re
sults. Rev. "Wm. Impey. Voyage to Port Elizabeth - 26-37
CHAPTER IV.
PORT ELIZABETH.
Rev. John Richards. Roman Catholic Church opening.
Independent minister installed. Too late for posters.
The chapel. Visit among the shops. Incredulous laugh
of the Local Preacher. Mr. Sidney Hill. Series of ser
vices, with facts and incidents. Preaching in Court
house Square. Wayside illustrations. The old Califor-
nian and his story. Joseph Tale, the tall Kaffir. Preach
ing to the natives. Calls from the interior - - 38-47
CHAPTER V.
TIITENHAGE.
Jones s carriage and pair. Travelling companions. The
beard question. Captain George Appleby. Rev. Purdon
Smailes. Wool- washing on the Zwart Kops River.
Dutch Reformed Church. Rev. Mr. Steytler. A chapel
ready for the " moles and bats." Services in the Dutch
Church. Plan of conducting a prayer-meeting. The
dash of the Dutchman. " Satan is getting more polite
each day of our meeting." Preaching to the Kaffirs in a
wood-shed. Post-cart travelling - 48-61
CONTEXTS. 1U
Pege
CHAPTER VI.
GRAHAM S TOWN.
History, topography, churches, population, &c. "Com
memoration Chapel." Mr. "W. A. Bichards. Hon. R.
Godlonton. Eev. \V. J. Davis. Eev. G. H. Green.
" Horse sickness." Opening of the campaign. Disap
pointment of the friends. Removing hindrances. Venti
lating the chapel. " Brother Atwill." " The Apollos of
South Africa." "Caed mela faltha." Christian states
men. The widow Ayliff and her tall sons. " Old Brother
Sparks" 62-74
CHAPTER VII.
GRAHAM S TOWN (CONTINUED).
Review of the series of three weeks. Fellowship -meeting.
Rev. Mr. Holford. Illustrative facts and incidents.
Celebration of the Queen s birthday. " Mr. Taylor, I
have come to ask your pardon for what I have been
thinking about you." " The right impulse at the right
moment." Getting off the old Jewish track of "going
about to establish their own righteousness " into the only
way of salvation. The Sergeant s long struggle. Sudden
conversions. Sir D and the barber. Preaching
through an interpreter. Mr. D. Penn. Seventy miles
journey - - - - - - - 75-87
CHAPTER VIII.
KING WILLIAM S TOWN.
The old pioneer, Rev. John Brownlie. Wesleyan Chapel.
Rev. J. Fish. A Colonial audience. " Bar of reserve
and prejudice broken down." The missionary s account
of the work. " A Kaffir came running with the message
that four missionaries were in the path. " Rev. John
Scott. Rev. Robert Lamplough, and his Kaffir preachers.
Rev. Brother Sawtell and his Fin^oes. Charles Pamla.
! V CONTENTS.
Pag
Better to Mr. Impey. Rev. J. W. Appkyard and his
Kaffir Bible. George Impey, Esq., and Ms dying tri
umphs. Rev. Mr. Hillier, his success, his sudden death.
Mr. Joseph Walker. Kaffirs mounted on young bullocks.
Journeying incidents .... - 88-107
CHAPTER IX.
ANNSHAW.
Chief Kama and his Kaffirs. Mr. Shaw s mission among
them. Rev. Wm. Sargent. Kama s refusal to take a
second wife. His piety and courage. Kaffir huts. " Bro
ther Lamplough gave me Charles to interpret for me."
Private lecture on " naturalness." Lights and scenes of
the first service. Grandeur of the night service. Hymn
and tune put into Kaffir on the first hearing. " Don t
send them off to the river to battle with Satan alone,
and take a bad cold as well." Stirring scenes. Glorious
results. Mr. Harper. Trip to Lovedale. Rev. J. Wil
son. Fort Beaufort. Good tidings from Annshaw.
Lamplough s reports. Illustrative incidents. The hea
then lame man. The old heathen convert and his two
wives. " Our last stroke is being levelled against Kaffir
beer." Witnesses for Jesus. How the deaf and dumb
testified. How the heathen try to explain it. Persecu
tions ...--.- 108-135
CHAPTER X.
PORT BEAUFORT.
Population and surroundings. Rev. John Wilson. Strong
force from Graham s Town. Specimens of the work of
the Spirit. " A sacrifice, indeed ? Why, it s a glorious
riddance ! " Mrs. D changed her mind. Mr. James
Roberts, a man of Providence for Kaffrarian adventures.
" Wars in the path." Missionary s report of the work as
" great and glorious." Work among the natives. " That
shawl ! that shawl !" - - -136-148
OOXTETJTS. T
"age
CHAPTER XL
HEALD TOWN.
" Industrial School." Governor Grey. Rev. Win. Sargent.
Rev. John Ayliff. Theological Institution. Rev. Wm.
Impey. Rev. R. Lamplough. Mission press. The mon
keys by the way. Mr. T. Templer. Barnabas. Siko
Radas. The marriage. The sermon. The missionary in
his report of that day says, " What a day ! I know not
how to record it ! " Second day greater than the first.
" I realized by faith, on that occasion, what I never can
explain." "If you know all this time that black follow
going to hell, why you no tell black fellow till now ? "
Caring for the lambs. "Satan is conquered," &c. "My
Father has set me free," &c. Marvellous results. Con
tinued progress. T. Templer s poem. Permanency of the
work - - 149-177
CHAPTER XII.
SOMERSET EAST.
Journey. Adelaide. Rev. P. Davidson. The Dutch " Xag-
mal." Benjamin Trollip and his son. Bedford. Mr.
Francis King. Rev. Mr. Solomon. King s adventures
among the "Bushmen." "Dig away, you ll find plenty
of honey in there ! " "I was awakened by something cold
touching my toe." Rev. John Edwards. Rev. Wm.
Shaw. R. Hart, Esq. " Government Farm." Large
circuit. Mr. Nash. Mr. Burch. Work among the
whites and natives. Remarkable narrative of missionary
adventures, from Rev. J. Edwards. Daniel, the Fingo
Prophet - - . 178-191
CHAPTER XIII.
GKADOCK.
Mr. Sargent, senior. " Dagga Boer." The Trollip family.
The rebel Hottentots. Prejudices against i&e native races.
VI CONTENTS.
Pag*
Kaffir fidelity. Dr. Adam Clarke s prayer. Rev. W.
Chapman. Cradock. Dutch farmers. Eev. John Taylor.
Hon. Henry Tucker, M.L.C. Hon. Samuel Cawood,
M.L.C. John and William Webb. Mr. H. Park. Jack,
the Kaffir. The Gospel preached in three languages at
once. Glorious results ----- 192-205
CHAPTER XIV.
QUEEN S TOWN.
Journeying with Brother Tucker. Mr. Hines. " Tarkiss-
taat." Queen s Town. Eev. H. II. Dugmore. Governor
Cathcart s generosity. Messrs. Shaw, Barnes, Elliott,
and Jakins. " Joyful tidings to write to my sister in
Tasmania." The blind widow and her sons. Dugmore s
preaching on "The American Preacher." Lesseyton.
Eev. J. Bertram. Wm. Bambana, "the head man."
" Dear me, this is horrible ! Here are hundreds of thirsty
souls, and I can t tell them how to come to the river ! "
James Eoberts. M. Stuart Taylor. Charles Pamla.
Tidings from Annshaw. Fellowship-meeting. John
Weekly. Wm. Trollip, twenty years a seeker, and
thirty years a Christian. A soldier s courage tried - 206-223
CHAPTEE XV
KAMASTONE.
Rev. Wm. Shepstone. Moonlight stroll with Stuart. Kaffir
pony for Stuart. Description of the audience. Eemark-
able scenes. " I never knew that I was such a sinner till
the Holy Ghost shined into me." "0, I felt nasty."
"Walked forty-six miles to get to this meeting." "She
seems to be a near relation to the antediluvians."
Perfect loyalty, faith, and love preached to Kaffirs. The
"ivy" and "milkwood" illustration. Effect of Pamla s
address on Mr. Shepstone. Eeport of the numbers
saved. Great baptismal service for saved heathen. Mis
sionary s report of progress. " mother, my dear
mother, I have found Jesus !" ... - 224-241
CONTENTS. Vll
Pag*
CHAPTER XVI.
LESSEYTON.
Interpreter lost in the scrub. First night s sendee, and
lodgings with a native. Wonderful scenes of the next day.
A heathen woman shouting the praises of God. The for
given Kaffir who could not forgive himself. Bambana s
two sons. " I went away and left the oxen, wagon, and
precious cargo standing in the road." " We have heard
of washing the disciples feet, and of kissing the Pope s
toe ; but to kiss the sole of a Kaffir s boot is a new idea."
" The milk is good, and you have given us a great feast."
Starting for Kaffraria. Dugmore s letters reporting the
advance of the armies of the Lord in Queen s Town,
Lesseyton, &c. ... 242-250
CHAPTER XVII.
WARNERS.
J. C. Warner, Esq. "British Resident for Kaffraria."
Warner and Shepstone on the true principle on which to
establish Mission Stations. (" Likaka laba Fasi.") Both
sides of the question fairly stated. Long day s journey.
Travelling in the dark. "A sudden jolt sent us both over
the larboard, head foremost down the hilL" Rev. E. J.
Barrett. Campaign of one day in the open air, and its
results. Chief Matanzima among the seekers. Fellow
ship meeting in a stable. The man who saw a great light,
could not pass. " The devil ordered his Hottentot servant
to make off with the goat to Krielie s country." Colonel
Barker at the Tsomo. Captain Cobb. " The road rough
and dangerous." - - - - . 251-268
CHAPTER XVIII.
FUTIERWORTH (lGEU T ,VA).
Rev. W. Shaw. Rev. Mr. Shrewsbury. The great chief
Hintza. " A cake of bread from the house of Kauta."
Vlll CONTENTS.
Pag*
Conspiracy against Rev. John Ayliff. Revs. Davis and
Palmer come to his rescue. The "great wife" Nomsa.
"Sing again." "If he remains he might tramp on a
snake in the grass." Destruction and re-establishment of
the mission-station. Chief Krielie. Great drought.
Protracted meeting of the rain-makers. " No rain while
the missionaries were allowed to remain in the country."
Davis took the bull "by the horns. " Stop all this non
sense, come to chapel next Sabbath and we ll pray to
God to give us rain, and we will see who is the true God,
and who are His true servants." Station " destroyed the
third time. Chief Krielie s " daring desperate plan for
forcing his people into an exterminating war against the
Colonists." Sir George Grey s great bread victory.
Mission established the fourth time. Rev. John Longden.
Description of the congregation by the river-side. * What
has that old red blanket to say for himself?" "Loaves
and fishes" needed for the hungry multitude. "Brother
Longden told the father that if he meant to sell his
daughter to the heathen, he must at once leave the sta
tion." The great snake-killer. He " chose rather to re
tain his skull for his own personal use." Umaduna. "A
martyr-spirit under a sheepskin." - - 269-290
CHAPTER XIX.
CLARKEBURY (UMGWALl).
W. Shaw s visit to the great chief Vossanie. Rev. Mr.
jjaddy. Mr. Rawlins killed. Massacre of Rev. J. S.
Thomas. Chief Vadana s expedition to seize Mr. Davis
dinner-pot. " "Well, this is a strange thing. Here s a man
who is not afraid to die ! " Rev. Peter Hargraves and his
wife. Rev. Edwin Gedye in exile. Mr. Joseph Walker.
Mr. Crouch. H. B. Warner. Great chief Ngangelizwe.
" They are determined to have a heathen chief to rule over
them, and I ll let them feel the power of a heathen chief."
" He threw an assegai through the arm of one of them."
" Go home, and sit down in peace, and take all your cattle,
I don t want them." " The cavalry of the train consisting
CONTENTS. IX
Paga
of about forty councillors, fell into line, single file, the
chief being about the middle." Prince Usiqukati.
Preaching to the great chief and his councillors. H. B.
"Warner s appeal to them. Kaffir proposition to unite
Church and State. King Thackenbau of Fiji, and King
George of the Friendly Islands, illustrative examples.
Rev. Peter Turner, the apostle. Pamla s grand talk to
the chiefs. Ngangolizwe s child dying. " The chief must
return to the Great Place at once." Striking testimonies
in the fellowship-meeting. " Isikunisivutayo." "My
heart was as tough as the hide of a rhinoceros." Mr.
Wm. Davis. Rev. Wm. Hunter, D.D. "The Eden
above." "IculaEliteta Ngelizwe eli Pezulu." - 291-321
CHAPTER XX.
MORLEY (INCANASEUE).
Rev. Wm. Shepstone. The invasion of the bloody chief
Qeta, a deserter from his more bloody master Chaka, the
great Zulu. Shepstone s narrow escape. The Amapondo
chief, Faku. Rev. Mr. Palmer. Mission re-established
under Rev. "Wm. B. Rayner. "Smelling out." J. C.
Warner, Esq. on " Kaffir laws and customs." Witchcraft
and the witch-doctors. Different methods of torturing
witches and wizards. Man roasted for thirty-six hours.
The ant-eaten woman. " We can t kill such a witch ! She
won t die ! " Out-door preaching scene. Chief Ndunyela,
with his warriors and wives at preaching. How they de
voured the bullock. Missionaries report of the work.
Horrible case of " smelling out " and torture after the
revival - ... 322-341
CHAPTER XXI.
BUNTINGVILLE ICUME.
Rev. Wm. B. Boyce. " We eat the dogs to make us more
fierce and powerful in battle." Boyce s Kaffir Grammar.
"Euphonic concord." Theophilus Shepstone. Chief
CONTENTS.
Faku s plan for getting rain. Mr. Fainton. Eev. Mr.
Satchell. Rev. James Cameron. Eev. Thomas Jenkins.
New Buntingville. Eev. Wm. Hunter. Dahveed s "new
road." Umtata Drift. " Pezulu ! pezulu! pezulu!" Chief
Damasi and his division of the Pondos. Chief Vava and
his marriage feast. The chief and his "warriors at preach
ing. Visit to Damasi s "Great Place." The chief, his
hut, his wives, his royal robes and tiger s tails, his cattle
kraal, his bloody " cliff." How a neighbouring chief took
down our " umfundisi." Damasi s war with Chief Um-
hlonhlo allowed " to sit still a little while," during Um-
hlonhlo s marriage. Damasi s hospitality. Lodgings in a
Kaffir hut. Preaching at the " Great Place." Penitent
meeting in the hut. Traders and Kaffirs sa^ed. - 342-360
CHAPTEE XXII.
SHAWBUKY ELUNCUTA.
Beauty of scenery. Eev. Wm. H. Garner. Dreadful war
complications involving the mission. Escape of the mis
sionary and his family. Eev. Mr. Solomon. Demoraliza
tion of the mission people. Kaffir beer-feasts. How we
got through the lines of Umhlonhlo s warriors, and across
the Tsitsa Drift in the dark. Eev. C. White. First
great audience, and the preaching. Small audiences and
hard work. Visit to the Tsitsa Falls. Kaffir-corn
" holes." Serious case to be settled. Kaffir lawyers,
Elijah and Job. The cause debated, bringing out start
ling developments, and important issues. " Ah, if we had
had that counsel on the first day of our series here, instead
of the last, we would have had a glorious work of God ! "
The great work of God which followed. - - 361-383
CHAPTEE XXIII
OSBORX TSHUMGWANA.
Rev. Mr. Hulley. Eev. Charles White. Amabaca tribe.
Pondo invasion under chief Umgikela. Chiefs Tiba, and
CONTENTS XI
Makaula. Dreadful slaughter of the Pondos near the
mission. " These men have placed their lives in my hands,
and if you want them you will have to pass over my dead
body." " You are both liars ; neither of you killed me ! "
" Do please let me lie still and die." Stuart s description
of the route from Shawbury to Tshumgwana. " Bring
out all your men, women, and children, and we will
sing you a song about the country above." St. Paul s
method of preaching to heathen. Bringing heathen
Kaffirs to an acceptance of Christ under a single dis
course. Specimen of the preaching God thus owned in
saving raw heathens. A sermon. Its immediate results.
Specimen extracts of another sermon, showing the ana
logical points between Kaffirism and Judaism. Text the
last day, " Choose ye this day whom ye will serve."
Points of analogy between Kaffir superstitions and sacri
fices, and the service of the true God. Testimony of 113
witnesses. " I asked God for a great gift, and He showed
me my sins." " I had an old shield full of holes." Great
harvest of souls. ..... 384-430
CHAPTER XXIY.
EMFUNDISWENI.
Stuart s description of the route from Tshumgwana. Rev.
Thomas Jenkins and his wife. Rev. Daniel Eva. Adven
tures of Mr. Jenkins in Pondo-land for thirty years. At
a district meeting, 150 miles from home, he learns that
the Zulu warriors have swept the country, and that his
family was slain. Perilous adventures. " The Umf undisi
is killed ! " "I will not fly ! I am in the Lord s hands ;
if He delivers me to the Pondos, they shall kill me in my
own house!" WITCHCRAFT as seen by Jenkins. "The
exterminating decree was so terrible, that not even a dog
was allowed to escape." A woman roasted. INFLUENCE
OF THE GOSPEL ON WITCHCRAFT. Sanctuary for the vic
tims of the witch-doctors. Faku s mother. Faku s great
wife. "The witch-doctors make it out that he died through.
the Word of God." " My TJmfundisi, you have saved
Xll CONTENTS.
Cingo ! He shall not be killed ! " DEBASING EFFECTS
OF HEATHENISM ON THE MIND. " If there is a God why
can t we see Him?" Favourable change within thirty
years. POLYGAMY. "She bit the other woman s nose
right off!" "I wish I had no wife at all !" Contrast
between the state of the Pondo nation twenty-five years
ago and its present state. " I am going to the King
above!" "The assegai dropped from his hand, for th.e
Holy Spirit s two-edged sword was piercing him."
" When God gave me a new heart I vowed to Him that I
never would kill another man." Special services. Mr.
Alfred White. Visit to Palmerton or "Izala." Rev.
John Allsop. Return to Emfundisweni. "I now saw
that God would answer my prayer indirectly, by giving
my mantle to my Elisha." " In spite of the devil and
his heathen host a grand victory for God was achieved."
Dismal journey to "Kok s Camp." "Roberts, we have
got into Nomansland sure." " While we were trying to
dry one side the other was getting wet with the fast fall
ing rain." Preaching at " Kok s Camp." Trip across
the " Zuurberg." "Alfredia." Ulbricht s." "Blom s."
Preaching in Hulley s " Hut Chapel." Mr. Hancock and
family. Adventures in crossing the Umkomas river in
the night. " Our man of Providence." " Your horses
have fallen into the ditch ! " " Indaleni." Rev. W. H.
Milward. Pietcrmaritzburg, Natal. Pamla s arrival.
Report of his labours at Indaleni. Review of the situa
tion at Emfundisweni. "My children, you have done
right ! Go and sit down in peace ! We want to remove
to that part and be converted also as you have been ! "
" When Jenkins gets to heaven he won t stay there with
out me ! " "If my blessed Jesus is coming, I can t wait
for anybody ! " " Some of the heathen chiefs have ex
pressed a strong desire for Charles to come and visit
them" ... . 431-464
CHAPTER XXV.
NATAL.
Geographical position. Climate. Productions. Various
CONTENTS. X1U
Page
industrial pursuits. Population. Eevenue and appropria
tions of Government. Missions. Schools. Pietermaritz-
burg the capital. Edendale and its beautiful surround
ings. D TJrban and the " Berean Hill." Verulam.
Ministerial helpers in Natal. " I commended my sable
brother to the missionaries, and bespoke for him an open-
field and a fair fight." Bishop Colenso. Grand rally of
the hosts on both sides. The Lord s glorious victory.
PPOMISCUOUS EXAMPLES OF NATAL ADVENTURES. Colenso s
attempt to popularize the Gospel to the Kaffirs. Trying
to astonish the natives. " Wondering all the time why
the man did not put his shirt inside of his trousers ! "
Charming a lion with music. Colenso s ark taken down
by a Kaffir. Tom Palfreyman and the tiger. The Dutch
man and his Holland Bible. Eev. Mr. Butler and the
alligator. The lawyer and his advocate. Theory of the
wiseacres. George C. Cato, Esq. Colenso s call at Mr.
Grant s. Francis Harvey, Sen. "Open there, right and
left, and let his Majesty s brave tars come near me."
Bishop Colenso and the " Local Preacher in the "Wesleyan
Establishment." " SAW YE HIM WHOM MY SOUL LOVETH ?"
Harvey s contrasts between the effects of Colenso s
preaching and the saving power of the Spirit at the
special services. Incidents of the work in Verulam.
Charles and the heathen man at Inanda. " Jim, believe
sharp ! " Roman Catholic saved. F. B. Fynney s con
version. J. W. Stranack s account of his scepticism,
conversion, and call to the ministry - - 465-504
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE MISSION-WORK. IN SOUTH AFRICA.
Voyage from Natal to Cape Town. Mr. James Roberts.
Letter written on the voyage. Rev. Barnabas Shaw.
Rev. William Shaw. Wesleyan Missions in South Africa.
Base line and depot of supplies. Old plan of establishing
Mission Stations. The new development. Kaffir popula
tion. Providential indications in favour of the new plan
proposed. Evangelical platform, Gospel facts, and our
XIV CONTENTS.
Page
demonstration of them in South Africa. Apostolic
plan. Ineffectiveness of modern methods. How to carry
out Apostolic methods. Kaffir standard of ministerial
education. Where is the money to come from ? " I ve a
share in the concern." "Hard work, hard fare, and a
martyr s crown if they can win it." Mr. George Cato s
question. Heroic typo of Christianity. " They would
die for Jesus as cheerfully as the martyrs of the Apostolic
age." Ultimate effects .... 505-519
CHAPTER XXVII.
REVIEW OF THE WORK AND ITS PROGRESS TO THE PRESENT TIME,
Rev. Thomas Guard s letter. Graham s Town, Queen s
Town, Somerset, Cradock, Fort Beaufort. "Annshaw
heads the list." Missionary s report of the number
saved in Kama s tribe. Success of the Annshaw workers.
Triumphal procession. Red heathen s conversion and
testimony. Report from Chairman of Queen s Town
District. "It was I who stole the thatch." "Take them
off ! take them off ! " He would have no praying in his
family." " The old grey-headed polygamist." Report of
Rev. J. Cameron, Chairman of Natal District. Young
evangelists. Rev. Ralph Stott s letter. Rev. R. Hayes s
letter. Rev. H. S. Barton s report. Tabular view of
Graham s Town and Queen s Town districts. Statistical
grand total. Indications of progress in Kaffraria, given
by Rev. P. Hargraves. H. B. Warner s success. New
Mission at the Tsomo. Emfundisweni. Progress of the
work in Natal. Thomas Garland. J. W Stranack.
F. B. Fynney and his fellows among the Zulus. "I came
and found, ah, alligators !" Snake transmigration. Fyn
ney at the American Mission Station. Work at Umhlali.
The old toper reformed. Rev. F. Kirkby. The dying
Zulu maid. " The wagon is coming to fetch me." Re
ports from Graham s Town District. W. A. Richards.
Rev. W. J. Davis. Anniversary revival services. " Tis
worth living for, this." Rev. R. Lamplough on his new
CONTENTS. XV
Page
circuit. "Disappointing business to my dear Brother
Lamplough." Charles Pamla. Chief Maxwayana and
his two converted wives. Pamla s visit to Heald Town.
His great success in Newtondale. Heathen objections
against him. How he battled for the truth at the " Great
Place" of Chief Fundakube. The Chief s decision.
Pamla s triumph. "In the habitation of dragons were
each by," there is "grass with reeds and rushes." The
End 620-557
CHRISTIAN ADVENTURES
IN
SOUTH AFBICA.
CHAPTER I.
PROVIDENTIAL MISSION TO SOUTH AFRICA.
MY mission to South Africa was purely trie result, of
a providential arrangement quite outside of my own
previous plans.
In the autumn of the year 1856, under a leave of
absence from the California Conference, to which
from its organization I belonged, and of which I am
still a member, I commenced a tour of evangelistic
labours in the Eastern, and then in the Western
States of America, and then into the Canadas, which
I continued for five years. In the winter of 1861,
while labouring in Peterborough, Canada West,
I met with Dr. James Brown, who had spent
several years in Australia. Through Dr. Brown s
persuasive agency, and subsequent indications, to
my mind unmistakably Divine, I felt it my
duty to visit the Australian Colonies, and assist-
B
2 PROVIDENTIAL MISSION TO SOUTH AFRICA.
the churches in those antipodal regions in the
prosecution of their great work. When I sailed
for Australia, my family, from their own preference,
returned to their home in California. I spent seven
months in England and Ireland, made a tour round
the coasts of Asia Minor and Syria, explored Pales
tine, and passing on through Egypt took steam by
the Peninsular and Oriental Company s line at Suez
for Ceylon and Melbourne, so that nearly a whole
year was spent en route from New York to Mel
bourne. The first year of my labours in Australia
was devoted to the Colonies of Victoria and Tasma
nia ; the second year to New South Wales, Queens
land, and New Zealand ; and six months of the third,
to South Australia.
During the term of my labours in New South
Wales, my friend, Dr. A. Moffitt, of Sidney, often
tried to persuade me to visit South Africa. He
had spent six years on the east and west coast as
surgeon in her Majesty s ship of war, Penguin. He
had become well acquainted with missionary opera
tions in those parts, and felt a great interest in
their success, and believing that I could render them
essential service, he was importunate in his entrea
ties. I could only reply, that " however great my
interest in African missionary movements, I cannot
go ; there is no steam communication direct from
Australia to Cape Town, and but few opportunities
by sailing vessels ; moreover, I have to consider the
claims of my Conference, and my family in Cali-
PROVIDENTIAL LEADINGS. 3
fornia, and my limited time for foreign evangelical
work. These things together utterly preclude my
going to Africa/
The Doctor, however, maintained that it was his
firm belief that God would, in His providence, send
me to Africa.
" Very well/ I replied, " whenever I get an order
from Him to go to Africa, I will be off by the first
ship His providence may provide."
I had not seen my dear wife and children for more
than three years the time required for a cruise by
the men who "go down into the deep" to catch
whales such a separation from my family was a
heavy uphill business all the time ; but since so
many men endure similar privations in whale fishing,
merchant marine, army, and naval service, I should have
been ashamed to complain, even if I had felt a com
plaining spirit ; but having the conviction that God
had appointed me a messenger to the churches in
the u Southern world," confirmed by the conversion
of about six thousand souls to God during those two
and a half years, I patiently waited the issues of
Providence in regard to my family. At their request
I had consented for them to come from California to
Australia, and I would accompany them back, via
India, Egypt, and England. But they afterwards
hesitated and seemed rather to decline so serious an
undertaking, and I was quite in doubt whether they
would come or not. I therefore made plans for re
turning home by that route, and staying v a few
4 PROVIDENTIAL MISSION TO SOUTH AFRICA.
months in India, whether my family joined me or
not.
In November, 1865, while labouring in a series
of services near Adelaide, South Australia, I received
a letter from Mrs. Taylor, stating that, having been
disappointed in getting passage on the ship that
brought the letter, she doubted whether it was the
will of God that they should come. That was a
bitter disappointment to me, for notwithstanding the
uncertainty as to whether they would come or not,
which occasioned me an uncomfortable measure of
suspense for many months, I had acquired a hope
that they certainly would come ; so that now I fully
realised the truth that " hope deferred maketh the
heart sick."
The day after I received this sickening letter I
travelled 120 miles, ninety by mail-coach, amidst
clouds of dust, under a broiling sun 110 Fahrenheit,
in the shade, to the mining town of Wallaroo, on
York s Peninsula. The Rev. Mr. Caldwell, the supe
rintendent of the Wallaroo circuit, had died but a few
days before. It was at his pressing invitation some
months previously that I arranged to assist him for
a fortnight in his great work : but now, when the
time arrived, he was gone. He left a wife and one
child, and a large circle of friends, to mourn his loss,
for he was a young man of extraordinary talents and
usefulness, and assisted by his energetic colleague^
the Eev. C. T. Newman, he was rapidly developing
an important circuit, embracing three mining towns
SUDDEN SHIFTING OF THE SCENES.
with a population of from four to six thousand each.
The annual yield of copper, in solid bars, from the
principal mine (the Moonta) amounts to forty-five
hundred tons.
Brother CaldwelFs work was very heavy, and his
health had been failing for some months ; but his un
dying energy had kept him up to the last, and then,
instead of remaining quietly at home to die, he went to
Adelaide, 100 miles distant; to attend the district meet
ing. He put in one appearance at the district meeting,
represented his work, returned to his lodgings, and
died that night. The ministers of the district, thus
assembled, buried their brother, and appointed, as a
temporary supply to Wallaroo, Rev. Mr. Flockhart
from the North Adelaide Circuit, who accompanied
me to Wallaroo. We arrived at the mission house
a little after dark, and were kindly entertained by
our bereaved sister, the widow Caldwell.
A telegram from Sydney arrived that night,
sent by my friend Mr. Macafee, of the firm of Messrs.
McArthur and Co., saying, " Mrs. Taylor and her
children have just arrived. All well."
I had just given up all hope of seeing them for
many months to come, but now my dear wife, and
Morgan Stuart, Eoss, and Edward, aged nineteen
nine, and six years four, between the ages of nine
teen and nine, having left us, and gone up to the
" land of the living" had, indeed, arrived in Austra
lia. I had travelled east, and they west, and having
compassed the globe, we were now, by the mercy of
6 PROVIDENTIAL MISSION TO SOUTH AFRICA.
God, on the eve of a meeting in those ends of the
earth. That was one of the few nights of my life
that sleep departed from my eyes. Surprise, and
joy, and gratitude to God, combined, so filled my
heart, thaksleep was sought in vain. It being Saturday
night, I could not respond till Monday morning. Seve
ral telegrams were exchanged with my wife up to Wed
nesday, when I received one saying that my son
Morgan Stuart was thought to be dying, and I must
haste to see him alive ; I was over one thousand miles
away, and no steamer till the next week. My feelings
I will not try to describe, but my heart was stayed
on God, and I continued the services that week, and
on the following Sabbath opened a new church at
the "Moonta." It contained about 1,000 persons; I
preached three sermons, made good collections for
the " trust fund," and had a good work of salvation
that night.
By four a.m. Monday morning I was in the coach,
bound for Adelaide, hoping it might be the will of
God that I should return from Sydney, and resume
my contemplated services among those miners. When
I reached Adelaide I received another telegram saying
that my son had a malignant fever. The Australian
summer had fully set in, and I thought if it should
please God to spare my son, the sooner I could get
him away to sea the better; and hence, at once
"packed up" for a final departure from South Aus
tralia, where I had hoped to do two months more
work for God. I could not get a passage till Thurs
day p.m., which gave me time to speak to my family
FAMILY MEETING. 7
along the wires. Just as I was stepping aboard the
steamer 1 received a despatch " in haste." I feared
it might contain a thunderbolt that might go right
through my heart. I anchored my soul down firmly
" to the rock that is higher than I" and said, " God
loves my dear son more than I possibly can, and His
decisions, in regard to him, are exactly right. I
quoted for myself, " He shall not be afraid of evil tid
ings ; his heart is fixed,trustinginthe Lord." I then
tremblingly opened the despatch, and read, " Morgan
is somewhat better, but we greatly need you here.
Signed, A. Moffitt." Then I thanked God, and breathed
more freely. I reached Melbourne Saturday p.m., and
had to wait till Tuesday for a steamer to Sydney.
Preached in three different churches in Melbourne
that Sabbath. Eeceived a telegram while there,
stating that Morgan was " convalescing." Here 1
made conditional arrangements for taking a Mel
bourne ship direct for London, if I should find
Morgan able to travel within a fortnight, and thus
get him as soon as possible out of the intense heat.
I reached Sydney at three a.m. on Friday. Dr.
Moffitt, at whose house my family were staying, had
been waiting at the wharf till a few minutes before,
and had left his brother-in-law, Mr. James Greer,
to watch for my coming. He ordered a cab, and
drove me at once to Dr. Moffitt s. My poor wife had
not retired to rest, and indeed had not been able to
sleep a night for nearly a fortnight, and was nearly
worn out with care and weary watching. I found
my son was much worse than I feared. It was thought
8 PllOVIDEXTIAL MISSION TO SOUTH AFRICA.
best for me not to go into his room, to excite
him, till morning, for though the nervous derange
ment and delirium occasioned by high fever almost
precluded sleep, still every measure of undue excite
ment was to be avoided.
At day dawn my little Ross was brought to me.
He had grown out of my knowledge. I took him
into my arms, and wept over him some minutes
before I could speak to him. I then asked him if
he knew me.
"Yes, papa."
" How do you know that I am your papa ? "
" My mother told me so ? "
He thus accepted me as his father on the faith of
his mother s testimony.
I then received my dear little Eddie who thought
he remembered me very distinctly, though he was
but two years old when I parted with him. His
memory no doubt got its impression, which he found
identical with the person of his pa, from a recent
carte de visite."
I then went into the room which I had occupied
as my bedroom while labouring in Sydney, and em
braced the bony wreck of my firstborn, and heard
him faintly say, " my father ! " Then we sat
down just outside the gates of death, and wept, and
prayed, and watched our sick son for three months.
My dear Dr. Moffitt, at whose residence we were en
tertained, and his consulting physicians, gave it as
their judgment that at least a year would probably be
SAILED FOR AFRICA. 9
required for his recovery. Our contemplated trip to
India was out of the question. To remain through
an Australian summer was hazardous in the extreme.
To go to the northern hemisphere, just in time to
encounter the summer heat there, was not the thing
for an invalid of that description.
Our physicians unanimously decided that our best
possible plan was to take ship for the Cape of Good
Hope. We would have a temperate climate at sea
in going, and arrive about the first of April the
commencement of the salubrious winter season of
Cape Colony.
Every other way was closed against us as certainly
as was " Asia and Bithynia " against St. Paul and
Co., and our call to Africa as distinct as was theirs
to " Macedonia." I need not speak of the terribly
severe and varied, but graciously sanctified disci
pline of those intervening months, in Sydney, in
Melbourne, in Adelaide, and at sea. However God
was with us, and not a Sabbath passed that I did not
preach from two to three sermons. On the 17th of
February, 1866, we bade our dear friends in Adelaide
farewell, and went aboard the fine clipper ship, " St.
Vincent," Captain Loutett, and after a prosperous
voyage of forty- one days, we cast anchor in Table
Bay, Cape of Good Hope.
Rev. James Calvert and wife, who had been suc
cessfully labouring in the Wesleyan Missions in
Figii for twenty-five years, sailed from Adelaide
three days after our departure in the ship " Yatala,"
10 PROVIDENTIAL MISSION TO SOUTH AFRICA.
a rival London ship of the " St. Vincent." Our
captain and ship s company were rejoiced to find,
as we cast anchor in Table" Bay, about sunset
on Friday evening, March 30th, that the " Yatala "
had not yet arrived. But the first thing we heard
in the morning was " The Yatala s in. She cast
anchor at four o clock this morning/ Early Satur
day morning, I went ashore with Captain Loutett,
and selected quarters at Parke s Hotel for self and
family, at forty-eight shillings per day. Our pas
sage from Adelaide had cost us altogether over
200, but our son s health was greatly improved, and
we thanked God, and felt sure that we were in
the providential path, and that having committed
"our way unto the Lord, and trusting also in Him,
He certainly would bring it to pass " bring that
to pass which was best for us, and the good of His
cause. I left a note at the hotel for Rev. Samuel
Hardey, Superintendent of the Wesleyan Circuit of
Cape Town and Chairman of the Cape Town District,
to whom I had letters from our mutual friend, Dr.
Mofnt. I then returned to our ship for my family.
When we landed, Eev. John Thomas, "Wesleyan
Missionary to the Dutch-speaking Coloured "Wes-
leyan Circuit of Cape Town, met us, and gave us a
welcome greeting, and accompanied us to our quar
ters. Brother Hardey had called at the hotel during
my absence, but was then occupied with Rev.
Brother Calvert, whom he took to his own house,
He kindly offered to provide for me and mine among
11
the friends, which I respectfully declined. Brother
Thomas has been in the mission work in Southern
Africa for twenty- six years. He is an earnest good
man. Rev. Brother Hardey was for twenty-five
years a Wesleyan Missionary in India, his ex
cellent wife is a native of India, "born of Missionary
parents there, in connection with the Wesley an
Missionary Society. Brother Hardey s health failing
in India, he spent some time in Mauritius, and
founded a Mission among the Indian coolies there,
of whom there are about 200,000 on that island.
This promising young mission, not having been
founded under any regular missionary plan, and the
Secretaries of the Wesley an Missionary Society not
seeing their way clear to adopt it, and enter it on
their very extensive list of Foreign Missions, it was
turned over to the Protestant Episcopal Church, and
is being carried on with success.
Brother Hardey then spent seven years as a mis
sionary in West Australia, and fully recovered his
health. He has been but a few years in Cape Town,
but has done,, and is doing, a good work there. He
is one of the most affable, kind-spirited men, I
believe, that this world can produce, and is, I am
told, a good administrator of discipline, a good
preacher as well. He gave me a cordial welcome to
Cape Colony, and was ready at once heartily to co
operate with me in special efforts to promote the
work of God.
CHAPTER IL
CAPE COLONY.
THE Cape of Good Hope was discovered by the Por
tuguese i:i I486, and called the " Cape of Storms/
The King of Portugal subsequently changed the
name to " Cape of Good Hope." In view of the
terrible gales which occasionally occur, and the ex
posure of Table Bay to their fury, it would seem that
the first would still be a very appropriate name.
Only eleven months before our arrival, a north-west
gale swept the Bay with such violence that of twenty-
seven vessels in the harbour only nine of them rode
out the gale. The remaining eighteen were driven
ashore, with great loss of property and life. As the
Colonial Government and people are making docks,
by an immense excavation in solid rock, and forming
a breakwater with the [stone thus obtained, I think
there is " good hope " that it will soon afford safe
anchorage for the shipping. The breakwater has
been carried out 1,701 feet. The rock, with a slight
mixture of the soil taken from the site of the inner
basin, amounts to 822,055 cubic yards. The whole
cost of the work, so far as they have gone up to
SETTLEMENT OF THE CAPE. 13
December, 1866, amounted, according to their offi
cial report, to the round sum of 391,135 14s.
The first European settlement at the Cape was in
1652, consisting of one hundred men, under the
authority of the Dutch East India Company, not so
much with a view to establish a colony, as the es
tablishment of a place for supplies, and for recruiting
the sick of the Company." It continued under the
control of this East India company, by consent of
the Home Government in Holland, with a short in
termission that the English held it, for 150 years,
slowly increasing its population, and extending its
territorial lines.
In 1806, the British troops took possession of the
colony, and it is to be said to the honour of Lord
Caledon, the first English governor, that he struck
the first death-blow against slavery, which every
where prevailed among the Dutch settlers. In
1807 he proclaimed it to be " unlawful to retain
Hottentot children as apprentices."
It was in 1834 that slavery was abolished through
out the colony under Sir B. D Urban. This occa
sioned great dissatisfaction among many of the
Dutch settlers, and large numbers of them left the
colony, and went to seek a country in the interior
wilds of Africa. A large number of them went to
Natal, more than one thousand miles east of Cape
Town. But in consequence of their bad treat
ment of the natives in that country, they got into
collision with the English colonial government. Mr.
14 CAPE COLONY.
George Cato, of Natal, then an English trader there,
now a wealthy landowner, sugar planter, counsellor-
general of the governor and government of Natal,
Consul of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, and Con
sular Agent for the United States of America, and
altogether the most important individual in that
colony, wrote a letter to a friend, who showed it to
the governor, and British troops were sent to D Urban,
the principal port of entry, called after the governor,
to protect the natives and British residents in that
quarter. After a great deal of skirmishing, and
some hard fighting, the defeated Dutch trekked
beyond the " Drakensberg," and formed settlements
on the Orange Biver, which have developed into the
"Free State/ and "Transvaal Republics."
Meantime, the tide of English immigration continued
to increase. " In the year 1820, the British Govern
ment spent 50,000 sterling in sending British
settlers to the Eastern province of Cape Colony, so
that, by the gradual diminution of the Dutch ele
ment, and the increase of the English, as early as
1822, it was ordered, by proclamation, that the Eng
lish language should be used in all judicial proceed
ings." The Dutch population, however, in most
places, especially in the Western province, is much
greater than the English ; and, as it regards their
wealth, and superiority of church edifices, the Dutch
Reformed Church is, practically, the " State Church"
of the country. Though it does not monopolise all
the "State aid" of the colony, yet of the 16,000
POPULATION OF CAPE COLO**. 13
annually granted by the Colonial Government for the
support of religion, the Dutch Reformed Church
gets 9,000. The Parliament, during its recent
session (1866), came within two votes of abolishing
"State Aid" altogether. They will probably come
to that before many years, for the most of this
money goes, not to support weak churches in poor
and sparsely settled portions, but mainly to the
wealthy churches in Cape Town.
The population of Cape Colony, according to the
" Census of 1865," amounted to an aggregate of
482,240, or, in round numbers, nearly half a million,
of which 71,078 are whites, principally Dutch and
English, including, of course, the usual proportion
of Scotch and Irish.
The native population is subdivided as follows :
The ancient occupants of this country were " bush-
men," a nation of beings of very low stature, low in
intellect, and have the character of being a maraud
ing, murderous people. They are now almost ex
tinct. They were superseded by the Hottentots, a race
peculiarly marked, with deep set eyes, and very high
cheek bones ; their faces on a line across the nose and
cheek bones are very broad, the forehead not so broad,
and the lower part of the face and chin very narrow.
It was this class of natives that the Dutch
reduced to slavery, and hence such an amalgama
tion with the Dutch that the name Hottentot, in
many sections of the country, is synonymous with
" Bastard."
16 CAPE COLONY.
The Hottentots, throughout the colony, pure and
mixed, number 79,996. The " Bastards" hold them
selves quite superior to the purely black races, and
usually have separate sitting in chapel. Many of
them are rising in the scale of education, civilisation,
and religion. They are principally under the care
of the missionaries of the " London Missionary
Society."
Many thousands of these " Bastards," not em
braced however in the census of Cape Colony, under
the .chieftainship of Captain Adam Kok, by the
advice and encouragement of the Colonial Govern
ment, removed, some four years ago, from " Griqua-
land," near the Orange Eiver, in the " Free State,"
to a large district of country in Eastern Kaffraria,
bordering on the colony of Natal, called " No-man s-
land." Their missionary declined to accompany
them to their mountain home ; but in building up a
town of over 1,000 population, they have built in the
midst of their barracks a chapel, which will seat
about 600 ; and there, and in several smaller com
munities, they have regular services every Sabbath.
I preached for them on my journey through Kaf
fraria, and though it was raining, and sleeting, and
bitterly cold, their church was crowded with well-
dressed and well-behaved worshippers. Their lan
guage is the Dutch, though many of them are
learning the English. But a large class of the
Hottentots have learned so many of the vices of tho
HOTTENTOTS AND KAFFIRS. 17
white man, especially a love for brandy, that they
are dying out very fast.
Before the European occupancy of Cape Colony,
the Kaffirs had pressed down from the east into the
country of the Hottentots, and had taken a great
deal of their land, which they had previously taken
from the bushmen.
The Kaffirs in Cape Colony number 95,577. They
are naturally a powerful race of people. Those in
the colony, and on the eastern border of it, are con
sidered finer specimens of men, than the nations
further eastward. Rev. Wm. Shaw says, "The
Kaffirs are physically a fine race of people. The
Amaxosa are, as a general rule, of greater stature
than Englishmen, and in general well made
and finely proportioned. Many have well-formed
heads and pleasing features, such as would be
deemed handsome in a European. They walk erect,
and with a firm step, and when occasion presents,
they show great agility and fleetness of foot."
Mr. Godlonton, the originator and senior proprietor
of the Graham s Town Journal, which claims the most
extensive circulation of any paper in the colony, told
me that before they had regular mail facilities in
the colony, he had a Kaffir who, twice each week,
carried a load of papers fresh from the press, after
dark, forty-six miles to Fort Beaufort, and delivered
them there at day dawn next morning. The over
land mail from the Eastern Province of Cape Colony
to Natal, is carried a distance of over 400 miles, by
c
18 CAFE COLONY.
Kaffirs on foot. The traders and missionaries often
send books and other articles in the mail bags,
amounting sometimes to a load, as I have seen and
handled them, more suitable for a horse than a man,
and yet those uncomplaining fellows carry them
through with great despatch.
"Kaffir women," says Rev. Mr. Shaw, "when
young, generally appear to be quite equal to their
countrymen in physical development, only differing
in size as in all other nations." " The prevailing
colour of the Kaffirs on the border is nearly that of
dark mahogany. There are, however, great varieties,
from a tawny brown to a jet black. As a general
rule, the Zulu Kaffirs are much darker than the
Frontier tribes." I have seen a great many myself
who are purely a red, glossy, copper colour. Many
of them have nearly as good a Jewish physiognomy
as any of the sons of Abraham.
The chiefs all hold their rank by hereditary right,
and Rev. Mr. Shepstone, and others, have been able
to trace the regular succession of the principal ruling
chiefs of the country back for fifteen hundred years.
The people are divided into nations, tribes, clans,
and families.
The Kaffirs speak a most euphonious language,
constructed with such precision, that old Kaffir
scholars have told me that they never heard a Kaffir
make a grammatical blunder in speaking his own
language, and almost every Kaffir is a natural orator.
The principal nations, beginning in the colony, and
SPECIMENS OF THE KAFFIK FAIH SEX.
THE KAFFIR TRIBES. 19
going eastwardly, arc the Amaxosa, Abutembu
(Tembookies), Arnbaca, Amapondo, Amaponduinsi,
and Amazulu.
Besides the 96,000 Kaffirs, in round numbers, in
Cape Colony, there are supposed to be at least
300,000 between Cape Colony and Natal, in a strip
of country 150 miles wide and 400 miles coast-wise,
known as Kaffraria. They have a fine country for
live-stock, well watered ; and a good supply of cattle,
sheep, and goats. Their principal grain is Kaffir corn,
which has the general appearance, but with a grain
double the size of broom- corn, and maize, or Indian
corn. This is pounded in a mortar, and prepared
very much like American hominy, and also ground
into meal between two stones prepared for the par-
pose, and worked by hand. As in olden time the
women do the grinding.
The name " KAFFIR," by which all these nations
of natives, from Cape Colony to Delagoa Bay, three
or four hundred miles east of Natal, and their
language, are designated by Europeans, "is not a
name used by the natives to designate either them
selves or any other tribes in the country. " The
word," says Rev. Mr. Shaw, " is derived from the
Arabic, and signifies an infidel or unbeliever. It is,
in fact, the epithet which most Mohamedan people
in the East would apply to any European or Chris
tian." It was therefore a term of reproach given by
the followers of the false prophet, but has come into
universal use as applied to this people, their language,
20 CAPE COLONY.
and the literature which has been given them, and
indeed is so convenient for the mass of Europeans,
who could not understand, or even pronounce the
hard names by which many tribes are known among
themselves, as to be indispensable.
The remaining 131,992 mentioned in the census,
filling up the aggregate of nearly half a million in
the colony, are " Fin goes/- except some 15 or
20,000 Malays, principally in Cape Town and Port
Elizabeth, who were brought originally from the
Dutch East Indian possessions. The most of these
Malays are Mohamedans, and have their mosques,
and peculiar forms of worship in the cities just named.
The FINGOES, which constitute so large a propor
tion of the native population of the colony, are
refugees from the East. They were driven from their
homes by Chaka, an Amazulu chief, who waged a
most desolating war for eighteen years, from 1817 to
1835, against all his neighbouring tribes. Mr.
Shaw says : " The terror of Chaka s name, and the
destructive mode of conducting war by the Amazulu,
combined to deprive the surrounding tribes of all
hope that they could offer any effectual resistance;
and, in numerous cases, they fled from their country
OH the approach of the smallest detachment of
Chaka s fighting men. The victories of his warriors
extended east, west, north, and south, over an area
of more than one hundred thousand square miles.
Some of the more powerful tribes, when driven out
of their own districts, invaded the territory of their
THE FINGOES. 21
neighbours, until the whole region from Delagoa Bay
to the Griqua country, near the Orange River, and
from the Easuto country, in the north to that of the
Amapondo in the south, was one scene of war and
desolation. Men, women, and children were unspar
ingly slain by their conquerors. It is believed that
fully one half the population of that immense dis
trict, just described, during those dreadful eighteen
years of slaughter, perished." Many thousands of
these refugees were received by the Amatembu,
Amaxosa, and other Kaffir tribes, along the eastern
border of Cape Colony, as " Amamfengu," or Fin goes,
having a meaning corresponding with that of
" serfs." They were not slaves to be bought and
sold, and separated from their families, but were dis
tributed by families, and clans, among the head men
of different kraals ; seed and cattle were furnished
them, and the free use of the public domain ; but
their corn or cattle were at any time subject to sei
zure at the will of the Kaffir chiefs. Thousands of
them subsequently took refuge at the Wesleyan
Mission stations in Kaffraria. The Kaffir chiefs
meantime became very jealous of the Fingoes, and
greatly oppressed them. When the Kaffir war against
the Colonists in 1835 broke, out, many Fingoes rallied
around our missionaries at "Butterworth, Clarkebury,
and Morley Wesleyan Mission stations, and on the
arrival of the British troops many more fled from
their masters, and took refuge in the British
camp. Governor D Urban, finding that the
22 CAPE COLONY.
Fin goes reposed great confidence in the mission
aries, requested Rev. Mr. Ayliff to take the whole
body of the Eingoes under their special care
and lead them to the land of the free in the colony.
The Governor in his official report says, " When it
became necessary to make war upon Hintsa and his
people, finding the people called Fingoes living
among them in a state of most grievous bondage,
and seeing them anxious to be delivered, I at once
declared them to be a free people and subjects of the
King of England ; and it is now my intention to
place them in the country on the east bank of the
Great Fish River, in order to protect the bush
country from the entrance of the Kaffirs ; and also
that by bringing a large population into the colony,
the colonists may supply themselves with free
labourers."
In company with the British troops, on their re
turn into the colony, Rev. John Ayliff, during one
week, from the 9th to the 15th of May, 1835, led
out of bondage into the colony 16,000 of these
people, with all their cattle. The policy indicated
in the Governor s proclamation has ever since been
carried out, and the Fingoes, who now number over
100,000 in the colony, have ever remained loyal to
the Government, and they are still specially under
the care of the Wesleyan Missionaries. The
Government has done much for them in various
ways. Governor Grey established " Industrial
Schools for them at Fort Pcddie, TTeald Town, and
FINGO THRIFT. 23
Lesseyton, under the Wesleyans ; and at Lovedale/
under the missionaries of the Free Church of
Scotland."
The Kaffirs, never having been in bondage, are
open, independent, and manly in their bearing, and
seem never to feel that spirit of servility, common
among the Fingoes, and for a long time the Kaffirs
continued to despise the Fingoes ; but the superior
political relations of the Fingoes as British subjects,
and the fact thart many hundreds of them, by their
industry, have become the owners of good farms,
oxen, wagons, and herds ; and that thousands of the
younger ones can read and write, and speak the
English language, they now command the respect of
even of their former masters. The following extract
from the Grahams Town Journal may serve as a
further illustration of this subject :
" The circumstances of the colonial natives gene
rally may seem, to persons fresh from Europe, su
premely miserable ; but this is very far, indeed, from
being the case. Hardy, with few wants, and having
those wants easily supplied, the poorest of them are
better off than the lower class of Europeans, while
thrifty and industrious men often accumulate a great
deal of property;
We could point out at least half-a-dozen natives in
a single district, whose properties, if realized, would
produce from 3, 000 to 5,000 each ; and there are
hundreds of Fingoes, whose position among natives
is one of opulence. The fact is, that with ordinary
24 CAPE COLONY.
prudence, any native, not unduly encumbered with
wives, may, after a few years of service, save enough
in the shape of live-stock to give him a very credi
table position among his compatriots. We may
mention, for instance, that within the last five
months, the following stock all the property of
native immigrants passed through Queen s Town:
Of sheep and goats, 7,548 ; of cattle, 627 head ;
and of horses, 159." In the settlement of the last
colonial war complications with the Kaffirs, the
Government got from the celebrated warrior chief
"Krilie," a large tract of country beyond the
" Kai river," which has recently been given to the
Jingoes. They have hence become the owners of the
soil in which they dwelt as serfs. The immigrants
above mentioned were journeying to this land of
promise. About 40,000 Fingoes have already settled
in their new home, which may appropriately be called
"Fingoland."
" This colony, like Australia and Canada, is ruled
by a Governor (appointed by the Home Government),
assisted by an executive Council, as well as by Upper
and Lower Houses of Parliament, respectively named
the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly.
The Council contains fifteen members, eight of
whom are elected by the votes in the western dis
tricts, and seven by those in the eastern province,
while the Assembly comprises forty- six members,
elected by the various constituencies throughout the
colony." " The judicial establishment comprises the
THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. 25
Supreme Court, of four judges, who hold sessions in
Cape Town, and Circuit Courts in the country dis
tricts ; also an Eastern Province High Court of
judicature." "The numerous Courts of resident
magistrates, in all the larger villages, exercise limited
jurisdiction in all civil and icriminal ases. ;<
CHAPTER III.
CAPE TOWN.
CAPE TOWN, the capital of the colony, is located at
the base of Table Mountain, which rises very precipi
tously to an elevation of about four thousand feet,
and is nearly as flat as a table on the top and often
covered with a light fleecy mist, gently dropping
over the edge like a tablecloth. The mountain
constitutes a grand background for the city, and
contrasts beautifully with the splendid flower-gardens
and groves of oak, and Scotch firs, which abound at
its base, in, and around, the city. Cape Town has
a population of 28,547, of which 15,118 are whites,
about 12,500 Malays, and about 1,000 Hottentots
and Kaffirs.
It is well supplied with banks and news
papers, and all the variety of educational and bene
volent institutions, common in large towns. In
the midst of the city are beautiful Botanic Gardens,
Museum, and Library. The Museum " comprises a fine
series of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, shells, insects,
fossils, and minerals. It has also collections of coins,
weapons of various races, and some specimens oi
MY FIRST SABBATH IN CAPE TOWN. 27
metal-work and plastic art/ The principal room
containing these, " is eighty feet long, forty-two
broad, and thirty-nine high,"
The Public Library, occupying part of the
same building, is said to be superior to that of
a y other colony. It "contains books in every
b anch of science and literature, and has nearly
40,000 volumes on its shelves. It is open to the
public daily from 9 A.M. to 4.3(/ P.M. free of ex
pense."
In an adjoining room is what is known as " The
Grey Library," containing 5,000 volumes, many of
them very ancient and rare. It was presented to
the colony by her late Governor, Sir George Grey,
now Governor of New Zealand.
There are three large Dutch Reformed Church
edifices in Cape Town, containing an aggregate
of 3,000 members. Rev. Andrew Murray, jun.,
a, pastor of one of them, a liberal, and thoroughly
evangelical, man, was " Moderator of the Synod."
His father, Rev. A. Murray, sen., an old pioneer
minister in the Dutch Eeformed Church in Southern
Africa, has given three highly-accomplished, and
pious sons to her ministry. The father, full of
years, and ripe for heaven, died a few months ago in
" Graafreinet."
There are three Protestant Episcopal churches in
the city, one Presbyterian, one Independent, one
Evangelical Lutheran, and two "VYesleyan, one for
the English, and one for the coloured Dutch.
28 CAPE TOWN.
As I propose to illustrate a great variety of Chris
tian adventures in South Africa, besides what I saw
and did myself, I will insert a few specimens here,
and one commendable act, worthy of a Christian, by
one of those Malays a very different fellow, cer
tainly, from the one who stole one of my boots while
I was one morning swimming in Table Bay. He
might just as easily have taken both boots as one, and
I wondered why he did not, till a friend of mine
traced it, and bought the boot from him. Having
one boot, he counted his chances for a customer for it
in the person of the owner.
My friend, Henry Reed, Esq., of Dunorlan, Tun-
bridge Wells, in one of his voyages to Australia,
stopped, in the year 1840, in company with his
family at Cape Town. When the ship came to
anchor, a Malay boatman tipped his hat to Mr. Eeed,
" A boat, sir ? "
" What will you charge to take me and my family
ashore ? "
" Thirteen dollars, sir."
" Thirteen dollars ! Why, that is too much."
" No, sir, it is the regular price, and I can t do it
for less !
" Very well," said Mr. Eeed, " we will go with
you."
When safely landed he paid the Malay thirteen
dollars, about 2 14s. The next morning a mes
senger called on Mr. Reed at his lodgings, and
said,
THE- MALAY BOATMAN. 29
"The Malay boatman, who brought you ashore
yesterday, is at the door, and wants to see you."
" Dear me/ thought Eeed, as he was going to the
door, "that fellow is not satisfied with his extor
tionary gains of yesterday, and wants to make
another draw on me to-day, the mean fellow."
" What do you want, sir ? " demanded Heed.
" You made a mistake yesterday in the money
you paid me/ replied the boatman.
" Not at all, sir ; no mistake about it. You asked
me thirteen dollars for your work, and I paid you,
and you ll not get any more," and added to the sen
tence, in his own mind, " these yillanous boatmen
are alike the world over."
" No," said the Malay, " you are quite mistaken ;
I charged thirteen dollars "
"Yes," rejoined Mr. Eeed, "and I paid it, and
you ought to be satisfied."
st But," continued the son of Mohamed, " I meant
Dutch rix-dollars, and you paid me three times as
much as I asked, and I have brought vour money
back," handing him the money.
Thirteen rix-dollars are 19s. 6d., instead of 2 14s.
Mr. Eeed was satisfied to receive back his money,
but especially delighted to find such an example of
honesty, where he least expected it.
Owing to the illness of Mr. Eeed s little daughter
Mary, whom he finally buried in Cape Town, he was
detained there many weeks. It was a time of great
distress to the Cape Town- people, and Mr. Eeed was
30 CAPE TOWN.
providentially detained to minister the Word of Life
to perishing hundreds who were dying with the
small-pox. The disease, which was of the most viru
lent type, had been communicated to the town from
a slaver, which had been captured, and brought into
Table Bay, with its living freight of wretched cap
tives. It spread rapidly over the town, causing a
panic which nearly suspended all kinds of business/
except that of doctors, nurses, undertakers and
grave-diggers. Money in payment of debts was re
fused, until it had been dipped into vinegar, and
laid out to dry. The hospitals were crowded, and
then the municipal Government had a large build
ing, two miles out of town, fitted up, and filled with
decaying, dying sufferers. Mr. Reid and his family
were boarding with Mrs. Gunn, who kept a first-
class boarding-house, which was well-filled with
Government officers and distinguished travellers.
All who are acquainted with Mr. Reid s labours
among all sorts of adventurers in Tasmania and
Australia, know that he would not stop a day in any
place without preaching Christ to the people, pub
licly or privately ; so in Cape Town he at once went
to work for his Master, but for a time, for prudential
reasons, he avoided contact with the small-pox pa
tients. Soon, however, he was waited on by two
pious soldiers, Sergeant Runciman, and a fellow
sergeant, who informed him that there were hun
dreds of men and women dying in the new extem
porized hospital beyond the town, and not a soul to
SMALL-POX HAZARDS. 61
speak a word of comfort to them, or tell them how
to receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour. The sol
diers begged Mr. Heed to become the volunteer
chaplain to that hospital, who, upon a little reflec
tion responded, " I will." When Mrs. Gunn s
boarders heard of it, they had a meeting, and after
discussing the subject, decided that Mr. Eeed should
not go, lest he might bring the contagion into the
house, and hazard the lives of the whole of them,
and that if he should persist in carrying out his
purpose he must remove from Mrs. Gunn s house.
To all this Mr. Eeed replied, " It will be a very
great inconvenience for my family, with a sick child,
to leave, and go we know not whither, but I believe
it is my duty to go, and do what I can for the sick
and dying. I will commit the whole matter to
God, do my duty, and leave all consequences with
Him."
So he went daily till the plague abated. He took
them by tiers or sections, as they lay, and spoke to
them personally and collectively, and told them how,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, they should sur
render their poor diseased bodies and souls to God,
and receive the sympathizing Jesus, who was saying
to them, " Come unto me all ye that labour, and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." A speech
less dying girl, with smiling face, drew a Bible from
under her pillow and showed it to Mr. Eeed, indica
ting by signs that her title was clear to a mansion in
heaven. On one occasion, two persons, with whom
32 CAPE TOWN.
he conversed as he passed in, were dead before he
got back. He had hope in the death of some, and
the Judgment alone will reveal the number " who
were snatched as brands from the burning " through
his agency during those trying weeks. God took
care of His servant, and he heard nothing more
about his having to change his quarters, but re
mained quietly at Mrs. Gunn s house, which was one
of but very few houses in the city that entirely
escaped the dreadful visitation.
Rev. Mr. Hodgson, who had been labouring for
some years as a Wesleyan missionary among the
natives in the Orange River Country, was then
superintendent of the Cape Town circuit, and greatly
interested Mr. Reed with a narrative of his adven
tures in the interior, and introduced to him a Chris
tian native man who had just come with a wagon
from Orange river to Cape Town.
This native man was a Christian hero, as the
following facts related by Mr. Hodgson to Mr. Reed
will show. The lions in the Orange River country,
when they get old and too stiff, or too lazy to follow
their trade of catching bucks and other active
animals, sometimes crouch about the kraals, and
pounce upon a man ; and when they begin that kind
of work they soon acquire such cannibal proclivities,
as to become very troublesome customers.
An old lion had been making some such unwelcome
visits to the kraal to which this Christian native be
longed, and one day he and two others took each a
AFRICAN MARTYR. 33
gun, and went out in search of him, hoping to make
a final settlement with him. A few miles distant
from the kraal, passing over the brow of a ridge into
a little vale, they suddenly surprised a large lion,
feeding on the remains of an animal carcass. The
lion preferring fresh meat seemed glad to see them,
and without ceremony advanced to give them a
greeting. The men, in their sudden fright, declined
the interview, and ran for life. The Christian man
quite outran his two heathen compatriots ; but as he
was making away with himself as fast as he could,
the thought struck him, " One of those men will be
killed ; neither is prepared to die ! I am prepared,
thank God ! I had better die, and give them time
for repentance ! " He instantly stopped, and faced
about ; the two men passed him, and before he could
transfer his thoughts from his heroic consent to die
for his heathen neighbour, to a purpose of self-defence
with his gun, the lion was upon him. With the
force of a mighty bound, the lion struck him on the
breast with his paw, and tore off the skin and flesh
to the bone. Then with his fore-feet upon the body
of his victim, he took one of his arms in his mouth,
and craunched and mangled it. Then he got the
stock of the gun between his teeth, and ground it to
splinters. Meantime the other two men looked,
back, and seeing their friend down, braced them
selves up for the rescue. They returned near enougb
for a sure shot, and both together took good aim, and
the lion dropped dead beside his bleeding victim.
D
3 CAPE TOWN.
Brother Eeed examined the deep scars left by the
paw of the lion, which the noble fellow would carry
to his grave. " Scarcely for a righteous man will
one die, yet peradventure for a good man some
would even dare to die ; but God commendeth his
love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us." And here was one of Africa s
sable sons so imbued with the self-sacrificing
spirit of Jesus, that even for a bad man he was
willing to die.
On my first Sabbath in Cape Town April 1st
I preached at half-past 10 A.M., in Burg Street
"Wesleyan Church, which will accommodate about 500
persons. On this occasion it was not filled by one-
third ; but the Holy Spirit was manifested in mercy
to many hearts. Rev. Brother Calvert, and wife,
were present, and in the afternoon and evening
Brother Calvert preached there, while I, at the
same hours, preached at Rondebosch Wesleyan
Chapel, four miles out. The limited capacity of
the chapels, and the smallness of the congrega
tions, contrasted unfavourably with the fine churches,
and packed audiences, of Australia. During that
week, after several days of inquiry, we secured,
what we considered, under the circumstances, good
boarding accommodation, at a more reasonable rate
than we were paying at the hotel, and sought infor
mation in regard to the field I might successfully
cultivate during my sojourn of six months. I
learned that the English work in the Western
SMALL BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT WORK. 35
Province was very limited, the mass of the people
composing our societies being coloured, speaking
Dutch, to whom I could not preach. I learned that
we had a much better English cause in the Eastern
Province, 500 miles distant, and in ]N~atal 1,000 miles
distant, but that there were only two places in the
Eastern Province, and two in Natal, where I could
get a congregation of any size speaking English, so
I began to conclude that my working- time in Africa
would be reduced to three instead of six months. On
the 7th of April I attended the anniversary meeting
of the Wesley an Sunday-schools, and delivered an
.address on the Gospel doctrine of having all the
children converted, and trained for God. Kev.
Andrew Murray followed with words of earnestness
on the same subject.
Brother Filmer, one of the superintendents, in his
speech, said, " Seventeen years ago we had a revival
in this town ; about fifty souls were soundly converted
to God ; some of them have become missionaries, and
others remain useful members of the Church. Then,
five years ago, we Had another revival, principally
among the Sunday-school children. About forty
professed to find peace with God, Some of them
have fallen away, but the most of them have re
mained steadfast ; and I find some of them among our
Sunday-school teachers now, and others are useful
members of the Church. I am now feeling, hoping,
and believing, that we are on the eve of another out
pouring of the Holy Spirit/ I thought, "Well,
36 CAPE TOWN
such revivals during a period of seventeen years are
much better than nothing, but fall very far short of
God s purpose, and provisions in Christ, and the
spiritual demands of nearly 30,000 sinners."
On Sabbath, the 8th of April, I commenced a
series of special services in Burg Street "Wesleyan
Chapel, which was kept up for nine days, during
which I preached thirteen sermons. A few seekers
came forward the first night, ten, and upwards,
each night of the series, till the last, when the
altar was crowded with about thirty seekers ; but
our congregations were not large, and the whole
machinery of Church agency seemed very weak.
The members of the church seemed very willing
to do what they could, and I believe they were
much strengthened ; and twenty- one souls were
reported by Brother Hardey as giving satisfactory
testimony to the fact of their conversion to God.
On the Wednesday night, of our week of special
services, we had with us Rev. Wm. Impey, Chairman
of the Graham s Town district. He had been twenty-
seven years a missionary in Africa, a good preacher,
and a man of fine administrative ability. He is a son-
in-law of Eev. Wm. Shaw, so well known as the apostle
of Methodist Christianity in the Eastern Province and
Kaffraria, and the President of the English Wesleyan
Conference for the year 1866. Eev. Mr. Impey was
on his way to England as a representative to the Con
ference, and Mrs. Impey to see her father and friends.
He had with him a most complimentary testimonial,
WORKING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 87
for Mr. Shaw, signed by 1,400 persons in the Eastern
Province, to remind their old pioneer friend that
they had not forgotten him.
Brother Impey, on his own behalf, and on behalf
of the ministers in his district, gave me a cordial
welcome to South Africa, and a pressing invitation
to visit Graham s Town. " I ll give you the keys,"
said he, " and you may go into my circuit and do as
you please."
" O, I thank you, Brother Impey," I replied, " for
your expression of confidence, but I do not wish the
keys of any man s circuit. When I accept the invi
tation of a minister to work in his circuit or church, it
is simply that, under the leading of the Holy Spirit,
I may assist him and his people in their great work.
It is my rule not to work in a church in the absence
of the pastor ; but as you have left such a noble
brother as Rev. Thomas Guard two of whose
brothers, ministers in the Irish Conference, I know
as your representative, I accept your kind invita
tion."
We had so many seekers the last night in Cape
Town, that I felt rather sorry to leave ; but
I had to go then, or wait probably a month for
the next regular steamer. So, on Wednesday the
18th of April, I took passage in the steamer " Natal,"
a clean, comfortable little boat of 400 tons, for PORT
ELIZABETH. We expected to reach Algoa Bay on
Friday ; but in consequence of head winds and rough
weather, we did not arrive till Saturday afternoon.
CHAPTER IV.
PORT ELIZABETH.
REV. JOHN RICHARDS., the superintendent of Port
Elizabeth Circuit, met me at the wharf, and kindly
conducted me to his house. Brother Hardey had
written to him that I was coming, but he did not
know definitely when, so there was no announce
ment of our contemplated meetings. Brother
Richards was very glad to have me hold a series of
services, but thought it a most unfavourable time to
commence, because of a number of counter attrac
tions :
" 1. The new Roman Catholic Church, in Port
Elizabeth, is to be opened to-morrow, with imposing
ceremonies, to be continued through most of the
week, and a great deal of public interest and curiosity
have been excited, and large expectations are enter
tained/
" 2. The newly-arrived Independent minister is
to be installed to-morrow, and to preach his first
sermons, and receive his friends at a public tea-
meeting on Wednesday evening. "
These great coming events had been duly an-
DULL PROSPECTS. 39
nounced, and were the talk of the town ; but it was
not known that I was even expected, for Brother E.
himself had only notice of it a day or two before.
I replied, " I have come, I believe, in the order
of Providence, knowing nothing of these things.
We are not responsible for any of these adverse
influences, nor under any obligation to turn aside
for them ; I have nothing to do, but go forward
and do what God may open before me, as my duty. "
As it was important that the public should have
notice of our contemplated series of meetings, I
modestly said to Brother li.
" In Ireland, they would in such a case get a lot
of little handbills printed for private circulation, and
send them to all the families they might desire
specially to invite to our meetings. In Melbourne
they would have large posters put up all over
the city straightway, and let everybody know what
we proposed to do."
He thought it rather late for anything of that
sort. "But," said he, "I will go down town and
tell some of our friends, and request them to inform
others."
I proposed to accompany him. We went about
a quarter of a mile down the principal business
street, and I was conducted into a substantial stone
chapel, with end gallery, deep pews, and doors to
guard the way into them ; an organ in the gallery,
and at the opposite end, well up toward the ceiling,
a small old-fashioned pulpit. That was the Wesley an
40 POUT ELIZABETH.
Chapel, large enough to seat about 400 persons. It
had stood there twenty-five years, our principal place
of worship in a town containing a population of
11,633, of whom 7,120 are whites, and, for the
most part, English. Port Elizabeth too, which was
founded as early as 1820, is the principal " Port of
entry," for the Eastern Province of Cape Colony, the
"Free State," and "Transvaal Eepublics," in the in
terior, and boasts a much larger export than Cape
Town. The Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Inde
pendents, Presbyterians, and even the Mohammedans,
have each a good church edifice. Brother Richards
said :
"We were the first in this field, and have lost a
good congregation for want of suitable church ac
commodation. I tried hard, three years ago, to per
suade the trustees to build a good church, and the
Wesleyans here were then well able to do it ; but
divided councils prevailed, and the thing was post
poned. Since then great financial reverses have
fallen on the town, and now we are obliged to wait
for better times."
In came the chapel-keeper and Brother R. said
to him, " Tell the people that a stranger will preach
for us to-morrow."
Then we went to several shops, and I waited out
side, while Brother R. went in to tell them about
the arrival of a stranger. But I thought my good
brother was not " raising the breeze " fast enough,
and that if we had to " blow our own trumpet," we
" BLOWING OUR OWN TRUMPET." 4i
had better do it effectively. So I then went in too.
He introduced me as " Eev. Mr. Taylor, who has
been preaching recently at the Cape."
Thought I, " Dear me, if I have no greater prestige
than what I gained at the Cape, it will not fill our
little chapel to-morrow. " So when he told the shop
keepers to tell their customers that " a stranger
would preach at the "Wesleyan Chapel to-morrow/
I threw in a few qualifying terms, such " as Cali
fornia," " Australia," " A work of God," f Bring
your friends, and have them saved by the mighty
Jesus ; God hath sent Him for that purpose, and
they ought to receive Him gladly." In passing
along I was introduced to a Local Preacher, and
to help him gird on his armour, I gave him our
plan of procedure, with a few illustrative facts.
When I told him that we had very orderly meetings,
and closed them as early as 10 P.M., he broke out in
one of those incredulous laughs for which the Lord
reproved Sarah. " I would be glad," said he, " to
see such things in Port Elizabeth, but cannot see
how they can be brought about ; why, our people
here," he added, " can hardly wait till 8 o clock,
much less 10."
"0, well," I replied, "we will dismiss them each
night as early as eight o clock, at the close of the
sermon, and give all an opportunity to leave who
wish to do so."
He replied, " You don t know the Port Elizabeth
people as I do, or you would not entertain such
42 POUT ELIZABETH.
hopes." After we had made our round among the
shops, we spent the evening with Mr. Sydney
Hill, of the mercantile firm of " Savage and
Hill, 41, Bow Lane, Cheapside, London, and Port
Elizabeth." Brother Hill is a very intelligent
thorough business man, a zealous Wesleyan Chris
tian, Superintendent of the Sunday-school, Class-
Leader, and altogether one of those noble men whom
the Lord distributes through the world where they
are most needed. His lady too is a person of rare
excellence. Brother Hill was full of hope, " and
believed that the work of God in the awakening and
conversion of sinners had already commenced, and
we would see better days in Port Elizabeth." After
spending a couple, of days very pleasantly with
Brother and Sister Eichards, I then, according to
previous arrangement, made my home at Brother
HilFs.
On Sabbath morning we had the chapel more than
half full. Brother E. read Mr. Wesley s abridg
ment of the " Morning Service," I preached, and
the Holy Spirit wrought as in days of old.
At 3 P.M. I preached to the children. The chapel
was well filled, but not crowded ; but we had still
more out in the evening. About 8 P.M., after the
sermon, I dismissed the congregation ; but most of
them kept their seats, preferring to remain for the
prayer-meeting.
After explaining our method of conducting a
prayer-meeting, I said, "If there are any sinners
Mil. SYDNEY HILL, "MINE HOST." 43
here who feel the awakening power of the Holy
Spirit, and, like the awakened souls on the day of
Pentecost, wish to know what to do, they may come
forward to this altar of prayer, and we will tell you
what we did when we were in your sad state, and
how we obtained salvation through Jesus Christ."
Thirteen adults came forward as seekers, and about
half of them professed to find peace with God.
I found we had some good workers, who came up
promptly, and wrought effectively.
At a quarter past nine Brother R. said, " With
Brother Taylor s consent we will close the meeting
for this evening." I felt sorry to close so early, for
a number were near the strait gate, and striving
with many tears to enter in, whom I had not had
time to speak to personally, but I deferred to my
superintendent, as the best thing probably under the
circumstances, and the meeting was promptly closed.
When we got back to the Mission House, Brother
E. said, " I feel rebuked, for I did not think that one
person would come forward to the altar at this early
stage of the meeting, and especially the persons who
did come." Sister R. also upbraided herself for
having her faith outdone. They were both, however,
greatly delighted and encouraged.
Brother Richards was one of Dr. Hannah s first
graduates from "Didsbury." He is a thorough
student now, and I believe a man of scholarly attain
ments. I am told that he is a good preacher, a most
industrious pastor, and an ardent friend. His wife,
44 PORT ELIZABETH.
though delicate in health, is a true missionary helper.
He came first to the Colony in 1837.
I spent two weeks in Port Elizabeth, preached
sixteen sermons, and lectured one night on " Remi
niscences of Palestine." We had from ten to twenty
seekers forward every night, and conversions to God
on each occasion, but how many were saved I know not,
as the minister said he knew them, and did not, so far
as I know, keep a record of their names. I had preach
ing service on Saturday night for the natives Kaffirs
and Fingoes. The chapel, which will seat 350 per
sons, was filled. "William Barnabas, " a good man/
Local Preacher and native teacher, was my interpreter.
I felt so awkward in preaching through an inter
preter, and being very weary from excessive labours
through the week, I did not enjoy the service, and saw
but little indication of good from the effort. On the
second Sabbath, besides the regular morning and even
ing preaching for the whites, I preached in the after
noon from the Court-house steps. A little shower of
rain at the time of assembling kept many away,
but we had out about 600 persons, and it was a
profitable service ; I thus preached the Gospel
to two or three hundred who would not otherwise
have heard it from me. During preaching a funeral
procession passed close by. The subject suiting the
occasion, I illustrated it by the dead returning to
dust.
Then, a little later, the police came along with a
bloody-faced prisoner, followed by a rabble, and I
FIRST NATIVE SERVICE. 45
said, "Look at him, The way of transgressors is
hard/ " and got an illustration of my subject out of
him.
At the close, a man came and shook my hand,
saying, "I have heard you preach to the gam
blers in San Francisco, and to the sailors on Long
"Wharf, and I heard you give a singular reproof to
some sailors that I ll never forget. They were load
ing a barge with coal, and one, with a profane oath,
wished the coals in H . That is quite unneces
sary, my friend, said you, for if you are so unhappy
as to go down to that place, you will find it hot
enough, and plenty of fuel/
When I went to the Eastern Province it was with
the purpose of spending one month there, dividing
the time between Port Elizabeth and Graham s
Town, and another month in Natal. I had my
return- ticket, for which I had paid 17, extending
to three months, but I soon found that the Eng
lish population cf the Eastern Province was much
greater than my limited information had led me to
suppose, and that my time should be extended to
at least two months for the Eastern Province alone.
On the evening of my arrival in Port Elizabeth,
Brother Richards introduced me to the first Kaffir I
had ever seen. He stood before me six feet four
inches, with finely developed form, good head, very
pleasant countenance, and a superior display of
ivory. "This man," said Brother R., "is one of
our Local Preachers, Joseph Tale, from the Annshaw
48 PORT ELIZABETH.
Circuit, about one hundred and fifty miles in the
interior." Through Wm. Barnabas I asked him
many questions about the work of God among his
people. He gave a very encouraging account of the
number and steadfastness of their people on the
Annshaw Mission. I told him that when my boxes
were opened I would give him some books. He said
his children could read English, and they would read
them to him. I felt great sympathy with the native
work, and deep regret that I could not preach to
them. I had no faith in successful preaching
through an interpreter. I asked my new tall brother
to attend our meetings next day, but he said his
teams had gone out of town that day, that they had
to go out some distance homeward to get grass for
their oxen, but that he- and a party of wagoners
would keep the Sabbath on the road, and that he had
an appointment to preach to them there. A good
example for their white brethren.
Brother Richards made me a plan for a two
months tour, embracing Graham s Town, King Wil
liam s Town, Queen s Town, Cradock, and Somer
set, each appointment about eighty miles apart, in
travelling from one to the other. I would have
two weeks for Graham s Town, and a week for each
of the other places, and a week at Port Elizabeth,
on my return, in waiting for a steamer to take me
on to Natal. He accordingly informed the ministers
of my arrival, and they all wrote me a cordial invi
tation to visit them, and with them came pressing
OPENING PROSPECTS. 47
invitations from Salem, Bathurst, Fort Beaufort, and
Uitenhage Circuits. The last two I added to my
plan. I made no provision for preaching to the
natives, for not knowing their language I did not
hope to be able to work successfully among them,
but prayed and hoped that indirectly they would
derive much good from a revival of God s work
among the English.
My next move was to Uitenhage, which is an old
Dutch town, twenty miles distant from Port Eliza
beth.
CHAPTER V.
UITENHAGE.
ON the 5th of May, I came from Port Elizabeth,
to this heautiful town. At Port Elizabeth, I had
been sojourning a few days at the house of Mr.
TV. Jones, a somewhat eccentric but very clever
genial Welshman, and a superior Local Preacher
in the Wesleyan Church. His wife, a very good
woman, is a class-leader ; his daughter Jessie, a fine
young lady, and several sons were unconverted.
Brother Jones gave me the use of his carriage and
two horses, and his son Philip to drive me to Uiten-
hage. We took with us, Mrs. John Eichards, and
Miss Jessie Jones. Sister Eichards was in such a
poor state of health when I arrived, that she feared
she would not be able to attend many of my meet
ings, but, as she entered into the work, her health
improved, and after two weeks special services at
home, was now going to help me a week among her
friends in Uitenhage, among whom she was blessed
in doing a work for God. During our journey that
day, she took occasion to say, that she had been
greatly edified by my Gospel ministrations, and
TRIP TO UITENHAGE. 4-9
was much pleased with, me in everything she had seen,
except my beard, in regard to which she put me on
my defence. I said, " Sister Richards, when I was in
Belfast a few years ago, a Primitive minister waited
on me to say, There are some very good people in
this city who are greatly prejudiced against a beard,
and I think you can be more useful among them if
you will go to a barber and get shaved. In reply
to that brother I said, I certainly would not do
anything which would be damaging to any person
following my example; for instance, I don t use
tobacco in any form, I don t use wine or spirits,
except sacramentally or medicinally. I have been
a total abstainer from my youth, for the good of
others, as well as for myself. As to the beard, while
in the genial climate of California, with youthful
vigour on my side, I did not feel the need of it,
and wasted much precious time in cutting it off,
but having returned from California to the Eastern
States of America, my thin jaws were exposed to the
north-west blasts of New York, Wisconsin, and Iowa,
which gave me neuralgia, and I suffered what
appeared to be almost the pains of death. So I found
that I was obliged to seek protection for my face,
and instead of bundling up in a sheep- skin, and
an artificial respirator, the constant re-adjustment
of which would consume time and give trouble,
I just threw aside that barbarous instrument, the
razor, to see what the God of Providence would
do for me, and this flowing beard was the result,
TJITEISHAGE.
and it answered the purpose exactly. I soon got
well of neuralgia, and have never had it since.
I have found it a good comforter/ a good respirator,
a good shield against the reflecting rays of the
summer sun, which used always to blister my face,
and crack my lips till I could neither laugh nor sing
without the shedding of blood. Moreover, it was a
protection against gnats and flies. By a deep inspi
ration in preaching, which is essential, I used some
times to take down one of those pestiferous little
fellows into my throat, and then followed a sudden
change in the exercises. I have suffered from none
of these things since I submitted to the Lord s
arrangement, planting the beard where it was needed.
I have found it of great service to my vocal organs,
and hence necessary to my work of preaching the
Gospel, and to cut it ofF is to impair my work
ing effectiveness, and so far a sin against God. With
that, the Irish brother said, *I suppose it is not
worth while to say anything more about it. * No,
my dear brother, I cannot do a wrong thing on any
account, and I also like to help break down an
unreasonable prejudice in this matter, under the
influence of which many a poor Irishman is daily
shedding tears, under the operations of an old
dull razor. The good people of Belfast soon got
over their prejudice against my beard, and we had
a blessed work of God during my stay among
them.-" I repeated this Irish discussion to Sister
Richards as we drove along, and she could not
THE BEARD QUESTION. 51
help joining Miss Jessie in a laugh at some parts of
it, but still it did not convince her of the propriety of
a beard on a minister s face.. I then said, " Surely
Sister Richards, it cannot be a moral impropriety for
a minister to wear a beard, since the Master Himself
had a beard?"
" But you have no proof," she replied, " that He
did wear a beard."
" Well, Sister B/ichards," said I, " if I prove to you
from the Bible, that the Great Teacher did have a
beard, will you allow that to end the discussion in
favour of the beard ? "
" Yes, I ll rest the case on the Scripture proof, if
you can produce it."
" Lest there should be some ground of mistake in
identifying the person of Christ, when He should
come into the world, God, through His holy prophets,
advertised to the world, hundreds of years in advance,
all His leading characteristics, by the exact fulfil
ment and counterpart of which, in the person of
Christ, He should certainly be recognized as the
Messiah ; Sister Richards, believest thou the pro
phets?"
" Certainly, I do."
" Very well, in describing the prophetic scene of
the humiliating, and excruciating abuses, to be
endured by Christ, Isaiah, employing the lan
guage of the Divine Messenger of the Covenant, says
I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to
them that plucked off the hair/ To pluck the
52 TJITENHAGE.
hair off the head, or back part of the jaw, is
nothing in comparison with the pain of plucking
it off the cheeks/ The good sister then subsided.
We were now nearing our journey s end, and after
a little talk on personal holiness of heart, we drove
into the village, and I was welcomed to the very
pleasant home of Captain George Appleby, who had
formerly been a shipmaster, but now for many years
a resident in South Africa. He has a large wool-
washing establishment, nearly a mile above the town,
on the Zwart Hops river, employing a powerful steam-
engine, and from seventy to one hundred working
men and women, principally native Africans.
Rev. Purdon Smailes, the superintendent of the
-circuit, called in soon after my arrival, and expressed
his pleasure in having me to help him in his impor
tant work. He was formerly a school-teacher, but for
many years a learned, zealous, and useful "\Yesleyan
minister, in South Africa. Sister Appleby is one of
the largest women I ever saw, but says she has not
increased in weight since she was fourteen years
old, so that having learned to carry such dimen
sions in her youth, it seems no burden at all, for
she seems as active as a lass of twenty years. She
is very energetic, but very kind-hearted and hos
pitable.
UITEXHAGE is an old Dutch town, located on the
slope of a beautiful valley, near the banks of Zwart
Hops river, with fine vales and table lands in the
background, bounded by a range of mountains east
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. 53
i
and north. Across the river, at the rise of the hills, we
see a heathen village; along the river we see some
large buildings, and the smoke and steam of the
engines. These are large wool-washing establish
ments. Now we learn why we saw hundreds of teams
loaded with wool passing out of Port Elizabeth,
where it had been taken, and sold, the day before,
and often the same day. It is brought out here
twenty miles to be washed, because of the abun
dant supply, and superior quality of the water of
this river for the purpose. The town is supplied
with water from a large spring rising out of the
base of the mountain, which flows in, and is so
distributed as to furnish several streets, with each
a bold stream, almost sufficient to propel the works
of an overshot-mill.
The streets are lined on each side with rows, and,
in some cases, double rows, of large oaks, and Tas-
manian blue gums. The buildings are nearly all large
one-story cottages, painted white, with long verandahs
in front. Altogether the town, and surrounding
scenery, are very beautiful. The population of
Uitenhage district is 7,202, of whom 2,859 only are
whites, mostly Dutch, the rest are natives.
The Dutch Eeformed Church have a large com
modious place of worship in Uitenhage, with a
good evangelical minister, Rev. Mr. Steytler, and a
large congregation. As the English population is
small, and divided between the Presbyterians and
Wesley ans, we cannot muster a very strong force
64 UITENHAGE.
tiiere. "We have, however, some very respectable
ttnd influential Wesleyan families in the town, but
the Wesleyan chapel is a very poor concern indeed.
For many years it was the residence of some old
denizen, but, in course of time, it fell into the hands
of a little pioneer club of Wesleyans, who hadlearned
not to " despise the day of small things," and they
did it up, and dubbed it a Wesleyan chapel, but the
ceiling is very low, and it is every way unsuitable.
One would think, on seeing it, that it should have
been delivered over to the " moles and bats, " long
ago ; at any rate, the " bats " have so fkr asserted
their claim as to take possession >> all ice upper part
of it, from the ceiling to the roof. Whoever may dis
pute their right of possession, none are able to dis
lodge them, for tis said there are thousands of them,
and they have lined their floor with ail excremental
nuisance which will fairly drive the white folks away
before long. It will seat about two hundred persons,
but they cannot stay in it more than another summer.
Sister Appleby was working hard to raise funds to
build a decent chapel, and, I believe, she will succeed.
On Sabbath morning, the 6th of May, we assem
bled in the said Chapel to commence our series of
special services. The place was filled with a very
genteel-looking audience, and I felt encouraged to
believe that we had some good stuff to work upon.
Brother Smailes read the service, and commented
sensibly on the lessons. The audience did not seem
to take much interest in the prayers, as only one
BREACHING TO THE DUTCH. 55
man responded with audible distinctness, and he did
not seem to be well up in the business, for he put in a
response at the wrong place, producing a ludicrous
surprise that somewhat excited the risibilities of some
of the youngsters. The Holy Spirit graciously
helped in the preaching of the Gospel that morning,
and we had a solemn and profitable occasion.
By the kindness of Mr. Stey tier, the Dutch Eeformed
Church minister, whom I had met in Port Elizabeth,
and his trustees, we had the use of their church at
3 P.M., and in the evening. Our congregations
there were large, and though most of them were
Dutch, they knew the English well enough to under
stand my preaching, and listened with serious at
tention. We did not attempt to follow the preach
ing in the evening with a prayer-meeting there,
lest some of our kind friends would think we were
making too free with the privileges they had granted
us. I was glad to have the opportunity of preaching
to them, and hoped they would carry the good seed
into their closets at home, and have it watered with
the dews of grace which descend there.
On Monday, at 11 A.M., I preached again in the
Wesleyan Chapel to a better audience than I supposed
we could get in a week-day.
After preaching on Monday night, I explained the
order of our prayer-meetings, somewhat as follows :
" A prayer-meeting should have more of the social
element in it than a preaching service. "We have
two varieties of worship in a praj^er-meeting :
56 TJITENHAUE.
public singing by the congregation, alternately with
prayer, in which one person leads audibly, for general
worship. Then, in an undertone, which need not in
terfere with the solemnity and order of the general
worship, we give the largest liberty for individual
efforts to bring souls to Christ. Any brother who
knows the Saviour, and has a friend here who knows
Him not, pray for that friend, and if you feel that by
the help of the good Spirit, you can, by telling him
what Jesus hath done for you, or by any persuasive
appeals to his conscience, induce him to turn to God,
you are entirely at liberty, any, or all of you as the
Spirit may lead you, thus to work for God during the
prayer meeting. I make this explanation at this early
stage of our series of services, lest some, seeing this
variety of exercise, might think it a disorderly pro
ceeding, when indeed it is in accordance with the
order and design of the meeting ; the low- toned con
versation to seekers who may be inquiring What
must I do to be saved ? and the earnest ejacula-
tory prayer of sympathizing hearts for such, do
not indeed produce the least discord in the har
mony of the general worship.
" We have nothing new to introduce, but rather the
old simple methods of the Gospel. In the great Pen
tecostal awakening the poor sin-stricken souls cried
out, Men and brethren, what shall we do ? Peter
did not tell them to go home and meditate in the
quiet solitude of their closets, and call at his house
next day, and he would have a talk with them on the
HOW TO LEAD SEEKERS TO CHRIST. 57
subject. Nay, when the Spirit awakens a poor sin
ner, He is then waiting to lead that soul directly to
Jesus. But the poor stricken sinner does not know the
Holy Spirit who hath smitten him in love, and does
not know Jesus, nor where to find Him. How appro
priate, then, that such should avowedly ask, Men
and brethren, what shall we do? Should not the
Men and brethren then, and there, tell such poor
sinners what to do, and go to work every one of them
and lead the poor seekers to Jesus ? That is just
what they did in Jerusalem, and three thousand of
them, not only heard from the lips of the Men and
brethren, who were working together with God/
to save them, what to do, but at once, openly and
honestly, yea, gladly received the Word, and were
baptized/ that day. Now this is the kind of thing
we want to have here in Uitenhage ; no new thing
but the blessed old thing, which worked so well long
before our new-formed methods of nice propriety
were invented. "We are now ready to converse
with any who feel the awakening of the Holy
Spirit, help you to grapple with your difficulties,
tell you how we went through the same ordeal
f hardness, darkness, grief, guilt, despair, hope,
esire, fear, and the terrible swaying between two
mighty forces, the one attracting towards Christ,
the other repelling by the force of a thousand bad
associations, and a mighty power of satanic in
fluence. Poor sinners, we know well from sad ex
perience what you feel. We sympathize with you
UITENIIAGE.
profoundly! ami we are anxious to help you. We
ran not save you, but God may use us as agents
t<> l< a<l you to Jesus, according to his Gospel
method. ]>ut unless you indicate your desire to
(urn to God, as did the awakened souls in Jerusa
lem, in some way or other, we know not to whom
to speak, nor for whom personally to pray. We
are willing t moo t vou [ n nny p art Q f t j ie ] louse>
but we recommend as the most prompt and orderly
means to the great end proposed, that all those
who have counted the cost/ and who have in
telligently, deliberately, detcrminately, resolved to
seek the Lord now, < while lie may be found, to
come forward to this altar of prayer.
Come sinners to the Gospel feast,
Let every soul be Jesu s guest ;
Ye need not one be left behind,
For God hath bidden all mankind.
Come all ye souls by sin opprest,
Ye restless wanderers after rest ;
Ye poor, and maimed, and halt, and blind,
In Christ a hearty welcome find.
This is the time, no more delay,
This is the acceptable day.
Come in this moment, at His call,
And live for Him who died for all."
While singing this invitation hymn, about a dozen
adult seekers came forward. Just at the close of
the prayer that followed, as we rose to sing again,
when everything was going on in an orderly way
according to the method I had just defined, a tall
OUTRAGEOUS PIIOCEEDIXGS. 59
young Dutchman rushed up the crowded aisle to
where I was conversing with the seekers, and ad
dressed me in an angry shouting tone, " How dare
you introduce such blasphemous proceedings in this
town ? I demand your authority for such outrageous
proceedings under a pretence of worshipping God/
repeating similar expressions several times. I took
him by the arm, and kindly explained to him what
from its novelty to him seemed so strange, and
begged him to be seated near the front, and see and
hear all that was done there, and satisfy his own
mind that this was, indeed, the work of God ; but
he turned and hastened away, like the young
man who seemed suddenly to be waked out of
sleep, and ran into the garden of Gethsemane, and
laid hold on Jesus on the night of his betrayal.
The young fellow was very respectably connected in
family relations ; but as I learned, got no svmpathy,
unless from one man, but a great deal of contempt
for his rash interference with the peaceable worship
of his neighbours. The meeting then went on
quietly, and several persons obtained peace with
God. But our working force was very small. The
Class-Leader, a fine old man, was sick, so that we
were deprived of his help.
On Thursday morning we were reinforced by the
arrival of Rev. Brother Eichards, and Sister Hill,
my kind hostess from Port Elizabeth. At eleven
A.M., I preached again to an audience of increased
dimensions and interest. At the day services we
00 UITENIliGE.
get the wheat without the chaff, less bulk, but
greater weight. Tuesday evening we had our little
chapel packed, and at the prayer-meeting the altar
was crowded with seekers. During the progress of
the prayer-meeting, which was solemn, but very
quiet, a Mr. B. sent me, by a boy, the following
note : " The Rev. Mr. Taylor will oblige by not
interfering with the devotions of this meeting by
his audible conversation." I was simply conversing
with a seeker in a low tone, according to our an
nounced plan, but Mr. B., who, I was informed, is
not friendly to the cause of God in any form, was
not satisfied to allow us to proceed in our worship
according to the dictates of our own conscience. I,
of course, made no reply to his note, but said to
some of my friends after the meeting, " Satan is
getting more polite each day of our meeting. Last
night he rushed in like a roaring lion to devour the
prey ; but to-night he addressed me in a note as
the Eev. Mr. Taylor ; by to-morrow night he will
not dare even to mutter in the dark, unless it is
round the corners out of sight, or in the canteen."
"Wednesday, at eleven A.M., I preached, and at the
prayer-meeting following we had some very interest
ing conversions. On Wednesday night, after preach
ing, we had thirty persons forward as seekers, a
number of whom found peace ; and, as I anticipated,
Satan could not command an agent that could " face
the music." The silent solemnity of the occasion
seemed to subdue opposing forces. I preached again
PREACHING IN A WOOLSHED. 61
on Thursday at eleven A.M., and several persons
were saved. At three P.M. of that day, I preached
in Brother Appleby s woolshed to the Kaffirs in his
employ. We had an audience of about seventy,
most of whom had often heard the Gospel, but a
portion of them were raw heathens. I got an un
converted, bare-footed, ragged Kaffir to interpret for
me, and got on much better than I had done before
with a professional interpreter, for he talked in a
simple, natural way. On Thursday night I delivered
a lecture in a public school on " Reminiscences of
Palestine," and " St. Paul and his Times.
The number of converts, during our brief series
in Uitenhage, was not reported to me ; but there was
manifestly a deep and general awakening in the
town, and among the converts were some influential
persons, who will make valuable members of the
Church, I doubt not.
On Friday we returned to Port Elizabeth, where I
delivered a leture on St. Paul and his Times ; and at
five A.M., Saturday, my kind host, Brother Sydney
Hill, saw me safely into the " Post cart," a rough
conveyance on two wheels, drawn by four horses, and
that day, while I was resting, I was jolted over a
rough road, ninety miles, to Graham s Town.
CHAPTER VI.
GRAHAM S TOWN was founded as a military post in
1812, but received its life and proportions from the
famous immigration of 1820. The Colonial Settle
ment of that year in Albany, a few miles distant,
having, by the appointment of the Home Govern
ment, the Rev. William Shaw for their minister, con
tained much sterling stuff for the foundations of
empire in a new country. Those of them better
adapted to mechanical, commercial, and literary pur
suits than to farming, soon left their "wattle and
daub " huts in the country, and have gradually built
up this flourishing town.
It is situated in a valley, bounded by high hills,
near the sources of the " Kowie River." Its houses
are principally of brick and stone, covered with
slate and zinc. They are not generally over two
stories high. It contains many fine gardens ; and
the streets are ornamented, and shaded with rows of
trees, principally English oak, eucalyptus (or Tas
mania blue gum) and Kaffir boom. The last is in
digenous, and grows a large beautiful scarlet-coloured
FIIIST CHAPEL. 63
flower. There is an extensive barracks for troops,
both at the east and west ends of the city. And
the continual presence of a regiment or two of Eng
lish soldiers, with their daily drill, and martial-
music, reminds the stranger that, though every thing
he sees there, is so thoroughly English, and home
like, he is nevertheless in a country where Europeans
have to watch, as well as pray, and while they trust
in a gracious Providence, to take Cromwell s advice,
and " keep their powder dry."
Graham s Town has, according to the census of
1865, a white population of 5,2 6 3, all English, and
a few thousand Hottentots, Kaffirs, and Fingoes.
It has good churches ; three Episcopalian, three
"Wesleyan, two Baptists, two Independent, and one
Roman Catholic. It has a public library, museum,
and botanical gardens : two banks, one high school
Wesleyan, called, in honour of the old Methodist
pioneer of that Province, "Shaw College," besides
the full compliment of educational and charitable
institutions common in such a city.
The first Wesleyan Chapel there was dedicated in
1822. It would seat 400 persons. It was followed
by another in 1832, twice its size, which cost 3,000.
The former house was given to the natives. The
present principal Wesleyan Church of Graham s
Town " Commemoration Chapel," is thus described
by Mr. Shaw : " The building is in the pointed
style (Gothic), well-sustained in all its parts. The
front, from the level of the floor, is seventy feet
64 GRAHAM S TOWN.
high to the top of the centre pinnacle, and it is about
sixty-three feet wide, including the buttresses. The
interior dimensions are ninety feet long by fifty
broad, and from the floor to the ceiling it is thirty-
four feet in height. There are two side, and one
end, galleries ; and the building is capable of accom
modating, in great comfort, a congregation of about
fourteen hundred persons." It cost over 9,000
sterling, and is quite superior to any other church of
any denomination in the city.
The subscription for it was commenced on the an
niversary day, celebrating the arrival of the te Albany
Settlers" in Algoa Bay, on the 10th of April, 1820 ;
and in memory of that event, it was called " Com
memoration Chapel."
Rev. Mr. Shaw remarks further, that owing to the
embarrassments occasioned by the Kaffir War of
1846, the debt on " Commemoration Chapel/ at the
time of its dedication, was upwards of 5,000, and
adds, " I had already appealed to the Legislative
Council of the colony for assistance, seeing that we
had never received a shilling from the Colonial Trea
sury in aid of our religious institutions in Graham s
Town, while nearly the entire cost of St. George s
Church had been defrayed from that source, and the
Episcopalians and Roman Catholics of the town were
receiving about 1,000 per annum towards the sup
port of their respective clergy." After some disap
pointments and long delay, they succeeded in ob
taining the grant of 1,000 in aid of the building
CHURCH OUT OF DEBT. G5
fund. Mr. Shaw says further by anticipation, " I
trust that the few settlers, who may survive the fif
tieth year, or jubilee of their arrival in the country,
will take care that, if any debt unhappily still re
mains on Commemoration Chapel, it shall, on that
occasion, be entirely extinguished by their grateful
and liberal thank-offerings." Well, when I reached
Graham s Town, there was still a debt of 3,000 on it.
But through a letter, recently received from Rev.
T. Guard, I shall be happy to inform Brother Shaw
that the friends there, recently had a meeting to
take the subject under consideration, and paid the
whole amount that day.
After a rough ride in the post- cart, ninety miles
from Port Elizabeth, I arrived in Graham s Town at
six P.M. My home was with Mr. TV". A. Richards,
one of the proprietors of the " Journal/ a large Tri
weekly, having the largest circulation of any paper
in the colony. He is stepson of the founder, and
senior member of the firm the Hon. R. Godlonton,
who is a " Colonist of forty-six years standing, and an
old TVesleyan as well, and though for many years a
member of the " Legislative Council," or Upper
House of the Colonial Parliament, yet he is really a
spiritually- minded useful member, and active worker
in the Church. I had a delightful home in the spa
cious house, and more spacious hearts of my dear
friends, Brother and Sister Richards. During my
first evening, Brother Atwell and several other lead
ing laymen called in to bid me welcome, and also
F
66 GRAHAM S TOWN.
Eevs. Davis, Green, and Holford. Brother Guard,
acting superintendent during the absence of Brother
Impey, had been away on a visitation of the churches
for a short time, and had not returned. Brother Hol
ford, an earnest young minister, was a junior col
league in the circuit. He has been but five or six
years in the colony. Brother John Scott was the
single young preacher in the circuit. He is the son
of my friend, Rev. George Scott, the old Swedish
missionary of the British Conference. John was
brought out into the work in Africa, and I believe
will become a useful minister.
Rev. W. J. Davis was sent out by the British Con
ference, in 1831. He is a brave man ; has been most
of his time in the purely mission work among the
Kaffirs ; has encountered wars, and a very great
variety of perils among them. He now has charge
of a large native station in Graham s Town. He is,
I believe, a thorough Kaffir scholar, and is the author
of a grammar of the Kaffir language. I afterwards
Droved him a valuable helper in our prayer-meetings
in leading souls to God.
He has a large, interesting family, and, I believe,
all converted to God. Two of his daughters, who
know the Kaffir language as well as the English, the
wives of Rev. Brothers Hargraves and Sawtell, are
in the missionary work, and his son William has
recently commenced to preach in Kaffir.
Rev. George H. Green, superintendent of Bathurst
FIRST SERVICE. 67
circuit, had come to Graham s Town on duty, and
was detained by the sudden death of one of his horses,
and was unable to leave till after the Sabbath, Many
hundreds of horses had recently died in the province,
from the "horse sickness," with which the country
is sometimes visited. A hotel-keeper on the road,
from Port Elizabeth, who keeps a relay of coach-
horses, told me that day, that within a month he had
lost eighty horses by this disease.
Brother Green was sent out in 1837, and has,
during the most of the time since, been devoted to
the English and Dutch work. He is an open,
laughing brother, but thoroughly devoted to God,,
and His work, and has the reputation of being a
superior preacher. I was highly entertained with the
missionary narratives of these brethren till the hour for
retiring. I will note some of them at a suitable time.
On Sabbath, May 13th, we had " Commemoration
Chapel " crowded three times with a superior-looking
class of people, with a sprinkling of red-coats (English
soldiers) among them. In the morning Brother
Green read the service, and I preached from " the
last words of Jesus/ " But ye shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and ye
shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in
all Judsea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
part of the earth." In commencing a series of special
services, I always preach first to believers on a subject
embracing the personality, immediate presence, and
68 GRAHAM S TOWN.
special mission of the Holy Ghost, and the adjust
ment of human agents to His gracious arrangements,
essential to success.
At three P.M. I preached to the children, with as
many adults as could crowd into the church. At
night I preached specially to sinners. At the open
ing of the prayer-meeting which followed, I invited
seekers of pardon to present themselves at the altar
of prayer, but not one came. I knew that the
awakening Spirit had thrust His "piercing " sword
into the hearts of many sinners, but did not press
them to come forward. Many believers were greatly
disappointed in not seeing some go forward, but
thought it was the pleasure of the Holy Spirit, thus
to set the church more fully back to their home
work of self-examination, and more thorough pre
paration for the coming struggle for the rescue of
perishing souls.
On Monday many leading brethren called to bid
me welcome ; but all expressed their disappointment
at the results of the labours of the previous day, and
their great sorrow that the Church was in such a low
spiritual state. They spoke gratefully of a work of
God in 1822, at Salem, twenty miles distant ; a second
revival in 1830, in Graham s Town, which extended
to some of the country circuits. Their third, and
great revival," was in 1837, when about 300 souls
were saved. A fourth revival, less extensive, but
really a very good work, especially among the young
people, in 1857 ; Kut now they felt a painful sense of
VENTILATION. 69
coldness and ineffectiveness. I assured them that as
soon as they were ready for an advance movement,
the Holy Spirit would certainly lead them on to
victory. I reminded them of the carnal obstructions
to the work of God in the Church, which must be
sought out and removed by individual repentance
and reformation, through faith ; and that there was
at least one serious physical difficulty in the way.
" Your beautiful church is not sufficiently ventilated
for a large audience, by one half. The immense
amount of carbonic acid gas thrown out from the
lungs of fourteen hundred persons, and the porous
discharge of foetid matter from their bodies, must on
each occasion poison the atmosphere in the church
in a very short time. This poison being inhaled,
corrupts the blood, blunts the nervous sensibilities of
the people, and hence precludes vigorous mental
action, produces headache, and drowsiness, and sadly
injures their health ; and when it comes to that, the
best thing is to quit, and go home as quickly as
possible. We can t afford to spend our precious
evenings there in poisoning each other, for that is
the very kind of stuff that killed the British soldiers
in the blackhole of Calcutta. It is out of the ques
tion to have a great work of salvation without a good
supply of oxygen.""
They could not readily realize that their really
splendid church could be so defective in anything ;
but expressed a willingness to make such changes as
might be found to be necessary.
70
They were decidedly of opinion that we would get
on better to have the prayer-meetings, after preach
ing, in the basement lecture-room, as the brethren
felt more at home, and could work .more freely there.
I replied, " Before this week is out, we will require
all the room the body of the church can afford to
accommodate the people who will remain for prayer-
meeting ; and as your people will have to get used to
working above, they may just as well break in first as
last, and then we will lose no time in needless changes."
We had to go thoroughly into the subject of
ventilating the chapel. I begged them to employ a
competent mechanic to put ventilating apertures in
the windows, above and below. They had two such
on each side of the chapel in the windows below, but
none above. But to make any permanent change, a
meeting of the trustees must be called, and perhaps
much time consumed in the preliminaries before the
work could be effected. So to close the debate, and
secure the end by a short method, Brother Atwill,
one of the trustees, who is allowed to do daring
things, without being called to account, because all
who know him feel sure, that under all circumstances,
he will do what he conscientiously believes to be the
right thing, went into the gallery, hammer in hand,
and knocked a pane of glass out of each window on
both sides, which afforded a good supply of fresh air,
for our crowded audiences, and thus removed a phy
sical barrier to our success, and gave us a wide awake
people to preach to.
PRAYER MEETINGS. 71
On Monday night we had the church well filled
ahove and below. Nearly enough remained for the
prayer-meeting to fill the main audience-room of the
church. Over thirty seekers came promptly forward
to the altar of prayer, and about a dozen of them
were "justified by faith," and obtained "peace with
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."
On Tuesday morning Brother Green, who had
meantime provided himself with another horse, was
about to return home, taking with him his daughter
" Libbie," who was not converted to God. The-
young lady was in sad bereavement, and was disposed
to complain of God s dealings with her. She was
within a few days of being married, a year before, to
the son of Hev. John Edwards, one of our old South
African Missionaries, but the young man, in crossing
Fish Eiver, on his way to the home of his bride, was
drowned. I said to Brother Green, "Don t take
your daughter away from our meetings. Just leave
her here to be converted, and go ye and bring
Sister Green and your daughter Hannah, and let
them all share the blessings of God at our meetings.
There are crowns to be distributed, and the gift of
eternal life to be granted to all who will come to
God, and I don t see why your family may not as
well have their full share of blessing/
Brother Richards seconded my motion by a cordial
invitation for Brother and Sister Green to sojourn
with me in his house. Brother Green consented at
once. The result was, we got two valuable helpers
<^ GRAHAMS TOWN.
in the persons of Brother and Sister Green ; and
during the series of meetings, their daughters were
both converted to God ; and, subsequently, their son
Arthur, at our Somerset meetings, and their son John,
at our Cradock series, were saved. They are very
interesting girls, and their brothers give good pro
mise of becoming useful men.
On Tuesday, the 15th of May, Eev. Thomas Guard
returned. As he had before given me a cordial invi
tation, so now he gave me an Irish " Caed mela faith a"
" 100,000 welcomes "to Graham s Town. He is
the Apollos of Southern Africa. I believe it is con
ceded by all parties who have heard him preach and
lecture, that no man in Africa can approach to his
standard of logical fascinating sublime eloquence. It
was said, however, that he succeeded better in stirring
the romantic and poetic elements of man s nature, and
in feasting the intellect, than in arousing the con
science, and leading sinners to repentance. But he
threw all his energies into the work at our meetings,
publicly, and in social circles, and was greatly owned
of God as an agent in the work that was done, and
himself received, as he testified to the praise of God,
an extraordinary baptism of the Holy Spirit, under
which he " had grown more than during a period of
fifteen years before." His talents now, more than
ever, are employed by the Spirit in the direct work of
winning souls for Christ.
He has been but a few years in Africa, but his
name- is a tower of strength in both colonies.
CHRISTIAN STATESMEN. 73
He was induced to leave the Irish Conference, and
take an appointment to Africa, because of the failing
health of his highly-talented wife. Her health is
greatly improved ; but it would be a calamity to
the work in Southern Africa if they should return
to their "Emerald Isle/-
We have many wealthy influential "Wesleyans in
Graham s Town, who, I believe, shared largely in the
rich blessings of grace poured out from their Infi
nite Source during our series. Seven members of
Parliament from Graham s Town are Wesleyans.
Hon. George Wood, senior ; Hon. Robert Godlonton,
Hon. Samuel Cawood, Hon. J. C. Hoole, belong to
the Upper House, or " Legislative Council," four out
of the seven members to which the Eastern Province
is entitled. Hon. John Wood, George Wood, junior r
sons of George, senior, Jonathan and Reuben AylifF,
and J. C. Clough, are members of the Legislative
Assembly; William Ayliff also, from Eort Beaufort.
These are all class-going Wesleyans, except Messrs.
Hoole and Clough, who are, in other respects, identi
fied with us.
These are, for the most part I learn, wealthy
men, and very influential for good. The Aylifis are
sons of Rev. John, recently deceased, one of our
most laborious and successful pioneer missionaries,
who led the Fingoes out of their bondage, as before
stated. His widow, daughter, and two of his sons
live in Graham s Town. The widow still has the
genuine missionary spirit, and is driven round daily
74 GRAHAM S TOWN.
in her carriage to all parts of the town, visiting the
sick, and doing good to the souls and bodies of the
needy. At her request I visited some of her patients ;
among them was "old Brother Sparks," who had
been bound, lo ! these thirty-six years, with rheu
matism. Many of his joints have been drawn quite
out of place ; but he said, " God has been very kind
to me. He has, all through my long period of suf
fering, so filled my heart with His precious love,
that I never felt a spirit of impatience."" He seemed
greatly to enjoy my singing. I thought his poor
wife, who has daily attended him during his long ill
ness, must have developed patience almost equal to
that of Job. I have made the acquaintance of all
four of Father Ayliff s sons. They are all over
six feet in height, born in the mission- field among
the Kaffirs, fluent in the Kaffir language, pious,
" well-to-do" men, and leading men in the Govern
ment.
Volumes might be filled with the details of what
was said and done in connection with our series of
meetings in Graham s Town ; but I will simply give
an outline and a few specimen illustrative facts of a
work which, in extent, numerically, was limited com
pared with the numbers saved during my series of
the same length in any of the Australian cities. But
the work in Graham s Town is of vast importance,
not only in its local effect, but in its far-reaching in
fluence on the extensive mission-field among the sur
rounding African tribes.
CHAPTER VII.
GTIAHAM S TOWN (CONTINUED).
DURING my first week in Graham s Town I preached
eight sermons, each followed by a prayer-meeting,
of about two hours in time. The second week the
same as the first, with the addition of four mid- day
prayer-meetings.
During the third week preached four sermons ;
delivered three lectures on " Reminiscences of Pales
tine/ and " St. Paul and his Times." We had fine
mid-day prayer-meetings that week, and occupied
one evening by a fellowship meeting, at which I gave
a lecture on Christian Fellowship, and over one hun
dred and twenty persons, nearly all adults, came
forward and gave their names as candidates for
membership in the Wesleyan Church, and eighty-
four persons stood up in their places promptly, one
after another, and clearly gave their testimony to the
saving work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.
The number of persons professing to have found
pardon and peace with God, meantime, whose names
and address had, on a personal examination, been
taken down by Brother Holford, one of the ministers
78 GRAHAM S TOWN.
of the circuit, amounted to over a hundred and
seventy, which number swelled to over two hundred
soon after I left. The daily prayer-meetings have
been kept up ever since, and will, I trust, to the end
of time.
I found the people of Graham s Town a very at
tentive, social, affectionate people. I formed among
them many personal acquaintances, and strong bonds
of Christian friendship, which will abide for ever.
On Thursday, the 24th of May, out on the hills
overlooking Graham s Town, in the Mimosa Scrub,
we had a Wesleyan celebration of the " Queen s
birthday." It was a delightful social entertainment,
where I had an opportunity of speaking to many
friends, and among them many of the young con
verts. Mr. H., a tall man, with heavy beard, came
to me as soon as I alighted from Brother Eichards
carriage in the grove, and said, "Mr. Taylor, I
have come to ask your pardon for what I have been
thinking about you. I felt so badly under your
preaching, that I went forward to the altar last
Thursday night, but I felt worse and worse. Just
beside me was a woman who was in such an agony
of distress that I soon began to neglect my own
case in my sympathy for her. I wondered that you
did not come at once, and do something for her ;
and while I was looking and hoping that you would
come, I saw you walk past her. Now I am telling
you this, that I may ask your pardon for what I had
been thinking about you. When I saw that woman s
A REMARKABLE CASE. 77
flowing tears, and saw you pass without seeming to
notice her, I got angry, and wanted to pull your
beard. Knowing that such a procedure would not
be suitable to the occasion, I got up and went away.
But on last Sabbath, when you preached in Market
Square, I stood so near to you, that I could see into
your eyes, and saw there such a flood of sympathy
for sinners, that I was fully convinced that I had
done you great injustice in my mind, and felt ashamed
that I had allowed such feelings so to influence my
conduct. Then I began again in earnest to seek the
Lord. Last night, during the prayer- meeting, I sur
rendered my soul to God, and accepted Jesus Christ
as my Saviour, and immediately I was filled with
unspeakable joy/ Now I see that you were right
all the time, and that you understood the woman s
case, and that I did not ; that she had to feel her
own utter helplessness and surrender herself to God/
(The fact is, as I then told him, I had explained the
way of salvation to the woman before she got his
attention.) " This is the man/ continued he, point
ing to a small man by his side, " who spoke to me
last night, when I was just poising in an even bal
ance. I required but the weight of a feather, and
he gave the right impulse at the right moment, and
I yielded, believed, and was saved/
Several very respectable persons, who had been
a long time acceptable members of the Church, found
out that they were on the old Jewish track of " going
about to establish their own righteousness," but had
78
never submitted themselves to the righteousness of
God/ and were hence really destitute of salvation.
Brother R. came to see me, and told how he had
been trying for years to serve God, but could not
tell whether or not he had even the witness of par
don. I tried to help him ascertain his facts, and de
fine his spiritual whereabouts, but in vain. Then I
told him to drop the discussion, and come directly
to God in a present unreserved surrender, and claim
in Christ what was the privilege of every poor sinner
in the world, who had any desire to come to God, a
present salvation from sin. I then fully explained
to him the simple way of salvation by faith, the
only way to be saved. He at once ceased to debate
the question of doubt, and very soon obtained sal
vation by faith, and the clear witness of the spirit
that he was then indeed a child of God. He after
wards became a successful worker in leading souls to
Jesus.
On the second Sabbath night of our series, I saw
an interesting-looking man at the altar of prayer, in
an agony of soul on account of sin. Several good
brethren stood near him, and said to me, as I was
about to speak to the penitent, " This is one of our
best members/ pointing to the man at the altar.
" He is not simply a nominal member, but an active
worker, reproving sin, and trying to do good daily,
and also the superintendent of one of our Sabbath
schools. He is subject to seasons of great darkness,
and is now under a cloud ; but it is all the result of
THE SERGEANT SEEKING. 79
severe temptations." At the close of the following
week the said seeker came to see me, and related his
experience, in substance, as follows : He was first
awakened when twelve years old; but having no
one to instruct him, gradually lost his convictions
of sin. Then, twenty years ago, he was greatly
awakened, .and resolved to be a servant of God, and
joined the Wesley an Church. " For several years I
strove hard to live right, and attended all the means
of grace within my reach. Then I became ac
quainted with a very bad man, who was the means
of leading me astray, and for a short time I was out
of the Church, but I was very wretched, and made a
sincere and humble confession, and was again ad
mitted to the Wesleyan Church. I then doubled my
diligence in trying to work out my salvation with
fear and trembling. I often fasted from Wednesday
till Friday.
" Once during my fast I received an order to
perform a hazardous duty, as a sergeant in the
army. Some of my fellow- soldiers begged me to
break my fast, or I could not accomplish my w T ork ;
but I kept to my fast, and though in a very
weak state, fulfilled my duty. I have spent many
days in prayer, in the kloofs and caves of the
mountains, and often wished that by laying down
my life, I could get relief for my soul. I once re
solved to die on my knees, or get relief. I got some
relief, but did not get salvation. I have for some
time been teaching school, and have been trying
80
to do good in the Sunday- school, but got no rest
for my soul/ During the first week of your preach
ing, I was thoroughly waked up, but I felt very
bitter against you. By last Sabbath I felt so badly,
so guilty before God, that I could not show my face ;
but spent the day alone in the hills, trying to pray.
But on Sabbath night, I went again to hear you
preach, and when you appealed to murmurers against
God, and asked them if they would be willing to
have their miserable existence terminated by annihi
lation ? I responded in my heart, Yes, I would
hail such an opportunity with gladness. I then
went forward to the altar of prayer, and cried for
help, but found it not.
" But the next night, in your sermon on believing,
you unraveled every knot of unbelief, by which I
have been held down all these years. Your account
of that man in Mudgee, New South Wales, who said,
* I can t believe, 0, I can t believe, suited my case
exactly, and I said, I ll never use that fatal expres
sion again. I do submit myself to God, living or
dying, to do with me just as He likes. I do believe
His record concerning His Son. I do have confidence
in Jesus, as an all-sufficient Saviour of the very chief
of sinners. I do accept Him as my Saviour now. I
began then at once to get hold on Christ by faith ;
and while they were singing, 0, the bleeding Lamb !
He was found worthy, I clearly realised, what I had
always admitted in theory, that though I should
give all my goods to feed the poor, and my body to
THE SERGEANT SAVED. 81
be burned, it would profit me nothing ; but the
Lamb of God slain for sinners, was indeed a suffi
cient sacrifice for my sins, and I do accept Him now
as my Saviour. I returned home, quietly resting
on Christ as my Saviour. About one o clock that
night, while steadily clinging to Jesus, the Holy
Spirit so manifested the pardoning love of God to
my heart, that I could not restrain my joyous emo
tions, but went and waked up Mr, G., and told him
that I was saved, and we praised God together. If
a legion of angels had told me that all my sins were
forgiven, I could not have had a clearer evidence
than I had within my heart, through God s witness
ing Spirit. Before that I did not love you; but
ever since, I have loved you so, that I could cheer
fully lay down my life for you. I ask your pardon
for the hard feelings I entertained against you, during
your first week s services. I see now that I was
under the influence of the carnal mind and Satan.
The devil has often come since with his old sugges
tions of unbelief; but, thank God, the snare is broken,
and I am a free man in Jesus." I had a season of
prayer with Him alone, and God manifested himself
in great mercy to our hearts.
In contrast with this, another class of converts^
after the style of the Philippian jailor, may be illus
trated by the experience of Mr. J. W., of Graham s
Town, who was saved through the preaching
of Rev. Brother Guard, a few weeks after I left,
Brother W. brought his brother, burdened with sic,
G
107 miles, to my meeting in Cradock, who returned
full of joy unspeakable. During ourCradock series,
at a fellowship-meeting, Brother "W. said, " Under
the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Guard, I was awak
ened by the Spirit of God, to a sense of my sad con
dition as a sinner. I had not bowed my knee in
prayer for fifteen years, but utterly without hope of
improving my condition, by anything I could ever
do, I knelt before God, and in the simplicity of a
little child, told Him all about my sad state, and re
minded Him of his abundant provision of mercy in
Christ for just such poor sinners as I was, and that
I then and there thankfully accepted Jesus on His
own terms, as my Saviour, and before I arose from
my knees I obtained the forgiveness of all my sins,
through Jesus Christ, and now for twenty-three days
I have walked in the light. I had every facility a
man could ask for enjoying this world, and sought
pleasure at every source that leisure and money could
command ; but I have enjoyed more real happiness
during the last twenty-three days, than in all the
thirty-nine years of my life before."
It must not be supposed that such a work can be
wrought in any place, without strongly .exciting the
antagonistic forces of carnal nature and Satanic
power in the hearts of many worldly men and
women, and not unfrequently we find some mis
guided good people who will forbid any person " to
cast out devils " who will not follow them.
Many false things, and many hard things were
MR. GREEN, THE BARBER. 83
said in Graham s Town during the progress of our
work, by the wicked; and much opposition was
manifested in certain quarters, where we had a
right to expect better things ; but as I seldom ever
read, or listen to such things, I will not burden my
pages with them. It is said that Sir P. D., com
mandant of the British forces there, inquired of
Mr. Green, the barber, " Who is this man Taylor,
who is causing such a stir in the town ? "
The barber replied, " Have you not read, Sir P.,
of certain men of whom it was said, These men who
have turned the world upside down have come hither
also? "
" Yes," replied Sir P., " I have read something of
that in the Acts of the Apostles."
"Well sir," replied the barber, "Mr. Taylor, I
believe, is a relation of those men."
My three lectures, in Commemoration Chapel, were
well attended, and for denning and defending the
Gospel methods of evangelization, I think they were
better adapted to general instruction and edification
than the same number of sermons.
An extract from a letter, written by " mine host,"
Mr. A. Kichards, a month after my departure, may
serve to illustrate the continued progress of the work
of God in Graham s Town.
" Everything is going on very satisfactorily here.
The work of God is widening, extending, deepening.
Many are seeking the higher spiritual blessing of
holiness of heart. Our house has reason to be thank-
84 GRAHAM S
ful, and to praise God. We have a prayer-meeting
in our dining-room, every Monday evening. Last
night seventy were present. At the midday prayer-
meeting there were 100 to-day, and a gracious in
fluence was at work." Then, after speaking of a
number by name, who had recently been saved, he
adds, " The number of seekers are daily increasing.
I should think the devil must feel rather bad at
seeing so many of his soldiers returning to God.
He can t say they are rebels, for they all belong to
God." " The work is going on here too among the
natives. About 100 are converted ; twenty in each
of the last three nights."
That was the beginning of a work among the
natives there, after I left ; I did not work among
them, except to preach one sermon through an in
terpreter, and found it a very slow business. How
ever, I believe I did better than a good brother I
heard of there, who undertook to give an address to
an audience of Kaffirs. He was a brother accustomed
to use long, hard words, which would sound well to
English ears ; but rather too abstract and lengthy
for a Kaffir interpreter.
When he delivered his first sentence, the interpre
ter said, in effect, " Friends, I don t understand what
he says."
Then came another sentence,
" Friends, I have no doubt that it is very good,
but I don t understand it."
Then came another deliverance, long and loud.
PARTING WITH FR1LXDS. 85
" Friends, that is extraordinary, no doubt, but it
is all dark to me."
By that time the eyes of the whole audience
glistened, and they began freely to show their ivory,
and the speaker seemed to think he was doing it,
for he could not understand a word that the inter
preter said, and he waxed eloquent in the flow of
his great words ; and the interpreter went on to the
close replying to each sentence, closing with,
" Friends, if you have understood any of that, you
have done more than I have. It is a grand dis
course, no doubt." The Kaffirs there are blessed
with the ministry of my friend, Rev. W. J. Davis,
who needs no interpreter, and now reports several
hundreds of them saved since I was there.
After my lecture, on Friday night the 1st of June,
I gave my last words of counsel and exhortation to
my dear brethren and sisters in Graham s Town. It
was a solemn occasion, for though I never preach
"farewell sermons," or encourage any ado on the
occasion of my final departure from any place, still,
I am always reminded that Christian love and sym
pathy, so beautifully illustrated at Miletus, is the
same in all ages, and among all people.
God s messenger of mercy to their hearts " kneeled
down, and prayed with them all. And they all wept
sore, and fell on Paul s neck, and kissed him, sorrow
ing most of all for the words which he spake, that
they should see his face no more." Brother Davis,
and two of his daughters, Brother and Sister Guard,
86 GRAHAM S TOWN.
Brother Holford, and a few others, accompanied us to
:he house of my host ; and after a good supper, and
good social cheer, we together sang,
" And let our bodies part
To different climes repair,
Inseparably joined in heart
The friends of Jesus are," etc.
And upon our knees again commended each other,
and our young converts, to the special care of our
covenant-keeping God, and said farewell. It was
then midnight, and I had a rough journey of seventy
miles between me, and my work in King William s
Town the following Sabbath. After a little sleep, at
four A.M., of Saturday, June 2nd, Mr. D. Penn called
with his cart and-two, and we commenced our long
day s journey. Brother Penn had a pair of fine
travellers, which took us thirty miles to breakfast.
Then we got a pair of fresh horses, which he had
sent on two days before, and they made the rest of
the gourney just as the sun sank from view in the
western horizon. Much of our route lay through a
broken, rocky country, all the way hilly, with the
usual variety of deep gorges, little creeks, precipices
and cliffs, rich grassy ranges, and patches of African
jungle, with their peculiar intermixture of aloes,
and the euphorbia-tree. "We saw one deer on the
route ; met many scores of wagons, drawn by the
finest oxen I have ever seen ; we saw in the distance
too, many Kaffir huts, and passed a very few houses
MR. D. PENN. 87
of colonial settlers. Brother Penn is an old colonist;
has been in the Kaffir wars ; has had a great variety
of experience, and entertained me all the way with
marvellous narratives, illustrating colonial life;
while I enjoyed them very much, I was too weary to
note them.
Brother Penn had been a servant of God for some
years, but had lost ground in the Christian race;
at our recent meetings he had received a rich baptism
of the Holy Spirit, and was now very happy, and very
active in the work of winning souls.
Arriving at King William s Town, he found lodg
ings with an old friend, and I was kindly entertained
by the superintendent of the circuit, Rev. J. Fish,
and his excellent young wife.
CHAPTER YIIL
KING WILLIAM S TOWN.
WILLIAM S TOWN, located on the banks of the
Buffalo Biver, in the midst of a fertile grassy coun
try, was commenced by the establishment of a mili
tary post there in 1835. It was subsequently aban
doned by the authority of the Home Government,
but re-established in 1848, and became the capi
tal of British Kaffraria a large tract of country
extending from the old eastern boundary of Cape
Colony to the " Great Kie Biver." It was settled
by an enterprising class of people, and became a
flourishing province. The people prayed earnestly
for a Colonial Government of their own ; that being
denied them, British Kaffraria was in April, 1866,
annexed to Cape Colony. As this annexation was
subsequent to the taking of the Colonial census in
1865, the population of British Kaffraria is not in
cluded in that census, and must therefore, what
ever it may be, which I know not, proportionately
swell the real aggregate colonial population above
the figures I have given from the census ; since the
census was taken, however, about forty thousand
REV. JOHN BROWNLIE. 89
Fingoes, included in the census of Cape Colony, have
removed to Fingo-land, so that the Colony has
upon the whole no numerical gain in these changes,
but a real gain of a fine tract of country, and a most
enterprising Colonial population.
King William s Town has a population of about
6,000, probably one half of whom are Europeans,
principally English. It is a strong military post,
and a large force of soldiers are quartered there.
There are in the town two weekly papers published,
and the Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Presbyte
rians, and Wesleyans, have each one church edifice.
Besides which, the Wesley an, London Missionary
Society, and the Berlin Missionary Society, have
each a chapel for the Kaffirs. Rev. John Brownlie,
one of the oldest pioneer missionaries of Southern
Africa, established a mission there among the Kaffirs,
under the direction of the London Missionary Society,
long before the town was laid out.
The first Wesley an Chapel was built at a cost
of 400, with sittings for 150 persons, in 1849. It
is now used as a schoolhouse; next to it stands
a substantial stone dwelling, which is the " Mission
House," and next to that, separated by a few rods
of ground for garden and shrubbery, in one of the
best sites in the town, is the new Wesleyan stone
chapel, built at a cost of 2,000, with sittings for
500 persons.
Rev. J. Fish, the Superintendent, is from the
" .Richmond Institution," an energetic, talented
90 KISG WILLIAM S TOWN.
young minister, and though but a few years in
Africa, honourably maintains the responsible posi
tion of Superintendent of this very important cir
cuit. On Sabbath morning, June 3rd, we had the
chapel crowded with a well-dressed, very intelligent-
looking congregation, for whatever may be said of
the rustic lives and manners of pioneers, they have
a bearing of self-possession, wide-awake spirit of dis
crimination and thoughtfulness, which are very mani
fest, even in the quiet of an assembled audience in
the house of God. Having had much experience in
pioneer life in California, I think I understand pretty
well how to reach the hearts of such people ; yet
though we had three very interesting preaching ser
vices that day, and a gracious quickening in the
Church, there were no conversions so far as we could
learn. I preached each evening during the week ex
cept Saturday evening, but having a heavy attack of
influenza I was not in good working condition, still
the interest increased in the Church, and on Wed
nesday evening, as Mr. Fish states in his letter to
the Missionary Society, " the bar of reserve and pre
judice was broken down, and some twenty- eight
young people gathered round the communion-rail ;
many of whom, as the "first-fruits" of a gracious
work, were enabled by faith in Jesus Christ to realize
the forgiveness of their sins. " It was a moment of
delicious joy," continues Brother Fish, " when I saw
them come forth one by one as penitents, but the
joy was more blessed as, one by one, a score of them
FRUITS OF THE REVIVAL.
stood up, and in a few broken sentences told how
Jesus had pardoned their sins." We often, near
the beginning of a series of services, invite those
who have just "believed unto righteousness/ to
make " confession unto " the " salvation" they have
received, that the Church, and the unbelievers also,
may get an appreciative idea of the character of
the work from the testimony of a variety of wit
nesses just saved, and have hence learned nothing
to say but the simple, glorious, conscious facts of the
"demonstration of the Spirit" in their hearts.
"Why not have them confess publicly all through the
services ? Because we get so many seekers requiring
attention, that we cannot spare time to listen to the
interesting words of the new-born souls, but arrange
to have them tell their experience to their min-
nister, who writes down the fact of their conversion,
with their names and addresses, so as to put them
at once under pastoral care, as lambs in the fold of
Christ. Most of the persons professing to obtain
pardon that week were young persons. Our special
series of preaching services closed on Monday night
of the week ensuing. Mr. Fish goes on to state in
his letter, " On Sunday, the 10th of June, the Holy
Ghost fell upon the people, and twenty-six adults
came forward to declare themselves seekers of God s
pardoning mercy ; eight or ten of whom were enabled
to rise up and declare that God had, for Christ s
sake, forgiven all their sins. On the following even
ing twenty-eight adults came forward. No sooner
92 KING WILLIAM S TOWN.
was the invitation given, than, as if resolved to press
into the kingdom, they walked from their pews to
the communion-rail. It would be in vain to describe
our feelings, as now and then the low sobbing cry
for mercy was blended with words of praise, uttered
by those who had found Christ. With the exception
of eight seekers, all entered into the liberty where
with Christ maketh His people free.
" This was the last sermon of Mr. Taylor s series ;
and thus God set His seal upon His servant s faith.
A day or two afterwards he left us. His name is a
* household word among us. We are thankful to him
for his self-denying efforts,. but more thankful to the
Master who sent him."
Lectures on Tuesday and Wednesday nights
closed my labours in King William s Town. The
visible result is thus stated in Brother Fish s letter :
" The work thus graciously commenced has gone
on slowly and gradually. In order to conserve and
extend it, we held daily prayer-meetings at one
o clock, and continued special services every even
ing ; as the result of which, about twenty more souls
have been converted. The number of Europeans
converted in this revival is, children included, about
eighty. Some of these were members of society,
who had not before enjoyed the evidence of their
acceptance in the Beloved. The rest have been
received on trial, either in this or other circuits."
On Wednesday the 6th of June, in the midst of our
series of services in King William s Town, a Kaffir
MELTING OF MISSIONARIES. 03
came running with the message that four mission
aries were " in the path," and would arrive point
ing where the sun would be a little after noon.
In due time we saw in the distance four English
men on foot coming into the town, accompanied
by a few Kaffirs. Their appearance suggested the
sacred historic scene of the Master and His rustic-
looking fishermen, whom he was teaching to bo
" fishers of men/ walking into the city of Capernaum.
These brethren had walked from Annshaw Mission
station, twenty-five miles distant. We watched them
with peculiar interest as they approached. One of
them I recognized at once as Rev. John Scott, from
Graham s Town, and I was introduced to Revs.
Lamplough, Hillier, and Sawtell.
Rev. Robert Lamplough had for nearly six years
been, and then was, the "Wesleyan missionary to
Chief Kama s tribe of Kaffirs, the residence of the
chief, and head of the mission circuit, bearing the
name of Rev. Wm. Shaw s missionary wife " Ann
shaw." I had heard much of Brother Lamplough s
faithful ministrations in Graham s Town, where
he had laboured before his appointment to the Kaffir
work. I had learned also that though he was not
much acquainted with the Kaffir language, he was
preaching successfully through an interpreter, and
was the best disciplinarian in South Africa. It was
gratefully stated by his Graham s Town friends, that
there were many noble ministers, and administrators
among them ; yet, in the Kaffir work, where Lamp-
01 KING WILLIAM S TOWN.
lough s administrative talents had specially been
called into requisition, he was, confessedly, in wise,
firm, persistent and effective discipline, superior to
any man in South Africa. I was, therefore, very glad
to meet with Brother Lamplough ; but could not
anticipate, the glorious results of our acquaintance
with each other. He expressed his deep regret that
I had arranged to spend but one night on his station.
Having no hope of working successfully through an
interpreter, my plan of appointments, extending
then more than a month in advance, was confined
to the English work, except this one night for
Annshaw, which I had given more in deference
to Brother Lamplough, of whom I had heard so
much, than from any hope of doing much good to
Lis people.
Brother Sawtell was, by appointment, junior
minister on Annshaw circuit, engaged specially in
estabnshing a new mission among a tribe of about
15,000 Fingoes in Amatola Basin, in the mountains,
about fifteen miles distant from Annshaw. He is
son-in-law of Bev. "VV. J. Davis, an industrious
young minister, who will, I think, become very use-
ful. I heard him preach a very good sermon,
through a Kaffir interpreter, in King William s
Town, the only English sermon I had heard for nine
months, being all the time so occupied myself. I
followed with an exhortation, and was encouraged to
hope that I might do some good after all, by preach
ing through an interpreter.
NATIVE CANDIDATES FOR THE MINISTRY. 95
Brother Hillier was junior minister on Fort Peddie
circuit. We ll hear from him again.
Brother Lamplough introduced to me his two
native candidates for the ministry, whom he had
been training for several years. One was Wm.
Shaw, son of Chief Kama, the other was Charles
Pamla, who belongs to a family of Amazulu chiefs.
These, with two others, are the first South African
natives proposed for the ministry among the Wesley-
ans. The Free Church of Scotland have one edu
cated Kaffir minister, Rev. Tio Soga. Wm. Shaw
Kama had given up the prospect of becoming the
successor of his father in the chieftainship of his
tribe, that he might be a missionary to the heathen,
and desired " to be sent far hence/ among those who
had not the Gospel.
Charles Pamla had sold his farm, and good house,
that he might devote his undivided time and energies
to the one work of saving sinners, by leading them
to the only Saviour. He is about six feet high,
muscular, well-proportioned, but lean ; quite black,
with a fine display of ivory ; good craniological de
velopment, regular features, very pleasant expression,
logical cast of mind, sonorous powerful voice. He
is the man whom God appointed, through the instru
mentality of Brother Lamplough, to open for me an
effectual door of utterance to the heathen.
Charles Pamla s providential training for our great
work was going on quite independent of me, yet
simultaneously with the progress of my work in
96
another part of the colony. This is forcibly illus
trated by a letter written by Charles, to Rev. Wm.
Shaw, dated June 1st, which was the day I closed
ray campaign in Graham s Town. The letter was
published in the Weskyan Missionary Notices, for
September, 1866. Any one reading it will require
of me no apology for inserting the whole epistle.
MY DEAR SIR, Since I came to Annshaw, by reading
"Wesley s Sermons, I was convinced to seek after entire
sanctification, and since last District-Meeting I have been
praying for it, and trusting to obtain it. I had a sure trust,
that through the blood of Christ I would obtain the blessing
promised to those who come to Christ by faith. About a
month ago, one morning very early, I went to pray for the
same thing, entire sanctification ; and while I was praying
and trusting in the blood of Christ, I felt a small voice
speaking through my soul, saying, "It is done, receive the
blessing." The first thing I felt was ease from the different
kinds of thoughts, ease from the world, and from all the
cares of the flesh. I felt the Spirit filling my soul, and
immediately I was forced to say in my soul, " For me to
live is Christ." And I gave up my body, soul, thoughts,
words, time, property, children, and everything that belongs
to me, to the Lord, to do as He pleases. One evening,
while I was thinking about the promises, a young man came
to me, and told me that he felt his sins. I told him to
come in, and so he did ; and we began to pray to God. I
took my book, and read one of Wesley s Sermons on Justi
fication by Faith ; also showing that it is not through the
works of a man that God justifies a sinner ; the sinner has
only to repent and give up his sins, believe and trust to the
aloning blood of Christ. At the same time there were two
CHAIILES PAMLA S LETTER. 97
others who had never found peace with God : one of them
was a member; but the other two were unbelievers. I
kept on praying and showing the way to their great Creator
God, and they all three began to cry aloud with a broken
and contrite heart. I went on praying. First one found
peace, and then another, until they all found peace. And
they almost showed in their appearance that they were new
creatures in Christ Jesus. The following evening we had
another meeting, and three found peace.
I went to Keiskamma Hoek the next Sunday, and took
the same subject, Justification by Faith; and I put a few
strong words in to make it plainer to the hearers. It
seemed as if God was there ; the congregation were shak
ing ; it seemed as if every one of them were condemned by
the power of the Holy Ghost, and Christ seemed to be there.
They began to cry aloud through these words, beginning
from the Leaders to the members, and also the heathen
who were there. After that we had a Prayer-meeting, and
again preaching about " the way to the kingdom repent,
and believe the Gospel." (Matt. i. 15.) It was the same
thing, several found peace during these two services, and
many cried out for mercy ; and I proposed another service
at the Tshoxa in the evening. Several came from different
places, and we began our services, and God visited us that
night with a great baptism of the Holy Ghost. Some
were crying for mercy, some were rejoicing, those that had
just found peace, saying, " We were in darkness, but now
we are in light ; our eyes are open to-day ; we were dead, .
but to-day we are alive." I was praying, and talking, and
addressing them, quoting different passages for their benefit,
and my heart rejoiced more and more in that great work of
God. The next morning we had another meeting : it was,
the same thing, some were crying, and some found peace,
I examined them carefully through one of Wesley s Ser-
H
98
mons on the " Witness of the Spirit." They answered
satisfactorily. There were twenty-six members found peace
that day and night ; also one backslider, one little girl about
ten years of age, and nine people who were heathens. These
thirty-seven all found peace with God, and are now willing
to join class and serve God with all their heart, and mind,
and soul, and strength, and give up Kaffir beer, and all
other heathen customs, and every sin, and be fully on the
Lord s side all the days of their life, by God s help. This
is the salvation which is through faith, even in the present
world. My dear Sir, we rejoice in this great work, seeing
that God has not altogether given up His people the
natives.
Brothers Lamplough, Hillier and Sawtell gave
us valuable assistance in our prayer-meetings in
King William s Town, their Kaffir candidates for
the ministry, and companions in the local ranks,
looked on, listened, and learned what they afterwards
turned to good account. I spent much time with,
these missionaries and our kind host, in conversation
on the best methods of missionary enterprise. While
in King William s Town I became acquainted with
Kev. J. W. Appleyard, a mild, sweet-spirited brother,
superintendent of our Mount Coke Mission Station,
ten miles distant, and manager of the Wesleyan
Kaffir printing-establishment at Mount Coke. Brother
Appleyard was appointed, by the Wesleyan Con
ference, to South Africa in 1839, and has become a
thorough master of the Kaffir language, and is the
author of a grammar of that language of high repute
among the missionaries. With the assistance of
APPLEYARD S KAFFIR BIBLE. 99
some fragmentary translations of the Bible, by
Brothers Davis, Dugmore, and others, Brother Apple-
yard has translated the whole book of the Old and
New Testament Scriptures into the Kaffir language,
which, under his immediate supervision, was pub
lished in one neat volume in London, by the British
and Foreign Bible Society. Some parties, not be
lieved to be friendly to Wesleyan successes in South
Africa, made a representation to the managers of the
Bible Society, stating that Appleyard s translation
was a miserable failure. This led to a critical ex
amination of it by competent Kaffirs, well-read in
the English, as well as their own language, who have
pronounced it an excellent translation.
Brother Appleyard believes that the Kaffir lan
guage is spoken by one million souls in South Africa,
and probably by some millions in Central Africa,
whence these South African Kaffirs appear to have
emigrated. In King William s Town I also met
with Rev. John Longdon, Wesleyan missionary at
Butterworth, in Fingo-land, who gave me a pres
sing Macedonian call to help him ; not recognising it
then as a call from the Lord, I did not promise to
go, but afterwards went, nevertheless, by the will of
God.
I visited Mr. George Impey in his last illness, the
father of Kev. William Impey. The dear old man
had been confined to his room for four years, suffer
ing from paralysis. He had been a resident of the
colony for twenty-two years, and of King William s
100
Town for seven. He was for some years manager
of the British Kaffrarian Bank, and was, as I
learned from them, who knew him long and well,
a consistent, cheerful Christian, and a Wesleyan
Local Preacher of superior abilities. He was not
able to converse much when I saw him, but was
steadfast in faith, and his victory over sin and Satan
complete.
I sang to him the dying sentiments of Bishop
McKendree :
What s this that steals, that steals upon my frame ?
Is it death ? Is it death ?
That soon shall quench, shall quench this vital flame,
Is it death ? Is it death ?
If this be death, I soon shall he
From every pain and sorrow free,
I shall the King of Glory see !
All is well, all is well.
Weep not my friends, my friends weep not for me ;
All is well, all is well.
My sins are pardoned, pardoned, I am free :
All is well, all is well.
There s not a cloud that doth arise,
To hide my Saviour from my eyes,
I soon shall mount the upper skies :
All is well, all is well.
Tune, tune your harps, your harps, ye saints, in glory,
All is well, all is well.
I will rehearse, rehearse the pleasing story,
All is well, all is well.
Bright angels are from glory come,
They re round my hed, they re in my room,
They wait to waft my Spirit home,
All is well, all is well.
MR. GEORGE TMPEY. 101
Hark ! hark, my Lord, my Lord and Master calls me,,
All is well, all is well.
I soon shall see, shall see His face in glory,
All is well, all is well.
Adieu, adieu, my friends, adieu,
I can no longer stay with you,
My glittering crown appears in view,
All is well, all is well.
All through the singing of this hymn, which has
given expression to the triumphant joy of multi
tudes of dying Christians to whom I have sung it,
the face of this dying patriarch was covered with
smiles, and streams of tears ; and his hands were
waving, as though, in the rapture of his soul, his
dying body could not wait its appointed time, " to
wit, the redemption of our bodies/ but would fain
mount up and fly, and at once accompany its im
mortal tenant to its " house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens." For a time he seemed
hardly to know whether he was " in the body or out
of the body ;" but his acute bodily sufferings soon
reminded him that the mortal struggle was still
pending. He then grasped my hand, and with tears,
exclaimed; " Oh, my brother, my dear brother, it
will not be long ! All is well." He lingered a few
weeks, and sank to peaceful rest.
Bev. Brother Hillier begged me to visit Fort
Peddie, one of the largest mission stations in the
country ; but I had passed that en route from Gra
ham s Town, and my appointments had been an
nounced in advance, for every day for weeks, taking
102 KING WILLIAM S TOWN.
me quite into another part of the country, so I had
to say nay. He was a young man of great promise,
recently united in marriage to a daughter of one of
our old missionaries, Rev. J. Smith. -A few months
after, in a letter from Brother Lamplough, I received
the following sad intelligence : " You will remem
ber our Brother Hillier, who accompanied Brother
Sawtell and myself to King "William s Town. He
died about a fortnight ago, after an illness of three
days. The last sermon he heard of yours was that
on going on to perfection/ Under that sermon he
received a wonderful blessing ; indeed, he was not
like the same man afterwards, either in his spirit, or
in his preaching. After he returned to his circuit,
he sought, and found a fresh baptism from on high,
which led him to preach and pray for a revival of
God s work, and it was not long before it came, and
some hundreds of souls entered into liberty through
Brother Hillier s instrumentality. I need not say
that he died trusting in Christ, and in sure and cer
tain hope of everlasting life." As I am usually but
a week on a circuit, in its largest and most central
place of worship, it is quite as much my business,
under the leading of the Holy Spirit, to labour for
the "perfecting of the saints," as in the "work of
the ministry" of reconciliation to sinners, so as to
assist the Church in the development., and increas
ingly effective employment of her home resources
and agencies, that she may go on, in humble reliance
103
on God, without foreign special agency, conquering
and to conquer.
A number of the leading business men, of King
William s Town, are the sons of our old missionaries
and members, such as E. Giddy, Esq., the son of
Rev. Eichard Giddy, chairman of the Bechuana
District, Messrs. Joseph and Eichard Walker, sons
of Eev. Father Walker, of Graham s Town, one of
our old pioneer missionary Catechists, and others
which my space will not allow me to introduce.
These men are an honour to their parents, and to the
Church. Mr. Joseph Walker presented me with a
fine walking-stick, turned out of the horn of a huge
African rhinoceros. It came -just at the time I
needed it, to support me in my subsequent out-door
preaching to the Kaffirs, in the absence of pulpit,
or even chairs, for we generally sat on the grass.
After spending a few days at our series of services
in King William s Town, on Saturday, the 9th of
June, Charles Pamla, and Boyce Mama, a very elo
quent and successful native Kaffir preacher, went to
Mount Coke and preached, and conducted prayer-
meetings through the Sabbath, and Brother Apple-
yard told me that upwards of seventy souls professed
to find peace under their labours that day.
On Monday they returned and held a short, but
very successful, series of services for the natives in
King William s Town. Eev. Brother Fish, in his
letter before-mentioned, says, " While Mr. Taylor
104
was preaching to our English congregation, Charles
Pamla devoted two or three days to preaching at the
native location of this town.
" His word came not in word only, but in demon
stration of the Spirit and with power/ It pierced
the consciences of the people. The Holy Ghost fell
upon them ; and during three services, nearly eighty
persons, chiefly young men and women, were con
verted. Since that time, to a great extent by the
instrumentality of my native preachers and leaders,
nearly forty more have been saved at the same place.
The work is still going on. Every week, at my na
tive Leaders Meeting, I receive the names of new
converts."
On Thursday morning, the 14th of June, Mr.
Joseph Walker sent his carriage and pair to take
me to Annshaw, and after the usual shaking of
hands, and solemn pledges of fidelity to God, and a
joyful meeting, but never a parting, beyond the river,
we were soon on our way across the Buffalo, a beauti
ful stream, and up a long range of hills to their sum
mits. Then we have a beautiful view of the town
we have left, and in every direction a measureless
extent of grassy hills and valleys, interspersed with
occasional groves of the Mimosa, and wild aloes, and
patches of jungle, of a great variety of shrubbery and
intertwining vines. The most striking feature of
the African jungle is the euphorbia- tree, standing
thickly and high above the rest. Its trunk resembles
somewhat the New South "Wales " cabbage- tree,"
TRIP TO ANNSHAW. 105
which is a very tall, beautiful variety of the palm.
The euphorbia, however, does not usually grow to a
height exceeding thirty feet ; its limbs and leaves are
rather lobes, more like the cactus than anything I can
think of, and is sometimes called the " cactus- tree."
A few miles out we overtook an Englishwoman, well
dressed, on foot. It looked strange to see such a
respectable-looking person travelling alone, so we
asked her to accept a seat in our carriage, which she
did, without a second asking. She said her teams had
gone on before, en route to the neighbourhood of Kas-
kama Hoek, where she lived, twenty- five miles dis
tant, and having stayed in town longer than she
expected, she would have trouble to overtake them.
We put her about five miles on her way, for which
she was glad and grateful. We found her earnestly
desiring to find her way to heaven, but knew not the
way ; so I gave her definite instructions which, if
followed, will sur&ly lead her to Him who is " the
Truth, the Life, and the Way/ I was glad also to
have the opportunity of indirectly preaching the
Gospel to my Eoman Catholic driver, who went
to my native service that night to hear me
preach, and saw the marvellous effects of the
Holy Spirit s work, such as but few persons ever
see. I hope I may overtake both of my wayside
hearers some day on the hills of glory, and hear the
result.
As we drove along I saw, for the first time, the
Kaffirs in their nude state.
106 KING WILLIAM S TOWN.
Having travelled about fifteen miles we "out-
spanned" at a public-house, and got our dinner,
and food for our horses. I walked down into a field
a few hundred yards from our hotel, where some
men were thrashing barley with a machine propelled
by four oxen. They said they used horses till they
all died with the prevailing "horse sickness/ and
then " inspanned " the horned cattle. While I was
there one of their oxen seeming to get suddenly sick,
fell down, and they could not get him up.
Looking to the hills east of the valley in which
we were stopping, lo, a novel sight, four naked Kaffir
young men, each mounted on a young bullock, and
dashing along like Jehu. They used a kind of bridle,
by which they guided them at will. Sweeping across
the valley at a great rate, they rode up to the public-
house. Their animals were fat, and apparently
almost as fleet as deer ; they came up panting like
racers, as they were, and seemed quite impatient to
stand. Two of the men dismounted, and beckoned
to a couple of naked boys to hold , their animals, while
they, in imitation of their white brethren, went
into the bar-room. Whether they got anything to
drink, I know not, as I do not patronize the bar ;
but like prompt men of business, they were soon
off, and we saw them cantering across the valley
again to their native hills. About two P.M., we
saw the silvery serpentine flow of the Keiskamma,
and the mission- village of Annshaw on its banks.
AKKIVAL AT ANNSHAW. 107
The natives were assembling from all directions, and
standing round in groups, waiting the arrival of the
strange "umfundisi," and as we descended the
hills, they came running to meet us, and bid us
welcome.
CHAPTER IX.
ANNSHAW.
THE first "Wesleyan Mission, established among the
Kaffirs, was in the Amagonakwabi tribe, Amaxosa
nation, under Chief Pato, and his brothers Kobi and
Kama, in the year 1823, by Rev. W. Shaw, assisted
by Rev. William Shepstone.
Mr. Shepstone came out from " Bristol " in the
great immigration of 1820. Though not a minister,
he was an earnest young Wesleyan, and came to
Africa specially to try to do good. In addition to
his usefulness as a successful Local Preacher, he had
other talents specially adapting him to missionary
work in Kaffraria where ordinary mechanics were
afraid to go, lest the Kaffirs should kill them in
that his craft was not only to build tents, but to build
houses. In due course of time he was received by
the British Conference, and ordained a minister of
the Gospel, and has been actively engaged in the
South African missionary work ever since. He
13 now superintendent of Kamastone Mission
FIRST KAFFIR CONVERTS. 109
Station, and chairman of the Queen s Town
District.
Nearly two years after this first mission station
was commenced, Mr. Shaw makes the following
record :
" On the 22nd of March, 1825, I held the first
Methodist Class-meeting in Kanraria, at which six
of the natives were present. We were exceedingly
gratified with the truly earnest manner in which
they expressed their desire to save their souls." Of
their next meeting the following week, he says,
"It was a pleasing and profitable occasion. We
had good reason to hope well of all who were pre
sent ; but they are very weak in the faith, and very
ignorant, and must be treated with much tenderness
and forbearance. We shall consider them on trial
for an indefinite period, and when it is deemed ex
pedient they will be baptized." " In August, 1825,
three natives were baptized, in the presence of a
large assembly of people." The first-fruits of a
glorious harvest. This first mission station grew
into a native village, which Mr. Shaw named
" Wesley ville."
" Amongst the natives whom I baptized at Wesley-
ville, says Mr. Shaw, " were the Chief Kama and
his wife. The latter is a daughter of the great Chief
Gaika, and sister of Makomo, the noted leader in the
late Kaffir wars.
" Kama and his wife, amidst many temptations,
110 ANNSHAW.
and serious difficulties, designedly put in their way
by the heathen chiefs, to seduce them from their
steadfastness, are still members of the Church,
and are very regular in their attendance on its ordi
nances."
"VVesleyville was destroyed in the Kaffir war of
1835 ; but afterwards rebuilt, and destroyed again
in the war of 1848. The great chiefs Pato and Kobi,
came to grief in those wars. One has spent years as
a prisoner on " Kobin Island/ in Table Bay ; but
their tribe, with Kama at their head, remained true
to the British Government, and hence have found a
peaceful home on the banks of the Keiskamma, in
British Kaffraria. The fragments of Wesleyville
Mission were formed into a mission in this new home
of the tribe, with a change of the name to Ann-
shaw.
Chief Kama, who is now an old man, is about six
feet in height, well-proportioned, and corpulent.
He has a large head, a broad face, very benevolent
expression, with the usual, not black, but dark copper-
colour of the " royal line " of Kaffir Chiefs. He is
altogether a noble-looking old man. The Colonial
Government allows him a small pension. . About
12,000 of his tribe are settled about him, and are
under his rule, subordinate to the English Govern
ment in the colony. It is a sad fact, but may be
said to illustrate the uphill wo?k of the missionaries
among such people, that Kama is the only " para-
CHIEF KAMA. Ill
mount chief" in Southern Africa who is connected
with any Christian Church. Rev. "William Sargent,
who established the Aimshaw Mission Station, and
hence knows Kama well, told me he heard him, in a
missionary address, tell his experience, in which he
said, " When I became a Christian, my fellow-chiefs
and many of my people laughed at me, said I was
a fool, and that I never would become a ruling chief,
that my people would throw me away that I
would become a scabby goat, and a vagabond in the
earth, without home or friends ; but just the reverse
of all that has come to pass. I was then young,
and had no people, my older brothers had a great
people, but they rejected Christ, and lost their
people, and everything they had, and I remain the
only ruling chief of my tribe." Kama has ever re
mained true to the Wesley an Church. It was said,
with great regret, by some of the missionaries, that
he had become cold in religion, and was too fond of
strong drink ; but during the recent revival among
his people, he has been fully reclaimed, and is happy
in God. His only wife still lives, and is, I am told,
a superior woman.
The paramount chief of the Amatembu tribe,
from which nearly all the ruling chiefs get their
" great wives" (the mothers of the ruling line of
paramount chiefs), sent, by a deputation of his
counsellors, with all the ceremony due to such an
occasion, a young woman to Kama, to become his
112 ANNSHAW.
" great wife. 1 " In the olden time a refusal, on Kama s
part, would have furnished an occasion for war.
When this party arrived near Kama s " great place/*
they " sat down/ according to the ceremony to be ob
served in approaching a chief, to wait his pleasure.
Kama refused to see them, but sent them a bullock
that they might slay, and eat, and then go about
their business. They tarried but a night, and left
unceremoniously in the morning.
Kama has but three sons ; the first was a Wesleyan
at one time, but was ensnared by the trap laid for
his father, and took a second wife, became a heathen,
and is such a wreck that it is not likely that the
tribe or the Colonial Government will ever promote
him to ruling power. His second son, William
Shaw, is a man of great amiability, sound intelli
gence, and sterling Christian integrity. He would,
no doubt, succeed his father in the chieftainship, but
has devoted himself to the ministry, and was with
Charles Pamla and two others, " received on trial/
at the recent session of the British Conference
(1866). His third son is a good young man, but is
thought to be dying with consumption.
Since writing the above, I have received, by a
letter, the following corroborative and additional
facts concerning the Chief Kama from Rev. Eobert
Lamplough, who has been his missionary for the last
six years : " The Chief Kama is a fine, tall, very
dignified-looking man, nearly seventy years of age.
He first became known to Eev. W. Shaw, when he
MR. SHAW AND THE YOUNG CHIEF. 113
and his tribe lived near the sea in the Peddie Dis
trict. He was then a young man, and a red heathen ;
and he and his tribe had no friendship with the
white man. "When Mr. Shaw went among them
about forty-three years ago, they showed him
where to build his place remote from their kraals,
for they said, " This word of God will bring sickness
among us." Mr. Shaw, however, refused to go so far
away from them, and they at last consented for him
to live near their kraals. Mr. Shaw soon taught
them about the Sabbath-day, and that on the Sabbath
they were expected to attend the services, and hear
the Word of God preached. On one occasion Mr.
Shaw asked Kama to accompany him to Graham s
Town, but his people were very much opposed to
this, saying, that Kama would "be killed by the
English."
Mr. Shaw said, " I shall leave my wife with
you, and if Kama is killed, you will kill her/ At
this they knew not what to say, and, finally, they
consented to Kama s going to Graham s Town. It
was on this, and subsequent journeys, that Kama
and Mr. Shaw became great friends. The people of
Kama s tribe observed this, and were evidently afraid
of the consequences ; they tried to prevent Kama
from going so often to visit Mr. Shaw, and they told
him that if he was so much with the minister he
would be converted. Kama at this time was poor,
and Mr. Shaw advised him to buy a wagon, telling
him that it would help him very much. When.
.114 ANXSIIAW.
Kama told his people that he was going to buy a
wagon, they were still more afraid, and they tried
to hinder him in every possible way. But Kama
Would not listen to them, and so he gave Mr. Shaw
ten fat oxen that he might buy a wagon for him in
Graham s Town. That wagon made Kama rich, so
that in time he had three kraals full of cattle.
One morning Kama went to visit Mr. Shaw; he
found him writing. Mr. Shaw said to Kama, " Do
you know my face and name ?" Kama replied, " Yes."
Mr. Shaw said, "And I know your face and name/*
and then went on to talk to him, telling him that in
the next world they would know each other as they
did in that room. This word came home to the
Chiefs heart, and led eventually to his conversion ;
there soon followed others, a brother of Kama s
amongst the number.
Some years after this, when Kama was living at
!Newtondale, about ten miles from Peddie, and being
now a member of the Wesleyan Church, another
Kaffir chief sent his daughter to Kama that he
might marry her for his second wife (his first being
still alive), Kama sent word to the Chief that he
could not take a second wife, for he was a Christian
and feared God. This word of Kama s might have
caused war between his people and the other chief
and his tribe, and his brothers and people did their
best to make him take this woman, saying that they
were afraid they would be killed by the other chiet
CHIEF KAMA S COURAGE. 115
and his people. Kama nobly replied, " I am ready
to die, rather than take two wives," and forthwith
he sent away the Chiefs daughter without seeing
her, with a present of four cattle.
After this the small-pox broke out amongst the
people, and many died of this fearful disease. The
other chiefs were for killing all the people living at
infected places. Kama said that he would not allow
such a thing ; but notwithstanding all his efforts to
prevent it, some were killed secretly. When Kama
heard of it, he spoke much to his people about it, and
told them that God would not approve of such things.
The other chiefs said that they would prepare to
make war upon Kama, and kill him, for preventing
the killing of all who lived at the places where the
small-pox was. To this Kama replied, that he would
not consent, though they should fight with him.
In consequence of this and other things, Kama
determined to leave that part of the country ; but
first he informed the English Government about it,
who gave him full permission to go where he chose.
Some of his people did not accompany him, but others
would not forsake him, and they set forth, intending
to go as far as Moshesh s country ; but finally they
settled in what was then the Tambookie country.
Whilst living here Kama preached to the people, for
they had no minister ; but Kama got them together
on Sundays, his eldest son Samuel used to read foi
him out of God s Word, and Kama preached to the
110 ANXSHAW.
people regularly. None of his sons were converted
at that time ; but after some time his two sons,
Samuel and William Shaw (who was at the last
session of the English Conference admitted to the
ministry), together with several others, were brought
to God, and the Rev. Wm. Shepstone afterwards came
and baptized the young converts, and took charge of
the people ; and thus were laid the foundations of
the Mission Station, so wonderfully visited by the
Holy Spirit of late, called after the Chief " Kama-
stone."
Chief Kama lives in a good substantial house of
English style, about three hundred yards from the
chapel. The mission-house is a large, one-story
cottage, with verandah, extending all along the front.
The chapel is a wood building, plain, but neat, and
will seat about six hundred persons. These, with
a few square native houses, stand out as the promi
nent buildings of the place ; next to these, what is
more interesting to a stranger, the humble dwellings
of the natives. These are, for the most part, round
huts, one class of which, shaped exactly like a
haycock, consists simply of a framework of small
poles and twigs, covered all over and down to the
ground with long grass, beautifully thatched. A
hole about two feet wide, and three feet high, is left
on one side as the door. The fire is built in the
centre, and the smoke slowly works its way up
through the thatch, making it black inside and ouc.
Europeans would not enjoy a residence in such an
KAFFIR HUTS. 117
establishment I m sure. Others are built up of
" wattle and daub/ in a perpendicular wall, from
four to five feet high, and covered with thatch, just
like the former. A third class of huts are built just
like the second, except that the round wall, rising
from five to seven feet high, is made sometimes of
sod, but more frequently of solid blocks of clay,
somewhat like the Mexican " adobes," plastered over
with mortar. These are very comfortable dwellings
for the higher classes.
At the time of my arrival at Annshaw, there were
in the circuit a Wesleyan membership of six hundred,
most of whom were Kama s Kaffirs, the rest were
Pin goes. Charles Pamla, an Amazulu Eingoe, had been
labouring, principally among Kama s Tribe, as an un
paid evangelist, for several years. He is one of the
evangelists mentioned in last year s (1865) official
reports of the Annshaw circuit, an extract from
which may serve to illustrate the breaking up of
fallow ground in that important field. " This circuit
has prospered spiritually during the year. Discipline
has been beneficially exercised. Conversions have
resulted in several instances. The officers of the
church have been much quickened. Three evange
lists have been diligently employed in preaching at
the heathen Kraals, during the greater part of the
year. There is reason to believe that, partly through
their efforts, one or two conversions have taken place
among the heathen, and in other respects their la
bours have been attended with good."
118 ANNSHAW.
Brother Lamplougli gave me Charles Painla to
interpret for me.
Before the service, I took him alone, and preached
my sermon to him, filling his head and heart full of
it. After he had heard me preach in King William s
Town, I asked him if he could put my sermon into
Kaffir.
" No, Mr. Taylor, I think I could not. I under
stood the most of it, but I can only interpret low
English, and you speak high English/
I at once determined to study "low English."
And now when I was preaching to him alone, I told
him to stop me at every word he could not fully
understand. I was fully committed to make one
more effort at the second-hand mode of preaching,
through a spokesman. Having gone through with
the discourse, I gave my man a talk on naturalness.
" But," said he, " I must speak loudly sometimes."
I then saw that by naturalness he thought I meant
simply the conversational style.
" 0, yes," I replied, " as loudly as you like at the
right time. The scream of a mother, on seeing her
child fall into a well, is as natural as her lullaby in
the nursery. God hath given us every variety of vocal
power and intonation adapted to express every
variety of the soul s emotions, from the softest
whispers, like the mellow murmurs of the rippling
rill, up to the thundering, crashing voices of the
cataract. I however, put it into " low English," so
that he understood me perfectly.
FIRST REVIVAL SERVICE. 119
At four P.M. of Thursday, June 14th, we com
menced our first service. Brother Lamplough
opened with singing and prayer. I stood in the
small pulpit, and Charles on the top step by my
side. In front we see the crowded audience of natives,
packed in to every square foot of space, including the
aisles. The mission-station people men and women
are all clothed in European dress, the head-dress of
the women consisting of a handkerchief, usually
red, turbaned round with some display of taste.
The heathens are painted red with ochre, the men
wrapped in a blanket, the women wearing a skirt
of dressed leather, with head-dress, similar to the
fashion of the station women. To our left, in the
corner, are my Homanist driver, and Mr. Harper,
who had come to drive me next day to Love-
dale, also Sister Sawtell, Sister Lamplough, and her
children ; in the altar below us were the two circuit
ministers ; on our right, next the wall, were Chief
Kama and the Fingoe Chief, Hlambisa, from Ama-
tola Basin, fifteen miles distant, who rules a tribe of
fifteen thousand Fingoes in the Amatola mountains.
He is Brother Pamla s uncle, but a hardened old
heathen, with about a dozen wives. We announced
as the text the last words of Jesus, " Ye shall receive
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you,
and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utter
most parts of the earth." The sermon was entirely
to believers. I believe Charles gave every idea and
120 ANNSHAW.
shade of thought as naturally and as definitely as if
they had originated in his own brain. Indeed, black
as he was, he seemed a transparent medium through
which my Gospel thoughts, rendered luminous
and mighty by the Holy Spirit s unction, shone
brightly through the soul windows the eyes and
ears of my sable hearers down into the depths of
their hearts. All through the discourse of one hour
and a quarter there was a profound silence through
out the assembly, rendered awful in solemnity by
the deep consciousness that every one seemed to feel
of the presence of a power which, like a slumbering
earthquake, would soon break forth in manifest gran
deur. After a season of silent prayer, at the close
of the discourse, silent for a time, but slightly inter
rupted by the uncontrollable emotions of the people,
we dismissed the assembly to give a little time for
refreshment and reflection before the evening service.
After a hasty tea I went alone with Charles, and
gave him in detail the sermon for the evening, and
we again stood before the people at 8 P.M., and
preached to sinners from the text, " As I live, saith
the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way
and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways,
for why will ye die ? " We had about the same
congregation, in the same order, as in the afternoon.
During the preaching of over an hour, the beaming
faces of believers, the distorted features of sinners,
the tearful eyes of both, all in solemn silence before
121
the Lord, and the voices of His prophets, presented
altogether a scene which neither painter nor poet
can describe ; and yet, to be felt and witnessed, was
to receive an impression never to be effaced while
memory endures.
At the close of the discourse I said, " Charles, I will
sing a hymn suitable to the subject, but I only know
it by memory to the time of the tune, and can t line
it for jouj but I will sing a line at a time, and you
will put it into Kaffir." I then sang as follows, line
by line, leaving time for the translation into another
language, the hymn called
WHY WILL YE DIE ?
" SINNEKS, hastening down to ruin,
Why will ye die ?
Jesus is your souls pursuing,
Why will ye die ?
Though from Him you still are flying.
All His power and love defying,
Hark, how loudly He is crying !
Why will ye die ?
Sinai asks in loudest thunder,
Why will ye die ?
Heaven and earth cry out with wondei,
Why will ye die ?
Sinners, sunk in degradation,
While rejecting God s salvation,
This is Heaven s expostulation,
Why will ye die ?
Jesu s groans, on Calvary s mountain-
Why will ye die ?
Speak with blood that fills the fountain?
Why will ye die ?
122 ANXSHAW.
Blood that ransomed every nation,
Fits for heaven s exalted station.
Sinners, now accept salvation.
Why will ye die ?
Death and hell cry out, while hasting,
Why will ye die ?
And your feeble strength while wasting,
Why will ye die ?
When you cross cold Jordan s river,
And your doom is fixed for ever,
God will ask no more no, never,
Why will ye die ?
But through everlasting ages,
Then you must die !
While hell s howling tempest rages,
Then you must die \
Stripp d of every earthly pleasure ;
Lost for ever, heavenly treasure ;
Burning vengeance without measure ;
But cannot die !
Charles not only put every line into Kaffir, but
after the first verse, he gave them the tune as well,
though he had never heard it before. When spoken
to about it the next day, he said that he was not
aware of the fact that he had sung it, as he only
meant to give the words.
The ministers present seemed to think it the
result of an extraordinary inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, which was true in a very glorious sense, but I
believe the Spirit s work on the whole occasion was
perfectly adjusted to the human conditions employed,
and did not miraculously rise above, or suspend
any physical law. The fact was, I had a very apt j
CHARLES PAMLA S SINGING. 123
scholar for my interpreter. He had so thoroughly
digested my lecture on Naturalness, that, though he
has a voice for variety, pathos and volume, so grandly
superior that he could not be an ape, yet in his own
natural voice he gave every intonation of mine,
running through at least two octaves, during the dis
course, so when he commenced to render the lines
which I was singing, he seemed at first a little con
fused, for he had lost the key-note of my intonations,
but soon his voice mounted up into the regions of
song, and echoed, perfectly as a keyed instrument,
my singing tones, just as he had before echoed my
speaking tones. Charles, however, was not simply
a medium through which my thoughts were conveyed
to the people. He had been under Brother Lamp-
lough s training for several years, and was well read
in Bible doctrines, and, better still, had a holy heart,
and the prophetic unction of the Holy Spirit ; and,
having the subject fully impressed on his retentive
memory by my personal preaching to him alone,
he uttered every sentence from his heart, just as I
did myself, so that by the union of two heads and two
hearts, under the Holy Spirit s power, we worked a
double heart battery, which seemed to give the
preaching through an interpreter much greater
power than singly and directly, without an inter
preter.
Through all the preaching service addressed
mainly to the intellect, conscience, and will, there
was the keen piercing of the Spirit s sword, and deep
124 ANNSHAW.
awakening, but profound silence. Before the prayer-
meeting commenced, I explained the simple plan of
salvation by faith to the seekers collectively, just as
I would to each one personally. Then we invited all
who had intelligently and determinately decided to
surrender themselves to God, and accept Christ as
their Saviour, to come forward to the front forms.
They at once came as fast as they could press their
way. Beginning at the front forms, they filled form
after form with seekers, till at least two hundred
penitents were down on their knees. There was no
loud screaming of any one above the rest, but their
pent up emotions now found vent in audible prayers,
sighs, groans, and floods of tears. When the prayer-
meeting had thus progressed for about fifteen minutes,
Brother L. said, " Had we not better dismiss them,
and let them go off alone, and seek by the river ?
The old missionaries have told me that it will not
do to let them give way to their feelings, lest they
run into wild extravagance. They will go off to the
river and pray all night.""
" Why, my dear brother," I replied, " this is not
a rush of blind emotional excitement. The most of
these people have been under your teaching for years,
and we have just explained the way of salvation to
them, so that under the enlightening power of the
Spirit, every child here of ten years can understand
it. They are now intelligently coming to Jesus. The
Holy Spirit is leading them. Why interrupt them
at this most important juncture, and sond them off
A HARVEST OF SOULS. 125
to the river to battle with Satan alone, and take a
bad cold as well ? They are emotional beings, to be
sure, and have not the same control of their feelings
as the mass of Europeans ; but all the noise of this
occasion is in beautiful harmony with all the facts in
their case. This is unquestionably the work of God.
We will just keep our hands off the Ark of God/ and
let the Holy Ghost attend to His own business, in
His own way."
Upon reflection, Brother Lamplough heartily con
curred with my views of the subject, and entered
most earnestly into the work. It was not long till
they began to enter into the liberty of the children
of God. I soon saw that Charles Pamla, Wm. Kama,
and others, were quite at home in the work. As fast
as they found peace, the new converts were separated
from the seekers, and seated apart on the other side
of the chapel. They were then quiet as the Gadarene,
"sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed, and in his
right mind." All were personally examined as to
their experience, and the names of those who gave a
satisfactory testimony to their having obtained peace
with God, through an acceptance of Jesus Christ,
were written down, that the pastor might the more
readily find them, and get them at once into the
visible fold of the Church. At the close of the
prayer-meeting, it was found that seventy souls had
professed to find remission of their sins that night.
To me it was the harmony of heaven. I felt an in
describable joy, not simply on account of the great
126 AN^SHAW.
work of God in the salvation of the Kaffirs, which was
an occasion of great joy to " the angels of God/ but
especially because the spell that bound me within the
lines of my native language was broken. I could
now preach effectively through an interpreter, and
the heathen world seemed suddenly opened to my
personal enterprise, as an ambassador for Christ.
The service was continued that night till midnight.
No one then seemed willing to leave ; but knowing
the danger of violating physical laws by excessive
labour, and loss of sleep, and hence involving
damaging penalties, we prevailed on them to retire
and seek a little rest. The natives, however, were
back to a sunrise prayer- meeting, and seemed fresh
and earnest as before.
That day, Friday, the 15th of June, at 10 A.M.
we preached again to about the same crowd we had
the preceding day, and continued the prayer-meeting
service till two P.M. During the three services one
hundred and fifteen persons, professing to obtain the
pardon of their sins, were examined, and their
names and addresses recorded.
After a hasty dinner, Mr. Harper took me and
Sister Sawtell into his cart and drove us over the
hills, thirteen miles to his house in " Alice/ also
called " Lovedale." One of the industrial schools,
established under the patronage of Governor Grey
is located in that lovely dale. It is under the direc
tion of the Scotch Presbyterian Missions, and is
being carried on, I was informed, with a good degree
LOVEDALE. 127
of success. Getting in late, and leaving next morn
ing, I could not do myself the pleasure of visiting
the institution. The "Wesleyans have a comfortable
chapel there, small, but large enough for the demands
of the village. It belongs to the Fort Beaufort
Circuit, but the little society had dwindled down,
I was informed, to such a dwarfish, sickly state, that
they could not keep up a class or prayer-meeting. I
preached there that night to a full chapel. Most of
them were very serious and attentive, but one man,
well-dressed and apparently influential, kept up a
sort of incredulous scoffing, grinning all the time.
In extraordinary contrast with the results of the
preceding night, not one seeker responded to the
call so far as to say, "What must I do to be saved ?"
Many, I believe, however, were awaked, who followed
us to Fort Beaufort, thirteen miles distant, and after
wards there, and at Heald Town, embraced Christ,
and a good work in "Alice " followed, and a healthy
young society was organized there. The widow of
one of our old missionaries, Rev. Mr. Garner, lives
in that village ; but my weariness from excessive
labours, and limited time, prevented me from calling
to see her. Several of her family, however, were
saved at my services in different places. On Satur
day morning the 16th of June, Rev. John Wilson,
Superintendent of Fort Beaufort Circuit, drove me,
in a cart and pair, to his house at the Fort, where I
spent six days.
While at Fort Beaufort, twenty-five miles distant
128 ANNSHAW.
from Annshaw, I received a letter from Brother
Lamplough, dated June 19th, an extract from which
will illustrate the progress of the work in Kama s
tribe.
" My dear brother,
" You will rejoice to hear that 165 profess to
have found peace since you left, making altogether
280 since your arrival at Annshaw on Thursday last.
Besides these, from what I can learn, there are at
least twenty more at the out- stations, who are not
yet reported. More than two- thirds of this number
were not members, some were heathens, others were
notoriously hard and wicked characters, whilst a few
had been professedly seeking salvation for ten or
fifteen years, and could not find it, but have now
entered into liberty. Never was such a work seen
among the natives of Kama s tribe before, and I
question whether there has ever been such a work
for power and rapidity in this country before. To
have about 300 souls brought to God in less than
five days, is indeed a glorious thing, especially when
we consider that not more than a thousand people
have been brought within the sphere of the influence.
I suppose the congregation at Annshaw was about
600 souls, and I can scarcely find one who heard you
preach who is not now converted. Indeed, so thorough
has been the work, that to keep the supply of seekers,
we have had to send out every day for fresh batches
of heathens and formalists from the out-stations,
who very soon enter into liberty.
ALL THE PEOPLE SAVED. 129
On Annshaw station I cannot call to mind a man
or woman, and hardly a boy or girl, who is without
a professed sense of pardon. The Church is wonder
fully revived, and the Leaders and Local Preachers
are stirred up to look for yet greater things. Charles
Pamla and Win. Shaw Kama are especially useful.
They returned on Sunday from their appointments,
bringing a list of the spoils taken from the enemy,
amounting to thirty-four. They are going out again
to-day, and intend to remain all night. I doubt not
the Lord will bless their labours abundantly. I hope
soon to be able to go out to some of the heathen
kraals, and try the plan suggested and adopted by
yourself (that is St. Paul s plan of disputing with
them daily/ till all Asia shall hear the word of the
Lord). I wish I could get out at once, but so many
things have to be attended to. These new converts
have to be formed into classes, under the care of
suitable leaders, and this is a work that cannot be
neglected/
A few additional facts and incidents, illustrative
of the work of God at Annshaw, I extract from
Brother Lamplough s report, published in the Wes-
leyan Missionary Notices, for October, 1866.
" One very pleasing feature in this good work/*
says Brother L., " is the clearness with which nearly
all are enabled to testify, respecting their conversion
to God. Almost all who have professed to find,
peace, have been carefully examined, and closely-
questioned, by Mr. Sawtell, or myself, Charles
x
130 ANNSHAW.
Pamla, or William Shaw Kama, and the result has
been most satisfactory; especially as regards the
children, and those who, until recently, were living
in heathenism.
" The effect of Mr. Taylor s visit upon the Local
Preachers is wonderful, and they are six times as effi
cient as they were before. Charles Palma, Boyce
Mama, and a few other natives have been used as the
principal instruments in this work."
ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS. Brother Lamplough
continues : " Generally speaking, penitents were
enabled very speedily to lay hold of the Saviour, and
rejoice in a sense of forgiveness ; and very wonderful
was it to see the effect when some of these entered
into liberty. For a few moments the face appeared
transfigured with light ; and the smile of joy which
shone forth from their eyes was such as I shall never
forget. I cannot attempt to describe such cases;
but I have several present to my mind whilst I write.
One man, I noticed, came forward every morning
and evening for some days. He was a heathen, and
I noticed him because he was lame, and as he came
forward he hopped on one leg. At the close of the
meeting he generally had to be carried out by three
men, being too much exhausted to move. The
morning he found peace, he was led to the seat
reserved for the new converts, where he sat for a little
time, apparently in deep thought ; he then burst out
into such a laugh of joy and surprise as I shall never
forget; and he kept on in this way for some ten
THE OLD MAN GIVING UP HIS YOUNG WIFE. 131
minutes, as though perfectly unconscious of all out
ward things, feasting his soul with the wonderful
love of Christ, which filled him with surprise and
joy."
Charles Pamla gave me the following incident. An
old heathen who lived eight miles from the station,
was waked up by songs in the night, sung by some
of his converted grandchildren, returning from the
meeting where they had found Jesus. The old man,
hearing the wonderful story these young witnesses
had to tell, took up his sticks, and hobbled off straight-
Way to Annshaw, arriving about the break of day.
Hearing the voice of praise in the chapel at the morn
ing prayer-meeting, he went in arid heard the prayers
and prophesyings of God s people. " The secrets of
his heart were made manifest, and, falling down on
his face, he worshipped God/ and was enabled that
morning " to report that God was in them of a
truth," from a blessed experience of salvation in his
own heart. "When he reported himself among the
young converts of that meeting, he asked the minister
what he should do about his two wives.
" You will have to give one of them up. w
"Well/ replied the old man, "one is a young
woman, and I love her ; the other is an old woman,
the first wife of my youth. She is old, and can t
work much, but she is my true wife, and she has
always been kind to me, and I will keep her, and give
up my young wife. But I am not angry with her,
and I don t know how to tell her to go away. I will
132 ANNSHAW.
bring them both here to-morrow, and let you explain
it to them."
"Very well/* replied the missionary, "that
will do."
So the next day, the old man was seen in the dis
tance, hobbling along on his two sticks, close after
him his old woman, and next, in single, file, his young
woman and her three children. It was a painfully
interesting, and yet pleasing sight.
The old man brought his two wives into the
chapel, and marched straight to the missionary.
Brother Lamplough went into an explanation of the
whole matter to the astonished women, who, it
appears, did not know what was to be done. When
the minister s decision was announced, the old woman
cried out :
" I am glad of that. I always loved my dear old
man, and did not want him to give half of his heart
away to another woman. Oh, I am so glad to get
him back to me, and now he is all my own ! "
The younger woman stood weeping, and all natu
rally thought, that to be "thrown away/* as the
Kaffirs would term it, in that style, was an occasion
of great grief, which would lead to an unpleasant
scene ; but when her turn came to speak, she said,
" I thank God for this. I am not angry with the
old man, but I have been living in sin, and now I
want to find Jesus Christ, too/ and, as she wept and
commenced tearing off and throwing away her
heathen charms and trinkets, she said "What is to
THE DUMB WITNESSING FOR JESUS. 133
be done with, my children ? May I take them with
me ? I will go home to my people, and serve Jesus
Christ, but I want to take my children with me/
The old man, under Kaffir law, could have held the
children, but he promptly said, "Yes, take the
children, and teach them to love Jesus Christ."
TOTAL ABSTINENCE. "Our last stroke is being
levelled against Kaffir beer," says Brother Lamp-
lough. " I do not know a single Leader or Local
Preacher, who touches beer now in this circuit.
This is a grand thing, and the result of five years
hard fighting."
WITNESSES FOR JESUS. " About twelve days after
Mr. Taylor s visit," continues Lamplough s report,
" we had a fellowship-meeting, in order to give the
new converts an opportunity of testifying of the grace
of God. The chapel was crowded ; more than half
the congregation being composed of those who had
just found peace. About fifty spoke, several of them
were very old people, not a few were children ; many
had just left heathenism, and two were deaf and
dumb men, who could not speak, but pointed to the
heavens and the earth, and laid their hands upon
their breasts, to signify that the great God who made
the heavens and the earth had come into their hearts,
and then they smiled in a peculiar way, to intimate
that their souls rejoiced. Who will say that these
men were not taught of the Spirit, in a way which we
cannot understand ? Only less wonderful than this
was the testimony of children not more than ten
134 ANXSHAW.
or twelve years of age, many whom had heathen
parents. The way in which these little ones (with
only a sheep-skin on) testified to what they had
experienced of the saving grace of God, was truly
amazing/
HOW THE HEATHEN TRY TO EXPLAIN IT. " TllO
visit of Mr. Taylor/ says Brother Lamplough, " was
so short, and the effects so wonderful, that some of
the heathen say he came down from heaven. Others
say that he came to destroy the country, and that he
brought a medicine with him, which he has left at
my house, and which I give to the Local Preachers,
and it makes them mad, so that they are able to work
wonders among the people. They say that when the
people come to Annshaw Chapel, they are invited to
come forward, and that as soon as they touch the
wood (communion-rail) they must be converted ;
for I have some blood with which I sprinkle them,
and some flour which I scatter upon their heads, and
then we blow in their ears, and they are believers ! "
We will see in due time how some of the white
people in Natal try to explain away the work of God.
PERSECUTIONS. "At many of the heathen villages/
reports Brother Lamplough, " the people will not go
near the services, for fear they should be converted.
When a woman wants to repent, the husband takes a
stick and beats her ; and some of the children of the
heathen are beaten, and not allowed to come to class.
Indeed, there is much persecution going on in many
parts of the circuit, and several are by compulsion
CHAPTER X.
FORT BEAUFORT.
FORT BEAUFORT, " situated on the lower part of the
Kat river, was first established as a military post
soon after the Kaffir war of 1835," and has gra
dually developed into a good average African
town. It is in the midst of a good sheep- farming
country, and some of the valleys produce good crops
of maize and tolerably fair crops of wheat. The
district, including the town, contains a population
of 13,048, of whom 2,648 are whites. The Wes-
leyan Church was organized there in 1837, and a
chapel was built the same year, which was a few
years later superseded by the present chapel, which
has sittings for about 400 persons.
My home was at the house of the Superintendent
of the Circuit, Rev. John Wilson, a man of an
excellent spirit, and an earnest minister, who, with
his truly missionary wife, has been in the South
African work for many years. Two of their daugh
ters who had long been seeking, were saved during
our series of services. I was agreeably surprised to
meet a large force of my Graham s Town workers
MEETING WITH GRAHAM^S TOWN FRIENDS. 137
and friends who had come forty-seven miles to Port
Beaufort to attend our services. The principal ones
were my Graham s Town host, Mr. Wm. A. Richards,
his good wife, and four children; Mr. J. B. Janion,
an earnest worker for God, and, I was informed,
a superior Local Preacher ; Mr. B. B. Atwell, " a
chief man" in Commemoration Chapel, who extem
porised the ventilators there by knocking out a pane
of glass from each gallery- window, no one presuming
to ask " What doest thou ? " Also Ben Atwell, son
of the good brother last named. Brother Ben is
the organist in Commemoration Chapel, and got
his soul into harmony with God during our series
there. Mr. D. Penn, who drove me seventy miles
in one day with two pair of his own horses, to
King William s Town; Dr. Exton, who joined the
Wesleyan Church at our " fellowship-meeting " in
Graham s Town, and will, I think, make a very
influential and useful member ; Mrs. Rev. Thomas
Guard too was among them ; she, with Sister Eich
ards and their children, had come in an ox- wagon,
making a journey of three days, and enjoyed the
romance of the trip greatly. Besides those were Messrs.
Wm. Roberts, C. H. Webb, R. Erumble, J. Green,
the barber, W. Gates, C. Gowie, D. Gowie, W.
Barnes, his wife, and Miss Cheney, all earnest seek
ers after wandering souls. Last of all was, to me,
a stranger of the Graham s Town party, a prodigal
son of a truly Christian widowed mother, who after
wards became my friend and travelling companion,
138 FORT BEAUFORT.
Mr. James Roberts. I was told that when this
little army arrived, the Fort Beaufort people were
greatly astonished, not knowing of anything like
the "Derby races" to attract such a multitude,
and some would hardly believe that they had
left their business, and travelled so far, to be on
expense at the hotels for days, purely for spiritual
purposes, getting and doing good at our services.
At one of the hotels our friends had prayers, morn
ing and evening, in one of their private sitting-rooms,
and were a little surprised when the hotel-keeper
and his wife asked to be allowed to be with them in
their worship, and still more surprised and delighted
afterwards, to find them among the seekers of
salvation. They did not get into liberty that week,
but the landlord with a few brethren who were con
verted that week, attended my meetings a few weeks
afterwards in Queen s Town, distant about eighty
miles, and there the hotel-keeper received Jesus. He
gave up his "Canteen," took down his sign, and
opened a temperance hotel, to furnish good accom
modation, without the bad associations and bad effects
of a "bar/ On Sabbath morning, the 17th of June,
we commenced our services at Fort Beaufort. The
place was too much crowded to be comfortable, but
there was a gracious manifestation of the Spirit to
the hearts of believers. As we were returning
from chapel Dr. Exton said, "I went into chapel
this morning a moderate drinker, but came out a
teetotaller/ His decision on that subject was occa-
THE WORKERS AND THE WORK.
sioned by some illustrative narrative bearing on
another subject, and but incidentally reflected on
drinking customs. At three P.M. we had a good time
in preaching to the children. In the evening after
preaching, we invited persons awakened by the
Holy Spirit, who wanted to know " What they must
do to be saved/ to come forward that we might
tell them. The altar-rails were soon crowded, and a
good number were saved that night. I found there
were a few good workers belonging to the Fort
Beaufort society. We had a very good brother too
from Eland s Post, a remote point on the circuit,
and the Graham s Town friends were fully equipped
for the war.
On Monday, at eleven A.M., I preached to believers,
and we had a gracious season. On Monday night
the work went on gloriously. A number of leading
citizens, under the smitings of the Spirit, were down
among the seekers. On Tuesday, at eleven A.M., I
preached at Ileald Town, seven miles distant. On
Tuesday night I preached again at Fort Beaufort.
Nearly all our early seekers were now rejoicing in
the pardoning love of God; but the altar was as
greatly crowded as ever with new seekers. On
Wednesday, at eleven A.M., preached to the Church
on Christian Perfection, with blessed spiritual re
sults in the experience of believers, and on Wed
nesday night closed our special series of preaching
services at Fort Beaufort. After preaching we had
a great breaking-dowu among the sinners, and some
140 FORT BEAUFORT.
very striking cases of conversion to God. During
our brief service, sixty-five whites professed to find
peace with God. Some of them give promise of great
usefulness to the Church.
Many interesting examples might be given ; but
one or two illustrative cases may suffice.
Mr. E , a very large man, who had been
forward several times as a seeker, exclaimed, with
tearful eyes, as he entered into liberty, " Talk
about sacrificing all for Christ ! What had I to sacri
fice but my sins, and all my wicked abominations.
A sacrifice, indeed ? Why, it s a glorious riddance !
And in return I have received in Christ the priceless
gift of eternal life. Glory to God !"
Mrs. D had heard a great deal said against
that " Foreign preacher," and she never would dis
grace herself by going to hear such a man.
A friend said in reply, " Well, now, Mrs. D., you
see that the most respectable people do go to hear
him, and would not miss a subsequent opportunity,
on any account ; and for you to form such an un
favourable, and unjust judgment of a servant of
God, without even hearing him for yourself, is alike
discreditable to your intelligence and your honesty.
Now, Mrs. D., go and hear him to-night, and then
we will talk about the preacher to-morrow/ She
consented, and that night the " Spirit s two-edged
sword " pierced her heart, and she wept aloud, and
begged us to pray for her. She soon afterwards
/AMES ROBERTS. 141
found her Saviour, and became a happy intelligent
witness for Christ.
Mr. James Eoberts was absent from Graham s
Town during my series of meetings there ; but on
his return, found so many of his friends and kindred
converted to God, that he at once felt a desire to
learn something more definitely about "this way,"
and hence came with the Graham s Town company
to attend my meeting at Fort Beaufort. After a day
or two of deep awakening, without much emotion,
on his return from the Tuesday meeting in Heald
Town, he turned aside in the woods alone to meditate
and pray. He had been secretly very sceptical,
and though blest with one of the best mothers to be
found in any land,, he was a great prodigal ; but he
had read Mr. Hamilton s " Metaphyics," and by the
study of the constitution of his own mind ; he was
profoundly impressed with a kind of realizing .belief
in the existence, and power, and all pervading pre
sence of his Maker. From that step, he logically
worked out the fact, as a matter of faith in his
mind, that such a Creator would certainly reveal
His will to His creatures, and he accepted the Holy
Scriptures as the revelation, meeting the demands
of the case. Its delineations of human guilt,
pollution, bondage, and condemnation, he felt to be
true in his own experience. The Almighty Saviour
revealed, according to God s descriptions of Him, and
God s promises through Him, was exactly suited to
342 FORT BEAUFORT.
the demands of his soul. When he fully realized
these facts, as he was walking alone in the wild
wood, he stopped, took off his hat, and said, " 0,
thou God, who made me, and redeemed me with the
blood of Christ, I surrender my wicked soul to Thee,
and I now accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour. If
there is any mistake about this thing, it must be in
Thy revelation .concerning Him ; but Thy statements
are very clear, they are Thine own words, and I can t
doubt them, and I do accept Christ as my Saviour,
and entrust my whole soul to Him. I don t believe
there can be any mistake or failure in the matter/
Soon after Brother Janion met him, and said,
"Well, Brother Roberts, have you accepted
Christ?"
" Yes, Mr. Janion, I have."
" Have you found peace in Him ? "
"No, I have experienced no change in my feel
ings ; but I have taken Christ as my Saviour, and
shall trust Him till I die to save me from all my sins."
He maintained his position unwaveringly for three
days, clinging to Jesus by simple faith, without
much emotion, and without any relief, beyond the
power to hold on, till the third night ; then, while I
was delivering a lecture on St. Paul and Ms Times, the
witnessing and renewing power of the Spirit came
upon him like a flood * of light and glory, and his
heart was filled with " unspeakable joy."
He became a man of Providence in connection
with my mission among the Kaffirs. While I was
MR. ALFRED WHITE. 143
working at Graham s Town, Mr. Alfred White, one
of the oldest pioneers in the country, who lives on
the " Umzimvubu River," in KafFraria, nearly four
hundred miles east of Graham s Town, persuaded me
to go overland, through Kaffraria to Natal, instead
of by sea, as I had contemplated. I did not then
hope to be able to do much good, but I wanted to see
the practical working of the Mission Stations among
the heathen in their own country, and learn what
I could.
I knew not how I should go, but Mr. White said
he would meet me thirty miles west of the " Umzim
vubu," and convey me hence across the river, and
give me any assistance I might need, in getting on
thence to Natal. He also made me a plan of travel,
embracing the whole of the Wesleyan Missions in
Kaffraria. A few days later we learned that Dumasi,
Chief of the western tribe of the Amapondo, and
Umhlonhlo, Chief of the Amapondumsi, were at war,
and the Shawbury Station was j ust in the midst of
it, and that the missionary and his family were in
great jeopardy ; we learned further that the eastern
half of the Amapondo nation, under Chief Faku,
were at war with the Amabacas, and that " Osborn "
Mission Station, under the superintendence of Rev.
C. White, brother to my friend Alfred, was the
scene of great slaughter. So Mr. White said I
could not travel through that district, and planned
for me a more southerly route, leaving out the two
troubled stations.* I wrote to Cape Town to have my
TOUT BEAUFORT.
son, Stuart, who was recovering from his Australian
illness, to join me, and bear me company, I then
expected to have to buy horses, and go on the inde
pendent line.
My friend, Eev. John Eichards, of Port Eliza
beth, was not very well pleased with the change in
my plan, anid would fain have persuaded me to give
it up. He exhibited an array of all the difficulties
as follows : " We shall be intensely disappointed in
your not returning here to preach our missionary
sermons, and hold another series of services, which
we believe God would own and bless ; but apart from
this, I think you have not been wisely advised.
Much precious time and labour will be comparatively
wasted by a journey through Kaffirland to Natal.
To me it appears that your calling is especially to
the English-speaking portion of the population of
this country ; the natives will be benefited indirectly.
How are you going to travel through Kaffirland to
Natal ? How long will it take you ? You cannot
remain on each station for a series of services ; if so,
poor Mrs. Taylor may hope to see you sometime, if
the Lord will. Then how are you going to ford the
rivers ? How is your baggage to be conveyed ? You
will have difficulties before you, which will be new to
you ; possibly, you may surmount them if time
enough be allowed you. Think, my brother, think.
I believe you would act most wisely in coming back
here, after the tour I have marked out for you ; then,
after helping us, go by sea to Natal." I felt a great
FRUITS OF THE HE VIVA L. 14")
desire to accommodate Brother Richards, for he had
been very kind to me ; but I had not promised to
return, and now firmly believed it would be more for
the glory of God to go through Kafir-aria, and the
difficulties were nothing to me, since others had so
often overcome them, on errands of much less im
portance.
When I was at Annshaw, I made arrangements
with Brother Lamplough, to have Charles Pamla go
with me through Kaffirland as my interpreter.
At Fort Beaufort, a week later, the Lord pro
vided me a " dragoman," in the person of my friend
Mr. James Roberts, who hearing of my contemplated
trip, came the next day after his conversion to God,
and asked me to allow him the pleasure of furnishing
conveyance and horses, and of driving me to Natal.
Under the circumstances I could not deny him
" the pleasure," but thankfully accepted his kind
offer.
The Lord not only selected me a man from the
fruits of the Fort Beaufort revival for my Kafirarian
tour, but raised up others to remain in the " Fort "
for home defence, and the aggressive work of the
Church. One of the converts has become a useful
Class-leader and Exhorter ; another, who is a Member
of Parliament, has become a Local Preacher ; and
the work has gone on, I learn from Brother Wilson,
and from other sources, very prosperously in Fort
Beaufort, Alice, and other parts of the circuit.
But while many were saved, some, by resist-
L
146 FORT BEAUFORT.
ance of the Spirit s call, we fear have perished. I
remember well one man who became so interested in
our meetings at Fort Beaufort, that he accompanied
us to Heald Town, and witnessed one of the most
extraordinary displays of the saving power of the
Spirit I ever saw, and was greatly awakened, and
almost persuaded to be a Christian, but, so far as
we could learn/ refused to accept Christ. A short
time afterwards he was found dead in his room.
Of course no one knew the poor fellow s heart;
but had he accepted Christ, as many of his
neighbours did, and " witnessed a good confession,"
it would have been a sure thing for himself, and
a great comfort to surviving friends.
An extract from a letter written me by Rev. Bro
ther Wilson, dated Nov. 14th, 1866, may serve to illus
trate the further progress of the work of God in
Fort Beaufort : " The work in this circuit has been
great and glorious. At our last Quarterly Meeting
we had a net increase of thirty-eight members and
sixty on trial. Besides there has been a very
delightful work among the natives here, and many
of them have been enabled to rejoice in Christ their
S viour. The testimony of some is exceedingly
pleasing. A case or two was rather striking : Two
n tive girls, who were servants in the same family,
were convinced of sin ; one of them came to my
house to receive instruction ; I talked to her and
prayed with her, but she got no rest for her soul. I
left her, and Mrs. Wilson went to her, and while
THE NATIVE GIRL AND HER SHAWL. 147
she was praying with her the poor girl found Jesus.
Her joy was unspeakably great. She fell on her
knees and kissed Mrs. Wilson s feet, and then
crawled to the young woman who came with her
and kissed her feet, and when I came she fell down
and kissed mine, and so overwhelmed with rapturous
joy and so humble, that she knew not how to express
it. Her fellow native servant was in great distress,
but did not get relief so quickly, I found her in an
agony at the penitent-rail, and in her bitter con
fession of sin, she said, That shawl I bought at
Mullett s that shawl ! that shawl !
" What, about it ? I inquired.
" * 0, Sir, part of the money for that shawl was
stolen; I stole one and threepence of it from my
mistress. I ll pay my mistress, I ll pay her all, I ll
pay her double ! Her mistress was an uncon
verted woman, would receive no money, but forgave
her freely. Then the poor girl took the shawl,
tore it to shreds and burnt it. She had a hard
struggle, but at last the dark cloud of guilt and
sin rolled away, and she was made happy in Jesus
her Saviour.
" We have formed two extra classes here among the
English, and two for the natives. I have made
Brother Shaw" (a merchant who was saved at our
series) "an Exhorter and Leader, and he is a very
active, zealous man, quite disposed for liberal things.
His wife and mother are now members of our Church,
Mr. Ayliff, who was saved just after you left, is now
148 FCET BEAUFORT.
on the Local Preacher s plan. Mr. Elliott is going
on well, and prays in the prayer-meetings. His
place is now a Temperance Hotel. We have a fresh
class in Alice, and it is a very interesting one.
Mr. Harper is the Leader. Truly we have great
cause of thankfulness to God for the rich blessings
He hath bestowed upon us here. A glorious visita
tion has come to this land/
fjf.
p ,.
CHAPTER XI.
HEALD TOWN.
EEALDTOWN, called in honour of James Heald, Esq.,
Treasurer of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, is a
large Fingoe settlement and Mission Station, six
miles distant from Fort Beaufort. This is the site of
the largest Industrial School established under the
patronage of Sir George Grey. The accompanying
cut, from a photograph taken on the spot, will
represent, on a small scale, the School buildings and
Mission Chapel. "The principal building is two
hundred and twenty feet in length, and fifty in
width ; there are also two wings extending to the
rear, each ninety feefc in length. It is built of brick,
on a stone foundation, the roof is of slate from
Wales. The floor of the verandah, which extends
along the whole front of the building, is several feet
above the ground. The internal arrangements afford
spacious apartments for the governor, chaplain, and
their families, with large and airy dormitories,
school, and work-rooms, refectory, kitchens, &c., for
the accommodation of a large number of boys and
girls who were boarded, clothed, educated, and
150 HEALD TOWN.
trained to various industrial pursuits/ The exact
statistics of the cost of these buildings, the annual
appropriations, and the number of pupils trained in
this establishment, I have not been able to get ; but
the following figures, furnished me by Rev. "William
Sargent, Wesleyan Missionary, in charge of it when
I was there, will furnish the facts with sufficient
approximate correctness for our purpose. The cost
of the buildings, paid by the Government, through
Sir George Grey, was about 7,000. The Government
appropriation, which was subsidized by the Wesleyan
Society, was about 1,000 per annum for about nine
years. While this appropriation was continued,
the school, under the administration of the me
morable missionary, Rev. John Ayliff, contained
about eighty boarded scholars, and an addition
of nearly two hundred day- scholars, making an
aggregate of nearly three hundred, and was going
on prosperously, but when Sir George Grey was
removed to New Zealand, about three years ago,
the Government appropriation was partially with
drawn from that and kindred institutions, and
between the removal of their liberal patron by the
Government, and of their devoted missionary by
death, the Heald Town institution came to grief. The
boarding and industrial departments, from a want
of funds were abandoned.
A day-school has been kept up with success. It
contained, at the time of my visit, two hundred day-
scholars, conducted by Mr. T. Templer, head teacher,
MUNIFICENCE OF JAMES HEALI), ESQ.
a fine spirited brother, and I believe a successful
educator, assisted by Siko Radas, a young native
teacher. They have also three schools taught by
native teachers at three different " out- stations "
connected with this mission establishment. The
whole cost of these schools at the present time is
322 per annum, of which the Government pays
252 ; and the Society 70. Some thousands of
natives have here, from first to last, been taught, not
only to read their own language, but the elements
of an English education.
Rev. "Wm. Impey, during his recent visit to Eng
land, appealed strongly to the Missionary Committee,
and not in vain, to authorize the establishment
of a High School, and Theological Institution at
Heald Town. James Heald, Esq., gave five hun
dred pounds towards the enterprise, and Mr.
Impey s success was such that the District Meet
ing in Graham s L Town, last January, resolved
to carry it into effect. The following is a statement
of their action, furnished to me by Eev. Wm. Sar
gent, in a recent letter, as follows : " Our District
Meeting decided to form a training institution at
Heald Town to include two or three classes of
agents.
" 1. Men for the full work of the ministry, and
pastorate.
" 2. Native evangelists, who shall have no fixed
pastorate, but be employed in going from place to
place preaching the Gospel.
152 HEALD TOWN.
" 3. Young men as schoolmasters for the native
schools.
" It was also agreed to move the press from Mount
Coke to Heald Town. Mr. Appleyard goes to
Heald Town in charge of the press. Mr. Lam-
plough was appointed to superintend the institution,
and take charge of the native agents ; a better supply
could not been have got in the district. Bro. Lam-
plough possesses peculiar abilities for such a work,
his whole soul is in it."
I firmly believe myself that Bro. Lamplough is
the man for that responsible post, for he will teach
them how to win souls to Christ, and administer
good discipline in the Church of God.
The Lord, in mercy, help him, and make of him an
Elijah, and make his " school of the prophets" an
hundred-fold more effective than that of Bethel or
Mount Carmel !
The Wesleyan chapel at Heald Town, which will
seat about eight hundred natives, is a cruciform in
shape, the transverse portion of which, with a front
vestibule, is seen in the accompanying engraving.
Rev. TVm. Sargent, the missionary at the time of
my visit, was brought up in the colony, and having
been in the mission- work for many years, is quite at
home in the native language, manners, and customs ;
he is a true friend to the natives, and an earnest
missionary. He removed his whole family to Fort
Beaufort, so that they all might enjoy the benefit
of our week of special services there. He had
THE HEV. WILLIAM SARGENT. 153
written me requesting a visit to his natives in Heald
Town, but not having the natives in my plan of ap
pointments, and having engaged to labour with the
whites for weeks a-head, I could not promise, but at
our first interview I arranged to give them a week-day
service. So on Tuesday the 19th of June, Brother
Sargent took me up with his cart and pair, and set off
for Heald Town. As we pass the lines of Port Beaufort
we at once see .the white mission buildings before de
scribed, six miles distant. It is a beautiful sight
through a narrow valley, bounded by high hills on
each side, rising to the altitude of respectable moun
tains, but the town itself, which, besides the school
buildings and chapel, is composed almost entirely of
native huts, is perched above the head of this
beautiful vale on the plateau of a transverse range
of little mountains. The scattering huts, seen in the
cut, represent but a small part of the native town ,
the body of which is hid from view by an intei
vening hill. In our little journey, we pass over a
broad undulating valley, rich and grassy. To our
left are several native "kraals," surrounded by
fields of maize, pumpkins, and Kaffir- corn. As
cending the narrow vale, we cross many times a bold
mill-stream, the banks of which are lined with
wild olives, willows, and a great variety of shrub
bery and vines, forming in some places a dense
jungle, which furnish a ^rand retreat for the
monkeys. Half-a-dozen oi them made a stand in
the road before us long enough to inquire " who
154 HEALD TOWN.
are* you, and where are you going ? " and then scam
pered off into their native wilds.
The mountains to our left are partly cultivated by
the Pingoes, and we see some fine herds of their
cattle. The mountains to our right are rugged, but
beautified by a thick undergrowth of the wild African
aloes just coming into bloom, with stately sentinels
of the euphorbia-tree. We have a long, rocky steep
ascent from this valley to the high land of the town ;
the surrounding scenery, with the high cliffs at the
head of the valley, just below the town, is not only
beautiful, but grand. "When we arrived, a little
before the hour appointed, the chapel, with sittings
for about 800, was packed with about 1,000 natives
and twenty whites.
The head teacher, Mr. T. Templer met us, and said,
" We have Barnabas here, from Graham s Town, he
is a splendid interpreter, and we ll get him to inter
pret. He says he would rather not, as he s here on
business, in his working clothes ; but I m sure hell
consent if we press it."
" Give me anybody else," I replied. " I tried
him in Graham s Town, and he got his voice up an
octave too high at the start, and sang out the whole
sermon in two or three monotonous tones that
did not suit me at all. He is a good fellow,
and we must not hurt his feelings, but if you
are not committed to him, and can give me any
other Kaffir who can talk English, don t engage
Barnabas/
SIKO HAD AS. 155
" We are not committed to him, but consider him
the best we can get. We have a Kaffir boy, my as
sistant teacher, who understands English, but he is
not a professional interpreter/
" He s my boy ; send him to me quickly, as our
time is nearly up, and the people are waiting."
Brother Sargent immediately sent for him, and
brought him into a private room in the " Institu
tion," a real black boy, about twenty years old, five
feet six inches in height, prominent forehead, good
eye, pleasant countenance, a quiet, unobtrusive
youth, a good singer, can write music, and play on
the harmonium, but rather a feeble voice for address
ing a large assembly Siko Radas.
Brother Sargent said he had to celebrate a mar
riage, either before or after preaching. We at once
arranged that Brother Sargent should open the ser
vice in the usual way, and attend to the marriage,
and allow me that time for drilling my young inter
preter.
I preached my sermon to Siko, r and gave him a
lecture on naturalness. "We entered the church
before the marriage ceremony was over. The bridal
party were all black, but well dressed, and presented
a very genteel appearance, and signed their names to
the marriage records with self-possession and neat
ness of execution: The bride was covered from head
to foot with a fine white veil.
The bridal party sat in the front form, just before
us. I did not occupy the little pulpit, but stood
15G HEALD TOWN.
beside my interpreter in the altar. Siko put my
sentences into Kaffir very rapidly, but distinctly ;
and, as I learned, correctly. There was evidently
an extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit resting
on the audience during the preaching, but silence
reigned, except the slight murmur of suppressed
sobbing and tears. At the close of the preaching
we dismissed the assembly, giving all who wished an
opportunity to retire. The bridal party and a few
others left.
Before we proceeded further with the prayer-
meeting, I explained in Gospel simplicity, the way
of salvation by faith, so that the seekers might in
telligently come to Christ without further personal
instruction. We then invited the seekers to come
forward and occupy the forms from the front, as far
back as might be necessary. They rushed forward
with that violence which the kingdom of heaven
suifereth, and many of " the violent took it by force "
that day. At least three hundred seekers were
down on their knees within a few minutes. They
were all praying audibly, the floor was wet with
tears, yet none seemed to be screaming louder
than his neighbours. Brother Sargent seemed, for
a few moments, fearful, thinking it might lead
to confusion, but I reminded him of the unde
niable evidences, that God the Holy Spirit was
moving in the matter, and however much of
human dross and infirmity might be mixed into such
a mass of superstition and sin, the people had been
THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 157
well instructed, and the Holy Spirit was fully com
petent directly, and through the agencies available,
to manage the business, and we will work with Him,
but Let us not interfere with His work. Brother
Sargent at once heartily acquiesced in my views,
which were supported so thoroughly by Scripture
teaching and precedent, and by the logic of facts
before our eyes, that we could do but little else than
" stand still and see the salvation of God/ We had
Brothers Janion, Attwell, "Webb, Roberts, and other
Graham s Town brethren present. They seemed a
little confused at the first shock, for my meetings at
Graham s Town, as in every other place among the
whites, were conducted in quietness ; but in a few
minutes they were re- assured by their faith in God,
and the power of His Gospel, and entered into the
work with their characteristic earnestness. In the
recess there were fourteen whites down on thnir
knees, as seekers, so that the brethren who could ?iot
speak the Kaffir, found ample employment among
them.
As fast as the seekers entered into liberty, they
were conducted to seats, first in the right wing of
the chapel, and then in the left, and then in front,
where they gave their testimony to their minister,
Rev. Brother Sargent, who wrote down their names
in his pastoral book. The services closed at 4 P.M.,
having extended through five hours. Some of us,
however, went into Brother Templer s house about
2 P.M., and took in haste an excellent lunch which
158 HEALD TOWN.
good Sister Templer had prepared for us, and imme
diately returned to " the front/ Seven whites
reported themselves among the converts, having,
during the service, embraced Christ, and found sal
vation in Him. Six of them were one whole family,
a grandmother, her daughter, son-in-law, and three
children. It was a touching scene to see the poor
old woman in the centre, and her children and grand
children embracing her, and with flowing tears
praising God, and telling her how happy they were
in the love of Jesus.
Of the natives, Brother Sargent recorded the
names of one hundred and thirty-nine, who professed
to find peace with God during our service of five
hours. "We then hastened back to Port Beaufort,
where I preached, and had a glorious work among
the whites that night.
On Thursday morning, the 21st of June, Brother
Sargent, in company with Mrs. Rev. T. Guard, drove
me again to Heald Town, according to the an
nouncement made the preceding Tuesday. When
we arrived, Brother Barnabas came to me and said
he was sorry he had declined to interpret on Tuesday,
but if I would consent he do so on that occasion. He
is a good man, and remembering that I had not
learned to preach through an interpreter, when I
tried to preach through him in Graham s Town, and
that the fault might therefore be more in myself than
in him, I replied, " I am well satisfied with Siko,
and would not propose a change, but if Siko chooses
BARNABAS, THE INTERPRETER. 159
to have you take his place, I have no objection/"
Siko readily deferred to his elder brother, and Bar
nabas became my spokesman. While Brother Sar
gent was opening the service, I was privately preach
ing to Barnabas. He is a tall lean brother, not
very black, well-acquainted with the English lan
guage, a professional interpreter for years, and
famous for his exact literal rendering of a discourse
into Kaffir. He is now well-advanced in years.
Notwithstanding his long experience as an inter
preter, I took the liberty of giving him a good talk
on naturalness, and in return learned from him what
I could in so short a time about some of the customs
and peculiar sins of the Kaffirs.
"We went before our crowded audience fully
equipped, trusting to the immediate presence and
saving power of the Holy Spirit. Barnabas was
ready, natural, and effective. The prayer-meeting
was conducted as on the first day. Among the
seekers were many aged persons. The awful pre
sence and melting power of the Holy Spirit on this
occasion surpassed anything I had ever witnessed
before. I tried to find an illustration of what I saw
and felt, by the historic fact, that in creation s morn,
" The spirit moved upon the face of the waters," and
brought order out of chaos : I thought of what
Ezekiel saw, and thus described, after giving an
account of his vision of the valley of dry bones,
" Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones ; Behold,
I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall
1GO HEALD TOWX.
live : and I will lay sinews upon you, and wiP
bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and ye shall live ; and ye
shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied
as I was commanded : and as I prophesied, there
was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones
came together, bone to his bone. And when I
beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon
them, and the skin covered them above : but there
was no breath in them. Then said he unto me,
Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and
say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God ; Come
from the four winds, breath, and breathe upon
these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as
he commanded me, and the breath came into them,
and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an ex
ceeding great army." I thought of the waiting
disciples in that upper room on Mount Zion, when
" suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a
rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house
where they were sitting," and the glory that imme
diately followed. " The wind bloweth where it
listeth. and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth."
The atmosphere, the symbol of the Holy Ghost
whom God hath sent to administer the bounteous
provision of salvation to a perishing world. The air,
everywhere present, enveloping the world, mysteri
ous, invisible, yet always abiding with us, now at
rest, then moving in the gentle zephyr, then in the
"WHY YOU XO TELL BLACK FELLOW TILL NOW ?" 161
breeze, then in the gale, then in the hurricane.
This mighty Spirit of God abiding with us, and to
"abide with us for ever/ and yet adjusting His
mighty power to the laws of the human mind, and
moral nature.
I realized by faith on that occasion what I never
can explain, even with the help of this Scripture
teaching. If the dispensation of the Spirit is to
extend to " that great and notable day of the Lord,
when He shall judge the quick and the dead," and
if the ever- abiding Spirit is as available now, and
as willing to fulfil His mighty mission now, as He
was on the day of Pentecost, why is the world not
saved ? I wept over the defective faith, and ineffec
tive methods, of the Church, and thought how the
Holy Spirit is grieved in not having suitable agen
cies for the successful prosecution, and consumma
tion of His work, according to God s purpose, and
most adequate provisions in Christ. As I saw dead
souls by the score stand up by the power of the
Spirit, till they became like an army around us, and
heard them witnessing to the saving mercy of Jesus
in their hearts, I felt the keen retort of the South
Australian black fellow, " at Lake Alexandrina, on
the Murray." A man whom this native had known
for twenty years was warning him for the first time
against the danger of losing his soul, and the sable
son of nature said with great vehemence, " If you
know all this time that black fellow going to hell,
why you no tell black fellow till now ? " A majority
M
162 HEALD TOWN.
of those before me, to bo sure, had been born ant
brought up under Gospel teaching ; their old friend and
minister, who led them out of Kaffir bondage, had lived
and died among them at that very spot ; in the chapel
before us, was a slab to his memory, on which it
was stated that the last prayer he ever offered, just as
he was stepping into Death s dark river, was that
God would bless and save his "dear Fingoes;" his
prayer was now being answered among the ones to
whom he last preached, but I thought of the mil
lions beyond, who have not to this day heard of
Jesus. Oh, I felt that, dearly as I loved my country,
my conference, my home, and, above all, my dear
family, if it were the Lord s will to adjust my rela
tions satisfactorily in regard to those sacred interests,
and call me to this work, I would hail it as a privi
lege, to lead a band of Black native evangelists
through the African Continent, till "Ethiopia"
would not only " stretch out her hands," but em
brace Christ, through the power of the Holy Ghost,
from the Cape of Good Hope to the Mediterra
nean.
At the close of this second service at Heald Town,
Rev. Brother Sargent reported the names of 167
native, and three European, converts, during the
service of five hours, making an aggregate for the
two services of 306 natives, and ten whites saved, " by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost, shed forth abundantly upon us, through
Christ Jesus our Lord." These, added to the sixty-
CARING FOR THE LAMBS. 163
five Europeans at Fort Beaufort, will make a total of
381 souls brought to God, and "justified freely by
His grace " during the space of five days. The name
of each one was written down by the ministers in
charge, after a personal examination, and the testi
mony of almost every one was clear and satisfactory.
My instructions to the pastors were, that if they
should find any with whose experience they were not
satisfied, they should kindly send them back to the
altar of prayer, and have them continue to seek the
Lord till they should obtain pardon, and the satisfac
tory " witness of the Spirit." .
Of course we cannot see the hearts of any, but in
connection with clear Gospel teaching, and all the
outward signs of awakening, repentance, and faith
in Christ, followed by the distinct testimony of each
convert, we take their names that they may be
gotten immediately into the classes, and receive the
pastor s care.
A shepherd, on the purchase of a large addition to
his flock, would not be satisfied to allow them to
wander off, without even identifying, and so marking
them, as at least to know them himself. His care
would extend to every little lamb, and the weak
ones he would often bear in his bosom. At the close
of our service at Heald Town, I gave the Local
Preachers, Leaders, and members generally, an ad
dress on the care necessary to the healthy growth
of the young converts.
If the stirring incidents and scenes of those two
services could be recorded, they would fill a volume ;
1(3-4 /IEALD TOWN.
but they were really indescribable ; I will, however,
for further illustration of that great work of God,
insert the following letter, written by the Eev.
Brother Sargent to the secretaries in London, which
appears in the Missionary Notices, for October, 1866.
" Tuesday, June 19th. What a day ! I know
not how to record it. I never witnessed anything
which so reminded me of what is recorded of the
Day of Pentecost in the 2nd of Acts. At 9.30 A.M.,
I started with Mr. Taylor for Heald Town. The
people had already collected in the chapel, and were
engaged in an earnest prayer-meeting. Mr. Taylor
addressed them, through an interpreter, from the
words, "But ye shall receive power after that the
Holy Ghost is come upon you." The effect was
manifest. The truth told with wondrous power on
the congregation. At the close, those who were
desirous of seeking the Lord were exhorted to stand
up, and then kneel round the communion-rails.
About three hundred fell simultaneously upon their
knees, among whom there was a considerable number
of Europeans, many of whom had come from Beau
fort, There was now a great weeping. At first all
seemed chaos and confusion. Even the native Local
Preachers and Class Leaders were confounded ; and
it -was some time before I could get them into
working order. The first paroxysm of excitement
having subsided, the native agents distributed them
selves all over the chapel, speaking to, and praying
with, the penitents. The distress of some souls was
DELIVERANCE TO THE CAPTIVES. 165
extremely great, but after awhile one after another
entered into the liberty of the children of God,
passing from the excess of grief to the excess of joy,
The scene was indescribable, as first one and then
another rose to praise God, with eyes sparkling, aii(]
countenance beaming with joy, and tears flowing in
copious streams from their eyes. One exclaimed,
Satan is conquered ! Satan is conquered ! Satan is
conquered ! " Another, a very old woman, lifted her
eyes and hands towards heaven, and exclaimed, for
five or ten minutes, at the top of her voice, " He- is
holy ! He is holy ! He is holy ! J A very old man,
who had been in an agony of distress, when set at
liberty, exclaimed, My Father has set me free !
My Father has set me free ! My Father has set me
free ! These are merely specimens. We were five
hours hard at work ; and, at the close, 140 persons
professed to have a obtained a sense of the pardoning
love of God.
" Thursday, 21st. Eeturned to Heald Town in
company with Mr. Taylor ; a great number of
Europeans following us from Fort Beaufort. The
chapel was crowded to excess. Mr. Taylor preached
a very searching and powerful sermon on the Ten
Commandments: After the sermon those seeking
salvation were invited to the communion-rail. I
suppose more than 200 fell upon their knees, crying
aloud for mercy ; sobs, and sighs, and groans filled
the chapel. After the first burst of powerful emotion,
I got the Local Preachers and Class Leaders to dis-
166 HEALD TOWN.
tribute themselves among the penitents. After a
while, the shouts of the pardoned strangely mingled
with the cries of the penitents. We continued the
meeting for five hours ; and at the close 160 pro
fessed to have found peace and joy through be
lieving/ making, in the two days, 300 who had
professedly obtained peace/ (This report does not
include the white converts.)
"I am happy to say that the work is still pro
gressing ; and we seldom hold a meeting for in
quirers without a number coming forward, and
several of them getting into liberty. These have not
numerically increased our Church members, as much
as some might suppose, as the majority of those
who have found peace were already members of
society, but had never obtained a clear sense of
pardon ; or, having obtained it in years gone by, had
lost it through unfaithfulness. Yet I may add, that
a considerable number consists of young people who
have been brought up in our Sabbath- and day-
schools. These I am now forming into juvenile
classes. There are still many seekers in the con
gregation, especially among the young ; and at the
close of every evening service the bushes and rocks
about the station are for hours vocal with the prayers
of those who are earnestly pleading for mercy.
Since this work began the desire for learning among
the young people of the station is something wonder
ful. Children now came to the day-school who
A HE WORK PROGRESSING. 167
never came before; and the numbers have been
almost doubled. The difficulty now is to find books
and teachers for them.
" The work has not been confined to the natives ;
but the few European families living on the station
have likewise been made partakers of the benefit/
Nearly all who were not members before have now
joined the Society, and are rejoicing in a sense of the
Divine favour. Several European children have
been formed into an interesting class ; and not
satisfied with this, they have, at their own instance,
formed themselves into a juvenile prayer-meeting,
which I allow them to conduct in their own way,
without the presence or interference of any adult."
An extract from a letter I received from Brother
Sargent, dated July 17th, nearly a month after I left,
may serve to illustrate the continued progress of this
work in Heald Town : " I am thankful to say that
the good work of the Lord is still progressing
favourably at Heald Town. About sixty more have
found peace since you left, and I have no doubt
but that there would have been a much larger
number, but for the fact, that I have had to be
away so often, that the penitent meetings have not
been held so frequently as I could wish. There is
much earnestness manifested among the people, both
old and young. You would be amazed and delighted
to hear their cries of a night till after nine or ten
o clock j and, in some cases, till daylight in the
1C8 HEALD TOWN.
morning, pleading for the pardon of their sins. The
valleys and rocks below the mission -house are literally
vocal with the cries of penitents, morning, noon, and
night. You will he glad to he informed that last
Saturday, in our Local Preacher s meeting, the local
brethren, in receiving several new candidates on the^
Local Preacher s plan, passed a resolution, that no
one using Kaffir beer, or any other strong drink,
shall be allowed to exercise the office of Local Preacher
among them. Next Saturday the Class-leaders in
tend passing the resolution respecting themselves ;
not allowing any to exercise the office of Class Lea
der in Heald Town, who will not give up the drink
ing of Kaffir beer, and all other intoxicating drinks. *
The Kaffir beer is made of maize or Indian corn.
It was considered by many good people a wholesome
nourishing drink, and as the Kaffirs do not usually
have tea or coffee, the Kaffir beer was tolerated on
the mission- stations ; but its use wrought all manner
of mischief, especially at the Kaffir beer- feasts,
which are very common among the Heathen Kaffirs,
resulting in drunkenness and all its consequent evils.
The total abstinence reform movement commenced
among the Kaffirs at Annshaw about five years ago.
Charles Pamla was one of the leaders in the move
ment, and endured a great deal of persecution from
the old school beer-drinking members ; but he never
struck his colours, and now all the leading men at
Annshaw, Heald Town, and other stations are fully
with him. I was very sorry that Brother Sargent s
POETIC DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK. 169
engagements called him away, so that the work in
Heald Town was not pushed with the same vigour as
at Annshaw. The next Sabbath, after I was there,
he was, according to a previous engagement, preach
ing at Adelaide, twenty miles distant, and soon
after that he was called away to King William s
Town, fifty miles distant, to take Mrs. Sargent to see
her dying father, Mr. George Impey. Those poor
penitents crying day and night in the woods, should
have been brought at once to Jesus, the only Saviour
of sinners.
Recurring to that memorable Thursday once more,
I may add that Mr. Templer, the native teacher,
though not a poet, perpetrated a poetic effusion,
which was published and pronounced good ; so much
of it relates to myself, that it is hardly safe for me
to insert it, yet, as its descriptive power may arrest
the attention of some poetic reader and do good, I
may be excused for copying thirteen of the twenty-
three verses of the poem. Beholding the scene,
with his eye alternately on the preacher and the
audience, he says :
Equipp d, with "the whole armour of his God;"
Prepared to fight the battles of his Lord ;
His willing " feet, with Gospeljpeace well shod,"
And holding in his hand, the " Spirit s sword."
" The righteous breastplate, and faith s mighty shield,"
Adorn d his front, and turn d hell s dart aside ;
The law of " truth," which God to man reveal d,
" Begirt his loins," and was his strength and guide.
170 HEALD TOWN.
" Salvation s helmet," did his head secure ;
His Captain s name, his " forehead" rendcr d bold;
Eternal truth, his mind did richly store,
And thence he drew his weapons " new and old."
With simple, earnest, " supplicating prayer,"
And labour hard, he made his armour shine :
Did all thy servants, Lord, such quipmcnt wear,
The fallen race of man, would soon be Thine.
He saw a motley throng before him rise,
Whose blood neath skins of various hues did run ;
Yet souls alike redeem d with highest price
The precious blood of God s beloved Son.
His voice, "like trumpet loud," God s law, declar di
On Sina given, was " holy, just, and good :"
With this, the lives of old and young compar d,
And then their guilt in crimson colours stood.
" Now think awhile," said he, " let conscience live j
Yourselves your judges be ; then thus inquire
Can God be just, and yet my sins forgive,
Or must I dwell with the devouring fire ?"
With speed more swift than lightning s swiftest dart,
His soul flew up in silent, earnest prayer,
To God the Holy Ghost, to break the heart-
Convince, and start the penitential tear.
He did his work conviction seiz d the soul,
With godly grief; then prostrate on the ground
They fell, and tears of penitence did roll
One Pentecostal scene w r as spread around.
The powers of darkness " raged ; " it was their hour .
Souls, long in bondage held, and captive led,
Were struggling to be freed, from Satan s power,
Which held them bound, though Christ had bruis d his
head.
RETURNING FROM THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 171
With tongue of seraphic fire, the herald cried,
" Believe in Christ this is the record true
To save a guilty world, the Saviour died
He tasted death for all he died for YOU."
A ray of light appear d ; then Satan, thron d,
His greatest efforts made, to " keep in peace
His house and goods " which he so long had own d :
But Jesus came and gave the soul release.
Then shouts of joy, and songs of highest praise,
To God the Father, Son, and Spirit rose ;
And others heard the vivifying lays,
Were pierc d and felt the guilty sinner s throes.
As we returned from Heald Town to Fort Beaufort,
accompanied by a large number of Europeans on
horseback, and many natives on foot, though, we
drove rapidly to be in time for the evening appoint
ment, some of the black fellows, happy in the Lord,
and light on foot as Elijah before the chariot of
Ahab, ran so fast, as to keep up with us most of the
distance of six miles.
Passing a jungle, we saw a mob of monkeys perched
on the thickly-matted tops of the trees, clearly defined
above the branches. They seemed surprised to see
so many persons in their unfrequented woods, and
stood erect looking at us till we passed out of sight.
Mrs. Thomas Guard witnessed all the scenes of
that day, and possessing a very refined taste, a nice
sense of propriety, and not favourable to noisy re
ligious exercises, I was a little surprised to find her
inthusiastic in her expressions of admiration of all she
aad seen and heard. I had observed that she looked
172 HEALD TOWN.
on and wept, and smiled alternately, during most oi
the service, and as we drove along she said, " I have
seen most of the crowned heads of Europe, was at the
opening of the Great Exhibition in 1851, have wit
nessed, and felt the thrilling effects of the most im
posing pageants of royalty, but I never saw anything
for sublimity and soul- stirring effect to compare with
the scenes of this day. I would not have missed the
meeting of to-day for anything that could be offered/
" But dear me," says one, " such sudden work as
that must be very transient over three hundred
persons professing conversion at two day s services,
and working weekdays too, why it must have been
a straw fire that will soon die out."
Indeed, after so long a preparation, why should
not " the Lord whom ye seek come suddenly in His
temple?" Was not that the way the Holy Spirit
did it when He first entered on His great work in
Jerusalem ? If He hath changed His methods of
working, it is a wonder He hath not informed us, so
that we may adjust ourselves to them. That was a
quick work by which three thousand souls were
saved in one day, under the first Gospel sermon they
ever heard in their lives, and yet thirty-three years
afterwards St. Luke testified to their steadfastness,
saying, " They continued steadfastly in the apostle s
doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread
and in prayers."
To illustrate the genuine character and permanency
of this work, of the same pentecostal Spirit, at Heald
PERMANENT EFFECTS. I7o
Town, so far as we can in the time which has since
elapsed, I may be allowed to copy part of a letter
written me by Eev. Wm. Sargent,, who has recently
been sent to Graham s Town circuit, but who is best
prepared to testify of this work, nearly ten months
after my visit. His letter is dated Graham s Town,
April the 4th, 1867, in which he says :
I am thankful to be able to say, that up to the time of
my leaving Heald Town, and since my departure, the work
has been widening and deepening. At the time of our
District Meeting in January, besides about two hundred
old members, who had either obtained for the first time a
sense of their acceptance with God, or had recovered what
they had lost, and many who had been raised to a higher
platform of Christian experience, there were three hundred
and fifty-eight, principally young persons, who had been
received on trial, most of whom had been made happy in
God s pardoning love. With the experience of some of
these young people I was truly astonished at the Quarterly
Visitation, describing their conversion to God in a way that
would have been impossible, had they not been taught of
God. Out of about four hundred professing conversion to
God, not above two or three persons had, up to the time of
my leaving Heald Town, discontinued meeting in class.
This, I may remark, has been a striking peculiarity in the
recent revival during your visit in these parts. Immedi
ately after every previous revival, there was always a con
siderable falling away ; but the cases of defalcation, in this
instance, have been exceedingly few compared with the
numbers brought in.
In reference to the effects of the recent work of God at
Heald Town, I may remark,
174 HEALF TOWN.
1st. The members of the church have all been greatly
quickened, and raised to a higher standard in the Divine
life than they previously enjoyed.
2nd. The Local Preachers and Class Leaders have been
aroused to a sense of their duties and responsibilities, and
have devoted themselves, with renewed energy, to the work
of the Lord. Some of them, in addition to their ordinary
work, have associated a number of the new converts with
themselves, and have gone from hamlet to hamlet preach
ing the Gospel, and conducting prayer -meetings. These
meetings have often resulted in the conversion of individuals
who seemed to be otherwise inaccessible.
3rd. New Leaders and Local Preachers have come for
ward in a way we never anticipated, and have helped to
carry on tjie work of the Lord with efficiency and success.
4th. Our native agents have shown a determination to
battle with the remains of heathen customs, towards which
they were formerly disposed to be lenient, such as polygamy,
circumcision, the drinldng of Kaffir beer, etc. They seem
determined to purge out of themselves, and out of the
society the very last elements of " the old leaven, that they
may be a new lump." In respect to the very injurious
custom of Kaffir beer-drinking, the Local Preachers first,
and then the Class Leaders afterwards, bound themselves by a
solemn pledge that, for the influence of their example, they
would not henceforth use this pernicious drink, and that they
would do all they could to put it down, both in and out of
the church. Had it been in their power, many of them
would have gone so far as to make it a condition of mem
bership, allowing no one to be a member of the church who
would not consent to give it up, in every form and degree.
But others felt that this could not be done without an en
actment of Conference, which should render " total absti-
nance " a sine qua non of membership throughout all our
175
societies. (Mr. Wesley s enactment in the " general rules
of our societies," has been sufficient to make "total abstain
ers " of all the Methodists of America, numbering in the
aggregate two millions of members, and fourteen thousand
travelling ministers. The poor Kaffir Christians feel some
thing of the same apprehension of danger in tampering -with
drinking customs which have killed their tens of thousands,
to the tens of hundreds slaughtered by the sword that Mr.
Ashbury s preachers felt in America nearly a hundred years
ago, when they made Mr. Wesley s rule practical and
effective, prohibiting the " buying or selling spirituous
liquors ; or drinking them, unless in cases of extreme
necessity" by "spirituous liquors" Americans under
stand all intoxicating drinks, wine, Kaffir beer, and all the
rest ; by the terms " extreme necessity," they understand
the medical necessity of sick persons.
5th. The Sabbath schools and day schools, in a short
time, almost doubled their members, and the thirst for
learning among the young people became most manifest
in an unprecedented application for school-books, and that
from children upon the adjacent hamlets, who previously
cared for none of these things.
Many of these young people formed themselves into
prayer-meetings, which they hold in the fields alone. One
Sabbath afternoon, not long before leaving Heald Town, I
was walking a little below the institution towards the
* kloof, (a deep gorge or ravine) when I saw some twenty
or thirty native children making their way down into the
* bush. I was suspicious that they were meeting for pur
poses of play, and therefore watched them. I soon found,
to my agreeable surprise, that they were a company of
Sabbath-school children, met for a prayer-meeting, spend
ing an hour after school in alternate prayer and singing.
The six or eight European children at Heald Town, besides
176 HEALD TOWN.
attending class, formed themselves into a select prayer-
meeting.
My little girl of nine years, after having cried to be
permitted to meet in class herself, went from house to house
among the Europeans upon the station, and invited all their
children about her own age to a little room, the use of
which she had obtained for that purpose, and formed them
into a prayer-meeting.
One day she came to me saying, " Pa, what can I do for
that poor sick man ? "
She had heard me speak of a sick native man, whom I
had been visiting. I said,
" What do you mean, my dear ? "
" Oh," she replied, " I would like to do something for
him?"
I told her that she might go and buy a few groceries at
the shop, and take them to him. She did so ; but took her
New Testament under her arm, and having given him the
groceries, she read several portions of God s Word to him,
and then asked him if he was happy. I knew nothing of
it till the man told me himself, what a comfort it had been
to him. This same man had been a vile backslider, but
had been recovered during your visit to Heald Town. He
now thought himself upon his deathbed, but was filled with
the light of God s countenance, and anticipating a speedy
admission into His presence, where " there is fulness of
joy." He, however, subsequently recovered, and is
" adorning the doctrine of Christ his Saviour." * * *
Our last District Meeting was one of the most harmoni
ous and profitable we have yet had. The reports of the
different circuits were such as to warm and encourage every
heart, and all the brethren seemed as if they were baptized
afresh for their great work. A record was entered upon
the Minutes of your visit among us, and it was resolved to
" WILT THOU NOT REVIVE AGAIN ? " 177
hold special meetings in all the circuits in May or June
next, to seek for another revival and still greater extension
of God s work among us. We are looking for great things.
I know not why we should not have constantly repeated
baptisms of the Spirit. Why not 7
CHAPTER XII.
SOMERSET EAST.
ON Friday morning, the 22nd of June, Brother Sar
gent, in company with his son and daughter, drove
me twenty miles with his cart and pair, to the
village of Adelaide, on my way to Somerset, which
is about eighty miles distant from Fort Beaufort.
At half-past two P.M., I preached at Adelaide in the
Presbyterian Church, Rev. Peter Davidson, pastor,
with whom I dined. I had dined with his brother,
the Rev. "William Davidson, at his own house,
in the town of " Clare, " South Australia, and
had become acquainted with another brother, Eev.
James Davidson, King William s Town, British
Kaffraria, so instead of strangers, we seemed to
meet as friends. The Wesleyans have no society
at Adelaide, but we have a few good men there,
who, in the absence of their own Church, have
united with Mr. Davidson. Mr. Francis King
sent his cart and pair, to convey me that afternoon
to Bedford, twenty miles further on my way,
Brothers Sargent and Davidson accompanying. I
was weary and allowed them to do all the talking.
THE "NAG MAL. " 179
Lrother Davidson gave us an interesting history of
himself, and brother ministers, and their widowed
mother, and how they struggled up the hill of diffi
culty, in acquiring an education, and preparing for
the ministry. It was altogether a very interesting
narrative. Brother Davidson is a very genial Scotch
man, and I am told an earnest evangelical minister
of the Gospel. The Dutch Reformed Church in
Adelaide are building a church edifice there which
will cost 25,000, and a minister s house to cost
3,000, altogether the sum of 28,000. The village
is very small, but it is the centre of a large Dutch
farming community. The Dutch, being the first
European settlers, in South Africa, own the ma
jority of the best farms, and build very large
churches in accessible centres, and put up small
houses contiguous, for temporary home comfort
during their sojourn at their " nag mals." The
"nag mal," or "night meal," is the sacrament of
the Lord s Supper, which is administered at their
churches quarterly. The farmers, within a radius
of twenty or thirty miles, attend on those occa
sions, with their families, and spend several days
in religious duties, embracing the sacraments of
baptism, and the Lord s Supper, preaching the
Gospel, and confirmation; and a social reunion
with their friends. For a sparsely settled pastoral
country, like Southern Africa, I think it a very
good arrangement indeed, and might be made very
useful among the the Wesleyans, as a kind of
180 SOMERSET EAST.
" camp -meeting/ to promote the spiritual life of the
scattered country societies. The appointment for
my preaching in Adelaide was circulated after our
arrival, and a company of about sixty persons as
sembled, to whom, for the first and last time,
I presented the offer of Christ as their only
Saviour. Five months afterwards, Rev. Brother
Sargent, in a letter to me, makes the following allu
sion to that occasion. " You will remember our
visit to Adelaide, I feared it was rather dis
couraging to your own mind, having but a small
attendance at the chapel, but I have heard of at
least one young man by the name of Trollip, whose
friends you met in Queen s Town, who was that day
savingly impressed, and has since died happy in the
Lord/ In a letter dated April, 1857, Brother Sar
gent makes another allusion to that occasion, as
follows : " Mr. Benjamin Trollip, whose soul was
greatly blessed under your ministry at Queen s
Town is lying upon his death-bed in Graham s
Town, unspeakably happy in God. He is the father
of the young man who was converted under your
sermon at Adelaide, and died happy in the Lord
shortly after."
BEDFORD is a small village with one little church,
which is under the pastoral care of Kev. Mr.
Solomon. Mr. Solomon was for many years a mis
sionary to the Griquas, Adam Kok s Hottentots, and
Dutch bastards, then near the Orange River, now in
" Nomansland," Kaffraria. They are at present,
THE MESSRS. SOLOMON. 1S1
and ever since their removal to their new home,
without a missionary. Yet under the effect of former
missionary teaching they have their chapels, and
regular services among themselves. The Wesleyan
Missionaries occasionally visit them, and administer
the sacraments to them.
Mr. Solomon, after a separation of several years,
had just returned from a visit to them, of several
weeks. He is greatly interested in their welfare,
and says, that but for his family relations he would
go and live with them. Kev. Mr. Solomon is a
brother of the celebrated Saul Solomon of Cape
Town celebrated for his littleness of stature, about
three and a-half feet high, and for his greatness
as a politician, and member of the Colonial Parlia
ment, for literary and commercial enterprise, con
ducting a large paper in Cape Town, and a
variety of business pursuits the greatest man of
his size, I suppose in the world. I preached for
Rev. Mr. Solomon that night. His church, being
the only one in the place is made up of all denomi
nations," among whom are some excellent "VVesleyans,
especially Francis King, his brother, and their
families.
The Kings are of the Graham s Town stock of
Wesleyans, where their good old father still lives.
They are sheep and cattle farmers. Being native-
born " Africandas," as the native Europeans are
called, they have had many adventures, both in times
of war and peace. Francis King said he and another
182 SOMERSET EAST.
young man were once travelling together to Nama-
qualand, to explore the copper mines (350 miles west
of Cape Town). They were on horseback, but were
unarmed. Away in the wilds, two hundred miles west
of Cape Town, they were suddenly surrounded by
a dozen " Bushmen," who seized the bridles of their
horses and stopped them. " I knew/ said King,
" from their general character and their movements,
that they designed to rob us, and perhaps kill us
too, but fearing that we had concealed weapons
they offered no violence except to hold us fast. My
companion was greatly alarmed, and said, We re
sure to be killed ; but I said, Jim, don t show the
least fear, keep perfectly cool, and we may provi
dentially find a way of escape. After we had waited
some time, a square, burly-looking fellow came up,
having six toes on each foot, and joined the rest in
holding on to our bridles and stirrup-leathers. I
soon found that this six-toed fellow could speak a
little Dutch, so I said to him, Take us to the water,
we want to drink. They immediately set off with us,
holding our bridles on each side, and took us a mile
or two to a spring. We dismounted, and holding
our horses with one hand, managed to get a little
water, for we were nearly famished. I talked to
them familiarly all the time, as though I of course
thought they were our friends. I told them I wanted
to buy ostrich feathers, and I wanted them to go and
get me some. Two of them ran away, and after an
absence of nearly an hour came back with a few
THE SIX-TOED BUSHMAN. 183
feathers. I paid for them, and said, This is not
half enough ; I want you all to go and bring me all
the feathers you can get, and I ll pay you a good
price for them/ so they all started off under the im
pulse of the moment to get feathers. As soon as
they got out of sight, we mounted, and rode off for
life. That was in the after part of the day. We
travelled all that night, and till late in the P.M. of
the next day before we stopped long enough to make
a cup of tea. That afternoon as we passed along.
I discovered a bees nest in the rocks. Near sunset,
over forty miles from where we left the Bushmen,
we encamped for the night. We had just taken a
cup of tea, and were talking of our narrow escape,
when lo, the six-toed fellow and his party were upon
us. They came and seated themselves in a circle
around us, without saying a word. I talked Dutch
to Six- toes, but he made no reply. I laughed and
talked as though nothing had happened, or was
likely to happen, while I was trying to invent a
method of escape. I knew if we showed fear, or if
they should find out that we were unarmed, it would
be all up with us. All at once I thought of the
bees nest, and said I to Six-toes, Wouldn t you
like for me to show you a bees nest ? You all must
be hungry after your journey, and I m sure a little
honey will do you good/ Then he began to talk a
little, but in a very surly spirit. I said, Come with
me, and I ll show you a bees nest, and you can get
a good feed of honey/ I got up and started, and
184 SOMERSET EAST.
tfiey followed Jim said, Frank, you are not going
to trust yourself alone with, those savages, I hope/
" I replied, Get the horses ready, and take them
to the other side of the ridge beyond the bees nest,
and wait there till I come. I took the Bushmen to
the nest, and they all at once began in great haste
to work their way into the rocks, to get the honey;
finally, one of them drew out a fine piece of comb,
full of honey, and I ran up and snatched it, and
began to eat. They looked at me, and began to
mutter, but said I, Dig away, you ll find plenty of
honey in there/ so they went to work with greater
eagerness than ever, while I began to walk back
wards and forwards, eating a little honey, and hum
ming a tune, watching my opportunity. While their
attention was taken in their scramble, each trying
to get his full share of the honey, I got out of sight,
and ran for life. The horses were ready, and we put
them up to their best speed for about thirty miles.
In almost utter exhaustion, we then off- saddled and
knee -haltered our horses, and half-buried ourselves
in the sand and soon fell asleep.
" "We had not been long asleep, as I afterwards
found, when I was awakened by something cold
touching my toe. It was a bright moonlight night,
and I instantly recognized the dog of those Bushmen
smelling my feet, but was glad to see him trot away
without barking at us. I shook Jim, and whispered
to him to keep a sharp look out, but not to move a
muscle unless attacked. In a few minutes I heard
GOVERNMENT FARM. 185
our pursuers run past, but a few rods distant from
as. They lost their scent, we took another direc
tion, and saw them no more." This is one of many
tales I heard by the way, which I relate to illustrate
the adventures of pioneer life in South Africa.
Kev. John Edwards, Superintendent of Somerset
Circuit, met me at Bedford, and drove me hence,
nearly forty miles, in his " cart- and- four," to his
own house in Somerset. Brother Edwards was sent
as a missionary to Africa in 1831, and has had a
great variety of missionary life in the English,
Dutch, and Kaffir work on the frontier, and the
Bechuana work in the interior.
SOMERSET was visited by Hev. Wm. Shaw as
early as 1822, on the invitation of E. Hart, Esq.,
who had been an officer of the Cape regiment, a
good man, and though aged, still lives near Somerset,
and takes a great interest in the work of God. At
that early day Somerset was simply a Government
farm, under the superintendency of Mr. Hart, to
raise supplies for the frontier troops, but when the
general farming interests of the colony were suffi
ciently developed to supply this demand, the farm
was converted into a township. The district of
Somerset now has a population of 10,022, of which
3,784 are Europeans. The village has probably one-
third of the whole population of the district. The
Wesleyan chapel, for the whites, had recently been
enlarged to double its former size, by the addition of
a transept as large as the old chapel ; altogether it
1S6 SOMERSET EAST.
now seat over three hundred and fifty. The
native chapel is about the same size. Our cause
among the whites there was considered very feeble.
The circuit is geographically very extensive. Brother
Edwards keeps four good horses to enable him to do
the travelling work necessary, and our cause was said
to be much stronger in the country than in the town.
Indeed Brother Edwards told me at the start that he
had but two white members in town, besides his wife,
who could pray in public, so our prospect for a work
was not very bright. On Sabbath I preached three
sermons, and collected 23 towards the late enlarge
ment of the chapel. We had two services for the
whites on Monday. One day service for natives on
Tuesday, preaching to whites at night. Preached
twice to the whites on Wednesday. Preached for
the natives on Thursday, lectured on Thursday night,
and left early on Friday morning.
A number of persons had come fifty, and others
seventy, miles to attend the meetings. Among them
was a Mr. Nash, from " Ebenezer," fifty miles dis
tant. He was a good farmer, a kind-hearted man,
with an interesting family, but I was told that he
was given to drink, so that his life and all that he
had were in jeopardy. He called to see me on
Saturday evening soon after my arrival. Said he, " I
never would have thought of coming to this meeting
but for Hon. Mr. Burch, of Uitenhage. He used
to be my neighbour before his removal to Uitenhage,
and recently he was in our neighbourhood, and was
INFLUENTIAL TESTIMONY OF MR. BUIICH-. 187
telling myself and others about your preaching in
Uitenhage, and what surprised us most was that he
said that he had found the pardon of all his sins at
your meeting. We thought it was a wonderful
thing. We knew that Burch was not a man to be
deceived in such a matter, and that he would not
lie ; indeed, we could all see that there was a won
derful change in him. He begged us to attend your
meeting here, and we have come. I am a dreadful
sinner, and I can see no hope for me, but still, when
such a man as Burch finds peace with God, I don t
see why anybody need despair." I was pleased with
his honest simplicity and earnestness.
He attended all the services, but did not yield till
Wednesday, when he surrendered to God, accepted
Christ, and was saved. Nearly all those who came
so far, through the testimony of Mr c Burch, went
home happy in God.
At each native service the chapel was crowded
I was greatly favoured in having Siko Radas,
from Heald Town, to interpret for me. He was hav
ing holiday during his vacation,, and spent it in
riding nearly eighty miles on his own hired horse to
help me at Somerset, and thence eighty miles to
Cradock to help me there. We had not such a
mass of people to preach to in those towns as at
Heald Town, but, in proportion to the population, we
had a blessed harvest of souls. At the two native
services in Somerset, over fifty natives were examined
by their minister, Brother Edwards, and reported
188 SOMERSET EAST.
converted to God. Over twenty-five whites were
saved at our series for them. In a letter from Bro
ther Edwards, written the following week, he says,
4< On Sunday July 31st, both at the preaching and
at the prayer-meeting in the evening, the power of
God the Spirit was graciously manifested in a way
I never felt before. A great concern is found among
the English families; many have yielded, others are
deeply awakened. Many natives belonging to other
churches have found peace. They will be lost to us,
but not to God. The young converts are happy,
and are working well ; among others, none more so
than my son Walter. To God be the praise. Fully
one hundred have found peace." In another letter
from Brother Edwards, four months later, he says,
" Most glad to hear from you, and of the prosperity
of God s work. God hath blessed us much here.
Those brought in remain steadfast. Mr. Nash is a
miracle of grace, he holds on his way, and is very
happy."
Among many missionary stories related to me by
Brother Edwards, I will record one, as it will illus
trate several facts in connection with missionary life
and adventure in Africa. Many years ago the
natives of three mission stations, with their mission
aries, Mr. Edwards being one of them, went in search
of a new home. They travelled about a thousand
miles before they found a suitable place, and hence
the establishment of our missions in the Free State
in the " Bechuana District," which was first esta-
ONE OP THE " LESSER PROPHETS. " 189
Wished by Messrs. Jenkins, Edwards, and "others.
The following narrative is from Brother Edwards s
own pen, written at my request. " Previously to the
year 1830, there was a great slaughter among the
native tribes living in the north. Owing to their
making war with one another, whole native towns
were depopulated. Those who escaped fled for their
lives, and wandered they knew not whither. Among
them was a lad who found his way into Basuto
country " (the Basutos are the people under Moshesh,
whom the Dutch of the Free State have been fight
ing for several years) . "After many days of lonely
wandering, living on pumpkin-peelings, found in the
deserted huts of the depopulated country through
which he passed, he fell in with Sikonyele s tribe, called
the Mantatees. They looked upon him as a poor
little thing, and treated him roughly, as a refugee.
After being there for some time, he told the chief
men of the tribe that he had a vision to make known
to them, which was, that a large army would come
down upon them from the north, destroy many of
them, and take their cattle. Most of them paid no
attention to his revelation, but said, Who can con
quer us ? It was a tribe at that time strong, war
like, rich in cattle, and proud. Not long after, how
ever, there came down from the north some hostile
tribes, which robbed them of the most of their cattle,
and destroyed many of their people.
"Then many of them began to believe in their
little refugee prophet. Some time after that, the
100 SOMERSET EAST.
boy said lie had another vision to make known to
them Some were opposed to hearing him; how
ever, he told them that another attack would be
made upon them by another sort of people. A
copper-coloured people, on horses, having guns to
fight with, would come upon them, and would take
away their goats and sheep, and many of their
children, and would kill many people. Not long
after a lot of " Corannas " (Hottentot bastards, who,
being so long among the Dutch, had learned the use
fire-arms, and were well-supplied with guns), "came
and did just as the boy had described. These two
attacks reduced the Mantatees much, and brought
them into a state of great humiliation and fear.
Again the prophet boy gave notice that he had re
ceived another vision, and had something to tell
them. They were now all anxious to hear what he
had to say. Then he told them that c a large lot of
people will come into the country to reside. They
will not come to fight or destroy. They are men of
peace, and will* bring good tidings. There will be
among them men dressed in black clothes, but men
of peace/ They all listened attentively, and asked
him what more he had to tell them ? < No more/
said he, * but only to listen to what the men of peace
will tell you/ Shortly after that," continues Mr.
Edwards, " we arrived in that country with the people
of three stations/ in all about twelve thousand souls,
under the care of three missionaries. We were after
wards told that if we had gone into that country,
BAPTISM OF DANIEL, THE PROPHET. 191
while the Mantatees were in their pride and pros
perity, not one of us would have escaped death.
Here we saw the hand of God. That prophet lad
was one of our first converts to Christ, and I bap
tized him, Daniel, not knowing then that he had been
such a prophet aforetime. The boy remained stead
fast in the faith.
" The Mantatees had no correct idea of Gfod ; but
believed that a great Being lived above, to them un
seen, whom they called Morimo Mo him
rimo above Him above."
CHAPTER XIII.
CRADOCK.
ON Friday, the 29th of June, Mr. Sargent, brothei
to Rev. W. Sargent, one of the principal Wesleyans
in Somerset, drove me, in company with his wife,
from Somerset, forty miles on my way towards Cra-
dock to " Dagga Boer." We spent the night, and
preached at the house of Mr. John Trollip. The
Trollip family is a very old and numerous family,
very well-to-do, respectable, and everywhere known
as Wesleyans, though not all saved as yet. We
were hospitably entertained at Mr. John Trollip s for
the night, and took breakfast with his aged parents
in a separate house on the same premises. They
have had their share of the sweet and the bitter of
old pioneers in a new country. In their family
bury ing- ground, surrounded by a stone wall, I read
on a tombstone the following : " Sacred to the me
mory of Henry Trollip, aged twenty-eight years
two months and ten days ; and his brother Edward,
aged nineteen years and five days, sons of William
Trollip, who, on returning home were waylaid and
shot by a band of rebel Hottentots, on the 31st of
REBEL HOTTENTOTS.
December, 1851. < They were lovely and pleasant
in their lives, and in their death they were not
divided. 2 Samuel i. 23."
These were John s brothers, and sons of the
honourable aged pair, at whose board we were enter
tained. Their bereavement but illustrates the be
reavement of many in the colony, and explains, in
part, the deep, but not very discriminating, pre
judice of the white colonists against the natives.
The murderers of those young men belonged to
a colony of highly favoured Hottentots, settled
on lands ceded to them by the Government^
near the " Kat Mountains." Unlike the Fingoes,
who have always been true to the Government, in
the Kaffir War of 1851, these Hottentots rebelled,,
and did great damage to the colonial cause, and;
greater damage still to their own. The repeated
Kaffir wars have done much to deepen prejudice
against the blacks, still it should be remembered that
they claimed to be the original owners of the soil,
and that they were heathens, and knew nothing of
what Europeans consider the honourable modes of
conducting wars, and killing people ; but whatever
the conduct of those heathen warriors, it does not
justify an indiscriminate bitter hatred of the race,
which has operated seriously against the success of
the Gospel among them, and the raising up of na
tive missionaries. This prejudice, to be sure, is not
universal, but very general, and very outspoken.
It usually breaks out in declamation about the in-
o
JP4 CRADOCK.
efficiency and dishonesty of native servants and then
goes off into general charges, such as "they are a nation
of thieves," " they won t work ? "you ll never make
anything out of them/ and so on. I have often replied
to such charges against the servants, by saying, 1st.
" The better class of Fingoes and Kaffirs have their
own cattle, and comfortable homes, and don t go into
service. Those who know them well, say they are
industrious, honest, and many of them as consistent
Christians as can be found among the whites. 2nd.
Good servants get a good situation and keep it. I
have met many such in South Africa, whose
masters say, they never have much trouble with
them, and they can trust them with anything they
have. It is a notorious fact, that if you entrust,
even a Kaffir thief, with your property to the
amount of even thousands of pounds, and let him
see that you have faith in him, you may go away
where you like, and take your pleasure or your rest,
and be sure that your Kaffir servant will faithfully
attend to your interests. 3rd. The coloured servants
so often in the market, and changing continually,
from whom you get your grounds of complaint against
native servants in general, and against the mission-
stations, because, as wandering refugees, they may
have found quarters there for a time, are just like a
thriftless class of servants to be found in all countries,
and of all nationalities. Tis said that a gentleman once
inquired of Dr. Adam Clarke if he could tell him
where he could get a good English servant?
PREJUDICE AGAINST THE NATIVES.
" Why," replied the Doctor, "I have been praying
to the Lord for three weeks to send me one, and I
do believe if He had one out of a situation, He
would have answered my prayers before this time."
While proper vigilance should be maintained to
prevent the organization of seditious bodies of natives,
everything possible should be done to Christianize
all classes of them, develop their manhood, and fully
ally the best interests of both the Europeans and
natives. The missionaries alone cannot do all that
work, they need the intelligent, discriminating moral
power of all good colonists to aid them.
Kev. "W. Chapman, Superintendent of Cradock
Circuit, met me at Mr. John Trollip s, and drove me
in his cart and pair, through a gale of wind and
blinding clouds of dust, a distance of about forty
miles to Cradock. Brother Chapman spent a
number of years in the mission-work, in that charnel-
field of martyr missionaries the West Coast of
Africa. When his health failed there, he was trans
ferred to South Africa, where he recovered his health,
and has for some years wrought succesfully as a
missionary.
CRADOCK is located near the Great Fish River,
550 miles east of Cape Town, and 107 north-west of
Graham s Town, in a fine sheep- growing country of ex
tensive valleys and mountains. The mountains do not
rise in regular ranges, but stand out in every direction,
clearly defined in the peculiarly transparent atmosphere
of that region, in isolated grandeur. Huge granite
CRADOCK.
mountains with many perpendicular lines, especially
near their summits, shaped like the roof and gable-
ends of a house, yet rising to an altitude of six or seven
thousand feet. Cradock was originally established
as the seat of a magistracy, and centre of a large
district of wealthy Dutch farmers. Eev. John Taylor,
the Dutch Eeformed Minister there, has the reputa
tion of being a very liberal and useful man. The
town has grown up to a place of considerable com
mercial importance. The population of the district
amounts to an aggregate of 12,136, of whom 5,845
are whites ; a good sprinkling of these are English.
" Rev. Thornly Smith was the first resident Wesleyan
minister appointed to Cradock, which was in 1842.
He was soon succeeded by Eev. John Edwards, who
could preach in both Dutch and English. The first
Wesleyan chapel there was built in 1842. That was
subsequently given to the Kaffirs, and the present
commodious chapel, with sittings for about 500, was
built under the superintendency of Eev. Gr. H.
Green."
Our party, consisting of Brother Chapman and
son, Brother and Sister Sargent, Siko Eadas and
myself, arrived a little before sunset. Our first
business was to dispose of our surplus " real estate/
in the form of a very uncomfortable accumulation of
dust, completely covering our persons and baggage.
I then paid my respects to a good ham of venison,
well-prepared by good Sister Chapman, and was
after dinner conducted to my Cradock home, in the
HON. HENRY TUCKER. 197
family of Hon. Henry Tucker, M.L.C. I found
there most comfortable quarters, through the
kindness of Brother and Sister Tucker. Though a
merchant and a politician, I iound Brother Tucker
to be a thorough and active teetotaller, the super
intendent of our Sabbath- school, and an earnest
Christian. The cause of total abstinence had a
stronger hold in Cradock, than in any South African
town I visited, and, as a consequence, we had no dis
order in the streets, nor about the doors of our chapel,
and a larger proportion of the people were prepared
soberly to wait on God under our Gospel ministrations,
and hence a proportionately large number of them
were converted to God during our series. Being
i " drunk with wine," instead of being filled with the
Spirit/ is one of the greatest hindrances to the success
j of the Gospel. Many of our ministers in South Africa
have waked up to this fact, and for the sake of their
influence upon society in this matter, have become
total abstainers. Hon. Mr. Tucker gave me the
following melancholy instance of the damaging effect
of a tippling minister s example. "A hotel-keeper in
Graham s Town, was greatly addicted to the use of
spirits. I laboured with him, and had him on the
eve of becoming a teetotaller. He had given up the
use of it for weeks, and I finally believed that 1
would succeed in saving him. He was a genial good-
liearted fellow, I was boarding with him. during the
session of Parliament its only session in Graham s
Town and I felt a great interest in him, on his own
198 CRADOCK.
account, and on account of his family. But just at
the time, when I thought my efforts were about to
be permanently successful, a minister came in and
dined with us, and at the dinner-table he held up a
glass of spirits, and, in quite a little speech, expatiated
on it, as one of the good gifts of God to be enjoyed
by His creatures, and then drank it. The next
morning I made some remark to my landlord about
the danger of drink, and he replied abruptly:
Mr. Tucker, I don t wish you to speak to me again
on this subject, after the eloquent remarks of Eev.
Mr. , yesterday. I see now clearly that it is all
right to use it, as a good gift of God to be enjoyed/
In two weeks from that day he died in delirium
tremens."
I believe Brother Tucker has been the means of
saving a number of men from a similar end, and in
his position of life, his example and active labours
tend greatly to promote the temperance movement in
South Africa. I was pleased to meet some of my
Graham s Town friends in Cradock, who had come to
attend the meetings Hon. Samuel Cawood, M.L.C.,
who rendered us good service in our prayer-
meetings, and Messrs. John and Wm. Webb, and
others.
I commenced my work in Cradock on Sabbath
morning the 31st of June. My first service was to
preach to the Kaffirs, through Siko Eadas, at seven,
A.M. There was a gracious moving of the Holy
Spirit, but we had no time for a prayer-meeting.
PREACHING TO DUTCH NATIVES, 199
I preached to the whites at eleven A.M., three P.M.,
aud half-past six in the evening. We had the altai
crowded with seekers, and twelve persons professed
to find peace with God at our first prayer-meeting.
Had two successful services for the whites, Monday,
at eleven A.M., and seven P.M. On Tuesday, at
eleven A.M., 1 preached to the Dutch-speaking
natives. About one-half the natives of Cradock
speak Kaffir, and the other half Dutch, making it
necessary to have two native chapels, and separate
services in each language.
Mr. H. Park, a discharged old soldier, and Dutch
interpreter in the magistrates court there, was my
interpreter. The language is not nearly so eupho
nious as the Kaffir, but I was interested in marking
its near relationship to the English. Our principal
difficulty on that occasion was the want of room to
accommodate the multitude who wished to hear.
During our prayer-meeting, after the preaching, over
thirty persons gave their names as new converts to
Jesus. On Tuesday night, and Wednesday, at eleven
A.M., and seven P.M., preached to the whites, fol
lowed in each case by a prayer-meeting, and the
salvation of souls. On Wednesday night, during
the prayer-meeting, Mr. Wm. Webb, who had come
from Graham s Town to attend our meeting, and
who had been forward a number of times as a seeker,
was suddenly delivered from the power of darkness,
and translated into the kingdom of Jesus. He arose
and addressed the audience, testifying very intelli-
200 CRADOCK.
gently and clearly that, after forty- six years of rebel-
lion against God, he had now obtained reconciliation
and unspeakable joy.
When we had sufficient time at command, we
often gave the young converts an opportunity to
testify publicly, and rising one after another, they
witnessed distinctly to the facts in their experience,
demonstrating the truth of the Gospel, and the saving
power of Jesus in their own hearts. Many doubting
ones have thus been convinced, and led to decision
for God.
It was arranged that I should preach again to the
natives on Thursday, but their new chapel, which
will seat between four and five hundred, was not
ready, and it was finally announced that I should
preach to the natives and whites together in the
court, back of the mission-house.
At eleven A.M. the heterogeneous mass nearly filled
the court. We take our stand on the back verandah
of the mission-house. The court is bounded on our
left by a wall, in front, by a carriage-house, and the
garden fence, on the right, by the stables and a
wall, altogether affording almost as good protection
from outside intrusion, if the danger of such had
existed, as the sacred precincts of a church. The
central group of our audience is composed of Kaffirs
and Hottentots of every colour, and of every
variety of native costume. They have brought their
sleeping-mats, each about three feet wide and six in
length, and have spread them out to sit and kneel
GOSPEL PREACHED IN THREE LANGUAGES AT ONCE. 201
on. Many of them are seated on benches provided
for them, but many more are down on their mats.
Next, in a massed circle and in scattered groups, we
see all classes of the whites. Brother Park stands
ready to put my sermon into the Dutch language,
but we see so many Kaffirs in the audience, who
know neither English or Dutch, that we say "Poor
souls, can t we have another interpreter? I wish
we had Siko Kadas here, but he has gone back to his
school." " There s a Kaffir here just up from Port
Elizabeth, called Jack, who can speak English/ said
Brother Chapman, "but I don t know whether he
can interpret." " Jack, come here, my man/ said I,
and up came a black Kaffir, about five feet eight, very
plainly dressed, wearing an old straw-hat. " Brother
Jack/ said I, "can you put my words into Kaffir?"
"Yes, sir/ replied Jack. "Brother Park will put them
into Dutch, and you will follow him, and put each
sentence into Kaffir just as you would talk to them
about shearing sheep. " I had no time, under this
extemporized arrangement, to give Jack my sermon
privately, as I was in the habit of doing for my
interpreters, but proceeded at once to business. The
three of us stood side by side, Park close to my
right, and Jack next. I gave every sentence in a
clear but condensed form, and for over an hour the
piercing light and melting power of the Gospel
flowed out through the medium of three languages at
once, without the break of a single blunder or a
moment s hesitation. Men, women, and children
202 CRADOCK.
weep, and I doubt not angels gaze and rejoice.
At the close of the preaching we invited all who
wish to surrender to God and accept Christ to " kneel
before the Lord " at once. Scores of the Kaffirs kneel
down on their mats, with cries and streaming tears.
The whites, with no such provision, go down on their
knees in the dust, bench after bench is crowded with
them, and, ah ! what a scene ensued.
"While I was without, pointing these struggling
souls to Jesus, Brother Chapman came to me,
saying, " Brother Taylor, will you please come
into the house and speak to a woman in despair ?
She is a [very clever, influential woman, and will
make a noble Christian if she is saved ; but she says
her day of grace is gone, and that nothing remains
for her but the blackness of darkness for ever." I
go and find her in a sad state of mind, to be sure,
but after some time we get her composed, so as to
converse and reason on the subject, and convince her
that this dreadful discovery of extreme heart wicked
ness is the result of the Holy Spirit s awakening
mercy. " Though you can see no way of escape, my
dear sister, God sees the way of salvation open for
you, and the proof of that is the fact that He has
eent His Spirit to show you your bondage, and lead
you to Jesus. Now if you consent to surrender your
self to God, consent that He take your case in hand,
and do with you as He wishes, take from you all
your sins, impose on you whatever is right, you may
at once accept Christ as your Saviour. God hath
HOW A WOMAN WAS SAVED. 203
sent Him into the world to save sinners even the
chief of sinners. That was His business when mani
fest in the flesh ; that is His business through His
invisible Spirit now, as really as then. God offers
Him to you in His Gospel as your Saviour, the Holy
Spirit presents Him at the door of your heart as
your Saviour. He is knocking at the door. Now
you will accept Him, and be saved by Him, or reject
Him and perish. Accept Him now by faith. It is
not presumption, but confidence in God s most reliable
record concerning His Son. If what God says about
Him is true, then Christ is worthy of your confidence,
and if so, why not receive Him now ? You cannot im
prove your case by anything you ever can do, and
you cannot add anything to God s ransom, and
remedy; then, on the faith of God s testimony, receive
Jesus now as your Saviour from sin. You must say,
I accept Him. I accept Him on His own terms, I
accept Him on God s recommendation, I accept Him
now, I accept Him say it till your heart says it,
and in that moment God will justify you freely by
His grace, and His Holy Spirit will bear witness
with your spirit to the fact, and fill your heart with
His pardoning love." Finally she began to say, " I
accept Christ, I accept Him," and in a few moments
she received the witness of forgiveness, and was filled
with " joy unspeakable/ and oh, how she wept and
hiked of the amazing love of God. My Dutch in
terpreter s wife and daughter were saved that day,
and a large number of whites, Dutch, and Kaffirs.
204 CRADOCK.
I have given but an inadequate glance at the scenes
of that day.
To try to describe any of those occasions of the
out -pourings of the Spirit at different places, of which
I have been speaking, is like trying to describe the
lightnings of Heaven. When we say we witnessed
a grand thunderstorm, those who are familiar with
such scenes know what we mean, but it cannot be put
into words, nor spread upon the canvas, so when we
speak of hundreds of souls bowed before God in peni
tential grief, and of their accepting Christ, and then
in rapturous joy telling of their deliverance, those who
are familiar with such scenes know what is meant,
"but the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned." A lecture on Thurs
day-night closed my labours in Cradock. Rev. Mr.
Chapman, reported over seventy whites, and over
fifty natives converted to God, during our series of
five days. By a letter from Brother Chapman,, dated
November 9th, over four months after I left, I learn
that the work of God in Cradock has gone steadily
on, with increasing power. "After you left," he
writes, "some of our oldest members came up as
seekers. One man, near eighty years old, long a
member, and others who had been fifteen or twenty
years in the Church, and had never obtained peace
before. I believe we have now but very few members
without this blessing." He goes on to give me the
names of many whole families who had been saved,
GOOD REPORT OF THE WORK. 205
and were walking happily in the light, and states
that up to the time of writing, the number of converts
among the whites had gone up to about "150, and
about 160 coloured," making an aggregate of over
300 souls justified, besides a number wholly sanctified
to the Lord.
My next field was Queen s Town*
CHAPTER XIV.
QUEEN S TOWN.
AT early dawn on Friday morning, the 5th of
July, I was seated beside Brother Tucker, my host,
in his splendid carriage, behind his two fine grey
Arab steeds, en route for Queen s Town, over eighty
miles distant. Brother Tucker accompanied me
thirty miles on my way, where we dined at the house
of his brother, and I bade my dear friend adieu. Mr.
Hmes was in waiting, and drove me that afternoon
twenty miles in his cart and four, to his own house
in the village of " Tarkisstaat." The "Wesley ans had
a small chapel there, but no society. The Dutch
Reformed Church being a little more central, and
having been kindly offered for our use, I preached
that night in the Dutch Reformed Church. We did
not hold a prayer-meeting, but a respectable citizen
of the town, Mr. J. R, called next morning to inform
me that, after preaching the night before, he went
home and wrestled in importunate prayer, till he was
enabled to submit to God, and accept Christ, and was
made happy in the assurance of pardon.
On Saturday, Mr. Hines, accompanied by his
REV. H. H. DUGMORE. 207
daughter and son, drove me thirty-five miles to
Queen s Town, where I put up at the house of the
resident Wesleyan minister, Rev. H. H. Dugmore.
Brother Dugmore is one of the old pioneer mission
aries of Southern Africa, yet of colonial production.
He is a minister of superior abilities in the pulpit,
as a preacher, in his sanctum as a student and
writer, in the social circle as a companion, and
musician, playing a variety of musical intruments.
He preaches in English, Dutch, and Kaffir. He is
considered one of the best Kaffir scholars in the
country ; has translated large portions of the Scrip
tures into Kaffir, and is the author of the most and
best hymns contained in our Kaffir Hymn Book, and
sung by the Kaffirs. There is but one of our Wes
leyan hymns in the Kaffir language, so says the Eev.
W. Shepstone, and that is the 143rd, " Jesu, lover of
my soul." Excellent as they are in English, they
cannot be readily made to fit Kaffir ideas and
idioms.
QUEEN S TOWN is situated in the midst of a beauti
ful and fertile district of country, composed of
beautiful vales, extensive plains, and sublime moun
tains. It was formerly occupied by bushmen and
Tembookie Kaffirs, but after the war of 1850-2,. it
fell into the hands of the Government, and was added
to the colony. The Wesleyans for many years before
had two mission-stations among the Tembookies in
that district, and the natives of those stations proving
true to the Government, as usual, the Governor, Sir
208 QUEEN S TOWN.
George Cathcart, allowed them to remain in the un
disturbed possession of their lands, on which we now
have the nourishing mission-station of Lesseyton,
eight miles distant from Queen s Town, and Kama-
stone, twenty miles distant. The Government gave a
good lot in Queen s Town to the Wesleyans for
church purposes. A church and " mission-house, "
were soon after built, and a Wesleyan Society orga
nized by the present incumbent, Rev. H. H. Dug-
more. The first chapel, near the mission-house, has
been given to the natives, and a spacious and beauti
ful chapel, more centrally located in the town, has
been erected for the whites. The population of the
district amounts to an aggregate of 44,542, but 3,632
of whom are Europeans. The white residents of
Queen s Town, as in Graham s Town, are nearly all
English.
We had a number of visitors at our services from
different parts of the colony ; Messrs. Shaw, Barnes,
Elliott, and others recently converted to God at
Fort Beaufort, were there, and rendered us good
service. Mr. Shaw is a Fort Beaufort merchant,
who has since become an Exhorter and Class-leader.
Mr. Elliott was the said hotel-keeper who gave up
his " canteen." We had a few from Graham s Town,
and Mr. Jakins, from Salem Circuit, one hundred
and twenty miles distant.
Brother Jakins is an old pioneer Wesleyan, who
has been very useful, I am told, as a Local Preacher
for many years. He called on me soon after my
THE JAKTX FAMILY. 209
arrival in Graham s Town, and said, " About a year
ago I received a letter from my sister in Launceston,
Tasmania, stating that she and her two sons and two
daughters had found peace with God, and had united
with the Wesleyan Society, at a series of meetings
recently held in their town, by the Rev. William
Taylor, from America, and gave me a glowing
account of a wonderful work of God which had
spread throughout the colony of Tasmania. When
I saw your name announced in the Cape Town papers,
it struck me that you must be the same minister
mentioned by my sister, and I have taken the
liberty to call on you to ascertain whether indeed
that is so." When he learned that he had thus
strangely enough met with the man whom God had
used in saving his dear kindred in a remote colony in
the Indian Ocean, he wept in gratitude before God.
At our Graham s Town series, two of Brother
Jakins daughters and a son-in-law were saved,
and now ho had come one hundred and twenty miles
to attend my Queen s Town meeting, with the hope
of seeing his two sons, who are farmers in that
district, brought to God. He did us good service
at our meetings, and had the happiness of seeing
his sons happy in Jesus before he returned. "Now,"
said he, with tearful eyes, " I will have joyful tidings
to write to my sister in Tasmania, that all my own
family, too, have been converted to God at your
meetings/
Some whole families were saved at our Queen s
210 QUELN S TOWN.
Town series, and many sweet surprises and affecting
scenes were witnessed. A dear mother in Israel,
named Turvey, had two grown-up sons, both uncon
verted, but one was so wild in his career of sin that
she almost despaired of ever having him brought back
to God. The mother had brought up a large
family of children, in affliction and darkness, for
she was blind and had not seen the light of the sun
for many years. She was a real daughter of sorrow,
but a patient Christian. The great grief of her
heart was her prodigal son.
One night during our series, a brother went to her,
and said, " Mrs. Turvey, your son is at the altar of
prayer among the seekers, and wants you to come
and talk to him." Her gushing tears were the index
to the unutterable emotions of joy and grief which
thrilled her heart as she exclaimed,
" Oh, I thank God that my dear George is
coming to Jesus, but my poor prodigal ! I m afraid
he ll never be saved ! " She was then conducted to
the place, and feeling her way down to her penitent
Bon, she cried, " George, my dear son, I m glad to
find you here ; but poor Edward ! Would to God, he
was here too ! "
" Mother/ exclaimed the young man, " you are
quite mistaken, it is not George ; I am indeed
your prodigal son, and I want you to forgive
me, and to pray that God will forgive me." The
prodigal returned that night, and was admitted into
the royal " household of faith." George, who had
SEKMON ON THE AMERICAN PREACHER. 211
always been a comfort to his mother, was not saved
till the following week, at Kamastone, when the
mother got the joyful news, she rode twenty miles to
Kamastone to greet her dear son, and rejoice with
him in thanksgiving to the God of the orphan and
the widow.
Our services at Queen s Town extended through
five days, from the 8th to the 12th of July. Three
sermons on the Sabbath, and two each week-daj,
except Tuesday, when I preached at Lesseyton.
During this series of services, about one hundred
Europeans were reported by the minister as new
witnesses for Christ.
My next field of labour was Kamastone. On the
Sabbath I spent at Kamastone, Rev. H. H. Dugmore
preached a sermon in his own pulpit, from the text,
" Stand still, that I may reason with you before the
Lord." The subject of his discourse, singularly
enough, was the
I. The American preacher.
II. His preaching.
III. Its effects.
He was, no doubt, prompted to deliver such a
discourse, by the active efforts of a clergyman of the
town, in trying to prejudice the public mind against
our meetings, and more especially to vindicate and
extend the work of God. The sermon was published
by Mr. David S. Barrable, of Queen s Town, and as
I was leaving the colony, a few months afterwards, a
few copies were sent me. In glancing over it, I think
212 QUEEN S TOWN.
a few extracts from the " third division " will serve
to illustrate some important phases of the work of God
in connection with our series of services there, and
generally in other places.
1. ITS EFFECTS.
It was Awakening. Some thirty or forty persons caine
forward on the first evening, to request the prayers of the
ministers in their behalf. The numbers increased on
succeeding evenings. Now, among these were persons of
every age, from ten years to sixty. There were the married,
as well as the unmarried, fathers and mothers of families ;
persons constitutionally calm and impassive, as well as those
of excitable temperament. There were persons who had a
strong instinctive horror of making " fools of themselves,"
persons who had resisted most strenuously their own peni
tential impulses persons who, in the first instance, had
swelled the ranks of the revilers, persons who knew that
the penalty of their procedure would be the ridicule and
scorn of their former associates, persons of nearly every
social grade that Queen s Town affords. They came not
under the impulse of terror, for nothing had been said to
excite it. They avowed themselves suddenly made sensible
vividly and sorrowfully sensible of the sinfulness of their
hearts, and the " evil of their ways." I ask, could the grief
of such persons be unreal ? " But so much of the feeling
was unnecessary." (It has been said). The feeling was
awakened by a consciousness of having violated the most
sacred of obligations those of duty to God. Will any one
dare to say that such sorrow ought to be less poignant than
that awakened by any human ills ? Is deep-impassioned
grief allowable when earthly sources of sorrow are opened,
and yet not to be warranted when the " exceeding sinfulness
of sin " is felt ? " But its manifestation was violently un-
EFFECTS OF THE REVIVAL. 213
natural." Let us look at the facts. I stood iii the midst
of forty or fifty persons, who were sorrowing unto repent
ance. I did so from evening to evening ; and this is my
testimony concerning them. The grief of two-thirds of the
number was silent grief, or expressed in whispered earnest
ness ; of the rest, one half wept audibly, and a few, chiefly
youths from the country, were in a state of mental distress
still more loudly manifested. Now was there anything un
natural in this ? Various temperaments were variously
affected. Had all been demonstrative alike, it would have
supplied a plausible objection.
2. THE COMFORTING EFFECTS.
Most of the persons who had been brought into mental
distress, obtained, after a shorter or longer period of peniten
tial earnestness, not merely a sense of relief, but a gladdening
consciousness of pardon, accompanied by a peace " which,
to their own minds, passed understanding." They felt their
souls brought out of a state of deep distressing " darkness "
into one of " marvellous light " and joy. They experienced
an inward assurance of personal adoption into the Divine
favour which they believed to be the inward voice of " the
Spirit itself, bearing witness with their spirit that they were
now the children of God." This assurance produced at
once a feeling of grateful love to God for His mercy. The
manner in which this change of feeling was manifested,
varied with the various temperaments of the persons who
experienced it. Some sank into silent adoration, some
looked around in wonder, as though they were then for the
first time conscious of real existence ; some smiled with an
expression of indescribable rapture ; some practically adopted
the language of the Psalmist, " Then was our mouth filled
with laughter, and our tongue with singing." Many began
at once to speak to those who were kneeling in the distress
from which they had themselves just escaped, to urge them
214 QUEENS TOWN.
to exercise the appropriating faith which they had found so
efficacious in their own case. But amidst these diversities
of outward expression, the language of all was virtually
this : " Being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have
access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God."
3. THE PRACTICAL EFFECTS.
This religious excitement does not evaporate in mere
feeling, but manifests its Divine life in the fruits of the
Spirit in their Scriptural order. The "joy" that springs from
the " love," is succeeded by the " peace," which becomes the
settled habit of the soul, and, though less ecstatic than the
first gush of rapture, rules in the heart and mind. And from
the " love, joy, and peace," which thus lie at the root of
the Christian life, spring the other graces, of the Christian
character in due order "long-suffering, gentleness, good
ness, fidelity, meekness, temperance." Now, in strict
accordance with this newness of life, which thus affords a
test of the reality of conversion, the change in feeling, in
manners and in action, displayed by those whom God hath
brought to himself by this man s instrumentality, has
astonished and confounded their former associates. Leaders
in vice have become champions in defence of the religion
they had reviled. Men of profligate lives have, with bitter
shame, made confession, and are endeavouring to repair the
evil of their former courses, by zealous and courageous
activity in a new one. Drunkards, who were the terror of
their families, and the pest of their neighbourhood, have
renounced the use of intoxicating liquors, and the very
alteration in their outward appearance proclaims the change
within. Profane swearers are shuddering at the recollec
tion of their favourite oaths and blasphemies. Frauds and
wrongs have been acknowledged, and restitution made.
FIRST VISIT TO LESSEYTON.
Men who had taken advantage of the detected villany of
others to escape from their own responsibilities, have come
forward and paid the demands which they had asserted were
forgeries. Long-standing family discords have been healed,
and quarrels that had lasted for years, ended in the over
ture for reconciliation by the parties most aggrieved. These
are specimens of the practical effects of this man s preach
ing. They tell their own tale.
On Tuesday, the 10th of July, pending my series
in Queen s Town, I went, in company with Eev.
Brother Dugmore, Eev. Brother Wakeford, and
others, to preach at Lesseyton. Rev. J". Bertram, a
successful missionary, who was converted to God
during the "Graham s Town revival of 1837/
was the superintendent. He was, in 1847, the
founder, and is the present superintendent of Lessey
ton Station, which is the seat of one of the three
industrial schools, established under the "Wesleyans,
by Governor Grey. The school-buildings here are not
so large as those inHeald Town, but very substantial,
and large enough for all demands at present. The
mission-house and chapel are good, and many of the
natives live in substantial brick cottages. Altogether,
the Lesseyton Station is said to be in advance of all
others in the colony in education, and civilization,
among the natives. Brother Bertram was absent on
a necessary engagement that called him away for
some weeks, He was at my services at Fort Beaufort
and begged me to visit his people at Lesseyton, and
also wrote to Brother Dugmore, asking him to
216 QUEEN S TOWN.
arrange for me, and accompany me to his stati
It is a rule with me not to work in any charge in the
absence of the pastor, but under all the circumstances
in this case, I could not refuse. During the minis
ter s absence, there was not a white man on the
station, but all the services were kept up, and good
order maintained in every department of society,
under the able administration of their "headman,"
William Bambana. He is an Amatembu Kaffir, as
are the mass of his people on the station. He is a
tall, large, fine-looking old man, of commanding in
fluence among all classes in Queen s Town district.
When we arrived, at eleven o clock A.M., the chapel,
which is a commodious stone building, to seat about
600, was crowded. My interpreter was the son of Rev.
Brother Wakeford, a fine young man, who had just
been converted to God at my meetings in Queen s
Town. The young man was born and brought up
among the Kaffirs, and was said to be a fine Kaffir
scholar, so I anticipated a glorious harvest of souls
that day. The people had heard of the great work
of God at Annshaw and Heald Town, and their eyes
glistened with a spirit of expectation.
Brother Dugmore, who conducted the preliminary
part of the service, remained seated in the pulpit.
As the small, old style of pulpits, which are found
in all the chapels in South Africa, did not afford
space for me and my interpreter, and as I wished
always to stand beside my spokesman, and not
behind and above him, as many do, I took my
on.
the
A MORTIFYING FAILURE. 217
stand in the altar, which has an elevation in this
chapel of more than a foot above the level of the
floor. Now we proceed : Brother Dugmore, in his
perch in our rear, Brother Wakeford seated by the
wall to our left, the anxious native crowd on all
sides and front, back to the door, my young inter
preter standing just to my left.
Text : " The Spirit and the Bride say come," &c.
I proceed to say, " The provision of salvation for
all sinners is compared to a river." A pause
" What do you mean by provision ? " says my inter
preter. I explain, and he renders.
Then follows a baulky baffling tug. Every few
minutes when I discharge a Gospel shot, which I ex
pect will bring down some Goliath in penitential
humiliation, the whole charge comes rebounding with
most humiliating effect upon the shooter. Now
Brother Dugmore gives my man a helping-hand,
which conveys the thought to the anxious crowd, but
only increases the confusion of the young man.
Now his father gives him a word, worse still for him.
Now I leave him standing alone in not a very plea
sant position, while I step back and give a whole
illustration to Brother Dugmore to give to the people,
and we both stand and wait till the old missionary is
through, and then try again. The longer the worse,
confusion becomes double confounded.
Say I to myself, " Dear me, this is horrible !
Here are hundreds of thirsty souls, and I can t tell
them how to come to the river, and I shall never have
218 QUEEN S TOWN.
another opportunity of speaking to them this side
the Judgment. Oh, if I only had my Charles
here ! I wipe off the perspiration and try again,
hoping for a favourable turn in the tide, but all in
vain. Not willing to endure the apparent defeat of
stopping short in the middle of the discourse, abridg
ing it as much as possible, we struggle through
with it, and sit down in confusion and disappoint
ment. My " fine Kaffir-scholar," alas, did not
know English sufficiently, and was so confused, that
what he did know was not available in our time of
need. We did not attempt a prayer-meeting for
seekers. Brother Dugmore covered our retreat by a
few remarks, followed by singing and prayer,
which closed the scene. I had found so many good
interpreters on my round, after leaving Annshaw
that I thought if anything should prevent Charles
Pamla from accompanying me through KafFraria,
as my interpreter, I could probably get on well
nevertheless, but now I began to realize how help
less I should be if he failed to come. I had not
received any communication from Rev. Brother
Lamplough, nor from Brother Pamla on the subjecl
since our agreement at Annshaw, and began now t(
feel very uneasy, lest something might interfere to
prevent his coming. I, however, took comfort in the
fact that I was going on the Lord s business, and
that He would afford all necessary facilities and
helpers.
The next day, Wednesday, llth July, Mr. James
,1AM KS KOHKKTS.
MY KAFFRAKIAN PARTY. 219
Roberts and my son, Morgan Stuart, arrived from
Graham s Town, preparatory to our KafFrarian
journey. Brother Roberts had a light, strong buggy,
built for the purpose, at a cost of 54. He had
purchased four horses, at a cost of 75. His outfit
altogether cost him about 150. Being so amply
provided for myself, I set the expenses of my son and
my interpreter, on horseback, to my own account.
We were now nearly ready, except that Charles
Pamla had not arrived, and we had no tidings from
him. But the next day Charles arrived all right,
bringing good news concerning the progress of the
work of God in the Graham s Town district, and a
letter from Brother Lamplough, dated July the 9th,
an extract from which will illustrate the progress of
the work at Annshaw, and the man God had sent me
in my need.
My dear Brother, I just drop you a line by our Brother
Charles Pamla, who leaves here to-day for Queen s Town.
I have not time to enter into many particulars about the
work since I last wrote to you at Beaufort ; but I may just
say, that altogether since your coming to Annshaw, about
six hundred profess to have found peace with God, and
after careful examination into every case, I cannot doubt
the reality of the work in any of those who profess to be
justified. We have now about twelve hundred in this
circuit, formed into about eighty classes. This is by far
the largest number of any circuit in South Africa, and I
rejoice to say the work is still going on. Last week was a
glorious one, more than one hundred and ninety entered
into liberty. God is greatly honouring our Brother Charles
Pamla. He has been the means of the conversion of about
220 QUEEN S TOWN.
three hundred souls during the last six weeks. Others of
our native brethren are also very useful in this good work,
and it seems to me that God is plainly showing the Church
that this is the instrumentality that He intends to employ
in converting this continent.
I rejoice in this with all my heart. As yet I
have not been able to sro out among the Heathens,
but as the tickets -vnu ue musned to-day, I hope
soon to try a week at a Heathen village, though, in this
work, I have lost my best man so long as Charles is away ;
but I am willing to sacrifice a little far tb? benefit ^ f **>e
work beyond the Kei.
During our week of special services in Queen s
Town, I had no opportunity of preaching to the
Kaffirs there, but arranged to give them a service on
Wednesday afternoon of the following week, on our
return from Kamastone. The Kaffir chapel in
Queen s Town is a good building, next door to the
mission-house, fronting the principal street, and will
seat about three hundred, but by the Kaffir art
of packing, will hold about five hundred. Our ser
vice commenced at four P.M. The venerable Dug-
more, with a smooth and beautiful flow of the eupho
nious language of the Kaffirs, opened the service by
singing (all the congregation joining) as with one
voice, thrilling the sympathetic chords of many
souls. In a note appended to the said printed ser
mon, Mr. Dugmore makes the following allusion to
the sermon which followed : " Mr. Taylor preached
to the natives in their own chapel here. He took
for his text the ten commandments, explaining and
LAST NIGHT. 221
applying them, and dwelling specially on the evila
to which the natives are specially addicted theft,
falsehood, and licentiousness. Persons who listened
to the discourse remarked, that had the preacher
been twenty years among these people, he could not
have preached a more suitable sermon. The usual
effects followed." Over one hundred came forward
as seekers, and a fair proportion of them received
Christ, and were saved. I remained with them till
dark, and left Brother Pamla to go on with the
prayer- meeting till nine P.M., while I, meantime,
should conduct a fellowship-meeting for the European
friends in the other Chapel. It was a pleasing
scene to witness a crowd of happy worshippers filling
the chapel, kneeling before the Lord, and uniting
with their venerable pastor in prayer, and thanks
giving to God for His showers of blessing.
I gave them an address on Christian- fellowship,
adducing the Scriptural authority for it, and illus
trating the best methods of promoting it. Then, in
the space of one hour, fifty-three persons stood up in
their places, and testified distinctly to the fact of a
conscious knowledge of " peace with God, through
our Lord Jesus Christ." Among these were a num
ber of old Christians, but the greater part were per
sons who were converted to God the preceding
week. They gave brief details of their awakening,
penitential struggle, and the time when they ob
tained salvation some on Sabbath night, others on
Monday night, and others on other different days
222 QUEEN S TOWN.
and nights all through the series of services. Most
of them had found peace at the altar of prayer ; but
some had found it at their homes. I will simply
record a few illustrative specimen testimonies :
Mr. John Weekly, a merchant in Queen s Town,
said, " When I was a young man I thought that all
I needed to make me happy was a good wife. God
gave me a good wife ; but gave me to see that I
I needed something more to make me happy. I was
deeply convinced of sin by His awakening Spirit,
sought and found peace with God, then I was happy,
and have been preserved in the fear and love of God
for twenty-four years."
Mr. William Trollip said, " I found peace with
God here three days ago. These have been the hap
piest days of my life."
A venerable-looking old man arose and said, " I
wonder to see so many here at this fellowship-meet
ing, and to hear so many tell of the saving power of
God in their souls ; but my greatest wonder is to
find myself here. I commenced to try to serve God
fifty years ago. I was not instructed in the simple
Gospel way of salvation by faith, and was, for twenty
years, a seeker. I then obtained salvation by faith,
and for thirty years have walked in the light. My
race is nearly run ; my crown is in view. By the
grace of God in Christ I shall soon join in the fel
lowship-meeting of the Church triumphant in
Heaven."
A soldier said, " When I commenced to seek God
A SOLDIER SUBDUED.
223
iy heart was so full of shame and* pride, that to face
a line of bayonets in battle, would not be half so
hard as to face the eyes of the people upon me as a
?king sinner ; but last Monday night I bowed at
that altar of prayer, humbled my proud heart before
rod, surrendered my poor soul to Him, and by faith
Jesus, obtained the pardon of all my sins. Glory
be to God 1"
CHAPTER XV.
KAMASTONE.
HAVING closed our week of services in Queen s
Town, on Saturday the 14th of July, Mr. Wm.
Trvllip, cousin to John Trollip, who with his wife
found peace with God, a couple of days before, took
me and my son Stuart up into his carriage and pair,
with his good wife, and drove us twenty miles to
Kamastone Mission Station. We were cordially re
ceived and kindly entertained by the missionary,
Rev. "Wm. Shepstone, who, as we have before seen,
assisted Rev. Wm. Shaw in the establishment of
the first Wesley an Mission Station among the
Kaffirs, in Pato s (now Kama s) tribe. He has
been actively engaged in the missionary work ever
since, extending through a period of more than forty
years. He is now, not only the missionary of this
large station, but also the chairman of the Queen s
Town District, which embraces all our Kaffrarian
missions, west of the Umzimvubu river. The stations
of Palmerton, and Emfundisweni, lying east of that
river, belong to the Natal district. Brother Shep-
sione is a very kind, cheerful, earnest brother,
FATHER AND SON RENEWING AN ACQUAINTANCE. 225
thoroughly imbued with, the missionary spirit of his
Master. After a good tea, and a social hour with
Brother and Sister Shepstone, I strolled through the
mission- grounds by the light of the moon, with my
son Stuart, a youth of nineteen years.
Owing to his absence from me at school, a couple
of years before I left America, and my absence abroad
for several years, and his recent illness, so prostrating
him as to preclude a searching conversation, though
the son of my youth, my first-born, whom I had
carried on my heart to the mercy- seat every day of
his life, he was almost a stranger to me. I knew he
had joined our Church when a child, and at the age
of eleven years professed to receive the regenerating
grace of God, and that his teachers and his mother,
had always given a good report of him, yet the de
tails of his inner life had been a sealed book to me ;
but in our walk that night he unbosomed his heart
and gave me the history of his life. It was an event
in my own life never to be forgotten. He had suf
fered great religious depression, had encountered
great trials, but had held his ground all through
from the time of his conversion. In the exhilaration
of his returning health, he had said and done many
boyish things, which led some to misjudge and mis
represent him, and cause anxious solicitude on the-
part of his parents; but his afflictions had been
sanctified to his good, and he was now cleaving to/
the Lord, and happy in the love of Jesus. As I
listened to the narration of his experience, I shed/
Q
226 KAMASTONE.
grateful tears, and praised God on his behalf. Dur
ing my long Providential separation from my family,
labouring for the salvation of strangers, and their
children, I had maintained an unwavering faith that
God certainly would not allow my children to perish,
but would, through the agency of their dear mother,
and other available instruments, fully supply the
lack of service occasioned by my absence. Now
I received a practical support to my faith, which
greatly cheered me in my work.
Kamastone mission was commenced by Mr. Shep-
stone in 1847. The mission-house is plain, but
spacious and commodious. Coming out on the front
verandah, we see below us a large orchard of well-
grown apple, pear, and other varieties of fruit-t]
To the right, distant perhaps a hundred yards, is tl
shop which furnishes supplies for the neighbour
hood, kept by a good brother, who sold me a Kaffir
pony, a superior " tripler," for 13, which carried my
son Stuart seven hundred miles through Kaffraria
and Natal. On each side, and in the rear of the
mission-house, we see the huts and cabins of the
natives, their gardens and cultivated fields, with
their herds of horses, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, and
naked children. On the opposite side of the mission-
house from the shop, and about the same distance
from it, is the chapel, a cruciform, plain and
substantial building, with sittings for about six
hundred persons.
On Sabbath, the 14th of July, at ten A.M., we com-
PACKING A KAFFIR CIIAPLL. 227
menced our work there. Every square foot of space
in the chapel is crowded. The space right and left,
from the pulpit and altar, back to the side walls, is
filled with the white colonial farmers from a radius
of twenty miles. Next to them, on the right, and
front from the pulpit, are nearly one hundred
bastard Hottentots. Opposite to them, on the left,
and through the whole body of the chapel, back to
the door, and round the doors and windows out
side, were all the varieties of Fingoes and Kaffirs.
Christians, in European dress, and heathens in their
native costumes and trinkets, packed together almost
as snugly as herrings in a barrel. The preliminary
service is conducted by the venerable superintendent ;
then he is seated in the altar, while I and Brother
Pamla take the pulpit. While we explain to them
God s provision of salvation, the personality and
abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, and His methods
of saving sinners through human agency, you
feel and see the indications of a rising swelling
tide of the Spirit s power, and you wonder that,
under the pressure of such pent-up mental and
emotional action, there is not a single audible re
sponse. All faces upturned, smiles, tears, distorted
features, trembling limbs, but not a murmur. Lo !
there s a man back near the door, who cannot longer
restrain his feelings, but with one burst of half-
smothered emotions, see him try to rush for the door, to
take himself away, and not disturb the umfundisi or his
hearers. In his attempt he falls down, but keeps
228 KAMASTONE.
moving on hands and knees through, the packed
masses who are standing and sitting in the aisle,
out at the door he rushes, and away where he can
roar till his over-charged soul is relieved. All this
we see from the pulpit ; but nobody is disturbed,
all the rest remain quiet, and catch every sen
tence of Gospel truth we utter, and drink in the
Spirit s influence as the thirsty land drinks in the
rain. "We close the service with singing and prayer,
by Brother Pamla.
At two P. M., we again stand before a packed
audience in the same order as in the morning. In
the morning the preaching was to the believers, now
we open a Gospel battery upon the ungodly, and the
shafts of truth directed by the Spirits unerring aim
pierced the hearts of hundreds. At the close of the
sermon we proceed with a prayer-meeting. We
invite the white seekers to kneel at the altar-rail, and
the Kaffirs to commence with the front forms, and
kneel at every alternate form back to the door, thus
leaving space for their instructors to pass through
them, and get access to every seeker. Soon the altar
is crowded with whites, and about two hundred
natives are down as seekers of pardon. Now their
pent-up feelings get vent, and mid floods of tears,
sighs, and groans, they are all audibly pleading with
God in the name of Jesus Christ, for the pardon of
their sins. No one voice is raised much above the
rest, so that it seems to create no confusion.
Charles is a general in conducting a prayer- meet-
A DAY NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN. 229
ing, judiciously arranging every tiling, rightly
employing every worker under his command, and
setting all an example by working most effectively
himself. A large number embrace Christ and find
salvation at this service. Giving a little time for
refreshment, we commenced another preaching
service at seven, and continued the prayer-meet
ing till eleven P.M. It was a day never to
be forgotten by any who witnesssed its scenes, and
felt the power of the Spirit as manifested at the
three services. On Monday, at eleven A.M., the
chapel was packed as tightly as on the Sabbath.
Brother Shepstone, as usual, conducted the opening
service. As I always preached my sermon to my
interpreter alone, and, as most of our time was
occupied in public, we often took the time of the
opening service for our preparation for the pulpit.
At the Monday prayer-meeting, the crowd of seekers
seemed almost as great as it was the day before,
though several scores had been saved. Many whom
we saw yesterday in their penitential struggle, appa
rently suffering the agony of death, weeping and
piteously pleading for release from Satan, and the
death-penalty of the law, are now with shining faces
singing and witnessing for Jesus.
My son Stuart was greatly blessed, and for hours
we see him labouring with a party of young men,
several of whom he won to Christ.
See the altar crowded with whites, one after another
they receive Christ, and are filled with unspeakable
230 KAMASTOXE.
joy! Fathers and mothers embrace their saved
prodigal sons and daughters in their arms, kiss them,
and weep tears of gratitude, and praise God.
There s a heathen doctor among the seekers, deco
rated with strings of beads, shells, and all sorts of
trinkets and charms. He feels that these things are
hindering his approach to Christ, and now he scatters
them. Nothing has been said about these things in
the preaching, or personally to the seekers, but they
are not simply the ornaments of their half-naked
bodies, which might justly claim a little covering,
even of beads, in the absence of something better ;
these were the badges of their heathenism, their
gods and charms, in which they trusted for health,
good crops, good luck in hunting, deliverance from
their enemies, and all those demands of human nature
which God only can supply. Hence, in accepting
Christ, they violently tear these idols off, and cast
them away. We see women tearing open the brass-
bands on their arms, and throwing them down. They
were great treasures before, but now they hate them.
Many of those who, an hour ago, were roaring in the
disquietude of their souls, are now sitting quietly at
the feet of Jesus, with tearful eyes and smiling faces.
Many, however, exercise |their first new life in wit
nessing for Christ.
See that Kaffir Boanerges, how he talks ! I wish
we could understand his language. " Charles, what
is that man saying ? "
" 0, he says, I never knew that I was such
TESTIMONY OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 231
sinner, till the Holy Ghost shined into me, then I
saw that I was one of the worst sinners in the world.
0, I cried to God, gave my wicked heart to Him, and
received Christ, Glory to Jesus ! He has pardoned
all my sins! "
We ll look after the white seekers. There s an
old man who has had a hard struggle. He was at it
all yesterday ; but now he has accepted Christ, and
rejoices in the love of God. There is a little boy
who was forward yesterday, but his countenance
is bright ; we ll see what he has found. " My little
brother, have you given your heart to God ?" " Yes,
I have." "Have you received Jesus as your
Saviour ? " " O, yes, and He has forgiven me all my
sins." " How did you feel when you came forward ? "
" 0, I felt nasty." " How do you feel now ? " " 0,
I feel nice."
A few feet from this boy we see a large, fine-
looking Kaffir-woman, well-dressed in English cos
tume, wearing a large scarlet shawl. We saw her
bow down calmly as a seeker, with flowing tears
and subdued utterances she gave herself to God,
and received Christ, and obtained salvation in less
than fifteen minutes. Now her countenance is beam
ing with joy unspeakable. " Charles, ask that
woman where she belongs ? " "With what marvellous
grace and eloquence she talks. " What does she
say, Charles ?" " She says she walked from Heald
Town, forty- six miles, to get to this meeting. She
could not get to your meetings in Heald Town, but
232 KAMASTONE.
heard of the great work of God there, and has
come here to get you to tell her how to come to
Jesus. She says she believed what her friends, at
Heald Town, told her about the great salvation ; but
now she has found it herself, and says the half had
not been told her."
There s a grand pantomime. "We don t know
what that Kaffir man is saying, but really his action
is most earnest and graceful. " Charles, what is he
saying ? " He says, " I was going on in my sins, and
did not know that I was in any danger till to-day.
But to-day the Holy Ghost shined upon my path. I
saw hell open just close before me, and I was rush
ing into it ; but I turned to God, and laid hold on
Christ, and He has saved my soul from hell. "
See that old Kaffir- woman supporting her withered
frame on sticks as she moves up and down the aisle
in a regular Kaffir dance, and talking so earnestly.
A more comical-looking old creature I never saw.
" Brother Shepstone, what s the matter with that
old woman ? "
" I don t know, she looks like a crazy person,
jfll go and hear what she s saying." Down the
aisle, amid the struggling masses of the seekers and
the saved, the old missionary goes to hear the talk of
the old woman. Eeturning with a smile, he says,
" She s not crazy at all, but has just come to her
right mind. She has obtained salvation, and is ex
horting the people to go on and tell everybody about
THE OLD KAFFIR- WOMAN AND HER SON. 233
Jesus. She is in a transport of joy. I know her now.
I have seen her at a heathen kraal in the neigh
bourhood ; but I never saw her in the chapel before."
" Her age must date back a long way towards the
flood. " " I don t know how old she is," replied the
old missionary ; " but her son, whom I know, is
seventy-five years old." I look again at the old
creature, and laugh and w^eep. She seems to be a
relation to the antediluvians ; whether this seventy-
five year old lad was her oldest or youngest son, I did
not learn, and yet as but to-day, "born again," andhas
become a babe in Christ. These are mere bird s-eye
glances into a scene that cannot be described. We
had a grand service on Monday night. On Tuesday,
at eleven A.M., we preached on " Christian Per
fection," went into the philosophy of the subject, and
of the Spirit s gracious adjustment to the instincts,
appetites, and passions, and explained clearly, even
to Kaffir minds, God s purpose as to their existence,
proper discipline, and appropriate exercise. The
whole thing was simplified, so that every believing
Kaffir could see it. Brother Shepstone said he never
supposed before that the Kaffir language could be
used to convey so perfectly the whole Gospel, and
had never conceived it possible for an interpreter to
put such a variety of English words and ideas into
Kaffir. He expressed his surprise repeatedly, that
Charles not only put my ideas into Kaffir to their
nicest shades of meaning, but did it with such
234 KAMASTONE.
masterly facility. The fact is, though I gave him every
statement of truth and illustrative fact in a sermon,
just as I would give them in preaching directly to an
English audience, yet I had always gone through each
subject of discourse beforehand with him alone. If
there was a word he did not understand, I at once
ignored it, and substituted one that was familiar to
him ; but he was so thirsty for knowledge himself,
that, if possible, he always preferred to learn the
meaning of my words, and to select new Kaffir words
to fit them, and the exact meaning of a foreign illus
tration he would give through a corresponding
figure familiar to the Kaffir mind. For example,
" An ivy crawled out from between the roots of a
beautiful sapling, and entwined itself around the
trunk of the young tree. It gradually absorbed
the strength of the soil and moisture that the
tree needed for its life, and tightened its many-
folded girth, till it obstructed the sap-vessels of the
tree. The tree had grown tall and mighty, but
the deceitful ivy did its deadly work. The noble
tree declined, lingered long, but finally died. When
I stood by the grand old tree it was dead, and all the
dews of heaven, and the fruitful supplies of the
earth, and all the skill of all the gardeners could
not cause that tree to bud. It was dead. Appli
cation the deceitful ivy of sin in the souls of all
sinners."
There is no ivy in South Africa, therefore the
literal base of that figure would be utterly lost on a
THE IVY ILLUSTRATION. 235
Kaffir, but the milkwood of South Africa furnishes
a figure quite as forcible. It entwines itself around
a tree as gently as the ivy, its hundreds of
delicate tendril feelers encircle the tree, mat to
gether, and then unite in solid wood, until it com
pletely envelopes the grand old tree. The foreign
thing at first simply seemed to hang on as a loose,
ornamental foliage, but in process of time the tree
within its folds is choked to death, and its gradual
decay supplies nourishing food for its destroyer for
generations to come.
I have often seen these noble trees of different
kinds in all stages of this deadly process, and
could not restrain a thrill of sympathetic horror of
being thus hugged to death and devoured piece
meal.
When I first introduced my ivy illustration to
Charles, he said, " The Kaffirs don t know what you
mean by ivy." " Yery well," said I, " we ll not use
it." "No," said he, " it is too good an illustration to
lose ; since you have explained it to me I under
stand it well, and if you will give it as the ivy, I
will give it exactly by the milkwood, which every
Kaffir knows."
We closed our special series of services at Kama-
stone at 3 P.M., on Tuesday, the 17th of July. Just
before we closed Charles gave them an account of the
great work of God at Annshaw, and told them how
they had battled for years to put away all heathen
customs from among them, especially the drinking
236 KAMASTONE.
of Kaffir beer, with all its attendant abominations,
and that the work of God never prospered among
them till they had put away all these things and
come out fully on the Lord s side, and then the Holy
Spirit came among them, and saved hundreds of
their friends and of wild heathens. While
Charles was speaking, Brother Shepstone became so
interested in his narrative that, he got up from his
seat and stood before the pulpit, looking up at my
man, and finally, seeming to forget himself, he
shouted out, "Hear ! hear ! hear ! "
During our series of two days and a half, in
which we preached six sermons and held five prayer-
meetings, Brother Shepstone took the names of two
hundred natives and twenty whites, who professed,
at those services, to find the pardon of their sins
through an acceptance of Christ. In a letter I
received from Rev. Mr. Shepstone, dated November
13th, four months after our departure, he says,
<l Since your arrival on this station up to the present
we have added about two hundred and fifty to our
society at Kamastone. On the 28th ult. I baptized
from among the heathen one hundred and sixty in
dividuals. About twenty of these were infants, the
others have embraced Christianity, and almost all of
these profess to have found peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. When I met the society last
quarter for the renewal of tickets, there was such a
union of love and Christian feeling among the mem
bers as gave me great pleasure. I was rejoiced to
LARGE INGATHERING OF HEATHENS. 237
find that they had risen up into a higher region of
Christian experience."
An eye witness to the baptismal service, admitting
one hundred and forty adult heathens to the Church,
as above stated, writing to a local journal in Queen s
Town, and quoted by the Wesley an Missionary
Notices, says, " Many of the candidates for baptism
were grey-headed men and women. In one instance
we saw an aged man and his wife, tottering on the
verge of the grave, who, a few months ago, were
walking in the paths of sin, but now clothed, and
in their right mind. Women, who, a short time
ago, were found at the dance, besmeared with red
clay, and indulging all the licentiousness of those
abominable scenes, now were clothed in decent Euro
pean apparel, not only being baptized themselves,
but bringing their infants also. The large church
was crowded with attentive observers, and no one
could view the scene unmoved or without feelings of
deep gratitude to the Great Head of the Church.
In several instances these converts have suffered
considerable persecution from their heathen relations,
some have been driven from their homes, some have
been severely beaten, others have been tied fast to
the pole of the house and watched, that they might
not go out and pray to the Great Spirit. Yet in
almost every case persecution has only produced the
same effects it did in days of old, to make the
objects of it more determined than ever to serve God
rather than man.""
233 KAMASTONE.
The following extract from a letter from Brother
Shepstone, published in the Wesley an Missionary
Notices for December, will illustrate the further pro
gress of this work of God, and " how the old mis
sionary hero is renewing his youth : "
In this district we have had a share, but the full results
have not reached me yet. The Queen s Town Circuit will
have had about one hundred Europeans added besides
coloured men. Here at Kamastone we have added three
hundred and forty, and, thank God, the work is still going
on at both places. Besides this, it has spread to Hankey,
a Station of the London Missionary Society, about twenty
miles from this, where I am informed that one hundred and
fifty have become earnest seekers for salvation; and to
Kat Eiver, where three hundred are said to have been
added. Some of these people from Hankey were at
Kamastone, and found peace. I desired them to go back
to their own minister, and tell him what God had done for
them, and I hear that they have been in no way ashamed
to do this. It does seem that the seed of former days is
being harrowed in by our American brother; and that God s
Spirit is working in such a way as none have previously
seen. We are all bowed down by a sense of God s con
descending mercy, while we are lifted up with a thankful
ness we cannot express. Some of us would grow younger
at once (but nature will not alter her laws), that we might
enjoy the progress of the Gospel in this long-benighted
continent for another generation.
In St. Paul s great work of God in Antioch, in
Pisidia, some of his hearers, to whom he made an
offer of Christ as their Saviour, " opposed themselves,
and blasphemed," and in Corinth they judged them-
PERSECUTIONS. VO
selves "unworthy of everlasting life/ so among
these poor heathens many " opposed themselves/
and rejected Christ, as may be illustrated by the
following facts given by Mr. Shepstone, in a letter.
It has not been uncommon to see some rush out of the
house of God during Divine Service, afterwards confessing
that they felt if they remained longer they should have
been obliged to give up their heathenism and their sins,
which they were dstermined not to do. " Where are you
going? " said a heathen woman lately to her husband, as he
was putting on his European clothes. " To the service,"
was the reply (he was coming to chapel).
" Put them off! put them off! Do you not know that
all who go there are caught ? " He did put them off, and
he is a heathen still, though I have some hopes he may yet
be " caught," as hundreds have been caught, and we are still
catching.
This heathen woman, you see, used the very same terms,
and applies the same meaning as our Lord used to Simon.
" From henceforth thou shalt catch men." (Luke v. 10).
Though our sojourn in Kamastone was so short,
we were all so imbued with the unction of the Holy
Spirit, and united together so closely in the bonds of
Christian sympathy and love, that we found the part
ing to be a solemn affair indeed. Having to preach
that night at Lesseyton, twenty miles distant, we
had to take a hasty dinner, and then we bade adieu
to the old missionary patriarch and his wife, and
a hundred Kaffirs, most of them new-born souls in
Christ, who were waiting to say " farewell." 1
240 KAMASTONE.
gave them a talk for their instruction and edification,
shook hands with each one and left, to see them
no more till we meet before the judgment seat of
Christ.
The interest of our farewell exercise was increased
by a touching episode. Sister Turvey, the blind
lady, before mentioned in connection with the
work in Queen s Town, hearing that her son George,
who had followed us with a heart of grief and sin
to Kamastone, had found salvation, had come
twenty miles to rejoice with him. As soon as
George saw his mother led into the mission-house, he
ran into her arms, exclaiming, " O, mother, my dear
mother, I have found Jesus ! " Though we were in
haste to be off, we could but stop and wait, and
wonder at and adore the mysterious providence and
amazing mercy of God.
Here s a daughter of sorrow, who has walked in
darkness, and has literally had no light for many
years. She has struggled through the dark vale of
her affliction to rear and educate her children.
George had been a great comfort to her, but none of
her children had embraced Christ. The mother had
long been praying for them, and hoping that they
would be brought to God, and go with her to meet
their father in heaven. Now her prayers were
answered. After her joyous meeting with George,
she pressed my hand, exclaiming, " Oh, Mr. Taylor,
I thank God that He sent you to Africa. You have
been the means of saving four of my children." The
FAREWELL SCENES. 241
tears streamed from her darkened eyeballs as slie
held -my hand, and praised God for His abounding
nfcercies to her own soul and to her children. Fare
well Kamastone, we are off on our mission of peace,
Brother and Sister Trollip and myself in the carriage,
Charles and Stuart to follow on horseback, Away,
out on a high-ridge, we take our last view of our
recent battle-ground, and the beautiful surround
ings of the Kamastone Mission Station, and then
push on to Lesseyton, the scene of my former
failure, which I feared I should not be able to visit
again, but now glad of a chance to retrieve my lost
victory there, and do successful battle for God.
CHAPTER XVL
LESSEYTON.
CHARLES and Stuart were not quite ready when
Brother Trollip and I left Kamastone, and our hope
that they would soon overtake us was not realized.
When the darkness of a moonless night settled
down upon us, we had about six miles yet to drive
to reach Lesseyton. In working our way through
the Mimosa Scrub we could not from the carriage
see the road, and had to get out and walk. When
we arrived, the chapel was crowded, but Charles had
not come, and there was not a man there who could
interpret for me. I thought, dear me ! shall we suffer
another defeat here ? I knew Charles would certainly
come if he could find his way, but as he was a
stranger in those parts, that seemed very improbable.
We waited anxiously for him for about an hour,
when I heard the rattle of horsehoofs in a neigh
bouring scrub, and hailed, and got a response, from
his familiar voice. Some one had recommended him
to come by a more direct path, in taking which he
lost his way. We commenced preaching about half-
WM. BAMBANA, " MINE HOST." 243
past eight, and continued the prayer-meeting till
eleven p. M.
The Spirit of the Lord was present, and wrought
" wondrously." About 150 seekers of pardon came
forward, and about twenty of them professed to
obtain it that night, but the mass of them were slow
to accept Christ. Brother Bambana, the Tembookie,
head man of the station, at the close of the service,
conducted us to his house. Brother Trollip, being
a merchant, and having always been greatly preju
diced against the blacks, would not have consented,
a week before, on any account, to lodge at the house
of a coloured man, but now he and his wife had the
humility and simplicity of " little children." They
had entered into the kingdom of heaven, and were
" fellow-citizens with the saints and the household of
God," to which fraternity, our sable host had
belonged for many years, and it was their privilege
to enjoy his simple genuine hospitality. He gave
us good food, good beds, and good cheer. Mrs.
Bambana would command respect among any class
of sensible discriminating people, as a person of good
common-sense, and great kindness of heart. She
is a Class-leader, I was told, of rare excellence.
They had two adult sons, who had received a fair
education, and could speak English sufficiently to
enable us to converse with them a little. They
were both seekers of pardon that night. Brother
Bambana was greatly interested in the account I
gave him through my interpreter, of the 4,000,000
244 LESSEYTON.
of Africans whom God had delivered from slavery
in America, and of the efforts being made by their
friends for their education and salvation.
The next day, Wednesday, the 18th of July, at
ten A. M., we are again in the chapel, with a crowded
audience. Besides Brother and Sister Trollip, and
one white man, who followed us from Kamastone,
there were no other whites present except a Dutch
family, and they could not understand anything that
was said, but the truth went home to the conscience
of the Kaffirs, and nearly 200 of them came forward
as seekers.
There we see them down in every alternate seat
back to the front door. The struggle is long and
hard ; now they begin to get into " the liberty of the
sons of God." How the new converts do talk and
exhort. They are unusually demonstrative. See
them with uplifted hands and streaming eyes, telling
the wonders of the Holy Spirit s work in their hearts.
There is a Kaffir- woman, with painted face, covered
with heathen ornaments, but oh, how she talks.
" Charles, what is that woman saying ? "
" She says she has been a very great sinner, but
has got all her sins forgiven ; she says Jesus has
saved her soul, and she don t know what to tell Him,
to let Him know how thankful she is for His kind
ness. She wants all her friends to come to God.
They are heathens, not one of them knows Jesus, and
she never knew Him till now. She says she knows
her friends will persecute her, and try to make her
REMARKABLE SCENES. 245
give up Jesus, but she is going to cleave to
till she dies. She is begging all her Christian brothers
and sisters to pray for her, that she may not only
stand firmly, but lead all her kindred to Christ."
Many of the converts, as soon as they get pardon,
come up the aisle, talking as they pass along to the
altar to tell me and Charles, what God has done for
them.
A young Kaffir-man who came up and told us that
God had saved him, then fell down, and, swinging
by the altar-rail, wept for an hour. " Charles, what s
the matter with that poor fellow ? He don t look as
though he was saved." Charles questions him, and
replies, " He used to belong to the school here for
two years, and was taught to read God s word ; but
he says he was a scabby goat, and was turned out
of the flock, and became a heathen. He says he has
received pardon for all his sins, but has been so wicked
and ungrateful, he cannot forgive himself."
There are Bambana s two sons down, pleading for
pardon. They were there last night. Now one of
them enters into liberty, runs and kisses his mother,
and the father and mother embrace him, and weep,
and thank God. Now the other accepts Christ, and
joins in the family-bundle of grateful embraces.
A fine-looking Kaffir- woman walks up to the front,
and, in a most emphatic, yet most graceful, manner,
is telling Brother Pamla some marvellous story.
"What is all that about, Charles?"
" She says she once knew the Lord, and was a Class-
246 LESSEYTON.
leader, but had wickedly fallen away." Says she,
" I was so foolish and false to God, that I went away
and left the oxen, wagon, and precious cargo stand
ing in the road ; but oh, how wonderful is the love of
God, He has forgiven all my sins, and restored me
to my place in His family." See an old man away
at the lower end of the chapel. He has just found
Jesus. He mounts a form and talks to the people.
Now he comes up the aisle, weeping and talking.
Brother Bambana has seated himself at the end of a
form near the altar. The weeping old man suddenly
seizes Bambana s foot, and, nearly jerking the old
man off his seat, kisses the bottom of his boot. We
have heard of washing the disciples feet, and of
kissing the Pope s toe ; but to kiss the sole of a
Kaffir s boot, is a new idea. On inquiry, we learn
that this old man, just converted, is Bambana s
shepherd, and because his master was so faithful and
kind as often to talk to him about his soul, he was
very angry with his master; but now that he has
found salvation, he sees that his master was the best
earthly friend he had, and he has taken that method
of expressing his humiliation and gratitude. These
are but glimpses of the indescribable scenes of that
day. The trouble was, that having to preach at
three P.M. to the natives in Queen s Town, eight miles
distant, and conduct a fellowship-meeting for the
whites at night, our time in Lesseyton was too short.
During our two services there, however, the names
of fifty-eight new converts had been recorded, and
THE MILK-SACK. 247
about one hundred seekers left. Many of the young
converts were aged persons.
At the close of our last service an old man stood
up and made, what seemed a most earnest, yet very
dispassionate speech, which was, in effect, as
Charles interpreted, " I cannot let you go away, sir,
without acknowledging the great obligation we are
under to God, and to you, His servant, for these
services. In these remarks I know I but express
the heartfelt gratitude of all the people on the
station/ He used many figures to illustrate his
statements. One was that on my first visit, I had
hung up the "milk-sack; but that the milk was
sweet, and they got no nourishment, but now the
milk is good, and you have given us a great feast."
Milk hung up in a cowskin-sack till it becomes sour
and thick is a staple article of food among the
Kaffirs, and the milk-sack is such a sacred thing
that no woman is allowed to touch it, and but one
responsible man, for the household has charge of
it; "but a Kaffir, who would drink sweet milk, would
be considered not a man, but a babe. We bade
adieu to our dear friends at Lesseyton, and hastened
on to our appointment -in Queen s Town.
That was my last night in Queen s Town. The
next night I expected to preach at ""Warner s,"
fifty miles distant on our route through Kaffraria.
We had completed our arrangements, and were
ready for an early start next morning. Our party
consisted of my friend, Mr. James Koberts, and my-
248 LESSEYTON.
self in the cart, Charles Pamla, on a little bay-pony,
which had carried him over one hundred miles from
Annshaw, and my son Stuart on a sorrel " trippling"
Kaffir-pony I bought for him at Kamastone.
It was hard to part with such dear friends as
Brother and Sister Dugmore. Two of their daugh
ters and a son had been saved at our series,, and three
other sons were among the seekers. Up to that time
twenty-three sons and daughters of our missionaries,
in different parts of the colony, had found peace at our
meetings. At our final farewell, Brother Dugmore,
a man who gives to God all the glory for His work,
but a dear lover of the brethren, hung round my
neck and wept, and said, " God bless you, my dear
brother, you have brought salvation to my house."
This was Thursday, the 19th of July. The pro
gress of the work in Queen s Town, and Lesseyton
may be illustrated by a few extracts from letters I
subsequently received from Brother Dugmore.
By date of 31st of July, he writes, " Brother
Bertram has got home. On Sunday he preached to
the division of his people, speaking the Dutch lan
guage, (you did not see that location). The work
broke out gloriously among them. In the afternoon
at the Kaffir service, such an outpouring of the
Spirit took place, that they could not get away till
eight o clock at night. Brother Bertram wishes me
to tell you that he does not think there are any men
left on the station who have not been brought into
the fold of Christ. The Gospel has triumphed over
GRAND TRIUMPHS. 210
the greatest enemies it had amongst them. The
most bitter opposer, on finding peace, exclaimed,
Now, Sandili, may come, now Krilie may come (two-
of the most notoriously wicked warrior- chiefs in all
that region), since I, the greatest of enemies to
Christ, have come to Him, nobody need stay away ! "
By letter of the 19th of August, he writes, te I
have been hoping to hear the result of your visit to
our Kaffirland Stations. I have heard some tidings
that have gladdened my heart, none more than the
conversion of my dear Brother Warner s wandering
son.
The leaven leavens on amongst us. I hope to
begin the next quarter with an increase of two hun
dred members. Our services are seasons rich in
blessing/ Our regular congregations steadily in
crease. Our older members are thirsting for a full
salvation. God has in mercy baptized my soul anew,
and I am reaching forward. We trust to hear blessed
news from Natal. Why should not Colenso himself
be converted ? "
By letter of October 27th, Brother Dugmore
writes, " The results of the awakening which God
vouchsafed to the three Circuits of Queen s Town
division (Queen s Town, Kamastone, and Lesseyton),
" while you were among us, we cannot even yet
fully estimate, but I think that not less than six
nundred have been received into the Societies. God
nas enabled me to lay hold again of the blessing in
which I rejoiced in years past. I walk in the light,
250 LESSEYTON.
I feel that my soul has returned to her rest, and that
it is glorious to have an abiding sense of that pre
sence which makes the Christian s paradise. Glory-
be to God for " full salvation ! "
Again, in my last letter from Brother Dugmore,
before leaving Africa, he says, " I do most heartily
adore the goodness of God in blessing your labours
in Natal, as He has done. If the work after your
departure follows the rule elsewhere, the numbers of
conversions will go on increasing. In several places
those numbers have doubled, or more than doubled,
since you left/*
CHAPTER XVJL
WARNERS,
THE residence of J. C. Warner, Esq., known by
the name of " Woodhouse Forests," is the head of a
new mission, embracing a portion of Tembookie
territory, and a part of Fingo-land, under the super
intendence of a very active, promising young mis
sionary, Rev. E. J. Barrett.
Brother and Sister Warner are earnest and useful
missionaries ; in fact, as they once were in name
and official relationship. He was a useful missionary
among the Kaffirs for a number of years, but partly
through failure of health for a time and other reasons,
satisfactory, I believe, to all parties, he resigned his
official relation, but has continued true to the Wes-
leyan Church and her mission- work in a different
relation. He is "British Resident for Kaffraria;"
the representative of the English Government to
all the tribes living between Cape Colony and Natal,
and being a Wesleyan preacher he is in a position
of great responsibility and usefulness. He has always
been opposed to the establishment of mission stations
252 WARNERS.
on the principle of vesting in the missionary magis
terial functions to be exercised over the people on
the mission- station.
The unmodified heathenism of Kaffraria at the
time the mission- stations were established was
considered so corrupt and so corrupting, and the civil
administration of the chiefs so arbitrary, capri
cious, and so antagonistic to Christianity, that it was
felt to be necessary to organize the people of the
stations into a separate civil community, acknow
ledging the sovereignty of the chiefs, but protected
and governed by the missionary under a kind of
treaty stipulation with the chiefs. The Heathen
chiefs are not supposed to be competent to govern a
Christian community, and, I presume, in a majority
of cases, prefer to be relieved from such a responsi
bility, and hence, by mutual agreement, that, devolves
on the missionary, extending not simply to his
church-members, but to all the people resident on
the mission-station.
The mission- station, as per agreement, is a "city
of refuge " to which persons suspected of witchcraft
or other undefinable offences, endangering their
lives, may flee and be safe, while they remain under
the shield of the missionary.
The missionary, therefore, occupies the position of
a civil magistrate, having jurisdiction over the dis
trict embraced in the lines of his grants for mission
purposes. He must hear complaints, try cases, inflict
THE MAGISTERIAL AND MINISTERIAL OFFICES. 253
penalties in the form of fines, or expulsion from the
station, subject to an appeal from his decisions to the
paramount chief. On the other hand, he is answer
able to his chief for the good conduct of his mission
people. I don t give this as the theory, with which
the men of God, who hazarded their lives among
those heathen, in founding those focal centres of
Gospel agency, set out at the commencement, but
the theory defining the developed facts as we find
them.
An extract from a letter I received from Rev. Wm.
Shepstone, dated November 13th, 1866, touching
this subject, will show the legal status of the mis
sionary in Kaffraria :
A Kaffir chief has Amapakati in the different parts of
his country. These preside over certain districts or rivers.
In all cases of litigation the case should first come before
the Amapakati to be settled, or adjudged, but either is at
liberty to appeal against the judgment of the Amapakati to
the chief. Now this is the power which legally belongs to
a missionary in Kaffirland. He is no chieftain ; but is a
subordinate magistrate under the chief magistrate, to whom
an appeal can always be made against his decisions, if either
party desires it. Whatever he gains beyond this must be
moral power, even such a diabolical practice as the
UmpouhlOj the missionary must oppose by moral suasion.
When Mr. Shaw and I entered on the Kaffirland mission
in 1823, now forty-three years ago this month, the practice
of Umpouhlo was rampant, revolting to every sense of moral
feeling, to a degree one does not like to look back at. We
were without any authority, we were no chiefs ; but Mr.
254 WARNERS.
|
Shaw succeeded in that tribe in getting it put down by
authority, not his authority, but the chiefs. It was moral
power. For this successful use of his influence, the women
of the tribe gave him the cognomen of " Likaka laba Fasi "
the shield of the women : nor did I ever hear of the
practice being revived or attempted in that tribe afterwards,
and I am inclined to think that from that time the practice
declined among the other tribes on the frontier.
That missionaries and ministers everywhere should
prudently exert their influence for the removal of
national sins, however disguised in legal livery, is a
fact, that but few persons will deny ; but how far a
minister of the Gospel should encumber himself with
administrative responsibilities, is a question to be
carefully considered, and yet one which must be de
termined, in many cases, by the peculiar circum
stances of any given case, which, should come under
the head of exceptions, as the rule certainly is that
he should be a man of one work.
In regard to this mission- station question, a great
deal may be said on both sides.
1st. It is a good thing for the missionary, as far
as possible, to be able to make and execute all his
arrangements for the salvation, the education, and
the civilization of the heathen, without authoritative
heathenish interference.
2nd. It is a good thing in those regions of heathen
ish darkness, where there is so much " smelling cut,"
and murder, on a suspicion of witchcraft, to have a
sanctuary to which the poor persecuted wretches
BOTH SIDES OF THE QUESTION. 255
may flee, and escape torture and death. Many lives
have thus been saved at the mission-stations.
3rd. It is thought to be a very good thing for the
converts from heathenism, to have the opportunity
of " coming out from among them," literally, to live
on the mission-station, where they may escape the
daily taunts of their wicked neighbours, and the
danger of contact with their abominable practices.
Hence the rule has been for the converts, with but
very few exceptions, to move at once, and become
citizens of the mission community. There are, to be
sure, some " out-stations," but they are under the
same administration as that of the head station. I
met with some good missionaries in South Africa, who
consider it next to an impossibility for a converted
Kaffir to live among his heathen neighbours, and
remain a Christian.
But, on the other hand, it is said,
1st. The missionary, having the responsibility of
administrating this complex government of " Church
and State," will so have his time and energies con
sumed with perplexing cares, as greatly to interfere
with his ministerial effectiveness on his station, and
leave him but little time or strength for proclaiming
the Gospel beyond.
2nd. The station becoming the sanctuary and
home for all sorts of refugees, attracts a great
many worthless characters, who are often pointed
at and quoted, by the colonists, as well as by the
heathen, as fair specimens of the mission people, and
256 WARNEllS.
however unjust the charge, the stations thus suffer
great disgrace. The fact too, that so many supposed
witches find a refuge on the mission-stations, a large
proportion of the Kaffirs regard them as the home
and haunt of the wizards, and therefore places to be
dreaded and shunned.
3rd. That by collecting all the converts into one
body together, the Gospel leaven is separated from
the lump it should leaven, and a hot-bed, feeble type
of Christian character is developed in the station,
instead of a heroic martyr type, which alone can
successfully grapple with heathenism defensively,
and aggressively. Without going into the details of
the subject here, I believe I have fairly stated the
strong points on both sides, and I shall have occasion
from personal observation, to furnish facts illustrating
both sides of the question. It is by no means a mere
abstract question, but a subject of vital practical
importance to successful missionary enterprise in
Africa, and in every other mission field in heathen
ism. When I entered Kaffraria, I knew nothing
about this subject; I had never heard it discussed,
and hence went into the field of observation, an un
prejudiced learner, and came out with my facts and
conclusions, which shall be forthcoming in due time.
That was a moonless night. From Queen s Town,
we had travelled that day over a hilly rough road
forty-six miles, and had yet four miles of our day s
journey to make in the dark.
Rev. E. J. Barrett came to meet us and to be our
THE GREAT TUMBLE. 257
guide. We had in a pair of horses, that had
been sent on thirty miles the day before, and they
\vere fresh and fiery, and not so manageable as they
became a couple of hundred miles further along.
Descending -what appeared to be a smooth bit of
road, at the rate of about " eight knots/ a sudden
jolt sent us both over the " larboard/ headforemost
down the hill. "VVe thought the thing had upset,
but, relieved of our weight, it righted up; and when
v/e got our "bearings," we heard the rattle of the
horses hoofs and the cart wheels away in the distance.
Brother Barrett, who was a few roads ahead of us,
came rushing back, crying out " Are ye killed ? "
"Not dead yet, pursue the horses as fast as you can/*
Away he galloped in pursuit.
We gathered ourselves up, and found that, though
our clothing was torn, and we were scratched and
bruised considerably, there were no bones broken,
so we picked up a load of rugs and coats cast out of
the cart, and worked our way in the dark to Mr.
Warner s. About an hour later, Mr. Barrett arrived,
tolling how many miles he had travelled in different
directions, but could get no tidings of the runaway
horses and cart. A company of Kaffirs were then
sent out in all directions. Different parties up to-
midnight reported no success. We had comfortable
lodgings in Mr. Barrett s Kaffir hut, built by him
self. It is eighteen feet in diameter, seven feet walls*
with an elevation at the apex of about fifteen feet. Th
H British Besident," and family, live in a larger but
s
WARXEllS.
more rustic Kaffir hut near by. He is "building a good
dwelling, which was nearly ready for the roof when wo
were there. At the dawn of next morning, Brothers
Warner, Boberts, and Barrett, went to the place of
disaster, and saw where the upper cart wheel had
struck a large ant-hill causing our ejectment, hence
tracing the " spore," they found that the horses
had run down the hill, a distance of a quarter
of a mile, and turned at a right angle away from
the road. Further along, the cart "spore" wag
within three inches of a precipice, over-hanging
a little lake, deep enough to have drowned the
horses, had the cart gone over and drawn them in.
About a mile from the road in the "veldt/ they found
the horses standing still, attached to the cart as when
we were driving them, everything right, even tho
whip stood erect in its place. I was thankful, though
not surprised, for I had said the night before
that, as we were doing work for God, and could not
replace our conveyance nearer than Queen s Town,
and as eta it?ngagements demanded haste, I did not
doubt that He who takes care even of the sparrows
cared much more for the souls we might be instru
mental in saving in KaiFraria, and would see to it
that our animals and conveyance would be preserved
from harm, and that we should pursue our journey
in safety.
Rev. E. J. Barrett is a young man of great in
tlustry and useful missionary talents. He has been
"but three years in the work of the ministry, but has
;
OTJT-DCOK SERVICES. 259
60 far learned the Kaffir language as to preach
through it fluently without an interpreter. . He has
no family, and while his head-quarters are at Brother
Warner s, he is almost continually travelling and
preaching among the Kaffirs, and lodging with them
in their huts. His circuit, though on the borders of
Fingo-land, lies mainly among the " Tamhookie "
tribe of Kaffirs.
He is preparing to build a chapel at " Woodhouse
Forest/ and another near a beautiful grove of timber,
five miles distant.
On Friday morning, the 20th of July, I selected
a suitable place for our preaching and prayer-
meeting in a beautiful grassy vale, about fouf
hundred yards from our hut. I took some healthy
muscular exercise in rolling a large boulder to a
suitable spot for a pulpit or platform from which to
preach.
The population of this region is rather sparse, and
the notice of our coming was very short, so that we
did not see the crowds we had been accustomed to
see in older communities. At eleven A.M. our service
commences. As I stand on my rock pulpit, with
my tall interpreter on my left, there is spread out
before us a scene of great beauty. Just back of
us is a little brook and reed marsh, obliging all
our hearers to remain in front of us. From this
brook, in our rear, rises a high, rocky, grassy,
wooded hill, an angular branch of the main
mountain to our right which is adorned with
2 CO TVAHNEHS.
fine forest trees. In front of us rises a high,
smooth ridge, covered with tall grass. To our left
we see the huts of Brothers Warner and Barrett,
the walls of the new residence of Mr. Warner, tho
native village, and an extensive open undulating
country, with its lovely grassy slopes, enlivened by
the herds of the Kaffirs, and their mealy patches.
Circling in front of us, seated on the grass, are first
the women and children, and next the men ; on the
outer edge of the circle, to our left, are a lot of
painted heathens, with their red blankets thrown
loosely round their naked bodies. The whole con
gregation numbers about two hundred persons.
Our first sermon is to the believers, unfolJing to
them God s provisions and plans for the salvation of
the world, administered by the personal Holy Ghost,
who employs believers as His visible agents. We
close by singing and prayer, and advise them to
think much, and pray much alone, take some refresh
ment, and come again at three P.M. At the close of the
afternoon sermon we invite the seekers of pardon to
kneel down on the grass. About one hundred and
forty bow before the Lord, and enter into a peniten
tial struggle, with a general wailing of lamentation
and tears, which cease not for three hours, only as
they enter into liberty. We see among them several
of the red heathens.
" Do you see that tall, well-dressed Kaffir down on
his knees as a seeker ?" " Yes." " That is Matan-
KAFFIR CHIEF ON HIS KNELS. 2GJ
zlma, a Tambookie Chief, a brother of N gangelizwe,
the paramount chief of the Tambookie nation." "We
see Charles bending over the chief for half an hour,
trying to lead him to Jesus. Poor fellow, he seems
to be an earnest seeker. Near the close of the meet
ing Charles brings the chief to me, and I explain
to him the way of salvation by faith, and beg
him to surrender himself to God, and accept Christ
as his Saviour now. He seems very teachable and
anxious to know God. Among a number of ques
tions I put to him, that I may ascertain the ob
structions in his way, and help him to consent to
their removal, I said, " Matanzima, how many wives
have you got ? "
"Two/* said he.
" How many children have you by them ?"
"Two children by one wife, and one by the
other."
" The laws of Jesus Christ will allow you to nave
but one wife. Are you willing to retain your
first, as your lawful wife, and give the other one
up?"
" Yes/ he replied, promptly ; " but what shall I
do with her ? "
" You must explain to her that you do not put her
away in anger, but because you have consented to
obey the laws of Christ, which allow a man but one
wife ; you must not send her away in poverty, but
give her whatever she needs for herself and the sup-
2G2 WARNERS.
port of her child, and let her go home to her own
people/
"Well," said he, "I ll bring her to Mr. Warner,
and let him settle it/
"Yes," I answered, " that will be the best way.
Now having settled that matter in your mind, and
consenting to give up all your sins, you need not de
lay your coming to Jesus Christ, but embrace Him
as your Saviour now." But instead of a present
surrender, and a present acceptance of Christ, I saw
from his face that he was reconsidering the wife
question, and wavering in his purpose to give up tho
sin of polygamy, and soon began to put on his
gloves, for he was a fine-looking, well-dressed man,
and said, " Now, I must go home." He did not tell
me that he could not consent to Gospel terms, yet I
felt but little doubt that, like the rich young man
who came to Jesus, and hearing what he should " do
to inherit eternal life," he declined and " went away
sorrowful " in his sins. I was very sorry to believe,
and to say to the brethren, that the chief wavered,
and would not remain a seeker long.
I mention this case to illustrate one of the most
serious difficulties to be encountered in bringing thff
Kaffirs to God their ancient system of polygamy.
Meantime, about sixty persons of all ages pro
fessed to obtain the pardon of their sins. As fast
as they got the witness of forgiveness they were con
ducted to a place to our left hand to be examined by
the missionary.
EXAMINATION 01? THE YOUNG CONVERTS. 263
t Now, Brother Barrett/ said I, "you will please tc
Iiear the experience of these new converts, and get
their names and addresses, so that you may know
v. T hcre to find them, and get them into class, and under
good pastoral training for God. If any are not clear
in their testimony to the fact of conscious pardon
through the Holy Spirit s witness with theirs, kindly
advise them to go back among the seekers and seek
till they get it." Brother Barrett is an earnest and
most industrious missionary, but seemed a little em
barrassed in the midst of such a sudden break-down
of so many Kaffirs, and rather incredulous as to the
conversion of so many in one day, but I begged him
to examine them closely and satisfy his own mind
fully, and send back all who were not clear. He spent
so much time with each one that he did not have time
to converse with more than half of them. It was toa
)ld to preach out that night, so we had a fellowship-
meeting in Brother Warner s stable specially for the
young converts. Over thirty of them arose voluntarily
and promptly, one after another, and in great sim
plicity told what God had done for their souls. The
experience of every one was clear except one man,
who told about some great light that he had seen
some months before and heard a voice telling him
that he would be saved. Brother Barrett challenged
his experience, and asked him several close questions.
Charles also questioned him to draw out of him a
testimony to a genuine experience of salvation, if" he
was in possession of it ; but his tale was ignored, and
204 WARNERS.
tlie people warned against seeking to see sights anil
to hear audible voices, " for the Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirits/ not to our eyes or ears
but to our "spirits, that we are the children oi
God." It was a very profitable service for mutual
edification. We gave them suitable advice, and I
was much pleased to find that Brother Barrett s faith
in the genuineness of their conversion nad been fully
confirmed.
Brother Barrett, in a letter, dated July 24th, says,
I thank God for your visit to this place. I see more
reason to hope for the salvation of Africa than ever 1 did
before. God evidently can and is willing to do a quick
and true work among these people. Ut those who were
here some were from other circuits. Ten from Mr. Wake-
ford s circuit professed to find peace. Some of the Fin-
goes were blessed. I conversed more or less with them
before they left, but have not yet had time to follow them
to Fingo-land. Among the Tambookies of my own cir
cuit I have had a better opportunity of understanding the
work. I think all our members who professed any spiritual
life are quickened. One man, formerly a dead member,
who had never known anything of spiritual life, is clearly
brought to God. He is now earnest and happy. Several
backsliders have returned, among them is Klass, the head
man of the station. The devil tried hard to keep Klass
away from Christ. He had left a goat in charge of a Hotten
tot at the Tsoma river. The devil ordered his Hottentot
servant to make off with the goat to Kriclie s country.
Klass heard of it just in time to take him away from your
morning service. The Hottentot, however, got drunk, and
was prevented from starting till Klass arrived and got his
THE CHIEF DRAWS BACK. 2G5
goat. We thought Klass had run away for fear he should
get converted, but finding his goat he returned in time fol
the afternoon preaching, and the Lord brought him in.
Most of the former seekers have found peace, and a few,
who were not seekers, have been brought in.
In a subsequent letter, Brother Barrett confirmed
my fears in regard to the chief :
I am sorry to say that Matanzima, the Tambookie chief
of " the right hand house," has not retained the religious
impressions produced on his mind by your preaching, and
has not even permitted me to hold service at his
place. (Herod heard John gladly, and " did many things, 71
but did not give up his stolen wife, and soon after cut tho
preacher s head off.) How can he be a Christian when his
powerful counsellors are heathens. I think the chiefs will
have to be moved by the nation and not the nation by the
chiefs. A Kaffir chief possesses power only for evil, to
fight, to "eat up," and destroy, but not to improve the
condition of his people.
I felt very sorry to leave " Woodhouse Forests "
so soon. We had seen a good work indeed during
our one day s services, but if we could have spent a
week among them a great work might have been
wrought,, but my limited time and pre-announced
appointments beyond obliged us to proceed on our
journey. Saturday morning, the 21st of July, we bade
adieu to this new and interesting mission-station,
and commenced a journey of fifty miles that day to
Butter worth. It is marvellous to look back and
remember that the thrilling scenes and grand
2G5 WARXEES.
victories at Kamastone, Lesseyton, tlie native
work and fellowship-meeting in Queen s Town,
for the whites, and the campaign of yesterday
at Woodhouse Forests, have all transpired within
the past week, from Sabbath the 15th to Friday the
20th of July. Blessed God, the kingdom is Thine,
the power is Thine, and hence the glory is Thine, all
Thine, only Thine!
Brother Warner furnished us a pair of horses to
take our conveyance twenty miles, to the " Tsoma
river," and accompanied us on horseback several
miles. At the Tsoma we overtook our horsemen
who had gone on early with the horses, so as to give
them a little rest, while Brother Warner s pair were
doing the work for us. There is an old military
station at the Tsoma, and at that time a small
detachment of British soldiers, under Col. Barker.
All the soldiers have since been withdrawn, and the
station given to the Wesleyans for mission pur
poses, and the Fingoes left to themselves to keep the
peace with their old Kaffir masters, or defend
themselves till help can be afforded them from the
colony. Col. Barker received us into his hut, with
a cordial greeting, and entertained us with a good
lunch, with genuine English hospitality. Eev. John
Logden, the missionary at Butterworth, had been
there a few days before, and prepared the way for
us, and provided a relay of fresh horses at the Tsoma,
which however we did not need, and respectfully de
clined the use of them.
CAPTAIN COBB. 2G7
The Tsoma, which is a fine African river, is
deep, rocky, and dangerous for travellers, but the
water being low in the winter season, we crossed
without difficulty. On we go, over high hills, and
across deep valleys, through a country abounding
with grass, from one to two feet high,, ripened and
dried into a rich orange colour. This wavy ocean of
grass, which stretches out in every direction into the
immeasurable distance, is interspersed with occasional
groves of timber, and island-looking rocky hill peaks
and cliffs. About fifteen miles from the Tsoma, wo
met a Kaffir boy, who said " Mr. Longden has sent a
pair of horses to Capt. Cobb s for you," pointing across
the hills towards the Captain s house, nearly a mile
off the main road. So we " out-spanned " our horses,
and walked over. The Captain, who is a dashing,
but generous pioneer Englishman, gave us a cordial
welcome. He is a magistrate, under Mr. AVarner,
over a portion of Her Majesty s Fingo subjects.
There we met the native teacher from Butterworth,
who had come to act as our guide, and four or five
English friends, who had been waiting at Butter-
worth for us two days, having come sixty miles from
near King William s Town, to attend our meeting,
and seek the Lord.
Captain Cobb gave us all a good dinner, and
showed us his new house, orchard, and garden. It
was really surprising to see such improvements,
such beautiful beds of flowers, and flourishing fruit-
trees, where, but eighteen months ago, the wild deer
I oained without disturbance. The last eiglit miles
of our long day s journey were made after the day
had departed. The road was rough and dangerous,
but our trusty guide rode before, and shouted, " To
the right," and " To the left," alternately, turning
us away from rocks and gullies which might have
cost us an upset, at the peril of our necks.
By the mercy of our Master, we safely reached
Biitterworth about eight P.M., and were heartily
welcomed and most kindly entertained by Rev.
John Longden and liis excellent missionary wife,
CHAPTER XVIIL
EUTTERWOETH (iGEUWA).
THIS mission-station was established under tli
general superintendence of Eev. W. Shaw, by the
Rev. Mr. Shrewsbury, assisted by Ilev. "W. Shep-
stone, in 1827. The great Chief Hintza, of the
Amagcaleka tribe, had not given his consent for the
establishment of the mission in his country, but had
not refused, so Mr. Shrewsbury proceeded in the
work by faith. " But a few months after," says Mr.
Shaw, " with great Kaffir ceremony, he sent to the
station one of his brothers, and a company of his
counsellors, mostly old men (counsellors of Kauta,
his father) with the following remarkable message
Hintza sends to you these men, that you may know
them ; they are now your friends, for to-day Hintza
adopts you into the same family, and makes the
mission the head of that house. If any one does you
wrong apply to them for redress. If in anything
you need help, ask them for assistance ; and as a con
firmation of the whole, pointing to a fat ox they had
brought, There is a cake of bread from the house of
Kauta. "
270 BUTTI-:irYORTH.
The mission, thus placed under the protection of law
by the blessing of God, and the fostering care of several
successive missionaries, grew and prospered for six
years, when its harmonious relations were disturbed
by the Kaffir war of 1833-4. Hintza joined in tho
war against the colonists. " behaved treacherously
toward certain European traders, who were at the
time in his country, and it was believed also, that he
contemplated the murder of his missionary," Rev.
John AylifF, and the destruction of the station.
Hev. W\ J. Davis gave me an account of how
Brother Ayliff escaped, and, as it will illustrate a
phase of missionary life in this place, now sacred in
my own memory, I will give the substance of his
narrative. " Hintza s purpose to kill Mr. AylifF was
revealed to him by Hintza s great wife/ Nonisa.
All the trails and roads were guarded by spies, so
that there was no possibility of his escape, but he
managed to get a letter conveyed about fifty miles,
to Brother Davis at Clarkebury. Mr. Davis sent to
Morley Mission Station, thirty-five miles distant, and
got the missionary there, Eev. Mr. Palmer, to join
him in a trip to Butterworth, to try and rescue their
brother missionary from the murderous designs of
Hintza. On their arrival at Butterworth, after con
sultation with Brother AylifF, they resolved that they
would go and see the chief himself, and thus take
the bull by the horns at once. They immediately
sent out runners, and collected a party of men as
MR. AYLIFF RESCUED. 271
guides and guards, and set cfF to Hintza s Great
Place/ about sixty miles distant. They rode boldly
into the chiefs kraal, and found him seated in coun
cil, surrounded by his Amapakati.
"Having gone through all the ceremony common in
approaching such a dignitary, Brother Davis, addres
sing the chief, said " Hintza, we have come to talk
to you about your missionary. We have heard that
you have given orders to kill Ayliff, and now he has
come, and we have come with Kim to see what yoa
have against him. We know that you are at war
with the English, but we are missionaries, we have
nothing to do with the war. If Ayliff has done any
thing worthy of death, he don t refuse to die. You
can try him and put him to death in an honourable
way, but it don t become a great chief like you, to
waylay him like an assassin and kill him behind a
bush. lie is your missionary. He came into your
country with your consent, and put himself under
your protection, and you should deal honourably
with him; If he has done wrong then tell him so
to his face ; if guilty of anything worthy of death,
convict him, and kill him. Or, if you want to get
rid of him, give him a pass out of your country, and
he will at once go away and leave you, but it would
be a great injustice, and a disgrace to you as a
great chief, to kill your missionary behind a bush/
Hintza seemed greatly agitated while Davis was talk
ing, and was silent for some time. Then he ordered
272 BUTTLE, WORTH (iGETJWA).
food for the missionaries, and told them to sit down
for the night, and he would meet them in council
the next day.
" That night, after the missionary party had sung
and prayed in their hut, Nomsa, the chief s great
wife/ came in and said, Sing again/
" Why should we sing again ? "Wo have just had
singing and prayer/
" I have a word to say to you, and I don t want
anybody but you to hear it. If you sing, they will
think that after the singing you will be praying,
and they won t come near/ so they sang again.
" Then said she, You have done well to come to
the chief. It will be all right to-morrow, AyliiF
will bo allowed to remain, and get promise of protec
tion. But if he remains he might tramp on a snake
in the grass, and he had better not remain/
" The next day they met the chief in council, and
Ilintza said, You have done well to come to me.
Gome miscreant might have done Ayliff harm, but it
will be all right now. Ayliff may go back to Butter-
worth, and sit down in peace, and it will be all
right/
" They returned, and soon ascertained that there
were no more conspirators in the way, seeking
AylifPs life, and as the way was now open, the mis
sionaries unanimously agreed that it was better, in
view of the war troubles, and all the circumstances
in the case, that Brother Ayliff should take Nomsa s
advice ; so he made arrangements as early as con-
PROTRACTED MEETING OF THE " RAIN-MAKERS." 273
venient, and, with his mission people, left Hintza s
country.
The chief complained afterwards of AyliiPs want
of confidence in him, but his own subsequent record
proved the wisdom of Ayliff s departure. Soon after
the mission premises and village were plundered and
destroyed, and, before the war was over, Hintza
himself was killed.
The mission was re-established after the war, but
was destroyed again in the war of 1846-7.
"Rili," or Krielie, as it is usually spelled to give the
sound in English nearest to the Kaffir guttural R, the
son and successor of Hintza, was anxious for the re
building of the mission-house and chapel, and gave
for the purpose as many cattle as when sold, were
necessary to cover most of the expense of erecting
the mission-buildings, and compensate for the per
sonal losses of the missionary.
At one time, when E-ev. W. J. Davis was stationed
there, the country was dried up, the cattle were
dying, and there was a general apprehension of
famine. The Chief Rili assembled a large body of
" rain makers " near to the mission premises, and
with a great gathering of the people, they went on
with their incantations and " vain repetitions " daily
for a week. Brother Davis kept himself advised,
through his agents, of all their proceedings. Finally,
the rain-makers said they could not get any rain, and
had found out the reason why, and the cause of the
drought. When the attention of the people was
274 BUTTERWORTH.
fully arrested by such an announcement, they told
their anxious auditors that the missionaries were the
cause of the drought, and that there would be no
rain while we were allowed to remain in the country.
That brought matters to a very serious crisis, for the
" rain-makers " are generally very influential, usually
being doctors or priests as well. When the chief
wants rain he sends some cattle to the rain- makers
to offer in sacrifice to " Imishologu," the spirits of
their dead, who are presumed to have great power
with " Tixo " or God, who will send rain. If they
do not succeed,, the rain-maker returns answer that
the cattle were not of the right colour, that cattle
of certain peculiar spots were necessary. The details
of these spots and shades of colour are so numerous
that the rain-maker can not only drive a good trade
in the beef line, but stave off the issue till, in the
natural order, a copious rain descends, for which he
claims the credit, and it is known all over the country
as such a " rain-maker s " rain. Thus they maintain
their influence, and when a number of such men
combine against a missionary, it becomes a very
serious matter. So when Brother Davis heard of the
grave charge brought against the missionaries, and
specially against himself and family, as they were
the only missionaries there, he saw that he must act
in self-defence at once. So the next morning, which
was Thursday, he rode into their camp, while they
were in the midst of their ceremonies, and demanded
a hearing. They stopped their noise and ccnfusion
A MODERN ELIJAH OPENING THE HEAVENS.
to hear what he had to say, and he proceeded as fol
lows : " I shall give you a very short talk. Your
rain-makers say that the missionaries are the cause
of the drought. I say that the rain-makers and the
sins of the people are the cause of the drought. The
missionaries are as anxious for rain as you are, and
our God would give us rain, but for your wickedness
anA rebellion against Him. Now I propose that we
test the matter between your rain-makers and the
missionaries. They have been trying here for one
whole week to bring rain, and have not brought one
drop. Look at the heavens, there is not even the sign
of a cloud. Now stop all this nonsense, and come to
chapel next Sabbath, and we will pray to God, who
made the heavens and the earth, to give us rain, and
we will see who is the true God, and who are His
true servants, and your best friends." Then Nomsa,
the great wife of Hintza, who had interposed to save
the life of Brother Ayliff a few years before, and the
great chief Rili, her son, and their amapakati, held
a consultation, and decided to dismiss the rain
makers at once, and accept the issue proposed by
Brother Davis. The next day was observed by this
missionary Elijah, and his Christian natives, as a day
of fasting and prayer. On Sabbath morning the
sun, as for many months past, poured his burning
rays upon the crisped Kaffrarian hills and valleys,
with their famishing flocks, without the shadow of
an intervening cloud.
At the hour for service the usual congregation
270 BUTTERWOKTH.
assembled, and besides them the great chief and hia
mother, and many of the heathen people from their
" great-place." There was a motley crowd of half- clad
mission natives, a lot of naked heathens, the great
chief in his royal robe, consisting of a huge tiger-
skin, his queen mother, with beaded skirt of dressed
cow-skin, and ornamental brass wristlets, armlets,
and head trinkets, and there, at their feet, the mis
sionary and his family a grand representation of
Church and State, all sweltering with heat, all uneasy,
all anxious to see a little cloud arise, but not one, even
of the size of a man s hand, appeared when the ser
vice commenced. After some preliminaries, Brother
Davis asked the people to kneel down, and unite
with him in prayer to the Lord God of Elijah, to
send them rain from heaven. The man of God
pleaded his own cause, and that of the people at the
mercy-seat, and importuned. No man was sent to
look toward the sea ; but while they remained on
their knees in solemn awe, in the presence of God,
they heard the big rain drops begin to patter on the
zinc roof of the chapel, and lo, a copious rain, which
continued all that afternoon and all night. The
whole region was so saturated with water that the
river near by became so swollen that the chief and
his mother could not cross it that night, and hence
had to remain at the mission- station till the next
day. That seemed to produce a great impression on
the minds of the chief, his mother, and the heathen
party in favour of God and His missionaries, and
Brother Davis got the name of a great rain-maker;
277
but signs, wonders, and even miracles, will not
change the hearts of sinners, for Komsa lived and
died a heathen, and her royal son remains an in
creasing dark and wicked heathen to this day.
The Butterworth Mission Station was destroyed
the third time during the Kaffir war of 1851-2, and
lay waste about ten years.
About the year 1855, Krielie resorted to a daring
and desperate plan for forcing his people into an
exterminating war against the colonists, which
destroyed thousands of his people, and deprived him
of about half of his country, including the site of
Butterworth Station. His plan was to strip his
people of all their wealth, which consisted of " the
cattle upon a thousand hills," and thus combine with
their patriotism, and love of booty, a dire necessity,
which would precipitate his whole people into the
colony, " drive the whites into the sea," and seize
the spoils.
So taking advantage of their superstitious gulli
bility, a prophet of renown among them com
manded that all their cattle should be killed, and
when all were gone, there would be a resurrection
of all their cattle, and the cattle of their ancestors,
greatly improved in size and quality, and countless
in numbers, and all who would believe the prophet,
and kill their cattle, should feast on beef all the days
of their lives, but the disobedient would be turned
into moths.
Tens of thousands of cattle were slain. Krielie s
whole country was desolated and denuded of its
278 BUTTEft WORTH,
fine supply of food. The colonists were in great
alarm, and Sir George Grey was sent as governor,
specially to meet the pending war emergency. By
the time he was ready for war, he found Krielie s
Kaffirs starving by the thousand, and instead of
pouring into the colony as fierce warriors they came
as beggars. Sir George wisely sent them supplies,
and was soon able to dictate terms of peace to the
haughty warrior chief, without firing a shot. In
that treaty he got from Krielie all that fine country,
lying between the " great Kei river/ and the river
u Gnabakka," which has since been given to the
Jingoes, as a reward for their unwavering loyalty
since their deliverance and adoption by the govern
ment in 1835. It is now known as Fingo-land.
Butterworth is near the eastern boundary of it, and but
fifteen miles from Krielie s s great place." The old
chief, I was told, pleaded hard to be allowed to retain
his mission-station, but it was thought, as his motives
in respect to the station were purely selfish, and as
it might more readily lead to complications with
the Government, it was best for the colony, and for
the mission, to keep it out of Krielie s hands alto
gether. Krielie s people do not now exceed thirty
thousand. They have no missionary, and the old
chief, owing to a petty difficulty which he last year
fomented, at the Butterworth Station, about a pig,
was forbidden by Captain Cobb to set his foot on the
west side of the, Gnabakka.
The Butterwcx "h Mission has been established the
PREACHING BY A RIVER-SIDE." 279
fourth time, and now promises to be more flourishing
than ever before, under Hev. John Longden, who
commenced operations there about four years ago.
We were comfortably quartered in the mission-
house, and Brother and Sister Longden, with good
fare and good cheer, rendered our sojourn with them
very pleasant. On Sabbath morning, the 22nd of
July, I walked round about their little Zion to find
the most suitable place for open-air preaching, as we
anticipated that the chapel accommodation for about
four hundred would be inadequate. We selected a
beautiful spot, a quarter of a mile distant, on the
bank of the river, richly carpeted with grass.
At ten A.M., Charles and I stand before a motley
crowd of about five hundred natives and a dozen
whites. To our left is the river, in the rear a
little cliff or point of rocks, jutting down to the
water s edge ; to our right a high rocky hill, at our
feet the tongue or wedge-point of a valley, which
rapidly widens, and opens the prospect to the mis
sion-buildings on a high hill beyond; just in the
rear of us are our European friends, who had come
over forty miles for this occasion, and the mission-
family ; just in front are the native women and chil
dren, next to them, in a circling mass, the native
men ; to our right and front, perched on the side of
the hill, are about one hundred wild heathens, painted
with red ochre, and greased till they glisten in the
sunlight. Their clothing consists simply of a blan
ket painted red with the same native dye which
280 BUTTERWORTH.
covers their bodies. I greatly feel the embarrassment
of the situation. I must preach to these believers
to adjust them to the Holy Spirit s methods, so as
to " work together with God " effectively in the sal
vation of sinners, and yet I must arrest the attention
of the heathen and interest them in our work, or
they will go away and we shall not get another shot at
them, and there is scarcely time in one service to
secure well these two ends, but we go on and com
bine the two objects as well as we can. All quiet
and attentive, and a great interest manifestly
awakened among the mission people.
" Now we invite all who fully understand the sub
ject, who feel the burden of their sins, and have
made up their minds to give themselves to God, and
receive Jesus as their Saviour, to stand up. Let each
one think well and act for him or herself. Let no
one stand simply because another does. Let no one
be afraid to stand up because of the presence of
another. As we shall answer to God for ourselves,
so let us say, Let others do as they will, but as for
me, I will serve God. 7 " In about a minute we see
about one hundred on their feet, including half a
dozen whites. We now invite them to kneel, sur
render to God, and receive Jesus Christ, whom He.
hath sent into the world to save sinners. An earnest
struggle ensues, and a few enter into liberty, and
witness to the fact in the story of their salvation to
the missionary, who examines each one personally.
A.fter a service of three hours we dismiss them, and
LEARNING WISDOM FROM A ZULU. 281
invite them to meet us there again at three P.M.
" Charles/ say I by the way, " the campaign of
last week at Kamastone, Lesseyton, Queen s Town,
and Warners, has nearly used us up. We are not
up to our mark to-day. I don t feel the Spirit s
unction as I usually do in going into the battle. ?>
" "No," replies Charles, " your Father sees that your
body can t bear it. He means to give you an oppor
tunity to get back your usual strength of body. He
does not want to work you to death."
I said in my heart, " Good for my Zulu, many a
European or American enthusiast might learn lessons
of wisdom from you/
At three P.M. we had about the same audience as
in the morning. The preaching goes home to their
hearts with increasing power. Many of the people
are immigrant Fingoes, from Cape Colony, where they
have been accustomed to hear the Gospel for years,
and the station people have long been under the
instruction of Brother Longden. These heathen
know nothing about it, or, what is worse, they have
heard more against the Gospel by the carnal oppo
sition its glimmer of light upon their minds has
provoked than they have learned of its power.
After the sermon we call for seekers, and over a
hundred go down on their knees, and an earnest
struggle against the powers of darkness ensues.
The heathen look very serious, but the most of them
refuse to yield, a few of them are down among the
seekers. A much larger number are saved at this
282 BUTTERWORTH.
service than at the first. Among the converts who
report themselves, we see two old heathen men.
" Charles, what has that old red blanket to say for
himself?"
"He says he has been a very great sinner, but
that he has found Jesus, and Jesus has saved him."
" What has that other heathen to say about it ? "
" I have been the greatest scoundrel in the world,
but the umfundisi says that Jesus came to save the
very worst sinners, and I have taken Him, and He
has pardoned my sins, and I feel Him now in my
heart. "
Many of our hearers had come twenty miles to
attend our services. They are not a people to carry
food with them on so short a journey. They had
now been with us all day, and were hungry, so we
began to inquire if there were any " loaves and fishes "
that we could set before them ? After consultation,
we announced to the congregation that all who had
come from a distance, and were hungry, then, or at
any time during our series of services, should go to
the missionary, who would give each one a quart of
"mealies/ Indian corn, daily. Brother Roberts and
I proposed to bear two-thirds of the expense amount
ing to a few pounds each, for the mealies thus con
sumed ; but at the close, when we came to settle,
Brother Longden would not allow us the privilege
of helping him.
My labours with the heathen that day caused me
to feel keenly my inability to penetrate their hea-
LEARNING TO MASTER THE KAFFIR MIND. 283
thenish darkness, and grapple successfully with their
prejudices and superstitions, from my want of an
acquaintance with Kaffir life and customs, so I de
termined, by the help of the Lord, with the best
sources available, though I should not have time
during my brief sojourn to master the Kaffir lan
guage, I would master the Kaffir mind. I at once
enlisted Charles in the work of studying native
Kaffirism. At suitable times he got the oldest men
together and questioned them about the customs and
faith of their heathen fathers, and wrote down their
statements ; by this means, and by what we could
learn from the missionaries and from Kaffir Laws
and Customs, a book, compiled from the experience
and testimony of several of the oldest missionaries,
specially for the benefit of the government, we made
progress in the acquisition of useful knowledge,
which could not be obtained in any college in
Europe, and knowledge that we both turned to good
account by the help of the Holy Spirit.
"We had preaching that night in the chapel, and
a glorious harvest of souls. On Monday, Tues
day, and Wednesday, we preached in the forenoon
by the river, and at night in the chapel. On 1 hurs-
day and Thursday night there was a great marriage
feast in the neighbourhood, which had been post
poned several days on account of our meetings, so
we took that day and night as a season of greatly
needed rest:. We resumed again on Friday, and
closed our special series Friday night, and Saturday,
284 BUTTER WORTH.
the 28th, travelled nearly fifty miles to Clarkebury
Mission Station. During our series at Butterworth,
the missionary examined and recorded the names of
one hundred and forty-seven converts.
While at Butterworth a fact transpired illustrating
the magisterial authority of the missionary, and
also the apparent necessity for such authority. A
man on the station had a daughter, who had
been in the mission- school, for years. It ap
peared that the father had a tempting offer of
cattle for his daughter by some heathen man a few
miles distant, who wanted to buy her, according to
heathen Kaffir custom, for his wife and slave,
whether first or fifth wife, we did not learn. The
father knowing that the laws of the mission-station
did not allow him to sell his daughter, nor give her
in marriage, to a polygamist heathen, gave consent
to the parties that his daughter might go to them to
plough, and assist in putting in the crop of mealies,
and several red fellows came accordingly for the
girl. Brother Longden, however, having learned
that such a negotiation was pending, promptly met
the men, and told them to go away and attend to
their own business, for he would not, on any account,
lot them have the girl. The fellows were greatly
disappointed, and hung round some time before they
would leave. Brother Longden told the father that
if he meant to sell his daughter to the heathen, he
must at once leave the station, for he would not
allow such a man to live on the premises.
THE GREAT SNAKE-KILLER. 285
"We shook hands with a distinguished old heathen
at Butterworth. His fame was based on two adven
tures of his life. One was, according to the account
in Kaffraria, that on one occasion when Rev. Wm.
Shaw was trying to cross a swollen river, the current
was too strong, and carried him down the stream,
greatly imperiling his life. This heathen man
plunged in, and assisted the " umfundisi " in getting
safely to land. The other was, that in his early life
he killed a "boa constrictor." That will give un
dying fame to any heathen Kaffir, as one of the
greatest men in the nation, indeed, so great that his
skull is, above all others, selected as the medicine-pot
of the great chief. If such a distinguished individual,
however, is allowed to die a natural death, the charm
is lost, and his skull unfitted for such distinguished
royal purposes. But the great snake killer, on the
other hand, must not be surprised and murdered.
He must yield himself a willing sacrifice, and abide
in quietness for ten preparatory days, and then be
murdered decently, according to royal decree.
Many, I was told, had thus given themselves up to
die, and be canonized among the most honourable
" Imishologu/ This old fellow, however, was not as
yet sufficiently patriotic, nor ambitious of glory for
that, but chose rather to retain his skull for his own
personal use, and let old Krielie, his master, get on
in his medical arrangements as best he could, and
hence takes good care to keep himself beyond
Krielie s dominions.
286 BUTTEll WORTH.
We were introduced to a much more remarkable
character, at Butterworth, than the killer of the
" boa constrictor."
Brother Longden gave us in substance the follow
ing history of " Umaduna." He said that some
months before in visiting some heathen " kraals/ he
inquired at each one if there were any Christians
among them. Coming to a kraal containing about
three hundred souls, he put his question to many in
different parts of the kraal, and received from all
the reply, " Yes, there is one Christian in this
kraal. He s a little one, but he is a wonderful
man. He has been persecuted, many times beaten,
and threatened with death, if he did not quit pray
ing to Christ ; but he prays and sings all the
more/
Mr. Longden was greatly surprised, and pleased
to learn that such a martyr spirit was shining so
brightly in a region so dark, and sought diligently
till he found the wonderful man of whom he had
heard such things, and to his astonishment, the great
man turned out to be a naked boy, about twelve
years old. Upon an acquaintance with him, and
the further testimony of his heathen neighbours, he
found that all he had heard about him, and much
more, was true. Hearing these things, we sought
an interview with " Umaduna/ for that is his name.
He had attended our meetings from the first, and I
had often seen him among the naked Kaffir children
in my audiences but did not know that I was preach-
A MARTYR SPIRIT UNDER A SHEEP- SKIN. 287
ing to such a heroic soldier of Jesus, till the last day
of our series. That day we sent for the lad to come
into the mission-house, that we might see and
learn of him how to suffer for Christ. He hesi
tated, but after some persuasion consented, and
came. He was small for a boy of twelve years, and
had no clothing, except an old sheep- skin over his
shoulders. Quite black, a serious, but pleasant face ;
very unassuming, not disposed to talk, but he gave,
in modest, but firm tones of voice,, prompt, intelligent
answers to all our questions. The following is the
substance of what we elicited from him, simply cor
roborating the facts narrated before by the mis
sionary :
I said to him, through my interpreter,
"Umaduna, how long have you been acquainted
with Jesus ?"
" About three years."
" How did jou learn about Him, and know how to
come to Him?"
" I went to preaching at Heald Town, and learned
about Jesus, and that he wanted the little children
to come to Him. Then I took Jesus for my Saviour,
and got all my sins forgiven, and my heart filled
with the love of God."
He was not long at Heald Town, but returned to
his people, and had since emigrated with them to
Fingo-land.
" Was your father willing that you should be a
servant of Jesus Christ ?"
288 BUTTERWORTH.
" Nay, he told me that I should not pray to God
any more, and that I must give Jesus up, or he
would beat me."
" What did you say to your father about it ? "
" I didn t say much, I wouldn t give up Jesus. I
kept praying to God more and more."
"What did your father do then?"
" He beat me a great many times."
"Well, when he found he could not beat Jesus
out of you, what did he do next ? "
" He got a great many boys to come and dance
round me, and laugh at me, and try to get me to
dance."
" And wouldn t you dance ? "
" No, I just sat down, and would not say anything."
" What did your father do then ? "
" He fastened me up in the hut, and said I must
give up Jesus or he would kill me. He left me in
the hut all day."
" And what did you do in there ? "
" I kept praying, and sticking to Jesus."
" Did you think your father would kill you ? "
" Yes, if God would let him. He fastened me in
the hut many times, and said he would kill me."
" Umaduna, are you sure you would be willing to
die for Jesus ? "
" Oh, yes, if He wants me to."
" Are you not afraid to die ? "
" No, I would be glad to die for Jesus, if He wants
me to."
A MISSIONARY S ACCOUNT OP THE WORK. 289
Brother Roberts gave him a copy of the
Testament in Kaffir, for his use after he shall have
learned to read, and said he had intended to speak
some words of encouragement to the boy, but on
hearing him talk, he found the rustic little Christian
so far in advance of himself, who had been but a few
months in the way, that he could not say anything
to him.
The subsequent progress of the work in Butter-
worth is indicated by an extract from a letter from
the missionary, dated August 2nd.
I start this letter on your track, as I know it will
interest you to hear that the revival of God s work, so
delightfully begun on the occasion of your recent visit to
Butterworth, is still going on. The evening of the day you
left we had nearly twenty penitents ; about the same num
ber at mid-day prayer-meeting on Sunday, and twenty at
the prayer-meeting following the afternoon preaching. We
have had the same number, or more, at every public service
since. Conversions have taken place, more or less, at every
service.
The larger children of our schools, who remained appa
rently indifferent for awhile, have at last begun to seek the
Lord, and literally roar in the disquietude of their souls.
Those backsliders of whom I spoke to you, who seemed
determined not to yield, have at last given way ; and last
night made the chapel ring with the backsliders cry for
mercy.
Six or eight fresh ones set out from the City of Destruc
tion last evening, and so on, we trust, the good work will!
spread, until
All shall catch the flame,
All partake the glorious bliss.
U
290 BUTTERWORTII. IGETJWA
Most of the new members have been got into classes,
both here, and in what I may call the country societies.
On looking over my list, I find that a large number of
our members have been converted, or re-converted, and the
whole society has been much stirred up. We rejoiced
greatly on hearing of your success at Clarkebury, and
thought it would be so.
On Saturday the 28th of July we travelled nearly
fifty miles from Butter worth to Clarkebury, our next
field of labour.
CHAPTER XIX, i
CLARKEBURY (UMGWALl).
" THE fifth mission-station established by our society
in Kaffraria," says the old pioneer, Kev. "W. Shaw,
" was in the country of the Abatembu, under the
great chief Vossanie.
" My first visit to this chief was during the
journey of observation, which I performed in
April, 1825.
" We reached the chief s kraal on the 9th of that
month, and on the next day we had an interview
with him, when, after we had submitted to the usual
cross-examination, and afforded a full explanation of
the objects contemplated in the establishment of a
mission, Vossanie, in the presence of his counsellors
and chieftains, promised that if a missionary came
to them, they would receive him kindly, and give
him land on which he might form a station. It was
not till April, 1830, that we were enabled to com
mence this mission.
" The chief faithfully kept his word, and received
Rev. Mr. Haddy," our first missionary there, " with
evident satisfaction, giving him leave to search the
292 CLARKEBTJRY. TJMGWALI.
country to find a suitable site for the proposed
station." This mission -station was called Clarkebury,
in honour of Dr. Adam Clarke.
The only Europeans killed by natives in connec
tion with our KafFrarian missions lost their lives in
connection with this station. The first was Mr.
Eawlins, an assistant, who was killed by a horde of
marauders, not far from the station. The other was
the Rev. J. S. Thomas, a thorough Kaffir scholar,
an energetic brave missionary. In 1856, he had
just removed from Clarkebury to a more suitable
place, where he designed to establish the head
quarters of that mission. Their cattle kraal was
attacked at night by a band of marauders, which
brought on a general conflict between them and the
mission people. The missionary sprang out of his
bed, and rushing into the midst of the fight to try
to command order, was pierced with an " assagay,"
from the hands of one of the attacking party. On
the death of this noble missionary, the removal of
the mission site was abandoned. It should be said
to the credit of the Abatembu nation, that they, as a
people, had nothing to do with the assassination of
those good men, but deeply regretted their fall,
which was by the murderous hands of a band of
robbers. The missionaries, however, have suffered
endless petty annoyances from the heathen chiefs
and people. The following story told me by Kev.
W. J. Davis may serve as an illustration of this :
"When I was stationed at Clarkebury, in 1832,
" DAVIS, WE HAVE COME FOR THAT POT. 293
the Tambookie* Chief, Yadana/ coveted a pot we
daily used in our cooking. He came and begged nie
every day for that pot for a long time. I gave him
many presents, but could not spare the pot, and
positively refused to give it up.
" Finally, the chief said, < Davis, I ll have that
pot! The next day Yadana came with thirty of
his warriors, all armed with assagays a kind of jave
lin, their principal war weapon.
" They stood in defiant array before me, and the
chief said, Davis, we have come for that pot/
" We need the pot/ I replied, for cooking our
food, and as I told you before, I won t give it to you/
" You must give it to us, or well take it/
" With thirty armed warriors, against one un
armed missionary, you have the power .to take it, but
if that is the way you are going to treat your mis
sionary, just give me a safe passage out of your
country, and I ll leave you/
" Davis, are you not afraid of us ? demanded the
chief, sharply.
" No, Fm not afraid of you. I know you can kill
me, but if I had been afraid to die I never would
have come among such a set of savages as you
are/
" Davis/ repeated the chief sternly, are you not
afraid to die?
" No ! If you kill me I have a home in heaven,
* Rev. Wm. Shaw calls this tribe Amatembu, or Tembookies
but they are now generally called " Tambookies."
294 CLARKET5UHY. UMGWALI.
where the wicked cease from troubling, and the
weary are at rest.
" Then, turning to his men, the chief said, Well,
this is a strange thing. Here s a man who is not
afraid to die, and we will have to let him keep his
pot.
" When the chief was turning to go away, he said,
Davis, I love you less now than I did before, but
I fear you more."
The chief never gave his missionary any further
trouble about his pot, but showed greater respoct to
him than ever before.
On our journey from Butterworth to Clarkebury,
one of our cart-horses got sick, and was scarcely able
to travel, causing us much delay, so that we did not
arrive at Clarkebury till nine o clock at night, and
having no moon we had to travel a couple of hours
more by faith than by sight.
Eev. Edwin Gedye met us a little way from the
station, and piloted us through the dark to the
mission-house, where we were welcomed and kindly
entertained by the missionary Eev. Peter Har graves,
and his truly missionary wife, who is a native of
Kaffraria, daughter of a pioneer missionary, Eev.
W. J. Davis. Eev. Brother Gedye was the mission
ary from Shawbury mission station, but had with
his family recently fled to Clarkebury on account of
fearfully complicated war-troubles at Shawbury.
They have capacious and comfortable mission build
ings, and a beautiful garden containing fine oranges,
THE GHEAT CHIEF NGANGELIZWE. 295
and other varieties of fruit-trees, at Clarkebury, and
a chapel to seat about five hundred persons.
My purpose was to remain there only till Wednes
day morning, but Brother Hargraves said, that he
had sent a messenger to Ngangelizwe, the great
chief of the Tambookie nation, inviting him and his
counsellors to attend our services, and that the
chief had returned answer that they could not
be with us at the commencement, but would come
on Wednesday. So we consented to stay at any-rate
till after Wednesday. On Sabbath morning, the 29th
of July, we had the chapel crowded, Brother Har
graves read Mr. Wesley s abridgment of the Episcopal
service, and his Kaffir audience repeated their parts
of the service very distinctly.
We preached to the believers in the morning,
and, without a prayer-meeting, requested them to
retire, and spend as much time as possible in self-
examination and prayer, and come together again at
three P.M. A prayer-meeting followed the afternoon
preaching, and also the preaching in the evening,
and on each occasion, beside a gracious work amongst
believers, we had probably one hundred and fifty
penitents.
On Monday we had preaching and prayer-meeting
both mid- day and evening. The same on Tuesday,
and many souls were saved at each service. Among
the converts were seven Europeans Mr. Crouch, an
old colonist who had come into Kaffraria with my
friend Mr. Joseph Walker, a merchant of Xing
296 CLAKKEBURY. UMGWALI.
,
William s Town, on commercial business, Mr. Hen
B. Warner, his wife, and four others. Henry B.
is the son of the British resident for Kaffraria,
J. C. Warner, Esq. Clarkebury was the place of
Henry s birth, while his father was stationed there
as a missionary, and having been brought up in the
Kaffir mission-field, he is as perfectly familiar with
the Kaffir language as a native Kaffir. Pie holds the
office of magistrate in Fingo-land, and is the acting
chief of a thousand natives. JSTow at the place of
his birth he was " born again," and at once entered
actively into the work, labouring personally, and ex
horting publicly in the Kaffir language. He has
gone rapidly forward in a career of increasing use
fulness ever since, and is now preaching the Gospel.
In a letter from Rev. E. J. Barrett, dated October
16th, he says, " Mr. H. B. Warner, a week or two
ago, preached at Woodhouse Forest, and the Lord
was working in the hearts of the people. If any
one can move the Kaffir mind, I think he will."
Brother Hargraves, getting a hint that the great
chief did not wish to come to our meetings at all,
felt very anxious about it, and sent a messenger invit
ing him again, and proposing that if he preferred it,
we would go to his " Great Place " and preach there.
That led to a great council of the chief and his ama-
pakati, who debated the question two days, and finally
returned answer that the chief and his counsellors
would go to Clarkebury on Thursday. The chief s
POLITICAL LEAGUE AGAINST CHRIST. 297
position is peculiarly unfavourable to the success of
the Gospel with him, or any of his councillors and
chiefs. He had been to school a year and a-half at
the mission- station, under Brother Hargraves, and
became greatly concerned about his soul, and was
" almost persuaded to be a Christian ;" but when the
time came for him to take the supreme chieftainship
of his nation, the counsellors and chiefs, who had
exhibited great jealousy and fear all the time he lived
at the station lest the young chief should embrace
Christ, demanded his formal renunciation of Chris
tianity, or they would repudiate him, and support his
younger brother. If he had been a Christian, he
would have stated, and maintained his position on the
Lord s side, and accepted the ultimate decisions of
Providence, but he was not fully decided for God. He
hesitated some time before he gave his final answer.
I was told by Mr. J. C. Warner, and by the mis
sionary, that the young chief went alone and wept,
and it was hoped he would apply to God and get
strength to stand up for Christ at all hazards ; but,
in a fit of weeping disappointment, he angrily
clenched his fists, and said, " They are determined to
have a heathen chief to rule over them, and Til let
them feel the power of a heathen chief/ It is
believed that he will, if he lives long, take vengeance
on the leading conspirators against Christ, who
forced such terms upon him. He threw an assagay
through the arm of one of them just before our visit.
298 CLAHKEBU11Y. UMGWALI.
Another case had just occurred still more peculiar
and remarkable, illustrating the spirit of this
chief :
Some of his leading counsellors brought a man
who owned a vast herd of cattle before the chief,
under a charge of trying to take the chiefs life by
witchcraft. The man had been duly " smelled out/
and convicted by the priest or doctor. According to
all precedent of Kaffir law and usage, the accused
would have been tortured and killed, and all his
cattle confiscated and driven into the chiei s kraal.
But in the face of hoary -headed usage, and the
superstitious fear and cupidity which are so potent
in such cases, Ngangelizwe turned to the accused,
who stood in expectation of a horrible death, and
said to him, " Go home, and sit down in peace, and
take all your cattle, I don t want them." Then
turning to his counsellor-plaintiffs in the case, he
said, sharply, " Go home, and attend to your own
business."
There is, therefore, a possibility that the coun
sellors and chiefs may be so filled wit! their ways,
" sowing to the wind, and reaping the whirlwind,"
that the sad results of their wickedness may operate
as a warning, and be employed by an overruling
Providence to lead the nation nearer to God ; but be
that as it may, the present attitude of the chief, and
the counsellors and chiefs who are engaged with him
in this combination, is a serious bar to the progress of
the Gospel among them, for every party requiring
WAITING FOB, THE GEE AT CHIEFS. 209
the chief to renounce Christ, he thus committed him
self in a political compact against Christ. We had
ample proofs of that fact, as my narrative will show.
On Thursday morning, the day appointed for the
chief to come with his counsellors to our services, a
messenger arrived, according to Kaffir custom, to
announce the important fact that, " I^gangelizwe is
in the path."
He had but fifteen miles to travel from the " Great
Place " to Clarkebury, and we thought he might
arrive by mid^day, but the three missionaries, Revs.
Hargraves, Gedye, and Raynor, from Morley,
thought, according to the ordinary ceremony and
delay by the way, they might require the whole day
for the journey.
About three p. M. his vanguard appeared on the
high hill, half-a-mile east of the station, and took
their stand. Half-an-hour later, another party came
in sight and halted in like manner. It was then
nearly an hour more before the great chief, with the
main body of the royal cortege, appeared. The
cavalry of the train, consisting of about forty coun
sellors, fell into line, single file, the chief being about
the middle ; and all came down the hill at a full
gallop. Arriving, they at once dismounted, but all
remained outside the mission-yard with the horses,
except the chief and his brother Usiqukati, who came
directly in. Brother Hargraves met, and shook
hands with them at the gate, and introduced them
to me and my party. All the ceremony required oil
300 CLARKEBURY. UMGWALI.
our part, I learned, was simply to pronounce the
name of the chief, and shake hands, and so with his
brother. Having previously trained our tongues
to a little familiarity with their names, we had no
difficulty in meeting the requirements of the occasion.
A sufficient number of huts had been vacated for
the accommodation of the chief and his party, as long
as they might desire to stay.
The chiefs minor name was " Qeya," but accordin
to custom, graduating to manhood and to his chieftain
ship, he got a new characteristic name, and being
considered, even by disinterested parties, one of
the greatest chiefs in Kaffraria, and by themselves
the greatest among men, they gave him the name
of " Ngangelizwe/ 1 * which means, " Big as the
world."
His brother s name is " Usiqukati," which means
<c strength/ Though not so tall as the paramount
chief, he has a breadth and depth of chest and develop
ment of muscle, indicating great strength of body,
and a physiognomy bespeaking a strength of charac
ter and will greatly superior to that of his " big "
brother. I said to the missionaries, that I believed as
a Christian " Usiqukati " would be firm to martyr
dom, but as a heathen chief he was capable of becom
ing as Hazael of Syria, or as Chaka, the Zulu. They
replied that I had just expressed their own previous
opinion in regard to him.
Ngangelizwe has a very extensive, rich, grassy,
well-watered, undulating, beautiful country, His
PREACHING TO THE CHIEF AND HIS COUNSELLORS. 301
tribe numbers about one hundred thousand souls, of
whom fifteen or twenty thousand are warriors. The
chief is nearly six feet in height, straight, well-
proportioned, of the copper Kaffir complexion, in
stead of black, a smooth, pleasant countenance, a
sweet, charming voice, which I at once remembered
was exactly like that of his brother " Matanzima,"
before mentioned, as being almost persuaded to be a
Christian at " Woodhouse Forest." The two chiefs
took tea with us in the mission-house, while the
" Amapakati " and their attendants went to the huts
provided for them.
The chiefs were well-dressed in English costume,
but their men had each simply a "kaross" of dressed
skin or a red blanket.
Soon we are all in the chapel for the evening ser
vice, Charles and I stand side by side in the altar; to our
ight and left sit the missionaries, Hargraves, Gedye,
and Baynor; in the front seats before the altar-
railings sit the great chief and his brother, and on
the same seats in front about a dozen Europeans,
including several British soldiers from Fingo-land.
Then we see next the body of the chapel half way
down, filled with these heathen counsellors and
attendants, and a lot of red heathen from Fingo-
land, making, perhaps, one hundred and fifty of this
class ; then, in the rear, and at all the doors and
windows outside, are the regular worshippers to
whom we have been preaching twice per day for
four days.
CLAIIKEBUUY. UMGWALT.
Text : the third and fourth verses of the eighth
chapter of Romans. We have learned to apply the
moral law to Kaffir lives and Kaffir hearts, and
to proclaim to heathen minds the Gospel tidings,
proffering in Christ a perfect, present, available
supply for every demand of their souls, and the
personal Holy Spirit ever waiting to make the saving
application to the hearts of all who will consent
" to walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh."
\Ye observe profound attention and great apparent
concern among our heathen hearers. They have
been debating the cause for several days whether
or not they would give us a hearing, have refused
to allow us to go to "the Great Place" to preach,
and have come here with the avowed determination
not to submit to Gospel requirements, but the Holy
Spirit is evidently laying the law to their hearts,
and revealing to their dark minds the light that
leads to life, if they will but " walk in the light
while they have it." A mighty contest between the
powers of heaven and hell is pending. This heathen
king, his counsellors, and men, every one of them,
consent to the laws of God that they are good, and
that God s Gospel terms are reasonable and right,
but there is that other " law in their members," the
gravitating law of their carnal nature with its deep
downward channels of sinful habit, and its accursed
ramifications of heathenish superstitions and customs,
all combining to strengthen their avowed political
league against Christ, and all these complications of
WAKXER S APPEAL. 303
iniquity employed as leverage against their perish
ing souls worked by the " principalities and powers"
of hell. Is it possible to storm these strongholds cf
Satan and rescue these heathen captives at a single
service ? Will they even tarry for the prayer-
meeting ?
"VVe close the preaching service and dismiss the
congregation, to give an opportunity for all to leave
who do not prefer to remain for the after- service.
Not one stirs to get out. We call for the seekers to
kneel before God, surrender to Him, and accept
Christ. Many of our former hearers " fall down on
their faces and worship God," and soon " report "
from a blessed experience of pardon that " God is in
them of a truth."
The chief and his people sit, and gaze, and won
der. During the prayer-meeting Brother Henry B.
Warner stands up near the window to my right, and
by his commanding appearance, good voice, and elo
quent euphonious ring of the Kaffir language, at
once arrests the attention of the whole assembly,
and, addressing the chief and his counsellors, tells
them the story of his own conversion to God they
all knew him well from of old, and knew what a
sinner he had been, and now learned the details of
God s saving mercy to him, demonstrating the truth
of the Gospel news they had heard that night fol
lowed by an earnest exhortation to them to seek
God without a moment s delay. Then we all kneel
down in solemn silent prayer. Nothing is heard
304 CLARKEBURY. UMGWALI.
now but the suppressed sighs and sobs of wounded
souls in the different parts of the house, pierced with
the Spirit s "two-edged sword."
The presence of God the Holy Spirit, moving per
ceptively among the prostrate mass of men before
us, becomes awfully sublime beyond description. The
salvation of these heathens now hangs in the scales
of a poised beam; many of us feel that the Spirit
hath clearly offered to them the gift of eternal
life in Christ. They are almost persuaded. They
have reached a crisis. Let any one of these old
counsellors avowedly take a decided stand for God,
and the whole of them will follow his example.
Unable to get beyond that point, we close the service
at eleven P.M., and all silently retire from the field to
come up to the work again in the morning.
Early the next day Brother Warner had a long
talk with Ngangelizwe s counsellors. They admitted
to him that what they had heard at the service the
night before was true, and that they were conscious
of an extraordinary influence on their minds, and
that they believed their chief wanted to accept
Christ ; but said they, " Ngangelizwe cannot act
alone, for he is bound by solemn promise not to be a
Christian, and none of us can act alone, because we
exacted that promise from him, and we are bound in
honour to stand to our own position. AVe cannot go
and do ourselves what we have bound the chief not
to do." One of them proposed, and nearly all the
rest concurred, that they should call a great council
PROPOSITION TO UNITE CHURCH AND STATE. o(Ji>
,of all the chiefs and leading men of the nation, and
debate the cause, and see if they will consent to
abandon their old customs, and adopt the religion of
Christ as the religion of their nation. Brother "Warner
came at once to me with their proposition to inquire
whether I thought we had better entertain it.
I replied, " It may be a trick of Satan to keep
some of them from a personal acceptance of Christ
to-day ; if not a device of the evil one, but, as I hope,
a sincere expression of new desire kindled in their
hearts by the awakening Spirit, it is a proposition
that we cannot turn to account, as we will be leaving
to-morrow, and, unless a much larger number of the
counsellors and chiefs of the nation were brought under
the awakening power of the Spirit than we have here,
it would be hazardous to submit such a question to a
national council, as they would be sure, by majority,
to decide against Christianity, and thus lengthen and
strengthen the wicked alliance already formed against
it. Such a proposition, however, originating with
the Amapakati should be kindly entertained, and
the spirit prompting it encouraged, but action in
that direction now would be premature. We must
urge them to accept Christ to-day, each one for him
self, and take the consequences." That day we had
the chiefs and councillors in chapel in the same
order as the night before. We preached from St.
Luke s abstract of St. Paul s preaching to a heathen
audience on " Mar s Hill," on the " Unknown God/
We traced the parallel between the moral condition
306 CLA.RKEBURY UMGWALT.
and superstitious worship of the literary heathen of-
Athens, and the illiterate heathen Tambookies. We
have clear indications in Kaffir traditions, sacrifices,
and devotions, of the struggle of their moral nature to
feel after the " Unknown God," and to find a supply
for the conscious woes and wants of their souls.
Having dug down effectually into the regions of their
beliefs and conscious experiences, and having brought
out their admitted facts demonstrating the truth of
Eible delineations of human corruption, guilt, and
bondage, and their vain efforts, by their sacrifices
and sufferings, to atone for their sins, or give "rest
for their souls/ 7 we declared to them the " Unknown
God," and His glorious provision of mercy for them
in Christ. "We then pressed home the fact, that God
" now commandeth all men everywhere to repent."
Illustrating the work of repentance, wrought by the
Holy Spirit in the hearts of sinners, resulting in
their acceptance of Christ, I gave, among other ex
amples, the cases of Thackenbau, King of Fiji,
and of George the Third, King of the Friendly
Islands. I showed that their complications in the
sin of polygamy, and all forms of heathenism, were
quite as bad as anything in Kaffirland, but that
yielding to the Spirit they had triumphed, and had
become Christians. I gave them the sto^ about
King George, as given me by the Apostle Peter
that old apostle to the Friendly and Navigators
Islands, Rev. Peter Turner. When their first chapel
Was opened, and the king came in and saw the
KING GEOIIGE AND HIS PULPIT. 07
preacher in the pulpit a man higher up than him
self he was displeased. But instead of making any
trouble about it, he had a pulpit built for himself the
next week in the opposite end of the chapel, a few
inches higher than the minister s pulpit. When the
king saw the missionary ascend to his pulpit, he
quietly went up, and seated himself in his pulpit.
After awhile the missionary and his leading men
united together daily to read God s book of instruc
tions to see how they were to proceed in their work,
and prayed daily for the Holy Ghost to come down
and " abide with them/ and through their agency
do His mighty work of saving the king and his
people. After continuing thus to wait "with one
accord }} for many days, the Holy Ghost came in
mighty power.
The news ran all over the island, that the Holy
Ghost had come, and was waiting to lead them to
Jesus, and save their souls. The people flocked
together from every direction, and while they listened
to the words of God from His Book, " they were
pricked in their hearts/ and many cried out in
the agony of their souls, and were so affected by
the awakening power of the Spirit, that to the
number of from two to three hundred at one time
they lay apparently dead for hours, but always came
up rejoicing, and praising God for His great salvation.
The king himself was awakened, and came down
from his high pulpit, and sat in the dust. His
proud heart yielded to the Spirit s power. Still it
308 CLARKEBURY UMGWALT.
did not give way all at once. He told the missionary
lie wanted to give up his sins, and seek God, but did
not want to bow down with his common people, and
asked the missionary to allow him to pray behind
the altar-screen, which was a net-work of young
bamboo rods, and would conceal him from the eyes
of his people.
Brother Turner said, " Yes, King George, you may
kneel down wherever you like, and give your heart
to God/ The .king went behind the screen and
fell down on his face and cried to God to have mercy
on his poor soul. He is a man six feet four inches
high, and rolling in an agony of soul he kicked
down the screen and lay full length before his
people, and cared for nothing but how he might save
his soul.
His pride was broken, and he fully felt the burden
of his sins, but got no relief till after he went home
that night. About midnight, he gave his wicked
heart to God, and received Jesus, and got all his
sins forgiven, and received a new heart. He wrote
a letter to Brother Turner that night, telling him
that he had found Jesus, and that his soul was happy.
Some days after, he had a great many of his people
together, and told them that he had embraced Christ,
and was happy, and said to them, " Do you see that
post ? " pointing to a post of the chapel building,
" now, just as certain as you know that you see that
post, just so certainly I know that God, for Christ s
sake, has pardoned my sins, and made me his child/
AN ILLUSTRATION APPLIED. 309
" Many wicked people said," I continued, " as
such will say about Ngangelizwe, that if King
George embraced Christ, he would lose his king
dom, just as though the great God of heaven and
earth, to whom all power belongs, could not, or
would not, maintain the rightful authority of a ruler,
because such ruler became loyal to God, his Divine
Sovereign. Did King George lose his kingdom
by becoming a Christian ? Nay, many who were
not his people have come under his authority
because he was a Christian, and he became a
greater king than ever before; he also became
a preacher, and is employed every Sabbath in
preaching Jesus to his people. A man forfeits no
rights by accepting Christ as his Saviour, but he
cannot accept Christ until he consents to give up
all his sins, and submit that Christ shall take from
him, or return to him, anything and everything he
holds dear. A man who would not, if necessary,
give up a kingdom to receive Christ, will, for the
sake of a little bit of authority, which he can hold
but a few years at most, reject Christ, and perish ! "
We explain, in simplicity, the duty of repent
ance, and an intelligent acceptance of Christ by
faith in God s own record concerning Him, and th&
Spirit s witness and renewing work, demonstrat
ing the truth of the Gospel, and the saving power of
Jesus. At the c,cse of the sermon, we proceed as
usual with the prayer-meeting. A large number of
seekers come forward, and a similar struggle to that
310 CLARKEBURY UMGWALI.
of last niglit, between the powers of light and dark
ness, ensues. Ngangelizwe shows great concern ; his
brother is evidently in an agony of awakening ; some
counsellors seem in great distress ; others of them, by
their looks, and a scoffing display of their great teeth,
are using their influence against the work. One
fellow, with a large cow-skin "kaross" over his
shoulders, is " a child of the devil/ an " enemy of
all righteousness," as full of all subtilty and mis
chief as Elymas the sorcerer.
In the midst of the prayer-meeting, Charles rises
from his knees, and stands within arm s length of
the chief and his brother, and exhorts them person
ally for half an hour. You see at once that my
Zulu is master of the difficult situation. The natural
gracefulness and perfection . of his action, and the
power of his logic, told manifestly on the trembling
Felix before him. The missionaries, and others who
understood the Kaffir, said afterwards that they
never heard such a display of Kaffir oratory in all
their lives. He explained to jSTgangelizwe that " the
powers that be are of God/ and hence it was for
God, and not a lot of wicked counsellors, to put down
one ruler and set up another, and that a man who
will reject the counsel of God and follow the counsel
of wicked men, shall as certainly come to grief as
that the righteous God rules in the heavens.
" Kobi and Pato," continued Charles, " were great
thiefs. Kama, their brother, was a boy, and had no
PAMLA S LAST APPEAL TO THE CHIEFS. 311
people. These three chiefs had the offer of Christ,
Kama was the only one that accepted Him ; Kobi
and Pato rejected Christ, and called Kama a fool, and
said he would be a scabby goat, and never have any
people. Their wicked counsellors told them, if they
received Christ they would lose all their people, all
their cattle, and have nothing, like poor Kama ; but
what was the result ? God gave them up to follow
their wicked counsellors, who advised them to go to
war with the English. Kobi died a miserable refu
gee, and got the burial of a dog. Pato has spent
many miserable years a prisoner on Kobin Island.
Kama remained true to God, and kept out of the war
against the English, and now all the people of the
Amaxosa nation, once ruled by Kobi, anu Pato belong
to Kama, who is going down to his grave in honour
able old age, in the midst of peace and plenty, full
of a glorious hope of a blessed home in heaven. More
than one thousand of his people have accepted Christ,
and all of them abide in the peaceable possession of
their homes, under the protection of the British
Government." This but indicates the range of
Charles s inimitable discourse to Ngangelizwe, and
he appealed most solemnly to Usiqukati to submit to
God and receive Christ, whatever the chief and his
counsellors might do.
The ground of Charles special appeal to Ngange-
lizwe s brother was that, next to Ngangelizwe, he
was the royal heir to the supreme chieftainship of
312 CLARKEBURY UAIGYVALI.
the nation, and the rival that the people intended to
promote, instead of his older brother, if ^Ngangelizwe
had refused to remain a heathen. The illustrative
points of his speech to Usiqukati were as follows,
having previously expended on him the power of the
highest moral motives, he now mixed them with
political arguments with two edges, to cut both
chiefs at the same time :
" Now Usiqukati," said Charles, "if Ngangelizwe rejects
Christ, and remains in his sins, you take my advice, just
surrender yourself to God, as you know His Holy Spirit is
now telling you to do in your heart, and receive Jesus
Christ as your Saviour, and you will not only be saved from
your sins, but you will take away the crown from Ngan
gelizwe while he is asleep. If you become a child of God,
you are sure to become the greater chief. God is supreme,
above all kings, and if you become a child of God, and
Ngangelizwe remains a child of the devil, God will be sure
to give you his state, as the great chief of the Tambookies.
" Be wise now, like old Kama, who first took the word
of the great God, and after that became the chief of
the Amaxosa nation, while his ruling brothers were cast
down to destruction. Be wise, like King David, who took
the Word of God first, when Saul, his father-in-law, was
the great king of Israel ; but Saul, like Ngangelizwe, re
fused God, while David remained true to God, and became
the great chief of that mighty nation, and Saul came to a
miserable end. Be wise, young man, like King Solomon,
who was the wisest man in the world, and who took the
Lord God of his father David for his God, and became the
greatest king of Israel after his father s death. Be wise,
Usiqukati, like the white men, who love God, and who, in
THE CHIEF S SUDDEN DEPARTURE. 813
spite of the bad men among them, have become the greatest
people in the world, and the head of us all." Then turning
to Ngangelizwe, he said, "I see that your younger brother
is ready to take your State if you refuse ; if you accept
Christ, you will retain it; but if you reject, and he accepts
Christ, he will be sure of your crown."
Our time for such, a work was too short. I felt
sure that they could not stand many such, shocks of
awakening truth, applied by the Spirit s power, as
it was on the two occasions we had them before
us. Ngangelizwe afterwards shook hands with
Charles, and they had a friendly private interview.
The political league seemed to be the principal
barrier.
Ngangelizwe said he would stay and hear us again
that evening ; but about sunset a man came dashing
down the hill at full speed, his horse in a foam
of perspiration and panting for breath, and an
nounced that one of ISTgangelizwe s children was
dying, and that the chief must return to the " Great
Place " at once.
The chief said he was very sorry to leave, but
that he was obliged to go. We had a private talk
to him on his peculiar embarrassments and duties,
and on our plan of enlarging the range of mission-
work in his nation, having the station simply as the
head, but regular preaching in all the principal
centres of population, and to have his people who
accept Christ not to leave their former homes and
come to the mission- station to live, but to remain
CLARKEBUKY UMGWALI.
and let their light shine in the kraals to which they
belong. I learned, some weeks afterwards, that
Ngangelizwe invited one of the Local Preachers to
preach at his Great Place, and after he had preached,
told him to come every Sunday and preach to him,
for he wanted " to have preaching at his place what
ever the Amapakati might say." The missionaries
believed that all that ado about the dying child was
got up by some of those wicked counsellors to
hurry ISTgangelizwe away for fear he would that night
become a Christian. The extraordinary unction of
the Holy Spirit attending His truth on those two
occasions leads me to believe that much greater
results than were manifested at the time will "be seen
after many days/ Having thus lost the heathen
portion of our audience, instead of preaching that
night as we intended, we had a fellowship-meeting.
Up to that period of our series of services, 185
persons, on a personal examination, had professed
to have obtained the pardon of their sins. About
seventy, principally the young converts, spoke at
our fellowship-meeting that night. I sat beside
Brother William Davis, who interpreted their talk
to me. It was marvellously interesting; I can give
but a few specimens, and they are as weak as water
compared with their native Kaffir originals, accom
panied by graceful action, and tears, and the peculiar
idiomatic force of their language. A woman said,
" I have for a long time been a member of the
Church according to the flesh, but now I am a
A MEMBEU OF THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO THE FLESH. 315
member of the Church according to the Spirit. Last
Sunday in this chapel the light of God shone into
my heart, and showed me my sins. I was stricken
down by the power of His Spirit, but I cried to God,
and received Jesus Christ, and He lifted me up,
and made me His child." Another said, " My father
was a doctor, and while he lived I thought there
was no danger of my dying, so I gave no attention
to my soul. But my father died, and then I felt
that death was very near to me, and that I was not
ready to die, so I tried to get ready to die, but I never
saw what a wretched sinner I was till last Sunday ;
then I cried to God, and took Jesus as my Saviour ! My
soul is happy, and I am not afraid to die now ! My
poor father is dead, but Jesus is my doctor now, and
He will never die ! " Another said, " My father
was a good man, and died happy in the Lord. When
he was dying he called his children round him, and
said, I have done all I could, my children, to take
care of you, and bring you up to walk in the right way.
Now I am going to leave you, and your mother has
gone before me. Now, my dear children, my last
words to you are, that you give your hearts to God,
and take Him as your Father, for He will never die.
We all told our father that we would, and ever since
that I have been praying to God, but never found
Jesus as my Saviour, till last Monday night, in this
chapel. Now I know that Jesus is my Saviour, and
that God, who will never die, is my Father." A man
stood up and said, " I always hated the mission-
316 CLARXEBURY UMGWALI.
stations, and I hated all the people who went to
them. Often when I have seen them going to
chapel, I got so angry, I wanted to kill them. But
I heard that Isikunisivutayo was coming and I came
to see what was to be done. I stood outside the
chapel last Sunday, and laughed and mocked. On
Monday night I came in, and Isikunisivutayo set me
on fire, and I felt that I was sinking into hell, I
left as quick as I could, and started home, but my
sins were such a load on me I could not run, but
fell down, and thought I was going to die. The
next morning I felt very glad that I was not in hell.
I came to the meeting that day and received Jesus,
and now my soul is full of glory."
" Isikunisivutayo means a burning fire-stick or
torch, used by the Kaffirs for burning the dry grass.
In the fall, the whole country is covered with a thick
growth of brown grass, from one to two feet in
height. As spring approaches, to get the full benefit
of the new crop for their cattle, they take their
burning fire- sticks and soon set a thousand hills in
a blaze, spreading and sweeping in every direction to
prepare the way for the new harvest of grass. It is
common with the Kaffirs to give every distinguished
stranger some characteristic name, by which, instead
of his real name, he is known among them.
I was told beforehand that I would get a new
name, and there were not a few European conjec
tures as to what it should be. Some thought it
would be " Longbeard," which bears no comparison
317
to the appreciative, poetic, descriptive name which
the Kaffirs gave me, " The Burning Fire-Stick/
which the Lord was using to set the whole country
in a blaze, burn up all their old dead works, and
prepare the way for spiritual life, verdure, and
plenty. Among the converted heathen at that fel
lowship-meeting, one old man arose, threw his kaross
gracefully across his breast, and over his left
shoulder, and told a marvellous story about his
heathenish prejudices against the mission-stations
and the missionaries. " My heart," said he, " was
as tough as the hide of a rhinoceros, but last night
the Spirit s sword cut right through it, and let in the
light of God. I received Jesus Christ, and He gave
me a tender heart filled with His love/
These are mere specimen illustrations of the expe
rience of over sixty persons who spoke, and nearly all
they said was repeated to me in English, sentence
by sentence, by Brother William Davis ; but the ex
amples given may suffice. Brother Davis is a native
of Kaffraria, and a fine Kaffir scholar. He is the
translator of the " Pilgrim s Progress" into Kaffir.
He is engaged in commercial pursuits, but received a
fresh baptism of the Spirit during our series, and has
since commenced preaching to the Kaffirs as a Local
Preacher, and I should not be surprised if the Lord
of the harvest should call him to devote his whole
time to the work of gathering in precious souls. I
got him to translate " The Eden Above" into Kaffir.
It was composed by Rev. "Win. Hunter, D.D., Pro-
218 CLARKEBURY UMGWALI.
fessor of Hebrew in Alleghany College, Pa._, U.S. I
introduced it into Australia, Tasmania, and New Zea
land. Rev. W. Moor took it from Sydney to Fiji,
and Rev. Brother Calvert inserted it into the new
Fijian Hymn-book, so that it is being sung all
through those portions of the southern world, and
now the mountains and vales of Kaffraria echo its
measures, as sung by the pilgrim bands of the sable
hosts as they march along to the Eden above. I will
first insert the hymn as we have it from the author,
and then in the Kaffir, accompanied by a literal ren
dering of the Kaffir into English, which will illus
trate the idiomatic difficulty of translating an English
hymn into Kaffir. As I before stated, while we have
many good Kaffir hymns, mostly composed by Rev.
Brother Dugmore, we have but one of Wesley s in
comparable hymns in the Kaffir. Yet it will be seen
that Brother Davis not only put the poetic thought
of "The Eden Above" in the Kaffir, but in some cases
strengthened it, especially to a Kaffir mind.
THE EDEN ABOVE."
We re bound for the land of the pure and the holy,
The home of the happy, the kingdom of love,
Ye wanderers from God in the broad road of folly,
Oh say, will you go to the Eden above ?
Will you go ? will you go ? will you go ? will you go ?
O say, will you go to the Eden above ?
In that blessed land neither sighing nor anguish,
Can breathe in the fields where the glorified rove,
Ye heart-burdened ones who in misery languish,
O say, will you go to the Eden above ?
Will you go ? &c.
"THE EDEN ABOVE. 319
No poverty there no ! the saints are all wealthy,
The heirs of His glory, whose nature is love,
No sickness can reach them, that country is healthy,
O say, will you go to the Eden above ?
Will you go ? &c.
March on, happy pilgrims, that land is hefore you,
And soon its ten thousand delights we shall prove,
Yes, soon we shall walk o er the hills of bright glory,
And drink the pure joys of the Eden above.
Will you go ? &c.
And yet, guilty sinner, we do not forsake thee,
We halt yet a moment while onward we move,
0, come to thy Lord, in His arms He will take thee,
And bear thee along to the Eden above.
Will you go ? &c.
Methinks thou art now in thy wretchedness saying,
O, who can this guilt from my conscience remove ?
No other but Jesus ! then come to Him praying,
Prepare me, O Lord, for the Eden above.
I will go ! I will go ! I will go ! I will go !
O, yes, I will go to the Eden above.
ICULA ELITETA NGELIZWE ELI PEZULU.
A HYMN WHICH TELLS ABOUT THE LAND WHICH
IS ABOVE.
Sikuyo indhlela yelizwe lobomi, v
We are in the path to the land of life,
Ikaya labantu bahleli ngenyweba.
The home of the people trho dwell in happiness.
Bahlukani no Tixo, endhleleni yokona,
Rebels from God, in the way of wrong-doing.
Nitinina ? Noyana, noyana, pezulu ?
What do you say ? Will you go, will you go above t
Noyana, noyana, noyana, noyana,
Nitinina ? Noyana, noyana, pezulu ?
320 CLAllKEBURY TJMGWAL1.
Usizi, usizi alunakubaku,
Sorrow or anguish cannot exist there,
Kwelozwe kuhamb" abangcwele.
In that country travel the holy.
Bankliziyo zinzima, nigqitj^va bububi,
The ones heart burdened, ye who languish in misery.
Nitinina ? &c.
What do you say, &c.
Kwelozwe akuko buhlwempu, nakanyej
In that country there is no poverty, not a bit of it ;
Zindyebo ngendyebo, izinto izikoyo;
It is riches upon riches, the things that are\there;
Isifb asiko, asingebiko.
Sickness is not thjre, it cannot be there.
Nitinina, &c.
Hambani bakonzi, elozwe, leletu.
Go on, pilgrims, that country, it is ours.
Sonqina, sinqina inyameko zalo ;
We will prove, and prove again, the delights all;
Eweke, sohamba ngapezu kwentaba
Yes, we will travel upon the hills
Sisele amanzi ovuyo pezulu.
And drink the water of joy above.
Noyana, noyana, noyana, noyana,
Nitinina ? Noyana, noyana, pezulu ?
Kanti ke, moni, asikulahlile,
Yet therefore, sinner, we do not throw thee away,
Simil umzuzwana, simele kwa wena)
We stand a little time, standing for even you ;
Yizake ku Tixo, akusingate,
Come then to God, He will take you in His arww,
Akuse kwangoku, ekusa pezuhi.
And take you even now, taking you abovt.
Noyana ? &c.
"THE EDEN ABOVE." 321
Ndicinga ngokuti, usabunzimeni,
I think this wise, thou art in heaviness,
Usiti, ngobani ongalisusayo
You saying, who can take away
Ityala lingaka lisenkliziy weni ?
Guilt so great which is in the heart f
Ngu Ycsu kupela ; Tandazake. Uye,
2t is Jesus alone; Pray therefore. Going,
Ndoliamba, ndohamba, ndohamba, ndohamba,
/ will go, I will go, I will go, I will go t
Ewekc, ndohamba, ndisiya pezula.
lea* / will go, I going
CHAPTER XX.
MORLEY IXCANASEZJE.
MORLEY mission-station was established by Ttev.
William Shepstone in 1829, and named in honour of
"Rev. George Morley, then one of the missionary
secretaries in London.
Those were the days of wars and rumours of wars,
under the reign of the Zulu chief Chaka. Qeta,
one of Chaka s chiefs, taking the cue of his bloody
master, revolted, and carried a desolating war into
Pondo-land on his own account. His legions swept
through a great part of the Amapondo nation like a
tornado, leaving nothing but smouldering villages
and the carcases of their victims behind them.
Brother Shepstone and his family were right in their
path. The missionary heard the crash of the com
ing storm, biafc remained at his post till he saw a
neighbouring kraal in flames and the guerilla band
advancing toward the mission premises. There
seemed then no way of escape, but providentially,
while the mission family was preparing for a hasty
flight, they knew not whither, a dense fog from the
?iver settled down upon all the adjacent vales and
AN INVADER CRUSHED. 323
hills, under cover of which the mission family and
their people escaped. " The pillar of cloud stood
behind them;" "it was a cloud and darkness to them
(their pursuers), "but it gave light " to the heaven-
guarded strangers in the wilderness. I received the
narrative of this marvellous escape from the lips of
Brother Shepstone himself.
The invaders were soon after that overpowered by
Faku, the great chief of the Amapondo, assisted by
the Amabaca, and the Amapondumsi Damasi, chief
of the Western Division of the Pondo nation, is said
to have been a leading warrior chief in the final
engagement, which utterly crushed the Zulu invader
and closed the war.
The next year Mr. Shepstone rebuilt the Morley
Station on a new site, some miles distant from the
former site, in a more healthy location. After a
few years of hard labour and fair success, the pioneer
was removed to another new field, and was succeeded
by Rev. Mr. Palmer. After Mr. Palmer s death in
1847, the mission declined, and lay waste for several
years. The labour of those men of God, to be sure,
was not lost, but their flock being left without a
shepherd wandered off into other folds, and a few
remained and preserved a name, which was revived
by the appointment of the Rev. William B. Eayner
as their missionary four years ago. Brother Rayner
is a man of very small stature. On his arrival some
of Ngangelizwe s counsellors scanned him closely
without saying a word, till one of them, with an in-
324 MORLEY. INCASASEUE.
terrogative exclamation, said, "Have all the English
men run out ? " Eut Mr. Rayner has, by his extra
ordinary zeal and effectiveness in his work, demon
strated the truth of Dr. Watts saying, " the mind
is the measure of the man." Brother Eayner has
rebuilt Morley Station fourteen miles west of its
former site, in the midst of a rich and beautiful
country of hills, and valleys, and rivers of water at
all seasons, belonging to the " Big " Chief, Ngange-
lizwe, who, though politically sworn to reject Christ,
has three "Wesleyan mission-stations and one Angli
can within the lines of his domains.
Brother Eayner, with, his own hands, assisted by
his natives, has built a large comfortable mission-
house and a pretty chapel which will seat about four
hundred persons, and has built also a small chapel
in a village, five miles west of Morley. That part of
Kaffraria is a famous place for " smelling out " and
the conviction of men by their witch-doctors, for the
crime of having cattle enough to excite the covetous-
ness of a chief, or political influence enough to
render him an object of fear, or from any cause
laying him under suspicion.
Their mode of trial and conviction is thus described
by J. C. "Warner, Esq., in "Kaffir Laws and Customs."
" Kaffirs are firm believers in sorcery, or witch
craft, and they consider that all the sickness and
other afflictions of life are occasioned thereby, and
that were it not for the evil influence of the amag-
gwira/ none would die but in good old age.
825
" This universal belief in witchcraft has led to tho
almost entire neglect of the art of healing by medi
cines, and to cause them to trust wholly to the power
of charms, incantations, amadini/ or sacrifices, &c.
" Hence their priests have little or no knowledge of
the virtues of medicinal plants, and they trust en
tirely to such remedies as may be revealed by the
Imishologu (the spirits of their ancestors), and
if, as is sometimes the case, they do make use of
herbs, &c., they are always used in conjunction with
charms and sacrifices, to the efficacy of which theii
virtues are attributed.
" They have, however, a few very valuable medical
plants among them ; but the knowledge of these is
as frequently found among other classes as among
the priests. When all ordinary charms and other
means have failed to remedy sickness, &c., an appli
cation is made to the chief for permission to try the
Umhlahlo (smelling out for witchcraft), for no
person can have the Umhlahlo performed without
the express sanction of the chief. When this has
been obtained, the people of the kraal in question,
together with their neighbours of the surrounding
kraals, proceed in a body to the kraal of the priest
whom they intend to employ.
" The people belonging to the priest s kraal, with
those of the surrounding kraals, then assemble. Two
semi- circles are formed ; one of the party of the
kraal seeking assistance, and the other, of the
adherents of the priest.
326 MORLEY. INCANASETJE.
" These semi-circles are so ranged as nearly to meet
at their points, thus forming an almost perfect circle,
leaving only just sufficient space between them to
admit the priest and his assistants.
" The ceremony of Ukwombela (the first process
for detecting the witch) is now commenced, the hide
drums are violently beaten,, the bundles of assegais
are struck together, accompanied by the well known
humming and clapping of hands by the women. By-
and-by, the priest rushes out of his hut, springs
into the midst of the circle of human beings assem
bled, and commences jumping about in the most
frantic manner, and performing all sorts of
extraordinary gesticulations. This is called ukux-
entsa/
" The men now beat their drums, and strike their
bundles of assegais together more violently than ever,
and the women hum their exciting tunes, and clap
their hands, in an increasingly agitated manner;
vociferating all the while for help, and demanding
who has bewitched them ?
" This is continued until the priest is wrought up
to the proper pitch of inspiration ; when he suddenly
ceases, and retires to that part of the circle formed
by his own adherents. He then names the persons
who have bewitched the afflicted party or parties.
" On their names being pronounced, that part of
the circle where they are sitting rises simultaneously,
falls back, and leaves the devoted victims sitting
alone.
VAUIOUS METHODS OF TORTURE. 327
" Tliis is the exciting moment, and all eyes are
fixed upon them, while the priest describes their
sorceries,, and the enchantments used by them for
their diabolical purposes.
" A rush is then made upon them, and every
article their kaross, ornaments, &c. is torn off their
bodies.
" They are then given in charge to certain parties
appointed for that purpose, and led away to their
respective kraals, there to be tortured in the most
barbarous manner, in order to make them mbulula/
or reveal the materials by which they performed
their enchantments.
"In the bush country, where the tree-ants are
plentiful, their nests are sought for ; the poor wretch
is laid down, water thrown over his body, and the
nests beaten to pieces on him.
" This irritates the ants, and causes them to bite
furiously ; they also creep into the nostrils, ears,
eyes, mouth, &c., producing the most excruciating
pain by their bites.
" Sometimes a large fire is made, and the poor
wretch is tied up to a pole, so close to it, as literally
to roast him alive.
" Large flat stones are also heated red hot, and
placed on the groins, and applied to the soles of the
feet, and other parts of the body. Another mode of
torture resorted to is the binding of a string so tight
around the thumbs as to cause the most acute agon}%
and unless the poor creature does confess something,
328 MORLEY. INCANASEUE.
and produce some kind of ubuti, or bewitching
matter, lie must eventually sink under the torture.
"When the person altogether refuses to confess,
which is sometimes the case, if the people are anxious
to save his life, the priest is sent for, who produces
the ubuti for him, or assists him to find it, by
refreshing his memory, as to its whereabouts ; other
wise he is generally dispatched without ceremony for
his obstinacy. But when an unfortunate victim has
sufficiently satisfied his tormentors by his confessions,
he is generally set at liberty.
"At this stage of the proceedings, the chiefs
imisila/ or sheriffs, make their appearance and
demand the isizi/ or fine, and which is the same
number of cattle as for any other kind of homicide.
" The isizi is always paid by the person charged
with witchcraft, even should the person supposed to
have been bewitched recover.
"Yery frequently, however, the chief acts in a
despotic manner, and seizes the whole of his cattle
(this is always the case when he is a political victim),
but this is not according to law ; but a mere arbitrary
act of power.
" If the person charged with witchcraft dies under
the torture, or is wilfully killed, without the sanction
of the chief, the isizi must be paid for his life
also ; at least, according to law, the chief has the
power te demand it, though he often foregoes his
claim."
" Persons charged with witchcraft are often put to
WITCH-DOCTORS AND CHIEFS. 329
death by the express command of the chief; in
which case he takes possession of the whole of hie
property, and frequently eats up the whole kraal
to which he belongs. This is always the case when
the umhlahlo is made use of as a political engine,
to get rid of some influential but troublesome indi
vidual; for when once a person has been legally
charged with this crime, it matters not how popular
or respected he may have been before, he is at once
avoided as the most noxious of human beings.
" The chiefs, therefore, find this a very convenient
and powerful state engine to support their power,
and enable them to remove individuals whom they
would otherwise find great difficulty in getting
rid of.
" After a person charged with witchcraft has satis
fied all legal demands, and is set at liberty, he has
the right of applying to a priest, who offers a sacrifice
for him, and performs some other rites ; after which
he is pronounced clean, and again becomes as honour
able a member of society as though he had never
been punished for witchcraft. There is not the
slightest doubt that the Kaffirs do frequently
attempt to bewitch each other, and for which pur
pose they practice a great number of villanous
tricks.
" They have also the knowledge of several vegetable
poisons, and of which they make a very free use in
getting rid of those they dislike ; and, as poisoning
is included by them under the head of witchcraft,
830 MORLEY. 1XCANASEUE,
tliere is no wonder at their superstitious fe^rs having
invented some kind of scheme to detect and punish
individuals whom they believe to be guilty of these
crimes."
As many as eight cases of smelling out and mur
der had occurred during the space of a year just
preceding the time of our visit, the details of which,
too numerous for my space, were given me by the
missionary. A horrible case occurred near the sta
tion in 18G4. The " lung-sickness" happened among
the cattle of a native near Morley, who immediately
employed a doctor to t smell out " the man who had
bewitched them. The usual ceremony of " smelling
out" resulted in the conviction of the man s own.
nephew. He was at once seized and tied to a post
near his own hut, when a large fire was made in
front of him, by which he was slowly roasted. After
enduring those excruciating tortures for twenty-four
hours, he was induced to confess his guilt. He told
them if they would take him to the brook he would
show them the poison by which he had bewitched
the cattle. The poor fellow was made to go to the
water. When dragged to the place he pointed out
the " ubuti," a little root in the edge of the water,
which caused the death of the cattle. Then the
doctor jumped round and shouted glory to himself.
The power to "smell out the witches," and the
righteousness of his decision, were demonstrated
before all the people. Then his poor victim was
dragged back and tied to the same post, and the
EOASTED FOR THIRTY-SIX HOURS. 331
fires were rekindled, and while he for twelve hours
more yelled in agony, his friends and relations were
smoking their pipes, and taking their pleasure. The
tortures of that poor fellow commenced at noon, and
terminated in death at the middle of the second night.
Xo doubt the relations of such victims manifest their
indifference, and often their zeal in the execution, to
avoid suspicion of complicity with the witch. The
father of the poor man fled to the mission-station for
refuge, and Brother Rayner asked him if he really
believed that his son had bewitched his brother s
cattle? "0, yes," he replied, "I believe he was
guilty, because the doctor said so."
A heathen man s wife, near the station,, was sus
pected of witchcraft. After being duly "smelled
out," the penalty doomed her to be eaten alive by
the ants. Her own brothers took her out, according
to the judgment of the doctor, and driving down four
stakes, stretched her out by an ant-hill, and lashed
her wrists and ankles to the stakes to be devoured by
the voracious insects.
The ants preyed upon the poor woman all that
day, but her " sucking child," cried so for its mother
that, I suppose as a matter of economy, they went
cut and untied the mother, who came home and
took care of her child for the night. In the morning
she was staked down among the ants as before, and
at night was released again.
Such torture will ordinarily terminate life in a
couple of days, but the respite of each alternate night
332 MORLEY. IXCANASEUE.
prolonged this woman s agony, and after enduring
this for six days, her tormentors said, " We can t
kill such a witch. She won t die," so they loosed her,
and "threw her away," which, with the Kaffirs,
means such an " anathema maranatha" that their faces
must never be seen by any of their people again. In
that dreadful condition she came to the "station."
Brother Eayner told us that such a sight he never
saw before. The surface of her whole body was
lacerated and swollen ; but her wrists and ankles
were eaten down between the tendons, in some places
to the bone. Her struggles caused the straps, by
which she was bound, to chafe her wrists and ankles,
and render them specially attractive to the little
tormentors that were feasting on her. By very
special care, Brother Eayner and his kind-hearted
wife succeeded, by the mercy of God, in restoring her.
That very woman was converted to God during
our series of services at Morley, and still lives at the
station, a free woman in Christ.
Brother Eayner was at Clarkebury from. Monday
to Friday of our services there, and did us good ser
vice. On Saturday he conducted us to his house at
Morley. Eev. Brother Hargraves and Brother
William Davis accompanied us a few miles, and
saw us safely over a dangerous "drift" of the
Bashee, and bade farewell. After a rough journey of
thirty- six miles, we reached the station a little after
dark. We " out- spanned " by the way at a trader s
station, and were kindly provided with refreshment
INCIDENTS OF FIRST SPECIAL SERVICE. 333
b^ 7 a widow, whose husband had died but a few
weeks before. Brother Rayner visited him a short
time before his death, and learned from him that he
attended my series of services at King William s
Town, and was greatly awakened by the Spirit ; and
though he did not go forward avowedly as a seeker,
he did seek the Lord, and Brother Rayner had hope
in his death. The widow was settling up his business,
and preparing to leave such horrible associations.
On Sabbath morning, the 5th of August, I took
a survey of the land to find a suitable place
for out- door preaching. To the west of the
house we found a beautiful grassy spot, but it was
not sufficiently protected from an easterly breeze,
which was prevailing, and, moreover, it was on
the edge of a precipice which overhung the river,
which curved round its base nearly 200 feet be
low, and we feared thac, in a great crowd, some care
less one might tumble over before they were ready.
We finally selected a small level plot of ground, by
a little stream, at the foot of the high hill east of
the chapel. In turning up a large flat stone for my
pulpit, I tore my coat. I got a few heathen Kaffirs
then to help me, and prepared a good stone pulpit
each for Charles and myself. I then slipped down
the deep ravine, and prepared for the public service
by doing a small job of tailoring, which closed the
rent in my coat, which I thought might be damaging
to my usefulness, and hence made a necessity of it.
When I got my coat mended I buckled on the
334 MOIILEY. INCANASEUE.
" armour of God," and returned to the field of action.
Brother Boberts, Stuart, and Brother and Sister
Rayner, were the only white hearers we had. There
were probably three hundred persons of all ages in
some way connected with the station there, and the
village out-station, five miles distant, whose people,
with their faithful head man, and Local Preacher,
came in force ; besides these we had nearly one hun
dred wild heathens. We stood on the precipitous
bank of the stream, and cried " The Spirit and the
bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say,
Come. And let him that is athirst come. And who
soever will, let him take the water of life freely."
We stated the first principles of the doctrine of Christ,
and illustrated them by the realities of Kaffir life, in a
thorough, but simple way, adapted to the capacity of
heathen minds. The preaching occupied about an
hour and a-half. There was marked attention, and
evidently a mighty moving of the Spirit of awaken
ing during the preaching ; but, as usual, all were
quiet. Having shown them that they were famish
ing in the dry desert of heathenism, and that God s
provision of salvation for them was like a river flow
ing freely for all, we invited them to " come and
take freely " by accepting Christ. About one hun
dred and fifty stood up to indicate their determina
tion to " come" at once. They then " fell down on
their faces, and worshipped God," and many of them
that day drank freely, and were saved. That night
we preached in the chapel, and had a glorious
THE CHIEF NDUNYETA. 335
of the Spirit. On Monday Charles preached in the
chapel. He preached once at Butterworth, and once
at Clarkebury, to the great astonishment of the mis
sionaries.
On Monday night we preached again, and a great
work was done. On Tuesday we preached again by
the brook. On that occasion we had the chief of
that part of Ngangelizwe s dominions, Ndunyela,
twenty- four wives and women of his court, and about
one hundred and twenty of his warriors. In each
place we had visited comparatively few heathen
came to our services, and the few who came did not
put in an appearance as in the case of Ngangelizwe s
party till near the time of our departure, when our
limited time did not allow us to pursue and take them
in the name of the Lord, so this influential band of
heathen did not come, though specially invited by
the missionary, till the last day. Ndunyela is a
broad, thick-set man, of about forty years, fine open
face, not black, but a reddish bronze. Some of his
copper- coloured ladies had a fine Jewish physiog
nomy, and all were well attired in native costume.
His warriors were naked, except a blanket or kaross
thrown loosely round their shoulders. Brother
Rayner made them a present of " a cake of bread/
viz., a bullock, which they slaughtered and devoured
in the afternoon. They are very expert in butchering
a beef with their assegais, and in cutting out all the
fleshy parts into strips, these they broil on the fire
iil! about half done, and the smoking strips of rare
336 MORLEY. INCANASEUE.
roast are passed among the long circle. One fellow
seizes it, and clenches one end of it with his teeth,
and with his assegai cuts it off an inch or two from
his mouth, just as much as he can get between his
teeth, and passes it to the next, who follows his
example. So on it goes round, strip after strip, a
mouthful at a time, till nothing is left but the skin
and bones of the beast. Every man has a right to
a seat at such a feast. Whenever any Kaffir kills a
beef, all the men within several miles round will
assemble as promptly as birds of prey, and any one
of them will eat as .much as the owner. If a man
should refuse to make it a free thing, he would be
branded as a man too stingy and mean to live among
them, and would be in danger of being " smelled
out " as a witch. It is not easy for such people to
appreciate English economy. To see a missionary
kill a beef, and carefully cut it up and carry it into
his house, and keep it to be eaten by himself and his
own family, along at different times as may suit his
convenience, why, to a lot of hungry Kaffirs it is
the most shocking piece of business imaginable !
Hence, if they want to berate a mean fellow, after
exhausting their old stock of opprobrious epithets,
they cap the whole by adding, " Why you are as
stingy as a missionary." Brother Eayner gave the
chief ISTdunyela his choice, to take his people home
in the afternoon, after they had eaten their " cake
of bread," or to stay for the evening service. We
were anxious for them to stay, but wished them fa
NGANGELIZWE S LEAGUE AGAIN. 337
act with entire freedom of will. He sent his women
home, but he and all his men remained. They occu
pied the front seats in the chapel, we gave them the
Gospel message in all plainness, and they seemed
deeply impressed but did not yield.
During the prayer-meeting .Charles had a close
talk with the chief. He admitted that what he had
heard during that day and evening had convinced
him that he was a poor sinner, that Jesus Christ
was the only Saviour of sinners, and that he and his
people ought to " receive " Him, and when Charles
urged him to surrender to God and accept Christ, he
replied, "I made Ngungelizwe promise that he would
not be a Christian, and I am in honour bound to
stand by our old customs, having compelled him to
do so." After the prayer-meeting we had a fellow
ship-meeting, and those heathen heard the distinct
testimony of more than thirty witnesses to the sav
ing power of Jesus in their own hearts. On Wed
nesday morning we set out for Buntingville. The
following extract from a letter written by Rev. Mr.
Bayner, and published in the December number of
the Wesley an Missionary Notices, will furnish illus
trative facts of the work of God in Morley.
That Sabbath was a lovely day ; the sun shone with thb
genial warmth of approaching spring ; and the chapel being
too small to hold the congregation, we found a sheltered
place by the river- side, and assembled the people there
for the morning s service. I had long been conscious of a
deepening work of God in the hearts of the people, and felt
338
fully certain that Mr. Taylor would find them prepared to
receive the word in all sincerity. Towards the end of the
service the Holy Ghost descended with overwhelming power
upon the congregation ; and when the preacher called upon
all those to stand up who were willing to come to Christ,
nearly the whole congregation rose in a mass, and then with
a "great cry" prostrated themselves before the Lord. It
was a scene for angels to rejoice over. My feeling was one
of inexpressible thankfulness ; for I saw the fruits of nearly
four years sowing gathered at a stroke. Mr. Taylor stayed
three days, and then passed on to Buntingville.
Soon after his departure I called a meeting of all the
believers in the Circuit to form them into Classes, etc. ; and
upon counting them I found to my great surprise, that we
had no less than two hundred and fifty present ; and as the
number of members before was a little below one hundred,
there must have been, during those three days, one hundred
and fifty conversions. There and then these were formed
into sixteen classes When this was done, which was
rather a tedious performance, I told each leader to meet
his Class, as they sat in the different parts of the chapel,
and inquire particularly into the state of each soul. They
all commenced immediately, and after the hum of voices
had died away, the leaders simultaneously rose, and an
nounced the glorious fact, that with only two exceptions, the
whole of the two hundred and fifty had a sense of sins for
given, and enjoyed the witness of the Spirit that they weve
the children of God. You can understand the joy with
which that announcement was received.
Six weeks have passed since then, and all these are
walking consistently, and most of them are growing in
grace.
We now present the unwonted spectacle of two native
villages in the very heart of heathendom, where more than
A WOMAN EATEN BY ANTS. 339
half of the entire population I speak this advisedly are
converted to God, and living holy lives. Perhaps you would
scarcely find a parallel even in England.
Of course all our efforts for the evangelization of the
heathen will be prosecuted with renewed vigour. And, no
doubt, amongst the young converts will appear some upon
whom the Lord has laid His hand, for the future conversion
of those who are still sitting in darkness.
We feel the increased responsibility laid upon us ; but
we are " workers together with God," and are resolved by
His gracious aid to endeavour to lead these people on to
holiness of heart and life, to build them up in the most holy
faith until we can present every man perfect in Christ
Jesus.
But while we had a good report of the great
work of God, the work of Satan among tlie heathen
continued as before, for owing to the wicked league
of the nation and chief against Christ, but very few
of the Tambookie heathen have been saved.
A horrible case of "smelling out" occurred at
Moiiey, a short time after we left, which is described
by Rev. Brother Rayner, in a letter, as follows :
A few days after your departure, a man came running to
me, saying that a woman had just fallen over the cliffs, and
was lying at the bottom beside the river, dead. Thinking
that perhaps she was only dead in a Kaffir sense, I gathered
some men together and went down, hoping to be able
to save her life. On arriving under the rocks by the
river, I found that three heathen women from one of those
kraals, which you saw on the other side, had gone clown
to gather firewood, one of them was standing between
340 MORLEY.
two large stones chopping a small tree, when the vibra
tions of the ground caused the upper stone, several tons in
weight, to lose its balance and topple over. This caught
the poor woman against the rock in front, and literally cut
her in two, just across the loins. It was a horrible sight.
The men of the kraal said she had buried herself, and had
just sent the other women to pile a few stones over the
body as it lay. The people said to me, " You will see that
this is a case for the witch doctors." About a month
after, a man came and told me that a woman was being
tortured for this down by the river. I immediately sent
down some Leaders to see what they were doing. They
found that the doctor had said, " a certain woman of the
same kraal of the deceased woman had brought a star from
heaven, which caused the great rock to roll over and kill
the woman. They had taken this woman, after she had been
" smelled out " by the doctor, and, after a variety of tortures,
they had driven four stakes into the ground, and throwing
the poor victim on her back, had drawn her arms and legs
to their utmost tension, and tied them to the stakes. One
man stood by with a great nest of black ants, and another
with a bucket of water. Occasionally one would throw
some water on her bodj to cause the ants to take hold
readily, and the other would shake on a lot of ants. The
woman was wailing in agony, and the men were dancing
round her. My men tried every means to set her at liberty
until they were driven away at the point of their assegais.
On retiring that night I looked out at the bed-room
windows and saw a great fire on that kraal, and the next
morning we were told that it was the burning of the poor
woman s hut, and that the woman had been sent home to
her friends, but I think it more likely that she and her
house perished together. This horrible deed appeared all
the blacker from the flood of light which had just been
iS OF REFUSING TO WALK IN RELIGION. 341
poured into the minds of the people. We had often
preached the Gospel to these very people, and most likely
some of those very men who did that horrid deed heard
you preach that morning when we gathered the outside
people to hear yoa.
CHAPTER XXI.
BUNTINGVILLE ICUME.
THIS mission, named in honour of that renowned
patron of missions, Rev. Dr. Bunting, was established
in the year 1830., by Eev. Win. B. Boyce, so well
known as a missionary in Africa, general superinten
dent in Australia, and now as secretary of the
Wesleyan Missionary Society in London.
The Buntingville Mission was the first introduction
of the Gospel to the Amapondo nation. The time to
commence such a work was providentially opportune,
for the whole nation were sitting in the ashes of their
former wealth, greatly humbled. The Amazulu had
just swept over their country, burnt their villages,
destroyed their cattle, and had even eaten up nearly
all their dogs. It is not likely that the invading
savages preferred dog-meat to good beef, but the
priest who, according to their custom, prepared th^m
for war,, no doubt commanded them to eat the dogs
of the Pondos, and hence, when asked why they did
so, replied, " We eat the dogs to make us more fierce
and powerful in battle."
REV. WM. B. BOYCE. 343
It was here that Rev. Mr. Boyce devoted himself
so assiduously and so successfully to the philosophy
of the Kaffir language, and discovered an essential
key to it, which he called the " euphonic concord "
of the language. He had the assistance of Theo-
philus, son of the old missionary, Rev. Wm. Shep-
stone, in this important work which furnished the
basis of the subsequent grammars of the Kaffir
language which have been produced.
The first site of this station was so dry and un
suitable for the cultivation of gardens, that after a
few years it was removed to a more eligible spot.
Faku, the great chief of the Arnapondo nation,
afterwards admitted that he selected the first site on
very dry ground, so that the missionary would be
obliged to pray for rain for his own garden, and
thus the whole district would be watered.
It has been recently removed to a site twelve
miles westward, on the banks of the Umtata River,
and belongs to Damasi s division of the Amapondo
nation, comprising about one- third of the whole
population; the other two-thirds are under the rule
of old Faku, his father.
This mission has been under the fostering care,
first of Rev. Wm. B. Boyce, Mr. Fainton, a cate-
chist, Rev. Mr. Satchell, Rev. James Cameron, now
chairman of Natal District, then Mr. Boyce again,
followed by Rev. Thomas Jenkins, who became the
permanent missionary of that nation.
BUXTKS GVILLE ICUME.
The Buntingville Station, though the mother of
several other important stations, has been suffering
a decline, so that it is now the feeblest mission in
Kafir-aria. It is now, however, under the care of
Eev. Wm. Hunter, giving indications of new life and
promise of great effectiveness in the future.
On Wednesday morning, the 8th of August, we
left Morley for Buntingville Station, distant thirty-
six miles. Eev. Wm. Hunter had been assisting us
at Morley a couple of days, and was now ready
to pilot us to his station. The bridle-path was five
or six miles shorter than the wagon-road, and there
was nothing to prevent us from driving our cart the
short route, but an impassable drift at the Umtata
River. However, a native man of some importance
in that country, living near the said drift, who
professed to have received good at our services,
informed us that he had made a road out from the
drift, and had also opened a road across the near
way for wagons, so we were induced to take
Dahveed s " new road," and accept his kind offer to
pilot us through. Brother Hunter, Charles, and
Stuart, took a still more direct path, and Brother
Roberts, myself, and our guide, took the " new road,"
which we found was no road at all, and it was a
marvellous thing that we got through. When we
were descending the last mountain towards the
Umtata drift, brother Roberts was almost out of
patience, affirming that we had been humbugged, at
the peril of limb and life, in taking that route, in-
DAIIVEED S " NEW HOAD." 345
stead of the main road ; but our guide was so kind
and hopeful, that I begged Roberts not to hint his
disappointment to Dahveed, but let him enjoy the
satisfaction of doing us a great favour, as he evi
dently designed. As we were getting over the most
dangerous part, near the river, Dahveed said, with
an indescribable air of self-satisfaction, " This is my
road." A field-officer, after a great victory, could
not have manifested greater self- congratulation
than did this native in getting us over his own
road. Every reference to that trip afterwards threw
Roberts into a spell of laughing, with a repetition of
Dahveed s saying, "This is my road." When we
drove into the " drift/ one of the horses, in drinking,
drew a buckle of the check-rain through a ring on
the harness saddle, which we did not observe at the
moment, but when Brother Roberts attempted to
drive on, one line being fast, the other drew in the
right wheel-horse, and the left being unrestrained,
ran round the other, which turned their heads directly
down the stream. Just before them was a ledge of
rocks and deep water. Dahveed had dismounted to
get a drink, and not knowing that we had no com
mand of the team, was shouting at the top of his
voice, "Pezulu! pezulu ! pezulu!" He did not
think of rushing to the rescue, but simply of giving
the word of command to go above, so I stepped down
into the river and released the lines, and we got?
through all right, and without much difficulty got
up the steep bank, on Dahveed s new-cut road. He
346 BUNTINGVILLE ICUME.
had done some digging there, let it be said to his
credit, which rendered the ascent from the river
possible. We reached B anting ville a little after
dark, and found comfortable quarters in the new
mission-house, but recently built by Brother Hunter,
who, with his young and interesting wife, did every
thing necessary to make our brief sojourn agreeable.
This new site for Buntingville Station is well selected
on an elevation near the beautiful TJmtata.
This mission, as has been intimated, belongs to
Damasi, son of the great Chief Faku, who, though
legally the king of the whole Amapondo nation, has
for many years allowed Damasi the sovereign rule
of all the Pondos west of the Umzimvubu river, and
the two Governments are so distinct, that each can
make war or peace with other tribes without in
volving each other. For example, when we were
there, Damasi was at war with Urnhlonhlo, chief of
the Amapondumsi, but Faku s people were not ; at
the same time Faku was at war with the Amabaca
tribe, but Damasi was not ; so that Damasi, though
not strictly in law, is in fact, a great paramount
chief. It is difficult to get anything like a reliable
census in KafFraria. We were told, on what seemed
good authority, that Damasi had 50,000 warriors
under his command ; but we learned from Hev. Mr.
Jenkins, who has been among the Amapondo for over
thirty y ears, that the entire population under Damasi
is about 50,000, and that under Faku about 100,000.
Damasi has furnished most of the funds, by the sale
AMArONDO.
CHIEF VAVA AND HIS WARRIORS. 347
of cattle, for tlie erection of the new mission-house
at Buntingville, and will pay a large proportion of
the funds necessary for the erection of the new
chapel they are preparing to build. There are but
few families of natives resident on this new station
as yet. There is still a society at old Buntingville,
but at this new field they had only about twenty
members, and Brother Hunter thought the most of
them lacked the converting grace of God. He, how
ever, had two or three really spiritual, and working
members. Brother Hunter had hoped that we would
spend a week with him, commencing our series on
the Sabbath. I felt great sympathy with him in his
isolated, difficult work, and great sorrow that my time
was so limited, that we could remain there but two
days. He sent out word among the heathen that
Isikunisivutayo had come, and invited them to attend
our services; but unfortunately "Vava," the nephew
of Damasi, and chief of that district, had made a great
marriage- feast for one of his relatives to come off on
Thursday, the first day of our series, and therefore
" they could not come," and prayed to be " excused."
However, we got together a congregation of about
one hundred, to whom we preached twice in the open-
air, and nine of them professed to find peace with God.
On Friday the Chief Yava, his son, and about
sixty of his counsellors and warriors, many of
them with shields and assegais in hand, came,
which added bulk and interest to our audience.
Just from a marriage-feast, at which they had de-
S48 BUXTINGVILLE ICUME.
voured a bullock or two, and swallowed streams of
Kaffir beer, and now suffering a recovery, they were
not in the best state of mind to receive the Gospel,
but we remembered the saying of God, " Is not my
word like as a fire ; and like a hammer that breaketh
the rock in pieces ?"
By earnest, united prayer, we kept the Divine fire
burning, and dealt heavy strokes with the hammer
of truth upon the flint rock of their heathenish
hearts. At first every stroke seemed to rebound
without effect, except on our hearers of the previous
day ; but during the second service, by the action of
the fire under the awakening Spirit, and the sledge
hammer of the Gospel, we made a break among the
heathen ; the chief, Yava, his son, and seven of his
counsellors and warriors, went down on their knees
as seekers, and most of them professed to have ac
cepted Christ, and received the pardon of their sins.
Vava seemed thoroughly in earnest, but though he
professed to have found the Lord, we did not number
him among the converts, till we should see the proof
of it in putting away his plurality of wives. I am
sorry not to be able to give definite information as
to his subsequent life. Brother Hunter gave Yava
a cake of bread (a bullock), according to custom, for
their evening repast, and while the chief was in a
hut, talking about the great salvation, his warriors
devoured the beef, and poor Yava did not get enough
to stay his royal appetite.
Yava asked Stuart if we were not going to the
CHIEF DAMASI. 349
" Great Place " to see Damasi ? When lie learned that
we designed to go next day to Shawbmy to spend
the Sabbath, he said Damasi would be very angry if
we did not go to see him ; so he made an earnest
appeal to us to go next day to Damasi s Great Place,
distant nearly thirty miles, Brother Hunter sup
ported it, and thought we might have a thousand
heathen there to preach to. In consideration of
this, together with the fact that Shawbury, the
next station on our plan, belonged to Umhlonhlo,
with whom Damasi was then at war, and the fear
that if we should appear to slight Damasi, and give
attention to his enemy, we might increase the already
very terrible war- complications of the Shawbury
Station, which we wished not to injure, but to benefit,
we changed our plan, and consented to spend the
Sabbath, August 12th, at Damasks Great Place. On
Saturday morning we bade adieu to Buntingville.
Brother Hunter, Charles, Stuart, and Dahveed, went
a nearer way on horseback ; Vava, and a few of his
men went on foot, while Brother Roberts and I,
guided by a Mr. Morrison, a trader on the Umtata,
who with his wife professed to find peace with God
at our meeting the day before, took what was called
"the road."
Much of the country through which we passed was
very beautiful, with tall grass, and dense groves of
timber on the eastern lee of the mountains and in deep
gorges, where they were protected from the west
erly winds. "We saw a number of fine herds of rhei-
350 BUNTINGVILLE ICUME.
bucks that day, and where we " out- spanned/ while
Mr. Morrison was preparing our lunch, I tried in vain
to get near enough to some of them for a successful
shot. They are hunted a great deal by the natives
with their dogs, and are hence very wild.
We reached the Great Place about four P.M.
Our horsemen had been there sometime before us,
and had a hut arranged for our accommodation.
Brother Hunter introduced me to Damasi, as
Isikunisivutayo, a new Umfandisi from the other
side of the great waters. The chief is over six feet
in height, large, and corpulent, of a copper com
plexion, a generous open countenance, and altogether
a fine specimen of a heathen chief. He took us into
his palace, which is a round hut about thirty feet
in diameter, the wall about six feet high made of
clay, with a round roof of thatch, about twelve feet
high at the apex. He introduced us to his " great
wife/ and some of his daughters, and showed his
fine store of firewood, neatly piled up to the left as
we enter, and his great earthen jars, cooking utensils,
milk-sack, his royal robes, or tiger-skins, and his
tiger-tails. If any Kaffir kills a tiger, he must at
once inform the chief, to whom all the tigers are
supposed to belong, who has the skin taken off with
great ceremony, and dressed for himself. None but
a royal Kaffir is allowed to own or wear a tiger s-
skin. A tiger s-tail stretched over the top of a stick,
about five feet in length, is a formidable sight before
the hut of any Kaffir. When the chief wishes to
DAMASi a "GREAT PLACE." 351
call a man to answer for any offence, especially when
a fine is to be imposed, or his property confiscated,
he sends one of his " Imisila," or sheriffs, to set up a
tiger s-tail in front of the offender s hut. When the
poor fellow comes out in the morning, and sees the
dreadful summons, for it is usually served when the
man is asleep, he is filled with consternation, and
must go at once and reckon with his master, who has
the power to take his property or his life.
All the documentary details and process neces
sary to arrest and arraign a civilized man, are here
accomplished at once by the magic spell of the tiger s-
tail.
The chief pointed to a high perpendicular cliff,
half-a-mile from his hut, and informed us that he
threw his bad fellows over that precipice and dashed
them to pieces. Many a poor wretch, no doubt,
has found a quick passage out of the world from
that cliff, and yet Damasi s appearance is not that
of a tyrant, but of a kind-hearted generous man, and
he is free from that mean spirit which most chiefs
evince, of begging a blanket of every stranger who
may visit them. When we subsequently sent word
to the Great Chief Faku that we expected to visit
him he replied to the messenger, " Is Isikunisivu-
tayo travelling with blankets?" His more noble
son Damasi supplied us with new clean blankets for
our use, and everything we needed for our comfort
during our sojourn with him, and scorned even a
hint at pay in return. I was told of a clergy-
53 BUNTINGVILLE TCUME.
inan who visited a neighbouring chief, who at once
asked the " Umfundisi " if he had brought him any
blankets ?
" No/ said he, " but I have brought you some
thing better. I have come to tell you the good
news about the Great God, who made the heavens
above us, and who made the earth, who made
us, who gave you all your lands, your mealies,
Kaffir- corn, and pumpkins ; and who gave you your
cattle, goats, and sheep. He is our Father, and "
The chief interrupting him, said, " Is He your
Father ? "
" Yes/ replied the missionary ; " he is my Father,
and has sent me to tell you good news."
"Well," said the chief, with a grin, "if your
Father is so kind as to give us all these good things
for nothing, and if you are a true son of His, can t
you give me one blanket ? "
After Damasi had shown us the things in his
house, his bloody cliff, and his great cattle kraal,
said to be a thousand yards in circumference, and
the largest one in Kaffraria, he said, " I am glad to
see you, but the most of my people are gone. I will
call all who are near to come to-morrow, but we are
only a few now," and then went on to tell us, that,
owing to the drought the preceding year, their
stores of food were nearly used up, and that a large
number of his people had gone to the " Umzim-
vubu," to get supplies of food; and that last
night/ Umhlonhlo s" people had attacked his son s
CHIEF FAKIRS TEIHUTOIIIAL CLAIMS. 353
kraal and driven away a large number of cattle and
horses, and that the war- cry had called a large
number of his warriors away in pursuit.
The fact is, Damasi s policy is not to have a
great number of his people settled near him, but
to have them well distributed on the frontiers o
his large and beautiful country, extending from the
" Umtata " on the west, to the " Umzimvubu," on
the east, and from the " Tsitsa," on the north down
to the ocean.
Damasi, also, claims Umhlonhlo s country, lying
north of the " Tsitsa River." When KafFraria was
being desolated by " Qeta," the revolted chief of
Chaka, the Amabaca tribe to which the "Osborn"
jWesleyan mission-station belongs, and the Amapon-
dumsi, of whom Umhlonhlo is chief, to which Shaw-
bury mission- station belongs, made common cause with
the Amapondo, under Faku, who, with his allies,
crushed the invader. These two tribes, however, were
comparatively small, and were greatly scattered
during the war. Soon after this, the representatives
of the Colonial Government, wishing to have some
powerful ally among the Kaffrarian tribes, with whom
they could treat for the purchase of land, or for mutual
defence, selected Faku .as the most powerful chief,
and asked old Faku to define his boundaries ; and the
old squatter laid down his lines from the Umtata.
From the Umtata river to Natal, and from the great
Drakensberg range to the ocean, comprising a block
of land about 150 miles square. This grand survey,
354- BUNTTXGVILLE -ICTJME.
took in the countries of the two named tribes, and
" Nomansland/ which the colonial agents, I after
wards learnt, bought from Faku, and gave to Adam
Kok s Hottentots. They have bought Alfredia also,
which has been annexed to the colony of Natal.
The motives of these colonial agents were, no doubt,
all right, but accepting Faku s geographical bound
aries as valid, and forming a treaty with him on
that broad basis of his pretended claims, Faku seems
to take it for granted that his treaty with the English
confirms his title to all these vast possessions, and
hence he has for years been at war with the Amabaca
to drive them off the land which they inherited from
their fathers; and Damasi his son is on the same
grounds fighting the Amapondumsi. These facts,
which I received from Rev. Mr. White, and others
on the spot, explain the ostensible ground of those
marauding wars,, so damaging to the Amapondo
mission- stations, but more especially to "Shawbury "
and " Osborn." I say " ostensible grounds," for their
real motive is a love of plunder, which would be the
same if the English had never seen their country.
Rev. Mr. Gedye and his family had fled from Shaw-
bury under Damasi s invasions but a few weeks
before, and were then at Clarkebury; Rev. Brother
White, at Osborn, remained at the peril of his life,
under Faku s invasion of the Amabaca country.
The wars described by Rev. W. B. Rayner, in a
letter published in the Missionary Notices for October
last, occurred but a few weeks before our tour over
\VAH SUSPENDED FOR A CHIEF S MAUKTAGE. 355
their battle-fields, to proclaim the Gospel of peace.
Mr. Rayner s letter, dated July the 20th, the week
we were labouring at Butterworth, fifteen days
before we visited him at Morley, describes the kind
of field on which we had entered when at Damasi s
Great Place, as follows :
The present state of this country is not very favourable
for missionary success. Hostilities have been going on
between the Amapondumsi and the Amapondo for some
time, and as the Tsitsa, on which Shawbury station is built,
happens to be the boundary river between the two contend
ing tribes, the marauding parties of either side must pass
somewhere near the station ; and thus either false or real
alarms of war keep the station in a constant fever of excite
ment, until Mr. Gedye has at length been obliged to remove
to Clarkebury.
A grimly amusing episode has just happened. Um-
hlonhlo, the Chief of the Amapondumsi, sent to Pamasi,
Chief of the Amapondo, saying that he was preparing to
marry his great wife, and therefore he wanted the war to
" sit still a little while." Damasi actually agreed, with th<?
understanding that Umhlonhlo should let him know when
he was ready to fight again !
It was during this lull in the storm, for Um-
hlonhlo s marriage to his seventh wife, that we came
into Damasi s country, but now hostilities had been
renewed, and the whole region was in a war-panic.
Rev. Mr. Hunter had told us, that at Damasi s Great
Place, I should have a congregation of at least one
thousand heathens, and we had made up our minds
to tarry there some days, if the Lord should open for
356 BUNTING V1LLE IfJUME.
us a door of access to them. This sudden turn of
events was saddening to our hopes, but we arranged
to spend the Sabbath, and do the best we could under
the circumstances.
While we stood talking to Damasi, we saw a lot
of young Kaffirs in pursuit of a bullock. Down the
hill they came at full speed, and fetched up in front
of us.
" There/ said the chief, pointing to the panting
bullock, " is a cake of bread for you." It was driven
to the back of our hut, "assegaied," skinned and
quartered with great despatch. The whole of the
beef was hung up by quarters in our hut, and the
skin laid in a roll underneath. According to custom,
the whole belonged to the strange Umfundisi, who is
expected to make a present of the hide to the chief,
and also to send a fore-quarter to the chiefs " great
wife," and take the chief as his guest during his
sojourn, all of which we performed with due cere
mony. "We had brought with us a supply of bread,
coffee, and sugar, so with the beef broiled on the end
of a stick, w r e entertained his royal highness in good
etyle. We sent rations also to our friend Yava and
his party, Mr. Morrison, Mr. Straghan, son, and son-
in-law three English traders who came to attend
our meeting, feasted at our common board. Charles,
myself, Stuart, and our white visitors slept on the
ground-floor of the hut, having each a Kaffir mat
about three by six feet made of reeds and our rugs
and coats, with a couple pair of extra blankets sent
PREACHING AT THE
us by the chief, our saddles and other traps answered
for pillows. On Sabbath morning, the 12th of
August, our congregation assembled behind a hut
near the chief s mansion, consisting of Damasi, his
eight wives, and thirty or forty children (Damasi said
he did not know how many children he had), and
about one hundred warriors, armed with their asse
gais and shields, ready for war emergencies. Damasi
came out in state. Instead of the red blanket he had
worn the day before, he had a large tiger-skin over his
shoulders, which constituted his entire dress, except
a pair of rustic slippers on his feet. They all listened
with great attention, but no decisive result was
reached. In preaching to heathen on various occa
sions, beginning with first principles, and leading
them on to a living Saviour in a single discourse, it
required at least an hour and a half to deliver such a
sermon through an interpreter, but we seldom failed
to secure the end, the salvation of souls, on every
such occasion. However, some of our friends thought
we preached too long, so on this occasion we agreed
to try a new plan, which was to preach half-an-hour,
and then have a little talk with them personally,
and draw them out, and after a brief recess resume
the thread of discourse, and go on for another half-
hour, and so on.
We got into the subject very satisfactorily. They
appeared to understand it, and nearly all seemed to
agree that our words were true, but we had not
reached the vital point of convincing them of their
358 BUNTING VILLE ICUME.
lost condition, and of offering a present Saviour,
when the time came for recess. We then asked
them to talk, and ask any questions they wished on
the subject of discourse. Some questions were asked
ind answered, when one of the counsellors said he
li did not believe in a future state, or in Imishologu ;
that we all die like a pig, and there is no more of
us."" The chief replied to him, saying, " The man
certainly could not be- such a fool as that, for all our
fathers believed in Imishologu, and so do we, and our
people/ The Kaffir infidel then got up and went
away, and seeing that they all were getting restless,
we thought it best to dismiss them, and have them
assemble for another service in the afternoon. We
felt that service to be very unsatisfactory. Charles
seemed really discouraged, the first and only time I
found him so. I assured him that " the result was
what we might have expected, having opened our
Gospel battery against such a stronghold of wild
heathenism, we should have fired away, till they
should at least feel the weight of our heaviest metal,
but, instead of that, we called a parley just as we were
getting well into range ; we have not preached
Christ yet at all, and we can t complain that they did
not accept Him."
Charles cheered up, and we agreed that in preach
ing to the heathen, no matter what others thought
or said, we would, regardless of the time required,
never stop short of giving them the whole plan of
salvation necessary to an intelligible offer of Christ.
A HARD OLD CHRISTIAN. 359
In the interval, Damasi s counsellors gathered round
him in a circle, and discussed the exciting topics of the
day, especially the war with Umhlonhlo, and when
we assembled for a second service, a number of the
warriors who were with us in the morning found it
convenient to be absent. The chief said their duties
called them home. We did the best we could to
make up for our failure in the forenoon, and at night
we had a prayer-meeting in our hut. We had as
seekers that night, the three white traders, Mr.
Straghan, son, and son-in-law, two Kaffir men, one
of Damasi s eight wives, and two of his daughters.
Mr. Straghan, his son-in-law, and a Kaffir man pro
fessed to obtain peace with God. Next morning,
before breakfast, we had a fellowship-meeting, during
which Damasi came into the hut, Chief Yava, and
two or three of his party, and the white men gave
their testimony to the saving grace of God. Then
old Damasi said, " I and my people are all Chris
tians. We have all been Christians ever since Mr.
Wakeford came among us." A hard old Christian,
we thought, with eight wives, but he had received
the missionaries, had helped liberally to build a
mission-house, and was engaged in building a chapel,
and when Brother Hunter s congregations fall off,
he has only to inform his great chief to get a large
audience of heathen, and why should he not have
as much right to claim to be a Christian, as the mass
of formalists, in Christian .countries, who have supe
rior advantages, and do less for the cause of Christ ?
360 BTJNTINGVILLE ICUME.
We felt very grateful for the old chief s kindness,
and very sorry that he did not so feel his need of
Christ as to accept of Him as a Saviour from his
sins. On Monday, about ten, A.M., we bade adieu
to Brother Hunter and his party, and to Damasi, and
received his " kuhle hamba, and under the conduct
of our former guide, Brother Morrison, pushed on in
our journey toward Shawbury, distant about thirty-
six miles.
The following extract of a letter from Brother
Hunter, published in the Missionary Notices, will con
vey an idea of his estimate of the work of God, and
its embarrassments in this field of labour.
It is with pleasure I write you a few lines to-day. My
joy would know no bounds, and my whole nature would
praise God if I could say that all the hindrances to our
work here have been removed. This I cannot say, for
alas ! it is far from being true. Nevertheless I rejoice,
because the Lord in mercy has visited and blessed us.
Some of the worst of the station- people have been aroused
to seek God, and some of them profess to have found the
peace which passeth all understanding, and are joyful in
the God of their salvation. All the old members
been quickened, and some twenty- three new ones have been
received, so that we have now just doubled the number of
members immediately resident on this station, which we had
a little while ago. This work is of God, and our hope is
that it will spread, and the world s Redeemer be glorified
in the salvation of many of the perishing ones, by whom we
are surrounded in this dark land.
CHAPTER XXII.
SHAWBURY ELUNCUTA.
SHAWBURY was named in honour of the old pioneer-
general, who planned, and superintended the found
ing of the whole line of old Kaffrarian Missions,
the Rev. Y/m. Shaw. For picturesque scenery
hills, dales, mimosa groves, cataracts, deep gorges,
and precipitous cliffs, overhanging the Tsitsa river,
a bold and beautiful stream the site of Shawbury
surpasses all the rest. It was established amid great
hazards and difficulties by Rev. Wm. H. Garner,
who was sent out by the Wesleyan Missionary Society
in 1837 ; his widow now lives at Alice, near Fort
Beaufort.
This became the most populous, and was hence
thought to be the most promising of any of the
Kaffrarian Stations ; but while it reached a popula
tion of three thousand souls, its actual membership
of professing Christians never much exceeded one
hundred. At the time of our visit, the number was
about ninety-five, and the whole station involved
in war complications jeopardizing its existence.
OU^ SIIAW13UHY ELUSCUTA.
It is located within the lines of the Amapondumsi
Tribe, but the Tsitsa near by is the boundary be
tween that tribe and Damasi s Pondos, with whom
they are at war ; yet the most of the mission-station
people are Fin goes, and don t really belong to either
of those tribes, and should not have been involved in
the war at all, and would not, if they had improved
their opportunities and become Christians. As
they did not belong really to either party, they
were under no legal obligation to fight, for both
belligerent parties were bound by promise to the
missionaries not to interfere with them; but those
three thousand natives had their beautiful lines of
huts on the mission-station, their fields of corn, and
cattle, enjoying the ministerial and magisterial care
of the missionary, released from the iron rule of
Kaffir law, and the terror of the witch-doctor, and
yet the mass of them refusing to submit to Christ,
they waxed fat and kicked, and God gave them a
little leeway to themselves, and they soon got them
selves into an awful complication of war troubles.
It was while I was labouring in Graham s Town,
that I first heard of their sad state, by a letter from
their missionary, Hev. Mr. Gedye, to Rev. "VV. J.
Davis, in which Brother Gedye stated that he had
received notice from Damasi to leave the station, as
he would not be responsible for his life, or that of his
family, for he meant to destroy Umhlonhlo, and take
his country, and the mission-station was right in his
war-path. But Umhlonhlo, on the other hand, had
A MISSIONARY IX WAR TROUBLES. 3G3
forbidden him to leave the place, so lie and his family
were in jeopardy of life. Our sympathy was greatly
enlisted for him and his family, and also for his
native teacher, whom he was protecting in a locked
room in the mission-house against the threatened
vengeance of Umhlonhlo, and earnest mention was
made of them in our private and public prayers.
Borne time after that, Rev, Mr. Solomon, on his
way to Nomansland, spent a night near Shawbury,
and hearing of the position of Mr. Gedye, sent for
Umhlonhlo to visit his camp next day, and thus
obtaining an interview with the chief, persuaded him
to release his missionary and let him go away. Soon
after Mr. Gedye took his family and went to Clarke-
bury, where I met him, his native teacher escaped
also and went to Natal. Brother Hargraves from
Clarkebury, and Brother Rayner from Morley, had
gone to Shawbury, and had a council with Umhlonhlo
and his leading men, to try to settle the difficulties
between the chief and his missionary, and prevent
the total wreck of the station, which was hard
aground in a place where two seas met; but I
believe they considered their mission a failure, and
brought away the impression that the mission-people
were so demoralized, that there was but little hope
for them politically or spiritually, for after their
missionary left they had a Kaffir beer-feast, got into
a great fight among themselves, battering and cutting
each other, and had actually killed one man. This
briefly, leaving out many details, was the state of the
364 SHAWBURY ELUNCUTA.
case, so far as we had learned it before our visit to
Shawbury ; but we learned much more before we got
through, as my narrative will show. As we have
seen, the armistice secured for Umhlonhlo s marriage
and honeymoon with his seventh wife, was now
at an end, and hostilities had been resumed. On
the last Friday preceding our visit, Umhlonhlo s
marauders had invaded Damasi s country, and
driven off a lot of horses and cattle, and on the
Saturday night preceding, the Shawbury Mission-
people had rescued a lot of cattle, which a band of
Damasi s warriors were driving away from Umhlon
hlo s dominions, so they were now in the midst of
wars, and rumours of wars, almost daily. There was
but little danger to white travellers in the day-time,
but at night it was not expected that warriors should
readily distinguish the colour of a man s skin, and
Umhlonhlo had issued an order that no one should
travel within his lines after dark.
We left Damasi s Great Place on Monday, the
13th of August, and it being but thirty-six miles to
Shawbury, we hoped to reach before night, not only
on account of the chief s orders, and the danger
of travelling after dark, but also because of the very
rough travelling near Shawbury, and the dangerous
drift at the Tsitsa ; but, unhappily, we got a late start,
and were unnecessarily detained at the " ISTokloka
drift," where we " out-spanned," so that five miles of
fearfully steep, rough roads, and the rocky diagonal
ford of the river of about a hundred and fifty yards.
DAltK AND DANGEROUS TRAVELLING. 865
had to be made in the darkness of a moonless night,
through the lines of Umhlonhlo s armed sentinels.
We worked our way slowly along, and told all the
warriors we met about the great preaching services
to commence next day at the station, and to be sure
to come and bring their friends. When we got to
the drift, it was so dark, we could not see the line of
the ford, or where we should land on the other side ;
but we got a native guide, who piloted us through,
and on to the station. Our guide had not to take
off his clothes to wade across the river, for he had
none on him,, and had probably never been burdened
with an article of clothing in his life. Neither he
nor any of his compatriots have any laundry bills to
pay. To our agreeable surprise we found Eev.
Charles White, the missionary from Osborn Station,
thirty-five miles beyond, had come to meet us, and
was waiting to receive us at the mission-house. There
was a white trader still remaining on the station, a
good man, with a pious wife, who did what they
could to supply all that we needed for ourselves and
our horses. A kind native Christian woman did the
honours of the kitchen for us, and with Brother
White for our priest, we were all right, unless we
should be surprised by a night attack from the
Pondos, which we felt assured would not be ordered
by our friend Damasi while we were there.
On Tuesday, at eleven A.M., we had the chapel
crowded with five or six hundred hearers. From
our stand-point we preached to them plainly, but
SG6 SHAWBUllY ELUNCUTA.
kindly, illustrating from Jewish, history the parallels
of their own, and showed them that- when the Jews
were true to God, they enjoyed the peace of God
in their hearts, and His protection against their
enemies; but when they despised and abused their
mercies, they brought guilt and remorse upon their
own souls, and God, in such cases, after bearing long
with them, and doing everything possible to bring
them to repentance, delivered them over to their
enemies, and all the horrors of the most desolating
wars, and their only remedy was a return to God.
They sat "in darkness and in the shadow of death,
bound in affliction and iron " chained in dungeons,
approaching death casting its dark shadow upon
them, and why ? " Because they rebelled against
the words of God, and contemned the council of the
Most High : therefore, He brought down their heart
with labour ; they fell* down, and there was none to
help/ Poor sinners, what did they do ? " Then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He
saved them out of their distresses. He brought
them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and
broke their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His won
derful works to the children of men/ There was
deliverance, and a shout of victory and praise to God
for " His wonderful works."
"Now, see how this fits the facts at Shawbury.
Here you have had the Gospel preached for thirty
years. You have come to this beautiful spot from
CAUSE AKD EFFECTS OF HIE WAR. 667
all parts, and have been living under the shade of
God s missionaries. Besides a preached Gospel
every week, you have had schools for the education
of your children, and many of you have been taught
to read God s Book ; the blessing of God has been
upon your fields, your cattle, your children, your
homes, even your dogs have been exempt from the
curse of the witch-doctors of the heathen ! What
have you done in return for all these mercies of God ?
Of three thousand souls on this station, not quite one
hundred of you are connected with the society at all
one hundred and six a year ago, and now about
ninety-five members on this whole station, and but a
small proportion of them true disciples of Jesus and
" because ye have rebelled against the words of God,
and contemned the council of the Most High/ there
fore, He is bringing down your hearts with labour,
you are falling down, and there is no man to help you.
We are not here to upbraid you, nor mock you in
your misery, but to pity you, and beg you to consider
your ways, and turn away from your sins, and cry
unto the Lord in your trouble, who may save you
out of your distresses." This is a mere illustration
of the general drift of a discourse of an hour and
half, which Charles sent home with the unmistakable
ring of Kaffir periods which seldom missed their
aim. We then called for penitents, and about fifty
at once came out avowedly as seekers, and a small
number were saved. We did not consider it safe to
hold meetings at night as they had to stand by their
SHAWBURY ELUNCUTA.
assegais to guard their homes ; but we announced for
preaching again in the afternoon.
To our surprise at the next service our congrega
tion did not exceed 150 persons, and they seemed
more dead than alive. We had about thirty seekers.,
and they were in a gloomy unbelieving state, and
but few of them accepted Christ. On Wednesday,
we preached twice, but we only had out about 150,
and it was a hard drag. An invitation had been sent
to Umhlonhlo to attend the services, and on Wed
nesday he came to the trader s shop, but did not put
in an appearance at the chapel, giving as a reason
that Adam Kok with eight wagons, and many of his
men, were passing through his country, and he had
to go and meet them; so he went to meet Cap
tain Kok, and took with him the head man of the
station, whom we hoped to lead in a different direc
tion.
On Thursday we left Charles to do the forenoon
preaching, and Brother Eoberts, Stuart, and I, set
out for a visit to the Tsitsa Falls, five miles distant.
As we were passing the line of Luts eastward from
the mission-house, we had an opportunity of seeing
the Kaffir mode of storing away their corn.
"Gideon" of old, "threshed wheat by the wine
press to hide it from the Mideonites," so for a similar
reason the Kaffirs hide all their corn. They dig
holes in their cattle kraals, from eight to ten feet
deep, and from six to eight feet wide, lined with
waterproof cement. The shape is that of the old
HIDING THE CORX. 369
Hebrew cisterns in Palestine,, drawn in at the mouth
to the diameter of about a foot, leaving space for a
small Kaffir to descend to get out their hid stores
as they are needed. Their women carry the corn in
large baskets on their heads. Kaffir-corn grows like
brown-corn, with a seed of double the size, and
" mealies," a staple with them, is simply maize, or
Indian-corn.
We saw them, on this occasion, pouring in, turn
after turn, till the hole was nearly full of clean corn,
in good order. Those holes are thus filled and
covered with a broad flat stone, and then with the
debris of the cattle kraal, and no stranger can tell
from any outward indications whether there are any
such deposits, or where hidden. During the wars, the
colonial soldiers used to thump over the cattle kraals
with their ram-rods, sounding for corn. If such a
hole was partly empty it returned a hollow sound,
but if full they were hard to find.
Stuart, in his journal, thus describes our trip to
the Falls:
We left our horses near the Falls in care of a Kaffir,
while we took another Kaffir as a guide, and descended to
the river below the cataract. The walk around was very
long, and the descent very steep, but we were well repaid
for our toil by the beautiful view we had below. Having
gazed with admiration for some time from a good stand
point on the westerly side, we took off our boots and waded
across the stream, in some of the deepest parts jumping
from rock to rock, and then we clambered over a series ot
BB
370 sir.v,vuui:Y. ELUXCUTA.
rugged ledges near the base of the mountain, and great
boulders near the edge of the river, till we got up as close
as the spray would allow us, to the falling water ; and
there we witnessed a phenomenon, to us new, and intensely
beautiful. It was a rainbow formed by the reflection and
refraction of the sun s rays upon the spray, so as to make
a complete, though somewhat oval-shaped, circle. We stood
in the lower rim of the great rainbow circle, and felt that
for once we had indeed caught up with the rainbow, and
stood in the midst of its glory more glittering than gold,
yet " the bag of gold we found not." The Tsitsa Falls are
375 feet high, 200 feet higher than Niagara, and must be
grand in summer when the river is in flood, but now the
river is low, and is divided here into three principal streams
which are about seventy feet apart, where they bound over
the precipice to the depths below. Having made our obser
vations, we proposed to ascend the cliffs from where we
were the opposite side of the river from our route of
descent. Our guide who lives near the head of the Falls,
said that no white man had ever gone up there. We deter
mined, however, to go up as far as we could, and after
hard climbing, and no small risk of falling and breaking
our necks, we succeeded in reaching the heights, and having
collected some pretty specimens of agates, rolled a few
stones over the falls to measure the depth by the sound,
had a good swimming bathe in the river, we saddled
our horses, and turned their heads for the station. Passing
the kraal, where we got our herdsman and guide, we stopped
and sang in Kaffir, for the poor heathen men, women, and
children, the hymn called The Eden above, to which they
listened attentively, and seemed very much pleased.
On our return, we said, "Charles, how did you
.get on in the chapel to-day ? "
LABOURING UNDER DISADVANTAGES. 371
" "We had out about the same number as yesterday,
and I preached to them as well as I could/
" Did you have a prayer-meeting ? "
" No, I thought we had better wait till you should
get back."
Charles did not ordinarily wait for anybody where
the Spirit led the way, but he felt the terrible repul
sion which we all felt, but which as yet we could
not understand. That afternoon we preached again,
and had a few conversions, and among them Mr.
White s servant-man, from Osborn. We had a fel
lowship-meeting, and he spoke like the Lord s free
man, as he was. About a dozen others spoke, pro
fessing to have obtained peace, but it was with trem-
)ling, and several who had professed did not speak
it all, so that in everything there seemed to be the
>resence of some diabolical spell. That day I wrote
the Rev. William Shepstone, the chairman, ex-
gaining matters as I saw them, and begged him to
what he could to afford relief by his influence
dth the chiefs, which is great, and by sending some
me to try to look after the scattered sheep. Brother
lye is a fine Kaffir scholar, and a brother of
seal, but having had trouble there with Umhlonhlo,
it was better to have a change. Next morning,
rhen we were preparing to leave with Brother
r hite for his station, we learned that the official
lembers of the society wanted to meet us in council,
which we readily consented, without having the
least hint of what was to be the subject of debate.
3 72 811 AWBURY. ELUNCUTA.
They soon gathered round us in the dining-room,
squatting down on all sides and in every corner, a
sombre-looking set of natives as I had seen at any time.
I saw by their long pause that something solemn
was pending, and soon perceived, by the direction of
their eyes, who had been appointed to open the case,
and who was to plead their cause. After a little
time an old man, whom they called Elijah, arose,
and with the gravity of a Roman senator, said, " We
want to know why the district-meeting have thrown
us away? What great crime have we been guilty
of that we should be driven off like scabby goats, to
be devoured by the wild beasts ? It is not common
to punish men till they have been tried and found
guilty ; even among the heathen a man is smelled
out before he is eaten up/ but here, in the midst
of our dreadful punishment, we have come to ask
you what is our crime ?" I at once woke up to the
subject, for I found that we were put upon our trial
under a very grave charge, involving the issues of
life and death. A lawyer, by the name of Job, was
sitting beside Elijah, biding his time, and from his
flashing eyes and swelling jugulars, I knew it was
no qhild s play that we had to do. So by a few
questions in an undertone to Brother White, I got
an outline of the facts, and by this time Elijah was
seated and Job was on his feet, and passing his
blanket round his otherwise naked body, and throw
ing it gracefully over his left shoulder, proceeded in
a subdued but masterly style of eloqueoco to say in
A GRAVE CHARGE TO BE MET. 373
effect : " What my brother has just said is true.
The district-meeting have thrown us away, and we
are being destroyed. We have always had confidence
in our missionaries and in the district-meeting, but
our confidence has been betrayed and forfeited, and
now we are ruined. The most of these people on
the station are Fingoes. They have been brought
up under the rule of the missionaries, and they came
here into Umhlonhlo s country not to serve Umhlon-
hlo, but to live under the missionary. The missionary
was our father, and we looked to him for a father s
care. These people have no right to fight for
Umhlonhlo any more than for Damasi, nor to be eaten
up by him. I am not a Fingoe, I belong to Umh
lonhlo, but the most of these people do not, yet the
district-meeting has thrown them away, delivered
them to Umhlonhlo, who says they must all fight for
him against Damasi. Umhlonhlo himself has eaten
many of them up, and they are all in jeopardy of
their lives every day, and he is forcing old heathen
customs upon them that they never were subject to
in their lives." At the " Tina;" an out-station, about
twelve miles distant, " he has revived the horrible
old custom of upuiidhlo, requiring even Christian
men to send their daughters to lodge for the night
in the huts of the chief and his amapakati, and we
know not what day the same brutal custom may
be imposed on the people of this station. All this
has come upon the people here because the district-
meeting abandoned us to the rule of a heathen
37t SHAWBURY. ELUXCUTA.
chief. "We would gladly leave everything and go
away, but the chief won t allow us to leave, so
here we are, and we want to know our crime, and
whv the district- meeting has dealt with us so
cruelly ? "
Then it came to my turn to answer, and I arose
and said, " Your case is very deplorable, and we are
sorry for you indeed, but now we must find out the
real facts in the case.
" Let us then look first at the action of the district-
meeting, which you say is the cause of all your
calamities. Whatever they did was done in the fear
of God, as your friends and pastors, and they did not
anticipate any of the evils which have befallen you,
and but few of the things you are suffering have
come from their action, as I will show you presently.
It is not according to the Word of God that ministers
of His Gospel should be ruling magistrates over a
great community,, of all sorts of sinners, such as are in
this station. In establishing the Gospel first among
the heathen in Kaffraria, the good men of God, in
mercy to the people on their stations, whom they
gathered in from among the heathen to live with
the missionary, because they were Christian people, or
earnestly seeking after God, and wanted for themselves
and their children a Christian education, exercised
all the authority, which they considered consistent
with their own spiritual mission and the supreme
authority of their paramount chiefs, for the protection
and proper training of their people in everything
ST. PAUL ON MISSION-STATIONS. u/5
necessary to qualify them to be good Christians,
industrious workers, and good subjects of their chiefs,
and also to furnish to the chiefs themselves a model
of Christian government. Their one great work
was to preach the Gospel and bring souls to Christ,
and the magisterial office they consented to bear for
a time, was an incidental thing, to be given up in
due time entirely to civil rulers, whom God hath
ordained separately for that work, just as ministers
are called separately for their work. If the rulers
are unwise or wicked because of the general wicked
ness of their subjects, then if God s people cannot
correct the bad government, nor readily escape from
the injustice they suffer, they must commit themselves
to God, and endure patiently what God may permit
for the trial of their faith, who will, if they endure
hardness as good soldiers, make all things work to
gether for their good. St. Paul did not gather a lot
of his converts, and form a station like this, and rule
over 2,900 rebels against God, for every 100 believers
in his fold. ]N"o such thing. He preached the glad
tidings to poor sinners, and when he got them to
accept Christ, they would have been glad enough to
have gone and lived with their Umfundisi, but what
did Paul say to them ? Let every man abide in the
same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called,
being a servant ? care not for it ; but if thou mayest
be free, use it rather. Brethren, let every man
wherein he is called, therein abide with God/ God
will be with His people wherever they are, and if
376 SIIAWBURY. ELUNCUTA.
God be with them, and they remain true to Him,
He will either deliver them from their tribulations,
or sustain them under them. That is God s way
of spreading the Gospel in heathen countries, and
in that way we will not grow sicklj-, dwarfish
Christians, that can t stand a blast of wind, but
healthy, strong men, ready always to do or to die
for God. In that way we will not carry all the
leaven and put it into a pot by itself, but will
have it distributed through the lump till the
great mass of heathenism is leavened. This you
see is God s way. The most of the missionaries
who have established the mission- stations and
nourished the people at them so long, are now
anxious fully to adopt God s way. Here, at Shaw-
bury, the missionary being responsible to his chief
for the conduct of 3,000 people, and having to
settle all your disputes, what time had he left to
give to his one great work of leading the people to
Christ?
" He felt it, and the district-meeting felt it, and
they in love to your souls thought it best to release
him from that work, that he might devote his whole
time to the work of teaching you and your children
the way to heaven.
"There was no war then, and they could not antici
pate any of the horrible things which have since
come upon you.
"Now let us, in the second place, look at the real
cause of your troubles. In the first place, the mosi
WAR COMPLICATIONS. 377
of your people, under the name of being Christians,
and enjoying all the privileges of a mission-station,
are notorious rebels against God, and have no right
to expect special favours from God or His people.
In the second place you have not kept your treaty
engagements with Damasi. At the beginning of
this war, Damasi, by a special messenger, asked you
three questions 1st. Are you Umhlonhlo^s people,
or are you not ? 2nd. Do you intend to join Umh-
lonhlo in fighting against me or not ? 3rd. If you
do not intend to fight me, give me a description of
your boundaries, so that I may not pass over them
with my armies. "Was not that so ? " " Yes," re
plied the learned counsel on the other side, " that
is true." " "Well now, in reply, you said, 1st. We
are not Umhlonhlo s people. We are mission-people,
but we live in Umhlonhlo s country, and are bound
not to break his laws. 2nd. We will not fight
against you, unless you cross our mission-station
lines. 3rd. Our lines are so and so/ and you gave
him your boundaries." " Is not that true ?" " That
is all true," said Job. So far the thing was all
honourable and fair on both sides. Now, if you had
dealt honourably with Damasi, he never would have
interfered with one of you, and your missionary would
not have been disturbed, and you would have had his
influence all this time to shield you from the wicked
excesses of your chief. But what did you do ? You
got up a great sham fight for a lark, and though
your missionary begged you not to go over the hill
378 SHAWBTJRY. FLONCUTA.
toward the river, in sight of Damasi s soldiers, you
went in spite of him, and Damasi s soldiers of course
thought you were going out to fight them, and put
themselves in battle array. Then Umhlonhlo to
help the devil to ensnare you, came along and
ordered you to charge on Damasi s men, and when
you refused, you got his ill-will, and then he ad
vanced and shot some of Damasi s men himself, and
you got the credit of all that on Damasi s books.
Though you did not design it, you thus did so break
faith with Damasi as to put it beyond explanation to
him, and then having gotten yourselves into that
mess, you gave up to Umhlonhlo, and have since
been regularly joined to him in array against Da
masi, and have not only thus brought all this evil
upon yourselves, but jeopardized the lives of your
missionary, and his wife and little children, and im
posed upon him the greatest grief of his life, the
necessity of leaving his work, and fleeing away to
a place of safety."
Then Elijah arose and said, " The words of the
Umfundisi are true words ; but if the district-meet
ing felt it their duty to make a change of such im
portance, why did they not consult us first ? "We
are oificial members of the Church, and we are a
party directly interested in such a change. More
over, as the most of us have been all our lives on the
mission stations, and never felt the rule of a heathen
chief, we should have been notified in time to pre-
JOB, THE KAFFIR LAWYER. 379
pare our minds for such a great change, so as to be
able to bear it as good Christians. 1 "
Then Brother "White replied, saying, " On my way
home from the district-meeting, sometime before the
matter was brought before Umhlonhlo, I told a num
ber of your leading men what the district-meeting
had done, so that you might prepare your minds for
it." Meantime, I saw, from the flash of Job s eyes,
that he considered us his game after all. Up he
sprang, excited, almost beyond self-control ; but he
poised himself very quickly, and with true Kaffir
self-possession and dignity, yet with great spirit, re
torted, " Yes, you told us what you had done at the
district-meeting as you went home. It was too late
then for us to have any say in the matter. Why did
you not tell us on your way to the meeting, so that we
might decide what was best for us to do. If we had
known that you were going to give us away to a
heathen chief, we might have decided that it was
better for us to pick up our assegais and blankets
and go away to some other part ; but after we have
been sold for nothing, we are coolly told that the deed
is done, and that we belong to a heathen master/
It then came to my turn to deliver the closing
speech, and I said :
"I see now how the case stands. We, the district-
meeting, confess that we have made a great mistake in not
giving you due notice of our intention, and in not consulting
you, and fully preparing your minds for such a change, and
380 SHAWBURY. ELUNCUTA.
I think I speak the sincere feelings of very member of that
meeting, when I say, we are very sorry, and all we have to
plead is, what I have pleaded, our best intentions in doing
a necessary thing to be done, but we should have given you
notice of our good intentions. The reason, I believe, you
were not notified and consulted is, that it was not till after
the meeting had assembled, and the state of the work here
made known, that it was felt necessary at that time to take
such action. It was believed that the missionary was so
burdened with magisterial duties in managing such a hard
lot that the thing could not, in justice to your souls, be
delayed, and there was then no opportunity of consulting
any of you ; but now we see that we made a great mistake
in not waiting, to give ample time for consultation. But,
while we confess to one great mistake, you will have to con
fess to two great sins, and then we must all humble ourselves
before God, confess and forsake our sins, accept Christ as
our Saviour, and ask God s gracious direction out of these
dreadful tribulations. Your first great sin was to go, in
spite of the wise counsel of your missionary, and break your
solemn treaty with Damasi. Your second great sin is, that
after bringing so many evils on yourselves, as we have
shown, you have not only justified yourselves, and blamed
it all on the district-meeting, but have gone on in greater
excesses of sin, profaning this holy place with Kaffir-beer
feasts, quarrelling, fighting among yourselves, and have even
murdered a man, and have not confessed your sins, nor re
pented. Even while we have been here, who had nothing
to do with any of your matters, but came purely to help
you in your distress by leading you to Jesus, you have kept
up a quarrel in your hearts against us, and have thus pre
vented a great work of God, which with your agency He
would have done for you, by ws His servants, just as He
has done at other stations we have visited. Now you must
PLEADINGS CLOSED. 381
have done with Kaffir-beer feasts, and with beer-drinking
at home, surrender to God, accept Christ, and get right in
your hearts and lives, and then we may hope that God, in
some way, will give you relief, and spare your lives, that
you may honour Him in the sight of the heathen. Mean
time, I have written to Mr. Shepstone, the chairman, and
hope that he may be able to do something for you ; but
his success depends on the mercy of God, and that depends
on the course you take in regard to your sins."
Elijah said " These words are true," and pledged
himself to do the best he could to promote a real
reformation. Job said the same, and the rest as
sented. Then we knelt down and submitted the whole
matter to God, and the Comforter was graciously
present to quicken and to heal. Our horses were
then waiting at the door, and we rose from our
knees and bade our penitent friends adieu.
I said to Brother White, as we passed out, "Ah, if
we had had that counsel on the first day of our series
here, instead of the last, we would have had a glorious
work of God." This was the terrible incubus which
had strangled all our efforts, and added to it was a
great disappointment growing out of a mistaken
apprehension that I was coming as their missionary
to live among them, and finding that I was only to
be with them three days, many left in disgust ; but
if we had had the leading men with us, we should
have overcome that, and had a grand victory. We
had with us at our services at Shawbury, a native
Local Preacher from Natal, who had come more than
382 SHAWBURY. ELUNCUTA.
200 miles to visit his brother there, and when we
left off, he took up the work, and we learned that the
following Sabbath he had the chapel crowded, and
the Spirit of God was with him in power. Soon
after, two of our missionaries went and gave them
a helping hand, which Eev. "Win. Shepstone, the
Chairman of the District, in a letter to me, describes
as follows :
My nephew found Shawbury so impressed on his mind,
that he could not rest, so like the honest quakers of old, he
yielded, and taking Hunter s station in his route, Hunter
readily accompanied him. They spent four days at Shaw-
bury, holding services, two or three times a day, and to use
Rayner s words, " The Spirit of God came down upon the
people," and they left about 100 souls who had, during their
services, found peace with God, and joined the Classes.
These, I believe, were all converts from amongst the hea
then. Last week I received a letter from Brother Gedye,
who had returned thither, and is labouring with all his
might, and he tells me that since his return, about forty
more have been brought in, and that " David Cobus," the
man who was the devil s own agent, and the principal cause
of all the Shawbury troubles, is now, like Saul of earlier
days, preaching the faith which once he destroyed, or tried
to. Gedye says he is helping mightily in the work of the
Lord. That station is now in peace and quiet. The belli
gerents fight around it, but the people are not disturbed,
and not a soul moves from the station towards the battle
ground. I had written a letter to Damasi, on the subject
of the neutrality of mission-stations in war before your letter
reached me, and obtained from him a promise that the
missionary and all mission property should be respected.
SUDDEN TURN OF EVENTS. 383
Though Shawbury has been left without a missionary at a
time it most needed one, God hath shown that, neverthe
less, He can carry on his work in his own way. Umhlonhlo
has not been to Shawbury since Gedye s return, but has
sent a message that they must pray, but does not say for
what. Gedye thinks he means for rain, which is the most
likely thing he would wish to see.
A short extract from a letter from Brother Gedye,
published in the Missionary Notices, dated November
30th, 1866, a few days after I sailed from Cape Town
for London, may further illustrate the progress of this
work. " On my return to the station, a fortnight
after," the departure of Brothers Rayner and
Hunter noticed above" we entered upon a course of
special services, which resulted in about fifty con
versions during the week ; and since then not a week
has passed in which conversions have not taken place ;
so that we are enabled to report an addition of above
two hundred persons meeting in Class. I have just
returned from the Tina, where the Lord has given
us twenty souls during the past ten days, and many
others are under deep conviction,"
CHAPTER XXIIL
OSBORN (TSHUMGWANA).
THIS mission-station, an offshoot from Shawbury,
was established by Mr. Hulley, a Local Preacher
devoted to the work of God, and for many years
employed by the Missionary Society, under the title
of a " Catechist." He is not in the employ of the
Society now, but is nevertheless engaged in the mis
sion work. He has settled his family on a farm near
the west bank of the Umzimvubu River. His wife is
a sister of Rev. H. H. Dugmore, and they have an
interesting family of children. He has built a sub
stantial hut-chapel, round, like a Kaffir-hut, about
thirty feet indiameter, which will accommodate about
150 natives. He has organized there a society of
natives, and preaches to a large number of heathen
besides, and God is owning his labours. The Tshum-
gwana Station, established and sustained for a number
of years under his administration, was called Osborn,
in honour of Dr. Osborn, so long and so favourably
known as one of the Secretaries of the Wesleyan
Missionary Society.
TERRIBLE BATTLE. 385
Kev. Charles White, the present missionary at
Osborn, brother to Mrs. Eev. Thomas Jenkins, and
to Mr. Alfred White, who was the Lord s leading
agent to induce me to go into those Kaffrarian adven
tures, is with Brothers Shepstone, Dugmore, Sargent,
Bertram, and others, a Colonial-made minister, and
none the worse for that, as the record of each one will
show. The Osborn Station belongs to the Amabaca
tribe, but like Shawbury, is situated near the borders
of the great Amapondo nation, who are at war with
the Amabaca, and it is therefore greatly exposed to the
ravages of war. But a few weeks before our arrival,
a large army of Faku s warriors came, variously
estimated from 5,000 to 8,000 men, under the com
mand of Faku s son, Umgikela. As this army pene
trated the heart of the country, the Bacas fled before
them, and the warriors were busily employed in
gathering up all the live stock within their reach,
till they got near to the Great Place of the ruling
chief, Makaula. Tiba is nominally the paramount
chief of the tribe, but his residence is in " Noman s-
land," which was given, as before shown, to Adam
Kok, the Griqua, who has laid Tiba under tribute,
the mass of his tribe living beyond Kok s lines are
free, and hence Tiba, though not deposed, has lost
prestige, and Makaula is in fact the ruling chief,
and being a young, brave spirited man, he succeeded
in rallying his surprised and scattered people, and.
in person led them to the charge against the in
vaders, and after a severe hand-to-hand fight with
cc
o86 OSBORN. TSHUMGWANA.
their assegais, the Pondos began to give way, and
soon in utter confusion and panic they retreated.
They had to run ten miles to get to the Umzimvubu
River, the boundary of their own country. The
Bacas, flushed with victory, pursued, and strewed
the route for ten miles with the dead bodies of their
foes. The mission-station was in their path, and on
the approach of the retreating army, the mission-
people in the excitement fearing an attack on the
station, turned out in a body, in spite of the remon
strance of their missionary, and poured a deadly
volley in the front of the fleeing foe, which brought
them for a little time to a stand, and the slaughter
was fearful. A Brother Lee had a trading-station
near, and the entrance to his house was blocked up
with the bodies of the slain. One poor Pondo dashed
himself through a window of the room, occupied by
Mrs. Lee, with such violence as to cut an artery of
his arm on the glass, and down he dropped beside the
frightened lady, and without saying a word bled to
death. A room of the mission-house, with an outer
entrance, which happened to be open, was packed with
Pondos, and Brother White stood at the door to shield
them from the assegais of the Bacas. The pursuers
came on in the rage of their human slaughter, and
demanded access to the refugees in the room, but Mr.
White said to them, " These men have placed their
lives in my hands, and if you want them you will
have to pass over my dead body." The Bacas seemed
to think it hard that their own missionary should
thus protect their enemies, but he taught them an ex-
387
ample of forbearance and of justice to a fallen foe.
That act, too, helped to mitigate the violation of the
neutrality laws of the mission-stations, of which his
people were guilty. He gave sanctuary to his pri
soners that night, and sent them home in peace the
next morning. The army of the Pondos were pur
sued to the Umzimvubu, and many were slain in the
river, but the Bacas did not pass over into Pondo-land.
The Pondo army, to assist their flight, threw away
nearly everything they had. Among the spoils were
numerous shields and assegais, and seven hundred
guns, of which it appears they had made but little
use. Between four and five hundred Pondos were
killed. Though they fled for life, when caught they
died like stoics. For example, an old Pondo lay
apparently dead, and a Baca exclaimed, " I killed
him ! " " No," said another Baca, " I killed him/
With that the old Pondo opened his eyes, and said,
" You are both liars ; neither of you killed me ! "
Then the two merciless wretches took up stones and
battered out his brains. Brother Lee, to clear his
premises of dead Pondos, looped a " reim/ a raw
hide- rope round their necks, and dragged them
away, and as he was about to put the reim round the
neck of one of the dead men, the corpse, as he sup
posed, opened his eyes and said, " Do please let me
lie still and die."
The Kaffirs never bury their dead who are slain
in battle ; the dogs, pigs, wild beasts, and birds of
prey did what they could to prevent effluvia and
pestilence, by devouring their flesh, and the bones
388 OSBORN. TSIIUMGWAXA.
of their carcasses lay bleaching in the sun when we
were there, a heart- sickening sight indeed. "We
had come as warriors too, had come to conquer, not
to spoil and destroy, but to proclaim a life-giving
Deliverer to the dead souls of the savage warriors
still alive.
"We left Shawbury on Friday the 17th of August.
We out-spanned at Tina, the out-station at which
Umhlonhlo committed the outrage before mentioned.
We inquired of " Nicodemus," the head man, who
had been a Class-leader there, but whose society had
been broken up during the recent troubles, if the
charge made against Umhlonhlo was so, and he
affirmed that it was all true that we had heard.
Stuart thus briefly describes the rest of our
journey that day :
Soon after we crossed the Tina river, we came to a very
steep and stony hill, where one of the horses became
baulky, and seemed determined not to pull up the hill, and
could not be persuaded, neither by coaxing nor the free use
of the whip. After many unsuccessful attempts to get the
beast up the hill at the great risk of breaking the cart, we
put in another horse, which, going to the opposite extreme,
dashed off, ran the upper wheel over a great stone, and
upset the whole concern. By carrying our baggage up on
our shoulders, we at length, after the delay of an hour,
reached the summit ; and passing through a beautiful,
fertile, well watered country, reached the Osborn station
just as the sun was setting.
Eev. Mr. White, the missionary, and his good wife
kindly entertained us. They have no family, but have
adopted a little prince, the son of Makaula. The little boy
SINGING OUT THE NATIVES. 3S9
was very ill, the heathen doctors could do him no good,
and when the chief thought he was dying, he brought him
to the missionary and said, " Take my dying child. If he
dies, bury him ; if he lives, take care of him and teach
him." He is now a fat little fellow over two years old.
He is very fond of shaking hands, and is delighted with the
ticking of a watch, and seems to understand such English as
is addressed to him, for when we tell him to shut his eyes, and
then to open them, or to laugh, he does so, and altogether
he is a very comical little specimen of Kaffir humanity.
One embarrassment under which we had laboured
in each place, in regard to the heathen, was that
they seldom came to our services till near the close
of the series, and we did not then have sufficient
time to do a great work among them.
At Osborn we determined to try a new plan for
getting them out to the preaching. So on Saturday
morning, the 18th of August, Charles Roberts, Stuart,
and myself, with " Petros," Brother White s school
teacher, as a guide, set out on horseback, and visited
all the heathen kraals within a few miles of the station.
We rode up to a kraal, and called to them, say
ing, "Bring out all your men, women, and children,
and we will sing you a song about the country
above/ We then dismounted, and standing in a
line, holding the reins of our horses behind us, we
sang in Kaffir, " The Eden Above."
Then without adding a word we mounted and
rode off, leaving Charles to tell them that a new
Umfundisi from over the sea had just arrived, and
390 OSBORN. TSHUMGWANA.
had just been to pay them a visit, and sing to them,
and would preach at the station that day at noon,
and " he wants all of you to come and hear the good
news he has to tell you." Then riding on to another
kraal, the same was repeated, and so on till all with
in our reach were visited. In some places some of
the men followed us to their neighbouring kraal, so
that I could see at once that we were getting a hold
on them. Sure enough, at noon we had the heathen
to our meeting in force. The chapel would not hold
the half of them ; so we assembled them in the stable-
yard, which, with various buildings of four sides,
was a large open court. The first sermon, there
fore, instead of being to the Church as usual, was to
the heathen, from St. Paul s text about the " Un
known God." Having given a very brief history of
St. Paul s work among the people in the great city
of Athens, we came directly to our work.
"We did not simply proclaim the truths of the
Gospel to them, for the work of an ambassador for
Christ embraces much more than that, but followed
St. Paul s method. He never " begged the question."
In preaching to the Jews, he based his arguments on
the clearly defined prophetic Scriptures, which his
hearers admitted. In preaching to heathens he went
directly down into the regions of their own experi
ence, and brought to light, from their admitted facts,
a conscious demand in their souls which they were
vainly trying to meet,, but which the Gospel only
could supply. If I could reproduce our discourses to
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 391
the heathen there during our series of three days,
ray space would not admit them ; but the substance
of the first, and a specimen point or two of the
others may serve to illustrate the method of preach
ing, which the Spirit of God was pleased to render
very effective in the salvation of a large number of
our heathen hearers.
At that first service, having introduced the subject
of the " Unknown God," the following is an example
of our method of preaching, which God used in bring
ing raw heathens to a saving acceptance of Christ,
under a single discourse.
SERMON TO KAFFIR HEATHENS.
There is one Great God who made the world, the sun,
moon, and stars, and every living thing ; and who made
man. That is a fact you all admit. Your old fathers who
are dead believed that, and you believe it too. Your
fathers called him " Dala," the Creator, or " the Great
Hole," out of which all living things came ; and they called
him Tixo, God, the preserver of all things ; and " Inkosi,"
the Lord, the Great Chief who rules all things. They did
not know God, but they called Him by these names, and
offered sacrifices of worship to him, and on many a hill in
Africa, your " Isivivana " bear witness that they called upon
Bis name (we saw by the path in a number of places on
the hills a great pile of hand stones, about eight by sixteen
feet, and six feet high. For generations, every heathen
passing will add a stone, as an expression of thanks to
" Inkosi " for helping him up the hill).
You then believe with us that there is one God, and that
we are " His offspring." Come then and let us reason together
about this Great God. If He made the sea, the earth, and
392 OSBORN. TSHUMGWVNA.
the heavens above us, He must be a God of wonderful power.
When His lightnings flash and He speaks to you from His
" Great Place " above tjie heavens in tones of thunder, how
you do tremble. Now, if we are the offspring of this Great
God, which you all admit, let us examine His work, and
see if He is not a God of love, as well as a God of power.
Examine your heads, your eyes, your noses, your ears, your
tongues, your teeth, your arms, hands, body, legs, and feet
what a wonderful piece of work ! Everything about us
witnesses, not only to the power and wisdom of God, but to
His great love for us. If he had hated us, and had wanted
to make us miserable, how easily he could have done it.
Suppose he had made your ears of bone, they would have
been knocked off long ago. Suppose he had put your eyes
on the top of your heads, then you could not see the path ;
if He had put them on your forehead, long ago they would
have been rubbed off, and you would be blind ; but God, in
love, has put them in the best place for seeing, arched them
over with eyebrows to keep the sweat out of them, given
us eye-lids to keep them moist, and guard them against
dust, and walled them round with bones, so that a stroke on
your face will not easily reach the eye" ; so with every other
part of your bodies, everything is made just right, and all
bear witness that the God who made us is a God of love.
Well now, my dear friends, this wonderful body God has
given us is simply the " hut " for the living Spirit which
He has put into it. If the tent is such a wonderful thing,
what must the tenant be ? When you look upon a dead man,
you see the whole body as complete as when he was alive ; but
it has no power to see, to eat, to smell, to think or to move.
The fact is, the real man has gone away, it is his old " hut,"
that you are looking at, and soon it will crumble into dust.
You all know that you have a spirit, a mind, a living
soul within your body, just as certainly as you know that
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 393
you have a body. It is the spirit that thinks, reasons,
plans, and executes our plans. You can at this moment,
in your minds, see your kraals, all your huts, your corn
fields, your cattle, your children and dogs. What is it
that sees all these things ? You don t see them with your
eyes, for you are looking at me, and your kraals are away
over the hills, quite out of your sight, but you have the
picture of all these things in your minds. If you want to
build a hut, the plan of the hut, its size and everything
about it, is first the work of your spirit. If an Englishman
wants to build a great ship, he first works out the whole
plan of it in his mind, then marks it all down on paper.
The ship-builders look at it, and go to work and make the
ship, just as the man saw it all in his mind.
Now, my dear friends, the God who made us is the
Great Spirit without a body, or hut, like ours, to live in,
for all the heavens will not contain Him ; but He has made
us little spirits in His " own image," after His " own like
ness," and has given us these huts of clay to live in till He
calls our spirits to return to Him, and then they leave their
huts, which are the dead men which you have seen, and go
away into another world. Our spirits are suited to this
world through the body ; they employ themselves in plan
ning and working for the body, and take pleasure in what
ever is pleasing to the body ; but our spirits don t belong
to this world, and hence have wants that this world can t
supply. You see a fish, it has fins, but no legs, and no
wings, and you know at once that it don t belong to the
earth, nor to the air, but its home is in the waters. There
is a horse. You see that he has no fins, and no wings,
but he has legs and feet, and you know at once that he
don t belong to the air, nor to the sea, but to the earth.
There flies a bird. You see it has no fins, but it has wings
and legs, and you know without anybody telling you, that
304 OSBOllN. TSHUMGWANA.
it belongs to the earth, and to the air above us. You see
a man s body, it has legs and feet, and, therefore, belongs
to the earth ; but his spirit has no fins, no legs, no wings,
and, therefore, don t belong to the waters, nor to the earth,
nor to the air above us, but belongs to another world
altogether. You know at once that this is all true, and
hence when you bury a man, after you set him down in his
grave, you say to his " umshologu " his spirit " don t
say anything against us, but remember us kindly in that
world you are going to." (The eyes of our heathen auditors
sparkle under the light of a new association of admitted
facts, and they look at each other, and nod assent, for
like the Athenians they are always ready " to hear or tell
some new thing.") Well, now, my friends, you see that
our spirits belong to another world, and have wants thai
this world cannot supply. "When we have taken all the
pleasure we can get in this life, our spirits are still hungry,
very hungry. They are always wanting to go somewhere,
or to do something else to satisfy their great hunger and
thirst, and to make themselves happy.
All animals have some kind of a spirit, but it is a low,
earthy spirit, which seeks nothing more than to supply the
wants of their bodies, and then their happiness is complete ;
but our spirits, as we have shown, belong to another world,
and have powers suited to the world to which they belong,
which we know, just as we know that the wings of a bird
suit it for flying in the air. That pig has some sort of a
low spirit, but you can t teach him your laws and customs.
He has not the power to learn to read, or write, or to talk.
Our spirits have the power to receive and to give instruc
tion, to learn good laws, and to obey them, or to break
them, and hence, also, we have a power in our own spirits
which tells us that some things are right, and that we
ought to do them, and that some things are wrong, and
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 395
that we ought not to do them. If we do what we believe
is right, that power in our spirits says to us, " You have
done right," and we feel happy ; but when we do wrong, it
says to us, " You are wicked, you have broken the law ; "
then we feel guilty and miserable, an awful fear comes into
our spirits that something dreadful will come upon us for
our sins. So you see plain enough, my friends, that our
spirits belong to another world ; that they were made to be
happy, and though they have some happiness in the plea
sures of the body, they cannot find their real rest and full
enjoyment in anything in this world. God alone has the
real rest for our souls, and He alone can satisfy the hunger
and thirst of oiy spirits. God is holy, and He made our
spirits holy, so that they might live with God, and find
their rest, and complete happiness in Him. Hence our
spirits are adapted to receive and obey God s laws, which
show us the right way to walk in, so that we may be ready
to live with God when He calls our spirits away from our
bodies. But you see, we may abuse this power of our
spirits, and neglect, and break good laws, bring guilt and
misery into our spirits, and thus get them so polluted with
sin, that they are not fit to live with God at all. What,
then, can God do with such wicked, polluted spirits ? He
has to " throw them away" (the Kaffirs strongest term for
hopeless abandonment), and they are dragged down into
the dark hole where "Icanti" lives (an infernal um-
shologu, which assumes the shape of a huge snake ; they
often try to appease it by offering the sacrifice of beasts,
throwing their offerings into deep holes in the rivers a
traditional idea of the devil, no doubt), the wicked
spirit, the old serpent, called the devil and Satan was once
a happy spirit, and might have dwelt in happiness with
God for ever ; but he broke good laws, polluted himself by
Bin, and was driven away from God s fold like a "scabby
396 OSBOKN. TSHUMGWANA.
goat " never to return. So all spirits, made to be holy,
and to live in happiness with God, who follow Satan, break
good laws, and pollute themselves with sin, are driven
away also from God s fold to " the place prepared for the
devil and his angels."
Well now, my friends, we have been looking at God s
great work in our bodies and spirits. Let us next look
into His great stores, and see what His wisdom and love
have provided to make us happy. We will begin with the
wants of the body. Our bodies can t live without water.
See God s rills, and rivulets, and creeks, and rivers. See
His clouds and dews, and showers of rain. How kind
He is I
Our bodies need food. Hath God not given you a thou
sand grassy hills and valleys, and strong arms to cultivate
them, and horses and oxen to help you ? Hath He not
given you Kaffir-corn, mealies, yams, pumpkins, and all
manner of fruits ? Hath He not given you cattle, sheep,
goats, pigs, ducks, chickens, and geese? Where did you
get all these things if God did not give them to you ? All
the men in the world could not even make one goose.
We need light for our eyes, and hath not God made the
sun to give us light by day, and the moon and stars to give
us light by night ?
We need air for our lungs and blood, and hath not God
supplied it abundantly ? He hath poured it all round the
world about fifty miles deep. Now if God provides such
great treasures for our bodies in this life, which must return
to dust, would He not provide as well for our spirits, which
never die, but return to God who gave them ? Would He
not give us His good laws to mark out the path of holiness,
that we may walk in obedience to Him, and thus be
prepared to dwell with Him in happiness? Would He
not? (Their eyes glance at each other, and they nod
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 397
assent.) "Well, now, God hath made us all of one blood.
We have bodies just alike in all their parts, and our spirits
are all of the same nature. God made one man, and called
his name Adam, and then made one woman, and called her
name Eve. lie made their bodies of the dust of the
ground, but their spirits He breathed into from Him
self. Eve was the first mother of all the people in the
world. God made Adam and Eve holy, and gave them a
"great place" in the most beautiful garden that ever was
made, called the Garden of Eden. It had in it every good
thing that grows in the world, and God gave every
thing in it to the happy people He had made, except one
fruit-tree He kept for Himself, and told them not to touch
the fruit of His tree ; and He gave them good laws for
them, and all their children to keep, so as to get in this
beautiful world the right kind of schooling to prepare them
to dwell in happiness with God for ever.
His laws were all for their good, and allowed them every
thing they needed for their bodies, and for their spirits to
make them happy in this life, and then, when they should
be trained and prepared for a better home, to take them up
to that glorious world where God abides. Was it not a
fine arrangement for Adam and Eve, and for all their
descendants ? Oh, if they had walked in the path of God s
laws, there never would have been any sickness in this world,
nor pain, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor death. Then when
ever they should have become holy enough to dwell with God,
their bodies, instead of dying and returning to dust, would
have been changed into such a glorious body, that instead
of walking and running on the ground, they would have
mounted up faster than the flight of an eagle to the bright
world above. God was well known to our first parents,
and came down and talked with them in their beautiful
garden every day. Satan never was a human spirit, but a
OSBORN. TSHUMGWANA.
glorious angel spirit, but he became a rebel from God, and
was " thrown away," a long time before Adam and Eve
were made, and he was jealous of the happiness of our first
parents, so he crawled into their beautiful garden, and had
a talk with our mother, and persuaded her to disobey God,
and she plucked off some of the fruit from God s tree, which
He told her she must not eat, and she ate some, and gave
some to Adam, and he did eat. By listening to the dirty old
" Icanti," they broke God s good laws, stole fruit from His
tree, and thus sin entered into the world, and death by sin.
Sin is such a dreadful thing, that through their disobedi
ence all their children were made sinners, that is, sin so
corrupted their spirits and their bodies, that all who were
born of them were corrupt.
Then God drove them out of the garden, and they had to
go and make a " kraal" among the briers and thorns.
Still God was very sorry for them, and showed them great
kindness in giving to them and their children all the good
things in this world we have to enjoy, and He promised
some day to raise up a great man from one of the daugh
ters of Eve, who would crush the head of the old serpent,
and deliver us from our sins. The children of Adam and
Eve multiplied in the earth greatly, but broke God s laws
more and more, and got so wicked that they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, and at last the old fathers
who knew God died, and the foolish hearts of their children
were so darkened by sin that they did not know God at all,
but still they had the gnawing hunger and thirst in their
spirits which God only can satisfy. They retained their
powers of mind to receive instruction, to learn God s laws,
and also a dreadful sense of guilt for sin : so when any
great sickness came upon them, and their doctors could do
them no good, they wanted to go to God for help, but they
did not know Him. Then they built great houses, and
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 399
altars of stone, where they offered bullocks in sacrifice to
" Imishologu." In Athens they had one old Umshologu
they called " Jupiter," and another they called " Minerva,"
and many others. When nothing ailed them they seemed
to get on well enough with their Imishologu, but a dreadful
sickness came upon all the people in their great #ity : then
they offered bullocks to all their " Imishologu," but none
was found to hear or save them. The cries of the orphan
children, the shrieks of the desolate widows, the groans
of dying men were heard in every street, and they found
Imishologu had no power to help them, and then they built
an altar for the " Unknown God," and offered bullocks
upon it, and as soon as the smoke of that altar began to
rise, the great God looked down upon them in pity, His
heart of love yearned over them, and His hand, unseen,
cured all their sickness, and health and prosperity returned
to that city like the breaking of the morning. Then for
six hundred years, though they kept up the worship of
Imishologu, they also worshipped the " Unknown God."
Sin is the cause of this dreadful pollution of our spirits,
and guilt, and fear, and sorrow, which the people of
Athens felt, and which all of us have felt. That man who
has sinned, even against his chief, how badly he feels.
Before he did it he thought nobody would find it out, but
now he thinks that everybody will know it, and every time
he goes into a dark hollow, or passes a bush, he fears the
chief s " Imisila" (sheriffs) will come upon him. Day and
night he is in dread, and if he should wake up to-morrow
morning, and find the tiger s-tail of his chief before his
door, dear me, would he not be terrified ? Perhaps his chief
might not find him out, but you may be sure God will find
out every sinner, for He is always looking at us. The
pollution of our spirits, sin, guilt, and punishment, natu
rally follow each other. When the lightning strikes a
400 OSBORN. TSHUMGWANA.
kraal, and kills a beast or a man, you feel awful guilt and
fear in your spirits, and know that ll Inkosi" is angry with
you for your sins, then you offer sacrifice to Him, but
still you don t know " Inkosi." When you have great
sickness among you, then you feel dreadful guilt and fear,
and offer sacrifices to " Imishologu." You know that
" Imishologu " can t save you, but you want them to plead
with Tixo for you. You don t know Tixo, but as He took
away the sickness in Athens, so He often takes away your
sickness because He pities you, but still you know Him
not, and you give all the praise due to Him for His great
mercies to you to Imishologu, and to your priests. That
is just the way they did in Athens, till Paul, God s great
Umfundisi, went there, and made known to them the true
God, whom they had ignorantly worshipped, and taught
them how to worship Him aright. So you have been trying
for more than six hundred years to worship the " Unknown
God " here in Africa, and now God hath sent us to make
Him known to you, and how you may come to Him.
We have told you how the early generations from Adam
and Eve lost the knowledge of God, and His good laws ;
but in all ages there were a few men who would not follow
Satan, but who earnestly sought after God ; not in sickness
only like you, and those miserable old sinners in Athens,
but in youth and health, and God made Himself known to
them, and told them His good laws for them to walk by,
and to teach to the polluted families of men. One of those
good men was called Abraham. He knew God very well,
and God made His people a great nation. They lived in a
country called Egypt, in the upper part of Africa, your own
Africa ; but the king of Egypt, who was called Pharaoh,
subdued them, and made slaves of them for a great many
years. There were many good men among them for a long
time, and a certain boy was born whom they called Moses.
6ERMO.N TO THE HEATHEN. 401
He grew up to t>e a very wise and good man, and got well
acquainted with God ; and God often talked to him, and
told him a great many things to tell his people, and made
Moses a great chief over all the nation that descended from
Abraham. Moses was a holy chief ; he had but one wife ;
he kept God s laws, and did justly to all men. When God
had fully taught Moses to trust in Him, He told him to be
up with all his people, and all their cattle, and everything
they had, and He would lead them to a good country which
He would give them for their own. So Moses and all the
people went, and the wicked king who had oppressed them
raised a very great army and pursued, and overtook them
at a great river, or an arm of the sea. Moses and his
people were dreadfully scared, and thought they would all
be killed ; but God commanded them to go right into that
great river, and just as they began to wade in, God divided
the waters and made a dry road for them, and they went
clear across the great arm of the sea, without even getting
their feet wet. When the wicked king saw that, he rushed
right in with his great army, and chariots, and horses, and God
brought the divided waters together and drowned the whole
of them because they were so wicked. You see all that was
easy enough for God, who made the sea and the dry land, to do.
Then his people travelled a long way through a desert,
where there was no food for them or their cattle ; but God
sent them food daily direct from heaven, and that was just
as easy for Him as to cause the food to grow out of the
ground for us, but He thus taught His people His power
and His loving care for them. One day God came down
in a " thick cloud " to the top of a high mountain, mid
" thunders and lightnings, and the voice of a trumpet ex
ceeding loud, so that all the people that were in the camp
trembled," and God called the man Moses to come up to
Him, and there He told the great chief many things ; but
DD
402 OSBORN. TSHUMGWANA.
He wrote down His principal laws on two smooth flat stones,
which a man could carry. On one of the stones He wrote
four commandments, to teach us our duty to God. On the
other He wrote six commands, to teach us our duty to man.
God gave these laws to Moses for his people, the English,
the Kaffirs, and everybody. They were written from the
stones into books, and have been sent out among all nations,
and we have them here in this book to read to yon to-day.
Now let us examine them, and see what good laws they are.
" God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy
God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage." God said to Moses, and He
says to me, to you, to every man, woman, and child, " I
am the Lord thy God." We see at once that the powers
of our spirits, which came from God, made in the likeness
of God, are so great, that God alone is worthy of our
supreme confidence, loyalty, and love, and we see His great
love to us in that He is not ashamed to say to every soul
of man, so that all the world may hear it, "I am the Lord
thy God." No living thing has dared to proclaim to any
man, " I am the Lord thy God." Is it not a great shame
that men should insult and reject this great and loving
God, and put their trust in the ghosts of dead men, in their
priests, and the poor trash they hang about their necks ?
Now hear what He says in the next command, " Thou shalt
have no other gods before me." There is but one true-
God, but the thing to which we give the confidence, loyalty,
and love of our spirits, which belong to God alone, what
ever it may be, that takes the place of God, and such things
are called gods, though they be such a bunch of bones, and
beads, and birds-claws, as you have round your necks.
God explains this, saying, " Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or that is in the
TO THE HEATHEN. 40 o
water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them : for I the Lord thy God am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the
children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that
hate me ; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that
love me, and keep my commandments." God is very kind,
yet He is just. He could not consent to let us set Him
aside, and put an idol in His place, no matter what it is, in
heaven, or in earth, or in the sea. We see what a dreadful
thing it is to reject God, and follow Satan and trust in men,
and the things of this world. Such lose the knowledge of
God, and their children for generations grope in darknws,
and trust to charms, and to their priests or doctors, and to
Imishologu. God does not want to visit the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children, but the dreadful rebellion of the
parents against God puts their children so far away from
Him that they lose the knowledge of God, and go on in
the wicked ways of their parents. But if the parents are
true to God, and train their children to be true to God, then
for thousands of generations they may walk in the ways of
God, and enjoy His love for ever.
Now listen to God s third command : " Thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain ; for the Lord
will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."
Surely God could not allow us to mock, and insult Him,
and scandalize His name.
Now for the fourth command, " Remember the Sabbatli
day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do
all thy work : but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the
Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid
servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy
gates. . . ." Now, see the kindness of God in all this
arrangement. God knew that we needed food and clothing,
404 OSBORX. TSHUMGWANA.
and many things for ourselves and for our families, and He
has given us the right to get and to hold property, lands,
houses, cattle, money, and everything we need for our com
fort, and He has given us the right to use six days out of
every seven, and commands us during those six days to
work and attend to all our business, and thus get property
honestly, and have lack of nothing. But then the bodies
of men, and women, and of beasts that labour for us, would
break down if they did not get some rest-days, and God,
who made us, knew just exactly how many were needed
for man and beast, and set apart every seventh day for that
purpose, and that while we were resting we might spend
the seventh day specially with Him as a holy day, when all
His people might meet together as children come to their
father, and ask and receive his blessing. This is a law of
God to man, and hence, if any man or beast is suffering in
any way, and we can relieve them by work on the Sabbath,
then the loving design of the law allows us to do such
work, and it is pleasing to God. These four commands
God wrote on one stone. They show us God s great kind
ness and justice. He is very anxious to have us keep His
laws and be happy with Him for ever, but if we will not,
then we bring pollution and death upon ourselves. The
next stone had six commands written on it ; the first is to
our children. God loves our children, and says to each
one, " Honour thy father and thy mother : that thy days
may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth
thee." Our land is needed for our children s bodies when
we are dead, and God is needed for their spirits. If they
are not true to their parents they get into all sorts of
trouble at home, and thus into wars, and finally lose their
land and all their property ; if they are not true to God
they lose their portion in Him and go down to hell.
In the next command God speaks to every human being,
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 405
" Thou shalt not kill." God has given us life, and kindly
guards it by a command from that thundering mountain,
" Thou shalt not kill." When a man breaks this cofti-
mand, and murders another, by God s laws his life is for
feited, and the judges may try him, and put him to death,
for God says, " Whoso sheddeth man s blood by man shall
his blood be shed." No man has a right to put even the
murderer to death unless, after a fair trial, the Court has
found him truly guilty, and commands him to be put to
death. There are cases also in war, when men come into
your country with the intention of murdering you and your
families, and taking all your cattle, when the lives of many
such persons are forfeited like that of the murderer. God
gives you the right to defend yourselves, and your families,
and homes, and He delivers over to your assegais such as
He knows have forfeited their lives. We see, then, while
God so kindly guards our rights to life, His justice sen
tences the wretch, who dares to commit murder, and break
this law, to death. It is not because God has any pleasure
in seeing the blood of the murderer shed, but He wants
to make the law strong to guard our lives. Even in His
justice He is very merciful to mankind. Now do you
want to hear God s seventh command ? Then listen, " Thou
shalt not commit adultery.
In the beginning God made one man, and he was alone,
and God said, " It is not good for man to be alone," and
then he made one woman, and gave her to the man to be
his wife. If God had designed man to have more than
one wife, then He would have given the first man as many
wives as He knew He ought to have, for Adam was not a
poor man, for God had given hiri all the world and every
thing in it, and yet He gave him but one wife, for He knew
that one wife was enough for any man. God thus gave to
man the right and the command to form families, and the
406 OSBORN. TSHUMGWANA.
command, " be fruitful and multiply in the earth," and He
thus showed clearly His law for forming families by the
marriage union of one man to one woman. That was God s
pattern for all people to follow, and He based a law upon it
in these words, " In the beginning God created them male and
female," and said, " for this cause shall a man leave father
and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain
shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain but
one flesh. What, therefore, God hath joined together let
not man put asunder."
Thus you see God s pattern and God s words together
show His law for forming families as plain as daylight.
Thus you see, if God had allowed a man to have more than
one wife He would have given Adam just as many as He
would allow any great chief to have, for Adam was the
greatest chief and the richest man that ever was made, and
then God s law from that pattern would have been " For
this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and
take as many wives as he can buy or support," but you see
that is not God s arrangement at all. You see, too, that
God s law forbids multiplying in the earth except under
His family arrangement, and also any waste or abuse of
our powers for multiplying, which would in any way inter
fere with God s family law. The seventh command God
wrote on the stone is to guard His arrangement for forming
families and He says to every man and woman in the world,
" Thou shalt not commit adultery." Are not all God s family
arrangements wise, and kind, and good ? The man or
woman who breaks any part of God s good family plans
and laws wickedly insults God, and sets Him at defiance.
Kbw let us examine the eighth command, and see what
ft good one it is. God has not only given every man the
right to have one wife, and every woman one husband, to
live together in union, and have children, and " Train them
8E11MOX TO THE HEATHEN. 407
up in the way they should go," but He has given us the
right to get and to own property for the comfortable sup
port of ourselves and our families, and has given us the
right to use six days in each week to work, and do busi
ness, and thus get property honestly, and He guards our
rights to our property by a command to each man, woman,
and child in the world, " Thou shalt not steal." How kind
and thoughtful God has been for us, has He not ? Now
have you got any other thing dear to you that God could
guard by His authority as our Great King in a command
from the thundering mountain ? What is the dearest
thing a man or woman has that can be injured by another ?
It is your reputation, your good name. If a man tells lies
of you, and gets your neighbours, the doctors, and the
chiefs to believe that you are a witch or a thief, and
gets them down on you, don t you see that you are ruined ?
God has given us a right to get and to have a good name,
and guards that right by the command to every human
soul who has a tongue : " Thou shalt not bear false wit
ness against thy neighbour." Now there is nothing left
that is dear to us that God could guard by another com
mand, and yet there is another. What can it be for?
Take it into your minds, and examine it well, and see what
it is for. " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour s house,
thou shall not covet they neighbour s wife, nor his man
servant, nor his maid- servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor
any thing that is thy neighbour s." A desire in the heart
for any of these things so strong as to lead us to be willing
to break any of God s laws to get them, is to covet them.
A desire to get property is right, and, as you have seen,
God provides for that fully, but if we allow that desire to
get so strong that we are willing to get it by any dishonest
means, that is coveting it, which is a dreadful heart-sin
against God and man. A desire to leave father and mother
408 OSBORN. TSHUMGWANA.
and get married to one wife and have a family is right, and
we have seen God s good pattern and law for all that, but
to allow your desire to get too strong, and be your master,
and lead you to be willing to use in any wrong way the
powers God has given you to be used only in His wise
family arrangement, that is covetousness, which is a great
sin against God, because to gratify your wicked desire you
will insult God and defy His authority. It is this dread
ful heart-desire which wicked people indulge and allow to
grow in their spirits till it masters them, and leads them
to tell lies against their neighbours, steal their property,
commit murders, and break all God s good laws. So you
see, my dear friends, the first five commands of the second
stone, each names the greatest outward sin against the
best things God has given us to enjoy, but this last
command strikes at the dreadful inward heart-sin of un
lawful desire, which is the fountain from which all the
rest flows. So you see all these commands of God reach
from the highest outward sin to the lowest wrong desire of
the heart. So the man who is guilty of murder in the
sight of God is not only the man who assegais another to
death from behind a bush, but the man also who allows the
feeling of hate and murder to have any place in his heart.
God says, " He that hateth his brother is a murderer."
So also a man is not to commit adultery, nor is he allowed
to look upon a woman for the purpose of indulging even a
wrong heart-desire for her. What holy, just, and good
laws these are ! You see at once who made them, for no
man could make laws so wise, so good, so broad, and so
deep. If every one was obedient to these laws, then all the
people in the world would love each other like brothers and
sisters, then we would have no more wars, no killing, no
stealing, no cheating, no telling lies, and injuring the good
name of another ; no more adulteries, nor any of the
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 409
polluting wickedness of " nbnkweta " or " intonjane. *
Then love to God, " peace on earth, goodwill to man," would
fill the world with happiness and God would be well
pleased.
Well now, my dear friends, don t you all say that God s
laws are right and good, and that everybody ought to obey
them ? We all agree in that I see. Well, then, have you
obeyed them? Why, says one, " How could we obey them,
when we never knew them before?" Very well, you know
them now. Are you willing to obey them ? Are yon wil
ling to accept the Lord God as your God, the supreme
Object of your trust, and heart-obedience, and love ? Are
you willing to give up all these wretched things you have
been trusting in, instead of God ? Are you willing never
to speak His name but in reverence and love ? Are you
willing to work and attend to all your own business six
days in the week, and remember the Sabbath, to use it
only as God has appointed, as a day of rest, and the wor
ship of God, our Great King ? Now, to come to the laws
of the second stone : Do these children consent to love and
obey their parents, and so live at home, and away from
home, as to bring honour to them ? And do you, parents,
consent so to teach your children, and to give them such a
holy example of right-doing that they may, by obedience,
bring honour upon you ? When, in words or acts, you teach
them wrong things, they will disgrace themselves, and dis
honour you, even by obedience to you. Do you consent
never to kill anybody, nor indulge angry desires in your
hearts ? Do you consent never to commit adultery, nor any
uncleanness by the abuse of any of your powers which
belong only to the family institution of God, and to sub
mit to God s plan and law, of having but one wife ? Do
you consent never to steal, nor so desire the property of
another as to get it by any unfair means ? Do you consent
410 OSBORX. TSHUMGWANA.
never to tell any more lies, nor in any way injure the good
name of your neighbour? I see some of you stick at one
thing, and some at another, and at heart you are rebels
against God. Though you have not known God, your
ancient fathers knew Him, and these good laws of God ;.
but they did not obey them, and their foolish hearts were
darkened. Thus you have lost entirely the four laws of
the first stone ; but you have retained portions of five of
the laws of the second stone. You have laws against dis
obedience to parents, against murder, against adultery,
against stealing, and against lying ; and you have fines and
punishments for all these sins ; but you have so corrupted
and altered these laws of God that you confine them to a
few outward things, and leave yourselves plenty of room
for breaking the laws of God ; and your laws don t go down
into the heart like God s laws. So you sec, my friends,
you have closed your eyes against the light God has given
you, and have refused to walk in the path of obedience to
Him. Even now, when you see the plain, good path
marked out for us all by His laws, you refuse to walk in it.
Now, friends, let me tell you a great secret. You have
seen that all the outward sins flow from a corrupt covetous
source of sins in the heart, so all right obedience to God s
laws must flow from holiness and love in the heart. You
can t get salt water and fresh water out of the same
spring. !N"ow, if we have not that holiness in our hearts,
shoving all the corrupt covetousness clear outside, then we
cannot love God, nor keep His commandments. Alas !
that is just the thing Adam and Eve lost when they first
rebelled against God, and every child born since has come
into the world in the sinful " likeness " and " image " of
fallen Adam and Eve, with their corrupted nature in our
spirits, and the love of God, and holiness to obey His laws
are not there at all ; and because our spirits are corrupt,
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 411
we begin to go wrong when little children, and go on worse
and worse. Now, that is the state of every one of you.
Your spirits are corrupt as you feel and know. You refuse
to keep God s laws, and can t keep them while your hearts
are wicked. You are guilty, because you are sinners.
You are under the sentence of death, because you have
broken God s laws, for He says, " The soul that sinneth, it
shall die." You are slaves of Satan, for having yielded
yourselves servants to sin, and become rebels against God,
He has delivered you over to Satan. What a dreadful
state you are all in to be sure. Now, you know this is all
true, and all your sacrifices to " Icanti" to " Inkosi " and
" Imishologu," prove that you feel this dreadful guilt, and
want to atone for it in that way. Now, what is to be
done ? Every common crime against a chief must be
atoned for by paying cattle ; but some sins, such as mur
der and witchcraft, cannot be atoned for by the payment of
cattle at all, the guilty man must die.
Now, sins of any kind against the Great God cannot be
atoned for by cattle or anything in this world. All the
gold and silver, and all the cattle in this world would not
atone for the sins of one sinner. Now, as the whole world
was guilty before God, and as there was no ransom for
any of them, they were all going down into the infernal
hole of Satan together, for they were so polluted and so
guilty, they were not fit to live with God, and there was no
other place for them. But though we were all such rebels
against God, He loved us so much, and He was so sorry
for us, He could not bear to see us all dragged by Satan
down to hell, so He made a plan to give an atonement from
heaven for the sins of all the sinners in the world, and send
down a great Saviour to save all who would consent to
obey God s laws, and receive the Saviour. There was " no
man in heaven or on earth " who could find out how man
OSBORN. TSHUMGWAXA.
could be redeemed from the death-sentence of these laws,
or how our spirits could be washed from the pollution of
sin, and made holy and fit to live with God, but God found
out this great mystery, and made the whole plan Himself.
Now, my dear friends, we want to explain to you some
thing about this great God. There is but one God, He
hath told us that Himself, and He cannot lie, and we see
the proofs of it in the plan of all His works, but in this one
God there are three distinct personal spirits, exactly of the
same nature, and the same power and love, which together
constitute one God. They are called God the Father, the
Son of God, and the Holy Ghost, " and these Three are
One." This is a great mystery ; you cannot understand it,
and yet you know it is true. There is a mystery about
everything you see that you can t understand, but when we
have the proof that anything is true, we believe it, and don t
trouble ourselves about the mystery at all. How do we
know that in God there are three Persons ? Because He
hath told us so in His book, and in proof of it many holy
men have got acquainted with God the Father, and with
God the Son, and with God the Holy Ghost.
Well, the great plan that these Three in One agreed
upon was, that God the Father should give His Son to
come down into this wicked world, and be offered as a sacri
fice for the sins of all the people, and the Son of God loved
us so that He was glad to do that. But as He was all
spirit, and had no body to offer as a sacrifice, it was agreed
that He should lay aside all His glory, and all His great
things in the glorious " Great Place " of His Father, and
come down, and take a human body and a human spirit, be
born a little child, and grow up to be a man, that He might
be our Teacher, and die for the sins of the world.
This was the great Saviour God told Adam and Eve
that He would send, who should be born of a woman,
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 413
and bruise Satan s head; and God after that told
many good men about Him, but He showed His great
" purpose " more fully to Moses, for he was such a good
man that he could understand it better. In the nation of
Israel, of which Moses was a great chief, as we told you
before, there arose many holy men who knew God, and
God told them all about His " purpose " to save the world.
He told them when His Son would come, and that He
should be born of a virgin who had never known any man,
and He should be born in a place called Bethlehem, and
that though the second Spirit of God, called the Son of
God, would be in Him, He would look just like any other
man ; that He would teach holy men all God s laws
for mankind, which they had forgotten, and leveal to them
the " unknown God ; " that He would heal the sick, give
sight to the blind, teach the poor people, and raise many
dead men to life ; that II e would go about continually doing
good. But God told them distinctly that because His Son
was so good, and the world so bad, they would tell lies of
Him, and beat Him, and scold Him, and that when He
was ready to offer Himself up as a sacrifice for sins, He
would just deliver Himself up to the wicked people and
their rulers, who would nail Him to a tree, and put Him
to death, and that God would accept His sacrifice for the
sins of the whole world, and raise Him up from the dead the
third day after, to be for ever our Great Priest and Saviour,
that by Him all might have the power to come to God,
and get forgiveness of all sins, and get their dirty spirits
washed and made fit to dwell with God in eternal happi
ness. Well, all these words of God about His Son were
written down in a book hundreds of years before the time
set for Him to come, so that there should be no mistake
in knowing Him when He should come. God s plan, too,
was that through the promise of the Son of God to do all
414 OSBORN. TSHUMGVVANA.
these things, all who would believe God s words about Him,
and accept God s coming Son as their Saviour, should
be saved, as certainly before as after His coming, and for
fear that His words might not go deep enough into the
minds of men, and that they might not trust in His only
sacrifice for sins, to help their faith in His words, he told
them to offer sacrifices of beasts to show their faith, not in
the beast, but in the one great sacrifice of His Son. Many
hundreds of years passed away, and many thousands of
sinners believed God s words about His Son, and while
they offered bullocks on God s altars, as pictures or pat
terns of the sacrifice God had promised, they accepted
the Son of God as their Saviour, and they were saved,
made holy, and went up to the holy place of God to be
happy for ever. All who carefully read God s holy books
about His Son knew when the time would come for His
appearing among men, and they waited patiently, and at
the time sure enough He came, and all the things that
God had said, which had been written down by the holy men
of God, were done. Everything about His birth, His life, His
teachings, His mighty works, the persecutions He endured,
His death and resurrection, everything came to pass just
exactly as God said it would come to pass. The Son of
God was called Jesus, which means Saviour, for He came
to save the people from their sins. He was also called
Christ, which means anointed, for God the Father set
Him apart, and anointed Him to be the Saviour of the
world.
Well, all these things that Jesus Christ did, and all that
the people did to Him, which God had said would be done,
were also written down in a book, so that all the world
might read them, and learn about Him, believe God s
words, and receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
He was " crucified, dead, and buried, but the third day
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 415
after He arose from the dead; " and then, in the same human
body which had been put to death, He taught His learners
and good men for forty days ; and then from a mountain,
called the Mount of Olives, they saw Him ascend up to
heaven, out of their sight. I have seen all those places ;
where He was born, and lived, and taught, and died and rose
again, and ascended to heaven. Now we have not time to
day to read to you all these words of God about Him.
We have them all here in this book, but you know we
would not tell you a lie about them. Here is the missionary,
and plenty of these Kaffir people in the station, who have
read them, and they will tell you the same things, and in
proof of their truth, according to these words of God, we
have received Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and He has saved
us from our sins; and "we know God and Jesus Christ
whom He hath sent," for He went back to His Father, not
to leave us in our sins to perish, but to be our Great High
Priest at the throne of the Great King of heaven, and He is
as really the Saviour of sinners now as when He dwelt
among men. It is from God s " Great Place," quite out of
our sight, that he sends us rain, and supplies all the wants
of our bodies, so from the same Great Place, Jesus Christ
sends us salvation from sin and Satan, and makes us holy,
so that we may keep God s commands. " But," says one,
" Oh, He is a great way off; how shall I find Him?" "Well
now, we ll tell you another great secret. Before Jesus Christ
left the world, He said to all His holy men, and they wrote
it down, " If I go not away, the Comforter will not come
unto you ; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." And
again, " I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter." Jesus was then their Comforter, but was going
away, but promised to send another to take His place, and
abide with us ; how long ? " that He may abide with you
for ever." Who is this Comforter ? " Even the Spirit of
416 OSBOEN. TSHUMGWAXA.
truth ; whom the world cannot receive, because it seetli Him
not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." " These things
have I spoken unto you," said Jesus, " being yet present
with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you
all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you."
The Comforter he promised to send to live with us in
this world for ever is the Holy Ghost, who is the third
Great Spirit of the one Great God. He is an " Unknown
God" to the poor slaves ot Satan, because they don t see Him,
but all the saved ones know Him, for He dwells with them,
and teaches them, and comforts them every day ; yet still
they don t see Him, but they feel His power in their hearts.
You can t see my spirit, yet it is my spirit that has been
teaching you for an hour. You can t see Imishologu ; yet
you believe they live, and you have offered hundreds of
sacrifices to them. You can t see the air you breathe, yet
you could not live ten minutes without it. The air is the
symbol God uses in His book to illustrate the presence and
power of the Holy Ghost. The air is everywhere, so the
Holy Ghost is in every part of this world. His first busi
ness is to shine into our dark spirits, and show us our
pollution of spirit by sin, our deep guilt for breaking God s
good laws, our exposure to the death-penalty of the law,
our bondage to Satan, and to show us that we have no
power to save ourselves. This light of the Holy Spirit
shining into us stirs up all the bad in our hearts, wakes up
the wicked- spirits of Satan s fallen host, and then there is
a great war in our hearts. The wickedness of our polluted
spirits, called the " carnal mind," and Satan raises a -great
war against the Holy Ghost, to keep us from following the
Holy Ghost, and accepting Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 417
But if we set our whole hearts to resist sin and Satan, and
let God s Spirit lead us, He will make God s words about
Jesus plain to our minds, and then if we consent to allow
Him to take away all our sins, and cleanse our spirits
through the blood of Christ s atonement, and receive Jesus
Christ as our Saviour, God will at once give us the power
to be His children. Do you hear these words ? Are they
not glad tidings to your ears ? Yet you will not know
God by hearing and believing that it is the truth that we
are telling you, unless you submit to God s laws, and
according to God s words receive Jesus Christ as your
Saviour. Now remember, many of us have proved the
truth of all this. We have both proved it (the two speakers)
the missionary here has proved it, and many of his people-
here have proved it. "We were poor sinners as dark as any
of you. We remember well when the Holy Ghost shined
into us and showed us our sins ; we felt the burden of guilt
heavy on our souls ; we felt the mighty opposing power of
Satan ; we felt that there was no help in us ; then we cried
to God for help ; We confessed our sins to Him, and sub
mitted our wretched souls and bodies to His will, to do
with us just as He pleased, but we believed His words about
Jesus Christ, and received Him as our Saviour from sin,
and the very moment we accepted God s Son as our Saviour,
God pardoned all our sins. The Holy Ghost bore witness
with our spirits that we were the children of God, a^d washed
our spirits through the blood of Jesus, and filled taem with
His love. He did not bear witness to cur eyes, or ears,
but to our spirits ; and we know that God s words are true
for we have proved them, and we know that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God and the Saviour of sinners, for He hath,
saved us ; and we know that we are the children of God by
His Spirit, which He hath given us, and by His purifying;
power in our hearts, and the love we feel for God and man.
EE
413 OSBORN. TSHUMGWANA.
Now we accept the Great King as " the Lord our God,"
and gladly keep His commandments, for the fountain of
our hearts has been purified, the bitter waters of covetous-
ness have been cleared out, and the sweet waters of God s
renewing love now flow out in willing obedience to all
God s laws.
Now my dear friends, a great many of the things we
have told you to-day you know to be true, from what you
have felt and from what you now feel, and the rest we
know to be true, for we have proved them, and we come to
you as witnesses to the truth of God s words about Jesus.
You know we would not tell you lies ; even if the truth was
not in us, we have nothing to gain by telling you lies. We
are witnesses for Jesus that He came to save sinners, that
He hath saved us, and that He is very desirous to save you
to-day. "Will you consent to let Him save you now ? The
Holy Spirit is now shining into the minds of many of you;
you now begin to feel His mighty power, arid the opposing
power of sin and of Satan in your hearts.
You know the rising desire you feel in your heart to give
up sin, and yield yourselves to God, is not from Satan, nor
from your own bad hearts, and it is not from me, it is the
awakening work of the Holy Ghost in your hearts. 0, He
wants to lead you to Jesus. He won t force you ; but if
you consent to be saved from all your sins, and walk after
Him, He will lead you to Jesus. The Son of God don t
wait for you to go up to heaven, to His Great Place, but
whenever you are so sick of your sins as to give yourselves
wholly to Him to save you, and receive Him by faith in
God s words about Him, He comes down quick as thought,
and delivers your soul from Satan, and washes it from its
sins. Jesus loves you every one, and wants to save you
now, and that is the reason He has sent His Spirit into
your hearts to give you the desire you feel to come to Him.
SERMON TO THE HEATHEN. 419
He is the only Friend you have, who loves you enough
to die for yon. He " hath tasted death for every man ; "
He hath poured out His heart s blood for you, each one, as
the only sacrifice for sins. His love for poor sinners is the
same to-day as the day He died for us, for He is not like
a man to change ; He is the Son of God, and hence the
same in all the past time, the present, and for ever. He
has a word for each one of you, " Come unto me, all ye
that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
You are heavy laden with sins, and sorrows, and guilt;
you are weary with travelling in the dark way that leads
to hell you are the very persons whom Jesus invites, and
He says, " Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I
am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest for your
souls." Will you take His yoke, consent to be "in-spanned"
and bear His yoke, and walk in obedience to all His laws ;
He won t lay too heavy a yoke upon you, for He says, to
encourage you, " I am meek and lowly of heart," the most
sympathizing, loving Friend in the world. If you take His
yoke, submit to flis will, and receive Him as your only
Saviour, then ye " shall find rest for your souls." He will
not deliver your bodies from the death penalty of the law.
They will still suffer, and finally go down into the grave ;
but Jesus has promised to raise your bodies from the grave
in the end, just as His human body was raised, and then
our bodies will be so glorious and holy, as to be suitable
for our pure spirits to live in at the " Great Place" of our
King. Will you accept Jesus as your King, your Priest,
and your Saviour, or not ? Let every one think well, and
decide for himself and herself to be the Lord s, and receive
Jesus Christ, or not. Let no one try to come to Jesus,
eimply because another does. Let no one be ashamed to
come to Jesus through fear of anybody. " God commands "
each one of you to repent, and believe the Gospel, to sur-
420 OSBOKK. TSHUMGWAXA.
render to God, and on God s own offer, and invitation, and
promises, to receive Jesus Christ. When He came to His
people in olden time, many of them received Him not, and
they perished in their sins ; " but as many as received Him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
as many as believed on His name." It is so now. Within
the last two months we have seen about two thousand
Kaffirs surrender to God, and receive Jesus Christ, and by
the Holy Spirit every one of them received the power, re
newing their hearts, and making them u the sons of God."
If you fail to accept Christ, you will fail to receive this great
salvation, and will die in your sins. Now God s great plan
of salvation is before you, and you not only know that these
things are true by what we have told you, but by the Spirit s
light in your minds. Life and death are now before you;
walk after the Spirit, receive Christ, and ye shall live ; or,
walk after your bad nature and Satan, and you will die in
your sins.
Now all who have looked straight at God s words to-day,
and who feel the Holy Spirit s light and power in their
hearts, and who have decided to give up all their sins, and
obey God ; all who now consent to receive Jesus Christ, to
be His, living or dying, to be true to Him, and have con
fidence in Him, and cleave to Him as your Saviour, as long
as you live, let them stand up. Let none stand up but
poor sinners, who now consent to be the Lord s, and receive
Jesus Christ, but all such may stand up now.
About one hundred awakened persons stood up.
A majority of them were persons on the mission, who
had been long under Gospel teaching ; but among
them was a large number of raw heathen. Then
we all kneeled down and prayed, and the power of
the Holy Ghost seemed to shake the whole mass of
ANOTHER TURN AT THE HEATHEN. 421
believers and sinners in a remarkable manner, and
many were saved at that service.
After the close of the day service the heathen re
turned to their kraals, not considering it safe, on
account of their war troubles with the Pondos, to
be away from their homes after dark. That night
we preached in the chapel to the people living on
the mission premises, amounting to about 400, in*
eluding children. The next day, which was Sabbath,
the 19th of August, we had the heathen out in still
greater numbers than we had the day before, and
after preaching to them in the same open court, from
the third and fourth verses of the eighth chapter of
Komans, we had a prayer-meeting, at which many
were saved. At night we preached again in the
chapel. On Monday we preached out-doors to the
heathen again, from the Saviour s narrative of the
prodigal son. After a suitable explanation of the
subject, we used the prodigal s career to illustrate
the spiritual condition of the apostate nations of
Africa. I will merely state some of the leading
points of the analogy, which we worked out in detail
on that occasion.
1st. Every red Kaffir among you has been circumcised.
Where did you get this ceremony of circumcision ? Ahout
4,000 years ago God made a covenant with Abraham, that
great old chief we told you about the other day. The
covenant bound him and all his seed to be true to God,
and keep all His laws, and thus they would secure God s
special blessings through all generations. And God said
422 OSBORN. TSHUMGWANA.
to Abraham, " This is my covenant which ye shall keep,
between me and yon, and thy seed after thee. Every man
child among you shall be circumcised and it shall be a
token of the covenant betwixt me and you." The seed of
Abraham from that time continued to circumcise their sons
for about 2,000 years, till Jesus Christ came. Then God
set the outward token of circumcision aside, and received
all poor sinners of every nation alike into His church, who
would repent of their sins, and accept Jesus Christ as their
Saviour. Instead of circumcision He gave them all one
outward sign for males and females alike baptism by
water, and the inward "washing of regeneration, and re
newing of the Holy Ghost." You see that some of your
ancient fathers knew God, and His covenant with men;
but though you have kept to circumcision to this day, you
have gone so far from home, that you have lost the know
ledge of God and His covenant, and have therefore failed
to learn His new Gospel covenant for all nations. Cir
cumcision, till Christ came, was the ceremony of initia
tion into the Church of God, and the token of His Cove
nant ; but you have made it the ceremony of initiation to
the standing and privileges of manhood and citizenship, and
the token for a system of corruption, most dishonouring to
God and degrading to yourselves.
2nd. Where did you learn to offer sacrifices of bullocks
as an atonement for sin ? God appointed the offering of
sacrifices thousands of years ago, as teaching types of the
one great sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
When you kill a bullock as a sacrifice for a sick man,
you split the beast in two, from the nose to the tail, right
through the middle of the backbone. That is just the way
Abraham did thousands of years ago. He " divided them
in the midst, and laid each piece one against another."
When you prepare a bullock for sacrifice, you separate
KAFFIRISM AND JUDAISM. 4,23
all the fat, and offer that by itself. God said to Moses,
thousands of years ago, the priest " shall take off from it
all the fat of the bullock for the sin-offering, the fat that
covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the in
wards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them ;
and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt-
offering."
When you kill a bullock for a sick man, you catch the
" blood in basins," and your priest sprinkles some of the blood
upon the sick man, and on his bed, and the things in his hut.
Then he digs a hole in the cattle kraal (the most sacred place
known to a heathen Kaffir, so much so, that women are pre
cluded as from the inner court of the Jewish temple and
pours the remainder of the blood into the hole. God said to
Moses, " The priest that is anointed shall take the bullock s
blood, and bring it to the tabernacle, and shall dip his finger
in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before
the Lord. He shall put some of the blood upon the horns
of the altar, and pour all the rest of the blood of the bullock
at the bottom of the altar of the burnt -offering."
When you offer a sacrifice, you carry the bones of the
bullock outside of the kraal, and burn them. God said to
Moses, " The skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his
head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung,
even the whole bullock, shall be carried forth without the
camp into a clean place, where the ashes are poured out,
and burn him on the wood with fire."
You see, my dear friends, from the many things you have,
which are so much like the things that God commanded
Abraham and Moses to do, that some of your old fathers
knew God and his teachings to Moses ; but one generation
after another wandered away, like lost sheep, till you dcr/t
know the way to get back. You have kept one truth, that
" without the shedding of blood there Is no remission of
424 OSI30RX. TSHTJMGWANA.
sins ; " but you have lost the knowledge of the only Sacrifice
which can take away sins, the body of Jesus Christ. You
have held on to the type or picture, but lost sight of the
real substance.
That, my friends, is not the worst of it. You offer your
sacrifices not to God, but to " Icanti," a great snake
and to Imishologu, who could not help you while they lived,
and how can they help you now that they are gone ?
When Abraham offered a sacrifice to God, he confessed
his sins, and that for sins he deserved to be put to death,
but his bullock was accepted, and slain instead of himself ;
but while he looked at his bleeding victim, he saw in it but
a picture of the bleeding Jesus, whom God had promised
to send into the world, as the only sacrifice which could
take away sins.
"When we come to God in praying, confessing our sins,
and our exposure to the death-penalty of the law of God,
we don t bring a bullock, for when the real sacrifice for the
sins of the world came, then it was no longer necessary to
use the picture or type oi it, but to look directly to Christ.
We have the plain words of God s Book to tell us the way,
and we have the Holy Spirit of God to lead us to the living
Jesus, and by His own precious blood He saves us from
our sins.
The foregoing are some of the points brought out
and illustrated on that occasion. Many prodigals
came home to God that day and obtained a free
pardon by accepting Christ. We preached ag*
in the chapel that night, and God was with us.
On Tuesday we had a larger number of heathen
than at any previous service, among whom was Mak-
aula the Amabaca Chief. That day we preached fr
" CHOOSE YE THIS DAY WHOM YE WILL SERVE." 425
" Choose ye this day whom ye will serve," and tried
to influence them to a right decision by contrasting
their system of heathenish superstition with the
Gospel of Christ. The principal points were, First,
Their dark traditions and God s plain Gospel teach
ing. Second: Their sacrifices to "Icanti" and to
the ghosts of their old dead fathers, and the "body "
God prepared and accepted as the only sacrifice
which can atone for sins. Third : Their vain hope
that Imishologu will be their mediator with Tixo (or
God), and the certain fact that we have a Divine
Advocate with the Father, and the only Mediator
between God and man. Fourth : The broken reeds
on which they lean, their priests, poor ignorant men
like themselves, the charms which their priests bind
about their necks, with the everlasting doubt which
haunts them, and the utter failure of all these things
to bring rest to their souls,, and on our side the per
sonal knowledge of God and Jesus Christ whom He
hath sent, attained by all true believers, the security
of dwelling " under the shadow of the Almighty,"
the sweet rest of soul which Jesus gives to all who
come to Him, and the abiding presence of the Holy
Comforter God hath sent to conduct us in peace to
our home in heaven.
In showing them the folly of putting their trust
in the charms or amulets they wear round their
necks, instead of submitting themselves to Christ
and putting their trust in the living God, I said,
" Your country was invaded a few weeks ago by a
426 OSBOllX. TSIIUMGWANA.
large army of the Amapondo. They came to kill
and destroy you and to take your cattle. Did not
every one of those Pondo warriors go to a priest and
get a protection which he thought would be proof
against your assegais ? Did not the priest hang a
lot of roots, birds -claws, tufts of hair, hoofs of
beasts, and little horns, containing charmed stuff,
round the neck of each one of them to make them
courageous and strong, and to preserve them from
death ? Now, tell me, what good did all these things
do them ? "
I then drew out of my coat-pocket a double hand
ful of charms, and holding them up to the astonished
gaze of the sable audience (for if one of them should
touch anything from the body of a man slain in
battle they would be sure of being poisoned or
bewitched by the touch) I said, " Look here ! what
a god in time of trouble ? A poor Pondo got this lot
of trash from a priest, and thought these would save
him from death in the day of battle. "What good
did they do him ? You slew him with all his
charms on him, and this morning my boy here cut
them off the neck of his carcase, and will you still
reject the only true God, and put your trust in
such filthy trash as this ? The Pondos were in
vaders of your country to rob and to kill you, and
God delivered the Pondos over to your assegais,
because you were defending your homes, your cattle,
your families, your own lives ; and then, instead of
giving God credit for His mercy to your nation, you
WEEPING TIME AMONG THE HEATHENS. 427
had a great ceremony of thanks to Imishologu, and
said that your priests and your charms made you
strong and gave you the victory." The foregoing is
a mere specimen illustration of many on that occa
sion adjusted to the capacity of their heathen minds.
The Holy Spirit s application of truth and the effect
upon the audience was quite indescribable. Many,
with heads down, shed almost streams of tears, but
I observed one old heathen woman who kept her
wrinkled face up, in her hand she had a little
instrument made of bone, in very general use
among them. It is about six inches long, with a
fork at one end, some with two, others with three,
prongs about three inches long, which are used for
picking their teeth, scratching their heads, and to
stick into their hair as an ornament, the other end
is cut into the shape of a salt-spoon, but not quite so
large, which is used for dipping snuff, a favourite
entertainment among the heathen as well as among
the civilized people of Christian countries, but the
old woman, having no handkerchief to wipe away
her tears, used the little spoon for scraping them up,
and tossing them away as they settled down in the
furrows of her face.
That night, being our last, we had a fellowship-
meeting. The chapel was packed somewhat after
the style of packing herrings in a barrel. At the
opening we told the old members that having so
many new disciples present who had received Christ
in their hearts, and were ready to make confession
428 OSBORN, TSHUMGWANA.
with their mouths, we specially desired the old ones
to tell us a very short story.
Then an old man got up and said, that many years
ago, as he was travelling from Shawbury to Tshum-
gwana, a lion jumped on him and broke his back
and left him lying there, nearly dead. Several per
sons came along and looked at him, and passed by on
the other side. Finally, a man took him to his hut,
and after a long illness he got well, and God had
been very kind to him, but he did not tell us whether
or not he had been delivered from Satan, "who goeth
about as a roaring lion, seekingwhomhe may devour."
I then said, " Lion-stories are very interesting when
we have time to listen to them, but we have no time
now to hear anything but whether or not you have
received Jesus Christ and got your sins forgiven ? "
Then another old fellow got up and told a dream
he had some years before in which a black man
appeared to him. He thought it was the devil, and
woke up in such a fright that he could not stay
there any longer, and then he came to live at the
mission-station, and had been trying ever since to
serve God.
Then another arose, and said that many years ago
he was baptized at Shawbury, by Mr. Garner, and
drew out, what the sailors would call, " a long yarn/*
but with really nothing in it to the point. Then
followed another, who, while living at Shawbury,
was sick a long time, feared he should die, and was
not prepared. In his distress he tried to pray, and
one evening he looked toward the east, and saw Jesus
GLORIOUS FELLOWSHIP MEETING. 429
sitting on a cloud, and heard a voice saying unto
him, " Thou art a child of God." Said I, " Charles,
this won t do. It gets worse and worse, not only
unedifying, but misleading, for these young converts
have not 1 seen any sights, nor heard any supernatural
sounds/ and we had taught them not to expect
such things, having a more sure word of prophecy
through God s Word and the inward demonstration
of the Holy Spirit, so I said, " Now we will all
stand up and sing The Eden Above." After a
grand concert of melody of thrilling effect to men,
and probably to angels, I said, " Now we will give
all the rest of the time of this meeting to the young
converts." Then within the next fifty minutes one
hundred and ten new witnesses came on with their
simple, pointed, stirring facts. The whole time of
the speaking was eighty minutes, but the old
"fogies" at the beginning occupied about thirty.
The testimony of the new hands was clear, short,
and to the point, with a great variety of expression
and illustration, nothing commonplace or formal.
Two or three illustrative specimens may suffice here :
A woman said, " When I came to these meetings
I asked God for a great gift, and He showed me my
sins ! I then crit-,d to Him to save me, and He gave
me Jesus Christ, who saved me from all my sins, and
filled my heart with His love."
A man said, " I was asleep. God opened my eyes
to-day, and pardoned my sins for Christ s sake, and
now I have light."
Another man said, "I have been trying to serve
4oO OSBORN. TSHUMGWAXA.
God for seven years, but I had an old shield full of
holes, it would not turn away the fiery darts of
Satan, but last Sunday I saw that I was one of the
very worst of sinners. I cried to- God, and received
Jesus Christ as my Saviour. Now I have peace, and
God has given me a new shield."
That night, in spite of the perils of war, a large
number of heathen came crowding round the chapel,
unable to get in, so in pity to them we cut the fellow
ship-meeting short in the midst of a continuous press
of witnesses for Jesus, and got all who were in the
chapel to go out and let the outsiders come in.
After an interval of about a quarter of an hour, we
commenced a prayer-meeting for seekers, thirteen of
whom entered into liberty. During the series of
four days at Tshumgwana, Rev. Brother White ex
amined and took the names of 167 persons, a good
proportion of whom had come to the series as poor
heathens, who gave to him satisfactory evidence of
having been "justified by faith," a small number
compared with that of some other places, but large
in proportion to the population, and the limited time
employed in the series.
CHAPTER XXIV,
EMFUNDTSWENI.
OUR trip from Tshumgwana to Emfundisweni may
be sufficiently illustrated by the following extract
from Stuart s journal.
On Wednesday, the 22nd of August, 1866, at half past
seven, A.M., we bade adieu to the battlefields of Tshum-
gwana. The Umzimvubu drift, a few miles distant, is
very slippery, and hence considered very dangerous. We
met a lot of Hottentots near the river, and Mr. Roberts
got some of them to outspan and lead his horses over, and
others to pull the cart. My father drew his boots and
waded, but my surefooted " tripler" carried me over safely.
From the river we had to ascend a very steep hill,
where we again had difficulty with the baulky horse, but
finally mastered him. On a number of hills adjacent we
saw lines of native hunters stationed. They stood about
half-a-mile apart, with assegais in hand, and dogs by their
side, to intercept the herds of deer as they fled towards
the river from the driving hunters sent to the interior.
We saw some bucks )n their flight, but had not time to
wait to see them surprised and taken. The distance from
Tshumgwana to Emfundisweni is about sixty miles. The
country is mountainous, and the way so rough that w,
432 EMFUNDISWENI.
only travelled about forty miles that day. Having the
light of a full moon, we did not "out-span " for the night till
about an hour after dark, then coming to a rill and a
grove of mimosa-trees, we encamped in the veldt. After
a good tea by a cheerful log-fire, we had our evening
prayers, and threw ourselves upon cur beds of grass, and
soon fell into the sweet embrace of Morpheus, and there,
upon us all, tired nature s sweet restorer, balmy sleep,
shed repose until the morning bade us rise to the duties of
another day. (Our camp was in sight of the copper lodes
which are now attracting thousands of colonists into Kaf-
fraria.) We had some difficulty in finding the horses, and
feared some savage marauders had stolen them during the
night, but finally found them, and resumed our journey mid
wild mountain scenery and grassy valleys, with occasional
herds of deer, and a few native kraals. We reached Em-
fundisweni about two P.M., and were most kindly received
by a veteran old missionary and his heroine wife, Eev. Mr.
and Mrs, Jenkins.
This is a new mission- station ; the minister s
house is a one-story cottage, substantially built of
brick, nearly one hundred feet in length, with ve
randahs front and rear, and contains nine rooms.
The second preacher s house occupies a pretty site
across a hollow on a parallel ridge,, occupied by the
Rev. Daniel Eva, a zealous young missionary sent
out recently from England. The out-buildings,
beautiful garden, and orchard, are enclosed in a good
palisade fence, all of which, with the ornamental
avenue trees, the abundant supply of water conveyed
from the base of a neighbouring mountain, and the
ADVENTURES OF Mil. JENKINS. 433
pretty gothic chapel with a bell, display the energy
and taste of the master-mind of the old missionary.
The present chapel, to seat about three hundred,
is to be the school-house, when the large substantial
church contemplated, shall have been built. Faku,
the old Amapondo chief, who lives in a small, filthy
hut, has contributed largely toward these fine mis
sion improvements. This is the third mission-station
established in Pondo-land, preceded by Buntingville
and Palmerton.
The best illustration I can give of Christian ad
ventures, patient toils, sufferings, and successes in
Pondo-land, may be gathered from the following
facts, which were told, and afterwards penned in a
letter to me by the heroic old missionary himself. I
give it verbatim, except to put in his name, instead
of the pronoun representing it, and a very slight re
construction of a few sentences :
The Rev. Thomas Jenkins was appointed to labour in
Amapondo-land, in the year 1838. He had been for
some years in the Bechuana country, had seen much of
what sin and the Prince of Darkness can do in debasing
man, the noblest work of God, while labouring among
Griquas, Bechuanas, Corannos, and Basutos ; but had really
seen nothing compared with the low, dark, brutish hea
thenism of the Ponclos. In a perfect state of nudity, their
very appearance was most revolting. When a few of them
first came round the missionary s wagon, Mrs. Jenkins
almost fainted away. Wars and blood- shedding for gene
rations had completely brutalized them. Wars were raging
at that time, both among themselves and their neighbours,
434f EMFUNDISWENI.
and the missionary and bis wife had many a narrow escape
with their lives. But a few weeks after their arrival in
" leume" (Buntingville), Mr. Jenkins went away one hun
dred and fifty miles distant to a district-meeting, and while
there the report reached him that the " Ficani," the Zulu
marauders, had devastated all the intermediate countries of
the Tambookies lying between him and his family, from the
Umtata to the Bashe rivers, and had burnt Morley Station,
destroyed Icume, and that his catechist and family, and also
Mrs. Jenkins were dead. The sun had set when these evil
tidings reached him. In company with his native interpre
ter, he at once set out to know the worst. After riding
fifty miles, he found sure enough that the " Ficani " had
laid waste all the Tambookie country. The ashes of their
villages were still smoking. During that night of terrors,
as he was travelling along near the Bashe river, his life
was in great jeopardy. A body of Tambookie warriors lay
in ambush watching for the return of some of the invading
hordes, and hearing the approach of Brother Jenkins and
his interpreter, took it for granted that they were some ot
the straggling Zulus. They concealed themselves behind
the bushes near the path, and suddenly rushed out upon
the missionary with drawn assegais. Just in the act ot
their deadly aim they perceived that he was a white man,
and a friend, and their assegais fell from their hands.
About ten o clock the next night they again rode into the
jaws of death. They came suddenly upon a band of Pondo
warriors, who, mistaking them for the enemy, rushed to
their arms, and being close upon them, in another moment
the missionary and his companion would have been killed,
but for the instinctive sudden "face about" and flight
of their horses, stimulated by the rush of the pursuing
warriors. On and on they went for miles out of their
course, and thus lost their bearings. The darkness and
PERILOUS ADVENTURES. 435
manifest dangers of the night were rendered more gloomy
by torrents of rain. They came to a river flooded by tho
recent rains, till, to all human appearance, it was quite im
passable."
There they were as desolate as old David on the
hill Mizar on Mount Hermon, when he exclaimed,
" Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy "water
spouts ; all Thy waves and Thy billows have gone
over me." Behind the missionary and his faithful
Kaffir was a band of infuriated warriors, in front of
the raging river. " We plunged in/ says Jenkins ;
" but how we got out, the Lord alone knoweth ; but
by His merciful Providence, we did get out on the
opposite side. Then, after a long search, we found
the footpath, thanked God, and took courage. "VVe
were nearly exhausted, but nearing our journey, the
stimulus of hope and fear of the joyous or mournful
scene in prospect, kept us up and on our weary way.
At the dawn of the morning, we came in sight of
our humble homo in tho wilderness, and to our inex
pressible joy, embraced our dear ones in life and
health. They had suffered great fear from the
rumours of war around them, but had been preserved
in safety/
Their daily hazards of life, however, from enemies
at home, were almost as great as those occasioned by
the invasion of foreign foes ; as may be illustrated
by the following incident which, occurred but a few
months after those terrible wars. Mr. Jenkins
says :
436 EMFUNDISWENI.
1" was out some distance from the mission-station, where
a number of my people were at work, when a party of
marauding Pondos, who were returning from a nightly
incursion upon some of their neighbours, passed by us. I
spoke to them, and remonstrated against their thievish,
murderous business. One of the party took offence, and
said I had no right to interfere with their calling, and
suddenly he got into such a rage, that he drew his assegai
and made a drive at me, and would have thrust me through
in an instant, but as he drew back to throw the fatal dart,
a man behind seized his arm, and I was saved. One of
our station men became so alarmed, that, without waiting
to see the result, he ran home shouting, " The Umfundisi is
killed ! The Umfundisi is stabbed to death with an assegai ! "
The men of the station, though few in number, seized
their assegais, and rushed forth to avenge the death of
their missionary ; the women and children fled into the
forests to hide themselves. Mrs. Jenkins in the general
fright, took up her niece, a child of six years, and started
off with the rest, but in a few moments recovered her equa
nimity, and exclaimed "I will not fly! I am in the
Lord s hands, if He delivers me over to the Pondos they
shall kill me in my own house ! " She at once returned to
the house, but the native women ran on into the wild woods.
During the first few years of missionary life among the
Pondos, but few months passed without alarms, to the
effect that the mission was to be burned and all the mission
people killed. They could indeed say with the Psalmist,
* c the wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon
liim with his teeth. The wicked have drawn out the sword
and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy,
and to slay such as be of upright conversation." Yet,
" the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He
delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be
WITCH-DOCTORS AND WIZARDS. 437
ntterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with His
hand."
WITCHCRAFT.
In addition to the facts recorded in previous
chapters, illustrating the horrors of witchcraft, or
rather of the witch-doctors, I will give a few facts
from the pen of Brother Jenkins, as follows :
Under the pretext of witchcraft, it was common almost
every week to see houses, and sometimes whole villages
burnt ; and the most horrible tortures inflicted upontheir
owners, often resulting in their death.
In no part of South Africa was this horrible thing carried
on to the same extent as in Pondo-land. These things I
have seen, when on my tours, preaching for weeks together
from kraal to kraal. On one of those tours I came to a
small valley, where five kraals had just been burnt to the
ground, by order of Faku s brother, Umcwenge. The witch
doctor, or priest, had sentenced the whole population of
those kraals to death, by the most excruciating tortures
that men and devils could invent. The exterminating
decree was so terrible, that not even a dog should be
allowed to escape ; and thus every dog, man, woman, and
child in that valley perished.
A case which occurred near Palmerton mission-
station, not far from Brother Jenkins house, may
suffice to illustrate one of many methods employed
by those diabolical doctors, and the slaves of their
superstition, to render even the terrors of death a
thousand-fold more terrible.
A poor woman was accused of bewitching some
body, and the doctor ordered that she should be
438 EMFUNDISWENI.
tied to a post in front of her own hut, and by
slow tortures roasted to death. A glance at the
accompanying cut will give an idea of the tragic
scene. It is too horrible to gaze upon ! But if to
look at a mere picture is so horrible, what must be
the effect on the heart of the missionary living in
the midst of such realities, what the horrible
degradation of those who inflict such tortures, what
the pains of the poor wretches who endure them ?
A sublime charity is the missionary enterprise,
and what a work of mercy is the missionary s self-
sacrificing life ! " The dark places of the earth are
full of the habitations of cruelty." After all the talk
we are accustomed to hear about the virtues of the
heathen, and the inherent goodness of human nature,
the awful fact still stands out, that all is dense dark
ness where the Gospel is not preached ; and although
many who hear it do not accept Jesus Christ, still
they are indebted to its elevating influence for all
the blessings they enjoy above the common lot of the
heathen. The day the poor woman was roasted to
death, a young man came to Brother Jenkins so
severely burnt, as scarcely to be recognized as a
human being. It was a son of the woman who was
being burned at the stake, as the best blood even of
Christian England used to be treated in Srnithfield.
The young fellow yielded to his filial instincts, and
tried to intercede for his dying mother. Her tor
mentors rushed at him, seized him, and threw him
headlong into the flames, from which with great
WITCHCRAFT AND THE GOSPEL. 439
difficulty he managed to extricate himself, and fled
to the missionary, under whose kind treatment he
recovered, and is now living in JN"atal.
INFLUENCE OF THE GOSPEL ON WITCHCRAFT.
"It would occupy too much space," says Mr.
Jenkins, " to tell of all the lives saved through the
agency of the missionary. His very home is a
sanctuary to which the suffering refugee may flee
and be safe."
Just before my visit to Palmerton, a man who had
escaped the death-sentence for a suspicion of being
a wizard, by fleeing to the station, after remaining
there in safety for some months, became emboldened,
and though warned of danger, had crossed the sta
tion lines, and was at once arrested and tortured to
death.
Every accident to a chief, or sickness of any kind,
has always been attributed to witchcraft, and they
believe that there can be no recovery till the wizard
is"smelled out" and banished. Christianity is slowly
sapping the foundations of this murderous old system,
as may be illustrated by the following facts from Mr.
Jenkins.
"Faku s mother, I think, was a true Christian.
She died about twelve years ago, and left strict
orders that there should be no smelling out on her
account, which orders were obeyed.
" Faku s great wife, we have cause to believe, died
in the Lord, and she would allow no one to be put to
440 EMFUNDISWENI.
death on her account. One of Faku s sons died a
Christian. His good conduct so endeared him to the
whole tribe, that his death was an occasion of mourn
ing throughout the nation. The witch-doctors made
it out that he died through the Word of God, and
hence no one was put to death for him."
The son of this good young chief was converted
to God during our series of services at Emfundisweni,
and Brother Jenkins tells me by letter that he is
growing in grace and usefulness.
The old chief Faku was very ill a few years ago,
and the doctors would not allow any person to see
him. As the case was of such vast moment, involv
ing the life of the great chief, there must be a grand
" smelling out/ and a victim worthy of such an
occasion. A chief, Faku s own brother, Cingo, was
declared by the doctors to be the leading wizard who
had bewitched the great chief, and he was accordingly
sentenced to torture and death. Tidings of these
proceedings reached the mission-station, and Brother
Jenkins considered it unsafe to interfere, but Mrs.
Jenkins, with tears and entreaties, persuaded him at
the hazard of his life, to go and try to dissuade Faku
from having his brother put to death. "I went/
says Jenkins, " with fear and trembling. It was
a long time before the doctors would allow Faku to
be told I had come. "When he heard of my arrival,
and expressed a wish to see me, the doctors would
not allow me to seo him in his royal hut in which he
lay, so by his order he was carried into another hut,
where I was allowed to see him. His condemned
brother was present, and from his dejected appear
ance it was evident that he apprehended a speedy
execution. After some preliminary remarks Faku
said, Teacher, do you see how some of my own
people hate me, in sending the wild cats to kill
me ? His meaning was that they had bewitched
him.
" I replied, Faku, to my certain knowledge there
is not a man in the tribe who would do such a thing
against his chief and father. They love you too well
to think of doing such a thing.
" Do you think so? he inquired, with evident
surprise.
" I am sure of it. This led the way to a free
range of conversation," says Jenkins, "by which
I fairly won his confidence. I then said to him,
Faku, Mrs. Jenkins, whom you know is your best
friend, entreated me with cries and tears, and would
give me no rest till I consented to come to you, and
try to save your brother Cingo from death ! There
sat the condemned Cingo, under the dark shadow of
death, listening to all that was said on both sides.
Faku, I pkad for the life of your brother Cingo,
because I know he is not guilty, and I know you are
not the man to stain your hands with the innocent-
blood of your own brother ! Faku hesitated a few
moments in deep thought, for it is a very serious
business even for a great chief to ignore the judg
ment of the witch-doctors, then lifting up his eyes,
442 EMFUNDISWENI.
he said emphatically, My Umfundisi, you have
saved Cingo ! He shall not be killed ! Oh, to
have seen," exclaims Jenkins, " the effect of that
announcement on Cingo ! It was quite "beyond any
power of description, his eyes flashed with rap
turous joy, and he hardly knew how to contain him
self. He was saved that day from death, and is
still alive, and very anxious to have religious ser
vices at his village as often as possible. One of his
sons comes every fortnight, sixteen miles,, to attend
our Sabbath services, and is a promising young
chief.
" Witchcraft is now altogether on the wane in
Pondo-land, and I hope," says the good old veteran,
" that it will soon be no more/
DEBASING EFFECTS OF HEATHENISM ON THE MIND.
The details of their legalized systematic customs
of adultery and fornication are too polluting for the
public eye, even in print. They had not only reached
the lowest ebb in morals, but even the minds of
the people seemed to be thoroughly darkened and
debased, so that it was very difficult to get them to
grasp any abstract truth. " Hence," says Jenkins,
" a thousand questions from them such as these,
If there is a God why can t we see Him ?
" Why don t He show Himself that we may know
Him ? * Where does He live ? How many wives
has He got ? If we have souls,, what are they like? "
How is it that we can t see them ? And, finally,
"l WAXT TO FIND GOD AND SEE HIM." 443
If sinners are to be punished in another world,
tben, when we come to die, we will put our hands
upon our mouths and stifle our souls, that they may
perish with our bodies. 5 "
" I remember being at a hut one night," continued
Jenkins, " and after closing a service by prayer,
the hostess lighted a rush-candle, and diligently
searched every nook and corner, and even the inside
of her pots, and when asked \Vhat are you looking
for ? she replied, < I want to find God and see Him.
The teacher has been t elling us that He is here,
but I can t see Him anywhere. "
These are but specimen facts illustrating the state
of those heathens thirty years ago. The great masses
of the tribe are still heathens, but there has been a
gradual improvement in their minds and morals.
" Theft and robbery among each other in this tribe/
says Jenkins, " seldom ever occurs, and though they
keep up predatory wars with neighbouring tribes,
neither the Government of Cape Colony nor of Natal
has ever had a single case of complaint against
Faku and his people. It was the only tribe that was
not more or less led away by the mad infatuation,
originating with an influential prophet in Krilie s
tribe a few years ago, under which the people de
stroyed their cattle. The oracle announced that
there would soon be a resurrection of their fathers,
and of all their cattle, and all who believed it and
would destroy their cattle should be sharers in this
unending supply of new cattle, but the people who
444 EMFUNDISWENI.
would not yield obedience and destroy their cattle,
should not only forfeit the blessedness of this new
creation, but should become moths. Express mes
sengers were sent to Faku from this prophet, and
the chiefs, who were in league with him, demanding
that the Pondos should destroy all their cattle or
become a nation of moths. Faku listened to their
statements, and replied, In all great matters of this
kind I have been accustomed to listen to my mis
sionary. I will send for him and hear what he has
to say, and be guided by his counsel/ The messengers
tried to dissuade him from this, but seeing that he
would not move in the matter without his missionary,
they took their sudden departure out of his country."
POLYGAMY.
The practical workings of this ancient institution
of iniquity are illustrated by the following facts from
Mr. Jenkins : " Polygamy is the most fruitful source
of nearly every evil in this country. Unnumbered
women as well as men used to be smelled out and
put to death in consequence of the jealousies and
quarrels growing out of this system.
" I knew a case sometime ago of a man who had
two wives. They were constantly quarrelling, and
one day one of the women bit a piece out of the
other s cheek, and in return, at another time, she
bit the other woman s nose right off !
" To the people who have lived any length of time
on the mission-station, polygamy becomes intolerable.
445
A man who lived for a time at our station and was
married according to the Christian form, afterwards
left, and weixt to live among the heathen. In course of
time he took a second wife in spite of the earnest
remonstrances of his first. Such quarrels ensued
between the two women, that the man could have no
peace. He then took a third wife, with the hope
that as there would be two against one, he would
surely get out of the scrape ; but alas ! he soon
found that his case was more complicated and des
perate than ever before. I met him sometime after
wards, and said he to me, my life is a dogging out
of perfect misery ! I wish I had no wife at all !
" The result was, that his first wife left him and her
children also, and went off 300 miles to Graham s
Town. You may readily conceive, when the sons
of these women grow up, the hatred to each other
which will grow up with them, and give employ
ment and emolument to the witch-doctors.
"To know the degradation, sin, and misery of
heathenism a man must live among them. The half
has never been told, and cannot be, and but for our
faith in the Gospel of the Son of God and its adap
tation to raise and transform every grade of human
kind, we should utterly despair of its efficacy in this
land, but we must obey the Gospel mandate, Go
ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to
every creature, and leave the result with Him who
gave the command. The direct and indirect results
of the Gospel among the Pondos may be summed up
446 EMFUNDISWEM.
as follows : We found them a blood-thirsty, war
like race. They are now comparatively a peace-
loving people.
" They were so destitute of clothing that, in travel
ling among them for weeks, and sleeping in their
kraals, I have not seen a particle of clothing, except
occasionally a piece of a goat or sheep-skin a foot
square, or a few rushes sown together ; but now
woollen or cotton blankets are to be found in every
hut.
" Twenty-five years ago not a cow or even a goat
could be purchased at any price in all Pondo-land.
I knew a trader who came with a wagon-load of
goods for trade, and after spending five or six
months, he bought an inferior lot of calves to the
value of 7 10s., which the missionary had previously
secured for his own family use. Now thousands of
cattle are bought and sent out of the country an
nually, and there are many successful traders esta
blished in the country.
" The wooden spade was formerly the only instru
ment used in tilling the ground ; but now, within a
very recent period, a single house in Natal sold
20,000 hoes and picks to the Pondos, besides many
ploughs, and a few wagons. These facts are but
an index to the general progress in every department
of industry, and of household economy and com
forts.
" As for direct spiritual results," continues the old
missionary, " the light of eternity will reveal the ex
447
tent of the Holy Spirit s saving work among the
Pondos, yet we have seen many who testified in life
and in death, that the Gospel to them was the power
of God unto salvation ; some of them were very
triumphant in the hour of death, knowing that they
were going to the better land. I have known and
heard of not a few among them who heard the Gos
pel, embraced Christ, and died in the Lord. A
young heathen man, a few years ago, attended our
services regularly, in spite of the opposition of his
friends, who accused him of wishing to become an
Englishman, till he suddenly disappeared. I have
every reason to believe that he was put to death, and
preferred to die as a martyr than to give up Christ.
" An old heathen was brought to God years ago at
Palmerton. When I left that station to remove to
this, I advised him to remain, but he said, * ]N"o, you
brought me to God, and nothing but death shall
separate us/ Soon after his arrival here he took
ill and died. The evening before his death he said,
* The King has sent to call me ! What am I that
I should refuse to go ? In his last moments he
said, I am going to the King above ! A moment
after he was gone.
" A few years ago an old Pondo drank so deeply of
the wormwood and the gall, that he had often to be
carried home from the chapel. He found peace, and
was made very happy in the love of God. He had
a brother who tried by every means to get him back
to heathenism. When his arguments failed, he re-
448 EMFUNDISWENI.
solved to murder him, and knowing where he went
daily to pray alone in the bush, he took his assegai
and followed him with the intention of stabbing him
to death. The murderer came stealthily up to the
sacred precincts of the good man s bower of prayer,
where the prostrate Kaffir was doubtless defended by
a body-guard of angels from heaven. He quite suc
ceeded in his purpose of coming up close enough to
drive his assegai through his brother s back with
out being discovered by him, but there he stood and
looked at a man in audience with God, and heard
him tell his great " Inkosi " all his griefs, and plead
for his wicked brother. The assegai dropped from
his hand, for the Holy Spirit s two-edged sword was
piercing him, and he fell to the earth and cried for
mercy. He soon after found peace with God, and
became an Israelite indeed. Some time after the
conversion of this persecutor, he, with others was
called upon by the Governor of Cape Colony during
the war of 1852, to go and fight the belligerent
Kaffirs, Faku and his people being allies of the Co
lony.
When this converted heathen received the order
to report himself for service in the colonial allied
troops, he went to Mr. Jenkins and said, " Umfundisi,
do you see this arm ? stretching out his right hand.
With this arm I have killed many a man in war ;
but when God gave me a new heart, I vowed to Him
that I never would kill another, not even to save
my own life, and I cannot go ! " To relieve his case,
PALMERTON. 449
Mr. Jenkins gave him letters to carry to Natal, and
thus going on postal duty for the missionary, he was
not pressed into military service. " He lived from
the day of his conversion," says his missionary, " a
faithful servant of God, and died in the triumphs ot
faith." The foregoing are but specimen examples
of a great many cases, illustrating the saving work
of God in those dark regions.
Our little party arrived at Emfundisweni Thursday
afternoon, the 23rd of August, and preached that
night, also on Friday mid-day and evening. At the
three services Brother Jenkins reported over sixty
souls saved. On Saturday, my friend, Mr. Alfred
White, who first suggested my trip through Kaffra-
ria, a brother of Mrs. Jenkins, drove me thirty miles
westward to PALMERTON. Its native name is Izala.
"We left Charles Pamla to push on the work with
Brother Jenkins ; Brother Eoberts and Stuart ac
companied us on horseback, and went, on the follow
ing week, forty miles further, to the Umzimvubu
mouth, and ascended the " eastern gate/ an almost
perpendicular height of 1,200 feet. My limited
space precludes the details of their romantic adven
tures down this Hippopotami Kiver, and of my
labours at Palmerton. I may simply remark, we
reached Palmerton in the rain which continued for
four days, so that we did not get the heathen beyond
the station lines to hear us. My interpreter there
was the teacher of the native school, a fine young
fellow from Yerulam, Natal ; but his knowledge of
GG
450 EMFUNDISWENI.
English was too limited for very effective preach
ing, and hence, though most kindly entertained by
the missionary, Rev. John Allsop, and his good wife,
it was a time of great trial to me. It is a beautiful
station, but in a low spiritual state, and greatly
needing help, and not to be able to lead them on to
certain victory, because I could not talk to them,
was too bad ; but there was no help for it, and I
patiently submitted. About thirty persons, however,
were added to the church at Palmerton, during our
crippled series.
"We returned to Emfundisweni on Friday the 31st,
and were greatly cheered by the accounts of the hard
fighting and glorious victories, achieved under the
leadership of Brother Jenkins and Charles. The
heavy rains we encountered thirty miles nearer the
sea had not extended to them in sufficient quantity
to interfere with their services. I then saw clearly
that God had hid me away at Palmerton that He
might show to the old missionary and the Pondo
nation, in the person of Charles Pamla, what kind of
agents He designs to employ in the evangelization
of the tribes of Africa, a thing that none of them
believed before, or could doubt afterwards. I was
glad to step aside, and yield the palm to my sable
brother.
I had taken great pleasure in teaching Charles
leading principles in psychology, logic, and the
mysteries of salvation simplified, so as to make him
" a workman that needeth not to be ashamed."
GRAND FIGHT WITH THE HEATHEN. 451
He has a philosophic cast of mind, can grasp the
most abstruse principles readily, forgets nothing
worth remembering, and after interpreting my ser
mons twice per day for nearly two months, it became
a work of supererogation for me to preach through
him, for he could do it as well, or better, without me.
I had prayed that God would allow me to remain, at
least a few years, to lead a victorious host of native
evangelists into the interior of Africa; but I now
saw that God would answer my prayer indirectly,
by giving my mantle to my Elisha, and take me
away, if not to heaven, to some other part of His
vast dominions, where He may have greater use for
me.
Brother Jenkins and Charles had carried on the
services in the chapel, over the Sabbath and Monday
night.
On Tuesday, they removed their "base " to a chiefs
kraal, some fifteen miles distant, and opened a direct
fire upon the heathen, and stirring times they had
indeed. Each service was commenced with direct
familiar conversation with the heathen, by which
their superstitions were brought to light, and
defended by their own champions, and refuted by my
Zulu, backed by the heroic old missionary, to whom.
Charles often appealed to clinch the nails he had
driven in sure places. They thus not only swept
away the rubbish, but cleared a basis of admitted
truth in the minds of all who wished to come to the
light, on which to build a Gospel structure of
452 EMFUNDISWENI.
saving doctrines. The scoffers became very bitter in
their opposition, and daily tried to divert the atten
tion of the people from the preaching, by shouts and
taunts, and by setting the grass on fire, and raising
an alarm, obliging the people on two occasions to
disperse in haste to save their huts from the flames.
One of the worst opposers, and the man charged
with firing the grass each day, was an ingrate by
the name of Banbana, whom Mrs. Jenkins had a few
years before saved from torture and death. He was
under sentence for witchcraft, and with a rein round
his neck was kept in a hut awaiting his execution.
He asked to be allowed to go outside of the hut in
the dark, to which his keepers consented, but they
would hold on by the end of the reim (a raw hide
rope) so that he should not escape. The wizard thus
getting out managed to slip the reim from his neck,
and tied it to a bush. The jailor inside feeling the
steady pulling at the rope, had no doubt that his
convict was fast at the other end, but at length
became suspicious, and going out found a bush tied.
Banbana fled to the river, and, through some friend,
Mrs. Jenkins found him next morning hid at the
water s edge among the reeds and bushes, and gave
him a sanctuary at the mission-house, and finally
succeeded in restoring him to the good- will of his
people. Now she was almost ready to think that
she had made a mistake in her merciful interference
with the due course of Kaffir law, to save such a
wretch.
453
But, in spite of the devil and his heathen host, a
grand victory for God was achieved. Among the
saved ones were some such as " Dionysius, Damaris,
and others with them."
The whole number of the converts at that time,
including those who were saved before I left for
Palmerton, amounted to above 163 persons, among
whom were a doctor and five young chiefs.
On our return from Palmerton, we arranged that
while Roberts, Stuart, and myself, would go on and
spend the Sabbath with Captain Kok s Griquas, at
their request, and on Monday proceed on our way
toward Natal, Charles should spend the Sabbath with
Brother Jenkins, and help on the glorious work
among the Pondos, and on Monday night meet us
at " Ulbrichts."
That arrangement gave us over forty miles of
travel on Saturday, out of our course, for Natal ; and
about thirty-five miles on our course for Monday,
and gave Charles a journey on Monday of about fifty
miles, to meet us at " Ulbrichts," where we might
together enjoy the hospitality of a generous Christian
Griqua family. So on Saturday, September 1st, we
bade adieu to Emfundisweni, and set out for Kok s
camp. That was a day to be remembered, for by
the time we got off the main beaten Natal track into
the dreary hills and mountains of " Nomansland," a
cold drizzling rain set in, with a dense fog, which
limited our field of vision to a radius of about fifty
yards. Several times through the day we lost the
454 EMFUNDISWENI.
trail, and much time was consumed in finding the
" spoor."
About four P.M., we heard the barking of dogs, the
squealing of pigs, the bleating of sheep, and the
lowing of cattle, and hoped we were nearing the
" Camp." Coming to a pioneer s hut and stock-yard,
Mr. Roberts fought his way up through a pack of
fierce dogs to the door, to inquire where we were.
He found nothing there but dogs and a few children
whose parents were out ; Stuart and his father, and
our weary horses, stood shivering in the storm till
Roberts came and told us that the Dutch-speaking
children said that it was fifteen miles to Kok s camp,
and that we had a high mountain to cross.
On and on we struggled over the mountain, and
down to a little river. It was now getting dark, and
we knew not which way to go. We hoped we were,
near the Griqua camp, but we could see no lights,
and hear nothing but the hollow moaning of the
wind in the mountains, and the pattering rain upon
us. When we got into places of great danger,
Brother Roberts, finding that I was a good driver,
and not wishing to be responsible for my life, found
it convenient to get out and walk. So when we
crossed the river, he gave me the reins, and went
circling round to try to find the path. I drove up
a hollow, and away on to high ground, hoping to see
Kok s city set on a hill, called the "Bergliftig," but
not a beacon glimmer shone out to cheer us. It was
a moonless night, and with the clouds above us, the
A NIGHT LONG TO BE REMEMBERED. 455
fog all round us, that was a darkness which we all
felt. I waked the echoes of the mountains by shouts
which I hoped might arouse the natives, but got no
response.
I said, " Eoberts, we have got into Nomansland,
surb. I have not seen a tree for many miles back,
but I saw a few bushes on the cliffs near the river.
If we can back there over these dangerous gullies,
perhaps we can get wood enough to make a fire,
otherwise the severity of the cold and our wet clothes
will finish the business for us ! " Back we went to
the river and " out-spanned." I felt my way among
the cliffs to a bush about four inches through, which
I cut down. It was green and wet, but by cutting
kindling wood off the seat of our carriage, we at
last succeeded in getting a fire. Thankful for a good
cup of coffee and a supper savoury enough for princes,
we endeavoured to devise some plan for the preser
vation of life through the night. We spent hours
trying to dry our clothes, but while we were drying
one side the other was getting wet with the fast fall
ing rain. Stuart and I at last took a seat in the cart,
which had a " bonnet," which gave us some protec
tion from the rain, and wrapping up as well as we
could in our wet rugs, we dozed, and dreamed, and
shivered till morning. Eoberts, meantime, dug a
hole in the ground to get a dry place, and there,
half buried, wrapped up in his tiger-skin rug, he
"waited for the morning/ The Lord graciously
preserved us even from taking a cold, and in the
456 EMFUXDISWENI.
morning, while Stuart was hunting the horses, and
while Eoberts was exploring the country to find some
body to tell us which way to go, I kindled a fire and
prepared a good breakfast. Eoberts found an English
citizen of Captain Kok s kingdom, living not a mile
distant from our camp, from whom we learned that
we were quite out of our way, and that it was twelve
miles distant to Kok s camp. He sent a young Hot
tentot to guide us. Mid rain, sleet, and snow we
reached the town, where I had hoped to spend a
quiet and profitable Sabbath, about noon. Captain
Kok, who passed us in Umhlonhlo s country on his
way to Cape Town, had not returned. His town has
a population of about 1,000, built up of huts, with
some pretty fair log and brick houses, and a fort
with mud walls, about eight feet high, with piles of
cannon-balls and a few big guns, with which to frighten
the Kaffirs. In the midst of the fort is a good
pioneer chapel, which will seat about 400 persons.
A plain house was given us in which to sojourn.
"We met a young English trader, the son of Rev.
Mr. Scott, of Natal, who, as a Christian, is trying
to do good to the rising community. He and another
young English trader furnished us grain for our
horses, and other needful attentions ; a kind Griqua
family cooked for us, and we got on well considering
the state of the camp and the weather. At three
P.M. we had the chapel crowded, and I preached the
Gospel to them through a Dutch interpreter, a pioua
HULLEY S HUT CHAPEL. 437
intelligent man, the school-master for the town, and
yet totally blind.
At night I preached in English to about thirty
persons in a private house. "We had reason to hope
that good was done, and yet no decisive results were
manifest. On Monday the sun shone out, and though
the roads were thought to be so slippery that we
should not be able to cross the "Zuurberg" the sour
mountain we could not afford to lose time, and
so pushed on our journey. "We passed a number of
new, fertile, well- watered farms of the Griquas, and
after crossing the Zuurberg came through a Griqua
village, where they also have a chapel, and regular
worship among themselves. This village is near the
lines of " Alfredia," the newly annexed territory of
Natal. Just across the line a mean white man has
opened a shop for enticing the poor Griquas to
destruction by the sale of brandy. Our route of
travel left Alfredia to our right, and continued in
Captain Kok s country some forty miles further to the
"Umzimvubu" river, which is the old west boundary
of Natal.
We reached TJlbrichts before night, took tea, and
drove on three miles further to Mr. " Bloms," where
we spent the night. We waited on Tuesday for
Charles till eleven A.M., and went on without him.
In the afternoon of that day we reached Mr. Hulley s
place, and preached in his large Kaffir-hut chapel,
which will seat 150. Brother Hulley supports him-
458 EMFUNDISWEXI.
self and his large family on a new farm in KeVs
territory, on the west bank of the Umzimvubu, but
is nevertheless a successful preacher among the
Kaffirs, and has formed a society, and preaches to
the heathen regularly in his own round native
chapel. I was very sorry we could not command
time to stay with him long enough for a grand
advance among his people. We were very kindly
entertained for the night, and next morning forded
the river, which can be crossed only in a ferry-boat,
except in winter; and spent an hour with Mr.
Hancock and family, who are Graham s Town
Wesleyans, and very enterprising, useful people.
That day we travelled over forty miles through a
picturesque country of hill, dale, and mountain, but
few settlers, and much wild game. "We saw more
deer in greater variety that day, than any other day
of the whole journey, though we saw many beautiful
herds of " rhei bucks " in Pondo-land. We hoped to
cross the Umkomas Kiver before dark ; but, though
we sighted it from the mountain an hour before
sunset, it was quite dark before we reached the ford,
which we were told was deep, rough, and dangerous,
yet our only stopping-place was a public-house on
the other side. Near the river we met a native man,
whom we found was from. Indaleni, a mission- station
about twenty miles beyond. He had been out among
the Kaffirs with two wagons, selling Indian corn,
and buying cattle in exchange. He was just the
man of all others we most needed, to tell us about
AMAZULU,
"YOUR HORSES HAVE FALLEN INTO THE DITCH." 459
the ford, to supply us with corn, and to help us over
a high mountain, next day, tying our cart to one of
his wagons, and driving our horses along with his
stock cattle. As it was so dark and dangerous,
Brother Eoberts allowed me to drive across the river
alone. He thought he could wade it, but failing in
that, we sent a Kaffir with a horse to fetch him.
We all got safely to the public-house. The pro
prietor was absent, but had left his Kaffir servant to
attend to the wants of the travelling public. His
beds were passable, but he had nothing to eat, except
a few small potatoes and some bacon, but as we still
had a supply of coffee, sugar, dried peaches, and
bread, we fared well ; and our " man of providence "
brought us a bag of corn for our horses.
As we were getting ready to go to bed, our
Kaffir landlord came running in to tell us " your
horses have fallen into the ditch." Stuart describes
the situation as follows :
I knee-haltered my pony, so that when he was done with
his corn he might go and graze, but three of the cart
horses were tied together. Near by was a trench, five feet
deep, enclosing a paddock. The three horses, closely tied to
each other, going too near to the trench, one tumbled in and
rolled over, and drew the second on to him. The back of
the first horse was wedged into the bottom of the trench,
with his feet sticking up ; the second lay on his side directly
on the first ; the third was standing with his fore legs set
forward, to avoid being dragged in, and pulling back with
all his might, was nearly strangled by the tightening of the
reim round his neck. We soon released two of them, but
460 EMFUNDISWENI.
the bottom one was wedged in so tightly, and was so
exhausted with his struggles, that he seemed to have
resigned himself to die.
We, however, went to work with pick and shovel and
dug down the sides of the trench, till we got room enough
to allow him to get his feet to the ground, then my father
and the Kaffir seized him by the tail, while Mr. Roberts
and I took hold of the mm, which was round his neck, and
we pulled away. For a time the case looked very doubtful,
and I felt some concern for the safety of his "fly-brush," but
a final pull altogether brought him to his feet, and we were
glad to find that none of them had received any permanent
injury.
The next day we travelled to ladaleni, and were
kindly entertained by the missionary, Rev. W. H.
Milward, and his good lady. I arranged with him
to have Charles spend the Sabbath with him, if he
should come on all right. We had not heard from
him since we left him at Emfundisweni. On the
next day, Friday the 7th of September, we journeyed
on twenty- five miles to Pietermaritzburg, the capital
of Natal. From the time we left Queen s Town, I
had travelled 613 miles, while Roberts and Stuart
had travelled 700 miles. Stuart s Kaffir " tripler "
carried him through without "giving in/
When Charles reported in Maritzburg the follow
ing Monday, we found that he was only about half
a day behind us all the way from Ulbrichts to
Indaleni. He left Emfundisweni on Monday accord
ing to agreement, but the roads were bad and the
journey was too long. Finding that he could
THE WORK AT INDALENI. 4G1
not reach Ulbrichts that day, he put up at a heathen
kraal, near a chief s place. He got all the people
together and preached to them that night, and again
the next morning, and seventeen of them professed
to renounce heathenism, and accept Jesus Christ.
He wrote back to Brother Jenkins, giving him their
names and whereabouts. He also preached to the
natives at Mr. Hancock s place, but had not time to
follow up the effort.
He preached Friday night, Saturday, and Sabbath,
at Indaleni. An extract from a letter to me from
Eev. W. H. Milwood will tell the story of that
adventure :
" Under Charles Panda s preaching here, Friday,
Saturday, and yesterday, many have been aroused
to a sense of their danger through sin, and led to
seek forgiveness and holiness through the blood of
Jesus. About seventy, young and old, profess to
have gained the pearl of great price, and a few others
are yet earnestly seeking.
" This is a matter of great joy to me, and will be
to you, I am sure."
From this stand-point we will look back and see
how the work of God goes on at Emfundisweni.
Many more were saved during the last Sabbath
Charles was there, and in a letter from Brother
Jenkins, dated September 18th, a few weeks later, he
says :
I am thankful to tell you that everything here is going
on as steadily as could be expected. "We have no great
4C2 EMFUSDISWENI.
excitement ; but we perceive a deep seriousness and devo
tion on every countenance, and as yet no falling off. For
the present I meet all the new converts, both old and
young, myself, to ground them well in Christian doctrine
and experience. I look upon the young with special in
terest. We are endeavouring to take care of the young
chiefs who were brought to God.
You will remember the young chief Umhlangazi. He,
with a few others, went last week to see Chief Faku, his
grandfather, and said, " We have come to lay before you
a matter of very great importance. My mother, my two
sisters, myself, and these, my friends, and many others of
our kraals, have become Christians, and have fully made up
our minds to follow the word of God, and cannot, therefore,
any longer follow the customs of heathenism, and we
thought it our duty, to our chief and father, to let you
know the great change which we have experienced, and our
purpose to cleave to Jesus Christ who has saved us from
our sins."
Faku listened to all that was said, and remained silent
for some time. He then expressed great surprise ! After
another pause he said, " My children, yc*i have done right !
Go and sit down in peace ! We want to remove to that
part and be converted also as you have been ! " For this
I am humbly thankful to God. The young converts, of
course, have much to bear from the jeers and taunts of the
heathen, but they stand firmly.
I hope the old chief may be awakened to the ne
cessity of a personal preparation for heaven. A
man one day asked Faku if he had any hope of get
ting to heaven, and the old chief inquired,
" Is Jenkins going to heaven ?"
"OH, MR. COOK, WAIT FOR ME ! " 4G3
" Undoubtedly, lie is," replied the other.
" I ll go wherever Jenkins goes," said the old
eathen, emphatically. " When Jenkins gets to
heaven he won t stay there without me ! I m sure
he ll come out and take me in with him !"
I said to Brother Jenkins, when this story was re
lated at his own table, " I think when the Master
calls you from labour to reward you, you ll treat poor
old Taku somewhat as Kev. Valentine Cook did his
wife. Cook was a celebrated pioneer preacher in the
Western States of America. In 1832, when a
shower of meteors came down all over the country,
flying through the heavens almost as thickly as snow-
flakes in a storm, there was great alarm throughout
he land. The midnight cry was raised, and borne
along through many a hamlet and city. The
world is at an end ! the stars are falling ! the Judge
will soon appear ! Cook was suddenly aroused out
of sleep by the cry and general wailing in the
streets, and seeing through his window the flashing
meteors, he took it for granted that it was all true,
and as he made a dash for the door, his wife cried
after him,
" Oh, Mr. Cook, wait for me ! Do wait for me !
" No, my dear wife/ answered Cook, as he sud
denly passed out of sight, if my blessed Jesus is
coming, I can t wait for anybody ! "
Mr. Jenkins made an earnest request by letter to
have us send Charles home through Pondo-land, that
he might lead another campaign against the heathen,
464 EMFUNDISWENl.
and, in the hope that he would come, sent an order
on Mr. Cameron, the chairman, for the funds to bear
his expenses back, and to strengthen his appeal, he
adds, " Strange to say, some of the heathen chiefs
have expressed a strong desire for Charles to visit
them. This I take as from the Lord;"
CHAPTER XXV.
NATAL.
IT was my purpose, out of a copious supply of mate
rials, to fill four chapters with facts and incidents
illustrative of this very interesting young colony,
and the progress of the Gospel among its aboriginal
and colonial populations, but my printer informs me
that I have already greatly exceeded the limits of
my book, so I must confine myself to a brief exhibit
of leading facts and life scenes.
The colony of Natal lies principally between the
parallels of 29 and 30 south, and longitude 29 to
31 west.
The climate is genial and healthy, the mean
temperature for eight years past was 64 Fahren
heit, the highest, 97, the lowest, 33. The jungle
and forest scenery, especially seaward, have quite
a tropical appearance. The soil and climate are
pretty well adapted to cereal grains and grass, but
specially to the production of arrowroot, sugar-cane,
and coffee, it is said also that cotton does well.
There are many fine coffee plantations, and of the
HH
466 NATAL.
108 mills in the Colony, worked principally by steam
power, nearly 100 of them are sugar-mills. There
are 4,667 farmers of different kinds in the Colony,
194 manufactories, and 57 commercial establish
ments.
The population, according to the census of 1865,
was as follows :
White males .... 79,990
"White females . . . 78,590
Total . . 158,580
Native males .... 67,667
Native females . . . 70,069
Total . . 137,736
Indian coolies, 7000 ; more than four-fifths of
whom are males, who are employed principally in
the sugar plantations. The aggregate of those
several classes swells the total population to over
300,000 souls. There are about 7000 native Zulu
Kaffirs employed in service by the Colonists. They
are much more robust, and said to be much more
trustworthy than the Coolies, but being more free
and independent than the poor Indians, they walk
away if not suited, and hence are not so available.
The total revenue of the Government for 1865 was
176,295 Is. 9cL
Total expenditure, 179,883 7s., besides a public
YOUNG GENTLEMEN OF THE AMAZULU.
BLUE-BOOK STATISTICS. 407
debt for unfinished harbour improvements at D Ur-
ban, amounting to 110,000.
The Government appropriation for ecclesiastical
purposes during the year 1865, principally for the
support of Anglican and Dutch Reformed Ministers,
was 1,150. For police and jails, 3,212, for the
Judicial Department, 12,505.
Besides the vaik/uB religious establishments com
mon in English colonies, there are in Natal thirteen
mission-stations among the Zulus, under the American
Board of Foreign Missions. The Government has
made to each a liberal grant of land, and fully
appreciating the faithful labours of the American
missionaries, and the influence of their practical
American ideas on education, and all manner of
handicraft for the natives, grants a subsidy for their
schools, and 24 a-year towards the support of a
periodical they publish for the Zulus, called the
Ikwezi, so the Kaffirs have one newspaper, while the
whites have four.
The Government appropriation in 1865, for all the
industrial schools, three of the largest of which are
under the Wesley ans, was 1000 ; For common
schools, 909. In these several schools 1744 Kaffirs
Deceived instruction during the year. In the Indus
trial Schools 120 boys were at work, learning a
variety of useful trades, and 372 Kaffir women were
taught to sew. I am indebted to the Colonial " Blue
Book " for my statistics.
Pietermaritzburg, the capital, with a population of
463 NATAL.
about 8000, is well located for drainage, health, and
beauty, on a high ridge rising up from the banks of
a small river, a branch of the great " Umgani." In
every direction grassy hills stand out to view, with
high mountains to the north and west.
The whole breadth of country, about 200 miles
in width, from the " Drakensberg " range to the
ocean, embracing the eastern province of Cape
Colony, Kaffraria, and Natal, a distance of more than
1000 miles, is all of the same general appearance,
just like the waves of the ocean, a vast sea of irregu
lar grassy hills and mountains, with island groves of
timber, the Kaffrarian waves being much more
abrupt and high than those within British lines.
Up the river, seven miles from the capital, is the
native village and Wesley an mission- station called
Edendale. It was founded by Bev. Mr. Allison, then
a Wesleyan missionary, now a devoted and useful
minister to the natives in Pietermaritzburg, not
directly with us, but in good repute with all classes,
and in good fellowship with his "VYesleyan brethren.
In founding Edendale, he bought a large tract of
land, of superior quality, for the natives, and secured
to them freehold titles. Their beautiful dale near
the river, with a grand \vaterfall in sight above, a
good mill for grinding the millions, of bushels of
maize they grow on their little farms, their neat
village of 1000 population, with nearly all the space
along the sides of the streets and front and rear of their
little houses, covered with fruit-trees, principally the
CO-OPERATION OF VARIOUS ORDERS OF MINISTERS. 469
peach ; and two new chapels of brick and stone, in
fine style, to seat about 500 each, all built by native
mechanics is not without reason called" Edendale."
They have a fine young missionary, Eev. C. Roberts.
Distant from the capital fifty-three miles, is Port
Natal, and the commercial town of D TJrban, with a
population of nearly 10,000. It is located near the
bay, on a vast plain of sand, which once belonged to
the domain of the ocean, but the high " Berean hills,"
to which the town extends, covered with forests and
tropical jungle, furnish fine background to the
scene, and splendid sites for suburban residences.
Easterly from D Urban, across the Umgani, twenty
miles distant, in a country abounding with coffee
plantations, is the rural village of Verulam. The
daily labours of our brief sojourn of five weeks,
were devoted principally to Indaleni, Pietermaritz-
burg, Edendale, D Urban, and Yerulam.
The services were held in the Wesleyan chapels,
which are neat, substantial, and spacious, but we
had the hearty co-operation of nearly all classes
of Christian ministers and people. The effects of
the searing blight of semi- infidelity, so famous in
Natal, were so felt by the infant churches of the
Colony, that all lovers of the Bible and its Author
were ready to join hands with any agency whom God
might send to help them in their need. In Maritz-
burg, besides Brothers Mason, Hays, and Cameron,
Wesleyan ministers, we had Eev. Mr. Allison, before
mentioned, Eevds. "W. Campbell and Smith, Scotch
470 NATAL.
Presbyterians, Rev. P. Huet, Dutch Reformed, and
two zealous French missionaries, unjustly exiled by
the Dutch Boers from the Free State, where they
with their fellow- missionaries, thirteen in number,
had laboured successfully for many years among the
" Basutus." In D Urban, besides the "Wesleyan,
Rev. J. Cameron, the veteran chairman of the dis
trict, his colleague, C. Harman, J. Langley, mis
sionaries to the natives, Rev. Ralph Stott, a wise
and indefatigable old Indian missionary, labouring
among the Natal coolies, we had Rev. Mr. Buchanan,
and Rev. Mr. Patton, his colleague, Presbyterian,
Rev. Mr. Mann, Independent, and a number of the
American missionaries, among whom we had special
helpers in the persons of Revs. D. Rood, M. A., H. B.
Wilder, M.A., "VY. Mellon, and that grand old pio
neer missionary, D. Lindley, D.D. Rev. Mr. Mann
brought his people in force, and nearly half the new
converts belonged to his congregation, whom he
organized into classes, after the model of Methodism,
and, with such a body of new recruits, is going on
with increasing success.
As I was straitened for time, and as the Natalians
seemed to have but little appreciation of native stuff
for the ministry, nay, strong prejudice against even
the hope of raising up native ministers, and as my
Zulu had become a workman that needed not to be
ashamed, I thought it best to appoint him the
general of the black legion, while I should bring up
the smaller wing of the whites, and thus storm the
BISHOP COLENSO S PREACHING. 471
citadel of infidelity and sin from two sides at the
same time. So I commended my sable brother to
the missionaries, and bespoke for him " an open field
and a fair fight."
Bishop Colenso had just been booming away at
an impregnable fortress of truth, the supreme Divi
nity of Jesus Christ, and issued his orders forbidding
any to ask directly any favours from Christ, and
ignored the very songs of Zion which contained
prayers to the Son of God. The Colonial papers
had given the Bishop all the "aid and comfort"
they could, for his sensationalism is very edifying
to the press, financially ; but at the time of our arri
val that novelty had lost its power of charming,
and some new strategic dash was needed to revive
the flagging spirits of the Bishop s troops ; so on the
first Sabbath night we spent in Maritzburg, the
Bishop preached on " The Idolatry of the Bible,"
by which it appeared from his discourse, as reported
to us by some who heard it, he meant an idolatrous
reverence for the Bible. One of his illustrations
was in substance as follows: A young man, a
printer employed in setting the type of one of his
(Colenso s) first books on the Pentateuch, became so
affected by the doubts thus excited in his mind
about the truth of the Bible, that he went mad
and committed suicide. The bereaved father of
the poor printer wrote to Colenso, giving the facts
about the dreadful end of his son, and charged
the Bishop with his death, to which the Bishop re
472 NATAL.
plied that the father himself was the cause of the
tragedy, by teaching his son such an idolatrous love
for the Bible that he could not bear to see the
truth of its stories called in question, and hence his
madness and self-destruction.
The two Sabbaths we were in the capital, Dr.
Colenso and his " thorn in the flesh/ Dean Green,
were booming away, just across the street in a dia
gonal line from our chapel.
"While in Maritzburg, I delivered a lecture on
" Reminiscences of Palestine/ and as I had occasion
to join issue with one of Colenso s arguments, in
which he tries to prove the physical impossibility
of executing the command of Moses, as recorded in
the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth chapters of
Deuteronomy, to proclaim the curses and blessings of
the law from the two opposite mountains, Gerizim
and Ebal, to the assembled hosts of Israel between,
having myself personally, by measurement and vocal
power, demonstrated the entire feasibility of the
whole thing in the very place where Joshua, in the
eighth chapter of his book, informs us that all that
Moses commanded was done, I requested my com
mittee to present the Bishop with my compliments,
and send him a ticket to the lecture ; but he did not
put in an appearance. I afterwards learned that the
Bishop had left for D Urban about the time the lec
ture was to come off, on a tour of episcopal visitation
in that part of his diocese.
So when I went to D Urban the Bishop was at his
COLENSO S ADHERENTS. 473
post there. As I entered the town I saw the bills
up, announcing that the learned Bishop was to preach
next day morning and evening in the Anglican
Church.
At Verulam he preceded us a week. Rev. Mr.
Elder there tried to blockade his pulpit against the
Bishop, and hence one of those scenes so common
in his diocese, a violent removal of barriers, and
" running the blockade."
The Sabbath I was in Verulam, Colenso was back
in D Urban. The papers puffed him, and eulogised
his preaching, and a merchant of Maritzburg came
to tea at the house of my host, Mr. J. H. Grant, in
D Urban, so drunk, he could not walk erect, and
spent an hour in berating Christians and Christian
ministers, and was sure that the eloquent Bishop, tho
mo,st learned and reliable preacher in the world,
would yet convert the whole of us. I happened to
say, "Dr. Colenso," and he took offence, that I
should be so irreverent. " Bishop Colenso ! Bishop
Colenso !" he shouted, "the most learned and pious
man in the world \"
There are some very respectable families, in a
worldly sense, and of good outward moral deport
ment, who are identified with the Bishop ; but the
majority of his followers are affirmed to be, by those
who know them well, such persons as have good
reason to dread the threatened judgments of the
Bible, and therefore hope the book is not from God.
Colenso, too, gains influence with many by his genial
474 NATAL.
gentlemanly manners, and Low Church liberality, in
contrast with the stiff, Puseyitical, Ritualistic cha
racter of the Bishop of. Cape Town. Old Rev. Mr.
Lloyd, Episcopal minister in D Urban, in a friendly
visit to my room, after talking to me sometime
about the Bishops of Jerusalem, and Sydney, whom
I had the pleasure of meeting, spoke of Colenso, who
had been in his pulpit the preceding Sabbath, and
said, " Poor Colenso, I believe he is a well-meaning
man, but has got wrong in his mind. I believe he
will be in a lunatic asylum before many years."
Mr, Lloyd is a most kind-hearted old man, and
would be glad to draw that veil of charity over the
learned prelate s theological and moral idiosyncrasies.
One of the D Urban papers stated, as a proof that all
the people had not lost confidence in the Bishop, that
in his recent episcopal tour, he had " baptized two
children.-"
During those eventful five weeks, in which the
Bishop made his episcopal tour, and caused such a
lively stir among the newspaper reporters, corre
spondents, and sensationalists of the church breaking
order, and doing wonders in his way, and baptized
two babies, my Zulu and his black legion, and I, with
my pale faces, had marched steadily on against the
armies of the aliens. The souls awakened by the
Spirit, who surrendered to God, accepted Christ, and
personally tested the truth of the Bible, and who got
the demonstration of the supreme Divinity of Jesus,
by the " washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
OVER ONE THOUSAND WITNESSES. 475
Holy Ghost/ publicly confessed that they had re
ceived " redemption through His blood, even the
forgiveness of their sins/ They were also personally
examined by their ministers, who being satisfied
with their testimony, wrote down their names and
addresses, so as to get them under pastoral training.
These new witnesses, whom God thus raised up in
refutation of the scepticism and infidelity of the
times, numbered over 320 whites, and over 700
natives, of all ages and stations in life, making an
aggregate of more than 1,000 persons. I only
preached five sermons to Kaffirs during those five
weeks, so that most of the success of that division of
the army was under the leadership of my Zulu. I
was glad of that, for it did more than volumes of
argument could have done, to break down a foolish
" caste " and "colour" prejudice, and thus open the
way for the employment of native agency, which God
will mainly employ for the evangelization of Africa.
When Brother Pamla first went to D Urban,
Mr. Henry Cowey, a merchant, an excellent worker,
and Local Preacher, said to me, " There is a great
deal of prejudice here against allowing a coloured
man to come into the house of a colonist, but I have
consented to take Charles to stop with me."
" You may think yourself very highly honoured,
Brother Cowey, to have the privilege of entertaining
Buch a messenger of God."
Brother Cowey afterwards reminded me of my re
mark, and said it was true, for he and his family had
476 NATAL.
been entertained and benefited by Charles sojourn
with them.
PROMISCUOUS EXAMPLES OF NATAL ADVENTURES.
Dr. Colenso s attempt to popularise the Gospel to
the Kaffirs, by his apology for polygamy, did not
take with the Kaffir polygamists at all, for they were
sharp enough to see that if Christianity differed so
little from Kaffir heathenism as that, it was quite
unnecessary to be at the trouble of a conversion from
one to the other.
TRYING TO ASTONISH THE NATIVES.
When the first Anglican Church dean went to
Natal, he visited the Wesleyan Mission at Pieter-
maritzburg, and Rev. W. J. Davis, the missionary,
invited him to preach to his Kaffirs. The Dean
accepted the invitation, and came before the audi
ence in his white " surplice," a style of dress the
natives had never seen before. After the service Mr.
Davis asked some of the men what they thought of
the new umfundisi s preaching? "Well/ replied
one, " it was very good, just the same things we had
heard before ; but we were wondering all the time
why the man did not put his shirt inside of his
trousers ?"
CHARMING A LION WITH MUSIC.
When Eev. W. J. Davis was living in Pieter-
maritzburg, his little son John, a lad of four years,
went too near to a chained lion in a neighbour s yard.
JOHNNY DAVIS AND THE LION.
CHAEMING A LION WITH MUSIC. 477
It was called a pet lion, but was indeed so wild and
vicious, that no living thing was safe within the
radius of his beat. The unsuspecting child stumbled
within his reach, and the lion instantly felled him
to the ground, and set his great paw on poor little
Johnny s head. There was great consternation
among the bystanders, but none were able to deliver
the child. Miss Moreland, a young lady, with cha
racteristic colonial presence of mind, seeing the peril
of the child, ran up-stairs, and with her accordion in
hand, came to a window looking out upon the tragic
scene, and with a shout, to arrest attention, played a
tune for the entertainment of the so-called " king of
the woods," and he was so delighted with her kind
attentions and musical talents, that he released his
prey, and went the length of his chain toward his
fair charmer, and stood in rapt attention. Johnny
meantime got up, and carried his precious little self
off to his mother. He never thought of crying till he
entered the house, and saw how they were all excited
about him, and then quite out of danger, he had a
good cry on his own account. John has grown up
the stature of a tall man, and has been delivered
from him " who goeth about as a roaring lion, seek
ing whom he may devour."
COLENSO S ARK TAKEN DOWN BY A KAFFIR.
On our way to Pietermaritzburg, having crossed
into the lines of Natal, Mr. H., a very intelligent,
and influential man, gave Charles Pamla a solemn
478 NATAL.
warning against coming into contact with Bishop
Colenso, which led in substance to the following
conversation :
" He is a learned, shrewd, dangerous man," said
Mr. H., " and might shake your faith."
" Shake my faith in what ? " inquired Charles.
" He might shake your faith in the truth of the
Bible, and in the Divinity of Jesus Christ."
" I can t see how he could that," replied
Charles. " I proved the truth of the Bible and the
Divinity of Jesus Christ in my heart thirteen years
ago. I was convinced of sin by the Holy Ghost
according to the teachings of the Bible; I then
walked after the Spirit according to the instruc
tions of the Word of God, and He led me to
Jesus Christ. I gave my guilty soul to Him and
received Him as my Saviour, and got the forgiveness
of all my sins through Him. None but God can
forgive sins. It was on the truth of God s Word
that I accepted Him as my Saviour, and then, accord
ing to the true promises of God, He saved me from
my sins, a thing I know He never could do if He is
not God. He not only saved me thirteen years ago,
but He has saved me every day since, and saves me
now. These are the facts that I know, and I can t
see how any man s infidel speculations can shake
God s facts revealed in my heart, which prove to
me the truth of His book."
" Ah ! but the faith of many strong men has been
shaken by Colenso," rejoined Mr. H., "and you
CHARLES PAMLA S REPLY TO COLENSO. 479
should be careful not to put yourself in his way, he
might do you serious injury."
"Well, now, Mr. II.," said Charles, "will you
please to give nie the strongest argument Colenso
ever raised against the truth of the Bible ? "
" No, I should be afraid, it might do you damage."
But Charles insisted on knowing the strongest thing
Mr. H. could recall from Colenso s writings against
God s book, and finally Mr. H. said, " Dr. Colenso
shows, by an arithmetical calculation, that the Bible
story about the ark breaks down ; that it was im
possible, according to the measurements given for
the ark, to contain a pair of all the animals and
seven of the clean animals, as stated in the story."
"Indeed/ said Charles, "and that s it! Is that
the strongest point the great man can make against
the Word of God?"
" He makes a strong case out of that, and I can t
remember a stronger in his writings," replied Mr.
H., and Charles showed his splendid rows of ivory
in a broad spontaneous laugh, peculiar to himself,
and then said, " Well, now, seriously, Mr. H., what
ever may be our ignorance of ancient measurements,
the fact is, if God should command me o build an
ark, give me the pattern and dimensions, furnish
plenty of timber of the right sort for such a ship,
and plenty of ship-builders, and 120 years to
fulfil my contract, I ll warrant you I would make it
big enough, and I have no doubt that old Noah was
as sharp as any Kaffir in Africa."
480 NATAL.
The fact is, taking the " cubit " at twenty-one
inches, the measurements given in the narrative are
adequate ; but my Zulu took the Bishop on his own
ground. The Jews had a measure called a " cubit/
the Chaldeans had a very different measure called
a "cubit," just as we have different measurements
bearing the same name now ; for example, a mile
in Ireland is about one- third longer than a mile
in England, and an acre in England, Ireland, and
Scotland represents in each country quite a different
measurement of land, so Charles at a glance grasped
the fundamental points in the story, and furnishing
the clearest presumption of its truthfulness.
THOMAS PALFREYMAN AND THE TIGER.
The South African Tiger is of the bright-spotted
leopard species, not quite so large as the Asiatic tiger,
I believe, but very fierce and formidable. When we
were at Maritzburg a young man, near York, twenty
miles distant from us, discovered a tiger near his
residence, and phot at the beast two or three times,
but without much effect, except to enrage the animal,
which joined issue with him, teeth and claws against
his powder and bullets, and the young fellow cried
for quarter. His shouts brought his father to the
spot. The young man escaped with his life, but his
father was killed by the tiger almost instantaneously.
Thomas Palfreyman, a young Englishman, was
away back of Pietermaritzburg, toward the great
Drakensberg, when some frightened Kaffirs came
TOM PALFREYMAN AND THE TIGER. 481
running to him, crying, " a tiger ! a tiger ! " point
ing to the woods and cliffs near by. Palfreyman
ran with his gun into the " bush " and came in sight
of the beast very soon.
The tiger stood his ground, the young man
advanced close to him, took deliberate aim at his
head, and fired, but produced no effect beyond the
flash and report of the gun, and the slow retreat of
the tiger. The young fellow then, upon reflec
tion, was convinced that in his haste he had for
gotten to put in a ball, and had, therefore, merely
burnt a charge of powder in his first attempt
to kill a tiger. He had only been a little over a
year away from England and was not well up in
that kind of Colonial work. He then put in a good
charge of powder and ball and pursued. The Kaffirs
kept out of the bush in the open ground where they
would have plenty of lee- way all clear, so that if
they should deem it expedient to do any running,
they might do it to the best advantage for themselves,
for the Kaffirs, brought up from childhood in terror
of the tiger, their great "Inkosi" of the forest,
have a mortal fear of them. Palfreyman was feeling
his way along a narrow path on the side of a
clift, eight or ten feet above its base, looking ahead
for another sight of the tiger. The great beast mean-
time, with sharper sight, was looking for him, and:
was now crouched on a ledge of the cliff just above
him, ready to pounce down on his hunter as he was,
passing below. The young hunter was quite out-
II
482 NATAL.
generalled by the strategic movements of the enemy,
and when he came within range, the tiger with one
long leap came down upon him.
Hearing the spring of the tiger, he suddenly drew
up his gun in the direction of the bounding beast
and fired, but without effect, except, perhaps, to give
him a wholesome admonition with the smell of burnt
powder.
As the tiger struck him he set the nails of one of
his paws deeply into one of Tom s shoulders and his
teeth into the back of his head, and knocked him
heels over head down the cliff, eight or ten feet
into the jungle below. In their sudden tumble
over the ledge of rocks the tiger lost his hold, and
retreated into a jungle a little further on. Tom
gathered himself up, and finding he had the use of
his limbs, though badly wounded and bleeding pro
fusely, he put into his gun a heavy charge of
powder, and rolled in a handful of naked bullets,
and was ready to renew the attack. His English pluck
was up by this time, and he rushed into the bushy
retreat of his foe, and there he was waiting for
him, calculating, no doubt, and on very plausible
grounds too, that the victory and the spoils would
be his. The young Englishman advanced upon
him till he could see the flashing glare of his eyes,
and with good aim drove his full charge of bullets
into his head, and dropped him dead in his tracks.
Tom showed me the skin of the tiger, which measured
nine feet from the nose to the end of the tail. He
TOM PALFHHYMAN AND TIIK TKiKK.
THE DUTCHMAN AND HIS HOLLAND BIBLE. 483
was preserving the skin, waiting an opportunity to
send it to bis parents in England.
Thomas drove me from his uncle Thomas Pal-
freyman s, house, eighteen miles, to my appointment
at Richmond, where I preached two sermons and
got my tiger-killp.r ronverted to God.
THE DUTCHMAN AND HIS HOLLAND BIBLE.
Two Kaffrarian missionaries, Rev. W. J. Davis,,
and Rev. John Ayliff, in one of their journeys, put
up at the house of a Dutch farmer.
During their evening conversation, Mr. Ayliff in
troduced the subject of vital, personal godliness, and
was urging upon his host the necessity of being
" born again," as a mere form of religion would not
s-ecure him a passport to heaven, nor a fitness for it.
The Dutchman listened so attentively for some time,
that the missionary was quite encouraged with the
hope of winning his man to Christ ; but at last the
Dutchman interrupted him, by saying, " Mr. Ayliff,
what did Cain kill his brother with ?"
Mr. Ayliff replied, " The Bible does not inform
us what kind of instrument he used, and hence, we
do not know."
The Dutchman went and got his large Holland
Dutch Bible, and laid it down on the table, and with
his hand upon it, said, " See here, Mr. Ayliff, this is
my religion. This is a duly authorized Holland
Bible, that cost me one hundred dollars (Rix dollars
484 NATAL.
7 10s.). A Holland Bible, Mr. Ayliff, in black
letters, duly authorised ! That is my faith."
He then opened it, and turned over many pages
with large illustrated black letters and pictures, till
he came to the story of the first murder, and there
was a picture representing the murderer with a great
club in his hands, and, pointing and looking with an
air of triumph, he said, " There Mr. Ayliff, do you
see that ? Don t you see it plain enough that Cain
killed his brother with a club ?"
" Ah, but my dear sir/* replied Ayliff, " that pic
ture was not a part of the inspired narrative. The
artist might have put a sword into his hands instead
of a stick, except that at that period they had clubs,
but not swords. The murderous weapon was most
likely a club or a stone, but the sacred writer has not
told us which/
The Dutchman retorted in a spirit of indignation,
" Now when a man, professing to be a teacher of
religion, comes and tells me that my duly authorised
Holland Bible, which cost me one hundred dollars,
does not tell the truth about Cain, I want to have
nothing more to do with him."
REV. MR. BUTLER AND THE ALLIGATOR.
Some of the rivers of Natal abound with alligators,
and many a poor fellow has been dragged down and
devoured by them. Rev. Mr. Butler, an American
missionary, was crossing the TJmkumas Kiver on
horseback, when a huge alligator seized his leg.
THE LAWYER AND HIS ADVOCATE. 485
He held on for life to his horse, and dragged the
savage beast ashore, and happily for him a number
of Kaffir women were near, who ran to his rescue
and beat the horrible creature off him. The wound,
after a long time, was healed, but the minister never
fully recovered. He has since returned to America.
THE LAWYER AND HIS ADVOCATE.
Mr. Pincent, of D Urban, in Mr. George Cato s
judgment, though not an eloquent pleader, is the best
law counsellor in South Africa. After he had been
forward with our seekers several times feeling after
God, his case, to his own mind, became desperate,
and after giving me a relation of his rebellion against
God, he inquired, " Now, do you think there is any
chance for such a vile creature as I am to be saved ? "
(He was regarded as a moral, right-minded man, but
now the Holy Spirit had revealed to him, what every
sinner must see before he will consent to God s terms
of salvation, " the exceeding sinfulness of sin.")
I assured him " that it is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners " even the very chief
of sinners and that if he would but surrender to God
.and accept Christ, he would prove the truth of that
glorious announcement straightway. We then went
into the details of the struggle, and he was so sick
of sin, that I had but little difficulty in getting him
to consent to a divorce from all sin, and to accept
God s will as the rule of his heart and life, but he
486 NATAL.
stuck sometime at the believing point. He wanted
to pray on till God, for Christ s sake, would give
him peace, and then he could believe. When I got
him to see clearly that he must have confidence in
a physician, and accept him before he could hope to
be cured by him, he next stuck at the mystery in
volved in such a work. Realizing his antagonism to
God s immutable laws, and that a judgment had been
given and recorded against him in heaven s court,
under the clearly revealed law, " the soul that sinneth,
it shall die, " "He that believeth not is condemned
already," he could not see how it was possible for
his legal relations to God s government to be adjusted
so that he should be fully reconciled to God.
After fully explaining the Gospel plan of salvation
by faith, I finally got him down to the saving act of
faith, by the following illustration. Jesus Christ is
our " Advocate with the Father."
" Now it is fair to presume that He understands
His professional intricacies and difficulties. If He
had not been perfectly qualified for that responsible
position, He would not have been admitted to the bar
of heaven s court at all. Now suppose, Mr. Pincent,
that one of your clients should elbow you round the
corners of the streets, and keep insinuating, I can t
see how you are to conduct my suit to a successful
issue. I can t understand the complications of the
the case, it seems all dark to me, and I m afraid
you ll not succeed/ Then when the case comes on
for trial in court, and your client insists on standing
THE LAWYER GAINED HIS SUIT. 487
by you to tell you how to conduct the suit, and every
few minutes gives you the benefit of his counsel, and
dictates to you how you should attend to your
own business. What would you do, sir ? You would
return him his brief straightway ! Now that illus
trates your treatment of our Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. If a client un
derstood the business, he would not employ an advo
cate, and when he employs one he thus admits that
he does not understand it, but that his advocate does,
and having faith in his advocate, allows him to con
duct the suit in his own way, and is not concerned
to know the intricacies involved, but the successful
issue." This being the last point in the penitential
struggle of my lawyer, he thus saw it clearly, and
at once gave his case fully and unreservedly into the
hands of his heavenly Advocate, and that very day
he got his discharge from the death-sentence of the
law, in the court Divine, certified in his heart by
the Holy Spirit. The very moment God saw that,
under the leading of the awakening Spirit, he fully
surrendered himself to God, and accepted Christ, at
the instance of his "Advocate/ the Father "justi
fied him freely " changed his relation from a con
demned criminal to an adopted child, and then being
a son, " He sent forth the Spirit of His Son into his
heart, crying Abba Father."
From that Brother Pincent became decidedly active
as a witness and worker for God, and very useful in
leading poor sinners to Christ.
4:88 NATAL.
But says a hypercritical soul, " Why make such a
free use of a gentleman s name?" Suppose I ask
why St. Luke gave the name of Sergius Paulus, the
governor of Cyprus, who believed under Paul s
preaching, and why tell us, that under his sermon
on Mars. Hill one of the judges of that august court,
JDionysius, was one among others who believed? Such
facts judiciously stated block the game of a class of de-
preciative croakers, common in all countries, who are
always ready to insinuate that the believers in Christ
are a sorry set of weak-minded souls, composed largely
of superannuated old women and little children ;
and then, when such are forestalled by such examples
as Governor Paulus and Judge Dionysius, they are
greatly shocked that the names of such should come
to light. I made an allusion to Mr. Pincent s con
version in Cape Town, and one of those hypercritics
made a blow in the papers about it, no doubt expect
ing to turn even my lawyer against me for using his
name ; but I had the pleasure of stating at my next
service, that it was by Mr. Pincent s own authority
that I made use of his name, having said to me, " So
much of my life has been wasted, that for the rest of
it I wish my time, talents, and testimony, all used
in any way that will promote the glory of God and
the salvation of sinners, and you are entirely at
liberty to make any use of my name you like for
such purposes." In the colony of New South Wales,
eight lawyers received Christ at our meetings, and
one of them, a barrister and crown prosecutor, has
TRYING TO ACCOUNT FOR IT. 489
been used by the Holy Spirit in the salvation of a
number of prominent men in the colony.
THEORY OF THE "WISEACRES."
We have seen the theory of the heathen Kaffirs
at c Annshaw " for solving the mysterious phenome
non of God s work there, on seeing hundreds of their
fellow heathen subjugated to Christ, but now the
enlightened sages of Natal try their hand. Seeing
bankers, merchants, mechanics, and all classes from
the highest to the lowest yielding to the invisible
mysterious power of the Holy Spirit of God, they
could not deny the presence and moving power of
some wonderful agent, so their magical brains went
into labour, and brought forth the much desired
solution for it was a very serious time with them,
we had carried the strongholds of infidelity by storm,
and the kingdom of their father in that colony was
shaken to its centre. Well what was their grand
solution ? Electro-biology and mesmerism.
Their darling, however, had but a puny existence
for a few days, and suddenly died. My friend, Mr.
George Cato, drove me twenty miles to "Aman-
zimtote," one of the American mission- stations, for
a couple of preaching services, through a pioneer
interpreter, Mr. Joseph Kirkman, who was the
speaking medium for Rev. Dr. Adams and Hev. A.
Grant, American missionaries there from the year
1838, long before Natal became a colony, and the
night I was absent the work in D Urban was rather
490 NATAL.
more successful than usual, and many souls were
saved. The " mesmerizer " was gone, and yet the
power remained, so that their confusion was doubly
confounded.
GEORGE C. CATO, ESQ.,
Consul of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Consular
Agent for the United States of America for Natal, mer
chant, sugar planter, free counsellor on all colonial
matters, agent for the American missionaries, and
liberal patron of good things, is an institution of the
country worthy of a much larger space than my
limits will allow, but the following extract of a letter
from him will furnish illustrative glimpses into the
character of the man, colonial pioneer life, and the
recent work of God.
Natal, 13th January, 1867.
My dear and beloved Friend,
It was with unspeakable pleasure that I read your two
notes you very kindly wrote me, the last one written near
St. Helena. We prized the likeness of yourself and yonr
good wife that you sent, and shall respect the giver while
life shall last. It is not very likely we shall forget you.
Some of us in this country reckon things and times by
epochs, such as when the Zulus came down on the natives
here, but finding them cooking human flesh so disgusted
them, that they would not soil their assegais by killing the
cannibals, and hence left the country ; then the arrival of
the Dutch Boers ; then the Zulu war, which a good and
wise Providence allowed to sweep off all the old English
residents, who were living with and like the natives, and who,
if they had remained alive, would have been the cause of
LETTER OF GEORGE C. CATO, ESQ. 491
rrrach cold-blooded murder. Then the first occupation by
British troops; then their leaving, and giving up the
country to the Dutch ; then their coming back again, and
our fight, and my being made prisoner, and put in irons
by day and stocks by night ; then the first and second flood
of the Umgeni River, and our starting at midnight with
a boat to see if any of the residents of the lowlands were in
danger, and saving the Smith family, who had got to a
small hill, and was then standing in water breast high.
Then the arrival of Bishop Colenso, one of the most extra
ordinary men I ever knew, and beyond my poor compre
hension. Then the arrival and final departure of our good
Governor, one of my best friends, Mr. Scott, with a few
smaller advents, until the coming and going of not the
least of my remarkable days when you came and went.
I don t wish you any harm, but I wish the chapter of acci
dents would just land you here again. I have come to the
conclusion in my own mind, that human nature is human
nature under all circumstances, and a predominant feature
thereof is an insatiable greed, never satisfied some crave
one thing, and some another, consequently if you think
there are not souls enough to be saved here to satisfy
your craving, then we will annex the Zulu country, and
the Dutch, inland. I think you would find enough here to
make stars for your crown, and we should welcome you in
all love and respect. I cannot conceive that you will find
a country where your good would be more enduring than
it appears to be here. As a matter of course, I know the
fountain from which this good comes, and that strengthens
my argument, you had the approval of your Master.
Since you left I saw a letter from one of my friends to
another, saying that he was at church the other night, and
if I had been there I should have been delighted, as the
Bishop said during his sermon that some men were spe-
492 NATAL.
dally gifted by God with powers to awaken their fellow-
men ; that these powers did not depend upon great learn
ing, but were a special gift to convey His messages to
mankind : %hat we may not scrutinize the messenger too
narrowly, but must obey his message ; among such men
he named a "Wesley, a Whitefield, a Spurgeon, and
a, Taylor. Now after that I think you had better come
back.
It may be worthy of remark, that near the close
of our campaign, Bishop Colenso called at the
house of my host, Mr. J. H. Grant, in "D Urban, to
see me, saying, " I wanted to see you and shake
hands with you before you leave. God has given
you your work to do, and you are doing it, and He
has called me to another work and I am doing my
work. You don t suppose that all those who have
been brought in at your meetings will stand, do
you ? " I replied, " I certainly do suppose that the
most of them will stand to the death, but a few of
them, owing to their very bad habits, bad associa
tions, and the influence of bad examples, may relapse
into sin/ Our interview being short, but little
passed between us beyond the facts given. I could
readily see how by his kind gentlemanly manner he
won the friendship of many persons, who say they
receive him as a gentleman without any reference to
his ecclesiastical character and relations.
FRANCIS HARVEY, SEN., OF VERULAM,
Is one of the natural curiosities of the Colony. The
FRANCIS HARVEY, SEN. 493
following scrap from his journal may suffice to intro
duce him :
" This happy morning, at five o clock, the exact
anniversary of my birth, seventy-four years since, I
find myself by the special favour and goodness of
Almighty God, in superior health and energy of
body, and rich in the full enjoyment of every
faculty and power of mind, intellectual, emotional,
and spiritual, as much so as at any former anniver
sary of my entrance on life s pathway ; and in all
and everything of blissful possession and sublime
hope, I cannot believe there exists in Africa, or in
the wide world, one more blest, or more conscious
of entire unworthiness of the least of all God s mer
cies."
Francis Harvey is a real progressive, a teetotal lec
turer and Local Preacher, of more than ordinary
cleverness, but luxuriates on his bright memories of
the past. Among many other interesting things, I
heard him relate the story about Mr. Charles Wesley
and the king s "men-of-war s men " with so much
graphic power, that I requested him to write me the
story, and he gave me the following.
A century since, on a Sabbath afternoon, the Rev. Chas.
Wesley was preaching at Portsmouth in the open air ; a
godless naval officer, heated by the demon spirit of wine,
and heading a party of blustering, swearing men-of-war s
men, came furiously towards tne assembled hearers, pur
posely to disturb and drive them off. Mr. Wesley wisely
called out to the people, " Open there, right and left, and
491 NATAL.
let His Majesty s brave tars come near me." The effect
was electric, they who were ready for any work of wicked
violence became in a moment disabled and dismantled to
the very clew-lines of their hearts ; their leader, the half-
drunk lieutenant, paralysed and truly taken aback, confused
and utterly confounded, dared not look a man in the face ;
honest, weeping, broken-down veterans for the Devil, were
helpless as maimed infants, and the old lion of hell himself
had to skulk away, tail between his legs, as best he could.
The sailors had come up singing a roystering bullying song,
and when all was still and lulled to a peaceful calm, Mr.
Wesley, who was pleased with the lively air, and smiling
all over his radiant face, offered to give them a song of his
own, to their tune ; and he did so, and they sung heartily
and lustily, as Jack in a storm can sing :
Listed into the cause of sin,
Why should a good be evil ?
Music, alas ! too long has been
Pressed to obey the devil
Drunken, and light, and lewd the lay
Flowed to the soul s undoing,
Widen d and strewed with flowers the way
Down to eternal ruin.
Who, on the part of God will rise,
Innocent sound recover,
Fly on the foe and seize the prize,
Plunder the carnal lover,
Rob him of every moving strain,
Every melting measure,
Music in virtue s cause retain,
Rescue the holy pleasure.
Who hath a right like us to sing ?
Us whom the Spirit teaches ?
Merry our hearts, for Christ is
Cheerful are all our faces.
HARVEY AND COLElsSO. 495
Heaven already is be^un,
Open d in each believer ;
Only believe, and still sing on,
Heaven is ours for ever !
Written purposely for the Rev. Mr. Taylor, this happy
Hth of October, 1866, by his loving friend, Francis Har
vey, Verulam, Natal, in his seventy-fourth year, and without
glasses.
At the first service held in D TJrban by Bishop
Colenso, on his arrival in the colony, Father Harvey
was present, and tells the following :
" The Bishop entered the plain church, as it was
then, walked to the pulpit, sat down, and made a
scrutinizing survey of the rustic audience. I being
the oldest man in the house, with a white beard, he
no doubt thought I was a vestryman, and came
down the aisle to me, and said, Are you an officer
in the church, sir ?
" Yes, sir, I am the superintendent of a Sabbath-
school, and a Local Preacher in the Wesleyan
Establishment.
" Ah, ah, indeed ! replied the bishop with an
air of disappointment, and walked back to the pulpit.
" After a little he came to me again, and said,
Have you been long in this country ?
" Yes, sir, about ten years/
" What induced you, at your time of life, to come
so far ?
* " I had some promising sons for whom I thought
I could do bettpr in a new countrv.
496 NATAL.
" From what part of England did you come ?
11 Cornwall, sir ; where your father used to live
before he removed to Devonshire. I used to go to
school to your uncle, William, in Cornwall.
" By this time all who were sitting near, hearing
the conversation, became quite interested.
" My uncle, William ? inquired the Bishop.
" Yes, sir, your uncle, William Colenso, I went to
school to him many a long day. He was a Wesleyan
Local Preacher like myself/
" Sensation among the listeners."
The bishop took it very kindly, and soon returned
to the pulpit. He left the old officer in the Wes
leyan Establishment.
Father. Harvey presented me with a little poem
he composed for the daughter of a minister, a mem
ber of his class, who was then seeking the Lord, and
afterwards became a very exemplary Christian :
" Saw ye him whom my soul loveth f " Canticles, iii. 3.
Where the friends of Jesus meet,-^
Where they hold communion sweet,
Where the Lord himself is seen,
Where His presence oft has been,
Where the Holy Spirit rests,
Where He visits Sion s guests,
Where the Father s love is kno\yn,
Where He dwells amongst His own,-
Where His children still are fed,
Where He breaks the living bread,
Where the Shepherd s Tents are seen,
Where the pasturage is green,
REVIVAL INCIDENT AT VERULAM. 497
Where the living waters flow,
Where the trees of healing grow,
Where the vale-birth d lily grows,
Where blooms Sharon s fragrant rose,
Where the Flocks in peace lie down,
Where the Shepherd guards his own,
There, thou wilt thy Saviour meet,
Haste thee, worship at His feet.
F. H., sen.
One of Colenso s friends in Yerulam was telling
Father Harvey about the Bishop s eloquent sermon
there the Sabbath preceding my visit, and said that
nothing could come up to it. Harvey did not join
issue with him on the literary merits of the sermon,
but said, "As for the demonstration of the Holy
Spirit applying the truth, and the saving power of
God, I ll explain to you the difference between
Colenso s operations last Sabbath and the work now
progressing in the Wesleyan chapel.
" See a silversmith, with a beautiful tiny hammer,
hammering the link of a delicate gold chain, and
then look at one of Nasmyth s mighty hammers,
twenty-five tons in weight, stroke after stroke, crash
ing down on red-hot iron. Imagine a moonbeam
reposing on the crest of an iceberg, in contrast with
Nebuchadnezzar s furnace heated seven times hotter
than it was wont to be heated.
REVIVAL INCIDENTS AT VERULAM.
STIRRING incidents they were too, and enough to fill
a volume, but my space will admit but a meagre
&K
498 NATAL.
skeleton of a few. I will insert one from Pamla s
division, as given by Charles.
A heathen man at the Inanda, near Verulam, came to
one of my meetings when I was there. After preaching,
when I called for penitents, the heathen man came forward.
I asked him, " Do you give up your sins ?"
" What sins ? " he asked.
I replied, " Man, don t you know what sins are V
" I never did commit any sins."
" Man, did you never quarrel or fight with the people ? "
And then he got up immediately and looked in my face
and was very angry. He said :
" What sort of a preacher are you ? Do you think you
are a better preacher than our preachers here ? You are
not. It is not a sin to hit another man. Why did David
kill Goliath ? Now if David was a good man and could do
that, it is not a sin. I may fight too. Do you think
that I would let another man come and kill me ? No."
I told him that David was allowed by God to kill Goliath
because Goliath was a great enemy. You are allowed
to defend your country and to kill people in battle yourself,
but not at home ; God says, " Thou shalt not kill nor hate
thy brother." The next time he came to my meeting he
was sorrowful, and told me that he was a great sinner and
kneeled down, gave up his sins, received Christ, and found
peace.
The engravings of the " Zulu young gentlemen/
and " Captain Ngoya," are specimens of the naked
neathen daily seen in the streets of the towns, as
well as throughout the country ; but the saved
heathen are "clothed and in their right minds,"
like the Gradarene.
CAl T. NGOYA IX NATIVE HEATHEN DRESS.
" BELIEVE, JIM ! ACCEPT CIIHIST KOW." 400
At my last service in Ycrulum, forty-two souls
entered into liberty. A man said " Mr. Garland, go
and talk to that poor fellow " (pointing to a man down
on his knees among the penitents), "he is a Roman
Catholic, and needs help." Garland went to him
and said, " Are you willing to give up all your sins
and surrender your soul to God ? "
" I have done that, sir," replied the Catholic.
"Are you willing on the faith of God s record, con
cerning His Son, to accept Christ now as your Saviour?"
" I have accepted Him, sir."
" When did you accept Him ? "
" To night, sir, since I knelt down here."
" Does He save you from your sins ? "
" Yes, sir, He has saved me. I feel it ! I know it,
He s my blessed Jesus ! "
A young colonist among the seekers, who re
ceived Christ and obtained the renewing of His
Holy Spirit, at once went to work in his blunt
simplicity to help his struggling friends to come to
Jesus, and was made a blessing to some ; he said to
a young friend who was weeping and praying,
" Believe, Jim ! accept Christ now ! Do it sharp as
I did ! He ll save you this moment if you ll only
accept Him ! " His friend came to the point,
believed " sharp," and was saved. Miss Cubit, who
was saved at D Urban and was made very useful at
our Yerulam Meeting, said to me in the last hour of
our last service, " Do come and speak again to Mr.
Eynney, he seems to be sinking into utter despair/
50 NATAL.
As I approached him, he exclaimed, " 0, Mr. Taylor
I am lost ! I feel the dreadful ivy of sin around my
soul, and I can t break it. I feel that there are at
least 1,000 devils in me, they are all alive in me,
and I can t get them out ! Do you think there is
any chance for me ? "
" Your case is bad enough you see, and all the
good men, and good angels in the Universe com
bined, could not eject a single devil from your heart,
but Jesus Christ can save you this moment. He
cast a legion of devils out of the Gadarene by a word,
and He will save you if you will surrender yourself
to God, and believing His testimony, receive Christ as
your Saviour. You are under the sentence of death,
your life is forfeited, and you can t do better than
throw your whole being on the mercy of God, in
unreserved submission to His will, to do with you
as He likes. Do you surrender to Him ? "
" yes, I do by His help give myself to God to
do with me as He wishes.""
"Have you sufficient confidence in Jesus, from
what you have read and heard about Him, to accept
Him as your Saviour ? "
" O yes, I am willing to accept Him, I have no
hope in any other."
" Thank God for the willingness, that is the fruit
of His awakening Spirit, but it must be developed
into the fact of an actual acceptance of Him. Do you
accept Him now ? "
"01 can get no light ! "
"Oil! I FEEL SO UTTERLY WRETCHED." 501
" No, and you never will get the light till you
receive Christ."
" 0, but I can t feel His love ! "
" No, and you never will feel His love, till you be
lieve on Him and take Him as your Saviour. You
want to feel His pardoning love acd then believe.
That is expecting the cure before you accept the
physician, which is quite out of the question."
"01 feel so utterly wretched ! Is there no hope
forme?"
" None whatever, while you look to yourself. The
sailor said to his fellow, You may just as well look
into the hold of the ship to find the north star, as to
look to your self for salvation/ You must accept
the Great Physician by faith, faith in His Gospel
credentials, give your case into His hands, consent to
His treatment, and leave Him to exercise His own
wisdom and skill to cure you in His own way."
" But what if I get no relief ? I can t feel any wit
ness of the Spirit."
"You still want to get relief, and feel the
Spirit s witness before you are pardoned, which
is utterly impossible. The witness and renewing work
of the Holy Spirit are as much a matter of provision
as the atonement itself and as immutably reliable.
That is not your part of the business. Your business is
to " repent and believe the Gospel " surrender to
God, and accept Christ, and you may be sure the Holy
Spirit will not fail to fulfil His engagement in the
matter. Do you, my dear brother, now accept Christ? "
502 NATAL.
"I don t feel that I do."
"It is not by feeling, but by believing, not pre
sumption, but the most intelligent faith in God s
most intelligible testimony. If you believe what
God says about Christ, is Christ not worthy of your
confidence, and if so, why not entrust your case in
His hands, and take Him now as your Saviour ?
If you have any mental reservations you are not ac
cepting Him, but dictating terms to Him which He
will spurn. You can accept Him only on His own
terms as a Saviour/row sin, with your hearts consent."
" I do give up everything ! I ll die if I don t
get relief ! "
" Yes, and you will perish eternally if you do not
receive the only Saviour of sinners. Now in full
confidence in the blood shedding of Jesus for the
sins of the whole world, His prayers, as your Great
High Priest, His power to save the very chief of sin
ners, His invitations and promises, confidence in His
willingness to save to the uttermost all that come
unto God by Him/ accept Him as your Saviour. He
is meek and lowly of heart/ your most sympathising
Friend, the only friend you have who loves you
enough to die for you, and His heart of love is just
the same now as when He poured out His heart s blood
on the cross, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day,
and for ever, and you have not to ascend or descend
to bring Him; He is nigh thee. Do you accept Him?
" Yes, I do accept Him ! I do accept Him ! I
do accept Him Glory be to God, He saves me ! He
CONVERSION OF A SCEPTIC. 503
has pardoned all my sins and delivered "my soul!
Glory to God and the Lamb, I m saved ! " His
mother, a good woman who had been telling me
that day with tears that poor Fred was possessed, and
she feared would never be saved, embraced her re
turned prodigal and shed floods of grateful tears, and
could truthfully exclaim, " This my son was dead,
but is alive again, he was lost but is found." The next
morning, Frederic B. Fynney, for that is his name,
said to me, " I know four African languages. I know
the Kaffir better than I know the English, and I owe
such a debt of gratitude to God for saving my soul,
and I feel such sympathy and love for the Kaffirs,
that I believe God has called me to devote my life in
leading them to Jesus." He commenced preaching
straightway ; we ll hear of him again.
J. W. Stranack, a clever young man, who was
said to have been the special correspondent who did
the puffing of Colenso s recent sermons in Yerulam.
for a D Urban paper, surrendered himself to God and
accepted Christ on the faith of God s record, on
that memorable "last night" in Yerulam.
The following extract of a letter to me from him
will tell its own story :
Veruiam, Natal, May IQth, 1867.
My dear father in Christ, for such I must ever regard
yon, I have purposed ever since my uncle, Garland, heard
from you, to write you some account of my own progress,
and that of your Verulam converts, and also to tell you of
the work we are each endeavouring 1 to do for Christ. A
504 NATAL.
sceptical view with which I had become accustomed to
regard every thing connected with personal religion and a
contempt for professors of religion, who were, as I con
sidered, credulous enough to accept the dogmas of Chris
tianity merely because they were told they were so, had
become so settled, that I regarded my own conversion as
certainly the most unlikely thing under the sun. You
came ; I attended the "Wesleyan chapel as usual, new feel
ings, new desires were awakened. I saw truth as I never
saw it before. The sermon on Wednesday morning, Octo
ber 10th, on Christian perfection, fairly brought me to the
point. I saw Christianity to be something worth having,
grand, noble, and I resolved that I would count all things
loss if I might gain Christ. I went to the altar of prayer
the same evening, was enabled to " surrender and to accept
Christ." The following Tuesday evening, at the prayer-
meeting, I felt the witness of the Spirit clear, unmistakable,
that I was accepted of God, and a settled peace filled my
soul. Since that time I have had seasons of temptation,
severe indeed, but am still able to maintain my facts, and
am resolved, in every purpose and power of my being, to
be fully the Lord s. I felt at once the necessity of doing
something for God, both for the sake of my own maintenance
of spiritual strength, and in order to save souls, and pro
mote the cause of our common Saviour. A month after
my conversion one of our Local Preachers took me with
him to preach at one of the two services he had to conduct.
I went out, also, during the four or five months following
with three other of our local brethren, and on two occasions
went alone as a supply. The brethren considered me
qualified for the work, and have placed me on trial as a
Local Preacher. I preached on Sabbath evening in D Urban
and had the glorious privilege of seeing one make a
stand for God, and find peace through Christ.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE MISSION WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA.
THE letter embodied in this chapter, published in
the Graham s Town Journal, and republished in the
Watchman, and in the Wcslcyan Missionary Notices, in
London, contains a brief outline of the Gospel theory
for evangelizing the world, illustrated by numerous
facts in these pages, and also practical suggestions
bearing specially on the mission work in Africa,
entitled, it would seem, to a permanent record in a
bound book, and hence its insertion entire just as it
was first written. I thought of putting it in as an
appendix, but I don t fancy postscripts and ap
pendices, and have decided to give it the place to
which in the order of events it belongs the close
of our campaign in Natal. I was not able to gratify
Rev. T. Jenkins by sending Charles back through
Pondo-land, having already detained him a month
longer than the time agreed upon with his superin
tendent, so I sent him by steam- ship to Port Elizabeth,
nearly a week before I and the other two members
of my party sailed. James Roberts fulfilled his part
nobly, not only in bringing " me on my way," but
506 THE MISSION WOIIK IN SOUTH AFRICA.
in pointing penitent souls the way to Jesus. He was
thoroughly enlightened by the Spirit, and not one
believer in a thousand could explain the simple way
of salvation by faith so clearly as could Brother
Roberts. He accompanied me to Cape Town, and
helped me in my meetings in different places in
those memorable places, where Eev. Barnabas Shaw,
the first Wesleyan Missionary to Africa, planted
the Gospel standard over fifty years ago. Mr.
Roberts provided an excellent nurse for Africanus,
our seventh son, then but two months old, to serve
us during our voyage to London. The blessing of
our covenant-keeping God rest upon my dear brother
James Eoberts.
The following letter was written on our voyage
of 1,000 miles from Natal to Cape Town.
As I am now returning to Capetown from my tour of spe
cial services in the Eastern Province, Kaffraria and Natal,
and expect to proceed to England by the November mail, I
wish, through your popular Journal, respectfully to submit
a few thoughts on what I regard the best methods of
evangelisation. The mission work, commenced through
the ministry of the Eev. Barnabas Shaw in Cape Town about
fifty years ago, and by the Eev. Wm. Shaw in the Eastern
Province about forty-six years ago, has, through the pray
ers and liberality of good people in England, and the perse
vering efforts of faithful missionaries and their friends here,
under the fostering care of the Great Shepherd, gone
forward and prospered.
The Wesleyan Missions in Southern Africa, embracing
white colonists, according to the returns of last year (1865)
BASE LINE AND DEPOT OF SUPPLIES. 507
report -.138 chapels, 3 59 preaching places, 63 missionaries
and assistants, 389 local preachers, 8,331 church members,
1,235 on trial, 54? 79 attending public worship, 1 28 Sunday-
schools, 10,163 Sunday-school scholars, 103 day-school
teachers, 11,457 day-scholars. When we weigh these
figures, and take into the account the widely extending in
fluence of such a wotfk beyond ; not to speak of the great
work wrought here by other branches of the Christian
Church, which my limited space will not allow, we may well
exclaim, " What hath God wrought ! "
But glorious as is the work accomplished, I believe the
mission-stations of Southern Africa, extending coastwise
for nearly 1,500 miles, with a similar line on the West
coast, constitute but a base line and depot of supplies ne
cessary to a more direct decisive movement into the in
terior of the continent.
The establishment of a mission-station in a purely heathen
country appears to require something like the foundations
of a " new state," civil and religious. A large grant of
land is secured from the chief, with treaty stipulations that
while the mission-station is his, the missionary being
answerable to him for the good conduct of the people in
this new community, the chief is not to interfere with the
internal government of the mission people. It is, indeed,
designed to be a model of Christian government, embody
ing Gospel teaching, schools for education, mechanical in
dustries, in short, a miniature Christian nation, for the
government of which a heathen chief has no qualifications.
The mission station, too, is by consent of parties, a sanc
tuary to which all persecuted people under suspicion of
witchcraft, or other undefinable offences, may flee and be
safe, while they remain there. The missionary practically
becomes the chief of this mission tribe. He is the minister,
the magistrate, the superintendent of the- schools, and often
503 THE MISSION WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA.
the teacher as well, the master mechanic, the patron in
general of all the arts of civilization which the heathen
should learn, arid he soon gets work enough on his hands
fully to employ, and often utterly consume, his energies and
his life. The uninitiated, especially now that heathenism
in these parts is awed by the presence of English Colonial
Governments, can form no adequate idea of the complicated
difficulties our missionary fathers had to encounter in plant
ing the Gospel standard in this empire of darkness ; and far
be it from me to indulge a thought, or drop an insinuation
reflecting on their wisdom or fidelity in establishing the
missions just as they did. They have done their work
nobly, and many of them have already received of the
Master the " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord." While they enjoy the glory
of God in heaven, let them be honoured by men on earth.
But now that they have established a base of operations,
the time will come, and I believe has come, when we should,
from this base, develop a more simple, direct, economical,
and a more thoroughly effective system of evangelization
for the conquest of the entire continent. The necessity
for such a movement may be seen from the following
facts : According to published statistics, there are in
the Cape Colony and Natal nearly half-a-million of
African natives. It is believed by old Missionaries and
others who have the best means of forming an approxi
mately correct idea, in the absense of a census, that the
different tribes of Kaffraria amount in the aggregate to at
least 250,000 souls. (Rev. E. Solomon says 300,000.)
Add to these the tens of thousands embraced in the lines of
the Bechuana district, and in the Free State, and we shall
have nearly a million natives within the bounds of our
South African Missions. Among all this mass of heathen
population, accessible to the Gospel, according to last
year s report (1866), we have 8,247 Church members.
MISSION STATIONS. 50G-
We have up to this day but one Christian ruling Kaffir
chief, and his is the only Kaffir tribe that has to any great
extent received Christ; the great majority of our stations
being composed of Fingoes. This vast field, white for the
harvest, to say nothing of the millions of souls in the inte
rior, calls loudly for additional labourers, while the Mission
ary Society is calling out for retrenchment. Now what is to
be done ? I would not give up to the authority of heathen
chiefs the mission-stations which have grown up under the
civil administration of the missionary, as in the case of
Shawbury. Let them remain as seats of education, and
" cities of refuge," as long as such a protective arrangement
may be necessary.
"But unless a very clear Providential necessity should
arise, let no more mission-stations be established on that
plan. Education and all other appliances of civilization
will follow in the wake of Gospel triumphs, and should be
amply provided for, but if all these must precede the Gospel,
or go abreast with it, as part of the missionary s work, they
will so circumscribe and trammel his movements that he
will have but little time and strength left, for carrying " the
war into Africa," beyond the lines of the station.
I do not propose any fundamental changes in our itinerant
system, but having our mission stations with all their re
sources, with the Bible in Kaffir, Zulu, and other African
languages, I would respectfully submit what I believe to be
the best method of greatly increasing the working effect-
iveness of our missions, without greatly increasing the cost
to the Missionary Society of carrying them on. I don t
propose any new plan, but the old plan so successfully
worked by St. Paul and his fellow-missionaries. I will give
an outline of what I regard the purely
EVANGELICAL PLATFORM.
The Gospel is adapted to humanity in all its forms, from
510 THE MISSION WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA.
the most learned philosopher to the most degraded heathen.
All the knowledge essential to the salvation of a poor hea
then may be acquired in a very short time his pollution
of soul by sin, his guilt, his condemnation and exposure to
penalty, his bondage to Satan, and that God hath provided
and now offers to him, in Christ, a ransom, a cleansing
fountain, an Almighty deliverer. Through the quickening
power of the Holy Spirit he may learn all this under the
preaching of a single Gospel sermon, or even under the
prophetic witnessing of a few laymen. " If all prophesy,
and there come in one that believeth not," a poor sceptic,
who had heard, but did not believe these Gospel tidings
" or one unlearned," a poor heathen who knew nothing
about them " he is convinced of all, he is judged of all;
and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so,
falling down on his face, will worship God," and finding salva
tion in Christ, will be able, as a witness for Jesus, to " report
that God is in you of a truth." The Gospel plan not only
embraces " pastors and teachers " for the watch, care, and
edification of the Church, but also " apostles, prophets, and
evangelists," for the development and effective employment
of the combined forces of the Church in bold aggressions
into the kingdon of darkness. "The Acts of the Apostles"
extending through a period of over thirty years, though full
of thrilling history, was not written merely as history, but
the Holy Spirit evidently designed thus to illustrate the
practical application and effects of Gospel principles, doc
trines, and methods necessary to the salvation of the world.
Every fact, therefore, is an authoritative teaching fact,
and every character portrayed, a representative character.
Nearly the whole record of facts from the travels and labours
of Barnabas and Paul and their coadjutors, authoritatively
teach and illustrate God s own methods of spreading the
Gospel. Whether in Jerusalem, at the great Pentecost,
GOSPEL METHODS OF AGGRESSION. 511
or subsequently in Antioch, Athens, Corinth, or Ephesus,
and all other illustrative examples given us by St. Luke,
the plan was to consecrate their most effective forces
" daily," and thus they added daily to the Church such as
were saved.
This is not at all in conflict with the ordinary methods
of " exhortation, edification, and comfort," of believers, and
individual efforts to win souls to Christ. The aggressive
methods should not be allowed, in any degree, to supersede
the ordinary means. Like the various departments of
military warfare, they are so many essential parts of one
great plan. The recruiting, daily drill, reconnoitering, and
skirmishing are not to supersede the forward march of the
grand army ; nor are the victorious charges of the grand
army to do away with these preliminary departments of the
service. Special revival efforts to be sure, involve hazards,
as all great movements do. When the " Church makcth
increase of herself" by ordinary means only, the increase is
principally of those who have been under training in her
Sunday Schools and stated ministry, persons whose
general moral character and associations would be a
guarantee for their good behaviour as church members,
whether they were truly converted to God or not. Whereas
a special revival effort is like dragging the " great net,"
bringing up all sorts of fish, rendering it necessary to select
" the good and throw the bad away," as the Saviour illus
trates. On the other hand, I believe that nearly one-third
of the converts in a great revival, were nominal members of
the church at the time of their conversion. After many
years of patient drilling and preparation in Southern Africa,
we have recently tried this Gospel method of a daily " con
centration of effort " for a few days together in different
places. In every place there has been a hearty co-operation
of ministers and people. God hath in every instance owned
512 THE MISSION WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA.
their labours, and crowned them with success, so that in
Cape Colony, Kaffraria, and Natal, during the space of
five months and twenty days, the ministers, on a personal
examination of each case, with record of name and address,
reported over 4,000 souls converted to God. (That turned
out to be but the first gathering of the harvest as we went
along, but the full returns a few weeks later, swelled the
aggregate to about double that number). Over one
thousand of these are whites, a large majority of natives
under training on the mission-stations, with a good
sprinkling of heathen. Probably one-fourth, or more, of the
whole were nominal members of the church. On at least
two of our large mission-stations, the missionaries say all
their people are now converted, and hence such another
harvest on the same field cannot soon be gathered ; but
with good drilling, these communities can make new
aggressions into the regions beyond. The unsaved millions
of this continent belong to the heritage of Jesus, and
should be brought home to His fold. Plenty of work for
everybody. Let every believer be always trying to save
somebody. How shall we best conserve and extend this
great work of God? I can only plead for a fair trial
of the
APOSTOLIC PLAN
What is the ordinary mode of aggression beyond our base
the mission- stations ? I believe it is to send out local
preachers as pioneers among the heathen kraals every
Sunday, with an occasional tour and periodical ser
vices by the missionary, when his unceasing pressing
duties on the station allow it. After the labour of
years, a little society is formed, composed, it may be, of
a few superannuated old heathen women, and an old
pauper man or two. This society, under the title of an
" out-station," is to the surrounding heathen an exponent
of Christianity, a representation to their minds of the work
APOSTOLIC PLAN OF EVANGELIZATION. 513
of the great God we tell them about, and but excites their
scorn and contempt. We, however, pity their ignorance,
and go on fostering this little society, till in the progress
of years it grows to a respectable church, and a really good
work is wrought and many souls saved, but the mass of its
contemporaneous heathen have meantime gone down to
perdition.
Now, instead of this plan, or rather in addition to it, in
humble reliance on the broad charter of the Gospel and
the power of the Holy Ghost, I would select a few of the
best native preachers in the country.
We would go then into the principal centres of population,
and pitch our tents, and by all legitimate means arrest the
attention of the people, and " dispute with them daily," till
the God of battles would give us 1,000 or 3,000 souls
according to the extent of the available population. We
would immediately organize a church, and establish good
discipline, under an effective pastorate. From such a
centre, under the influence of such an exhibition of the
saving power of Jesus, we would send forth into the neigh
bouring kraals, Local preachers, and all sorts of lay agency,
and give them healthy exercise and good vantage ground
for winning souls. So soon as we should thus get the
work in a new field thoroughly organized, we would strike
our tents, and be off to another great centre of population,
and so " speak that a great multitude would believe." By-
and-by, Barnabas and Mark could go to Cyprus, while
Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke should press their way
into new and more extensive fields.
In praying the God of the harvest to send forth labour
ers into our new fields, whether as evangelists, pastors or
teachers, we would expect that most of them would be
Native Africans, who would gladly submit to the general
superintendency of the white missionaries so long as the
Providential necessity for such agency might exist.
LL
514 THE MISSION AVORK IN SOUTH AFRICA.
This will lead us to consider the
KAFFIR STANDARD OF MINISTERIAL EDUCATION.
Nearly every Kaffir you meet is an orator. Their power
as law pleaders is proverbial, and every Kaffir child speaks
its language correctly. Eev. Mr. Appleyard, who has
given to the Kaffirs the whole Bible in their own language,
told me that he never heard a Kaffir make a grammatical
blunder in speaking the Kaffir language. To teach a Kaffir
Latin and Greek, to prepare him to preach to Kaffirs, in a
language without a literature, is not only a waste of time,
but is likely to remove him, in his feelings, modes of
thought, and habits of life, so far above his people, as
greatly to weaken their mutual sympathy, and in many
ways increase the difficulty of his access to them. Of course
we would not object to the multiplication of such men as Rev.
Tyo Soga, but shall the car of salvation stand still and
millions of heathen perish while we are waiting for the
schools to turn out such agents as he ?
When the tribes of Africa become Christianized and
civilized they may require a high literary standard of min
isterial education, and would also have the facilities and the
men to use them. For the present, our Kaffir ministers
should be able to read and write well in their own language;
nnd, as far as practicable, to read and .write the English.
They should be holy men of God, called by the Holy Ghost
to pjreach the Gospel, men thoroughly instructed in our
doctrines and discipline ; men who, individually feel that
- Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel," and who have
"gifts, grace, and fruit " ; men who will cheerfully consent
to go anywhere, this side the gates of perdition, to save
sinners ever ready to preach or to die for Jesus.
WHERE ARE WE TO GET THE MONEY FOR SUCH A WORK ?
Whenever we shall succeed by the renewing power of
"I VE A SHAKE IN THE COXCEHN." 515
the Holy Spirit, in getting u a great multitude " converted
to God, we should say to them, " God designs you to be
men, and not a set of children to be hanging on the coat-
tail of some foreign umfundisi. We will together thank
God for sending missionaries over the sea to give you the
Gospel, and we will always reverence and love them ; but
now that you have embraced the Gospel, God requires you
to support and extend it. He hath given you land,
grain, and cattle in abundance ; He hath given you heads,
and hearts, and hands ; and now, through faith in Jesus,
you have received the * gift of eternal life. Now you need
a chapel, a preacher s house, and school-house, and God
expects every one of you to help in this great work." We
would at once show them the plans, and systematically or
ganize them for the work. A little sweep was seen in a snow
storm running down a street in New York city. " Hallo,
Jack ! which way are you going ? " " I m going to the
missionary meeting ; I ve a share in the concern ; I gave a
shilling to it last Sunday." Thus we would give every
saved heathen " a share in the concern." Drawing them
out of the channels of their heathenish habits, we would
give them plenty of new and useful employment, and allow
them no time for backsliding. We would thus make our
infant churches self-sustaining from the start. St. Paul s
new churches, among the heathen, were not only self-sup
porting, but gave liberally for the support of their poor
widows, and for the poor Jews in Judea besides. In some
cases, to be sure, St. Paul refused to receive a support for
himself, but it was no doubt because he was establishing
for the church God s own system of finance, and he would
not leave a peg on which his slanderers might hang a sus
picion that his grand financial scheme was for his own
personal advantage. According to this system every one
of them was expected to lay by in store the first day of
516 THE MISSION WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA.
every week, according as the Lord had prospered them,
at least a tenth of their net income, with " free-will offer
ings " besides, according to God s ancient law for mankind,
and to which the Jews of those days yielded ready obedience.
While we " have the poor with us," and while the Gos
pel is preached by men, this law will be necessary, and hence
obligatory.
Our native ministers would not require more than one-
fourth of what is necessary to support a foreign missionary.
It would not be best to raise them above the people too
fast, but to advance as fast as they could raise their people with
dtiem. We would promise our men plenty of hard work, hard
fare, and a martyr s crown if they could fairly win it ; and
they would have an opportunity, no doubt. This brings to
view a glimpse of the MORAL EFFECT of such a movement upon
the church. Mr. Geo. Cato said to me the other day, " Why
is it that the Gospel has so little effect upon the Moham
medans ? " " Mohammedanism," I replied, "is so bitter in
its opposition to Christianity, and has such a tenacious hold
upon its devotees, that the mild conservative type of modern
Christianity is not adequate to grapple successfully with
guch an organization of superstition and sin ; nor indeed to
gain very fast on heathenism, or successfully to resist the
inroads of infidelity, and worldliness, even in Christian
countries." I felt it to be a humiliating confession to have
to make, but does not the logic of facts prove its truth.
But let us have a healthy development of the essential
aggressive spirit of the Gospel, carrying the " glad tidings "
from city to city, and from country to country, accord
ing to the Gospel precedents adduced now a chief or king
converted to God, now an evangelist martyred, now a city
conquered, the sympathy, prayers, and co-operation of
every Christian in the world would be freely invested in
such an enterprise. Everybody would be inquiring daily
HEROIC TYPE OF CHRISTIANITY. 517
I about the progress of the great work of God in its grand
march to the conquest of the world. We would have a
, living thing worthy of God and humanity, and adequate to
its ends. Such a work would wake the heroic elements of
man s nature. How they are brought out by the tocsin of
war ! Within the last five years, nearly a million of men
have laid down their lives on the altar of patriotism. A
low type of Christianity that does not enlist and employ
the whole man, sinks down to a formal secondary thing
with him, and the active elements of his nature are carried
off into other channels of enterprise. The heroic power of
man s nature, enlisted and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, is
essentially the old martyr spirit, which kept the Gospel
chariot moving in the olden time. What had Garibaldi ever to
offer to his soldiers ? But did he ever call in vain for an
army of heroes ready to " do or die ? " He knows how to
arouse the heroic element of men s hearts.
Every passion and power of the human mind and heart
should be sanctified by the Holy Spirit to the purposes
for which they were designed. There is no field of enter
prise to which the heroic element of our nature is better
adapted, or more needed, than the great battlefield for
souls, enlisting all the powers of hell on the one side, and
all the powers of heaven on the other. What an heroic
record the Gospels give of the labours, sufferings, death,
and resurrection of the " Captain of our Salvation," and
the noble army of martyrs trained under his personal ministry.
Give these Gospel methods of aggression a fair trial in
Southern Africa. Hundreds of natives who have recently
been converted to God can read and write, and we also have
many native whites who are as well acquainted with the
Kaffir language as with the English. With such resources,
under continued and improved facilities of education, and
the fostering care of our faithful missionaries, now in the
518 THE MISSION WOEK IN SOUTH AFRICA.
field, the God of the harvest would doubtless raise up all
the labourers the increasing demands of the work might
require. The native agency already employed by our
missionaries at Fort Peddie, Annshaw, Morley, and else
where, has been worked very satisfactorily, and the four
native brethren just admitted as candidates for the
ministry, promise great usefulness to the church.
Such a movement as we have described would, under the
leading of the Holy Spirit, bring out hundreds of Africa s
sons who would gladly share the greatest hazards of mis
sionary life. They would not unnecessarily provoke perse
cution ; would patiently endure it, or " flee from one city
to another," if necessary, but if such should be manifestly
the will of God, they would die for Jesus as cheerfully as
the martyrs of the Apostolic age.
My convictions of the importance of this movement, and
my desire to help my dear brethren in the full development
of this plan in practical effect in Southern Africa, have so
occupied my mind and heart, that for months past I have
been praying to God, that if it were his will to adjust my
family and Conference relations to this work, and call me to
it, I would gladly spend and be spent in this great battle
for African souls. I have, however, finally come to the
conclusion that God designs the glorious work here to be
carried on by others, and will employ me in the same work
in some other part of the world.
If my fellow-labourer, Brother Charles Pamla, and a few
others were set apart as were " Barnabas and Saul " for
this work, and properly sustained in it, I believe the Holy
Ghost would do a work through them that He could not so
readily do through me.
Let this aggressive method, so fully illustrated in the
Acts of the Apostles, be adopted and wisely worked through
out the world, and we would, under the Holy Ghost, develop
" WAICHMAX, WHAT OF THE NIGHT ?" 519
a healthy heroic spirit of Christianity, which would throw
off the incubus of unbelief and spiritual death against
which it is struggling, and would enable her successfully to
grapple with the insidious forms of worldliness and sin
in Christian countries, with Mohammedanism and all forms
of heathenism. Then the darkness would soon be past.
The dismal cry, " Watchman, what of the night ? " would
be heard no more. Then we should see the mellow light of
millennial glory reposing on the tops of the mountains.
" The glory of the Lord would be revealed, and all flesh
would see it together." The jubilant shout of the final
victory of our all-conquering King would pass along the
lines of the sacramental hosts, and be echoed back from
every island, mountain, and continent, " Hallelujah ! tho
Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
WM. TAYLOR.
Steam-ship Mauritius.) off Cape of Good Hope,
October 18th, 186&,
CHAPTER XXVIL
KEVIEW OP THE WORK AND ITS PROGRESS TO THE
PRESENT TIME.
" PAUL said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit
our brethren in every city where we have preached
the word of the Lord, and see how they do." "Would
that I could do the same in Africa ! I will, however,
take my dear reader to those places where I have
" preached the word of the Lord," and we will learn
from the brethren " how they do." From the most
reliable sources I will respectfully submit statistics
and facts, which will at least furnish an index to the
manifest extent of the work of God in those fields
during my sojourn in Africa, and up to the time
of my departure; and although my limited space
will not allow a review in consecutive order, I will
select from a large amount of interesting matter in
hand, a few miscellaneous facts, illustrative of the
progress of the work to the present time.
Rev. Thomas Guard, in a letter dated November
14th, 1866, says :
I haye been to Somerset, to Queen s Town, and to Forfe
521
Beaufort since your visit to those towns, so that I am able
to give you the latest information respecting the progress
of the work.
Last Tuesday was a thanksgiving day of our Church in
this city (Graham s Town). Thanks for rain ; thanks for
payment of debt on our Chapel 3,000 ; thanks for the
grace of God in connection with your, ever to be remem
bered, visit showers of rain, of gold, of grace, but the
greatest of these is grace ; and I am glad to assure you the
grace abides. Classes, prayer-meetings, Sunday and week
day preaching services, all continue to evince the power and
mercy of the God of Hosts. In Queen s Town nothing
could be more delightful than the state of our Society, " in
fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers." I could see
the change more clearly than you, as I had been there but
a short time before your visit. Dugmore is in a most
heavenly state of mind, and preaches with unwonted might
and unction. In Beaufort Brother Wilson rejoices over the
most prosperous and growing state of spiritual life. In
Somerset, especially in the country, whither many who
were converted in town carried back the flame, the good
work triumphs, and finds in Brother Edwards an indefati
gable overseer.
Cradock is remarkably advancing, every service adds
souls to Christ ; the town is all a-fire with zeal and love.
Those brought to God in this city, with very few exceptions,
stand fast in the faith. One or two young people, of whom
we had some doubts, have gone aside ; but we trust to seo
them reclaimed, or really converted. * * *
Annshaw heads the list as to the numbers saved
during the season of refreshing.
"Rev. Brother Lamplough, by letter, November 7th,
1866, says :
522 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
Charles arrived at home all right, and very glad I was
to see him again, though I am thankful to say I have got
a first-rate interpreter, indeed, I think he surpasses Charles
in that line, and is also a very powerful preacher, though
in the latter work we have no one here to come up to
Charles. I am very pleased that Charles went with you to
Natal, and that you had such a glorious journey. It is truly
wonderful to hear of all the wonders wrought by the Lord
among the heathen in so short a time. * * You will
be pleased to hear that the work still continues to progress
in this circuit. I have lost count almost of numbers ; but
at least 1,200 profess to have found peace with God on
this circuit, and there seems every reason to believe that
we shall have a fresh ingathering on a large scale, soon.
The best of it is, our men are beginning to work so beauti
fully, and if they only keep up to the mark, as they are at
present, I see no reason why the work should not continue
to go on. The clear experience of those who, until just
lately, were heathen, and the wonderful way in which the
little children speak about the things of God is most
astonishing. The last quarterly visitation for tickets, was
one of the most delightful seasons I have ever experienced.
For purposes of mutual edification and Christian
fellowship, all the members of the Wesley an socie
ties are divided into classes, to be met weekly by a
leader, who is a sub-pastor, and quarterly by the
minister.
Brother Lamplough, in a more recent letter,
speaking of the effect of the revival on the " Native
Helpers," says :
A young Kaffir, a candidate for the ministry, has been
greatly owned of God in the conversion of about 300 souls
SUCCESS OF THE ANNSHAW WORKERS. 523
the past year. Another, an elderly man, who can do but
little more than read a hymn, has also been very useful
among the red heathen. His method is as follows : Having
selected a particular village, he spends about a week in
earnest importunate prayer for that village, sometimes
rising in the middle of the night, and going into the chapel
to wrestle for the souls of the heathen, until he has con
fidence that souls will be given him. He then sets forth,
taking with him a few earnest men to help him to sing,
pray, and exhort ; and after continuing thus to labour for
some days, employing the time between the services in
visiting the heathen in their huts, he calls for those who
are awakened by the Spirit, under the preaching, to come
and bow down in prayer as seekers, and very soon he is
surrounded by weeping penitents, who are soon changed
into happy believers. The believers and penitents are then
brought to the station, where special prayer-meetings are
held until all are enabled to rejoice in God. One day I
heard the sound of joyful singing, and looking up I saw a
sort of triumphal procession coming over the hill. In front
was one of our leaders, carrying on a long stick a number
of heathen ornaments; behind him were about a dozen
heathen who had torn off their ornaments, some were
weeping bitterly, and others manifesting joy and gladness ;
behind them were other leaders and members, to the
number of about twenty, who, as they came to the station,
were singing a hymn of triumph. It seemed like a minia
ture representation of the last time, when " the mountain of
the Lord s house shall be established in the tops of tne
mountains, and all nations shall flow into it." I must not
dwell on this subject. I may just say that the greatest
blessing in connection with your visit amongst us, was the
wonderful effect it had on our Native Helpers. They be
came new men, and not only displayed remarkable zeal in
524 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
working for souls, but much wisdom in winning them to
Christ. Your coming seemed to be like a new life opening
before our native labourers ; they became, not only more
willing to go forth to work for Christ, but were taught how
to do it successfully. Even the new converts at once go to
work for God, with success. A heathen man, in the midst
of a large village of red people (wild heathen, painted with
red ochre), after his conversion, stood up and declared that
God s word was true, and told the people what he felt. He
then proceeded to address them in a most wonderful way,
and the power of the Holy Ghost was so remarkably mani
fested, that it seemed that the whole village was moved.
I might tell you of many heathen men, who have given up
their plurality of wives, and retained only their first ; but
these things we expect, and therefore they have not pro
duced much impression on our minds."
The old veteran missionary, Rev. Mr. Shepstone,
chairman of the Queen s Town district, writes under
date, May 1st, 1867, saying :
" You will be glad to learn that the work of God which
you saw begun here on this station, as well as on the others,
where we had the satisfaction of seeing such blessed results
of your labours, did not die with your departure, nor di
minish in your absence we added more in number on this
station after you left, than we had done while you were
with us some, after public service came forward and
voluntarily confessed their sins before all. One woman
after confessing various sins, said, it was I who stole the
thatch that was to have thatched the school-house. This
woman was a thorough heathen, living about seven miles
from the station. A man near the same place, was putting
on his European clothes, when his wife, a heathen 3 saw him,
PERSECUTIONS FEOM THE HEATHEN. 525
and asked c Where are you going ? To the chapel service,
was the reply. Take them off ! talce them off! don t you
know they catch everybody ? You will be caught. Take
them off ! And he did, and he has not been caught yet !
But many more have many have been known to run out of
the service, simply because, as they confessed, that had
they remained, they must have yielded to the convictions
that came upon them.
Some have been beaten, some have been tied fast to the
posts of their houses by persecuting heathen husbands
that they might not attend the means of grace, and in one
instance, the poor woman has yielded for the present.
Others have persecuted their children and succeeded in
keeping them back ; whilst others have been bold as cham
pions for the truth, and though young, their Christian
courage is delightful.
At one place, about seven miies from us, there were two
young girls, of about the age of sixteen years, two cousins,
daughters of a head man and his brother. These were con
verted while you were here, but having been found praying
in the mountain together by the father s younger brother,
the father told them he would have no praying in his family,
none had ever prayed, and he would not allow it. If they
would persist, they should leave the place, which they did
and came to me. I sent for the head man to know the
truth. He denied any knowledge of the girls having been
driven from their homes, and promised to allow his daughter
full liberty of action. He was as good as his word she
returned home with her father, and a few days afterwards,
the old chief bought her proper clothing to attend God s
house. The other being the daughter of the most insolent
opposer. refused to return with her uncle until he had come
down jiii l seen me I sent for him to ask him how it was
his daughter was a wanderer. He of course denied the
526 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
persecution. I had a fine opportunity of giving him a
personal sermon, and inviting him to the mercy of God.
The old grey-headed polygamist, promised the same
liberty, and both have ever since I believe been growing in.
grace besides that they have been instruments in
bringing nearly twenty other young people at the same
river, to embrace the Gospel of salvation. But the old
heathen parents, have by one stratagem or another, suc
ceeded in keeping back the greater part, or sending them
away to heathen friends at a distance. Still the word of
God is not bound."
Another venerable old missionary, Eev. J. Cameron,
Chairman of Natal district, writes as follows :
The Lord made you an instrument of much good to many
souls in this country, and the memory of your visit, will be
cherished with delight.
The work which began in D Urban when you were here
is still going on, though with less outward demonstration,
than under your personal ministrations. The new converts,
I am thankful to say, with but few exceptions, are progres
sing in divine life. All the means of grace are well attended,
and characterized by much of the unction from the Holy
One. The noon-day prayer-meeting, in the Chapel, is still
kept up, though the attendance is not so large as formerly.
Those who do attend, can generally say, " Master, it is good
for us to be here." We have a fortnightly public band-
meeting, which has proved a great blessing, especially to our
young people, many of whom bear delightful testimony to
the fact of their continued interest in Jesus. Some of the
young men who speak the Kaffir language, manifest great
zeal for the salvation of the Kaffirs. We have put some
half-dozen on the plan, as Kaffir exhorters, and they
" FORWARD MARCH " OF NATAL SOLDIERS. 527
are going on with their work. Bro. Langley has engaged
to meet them once a week for the purpose of giving
them special instruction as to the best modes of getting
and communicating knowledge. Still, with all our precious
means and appliances, we need much larger baptisms of the
Holy Ghost, which we hope will be vouchsafed to us.
Instead of twos and threes occasionally crying for salvation,
we want to hear crowds doing so every time we meet. We
have much agonising prayer for this, and much faith too,
which I am persuaded cannot be in vain. In Kaffir land we
mean to adopt more strenuous measures for the conversion
of the heathen, and are only waiting for the sanction of our
Home Missionary Committee to a plan for this purpose
submitted for their consideration. The plan agrees with your
views, so far as the agency we can command will allow, and
if carried out successfully, will encourage us to do some
thing on a larger scale, by-and-by.
Rev. Ralph Stott, the indefatigable old Indian
missionary, who is now in charge of the 7,000 Coolies
in Natal, says of the work in D Urban, by letter
in Wesley an Missionary Notices, for February, 1867,
I have been in several revivals within the last 45 years,
in connection with David Stoner, Thomas Walker, Joseph
Wood, Messrs. Palmer, and in Batticaloa, and have often
seen glorious results, but was never in a revival which pleased
me so well. *.-.#
Numbers who liave been converted in this revival are
now, under the influence of the love of God shed abroad in
their hearts, working for God both amongst the English
and Kaffirs, and thus new centres of light and influence, and
power, are established in the land, which will in time tell
on thousands beyond. Many young Englishmen have
528 PROGRESS OF THE WORK
Kaffir tongues, and renewed hearts, and they are using both
for God. I wish some of them had Tamil and Hindustani
tongues.
Rev. Richard Hayes, Jun. minister in Pietermaritz-
berg, writing for the Missionary Notices for January,
1867, says of the work there :
At Pietermaritzberg the members of society have been
strengthened and established in the faith, and not a few
have been added unto the Lord. The good work has gra
dually advanced : none have fallen away, and a good many
have been added since Mr. Taylor left us. The simple but
clear and scriptural narrations of conversion, to which we
have listened, and the evidences of fruit in the life, have
produced the conviction that the work among those newly
converted has been genuine.
Rev. H. S. Barton, superintendent of Verulam
Circuit, writes for the March number of Missionary
Notices, saying :
As before, so since Mr. Taylor left, the work has been
going on, so that at our last Quarterly Meeting, we were
enabled to report a hundred and six English, and a hundred
and ninety-five natives, on trial, being almost as many as
our present members. We have taken one new English
preaching-place on the plan, and five native places, with
three English young men on trial as Local Preachers ; and
nine young men, English and native, to engage in native
work. My heart does indeed rejoice in the Lord s work ;
and I feel I can heartily bless God for bringing men so de
voted to His work for a time into our neighbourhood.
The success is more marvellous when the spareness of the
population is considered.
MISSIONARY REPORTS. 529
As the greater part of my work in Africa was
in the Eastern Province of Cape Colony and Kaf-
fraria, principally in the Graham s Town and Queen s
Town Mission Districts, I will extract from the
annual Report of the "Wesleyan Missionary Society
a tabular view of those two districts, which will
furnish a statistical index to the late work of God,
and also furnish an illustrative specimen of the work
ing appliances of Wesleyan Missions.
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532 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
An egotistic display of numbers, even of a work of
God, is abhorrent to any person of common sense,
but an occasional judicious representation of facts is
due to the credit of God s work, and a means of
stimulating the faith of His workers. We c6uld have
formed no appreciative idea of the Holy Spirit s great
Pentecostal work in Jerusalem if St. Luke had not
said, " Then they that gladly received his word were
baptized : and the same day there were added unto
them about three thousand souls." In regard to the
further statistical exhibit I propose to make for the
glory of God, I may remark, I never number the con
verts myself, but note the numbers if furnished to me
by the ministers, who personally examine them and
record their names and addresses ; their examination
by the pastors is to assure themselves that the persons
professing to find peace with God can give satisfac
tory testimony to a real change of heart from the
witness and renewing work of the Holy Spirit. If
their testimony is clear, their names and addresses
are recorded for the purpose, not of numbering
simply, but of putting them definitely under pastoral
care and training.
The six thousand and upwards, before mentioned,
as having been examined and reported saved at
my services in Australia, New Zealand and Tas
mania, embraced simply those professing to find
peace with God at my immediate services, but this
African exhibit will embrace not only those saved
immediately at my meetings, but those also saved in
the districts in which I laboured simultaneously
STATISTICS OF THE WORK OF GOD. 533
with my services during the period of seven months.
The annual returns in "Wesleyan Missions there are
made in the month of September, so the returns would
embrace the first fruits of our series, who, having
fulfilled a three months probation (six months with
American Methodists), are returned as members un
der the head of " increase/ but the majority were
" on trial," not having had time to fulfil their periocv
of probation; and the fruits ofD Urban and Yerulam
in Natal, and four weeks subsequent labour in Cape
Town District were after September, and, hence
do not appear in the " annual report." It will be
seen from the foregoing tables that the net increase in
those two districts was 1,888 members, 3,556 remain
ing on trial, making an aggregate of 5,444. In Natal
there were of natives who professed to obtain peace
with God 735, whites, 320; of natives atEmfundisweni,
over 150, making an aggregate of 1,205 ; to these may
be added over 200 in Cape Town District, making a
total of 6,849 souls duly examined and reported from
without. Then in the societies, besides the great
quickening of believers in many places fully one
quarter of the regular seekers and converts were at
the same time Church members. About 250 such
were among the Annshaw converts, and about 200
Brother Sargent reported at Heald Town, and a simi
lar proportion, so far as we could learn, in all other
places ; but if we put the proportionate number of
converts among the previously enrolled members in
the Graham s Town and Queen s Town districts at
one-fifth instead of one-fourth, it will add 1,088
PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
to the list of converts in those two districts.
Besides these, Brother Edwards at Somerset says,
many of our converts belonged to other organiza
tions there, " and were lost to us, but not to God."
Brother Shepstone writes that the fire spread into
other denominations, and at Hat River, 300 were
added to the Church ; at Hankey, 150 ; and so in many
other places the work spread out from the centres in
which our meetings were held; but not counting any
of these not being personally examined and re
ported by our regular missionaries, though all
saved we hope by adding the 1,088 aforesaid, we
have a grand total brought to God within the space
of seven months of 7,937 souls. Of these, about
1,200 were Colonists, and the remainder Kaffirs.
Glory be to God ! Amen !
Now for a few facts illustrating the genuineness
and continued progress of the work, and the multi
plication and increased effectiveness of the workers.
INDICATIONS OF PROGRESS IN KAFFRARIA.
KEV. Peter Hargraves writes concerning this work
in Clarkebury under date of May 1867, ten months
after my departure, as follows :
Here we have abundant cause to remember your visit
and to feel grateful for the " showers of blessings " which
accompanied and followed your faithful and zealous labours
amongst us. We are not the same people, the Mission Station
is not the same. Grace has wrought a great and blessed
change in the moral and mental habits of the people
around us.
535
The blessed revival of religion did not cease when you
left us. It continued, and continues even to this day.
When it commenced there were scarcely one hundred per
sons meeting in class, and but few of these could give a
satisfactory testimony of their conversion to God. Most of
them were formalists, and believed the class to be the means
and end of salvation. Now, blessed be the name of God,
there are more than four hundred and sixty persons in
society with us.
Testimonies to the change wrought in the moral habits
of the people have come from all quarters. Some time back
a counsellor of Ngangelizwe was on the station for two or
three days, and on leaving he told one of the traders that
Clarkebury used to be like a large canteen, but during this
visit he had not been able to get any beer or find any beer
drinkers. The Chief visited and remained with us two
days. When leaving, he took my hand and said, " I be
lieve in this people now, they serve God in truth." Testi
monies like the above might be multiplied to any number.
This blessed work has not been circumscribed by the
boundaries of the station, but has affected and influenced
many heathen families residing miles beyond the station.
At one kraal, under a head man named " Pelshana," we
have had between twenty and thirty conversions. At ano
ther kraal in the " Bololwa " we have been able to form a
class of ten members. At the Cwecweni the number in
society has risen from eight to twenty-eight. At Kubi s
kraal we have a society of nearly forty members. At the
present time we have societies in the different places be
yond the limits of the station, composed of more than one
hundred and twenty members.
" I enclose you a late plan of our preaching appoint
ments, and though it does not show all our labours it will
prove that we are beginning to do something in the way of
53G PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
carrying the Gospel of Christ to the heathen around ns.
Our present plan has on it the names of twenty-seven Local
Preachers, and twenty-one places where services are held
every Sabbath, and occasionally on the week days.
I meet the Leaders and Local Preachers every Friday,
when we read over the appointments for the coming Sab
bath, and then each leader reports the state of his class.
I must say but little of our chief. "We have services at
his place every Sabbath. The attendance is good, but we
see little or no effect. The chief himself has given us great
trouble during the last few months. We have had great
contentions. It is only within the last few days that the
chiefs of the tribe have refused his unjust decisions and
done us all the justice we claimed.
H. B. Warner, who was saved at our Clarkebury
series of meetings, has gone forth, and continues
preaching to the Kaffirs with great success. The
Clarkebury Mission is now spread out among the
heathen, embracing eighteen different preaching-
places, filled by twenty- eight different preachers, be
longing to the circuit. Rev. P. Hargraves, the mis
sionary, at the head ; W. S. Davis, who translated
"The Eden above," second; H. B. Warner third;
and then the native force of Local Preachers.
Brother Warner has recently written me a brief
history of his rebellious life against God, his con
version, and subsequent experiences, which I would
gladly insert if my space would permit. The first
leading instrument of Satan, by which he was led
into wicked association with the heathen, was the
"pipe," and it was the last thing he surrendered in
LETTERS FROM KAFFRAIITA. 537
his penitential struggle before accepting Christ. He
says it is a sign and leading means, to the most
sinful vices of heathen Kaffirs, and while he would
not judge any Christians uncharitably for using it,
nevertheless, if Christian laymen and ministers in
Africa could appreciate what he knows of the signifi
cance and diabolic use of the pipe among the heathen,
they would abandon it at once and for ever. Kev.
W. B. Rayner writes me that 100 heathens, under
H. B. Warner, have been converted to God.
Rayner has been removed from Morley to the
Tsomo, and lives at the old military station, where
we dined with Colonel Barker. There was no society
there then ; but now Brother Rayner writes me he
lias a large circuit there, with 170 church members,
and daily increasing.
Rev. T. Jenkins writes from Emfundisweni, in
April, 1867, nine months after our departure, say
ing :
We rejoice over the souls brought to G-od when you
were here, as those who have found great spoil. Heathen
ism then received a great shock, and a few more would*
make the powers of darkness tremble to their foundation.
A few days ago some of the converted women, residing
about ten miles off, were here, and in conversation with
Mrs. Jenkins, said, " Before the word of God came to our
hearts we lived like beasts, we scarcely knew that we be
longed to human kind ; but now we know that we are the
children of God." Nothing but the grace of God would
induce such people, who never attended the house of wor
ship, to come as they do now, ten, fifteen, and twenty miles
538 PROGRESS OF THE WORK
to our Sabbath services. " It is the Lord s doing, and
marvellous in our sight."
The work in Natal is progressing quietly, but
steadily, aggressively, successfully, especially among
the natives. The new workers, who know the Kaffir
language, are owned of God in their work.
When I was in Palmerton, Eev. Mr. Allsopp, the
missionary who came from Yerulam, Natal, the pre
ceding year, received a letter from a young native
interpreter at Verulam, saying that the Quarterly
Meeting proposed to employ him for twenty years
as interpreter for the missionaries, and hesitating to
make so long an engagement, he wanted to consult
his old pastor. I said to Allsopp, " You will see that
God will raise up so many native preachers, that long
before twenty years shall pass, you will scarcely hear
of such a thing as an interpreter in the country. 1 "
An extract from a letter, written by my host, Mr.
Thomas Garland of Verulam, will illustrate the ex
pansion of the work in that direction.
My nephew, John William Stranack, is one of the most
complete conversions I ever witnessed, or anybody else here
ever knew ; he has been working in the Sabbath-school,
going out to country places to hold prayer-meetings, and
is on our plan on trial as a Local Preacher. Every
where, so far, the people are more than pleased with his
sermons ; their literary worth is much beyond the ordinary
productions of young men. You may look for his name
amongst the itinerant lists in a year or two, so I believe, for
YOUNG CONVERT S MISSION AMONG THE ZULUS. 539
he has talents, and they are all now dedicated to God and
His cause on earth.
F. B. Fynney continues faithful, and has laid himself
out to work for God, and is anxious to be a missionary.
I am sure this young man is called to preach. The success
that marks his labours everywhere are in proof of that,
and to this I attribute the terrible mauling the devil some
times gives him. He is naturally impetuous, and this with
other difficulties has given him trouble, but he is braving
the storm manfully.
Fynney, young Campbell, and Blainey, started off on a
tour to Zulu country, intending to visit Ketchwayo, the
ruling Prince of that land, and they got nearly to the place
of his residence, but he had gone away to be absent for some
weeks ; but they held services every day with the Kaffirs,
and everywhere good was done. They met with one young
man, a Kaffir, who had left our station here and forsaken
God. Fynney asked him how it was he left following Jesus.
" Well," said he, " I was on your side of the river long
while, and was very happy ; but looking over to the side I am
now on, I saw lots of shining white stones, and I wanted to
be rich ; so I said, that s the place, I leave this side and go
there. I came and found ah, alligators, and I am now
being devoured. What a fool I was." " But," said Fynney,
"why not go back?" " Well, but* I cannot." "Why
not ? " " The river is deep, and when I get over who will
care for me." "Why, don t you see Jesus standing there
waiting for you?" " Oh, no, He won t love me again."
" But look, there He stands." " Well, I can t see Him,
and I cannot get over the river ; to make the attempt is to
be lost ; I must die where I am." " Well, if you had a boat,
would you go ? " " Well, yes ; oh, yes." " Then see, here
is a boat ; " a promise of God s word was given. " Well, I
cannot row, I want oars." Some more truth was furnished
540 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
from God s record, " No," said the man, " I don t believe
it s any use ; I don t believe Jesus is there ; I must give
it up." Fynney prayed with him that night, and they had
a prayer-meeting. Next morning it was very cloudy and
wet. About eleven o clock Fynney met this same man.
" Good-morning, Jonas," " Sacaboni umgane." "Well,
where is the sun, Jonas ? " " Oh, there, overhead." " Oh
no, Jonas, sun is not up yet." " Not up ? " said Jonas.
Yes it is. I tell you tis up there." " Well, Jonas, you
must be cheating me. I cannot see the sun, and yet you
say it s there ; must I believe- it, Jonas?" " To be sure
you must," said Jonas, " if you are not a fool you will."
" Well, I do, Jonas, believe it. Jonas, can you believe
Jesus waits on the other side to receive you ? " Jonas hung
down his head, covered his face with his hand a moment,
then said, "I see it; I see it; I will pull, Twill cross.
I believe everything ; I ll go to Jesus, He will save me."
And he did it, and was saved, and was " shouting happy."
At the same place Fynney was preaching, discussing
the theory of snake transmigration, in which they believe.
When he suggested that it would be well for all who really
believed they should become snakes hereafter, just to prac
tice it a little, and get ready to move amongst the snake
fraternity, and asked all such believers just to have a trial
of moving on their bellies, down this grassy hill near by ;
and this simple touch of the ludicrous did more than an
hour s argument ; they gave a unanimous vote that day, that
they did not and would not believe in snakes.
At several places the natives crowded round this band,
and implored them to stay and preach again, and repeated
this request till Fynney was left alone, not getting home
till eight or nine days after the others, and everywhere
many of those poor dark, uneducated men received the
Gospel, and were made happy. At the American Mission
THE " KAFFIR BAND." 541
Station, under the Rev. A. Grout, the people sent a request
to their minister, that Mr. Fynney should preach to them
as he passed, and though it was the middle of a working
day, all left their work, and the chapel, holding 500 people,
was comfortably filled; and then, outside for two hours,
Fynney discussed the way of salvation, the people weeping,
and begging him to stay longer. Mr. Grout thanked him
heartily, and invited him to come at any time to preach.
Fynney has spent much of his time at Verulam with Mr.
Kirkby, and a great many of the natives have been brought
in. We have now, in addition to those above named, Mr.
Hill, Foss, and Daddy, living in Verulam, all, especially
Hill, who has traded in Zulu-land for years, are well ac
quainted with the Zulu language. Hill is a reclaimed back
slider; a very determined character, of good practical sense.
These have engaged to preach to Kaffirs, and on our
plan is a list of places to which they go regularly every
Sabbath ; so that we have, what we now call, our Kaffir
band,, numbering nine, in all, in our circuit, and it is to
the Kaffir kraals they go ; an agency is thus commenced
for carrying salvation to this people, such as we have never
seen before. Other young men are studying the native
tongue, anxious to be of this band of evangelists. I have
realized, in a degree I never did before, the purpose of God
in bringing us to this land. Since these young men have
set to work thus to spread the Gospel, I feel it is enough to
compensate for being here, if nothing more was accom
plished, thus to see the beginning of God s purpose de
veloped in this manner.
At Umhlali we had three members when you came to
Verulam. Eight or ten persons from there, came and
heard you, were saved, went back and told what God
had done for them, and the work of the Lord began to
spread. "We had the new chapel opened there just four
542 PROGRESS OF THE WOUK.
weeks after you left, and a large party of us went; we
had public meetings, anthems, and speeches. I was called
to take the chair. Mr. Barton and Kirkby were there. I
wanted it to be a salvation meeting, and spoke accordingly.
Messrs. Barton, Kirby, and Tyler (American missionary),
all threw their prepared speeches to the wind, and spoke
to the point, the power of the Lord came down. An altar
of prayer was formed, eight or ten persons came forward ;
amongst them, Mr. Tyler s son, a young man of seventeen
years old. The whole community seemed moved with deep
concern about their souls. Mr. Kirkby remained, and held
a series of services every night, and now we have two
classes, numbering altogether thirty-six members, and a
chapel filled every Sabbath, large Sabbath-school, and week
day services, just the same as in Verulam.
One man there, an old Local Preacher from Bristol, was
nearly ready to drop into hell through strong drink. I have
often warned him, and the Holy Spirit has striven with him
again and again; but he seemed bent on his own de
struction for time and eternity. I wrote and urged him
to come and hear you in Verulam, but he did not; but
some of my words in that letter troubled him, and he
was among those brought in with his wife and two sons at
Umhlali a clever man but sin has nearly unfitted him
for service in God s cause. He has, of course, also taken
the pledge of teetotalism, and so the work goes on, and
many are added to the church, such as are saved by faith
in Jesus.
Rev. Charles Harmon, junior minister at D Urban,
Natal, -writes for the Missionary Notices for October,
1867, saying :
I rejoice to be able to inform you that the work of God
THE DYING ZULU MATD. OlJ
is still progressing in our midst. Those -who prophesied
speedy reaction, and foretold disgraceful declension of pro
fessed converts, have been disappointed. With very few
exceptions, those who professed to find salvation are giving
the best proof of its possession, a consistent godly life.
The Kaffir-speaking young me:> who were brought to God
at the revival of last year, and who at once went to work
among the heathen, are still gladly and diligently doing
the work of evangelists.
Kev. Thomas Kirkby, junior missionary in Yeru-
lam, writing for the Missionary Notices, for June,
1867, says : " In the native work generally, we are
progressing. In the English Circuits the Lord has
triumphed gloriously, and is still showing that He is
above men, devils, and sin. He is converting men
who have been down to the gates of hell."
Some of the converts have died in the Lord. Rev.
T. Kirkby, in a letter published in the Missionary
Notices, for September, 1867, gives the following
interesting account of the death scene of a Christian
Zulu girl, who was brought from heathendom to the
mission- station to die :
When she arrived on the station, there was only a faint
hope held out to her of the possibility of her recovery, and
when told about a week after this that she must die, " 0,"
she said, " I am not afraid. I have been ready many days."
It was about ten days afterwards that she departed. About
midnight, when all but the sick girl were fast asleep, a sound
stole across to the ears of the sleepers who were near her,
a sound which came from the dying girl, as she talked with
544 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
the Invisible. She was praying the last prayer, and these
were some of the words that the waking listeners heard :
" Lord, come and meet me ! " One of the women asked
her if she needed anything. She told her to call her father,
and then told him to pray for her ; and when he had given
expression to his desires for his child s safety, he asked her
how she felt in prospect of death. " 0," she said, "it is
all right now ! God is with me ! I am safe ! " and then
came the last struggle. Lying on a mat in the low room,
open to the roof, with her head upon her mother s breast,
and her feet almost touching the blazing fire that was on
the floor in the middle of the room, she said, " Put my feet
nearer to the fire, I am so cold." Ah ! poor child, the fire
could not give her poor body warmth ; already she was in
the cold river of death, and the water was deep, but He was
there. Feeling anxious to leave a clear testimony, as well
as to do what good she could, she said, " Give me a little
water, that I may speak a little more. God may help me
to say that which may do good." The father then called
to a neighbour, and said, " Come, and hear my child; she
is going to God. He has come to meet her." The end
was near ; and so to her was the heaven side of Jordan.
Fixing her eye on something she appeared to see approach
ing, she slowly breathed out, " The wagon is coming to to
fetch me ; " and with a last effort she said, " It is here ! "
These were her last words.
In the Queen s Town District we have very en
couraging reports of progress. Brother Dugmore,
however, says a few about Queen s Town have fallen
away, but the mass of the converts stand firmly.
A few incidents and facts may suffice to illustrate
the onward movement in Graham s Town District,
ANNIVERSARY REVIVAL SERVICES. 545
and finish my task. W. A. Richards writes from
Graham s Town in April 1867, ten months after my
departure, "We are not having many conversions
in our church just now, but the members are earnest
in seeking higher spiritual blessing, some have
grown colder, and one or two have backslidden.
But why should we not make inroads on Satan s
kingdom, now as well as when you were here ? We
have the ever-present Lord Jesus with us, and He it is
who works. The fault must be in us, " Oh that the
church would purge herself from dead works."
Rev. W. J. Davis writing me from Graham s
Town, under date June 13th, 1867, a year after my
services there, says :
You will rejoice to hear of the prosperity of our work here.
The Lord is still working among us, and many souls are
being saved. We have had this month a series of special
services in all the circuits in the district, -which we intend to
hold each succeeding year in commemoration of your visit
here last year. It was so much blessed to us all as ministers,
and resulted in so much good to our people. In the ser
vices just held, many hundreds have been converted, and our
societies have been greatly blessed and revived. I have a
letter from Brother Charles Pamla, who is in the Peddie
Circuit, in which he tells me of more than two hundred
being added to the church there during the special services.
I have faith to believe that the whole of Kaffirland shall
soon stretch out her hands unto God. It is the greatest
happiness of my life to have been spared to see this work
of God. Thirty-five years ago I began to "go forth
weeping," bearing indeed " precious seed," but almost
546 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
despairing of ever seeing that seed produce so glorioua
a harvest ; but now I return rejoicing, bringing my
sheaves with me. Tis worth living for this."
Rev. Robert Lamplough, who has been for six
years at Annshaw, and who now is labouring at
Heald Town writes under date July 10th, 1867,
saying ; " The work here is not very satisfactory
at present ; we have some conversions but we want
the power of the Holy Ghost. Nearly 300 profess
to have found peace since we came here, but the
work is not what I should like to see it. I very much
miss my efficient Native helpers at Annshaw. The
people here have not been trained to work, though I
hope they are getting into the way. Siko Radas went
to Somerset the other week and had thirty- three
souls brought to God, under his preaching." Siko has
commenced preaching since he went with me as inter
preter at Somerset and Cradock, and is preparing
for the regular ministry. The Lord bless him, and
give him wisdom to win souls to Christ. Brother
Lamplough had only been in Heald Town five
months, and had about 300 souls saved in that time,
but was not satisfied. In his official report from
Annshaw, for 1865, he says : " This Circuit has
prospered spiritually during the year. Discipline
has been beneficially exercised. Conversions have
resulted in several instances. The officers of the
Church have been much quickened. The three
Evangelists referred to last year (1864) have been
CHIEF MAXWAYANA AND HIS WIVES. 04?
diligently employed in preaching at the heathen
kraals during the greater part of the year. There
is reason to believe that, partly through their efforts,
one or two conversions have taken place amongst the
heathen, and in other respects their labours have
been attended with much good/
Last year he had 1,200 conversions in Annshaw
Circuit, and now looking at the resources of the
Gospel, available for the salvation of all Africa and
the world, with his heart of love for precious souls
attuned to the loving heart of Jesus, to spend five
months in getting 300 souls saved is a disappointing
business to my dear Brother Lamplough.
Charles Pamla was appointed Junior Minister at
Fort Peddie Circuit, and lives at Newtondale. At
his first service he had the two wives of a leading
chief, converted to God, with a number of others.
The following extract of a letter I recently received
from him, gives a very brief notice of what an affair
it lead to with the chief :
I have no time to tell you all the facts, but must tell you
about the conversion of the Chief Maxwayana. His two
wives came to the meeting the first Sunday I preached at
Newtondale, and were both converted, to the astonishment
of both heathen and Christians. But God showed that His
Gospel has all the power to save the worst of sinners.
Some heathen thought they were mad. Their husband
was not at home. When he came home he wanted to
bring a case against me about his second wife, because now
she was converted, she refused to live with him. But his
518 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
elder wife and two friends persuaded him to come to the
service himself, and he was converted, with many other
heathen. Such is the power of the Word of God here at
present.
Some of my friends think I shall spoil Charles
Pamla, by telling the whole truth about him, but I
know my man, and he is blessed with a sick wife,
and plenty of jealous friends, and bitter enemies,
all of whom the Holy Spirit will turn to good
account, for the development of his patience, meek
ness, and humility.
Brother Lamplough, writes me again as late as
August 7th, 1867, as follows :
Heald Town,
7th August, 1867.
My dear Brother,
I enclose a letter from Charles Pamla, who has been
spending some eight or nine days with us at Heald Town,
conducting special services. We have had some very good
seasons, and about sixty souls have professed to enter into
the enjoyment of salvation. The results would have been
much greater, had not the revival services been interfered
with by missionary anniversaries here and at Fort Beau
fort, which took up half the time of Charles s visit.
I was very much pleased with Charles ; he is still as
earnest and devoted as ever, and is, doubtless, a chosen
instrument for accomplishing great good in South Africa.
I believe some six or seven hundred have- been brought to
God since he went to Peddie last March, and the work is
still going on.
The Church here has been much quickened and blessed
through Brother Pamla s visit, and if we can only get our
HEATHEN OBJECTIONS AGAINST 1 AMLA. 49
leaders and members into a better state, I have no doubt
we shall soon see a glorious work at Heald Town. Kaffir
beer is all but done away with, as well as other heathen
customs, which is no little thing.
As a closing illustration of the progress of the work
of God, and of His workers in South Africa, I will in
sert a letter from my Brother, Charles Pamla :
Newtondale, July 18th, 1867.
* * * I will tell you the great objections the heathen
have been making against the work of God and against me.
First objection : This man is trying to get all our
people converted so as to get lots of tickets and class-
money, and also to increase his salary from the white men,
and become the richest native in Africa. We will not go
near him to be converted by him and increase his salary.
Second objection : This man, Pamla, got some poison
from that white who took him to Port Natal. He carries
it in a black bag. He calls the foolish people to come to
him and kneel down, so as to get at them and poison them,
and then they become more foolish, and believe that they
have been converted, when they are not. Tis not the work
of God, for we never saw such a work before. If it is the
work of God why did not the other ministers, who have
been labouring amongst us before, do such things 1 We
never saw so many people converted amongst us heathen
before.
Third objection, based on a false report : A stranger,
from Annshaw Circuit, who is a heathen, told the heathen
round here, " This is the very man who was removed from
Annshaw by our white men because he was doing the same
work there. The white men will soon find out that he is
here cheating the people in this way, causing the people
550 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
to give up their second wives and pleasures, and keeping
services even during the week-days. He deceives you be
cause you are black, but the white men will soon find him
out and drive him away."
Fourth objection, also based on a false report which
went round as an alarm : " Tell all the heathen people
not to come near that man, for a person has just brought
the news that the people who were converted by this, man,
in all places before he came here, are all dead, and it will
be the same thing here soon." When the new converts
here heard this, they said, " If that be true, we will go to
heaven at once ! " Their reply was a great disappointment
to the enemies.
Fifth objection, based on a reform from the drinking of
Kaffir beer ; Many of our mission-people have given up
the custom of drinking Kaffir beer, and have openly broken
their beer-pots. The enemies became very angry indeed,
and said, " What ! what, breaking pots ! breaking pots !
We never heard of such foolishness before. Shortly some
thing will happen." They were specially shocked that
their Chief, Matomela, broke his beer-pots and gave up the
beer-drinking, and the enemies said, " What a pity we are
under the British Government, we would kill Charles Pamla,
because he is a false prophet, and because he has persuaded
our chief to give up our grandfather s best food, which is
beer, and if we had the power we would put Matomela out
of his state, as chief, for giving up the beer, and put another
in his place who would drink beer."
But notwithstanding all this opposition, the work is grow
ing stronger and stronger. We get fresh converts from
the heathen every week men, women and children. Some
of their chiefs and two of the richest heathen men in the
country Gib a and Cwati have been converted to God.
Besides the converted chiefs I have named before, I will
.51
add the name of Chief Mbilase. I will be able next time
to tell you the number of converts gathered in since I was
appointed to this circuit."
Brother Lamplough, at a later date, says that
between 600 and 700 have been converted to God,
tinder Pamla s ministry, during his five months
labour in his new circuit. Pamla continues :
I have been preaching almost every day, except a few
Fridays and Saturdays, once a fortnight.
Now I will tell you how I have answered some of those
objections of the heathen. I went to the Great Place of
Chief Fundakube, and laid these things before the chief.
I then asked him to gather together his counsellors and
best men, and lay the subject before them, and select a
heathen, whom you all can trust, who can read the Kaffir
Bible, and I ll debate my cause with them. The chief
and his people were very glad, and so a day was appointed
for the public discussion of all these points. The day ap
pointed was a Monday. Due notice was given, and at the
time set there was a great gathering of our mission people
and the heathen at the Great Place of Fundakube, but we
found the chief and his party tipsy with Kaffir beer, so
we appointed to come again on Thursday. When we came
on Thursday we found them all right. They had selected
a heathen man, by the name of Mawomba, who was a great
enemy to religion, well respected by the heathen, one whom
they could trust, and who could read the Kaffir Bible well.
So we opened our service and took up the objections in
their order. In regard to the first, I said, "I do not get
any money from the white men for the new converts. If
you like, I will give you an order to go and draw in my
552 PROGllESS OF TEE \VQEK.
name all the money which you say I get for the new con-
verts from the white men. As for the ticket and class-
money, which amounts to a few shillings weekly, that goe?
to support the Gospel, and is almost nothing compared
with what you pay the Kaffir doctors, in oxen, goats,
money, and Kaffir beer, while we furnish medicine to our
members free."
They answered " Yes."
In regard to the second objection, I said, " I have no
poison from Mr. Taylor. This converting power was an
old work before Mr. Taylor was born. I have the Bible
to prove that this work did not begin with me here nor
with Mr. Taylor. Now we will take up that part of your
objection about calling sinners to come to Christ, and about
them kneeling before the Lord their maker to pray to Him. *
Then I called upon Mawomba to read from the Gospel by St.
Matthew, xi chapter, 28 verse, " Come unto me all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Also Revelations, xxii. chapter, 1 7 verse, " The Spirit
and the bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come,
and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let
him take of the water of life* freely."
Mawomba read them distinctly, and I said, " These pas
sages refer to the calling of sinners to come to Christ, now
having been sent both by God and by His ministers, have I
not a right to call sinners to repentance 1 In regard to
penitents kneeling, I will ask Mawomba to read the 6th
verse of the xcv. Psalm. Mawomba read, " Oh come, let
us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our
Maker." Then I said, " Are you satisfied 1 "
They answered, " Fes."
" In regard to your objection about so many heathen con
verted in BO short a time, and why the other ministers did
not do the same work in the same manner, I answer,
FAMLA S DEFENCE OF THE THUTH. 553
first in regard to the work done by the ministers who have
been labouring amongst you. They did a great work.
They did the same work for our fathers who received the
Gospel preached to them by those men of God. They
bowed down on their knees also, and were not too proud to
worship their great God and Creator as you are now. But
while many of our fathers were converted, you were against
the ministers who laboured amongst you. I know what
sort of feelings you had against the Word of God and
against those ministers. You were not their friends at
all.
"When you went to. hear them preach you at once began
to talk to each other, and said, What has he been
saying ?
"Another answered, He was talking about some wind
in the air which he called God. Another says, * He was
talking about death and dead people. Another replies,
* What have we to do with dead people, we are not dead ?
Another adds, He says after we are all dead, then we will
all go to hell. Then they all laugh and say, We be all
dead, who will go to hell ? " This is but an example of the
had feeling and prejudice of nearly all the heathen people
against the word of God, then and now, and that is
the reason why the gospel has not been more successful
among them. I then told them how ungrateful it was for
them to say anything against the old ministers, for it was
through them, and especially Mr. Ayliff, that their fathers
were led out of Kaffir bondage (for they were Fingo
heathen) and that thousands of them had since been con
verted to God.
At this point they replied, " Our complaint is not that
the people are being converted, but that so many are
converted in so short a time."
I then asked Mawomba to read the 41st verse of the
054 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
2nd chapter of the Acts, and he read: " Then they that
gladly received his word were baptized : and the same
day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls." Also
the 3rd and 4th verses of the 4th chapter, " And they laid
hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day ;
for it was now eventide. Howbeit many of them which
heard the word believed ; and the number of the men was
about 5,000." Then I said, "What have you to say to
that ? about 3,000 souls converted in one day, and about
5,000 converted on another day." I then told them about
the great work of God with Mr. Taylor among the English
at Algoa Bay, Graham s Town, King William s Town,
and the same work among the natives at Annshaw and
all round, right up to Port Natal, where there was also a
great work among the English. Then I said, " Now I
will tell you what those people get who come and kneel down
as penitents, whom you say I poison," and I called on
Mawomba to read to them from Eomans 5th chapter,
1-3 verses, " Therefore, being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ : By whom
also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, but we glory in tribulations also." I then ex
plained to them the new birth which these new converts had
experienced, and got Mawomba to read to them a part of the
third chapter of John, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God,"
I told them, when the penitents are thus born of God, the
new law of God is written by the Holy Ghost in their
hearts, and I got Mawomba to read the 37th verse of the
22nd chapter of Matthew, " Jesus said unto them, Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself." I explained it to them
CHIEF FUNDAKUBE S DECISION. 555
and shewed the proofs of it in the lives of the converts.
After all this talk Mawomba stood up and read the 4th
verse of the 150th Psalm, to try to support their Kaffir-
beer dancing feasts, " Praise Him with the timbrel and
dance: praise Him with the stringed instruments and
organs."
In my reply I said, " How do you explain that passage?
Did David mean that dancing which the heathens and
drunkards do in worshiping the devil ? I ask you, father,
did David mean that the people should worship the
devil instead of the true God ? "
Mawomba said, " I can t explain it. You will please
explain it to me."
I said, " David feared God, and would not do anything
which would displease God. He had a harp that he played
in worshiping God, just as the English have an organ in
their churches to assist them in singing praise to God.
Again David praised God with all his things, all he had
was devoted to God, even his pleasures were done unto
God." I saw that the man s pride was gone and that his
power failed him, and he stood up and said, " I never un
derstood these things so clearly as I do to-day, both in
regard to the work of revival, and my own questions."
(A Kaffir is a noble antagonist, when fairly beaten in
argument he will promptly and honestly own it.)
Then the great chief Fundakube said, " No man after these
things which have been done to-day should ever complain
against the great work of God. We are all satisfied.
Our own man has read these things out of the Book of
God."
Then I said, " Who can prevent me from calling sin
ners to-day to come and kneel down before God ? "
The Chief replied, "No one can prevent you. Your
way is clear, but we will go home to-day, and we will
556 PROGRESS OF THE WORK.
think over these things. We are all well pleased, and will
hear you again." Our meeting then adjourned.
In the next service I held at the Great Place of Funda-
kube I called for penitents. The Chief came and talked to
me privately, and said, " I will kneel down before God,
but not before you."
I said, " Kneel down where you are, well and good. I
don t want any sinner to kneel to me, and it don t matter
about the place if there is a broken and a contrite heart
submitted to God."
Four of them, the Chief s mother, and two of her chil
dren, and his brother s wife, found peace with God that day,
and the Chief seems to try very hard to seek God. I will
let you know next time how he gets on. I have not time
to tell you more to-day. I may say, however, while there
are many enemies, thank God there are many kind friends
also, who love Jesus, and love me at the same time. I
find Mr. Holford to be a kind friend and Superintendent.
I have a native friend who goes with me to help me in
the work, and he is very pious, and a great assistance to
me."
In this work, in those barren wastes of Africa, we
see the fulfilment of God s own words, " For as the
rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and
maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed
to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My
Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth ; it shall
not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please, and prosper in the thing whereto I
sent it." " In the wilderness shall waters break out
and streams in the desert. And the parched ground
THE HIGHWAY OP HOLINESS. 557
shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of
water : in the habitations of dragons where each lay,
shall be grass, with reeds and rushes. And a high
way shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called
the way of holiness ; the unclean shall not pass over
it, but it shall be for those who are cleansed through
the blood of Jesus ;" " the wayfaring men " who, like
those saved sons of Africa, obey God, and walk after
His Spirit in this holy way, "though fools, shall
not err therein."
WOEKS
BY THE REV. W. TAYLOR.
SEVEN YEAES STEEET PEEACHING
IN SAN FEANCISCO.
"It is a very entertaining volume, full of adventure,
grave and gay, in the streets of a new city, and among a
peculiar people." New York Observer.
"And the book itself so thoroughly good, so deeply
interesting, and so replete with wise counsels, and ex
amples of what street preaching ought to be, that we
cannot but wish for it a wide circulation. The writer
tells his story with the simplicity and directness of a
child, and the incidents related are of a most unusual and
romantic kind. Too much cannot be said in praise of the
nervous, plain, vigorous style of the author s preaching.
For clearness, directness, and force, the specimens given
in this book have never been surpassed." London Quar
terly Review.
This book had numerous commendations from the press,
but the best proof of its worth is the fact that over
32,000 copies have been sold.
Works ly the Rev. W. Taylor.
THE MODEL PEEACHEE.
"It is a book calculated to stir the soul to manly and
bold achievements in the service of Christ, in the great
work of preaching His gospel." Methodist Recorder.
"The Saviour is Taylor s Model Preacher. I wish
to say, moreover, that although the book is addressed to a
preacher, and on the subject of preaching, yet its treat
ment is such that almost any religious person will be
deeply interested in perusing it. There is a charm about
it, like the author s preaching, a freshness, a raciness, an
abundance of apt illustration, that captivates the ordinary
reader, and leads him from chapter to chapter, to the end
of the book." Professor Wm. Hunter, D.D.
Over 20,000 copies have been sold.
CALIFOENIA LIFE ILLUSTRATED.
" Full of interesting and instructive information,
abounding in striking incident, this is a book that every
body will be interested in reading." New York Observer.
" Scenes of thrilling excitement, of touching tender
ness, of noble heroism, and of dark crime not concocted
in the brain of the novelist, but enacted in real life are
here depicted." Ladies Repository.
"It is replete with such pictures as the British eye
never sees. It is better worth hundreds of thousands of
editions than the most brilliant novel that has yet seen
the light." British Standard.
This book has reached a circulation of 30,000.
<>-(,*
Works ~by the Rev. W. Taylor.
EECONCILIATION ; OE, HOW TO BE
SAVED.
" The volume before us contains, in six chapters, the
author s mode of teaching the great Christian doctrines of
salvation, repentance, and faith, and some striking illus
trations and anecdotes enrich its pages. We wonder not
that a teacher so fearless and outspoken should have been
honoured by God in the conversion of many from a life of
indifference and vice, to one of faith and godliness."
Christian Times.
The third edition of this book has been issued within a
few months.
INFANCY AND MANHOOD OF
CHRISTIAN LIFE.
" What a glorious event in the history of any soul, to
be born again, to become a babe in Christ, an event that
we will celebrate in eternity ; but to remain a babe is to
become a dwarf, and fail to attain the end for which we
were born." Extract from Book.
" Mr. Taylor s style is direct, vigorous, and sometimes
colloquial. Clear statement and forcible reasoning are
relieved and made more effective by apt illustration.
Christians of other denominations may here learn, without
any undue mental exertion, the views held by Wesleyans
on the doctrine discussed by our author, and, even when
unconvinced, they can hardly fail to be interested and
profited." Christian World, May 3rd, 1867.
The volume is pervaded throughout with an earnest
purpose, and the writer, in many a powerful passage,
speaks straight to the conscience and to the heart."
Methodist Recorder, June 28.
BINPINGSECT. APR 3
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3555 Christian adventures in
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