South African missions

Preface

I have taken up my pen a second time to praise God. It is a good thing to praise Him. His people should never be tired of praising Him, or of hearing His praises. The more they know of His works, the more they consider His ways, the greater cause will they have to adore His wisdom, love, and power.

This book is meant for a second record of the love of God, and of His faithfulness to His word. The first referred to myself. It was written in fear and trembling, lest I should in any way detract from Him the glory due unto His name. This second is the testimony of two churches to the life and power of Him whom the Church universal adores as God and Lord , although the world at large rejects His salvation, and despises His gospel.

The deepest sympathy should bind together the churches of different nations. For many reasons the Churches of Great Britain and France should be especially dear to each other. They have kept the

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faith of Christ through centuries of earthly tribulation. Severed from each other by various causes for many hundred years, they are able now to meet in peace, and to rejoice in God their Saviour. Each has a wonderful history. That of the Church of France is most wonderful.

To many Christians in England, the existence of a true Church of Christ in France during these past centuries is a thing unknown. They consider that it was long ago drowned in blood. Not so. It has lived, for Christ is the Life. It has survived every effort at annihilation, for He is the wisdom and power of God. And now, after being looked upon for centuries as no better than a dead stump, it has thrown out a shoot which for strength and beauty equals any in the world.

The history of the Mission of the Church of France to the Basuto tribe in South Africa should be read by every Christian. I have endeavoured to give it simply and concisely in this book. How, when, and where I gathered the material is explained. The Church of France sent a Mission to South Africa. The Lord chose men of singular faith and courage. They went into a country where the white man was then unknown. They preached Christ to a tribe which is now, by God’s blessing on their labours, the most advanced of all the South African tribes under the British Crown.

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The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ must preach the gospel of His salvation to all Africa. Fifty years ago it entered the country in His name for the second time. For the last thirty years very little advance has been made towards the interior, although much unoccupied ground has been filled up. The Church needs faith in the Lord. She needs to believe that He is the same in the vast wilderness of Africa as in the streets and lanes of the cities of Europe ; that He has arranged the preaching of His word to nations in Africa as to individuals in England. May this book, with every other record of missionary labour, help to such faith. May it tell the churches at home that the Lord is going before them as they enter the interior of Africa, and that as they advance with prayer they will find that He has prepared the way !

I ask forgiveness for introducing the following narratives ; but it bears on the above truth. I went forth, weary in body, to seek a place for a mission station among the Galeka Kaffirs, near the Bashee river. I did not know the country, and I had no idea what to do. But I had given some days to earnest prayer concerning this journey. Three Kaffir brethren accompanied me. We had offsaddled for the first time, and I gathered them round me to hear the word. Opening it at the places of my daily meditation, what was my joy to yin

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find in the portion for the day these words : ‘And as they went Jesus met them, saying, All hail ! ’ How it cheered me ! It seemed as if the Lord had met me and my companions, and had saluted us with His own voice, saying, All hail ! The next verse was yet more assuring : ‘Then said Jesus, Be not afraid : go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me ’ (Matt, xxviii.). My heart was full. The Lord has said, ‘Be not afraid, go into Galilee, there shall they see me. We shall find Galilee somewhere near the Bashee, and there shall we see Him ! This was all my comment. We prayed and went on. If ever the Lord manifested His presence by His works in behalf of His servants, He was seen by us at the Bashee. He made Kreli and his chiefs choose the station, and all was settled without trouble in one day ! I record this, as it may encourage some brother or sister going forth in the Lord’s name to difficult work in an unknown place.

A notice of the Mission of the Church of America in Natal has been added, that the history of the missions of that Church and its work among the Zulus in South Africa may be known among Christians in Great Britain. The Church in America was founded by men who forsook land, friends, and all things in England, for the truth of Christ ; and thus, in the history of American

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IX missions is given the testimony of the Churches of England and America to the faithfulness of their Lord.

As an eye-witness of the results of the labours of these missions, I have thought it best to give daily notes of my visits to the various stations. It is not difficult to write simply what is seen and heard ; but it is quite impossible to convey in writing any idea of the difficulties and trials encountered by missionary pioneers among the heathen tribes of Africa.

The frontispiece is from a photograph of my Gaika servant and myself. I have purposely inserted it, in preference to a map or sketch, because I believe that if Africa is to be speedily evangelized, it must be done by the native churches working together with the European and American missionaries. I have dwelt upon this subject in the last chapter, so need not write more here. Day by day, this Gaika and I prayed and worked together. Wonderfully have our prayers been answered. By the grace of God, he has been kept faithful and diligent. May the same grace preserve him blameless unto the end !

This book has been written and sent to England in parts, to save weight to my horses on the march. I trust, therefore, that any repetition of facts may be excused.

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In closing this record of the Mission of the Church of France, I unintentionally omitted to give any statistics concerning that Mission. The following is a statement in round numbers, calculated from the return for April 1874 : — Church members and inquirers, 4000 ; scholars, 2500 ; native teachers and preachers, 80 ; out-stations, 50 ; the contributions of native Christians in 1874 amounted to £710, 17s.

If compared with the statistics of the American Missions among the Zulus, given in this book, the question would arise, ‘ How do you account for the difference ? ’ The answer is as easy as it is true, and full of instruction to the Church of Christ. The gospel was preached to the Basuto tribe before the white man entered it even to trade. The gospel was preached to the Zulu tribe after it had been engaged in war with the Dutch settlers. The Basutos knew nothing of the evils accompanying European occupation. There are also other causes. The Basutos are a very gentle race compared with the Zulus. The Basuto chief, Moshesh, encouraged the missionaries, while the Zulu chiefs, Dingane and Chaka, by their cruelty and ambition, at one time stopped the preaching of the gospel, and always hindered it.

The Church of Christ should make every effort to gain a footing into the interior of Africa before the

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XI evils which attend the introduction of European civilisation. The labour of the missionaries will be far easier, and the gospel will be more readily accepted.

The Mission of the Church of France in Africa has a large open field before it, and if it had the means, could send the gospel on to many powerful tribes now in darkness. Men could be found if the means for supporting such missions were available. It was my earnest desire, in writing this book, to obtain sympathy and help for the Church of France from the wealthy and flourishing churches of Great Britain and America. The Rev . M. Cassalis , Directeur de la Maison des Missions , 26 Rue des Fosses, St. Jacque, Paris, who was himself for many years a missionary among the Basutos, would be thankful to receive any help for this Mission.

I need offer no apology for giving the honoured title of ‘ The Church of France ’ to that body of Christians which has suffered so much for the name of the Lord Jesus in that land during the last eight hundred years. I love the truth, and I love France too well to call by that holy name the foreign ecclesiastical system which has so long arrogated it, at the same time bathing its hands in innocent blood, and denying the gospel of grace and love. This system of priestcraft having substituted the dogmas of various Italian men for the word of

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.God, has withheld that blessed hook from the people of France. To the fact that God’s word has been proscribed and its teaching forbidden in France, while that hook was open and its truths taught, however imperfectly, to the people of England, may he attributed the revolutions and internal disorders which have of late troubled ‘ la belle France ; ’ while her English sister has been enjoying comparative internal peace. The gospel of Christ is the only light for nations as for men, and the only cure for national as for personal sorrows.

Let the churches of Great Britain and America now give their sister, the Church of France, a loving welcome. Let them seek by prayer and active sympathy to show her their love. She is slowly recovering from the rack on which she has been stretched for centuries. But, being truly a member of ‘ the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,’ she has survived the terrible ordeal through which she has come. She waited on the Lord in her weakness, and He renewed her strength. She has smiled on one dark spot of Africa in His name, and her smile has carried with it light and life. Help her to smile elsewhere, for her smile is love, and this is what poor Africa needs.

May the Lord use these pages to stir up the faith of His churches in Himself. May the perusal of

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Xlll these records of His faithfulness make them more believing in regard to the commencement and carrying on of Foreign Missions. May He awaken in His people more earnest desire to send His gospel to the nations and tribes which have not heard it ! His word to His Church stands eternally : ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth ; Go ye} therefore , and teach all nations: I am with you alway! C. H. M.

Uxolo (Kaffir for Peace or Salem),

South Africa, 1875.

Contents

1‘AOK

I. A THANKSGIVING, 3

II. THE CHURCH AND HOME OF MY FATHERS, . . 13

Chapter I

I only wish that I could impart to the whole Church of the Lord Jesus the joy which now fills my heart in sitting down to write for their information and His praise a brief account of one of the mighty works which He hath wrought in fulfilling His blessed office as God’s salvation unto the end of the earth.1 But this cannot be. I do, however, hope and pray that no Christian will read this book without being more fully persuaded that his Lord is indeed Head over all things to His body, the Church, and that all things are 'put under His feet ? This faith is much needed now by the Church. We have come to the period in which the Lord says to her, ‘ Behold , I have set before^ thee an open door , and no man can shut it’ 3 Africa and all other lands lie open before her. But she enters not in. She believes the lies of her enemies against her own servants, the missionaries. She doubts her Lord.

1 Isa. xlix. 6. 2 Ephes. i. 22. 3 Rev. iii. 8.

A THANKSGIVING.

She clutches her gold. The heathen perish unhelped.

My sole desire in writing this book is to praise the Lord, and to let His servants in Great Britain and America know of a work which He has been carrying on in South Africa, of which very few of them have probably ever heard. I wish to write simply, and I have prayed earnestly that I may not be allowed to put in one fact or word which is not according to the mind of the Lord. It is better that I should let my own thoughts flow freely, that the reader may understand more easily why the writing of this narrative is to me such a joyful undertaking.

From the time of my conversion and study of God’s word, my heart has been filled with the deepest interest in the spread of the name and fame of the Lord Jesus throughout the whole earth. It has been my delight to see His glorious power manifested in the spread of His gospel. The enmity of man, the malice of Satan, the treachery of pretended friends, have not been able to stay it. ‘His work is honourable and glorious!1 There is no such study for the human soul as the work of God in the spread of His gospel throughout the world. ‘ The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.'2

1 Ps. cxi. 3. 2 Ps. cxi. 2.

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Like the merchantman seeking goodly pearls, I have sought these glorious works of the Lord. Again and again have I found them sparkling in all the lustre of His divine love, wisdom, and power, and shining all the brighter because of the clay in which they have been imbedded. But it has now been my happiness to find the goodliest. It is not a large stone, but one of -purest water, and the more valuable because of the mine in which it was found, and the labour which has often tested the endurance and faith of those who have had to work for the Lord in that mine.

This is not the history of an ordinary mission. This is not a record of any such missions as are sent out from Great Britain and other Protestant countries. I would not detract from the value of those great works of faith and labours of love. God is not unrighteous, that He will forget either the labourers or their helpers. But those missions were sent forth from countries where all the professed Christians sympathized with the missionaries, where ample funds were supplied, where those who went forth were held in honour. That of which I now write was exactly the contrary. It exemplifies to my mind the meaning of those words, ‘ God, my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth! 1

I ask myself this question : * Will the Christians

1 Ps. lxxiv. 12.

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of England and America care to read this book; ? Will they care to hear what the poor and long-persecuted Church of France has been permitted to do in the glorious work of spreading the gospel of Christ in foreign lands ? ’ I know not. But this I know, it is my duty to write that which His hand hath wrought and mine eyes have seen of this work, as a testimony to the faithfulness of the Lord and the glory of His power in these last days, when iniquity abounds, and the love of many waxes cold.

Various and beautiful are the trees of salvation which the Lord has planted in many lands. They were brought from other climes. Very tender were they when they were first put into the strange soil. But He is the Husbandman. His infinite grace nurtured them. His unfailing knowledge guarded them in rough seasons. They flourish according to His will. Careless travellers do not notice the beauty of their foliage, and altogether miss their bright flowers. But those who have learnt to admire the works of the Lord seek them out ; they are struck with the manifold excellence of their growth, they rest themselves in their travels under the shade of these trees, and are refreshed as they inhale their fragrance and delight in their manifold beauty.

I sit down to write notes on the Lord’s work in South Africa by His long-despised Church of France. My soul ranges over mountains of divine provi-

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dence. They are lighted up by love. Deep, dark shades meet the eye as it moves from point to point in the landscape, but a dazzling halo of glory flows down from above, and leaves the soul in doubt as to whether those shades are darkness or light. Such I have often seen it in God’s works in nature. So we should always see the shades in His works in grace towards us, if our eyes were not holden, that we should not know Him.

The history of the Church of France is a tale of blood. Christians in England do not like nowadays to hear of blood in connection with religion. The comforts of civilisation, immunity from persecution for many centuries, and easy general profession, have rendered the very thought of blood as a possible consequence of faith a very distasteful subject. But though this be so, they must remember that the Lord Jesus is most glorified in the death of His servants for His name’s sake ; and that if the Church of Christ in England has not been persecuted as the Church of France, they owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Lord on behalf of their land, and no little sympathy to their sister Church.

From the rise of the Papacy down to this very day, the Church of France has been oppressed by the State. For many centuries its history is nothing but a series of tales of fierce and bloody persecutions This history is for the most part unknown. I be-

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lieve it could be easily proved that more persons have suffered death for the name of Christ in France than in all the other countries of Europe together. The Inquisition in Spain glutted itself in the blood of Moors and Jews, and these deeds of blood have given Spain the palm as the land of martyrs. This is, however, a mistake. They were slaughtered because they were not Christians — those in France because they were ! This is infallible love ! Alas for the cruelty to man ! Alas for the dishonour to the sacred names of God and Christ ! Alas for the darkness which in this so-called enlightened age cannot discern between the false and the true, — between that system which has ruined Europe by open violation of the laws of Christ, and His teaching who gave man a new commandment, 4 That ye love one another, as I have loved you/ and then died for him, ‘ the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.’

Since the Eevolution of 1794 the Church of France has enjoyed immunity from bloodshed. But it has never been free. The French nation having delivered itself over, as to faith and doctrine, to the dogmas of the priests of Borne, those of its community who have preferred to worship God according to His word have had to suffer an opposition which has never been relaxed, and has only varied according to the influence of the priests with the

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Government and people. Persecuted for centuries, crushed under the power of the State, at times almost exterminated, the Church of Christ in France has lived; and now, when the evil practices of Roman sacerdotalism have so greatly injured the country, God testifies to it as a vessel He has chosen unto honour, by using it as His candlestick to one of the noblest and most intelligent tribes of South Africa.

It is the contemplation of His wonderful dealings in this thing — it is in meditating upon the events of centuries ; in tracing out the terrible ordeal through which the Lord Jesus has led His Church in France ; in reading of the triumphant faith He gave to its martyrs ; in admiring the patience, endurance, and courage by which he sustained them during those periods of blood * in watching the events as they succeeded each other in which His Church survives every effort at annihilation ; in seeing how, as soon as breathing time is given it, its hope revives, and at length, unseen, unknown, and uncared for but by the eye bf the Lord, it sends forth life and light to a tribe in Southern Africa, it preaches that Christ to the Basutos for whom it has so long suffered, and He owns its faithful testimony, — it is in meditation on these things that my soul is filled with a delight I cannot express, and I am caused to lift up my heart, and take up my pen, to praise and bless the Lord. Very feeble are all human

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efforts to praise Him. But, blessed be His holy name, He delights in the praises of His people. May He accept this tribute at my hands, and own it to His glory ! To His people I would say, ‘ Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.’ To any one who may read this who does not believe in Him He says, ‘ Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord’ (Ps. cvii. 43).