Chapter 13

“Hail to thee, monarch of African mountains,Remote, inaccessible, silent and lone--Who, from the heart of the tropical fervors,Liftest to heaven thine alien snows,Feeding forever the fountains that make theeFather of Nile and creator of Egypt!I see thee supreme in the midst of thy co-mates,Standing alone ’twixt the earth and the heavens,Heir of the sunset and herald of morn.Zone above zone, to thy shoulders of granite,The climates of earth are displayed as an index,Giving the scope of the book of creation.There in the wandering airs of the tropicsShivers the aspen, still dreaming of cold:There stretches the oak, from the loftiest ledges,His arms to the far-away lands of his brothers,And the pine looks down on his rival, the palm.”

“Hail to thee, monarch of African mountains,

Remote, inaccessible, silent and lone--

Who, from the heart of the tropical fervors,

Liftest to heaven thine alien snows,

Feeding forever the fountains that make thee

Father of Nile and creator of Egypt!

I see thee supreme in the midst of thy co-mates,

Standing alone ’twixt the earth and the heavens,

Heir of the sunset and herald of morn.

Zone above zone, to thy shoulders of granite,

The climates of earth are displayed as an index,

Giving the scope of the book of creation.

There in the wandering airs of the tropics

Shivers the aspen, still dreaming of cold:

There stretches the oak, from the loftiest ledges,

His arms to the far-away lands of his brothers,

And the pine looks down on his rival, the palm.”

|David Livingstone.|This section of Africa cannot be passed without a mention of that other hero, David Livingstone, the missionary, scientist, and explorer, who said, “I am tired of discovery if no fruit follows it”, and “The end of geographical achievement is only the beginning of missionary undertaking”, who was a king among men and who considered it his only glory that he was a “poor, poor imitation of Christ.”

There is a very particular reason for including a mention of Livingstone in a history of Lutheran missions, because his impulse to become a missionary was directly inspired by a Lutheran, Karl Frederick Gützlaff, whom we shall study in Chapter V. Livingstone was interested in missions and had resolved “that he would give to the cause of missions all that he might earn beyond what was required for his subsistence.” When he read Gützlaff’s appeal on behalf of China he determined to give himself. For various reasons Africa rather than China was determined upon for the scene of his labor.

The first German movement toward a missionary possession of the German colonies in Africa was in Bavaria where a group of men who had been influenced by Krapf, planned a Wakamba mission. Their society is generally known by the name of their headquarters,Bielefeld. One of the leading spirits and a director of this society was Bodelschwingh, the famous leader of Germany’s Inner Mission movement. Bodelschwingh, like Francke, was an illustration of the fact that they who do mission work at home do also mission work abroad.

The principal field of the Bielefeld Society is Tanga and the country lying behind it. In 1907 it began a new mission in the northwest corner of German East Africa, a densely populated district between Lakes Victoria Nyanza, Kivu and Tanganyika. In its two fields the mission has thirty-five missionaries and about two thousand Christians.

|Careful and Painstaking.|The careful and painstaking methods of the German missionaries are indicated in a description of the winning of their first converts in their newer field. Three years after they had begun to work, a youth appeared for baptism. He was followed by six other young men. Then a number of girls asked for instruction and presently a leprous woman whose interest had been gained by the tender care of the missionaries. For more than a year these inquirers received instruction. At the end of that time four young men and three young women were considered worthy of baptism.

TheBerlin Societybegan work in 1891 in the extreme southwest corner of the German possessions. Gradually extending, it has now fifty-seven missionaries and about four thousand native Christians. The mission field lies among the Konde tribes at the northern end of Lake Nyassa.

TheLeipsic Societyhad begun its work before the possession of this section by Germany. The people among whom it labors belong to the Chaga tribes at the foot of snow-capped Mt. Kilimanjaro. Its stations extend also southward and westward. It has in all twenty-eight missionaries and about twenty-seven hundred Christians.

TheBreklum Societybegan work in 1911 in the Uhha country on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika where it has three missionaries.

TheNeukirchen Societyhas a mission in German territory in Urundi between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Kivu with five missionaries, and also in British territory near the mouth of the Pomo River, where there are nine missionaries.

In Africa as well as in India there is a long list of faithful Germans who worked in the missions of other churches. Among themNylanderwent as a missionary of the English Church Missionary Society to Sierra Leone in 1806. Until his death in 1825 he remained at his post, never returning home for a furlough.Doctor Schönreduced the Hausa language to order and wrote for it grammars, dictionaries and reading lessons. Upon him the French Institute conferred a gold medal for his brilliant philological work. Livingstone declared that Schön’s name would live long after his own had been forgotten.Sigismund Köllecompiled thePolyglotta Africana, a comparison of a hundred African dialects. He was first a missionary in Sierra Leone and afterwards in Egypt, Constantinople and Palestine.

|A Lutheran in Jerusalem.|Another German Lutheran who has been employed by other societies wasSamuel Gobat, who was born in Berne, Switzerland, in 1799. When he was nineteen years old he entered the Basel Missionary Institute. After he had thoroughly prepared himself there and in Paris in the Arabic, Ethiopic and Amharic languages, he offered himself to the Church missionary Society of England and was sent to begin in 1826 a mission in Abyssinia. Before he sailed for his mission field he received Lutheran ordination. For three years he traveled extensively in proclaiming the Gospel both to the priests who ministered to the sadly degenerate Abyssinian Church and to the people, then he was compelled to leave on account of ill health. He continued his missionary activity by superintending the translating of the Bible into Arabic at the Church Mission in Malta; in 1845 he was made Vice President of the Protestant College at Malta. Subsequently he was appointed Bishop of Jerusalem, his election to this important position being preceded by his entrance into the English Church. He died in Jerusalem in 1879, “notable for his piety, vigor, tact and good judgment.”

Scandinavian Societies.

In 1844 theNorwegian Missionary Societysent Hans Schreuder as a missionary to Zululand. Here at Umpumulo he and thirty companions started a mission. After twenty-five years’ constant and faithful work, the number of Christians was two hundred and forty-five. To-day there are five thousand seven hundred church members divided among thirteen stations. The training school carries its students carefully through a nine months’ course in the Gospels, the Catechism and Church history, besides providing exercise in preaching and instruction concerning the care of souls. The pupils go out two by two on Sundays to preach in heathen kraals. Their instructor says of them, “For diligence, attention and Christian walk, I can give them the highest praise. It has been a delight to work among them, for they seem to grasp more and more the central teaching of Christianity.”

In 1873 Hans Schreuder, the pioneer, left the service of the society to establish theNorwegian Church Mission, which now has four stations and two thousand Christians. Schreuder was the father of Norwegian missions. His appeal, “A Few Words to the Church of Norway,” in 1842, aroused the country to a sense of its missionary obligation.

|Co-operation.|TheSwedish State Churchestablished in 1876 a mission in South Africa among the Zulus, selecting this spot because of its nearness to the Norwegian mission from which the Swedes expected advice and co-operation. In this expectation they were not disappointed. In sympathy and collaboration with them are also the neighboring Berlin missionaries. A common hymn book, prayer book and catechism are used. The native pastors of the three missions are trained by the Swedes, the teachers by the Norwegian and the evangelists by the Germans.

Oscarberg is the oldest station. The Zulu war and the Boer war both caused great loss and suffering to the mission. The work was extended in 1902 to South Rhodesia. In all its stations the mission has about six thousand native Christians.

In Abyssinia and extending into British East Africa is the mission of theSwedish National Society. To this field the society was directed by Louis Harms in 1865. Its people, whom the missionary-explorer Krapf longed to reach, are Gallas, a vigorous and superior African race, one of the few who have not been influenced by Mohammedanism. Like Krapf, the Swedes hoped to have access to these people through the Abyssinian Church. To their hopes was put a cruel period by the murder of one of their missionaries. In 1881 a second effort was made to reach them. Prince Menelik of Shoa promised free passage and also Negus of Abyssinia, but both broke their word. Finally slaves who were carried from the Galla country were trained by the persistent missionaries and sent back. Among them, Onesimus Nesib, who was baptized in 1872, has translated the whole Bible into the Galla language and has written various Christian books and a large dictionary.

The Eritrea station of the Swedish National Society is in the Italian colony of that name on the Red Sea. Here the missionary press, printing in seven languages, is busily at work. To the natives of these parts the missionaries have given their first written language. Boarding schools, day schools and a hospital are among the mission enterprises.

A German missionary who visited Finland in 1867 roused among the Lutherans there an interest in Africa. As a result theFinnish Lutheran Missionary Societyestablished a mission among the Ovambo people, near the great mission of the Rhenish Society. For thirteen years their missionaries labored without a single convert. Then the rulers ceased to oppose mission work and the mission began to succeed. In nine stations are two thousand eight hundred Christians.

After long instruction the King of Ovamboland was baptized in 1912 and dying shortly after gave testimony to his faith upon his death-bed. Subsequently his successor was publicly baptized together with fifty-six of his subjects.

Norwegians in Madagascar.

|Planting.|The French island of Madagascar lies to the southeast of the continent of Africa and has a Malay population of about four hundred thousand. Work was begun in 1818 by English missionaries with the approval of King Radama, who acknowledged the suzerainty of England. Interrupted for some months by the death of most of the pioneer party, the mission was recommenced in the year 1820, in the capital city, Antananarivo, in the interior highland, and was carried on with much success until the year 1835, when the persecuting queen, Ranavalona I, began severe measures against Christianity, and all the missionaries were compelled to leave the island. But during that period of fifteen years of steady labor, the native language was reduced to a written form, the whole Bible was translated into the Malagasy tongue, a school system was established in the central province of Imerina, many thousands of children were instructed, and two small churches were formed. About two hundred Malagasy were believed to have become sincere Christians, while several thousands of young people had received instruction in the elementary facts and truths of Christianity. That was the period of planting in Madagascar.

|Persecution.|The second period in the history of Malagasy Christianity was that of persecution which continued for twenty-six years (1835-61). During this time persistent efforts were made to root out the hated foreign religion. But the number of the “praying people” steadily increased, and although about two hundred of them were put to death in various ways, the Christians multiplied tenfold during that terrible time of trial.

The truly Christian death of these martyrs is described in a native account. “Then they prayed, ‘O Lord, receive our spirits, for Thy love to us hath caused this to come to us; and lay not this sin to their charge.’ Thus prayed they as long as they had any life and then they died--softly, gently; and there was at the time a rainbow in the heavens, which seemed to touch the place of the burning.”

|Harvest.|In 1862 mission work was re-established, and then began the third period in the religious history of the country, emphatically that of progress. From that date until the present time Christianity has steadily grown in influence.

A great outward impetus was given to the spread of Christianity in the early part of 1869 by the baptism of the queen, Ranavalona II, and her Prime Minister, and the subsequent destruction of the idols of the central provinces, and still more by the personal influence of the sovereign in favor of the Christian religion.[7]

7.The material for this account was gathered from theMissionary Review of the World--Article by James Sibree--June 1895.

|A Model Mission.|Among the societies which entered Madagascar at this period was theNorwegian Missionary Societywhich settled in the province of Betsileo in 1867. With admirable administration at home, and in spite of serious difficulty with an opposition mission established by the Jesuits, they have accomplished a task which is universally praised by missionary historians. They have at work, besides many Norwegian and some American missionaries, ninety-six native pastors and over nine hundred catechists. There are two medical missions and a leper asylum, schools and printing offices. It is reckoned that among the one hundred and thirty thousand Christians in the Island, eighty-four thousand are Lutherans.

Among the great names of the mission are those ofDahle, who established a Seminary for native workers, andDoctor Borchgrevink, a medical missionary.

American Societies.

The Norwegians in America, always closely connected with the Church of the Fatherland, sent their missionary contributions at first through the fatherland societies, the Norwegian Missionary Society and the Norwegian Church (Schreuder’s) Mission. To Schreuder’s Mission theNorwegian Synod(American) still contributes, having sent in 1915 about $10,000.

FIRST GRADUATING CLASS FROM KINDERGARTEN AT OGI, JAPAN.

GROUP OF THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS, KUMAMOTO.

In the work in Madagascar American Norwegians have a large and important part. In 1892 the Norwegian Missionary Society assigned to theUnited Norwegian Lutheran Church(American) the southern part of the island. In 1897 this field was divided once more, theNorwegian Lutheran Free Church(American) taking the western section. Together these two societies have a territory covering about thirty thousand square miles, with a population of almost four hundred thousand. The United Church contributed in 1915, $42,000 for its work and the Norwegian Free Church almost $17,000. Together they have a Christian community of about twenty-six hundred.

To the work of the Leipsic Society in East Africa the American LutheranSynod of Iowacontributes and to the work of the Hermannsburg society, theJoint Synod of Ohio.

TheSynod of South Carolina, now a part of the United Synod in the South may be said to have been the first Lutheran body in America to send a missionary to Africa. This wasBoston Drayton, a colored member of the English Lutheran Church of Charleston, who sailed in 1845. Of him or of his work, little more is known.

|An African Republic.|The Republic of Liberia was established in 1821 “to be reserved forever for the settlement of American freed slaves.” The little republic contains about fifty thousand of the descendants of these early settlers and about two million aborigines, who are divided into eight tribes. Among them fetish worship, superstition, polygamy, tendency to constant strife, and other characteristic African faults abound. In this republic the mission of TheGeneral Synodwas founded by the Rev. Morris Officer in 1860. Mr. Officer had served for a year and a half as a missionary of the American Board, but his heart longed for a mission of his own Church, and his diary shows his deep satisfaction when he was authorized to begin. He describes the making of roads, the planting of banana and coffee trees, sweet potatoes and flowers. He tells of the first children in the school, forty boys and girls captured from a slave ship. When he decided upon a site for the mission he knelt down among his native helpers and prayed for God’s blessing upon the new endeavor.

In a year and a half Mr. Officer was compelled to return on account of ill health. In the meantime reinforcements had arrived and the sad and stirring history of this little mission had begun, a history which might be celebrated, in the words of a writer for theMissionary Review, in some spirited poem like “The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava.” Of eighteen missionaries sent out during the first thirty-six years, six died within two years after reaching the field, while eight returned within three years with greatly shattered health.

|An Ideal Missionary.|In contrast to this shadow we have the history of Doctor David A. Day, who lived and labored for twenty-three years in this dangerous country. A man of strong body and fine mind, Doctor Day was an ideal missionary. Possessing deep faith with which to meet serious problems, and a keen sense of humor with which to meet smaller difficulties, he labored until he was worn out. Returning to America when he dared linger no longer, he died almost in sight of the home land, his wife, whose devotion was no less than his, having died two years before. Mrs. Day was made of the same heroic stuff as her husband. As the end of her life approached she urged her husband to remain in Africa where he was so much needed rather than join her, great as was her desire to see him. How many noble missionary wives have made similar sacrifice!

The great regard in which Doctor Day was held, as well as the impressionable and affectionate nature of the people among whom he worked, is shown in an incident recorded in his biography. When the news came from America that Mrs. Day was dead, the little children of the mission gathered a bunch of white lilies which they put into the hands of one of their number who carried them into the room, where, stunned and grief-stricken, Doctor Day bent under the first shock of his bereavement. Silently laying the flowers before him, the little girl kissed his feet and as silently withdrew. Surely missionary work has its earthly as well as its heavenly reward.

To-day the Muhlenberg mission has fifteen men and women at work. It counts its native Christians at three hundred. A valuable and interesting expansion of the work is the employing ofDoctor Westerman, a distinguished German philologist, to prepare grammars and dictionaries of the native languages, which, to prepare for greater growth, the missionaries must learn. Like all of Africa this mission begs for more workers, more money, more interest, more prayers.

Here closes the record of our work in Africa. It has given many examples of faith and courage to missionary history, it has added many names, John Ludwig Krapf, Rosina Krapf, Schreuder, Day, to the roster of Africa’s apostles. But in the words of Frederic Perry Noble, Africa’s chief missionary historian, “Lutheranism is yet in its attitude toward missions a sleeping giant.” Since Mr. Noble gave expression to this opinion, Lutheranism has made a beginning in African mission work. Still, however, she is not yet aroused. As in India, so in Africa, German missions and missionaries have suffered cruelly in the present war. May the true spirit of Christ so influence His Church henceforth that missionary and not military warfare may fill the pages of history.

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