Part 10 (1/2)
”And who may that be?”
”Quetoo, the chief of the Ae force, and threatens the other tribes to the northward of us; if he conquers them, he will certainly coenerals, and is, like hihter At present he is too far to the northward to interfere with you, but I should advise you to lose no ti your mission; for should he advance, you will be compelled to retreat immediately I had better send to Hinza to-ers have come and wish to see hi hih; not but that he well knows you are here, and has known that you have been in his country long ago”
”It will be as well, after the inforiven us,” said Mr
Swinton
”What is your opinion of the Caffres, Mr S, now that you have resided so long with them?”
”They are, for heathens, a fine nation,--bold, frank, and, if any thing is confided to the is certainly not considered a cri as a minister of the Gospel, I should say they are theto do with that it ever has been ion whatever; they have no idols; and no idea of the existence of a God When I have talked to them about God, their reply is, 'Where is he? show him to me'”
”But have they no superstitions?”
”They believe in necromancy, and have their conjurers, who do much harm, and are our chief opponents, as eaken their influence, and consequently their profits If cattle are stolen, they are referred to
If a chief is sick, they are sent for to knoho has bewitched him; they must of course mention some innocent person, who is sacrificed immediately If the country is parched from want of rain, which it so frequently is, then the conjurers are in great demand: they are sent for to produce rain If, after all their pretended mysteries, the rain does not fall so as to save their reputation, they give so, however, in the sacrifice of so excuses after excuses until the rain does fall, and they obtain all the credit of it I need hardly say that these people are our greatest enemies”
”Are you satisfied with the success which you have had?”
”Yes, I a but the Divine assistance could have produced such effects as have already taken place The chiefs are to a man opposed to us”
”Why so?”
”Because Christianity strikes at the root of their sensuality; it was the same when it was first preached by our Divine Master The riches of a Caffre consist not only in his cattle, but in the number of his wives, who are all his slaves To tell the, is therefore alht to hold a large herd of cattle; and as the chiefs are of course the opulent of the nation, they oppose us You observe in Caffreland, as elsewhere, it is 'hard for a rich dom of heaven' I have asked the chiefs why they will not coreat word is calculated to lessen our pleasures and diminish the number of our wives; to this we can never consent,'”
”But still you say you have ress”
”If I have, let it be ascribed to the Lord, and not to ; and without His aid and assistance, the difficulties would have been insurmountable It is for me only to bear insow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good'”
”But have they no idea whatever of a Supreood?
have they no idea, as some of the African tribes have, of the devil?”
”None; and in their language they have no word to express the idea of the Deity; they swear by their kings of forreat chiefs, but no ht, by pointing out to the it in juxtaposition with revealed Truth, have soe”
”But can not youto the wonders of nature,--by asking theht be induced to reflect by such a method”
”I have tried it a hundred tihed at me for my fables, as they have terue, that his people ht not think me mad The Scriptures, indeed, teach us that, without the aid of direct revelation, men are also without excuse if they fail to attain to a certain knowledge of the Deity,--'even his eternal power and God-head,'--by a devout contemplation of the visible world, which with all its wonders is spread out before thee of the origin or manner of creation is derived, not fro, but froh faith we understand that the worlds were made by the word of God'”
”Nevertheless youthe civilized nations of Europe, many who deny revelation, and treat the Bible as a fable, acknowledge that the world must have been made by a Supreme Power”
”My dear sir, many affect to deny the truth of revelation out of pride and folly, who still in their consciences can not but believe it Here, there being no belief in a Deity, they will not be persuaded that the world was made by one Indeed, we have reatest difficulties is in the translation of the Scriptures I sit doith an interpreter who can not read a single word, and with perhaps a s We open the sacred volume, and it is first translated into barbarous Dutch to the Caffre interpreter, who then has to tell us how that Dutch is to be put into the Caffre language Now you ine what mistakesthe very contrary to what I would have said With this translation, I stand up to read a portion of the Word of God, for ht defect or change in a syllable ether a different sense froreat difficulty, and require a long residence and full acquaintance with the language to overcoe has no words to express abstract ideas; but the Lord works after His oay, and at His own season”