Part 10 (2/2)
”You do not then despair of success?”
”God forbid; I should be indeed a most unworthy servant of our Divine Master, if I so far distrusted His power No; ood has been already done, as you will perceive e meet to-morrow to perform Divine service; but there is ood time be perfected; but I have duties to attend to which call ht At all events, the Mission has had one good effect: you are perfectly safe froe is paid to it even by their kings and chiefs”
”I will say, that if we are only to judge by the little we have seen, the Mission appears to have done good,” observed the Major ”In the first place, we are no longer persecuted, as we have been during our journey, for presents; and, as you may observe, many of the Caffres about are clothed in European fashi+ons, and those who have nothing but their national undress, I may call it, wear it as decently as they can”
”I made the same observation,” said Alexander ”I am most anxious for to-morrow, as I wish to see how the Caffres behave; and really, when you consider all the difficulties which Mr S has mentioned, it is wonderful that he and those who have e should persevere as they do”
”My dear Wilmot,” replied Mr Swinton, ”a missionary, even of the most humble class, is a person of no ordinary mind; he does not rely upon himself or upon his own exertions,--he relies not upon others, or upon the assistance of this world; if he did, he would, as you say, soon abandon his task in despair No; he is supported, he is encouraged, he is pressed on by faith--faith in Him who never deserts those who trust and believe in Him; he knows that, if it is His pleasure, the task will be easy, but at the saood tied by this, and venturing his life for this, he toils on, in full assurance that if he fails another is to succeed,--that if he becomes a martyr, his blood willA missionary may be low in birth, low in education, as many are; but he must be a ht ter of the Divine word, he e, and self-devotion; his willingness, if the Lord should so think fit, to accept the crown ofbut what you have described could i a savage race--leaving all, and following his Master in the true apostolic sense
Well, they will have their reward”
”Yes, in heaven, Wil the Sabbath, with the assistance of Mahomed, as valet as well as cook to the whole party, they divested themselves of their beards, which had not been touched for many days, and dressed the costume,--a respect paid to the Sabbath by even the ious points The bell of the Mission church was tolled, and the natives were seen co from all directions Our party went in, and found Mr S already there, and that seats had been provided for them The numbers of natives ere assembled in the church were about 200, butby the open door
Many of them were clothed in some sort of European apparel; those ere not, drew their krosses close round thee was first sung, and then prayers, after which the Litany and responses; the Coe Mr S then read a chapter in the Bible, and explained it to the asseenerally prevailed, although in some few instances there was , and the service was ended
”You have already done much,” observed Mr Swinton ”I could hardly have believed that a concourse of savages could have been so attentive, and have behaved with such decoruained,--to command their attention, I mean,” replied Mr S; ”after that, time and patience, with the assistance of God, will effect the rest”
”Do you think that there are ion?”
”Yes,the seed There are many who not only are qualified so to do, but are incessantly laboring to bring their countrymen to God”
”That must be very satisfactory to you”
”It is; but what am I, and the feho labor with me, to the thousands and thousands who are here in darkness and require our aid? There are now but three missions in all Caffreland; and there is full employment for two hundred, if they could be established But you must excuse me, I have to catechise the children, who are , for I have to preach at a neighboring village Strange to say, many who doubt and waver will listen to me there; but they appear to think that there is some witchcraft in the Mission church, or else are afraid to acknowledge to their companions that they have been inside of it”
The missionary then left them, and Alexander observed--
”I don't kno you feel? but I assure you it has been a great pleasure toDivine service in this wild country”
Both Swinton and Major Henderson expressed the sahed at,” continued Alexander, ”when I tell you that I think itour travels, to keep the Sabbath holy, by rest and reading the service”
”With pleasure, as far as I am concerned, and I thank you for the proposal,” replied Swinton
”And I am equally pleased that you have proposed it, Wilmot,” said Major Henderson; ”even we h the land, the natives perceive that we respect the Sabbath as the missionary has requested them to do We are white men, and considered by theood”
The evening was passed away very agreeably with Mr S, as inexhaustible in his anecdotes of the Caffres He infor to receive his presents, and that he would be interpreter for the thanked the missionary, said, ”I think you mentioned, sir, that some of your brother missionaries have their wives with them
Since you have told round here, and I may add your lives, I think that the wives of the missionaries must have even ht, sir,” replied the , so perilous, and I may say, so weary to the mind and body, as that of a female missionary She has to encounter the same perils and the sath of our sex to support them; and what is more painful than all, she is often left alone in the Mission-house, while her husband, who has left her, is proceeding on his duty, at the hourly peril of his life There she is alone, and compelled to listen to all the reports and falsehoods which are circulated; at one moment she is told that her husband has been murdered; at another, that he is still alive She has no hout the country; thus is she left in this horrible state of suspense and anxiety, perhaps for many weeks I have a letter fro-desk, wherein the case in point is well portrayed; I will get it, and read that portion to you” Mr S went to the other end of the room, and came back with a letter, fro been detained a those distant tribes for nearly two months, report upon report had been circulated that the interpreters and guides, as well as myself, had all been murdered On my arrival within forty miles of the station, I was informed that all doubt upon the subject had been removed by a party of natives who had passed the Mission station, and who pretended an acquaintance with all the particulars of the ht had coht relieve the mind of my dear wife, but the earnest remonstrances of my little party, who represented it as certain death to all of us to cross the plains, which were infested with lions and other savage beasts ere prowling in every direction, at length induced un to dahen I sallied forth, without either ar on as soon as they should arouse froh cost h many miles of deep sand with a vertical sun over my head, I had not accoan to fail, and an indescribable thirst was induced Nevertheless, I reached the Mission in safety, and with truly grateful feelings to the Preserver of men A few minutes prior to my arrival, the wife of one ofthat I was at hand and alive, had entered our dwelling, to appriseall that had been said before respectingdispensation At this affecting crisis, while both were standing in the center of the roo, I opened the door, bathed in perspiration, covered with dust, and in a state of complete exhaustion 'Oh, dear!' cried our friend; 'is it he--or is it his spirit?' I ination the scene that followed”
”Yes, sir,” said Mr S, folding up the letter, ”a missionary's wife, who follows him into such scenes and such perils and privations, does, indeed, 'cleave to her husband'”