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The difficulties which Dr. Vanderkemp had to encounter from the jealousies of the Caffers, when he attempted to establish a mission among them, are known to every one acquainted with his interesting communications from Cafferland; but the dispositions: of the Caffers in relation to that subject have undergone such a change since that period, that missionaries may now be assured that they will be received with open arms in any part of that interesting country. While the following anecdote deserves to be related, on account of the honour which it reflects upon the Caffer character, it may be taken as an illustration of the eagerness of many of the people to enjoy the benefits of Christian instruction for themselves and for their families. On one of my visits to Theopolis, walking through the village in company with Mr. Barker, two very fine boys came up to me, and one of them took hold of my coat, while the other placed himself in my path, and stood before me smiling in my face. I saw they were not Hottentots; and, being struck with their appearance and fine open countenances, I turned to the missionary, and, inquiring of him to whom they belonged, I received the following account of them, and of the circumstances under which they were brought to the missionary institution and placed under his care. Their father is a Caffer chief. At a time when the Caffers were prohibited from entering the colony, he came one evening to Theopolis, and presented himself to Mr. Barker with his two boys. After having apologised for the lateness of the hour at which he had come to the institution, he stated the object of his visit in the following manner :

"I have long desired to have a missionary at my

kraal; but, after looking anxiously for one for years past, I began to despair of ever enjoying that privilege. The laws of the colony will not permit me to come and live at a missionary institution, else I would forsake my native country, and come and live among you: but, much as I desire to be near a missionary on my own account, my chief concern is now about my children; and, if I cannot have a missionary with me, I shall live and die in peace if you will take these two boys under your care, and see them instructed in your religion, and be a father to them. If you will permit them to remain at Theopolis, and attend your school, they shall not be any trouble to you; I have provided a person in the village with whom they will lodge, and I shall take care, while I live, to defray the their board and clothing."

expense of

If any thing is required to add additional interest to this affecting story, it is necessary only to state that the visit of this Caffer chief to Theopolis, at this time, was at the imminent risk of his life; for, had he been observed by any of the military patroles on the frontier, he might have been instantly shot; and that he has amply redeemed the pledge he gave, that he would provide for the support of his boys, as he has been in the habit of regularly sending cattle to the institution for that purpose.

VOL. II.

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CHAPTER XIX.

Recapitulation.-Intimate connexion between Civilization and Christianity. First step towards the Civilization of Savages.-Intellect awakened by the contemplation and excitement of great objects.— What have human Philanthropy and Science ever done without Religion to enlighten and elevate Barbarous Nations?-Civilization in its worldly sense only a secondary object in Missionary labours.-Philosophy alone inadequate to reform Mankind.— Effects of Christianity on the Characters of Nations.-Influence of Christian Missions.-Conclusion.

THE illustrations which have been afforded, showing the religious, moral, and political advantages which the missions have conferred on South Africa; the difficulties against which they have had to contend; the favourable dispositions of the natives to receive missionaries; and the means which it is the duty of government to pursue to relieve the natives, and to save them from destruction, supersede the necessity of further protracting the discussion of these subjects. The grievances of the natives under the British government, and of those still beyond the limits of the colony, have been exhibited at some length; and it will be recollected that we have always argued upon this ground,-that justice being done to the one, will prove the most effectual security we can hold out for the preservation of the other. With these or similar reflections, we might have closed the present volume; but we feel something is still due to the cause we are pleading. We have pointed out, in numerous details, what has been

effected by our missions, and we shall be excused by our readers, if, before we take our final leave of the subject, we advert briefly to the principles to which any success, which has attended our labours, is, under the blessing of God, to be traced. In civilized countries, the office of a missionary is simple and well defined. In the discharge of his duty, he has to follow the example of Christ and his apostles, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God; but when the missionary has to reclaim the people, whom he is sent to instruct, from a wandering life, to collect them together into villages, and to elevate them into a state of civilization, in the management of his arduous undertaking, he is left to little more than the fruit of his own observation and experience.

The elevation of a people from a state of barbarism to a high pitch of civilization supposes a revolution in the habits of that people, which it requires much time, and the operation of many causes to effect. By the preaching of the gospel, individuals, as in the case of Africaner, may be suddenly elevated to a surprising height in the scale of improvement, and the influence of such a person, on a savage tribe, must be great; but those on whom the power of divine truth operates in a direct manner, bear but a small proportion to the numbers who are only the subjects of an indirect or reflected influence. On the mass of people who are but slightly affected with divine truth, the missionary must call in every auxiliary to assist him in his work, or he will never have much pleasure in his labours, nor much honour by them.

While the missionary who labours among a savage people has no right to expect much success if he neglects their civilization, it may be safely affirmed, on the

other hand, that such as make the attempt without the doctrines of the Cross, will soon lay it aside in despair, and leave the work to the slow and uncertain operation of natural or ordinary causes. Suddenly to elevate a savage tribe to the comforts of the world in which we live, their minds must be impressed with the reality and importance of the life to come.

The first step towards the civilization of a savage is to rouse the thinking principle. This can only be done by proposing to his mind considerations of sufficient force to overcome his native indolence. These considerations must be addressed to his passions and suited to his capacity. His natural partiality for his own habits and mode of life neutralizes the force of arguments derived from the comparative advantages of civilization. The desire of hoarding, in the savage, is too weak to excite enterprise or industry. Although, when he sees the fruits of civilization and industry, he may desire to possess them, he would much rather sleep in his sheepskin caross, and depend upon the precarious subsistence of the chase, than submit to the labour of cultivating the ground, or of providing other clothing. After the Moravian Brethren had been above twenty years, in Greenland, many of the unconverted savages came, in a season of scarcity, to the institution, and were relieved from starving. While they had nothing, and saw the converted Greenlanders in possession of abundance, they acknowledged the superiority of their condition, and wished themselves in possession of their comforts; but, as soon as the famine was over, and they had a prospect of obtaining food, they returned to their former wretchedness.

The speculations of science, and the pursuits of lite

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