Robert Moffat, the missionary hero of KurumanDeane, David J.
History
Robert Moffat, the missionary hero of Kuruman
Deane, David J.
Moffat, Robert, 1795-1883
"Yes, your father will arise."
"Will all the slain in battle arise?"
"Yes."
"And will all that have been killed and devoured by lions, tigers,
hyenas, and crocodiles again revive?"
"Yes; and come to judgment."
"And will those whose bodies have been left to waste and to wither on
the desert plains and scattered to the winds again arise?" asked the
king, with a kind of triumph, as though this time he had fixed the
missionary.
"Yes!" answered he, with emphasis; "not one will be left behind."
After looking at his visitor for a few moments, Makaba turned to his
people, saying in a stentorian voice: "Hark, ye wise men, whoever is
among you, the wisest of past generations, did ever your ears hear such
strange and unheard-of news?"
Receiving an answer in the negative, he laid his hand upon Moffat's
breast and said, "Father, I love you much. Your visit and your presence
have made my heart as white as milk. The words of your mouth are sweet
as honey, but the words of a resurrection are too great to be heard. I
do not wish to hear again about the dead rising! The dead cannot arise!
The dead must not arise!"
"Why," inquired the missionary, "can so great a man refuse knowledge and
turn away from wisdom? Tell me, my friend, why I must not add to words
and speak of a resurrection?"
Raising and uncovering his arm which had been strong in battle, and
shaking his hand as if quivering a spear, he replied, "I have slain my
thousands, and shall they arise!"
"Never before," adds Mr. Moffat in his _Missionary Labours_, "had the
light of Divine revelation dawned upon his savage mind, and of course
his conscience had never accused him, no, not for one of the thousands
of deeds of rapine and murder which had marked his course through a long
career."
Starting homewards, the Griqua hunting party, for some altogether
unexplained reason, announced their intention of returning with the
missionary instead of remaining behind to hunt; a most providential
circumstance, which in all probability saved the lives of Moffat and his
followers and many more besides.
A few hours after leaving Makaba, messengers met the returning company
from Tauane, the chief of the Barolongs, asking the help of the
missionary party as he was about to be attacked by the Mantatees. On
reaching Pitsana they found that such was the case. The attack was made
and repelled by the Griquas, about twenty in number, mounted and armed
with guns; and thus the town was saved, the flight of its inhabitants
into the Kalahari desert, there to perish of hunger and thirst,
prevented, and the safety of Robert Moffat and his companions secured.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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