The American Missionary — Volume 32, No. 06, June, 1878Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 32, No. 06, June, 1878
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
It may have been a question in some minds whether the freedman
could be aroused by the missionary spirit. By some, even of the
teachers in our schools, fears have been felt that, perhaps, the
call for missionaries might come and the people not be ready to
respond. The question is decided that, whenever this call shall
be made, there will be no lack of men. We have more to fear now
from unbridled enthusiasm than from want of zeal.
This African Exodus Association had its origin, undoubtedly,
among disaffected politicians, but it soon became a sort of
religious crusade. It gained but little progress among the
people, until the idea was suggested that it be made a missionary
enterprise. From the time the _Azor_ sailed into the harbor
until her departure, on the 21st of April, with her living
freight for Liberia, the wharves and streets of the city were
thronged with people of all sexes and ages, eager to view the
African “Mayflower.” Hundreds, who had engaged their passages
months before, were left behind, for want of room. How long this
enthusiasm will continue, and what may be the success of this
first company, of course are questions to be answered by and
by. We dare not venture any prophecy, either good or evil. It
is an experiment, some features of which are not in the line of
our ideas; but if, in the providence of God, it shall prove to
be to Africa what the Pilgrim enterprise has been to America,
we shall rejoice. We should prefer to have a different class of
emigrants undertake this work, and lay the foundation of African
civilization upon a broader foundation. Our object is to raise up
men of intelligence, and sound and broad religious principle, for
this work, and we naturally look with some anxiety to the effect
of turning loose in Africa the freedman, as we find him in the
South at present. We hope for the best, however, and shall pray
for the success of the movement, that God may overrule all our
fears, and make it for good. This one question we are glad to
have settled, as we think it is by this movement, that there is
no lack of enthusiasm in the negro heart for his fatherland; and
that, when the call shall come for more laborers in that field,
we shall have this enthusiasm on our side.
* * * * *
THE INDIAN BOYS AT HAMPTON.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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