FOUR YEARS IN
LIBERIA
BISHOP ISAIAH B. SCOTT
Robert W. Woodruff
Library
Special Collections
Four Years in Liberia
By BISHOP ISAIAH B. SCOTT
The Quadrennial Report to the General
Conference of 1908
Price, Five Cents
AFRICA DIAMOND JUBILEE COMMISSION
BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS
OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
150 FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK
PRINTED DECEMBER, 1908
FOUR YEARS IN LIBERIA
It is with sincere gratitude to our heavenly Father, who has
been pleased to call me to the work I have been doing during the
past quadrennium, and with the highest appreciation for the
words of encouragement and the financial assistance of friends
throughout the Church, that I come to our people with this
my first quadrennial report. I do not flatter myself with the
belief that I have done all that might have been done, nor that I
have accomplished as much as someone better qualified for the
work could have done, yet I do say sincerely and conscientiously
I have done the very best I could in carrying forward the work
committed to my hands. I have had special supervision of the
Liberia Annual Conference, although I have visited the missions
in the West Central Africa Mission Conference, going over them
in company with Bishop Hartzell as carefully as it was possible
to do in a visit of a few weeks. Liberia is the oldest foreign
mission field in the Church, and is situated north of the equator,
but sufficiently near so that its entire area is within the Torrid
Zone and subject to the varied peculiarities and climatic disad¬
vantages of all equatorial regions. I have spent as much time
on the ground traveling throughout the bounds of the Confer¬
ence as I thought was best for me and the most rapid develop¬
ment of the work. I have given close attention to the churches
and missions already established and have opened a number of
others at varying distances from the coast, the farthest being
one hundred and fifty miles. Some of these new missions are
so located that they constitute a chain interiorward and reach
native people who have never before been provided with either
teachers or preachers. A few of the stations are well equipped,
while others are being conducted in buildings that are neither
permanent nor substantial.
While with Bishop Hartzell in Angola we held the first
3
4
FOUR YEARS IN LIBERIA
Bishops' Conference ever held in Africa by Bishops of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. There we laid our plans for the
quadrennium and for the Diamond Jubilee, which we hope to
see profitably observed throughout the Church. We did not
fully realize all we hoped to accomplish previous to the
assembling of the General Conference, but there has, neverthe¬
less, been enough achieved to indicate the glorious victories we
hope and pray for in the near future.
In January, 1907, Bishop Burt visited the Liberia Annual
Conference as the representative of the General Superintendents.
Though necessarily brief, his visit made an excellent impression
on the Conference and the people. He was accompanied by
Bishop Hartzell, and all seemed much gratified to have present
for the first time in the history of the work and of the republic
three Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Burt
lectured on "Italy," and both he and Bishop Hartzell preached
on Sunday, to the delight of the splendid audiences that came
out to hear them. The Bishops were invited out to several din¬
ners and a reception given by our Methodist people, and also to
the New Year's reception given by President and Mrs. Barclay.
There is no doubt in my mind that the presence of these brethren
impressed our membership as did nothing else during the
quadrennium that the interest of the Church in the salvation
of Africa is greater now than ever before.
HEALTH CONDITION'S OF THE FIELD
The prevailing opinion among those familiar with the sani¬
tary conditions of the West Coast of Africa is that there is
constant improvement. Civilization is constantly inaugurating
changes which make the coast more habitable and healthful.
Then, too, the diseases peculiar to that region are better under¬
stood by physicians, and, while they are not absolutely under
their control, the indications are that ere long they will be
entirely mastered. It cannot be said that those unacclimated do
not have fever occasionally, nor that there is not now and then
a death resulting therefrom, but neither of these is as frequent
as in former years. Such conditions have been brought about
by the commercial interest Europe has in Africa. Her purpose
REPORT OF BISHOP SCOTT
5
is to blot out as near as possible everything and everybody that
hinder the progress of commerce. Medical schools have been
established in Europe which make special study of tropical dis¬
eases, and the additional knowledge thus acquired has proven
extremely beneficial to all concerned.
Our workers in Liberia have suffered somewhat during the
quadrennium from fever, and yet the universal testimony among
them is that they suffer far less now than was the case a few
years ago. Some have been compelled to come home for a change,
which has, as a rule, proven beneficial, but, taken all in all, we
have reasons to congratulate ourselves that so few have been
compelled to leave the field.
Professor Thomas R. McWilliams, a graduate of the State
University of Kansas, and a man possessing special gifts as a
teacher of the sciences, was called to his reward in April, 1905.
He was a teacher in the College of West Africa. Just previous
to his death his wife returned to the States in poor health, and
in a few months thereafter passed into the beyond to join her
husband.
In. September, 1907, the Rev. J. B. Robertson, a man seventy-
one years of age, who went as a missionary to Africa in 1890,
during Bishop Taylor's administration, was called home. He
died at his post, and I feel confident that he never did a better
year's work than during the last year of his life. He built a
splendid mission house and a new church with very little ex¬
pense to the Board. At the time of his death he and his excellent
wife were in charge of the Binos Industrial Mission.
Miss Agnes McAllister went to the field nineteen years ago,
and was desirous of rounding out twenty years of service for
the salvation of Africa, but was not permitted to do so. Not
feeling as strong as usual the latter part of the past year, she
was granted a furlough. Just previous to the assembling of
the Annual Conference she asked that her work be provided for
that she might start home, and went directly to the Madeira
Islands. Here she spent a few weeks and then went to Paris,
hoping that by thus delaying her home-coming the warm season
would have set in in the States by the time of her arrival. But
the summons to her heavenly home came to her in Paris, and in
her death the Church loses a faithful worker, and the native
6
FOUR YEARS IN LIBERIA
African will never find a more devoted friend. She has done a
great work in Africa.
THE PEOPLE'S READINESS FOR THE GOSPEL
As the result of my own observation, as well as that of others
who have had exceptional opportunity to study conditions in
Africa, I am confident that the native is more anxious for the
gospel to-day than ever before. There are more applications by
far for the establishment of schools and churches than I can
possibly comply with. There has been such a positive and
emphatic awakening along this line that we all feel the day of
Africa's salvation has come. During the year just closed it was
my privilege to travel hundreds of miles by canoe and on foot in
the interior of the continent, and I passed through tribe after
tribe that, as far as I could learn, had never seen a missionary.
Everything tended to indicate that they were undoubtedly what
are called raw heathen; yet the people of many of the towns
begged me for teachers and preachers. I cannot begin to tell
you how my heart went out to them. I assure you it is an
exceedingly pathetic thing to stand in the midst of a great
throng of ignorant, degraded human beings who beg for the
bread of life as a child begs his parent for food, when you know
you are unable to satisfy their hunger. But when they would
see our mission boys who accompanied me and listen to them
sing and pray they seemed to feel that Jesus could do for them
what had been done for others, and 0, how I would praise God
to be able to put a competent teacher and worker in every one
of these towns. I did begin work at a few places and am much
gratified at the outcome. Whenever I would ask the people
what they would do to start a mission among them, they almost
invariably replied that they would help to build a house, and this
they have done in five different places where the work has been
taken up by native Christians. Such houses do not last more
than two or three years, but they show the spirit of the people
and furnish shelter for those who open up the work. I am pray¬
ing that God may open the way for us to replace these buildings
at an early day with small iron mission houses, such as we are
compelled to use in the climate of that section. The time was,
and that in the not very distant past, when the people required a
REPORT OF BISHOP SCOTT
7
gift to permit the establishment of a mission, in their towns.
But I thank God that day has passed and, I hope, passed forever.
Some months ago I was in Cape Palmas, two hundred and fifty
miles below Monrovia, and an old king who lived eighty miles
away heard of my presence there. He got into his canoe and
came all the way down the Cavally River to see me. Bright and
early one morning he made his appearance and bowing before
me, pleaded for a teacher for his people and for someone to
show them "God-way." He had learned of what the mission
was doing for one of the tribes below him, and he felt that his
people could not keep up unless there was someone to give them
the light. There was nothing to do but promise him that as
soon as possible I would send him someone, and I feel that there
are very few here to-day but that would have done the same. I
promised him on faith as I have had to promise others, and I
am glad to say that the worker sent there has made an excellent
beginning. When I visited the place I held services in the com¬
bination church and dwelling they had erected and baptized
those who had been brought into the kingdom.
While at Wissika Mission, sixty miles up the Cavally River,
the chief men of the nearest native town, twelve in all, came to
me and asked that I build a church in their home town for them.
They were so insistent that the missionary urged me to do so if
possible. I asked them what they would do to assist, and they
replied that they would go in "the bush" and saw the heavy
timbers for the building. At the Annual Conference our mis¬
sionary reported that much of the material necessary had already
been gotten out. What I am trying to do is to secure money
enough to purchase the iron for the roofing, the doors, the win¬
dows, and ceiling. I feel that I must be ready by the time they
are, and am confident that God will open the way for me to do
so, as he has done in so many other cases. It would be easy to
cite other instances in which the people are every bit as anxious
to abandon heathenism, but I consider it unnecessary to do so
at this time.
SELF-HELP AND SELF-SUPPORT
It is evident that you will be interested also to know the
progress our membership is making along the line of self-help
8
FOUR YEARS EN LIBERIA
and self-support. The fact that they have not been large con¬
tributors to the support of their own work is not, in my
judgment, because they are opposed to doing so, but because, as
it seems, it has not been required of them, and being for the
most part a poor people and therefore not able to give largely,
they had never realized what could be accomplished by the
united effort of those of limited means. When Bishop Gilbert
Haven, of blessed memory, visited this field in 1876, he wrote
back to America that no collections were taken, and church-
houses dropped down unless kept up by missionary help. He
went to Clay Ashland, on the Saint Paul River, and wrote the
"Christian Advocate" that there was only one church in the
place and that was the Baptist. The Methodist was in ruins by
rain and neglect. The Presbyterian and Episcopalian were gone,
and he concluded that too much help did it.
These were the conditions then, but I believe the facts will
justify me in saying that a remarkable change has come over
Liberia in the last two years. The first year I was there I
visited a community for a sojourn of a few days and was waited
upon the first night I was there by a committee asking that I
furnish the money to rebuild the church. I told them I could
get some money to help them when they began work. But this
statement did not discourage them, for they held on and they
pressed their case until a late hour. They were greatly annoyed,
were vexed with me, but thinking I was right I stood my
ground. Several months passed before I was there again. This
time the frame of the church was up, inclosed and roofed. Hav¬
ing some special funds in hand I assisted them some and left
them happy. Since that time I have visited that community
again, and preached in their church, of which they are justly
proud. They have purchased an organ, a beautiful communion
set, and in other ways added to the attractiveness of their new
church. As a further indication of what is being accomplished,
our first church in Monrovia is remodeling the building at a
cost of more than $12,000. On the Sunday that Bishops Burt
and Hartzell were present this church raised $2,000, and their
repair fund now amounts to upward of $10,000 in actual
cash.
Mount Scott Church, Cape Palmas, a building named in
REPORT OF BISHOP SCOTT
9
memory of Bishop Levi Scott's visit to the Conference in 1856,
has been remodeled at a cost of $7,000, and the Annual Con¬
ference was held in this magnificent structure last February.
The Clay Ashland Church, to which Bishop Haven referred
in his communication, has just collected and expended on the
improvement of the building upward of $1,000. A number of
smaller societies are at work either repairing or enlarging their
houses of worship, and, as a rule, have all or part of the money
in hand to do so. In order to understand fully the amount col¬
lected throughout the Conference I asked the brethren at the
session visited by Bishop Burt to report what was raised in the
different charges for self-help. That year it was $10,781. At
the recent session held the figures given for the year were
$23,241, and for the quadrennium, $35,270.38.
I believe it but fair to say, also, that the civilized portion of
the community is becoming more and more interested in the
salvation of the heathen. When I saw an opportunity to take
over a building, which had been erected for mission purposes,
as a memorial to a young colored woman who had formerly
labored as a missionary in Liberia, and needed $313 to do so, I
called on the Sunday School Board of the First Church, Mon¬
rovia ; they replied: "All right, Bishop, we will give it to you."
And they did it. We have in this mission two hundred and
seventy-five members, most of whom only a few months ago were
in heathenism; we have also a day school, with an enrollment of
one hundred and fifty, and a Sunday school equally as large.
I feel it but just to say in this connection that some credit is
due the Liberian government for the way it treats our missions
with regard to duties on supplies shipped into the republic. All
material for building purposes, all food, supplies, and material
for clothing the children gathered into the missions, and all
medicines to be used for them, are admitted free of duty. You
will better understand the advantage this gives when I tell you
that when Bishop Hartzell was in America last he bought a
number of church bells, costing him less than $100. These he
ordered sent to the mission in Angola, a Portuguese colony of
West Africa. The authorities there charged $750 duty, and he,
rather than pay this, concluded to send them to me at Monrovia,
which was done. The Liberian authorities, after being assured
10
FOUR YEARS IN LIBERIA
that I intended to use them for mission purposes, admitted them
without one cent cost.
WHAT HAS BEEN" ACCOMPLISHED
When I announced at the first session of the Conference I
held in Africa that it was my purpose to push the causes of
temperance, evangelism, and self-support the announcement
created no enthusiasm, but recent developments have convinced
me that the Conference is now in full accord with me in these
lines of work.
In order to promote the cause of temperance I secured the
cooperation of a number of the best and most intelligent women
of the republic, together with some of the missionaries. Several
largely attended and enthusiastic public meetings were held and
the attention of hundreds of people was called to the evils and
destruetiveness of strong drink. You will understand why
progress along this line must of necessity be slow when you are
reminded of the vast quantities of rum and gin that are im¬
ported by European firms for the purpose of trade among the
native people. And yet I feel perfectly safe in saying that the
native Church of Liberia is a temperance Church, for no one
is received who does not pledge himself to abstain from strong
drink, and if he be a polygamist, to give up all but one wife.
Along the lines of evangelism and the conversion of the
heathen the cause has been pushed as strenuously as we found it
possible to do without the assistance of someone specially adapted
to such work. At times the success attained in some of the
missions has been marked and most satisfactory. At one of our
stations called Grand Cess one year the number of conversions
reported at the Conference session was so large that it was
thought best not to include the figures in the statistics until
proper investigation could be made. In due time this was done
and the result found to be entirely satisfactory. And I am
glad to say that at that point alone there have been during the
quadrennium fully five hundred conversions, and I have had the
pleasure of preaching there more than once when it was found
impossible to hold the services in the church because of the
immense crowd in attendance. It is a glorious scene to witness
some of the revival meetings among the native people. It seems
REPORT OF BISHOP SCOTT
11
to me that nothing is more encouraging to a missionary in a
heathen land than to witness the conversion of those for whose
salvation he prays and labors and waits. It delights his heart
to see living evidence before his very eyes that the old gospel
still has power to save.
And just here I feel that I cannot do better than tell of the
influence of two little hymn books in the native dialect which
we have published this quadrennium. To hear the people sing
the hymns in their own language is enough to inspire any
man with the thought that the day of salvation for Africa is at
hand. How they seem to sweep the people into the kingdom! I
felt, as did some of the workers, that if we eould have the people
sing the gospel in their churches, in their homes, and in the
streets of the towns, a larger number could be reached thus than
in any other way. In this way we felt that they would all
become helpers in preaching the Word. It was a difficult un¬
dertaking, because the heathenism of our part of Africa is totally
unlettered. We employed translators, but having no dictionary
had to spell the words by sound as best we could. The first effort
on this line was made at the Garroway Mission, and as the
result a convenient little booklet of translated hymns was pub¬
lished. Then came another at Krootown, adjoining Monrovia,
and now the missionaries at Wissika are at work on a third.
How the people enjoy singing these hymns! and it does anyone,
interested in missions, good to listen to them. They sing on the
great steamers of the coast. They sing as they carry you in the
hammock through the dark and dismal swamps. They sing as
they pull the surf boats from one trading post to another, and I
have heard them sing in the services of their churches until it
seemed that even the roofs responded to their heartfelt enthu¬
siasm and joy. We also had published on cardboard the Lord's
Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Ten Commandments.
These we hang in the native cabins and our workers teach the
people as to their use and meaning. However, it is only neces¬
sary to say further that God blessed us with 450 conversions for
the first year, 510 the second, 653 the third, and 581 the fourth,
making a total of 2,191 persons born into the kingdom for the
quadrennium. The statistics for the first year of the quadren¬
nium showed our membership to be 553 probationers, 2,748 full
12
FOUR YEARS IN LIBERIA
members, a total of 3,301. The figures reported at the Annual
Conference held recently give 1,103 probationers, 3,194 full
members, the total membership being 4,297, a gain for the quad-
rennium of 996. The gain in church property for the quad-
rennium is $44,318.
We are at work among the native people at forty-two different
points, many of which could be made strong and influential
missions during the next quadrennium if I could only have the
money and a few more good workers to help make them so.
As much as I thank God for what has been accomplished, I
appreciate more the doors that stand wide open before a hesi¬
tating Church—the ease with which we may now reach those
who were formerly so difficult of approach. 0, that our King
who owns the silver and the gold, and the cattle upon a thousand
hills, would send us the men and the money to carry forward
the work that we may save dying men and thus glorify God.
My only desire is to be able to do my part in saving the heathen
world, but it is a waste of time and a useless sacrifice of life and
health to ask men and women to go to the front to do the
Master's work and yet leave them without the resources neces¬
sary for the prosecution of the same. The appropriation is far
too small for advance movements, or even the proper support of
what we have. In this connection I am reminded of an incident
which is said to have occurred on one of the principal rivers of
Liberia. Several European traders were being conveyed up the
river in a surf boat, which was pulled by some native boys. In
an altercation between one of the traders and one of the boys
the trader received a severe blow on the head. They determined
at once to cast the native overboard. On being asked if he could
swim, he said he could. "Well, then," said one of the traders,
"we will tie your hands and see if you can." And this they did.
The boy was thrown overboard and when it looked as though he
would surely drown someone plunged in and rescued him. The
great Methodist Episcopal Church elected me for the work I
now have, and sent me into the wilds of Africa. I know full
well what is expected of me and have been trying with all my
might to meet the expectation. But to put even a Bishop in
Africa without adequate money and equipment is to tie his hands
and cast him overboard. I have twenty-five native schools and
REPORT OF BISHOP SCOTT
13
churches unhoused and without equipment. I need at least
fifteen workers from the home field and have not the money to
provide even one third of them.
If I could have five hundred $15 scholarships, twenty-five
native workers provided for at $40 each, $1,000 a year to carry
out and support an evangelist, and even $2,000 a year to equip
some of my native stations, we should very soon be able to double
the present membership. O, Church of God, untie my hands,
untie my hands!
My only plea is for the Church to give me a fair chance to
show what can be done. I beg of you to forget the color of my
skin, forget the past history of my people, forget that Africa
has not hitherto proven as productive a mission field as some
others, and hear once more the voice of the Master as he cries,
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature."