AFRICA^ Y\i The Problem of the New Century—the part the African Methodist Episcopal Church is to have in its solution. THE QUEENSTOWN RELIGIOUS AND INDUSTRIAL COLLEGE —W1LBERFORCE OF THE DARK CON¬ TINENT—A SCHOOL FOR AFRICANS, TAUGHT BY AFRICANS, FOUNDED AND SUPPORTED BY THE MISSIONARY DEPARTMENT OF THE A. M. E. CHURCH ::::::::::::::: Two races hand in hand for mutual good. Rev. H. B. PARKS, D.D., Secretary Home and Foreign Missionary Department. A. M. E. Church, 61 Bible House, New York City. 1899. BISHOP HENRY McNEIL TURNER, D.D., LL.O., D.C.L. Senior Bishop of tl-e A. M. E Church. CHAPTER I. MISSIONS AND THE DUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. A S the nineteenth century draws near to a close, leaving its triumphant and unparalleled victo¬ ries imbedded in the memories of the Christian world, and especially of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, that has played no small part in the accom¬ plishment of these victories—a part that the future historian will pause for words to adequately, describe —a new field of operations, far more stupendous with duties and undertakings, confronts the Negro race and the Church with the dawn of the twentieth century, in the evangelization and Christianization of the pagan world—bringing opportunities and possibilities, the proper utilization of which will settle the destiny not only of the junior races of the world, but the status that historic Africa is to have among the Christian powers of the earth. This work will be accomplished through the God- given channel of missionary endeavor that has ever been the one great medium to lift up, enlighten, and sanctify mankind. (5) 6 The only way to perpetuate the spirit of missionary work is to carrry out Christ's supreme command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," etc. A Christian mission is a station to which a preacher, teacher, or any other Christian messenger, is sent to bear the light of God's truth to unenlightened people, and to lead them to a better life. This work is the way in which the empire of Christianity is spread. It is the only practical way in which a Christian people shows its love for those less for¬ tunate. It is the highest form of Christian effort. The Apostles were missionaries pure and simple; their work was in essence a missionary work. Every foot of ground that Christianity has gained has been gained through missionary effort. But even to-day, after nitieteen centuries of ceaseless labor, a great part of the world still remains to be won for Christ. The part to be won within the next few decades, in which the A. M. E. Church must play an important part, is Africa. Missionary conquest is permanent. Sometimes, as in America, it sweeps over the face of a whole conti¬ nent in a generation or two. Sometimes it goes but slowly, but where it goes it never recedes. The tide of political conquest in succeeding centuries has swept back and forth, and back and forth again, over the continents of Europe and Asia, but the tide of Chris- THE AFRICAN MISSIONARY FIELD OF THE A. M. E. CHURCH. Black dots indicate mission churches. Star indicates missionary stations tianity knows no ebb; it moves only in one direction— onward. And where it goes it carries light and bet¬ ter life, and brings out all that makes a man nearer to perfection and nations greater and more powerful. All the advance that has been made in the world in the century just closing—the great discoveries in science that have revolutionized the world's way of liv¬ ing—have been the work of Christian races, have been founded on the strength and depth of thought, on the educational methods, on the spirit of fairness and striving for better things, that follow in the wake of Christianity. The fact that Christian nations rule the world, that flags of Christian governments wave over the countries inhabited by Pagan races, is traceable to this same influence of Christianity, the inspiration to a better manhood, to look ahead, to risk one's life for one's country or for others, to take the lead where others follow. The great part of the world inhabited by non- Christian people, is under the sway of the Christian world, and looks to Christian peoples for every benefit. It will never know greatness until it has Christianity, with all the inspiration to better life that its principles bring. Can you realize how great a boon to any nation is Christ's truth ? Do you acknowledge the utility of Christian missions ? The coming of a warlike conqueror.has never made the conquered nation great. Happiness and a better life, a better standard of living and a better manhood, 8 have often followed, not because of the conquest by war, but because there was a conquest by the cross, because the country became a Christian country. And this was not the work of soldiers, but of mission¬ aries. The history of the whole world—of the nations who received the word of God and who became great, and the nations who refused it and who are now lying in weakness and darkness—proves that the missionary has always been the real messenger of advancement and greatness. The continent of Africa is to be laid open to the advance of civilization within the next generation. Missionary labor will have an opportunity for a con¬ quest greater and more rapid, perhaps, than at any time since the days of the Apostles. It will have forces and advantages such as never before in the history of the world, that will aid the advance of Christianity and civilization. The duty of the Christian Church, as it honors and praises God, is to enlighten the world and lift up fallen humanity. The Christian's love is never shown in a higher form than in ministering to a less fortu¬ nate people. No race appeals so strongly to the Christian world as the natives of Africa, for this sort of aid. And to no people do thay make their appeal with so strong a right as to the Negroes of America. No race was ever so plainly marked by God to help another as the CHAPTER II. A WORD UPON THF HISTORY OF THE MISSIONARY WORK OF THE A. M. E. CHURCH. HE African Methodist Episcopal Church, even with the great labor before it at home, recog¬ nized from its very inception the duty of carrying the light abroad. It was no such pressing duty, no such definite "cut-out" task, as confronts it to-day, but a duty nevertheless, and one that was not shirked. The Church was organized in 1816, and in 1824, eight years later—though it was still young and struggling for a foothold at home—the founder, Bishop Richard Allen, ordained Scipio Bean to the order of Elder, and sent him, with Richard Robinson, as missionary to Hayti. They were the pioneers of the A. M. E. Missions abroad. In the year 1816 the ship "Amanda," commanded by Captain Roberts, left Baltimore, Maryland, with a load of emigrants, bound for San Domingo, upon the invitation of President Boya, who then governed the whole island. On board were Isaac Falla, Francis Roberts, Richard Gross, James Hamilton, and others, SAN DOMINGO. THE MISSIONARY FIELD OF THE A. M. E. CHURCH IN THE WEST INDIES. 13 who were the spiritual leaders, and prominent African Methodists. Some of these emigrants were landed at Porto Plata, Cabaret, Samana, and the remainder at San Domingo City. The leaders mentioned were among those who landed at San Domingo City, the oldest city in the New World. These retained the religious faith of their fathers, and remained African Methodists. The others who landed at the places named were absorbed into the Wesleyan Church. A few years later they were given a fine place by the Haytian Governor in command, upon the plaza of LasMacedes, next to one of the most prominent Catholic churches in the city. The enthusiastic manner of worship by our early fathers brought about a conflict between them and the Roman Catholics which caused them to be assigned to the great Catholic monastery, " San Fran¬ cisco," now the largest, most spacious and imposing ruin of the city, enclosed within five or six acres of antique wall. Isaac Falla and Francis Roberts were sent to the United States in 1820 to be ordained by Bishop Allen. Brother Falla was ordained, but brother Roberts not. In 1844 the great earthquake of that year demolished San Francisco; the brethren became alarmed and abandoned it, and were given the present site now occupied by them, known then as "el Cuatel Malicia " (the militia quarter). This was the first Protestant church established in the oldest city in the New World. In 1863 the cholera H destroyed a large number of them, but God always reserved a leader. Richard Gross and Francis Claudia led them until 1882, when Rev. H. C. C. Astwood, of New Orleans, was ordained Elder by Bishop John M. Brown, at Bridge Street Church, Brooklyn, February, 1882, and appointed Superintendent to revive the work. Rev. Astwood was also appointed U. S. Con¬ sul at that port, which enabled him to do the work without cost to the department. He rebuilt the old edifice, which had been reduced to ruin, at a cost of $1,300.00, and placed the work upon a solid founda¬ tion. In 1884 Bishop J. P. Campell, D.D., and Secre¬ tary of Missions J. M. Townsend visited San Domingo City, and organized the first annual conference. Rev. J. H. Mevs, a deacon, was sent over from Port-au- Prince, Hayti, with his wife, to assist in the work. He was ordained at that conference an Elder; Fran¬ cis Claudia, Deacon. Adam Rogers and Simon J. Hall, now in Boston, were made local preachers. The work has an interesting history. A valuable piece of property was acquired by Rev. Astwood, owned by us now, in addition to the church, upon which to build a church and a seminary in the future. He also acquired a lot and established a church at Macoris, a prosperous circuit thirty miles away. The church struggled on, with its ups and downs, until January of this year, when Rev. Jacob James was sent out by this department, with his wife, as missionary in charge. We are glad to say that this historic 15 church is being cared for. Monte Christo was also founded by Rev. Astwood, with Local Preacher J. (). Bascomb in charge, which is now unprovided for; but Port-au-Prince, a branch of it, is under the able management of Rev. T. (). Astwood, a brother of the former Superintendent, and is in a prosperous con¬ dition. The work continued with varied success, but the Church at home was struggling hard; and though Hayti and other "West India Islands called for the light, the work could not be taken up with vigor until the home missions in Georgia and the Southern States, which were opened up to missionary work at the close of the war, had been well organized. Prior to that time the only foothold the Church had been able to gain in the South was among the freedmen of New Orleans. The Church was still striving to culti¬ vate the great field that lay before it at home when the need of a mission in Liberia became apparent. The need of light at home was great, but the need in Liberia was greater. Bishop John M. Brown and Rev. A. T. Carr organized, on April 17, 1878, just twrenty years ago, in Morris Brown A. M. E. Church, Charleston, S. C., the first Liberian Mission Church. Rev. S. F. Flegler was appointed pastor; Clement Irons and Scott Bailey, local preachers and class leaders. They and the thirty members who were to carry the word among their brethren of the Dark Continent sailed on Easter Sunday morning, April i6 21, 1878, on the bark "Azor," for Monrovia, Li¬ beria, landed after forty-three days' voyage, were received by the President and his staff, welcomed to the use of the M. E. Seminary as a house of worship, and in a few months had received from the Liberian Government 100 acres to establish a school and station, and had built a station of their own, " Bethel," at Brewersville. The great revival of foreign missionary activity came in the first administration of Rev. J. M. Towns- end, D.D., as Missionary Secretary—1880-1884. The extent and vigor of the revival are best shown by the table of missionary funds raised by the successive ad¬ ministrations in the Church since the war. J. M. Brown, 1864-68 $5,425-65 J. A. Handy, 1868-72 9.3I7-32 G. W. Brodie, 1872-76 6,556-42 R. H. Cain, 1876-80 5,947-8o J. M. Townsend, 1880-84 34,811.83 J. M. Townsend, 1884-88 19,001.09 W. B. Derrick, 1888-92 25,675.47 W. B. Derrick, 1892-96 36,535-3i $[43,270.89 In Dr. Townsend's administration the Haytian and San Domingo work was taken up with determination. An iron church was built at Port-au-Prince, Hayti. Bishop John M. Brown, sent out Rev. C. W. Mossell and his energetic wife as missionaries, who labored faithfully and well. Three young Haytians were 17 sent to Wilberforce, trained for the missionary life, and went back to their native land to take up the labor. They were: S. George Dorce, now pastor of the Church at Port-au-Prince and principal of the mission school; John Hurst, D.D., now pastor of Bethel A. M. E. Church, P>altimore; and A. II. Mevs. now pastor of the Church at Jackson, Miss., a^fter spending six years in foreign fields. <_Sierre Leone, the British Colony founded as a ref¬ uge for Negroes released by that Government from slave-traders, next claimed attention. In 1SS0 Rev. J. R. Frederick was sent there by Bishop J. A. Shorter, arriving January 2, 1887. The Church Missionary Society had been laboring there since 1816, and with fair success. The missionary sent by the A. M. E. Church was cordially received by the members of the Countess of Huntingdon mission, and he was soon surrounded by a good congregation, the members of the Lady Huntingdon Mission being transferred to the A. M. E. Church. The missionary also acquired the fi *st piece of property purchased in Africa for church purposes. ()ther minions were organized at St. Thomas and Demerara. But th^ great dark sea of ignorance that tempted the zeal of the Missionary Department was the immense continent on which Allen's banner had been planted twice, and in which two bands of devoted men and women were working bravely, with their eyes ever turned toward the interior. It was not from Liberia, GROUP OF MISSIONARIES IN BARBADOES. ly however, nor from Sierre Leone, that the A. M. E. Church was to force its way with the light into the interior. The work there might succeed within limits, but the great movement that was to arouse the whole native population of the continent, the great work of civilization and Christianity, was to start, not from the East Coast where they were working, but from another quarter, and one into which the Church had not been able to push its missionary labor—South Africa. When it did go, it went there by invitation, strange as it may seem. South Africa called, and the A. M. E. Church held out its hand in brother¬ hood. The native Ethiopian preachers, strug¬ gling ahead under an intrepid leader, against great odds, learned at last, through a chance copy of The Voice of Missions, that in America was a strongly organized African Church, with an aggressive mission¬ ary department. That was in 1896. In 1897 they sent Elder James M. Dwane as their representative to the A. M. E. Church of America, and he was received as a member. In 1898 Bishop H. M. Turner, D.D., LL.D., went out to South Africa, and the whole membership of the Ethiopian faith became a part of the Missionary organ¬ ization of the A. M. E. Church. The victory was won, plans for following it up were made and put into exe¬ cution, and Bishop Turner was back in New York in less than 150 days after he had left this country. CHAPTER III. HOME PREPARATION—NATIVES TO HELP NATIVES— QUEENSTOWN'S COLLEGE. ' I HREE hundred millions of native Africans will within the next ten years be brought face to face with civilization. Africa is the world's new field, to the development of which all nations are giving their attention. The Cairo-Cape Town Railroad is being built, connecting Cape Town, South Africa, with Cairo, Egypt. The heart of the continent is being penetrated. The rum traffic, cupidity and vice will be brought home to a people that have lived for centuries in their native simplicity. Civilization is good, but its coming is as often cruel as beneficent. With the proper influences, its beneficence may be assured. The native stands in the same position the Ameri¬ can Indian held a hundred years ago. Civilization may mean either enlightenment and a happier condi¬ tion, or it may mean ruin. He must either fall in step and learn to march with the advancing army, or must inevitably be trodden under foot. If he resists, he will be exterminated. If he takes to whiskey and miscellaneous vice, he will meet the same fate as the American Indian. (20) 2 I The only thing that can save him is Christianity and industrial education. If he gets this training first and meets civilization in the right spirit, he will become a strong and useful member of society. The Industrial College has already been founded by the Home and Foreign Missionary Department of the A. M. E. Church. It will be a school of Africans, taught by Africans, for Africans. Its influence will be felt all over the continent. It is the only logical way of civilizing the African race, unless his civilization is to be left to the debas¬ ing rum traffic, his oppressors, and the gun. Bishop Henry McNeil Turner, D.D., LL.D., has for twenty-five years preached, lectured, written, prayed and sung for Africa's redemption. At times he has been scoffed at, then heard with interest and hailed with zeal. To-day he stands triumphant, and is the champion of the greatest Christian movement ever launched in the interest of the people of the land of his ancestors. For years Peter the Hermit preached the Crusade for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the infidel; the men who heard him first, jeered at him and called him visiorlary; they learned at last to follow him and give their lives to the holy cause. Bishop H. M. Turner, Primate of the A. M. E. Church, is the "Peter the Hermit" of the Missionary Crusade to be made in Africa in the twentieth century. Understand clearly that conditions in South Africa are very much different in 1899 from what they were in 1868. Men have ceased to regard the center of the continent as impenetrable for ordinary commerce. The project of the great transcontinental railway from Cape Town to Cairo has been received enthusias¬ tically in the great financial centers. The details of its route and rights once agreed upon, its financiering will be only a matter of hours, the commencement of the actual work a matter of days rather than weeks. The road will be built. It is next to impossible to estimate the rapidity with which it will be pushed. It is going through a country full of Negroes, who, though manly and intelligent, know nothing of civili¬ zation save, possibly, through their touch with some trader who has given them no very favorable impression of the outside world. Left to themselves to struggle against the coming of civilization or to learn its ways as best they can, they will be either crushed or demoralized—and, in fine, meet the fate, as I have already said, that has overtaken the Indian. It is for the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the American Negro to save the native African from this fate. The logical way to do it is by religious and indus¬ trial education at the Queenstown's College, and by the army of native teachers the nucleus of which is now in training at Wilberforce, Ohio. 3NVAA3 IAI T dOHSIH hVO\f CHAPTER IV. VICAR BISHOP J. M. DWANE THE CONNECTING LINK. OTANDING as the connecting link between the ^ uncivilized millions in Africa and the American Negro, is J. M. Dwane, now Vicar Bishop of the A. M. E. Church in South Africa. He is a man fitted in every way for the responsibilities of his posi¬ tion. The hand of Providence may be definitely seen in the preparation and appearance of this man, the right man at the right moment. He is fitted not only by a talent for strong organization and aggressive administration, but by qualifications even more valuable. He is a Kaffir born, he knows the Kaffir thought and life, he has never lost touch with Kaffir sympathies. For the first fourteen years of his life he was a heathen, trained in a heathen school, for the life of a Kaffir warrior, hunting his own food, learning to track and kill his own game, knocking about in the rugged life of the jungle, and learning to take care of himself. He was fourteen and had never seen a white man, did not even know that there were white men in existence. One day there came to the Kaffir (h) 25 village a woman who told his mother that tar away in another village one hundred miles off there was a man whose skin was white and who was clothed from his neck to his feet, and who bore a message about the " Great—Great " and the future life, about sin and repentance, and purification, and happiness or punish¬ ment after death. The poor Kaffir woman, who had grouped among the hazy beliefs and superstitions of her race for something that w< uld give her comfort instead of terror, saw all the religion of her life under¬ mined by the new message, and was troubled very much ; but she saw at the same time that the message was a ray of light through the darkness. She thought about it long and with a heavy heart, but the word that the strange woman had given her would not down. She could not go herself to the distant village, but at last she despatched the only messenger she could command, her fourteen-year-old son. He was to see the white preacher, and find out from him exactly what must be done to be saved from punishment and granted happiness in the life beyond. So through the all but trackless jungle he made his way, the naked little warrior, toward the great light, and toward the great world outside, the messenger, if he but knew it, not only of his anxious mother, but of his whole race. It wasa weighty mission, and it is possible that, young as he was, he felt some of its weight. The preacher stood in the village, surrounded by curious listeners. Little Dwane \iewed him from afar, but hung back. 26 He was atraid. He had never seen such a man, or a man arrayed as he, before. He asked about the preacher, of those he met in the outskirts of the vil¬ lage. Many scoffed and many were non-committal, and some spoke frankly in his favor. At last he mus¬ tered courage to go up to the stranger and demand the truth. That was his first touch with Christianity 4 an(l civilization. He became a pupil of the school at Middledrift, Africa, and later was sent to England, where he received a clerical training in a Wesleyan seminary. Returning to Africa with the Wesleyan Missionaries, he went among his own people, and preached with astonishing success. Native preachers multiplied, and they carried the Word, with ever-increasing zeal and enterprise, further and further into the darkness of the jungle. The time came, however, when the right to think and act for himself, to act upon his own initiative, would no longer down. In 1874 he left the Wesleyan Church and preached independently. Scores of native preachers, recognizing in his step the first move for the dignity and independence of a native religious movement, flocked around him from all parts of South Africa. Within a short time there was organized a native Christian Church, called the Ethiopian Church, with two annual conferences, one in Johannesburg and the other in Cape Town. It was not until 1895 that these native Christian preachers, struggling at the edge of the great ocean of ignorance, learned that ih America there was a well organized and powerful church composed of men of African descent. With the exception of Elder Dwane, few, if any, of them had ever been beyond the limits of the African con¬ tinent. A copy of The of Missions somehow— directed, it is good to believe, by the Director of all—came one day to his hands. CHAPTER V. HOW AFRICAN METHODISM ENTERED SOUTH AFRICA —UTILIZING NATIVE FORCES. T F all the other good that The Voice of Missions has ever done should be canceled, and if all the toil and expense that it has cost from the day of its first publication should be counted up, the victory achieved by that single copy would be cheaply won. A correspondence was started, and a year later Elder Dwane was sent by the United Native Preach¬ ers of South Africa—The Ethiopian Church—as their delegate to the A. M. E. Church, 18,000 miles away. At his invitation, Bishop Turner went to Africa in February, 1898, and before his visit was ended he had added the whole Ethiopian Church to the Missionary Department of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of America, and had administered the ordination vows of the A. M. E. Church to 150 preachers with self-supporting churches, numbering 11,000 mem¬ bers, and ordained Elder James M. Dwane its first Vicar Bishop. The membership up to this time has 128) 33 white preacher or a preacher who was not of their own race. Their own race, their own tribe, their own family— that is the keynote of the work which is to convert the African people. Reared in the jungle life, know¬ ing its hardness, its sorrows and joys, charitable towards its shortcomings, hopeful for its betterment, the teachers have a hold upon the native trust for which nothing can be substituted. As class after class leaves the great African religious and industrial school and goes further and further into the wilderness, it is not hard to foresee the rapidity with which new pupils will multiply, and with which the sphere of the college's influence will spread faster and faster every year. In time the school becomes self-supporting. The farmers, busi¬ ness men, doctors, engineers, teachers, preachers, who date their success in civilization from the day they entered its portals, contribute toward the exten¬ sion of its work—endow it, possibly. After some years the college is free at last of the necessity of ask¬ ing aid from across the sea, pays its own expenses, and the area of its influence spreads ever outward, like circles around the spot where a pebble has been dropped into a pool. The evangelization of Africa is well under way, the native is being taught the arts of peace, is being trained in the virtues and warned against the vices of civilization, is becoming a sturdy, useful member of society, and finds it hard, per- 3 34 haps, to understand that all this he owes to a race of his own blood far on the other side of the world, a race which years before accepted the African's educa¬ tion and welfare as a responsibility imposed by Provi¬ dence, and which has discharged its duty. The School is an absolute necessity; not a mission school carrying pupils to the sixth grade, but a uni¬ versity, a " Wilberforce," training preachers, business and professional men, able to cope with the best. Civilization and evangelization must take no half-way measures, if they are to be effective. 37 University and other Negro training-schools are doing, after long delay, for the American Negro. It is to be the Wilberforce of the Dark Continent. The first reason for the college—for some center of religious and industrial training—has been shown. It is needed not only because it will teach a few pupils, but for the greater reason that these few will teach others, and those others still others again, in an ever-widening circle. The school is to be the source of the great South African movement. There is only one way to make it a success—it must be taught by natives. The only man who can easily get close enough to his confidence and sympathy to teach him to receive his civilization in the proper spirit is the Negro teacher or preacher, a man of his own blood, trained in a religious and industrial school. Through the 12,500 members and 150 preachers of the A. M. E. Church in South Africa, when they are properly taught and trained, it wrill be possible to reach the heart and sympathy of the natives in all parts of the continent. Sixteen Kaffir boys and girls are now receiving religious and industrial training at Wilberforce. Two others have arrived within a few weeks. Another young Kaffir is studying medicine at Howard Univer¬ sity, Washington. When these go back to teach in the school at Queenstown, no others will be trained in this country, but teachers will all be trained in their 38 own country. The object is to keep all the workers, young men and women, always in close touch with their own race, their work at home thus being assured the highest degree of effectiveness. The men who go out to preach and teach must have an education and training that will enable them to refute the arguments of Mohammedanism—that great wall of darkness against which the missionary army has been hurling itself for centuries. Take up your map. The members of the Christian Ethiopian Church are scattered through Cape Colony, Rhodesia, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange Free State. The sphere of the School's influence will go far beyond these, and far into interior Africa. It will teach not only Kaffirs but Abyssinians, Tembus, Fingoes, Bosu- tos, and other tribes, all springing from the parent stock, the Abantus, from which the Negroes of Amer¬ ica, of whatever tribe they be, trace their descent. These are all men of a high -degree of intelligence and strength of character, the Kaffir and Zulu espe¬ cially. The work is not without its difficulties, that have hitherto been counted severe. It is a notable fact, however, that some of them, while being an undoubted obstacle, serve to point still more strongly to the ne¬ cessity for the college as the easiest and the only rational way of surmounting them. Africa has at least 450 languages, not counting the infinite number of dialects into which they are sub- I.oifritmli) 20 Eh hi Uoss. A M BO LAND Ft,Sail! QiJiinane m'a.tabele .0 hi law ay i Salula LAND D A M A R A L A N D ou n T ' NAM A/Q U A . . lilil « 1'lilv 'ide poor /TORANU: FltKl J 'W , pviiiliei-i # l{Uf! i|f 1 L—-STAT^ ^ in.Mi.ii/7rlii yXATAy LAN'D ■—III \ I N I Ml I g • urban >. i' ^ UOrdrrclH 1 !.r « \ (ul Ueorg'g. M<|/ 118C/1 ^inlrampura youi enco Marquez buUiyott //■ Ca;>e To>v:i\ C.o/ Gooo' Hcpe* 1'uri Ell/:il>etli SOUTH AFRICA SCALE OP MILES Iw 2UO jIU) JOO Ei I ~ ~ iS 35 THE AFRICAN MISSIONARY FIELD OF THE A. M E. CHURCH Slack dots indicate mission churches. Star indicates missionary stations. 3() divided. Is there any better way of overcoming this obstacle than by the native preachers, whose knowl¬ edge of these dialects is ingrained, and who, though they may learn in the common language, can go out and preach in their own ? No man can have as firm a grasp of local dialects, and the dialects of neighbor¬ ing regions, as the native himself. On the West Coast there are 200 languages, and so far the Word has been translated into only 20 of these. South Africa, as far north as Upper Lake Nyassa, has eight Bibles; and those translations, it is believed, represent the great languages through which, practi¬ cally, every native may be reached. In Central Africa, tht Scoahili language, understood throughout the East Coast; and the Ganda language, covering the Eastern interior, have already been given translations of the Bible. The Congo, Gaboon, the Cameroons and Angola, have also had their languages reduced to writing, and have received their own Bibles. But the great barrier to successful outside mission¬ ary work remains—the difference in the dialects that is found wherever these languages are spread; and to this difficulty the native missionary is the key. CHAPTER VII. THE QUESTION BROUGHT HOME TO YOU. npHE enlightenment of Africa is to be the labor that will occupy the keen attention of the civilized world for the next twenty years. Civiliza¬ tion will stride into the wilderness at a rate never known before, and in the midst of all this struggle and advancement the eyes of the world will be on the army of the A. M. E. Church's Missionary organi¬ zation, whose task it is to be a friend and brother to the unenlightened native, leading him gently to the light of religion and teaching him to avoid the pitfalls and to enjoy the advantages of the new civilization. The native African is willing and anxious to help himself, as is proven by the existence of a well- developed native religious movement. With proper aid at the start, he will be able to work out for him¬ self a destiny of which the world will not be ashamed. He is not looking for outside help. Once started, he will be as independent of outside help as any other race. But he wants help to start the great (40) 41 ball rolling. He wants the aid of a brother. He is self-respecting. Don't tell yourself it is the white man's burden—that the white man has more money. You have your part to play in the evangelization of the continent. Out of the millions poured into Africa by the mis¬ sionary organizations of Christendom, none have suc¬ ceeded as have the Negro preacher and the A. M. E. Church, measured by time and expenditure. The very history of the Negro race in America proves that race love and sympathy is the basis of any great movement such as this. What would Wilber- force have been had it not been for Bishop Daniel A. Payne and his associates ? What would Waco College have been if it had been started and run by white men instead of Bishop Richard Harvey Cain, formerly United States Con¬ gressman from South Carolina ? What would Morris Brown College, at Atlanta, have been but for the work and influence of Bishops W. J. Gaines, Abraham Grant, and H. M. Turner. The Negro has been in America 300 years. He has had 35 years of freedom. In all that time what chance has he had to show his worth in the face of the wTorld ? This means you, not the abstract idea of race, but you as a unit in the race, and representative of the whole. Take the argument to yourself. If you cannot, or will not, where is your race spirit ? God calls you to evangelize the second largest con- 42 tinent in the world — to follow no longer, but to lead. There are 10,000,000 of you in the United States. There are 3,000,000 who are members of churches. There are 700,000 who are members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Remember, there are 300,000,000 Negroes in Africa, and of these only 2,000,000 are within the sphere of religious influence. The rest are waiting to be led to the light. This prospect should certainly be bright enough to enlist the hearty sympathy and support of the members of the African M. E. Church. They turn logically to the A. M. E. Church. Un¬ derstand, they do not offer themselves as a permanent burden, do not ask to be adopted and taught and cared for indefinitely. They merely want a helping hand, ask to be reared as spiritual wards of the Church, helped in the first great effort to start a movement, that will in time continue self-supporting, for the evangelization of the whole continent. Do you see the opportunity that is given the race ? For years it has struggled for its own improvement, helping itself where none others could help it. Has the world realized the great work it has accom¬ plished ? No. Would you impress it with your worth and power in a way that it could not shut its eyes to ? Are you strong enough to hold a place in the middle of the 43 arena — to do yourself credit with the whole world looking on ? You have never had a chance like this. You are going before a bigger audience than the little field of state or nation. America, England, Germany, Russia, France, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, and Spain — the powers of the globe — will watch your work and pass judgment on it, well or ill. One word of approval or recognition from such an audience will do more to improve your condition at home than years of legislation. Do you understand ? You are helping yourself by helping others. No other race can do the work as you can. It is the civilized, educated Negro for the manly, heathen Negro. It is your task, your duty, and you should be proud to shoulder it. The native African is, physi¬ cally and intellectually, among the strongest races of mankind. Save for his untutored mind, he is to be admired rather than pitied. His ignorance is not his fault; the light has not been taken to him. He has race prejudices, like all other races, and the white missionary is not adapted to these con¬ ditions. The light must be borne by people of his own tribe. It is for you, his kith and kin, to give strength and support to the light-bearers who have placed themselves under your direction. Can you see the immense credit that will be reflected upon the American Negro when the world is forced to recognize the success of the movement ? Do you see that this is the road through which God would 44 have the race ascend to its proper place of great¬ ness ? Is the race spirit strong enough in you to see it? Have you who dream of the future of the race, force and energy enough to join your fellows for a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull all together ? Can you see that it means more than talk ? Don't say that your money is needed more for missionary work at home. The Negroes of America who are benighted, are so because they refuse to see the light. The light is taken to them from all sides, but they turn from it. The African has never had the chance, has never been approached as you can approach him through your own missionaries. Send your light to those who need it most. Don't say that you have enough to do in your own observance of Christianity. Selfish Christianity doesn't deserve the name. Your own salvation must be worked out, but can you work it out unless you help your brother to work out his ? The virtues of humanity are well enough, but the Christian must go beyond natural virtues, he must be an extra. Are you ? Your work and example, your thought and influence —this is your part of the task. Find your neighbor who is lax in this duty, who does not realize it; talk to him, rouse him; tell him of the opportunity for his race. Do you know how those immense sums were raised in this country some years ago '' to free Ireland "—how every man and woman, rich or poor, 45 with a drop of Irish blood in their veins, were reached and roused to the necessity of giving their mite ? It was by just such a system. Talk to your neighbor,, get him to talk to his, and get them in turn to talk to others. \ ou have never had a better cause to put your shoulder to than this. The African Methodist Epis¬ copal Church must raise in America a great organiza¬ tion for the enlightenment of Africa—not to last for a year or so, but until the labor is complete. Its foundation stone has already been laid. The Easter collection was dedicated to Foreign Missions. One- third of the sum called for ought to go for the Queens- town College, for buildings which are needed at once. In the chapel of the university the first pictures hung will be those of pastors of churches contributing $100 and over. Put your shoulder to the wheel for the glory of God, for the honor of your Church, for the good of your race in America, and for the redemption of your brethren in Africa. Place your own Church in the roll of honor while there is still time, your own pastor in the list of charter members, and secure for him the gold medal of a leader in the great new Christian movement. Talk about it, save for it r begin nowr. The Church has 700,000 members; with proper enthusiasm $100,000 could be raised, and it could all be well used. Start the enthusiasm; it never had so strong a cause. CHAPTER VIII. THE MOVEMENT MUST HAVE MONEY. TT must have it at once, money with which to erei the first buildings in which the native Africa teachers now being trained at Wilberforce, and soc to be graduated, can live and teach. To delay th would be a serious setback in the work. The youn teachers must be allowed to begin their labors bi fore the edge of their training can be dulled by di couraging waits. In a day when civilization is sweej ing so rapidly into the interior, every hour count: Another year, and the work will be infinitely hardf than it is at present. If you had a neighbor, manly and intelligent, struj gling upward toward enlightenment and a better coi dition, would you spare an hour every week to he! him ? Can you give the money earned in one-half an hour < every week in office, factory, or field, to helping yoi brother in South Africa ? Fifty-two hours in a ye< —the income of five or six days! If you would put your shoulder to the wheel, th is the way to do it. Give your money—money, tl SARAH GORHAM M SS ON HOUSE S ERRA LEONE COLON/. 48 sinews of a missionary campaign as well as of war. You cannot go yourself; it is fatal and futile to brave the jungle life when you have at hand messengers who are inured to it, and are in closer touch with Ethiopian races. But you can give your work at home—money, its fruit, the medium by which you send your strength and toil to any part of the world. There can be no success unless there is absolute earnestness, and this is the way to show it. And if you have read this without seeing that it is pointed straight at you, read it over again, and take every word to yourself. NEW MISSION CHURCH FREETOWN SIERRA LEONE. 52 He is surprised and gratified with the work, and of it he says the following : "That we have a future upon the West Coast of Africa there can be no doubt. But when God allows opportunities and possessions, He requires returns from the recipient. '' After 112 years' march we find ourselves respon¬ sible for a great deal upon two continents. A few pro¬ gressive men have unbarred the door and opened it, and it is our duty to see that it shall not be closed. "Unquestionably we are in Africa for good and sufficient reasons. The British flag floats over 400,000,000 people, and Great Britain has done won¬ ders 111 educating and Christianizing them. In time the forces of trade and progress, which are rising always higher in civilized lands, must find an outlet also in the world's great wilderness, Africa. "If we have imbibed a sufficient spirit of civilization to enable us to take our place in the progressive march of the world, when these people shall pour into Africa, as they undoubtedly will, we will thereby convince the world of our equality as men. But the most noble of all considerations in this matter is the fact that we are obeying the command of Christ, as all Christians are who are doing their duty. "The truth of what I have said is demonstrated by the fact that we are never left without an advocate— whether that advocate is a member of the Church or race. They always speak well of the A. M. E. Church. 57 the Sarah Gorham Mission School, destined to become a power in the missionary work of Western Africa. Sierra Leone had been an outpost of the A. M. E. missionary work since 1877, having been named as part of the charge of Rev. F. G. Flegler when he was sefit to Liberia. Rev. J. R. Frederick had gone out to Sierra Leone in five years before Bishop Turner's airival; and when the Conference was held, there were twenty native preachers in attendance. The Sarah Gorham Mission ScIk <>!, which gives both religious and industrial training, was the first on the "West Coast. It now has from 250 to 300 pupils, and with its excellent opportunities could, it sufficient sup¬ port were forthcoming, largely increase its field of usefulness. There are now in Sierra Leone three mission houses and twenty appointments, all of which are held by native preachers, with the exception of the Superintendent, Rev. F. G. Snelson, Ph.D. The Conference has about 1,600 members. Sierra Leone is a British Colony, and the impor¬ tance of Dr. Snelson's work and capabilities has just been'recognized by his appointment to a Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society of London. STATISTICAL TABLE OF THE SIERRA LEONE ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 1 Converts. Accessions to Mem. I Members. I Probationers. Exhorters. Local Preachers. I Miss'y Soc. I Churches. I Parsonages. Seating Capacity. Special Missionary Collection. P. Home and F. Missionary Society. W. Mite Miss. Society. Sunday School Union. Conference Fund. Bible Cause. Pastor's Fund. Presiding Elder's Support. j Charitable. Rev. G. Dove Decker, Providence. " H. M. Steady, New Zion.... 12 26 30 82 54 168 28 2 I 1 I I I I I 600 600 £9 11-0 23-5-5 1-O-O 2-0-0 4-6-2 3-6-9 0-15-0 9-14-0 2-1I-O I-6-O 5-0-6 I-O-5 O-I3-I O-9-O £0-0-9^2 £0-13-0 $6 £36-19-8 $126 £ 3-0-0 4-15-0 I-16-O 4-I5-o,I'2 £Z~7~9 $13.21 £0-12-0 0-I2-6 0-10-0 0-3-0 $r5° £ 0-4-0 2-0-0 4-16-2 4-0-2 $I.IO $2.52 £0-2-0 3-5-6 O-2-O " J. J. Coker, Bethel " J. H. Gooding, Sarah Gordon. *3 7 4 5 2 2 60 54 2 72 38 3 3i I 4 I I I I I I I 200 250 5° £0-4-0 O-4-O O-3-O £3~2 0 Building and Repairing. Current Expenses. Total Collected. Value of . Church Property. Indebtedness. Sunday Schools. 1 Officers. Teachers. | Pupils. Conversions. Sunday School Collections. Easter Day. Children's Day. Church Extension Board, by Loan. College Endowment Fund. Balance in Stewards' Treasury. Balance in Trustees' Treasury. £3-*3-9 $23.32 | $724-53 $3,600 n k 40 6 $1.44 $200 ;£o-2-0 $67.28 £0-3-0 ' £19-6-8 £20-17-7 5-15-9 ^45-19-55-2 11-3-8'o ,£300-0-0 4-0-0 5-O-0 T 3 32 £5-0-° A15-5-9 £0-18-0 16 ^0-0-612 3-«-812 STATISTICAL TABLE OF THE LIBERIA ANNUAL CONFERENCE. Stations. Eliza Turner Chapel. Brewerville Arthington White Plain Robertsville Johnsonville Roysville Cape Mount Pleasant Valley. Schfflinville Lower Buchanan Central Buchanan Upper Buchanan, Harrisville... Edina H. M. Turner Pastor. to c a> tc c 2 a (ft & w S- < O. c . 3 0 U a,"3 &-C/1 J. Lawton... H, Watson. . T. New land Irons A. Bailey... M. Gross... G. Wilson.. L. Brisbane . P. Patton.. . W. White T. Cole W. Payne.. T. Lewis... P. Gross ... Redd F. Holt.... H 9 C V a W X I £W a, t c 5° $ I S '4 on $35-89 S'lSr-Q'' on 14. nl It) 2a 32.01 Q. S° 78. ib. 2b iti.C 51.qg 8.00 I.51J 10 14.0a ■27.03 12.00 41 14.00 1.10 18 ■8S ITi z Z V sH I* <*u 3-> $3-74 700 oc 12 3.oo loo~> 0» 00 3" 4.00 37 v°» ^7 130.0. *o 3OO.Of) ■>o 8.0.00 So I 30,00 So .65 IOOT.OO 5° 3.00 Go od 'oo.oo -"8 2 O V o u $it>}g 6g 3i.'7 Igft lo. ,n 61.T-, 41 q1" 12. 84. so lg.71 37.0° 77.II 2Q.oo I3.5o I">5.OD 41* 75 3?. 10 v 7; $ >33 »T> II'.oo -,3-Qi 27.00 7.00 547.3.J1 20.00 W £ x S 2 t « " Co J= £ 3 .2 1/5 GO ^ .c £ «s t/j « n " il ^ W « ? c OH- o J £ 5.8g?g2.50 $474.57 $8. Io$i7h6.g2 $i}.6y $i6.3g $7472.03 $2457x4 51105.71' 8.S I ^ 9* ^ « 5 J= ffipu «5 f5 •S S o I I zS .. 321 10 11 25 43 3gi 22 6 11 $16.46 V- 03 .2 2. CHAPTER X. the henry mcneil turner crusaders of the twentieth century. motto: "god wills it." HE task before us has given rise to a great organization. It is still in its in fancy, but it is a great organization nevertheless, if only in its ob¬ ject and its possibilities. The time will come, and in the not very distant future, when the name of The Henry McNeil Turner Crusaders of the twentieth cen¬ tury will stand for the greatest union of American Negroes ever formed for any one purpose—a union that shall not only be the moving force in the evangeliza¬ tion and civilization of the Dark Continent, but shall achieve more than has ever been achieved before toward uniting the thoughtful Negroes of this country in a proper race spirit. Is this too much to predict ? The American Negro, while working for the good of others, while fulfilling a task they have never known before, will learn how great a possibility for good lies in their union. They will learn how great is their own power of concerted action. (60) 6i The t rusade already has a membership. Every pastor whose church raised $100 or over at the Easter collection for Foreign Missions is entitled to the medal of a Commander in the Crusade. His portrait will be one of the group of founders that will be hung in the chapel of the Oueenstown College as soon as the chapel is completed. The Crusade will be formally organized at the Annual Missionary Jubi¬ lee to be held in June or July, at Asbury Park. It will reach every earnest, thoughtful member in the A. M. E. Church, and many who are not Church members, but who have the good of their race at heart. There will be no heavy machinery of adminis¬ tration, no long ceremonies, no oaths, no secrets, nothing to di\ert attention from its two great objects, the raising of money wherewith to prosecute the work in Africa and the starting of a great wave of better race feeling—higher, stronger, more self-reliant. It is an organization for work and results, and for no other purpose. Members of the Crusade pledge themselves, by a verbal promise merely, to three things: i. In their daily prayer to ask God to guard and fos¬ ter the great missionary work ot the A. M. E. Church abroad to care especially for the Continent of Africa, whose fate, for Christianity or Paganism, is to be de¬ cided within the next generation. -> In their daily life to discuss with some fellow-man, or fellow-men, preferably men who are not members of the Crusade for at least thirty minutes in every 62 week, the crying need of Negroes in Africa for light and education, and the duty of the American Negro race toward their brethren of the Dark Continent. 3. To give to the work of foreign missions at least the earnings of one-half a day every quarter, and to raise as much more as is possible by any honorable means that will not prejudice the work of the Church or the success of its missions. God's aid must be had in an undertaking such as this; God's blessing rests upon it already. Is there any appeal to the Almighty stronger than the daily prayer of thousands of earnest men, coupled with the daily proof that their earnestness can take a practical form ? The prayer may be short or long, but if it is earnest and heartfelt He will heed it. Without God's aid and direction in an undertaking such as this, all the money that could be raised, the strongest organiza¬ tion that could be made, is as nothing. It will not be hard to remember that daily appeal for the salvation of Africa; and if, in any stress of personal need, it is forgotten in your daily prayer, it will not be hard to kneel again, to pray a moment or two that He shall send His light and comfort to others besides yourself. Thirty minutes in the week—that is all you promise to give in your associations with your fellow-men. Five minutes here, five minutes there, ten minutes, fifteen minutes at some other time, a word dropped in passing, a conversation turned by a word into the right channel—that is all, telling perhaps a dozen peo- ^3 pie, churchmen or outsiders, of the great work the A. AI. E. Church has taken up, the great duty that rests upon the whole Negro race; dropping the seed of that generous thought that has lifted many a man to greatness, the thought that has been behind every truly great action—that there are other people to be lifted up, and a man's duty is not all to himself. The poorest man that you know—the man with the nar¬ rowest horizon—will dwell on that thought with bene¬ fit, and be broadened and uplifted by it. Maybe you will make few recruits to the Crusade; maybe your talk will merel\ let other men know what is going on, and make them talk about it; but in either case it serves the go< id cause. ()nly thirty minutes in a week; will that be very* hard ? The obligation to talk carries with it the obligation to keep yourself informed, so that you can never be defeated in argument. But that will n< >t be difficult, for the information is here, and the arguments are straightforward. All informa¬ tion of the Crusade in America and the work in Africa will be printed in The I '