I 
 
En Iberoic Effort 
 
 The Universities’ Mission to Central Africa 
 was founded by that great and good man, David 
 Livingstone, of whom I will say only that I 
 wish that his methods of African exploration 
 
 were more gene¬ 
 rally followed in 
 these latter days. 
 These were his 
 words, uttered, I 
 believe, in the 
 course of a speech 
 at Oxford, in 1857: 
 “ I shall return 
 to Africa and die 
 there, but I leave 
 it with you to see 
 that the door I 
 have opened for 
 Christianity and 
 DR. LIVINGSTONE. civilisation shall 
 
 never be closed.” Those words are the foun¬ 
 dation-stone of the Universities’ Mission, and, 
 I may add, the coping-stone of Livingstone’s 
 own life. As he says, with a just pride, he has 
 opened the door—that was his work, and, in 
 obedience to his invitation, the Universities’ 
 
4 
 
 Mission Las passed tLrouyL it, and occupied 
 some few of the unnumbered chambers that lie 
 beyond that door—chambers of a house which 
 they would dedicate to God. That is their 
 work, a rvork that has only been begun, for 
 those chambers are not empty ; every one of 
 them has its evil tenant of ignorance or super¬ 
 stition, of lust or cruelty or crime, who must 
 be expelled in this way or in that. It is some¬ 
 thing then, in less than forty years, to have 
 crossed the threshold of that great house, and 
 to have won a place within its walls, from which 
 now we can never be driven back. 
 
 When in the year 1861 Bishop Mackenzie 
 entered on his work, the mission consisted of 
 himself, two clergy, and three laymen; to-day 
 it has 89 English members and 104 trained 
 native teachers, ministering to some six thou¬ 
 sand converts, in a block of country measuring 
 about 250,000 square miles. These figures are 
 eloquent, so eloquent that I need not dwell on 
 them. They prove that the Universities’ Mis¬ 
 sion is a living and growing power. Such 
 results, however, have not been obtained at a 
 small cost; they have been bought at a great 
 price and with the lives of men. 
 
 The other day I asked a friend who has tra¬ 
 velled a great deal in the vast territories where 
 the mission works what he thought of its mem- 
 
o 
 
 bers. “,01a,” he answered, “ they ai-e very good 
 people; the only thing against them is that 
 they mostly die.” It seems to me that this was 
 a pathetic remark, and, alas ! it is a true one— 
 
 the road of the Faith in Africa is strewn with 
 the hones of martyrs. Where are Bishops 
 
 Mackenzie and Steere, 
 where are Burrup, 
 Pennell, Riddell, 
 Wood and Pollard, 
 Goodyear, Geldart, 
 Scudamore, Sparkes 
 and Knowles, West 
 and Hartley, and 
 many another man and 
 woman, servants of 
 the cause ? I will tell 
 /you—all dead. Noble 
 themselves, they have 
 joined the noble army. 
 
 We have read of the 
 persecutions of the 
 Caesar'S, and know how the martyrs of the Early 
 Church died by hundreds rather than abjure 
 their creed and offer incense on the altars of 
 •lupiter or Venus. They were brave and faith¬ 
 ful ; but I almost think that, were choice possi¬ 
 ble, a man might choose to taste the terror of 
 the wild beast’s fangs in the Roman amphi- 
 
 BISHOP MACKENZIE. 
 
0 
 
 theatre, or the sudden torment of the flame in 
 Nero’s gardens, rather than, after long sus¬ 
 pense, to die beneath the spears of savages like 
 Hannington, or, with an infinite variety of pro¬ 
 tracted suffering, to consume away in the slow 
 lire of fever like Mackenzie. The children of 
 the nineteenth century have learned many new 
 lessons, but there are old ones that they have 
 not forgotten—they have not forgotten how to 
 die, as the Apostles and the Fathers died before 
 them. 
 
 We have often heard missionaries disparaged; 
 some of us may at times have joined in that 
 chorus, and all missionaries have not been wise; 
 it is not too much to say that many of them 
 have given cause to the enemy to blaspheme. 
 Men have left these shores to minister to the 
 heathen whose object at heart was to minister 
 to themselves, to better their position, to obtain 
 political and social influence—perhaps even to 
 win wealth—and these men have done great evil 
 to their cause, since their shortcomings are told 
 of where the virtues of their fellows have no 
 notice. So far as I have been able to learn, 
 after a somewhat searching inquiry, no such 
 person has been numbered among the members 
 of the Universities’ Mission. 
 
 Before I pass on to the work, I would speak a 
 few words of the workers, and, therefore, I ask 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
you and any wliom these words 
 may reach, if you know upon 
 what terms these workers enter 
 on the field of their labour ? I 
 will quote them. 
 
 “The bishops are quite unable 
 to offer any inducement in the 
 way of salary or periodical holi¬ 
 day, ultimate pension, or tem¬ 
 poral advantage of any kind ; it 
 is necessary that those who join 
 the mission should do so with the 
 single desire to live for, and wil¬ 
 lingness, if it be so, to die in, 
 their work, because it is Christ’s. 
 
 “ The bishops are only able to 
 offer to their fellow-workers, who 
 may need the help : 
 
 “I. A free passage to Af¬ 
 rica 
 
 “II. Board, lodging, and ne¬ 
 cessaries during their 
 stay in Africa. 
 
 “III. Outfit allowance, £25, 
 and £3 journey mo¬ 
 ney; then, from the 
 end of first year after 
 landing, an allowance > 
 
8 
 
 of paid annually in advance 
 
 for clothes and small personal ex¬ 
 penses. These allowances are to 
 meet actual and current needs, and 
 it is not intended that they shall 
 accumulate.” 
 
 Last year (1892) under this heading, i3440 
 only was drawn—less than £5 per member. 
 
 ” IV. A passage home, should health re¬ 
 quire it, at the end of three or five 
 years’ work, or at any time at which 
 it may become necessary to return 
 through ill-health; but this must 
 not be understood to mean that 
 every one is to return to England for 
 rest after three years’ work. 
 
 “V. Special agreements to meet special 
 circumstances may be made by the 
 committee on the recommendation of 
 the bishops or the referees.” 
 
 A free passage—£25 outfit—and £20 a year 
 pay, which for the most part they do not draw, 
 preferring to support themselves and others out 
 of their own substance! 
 
 I confess that I am astonished, I am over¬ 
 whelmed, when I think of it. The labourer is 
 
y 
 
 worthy of his hire, but what a 
 hire is here! Comparisons, I 
 know, are odious, but in this 
 matter they are diEBcult to 
 avoid. The clergyman at home, 
 for instance, has no bed of roses 
 to lie on, especially in these 
 days of growing work and 
 shrinking income. Still, as a 
 rule, there is a roof over his 
 head, there is decent food to 
 eat, he lives in a healthy cli¬ 
 mate, and can mix in congenial 
 society, enjoying the amenities 
 of life. Lastly, except in very 
 rai’e cases, he has something 
 faintly resembling an income. 
 All these things the servant of 
 the Universities’ Mission must 
 be prepared to dispense with. 
 Often he must be houseless and 
 sometimes hungry; if he has 
 wife or child, he must be sepa¬ 
 rated fi-om them; sui-rounded 
 by many dangers, he must 
 journey on foot beneath the 
 tropic suns and through the 
 tropic rains, till at length the 
 fever gets a grip of him. En- 
 
10 
 
 feeblcd in body, weariness and discouragement 
 will overtake liim, breaking down bis nerve and 
 temper, till at times be thinks that he is spend¬ 
 ing himself to no end. More, he must continu¬ 
 ally force bis mind to a level low'er than is natural 
 to it, which is in itself a trial to a man of intellect. 
 
 The Fathers of the Church may have found a 
 certain joy in matching themselves in argument 
 against keen-witted and highly civilised pagans 
 —there must have been excitement and intel¬ 
 lectual pleasure in disputing with such a foe as 
 Hypatia, and doubtless Thrangbrand, Wilibald’s 
 son, and Olaf the king, delighted in spreading 
 Icnowledge of the White Christ after their own 
 fashion—that is, by fire and sword—among the ' 
 worshippers of Odin in Iceland and in Norway. 
 Work in heathen Africa has no such allevia- -i 
 tions ; there is nothing triumphal about it, and 
 very little that is emotional or even immediate. 
 Patience is the watchword, and perseverance 
 must he the motto of those who hold aloft the 
 lamp of God in the darkness of Central Africa. 
 Day by day the seed must be sown, often to 
 wither in the soil, and day by day, sometimes 
 with small success, the elementary truths and 
 lessons of Christianity must be forced into the 
 stubborn and unwilling minds of savages. 
 
 Has it ever occurred to you how many are the 
 obstacles to mission work in Central Africa ? 
 
11 
 
 Putting aside the diffi¬ 
 culty of inculcating su¬ 
 pernatural faith into the 
 heart of natural man, 
 there are the climate 
 and the vast distances 
 nnspanned by roads or 
 bridges to be reckoned vpith. 
 And more dangerous than these 
 there is the competition of the 
 followers of Mohammed. The 
 children of the prophet also 
 seek converts, and the creed 
 they offer has attractions for 
 the native mind. They, too, 
 teach the existence of a God, 
 but the paradise they promise 
 has material joys easy to be 
 I understood, and here on earth 
 
 ‘ ‘ they allow many indulgences, 
 
 including plurality of wives. I 
 believe that this question of 
 polygamy, with which native 
 tradition, law, and customs are 
 ® so closely interwoven, is the 
 
 greatest stumbling-block in the 
 path of the missionary. Certainly it is so in 
 South Africa—for instance, I remember how, 
 after much consideration,'the great Zulu chief 
 
1:3 
 
 
 Ohain finally declined to be¬ 
 come a Christian solely upon 
 this ground: “How can I,” 
 he said, “ j^ut away those wo¬ 
 men who have been the faith¬ 
 ful companions of my life ? ” 
 The Arab also has other 
 reasons for hating Christian¬ 
 ity and those who preach it, for 
 they and it are the deadliest 
 enemies of the slave trade 
 upon which he battens. I 
 have no time to enter into 
 details of this iniquitous traffic, 
 but I may say, without fear of 
 contradiction, that the slave 
 trade melts before the missionary 
 like mists before the morning 
 situ. Yes, it melts to return no 
 more, for, after the English mis¬ 
 sionary, follows the flag of Eng¬ 
 land—in my humble judgment, 
 next to Christianity, the greatest 
 boon that has been given to man¬ 
 kind — that flag beneath whose 
 shadow all men are free and 
 equal. This is not my opinion 
 only. The late Bishop Steerc— 
 that saint-like and unselfish man, 
 
13 
 
 that perfect mirror of a. Christiau—says, speak¬ 
 ing at Oxford in 1874, “ Nothing yet has ever 
 uprooted slavery except Christianity. Nothing 
 else will destroy it in Africa. Nothing else 
 will desti’oy it in a man’s heart.” I believe 
 these words to be true, and because of that 
 truth the r- -—^-r-- ^ Universi¬ 
 ties’ Mis- ' sion would 
 
 deserve .' your sup¬ 
 port, even / \ Uiey did 
 
 not make a ^ coii- 
 
 converts, 
 
 make them i in the best 
 
 and most - ^ e tf e c t i v e 
 
 manner, for I under- 
 
 vouriteme- r ■ 'thod is to 
 
 begin at i.- 1—the right 
 
 end of life, BISHOP STEERE. to catch the 
 child and train him in the way that he should 
 go. Also of these converts they attempt to 
 fashion, not useless imitation Europeans, hut 
 good Africans. To enable them to follow this 
 great and growing work they require money. I 
 have shown you that it is not for themselves 
 that they require it. I know that it is always 
 unpopular to ask for cash, especially in these 
 
11 
 
 ■ 
 
 hard, times, when everybody goes a-begging for 
 every conceivable object, but I hope that some 
 of yon may be able to spare a little towards this 
 good end, and that yon will find opportunity to 
 induce others to do likewise. Money cannot be 
 better invested, I assure you—that is, by those 
 who look on it as something more than a means 
 of personal gratification. It will not be wasted, 
 and will not be unproductive. This is the day 
 of small things, it is true; out of the thousands 
 among whom the mission labours, as yet few are 
 Cbristians, but, though we shall not live to see 
 it, a time will come when the great English 
 Church of Africa, numbering millions and tens 
 of millions, will remember with gratitude those 
 who fostered its beginnings, nurturing with 
 their alms the grain of mustard seed, of which, 
 in those future days, the boughs shall over¬ 
 shadow the African plains and mountains from 
 north to south, and from the east coast to the 
 west. We cannot all be missionaries—the pro¬ 
 fession would not agree with many of us—but 
 we can all help a little, and in doing so forward 
 the work of that Almighty and Omnipresent 
 Spirit, Wlio, not far from any one of us, is near 
 even to the heart of the poor savage you are 
 asked to deliver from his physical and moral 
 bonds. We can all help the good and devoted 
 men of whom I have spoken to you to follow in 
 
15 
 
 the steps of the Apostles and Fathers,'who, not 
 two thousand years ago, began their great work 
 of the conversion of a world, and to copy the 
 
 example of the 
 first Missionary, 
 that Divine Mas¬ 
 ter of Mankind, 
 Who went forth 
 “to give light to them that 
 sit in darkness and in the 
 shadow of death.” 
 
 H. EIDER HAGGARD. 
 April 26, 1893. 
 
 The Universities' Mission to Central 
 Africa has stations at four chief centres, 
 viz., at Zanzibar, Usaoibara, Rovuma, 
 and on liake Nyasa. In the Homes, 
 Schools, and Workshops are over 2,000 
 young Africans, 600 of these being en¬ 
 tirely supported by the Mission; 3,500 
 adults are also directly connected with 
 it. 
 
 Subscriptions, which are urgently 
 needed, should be sent to the Secretai’y, 
 9, Dai-tmouth Street, Westminster. 
 
Butler Tanner. Frome and London.