Yn- Africa 
 
 The 
 
 ■Hartjeil , -J.C. 
 
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 Open Door 
 in Africa 
 
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 By Bishop JOSEPH C. HARTZELL 
 
 The Missionary Society of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Chuich 
 Rindge Literature Department 
 150 Fifth Ave., New York City 
 
The Open Door in Africa 
 
 Africa is the last continent to be opened to the 
 Gospel, and her peoples are the last great section 
 of the human family to be reached by the truth 
 as it is in Christ. It is marvelous how quickly 
 God does things when the right time comes. 
 How long it took to get ready for the birth of 
 the Saviour! During all the centuries God was 
 leading up to that event, and when the full¬ 
 ness of time came the Star of Bethehem shone 
 and the angels proclaimed the glad news that 
 Christ was born. So it is with continents and 
 races. The fullness of time has come, in the 
 providence of God, to Africa and her people, 
 as certainly as it did in the coming of our Lord, 
 in the supreme moment of the world’s redemp¬ 
 tion. 
 
 How quickly it has all been done! Only yester¬ 
 day that vast continent was under a veil of 
 mystery. On the northeast corner in the distant 
 past that veil was lifted by the peoples of Asia 
 and there developed the civilizations of Egypt. 
 Later, along the Mediterranean Sea, the edge 
 of that veil was lifted a little and cities and 
 empires gi’ew and passed away. In still later 
 times along both coasts and in the far south, 
 the edges of the continent were explored; but 
 that vast continent, the oldest of the earth and 
 one destined to have a very large place in the 
 future of the world, was hidden in mystery. 
 We know not for how many thousands of years 
 
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her multitudes dwelling in barbaric heathenism 
 had been babbling their many tongues. We know 
 only that there was mystery and tragedy and 
 uncertainty. When the world needed this new 
 continent for the extension of her commerce and 
 her population, and when the time had come for 
 God’s final challenge to the Church for the last 
 dark continent in the redemption of the world, 
 then how quickly that veil was lifted! We now 
 look upon the map of all Africa, trace her rivers, 
 sound her lakes, measure her mountains, estimate 
 her wealth, count her peoples and study their 
 religions. 
 
 The Hastening of History Making 
 
 On no other continent have so many wonderful 
 things been done in so brief a time. Only in 
 our time was it possible to overcome the physical 
 difficulties of subduing that continent. The great 
 Sahara Desert and the Abyssinian Mountains 
 confined the Roman Empire, the early Christian 
 Church, and Egyptian ambition to the lower val¬ 
 leys of the Nile and a little strip along the Medi¬ 
 terranean. Many hundreds of thousands of lives 
 were lost as the centuries passed in attempts 
 to penetrate the interior through the deadly 
 malaria of the coasts. The modern railway alone 
 could carry civilization to the heart of Africa. 
 Medical science has now begun to gi’apple suc¬ 
 cessfully with the fevers of Africa and of other 
 tropical climates. At no other period of modern 
 times were the diplomatic relations of Europe 
 such as to have permitted the parceling out of 
 a continent and the organization of colonial 
 governments over so vast an area, without tre¬ 
 mendous wars. Africa to-day presents an era of 
 nation-building without a precedent in history, 
 
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while exploration, commerce, diplomacy, science 
 and missionary movements are centering upon 
 that continent in a most marvelous manner. 
 
 It was only in 1845 that the immortal Living¬ 
 stone was threading his way northward from 
 Capetown through Bechuanaland two thousand 
 miles to the Zambesi. He discovered Victoria 
 Falls, and pushed eastward across the continent 
 to the shores of the Indian Ocean. That journey 
 was inspired of God in the heart of that Christian 
 missionary, and its story startled and aroused 
 the Christian world. Other discoveries followed, 
 and then came the organization of the Congo 
 Free State by a congress of nations at Brussels. 
 This great event also was providential, for King 
 Leopold had a supreme desire to benefit Africa. 
 How quickly government has come! Only yester¬ 
 day hordes of lawless barbarians preying upon 
 one another and to-day that whole continent 
 divided among the civilized nations of Europe! 
 That means very much. It means law. It means 
 protection. It means the possibility all over the 
 continent of peaceful advantage in agriculture, 
 trade, the development of cities, states and civil 
 government. How quickly it has all come! 
 
 The End of European Wars in Africa 
 
 The close of the South African War marks the 
 end of this brief but momentous period in the 
 history of Africa, which was begun by the ex¬ 
 plorations of Livingstone. Pretoria, where the 
 terms of peace between the Briton and the Boer 
 were signed, will be another historic spot, not only 
 as relates to the English and Dutch peoples, but 
 to the whole of the African continent. It means 
 the end of European wars in Africa. From now 
 
 4 
 
on the dividing line between the colonial posses¬ 
 sions of different nations in Africa are prac¬ 
 tically adjusted and the administrative and diplo¬ 
 matic forces of England and France and Germany 
 and the other nations interested will be concen¬ 
 trated upon questions of practical government, 
 the development of the continent, and the best 
 interests of the multitudes of natives. 
 
 The end of this historic period also means that 
 all Africa is now open to the forces of Christianity. 
 Very soon there will be a continental system of 
 railways with commercial enterprises and inter¬ 
 communication everywhere; there will be a vast 
 agricultural and mineral wealth; growth of centers 
 of power wherever Anglo-Saxon civilization will 
 be possible, and the development of permanent 
 government among the natives throughout the 
 whole continent. Never before in the history of 
 the world was that possible, but God’s fullness 
 of time had come for Africa. 
 
 The Immensity of the Continent 
 
 It is difficult to realize how large an open door 
 God has placed before the Church in Africa. There 
 is room enough on the lower end of the continent 
 for the whole of the United States with her 
 85,000,000 of people; Europe with her many states 
 and hundreds of millions can be placed on one 
 side of Central Africa; China with her 400,000,000 
 could be accommodated on the other half of Central 
 Africa, and there is plenty of room for all India, 
 with her 300,000,000 and England and Wales, Scot¬ 
 land and Ireland in the lower valleys of the Nile 
 and along the coasts of the Mediterranean; while 
 there is plenty of room for Porto Kico and the 
 Philippines on the islands of Zanzibar and Mada- 
 
 5 
 
gascar and other islands on the East and West 
 Coasts. The 12,500,000 square miles of territory- 
 on the African continent equals that of all other 
 countries in which the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 has foreign missions! 
 
 What Has Been Done for Africa 
 
 Something is being done by the Church in 
 Africa. There are forty missionary societies at 
 work, and at some centers, considering the diffi¬ 
 culties, good work has been accomplished among 
 the natives. It must also be remembered that in 
 the great European centers, like Capetown and 
 Johannesburg, there are churches and schools and 
 philanthropic efforts among the white people. 
 But the great continent has scarcely been touched 
 by the Christian Church. In North Africa it 
 has been estimated there is only one Protestant 
 missionary to a hundred and twenty-five thousand 
 Mohammedans; in Sahara one Protestant mis¬ 
 sionary to two million five hundred thousand 
 Mohammedans and pagans; in Sudan, one Pro¬ 
 testant missionary to forty-five million Moham¬ 
 medans and pagans; in West Africa, one Pro¬ 
 testant missionary to thirty thousand pagans; 
 in Central Africa one missionary to eighty thou¬ 
 sand pagans; in South Africa, one missionary to 
 fourteen thousand pagans. Think of it, in the 
 great heart of the continent one lone Protestant 
 missionary to forty-five millions of pagans and 
 Mohammedans! The Christian Church as a whole 
 has not yet taken Africa seriously to heart. No 
 land has had more heroic men and women. Six 
 hundred have laid down their lives for the ex¬ 
 ploration of the continent and the price already 
 paid for Africa, in the lives of missionaries, has 
 
 6 
 
been great; but still, the deaths of missionaries 
 in Africa are only a small per cent of the number 
 of deaths among the tens of thousands who flock 
 to that continent to make money, to study science, 
 or to win fame or wealth in government or com¬ 
 merce. The chief work of Methodism in Africa 
 up to date has been that of the Wesleyan Church 
 in South Africa and on the West Coast. The 
 work of the Methodist Episcopal Church has been 
 in no way commensurate with her wealth of 
 workers and money and her responsibilities be¬ 
 fore God. 
 
 Our Methodist Episcopal Church has work on 
 the West Coast in Liberia in Angola, and in the 
 Madeira Islands. On the East Coast we have 
 work in the Portuguese district of Inhambane 
 and in Rhodesia. 
 
 Liberia 
 
 Let us begin with Liberia, that little black re¬ 
 public born out of philanthropic plans of good 
 Americans a hundred years ago. Their motives 
 were different. Some thought to benefit slavery 
 by the removal of free negroes from the South, 
 and others had different views, but all felt that 
 in the end Liberia would be a center where Amer¬ 
 ican negroes could better their condition and in¬ 
 augurate a movement toward the evangelization 
 of the continent. All that was anticipated has 
 not been realized, but the little nation lives and 
 is recognized and protected by the great nations 
 of the world. Its territory extends three hundred 
 and fifty miles along the coast and two hundred 
 and fifty miles into the interior, and is one of 
 the richest sections of the West Coast. A new 
 era seems to have dawned commercially upon the 
 republic. A charter has been granted to a large 
 
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English company to explore and develop its agri¬ 
 cultural and mineral wealth and increase its gen¬ 
 eral commerce. 
 
 It was in Liberia that our first foreign mis¬ 
 sion was established in 1833, when Melville B. 
 Cox so quickly and joyfully laid dowm his life, 
 having asked that on his tombstone should be 
 written, “ Though a thousand fall, let not Africa 
 be given up.” The history of our Liberia Mission 
 is a checkered one of mingled victory and defeat, 
 and some day must be written by a wise historian. 
 The best news that I have to give you from 
 Liberia is that a new spirit of helpfulness and 
 aggressiveness is taking possession of that Con¬ 
 ference. We have about one hundred workers, 
 including ministers and laymen, who are ap¬ 
 pointed each year to districts, schools, churches, 
 and missions. I held the Conference at Grand 
 Bassa in 1902, in a new brick church that cost 
 four thousand dollars and which was built by the 
 people themselves except what I gave them for 
 the windows and roof. The same town and 
 neighborhood has subscribed two thousand dollars 
 toward a high school building. In Monrovia, the 
 capital, we have our strongest church. It is also 
 the best one in the republic. It is self-supporting, 
 and besides giving two thousand dollars toward 
 the enlargement of our college building it is build¬ 
 ing a two-thousand-dollar parsonage. Other 
 churches among the Americo-Liberians are be¬ 
 coming self-supporting, and my word to them 
 is that my first mission in Liberia is to teach 
 them how to help themselves. We have our Col¬ 
 lege of West Africa located at the capital, and 
 twenty-nine primary schools in different parts 
 of the republic. We have our printing press and 
 outfit, which is worth six thousand dollars. Here 
 
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we print The 'New Africa, a thirty-two-page 
 monthly, Sunday school literature and tracts and 
 songs in several native languages. A very im¬ 
 portant part of our Liberia work is included in 
 the purely native stations. 
 
 This work in Liberia is in great need. Scarcely 
 anything has been done for many years in build¬ 
 ing, and many of our mission stations are unfit 
 for habitation, and yet our brave workers patch 
 up the roofs and prop up the sides and get 
 
 through the rainy season as best they can. We 
 
 are short of w'orkers for the stations we have, 
 and have been compelled to abandon many of 
 them and center at the principal ones. And then 
 w'hat of the vast regions beyond ? I sent one 
 missionary a journey seven days into the interior, 
 and the stories he brought of healthful valleys 
 and plains and of fine types of negroes who have 
 never seen a white man stirred my soul. But 
 what could I do ? That missionary was com¬ 
 pelled to come home, and I have not sufficient 
 force to man even the station from which he 
 
 started. How long must the work in Liberia be 
 
 practically confined to the most unhealthy coast 
 region and the vast open doors beyond be neg¬ 
 lected? If I had five thousand dollars to establish 
 an industrial mission a hundred miles from the 
 coast it would soon support itself. 
 
 Angola 
 
 Down the coast past the mouth of the great 
 Congo River we reach St. Paul de Luanda, the 
 oldest city on the West Coast, with five thousand 
 Portuguese and thirty-five thousand natives. This 
 great center of Angola has been practically un¬ 
 occupied for ten years for lack of workers and 
 
 9 
 
money, but I have taken the responsibility of 
 buying property and opening the work. It had 
 to be done. It is the key to our West Central 
 Africa Mission Conference, where we have a ter¬ 
 ritory of nearly four hundred thousand square 
 miles among a choice class of natives. Extending 
 out three hundred miles to Malange, we have our 
 other four central stations, and besides these we 
 have smaller stations under the care of native 
 preachers. This work has been thoroughly or¬ 
 ganized. We have a well-equipped mission press 
 at Quiongua, and are publishing the Scriptures, 
 tracts, a four-page paper, and will soon publish 
 a series of text-books for our native schools. 
 We have two industrial schools which are self- 
 supporting and which aid largely in building. 
 One school built a good native church and made 
 the furniture, and is now building a schoolhouse 
 at Quiongua. The other school is helping to build 
 at Quessua. The Kimbundu language of these 
 people is one of the best in Africa. This Con¬ 
 ference needs at least six new workers at once 
 to maintain it wdth efficiency as it is, and there 
 is need of a few thousand dollars to be put into 
 inexpensive buildings at several points. And then 
 wdiat of the regions beyond? Gradually a high¬ 
 way is being opened up for commerce in a vast 
 section where there are no missionaries, and where 
 the voice of God has been calling for thousands 
 of years to the Christian Church. 
 
 The Madeira Islands 
 
 In the Madeira Islands, w'here God has opened 
 up the Avork to us so marvelously among the 
 Portuguese, the city of Funchal and its suburbs 
 have sixty thousand people, and on a single island 
 
 10 
 
there are as many more. Over them has been the 
 rule of Roman Catholic Jesuitism for four hundred 
 years. While no one shall go beyond me in the 
 appreciation of the good the Roman Catholic 
 Church is doing, still it must be said that Roman 
 Catholic Jesuitism is an organized conspiracy 
 against the civil and religious liberty of the world. 
 Sixty years ago a Scotch Presbyterian physician 
 did a remarkable work among these Portuguese 
 Roman Catholics. Besides his work as a physi¬ 
 cian, he had schools and taught the people to 
 read the Bible in their own tongue. Twelve or 
 fifteen hundred became Protestants in the course 
 of a few years, and insisted on reading the Bible 
 themselves and worshiping God according to the 
 dictates of their own consciences. A great perse¬ 
 cution arose, and the day was fixed when Dr. 
 Kalley, the missionary, and all his followers w'ere 
 to be exterminated. After a while it Avas thought 
 that all the Protestants had been driven from the 
 island. However, a little precious seed remained, 
 and only a short distance from where Dr. Kalley 
 had his wonderful work in the mountains we have 
 our Mount Faith Mission, with nearly fifty men 
 and women recently converted and who testify 
 to God’s love, and as many more youth in our 
 Sunday and day schools. In four years the results 
 of this work have been most encouraging, and 
 near by are other islands of large populations 
 where Protestantism has open doors. I have had 
 only five hundred dollars mission money each year 
 for this work. The remainder of the annual ex¬ 
 pense of three thousand dollars and over to main¬ 
 tain five missionaries, build and equip our build¬ 
 ings at Mount Faith, has been raised among 
 friends. 
 
 11 
 
Inhambane 
 
 On the southeast coast of the continent, at 
 Inhambane, five years ago we had one missionary, 
 one native station, and a few native members. 
 Now we have six native stations with hundreds 
 of members and calls from many directions for 
 workers in a population of several millions. Here 
 we have another press and outfit and are printing 
 a series of text-books for the native schools and 
 religious tracts, and a large amount of work is 
 being done in the translation of the Scriptures. 
 We must have at least four new missionaries for 
 this center. Our schools for boys and girls must 
 have buildings. At no other point of our work 
 in Africa can so much be done for the same 
 amount of money. 
 
 Rhodesia 
 
 Two hundred and fifty miles up the coast is 
 Beira, the east ocean port for all Rhodesia. It 
 is already a city of several thousand people. Here 
 are European whites, Indians, Chinese, and great 
 numbers of natives. For several years I have 
 hoped that the way would be open to send a man 
 to this point. We must occupy it. It is the 
 ocean key to all our work in East Africa, but I 
 have not had the money, although the work could 
 be made self-supporting after the first or second 
 year. 
 
 Two hundred miles by rail brings us to the 
 mountainous table-lands of eastern Rhodesia, with 
 Umtali for the first center of European popula¬ 
 tion, in the midst of a vast gold-bearing and agri¬ 
 cultural section. As a result of correspondence 
 
and many interviews with representatives of the 
 British South Africa Company in Rhodesia and 
 England and many a wearying journey relating 
 to property titles and other necessary matters, 
 and also representation to the Church at home, 
 securing money and workers, I was permitted, 
 with my heart overflowing with gratitude to God, 
 November 16, 1901, to organize the East Central 
 Africa Mission Conference at Umtali. It was a 
 great event for that part of the continent. It 
 was the founding of a new spiritual empire, an¬ 
 other section of our world-wide Methodism. There 
 were present eighteen picked white men and 
 women from America. The acquisition of property 
 had been remarkable. The chief single gift was 
 thirteen thousand acres of land with buildings 
 worth seventy thousand dollars in a beautiful 
 valley ten miles from the town and railroad, 
 where we are developing a great industrial native 
 station, and where already good progress has been 
 made in the mastery of languages, in the develop¬ 
 ment of a farm and mechanical shops, and gather¬ 
 ing herds of stock, opening schools, and doing 
 evangelical work among the neighboring native 
 towns. 
 
 In the village of Umtali our native work is 
 having remarkable progress. We already have 
 one self-supporting church where the people sup¬ 
 port their preacher and teacher, and lands have 
 been secured in several towns in the vicinity 
 where, in a few months, we will have other 
 churches filled with interested and anxious wor¬ 
 shipers. The present force on the field can or¬ 
 ganize these churches, but I must have one or 
 two more good missionaries to take charge of 
 this enlarging work and to teach native helpers 
 and to prepare them as quickly as possible for 
 
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permanent service. In the Umtali native church 
 over sixty have been converted during 1902. 
 
 In this center we have our first development 
 among the European and African white people 
 of the continent. These are made up of people 
 connected with railroads, government officials, 
 and tliose engaged in commerce, mining, and agri¬ 
 culture. ]\Iost of these have emigrated from 
 Europe and other countries, but a good percent¬ 
 age are Africanders, born and reared in Cape 
 Colony or other sections of Africa. Within a few 
 miles are gold-mining centers, so that altogether 
 in that section there are now, perhaps, fifteen 
 hundred white people, and their number will in-„ 
 crease rapidly now that the war is over, and great 
 plans are being inaugurated for the development 
 of South Africa. 
 
 Among these people we have a self-supporting 
 academy. We secured a property that cost thirty- 
 one thousand dollars for half that sum. The 
 government gave five thousand dollars and loaned 
 us the balance at five per cent interest until we 
 could raise it. We have a hundred pupils and 
 five depai’tments. Kindergarten, Music, Primary, 
 Intermediate, and High School. We have four 
 teachers. The government also pays one half the 
 salaries of the teachers and one half the expenses 
 of equipping the schools. The tuition pays the 
 other half, so that we have this splendid property, 
 and this flourishing school without the use of 
 a dollar of missionary money. Here, as the popu¬ 
 lation increases, will be our future college and 
 Christian training school. We have also organized 
 the St. Andrew’s Methodist Episcopal Church, our 
 first church for European and African white 
 people on the continent. The corner-stone of a 
 ten-thousand-dollar church has been laid. Three 
 
 14 
 
quarters of the expense of this church was pro¬ 
 vided for on the ground. This East Central Africa 
 Mission Conference includes all our work on the 
 East Coast, and is certainly a phenomenal be¬ 
 ginning in so brief a time, where in 1897 we had 
 nothing but the little start at Inhambane. Our 
 property, not counting the thirteen thousand acres 
 of land, the value of which is sure to be great in 
 the near future, is worth over one hundred thou¬ 
 sand dollars. Where has there been a more provi¬ 
 dential or remarkable development in a single 
 mission field in our time? 
 
 Great Centers Yet Untouched 
 
 And now stand with me for a moment on the 
 summit of a mountain five thousand feet above 
 the sea in the midst of our large industrial mis¬ 
 sion estate, and contemplate the open doors north, 
 south, east, and west where there are great cen¬ 
 ters of black populations as yet untouched with 
 the Gospel of Christ. Concessions of land are 
 offered, the native chiefs are calling for “ book 
 religion,” and the governments are friendly. It 
 is the opportune time. Especially as I look north¬ 
 ward, and know that as the result of consultations 
 with government officials, all of whom are 
 friendly to Christian missions, a large concession 
 of land can be secured near the very heart of the 
 continent, near by or through which will pass the 
 railway which, in a few years, will connect with 
 the road from Cairo at Khartoum, 0, how my 
 heart longs to secure that great central location! 
 I know that my years in Africa will be too few 
 to develop it, but it will remain as a heritage of 
 faith and possibilities to my successor and his 
 associates! 
 
 15 
 
In 1896 I started to Africa scarcely knowing 
 whither I went. The first tour of exploration and 
 study required over fifty-five thousand miles of 
 travel, some of it under the most difficult condi¬ 
 tions as to climate, sickness, and modes of trans¬ 
 portation. Subsequent tours have enabled me to 
 organize the work, to understand its needs, to 
 realize the heroism of our missionaries on the 
 field, and to know how great the need for large 
 reinforcements. More than this, the map of the 
 continent of Africa, with its systems of rivers 
 and lakes, its mountains, its plateaus, its devel¬ 
 oping cities, its great commercial enterprises, its 
 mining and agricultural possibilities, its steam¬ 
 ship lines belting its coasts over and over again, 
 its governments facing vast responsibilities, and 
 its multiplying millions of natives with the in¬ 
 finite pathos of their moral condition — all this 
 has been burned into my very soul, and if I 
 could have a thousand tongues and each of them 
 could be inspired with the faith of the prophets 
 of old, all should be dedicated to pleading for 
 that continent. 
 
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