HE WAS an African. Everybody feared him. He had murdered his white employer and his wife and had fled back among the savage people from whence he had come. He was a chief by birth and became a chief in reality. The white men, called the Boers, had been unkind to him and he went back among his own people to take vengeance on them.
And he did. He shot and killed anybody that crossed his path. He was a wild, cruel savage and none tried to capture him or kill him. So feared was he that the government of South Africa had offered five hundred dollars to anyone who would capture this outlaw chief, dead or alive.
And someone did try and someone did succeed in capturing him. His captor was Robert Moffatt. He had been a Scotch lad who had gone as the first missionary to South Africa. Robert Moffatt was a brave Christian and when he said he was going to Africaner’s village the women wept and the men begged him not to go. They said he would never return. But Robert Moffatt had a love for souls; he went, and he captured Africaner. How did he catch him? He caught him by love. He went without any soldiers, or guns or swords. He went to Africaner’s home and told him about God’s love. Africaner learned to love Robert Moffat and built him a grass hut near his own, and the savage chief became like a little child, gentle and trustful. Africaner had known about the gospel before and had been baptized, but he had turned from it all back into savage life.
Those who come to Christ and find Him as their Saviour, want to be like Him. He gives them a new life and a new nature that delights in pleasing Him. Robert Moffatt won Africaner to Christ and he never disappointed his friend. During the missionary’s sickness, when he was alone, it was Africaner who nursed him, furnished him with food and found him the best of milk. When Moffatt found it necessary to move to another part of the country, Africaner followed him there and built his house.
One day Robert Moffatt told the chief he was going to Capetown and asked him to go with him. Africaner was surprised and alarmed. He had been a thief, a murderer, an outlaw; a price was upon his head, and if he appeared among white men they would kill him. But he went. The story of their journey reads like a fairy tale. People had given Robert Moffatt up as dead, and one man said that Africaner had murdered him. But here was Moffatt himself alive and well, and wonder of wonders, Africaner, now a Christian, with him! One man whose uncle had been killed by this same savage chief, looked him closely in the face and said: “Yes, it is he. Oh, God, what cannot Thy grace do! What a miracle!”
When he reached the city of Cape-town, Africaner created a sensation. Everybody wanted to see him. The governor sent for him and the money that had been offered for his capture was spent in buying him gifts and presents. He was now a new man in Christ Jesus and everybody marveled at what they saw of the grace of God in him.
The last thing Africaner did was to help Dr. Moffatt move to his new home, and he, himself, prepared to settle beside his dear friend and teacher. However, before he could move God called him, and in his own old kraal he peacefully fell asleep in Jesus.
ML-12/20/1964