WE purpose giving our readers, monthly, a page or two of information respecting the great work of distributing the Word of God to mankind. The Bible Society has kindly given us permission to use its papers on the subject, and we trust that our readers will be stirred up, not only to pray God for His blessing on this great and glorious service, but also to contribute at least a little to the work. Freely have we in England received the Word of God, freely let us give it to the heathen or to the people of the world who have never heard so much as one of its sentences!
Abyssinia
Here the door has been at length opened for the distribution of the Scriptures. Thus does Mikael Nagasch, of the Swedish Evangelical National Society, write: “I hear that you will be pleased to learn something of Abyssinia. I travel about with my brethren. Some of the people receive us well and listen to the word of the gospel; others avoid us and will not listen. In the district of Anseha we are generally received well.
“Early one morning we went from Zasega to Addi Hannes, and found many gathered together; among them were two priests; we sat down with them. Afterwards I rose and said to the priests, ' Read some of God's Word to us, or else permit me to read to you.' But they were unwilling. One of the people said to them, ‘Why do you not read to us, or allow this man to read to us, for we wish to hear?' One of the priests answered, ‘We do not read.' Then I took leave to stand up, and read to the people the fifth chapter of St. Matthew's gospel, and they listened with pleasure.
“There are good people in Addi Hennes who gladly hear God's Word. Never before had they understood why Jesus Christ came upon earth, and why He suffered and died; but now much inquiry has begun among them. This is the case also in several other towns. Many become distressed about their sins when they hear it. They beg us frequently to pray for them. Therefore, dear father and brothers, remember us very earnestly, that we may read the Word courageously in the power of the Spirit. Yes, that we may be faithful in working for Jesus. May He Himself be with us, both you and us.
“In Dake Doschen they receive us well. At first they were afraid of us, not knowing what our books might. contain; but when they heard the Word read, they took courage and said, People tell us you make no account of the Virgin Mary or the angels. You have done well to come. We hated you on a mere report. Come again, for we wish to hear.'
“I have also visited the district of Sahuti and some of its villages. In all these are individuals who hear us; but in Addi Goadad we have much joy. There I met a tribeman, who took me to his house. It was about half-past three o'clock when I went out to the village place of assembly, and after the people had come together I read to them St. John 3. The afternoon was glorious, and until evening fell we read the Bible to the people. Then we returned to the house, had prayers with the owner, and went to rest. Next morning at eight o'clock the people assembled again to hear the Scriptures read, and listened with great attention. They begged us to build a church for them. I answered that would be indeed a good thing for them, but a better would be, that their hearts should become temples of Jesus.
“They begged me to return, and we parted in peace. Thus, by degrees, all shall become well by God's help and power. Many are the difficulties; famine and suffering are rife. The locusts are a heavy affliction, but we still have hope.
“Farewell. Jesus be with us all."
Dahomey
Ashantee and its eastern neighbor, Dahomey, are two native military States in West-Central Africa. Both are Pagan kingdoms. They keep up the barbarous customs of bygone ages. Aggressive wars, the seizure of entire-populations, wholesale slave-dealing, and the slaughter of large numbers of captives as human sacrifices at their "burial customs," have given the two kingdoms an unenviable notoriety as amongst the blackest spots in darkest Africa.
The power of Dahomey remains intact, its habits unchanged; it is daring, reckless, cruel as ever, fighting, slaving, slaughtering human victims as of old. True, at. Porto Novo, it has suffered reverses at the hands of the: French, but it is still untamed, and attacks its neighbors, right and left, to secure human victims for sacrifice.
Ashantee has now the entire Bible in the vernacular: and what is so well-adapted to mitigate and eventually abolish its savage warfare and cruel rites as the revelation of the God of pity and mercy?
It is proposed to give the like boon to Dahomey, and considerable progress has been already made in this direction.
Close to Dahomey is Porto Novo, with its some forty thousand inhabitants. The Wesleyan missionaries have been at work for more than thirty years, all the while much embarrassed through the lack of a Bible in the vernacular. The native minister in charge of the mission, himself a Popo, Thomas James Marshall, having no English college nearer than Lagos, resolved to set to work to reduce the language to writing, and, with the aid of his co-laborers, to form a translation committee to turn the Scriptures into the Popo tongue.
In 1890 the Epistles were in hand, and he was able to write, “It is delightful to see the Popo Bible, portion by portion, starting into being, and to hear from Mr. Marshall that it is read with facility and grateful gladness by the Christians of Porto Novo."
The difficulty of expressing religious ideas in this language is not so great as might be imagined. Their paganism has made the natives familiar with such ideas as the supreme Deity, Mediators, prayer, sacrifice, confession of sin, penance, the spirit world, etc.
Christianity has taken root in Porto Novo, and from this base, it is hoped, Dahomey proper may be reached.
The success of this mission, as far back as twenty-five years ago, aroused the opposition of the idol-priests and the hostility of the government. The Christians were seized, dragged before the authorities, and charged, to fasten some infringement of the unwritten law upon them, with “wearing boots and using umbrellas," This usurping the prerogative of chiefs. They had, unfortunately, in their esteem for the white man, carried their imitation of his habits a little too far.
For this crime they were banished from their country; and, much as they felt their exile, they bore it, year after year, rather than harbor the thought of giving up the religion they loved. “We think of going back," said one, one day; “let them cut off our heads, for we can't bear this banishment any longer." With the Scriptures in their hands, in their own tongue, they will furnish suitable agents to invade Dahomey and win its peoples from their slave-raiding and human sacrifice.