Now I think I had better not write much more about Africa and its children lest I tire you. There are many other interesting things one would like to tell you but I am afraid this book is already quite long enough. In India and in China and in other lands I am sure it is harder than it is in Africa to win the people for Christ. Yet there are many hindrances too in the black man’s way.

If all Africa is to be Christ’s, then Mohammedanism in the north must be overcome, and must be prevented from creeping down southwards. It is already well over the equator, especially on the east coast, and, if left unhindered, will spread right onwards. But the Church of Christ at home must see that this does not happen, and Christians must put forth all their strength in the cause of their Lord and Master. And you children too have your part to play, a part which is told you in this little hymn of which I have copied two verses:—

Another enemy of Christ in Africa is the native’s belief in the customs and superstitions of their forefathers. The old people cling to these, and tell the children that the Gospel is only white men’s stories. They die hard these old superstitions, but they are slowly and surely disappearing before the light of God’s message. To obey Christ means that a great deal of the old life must be given up and put away altogether; and it is here that the struggle begins. Temptations to drift back into the old way of living beset the African Christian on all sides. They come from without and from within, and only the word of God planted in his heart can keep him from falling.

Polygamy is one of the great obstacles in his path. I wonder if you know what that big word means. In words it means that the men may marry many wives, but in reality it means that the women and children are living in conditions that give them but little chance of rising out of the darkness by which they are surrounded. I remember how much surprised I was when told that a certain little girl, who had been at a village school but who was now withdrawn, was married. She was not really married of course, only “bespoken” as it were, by a big bearded man, who already had more than one wife. The girl had therefore been taken from school and was lost to Mission influence. In Africa the girls have but little of the happy girlhood known in England, for they step from childhood right into womanhood.

There is another enemy of Christ in Africa that I do not care to write to you about, because it comes from our own race, but it would not be fair to make no mention of it whatever. The force of example goes a long long way in Africa, and often does a great deal more than words. It is what you do rather than what you say that first attracts the heathen. Now if a careless white man forgets this and like the prodigal son in the far-off country gives himself up to the evil ways of living, he is doing a great deal of harm to Christ’s Kingdom in Africa, and is putting a serious stumbling block in the way of the poor black people. If such white men would but remember that they come from a Christian land and behave towards their ignorant black neighbours as Christian gentlemen this enemy of the Gospel would soon be laid low.

Let me now tell you a little how missionary work among the heathen Africans is carried on. In different missions the work is carried on in different ways, but the end is always the same—that the Gospel be preached to the heathen.

Many of the missions divide their work into four parts. One is called Evangelistic—that is the part of the work in which the Gospel is preached to the people. Another is called Medical because doctors and nurses join in the mission work to heal the sick and help the helpless. Another part is Educational—the teaching of the people in school, so that they may be able to read the Word of God. The last part is called Industrial, for in it the African Christians are taught trades to show them that work is not for slaves only, and to make them useful members of the community.

Of course in every mission you may not find all those four departments of work. Some missions are mainly Evangelistic, others Industrial, but in all large missions in Africa you generally find the four. In the evangelistic work the missionary, fresh from home, is at a great disadvantage till he has mastered the native language. Then this difficulty over, he finds the way open to the black man’s heart. Experience however is showing us more and more that it is not the white man who will evangelise Africa, but the African, and the work of the white missionary is more and more being reduced to the training of the native evangelists who will carry the message of love to the people.

Hospital, School, and Industrial work have, in Africa, been practically forced upon the missionaries. The native of Africa sick is most helpless, and the native of Africa well is most indifferent to sickness in others. Hence the constant ministration to his own sick folks by white doctors and nurses fills him with astonishment, and causes him to think why this should be done. It is a magnificent object lesson to the native of the practice in our lives of the Gospel of Christ.

One of the best gifts that can be given to any race of people is the gift of the Bible in their own tongue. But to prevent the Bible being a sealed book to them, the people must first be taught how to read. So the missionary must turn school-master and teach his people their letters. Here, then, is the beginning of educational work and it is found a great help to the evangelistic. For in school, reading is not the only subject taught. The children learn, as they never otherwise could, the story of Jesus. And the teacher is naturally the evangelist. So preaching and teaching in Africa go hand in hand.

Then there is work such as the African is not accustomed to. He is by no means lazy, as is so often said by ill-informed people; but he has to be taught that work is not for inferiors only. Hence all kinds of useful trades are taught in large missions. The Africans make very good carpenters, gardeners, bricklayers, and printers. In fact, they pick up readily such trades as are taught them. Of course, at their present stage of development, they cannot be compared with white workman, and should never so be compared, but they do exceedingly well so far as they are able.

In thus educating and training their people the missions are endeavouring to make their converts Christians, who can read their Bibles, and who will prove themselves to be useful and industrious members of the community in which they live.