CONCLUSION.
As soon as it was realised that Robert Moffat had actually gone, it was
felt that a truly great man had departed from among us. A niche in the
temple of earth's true nobility seemed empty. The prevailing feeling was
given expression to by some of the leading journals, which in eulogistic
articles commented upon the life, work, and character of him who had
gone.
_The Times_, in its review, contained the following remarks:--"His chief
work was among the Bechwanas. His picture of what they were when he
first knew them would hardly now be recognised, so entirely have they
changed under the new influences which Moffat was the first to bring to
bear upon them. He found them mere savages, constantly at war among
themselves and with their neighbours, ignorant of the arts of
agriculture, and in the utterly degraded state for which we must seek a
counterpart now in the more distant tribes, whom the message of
civilisation has not yet reached. His first care was to make himself
thoroughly master of the language of those to whom he was sent. For
fifty years he has declared he had been accustomed to speak the
Bechwana tongue; he reduced it to written characters, and translated the
Scriptures into it. The Bechwanas, under Moffat's guidance, became new
men. Mission work grew and spread among them; what Moffat had begun to
do was taken up by other hands; a permanent body of native pastors was
created from among the Bechwanas themselves, and the whole region was
raised out of the savage state in which Moffat had found it, and became,
in no small degree, civilised as well as Christianised.... It would
seem, indeed, that it is only by the agency of such men as Moffat and
his like that the contact of the white and black races can be anything
but a curse to the blacks. It is the missionary alone who seeks nothing
for himself. He has chosen an unselfish life. If honour comes to him, it
is by no choice of his own, but as the unsought tribute which others, as
it were, force upon him. Robert Moffat has died in the fullness both of
years and honours. His work has been to lay the foundations of the
Church in the central regions of South Africa. As far as his influence
and that of his coadjutors and successors has extended, it has brought
with it unmixed good. His name will be remembered while the South
African Church endures, and his example will remain with us as a
stimulus to others, and as an abiding proof of what a Christian
missionary can be and can do."
The _Brighton Daily News_ commenced its article by saying:--"The grave
has just closed over one of the most notable men whose figures are
familiar to the inhabitants of Brighton. Robert Moffat, the veteran
pioneer in the mission field, and the simplest of heroes, has passed
away, and many of the noblest of the land followed his remains to their
resting-place." It concluded with, "In the drawing-rooms of fashionable
Brighton, crowded with the lovers of art and science, no one grudged the
cessation of music the most classical, or of conversation the most
charming, to listen to the venerable Doctor when requested to repeat
some incidents of his missionary life. All felt that the scene was
hallowed by the presence of one who had done a work for the good of men,
such as few have been privileged to accomplish. Robert Moffat belonged
to no sect or party. To better the world and advance the one Church
formed the sole end of his being."
Other journals and magazines bore like testimony to his worth.
Of his work we have said much in the preceding pages, and also something
of its results. To this may be added Robert Moffat's own account of some
of the benefits which sprung from the prosecution of missionary
enterprise in South Africa. In his speech at Port Elizabeth, on finally
leaving for England, in May, 1870, referring to the general progress
made in the interior, he said:--
"Christianity has already accomplished much in this long benighted land.
When I first went to the Kuruman scarcely an individual could go beyond.
Now they travel in safety to the Zambesi. Then we were strangers, and
they could not comprehend us. They treated us with great indignity, and
considered us to be the outcasts of society, who, being driven from our
own race, went to reside with them; but bearing in remembrance what our
Saviour had to undergo, we were encouraged to persevere, and much
success has rewarded our efforts. Now it is safe to traverse any part of
the country, and traders travel far beyond Kuruman without the slightest
fear of molestation. Formerly men of one tribe could not travel through
another's territory, and wars were frequent. During my early mission
life, I often heard of men of one tribe going to trade with another, and
being murdered. I was at a native place when a thing of that sort once
occurred. A party of men had come two hundred miles to dispose of some
articles. The resident natives, taking a dislike to them, set upon them
and killed two of their number. I asked them why they had done this, and
tried to show them it was wrong. They seemed to know that; and from that
time I have never heard of anything of the sort.
"The influence of Christianity in that country is now very great, and
constantly increasing. Where one station was scarcely tolerated, there
are now several. The Moravians have their missionaries. The Berlin
Society have theirs, and others are engaged in the good work, besides
numerous native Gospel teachers. Our advanced station at the Matabele is
in a very prosperous state, and I quite expect that the Matabele will
become one day a great nation. They sternly obey their own laws, and I
have noticed that when men of fixed principles become convinced of the
great truths of Christianity they hold firmly to the faith, and their
fidelity is not lightly to be shaken."
In the same speech he also mentioned the fact that whereas at first the
natives would not buy anything, not even a pocket handkerchief, now,
when he was speaking, no less than sixty thousand pounds worth of
British manufactures passed yearly into the hands of the native tribes
around Kuruman.
Thus the missionary prepared the way for the merchant, and the Gospel
for the progress of civilisation.
Of Moffat's character we have had frequent glimpses in the preceding
pages; of his personal appearance and dignified mien our portrait and
pictures give some idea. A few words may, however, be added, based upon
the facts recorded by his son in the last chapter of "Robert and Mary
Moffat."
Tall and strong, with dark piercing eyes, he stood, a man of dauntless
courage, quick and energetic in action, with a resolution in the
performance of duty that no opposition could thwart; yet, withal, of
gentle manner, and of an even temper, proof against the many attacks
made upon it. His disposition was to think well of men, and to believe
what they said. Deceit he hated, it was the one thing he could not
forgive. He trusted men implicitly; and this probably accounted for the
fact that the Bechwanas, who carried the art of lying to perfection,
seldom lied to him. They knew it was the one thing that would make him
angry.
His reverence for holy things was very great. He relished a joke as well
as any man, indeed, there was a good deal of humour in him; but woe to
that man who spoke jestingly of the things pertaining to God. The Word
of the Lord was too real and too important for any triviality. God was
ever present to him, and he lived for God. His son says: "Even when I
was alone with him, on some of his itinerating journeys, no meal was
commenced without a reverent doffing of the Scotch bonnet, his usual
head-dress in those days, and the solemn blessing; and our morning and
evening worship was never missed or hurried."
An instance of his forbearance under provocation is afforded in the
following:--
"On our return from England in 1843," says the writer just quoted, "we
were a large party, with three or four waggons. One night we outspanned
in the dark, not knowing that we were on forbidden ground--within the
limits of a farm, but a half-mile short of the homestead. In the early
morning a young man rode up, and demanded to know what we were doing
there without leave. My father gently explained that we had done it in
ignorance, but his explanation was cut short by a harangue loud and
long. The stripling sat on his horse, my father stood before him with
bowed head and folded arms, whilst a torrent of abuse poured over him,
with a plentiful mixture of such terse and biting missiles of invective
as greatly enrich the South African Dutch language. We stood around and
remembered that only a few months before the man thus rated like a dog
was standing before enthusiastic thousands in England, who hung with
bated breath upon his utterances. Something of shame must have arrested
the wrath of the young man, for he suddenly rode away without impounding
our cattle, as he had threatened to do. We inspanned and proceeded,
calling on our way at the house, and there we found ourselves received
by a venerable white-haired farmer and his wife with open arms, for they
and my parents proved to be old friends. Right glad were we that nothing
had been done on our side to make us ashamed to meet them."
In his home he was a true father, and the influence that surrounded his
children must have been a happy one, seeing that so many of them
embraced the missionary calling, and followed in the footsteps of their
venerated parents. Mary, the eldest daughter, married Dr. Livingstone;
Ann, the French missionary, Jean Frédoux; Bessie, a younger daughter,
was united to the Rev. Roger Price; and a son, the Rev. John Moffat,
became for a time his father's coadjutor at the Kuruman station.
In bringing this memoir to a conclusion, we may be permitted to glance
at South Africa as it is at the present time, and to note some of the
contrasts between its condition now, and that as stated in our opening
chapter, prior to Robert Moffat's arrival.
At the time when he first landed at Cape Town, the work of evangelising
the heathen was confined principally to two Societies--the Moravian
Mission and the London Missionary Society. Now the Societies exceed
twelve in number, and represent the following nationalities: English,
American, French, Swiss, Norwegian, and the people of Finland.
First, in order of date, may be noticed the work of the Moravian
Brethren, which is chiefly carried on among the Hottentots and Kafirs.
Their chief station is Genadendal, eighty miles east of Cape Town, which
has several smaller stations grouped around it. Besides these, still
farther east, among the Kafir tribes, is the station of Shiloh, also
having a number of out-stations gathered round it.
The London Missionary Society follows with its eleven principal stations
and nine out-stations. This Society is now labouring in South Africa, in
Kafirland, Bechwanaland and Matabeleland. The Report for 1886 shows
sixteen English missionaries and sixty-five native preachers as engaged
in preaching and teaching, and as results, 1361 Church members. These
returns are however incomplete, and very much has occurred, through the
numerous wars and unsettled state of the country, to retard the progress
of missionary work.
Next comes the Wesleyan Missionary Society, who, commencing operations
at Cape Town in 1814, extended their stations round the coast from
Little Namaqualand to Zululand. They are also labouring among the
Barolongs in the Orange Free State, in Swaziland, and at the Gold
Fields at Barberton, in the Transvaal.
The Scotch Presbyterians are represented by the missions of the Free
Church of Scotland, and the United Presbyterian Church. These confine
their labours principally to British Kaffraria and Kafirland. The Free
Church has a high-class Institution at Lovedale for the training of a
native ministry and also for teaching the natives many of the useful
arts, and an improved system of agriculture. There is an efficient staff
of teachers, and in 1885, 380 pupils attended the Institution, of whom
seventy-one were Church members and ninety-one candidates or inquirers.
A similar institution has also been established among the Fingoes at
Blythswood in Fingoland.
More than fifty years ago, at the suggestion of Dr. Philip, the Rhenish
Mission commenced work among the Hottentots of Cape Colony, but its
operations extended, and now embrace Little and Great Namaqualand, south
and north of the Orange River, and, away beyond, the territory known as
Damaraland. Their stations are in a flourishing condition, and some
15,000 converts bear evidence to the success of their efforts. This
Society also looks after the preparation of native teachers, &c., and
has an excellent institution for that purpose at Worcester, near Cape
Town, its principal station.
Still farther north, beyond Damaraland is Ovampoland, occupied by the
Missionary Society of Finland. Seven ordained Missionaries and three
Christian artisans were equipped and despatched to work in this region,
at the suggestion of the Rhenish Society. Their enterprise is of
comparatively recent date and results cannot yet be tabulated. The
influence for good exerted will, however, doubtless yield fruit
by-and-by.
The missions of the Berlin Society stretch from the eastern portion of
Cape Colony to the Transvaal, and embrace also the Orange Free State and
the Diamond Fields. They have over 7000 converts, and a large number of
children under instruction in various schools.
Basutoland, to the east of the Orange Free State, is cared for by the
French Evangelical Missionary Society, who commenced work in South
Africa in 1829. Their first missionaries were appointed to the
Bahurutse, then tributary to Moselekatse, but being repulsed through the
jealousy of that potentate they settled at Motito, and finally accepted
an invitation from Moshesh, chief of the Basutos, to work among that
people. The mission has fourteen principal stations and sixty-six
out-stations, with about 20,000 adherents, of whom about 3500 are Church
members.
In 1835 six missionaries, appointed by the American Board of Foreign
Missions, arrived from the United States to labour in South Africa.
Three proceeded to Natal and settled near Durban. The other three
journeyed to Moselekatse at Mosega. Their mission was however broken up
through the incursions of the Boers, and they were compelled to flee to
Natal. For some years the mission there was much harassed through war,
but it is now firmly established and is doing excellent work of a
religious and educational character, having a number of well-instructed
native pastors and teachers, besides the staff of European missionaries.
In 1886 the Board reports having in connection with this mission seven
stations and seventeen out-stations, and 886 Church members.
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel commenced its missions in
South Africa in 1838. Its work is divided between the Colonists and the
natives, and is carried on in Cape Colony and Natal; its dioceses
stretching round the coast much in the same manner as the Wesleyan
stations.
Besides those already mentioned, there are at work now in South Africa
the Norwegian Missionary Society, labouring in Natal and Zululand; the
Hermannsburg Mission, founded by Pastor Harms, whose operations are
carried on in Natal, Zululand, and the Transvaal; and the Swiss society,
The Mission of the Free Church of the Canton de Vaud, whose efforts are
directed to a tribe inhabiting a country between Delagoa Bay and
Sofala.[B]
[B]: [Many of the facts contained in this review of Mission work in South
Africa have been gleaned from "South Africa," by the Rev. James Sibree,
F.R.G.S.]
Thus the missionary cause has grown, notwithstanding the many
difficulties it has had to contend with, and now the sound of the Gospel
is heard throughout the land. From the southernmost part of what was the
"Dark Continent," but which is now termed by some the "Twilight
Continent," and which we trust may soon be blessed with the full light
of Christianity, there stretches away a series of mission stations right
to the Zambesi; and there joining hands with the system of Central
African missions the glad tidings of salvation are wafted onward to the
great lake, the Victoria Nyanza, in the north; eastward to the coast;
and, in the west, made known to thousands by means of the various
organisations now doing such excellent work on the Congo River.
In a central position, amidst the tribes of South Africa, Kuruman, the
scene of Robert Moffat's trials and triumphs, stands to-day, surrounded
by a number of native towns and villages, where native teachers, trained
in the Moffat Institute, are located, and native Churches have been
formed,--a beacon shedding its glorious rays around, dispelling the
darkness, and bringing the heathen to the knowledge of the Saviour,
Jesus Christ.
THE END.