generally. } 1765 1 4
—— ——
20 77
The Dutch took possession of the Cape of Good Hope in 1650. Slaves from
various parts of Africa, Mozambique, and the Malay Islands were
introduced; we have no means of knowing to what extent. Somerville found
the city of Cape Town to contain 1145 houses, 5500 white and free people
of colour, and 10,000 slaves. In all of the years 1736–1792, and 1818,
the Moravians established 27 missionaries to the blacks. But they, nor
no other people, have ever been able to produce any considerable effect
there, or elsewhere, upon the natives, except upon such as were in
slavery among a Christian people. The sound of the gospel had no charms
for the wild, roving savage.
But, as reported in the Christian Observer, vol. xiv. page 830, Campbell
says—“In the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, considerable efforts have
been made of late, particularly by Sir John Cradock, aided by the zeal
of the colonial chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Jones, to diffuse the blessings
of Christian instruction, not only among the slaves, but among all
classes. * * * Several of the negroes read the New Testament tolerably
well, and repeat questions from Walls’s Catechism: on the Lord’s day
they were well-dressed, and attended church.” But, page 829, same vol.:
“At Cape Town, Mohammedanism is much on the increase. The free
Mohammedans are strenuous in their efforts to make proselytes among the
slaves,” &c.
We have endeavoured to show that the providences of God towards the
African races in slavery to Christian nations, tend to their deliverance
from idolatry, and to their restoration to an acceptable worship of the
true God. And may we not inquire whether the introduction to this
worship was not foretold by the prophets? “Thus saith the Lord, The
labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of
stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall
come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall
down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying,
_Surely_, God is in thee; and _there_ is none else, there _is_ no God”
_beside_. Isa. xlv. 14.
“From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants, even the daughters
of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.”
“I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people,
and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.” _Zeph._ iii. 10, 12.
The progress of the Christian religion among the slaves of the United
States is known to the world, and needs no mention here. No such
accounts have ever come from the African tribes at any period of time.
These indications of the providence of God seem to show that he smiles
upon the institution of African slavery in all Christian lands, and
“that its tendencies are to elevate the black man, and make him more
intelligent and happy than he would be in his own land, and that it has
a benevolent bearing on the welfare of the slave in this world and the
world to come.”
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