Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-01-31
tFrom the New York Herald
MUTUAL INFLUENCES OF CHRISTI.
GNTTY AND COMMERCE.. is

In no other age OF the world since
theapostolic days has the Church been
SO anxious and earnest In its endea-
vors to bring the blessings of Chris
tian civilization within the reach of
all men as at the present time. A
kind Of enthusiasm prevails in many
lands among Christians in this direc-
ton, and every year the idea is
gaining ground that nominallY Chris
tian countries should not be treated,
as they now are, as mission fields, but
that those who know not God nor
regard the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ - and the blessings which
always follow in the wake of this
knowledge shall be taught the way TO
secure and to enjoy the same. HeEce
missions among the heather are
being enlarged and multiplied and
the results justify the expenditure of
money and means therein. And az
those results are from time to time
spread before the Church in the
various religious papers of this country
and Europe the missionary contribu-
tions correspondingly increase. No
investment pays so well as this, either
in a religious or 9 commercial point
of view. r1 s5aa goo e15s -
Half century ago, when mission
enterprises were in their infancy,
India and China and Burmah and
the countries and Kingdoms adjacent
thereto, were the great points of
interest. There mainly the. Church
and missionary societies Of Europe
and America planted the banner of
the Cross and reared their schools and
churches and colleges and orphanages.
But now that the Christian religion
and the form of civilization which it
owns and fosters has obtained sure
foothold in Asia, and that regular
commercial relations have been estab-
lished between it and Christian lands,
the attention of the Church is directed
more especially toward Africa. This
terra incoQnitd has been compare
lively closed for ages to every form Of
civilization save such as could be
maintained along the coasts. But
even this, feeble as it may seem TO
many persons, has surrounded that
dark land as with q net work of
religious and commercial stations,
whose influence and laws are felt and
feared by thousands and millions of
savages adjoining within them. 1t is
said that the little republic of Liberia,
with a population of about six hun
dred souls, including savage and
civilized, really controls ten millions
of people. The British settlements in
Western and Southern Africa have
a similar, if not greater influence.
And how much soever the natives
may fight against an established and
independent community which builds
railroads and canals and ships and
locomotives and thrives and grows
great upon the products of the earth
where the aboriginals starved, or OBJ
tanned only meagre subsistence, the
latter must eventually come to per-
eeive and to understand what it is
that makes the difference and to
accept and adopt It. And thus reli-
gion and commerce are continually
acting and reacting, the one upon the
other, and are mutually blessing and
emo bling mankind. -5v r.
Less than generation ago the
English Church Missionary Society
established its agents in Abbeokuta,
West Africa, and six years later
cotton presses and gins were in full
blast, and Liverpool and London
were receiving and are yet receiving
annually thousands of bales of cotton
for British manufacture. About a
generation ago Liberia, too, became a
mission field and mart Of commerce,
and now England. America, Liverpool
and New York, carry on q traffic with
that country which amounts in value
to millions of dollars annually, And
so it is with the Cape and other
African colonies of Great Britain.
The influence of civilized men is
pressing itselfsO strongly and steadily
against the savages everywhere that
the latter are compelled to admire and
then embrace this civilization which
we denominate Christian a. if -
But the great drawback to the
spread of this religion and this eiyili-
zatiOn in Africa is the absence, or
supposed absence, Of communication
between the coast and the interior.
No river, no commerce; no railroad
or steamboat, and no water supply
can be obtained. This has been the
puzzle Of Christian governments and
religious associations for a quarter OF
a century at least, as one expedition
after another has been sent to explore
the dark land and to find out whereto
its rivers flow, or if i has any save
the Nile and the half dozen that have
long been known along its coasts.
Not in the interest OF commerce
merely have these expeditions been
undertaken, hut rather in that Of
religion and science. And while none
of them have furnished US with any
thing like complete or satisfactory
account of the whole or of any part of
the people or of the county tragersed I;
yet each has given new impetus
and inspired fresh hope in the breast
of every succeeding explorer, and the
contest Of religion. and science with
physical and physiological difficulties
and opponents is steadily kept up in
that land. And the result is becoming
more and more gratifying every year,
as each succeeding expedition reaches
some new point or reveals some new
fact. Captains Speke and Grant.
Baker end Burton, Du Chaillu and
DR.. Livingstone, the most intrepid
and persistent explorer of them all,
assure US that there are tribes in the
interior of Africa who enjoy a COM
paratively advanced degree of semi
civilization, and who carry on a system
of internal commerce among them
selves and occasionally, also, with
coast tribes. And the recently pub
lished correspondence from heHerGLd
expedition confirms in n measure
these statements, Those travellers
also tell US that there are rivers in the
interior, but so little is known of them
that they cannot be made available,
in the present imperfect state of our
knowledge, for any practical purposes.
Should the exploring parties succeed
in tracing the sources of the Nile to
the interior, as they suppose, and find
it navigable for any considerable dis
tanee, or should they find other and
perhaps more favorable outlets to the
ocean, q new future may be opened
up for Africa. 1t can hardly be the
design Of Providence to shut out this
land alone from the blessings which
the rest of the world enjoy more or
less. And the time must be near at
hand when its Inhabitants shall cast
aside their sheep skins and goat skins
and assume the garb and the manners
of civilized men, as other barbarians
are doing. While the Christian mis-
may lead the way the Chris
tian merchant will not be far behind,
and the toll and trouble Of the one
and the dollars or pounds of the other
will be repaid hundredf0ld by and