Wilmington daily commercial., 1876-11-09
Chrlauian m1ssions i'm West Africa

Christian MIssiOms i'm West Africa |
1t is now nearly four hundred years since |
thesfirs attempt was made to introduce |
Christianity into the Western portion of
Africa. The summary of Christian mis-
eions on this coast may be given in few
words The Roman Catholics came first.
In 1881 the King of Portugal sent ten ships
with 500 soldiers, 100 laborers, and proper
complement ofspriests as missionaries to
Elmira. The Romish MISSIONS thus founded
fingered on for period or 241 years, till at
last, in 1928, that of the Gapuchins at Sierra
Leone was given up, and they disappeared
altogether from West Africa. They had
made no impression, except upon immediate
dependent;Ns and what impressions they
made on them was soon totally obliterated.
Protestant missionary attempts We're com
menced by the Moravians in 1876, 140
years ago, and continued till ITO. Five
attempts cost eleven lives without visible
results The Wesleyans followed next In
the minutes of the conference OF 1892 we
frst find Africa on the list of the Wesleyan
missionary stations, Sierra Leone being
| the part occupied. In the minutes for 1895
we find the names of A. Murdoch and w.
| Pytten set down as missionaries to TIE
Foulah country, in Africa, to which service
they were solemnly set apart by conference.
The Church Missionary Society sent out its
/
and attempted to maintain ten stations
among the aborigines, but they could make
| no progress owing to the hostility OF the ma
| tives, who preferred the slave-traders
| to them. The missionaries were forced to
take refuge in Sierra Leone, the only place
where at that time they could labor with
safety and hope. The Basle Missionary
Society ia ne of the most successful on tfe
coast, and their attention was directed to
| Western Africa as carly as 1926. But it was
not until 1928 that theirldrat company OF mis-
sionaries reached Ohristianborg, near Akra,
the place which the Moravians had attempt
ed to occupy more than thirty years previ-
ously. The United Presbyterian Synod OF
Scotland commenced a mission on the Old
Calabar River in the Gulf of Benin, in
April, 1886 Five denominations OF Amer
ican Christians-Baptists, Methodists, Epis
copalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans-are
represented on the coast-in Liberia, at
Lagos, the Island of Ooresco, and Gaboon.
The first American Mission was established
on the coast in 1922. Now, what has been
the outcome of these missionary opera.
tions The results thus far achieved are
in many respects highly interesting and I'M
portant. At the European settlements es-
tablished at various points along the coast
from Senegal to Loanda, and at the purely
I native stations occupied by the
Niger [nativel missionaries, the Scotch mis-
sionaries, and the American missionaries,
some thousands of natives, having been
; brought under the Immediate influence oil
Christian teaching, have professed Christi
anity, and, at the European settlements, have
adopted European dress and habits. Mum
erous churches have been organized an(
are under a native ministry, and thousands
of children are gathered into schools unde,
Christian teachers. -Frdzer's Magazine