AFRICAN MISSION
In obedience to the will of the Convention, distinctly
expressed at its last meeting, the Board have been diligently
employed in seeking suitable men to bear the tidings of salvation
to the benighted tribes of Africa. They have been deeply affected
by a survey of the spiritual wants and woes of this long neglected
portion of our earth. Their chief difficulty has arisen from the
want of suitable persons who might be employed as missionaries.
It is becoming a settled conviction with those who are familiar
with the history of Africa, that our chief reliance, for her
evangelization, must be upon colored men, — and these are to be
selected from the south. The reasons need not here be stated.
Such, however, we have found it almost impossible to secure.
After much inquiry the Board determined to seek their laborers for
the present from the Liberian colony. They accordingly appointed
bro. John Day, who for several years had been in the employ of the
Boston Board, to labor among the Bassa tribes, - and brother A. L.
Jones, a young and talented minister residing at Cape Palmas, to be
engaged within the limits of the Maryland colony. It was
considered a favorable indication of Providence, that such men
could be secured, but the Board were required to suffer a painful
reverse in this, their first effort to bless the tribes of Africa. Before
the notice of our appointment had reached the coast, Mr. Jones had
been called to mingle in higher and happier employments in the
world above. His loss will be painfully felt, and to human view it
might seem that it could not be easily repaired, but God seeth not
as man seeth. He can raise up other and better instruments, even
by means of this afflictive bereavement. The Lord reigneth, let his
people still trust and rejoice in him.
The Board are satisfied that they have been favored in
securing the services of bro. Day. He has been for many years
connected with the colony, and enjoys the confidence and esteem
of all who know him, as a man of discretion and piety.
Communications have been received informing us that he
commenced his labors with the beginning of the present year. As
the Rev. Mr. Clark, of the Boston Board, is also laboring among
the Bassa people, an arrangement has been made by Mr. Day to
divide the field between them. The following reference to this
subject is selected from one of his letters: -
“I received yours of July last, a few days before the arrival
of the ‘Maddona,’ and had written a reply to it, and sent the letter
