EXTRACT OF A LETTER
FROM BROTHER DAY
From a letter dated October 20, 1847, from brother Day,
we leam that he and his coworkers in the mission, are prosecuting
their labors with encouraging prospect of success. We extract the
following passage: —
Your prospect of doing a great work is good. The natives
are constantly soliciting teachers and preachers, and the effect of
preaching is being obviously felt. The benefit is great even now.
A few years ago, when a great man among them died, many slaves
were killed and sent, in their imagination, among with him to serve
him in another world. Now, such a thing is unknown around us.
The Witch Doctor, who a few years ago, was consulted on various
occasions, and whose impostures entailed great misery on this
people, by pointing out witches, who were, after their trial,
subjected to the most appalling cruelties, is now becoming
unpopular — and the king who calls them in is likely to lose his
subjects. The Bassas do not rebel, or do violence to the person of
their rulers, but still may, if they choose, leave them.
The preached gospel is bringing shame on all their gree-
grees, and many of them are heard speaking of God in a way
astonishing, in view if their few advantages. They are soliciting
also for instruction in agriculture, and promise to quit the slave
trade if they can raise exportable articles from the earth. What a
blessing would this be! War, with its unhallowed train, would be
banished from the land. The sword and the spear might be
wrought into pruning hooks, their animosities buried, and they
setting under the peaceful banner of the cross.
Southern Baptist Missionary Journal
March 1848
p. 231-232
