MISSIONS OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Africa — Rev.
С.
C. Hoffman, under date of August 19,
1858, writes:
And we have been blessed , by our covenant-keeping God.
I have been enabled to have daily morning and evening prayer;
surrounded by all the natives, we sang, we read the Word, and
expounded it to them, and then knelt in prayer. Attentive,
thoughtful, devout, were the groups who surrounded us on the
deck.
Daily Conversation and Instruction. I had daily
conversation with these Kroomen. There was one among them
whom I had baptized some months ago at Cape Palmas, (James
Hogan,) who was steadfast in the truth. There was another who
had said to me on land — “when I cut my rice 1 want to be
baptized.” Now he had embarked with me; I had much
conversation with him; be still desired to join God’s people, and
with him another, both brothers of native Christians who live in
our Christian village at Hoffman station.
Two Kroomen Baptized — The Creed, the Lord’s Prayer,
and the Ten Commandments, were daily subjects of explanation;
they were, and had been, in the habit of prayer; they repented of
sin; they believed in God’s Son who died for them; they puiposed
leading a life in obedience to God’s laws. — What did hinder them
to be baptized? I saw nothing — but rejoiced that God had blessed
the seed we had sown on land, and granted that we should reap it
on the sea. On the Sabbath morning, therefore, they stood before
me on the deck, candidates for Holy Baptism.
The Blessed Work Goes On — Others Baptized — But as
God’s work progressed, I found others much interested. I have sat
on the hatchway for hours, instructing those who wanted
instruction, hearing of their simple faith, their hearty desires, their
steady purposes. Ah! I thought, God is surely pouring out of His
Spirit on this people, blessing us here, as you in Christian lands;
cheering us with tokens of His favor, assurances that we labor not
in vain, and that His word returns not to Him void.
Two other men presented themselves, and expressed an
anxiety for baptism; with them I conversed. I found them praying
men, serious, and humble-minded. I explained to them the way of