LIBERIAN MISSION
Letter from Rev. John Day
Under date of April 2, Brother Day of Monrovia writes in the
following cheerful strain:
Our missionary affairs assume a better aspect. Out-
preachers are going out into the native towns, and seem more
interested in their work. Those in this county complain of
difficulty of access. The natives sometimes say they want no God
palaver, but I urge them to persevere. Brother Harden is gaining a
footing among them, I ask him to catechise the children, women
and men wherever he goes, and to preach if he cannot get more
than a half dozen to hear. I have never found it difficult to preach
to natives. Though a missionary should learn to read men, address
himself to any class. I have been where they would run from a
man in clothes, and in two hours preached to more than a hundred.
It is easy to get a child attached, the mother then comes around,
and soon the father, and then a crowd. In coming up from Junk the
other day, the boys stopped at a country town to cook their food.
In fifteen minutes a little fellow was pointing at me, and acting so
socially, that one of the boys thought it too disrespectful, and rose
to box him. I told him no, it was my delight to have him pleased.
The natives feel an oppressing sense of inferiority. The missionary
must remove that feeling, not lowering his dignity, but by a
dignified kind of expression and friendly address. I preached last
Saturday and Sunday to the Junk Church, and administered the
Lord’s supper. They appeared to be in a very interesting state, as
are all of the churches in this country at this time. And, indeed, all
of the 862 Baptists here have never in this country been in a better
state than now. If a correct judgment can be formed, from present
indications glorious results may be expected this year. I received a
letter from Sierra Leone a few days ago, informing me that the
church had received a letter from a Baptist Church in England,
promising to intercede with the Baptist mission in their behalf.
Mr. Goodman was with me in Sierra Leone, and knew what I went
for. But he is an Englishman, and his sympathies are with the
English, and no doubt he was the cause of that letter being sent. I
wish you would take up that church and establish a mission there,
as they prefer being under your patronage. Many of them are from
America, and prefer being under the patronage of Southern men,
because they know them best.