MONROVIA - AFRICA
Letter from Rev. John Day
MONROVIA, Oct. 15th, 1857
Rev. A. M. Poindexter:
Very Dear Sir — I wish very much to have a talk with the
Board before I die. I have striven to have more preaching done
among the heathen than is done, and more might be done. I fear
the Board in view of the little direct missionary work done here,
and the bright prospect presented by the interior mission, will so
curtail contributions to this mission as, in effect, to ruin it. I wish
to show that we are doing a direct missionary work, as
indispensable and as important to the cause of God in Africa, as
any others. In Mr. Schaffs lectures, on the Political Social and
Religious Character of America, 50th page, he says, "a sudden
emancipation, without previous education, of the slaves, would be
rather an injury than a benefit to them." If that sentiment is
correct, even in the blaze of surrounding light, what must be their
condition and prospects in this land of night. My friend Dr. -
says, I am too desponding. Did my friend see as I do, the strong
tendency to heathenism, of many poor ignorant creatures sent here,
he would say, sustain the Liberian mission at all hazards, until light
is more generally diffused, and a moral renovation is wrought
among the people. It will be indirect missionary work among the
heathen; for in their constant intercourse, light must be diffused.
Boastful as many of the Liberians are, high sounding as her praises
are, in her bosom the missionary is as much needed as in the
darkest heathen land.
Dear Brother Poindexter, I need a library for our school;
how can I get it? Will the Board send
1 copy of Kitto's Cyclopaedia.
2 " Robinson's Biblical Researches.
2 " Schaffs Church History.
2 " Lexicon of the New Testament (Robinson's).
6 Copies of Anthen's Lessons.
1 " " Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.
Please send good school histories, maps, a good globe,
mathematical instruments, (a small box,) church polity, &c.