MONROVIA - AFRICA
Letter from Rev. John Day
Monrovia, Liberia,
August 10, 1857
Rev. James B. Taylor:
Very Dear Sir — I am pleased to say that my health is better
at this time than it has been since the middle of January last. I
went to Sierra Leone, and preached constantly while there; but was
pale, languid, and emaciated. Since returning I have been twice, to
human view, at the verge of the grave. And, although I have
preached a good deal, and laboured in other respects, my state was
very doubtful. Now I enjoy my food and feel symptoms of
returning health.
I send a bill for an appropriation to this mission; and have
requested allowance to be made for three interior stations: one in
Sinou county, one in Bassa county, and one in this county. The
necessity of the work which we have been doing, must be obvious
to you, although perhaps condemned by many. You, and every
reflecting brother, acquainted with the facts, must see the necessity
of a respectable church in the settlements, before much can be
done in the surrounding interior. To establish such has been our
object, while we did what we could for the poor heathen. It has
been the object of every missionary operating in this field. God
has enabled us to accomplish this work, to some extent. Now we
can go out. In Sierra Leone, where the missionary work has been
abundantly blessed, they have gone on just as we have. The
Wesleyans had a mission in Free Town. The Episcopalians had a
mission there; and there they laboured, until the many thousands of
recaptives were civilized and christianized, and their influence was
felt by surrounding tribes, who, by their intercourse with the
colonists, were almost Christians before the missionaries had time
to turn attention to them.
Our people speak of this Republic as a missionary colony;
as if the soul crushed semi-barbarians, who, in many instances, by
misguided benevolence, are sent here, had light to diffuse. No, my
dear brother, they as much need a missionary as the heathen.
