CHAPTER XIV

Summary

We have now partially traversed the different portions of southern Africa, in which our missionaries have laboured with varied successes, among the Kafirs, Bushmen, Namaquas, and Griquas. In our perambulations, our hearts have been alternately the seat of sorrow and of joy. We have mingled our sympathies with those who were called to bear the heat and the burden of the day. We have heard them lamenting that they had laboured in vain, and spent their strength for nought; and we have seen them weeping over immortal souls, who, after having been brought within sight of the haven of eternal rest, despising the day of their visitation, have perished. We have united in our ascriptions of praise to the Author of all good with those who, though they went forth weeping and praying with painful solicitude, have been privileged to come again, bringing their sheaves with them. We have entered the kraal of the filthy and lazy Hottentot, and have witnessed the transforming influence in effecting a change in his character and state, which neither the might nor the policy of an empire could achieve. We have known beings of so low a grade, that at one time it was seriously questioned whether they belonged to the human family, but aroused by the voice of love, and drawn by the attractions of the Cross, we have seen them rising from the abyss of degradation, entering into the holy of holies to hold communion with their God, and then in communion with their fellow Christians we have heard them say, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God.”