I Have Elsewhere {493} Attempted To Show
That The Drink-Traffic Is By No Means The Most Important Factor In
The mission failure on the West Coast, but that it has been used in
an unjustifiable way by the missionary
Party, because they know the
cry against alcohol is at present a popular one in England, and it
has also the advantage of making the subscribers at home regard the
African as an innocent creature who is led away by bad white men,
and therefore still more interesting and more worthy, and in more
need of subscriptions than ever. I should rather like to see the
African lady or gentleman who could be "led away" - all the leading
away I have seen on the Coast has been the other way about.
I do not say every missionary on the West Coast who makes untrue
statements on this subject is an original liar; he is usually only
following his leaders and repeating their observations without going
into the evidence around him; and the missionary public in England
and Scotland are largely to blame for their perpetual thirst for
thrilling details of the amount of Baptisms and Experiences among
the people they pay other people to risk their lives to convert, or
for thrilling details of the difficulties these said emissaries have
to contend with. As for the general public who swallow the
statements, I think they are prone, from the evidence of the evils
they see round them directly arising from drink, to accept as true -
without bothering themselves with calm investigation - statements of
a like effect regarding other people.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 647 of 705
Words from 178703 to 178971
of 194943
