iv.] MISSIONARY FAIL UIIES. 1 5 7 



hindrance to the work: — " Such a variety of Christian sects 

 have followed the footsteps of the London Missionary 

 Society's successful career, that converts of one denomina- 

 tion, if left to their own resources, are eagerly adopted by 

 another; and are thus more likely to become spoiled than 

 trained to the manly Christian virtues 1 ." 



He further states: — 

 "Another element of weakness in this part of the 

 missionary field is the fact of the Missionary Societies con- 

 sidering the Cape Colony itself as a proper sphere for their 

 peculiar operations. In addition to a well-organised and 

 efficient Dutch Reformed Established Church, and schools 

 for secular instruction, maintained by Government, in every 

 village of any extent in the colony, we have a number of 

 other sects, as the Wesleyans, Episcopalians, Moravians, 

 all piously labouring at the same good work. Now, it is 

 deeply to be regretted that so much honest zeal should 

 be so lavishly expended in a district wherein there is so 

 little scope for success. When we hear an agent of one 

 sect urging his friends at home to aid him quickly to occupy 

 some unimportant nook, because, if it is not speedily laid 

 hold of, he will ' not have room for the sole of his foot,' one 

 cannot help longing that bothheandhis friends would direct 

 their noble aspirations to the millions of untaught heathen 

 in the regions beyond, and no longer continue to convert 

 the extremity of the continent into, as it were, a dam of 

 benevolence 2 ." 



The work of evangelization is generally a gradual one 

 in influencing race. The case of New Zealand is an excep- 

 tion to this rule. Some tribes do not at first receive the 

 Gospel at all ; and with all others temporary failures arise 

 from various causes, although the work goes on rapidly in 

 some cases. Many Africans have the same feelings towards 

 missionaries, which our poor often have towards the clergy 

 1 Travels, pp. 115 — 166. 2 Ibid. p. 116. 



