110 
UTILITY OF MISSIONARIES. 
12 Aprii, 
ing filthiness, to a decent cleanliness ; from a wild, irregular life, 
to order and social rules ; from uninstructed stupidity, to a know- 
ledge and practice of morality and the useful arts of civilised man ; 
in fine, from a gross ignorance of the Supreme Being, to a due sense 
of the superintending goodness of the Great Creator of the universe. 
When missionary labors produce effects such as these, every well- 
wisher of mankind will view them with respect. Such, at least, are 
the professed objects of this institution ; and if some instances are to 
be found, which show that they have not in every case been at- 
tained, and that seed sown on a sterile soil has been unproductive, 
we are not on that account to shut our eyes against the many 
proofs of the utility of such an establishment as Genadendal. Every 
one acquainted with human nature, will be ready to acknowledge, that 
many difficulties must be overcome in the course of such an attempt. 
To inculcate the necessity of honest industry, as a chief moral 
duty, is in effect cutting off the root of, at least, half the miseries of 
the Hottentot race, and tends to make these people a more valuable 
part of the population of the colony. Their general quiet and harm- 
less character gives them a superior claim to encouragement, and 
renders them friendly to the existing government. By persuading or 
compelling them to the observance of the precepts of morality, and 
by drawing them under the influence of religion, their vices, which 
commonly are not of the most atrocious kind, may be repressed pro- 
bably with less difficulty than would be met with in many other un- 
civilised nations. But such a desirable end is not to be accomplished 
by the ignorant enthusiast : it is the man of genuine morality and 
humble piety who, gifted by nature with the talents of a teacher, 
improved by education, and warmed by the spirit of pure philan- 
thropy, seeks not to gratify his vanity by public approbation, but 
considers it a sufficient reward for his persevering labors, to behold 
the temporal and religious improvement of those whom, with affec- 
tionate humanity, he has taken under his care and guidance. A 
solicitude for the welfare of our fellow-creatures, can proceed 
Irom nought but the best feelings of the heart; and it is this 
which constitutes the essence of a true missionary : but a blind 
