304 
MISSIONARY LIFE 
ministry. If the church in Africa is to have that 
rapid and efiectual growth which God intends, if 
the tribes far and near are to be brought to the 
saving knowledge of God, it can only be done by 
educating native youths for the work. They must 
be trained in our own institutions, and made ac- 
quainted with our church-polity and doctrine. 
The United Brethren in Christ must educate their 
own ministers and teachers. In the past and at 
the present we may be pardoned for employ- 
ing men from other societies. But it seems to 
me that the future standing of this mission can 
be better secured in the training of its own 
teachers, instead of going to other sources to 
look for help. The principles and government 
of our church would lead us to look to America 
as the only foreign country where we would wish 
to have our youth educated. But it must be seen 
that a plan to educate all our ministers and teach- 
ers in that far-off land is not only impracticable, 
but would little tend to bring about the desired- 
result. 
I call upon pastors, superintendents, and Sab- 
bath-schools all to lend a hand to the many poor 
but promising young men of the land. May the 
Father of good inspire our hearts to engage more 
earnestly in this holy service of love, sacrifice, 
and devotion. Daniel F. Wilberforce. 
Freetown, West Africa, September 25, 1880. 
