Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

tablishing the new church as far as he was able. In 1868 Dr. Henry Chauncey Riley was requested by a delegate sent by the Mexican Church to go there and help them. He did so and was very successful in his labors. Owing to his long residence in South America and his familiarity with the Spanish language, he soon won the confidence and regard of his co-religionists. In 1871 Manuel Aguas, a very distinguished Dominican friar, joined with Dr. Riley, and they secured from the Mexican government a grant of the magnificent Church of St. Joseph and the chapel of the famous Church of San Francisco, both in the City of Mexico, and both of which had been sequestrated by the government. The Mexican Church, in 1874, sent a petition to the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, asking that the latter should take charge of the affairs of the Church, which was done. A commission of seven bishops was appointed to take the affairs of the Mexican Church in charge. This commission consisted of Bishops Whittingham, of Maryland; Lee, of Delaware; Bedell, of Ohio; Stevens, of Pennsylvania; Kerfoot, of Pittsburg; Coxe, of Western New York, and Littlejohn, of Long Island. These gentlemen assumed active control of its affairs and retained it until June, 1879, when Dr. Riley was consecrated Bishop of the Church in the city of Pittsburg, Pa. Bishop Riley took to his field of labor the princely fortune that was his by right of inheritance, and by the year 1884 had given to the Church above one hundred thousand dollars. The results of his faith were then richly apparent. Forty-nine churches were established upon a firm footing. Nine schools and two orphanages were in successful operation, numbering a roll of nearly five hundred children, and over one hundred thousand Bibles had been distributed through Mexico. Bishop Riley proved a strong social cement, and by his effort "The Children's Guardian Society" was instituted, which receives five hundred dollars per month from friends in the Mexican capital. This society numbers among its members leading Mexicans, representing the State, the press, and the army, and in the list are found the names of Manuel Gonzales and Porfirio Diaz.

CHAPTER VIII

THE PAGAN NATIONS.

African Tribes-The Fetich-The Ashantees -The Malagasy-Christianity on "The Dark Continent "-Religious Persecutions and Triumphs in Mada gascar.

AFRICAN TRIBES.

HE natives of Africa universally believe in a Supreme Being, and have some ideas of a future state. They address this being through an idol; the worship is called feticism, and the medium or temporary object of worship, a fetich. The negroes of Congo believe in a good and an evil principle which are both supposed to reside in the sky. The former sends rain, the latter withholds it; but they do not seem to consider either of them as possessing any influence over human affairs. After death they all take their place in the sky, and enjoy a happy existence, without any regard being paid to their good or bad actions while here below.

Kolloh is the name of a great spirit, who is supposed to reside in the vicinity of Yangroo, in Western Africa. He makes his abode in the woods, and is rarely seen except on mournful occasions, such as the death of the king or of some of their head men, or when a person has been buried without the usual ceremonies of dancing, drinking palm-wine, etc., in remembrance of their departed friends. The Kolloh is made of bamboo sticks in the form of an oval basket, about three

[ocr errors]

feet long, and so deep that it goes upon the man's shoulders. It is covered with a piece of net, and stuck all around the nose with porcupine quills. It has a frightful appearance, and has a great effect in exciting the terror of the inhabitants.

The fetiches of Whidah may be divided into three classes: the serpent, tall trees, and the sea. The serpent is the most celebrated, the others being subordinate to the power of this deity. This snake has a large, round head, beautiful piercing eyes, a short, pointed tongue, resembling a dart. Its pace is slow and solemn, except when it seizes on its prey, then very rapid; its tail sharp and short, its skin of an elegant smoothness, adorned with beautiful colors, upon a light gray ground. Rich offerings are made to this deity; priests and priestesses are appointed for its service, and it is invoked in extremely wet, dry, or barren seasons.

The people of Benin believe in an invisible deity, who created heaven and earth, and governs them with absolute power; but they conceive it needless to worship him, because he is always doing good without their services. They also believe in a malignant deity, to whom they sacrifice men and animals, to satiate his thirst of blood, and prevent him from doing them mischief. But they have innumerable objects of worship; as elephants' teeth, claws, bones, dead men's heads, or any trifle that chance throws in their way, to which they make a daily offering of a few boiled yams, mixed with palm oil. On great occasions they sacrifice a cock, treating the divinity with the blood only, and reserving the flesh for themselves. Persons of high rank give an annual feast to their gods, at which multitudes of cattle are offered to the idols and eaten by the people.

Picart has given a particular account of a ceremony of some tribes in Guinea, around a sacred tree, called the tree of the fetich. At the foot thereof, he says, they set a table, which is embellished below with boughs wreathed in the form of crowns. The table is covered with palm-wine, rice, millet, etc., in order to drink and eat after their service is over. The whole day is spent in dancing and capering round the tree of the fetich, and in singing and drumming upon divers in

AFRICAN TRIBES.

173

struments of brass. Their priest frequently sits near the centre of the place before a kind of altar, on which he offers up some sacrifices. Men, women, and children sit promiscuously round the celebrant, who reads or pronounces a kind of homily to them. At the conclusion, he takes a wisp of straw, twisted hard, which he dips into a pot full of some particular liquor, in which there is a serpent. He either besmears or sprinkles the children with this substance, repeating over them a certain form of words.

The religion of the Dahomans, like that of the neighboring kingdoms, consists of such a mass of ceremonies as can hardly be described. The objects of their devotion are the sun and moon, various animals and trees, and other substances. Of their amulets, or charms, the principal is a scrap of parchment, containing a sentence of the Koran, which the natives purchase from the Moors who visit the country, and which they hang up in their apartments, and decorate with a variety of rude images. Among the objects of their worship is a species of snake or serpent, called Daboa. They put it in a basket, and place it in the temple destined for it, where they pretend it lives upon air. The temple is served by priestesses, supported at the king's expense. Every year there is a festival in honor of this serpent, at which the grandees assist, and for which the king supplies the necessary articles. Great faith is placed in the serpent. The tiger is also held in veneration, and there is a temple dedicated to the devil, or bad demon.

The Ashantees are, perhaps, the most polished nation of negroes to be met with in Africa. They say that, at the beginning of the world, God created three black men and three white, with the same number of women, and placed before them a large box, or calabash, and a sealed paper. The black men had the privilege of choosing, and they took the box expecting it contained everything; but when they opened it they found only gold, iron, and other metals, of which they did not know the use. The white men opened the paper, which told them everything. This happened in Africa, where God left the black men in the bush. The white

men he conducted to the water-side, where he taught them to build a ship, which carried them to another country. From hence they returned, after a long period, with various merchandise, to trade with the black men, who might have been superior people if they had chosen right. The kings and governors are believed to dwell with God after death, enjoying to eternity the luxuries and state they possessed on earth. The paradise of the poor affords only a cessation from labor. There are two orders of men attached to the inferior deities. Every family has its domestic fetich, to which they offer yams, etc.; some of them are wooden figures, others are of fanciful forms and different materials. When the Ashantees drink they spill a little of the liquor on the ground, as an offering to the fetich; and when they rise from their chairs or stools their attendants hastily lay the seat on its side, to prevent the devil, or evil spirits, from slipping into their master's place.

THE MALAGASY.

It has long been thought that the Malagasy were a people favorably prepared by circumstances to receive Christianity, for they have usually been represented as being free from popular idols and religious observances, to any extent that would render them averse to the influences of a better religion than their own. But while the Malagasy believe in ody (charms), they have a conviction of the infallibility of the sikidy, or divination, by which the charm must be decided, and to this must also be added an undefined belief in some superior, though unknown power, whose will the diviner's art is about to make known. The art of the diviner is considered as certain in its result, though the premises from which that result issues are avowedly laid in chances. The Mohammedan is not more wedded to the doctrine of fate than the Malagasy to their "vintana"--a stern and unbending destiny. Though Madagascar has no visible objects of worship calculated to claim veneration and charm the senses to any great degree, and recognizes no order of priests,

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »