CHARLES LORAM

When the average missionary goes first among Natives he finds a way of living. So different from his own, that he is shocked. His natural reaction is to regard these manners and customs as entirely wrong and quite out of keeping with the ethical teaching of the New Testament. (At the same time, if he is honest with himself, he will find a good deal which is in keeping with the history and indeed the teachings of the Old Testament.) His instruction, therefore, like that of a bad teacher, tends to consist of negations. “Do not drink Kafir Beer at all.” “Do not smoke.” “Do not give or accept lobola cattle.” “Do not practise the Levirate (ukungena).” “Do not sacrifice to the spirits of your ancestors” and so on. The Native with his wonderful, and perhaps fatal, docility tractability acquiesces or attempts to acquiesce and we get the change of life or conversion so dear to us all. Old customs and old associations, however, die hard, and almost always the Christian command is directly contrary to Native custom. Then we get a situation not unknown to some of us---the beer drimking in secret, the Christian marriage with the scretlobola, the Christian teacher attending the “abakweta” dances at night, and the other signs of decadence which we call “The problem of the Older Mission Stations.” Certain drfinite stages in this decadence may make their appearance. The g first is the revolt against the authority of the European minister, the second is often the formation of a separatist sect. I do not pretend that the opposition of Christian teaching to Native custom think that the formation of a sect known as “The Christian Catholic Church in conformity with Native Custom” is symptomatic of much more than a desire to make the most of both worlds. Modern psychology in dealing with ethical training in our schools tells us that there are one or two instincts which we need to be eradicated straight away, if indeed you can eradicate them, a good few that need to be fostered and developed as they are, and a great number which need to be moulded or changed to meet the new way of life before modern man. The fact that these instincts have survived is the proof that they have, or until quite recently had, a definite value. They are the raw material out of which characters are made. To throw or attempt to throw them aside is bad pedagogy. Further, it is not wise to break down a habit until we have something else to put in its place. Dr. Aggrey, in his picturesque way, used to say that in ethics, as in algebra, the best method of elimination was by substitution. I am not surprised that the devil camr back with his seven companions, for you will remember that not only was the room swept and garnished, but it was empty. The idle hands are always waiting for some one to find them work to do.