Robert Moffat by David J. Deane

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The _Norseman_ reached Plymouth on the 24th of July, and next day Robert
and Mary Moffat landed at Southampton, thus returning to their native
land, to leave it no more, after an absence of over fifty years; during
which time they had visited it only once before.

On the 1st of August he was welcomed by the Society, at an influential
meeting, convened for the purpose, in the Board Room of the Mission
House, in Blomfield Street. At that meeting, alluding to his previous
visit in 1839, and to the printing of the New Testament in Sechwana, he
stated as follows:--

"When I came to the Cape, previous to my first visit, I brought a
translation of the New Testament, which I had translated under
considerable difficulties, being engaged a portion of the day in roofing
an immense church, and the remainder in exegetical examinations and
consulting concordances. I was anxious to get it printed, and I brought
it down to the Cape, but there I could find no printing-office that
would undertake it. The Committee of the Bible Society very kindly--as
they have always been to me, I say it with pleasure--forwarded paper and
ink to the Cape expecting I should get the work done there. As I said,
there was not a printing-office that would undertake it. Dining with Sir
George Napier, the Governor, I informed him of the difficulty. He said,
'Jump on board a ship with your translation and get it printed in
England, and you will be back again while they are thinking about it
here. Print a New Testament among a set of Dutch printers! why I can't
even get my proclamations printed.' I said, 'I have become too
barbarous; I have almost forgotten my own language; I should be
frightened to go there.' 'Oh stuff!' he said.

"Some time after he met me in the street: 'Well, Moffat, what have you
determined upon?' 'I am waiting the return of Dr. Philip.' 'Don't wait
for anybody; just jump on board a ship. Think of the importance of
getting the New Testament put in print in a new language!' He invited me
to dinner again and said, 'Have you come to a conclusion? I wish I could
give you mine. I feel some interest in the extension of the knowledge of
the Word of God. Take nobody's advice, but jump on board a ship for
England.' He spoke so seriously that I began to feel serious myself.

[Illustration: MARY MOFFAT.]

"Dr. Philip came, and when the Governor explained the circumstances, the
Doctor said, 'Go, by all means.' I was nervous at the thought. I was not
a nervous man in Africa. I could sleep and hear the lions roar. There
seemed so many great folks to meet with. I came to England and by-and-by
I got over it."

On the Wednesday, following this meeting, he was entertained at a public
breakfast at the Cannon Street Hotel.

For a few weeks the Moffats dwelt at Canonbury, though Robert himself
was so much engaged in visiting different parts of the country,
Edinburgh included, where he met with many old friends, that he was not
suffered at this time to dwell for long in any one place.

The winter was spent at Brixton, and on the 21st of December, L1000 was
presented to Robert Moffat as a birthday gift, a most cheering tribute
of esteem to a tried and faithful servant of Jesus Christ.

The effects of this act of kindness had not passed away when a heavy
cloud hung over the happy home at Brixton. She, who for more than
half-a-century had been the loving helpmeet of the African missionary,
sharing his joys and sorrows, his hopes and discouragements, and many of
his privations and perils, lay dying. A troublesome cough, a difficulty
of breathing, a few long deep breaths, and she was gone, without even a
word of farewell; called home to receive the "Well done, good and
faithful servant," and to enter into the joy of her Lord. Her last words
were a prayer for her husband, that strength might be given him to bear
the blow.

Robert Moffat indeed needed strength in this hour of affliction. His
first exclamation on finding that she had really gone was, "For
fifty-three years I have had her to pray for me," and writing to his old
friend and fellow-labourer, Roger Edwards, who was then at Port
Elizabeth, he said, "How lonely I feel, and if it were not for Jeanie
(his daughter) it would be much more so."

The events of the next few years may be briefly summarised. He travelled
much to different parts of the country, visiting High Leigh, the old
house at Dukinfield, and Carronshore. His services were continually in
requisition for missionary meetings, and doubtless many of our readers
will be old enough to remember the bronzed face, with its full flowing
beard, blanched by age, the keen eyes, and the venerable form of Robert
Moffat at this time, and to call to mind the pleasure they derived as
they listened to his glowing descriptions of the needs of Africa.

The winter of 1871 was passed at Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, and
occupied in revising proof sheets of the Old Testament in Sechwana.
While there he was, by Her Majesty's own desire, introduced to the
Queen, whom he had never seen before. He also received the degree of
Doctor of Divinity, from the University of Edinburgh.

To meet the need for training a native ministry, which had been felt by
Moffat and others engaged in the work of the Bechwana Mission, and which
had shortly before his return been pressed upon the attention of the
Directors, several thousand pounds were subscribed, and, as a way of
doing honour to the veteran who was now in their midst, it was proposed
to call the Institute that was to be founded, "The Moffat Institute."
This now stands as a centre of influence amidst the tribes surrounding
the Kuruman station.

In 1873, a number of friends, who thought that the liberal contributions
which had been subscribed to the Institute, hardly gave such a direct
proof of their esteem for their venerated friend as could be desired,
presented Robert Moffat with a sum of upwards of L5000. This liberality
provided for his wants during the remainder of his life, enabled him to
serve the Directors and the cause of missions, without being any longer
a burden upon the funds of the Society, and also placed him in a
position to meet the wants of his widowed daughter and her fatherless
family.

While living at Brixton, Robert Moffat attended the ministry of the late
Rev. Baldwin Brown, in whose mission-work in Lambeth he was much
interested. On his eightieth birthday, 21st December, 1875, he opened
the new Mission Hall in connection with this work, which hall was
thenceforward called by his name. On the same day he received many
congratulatory tokens, among them being an address signed by a great
number of Congregational ministers from every part of the country. Prior
to this in the same year, he had lectured upon Missions in Westminster
Abbey, and in the preceding year he had performed the melancholy duty of
identifying the remains of his son-in-law, Dr. Livingstone, upon their
being brought home from Africa.

Engagements and constant requests for his services made great inroads
upon his time. "People either could not or would not see that he was
getting old," he frequently said; but people knew that as long as he had
strength to speak, he would not grow weary of addressing audiences on
missionary work.

In 1876, we find him dining on one occasion with the Archbishop of
Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, and on another breakfasting with Mr.
Gladstone, in the house of the Rev. Newman Hall. In the following year
by invitation of the French Missionary Society he visited Paris, and
while there addressed a meeting of 4000 Sunday-school children.

On the 20th of December, 1878, he received the freedom of the City of
London, and somewhat over two years later was the guest of the then Lord
Mayor, Alderman, now Sir William, McArthur, for several days, a banquet
being given in his honour.

During the time that Cetewayo was in England Robert Moffat was much
interested in him and paid him a visit. Among the Zulu king's attendants
was a man who could speak Sechwana, and with him Moffat at once got into
conversation. The man's delight was unbounded. He had been in the train
of a son of Moselekatse, and had heard of the missionary. "A u Moshete?"
(Are you Moffat) he asked again and again, with beaming eyes exclaiming
when convinced of the fact, "I see this day what my eyes never expected
to behold, Moshete!"

For the last four years of his life Robert Moffat resided at Park
Cottage, Leigh, near Tunbridge, where he was the tenant of the late
Samuel Morley, Esq. From both Mr. and Mrs. Morley he received much
kindness, which continued until the day of his death.

The end now drew near. In 1883, he complained of great weariness and
intermittent pulsation. This troubled him so constantly that advice was
sought. For a short time this availed. He attended the Bible Society's
meeting in the second week in May, and the meeting of the London
Missionary Society on the 10th, and in July paid a visit to Knockholt,
where he met Mr. and Mrs. George Sturge. From this visit he returned
seeming better, but in a few days unfavourable symptoms again showed
themselves. Yet the strong frame, that had endured so much, seemed loath
to give in, and, whenever able, he was in and out of his garden. He also
took two drives, Mrs. Morley very kindly sending her carriage for that
purpose when he felt able to make use of it.

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man
is peace." Most beautifully was this truth exemplified in the closing
scenes of the life of this truly noble and good man. On Sunday, 5th
August, he was too weak to attend chapel, and spent a peaceful Sabbath
at home. He was very fond of hymns and would often repeat one after
another. In the evening he chose several which were sung, though
feebleness prevented him from joining the singing. Among those chosen
were: "The sands of time are sinking," "Come, Thou fount of every
blessing," "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds," and "Nearer, my God, to
Thee." His New Testament was his constant companion during these last
days, and whatever the topic of conversation, it always turned with him
to heaven and the Saviour.

On Monday he seemed somewhat better, but on Tuesday night he was much
worse. Hours of pain and sleeplessness were passed, yet he rose on
Wednesday and went out several times to the garden. In the evening he
became very ill and had a fainting fit, but managed after awhile to get
upstairs, and, after remaining on the bedside for some time, propped up
with pillows, he undressed, with little assistance and much
deliberation, winding up his watch, with a cold, trembling hand,--"for
the last time," he said.

The doctor arrived shortly afterwards, who found that he had broken a
blood-vessel. The night was passed partly in peaceful sleep, and partly
in converse with his children who were then present. His daughter says,
"He was just full of his Saviour's love and mercy all through his life;
he repeated many hymns and passages of Scripture."

On Thursday morning he was visited by Mr. Morley and two other friends,
with whom he conversed. He also had his Testament, but finding he could
not read it, his daughters read to him. He repeated many hymns, among
them the Scotch version of the hundred and third Psalm, but stopped and
said, "There is nothing like the original," which was then read from the
Bible. His mother's favourite hymn, "Hail, sovereign Light," was also by
his special desire read to him.

Another sleep--a wandering, perhaps unconscious, look at his children, a
struggle, and then a quietness? and the pilgrimage was over, the spirit
had fled to be present with the Lord whom he had loved so well and
served so faithfully. "His end was peace."

He died on the 10th of August, 1883, in his eighty-eighth year.

The funeral took place a few days later at Norwood Cemetery, when,
surrounded by such relatives as were in England, Sir Bartle Frere, Mr.
Samuel Morley and several other Members of Parliament, deputations from
the various Missionary and several Religious Societies, and by the Mayor
of Bloemfontein, his remains were consigned to the tomb.

Never had a truer hero been borne to the grave, nor one more thoroughly
worthy of the name of MAN.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XI.

CONCLUSION.

As soon as it was realised that Robert Moffat had actually gone, it was
felt that a truly great man had departed from among us. A niche in the
temple of earth's true nobility seemed empty. The prevailing feeling was
given expression to by some of the leading journals, which in eulogistic
articles commented upon the life, work, and character of him who had
gone.

_The Times_, in its review, contained the following remarks:--"His chief
work was among the Bechwanas. His picture of what they were when he
first knew them would hardly now be recognised, so entirely have they
changed under the new influences which Moffat was the first to bring to
bear upon them. He found them mere savages, constantly at war among
themselves and with their neighbours, ignorant of the arts of
agriculture, and in the utterly degraded state for which we must seek a
counterpart now in the more distant tribes, whom the message of
civilisation has not yet reached. His first care was to make himself
thoroughly master of the language of those to whom he was sent. For
fifty years he has declared he had been accustomed to speak the
Bechwana tongue; he reduced it to written characters, and translated the
Scriptures into it. The Bechwanas, under Moffat's guidance, became new
men. Mission work grew and spread among them; what Moffat had begun to
do was taken up by other hands; a permanent body of native pastors was
created from among the Bechwanas themselves, and the whole region was
raised out of the savage state in which Moffat had found it, and became,
in no small degree, civilised as well as Christianised.... It would
seem, indeed, that it is only by the agency of such men as Moffat and
his like that the contact of the white and black races can be anything
but a curse to the blacks. It is the missionary alone who seeks nothing
for himself. He has chosen an unselfish life. If honour comes to him, it
is by no choice of his own, but as the unsought tribute which others, as
it were, force upon him. Robert Moffat has died in the fullness both of
years and honours. His work has been to lay the foundations of the
Church in the central regions of South Africa. As far as his influence
and that of his coadjutors and successors has extended, it has brought
with it unmixed good. His name will be remembered while the South
African Church endures, and his example will remain with us as a
stimulus to others, and as an abiding proof of what a Christian
missionary can be and can do."

The _Brighton Daily News_ commenced its article by saying:--"The grave
has just closed over one of the most notable men whose figures are
familiar to the inhabitants of Brighton. Robert Moffat, the veteran
pioneer in the mission field, and the simplest of heroes, has passed
away, and many of the noblest of the land followed his remains to their
resting-place." It concluded with, "In the drawing-rooms of fashionable
Brighton, crowded with the lovers of art and science, no one grudged the
cessation of music the most classical, or of conversation the most
charming, to listen to the venerable Doctor when requested to repeat
some incidents of his missionary life. All felt that the scene was
hallowed by the presence of one who had done a work for the good of men,
such as few have been privileged to accomplish. Robert Moffat belonged
to no sect or party. To better the world and advance the one Church
formed the sole end of his being."

Other journals and magazines bore like testimony to his worth.

Of his work we have said much in the preceding pages, and also something
of its results. To this may be added Robert Moffat's own account of some
of the benefits which sprung from the prosecution of missionary
enterprise in South Africa. In his speech at Port Elizabeth, on finally
leaving for England, in May, 1870, referring to the general progress
made in the interior, he said:--

"Christianity has already accomplished much in this long benighted land.
When I first went to the Kuruman scarcely an individual could go beyond.
Now they travel in safety to the Zambesi. Then we were strangers, and
they could not comprehend us. They treated us with great indignity, and
considered us to be the outcasts of society, who, being driven from our
own race, went to reside with them; but bearing in remembrance what our
Saviour had to undergo, we were encouraged to persevere, and much
success has rewarded our efforts. Now it is safe to traverse any part of
the country, and traders travel far beyond Kuruman without the slightest
fear of molestation. Formerly men of one tribe could not travel through
another's territory, and wars were frequent. During my early mission
life, I often heard of men of one tribe going to trade with another, and
being murdered. I was at a native place when a thing of that sort once
occurred. A party of men had come two hundred miles to dispose of some
articles. The resident natives, taking a dislike to them, set upon them
and killed two of their number. I asked them why they had done this, and
tried to show them it was wrong. They seemed to know that; and from that
time I have never heard of anything of the sort.

"The influence of Christianity in that country is now very great, and
constantly increasing. Where one station was scarcely tolerated, there
are now several. The Moravians have their missionaries. The Berlin
Society have theirs, and others are engaged in the good work, besides
numerous native Gospel teachers. Our advanced station at the Matabele is
in a very prosperous state, and I quite expect that the Matabele will
become one day a great nation. They sternly obey their own laws, and I
have noticed that when men of fixed principles become convinced of the
great truths of Christianity they hold firmly to the faith, and their
fidelity is not lightly to be shaken."

In the same speech he also mentioned the fact that whereas at first the
natives would not buy anything, not even a pocket handkerchief, now,
when he was speaking, no less than sixty thousand pounds worth of
British manufactures passed yearly into the hands of the native tribes
around Kuruman.

Thus the missionary prepared the way for the merchant, and the Gospel
for the progress of civilisation.

Of Moffat's character we have had frequent glimpses in the preceding
pages; of his personal appearance and dignified mien our portrait and
pictures give some idea. A few words may, however, be added, based upon
the facts recorded by his son in the last chapter of "Robert and Mary
Moffat."

Tall and strong, with dark piercing eyes, he stood, a man of dauntless
courage, quick and energetic in action, with a resolution in the
performance of duty that no opposition could thwart; yet, withal, of
gentle manner, and of an even temper, proof against the many attacks
made upon it. His disposition was to think well of men, and to believe
what they said. Deceit he hated, it was the one thing he could not
forgive. He trusted men implicitly; and this probably accounted for the
fact that the Bechwanas, who carried the art of lying to perfection,
seldom lied to him. They knew it was the one thing that would make him
angry.

His reverence for holy things was very great. He relished a joke as well
as any man, indeed, there was a good deal of humour in him; but woe to
that man who spoke jestingly of the things pertaining to God. The Word
of the Lord was too real and too important for any triviality. God was
ever present to him, and he lived for God. His son says: "Even when I
was alone with him, on some of his itinerating journeys, no meal was
commenced without a reverent doffing of the Scotch bonnet, his usual
head-dress in those days, and the solemn blessing; and our morning and
evening worship was never missed or hurried."

An instance of his forbearance under provocation is afforded in the
following:--

"On our return from England in 1843," says the writer just quoted, "we
were a large party, with three or four waggons. One night we outspanned
in the dark, not knowing that we were on forbidden ground--within the
limits of a farm, but a half-mile short of the homestead. In the early
morning a young man rode up, and demanded to know what we were doing
there without leave. My father gently explained that we had done it in
ignorance, but his explanation was cut short by a harangue loud and
long. The stripling sat on his horse, my father stood before him with
bowed head and folded arms, whilst a torrent of abuse poured over him,
with a plentiful mixture of such terse and biting missiles of invective
as greatly enrich the South African Dutch language. We stood around and
remembered that only a few months before the man thus rated like a dog
was standing before enthusiastic thousands in England, who hung with
bated breath upon his utterances. Something of shame must have arrested
the wrath of the young man, for he suddenly rode away without impounding
our cattle, as he had threatened to do. We inspanned and proceeded,
calling on our way at the house, and there we found ourselves received
by a venerable white-haired farmer and his wife with open arms, for they
and my parents proved to be old friends. Right glad were we that nothing
had been done on our side to make us ashamed to meet them."

In his home he was a true father, and the influence that surrounded his
children must have been a happy one, seeing that so many of them
embraced the missionary calling, and followed in the footsteps of their
venerated parents. Mary, the eldest daughter, married Dr. Livingstone;
Ann, the French missionary, Jean Fredoux; Bessie, a younger daughter,
was united to the Rev. Roger Price; and a son, the Rev. John Moffat,
became for a time his father's coadjutor at the Kuruman station.

In bringing this memoir to a conclusion, we may be permitted to glance
at South Africa as it is at the present time, and to note some of the
contrasts between its condition now, and that as stated in our opening
chapter, prior to Robert Moffat's arrival.

At the time when he first landed at Cape Town, the work of evangelising
the heathen was confined principally to two Societies--the Moravian
Mission and the London Missionary Society. Now the Societies exceed
twelve in number, and represent the following nationalities: English,
American, French, Swiss, Norwegian, and the people of Finland.

First, in order of date, may be noticed the work of the Moravian
Brethren, which is chiefly carried on among the Hottentots and Kafirs.
Their chief station is Genadendal, eighty miles east of Cape Town, which
has several smaller stations grouped around it. Besides these, still
farther east, among the Kafir tribes, is the station of Shiloh, also
having a number of out-stations gathered round it.

The London Missionary Society follows with its eleven principal stations
and nine out-stations. This Society is now labouring in South Africa, in
Kafirland, Bechwanaland and Matabeleland. The Report for 1886 shows
sixteen English missionaries and sixty-five native preachers as engaged
in preaching and teaching, and as results, 1361 Church members. These
returns are however incomplete, and very much has occurred, through the
numerous wars and unsettled state of the country, to retard the progress
of missionary work.

Next comes the Wesleyan Missionary Society, who, commencing operations
at Cape Town in 1814, extended their stations round the coast from
Little Namaqualand to Zululand. They are also labouring among the
Barolongs in the Orange Free State, in Swaziland, and at the Gold
Fields at Barberton, in the Transvaal.

The Scotch Presbyterians are represented by the missions of the Free
Church of Scotland, and the United Presbyterian Church. These confine
their labours principally to British Kaffraria and Kafirland. The Free
Church has a high-class Institution at Lovedale for the training of a
native ministry and also for teaching the natives many of the useful
arts, and an improved system of agriculture. There is an efficient staff
of teachers, and in 1885, 380 pupils attended the Institution, of whom
seventy-one were Church members and ninety-one candidates or inquirers.
A similar institution has also been established among the Fingoes at
Blythswood in Fingoland.

More than fifty years ago, at the suggestion of Dr. Philip, the Rhenish
Mission commenced work among the Hottentots of Cape Colony, but its
operations extended, and now embrace Little and Great Namaqualand, south
and north of the Orange River, and, away beyond, the territory known as
Damaraland. Their stations are in a flourishing condition, and some
15,000 converts bear evidence to the success of their efforts. This
Society also looks after the preparation of native teachers, &c., and
has an excellent institution for that purpose at Worcester, near Cape
Town, its principal station.

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