ABSTRACT
A century has passed since the first missionaries began to preach the Gospel to the black man on the frontiers of the Cape Colony. A century has passed since the Bible accompanied those devout Christians, the Voortrekkers, on their great trek through Bantu territory, from the Cape to the Limpopo. Thus from the very beginning Bantu religion was assailed from two quarters. An ever-increasing stream of missionaries, all inspired by the same ideal of conquering for Christ the dark continent of Africa, poured into the country. They came from England, from France, from America, from Germany, and from other European countries to accomplish a twofold task in South Africa : to uproot heathen beliefs and customs and to replace these by Christian ideals and Christian life. In the first part of their task, their destruƸtive mission, they found both the voluntary and the involuntary support of many people. The early farmers, the gold miners, the diamond diggers, and, in faƸt, nearly every European in South Africa helped them in their campaign against heathen ways. But as regards the second part of their programme, their construƸtive mission, they found few hands ready to help them, and they had—until recent times—to rely almost entirely on their own initiative and their own resources.
