The Karen apostle: or, memoir of Ko Thah-byu, the first Karen convert, with notices concerning his nation / by Francis Mason.

  • Francis Mason
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Karen apostle: or, memoir of Ko Thah-byu, the first Karen convert, with notices concerning his nation / by Francis Mason. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    4S the exception of a single visit of two or three days from Mr. Boarclman, of his labors alone, the writer penned his impressions in the following language : “ I cry no longer, the horrors of heathenism ! but, 1 the blessings of missions I date no longer from a heathen land. Heathenism has fled these banks. I eat the rice, and yams, and fruit, cultivated by Christian hands; look on the fields of Christians, and see no dwellings, but those inhabited by Chris- tian families. I am seated in the midst of a Chris- tian village, surrounded by a people that love as Christians, converse as Christians, act like Chris- tians, and look like Christians. If it be worth a voyage across the Atlantic to see the Shenandoah run through the Blue Ridge, surely a voyage around the globe would be amply repaid by a sabbath spent in this valley.”* The succeeding rains, of 1832, he spent preach- ing and teaching school at Thalu, the Christian settlement west of the mountains ; and at their * Since writing the above, I have seen the History of American Missions, and learned for the first time, that this description “ has been censured as more glowing than true.” The only persons able to censure understanding]}', are those, who have followed me over the same ground ; and on subjecting it to their criticism, I am authorized to say, that the only objectionable word is land, in the clause, “ I date no longer from a heathen land.” “ Land,” it was remarked “ is too extensive in its application ; some word like xtation would be better.” The criticism is just, but more was never intended by the word than the land on which I was located. Were I describing the results of my own labors, the pen would at once be drawn through the whole passage ; but it has reference solely to the labors of those that pre-