God’s Battle Axe Series – Mary Slessor

We are honouring a Princess of the Kingdom of God in this edition of the magazine. The older generation of Christians and secular people are acquainted with the exploits of Mary Slessor in the West Coast of Africa. She was a rare gem and a gift to the body of Christ. Beyond all doubts, Mary deserves a preeminent place among the great missionaries to Africa. Her impact on the lives of the natives was profound and she was adored by many of them. When she died,  a native said, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Ma was a great blessing to Africa”. An author, J. H. Morrison wrote of her, “To heathen Africa she gave a new conception of womanhood, and to the world at large an imperishable example of Christian devotion”.

Mary was born on December 2, 1848 in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, the second of a family of seven children. Her father was a drunkard who made life miserable for his entire family. On the other hand, her mother was a beautiful Christian woman who raised her children in the fear of God. And yet those more rugged traits which made her a great missionary in Africa, Mary inherited from her father. For many years her mother had to work in a factory to earn a scant living for her children. After the death of her father, Mary also took up paid employment in a factory to support the family. Even while in Africa, she supported her mother with her meagre salary.

But never would sunshine of Christian faith and joy pass from the simple home, even in those terrible years when her father, almost frantic from drunkenness, would cause nights of terror. After the unhappy Saturdays, when Slessor spent his week’s wages on drinks, there would come a happy Sunday when his wife with her seven children would hurry to Sunday school where Mary became a teacher when she was almost a child. Even then she dreamed of Africa, and her favourite game was to teach in an imaginary school of black children.

She loved reading the Bible and Milton’s Paradise Lost. In spite of her Christian upbringing, Mary was a mischievous, impulsive, strong-willed child who was able to beat up any boy that picked a fight with her. Her work in the factory brought her constantly in contact with the roughest element of the city, and this tended to make her a rough and ready antagonist for everyone who opposed her.

In 1874, the Christian world was shaken by the death of David Livingstone, the great missionary that opened Africa up to the world. Stories of his exploits in the continent stirred up fresh desires in the heart of Mary to walk in his footsteps. When she confided in her mother her desire to go to Africa, the latter said to her, “My child, I’ll willingly let you go. You’ll make a fine missionary, and I’m sure God will be with you”.

After some months of special training in missionary work, she was sent to the West Coast of Africa, then known as the “white man’s grave” due to the high death rate among missionaries from malaria. On August 5, 1876, when Mary was twenty-eight years old, she took a vow to consecrate her whole life for this part of Africa, and immediately sailed from Scotland, her beloved country.

Her field was to be in the city of Calabar, where the United Presbyterian Church had done missionary work for years. Calabar was the principal coast city of Nigeria, a colony of Great Britain. Nigeria was part of the Slave Coast from which thousands of slaves were shipped to the West. In 1824, some of these slaves who had been sold to Jamaica conceived the idea of sponsoring the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ in their home countries. They sought and got the support of the United Presbyterian Church which took charge of it. In 1845, greater interest in the work was aroused by Hope Waddell, another missionary who mobilised support for what was then known as African missions in Scotland.

While the mission was fairly successful, Old Calabar remained a wretched and wicked Sodom where vice and heathenism flourished. Here all the superstitions and barbaric customs of paganism were practiced. Besides, the natives learned from the depraved white people who were engaged in the slave trade additional criminal practices. Belief in demons was universal, and witchcraft was widely practiced by most natives. Even fishermen offered human sacrifices on the river banks for success in their trade.

Women who gave birth to twins were forced to bury them alive or left in the forest to die. Some of the mothers were driven from their communities or killed. It was believed that twins were the products of sexual intercourse with evil spirits. Also, when traditional rulers died, their wives were buried alive with them, while their slaves were beheaded and their heads thrown into the grave. To these hideous customs must be added the horrors of incessant warfare, of slavery and slave-raiding which made that part of Nigeria a veritable hell of degradation.

When Mary arrived in Calabar, the horrors of heathenism did not terrify her, since from earliest childhood she had been in contact with vice and sin. She dearly loved the African people for Christ’s sake. She at once set out to learn Efik, the native language much to the astonishment of the blacks, who said of her that she was gifted “with an Efik mouth”. For three years she zealously devoted herself to her new and hard tasks. Then the dreaded malaria fever attacked her, prompting her to return to Scotland for a rest.

In Okoyong, she encountered resistance from a fierce and powerful tribe of Bantu origin, of lighter complexion than most blacks in Nigeria, but thoroughly degraded. Their barbarism was appalling. Head-hunting was one of their favourite pursuits, and between fights, they were given to drunkenness and bloody brawls. It was not easy for Mary to gain permission to settle in the territory of this cruel and oppressive tribe. In 1888, after many futile attempts, she sailed up the Cross River as far as Ekenge, and asked for permission from its traditional ruler to establish a mission house. The chief’s sister took a liking to her and was able to convince her brother to permit her to live among the natives.

On August 3, 1888, she left Calabar to settle in Okoyong. Before her departure, some Christian friends said to her, “We will pray for you, but you are courting death”. When leaving Calabar, she had five orphans in her home. No one wanted them so she took them with her though they added to the hardship of the journey. At Ekenge, she supervised the erection of a mission compound. Unfortunately the rainy season had set in, so the compound was flooded. But she was not discouraged. With bare feet and bare head, her hair having been cut short like that of the natives, Mary worked each day, subsisting on native food, drinking unfiltered water and doing everything that might have killed an ordinary person.

The natives took to her at once, for she perfectly mastered their language, and her fearlessness and good humour made her pleas irresistible. When they fought, she plunged into the midst of the combatants. When they threatened her, she threatened them in turn. When they laughed, she joined in with them. Sometimes she would scold, at other times she would weep for them. Often she would turn their back on them when they disobeyed her, but she always kept her commanding attitude which awed them and earned her their respect.

 Soon the mission compound was full of twins that would have been killed, along with their mothers. Each day, she scoured the woods to find babies and mothers driven away from their communities. Though by doing this work she violated every tribal custom, no one dared to interfere with her or molest those whom she sheltered. Above the mission house flew the British flag, and in Calabar there was a British naval presence. Yet, after all, it was her personality which subdued the natives. Of her feats of heroism untold stories are narrated.

Once she rescued a baby which had lain exposed in the bush for almost five days, and which she found almost eaten up by flies and other insects. With infinite patience, she nursed the little girl back to health. Many years afterwards, the young woman married an educated native in the service of the British government. The couple lived in a fine home and had a car. The girl never forgot the kindness of her godmother and remained a true Christian to the end.

Another time, a son of the chief of Ekenge was killed while felling a tree. On the advice of a witch doctor, some people from a neighbouring community were captured to be slaughtered as a sacrifice to the gods for the incident. With great boldness, Mary took the burial rites into her own hands, and by her persistent pleas, and irresistible commands saved the victims from a cruel death. It was the first of such burials in Okoyong that was not saturated with human blood.

In 1891, the British government appointed her Vice-Consul of Okoyong. Though she did not like the routine work connected with the position, she readily accepted it because it gave her increased prestige and authority. In 1894, after a service of three years, she could write in her report, “No tribe was formerly so feared because of their utter disregard of human life, but human life is now safe in Okoyong. No chief ever died without the sacrifice of many human lives, but this custom has now ceased. Some chiefs, in commenting on the wonderful change said, ‘Ma, you white people are God Almighty. No other power could have done this”.

           With the officials of government she was always on the best of terms. One of them in later years gave this description of her, as she sat in court and administered justice, “There was frail old lady with a lace shawl over her head and shoulders, swaying herself in a rocking chair and crooning to a black baby in her arms. Her welcome was kind and cordial. I had had a long march on an appalling hot day, and she insisted upon complete rest before we proceeded to the business of the court. It was held just below her house. Her compound was full of litigants, witnesses, and onlookers, and it was impressive to see with what deep respect she was treated by them all. The litigants emphatically got justice, sometimes, perhaps like Shylock, ‘more than they desired’, and it was essential justice, unhampered by legal technicalities”

In 1896, overcome by ill health, Mary returned to Scotland on her second furlough, after staying in Africa for sixteen years. She took four of her babies with her. While in Scotland, she pleaded with the Mission Council to permit her to open a new mission station farther in the interior of Okoyong. After three years, her request was granted and a male missionary took over the mission compound in Ekenge. Just then, an epidemic of small pox was recorded in the area. This prompted her to turn the mission compound in Ekenge into a hospital. Leaving it in the care of native helpers, she hurried to the more populous town of Akpabuyo, where she fought the disease single-handedly.

Meanwhile, the British army had penetrated the region west of Cross River and had even gone beyond the River Niger, where cannibal tribes held sway. At Itu there was a slave market from where captives were shipped to Calabar. At Arochukwu, thousands of natives worshipped a deity known as long Ju-Ju. The British force captured the town and destroyed the shrine hosting the deity. In this way, the area was thrown open for missionary work. Mary was at the forefront of evangelising the natives there after the Mission Council gave her permission to do so. She was now fifty-four years of age, and was assisted by Christian boys and girls from Okoyong. At Akani-Obio in Oron, she was received by a chief known as Onoyom who had been instructed in the Christian faith in Calabar. However, on his return to his community, he again embraced heathenism. On seeing Mary in his village, he offered to build a church in which she might teach the people. Onoyom later contributed huge sum of money for the construction of a mission compound in the community. While taking Holy Communion with other converts, the chief said, “Akani-Obio is now linked on to Calvary. I am sure our Lord will never keep it from my mother”.

Mary’s success was so great that the British government in 1905, again asked her to administer justice in and around Itu. She consented to do the work, but refused the high salary offered to her, since she was supported by mission funds. With great tact and skill, she discharged the duties of this office until ill health forced her to resign her post in 1909. For a number of years, she rode from village to village on a bicycle which her friends had bought for her, but toward the end of her life she had to be taken from place to place in a rickshaw.

In 1912, her health deteriorated considerably, and her many friends arranged for a short vacation in the Canary Islands. She accepted the offer, hoping that her life might be spared for a few more years of service. When she returned to Calabar, she was awarded the silver cross of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem by the King of England. Thereafter, she founded an industrial home for women and girls.

The only blow that devastated the brave woman was World War 1 which extended to the African continent. She heard of the great tragedy while building a mission station at Odore Ikpe. When she heard that her own country was involved in the war, she sank back as if struck by lightning. Her native helpers put her to bed where she lapsed into unconsciousness. Afterwards they placed her in a boat and rowed her to Itu. Under careful medical care she recovered and continued to teach the natives, though she could no longer stand. She went home to be with the Lord on January 13, 1915 and was buried in Calabar. For thirty-nine years, Mary gave her all to southern Nigeria.

There is much to learn from the life of this daughter of Zion. Many people in our generation are not ready to make any sacrifice for the salvation of souls. We are content to be mediocre Christians. We ignore opportunities God opens for us to reach others for Christ. It is true that not everyone is called to be a missionary to other nations. Nonetheless, we are all called to be missionaries in our work place and other areas of our sphere of influence. The world needs our light. We must be the salt of the earth. There is no excuse for spiritual lethargy. We must take the battle to the gates of the enemy and cause an earthquake in his kingdom that would set the captives free. Be a ‘Mary’ to your family, friends and acquaintances. Be a ‘Mary’ to your world!

Culled from https://www.wholesomewords.org