Gospel in North Africa

This large-format and profusely illustrated book provides a unique record of missions work across North Africa up to the end of the 19th Century. My thanks to Redcliffe College for providing me with a copy of the book to digitise. This book is in the public domain.

John Rutherford [1816-1866] & Edward H. Glenny [1853-1926], The Gospel in North Africa in Two Parts. London: Peter Lund, 1900. Hbk. pp.248. [Click to download the complete book in PDF]

Contents

Prefaces

Part I – John Rutherford

The Countries of North Africa
The Peoples of North Africa
Mohammedanism

Part II – Edward H. Glenny

A Sketch of the North Africa Mission
The Origin of the North Africa Mission
Establishment of the Mission to the Kabyles
Reorganisation of the Mission
The Mission’s New Developments
The Progress of the Algerian Mission
The Work of Others in Algeria
The Morocco Mission
The Tunisian Mission
The Tripoli Mission
The Mission in Arabia and Egypt
Summary of Methods of Work Adopted
The Mission Base in England
Results and Conclusion
Statistics

Preface to Part I.

“Mohammedans,” writes Dr. George Smith, “are a people with whom apostasy is death, who have made Christendom feel their prowess for centuries, who have steadily advanced and rarely retreated, who up to this hour have yielded the fewest converts to the Gospel, and have attracted the fewest missionaries to attempt their evangelisation, even in British India, where toleration is assured.”

To a superficial observer Mohammedanism appears to show piety, dignity, sobriety, sincerity, and great moral worth. But let the traveller frequent their company, and Moslems are found to be false, vicious, and grasping; do business with them, and they will unblushingly cheat and rob; fall under their power as a wife or daughter must, and they will extract all the labour and profit possible, and then the victim is cast off like an old shoe. While the name of God is in constant use, and prayers and fastings are practised everywhere, depravity, deceit, and heartlessness abound. Certainly there are exceptions, but the character of the religion is even more degrading than has been described. It is essentially selfish and full of loopholes for sin. [Continue reading]