Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/224

 150 DUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY. cerrned. Those of the natives who have taken hold of the gospel have done so heartily, with faith and devotion. The greatest caution must always he observed in the peculiar circumstances in which the natives are placed not to give them reason to suppose that the mere profession of religion will cause them to receive greater consideration from the authorities than the merely moral and industrious who make no profession. Their attendance upon the preaching of the gospel and the ordinances of religion must be free and unrestrained, or it will be of no moral use whatever. We can no more make Aborigines into disciples of Christ by laws and regulations than we can any other people. At the same time, the Christian missionary has to always show himself to be on the side of law and order and government. He teaches that "whoso resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist must receive to themselves condemnation." His duty is to enjoin the learning to read as a religious duty which is upon the very face of the Holy Word of God; and then he is to preach the gospel lovingly, forbearingly, and perseveringly to all, endeavouring to seek and to save that which was lost, even as the Master did Himself.