Abbeokuta

“ The Agugu, a fantastically attired individual, is frequently seen at Abbeokuta and other places interior. He represents the spirits of the departed, who are frequently consulted through him. No one is permitted to say he is a man, nor to touch him, under penalty of death. If he touches any one, the party touched must die—a dangerous power, it seems, to place in the hands of ignorant men, nevertheless, one never hears of its abuse. ”

“ Aro is the landing-place for the city of Abbeokuta in the rainy season; Agbamiya, a point lower down the river, being used in the dry season. It, the former is four miles below Ake, the business centre of the city, and about a mile and a half from the city gate. Above Aro the river is too rocky to permit canoes to ascend into the city. This place is doubtless destined to become of considerable importance ”

“ In Ilorin the king may not be seen, except as a mark of special favor, even by those to whom he affords the privilege of an audience. If the reader will permit the expression, Abbeokuta might be said to be in form an irregular circle. The circumference of its outer wall, for in some parts of the city there are three walls, is about twenty-three miles. It was originally formed of over one hundred townships, each independent and governed by its own chief. The people are of the Egba tribe of the Akus, sometimes incorrectly called Yorubas. ”

“ They are never suffered to leave the palace-yard, except on certain days, when they march in procession through the town in charge of eunuchs, of whom the king has a large number. Men are not suffered to approach them in these excursions. The King of Ilorin and other great personages of his court also keep their wives always confined. In this case, however, they are supported. In Abbeokuta, where even the wives of the king must support themselves, they are permitted to go abroad, and are generally among the most industrious traders of the place. ”

“ With the favorable regard of the chiefs, and the co-operation of many of the emigrants from Sierra Leone, the Gospel, for a time, had free course in Abbeokuta; and its population listened with a willing ear to the offers of eternal life. But, in 1848, the native priests, priestesses, and slave-catchers, stirred up a spirit of persecution against the converts, and the Gospel was greatly hindered. This persecution continued, with some intervals in its violence, throughout the two succeeding years. In January, 1851, the British consul, Mr. ”

“ Some of them had learned in Sierra Leone about God and His Son Jesus Christ, and they tell us, and many of the people of Abeokuta say they will no longer pray to the fetish, but will only pray to God, and love Him and serve Him. My fader was among these, and now the only thing he cared for in life was to listen to the missionaries and hear about Jesus Christ. Only one thing made him unhappy, that was that my poor moder should not learn the truth of the gospel. He knew that she was carried away by bad people, and he afraid that she become bad like them ”

“ As to the Alake or king of Abeokuta, see Sir William Macgregor, “Lagos, Abeokuta, and the Alake,” Journal of the African Society, No. xii. (July, 1904) pp. 471 sq. Some years ago the Alake visited England and I had the honour of being presented to his Majesty by Sir William Macgregor at Cambridge. 558. F. T. Valdez, Six Years of a Traveller's Life in Western Africa, ii. 161 sq. 559. Missionary Holley, in Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, liv. (1882) p. 87. The “King of Ake” mentioned by the writer is the Alake or king of Abeokuta ”

“ On this day died the holy father, Agapetus the bishop. This holy father lived in the days of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximianus, the deniers [of Christ] . The parents of this saint were believing Christians, and they taught him the doctrine of the Church and he was made a deacon. And after this he left his parents and went to a monastery, and he ministered unto the monks, the holy elders who were in it, and he learned from them good piety, and the strict observance of the ascetic life, and the knowledge of how to fight the fight ”

“ Far-away England caught their songs of peace, and sent them agricultural implements, machinery, and Christian ministers and teachers. So, that, nowhere on the continent of Africa is there to be found so many renewed households, so many reclaimed tribes, such substantial results of a vigorous, Christian civilization.
The forces that quickened the inhabitants of Abeokuta were not all objective, exoteric: there were subjective and inherent forces at work in the hearts of the people. They were capable of civilization,—longed for it ”

“ And on this day also the blessed and chosen fighter Abba Abkuelta became a martyr. This saint belonged to a noble family of the city of ‘Ensena, and he was a pure priest and a wise physician, and he did great good to all the suffering folk who came unto him, and he healed them without payment; moreover he also gave them food, and drink, and raiment, and anything of which they stood in need. In those days Diocletian, the infidel emperor, sent orders into the region of Upper Egypt, to the governor whose name was Arianus that he was to compel the men of that country to worship idols. ”

“ Abeokuta has a population of more than one hundred thousand, and is about seventy-five miles from the sea coast, with a history that is not without interest. Some fifty years ago, a few persons of different tribes, who had been constantly threatened and annoyed by the slave-traders of the coast, fled to the back country, hid away in a large cave, coming out occasionally to seek food, and taking in others who sought protection from these inhuman men-hunters. ”

“ ABEOKUTA, a town of British West Africa in the Egba division of the Yoruba country, S. Nigeria Protectorate. It is situated in 7 deg. 8' N., 3 deg. 25' E., on the Ogun river, 64 m. N. of Lagos by railway, or 81 m. by water. Population, approximately 60,000. Abeokuta lies in a beautiful and fertile country, the surface of which is broken by masses of grey granite. It is spread over an extensive area, being surrounded by mud walls 18 miles in extent. Abeokuta, under the reforming zeal of its native rulers, was largely transformed during the early years of the 20th century. ”

“ But in reality the Abbot is a layman, the essential point of his excellence being that he is the descendant of Sakya Panḍiṭ himself. He is married, takes meat for dinner, and even drinks wine, as do all the secular people. In spite of these facts, not only the public at large but also priests salute him with the rite of ‘three bows’ which as laid down by Buḍḍha is a mark of reverence due only to high priests and not to laymen. ”

“ When their parents died they were grown-up men, and the days of ‘Aberokh were thirty years, and the days of ‘Atom were seven and twenty years. They were devoted in their attendance in the church, and they were perfect in all excellences, and in the practice of righteousness. And at the time of the persecution, when many became martyrs, the saints rose up and departed to the city of Farima, in order to trade and gain money. And they found there the soldiers of the king, who had with them the body of a certain learned priest who had been martyred, and whose name was Anianus. ”

“ At the head of the Abyssinian Church, a branch of the Coptic (the whole civilisation of Abyssinia, so far as it is Christian, is derived from the impure Coptic source) , stands a bishop, who must be, not a native, but a Copt, sent by the (Monophysite) patriarch of Alexandria. This “Abuna,” in power and consideration, stands almost on a level with the king, has much larger revenues, and is reverenced by the masses as a god. Since November 1841 this position had been occupied by Abba Selama, mentioned above, a man of about the same age as Kasa-Theodore. ”

“ This saint was a man from the city of Kawakebet, and his father was a priest of idols, and hated the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. And at that time Abba Ephraim departed to Saint Abba Jacob, Bishop of Nisibis, who admonished him, and taught him, and baptized him with Christian baptism; and he lived with him and fought a fight greater than that [usually] fought by men in his days; and he fasted frequently and prayed without ceasing. And the grace of the Holy Spirit descended upon him, and he disputed with the people, and overcame them in argument. ”

“ As a good deal of prize money came into my pocket, I had the gratification of sending home considerable sums to my sisters. Mammy’s joy, when she found that not only had her son become a Christian, but that her husband had accepted the truth, was full. She willingly parted with Paul when she heard of his wish to become a missionary of the gospel. He returned to Sierra Leone, and after remaining a short time there, went on to Abeokuta, to labour with others in spreading the glad tidings of salvation among the dark-skinned sons of Africa. ”

“ And Saint Abba Ba’Amin dwelt in a monastery which was outside the city of ‘Eshmunayn, and God give him a great gift, and he healed the sick, and the report of him was noised abroad in all countries. Now a very severe illness came upon the empress, the wife of the Emperor of Rome, and it happened because of a certain God-fearing deacon who was near her, and who used to read to her every day the Book of the Vision of John the Evangelist, that is to say, “Abukalamsis (i.e. the Apocalypse) .” ”

“ And he lived a life of fasting and prayer, and he possessed nothing except a head cloth, a tunic, a sackcloth coat, a bowl for water, and a coarse carpet for his bed; and in such circumstances he fought the fight for fifty years. The men in a certain city, from little to great, were pagans, and there was no man who was able to convert them to the True Faith. One day when the bishop remembered the faith and the wisdom of Abba Abraham, he urged him to become a priest, and to make the pagans believe ”

“ Chapter 20 Abraham sojourned in Gerara: Sara is taken into king Abimelech's house, but by God's commandment is restored untouched.
1 Abraham removed from thence to the south country, and dwelt between Cades and Sur, and sojourned in Gerara.
2 And he said of Sara his wife: She is my sister. So Abimelech the king of Gerara sent, and took her.
3 And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and he said to him: Lo thou shalt die for the woman that thou hast taken: for she hath a husband.
4 Now Abimelech had not touched her, and he said: Lord, wilt thou slay a nation that is ignorant and just? ”

“ And when the monk sadly brought the news to the abbot he said: “Go, wait at a distance, for, be assured, the Lord will grant us of his own gift what man has refused. When you see him fall, take him and bring him at once to the monastery.” The monk went about his bidding and Ebarchius threw himself down in prayer and wept and poured forth prayers to God until, the bar and chains being broken, the hanged man should be placed on the ground. Then the monk took him and brought him safe and well to the abbot. ”

“ And the angel of God ascended into heaven. And when Abba ‘Ebelo had received the Offering from the hand of the angel, his body became white like snow, and he and the desert monk rejoiced, and glorified God until the evening. And the shepherd Abba Ebeloy did not cease to pray as of old, saying, “I have sinned seventy times seven; I have done evil, forgive me, for Thou art God, and the Good Father; there is no man without sin, and God is not without mercy.” ”

“ Three crowns have been prepared for thee: one for thy virginity, one for thy torture, and one because thou hast rejected the world for My Name’s sake. Come unto Me, O My beloved Abba ‘Aklog (Eclogius) , so that I may give thee the reward of thy labor, and that I may take thee up into My kingdom, and that I may do for thee everything which thou hast asked of Me this day, in return for what they have made thee to suffer for My Name’s sake. I will give thee an abode in the kingdom of the heavens. ”

“ A leading priest, Abihu, said, This fellow is a menace to our nation and our laws; he makes himself to be a son of God; it is not meet that he should live.
30. But Jesus said, Abihu, Sir, you are a learned man; you surely know the law of life. Pray tell who were the sons of God we read about in Genesis, who took to wife the daughters of the sons of men? ”

“ At that time the abbot of their monastery died, and [the monks] wanted to appoint as abbot the elder Abba Lucianus, his teacher. And Abba Lucianus took his disciple Longinus, and they went forth from Cilicia, and came to a city of Syria, and they took up their abode in a church. And our Lord Christ did not wish that their righteousness should be hidden, for a city which is set upon a hill shall not be hidden; and God wrought many signs and wonders by their hands, and they received praise and honor from men. ”

“ The Lord, who usually brings forth the rod before he lifts the axe, sent sickness into his house: his son Abijah was sore sick. Then the parents bethought them of an old prophet of God, and desired to know through him what would happen to the child. Fearful lest the prophet should denounce plagues upon him and his child if he knew that the enquirer was the wife of Jeroboam, the king begged the Egyptian princess whom he had married to disguise herself as a farmer's wife, and so get from the man of God a more favorable answer. ”

“ Abimelech excused himself, saying that Abraham had concealed the truth from him, and had said Sarah was his sister.
“The All-Holy knows that thou hast sinned in ignorance,” said the angel; “but is it seemly, when strangers enter thy land, to be questioning closely into their connexions? Know that Abraham is a prophet, and foreseeing that thy people would entreat his wife ill, he resolved to call her his sister, and he knew, being a prophet, that thou couldst not harm her.” ”