October 11. Robert Hamill Nassau. On this date in 1835, Nassau was born in Pennsylvania. But for forty-five years, he worked in various parts of Africa as a missionary, a medical doctor, a scientist, an explorer, a pioneer, and a prolific author.
Nassau sent large collections of cultural artifacts to the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton for study, and he was the first to send a gorilla carcass to the US. As of 1891, he was the only scientist to supply perfect gorilla brains for anatomists to study, and if you’re an anatomist, I guess that’s a big deal.
Nassau also wrote many thick volumes—with illustrations—about life in Africa, and the man translated the Bible into the language of West Equatorial Africa.
Fear can paralyze a man who lacks trust, but a Christ-follower can stifle fear.
Nassau lived among the native people of West Africa with his family and three groups: new native Christians, natives who liked the missionaries, and a group of natives who hated the missionaries and wanted to drive them out.
In his writing, Nassau referred to these unhappy natives as heathens, and he had to find creative ways to negotiate with them since they believed in spirits and curses and witchcraft.
One Friday afternoon, a group of heathens converged on the village and demanded the villagers charge the missionaries higher prices for their produce. Nassau had always been able to settle issues by open discussion, so he politely declined the price increase.
But Nassau’s quiet confidence infuriated the heathens. Immediately, they invoked the power of Ukuku and made a new law with three parts:
No more food should be sold to Nassau.
No native should work for him.
And Nassau would not be permitted to drink from his own spring on the mission premises.
The law of Ukuku was rooted in superstition and witchcraft, was created by a secret society of men, and was designed to cause fear and submission. So for a native to fetch water from the spring and bring it to the missionaries became a crime punishable by death.
The Christian natives who normally worked with Nassau were caught in a dilemma: they would have to defy Ukuku or break their agreement with Nassau. So he removed the conflict—he refused to ring the come-to-work bell.
“ … Staying away from the spring would seem to be bowing to a power which we had always preached against, which was based on a lie, and which stood in the eyes of the African as an idol … ,” Nassau said.
So the next morning, Nassau made a public demonstration against the Ukuku law. He went to the spring and drew up a bucket of water.
The spring was several hundred yards from Nassau’s house, through a winding jungle path. From a hiding place in the vegetation, a spy jumped out at Nassau and tried to knock the bucket away, but Nassau outmaneuvered him.
The spy viciously thrust his spear at Nassau’s back, but somehow, the point couldn’t touch Nassau. Neither the spy nor Nassau could see what had stopped the spear. And Nassau carried the water home in triumph.
“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!” (Psalm 46:1–3 NLT).
The young spy ran off to raise a mob, but his heart wasn’t in it. The demonstration of protective power “made the younger heathen see that they had gone too far. He rallied with the Christians” to protect the mission and even warned Nassau about the mob on its way.
Before Nassau could join his wife, the mob opened fire on the premises. Rapid shots were exchanged. Nassau crossed an open space to get to his wife and locked the door behind him.
“It was a short, angry, bloodless fight of less than twenty minutes, and Ukuku was defeated.”
“Side by side Mrs. Nassau and I knelt, and felt too deeply for words, that ‘God was our refuge, a very present help in trouble.’”
Looking back on the day, Nassau saw that the Christians of this village were becoming noble and courageous. God was rearranging the way the natives thought. Glory to God.
Do you let fear dictate your next move, or is your confidence in Jesus able to silence that fear? Fear can paralyze a man who lacks trust, but a Christ-follower can stifle fear.
Nassau, Robert Hamill. Crowned in Palm-Land. Philadelphia: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 1874.
Nassau, Robert Hamill. Corisco Days. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott, 1910, pp. 88–91.
Nassau, Robert Hamill. Fetichism in West Africa: Forty Years’ Observation of Native Customs and Superstitions. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904, p. 275.
Story read by: Blake Mattocks
Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter
Audio production: Joel Carpenter
Story written by: John Mandeville, https://www.johnmandeville.com/
Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/
Project manager: Blake Mattocks
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