Sound the Trumpet: An introduction to the life and ministry of Tiyo Soga, 1829-1871 John S. Ross* * Dr. John Ross lives in King William’s Town, South Africa, where he teaches Church History at Dumisani Theological Institute and researches Eastern Cape mission history. John holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wales (Lampeter). A minister of the Free Church of Scotland, he was formerly CEO of Christian Witness to Israel, has held pastorates in Inverness, Scotland, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, and served as a missionary in Nigeria. Married to Elizabeth, they have three children and nine grandchildren. Blow the trumpet, You, His people; Sound the trumpet of His Word. Let far away nations, Know it; Let them turn to Jesus, And love Him. English translation of Soga’s Xhosa original. The Early Years: 1829-1846 A number of memorials commemorate Tiyo Soga’s life and work. One of the first was the biography written by his close friend and colleague, the Scottish missionary, John Chalmers.1 This book, now very difficult to obtain, has the honoured place of being the first biography of a black South African, possibly the first biography of any South African. In 1971, Donovan Williams, then Head of the Department of History at the University College of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, wrote a second 1 John A. Chalmers, Tiyo Soga: A Page of South African Mission Work (Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot, 1877). This work forms the primary source of information on Soga’s life and ministry. 104 Haddington House Journal 2010 biography called Umfundisi.2 In 1983, a collection of Tiyo’s own writings was published.3 In 2008, the Amathole District Council funded the publication of African Intellectuals in 19th and early 20th Century South Africa, which includes a brief account of Tiyo Soga.4 More than one church has been named in honour of Tiyo Soga and at least one branch of the African National Congress political party. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in King William’s Town, a congregation which Tiyo helped to establish, commemorates his life in a stained glass window. In October, 2001, at the inaugural ZK Matthews Memorial Lecture at the University of Fort Hare, former President Thabo Mbeki listed Tiyo Soga first in a catalogue of black intellectuals, but Soga was far more than an intellectual; as his Xhosa epitaph on the memorial stone at Tutura witnesses, he was, in the English translation offered by his biographer, John Chalmers, a friend of God, a lover of His Son, inspired by His Spirit, a disciple of His holy Word. A zealous churchman, an ardent patriot, a large-hearted philanthropist, a dutiful son, an affectionate brother, a tender husband, a loving father, a faithful friend, a learned scholar, an eloquent orator and in manners a gentleman. A model Kaffir.5 Well may we thank God for the gift of Tiyo Soga. Tiyo Soga was an aristocrat, descended from a line of great leaders, wise councillors and brave warriors of the Ngqika clan of the Xhosa people living in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. His grandfather, Jottelo, highly respected both as a councillor and a warrior, fought and, it is said, died, in the battle of Amalinde in 1818 when Ngqika’s son, Maqoma was overwhelmed by the forces of his rival, Ndlambe.6 Tiyo’s father, usually referred to with great respect as Old Soga, was also a fighter and an important councillor, 7 who in 1878 died bravely resisting the colonial army. 2 Donovan Williams, Umfundisi: A Biography of Tiyo Soga 1829-1871 (Lovedale: Lovedale Press, 1978). The isiXhosa term Umfundisi, meaning ‘Teacher,’ is a style accorded to Christian ministers, approximating ‘Reverend’. 3 Donovan Williams, ed., The Journal and Selected Writings of the Reverend Tiyo Soga (Cape Town: A. A. Balkema, 1983). 4 Mcebisi Ndletyana, ed., African Intellectuals in 19th and early 20th Century South Africa (Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2008). 5 The term ‘Kafir,’ variously spelled as Caffre, Kaffir, etc, is derived from an Arabic word indicating a person without religious beliefs. In the mid-nineteenth century the term was used widely with little offence. Today it is considered highly offensive. To avoid language that is derogatory, ‘Xhosa’ has been substituted throughout this article. 6 John Milton, The Edges of War: A History of the Frontier Wars, 1702-1878 (Cape Town: Jutta, 1983), pp.68f. 7 Ibid. p.272. Sound the Trumpet: 105 Old Soga was an impressive man. He was described by the British Nqgika commissioner, Charles Lennox Stretch, as having an imposing physique, striking eyes and the ability to sum up a situation with a glance. He was married to eight wives, fathered thirty-nine children and owned many cattle, all of which tells us he was an important and wealthy person, holding a much respected position both in the Ngqika clan and in wider Xhosa society. Not far from Old Soga’s kraal was the place of Ntsikana (c.1780-1820), reputed to be the first Xhosa convert to Christianity. Like Old Soga, Ntsikana was also one of Ngqika’s councillors who as a teenager had had contact with the gospel through the work of the Dutchman Johannes van der Kemp of the London Missionary Society. Subsequently, certain mystical visions and experiences inclined Ntsikana away from his calling as a diviner of traditional Xhosa religion and towards Christianity. He wanted to know more of ‘Thixo and his son.’ 8 Instruction was sought, first from Joseph Williams, the missionary at Ngqika’s Great Place, on the Kat River and then from John Brownlee of the London Missionary Society at the Tuymie mission. For Ntsikana this life-transforming encounter with the gospel was not merely personal but to be shared, and one of those with whom he shared it was Old Soga. Whether Soga should be ranked as a Christian convert is doubtful; certainly he later declined to support his son and showed little interest in taking sides with the missionaries. Perhaps the most we can say is that he was influenced by Christianity but seemingly did not make any profession of personal faith. Interestingly, however, he refused to allow Tiyo to be circumcised and sent to join the Abakwetha, although there is no evidence that it was Christian principle that led him to take this decision.9 Tiyo’s father was a very progressive man, willing to take advantage of the best of the new ideas brought into his country by the early settlers. He has the reputation of being the first Xhosa to cultivate his farm with a modern iron plough and to irrigate his land by opening up water channels. He sold his crops of peas, beans, barley and potatoes to the British soldiers for a good profit. Old Soga’s great wife, Nosutu, was a Christian from the Amantinde clan. Tiyo was born in 1829, the seventh of Nosutu’s nine children. She gave him the birth name of Zisani, which was shortened to Sani. Later his father called him Tiyo after a great councillor and brave warrior, hoping his son would 8 The amaXhosa name for God is u-Dali, but two other words are also used, Qamata and Thixo, probably of Khoikhoi (‘Hottentot’) or San (‘Bushman’) origin. Whilst u- Dali expresses the ideas of Creator and Supreme Being, the term Thixo has been used since at least the advent of the first missionaries as expressing a fuller concept of God more compatible with Christian teaching. Cf. John Henderson Soga, The Ama-Xosa: Life and Customs (Lovedale: Lovedale Press, n.d.), p.150. 9 For a comment on circumcision in Xhosa society, see fn. 15. 106 Haddington House Journal 2010 also have an equally important place in the history of his people. 10 Of course, he did, but Tiyo’s wisdom was not mere human wisdom; it was, as James 3:17 puts it, the wisdom that is ‘pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.’ Likewise his courage would not be proved on the battlefield but in the cause of the gospel among his people; however, unlike his father and grandfather, Tiyo did not die in war, but he did lay down his life in his Lord’s service. Old Soga’s family kraal was at Gwali, near the Tuymie mission station which had been founded by John Brownlee in 1820.11 By the time Tiyo was reaching manhood, the station was under the guidance of Rev. William Chalmers of the Glasgow Missionary Society. Tiyo’s eldest brother, his father’s great son, Festiri, seeing the benefits of the education offered by the missionaries, neglected the cattle he was supposed to be herding and went to school to learn to read. At first, his father was angry and punished him for his carelessness, but seeing his heart was set on receiving an education and knowing he was fully supported by his mother, he yielded. Tiyo’s first teacher was Festiri, who passed on what he had learned to the junior members of Young Tiyo Soga his family in a little schoolhouse he built himself, with the help of his mother. After his brother, Tiyo’s next teacher was William Chalmers, who eventually sent him and Festiri to the central school at the mission station further down the valley. Not far away was the Lovedale Seminary, a secondary school, where in 1844, the fifteen 12 year old Tiyo started his formal education. 10 Williams (op. cit. p.1) speculates that ‘Tiyo’ is derived from ‘Theo’, an abbreviation of ‘Theodore’ but this seems very doubtful in view of Chalmers’ description of its derivation (op.