Yoruba Bible History (3)

**List: Yoruba Ministry the Bible ( the Bible ) Yoruba... YARRIBA, OR YORUBA.    "THE Yoruba country lies on the right or west bank of the Niger, from Iddah to Yaouri.   The district in which the language is predominant is bounded north by the Nufi and the Haussa country, east by Warree and Benin, and west by Dahomey.   The dialects spoken on the coast are called Yebu, while those in the interior are variously styled Eyo, Inongo, and Yoruba, but they are all local varieties of one language.   The Yoruba tribes possess the characteristics, physical and intellectual, of the negro race.   Some among them are Pagans, and others Moh_mm_dans; but they are all, like other negro nations, distinguished by their veneration for charms and amulets, which they fancy can avert sickness and affliction.   Their government is carried on by means of a superstition called Oro, the secrets of which are confined to the male sex.   Any person who reveals these secrets is punished with death, and the same punishment is inflicted on any woman who may become acquainted with them. Polygamy, as in other negro states, prevails to a great extent, and some of the chieftains have been known to possess two thousand wives.   The king of the country informed Clapperton that he did not know how many wives and children he had, but he was sure that his wives alone, hand to hand, would reach from Katunga, the capital, to Jannah, a distance of considerably more than one hundred miles.    The Yoruba language, in grammar and general structure, resembles the Mandingo and Haussa languages.   The inflectional elements, however, possess no trace of similarity to those of either lan- guage, although founded on the same principles.   The Yarriba accents and intonation are not readily acquired by foreigners.    A translation of portions of the New Testament into the Yoruba language was first effected a few years since, by the Rev. Samuel Crowther, a native of the country, and a re-captured negre-slave, subsequently ordained as a minister of the Church of England.   An edition of 500 copies of the Epistle to the Romans was printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in 1850.   The gratifying manner in which this version of a part of the inspired Word was welcomed by the native population led the same Society to print, in the following year, further portions of the Yornba Scrip- tures, consisting of 500 copies each of St. Luke's Gospel, the Acts, and the Epistles of St. James and St. Peter.   These were at once forwarded to their destination, and experienced a like favourable reception.   "The word of God (writes one of the mies. in 1852) is most eagerly received and read at Abbeokouta, and wherever there is one able to read, many have been blessed by the same." Later testimony is to the same purport.   The Rev. H. Townshend, of Abbeokouta, in thanking the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society for copies of the portions of Scripture translated into the Yoruba language, adds,--"A large portion of them are already in the hands of natives of both sexes, who read, and, I am thankful to say, understand what they read therein."    Further portions of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, have since been translated into Yoruba by Mr. Crowther, and have been printed, as fast as completed, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society.   The demand for the Word of God has, indeed, been so great as to render necessary later editions of the portions first translated into Yoruba, which have been accordingly revised for the purpose.   The books of Genesis and Exodus, together with other portions of the Old Testament, including the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, have passed through the press.   The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John have also been translated into Yoruba by the Rev. T. King, a native Christian minister, and an edition of each has been printed--the latter in 1857.   The Gospel of St. Mark has since been completed, and an edition of 1,500 copies issued.   Further portions of the Bible are in progress of translation by Mr. Crowther."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only] YARRIBA, OR YORUBA.--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: n.d. Romans 3:19-31 unknown.]

[Christian Helps Ministry (USA)] [Christian Home Bible Course]