# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1896_S16 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 16 The Lutheran Pioneer. The Outlook from the Editor’s Window. —Our young people are nobly responding to the call of our Mission Board, and we doubt not that the Board will soon be enabled to erect a new church building for our Mount Zion congregation in New Orleans. We have also received letters, the writers of which tell us that they have read ‘‘Uncle Bob’s Letters’’ and that they will surely assist in building the newchurch. One of Uncle Bob’s ‘‘nephews’’ at New Orleans writes: ‘‘Our dear uncle is look- ing after our interest as well as after the wel- fare of other souls. Let us all lend him our assistance, and we shall soon have a new church. May God bless uncle’s work, and may his writing be not in vain.’’ And one of Uncle Bob’s ‘‘nieces’’ at Memphis writes: “Uncle Bob is right. Mount Zion needs a new church building. I saw the present building many years ago, when it was called ‘Sailors’ Home,’ and I can well imagine that a new building is needed.” —Ir is not, perhaps, generally known that the Sandwich Islands have a large population of Japanese and Chinese who flock there for work. There are more than 10,000 Japs en- gaged in the sugar plantations alone. ‘They are brought more or less into contact with the Christianity that fills those shores. There are eleven Japanese preachers and evangelists on the islands, who are doing a work amongst their fellow-countrymen when so far from their own homeland. —Desrite the treatment accorded to Chris- tian missionaries in some parts of China, their good work seems to be appreciated and valued. Bishop Hendrix, who has just returned from a visit to China and Corea, has brought with him a message from Li Hung Chang, the great statesman. ‘‘Say to the American people,’’ it runs, ‘‘to send over more men for the schools and hospitals, and I hope to be in a position both to aid and protect them.” When told that there were already six hundred American missionaries in China, Li Hung said: ‘‘More are needed! More are needed !’? —Asour eight millions of colored people are said to be in our country, of whom 2,674,000 are communicant members of dif- ferent churches. So there are several millions that are still beyond the pale of the Church. What an inviting mission field right at our doors! —A Norwesian Lutheran missionary gives us the following glimpse at a leper settlement in Madagascar: ‘‘We have not time to visit many more, but we must go to see Rajoana- rivony. He lies on his bed of pain, and his wife, who sits by his side, scarcely looks much better. He is very emaciated; he has been ‘ill nearly two years; more than half his fingers and toes are eaten away by the disease; but, _ what is:worse, is the great difficulty he has in breathing. In the midst of all these trials we _ try to speak a word of consolation, but how astonished and glad we are when he asks us to sing a hymn of praise! We sing a heavenly song of rejoicing, and then leave him. He is one of the happy ones. This I call honoring God, when a man in the midst of such suffer- ing can praise and magnify Him.’”’ —Tne early missionaries to Madagascar were told by the French officers on the Island, ‘‘Make the people of Madagascar Christians! Impossible. They are mere brutes, and have not as much sense as irrational cattle.’”’? To- day the London Missionary Society alone has 1200 Christian congregations in Madagascar, and the Lutherans have also a large mission work there. —A CLERGYMAN, upon being asked how he was able to make so large a gift for missions, replied: ‘‘It is little I have to give, but I could not give that little except by a fixed method. Years ago I made up my mind that whatever my income might be I would give not less than one-tenth of it for religious and beneficent purposes. I have held to that rule, and it has enabled me to give more and more easily than before.. The only question I have to decide is as to the appropriation of what I have to give.’” —Mnr. Henry M. Srantey, the great Afri- can explorer, in a recent interview, speaking of the religious growth in the region of Lake Victoria Nyanza, said: ‘‘When I was at the lake 18 years ago there was not a missionary there. Now there are forty thousand Christian natives and two hundred churches. The na- tives are enthusiastic converts. They will spend their last penny to acquire a Bible.’’ — Mr. McKay, of Formosa, while attempt- ing once to preach the Gospel in a market- place, was confronted by a native with a long drawn sword, intending to strike off his head. He faced his antagonist, and the native’s arm dropped as if paralyzed. Afterwards the man presented the sword to the brave missionary, saying, ‘‘Christ has subdued me.’’ —In Greenland, where the courageous mis- sionaries found nothing but heathenism, it is said that to-day scarcely a heathen is to be met with. The Gospel has conquered. —Ir is now 900 years since Iceland was visited by Scandinavian missionaries. In 1530 the Lutheran faith was established, and to-day the 75,000 inhabitants are all Lutherans save one family, that of the French consular agent at Reikjavik. Two Roman Catholic priests lately said mass there, a service not before performed in Iceland for 365 years. —AN incident, narrated by Mr. Dorward, of the Zulu Mission, illustrates the wonderful power of the Gospel to sustain and cheer not only those who have been trained under Chris- tian influences, but also those who have been brought up in heathenism and who have per- haps late in life heard the message of di- vine love. ‘‘Imagine,’’ writes Mr. Dorward, “a grass hut with no windows and a door about two feet in height; the floor is of hard- ened earth, there is no chimney, and the roof is black with the soot of years, and there are rents in the wall. Entering, I saw, as soon as my eyes were accustomed to the darkness, a sick woman on a mat and covered by a thin blanket. Of furniture there was none; there was not a sign of anything that would relieve her sufferings or cheer her loneliness. She had the appearance of a heathen woman, and all the discomforts, too. Though very sick, her eyes were shining and her face bright and intelligent. It was a joy to find that she knew much about the Saviour, and that she knew Him to love Him. She was very destitute, even for a native; and when the weather is cold she borrows blankets of others during the day, and shivers under her own single blanket during the night. Sleepless and dis- turbed by coughing, yet she was happy, and she wonders why she can be so happy and yet be soill. The joy of the Lord is her strength, and this is apparent to all beholders. It isa marvelous sight, and I thanked God and took courage.’’ —Tne continent of Africa is equal in area to Europe and North America combined, com- prising nearly 12,000,000 square miles. The population is about 300,000,000. There are 3,500,000 nominal Christians, one half of whom are Copts and Abyssinians, one-fourth Protestants, and one-fourth Roman Catholics. There are 250,000 Hindus on the east coast. There are 50,000,000 Mohammedans, and more than 200,000,000 pagans. Evangelical Lutheran Colored Churches, NEw ORLEANS, La. EV. LUTH. ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL. 113 Annette Str., between Claiborne and Dirbigny. Divine services: Sunday morning at 10% o'clock. Sunday evening at 714 o'clock. Wednesday evening at 1% o'clock. Sunday School: Sunday morning at 94 0 clock. Singing School at 74 o’clock Monday evening. F. J. LANKENAD, Missionary. EV. LUTH. MT. ZION CHURCH. Cor. Franklin and Thalia Strs. Divine services at 7% Sunday evening and at 744 Thurs- day evening. Sunday School meets at 9 o'clock. Adult catechumen class meets at 744 Tuesday evening. E. W. Kuss, Missionary: EY. LUTH. BETHLEHEM CHAPEL. Cor. Washington Avenue and Dryades Str. Divine services at 734 o’clock Sunday evening and at 735 ’clock Thursday evening. Sunday School at 9 o'clock. J. W. F. KOSSMANN, Missionary. a a Dee eee ees Ey. Luth. Holy Trinity Church. Springfield, Ill. Divine Services at half past 10 o'clock Sunday morning and at 8 o’clock Sunday evening. Sunday School at 3 o'clock P. m. Catechumen class meets Monday and Friday evenings. Singing-school Tuesday evening. ———————— ; TERMS: Tux Lurneran Pronger is published monthly, payable in advance at the following rates, postage included, to-wit: 9.00 poe Fates only allowed if all copies are to be sent one address. ; All business communications to be addressed to “Concordia Publishing House,” St. Louis, Mo. ‘All communications concerning the editorial de- partment to be addressed to Prof. R. A. BIsCHOFF, meordia College, Fort Wayne, Ind.