The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1884, Page 35

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‘The Lutheran Pioneer.

The Zulus.

Perhaps you would not like to meet the man
whom you see in our picture. You need have
no fear of meeting him in one of our streets; for
he lives far away from here. He is a Zulu
warrior, The Zulus live in South Africa.
Their villages are made up of a series of huts
like huge bee-hives, placed in circles, the cattle-
pen being in the center. The huts are about
ten feet in diameter and five feet high. The
single hole through which entrance must be
made serves for door, window, and chimney.
Neither tables, nor chairs, nor beds are to be
seen, only a few mats, and pots, and blankets.
The men and women sit and sleep on the
ground. The usual clothing of the wild natives
consists of a slight covering made of skins worn
about the loins. They sometimes ornament
themselves with beads and skins and necklaces
of lion’s teeth or claws. The warriors especially
ornament their bodies in high style as you see
in our picture. Such work as digging, carry-
ing burdens, and cutting wood is done by the
women. The men hunt, and fight, and take
care of their cattle. The wealth of a heathen
Zulu consists of his cattle and his wives. He
exchanges from ten to twenty cows for a wife
and sells his own daughters for cattle. His
wives are simply slaves. His ideas of religion
are extremely low and debased. His faith is
in witchcraft, in goblins to be feared and ap-
peased, and in the spirits of the dead to be
worshiped. He uses charms, and the witch-
doctor, who is supposed to drive away evil
spirits, has a terrible power over him. The
rain-doctor, who claims to bring showers, is also
a noted character among the Zulus.

For many years Norwegian and German
Lutherans have been carrying on mission work
in Zululand. They find it a hard field of labor.
Their mission stations suffered greatly during

the war which a few years ago was waged be-
tween the British and the Zulus. May God
bless the labors of the missionaries to the sal-
vation of many souls in Zulu land.

—>-+ <> e - —o

Only Believe.

It is related that Mr. Patrick of Scotland
once met with 2 woman who had long and
vainly struggled in the bondage of sin, and
doubt, and fearfulness, and who as yet found
no relief for all the anxieties of her burdened
heart. Looking afar off for something not
promised by the Lord, she had forgotten that
God hath said, ‘The word is nigh thee, even
in thy mouth and in thy heart,” and in striving
for peace in laboring, and peace in feeling, she
overlooked the simple method of ‘‘peace in be-
lieving, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’’

Placing himself beside her, and looking her
steadily in the face, Mr. Patrick said:

“Do you believe the Bible?’’

“I do,’”’ she replied.

“Can ye tell me who made the world?”

She smiled a little contemptuously, and after
a pause said, ‘‘It was God!”’

To which he immediately replied, ‘How do
you know? Were ye there to see?’’

“No, I was not there, but the Word of God
says that he made it.”’

“Ah! well, you believe all the Bible says,
do you?”’

She said, ‘‘Yes.’’

“Ah! well, we'll see. ‘This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him!’
Who said that?”’

“The Father.”’

“Well, will ye do as the Father bids ye?
He commands ye to hear the Son.”

To this she assented.

“Well, then, what does the Son say? ‘Him
that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.’
‘Come unto me, and I will give you rest.’
‘Daughter, thy sins, which are many, are all
forgiven thee.’ And will he not say the same
to you? Is he not saying it even now? If ye
do not believe that, ye do not believe him. I
tell ye, ye do not believe all the Bible.’’

The poor, doubting soul saw at once her sin
and infidelity in rejecting the testimony of God
concerning the grace and love of Christ, and
accepted his promises and found ‘‘peace in be-
lieving.”’

It may be considered a light and merely a
negative matter not to believe, but the Bible
does not consider it so, for all who do not are
expressly declared ‘condemned already.’’ Not
merely at some future and far-off judgment,
but already. Not believing brings the sinner
under this condemnation of God, ‘and “nothing
but the brittle thread of life separates his soul
from perdition. Snap that thread, and the
sentence of condemnation is executed. Believe,
and this ‘condemned already’? will be changed
to ‘‘no condemnation.” Continue in unbelief,
and it will be changed to condemned eternally.

“Vengeance is Mine,” Rom. 12, 19.

When General Jackson was a candidate for
the presidency in 1828, not only did the party
opposed to him abuse him for his public acts,
which, if unconstitutional or violent, were a
legitimate subject for reprobation, but they de-
famed the character of his wife. On one occa-
sion a newspaper published in Nashville was
placed upon the General's table. He glanced
over it, and his eyes fell upon an article in
which the character of Mrs. Jackson was vio-
lently assailed. So soon as he had read it, he
sent for his trusty old servant, Dunwoodie.

“Saddle my horse,’’ said he to him in a
whisper, ‘‘and put my holsters on him.”

Mrs. Jackson watched him, and, though she
heard not a word, she saw mischief in his eyes.
The General went out after a few moments,
when she took up the paper and understood
every thing. She ran out to the south gate
of the yard of the Hermitage, by which the
General would have to pass. She had not been
there more than a few seconds before the Gen-
eral rode up with the countenance of a mad-
man. She placed herself before the horse, and
cried out:

“‘O, General, don’t go to Nashville! Let that
poor editor live! Let that poor editor live!’’

“Let me alone,’’ he replied; ‘‘how came you
to know what I was going for?’’

She answered, ‘‘I saw it in the paper after
you went out; put up your horse and go back.’’

He replied, furiously, ‘‘But I will go—get
out of my way!”

Instead of this she grasped his bridle with
both hands.

He cried to her, ‘‘I say let go my horse!
The villain that reviles my wife shall not live!’

She grasped the rein but the tighter, and
began to expostulate with him, saying that she
was the one who ought to be angry, but that
she forgave her persecutors from the bottom
of her heart and prayed for them—that he
should forgive, if he hoped to be forgiven. At
last, by her entreaties and her tears, she so
worked upon her husband that he seemed molli-
fied to a certain extent. She wound up by
saying:

“No, General, you shall not take the life of
even my reviler—you dare not do it, for it is
written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith
the Lord!’’’

The iron-nerved hero gave way before the
Word of God. He turned his horse homeward,
saying, “‘I yield to the words of the Almighty.”

—~+ oo >

TuE learned and well-known John Newton
departed this life on the 21st of December,
1807. In the last days of his life his memory
almost entirely failed him. In these days he
was wont to say to those who came to see him:,
“May all things pass from my memory, two!
things I shall not forget: First, that I am 2)
great sinner and second, that Jesus Christ is 2
great Saviour. Those two truths are worthy

of being remembered.’”