The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1888, Page 6

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6 : The Lutheran Pioneer.

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Hans Egede. jeuels blubber they cared for no paradise without| that regeneration should be effected by the
it. But the faithful Lutheran missionary, very | baptismal water!’’ Another, ‘How should it
This number of the Pioneer brings us the| often encouraged by his noble wife, toiled on|be possible that Christ’s true body and true
picture of Hans Egede. Who was Hans Egede?| and continued to sow the good seed of the Gos-| blood be given us in with and under the con-
Let me tell you. Hans Egede was pastor of |pel, from which other missionaries were per-|secrated bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper!’?
the Norwegian Lutheran Church in the village| mitted afterwards to reap a rich harvest of | Another, ‘‘How can man be justified by faith
of Vaagen. He once read in an old book about/ souls for Christ. j}alone?”’ Now when they are told we are to
a distant land which had been discovered by} In 1735 his dear wife left the land of snow| take the word of God just as He spoke it and
the Norwegians in the latter part of the tenth| for the beautiful gardens of the heavenly Para-| had it recorded, and that we are not to doctor
century, but with which there had been nojdise. His own health also began to give way. | around it and ‘‘put’’ 2 meaning into the words
communication since the middle of the fifteenth | So he left his son Paul to continue the mission | of institution, nor any other, but simply to take
century. It wasa land hemmed in by seas and! work in Greenland, whilst he took the remains| that meaning, which is necessarily implied by
bergs of ice. And there was no Gospel there! | of his ‘‘dear Elizabeth’’ and bore them over| the words, then they display their rationalism,
This moved the heart of the dear village pastor. the sea and Jaid them in the Lutheran Church} saying, ‘‘ Why, that’s all right, but you see
“He longed to bring the tidings of a loving Sav-|at Copenhagen. In this city he passed the re-| that’s against all, human reason and under-
iour to the poor people who lived in that distant} maining years of his life as the head of the|standing; that surely can’t be meant.’’ The
land, but when he spoke to his dear wife about) college for training missionaries for his beloved | dear reader will see that there’s many a struggle
the matter she used every plea to keep him at|Greenlanders. In the history of missions no} to be encountered, but we rejoicingly may say,
home. After a few years, however, she “If God be with us, who can be against
plainly saw that it was God’s will that her us!”’ Rom. 8, 31. Notwithstanding all this
husband should go as missionary to Green- opposition and hindrance our mission at

land. From that time on her heroic faith Springfield is steadily pushing forward.

proved itself stronger than her woman’s The Christmas festival, celebrated on the
fears. ‘‘Oh, husband,” she said, ‘‘since
the Lord calls, I will no longer hold thee;
but I will say, ‘Whither thou goest I will
go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge;
thy people shall be my people and thy God
my God.’”’

In the Spring of 1721 the ship that was
to carry away the dear Lutheran pastor
cast anchor in the bay. Sad indeed were

eve of the 26th of December, created uni-
versal joy among all present. The services
were conducted by Prof. Wyneken, who
also catechised the children upon the bib-
lical history pertaining to the birth of the
Saviour in connection with the prophecies
referring thereto. The children gave per-
fect satisfaction, answering loud and dis-
tinctly. After the services numerous gifts

were distributed among the children, who
gratefully received them; among the more
valuable presents were Biblical Histories,
The Church Year, dolls, beautiful cups,
handkerchiefs, etc. It is unnecessary to
make special mention of the sweet meats.

those days of leave-taking. Groups of tear-
ful men and women stood by the parson-
age doors. Frequently had Elizabeth, the
missionary’s wife, to repeat, for her hus-
band’s encouragement, ‘‘Whoso loveth fa-
ther or wife or children, friend or brother,
more than Me, is not. worthy of Me.’’ The —All went home joyfully and conscious of
little procession at last came down from the - having spent the eve in a very pleasant
village to the beach; and the pastor set his foot | name shines brighter than the name of that|and Christianlike manner.
on the plank to embark. At that moment a| faithful Lutheran missionary — Hans Egede,; May the Lord keep this mission in constant
sailor said to him: ‘‘May I make bold to ask| the apostle of Greenland. growth and pour upon it His bounteous bless-
whither you sail?’’ ‘‘To Greenland.” ‘Then, ings, so that His holy name may be glorified
in God’s name, stay at home; cannibals live also among the colored people. —ssM—.
there. Sir, sir, do not give your wife and!
children a prey to those wild heathen.”” The! Brief Report of our Colored Mission at
pastor looked sad, and the people shouted, | Springfield, Ills.
«Stay with us; it isGod’s will.’’ But the pas-/
tor’s wife stepped boldly forward on the plank, This mission was begun by Prof. H. Wyneken| A one-armed saw-miller, losing his occupa-
and laid her hand upon her husband’s arm, and jof the faculty of the Concordia Theological | tion, became a colporteur of the National Bible
said, ‘‘Hans, bea man. If God is for us, who| Seminary at Springfield, and is still under his} Society of Scotland. After service of some years
can be against us? Hearest thou not the pray- | superintendency. The mission work at first|in his home Jand, studying all the while the
ers and sighs of the heathen in Greenland? seemed to prove of but little effect, but it only | various systems of printing for the blind, he was
Far, far over the sea they pierce into my ear, | seemed thus; for the attendance at services has| transferred to Peking, China. To read an ordin-
you know that the need there is great. Hus- | steadily increased, and the people under tuition|ary Chinese book one must learn some 4,000
band, in the name of God, we must go!”? And ' show great earnestness and zeal in both hearing|characters. This man, Mr. Murray, reduced
they did go. The people, through their tears, land learning the word of God; so that the best | the sounds of Chinese speech to 420, and devised
saw them sailing to their appointed work. lof hopes may rightfully be entertained. The|a system of dots to represent them. He next
Our space does not permit us to tell of all the | school also is in a flourishing condition. — All| took an orphan beggar boy, blind from his birth,
trials and privations endured by the missionary’s| this, of course, excites intense opposition on| washed, clothed and housed him, and taught
family in their home amid the dreary ice-plains | the part of the various sects represented in this| him to read by means of the dots. Others were
and mountains of that cold country. They saw/ locality, and has already led to several hotly | taken in the same way and taught. The Script-
but little fruit of their hard mission work. The| contested disputes with their ministers, who|ures were printed in this style: and now many
people avoided them; nor for seventeen years| were completely overcome in every instance, | blind men may be seen reading the Bible on the
was there much of Christian life. A stolid but still would not yield. Their general re-|street corners. of Peking, to the astonishment
race were those Greenlanders, and content with | joinder and argument was, “How can that be, | of their fellow countrymen.—The Examiner.

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Usefulness.