The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1890, Page 18

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18

The Lutheran Pioneer.

The howling Dervishes.

Those are queer people that you see in our
picture. They area Mohammedan sect and are
called Dervishes. They are gathered into com-
munities like monks. A writer in the Church
Messenger says of them:

According to one who was an eye-witness,
their service begins with recitations of their
common prayers, a chapter of the Koran, the
praises of the false prophet Mohammed and of
former saints of the Order. After this more
formal part of the service the singing and
dancing begin. A number of Dervishes stand
up in line and the dancing and howling begin.
The songs used are love and drinking songs,
all of which are mystically interpreted, the for-
mer of the love of the soul to
their god, the latter of spirit-
ual ecstasy. The louder the
songs and the wilder the dan-
cing and howling, the more
profound is their love and the
more exalted their ecstasy.
While these songs are being
sung, the line of Dervishes
keep on repeating, without
regard to order, the words,
“There is no god but God,”
accompanying the words with
contortions of the body, sway-
ing to and fro, and stamping
with their feet. Their motions
and utterances keep on in-
creasing in rapidity and loud-
ness, until the wildest con-
fusion prevails. The robes
are thrown off, the number
of dancers increases, and they
dance and howl as long as
they can hold out. As some
drop out of the line from utter
exhaustion, others take their
places, so that with the ex-
citement the number of per-
formers increases. After the
dancers have become sufficiently excited, at a
given signal, the limping, swaying movement

* ceases, and all begin to bob very violently up
and down, without quite lifting their bare feet
from the floor, flinging their heads wildly from
side to side, often with hideous contortions of
the countenances and ecstatic grimaces, at the
same time wildly uttering something which is
incomprehensible except to the initiated. These
wild cries are hallelujahs, the name of god,
ejaculatory prayers and expressions of a similar
nature. And this is ecstasy. This is the time;
when the participants seem most happy.

Who, that has ever attended camp-meetings,
revival meetings, or meetings of a similar char-
acter, does not recognize these things as a part
of the performance of some so-called Christians?
Almost the same form of excitement, called
religious ecstasy, can be seen at these meetings,

the contortions of the body, theswaying motion,

the jumping and the wild and often inarticulate

cries of prayers, hallelujahs and the name of
the Lord. The writer speaks of this not from
mere hear-say, but from personal observation.
He has been present at revivals and camp-
meetings, where scenes were enacted quite sim-
ilar to those related in this article, and where
all this excitement was called religious ecstasy
and the only means which God had given for
man’s salvation. The Dervishes are not Chris-
tians, and their performances can be partly ex-
cused on the ground of their ignorance and
superstition; but the others, referred to in this
article, want to be called Christians, set them-
selves up as the highest type of Christians, and
call their performances the worship of God. They
can not be excused on the plea of ignorance,
since the Word of God, which they profess to

know and believe, clearly teaches quite a dif-
ferent form’ of worship. They purposely get
up these excitements, in order to convert, as
they say, the unconverted, by which they mean
the members of the various churches. And a
good many church members are duped into
thinking that this is the way to conversion and
is serving God. Lutherans ought to know bet-
ter, and would know better, if they would more
faithfully study their Bibles and Catechisms.

The purpose in view, in the presentation of
this subject, is to show how heathenish and ir-
religious some things are that go by the name
of the service of God, and are done under the

garb of religion.
——s oe oe
‘“Tue life of Christianity,’ said Luther,
‘consists in possessive pronouns.” It is one
thing to ray, ‘‘Christ is a Saviour;”’ it is quite
another to say, ‘‘He is my Saviour and my
Lord.’’ The devil can say the first; the true
Christian alone can say the second.

Progress in Japan.

I suppose our friends have read all about the
new Constitution in Japan, and the great re-
joicing of the people over its promulgation;
and of the riding of the empress by the side of
the emperor in the state carriage, a thing un-
known before in the history of the country.

Have they considered what a very little time
it is since Japan was one of the hermit-countries?
Only thirty-five years since Commodore Perry
stood in the Bay of Yeddo with his fleet, de-
manding admittance for Western nations. How
quickly the changes have followed each other
in these thirty-five years! Schools, printing
presses, rail-roads, all modern improvements
welcomed; and now the emperor, who received

almost divine honors from his
people, and whose august title
was ‘The Son of Heaven,”
renounces cheerfully this su-
preme authority, and guaran-
tees to his people all rights
of person, and conscience, and
speech,

How is it that Japan has
obtained all this so easily,
while other nations have had
to win the blessing of civil
and religious liberty by the

_sword? It is due simply to
the progress of the Gospel of

Christ. Thisis the power which

is changing society, and giving

to men their rights. Christian
missions have been preparing

Japan for this great change.

Surely we are all glad that

we have some part in them.

Church Messenger.
o< oe

The singing Prisoners.

In the year 1884, three
young disciples in Spain were
thrown into prison for not
worshiping the host as it was borne past. Like
Pauland Silas they prayed and sang praises even
in jail, and one passing by in the street sent them
five francs for their sweet singing. When the
ten days of their sentence had expired, the
judge demanded the fine of fifty francs. They
had not money to pay it, and he sent them back
to prison for another ten days. Two days later
he set them free; for the priest had complained
that his parishioners stood morning and eve-
ning before the prison, listening to the hymns
they sang, and they were exciting so much in-
terest that he was afraid many more would be-
come Protestants.

—. oo

In the deepest night of sorrow God gives us
so much to be thankful for that we need never
cease our singing. With all our wisdom and
foresight, we can take a lesson in gladness and
gratitude from the happy bird that sings all
night as if the day were not long enough to tell
its joy.