The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1891, Page 43

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 43

Carl Guetzlaff. everywhere. He always employed every op-
portunity to preach and to distribute books.
Carl Guetzlaff was born in Pomerania, on the | He experienced little of the hatred which the
8th day of June 1803. His parents were poor. | Chinese have for all that is foreign. The of-
Therefore little Carl had to learn the belt-|ficers-even regretted that the ordera were so
maker's trade. Once it happened that the king| stringent. It happened, however, in Amoy,
of Prussia came to Stettin. Carl heard of it, | that the Mandarins had those whipped who had
and, desiring to honor his king, as well as make | accepted any of his books. A few weeks later
known to him his earnest desire of serving his | Guetzlaff undertook a third voyage along the
Heavenly King as a preacher of the Word, the|shores of China. This time he took sail in a
seventeen-year-old boy set to work and com-| fast ship and supplied himself with three times
posed a poem. In this he expressed the long-|as many books as before. Whenever he would
ing of his heart. ‘The king was well pleased |land at a place where he had been before, he
with the production. He therefore gave the| was greeted asa friend. The people crowded
youth into the hands of the venerable pastor | about him to get some of his books, calling to
Jaenecke in Berlin. He was afterwards put|mind the time when Jesus had to get into a
into the Mission house at Rotterdam. This| boat because they pressed upon Him. Ab, how
took place in 1823. In 1826 the Hollandish | do the heathen put us cold, cold, careless Christ-
Missionary Society sent him to Batavia. Here|ians toshame! In 1833 he made a fourth jour-
and in the vicinity he labored for several years |ney and met with equally encouraging success.
with marked success. He also learned the} Guetzlaff could not, however, venture to
Chinese language while here. In 1828 Guetz-|settle at any place, since the emperor forbade
laff went to Siam, laboring there until 1831./even commercial intercourse with strangers,
Here he married a wealthy English lady. But} whom he called strange devils. The Christian
this did not induce him to desert the ranks of | books he called degenerated and filthy writings
the Lord’s servants. On the contrary, he took | which the barbarians were trying to smuggle
the money and supported himself, thus reliev-|into the country under the pretext that they
ing the Missionary Society. He longed to go to| were moral. From 1834 to 1837 Guetzlaff re-
China. Before leaving Siam, he was seized by | mained in Macao. By his labors The society for
a violent sickness. He also lost his wife and | the spreading of useful knowledge in China was
child by death. Nothing daunted, he set out| founded, also The Chinese Magazine. In spite
for the shores of China as soon as he was suffi-|of the prohibitory order of the government a
ciently restored. revised edition of the New Testament was pub-
At first, Guetzlaff accepted the invitation of |lished. In 1888 a society of physicians was
a Chinese trader, who was his friend, to go with | formed, which established hospitals throughout
him to Tunzin, a city in the northern part of | the land. Ina few years these places were vis-
China. Although he was then only twenty-| ited by 10,000 sick who were all brought under
eight years of age, Guetzlaff was a thorough | the sound of the Gospel and were supplied with
Chinese. His very features were strikingly | Christian books.
like those of the natives. His dress, his speech,| Besides, Guetzlaff had a special school, and
his manners, and even his name were Chinese; | would occasionally make excursions into the
for he had adopted the name Shiki. The sai-| interior of the country. In one city he gained
lors imagined that the heavy boxes of books| the rights of a citizen. He had also learned
contained gold, and, therefore, our missionary | the Japanese Janguage from some ship-wrecked
was in danger of being killed by them. Wher-|eailors. When, however, Guetzlaff, in com-
ever the ship stopped, he was busy in spreading | pany with Parker and Williams, tried to visit
the Gospel among the people. To this end he|Japan, he was driven away with cannons. In
would preach and distribute books. When he|the meanwhile hostilities broke out between
arrived at Tunzin, he was at once greeted by|China and England, namely, the disgraceful
some Chinese with whom he had formed an|Opium war. This hindered the spreading of the
acquaintance while yet inSiam. Knowing that | Gospel for some time. : Guetzlaff was appointed
he was also a physician, many came to have/to a government position under the English at
their cumbrous lump of clay adjusted again, | Macao, without, however, ceasing to labor in
never, however, thinking that their soul needed | the calling of a missionary. :
much more attention. But the wise physician] When peace was restored, he himself pre-
always added a book to his medicine. During} sented each of the Chinese ambassadors with
his stay here he found a home in the house of a|a New Testament, telling them that it is the
rich merchant. After a four weeks’ sojourn he | Revelation of God who is the Lord of heaven
left to explore other places. After six months and earth, and who gave His only begotten Son
we find him in Macao. From here he sailed on| that He might redeem all the nations otithe
8 war vessel which was to visit the sea prov-jearth. Now China was opened, at least com-
inces, Corea, Japan and other places. The gov- paratively, for as yet strangers were allowed to
. : , into the country for a certain distance only.
ernment had indeed given strict orders that no} go into y 6 missi ities
foreign shtps should be permitted to land, but | As a result no less than 1 ee as e
the officers were too cowardly to prevent the| began to send their men " China. ; . on as :
English ship from doing so. Guetzlaff acted as |do more work, Guetzlaff amare 8 res
interpreter and was received with kindness | employing native helpers. erefore

work to prepare such. Ina short time he had
no less than 200 such native helpers. These he
sent out among the people to preach and to dis-
tribute books. They found entrance where a
European would have knocked in vain. In
order to solicit the help of European Christ-
ians, Guetzlaff undertook a journey thither.
Urged by his warmth, a Ladies’ Society, with
the Queen of Prussia at its head, was organized.
The object of this society was to found and carry
on a foundlings’ hospital. The missionary so-
ciety of Basel and others were induced to send
men. But in the midst of his work of arousing
interest among:his brethren this faithful man
was called home. This occurred on the 9th day
of August, 1851, at the age of 48 years. His
last words were: ‘‘It is finished.”’
Little Missionary.

——_—» +e

The Doctor and the Poor Woman.

Dr. Rush had just finished one of the finest
houses in the city. He had taken great care
and spent much money in furnishing it. The
carpets, mirrors and furniture were made to
order and were very elegant. The most beau-
tiful pictures were hung init. The most costly
statuary was placed here and there. And the
doctor invited many of his friends to come and
see his fine house. He took great pleasure in
showing them through it.

One day, before the doctor had moved in,
he was standing in front of his house when an
elderly woman, named Mary, passed. Mary
did washing and house-cleaning for a living.
She had worked at the doctor’s house, and he
knew her well. She was a pious soul, and every-
body had respect for her. But she was quite
poor. The doctor thought he would like to show
her through his fine house, just to see how she
would be impressed at seeing so much gran-
deur. So he said, ‘‘Come, Mary, let me show
you through my house.’’ Mary went with him.
The doctor showed her all the beautiful things
there. She looked at them, but said nothing.
She did not seem to be as much impressed as
the doctor expected. When they got through
he said, ‘‘Well, Mary, what do you think of
my house?’’

‘“‘Tt’s very fine, sir, indeed; and I’m ever so
much obliged to you for letting me see it. But
it doesn’t begin to compare with the house I'm
going to move into before long. Let me read
you a little about this house.” And she took
from her pocket a little Testament and began
to read to him from the last chapter in Revela-
tions. It was certainly a good way to cause the
worldly-minded doctor to think of death and
eternity.

——— + o<> o>

“Trou, God, seest me’’—when I do wrong;
therefore I will be encouraged—when I am

tempted; therefore I will be valiant—when I
suffer; therefore I will be patient.

therefore I will be warned —when I do right; |