The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1896, Page 16

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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.

————————
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Tux Lurneran Pronger is published monthly,

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‘All communications concerning the editorial de-
partment to be addressed to Prof. R. A. BIsCHOFF,
meordia College, Fort Wayne, Ind.