The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1903, Page 12

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12 The Lutheran Pioneer.

A Spiritual Beggar.

Rev. Williams, the ‘‘martyr missionary of
the South Seas,”’ tells a most affecting story
of a spiritual beggar known as Buteve. On
one of the islands there were six or eight stone
seats, regarded with much veneration by the
people as connected with their grandfathers,
or some great chiefs. They were generally
formed of two smooth stones, one of which

served as a seat and the other as a support|-

for the back, and here, in the cool of the day,
would be found certain persons ready to chat
with any passer-by. As the missionary one
day passed near these stone seats, his atten-
tion was arrested by seeing a person get off
one of these seats and walk upon his knees
into the center of the path, shouting, ‘‘Wel-
come, servant of God, who brought light into
this dark island! To you we are indebted for
the Word of heaven.’’

The missionary asked this cripple what he
knew about heaven, and from his answers he
found that the cripple knew much about Christ
and His work for sinners, about the future
life and the work of the Holy Spirit, and he
said: ‘‘Buteve, where did you get all this
knowledge? I do not remember ever to have
seen you at the settlements where I have
spoken; and, besides this, your hands and
feet are eaten off by disease and you have to
walk upon your knees.’’

Buteve answered: ‘‘As the people return
from the service I sit by the wayside and beg
from them a bit of the Word as they pass by;
one gives me one piece and another gives me
another piece, and I gather the pieces together
in my heart, and thinking over what I thus
get, and praying to God to make me know, I
come to understand.””

This poor cripple, who had never been in a
place of worship himself, had thus picked up
the crumbs which fell from the Lord’s table,
and eagerly devoured them. Would that we
in this highly favored land of ours were as
eager to hear the Word of God as that poor

cripple was!
—=» <0

Zealous Missionaries. —

The natives of one of the South Sea Islands,
among whom missionary Williams labored, be-
came, after their conversion, zealous and suc-
cessful missionaries. They made tours of the
islands, endeavoring to bring others to Christ
and to leave no heathen settlement unvisited
and noidol remaining. They were also liberal
and cheerful givers, so that in proportion to
their ability their gifts averaged far beyond
the gifts of church members in Christian lands.

On one occasion the missionary explained
the manner in which English Christians raised
money to send the Gospel to the heathen, and
the natives expressed great regret at not hav-

‘ing money that they might help in the same

good work of causing the Word of God to
_ gtow. The missionary replied, ‘‘If you have

no money, you have something that takes the
place of money; something to buy money
with.’’ -He then referred to the pigs which
he had brought to the island on his first visit,
and which had 80 increased that every family
possessed some of them. He suggested that,
if every family in the island would set apart
a pig for causing the Word of God to grow,
and, when the ships came, would sell the pigs
for money, a large offering might be raised.
The natives were delighted with the idea,
and the next morning the squeaking of the
pigs, which were receiving the ‘‘mark of the
Lord’’ in their ears, was_heard from one end
of the settlement to the other.

On the missionary’s return to the island,
the native treasurer put into his hands about
five hundred dollars, the product of these
sales. It was the first money the people of
that island had ever possessed, and every cent
of it was given to the cause of Christ. They
proved the truth of Luther’s saying: ‘‘Chris-
tians love mission work.”’

Cruelty of Heathenism.

A German lady attached to the missionary
staff in British East Africa, writes home: ‘‘To-
day a young girl came to us, who formerly
was a slave at Mombas, an island near the
coast. She had been shamefully treated by
her cruel master. Finally he had ordered her
to be whipped to the very bones, and then
dragged to the seashore and drowned. Two
other slaves were to carry out the orders, but
when they got to the shore they were over-
come with compassion and ran away with her.
All three are now with us. The poor girl’s
body is still covered with sores from the whip-
ping, and there is a deep cut in her neck from
the rope. The fugitives tell us that it is a
common occurrence at Mombas that slaves are
buried slive for trivial offenses.’’

An American missionary writes home from
the region of French Congo, West Africa:
“Daily we hear the pitiful cry of tortured
women and slaves. It is something quite
common for the cruel Fangwe men to make
their knives red hot and to run them into the
poor creatures’ bodies.’? The heathen gods
are cruel gods.

——s- +0 oo

A Noble Hero.

On deck of a foundering vessel stood a
colored slave. The last man left on board,
he was about to step into the life-boat. It was
almost laden to the gunwales, and the water’s
edge. Bearing in his arms what seemed to be
a heavy bundle, the boat’s crew, who with
difficulty kept her afloat in the roaring sea,
refused to receive him. If he came, it must
be alone; on this they insisted. He must
either leave that bundle and leap in, or throw
if in and stay to perish. Pressing it to his
bosom, he opened its folds, and there, warmly
wrapped, lay two children, whom their father

had committed to his care. He kissed them
and bade the sailors carry his affectionate
farewell to his master, telling him how faith-
fully he had fulfilled his charge. Then, low-
ering the children into the boat, which pushed
off, the dark man stood alone on the deck to
go down with the sinking ship, a noble example
of bravery and the ‘‘love that seeketh not its
own.’’ — Selected. :

A Cent a Week.

A poor woman who was known to be very
poor came to a missionary meeting in P. and
offered to subscribe one cent a week to the
mission fund. ‘‘Surely,’’ said a friend, ‘‘you
are too poor to afford this.’’ She replied,
“T sew so many balls of carpet rags a week
for my living, and I’ll sew one ball more, and
that will be the cent a week for the society.”

Acknowledgment.

Received for colored missions of Rev. F. J. Lan-
kenau from St. Paul’s Church, New Orleans, La.,
$25.00; of Rev. K. Kretzschmar from Mt. Zion
Church,* New Orleans, La., 25.00; of Rev. J. Koss-
mann from Bethlehem Church, New Orleans, La.,
25.00; of Rev. P. Engelbert from the congregation
in Gold Hill, N.C., 5.00, and from the congregation
in Rockwell, N.C., 4.00; of Mr. John McDavid from
Holy Trinity Church in Springfield, Ill., 4.55.

A.C. Buraporr, Treas.

St. Louis, Mo., February 15, 1903.

Evangelical Lutheran Colored Churches,
New ORLEaNSs, La.

EV. LUTH. ST. PAUL’S OHAPEL.
1625 Annette Str., between Olaiborne and Derbigny.
Divine services: Sunday morning at 9}4 o'clock.
Sunday evening at o'clock.
Sundayisehool: Senday morstag at lo i See
anda: :
Adult Catechumen clans meets Pt 1% o'clock‘ Tuesday

evening.
Sin, School meets at 734 o'clock Friday evening.
aS F. J. LANKENAU, Missionary.

EV. LUTH. MOUNT ZION CHUROH.
Cor. 8. Franklin and Thalia Stra.
Divine services: Sunday morning at 11 o'clock.
Sunday evening at 734 o'clock.
day School Bunda me oral rat: ios
Sunda: ool: Sunday morning a! C)
Adult “catechumen clase meets at 1% o'clock Friday
evening.
Young People’s Consordis aad School
eet Wednesday evening at o'clock.
=a L Kee TZSCHMAR, Missionary.

EV. LUTH. BETHLEHEM OHAPEL.
Cor. Washington Avenue and Dryades Str.
Divine services: Sunda: syening at o'clock.
Thursday evening at 73% o'clock.
Sunday School at 54 o'clock. x a
Adult catechumen Class every Tuesday at 734 o'clock an
after the divine service on Thursday ovening. a
Choir practice at 7% o’clock on Tuesday evening an
«after divine service on Thursday cven Hy ‘
Cacle for Young Posie meets at the school every Taes-
ay eve at 7% o’cloc
of J. W. F. KossMAnn, Missionary.

Ey. Luth. Holy Trinity Church.
Springfield, Ill.
Divine services at half pant 10 o’clock Sunday morning
sunt fetal i ofeloee Fete
a » Me
Oatechamen ¢ class meets Monday and Friday evenings.
Singing-school Tucsday evening.

TERMS:
Tax Luraeran Pionxer is published monthly,
payable in advance at the following rates,
included, to-wit:

Ti COpYsecscescdccccccesscccocccccces $ .25
acy Cae 00

; 50

Clab aioe only allowed if all copies are to be sent
to dress.

All busin ess communications to be addressed |
“Concordia Pobliahis House,” Jefferson Ave. 42
Miami St., St. Louis, Mo. :

‘All communications concerning the editorial ss

ent to be addressed to Prof, R. A. BiscHO¥?,
Bonecedia College, Fort Wayne, Ind.