The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1918, Page 21

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

21

’ The Church in North Africa.

The early Christian Church took root and spread
with wonderful rapidity in North African soil. As
early as 200 A. D., Tertullian said that the number
of Christians in the cities was about equal to the
number of heathen. Imperial Rome in every con-
ceivable way tried to stamp out the
new religion. Persecution followed
persecution from Egypt to Carthage.
It was at Carthage that Perpetua, a
young Christian mother, was cast into
the arena to be torn by wild beasts.
Here also Felicitas, a poor slave girl,
chose death rather than deny her
Savior. ‘These, however, are only two
out of a great host of martyrs that laid
down their lives for the sake of their
faith in North Africa. But as was the
case elsewhere, so here, in spite of all
persecution, the Church grew. Among
the great leaders of the early Chris-
tian Church there were more from
North Africa than from any other
part of the world. Origen, Clement,
Tertullian, Augustine, Cyprian, and
many other church fathers were from
North Africa.

Great was the missionary zeal of
the early North African Chureh, but
gradually this early ardor passed away,
and when Mohammed came in the
eighth century, he found a Church that
had lost its old vigor and purity of
doctrine, and had become weak and
enervated. His triumph was an easy
one. Now, however, darkness soon shut
down over all North Africa. ‘The
churches gave way to mosques, and the
worship of the true God gave place to
the worship of Allah. The only Chris-
tians allowed in North Africa were
those brought in as slaves. Chris-
tians were sold in the slave-markets of North Africa
by the thousands. ‘The towns on the coasts of the
Mediterranean and the shipping on the high seas
were at the mercy of the Barbary pirates. Bigotry,
injustice, and brigandage held full sway in the Bar-
bary States until Christian civilization began once
more to make its entrance.

Now, that the Church of Christ is again estab-
lished there, let us'pray that North Africa will once

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more be placed under the Cross after freed from the
power of the Crescent. The United Presbyterians
have a number of schools and missions in the valley
of the Nile, and all along the North African coast
the Methodist Church is carrying on an extensive
mission-work. The latter conduct church services
and Sunday-schools in Spanish, French, Arabic, and

Mohammedan Women of North Africa. :

Kabyle. Their educational work in North Africa
comprises day-schools, sewing-circles, Bible classes,
and illustrated lectures. In Oran and Tunis they ~
have fine dispensaries and good medical service. In -
Algiers and Tunis the Methodist Foreign Mission
Society is working successfully among the children
and women.

“Tf only you could draw the veil and let Amer-
ican Christians know the truth! But how can you

AAAS

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