The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1922, Sheet 63

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

The Lutheran spioneen

bearing baskets and bundles with the family din-
ners. ‘I'‘he crowd before and around the shack is
becoming greater and greater; some are already
entering the cabin and sitting down on the rough
boards resting on blocks, which serve as seats; ex-
pectancy of a not unhappy nature is showing itself
on many faces. They do not have long to wait;
for up the road — or what is in reality only an
excuse for one—a Ford has made its appearance.
Soon its regular “chug, chug, chug” may be dis-
tinctly heard; a few more minutes, and the ex-
pected ones have arrived, the beloved superintendent
of the Alabama field, Pastor Schmidt and his young
colaborer. Upon the smiling face of Pastor Schmidt
there is not to be seen a trace of the care that we
know must be in his heart because of the respon-
sibility that is resting upon him. In no way does
he seem to be conscious of the great sacrifice he is
bringing by spending his young days in the Black
Belt of Alabama, preaching Christ’s Gospel to the
poor and despised Colored people of that region.
Nor does it seem to trouble him that he is com-
pelled to preach this precious Gospel in such miser-
able surroundings, dilapidated plank shacks and
tumble-down log cabins. His one desire seems to
be to preach the Gospel to poor sinners, no matter
where and under what conditions. And our other
workers are filled with the same sacrificing spirit,
thank God! Yes, we may well feel proud of the
workers that have gone down South into Alabama
and other States to work among the Negroes for us.

But, ‘then, the question comes to me: “Is it
right for us to ask all this of these young men?
Is it right for us to ask these young men to preach
in such hovels and spend their days teaching in
such wretched huts? Is it not sacrifice enough that
they go far from their friends, and leave the society
and comforts of home, to act as our messengers and
do our work for us? Is it not uncharitable and
utterly selfish on our part to expect them to work
under such actually shameful conditions?” Think
it over, dear friend; think it over in the sight of
God, and then live up to the concen you arrive
at in a practical manner.

The least that we can do, it seems to me, is that
we ask the Board for Colored Missions — our Board
—properly to provide for the personal needs and
wants of our faithful substitutes in the field of
Negro Missions, and also furnish them with ad-
equate chapels and schools in which to preach and
teach. We ought to do this for the sake of the
Missionaries.

However, it should also be done for the sake of
the work. Of course, the chief thing about a meal
is the meal itself. But there is no gainsaying the
fact that dishes and table are of some importance.
I have more than once lost my appetite while sitting
at a table covered with an unclean table-cloth, and
dirty dishes have driven from me all desire to eat.
Haven’t you passed by a restaurant on more than
one occasion because it did not look inviting?
Surely you have. Well, then, friend, apply all this
to the case in point, and ask yourself this question:
“All things being equal, will not our faithful mis-
sionaries in Alabama and elsewhere work with
greater success and have more hearers in church
and pupils in school, if we provide them with decent
schools and chapels?”

Now, be honest! — Good, then; go and act
accordingly. F.J.L.

Letters of David Livingstone.

A recent number of the Adlantic Monthly brings
a selection of letters written by David Livingstone
to his younger brother, Charles, in the years 1851
and 1852.

In one of these letters, after describing the
country along the upper reaches of the Zambesi and
the tribes living there, he continues thus: “You
will see what a field is opened up for evangelical
effort. The country is densely populated, and the
people, having generally enough food, may attend
if they will to instruction. The Supreme Being is
called Nyampi, or Beza. In referring to a person
having died, they say, ‘He was lifted by Nyampi,/
or ‘by the Lord.” They make use of certain divina-
tion, and prayers, too. I have visited a great many
tribes which never have enjoyed any intercourse
with missionaries either directly or indirectly, and
never met a single individual unaware of the exist-
ence of the Creator and Governor of all things.
All understood the nature of sin — and the expres-
sions made use of by all imply the belief in the
existence of a future state of being. If any ever
existed who had no knowledge of the existence of
God, sin, and futurity, it is remarkable that no
instance should now remain. Intelligent old men
with whom I have conversed ridicule the idea of
their ever having been destitute of the knowledge
of God, and quote their proverbs and fables handed
down from time immemorial in proof. One of these
is essentially the story of Solomon and the harlots.