The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 9

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 9

spirit and unfaltering trust. During the recent days
of trouble in China I have heard people say, “Why
doesn’t the Board call those imperiled workers
home, or, at least, transfer them for the time being
to a place of safety?” The answer is quickly given:
If the Board called them, they would not come.
Thank God, that same spirit lives in most of our
missionaries that dwelt in those good Moravian
missionaries Zeisberger and Heckewelder a hundred
years ago. When the pagan Indians decided to de-
stroy the Christian Indians at Gnadenhuetten and
warned the missionaries to leave, they refused to
do so. And when Captain Williamson and his com-
pany, who happened to be at Gnadenhuetten at the
time, refused to stay the hand of the bloodthirsty
savages, as they could have done, but inactively
stood and looked upon the slaughter of Christian
men, women, and children just because they were
Indians, — even then Zeisberger and Heckewelder
and their helpers ran among the furious murderers
and at the imminent risk of their lives tried to save
the lives of their faithful Indian converts as they
were being ruthlessly cut down while singing hymns
and sending up prayers to God.

Yes, we thank God that our missionaries of to-
day have this same spirit, a spirit that will not
cringe at the sight of danger and that-will not
hesitate to bring the sacrifices which the service
of God demands.

When, years ago, a number of missionaries were
beleaguered in a city of China, a British admiral in
the harbor offered them the protection of his ship.
But the answer he received from the mission-
workers was, “Our stations are our posts of duty,
and we cannot think of forsaking the native Chris-
tians in. this hour of peril nor leave our churches,
schools, and hospitals to be destroyed.” Upon re-
ceiving this answer of the missionaries, the admiral
took off his cap and declared: “Ladies and gentle-
men, your courage is magnificent. Men have been
given the Victoria Cross for less heroism than
yours.”

God bless all our mission-workers at home and
abroad and give them the Spirit of wisdom and
knowledge,- of grace and prayer, of power and
strength, of sanctification and the fear of God!
Z F. J. L.

A Catechist’s Marriage in India.

‘In our mission-work in India we employ as
much as possible the help of Christian natives.
Some of these helpers are called catechists. These

men are the right hand of the missionaries and
take care of a great deal of the Christian village
work. Without the catechists a great deal of our
work in the villages would have to remain undone.

Catechist P. Joseph and Bride.

A native Indian helper of this kind is P. Joseph,
who is seen in the middle foreground on the pic-
ture. Joseph has work in the village congregations
at Maddahtikonam and at Puliyoorkonam, some
miles from Trivandrum in Travancore, India. The
language employed in this area is the Malayalam.
In the forenoon Joseph teaches religion, that is,
Bible History and Catechism, in our Christian school
at Maddahtikonam, and in the afternoon he does
the same work in the Christian school at Puliyoor-
konam. ‘The villages are about two miles apart.
On Sundays he usually instructs only in one of
these two stations, while Missionary G. Oberheu is
at the other. During the week Joseph must also
find time to visit a leper who is a member of one
of the stations. If there are other infirm people in
his villages, he must also visit them and show them
the will of God in their illness and pray with them. ~

Puliyoorkonam Church.

In case of friction of any kind among the members
of the stations it is Joseph’s duty to make all pos-
sible Christian efforts to adjust the difficulty. In ~
fact, he exercises a general oversight over the Chris-
tians in his’ stations under the supervision of the