The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 124

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124

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

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twenty or thirty missionaries for this work. The
two men we have there are deluged with work.

May God be with us in the future as He has
been in the past, and may He grant us grace to
serve Him as well, as earnestly, and as efficiently
as possible! ©

Urwahnfried, Brazil. ALsBert LEHENBAUER.

A Double Burial in Shihnanfu, China.

On April 19 the city of Shihnanfu witnessed an
unusual scene in the form of a double Christian
burial ceremony. The deceased-were members of
one family: Mr. Chang, aged sixty-one, who became
a member of our mission last year, and Mrs. Chang,
his wife.

Prior to his death Mr. Chang, the elder, came to
service as often as his already feeble limbs would
permit. About two months before his death he took
sick; however, since his illness did not at first take
on any serious aspect, we contented ourselves with
comforting him in his illness with God’s Word and
Sacrament, hoping he would soon recover. But as
he grew worse, it became necessary to prepare him
for his final departure. Besides his soul’s ‘welfare
also the burial ceremonies had to be considered. In
a country where the people have become’ slaves to
heathen customs and superstitious practises, it is
essential to have the burial ceremonies well defined
before death. Since the members of Mr. Chang’s
family were all heathen except the eldest son, diffi-
culties could be expected when the final ceremonies
would take place. ‘Therefore it was necessary for
the father fully and unmistakably to express his
last will in regard to how and by whom he wished
to be buried. To bring this subject before one who

for so many years had been a-slave to heathenism, °

moreover, who as yet was not a very strong Chris-
tian, proved quite a task. With the: help of his
eldest son the undersigned began to instruct him.
Prayer and the Word of God were freely used. You
can imagine the shock the undersigned received
when, after having finally asked our sick brother
how he desired to be buried, he heard him answer,
‘According to the old custom.’ His eldest son and
I renewed our efforts, but with seemingly little re-

sults. However, a few days previous to his death ©

he expressed the wish to his son that the church
should bury him. Moreover, the undersigned had
the pleasure within the hour of his death to be at
his bedside and to hear him again renounce Satan
‘and confess the Lord as his Savior.

‘

His wife was present during all these visits and
also heard the saving Gospel-message; yet her heart
apparently remained unchanged. After the death
of her husband I made it a special point to speak
to her and her entire family concerning the Chris-
tian doctrine and the heathen superstitions and
practises. It was at this period that the eldest son
had to use his utmost efforts to keep the rest of
the family from calling in the priests for the long-
established heathen rites and ceremonies. J ortu-
nately he is a devoted Christian, and since in China
the eldest of the families are respected to a certain
extent, his word prevailed in all the arguments. Yet
this was not accomplished without much persecu-
tion on the part of friends and relatives. He could
not, however, prevent all superstitious ceremonies,
as he himself reported. ‘The rest of the family
would secretly, either in his absence or by hiring
others, send up by’ fire the customary articles to be ©
used in the next world for the comfort and joy of
the departed. Sedan chairs, houses, money, etc., all
paper-made, were burned with due ceremony for the
use of the deceased in the world to come. It was
also made very clear to the family that, if accord-
ing to the father’s wish they desired our church to
bury their father, all vestige of heathenism must be
eliminated from the services and from the parade.
This was finally consented to with much reluctance.

The funeral was delayed for two months because
the family awaited the arrival of a son from a dis-
tant city. During this period. Brother Chang, the
eldest son, was constantly the target for the dis-
pleasure of all the relatives. The day of the burial
finally having been set, preparations were pushed
forward in rapid order. Just two days previous to
the date, Mrs. Chang, the wife, who had been ailing
for some time, suddenly became very ill. The
eldest son, for some reason or other, neglected to
call the pastor, yet he himself took it upon himself
to speak to his mother about sin and salvation. In
the course of the discussion she said it was now too
late; but Brother Chang assured her that it was
never too late and showed by the example of the
thief on the cross that Christ’s promise was effica-
cious at the last hour even as at any other time.
According to Brother Chang’s testimony she ex-
.pressed a desire to be saved through Jesus Christ.
The undersigned having heard that Mrs. Chang was
seriously ill, hastened to the house in company with
Rev. Gebhardt, but found the patient unconscious.
Assuring us that they would call us immediately
whenever she regained consciousness, we left, only
to hear that in the early hours of the following