The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 111

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

111

But what should he do? Here was a task in-
deed. How teach these people without a church?
And, again, how get the people to help him build
a church without first teaching them? A stupen-
dous task! ‘Thought Chang Han, “I have money
enough to build a rough hut where the people could
be taught; but would I not be dishonoring God if
I were to build Him a house poorer than the one
Iam living in? Do not the worshipers of worthless
idols build them houses more beautiful than those
which they themselves occupy?”

Then a new thought came to his mind. “Yes,
yes, the very thing! That’s just what I’ll do!”
And soon he was at work carrying out his new plan.

What was his new plan? What did he do?
Listen! A few weeks later Chang and his family
moved out of their house into a mud house, which
_ he had just built and which had nothing attractive
about it, except, possibly, that it was new. And
what about his old house? The old house Chang
and his family scrubbed, whitewashed, papered, and
fitted up as a church.

And a few days after, a missionary filled with
love for souls came to Chang Han’s village and be-
gan his work.

Let me add that the Lord blessed the mis-
sionary’s labors, honored Chang Han, and granted
him the joy of seeing many of his neighbors joining
him in the worship of His God, the only true God,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. F.J.L.

A Parable.

At Rangoon, in Burma, is the famous Golden
Pagoda, the pride of Buddhism. It is said to occupy
the site of a temple built hundreds of years before
Christ was born. It rises from a’great stone plat-
form in mighty rings hundreds of feet up in the air.
As it rises upward, it grows smaller and smaller,
until it ends in a golden spire. With the exception
of the Washington Monument, there is no stone
building in America that is so high. Covered as it is
with pure gold leaf at a cost of no less than forty-
five thousand dollars, it blazes in the sunlight like
solid gold. The golden, umbrella-shaped spire is
studded with jewels that glitter and sparkle most
wonderfully in the southern sunlight. The tower
itself is built of brick, but in the course of centuries
it has been gilded and plated so often that an enor-
mous amount of gold is now on it.

But if we were to pay the Golden Pagoda a visit

a

and scan its surface carefully, our eyes would detect
a dark speck upon the golden background about two
hundred feet from the ground. What is it? It is
the sprout of the peepul-tree, the sacred tree of
Buddhism, which grows anywhere on any surface
where its spores can find lodgment. When left to
grow on buildings, it has torn them to fragments,
among them also hundreds of pagodas. This sprout
of the peepul-tree has found an opening through the
gold leaf, or perhaps its seed was in the mortar with
which the surface of the pagoda, was covered before
the gold leaf was put on. No doubt, its rootlets are
down deep in the brick mass of the structure, while
its green branches grow in a thriving cluster over
the gilded sides. What does it matter that this tree
is two hundred feet from the ground and has no
fertile soil to impart moisture to it? It draws mois-
ture and life from the air around it and in the mean
while sends its roots deeper and deeper into the brick”
mass of the pagoda. In years to come, as this pee-
pul-tree grows, it will tear into fragments this
shrine of Buddhistic idolatry and cause it to
crumble into dust.

Beautiful symbolism! The gilded colossal Gol-
den Pagoda at Rangoon represents the lifeless sys-
tem of hoary Buddhism. The growing young tree
represents the virile religion of Jesus Christ, filled
with the life of the Son of God. It will crumble
Buddhism back to dust, as that tree in years to come
will destroy the Golden Pagoda, Buddhism’s most
ornate ornament. F.J.L.

Togoland Lutherans.

The progress of Lutheran missionary work in
Togoland, West Africa, during the past few years is
very encouraging. A recent comparison of 1914 and
1924 figures by Allgemeine Missionsnachrichten
(Berlin) shows that the work among the Ewes
along the coast has doubled in strength. The bap-
tized membership in this tribe in 1914 was 11,862,
in 1924, 23,980. Communicant Lutherans num-
bered 4,011 in 1914 and 8,653 in 1924. Baptisms
during the year totaled, in 1914, 894, in 1924, 2,911.
Likewise, in 1914 3,311 pupils studied in 88 church-
schools, while on the latter date 6,350 pupils were
at work in 153 schools. ‘The expenditures of the
church and schools increased from 26,403 marks
before the war to 84,489 marks last year. During
this time church contributions increased largely. In
addition to the 117 native preachers there have
been, since 1923, three missionaries in charge from