The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 39

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 39

sold, a few colored people still adhere to their dear
Lutheran Church. For many years now Rev. Ad.

Poppe of the white Lutheran church has preached .

to them in a private house, and the few faithful
ones who yet remain heartily appreciate this labor
of love. F.J.L.

Christmas in Shasi, Hupeh, China, 1926.

A year ago it was my privilege to write of a most
blessed Christmas here, as I was permitted on that
day to baptize eleven Chinese who had come to the
knowledge of the Truth. That particular Christmas
was doubly a day of joy and will always linger in
my memory as one affording me special happiness.
And so will the Christmas just passed never be for-
gotten, for that was the saddest Christmas I ever
experienced. Let me tell you how we celebrated
Christmas here in Shasi, Hupeh, China.

On Christmas Eve we held a service consisting
of a program of singing and recitations, and an
address was delivered by the undersigned. Over
eighty adults were in attendance and some forty
children. After the service tea and cakes were
served to all present. As I had to prepare for
service on the following day, Rev. Thode and I soon
left for home, where we had our family celebration.
On the following morning, quite early, the chapel
attendant came to the house and stated that one of
the men present at our service the previous evening,
after partaking of the refreshments, informed the
Christians that on the morrow, Christmas Day,
there was to be an antichristian demonstration.
The Chinese Christians and the foreign missionaries
were to be stoned and otherwise molested and the
chapel destroyed. ‘The chapel attendant, being a
“running dog” for the foreigner, was to receive
special attention.

This news, being altogether unexpected and
soon confirmed, certainly seemed serious. Soon
other Christians came to the house, all very much
afraid and all telling the same story. Some even
had news of a more serious nature. In all, five
arrived at the house. Under the circumstances ser-
vices at the chapel were out of the question. While
it was hardly likely that we missionaries would be
molested, it would only be exposing the Christians
to danger. In the mean time, while the Christians
were sitting in my study, we noticed carpenters
arranging a platform in the vacant lot next door,
and then we knew that the demonstration was to
begin here. I decided to preach my Christmas
sermon here in the house to these five faithful dis-

ciples of the Christ-child, and after the sermon I
had them read the Second Psalm and certain pas- -
sages in the New Testament tending to strengthen
them in their faith. All affirmed their intention,
by the grace of God, to remain steadfast in the
face of any persecution. By this time the crowd
had gathered and was being harangued by soldiers,
students, and whoever else had something to say
against the Church. ‘The Christians decided to
leave for home; so with a heavy heart and a
prayer for their safety we dismissed them one by
one in order not to attract attention. Then we
settled down to a “wait-and-see” policy.

The mass meeting continued. About 500 were
in attendance, many carrying banners with inscrip-
tions urging the people to destroy the Church. The
speakers told the mob that the Christian missions
were the cause of all their troubles, very much as
Ahab sought to place the blame of Israel’s trouble
on Elijah. It was stated that we missionaries were
agents for the United States Government, sent to
spy out the land; our doctrine sounded as sweet as
honey, but it was only to drug the people into be-
coming foreign slaves; we missionaries were receiv-
ing our salaries from the Standard Oil Company
and other foreign firms and were working hand in
hand with the foreign business men; the Church
was the cause of the recent riots, resulting in numer-
ous deaths, ete. These and sundry other falsehoods
were pounded into the ears of the people for over
five hours, every speaker closing with an appeal
to drive this poison out of existence. We watched
the whole performance from my study window.
We also knew that “the Guardian of Israel” was
keeping watch over our handful of Christians as
well as over us. Finally, at 5 p. m., the meeting
broke up, those seeking to destroy the Christ-child
being too hoarse to continue. The mob went to the
city; but the following day we ascertained that
they did nothing besides calling out “Down with
the Church!” in passing our chapel. So all our
fears proved groundless. But that did not do away
with the fact that at a meeting a few days previous
it was definitely decided to teach the Christians a
lesson, and it also did not do away with the fact
thaf on that Christmas Day our Christians were
very much alarmed. However, those who sponsored
the movement failed in gaining their objective.
The people refused to be led into any acts of
violence against the Church. All they succeeded
was in robbing us of the great joy which would
have been ours had we been able to hold a regular
service unmolested. But they succeeded in proving