The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 40

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40

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

to the Christians that the Lord is a Helper in time
of trouble.

Since that day no more has been heard of this
movement locally, and it looks as if it would not be
heard of again until next Christmas, that blessed
day being the day chosen by the devil for special
antichristian endeavor.

When we see the enemies of the Savior thus be-
coming more active, ought we not the more fer-
vently to pray, “Thy kingdom come”? And then
let us do what is expected of us in order that the
Kingdom of Grace may come to these people also
and many more of these now still benighted souls
may one day, together with us, enter the King-
dom of Glory!

Shasi, China. A. C. ScHorz.

——

Courageous Christians.

When on Christmas Day the Lutheran reading-
room and chapel at Yinwuchow (south of Han-
yang) was attacked by a formidable mob of several
hundred, led by five or six “students,” they did, at
the very first onset, succeed in snatching a few
Christian books and burning them. But before
they had reached the Bibles, the evangelist, Mr. Ma,
and his teachers, the two brothers Yin, arrived and
interfered. One of the teachers, seizing his own
Bible, declared: “This is my Bible. It is the book
I prize most of all. It has shown me my Savior
and has given my soul peace. It has taught me the
way to eternal life. You will have to burn me be-
fore you burn my Bible!” This was said in a tone
so loving and convincing that not only his, but also
all the other Bibles were spared. I wish to add that
Mr. Ma, too, with all the eloquence at his command,
protested against the burning of the Bibles.

When the crowd came to the chapel, a little
distance off, and began banging at the doors, they

~ were immediately opened by the three men, but only
to ask the mob why it was raising such a disturbance.
When the leaders told them they wanted to speak to
the people in the chapel and paste their posters on
the walls, they were told by Mr. Ma that they might
do that wherever else they pleased, but not in the
chapel. The chapel was dedicated to the service of
Christ and was being used that day to celebrate
His birth, as the congregation had been wont to do
for years. They were also told that they were wrong
in excusing their contemplated actions as being in

accordance with the principles of Sun Yat Sen; for
_ Sun Yat Sen had never countenanced such actions

against Christianity. ‘They were also reminded of
the fact that very many of their fellow-citizens
owed the preservation of their lives to the loving
deeds of kindness shown them by the Christians,
especially at Wuchang, during the late siege, ete.
At last the leaders yielded. “But,” they said, “if we
now simply desist, we shall have lost ‘face’ before
this whole gathering. Will you not at least remove
these Christmas decorations? Then we can say that
we have accomplished something at least!” This
Mr. Ma and the teachers agreed to do, although
reluctantly ; but they refused to remove the pictures
of Christ, declaring that they had always been there.
Then the “students” left.

This shows that courage and love of Christ will
sometimes achieve great things in a sad conflict
such as this. Not nearly all the “students” who
were mobilized during the Christmas week are hard- ,
boiled enemies of Christianity. Many of them do
not know the truth. Hardly any of them know
that every one of the wrongs that the “Imperialists”
have really done China have been done against the
protest of practically all the missionaries. They
do not know that the Church of Christ, as far as
it really deserves the name, never uses worldly
weapons. They do not know that all the mission-
aries who take this stand have been more or less
hated for it ever since the time Ziegenbalg was
opposed, and even imprisoned, by the Danish West
India Company. They do not know that the Chris-
tian Church ever has been, and is to this day, the
best friend of China and that the highest ideals of
Sun Yat Sen, “loyalty and filial piety, humanity
and love, sincerity and righteousness, peace and
harmony,” can never become realities by Soviet
methods, but only by the very agency which they
antagonized most bitterly this past Christmastide.

How fine it would be if every militant “student”
crowd were met in the courageous, yet wise and
loving manner as was that at Yinwuchow!
B.L. A.

A Unique Lutheran Publication.

One of the most gratifying actions of the Mis-
souri Delegate Synod last summer was the passing
of the resolution to print Luther’s Small Cateshism
with explanations, a small Bible History, and a
monthly for the blind. This resolution was enthu-
siastically passed after Synod had been informed
that there were probably only a few more than one
hundred blind people within the bounds. of the
Synod who would profit by these publications.