The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 126

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126

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

converts who are unable to get work with those who
were their associates before.

This is only a very faint picture of the dif-
ficulties that beset the paths of our missionaries and
their converts. And this will go far to show how
hard it is to induce many to leave their slavery and
become free in Christ. Often the new converts lose
all they have and come to us with no more than the
barest clothing on their backs. Yes, sometimes all
they bring with them is a mere loin cloth. They
have really forsaken all to follow the Savior.

As you take this glimpse into a few of the
problems that confront our missionaries, we trust
it will help you to pray for them and the work they
are doing for us. We know that, while God is work-
ing through His messengers, Satan is also at work

trying to destroy and hinder the work of God.
Adapted from Pilgrim’s Progress.

Heathen Cruelty.

The following story of heathen cruelty came to :

us some time ago. Stories of this kind should go
a long way to show the necessity of preaching the
Gospel of love to the heathen : —

‘J have just been to visit and to baptize in a
new village. During the service one little child was
continually whining as if with fever or pain. After
the service I went around from house to house, and
after creeping into the little grass-thatched house,
I found the mother of the child sitting on the mud
floor trying to feed the little boy about one year-old,
who was very emaciated and was looking very mis-
erable. I inquired what the matter was, and the
mother said, ‘His back is broken.’ Gradually I
learned the whole story.

‘A year ago, when he was born, they, like all
heathen parents, inquired of the village Brahmin
priest whether he was a fortunate child. The priest
replied, after looking at his calendar, that the child
was most unfortunate; that he was under most
unfortunate stars, pointing to nothing but death and
trouble to the family. The parents were very much
upset, and unfortunately the boy’s grandfather died
within a few days, as if to prove the truth of the
priest’s words. The grandmother, full of indigna-
tion and anger, came from the very side of the dead
husband, and, taking up the little baby boy, whom
she believed to be the source of all her trouble, threw
him down on the ground to kill him. Apparently
the back of the baby was broken by the blow; for
though a year had passed, there has been no sign of

power in the legs since that day, and I am afraid
that the case is hopeless. The man, fearing that
evil would come to him, deserted his wife and child,
hoping the child would die of starvation as the
result of the injury. He refuses to go back or to
give anything for the support of his wife until the
child is killed or dies.”

“Tere we have an example of the ‘beauty of
Hinduism.’ Yet we do not believe that the Hindus,
as a class, are more hard-hearted or cruel than the
rest of humanity, except as they have been so by the
cold-blooded teachings of their religion. Their
greatest need is a knowledge of the only religion in
the world, which extends a living hope to the
meanest of the mean and the lowest of the low, as
well as to the more favored of God’s creatures.”

Startling Facts Concerning
New York City.

New York has more than 2,000,000 Catholics,
who worship in 423 churches. It has almost as
many Jews, who worship in over 1,100 synagogs.
The total number of Protestants is not quite
2,000,000. The number of Protestant churches is
getting less from year to year. Out of forty Pres-
byterian churches on Manhattan, twenty-one are
helped by the mission boards. Of twenty-six Meth-
odist churches, twenty-one are also subsidized. Of
twenty-one Baptist churches, twelve are aided by
missionary funds. On Manhattan there are at
present thirty-six less Protestant churches than there
were twenty-five years ago.

New York is the largest Jewish city in the world,
the largest Negro city, the largest Italian city, and
the largest Irish city.

There are one million young people in New York
who are growing up to manhood and womanhood
with as little religious education as they would get
in the wilds of Africa. Of these, 800,000 never see
a Bible.

One missionary authority has called New York
the greatest mission-field in the world. The same
authority says that it is the most difficult mission-
field in the world.

Another authority, a Methodist, says, “There
are only four self-supporting Methodist churches
in Manhattan and the Bronx.” ‘The Baptists, in
a recent pamphlet, asked for more than a half mil-
lion dollars to carry out their missionary program
in New York City. F. J. L.