The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 116

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116

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

from the gold. Then the Church of God will rise
triumphant in this persecution as of old; the blood
of each martyr will be the embryo of many large
Christian congregations.”

To one of our chapels there came a number
of radical Bolshevist students with the intention
of starting trouble. They said to the evangelist,
who but five years ago was a worshiper of idols,
“You are one Christian Church, you use one and
the same Bible; why all these divisions and sects
among you?” Mr. Pi answered: “Our Bible
teaches two things, the Law and the Gospel. These
various sects emphasize either one or the other too
much. Hence the divisions, even though we have
only one Bible. Our Church carefully distinguishes
between the use of the Law and the Gospel and
uses both according to the Word of God. With all
those who teach the Law and the Gospel as the
Bible teaches them we are one. Whoever teaches
contrary to the Bible cannot be one with us. This
is not God’s fault nor the Bible’s fault, but the
fault of man. Do not say that our doctrine is no
good; rather put the fault where it belongs —
with man.”

Another incident which has come to my atten-
tion lately is the following: A crowd of rowdy
rioters came to a poor Christian cobbler, a man
who could neither read nor write, but had learned
to know his Savior. They threatened to drag him
through the streets; in fact, they threatened to kill
him unless he recanted his Christian religion.
But the cobbler remained faithful. His answer to
them was: “Before I found Christ, my life was
all unhappiness. Since I have found Him, I have
been happy and contented. Shall I, because you
threaten me, you, who do not know anything about
Christ, deny Him who loved me so? Never! Do
your worst!”

_ Our China Missions To-Day.

The eighteen provinces of the Chinese Republic
comprise an area of about 1,500,000 square miles.
The population of China is about 400,000,000.
About 6,000 Protestant missionaries of all denomi-
nations, assisted by 25,000 native teachers and
catechists, work at about 8,800 stations for a con-

" stituency of about 600,000 professed Christians.

Our mission-work in China was begun at the
city of Hankow in 1913. Since then five new
stations have been opened as follows: Shasi, in 1913;
Ichang, in 1922; Kweifu, in 1923; Wanhsien, in
41923; and: Shihnan, in 1920.

id a According to the’ aE published statistics our
 besatnyes. 3

4ih af

Church had eighteen pastors on the field, two
female teachers and two nurses.

A Chinese staff of thirteen evangelists, thirty-
seven teachers, and three Bible women helped our
missionaries in their work.

About 600 baptized souls constitute our Church
in China.

About 700 Chinese pupils attend our Christian
day-schools.

At our college in Hankow, in which boys and
young men are prepared for the ministry, there
were thirty-eight pupils. In the seminary at
Hankow nine students finished the ministerial
course.

At Shihnan an orphanage is maintained in
which there are thirty-six children. The hospital
at Shihnan, which was in charge of our two nurses,
treated about 3,500 patients during the last year,
according to the latest reports.

Detailed and interesting information upon our
missions in China may be had in the fourth
volume of the Men and Missions series, entitled
Our China Mission, and also in Our Task in China,
a booklet written by the Rev. E. L. Arndt, the
founder of our China Missions.

Our Alabama Field.

The total number of souls on our Alabama field
is 2,135. We have now been in Alabama twelve
years, and this is the first time we have climbed

“above the two thousand mark. Our last report, sent

December 31, 1927, showed that we had a total
membership of 1,963. It is my intention again this
summer to look over our books (church records).
However, since the books were all revised in 1927,
I am certain that there is not much, if any, dead
material on our records. During the first five
months of 1928 we added to our lists by baptism
131 souls, whereas 123 persons were confirmed —
a total gain of 254 in five months.

About five months ago I had a long conversation
with a man who is not a member of our Church, but
for several years has been visiting our services in
Selma quite frequently. This man,showed a remark-
able knowledge of the Bible, speaking intelligently
about things spiritual. He knew, and understood
well, the doctrines of sin and grace. He also had
a correct understanding of other important doc-
trines of Scripture. When I put this question to
him: “Now tell me, where did you get this fine
knowledge of Scripture?” he said: “Pastor, I must