The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 179

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

179

future the population will increase enormously.
Here, as in no other continent, there is a mass of
dark, unlettered, dissevered, and degraded paganism
to be uplifted and enlightened by the Church of
Christ. Already there has percolated into its
remotest corners the knowledge of the outside world,
of superior civilization and power, ever coming
nearer and certain to influence its future. But it is
not always the Gospel of Christ which is in the fore-
front of this approach. Where it has been so, as in
’Ngoniland and Barotsiland, it has stopped inter-
tribal wars, beat swords into plowshares, opened
schools, and introduced a happier order by peaceful
reformation. Much more often, however, the in-
coming of European Christendom appears in the
form of commercial enterprise or of extensions of
administration and sometimes of armed expeditions
opening new paths for commerce; and the mis-
fortune is that commercial enterprise without Chris-
tianity communicates to the people a superadded
hardening of heart, a new immorality, and a
materializing of life. It is a reproach to Chris-
tianity that the pioneers of commerce are so vastly
more numerous and so much more vigilant and ad-
venturous than the pioneers of the Gospel.” (World
Missionary Conference Report, 1910, Vol. I.)

“The Church has not made more than a begin-
ning in the evangelization of the heart of the Dark
Continent. Not counting the desert stretches of the
Sahara, there are to be found some 50,000,000
people, almost one-third of the continent, not only
unreached, but without any existing agency having
evangelization in contemplation as far as actual
projected plans and hopes are concerned.” (Zwemer,
The Unoccupied Mission Fields.)

At Khartum, on the Nile, has been erected a
large statue in memory of the great soldier and
Christian general Gordon. He is represented sitting
on a camel and facing the great desert and the
Sudan. An anonymous poet wrote the following
lines on seeing this statue, and the words of the
writer have as living a message for the Church
to-day as they had when first written : —

The string of camels come in single file,
Bearing their burdens o’er the desert sand;
Swiftly the boats go plying on the Nile,
The needs of men are met on every hand.
But still I wait
For the messenger of God who cometh late.

I see the cloud of dust rise in the plain,
The measured tread of troops falls on the ear;
- The soldier comes the empire to maintain,
Bringing the pomp of war, the reign of fear.
But still I wait;
The messenger of peace, he cometh late.

They set me looking o’er the desert drear,

Where broodeth darkness as the deepest night.
From many a mosque there comes the call to prayer;
I hear no voice that calls on Christ for light.

But still I wait
For the messenger of Christ who cometh late.

F.J.L.

Among the Lumberjacks.

Pastor H. A. Handrich, of Butternut, Wis., has
been working for the past two winters, as his time
permits, among the lumberjacks of Wisconsin. At
the request of the Editor he has sent the following
for the columns of the PronEER: —

The greater part of Northern Wisconsin is still
covered with dense forests, making this section of
the State a vast lumbering district. During the
winter months men from far and near come to the
lumber-camps for employment. They live in log

A Logging-Camp.

huts, and thus they spend the winter, day in and
day out, always doing the same work, cutting down
the large trees for lumber.

What induced me, first of all, to go to these
lumber-camps and conduct mission-work was the
fact that a number cf my members were employed
there. Since they had no opportunity to come home
to attend services, I considered it my duty to bring
services to them in the camps. I realized that these
young men of mine were in great spiritual danger
because of their daily contact with all kinds of men,
and for this reason I regarded it as my duty to visit
them, give them spiritual advice, warn them against
temptations, and admonish them to remain stead-
fast and never lose sight of the end of their faith,
the salvation of their souls.

The boys were very glad to have me come to
their camp, and not only they, but also others asked
me to come again. J conducted my services in the
-evening, when all the men were in the camps, and