The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Sheet 69

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

that he does not give up. He does the only thing he
can do; persuaded as he is of the correctness of his
message, he says, “Come and see.” And so much
conviction is expressed in this invitation that Na-
thanael goes, sees, and is convinced. The simple-
minded Philip is wiser than the learned Nathanael ;
the humble Philip brings the proud Nathanael to
Jesus.

Personal work such as Philip here did may be
done by the humblest Christian. Philip conducted
no public service, he did not serve on an important
church board; he did very important work for all
that, however, he invited a man to Jesus, and the
invitation was accepted, and the man invited became
one of the Lord’s chosen Twelve. You may not be
able to preach, you may not be able to argue with
others in matters of religion, you may not be able to
give large sums for the upbuilding of the Kingdom ;

but one thing you can do—you can invite and-

bring others to church and to Jesus. With Philip
you can say to your unchurched friend, “Come and
see.” And by God’s grace you may be just as suc-
cessful with your invitation as Philip was.

We have somewhere read that in Korea a person
is not accepted into full membership in the Church
until he has proved his zeal by bringing some other
person to Jesus. Because of the zealous personal
work of the Korean Christians there has been a net
increase of sixty-five per cent. in the membership of
the Korean Church. Ten years ago there were
a little over 200,000 church-members; to-day there
are 350,000 professed Christians in that country.
It is customary for Korean Christians to encourage
one another to do this personal work by saying to
each other as they part after divine service: “Now
let us go and do personal work!” A Church with
a missionary spirit like this will win in any field.

And, properly considered, how can we Christians
fail to be earnest workers for Christ? Having found
peace and joy in Jesus, can we fail to invite others
to share this same peace and joy with us? Having
found the Savior, must we not, like Philip, tell our
friends to come and see the Treasure we have found
and share it with us. The most blessed thing that

those can do who have found Jesus is to bring others -

to Him. Try it! F.J.L.

South Sea Islanders in the Past.

Religion.
The religions of the different groups of South
Sea Islanders differed considerably. The Samoans
had no altars, temples, sacred groves, nor offerings

67

of any sort; still, they were no less sunk in iniquity
and vice than their neighbors. The Tahitians offered
human sacrifices constantly. If prisoners of another
tribe could be obtained, they were offered; if not,
certain persons whose business it was to provide
victims went out and seized any one whom they
chose and made him an offering to their blood-
thirsty divinity. When any one of a family was
taken as a victim, the procurers continued to go to
that family till all the males were taken. Women
were never used as sacrifices, as the gods considered
them unclean. If a woman touched a victim after
he was killed, that victim was rendered unclean, and
a new one had to be procured. The chief generally
indicated the victim, who was usually an_object of
hatred to him. Private grudges were thus easily
gratified. The only weapon with which the pro-
curers were armed was a small round stone, which
could easily be concealed in the hand; thus the in-
tended victim could not know their murderous pur-
pose. Occasionally they would surround the victim’s
house and thrust at him through the apertures in
the wall with long spears. This process they con-
sidered highly entertaining. The victim, frenzied
with pain and dread, would rush wildly about, only
to be greeted with a yell of laughter and a fresh
thrust whichever way he turned, till at length, ex-
hausted, he threw himself on the floor in the middle
of his hut, drew his mat around him, and waited for
some thrust, more merciful than the rest, to end his
life. The same customs were in vogue throughout
the Society and Hervey Islands.

The body, covered with leaves and tufts of red
feathers, would be brought on a rude litter or in
a basket or a canoe to the marae, where the priests,
with various mutterings and incantations, which
lasted ten to twenty minutes, would present the
body, with fruit, flowers, and sometimes some
animal, to the idol. After the idol was supposed to
have made a square meal, the offerings would some-
times be burned, sometimes devoured.

Though not nearly all of the islanders practised
human sacrifices and though cannibalism was ab-
horred by many, their general religious ideas were
much the same — sufficiently alike to indicate
a common origin. They had “lords many and gods
many,” and all were plunged deeply in superstition
and vice. The objects they worshiped -were of three
sorts: their deified ancestors, their idols, and their
etus. Their beliefs were of the most absurd char-
acter.- For instance, the world was formerly in-
volved in darkness till one of their ancestors, by
a very absurd process, created the sun, moon, and