The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Page 170

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170

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

““You Worship Jesus, the True God,
We Worship the Devil.’’

One of our China missionaries who was stationed
in the city of Hankow was on his way to the San
Shin Kai mission-chapel. The usual noise and bustle
of the semimodern busy thoroughfare, such as the
cries of rickshaw and carrying coolies,* the voices
of the singers, waiters, and patrons of Chinese tea-
houses, did not affect the missionary, who had be-
come accustomed to Chinese street life. But what

was this that he saw as he glanced into an open-
front blacksmith shop? A tall, burly native black-

A Christian Chinese Family in America.

smith was standing half naked in the front of his
shop, occupied with a kind of work which is ordi-
narily foreign to his useful trade. The missionary
became inquisitive and drew near.

In one of his hands the blacksmith was holding

© The term “coolie” is not a term of reproach for
a common laborer of the Orient. Occasionally these poor
men, who take the place of beasts of burden, call them-
selves by this name. For k’u li in Chinese means “bitter
strength,” or one who uses his strength at hard labor.
‘But the terms which educated Chinese and Japanese al-
‘ways take as an insult are the disrespectful “Chink” and
“Jap,” so often used by the white people in writing or
speaking of a Chinese or a Japanese. These terms should
be avoided in speaking of our fellow-men in China and
Japan.

the injured hand of his apprentice, who stood before
him. With the other hand, which he had made into
a fist resembling his sledge-hammer, he was rapidly
going through the motion of pounding a piece of
iron. The apprentice’s hand resembled the iron to
be beaten. At the same time this master black-
smith was uttering strange and meaningless sounds,
which reminded one of the continual growling of
a dog, with the exception that with such sounds he
was marking the time his arm was beating. This
was kept up for some time until the man’s face,
arms, and chest were streaming with perspiration,
while his large eyeballs were actually protruding out
of their sockets. Finally one of the
women of the house came with a cup
of hot tea, asking him to let up
now, while the apprentice was asked
whether or not his hand were still
paining him. The blacksmith heeded
the invitation and was roused out of
his apparent ecstasy; he sat down
on a stool exhausted and panting for
breath.

The missionary stood before the
man who had excited himself so
much and asked him “what affair’
he had done just then. The black-
smith knew the foreign missionary,
since he passed his place daily. He
knew more, to the surprise of the
missionary, namely, that the “for-
eign pastor” preaches Jesus’ doctrine
in the “Gospel hall” a few doors
away and that the doctrine of Jesus
is true. For he openly, defiantly
both confessed and rejected Christ
as he explained what he had been
doing by saying : “You worship Jesus,
the true God, and we worship the devil, the false
god.” He had been practising black art in one of its
most direct forms. E. RrepDeEt.

Are You Guilty?

Read this article and then tell yourself whether
you are guilty.

Every pastor has people who, when they are ap-
proached in behalf of Foreign Missions, will at once
begin to bluster and protest that mission-work, like
charity, should begin at home. They will say: “Look
at your own towns and cities before you busy your-
self about the needs of distant places; go into your