The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 109

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

109

‘dem goin’ dat way nowadays—=instead of de
chariet ob fiah; but den I’s beginnin’ to feah dat
she am plumb forgettin’ to see about dat, too.

V’s tryin’ to gib’ all de coppahs I can git hold
ob, and I knows dat, if I gib my coppahs wid a
free heart, dey’ll please de Lawd ob de Kingdom
jis’ as much as when some rich sistah gibs a dollah.

All dat I yet wish to say is dis: If some good
brudder or sistah here on eart dat done has a lot
ob dollahs should want to put an extra one in de
mission box to help increase Aunt Liza’s mite, dis
ole mammy will suahly ’preciate it, and ouah
pastor will ’preciate it, too, an’ de treasurer of the
Cullud Mission Boa’d in St. Louis will ’preciate it,
and de angels in heaben will be happy, and de Lawd
will gib sich a brudder or sistah de rewahd dat He
done gibs to all dose who help to lead people from
da’kness to light. Nemo.

Loyalty to Christ.

Dr. Kenneth MacKenzie, for many years a med-
ical missionary at Tientsin in China, was a noble
example of loyalty to Christ and his calling.

It was due to the skill of Dr. King and that of
Dr. MacKenzie that Lady Li, the wife of the cele-
brated Li Hung Chang, for many years the actual
ruler of China, was set upon the road to complete
recovery from a disease that had seriously threat-
ened her life. This success of Dr. MacKenzie
brought him most tempting offers from the great
viceroy, the highest official in the Chinese empire.
Li Hung Chang had become quite favorable to
Christian missions in China, largely because of the
fine work which the Christian medical missionaries
were doing at a great sacrifice. Had Dr. MacKenzie
accepted the offers of Li Hung Chang, it would
have opened for him the way to princely friend-
ships, imperial favor, and almost boundless in-
fluence. This offer came at a time of great sorrow
and severe trial; for his wife, disordered in mind,
had to be cared for in England. We may well
understand that the doctor was greatly tempted to
accept the flattering offers. But he realized that, if
he accepted the brilliant offers, it would mean the

" loss of the central purpose of his life and with it all.

that was worth while.

Like Paul he counted the riches and honors
offered him but loss for the excellency of serving his
Savior and Lord. Steadfastly MacKenzie went on
the way he had chosen, healing the sick and preach-
ing the Gospel of Christ. He refused to cheapen

his life by accepting the service of man for the ser-
vice of his Savior and steadily pursued the one
great aim he had set before him. It is said that the
bedroom of the servant of God was a library of de-
votional reading-matter, and its walls were hung
with reminders of the unseen presence of Him to
whose service he had given himself. In the retire-
ment of his room and in the presence of the viceroy
and other dignitaries, in the hospital chapel and at
the bedside of the lowliest patient, MacKenzie ever
remembered that in serving his fellow-men, he was
serving his Master, the Lord Jesus.

Here was a man who, though he had touched
science at its highest points, found his greatest
happiness in lifting his fellow-men from the
greatest depths of misery. His one passion was
Christ, and his one purpose in life was to make men
whole. It was said of him that in the last year of
his life he brought more men to Christ than all the
rest of the missionary force put together.

A poor old Chinese peasant, as he lay dying at
midnight, cried, “I cannot go; I cannot go until
I tell the doctor farewell, for it was he who led me
to Jesus.” There, through the hours of the night,
at the bedside of the old man in the mission hos-
pital ward, sat the beloved physician, unmindful of
the weary body, waiting for the angels to come and
take the redeemed soul and carry it into Abraham’s
bosom, while from his lips came words of cheer and
comfort, guidance and strength. F.J.L.

No Trust in His Own Idol.

Dr. Joseph Clark, who served as missionary in
Africa for many years, tells this little incident to
show how little confidence the heathen have in their
own idols : —

“Tt is twenty-two years since I went to Central
Africa. There were, when we landed, no beasts of
burden. There was no written language, and there
were no teachers. The people knew no God, no fear
of God, and no word for God. We use the word
Creator now. ‘They had only fetishes from their
witch-doctors. One African had a big fetish,
which, he said, would protect him from the arrows.
I looked at it and then took up a bow and fitted
an arrow to it and walked away to a little distance,
when I turned and pointed it at him. He said,
‘White man, what are you going to do? I said,
‘Let’s try and see whether the fetish will protect
you from the arrow.’ He answered, ‘O no, white
man, let’s not try!” F.J.L.