The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 140

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140

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

poor people who lived in that distant land. But
when he spoke to his dear wife about the matter,
she used every plea to keep him at home. After
a few years, however, she plainly saw that it was
God’s will that her husband should go as a mis-
sionary to Greenland. From that time on her heroic
faith proved to be stronger than her womanly fears.
“Qh, husband dear,” she said, “since the Lord calls,
I will no longer hold you; but I will say, ‘Whither
thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will
lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God
my God.”

In the spring of 1721 the ship that was to
carry away the dear Lutheran pastor cast anchor
in the bay. Groups of tearful men and women
‘stood by the parsonage doors. Frequently had
Elizabeth, the missionary’s wife, for the encourage-

EGE

Hans Egede.

ment of her husband spoken these words of Christ
to him: “Whoso loveth father. or wife or children,
friend or brother, more than Me, is not worthy of
Me.” The little procession at last came down from
the village to the beach, and the pastor set his foot
on the plank to embark. At that moment a sailor
said to him, “May I make bold to ask whither you
wish to sail?” “To Greenland.” “Then in God’s
name stay at home; cannibals live there. Sir, sir,
do not give your wife and children a prey to those
wild heathen.” The pastor looked sad, and the
people shouted, “Stay with us; it is God’s will.”
But the pastor’s wife stepped boldly forward on the
plank and laid her hand upon the husband’s arm
and said, “Hans, be a man. If God is for us, who
can be against us? Do you not hear the prayers
and sighs of the heathen in Greenland? Far, far
over the sea they pierce into my ear; you know
_ that the need is great. Husband, in the name of
_ God, we must go!” And they did go. The people,

through their tears, saw them sailing to their ap-
pointed work.

Space does not permit us to tell of all the trials
and privations endured by the missionary’s family
in their home amid the dreary ice plains and moun-
tains of that cold country. They saw but little
fruit of their hard mission-work. The people
avoided them; nor for seventeen years was there
much of Christian life. A stolid race were those
Greenlanders and content with their blubber; they
cared for no paradise without it. But the faithful
Lutheran missionary, very often encouraged by his
noble wife, toiled on and continued to sow the good
seed of the Gospel, from which other missionaries
were permitted afterwards to reap a rich harvest of
souls for Christ.

In 1735 Egede’s dear wife left the land of snow
for the beautiful gardens of the heavenly paradise.
His own health also began to give way. So he left
his son Paul to continue the mission-work in Green-
land, while he took the remains of his “dear Eliza-
beth” and bore them over the sea and laid them
to rest in the Lutheran church at Copenhagen. In
this city he passed the remaining years of his life
as the head of the college for training missionaries
for his beloved Greenlanders.

In the history of missions no name shines
brighter than the name of that faithful Lutheran
missionary —Hans Egede, the Apostle of Greenland.

Items of Missionary Interest.
(By the Eprror.)

Missouri Synod Gains.—In a recent number
of the PIoNEER we stated that the Missouri Synod
had gained 16,153 communicants in 1931 and
40,256 in five years. Reference to the latest Year-
book will show that the Missouri Synod gained
21,787 communicants in 1931 and 16,052 in 1930,
a gain of 38,000 in only two years. The gain of
the Missouri Synod in five years was over 75,000
in five years instead of 40,000.

Conventions in Possum Bend. — Superinten-
dént Westcott of our Alabama Field has kindly sent
us a prospectus of the two conventions which con-
vened at Possum Bend, Alabama, August 24—28.
The annual Sunday-school convention was held at
Possum Bend August 27. A special effort was made
to have each Sunday-school in the field represented
by its superintendent. We hope to be able to tell
our readers in our next issue about this important
convention. — August 24—28 ‘the Alabama Luther